[DM Topic] What is "Lazy DMing"?

[KenM]

IMO lazy DMing is not bad when the players have no idea its happeneing, but when the players find out, thats when it can fall apart. Like with what happened with me.

 

[Rel]

IMO lazy DMing is not bad when the players have no idea its happeneing, but when the players find out, thats when it can fall apart. Like with what happened with me.

I agree. A couple campaigns ago one of the guys in our group tried his hand at DMing for the first time in many years. Despite the fact that he was running a module, he clearly had not even read it (or not read it well enough) as there would be times in the middle of combat when he would pause the game for 5 minutes or more to read about the capabilities of the bad guys. Not cool.

 

[nameless]

One other thing I do that you may or may not benefit from is to write down the monster stats on index cards. This alone massively speeds up combat because I write down all the important stuff on the card, in a standard format, and I almost never have to look at the Monster Manual to run the combat. The simple act of transcribing from book to card will sometimes get me to notice some obscure ability that a monster has that I might have overlooked.

Also I recommend keeping a pad handy and jotting down the names and other important info about any NPC's you make up on the fly. After the session, give this information a look over and determine if you need to write more material down for that NPC (especially if they are going to be a major, recurring character) or not (like if the party is never going to see them again).

I think this is some good advice. Even if you don't use index cards, copying down stat blocks and stuff like that beforehand can make combat quicker. Plus you have the advantage of being able to tweak stuff that catches your fancy, maybe swap out some feats. And rolling treasure before the session is something that I always find makes things much quicker, easier, and more interesting. It gives the bad guys a bunch of magic items to use against the players, it can give you plot hook ideas, and it lets you tweak things before you have to do a million rerolls on the treasure charts.

 

[milotha]

I think there are several types of lazy GMs.

There is the "wing it" GM. These can be both good and bad. One of my best GMs was a really bright, creative, energetic GM, who winged almost everything, with a strong understanding of the fundamental rules of the game system and how to make role playing games fun.

Another type are the "railroad" GMs, These are the type who use their GMing style to prevent the players from taking actions, affecting the plot, using spells, accomplishing things in creative outside the box manner. Many of these have preplanned plots and outcomes and are too lazy to let the players affect it.

 

[qstor]

"Lazy DMing" is only lazy when you don't put a lot of effort into preparation and the players aren't having fun.

If the players are having fun, it's "efficient DMing". Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Great advice!

Mike

 

[SweeneyTodd]

I think you should use the process that works best for you.

Personally, I find that when I prepare extensively in terms of what the PCs will do then I'm overworked, and I have to avoid the tendency to railroad a wee bit to make sure my work isn't wasted. Not railroading in the "No, you have to go do this" way, but the All Roads Lead To Rome type where I manage to get my prepared setpieces in no matter where the PCs end up.

Now, on the other hand, when I spend my time preparing how the major players (NPCs) will continue their plans, and possible responses to the PC's actions, that's different. It's less work in terms of stat block creation and mapping, but it still requires thought.

Based on how I run games, the latter works best for me. And yes, it does involve a lot of "winging it" and then going over my notes after the fact to see how things tie together.

I think "winging it" is only Lazy DMing if you don't put in the time to prime your imagination. How much prep you need to do that depends only on you. I like for my sessions to be spontaneous but not totally ad hoc, so a few hours before a session (much of it spent just thinking about things, rather than crunching numbers) works for me.

 

[Cor Azer]

I've only had one "psuedo-problem" with my "wing-it" DMing style... my players were focusing a bit too much on a red herring because I was coming up with the names of unplanned NPCs so quickly, they figured that all the NPCs and their stats/motives/information were worked out ahead of time, and thus important.

Generally though, I work like dreaded_beast - I always like having notes jotted down, but generally it's more of a chaotically organized mass of information rollicking in my thoughts of places, characters, and "that'd be a cool situation to put the PCs in!" events. My players are fun - some sessions they're frighteningly easy to predict, and other sessions I haven't even thought about a single thing they ask (fortunately, the first happens more often then the second, and usually they're firmly entrenched inbetween the two).

 

[Talmun]

"Lazy DMing" is only lazy when you don't put a lot of effort into preparation and the players aren't having fun.

If the players are having fun, it's "efficient DMing". Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Exactly.

Succinctly and correctly put, I couldn't improve on that sentiment so I won't try.

 

[Mercule]

I used to be an extreme "wing-it" GM. All the prep work I did on my game was setting-wise, not adventure-wise. That is to say creating nations, geography, deities, etc. Because I had the practice, I got really good at coming up with names, plot hooks, even riddles and prophecies off-the-cuff (to the point I had players who refused to believe it was spontaneous). Everyone had fun, yada, yada. Absolutely nothing wrong.

Fast forward to the release of 3E and I'd been doing Storyteller for a few years. I wanted to give the fully overhauled and "balanced" system a fair chance, so I ran the adventure path series. Man, did I ever tank on "Sunless Citadel", and somewhat on "Forge of Fury".

That, along with a couple of 1E/2E experiences made me very cognizant of the fact that DMing from a module vs. winging it are two, almost totally separate, skills. Some people are better at one than the other and either can be learned. To echo others, though, as long as everyone is having fun it doesn't matter what your style is.

 

[Turanil]

Being new to the world of DMing, I have been worrying over if I have been doing things the "correct" or "right way".

My answer: YES!!

I am lazy too, though less than you are since I prepare NPCs stats. In the future I will be even more lazy, since I recently bought some campaign settings book, to forget about developping a campaign world by myself.

Anyway, just a suggestion: Let your players believe that you have extremely carefully prepared everything. When, you have no idea instantaneously, just pretend reading your notes, while you take a look at various books or whatnot and try to get an idea to continue.