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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 6843837" data-attributes="member: 16814">You've defined an arbitrary requirement to good DMs, and then declared that if I do not meet your arbitrary requirement, I cannot ever be a great DM.  You do this without any other knowledge of my ability or skills as a DM.Sorry, that entirely argument is invalid facially.  You are not the authority that defines what a great DM is, and great DMs come in many flavors that are not alike.   There's a massive gulf between having to be a human reference sheet and being prepared with the specific mechanics you're using that session.  I agree, a DM that doesn't use the rules well is likely to cause consternation in his players, but the solution to that only requires that the DM have handy the appropriate rules for what he's doing at the time, and not that the DM always know all rules and be able to produce them as a human reference sheet.  A difference in degree is not a difference in kind.I still reject that a DM must do so.  To require this is to require more dedication to a hobby and leisure time event than most people devote to their jobs.  I'm an engineer by trade, and I know what I need to know to do my job today, or at least where to look it up, but I don't know all engineering.  Yet, despite that failing, I account myself a pretty good engineer (I can almost guarantee you've used a service I've been part of the design for if you live in the US).  So it goes with DMing.  I can be a good, even great DM, without comprehesive knowledge of all the rules so long as I can work well with the common stuff, make useful rulings on edge cases, and look up the things that don't come up often when they do come up.I have similar credentials, although I was a few years behind you.  '84 to be precise. Mentzer Red Box.  I disagree that a 'superior' DM must study as you suggest.  A superior DM is one that runs a good game that people enjoy playing, end of story.  Perhaps that entails your requirements, perhaps it doesn't, but once again you're not the authority that can declare the requirements of a superior DM.I'm one of the two rules people in my group, and I reject your assertion that it's required.  Helpful?  Sure, required, nope.</blockquote>

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