What (who?) is the Jerk DM?

lowkey13 · Mar 1, 2019

*Deleted by user*

Jacob Lewis · Mar 1, 2019

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Ralif Redhammer · Mar 1, 2019

That just about covers most of it. Were I to characterize the Jerk DM, it would be a DM that does not take into account or care whether their players are having fun or not.

Numidius · Mar 1, 2019

The Purists of Realism:

The Causal Linker

"I represent the Causal Link of the game world"

This Gm insists on running a sort of sandbox in which nothing really happens, and after you spend hours, even days, going around looking for something to do or happen, and start complaining openly, he grins, joyful for his mission accomplished. The first warnings are: they don't allow backgrounds, nor goals for the Pc.

The Jailer

"Outside is full of too powerful Npc to stand a chance"

Friendly Uber Npc keep the Pc in a constrictive environment in order to protect them from Adversarial Uber Npc that are outside. A few occasional tour on the outside, just to show off the AUN. At the end of the season the AUN attack your place, FUN take the survivor Pc to a new protected environment. Rinse, repeat. Warnings: Gm is looking for a particular Pc Class to have the niche covered, with your Bg already prepped

jasper · Mar 1, 2019

darn. You is just wrong. That shot gun post took out a third of my former players. And my right arm.

The Pretty Tyrant, Favorites, and Different style are spot on. The killer/ Monty is a phase most dms go through. All the others can you can swap out player or DM.

Dannyalcatraz · Mar 1, 2019

The Personal Score Keeper: uses in-game events as a way to settle RW scores with players

Adversarial/Puppeteer: only the GM’s fun matters, and that fun involves “beating” the other players or making others conform to his/her will.

Tony Vargas · Mar 1, 2019

lowkey13 said:
So during the other thread about the stigma/stereotype/archetype of the Jerk DM that has been going on:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...-quot-jerk-GM-quot-still-persist-in-our-hobby

I began to ask myself, "Self, what exactly is a Jerk DM? And why do I ask myself questions like that?"

There is something wrong with me, because that silly little pun just never gets old, I laugh every time.

Anyway, from a certain perspective, the question asnwers itself. To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, "I know a jerk DM when I play with one." But that's not very helpful.

Not to be contrary (I mean, I am contrary, but in this case, not just for that reason), but my observation is that players tend to praise their current DMs and the games they're running …

… the Jerk DM is often recognized as such in hindsight.

The Petty Tyrant
In my opinion, this is the classic "Jerk DM."

The Favorites DM

IMHO, these fit in the Jerk DM category/stereotype. The others are just jerks, probably 24/7, jerks who happen to DM.

In that sense, I think we should think of the Jerk DM as a sort of lycanthrope, a were-jerk, who's full moon is the DM's screen.

Now, after those categories (which are probably not exclusive, please add your own in the comments,

OK, I'll take a stab at it:

Story Coercers Can't finish that great ~~American~~United Statesian novel or Oscar-worthy screenplay? Can't even string a few sentences together? Inflict that unpublishable third-rate-hack inspiration on a half-dozen gamers!

Setting Tour-Guides With 'creativity' running more to setting than plot, rets really obsessive over the excessively detailed fantasy world they come up with. But they really need other people to care about and validate that obsession. That's what players are for, to be tourists in their world.

Adversarial DMs Sure they could be openly competitive in PvP play in a context meant for that, but why bother when, as DM, you can win whenever you want? Which is every time, of course. Hey, as long as you stick to those encounter guidelines it's 'fair,' right?

Unabashed Chaotic-Evil SadismDifferent from honest adversarial DMing in that the objective isn't so much to best the players as make them suffer. Don't just encourage the player to care about the character and then just kill it - ruin the character horribly, and get the players blame themselves for the horrible things that happen to their characters and any NPCs they foolishly end up caring about.

or just tell me how wrong I am)

You sir, are like those casino commercials: Just the Right amount of Wrong.

there are a number of DM archetypes that are not jerk DMs, even though they aren't good DMs.

OK, now I get to start disagreeing...

The Killer DM / Monty Haul DM

IMHO, the classic Killer DM qualifies as a jerk DM, while the classic Monty Haul DM is just one of Hussar's 'bad DMs' - lacking in skill/perspective/sense of proportion or something, but not malicious.

The Socially Awkward DM

Click to expand...

There are gamers who aren't socially awkward? How did they slip past all the nerdly gatekeeping?
(I kept telling Galen Erso we needed a tighter defense...)

The Different Style DM

Click to expand...

No matter how big a tent they try to build...