Since I just had a session where things went pear-shaped because I broke a lot of my own rules of DM conduct, I figure itâd be neat to lay all of them out in a post. A lot of these are adapted from the Angry GMâs âGM Credoâ article that he did, and all of them are goals for myself as someone who runs games.
1. I Run the Game, and I Run It for the Players
1a. I am the one in charge of preparing for the game we are about to have. It is my responsibility to have material ready, to establish an understanding of what, in general, that material will look like, and to make sure everyone is okay with the direction that material goes in. If I fail in any of those things, it is on me.
2. If You Had Fun, I Had Fun
2a. My job in running the game is to provide an enjoyable experience. While there will be times where things suck, or your character dies, or a battle is lost, I am there with you, not against you. I want you to have fun, so I can have fun.
3. I Will Always Be Clear on the Rules of the Table
3a. I will do my absolute best to make sure that the group as a whole is clear on the kind of conduct accepted at my table.
4. Everyone Who Agrees to Abide by the Rules of the Table is Welcome
4a. My table will always be a safe, comfortable environment for anyone who wants to game at it, provided they follow the rules of the table. It is my responsibility to keep it that way.
5. Every Offense Deserves an Apology
5a. If someone claims to be offended or hurt, they deserve a sincere apology, whether the offense was intentional or not. Only after the apology can the offense be rectified or discussed.
6. I Canât Run a Game Without Trust
6a. I trust my players. I will never accuse them of cheating, deception, or malice. I will assume all offenses are unintentional. If I discover I cannot trust a player, I cannot run a game for that player. I will assume my players trust me in the same way. If I discover a player does not or cannot trust me, they cannot be a part of my game.
7. I Take My Game Seriously and I Will Let My Players Do the Same
7a. There are some things that ruin my ability to run the world or destroy my suspension of disbelief. There are some things that make me upset or uncomfortable. I am allowed to veto these things in the interest of making the game runnable. If there is something that upsets a player or makes them feel uncomfortable or ruins their suspension of disbelief, they may ask me to remove those things or mitigate them and I will do my best to comply or to explain why I cannot.
8. The Rules are the Common Language of the Game
8a. The rules of the game are the way we engage with the game we are playing. The rules were developed by people designing a game who knew what they were doing, but they are not perfectly fixedâthey are a language that allows us to participate in the same game. If I change, tweak, or otherwise interfere with the rules as written, I will always explain why and how I have changed those rules, and the effect I hope that change has.
9. I Will Always Strive to Be Fair and Consistent
9a. I will apply the rules of the game and my world in a consistent manner. Players should always be able to rely on things working the way they have learned they will. If something works in an inconsistent way, there will always be a reason. âIt is magicâ is never a sufficient reason, by itself. There will always be a logical cause for something happening.
10. Chance Bows Before Verisimilitude
10a. A natural 20 or a natural 1 will not warp the fabric of reality. Each has a 5% chance of happening, and 5% is not small. If something would not or could not happen in the world, a die roll in a vacuum will not somehow force it to happen.
11. Verisimilitude Bows Before Fun
11a. The world is not Oregon Trailâyou will not die of dysentery just because the world says so. I will not introduce world elements into the game that destroy fun for the sake of slavish adherence to realism. Sometimes, but not always, I will adjust reality to make it more enjoyable and playable.
12. The World is My Character
12a. I create the world and I control it. While I may often invite input from others, I have to write it and I have to run it, so it has to be a world that I want to write and run. Nothing enters the world without my approval. If I have not seen it and signed off on it, it does not exist.
13. I Am Not the Playersâ Enemy or Friend, I am the Charactersâ Enemies and Friends
13a. It is my job to create a world and run a game. Both of those things involve creating enemies that exist as part of that world. I will not willfully force characters into hopeless defeats they could never have avoided, and I will not pull punches to give characters victories they did not earn.
14. I Will Not Deny the Charactersâ Freedom Without the Playersâ Agreement
14a. When a player agrees to play in my game, they agree to abide by my rules and participate in the world and the game. Once the players have agreed to play the game that I am running, the characters are free to act within the confines of the world and that agreement. Whatever the characters choose to do, within the possibilities of the world and the game we have agreed on, there will be a game for them. A player can make choices that will result in the loss of control of their character, but I will never allow them to make such a choice without their express knowledge and consent.
15. I Will Not Create Challenges That Can Be Solved by Inaction
15a. The characters can only accomplish goals or resolve problems if their actions would be visible on a movie screen. If the players refuse to act, refuse to make a choice, navel gaze, think, or turtle up to talk out problems, it should not be possible to fix anything. The only winning move will be to play.
16. I Will Not Create Challenges That Can Be Broken by Metagaming
16a. No challenge in my game will ever revolve solely around the ignorance of the characters if I cannot equally guarantee the ignorance of the players. Therefore, the players should never have to worry about separating what they know from what their characters know. If a player knows something, somehow, the character knows it too. If a playerâs knowledge ruins a challenge, that means I designed a bad challenge.
17. Hooks Are Not Mandatory, But the Clock is Always Ticking
17a. I will provide many avenues through which adventure is possible, should those avenues be followed through on. I will not, however, force these adventures to happen in my capacity as GM. The player characters are always free to avoid following a line of inquiry or put off an adventure to pursue other goals. However, the world is acting independently of the player characters, and the choice to follow one hook over another will result in consequences.
18. Players Should Know All the Options Their Characters Have
18a. If a character has an option, in the game, I will tell the player about that option unambiguously.
19. I Will Never Allow a Character to Ignorantly Take a Substantial Risk
19a. If a characterâs action would lead to something risky, dangerous, or result in a substantial penalty, I will always inform the player of the risk to the extent that the character would be aware of it. No character should ever be allowed to walk into danger solely through the ignorance of the player.
20. I Will Never Allow a Character to Ignorantly Attempt the Impossible
20a. If a characterâs action cannot possibly succeed and the character should be aware of that, I will not allow the player to waste resources attempting it.
21. I Will Strive to Never Require the Players to Ask What their Characters Know
21a. If there is information relevant to a situation that any character should have, I will always strive to give it to the players the moment it becomes relevant. However, I will never forbid a player from asking if their characters know something nor punish a player for doing so. If I am doing my job well, the answer will always be âno.â
22. If I Do Not Have an Answer Now, I Will Have an Answer Later
22a. If I fail to have a rule or piece of world information ready and at hand when it is asked of me, it is my responsibility to find it and provide it to the player(s). In order to avoid slowing the game to a crawl while I search, this will likely occur after the game.
2087
stormborns
yousharknotpass
jbbartram-illu
annaxmalina
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