make me a fart sniffing elitist douchebag or is there some wiggle room?   Full disclosure... I have dealt some real stinkers and have revelled in their jaw dropping potency but I've never been deluded in that they were anything but that.   Similarly, I'm considering using a non-"gamemaster" term that better fits the genre but everytime I hear something else used myself I instantly assume the worst (usually spot on) of the game designer.  Even in the last MCDM video I watched, Matt Colville struggled to correct himself repeatedly when using the traditional gamemaster term... and I don't want to be like Matt (except for the money of course).   I have no hangups regarding the use of the term "master" in connection with slavery as that has nothing to do with the role in playing ttrgps.  In fact, my default setting will have slavery as an evil element of the fantasy world I plan to have as well as other things that may trigger those with unnatural neon hair colors and worldviews.   If I use a variant term but don't espouse the other features of the mental illness that is leftist ttrpg theory, am I still the baddie?

I'd suggest you use the term "slave master", that should be entertaining at the table.

If you want something different there are all sorts of terms:

Arbiter (my favorite)
or
Referee
or
Judge
or
Arbiter of Truth (the AT)

Have some fun with it and go back to the wargaming roots of RPG's.

I own a few non fart-smelling non-woke games that don't use it, at the table we always revert to the familiar term, the only term with more familiarity is Dungeon Master but somehow people never use it when not playing D&D, even if we're playing a retroclone.

Colville was having trouble sticking to his own term due to this familiarity.

Game Master is probably the most generic and ubiquitous term available.  it's been around a long time so just use it and move on.

No, but if you're gonna go for the brass ring here, go completely overboard with it. Once. Something akin to "Taylspynner" and then dispense with that bullshit and go back to GM.

Quote from: RNGm on March 17, 2024, 12:00:17 PM
make me a fart sniffing elitist douchebag or is there some wiggle room? ...If I use a variant term but don't espouse the other features of the mental illness that is leftist ttrpg theory, am I still the baddie?

Yes.

No there isn't. Not even a little bit.

Also Yes.

I've deteriorated to the point I mostly just call it "the master."

Quote from: Jaeger on March 17, 2024, 07:45:26 PM

Quote from: RNGm on March 17, 2024, 12:00:17 PM
make me a fart sniffing elitist douchebag or is there some wiggle room? ...If I use a variant term but don't espouse the other features of the mental illness that is leftist ttrpg theory, am I still the baddie?

Yes.

No there isn't. Not even a little bit.

Also Yes.

Dammit.  That means I have to keep holding it in then; I'm practically ready to explode by this point!

Quote from: Thornhammer on March 17, 2024, 07:37:01 PM
No, but if you're gonna go for the brass ring here, go completely overboard with it. Once. Something akin to "Taylspynner" and then dispense with that bullshit and go back to GM.

Legally, I think you have to work for Games Workshop to do that but I could be mistaken in my interpretation of UK law.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on March 17, 2024, 12:25:14 PM
I own a few non fart-smelling non-woke games that don't use it, at the table we always revert to the familiar term, the only term with more familiarity is Dungeon Master but somehow people never use it when not playing D&D, even if we're playing a retroclone.

Colville was having trouble sticking to his own term due to this familiarity.

Quote from: honeydipperdavid on March 17, 2024, 12:20:53 PM
I'd suggest you use the term "slave master", that should be entertaining at the table.

If you want something different there are all sorts of terms:

Arbiter (my favorite)
or
Referee
or
Judge
or
Arbiter of Truth (the AT)

Have some fun with it and go back to the wargaming roots of RPG's.

Very true but they're admittedly grandfathered in before the industry wide Awokening and therefore avoid the taint.

Quote from: David Johansen on March 17, 2024, 07:47:11 PM
I've deteriorated to the point I mostly just call it "the master."

The defacement of Dr. Who makes me sad to use that villain's name now even in that stick in the eye way designed to annoy the same people.

Quote from: BadApple on March 17, 2024, 07:08:32 PM
Game Master is probably the most generic and ubiquitous term available.  it's been around a long time so just use it and move on.

Definitely both the most generic (in a non-derogatory use of the term) and ubiquitous... but I'm admittedly looking for it to be a bit more specific/thematic.   I don't ever play "narrative" type story games but I can see why the GM there could/would be called a "director" for example.  Yeah, it's a bit snowflakey in retrospect.

Quote from: RNGm on March 17, 2024, 08:36:22 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on March 17, 2024, 12:25:14 PM
I own a few non fart-smelling non-woke games that don't use it, at the table we always revert to the familiar term, the only term with more familiarity is Dungeon Master but somehow people never use it when not playing D&D, even if we're playing a retroclone.

Colville was having trouble sticking to his own term due to this familiarity.

Quote from: honeydipperdavid on March 17, 2024, 12:20:53 PM
I'd suggest you use the term "slave master", that should be entertaining at the table.

If you want something different there are all sorts of terms:

Arbiter (my favorite)
or
Referee
or
Judge
or
Arbiter of Truth (the AT)

Have some fun with it and go back to the wargaming roots of RPG's.

Very true but they're admittedly grandfathered in before the industry wide Awokening and therefore avoid the taint.

I can't remember specific games off the top of my head, but I seem to remember "cutsey" terms for Game Master in RPGs at the time of AD&D/2nd edition.
*google* For instance, the Ghostmaster.

I prefer that a game just use the standard terminology for things.  To me, using odd terms for standard concept like gamemaster, player character or encounter just comes across as twee, gimmicky, pompous or some combination of all three.  It just makes me roll my eyes.  If you call the GM in your gritty movie Western rpg, the Hangin' Judge, I am just going to shrug, say, "Whatever" and never use that term at all.  I have been not using these terms since White Wolf decided to call the GM the storyteller in the early 90s.  Too much of this can hurt readability and gets obnoxious.  If you want to see this sort of thing taken to its obnoxious extreme, read Immortal: The Invisible War.  They refused to use the standard terms for anything and the result is a practically unreadable mess. 

My official title might be GM, but I call my position "Herder of Cats" as I feel this most accurately conveys what the task of running a game actually involves. 

Quote from: yosemitemike on March 18, 2024, 03:04:15 AM
I prefer that a game just use the standard terminology for things.  To me, using odd terms for standard concept like gamemaster, player character or encounter just comes across as twee, gimmicky, pompous or some combination of all three.  It just makes me roll my eyes.  If you call the GM in your gritty movie Western rpg, the Hangin' Judge, I am just going to shrug, say, "Whatever" and never use that term at all.  I have been not using these terms since White Wolf decided to call the GM the storyteller in the early 90s.  Too much of this can hurt readability and gets obnoxious.  If you want to see this sort of thing taken to its obnoxious extreme, read Immortal: The Invisible War.  They refused to use the standard terms for anything and the result is a practically unreadable mess.

It's definitely gimmicky but that's the intent I suppose.   I definitely wouldn't change the standard terms for everything I reserve the right to repace the term "adventures" with "sagas" instead for thematic reasons. 

Just this weekend, I read "A quick primer for OSR gaming" by Matt Finch from 2008 to get a feel for the scene and it suprisingly used the term "referee" instead; I definitely wasn't expecting that from an OSR product.  Is that just a rare one-off instance from a single company or is it also common/uncommon in the OSR scene?