The Game Master in Role Playing Games

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Barry Osser from North Coast Role Playing in Eureka, California and I’m here today to talk to you about the most important part of role playing, at least I think so, the game master or dungeon master. Now these terms are basically interchangeable, the term dungeon master generally has come from the dungeons and dragons setting, the game master term has come because there are other games out there, but they all function the same way. This is the master this is the person that’s going to create the world, if you think of role playing in terms of an improvisational play, the game master is going to be the director and/or screen writer, the players are going to be the actors. So as game master, you’re going to lay out the situation that the players are going to play in and then they’re going improv, they’re going to react to the things you do. So as the game master or dungeon master, I’m going to set the setting for you, I’m going to tell you that you’re in the woods, you’re around a campfire and you see a pair of glowing red eyes in the woods out ahead of you and I ask you what do you do? Then there’s a collection of players, each of you chooses what you’re going to do, one says I’m going to continue drinking, and the other one says I’m going to go ahead and get out my bow knock an arrow and head out and see what’s out there, another one says I’m going to light a torch so we have better light, these are the ways that game mastering works, role playing in general works and how the two interact. How the players and the game master interact. "