-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Why do you GM?
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Lwaxy
Cute but dangerous
I have a vivid imagination and always think up worlds and societies I'd love to play in, or find other people's worlds I'd love to run adventures in. I also like it to let the player drive a big part of the story if it's not a module. But I'm also ok with the groups mostly requiring railroading.
I also love to run modules more than once and see what different groups do with it. The results can vary a lot and I like to be surprised.
I want to see what happens, and I can see more of that when I GM than when I play.
And as mentioned above, I love to entertain. As long as the group is engaging enough to entertain me, too. Which means they need to pay attention to the game and not do stuff on the side.
I also love to run modules more than once and see what different groups do with it. The results can vary a lot and I like to be surprised.
I want to see what happens, and I can see more of that when I GM than when I play.
And as mentioned above, I love to entertain. As long as the group is engaging enough to entertain me, too. Which means they need to pay attention to the game and not do stuff on the side.
I do enjoy the creative process and entertaining others, sure.
But, as with some of the others - in my group, if I wasn't the one running the game, no game would be running. A couple of others talk about this idea or that idea they have for a game, but I'm the one who can actually get off his butt and do it.
But, as with some of the others - in my group, if I wasn't the one running the game, no game would be running. A couple of others talk about this idea or that idea they have for a game, but I'm the one who can actually get off his butt and do it.
Holy Bovine
First Post
For the babes & money of course!
For me it is the writing. I've been making worlds and writing stories since before kindergarten. I briefly encountered roleplaying a pair of times during my youth, but never got into it or understood it then.
College changed that. Despite the fact I was busy learning about alcohol and its effects, I somehow found time to be dragged into a 2e D&D game. I figure they were pretty desperate for players to drag what seemed to be a budding frat boy into a game.
However it gave me an idea for another way to apply my creativity. My first time as a GM was, of course, an unmitigated disaster. But now I have nearly 20 years of XP... And still loving to craft worlds, the people in them, and their stories.
*Blatant self advertising section*
For examples, feel free to check out my story hour portal/comment thread:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/327280-enzis-irregulars.html
Smoss
College changed that. Despite the fact I was busy learning about alcohol and its effects, I somehow found time to be dragged into a 2e D&D game. I figure they were pretty desperate for players to drag what seemed to be a budding frat boy into a game.
However it gave me an idea for another way to apply my creativity. My first time as a GM was, of course, an unmitigated disaster. But now I have nearly 20 years of XP... And still loving to craft worlds, the people in them, and their stories.
*Blatant self advertising section*
For examples, feel free to check out my story hour portal/comment thread:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/327280-enzis-irregulars.html
Smoss
Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
1 - the creativity of it
2 - being able to entertain others
3 - nobody else in the group will do it
While the first two will virtually always be more than enough motivation to run a game, the third is actually a consistent drain. I love to be a player as much as the next guy. MORE really. I too love the creativity in developing a single character, interacting with other PC's, collecting loot, planning my castle, my own guild of thieves, my temple, etc. But it is a different experience than running the game because it directly reverses what I do and don't control about the game.
If I had my way I'd be playing D&D the way I played it back when I first started playing - every Saturday, almost like clockwork, for 8 hours or better. I first started to DM for the additional creative outlet, but there came a time when all the others in the group who DM'd were more willing to NOT game at all than to expend the effort to run their own games. So, if ANYONE in the group was going to play, it would only be if I ran the game. I wanted to game more than they wanted to be DM's any more. Eventually, that made it a chore because I never got to experience the other side of the screen anymore. I wanted that same players experience now and again but nobody would provide it anymore. That in turn meant that I never got a break to RENEW my creativity as a DM - and that resulted in burnout and no gaming for anyone of any kind.
Now I'm not saying anyone has an OBLIGATION to DM any more than a player has an obligation to play, just that the lack of others around willing to run their own games rather sucks for me, and it has a knock-on effect upon my players.
2 - being able to entertain others
3 - nobody else in the group will do it
While the first two will virtually always be more than enough motivation to run a game, the third is actually a consistent drain. I love to be a player as much as the next guy. MORE really. I too love the creativity in developing a single character, interacting with other PC's, collecting loot, planning my castle, my own guild of thieves, my temple, etc. But it is a different experience than running the game because it directly reverses what I do and don't control about the game.
If I had my way I'd be playing D&D the way I played it back when I first started playing - every Saturday, almost like clockwork, for 8 hours or better. I first started to DM for the additional creative outlet, but there came a time when all the others in the group who DM'd were more willing to NOT game at all than to expend the effort to run their own games. So, if ANYONE in the group was going to play, it would only be if I ran the game. I wanted to game more than they wanted to be DM's any more. Eventually, that made it a chore because I never got to experience the other side of the screen anymore. I wanted that same players experience now and again but nobody would provide it anymore. That in turn meant that I never got a break to RENEW my creativity as a DM - and that resulted in burnout and no gaming for anyone of any kind.
Now I'm not saying anyone has an OBLIGATION to DM any more than a player has an obligation to play, just that the lack of others around willing to run their own games rather sucks for me, and it has a knock-on effect upon my players.
Altamont Ravenard
Explorer
I'm after the foolish hope of running the "perfect game".
AR
AR
SLOTHmaster
First Post
Since my brother and I are the only two who know the rules well enough, and he can't improvise.
saskganesh
First Post
I like the world building and I enjoy shepherding the emergent stories that come up during play. There's a whole art to the process, which I find personally very rewarding. I like playing, but I like GM-ing more.
Mishihari Lord
First Post
I like world building, and DMing lets me show off my world.
I like story telling, and DMing kind of lets me tell a story (I provide most of the setting and elements, but the players determine the direction within the bounds I set)
As a DM I get almost 100% play time during a session, while my players get significantly less despite my best efforts.
I enjoy first-person roleplaying, method-actor style, and as DM I get to do this in almost every interaction (excluding the ones just between PCs)
I like story telling, and DMing kind of lets me tell a story (I provide most of the setting and elements, but the players determine the direction within the bounds I set)
As a DM I get almost 100% play time during a session, while my players get significantly less despite my best efforts.
I enjoy first-person roleplaying, method-actor style, and as DM I get to do this in almost every interaction (excluding the ones just between PCs)
