D&D (2024) DMs, what makes running D&D fun for you?

[Yaarel]

DMs, what makes running D&D fun for you?

We hear alot about what players enjoy? What do DMs enjoy?

For me, it is worldbuilding and describing scenes that players interact with. So I need core rules that support homebrew settings, and mechanics that are conceptual in ways to facilitate theater of the mind.

Intuitive rules for creating balanced monsters on the fly would be nice too.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

.... the ABSOLUTE POWER AND THE TYRANNY OVER THE OPPRESSED! No, wait, that's not it.

The ability to exact bribes?

Eh.

I mostly DM because I have to, honestly. For my regulars, I enjoy it as a chance to get together and socialize. For others (such as groups I run for teens) it's because I see the enjoyment and fun they are having, and then I feel a sense of pride when they eventually start running their own games.

I think that for this reason, I have gravitated toward low prep. Either D&D using materials I know so well (bespoke Greyhawk campaign, reworked old material, etc.), or creating my own rules lite one shots.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm one of those people who doesn't get much pleasure from being a player. It's all about being the DM (no matter the system or genre). I like prepping props, digital or physical, I like being different NPCs, I like trying to set the mood for the players and scare them, excite them, confuse them, delight them, etc. I like being the sound designer, set designer, director and editor all rolled into one.

 

[Charlaquin]

I love D&D, and I have strong feelings about how it is best run, which tends to lead me to feel dissatisfied with the DM’s choices when I’m a player I first started DMing in a Thanks “fine, I’ll do it myself” moment. But I also found that I quite enjoy creating interesting scenarios and seeing how players will respond to them.

 

[Draegn]

The game does not matter. I enjoy presenting a situation and seeing how the players react to it and how the things they do or do not cause the event to grow into a mutual story told by all.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Crushing my players, seeing them driven before me and hearing the lamentations of their significant others.

 

[aco175]

I mostly like just gathering with friends nowadays. As the DM, I like to present situations and see how the players get out of them. I tend to have a loose idea on the plot and structure of the campaign, but throwing things at the players and see how they act with their items, spells, and skills is cool. A few near death brushes remind them to think.

 

[Oofta]

I like the creativity and world building. I enjoy thinking about factions, how they interact with each other and how that can affect the PCs for good or ill. Setting up challenging encounters (in and out of combat) while also building the setting for stories to emerge. It's rewarding to run a game that people enjoy, share laughs and create a stories together. That, and getting to use terrible accents, do funny voices, basically act out the NPCs and monsters.

Getting to cackle with glee while the poor players are forced to bend to my tyrannical will is a bonus.

 

[bloodtide]

I love creating everything and making a vast contemplated world and interacting with it. And getting players interested and interacting with it too.

I do love when I make something simple...goblins riding giant spiders...and player just loose their minds in awe and wonder that such a thing can even exist.

And I love it even more with complex things like "the door is made out of frozen time" and I can watch players brains melt as they try and figure that out.....

 

[TiQuinn]

I love creating dungeons. It was true when I bought the Elmore cover Basic box set and it’s been true ever since. I like creating cool encounters, traps, weird descriptions WITH BOX TEXT, DAMMIT and then stocking them with awesome magic items. I love having factions running around the dungeons, and as a James Bond fan, I admit, somewhere in the dungeon is a MacGuffin that will destroy the world…a fantasy version of a death ray that the villain is this close to activating unless the PCs can stop them.

Really, I love designing adventures that I would want to play as a PC.