What is the #1 most important thing to remember about DMing?

[Raven Crowking]

[MENTION=18280]Raven Crowking[/MENTION]

Smart, using the Mention tag. Eventually, my cursed curiosity got the better of me.

I vote we put Rel in the middle and make us a Relwich. Whatcha say RC?

By the Hoary Head of Hronmir, No!

Rel's got enough problems.

Sorry for the grumpiness. I'll be back to my jovial self soon.

Apology accepted....as soon as you quote or retract the earlier comments.

You can use the Mention tag at that time, if you like, and I will check it out. Until then, have fun with the games you play, roll high, and lay low the enemy.

Ciao.


RC

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Even if you have an open door policy regarding feedback from your players, the most important thing to remember is to actively seek feedback from your players after each and every game. This makes you aware of what they like and dislike both in your campaign and in general. It makes you aware of where you need improvement as a GM and where you're solid. It opens the table for discussing where the campaign is heading and should head or even if it should be ended.

 

[Ariosto]

Keep the excitement level high. Put action and drama first, at the expense (if need be) of anything threatening to dull the players' engagement. Be especially wary of interrupting a thrilling adventure in order to carry out a time-consuming lookup and application of dry rules. Intellectual challenge for the players and verisimilitude or novelty in the game-world may be very important -- but not more than the motive force of players' keen interest in what they are doing via their characters.

I am (as some will know well already) not advocating a plot-line approach. In regard to that very popular kind of game, I will observe that sometimes the DM's plot line itself is something that needs to give way.

 

[poppin_fresh]

I always try to remember and remind the players we're playing a game together not against each other, and if something is getting out of hand or bothering someone greatly to speak up so we can get it resolved.

 

[TarionzCousin]

But, bring up the idea that an author doesn't hold final say on how a work is "supposed" to be interpretted and watch what happens.

As to your second point I don't get your meaning. An author only has control over what is presented (and not really 100% if an editor gets the final say). Interpretation is completely in the hands of the readers.

For example, if I write a post here and it offends someone then all I can do is clarify my meaning and express that my intentions were never meant to be offensive. As the author of the material I don't get to tell a reader that they are not allowed to be offended because I am the writer of the material and have final say on any opinions it is supposed to generate.

There have been all sorts of threads on En World about how authorial intent is the only "true" interpretation of a work.

In re: Author's Intent.

This was the main subject of my Literary Theory class in college. It's been debated by so-called "experts" for decades and does not have a widely-accepted "correct answer."

I suffered through increasingly irritating and pedantic arguments for 12 weeks so you don't have to.

 

[Kobold Boots]

Sorry to add to the true interpretation argument.

The best argument I have ever heard on this topic is simply that the author's intention for a work is the first interpretation. It is no more true or false than any other interpretation of the work.

Indeed, every person who reads a work interprets it their own way. In many cases reader and fan interpretation influences the original author's future work.

Therefore the true interpretation of every work is in constant shift based on those reading and contributing to it. This is the core reason why the arguments about true interpretation occur.

People like to put absolute boundaries around organic concepts.

 

[amnuxoll]

Enthusiasm

(Everything else is unnecessary. Even dice.)

 

[Raven Crowking]

The best argument I have ever heard on this topic is simply that the author's intention for a work is the first interpretation. It is no more true or false than any other interpretation of the work.

I would agree, except that I would say "It is no more true or false than any other interpretation of the work that matches what is presented to the same degree".

Thus, for example, I retcon Doctor Who all the time, as do many fans, because what the authors probably intended is sometimes the less interesting valid interpretation.

Like the "I'm half human, on my mother's side" comment from the 1996 FOX/BBC television movie, for instance. The authors clearly intended to make the Doctor half-human, but that flies in the face of other stories, and is easily explained without breaking the fiction. Because it can be explained without breaking the fiction, and the authorial intent does break the fiction, I would argue that the non-authorial interpretation matches what is presented better, and is therefore superior to that supplied by statements of authorial intent.



RC

 

[ExploderWizard]

Enthusiasm

(Everything else is unnecessary. Even dice.)

A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms... What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? Baseball! A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Teamwork... Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. If his team don't field... what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? I'm goin' out there for myself. But... I get nowhere unless the team wins.



Does anyone recognize this quote from The Untouchables?

 

[Kannon]

This may be cheating a bit, and it's likely been said upthread, but:

Learn to wing it. The second best skill a DM can have is a mastery of the Indy ploy. You only have to make it look like you're one step ahead of the players. If you can convince them you're prepared and keep rolling when you're three or four steps behind, you'll run great games.

And don't be afraid to say yes. Most of the time, when players want to completely jump the tracks and do something insane, it means they're bored. So let em go, see where it ends up, and see above.