Improving as a DM?

[SlyFlourish]

Robin Laws of Robin's Laws for Good Game Mastering suggests keeping a chart for your players with the following fields:

1. Name
2. Type of player (powergamer, tactiction, slayer, etc)
3. Specific desires - things they typically like that draw them in
4. things you're going to put in your adventures to draw them in.

Keep that chart up to date and you will always have threads to pull them in. I've only just started doing this but it has helped me better think about their wants.

 

[Asmor]

You already are a good DM.

How do I know that?

1. Your players are satisfied and, from the sounds of it, you don't think they're just humoring you.

2. You care enough to ask for advice.

3. You care enough to seek out advice.

4. You are actively engaged with the DMing community (unlike the first 3, this point isn't a requirement to be a good DM, but it sure does help!).

So quit worrying (you won't, but I'm obligated to tell you that) and go read a blog or something.

 

[fba827]

You already are a good DM.

How do I know that?

1. Your players are satisfied and, from the sounds of it, you don't think they're just humoring you.

2. You care enough to ask for advice.

3. You care enough to seek out advice.

4. You are actively engaged with the DMing community (unlike the first 3, this point isn't a requirement to be a good DM, but it sure does help!).

So quit worrying (you won't, but I'm obligated to tell you that) and go read a blog or something.

I could not have said it better, so I shall quote Asmor and ride off his wisdom.

As for other ideas...
really, I am just echoing the choir.

Experience is your best tool for improvement. NOT just experience at DMing more, but also PLAYING more. You learn half of what you need to know about DMing by playing and observing how your fellow players and DM are reacting to things, what "feels" right to you and what doesn't, etc.

Also, for some reason, I have found the start of the _second_ campaign to generally be the best time to gather insight. Because then your players know a bit about you and you can CASUALLY ask for input under the guise of it being for "the next campaign" Stuff like "so you've completed this entire campaign, the world is now safe! yea! (in an email after the session to let the players keep their excitement high) "as I'm planning out the next campaign.. is there a type of theme you'd like instead (something grittier, something more light hearted, etc)? Do you like the item level from this game or should i adjust it a little for the next game? Any rules that were out of whack for this game that you want to try a little different for next campaign,? etc...

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

Thanks for the advice, guys! Though I won't comment on every individual post, I found it all useful.

Before you design the next game session ask them what they would like to do. So would they like say a mystery, more roleplaying, more interaction with NPCs, more combat, what kind of combat, etc, etc. Essentially ask them what kind of game would they like to see.

This, unfortunately, gets about the same level of reaction as asking for critique on my DMing I spent weeks at one point trying to gather from people what sort of game they'd like to play in, when eventually I realized that's something I'll just have to find out myself through experimentation. If you didn't catch on by now, asking didn't really prove terribly useful.

You already are a good DM...So quit worrying (you won't, but I'm obligated to tell you that) and go read a blog or something.

Thanks! Of course, it's not so much worry on my end as it is the drive to improve

Ugh, the dreaded, "Oh, you're game is fine." response. I hate that. Even if it's 100% true, I still hate it. Getting real critical feedback from your players can be very difficult...

...Getting them to tell you why they had fun, or what parts were fun can be like pulling teeth. I feel for you...

...My advice would be to be very specific in your questions...

Another tip might be to keep track during the session. Have a note pad beside you during the game and write down some observations. Come back to those notes afterwards. "Hey, Jim, I saw you were zoning out a bit during that fight with the Giant Badgers, everything ok?" or "Wow, Carla, you really seemed to dig those Giant Badgers, why was that?"

It does really help to be as specific as you can.

Thanks for the ideas! Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's had this problem (though not surprised). I tried being more specific, but given what you've said i think I should ask more about specific details than more general questions. I'll try it out and see how it works.

 

[fba827]

as a general comment to what Hassar said regarding asking about specifics ...

I think you should focus on the specific "positive" spun questions "you really seemed to dig that giant hamster encounter - what about it stuck out for you?"

Asking negatively framed questions "you seemed to be bored during the giant hamsters, hy was that?" actually reminds the players that they were bored and becomes a point that they remember more than other experiences. Of course, if it is a recurring bordeom for a particular player, then ask them about it -- but if it was a one time thing, chalk it up to their mood for the day and don't enforce it in their head that they were bored.

That's just my take on it any way.

 

[Rechan]

Also, for some reason, I have found the start of the _second_ campaign to generally be the best time to gather insight. Because then your players know a bit about you and you can CASUALLY ask for input under the guise of it being for "the next campaign" Stuff like "so you've completed this entire campaign, the world is now safe! yea! (in an email after the session to let the players keep their excitement high) "as I'm planning out the next campaign.. is there a type of theme you'd like instead (something grittier, something more light hearted, etc)? Do you like the item level from this game or should i adjust it a little for the next game? Any rules that were out of whack for this game that you want to try a little different for next campaign,? etc...

Aye.

Not only that, but I've found that the beginning of a campaign is a great time to find out what your players want from the ground up.

What I do, is that I ask the group, "Okay, what theme would you guys like? A sea-voyage game? A thief campaign? A Save-The-World thing, or maybe a game where you're all members of the military?" You get everyone to vote on what kind of theme they want. You can even ask, "Okay, what do you NOT want?" Bill may love city campaigns, be okay with a sea-voyage game, but not like epic save the world campaigns. Joe may be okay with anything; so you know to avoid Epic World-Savers.

This sort of pow-wow, when you address the group, helps the players make their characters together. It's really fun when they all create a backstory together.

Another one of my habits is to say, "Your character must have a reason for adventuring with these guys, or at least, have a reason to adventure with people. Maybe you know eachother, or I don't care." This avoids the inevitable character who has no motivation to continue the adventure with the rest of the party.

 

[op1983]

Charts are nice. Make charts for yourself of things you think you might need to wing at some point. Especially for that all dreaded question, "Whats his name?"

Practice coming up with things on your own.

Dont be so rigid that if your players start winging it that you cant. It is the players job to try to wreck the GMs plans. It is the GMs job to plan on the players wrecking the GMs plans

 

[SlyFlourish]

Another idea I liked is the adventure checklist. This is a list of all the components a good adventure might have. It might not have ALL of them, but its a good list to ask yourself "is there a good puzzle I could put in here?" Also, shake things up. Experiment. Try something weird with lighting or music. One time I bought some sea shore soundtrack mp3 just to remind the players they were in a seaside town.

Here's the list:

- Story seed (what will get them moving)
- encounters
- good villains
- interesting terrain
- physical props
- interesting NPCs
- fantastic locations (think James Bond exotic locations)
- Skill challenges
- Puzzles, riddles, etc.
- Choices that matter and aren't pre-determined
- exciting treasure
- flavorful flavor text
- the right miniatures
- monster stat blocks

There's probably more I'm forgetting but you get the idea.

 

[darjr]

I can't say this one enough. Go see other DM's. Go and play or watch at Conventions, RPGA, your local flgs, see if you can join other groups for a session or two.

The more DMing your exposed to the more you'll see cool stuff from others that you might not pick up otherwise. Everything from tricks, tips, and just plain demeanor and how to handle different situations.

This means looking at and taking away what you can of other styles of DM's and games too.

Edit to add: Take away things from negative experiences too. I mean, don't go looking for them, just when they happen try and analyze them. Play in a game with a new DM, they'll appreciate a player and you'll earn some hard to find insight.