What do you consider yourself best/worst at?

I'm am pretty good at keeping things flowing and fun.

My greatest weakness is getting caught up in the plot and not recognizing when the players stop being interested in it.
 

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DM'ing best: I guess it would be coming up with interesting NPC's and getting the players to really like them. I don't know what it is...I've even had the most random NPC be loved by the players to the point where they risk their own lives to save the NPC that they only knew for a couple of sessions.

DM'ing worst: Roleplaying NPC's during combat! I wish I could improve this because I think it would make combat even more fun...but as soon as initiative goes, my mind clicks into number crunching mode. I feel that my tactics are kind of weak also when I'm running combats.

Player best: Moving the group forward in adventures and thinking outside the box. I try to be clever and entertain both the DM & other players at the same time while I play.

Player worst: I think I'm a well-rounded player that any DM would enjoy having in the group. But since I DM 98% more than I play, I'm not really sure what my faults are. Maybe since I'm used to DM'ing & being entertaining, I might hog the spotlight more than I should. That would be my guess.
 


Crothian said:
My greatest weakness is getting caught up in the plot and not recognizing when the players stop being interested in it.

"...and then the sorceress, whose demonic half-brother tried to take the thrown in Plythia twelve years ago, used her powers to make the cleric from the temple of Torussen attempt an assassination on the High Priestess, who, fearing further assassinations, hired bodyguards who were really working for the half-brother of the sorceress who wanted to kill the Priestess to upset the sorceress' plans to take control of..."

Yah, I sometimes do that :p
 

Varianor Abroad said:
Chris - that's not you, that's the entire hobby!

Heh, could be. I'm probably overly critical of my adventuring writing too.

What I want to write: complex and interwoven story arcs, NPC's with their own motivations and allegiances, and completely open-ended options for the players.

My opinion of what I end up with: the old wizard needs the PC's to collect herbs in Ye Olde Enchanted Forest for some potion he's making.
 

I would default at saying I'm not that great at anything, and then pick out a bunch of faults with my games, but I've been told otherwise:

DM best at: Story concept, creating unique and memorable NPCs, world creation, understanding monsters, running a smooth game.
DM worst at: Challenging the players appropriately, knowing what characters can do, using romance as a story element.

Player best at: Unique characters, both visually and personality-wise, remembering story details and understanding plots, willingness to play a sub-par character.
Player worst at: Making an enjoyable character on the fly, Min/Maxing characters, making "cool" characters.
 

As a DM:
Strengths: Rules smithing, memorable NPC's, world building, emmersion, detailed descriptions, 'plot twists', ruthless 'rat #$@&! DM' tactics, game management
Weaknesses: 'plot hooks', extemporaneous play, waste alot of development time on simulationist details that rarely impact play, ruthless 'rat #@$%! DM' tactics, detailed descriptions, strong NPC's tend to relagate PC's to roles of observers particularly if the player is inexperienced or timid

As a player:
Strengths: Respectful to the DM, strong memorable characterization, strong dungeoneering skills, not a power gamer, not a rules lawyer
Weaknesses: Poor min/maxer, secretly tend to think I can do a better job than the DM, get bored easily with the less frenetic pace of play as a player, when bored tend to do silly plot derailing things to amuse myself
 

Best as DM:
Designing modules, roleplaying encounters
Worst as DM:
Encounters on the fly, Recovering from Stupid Player Tricks on the fly (3ed... I was actually really good at this in 1ed.)

Best as a player:
Designing and role playing memorable characters, complete with histories, personalities, flaws, strengths, etc.
Worst as a player:
Hack-N-Slash
 

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