Are you a good Dungeon Master?

[IronWolf]

I hang in there, but I think I need several areas of improvement to help my game. Rules Knowledge... I really need to know more of the rules off the top of my head. Knowing that would free up more time to focus on the story, the descriptions, etc. Too many times I have to turn to the rulebook when I should be focusing on better imagery.

I could also stand to make the world seem more alive. I want the players to feel like the world is always moving and changing around them.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I'm an above-average Fantasy GM--which I actually think is par for the course here at ENworld-- but I might be one of the best Supers GMs in the world (if I do say so myself )

It's the one genre I am really comfortable with.

 

[Wombat]

Many years ago one of my players said, "Y'know, sometimes you run episodes and adventures that I can't stand or am bored with, but your worlds are so fantastic that I am willing to cut you a lot of slack!"

Yeah, I admit it -- I'm a world-builder first, a storyteller second, and a rules person a distant third. OTOH, I've successfully run games of OD&D, RuneQuest, Traveller, Paranoia, Ars Magica, TORG, FASA Star Trek, Over the Edge, and a few other systems that I am forgetting at the moment. In almost every single case my players said they wanted to be in my games again, no matter what system I was running.

Does that make me a good GM? I dunno -- by some of the standards stated here, maybe not. By customer satisfaction and personal enjoyment, I'd say probably yes.

No matter which opinion is "true", however, I love being behind the screen and, after 30 years of doing it, don't see myself slowing down anytime soon.

 

[Hussar]

Well, I've seen DM's worse than me, so I guess I'm not that bad. I've also played with DM's who are better than me, so I guess I'm not that good either. I have my own strengths and weaknesses, and I try to recognise them and improve on both. I take the time to read threads like these to pick up bits from other DM's. I try to step back once in a while an objectively evaluate myself - what I could do better, what I should do again. I ask my players, both directly and indirectly what they like and don't like in a campaign to try to gauge how well I'm coming across.

I guess, if I was to be honest, I'd say I'm a good DM and trying to be a better one.


On the idea of a book to guide DM's, I really don't think any single work is going to do that. It's like trying to write a book on how to be an author. There's just so many different ways of doing it, that any single method isn't going to apply to all people. What one person finds helpful is useless to the next. There is no magic formula that makes a great DM. Great DM's share some common elements, IMO, but, the path to those skills is pretty unique to each person.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I'm not a particularly good DM. I can't get into character properly for the NPCs, and I don't think I build tension at all well. Still, my players seem to enjoy it.

Sometimes they mock me for acting out scenes, though.

 

[Kuld]

You needn’t worry about how good ‘think’ you are. Even the best of the best can find ways to improve, many times finding themselves wishing that they had handled certain instances differently.
Some decisions made ‘under fire’ sound really terrible when you finally have time to consider them. Conversely, some of the best ideas are found that same way! DMing doesn’t end with the PCs go home. Actually playing is only half of your job and the other half is just as important (and fun).

Sorry, I’m rambling… This is nothing new.

What you are experiencing is good old fashioned ‘honest’ self-reflection. Those who ‘know’ that they are good DMs are usually the ones who are not.

.: If your players think you are good then that probably is the case.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I am the worlds greatest DM and therefore don't even have to try.

Okay, actually I am the worlds lousiest DM and I'm sure my players tell me how much they've enjoyed my campaigns simply to spare my feelings.

But really the truth is somewhere in between. I'm sure if I put more effort into it my campaigns would be STUPENDOUS, but by being a slacker and still producing campaigns that players enjoy I manage to have time to have a life outside of D&D rather than spending every spare moment preparing for the next game.

 

[Imperialus]

I'd rate myself medeocre to reasonable depending on the day. I do feel I truely excel at coming up with creative and interesting 3 dimentional NPC's, plot hooks and an engaging world that the PC's run around in but I can honsetly and truely say I am TERRIBLE at rules. Of course I didn't help myself by choosing a rediculously complex ruleset (namingly the Black Company) but look at my last session for example. The city the PC's were in was in the middle of a riot that made the Rodney King riots look like somthing organized by hippies. Large segments of the population had fallen under the sway of a cult dedicated to Kina and were running rampant through the streets including a mob attacking the sea lords palace bastile style. The PC's managed to gather together about 100 or so guardsmen wandering around and with the addition of a platoon from their own mercenary company went to drive off the rioters. That's when things got ugly. A single turn using the BC mass combat rules took me almost an hour. I got numbers mixed up couldn't do the math fast enough in my head because I was getting flustered, ended up decideing pretty much by DM fiat how the battle turned out... It was pretty pathetic.

On the up side though things look like they might be getting better since I've sold all but one member of my group on Castles and Crusades. Yay for simple rules.

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, I feel I'm a good dm.

I can improve in many, many ways- for instance, I'm trying to work on giving each npc a different "voice" based on omrob's dming style- but I know I'm a good'un.

How do I know this?

I always have a waiting list for my game...
I get a lot of positive feedback...
Some of my players have offered to pay me to run my game in the past...

...but most of all...

I ran a 3e game for diaglo and he enjoyed it!

 

[Vymair]

I'm a solid DM, my strengths are long-term plot and memorable themes. Not so good on NPC roleplaying and scene description. I'm also pretty good at incorporating the players chosen development paths into my greater story. I'm a better long-term campaign DM than a one-shot adventure DM.

I doubt my players vividly remember many scene descriptions or quirky NPCs, but they probably remember the problems between the warring duchies and the machinations behind them.