Your job as DM

[Tinker Gnome]

When you DM, what do you consider your job to be? For me it is first of all, making sure all the players are enjoying themselves. Second, I want to instill a sense of advenure, and that ever elusive sense of wonder in them. The third thing I like to do, but dont always do is "teach" them something, in that regard I am like an old episode of Star Trek. One of my favorite themes is Self-Reliance.

 

[pogre]

I agree with everything you stated, but teach them something. Teaching them something is difficult to do without the players feeling "put upon."

I want them to be entertained first and foremost. Everything else is very secondary.

 

[Nightfall]

My job, to see that everyone, even me, is having fun.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I agree with everything you stated, but teach them something. Teaching them something is difficult to do without the players feeling "put upon."

I want them to be entertained first and foremost. Everything else is very secondary.

That is why I dont explicitly state the "lesson". I try to be subtle about it.

 

[pogre]

That is why I dont explicitly state the "lesson". I try to be subtle about it.

Give an example - the only lesson my players have learned at the table is run away from Dracoliches.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Give an example - the only lesson my players have learned at the table is run away from Dracoliches.

One example form mine, is that when the Pcs had to fight a corrupt Cleric of Corellon Larethian who belived he was doing good, but in reality was doing horrible things, such as killing babies and other bad stuff. When they first fought him, they could barely harm him due to his divine shield. They had the help of a female Human Cleric who worshipped no deity, and instead had faith in herself. Before the second fight with him, she told them to draw strength from themelves, and not their gods. During the fight, it was their faith in themselves that allowed them to break his shield and defeat him. This is abit of an abridged version of the session, but that is basically what happened.

None of my players seemed put upon and they all seemed to really love it, so I think I did a good job.

 

[Nightfall]

*learned early on, even if you're a 5th githzerai paladin level, NEVER take on a Minataur skeleton without better arcane support*

 

[Stalker0]

This is my mission statement as a DM:

"To allow every player at my table a chance to feel cool and special at some point during the game."

 

[Shadowslayer]

Well, keeping the players entertained and having fun is the "big picture" job of the DM, but what does that mean? (I'm sure tap dancing, joke telling, and juggling orc minis might keep them entertained.) I'm actually a little more concerned with engaging them rather than entertaining them. If they're engaged in the game, then they're entertaining themselves and me too.

How to engage them depends on the group. With my current group, they need varied encounters, a storyline that can be followed easily from week to week, good tactical combat, memorable NPCs, and a villain they can hate. They also need me to know the rules without the game grinding to a halt while I look one up. (that one is a biggie)

So with an eye on engaging my particular group, I know my job descriptions are thus: (In no particular order)

1. Interesting and varied encounters. This means using different types of terrain and opponents with varying types of attack and modes of defense. Also means knowing how it all works with a minimum of page flipping.

2. Story. At its root, make it simple enough that it can be remembered from week to week. (I don't do too many convoluted plots...if there's a twist, its usually a major one) I don't want to have to keep constant email contact just to keep the players up to speed.

3. Memorable NPCs.This basically means putting enough thought into portraying them that the players will remember. That means a good voice, enough telling detail, and a name they can say and will remember.

4. Good Villains, though most of this goes with job 3. In most of my stories, the villain makes him/herself known fairly early on, so the PCs can start hating him immediately. I've found that the Shadowy Puppet Master with Mysterious Motives that Stays in the Background, gets a little tiresome.

5. Know the rules. I know its "role-playing", but its still a game. If I'm pitting them up against a creature that can "cast color spray as a 10th level sorceror" You can be damned sure that by the time the encounter happens, I'll know what that means without needing to stop the game.

Those are basically what I see as my job description as a DM.

 

[Oryan77]

I feel my job as a DM is to make sure people know I am the ultimate D&D player and to remind players that no one is as good of a roleplayer as I am.

Next, I try to teach my players that I can always argue better & louder than them. This is why I bring a megaphone to the table...it works wonders & there's hardly ever any rules arguments.

My final role as a DM is to always make sure I go home on a full stomach without spending a dime. I have a rule that since I am DM'ing, I pick the place we are ordering food from and they pay for it. Sometimes I'll even make players feed the food to me because I'm just too busy keeping up with my NPC's & figuring out how to railroad them.

Overall, I feel DM's are like gods and people who only play D&D but never DM should worship the ground we walk on. If it wasn't for us, their lives would be very boring.