What You Need to GM: A Requirements Review

GMs all have lots of clever tools for GMing in all sorts of places and scenarios.  Maybe he has a mega-kit for GMing at home.  Maybe she has a nifty on-the-go GMing backpack for cons.  Maybe you even have an online set of tools you use.  No matter what you use to GM, my bet is that you cover your bases and hit all of the requirements we are going to talk about today.  Below I have listed the basic things you need to GM effectively.

1. RULES: Access to a copy of the official accepted rules
2. MAP: A map of the environment (optionally shared with players; optionally with tokens for characters and other things in play)
3. MAP KEY:  A key to where encounters, traps, and other things of interest are on the map, that the PCs don't have access to
4. INITIATIVE TRACKER: A way of keeping track of and displaying initiative order.
5. DICE: A way of rolling dice (rolling in secret, as needed)
6. STATS: A resource for stats for opponents, NPCs, traps, and such
7. NOTES: Notes about plot points and other relevant items
8. CHARACTER SHEETS: Optional:  A copy of player character sheets

I will cover how to meet this requirements effectively in different settings in future posts.  One thing to keep in mind, as a GM, is that there is never enough time when there are 4+ players around the table waiting on you.  In the case of each requirement, consider the fact that players can help with certain tasks, especially if it speeds it up for the GM.  For example, rule look ups go quickly if everyone at the table has electronic devices that can access the rules.  Similarly, having a shared initiative tracker and a shared map allows the players to help manage those elements.  After all, why does the GM need to record initiative?  Anyone at the table could do that while the GM is doing other things.

The quick response is always a bigger issue that the GM will initially allow for.  For example, I switched to my laptop for looking up rules rather than my phone because my laptop was just a couple of seconds faster.  These couple of seconds seem small, but at the table they can be huge.

The other things to consider as you work through these requirements is that the GM can always make stuff up on the fly.  In these cases, you are spending less time referring to your notes and spending more time making notes for future sessions when you need to remember the stuff you made up.  This isn't a bad thing.  Many of my best elements were things made up on the fly.

Let me make one additonal comment, referring to item 8.  Access to player character sheets can be very handy for a number of reasons.  First, if you need for them to make a check they aren't aware of, you can make it in secret.  Second, when they make rolls, you can spot check them occasionally to verify they are not cheating.  Third, you can give players values off their character sheet when you need them -- this feeling of "why does the GM get to my stats faster than me" can give the player a bit of incentive to be quicker when looking up stats.

Stay tuned for more on how to meet these requirements in different settings in the future.