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How Important Is Rules Knowledge In Being A Good D&D DM?
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3317801" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>First, no dissing the programmers. Second, where the heck are you working that the programmers are straight laced?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Practice. That's about it. DMing is hard. I wouldn't claim to know how to make that 4th round of combat against the orc horde interesting, especially the second or third time it happens, except to say that if you don't have much interesting to say about the combat you probably shouldn't have had it in the first place. There is only so much you can say about the dice rolls. (If there is too much going on to focus on the individuals, at least try to give the big picture.) </p><p></p><p>I try to make my fights occur in tactically interesting places so that there is lots of motion to the fight (either the monsters or the PC's or both). But like I said, DMing is hard.</p><p></p><p>Keep always in mind that you are trying to entertain people. To be a DM is to be a performer. Combat is one oppurtunity to do that. Try to follow the fight in your head in first person (yes, I know, minatures distract from this big time). First and foremost, you are trying to tell the characters what they see and hear. You probably used to do this before you got distracted. Now you just got to do two things in your head simultaneously. Like Manning in the pocket watching the recievers focusing on all the down field routes but stepping up at the last momment to escape the pressure. </p><p></p><p>Practice.</p><p></p><p>I wouldn't worry too much about squeezing every last drop of challenge out of every encounter. I kinda have a meta CR that I factor into an encounter, which is basically how intelligent and cunning I plan on playing the foe. It doesn't make sense to play zombies, animals, orcs and so forth with as much cunning as you'd play something with 18+ INT. If I don't plan on making a big plan, I just toss in an extra foe or three. If you are planning for a memorable fight, plan for it the way you'd plan for a chess game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 3317801, member: 4937"] First, no dissing the programmers. Second, where the heck are you working that the programmers are straight laced? Practice. That's about it. DMing is hard. I wouldn't claim to know how to make that 4th round of combat against the orc horde interesting, especially the second or third time it happens, except to say that if you don't have much interesting to say about the combat you probably shouldn't have had it in the first place. There is only so much you can say about the dice rolls. (If there is too much going on to focus on the individuals, at least try to give the big picture.) I try to make my fights occur in tactically interesting places so that there is lots of motion to the fight (either the monsters or the PC's or both). But like I said, DMing is hard. Keep always in mind that you are trying to entertain people. To be a DM is to be a performer. Combat is one oppurtunity to do that. Try to follow the fight in your head in first person (yes, I know, minatures distract from this big time). First and foremost, you are trying to tell the characters what they see and hear. You probably used to do this before you got distracted. Now you just got to do two things in your head simultaneously. Like Manning in the pocket watching the recievers focusing on all the down field routes but stepping up at the last momment to escape the pressure. Practice. I wouldn't worry too much about squeezing every last drop of challenge out of every encounter. I kinda have a meta CR that I factor into an encounter, which is basically how intelligent and cunning I plan on playing the foe. It doesn't make sense to play zombies, animals, orcs and so forth with as much cunning as you'd play something with 18+ INT. If I don't plan on making a big plan, I just toss in an extra foe or three. If you are planning for a memorable fight, plan for it the way you'd plan for a chess game. [/QUOTE]
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