GM’s have issues. Okay, I mean issues on how they GM. Geeze. These tips address the top 10 issues that most GM’s have in one form or another. The first is the problem, the next is the explaining the problem and solution, and the one line admonishment on how to fix the issue.

So lets begin:

Failing to provide enough motivation for characters to go on the adventure. While forcing players to do things is never a good idea, a character needs some motivation to do things in the game. If the GM does not provide enough motivation, the players could easily go off on tangents that they find much more interesting. FIND THE CHARACTER’S HOOKS AND USE THEM TO PULL THE CHARACTER INTO THE STORY.

Failing to pace the story well. The GM must keep the story going, giving the players something to do or react to. Every scene has a purpose and a way to lead into the next scene. KEEP THE GAME MOVING OR THE PLAYERS WILL GET BORED.

Making NPCs more important than PCs. The player characters are the protagonists of your campaign story. If they are not, why should they play? GMs sometimes love their NPCs a bit too much, allowing them to save the players, show up the players, or make the PCs useless and unimportant. IF A GM IS WRITING THEIR NPC’S STORY, WHY SHOULD THE PCs SHOW UP?

Failing to engage the Troop in the fictional world and the campaign. The GM is the author and narrator for the campaign story. If you were reading a story and you don’t like the characters, the supporting characters were flat, and the setting was grey and lifeless, would you keep reading the book? Probably not. Why would you keep playing a game with the same failings? Players need to know about the game world, interact with colorful characters, encounter dramatic events, and encounter interesting things. PROVIDE THESE THINGS FOR THEM.

Failing to entertain the players. There is a reason it is called a game. The point of the game is to enjoy yourself. If players are not having fun, they have no motivation to come to your game. Run the kind of game the players want, with the kind of scenarios they want, with the kind of subplots they like. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE PLAYERS WANT: ASK!!

Failing to know the rules. The Game designer can only write so many rules; the publisher can only publish so many. There is no way to make rulings for every contingency in a game. That is what the GM is for. The GM must know the rules and be able to interpret them for any situation. They must be fair in their handling of the rules. They must know the rules so well, they do not have to think about them, so they can use them and still concentrate on the game story. KNOW THE RULES OR DO NOT GM!

Failing to listen to the players. A Game Master should listen to their players, determining what they like and dislike about the campaign, the game, and the GM’s play style. By responding to player comments, the GM can provide the kind of game the players will enjoy and improve their own gamecraft. LISTEN TO YOUR PLAYERS, THEY ARE YOUR AUDIENCE AND YOUR STAFF.

Failing to be prepared. A GM should spend some time before the game session to organize thoughts and notes, prepare any scenes or opponents, and plan out story lines. Do not take away play time by spending time at the session to do this. Even if you are of the "wing it" school of game mastering, some preparation will allow for easier, faster, and better play. A LITTLE PREPARATION GOES A LONG WAY!

Allowing the Dice to rule the scene. Dice are used to resolve conflicts and make the RPG more of a "game". In roleplaying games, we also tell stories. Sometimes the dice generate responses that do not fit the GM’s desire for the campaign saga or scene. If it is in the best interest of the game, change the results to better fit the story. WHO IS IN CHARGE? YOU OR THE DICE?

Failing to improve your your gamecraft. Roleplaying games are not static, they are always changing. What challenged and amused your players a month ago might not do it now. The way you presented information a few months ago is now old hat. Gamecraft is like an actor’s craft, except it includes things that authors, storytellers, and wargamers do. Always strive to do it better than you have before. Find what works at a given time and do it. A LITTLE EFFORT TOWARDS SELF IMPROVEMENT GOES A LONG WAY!

I am always giving advice to various gamers on various game forums. I am constantly giving the same advice over and over again (cut/ paste repeat). Once a year I think about the advice and put together The List. 

There are 10 pieces of gaming advice I am constantly giving out. They should be useful for you. Okay, there are more than 10, but the top 10 are the most important.

1) Never game with anyone you wouldn’t spend 4-8 hours intracting with doing something else.

2) Learn what each player really wants in a game. Do what you can to give it to them. (If you are a player, learn what everyone wants/ needs, even the GM, and do what you can to allow it to happen.)

3) When creating a general setting in a given genre, make sure the players know the setting and genre AND embrace it.

4) Character creation is a group affair AND must be done with deep GM involvement. The players should work together to determine who and what their characters are, as well as linking each character to the others in the group. The GM should help players tie their characters to the world and the other characters. If a character does not fit the game or is disruptive, it is your, the GMs, fault.

5) Each character needs one or more major plotlines attatched to it. Without that, the characters will not last in the campaign.

6) Find ways to keep each character AND player motivated.

7) All bookkeeping must be done out of game time.

8) The GM must keep notes on every aspect of the game. Those notes must be reviewed regularly. This helps keep you both organized and focused, even if you are ad libbing the game.

9) Control each scene in the game. Each game scene should have a purpose that furthers the campaign. Each scene should be on the beat, bouncing between action and development.

10) GM the game, you would like to play in.

There are some other miscellaneous tips you might find useful.

*Always present a confident face to the players. You might not know what is really going on and are adlibbing everything, but if they don’t realize you are confused or indecisive, they will simply accept what you say.

*You are the eyes and ears and other sense of the characters. The players should be able to close their eyes and “know the setting” just based on your narration.

*Think of every scene in the game is like a scene in a movie. It should have a purpose. Everything you do, from description to action should support that purpose.

*Actually check out a few books on writing for movies. Games and movies are both stories through time and have stronger similarities to each other than to just fiction writing.

*Gamers are actors of a sort. Anyone telling you otherwise is probably trying to sell you miniatures and accessories (or has bought them).

*Join ToastMasters. Not only will it improve your speaking skills, it will create contacts for you that will improve your chance of getting a really great job.

*Practice presenting information in a mirror and create cue cards for yoruself to capture good pieces of narration you think up before the game, so you don’t forget them.

Tops tips for 2005
#1) RPGs are both a game and a story, they are a game that tells a story. They do not tell the GM’ss story, nor a single PC’s story, but they tell the group’s story as they deal with the dramatic conflicts before them. It is a story that no one in the troupe controls, as it is a combination of the random game aspects AND the inputs of every member of the group.
You need to balance the story telling aspect with the game aspect.

#2) There are two kinds of scenarios, active and reactive. Reactive scenarios are when X happens and the PC’s respond. Active scenarios occur when the PCs have a goal they want to achieve and must take steps to achieve it. Reactive scenarios are the tool of last resort for most GMs and common in campaigns where the players are not willing to invest time and effort into the game or their characters. You get as much out of a game as you put into it. Characters should have their own goals and needs, determined from the begining (as well as picking up a few as the campaign plods on). Those should drive your campaign, not reactive scenarios that no player really cares about.

This is the Key Tip for 2005. Everything else derives from it
#3) Cue Drumroll
“If you have any doubts and let it into your game, you will have to deal with the inevitable consequences.”
If you have any questions or doubts about a character (or other game element), don’t let it in. It will only lead to heart ache later.

#4 (3b) A character may be perfectly legal, but not be suitable for the campaign or the troupe of characters currently in play.
The character’s mechanics/ power level must be comparable to the rest of the groups. The character’s conception and history must fit both the campaign world, the campaign being run, and the GM’s style of play.

#5 (3c)  Each character must fits into the world, and with the rest of the characters, before you let it in the game.
The character’s conception and history must fit the campaign being run. The character’s role in the group should be defined and have little overlap with the rest of the characters. The character should have ties to the rest of the group and the world around it. Once a character is in play, it is really hard to fix these mistakes. Also by doing a little work ahead of time to make the character fit, you will have fewer problems than if you didn’t.

#6 (3d) Check out the game mechanics, many innocent combinations create synergetic effects beyond what you might expect.
Look at what the character can do, singularly and in combination. This should include skills, powers, and abilities. Too many story telling GMs, or GMs that emphasize the story aspect, ignore the game mechanics of the character in favor of its story. Yet certain combinations create huge effects that have scaled far beyond what you as the GM want in the game. And in situations when you will be using the mechanics, these character effects will dominate your scene.

#7 (3e) Check out the game mechanics so the character can actually do what its conception says it can.
Here comes the story. I had friends who had there wonderful conceptions, but they required HUGE number of creation points or that were purchased poorly and were uneffective. (A character that was a jack of many trades with no skills at all, just a modifier to any die roll… or a courtly character without courtly contacts or skills.) Some people want to be a master surgon, yet don’t buy enough medical skill to accomlish anything better than first aid.  They want to be friends with everyone in high places, but did not purchase contact and any social skills. People need to remember that this is a game, that they are playing… so must choose wisely their abilities and backgrounds carefully.

#8 (3f) Pay attention to the characters as play advances, experience can make the character unrecognizable.
Character creation does not stop once the game begins. It is an ongoing process. Characters will take on new skills and abilities through character advancements.  Problems you as the GM thought you dodged at character creation will come back to haunt you in the experience phase. The GM needs to carefully monitor and approve what the character takes with experience/ advancement and make sure it fits the campaign and style of game.

#8.5 (3Fb) Related to above, give your character rewards in ways other than “power”. Magic tchotchkes and interesting crunchy bits are always fun, but as the power level of the characters advances, so does the power level of the opposition. It creates an “arms race” where bigger threats are created to match their items, and they must have more powerful items to meet the next threat. Characters could be given contacts, or lands they are responsible for, or awards of honor (giving the characters name recognition). This keeps the “arms race” in the campaign down, ties the character to the world, and gives the characters new avenues of adventure.

#9 Think carefully about the elements you add to your world. What might seem to be a “cool” or “neat” thing to add to your game setting, might be unbalanced in the long run. Consider what people are going to do with the elements (and the powers/ effects they bring) to the setting. Remember, if it exists in the world, the players are going to get access to it eventually. So never put anything in your world you don’t want used against you.

#10 Remember: If you let it in your game, you get what you deserve. It needs to be said. When in doubt, keep it out.

I am always giving advice to various gamers on various game forums. I am constantly giving the same advice over and over again (cut/ paste repeat). Once a year I think about the advice and put together The List of ten. This year’s emphasis is very different. I think I took a different approach this year, trying to get people to see the solutions to their own issues rather than giving them the answer. This years tips are more applicable to the design aspects of a game/ setting/ character/ game element. I also found my self quoting more "classic rules". These rules have I used before, but may or may not have made the top 10 in a previous year. I think these rules will hold up well for GMs or more serious players. (If you don’t think so, just mix them in with the last few years worth of tips, and the aggregate will rock! (yes, the pun was intended)).

1-Rule of Fun
2-Building Blocks
3-Rule of Foundation
4-Slush Pile
5-Mona Lisa Rule
6-Gold Standard
7-Detail Rule
8-Ripple rule
8b-Cortez Effect
8c-Ripple Rule as related to CHARACTERS
9-Systematize - MoonHunter’s Rule
10-Remember Rule

1) If you are not having fun, why are you doing it? This has been a cardinal rule of mine. While not everything you need to do for your game is rollicking good fun, it should at least be enjoyable (in the end). Unless you are getting paid, you should be enjoying it. Also known as the Rule of Fun

2) A little work every day makes for a whole volume of work after a month or two. Certain projects, like World Building, seem too daunting to do. They are just so large. Begin to take them in small chunks that can be easily done and stick to it. Eventually those small chunks turn into big chunks and then into sections and then into a completed projects.  So you have a choice, you can do a little every day and eventually be done, or you can do nothing about it, and never be done. Building Blocks Rule

3) DAS and DIP are design considerations. DAS is Development at Start (all the work you do before you even start on doing the actual thing) and DIP is Development in Process (updating and changing things as you go along). There are those that will go to either extreme, and that is their personal preference. However, either extreme can have some serious flaws and issues in the short or long run respectively. Most people play it somewhere in the middle. And if you have players who might not follow your exact plan or scenario, you will always have some DIP (development in play) no matter how much DAS (Development at start) you do. The point of DAS is to make any future DIP easier. Think of your DAS as a foundation you will build everything on top of. It needs to be solid (fairly logical and consistent), evenly distributed (in all appropriate areas), and in big broad strokes, all suitable for adding details to and anything extra you might need in game. The Tip here is: Dip happens; so be prepared for it with enough DAS to make it easy to do the DIP. This is also known as "The Strong Foundation Rule". 

4) Keep a dump file: Every game related idea or concept you have should be kept "for future consideration". Write down all that DAS that you discard and DIP you don’t use in play. That way when you need a bit of inspiration or bits to be used for a new project, it will be there waiting for you. I do all my game planning and idea brainstorming on a ruled pad. It is all contained for future exploitation. This rule, more advice really, does not have a cute summary.

5) The Mona Lisa Rule: Spend only as much time on a world, map, scenario, or NPC as the amount of play time and enjoyment it will allow. Two years of planning for six hours of game play is not a good investment in time and effort. So invest a few hours into the game setting you are going to be in for a few hundred hours of gaming fun.

Rule 3+4+5) To recap: You only have X amount of time. Spend most of it on play/ in game rather than prep work. Just make sure what you think you will need in game is done before you need it.

6) The Gold Standard : "If some element of your game could not be part of a published fantasy novel, it needs work." That is what you should aim for. If your item/ npc/ plot/ setting is not as well described and developed as something you would find in a published (fantasy) novel (excluding most DnD licensed novels), then it is not equal to the gold standard and needs work. This standard is really not that hard to meet. You do not need to be a professional writer. You just need to use your gamer/ fan instincts to feel what is right and put a little effort into doing it right. Note: You could use the word Movie/ Comic Book/ TV Show in place of published fantasy novel, as appropriate for the feel of your campaign and the genre. It all works as appropriate.

7) The Detail Check: Every time you start creating details for your game, ask yourself one question…
"Will a player really need to know this to have fun?"
If the answer is no, ignore it unless a player… in game… needs to know it. If the answer is yes, continue to create. The Detail check is the fastest and easiest tool you have to make sure you are focused on what is important in the game. You can also use this rule during play to keep the game focused.

6+7) Another Gold standard would be the Movie Check.
Most Gamers have learned their techniques (consciously and unconsciously) for story telling and gaming from movies and television. They are storytelling mediums that all of us are familiar with. When you are creating game elements or adding details, ask yourself "Would this detail be found in a movie?" If the answer is no, then blow it off.

8) Ripple Rule: Everything in the game world (animate or not) has a history, a motivation/ purpose, and a relationship to other things in the world. Like a stone dropped in a pond, every motion or action causes a ripple. Even if the item does not move, the first time it drops in the water… it effects the pond. So when you add something to the world, consider the three things. First, where it came from and how it got to where it is now It’s origin and history. Second, what purpose does it have in the world. If can do things on its own, what motivates it to do this purpose? Lastly, what relationship does it have to other and others have to it. By determining where it came from, what it does, and how people relate to it, you cover "all the ripples". Now what you have added is part of the world.  

8b) Cortez Effect:This is an important variation of the Ripple rule. Sure Cortez was questing for a magic item. However, he ended up doing a lot of other things along the way including conquering and laying the ground work for Spanish Rule). While there are listed reasons and results for every action/ motivation (the Manifest), there are often "side effects" other things that happen (called the Latent). So make sure to look beyond the obvious and see what else could be happening related to the actions of a character or group or other lifeform.

8c) Character’s have ripples too: This rule is the foremost rule I have been giving players this year. To be part of the game world is to have ties to people, places, and things in the game world. These ties are two way. As the character has attachments or opinions about various people, places, and things, the various peoples and organizations that are in the world will have reactions or responses to the character.
Do you, as a fairly real person, have people and groups you know and interact with, places you know well (with people related to those places knowing you), and favorite things (really? Coke or Pepsi?) Now your character should as well.
And you, as a fairly real person, do have reasons for doing what you are doing. You have goals, drives, and ideals you believe in (to some degree). Should your character be any less? Unless your character is a mindless drone, why isn’t your character following its own agenda? You take actions, and those actions will effect others. How do people respond to those?
Your character’s history is how you tie all the character elements together, and explain all those relations and responses.
9) Try to systematize how you do things: The process starts with going through any game process (world design, scenario design, character design, presentation of scenes, or getting into character). Every time you do something specific (a step) you write it down. Eventually you get an ordered list.  If you do this two or three times you eventually get a feel for the process that gets you between the steps. So why is this important? Once you learn how you do something, you can make sure you are always "doing it right". In addition you can take take steps to improve upon it. You can add details in the order of things to try, change up the order to see if it works better, or any number of variations. And if you are very lucky, you will find your list/ process can’t be improved on. This is also known as MoonHunter’s Way.

10)Remember Rule: Remember you just need to put in a little effort to do it right. Remember to be complete. Remember to sprinkle in some details. And remember, give the element as much attention as it deserves. Remember to keep doing this to everything.

Tips for 2008

1) Infinite Power, Ultimate Responsibilities: It is easy for a GM to kill PCs. In fact, most of the time, the GM is trying to keep them alive. The great balancing act is to keep them challenged without just making them into little smears. Without characters, there can be no game.

2) Trust is worth more than gold. If your players do not feel they can trust you, then your game is doomed. The GM must be trusted to both play fairly and honestly. Failure to do so shows that the GM is trying to "trick the players" and "win against them". If you are seen as the antagonist, then they will hide behind rules, do tricks, etc, to "Beat You". It seems funny with the Knights of the Dinner Table, but if you are one of those players, it can be frustrating. You are playing by the rules and the assumption that the game is "fair". You have no recourse but what the rules give you. The GM has phenomenal cosmic power and can smush characters faster than a player can smush their own character with bad decisions. If the players don’t think you will be "fair with them" they will be looking for another game..

3) The Stuff in the Books are just Guidelines. Never feel anchored to the game world or game elements that came with a given game. It is your game after all. After you buy it, the game developer only has a passing interest with what you do with it. Just because it is "in the book" you don’t have to slavishly follow it. However, you can not be arbitrary. Players usually "go by the book" unless told differently. Inform the players that you are making x changes in the rules or the setting before play starts. If the rules and background change and you don’t tell anyone, how can they trust anything the GM say or do?

3b) Be prepared that the players might not like the changes you make. They may have liked the setting (or rules) "as is". They may be resistant to your changing things.

4) The more things change, the more they should stay the same. If you stray from or change the canon rules/ book, try to stay as continuous to the original mechanics if possible.  Players like to follow the "rules of the game". It makes things easier for them (and players like it easy, so they don’t have to sweat the rules). Why have a percentage roll magic system appended to a d6 dice pool game?  Yes, it might work, but it will begin to distract people from the game as they actually have to stop and think about any mechanics, then stop and think about what they need for the mechanics, then do the mechanics, then resolve.  All that "thinking about the rules" takes them away from the game and its events. By using similar mechanics to those the players expect, the players can easily work with it, have the right dice ready (actually and metaphorically), and just go with it. 

And the players signed on to play a certain game. If you change it too much, you should start calling it something else.

3+4) Remember to tell them about the rules changes and how you want to handle things. Spend a few minutes. Type it up in a word processor or email. That way, the players can add it "to their book" and know how things will work.

5) It is your part. Step up or step away.   The GM should do what they can to make the game richer, better, and more fun. This will require you, the GM to extra work in preparation and extra work at the game table. It will be harder on you, the GM. This extra effort might not always be appreciated by your players, but they do appreciate a better game. 

6) Each character has their own part of the story Your players should have their own story lines and their personal stake in your greater story arc (the campaign that most people are running).  So the campaign goal might be to "Toss the magic Chotski into the Great Magma Gorge." One might be along because his ancestor accidentally released the Chotski, and is dammed unless it is destroyed before it falls into Big Evil’s Hand.  One might be along because he is avenging his family’s death at the hands of The Big Evil’s minions. One might be along because his Lord told him to destroy the Chotski at any cost. Another because to take his throne, he must go on this quest and succeed (and of course his brother might want to stop him). One might be along because his daughter was taken by the Minions of the Great Evil, and these people are heading the right direction to encounter them (and sticking it to the Big Evil for pain and suffering causes is always fun).  Now each is along for their own reasons. They will follow their own goals, if properly distracted. Will this fellowship succeed? Will someone sacrifice their own goal/ need to save the world?

6b) Make sure the characters are motivated. This is the mission" is not really a great motivation. Why do characters want to go on the mission (money, fame, power, belief in the higher cause, etc)? Every character will need something "to get them moving" in every scenario.

6c) Make sure the players are onboard with their character’s motivations.   "Okay, you are doing this because you "love your lord", the GM says while semi-randomly handing out motivations.  "I am a thief and a coward, I don’t think so," the player is thinking. The player has to agree that the motivation of their character is valid AND one they can play.

7) Evils have a life too. Joking aside, the antagonists will have their own goals and plotlines. Some lieutenant, leaders, and minion of note will be following their own goals, rather than their supreme leaders. Greed, Revenge, Status Plays, and looking out for number one will are all motivations for these antagonists.  Thus complications arise and the complexity can make things… interesting.  

8) The world is a character too. Every part of the world has its own events that will occur. Each big organization will have its own goals and story lines. Events will occur as the organization acts on its goals or reacts to the world around it. Each country, ditto. "Weather", you ask? Of course (though less personal, just effects). These "other things" give players a feeling that the world is in motion and that things are happening. Without them, the world is just a flat painted backdrop, not a vibrant, real feeling, world.  Actions and their Reactions, lead to new actions. Never stop.

6+7+8) The Cut Scene:  We have all seen them in the movies and on TV. The camera cuts away and shows us events that are not happening "right where the characters are". They will show "the villain doing things", "what the other lesser characters are doing", "or something about the world that might be important later". In a game, the GM describes out these cut scenes. This simple too provides metagaming clues, builds player interest, and provides information about the setting.

9) Your setting is an iceberg: The rule of thumb for fiction writers is that your setting is like an iceberg, only 1/8th of the work you will do on it will actually show in your novel or story. That leaves 7/8ths of the iceberg lurking under the water. When you create a setting, there is a great deal about it that you will need to know that will never see the light of day. It will be under everything else that shows,

as a foundation

. And it should be ready to appear when needed.

10) Repeat the Mantra:  I master the game, the game does not master me; step up or step out; momentum over perfection; complications more than obstacles; and no matter what, the game must go on!  This little mantra sums up a better game.

1) Pattern your game after a familiar medium – and let your players know which it is.
Players are familiar with stories and their pacing. They like when their games feel the stories they are used to. They know when to zig or zag, they know when a plot complication is about to hit, they know when to “run to the finish”. So it works to the GM’s advantage to plot their campaign and sessions like a movie/ book/ comic book/ episode. Not only does it make it easier for players, but it makes it easier for GMs as well. (The GM will have a better feel for pacing and such if they think about what should happen next.)

These are just fast examples.
**Movies have one big fast paced story arc that changes everything at the end.
**Novels: slower pace, big arch and three to four sub arcs.
**TV series, a big story arc, with each “episode” having its own related arc.
**Comics: much the way as a TV series, but with more self contained episodes.

What works for a movie, is different than what works for a novel or comic book, so the players need to know which the campaign is.

2) Know the Conventions for the Game.
Every genre has expected conventions that stories in that genre tend to have.  The players need to know what sort of things they should expect and is expected of them.  Individual “shows”/ “novels” have their own “Bible” which explains what “conventions” and “bits” are appropriate for their show/ novels.  (It is a tool for the writers).  Players should know what is expected of them and what to expect because of the campaign itself. (One bit is that you will always have a local who will be your barometer as to what is going on in the world around you)  These things can be in a world pack write up or you can create your own “Writer’s Bible”.

3) Know the Rules COLD:
The GM should know the rules well enough that they should seldom, if ever, have to review the rules in the book. A little study can make your game run so much smoother. Remember, part of a GM’s prep time should include learning any rules for things that are expected to happen in a given play session.

4) This goes for players too.
Players should learn the basic rolls and mechanics that apply to their characters in specific and the game in general.  They should be familiar with their own skills, gifts, flaws, spells, and other mechanics. 

5) Have a ceremonial start and finish for the play session.
Once the ringing of the bell, playing of the theme song, reciting of what happened last week, or what ever fits the game, gaming starts. It is time to concentrate on the game, not anything else. Once the bell rings for break or end of games, regular social rules apply. These bits are tools to help players “get into game mode”. 

6) Have a long talk with everyone, every now and again, about what is and is not “okay” during game time.  
These group conversations can help the game run smoother as everyone will be on the same page as to what is and is not “okay” during the game. It will also help prevent any “silent problems”

7) Review the Campaign every now and again:
We call these “writers meetings”.  The group banters back and forth about what they like, dislike, want to see, and don’t want to see in the campaign.  The GM can modify the campaign to fall into line with their expectations.  The GM can also insist that if they want X and Y changes, she needs A and B from the players.  This can make the campaign better for all.

8) Games are about interaction with people.
If you want just a crunching of numbers or conflict of stats, computer games will actually provide that for you any time you want. If you want to get together and “build” something – a story, a campaign, a group,  an interesting series of invents- then table top RPGs are for you.   So everyone should work on “making the game work better”.

9)Do what you can to make the game run faster.
Do not let the mechanics bog you down.  The most common way to speed it all up is to roll all the dice you need for a given action. If you hit, then read hit location die, then the damage dice (having tossed all of them at once). If you are defending, roll the dodge/ parry, and any armor dice.

10) Narration is your friend:
Narration is a great tool for the GM.  In addition to the description of thing, places, people, etc, it can be used to "move events along".  "And after an uneventful night...", "after several days of travel", "after you have searched the room and opened almost all the boxes you find", are all ways you can cut through that that would be tedious or time consuming to play out.  Remember you are telling the story of the characters, not making a documentry.  So play out the fun or interesting parts, and narrate your way through the rest.