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<blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 7159061" data-attributes="member: 66434">Kudos to you for recognizing that are too controlling and for your desire to improve. IMHO a lot of railroading/controlling GMs run their games this way because they take too much responsibility for the game upon themselves. It is a mistake to feel like you are the only one responsible for providing entertainment and a story for the group. You said that you had trouble coming up with a satisfying conclusion to the adventure. Why do you feel that you have to do that? As the DM, you provide the setting and the framework of the adventure but the players are the ones who flesh it out and give it shape as the adventure progresses. Your role as the DM is to provide the players with information in order to to let THEM guide the adventure. The DM should know roughly what is going to happen should the PCs fail to do anything. If the players are participating as intended then that plan should never come about. Instead, you will be reacting to all the fun stuff players are doing to drive the game forward. As far as tough choices go, you will see them arise naturally if you are providing the party with adversaries worthy of their attention. Being the DM requires more time and effort put into the game than a player already. Don't compound that responsibility by assuming that you need to provide all the fun as well. The DMs job is to provide problems to resolve. Let the players worry about resolutions. The ultimate resolution of the adventure should be an unknown to both the players and the DM because that resolution will be determined by the players as they work through it. After all, if the players are playing towards a resolution that is already known, what is the purpose of playing?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ExploderWizard, post: 7159061, member: 66434"] Kudos to you for recognizing that are too controlling and for your desire to improve. IMHO a lot of railroading/controlling GMs run their games this way because they take too much responsibility for the game upon themselves. It is a mistake to feel like you are the only one responsible for providing entertainment and a story for the group. You said that you had trouble coming up with a satisfying conclusion to the adventure. Why do you feel that you have to do that? As the DM, you provide the setting and the framework of the adventure but the players are the ones who flesh it out and give it shape as the adventure progresses. Your role as the DM is to provide the players with information in order to to let THEM guide the adventure. The DM should know roughly what is going to happen should the PCs fail to do anything. If the players are participating as intended then that plan should never come about. Instead, you will be reacting to all the fun stuff players are doing to drive the game forward. As far as tough choices go, you will see them arise naturally if you are providing the party with adversaries worthy of their attention. Being the DM requires more time and effort put into the game than a player already. Don't compound that responsibility by assuming that you need to provide all the fun as well. The DMs job is to provide problems to resolve. Let the players worry about resolutions. The ultimate resolution of the adventure should be an unknown to both the players and the DM because that resolution will be determined by the players as they work through it. After all, if the players are playing towards a resolution that is already known, what is the purpose of playing? [/QUOTE]

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