Hello!

I wanted to know about your best RP experiences with GM's (whether you've experienced being one or not) and what made them the best? I want to compile any best practices that you've encountered and seen work--what are they, and why?

Of course, there is no one best way of doing things!

One my favorite GM's never played a single character, taking on the role of the entire environment (NPC's, setting, plot) to respond to the player's characters. This was great fun for me, but it put all responsibility of plot creation on him (booo). I'm interested in how to facilitate good collaboration between players--one thing I've tried a chat group on Discord, a chat messenger mostly used for gaming, and Google Docs to edit the same post for dialogue heavy scenes.

GM's really set the tone for how an RP plays out--how members collaborate, incentives/disincentives for accountability, general mood, etc--so I'd love to hear your best and interesting experiences with GM's and what made them so.

Firm enforcement of the game's rules and environment combined with an accepting air to ideas and criticism. I like a GM that doesn't roll over, but isn't a hard-ass either.

We've too many experiences to have a single "best" one. But one of the most satisfying ones recently was when we released the CS templates for our upcoming relaunch of Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath and immediately had twelve players (including the three GMs) ready even without an interest check. Most of these were returning players, but some were new too.

Truly satisfying this.

@McHaggis I appreciate and am honored by the shoutout, but I would like to point out you used past tense verbs in your post and Northwood is somehow still kicking...

@McHaggis Aw shucks. Thanks love. I guess it's good I'm like OCD level organized, you know? Plus. I just personally like making my writers' lives easier whether I'm co-gming or gming or just in the story with no authority.

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Now. My experiences with other GMs. This will more be what I've taken from my experiences rather than a specific experience. The struggle we GMs and Co-gms may go through is burning out far too fast. We have an addiction for storytelling but if we don't have a group of people to help us carry our vision, things will fall expeditiously.

- My biggest thing about a roleplay is the GM/Co-gm interaction with their writer. The more you talk to your writers, the more you show them who you are and that you are so grateful that they are part of your story, that... that is what matters to me. I've stumbled upon GMs that bumped me the wrong way because they're either on a power trip, they aren't completely upfront with you, or they disappear from the face of the Earth. Communication is key in a hobby like this. If you've lost interest in your own roleplay, do not leave your writers hanging. Tell them. More often than not, they will understand.



- Character driven plots that have some direction, not terribly ordered, but enough for your writers to have something to work off of. Too much of anything is never a good thing. There needs to be a balance between freedom of characters and story direction. That's a personal belief though.



- Letting your writers have as much control over the story as you do. Yes. I may have a overarching plot in my head BUT roleplaying is a collaborative effort and I'm willing to improvise and modify the bigger picture depending on what each and every character story brings to the table. I love love love when my writers add to my world. I may have painted them a picture of my overall concept, but they help me fine tune it. They each grab a brush and add their touch to our beautiful masterpiece. If my roleplays make it passed a certain point, it's not only thanks to me, it's thanks to my writers. They made that happen. This is not only my story anymore. It's our story.



- GMs/Co-gms that are willing to explain things to writers that want to learn and are willing to listen to critique. The best feeling I've ever gotten was when a writer who never tried an advanced roleplay before asked me if they could learn. They loved the concept so much that they were willing to learn. A trial and error experience. There is a chance that 'the quality' of the roleplay may be brought down because of it, which it wasn't, that person actually brought a lot of interesting things to the story, but because I didn't shut him out, he grew as a writer. The harsher you are as a GM/Co-gm the more likely you'll leave a bad taste in our mouths. Yes, you need to be strict to some degree when it comes to your rules and etc, but you don't need to be an ass about it and you don't need to be so unyielding to 'your way' that you're not willing to listen to your writers that are genuinely interested. I guess I never believed in the phrase: It's my way or the highway. That'll only lead to people dropping out or you kicking more than half your cast out. I'm not saying be a pushover. The best GMs, in my opinion, are the ones who are interactive with their writers and the ones who listen and take in what you say. That doesn't mean you have to take every little critique from your group, but you could consider how it would effect your story and if they're idea would help for the better. Understanding goes a long way when you're dealing with different people.

Oh to add to my long essay of my opinions:

@McHaggis You should come back to it... we miss you

Wow, this is great! Thank you so much, guys--I'm definitely learning a lot :)

I learned a lot from Jig

I have no idea what, but <3

@Jig This guy, and @corneredbliss this beauty, and @Kirah and @TheMaster99 these two taught me lots and lots about GMing that I never even knew went into it. :D !

If you have the time, I strongly recommend checking out some RPs run by these wonderful people, including the former Woll Manor (which I cannot find the link to just this second asdf), the spiritual sequel Wolf Manor and the resurrection because we loved it so much, the spunky and très français Chateau de LaLune.

In my opinion, these were some of the best RPs I've ever, ever been in, courtesy of the GM/s and also their cast of lovely players!

So, as to the real gist of this post... but I worry whatever I wanted to say has already been said! Oh well! :)

What made these brilliant were how the GM responded to the challenge that is the theme of the RPs. I feel like the same person running two games, one fantasy and one sci fi, can't just expect both to be run the same way. We ran mysteries, and so the style of GMing was a lot different to say, something a lot more open world that I was in, like Shine City (run by @Dynamo Frokane, but I'll talk about why I like his style in a minute too)

So, the GM should be passionate about their work, and that's a big one. I know it oftentimes needs the players, too, but the GM should be the one encouraging and including everyone, some way or another. Also, depending on the type of rp, the GM needs to figure out how to work with small vs large groups of people. There's an optimum number and it lies between 5-9 players in my opinion, any more and it's too much of a scramble, and any less and it's more of a private affair.

Regardless. A GM should be willing and ready to heavily commit to plot. They are usually the ones driving the story forward, after all. And whereas an idea is in mind, one shouldn't aim to smother their players either. I know in the Manor series, all GMs had to make complete 180s because players didn't do thing A or thing B, and instead did thing Q, which was completely plausible but about the last thing the GM ever thought of happening.

There was lots more I wanted to say but I totally forgot because I got swamped with neighbours, but I'm sure just giving those RPs a look would do you lots of good, friend! :D I lovelovelove works of art in the ooc too, as character sheets and what have you.

@lovely complex is responsible for being the one to show me just how colourful and beautiful formatted posts ic and ooc can be, too! That definitely makes them so much better on the eyes to read...