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<blockquote data-quote="PapersAndPaychecks" data-source="post: 3345324" data-attributes="member: 28854">There are two kinds of DM.There are the DMs who think this game is all about the characters, and want the characters to survive and achieve like heroes in stories.&nbsp; Maybe they'll face a bit of a challenge from time to time at climax points, but most of the time, they're facing enemies that can't really challenge them.&nbsp; Groups with a DM like this tend to be very concerned with characterisation and plot and deeply into role-playing.&nbsp; Quite often the characters will have detailed backgrounds, sometimes with complete family trees, and, in extreme cases, the players will actually speak in their characters' accents.&nbsp; Often it's practically un-heard-of for the player characters to run away.And there are the DMs who think this game is all about the players rather than the characters, and want to test the players' ability to play D&amp;D.&nbsp; Maybe there will be the occasional challenge they can easily overcome, but those mostly get handwaved because there aren't any interesting decisions for the players to make; why bother rolling it out when any fool can see who'll win?&nbsp; Such DMs want to minimise the interval between each meaningful decision the players make that actually affect their characters' destiny.&nbsp; Groups with a DM like this tend to be very concerned with tactics, intelligence-gathering, scouting and infiltration.&nbsp; The players will hide from, or run away from, groups of monsters frequently and will choose their fights with great care.&nbsp; Nobody round the table knows, or cares, whether his character has a sister, but it's a safe bet that someone's got a 10' pole.It's only a problem if you're running one kind of game and your players want the other.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="PapersAndPaychecks, post: 3345324, member: 28854"] There are two kinds of DM. There are the DMs who think this game is all about the characters, and want the characters to survive and achieve like heroes in stories. Maybe they'll face a bit of a challenge from time to time at climax points, but most of the time, they're facing enemies that can't really challenge them. Groups with a DM like this tend to be very concerned with characterisation and plot and deeply into role-playing. Quite often the characters will have detailed backgrounds, sometimes with complete family trees, and, in extreme cases, the players will actually speak in their characters' accents. Often it's practically un-heard-of for the player characters to run away. And there are the DMs who think this game is all about the players rather than the characters, and want to test the players' ability to play D&D. Maybe there will be the occasional challenge they can easily overcome, but those mostly get handwaved because there aren't any interesting decisions for the players to make; why bother rolling it out when any fool can see who'll win? Such DMs want to minimise the interval between each meaningful decision the players make that actually affect their characters' destiny. Groups with a DM like this tend to be very concerned with tactics, intelligence-gathering, scouting and infiltration. The players will hide from, or run away from, groups of monsters frequently and will choose their fights with great care. Nobody round the table knows, or cares, whether his character has a sister, but it's a safe bet that someone's got a 10' pole. It's only a problem if you're running one kind of game and your players want the other. [/QUOTE]

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