What's your DMing Rule 0?

[Nifft]

Preserve my personal power by any means necessary.

Wait, I mean: run a fun game.

, -- N

 

[GreyRat]

It's hard to say what's *the* most important rule, but to what's already been said I would add:
Keep things moving!

If the GM loses focus, the game will choke and stall. RL policital discussion breaks out? Ask players to save it for later. Pizza arrives? Take a 10 minute break (time it!), then jump back in to the action. Obscure rule confusion? Wing it and continue; as my drawing instructor said, sometimes it's better to be certain than to be right.

(That being said, I have had enjoyable gaming sessions where we spent less than 20% of the time actually gaming. But if the players actually want to game, the GM needs to keep things on track.)

 

[Crothian]

It's have fun and to say yes. I run the games my players will have fun with. I run the game I will have fun with. We have a great time.

 

[blargney the second]

"Don't be afraid to say yes or no - use circumstance modifiers either way."

 

[howandwhy99]

Stolen from my old DM Olgar Shiverstone:

”The DM is always right. Never argue with the DM in game. Rules issues may be discussed freely out of game. The exception is when a rules disagreement results in a character death. These rule issues will be resolved immediately before the game continues. For all other items, refer to Rule 0.”

 

[Meds]

How many of these mantras does Piratecat have anyway? Is there a list somewhere?

Here's one I bookmarked a few years ago:
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1557857&postcount=710

So... I'm wondering what your personal DMing rules are. Care to give us the top 5 or 10?

Ooh, good question. Off the top of my head --

Rule 1: Don't believe hype or take yourself too seriously. It's a game, not the cure for world hunger, and pretentious ego-bloated DMing isn't a lot of fun for anyone. Most importantly, play with friends who you'd want to spend time with outside of the game.

Rule 2: Give the players opportunities to use their cool abilities, because a neat class ability or spell that doesn't get used isn't fun. For this reason, I tried to cut off PC limbs for months after Velendo got access to regeneration. You can be sure that if the group had a rogue, this last adventure would have been laden with more rogue-tastic opportunities.

Rule 3: Don't over-prepare. It makes my games more boring and my thinking too rigid. On the other hand, document NPCs and game history scrupulously, and tie it into later adventures.

Rule 4: Demand that your players bring nasty, unidentifiable Japanese candy to each game. This creates group bonding when the candy is tried and evaluated. An actual quote:

"This salted plum-flavored candy tastes like Worcestershire Sauce-covered cigarette butts! It's utterly revolting! Here, try one."

Rule 5: Plan far ahead, and build on what has come before. This allows you to steer the game towards cool occurrences and to successfully foreshadow.

Rule 6: Scatter plot hooks near and far, dozens of them, then only use the ones that seem like fun.

Rule 7: Give every player/PC screen time and story focus, spreading the attention out equally. I really learned this from Sagiro, who is astonishing at giving each PC their time in the spotlight.

Rule 8: Ask your players for regular feedback on how you're doing, at least once a year. When you get bad news, which is inevitable, embrace it and work to improve those rough edges. Ask your group for ideas on how to improve problem areas (such as slow combat), especially when they can be part of the solution.

Rule 9: Long epic-ish plot arcs are great, but only if they're broken up with fun side-adventures that are unrelated. Too much of anything (including grim despair or fear of death or in-game humor) gets old fast.

Rule 10: Make the world change as a result of the PCs' actions, even when the group isn't around. Houses burn down and get built, babies get born and elderly people die. Revolutions occur and politicians connive, other heroes make names for themselves, and the seasons turn. This sense of time passing can help make a game come alive.

 

[Ry]

Thanks for posting that!

(My personal rule zero of course is in my sig; everything you make for a game is made to be interacted with. I break that down into problems, threats, resources, and rewards, all very broadly defined)

 

[balterkn]

I generally go with: "We're friends here to have fun."

DM acts to ensure that "friends" are having "fun"
IMC friends means being reasonably polite between people (not in game, but OOC must be polite)
IMC have fun includes everyone - one grinning player and 3 grumbly players and DM isn't fun for 4/5 (as is 4 grinning players and 1 grumbly DM - or 3 grinning players and DM and 1 grumbling player - all of these are not fun for someone)

In both cases the DM should try to correct the situation to the best of their ability (and, hey, if we're all friends, then really we should be helping each other to do this anyway, right??)

 

[NewJeffCT]

I agree with one from above - don't over-prepare. Not just that it makes things too rigid, but that the players almost never do what you expect them to do. However, do the little things to make the game run more smoothly (I really suck at coming up with a random name on the spot, so I put together several dozen random names so I can just say, "Prentiss" or "Kwellyn" instead of "Bob" for a random name)

 

[TarionzCousin]

My personal rule zero of course is in my sig.

"Raise the stakes"?

---
How many people use the "DM is always right" rule? I don't, actually. Ultimately, when I DM, I make all the final calls on whether or not something happens, but I don't mind players discussing rules and such at the table--as long as it doesn't go on for too long and they agree to abide by my final decision.