What do you like best about being a GM?

[Menexenus]

What is best in GMing:

To crush the PCs, to see their sheets shredded before you, and to hear the lamentation of their players.

This gave me a good laugh! Thanks!

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

What I like best about being a GM would be world building, plot building, running the game...

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

For me, it's the story. I've always been good at storytelling (Irish, don't you know), and I enjoy being able to pull other people into the narrative. I like getting watching my players make my story more than what I originally envisioned. While I could write the stories, I prefer the random element that role-playing provides. If I kill a character in a story, it's planned, but if a character dies in combat in a game, or as a result of a trap, it's unplanned. It's brutal and random and sometimes painful (emotionally) and that makes it more like life, which makes the game even more realistic.

I also like playing with all the crunchy toys.

 

[mirivor]

Crafting my own world, that follows all of the internal logic that a world should, is a great reward. The biggest reward for me, though, is being able to fix the problems that exist within the game's mechanics. I can make my world and say things like, "Timestop does not exist". Also, Crothian mentioned the look on the player's faces when they have had a good time. That is key and the highest compliment that any DM can hope to receive.

Later!

 

[Wraith Form]

All the free sex.






OH! ...Wait, wrong question...

 

[mirivor]

Hey! I never got that......

 

[genshou]

I enjoy creating an atmosphere where people can forget about reality and enjoy playing the role of a, well, "hero biscuit".

The NPC character creation process is what I like the best... and I'm not talking stat blocks, either. I enjoy creating "real" NPCs on the fly; attitudes, personalities, quirks, jobs, relationships... and how they fall into the PCs lives. By shaping the NPCs around the PCs, I give the PCs a sense of worth, of being someone important in the game world.

What I really, really dislike is the whole tactical aspect of D&D 3.x. I had the pleasure of having a 'wargamer' style player join my gaming group; he owns no less than 1000 bucks worth of miniatures, plus a pretty cool dry-erase tile set that comes in 12 pieces and has a grid printed on each tile (plus, they're modular, so you can up and move 'em to make an interactive dungeon map on the fly).

But... he knows the tactical rules inside and out and treats the game more like a wargame than an RPG. Couple that with the facts that I'm used to winging most fights and that I've generally used a grid only for large numbers of opponents, and I get pretty frustrated. Now I have to worry about things like moster positioning, whether they're being flanked, what actions are best for the monsters to take while accounting for their intelligence (or lack thereof)... and I'm not a strong tactical thinker, so I end up making silly mistakes that the players can capitolize upon. :\ But, it's a learning process...

Well, as long as the uncomfortable process is resulting in some sort of growth (in the form of learning tactics), and the pain doesn't outweight the gain...

 

[Imret]

I'd say two aspects of DM'ing appeal to me most. The first is world-building, and more specifically, the intellectual exercise of making it cohesive, logical, and still cool enough to play in. I love the chance to render the ideas in my head into something other people can interact with...and write the details of that world's stories.

The other is the brain vs brain competition between the players in the guise of their characters and the DM in the guise of their foes. We're not always in opposition, of course, but when the demonologist needs to prepare for the heroes' incursion and I slip into his head, I'm prepping based on his knowledge of them and I can get mean. Clever riddles, fiendish traps, and truly wicked combats...whether they fail and die or triumph against great odds, everybody has fun.

As far as what I've liked the least about DM'ing, I'd say rarely getting to play (especially Cyberpunk, where the consensus is my Heywood setting is the only way to play) and watching my entire group disintegrate over stupid inter-personal issues.

 

[rgard]

OK, so there must be some reason that some of you run your own games instead of being players all the time. Is it the ability to create a "world" of your own? To make up campaigns with interesting plots and adventures? Being the chief Storyteller or Playwright? Being able to roleplay a lot of characters? The sheer ego boost of providing entertainment to several people who are hanging on your every word? Or something else?

For me its always been the first two and the ego trip thing.

For that matter, what do you least like about being a GM? Having to deal with problem players?
The amount of time it takes? Keeping records? For me it's always been the latter.

I have an ulterior motive for wanting to know - it has to do with a commercial product that I'm cooking up.

Nothing better than one or more of the players saying they had a great time at the conclusion of the session.

Believe it or not, I do like it when the PCs ignore the clues and go off on a tangent. Making stuff up on the fly is a blast.

Edit: Also, it's fun to watch the PCs interact. Last night during the SW campaign, the 4th level Trandoshan Jedi 'mind tricked' the 2nd level Wookie Jedi into believing that all Jedi must be hairless according to the Jedi code.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

The look on players' faces as they figure out what is going on - whether it is a look of joy as they realize what to do about it or a look of horror as they realize that things are far worse than they thought.

That and to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of
their women...

The Auld Grump