The game is unusual in that no dice are used in resolving conflicts or player actions ; instead a simple diceless system of comparative ability, and narrative description of the action by the players and gamemaster, is used to determine how situations are resolved.

A gamemaster ( simplify as GM, also known as game master, game manager, game moderator or referee, and guán lǐ yuán 管理员, zhǔ chí zhě 主持者 or shén 神 in Chinese, gamemaster ゲームマスター, kanrisha 管理者 or kamisama 神様 in Japanese ) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game.

The role of a gamemaster in a traditional role-playing game is to weave the other participants ' player-character stories together, control the non-player aspects of the game, create environments in which the players can interact, and solve any player disputes.

The role of a gamemaster in an online game is to enforce the game's rules and provide general customer service.

Each gaming system has its own name for the role of the gamemaster, such as " judge ", " narrator ", " referee ", " director ", or " storyteller ", and these terms not only describe the role of the gamemaster in general but also help define how the game is intended to be run.

The gamemaster prepares the game session for the players and the characters they play ( known as player characters or PCs ), describes the events taking place and decides on the outcomes of players ' decisions.

The gamemaster also keeps track of non-player characters ( NPCs ) and random encounters, as well as of the general state of the game world.

A gamemaster in such a game is either an experienced volunteer player or an employee of the game's publisher.

Note that a few games, notably Neverwinter Nights and Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, are video game adaptations of tabletop role-playing games that are played online with one player acting as a traditional gamemaster.

This, in contrast to a normal table top game or a game meant to be played online, creates many more duties for a prospective gamemaster.

It is wise to write out descriptive text ahead of time, and since the gamemaster cannot rely on his acting skills to get the personality of NPCs and monsters across, the need for music ( often considered a distraction in a normal table top game ) becomes much greater, as background music helps to set the mood for other players.

The gamemaster must also keep hard copies of all the players ' characters himself, since he can not glance at them as he would in a normal game.

It was designed with the rules of the Fudge universal role-playing system in mind but added modifications necessary to get rid of the need for a gamemaster, distributing the responsibility for the game and story equally among all players and undoing the equivalence between player and character.

Some game terms were derived from the language of Jorune, such as the use of " Sholari " (" teacher ") for the gamemaster or " Isho " for the system of magic.

The adventure will often contain one or more maps that the gamemaster can use to locate points of interest and manage movement.

Scripting software allows complicated mechanics that include many tables or a lot of math to be resolved at a push of the button, while teleconferencing allows the players and gamemaster to communicate through voice, video, and a shared whiteboard.

The term gamemaster and the role associated with it could be found in the postal gaming hobby.

The role of the puppetmaster in creating ARG narratives and the puppetmaster's relationship with an ARG's players bears a great deal of similarity to the role of a game master, gamemaster or referee in a role-playing game.

Unlike most RPGs, where the game setting and any setting-specific rules are either taken from a published source or created by the gamemaster, Universalis play begins with the setting of Tenets which define the nature of the setting.

A gamemaster may also allow a bonus on saving rolls to players who come up with creative ways for their characters to protect themselves.

A good gamemaster draws the players into the adventure, making it enjoyable for everyone.

Certain aspects of the game are nearly always constant throughout a campaign: the setting, the players, and the gamemaster.

Multiplayer online role-playing games can offer an exception to this contrast by allowing human interaction among multiple players and in some cases enabling a player to perform the role of a gamemaster.

Because of its simplicity, a dungeon crawl can be easier for a gamemaster to run than more complex adventures, and the " hack and slash " style of play is appreciated by players who focus on action and combat.

An important component of the adventure are the often colorfully-written blocks of descriptive text that are read out loud by the gamemaster to the players.

Depending on the rules established on the forum, role-playing and story can be pushed forward through moderation by a gamemaster, specific rules ( often existing role-playing game systems ), or by mutual agreement between players.

Play-by-email games are often slow, since the players must wait for each post before replying, but have the advantage that replies may be tailored to the players, allowing the gamemaster to keep information secret from the other players.

PBeM games more closely resemble table-top role playing games where players react to gamemaster presented scenarios, and characters actions are controlled by individuals.

Because players ' previous posts are editable and the gamemaster takes responsibility as the overall editor of the story, plot holes can be avoided and writing skills may not be as important for each writer.

A game can be balanced dynamically by a gamemaster who observes players and adjusts the game in response to their emotional state ( Dungeons & Dragons, Left 4 Dead ).

For instance, a player might adjust his character's actions if the player has some foreknowledge of the long-term intentions of the gamemaster, or, more commonly, the GM's tendency to have ( or not to have ) mercy on players whose characters do things that would cause them to fail at their objectives.

One common feature of many RPGs is the role of gamemaster, a participant who has special duties to present the fictional setting, arbitrate the results of character actions, and maintain the narrative flow.

The Seventh Doctor has the most profound change in attitude of any of the Time Lords, beginning as someone bumbling ( to the extent of putting himself in danger but not at the cost of his overall great intelligence and benevolent intentions ) and progressing into a driven, dark gamemaster whose plans to defeat his adversaries, both old and new, would play out across space and time.

He usually serves as the gamemaster for his group of friends when they role-play ; his favorite game is Warhamster ( a parody of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay ).

The cards have numbers, suits, positive and negative states, and role-playing cues that guide the gamemaster in telling the story and administering the game.

Pen-and-paper role-playing games typically involve a player called the gamemaster ( or GM for short ) who can dynamically create the story, setting, and rules, and react to a player's choices.

In its most formal sense, the threefold model claims that any single gamemaster ( GM ) decision ( about the resolution of in-game events ) can be made in order to further the goals of Drama, or Simulation, or Game.

It was noted, in 1997, that those who favor their left-brain such as skilled code writers usually do not make it in the ethereal gamemaster world of storytelling and verse.

Players email their actions to the gamemaster or to each other using a mailing list.

The basic role of the gamemaster is the same in almost all traditional role-playing games, although differing rule sets make the specific duties of the gamemaster unique to that system.

Any number of other alternate forms may be used, many of which are variations on the term " gamemaster "; these variants are especially common in storytelling games derived from or similar to role-playing games.