I voted other.

It's the mix of Natural Talent, reading the rules, and seeing how others GM'ed and learning what I did and did not like as a player.

I have tutored other GMs from time to time.

It took one GM to make me take up the screen. It took several to make me good at it; it wasn't until I had a chance to play under several different GMs, and befriend and swap ideas with many more, that I really developed my skills.

Quote from: aramis;336917I have tutored other GMs from time to time.

I was about to say, "Me too", when i noticed you wrote tutored not tortured.

Quote from: Gordon Horne;336943I was about to say, "Me too", when i noticed you wrote tutored not tortured.

OK, I laughed.
Partially becasue I made the same slip on my first read-through.

I am self-taught, but I discuss it with other people regularly intending to learn from them, and I have read as much as I can on the subject to help me improve. I am mainly a player though, at least with my main group.

I have been very fortunate!

The kid who taught me D&D was a poor DM, but I have what people call "natural talent" - a "natural talent" that came from a love of writing, storytelling and a strong background in fantasy, folklore and myth.  By age 10, I had read much more than most so I could call upon the richness of the genre to fill my campaigns at a young age.

I was lucky to move to the Bay Area where I got involved in the local gaming scene which in the early 80s was absolutely rocking.   Hero games was born in my home town with Chaosium across the Bay.   We had a FLGS with everything and even KayBee Toys had stacks of TSR stuff.   And making money for my vices has always been easy!

We had local gaming clubs which had multiple GMs and the local convention scene had LOTS of really good GMs.  I quickly built a reputation among the teen GMs and I spent as much time as possible gaming with adult GMs.   It was a tremendous learning experience.

In college and beyond, I got involved in the LA convention scene which was strong in the early 90s.   In those years, I honed my skills and became friends with a few A+ masterful storytellers and great GMs from whom I have learned a great deal.

My friends even joke that my college degree was just a BA in GMing, considering that found a loophole at UCLA that allowed me to tailor my own interdisciplinary major.

As I started running games right after my first time as a player, I suppose I am a 'natural talent.' Not so much for an inborn skill as for a genuine drive to do it as soon as I knew it existed. After that, I used all the other methods.

Its hrd to be a player after GMing for so long, but if you can find theright group and that right GM its a blast geting back to the playing. For me the right group is a bunch of guys who have played with me or beneath me, and the right GM is a guy who GM's like me but thinks differently through situation and plot. The end results will be the same you see its ust hethinks differntly about the means to get there I Like IT!
I am in my thirties I got started in the 80's reallyyoung and by closet gamers, after the shit that went down about DND in tx in the early 1980's it was tough tobe a gamer where i lived. But the resurgance in 1991 withAdvance DND was a beautiful thing. I started groups left and right and before you know it Ideveloped my own game and am on the verge of Publication now.

Welcome to theRPGsite!

RPGPundit

I got decent at GMing by running RPGA games. This was back when you got GM feedback from the players after every game, and I can't tell you how much that helped me improve. I probably ran about 300 games for them; nothing like 1500+ pieces of criticism to help wear down the rough edges.  :lol:

Quote from: aramis;336917I voted other.

It's the mix of Natural Talent, reading the rules, and seeing how others GM'ed and learning what I did and did not like as a player.

I have tutored other GMs from time to time.

Same here.

I put learned from other GMs. I've learned some stuff from books, but consider books with GMing advice to be a crap shoot, with as much bad advice as good. But there have been a few gems. I consider Aaron Allston's DMs Design Kit to be a seminal work. :cool:

I'd also add the obvious mission option: experience. Trial and error, and learning what works. But to get back to what I actually voted, it helps to have the experience of others as well.

Quote from: Gordon Horne;336943I was about to say, "Me too", when i noticed you wrote tutored not tortured.

I read neutered.

-clash

Quote from: ItsRussian;359419Its hrd to be a player after GMing for so long, but if you can find theright group and that right GM its a blast geting back to the playing. For me the right group is a bunch of guys who have played with me or beneath me, and the right GM is a guy who GM's like me but thinks differently through situation and plot. The end results will be the same you see its ust hethinks differntly about the means to get there I Like IT!

Personally, I think it's healthy for a GM to also be a player from time to time - and vice versa.

GMing can make you a better player by reminding you of exactly what the GM's job entails, and letting you see ways you can make the GM's life easier when you play. Playing can make you a better GM by reminding you that the game looks very, very different from the players' point of view than from it does from a position of GMly omniscience, as well as giving you an opportunity to watch another GM in action. The big pitfall is not letting your GMing experience turn you into a "backseat GM", always second-guessing the referee whenever you play, but if you can avoid that then spending time on both sides of the screen can only help you grow in the hobby.

I'm glad I've got to the point where I'm once again actively GMing a campaign one day of the week and playing another day of the week, so I've got the delicious balance I crave.

My RPG initiation began when I was the annoying younger brother.  Like so many girlfriends relegated to the role of soda wench or the Actual Player's unicorn mount, I was told I could be a super's robot in Marvel Super Heroes.  Since that day, I've vowed to get even.  I would be my own GM.

I read a lot of different system books, devoured them really, before ever actually running a game.  Each one of those books had their own suggestions, so I guess I ultimately learned to GM from them.  But its an evolving thing, isn't it?

I believe the first time I actually took the stage was with the aid of an OD&D black boxed set; It was packaged much like a board game but was actually introductory OD&D.  The DM screen was fat because it had tabbed pull-out scenarios (small adventures, really) that gradually expanded the complexity of the game.  Brilliant, really, thinking back on it.

We never made it all the way through, if I recall, because around that time I HAD to play GURPS.  And for some reason I thought that GURPS should be played with LEGOs.

But like the previous poster suggested, being a PC in a game has a lot of potential to teach you something.  Hop around and watch others.  I'm pretty certain all of us that have done both have sat in the player's chair, watching, thinking, brainstorming.  That "I could do that scene better" moment.  And its the perfect motivation to put the GM hat back on.