How good of a DM are you?

Valesin · Apr 21, 2005

I am better than my party deserves. Seriously. I have been DMing them for about 7 years and while I have improved significantly as a DM, they still run 2-dimensional characters who never evolve and care only about loot. I am considering calling it quits.

Poor me, huh??

sukael · Apr 21, 2005

I put myself into the Pretty Good section--while my games almost always have weak spots, I manage to get past them and and build up into my preplanned Totally Awesome Moments (tm). (The swordfight at the edge of a cliff, the running gunfight on a train going 200+ mph, the must-kill-him-before-we-all-die Cthuluesque baddie, &tc.)

Rel · Apr 21, 2005

Valesin said:
I am better than my party deserves. Seriously. I have been DMing them for about 7 years and while I have improved significantly as a DM, they still run 2-dimensional characters who never evolve and care only about loot. I am considering calling it quits.

Poor me, huh??

I might say that you are "different" than your party (I'm assuming you mean "players") deserve. People play the game for different reasons and these guys might just be blowing off steam after a tough work week and not want to have to put too much effort into unravelling the plot. Another GM might complain that he really just wants the party to engage with his combat encounters and all his players ever do is sit around chatting in character like a bunch of drama queens.

I don't think you should necessarily call it quits (if by that you mean quitting being a GM entirely). But do think about whether you are the right person to be running the game for these players.

I wish you luck in any event.

Rystil Arden · Apr 21, 2005

My players tell me I'm excellent, but I think they're wrong, so I picked "I could use some work." Its hard to know if I'm really good or not because I have these images of all these "uber-DMs" out there who are better than I at every aspect of the game...

TheSuzerain · Apr 21, 2005

I'm with Rystil. I voted for "I kinda suck" because I am never very satisfied with my own performance, but my players never want anyone else in my group to DM. I'm guessing that says more about us as a group than it does about my own skills, but then again, I am always being told I'm too self-critical, so who knows.