The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Every role-playing game has a section on how to role-play. While vital, such passages typically have value only for tyros. Instructions on how to game master well appear in separate books, if at all, and usually focus on particular games. Master of the Game contains game-neutral advice for the experienced GM. It also covers contributing to the hobby as a whole.

The author's writing style might discourage some readers. Gygax uses lots of words and makes such declarations as "you should tailor the campaign…so that…a player's game persona has at least a 95% chance of surviving." Though the text enjoys excellent organization, verbose phrases obscure important points. Too often, only imperatives like the one above enjoy clarity. Listing each chapter's main ideas in an additional appendix would have improved the material's presentation.

Despite these drawbacks, Master of the Game identifies and explains thirteen functions performed by a GM in its first chapter alone. The second chapter presents criteria for measuring GM competence. Later chapters reinforce the importance of research, preparation, and design; show how to analyze story, player and GM quality; and help match games to settings by analyzing game mechanics. Campaign design and management share a chapter.

Master of the Game uniquely covers two important aspects of game-mastering. Five different campaign failure modes, ranked by GM culpability, occupy a whole chapter. Knowing common campaign-killers half-prevents such murders. Another chapter describes how to teach someone to GM. This section alone justifies reading the book. A new player has other players and a GM to teach them how to game. Their mistakes are easily forgiven. A new GM typically has only herself or himself, and players less readily forgive GM errors. Gygax suggests two different sub-GM roles for an aspirant, both of which allow fairly safe practice for GM-skills.

The theme of contributing to the hobby as a whole recurs throughout the book. Organizing conventions and publishing material each have their own chapter. The former probably remains useful, but the Internet makes the latter obsolete. The final chapter and one of the appendices add little to the book. Gygax expresses opinions in the one, and discusses Joseph Campbell in the other. The other two appendices cover anti-defamation and a basic gaming library. A decent bibliography would have been better, but these serve.

Any interested person can easily find game-mastering advice. Much can be had online, but wading through megabytes of variations on a few basic themes doesn't help very much. Spending time finding, studying, and applying Master of the Game allows you to benefit from unique insights drawn from long experience. Take advantage of this book. Your game and our hobby will benefit.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Master of the Game
Author: Gary Gygax Category: Role-Playing, Theory Company/Publisher: Perigee Books Line: n/a Cost: $9.95 Page count: 174 ISBN: 0-399-51533-X SKU: n/a Capsule Review by Til Eulenspiegel on 03/24/00. Genre tags: none	Every role-playing game has a section on how to role-play. While vital, such passages typically have value only for tyros. Instructions on how to game master well appear in separate books, if at all, and usually focus on particular games. Master of the Game contains game-neutral advice for the experienced GM. It also covers contributing to the hobby as a whole. The author's writing style might discourage some readers. Gygax uses lots of words and makes such declarations as "you should tailor the campaign…so that…a player's game persona has at least a 95% chance of surviving." Though the text enjoys excellent organization, verbose phrases obscure important points. Too often, only imperatives like the one above enjoy clarity. Listing each chapter's main ideas in an additional appendix would have improved the material's presentation. Despite these drawbacks, Master of the Game identifies and explains thirteen functions performed by a GM in its first chapter alone. The second chapter presents criteria for measuring GM competence. Later chapters reinforce the importance of research, preparation, and design; show how to analyze story, player and GM quality; and help match games to settings by analyzing game mechanics. Campaign design and management share a chapter. Master of the Game uniquely covers two important aspects of game-mastering. Five different campaign failure modes, ranked by GM culpability, occupy a whole chapter. Knowing common campaign-killers half-prevents such murders. Another chapter describes how to teach someone to GM. This section alone justifies reading the book. A new player has other players and a GM to teach them how to game. Their mistakes are easily forgiven. A new GM typically has only herself or himself, and players less readily forgive GM errors. Gygax suggests two different sub-GM roles for an aspirant, both of which allow fairly safe practice for GM-skills. The theme of contributing to the hobby as a whole recurs throughout the book. Organizing conventions and publishing material each have their own chapter. The former probably remains useful, but the Internet makes the latter obsolete. The final chapter and one of the appendices add little to the book. Gygax expresses opinions in the one, and discusses Joseph Campbell in the other. The other two appendices cover anti-defamation and a basic gaming library. A decent bibliography would have been better, but these serve. Any interested person can easily find game-mastering advice. Much can be had online, but wading through megabytes of variations on a few basic themes doesn't help very much. Spending time finding, studying, and applying Master of the Game allows you to benefit from unique insights drawn from long experience. Take advantage of this book. Your game and our hobby will benefit. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)