Prompted by the extremely awful situation regarding @FarVerona I felt this was a good time to go on a long tangent about what a GM should and shouldn't do. First rule is super simple. Ready? Don't sexually assault anyone. It's not that hard. Got it? Cool 1/ a lot

Second. The whole DM vs. Players thing? That's bullshit. This isn't a competitive game. The way you 'win' an RPG is by everyone having a great time. If your goal going into a session is to kill your players, you're doing it wrong. It's not cool, and it's not hard 2/ a lot

In fact, killing your players is the easiest thing in the world to do. Boom, here's an elder dragon, have fun lvl 1 party. God I'm so cool. No. Stop. Players are good enough at getting themselves into situations that would kill them on their own. They don't need your help. 3/alot

Not every combat (tangent: this thread is mostly directed toward DnD/Pathfinder/any combat heavy TTRPG. People who enjoy weird RPGs where everyone is a depressed rock or something, live your best lives) is about killing players, it's about chipping away at resources. 4/ a lot

so that when they finally get to the scary boss fight, they feel threatened. The trick here, is that if you've done a good job, they aren't actually in danger. They need to think they're in danger, but unless you've made it clear that your campaign is lethal 5/ a lot

they shouldn't actually die (unless one of them wants to for some reason. in which case rip and tear). This is about telling a collective story with friends, not competitive wargaming. Also KNOW THE RULES. If you aren't the rules expert at your table for the game 6/ a lot

you're playing, keep reading that damn rulebook until you are. You don't need to memorize every rule, but you should be familiar enough that you can interpret them on the fly OR know where to find them should you need to check something. Also, it's okay to wing things 7/ a lot

as long as it's in the player's favor. You, as a DM, always lose. Period. If you ever win a battle, you've messed up. Also never ever ever ever punish a player for you messing up. If you forget a rule, or realize something doesn't work the way you thought, fall on the side 8/alot

of the player. Nothing destroys campaigns faster than people realizing their DM doesn't actually know what they're doing. Trust (both ways) is paramount to making a good campaign. Speaking of campaign destroying: MEET REGULARLY. Set a schedule and stick to it 9/ a lot

It doesn't have to be every week, or even every month, but if you've established that X date is game day, it better be fucking game day, or people will lose interest and the campaign will fall apart. This all sounds like a lot, and it is. DMing a proper game is hard 10/ a lot

But it doesn't have to be only on you and it shouldn't. Work with your players to figure where people want their character arcs to go. It's a cooperative game, and the only thing that matters is that everyone gets to enjoy their character. 11/ a lot

Finally, talk to your players constantly. It's solves so many problems if you just communicate. People want to explore relationships in game? Great, talk about it first (this kinda goes back to the whole reason for this post.) Never take away anyone's agency 12/ a lot

without talking to them about it first. One of my favorite sessions I've ever ran was devoted to publicly torturing and humiliating a player character but you bet your ass we had a loooong conversation regarding consent and boundaries (with all players) beforehand. 13/ a lot

At this point, I've been playing with the same group of players for almost two years, and the reason it's worked out, aside from them all being amazing roleplayers and people, is there is an inherent trust. They trust me to deliver an experience, and I trust them 14/ a lot

to actively engage with anything I put before them. TL:DR communicate constantly to establish boundaries and consent. Work towards collective enjoyment. Read the damn manual. Don't be a dick and DON'T SEXUALLY HARASS/ASSAULT PEOPLE. 15/15