The 5+ Styles of DMing: Contrasted/Compared/Mocked

[Thanee]

I also agree that some railroading is not bad at all. And if you want, in-game you can call it "destiny" .

Some "rail-roading" is not rail-roading. There will always be events, the players have no influence in.

Rail-roading it is only, if it is taken to extremes, really. It's only occuring, if the players actually have a choice, but the DM doesn't let them choose, but chooses for them.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Pbartender]

Rat bastard = planner + sadist.

Funny that... Most Rat Bastards would tend to disagree with that assessment for several reasons.

 

[MonsterMash]

I'd class myself as 85% Planner 15% Winger, but the proportion is changing as I get used to playing and DMing again - its only been a year since I started up with D&D again after a long break so it takes time to be confident with the rules to wing it, and with 3.5 I'm tending to create large numbers of generic NPCs for use if I have to wing things.

If I'm winging it I make sure to keep notes so it doesn't turn into the "What orcs, who mentioned orcs?" routine...

 

[tonym]

I'd class myself...15% Winger...If I'm winging it I make sure to keep notes so it doesn't turn into the "What orcs, who mentioned orcs?" routine...

Wingering notes?...YES!! Taking copious notes is vital if you're a Winger, IMO. All Wingers should long remember the words of Tumber from the first page of this thread: "Woe to the winger who forgets to write down what he has winged, or wang, or whatever."

To the folks who have said they like my strips...Thanks!

WaterRabbit: WOW...great post. Your five steps to becoming a balanced DM was awesome. Me, I barely touched Step 4; but, on the other hand, I malingered in Step 1 for a long time, so it evens out.

* * *
Here is another example comparing and contrasting DMing Styles...


Set-up: The DM pulls out his hand-drawn map of the town and shows it to the Players. There are dozens of tiny boxes and rectangles, signifying buildings...


PLANNER: The most interesting buildings are numbered one to thirty-five. Those buildings are the town’s shops, taverns, temples, etc. The un-numbered buildings are residences and stables. Where do you want to go first?

WINGER: Huh? Which building is the temple? Um...probably this big one. Oh, wait, I already said that was the library. I mean Town Hall. Here, let me start writing this stuff on the map as I make it up...

SADIST: Sorry, you can’t see my map unless your characters actually PURCHASE a map...and maps cost 1,000 gold pieces...which, I remind you, you do not have. Hm? What kind of map CAN you get for 200 gold? Haha. For 200 gold the town’s Cartographer will draw you a crude street-map in the dirt with a stick.

RAILROADER: This building...HERE...is Duke Yulb’s estate. As you arrive at the large, imposing double-doors...

NEWBIE: That one’s a tavern. That one’s a tavern. That one’s a tavern...

 

[Piratecat]

I agree that "railroading" at the beginning of an adventure is not necessarily a bad thing. I tend to design adventures like a train yard: a couple of ways in, a couple of ways out, and dozens of possible routes once you're actually in the adventure.

I remember the first time I ran across a sadist DM. It was back in the early 80's, and even then I wondered why people considered that fun. Let's face it, any DM can kill characters at their slightest whim. The trick is making it fun.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I am more of a Planner/Worldbuilder, I guess (assuming I am already above the Newbie state, which I think I am), but not a good one.
I sometimes forget to note important facts, or I forget that I planned something important or at least interesting. I can never recall the characters names. Despite this weakness, I cannot become a Winger, since I am not good in spontanous plot-development.
I am more likely to become a railroader (maybe I am already), since I always have background plots that I want to "do". I design adventures around them, but I always expect the characters to succeed in most things, so that the plot can go on.

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Desdichado]

I can't tell if this thread originally started as a serious question or not, so I'll ignore most of the humor and pretend that it is.

I'm about 95% winger. But the examples of winger given here are nothing at all like my play style. All it takes is a list of names and a notebook to track what's happened to make a planner and a winger who's haflway decent at it indistinguishable.

That said, though, although I am a fan of 80s music, Winger pretty muched sucked. Give me Def Leppard or Van Halen any day.

 

[Aluvial]

My players have a name for me...

I got it about 10 years ago, and haven't been able to shake it, no matter how many +5 flaming katanas I give out...

"H.I.B."

Heartless Insensitive Bastard

They even got my wife saying it lately.... that's bad.



Aluvial

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

WaterRabbit, that's a fantastic list....

Wish I'd seen that a few years ago before I ran that disasterous Stage 3 game. Put me off GMing for a good year. Until I started reading message boards.



I'm a big fan of the 'snack sized' campaigns from one of the groups I play with.

Basically plot arcs are ~3 months long and we switch GMs/game after each arc. Idea being a campaign can be shelved and then dusted off for another arc later. As soon as I finish my AU game we're going back to an old LOT5R game - which will be the first continuation out of 5 campaigns.

I think it keeps things fresh and lets the 3 GMs pick up from each others styles. Even inspired one of the players to make the step to GMing!

 

[Emiricol]

Well, I'd disagree with WaterRabbit's analysis, but it's clear he put a lot of time into writing it up