What's your DM Shtick?

[Sejs]

I tend to use only the Monster Manual for monsters, but will often vary the descriptions, create new monster concepts using some pre-existing mechanics, and otherwise change things around so even my very experienced players don't know what they are facing (their PCs may, due to Knowledge checks, so I reverse the "characters not knowing what players do" situation).

*nod* Same here.

 

[Gez]

My stick seems to be overambitious campaigns that change the fate of the world (read: the PC's world, it can be limited to something like an ArsMag covenant rather than an entire planet), narrowly avoiding its (the world's) destruction if the heroes are clever and, well, heroic enough to save it from the insidious, all-powerful threats. So overambitious, in fact, that they usually go on permanent hiatus before the players even reach the point where they see something's amiss.

I'm hoping with D&D, I'll succeed where I've failed in Ars Magica, Mage, Changeling, and a fourth game whose name I won't tell you because it wouldn't ring a bell anyway. :\

 

[MerricB]

Really wacky NPCs, especially doddering old men (priests).

e.g.
A small ruin proved to be the lair of an androsphinx: Andre. This worthy creature proved quite loquacious after the PCs promised not to engage it in a riddle contest. ("I'm so bored with riddles. Everyone who comes by, it's always, hey, you're a sphinx! What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening? I know the riddle. I've heard it a thousand times. Can't anyone come up with anything more interesting to talk about?")

Cheers!

 

[Greenstone]

THE LOST REALM

As a sort of "trademark", I always include a "lost and great land to to the West, from which the survivors of a great cataclysm fled many centuries ago...". The current nature of this lost realm have been different each time though.

Various incarnations of this have been...

Talislanth - Plucked into a demi-plane, now home to demons, devils and all kinds of BBEGs.
Talantas - A wasteland ruled by a demi-undead society worshipping Death.
Tanalanth - Mostly sunken under the waves, one rocky isle left where a great shrine stands.

Hey, it worked for Tolkien and a thousand others, and has worked well for me...

 

[Greenstone]

Oh yes, and...

... "save the world one more time" themes, which I'm now trying desperately to avoid
... convoluted plots and plots within plots, "Uh, Mr DM, who exactly ARE the bad guys?"
... long, long railroaded campaigns, "So, when we started 10 years ago, you learned..."

Books used last session:

SAGAS (Stand-Alone Generic Adventure System)... homebrew of 2eAD&D and PFRPG.
Fast Food Delivery Menu.

 

[Gez]

e.g.
A small ruin proved to be the lair of an androsphinx: Andre. This worthy creature proved quite loquacious after the PCs promised not to engage it in a riddle contest. ("I'm so bored with riddles. Everyone who comes by, it's always, hey, you're a sphinx! What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening? I know the riddle. I've heard it a thousand times. Can't anyone come up with anything more interesting to talk about?")

That's something I want to use, since riddles are the hobby of gynosphinxes. So, outraged reaction of the male sphinx: "what, do I look like a girl to you? Do I have boobs? A high-pitched voice? Ribbons in my mane? Stiletto heels on my paws?"

 

[Ranger5]

In all my campaigns I always seem to have the following:

1. Dream sequences tailored to the PCs possible future and foreshadowing events
2. Some kind of prophecy that is either world shattering or just very, very bad for the immediate area the PCs are in
3. A succubus (always fun to use an appearance-shifting demon)
4. An inn/tavern called the Axe and Handle

 

[Varianor Abroad]

My schtick includes

1. More plot twists than you can imagine, including several every adventure.
2. Strange magic items.
3. Letting the players attempt cool stuff a lot and having it succeed.
4. Mysteries and puzzles galore. Even when players hate them.
5. Weird stuff.

Probably more (including a lot mentioned upthread).

 

[Desdichado]

The players I play with seem to know the Monster Manuel like the back of their hand,

You could try a different monster, then. Manuel is good and all, when you want that Castilian feel to your campaign, but there's plenty of others out there.

 

[DM_Jeff]

Moral ambiguity regarding character decisions and repercussions.
Plots that twist like Chubby Checker.
'Living' NPC voices and mannerisms.

-DM Jeff