Gamemastering

So for the past few months the majority of my RPG activity has been gamemastering or GMing. What GMing entails for those that do not know is you are the person who controls the game, runs the world, builds and unfolds the plot, brings life to the people and characters in the world, referees the rules, and generally wrangles wild dingoes.

I generally dislike GMing in comparison to playing. I much prefer to be focusing on playing my one character and building up their story than having to do all the work of building everyone's stories. But frankly there are not enough people in my RP circles that are willing or capable of GMing and so we who can do so much step up to the plate even when we don't want to. And I'm not saying I'm awesome at this, just capable enough to make it work.

There are two games I have been running on alternating Sundays; both using the Pathfinder RPG system. One is about 5-6 sessions in and it is a Kingmaker Adventure Path game with Morgan, Traci, OD, and John Little. It has been quite a bit of fun for me, and I think the other folks are enjoying it as well. They are a group of eclectic, somewhat morally ambiguous individuals who have been chartered to found a new kingdom in the wilderness of the Stolen Lands region of the River Kingdoms. They are into the second book in the AP, they are 4th level, they have built up a fairly good sized kingdom, and life is going pretty good for them.

For those to whom this will mean things here are some stats about the kingdom. Bokken is the High Priest, The Old Beldame has been changed to a Banshee spirit and is the Grand Diplomat, an anti-paladin is the Marshall, and Jhod the priest of Erastil is the Warden. They have befriended the Kobolds and have them mining both gold and silver for them. They played nice with Mongu (not sure on that name) the wandering giant and he is now hanging out at their city. They built a second city at Oleg's, used the existing structure to get a free Stable for the city; and named the city Oleg's Stable in order to piss him off. Oh and the party monk just got infected with werewolf lycanthropy. This game is hilarious.

The other game has actually just finished a second session of prep and will be staring on the first session of play this upcoming Sunday. I am super excited about this one because of two things. First, it is a world of my own creation. I have been working hard to create it and I am really happy with what I have designed so far. I will be detailing more about it on this blog at various points throughout the month and my NaNoWriMo novel attempt will be set there. Secondly, the them of the campaign is exploration and colonization, a them I don't see enough of and that I love.

I have also recently coordinated the starting of two play-by-email games, and run a short game for Magpie night. I will probably also run something at the next NWARPG Game Day if things work out. And I have a strong desire to run Mouse Guard for some folks. For someone who doesn't like GMing I'm sure doing and planning a lot of it. But it is good for me. It is expanding my horizons, building my social and writing/storytelling skills, and providing me and other folks with lots of fun and entertainment. So I'm glad I'm stepping up and doing it. Now if I could only fit in some actual playing sometime in the near future I'd be golden.