Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The GM is Not There to Entertain You
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8642262" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>I would say "The DM is responsible for fun" and "The DM is responsible for entertainment" are two entirely different things.</p><p></p><p>The DM often is responsible for whether a game is fun, to a large degree, in terms of how they make rulings, how they adjudicate the game, how they ensure every player has a chance to be in the spotlight, how they run encounters to make them engaging rather than punishing/tedious, and so on.</p><p></p><p>I don't think there's really any way around that except for giving the DM far less power, as a few games do. But even in stuff like PtbA which reduces the role of the DM somewhat, the DM is pivotal in determining whether things are likely to be fun. The DM has the power to push things in either direction.</p><p></p><p>But "responsible for entertainment" is different. That's more like treating the DM as the storyteller, and everyone else listens and interacts when appropriate, but essentially puts the entire burden of telling the tale on the DM. That the DM has to come up with everything - i.e. instead of the PCs deciding how to rescue the prince, the DM has to provide the PCs with an approach or multiple approaches, and to essentially present them to the players. I've seen groups who operate like this, but I don't think it's a great approach myself.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8642262, member: 18"] I would say "The DM is responsible for fun" and "The DM is responsible for entertainment" are two entirely different things. The DM often is responsible for whether a game is fun, to a large degree, in terms of how they make rulings, how they adjudicate the game, how they ensure every player has a chance to be in the spotlight, how they run encounters to make them engaging rather than punishing/tedious, and so on. I don't think there's really any way around that except for giving the DM far less power, as a few games do. But even in stuff like PtbA which reduces the role of the DM somewhat, the DM is pivotal in determining whether things are likely to be fun. The DM has the power to push things in either direction. But "responsible for entertainment" is different. That's more like treating the DM as the storyteller, and everyone else listens and interacts when appropriate, but essentially puts the entire burden of telling the tale on the DM. That the DM has to come up with everything - i.e. instead of the PCs deciding how to rescue the prince, the DM has to provide the PCs with an approach or multiple approaches, and to essentially present them to the players. I've seen groups who operate like this, but I don't think it's a great approach myself. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The GM is Not There to Entertain You
Top