Why would you host a party people don't enjoy? Yeah, as DM it's your job to facilitate the group's fun. That doesn't mean giving them everything they want all the time - rewards are more satisfying when they're earned - but basically, yeah, you're organising a fun activity for your friends. I don't think this is a particularly outlandish notion.
Well, I certainly wouldn't enjoy playing with a DM who doesn't want the players to have fun.
I don't think the DM's fun should be assumed to begin and end with the player's fun.
Are those the only choices? No.middle ground?
I don’t want to put words in Micah’s mouth, it I think what he’s saying is, “fun is subjective”. Some people - DMs and players - like an experience where death is basically off-the-table, players are given their every desire, the party’s power scale is off the charts…
Which is fine - as long as they're having fun.
I think that you are looking at it the wrong way, both the original comments about wanting to see/hear about things that support the GM or make their role easier as well as the book about hosting parties that focuses on things for your guests to do. Take the very simple example of the way the second bastion video talks exclusively about how players make use of it & how players will interact with it & compare it to the 2e DMG talking about why striking the right balance of enough but not too many magic items is critical for the GM. The video did not even attempt the most token of brief nods towards why wotc thinks the GM will find bastions useful while doing so even though they mentioned things they could have highlighted as reasons for the GM to be excited about bastions had they gone further into depth on those areas rather than spotlighting it for players.
Sure. And the DM is allowed to have fun, too. They don’t have to just be a waiter serving up the player’s every whim.
I’m begging people to play games that aren’t 5E. People love Call of Cthulhu.
