As socially inept as I can be, one thing I’ve learned to do as an adult is convince people to come to my house and play games. Here’s a hint: food is key. Normally this consists of board games. Folks ready to come over earlier get to play a couple games [usually] under and hour each. But then we like to tentpole the night with long “big box” games like Arkham Horror or Battlestar Galactica.

But for a while now, some of my friends have also been into playing role playing games. Our first campaign was in Dungeons and Dragons (3.5) but more recently we’ve been playing in the Pathfinder system. Really the only issue we’ve had is that everyone has been more interested in playing than in running the game. Even though you get the venerable title of…

Dungeon Master

This weekend will be my first time as dungeon master. It’s a pretty terrifying thought, because of all the people at the table I’m the least experienced with RPGs. Saturday night might set a world records for the number of times a DM asks their players for a rule clarification.

In true min-max tradition, what I lack in rules knowledge I’m making up for in other preparation. We’re playing out of module and I know that story inside and out. I’ve given serious thought about all the major non-player-characters to know their fears and motivations. I’ve got alternate paths ready to railroad keep the story on track no matter the decisions that are made.

Will report back here if my players coup and never let me DM again.