{"id":386,"date":"2010-03-03T20:21:08","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T03:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/islemaster.wordpress.com\/?p=386"},"modified":"2010-03-03T20:21:08","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T03:21:08","slug":"first-time-rpg-referee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/first-time-rpg-referee\/","title":{"rendered":"First-Time RPG Referee"},"content":{"rendered":"

I haven’t ever played in a tabletop RPG, much less GM’d, DM’d or refereed one. I’ve got the itch to try it out, though, so I’ve been compiling articles and tools about learning how to GM. Here’s a list of what I’ve found. Much of the material written on this topic is specifically about Dungeons & Dragons<\/a>, but the advice can be applied more generally; myself, I’d really like to try running Star Wars Roleplaying Game: SAGA Edition<\/a> or maybe Spirit of the Century<\/a>. Here’s hoping these resources will help me (and maybe someone else) get started!<\/p>\n

Articles<\/span>
\nSo You Wanna Be A DM?<\/a> by AKA_Bait is the most friendly and thorough introduction to the topic I’ve found.
\nHow to Run Roleplaying Games<\/a> by Greg Stolze. Very professional.
\nA Quick Primer for Old School Gaming<\/a> by Matthew Finch talks to both players and GMs about an older style of RPG… but to me it just sounds like good principles for running a fun game.
\nRama’s Rules of Running an RPG<\/a> by Jason Rama is a quick list of things to remember when learning to GM.
\nGM Guide<\/a> by Colin G Hetherington seems like a very detailed resource, but it’s incomplete.
\n17 Steps to GMing a New RPG for the First Time<\/a> by Martin Ralya is about your first encounter with a new system.
\nHow to GM, DM, ST or just Run an RPG<\/a> by lhewitt is a shorter and more general introduction to the topic.
\nThe Rancor Pit – Gamemaster Tips<\/a> for the West End Games D6 Star Wars RPG.<\/p>\n

Sites and blogs for GMs<\/span>
\nThe Tao of D&D<\/a> is a blog about making the rules serve the game, not the other way around.
\nNewbie DM.com<\/a> has some interesting resources.
\nGnome Stew<\/a> claims to be the #1 GM blog on the planet.
\nRoleplaying Tips<\/a> posts regular articles for DMs.<\/p>\n

Free (or free-to-try) RPGs<\/span>
\nSpirit of the Centry<\/a> can be played for free from the SRD on their website.
\nSwords and Wizardry<\/a> is a totally free, very simple game that’s a throwback to the earliest fantasy gaming. Lots of resources here.
\nCastles & Crusades Quick Start Rules<\/a> are also free classic fantasy gaming.
\nSavage Worlds provides a Test Drive<\/a> to try-before-you-buy.
\nThe Four Color System<\/a> is a free superhero RPG.
\nHave-A-Go Heroes<\/a> is an extremely simple and quick Superhero RPG based on Mystery Men<\/em>.
\nThe West End Games D6 System core books<\/a> are free PDFs.
\nThe Dawn of Defiance Campaign<\/a> for the SWRPG SAGA Edition would be a good thing to DM first. Not sure how badly you need the core book for this.
\nTrue20 Quickstart Rules<\/a> for yet another fantasy system.
\nBlue Rose Fast Play<\/a> is a free-to-try adventure.
\nGURPS Lite<\/a> is a free condensation of the commercial GURPS roleplaying system.<\/p>\n

World-building resources<\/span>
\nLiam’s Pictures from Old Books<\/a> is an archive of free images, including illuminated lettering and drop-capitals.
\nThe Medieval Bestiary<\/a> has similar illustrations of various animals and monsters.<\/p>\n

Funnies<\/span>
\nThe Order of the Stick<\/a> is a D&D Webcomic. It never hurts to see how others have had fun with the genre\/game!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I haven’t ever played in a tabletop RPG, much less GM’d, DM’d or refereed one. I’ve got the itch to try it out, though, so I’ve been compiling articles and tools about learning how to GM. Here’s a list of what I’ve found. Much of the material written on this topic is specifically about Dungeons…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67,110,120,147,149,161,239,291,301,330],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games","tag-beginner","tag-dd","tag-dm","tag-first-time","tag-free","tag-gm","tag-new","tag-referee","tag-rpg","tag-star-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bradleycbuchanan.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}