Gamemastering is built on hope. We write our session notes, draw our maps, and paint our minis hoping for a great game. And sometimes things don’t work out. It’s happened to all of us. In this article, we’ll look at three tough situations, and how (maybe) to make something good out of them.
It Doesn’t Run
This happens to all of us. You’re all ready to run, and you don’t get enough players to have a session. Often it’s unavoidable, people are busy and sometimes real life has to take priority. But it’s still tough in the moment. You were hoping for a great session, and it didn’t happen. So what’s good about that?
First of all, you are now ahead in your preparations. If this session is all done, you can focus on the session after that and get ahead. Second, you can refine the session that didn’t run. If you are like me, you sometimes have sessions that are almost ready to run, and you fake the rest on the fly. If we have a canceled session, maybe we can prepare a little more and make it even more memorable for next time. Lastly, sometimes we need a break. No shows can be life’s way of helping prevent GM burnout.
It Runs, But With “Issues”
Sometimes things seem to be chugging along just fine, and then “it” happens. It can be rules-lawyering, egos, or player to player snarkiness. Also, to be truthful, sometimes even GM’s say things they shouldn’t during a session. If you haven’t had “it” happen in some form or another I’d be shocked. So what do we do?
Sometimes bad situations can be a chance for personal growth. Not all problems are unsolvable, and often an “I’m sorry” or a quick do-over can smooth things over. Sometimes you can handle it right then, sometimes you may be better to wait and send the person an email the next day. There’s no quick formula for every situation.
The bad situation may also give us some insight into where our scenarios can be improved. Maybe we can avoid these kinds of issues in the future by knowing some of the rules better or how to handle certain player choices better. Or maybe we can look at how we react to some of our players and how to better temper our own responses.
If issues cause a player to leave a group, that’s not the end of the world either. While it can be difficult, in the long run it might be the best thing. If there are personality mismatches or differing game expectations, a split might be necessary. (Now, if all of your players leave, that’s another column entirely).
It Runs, and “Meh.”
Sometimes this is worse than not running at all. You’ve put your heart, soul, and creativity into a particular situation, and the players aren’t really into it. You may get a “thank you” afterwards, but you are left with the sense that the session was below average. You can hear the inner “Meh.” (Maybe you’re thinking that about this column right about now.)
Don’t despair. Perhaps you can go home and tweak the scenario to make it a little less “Meh.” Add some variety to the combat situations, sprinkle in some more physical or mental challenges, flesh out your NPC’s to add a little sparkle to the roleplaying opportunities. Then try to find a chance to run it with a different group to see if these changes work.
It’s also a chance to consider our GM techniques. How well were we able to involve everyone at the table, even the quiet players? Did we give the players enough detail about the situations and possible choices? Did we manage the pacing of the game properly, or did it drag or race along when it shouldn’t have?
Let’s leave this topic with one word of caution: it may not have been you. Perhaps some of the players were tired or going through a rough patch. Also, there may have been a mismatch between your playing style and their expectations. You can’t please everyone, and nothing can please some people. That’s true in life and in gaming. Sometimes you have to ignore people and their “Meh’s” and move on.
Concluding Thoughts
Don’t let this article discourage you from considering gamemastering. While it’s not all roses, it’s not all thorns either. There are times when things won’t go the way we want or expect. Our hard work doesn’t always come to fruition, and is sometimes unappreciated. But those situations aren’t the norm. Most folks want to play and are grateful when you present them with the opportunity. Together we build something that’s more fun and creative than we could on our own.
How about you? Any tough situations or lessons learned from them? Share it below, folks.
It didn’t run happens to us all. While it can be a good thing, as you mention, there’s always a flash of annoyance. After all, you spent time prepping–don’t they appreciate that?
As an adult, real life is far more intrusive than I ever imagined. We each have enough obligations to manage that each evening gaming is the result of hard work to juggle the rest of life by everyone in the group. Count each gathering as a success–even if the session goes awry, you all carved out the time to be together.
Thanks for the good thoughts, Scott. You’re 100% right, even medium gaming is better than no gaming at all. Just a weary trudge towards senescence, otherwise.
Not that there aren’t other joys in life. Awww,who cares about the other things? (to quote Cookie Monster!).
I’ve had all of the above problems happen at one time or another while being a DM, it sucks but it comes with the job. Sometimes it’s better to just end the session than continue trying to run a bad session. I’ve only had that happen a couple of times though.
I’ve too rarely realized that ending early was the smart play. Sometimes the whole rest of the campaign suffers as a result of that blindness.
Thanks Andy, and I hope the article wasn’t too negative. these are mostly rare occurences, but they do happen.
But like everything, nothing in life is 100%, so we enjoy the good times when we get them. Which is most of the time in gaming.
This is an interesting article, thanks for writing it. I could really relate to “GMing is built on hope”. I was also touched by the comment at the end encouraging new GMs.
Over the years, I have had all of the things you mentioned happen to me at some time or another. As I have matured with gaming, I have learned a few things that have improved the situation:
1 – Make gaming a part of real life – by this I mean get your family involved, set up a regular schedule and keep it consistent, and make time for it. A good, regular gaming night will improve your quality of life significantly, and will help everyone at the table to stabilize around a consistent structure.
2 – Invest in building up the gaming community – this means mentoring new players, making sure your regulars get some GMing experience under their belts, and reaching out to meet new gamers in your area. It also means teaching kids how to role play (see Baby Chimera at ojogames.com). In the long run, building up your gaming community will mean more players to game with, which should help mitigate the “doesn’t run” issue.
3 – Spread the burden of GMing – it sucks to have to prep a ton of material ahead of time, only to have it go unappreciated. Giving players some creative control over world-building and plot-driving not only makes them more invested in the game (avoiding the “meh” issue), but also take a lot of pointless busy work off your plate. Plus it is a fun way to improvise. Remember, this is Role-Playing, not novel writing!
These are GREAT point ooviedo. You should flesh them out just a little more and submit them as a guest column. Seriously, these are great suggestions for any gamer (and especially in avoiding GM burnout).
Thanks for the kind words John, I would love to work up an article.
I just emailed Martin with my pitch. Put in a kind word if you are so inclined.
Oliver,
Martin is a great guy so I’m sure you’ll have a fair review. Look forward to reading the column and nice work on your own site. (I took a look, nice artwork as well).