Gamemaster Guidelines
Thinking about running games? Awesome, we're going to help you do it.
Every table needs a gamemaster, and there are always more players looking for games than people running them. This page covers how to start GMing in TVG, what we expect from our GMs, and practical advice to be a great GM:
Becoming a GM
TVG is a teaching community, so you do not need experience to start running games. You just have to be willing to try. Every GM you've ever admired fumbled their way through games until they got good.
There are two ways to get started:
- On Discord - Select the Gamemaster tag in
#role-request. That gives you access to the GM channels and pings you when public events need gamemasters. See Running Public Tables for more guidelines. - On this website - Hit the Create Campaign button and post a game. See Running a Private Table for more guidelines.
If you want to organize your own public events under TVG, that is a special role with its own responsibilities - see the Organizer Guidelines.
GM Expectations
We do want to make sure our public games are welcoming and fun. Many times, your table will be a new player's first impression of the hobby, so we want it to be a good experience. To help with that:
- Follow the community rules - Everything in our Community Standards applies doubly to you, because you set the tone for your whole table.
- Treat your players well - Be respectful, be patient, and be understanding, especially with new players. Nobody appreciated the GM who mocked them or their character at the table.
- Take boundaries seriously - For private tables, we highly recommend you establish boundaries before the game, and follow those established boundaries. For public games, it's important to maintain a PG-13 environment. If a player says a scene crossed a line, pivot without debating it. If you feel as if a player is behaving inappropriately at your table, you can ask them to leave at any time. If a player is creating problems and not following community guidelines, you can also bring it up with the admins or organizers.
Running Public Tables
Quickshots, OSR Night, and our other public events always need GMs, and running one is the fastest way to meet a variety of players. When a @Gamemaster call goes up in Discord for an event, respond to claim a table. We only have limited slots for GMs at any given event, so reach out when you have the chance!
Claiming a table generally involves working with the organizers to get a description of your game posted. That usually means giving a description of the game you want to run. Then on game day, come prepared:
- Know your system well enough to teach it - You may be handing dice to someone who has never rolled one. You don't need every rule memorized, but you should be able to explain the basics without opening the book. If you're flying blind, have good reference material and cheat sheets!
- Bring pregenerated characters - Public events run on a clock. A stack of ready-to-play characters means the table starts adventuring immediately, and also cuts out a lot of rules explanation. You can always run a character creator workshop with interested players another time!
- Run a prepared module - Official or homebrew, either is fine, but have it prepped. A public table with a hard time limit is a difficult place for a new GM to improvise a whole adventure.
- Keep your eye on the clock - Do your best to keep the pace up and keep everyone involved, but it's okay to make mistakes and not be perfect. You can always run a follow-up game.
Running a Private Table
Ready to run your own campaign? You can create a private game from your profile or the LFG board. For the best experience:
- Write a thorough description - Make sure to address the system, schedule, and tone to accurately portray what kind of game you're running. You can also define player expectations if you'd like.
- Respond to join requests promptly - Let approved players know either way, either approving or declining. You can approve or decline via email/Discord. Games that linger in creation too long usually fall apart, so keep the momentum going.
- Establish table rules - Plan to set expectations up front to define allowed content, table rating, table theme, and attendance policy. See Establish Table Rules - GM Edition below for a full checklist.
Establish Table Rules - GM Edition
Determine any required table rules and themes before you post, and then check with your players to see if any additional rules should be established before you play.
- Schedule the game - Decide what days you can best run a game. Do not bend your own schedule unrealistically to accommodate players, because while they may drop in and out, you have to keep to this schedule or the game dies.
- Determine allowed rule content - When deciding what system you'll play, make sure you know what rules you'll use. Considerations include:
- Determine edition - For systems with numerous editions, this matters. Verify which official books and supplements players should use.
- Allow/disallow 3rd-party homebrew or unofficial content - Is extra content included? If you're brand new, we don't recommend this. Try out the base system before you try out the custom stuff.
- Custom rules/homebrew - If you have your own unofficial rules, make sure they are written up and referenceable somehow so you can explain them to players.
- Determine table and age rating - Decide who your target audience is:
- Is your table rated G, PG, PG-13, or R?
- Is your table comfortable with profanity, drinking, or other vices?
- Are children or teenagers are allowed at the table? Do not invite children without parents, and absolutely do not invite children/teens if there is any questionable content included.
- Determine allowed/disallowed topics - Determine if there are any controversial topics the campaign will be specifically addressing or disallowing, and if mature themes are going to be included. If you know the table is going to veer into mature content, make sure you include that in the description. Remember you're a player too. If you aren't comfortable with something, set a hard line before the game starts. There are several "Safety Tools" available you can use to adjust content either before the game or on the fly:
- A Boundary Consent form lets players flag various sensitive subjects.
- Lines and Veils allow players to set hard and soft boundaries around content, with subjects not included and fade to black subjects.
- X-Cards allow players to remove content on the fly they find uncomfortable.
- Session 0 is an informal pre-game meeting where the campaign's tone, themes, and content can be discussed. We recommend this especially.
- Determine if disruptive characters are allowed - Will you allow PvP? Evil Characters? Deranged Chaotic Neutral? Murderhobos? Figure out how disruptive you are comfortable letting players be. It's okay for GMs to require good people that will help each other. Managing an evil group is delicate work that often ends in an exploded table.
- Listen to your instincts - If you think a player will be a problem for you, or another player, don't feel bad about not including them. No table is better than a bad table.
Warning: Romance, erotic roleplay, and sexual content during a game are the source of most RPG Horror stories. You do not have to allow this kind of content. Do not allow it in public games. If you do use this kind of content in private games, make sure you have explicit and enthusiastic consent from every single member of the table.
We highly recommend a Session 0 so the whole group can discuss rules and boundaries.
How to Run the Game
Whether you are running a public or private game, there are a few universal truths to putting together a good table.
Picking a System to Run
When deciding what system to play, look for one that matches the kind of experience you are trying to create. While there are hundreds of systems, and many ways to describe them, many fall under a few core themes:
- Narrative-first games (Powered by the Apocalypse, Blades in the Dark, Fate, Daggerheart) - Rules-light engines where the fiction drives the mechanics. Failure pushes the story forward instead of stopping it. Less prep, more improvisation, and the players share a lot of the storytelling load.
- Tactical and crunchy games (D&D, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Lancer, Cyberpunk RED) - Grid combat, deep character builds, and encounter math. This requires more prep and more rules mastery than most other systems, but this is also what a lot of people think of when they think of TTRPGs. (And a D&D table is probably the easiest table to fill in Idaho.)
- Old-school and survival games (Old-School Essentials, Shadowdark, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Mörk Borg, Mothership) - Lethal, resource-driven, and light on rules. Player cleverness is more important than character abilities. Great for GMs who like making rulings and keeping the action going, and also for gamers that want to play immediately without requiring hours of study to start.
- Horror and investigation games (Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Vaesen, Brindlewood Bay) - Investigative games rely on following clues, building suspense, and characters who are usually in over their heads. These games can go entire sessions on just the threat of combat.
This doesn't mean you can't run an investigation in D&D or a deep narrative experience in an OSR game, it just means that the rules support one a little better than the other.
When choosing, run what you are excited about. Your passion is more important than a perfect fit. That said, be realistic about recruiting: the more niche the system, the more your listing needs to sell it to get a table.
For a deeper breakdown of these styles and which games and systems each one supports, see Game Styles. To add more games to the list, contact the admins!
Managing Players
The hardest part of GMing is player management, which is like herding cats into a dragon's lair without them picking at the gold. To maximize your fun, try to follow these guidelines:
- Learn what kind of fun each player is after - Some players want tactical challenge, some want to explore every side passage, some want to perform their character's big dramatic scenes, and some just want to relax and roll dice with friends. None of these are wrong, but each speaks to a certain type of game, and you want to balance player interests with the story you want to tell.
- Tell the story together - A TTRPG campaign is a collaborative experience, built on the triumvirate of the conflicts you set up, the decisions your players make, and the results of the dice. You need to make sure all three get their spotlight to keep the game as a game. This is what lets the story stay surprising for both you and your players, and helps RPGs remain a unique experience.
- Use their backstories - For narrative and tactical games, backstories are a great shortcut to player engagement. It's the fastest prep you'll ever do, but only if you use it. Players hand you their characters' families, enemies, and dreams because they want those things to matter.
- Share the spotlight - Make sure you directly ask quiet players what their characters are doing, and follow up on it. Don't just answer the loudest voice at the table. At the same time, if a player is consistently making themselves a spectator, respect that decision and let them be a support character. (Some GMs enjoy taking secondary roles when playing, and some players are just there for socialization.)
- Handle minor problems privately - Don't be shy about addressing problem behavior (hogging the spotlight, endless rules arguments, phone-scrolling, disruptive antics). If the player seems to want to engage but is doing it badly, talk to them privately to find out what is happening and try to find a path forward.
- Handle serious stuff immediately - Bullying, bigotry, and harassment are different. Correct it immediately and publicly. Fair or not, people count on the GM to set the tone. If it continues, remove the player from your game. One bad player isn't worth losing the table. Feel free to report it per the Community Standards...we don't want jerks using our platform to abuse people.
Managing the Rules
You're the referee, and referees keep the game moving.
- Know your base rules - Read the core rules and anything you allow in from supplements or homebrew. You can't adjudicate what you haven't read, and rules lawyers can smell uncertainty.
- Make a ruling and move on - Stopping the game every five minutes to look something up drags down a session. Make the call that seems most fun, note it, and check the book afterward. Announce this policy in Session 0 so nobody's surprised.
- Don't be afraid to let players improvise small stuff - When a player asks "is there a cart nearby?", they have a plan brewing. If yes is possible and interesting, say yes. If both outcomes could be interesting, let the dice decide. Save your "no" for things that break the world or the table's fun.
- Judge intent, not performance - Don't force a shy player to deliver a perfect speech to earn a persuasion roll. Let them tell you what their character is trying to do and how, then set the difficulty on the approach. A clever plan earns a bonus. Playing a smooth talker shouldn't require being one.
- Are you sure? - If a player is about to insult the king to his face, make sure they know how badly it could go. The player doesn't see what their character sees, and it's your job to clarify. If they do it anyway, let them have the consequences they've earned. There's a difference between a character making a bad decision and a player misunderstanding the scene.
- Be consistent - Make the rules you think are best, but apply them evenly. If you're wrong about a rule, own it. Rulings players disagree with are survivable; rulings that feel arbitrary can make the game not fun.
Prepping Sessions
There are dozens of ways to prep, and a lot of digital ink has been spilled talking about it. Here are a few basic suggestions:
- Prep a scenario, not a plot - A scenario is "A giant space station is going to start blowing up rebel planets." A plot is "Rebels attack and shoot a missile down the exhaust vent." As a GM, create the conflict and decide who the movers and shakers are. Don't script how the players will win - that's for the players and dice to decide.
- Give your villains goals instead of scenes - If you plan what your villains want to do and who they are, they can act and react to a changing story. They can respond to the players, or push their plans forward if the players do nothing, which keeps things from derailing.
- Define the central conflict of each encounter - Each scene/encounter in your game should have a purpose. If you know what the central conflict is, you can resolve the scene when it is completed. Don't feel bad about skipping ahead if the scene is over.
- Three Clue Rule - If the plot requires finding hidden information, put it in three places with three ways to get it, or make sure they fail forward if they miss it. Tables stall out when one bad perception check locks progression.
- Steal everything - Listen, we're GMs. We have an afternoon to create everything a game needs and then go live. Don't feel bad about ripping off movies, stories, games, and real-world history for inspiration and exposition. Lift maps from modules, NPCs from novels, and plots from movies. Do just enough prep to file off the serial numbers and move forward. If they catch it, it's an homage, if they don't, you're a genius.
- Don't waste content - The dungeon they skipped can reappear down the road. The clue they missed can surface in the next town. Nothing you prepare is wasted unless you throw it away. And you can always rewrite to fit.
- Don't get attached to NPCs - Your players will absolutely murder your favorite recurring villain in the most humiliating way possible. Let them. NPCs exist for the players, not the other way around.
Managing Combat
Pacing also matters for combat. It's easy to get bogged down in combat, especially for tactical games. Don't overplan or overthink combat. Quick tips:
- Action economy usually wins - Challenge ratings and encounter budgets are rough guides at best. The number of actions each side takes per round matters more than strong stats. When in doubt, add more monsters, or more actions for solo bosses (legendary actions, lair effects, reinforcements) if the party keeps wiping the floor with your encounters. (Especially when you have a big table.)
- Players punch at different weights - Figuring out your players' skills are more important than CR tables. If you see they are really good, scale up combat. If they are more casual, it's okay to make the game casual in response.
- Give fights purpose and flavor - All fights should have a central conflict. When that's done, get out of the fight. Also, give the battlefield something fun: a chandelier to drop, a cliff to shove someone off, terrain that changes mid-fight. This keeps them fresh.
- Adjust on the fly - Fight going too easy? Reinforcements arrive. Turning into a slaughter? Enemies flee, surrender, or take the escape route you quietly invented just now. Your fights should serve your game and narrative beats.
Stuck on something, or just want to talk shop? The GM channels on Discord are full of people who love this stuff and have opinions to spare.