DMing: where's the fun?

[xnosipjpqmhd]

It is widely touted that part of a good DM's job is to make sure everyone is having fun, and much has been written about how to make sure players have fun.

What I want to know is, where is the fun in being a DM? They spend a lot of time both during and between games working to ensure their players have a good time. If the players do have a good time, is that reward enough for the DM, or is it important to eke out one's own enjoyment behind the screen?

If/when you DM, what part of DMing is most fun for you? Should DM duty be rotated so no one has to shoulder the burden alone? Let's hear your thoughts on how to make DMing (more) fun.

 

[Nightson]

The enjoyment that others take in my creative work is enjoyable to me.

 

[weem]

My job is to make sure the players have fun, but also for me to have fun. If I am not having fun, I am not going to run the game - so my enjoyment is just as important.

I love telling a good story, one that the players get really immersed in. When you see them leaning in a little closer to the table... jotting a note down... hushing someone else... these kinds of cues that they are really into what is unfolding - that's fun for me. When your players talk with each other about the game days later - what they might do next time we get together... who they might talk to, and what they might say... that's really cool. Watching while my story makes them forget we are playing a game, even if for just a minute, is awesome to me. That's a huge part of the fun for me as a DM.

It's also fun for ME to see what's going to happen next. This is a story telling process that both sides are working on together. Sometimes I am the one thinking "whoa, that was cool! I didn't expect that", sometimes it's the players. This is the other major part of DM-ing that is fun to me... like reading a book, I'm not always sure what is coming next, and am often surprised, which is cool!

So those are the two main things.

One of the coolest things for me lately has been after the game, talking about what just happened and watching the players get really into it... and then, getting a message from them later (on IM) saying, "damn dude, that was fun" - "that was a badass game!" etc.

I want to be considered a really good DM (if not the best my players have played with), so I'm regularly working on improving - and after 21-ish years, there is still plenty of room for improvement, it's just that the things that need improvement keep changing

 

[Thunderfoot]

I'm surprised no one has waded into this one yet...or maybe I'm not. Oh well... (edit - looks like two others posted while I was writing.)

I've been DM'ing since 1978, about two months after I started playing. Yes, I became DM because no one else wanted to, but I didn't mind. At first it was just scrawling some maps and filling them with monsters, strictly "hack n' slay and cart it away". Classic crawls. Then I started experimenting with outdoor adventures and closely reading modules and fantasy novels, looking at it from a writer's perspective instead of as a player - and suddenly the world literally opened up for me.

Let me put this in perspective, you come to a game, you have a set of dice and your character sheet - 1 person, 1 player. BOOORING!
I get the chance to play hundreds upon thousands of different characters, gods, goddesses, monsters and the like... sometimes in a single game. The challenge is to create a living world. Players who just want to kill things and take their stuff are better off with video games IMO, because they aren't embracing the sheer possibilities available to them. This doesn't mean their style of playing is wrong, just not optimal for what's really available.

The fun of being a DM is when after 5 years, your players are STILL talking about that time....; When the party, all primed and ready for what they think the know is about to happen suddenly takes a left turn at Albuquerque and their jaws all hit the floor with that "OH S***!!!" scream.; When a player suddenly pulls something completely unexpected and completely aces what you expected to be an epic fight (yes it's frustrating, but it is really cool to watch ... and learn from); When a player says, you knows you should really publish this (awww, ain't that quaint) because this rocks!

From a player standpoint the DM is, for the most part a thankless job that has no rewards, no levels, no cool weapons, no neat abilities. That is really short sighted, for you see, the DM has all of that stuff in spades, plus phenomenal cosmic power at his/her disposal.

I love to play, but more over, I love to inspire others to push themselves out of the , "I want a big sword to kill orcs with and if there are any girls/boys in the bar I want to do them." mode. There is no need to attack the darkness, now get in there and figure out a REAL course of action.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Well, there's the power. Also one can take a certain amount of mean-spirited pleasure from killing PCs.

 

[Hussar]

It is widely touted that part of a good DM's job is to make sure everyone is having fun, and much has been written about how to make sure players have fun.

What I want to know is, where is the fun in being a DM? They spend a lot of time both during and between games working to ensure their players have a good time. If the players do have a good time, is that reward enough for the DM, or is it important to eke out one's own enjoyment behind the screen?

If/when you DM, what part of DMing is most fun for you? Should DM duty be rotated so no one has to shoulder the burden alone? Let's hear your thoughts on how to make DMing (more) fun.

Speaking only for myself.

I enjoy seeing people interact with the things that I create.

I guess the difference would be the difference between a director and an actor. I view the GM as the director (with some obvious limitations) while the players are actors.

Is being a director less fun that being an actor? I dunno. Totally different experiences IMO.

------------

Another thought occurs.

Unlike a player, I get to play an RPG ALL THE TIME. I'm not limited to my three or four hour session once a week. I get to play D&D (or whatever game it is) any time I want to. Sure, sometimes it's a drag, and I don't mind handing off the reins from time to time. But, eventually the itch bites me again, and I want to immerse myself in my campaign far to much to wait for that once a week scratch.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

The thing to keep in mind that a lot of the folks who GM a lot do it because they actually enjoy it more than they do playing - I played maybe six sessions last year, and ran games almost a hundred.

It can be very satisfying, in much the way being an author or a director can be.

There is the joy of world creation - of making a setting that rings true, yet allows freedom and adventure.

There is the joy of crafting the plots, and watching and listening as the players unweave the tangled strands, and figure out what's really going on.

There is the joy of a complex NPC, and reading the players reactions to him, and of second guessing the PCs in character.

And there is the sheer, unbridled, joy of the PCs doing something that you were completely unprepared for,when rather than leading them along you are running off after them, cleaning up the destruction behind them, and having a blast.

The Auld Grump, when the team avoids combat by employing ballroom dancing, two partner swaps, and a minor illusion....

 

[Kzach]

Honestly, I don't know anymore.

I've been playing primarily D&D games since I was thirteen and until recently, DM'd 99% of those games. I've rarely been without a game for more than a few months, but have gone through a lot of groups in that time, for various and sundry reasons.

Recently, after yet another group fell apart, I decided I'm over DM'ing. Twenty-two years of DM'ing and I've only had two groups last longer than a year. And in all that time, I've never really found much enjoyment out of it.

Primarily this has come because player invariably don't show any appreciation for the effort I go to. I've tried every which way of DM'ing, from hard arsed to soft-nosed and everything in between. And yet it's the rare group who shows any amount of respect for the effort.

Constant griping at the table, snide remarks, comments after game, etc. always got me down. I'd always try to mediate and constantly asked if there were things I could do to improve, but in almost every group, nobody said a word or uttered a syllable unless it was a snarky comment here and there. But nobody would actually have the guts to stand up and say, "Ok, well, this is where you could improve."

So, without any sort of guidance, it was up to me to always find the groove to fit the players or to force a groove and in almost every instance, neither approach worked for everyone at the table.

After twenty two years of DM'ing, I've had about three years of enjoyable DM'ing and that was for the two groups who stuck together long enough to actually have characters level more than once. Two groups, one lasted almost two years, the other just over a year. Three years out of twenty-two.

So to answer your question, it isn't worth it. Not unless you have a stable group of close friends who are all as enthusiastic about the game as you are. Otherwise you get groups of disparate individuals who inevitably have a falling out and the group ends. And nothing about that is fun.

 

[ggroy]

Constant griping at the table, snide remarks, comments after game, etc. always got me down. I'd always try to mediate and constantly asked if there were things I could do to improve, but in almost every group, nobody said a word or uttered a syllable unless it was a snarky comment here and there. But nobody would actually have the guts to stand up and say, "Ok, well, this is where you could improve."

Over the years I found it was largely pointless in asking the players for comments. Though this may have to do with the many people in my previous gaming groups, being passive-aggressive personality types. (I found this out independently from other outside sources, about these many particular individuals who previously played in my games over the years).

 

[ggroy]

Well, there's the power. Also one can take a certain amount of mean-spirited pleasure from killing PCs.

Even this can get boring after awhile.

It's similar to killing cops and destroying things in video games like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, where it too got boring after awhile.