GMing With Nothing - A Five Step Guide

Step 1: Prolonging the Pregame Conversation Most groups of roleplayers tend to spend a little time before gaming starts in conversation, getting up to date with each others lives, discussing the television programs of the week and so on. Skilful manipulation of this pregame conversation can dramatically cut into the time available for actual roleplaying. The trick here is to be subtle enough that it is never obvious that you are involved. You should appear to not take part in the conversation, instead staying behind your GM's screen, “making notes” and “studying the scenario”. However, whenever the conversation shows signs of drawing to a natural close, you should skilfully and subtly lend it a new lease of life by introducing a fresh theme. If, for instance, you know that one of the players is a fanatical Star Trek fan, you could casually ask in an off-hand tone if anyone saw the episode of Deep Space 9 that week. With luck, your handy Trekker will then chat about his obsession for the next fifteen to twenty minutes without you needing to utter a further word. Eventually however, the more serious method roleplaying types amongst your gaming group will start to grow unhappy at the “chatting” and you will be forced to move onto the actual game itself.

On to STEP TWO... Back to Intro

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