What's Your Biggest Failing as a DM

I'm sure there are perfect DM's out there. I, however, am not one of them.

I guess if I were to wax introspective for a moment I would say that in general I have too much of a tendency to railroad characters. I try and give them lots of options and go in whatever direction they want, but in my heart I've got this "story" in mind that I want to tell and I construct my adventures in such a way that it inevitably draws the characters along with the story.

I guess I'm also too easy on the players. I generally don't like to kill them off (though I still do, plenty of times) and when they do die and get raised I have a house rule that they only lose a level for a while (until they perform a quest for the diety whose priest raised them).

Okay enough self-deprecation, anybody else have a weakness as a DM, or if you're all perfect you can just be critical of my weaknesses...

Hm. I also tend to railroad characters. And, I'm also too easy on them, though lately I've been working on that (ask my players!)

Hm. Besides that, I don't know if I include all characters equally, which I've also been working on. Giving them each a chance to shine, so to speak.

What a coincidence.

I tend to railroad my players.

And I go too easy on them.

Should we start some kind of GM support group? Railroaders Anonymous?

Tom

Perhaps we've been wrong all along and "perfect" DM's railroad players and go to easy on them and all the people telling us to not railroad our players and go easy on them, those are the "bad" DM's....

No? Well it was worth a shot...

heh

I, too, was known for railroading and being easy on PCs. So, around Christmas I created a modern day horror game in which I did not railroad or take it easy on the PCs at all. It lasted 2 sessions before they mutinied and canceled my game. They were lost without railraoding and they found the game hard because I was not giving them any breaks.

I don't think there are perfect DMs, however theere are DMs who perfectly fit the style their players want.

My Biggest Failings as a DM?

I would have to say my flaws are the simple ones. I tend to leave some of the characters out of the rewards of a dugeon. Such as Monks and Druids, I tend to ignore those classes as I don't care too much for them. My other flaw is that I am too nice on them at times. "You see a small heard of Lower Gorgons ahead. Some of them seem dead" I gotta learn to stick to my plans. Although they have yet to slay any of my dragons

Crothian said:

I, too, was known for railroading and being easy on PCs. So, around Christmas I created a modern day horror game in which I did not railroad or take it easy on the PCs at all. It lasted 2 sessions before they mutinied and canceled my game. They were lost without railraoding and they found the game hard because I was not giving them any breaks.

I don't think there are perfect DMs, however theere are DMs who perfectly fit the style their players want.

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A good story and a good point. Though I'm beginning to wonder if the only possible DM failings are railroading and being easy on the players. Just to assure myself I'll list some others:

Too much exposition- The DM spends to much time describing the scenes and telling you what happens.
Poor Rules Knowledge- A DM who has a poor grasp of the system.
Easily Bullied- Anytime a character has a problem with a ruling the DM caves in too easily.
Uncreative- A campaign which just isn't that interesting.
Fixated on one type of encounter- Every monster is a single powerful monster, because it's easier to run, or every encounter is a horde of low-level monsters because they are easier to generate.
Too little exposition- "You see an orc in a 10x10 room, what do you do?"

Having made the list I think I've dabbled with all of the above, but only for a session or two before realizing my mistake...

I'm too hard on my players, I never fudge dice rolls either way, and I probably give them too much freedom of action.

Crothian said:

I, too, was known for railroading and being easy on PCs. So, around Christmas I created a modern day horror game in which I did not railroad or take it easy on the PCs at all. It lasted 2 sessions before they mutinied and canceled my game. They were lost without railraoding and they found the game hard because I was not giving them any breaks.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear it didn't go so well. My most recent campaign (started last October) I have been taking a similar approach. I have a large degree of build-out around the specific task at hand, and all of the different plots they've been involved in relate to a larger, partially-known plot. Overall it has gone well, although there have been a few sessions that weren't so hot.

I give them gentle nudges and vague quests here and there, but my general approach is to gradually have them uncover new pieces of the whole plot, which naturally leads them to uncover more--although not always what I expect.

I say as long as your characters understand the how the game will work (with frequent reminders as I have learned), it will be both challenging and fun. The response from my players has been very positive and I expect this campaign to continue for a while more. They're level 5-6 and they are a long away from "saving the world."