Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering (2002)

From the back of the book:

GMs, Make Your Skills Like Unto Mighty Slicing Swords!

Has your game got the blahs? Are your players spending more time thumbing through your book collection than hunting down clues, more energy heckling one another than in crushing their cruel foes? Never fear, o beleagured Game Masters, for Robin D. Laws, noted game designer (Feng Shui, Hero Wars, Dying Earth, Rune) and columnist (Dragon magazine, The Play's the Thing) has sojourned long in the gaming wilderness to bring you the techniques required to take your mastery of Game Mastering to the next level.

Know Your Players! Learn to peg the tastes and desires of your gaming group! Separate the power gamers from the tacticians. Discover the differences in coloration between the storyteller, the method actor, and the specialist. (Don’t forget that casual gamer sitting over in the corner; he needs to be handled with care!)

Analyze Your System! Does your chosen rules set facilitate your players’ reasons for coming to the gaming table, or thwart them? Learn how your choice affects your ability to keep your group riveted to their collective chairs.

Build Your Campaign! Decide whether to create from the bottom up, or on the fly. Learn the trade-offs between wild originality and the embrace of clichés the come pre-encoded in your players’ DNA. Identify your standard tone, and discover when to modify it.

Design Adventures! Lace your scenarios with plot hooks, sharp and ready to reel your players in tight. Master the mysteries of structure, choosing the one that’s right for you. Do you feel like an episodic adventure tonight, or perhaps a puzzle-piece?

Prepare To Be Spontaneous! Feel intimidated by the need to improvise? Here Robin blows the lid off the secrets of skillful improvisers: they prepare ahead of time, the cheaters! Scoop up their tricks, and stuff them into your own toybox.

Achieve Mastery of Focus! Keep your players in the palm of your hand. Learn what the focus is, how to find it, when to control it, and when to let it roam free.

Improvise Like a Fiend! Learn specific techniques to jog your creativity when inspiration flags. Acquire the sleek yet powerful random choice chart, an all-purpose decision-maker suitable for any system or situation.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced roller of the polyhedrals, the simple insights in this book will improve your Game Mastering faster than you can say, „Roll for initiative!“