Have previous DMs influenced your DMing style?

[BSF]

Absolutely! When I meet somebody doing something better than I do, I love to integrate their take on things to improve my GMing. Why would I want to stumble through a bunch of bad ideas when somebody else already has good ideas to borrow? Heck, I've only ben GMing for 23+ years and I still enjoy learning more from other people. Heck, that's part of the reason I hang out online here. There are a ton of GMs and I am always learning something a little new to try out. I try to put out the occasional idea that others might find useful too. I would consider it quite a compliment to have somebody say they used one of my ideas and it worked for them. Hmm, maybe I need to remember to thank the people whose ideas I snarf from? What goes around comes around and all that.

If you have a personality conflict with your old GM, that's fine. Still take the good aspects of that relationship and use those. Why be so bitter that you can't see the good things he did?

 

[Rel]

If you can get something useful out of a reationship you abhor, you are further long than most folks

Teflon Billy has grasped one of the great bits of wisdom in this world (actually, from reading his posts for several years, I think he's grasped more than just this one). Apply this to all areas of your life, dreaded_beast and you'll be a better person for it.

Someday, you'll be sitting at a gaming table and somebody will say, "You know what, I just realized that your DMing style reminds me a lot of DM-X, except that you're not a jerk."

 

[BSF]

See, here is a great case-in-point. Rel sent me his alternate exp system adn I am loving it! I get to quantitevly reward non-combat exp. My players get to feel like they can have a non-combat resolution to a conflict and they might even come out ahead in the exp department. I also get to see which of my players is more engaged in the game as oppossed to just rolling dice. (Though that is just a nice side affect of the system.) Rel has a good system and was kind enough to let me use it. My game has benefited because of it.

 

[barsoomcore]

My first DM was a biker chick named Darlene. I was eleven and she was, I don't know, grown-up. Probably twenty-ish. She made tons of cool hand-outs, had beautiful maps (that's not a euphemism, boys) and wore leather pants.

My first crush AND my first DM. I never really recovered.

DMing stewardesses does help, though.

You learn to do anything hard by first copying what you see other people doing. Eventually you've copied so many different people that it starts to look like you have your own style.

 

[MDSnowman]

My first DM was a biker chick named Darlene. I was eleven and she was, I don't know, grown-up. Probably twenty-ish. She made tons of cool hand-outs, had beautiful maps (that's not a euphemism, boys) and wore leather pants.

My first crush AND my first DM. I never really recovered.

Now THAT is a thing of beauty. ::Wipes a single tear from his eye.::

 

[Rel]

Rel has a good system and was kind enough to let me use it. My game has benefited because of it.

And BardStephenFox is smart enough not to allow the fact that I'm a complete bastard to stand in the way of using our XP system!

 

[Fester]

I've had experience with good and bad DMs and I've certainly taken that away with me and incorperated it into my own style. It'd be a wasted opportunity not to have done!

 

[dreaded_beast]

See, here is a great case-in-point. Rel sent me his alternate exp system adn I am loving it! I get to quantitevly reward non-combat exp. My players get to feel like they can have a non-combat resolution to a conflict and they might even come out ahead in the exp department. I also get to see which of my players is more engaged in the game as oppossed to just rolling dice. (Though that is just a nice side affect of the system.) Rel has a good system and was kind enough to let me use it. My game has benefited because of it.

Sounds cool! Do you have this available for download Rel?

And back on topic, yeah, I guess I shouldn't let personal feelings get in the way of having fun, hehe.

It was just that this old DM caused me so much stress, that I would play the session, leave that night feeling upset at something he said to me, spend the next 3 days angry and wondering if I should go back, 4th day wondering if I'm overreacting, 5 and 6th day in anticipation because I would tell myself I'm actually having fun because I love DND that much, then play on the 7th day, have a fun time at the session, but then go home realizing that I didn't like something he said to me. Rinse and repeat for 2 years. The first 2 years (total of 4 years) before that were better, but it was the little things that started to get on my nerves.

 

[barsoomcore]

Here's a tidbit of advice that drove me crazy until I realised just how true it was:

We often get angry at people because they remind us of things about ourselves we don't like and would rather not face up to.

I find that when I reconsider my feelings in that light, I'm often less angry at people.

If not, then I just hit them. That helps, too.

 

[Psion]

I would definately say so. My first GM's adventures ran much more loki Kirby than Gygax. I still shake my head at people who think that it was white wolf who took RPGs out of the dungeon.