Quote from: Spinachcat;624986For casual players, that is "the awesome."

I don't think The Awesome needs to be some awe inspiring session that everyone talks about for eternity. For casual players, The Awesome might be the ROI of time invested to fun enjoyed being so great that its worth attending every week.

Every group is going to define The Awesome differently.

This, exactly.

Quote from: Blackhand;624874It's a bad game where the GM isn't a neutral and impartial non-participant referee.

Otherwise, you are probably playing a story game where the GM just wants his players to "have fun" and not adjudicate and REFEREE the scenario like it's supposed to be run.

I don't want the GM on my side giving me free ups, or "bringing the awesome" as it was put above.

Of course, if you're just making shit up on the fly you're storygaming anyway.  Meaning if you didn't write a scenario with specific encounters and specific reactions, there's nothing to referee and you're just stroking your player's junk.  Bringing the awesome, as it were.

i make shit up on the fly all the time. Don't think its story gaming at all. YOu make shit up and write it down I make shit up at the table meh. So long as I give the PCs real decisions and make sure that those decisons are meaningful, so if they skip past the troll bridge I don't just move it up the river a few leagues then its totally fine.

Oh and to the OP I think the GMs main role is to act as the players interface to the gameworld. Everything they know, sense, see, experience depends on the GM. A good GM will manipulate that in line with the players desires and the PCs features so a PC with a weakness of paranoia will see 'a dark shadowy room with a suspicious looking middle aged man sitting at a small table reading a book of some type' where as a naive waif would see 'a kindly looking man sitting at a table reading a book' .
Delivery of the world is never a bland refering step it has to be much more than that and doing that well is what you have to strive for at the table. The rules meh... anyone can memorise the rules or extrapolate from a given standard rules structure to create suitable ad hoc rulings as required but delivering a real breathing living world that the players totally buy into that is the challenge.

Quote from: TristramEvans;624925The GM is the living simulation engine that facilitates the combination of shared imagined realities.

see this +1

Quote from: mcbobbo;624916One thing I didn't see that a GM (typically) is - host.  Usually, though not always, the GM is the one with the 'hey guys lets do X' ambition, inviting everyone to come play.  And this applies even when it isn't at a specific home.  There's something mildly selfless about the idea of giving everyone else a world to play with, particularly if you're trying to make it fun.  I see it as a type of hospitality.

The latter part assumes if the GM is the sole author/creator of the world in which the game takes place. While there is an effort in driving the world, that doesn't necessarily mean also coming up with it wholecloth and by themselves.

Our games have a pretty significant amount of player-creation of setting content and sharing in some of the supporting tasks like wiki creation and maintenance.

Quote from: danskmacabre;624877Depends on the game ur running.
For example Paranioa is a game where PCs are to be crushed and destroyed without mercy.
It's not a matter of IF you die, but how many clones are killed and how much of a nasty death you can cause them.

PCs are the enemy of the GM in Paranioa to be eliminated for being the commie mutant traitors they are!

Word.

I don't get these blanket statements really. How you GM a game depends on the game being run and what everyone wants out of it.

A classic dungeon bash or a Game of Thrones campaign are going to need a different approach then a high octane cinematic game or a Star Wars campaign.

I do think that the GM is there to make sure the players enjoy the game and certainly for my group what we enjoy and how we enjoy it very much depends on what we are playing.

To me, the GM is the facilitator of the game, the computergame while running, the referee, the host, the judge and, if need be, the executioner.
The GM is also essentially a kind of God in the game.
However, unlike a computergame while running, a GM is "only human", and limited in skill and knowledge.

To me, there is a great difference between "can do" and "should do".
Practically, a GM can abuse the rules and the player characters totally, but it is not a good thing to do so, because the Players will get pissed of such treatment, and start looking for another GM.

In order to be a Good GM, though, one needs at least some kind of impartiality.
If "shit happens" to the player characters, then they should also have the pleasure of noticing that "shit happens" to the opposition as well ....

One cannot be totally impartial, but one can at least try, or one may try to direct one's partiallity towards something that is less damaging.
Personally, i'm partial towards the plots being told, since anywhere the player character goes, at least something will happen that ties into any of the sandbox-plots i have laying in wait.

To me, the purpose of the GM is to be the planner, the knower of the Rules, and, first and foremost, the one to see to that the players has a good time.
Awesome?
I do not strive for that, it happens if it happens, the flow is more important, the entertainment is more important.

Is the GM a part of the group?
Yes and no, i find that question redundant.
The GM may not be the technical enemy of the characters, but he or she certainly should play the NPC enemies as if they are ... and bystanders should be played as bystanders, and so on.

Oh, and yes, i fudge dicerolls whenever there is need, usually to avoid that a player character dies for no reason.

GM is judge, arbiter, coach (e.g. for new players), rules enforcer, story teller, facilitator, thespian, narrator, strategist, trap maker, leader and other jobs with their various colourful hats.

A good GM knows which of the various hats to wear for a given theme, game, scenario, gaming group's preferences, mood at the table that night, etc.

A really good GM is self aware and knows some hats fit them better than others, and make the best use of the hats that work for them, and try to overcome their own shortcomings when they're forced to wear a hat they don't like.

There are many types of 'Good' gm's, but ultimately all that matters is if everyone has fun.

Different players enjoy different things, so I would suggest flexability is critical.

Quote from: Catelf;625053Oh, and yes, i fudge dicerolls whenever there is need, usually to avoid that a player character dies for no reason.

If a character dies, it's usually because something is trying to kill him.

It's your job as a DM to enforce this critical part of the game, not give the players free passes when they don't even know they have failed.

Quote from: Blackhand;625123If a character dies, it's usually because something is trying to kill him.

It's your job as a DM to enforce this critical part of the game, not give the players free passes when they don't even know they have failed.

Free passes ....
Get this:
It depends much on what style of play is used, and what setting it is, not to mention what kind of enemies there is.

Sure, i can do it hardcore, paranoia-style, and kill off characters as flies, but i often prefers to let the characters escape due to a fluke, or that someone arrives in the nick of time ... but it is even better if i allows the caracters escape by themselves, because ... as i pointed out, my partiality is towards the adventure, the story.
And as such, i save direct deaths for really serious occasions.
The important point is, that the players don't know where i draw the line, and as such, they should always do their best, anyway.

If you prefer to GM through harshness, fine, I prefer to GM through story, and some unexpected things.

Quote from: Catelf;625142If you prefer to GM through harshness, fine, I prefer to GM through story, and some unexpected things.

I GM the game, not the story.

Quote from: Blackhand;625123If a character dies, it's usually because something is trying to kill him.

It's your job as a DM to enforce this critical part of the game, not give the players free passes when they don't even know they have failed.

I tend to agree, but I would also comment that a gm needs to allow the characters reasonable options to outwit or avoid lethal threats.
Otherwise it can become "Five medusae step out of the shadows---characters all get petrified"
I like the pc's to have a chance to see a few lifelike statues, or hear legends of the 'snake haired women in the caves'.

Now, if no reasonable precautions are taken in a dangerous area...kill em all!


I never 'save' a character with my magic gm powers, but I rarely force players into a surprise deathtrap.

Yeah Bill, that's true...yet I get the overwhelming sense that many of these GM's save MANY characters from just, well...what I would consider to be BASIC death.

You know, an lucky orc with a sword.

Quote from: Blackhand;625144I GM the game, not the story.

Quote from: Blackhand;625149Yeah Bill, that's true...yet I get the overwhelming sense that many of these GM's save MANY characters from just, well...what I would consider to be BASIC death.

You know, an lucky orc with a sword.

To me, the story is a vital part of an rpg, if there is no story, or the story is just an excuse to kill monsters and get treasures, then i could just as well GM Descent or Warhammer Quest, and there i would have no reason to fudge dice rolls.

So, if an rpg is just that to you, then i agree with you.
But.
To me an rpg is story as well, and thus i have no qualms about fudging die rolls.

Also, in the games i GM, there is rarely any loot to be had, at all.

Forgive the induglance, but let me toss out a "please, not this again", just so I can scratch that itch.

There are multiple trains of thought on this, guys.  All we know for certain is that the guy that knows the ONE TRUE WAY is wrong.  And, quite possibly, lying to us.