A lot of conversations both here and on other forums seem to come back to a root problem of RPGs being the GM. The GM affects everything in the game. If you have a good GM, he can make a game session enjoyable even if you have a crappy system and multiple problem Players. Likewise, a crappy GM can ruin even the best RPG system and piss off the most awesome Players.

Now, part of the problem with the quality of GMs is that many of them, myself included, are self-taught. Even with the use of helpful books, blogs, and columns on GMing (Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering, Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads both come immediately to mind) the typical GM is still self-taught.

So has anyone given thought to how to train a GM to be good? Apprenticeship training maybe? How To books? Socratic dialogue amoung small groups? Lectures?

Can it even be done? Many people have unique styles of GMing. Some are designed with a set group of the same Players in mind and tailored to them. Would those GMs even benefit from this?

I think books can do the job, they just don't go far enough. Despite the books, articles and blogs, I still feel there really is a lack of support for GMs out there. I like "Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering" and I have gone back and reread it several times, whenever I feel I sort of losing my way as GM, but it still just scratches the surface.

I see all sorts of GMs making the same elementary mistakes time and again. I'm not talking about getting the rules wrong, I am talking about the basic stuff; lazy story structure, playing NPcs that overshadow the players, asking players meaningless dice rolls and then getting stumped when players unexpectedly succeed or fail and any number of bread and butter technique issues.  

And worse of all they don't seem aware that they are making mistakes. They walk away from he gaming table feeling they've done the greatest job in the world while the players are left scratching their heads wondering, "What the hell was that about?".

But maybe that is the problem. The reason there isn't a solid body of advice out there is that there too many GMs don't think they need it.

GM'ing is like any other social skill.  Some people can be self taught, some people can learn through example and training and others will never understand.

Oh, hell yeah.  I even wrote up and presented a GMing seminar, complete with exercises and such.  It was well-received by those who listened to it, but it pointed out to me the excesses in technique that eventually led me to waste that particular Buddha with my crossbow.

Quote from: jeff37923;301060Now, part of the problem with the quality of GMs is that many of them, myself included, are self-taught.

It's like sex. Everyone wants to know how to do it better, but nobody will publicly admit they're not very good, so they'll rarely ask for help, just search out articles about it... and the really crappy ones are convinced they're brilliant, it was just all those other people involved who were no good.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears, they say - but the GMing student is rarely ready. The thing is that the sort of person who becomes the GM is the sort of person who just steps up and takes charge; and the sort of person who just steps up and takes charge is not the sort of person who asks for help in doing things better.

And Plato then took up pondering: Can good gamemastering be taught?

Quote from: jeff37923;301060So has anyone given thought to how to train a GM to be good? Apprenticeship training maybe? How To books? Socratic dialogue amoung small groups? Lectures?

Can it even be done? Many people have unique styles of GMing. Some are designed with a set group of the same Players in mind and tailored to them. Would those GMs even benefit from this?

One would have to start with a GM who thinks he is good enough to teach others how to be a GM. I suggest you start with them. I sadly lack sufficient hubris to make any such claim, thus I could not possibly tell you how such a task may be accomplished. Good luck!

-clash

As long as there are player classes at this school too.  

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;301116It's like sex. Everyone wants to know how to do it better, but nobody will publicly admit they're not very good, so they'll rarely ask for help, just search out articles about it... and the really crappy ones are convinced they're brilliant, it was just all those other people involved who were no good.

Very true and, just like sex, it's really easy to get better once you can admit to your shortcomings. (Badum cha!)

Your best critic/teacher is your players find some that aren't afraid to talk about things they want in game.  I'm not talking about know-it-all GM/Players who think everything should be done their way.  Get some unscarred players with pure ideas.  

Well, I think that there can be some instruction given. None better available at this time than Erick Wujcik's instructions in the Amber books.

I'm hoping to add to that myself at some point, with the little book I'm working on about GMing.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!;301113Oh, hell yeah.  I even wrote up and presented a GMing seminar, complete with exercises and such.  It was well-received by those who listened to it, but it pointed out to me the excesses in technique that eventually led me to waste that particular Buddha with my crossbow.

If you've got a copy of that seminar hidden away, I'd be interested in reading it.

I'd never thought of the sex analogy that Kyle mentioned, but it does fit well to GM skills.

So, there are "How To" guides to improving your sex life. What would a "How To" guide to improving your GM skills look like? Should a distinction be made between GMing skills for convention play and GMing skills for gaming with friends?

I used to run D&D tourneys that were GM Only to teach people how to run the D&D events at the SoCal conventions.  It spilled over to people who wanted to learn how to GM asking me to host GM Only events for CoC, Traveller and other games.  

I feel the best training is by example in game (of course, books are good too).   That's how I learn and its why I love cons where I can play with other GMs and pick up different techniques.

WotC would be smart to host Free How-to-DM Seminars at GenCon and give out freebies.   Heck, they should produce a 15 minute video and host it on their website too.

Well, I suppose I trained my current GM.  In my group, we always talk about GMing and how to do it better.  We switch GMing duties between the half dozen or so of us, and so it's necessary that if someone wants to GM, they better be good at it.

Of course, in our group, we also encourage saying why "this game sucks," and have a culture of "no hard feelings, it's just a damn game."

I don't think it's a good idea to train GMs. Sharing ideas is about the best way to go.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: Spinachcat;301256I used to run D&D tourneys that were GM Only to teach people how to run the D&D events at the SoCal conventions.  

If you have any notes saved from these, I'd like to see them.