What Are Your Strengths/Weaknesses As A GM?

[Snake Eyes]

For me, its running ahead of myself......i've already done this twice. So i have to slow down and pace myself.

[Severus Snape]

The thing I find to be the easiest would have to be keeping characters/players interested in the game. Whether I use a pre-generated adventure or come up with stuff on the fly, keeping the pcs into the game is the easiest thing for me. (Although, if you are in one of my games and you feel otherwise, you just lost 100 experience points.)

My biggest weakness being a GM is railroading. I know - it's the ultimate sin in games for the GM to do this. But there are times where I do it, and I don't realize I've done it until someone tells me that I've railroaded them. Sometimes it's necessary to do some stuff to keep the game moving forward, and I do try to just let the players do what they're going to do. But I do find that at times I really step on the gas on that train and run the players over with it. And then sometimes I back up over them and run over them again with it. That has to be my biggest weakness. (If any of my players have their own thought on this, please post and lose another 100 experience points. )

[Cinos]

My refusal to help players all that much. I -hate- trying to prop up a characters story for them. If they choose to ignore the adventure hooks I've dropped around, well I guess they get to wander around and do something else.

Otherwise pacing has always been a challenge for me, I never feel I hit the right speed, either too rushed or too slow.

[t0m]

i let the players do whatever they want and sometimes the story gets set aside for that. sometimes i will be good about it and have something happen when they are off gallivanting, but usually i will let the story 'pause' while the players do their thing. this is cool some times, but in some stories it doesnt make sense that the big bad is always taking a break when the players are goofing off.

[Cybermancer]

Interesting topic. Time for a little self-examination.

Strengths:

Rule knowledge. Be it in the book or one of our house rules, I very rarely have to look anything up in the middle of the game. It helps make the game go more smoothly.

Setting knowledge. So far as settings I run, I'm pretty good at knowing what is going on and where. So when characters in the Chi-Town burbs suddenly ask, "I wonder how Japan is this time of year?" I can roll with it.

The above two combine in letting me help players make the characters they're dreaming of playing. It's useful for helping new players as well.

Story telling ability. I can tell a good story.

Improvisation. This really helps during dialogue and to make seemless responses to unpredictable player actions. It also allows me to avoid railroading and to encourage players to explore in whatever direction they want.

Experience. This has helped in all other areas of the game.

Weaknesses:

Easily distracted. I've run games that last two to four years easily. I've even run one that lasted about a decade. But every so often I'll get an urge to run something that seems new and shiny to me. I'm not as bad as I used to be though. Early on I'd run a game a few sessions to a few months then get bored and want to do something else.

Tyrant. While I'm diplomatic and willing to negotiate with the players in between sessions and do all I can to help a player make the character and story they want to, during the game I won't argue about anything. I am blunt about telling players to wait their turn when it's someone elses turn and have skipped players who took too long to decide what to do during their turn (it shouldn't take five minutes to figure out what your character is doing over 5 seconds). I will not argue rules during the middle of combat. I make my call and we can discuss it later. If I'm talking (in my capacity as GM) to the group, I expect everyone else to shut up and listen.

Even in between sessions, when I deliver a final verdict on a decision, the discussion is over.

Description/flavor text: I don't go as in depth into describing the small details as I would like and I gloss over a lot of things that perhaps the players should have a better understanding of. This more than the above two is something I'd really like to improve on, and I do make an effort but old habits die hard.

Boxed Text: I used to do this a lot more back in the day but not so much now that I generate my own adventures. Every so often, I still run a boxed adventure and when I do, I have a bad habit of reading more to the players than is strictly healthy so far as meta-game knowledge goes.

Old Flaws I've fixed over the years:

Monty Haul: I had so many miserly and cheap GM's/DM's before I ever got behind the screen, I swore I'd never be like that. So I'd heap on the treasure. Related to this flaw, I'd make challenges and combat too easy for players (as opposed to the 'TSR Hard' that I was raised on). While initially the players loved it (and therefore I thought I was doing a good job) it quickly became apparent that it was destroying the fun just as assuredly. It took a long time for me to work out a good reward to risk ratio that worked.

Game Balance: As I mentioned above, I used to make challenges too easy. Or else I'd hand out too much power and then everything was too easy for the players. In response I swung in the other direction and made things too hard. This flaw did help me learn to cope with powerful player groups as well as create challenges that couldn't be overcome by sheer power. Now I'm better at running games where the challenges are balanced and actually challenging in relation to what the player characters can do and have at their disposal.

My (GM)NPC brings all the boys to the yard... : Made the mistake of creating DM/GMPC's early in my GMing career. I'm glad to say I got over it and now players only have to worry about normal NPC's.

Slave to the books: When I was first getting started, I was like 16 and didn't know anything about anything. So if it was said in one of the Palladium books, I took it as gospel. Two things have helped alleviate this problem. The first is life experience where I've gained a lot of knowledge that I can draw on instead. The other is the internet along with things like Google and Wikipedia. So much information is available just for the asking and I ask often.

Looking back at some of my old flaws as a GM, I sometimes wonder how it is I had so many players stick with me as long as they did. I suppose part of it was the scarcity of GM's combined with them being kids and not knowing any better either. It helped that I improved as I went.

[Illendaver]

Oh boy... I suppose my big weakness is that I hate railroading to such a point that sometimes, my campaigns have no story or plot at all. It is just a simple "what is your chars goal?" and then I figure out a problem for you to work out before you accomplish whatever you set out to do (I.E. I want my own castle. Ok, There is one over here [draw one up in between play times and fill it with monsters and a villian] as a GM I try to let the villian get away so you have somebody to bother the players with later). Sometimes this is actually pretty fun, but if your players are expecting an epic story and you are expecting them to want something, its not too great.
One of my best strengths, as you may have guessed, is coming up with something on the fly and impromtu acting.
The big thing that bothers me about my games is that everybody is always screwing around. I.E. cracking jokes or making movie quotes. Sometimes, I really wish I could just have a game that plays out and feels kinda like your in a DragonLance or Forgotten Realms book. Something serious, you know?

[Specter]

My strengths: I'm creative, quick on my toes, I have an even ammount of serious gaming and comedy to keep things interesting but not weigh the game down with meledrama... I'm decent with dialogue.

My weaknesses: I do not plan out my games very well. I usually stat out a few monsters/villians and plan an opening encounter and a few barely thought of bumps along the road of my loosely tied together plot. So sometimes the games get away from me because I'm making too much up as I go along.

[The Dark Elf]

I would ask my players and let them post....

I aim for ruddy mysterious.

[Reagren Wright]

Strength:

1. I'm the master of improv. Can change the adventure around at the blink of an eye without my
players even being aware of it.

2. Fairness.

3. I know my players and caters to their needs if its suits the storyline of the adventure.

Weakness:

1. I'm not sure how well my games would be if I had different players, a bit nervous about
G.Ming for others.

2. We always get distracted in our games.

3. I have certain house rules that my players live by but not sure would go over well with
others.

[keir451]

"premature detonation" I can get a story rolling, initially, but sometimes have difficulty continuing the story afterwards. Basically I run up against a wall in coming up with new ideas.

[Juce734]

Strengths: My enthusiasm to have a fun game! My ability to improvise on the fly.

Weaknesses: Sometimes when I improvise my storyline gets lost and we end up doing something completely different than I had planned.

I have a really hard time getting the characters where I intend them to go without railroading. I want to improve at making them feel like they are on this adventure due to their decisions.

Example... "Ok you guys are all at your base when you get a phone call from (NPC) saying the mall is under attack." Then next time "Ok you are at the restaurant and you hear police sirens. Before you know it 4 cop cars are chasing an armored van past the restaurant."

It's weak and I think gets boring quick that way. Any tips on how to get better at this please PM to me.

[The Dark Elf]

I have a really hard time getting the characters where I intend them to go without railroading. I want to improve at making them feel like they are on this adventure due to their decisions.

Example... "Ok you guys are all at your base when you get a phone call from (NPC) saying the mall is under attack." Then next time "Ok you are at the restaurant and you hear police sirens. Before you know it 4 cop cars are chasing an armored van past the restaurant."

It's hard to say without specific scenarios but I would say dont railroad them but give them a "buy-in" to the chase/scenario.

For the two examples Id use something along the lines of "You're at your apartment, just chillin', its dinner time, you're hungry"
"i make dinner"
"when was the last time you bought food."
"umm...."
"well you check the fridge to find out that it's empty........ rumble rumble goes your belly...."
"I go get some food..."

They players go to the supermarket (or mall or wherever) and when they get there its under attack. I can imagine my players blowing up the mall to shreds and once the bad guys are half dead on the floor, stepping through the rubble, picking a loaf of bread and milk and saying something like "just wanted a bite to eat...."

"You've just finished having a lovely meal in a restaurant down town. You pay the bill and walk out to your car. As you go to open the door you notice your wing mirror is smashed off and there are massive yellow scrapes down the side. Looks like damage into the thousands. Roll perception."
they make perception.
"Up ahead you can see what looks like a yellow transit van zig zagging all over the place, bumpy into cars. It seems a police unit has noticed it too and begins to give chase. Is there anything you would like to do right now....?"

It's ok to have your players in the right place at the right time. they are expecting it so its about creating the buy in that the scenario is a personal involvement.

EDIT - Sorry that was supposed to be a PM.

[Juce734]

I have a really hard time getting the characters where I intend them to go without railroading. I want to improve at making them feel like they are on this adventure due to their decisions.

Example... "Ok you guys are all at your base when you get a phone call from (NPC) saying the mall is under attack." Then next time "Ok you are at the restaurant and you hear police sirens. Before you know it 4 cop cars are chasing an armored van past the restaurant."

It's hard to say without specific scenarios but I would say dont railroad them but give them a "buy-in" to the chase/scenario.

For the two examples Id use something along the lines of "You're at your apartment, just chillin', its dinner time, you're hungry"
"i make dinner"
"when was the last time you bought food."
"umm...."
"well you check the fridge to find out that it's empty........ rumble rumble goes your belly...."
"I go get some food..."

They players go to the supermarket (or mall or wherever) and when they get there its under attack. I can imagine my players blowing up the mall to shreds and once the bad guys are half dead on the floor, stepping through the rubble, picking a loaf of bread and milk and saying something like "just wanted a bite to eat...."

"You've just finished having a lovely meal in a restaurant down town. You pay the bill and walk out to your car. As you go to open the door you notice your wing mirror is smashed off and there are massive yellow scrapes down the side. Looks like damage into the thousands. Roll perception."
they make perception.
"Up ahead you can see what looks like a yellow transit van zig zagging all over the place, bumpy into cars. It seems a police unit has noticed it too and begins to give chase. Is there anything you would like to do right now....?"

It's ok to have your players in the right place at the right time. they are expecting it so its about creating the buy in that the scenario is a personal involvement.

EDIT - Sorry that was supposed to be a PM.

That is excellent! Love those tips. I will try more to implement them. Can't believe I never thought to do it more like that in some instances.

[Shorty Lickens]

If somebody irritates me I throw cherry soda all over them.

[Killer Cyborg]

If somebody irritates me I throw cherry soda all over them.

Okay.
What are your weaknesses?

[Cybermancer]

If somebody irritates me I throw cherry soda all over them.

Okay.
What are your weaknesses?

Nice.

[Shorty Lickens]

If somebody irritates me I throw cherry soda all over them.

Okay.
What are your weaknesses?

White carpet.

[Specter]

I would ask my players and let them post....

I aim for ruddy mysterious.

Hahaha!!! IT Crowd reference!

[The Dark Elf]

I would ask my players and let them post....

I aim for ruddy mysterious.

Hahaha!!! IT Crowd reference!

[Severus Snape]

My biggest weakness is hot chicks who game. I just cannot do damage to some hot chick in shorts and a t-shirt who purses her lips at me and says she'll be extra nice to me if the orc doesn't hit her.

[The Dark Elf]

My biggest weakness is hot chicks who game. I just cannot do damage to some hot chick in shorts and a t-shirt who purses her lips at me and says she'll be extra nice to me if the orc doesn't hit her.

That has NEVER happened to you ever. Dont lie....

[Severus Snape]

My biggest weakness is hot chicks who game. I just cannot do damage to some hot chick in shorts and a t-shirt who purses her lips at me and says she'll be extra nice to me if the orc doesn't hit her.

That has NEVER happened to you ever. Dont lie....

I'm not lying. Sol's girlfriend is hot. When they met, at bar close that night, everyone was trying to figure out what to do. She said "Wanna come over to my house and play halo?". He almost proposed right there.

[The Dark Elf]

I'm not lying. Sol's girlfriend is hot. When they met, at bar close that night, everyone was trying to figure out what to do. She said "Wanna come over to my house and play halo?". He almost proposed right there.

Nope I dont believe you. That girl doesnt exist. If she does then she a Da'orta and you're mate should run like ****!!

[strtkwr]

I try to be open minded, and give most plans a reasonable chance to succeed, even when it goes in a direction I did not expect. Problem is, they always seem to be going in a direction I did not expect.

[dragonfett]

Strength: Improvising when the pc's can't figure out what to do next and go off in their own direction.

Weakness: Not being able to bring them back into the fold.

(Rifts specific) Really Big Weakness: Not being able to figure out what an appropriate reward (money and items and the like) for the group should be.

[Mech-Viper Prime]

Strength: Improvising when the pc's can't figure out what to do next and go off in their own direction.

Weakness: Not being able to bring them back into the fold.

(Rifts specific) Really Big Weakness: Not being able to figure out what an appropriate reward (money and items and the like) for the group should be.

the only appropriate reward in Rifts is they live to see another day

[Severus Snape]

I'm not lying. Sol's girlfriend is hot. When they met, at bar close that night, everyone was trying to figure out what to do. She said "Wanna come over to my house and play halo?". He almost proposed right there.

Nope I dont believe you. That girl doesnt exist. If she does then she a Da'orta and you're mate should run like ****!!

We've been telling him that for quite some time now, but he won't listen to us.

[dragonfett]

What is an appropriate monetary (either in cold hard cash, or equal fair trade items) reward for, let's say, a first level group? How do I scale it up from there?

[Bill]

My greatest strength is improvisation. I will make up everything literally on the fly, including the rules! And while that's convenient for me in that I can get away with a lot less prep, where it really pays off is that I can rapidly adapt to the ideas that are floating around the table. I can let the players run down any tangent that they want to explore and that pays huge dividends in player satisfaction and empowerment. Pretty frequently, I drop any story I had in mind after a few sessions and just run with the players' stories. I'm also good at record keeping. My session notes are a huge asset and learning tool for everyone involved.

My most significant weakness is gamer ADD. I love games
and have a huge collection. After I have one game going I can't help but start thinking of the next one. Spreading myself thin like that can negatively impact my ability to run thegame too.

[The Dark Elf]

I cant believe how much of you are good at improvising as well as describing the scene. When Im GMing these are the two thing I like the least. Not that I think Im rubbish at them but I certainly wouldnt count them as my strengths as I ease up on the detail when describing.

They are also the two hardest parts of GMing, IMHO. Kudos folks.

[Looonatic]

My greatest strength: Improvisation. I design my adventures in small encounters I call 'plug-ins' that I can insert where they fit; thus making it impossible for characters to avoid the really important bits, but at the same time giving them(and me) the freedom to do as they(I) please.

My greatest weakness: I tend to have a short attention sp...

**wanders off**

[GA]

I feel like this should be a player asked question.

I think people like my games (if they play it, I tend to weed out a lot of people cause I just won't allow certain characters) because I don't have a lot of boring **** in it. Things I don't like in other games i try real hard not to put in mine. So I don't have cross alignments cause I'm not dealing with that bs. We are rolling the dice in my game cause I like to roll the dice and we ain't going to keep rerolling if you miss it the first time cause the damn dice roll has got to mean something. We are rolling for combat and not have a lot of improvised moves because the mechanic exists for a reason but i'm not have a never ending combat cause those get boring when people keep missing (so we might improvise at some point, but probably use the simultaneous combat once the rolls get boring). I don't have perception rolls cause I can gm that part of the story or have you use one of your skills. If you have skills I'm going to try and make sure you get to use them because when i have skills and power I want to use them so I want to make sure you do. If I give you a riddle to solve its not going to have multiple interpretations on an answer. There are going to be multiple encounters and your decisions are going to count for something. I try to in the character creation process not have overlapping skills so each player seems like he is bringing something unique and vital to the group. If I put a NPC in the game he is going to be a tool the PCs use not be a GMNPC who leads them by the nose.

Weaknesses. I have a lot of those. The main one is I really shouldn't be a GM, I should be a player. I GM because other GMs are horrible if they are even around. Maybe that is too strong, maybe they run games I have no interest in playing. My game mechanics are not solid. My strengths, if they exist, have to do with npc and character interactions and setting a scene with conversation and keeping a sense of momentum going. I shine on pick up games because i can take characters and weave a story idea around them usually fairly quickly cause my ideas are usually flexible enough to incorporate all types and truthfully in pickup games I don't care so much about the characters as the story that could possibly incorporate them.

In a campaign, I can't deal with a lot of type of characters especially if I don't understand them which can affect the diversity of what I allow and I tend to only want traditional archetypes in my game: ftr mage rogue ranger variants which is really boring for a lot of players. How you build a campaign without making it seem like a railroad i constantly struggle with. I think I do a good job with it by saying the players actions do have meaning and their choices do affect things but some things are going to happen regardless of what they do. Like maybe you are going to lose a war but win a battle or you might lose a war but save a 1000 people who might have otherwise died. I mean if you are actually running a campaign and not just a series of pickup adventures I think that is unavoidable. Maybe the trick is not to let the players know it is unavoidable.

I am filled with doubt and ask my players what they think should happen WAY too much if I make a somewhat debatable rule (the liberal in me I guess) and I agonize over what the right decision is, especially if I think its going to affect the player's enjoyment of the game which for me is what its all about. If the player's are happy so am I, well usually. Sometimes they kill a guy in cold blood cause he stole from them cause they are unprincipled and feel justified and satisfied and i am feeling sad wondering what the **** is wrong with these guys.

A game master should make the call and worry about it later. I am lazy as hell and so i sometimes make mismatches with PC opponents and have to fudge a way for them to survive (hopefully they are smart enough to run away but for some reason a lot of PCs aren't that smart, well plus you have to try and find a way to tell them that they should run and I'm not real sure what the best way to do that is. The PCs probably figure you aren't going to give them something they can't handle and as a result don't run). Maybe that is something that is solved with multiple sessions. Or a warning before the game starts.

I also am both too giving and too strict in character creation. Ultimately I am trying to go for characters that seem true and that can work against me. I am very skill oriented and i often have to incorporate split/class rules for level 1 characters to give them all of the skills i think they should begin with as a level 1 character. Although I honestly feel that is more a problem with the system than me as a GM.

That's all I can think of right now.

[Shorty Lickens]

Staying on script on even just planning ahead.
I like stay stay fluid when I GM, I do not like to plan, I do not like to set too many preplanned encounters up.
This usually works great, but some nights I am just not up to the improvisation of it all and NPC encounters can get forced with no character.
I find it impossible to lead my players down a preplanned adventure, Any time I have tried to use a remade adventure I have maybe gotten to the second scene (paragraph) before it goes off script never to return.

I am also horrible with Names, I never remember names of NPC's or of the characters.
One NPC that with with the party for years was know "As that Portly one with the sword"

Actually the best GM's can roll with their players and shift gears quickly. If they want a linear, scripted campaign then be able to do it. If all of a sudden they need an open, self-run campaign or you run a different group in the same week, you should be able to swap brain modes and do it differently with little hassle. THATS a strength, quick adaptability.

[Grell]

Strength:
-My stunning good looks.

Weakness:
-My stunning good looks.

My gift is my curse.

Seriously, my greatest point of improvement is staying within a certain scope that I want to portray.

[Akashic Soldier]

Coming up with believable sounding names on the spot.

Remembering equipment to recommend to players looking for specific things.

[MaxxSterling]

I think my weakness, at least with this system is that I am a very by the book person. I will run the campaign as canon, I hate to make up things. I will not make up items, weapons, spaceships, races, occs. I use what is in the books and the rules listed. The problem is, Palladium is all jacked up and rules like 50% of the time don't line up from book to book. This causes a lot of issues, but I still run it, rather than make house rules and stuff. I really can't stand house rules and non-canon things. This is however, a weakness I plan to do nothing about.

But I think this is why I am always so critical and short-tempered with this company. I have almost every book memorized, and it pains me to know that when I look something up and cross-reference it, that it could be completely different from book to book.

[Shorty Lickens]

Coming up with believable sounding names on the spot.

Remembering equipment to recommend to players looking for specific things.

Keep a phone book by the table.

Are you talking about player creation or players visiting shops in the middle of the game?