I was amused the other day to read some material (courtesy of The Wench) on "certification mills" for Tarot Readers (if anyone ever tells you they're a "certified" tarot reader, its bullshit), and how some people who are tarot fanatics were playing a game of seeing how ridiculous they could get with the submitted applications for certification (ie. at what point they would actually NOT get certified).

It all made me think about what a degree-mill would required for certification as a Game Master. How would they measure that unmeasurable, what would they expect?

What would you expect, if you were selling crank "certifications" and needed to have a list of flimsy "qualification" requirements?

RPGPundit

Would there be any written or oral exams for such a "certification"?

I'd say a degree of above average narrative and imaginative competence.

As one of my playtesters said

"Ian these games are awesome but what you really need is some preplanned stories for people like us who can't come up with a good plot for shit!"

I think it would have to work like a professional cookery exam. It's not enough to be able to run D&D or Vampiure, the prospective professional GM would have to prove his range, running a series of different styles of games using different techniques for a panel of peers.

I hasten to add I don't think it would be a good idea.

Quote from: Soylent Green;445810I think it would have to work like a professional cookery exam. It's not enough to be able to run D&D or Vampiure, the prospective professional GM would have to prove his range, running a series of different styles of games using different techniques for a panel of peers.

Heh. That's an interesting comparison. A classic culinary test in French restaurants is to have the chef make an omelette. The idea behind the test is that an omelette is one of the most basic dishes you can make, but which you can decline in so many different ways, with some many different tweaks and add-ons that it gets as complicated as a chef really wants it to be. So in the end, the chef's personality shines through.

Based on this idea, you would give a DM the most simple game you can get, like say Swords & Wizardry, and just ask him to run a game. The basic game really gets as complicated, with houserules, add-ons etc as the DM wants it to be, and can cover a great variety of tastes and flavors, so the DM's style and personality would shine through.

I think you are all missing he point and trying to explain what an actual DM certification would be like.

I believe and correct me if I am wrong but Pundit is asking for a crank certification.

In which case the answer is simple.

'You want to be a certified Dungeon Master? Send $100 today to PO box DUNGEON MASTER, Wisconsin. Send today don't delay."

Qualified GMs rarely wear underwear, but when they do, it's usually something special.

Quote from: jibbajibba;445814I think you are all missing he point and trying to explain what an actual DM certification would be like.

I believe and correct me if I am wrong but Pundit is asking for a crank certification.

In which case the answer is simple.

'You want to be a certified Dungeon Master? Send $100 today to PO box DUNGEON MASTER, Wisconsin. Send today don't delay."

The sad thing is, I think WotC could probably pull that off. Hard core fans are.. well, hard core fans.

Well, first off I think certification should be required to hang out a professional GM association shingle.

Requirements

A non-home place to play that is properly insulated, heated, and has proper sanitation facilities.  Ideally including a shower.  I'm sorry but I don't care if you've got a castle in Britany if you live there people shouldn't pay to come game.

Exceptional paraphrenalia like painted miniatures scenery that's a notch above dungeon tiles.

Core rules for the current edition of Dungeons & Dragons and willingness to run it.  Core rules for at least two other fairly major games that are currently in print, nWOD, HERO, GURPS, whatever but people need to be able to buy the games you can run.

Sanction / affiliation with a local gaming store, publisher, or convention. If we wanted to establish a professional association I think it'd make sense to have ties to the industry.

I think the model would be running games at least three nights a week and doing group shuffles to help people connect and form private groups that have good dynamics.  You run the open games and use them to filter people into groups that want similar things and can live with each other.

While I expect the model would be self culling, if you can't get people to come play with you then the cost of maintaining a gaming space should pretty quickly drive off the problem players, there would have to be a dispute and code of conduct violation body and policies.

Certification is more important for jobs any idiot can do. Game mastering is hard and if you suck, people won't play. Having a group that likes you is its own cert.

Doctors need certification because any fucking idiot could be a doctor. I could open a practice right now, prescribe the same anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics that doctors give for fucking everything, getting their weight based dosages out of the PDR. If I don't know what something is right away, I can just send them to a specialist.

People get away with that shit for years.

I was reading an old issue of Dragon the other day and there was an amusing injunction not to waste time at cons because "how often do you get the chance to play with national level players"? National level? They're just a bunch of fellow mountain dew guzzlers who bought a pass! Note that no specific con such as GenCon was being referred to, it was just assumed that all cons were full of such exalted beings. There really was a concept back in the day of "mastery" and being an "advanced player" which has thankfully largely disappeared in favour of just not being an asshole.

Quote from: Aos;445815Qualified GMs rarely wear underwear, but when they do, it's usually something special.

Which is exactly why I have a pair of Invader Zim boxers that I wear when Refereeing Traveller....

I knew you would understand, Jeff.

DM certification is a good thing because it would involve training and passing some sort of testing, thus convention players would know their GM had some proven ability.

It means nothing for home stuff, but when you just paid $1000 for GenCon (pass, food, hotel, travel, etc), it would be cool to know that the GM at your table had some level of experience worth your vaction time.

Also, it would be great for noob GMs if the certification training actually gave them lots of good stuff and then required them to demonstrate they now have a clue at the table.   That would only help the hobby.

Quote from: The_Shadow;445858There really was a concept back in the day of "mastery" and being an "advanced player" which has thankfully largely disappeared in favour of just not being an asshole.

Not exactly.  Early RPGA was all about tournament play which was quite challenging and required you to be more than an asshole.   A good team of D&Ders at a national tourney at GenCon had won many tourneys before and were very good at teamwork, puzzles, roleplay and combat.  

So in regards to D&D tourney play there really was a level of "mastery"

I would suggest that being certified under the Mental Health Act might be a good start