Concerning:
The D&D DM is NOT a "Storyteller"
https://youtu.be/g_vTkXro56M
~ 4 years ago

I understand the essence of this debate has been very frustrating for the OSR community for ages, and I doubt much has changed since I last looked at the goings on when I first switched over from mainstream D&D at least 5 years ago.

As we know, sandbox games (ie emergent play) don't include a preset endgoal, but sometimes one becomes obvious and gets established as such. Campaigns do have a preset end goal, and as you compute the game's short-term (the session itself) you create a midterm model to measure the approach to a concise End Goal/Climax Point (eg Kill the necromancer, over there); this End Goal is not necessarily set in stone, if elements of emergent play inspire the need to modify, exchange, or delete it outright in the interest of continuing play.

You don't play out a story or a narrative but rather the aggregate of the player's choices intervening on the pre-determined circumstances (the "narrative" involves what has happened up to the point precisely before play as background lore). When the players agree to your preset of circumstances, you're forecasting the ramifications of their choices influencing those circumstances, and sometimes even the tone. The narrative should only regain relevance when the summary of the gameplay predetermines an epilogue for the organizer-referee to create, potentially identifying problems that were not resolved or undertaken to create a new campaign with.

No previous term suffices a proper explanation as to how the game itself is guided given this information; each one misunderstands the master role, or confuses it due to niche language.

So what would be better name for the role of a game master?

Answer:
You are a Fate Caster, as in a weather forecaster but with dice instead.

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps towards settling this fight in favor of the whole OSR.

I'm sticking with Game Master.

I like to keep things low key and friendly around the table, so I prefer players referring to me simply as "His divine holiness."

Anyone who makes a production of what the GM/DM/ST/Lord High Elf Puppeteer gets called immediately gets cast into the "person who's opinions I don't give a damn about" pile. Call it whatever you like, it means the same thing, and the title itself has no power.

Oh come on now, I'd like to be addressed as "Supreme Ultimate Overlord of Infinity". 

I prefer that things be called what they are, whenever possible.  Therefore, Game Master is the most accurate for running an RPG properly.  It is entirely possible that storyteller or referee or other such terms are more accurate for what others are doing when they think they are running an RPG.

Why'd you have to go and give me an existential crisis about my rpgs!

I always went with whatever the game I was playing called the sucker buying the books and running the games. It was never an issue because my players called me by my name. I don't think any player called me DM or GM or referee.

I still prefer "narrator."

Fantasy Underground Conflict Resolution Supervisor.

FUCRS, one and all.

Meh, I tried

Game Master is accurate enough and already well established. Most other terms tend to come off as pretentious, artificial or not as good. Referee is also workable and old, but I always found it "ugly" and associated it with sports. Narrator is not bad (and we used it in my old group occasionally) but implies "storyteller", which a GM is not.

I also seriously considered using "Game Manager" years ago (particularly for my own system), which I thought was more accurate than Game MASTER. But ultimately dropped it, cuz the term "manager" sounds too work related and sterile, plus sorta on the pretentious side. Plus also cuz it was too close to "Game Master", which is the established term, so it defeated the purpose of artificially trying to change the established name for anally retentive reasons that ultimately add absolutely nothing to the game.

What to call the Game Master is one the most pointless debates in TTRPG circles that keeps coming up despite the established term already being good enough and broadly recognized.

Quote from: VisionStorm on January 03, 2023, 07:58:51 AM
Game Master is accurate enough and already well established.
...
What to call the Game Master is one the most pointless debates in TTRPG circles that keeps coming up despite the established term already being good enough and broadly recognized.

Fair enough, my apologies for teasing old wounds yet healed.

If there's anything salvageable about that description, I"m cool.

I've used 'the master' in some of my games.  But really, we all know the proper term is 'the asshole' especially in troupe style play.

While I currently use Game Master, my system focuses a bit more on "combat as sport" (vs. as war) and set piece conflicts so Referee probably be slightly more accurate. That said, the ability to shorten Game Master down to GM when needed makes it much easier to keep decent looking formatting in the book's text (particularly as I already use REF for the Reflexes attribute).