A successful game?

[palleomortis]

How do you gage the successfulness of a campaign or round about as a DM? I have pushed my PC's to think, to a degree anyways, and put them in situations that test their PC's strength and push it to the limits. Several times now they've been through combats (Key decideing combats, not just little bar fights.) and come out NEARLY uncouncious. They havn't died, been nocked unconciouse, or simply pounded people down and walked away unscathed. Would you consider this a good campaign in this sense, or am I putting them against too much? I never really thought so, and was rather pleased with my ability to match them perfectly against odds that required strength in mind and character, but my PCs seem to resent the "almost going uncouncious" factor. Is this somthing I should be fixing, or is it right?

 

[Wik]

It's really very simple: Did you have fun?

Last session I threw fights at the PCs that there was no hope for them to win (a big no-no). I split the party up, and had half the group doing very little for a good ten minutes. I mixed things up, broke away from my written notes, and generally acted like a rat bastard DM.

Really, I broke so many of the DM "Rules" I should be kicked out of the club.

But we had so much fun tuesday (and that's the whole group - believe me, I was keeping an eye out for it), that I really don't care.

Some groups LOVE it when they beat NPCs to death without takin a point of damage - I've run campaigns for them, and they have so much fun killing the BBEG without getting hurt.

Other groups love it when they're hanging by their shorthairs (like my current group, who had so much fun at fourth level, facing off against a stone golem and three invisible gargoyles, even though all they really did was run like hell!).

It's all a matter of taste.

So, yeah, don't explain the particulars, because what's fun for you might not be for everyone else. But if everyone at your table is enjoying themselves... you don't need to ask us.

Just my two cents.

 

[FalcWP]

If folks keep coming back to the table, I figure I must be doing something right.

Sometimes, you need to tailor your game to your group's tastes (or tailor your group to your tastes, if you have to). If your players don't seem to like quite so much of a challenge, you might consider going easy on them - its possible you've got a group that is looking to kick butt and take random, apostrophe-filled names, and there's nothing wrong with that. If that's how it normally is, you might consider weakening your encounters a bit, or setting them up to play to their strengths.

On the other hand, it could have been just that a particular session was a bit off - if one person comes in to a particular game with the attitude of 'I want to beat the snot out of the first orc I meet' and doesn't get to do it, it can have a domino effect on everything else. If they're normally fine with a challenge, I'd probably continue to try and challenge them, unless their dissatisfaction becomes a theme.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

How do I define success at the gaming table?

If folks keep coming back to the table, I figure I must be doing something right.

and

Did you have fun?

Said it just right

Personally I don't have fun unless I can test my skills as a GM against the players and the dice, challenging them and pushing the characters to thier limits. When running Ravenloft or CP2020, I feel that not having at least one combat that results in at least one character going down means I did not correctly capture the essense of the setting... but thats kinda setting specific.

...but my PCs seem to resent the "almost going uncouncious" factor. Is this somthing I should be fixing, or is it right?

THe PC's should resent that! THe players, OTOH, that could be an issue. IME, its an issue of expectations, so a sit down chat where the group irons out thier expectations together could be a good thing.
I always start a new game with decribing myself as a CP202 GM who has no issues letting the dice determine life or death of a character.... and I roll in the open for almost everything. That has worked for me and my players rarely blame me for being a RBDM {for real at least }

 

[pogre]

How do you gage the successfulness of a campaign or round about as a DM?

For me as a DM, of course fun is paramount, but I want something a bit more memorable, something that made the game stick in my mind a little.

Would you consider this a good campaign in this sense, or am I putting them against too much?

I cannot answer this without knowing your players. It does sound like you have strategic players who like coming up with solutions. The edge of death can make them feel out of control all of the time. They propbably would like to easily defeat a foe with cleverness from time-to-time.

Is this somthing I should be fixing, or is it right?

Again, tough to say without knowing your players. I would say if you have a bunch of butt-kickers, let them kick some. Set up a big battle with lots of lesser opponents and let them mow 'em down. While it's not always fun for the DM - piles of bad guys is often a lot of fun for the PCs. See if they enjoy being able to romp through an encounter or two like that.

 

[Glyfair]

It's really very simple: Did you have fun?

If folks keep coming back to the table, I figure I must be doing something right.

As Primitive Screwhead stated, these two together are good indications. Just having a fun game sounds good, but sometimes people put together a fun session that you wouldn't want to do regularly. For a one-off it works, for a campaign it fails. It's like having ice cream for every meal of the day.

On the other hand, sometimes people keep coming back because they sense a good game was possible, but the game keeps falling short. For example, giving the players a constant feeling that they are close to a victory, but never giving them that victory. Eventually the players will give up and never feel they were in a good game.

 

[palleomortis]

It's really very simple: Did you have fun?

Sure, we have fun, hard not to. But there's always room for more. Really, we have fun either way, it's a small group of about three sometimes four of us, so we all kinda kick back. But it would be nice to up the enjoyment of the game if possible.

If folks keep coming back to the table, I figure I must be doing something right.

Well, there's no other GM that we know of, so there's really nowhere else to go. And on top of that, I'd rather know I'm doing things right and keep them from leaving, then have them leave just to find out I'm not right.


For the most part though, you guys did help. Thanx for the advice.