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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 5021571" data-attributes="member: 52734">There's two reasons I DM.  The first and foremost is the creative power to set up the scenarios.  The few times I've been a player, you are one of many and if the DM's doing his job you only get a small subsection of the gaming arena to make your own.  As the DM, you have the whole sandbox to decide how the world is formed.  Certainly, it's the players interactions that drive what get used, but its the DM who sets up the constructs (scene, opponents, NPCs, storylines, etc.) that get interacted with.  The trick is not to obsess with your own creations - overplanning, being too protective to kill certain NPCs/Villians/Allies and the like.The second, and perhaps most important is the "what's going to happen next?" factor.  Players are a surprising bunch, and when you let yourself be surprised by their reactions and interactions with the game, its a lot more enjoyable for both sides.  The hard part is being able to roll with where the characters are taking events.  To me, the best DMs set up the situation and then step back and observe what the players do next, and keep feeding them new things to interact with when they finish with the old stuff.I will say, I've burned myself out several times as DM, so I feel the pain of those others who are in a malaise about DMing.  It's damn hard work and often under-appreciated.  Its like being a parent; if you're doing it for the accolades, you're missing the point.  You're providing the guidance for the game.  No one said it would fun all the time or most of the time.  All you can hope to say is that in the end, it was worth it.</blockquote>

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