A couple of years ago, I wrote a post in which I briefly touched on the variety of names by which the Game Master or referee is known in older roleplaying games. Since I'm currently knee-deep in revising Thousand Suns, which uses the term GM, I found my mind wandering a bit back to this topic, trying to remember what alternate terms the RPGs of my youth employed.
A quick check through my library revealed the following, but, as ever, I am certain I missed some important ones. Feel free to fill in any obvious blanks in the comments. I have intentionally not included games whose term is Dungeon Master, Game Master, or referee, since these aren't especially noteworthy.
- Ars Magica: Storyguide
- Call of Cthulhu: Keeper of Arcane Lore
- Chill: Chill Master
- Ghostbusters: Ghostmaster
- Golden Heroes: Script Supervisor
- Marvel Super Heroes: Judge
- Skyrealms of Jorune: Sholari
- Space Opera: StarMaster
- Star Ace: Campaign Master
- Starfaring: Galaxy Master
- Star Trek (Heritage): Mission Master
- The Fantasy Trip: Fantasy Master
- The Morrow Project: Project Director
- Timemaster: Continuum Master
- Toon: Animator
- Top Secret: Administrator
As I'm said, I'm sure there are others, especially after 1990 or thereabouts. Still, I must confess I was a bit surprised by how few I could identify. My recollection was that, back in the day, every roleplaying game had its own unique name for the referee, but I suppose I was mistaken.
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