The Role of the Game Master

Your role as GM is to run an adventure and act as a referee for the players. The latter means that you should have a good grasp of the rules.

Since there are many different types of adventures, running one is not always the same. You may want to create your own adventure before the game session or read a premade adventure. Depending on the style of the adventures and your preferred style of GMing, the death of a PC (and introduction of backup characters) may be a common occurrence or almost never happen.

Running an adventure usually includes some amount of preparation, an introduction, a presentation of options and challenges and improvisation. Everything else is up to the players, their imagination, decisions and dice rolls. When an ability check is made, you are there to narrate the consequences.

As a GM, you should also let your players tell you what their characters are all about. You may choose to include their backstories into the adventures to foster their interest.