As one of my first posts, I want to establish my view of the roles in the game. I personally dislike the terms used by most games, referring to the man running the game as a “master”, neither of the game nor of some dungeon.

There is also the term Storyteller to which I object thematically. I disagree that our main purpose is simply to tell a story. When I run a game, my goal is to create an Experience.

So, in which term I call myself when I’m running a game? I’m called a Guide. This was first introduced to me by the forum community of the Israeli Association for the Advancement of Roleplay, which at the time were greatly opposed to D&D and were divided into 2 factions- those who supported White-wolf’s Storyteller systems, mainly Vampire: the Masquerade, and those who supported Freeform.

The latter of those factions usually used the term Guide to replace their “hated” DM terminology.

While at first I kept using the term out of neutrality, not wanting to lean towards any given system (as I had once been a great supporter of Freeform play), I later started developing my own view on the roles of the game surrounding this concept of the Guide.

As I said before, when I run a game, I aim to create an experience. The goal of this experience is that all the people playing the game- that include me as well as my players- will have fun. Fun can be achieved by many means: horror, adventure, mystery, exiting battles and much more. My role as a Guide is to, well… guide my players through the experience, resulting in all of having as much as passable.

To accomplish my goals and carry out my role as best as passable I do not hold any cow sacred. Any element of the game can be changed or ignored completely for the sake of the experience. This is most strongly applies to the System, but can also be true for the Setting. This, however, can come to a red line I usually don’t step across and that is the integrity of the Setting. In every setting there are several elements which I call “game-breakers”. Stepping over those elements can result in dangerous distortion of the Setting.

For example, in one of the campaign settings called Vanor, I decided that there is no instant healing magic, only spells that enhance the normal recovery of characters. Wounds won’t heal in seconds, but they can heal in a few minutes if the spell is very potent. While I may consider handing the player stronger healing powers for the sake of the Experience, I will do so very carefully, since this rule of the game has a purpose- to heighten the fear of death for the players. Stepping over this game-breaker will lessen the players fear and they may expect more such help in the future.

Of course, if done properly, one-time powers such as these can add a sense of wonder to the game.

In conclusion, and as a side note, in my future posts I may include a Guidance Corner. This section will explain how I do things in my own game or how I used them as a player. Granted, this website represent my take on things, but in this corner I present my distinctive approach to matters- in adventures, I may include my own party’s experience. In setting, I could write how I incorporated certain elements, and so on.