Everyone Plays, Everyone Wins.

It's a saying that I think we forget sometimes when we game, and it bears remembering--and not just that last half.

When we play a typical table top RPG, there are the Players and the Gamemaster--or whatever it's called. Starting a game requires character concepts from the players, but also a game concept from the GM. It's important that all of that exists, and that it works together. Players expecting a hack & slash style dungeon raiding game generally won't enjoy a high drama political intrigue. A GM should always make sure the players know what the idea for the game is, and help them build concepts and characters to fit into that idea. Getting everyone on the same page isn't the first step, but it can be the most important. Also, GMs should be willing to bend things to what the players really want in a game. If it doesn't completely ruin the concept (and the fun) for the GM, the game might improve if they're willing to take some cues from the players and include ideas and situations that the players seem to want, based on the characters they come up with.

That's all prep work. In order to gt to "Everyone Wins," everyone has to, well, win. I'm not suggesting a Monty Haul game, but for the right group at the right time, those work too. I'm reminding people what the job of the GM really is--to help bring things together, to fill in the story, not to be the enemy of the characters, or to thwart they're wishes. It's trivially easy to beat the players' characters--the GM can simply make crap up that they cannot handle, or keep throwing bad times at them until all the characters simply quit in-character or the players quit out-of-character.

Help them win. Challenge them, and if they for whatever reason betray the agreements you made before the game began, feel free to have them lose if they don't respond to out-of-character conversations. Feel free to set them up to lose for the sake of story, but make sure the players know what's going on--make sure they know that the current loss is to help set them up for better stories after.

Sometimes, players' expectations for a game differ, or playstyles differ, or characters clash. That's when you need to shine. If the game concept is still going strong, and the characters aren't clashing with that, and everyone's living up to their end of the deal, it's your job (and your accomplishment) to help everyone to feel like they've won. That's how you win--when everyone leaves the game smiling, thinking how cool they were, how cool everyone else was, and how cool the story is so far.

A heads up, though. Sometimes, winning means that the character loses--players will let you this when they feel that they want to fall or fail in order to continue they're character's story. If it all fits, everyone still wins.

Portray the antagonists, don't be them.

~j