GM Confessional

[Reynard]

As GMs, we all have weaknesses, quirks and peculiarities that maybe we should try and reign in. This thread is a place to confess those GM sins. It isn't a place to rant about other GMs you have had,or your players. It isn't a place to dogpile on anyone that posts in this thread: either be supportive or be silent.

I'll start: as a GM, I do not like excessive "player options" and especially "builds." I do not want to memorize the whole PHB plus supplements to be able counter whatever nonsense was printed. I actively dislike attempts at creative applications of narrowly defined widgets. I don't ban these things, because I don't think it's my place to tell players what they are allowed to play (beyond obvious genre and setting appropriate choices) but it grates on me. So sometimes I say "no" more than I should, especially to the creative power gamer in my regular player pool.

Your turn.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

As GMs, we all have weaknesses, quirks and peculiarities that maybe we should try and reign in. This thread is a place to confess those GM sins. It isn't a place to rant about other GMs you have had,or your players. ...

Your turn.

My biggest weakness as a DM?

.....I work too hard.

 

[Reynard]

My biggest weakness as a DM?

.....I work too hard.

Who let you in here?

Security!

 

[Art Waring]

I exclusively homebrew everything myself, but I have been doing my own game design for as long as I can remember. Classes, monsters, dungeons, npc's, and world building.

I am surely guilty of being too well versed with my own source material, and sometimes I catch myself thinking a certain way which does not help my players: I know the world better than my players do, and sometimes I forget that the players need more details or I have taken something for granted.

Thankfully I have learned over the years to tailor my own world building habits in order to give the players a better experience, but being the steward of your own world can sometimes come with its own baggage.

 

[Xamnam]

I adore read aloud text. I'll pre-write my own if I'm fairly confident an area will be visited and really want to sell the importance/visual/fantasy of it.

 

[Xamnam]

It isn't a place to dogpile on anyone that posts in this thread: either be supportive or be silent.

I don't know if this is a user facing feature, but if you can edit the thread title, you might want to add a + to it.

 

[innerdude]

I don't care about my characters picking up "plot hooks," but I have a near pathological need for my players to interact with NPCs.

I watch my players run their characters back and forth in front of an NPC that if they would just stop and chat with for a split second, they'd have something interesting to do and a new relationship to draw upon.

But because I've changed over the last 10 years and now ascribe to the credo of not forcing anything upon the players that doesn't interest them, I must forebear.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Mine are probably related to patience (there are certain things I dislike that I should just get over, because nothing I do is going to make people stop doing them and I lack the wherewithal to find new players other than in extremis), and a tendency to drop into ruts. Oh, also a trend that I try to beat on hard of getting bored and hop on to the next thing.

 

[aco175]

I tend to not let things I prepared die if the PCs go somewhere else. The quantum ogre might still appear in another location or the PCs may need to take the left path at some other point in the campaign. I have even held onto sections or short encounter areas from one campaign to the next to use them.

 

[Reynard]

Oh, also a trend that I try to beat on hard of getting bored and hop on to the next thing.

Yeah, I am going through some GM ADD now with my 5E Iron Gods game. I just don't want to run 5E right now for a while., but I know the players are invested in both the story and their characters.