Weem's "Grade your DM-skills" Challenge...

[Super Pony]

A: Immersion (linked to F below...hang on it will make less sense after unsplain it)
I dive in headfirst into the background and fluff of whatever setting I am running a game in. I do it so that I can have an easier time coming up with NPC's and plots that satisfy my versimilitude for the setting. Usually my players aren't knowledgeable enough to notice, but when they do I get wide eyes and "dude...how do you know all this crap?" I personally just love to provide a description of the what/when/who/how/why of the events transpiring in the world around the player characters. I think it stimulates good roleplay. I know it makes me an obsessive nerd.

B: Rules Knowledge
I spend more time on fluff because it is easier to read. However, I do love me some rules. There are games where A and B switch for me but I tend to forget the small things and for that I give myself a solid B here.

C: Improv
When I forget a plot point or encounter detail I roll with it. I have also been GM'ing for all of my adult life so I do a pretty fair job of herding cats and trying to keep the story somewhat together. That being said I have a tendency (due to my D ranking below) to run into situations requiring Improvisation more often than I should. I am also not above flat out flying off the handle and Rule 0'ing PC's until I get hit with soda cans. This is an area that I have been trying to be more efficient and improve on. 18.5 years of GM'ing makes for some pretty entrenched habits.

D: Preparation
I am a PROcrastinator. I buy midnight oil by the 50gallon drum...and with OPEC charging so much...it hurts. I am also very revisionist in my preparation. I'll write something...then three days later I'll scrap it and do something else. I fiddle and fudge around with different aspects of a session and then go off on some tangent involving some silly bit of minutiae. Then >poof< its the day before a session and I'm typing encounter information up on my work computer and emailing it home to myself. Definitely need to work on this more...but it is hard having a fam, demanding job and this for a hobby. Hopefully by next year we can bump this rating up.

F: Mood
I do everything I can to immerse my players in a game. Handouts, play aids, even papier mache once. We're all "in it" cruising along and something happens that reminds me of a Futurama quote. Then someone chimes in and 15 minutes later we have come round the bend to mentioning something we read on CNN.com...oh wait what were we doing? THis tends to happen "too often." I also do this as a player...such an embarassing trait to be "that guy." Ah well it feels good to get it out there in public so I can be properly burned at the stake for derailing roleplaying sessions. So much for immersion.../facepalm. Oh well at least we have fun.

 

[Thasmodious]

I missed this thread in both of its previous runs somehow. I'm glad you necromanced it, weem, it's an interesting topic. It's been fun reading through the responses.

A - Running a game that is fun for all - my best skill comes from my profession (poker) - reading people. I stereotype and observe people every day and am really good at reading body language and verbal behavior. As such, I know my players cold and can quickly assess new players. I know what they like and what bores them to tears, so I focus gameplay around the things they enjoy and tailor situations to suit the strengths or weaknesses of different players. Couple this with -

B - Winging it - I don't plan much of the game out ahead of the time. I like to let the players dictate the action, story and direction of the game and fill in the details. I'm pretty good at this and am working on getting better. One area of weakness, I would grade it a C, I think, is specifically NPC-PC improv, I do "ummm..." more than I would like. I've been reading up on classic improv techniques for actors and comedians to work on getting better and more natural.

C - Prep. As for how my prep works out at the table, probably a B, but compared to how I dream of my prep working out it's a C. I fantasize about running a completely smooth game through the application of perfectly organized and accessible prep. But it never seems to work out that why. I shuffle papers, forget some detail I really wanted to come up, or have to spend a couple of minutes looking for exactly the thing I worked on because I knew it would come up eventually, but now its buried somewhere. My prep is both the strength of my improvisational style and a source of slowing the game down.

D - NPC RP - making the NPCs unique and memorable through mannerisms, voice, or style is something I struggle with. There are a few shining examples of me getting it right, but just a few. It's usually good enough, but the fully formed NPC in my head rarely seems to spring to life at the table.

F - game pacing/seriousness - similar to what several others have mentioned. Years ago, I would have given myself an A or a B here. I ran a tight game - if you said it, your PC said it; I used a timer for turns, when we sat down to play it was to play and not good around. But that was a long time ago. As we've gotten older, the social aspect of our game sessions has become just as important as the gaming. My friends and I just enjoy hanging out, talking about the past week, complaining about mid-30s domesticated life, and so on. This is really a group F, but it works for us. Other gamers would be put off by how we can go from in-voice RP to off-topic chatter in the same sentence. It makes building mood, dread, or suspense difficult, but we all enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

 

[lostingeneral]

Cool thread, interesting replies.

A - Preparation. I prepare everything in advance and am usually several sessions ahead of where the party actually is. Here, I'm including preparing settings, adventure hooks, plots, characters, etc. as well as out-of-game things, like the setup of the room, availability of snacks, and so on. In my (limited) experience, I've found that the effort I put in before a session is pretty much proportional to how well it goes. Of course, there's always such a thing as planning too much.

B - Plots n' stories. I spend more time on this than I probably should. I look at the characters and try to write things that would be involving for them, not just interesting in general. I include as many plot hooks tailored for the characters as possible while still focusing on an overall campaign story, toss in throw-backs to older plot points, that kind of thing. I can get carried away... often.

C - Improvisation. There's a lot of this in my game but I'm still not great at it; lots of my "spontaneous" stuff sort of blends together. I'm getting better, though it can be difficult; it's not like other areas where planning can get around it. It needs to be learned through practice... unfortunately.

D - Combat. I prefer a story-driven game with lots of roleplay, but not all of my players do. The majority prefer light roleplaying (for some, none) and lots of combat, but I find battles wear me out. My tactics get sketchy, I glaze over some aspect of the environment, and ultimately by my lack of interest the combat wears down. I've been trying to integrate stuff I like into it and that's been helping: monsters with personalities, creatures tied to character backstories, weird/unusual environments, etc. I play 4e, so I also have found that speeding up combat with a set of small changes has helped a lot in this area, but I still need much work.

F - Balancing player motivations. I feel that this is hard to explain, but put simply, I have many players and each of them wants something different out of the game. It's hard to provide for so many, especially when I have a strong bias towards making the game as it would appeal to me if I were playing (story centric, lots of depth, light on combat). I've been working like crazy to try and get this fixed. As above, combat is improving, and in general I'm working to appeal to my fighters as well as my roleplayers... it's a balancing act, and it's tough. Even after all this I still have two players who show up just to "be part of it" and I can't figure out how to involve at all, so yes. Lots of work needed here. :O

 

[aurance]

A - Rules mastery, and running exciting adventures.
B - Making sure each player gets their due time.
C - Improv. Like, plot improv. Related to the next item...
D - I kinda suck at making adventures. This is why I've started using pre-pub adventures in the framework of my own world, and I've never had as much fun DMing since I don't have the plot pressure.
F - Killing characters. I never do this. I hurt them in all sorts of other ways (including physical maiming) but I just don't kill them.

 

[Wik]

Hm. To be concise:

A: Winging it. I love improv style play, and most of my favourite moments are me reacting to a crazy PC plan.
B: World Building. My worlds have consistent histories and backgrounds, and players remember details. I can make fantastic locations seem like real places.
C: Tactics. My tactical abilities are really only mediocre... I'm definitely outshined in this department by my players.
D: Rules Mastery. I can never remember the finer points of the rules. And I suck at creating "killer PCs" or knowing which feats are good and which are bad.
F: Accepting Blowouts: I hate it when the PCs absolutely destroy a tough encounter I've had planned. Especially when it's through stuff that is basically cheeseball (Stunlocking the villain, or rules exploits). I can admit, I get a little bit tetsy when that happens!

 

[Quickleaf]

What a great thread! Glad you brought it back weem

A - NPCs
Several times I've been told how I really bring NPCs to life and make them unique. I remember one player saying " You must have a whole closet of personalities up there." Guess he was right!

B - Encounters
Whether it's on the fly or in advance I come up with interesting encounters that engage the players on multiple levels. I've even come up with puzzles on the fly in my more inspired moments as DM.

C - Description
By description I mean evocative 'boxed text' whether prepared or improvised. It's just that I am sensitive to the Player's engagement levels, so when one or two players are distracted I lose my thunder. It's ironic because my writing style is very imagist.

D - Rules Expertise
A rules expert I am not. As long as they're not too annoying, I actually prefer to game with a rules lawyer at the table. It helps keep me consistent and frees me up to focus on the story.

F - Killing PCs
I'll join the chorus that I'm not a killer DM. The farthest from it! I can't remember the las time I killed a PC. No matter how tough I try to be, I'm rooting for the PCs secretly. Shh, don't tell. ;?

 

[TheUltramark]

A's
Prep - luck favors the prepared also makes improv WAY easier
Worlds - the other guys use my stuff when they dm, so thats an endorsement to me
Encounters - plenty of positive feedback about the content and flow

C's
Rules...I let my players cheat, if they have fun by cheating, knock yourself out.
NPC's - I might have one or maybe two that are good, the rest are afterthoughts.

F's
Scene setting. I do NOT do voices, and I cannot draw (I can map good, so that saves me some cred.) I can verbally set the scene, but as far as any kind of visual or audio = nothing

 

[Arkhandus]

My personal DMing grades

A. Improvisation/rules adjudication/gut checks. I roleplay most NPC interactions on-the-fly and my campaigns are generally designed to be more reactive than predetermined; I adjust my general plotline, order of events, possible encounters, adventure locations, and possible endings as need be, based on what options/hooks/choices the PCs choose to pursue or where they choose to look. If the group decides to ignore the obvious hooks and go looking for adventure in some random direction down the road, so be it.

I'm very familiar with the rules, but I'm quick to correct myself whenever I forget or misremember one and a player questions it. I'm good at judging the balance or fairness of particular rules and addressing it.

I adjudicate any gray areas in the rules or wierd problems with them with an even-handed approach to maintain game-balance, prevent long-term campaign problems, prevent abuses, and still keep things reasonably tipped in the players' favor as they should be in a heroic fantasy game. Just not so much as to make it easy (PCs get what they deserve; they screw up, they suffer the consequences; they make a simple mistake or forget something minor, I may throw them a bone once before letting the dice fall where they may). I usually do a fair job of maintaining a balance between rules-adherance and keeping things fun.

B. Attention to detail and preparation. Though I tend to fall behind in prep-work a lot these days, I usually make up for it with final preparations on the day of a game or the night before, and I try to prepare a lot of material whenever I actually get around to it (though distractions, forgetfulness, and occasional mind-numbing boredom typically cause delays in my game-prep).

I often have individual names (and sometimes ranks) for NPCs and such, some background/personality/tactical details for them, an appearance description, and fairly complete stats/gear/etc. for them. I do a lot of world-building stuff and try to make sure that every encounter, NPC, item, spell, etc. makes some sense within the setting or campaign. I even tweak random encounter/treasure results sometimes to make more sense and better fit the wealth by level standards. I generally always have a detailed map of any region or structure the PCs are adventuring in, eitiher on paper, on the computer, or in my head. I occasionally make custom scripts and linguistic forms for some languages used in the game, and go to some trouble making sure that it's consistent whenever the same word/phrase shows up in play or on a map that the players view.

C. Open-mindedness and creativity in character/NPC/monster design. While I suck at handling some types of NPCs, at least I can do a fair job of playing entertaining, funny, sarcastic/snarky, or just-oddly-interesting NPCs. My players only tend to have a solid grasp of some challenges they'll face on any given adventure; I use a wide variety of monsters, templates, races, NPC types, classes, prestige classes, spells, NPC organizations, and such. I often keep my players guessing and sometimes spring the unexpected on them.

I also allow a fair variety of sourcebooks to be used in my games, so my players tend to have a broad selection of playable character options, and I'm open to houserule/homebrew game material or occasionally stuff from books that I don't own, as long as the player provides any necessary details of their PC on their sheet and if it meets with my approval after checking that. I'll work with players to tweak classes etc. until they're reasonably balanced enough for my game, or until they suit the player's character concept if it just can't quite be done with existing rules material as-written.

However, I'm not completely open-minded about all gaming material, so there are still several products, product lines, prestige classes, spells, races, etc. that are banned in my games, and I often have to turn away players who insist on using material that seems broken/offensive to me or material that they've acquired illegal electronic copies of. I'm too leery of munchkins/powergamers and I can't accept some other players/PCs on moral grounds. I'm also a bit of a prude and I dislike foul/immature language. It's just the way I was raised.

D. Running encounters quickly. One way or another, most battles and non-combat encounters just drag on too long. I spend too much time flipping through books or online-SRD pages, checking stats, trying to find out what the PCs' current AC/HP/etc. is, trying to get players to make up their minds and finally decide on their current turn's action, and needing to debate rules that players randomly dispute or misinterpret, forcing me to correct them which usually ends in a debate.

Also, I tend to overestimate how many weak or mediocre monsters/NPCs the group can handle in one encounter within any reasonable amount of time (you'd think half a dozen 10th-level or so PCs could wipe out 2 or 3 dozen low-level kobolds or goblins and worgs pretty quickly with area attacks, full attacks, etc., especially when those kobs/gobs are almost incapable of hitting them, but no......). Epic battles instead become a real drag, and big monsters tend to just result in overlong grapple/nickel-and-diming battles. I don't misjudge what the group can handle; just how quickly or slowly they'll handle it.

Sometimes, I get it just right and the dice rolls don't screw it up (I've seen sessions with obscene strings of natural 20s or natural 1s, where the PCs couldn't hit the broad side of a barn or couldn't avoid constant crits, or where the monsters/NPCs couldn't do anything but suck and die.....and it was REALLY bad whenever both me AND the players kept rolling terribly).

F. Creating/roleplaying deep, complex, chatty, or socially-adept NPCs (or PCs). Just not enough real experience in social situations outside D&D, and no natural charisma, so I can't pull it off. At best I manage to run the NPCs as mildly interesting, somewhat-savvy in politics, or just slightly capable of manipulating PCs a bit.