Referee This

What follows is a rant. You have been warned.

I have made it no secret that I have a preference for the moniker given to an RPG's "master", at least in the text of the rules. When it's D&D, you are a Dungeon Master. No shit, right? If you're running a game of Call of Cthulhu you are the Keeper. If you're killing zero level characters in DCC RPG you're a god damned Judge.

And it's that last one I favor most of all. I confess my reasons are not related whatsoever to the meaning of the word, other than it being nice that the word kinda means what you're doing. I know a lot of people have objections to terms such as Dungeon Master or game master because of the "master" part. I mean... whatever. I understand that argument. I just think it's balls stupid. I don't give two shits what the word means here. I'm running fantasy RPGs, not doing social studies.

(In the background while reading that last bit imagine the sound of a can of beer being popped open and a farting noise, right? Hah. No but seriously.)

Where was I?

Judge. I like that term. Because of these four reasons:

• It rolls off the tongue
• It has some history
• It's very very short so I don't need to shorten it
• It is not god damned "referee"

I mean it. I fucking detest the term "referee" for a game master. I'm not too keen on "game master" either, but that one's so generic and milquetoast it has not only lost all teeth but all real meaning to me. But at least it's not fucking "referee". I can live with GM. It's so banal it's invisible. But if the game text says I'm the "referee" I will call myself Judge, thank you very much.

I can't even explain why I hate that term so much. I know it has been used in various classic games such as one of my favorites, Star Frontiers. And that's ok. I can deal with that in older games. But not new games. Why would you use that word in a new game? Come up with something unique to  your own game. Or at least go with GM for fuck's sake.

Yeah yeah, I know. It's just a name and doesn't matter. I know that. And honestly how often do you USE the title of the GM in your games? In my experience, almost fuckin' never. It's mainly an aesthetic choice for the game text. And I'm into aesthetics. I'm into vibes. I'm not into technical manuals. Generic terms like "referee" just scream toaster oven instructions. If you expect me to read your game book and run it or play it then don't bore me. MÖRK BORG my ass.

(It'll be hilarious if it turns out that game just uses "referee".)

/rant

Garsh! I'm a Ref-ur-EEEE.

EDIT: MÖRK BORG uses the term "Game Master". Turns out the text doesn't discuss this very much, as it doesn't discuss anything very much. God damn that's a nice lookin' game. Anyway, you can get by with GM (or even god damned referee) if you game is sufficiently cool. But I'm watchin' you...