Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The DM Should Only Talk 30% of the Time... Agree or Disagree?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="ccooke" data-source="post: 8464579" data-attributes="member: 6695890"><p>Honestly, I think this concept misses the point a bit. Thinking about how much the DM should speak (or GM in any other system that has a "person who runs the game") is focussing on the wrong problem.</p><p></p><p>The role of a GM is to maximise the enjoyment of the participants (including, of course, themselves). Sometimes that means they should play a load of complex PCs, describe action or scenes, maybe rarely even have two NPCs having an argument while the players figuratively eat popcorn. Sometimes that means that the GM says absolutely nothing while the players run off with ideas for an hour. Fundamentally, the GM should always be ready to either shut up and let the players have fun, or jump in with a few words of prompting or NPC dialogue to keep things rolling and the players involved. </p><p></p><p>As to involving the PCs in worldbuilding (as in defining things, creating backstories, to a lesser extent running NPCs)... it depends massively on the group. I play with several different groups, and I don't think I could put together one complete group of people who would love doing their share of the worldbuilding from them all. When I have tried involving the players more in that side, I have had very mixed results. As with most things, my take on it now is that it depends on the group dynamic. In almost all cases, I would only do group worldbuilding if <em>all</em> the players wanted in on it, though, because anything else is setting the game up for inequalities tension and lack of fun.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ccooke, post: 8464579, member: 6695890"] Honestly, I think this concept misses the point a bit. Thinking about how much the DM should speak (or GM in any other system that has a "person who runs the game") is focussing on the wrong problem. The role of a GM is to maximise the enjoyment of the participants (including, of course, themselves). Sometimes that means they should play a load of complex PCs, describe action or scenes, maybe rarely even have two NPCs having an argument while the players figuratively eat popcorn. Sometimes that means that the GM says absolutely nothing while the players run off with ideas for an hour. Fundamentally, the GM should always be ready to either shut up and let the players have fun, or jump in with a few words of prompting or NPC dialogue to keep things rolling and the players involved. As to involving the PCs in worldbuilding (as in defining things, creating backstories, to a lesser extent running NPCs)... it depends massively on the group. I play with several different groups, and I don't think I could put together one complete group of people who would love doing their share of the worldbuilding from them all. When I have tried involving the players more in that side, I have had very mixed results. As with most things, my take on it now is that it depends on the group dynamic. In almost all cases, I would only do group worldbuilding if [I]all[/I] the players wanted in on it, though, because anything else is setting the game up for inequalities tension and lack of fun. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The DM Should Only Talk 30% of the Time... Agree or Disagree?
Top