Quote from: flyingmice;292318Better? By who's definition? "Better" for most people generally equates to "More Like Me|How I'd Do It!" Thus "Better" according to Benoist does not equate to "Better" according to Pundit.

-clash

Yes, there is such a thing as improving as a DM-referee at the game table. It isn't about "the way 'I' do it", or other people wouldn't have posted their own, and I wouldn't have posted a thread about it in the first place but would have written an actual blog entry about it instead. After, if you can't take advice on your own without feeling threatened in your manhood, that's your problem.
I too love all the suggestions so far!

Quote from: droog;292324Or roll another joint.

Right..What Droog said!

Quote from: Benoist;292325Yes, there is such a thing as improving as a DM-referee at the game table. It isn't about "the way 'I' do it", or other people wouldn't have posted their own, and I wouldn't have posted a thread about it in the first place but would have written an actual blog entry about it instead. After, if you can't take advice on your own without feeling threatened in your manhood, that's your problem.
I too love all the suggestions so far!

WTF? Threatened manhood? Were you planning to bite it off or something? What are you smoking? "Yes, there is such a thing as improving as a GM-Referee at the game table." I agree. I merely pointed out that "better" is an individual judgment and not an objective fact. That point sometimes gets a little lost around here. I'll go back to my excluded middle and sulk about my threatened manhood now, covering it with both hands to protect it from hungry Benoists.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;292331I merely pointed out that "better" is an individual judgment and not an objective fact. That point sometimes gets a little lost around here.

Lost? It's MIA, presumed dead.

Cool, we were short on contentious threads.

Shut the fuck up, Mary Sunshine! Roll a d20!

Pass the doobie to the left... now!

I always noticed that people would pack me cones when the fights got really tough. A friend of mine even muttered something about 'soothing the savage beast' once.

Expand your knowledge.

Read widely and deeply.  Bookmark Wikipedia and spend a little time surfing articles.  Watch documentaries.  Learn more about the world--real and fictional.  Learn about the real world so you can find interesting things to use in your game, discern what would be fun to include and what would be fun to exclude.  Learn about all of the fictional worlds--mythological, popular, etc.--that play into your games, and for the same reasons.  All the great techniques in the world can't help you if you don't have a body of knowledge to use with them.

(e.g.: The original publisher of DC's Captain Marvel was Fawcett Publications, which was originated in my hometown of Robbinsdale, Minnesota- a suburb of Minneapolis.  Minneapolis (and its twin city of St. Paul) is the site for the magical city-state of Tolkeen in Palladium's RIFTS.  Tolkeen is the target of conquest for the Coalition States, the iconic Evil Empire of the setting.  What if Tolkeen had Captain Marvel as a champion and protector?  What if this story had more cultural subtext, like using the CS-vs.-Tolkeen scenario to describe the rivalry of both Fawcett vs. DC and the Twin Cities vs. Chicago?  Would this be fun, or not?)

Communicate with your players. I don't know if this will make you a "better" Ref, but it sure makes gaming easier.

Regards,
David R

I think the one major skills most GM's lack is their ability of knowing  how to "dramatize" to them within the context of the game.  A book I highly recommend is  Doug Lipman's  "Improving Your Storytelling" as there's a lot of good advice within that can easily be applied to GM'ing. Also " Imaginary Worlds" by Lin Cater, especially the later chapters on creating an interesting fantasy World. I'm pretty sure this book had an influence on early designers such as Gygax, Barker and Hargrave back in the day.

Quote from: flyingmice;292331WTF? Threatened manhood? Were you planning to bite it off or something? What are you smoking? "Yes, there is such a thing as improving as a GM-Referee at the game table." I agree. I merely pointed out that "better" is an individual judgment and not an objective fact. That point sometimes gets a little lost around here. I'll go back to my excluded middle and sulk about my threatened manhood now, covering it with both hands to protect it from hungry Benoists.

-clash

Look Clash, everyone knows you suck as a GM and, besides, you are doing it wrong. Get with the program. There is one and only one way to do this right and we know it...well, you and your threatened manhood know it too! So, man up and admit your GMing sucks and get on board here. By the gods man, you would think we kicked you in the stones or something.

My advice to you, as always, is get a really big d20 to compensate....ah, to ensure the players fear your dicktorial rule. Got it? Good.