Running the Game
Running the Game isn’t your typical “how-to” guide, it’s the secret weapon every gamemaster, from rookie to veteran, didn’t know they needed. Based on decades of practical experience, this book is packed with tips and insights for anyone looking to run story-focused, character-driven roleplaying sessions where players’ choices actually matter. If you’re tired of the same old predictable campaigns and want to inject some creativity, depth, and collaboration into your sessions, you’ll find exactly what you need here.
What makes Running the Game stand out? It’s the emphasis on imagination, collaboration, and player agency. These elements transform your sessions from a simple playthrough into a dynamic, engaging narrative. Every decision your players make shapes the story, giving them the sense of control they crave while keeping the plot exciting and unpredictable.
While Running the Game is designed with The Simple Approach in mind, it’s not just for one roleplaying system. Whether you’re into swords-and-sorcery epics or gritty modern-day settings, the advice here can be applied across the board. It’s perfect for those seeking fresh ideas that blend seamlessly with what you already love about your favorite systems.
In short, this isn’t just another book, it’s your new best friend at the table, guiding you to craft sessions where creativity reigns, stories evolve, and every player walks away feeling like they were part of something unforgettable.
A Universal Sourcebook
This sourcebook is 100% optional. You don’t need it to play any of our games using The Simple Approach, but it’s here to spice things up if you want. It’s also written to be functionally system-agnostic, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. There are notes at the end to help with conversion, and if you’re need more advice in translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Navigating This Book
Here’s a breakdown of the tools and resources you’ll find inside these pages, each section designed to help you become a better, more prepared, and more confident gamemaster. You can use it as a guide to the basics or as a resource to level up your traits and abilities. Dive into the sections that apply to your game, your style, and your challenges, or read it front to back for a comprehensive approach.
Running the Game: This section covers the overall role of the gamemaster in managing a roleplaying game. From understanding your position at the table to reconciling rules and storytelling, it introduces the core elements you’ll need to run any session smoothly.
What You Need to Play: Find out what tools, supplies, and preparation are essential for a successful game. This chapter covers everything from physical materials like dice and maps to digital tools and apps that can make your gamemastery life easier.
Understanding Players: A gamemaster doesn’t just run the game, they manage the players. Learn about different player types, what drives them, and how to engage them in a way that keeps everyone invested in the story. This section also explores dealing with player dynamics and conflict resolution.
Preparation: If you’ve ever wondered how much you really need to prep before a session, this section is for you. Learn about striking the right mix between over-preparing and under-preparing, and figure out what works for you and your group.
Winging It: Even the most meticulously prepared gamemasters find themselves improvising now and then. This section gives you tips and strategies for when you need to make up encounters, plot points, or entire sessions on the fly. Learn how to keep things fluid while still maintaining a cohesive story.
Session Zero: Setting the stage for your game is essential. This section covers how to run a successful Session Zero, where you and your players establish expectations, discuss the game’s tone and themes, create characters, and set the boundaries for what’s acceptable in-game.
Politics at the Table: In today’s divisive world, this needs to be discussed during Session Zero. This chapter covers how to set ground rules for political content in the game, and political discussion among the players at the table, to keep things fun, civil, and safe.
Safety & Consent: Learn why safety tools are essential and how to implement them. This chapter walks you through techniques for ensuring everyone at the table is comfortable and having fun, while also covering the importance of consent in roleplaying, especially when sensitive topics are involved.
Collaboration: Roleplaying games are collaborative by nature, but true collaboration between the gamemaster and players can elevate your game to new heights. This section offers strategies for bringing players into the creative process, from worldbuilding to plot development, making the experience feel truly communal.
Teaching New Players: Introducing new players to the hobby can be challenging but also incredibly rewarding. This section gives you tips on explaining rules, mechanics, and roleplaying concepts in a way that’s accessible and engaging, without overwhelming them.
Running a Game Session: This chapter is a step-by-step guide to running a typical session, including how to handle pacing, how to use scenes and encounters effectively, and what to do when the game goes off-script. It also covers the importance of breaks and managing the flow of action.
Narrative Techniques: Developing a narrative style involves managing different approaches, like linear, branching, sandbox, and episodic structures. This section covers the strengths and weaknesses of each, how to blend them effectively, and how to keep players engaged while adapting to their decisions.
Supporting Characters: Playing supporting characters is a key part of worldbuilding and storytelling. This section focuses on creating characters that enhance the game without overshadowing the players. You’ll find advice on keeping them consistent and avoiding metagaming.
Being Human: No one is perfect, and that includes gamemasters. This section covers how to manage expectations, both your own and your players’, and how to roll with the punches when things don’t go as planned. It’s about making peace with mistakes and embracing the imperfections of running a game.
Feedback & Criticism: As a gamemaster, you’ll get feedback, and not all of it will be easy to hear. Learn how to handle player criticism constructively, how to separate useful feedback from unproductive negativity, and how to improve your game while maintaining your confidence.
Dealing with Burnout: gamemastery can be rewarding but also exhausting. This section addresses how to recognize the signs of burnout and offers practical advice for managing stress, taking breaks, and keeping your passion for the game alive without burning out in the process.
Journaling: Keeping a journal as a gamemaster can help you stay organized, track player actions, and reflect on your game. This section explores methods like bullet journaling and the Cornell note method, providing practical tips for how to keep detailed yet manageable records of your campaign.
Characters: Whether you’re helping players create compelling characters or designing your own non-player characters (supporting characters), this chapter dives into character development. It also discusses how to give each character a role in the story, ensuring that everyone has something meaningful to contribute.
Worldbuilding: Creating a world is one of the most exciting and daunting tasks a gamemaster can face. This section explores how to start small and expand your setting over time, how to make it feel alive, and how to integrate player characters into the world so that it feels personal and tailored to them.
Adventures & Campaigns: Designing a campaign or individual adventures requires managing plot structure, player agency, and pacing. This section walks you through the basics of adventure design and campaign planning, offering advice on how to craft engaging stories that keep players coming back.
Reference: A quick-reference section that compiles essential tips, tables, and resources to help you stay on top of things during a session. From quick encounter ideas to common rules lookup, this section is designed to give you what you need when you need it, without slowing down the game.
187 pages. PDF and epub files included.
Running the Game isn’t your typical “how-to” guide, it’s the secret weapon every gamemaster, from rookie to veteran, didn’t know they needed. Based on decades of practical experience, this book is packed with tips and insights for anyone looking to run story-focused, character-driven roleplaying sessions where players’ choices actually matter. If you’re tired of the same old predictable campaigns and want to inject some creativity, depth, and collaboration into your sessions, you’ll find exactly what you need here.
What makes Running the Game stand out? It’s the emphasis on imagination, collaboration, and player agency. These elements transform your sessions from a simple playthrough into a dynamic, engaging narrative. Every decision your players make shapes the story, giving them the sense of control they crave while keeping the plot exciting and unpredictable.
While Running the Game is designed with The Simple Approach in mind, it’s not just for one roleplaying system. Whether you’re into swords-and-sorcery epics or gritty modern-day settings, the advice here can be applied across the board. It’s perfect for those seeking fresh ideas that blend seamlessly with what you already love about your favorite systems.
In short, this isn’t just another book, it’s your new best friend at the table, guiding you to craft sessions where creativity reigns, stories evolve, and every player walks away feeling like they were part of something unforgettable.
A Universal Sourcebook
This sourcebook is 100% optional. You don’t need it to play any of our games using The Simple Approach, but it’s here to spice things up if you want. It’s also written to be functionally system-agnostic, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. There are notes at the end to help with conversion, and if you’re need more advice in translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Navigating This Book
Here’s a breakdown of the tools and resources you’ll find inside these pages, each section designed to help you become a better, more prepared, and more confident gamemaster. You can use it as a guide to the basics or as a resource to level up your traits and abilities. Dive into the sections that apply to your game, your style, and your challenges, or read it front to back for a comprehensive approach.
Running the Game: This section covers the overall role of the gamemaster in managing a roleplaying game. From understanding your position at the table to reconciling rules and storytelling, it introduces the core elements you’ll need to run any session smoothly.
What You Need to Play: Find out what tools, supplies, and preparation are essential for a successful game. This chapter covers everything from physical materials like dice and maps to digital tools and apps that can make your gamemastery life easier.
Understanding Players: A gamemaster doesn’t just run the game, they manage the players. Learn about different player types, what drives them, and how to engage them in a way that keeps everyone invested in the story. This section also explores dealing with player dynamics and conflict resolution.
Preparation: If you’ve ever wondered how much you really need to prep before a session, this section is for you. Learn about striking the right mix between over-preparing and under-preparing, and figure out what works for you and your group.
Winging It: Even the most meticulously prepared gamemasters find themselves improvising now and then. This section gives you tips and strategies for when you need to make up encounters, plot points, or entire sessions on the fly. Learn how to keep things fluid while still maintaining a cohesive story.
Session Zero: Setting the stage for your game is essential. This section covers how to run a successful Session Zero, where you and your players establish expectations, discuss the game’s tone and themes, create characters, and set the boundaries for what’s acceptable in-game.
Politics at the Table: In today’s divisive world, this needs to be discussed during Session Zero. This chapter covers how to set ground rules for political content in the game, and political discussion among the players at the table, to keep things fun, civil, and safe.
Safety & Consent: Learn why safety tools are essential and how to implement them. This chapter walks you through techniques for ensuring everyone at the table is comfortable and having fun, while also covering the importance of consent in roleplaying, especially when sensitive topics are involved.
Collaboration: Roleplaying games are collaborative by nature, but true collaboration between the gamemaster and players can elevate your game to new heights. This section offers strategies for bringing players into the creative process, from worldbuilding to plot development, making the experience feel truly communal.
Teaching New Players: Introducing new players to the hobby can be challenging but also incredibly rewarding. This section gives you tips on explaining rules, mechanics, and roleplaying concepts in a way that’s accessible and engaging, without overwhelming them.
Running a Game Session: This chapter is a step-by-step guide to running a typical session, including how to handle pacing, how to use scenes and encounters effectively, and what to do when the game goes off-script. It also covers the importance of breaks and managing the flow of action.
Narrative Techniques: Developing a narrative style involves managing different approaches, like linear, branching, sandbox, and episodic structures. This section covers the strengths and weaknesses of each, how to blend them effectively, and how to keep players engaged while adapting to their decisions.
Supporting Characters: Playing supporting characters is a key part of worldbuilding and storytelling. This section focuses on creating characters that enhance the game without overshadowing the players. You’ll find advice on keeping them consistent and avoiding metagaming.
Being Human: No one is perfect, and that includes gamemasters. This section covers how to manage expectations, both your own and your players’, and how to roll with the punches when things don’t go as planned. It’s about making peace with mistakes and embracing the imperfections of running a game.
Feedback & Criticism: As a gamemaster, you’ll get feedback, and not all of it will be easy to hear. Learn how to handle player criticism constructively, how to separate useful feedback from unproductive negativity, and how to improve your game while maintaining your confidence.
Dealing with Burnout: gamemastery can be rewarding but also exhausting. This section addresses how to recognize the signs of burnout and offers practical advice for managing stress, taking breaks, and keeping your passion for the game alive without burning out in the process.
Journaling: Keeping a journal as a gamemaster can help you stay organized, track player actions, and reflect on your game. This section explores methods like bullet journaling and the Cornell note method, providing practical tips for how to keep detailed yet manageable records of your campaign.
Characters: Whether you’re helping players create compelling characters or designing your own non-player characters (supporting characters), this chapter dives into character development. It also discusses how to give each character a role in the story, ensuring that everyone has something meaningful to contribute.
Worldbuilding: Creating a world is one of the most exciting and daunting tasks a gamemaster can face. This section explores how to start small and expand your setting over time, how to make it feel alive, and how to integrate player characters into the world so that it feels personal and tailored to them.
Adventures & Campaigns: Designing a campaign or individual adventures requires managing plot structure, player agency, and pacing. This section walks you through the basics of adventure design and campaign planning, offering advice on how to craft engaging stories that keep players coming back.
Reference: A quick-reference section that compiles essential tips, tables, and resources to help you stay on top of things during a session. From quick encounter ideas to common rules lookup, this section is designed to give you what you need when you need it, without slowing down the game.
187 pages. PDF and epub files included.
Running the Game isn’t your typical “how-to” guide, it’s the secret weapon every gamemaster, from rookie to veteran, didn’t know they needed. Based on decades of practical experience, this book is packed with tips and insights for anyone looking to run story-focused, character-driven roleplaying sessions where players’ choices actually matter. If you’re tired of the same old predictable campaigns and want to inject some creativity, depth, and collaboration into your sessions, you’ll find exactly what you need here.
What makes Running the Game stand out? It’s the emphasis on imagination, collaboration, and player agency. These elements transform your sessions from a simple playthrough into a dynamic, engaging narrative. Every decision your players make shapes the story, giving them the sense of control they crave while keeping the plot exciting and unpredictable.
While Running the Game is designed with The Simple Approach in mind, it’s not just for one roleplaying system. Whether you’re into swords-and-sorcery epics or gritty modern-day settings, the advice here can be applied across the board. It’s perfect for those seeking fresh ideas that blend seamlessly with what you already love about your favorite systems.
In short, this isn’t just another book, it’s your new best friend at the table, guiding you to craft sessions where creativity reigns, stories evolve, and every player walks away feeling like they were part of something unforgettable.
A Universal Sourcebook
This sourcebook is 100% optional. You don’t need it to play any of our games using The Simple Approach, but it’s here to spice things up if you want. It’s also written to be functionally system-agnostic, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. There are notes at the end to help with conversion, and if you’re need more advice in translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Navigating This Book
Here’s a breakdown of the tools and resources you’ll find inside these pages, each section designed to help you become a better, more prepared, and more confident gamemaster. You can use it as a guide to the basics or as a resource to level up your traits and abilities. Dive into the sections that apply to your game, your style, and your challenges, or read it front to back for a comprehensive approach.
Running the Game: This section covers the overall role of the gamemaster in managing a roleplaying game. From understanding your position at the table to reconciling rules and storytelling, it introduces the core elements you’ll need to run any session smoothly.
What You Need to Play: Find out what tools, supplies, and preparation are essential for a successful game. This chapter covers everything from physical materials like dice and maps to digital tools and apps that can make your gamemastery life easier.
Understanding Players: A gamemaster doesn’t just run the game, they manage the players. Learn about different player types, what drives them, and how to engage them in a way that keeps everyone invested in the story. This section also explores dealing with player dynamics and conflict resolution.
Preparation: If you’ve ever wondered how much you really need to prep before a session, this section is for you. Learn about striking the right mix between over-preparing and under-preparing, and figure out what works for you and your group.
Winging It: Even the most meticulously prepared gamemasters find themselves improvising now and then. This section gives you tips and strategies for when you need to make up encounters, plot points, or entire sessions on the fly. Learn how to keep things fluid while still maintaining a cohesive story.
Session Zero: Setting the stage for your game is essential. This section covers how to run a successful Session Zero, where you and your players establish expectations, discuss the game’s tone and themes, create characters, and set the boundaries for what’s acceptable in-game.
Politics at the Table: In today’s divisive world, this needs to be discussed during Session Zero. This chapter covers how to set ground rules for political content in the game, and political discussion among the players at the table, to keep things fun, civil, and safe.
Safety & Consent: Learn why safety tools are essential and how to implement them. This chapter walks you through techniques for ensuring everyone at the table is comfortable and having fun, while also covering the importance of consent in roleplaying, especially when sensitive topics are involved.
Collaboration: Roleplaying games are collaborative by nature, but true collaboration between the gamemaster and players can elevate your game to new heights. This section offers strategies for bringing players into the creative process, from worldbuilding to plot development, making the experience feel truly communal.
Teaching New Players: Introducing new players to the hobby can be challenging but also incredibly rewarding. This section gives you tips on explaining rules, mechanics, and roleplaying concepts in a way that’s accessible and engaging, without overwhelming them.
Running a Game Session: This chapter is a step-by-step guide to running a typical session, including how to handle pacing, how to use scenes and encounters effectively, and what to do when the game goes off-script. It also covers the importance of breaks and managing the flow of action.
Narrative Techniques: Developing a narrative style involves managing different approaches, like linear, branching, sandbox, and episodic structures. This section covers the strengths and weaknesses of each, how to blend them effectively, and how to keep players engaged while adapting to their decisions.
Supporting Characters: Playing supporting characters is a key part of worldbuilding and storytelling. This section focuses on creating characters that enhance the game without overshadowing the players. You’ll find advice on keeping them consistent and avoiding metagaming.
Being Human: No one is perfect, and that includes gamemasters. This section covers how to manage expectations, both your own and your players’, and how to roll with the punches when things don’t go as planned. It’s about making peace with mistakes and embracing the imperfections of running a game.
Feedback & Criticism: As a gamemaster, you’ll get feedback, and not all of it will be easy to hear. Learn how to handle player criticism constructively, how to separate useful feedback from unproductive negativity, and how to improve your game while maintaining your confidence.
Dealing with Burnout: gamemastery can be rewarding but also exhausting. This section addresses how to recognize the signs of burnout and offers practical advice for managing stress, taking breaks, and keeping your passion for the game alive without burning out in the process.
Journaling: Keeping a journal as a gamemaster can help you stay organized, track player actions, and reflect on your game. This section explores methods like bullet journaling and the Cornell note method, providing practical tips for how to keep detailed yet manageable records of your campaign.
Characters: Whether you’re helping players create compelling characters or designing your own non-player characters (supporting characters), this chapter dives into character development. It also discusses how to give each character a role in the story, ensuring that everyone has something meaningful to contribute.
Worldbuilding: Creating a world is one of the most exciting and daunting tasks a gamemaster can face. This section explores how to start small and expand your setting over time, how to make it feel alive, and how to integrate player characters into the world so that it feels personal and tailored to them.
Adventures & Campaigns: Designing a campaign or individual adventures requires managing plot structure, player agency, and pacing. This section walks you through the basics of adventure design and campaign planning, offering advice on how to craft engaging stories that keep players coming back.
Reference: A quick-reference section that compiles essential tips, tables, and resources to help you stay on top of things during a session. From quick encounter ideas to common rules lookup, this section is designed to give you what you need when you need it, without slowing down the game.
187 pages. PDF and epub files included.