RPG Design Patterns

Assign a single player a special role with different responsibilities than other players, commonly including acting as the final authority in disputes, playing NPC’s, describing scenes, and any other tasks not otherwise covered by the game rules.

Also Known As Dungeon Master, Game Referee

Contest Tree, Endgame, Structured Story

The term “Game Master” is somewhat nebulous. It means different things in different games, primarily because the role of the Game Master varies. The Game Master essentially falls into the “everything else” category. That is, if a crucial game aspect is neither specified as a player responsibility nor handled mechanically, then it falls to the Game Master to assume that task. Some traditional Game Master responsibilities are

1. Acting as the final arbiter in disputes between players.
2. Ensuring all players participate.
3. Describing scenes, including preparing any necessary background materials.
4. Creating and playing non-player characters.
5. Creating challenges for players to overcome when appropriate.
6. Creating a sense of rising tension building to some dramatic climax.
7. Creating a sense of mystery and intrigue in a storyline when appropriate.

Any of these responsibilities can be given to other players or replaced with some purely mechanical process. In fact, all Game Master responsibilities can be parceled out in one fashion or another, as is evidenced by the fact that some games exist without any Game Master at all (see the Universalis Game Summary for an example).

You should introduce a Game Master role into your game when you have a compelling design goal that warrants singling out a player to take on special duties. Certainly, the Game Master role helps many games. But, you should not include a Game Master in your game simply because you cannot envision how to design a game without one. Currently most games include such a role, so you may want to consider avoiding it simply to differentiate your game from its competition.

Having one player assume a Game Master role puts that player on a different footing than other players. It may be no stronger or weaker than other players, but it is unquestionably different. Depending on your design considerations, this may be good or it may be bad. Some people enjoy taking on the Game Master role, but many people do not. From the purely non-scientific and unverified viewpoint of the author, more people seem to fall into the “do not enjoy being Game Master” camp than otherwise. So, mixing a Game Master into your game’s design may diminish its potential audience.

As stated above, Game Masters essentially take on any “left-over” tasks that are not handled in some other fashion by the game rules. So, designing a Game Master role boils down to picking his responsibilities. If you don’t want him to assume a particular duty, then you need alternatives. For this reason, this description will focus on how to replace many of the traditional Game Master roles with other techniques. If you dream up some new innovative way to tackle a given job, do not feel limited by what follows.

1. Acting as the final arbiter in disputes between players: Replace this responsibility with a simple dice roll, coin flip, or bidding process. This will probably be a Negotiated Contest. The technique may match your game’s normal conflict mechanic, or it may be entirely different. Note that this represents a form of player conflict resolution rather than character conflict resolution.
2. Ensuring all players participate: You can replace this responsibility with something as simple as a rule that says players take turns going around the table. An even better alternative is to introduce a refreshable resource that players spend to obtain “screen time.” Aggressive players burn these resources quickly, leaving timid players with opportunities to contribute. When everyone runs out of the resource, refresh it.
3. Describing scenes, including preparing any necessary background materials: Parcel this responsibility out to the players. One way is to provide players with a resource of some sort that they may spend to introduce facts into the game world. In this way, you can eliminate preparation altogether by making world creation part of play.
4. Creating and playing non-player characters: Make all characters player characters so that the players play both the protagonists and antagonists of the story. That does not mean that a given player plays both sides (unless that is appropriate for your game), it merely means that antagonists are played by players and protagonists are played by (potentially different) players.
5. Creating challenges for players to overcome when appropriate: Distribute this task to all the players. After all, people challenge one another to games of chess, why can’t they directly oppose one another in role-playing games? If challenge is important in your game, be sure to reward anyone authoring it. And, avoid offsetting this reward with harsh punishments should the challenger lose. Otherwise, players will hesitate to create challenges and their play will suffer.
6. Creating a sense of rising tension building to some dramatic climax: In all the games researched in our study who incorporated a Game Master, GM Fiat handles this task for a story’s overarching conflict. There is no reason that players cannot do as well. However, a mechanical means of generating rising tension may help your game. See the Contest Tree pattern for how to do this.
7. Creating a sense of mystery and intrigue in a storyline when appropriate: This is a tough one. (Some games lacking Game Masters have been criticized for lacking mystery as well.) If your game is fine without mystery, this may not be an issue at all. If it is, you can parcel this responsibility out to the players, so that each possesses a secret that other players seek to uncover. Or, some mechanical means of generating mystery can be used (such as the mechanics of the board game “Clue,” an example of which is presented in the Samples section below).

It is also possible to simply transfer traditional Game Master tasks to individual players. So, one player may be given the responsibility of “Final Arbiter” while another one is assigned the role of “Scene Framer.”

Let’s suppose we want to design a Game Master role for “Clue, the Role-Playing Game” based off of the popular board game “Clue.” We’ll omit as much as possible in our discussion other than the Game Master’s responsibilities, because that is more than enough for a simple example. Because we are basing our creation on a gaming icon, players will expect a certain degree of similarity to the board game. So, we want to retain the “feel” of the original mechanics as much as possible. So, we remove all responsibility for generating a mystery from the Game Master, despite the fact that we are creating a mystery game. The Game Master does have other important tasks, though. For one, he plays a lone detective investigating a missing person report. Mr. Body is nowhere to be seen. Everyone else plays a suspect, whose name and persona they make up themselves. At this point, all players know that the missing person has been murdered, and one of the characters is a killer. However, none of the players knows the identity of the killer and none of the innocent characters is certain that a murder has taken place, although they may suspect it. It is assumed that one of the characters (at random) called the detective to report the missing person. But, the call was given with the approval of all involved (since the killer didn’t want to draw any suspicion.)

Before play starts, the Game Master decides on a setting, be it an old mansion, a shopping center, or any other building that may have some interesting rooms to explore. Then, he writes down the names of various rooms of the setting on 3×5 cards. Next, he writes the names of all characters on cards. Finally, he writes down the names of various items that could be used as weapons to kill someone. All of the previously mentioned cards are then read to all the players. As they are read, they are placed into separate stacks of “Room” cards, “Weapon” cards, and “Suspect” cards. The players then give general descriptions of their characters, so everyone can get a feel for the scenario. The Game Master should keep a separate list of all of the items written on the cards for future reference during play.

Then, the three stacks of cards are shuffled (keeping the stacks separate) and one card from each stack is set aside and placed in its own envelope. No one may look at these cards, not even the Game Master. On the outside of the envelopes are written the words “Crime Scene,” “Killer,” and “Murder Weapon” respectively. These three cards indicate the location of the murder, the perpetrator’s identity, and the weapon used.

Next, all players write down a “secret” about their characters on a 3×5 card that, if discovered, would give the character a motive to kill. The secret must include the character’s name. Then all of the cards (save those in the envelopes) are shuffled together and distributed to the players, who may look at them but must keep them secret from other players.

During play, the Game Master has the detective wander through the various rooms, which he describes in detail. It is his responsibility to occasionally wander into named rooms (the ones on the cards) and to inject the various potential weapons in the scenes. The players have their characters enter and exit scenes at will. When the characters are “on stage,” the detective interacts with them and asks them questions about the various items he encountered and the rooms he searched.

The players are responsible for inserting hard facts into the narration revealing that the elements on the cards he holds in his hand could not be involved in the crime under consideration: “But, that knife couldn’t have been used to kill anyone. It’s actually a stage prop. Look, the blade collapses into the handle when you stab anything. If I was going to kill someone, I’d use that poker over by the fireplace.”; “But, Ms. Sampson couldn’t have done anything like what you’re suggesting. Mr. Body may have discovered she is a cross-dresser, but I know for a fact that she, or, rather, he, is a devout pacifist. See, here’s his membership card to ‘Pacifists Anonymous.’” Similarly, each player is obligated to reveal no hard facts about any elements not listed on the cards he holds. However, he is free to have his character accuse the other suspects of any number of crimes. He can even suggest possible scenarios for how they went about it, even if those scenarios incorporate elements he does not hold in his hand. He may also make up any number of non-verifiable alibis to exonerate his character.

The Game Master may take notes on what he observes. Nobody else may.

When the detective has gathered enough clues so that the Game Master believes he knows which weapon was used in the murder, he has the detective reveal his conclusion to one or more of the suspects. At this point, the envelope labeled “Murder Weapon” is opened and the contents read aloud for all to hear. Whether right or wrong, Mr. Body’s body will be found in the next scene and the cause of death will be revealed. Any player may provide the necessary description: “But, you said Mr. Body was hit over the head with a baseball bat. So, where did that bullet hole in his forehead come from?”

After the weapon has been revealed and the detective has gathered enough clues for the Game Master to surmise the location of the crime, the detective once again reveals his belief. At this point, the Game Master opens the “Crime Scene” envelope and reads aloud its contents for all to hear. Whether right or wrong, a strong clue will reveal the location of the crime in the next scene, which may be provided by any player: “You said Mr. Body was killed while sleeping in his bed. But, look! I found a bullet-hole in the Library.”

Finally, when the Game Master infers who committed the murder and why, he has the detective gather all of the suspects into a room. Here, he reveals his brilliant deductions for all to admire in rapt awe. The accused is carted off in chains to jail.

The “Killer” envelope remains sealed. Game Over.

Paranoia xp has a Game Master. The Game Master is fairly traditional, but is the only player who may reveal any knowledge of the game’s rules in play. Anyone else inadvertently revealing his knowledge of the rules has his character labeled a “traitor” and executed for possessing information above his Security Classification Level. As always, the character is immediately replaced with an identical clone.

Puppetland has a “Puppetmaster.” The Puppetmaster provides narrative description of the setting, plays all non-player characters, and judges conflicts based purely on his personal sense of dramatic impact.