How To Play Good: Work With Your GM

Your GM has worked really hard to provide a narrative structure in which everyone at the gaming table can have a good time working together to create an interesting story.

If you’ve never been a GM, you may not be aware of this, but it’s a ton of work to provide people the opportunity to play. It takes time and effort to create an evening of fun entertainment for you. Think about how irritated you would be if you created such a lovely gift only to have the recipient say, “Meh, whatevs” and set your gift on fire.

Now I think about it, this isn’t advice on being a better player. This is an admonishment about being a better person. Don’t be a dick.

Yeah, that’s about right; Wheaton’s First Law. Don’t be a dick.

That’s not to say you should let a bad GM treat you poorly. I’m not even saying you should meekly get into the railroad carriage and look out the windows. It’s merely recommending that you think about what your actions mean to other people. Be mindful and respectful.

When you think about it, it only makes sense. Even if you insist on being selfish, from the perspective of maximizing fun, go with what your GM has prepared. If you go off in a direction for which your DM is unprepared, yeah, she could improvise. But improvisation is very, very seldom as good as working from prepared materials.

The world is a busy place. We all have limited time to invest in anything, much less entertainment. It only makes sense to do things which maximize the likelihood of a good time.

Right? Right.

Every week you’ll get a different post with tips and tricks in this series. But if you don’t want to wait, you can get the whole thing here, along with a crap-ton of GM tips.