GMs, why are *you* doing the GMing in your group?

[Kanegrundar]

I do it for the fun of it. I like setting up the challenges and the stories for my group. 'Nuff said.

Kane

 

[arwink]

I consistently enjoy DMing more than I do being a player, although there are exceptions to that.

How much fun I'm having running the game varies from group to group

 

[Finster]

As a youngster (back when dinosaurs ruled the midwest) I made up worlds and scenarios, illustrating them with pencil drawings. When my uncle gave me the ol' red box version of D&D for my 13th birthday (oops dating myself), I was amazed there was a way to codify the things I was dreaming up through my art.
I have been mostly GM, it is a crazy-fun effective outlet for creativity. My players love(d) the fully illustrated world I created. I use the past tense because now I have more art to do than allows me to work on (or even play) D&D anymore. That and my gaming group is now in another state. :\ I still read the books before turning in at night, and sometimes when I take a break I come here to EnWorld. I will even post on occasion

 

[EricNoah]

I definitely love DMing; for years DMing was all I did. In the past five years or so I've gotten into a couple of other games as a player and have enjoyed that. But if I had to give up one or the other, I'd stop playing and continue DMing.

 

[Psion]

I do enjoy running, but I would like to play once in a while. Of the two other people who ran that I enjoyed playing under in the area that I know, one moved and the other was a victim of some unfortunate events which left him unable to game with us.

 

[Brakkart]

I enjoy running D&D, so I DM for fun. I am however keenly aware that in my current group no-one else has any desire/ability to run a campaign (well at least not a campaign that the others would be interested in playing). We used to have myself and another DM (Eccles on these boards), only he got a great job offer and moved away (and joined Morrus' campaign), so now theres just me who is willing and able to run D&D. Bit of a shame, cos while I never enjoyed playing D&D during 2nd Ed, just running it, since 3rd Ed came out, I find I enjoy time spent on either side of the screen.

Still got a couple years worth of plot for my current campaign to run the guys through yet, so who knows, by the end of that, perhaps one of them will be champing at the bit to run a campaign of their own. Time will tell.

 

[Exquisite Dead Guy]

I enjoy DM'ing because I'm a bit of a control freak. I was also the only one prepared to run something when we finally got a group together.

One of my players is going to start running the new adventure path in Dungeon so I'll get a chance to play again (yay!). We'll see if I make the same mistakes that they always seem to.

 

[Napftor]

I enjoy both but DMing moreso. It's probably because I seem to be the only person who has time to put together an adventure. Although, personally, I like to think it's because I'm the best at it.

 

[Starglim]

I started a PBeM campaign because I had a campaign idea that I wanted to run. To be honest, I don't understand the second option. Who here has to play a RPG in the first place?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Some people like GMing, and do it for fun. Others do it because it needs doing -- either it's their turn, or nobody else is prepared to, or because nobody else can do it satisfactorily, or there just wouldn't be a game if they weren't GMing one.

Which are you?

A combo, I guess. I know the rules the best in my group (but I'm not perfect), I'm running D20 Modern (much less prep time than for DnD, which the other group's DM is running) which means I'm available to run more often, and there's a few things I don't like in games that I can avoid by GMing.

I'd still love to be a D20 Modern player, however.