Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
DM tips - what makes a good DM?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Rechan" data-source="post: 4804832" data-attributes="member: 54846"><p>Try to say "Yes" when players want something. If it makes your DM senses uncomfortable, go for "Yes, and..." so that you take their idea, but weaken it or apply something else to it. If it's too outragous, try "No, but..." </p><p></p><p>When you get to a "no, but...", try to find out what the player <em>wants</em> with what they're asking, and try to come up with a more reasonable solution. For instance, if they want to play some exotic race from some splatbook. Do they want to play that race because the stats are cool? Because the race is cool to them, story wise? If they want the stats, but the race is too strange to fit into your game, take the stats and apply it to something else. If they want the story, but the stats are broken, take the story (let's say, insect people) and give them more mundane stats (elves or halfling stats). </p><p></p><p>Something I touched on above, but is much more universal: you can change the flavor of anything to become something totally different. The same numbers can represent anything you need to describe, as long as the numbers line up well enough. The stats for Orcs can become soldiers made of wood, the stats for a flail can be a simple length of chain, a spell can look completely different as long as it has the same mechanics, etc. </p><p></p><p>GMing involves negotiation. </p><p></p><p>The rules are a guideline. Sometimes you need to bend them or break them. Soemtimes they do not apply to your situattion.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rechan, post: 4804832, member: 54846"] Try to say "Yes" when players want something. If it makes your DM senses uncomfortable, go for "Yes, and..." so that you take their idea, but weaken it or apply something else to it. If it's too outragous, try "No, but..." When you get to a "no, but...", try to find out what the player [i]wants[/i] with what they're asking, and try to come up with a more reasonable solution. For instance, if they want to play some exotic race from some splatbook. Do they want to play that race because the stats are cool? Because the race is cool to them, story wise? If they want the stats, but the race is too strange to fit into your game, take the stats and apply it to something else. If they want the story, but the stats are broken, take the story (let's say, insect people) and give them more mundane stats (elves or halfling stats). Something I touched on above, but is much more universal: you can change the flavor of anything to become something totally different. The same numbers can represent anything you need to describe, as long as the numbers line up well enough. The stats for Orcs can become soldiers made of wood, the stats for a flail can be a simple length of chain, a spell can look completely different as long as it has the same mechanics, etc. GMing involves negotiation. The rules are a guideline. Sometimes you need to bend them or break them. Soemtimes they do not apply to your situattion. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
DM tips - what makes a good DM?
Top