Introduction
An Ambassador is a GM Archetype recognized by Extroversion, Sense, Feeling, and Judging traits. You are incredibly attentive as a GM, driven by a perspective that the people around you take priority over content. Solid values guide this approach, and you are considered a well of insight that can guide others when needed. Proven reliability allows you to flourish in this space as someone people to with respect and, at times, anticipation.
The game means nothing if you're uncomfortable
The games you play mean nothing if you are uncomfortable with the people sitting at your table. Such an outlook allows you to excel behind the GM screen as people recognize you for your knowledge. More than the information you collect, it is how you freely share the knowledge with sincerity and desire for others to flourish. Beyond that, some could even comment that you are genuinely a generous GM, but you would argue that you are simply doing your duty.
Game Mastering Styles
You are a Game Master with an empathetic, understanding approach. You want to create a space where all of your players feel welcome and able to make the most of their characters, but most importantly, you want them all to feel like they belong in your story. It’s their story, too.
To do this, you need players who will validate your efforts and help you create a fun environment for everybody involved. In addition, you want a close connection with your players—you take Game Mastering seriously, but not so seriously that you can’t have fun creating something special together.
Smaller groups help foster more intimate storytelling
Casual isn’t your thing—you take game mastering seriously because you know how powerful it can be in bringing people together for unforgettable experiences. You’re looking for long-term groups, preferably under five players, for more intimate storytelling. Mechanics-based systems like d&d or pathfinder would work well for you as well as narrative-driven games like world of darkness or kids on bikes.
Storytelling Style
You may be upset seeing a player yawn during an NPC monologue or if they don’t seem excited about the story. You want your players to like you, so when someone appears bored or unhappy with the direction of the game, it can make you feel like a failure as a DM. On the other hand, you care so much about ensuring everyone has a good time together!
you may worry a little more than other game masters about upsetting your players
Because you worry a little more than other Game Masters about upsetting your players, killing their characters when necessary might be intimidating, you more likely prefer exploration and socialization to violence in the game.
The players’ enjoyment is your priority, and your games center around the protagonists. This archetype may spend time out of session reading over character sheets and scheming session ideas that will make their players blissful. It’s story gold!
Table Management
You value harmony and consistency and love ensuring everyone at the table feels safe and seen. Players can count on you to give them clear expectations and establish boundaries without being too harsh or rigid. You take on an authoritative role as game master, but your players appreciate the sensitivity and warmth you bring to the table.
It's important to you that everyone at the table are friends
You are sensitive to the wants and needs of others and enjoy it when your players need help from you. They know that they can always chat with you or ask for help. It’s important to you that everyone is friends with one another and that they have a real-life sense of party camaraderie.
Session Resources
If you’re an Ambassador type, you love to stay well-organized and are a bit of a perfectionist. You enjoy helping people accomplish their roleplay goals and feel supported by you as their Game Master; this makes sense since you’re a nurturer at heart. Your players will appreciate your efforts to provide all the comforts and ambiance that make an immersive game session.
You likely want to help your players be as organized as possible too. Offering character sheets and note-taking materials to them gives you a sense of peace and accomplishment. (Nerd.) Utilizing a system for note-taking and character development will also make your work easier. Discord is a great place to keep players organized.
Your players appreciate your efforts to provide all the comforts & ambiance that make an immersive game session
Digital tools such as encounter builders, initiative trackers, and clickable stat sheets (if applicable) will reduce your stress around combat and other crunchy parts of the game. As far as world organization, Notion or Google Drive are solid options. If you don’t use Virtual Table Tops (VTTs), you may use an alternative way to keep story assets organized, such as Canva slides or a folder of images to share. Overall, you’re very detail-oriented and enjoy the chance to create something special with your friends.
The Game Master's Toolbox:
- World Anvil: A worldbuilding program that helps you create, organize and store your setting with detailed wiki-like organization and interactive maps to store your notes.
- DnD Beyond: An excellent place for digital character creation and creating a campaign group for easy roll shares and sheet management.
- Notion (TTRPG University Notion Templates)
- Evernote
- DnD Beyond’s Encounter Builder: I’ve heard it’s helpful. You can build an encounter and determine its difficulty level based on math.
Role Generator: You can randomly generate everything from cities, to magic items, to herbs, to NPCs. https://www.rolegenerator.com/
- Inkarnate: For fantasy world and city maps. Yearly subscription.
- Wonderdraft: For fantasy world and city maps. One-time purchase.
- Dungeon Scrawl: For creating flat and isometric dungeon maps. Completely free.
- Dungeondraft: Building and Dungeon crawl maps, full color.
- Azgaar Github Fantasy Map Generator
- Dungeon Fog: Free map-making tool
- Dungeon Map Doodler
- Spotify: There are so many D&D playlists to choose from, or, pick your favorite video game tracks to play.
- Syrinscape: With Syrinscape, you can control the master playlist and players can decide their preferred volume from their end.
- YouTube Premium: Put on a 3-hour ambiance video without commercial interruptions.
- Google Forms
- TTRPG University Google Forms to Copy
- DMs Guild: A place to find supplemental guides and campaigns to enhance your official D&D content.
- Drive Thru RPG: The all-TTRPG sister of DMs Guild.
- The Monsters Know: A blog and book series about monster tactics and strategies to help enhance gameplay.
- Reddit:
- Point Buy Calculator: Doing a character sheet from scratch? This will help so much with the number crunching. https://chicken-dinner.com/5e/5e-point-buy.html
- DnD Beyond: The best place to build a digital character sheet. Fully connected to all the official D&D content. Makes leveling up take about 30 seconds.
- Wild Shape Tracker: Super helpful for druids. https://arcaneeye.com/apps/wildshape-tracker/
- Character Backstory Template: https://arcaneeye.com/dm-tools-5e/dnd-character-backstory-template/
- Xanathar’s Guide to Everything: I use this particular book ALL the time to help build my character backstories. There are roll tables in the “This is Your Life” chapter.
- Google Dice Roller: Super simple. Go to Google, type “dice roller,” and you have a dice roller.
- Roll Dice With Friends: You can give your temporary room a custom name, share the link with your friends, and all roll together!
- Owlbear Rodeo (straightforward and intuitive)
- Canva (DIY, simplified VTT)
- Roll20 (complicated learning curve)
- Foundry VTT
- Norse Foundry
- Shard
- Tablespire
- Tabletop Simulator
- Fantasy Grounds
Want more?
The Organized Game Master
End the overwhelm that comes with running multiple games.
