Tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Vampire: The Masquerade, and many more are seeing a huge surge in popularity, and rightfully so. Imagination and roleplaying are important parts of learning, self-discovery, and social exploration. More importantly, TTRPGs fun!
Collaborative storytelling is part of human nature, and roleplaying games provide structure for that kind of narrative play. Hit shows such as Critical Role have helped bring roleplaying into mainstream popular culture, enticing many new players to explore the wonders to be had in these kind of games.
Most TTRPGs require a Game Master, or GM, to guide the story. The GM is not the boss, but is a team leader who acts as the rules arbitor and who controls all characters not controlled by the players. They set the scenes and present the problems to which the players respond. It's a lot of work, but can be very rewarding.
In this series, I would like to provide some useful advice for Game Masters that want to provide a fun, safe, and engaging experience for their players. This advice will primarily be aimed at GMs who are already familiar with the system in which they will be playing and are hoping to up their game. This will also be skewed towards D&D fantasy-style games, mostly because that's what I've been able to get my players to play, but can of course be adapted for other settings.
BRING THE PLAYERS TOGETHER
When looking to start a new campaign, one of the first tasks to solve is providing a reason for all the player characters (PCs) to come together for their adventure. This can be difficult, as the players may not have created their characters yet. Even if they have, the characters may or may not already canonically know each other. Some of them may want to play curmudgeonly, "lone wolf", or introverted characters. It can be difficult to find a narrative reason for all the characters to band together.
I suggest building the beginning of the campaign around a specific non-player character (NPC) who knows all the PCs, or around a specific location which all the PCs have a reason to visit. Give the players plenty of latitude on how they know this NPC or why they are at this location.
Some quick examples:
- A wealthy merchant wants to hire some people they trust as escorts through treacherous territory
- A member of the nobility is appointed as regent, and needs some capable people to help them establish good relationships with potential allies
- The characters all have different reasons to visit the university, not knowing that it is about to be attacked by a group hoping to raid the magical tomes
- The characters all attend the wedding of a noted adventurer, but the wedding is attacked by the adventurer's old nemesis, and the PCs must work together to escape alive
- The characters all happen to be attending funerals at a large cemetery when the dead begin to rise
- The characters are all sailing on a colony ship to start new lives when pirates attack
Give the players prompts relevant to the opening of the story. "Why does this merchant trust you?" "Why are you at the university?" "Why did you receive an invitation to this wedding?" Be sure to leave the players plenty of room to build their own unique backstories, while giving them a hook to incorporate the character into the narrative.
Keep in mind that these are initial story hooks to pull your players into an adventure together. The campaign can revolve around a different set of circumstances, but you should have an initial inciting incident that unites the PCs.
DON'T INVALIDATE YOUR PLAYER'S BACKSTORIES
Your players often put time and effort into their backstories and want to see that effort pay off in the game. Whatever your initial story hook may be, don't invalidate that effort.
I once had a GM who, in the first session, had all of our characters "killed" by a giant Cthuluian creature and wake up on a completely different world. Suddenly, the fact that my character had run away from home to be with her lesbian lover didn't matter. It was frustrating to discover that my character's backstory simply didn't matter, as we got railroaded into an entirely new location.
The big rule of TTRPGs is "Yes, and...." Don't negate what the players say about their characters. Take what the players give you and expand upon it.
PLAY WITH THE PLAYERS
The players are going to come up with weird and unexpected ideas. Don't ignore those! Use them!
Are your players convinced that the guy who hired them is a vampire? Maybe he is... but why are the players suspicious? Take their reasons and play with them. The NPC never seems to eat or sleep, and has very stiff mannerisms? He is, in fact, a golem, a simulacrum of the real person.
A player is convinced that her character found a powerful magical artifact? Maybe she did! You could build a huge story arc around discovering the true power of this artifact and protecting it from those who would exploit it for nefarious purposes. Could it distract from the main plot you've been developing? Perhaps, but if it seems like it will be fun for you and your players, give them a "Yes, and" and follow the new thread.
A player thinks their father is the Big Bad Evil Guy? What makes them think that? Could they be right? If they're not, could their father at least be involved in some way? That's some juicy drama that you could incorporate into the game!
HAVE A PLAN, BUT DON'T FOLLOW THE PLAN
You're going to put in a lot of prep work to try to give your players a fun and satisfying game session. And that work is very appreciated! Just keep in mind that things are going to come up during gameplay that will send things off course. Be prepared to roll with the twists that your players send your way. Their ideas will often create wonderful new story arcs!
Go in prepared, have a plan, and then improvise when the need inevitably arises. Your players have as much say about where the story goes as you do. Follow what interests them, rather than force them toward what interests you.
