Does your group DM?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It depends.








on the personalities involved. Could be yes, could be no to all questions.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Nope. And those that do would all run different systems. I run C&C/and 3.x in the past, my brother will run AD&D 1e, but that probably won't happen again soon, my one buddy runs The Fantasy Trip only. Another player talked about a GURPS sci-fi/cyberpunk game, but it never materialized. The others are not going to run anything.

So it's

1. No
2. No
3. No
4. probably.
5. probably.

 

[Psion]

Are all the players in your group willing to DM?

In my current group, yes.

Of course, it's too small for my taste currently.

Are Players who never DM moochers?

Heavens, no! They are willing victims!

Are DMs who never let others DM powermongers?

Hey! I resemble that remark!

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Almost every member of my gaming group DMs or has DMed at one time or another (I say almost, because we got a new guy last session, so he has never DMed for our group). We mostly take turns, one guy running the 'primary' game and a couple of others running a 'secondary' game whenever the primary DM can't run (or attend) or feels like playing. By 'primary' and 'secondary' I mean, 'the game that we are currently playing the most of' and 'the games that we are not currently playing the most of'.

Some of the guys in the group have a different gaming style than that which most of the players enjoy, so they are less likely to be asked to DM. One guy in the group has pretty much decided that he cannot run for us, because we're too rowdy and he's not willing or able to exert himself to an extent to get us to shut the hell up...

Sometimes being a DM makes you a better player, and sometimes it makes you into a pain in the ass... Sometimes being a player makes you into a better DM, and sometimes it makes you lazy.

No-one in the group has been 'forced' to run a game, but everyone has pretty much been asked if they want to do so...

Later
silver

 

[Agamon]

Are all the players in your group willing to DM? Does everyone take a turn, at some time? Has a Player been banned from DMing in your group?

Good lord, no! Geez, it's tough enough playing under a neophyte DM, let alone a very bad one. And almost all of my players are one or both of those. That's in my main group. In another group I recently joined, 3 of us are pretty good DMs, and I'm having fun playing for a change.

Are Players who never DM moochers?

No, in fact, I greedily defend my position of DM like it's a pot of gold. They can take it from my cold, dead hands!

Are DMs who never let others DM powermongers?

Um...next question.

Does DMing make one a better Player?

Better roleplayer. But they are often control freaks or rules lawyers as players.

Does playing a PC make one a better DM?

No. It's maybe good to see how things work from the other side of the screen once in a while to get perspective, but being a player doesn't directly help you be a good DM.

 

[was]

usually it's just 1 of 2 members

 

[scourger]

Are all the players in your group willing to DM?

No. Of the five people currently in my group, three of us have DM'ed (including me).

Does everyone take a turn, at some time?

No. See above. But two of us are really shouldering the load right now. In truth, my statistics reveal that I did about 80% of the DMing last year. I believe that is too much. I'll be looking at a couple of years prior for comparison.

Has a Player been banned from DMing in your group?

No. Although some have had it rougher than others, nobody was outright banned.

Are Players who never DM moochers?

No. They contribute to the group differently by showing up to play. Hopefully, they do it consistently. Although I might like to see them take a turn behind the screen, they have to want it.

Are DMs who never let others DM powermongers?

No. Everyone DMs the way they play--or they way they most like to play. A DM's preference for play type can go to an extreme of stifling the players, though.

Does DMing make one a better Player?

I don't know. I never thought about it that way. I think playing makes a better DM. I suppose DMing could make a better player.

Does playing a PC make one a better DM?

Yes. I think so.

 

[delericho]

Are all the players in your group willing to DM?

No. My group has a primary DM (me), and one other guy who has DM'ed extensively in the past but doesn't currently have the time. The rest may have DM'ed a little in the past, but either don't, won't or can't.

Does everyone take a turn, at some time?

Again, no. Of the five 'non-DMs' of the group, one has run a (Vampire) game I played in. I suspect one of the others may have run some games in the past. Two others I believe have never run a game, and the last is a complete newcomer to the game.

Has a Player been banned from DMing in your group?

Not formally, but I won't play under the guy who ran Vampire again. That game was awful.

Are Players who never DM moochers?

No. DM'ing isn't for everyone, and DM'ing well isn't easy. If a player doesn't want to put in the effort, or doesn't have the confidence to think he'd do a good job... or even if he just prefers to play, then that's not an issue.

It would be an issue if no-one in the group wanted to DM. But, since I (usually) prefer to DM that doesn't apply here.

Are DMs who never let others DM powermongers?

Probably. If someone else in the group wants to run a game, they should probably be given the chance. Especially in the typical case, where a campaign starts, runs for a while, then resets and you do something else. Those reset points are an ideal time for a switch.

Obviously, if a DM has been running the same campaign for 20 years, there is somewhat more reason for resistance to a switch.

Does DMing make one a better Player?

I don't think so. I'm generally a poor player - I tend towards rules lawyering, but more to the point I find myself inwardly cringeing at all the calls that the DM invariably makes that I like to think I know are bad ideas.

Does playing a PC make one a better DM?

I rather hope not! If it does, then I have done a woefully inadequate amount of play.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Are all the players in your group willing to DM?

Apart from my son, age 12, yes. He'd probably be willing to DM but we wouldn't let him (because everyone else in the group has been roleplaying for quite a lot of years longer than he's been alive.)

Does everyone take a turn, at some time?

With the above exception, yes.

Has a Player been banned from DMing in your group?

No.

Are Players who never DM moochers?

I'd expect anyone with a reasonable amount of experience at playing to want to build their own world; I don't understand how anyone who's got the basic personal qualities to enjoy roleplaying could fail to be interested.

Are DMs who never let others DM powermongers?

How on Earth could you prevent someone else from DMing?

Does DMing make one a better Player?

No. DMing is quite a personal creative exercise, but playing is about teamworking skills.

Does playing a PC make one a better DM?

Same answer.

 

[Raloc]

Are all the players in your group willing to DM? Does everyone take a turn, at some time? Has a Player been banned from DMing in your group?

We have different groups between the two current ongoing campaigns (one of which is on hiatus, the one that I'm not DMing). In the group I play in, it's only four of us total, and it's the "core" of our group (we've known eachother longest out of everyone that we game with and that lurks in the IRC channel that I made and we've had for ~8 years now). In that group, every one of us has DMed at some point, though one hasn't run a serious campaign recently and the other was running d20 SW, which many of us aren't *as* interested in as D&D. In my own game, which has all of the ones in the other game, plus two others, one is a noob (and pretty bad at playing all around, including RP, though, there's hope yet) and the other is a player (very very excellent roleplayer, though she hadn't ever played D&D before this (she started pretty late in the campaign, a month or two ago and it's been 2 years now), she got her l33t skills from MUDs) and thus don't DM. I have two other players that haven't ever really played that are going to be doing some PbEm of antagonists to the main characters and for advancing non-PC plots for integration into the normal session.

Are Players who never DM moochers?

That highly depends on how good at DMing they are. If their skill lies at the low end of the spectrum, no. Otherwise, yes, definitely

Are DMs who never let others DM powermongers?

Depends on the situation I guess. If there is only time for one regular session, it might be best to look at virtual tabletop stuff or alternate. Personally, I like to DM and play in at least one game at the same time.

Does DMing make one a better Player?

I think that highly depends on what sort of definition of "better" you're using. A better roleplayer? A better rules lawyer (hehe I don't really like rules lawyering in my players)? A better strategist? I think in many cases, yes.

Does playing a PC make one a better DM?

In most cases, I'd say yes and no. On one hand, the DM that plays a lot might become heavily PC-biased, which would suck the challenge out of the game. On the other hand, it never hurts to play and see what's fun.