Roll20 has been celebrating GM’s Day all week, and today we’re happy to bring you a wealth of sage advice from seasoned Game Masters, Players, Publishers, and Independent Creators who have spent time developing and enjoying TTRPGs for years. Below, you’ll find advice from DM Todd Bloom – Professional Dungeon Master, Matt Forbeck – writer and game designer responsible for the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game, Guilherme Fuhr from Monkey’s Tavern, David North, Rich Lescouflair -Lead Designer at Alligator Alley Entertainment, Christopher Landauer – Director of Marketing at Pinnacle Entertainment, John “Mr. Biscuits” Murry from BiscuitTinRPG, Jeff Alexander – Lead Designer at Brave New Worlds, and Dragonix from Dragonix Books.
Advice for GMs
We asked our partners how GM’s can best create engaging and memorable adventures for the Players at their tables. Here’s what they had to say:
- LISTEN – Your players will TELL you what they are looking for in a game, often times indirectly. Of course, you can just ask them, which is a great idea for a Session 0. But they will often times say what it is they are enjoying or not enjoying during each session beyond that. Adjust accordingly. – TB
- If you have the time for it, ask the players to fill in their characters’ backstories, even just a little bit. Just a few lines to a paragraph is fine. A close reading of these can tell you what the characters care about — and how you can use that against them! Sharp players know that they’re planting seeds for a character’s future by revealing those bits about their past, and they generally appreciate that you’re paying attention to their creative work. Weave these bits into your plans. If they become part of the main plot, great, but even just having them as intriguing subplots can add a lot of spice to a game and help everyone feel like they’re contributing to the greater story. – MF
- Think about the fun first. If it ain’t fun it will not be memorable. You don’t need to forget the rules, but sometimes breaking them will be more memorable than sticking to them. – GF
- Remember that players may wish to go off the beaten path. It can be ok to let them know you only have certain things prepared if you aren’t comfortable with winging it. Prepare the players idea for a future session as a compromise. – DN
- Always leave room for yourself to improvise when your players do something unexpected, and reward players for quick-thinking and clever use of their abilities. You create more memorable moments when your players are the main catalyst for how your stories develop. – RL
- Make sure each pre-generated character is useful in the scenario and has a moment to shine during the adventure. Devise interesting outcomes for both player success and failure. Keep the Bennies flowing and pay attention to what players spend them on, it’s an indication of what they value most in a game. – CL
- The number one rule I follow is this: It’s about fun for your table so make sure you include everyone and deal with problems with other players when they come up. When one player or you as the Storyteller cause drama it ruins the fun for everyone. – JM
- Make sure to build into encounters ways for all your players to shine and don’t be afraid of following dice rolls into unexpected territory. – JA
- Inject dynamic set pieces and surprise creatures into your combat encounters. Borrow from the movies like Die Hard, Mission Impossible, Indiana Jones, etc. During combat, have columns break and fall or roll over your players or have bridges and floors crumble into pits, and then have your players try to grab edges or grab those who are falling by using reactions. Surprise your players by having them encounter a new creature or what they think is a creature they’ve fought before, only to find out that it’s a different type. – D
To run a successful game, prioritize listening to your players, both directly and indirectly. This ensures that you understand their preferences and allows you the opportunity to adjust accordingly. Encourage character backstory involvement for deeper engagement, and incorporate elements from their past into the narrative. Focus on fun experiences, even if it means breaking rules occasionally! Always be prepared to improvise when players venture off course, and ensure each player has moments to shine, both in combat and role-play scenarios (don’t forget to reward clever thinking). Maintain a balanced atmosphere by addressing conflicts promptly, and design encounters that showcase each player’s strengths and introduce surprises to keep the game interesting.
Techniques
When the time comes to prepare a campaign, story-telling and world-building can feel like monumental tasks, setting the tone for everyone’s experience at the table. Lean in by following these tips from our experts:
- Pull from the Player Characters’ backstories and incorporate that into the primary narrative. This automatically gives the PCs incentive and desire to pursue the narrative threads that you as the DM want them to pursue anyway. – TB
- Take notes as you go, even if the players don’t. If you’re not great at that, see if you can get one of the players to keep a journal of the game for you that you can consult as you go forward. Also, listen to the players as they try to figure out where the story is going. If they’re heading in the right direction but too fast, toss in some complications for them to hurdle. If they come up with a theory that’s better than what you had planned, go ahead and use it! Just make sure to put a fresh spin on it so they can feel like they saw it coming — but not the whole thing.- MF
- Question your players about what shows/films/series they like, and try to put something of that into your games. So a little green and old guy comes to share wisdom and knowledge from a far away galaxy, or some evil guy made one ring to control your npcs? They will find it fun and amusing, and if you want to create your own world, start with the maps: where things are, how people from one place have more ore than food and are trading with one that haves more food than ore… wars that can happen, how the common guys live in your world should make for a great start. – GF
- It’s always easier to think about the vibe you want for your world before actually coming up with pieces for it. It makes it simple to add new areas in the future if needed. – DN
- Take aspects of your player character’s origin, history, or background and weave them into the overall storyline of your campaign. This sense of immersion creates an additional level of enjoyment for the players, and gives their characters personal motivations toward achieving your story’s overarching goal. It also helps you flesh out setting details you may have not considered creating on your own. – RL
- For tense scenes or horror games, tell your players to limit table talk and only speak in character at the table. This raises the tension and creates immersion. – CL
- Be descriptive but not overly so. It’s fun to paint a picture but not everybody needs that level of detail. Some people are good with just, “it’s damp and stinky’, while others want a full visual cinema. Know your audience. – JM
- I try to always end a session with at least one unresolved plot point and encourage the players to discuss how they plan to handle it, that way I can make sure I focus my prep for the next session on exactly the plot points the players are most interested in. – JA
- When planning your campaign, always set your end story goal. Once you’ve set your end story, it’s easy to fill in the middle parts. – D
Be sure to integrate elements from player characters’ backstories into the overarching storyline, providing intrinsic motivation for their involvement in the story while deepening immersion and personal motivations. Keep detailed notes and encourage players to contribute to the story’s direction, adapting to their theories and pacing as you go while adding fresh twists. Incorporate elements from media that resonate with your players to inject fun and familiarity into the world-building, and establish the setting’s vibe before adding details for flexibility in expansion. Maintain tension by limiting table talk in intense scenes, and tailor descriptions to suit preferences for immersion. End sessions with unresolved plot points to guide future preparation based on player interest, and establish the campaign’s end goal early to help guide narrative development.
Resources
We greatly appreciate the excellent advice shared above, and are happy to share some of the various products our partners bring to the table, as well as their explanation at how GM’s can utilize their work most effectively:
- Matt Forbeck recommends the Narrator’s chapter in the back of the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game Core Rulebook as a resource for enhancing your campaigns. Once absorbed, The Cataclysm of Kang contains an epic adventure that can take heroes from origin story to saving the cosmos!
- The 3D-modeled maps from Monkey’s Tavern are a great resource for GMs’ adventures. They have evil castles and dungeons, taverns, region maps, and tiles if you prefer to design your own.
- David North‘s token sets feature very expressive monsters and characters that show personality and details to add a more immersive experience for players. He has nearly 150 different Art packs available on Roll20!
- Alligator Alley Entertainment‘s Esper Genesis core books (Core Manual, Master Technician’s Guide, and Threats Database) make up the definitive sci-fi resource for 5E with galactic heroes, starships, sci-fi character options, and galaxy building for all modern/sci-fi genres. The game is universally compatible with other 5E products with optional rules and tables that you can plug and play into any D&D game!
- Take advantage of the Pinnacle Entertainment‘s official SWADE character sheet and Savage Worlds Adventure Edition Compendium Bundle. To really get into the action try adding our Action Deck and Adventure Deck Addons to enhance immersion and player agency – all can be found Bundled HERE.
- BiscuitTinRPG has player options aplenty available on DriveThruRPG, and suggests The First Gate: A Menagerie of Madness if you’re seeking new world setting to explore. It focuses on mechanics for the sake of role-play rather than power gaming. They also offer a variety of cursed items.
- Brave New Worlds encourages building encounters with an engaging mix of combatants that utilize the layouts of their maps to provide engaging and dynamic combat for players. Their GM’s Starter Kit bundle is a great way to kick off your map collection!
- Dragonix knows that one of the challenges of being a GM is finding the time to make and prepare an adventure. When building an encounter pressed for time, you may become less creative and just hurry through the process, picking whatever is available. Monster Manual Expanded and Dragonix’s Deadly Denizens allow GMs to pick the right creatures for the encounter they want, instead of just settling for what is available, and thus setting up more memorable battles!
- DM Todd Bloom provides multi-layered and animated maps that can help enhance anyone’s games, and runs games for players and aspiring GMs looking to learn. He also offers teaching and coaching services and has a robust catalog of maps on DMsGuild.
Thanks again to all the Game Masters across the world who help shape the adventures and friendships that bring our community together. Your work is incredible, and Roll20 is proud to provide a space where your your campaigns can come to life.