The 5+ Styles of DMing: Contrasted/Compared/Mocked

[tonym]

This thread is an effort to create a better understanding in the RPG community of the myriad differences between the 5+ styles of DMing. It is meant in no way to torment DMs, whether or not they have it coming to them.

At the bottom of this post are 2 examples comparing and contrasting different DMing styles. For the purpose of this thread, the 300 or so DMing styles most popular in the RPG community have been boiled down to five (5):

Winger: Makes up nearly everything as he or she goes along.

Planner: Plans ahead. Sometimes waaaay ahead. (No DMing style is better than any other style...but if one 'was' better than the rest, it would be this one.)

Railroader: Railroads the PCs.

Sadist: Torments the PCs five times more than usual.

Newbie: Not overly concerned with logic.


Feel free to invent others styles in your posts. Also, substitute GM for DM as you please.



Tony M

* * * * *

An Adventuring Party approaches a town...

PLANNER: As you approach the gate of the town, you see a man--middle-aged, wearing an old bronze breastplate, carrying a halberd--standing guard. The gate is open. The guard watches you closely, as if expecting trouble.

WINGER: You see a guy by the gate. He scowls and says, “What business do you have in the town of.....of.....” On second thought, the town doesn’t have a name. And the guy smiles and waves you in.

RAILROADER: Hawkmoon the NPC stops at Ironbrow Gate. “We have arrived,” he proclaims to the party. “Let us now proceed to the Town Hall, where we shall inquire as to the condition of the mayor’s niece’s health. Look! My brother approaches! Brother, have you news of the election in Basilwood?”

SADIST: As you approach the town, carrying the body of your slain comrade, the guard slams and locks the gate! From the safety of the other side of the bars, he spits at you. His face is a mask of utter contempt. A big glob of mucus runs down the cheek of your dead friend, held in your arms.

NEWBIE: You approach the town of Whistle. Population 55. Main industry: grinding wheat into flour. The guard at the gate wears full plate and carries a flaming katana. “What can I do for you fine gentlemen?” he asks. Then he attacks you!!

* * *
Another example:

Your PC is introduced to the Mayor of the town...

PLANNER: The mayor says, “Greetings! Mayor Sopkin Grandview at your service!”

WINGER: “Howdy. I am Mayor...um.............just call me Mayor.”

NEWBIE: The mayor jumps from his gold throne. “You have killed my guards for the last time!” he screams. Then he throws nine +10 shurikens at you!!!

* * *

 

[Caspian Moon Prince]

There was a Dragon article about this very thing...I remember it being pretty good. *goes off to find dragon mag*


*Back with mag* *Issue #303 by the way*

The types of DMs listed in that article are

Author-One that is mainly concerned with the storyline that they have will continue on as planned.

Battle Master-Fight, Fight, Fight...and fight some more.

Director-A fly by the seats of their pants author*see above*

Monty Haul-hands out +5 holy keen swords of uber-badness each adventure.

Off-the-Racker-The by the book DM

World Maker-DM that is concerned with making as detailed and vibrant a world as possible, and is using the players as a way to show it off.



Using these listings, I would make myself a Director/World Maker with a smidgen of Author.

With your listings, I would be a Planning-winger(that just doesn't sound right)

 

[Varianor Abroad]

As a long-term Winger, who has learned to be a Planner in the last few years, I can tell you that I never lack for a name when people ask. Though sometimes I will just say "It's unimportant" to get along with the plot.

 

[FireLance]

Well, I'm running a combat-heavy campaign because my players like lots of fights. I consider myself a planner, but since my players pay more attention to fights than plot, the game comes out almost like railroading, but not quite. I only make sure there's a train in the station - it's just that the players always choose to take it .

 

[Dyntheos]

Planner first and foremost, but a loose plan because most campaigns require you to become a winger when the party decides that B looks tastier than A..

 

[Zappo]

Random comments:

Rat bastard = planner + sadist.

In my experience, newbie often overlaps with railroader.

Wingers aren't necessarily that bad. I was a pretty good winger once, now I feel I've somehow lost several levels there and gained them back as planner. Go figure.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

WINGER: You see a guy by the gate. He scowls and says, “What business do you have in the town of.....of.....” On second thought, the town doesn’t have a name. And the guy smiles and waves you in.

Guilty.

 

[Felix]

Sometimes its hard to tell the difference twixt a way-in-the-future Planner and a Railroader. The planner will have decided how his NPCs are going to react based off of what they have heard about the PCs, and that will narrow the PCs ability to influence them.

For example: You run away from the trolls that are storming towards town. The DM decides a survivor made it to the next town. When you show up in that town a year down the road, the survivor will remember that you abandoned his town to trolls when they had paid you for protection. So the new town won't like you at all, even though you have never had direct contact.

I'm not saying that it is railroading, but that it can seem that way sometimes.

And my DM is a Planner 5/Sadist 2/RatBastard 8.

 

[RangerWickett]

Holy crap, is 'tonym' the Tony Moseley who does Zogonia? If so, dude, you rock. You have a site?

Anyhoo, the Planner is best when tempered with a bit of winging, or rather, the willingness to change a plot and make up on the fly when the party throws you a curveball. A good Planner knows how to wing it so he can avoid railroading. And hey, newbie and sadist both love doing cool stuff, just newbies tend to kill parties as a side effect, whereas for sadists it's the reason they play the game in the first place.

*grin*

 

[Galethorn]

I have to say, without a doubt, I have a pretty bad xp penalty because of my multiclassing between PC and DM classes...

I started out as an Expert2, then took a level of Newbie when I got my first DMing experience...after a couple more levels, I retired from DMing, and played under a Winger4/Planner2/Newbie5 who was fairly good with pre-made adventures. About six months ago, I started up a game in a non-d20 system, resulting in me being Expert2/Newbie3/Alienist1. The game was a success, mainly because of coming up with a plot before hand. I took a level of Planner. Finally, about a month or two ago, I started up a new D&D campaign with lots of thought before hand, leaving me as an Expert2/Newbie3/Alienist1/Planner3. From now on, I'll be working on Planner (hoping for the World Builder PrC).


Anyway, uhhh...yeah...I'm a planner now, at heart, since I've seen how badly Winging goes with me at the wheel...and nobody likes playing with a Newb DM...well, no good-aligned players at least. Almost took a level of Railroader by accident...but it would have been against my alignment.