Have previous DMs influenced your DMing style?

[Allanon]

My first DM took us through a Dark Sun campaign, and one of the things I distinctly remember was that he played out every NPC's action almost in real life. If a mummy clawed at me, he clawed at me making hissing sounds or deepthroated moans. He gave everyone of importance distinct voices and traits.

Sadly he moved away, but I still try make my NPC's as memorable as his, although I'm not as good in distinct voices as he was. The real life acting I reserve for special moments but it still feels akward to me when I do it. Still my players tell me it does add to a session so I keep trying.

So yes, my DM'ing style was influenced by my former DM. After he moved the remaining players each tried their hand at DM'ing until we stuck with me, so I've never had anyone else influence my DM'ing style.

 

[Rel]

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

I don't have it for download but I'll be happy to e-mail the info on it to you if you send me your e-dress. You can reach me at asmoore at earthlink dot net.

 

[D+1]

From my first DM I learned... to play the game. He always was a rules fiend. In any game (not just D&D) he happily and ruthlessly read game rulebooks and exerted every rules advantage he found even when you were playing for the first time and he'd been home reading the rules all weekend. He may have gotten that rules appreciation from one of the very first D&D game sessions we had.

I can remember quite clearly the bar fight spilling out into the streets and alleys. He had his nose in the book and kept repeating, "A wand of Fireballs CAN'T POSSIBLY do that much damage! It would kill EVERYTHING!" Whereupon he promptly invented a system of graduated damage based on how close you were to the center of detonation.

Not only did we both start playing D&D at the same time we were in a number of school plays together so I think we each took a fair bit from the other in terms of creating new and interesting characters, worlds and basic game scenarios, character development, plot, pacing and so forth. It was probably 10 years though before I first DM'd so I think I got the better end of the bargain, learning from his "mistakes". He then went about 15 years before he would ever DM again while I was on both sides of the shield.

From my second DM I gained an appreciation for good recurring villains (anti-paladins, anti-clerics, and liches, oh my!), a game that mixes grand plots and the FUN side of intra-party violence, and a delayed appreciation for being able to run a game EVERY Saturday for 12+ hours for years at a time without ever feeling like there wasn't always a plan.

That last bit I actually did have to learn on my own - I only became highly appreciative of what my second DM had actually accomplished in running his campaign by having to do it myself. So I taught myself to run a game entirely on the fly when necessary (which was often, because I'm usually too lazy to prepare in advance) which involved spontaneous creation of plots, story, characters, PLACES, etc. If I actually could have kept track of it more clearly I'd have been that much better.

It was the Ravenloft setting that taught me the importance of good description.

Oh and one last thing I've learned - you can never have too many player handouts, props, or miniatures.

 

[BlackSilver]

Presently there are 3 GMs at our table and each one has their own style. Each has influenced the other two, making suggestions and helping things to go smoothly.

I cannot help but be influenced by good and bad GMs- things to do and things not to do.

To answer the question- yes, greatly influenced by all GMs I know.

 

[Imagicka]

Greetings...

I agree with everyone here. When I saw the title to this thread, I thought of the DM who took me under his wing, and taught me D&D and roleplaying. Roleplaying, and especially DMing can largely be a learned skill. I think most of us learn from the DMs that we encounter. I myself, try to learn from every player, and every DM I come across. Learn what makes them good, and also learn from their mistakes.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

All of these positive DM mentoring DM stories are, of course, assuming that the elder DM is actually a good DM. Trust me boys and girls, it works the other way as well. There are bad DMs out there, and it can be difficult, but important, to keep their DMing style from corrupting your own.

 

[Dr Simon]

I think if you play in a game, and enjoy it, you can consider *why* you enjoyed it and try to reproduce that in your own GMing attempts. Conversely, if you play in a game with a lousy GM you are more likely to make sure that you *don't* repeat their mistakes than copy them, I think.

Most of my 20 or so years of RPing have been spent GMing, but I have learned a few things from playing in other games.

A friend way back in college ran some D&D games and he always (without fail) did two things in every game - one was to insert a DMNPC who would "surprisingly" turn against the party at some point. It got so predictable that he would say "This guy comes up to you in the tavern and...." and we'd all say "No! He can't join us!". Secondly, in a standard dungeon game the first combat we entered would always alert every other occupant in the complex so we'd end up waiting in the first room whilst waves of bad guys came at us, then wander through the deserted dungeon and glean up the tresure.

Lessons learned: (1) Don't be predictable with your NPCs. (2) Whilst the hermetic dungeon room may be unrealistic, the alternative is dull.

I've recently joined a new campaign (1e D&D) and am playing for the first time in ages. Things that I've learned from the DM (who is much better than my college friend....): (1) Sit back and let the players make all the bad decisions. (2) He does a neat little gimmick for bonus XP which amounts to "Tell me what you've done to deserve it". I've adopted this as it good for getting players want to do things in the adventure. (3) Complex plots are all well and good, but a bit of dungeon-bashing is fun once in a while. (4) Wizards towers, in adventures written in the 1980s, all have the same features and the secret lab is always reached via a teleport.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

I was influenced, but in more of a "what not to do" sort of way.
A previous DM of mine ran the campaign by the seat of his pants. His game had almost no narrative or structure whatsoever. Until in one session where he absolutely wanted a particular outcome and thus, railroaded my PC...

I feel the need to tell a tighter story, so I wouldn't have DMed this way regardless; but having seen it firsthand, there was no way I was going to repeat it. If I explained my game, it would sound overly-structured, but a lot of the story is very open-ended so the players never feel confined. I'd like to think that I have enough finesse that if I needed to engage in some minor railroading, the players wouldn't notice it.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, immitation is the best form of flattery and all that.

There are only so many methods to GMing so it's bound to happen that some of your mannerisms match that of others.

 

[Arnwyn]

This ever happen to you or you ever experience something similar?

Yes, and it's a good thing. As others have alluded to, there's something wrong with you if you don't learn from your and others' experiences.