Hell Yeah, Gamemasters!

Ryan Macklin writes:

As a GM, I love playing with other GMs. I learn so much from seeing the tricks they use, from the way Carl Rigney riffs off of playing input around misery to how Sean Nittner elevates the use of props to a new level. But it’s playing in convention games run by Brian Isikoff (the Iron GM of Oakland!) that has had the biggest impact on my GMing.

He has this thing called Backstory, which he’s talked about some on his podcast, 2d6 Feet In A Random Direction. He passes out characters, pitches the initial situation, and makes it clear that it’s not his scenario but *ours*. The last time I was in a game with him, some months ago, he ran a military space opera game using Heroquest. I grabbed the ship’s captain, and others grabbed the XO, engineer, etc.

Then he turned to one of the other players and asked “So, who’s the new guy on the ship?” That player replied with “The captain.”

He responded with some excitement. “Oh! I wonder what happened to the last captain?” he asked with a sly grin to another player. “Killed in the last encounter we had. That’s why we’re in dock — repairs.”

More enthusiasm. Brian just exuded joy and awesome. We were all getting pumped. He asked some more questions from each of us. One I remember keenly: “What’s this new captain’s reputation?”

That was open to the table rather than asking a single person. One of my friends answered “he’s a hardass, by-the-book kinda guy.” Brian checked with me to make sure that’s cool, “You good with that? Remember, it could just be an unjustified reputation.” He weaves the characters together, but doesn’t want to pigeonhole them into something they don’t want.

(I naturally replied with “You mean, ‘It could be an unjustified reputation, *sir*.’” It was on.)

What Brian did for that short bit of time turned six people at the table, some who knew each other and some who didn’t, into folks who trusted him and each other to play something fun. We didn’t have to shy away from PC-PC arguments. By using targeted questions, he gets us to throw ideas out on the table—no question so big that we have decision paralysis. And by bringing enthusiasm to each answer, he makes us excited about the game and trust that it’s totally cool to throw out ideas. Not only does he build a neat relationship web and short history of badness we as characters have to deal with, but he makes us as players *love* it…because it’s ours as much as it is his.

Recently, he defeated me in Endgame Oakland’s first Iron GM competition. We’ve talked about it a bit on his podcast, and some of his players talked about it on another show. I cannot think of a better person to be crowned our first Iron GM; we’re all made a better at gaming because of him.

Catdragon writes:

Steve Miller is a great gamemaster — he takes the time to make sure the players understand the setting, the adventure, and the scenario.  He also works at making props, making sure everyone enjoys the game.  He is one of the best (if not the best) gamemasters I’ve had.

Graham Walmsley writes:

The first time I met Simon Rogers, he ran a Dungeons and Dragons game. He’d recently played Dogs In The Vineyard and wanted to try it with D&D rules. It was fun, but afterwards, I didn’t see him for a year.

After that year, I joined his gaming group. There, I saw the silver-tongued cleverness and quick-witted invention that defines Simon Rogers’ GM style.

His adventures are meticulously planned: indeed, he inspires our group’s other GMs to dedicate equal effort to preparation. Not only that, but his acting is superb.

I remember Simon GMing Ashen Stars. When he played an alien, he became strangely alien himself, frowning and speaking in a stilted manner. When he played a starship commander, he was commanding himself.

Not only that, but his master of accents is legendary. His Northern accent is instantly recognisable to anyone who has ventured north of Milton Keynes. His American accent is a joy to hear.

Finally, he cooks. While we play, there is the delicious smell of meat roasting. Often, he will switch between GMing and cooking, doing both with equal skill.

As you may know, English people are not allowed to give effusive compliments. Hence, I’m content to call Simon the Second Best GM In Britain.

Thomas writes:

If you know anything about Jason Corley, it’s that he’s the self-proclaimed Best GM in Tucson. In the years I’ve known Jason, I have not seen a thing to dispute that. I could talk about his gaming style, how he brings greatness to the gaming table (or living room in his home game), but I’m not. I’m going to talk about his contributions to the local gaming community. Sure, one can talk about how great that guy at the head of the table is, but here is a guy that’s bringing the awesome to people he doesn’t even play games with.

I first met Jason about four years ago at a local science-fiction convention’s gaming hall. After the con, he, I, and a friend of ours talked about continuing the gaming goodness; from these talks came the Southern Arizona Gamers Association. This little thing that we started runs multiple weekly and monthly RPG events, the largest gaming convention in Arizona, and reaches more than 600 gamers in the local area. This thing that he helped to found brought more gamers together to play new games, make new friends, and get into gaming groups.

Jason introduces and runs new games to gamers at our monthly events. He organized and maintained a shared game universe setting, Tucson By Night, for local and regional WoD gamers. Jason has spearheaded the Gamemaster’s Conferences that we’ve been holding here in Tucson—quite possibly the first ever convention of its kind. (In his words, “Really, the fact that this was the very first Gamemaster’s Conference in the history of the hobby is a disgrace to the hobby. Training, mentoring, developing partnerships, this is how you get better at everything else in the world, why not GMing?”) After running games in almost every slot at RinCon last year, this year he’s organizing the RPG track at RinCon 10.

The Best GM in Tucson isn’t just a guy that brings a cool adventure to the table each week. He’s the guy that continues to make our little hamlet in the desert a gaming mecca.