How NOT To Run A Session Part 2

Welcome back, friends, to another edition of the Enchanted Lore blog! If you’re anything like us, you’ve just had your first taste of spring weather, and oh how sweet it is! Warmer weather brings more adventures to me and the team, so now is actually a great time to put up the second part of our series, “How NOT To Run A Session.”

1) DO NOT be vindictive.

Hey, we’ve all been there – the type of day where everything goes wrong and you’re barely clinging to your last strand of patience – but a horrid day is no excuse for taking your personal frustrations out on the adventuring party and giving them nothing but a string of bad luck and a horde of punishing enemies. Remember, these are your friends in real life too, and you want to keep it that way even after the campaign ends.

In addition, if the party does not take your hints for the path they should be going and end up doing things you hadn’t anticipated, don’t be a jerk and kill them all off or otherwise ruin the fun of the session as revenge. Part of the fun of a campaign is the agency of the players, so roll with it!

2) DO NOT stress over the “production” quality of the game

Seriously, this is a big one. You do not need to have a “professional” quality production for your session (a la “Critical Roll”). Role-playing was created to be played with only the most basic of supplies; a pen, some paper, and a ton of imagination. You are not required to make it any more complicated than that, but if a bit more pizzazz is something that you and your friends want, then go for it! This flexibility is part of what makes role-playing so accessible and enduring as entertainment.

3) DO NOT play favorites

Yeah, it’s definitely fun to play with more experienced players but it doesn’t mean that you should be giving them preferential treatment during the campaign. As the Game Master, you need to give everyone an opportunity to shine and grow.

4) DO NOT ignore time management

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but the basics shouldn’t be overlooked. Make sure to be on time so that your friends aren’t wondering where you are, and don’t lose track of time during the session either. There’s an art to wrapping up sessions, so keep that in mind. Going over your time allotment every once in a while isn’t a big deal, but making it a habit is disrespecting everyone’s time.

5) DO NOT provide too much information

Maybe you haven’t considered this before, but it’s important. Info dumping on your players about the world or storyline is akin to asking them to drink out of a fire hydrant. Spreading the information about the campaign throughout the gameplay will be a lot more palatable for the players and will also give them the time and opportunity to guess or figure things out on their own.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this short series! It’s obviously more suited to the beginner GM, but hopefully there were a few good tips for the more experienced ones too. As this is also a place of community, we’d love to have any of you more experienced Game Masters chime in on the comments of our YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSdYeV3FgH0) or jump on our Discord server (https://discord.com/invite/g2NBTssuMh) with YOUR best tips and tricks!

Thank you for your time, and we hope to see you again next week!