Should the game be PC's vs. DM

[Corvidae]

Should the game be played as player's vs. DM.

I mean, should the DM try to kill the pc's at most turns, or even try to make things as deadly as possible, or should it be a cooperative game.

Should the DM be basically a storyteller, leading the PC's along a story so that whatever will break the story should not be done.

Is it a competative game, is it a game of outsmart the DM.

How do you handle the game, and how do you think the game ought to be played.

John

 

[Dragonhelm]

The DM should be a referee, not an opponent. D&D is not about who is winning. Rather, it is a cooperative storytelling adventure game.

 

[Odhanan]

It's a cooperative game.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Personally, I think it is up to the group - and that's the way it should be.

Some groups enjoy having the DM set up an adventure/Dungeon crawl and trying to survive it ... assuming that it is doable barring bad luck and/or stupid choices.

Some groups like D&D to be a story that is coopreative told.

I don't see anything wrong with either opinion, so long as everyone is getting what they want out of the game.




Now, if you were to ask my personal opinion as to which I prefer and not which I think is right ...

I will say that I prefer a cooperative game. I like DMs who challenge my character (not only physically but even more emotionally/morally/ethically. I like games that don't even feature combat!). I dn't care much for competition, rather I prefer to use the skills of all to have fun rather than try to figure out who won and who lost.

 

[Odhanan]

It's a cooperative game EVEN if it's played with a players vs. DM attitude. For instance, if "the DM tries to kill the pc's at most turns, or even try to make things as deadly as possible", he kills the PCs, period. The DM does whatever he wants at the game table. He can say that the material plane falls apart instantly, or a comet of Jupiter's size falls right on the PCs, and they're dead. Over. Period. So, a DM has to stop somewhere, to level things up to the level of the players' character, and as soon as the DM does that, there is cooperation in the DM's mind, the cooperative aspect for the players being always there since they accept the DM's authority as a base social pact to play the game. Thus, RPGs are always cooperative by nature.

 

[Treebore]

I'm an adversarial DM. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mena I'm out to kill you.

It means I'm out to challenge you. IT means I'm going to make you sweat, hold your breath without realizing it until you feel light headed, make you scream about horrible loss, and cheer for great success.

It means that when all is said and done your going to feel like you've been through a ringer, a press, and super hot steam bath, boiled in oil, and that you have accomplished something. Hopefully, you even feel a bit... heroic.

That is the kind of game I run to try my darndest to make you feel like. Some times I succeed, sometimes I don't, usually it comes up somewhere in the middle. :\

 

[Hussar]

Should the game be played as player's vs. DM.

I mean, should the DM try to kill the pc's at most turns, or even try to make things as deadly as possible, or should it be a cooperative game.

Should the DM be basically a storyteller, leading the PC's along a story so that whatever will break the story should not be done.

Is it a competative game, is it a game of outsmart the DM.

How do you handle the game, and how do you think the game ought to be played.

John

I think that gaming is none of the above. The DM should not be "leading the PC's along a story", nor should it be competitive with the DM winning whenever he kills the PC's.

Both are examples of bad DM'ing.

To me, the DM should strive to be as neutral as possible during play. While I realize you can never be 100% neutral, it's still the goal to try for. If the players want to try something, facilitate that if you can. If their ideas lead to a TPK, so be it. If the players obliterate your BBEG in one round, fantastic. If you do the same to them, great (assuming the encounter was well crafted of course).

I see my job in game as a soccer ref. Keep the game moving and don't pick sides. I don't care particularly if the orcs kill the PC's or the PC's kill the orcs.

 

[Odhanan]

I think that gaming is none of the above. The DM should not be "leading the PC's along a story", nor should it be competitive with the DM winning whenever he kills the PC's.

Both are examples of bad DM'ing.

QFT

My personal take on adversial versus "hold-your-hand" DMing is that I'm the host of the game and the evening. As such, it is my role to provide entertainment suitable to the guests, the players of the game. Satisfactory entertainment using RPGs can be reached using a number of techniques, and the efficiency of these techniques will depend a lot on the particular taste of each and every single guest and how these tastes can be satisfied simultaneously to create a synergy, i.e. a great evening for everyone.

One of these "techniques" involves the management of the players' satisfaction with their characters' deeds. No deed seems valuable without challenge, but on the opposite there is such a thing as an overwhelming challenge that destroys any entertainment a player can get from the game. So the DM should know the players and measure the amount of challenge and reward so that they feel the decisions they took as players made a difference in the game and made their characters succeed or fail, survive or die.

PS: As for DMing a "story" and "guiding the PCs through the plot", I won't even go there. I am absolutely against what I call "narrativist GMs" and the notion that an adventure is a "story" to be told to or by the players.

 

[Daijin]

Personal Opinion... DM is Lawful Neutral Uncaring...just make the campagin universe/world breath..without taking sides and NO FUDGING!!!!

 

[Wik]

I *hate* it when the GM is against us. Within the last year or so, I had an encounter where the GM was definately against us, and it was easily one of the top five worst sessions ever.

That said, Co-operative gaming isn't necessarily what I'd want to play in, either....