Are You GM Material?

You’ve fallen in love with stories and worlds. You’ve spent hours sitting around a table with your friends cultivating stories you know you will never forget. And then you get that itch– you want to be the one to facilitate creativity. You want the world your friends fall in love with to be of your own creation. But– can you really do it?

The good news is, you can!

I will be the first to admit that I am not the best GM to ever live. I struggle hardcore with stats and creating engaging combat for my players. But I haven’t let that stop me. The trick is, pick what you are good at and lean into it. I know that I know how to weave a tale and I know how to build a world and characters that are engaging and fun. And so when I create a campaign I lean into my strengths. And you can too.

Today I am going to outline for you a few tips and tricks I have learned for making an interesting and entertaining campaign when I feel like my flaws are all too obvious. 

Identify Your Strengths

What are you passionate about? What are you good at? Do you love to create worlds? Do you love doing funny voices and making interesting NPCs? Or are you a numbers person? Can you create intricate builds for your villains and monsters? Can you create the most memorable battle of your players’ lives?

For me the answer was easy. I love world building, story creation, and NPCs with backstories so detailed the players will probably never know them like I do. 

Lean Into Your Strengths

I knew I would never be able to make a super engaging combat. I struggle with stats and flow of a battle. The numbers make my brain hurt. So I turned to my world building and storytelling to help me through those parts I struggled with. 

This is difficult for me to explain so I will instead regale you with an example from one of my campaigns: There my players were, in this room I had so lovingly created full of random items built up into tall piles, when a banshee appeared. Immediately three of the characters were knocked unconscious by the banshee’s shrill voice. The fight had begun. I was fully prepared to struggle through the fight, hoping I could make it fun. When out of nowhere, one of the players asked the banshee why it was attacking them. It was unexpected and so I did what any smart person with an acute knowledge of their weaknesses would do. I let it happen. I began to roleplay because that was so much easier than trying to fight them. Eventually they talked the banshee down and I was able to come up with a backstory for this random monster on the spot. Was she actually the cursed handmaiden of a queen who had been trapped in this castle for hundreds of years? Absolutely. And no one needed to know that hadn’t been part of the original plan.The moment became a memorable one that my players still talk about today. It had all the tension of a battle without me having to struggle with the numbers. A win-win. 

Of course I still had to make sure I was giving my players combat every now and then, but I realized that they didn’t mind so much that my combat wasn’t exceptional, because my story telling was. 

The moral of the story is, if one part of your campaign is extra fun, everything else will feel fun too. So, don’t worry too much about what you can’t do, and give your all to what you can. 

Let Yourself Have Fun

If you’re not enjoying yourself, no one else is either. You create the mood. If something unexpected is thrown at you, usually the best thing to do is let it happen. Trust me, you will fall more in love with your story if you let it evolve in unexpected ways. Enjoy the ride. 

In the end, you’re more capable than you think. Roleplaying is all about having fun and collaborating. If you struggle with any part of GMing, your players can help fill in the gap. It was always meant to be done together. 

You are GM material. Go forth and create!