How good of a DM are you?

[Bront]

My biggest problem as a DM is that I tend to get a bit lazy and loose focus on the game. Perhaps it's because I have so many character concepts I want to play, and they usually come flooding to me when I start running something.

I need to work a little bit on cohesion of the plot, and making the specifics a little more specific (more little details). But in general, people find me fun, and I've been told I do a great job of pacing premade adventures at cons (I used to help run a tourny, and now I work in two different living campaigns.)

 

[Ds Da Man]

I didn't answer the poll, because I think I would need my player's opinions to even have a valid answer. On the whole, I've had bad sessions, I've had good sessions, so maybe just a run o' the mill DM.

 

[glass]

I voted average, but really I am just erratic. I have a tebdancy to be pretty damn good for a while (as far as I can tell), and then descend into awfulness for no good reason and have to give up DMing for a while.

It's bizarre!


glass.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

I voted average. Personally, most of the time I think I suck. But, some people seem to like my games.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I get good feedback from my players. So I guess I am pretty good. Of course, to be fair, anyone who has been the GM for close to 20 years in most games they have been in should have learned a few tricks by now. Of course, that being said, I am a sucker for articles and chapters in books about how to be a better GM.

 

[MonsterMash]

I wonder how the proportions of the 5 categories were meant to work out?
Okay top and bottom are meant to be 1st and 10th deciles, but category 2 and 4 how big were these meant to be? 10%, 20%?

Assuming 20% for each then the curve should be:
Category %
1 10
2 20
3 40
4 20
5 10

Strangely enough the results are not stacking up like that - funny how many of us are above average.

Personally I think I'm ok, good on some areas, weaker on others. Still learning with the rules, and not always great at the amateur dramatics, but plenty of work on background and preparation.

 

[Psion]

I wonder how the proportions of the 5 categories were meant to work out?

I think they were pretty much rectally extracted and not "meant to" work out any particular way.

Assuming 20% for each then the curve should be:
Category %
1 10
2 20
3 40
4 20
5 10

Strangely enough the results are not stacking up like that - funny how many of us are above average.

Well, one (or probably, both) of two things could be happening:

1) ENWorld is not a statistically independant body of DMs; DMs who come to ENWorld are of the more informed sort, they keep in touch with the community, ask for advice, drink in other's advice, etc.
2) DMs are arrogant and/or don't have a good estimation of their abilities.

 

[qstor]

I'm pretty good. A lot of times I get stuck when I have to make stuff up cause the party doesn't go along with what I've planned out. Then I find it help up to have a list of random names that I use for generic NPCs I make off the cuff.

Mike

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I voted Average for myself, although I think I occasionally venture into the Pretty Good category. My players seem to keep showing up every other Monday, and they all say they have a good time so I must be doing something right. I like to think I have good ideas, I keep the game moving, and can wing it when necessary. I like to see the players happy, and also like to have fun myself, and if both of those things are on, then I'm doing well. But I often see the things that are going wrong on my side of the screen, and can be a bit hard on myself at times. I also have a tendancy to screw up rules on a regular basis, usually in the players favor. But I guess that keeps them happy...

On second thought, I'll let Cthulhu's Librarian answer for me. Or Rasyr. They played in my HARP game at the MD/VA/DC game day.

I'd put die_kluge in the Pretty Good category. I had a great time in his HARP game, and it was my first time playing the system (with the creator of the game playing in the party no less). I can't rank anyone whom I've only played with once at the top of the pack, but die_kluge was definetly better than a lot of GMs.

 

[DrNilesCrane]

According to my players, great when running one campaign; a little "meh" if I'm trying to juggle more than one (just not enough hours in the day!). I've had a lot of players ask me to run campaigns and then be willing to do a lot of schedule juggling or drive insane distances to play, which is flattering.