Hey guys,
for a little project I'm working on, I need a reference of all the other names that have been used to describe the task of "Gamemaster", aside from GM and DM...
If you can, please include what game it was used in!
RPGPundit
Referee - used in all versions of Traveller
Judge -- Judges Guild materials
Storyteller -- White Wolf games
AFMBE uses Zombie Master.
C&C uses the gay term Castle Keeper.
Narrator. Not a term I like, but there it is.
Keeper
Funny thing- for over a decade I never heard anyone use a term except for Dungeon Master or DM. Then it switched to GM one day, and I've never heard anyone in my circle use anything else.
Nobilis - Hollyhock God
You may not like this Pundit and it's not even from a game but rather a series "storygaming" articles Chris Kubasik published some time ago. The term he suggests is Fifth Business. He describes it as such :
QuoteFifth Business is a term that originates from European opera companies. A character from Robertson Davies' novel, The Fifth Business, describes the' term this way:
You cannot make a plot work without another man, and he is usually a baritone, and he is called in the profession Fifth Business. You must have a Fifth Business because he is the one who knows the secret of the hero's birth, or comes to the assistance of the heroine when she thinks all is lost, or keeps the hermitess in her cell, or may even be the cause of somebody's death, if that is part of the plot. The prima donna and the tenor, the contralto and the basso, get all the best music and do all the spectacular things, but you cannot manage the plot without the Fifth Business!
This certainly sounds a lot like a GM, but it also makes it clear that he's part of the show, not the show itself.
Regards,
David R
Man, Myth, and Magic ( who remembers that game? ) used 'Lore Master'.
Producer (PtA).
Animator (Toon)
Encounter Critical: Journey Master
Mutant Future: Mutant Lord (presumably Labyrinth Lord has an eponymous GM?)
Synnibar: Fate
AI - Red Dwarf
Animator - Toon
Bartender - Tales from the Floating Vagabond
Chronicler - Witchcraft
Computer - Paranoia
Control Man - Hunter Planet
The Creator - SenZar
Director - Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
Dungeon Master - D&D in its many forms
Excursion Master - Excursion into the Bizarre
Fate - The World of Synnibar
Game Ref - Orbit
Guide - Epic RPG
Ghostmaster - Ghostbusters
Gore Master - Dead Meat
Hollyhock God - Nobilis
HoLmeister - HoL
Journey Master - Encounter Critical
Judge - Many older games
Keeper of Arcane Lore - Call of Cthulhu
Lejend Master - Lejendary Adventures
Moderator - Many games (mainly older ones)
Narrator - Star Trek, among others
Ninja Master - Night of the Ninja
Producer - Primetime Adventures
Referee - Traveller, among others (many older games)
Rune Master - RuneQuest
Sheriff - Deadlands
Story Guide - The Shadow of Yesterday
Storyteller - World of Darkness games
Zombie Master - All Flesh Must be Eaten
Edit: This guy did all the work.
http://www.treasuretables.org/2006/02/game-master-referee-storyteller-whats-in-a-name
Regards,
David R
Hackmaster: Hack Master?
I think Top Secret had a Mission Director.
HKAT! has a Director.
There are a few games like that, games that give the GM the title of whoever in the game world would be bossing the PCs around.
In Bill's squirrel games the GM is called the Nutmaster or MasterNut.
Regards,
David R
Quote from: David R;260380Rune Master - RuneQuest
Not so! A Rune Master in RQ is someone who has mastered the secrets of a cult, ie a Rune Lord or Rune Priest.
Quote from: droog;260391Not so! A Rune Master in RQ is someone who has mastered the secrets of a cult, ie a Rune Lord or Rune Priest.
You would know this droog. Guess the guy is wrong. Hopefully the other terms on his list are accurate.
Edit : And in
Jorune the term is
ScholariRegards,
David R
Oh, in Aftermath! they call it the Gamesmaster. Not Game's Master, but Gamesmaster.
Dunno whether they just assumed the ' possessive apostrophe, or expected the GM to be running multiple games, or considered each session one "game", or what.
And it's Sholari. You added a "c", maybe you just wrote an exciting email to someone with "Sch" in his surname :D
Ah, that list jogged my memory: In Secret of Zir'an, the term is "Hand of Fate".
Quote from: David R;260392Edit : And in Jorune the term is Scholari
Peter Scholari (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0778642/)?
And I bolded it too. Is it any wonder I've been kicked out of so many Jorune fan sites....
Regards,
David R
Marshal (Deadlands)
Host (Castle Falkenstein)
Labyrinth Lord uses...Labyrinth Lord
Mutant Future uses Mutant Lord
Spycraft 2.0 - Control
Dragonfist - Dragon Master
Mythguide, from Aria.
"Eminence" (Agone)
I'm an eminence, how cool is that.
Quote from: Kyle Aaron;260386I think Top Secret had a Mission Director.
It's "Administrator" for
Top Secret, not "Mission Director."
Quote from: droog;260391Not so! A Rune Master in RQ is someone who has mastered the secrets of a cult, ie a Rune Lord or Rune Priest.
I had wondered about that, too. Did the name for the GM change in the Mongoose edition? Or in
RuneQuest: Slayers?
!i!
One day I'll have to write a game of noble house intrigue and call the GM "The Asshole" the GM would of course rotate during the session...
Quote from: KrakaJak;260493Spycraft 2.0 - Control
More completely, Game Control or GC. Control by itself is usually the guy the agents work for.
Though personally, I loathe calling the GM anything but a GM in anything but D&D.
Quote from: Caesar Slaad;260603More completely, Game Control or GC. Control by itself is usually the guy the agents work for.
Though personally, I loathe calling the GM anything but a GM in anything but D&D.
Thanks for the correction.
I also don't use anything but GM or Game Master. Unless I'm in the occasional Storyteller/D&D only crowd.
Reality Master - Kult
Quote from: KrakaJak;260493Spycraft 2.0 - Control
Lacuna Part 1 also uses the term
Control for the GM. And unlike most games, characters can talk directly to the GM via Control.
Quote from: Caesar Slaad;260603More completely, Game Control or GC. Control by itself is usually the guy the agents work for.
Though personally, I loathe calling the GM anything but a GM in anything but D&D.
I certainly agree.
RPGPundit
Jackass
That fuck
That fucking fuck
That fucking cheating fucking fuck.
Bitch
Jerkoff
Shitboy
Butcunt
Quote from: Aos;260730Jackass
That fuck
That fucking fuck
That fucking cheating fucking fuck.
Bitch
Jerkoff
Shitboy
Butcunt
Heh... well, if we're going down that hall, the one that seemed to get used a lot at my table at one time:
"You Bastard!"
My players call me (the GM), Ringo :(
I remember reading a letter in White Wolf magazine about GMs, where someone wrote she had a GM who used to say - "The guard fires a warning shot through your heart". There are still moments when I want to be that GM.
Regards,
David R
I actually think all the personalized names are really cool, and help contribute to each game's overall feeling. I'm just lazy.
I've been known to say "The GM in this game is called a Dungeon Master." or something like it :)
Quote from: ttagxamm;260384Hackmaster: Hack Master?
Nope, HM uses GM.
tRoS uses Seneschal
StarSIEGE: Event Horizon uses SIEGE Engineer (it's kind of my secret embarrassment, since I prefer GM, as well).
Quote from: mhensley;260819Nope, HM uses GM.
tRoS uses Seneschal
bastard, just beat me!