Is DMing its own reward?

[Dedekind]

Over my gaming career, I've only been involved with a handful of campaigns that actually finished. I DM'd two of those. It was immensely satisfying to run through an entire story arc, but practically I can't DM a 20+ level campaign any more.

I find myself less motivated to DM, though, without the campaign story arc. Does it matter to you if you think the party and plot are not long for this world?




On a strictly unrelated note, my players in the second campaign bought me a gift of those solid medal dice and a DM beer stein. I like campaigns for myself, but if I were to receive one of these "mithral" jackets for DMing, I would totally do it:

The Mithril Jacket Is Made From Kevlar and Meant to Last a Lifetime

 

[Stoat]

I DM because I enjoy it. In my experience, the vast majority of campaigns last a year or two and then fizzle out. That fact does not dull my enjoyment of the game.

IMO, it's a little unrealistic to expect most groups to complete a 20 level adventure path. If a group enjoys adventure path-type play, I suggest that the DM focus on shorter adventure arcs that will take the PC's up a few levels and can be completed in a few months time.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I too prefer having a long campaign to develop a great story.

That said, a short run is not creatively useless. I've had great success mixing things up. I find horror games better suited for short runs anyway, but really there's a lot you can do.

If a D&D campaign is like a highly serialized television series, a one-shot can be a movie. Either a low-calorie action flick or something more involved.

 

[Mark CMG]

Cool jacket. I think TSR ran into trouble with the Tolkien estate regarding the word Mithril which they later misspelled as Mithral in order to avoid legal entanglements, IIRC.


I think World Building can be its own reward but GMing is a shared reward, FWIW.

 

[MadMaxim]

In short, yes

 

[Agamon]

Over my gaming career, I've only been involved with a handful of campaigns that actually finished. I DM'd two of those. It was immensely satisfying to run through an entire story arc, but practically I can't DM a 20+ level campaign any more.

I find myself less motivated to DM, though, without the campaign story arc. Does it matter to you if you think the party and plot are not long for this world?

This is one of the reasons I prefer to let the players push the story rather than have one planned out.

I'll agree, though, that it's not fun to GM for a group that doesn't want to play. Worse, when I'm not enjoying the game (like last time I tried running an adventure path).

 

[delericho]

I prefer DMing to playing, so I generally feel that DMing is largely its own reward. However, it's always nice when the players show their appreciation!

I do also feel it's really important that the DM runs the game that he (or she) wants to run, rather than conforming his game to suit the players - you'll get better results that way, and the DM will be more motivated to put the work in.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I've only ever "topped out" with two campaigns and both of them I was the DM for. I find DM'ing to be highly rewarding as players try to figure out the plots, subplots, and campaign arcs that are going on in the overall story. It allows me to really use my imagination and feel that something has been accomplished when a campaign that I run goes all the way until the players retire from adventuring due to becoming the most powerful beings in the world(s)/plane(s).

I've never been a player in a game that reached beyond level 12 iirc and am now a player in a new game that started a few weeks ago which the DM does intend on taking us all the way to completion in an adventure path. I hope it works out because I'd really like to see the whole campaign from the other side of the table.

 

[Dedekind]

I too prefer having a long campaign to develop a great story.

That said, a short run is not creatively useless. I've had great success mixing things up. I find horror games better suited for short runs anyway, but really there's a lot you can do.

...

Short run is not useless, I agree. But I find LFR to be irritating to DM. The payoffs in those cases are painfully small.

Of course, there are mini-campaigns and connected adventures in LFR. But good lucking getting continuity of people and characters...

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I'm one of those that loves FR as a campaign setting, I've always felt it was very diverse in what it offers with the terrain, history, factions, etc. The last campaign I DM'd to 30th in 4E was in FR the whole time and my players seemed to like it as well.

I feel to each their own though, I can find enjoyment in any/all settings and home-brews can be a lot of fun too. I won't restrict settings in my games and keep an open mind to everything.

Short campaigns are just as much fun to DM as are long ones. To me it's just getting together with friends and being able to use our imagination to have fun, joke around, and vanquish the BBEG.