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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 5983919" data-attributes="member: 5100">I think my style, in terms of gritty or epic, varies based on what story ideas I have. I lean towards gritty, but not in the meatgrinder sense.I have a more definite table style, though. Common themes are:DM owns the table -- his first obligation is to make the game fun, but he has all the power he needs to do that. Killer DMs don't deserve to run a game. Antagonistic players (as in, "we're going to hide our plan from the DM because he might screw us") are broken, probably by a bad DM. The players should trust the DM, even to the point of him blatantly throwing out the rule book. The DM should be worthy of that trust.Character actions determine the outcome more than their "build". It's possible for a creative PC to best a foe significantly better than them. Ditto for one that plans well. I threw a death knight at a 2nd level group in AD&D and they won because they made smart use of their resources and paid attention things. That isn't to say good stats/abilities aren't of value. But a power/spell/ability that locks you into a narrow range of semi-official uses is bad design.Magic is wondrous. Anything common loses its wonder. Therefore, only important items exist. If the fighter only knew how to use swords and the party found a +3 axe, I'd expect the fighter to retrain. Note: I'd never do that to a player I knew was invested in the idea of wielding a sword.The PCs are self-motivating. It's not the DM's job to pick which adventure the party goes on. PCs should come to the table with motives and desires. The DM is responsible to providing the opportunity for it to play out. I think this is were I started to get very jaded with the high prep time of 3e and why ease of play is so critical to me in 5e. I also get incredibly bored and frustrated when a group doesn't interact with the environment and/or doesn't have anything to do until the opening paragraph of a module bites them in the butt.There's a lot going on. I tend to throw a lot of potential plot hooks at players. Some of them are weird ideas that are totally not fleshed out. Some of them have some locations I've fully stocked. Most are somewhere in between. It's a bit ADD, but that's life. Some hooks will be overtaken by events and replaced by other whims. The PCs should be able to find something that blows their skirt, though.Contrary to the above, I'm patient. I can -- and have -- waited years for a minor event to come to fruition. Even small things can be important in both the immediate and long-term.The PCs can (and should) impact history. The biggest reason I have a long-running, custom campaign setting is to allow the stories the players love to tell have a reason to be told to others. The next group to play in that world will hear what you did. Nations will rise and fall. Your name may end up on a city or country. That organization you founded will see other PCs as members.</blockquote>

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