DM Tip: Know Your Audience

I figure we’ll start this first tip at the basic of basics: Describing the DM/GM role, and how to best work with your game’s players. Dungeon/Game Masters construct and narrate every experience the players’ characters encounter during the game. The DM/GM must also serve as a final verdict on player questions or conflicts as they arise. The “how-to’s” for both functions become increasingly complex, and I plan to cover them in separate DM Tip segments later on. For immediate suggestions, refer to the Dungeon/Game Master section of your particular Roleplaying game, or I recommend watching Matthew Mercer’s GM Tips show on YouTube.

Before starting down either of those paths, however, you need to really understand your game’s players. Ask yourself some of these questions as you assemble the group:

• What do they want to get out of this experience?
• Do they want a compelling story of consequence and depth, or a rollicking romp through dungeons and gory mayhem? Do they want something in-between?
• What kind of time commitment are they able to make? Will you play weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, etc.?
• How many of them are first-timers? How many of them are “veterans” of the game?
• How well do the players know each other? How well do they know you?
• Are any of your players going to be sensitive to content you want to build? (i.e. would the player be disturbed by your portrayal of content in your game?)

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, or any other questions you develop on your own, ask the party members. You owe it to them as much as yourself to all be on the same page prior to the game even starting. The importance of this comes from the phrase Roleplaying game. The players’ experiences can be frightening, sad, frustrating, or triumphant, but at the end of the day they must always be fun. Players who don’t walk away from a session with that feeling are less inclined to show up to your future installments.

By knowing your players and their motives for joining you in the game, you create the social contract that becomes the cornerstone for any and all memorable Roleplaying game experiences. I could fill pages on this topic alone, but I’m hoping to capture a sense of brevity in these DM Tip posts.

Share this blog with your friends and family, and ask me any questions you have in the comments! Join me next week when I cover one of my favorite topics: How to Build a Brand New World.

Blessed be,

Matthew Wulf

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