1. Game Master Best Practices
How to be the best

2. Why we Role-Play

3. Game Master Best Practices
Organization
World Development /Atmosphere
Player Trust
Character Development
Inspiration
Audience Questions
But before we start, please understand . . .

4. IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!

5. Organization – Know the Rules
Do you know the combat system? – Do you know it well?
Do you have a feel for the genre?
How do non-combat skills work?
What kind of dice do you need?
How many of them do you need?
How do you reward experience?
How do you monitor character development?

6. Organization – Have your Materials Ready!
Things I bring to every game
Calculator
Sticky Note pad/Note cards
3-5 sharpened pencils
Extra Dice
Copy of Rule Book
Page protectors
Dry erase Markers

7. Organization - Have your Fodder Ready

8. Organization – Know your Villain
What Makes them tick?
Why are they Villainous?
Complex Villains are the best!
Is there a basic need not met in their life? (Security, Love, Respect)
What are their weaknesses? (Lust, Pride, Rage, Vanity, etc)
Is your villain noble? (Given the right circumstances, would he/she fight with your heros?)

9. Organization – The power Matrix

10. Organization – Power Matrix Examples
Forgotten Realms, AD&D
Champions Game

11. World Development & Atmosphere
Let genre come out in the descriptions.
If your game is a moody, horror game than describe the fog,
the darkness, the shadows
If your game is high fantasy, describe the epic landscape.
What makes your city interesting?
Make memorable Non-Player Characters
Give them their own manner of speaking
Ticks, physical features, scars,
NPC’s should have high morals, no morals, really smart, really stupid, extremes

12. World Development & Atmosphere - Make Memorable Villains!
Villains should . . .
. . . have flaws & emotional scars
. . . have an air of flamboyance/arrogance/pride
. . . be physically memorable (7 ft. tall, in a wheelchair, beautiful, ugly, missing a leg, etc.)
. . . be able to get under the players skin somehow
. . . be very dangerous to your heroes.
. . . have a little sympathy
. . . occasionally be redeemable

13. Player Trust – Player Types
The Actor
The Explorer
The Investigator
Power Gamer
Slayer
Storyteller
Thinker
Watcher

14. Player Trust Give Players the Benefit of the Doubt
Respect their Concern for the Rules
Act like a judge, not a partisan
Create pyric victories to end sessions during a story arc.
Reward characters for being true to the genre, the story, & their character arc.
(Extra XP, special items, fulfilling character story, great soliloquies)
Never say no to a players idea!

15. Character Development
Ask for short character backstories – use them in interesting & unsuspecting ways.
Ask players what they want – They will surprise you!
Weave relationships throughout your game. Relationships with . . .
Other characters
Non-player characters (either from their backstory or ones you introduce)
Villains!
Bestow character agency
Reward creativity and loyalty to the story, the genre, & the characters arc.

16. Inspiration
Literature (Game of Thrones, Shakespeare, Hunger Games, Star Wars Novels)
Comic Books (Avengers, The Walking Dead, Hellboy, 300, etc)
Television & Cinema (The possibilities are legion!)
History & Archeology
Liberate in the Name of the Republic! (Steal liberally, mix & match ideas)

17. Audience Questions

18. Just Remember to . . . Slides will be at Jason-evans.net
The material on the Game Matrix, as well as other material can be found in:
Currently $19.99 on Amazon. (I get no proceeds)
Go to Brett’s Webpage!
brettbaker.ws
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