DMs If you had to choose...

[corzican]

For me it's typing. I like to make handouts for the players to have information (lately been using pdflatex to make nicely formated pdf's) and I type about twenty words a minute. Curse my slow fingers!
[Edit: Corrected 'by' to 'my'. Well, I supposed I am cursed by slow fingers, but I meant to say my there]

 

[boothbey]

1) Maps. I'm horrible with maps.

2) Names. I'm slightly better with names than maps...SLIGHTLY.

3) Choosing which campaign/world I really want to run. I seem to have more campaigns that I want to run than I have time and players for.

 

[Nightfall]

I generally solve that problem by either not making it sufficiently clear to the PCs who should be thrill-killed so that they can argue about it, or use some threat that apparently can't be killed by their current weapons so that the PCs can argue about how it can be killed...

Some of my best sessions were when the PCs spent half the time arguing about what was going on...

I think I should explain, MY definition of thrill kill usually involves lot of NPCs dying for no reason other than PCs enjoy killing them.

 

[Christian Walker]

I've been gaming since 1982, so the challenge is making thegames fresh and not a re-hash of campaigns run over the past two decades.

 

[Darrin Drader]

For me, its finding that right mixture of inspiration and perspiration to bring something out correctly. I hate going into a game with a vague idea of what the adventure will entail, though I've often been told that the games where I wing it are usually my best ones.

Another thing I have a tough time with is being certain that I'm not just retelling a story I've told before. I think fantasy kind of lends itself to that trap, and its something I consciously combat on a regular basis. So far, so good.

One thing with 3rd edition is having an NPC ready on the fly. Someone needs to put out a book of nothing but NPC stat blocks arranged by character level and class with very brief descriptions of them so they can be easily dropped into a game. They should range from characters with NPC classes to NPC's with prestige classes.

 

[Sulimo]

ummm....naming stuff. I really struggle giving names to people and places that haven't been used a million times before.

 

[EarthsShadow]

Oh, the hardest part for me is:

Maps, I can't draw for anything.
Which campaign setting, there are five campaigns I want to run, each of which would be equally fun and entertaining.
Getting enough players who are willing to be players and enjoy it. In other words, finding the time to gather around and play consistently.

 

[jollyninja]

making my adventure hooks visible without nailing players upside the head with a sledge hammer. and maps, and naming unimportant people/places. seriously i once had a sessoin where the player in a solo campaign refused to bite on any of my hooks, he would not talk to anyone for more then a sentence or two or leave the inn/tavern where he was staying. then when i finally gave in and railroaded him, he complained.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

3) Choosing which campaign/world I really want to run. I seem to have more campaigns that I want to run than I have time and players for.

I know that feeling. Right now I want to run a FR campaign, a Kalamar campaign, a Scarred Lands campaign, a Star Wars campaign, and a homebrew. Anyone up for playing five nights a week? Anyone? Anyone?


The hardest part of DMing for me is running published modules. Too often I miss details that are important later on, or the party completely misses clues, or something like that. I also find that a lot of published adventures fall into the "lots of empty rooms with locked doors for the party to bash through" trap which, while realistic, really pisses off my players.

 

[Agback]

...what the most difficult aspect of designing a campaign/adventure, what would it be?

The translation of any original concepts into game terms.

For example, my usual fantasy world (Gehennum) has four different kinds of supernatural powers that player characters can use. A character can be a mage or a high ability scholar, and hence work magic. Or he or she can be the favourite of a daimon (a.k.a geist) and persuade his or her sponsor to perform miracles. Or he or she can be an avatar of an oneiros and work miracles himself or herself. Or he or she can practice any of several mystic disciplines.

I have never come across a game that allows me to represent all four of those things to my satisfaction. HindSight[/] manages favourites and mystic disciplines well enough, gets by on avatars with a bit of re-writing, but tends to clunk on magic. Hero System does mystic disciplines well enough, handles magic well, but tends to clunk when it comes to miracles. D&D would need a heavy re-write by someone better at designing rules than I am, replacing D&D magic (which is too powerful) and writing whole new classes, feats, and abilities for the other three things. C&S would need whole new sections for everything except magic.

Regards,


Agback