Here's what I've learned about DMing:
1. The DM is always right, even when he is wrong
2. The DM is always right, especially when he is wrong.
3. Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat.
4. Use rule 0 through 3 to make sure people are having a good time.
5. If the rule book gets in the way of fun, ditch the rules
6. Know your audiance (players)
7. Use #6 to keep them involved - little things, like giving the only girl in the group a vorpal bunny because she's a Monty Python fan and likes small furry things. Sure, most of the time it does 1 dmg, but every once in a while it'll take a head off - and those times are precious.
8. Give them what they want, but don't give it to them in the way they expect.
9. Give them what they want, but make them earn it.
10. Let them do what they want, but make sure there are consiquinces for doing what they want - sometimes, very, very bad consiquinces
11. Trying to kill PC only seems to make it easier for them to survive
12. Trying not to kill PCs usually leads to death
13. Make 'em sweat. If their characters feel like they are surviving by the skin of their teeth and barely made it, you're doing your job.
14. Make sure that your players know it's okay to run away.
15. Zombies are your freinds.
16. Overplanning usually leads to running off the rails on this crazy train.
17. You can't plan for every contengency, so don't try. Players are clever little monkeys and they are trying to thwart you.
17. Underplanning can lead to disappointment for everyone, unless you're really good at bullshyste
18. Get really good at bullshyste. You're going to need it.
19. Find ways to dump off extra work on the players - stuff like "what their hometown was like" or "what is the nation where you are from" like. Make them control a squad or take control of some NPCs when their own characters are having downtime.
20. Mine their backstory for additional hooks and plot points.
21. Roll as much dice as you can at once to speed things up.
22. Encourage your players to try something crazy. It works more often than you think it would and leads to some epic moments in conflicts that would otherwise be mundane.
Excellent post! I like this one.
For my group on these rules:
#1 and 2, I couldn't get away with if I get caught.
#3 rarely do this.
#4 major deal for me. This is the foundation of my GMing style
#5 no way. My players and I are a RAW kind of group and I rarely houserule. I certainly don't ditch the rules.
#6 very important for me
#7, 8 & 9 agreed!
#10 I'm a big believer that if you want to roleplay boorish behavior, you're character's career will be dramatically short. However, my players are very team-centric so this is not a worry about them rp'ing jerks.
#11 don't do this one
#12 the players are cautious enough
#13 love this rule
#14 only when they do stupid stuff, but for the most part, I run balanced or tough encounters, not impossible ones.
#15 ??
#16 not for me, but then again, I've gamed with my players long enough that they are easy to read and know what they will do.
#17 Underplanning is a pet peeve of mine.
#18 Not good at this since I write out all my encounters, NPCs, etc. I should keep a set of notecards handy, but I don't.
#19 not a fan of this unless it's very structured. Most of the time, my players will run on autopilot to not be bothered with this.
#20 & #21 yes, definitely do this
#22 my players don't do crazy stuff, unless they know (statistically), they got a realistic chance of pulling it off.
