What Makes a Good DM?

[wrecan]

I've created a new poll over on the official website forums asking people to opine as to what minimum levels of competency a DM needs to possess in seven discrete areas in order to be considered a "good DM". Much like my previous poll on player skills (now closed), while I'm happy to have a parallel discussion here on EnWorld, I'd like as many people to make their voice heard in the poll itself.

I don't think we can ask what DM skills the game should reward, because truly, most people want their DMs to be a master of everything. Rather, I think the more appropriate question is as follows:

What is the minimum competency a DM should possess to be considered a good DM?​

I've broken the DM skills into seven "professions" and created a poll for each that asks you to vote for the minimum level of competency you believe a DM should have in that profession.

The polls will last for one month. Please feel free to leave a comment below, on the official website forums, or at the associated blog article.

ACTOR
A Dungeon Master must embody a variety of different characters from regal monarchs to leprous beggars. The extent to which a DM can "sell" these characters as believable, the more immersive the roleplaying experience is for the players. How much acting skill should a DM possess?

DEMIURGE
A campaign world is crafted. Even when a DM runs published adventures, he must weave them into a coherent world. The more plausible this world, the more the players can anticipate events and participate in the world's activities as full partners.


FIELD MARSHAL
D&D can be seen as a series of encounters. A DM must often run a whole cadre of opponents who must act to counter a strategically advanced party. In this milieu, it is one DM against four or more players. How much skill does a DM need to design and implement a challenging encounter against a team of adventurers.

GAME DESIGNER
Sometimes a DM needs to make up a rule on the spot. To do so, they might consider all the traditional hallmarks of game design: elegance, simplicity, balance, and flavor. Some go outside the box and create their own monsters and NPCs. Some DMs go further and design their own spells, skills, and classes for their players to use. Whether you are making an ad hoc ruling, creating house rules, or designing an entire subsystem, the DM is taking on the role of a game designer. but how good a game designer must he be?

JUDGE
Rules disputes happen. It's a fact of life. The DM isn't an advocate for the NPCs -- he is the referee. Sometimes players will have rules disputes amongst themselves, and sometimes a player will interpret on if its powers differently than the DM. Should rules mastery be required of DMs? How about rules lawyering? Should the DM be skilled wnough to exploit loopholes in the rules in the course of encounters, if he so chose, even as players try to exploit such loopholes for their own characters?


PUZZLE MASTER
DMs present challenges. Sometimes they take the form of combat and sometimes they take the form of ethical decisions. Sometimes, they take the form of puzzles. A puzzle need not be as obvious as sphinx' riddle. It may be more of a logic puzzle, where the players are presented with a variety of competing interests and they must determine who is right and who is wrong. Murder mysteries, political thrillers, social cat-and-mouse, are all types of puzzles that have found a place in D&D at one time or another. How adept must a DM be at crafting intricate plotlines to challenge the players?

WRITER
Adventuring is all about the story. Whether you run a sandbox campaign or a railroad campaign or something in between, you are still primarily responsible for crafting an engaging story. Whether it's devising interesting NPCs, or fascinating locations, or adventure hooks, a DM writes the material to entertain the players. Must a DM be Shakespeare? J. K. Rowling? A dimestore novel hack?

The categories in the polls are:

• This Skill is Not Required to DM
• A DM Needs only Minimal Competency
• A DM Must at Least be an Amateur
• A DM Must be Competent in this Skill
• A DM Must Have Mastery in this Skill
• The DM Must be Better at This Skill Than Anybody Else at the Table

 

[KidSnide]

The most important skill of a DM is the ability to emphasize whatever part of the game is most fun for the group in front of him (or her).

A DM can run great NPCs but that is of little value to a group uninterested in role-playing. Likewise, great tactical encounters aren't fun for a party unconcerned with tactical gameplay.

-KS

 

[Balesir]

First off - kudos to wrecan for providing better polls than WotC have been!

Other than that: what KS said (despite the "spread the love" monster eating my xp at this time...), plus:

I think it also depends on the system. Different systems suggest, support and reward different foci of play, and as such they demand different skills to GM the best supported type of game. Different editions of D&D have differed in the type of game they best support (or whether they really support any style well, frankly), so for D&DNext it will depend on what the "best supported focus" ends up being. I'm not clear, yet, what that will be.

 

[Mengu]

This is interesting. Of four DM's in one of my groups, one is a master Actor, one is a master World Creator, one is a master Writer, and one is a master Tactician. I think all 4 DM's run enjoyable games. I don't really want to say any one area needs anything more than a modicum of competency, but each DM *should* have at least one strong suit, and know how to capitalize on that strong suit.

I think what makes a good DM is knowing your strengths, and recognizing your player types.

 

[amerigoV]

I find the best DM/GMs are those that are (1) excited to run their game and (2) always say "yes" players*. All the other skills and attributes tend to be inherent from there.


* It may be a yes, but that does not mean free or easy. If a players wants to do a cool maneuver in combat, then roll and make it happen. If the player wants to take over the world - ask them how they propose to do it and start to make it a happen over the course of a campaign or three.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I'l chime in on the "it depends" bandwagon. I agree that it's in part a function of the players and what they're interested in -- but also I think there are lots of paths to success. I've played with great actor DMs and had a blast. I've played with great writers and worldbuilders, and marveled. I've played with tactical savants, and enjoyed that, too.

I think the real value we can take from breaking DMing down to these skills is to think about how you use that skill, if you have it in spades, to drive a good game. And how, if you feel like it's a weak spot, you can improve/compesate, etc.

For example, if you are a great Actor DM, what does your game look like? How do you capitalize on that and use it to make sure your players are having a good time. And if you feel weak in this area, what are some steps you can take to improve? What are some ways you can improve the RP at your table without relying on your limited Actor skills?

-rg

 

[Darkness]

This isn't specifically about 5e, so it should go in General Discussion. Moved.
wrecan, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[Dausuul]

I don't think any single one of those skills is required to be a good DM. It depends on your style and that of your gaming group.

For example, take DM #1. She's a brutal, uncompromising "killer DM" who runs a dungeon hack for a bunch of hardcore combat monkeys. The players in this group yawn their way through social encounters and don't give a crap about story or worldbuilding, but they come alive when they hear the magic words, "Roll initiative." They're expert optimizers and tacticians who love to be pushed to the limit of their skills.

Then take DM #2. He runs a long-term campaign for an artistically minded player group, who enjoy deep immersion and aren't much into combat. Whole sessions regularly pass without a single fight. Most PCs have extensive back stories and the players like to have events from those back stories woven into the campaign.

Finally, DM #3 runs for a group whose players are restless and crave novelty. They craft interesting, exotic characters, who get dumped after 5-6 sessions because the player's had a new idea. For much the same reason, they can't keep a campaign going longer than four months--either the DM or the players or both get bored.

DM #1 needs to be a master Field Marshal and Judge. She would benefit from skills as a Game Designer and Puzzle Master, though those are not essential. Demiurge, Writer, and Actor are irrelevant.

DM #2 needs to be a Demiurge, a Writer, and an Actor above all. Now and then being a good Puzzle Master will come in handy. He has little use for Game Designer or Judge and none at all for Field Marshal.

DM #3 absolutely must be a good Game Designer, Demiurge, and Puzzle Master, in order to keep creating new scenarios and systems for the players to explore. Being a Writer and Actor will help to sell these ideas, though it's not as crucial. Field Marshal is occasionally handy. Judge is mostly irrelevant, since any given game will have a monster stack of house rules anyway.

All of these DMs are good at what they do and run satisfying, engaging campaigns for their players. They all qualify as "good DMs," even though there is no one skill set common to all three.

 

[Piratecat]

I think you missed a major skill. The really best GMs are superb at pacing. They know when to speed up play, slow it down, and insert new encounters or plot at just the right moment to delight their players.

This is something that's equally important in published modules; if you ever hear about an adventure bogging down due to too many encounters, or too much side exploring, it's definitely a pacing problem. A good GM can correct this on the fly.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=64825]wrecan[/MENTION]
Piggy-backing on what Piratecat said, another DM skill missing from your list that ties into pacing is reading the players and group management. I'm talking about the human element - what kind of group is this? what is the mood at the table today? are there any tensions or conflicts that we need to work out? is there a problem player I'll need to keep an eye on? how can I leverage certain players to become DM-helpers? if the players have a great idea how can i steal that and work it into the game without giving it away? is the group getting bored with the game and why? how should we handle player absences and character death? if I need to enforce our social contract, how do I do that in a productive way? where do I put my limited prep time to get maximum results for this group and the adventure we're running? if a couple in the group separates, do they split treasure 50-50 between their characters, and who gets the mule?

I would rank "group management" or "listening" (for lack of a better term) as the #1 skill a good DM needs.