As the GM, are you the gamer in your group who is most up on new and upcoming releases, errata, web forums, blogs and news sites related to your game(s) of choice?
And if so, is there any connection between being your group’s most dialed-in gamer and being the GM?
In my case, I’d say no: I definitely don’t fill this role in my group. When it comes to D&D and White Wolf, I’m way behind Sam on all of the above. When it comes to industry news, I lag behind Don in most cases.
With indie games and a couple of other niches, I’m usually out front. Of the four of us, Jaben is the least interested in this kind of stuff, so all three of us are usually more dialed-in in this sense than he is.
How about you?
GM? Not necessarily. However, because I stay abreast of all the errata and new sourcebooks, I’m definitely regarded as the authority on the rules. Even if I’m not GMing, the current GM usually defers to me when something is unclear. It’s a shame I have a bad case of gamer’s ethics, or else I’d totally abuse this power. 😉
I pull ahead on some topics, but lag on others.
In the groups I play in, I’m nowhere near the most plugged-in, but neither is the GM. 🙂
Telas
When I run non-d20 games, the answer generally is yes. I’m not only the GM, but probably the only one that bought the books. My players may eventually pick up the player’s book or core rulebook, but that’s about it.
In d20, I lag behind. My players generally pick up anything with WOTC stamped on it, although they aren’t up on the 3rd party stuff. Case in point, no one in my current gaming group of 5 players knew what Freeport was when I announced a Freeport campaign a month ago.
I’m also the current authority on PDFs, which is a vast untapped resource in my gaming circle. The rest of my group has only recently started picking those up.
A part of this equation is that my d20 players are somewhat elitist when it comes to d20 products. Unless it is put out by WOTC, a product gets ignored as “unofficial” by my players.
Walt C
i am, but as a beginning GM i can’t say my knowledge is all that great :p
I’ve recently joined another group however (to see how others do it, i live in a backwater where the notion of rpg’s is hardly ever associated with anything other then world of warcraft) and there i’m neither gm nor the most dialled in of the group … so that’s fun 🙂
I’m the last to know about new releases etc., and the last to get them, but usually the first to think of making use of them in running a game. The others just like to build new and esoteric characters.
I tend not to be unless I am aiming to introduce something new to the players. When I wanted to run a serenity game I got the book and found all the web resources for the game. Generally though I focus on what I need to run my games. Most of the time the players don’t go out and buy however many supplements are put out for something, but we’re not DND players by nature anyways.
Yes, I am the most dialed-in and currently a GM, but there are plenty of other people in my groups who GM regularly who aren’t all that dialed-in.
I am a close second. I must say I am very happy. One of my players is a living encyclopedia but isn’t a rules lawyer. That’s the best combo ever.
I’m the most dialed in for most systems (Kev’s more up to date on our current game, Shadowrun), but I’m not currently GMing.
I’m the busiest person in the group outside of gaming. There is no way to keep up to date on new stuff with my work schedule and other responsibilities. I rely on my players and sites like this to convey new info to me.
Reading your comments, it looks like (based on a highly unscientific sample set, at least) there’s no real correlation between being the GM and being the most dialed-in gamer in your group. There’s a Masters thesis in there somewhere. 😉