The other side of the screen

[Grimmjow]

The last month and a half or so I've been DMing a game where undead are swarming across the land, last night however, i got to play with my friend and brother (both whom are players in my game) as a PC. It still too early to decide which i like better but i was just wonder how others felt.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

The last month and a half or so I've been DMing a game where undead are swarming across the land, last night however, i got to play with my friend and brother (both whom are players in my game) as a PC. It still too early to decide which i like better but i was just wonder how others felt.

I like and do both -- in my main game I take turns DMing with another guy. I think I find DMing most satisfying, overall, but I am usually relieved when it's my turn to be a player because I can relax and stop spending hours each week preparing for the next adventure.

-rg

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I like both, and I think that being a player makes me a better DM, and being a DM makes me a better player.

 

[Saagael]

I find that while I'm almost always the one DMing and rarely get a chance to be a player, I'm pretty okay with it. After DMing for so long (all through the 90s I don't think I got to play in more than 2 one-shots, because I was DMing the whole time) I find it harder to be a good player, as I tend to inadvertently site rules and step on the DM's toes, and metagame. That's just from the habits I've picked up as a DM. Examples:

"We should go after that large monster, he looks like an elite brute and will wreck our stuff if we don't take care of it" or "It doesn't look like there's enough monsters in this fight to fill out the XP budget so we'll likely have back-to-back encounters with no short rest. Everyone save your encounter powers..."

Stuff like that. I'm slowly breaking away from that, as I try to take a break to be a player every few months. Lair assaults are my best friend, as I can metagame all I want, AND be a player.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I do both and enjoy both. While I'm good at both, I think, in all honesty, I'm more consistent as a player- while I have run some fantastic games, I've also run some stinkers, so I think I'm average in the aggregate.

And I think that I enjoy being a player more for that reason.

 

[Lord Ernie]

I co-run a game with a group of my friends, together with one of them as the other DM. We switch seats every few sessions, and switch out our respective characters when that happens - sometimes with an explanation, sometimes with a handwave.

It's worked very well for us; we play twice a month, and the campaign has been running for over 2 years now, in which we've gone from level 1 to level 17. We help each other out when it comes to DM'ing, and being on both sides of the screen alternatingly has helped us learn a lot about what works and doesn't work as a DM.

 

[Blue]

I play both sides and enjoy both sides. I wouldn't want to DM more than one campaign at a time, it's a lot of work, but that work is rewarding. (Well, maybe two groups int he same world.)

Playing is a different enjoyment, it's based around the same center but so much is different about where you get your fun. Even if the players and the DM are both ecstatic because they worked out a difficult puzzle in the plot, they've approached it from different directions to get there.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I prefer to DM as close to 100% of the time as possible... but I like the occasional session of LFR to try out a PC for a few hours. Not too often, but enough to keep my DMing fresh.

 

[Scotley]

I enjoy both. I prefer to DM. As I've gotten older and have more and more responsibility I just don't have the time to prepare as I once did, so I've been playing more than DMing.

 

[S'mon]

I mostly GM, but I enjoy playing sometimes, and I definitely think that playing makes me a better GM. And probably vice-versa.