Being a GM player under a new GM

[Atlas]

Title says it all.

Tomorrow I'm going to be a player who has quite a bit of GMing experience to a virgin GM, who is going to run a Mecha Mutants and Masterminds game. As my group is giving other people chances to run games right now, I have found myself interjecting and giving advice to these new GM's in front of all the other players. It's as if a voice inside my head is screaming out, "THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG", and I just want to silence the screeching harpy with a little friendly advice to my buddy.

Now, am I the only one who has experienced this? Is this a bad habit to have? How do you guys deal with it?

[Mckma]

I wouldn't say I'm an expert GM, but I've done it a lot and have a lot of "theory" down.  That said, I have played under a lot of new GMs, and I think the best thing is wait until the end to give any advice unless they look absolutely stuck and that the game might crash and burn.  It can suck and even be a bit boring if they don't really know what they're doing, but you can also help by going along with what they planned (i.e. don't go the complete opposite direction).  I guess basically what I'm saying is I've been frustrated or bored or tired, but I like to think I'm pushing through it so that the GM will get more experience and eventually be able to GM more so I don't have to (as originally I believe I was the only person in my current group that had GMed before).

I'm not really sure where I was going/what I said, but hopefully it helps...

I guess to briefly answer your questions:
No,
Maybe (if it interrupts the game/bothers the GM),
See above

[clockworkjoe]

keep the backseat GMing to an absolute minimum

I try to help the GM - keep the game going and avoid tangents and bullshit

Don't be that guy who disagrees with a GM interpretation/call

yes I know you think ogres are supposed to be like THIS but in my game they are like THIS so STFU kthxbye

and for fuck sake's don't steamroll over a new GM - i.e. take over the game by force of will and assholery

[Tadanori Oyama]

What Ross said. Be nice during the game.

Undercut him only after the game is over by individually convincing the other PCs the game was horrible so you can take his soul after it's been tenderized by the betrayal of those he trusted.

[rayner23]

I have to say that Ross makes a pretty great player and he's been nothing but helpful when I was GMing (I'd ask you to refer to the episodes that I ran, but Ross hasn't posted those yet.  )

[nbneil]

I agree with the points above. Much like any other advice, give it if asked or just keep quiet.

P.S. After the last episode I had to ask if Cody is interested in a skype game of Poisin'd. The majority of the game seems to focus on sodomizing your fellow players. Sounds like a recipe for hilarity. I'll seriously run it if there's interest.

[gourdcaptain]

I've DM'd Paranoia a few times, and the thing I would tell players starting under me now as a fledgling DM to do is not go completely overboard crazy. I near had a nervous breakdown dealing with a player who was loony (even by Paranoia standards) and kept on trying to detonate a nuclear reactor, make out with other players, and was even more trigger happy than usual (and got disturbingly good treason/attack rolls in his favor). Fortunatly, being Paranoia I just more or less nuked him metaphorically from orbit, but in most games that response won't fly.

In other words, if it looks like you are overstressing him, you might want to ease up a bit.

[The_Last_76]

I'm sitting in a similiar boat.  My fiancée is working on a CoC Cultist one-shot with the aim of spawning it on into a campaign.  She's never GM'd before, and even her playing experience is relatively limited.  The best I've been able to do is to offer her as much advice as I can in the campaign construction phase, and offer to take her through a few play-tests before she runs it with a solid group.

[Dom]

Tell her to listen to RPPR. 

[The_Last_76]

Tell her to listen to RPPR.

I am trying to pick the best of the best for her to listen to because, between the podcasts and the actual plays, there is...what...nearly 9 straight days worth of recorded material?

[Salkovich]

Tell her to listen to RPPR.

I am trying to pick the best of the best for her to listen to because, between the podcasts and the actual plays, there is...what...nearly 9 straight days worth of recorded material?

I'd be surprised if 9 wasn't a low guess.

[clockworkjoe]

40 games posted on RPPR AP - say 4 hours on average - 160 hours

31 games posted on the main RPPR site - 3 hours on average - 93 hours

50 episodes of RPPR - 50 hours

9 interviews - 9 hours

let's say 5 hours of gaming stuff

317 hours of material - estimate - 13 days of material

[Salkovich]

40 games posted on RPPR AP - say 4 hours on average - 160 hours

31 games posted on the main RPPR site - 3 hours on average - 93 hours

50 episodes of RPPR - 50 hours

9 interviews - 9 hours

let's say 5 hours of gaming stuff

317 hours of material - estimate - 13 days of material

That really is staggering, especially when I try and also consider how much content exists that hasn't been posted.

[clockworkjoe]

the raw h2 recording directory is over 40 gigs at this point - although that contains all the recordings for all the games posted and unposted

[The_Last_76]

So I just have to figure out a way to keep her conscious, bound and listening to RPPR for a straight fortnight...