D&D General What makes a good DM good?

[Prakriti]

What are the qualities that make for a good DM? How do you know you're in the presence of a good DM when you're playing with one?

A few things that come to mind...

• Always prepared. A good DM comes into each game with enough material to fill a whole session.
• Good at improvising. Because sometimes the players do unexpected things.
• Able to move seamlessly between prepared material and improvised material. Ideally, the players shouldn't even be able to tell the difference between the parts of a game that were rehearsed/prepared and the parts that were improvised.
• Good with description. Because the world comes to life through description.

What else?

 

[iserith]

Adequately describes the environment in a way that the players can begin acting without playing 20 questions, building on these actions with more description of the environment as the scene builds.

Knows when to call for an ability check and when to just say the task succeeds or fails without a roll.

Knows how to set stakes appropriate to the campaign, adventure, and group so that fudging rolls is completely unnecessary.

Doesn't tell the players what their characters think, do, or say, including when narrating the effect of their actions.

Knows how to manage real time so as to start strong, end strong, and manage the pace with the players' input to keep player engagement and energy high for the whole session.

 

[prabe]

I'd be inclined to say familiarity with the rules of the game you're going to be running. I dunno if you need to have the books memorized, but you should at least know where to look if there's a question you don't have an immediate answer to.

Having a sense of narrative pacing seems like a plus, something of a complement to the real-time pacing @iserith mentions, but I'm thinking more about keeping players engaged between the sessions. This is probably more relevant if you're running homebrew adventures.

 

[Sacrosanct]

A good DM will very based on the playstyle of those they play with. So some things are tricky to quantify

but I’d also add: incorporates the players how they want to be incorporated into the game. That means being cognizant and take actions if a player is trying to steal the spotlight all the time and other players don’t get to shine. But don’t force players to act out if they aren’t comfortable doing so.

 

[Charlaquin]

A skill that a good DM should have but hopefully doesn’t need to use is conflict resolution. Should conflicts arise within the group, a good DM addresses the issue calmly and directly, like an adult.

 

[ccs]

A skill that a good DM should have but hopefully doesn’t need to use is conflict resolution. Should conflicts arise within the group, a good DM addresses the issue calmly and directly, like an adult.

Presuming of course that they're adults.... Remember, these games are also played by children.
And while they'll learn, it's not fair to say that they aren't good DMs because they won't handle things like we adults.

 

[ccs]

Learning to listen to & play with your players.

 

[Charlaquin]

Presuming of course that they're adults.... Remember, these games are also played by children.
And while they'll learn, it's not fair to say that they aren't good DMs because they won't handle things like we adults.

I don’t know, I think it’s pretty fair. Sports are also played by children, and I don’t think it’s unfair to say that they aren’t good quarterbacks or whatever because they can’t run as fast as adult players with their longer legs. Conflict resolution is an important skill for a good DM to have. Granted, most kids are not going to be as adept at conflict resolution as some adults are, but most kids aren’t going to be as adept at any of the skills being talked about here as some adults are.

And frankly, I don’t think your premise that children are inherently worse at conflict resolution than adults is at all fair. I’ve known a lot of children who handle conflict excellently and a lot of adults who handle it terribly.

 

[Krachek]

Having fun making the PC shine.

 

[akr71]

The players had fun.

 

[Fenris-77]

Meeting the expectations of the table and players, whatever those are.

 

[Sadras]

Just off the top of my head, here are a few reasons

1. Ensures, at all cost, the players do not derail the adventure which would minimise her preparation efforts.
2. Rolls behind the screen thus allowing her the freedom to use GM Force on die results to make stories better.
3. Ignores characters' backgrounds given that RPGing is not about playing to discover the players' notes.

But most importantly, knows and reminds the participants often that she is the most important person at the table.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

What are the qualities that make for a good DM? How do you know you're in the presence of a good DM when you're playing with one?

A good GM meets the expectations of the players, but a great GM will exceed them.

Keep this in mind if/when the thread devolves into a debate about what is and isn't expected for someone to qualify as a "good GM". It is a highly subjective opinion because different people will have different expectations based on their own personal preferences, experiences, and perspectives.

For those who come to this thread wanting to know if they're a "good GM", just ask your players. If you have a group (or groups) that show up regularly and are looking forward to every game, chances are you are doing just fine. Otherwise, keep looking for more ideas and aspire to improve what you're already doing.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Maxperson]

Adequately describes the environment in a way that the players can begin acting without playing 20 questions, building on these actions with more description of the environment as the scene builds.

You mean something like...

DM: "In the room you see a large wooden desk. On the desk is a book that is bigger than a bread box, but smaller than a microwave."?

 

[Fenris-77]

You mean something like...

DM: "In the room you see a large wooden desk. On the desk is a book that is bigger than a bread box, but smaller than a microwave."?

Is the desk bigger than a baby's arm but smaller than something really big? Details matter...

 

[Stoutstien]

The number one skill a GM needs to be considered good is adjudicating. All the planning and game knowledge is useless once the first time someone wants to do something weird and the DM has to figure out how to resolve it.

Once someone gets good at this the rest falls into place fairly quickly.

Also patiences. Patiences helps.

 

[Jediking]

Pacing
Adjudication
Improvisation
Enthusiasm
Narration
Exposition
Game Design
Interpersonal skills
Leadership

 

[Quickleaf]

Learning to listen to & play with your players.

I believe this is the fundamental DM skill: Listening to the players.

A DM can falter with rules knowledge, be insufficiently prepared and need to wing it, muddle through improvisation, provide lackluster descriptions, make poor moves for the monsters, struggle with adventure design, or not have a good grasp of conflict resolution, and the game can still run OK. It may not be the best game ever, but everyone can still have fun playing.

But when a DM isn't listening to the players, when the DM fails to gauge what hooks them, when the DM cannot read the room for when attention is drifting, then the game can no longer run OK. That disconnect invariably leads to the DM no longer adapting to the players and the players no longer having fun.

 

[CleverNickName]

One thing that makes a good DM: bravery. Being brave enough to kill your own darling NPCs and "special" story arcs when the tide of luck turns against you...and brave enough to enforce the rules and let the players' feel the consequences of their actions when the tide of luck turns against them.