The RPG is an open-ended game of limitless possibilities, setting it starkly apart from any other kind of game. In most games you get one board, or play area, and a short list of actions you can perform. After a relatively simple condition or conditions have been met, someone wins. RPG’s, by contrast, allow you to go any direction you want, turn around, eventually gaining the ability to go through walls and teleport. You can slay your enemies, flee, or try to talk to them and befriend them. Sometimes you might not even know who the enemies are.
It is equally a game and a story. Within a framework of a defined ruleset, which typically provides varying degrees of probability of success that any given character action will succeed or fail, a story is told collaboratively between the GM and the players.
Your job, as the Game Master, is to facilitate the play area, which is a world unto itself. Indeed an entire multiverse! You will play every character encountered by your players, know every secret, and act as the all powerful judge of this universe. You control aspect of gameplay that the players do not control.
There is an endless amount of fun to be had as a GM, but it’s also very easy to burn one’s self out on the task. You must be cautious and follow a few fundamental guidelines for optimal results.
The road that lies ahead is not easy, but the rewards are great, and the thrills are glorious.
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