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A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, storyteller, or master of ceremonies) is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. [1] [2] The act performed by a gamemaster is sometimes referred to as "gamemastering" or simply "GM-ing."
The role of a GM in a traditional tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) is to weave together the other participants' player-characters' (PCs) stories, control the non-player characters (NPCs), describe or create environments in which the PCs can interact, and solve any player disputes. This basic role is the same in almost all traditional TTRPGs, with minor differences specific to differing rule sets. However, in some indie role-playing games, the GM role significantly differs from the traditional pattern. For example, in Powered by the Apocalypse systems, the other players assist the GM in creating both the NPCs and the details of the campaign setting. [3]
The role of a gamemaster in an online game is to enforce the game's rules and provide general customer service.
Gaming systems have their own names for the role of the GM. For example, in Dungeons & Dragons , they are called dungeon masters, [4] in the World of Darkness games, they are called storytellers, [5] and in Powered by the Apocalypse games they are called a variety of names, such as MCs (master of ceremonies). [6]
GMs are typically hobbyists; however, they are sometimes paid employees or entertainers for hire. This is more common for online games. Paid GMing was very uncommon for TTRPGs before the 2020s. [7]
In a role-playing game context, the term gamemaster was first used by Dave Arneson while developing his game Blackmoor in 1971, [8] although the first usage in print may have been Chivalry & Sorcery . [9]
Each gaming system has its own name for the role of the gamemaster, such as "judge," "narrator," "referee," "director," or "storyteller," [10] and these terms not only describe the role of the GM in general but also help define how the game is intended to be run. For example, the most famous of such terms, the "Dungeon Master" (or "DM") in Dungeons & Dragons, [11] [12] highlights the game's focus on dungeon crawling. The Storyteller System used in White Wolf Game Studio's storytelling games calls its GM the "storyteller," while the rules- and setting-focused Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game calls its GM the "judge." The cartoon inspired role-playing game Toon calls its GM the "animator." Some games apply flavorful names to the GM to fit the genre or setting, such as the Keeper of Arcane Lore (in the occult-themed Call of Cthulhu ), [13] the Hollyhock God ( Nobilis , in which the hollyhock represents vanity), the Groundskeeper (in the spooky Bluebeard's Bride), [14] the Mall Rat (in Visigoths vs. Mall Goths), [15] or the Gaymaster (in LGBTQ-centered Thirsty Sword Lesbians). [16]
The term gamemaster and the role associated with it have been used in the postal gaming hobby since the 1980s. [17] In typical play-by-mail games, players control armies or civilizations and mail their chosen actions to the GM. The GM then mails the updated game state to all players on a regular basis. Usage in a wargaming context includes Guidon Games 1973 ruleset, Ironclad . [18]
The gamemaster prepares the game session for the players and the characters they play (known as player characters or PCs), describes the events taking place and decides on the outcomes of players' decisions. The gamemaster also keeps track of non-player characters (NPCs) and random encounters, as well as of the general state of the game world. [19] The game session (or "adventure") can be metaphorically described as a play, in which the players are the lead actors, and the GM provides the stage, the scenery, the basic plot on which the improvisational script is built, as well as all the bit parts and supporting characters. Gamemasters can also be in charge of RPG board games making the events and setting challenges. [20]
GMs may choose to run a game based on a published game world, with the maps and history already in place; such game worlds often have pre-written adventures. Alternatively, the GM may build their own world and script their own adventures. [21]
In early virtual worlds, gamemasters served as a moderator or administrator. In MUD game masters were called "wizards." Gamemastering in the form found in traditional role-playing games has also been used in semi-automatic virtual worlds. However, human moderation was sometimes considered unfair or out of context in an otherwise automated world. [22] As online games expanded, gamemaster duties expanded to include being a customer service representative for an online community. A gamemaster in such a game is either an experienced volunteer player or an employee of the game's publisher. They enforce the game's rules by banishing spammers, player killers, cheaters, and hackers and by solving players' problems by providing general customer service. For their tasks they use special tools and characters that allow them to do things like teleport to players, summon items, and browse logs that record players' activities. [23]
World of Warcraft has employees of Blizzard Entertainment that serve as gamemasters to help users with various problems in gameplay, chat, and other things like account and billing issues. A gamemaster in this game will communicate with players through chat that has blue text and they will also have a special "GM" tag and Blizzard logo in front of their names. [23]
RuneScape has more than 500 moderators employed by Jagex to assist players and perform administrative duties in-game and on the site forums. These Jagex Moderators, as they are called, usually have the word "Mod" and a gold crown preceding their account names which ordinary players are not permitted to use. The game also has Player Moderators and Forum Moderators who are player volunteers helping with moderation, having the ability to mute (block from chatting) other players who violate rules. [24] [25]
In Helldivers 2, a third-person shooter by Arrowhead Game Studios, a singular employee, named Joel Hakalax, functions as a game master for the playerbase. The game features many real-time events where territory is gained or lost, which are determined at the discretion of the game master. [26]
The now defunct America Online Online Gaming Forum used to use volunteers selected by applications from its user base. These people were simply referred to as OGFs by other members, and their screennames were indicative of their position (i.e., OGF Moose, etc.). While membership in the Online Gaming Forum had only one real requirement (that is, be a member of AOL), OGFs were given powers quite similar to AOL "Guides" and could use them at will to discipline users as they saw appropriate. Battleground Europe , a medium-sized MMOFPS, has a team of Game Moderators, anonymous volunteers who moderate the game. Miniconomy , a smaller text-based MMO, has a team of Federals, experienced players that help moderate the game and interactions. Transformice , an online multiplayer platformer, has a team of volunteer moderators called Mods who are experienced players that help moderate the game and interactions. ARMA 3 , an open-world military tactical shooter, has a Zeus role that allows any player slotted in that role to place down almost any asset in the game including infantry and vehicles, objectives, intelligence, and score-keeping modules. The Zeus can also modify aspects of the world itself including time, weather, and wildlife to create dynamically progressing stories. Neverwinter Nights and Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption are video game adaptations of tabletop role-playing games that are played online with one player acting as a traditional gamemaster.
Gamemastering, sometimes referred to as Orchestration [27] is used in pervasive games to guide players along a trajectory [28] desired by the game author. [29] To ensure proper gamemastering can take place, four components are needed: some kind of sensory system to the game allowing the game masters to know current events, providing dynamic game information; dynamic and static game information lets game masters make informed decisions; decisions need to be actuated into the game, either through the game system or through manual intervention; and finally a communication structure is needed for both diegetic or non-diegetic communication. [30] Effective gamemastering can require specialized user interfaces that are highly game specific. [31]
Certain sourcebooks simulate the decisions of a gamemaster by various means for either group or solo gaming. These include works such as Mythic Game Master Emulator, which employs an oracle system to allow players to play TTRPGs without a gamemaster. [32] [33]
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.
An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including linear adventures, where players move between scenes in a predetermined order; non-linear adventures, where scenes can go in multiple directions; and solo adventures, which are played alone, without a game group.
The history of role-playing games began when disparate traditions of historical reenactment, improvisational theatre, and parlour games combined with the rulesets of fantasy wargames in the 1970s to give rise to tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs). Multiple TTRPGs were produced between the 1970s and early 1990s. In the 1990s, TTRPGs faced a decline in popularity. Indie role-playing game design communities arose on the internet in the early 2000s and introduced new ideas. In the late 2010s and early 2020s, TTRPGs experienced renewed popularity due to videoconferencing, the rise of actual play, and online marketplaces.
Role-playing games (RPGs) have developed specialized terminology. This includes both terminology used within RPGs to describe in-game concepts and terminology used to describe RPGs. Role-playing games also have specialized slang and jargon associated with them.
An indie role-playing game is a role-playing game published by individuals or small press publishers, in contrast to games published by large corporations. Indie tabletop role-playing game designers participate in various game distribution networks, development communities, and gaming conventions, both in person and online. Indie game designer committees grant annual awards for excellence.
A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a classification for a role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines, usually involving randomization. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise, and their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.
Monster of the Week (MOTW) is an urban fantasy-horror tabletop role-playing game developed by Michael Sands. It was first published in 2012, and a revised edition was published by Evil Hat Productions in 2015, who have since published the game and its supplemental materials. The game was inspired by villain of the week television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and The X-Files.
A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the players in order to not spoil the plot of the story. It also hides any dice rolls made by the gamemaster that players should not see. In addition, screens often have essential tables and information printed on the inside for the gamemaster to easily reference during play.
Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role-playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other indie role-playing games.
Roll20 is a website consisting of a set of tools for playing tabletop role-playing games, also referred to as a virtual tabletop, which can be used as an aid to playing in person or remotely online. The site was launched in 2012 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. The platform's goal is to provide an authentic tabletop experience that does not try to turn the game into a video game, but instead aids the game master in providing immersive tools online. The blank slate nature of the platform makes integrating a multitude of tabletop role-playing games possible.
Second Inquisition is a tabletop role-playing game supplement released on March 16, 2022, by Renegade Game Studios, for use with the game Vampire: The Masquerade, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series. It describes globally connected groups of vampire hunters in the game's setting, and how to create antagonists belonging to them for game campaigns.
Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game produced by Magpie Games. It is set in the world of the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and takes place in five different time periods. Players take the roles of martial artists, technological experts, or benders – people who can manipulate one of the four classical elements – who fight for balance in the world while also working towards their own goals and struggling with inner balance, represented by opposing ideals held by a character.
City of Mist is an urban fantasy neo-noir detective tabletop role-playing game (RPG) designed by Amít Moshe and published by Son of Oak Game Studio. The game is set in a modern-day metropolis where ordinary people of all walks of life become modern-day reincarnations of myths, legends, and fairy tales, gaining magical powers and abilities.
Demiplane is a company that creates digital toolsets for playing tabletop role-playing games which can be used as an aid to playing in person or remotely online. The Demiplane platform's main services are game matchmaking, game hosting and licensed content via the Nexus digital toolset. Nexus provides access to digital rulebooks, adventures, and other supplements; it also provides digital tools like a character builder and character sheets. The platform was launched in 2020; early access to Nexus launched in 2021. In June 2024, the company was acquired by the virtual tabletop (VTT) company Roll20.
Alex Roberts is a Canadian tabletop role-playing game designer. Her games typically lack a gamemaster (GM) and include romantic themes. Her games include For the Queen and Star Crossed.
The X-Card is a technique for moderating content while playing tabletop role-playing games, also known as a safety tool. Gameplay pauses when a player touches a card marked with an X, enabling the group to remove any uncomfortable material from the narrative and/or address players' mental and emotional wellbeing.
Aabria Iyengar is an American web series actress known primarily for tabletop role-playing game anthologies, streams and podcasts. She was the Dungeon Master (DM) for the first season of Exandria Unlimited. Iyengar has been both a player and a Game Master for multiple seasons of Dimension 20 and a guest DM on The Adventure Zone.
Brindlewood Bay is a murder mystery tabletop role-playing game about elderly women amateur detectives, inspired by Murder, She Wrote and H. P. Lovecraft. It was designed by Jason Cordova and was published by Gauntlet Publishing after a 2022 Kickstarter campaign raised $477,518 from 7,748 backers.
Coyote & Crow is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game by Connor Alexander. The game was designed by a team of Native Americans from more than a dozen tribes. The game is set in an alternate future of the Americas, where thanks to a natural disaster, colonization never happened. Coyote & Crow's setting is the metropolis Cahokia, which is based on the Mississippi River. Coyote & Crow's first expansion book, Ahu Tiiko, focuses on a murder mystery in a forest village.
Sleepaway is a horror indie role-playing game by Jay Dragon about teenage counselors at a summer camp trying to protect misfit campers from a monster called the Lindworm that takes on the form of its victims. It has themes of trauma, LGBTQ community support, and non-binary gender exploration. Sleepaway was inspired by slasher films and the Belonging Outside Belonging game system by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum.
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has generic name (help)The Dungeon Master (DM) is the one who plays the "bad guys." He knows the secrets of the dungeon, either because he has read the dungeon that the players explore or because he created that dungeon himself.