Questions about GMing.

[CrimsonCrust]

Hey everyone at Fantasy Grounds. I have found I love this platform and would love to start GMing a few games. I was wondering if anyone could help me out with:

1. Some tutorials on GMing
2. Time commitment it takes
3. Any knowledge you would like to pass on
4. The truth, do you like GM/DMing more than playing?


A little bit about me. I am 30 years old I am a Veteran of the US Army. I own my own company. I have played D&D off and on since I was 13. It was actually my cousin who introduced it to me while he was attending USC. I will be the kind of DM/GM that would want cheat sheets in front of him. LoL.

So any help would be greatly appreciated.

[khersheyjr]

Here are some tutorials on this page on the right hand side:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/downloads/

[Trenloe]

That's great that you like FG and that you are going to GM a few games. Have you GM'd RPG games before?

In answer to your questions:

1) Is this GMing in general or more GMing in Fantasy Grounds? If Fantasy Grounds, there are some good videos available under the "Downloads" link at the top of this page. Some of Xorns older "Archived Video Tutorials" (scroll down to the bottom right) are good and still relevant. Also, Keith Hershey Jr's videos are good: https://www.youtube.com/user/khersheyjr

2) Time commitment is probably a little bit more than normal GMing - once you get used to preparation within FG. It's harder to "wing it" in Fantasy Grounds as you still need to have access to maps, tokens, creature stats if you're using a lot of the built in automation. So, making sure you have access to a few general maps (or can use the freeform drawing feature in a blank map), tokens and creature stat libraries is a good start. I have a good set of library modules, tokens and maps at my fingertips so I can pretty much wing most situations.

I'm not sure what rule system/s you're interested in running. If you're interested in Pathfinder, there are a few first steps outlined here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17108 that help get images/maps and creature stat blocks from PDF resources into Fantasy Grounds. Don't be put off by this being aimed at PFS - it is relevant to all Pathfinder games and references some useful tools.

Once you're used to organising in FG, preparation will be second nature and can be pretty quick. If in face-to-face games you're the type of GM who would prepare maps ahead of time you'll save a lot of time in FG as you can use images for maps very easily and there are a lot out there - or you can extract/copy/screen scrape maps from PDFs and mapping websites.

3) For GMing some level of preparation is always a good idea, so making sure you have key information in FG before a session will help a lot.

Secondly, decide if you want to run your games with voice as the main communication, or if you want to use text chat. Text chat is more immersive and many players feel they can act out their players better in text chat - but, be warned, it is a lot slower than using voice. If the GM is a slow typer the game will go very slowly, and if one or more players are slow typers they may feel they are missing out. Some people do a mixture of voice and text - voice for game mechanics and OOC stuff, text for the in character stuff.

Text may require more preparation from the GM - especially if you'd like to have a few story/descriptive entries ready to simply drop into the chat window.

There is a community voice server using Teamspeak3 that is free for anyone running FG games to use, details here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17071

Thirdly - you may have read some recent posts about the transient nature of some players and GMs in internet gaming - one such thread here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17698. Don't be put off if your efforts to get a good, consistent game don't come off immediately. Keep trying and hopefully you'll get a good core of players and be able to really enjoy gaming on FG. There are plenty of good people in the FG community so hang in there...

4) I like GMing more than playing (as a rule), but enjoy both...

If you have any specific questions, just ask. It might be good to let us know what RPG system/s you are planning to GM and what type of game (horror, hack-'n'-slash, role-play, etc.) you are thinking of running, then I'm sure you'll get some good feedback from the rest of the community.

[Valarian]

1. Some tutorials on GMing
A few books that I've read and found useful:
Robin Laws' - Guide to Good Gamemastering (https://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/)
Robin Laws - Hamlet's Hit Points (https://www.amazon.com/Hamlets-Hit-Points-Robin-Laws/dp/0981884024)
Dominic Wasch - Gamemastering (https://www.amazon.com/Gamemastering-Dominic-Wasch/dp/1907218793)

Monica Wood - Description (https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Fiction-Writing-Monica-Wood/dp/0898799082)
Orson Scott Card - Characters & Viewpoint (https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Fiction-Writing-Characters-Viewpoint/dp/0898799279)
Jack Bickham - Scene & Structure (https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Fiction-Writing-Scene-Structure/dp/0898799066)


2. Time commitment it takes
Depends on the system. With the systems I play (lately FATE & The One Ring), I can usually get away with a few minutes each week to work out where the players are taking the scenario. For each adventure I tend to have a concept page (A4) that gives the overview of the scenario, major scenes, major NPCs (relation map). The rest is developed on the fly or between sessions during the adventure.


3. Any knowledge you would like to pass on
Relax. Enjoy. Don't worry too much about the rules. Move the story forward.


4. The truth, do you like GM/DMing more than playing?
I enjoy both, but would especially like to get to play some of the games I run as GM. It seems that I'm always playing someone else's choice of game. I suppose I tend to run the systems and style of game that I'd like to play in. Now, if I could just find a GM with the same tastes and game style. Either that or find a way to clone myself.

[Ardem]

1. Some tutorials on GMing

Hey there, I did a small AAR in regards to DMing Rolemaster https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15743 you might find some the tips and hints and mistake I made in here useful.

2. Time commitment it takes
The time commitment is based on many aspects of how you want to run your game, if you make it modular, what i mean buy this use a module adventure don't deviate of the path you can normally do this with about 2-8 hours prep per session, it become more toward the 2 hours when you very used to this aspect.

If your creating the adventure the map etc, you can spend up to 16-20 hours per session. But again how detail you want it to be are you using existing source material or are you using your own world creation, this time frame is reduced over time however up front there is a lot of hours.

3. Any knowledge you would like to pass on

Review Step 1


4. The truth, do you like GM/DMing more than playing?

I been GM my FRP RM, however been playing PF in another game and been my first for a while. I suggest doing both if you have the time, but to GM you get the reward based on players reaction and happiness level. But rewards are not as great as playing, however there need to be GM to be players, you have to be in that mind set to do it. I would start of with modular GMing first and then if you feel you can handle the times and you enjoy Gming then you can go deeper.