March 2, 2012: Have You Hugged Your GM Lately?

As we noted in the Daily Illuminator on February 29th, GM's Day is coming up soon (March 4 -- mark your calendars!). Those of us who cut our teeth on tabletop gaming recognize the importance of GMs and all those who keep the game running. Around the office (virtual and physical), we've all been chatting about what our GM means to us and how they made our lives great.

Marketing mastermind Monica Valentinelli notes, "If it wasn't for my first experience with a GM telling a great story, I would never have gone to GenCon, started freelancing for the industry, or wound up working for Steve Jackson Games. It's amazing how a fun night of dodging bullets turned into a career."

GURPS guru Sean Punch recounts, "By convincing me to 'play the cleric' back when I had no clue what that meant, my first GM started me earning the experience points that got me a job when I was needed one and didn't think I had any qualifications. Without his shove, I wouldn't be marking 17 years of work with SJ Games and 33 years of having fun as a gamer. He and I still game together, by the way -- but now I'm the GM!"

And I note that I've had GMs who've made worlds come alive through meticulous notes and a gift of improvisation . . . two oppositional talents that I've incorporated into my own gaming style. If there's one thing my awesome GMs have all taught me, it's that there are a thousand different approaches to greatness.

It's that spirit of GMing -- that dedication and commitment to bringing the game to life -- that we celebrate with GM's Day at e23. So for those GMs who are looking to make players' games more interesting with interesting treasure tables, rules for social interactions, or new worlds to explore, we salute you. And for those players who make their GM's life easier by making sure the characters are right, using ready-made loadouts to get gaming faster, and buying the main rulebooks instead of relying on the GM's generosity, we salute you, too.

-- Steven Marsh