The Greatest DM in the World

[Simplicity]

http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=13594125&postcount=5

What a terrible answer. Yes, there is a social contract between players and DMs. But the answer seems to ignore the DM's side of that contract. It's the player's job to not be a hinderance to the game. It's the DM's job to provide players with a good time.

A good time can be had by giving the illusion of choice, but secretly railroading your players is neither good for the soul nor for the game. The last time I had a Mysterious Stranger in a tavern, he wound up getting kicked (a critical hit) in the nuts. The adventure that followed was fantastic and certainly unprepared for.

A great DM loves when the players pull off the unexpected. Because then nobody knows how things are going to turn out.

 

[Sammael]

I agree with Chris' original answer. I also think you and I have very different definitions of what "illusion of choice" means.

But having said that, what does this question have to do with 4E?

 

[Simplicity]

But having said that, what does this question have to do with 4E?

True enough. It's really only in this forum because the developer blogs are 4eful. I don't really expect many other than those looking for 4e scoops to be reading them much.

 

[Gentlegamer]

*just reads the thread title*

Yes, what can I do for you?

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Great DMs aren't always proven by their ability to improvise. Otherwise, what is the point of published adventures? The "social contract", especially when dealing with a published adventure, becomes much more important. The player and the DM both need to agree to stick to the adventure as written, otherwise there's no point in buying or playing the thing.

That having been said, I mostly do not run published adventures and improvise all over the place. Great DMs differ depending on the criteria used to define them. At the core, a Great DM is one who, at the end of the night, has smiling players.

 

[takasi]

Great DM's understand what style of game they are running:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=197954

They also understand that there is no one best way to run D&D.

 

[Simplicity]

Just because there's no best way to play D&D, that doesn't mean there isn't a Greatest DM in the world. There's no best way to run a marathon. There's no best way to play football. That doesn't mean there isn't a currently greatest person.

And, I AM THE GREATEST. Fail to emulate my style at your peril.

 

[IanB]

I prefer a bit of a railroad, frankly. I've had too many games where we sit around for 3 hours arguing about what to do.

 

[Treebore]

I've seen plenty of good DM's I didn't want to play D&D with.

 

[Henry]

What a terrible answer....A great DM loves when the players pull off the unexpected. Because then nobody knows how things are going to turn out.

A Great DM will make it such that you have NO IDEA that you've been "railroaded" in such a fashion. You'll think he was pulling the whole thing out of his hindquarters the whole time, but he secretly got you back into his note materials with nary a suspicion. I've seen it done, and when done well, you'd never know unless he tells you later (which is how many of these discussions get started anyway).

I agree with Chris Perkins. Players that want the same kind of thing the DM has prepared for are essential. I've seen the player type before - the ones who don't want to explore, or combat an opponent, who want to spend three hours doing shopping and chatting with random NPC shopkeepers when they just said last week that they wanted to explore hidden places and hunt rumors for treasure instead. If the players go off rail, and the DM offers them some subtle clues to get them into an adventure (even not the one intended that session), and if they DON'T take it, then they're as much to blame as the DM if they don't have any fun.

It's also why in a more freewheeling campaign, I have "adventure plotlets" prepped. For each of the half dozen or so "plotlets", I'll set up a who, a what, and a how that I can drop in anywhere, with a few dozen names I can drop into place to fill in details. If players said they wanted to head to Shadowdale, then all of a sudden they head to Archendale, and decide to stop at an inn for wine-tasting on the way, I have one of my "plotlets" that I can drop on them unexpectedly.