Oh hai there! The name is Talden, maybe you have seen me once or twice in the forums and liveblogs. And I think when you entitle your liveblog with a pompous title like this, a little bit of introduction is needed.
I've played roleplaying games for more than ten years now, in fact, I officially started with D&D 3rd edition, back in 2000 when it was new. I had a few experiences before with AD&D, but that was my official debut. Since then, I've played or mastered a few sessions at least of most mainstream tabletop RPG there was: Dungeons And Dragons, Vampire The Masquerade, Pathfinder, Dark Heresy, Shadowrun, Exalted, Anima Beyond Fantasy, and also a few you've probably never heard of, like RAS, Metal Adventures, 7th Sea, the dK² system, Pokémon Tabletop Adventures, et cetera. I don't play that much, in fact, apart from two time in my life where I did play very often, I'm more about a game every month or so. When you even it out on my whole career, I'm probably at one, maybe two games a month?
But if you're a tabletop aficionados, that pedigree shouldn't impress you. It's pretty par for the course of any roleplayer that is very into his hobby. So, why did I decided to make a liveblog to tell you how to be a good game master? How am I different from anyone else? Well, I could argue that I've analyzed games in a very specific fashion in order to create my own homebrews, or that I have a natural tendency to educate my pairs, but the truth is, I sincerely believe I'm a good GM.
In my group, we played games of Shadowrun so intensely we had to play all night long, just because we didn't want to loose the immersion our careful planning got us into. Also, we blew up a whole building in our very first game.
We played a session of Crimes where, after loosing a child in our temporary custody to a pedophile, never to see him again, my character and I completely lost our marbles over the intensity of the situation.
We played a short campaign of Dark Heresy where we found a savage planet that we liked so much, we were ready to give up everything and became guardians of this planet we'd like to call home. In a Grimdark universe!
And yet, of all those incredible moments, none of which I was the GM, you know what my groups was eager to play so much after months of waiting? A little D&D campaign set in a giant desert I made up in less than two hours, without even much thinking. They were nuts about it. One of my friend, who's way deeper in tabletop than me by a long shot, even told me it was probably one of the best game session he ever had.
I think this must mean something.
So, if you care, we could dig into my experience to find that rare golden nugget of talent I must have somewhere. The articles may be completely random, I did not plan this thing all the way through, but if I can help any beginners GM who are lost in this new world, then it might be worth it. We will look upon psychology, storytelling, understanding the rules, managing your scenario, the art of improvisation, and how to make something your players will recall for a long time.
At least, I hope that'll turn as good as I just said.
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