D&D General What DM-skills are you bad at?

[The Green Hermit]

For me, I feel like I can't effectively roleplay as a DM, because there is too much to keep track of. It takes all my energy.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

On-the-spot NPC personalities, and then role playing them.

If given time, I can come up with notes for NPCs the players are likely to interact with. But there are just too many to prepare for.

My players now use it as a give away to know when they are “on the plot”, whether I’m able to give an NPC depth in the interaction.

 

[aco175]

My biggest is that I do not play with other people outside of my group which have been together for years. I feel that has led to a staleness or a set of expectations that everyone is comfortable with. Not sure if they helps me get better if everyone expects the same. We do play once a year at the local Convention, but that is just playing/DMing briefly and not many of those players will tell you is that had a bad time at your table.

 

[Burnside]

I have difficulty remembering what voices I gave to NPCs the last time the players talked to them. I also can only do like 6 different voices so it's like Skyrim where you can hear when they used the same actor to play 80 different characters.

When running combats against high-CR foes that have complicated stat blocks (resistances, immunities, legendary actions, lair actions, reactions) there is a very good chance I will miss stuff and run them incorrectly.

 

[Reynard]

Prep. I am good at improv so I really don't do as much prep as I should.

 

[robus]

Not setting the scene/describing monsters well. I found I would race to the action a bit too quick. I’m trying to slow down and paint a clearer picture.

 

[Nebulous]

Giving the big bad guys unique and memorable personalities. And talking in character for general NPCs. Occasionally I can pull those off, but rarely.

 

[ECMO3]

For me my biggest weakness is accents. I'm SO bad at them, that I don't even try.

What's the DMing thing you're worst at?

So when I DM I always do accents, women's voices etc and I am not great at it, but honestly I think the fact that I am not makes my players laugh harder.

When I am a PC I never feel comfortable doing voices in character though. I don't know why.

As for things I struggle with as a DM - player conflict and evil players. One of my regular players wants to play an evil character all the time. Evil as in I will steal from other players while they are sleeping and I am on watch or I have no problem with murdering someone for 2 gold if I can get away with it or rescue the slaves and the first thing he wants to do is figure out who he can sell them to. That is no fun for me and honestly it is no fun for the other players who are pretty "good". I have talked about it with him and he has agreed to play a more neutral character and operate with some boundaries, but he mopes around like it would be a lot more fun if he just do the things he wants that from my point of view literally break the game. Does this equal taking away player agency?

 

[not-so-newguy]

Doing an even passable accent with which you are familiar is really difficult and needs to be practiced. Doing one that you do not encounter everyday would require a tutor.

Of course there are probably folks who can do it effortlessly, but those people are few and far between.

 

[iserith]

I really don't consider putting on an accent to be a DM skill. They're cringey even when well done in my view and can be left off entirely.

So, as far as I'm concerned, don't feel bad about not being able to do them.