Standard Event Guide for GMs

Thank you for being a GM at a TorontoDnD Event! This document will go over what you can expect, and what the community expects of you at our events.

The Persistent World

Our standard events uses the persistent world system which allows for character continuity between our events. We require that you review the PW Game Master guide and strongly recommend you also review the PW Player Guide in advance of running your next session.

General Guidelines

The overall goal of these events is to allow people to sit down at a table with a bunch of random folks and play a fun adventure. All of the below guidelines are in service of this goal.

Be Newbie Friendly: If you are running a game that allows for L1 characters you may have people that are new to the game at your table. As a group we strive to be welcoming to new players. D&D can be an intimidating game to jump into, especially when you are surrounded by people you don’t know. Give new players assistance as required with the rules and basic mechanics of the game. Also feel free to ask experienced players at your table to help out with new players. Always be encouraging and try and foster a welcoming attitude amongst all your players.
Respect TODND Content Standards: Make sure that you are abiding by our content standards. Anything labelled as "Not Allowed" is exactly that. Even if all your players say they want some of this content, it is simply not something we offer at our events under any circumstances and it is not permissible to include it. Content that requires a warning must be communicated in advance via tags on the event. The intent of this requirement is to make sure that everybody feels comfortable at our tables, even if they are too nervous to admit some content makes them uncomfortable.
Be Flexible: Sometimes you are going to experience some curveballs before or during a game. For example:
- You may be asked to add or move players after you have started if some players are late.
- Whatever you prep, be ready to make adjustments on the fly in order to finish on time. You may find that your party are all experienced vets and are cruising through your adventure quickly, or you may find your party following every red herring and searching literally everything along the way. You may need to add or remove content in order to make a proper night of it.
End On Time: We do not have a minimum amount of time that your adventure has to run (although most run three to four hours) but we usually have a fairly hard stop in terms of when your adventure should finish. This is to respect the venue we are playing at and also the schedules of the participants. The host of your event should give you a one hour heads up, but we recommend that you set yourself a timer so you have some room to wind things down. If an event ends at 10:30 your game should be done and pepole should be actively packing up/paying tabs etc.

Safety Tools

Although there are plenty of safety tools out there, we use the X-card at all of our events. You should find one on your table when you arrive at the event, if you do not see one ask the host or look in the event kit. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with this tool before running any games for TODnD.

GM Supplies

We will have the following items onsite at every event we run:

DM Screens
Battlemats
Dry Erase Markers
Creature and Terrain Clings (for use with a battlemat)
Pencils
Extra Dice
A Copy of the PHB
L1 and L5 pregens for players to use

You are of course free to bring your own materials, and if you feel like there is something additional that we should be adding to our kits please let us know.

The Night Of: Step By Step

Before You Start Playing

When you arrive at the venue look for the host. If you don’t know who that is and can’t identify them just ask somebody working at the venue. When you talk to the host confirm the level range of the session you are running, the number of players you are expecting and what table you will be sitting at. Gather any supplies you need from the kit and start your setup.
Please make sure that you are wearing a name tag. If you are comfortable including your pronouns on your name tag we encourage you to do so.
When you have all your players or you are ready to start show your players the X-card and explain it's purpose and usage.
Ask your players if any of them have a hard time limit. Assuming it’s a reasonable time to finish the adventure aim to have that be the end of the night. If they have to leave very early, you can write them out mid-adventure however you like.
If any players at your table have characters that exceed the max level for your table ask them to downgrade to the level max. This will apply to hit points and dice, spell slots, features, magic item limits and anything else that makes sense at the time.
If your table has players at multiple levels, all players below the highest level player will temporarily increase their max HP and hit dice to the appropriate level. You can find details for this in the PW Game Master guide

During the Game

Keeping everything above in mind, run the kind of game you want and have fun! If you’re not enjoying yourself it is unlikely your players are either.
If you are having any issues that you need addressed talk to the host. Alternatively you can let admin know after the event if that is more appropriate.

When the Game Ends

If anybody in your party gained temp hp/hit die, magic items etc remind them that they are gone now.
Before your players leave:
- Remind them to complete the event survey. They will receive an email reminder to do so as well.
- Remind them to pay their tab if they had one.
Return any items you borrowed from the kits. If you used a battlemat please erase/clean it before putting it back.
Remember to complete your post-event survey. Signing off on this form will grant you a session credit to apply to any in-range charavter you have.
If you have any concerns that require immediate attention please talk to the host.