As I run the game of Ptolus here on the RPG Site, I can't help but think about all the things I love about GMing. Like the prep, the drawing of the maps, the moments where you wonder if this or that idea is going to be too tough on the players, or not enough. Wondering how that is all going to come together in the game.

I love all this stuff. I just love it. I understand people get busy in their lives and don't have as much time to devote to their prep as they did when they were university students, but at the same time, whenever I see people talking about their prep time as some kind of homework they'd rather not do at all, I can't help but think that something might be wrong there. Maybe enjoying the game itself isn't enough. Maybe enjoying the prep is a good thing too.

Also, just watching the players deal with the setting, the information, the clues is just AWESOME. I of course know what's going on, and seeing players come up with all sorts of ideas, some of them surprising, unexpected, or downright outlandish, makes it all worthwhile for me. They're getting intrigued, excited, want to step up to the challenge, and that makes the game so much better for me.

I love this stuff.

The hours I spend making big-ass maps or papercraft props are all worth for that ten seconds of "oh wow" I get during game sessions.

Plus it's lots of fun in its own right.

Other simple joys of GMing, even the prep-work, that I can think of...

Glancing at the results of your random result generator and then becoming simply inspired as you work to shoehorn in the random bits.  I can't even remember how many times a random monster encounter led to either a major adventure tangent or somehow created depth quite by accident.  Placing random treasure creates similar opportunities for me.

GMing creates in me a drive to discover.  I'm not about to launch into a "RPGs make you smart" sort of thing.  However, GMing has trained me to learn more about the real world in an effort to make better settings.

I have to say that having once despised random tables I am now a total convert. For my ICONS supers game I created a set of crime tables to be used at specific intervals during play as a way to vary the pace of the game and make it less predictable. In one instance I rolled:  

When: In progress

What: Kidnapping - Celebrity

Who: Man-beast

Why: Misunderstanding

And it suddenly clicked; this is basically the plot of King Kong. So I had Man-Beast swing in and kidnap a movie starlet at a world premiere of “King Kong 2” which resulted in heroes chasing Man-Beast and his victim across the moonlit city rooftops. As filler scenes go, it felt pretty spectacular.

Unfortunately in the last few session I keep rolling "Nothing now" on these tables.

One of my favorite things when GMing: when the players basically hand you next week's scenario.

Player 1: "Oh my God, what if the Minister actually is Gablifax the Insane? We would be so screwed!"

Player 2: "But that would mean his entire army is actually mind-controlled... and they'd all come after us!"

Gamemaster: "Yes, that would be terrible..." *scribble scribble*

Quote from: Insufficient Metal;419421One of my favorite things when GMing: when the players basically hand you next week's scenario.

Player 1: "Oh my God, what if the Minister actually is Gablifax the Insane? We would be so screwed!"

Player 2: "But that would mean his entire army is actually mind-controlled... and they'd all come after us!"

Gamemaster: "Yes, that would be terrible..." *scribble scribble*

LOL Oh yeah. That's awesome. It's like the random stuff you roll and try to fit in the game, as WB just said.
It's all very stimulating. Plus, it gives you a direct feedback from the players of what they expect. Sometimes you can play with the expectations, or against them, as warranted.

Quote from: winkingbishop;419415GMing creates in me a drive to discover.  I'm not about to launch into a "RPGs make you smart" sort of thing.  However, GMing has trained me to learn more about the real world in an effort to make better settings.

I completely agree, by the way. Same thing with games where players do not roll for everything. If you want to figure out some stuff for yourself, you might get curious and go look for more information in some encyclopedia or whatnot. It makes you, not smarter, but potentially curious about stuff. And that's very cool.

I love making settings, including stuff like recent history and the religions. I know I'll never use most of it, but it's just as big a part of the hobby as actually playing is for me.

Whenever I start working on a new campaign I buy a new journal to keep all of the notes in.
I try to find a journal that has cover art in keeping with the setting (sometimes I create a slip cover myself), open it up to page one and start writting down my first thoughts. Looking at that first blank page is one of my favorite experiences as a GM. All the ideas that have been rattling around in my head for the previous few weeks start to line up and march from my brain, down my arm, through the pen and onto the page.
After that moment comes lots of planning and plotting, mapping and research. But that first moment is really the best.

I guess I'm totally different. I avoid prep, don't stat anything out, maybe draw a map if needed, and foist whatever I can onto the players. I love GMing because with my group it's like juggling chainsaws riding a unicycle on a tightrope over a volcano. The rush is incredible! I GM for the moment.

-clash

I used to not bother with prep work. I mean, I'd have world maps drawn out and world information and shit, but session to session I'd never bother working on the game. I let the thing grow organically during the session. And I had a LOT of fun doing it that way.

But then I started GMing Dark Heresy for a bit, which we all can pretty much accept is Call of Cthulhu in space. Which, like CoC, means that the game will be a LOT of clue-gathering. I started writing out data-slates (i.e. notepads, sorta) they'd find. I worked on making physical clues and shit. And the pay off was incredible.

YMMV, but I've found that a prepped campaign is more detailed and sets up clues for things several adventures down the road. While this was possible to an extent with free-form GMing, I do not believe that it comes close to prepped campaigns.

Fortunately, some games don't require so much prep work. Right now I am running Realms of Cthulhu and free-form GMing would NOT be as successful here. Not when the adventure involves layers and layers of clues and mysteries (as well as red herrings). I made the newspaper clippings they may (or may not) find, the sketches of locales they may (or may not) explore, complete with locations of Mythos-related clues. I need to create the NPCs with rather detailed motives.

Were I running AD&D and focusing on dungeon-looting, wilderness exploring, and hardcore-wenching I think that pre-session prep work, while awesome to work on, is not as necessary. In this regard, it is a matter of taste and style.

But any games involving layers upon layers of mystery? Mandatory prep work there. At least if you want to run a convincing, deep storyline...

-=Grim=-

And yes, Benoist, I also happen to agree - prep work is as much fun as running the game. Sometimes I find it even more fun. Right now I'm addicted to making newspaper clippings for PCs to stumble across. ADDICTED. This newspaper program thing I a fellow CoC Keeper directed me to makes the thing easy as hell, which means MO' CLIPPINGS PER HOUR!



-=Grim=-

Quote from: flyingmice;419448I guess I'm totally different. I avoid prep, don't stat anything out, maybe draw a map if needed, and foist whatever I can onto the players. I love GMing because with my group it's like juggling chainsaws riding a unicycle on a tightrope over a volcano. The rush is incredible! I GM for the moment.

-clash

Hey, it's cool with me, Clash.

And I do love the chainsaw-juggling part too!

Quote from: GrimJesta;419454And yes, Benoist, I also happen to agree - prep work is as much fun as running the game. Sometimes I find it even more fun. Right now I'm addicted to making newspaper clippings for PCs to stumble across. ADDICTED. This newspaper program thing I a fellow CoC Keeper directed me to makes the thing easy as hell, which means MO' CLIPPINGS PER HOUR!



-=Grim=-

Oooh. That news clipping program thingy sounds very cool!
Do you have a link?

Quote from: Benoist;419457Oooh. That news clipping program thingy sounds very cool!
Do you have a link?

I sure as heck do, amigo:

This is one for the Arkham Advertiser; Cthulhu specific, but could also be used for Gotham or something.

This one is for clippings. You can make any newspaper and story and all that jazz.

In case you want one, here's one for telegrams, too.

-=G=-