Dwight D. Eisenhower on DM'ing

[thedungeondelver]

I refer you to the first post:





Here's a few more quotes:

"What an immense mass of evil must result... from allowing Player Characters to assume the right of anticipating what may happen." ~Leo Tolstoy

"It is dangerous to be right when the Dungeon Master is wrong." ~Voltaire

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed Player Characters can change the campaign world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Mead

"...Violence as a way of gaining power... ...is being camouflaged under the guise of roleplaying, alignment [and] game balance..." ~Alfred Adler

"Unthinking respect for rules mechanics is the greatest enemy of roleplay." ~Albert Einstein

"Let not your zeal to share your house rules entice you beyond your edition." ~Marquis de Sade

"How could a Dungeon Master rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of Player Characters?" ~Lao Tzu

Ah! In my enthusiasm I missed that in the OP entirely!

Well, let's try this one then:

"When you are in any contest you should work as if there were - to
the very last minute - a chance to lose it. "

 

[buzz]

We are what we repeatedly do. - The #1 best explaination of alignment I have heard to date.

Seven kinds of awesome.

 

[Gwaihir]

"We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. And we shall certainly run from no monster, even at first level." Winston Churchill

 

[Wormwood]

From General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller (patron saint of all Fighting Men):

"You don't hurt 'em if you don't hit 'em."

"We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem."

"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of
us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time"

 

[Corsair]

Quotes from my favorite politician ever, Niccolo Machiavelli, applicable to adventuring:

"War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel."

 

[scourger]

GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, JR. QUOTATIONS

"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."

“In case of doubt, attack.”

“Never let the enemy pick the battle site.”

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

 

[Slife]

The attack by those who want to die-- this is the attack against which you cannot prepare a perfect defense. --Human aphorism
The Dosadi Experiment, by Frank Herbert

 

[KrazyHades]

"God does not play dice. Except at my sessions." -Einstein (not a military man, I know)

"Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?!" Gunny Daly (lvl 23 epic half-orc barbarian)

"Can't touch this"- the ghost of MC Hammer (ethereal!)

 

[VirgilCaine]

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

I have no idea how my PCs are going to track down the bad guys in my current Call of Cthulhu adventure.
I'm sure they will come up with something using their skills, advantages, contacts, police assistance, etc.

 

[Thunderfoot]

My thoughts on DMing are best summed up by the men of 101st during the seige of Bastonge during the Battle of the Bulge -
"They have us surrounded, the poor bastards."

Or Sun Tsu's - "A true warrior wins the battle first and then goes to war, a loser goes to war and then tries to win."

or possibly Frank Zappa "How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?"