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March 5, 2010

March 2010 RPG Blog Carnival: How to be a Better GM?


Wow, time really flies and it's already March. I remember signing up to host the RPG Blog Carnival back sometime last year and now the RPG Blog Carnival is pitching their tents for the first time at the Questing GM.

As for this month's topic, it is something that I have chose much earlier because it is something that is close to my heart and one of the reasons why I started this blog; Gamemastering.

I started GMing the same time I started gaming and even after more than 10 years of so-called GMing experience, I still think that I haven't learn all there is to GMing.

Not all GMs are not made perfect to handle every kind situations that comes out from the chaos that is called roleplaying and every day we might encounter a new situation that we have never been in before. Even with the same group of players that you've been playing for decades.

As GMs, I not only have to keep running the game smoothly, I also have to find new ways and ideas to keep my games fresh so that my players would keep coming for more. I always want my players to have fun in my game and that is one of the greatest rewards that I can ever have as GMs.

The reason why I chose the name Questing GM was because I believed that as a GM, I'm always finding out new ways to improve my game for me as a GM and for my players whether it's the way we run combat or how the setting was designed.

It's a learning process that never ends and I believe that we can all learn from each other.

So for this month's blog carnival, I invite, fellow bloggers to do a post on;

How to be a better GM?

Shares your anecdotes, your advice, your own reflections on whether you have improved as a GM, how do improve your game or any other posts that can be helpful to your own or someone else's game. There's just so many aspects in GMing that I'm sure you can chime in on something.

Once you have posted up your post, kindly leave a link at the comments section so that I can do a roundup at the end of the month.

Let's keep the flame from dying, people. I don't want this to be the last blog carnival.

15 comments:

R.M. Walker said...

Great post, Questing! Here's my entry:

http://initorwhat.blogspot.com/2010/03/rpg-blog-carnival-how-to-be-better-gm.html

Welcome back!

Unknown said...

GM/DMing, like most things in life, is not something that you can ever "master", despite the name! Just as I would not say that I have "learned" how to play guitar, but that I am "learning" (despite my 16 years of experience), I would say the same thing about running an RPG. I will say that I have gotten much better at it with age, and I attempt to explain why with this post (called "How to DM - Play to your strengths):

http://backscreenpass.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-dm-play-to-your-strengths.html

Geek Ken said...

Here is my humble contribution:

http://geekken.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-be-better-gm.html

satyre said...

Nice post.

My contribution to the potluck.

http://satyrelite.blogspot.com/2010/03/way-of-snow.html

Mike Schulz said...

Howdy,

I'd like to join in this rodeo if you'll have me. I'm a pretty inexperienced blogger, but you can find my contribution here:

http://latetotheparty.ca/?p=221

Thanks,

Mike

Anonymous said...

Hello. Here's my entry!
http://newbiedm.com/2010/03/17/how-ive-improved-my-dming/

Kameron said...

Woot! My first RPG Blog Carnival contribution.

http://www.pathsofadventure.com/2010/03/18/learning-to-describe-damage-differently/

Michael "Stargazer" Wolf said...

Here's our entry (there might be more), written by Sunglar:

http://www.stargazersworld.com/2010/03/19/the-secret-of-my-success%e2%80%a6/

Blind Monk said...

I submit for your approval:

http://butlerwolf.blogspot.com/2010/03/throw-everything-at-wall.html

j said...

I struggled to write something for this topic, since so many of the above posters posted their good advice before I even started thinking about writing something.

In the end though, I did manage to come up with this:

http://tenletter.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/reasons-why-its-a-bad-idea-to-bring-your-girlfriend-to-your-next-session/

Anonymous said...

I'm a little late, but I just found out about the awesome Carnival! My new gaming blog: The Action Point!
http://theactionpoint.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/rpg-blog-carnival-how-to-be-a-better-gm/

Cheri said...

Thanks for hosting the carnival and for this topic. Here's my contribution:

"Want to be a better GM? Ask Your Players": http://www.rpggm.com/blog/2010/03/25/want-to-be-a-better-gm-ask-your-players/

Mr Co-Op said...

Here's my contribution:

http://astralsea.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-be-better-dm.html

Mike Schulz said...

Thanks for the March RPG Carnival, Questing GM!

Is there a topic for April?

Questing GM said...

Hey Mike and Jenny,

Yes, there is. April's blog carnival is now at Exchange of Realities with the topic of Let Me Show You My (N)PC.

http://www.exchangeofrealities.com/2010/03/31/rpg-blog-carnival-april-2010-let-me-show-you-my-npc/

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