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As a GM, you have a lot of resources out there to give you tips and tricks of the trade. This advice is there to aid you in developing your best game possible. Listen to it. Test it. Learn from it. Ultimately though, this is your game table. Here are some things I’ve learned over the last 10 years I’ve been running weekly games.
-It’s not about me. It might be my game table, but it’s not solely my story. My players want to be involved and see how their actions affect the world around them. I move the spotlight and it should never really shine on me. A GM should be the facilitator of the group’s actions, not the dictator. Sure, provide some challenging encounters, but it doesn’t have to be a death match every battle/session. Also realize that you may need to remind the players what their characters know or hear, perhaps right after it is said. Don’t be afraid to guide the players through this. -A group can make or break the game. My group has a lot of other GMs. Giving the story over to them is easy, but I still run into some of the same issues. My players don’t always take good notes, get distracted, or even check out during a combat. What makes it work is that they are invested (even if they don’t look like it at times). They make the effort to guide the story and try to improve their own roleplaying to truly get into character at the table. -If it’s not fun, it’s wrong. Pick up on what your players are trying to do and run with it. Give them opportunities to do epic stunts. I adjust the enemies on the fly a lot to ensure my players are having fun; in turn, this makes it fun for me as well. Disclaimer, not every session will be fun, some are quite tense. These nights are looked back upon often with satisfaction because something was resolved either in character or between players. I admit, I have a great group! We have played together for many years now and have built trust not only around the table, but through friendships that will last a lifetime. I want this for every group. Take it one session at a time, listen to your players and adjust the story. Remember, you are not just playing a game, you are having shared experiences.
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Every GM has that one thing. You know, the thing that you do not allow your players to do or have because it will break the game. Monks are too powerful, no monks allowed. A decanter of endless water…too powerful. Fireball…too powerful. I don’t think you should limit your players unless it is about the world they will be playing in.
Hear me out. Most of these are on the “no play” list because you, as a GM, have been burned by them before. I ask you to take a step back and really look at it. Did it really break the game, or did a player just do the unexpected with it? It probably caught you so off guard that your BBEG (big bad evil guy) died in just a couple rounds. As a GM, you have every right to forbid certain things, just keep in mind that something else is probably going to cause the same issue. In my experience, letting the players play what they want and how they want, allows for more fun at the table. Sure, the enemies I send at my players die quickly, but that’s okay. I find other ways to challenge them through puzzles, story plots, and unusual scenarios. Also, I’ve played enough to know ANYTHING can be over powered if played that way. I like to write. Sometimes I don’t have much to say. As I sit to write now, I am unsure if it is a story that wants to come out, or another blog. I read through the beginning of my most recent story, to pick up where I left off, and…nothing. Blank. Where did I want to go from there? Without a single clue, I find myself back here, writing this blog.
I have things I need to do to prepare for my next session, but I’d hoped I could write some on one of my many stories. Of course, I’m doing neither. Instead, I am wasting time chatting with myself on this blog. (I really do think no one reads this, but then, I don’t think I really expected anyone to either.) However, more and more it is starting to come up in conversation. A few people in my life have now heard, “I wrote a GM Corner on that.” Giving advice on conflict at the table, listening to players, sharing the story, etc., these are merely a few topics I have referred to. I also go back and read some for myself, the most recent being “They Left?” (1/30/25), as I have recently left a table. These GM Corners are meant to share my perspective on these topics. I expect my opinion will change over time. You do not have to agree with me. Tabletop roleplaying has shifted and changed over the years, as well as the approaches to it. Will my thoughts stand the test of time? Probably not, but I share nonetheless in hopes that it can aid another in overcoming fears, struggles, and traditions that may hold them back. What does this look like at the table? How do we achieve this to a level that makes for great story telling? Can this be accomplished even among strangers? Merriam-Webster defines trust as an “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” Used as a verb, it is defined as “to place confidence in or rely on.” Placing trust in your GM should be returned by the GM trusting their players as well.
When trust is established at the table it results in collaborative story telling. This is no longer the story that the GM designed, and true “railroading” does not receive the frustration that it normally would. Why? Because the GM updates the narration based on player input and the players know the railroad is going to be story development to open up more opportunities for their contribution to the story. The achievement of trust is much like respect, you must give it to get it. Yes, it can be broken, then it becomes work and a conscious decision to rebuild it, but it is not earned. That mindset will rarely garner any trust as it is not a reward to be given. So, start with trust, default to the belief that your GM has your character’s best interest in mind. GMs start with the belief that your players are not out to tell you about all the broken rules or inconsistencies. Allow your players to come up with cool ideas and work with them to make it happen. Let them take over the story and pick it up when they start to falter. This can be done at a table with strangers! I run games for conventions and I believe we have trust at the table. They trust me to provide an interesting scenario and I trust them to explore the situation through wits and action. If they want to try something that will “break” the game, I will generally allow it. This does require me to improvise additional scenarios or add in other characters to keep the story flowing, but that’s my role. If there seems to be a power struggle, think about trust. Ask yourself some questions. Do I trust my player to run their character logically in the world I created? Does my player trust me enough to work with them on what they want to accomplish? If the answer to either of those questions is “No,” then there is a discussion that needs to be made between you and the player. Make a commitment to rebuild trust and work out those issues. Players never do what you expect. One session they are “murder hobos,” but the next session they are so cautious that nothing moves forward. I have players that I could rely on, at least I thought I could. Every time they were faced with a situation, they would do the same thing. Now…not so sure.
One of my players asks so many questions I feel like I’m coming up with lore on the spot. Improve my way through it, take notes, and have it come into play at a latter time. This is where I tend to shine (I can spin a story). I could always count on that player to find the information, or at least fabricate something from the stuff spewing forth. And just when I thought we were on a roll, they decided not to do the expected. Now, I’m left with how to get information to my players without just showing them a neon sign (though sometimes that is necessary). I like to sit on it for a while, let these juicy clues just marinate for a bit. Allow my world to run without the players’ intervention and see what might happen, then let it hit the fan. If the players must have the clues right away, it might be easier to just send in an NPC to say, “As soon as I heard this, I had to find you.” This can cultivate a sense of urgency should the players want to hang out in town, dragging their feet toward their goals. But this could give them exactly what they needed to put all the pieces together to give them a bigger picture of what is going on in the world. Either way you choose, have fun with it! Give yourself time to work it out. In the end, your players will be excited to learn the information whenever you decide to give it to them (or they finally do what was expected). In previous games, I have given all the information the group needs to complete a quest. As they are on the quest, I throw in other plot hooks or NPCs that draw interest from the players. This keeps them wanting to continue exploring the world and find out more about what I threw in (usually during an improv moment). In this new system, I’m trying something new.
Giving them less often provides for an opportunity to role play more. They have to look for information, gathering it via news sources or people, and put together their own conclusions on the quest that has been asked of them. They now feel a need to take it “to the next level” so they can be fully informed. Playing a “Mr. Johnson” I am reminded of the quote attributed to Oliver Goldsmith and used in various forms throughout history since. “Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies.” I keep this to the forefront of my mind to keep me on task. If they ask questions that I believe could incriminate Mr. Johnson, then I lie or redirect the conversation. On the surface it looks unfair to the players, but it actually makes it better for them. With the players not being able to trust the informant, they will do their own research and this is when you can give out the information in bits and pieces. For this to be effective, the GM must give the players time to discuss and work it out themselves. Once they come up with something, I am now able to push forward into new avenues of the story. Give it a try and let me know what you come up with. Wide-eyed and knees knocking, I have stepped into a new genre. It wasn’t until recently that I began to explore other systems and settings. Now that I have, a whole new world has opened up to me. I found out that star systems, supernatural mysteries, and blaster pistols are fun!
The scariest part of running a game in a new genre is my lack of familiarity with it. Futuristic era in a real-world setting makes me nervous. I’m bound to get names and places wrong, and with years of lore already built by others, I’m going to get that wrong too. I will be using the names of corporations (and their leaders) in ways I am sure do not make sense to one deeply embedded in the history of this world. To that I pre-emptively say “Sorry.” With that said though, as all advice I give fellow GMs, this is my world. It will be my Seattle they are exploring, my corporations they encounter, and my villains they will defeat (I can say that confidently, we all know how I roll). I want to build a story my players can walk away from satisfied, not add to the history of an existing world. Wish me luck, and feel free to offer advice. Just know that I will be doing my best to make an enjoyable, unforgettable story for my players…not to add to the canon of Shadowrun. Wrapping up a campaign comes with a lot of mixed emotions. I’m happy that it is over because I’m ready for something new, yet at the same time I am sad to see it go. My players feel the same way, so having a good closure for the campaign is important.
Now, let me start by saying a good closure does not necessarily mean a long combat (though it does happen often). Sure, you just beat the BBEG, but that is not closure…that’s victory. Closure comes with wrapping up what your characters are going to do from here. Asking your characters, “What are you going to do now?” The answer to that question varies as much as the players sitting at the table. Some will go off and live the quiet life, while others will continue to adventure. I know one of my players almost always runs some kind of major organization for many years before retiring. Often, there are children from love interests or marriages within the group, or with an NPC. The wrap up for the adventure is much like the last chapter of a book. You see a snapshot of the characters 1-10 years later. You learn where they are living, what they are doing, and if they have a family of their own now. It provides a nice bow to the box of plots, battles, and personal interactions that have been played out over the many sessions. I wrote another GM Corner titled “Challenging Encounters” back in 2023. The blog talked about balancing an encounter so as not to be run over by your players, or accidentally cause a TPK (total party kill). However, it didn’t really go into what it actually means to be challenging.
I know several GMs out there think a challenging combat is one that has high risk with strong tension, the characters could actually die. That can be a thrilling combat, but it is not necessarily challenging. If you encounter this at every session, it becomes exhausting to your players. Taking that on week after week (session after session), and expecting them to be okay with it, is asking a lot of your group. The challenge in my combat does not put them in a life or death situation. It could happen that way, but that is not my goal. I do not set out to knock them down to one hit point and watch them crawl away from the battlefield licking their wounds. I want to challenge them intellectually, as characters and as players. When I set up a combat, I start by asking myself “What do I want to accomplish?” Do I want them to work together? What would they do if they couldn’t work together? Will they back down and run away? How would they handle one of their own suddenly getting pulled into another dimension? Setting up a combat to find out these answers is my challenge. Learning the answers is a challenge to my players. The players need time to think about what is happening in the battle in order for their character to react. As GMs, we have to remember that the players are NOT the characters, they are simply portraying them. The player does not have the character’s instant reflexes or combat training (usually). The monsters they face cannot hit them so hard that they don’t have time to think up a good solution (unless I want them to run away). I want to inspire my players to think outside the box, not feel trapped to always use their most powerful attack because if they don’t, they could die. I’ve been asked on a number of occasions if I planned on switching over to the newest edition. Let me be honest, I have not actually opened a 2024 Player’s Handbook as of today. I have only what little I’ve read about it, snippets, and videos discussing its content to go by. It does not draw my attention.
For me, 5e has been a blessing. It has brought my family back together and I’ve had the opportunity to meet lots of people by sharing a love of tabletop gaming. It is open enough to be creative in my own homebrew adventures, yet has a good structure to run combat and guide me in the rulings I make during the game. On top of this, there are plenty of source books and third party content to garner ideas to throw into a campaign. So what is wrong with 2024? Perhaps it’s too open. Races are not inherently good at anything anymore, half-races don’t exist, and backgrounds seem to have become more important than classes, these are just a few of the things that I believe are not good. Now, don’t come after me! I know that not every elf is focused on magic, but I believe this should be an exception. I believe that the newest edition is trying too hard to break stereotypes and be super inclusive for a GAME. If you push that hard on character creation and breaking the “norms,” then what can you consider a “bad guy” (they have just been misunderstood). On the topic of half-races being removed because they believe them to be racist (IN A GAME!) is racist itself. They disguise this decision with the idea that half-races imply that they are inferior to either of their parent races. Since they are putting real world issues into a game of pretend on a mechanical level, then let’s reverse it. They have just implied anyone who is mixed-race is inferior to either of their “parent” races. In a world where diversity and inclusion is applauded, I’m honestly surprised they did this. That aside, I have access to a lot of the material for 5e (2014). Comparing that with what I’ve heard about 2024, I don’t think I could run a long campaign with the newest rule set. I struggle to make a good, balanced encounter with the OP characters that are present in 2014, I know that 2024 got stronger (or more broken, depending how you look at it). AND, from what I understand, it is not really backwards compatible like they had originally claimed. Overall, the shift made for 2024 was for the online gamer, in my opinion. With AI game masters a very real thing lately, this new edition is designed to work with that. AI game masters won’t forget monster stats, do not pull punches for story effects, and will not allow players to step out of the box mechanically to do really cool things. Therefore, the mechanics have to include stronger, faster, bigger actions. That’s not really for me, so I’ll stick with 2014. |
AuthorJodie 
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October 2025
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