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Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen
GameMastery Guide / Getting Started / Duties of a GM

A Game Master's Glossary

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 9
Listed below are a few terms with which all new Game Masters should be familiar. These terms are mentioned throughout the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and, beyond those presented in the Common Terms section (link), are among the most important in the Game Master’s lexicon.

Adventure: An adventure is a self-contained storyline the PCs experience. An adventure is composed of a series of encounters furthering the storyline.

Campaign: A collection of stories weaving into an overreaching narrative. It may be a string of published adventures, a chain of homebrewed material, or an Adventure Path designed to be played as a series. A campaign may or may not have a definitive or predefined end point.

Campaign Arc: A sequence of adventures that mesh well with each other, usually part of a larger campaign. Game Masters often run these shorter arcs to create a story that’s more concise than a full campaign but longer than a single adventure.

Encounter: An encounter is a short scene in which the PCs are actively doing something. Examples of encounters include a combat with a monster, a social interaction significant to the adventure’s plot, an attempt to disarm a trap, or the discovery of a mystery or clue requiring further investigation.

Metagaming: This is when characters act on information that they don’t have access to, but which their players know from the real world. Metagaming comes into play when players fail to maintain a divide between in-character knowledge and out-of-character knowledge. That could include anything from uncannily accurate in-character predictions from a player who’s already read the adventure, players recognizing monsters when their characters wouldn’t, low-Intelligence characters accessing well-educated players’ knowledge and talents, etc.

Session: A session is a single bout of gaming. Not every session ties up an adventure; many adventures require multiple sessions to complete. The duration of sessions varies from group to group, from a few hours to a weekend.