Good GMs Podcast

James has been watching movies. Specifically he's been thinking about what Kurosawa, Spielberg, Hitchcock, Sergio Leone, and Guy Ritchie figured out about storytelling — and whether any of it works at a TTRPG table. Spoiler: all of it does. What We Get Into: - Chekhov's Gun: put the rifle in act one, fire it by act three — and why not doing it is secretly training your players to stop paying attention to your world - The Ticking Clock: Hitchcock's bomb under the table. Chuckie's live demo of running both sides of the clock simultaneously — the players prepping, the villain also prepping, tension building on both tracks - The Delayed Reveal: the Jaws technique. The animatronic shark kept breaking so Spielberg shot a fin in the water. Your players' imaginations are scarier than your description. - The Calm Before The Storm: James performs it live — dust settling on a battlefield, a beam of light through the clouds, one breath. Then hit them. - The Rule Of Three: introduce, reinforce, pay off. Why the third beat is where the magic lives. - False Victory: the Irish goodbye of horror — just when they think they've made it, one more hit. Use it once. Never twice. - The Unreliable Narrator: one player is drinking sludge from a rusty can, completely convinced it's a glass of water. The other player just failed their sanity check. FIND US! Check out Chuckie's Actual Plays at Savage Sessions on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5nTTZOPB6D7wskZxakPeCG] and Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@RadioSaladStudios] * Support the Show: https://www.patreon.com/GoodGMsPodcast * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGMsPodcast * Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584454320344 * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgmspod/ * TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@good.gms.podcast

What happens when a longtime player steps behind the GM screen for the first time? In Episode 19 of Good GMs, our producer Rainey Robertson sits down with James and Chuck to break down her first time ever GM'ing: a four-session Vampire: The Masquerade (5th Edition) murder mystery set in a blue-collar Michigan town that she wrote herself. Think "Roseanne" meets "What We Do In The Shadows".  Rainey shares real-world GMing tips on organizing player skills, handling accidental plot twists, and avoiding classic first-timer mistakes (as a first-timer herself, she made a LOT of mistakes, and we think she recovered from them in some cool ways.) ✨ Pro-Tips 💫 * Centralize Player Skills: Collect player skills in a single reference doc before starting to check stats silently. * Never Lock Essential Clues Behind Rolls: Deliver critical plot clues automatically; use skill checks for extra context or bonuses. * Write Immediate Post-Session Notes: Jot down major events, deceased NPCs, and current locations as soon as a session ends. * Roll With Mistakes & Pivot: If you mess up narrative continuity, lean into logical player theories to guide the resolution. * Leverage Session Transcripts: Use recording platforms with summary tools to streamline prep and editing. * Start With Friends & Passion: Run your debut for a supportive group in a system you love so prep feels rewarding. FIND US!  Check out the Savage Sessions team that played Rainey's game (including Chuckie and Rainey!): Chuckie's Actual Plays at Savage Sessions on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5nTTZOPB6D7wskZxakPeCG] and Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@RadioSaladStudios]. * Support the Show: https://www.patreon.com/GoodGMsPodcast * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGMsPodcast * Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584454320344 * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgmspod/ * TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@good.gms.podcast

James and Chuckie are back with a theory episode on something every GM eventually has to deal with — problem players. The ones you can actually help. The ones who maybe don't even know they're doing it. What We Get Into: * The Spotlight Hog: probably the most common, and as two enthusiastic GMs James and Chuckie admit they can both fall into this one. How to recognize it, how to redirect it off camera, and how to weaponize their enthusiasm to bring other players in instead * GMs as players: why it's important to sit on the other side of the table, what you learn from a good GM, and why a GM as a player can either be the best or worst person at the table — there's almost no middle ground * The Distracted Player: James tells the story of the player on her phone who needed the coloring game to pay attention. The fix isn't punishment — it's giving them a job. DJ, note-taker, sketch artist, in-game currency for recap contributions * The Reluctant Adventurer: the loner, the lone wolf, the guy who just wanted to be a farmer. Chuckie's rule: it's the player's job to figure out why their character keeps showing up. The Lone Wolf and Cub solution — give them an NPC to be responsible for * When to have the aside, how to frame it with empathy, and when to accept that the subplot is just going to stay lost * The nuclear option: be honest, be direct, think of it as a breakup Every Friday we're streaming Monster Hunters Club on Twitch from 7-930 PM EST! Join us, won't you?  * Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GoodGMsPodcast * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGMsPodcast * Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584454320344 * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgmspod/ * TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@good.gms.podcast

James and Chuckie welcome Jon Hook [https://rpggeek.com/rpgdesigner/33034/jon-hook] - award-winning writer, legendary keeper of cosmic horror, co-host of Modern Mythos [https://modernmythos.libsyn.com/] with Seth Skorkowsky, and one of the original voices behind the Miskatonic University Podcast. He's written for Call of Cthulhu, Goodman Games, Golden Goblin Press, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and more. If anyone knows how to run horror, it's this guy. What We Get Into: - Good horror is a roller coaster! You need the highs so the lows hit harder. Jon explains exactly when to load your players up and when to bring the hammer down - Terror vs. horror: fear of the unknown vs. the sickening realization of it. Jon tells the story of a squirrel in the Tennessee woods that explains both perfectly - Tropes aren't a crutch if they're a tool. When players recognize a trope, even subtly, they respond the way you need them to. Jon's steam corridor scene works every single time. - The player who just wanted to survive: Jon's convention story about the guy who avoided every plot hook — and how Jon handled it - Scenarios are written for an audience of one...the GM. Feel free to reinterpret the telephone game before you pass it to your table - James pitches his unpublished horror scenario Class of 86, Chuckie talks My Father's Work and the free RPG day at Voss Media Board Game Cafe in Galesburg, MI! - Jon is running Spawn of Azathoth and playing Gunga, the wild boy raised by Amazon Sasquatches, in a MörK Borg pulp game. Yes, really. Support the Show: https://www.patreon.com/GoodGMsPodcast [https://enterprise.zencastr.com/preview/episode/6a8787259c4cc05e0df7c3f9] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGMsPodcast [https://enterprise.zencastr.com/preview/episode/6a8787259c4cc05e0df7c3f9] Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast [https://enterprise.zencastr.com/preview/episode/6a8787259c4cc05e0df7c3f9] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584454320344 [https://enterprise.zencastr.com/preview/episode/6a8787259c4cc05e0df7c3f9] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgmspod/ [https://enterprise.zencastr.com/preview/episode/6a8787259c4cc05e0df7c3f9] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@good.gms.podcast [https://enterprise.zencastr.com/preview/episode/6a8787259c4cc05e0df7c3f9] #GoodGMs #TTRPG #TabletopRPG #GameMaster #CallOfCthulhu #GMTips #Horror #TTRPGCommunity #PodcastForGMs #CosmicHorror

James and Chuckie go back to basics this week with one of the most useful and most underused tools in any GM's kit — Theater of the Mind. No maps. No minis. Just words, and the picture they paint. James is prepping for his Monster Hunters Club livestream and wants to lean into Theatre of the Mind so audiences aren't watching him count squares. Chuckie points out he's probably already doing it without realizing it. What We Get Into: - Where Theatre of the Mind actually comes from — radio drama, Steve Allen, and the early days of D&D with no maps - The Three Senses Rule: don't describe a bar, describe the smell of tobacco and stale beer and the sound of fists slamming tables - The camera technique: wide shot, medium shot, close up — Chuckie uses it every game and Sounds Like Crowes [https://www.soundslikecrowes.com]built a whole methodology around it - Three anchors: pick three things in the room and build the scene from there. Tables, crowd, the frustrated bartender. Done. - Zones instead of inches for combat — melee, close, far, very far — and why "plot appropriate distance" sounds condescending until you think about it for two seconds - Maps aren't cheating. But they're also not required. Also: the Good GMs Discord book club is starting with Mothership, Cam Rogers [https://www.camrogers.net/] is joining the show soon, and Rainey's idea for a GM tip booklet might actually happen. Support the Show: https://www.patreon.com/GoodGMsPodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGMsPodcast Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgmspod/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@good.gms.podcast #GoodGMs #TTRPG #TabletopRPG #GameMaster #GMTips #TheatreOfTheMind #TTRPGCommunity #TabletopGaming #PodcastForGMs #RoleplayingGames