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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 9816920" data-attributes="member: 22779">I was noodling over this thread and something occured to me.  Imagine a thought experiment.  You have two potential DM's that you are possibly going to play with and you have to choose one.  Both have about 10 years of experience running games.DM 1 proudly proclaims that they have only ever run D&D.  Not only that, but, they think there is zero value in learning any other system.  That everything you can possibly learn about running a game can be learned from running D&D.  That learning any other system is a complete waste of time and effort.  Playing one and only one system leads to being the best DM one can possibly be.DM 2 proudly proclaims that they have run D&D as well as dabbled in half a dozen other systems over the years.  They mostly run D&D, but, they've done some one shots and some other stuff in other systems.  They claim that learning other systems helps them create a better D&D game and makes them the best DM one can possibly be.I dunno about anyone else, but, I'm choosing DM 2.  Looking back at my own experience, the best DM's I've ever had have had experience running other systems.  And the worst DM's have all been single system DM's.  Not that this is a 100% predictor.  I've had good single system DM's and good multi-system DM's over the years.  But, the ones that stand out for being either really good or really bad, all have the same things in common.  So, for me, yeah, a single system DM?  Yup, I'm going to straight up say that that's a mediocre DM who will never be a good DM.  I've never seen such a strident defense of refusal to learn.  The idea that you can be the best DM you can ever be by NEVER experiencing another system?  Nope.  Don't buy it.  You look at all the famous DM's out there - the Mike Mearls, the Matt Mercers the Erik Mona's, the Gary Gygax's, the Monte Cooks.  What do they all have in common?They all played and ran different systems.</blockquote>

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