At first glance, the title of this article must be the most incredibly obvious fact to people. Of course GMs should run games that make them enthusiastic, they’re the ones that often shell out the hard cash to buy the books, spend time and effort putting the campaign together… why the hell would they bother running a game that doesn’t inspire them?
But let’s take a step back and consider someone new to the hobby.
More often than not, fledgeling GMs don’t have the luxury of actually knowing how a game runs. Back when I started, there was nobody to teach me how to GM save for the sample game scene written up in the Star Frontiers Advanced Rulebook. I had no exposure to other systems, different ways to run a game, and the sheer number of games that I had to choose from.
But now we’ve got the internet, and that alone is an incredible help to those guys who have no experience in the hobby, but want to get into it. Many of the self-starters that actually do the digging around to start a game don’t end up as players, more often than not, they’re the ones that end up GMing.
So, back to my advice: Run a game that enthuses you. If you’re not sure about it, learn more. Look up the various websites, find a game that intrigues you and dig deeper. Check out the complaints about the game, and see if you can find what people love about it. Hunt down a quickstart or some sort of Actual Play report of a campaign using that game. This will give you a better understanding of how a game goes and how it can be run.
Becoming a GM is a lot easier now than it used to be. Take advantage of all the tools and information that the internet has to offer and you’ll be able to minnow down games that sound good, to those that sound good and make you want to run them. Once you’ve got a solid, verifiable and researched opinion on which game you feel like running, then go for it. At least this time, you’ll avoid buyer’s remorse and be able to pull run something you’ll never regret starting with.
