Between Prep and Improv – Two Sides of GMing an RPG – interview with Andreas Lundström

You’ll find in this interview:

• How you transit from being an RPG noob to being a great GM (in a short time)?
• What are the basics of the sucessful GM’s prep routine?
• How to get better with improvising skills and why is that vital?

Andrzej Pepłowski: I believe that many of my readers know you from your works but just in case – let’s start with the basics: How long have you been GMing RPGs? When have you started? What are your favorite systems, and why? Do you mostly GM or play as a regular character too? How much time weekly do you dedicate to RPGs?

Andreas Lundström: I have been into roleplaying since -94, and I started GMing shortly thereafter when the group’s GM asked me to take over running the Swedish version of MERP (since he was tired of always being the GM, and also a little because he quickly grew tired of me always correcting him on the lore). But that group mostly played a Swedish game called Drakar och Demoner (Dragons & Demons), a BRP game that was huge in the ’80s & ’90s, and we played many campaigns.

My favourite systems? Hmm… I very much enjoy PBTA games like Monster of the Week, KULT DL, and Dungeon world because they are so focused on the narrative and have rules that you can learn in 30 minutes. I am not a big fan of crunchy games where even the players have to study the rules for hours and hours. The Year Zero games are also good in this regard, even though they have less narrative focus. My all-time favourite RPG is The One Ring, it’s not only a great rules system, but it also captures the spirit of Middle Earth so well!
I am mostly a GM. I would say that it is a 90/10 ratio there, so on the rare occasions that I do get to be a player, I am very happy!

If editing an RPG podcast counts and composing RPG music – then maybe an average of 15 hours weekly. If not, then 3-4 hours on average.

AP: I remember from another interview that you started GMing in MERP. Could you recall it here for a better picture? What was the first session as a GM? How did you come up with the story? How did the session go, and did it continue?

AL: Yes, that is true! As mentioned above, I became a GM very early on, and I was terrified at first! I mean, the others had been playing RPGs for many years, and I was just a noob!! I prepped that first campaign with immense detail and care. I recently found my old notes for that one, along with a maps booklet I made with all text on the front page being written in Tolkiens Cirth runes, haha! I had a lot of time back then, I suppose… So yes, at first, I was a huge prepper! Mostly because I felt I needed it. The other GM was so damn good, and I didn’t want the players to feel that my games were significantly less fun, but also, as I said, I had a lot of time, and being a huge Tolkien nerd, I dug deep into the lore to bring the Middle-Earth experience to the other guys who only (maybe) had read LOTR and The Hobbit once.
I did feel, though, that MERP had made a mistake in placing the game in the 1600’s third age. I always felt that the 1400s were much more interesting, so I quickly made the decision to have it take place then instead. I don’t remember much of the story, though, I am afraid, I mostly remember small insignificant but funny or embarrassing stuff, like me naming an NPC Akhenaton because I needed cool names. I didn’t think anyone of the others would know or remember him, but of course, the old GM who had read at least as much ancient history as I had known about him, haha!
I do remember that the campaign did go on for a few years, two or three maybe, and the characters became great heroes (those who survived). The players and I both had a lot of fun with it!

AP: Still regarding Middle-earth – I know you’re a massive Tolkien-lore nerd and a big fan of The One Ring RPG. How do you reflect that “Tolkienian” feel in your games? Are there any other (probably less admired ;)) settings in which you like to run games?

AL: Well, hmm.. that’s a big question. I don’t know. In the Tolkien games (MERP/TOR), it’s very easy. I know how a hobbit of the Shire would act and an elf of Lorien or a Dunedain ranger, for instance. So I do think it’s rather easy to get the Tolkien feeling that way in letting the characters meet NPCs from different cultures in M-E. I also drop a lot of lore in my games generally, kinda like the Professor does in his books. The lore that if you know about it, you get a deeper feeling for the story we’re telling, and if you don’t, it gives you this feeling of a deep and rich world that is the backdrop for our story (just like in the books, who knew of Beren and Luthien, or Earendil when they read LOTR for the first time).

AP: Many beginner GMs feel that they’re “winging it” or like they’re impostors that barely know what they’re doing. Did you feel this way when starting to run RPGs? And if so, when does this feeling begins to wear off?

AL: Wow, that is a very good question! I do have some aspects of GMing that I feel I need to improve, such as physical descriptions of NPCs and locations, but I am working on that, and I know full well that no GM is perfect, and we all have our little shortcomings.
But as for your original question of “winging it,” I don’t remember at all when that feeling left me. Or maybe it never has. I can still feel that many times but I am totally fine with it. Having started as a major prepper, I am now firmly in the improv camp of GMs, and then the whole thing about GMing is winging it. You just have to be good enough at it to work, haha!

So I think it’s more a mental thing. No matter if you are a prepper or improv GM, you always have to improv at times, so just own that and be cool with it! And if you feel you aren’t good enough at it, just practice, and then you’ll get there!

AP: Let’s approach the topic from another angle. It’s a common belief that a GM should rely significantly on improvisation. After all, quite a few things could be predicted and prepared for at an RPG session. Do you also hold that belief? If you do, what’s your advice for beginners to step up their improv skills?

AL: I disagree. I wouldn’t say that it’s a common belief. I’d say that there are two sides to GMing, improv and prep, and to some degree, you always have to do both. There are extremes, of course (I once GMed a whole campaign that was written on one or two post-its, that was the amount of prep I did. I wanted to see how good/bad it could be not prepping anything at all. But most times, you prep some, and you improv some, we’re all on that scale, but it just differs how far to either side we all are.

I don’t think you can prep for everything in a campaign, players will always do unexpected things, and if you railroad them too hard, they will not like it. It will become too much of a “choose your own adventure.”

So, my advice to improve improv skills is basically just to do it! Challenge yourself by doing a session, or an adventure, or a whole campaign where you improv everything. Just react to what the players are doing. Try to keep in mind a few things like “what is this NPCs end goal and how do they want to get there,” “how would NPC X act if this or that happened.” Go with logic. If the players come up to a smith and want a discount on a weapon they want to buy and they roll and succeed, find a reason why the smith would accept that (remember in many cultures, haggling is part of buying/selling stuff, there are no fixed prices, that is something very strange for us in Europe/North America but it is the case).
And remember the golden rules of improv: “Dare to suck” & “Yes, and”

AP: But improv is only a half of the GM’s tools. We have to prepare somehow. How do you prepare for a session? Is prepping for a podcast session somewhat different from a “private” game, logistics and recording aside? Does running a game for a podcast add a level of pressure for the story to play out well?

AL: As I said, I have gone from the prep side of the scale to the improv one during my decades as a GM, but there is always prep to be made. I always make sure to have a list of unassigned NPCs with me because otherwise, the players will understand instantly that an NPC is not important if they ask for a name and see that I am just winging it, while all NPCs with predetermined names will be important. Apart from that, it depends so very much from case to case, both the amount of prep I do and what kind of prep. It can be a premade map (but I seldom do those) or a prewritten description of something.
One thing that is different from GMing a podcast, though, is NPC voices. I do try to practice a few times before the session to get a few important NPC voices right. I also try and think about if there is any way of getting a PC’s backstory in the game or not. That way, the world becomes more alive for the players, and they invest more feelings into what they are doing!

AP: I also believe that one of the vital elements of your prep routine is producing music. Many GMs – me included – strive to balance good atmosphere-evoking soundtracks and micro-managing the music during sessions. How do you approach it in your games? Do you rely on some specific software or tools? And what are the good sources of RPG music? Besides, of course, producing your own scores? 😀

AL: When we record the podcast, we don’t use music, it’s not possible (or rather, we do not have a practical solution for it since we edit the podcast and add music in post-production). But when I GM home games, I always use music. I used to spend more time back in the day searching for the right music, but nowadays, I know so many songs that I often know what to pick and just put on a song that fits the mood and have that on repeat for a while.

Apart from my own soundtracks? Hmm… I tend to use my own (for Vaesen, Coriolis, Twilight 2000, and Call of Cthulhu Sverige) more and more, but I used to have an old list of songs. The important thing is that it can never dominate the session (except on very, very rare occasions), it has to be more or less constant in tone, volume, and dynamics. Otherwise, you as the GM will have to change the volume all the time, and you’re there to GM, not DJ, haha!

AP: Do you prefer to run published adventures or campaigns or rely more on your own plots? How do you approach either – how do you prep for a pre-made scenario or a homebrew one?

AL: I almost only run my own adventures! And that’s almost only because I have so little time. As a very creative person who is used to a lot of improv, it’s very easy for me to write a seed for a scenario and just flesh it out as we go along while reading and learning a published adventure just takes sooooo much time.

AP: A lot of us, GMs, have their guilty shelf of the system we buy but never actually run. Do you have it too? Do you often try new systems? How many of those make it into your regular schedule?

AL: Oh, for sure I do!! Many, many games! I do try new systems now and then, but it’s mostly one-shots, and very few games can penetrate enough to be included as a campaign… I’d say that about ten games get played at least once a year, every year. And I own about 60 different games. About ten games are games I used to play a lot but don’t anymore. I try out about five new games every year, But I also buy about five new games a year, so the backlog stays approximately the same, haha!

AP: Thank you a lot, Andreas! It’s great having an insight into your GMing mindset. I’m sure it will help a lot of people improve their skills.

AL: Many interesting questions!! Thanks for letting me answer them.