Hey guy's,

Im a fairly new GM only been at it a couple years now. I have slowly been learning how to actually be a real GM (better implementing role play opportunities, not letting the players bend all the rules, and generally keeping better control.) Which in turn has made our sessions alot more fun/deep. So my question goes out to all the seasoned GM and DM vets.. How do I make myself better?

My players tended to play DW like a video game (if that makes sense.) they never got into their characters. Well recently I noticed that its really starting to change (I implemented a "Character roundtable." at the start of each session so they can voice opinions about whatever..as a character.). What can I do to help with them become their character now? More handouts? Better rewards?

Hoping that someone understands exactly what im asking, and thank you in advance!

As far as rewards go I do give out 100 xp a night for various criteria one is the best role player. That makes it competitive.

If a situation with a potential for roleplaying occurs but the characters do not react as they should I find various of ways to punish them here is an example-

The DA Librarian and the BT Assualt marine are alone on watch, niether are engaging in conversation(expecting the BT to take the oppertunity to berate the "witch") so I assume they are trying to avoid eachother, in which case they recieve a negative to notice when the other one is getting strangled by a man eating vine. Thats just one example.

Well: Feedback from your players is key, and you're getting that. Take a look at some dedicated websites such as gnomestew.com as they have loads of cool articles on the matter.

Stuff that I always keep in mind:

If I have to fudge dicerolls, then I've screwed up in my encounter balancing or plot creation, and I sit down afterwards and try to learn from it. Never have crucial plot that players need a single diceroll to solve without having different ways of solving matters. All plot should have more than one way of solving.

Players can *smell* when you fudge, so try not to unless it's crucial... and then see above.

Run the game in a manner appropriate to the game themes. Deathwatch is cinematic, heroic, and larger than life. So focus on that, and making the players feel awesome.

Proper Planning and Preperation Prevents P*** Poor Performance! Prep before the game, know the rules, know the scenario, have a plan. A GM who doesn't prep for a game is a poor GM.

No plan survives contact with the players. Players will go off-piste and do the unexpected. You can never prepare for everything, and you mustn't railroad them, so be willing to improvise. Don't fall into the trap of resisting a plan that you didn't think of first, and don't have the mentality of 'there is only 1 or 2 ways to solve this problem'. If the players come up with something different: Roll with it. Let them, don't punish them for out-thinking you.

Don't be afraid to call a 'time out' for a few minutes if the unexpected happens and you need to plan for it or stat. I've finished sessions early before when my players did something wierd, and I had to call the game there and do a ton more prep for the next session. Good for them!

It's not a competition.

Let everyone have input, and cater to the different characters.

Gaming is about having fun with friends.

Get people to talk about their characters personality. Some of the best fun I've had in games were in character conversations and debates. Before my deathwatch campaign, I gave people a sheet with a few questions about their character and was told by a player that filling that out helped flesh out the PC for them.

On GMing, don't fall into the trap of thinking a story or even roleplaying is more important than fun. Some players don't ever enjoy the roleplaying side of things while others come around and still others are only there for the roleplaying. Forcing players through a storyline when they not are engaged is like pulling teeth for both sides of the table.

Guerillaboy said:

Put them into situations where they have to act as heroes. Guardsmen looking for them to lift their spirit. They dying asking from them absolution. The sick asking from them healing and food. Being a Space Marine is similar to being a paladin. And you're role models for millions and billions and trillions of people, whether you want it or not and even whether you deserve it or not.

Alex

There are lots of little tricks that you can use to be a better GM. There are also lots of broader approaches you can take that will improve your game.

Preparation is important, but so is the ability to improvise and adapt. I'm new to GMing DW, but not to GMing in general (oldschool D&D, Vampire, Castle Falkenstein, Ars Magica, Gammaworld, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Paranoia, Buffy tVS, just to name a few). The things that I would do that got the most praise from my players was stuff that came about by adapting my planned material based on things the characters did or that the players said. Yes, I had stories planned out, but if something happened during a session that was just too cool to ignore, I'd go with it and often end up modifying my plan retroactively to make it look like the cool thing had been planned for all along.

I tend to play with players who really like the roleplaying aspect more than the getting loot and "Kewl Pwrz" so the best thing I can do for them is really get into playing my NPCs deeply. It can be challenging having to switch gears from playing their gloating arch-nemesis one moment to an angsty teenaged lover the next, but the rich I made my NPC portrayals, the more my players got into playing their characters.

Multi-media experience. RPGs are no longer confined to paper and pencils. The average GMs house contains a myriad tools for deepening the game experience: media centres, computers & software, lighting effects etc. Download Audacity. It's a free sound recording software that can be used to make all sorts of backgrouns sounds and sound props (I created the Magos' vox distress call from "Extraction", complete with static interference, computer beeps and other noises). If you can't record sounds from scratch, sign up with www.freesound.org . They have a searchable database of free sound effects in all manner of styles and genres that you can then layer together and tweak with Audacity. I found a dataslate jpeg somewhere and use it as the slide background for powerpoint presentations. My kill team gets mission briefings on their dataslates via powerpoint and my flat screen TV. I have hours of movie scores and other musical selections to underscore the action during sessions. Obviously, not everyone is up for music while gaming, and if you don'e have quick, easy access to it, it distracts from the action more than helping (I use iTunes now, and that is a million times easier than back in the mid '90s when I had a 3 disc CD changer with a remote). It takes practice to get the hang of it, but once you're good at it, music enhances gaming immensely. Props, whether hardcopy or virtual, go a long way to making game sessions memorable. In my mosst recent DW session I was GMing some guys who'd never seen me GM before and they were blown away by the on screen mission briefing.

Having a good memory (or good note taking system) will enable you to remember little details from session to session and incorporate them into future gaming.

Give your players freedom. They are here to have fun. Let them do the things they want. DW is less of a sandbox style game than RT or many other non-WH games, but the rule still stands. Let the players feel free to make decisions. Guide those decisions based on what you hope to get out of the session, but don't force anything.

Be prepared. Improvise. Be prepared to improvise. I have a list of names (several, actually) so when players meet a random NPC and decide to talk to him or her instead of putting a bolt shell through their brainpan, I can quickly pull a name off the list and integrate the NPC more smoothly into the game. Same goes for starships and star systems (both more applicable to RT than DW).

Be responsive to your players. Listen to them and what they want to get out of the game and try to give it to them. If what they want and what you want are drastically different, you may need to scrap your ideas... or the group itself, but the more your wants co-incide, the easier it is to have fun.

My favourite piece of GMing advice I ever received was the simple "Yes, but..." maxim.

For the life of me I can't remember where I read it but it was a nice reminder that you are working with the players not against them, so when they think of something unexpected outlandish and downright crazy instead of shutting them down and saying no, try Yes but...

I'm a big fan of the "say yes or roll" mantra. If the players try to do something or ask you if something is possible, say yes! Chances are they have a brilliant idea and will feel like they have a much greater say in how the story goes if you allow them to do what they want.

There will be situations where just saying yes will be inapropriate, and thats when you pick up the dice. The most common example of this is obviously combat.

Also, try to get the players involved in describing the surrounding environment. Example: the players are standing on a roof, fighting a deadly villain. Instead of asking the Gm about how the roof looks like, one of the players declares that he will make a running jump, grab a flagpole and swing back and kick the villain in the back.

The gm never said anything a bout a flagpole, but it made the fight much more interesting!