The best DM compliment I have ever received.

[shilsen]

Some recent ones:

"I really like that you don't get stressed or freaked by any of the insane things our characters do."

"Thanks. You're a great teacher." (from a total newbie)

And the really fun ones:

"I hate you, Shil"

"It's one of Shil's clerics. This will be rough."

"It's one of Shil's archers. This will be rough."

"It's one of Shil's wizards. This will be rough."

"The black cat crossed our path? Run away!"

"Daaaaamn!"

 

[Desdichado]

Oops... I guess I should amend that statement a bit then, since I don't want to make it sound like my hubby never says nice things... quite the contrary. But the compliment in question was just so offhanded and unexpected that it took me completely by surprise.

Hehe, yeah, that tends to be the case at my house as well. I can be complimentary all day and my wife just thinks it's routine, but when I compliment her on something unexpected, that's what gets the real payoff.

As to my DMing, I tend to get fairly generic compliments as well. Maybe I should fish for better ones... Nah.

 

[Macbeth]

The only really direct, quotable compliment I've had is a player telling me I had run my best adventure ever after an emotional, heavy roleplay-but-with-fun-combat session.

 

[Schmoe]

I really felt good when my players started thanking me after a session. It only took them two years... (grumble )

I also like it when one of the players says something like "wow, that is so cool" after I describe a situation.

And one of my most reticent players just told me that, if he was playing in any other campaign and there were this many deaths, he would have quit. That one really made my day.

But by far the highest compliments I receive are when some of the players come to me asking for advice on where I get my ideas, or how to create a campaign world. It is truly humbling.

 

[Gothmog]

Hmm, I've had several that gave me warm DM fuzzies and let me know my players were really into the game:

1. I got snuffles and tears out of 3 of my 5 players when an NPC druid they had become very attached to died due to a mistake on their parts. They even held a funeral for him and each of them said a eulogy- I was pretty amazed.

2. I have scared the snot out of my players many times with atmoshpere, description, keeping the room dark lit only by candles. The most memorable was about 6 years ago the group was exploring the wreckage of a city fire, and they were in an old orphanage. In the basement below the orphanage, the party bard (who was played by a girl with a strong maternal instinct) was poking around alone when she heard the voices of children faintly. Following the sounds, she went into a chamber where some of the kids had tried to squeeze through a grate in the floor to escape the fire, but the roof partially caved in on them. Her lantern went out, and the voices were all around her. She heard from the darkness "I'm so cold and lonely. Please miss, can you make us warm?" She willingly allowed each of the ghostly children to touch her at once, draining 1 point of Con each (about 9 points total). The party found her later collapsed on the rubble, and she recovered with time. The group was creeped out, and even the guy who usually tries to remain the "iceman" demanded we turn the lights on for a while. After we got done gaming that night she crashed out on my parent's sofa, and she woke up in the middle of the night having nightmares about it. Since then, the ghostly children have followed their "mommy", and try to help in small ways. She sings to them, plays her instruments for them, and tells them stories. They are very protective of her though, and resent other NPCs or PCs treating her badly, sometimes taking very childish and violent responses. I've given several players nightmares a couple times in my campaign, but thats been the most memorable and creepy event (by their reckoning) so far.

3. The paladin willingly gave up his paladinship due to some evil actions to save the lives of a number of people indirectly, and to keep the souls of some innocents from being corrupted. This was the "iceman" player. He went on a dark path for a while, but eventually regained his former status, and the player told me that was the most "kickass" thing he had ever done in gaming.

4. Of course, hearing "That was a kickass game", "I can't believe we made it through that", "I can't believe we figured that out", or "that was awesome- can't wait for next time" is nice too. I used to hear that once every couple weeks, but now that we only play once every month and a half or so that kind of reinforcement isn't as common anymore.

 

[Beard in the Sky]

I had a player who drove from Richmond, VA to South Carolina to game with me every other week.

I posted this on another thread last week with a similar topic, but I once ran a Ravenloft session and the guys were afraid to go get in their cars and drive home alone afterwards.

 

[Taren Nighteyes]

Some really good compliments.....which seem to infrequent by players

As for myself.....some of the below:

1. I have player who travels nearly 2 hours to game with my group.

2. Maintained the same general group for over 9 years. (A couple of adds, a changes, but the same core group of 3 players for all 9 years, and 4 for over 5 years)

3. Everyone prefers me to DM when starting a new game.

4. Been told I'm a "bastard", "evil", "a-hole", "awesome", "great", etc etc.


On the flip side, my players continually poke fun of my artistic (drawing) skills.....

Taren Nighteyes

 

[simmo]

"You realise that I'm going to have to kill you?" - quote from one of my players who followed me in to the kitchen.

 

[Beard in the Sky]

Summer of '02 I worked at a summer camp and DM'ed for some of the kids there. At the end of the summer, they got the camp director to call me up to his office on some pretext, then they decorated the computer room where I worked, yelled Surprise! when I came back, and had this huge chocolate cake that said World's Best Dungeon Master on it. That was very cool.

That is awesome! Its hard to top that... well, maybe with candles. (ducks and runs)

 

[Pants]

The expressions on the players' faces are enough.

I have gotten some 'good games' occasionally, but what I consider the highest form of flattery is when the players either A) whine about something bad that happened ('Damn, I can't believe the mage got away. What a *deleted for the sake of the youngins*') or B) Talk about a previous encounter later on in the campaign.

There have also been a few times when I really got reactions out of the players. Namely, the Gnome Druid had been imprisoned for regicide and a group of demons were sent to kill him while he was locked up. Well, he escaped, but the demons viciously murdered the poor guards. When other guards arrived on the scene, the demons were gone (and so was the Gnome) they immediately said 'Oh my gods! The gnome... he's .... killed them all!' which was followed by one of the players breaking out in insane laughter. He immediately responded with 'You're a bastard, you know that?'

What more could I ask for?