Learning to Play as a Forever GM
Header Image: Dungeon Master’s Guide (2008) Wizards of the Coast / Wayne Reynolds
It isn’t often that I sit on the opposite side of the Game Master screen. Normally, I’m the one that sits there on the ivory throne, looking down upon my subjects and controlling the world. There are rare circumstances where I sit on the other side, and there are a few things that I, and other Forever Game Masters, should keep in mind when it comes to becoming a player again.
So here are four tips I’ve learned after getting the chance to play recently. While this is directed at Forever Game Masters, these are the same lessons that a good player should learn as well.
You Aren’t The Focus
This one is probably the one I struggle with the most and is something I have to be very aware of as a player. As the GM, you are so used to being the focus of the games. As the GM, you are most often the world, the characters, and everything else that it can be quite hard to step back, let other players become the focus, and to not try be in every scene.
I am especially guilty of wanting to get in one-liners or jokes but in the voice of my character. I want my character to be incredibly well-liked, but I often make rather humorous characters that you shouldn’t take too seriously. Like a wizard who was once a great professor of magic, but had a heart attack and so must start at the most basic of spells to regain their strength. Or a kobold who was banished from their clan because they played music too loudly, and badly, causing the dragon lord to banish them.
As a GM, you are so used to your characters holding a certain amount of importance, especially if they have a name. When the character is ‘present’ in the scene, it is only natural that they participate because the players are often interacting with the character. When you become a player, your character is now in almost every scene, and it’s difficult to not fall back on old habits of assuming that if your character is in the scene, they should be participating. Not every scene with your player-character is one that they need to be in, other players should take the spotlight too.
Celebrate the GM’s Story
Many GMs can feel like the players show up to the table to roll dice and hang out, not so much as to engage in the story and the world that the GM is spending a lot of time on. When you, as a Forever GM, finally get the chance to sit down as a player, this is the time when you can celebrate the GM’s work. Engage with the story, explore the world, take the nuggets of information, and keep notes.
I know I always appreciate my players who actively engage in the story, come up with plots and ideas about how things will progress outside of game night, and have notes that detail things that even I might have forgotten. That level of engagement is the highest compliment that a player can give a GM, at least that is true for me. Some GMs may prefer free cookies or pizza.
Though, this advice is good for all players, not just Forever GMs - but I feel that GMs can probably appreciate this advice more so than others.
Use Your Meta-Knowledge For Teamwork
It can be hard when you are fighting a troll. I don’t meant that the troll is tough to fight (they can be) or that the troll I’m talking about are the trolls on the internet. Instead, I want to talk about the meta-game of how experienced players and GMs fight a troll.
We all know that fire and acid are the best means of defeating a troll. But do our characters? (I’d argue ‘yes’ because adventurers don’t live in a vacuum of no knowledge, but that’s an article for another time)
Some people like to play these meta-games where they want to roll a die to see if their character knows, or they ‘cycle’ through different spell damages for two rounds before they ‘stumble’ upon fire being the weakness (let’s face it, no one uses acid because Wizards of the Coast hates any element that isn’t fire). They then have their character be ‘surprised’ about the weakness, and then they pat themselves on the back for not being a dirty, no-good, meta-gaming asshat.
In my experience, that is not fun for anyone, especially not as the GM. I think as a Forever GM, you can use some of that meta-knowledge you have gained through the years but only use it to further the story or make combats more exciting. If you are fighting a troll, everyone already knows that fire and acid are the way to go about defeating it, but instead of just shooting off a fireball and ending the fight there, find a way to incorporate that fire damage more with your team. Maybe form a large wall of fire and have your barbarian keep shoving the troll into the blazing wall of fire, the same can be accomplished with the simple cantrip bonfire. In both cases, it’s not YOU winning the combat, it’s the TEAM winning the combat.
Maybe instead of directly creating fire, you could also use an elemental weapon spell to add fire to another player’s weapon or light some torches on your turn and hand them out if you are at an especially low level. Whenever you exploit a weakness of a creature, because you have that meta-knowledge, but use it for teamwork and to help OTHERS be in the spotlight, that’s not bad use of meta-knowledge. You aren’t using your knowledge to make yourself look awesome, but rather make everyone else look awesome.
It’s OK To Not Have Fun
I’m a Forever GM, I like being a Forever GM. When I get the chance to be a player, it can be exciting to play with character creation and come up with these whacky characters but… to be honest… it’s just not that fun to me. I love my friends, they do a great job building a story and being a GM, but to be honest… It’s just not as fun being a player as being the GM.
I can see when they are stumbling on their improv, I can see when they are getting rules (that I know) are wrong, and I start thinking about how I would build an encounter or tell the story. All of these ideas I start having and wanting to implement, but it’s not my story, it’s not my table, it’s not game. But I really want it to be!
I find being a player so restrictive, and it’s not because I’m a control freak (well, it might be because of that). I just have so much more fun when I get to try new things, do different things, play lots of characters (monsters I suppose is the correct term), and basically be entertaining to others. I find taking that backseat to the action or the focus to just not be as fun - and that’s OK!
Being a player isn’t for everyone, just like being a GM isn’t for everyone. We don’t get upset with people who don’t want to run a game or don’t like running games, and we aren’t going to be upset with GM who don’t want to play in games or only want to run games. You don’t have to worry about forcing yourself to like being a player just because everyone else enjoys being a player. Being a GM is awesome and no one can ever change my mind, or my fun, on that.
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