Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Dervish
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Dervish Let's get volatile

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GMing is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, aspects of roleplaying. As anyone who’s ever attempted it can tell you, it does not take much for the entire roleplay to come undone and for many GMs, new and old; it can be frustrating to see something you have poured your heart into erode before your eyes.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to give yourself the best shot at success and a long and healthy roleplay. I’m here to share what I know and try and give you guys who might be having a hard time some of my experience and observations doing this GMing thing for a not insignificant chunk of my life and hopefully offer some tools and ideas for you prospective GMs out there to have the best shot at success and help the roleplays in this community flourish.

Some quick background, my name is Dervish; I’ve been on RPG and doing this GMing thing since 2012 more or less constantly, and currently I’m running The Elder Scrolls: Vengeance of the Deep, a roleplay currently over half a million words, 19 active characters across 12 players that’s been going for nearly 2 years and should be reaching the end of its narrative sometime late this year if all goes according to plan. Other than VotD, I’ve run a bunch of different roleplays over the years, some lasting only a few months, to some that crested over the 2 year mark. Each one has taught me a lot of valuable lessons and given me hard earned experience that I want to share with you so you hopefully don’t have to go 7 years before you figure out what works for you.

Let’s get to it!
























Hopefully this 6,600 word essay of how I personally have found success GMing is going to be something that’s useful to you and help foster a healthier and happier roleplaying community where games last an eternity, people feel engaged, and we don’t have to keep wondering if the games we’re joining are going to last or not. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this, hopefully finding enjoyment at my awful sense of humour, and you learned a few things. The main thing is to prepare yourself, organize everything, and plan ahead before you even start and know exactly what you want from your players before getting into it and then keeping the game’s momentum going and weeding out poor behavior before it spreads and you should find yourself surprised that several months have passed and it seems like your players aren’t going anywhere. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, want to know why the sky is blue, anything at all, my inbox is usually empty and sad because I’m more of a recluse than Obi-wan Kenobi and just as likely to disappear into a bathrobe at the first sign of conflict.

As always, stay excellent, and I wish you all the treasures in the world in your roleplaying futures.

Now go out there and make some stories that you’ll remember for a lifetime, you nerd.
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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by POOPHEAD189
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POOPHEAD189 Worrier

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Wew lad, this @Dervish guy sure GMs!
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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Dervish
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Dervish Let's get volatile

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@Gcold no u ;D
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Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Greenie
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Greenie

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I for one am super happy and grateful you wrote this guide. GMing for smol groups was something I'd done more or less back when I restarted roleplaying, but because of some bad experiences I gave up on it, and even when the idea of maaaaybe trying again popped up, it'd be something that I was too scared to even attempt, even for friends.

The way you wrote it is Greenie (dummy :P) friendly and not something like overcooked dry chicken breast, so thank you! I'm definitely looking forward to start working on something in the next couple of months, and you can bet I'm going to be keeping this open in another tab.

Thank you for taking out the time and effort in writing all this. You is motivation! <3
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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Dervish
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Dervish Let's get volatile

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@GreenieIt is my genuine pleasure, and you best let me know how it goes when you try again!
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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Greenie
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Greenie

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@GreenieIt is my genuine pleasure, and you best let me know how it goes when you try again!


Haha it'd be more of a shock if I didn't ^^;
Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Hank
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Hank Dionysian Mystery

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This is one of the most useful resources on this site. I'm definitely going to use this as a sacred text I desperately cling to for salvation guide if and when I try my hand at GMing again.
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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by BrokenPromise
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BrokenPromise With Rightious Hands

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Pretty much how I GM things. A good informative read for anyone interested in taking up the mantle of GM.
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Hidden 5 yrs ago 5 yrs ago Post by Red7VII
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Red7VII Magnificent Bastard

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In my opinion, this is the best GM guide on the site, currently. Well done, man! I love the tips and tricks and even troubleshooting suggestions for when the RP get in a pickles. Well friggin done!
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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Dervish
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Dervish Let's get volatile

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@RedVII I appreciate it! I hope one day someone can come back and say it helped them a lot in running a game or gave them confidence in GMing. Everyone's got a lot of potential, they just sometimes need to be shown where to grab onto first. I hope it helps, Red!
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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Leidenschaft
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Leidenschaft Relax, only half-dead

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@RedVII I appreciate it! I hope one day someone can come back and say it helped them a lot in running a game or gave them confidence in GMing. Everyone's got a lot of potential, they just sometimes need to be shown where to grab onto first. I hope it helps, Red!


This gave me confidence in GMing and is going to help me run my game.

In all seriousness though, as much as everyone here knows I hate you and hold you as my most bitter rival, I am taking this. I’ve tried three times to bring to my life a passion project of an RP that’s pretty close to me, and all of this advice gives me some hope and much needed insight into what I was doing wrong. Perhaps this time it’ll be better and I can see my RP through and prove it everybody in my friends and family that I’m better than you despite what they say.
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