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DM as Facilitator or as Adversary?
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<blockquote data-quote="Zerovoid" data-source="post: 2964794" data-attributes="member: 283"><p>I don't see the DM as an adversary. When I am preparing for adventures, I don't flip through the Monster Manual and say, hmmm, how can I beat the PC's this time? 10 Tarrasques are sure to do it!!! I also don't pick an CR and then try to build the most effective combat machine that I can with that CR. When I do that sort of planning, I am NOT trying to beat the PC's, so I don't see how that can be an adversarial role.</p><p></p><p>When playing the monsters against the party, I do take on an adversarial role, but since most of the time spent preparing and playing DnD is not spend running monsters in combat, I cannot classify the job of the DM as adversarial overall.</p><p></p><p>I think the overall job of the DM is to be the facilitator. In this way, the adversarial role is simply a subset of the facilitator role. This is why I voted for facilitator.</p><p></p><p>I don't know how many of you played the Heroquest boardgame when you were younger, but there is a good example of an adversarial DM. In that game, the "DM" plays Zargon, and evil wizard who is out to destroy the party with fiendish traps and monsters. Zargon actually wins by killing all your heroes, or forcing them to retreat, and he loses if you beat the mission successfully. Zargon doesn't pull any punches, he is out for blood. DnD isn't like that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Zerovoid, post: 2964794, member: 283"] I don't see the DM as an adversary. When I am preparing for adventures, I don't flip through the Monster Manual and say, hmmm, how can I beat the PC's this time? 10 Tarrasques are sure to do it!!! I also don't pick an CR and then try to build the most effective combat machine that I can with that CR. When I do that sort of planning, I am NOT trying to beat the PC's, so I don't see how that can be an adversarial role. When playing the monsters against the party, I do take on an adversarial role, but since most of the time spent preparing and playing DnD is not spend running monsters in combat, I cannot classify the job of the DM as adversarial overall. I think the overall job of the DM is to be the facilitator. In this way, the adversarial role is simply a subset of the facilitator role. This is why I voted for facilitator. I don't know how many of you played the Heroquest boardgame when you were younger, but there is a good example of an adversarial DM. In that game, the "DM" plays Zargon, and evil wizard who is out to destroy the party with fiendish traps and monsters. Zargon actually wins by killing all your heroes, or forcing them to retreat, and he loses if you beat the mission successfully. Zargon doesn't pull any punches, he is out for blood. DnD isn't like that. [/QUOTE]
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DM as Facilitator or as Adversary?
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