Game Masters

Facilitators of game worlds, and players interactions with them.

Games containing complex game worlds so complex that not all can be presented at once still need ways of letting players interact with them. This first became an issue for tabletop roleplaying games. These had evolved out of wargames and miniature games which had often dedicated game facilitators keeping track of hidden information. This role evolved into Game Masters (also called Dungeon Masters and Storytellers) responsible for improvising effects of players' actions and creating adventures, campaigns, and whole game worlds. With the appearance of computer-based roleplaying games, programs could replace people in the role of Game Masters at the expense of being able to improvise in response to player actions. To compensate for this, solutions where people and programs share the responsibility of being Game Masters have appeared.

Examples

Dungeons & Dragons was the first commercially successful tabletop roleplaying game and made use of Game Masters under the name of Dungeon Masters. This was soon quickly followed by many other systems such as Basic Roleplaying (including offspring such as Call of Cthulhu and Hârnmaster) and GURPS. The use of Game Masters have continued to be a standard design component in many of the releases which have followed since then, including Paranoia, the various games using the Storytelling System, and Fallen Reich.

The creation of MUDs, computer-based multiplayer roleplaying games using text, such as DragonMud and Kingdoms automated the mundane responsibilities of Game Masters as code but maintained Game Masters under the name of wizards to create new code and revise it as well as solve social conflicts. These Game Masters were recruited from the player base and could still continue as players if they wanted. The commercial [[Category:Massively Multiplayer Online Games|massively multiplayer online games] that followed (e.g. Ultima Online and World of Warcraft) kept the Game Master position but reserved it for employees.

The game Zendo has a Game master who secretly decides on a secret rule how differently-colored pyramids should be arranged to have Buddha nature. The players play the game by trying to extrapolate the rule from tests, and take turns being Game Masters.

The computer game Sleep is Death shows a somewhat uncommon use of Game Masters in that it has one even if it only has one player.

Using the pattern

Supporting Game Masters in game design consist of providing them with tools to run the game that allows them to shape the gameplay according to their, and the players', wishes. Common tools are an Narration Structures, pre-generated Characters that can be used as Enemies and provide opportunities for Roleplaying. The nature of these tools of course depend on the type of game but also on if the Game Masters are supposed to be people or programs, or any of the two.

The power of Game Masters can be mitigated by explicit rules and the use of Randomness. Open determination of evaluation functions can also be used, for example rolling Dice openly, but this hinders Game Masters from faking the results in favor of Player Decided Results so that the Narrative Structure can be maintained.

Game Masters can be seen as story-tellers that allow the listeners to affect the story and are a way to provide Dedicated Game Facilitators in Self-Facilitated Games that are also Multiplayer Games. As they interact with the other players, often through Storytelling or Roleplaying, they promote the presence of Social Interaction in games and allow for Negotiation regarding all aspects of the games. The information they provide about the game state can easily become Indirect Information if that is advantageous since Game Masters can often influence the presentation of the game state significantly, including lying.

Game Masters can often be also seen as being partly players since they get to perform many of the same actions as the other players. However, they are players with disproportionate Empowerment over the game due to their Privileged Abilities: they basically have full Creative Control and the Persistent Game World is their Player Constructed World, and other players only have influence with the Game Masters' permission. Further, all results in the game can be the Player Decided Results of the Game Masters' will. This means that Game Masters can modulate players' Perceived Chance to Succeed completely as they wish, including making them feel that some actions have no possibility of success or letting them feel that they can have Luck. This modulation of player chance can be used to give Balancing Effects so that Player Balance is achieved between players or provide the Right Level of Difficulty for the whole group of players. Although this may negatively affect Emotional Immersion, it may be a way to maintain the Narrative Structure without resorting to Ultra-Powerful Events.

Game Masters are an insurance that the Narrative Structure of the game can be maintained, or at least adjusted to be consistent with the players' actions, as they can create Ultra-Powerful Events in the Game World. They provide the most efficient way Cut Scenes can be modulated with the players and the game state, since the whole Cut Scene can be done by Storytelling and Roleplaying by the Game Masters themselves. They also guarantee Limited Foresight among the players since any Narrative Structure can at any moment be discarded by Game Masters in favor of other plots or storylines as they control the Storytelling in the game. By doing so, they can provide Surprises and let players have some Creative Control of the developing story, especially regarding their characters through Planned Character Development, to provide an Illusion of Influence or shared the influence over a Player Constructed World with the other players. They can ensure that Downtime is shared equally by players by enforcing Turn Taking and insert Tension by Ephemeral Goals with all players experiencing Downtime at the same time. By providing mentorship, the presence of Game Masters can provide Smooth Learning Curves for players.

Besides the Ultra-Powerful Events that unfold the Narrative Structure, Game Masters can create similar effect by taking control of players' actions when the players are not consistent with their characters personality or what is appropriate in the Alternative Reality.

The power of Game Masters can cause rule arguments as rules are one of the few ways for players to influence the game besides the ways in which the Game Masters allow. However, Game Masters can also act as judgesin rule argumentsbetween players and negotiate Ability Losses for players to ensure Player Balance. Game Masters can also remove any concepts of a Limited Set of Actions as players can describe whatever they wish to do and the game master can determine the outcome.

Randomness Dedicated Game Facilitators Challenging Gameplay Exaggerated Perception of Influence

Narration Structures Never Ending Stories Predetermined Story Structures

Stimulated Planning Fudged Results Freedom of Choice Multiplayer Games Late Arriving Players

Zero-Player Games Character Defining Actions

Single-Player Games Underlying Assumptions and Concepts Self-Facilitated Games

One of the responsibilities for Game Masters is to enact Agents other than those under the direct control of players. This commonly includes Characters and Units that are the players' Enemies, but also includes Non-Player Characters and Companions when it is necessary to maintain Diegetic Consistency.

Storytelling Open Destiny Roleplaying Enforced Agent Behavior

Storytelling Open Destiny Roleplaying Characters Non-Player Characters Companions Enforced Agent Behavior Diegetic Consistency Enemies Units Agents

Consequences

Using Game Masters to control Agents of any kind automatically provides Enforced Agent Behavior, which for human Game Masters at least means enforced to follow their whims.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Enforced Agent Behavior

History

An updated version of the pattern Game Masters that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

Marcus Brissman, Martin Fredriksson, Carl Heath, John-Philip Johansson, Johan Peitz, Annika Waern