How to Run a Game, Advice on What You Need, and the Big Issues a New GM Will Encounter

With the rise of streaming as entertainment, and actual plays of numerous available games, tabletop role-playing games (“TTRPGs”) have become quite popular, and easier to access by just about everyone. Perhaps you’ve seen one of those streams, or maybe you’ve happened across a group playing at school or the library. Regardless of where you discovered TTRPGs, you’ve decided to give them a try. The easiest way to do this is to run it yourself and become a Game Master or GM, the nonspecific title for the person who runs the game. Being a GM is fairly easy, a good way to socialize and learn math, all while improving your reading comprehension and acting skills. That being said, there are some things most people don’t consider when starting out, and a few nonobvious issues that will pop up. But don’t worry! Here are some tips and advice for some of the things you will encounter as a new GM.

First things first: Getting yourself players. If you’re lucky, a number of your friends will be interested and be willing to join you. If not, a local gaming store may run programming and be a good place to start your TTRPG journey.

You’ll need to set up a brief interview of any prospective player. This doesn’t need to be too serious or in depth. It’s just to make sure that they are aware of any ground rules for in-person playing and making sure everyone is on the same page for what is and isn’t acceptable behavior for the game.

Once you have your group, aside from the normal things to prepare for when you are hosting a gathering or getting yourself ready for a few hours in front of the computer, there are a few long-term items to take care of before session 0. If you are playing online, such as on Role20, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the program and features to minimize hassle. If you are playing in-person, having stuff to help visualize combat or the area that characters are in will help immensely. But don’t overdo it if you can’t afford it. Simple graph paper and coins work just as well as minis and terrain. That being said, if you have the time and resources you may consider creating miniatures and terrain for your game. Keep in mind that branches of the MCLS all have space for the community, and for free! Many have reservable rooms for private groups; all have table space available.

Playing at a store will require you to minimize what you bring due to time and space limitations. The rulebook, character sheets, and pencils, along with an erasable battle mat and cheap generic minis, are good options to select. It is also a good idea to make sure you have a convenient list of the most-used rules for when you quickly need to look something up, as the books are much slower to dig through in a hurry. Normally, the company that makes the game will also sell GM screens for this purpose. But if they don’t, making one of your own or a set of flash cards is a good option. It’s also a good idea to keep spares for when an obscure rule pops up.

A good chunk of what you will be doing as a GM will be prepping for the next game. The biggest and most time-consuming task will be determining the overall plot, and from that, what you will be doing each session. You don’t need to be a writer, or have any sort of experience. It helps, but is not necessary.

For some in-depth guidance there are a plethora of books on the subject. (While my personal favorite is Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads! The Unexpurgated CyberPunk Referee's Guide by Mike Pondsmith—which despite being written for the game Cyberpunk 2020, is both still relevant and can be applied to most every other game—this book is not in the library’s collection. Keep reading and I will be mentioning additional helpful books!) Keep in mind that books on this topic can be a touch obscure, so you may need to use our Interlibrary Loan service to request them.

That being said, there will be times you are just drawing a blank. When that happens, just making it up as you go along is the tried and true method. Another thing you can consider are premade adventure paths and books containing complete adventures you can run. A few that I like are Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, The Wild beyond Witchlight, and Keys from the Golden Vault. You can also search the library’s nonfiction section under call number 793.93, should you need one quickly.

Get yourself a notebook or create an easily searchable document, and start writing down notes of any ideas you have for the game world. Things like people, places, relationships - anything that might be relevant or interesting - are good places to begin. As you help your players create characters, add relevant backstory and characters related to the Player Characters to your notes. For the overarching campaign plot, keep the middle and end vague, as players’ antics will take things in directions you can’t possibly plan for. But keep in mind characters and places you want in those spots, as they can be altered as needed.

You will want to come up with a solid beginning, basically your session 0 and the first game after. If you are not doing Session 0 as a full group, then you’ll want to focus the sessions on allowing the players to learn the characters, and designing the sessions around their abilities. If you are running as a full group, just focus on getting the characters together, then plan around giving each character a time to shine and use their abilities.

If you are having trouble coming up with anything, make a trip to the library. Books and movies are the inspiration for many a GM’s game. The science fiction section tends to be the biggest source of inspiration, with books like The Elric Saga by Michael Moorecock, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, or Dune by Frank Herbert. Any book’s plot can be adapted to any sort of game, but similar genres are easier to use. Most GMs, however, only take elements of stories they have read and stitch them together, mostly to not adhere too strictly to the inspiration and to avoid railroading players. Also, the more you use from known stories, the more likely someone will recognize the plot and possibly metagame (having knowledge of the game’s world and characters beyond what is known from the game itself).

If you are still stuck, consider using an existing setting. Most games have a “default” setting found in the base books, but some (like Dungeons & Dragons) have multiple, and will require you to get the setting-specific book or download a fan conversion for older, less-popular ones. Look for books like Eberron: Explorers Guide or Sword Coast Adventures Guide (also in call number 793.93). Be sure to keep your notes handy, and update them as things progress. Anything that didn’t make the cut can always be repurposed, and it’s always fun to hit players with the consequences of their own actions, especially when you utilize their background as part of it.

Let things progress naturally, but start fine tuning the plot by using player backgrounds with anything they may add in via gameplay and a healthy dose of consequence. One thing to keep in mind: it helps to have either a recording of the game or have someone taking detailed notes. While you have your own, having a backup is always good, plus players may have forgotten or misinterpreted something and it can be fun to utilize that.

Now that you have the resources to run the game, it’s time to wrap everything up into a neat little package for the session itself. One thing to note is session 0 will be somewhat different from most others, as it’s a chance for players and the GM to get a feel for the characters, the setting, and everyone’s play style. This session can be done individually with the players, in teams, or as a whole group. Regardless of whether it’s session 0, the first session, or the last, they will all flow roughly the same.

Most games are designed around a projected use of the characters’ resources, health or HP (“hit points”), equipment, abilities, etc. It will often take a few sessions to figure out the right balance between role playing, combat, and skill challenges. The start of a session, unless it’s a direct continuation of a previous session, should introduce the hook.

If the players haven’t shown interest in one you’ve hinted at, or just flat out missed it, you will have to throw something at them. Once they are engaged with the plot, the players will be spending a good chunk of time investigating and prepping in equal measures. You should be prepared for the players to rush ahead recklessly when they figure out where to go. Throughout this time, you will be focused on roleplay and skill checks. Skill checks are the lifeblood of any game, and you should call for them when the characters have to accomplish a nontrivial task. However, as with any chance-based mechanic, there is the possibility for players to fail to accomplish a task that allows them to progress. Should this happen, you’ll want to have a backup plan to push the plot forward. Be careful when doing this, as most players dislike being railroaded, and it can easily be seen as such. Everything will get quicker as you and the players learn how everything will work in actual practice.

As the GM, you will be doing a lot of talking, so make sure you have plenty of water. You are the one that sets the scene, introduces characters and plot hooks, controls the events around the player characters. In short, you control the pace of the scene. That also means that when things start to drag on, you have to handle it. It is a bit difficult to get a read on when things are going on too long, especially when it comes to role playing. Good indicators are if they are talking in circles, or the conversation has gone from relevant topics to random chatter. Typically, the best way to deal with this is an event interrupt. If they’re chatting in a street, have an obvious minion be spotted; a tavern; someone starts a bar fight. Heck, just throw some ninjas at them.

When it comes to skill challenges, the biggest issue you will have is a string of bad rolls. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter how many skill points the players invest, they just can’t roll high enough to beat the difficulty rating, or they keep rolling critical fails. In most cases, it’s negligible. Maybe the group gets ambushed or a character has a hilarious pratfall. However, there also are times when the characters can’t find any clue to progress, or they get destroyed by a single unarmed minion. It is very difficult to get around this without it feeling like you are bending the rules. You can mitigate this by having multiple ways to progress the plot, or revealing the minion to be the BBEG’s (Big Bad Evil Guy) right-hand man. It does require extra planning and a bit of foresight. Sometimes you just need to have a spare charter sheet.

Puzzles and riddles are also a tricky thing to use. Often, the characters have more relevant knowledge to deal with these, but the player has no access to that. In general, you want to have the puzzle solution hidden nearby, or have the solution presented earlier in the session. If you can’t get the puzzle in the same session, bring the solution up again.

Riddles should be kept simple and somewhat obvious. While it’s likely that at least one player is a riddle aficionado, that player is may be playing the low-intelligence barbarian, and thus least likely to be in a position to help the others. As a rule, use riddles sparingly.

One thing to note related to puzzles, riddles, and skill checks is that players will have characters with abilities well beyond what they have in real life. While it's easy to envision what a person with great physical attributes can do, it isn't that easy for the more abstract ones like intelligence or charisma. In cases where this comes up, I find it best to ask what the player wishes to accomplish, and have them roll, and then describe the outcome.

Combat in most TTRPGs is designed to be fair and quick. In reality, it is neither of those things. Combat will take up the bulk of a session (at minimum an hour), and you will find the players will swing wildly between trouncing the opponents or almost dying with every swing. No matter how you balance it, you will still be at the mercy of the dice rolls.

Here are some tips to help in planning. In general, you will want to have one less enemy than your players’ party. So, if you have four players, you would have three enemies, usually two lower level and one on par with the character. This can be shuffled around based on gear and abilities of the enemies and players. You want to limit how many enemies have crowd‑control abilities to one, maybe two, as not only can they be devastating, sitting around doing nothing is not fun at all. For really powerful enemies, you’ll want to stick to one, and either use environmental effects, or a small hoard of minions that can be wiped out with ease.

Tactics can swing the tide, and are sometimes mechanically relevant. Most people aren’t trained in tactics, and you shouldn’t expect your players to be nor should they expect you to be. That being said, here are a few tips for you and your players:

Cover is your friend: It can prevent flanking and attacks from one or more directions. Concealment does not have this advantage. After all, just because they can’t see you doesn’t mean they can’t hit you. So, if you have to choose between a wall and a bush, choose the wall.

The more, the merrier: Surrounding the enemy, or at least flanking them, will in most games confer bonuses for attackers and penalties for the defender. Consequently, you should try to flank as often as you can, while preventing yourself from being flanked.

I have the high ground: Use terrain to your advantage by using hindering features to slow or direct enemies to where you want, getting them bunched up for an area of effect attack.

On the subject of railroading, it's a bit difficult to really pin down what it is. In general, it's the removal of player agency. But you are a player yourself, and in control of just about everything. Some will say any sort of hindrance to player agency is railroading. Most take a more measured approach. It is between you and your players to decide where that line is.

Ultimately, you are the mediator. If there is a rule question or dispute you have to make a ruling. For the most part, you don’t want to spend too long looking up a rule. That’s when that GM screen will help, as are any additions you made. But there are always situations that pop up requiring an obscure rule, if there is one at all. In that case, make a ruling, and correct it (if necessary) when you get the chance to look it up. The best way to phrase this that I’ve found is “We’re going to use this rule for now, but as soon as I have the moment, I’ll look it up. Going forward, we’ll use that one.”

If there is a player causing a problem, it is your responsibility to deal with the issue. There is no official playbook on how best to deal with it. If at all possible, it should be handled away from the other players. When speaking to them, use neutral words and terminology, but be firm. In most cases there are outside stressors, and the player wasn't intending to misbehave. However, if the problematic behavior doesn’t stop, you may need to remove the player.

GMing is fairly intuitive, but there are a lot of little nuances and quirks to each table and game system that just can't be covered in one blog post. I do hope that I have helped you by covering the largest issues that tend to come up.

—  Jason, Twin Rivers

Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

 “This heroic adventure book takes players from levels 1 to 13 as they journey through Baldur's Gate and into Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells.”

Dune by Frank Herbert

 “Follows the adventures of Paul Atreides, the son of a betrayed duke given up for dead on a treacherous desert planet and adopted by its fierce, nomadic people, who help him unravel his most unexpected destiny.”

Eberron: Explorers Handbook by David Noonan

 “The ultimate sourcebook for players wishing to explore the world of Eberron.”

The Elric Saga by Michael Moorecock

 Begins with the “sailor on the seas of fate.”

Keys from the Golden Vault by Justice Ramin Arman

 “A secretive organization called the Golden Vault seeks operatives to perpetrate dangerous heists.”

Live to Tell the Tale: Combat Tactics for Player Characters by Keith Ammann 

“An introduction to combat tactics for fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons players, Live to Tell the Tale evens the score. It examines the fundamentals of D&D battles: combat roles, party composition, attacking combos, advantage and disadvantage, Stealth and Perception, and more...including the ever-important consideration of how to run away!” 

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

 “In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosaNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission of the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.”

Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide by Stephen Kenson

 “This book provides the setting, story, and character options needed to participate in a D & D game anywhere along the Sword Coast of Faerûn."

The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide: Prompts and Activities to Create Compelling Characters for Horror, Sci-Fi, Punk, and More by James D’Amato

 “You can now explore new RPG character ideas with this character backstory guide to the most popular RPG genres beyond fantasy, from sci-fi to horror and superhero to western-themed games.”

The Ultimate RPG Gameplay Guide: Role-Play the Best Campaign Ever—No Matter the Game! by James D’Amato

 “Whatever RPG game you play, from D&D to Call of Cthulu to licensed games like Star Wars, every detail is important. From setting the scene to choosing the right music or even adjusting the lighting to create the right atmosphere, every choice helps maximize your gaming experience. The Ultimate RPG Gameplay Guide provides practical advice for everything from pre-game preparations and in-game improvisation to working out a plan of attack with your teammates to learning how to lean into the setting of your game.”

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure by Stacey Allan

“A Dungeons & Dragons adventure for characters of levels 1 – 8.”