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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ghostknight" data-source="post: 1736953" data-attributes="member: 15338">What?  A DM has to be happy with what the players want?  Come on, isn;t he an independent person, playing the game for enjoyment as well?  If the game is not enjoyable for him, it is the same as it not being enjoyable for a player, but most often the group can afford to lose a player a lot easier than a DM!  If I am not happy in a game, it is not because I FIND reasons, but because I do not enjoy it- there is no social contract that says the DM HAS to enjoy the game if the plaers are!I disagree- the DM is not a charity worker, putting his needs aside for the good of the group- he has as much right as anybody else in the group to enjoy the game.  if he isn't, then it is his right to walk away from it- regardless of how much fun the pthers may be having.  Putting on a good show may not be enough for him!And I repeat- the role of the DM is not that of a public service.  It does not mean that players have to be railroaded for the DM to be happy, but that the DM may have a vision for the campaign and the players have a different one.  In this case the DM not wanting to play a psychotic evil game.  Yes, listen to the players needs and wants, but that does not mean that your needs and wants are irrelvant.  If the disparity between you and the players cannot be bridged- it is time for a new Dm or a different group!  Bottom line is that different people enjoy different things- a DM has a right to find players/campaign that he is comfortable with and happy running.  Lets say a DM wants to run a homebrew- but all the players want the Forgotten Realms- by your thinking the DM MUST run the Forgotten Realms, even though he may hate the setting and have no fun doing so!You miss the point.  it is not about DM control.  Noone is advocating that the DM tell the players what actions they may take next (ala the "Choose your own adventure" books"), BUT that the DM may want a certain flavour to his campaign and that players want something different.  it is appropriate for a DM to ask for a change so he too can have fun, not about control- but about a DM having a right to also enjoy the game.[QUOTE}Bottom line: If the players are happy but the DM is not, the DM has a helluva lot to learn.</blockquote>I've been playing for 25 years odd- most of the time as a DM (and the first PCs I have played in the last 15 years is here on Enworld!).  In all that time I have never run a campaign that I did not enjoy.  I also had remarkably stable groups (even when we initially only met at the University club abd through the local RPG shop), and I have at times stopped a campaign when it went wild, and I did not enjoy it- players given the choice of change campaign or change the direction of the game.  And my games are very open ended- the plots generated via character actions within my meta-plots etc.Nothing to do with being a control freak but this is mu hobby- I do it for recreation, if it is not fun- then it is pointless and I don't need to fustrate myself playing a game I do not enjoy![/QUOTE]

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