D&D General I DM because...

[iserith]

I honestly can't remember the first time I DMed. I remember vaguely the first time I played. I was playing solo with my friend who had the boxed set and died to a carrion crawler at the entrance to the dungeon. The promise of the game had me interested in more though and I imagine I ended up DMing just because I had the bug and the group needed someone to do it. Couldn't even tell you what adventure I actually ran though.

Since that time, I've either DMed because I wanted to or was enlisted specifically.

 

[David Howery]

first group I was in, I was only occasionally the DM. Second one, I was the DM almost all the time...

 

[J-H]

I DM the kind of games I would like to play in.

 

[MockingBird]

Some other reason. I like to create and get the stories and scenarios in my head out.

 

[p_johnston]

So the question is a bit hard because my group only exists because I started to DM. It was more a "I want to play D&D. Fine I'll just DM so at least I can play." and then I DMed pretty much straight for... 8ish. Last few years I've gotten some breaks with other guys stepping up and we now alternate weeks.
But I suppose the correct answer is "I DM (or started to DM) because I wanted to play D&D and that was the easiest way."
Though I will say now I find myself getting antsy if I don't DM for to long because I really do enjoy it.

 

[Umbran]

I felt some gaming should be happening, and it wasn't going to happen unless I offered to run the game.

 

[Orius]

Because I want to. What other reason is there?

I like the power and I like to watch the players squirm.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I wanted to play D&D but no one was even thinking about playing it, let alone running it. So I DM'd just to get a game started.

Bunches of years and games later I've gotten more and more people interested in D&D and playing it... and some of them have occasionally stepped up to run a small short game to get their feet wet at DMing. However, only two have moved on to run their own full campaigns themselves. Which means I'm still DMing games just to keep the train moving along the tracks (but I do get to play in one of the other games, thankfully.)

The real difference now is that when some people who have played with me in previous games and are not in my current one ask me about playing more D&D... I just tell them they can always just run a game themselves if they want to play that badly like I had to do years ago. Thus far that comment has not inspired them to do so yet, but I keep hoping. LOL.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

I've always wanted to GM. My experiences as a player were unsatisfying, so I wanted to learn everything about the games so I could create the experiences I wanted for others. Ultimately, I just became the GM I always wanted to play with but rarely ever met.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I had the least time constraints... which right now is not a big bar to overcome.

I hope we will soon have more time again.