Browsing through the websites you can find many articles about gamemastering and people who seek advices and tips to be a better game master who run wonderful campaigns. That is good of course, but first. However, setting some traits that a game master should possess even before starting his or her first game session, is not a secondary matter. One of the fundamental trait a good game master has to cultivate is one very difficult to attain.
This trait is known as Impartiality.
Think about it. The ancient philosophers from the classical antiquity associated impartiality to justice, and to describe justice they named supernatural entities which encompassed these traits. Justice and impartiality, was a prerogative of god-like beings.
I’m not saying that a game master, in order to be impartial, has to become a god-like being. I’m just saying that being impartial, is not easy.
What is impartiality?
Believe me, it’s not a stupid question. So let’s find a definition that can help us understand what we are talking about.
Inclination to remain uninvolved in partisan matters and to evaluate events with objectiveness
It’s not about being equitable, which means to treat everyone in the same way. This is related to dealing with people, not events.
It’s not about being neutral, which means to remain distant from both people and events.
In game terms, being impartial, means evaluating correctly the outcome of an action undertaken by a player character. Once the dices are rolled, it’s the game master who has to decide and describe the outcome. It requires a certain balance to be impartial.
When you craft the oucome of an action, try for a moment to forget about the player, and think about the character.
Let’s be honest. It is highly possible that one of the player sitting at your table is not of your liking.
It is also possible that one of the player sitting at the table is one of your closest friend, or why not, your wife or your girl friend.
Ask yourself: “Am I running the story and deciding the outcome of their actions to give them a small advantage?”
You are impartial when, describing or narrating a scene or an event that involve all the party, you distribute your attention equally to all the players that are listening to you. If you don’t, some players will feel ignored and of course, in return, their attention will drop. If you watch at them in the eyes while narrating, you’ll catch their attention.
Have you ever observed lecturer or public speaker? Learn from them!
Also consider that these professionals are not born with such talent. They train in order to attain their skill. It’s not easy at the beginning of course, but time, practice, experience and mistakes, are the best teachers.
So, the way you address to your players while narrating it’s indeed the first step toward impartiality.
While describing a prologue, a scene, an encounter or whatever is about to happen in your game session, make sure to share your words with every players and watch them in the eyes. You don’t need to stare at them, a couple of seconds will be enough.
Once the introduction is over, you can to listen to your players declaring and/or describing their actions and you’ll decide the proper outcome.
Even this moment is very important, especially if you are gamemastering your first game sessions, or some of your players are new players.
Usually, new players at their first session, doesn’t know exactly what roleplaying a character is about. It doesn’t matter if they have seen podcasts on twitch or shows on youtube. Watching passively those programs is completely different from taking a direct action into the game.
So, what to do? Be impartial!
If you notice a player that doesn’t state or declare any action or that is silent and passive, it’s highly possible that he hasn’t the slightest idea of what to do in such specific situation because it’s something new for him, or maybe he’s shy, who knows!
It’s your duty as a game master to solve this problem. If he doesn’t come to you, you go for him. Drag him into the scene and give him the chance to think about something.
Then consider and judge impartially his or her action. The fact he doesn’t know the game mechanics, doesn’t mean that he or she can’t come out with a good idea.
What to avoid: game master and players as rivals.
As a game master, avoid to see yourself or to present yourself as the rival of the characters. That is really bad. Indeed, the players are not your enemies, not even adversaries. They are like you, players! Sitting on a table to play a game. Explain them that you are going to impersonate the villain, but you are not villain. Don’t take personally, or too personally, the game. If you can’t split the player from the character and take everything personal, it is even possible that roleplaying games are not for you.
Just don’t act like a kid!
If you can’t split the player from the character…how can you accomplish to be impartial?
Of course this doesn’t mean not being involved in the roleplaying session. Separation and involvement are two different matters. That’s why two different words exist on the vocabulary.
Keep in mind. The game master is not the main character, the players are. At the same time, the players and their characters are not the last glass of water in the desert.
What to avoid: don’t be inflexible
The game master should avoid to penalize or frustrate the players it they don’t follow the course of action he had set in mind. Of course it doesn’t mean that everything is permitted, but it doesn’t even mean that whatever is outside the game master expectation is forbidden! A good game master knows how to use players
unpredictability to his or her advantage. Players can’t know what you were thinking about when you planned your adventure (or the campaign), unless they are telepathics.
Some good willed players however will try to follow the game master and understand his/her intentions, but thet are usually expert players who care more for the game session than their character. Many times some players are simply trying to find their solution to a problem. Why? Because they are the players and they are supposed to do that. Solve a problem. While you, the game master, are proposing them the problem to solve.
Don’t reward a player only because he acted the way you expected to.
Don’t penalize the player because he acted in a way you didn’t predict!
I know it could sound easy to use the carrot and the stick, and it may produce “positive” effects on the short terms, but in the long terms you’ll have a group of players that have become too passive and they wont’ make decisions on their own.
What to avoid: don’t “feed the troll”
Let’s say the troll is that kind of megalomaniac and problematic player you have sitting on your table. They exist, probably they are a lot, and they want to play. Usually these players try to absorb the attention of both the game master and the players.
How? By absorbing time!
If you are dealing with one or more of these players the last thing you want to do is rewarding them with what they ask: Time and attention!
Be impartial and understand that it is senseless to be compliant to such players, because other (worthful) players will pay the cost. It’s better to lose such players than having them playing.
It’s not about keeping a player at your table no matter the cost because you fear to lose players and have your group reduced.
You need good willed players, not assholes.
Dices are not decisions or choices
I’ve read and listened, more than once, that in order to guarantee impartiality the game master use dices. Well, it’s not exactly that. Dices are just a tool to define if an action is or is not successful, nothing else.
In some cases it can determine how much it is successful. However dices are not decisions, and are not choices. Both are made by the game master, and the players as well. When the game master describe the outcome, the very description, can open opportunities to new actions – and why not skill checks. When describing the outcome of a skill check try to be objective, eventually listen to the player and understand what he wanted to accomplish. Don’t say no because you are the game master, don’t say always yes, because you want to please the player.
Be analytic at the best of you capability.
Example 1: lack of impartiality
Many of you probably know the adventure known as “Wreck Ashore”. It was published for D&D 3.5 but is easily adaptable for any D20 system ruleset. This adventure concludes with the players retrieving the treasure of a small crew of pirates that were ambushing ships crossing close to a lighthouse. The pirates had accumulated a juicy treasure, but the true treasure was a set of copper ingots worth 27.500 gold coins. Quite a lot for a first level adventure! However, moving 27.500 gold coins in the form of copper ingots is not an easy task. Not long ago, I played this adventure and the game master decided that the copper ingots was too much and deleted them from the final reward. He is not a bad game master, but all those coins was not in his plans. It would have been a great idea to prepare a small adventure where we had to recover this treasure and move it by sea or through the swamp that had to be crossed in order to reach the village. It was a good chance to work on a sidequest and who knows what else could have occured. Sometimes players can lead the game master to think about new ideas!
Example 2: Real Estate Inc.
They are rare, but they exist. They are those players who love to see opportunities where no one see them. Some players ask the game master, once the session is over, if they can keep a dungeon, a tower, a small castle or whatever building they came across, as their personal property stating that if no one claimed it to this day, than they can rightfully claim it! Well, they are not totally wrong. Probably they are naive.
However, it makes perfectly sense.
Is it possible to claim a property? YES.
Does it have any implication? YES.
If the building is located in the wildlands it has to be defended, guarded or hidden.
If the building is located inside the territories of a kingdom this could generate a political conflict with the authorities and the players will have to negotiate – and why not bribe – the local institutions in order to keep the property in their posession.
Keep in mind, Power has good sense of smell for Wealth!
So, do not exlude a priori such a scenario. Be flexible and be ready to deal with such unusual, but possible, course of action.
See you soon for the next game master tip. It will be about another game master trait. Knowledge! Another word for saying “don’t be ignorant!”