D&D General The DM is Not a Player; and Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock

[Swarmkeeper]

Depends on how you play. In Traveller, "referee" is the title given to the Dungeon Master analogue.

Perhaps, but we’re talking about D&D in general and I am more specifically looking at this through the lens of 5e. I wouldn’t call roleplaying NPCs in D&D analogous to “referee” under any common definition of the word.

 

[loverdrive]

Those damn greybeards

 

[Shardstone]

Is a football referee or cricket umpire playing the game?

Those are compeltely different things.

When I DM, I am not an umpire. I'm playing pretend as monsters and other NPCs, I'm describing the world, I'm rolling dice, using the game's core mechanic - I'm playing a game.

 

[nevin]

Those are compeltely different things.

When I DM, I am not an umpire. I'm playing pretend as monsters and other NPCs, I'm describing the world, I'm rolling dice, using the game's core mechanic - I'm playing a game.

And deciding what happens to who and how each action drives the story. However you want to describe it you are the "decider" for anything the players don't get input in. You may be having fun, You are not one of the party and not an "equal" player in the game.

 

[cmad1977]

I mean... THIS DM is a playah. Can’t speak for the rest of you guys though.

 

[Charlaquin]

And deciding what happens to who and how each action drives the story. However you want to describe it you are the "decider" for anything the players don't get input in. You may be having fun, You are not one of the party and not an "equal" player in the game.

Who ever claimed the DM was equal to the other players? The claim “the DM is a player” does not imply that they have the same role or responsibilities in the game as the other players.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I mean... THIS DM is a playah. Can’t speak for the rest of you guys though.

I'm pretty sure that the all of the "the DM is a player" contingent is just saying that because they are player haters, and ... well, you know.

Those damn greybeards

Mmmm. Yep!

 

[Shardstone]

And deciding what happens to who and how each action drives the story. However you want to describe it you are the "decider" for anything the players don't get input in. You may be having fun, You are not one of the party and not an "equal" player in the game.

I didn't say I was equal.

But I'm still a player of the game. I am playing a game, and therefore am a player, lmao

 

[Sacrosanct]

Who ever claimed the DM was equal to the other players? The claim “the DM is a player” does not imply that they have the same role or responsibilities in the game as the other players.

Reread the OP. Literally the very first post shows that claim. Right from the top, the context was set that when were talking about the DM being a “player”, it’s not in the literal sense, but in the context of compared to how D&D defines a player, and to argue against the claim made that the “DM is a player like any other player.”

This isn’t meant to be directed solely at you because others are making the same flawed argument as this one; arguing a strawman that the OP and topic are not making.

 

[Maxperson]

The DM is explicitly intended to be entertaining the players, and house rules are subject to a democratic vote by the participants of the game.

If the DM wants to allow that, then he can. This is not what the book says, though.