Do you sit when you DM?

[arwink]

Do you sit at the table when you're running a game?

I prefer to advantage of height when DMing, and its become something of a running joke among my players. Although there are plenty of chairs and it's a fairly small table, I often seem to spend more than half a session on my feet, standing at the tables edge and using as much space as possible around me for rulebooks and notes. I think it's a holdover from 2e days when I used a DM's screen - I needed to stand to avoid hiding behind it. It also saves a lot of time cause I can move the miniatures myself instead of relying on the players to move the monsters around the battle-map.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

My groups current DM does the same thing as you, although he always uses a screen.

I'm more of a sitter, i like to get in behind my screen and "Do stuff" it helps keep the players just a little on edge(in my mind it does anyway). It give me the advantage of bing able to lean back and relax while they endlessly puzzle over some problem i've layed out for them.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Parts of the game. I find I walk around the table also.

 

[hammymchamham]

My new game is starting this saturday, and I like to be able to stand sometimes to act out some events, but we really don't have the room, so I won't be.

 

[arwink]

Hand of Evil - I've noticed I've started doing that. I used to do it a lot when I ran Vampire games, so it's not a great surprise. Kind of took me off guard the first time I did it in DnD though.

I've also noticed that half the time don't stop DMing when I got for coke cause the kitchen's right next to the gaming table.

Sir Osis - That's what having a couch nearby is for

 

[Leopold]

I sit in a nice back leather chair that I wheel up to the table. All the players sit on the ground or on couches around a coffee table with a large piece of glass that has the hex map on it. I then have a foot long pointy red stick (warhammer thingy) that I use to point out where things go. When I feel evil i just spin around in the chair and laugh maniacly and wave the red stick o death in the air..

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Do you sit at the table when you're running a game? Although there are plenty of chairs and it's a fairly small table, I often seem to spend more than half a session on my feet, standing at the tables edge and using as much space as possible around me for rulebooks and notes.

I do the same. I try to sit, really I do, but I always end up standing.

Parts of the game. I find I walk around the table also.

I like to grab a baseball bat and slowly walk around behind the players, extolling the virtues of party cohesion and working as a part of a team.

It give me the advantage of bing able to lean back and relax while they endlessly puzzle over some problem i've layed out for them.

I don't prepare too much in advance, and I pace when I think, so I usually end up pacing around while the players are in committee.


Wulf

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Sir Osis - That's what having a couch nearby is for

We actually used to play in the living room of who ever's house we were at, but after a while it became a problem. Several of us work labor intensive jobs and we found that if the seating was too comfortable people would start falling asleep My DM is particularly notorious for that one.

 

[arwink]

Re: Re: Do you sit when you DM?

I like to grab a baseball bat and slowly walk around behind the players, extolling the virtues of party cohesion and working as a part of a team.

Hmm. I did once have a DMing bat (giant, inflatable baseball bat). Helped me think. Discouraged dice-bumps. Didn't last long.

Some days player-DM cooperation seems like a dream.

 

[Dingleberry]

I still use a DM screen, so if I ever end up actually sitting in the chair (unlike my frequent perching on the back of the chair), my players usually take the hint that they're spinning their wheels.