Is the DM the most important person at the table

[Sacrosanct]

A player who has a secret and doesn't inform the DM impacts the game zero. A DM who keeps secrets can still have those secrets impact the game a lot.

 

[FrogReaver]

A player who has a secret and doesn't inform the DM impacts the game zero. A DM who keeps secrets can still have those secrets impact the game a lot.

I once built a PC to attempt to run a Ponzi Scheme. Limited combat ability but charisma and persuasion and deception and charm magic all out of this world. I did not reveal to the DM that direct plan (at least for quite a while). It was meant to occur organically through play.

That PC had a profound impact on the game IMO.

 

[Maxperson]

Unpopular answer: you can do without the Dungeon Master.

Not well. There is no good substitute for a real person.

 

[FrogReaver]

Not well. There is no good substitute for a real person.

Yep.

Though the last part of that statement really makes me want to ask - what is a non-real person?

 

[Maxperson]

Or you could drop the whole pretext for opening up that can of worms and instead focus on the actual point of the thread -

I opened a can of worms once. They just sat there. It really wasn't the chaos that is advertised.

 

[Maxperson]

Yep.

Though the last part of that statement really makes me want to ask - what is a non-real person?

Shush you!

 

[Ovinomancer]

In the strictest sense, "important" was arguably not the best term to use for this topic as it is extremely subjective. Important with respect to what? In the sense that everyone's fun is equally important? In the sense of whose authority or responsibility is greatest? Something else?

I disagree with your conclusion, that believing that GMing is hard, necessarily amounts to gatekeeping. Yes, in theory a new GM could use all sorts of shortcuts to lighten their burden. However, in practice, a new GM is the least likely to actually know about such shortcuts.

If you try to dissuade potential GMs from GMing by saying it is hard, that is gatekeeping. Acknowledging that GMing is challenging in a thread, the majority of whose participants are probably already GMs, is not gatekeeping IMO.

Why is a new GM less likely to know about practices that can reduce the burden of GMing? Because they are not shared, or demonstrated, but other GMs. That's part of gatekeeping -- the hoarding of knowledge.

GMing is not hard, unless you conflate your preferences for what's actually required. Too many of us do this, and those preferences become another lock on the gate.

 

[GameOgre]

The DM is the MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER of the game so that the PLAYERS can be the MOST IMPORTANT people at the game.

That is kinda deep and easy to get wrong but it's as real a answer as you can get.

 

[Fanaelialae]

And, absent any other reason to be uncomfortable with the scene in question, were I the player I'd likely challenge that authority on the spot.

An argument would probably follow.

Depends.

What if the player has a deeper reason for haggling with the merchants (which the GM may or may not even know about!)? Maybe the player is thinking along lines of the PC establishing contacts for later reference, or casing shops for later thefts, or trying to establish her character as being a diehard cheapskate in order to influence later negotiations over treasury division. It might be ages until any of this comes to light.

Players can have secrets too.

Exactly. This is one valid way of cutting a scene short, if a bit heavy-handed and probably not repeatable very often.

You can argue with the GM about anything. If I say no paladins allowed in my campaign, you can argue the point. Doesn't mean the GM lacks the authority to do so.

Similarly, if my boss at work makes a decision I can argue against it. Doesn't mean he doesn't have the authority to make that decision. Even irrespective of whether that decision was good or bad.

 

[prabe]

Why is a new GM less likely to know about practices that can reduce the burden of GMing? Because they are not shared, or demonstrated, but other GMs. That's part of gatekeeping -- the hoarding of knowledge.

I was able to find a lot of new-GM advice about the time I started working on the first campaign I started. I'd GMed before, but I figured the system I was picking up might be different. The advice was mostly good, and remarkably generous in ways.

GMing is not hard, unless you conflate your preferences for what's actually required. Too many of us do this, and those preferences become another lock on the gate.

It's not difficult necessarily, but it's more complex than playing (in D&D and other more-traditional RPGs, anyway) especially if you're working up your own material (and if you're doing that, your preferences are closer to the center of the game, I'd argue). I think many GMs try to run the games they'd most like to play in--I know I do--which also seems to make the GM's preferences closer to the game. Not preferences about how complicated GMing is, just preferences about the game (which may not be entirely the preferences you're talking about).