I figure this should be my first post as it deals with the one thing that everything else in a game hinges upon: it's your fault. Things seldom go perfectly as planned in any table top game and that is one of the wonderful things about this hobby we all enjoy; I love it when my players come up with some creative and ingenuous way to thwart my carefully planned out trap of some kind or another. Just a few weeks ago I had my poor players in the depths of a demonically possessed ship. They had to get to the other side of one of the ballast rooms which, I thought, would mean they would have to swim through the water which I had conveniently placed some nastiness in just to make their lives more interesting. Of course, a bilge room was directly above so they simply pumped out the water in this particular ballast tank and walked through the flopping fish with sharp teeth and sludge. Not quite as interesting as if they had to walk through it, but it was awesome watching them try to figure out something so they didn't have to actually get into the water.
So, of course, things like that happen and you have to be willing to roll with them; however, that isn't really what we're worried about here. The point I'd like to make with this post is if something is going wrong in your game it is your fault. Is a player obviously not paying enough attention to the game? Your fault. Someone bored? Your fault. Game bogged down for some reason? You guessed it, it is your fault. Even when players are being disruptive despite your best efforts it is still your responsibility to cease the disruption. As the GM, you are the captain of the gaming ship and, as such, are ultimately responsible for everything that happens during your game--both the good and the bad. We won't worry about the good being that when stuff like that happens you don't want to change a thing. The steps you should be taking are pretty commonsense, but worth noting anyway.
1) The first thing you need to do is realize when a problem is happening. Although that may sound simplistic ("Of course I'm going to know when something bad is happening in my game!") but sometimes it isn't so easy to detect. In my last game I got caught off guard by a problem that I never even noticed was going on and it very nearly doomed the game. It was the same game I mentioned above; the game had a very dark feel to it and may have even been classified as borderline horror. It was going wonderfully well, I was able to really draw the players into the game and have them concerned about their characters (something every GM looks to do). There were numerous ways they could have gone about tackling the situations I presented them with but their default was to rely heavily upon the cleric in the party and her ties with the divine. This is what I didn't notice and should have. The group was heavily reliant upon the cleric to do quite a bit of the heavy lifting when it came to what was going on with the demons and such. So, when the cleric died the other players played their characters well and simply gave up on the demonic aspects and focused instead on just getting the hell off of this big creepy ship. The feel of the game changed drastically and the hard work I put into the game was ultimately for nothing as we switched gears completely.
The point here is to pay very close attention to what is going on in your game. If the players are having fun, that's great, but are there underlying issues that you should be aware of and dealing with as well? After each game just take a couple of minutes to go over what is happening in the game and try to detect hidden perils that may come up to bite you.
2) Don't ignore the problem in hopes it goes away. Of course, if the issue is a player who is distracted you can--and should--give them a bit of time to correct it themselves; however, if it is continuing then you need to step up and address it. It isn't up to your players to correct problems even if it is them who are creating the problem. Take responsibility for your game and act to make it right.
One of the most difficult things a GM has to deal with is problems with players themselves. It's never comfortable to confront someone about their actions. Several years ago the group I was gaming with moved to one of our player's apartments to play. The problem came about almost immediately after we moved into our new spot. This player's wife doesn't play RPGs but enjoys listening to the game. While this wouldn't bother me at all, the issue was that she was also somewhat vocal about what was going on. If something intense was happening she would let out exclamations of concern and whatnot or if the group was interacting with an NPC she would let out commentary on what the party should do. Not only that but she would also play video games with the sound quite loud and interrupt the game to talk to her husband. It was incredibly distracting both for myself and the players and made it almost impossible to create a mood of any kind. I took the player aside at first and spoke to him about it being I knew him better than his wife. The next session she was better but soon reverted back to disrupting the game so I spoke with her about it after one of our sessions. I suggested putting on earphones for the video games and trying to wait until one of our breaks to speak with her husband (which came at fairly regular intervals being there were a couple of smokers in the group). She got better but then worse again. Finally, I had to talk to the group about finding a different place to play. All in all it took a couple of months to finally work out but I was trying to address the problem in different ways throughout. I should also mention that the player and his wife became very close friends over time and there were no hard feelings--that's important when dealing with things like this, make certain to be polite and take other people's feelings into consideration when addressing tricky situations.
3) Do what needs to be done. I usually start addressing an issue by looking at how I could fix it by changing something about the game itself. If someone isn't as interested as I'd like them to be what do I need to do as a GM to get them into the game? If the game is moving somewhat slowly I'm looking to inject it with some urgency somehow. Of course, it the issue is with a player it isn't really feasible to do this; however, for most issues the GM faces changes in the game can correct the problem. Essentially, try the easiest method and keep escalating the fix until you find something that works. No matter how severe the fix may be, if it has to be done to make the game fun for everyone then it is what needs to happen.
I once had a player who absolutely refused to quit interrupting people and telling them how to play their characters. I'm sure you've all gamed with the same sort of person. They simply must have their voices heard at all times and in all situations regardless of how it interferes with the game. Games usually ended with that player taking off and the others complaining about him. I spoke with him a few times about it but he simply couldn't seem to put any kind of censor on his mouth. Eventually I had to ask him to leave the group.
In a nutshell, make sure that disruptions or other problems in your game don't go unnoticed or unaddressed. Be polite, be constructive if possible but also be firm. It is your game and don't let anything take away from the fun you all should be having. Remember, if something is going wrong, it is your fault!
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