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Improving as a DM?
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 4743152" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>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. Likely they don't want to hurt your feelings, and, even stronger than that, they may not have given any thought to it either. Not that they don't care about your game. That's not it at all, but, expecially if they've never DM'd, they just don't really consider the game outside of the box of their personal involvement. "Did I have fun?" is about the only criteria that most players apply to a session.</p><p></p><p>Getting them to tell you why they had fun, or what parts were fun can be like pulling teeth. I feel for you.</p><p></p><p>My advice would be to be very specific in your questions. Don't try to put it at the level of enjoyment, but rather ask them for reactions to very specific elements of the game. For example, say your session featured a lot of combat. Don't ask if they liked the combat, but, ask about a specific event in the combat. "Hey, that fight with the X kinda dragged didn't it?" or, "Did you expect Y to jump out at you?"</p><p></p><p>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?"</p><p></p><p>It does really help to be as specific as you can.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 4743152, member: 22779"] 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. Likely they don't want to hurt your feelings, and, even stronger than that, they may not have given any thought to it either. Not that they don't care about your game. That's not it at all, but, expecially if they've never DM'd, they just don't really consider the game outside of the box of their personal involvement. "Did I have fun?" is about the only criteria that most players apply to a session. 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. Don't try to put it at the level of enjoyment, but rather ask them for reactions to very specific elements of the game. For example, say your session featured a lot of combat. Don't ask if they liked the combat, but, ask about a specific event in the combat. "Hey, that fight with the X kinda dragged didn't it?" or, "Did you expect Y to jump out at you?" 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. [/QUOTE]
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