Are you a good Dungeon Master?

[Zappo]

Several players have said that I'm by far the best person in our group at GMing. I've also come second at a GMing contest (rating based on anonymous player voting; there were a dozen participants). I am quite sure that I don't make the big mistakes - you know, obvious railroading, pet NPCs, monty haul, inventing rules on the fly to screw PCs over, etc.

However, I don't feel I'm as good as I could be. For some reason, I can't get the players into the setting (some of them still confuse demons and devils, and we've been playing Planescape for years), and my efforts to make the game appeal to newbies don't work much.

 

[RamYaz]

Being a good DM

Being a good DM is not that easy or simple. That's being an entertaining DM. While players having fun is important, it does not determine if someone is good or not. In fact one can be a good DM and the players won't always have fun.

Totally agree.

 

[Odhanan]

RamYaz: Then maybe you can answer my question. If being a good DM isn't measured by the pleasure the players have playing the game, then what makes a good DM objectively?

 

[freebfrost]

As I continue to read this thread, I am starting to get the impression that the longer you DM the more confident you are that you are indeed good at it.

Now, this is just what I'm seeing here so far - but the only postings that I am seeing from DM's that think they are good are from those who have long experience at it - i.e. 15+ years.

Maybe that's a good poll...

 

[Uder]

I'm a good DM... but I can be the worst DM at a moment's notice.

 

[Uder]

Oh, forgot this one:

I was once introduced as, "The best DM ever," by a player who constantly second-guessed and nitpicked everything I did.

Talk about mixed messages.

 

[diaglo]

i know i suck at the rules.

so i try and make up for it in other ways.

besides after paying me i feel obligated to give the players something memorable.

 

[LostSoul]

Whether the GM is perceived as good or bad depends a good deal on the expectations of the players, which is influenced by their preferred playing styles (as per Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering).

I'd say that it also depends on the game itself. At least in so far as the GM's perception of his own ability.

 

[diaglo]

(as per Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering).

Robin's Laws are not worth diddly imo

 

[RamYaz]

RamYaz: Then maybe you can answer my question. If being a good DM isn't measured by the pleasure the players have playing the game, then what makes a good DM objectively?

In my humble opinion, after 20+ years, a good DM is a guy who achieves a balance between his/her knowledge of the rules and his players, his skill as a storyteller, his ability to improvise and good judgement to bend the rules when needed keeping the highest level of fun possible. Sounds too complicated?

Although I won't presume to be a great DM, consider this: every time a player tells me he/she can't wait to see what's going to happen in our next session I feel my mission accomplished.