Guild of Navigators Interview - Being a Game Master and Choosing Games

Meet Bo from the Guild of Navigators!
Guild of Navigators (Bo): https://www.patreon.com/GofN/posts

In this podcast, we'll hear Bo's thoughts on:

• What it means to be a game master
• How to choose what game to play

(Leadership/Rules Category)

Transcript

Melody [0:00]:
The Game Master Certification Organization had the opportunity to interview Bo from the Guild of Navigators! This podcast will feature a brief excerpt from that interview where we will gain insight on what it means to be a game master, and what Bo’s game system of choice is when it comes to choosing what Tabletop Role Playing Game to play. 

Hi, my name is Melody Rainelle and I’ll be your host. Let’s get started! Bo, we would love to hear your thoughts on what it means to be a game master.

Bo [0:37]:
Being a Game Master is not only just being able to write down a few monster names, and when you meet them, but really being a Game Master actually starts to work on your creative skills; so first would be writing. You have to come up with a story you have to come up with how you incorporate the story into the life of your players, how you make it actually a story that's not going to bore them. So you need to create points of suspense, you need to create something that they have to find they have to themselves be happy about, so some kind of achievements. So be it winning a big fight against the dragon, for example, or sometimes even a big achievement is pick-locking a door. So this is the thing, create some achievements for your players. It's more than just fights. And I think that most of the people tend to stay at the level of "oh, I put in so many orcs, I put in so many dragons and we had a great game because they fight all the time." I would say fights should be no more than 20% of the game. I'd say it's more about the smart talk, the interaction with the environment, and of course, putting your finger on the map and drawing your map based on what the GM is telling you or revealing parts of it. It's up to the style how you are playing.

Melody [2:04]:
Those are some great tips on being a game master! Continuing with that line of thought, given the selection of Tabletop Role Playing Games available, maybe you can share with us how you choose what game to play?

Bo [2:17]:
It's quite easy. Everybody wants to play who knows at least a bit. So, I would say, I don't think I had many guys playing with me who never had any experience with role playing games. Most of the people at least played, you know, some video game, which I can relate to, so it's quite easy. The only difference is, you know, the systems so in many cases, I had the people who played only Dungeons and Dragons in their life, trying some new system like GURPS or World of Darkness games. So, here really the main thing is talk to the people, check with them what they want to play, check with them what they like, what style they want. My current gamers, I told them, let's see what we can play. We can get classic fantasy. We can play a bit of a cross over fantasy with steampunk and a bit of like post-apocalyptic feeling into it. We can play cave people who are hunting mammoths, and there is a lot of options or type of games you can come up; it's up to what systems you play, and this is why my system of choice right now, and for the last like 10 years is G-U-R-P-S, GURPS, which is: Generic Universal Role Playing System.

Melody [3:39]: 
Awesome! We appreciate learning from your experience. Thank you! 

To our listeners - please check the podcast description for details on how to find more information about Bo from the Guild of Navigators! Next podcast, we will have another excerpt from our interview with Bo where we will chat with him about why people play Tabletop Role Playing Games and a few thoughts on growing characters, so stay tuned! Follow us to receive notifications when new podcasts are released. For more podcasts and information, check out our website: https://www.gamemastercertification.org/. Like what you’ve heard here? Hit that share button and help us spread the word! Thank you for listening!