During New Gamemaster Month, we’re going to give you the skills and confidence to become a GM. We’ll guide you through the process of understanding the rules, the setting, and your first adventure, and by the end of it you’re going to run a game—and love it!
Gamemastering. To some gamers, it seems to come naturally, but to others—longtime veterans of gaming, as well as newbies just entering the hobby—it’s a bit intimidating. But running an RPG can be an incredible joy, and GMs keep our hobby thriving and growing. That’s why we created New Gamemaster Month. If you’ve ever thought about running an RPG, but haven’t taken the plunge, we have good news: Stick with us for a month, and come this time in February you’ll be a real, honest-to-goodness GM. It’ll be easy, and it’ll be fun. We promise.
Why Run A Game?
Before we get started, though, a question: Why should you run an RPG? Well, if there is one factor that limits the spread of RPGs, it’s the number of GMs. For most types of games you don’t really need any specialized “equipment,” just the game itself (usually), a handful of players (usually), a place to play, and in some cases a gaming platform of some sort. Tabletop RPGs are a bit different—they can’t happen unless at least one person in the group steps up to take on a special role. A role that requires a bit more preparation, effort, organization, and tolerance for the spotlight. Without GMs, RPGs can’t happen. As a GM, you’ll be helping the RPG world in general.
But the fact that you’re reading this tells me you probably already know a more important reason: It’s an activity we GMs really take joy in. Heck, there’s more to it than joy—it’s practically a need. A creative drive. For a lot of GMs, crafting a compelling world, peopling it with interesting characters, laying out engaging conflicts and mysteries, and then revealing these to the players as they work their way through their story (and often being surprised by their contributions along the way) is incredibly fulfilling. Nothing scratches the creative itch in quite the unique way that GMing does.
You’ve seen that, and you feel its pull—that’s why you’re interested in New Gamemaster Month. That’s why you want to run a game.
So What Are You Getting Into?
Putting yourself behind the proverbial GM screen seems daunting. There must be some trick to it that’s not obvious, right? Some secret handed down in whispers from master to master, or an innate gift that you have or you don’t? And so many pitfalls: What if the other players know the rules better than you? Or the setting? Or would do such a better job that they see right through your flailing attempts to make the adventure or campaign work?
Here’s the secret to GMing: It’s easy.
Really, it’s easy. Once you’re sitting in the GM’s chair, and you’ve run a session or three, you’ll agree. But from where you’re sitting now, it’s no surprise that it seems a bit intimidating. That’s just jitters.
You’ll need to understand how your rules work, sure, but you don’t have to be the biggest expert, regardless of whether your players are all newbies or are veterans who’ve played the game for years. You don’t have to have every nook and cranny of the setting committed to memory, either—in fact, the setting is yours to craft, and elements you interpret differently than what’s in print (on purpose or by accident) make the setting your own. That’s a feature, not a bug.
More important than any of those factors, though, is confidence. You need to feel that you can do it. That’s the secret sauce. It’s the only secret sauce.
So that’s what we’re going to give you over the next four weeks: skills and confidence. We’ll guide you through the process of understanding the rules, the setting, and your first adventure, so you’ll have the skills to run your first game. And along the way, we’ll give you the confidence that you have everything you need. To top it off, we’ll give you a little kick in the pants at the end, to turn that skill and confidence into an actual, live game session that you’ll run and enjoy.
That’s right: In four weeks, you’ll be a real, live GM.
How Will This Happen?
Here’s the New Gamemaster Month plan of action: You’ll find a new post, right here on newgamemastermonth.com, every Tuesday and Thursday between now and February 1st. With each post, we’ll discuss the next step in your journey and give you a small activity that builds to your first GMing session. (Don’t worry, it’s not homework. This is fun stuff.)
As mentioned above, we’ll cover rules, setting, and the adventure itself. But we’ll also talk about the other elements of running a game: Stuff like wrangling players, lining up a time and place, and even laying in snacks. Everything you need to think about to get your game going and ensure it’s a success.
You choose the game you want to run. Six companies are partnering in New Gamemaster Month this year, giving you the opportunity to run your choice of games:
- Numenera
- Unknown Armies
- Trail of Cthulhu
- Runequest
- Monster of the Week
- Delta Green
Which game should you choose? That’s up to you. Experience with the game will help, but isn’t necessary—the most important thing is that the game, its setting, and the adventure are all things you’ll enjoy.
Regardless of your choice, we’ll work from a published adventure that’s friendly to newbie GMs, so we’ll be able to focus this month on the act of GMing rather than the process of designing an adventure. The fundamentals are transferable, though: Once you’ve run your New Gamemaster Month adventure, you’ll be a full-fledged GM capable of taking on other systems, building your own worlds, and crafting your own adventures, if you desire, from scratch.
All you need to do is join us twice a week, read these posts, and follow through with the activities we recommend for the game you’ve chosen. You’ll commit a little time to the process—a couple of hours a week, tops—but by the end you’ll be ready to run!
Running Your First Game Virtually
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more gamers were running some or all of their games virtually—and that format of play has skyrocketed, of course, over the past couple of years. GMing a game over the internet isn’t that different, fundamentally, than running an in-person game. But for many people it’s less familiar, and perhaps a little more intimidating. So this year we’re including advice for online GMing.
You’ll find general advice here, at the bottom of each post. Additionally, some of the individual games offer advice in their specific tabs. And finally, our friends at Roll20 offer step-by-step advice you can apply to any game, should you choose to make use of their virtual tabletop (VTT) platform.
If you intend to run your game online, your first step will be to decide what platform you’ll use.
- A video chat platform, such as Zoom or Skype, lets you talk with and see your players clearly. Some gamers also keep Discord or Slack open during the game for threaded text conversations. Generally, players will need to maintain their own character sheets separately, and these platforms don’t give you a virtual tabletop to display maps and move virtual miniatures around.
- VTTs, such as Roll20, Astral, Fantasy Grounds, or Foundry, to name a few, give you a battlemap environment and the ability to display and move tokens representing characters and creatures during encounters. They also generally allow players to keep their character sheets, and do their die rolling, within the platform, and give the GM tools for managing creatures and encounters.
Which is right for you? That depends on your personal style and that of your game. Making the most of a VTT is a lot more work than running via Zoom or Skype, but you don’t have to use every feature. A video platform is a lot simpler, and focuses the experience on the players rather than the tabletop, but their features are limited.
Keep these points in mind as you explore your options and make your choice. Remember that your commitment isn’t long-term—go with what seems best now, and if you choose a different platform for future games, that’s fine!
If you’re interested in a VTT, Roll20 offers step-by-step instructions that parallel each stage of the New Gamemaster Month program. Just check the Using Roll20? tab on each New Gamemaster Month post as you also follow the program for your chosen game.
You’ve chosen to run Numenera! That’s great; over the next four weeks we’ll help you hone your knowledge of the game system and prep for a great adventure.
Your activity for this segment of New Gamemaster Month is to get yourself a copy of the Numenera Discovery corebook. (You might also want to get the second corebook, Numenera Destiny—they’re a great set, and if you’re buying it in print the two-book set is an excellent deal—but it isn’t strictly necessary for this program.) If you don’t have it already, you can find it in print at your friendly local game store, in PDF format at DriveThruRPG, or in either format at the MCG Shop online. If purchasing at the MCG Shop, you can use this coupon code and get $10 off Numenera Discovery in print or PDF, or the Numenera Corebook Slipcase Set (which includes both Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny): NewGamemasterMonth2024.
Spend a little time leafing through the book, getting a feel for the Ninth World. You don’t have to read anything in particular just yet. In fact, I recommend against reading too much, because some new GMs find all that info a bit overwhelming. (Don’t fret: We’ll walk you through the most important stuff over the next few segments.) The Amber Monolith, the fiction at the beginning of the book, is an interesting and atmospheric read if you feel the urge. You might also check out the short film Numenera: Strand, for a small taste of the setting.
You’ll also help the New Gamemaster Month program, and the community of RPG gamers generally, if you spread the word a bit. Mention New Gamemaster Month on social media and down at your game store. We’re going to make it easy for late-comers to join the program, so it’s never too late—but many new GMs will appreciate knowing they’re part of a concerted program, so getting the word out now is better than, say, June.
Share New Gamemaster Month with people you know! If you’re participating as a new GM, it never hurts to get a few friends involved, so you can compare notes as you go. If you’re an old hand at GMing, help someone else in your group who wants to GM by sharing this and maybe mentoring them a bit through the process.
Enjoy, and we’ll talk again on Thursday!
You’ve decided to run Unknown Armies—nice! We’re here to help you feel confident and excited about running this roleplaying game of mystery, horror, and obsession. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about Unknown Armies’ rules, setting, and adventures so you can run a game set in the occult underground.
For this step of New Gamemaster Month, your activity is to get yourself a copy of the Unknown Armies corebooks: Book One: Play, Book Two: Run, and Book Three: Reveal. You can find hardcover copies at your friendly local game store, print and digital formats at Warehouse 23, and PDFs at DriveThruRPG.
Skim through the books, especially Book One and Book Two. The first book covers most of the rules and setting info, while the second specifically addresses being an Unknown Armies gamemaster. You don’t need to read everything! In fact, the whole point of New Gamemaster Month is to help you get running your game quickly instead of reading everything all at once. (That said, there are some great bits of fiction that can help you get the flavor of this game.)
You can also get some help from the online RPG community. If you talk about New Gamemaster Month and this game on social media and in forums like Reddit (or even at your game store), you can see why so many people love the occult weirdness of Unknown Armies.
And be sure to share the news about New Gamemaster Month! This program is easy to join at any time, so encourage your friends to take the plunge and learn the joys of running a roleplaying game with you.
Enjoy skimming through the books, but maybe don’t do it at night. You don’t want to try and sleep with visions of demons, wheezehounds, and the Happy Cat Mask dancing in your head. Talk to you again on Thursday!
You’ve chosen to run Trail of Cthulhu! That’s great–for you, that is. Your players, however, are doomed to meet a horrible and likely gory fate at the claws of some Lovecraftian monster. Over the next four weeks we’ll help you hone your knowledge of the game system and show you how to make investigating cosmic horror fun for everyone!
Your activity for this segment of New Gamemaster Month is to get yourself a copy of the Trail of Cthulhu corebook. If you don’t have it already, you can find it in print at your friendly local game store, in PDF format at DriveThruRPG, or in either format at the Pelgrane Press online store.
You should also download the sample adventure, Midnight Sub Rosa, specially made available for New Gamemaster month. This adventure is easier to run than the sample adventure in the Trail of Cthulhu rulebook, The Kingsbury Horror, which is aimed at experienced GMs.
Spend a little time leafing through the book, getting a feel for the 1930s Lovecraftian setting, and the basics of how the GUMSHOE investigative system works. The core idea is that players never fail to get important clues, which makes running mysteries much easier–the players will never be stuck because they’ve failed a roll or missed something obscure.
You don’t need to read any particular section of the rulebook yet–but if you’re not already familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos and the horror of HP Lovecraft, take a look at Appendix 2: Sources and Resources, and dig up some of the classic tales. Most of the famous Lovecraftian stories, like The Call of Cthulhu, are freely available online.
You’ll also help the New Gamemaster Month program, and the community of RPG gamers generally, if you spread the word a bit. Mention New Gamemaster Month on social media and down at your game store. We’re going to make it easy for late-comers to join the program, so it’s never too late—but many new GMs will appreciate knowing they’re part of a concerted program, so getting the word out now is better than, say, June.
Share New Gamemaster Month with people you know! If you’re participating as a new GM, it never hurts to get a few friends involved, so you can compare notes as you go. If you’re an old hand at GMing, help someone else in your group who wants to GM by sharing this and maybe mentoring them a bit through the process.
Enjoy, and we’ll talk again on Thursday!
You’ve chosen to run RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha! That’s great; over the next four weeks we’ll help you hone your knowledge of the game system and prep for a great adventure.
Your activity for this segment of New Gamemaster Month is to get yourself a copy of the brand new RuneQuest Starter Set. It’s available at stores everywhere, on Drivethrurpg.com, and through Chaosium’s website. This full-colored box set is designed to be the ultimate introduction to RuneQuest and Glorantha, priced at $29.99 USD.
Inside the attractive, sturdy box are four full-color booklets: Rules, The World of Glorantha, SoloQuest, and Adventures. Rules covers the RuneQuest rules and presents you with everything you need to know to run and play the game. The World of Glorantha describes the world and the city of Jonstown, a starting location and a base of adventures. SoloQuest is designed to immerse you into the rules and world though a pick-your-path solo adventure, and finally, Adventures gives you three full ready-to-play adventures and a host of adventure seeds and resources for further adventures in the area.
Also included in the Starter Set are 14 pre-generated adventurer characters, something for everyone, and two additional blank folios for players who want to use the RuneQuest core rules to create original adventurers. Furthermore, the box contains reference sheets, a strike rank tracker to use in combat, large maps of Jonstown, the surrounding area, and labeled and unlabeled versions of one of the location maps, a giant underground warren filled with horrors and challenges!
Plus, a set of lovely bronze-colored dice to evoke the mythic Bronze Age setting of Glorantha!
If you want to know even more about Glorantha and RuneQuest, it’s advisable to get the RuneQuest corebook. If you don’t have it already, you can find it in print at your friendly local game store, in PDF format at DriveThruRPG, or in either format at the Chaosium web store. (Note: The Starter Set has everything you need to play, but if you want to create original adventurers, you’ll need the core rulebook.)
Spend a little time leafing through the Rules book and the first half of The World of Glorantha book of the Starter Set, getting a handle on the rules, the big-picture concepts, and the setting. You don’t have to read anything too deep just yet: this is just a “look and feel” review. In fact, it’s probably best to avoid reading too much, because some new gamemasters find all that info a bit overwhelming. (Don’t fret: We’ll walk you through the most important stuff over the next few segments.)
You’ll also help the New Gamemaster Month program, and the community of roleplaying gamers generally, if you’ll spread the word a bit. Mention New Gamemaster Month on social media and down at your game store. We’re going to make it easy for late-comers to join the program, so it’s never too late—but many new gamemasters will appreciate knowing they’re part of a concerted program, so getting the word out now is better than, say, June. If you’d like to show your participation, feel free to grab this icon for use as a social media avatar.
Share New Gamemaster Month with people you know! If you’re participating as a new gamemaster, it never hurts to get a few friends involved, so you can compare notes as you go. If you’re an old hand at gamemastering, help someone else in your group who wants to gamemaster by sharing this and maybe mentoring them a bit through the process.
Enjoy, and we’ll talk again on Thursday!
Congrats, you want to learn how to run Monster of the Week! Technically you’re called the Keeper of Monsters and Mysteries, or the Keeper for short—or GM, that’s cool too. What matters is you’re ready to help navigate the flow of the mystery. What makes Monster of the Week a great choice for new GMs is the genre. Most players are so familiar with supernatural mystery/investigation that it’s easy for everyone to get on the same page. It’s especially good for new GMs like yourself because once you learn the ropes we think you’ll find it takes little preparation to run a session.
We’ll be referring to different sections of the book throughout the month so if you don’t already own a copy of Monster of the Week, you can find it at most gaming stores, on our website, on DriveThruRPG, or on itch.io. If you do buy a new hardcopy at your local brick and mortar game store, keep in mind that our PDF Guarantee means you also get the PDF for free.
Sections to Read and Review: Monster of the Week includes a quick run-down on page 14 of what you should read. If you’ve played games Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) that list of recommendations might be a little shorter. At a minimum, you as the Keeper should focus on the First Session section (page 163). That covers how to prepare and run the first game. It’s best to familiarize yourself with the hunters’ basic moves (page 181) and playbooks (from page 29). We will give you reading recommendations from those pages with each upcoming post as we discuss how to create and run Monster of the Week adventures during the next four weeks.
You may also want to skim “Running the First Mystery” (page 166) and “On With the Mystery” (page 201), then read through our sample adventure “Dream Away the Time” on page 149.
You can also get a sense of what a game looks like from the actual play, reviews, and interviews on our website. You can also find downloadable resources like worksheets and reference sheets there.
If You’re Using Roll20
At Evil Hat Productions, we put a lot of effort into helping gamers have the best possible experience on Roll20; we’ll have Roll20 tips and tricks for you with every New GM Month post.
To get started, you will need to add the character sheet entitled “Monster of the Week by Evil Hat Productions” to your Roll20 game. Once you do this, you will be able to access a plethora of resources from within the game, even if you’re just using a Roll20 free account. See our recent demo for an overview of some of the features.
Throughout this series we will show you how to set up mysteries yourself but if you’re planning to use Roll20 you might save yourself a little time: our sample mystery “Dream Away the Time” is also available in the Roll20 Marketplace as a free standalone module. (If you want five more mysteries to investigate it’s also sold as part of the Monster of the Week Mystery Collection #1.) In both the free aversion and the collection, you will find some useful tools such as a ready-to-run mystery sheet, character tokens and other graphics which will help bring the village of Handfast to life.
Spread the Word
You’ll help the New Gamemaster Month program, and the community of RPG gamers generally, if you spread the word a bit. Mention New Gamemaster Month on social media and down at your game store. We’re going to make it easy for late-comers to join the program, so it’s never too late—but many new GMs will appreciate knowing they’re part of a concerted program, so getting the word out now is better than, say, June.
Share New Gamemaster Month with people you know! If you’re participating as a new GM, it never hurts to get a few friends involved, so you can compare notes as you go. If you’re an old hand at GMing, help someone else in your group who wants to GM by sharing this and maybe mentoring them a bit through the process.
Enjoy, and we’ll talk again on Thursday!
Congratulations! You picked Delta Green. Or at least you like to tell yourself that. It’s nice to believe our decisions matter.
The truth is, Delta Green chooses its Handlers. That’s how I got here. Chosen by the game.
Are there are days when you feel bound to a dumb, cruel fate? Sentenced before you were born to existential punishment by forces outside any control and understanding? Me too. Some days I feel this sensation so deeply that I feel desperate to have the presence of that gnawing, nihilistic void at least acknowledged. Even if only in my most escapist fantasies. Before I can feel anything, I have to know someone else has seen the same reality. That you see it lurking there too. Endlessly slipping our gaze. Out of the corner of every eye.
Delta Green is a tabletop RPG about cosmic terror and deadly conspiracy. It’s about people making awful choices and doing terrible things to prevent far worse horrors: incursions of unnatural forces that infect and destroy humanity. Delta Green is about fear. About seeing the terrors to come and choosing to stand against them.
Players take the role of Agents who pursue those unnatural horrors and try to stop them. But your role is special. You’re the game master. You’re the Handler. Handlers point players and their Agents at the darkness and tell them it’s time to go.
Delta Green chose me. It’s the only game I’ve ever played that managed to give those darkest whispers a form. And here’s why. Tentacled and baroque and gnashing as that form may be, Delta Green also provides you allies. You aren’t alone in this fight. That can be reason enough to keep going. It has to be.
The game gathers us together in our little cells. We huddle against the black night and tell a campfire story to shatter the drab façade of reality.
If Delta Green is some virus to spread fear and the bleakest sense of belonging, you’re the vector.
Or maybe Delta Green is a drug. It helps us feel the terrible scope of the forces that hunger beyond the cold bitter stars. By feeling it we acknowledge it, we gain some sense of control of it. If Delta Green is a drug, it comforts us against the futility of death by awakening us to the terrors and thrills of life. As Handler, you’re the pusher. I get it. I didn’t know I had always needed a fix until someone gave me that first hit.
So that’s your mission. Become a Handler. Run the game.
Since it’s my mission to get you there, I guess I’m your Handler. I don’t need a name. We won’t be speaking again after this month.
Here’s what you need.
Get a copy of Delta Green: Need to Know at this link. It’s a pay-what-you-want download in PDF, only 48 pages and loaded with illustrations and handouts. It includes rules, cut down to the bone but completely playable. And six Agents to play. Even a scenario. Getting started is easy as slipping in some foul grease over a black chasm where the unthinkable lurks undying.
Are you in?
As you’ll see in Need to Know, Delta Green is not some intimidating instrument of delicacy and precision. It’s a very simple game, easy to learn and run. What’s most challenging about it is what’s most rewarding: the mood.
Those simple rules are elegant as a blade. The Handler must coat that shiv with a tone both poisonous and viral, a sense of spiraling desperation and the grimmest humor. Every page of Need to Know is dedicated to helping you do just that.
Just make sure that’s what everyone at the table actually wants. Delta Green is a game of cosmic terror and personal horror. It leaves no one safe. If your players want a lighter experience, don’t fault them. Ordinary folks like that are who Delta Green is here to protect.
Are you ready to get your hands dirty? To do whatever must be done? To keep the world of humanity alive for one more day?
Welcome to Delta Green.
Actionables:
We end each briefing with a short to-do list. Complete these action items before our next briefing.
- Primary Objective A: Get a copy of Delta Green: Need to Know here.
- Primary Objective B: Read pages 5–9, “Welcome to Delta Green.”
- Bonus Objective: Read the following sections as time allows and in this order of priority.
- Pages 11–19, “What is an Agent?”
- Pages 35–41, “Game System”
- Pages 43–50, “Last Things Last”
Spread the Word
You’ll help the New Gamemaster Month program, and the community of RPG gamers generally, if you spread the word a bit. Mention New Gamemaster Month on social media and down at your game store. We’re going to make it easy for late-comers to join the program, so it’s never too late—but many new GMs will appreciate knowing they’re part of a concerted program, so getting the word out now is better than, say, June.
Share New Gamemaster Month with people you know! If you’re participating as a new GM, it never hurts to get a few friends involved, so you can compare notes as you go. If you’re an old hand at GMing, help someone else in your group who wants to GM by sharing this and maybe mentoring them a bit through the process.
Enjoy, and we’ll talk again on Thursday!
Interested in GMing your first game on the Roll20 platform? The first step, if you don’t already have one, is to create an account. It’s free—you just need a name, an email address, and a password to set it up.
Once you have created your account, take this tutorial to get familiar with the way our VTT (Virtual Tabletop) works. Don’t worry about becoming an expert right now, though. Over the course of New Gamemaster Month we’ll lead you through the steps to get you, your adventure, and your gaming group all ready to go. With each stage of the New Gamemaster Month program, follow the steps for your chosen game, then click on this tab for additional guidance on getting ready to run it on Roll20.
Create your free Roll20 account here.
There are options to upgrade your account to Plus or Pro to enjoy additional features, which you can read more about here. They’re great, but you won’t need them for this program if you don’t want to create a paid account. You’ll be able to run your game just fine with the free account!
Throughout this program, we have expert GMs on hand to answer questions and provide general support at the New Gamemaster Month Discord Server or the New Gamemaster Month Facebook group. Please drop in, join the group, introduce yourself, and ask any questions you might have. Other new GMs will also be there—it’s a great place to share your experiences and support one another. Hope to see you there!
