Thrommel, the head Admin. from the ‘Okay.. Your Turn‘ forums posed a good question a few days ago:
“A DM carries a staggering amount of responsibility for game preparation, rules knowledge, storytelling and social interaction
— especially when compared to the players, who often just have to show up and roll the dice. It’s a lot of work, far more than playing.
So why do you do it?”
While I’ll argue that to have a great role playing group, players need to invest themselves a little more than showing up and chucking dice, his question struck home at a deep level for me.
It’s spurned me into setting the Poll up there so I could see the DM/Player ratio of readers. As of Saturday evening, I clearly have a vast majority of DMing readers. Although, surprisingly, you’re a lot more numerous playing on both sides of the screen that I expected. So while I’ll turn the questions to you (or your respective blogs) at the end of this post, I’ll answer the question first.
I won’t go into the why I became a DM, at least not yet. As I’m not the same person now (34) than I was when I started (10), the reasons why I keep DMing have changed. That’s also a story for another time. Sufice it to mention that I’ve DMed probably close to 95-97% of all Role playing game-time I’ve ever participated in.
Like everything else I cherish in life, I DM for various reasons:
I like creating convoluted plots and deep stories, seeing how my friends will interact with them. I crave for the crafting of encounters and obstacles. I also love tweaking published adventures to fit-in with my campaign’s plots and player preferences. Adventure preps is one of the rare things that will get me into the Flow (along with writing on this Blog, as I’ve discovered these last few weeks).
I like staging a game where I can see and manipulate the flow and ebb of emotions in the players. I love to see anxiety followed by relief and satisfaction. I love when a player forgets himself and shouts ‘F#&k yeah!’ after a die roll or when a foe crumbles to the ground.
The stare of rapt attention I get when I stand up, holding a pretend sword and describe to my favorite butt kicker just how he sliced two mooks at the same time is priceless.
I just love the look of excited, but slightly guilty, conspiring I get from my Storyteller when I take him to another room and inform him of the secret orders he has for the upcoming mission.
I don’t get these feelings at every game. I’ve had evenings where I wanted to quit for good and play World of Warcraft instead. Even now that we have our crap together as a group, not every game is one for the books…
But, if you’ll allow the golfing analogy, it’s a bit like when you’re a Golf newbie. After a long series of crappy shots, you hit the ball so perfectly that you feel it in your whole body. You just know the ball will go exactly where you want it to go. At that time, all frustration drains away, and you understand what the fuss is all about with that game. You’ll miss the 10 next shots for sure, but the glow will linger a while longer. It’s the same for me and DMing.
Oh and it’s not about the power anymore. I’ve long realized that true authority only comes with what power your players will give you. This is a big enough subject for one or many posts and we’ll return to it later.
Finally, I’m a crappy player. Having held the 150 Watt bulb for so long, I have a real hard time with holding a flashlight. Franky is gearing up for a part time Monte Cook’s World of Darkness game as a backup to mine and I have apprehensions about it already, I’ll keep you posted.
I see a lot of storming in gaming forums (the WotC D&D one can be scary). I can only say this to DMs and GMs: keep swinging that club, try to get better, talk with you players, try to have fun as a group. I guarantee you’ll hit it the ball head-on more and more often.
So, what about you, full time and Reserve DMs (I’ll get to you StupidRanger, don’t worry)? What makes you continue DMing time after time?
I DM because nobody else wanted to. I DM because I love it – I learned to love it actually. I DM because I like to write. I DM because I enjoy telling stories about fantastic heroes, fascinating world, or just about girls. I DM because I love the attention. I DM so I can keep getting together with my friends.
That’s it.
Much like Yax I started DMing because no one else would. But I really love creating. Creating a world and/or the things in it. Presenting a story. No, and adventure. Absorbing myself into all kinds of different genres. Then being able to get together my friends and share all this is fantastic.
Why I started DMing:
Our usual DMs both wanted to take a break, and I knew the rules better than even them, so I gave it a try.
(I was called a “rules lawyer” and “rules whore”, but I only used my powers to promote fun.)
Why I keep DMing:
– Because D&D is a convenient excuse to get together with friends, and nobody in the current group has the knowledge required to be a full time DM, though my fiance is trying her first game as DM now.
– Because I enjoy doing something that causes my group to have a good time and enjoy themselves.
– Because it gives me an opportunity to flex my crunch muscles in ways I couldn’t do as a player, especially since without me DMing we wouldn’t likely be playing.
Unfortunately, I’ve been getting those “quit and go play WoW” thoughts lately as well. Despite the fact that two sessions ago was one of my favourite sessions that I’ve ever ran, I’ve been burning out lately. Story isn’t coming as easy, and encounters aren’t building themselves. It’s seeming like work, at times, and that’s bad.
I have a good group of friends that I play with, but they make it difficult sometimes. My group is as follows:
– A storyteller, who wants as many roleplaying opportunities as possible.
– A powergaming tactician who tends to revert to Storming mode (internet or homework on laptop) when outside of combat or looting.
– My fiance, the casual gamer, who is pretty content with anything we do.
– Aand two casual butt-kickers (both light method actors), who are happy in any situation as long as their characters can roll dice occasionally.
The first two clash a bit, as you might be able to tell. My storyteller enjoys rolling lots of dice for her lightning bolts, but isn’t happy at the end unless she got some good RP time in. And would have a great time without rolling any dice besides social skills. I’m a casual powergamer while playing, but I enjoy shifting to storytelling mode sometimes, so that’s not really a problem.
My power-gaming tactician end up storming at all times that aren’t combat, which can be contagious to the other players. This is the largest disruption at the moment.
I have no idea how to design a game for these two at the same time. Mostly, I need to design something that keeps my tactician involved during the non-combat situations, so I can write for those situations, as the other players enjoy them.
Sigh.
At least I have two more weeks before we play again, and I can figure stuff out in that time.
Sorry to use your comments for my own rants. 😛
My site isn’t built yet. I should get on that.
No problem ve4grm,
If you’ll allow, I think you have 2 situations here.
1) You are experiencing DMing burnout. It happens. Especially in a Storming group.
2) Your power accumulator comes off as a Selfish player.
I see you read Robin Laws too so you know that he says that pleasing a power gamer is easier than say, a method actor.
What seems to be the problem is that your Munchkin wants to play his way all the time. And his ‘impatience’ is eating a lot of your energies.
However, your playing group would seem to be very compatible with a Hack & Slashy game (2X Butt kickers, Casual and Munckin) with a few elements of story telling to please your less needy storyteller.
I would prepare a story arc where an organization invites storyteller to join and gives her dungeon crawling or Hit and retrieve missions. Munchkin gets to plan the assaults and the Butt Kickers get to help clean up. Have a story unfold with the Macguffins your players take out of the dungeons (pieces of an artifact for examples) that Storyteller will like and Munchkin will want to handle…
As for burning out, why not take a month off, discard munchkin for four weeks and have your wife DM in a ‘safer’ environment while you recharge your DMing batteries.
My 2 cents.
Why do I DM? As much fun as I’ve had in other’s games, I always think “I could do that better.” So then I have to try 🙂 It often doesn’t come out as perfect as I’d like, but I have to keep trying!
Good thoughts, chattyDM. Thanks.
Taking a month off isn’t ideal to me because we already missed two months this summer, but with my fiance starting up DMing it may be possible.
I’ll ponder on all this.
Secondary question:
My powergaming tactician is also the kind who dislikes being at anything less than full power in every battle. He will suggest resting after a fairly minor battle sometimes, asking if the cleric has enough healing left, even in the middle of a warzone (which, of course, is not a good place to rest). But the issue manifests itself the most when faced with things like ability damage.
We faced a group of undead back at the beginning of summer (right before the two months of not being able to get together). Mostly incorporeal undead in that one grouping, shadows and allips. Which means strength and wisdom damage.
The cleric got drained to 8 Wis, and wasn’t able to cast any more spells, but didn’t mind because she knows it’s part of the game that some monsters will make your characters less effective.
My powergamer got drained from 24 strength to 20 strength, in the last hit of the battle, and said “Yeah, ability damage really makes the game not fun.”
…Now, I know that it’s a difficulty, and that it’s not the most fun effect, but he just said it made the game not fun, which is something that involves me.
And unfortunately, as you get higher levels ability damage and drain, as well as negative levels, get more and more common.
His big reason behind it making the game not fun is that it carries over to the next battle. But that’s part of the reason it’s used, and so does hp damage.
Unfortunately, this is his first full campaign in D&D, and he comes primarily from computer and console RPGs like Neverwinter Nights, where you can rest to full potential between battles.
How can I convince him it’s not as bad as he seems to think, and how can I use the monsters that have ability damage without pissing him off?
Any thoughts?
Regarding your poll: I chose “GM”, but I’m also a Player regularly (like today!).
Ve4grm: I’d love to answer, but to have more writing space, can I make your Queries the subject of tomorrow morning’s (or Tuesday’s) post?
If you don’t mind, can you give me a wee bit more detail about your relationship with each players, especially for your Power gamer/ planner? (Friend/brother in la. cousin, etc) and time you’ve known each other.
Thanks!
I DM because I love to create. Running a game offers far more possibilities for exploring weird ideas than playing ever will 😛
Go ahead, Phil.
Relationships to powergaming tactician: fiance’s brother, close enough to call brother-in-law.
All others besides fiance are my friends. The storyteller and one of the casual/buttkickers are dating.
Oh, time known:
storyteller: 6 years
storyteller’s casual buttkicking boyfriend: 4 years?
fiance: 5 years
fiance’s brother-in-law: 5.5 years (I met her through him)
and final casual buttkicker: 8-ish years
Sigh.
“Fiance’s brother-in-law” should be “fiance’s brother”, and is the powergaming tactician.
Got it Ve4.
I’ll ponder this tomorrow morning. Yan, Franky and a few friends have discussed this quite a bit at our Sunday Night Magic games. 🙂
Thank you all, I see a lot of good reasons to DM!
I GM for the sheer power. Bwahahahahaha!
There. that’s me done.
Oh, ok………..
I started gaming about 30 years ago because our Traveller GM wanted a turn as player, so I agreed to take over for a while. His character died in the first session as I recall, though amazingly the players enjoyed the session enough to continue the game. I’ve not looked back since.
I love the sheer creative freedom a GM has. After all, a player has responsibility for just one character, while a DM has control over the fate of a billion souls (“ok, let’s see….. last session Faerun exploded, so this week we’re…..”).
I means, what’s not to love?
Oh man I’d take a plane to the UK just to play in a game where The Forgotten Realms actually explode.
No offense to fans of the setting, it’s the best supported one there is, but it’s just not my cup of soup.
I DM because nobody else does it. I used to love world building until I discovered that my players were not entertained by world exploration. So these days there’s a lot more combat and dice rolling, because I think this is what they enjoy. I love it when DM and players join in some joint world building via character backgrounds and ideas, but I’m no longer disappointed if they don’t do it. I like surprising and challenging my players via twists and turns. I still have to work on that, however. I think my DM style has moved from World Building towards Casual DM and Director wannabe.