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Focal Point: The Complete Game Master's Guide to Running Extraordinary Sessions
The heart of roleplaying is the gaming session, that point when everyone is gathered around the gaming table — and exactly when so many of your GMing skills are most needed. To the best of our knowledge, there’s never been a system-neutral book focused on running great sessions. Until now. Focal Point is that book.
Focal Point is the third volume in Engine Publishing’s “accidental trilogy” of GMing advice books, which began with Never Unprepared and continued in Odyssey. You don’t need those books to enjoy and make use of this one, although they do complement each other well (and we offer a special bundle price for the trilogy).
Each of Focal Point’s authors is a veteran GM with years of experience, and each of them excels at a particular aspect of GMing. John is an entertainer, a GM who loves props and drawing his players into the game world. Walt is a storyteller, an adventure-writer who makes his living in the RPG industry. Phil is a facilitator, an organized GM who specializes in helping his players work well together.
These three roles — entertainer, storyteller, and facilitator — are at the core of Focal Point. From building “sets” for your gaming table, to using flowcharts to structure your adventures, to making sure everyone in your group feels comfortable during play, this guidebook addresses everything that goes into running an extraordinary gaming session.
Focal Point is the third volume in Engine Publishing’s “accidental trilogy” of GMing advice books, which began with Never Unprepared and continued in Odyssey. You don’t need those books to enjoy and make use of this one, although they do complement each other well (and we offer a special bundle price for the trilogy).
Each of Focal Point’s authors is a veteran GM with years of experience, and each of them excels at a particular aspect of GMing. John is an entertainer, a GM who loves props and drawing his players into the game world. Walt is a storyteller, an adventure-writer who makes his living in the RPG industry. Phil is a facilitator, an organized GM who specializes in helping his players work well together.
These three roles — entertainer, storyteller, and facilitator — are at the core of Focal Point. From building “sets” for your gaming table, to using flowcharts to structure your adventures, to making sure everyone in your group feels comfortable during play, this guidebook addresses everything that goes into running an extraordinary gaming session.
232 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 19, 2019
To say I've not been reading much lately would be untrue-- I've just been reading non-fiction, which I don't normally update on this site. However, for the sake of letting people know I'm still alive I'll put a review up of this...
The Focal Point Trilogy focusses on session prep, campaign writing, and GMing for tabletop RPGs. It's system agnostic.
A lot of the advice in here is viable, and the authors were getting at the right things. However, as a GM with a lot of experience, I found that the book wasn't that valuable to me. I was already following the practice laid out in this book for the most part, and where I wasn't, I disagreed with the points.
The book has a tendency to go too far in a lot of places without highlighting some of the negatives of its approach, for example suggesting installing curtain hooks in the session room and hanging different coloured sheets from them depending on the mood. I think that's more likely to distract from a session as it's plainly out of place and the players will notice that. There are several points in this character throughout the book that I think are unhelpful.
However, the tone throughout the book and some of the more legitimate tips would be useful in getting newer GMs excited to play their sessions. I just think its too easy to take this book at face value and go too far.
Therefore, if you're new and looking for tips, *maybe* consider buying this. It'll help, but it won't help as much as the tips given in any decent GM guide (I recommend Pathfinder's Gamemastery Guide, which is largely system agnostic) and help given online (I've found Reddit to be useful, as well as theRPGsite, and ENWorld).
Just remember to take this book with a pinch of salt.
The Focal Point Trilogy focusses on session prep, campaign writing, and GMing for tabletop RPGs. It's system agnostic.
A lot of the advice in here is viable, and the authors were getting at the right things. However, as a GM with a lot of experience, I found that the book wasn't that valuable to me. I was already following the practice laid out in this book for the most part, and where I wasn't, I disagreed with the points.
The book has a tendency to go too far in a lot of places without highlighting some of the negatives of its approach, for example suggesting installing curtain hooks in the session room and hanging different coloured sheets from them depending on the mood. I think that's more likely to distract from a session as it's plainly out of place and the players will notice that. There are several points in this character throughout the book that I think are unhelpful.
However, the tone throughout the book and some of the more legitimate tips would be useful in getting newer GMs excited to play their sessions. I just think its too easy to take this book at face value and go too far.
Therefore, if you're new and looking for tips, *maybe* consider buying this. It'll help, but it won't help as much as the tips given in any decent GM guide (I recommend Pathfinder's Gamemastery Guide, which is largely system agnostic) and help given online (I've found Reddit to be useful, as well as theRPGsite, and ENWorld).
Just remember to take this book with a pinch of salt.
April 11, 2019
One of the best books on how to manage roleplaying game sessions. Lots and lots of good advice, from setting the props for a game, how to manage difficult players, how to improvise (yes, improvisation is a muscle that every narrator has to develop), how to recap sessions, and how to bring safety to your gaming table. Highly recommended for gamemasters, no matter which RPG game or system you use.
August 1, 2019
Lots of really useful advise in here on running good games. I especially liked the excerpts from real life things that went wrong and right at the table. And the use of a fictional group running games used throughout the book was a nice touch.
January 10, 2024
Great book for learning the skills needed to run a game.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews