D&D 5E How to not murder my PC's

[pming]

Hiya!

I am detecting a bit of Jock type elitism on this thread: "you aren't very good at sport so you don't deserve to be on the team".

True...just don't expect to be liked while you are on a team of jocks "forced" to have you on their team. Now, if everyone on the team are not jocks and just there to have fun...well, expect to be made fun of, but at least in a totally benign, "friendly jabs" type of way.

The truth is, some players are tactically inept.

But whatever the skill level of the players, the first and foremost responsibility of the DM is to make sure the players are having fun.

Just wanted to point this out.

Because it's incorrect.

The responsibility of the DM is to run the game in an enjoying manner for everyone, including themselves. Running a game that they (the DM) is having fun running will almost always trickle down into the Players having fun. If not, the player(s) leave and new ones show up. Eventually a "regular group" will be formed where the DM running a game they want is exactly the thing the Players want. Thus, my contention that it is NOT the DM's responsibility to "make sure the players are having fun". The Players (and DM) "having fun" is not a responsibility! It is the goal of the game. Any DM that tries running a game for Players, where he/she isn't having fun...is doomed to fail. Thus, my stance that "...the first and foremost responsibility of the DM is to make sure the players are having fun." is incorrect.

Just sayin'...


^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The responsibility of the DM is to run the game in an enjoying manner for everyone, including themselves. Running a game that they (the DM) is having fun running will almost always trickle down into the Players having fun. If not, the player(s) leave and new ones show up.

Nope, the flow is entirely in the other direction (pretty much like teaching). If the players are having fun the DM will have fun. If the players are not having fun, then the DM will not have fun, the players will leave, and new players do not just appear - they are very hard to find, especially if the word gets out that people left because the game was not fun.

 

[Imaculata]

DO NO go around trying to recruit PLAYERS for a D&D game, and then when they all arrive at your place to make CHARACTERS, try to poison them or something.

But then how am I ever going to win at this game?

 

[jasper]

You can't kill my pc but you can kill my landlord, said buckwheat.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Nope, the flow is entirely in the other direction (pretty much like teaching). If the players are having fun the DM will have fun. If the players are not having fun, then the DM will not have fun, the players will leave, and new players do not just appear - they are very hard to find, especially if the word gets out that people left because the game was not fun.

I think this is going to boil down to individual taste and experience. I've had sessions where I was having a blast, really into it...but some of the players were....not. Usually it was simply because of simple "system/genre fatigue". I have been able to pull them out of it and get them into the game session, but sometimes we just hit pause on that game and pulled out some other campaign/system we play and keep on rolling dice.

Bottom line, IME, the DM should focus on himself/herself; if the DM is having fun, chances are the Players will be. As you said...kinda like a teacher. If you have a teacher who is having a blast teaching and is really excited about the subject...this infects the students. You have a teacher who is bored, annoyed, and generally giving off "cold prickles"...the students will pick up on that.

As I said. Think this is gonna boil down to taste and experience.

^_^

Paul L. Ming