Do You Consider Yourself A Good DM -- If Yes, Why?

[Psion]

I think I am a fairly good GM. I admit I have weaknesses... NPC characterization is one of them.

But I have strengths, too. My player compliment me often, and they seem to have fun. Not sure if I could exactly put my finger on it, but I think I am good at creating an engaging situation for the players to grapple with, good at presenting a challenge without overdoing it, and good at whipping up a surprisingly good alternate scenario when they (all too frequently) go off the beaten path.

Personal advice along this lines: always have at least a vague idea where you are going, but only plan in depth when you get closer to the situation. That way, if the players jump ahead, you aren't caught totally off guard and can wing it a little.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm a great DM in theory. In practice, I haven't done it enough recently to tell. But I've got loads of great theory, and a few pretty good experiences under my belt!

I think the secrets are great conceptualization of the campaign up front, letting the players do what they want as PCs and keeping a cliffhanger, atmosphere of suspense about it.

Also, if you can keep your players on track, that helps!

 

[Drawmack]

I firmly believe that some people are ment to DM and some people are ment to play. When I say this I mean I enjoy DMing much more then I enjoy playing, not that I dislike playing though. I know many people who are the other way around.

So do I think that I am a good DM? Well my descriptions usually get at least on ohh or ahh or yuck, but some type of response from the party. Every major NPC that I throw at the party is interesting enough to be remembered, which sometimes is a hassle cause my NPC folder gets rather large rather quickly. The plots are intrigueing and the story line is thick and rich with usually at least one sub-plot currently going on for each PC.

The main reason that I think I am a good GM is I have a party of 5 players and only one of them complains about anything and she complains about everything so I am left to surmise that she just likes to complain.

 

[Victim]

I suck. I'm not bad at running modules, but, outside that, I'm really bad.

 

[Pielorinho]

I think I'm an inconsistent DM, because I like to experiment.

Sometimes my experiments fizzle -- in a murder mystery, the killer came up with a great plan to use his social power to elude arrest, and I handed out temp-PCs to the players so that they could see him put his plan into action. It was very difficult for the players not to jump his butt and throw him into jail, ignoring all the social constraints on their temp-PCs; they felt really frustrated by the scenario.

Sometimes they succeed -- last week's session involved a series of portents doled out one by one to the PCs, with very little action to break the mood until a huge battle at the end of the session. It worked very well to build an atmosphere of horrible tension and foreboding: by the time that scorpions started pouring out of the ground and previously-gentle grandmothers started calling out to eldritch demons, the PCs were relieved to finally be able to put their fingers on what was wrong.

So in that respect, I'm a hit-or-miss DM, I think. I do think that I come up with some fun unusual battle settings and scenarios, and I'm good at convoluted plots. I sometimes have trouble distinguishing NPCs from one another, however, and I've got a tendency to railroad.

Daniel

 

[Tewligan]

Like a couple of people have said, the ability to improvise is a really handy tool to have in your DM arsenal. Whether jumping into the voice and mannerisms of an NPC, or making up a room as the PC's open the door, being able to smoothly adlib without frantically flipping through notes and mumbling "Um, hang on a minute..." will go a long way toward tricking your players (gullible fools!) into believing that you have the minutest details of your world committed to memory.

(Hey, that was a pretty long sentence.)

Oh, and if any of your players asks to play a drow, push that player down a flight of stairs. No jury in the land will find you guilty.

 

[roytheodd]

I consider myself to be a good DM. I don't know the rules too well. I don't do things conventionally. I have gaping loopholes and plotholes. I hack 'n' slash, dungeon crawl, and weave stories. I've had total party kills and expelled munchkins left and right. Yet somehow I have a line of people waiting to get into my games and giving me praise at every turn. I don't do anything special, yet I'm a crowd favorite. It beats me as to why, but I consider myself a good DM on account of all the positive feedback.

Edited in:

After rereading the question, I thought perhaps I should give a pointer or two as to why I think I've got a good reputation. I think the biggest thing I do right is a totally internal issue that I think many others already do to - I beleive that out there somewhere is a legendary DM who's got their act together. This other DM has all the means to create awesome scenarios, weave finely wrought stories, improvise as needed, knows the rules, is prepared, caters to the players, and has the action peak where necessary. I try to live up to this. Seriously. I think that we all imagine the other guy is just doing something better than us and if we could only figure it out we'd be just as good. Typically, we DMs are better than we give ourselves credit for.

Other advice would be to know your story. Create a world that you understand (or can improvise) well. Leave many story threads at every turn and let the party pick them up as they see fit. Then alter things to match what they're doing - and make sure that the Big Bad Evil Guy sees which path they take so as to thwart them later. This gives you a flexible story that responds to the players and most role-players will eat this stuff up. Controlling the story too tightly isn't good.

Cater to the players. Give them situations where their really cool abilities or gear shine brightly. Allow them to use what they've given themselves - it's a great sense of satisfaction to have a great quickdraw artist take down 3/4 of the bad guys before anyone can sneeze. Just build that stuff into situations and encounters and it won't seem like the party is overpowered.

Give them some big victories, but try always to keep the shadow cast upon them as well. What I mean is look at Star Wars or Spider Man, even when the good guys win, they've had to give up something grave for it or they haven't really won yet. Keep that going for a while in a story arc and when they reach the final finish give them the big parade.

Try to match playstyles as best as you can. If they want hack'n'slash then play it that way (or don't play at all). If they want uberhighmagic then play it that way (or don't play at all). The reason why I say "then don't play at all" is because they'll try to force it on you even if they couch it in polite ways. Try to get a group with the same ideas and motivation. I've found that telling the group what the theme and tone are is a great way to get everyone like minded. If I find a cool article that would seem like flavor, then I let them read it just so they can see what I want. If we don't all agree then there's usually some struggles and that's not good. Get that stuff ironed out before you play.

Learn to let them play "unplugged". Game balance is often the hardest thing for new DMs to get together. Piling on gear and skills is a disaster that happens and it will always collapse a game. By using the term "unplugged" I'm refering to the level of power of the group. Let them stay on the low end of the magic scale for the campaign setting and you should be okay. (The term is in reference to MTV's Unplugged series where artists would play their usual overly-loud music in unusual acoustic style - get the party off of the over-amped magic goodies and let them use mundane stuff). By keeping the party wanting you give them further impetus to explore and you keep them in check by having tougher beasties out there - it's a good thing for an adventure based game.

 

[Quickbeam]

I'd say that I'm a pretty good DM, but a far cry from stellar.

My strong points include:
** Being organized and well-prepared each session
** Good ad-lib and improv skills
** A solid handle on the game framework & houserules we use
** Consistency
** Making sure that each player is involved and having fun
** Creating an atmosphere that makes the game feel EPIC
** My biggest strength, though, is that I tend to learn from my mistakes...and hopefully as a result my sessions continue to improve

My weak points/areas for improvement:
** I should do a better job at incorporating character backgrounds and unique skills, abilities, or feats
** Occasionally I lapse into a comfort zone wherein I fail to adequately portray a scene or the surroundings to my players -- it's as though I expect them to read my mind or see through my eyes...shame on me
** My NPC's should be more distinctly different and memorable
** I can be a little stodgy when it comes to incorporating new spells, feats, or the like. I need to embrace change and creativity a little more openly I suppose

 

[Voadam]

I rate myself as a very good DM.

My players really enjoy the game and I have been told by some that my campaign has been the most intense RP experience they have ever been involved in.

Descriptions and immersion are very important so that players get a real visceral feel for where they are and what they are experiencing even when they are not sure exactly what is going on or what they are dealing with.

Creatures are not named but described.

Animal sounds and wheather are usually described when out in the wilderness.

I tailor descriptions to the characters, a chaotic rogue notices loose papers and where the captain's log is kept when they negotiate with him, while the fighter notices that the first mate has calluses on his hands, a cat like grace, and carries his cutlass as if it is a part of him.

I am good at blending in different elements and making them work as part of a realistic whole, ranging from different sourcebook material to different module plots to PC concepts and ongoing big picture plots.

I allow a lot of PC freedom allowing them to go their own ways and choose not to do things, or to over reach themselves and face the realistic resulting consequences.

Even though I mostly use modules for my adventure ideas, I don't force railroading and characters can and have found ways to go against standard module routes (they joined the slavers at one point).

I work at making sure everybody has some on stage time so that quieter PCs still are part of every game.

PCs feel competent in their areas of expertise and as a group they find things both above (very scary) and below (when they feel powerful) their power levels.

I create a pretty good atmosphere of mystery and the supernatural to magic in the game. There is always a lot out there that can not be taken for granted and characters are kept engaged and aware.

Having things well described and having things make sense in game and work logically go a long way to making a good game IME.

 

[Pielorinho]

Like a couple of people have said, the ability to improvise is a really handy tool to have in your DM arsenal.

I agree! Along these lines, it's good to have flexibility about where cool things occur. A large part of preparation should consist of the creation of Cool Things; actually running the game involves figuring out when (and whether) these cool things appear.

Example: in last session, I wanted to foretell the summoning of a Big Evil God with a series of portents. Several of them I got to use, but one of them, sparrows as psychopomps, wasn't fitting in anywhere.

Then one of the PCs decided, inexplicably, to airwalk up to the roof of the mansion they were staying in and keep a night watch. I had nothing planned that would be visible from the roof that night

-- but I also hadn't used by flock of sparrows. Hey presto, when the PC got up to the roof, he discovered that it was full of sparrows, inexplicably perched on the roof in the middle of the night and in the middle of a snowstorm. My Cool Thing went off, and the player felt all clever for going up to check the roof.

Daniel