Am I an atypical DM?

[Samnell]

Thinking back over the complaints about 3.5e (and 3e) that have been made during the last few years, I get the feeling I'm playing a different game than other people.

Atypical among ENWorld posters who generally have lots to say about 3e DMing? You share some vocabulary but are otherwise entirely unrelated. You might as well be in different universes.

Atypical among DMs in general? Probably not. Neither ENWorld, nor any other self-selected sampling of a population is going to give you much of an idea about typical practices and tastes. You can see the same phenomenon when critics read comics vs. when ordinary comic book readers read them.

 

[cmrscorpio]

I have one player who takes ages every single time to add up his bonuses and rolls. Thing is, he knows the rules, and his mathematical skills are just fine. Buit every round it's "Oh, he's making an attack roll... everyone go for a walk for a while or something!"

You just hear this stream of numbers from him... 17..9...23...2...31... you don't know whether these numbers are rolls, modifiers, totals or subtotals, they just go on for a while then stop. And I have to say something like "So that last number in the series was your total attack roll, right?" in the hope that, in the absence of any other indication, that was, in fact, the last number!

Then comes the damage roll... which takes even longer... and, with multiple attacks presented in a stream of numbers muse format, makes it hard to determine which numbers are damage rolls, which are modifiers, which are totals, or even how many separate damage rolls are there or if he's added them all up. Gah!

God knows where it all comes from!

Yeah, I had a player who did that constantly as well. Come to find out, he was using it to confuse me so that he could cheat and add in extra pluses I was always too busy DMing to notice, but my wife happened to notice it. She told me after the session what she'd witnessed. Then in the next session I watched for it. His ass was kicked out of the group in the middle of the combat. Get out. Don't come back. Good bye, good riddance.

 

[Gold Roger]

I don't think there's a typical DM. There are some basic types of DM's and you fit one of them, considering I've seen plenty of DMs on boards like you, fit the type as well and have seen almost the same thread once before (that time started by Crothian).

 

[Ashrum the Black]

Combat Speed: It took 1.5 hours to run a combat for my four players attacking the inner sanctum of a cult filled with about 60 cultists. The Pc's were all around 14-15th level. For that amount of butt whoop I'd say the time taken was fine. No problems in my book.

Prep-Time: I like to take advantage of the options available for my NPC's so prep time can be an issue, especially since there aren't always monsters that can fill the niche I need. A good in-house created and supported pc program to speed this would be awesome. This is my choice, and today, part of my fun as the DM is in generating these baddies. I just wish it went a little faster at times.

Options: I like options, I also like flavor and the two don't always mix well. So as the DM I nix the options that don't fit within the flavor I've set up for the game. But that doesn't mean a decent player with some good flavor changines to a class can't turn me around. But folks whining they want to play prestige class X becuase they want uber power Y that doens't fit with campaign z. Not so much. Options are great and not the big evil some folks like to say they are (IMHO) But they do require some watching from time to time.

-Ashrum

 

[an_idol_mind]

I don't know what the typical DM might be like, but you sound pretty much in line with my experiences DMing D&D. For all the complaints I've heard about D&D being overly complicated, combat taking forever, and NPC prep being impossible, I seem to get a lot of quality playing time for a minimum of preparation. It also helps in game that I usually adhere to the guideline that I learned when I started playing RPGs: if you don't know a rule, make something up and look it up after the game is over.

 

[mhensley]

Yeah, I had a player who did that constantly as well. Come to find out, he was using it to confuse me so that he could cheat and add in extra pluses I was always too busy DMing to notice, but my wife happened to notice it. She told me after the session what she'd witnessed. Then in the next session I watched for it. His ass was kicked out of the group in the middle of the combat. Get out. Don't come back. Good bye, good riddance.

This is why DM's don't really have to worry about players cheating- the players will watch for it themselves. Nobody wants to be constantly upstaged by someone who is cheating and eventually they will out anyone who does.

 

[Lockridge]

I've always found combat to be a crawl. In a typical four hour session, we will have a fast-paced roll-playing session for a couple of hours and then the pace grinds to a halt when the DM says "roll initiative". (meaning combat begins).
At that point people start wandering from the table or making small talk while others decide what to do.
None of us have the books memorized so very often (especially with non-core spells and abilities) we have to slow to find out what a particular spell or ability is.
I do wish there were a way that combat could match the pace of the roll-playing.

 

[an_idol_mind]

I've always found combat to be a crawl. In a typical four hour session, we will have a fast-paced roll-playing session for a couple of hours and then the pace grinds to a halt when the DM says "roll initiative". (meaning combat begins).
At that point people start wandering from the table or making small talk while others decide what to do.
None of us have the books memorized so very often (especially with non-core spells and abilities) we have to slow to find out what a particular spell or ability is.
I do wish there were a way that combat could match the pace of the roll-playing.

Have you tried writing down commonly used spells or abilities on index cards? That would help avoid flipping through rule books and the like. It's pretty easy to just write down the type of effect on one side (spell, special ability, etc.) and then write down what the ability down on the back.

 

[Lockridge]

Thanks idol mind,
Our group has tried index cards. But perhaps its a question of discipline for our group. Although we've tried it we are not always consistent and don't keep the cards up to date. Often the spellcasting players don't have the time or don't take the time to keep their quick-reference stuff current.
Ideally, in my opinion, I'd like a major combat to be no more than an hour and a half and a regular combat to be a half hour.
Instead we find that regular combats are 1.5 to 2 hours with major combats being 2 to 3 hours.
Now of course perhaps we simply are not very good players. Or perhaps we could use some suggestions for speeding up combat but that would be more suited to a separate post.
Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Your style sounds alot like mine as well.
Hearing people say it's hard to deal with seems a little Alien to me. I find it to be one of the easiest games i have ever played.