Seven Essentials for Good Preparation

Exactly what kind of preparation is needed varies from game to game. If you follow this checklist, however, you’ll be ready for just about anything.

Know the Characters and Players

Sit down with all the character sheets and look them over carefully. Consider what each character can do in the game—major powers, secondary powers, special abilities, and inherent traits. This helps you anticipate what your players might do in any given situation.

Pay special attention to powers that work automatically or passively—for example, an ability to detect impending danger or notice concealed doors. It falls to you to make sure such abilities work when and how they should.

Knowing your players can prove as important as knowing their characters. Many players develop favorite tricks and stunts with their characters’ powers, or well-ingrained misconceptions about what their characters can or cannot do. Knowing these quirks can help you keep the players engaged and challenged and can deflect problems before the dice hit the table.

Know the Scene

Get familiar with the scene where the action will occur. If you’re running a published adventure, read through it carefully. Not only should you know the answers to basic questions (“How high is the ceiling here?”), but you should also be able to convey sensory details.

Next, take a moment to get familiar with each adventure site’s layout. Note the major features and where they lie in relation to each other. Pay special attention to entrances, exits, stairwells, and other features that the characters will use to move around.

Know the Story

Some games don’t have much story—the characters simply endure whatever you decide to throw at them. But even such straightforward adventures will run a little better if you take time to consider how the adversaries came to be in the party’s way, what they’re doing when the party appears, and how they might react to intrusion.

Other games place the characters within an unfolding story. Before running such a game, stop to consider the story’s beginning, middle, and end. Note the key events and turning points in the tale, and pay special attention to events and developments that turn on character decisions or actions. Consider how you will present those turning points so that you can create a seamless narrative that flows naturally from the party’s actions.

Know the Adversaries

Think about the foes your characters must face and any other obstacles they must overcome. Consider how those adversaries will act toward the characters.

Creatures and NPCs can often react to characters when they’re still some distance away, thanks to their hearing, sight, or other senses. How these foes respond depends on their nature, temperament, and intelligence, as well as why they’re on the scene and what they’re doing when the party arrives.

Animals and creatures with a similar level of intelligence are usually present simply because they live in the area or because someone else has brought them there; they often don’t pay much heed to the characters unless they perceive them to be some kind of threat. Many animals would rather flee than fight, but even a timid animal can become ferocious when cornered, and some are highly territorial and aggressive.

Any creature smarter than a common animal generally tries to assess the situation before acting. Very few simply sit in rooms or lairs waiting for the party to come and attack. What they do depends on the weaponry and powers they have available, and what they have at stake.

Creatures that have something to defend (property, livelihood, family, reputation, and so on) likely won’t hesitate to confront the party in some fashion. That doesn’t always mean an immediate attack. Consider how the creature thinks of intruders or visitors. Is it curious or prone to negotiation? Does it think of the group as a threat or an opportunity? Has it made plans for dealing with intruders? Also think about how well the creature knows its ground, what risks it’s willing to take, and how quickly and accurately it can assess its situation.

Not all responses need to be tactical. The creature might just want to chat with the newcomers or might send someone else to do so. Alternatively, it might try to scare away intruders or perhaps misdirect them. A creature with nothing to gain probably won’t fight at all if it can avoid doing so.

You should also think about what might make the creature surrender or flee. Few creatures fight to the death if there’s an alternative available.

Know the Rules

You don’t need encyclopedic knowledge of the Pathfinder RPG rules set to run a quality game. You do, however, need to be comfortable with those parts of the rules that come up frequently in play. This means the rules for determining initiative, how creatures attack and defend, and how to resolve noncombat challenges like skill checks (such as picking a lock or noticing bad guys sneaking up on the party’s camp). It doesn’t hurt to mark your rulebooks to help you find your way around—a few self-adhesive tabs can prove indispensable.

Also be on the lookout for any character ability that uses a complex, difficult, or unfamiliar game mechanic and take a moment to study it. Do likewise for any creatures, traps, or hazards the party might encounter.

If you can’t quite figure out some aspect of the rules, and time permits, consult another Game Master, or the messageboards at paizo.com, which contain a wealth of helpful information and rules discussions. If all else fails, decide how you want the rule in question to work and use it that way—such decisions have a way of working out if you think them through ahead of time.

Don’t Overdo It

Remember that you’re preparing so that things proceed smoothly at the game table. Over-preparation can ruin

Published or Homegrown?

Published adventures can be a great investment. Reading through such a scenario can give you an idea of how an adventure is put together, what challenges are suitable for your group’s power level, and what sorts of rewards are appropriate. The Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook deals with these subjects, but there’s nothing like seeing all the elements put together. More importantly, a close look at adventures someone else has thought through can give you new ideas for constructing your own. It’s easy to fall into a rut, especially when you’re running games regularly, and adventures like Paizo’s Pathfinder Adventure Paths and Pathfinder Modules can help dig you out. Similarly, there’s a wealth of prepackaged campaign settings available, including Paizo’s own Pathfinder Campaign Setting. Consider mining concepts from them for your own world, or adopting locations from them that inspire adventure concepts. No matter how many published adventures or settings you own, it’s up to you to decide whether you’ll use them. If you merely lift an idea from them now and then, you’re still getting your money’s worth, but using them to a greater extent allows GMs to run sweeping, intricate campaigns with minimal preparation.

that. Instead, prepare just enough so that you can quickly deal with situations that you expect to arise, and so that you can handle the unexpected. Don’t script your game so tightly that the players lose their sense of freedom or that your game’s whole structure falls apart if your players fail (or refuse) to accomplish what you expect them to.

Likewise, don’t create so many notes that you can’t keep them organized. One page for each major encounter, event, or personality is generally plenty, and often less will do.

Lay a Few Alternate Plans

There’s an adage in military circles: no plan survives contact with the enemy. Sometimes players head off in directions you didn’t anticipate, defeat your primary villain with a few rolls, miss an obvious clue, or lose a key battle. You can take such developments in stride by considering a few contingencies that can set your plot back on track. Start by thinking about how things might go astray. Does some key individual drive your plot? Do the characters need to learn something before they can succeed? Is there a danger that, if overlooked, can defeat your party? Once you’ve identified the key stumbling blocks, think of plausible ways to repair the damage if the worst happens.

Of course, sometimes you still won’t be able to prepare for player actions. When things go astray, it’s generally

Sharing the Load

Even though you’re the GM, you don’t have to do everything yourself. You can pass along any number of tasks to your players.

Bookkeeping: This covers all the little tasks necessary to keep your group organized. You might ask one player to be the recorder, keeping notes on what the group accomplishes in each game. The recorder can keep tallies of party loot and foes defeated, saving you effort when it’s time to divide the spoils. You can also ask this player to note key pieces of information the PCs discover, names of important people they meet, and places they go. These notes can help your group get back up to speed when they return after a break.

Rules Knowledge: If you have a fair-minded player with a talent for explaining the rules, use her as a resource. When you expect to tackle an unfamiliar rule, discuss how it works with this player. When disputes about the rules arise during a game, get her opinion. It’s also frequently helpful to team her up with rookie players as an advisor, keeping the game moving.

Round-Robin Campaigns: No one says you have to GM every session. Sometimes a team of GMs can rotate the responsibility of running the game, each GM taking up the game where the previous one left off each week, while the other GMs play. This requires significant coordination, and expert roleplaying (as some players already know the plotlines), but the chance to play in your own campaign and regularly experience different GM styles can be extremely entertaining and rewarding.

the most fun for everyone to play along, exploring the new story and using it to gently nudge the game back onto the original track. Sticking without exception to a prepared plot makes players feel powerless, and part of the fun of being a GM is being surprised by your players. Go with it.