Fish Hooks for Being a 
Better GM - Getting 
Serious With It  

 
The Sword of Odin Development Team for this product consisted of Andrew M. “Fish” 
Popowich, Cyndi Chadwick, Warren 4Brown, Becky Hill, and Viktoria Drennen. 
 
Confidential information of Sword of Odin. Do not distribute. Sword of Odin © 2009-2019. 
This product was last updated on October 26th, 2019. 

RUNNING A SERIOUS GAME & KNOWING WHEN NOT TO 

There are many ways to run a table, and you’re likely to not always run the same way. That’s 
perfectly okay! Roleplaying is a cooperative hobby, and I think a lot of people forget that 
keyword: cooperative. You are building something all together, both the GM and the players. 
Sometimes you’ll all want to delve into a deep story and run down the individual threads to 
see where they go, but sometimes… sometimes you just want to take a break with your 
friends and do something fun. 

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There really isn’t a wrong path to take here, and to be honest, sometimes you need to take 
both. The trick to sorting this out is to read the room. You’ve probably been playing with your 
group for a while, or at least know them well. Is everyone arriving excited to pick up where 
they left off and push forward against the odds? Are your friends slow to arrive and seeming 
to be worn out? Gauge their moods, and perhaps even ask them how it’s been going and how 
they are feeling. ​Interact ​with them. It’s what you’re setting out to do, just start with a sort of 
interest check to see how the room is doing. And then you can decide how to react from 
there. A lot of GMing is being adaptable, and this is exactly one of those times. 

Is everyone onboard with buckling down? Good! Start with a solid recap of what happened 
last time to reignite their passions and interest, and lure them in deeper to the plot. Refresh 
them of specifics you want to make sure they know. Think about how a long-running show will 
have a “previously on…” trailer at the beginning of an episode. That’s what you want to do; 
remind them of what’s important, but perhaps not spoil any upcoming twists. 

Are some players engaged while others aren’t? That’s still fine. Still recap things, but perhaps 
present some side activities that the players who aren’t going to want to do any heavy lifting 
can do to still contribute. “​Someone​ needs to go to the bar and cause a distraction” or “we 
need a volunteer to spend time with this faction and relate with them.” While some of the 
party is pushing the story forward, the rest are helping support those goals without being put 
in the spotlight and being uncomfortable. 

Is everyone just over this week? That’s still okay! This is a good opportunity to do this thing 
called SPEND TIME WITH YOUR FRIENDS. You’re together to have fun, right? This isn’t a bad 
thing, to use roleplaying and being social to refill your cups. You have three branches here, 
you can play a silly session in your normal campaign, play a one-shot, or just, you know, play a 
different game. 

If you are wanting to play a silly session, you can still do that in your world without breaking 
everything. Run an ad hoc “dream” session where the players have been tricked by a villain. It 
lets them let off steam without making a bunch of weird changes to canon. Or give them a 
very frivolous task and take your time enjoying it, like going to a casino to increase the party’s 
funds and getting into some questionable situations. 

Or play a one-shot. It can be the same system or not, depending on what you have prepped, 
but the occasional break can allow players some time off to rest and relax (and you too), and 
then come back fresh. Maybe a night off from a hard conflict means picking it back up more 
tactically, or letting moral quandaries linger gives players more time to process. You can do 
this by having them play other characters in the same world, perhaps an acting troupe that is 
trying to earn a living or even a squad of enemy soldiers that are pitted against the party and 
doomed to fail. There are also a lot of user-friendly simple RPGs you can get online that can 

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fill this niche without much prep as well, like One Page RPGs. That way you don’t have to do 
twice as much work. Just grab one, read it out-loud, and then kick up your feet and have a 
good time. 

Alternatively, you can just, you know, play something else. Maybe you decide to play a board 
game or a video game. Do something totally different to break things up. For me, this really is 
a form of self-care, but one you do together. I always have a card game or board game in my 
GM Kit so that if my players aren’t feeling it, we can still do something fun together without 
feeling pressure to do something they can’t get in the mood for. 

Overall, what you are trying to do is have a good time with your friends. You want to avoid 
frustration later on when it can get to be too much and that means working together. Talk to 
your table, figure out how they feel, and work towards everyone getting something out of the 
session. That way you can enjoy your time and go back to your normal lives a bit happier and a 
bit refreshed instead of frustrated and stressed. 

If you and your players have good communication between games, it can also mean discussing 
these things beforehand. Do you have a group chat on Facebook or a Slack channel? Has 
everyone been having a hard week? Is someone on vacation? Does someone else want to step 
in to give you a break as the GM? Maybe a Kickstarter game came in, and this is a chance to try 
that out as a commercial break before getting back into it. Variety is important, and so is 
understanding your own needs and wants as well as those of your friends. Take a poll if you 
aren’t sure, and don’t feel bad if you end up cancelling. It’s better to have not played then to 
have committed the time and energy to prepare and plan just to have it not work out. 

Gaming is something you do ​together​. All relationships need good communication and being 
adaptable, and this is not different. Work with your players to make as positive as an 
experience as you can, and it’ll be the most rewarding. 

Questions about this? Need more advice? Reach me at ​fish@swordofodin.com​ or on our 

Facebook​, ​Instagram​, ​Twitter​, or ​website​. You can also find products like this and more on 
DriveThruRPG​! 

Thanks for reading! 

Fish 

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