GameMasters ? Dungeonmasters? Storytellers?

 NOPE - we're all just the gaming version of a DJ at a dance. Thats one way of looking at it.

The first 6 months after I got the job at the game store I decided to research gamnes that I wasn't familiar with on the web. This would've been in January or February of 2004.  Thats when I first web-stumbled across the GNS stuff. (the 20os version of it) via the wikipedia.

Since that time I've done more reading...then I web-stumbled across this forum this year and discovered this "War of Gaming Philosophy/Theory" stuff. (okay, shit).

After months and months of reading the arguments and debates ...I'm pretty much on Pundit's side of it. (recent thread controversies helped that along).

Then I remembered a gaming night a little over 15 to 20 years ago.

It was after a game at a friend's house. She is older than I am and grew up in Europe. She, myself, and one of the players from thats night game were talking after the game session was over.  She commented that it was too bad that I couldn't make money running RPGs. She always enjoyed the ones I GM-ed the most.  I pointed out that I was really using someone else's creative effort when I run a game - the rules set. So it might be ethically wrong for me to get paid for it some way when I wasn't really the writer of the rules, settings or adventures that I was using.

 Then it was maybe me or the other guy (player) said:

 "What About DeeJays?"

Disc Jockeys both at radio stations and organized dances are using someone else's creative effort (records, CDs)  to provide entertainment for a group of people.
 We started brainstorming about how GamesMasters might organize to get paid a little something if they were really GOOD GMs.  Since at the time I was runmning either the FASA STAR TREK RPG or GURPS 3rd/e I said it would have to be a game system that was NOT connected to a licensed movie property  and maybe something like GURPS or HERO would work best . (this conversation was sometime around 1989-1992)

We never did anything with that idea other than talk about it and brainstorm a couple of times. We knew about the RPGA - but none of us were D&D fans or players.

So ....GNS is pretty much crap I've decided.  It was a nice descriptive essay or article at the time for what it attempted to do - but its pretty much gone sour.

Other night I was chatting with Kyle Aaron...and said sometimes as a GM the group  you have doesn't always want to listen to the music that you're playing.  You might have to  change the record or go back to the old favorites.

We're all just Dee-Jays and Dancers....just  the words we use are GMs and players.


- Ed C.

No way.  

1.  I created my own rules and my own adventures along with a lot of other GMs I know.  
2.  I made money Gamesmastering in two distinct ways, and a pretty fair chunk of the stuff, too.
3.  I think even if 1 and 2 never happened your point is not well taken.

Gamemastering is an art.  We do a hell of a lot more creatively than a DJ, even if you are using other people's rules and adventures.   There's STILL a lot more going on in that little head of yours during any given game than spinning a disk backwards a few times, gyrating your hips, and wearing a huge gold chain.   Unless not.  In which case, ok, you're a DJ.  So?  Be a great one and dance the night away.  

YES and NO.

 There is an "ART" to being a GOOD Dee-Jay - knowing what song to play and when at a dance, when to speed things up and when to slow them down - just like a GM tries to know when to change the pace by judging his player's reactions.

 Same kind of 'art' or skill.

 You and I probably agree on this somewhat....maybe at least 50%.

- Ed C.

Quote from: KoltarYES and NO.

 There is an "ART" to being a GOOD Dee-Jay - knowing what song to play and when at a dance, when to speed things up and when to slow them down - just like a GM tries to know when to change the pace by judging his player's reactions.

 Same kind of 'art' or skill.

 You and I probably agree on this somewhat....maybe at least 50%.

- Ed C.

More like 8.3% ... I really think there's just a lot more creativity in GMing than in DJing, even though there is *some* creativity in DJing... about 8.3% worth compared to GMing.   Roughly.

If you using the radio analogy, then you would have to consider radio actors from the days of yesteryear as well.  They use props and somebody else's script and put on a good performance.  Of course, it's not the same as GM'ing but there is some connection in terms of pacing, prop usage, etc.  In addition, you could perhaps start podcasting.  At least then, some of us can judge your performance:p

Seriously though, you're probably a good GM but it's one of those when you have to be there in order to say for sure.

Quote from: ancientgamerIf you using the radio analogy, then you would have to consider radio actors from the days of yesteryear as well.  They use props and somebody else's script and put on a good performance.  Of course, it's not the same as GM'ing but there is some connection in terms of pacing, prop usage, etc.  In addition, you could perhaps start podcasting.  At least then, some of us can judge your performance:p

Seriously though, you're probably a good GM but it's one of those when you have to be there in order to say for sure.

My point would be the same, whether or not I'm a good GM.  I think I kick ass at GMing, but that's my personal opinion and goes in the same category as I think I'm devilishly handsome.   (Category: Pathetically Inaccurate Self-Perceptions).

I bathe, and brush my teeth. So don't go comparing me to DJ's thanks!

Quote from: VBWyrdeMy point would be the same, whether or not I'm a good GM.  I think I kick ass at GMing, but that's my personal opinion and goes in the same category as I think I'm devilishly handsome.   (Category: Pathetically Inaccurate Self-Perceptions).

I can't dance to pathetically inaccurate self-perceptions:)

edit- what's a reply without a smiley?

So... VBWyrde, my question is: How did you make money GMing in two distinct ways?

Quote from: Serious PaulI bathe, and brush my teeth. So don't go comparing me to DJ's thanks!

This, folks, is a bald face lie.

Quote from: ancientgamerI can't dance to pathetically inaccurate self-perceptions

Neither can I, but I do try.

Quote from: darThis, folks, is a bald face lie.

I have a goatee, thank you very much. And a swarthy five o'clock shadow right now! I'm like Tom Selleck, only poorer and less popular with the ladies.

Quote from: Serious PaulI have a goatee, thank you very much. And a swarthy five o'clock shadow right now! I'm like Tom Selleck, only poorer and less popular with the ladies.

Getting a Red Ferarri to drive around might help.

Anyone got a spare three hundred thousand laying about?

I swear I'm good for it.

I'm not buying the analogy. It would work if your typical DJ also wrote and performed the songs he mixes throughout the night, that would be similar to a GM with making NPCs, scenes, settings, McGuffins, etc.

Going with the tone and direction of the players during a game session, I agree with. Some of the best GMing fun I've had was when I've been reacting to what the players have been doing - letting them guide the play. I still needed notes of NPCs, maps, devices, which I had to create either beforehand or on the spot during the game. I've yet to meet a DJ who can create and perform the music he has to play during the night.

I'd say that the meme of GMs having a God complex applies quite well to DJs, since I've met few who weren't hollow egomaniacs.