Referee

The referee of a role-playing game is a player with a special job. Rather than playing a single character, he plays all the non-player characters in the game as well as presenting the current scenario or adventure to the players.

Alternate Titles

Games frequently have their own title for the referee. Below is a list of examples and the games from which they derive.

• Administrator -- Top Secret
• Animator -- Toon
• Director -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dungeoneer
• Dungeon Master -- Dungeons & Dragons
• Game Master -- Shadowrun, many others
• Holmeister -- HOL
• Hollyhock God -- Nobilis
• Host -- IronClaw, JadeClaw
• Keeper of Arcane Secrets (or simply Keeper) -- Call of Cthulhu
• Man, The -- Starchildren
• Mission Director -- RECON and RECON Modern Combat
• Moderator -- Blue Planet
• Narrator -- Star Trek
• Referee -- Traveller
• Storyguide -- Ars Magica
• Storyteller -- White Wolf's various games
• Wulin Sage -- Weapons of the Gods