The Two Most Important GM Skills

Let’s face it, no matter how much you plan or what maps you build...your players will take your plot and set it on fires so many times! Or they'll chase a random goat into this woods!

That’s why two of the most important things for a GM to have aren’t dice or books, but rather, improv and imagination. These skills are your secret weapons behind the screen.

For funsies, here are two scenarios of the plot derailment that can come from your

players.

Fun Example

You plan for the characters to go to a ruined cathedral and face a dark necromancer to retrieve an ancient relic, BUT the players find a cute skeletal cat on the way to the cathedral. They name it, adopt it, and then retire from the life of adventure to open a tavern so that they can better take care of their adopted undead pet.

Serious Example

You lay out all the bread crumbs and carefully guide the players to investigate a noble who seems to be failing in his duty to save his people. Is he in line with the demons and trying to carry out their will rather than his duties to his people? BUT, the players choose to go in another direction completely, not even entering the territory of the noble and making your notes and plans completely moot.

The power of inspiration is what lets you turn the unexpected moments into legendary ones. Improv isn’t just making up random stuff; it’s having stuff that feels consistent with your world, and it allows you to say YES to the decisions that the players make and to build upon them.

For example, if a player asks for the name of an NPC, you could just provide a random name and move on, or you you give them a name and backstory for that character. The latter adds lore to the game play and opens up the possibility of side- quests. It also makes the NPC a lot more memorable to the players.

The power of improv is the thing that keeps the world alive, reactive, and real during the game. It helps your players feel like their choices matter in how the story will develop.

Imagination is the fuel for your world and can -

•  help you describe your scenes

•  help you create characters

•  and invent worlds and scenarios.

  
  

You don’t need to be Tolkien in order to create a good campaign. It’s about finding out what’s fun, surprising, or even terrifying for your players and the characters. Use these things to spark ideas that could evolve into an entire arc in the story.

Here are a few suggestions for bringing your imagination to life for developing the

game play:

•  Use the senses when describing things.

  • What does the air smell like? Musty or fresh? Maybe it carries the scent of a specific flower? Is there the scent of decay?

  • Is the area hot or cold? Humid? Or dry enough to make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth?

  • Are there animals the players can hear? Maybe a distant storm? Does the floor creak under the characters? Or are there wet leaves muffled under their shoes?

  • Can they taste spices in the air? Smell and scent are closely related, so sometimes a scent will give you the sensation of tasting something at the same time, so feel free to use that when describing the setting.

• More than just describing the obvious things the characters can see, try to get a bit more creative; add in the small details, like noting the particular architectural styles of the buildings/ruins, or even things like the material of the rocks around.

• Don’t be scared to borrow things from your favorite shows or books and use

  that as inspiration for things in your own game. Don’t plagiarize those things outright, obviously, but being inspired can help especially if you are in a creative rut.

When you add improv and imagination together, you create magic! This is how you can world build on the fly.

It is a good idea to always keep a few loosely planned alternative quests in your back pocket for those situations where your players jump off the rails of your original plan. In regards to the example of the noble, when the players don’t go the route you worked so hard to lay out for them, you could have another quest where the players face off with the actual demon (rather the original plan of finding the demon through his acolyte). This works because it still fits the world, the lore, and even ties right back into the main plot you had originally planned.

The next time your players go off script, DON’T PANIC! You don’t need to railroad them to certain places, and you certainly don’t need to always reach for the rulebook – lean on your imagination. Often the most memorable moments of the campaign are the ones that weren’t even planned out.

Are there any additional tips you think we missed? Or do you have any particularly memorable “off script’ moments during a campaign? We’d love to hear from you!

Leave a comment below, on our YouTube video or even on our Discord Channel!

Credit: Written by Meraki Forest