Being a Good GM Is Like Being a Good Interviewer
Three Keys to Acing Both
During a recent recording for our 2023 Wrap Up for Talk of the Table I made the off-hand remark that being a good GM is akin to being a good interviewer. Both roles require you to ask specific questions, cultivate an open atmosphere, and set your player/subject up for success by taking on more of the upfront cognitive load. It was a throwaway statement that I was discovering as I was saying it, but since then the thought has taken root and I think the comparison is worth exploring further.
1. Ask Specific Questions
During character creation in games like Wanderhome and DIE you are given a series of incredibly specific questions that serve to establish relationships between the characters and, in turn, deepen your understanding of your own character. In most cases, these are loaded questions that force the player to make complicated and interesting choices.
Just look at the list of questions for The Shepherd in Wanderhome: “Why should I trust you less than I do?” implies SO MUCH in just nine words. It implies, A. That I trust you, B. That we have a significant shared history, and C. That I don’t know you as well as I think or that the relationship is asymmetrical. Answering that question sets up a complex relationship between two characters and also forces each of them to think deeper about themselves. Do you think you’d get as interesting a relationship if you just asked, “How do you know each other?”
The same logic applies to interviews. While you don’t want to ask your subject a leading question—one where the question itself implies an answer—you do want to ask them something specific that makes it easier for them to give an interesting answer.
Practice asking those insightful questions by leaving us a comment below.
Consider conversations from your own life. Which would you rather answer: “What do you do for a living?” Or “What are your guiding principles in your career?” The first will elicit a canned response that anyone listening to your interview likely already knows. The second will make your subject stop and think deeper about what they do and why they do it.
As a listener, I’m much more interested in hearing the latter.
2. Cultivate an Open Environment, or Session Zero = Pre-Interview
All credit for this thought goes to Michael Underwood in the Many Sided Media discord server.
A Session Zero is the single most useful tool in a GM’s arsenal. It’s a way for you and your players to decide what type of game you want to play—a list of what you do and do not want to see in your game. It allows everyone to decide exactly what kind of fun you want to have and aligns everyone’s expectations. It’s the difference between asking someone if they want to go see “an action movie” or if they want to go see “an action buddy-comedy featuring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.” If you expect Fast and the Furious 18: Family is Family, but wind up seeing The Other Guys, you’re probably going to have a bad time.
A pre-interview accomplishes the same thing. It sets a clear goal for the interview and allows your subject to get themselves in the proper headspace and to gather their thoughts on the subject matter so they can speak more eloquently. It also just allows them to feel more comfortable from the start. The more information you can give to your subject about the topics of the interview—especially if you aren’t already acquainted—the more prepared they will feel and the better they will be able to answer your questions.
Before we record every episode of Talk of the Table we ask our guest, “Is there anything you don’t get to talk about enough that you want to make sure we cover?” Just like asking your players for their wishes for the campaign, this question allows our guest to help guide the conversation towards their interests and, in our experience, always leads to great conversations.
3. Know When To Shut Up
So, you’ve cultivated an open environment with your pre-interview and you’ve asked an interesting and specific question. Now it’s time to do the single most important thing an interviewer or GM can do: SHUT THE HELL UP.
Both GMs and interviewers are facilitators of a conversation and the most important thing you can do as either is to leave space for your players or your subject to blossom. While an interviewer and a GM are both an important part of these conversations, they should act in service of the whole. For an interview, you are likely talking to your guest because you want to learn from their experience, so you should allow them the space to share it and not feel the need to interject yourself. For GMs, you have built the world and now you need to allow your players the freedom to explore it. Don’t feel the need to fill every moment of silence. Waiting that extra beat allows your players to fill in more of the world with their characters, making it all the richer for it.
Do yourself a favor and learn to shut up and just listen. You will be amazed at the things that will grow in the silence.
- Brian
Look Ma, No Job!
The Leap to Full Time Game Design
I have officially left my day job to pursue games full-time.
I’m gonna type that again because it feels damn good to write.
I have officially left my day job to pursue games full-time!
What does this mean?
It means I now have the time to focus on multiple new and exciting things this year, . Below are some of the projects I intend to focus on in the coming months, but also some ways that you can help support this big leap I’m taking.
1. New Games
Not surprisingly, I would like to make many many new games. Going full time means I can now make more ambitious games than I ever have, I can turn the backlog of notes-app ideas into real physical things you can hold, and I can expand on those games I’ve already made. Some things to expect this year:
My love letter (or really, more of a ransom note) to romantic comedies.
A tragic duet game about brothers after the apocalypse.
A super-powered collaboration between myself and Brian.
The Project ECCO sequel??
To keep up with the latest releases and crowdfunding, stay tuned to this newsletter and follow me on Twitter!
2. Freelance Work
The North Star goal is to make my full income in tabletop roleplaying games or, barring that, as much of it as possible. I’ve just finished my first big commissioned work and am eager to work on more projects with new teams. I love what is coming out of this space and want to be a part of as much of it as I can. All that to say, I am available for work and you should hire me! I do the following things (I do other stuff but these are the ones I am comfortable asking for money for):
Guest Writing/Design
Illustration & Graphic Design (shameless: nearly all MSM album art is by me!)
Developmental Editing
Podcast Production & Consultation
If you want to work together, shoot me an email at elliotsdavis@gmail.com
3. Many Sided Media
You know them, you love them, I’m one of them! They’re the team behind this newsletter, My First Dungeon, and Talk of the Table. We have big plans for this year and I am going to be able to devote some real time to making those a reality. The biggest of these is to turn MSM into a sustainable business. Here’s how you might help us do that:
Tell a friend about one of our shows. Heck, tell two.
Leave a 5-star rating or review.
Join our Patreon.
The MSM team has more ambition and ideas than we have hands and time to make them happen. Every bit of support helps us make more kickass stuff.
Why Now?
This decision has been a long time in the works and is the result of love, support, and belief from so many people in my life. I am very fortunate to be in the position where this is possible.
Life is hard. I decided that I would like it to be hard for the sake of something I love.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
- Elliot
Talk of the Table with Sam Leigh
Speaking of full-time game design, this week’s Talk of the Table guest is none other than Sam Leigh! The ENNIE-nominated author and game designer chatted with Brian and Elliot about the transition from hobbyist to professional game designer, and the ins and outs of making a career in the game industry.
I love how the GMing/Interviewing connection spun out of the podcast and the discord, and this was an excellent summary and expansion on those ideas. I feel like entire essays could be written on how good GMing practices go beyond just the hobby and reach into other parts of our lives.
Congrats to Elliot for going full time!
Glad you're looking more at character starter questions -- these have a long history in PbtA, I've mostly been encountering them through Brindlewood Bay and Dungeon World. My 5e-addled players have been LOVING this stuff.
The toughest evolution is trying to make the transition from using these to set various scenes (setting up quests or character relations) and trying to make them a regular practice in your GMing. Brindlewood Bay helps by giving a Paint the Scene question for EVERY location in a mystery (so that throughout the session, players are still engaged in collaborative worldbuilding). But my players are getting addicted to this.
These days, when I'm doing "Roses, Thorns, Buds," my players are now going "Roses: Paint-theScene questions. Thorns: Not enough questions. Buds: I look forward to more of these."