I'm very impressed by the Mothership 1E GM book. While a lot of GM books are full of supplementary procedures (like D&D games) or just lore books (glares at the Delta Green Handler's Guide), the WOM is actually about how to be a good GM: how to design adventures, work with your players, build tension, use themes, etc...

  • gaycomputeruser [she/her]
    ·
    9 months ago

    As an autist who's continuously confused by how ttrpgs are supposed to be played, this is amazing.

  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    9 months ago

    I appreciate this on its face, but it does have a certain "Baby's First Game" feel to it. Plenty of experienced GMs know all this by heart, even if they couldn't lay it out to you in words. Its also a bit mechanical in execution. "I say a thing, you say a thing, repeat for two hours, we do it again next week" is overly reductive. And while I'm sure they get into the more advanced rhythm and flow down stream... One thing I liked about the old Rolemaster and World of Darkness books is that they put some flesh on the bones with some narrative and dialogue examples. WoD would go so far as to illustrate an action sequence vinette under every skill and ability, in order to really color in what these were supposed to mean narratively.

    I do really like the layout, particularly with all the page numbers tied into the flow chart at the bottom. Nice to know you can hop back and forth through the book with references, rather than getting lost in the text and struggling to remember where the rules was for Step 3 of your 6 step process.

    One thing I feel like these "intro to the intro" sections need is some emotional coloring. Sometimes that comes in the form of light comedy or dire tone in the writing. Other times its a bit of art mixed in with the rules to give you a particular vibe. If this is a space game or a horror game or a medieval adventure game, work that in so the GM is absorbing the atmosphere as you work through the material. It also makes the reading a bit more entertaining than bureaucratic.

    • JohnBrownsBussy2 [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      You'd just need to read it cover to cover. Everything you've mentioned is in the book, but I just highlighted a section that I thought was nice and a good example of the layout. The bulk of the book is about designing sci-fi horror adventures, and this is around the half-way mark about implementing prep and running sessions (and then the back half of the book is about tying multiple sessions into campaigns).