What are your weaknesses as a DM/GM?

[sgtscott658]

Personally I will never post my strength or weaknesses as a DM on a public forum for my players to see, I'm sure they lurk here occasionally. Also as a DM it is important to offer your players a well organized and prepared session anything less and you might be wasting the players time or worse lose players. Remember we are adults and gaming time is a precious commodity in this day in age of family, jobs and what not.

Scott

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Personally I will never post my strength or weaknesses as a DM on a public forum for my players to see, I'm sure they lurk here occasionally.

It's worth considering. GMs that I've seen improve the most are the ones that have dialogues with their players about how to improve their GMing. In my experience this lead to constructive criticisms and tips that makes them a better GM.

 

[Kannik]

I have a big worry of "making things too easy." This has led to far too many combats, including minor encounters, taking an inordinate amount of time, well past the point of interest. This also makes combats monotonous, as there's no variety in the ease/time of them. Inside this worry I also tend to err on the side of "no" for some crazy player ideas at the fear of trivializing the encounter.

I also tend to play my big bads (especially organizations) as intelligent factions, in a way that I think is fair, ie, I have them be prepared for the most obvious ways of thwarting their plans. However, given my worry of trivialization, I have to wonder if I'm also being too strict here, and even if I am not, it is likely that the player's perceptions of how combats go likely bleed over and when they can't easily bluff their way into the evil castle with a cake they get frustrated...

peace,

Kannik

 

[innerdude]

--I'm terrible about leaving loose plot ends and red herrings dangling, unresolved.

--I often walk a razor-thin line of plot plausibility, because I'm constantly trying to retcon and modify what's happening in the game world to give the PCs the best experience.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Instead of your NPCs reacting with hostility you could have them cut ties with the party. One instance of threatening someone should have them dry up as resource the party can count on. Or you could have the aggressive PC gain a negative reputation. The local constables would be wary of the PC because they've received complaints of the PC threatening violence. Innkeepers and merchants would be wary to deal with the PC because they've heard about their temper.

Or you could take an out of game approach and speak with the player about their character's hostile interactions and explain how they are going to earn them a bad reputation and lose them friends and allies.

I think your first suggestion is a good one. I think the player in question is likely to modify his actions if he sees that it is leading to negative consequences (or he will keep doing it if he thinks his character would be pig-headed about it, but it will be a deliberate in-character choice to do so).

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I also tend to play my big bads (especially organizations) as intelligent factions, in a way that I think is fair, ie, I have them be prepared for the most obvious ways of thwarting their plans. However, given my worry of trivialization, I have to wonder if I'm also being too strict here, and even if I am not, it is likely that the player's perceptions of how combats go likely bleed over and when they can't easily bluff their way into the evil castle with a cake they get frustrated...

A good solution for this is to use a roleplayer who isn't in your group as a sounding board for your big bad's plans. My friends who live in other states will tell me about their campaign plots or session plans and get my opinion about whether the plan makes sense from an outsider's view. If you don't have individuals you can discuss your sessions with, there's a website that's fantastic for it. E. M. World, or something.

 

[Kannik]

A good solution for this is to use a roleplayer who isn't in your group as a sounding board for your big bad's plans. My friends who live in other states will tell me about their campaign plots or session plans and get my opinion about whether the plan makes sense from an outsider's view. If you don't have individuals you can discuss your sessions with, there's a website that's fantastic for it. E. M. World, or something.

You know, I might have heard of that website... That's a good suggestion. I've sounded many plans/ideas off my gamer and literary friends for the overall plot development, but never doubled back to check if all the plans-within-plans and their "standard non-gank precautions" are fair or overboard...

peace,

Kannik

 

[Hannerdyn]

Taking notes during the game - I just feel like I'm reacting too much to bother. This combined with a terrible memory has me relying on my players for some of the finer details in later sessions. As a result, my games sometimes feel to me like they're being told by a dishonest narrator.

I am too reliant on the red herring - If I were a bad guy and I knew the heroes that were pursuing me, I would have them chase their tails while I wrung my hands and worked my plans in the shadows. But I probably use this as a strategy too frequently - an antagonist should use a breadth of options to counter the PCs. Even the direct approach, which I just don't personally like because it's not very inventive.

Not everything has to be smoke and mirrors. Sometimes bad guys just stab you at noon in a parking lot.

 

[neonagash]

1. Running heroic stories.
I'm a very grey morality person and I like gritty, grey morality stories. Classic hero stories bore me and I have a hard time running them.

2. Running games with battlemat style tactical combat.
I hate these games. They bore me to tears and I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I left a long term campaign last year because a slight majority of the players wanted to use battlemats and maps and after trying it, it made me dread going to games each week and having no fun at all in them.

3. High magic.
I dont like high magic. I do like final fantasy style magitech weirdly but pure high fantasy I just dont like.

4. Long campaigns.
After 6 months or so I want to wrap a campaign and move on to my next idea.