(DMs, Any) Why We Do It

[AtwasAwamps]

For DMs, storytellers, GMs, and what have you…

What are the moments in which you’ve been absolutely sure…100% certain and satisfied…that you’re doing it right? Whether its something your players said to you or something you saw or just this feeling…what are the moments that have made you say “Yeah. This is cool.”

I’ve got a few and they make me happy.

1 – I have a friend who started playing DnD with 4e and he loves it. He finds 3.5 fiddly and silly. He’s an excellent 4e DM, too, because he’s very creative and good at doing things on the fly. Recently, one of our mutual friends convinced him to play in a 3.5 game that I would run for him and two other people. After the second session of the game, he pulled me aside and said “I just want to tell you that…I still hate 3.5. I still think it’s dumb, there’s too many rules, too many things to remember, and too many things in the way of having fun. But you run a DAMN good game, to the point where I can get past all of that and enjoy the crystal core of fun in what you’re trying to do. Thanks.”

2 – In a group that has had TERRIBLE experiences in 4e due to having a terrible DM, I was asked to run a 4.0 game because they wanted to see my interpretation of it. After the third session, the person who had been most vehemently AGAINST playing another 4e game sighed and shook his head. “You know, now I’m just pissed. Apparently all it takes for 4e to be worthwhile is a DM who knows what he’s doing. This is awesome.”

3 – This just happened last night. In my big (seven person) 3.5 game, my players were coming to the end of the “arc” they’re in. They knew the kiddies gloves were off and I busted out what they call the “Shadow Die”…a black d20 that wants them dead. The two fights they were in were brutal. In this one session, I killed three PCs (in a group of players that tends to avoid killing PCs as much as possible) and sent everyone into negatives at least once. As we wrapped things up, I apologized to the players who had died, because they looked more than a tad upset. The one who looked most upset laughed and shook his head. “Don’t. We went toe to toe with the biggest, baddest stuff in here. This wasn’t some crappy cheating death. We saw you roll and you took us apart. That was a fantastic session and I was happy to be a part of it.”

[The Cat Goddess]

1) Because nobody else will... Well, one guy will... but he's known as the "and the characters go to Hell" DM and the "even the peasant farmers try to attack us!" DM.

2) Because, sometimes, I have a story I want to fill out. I can create a story, but I'm not good at doing all the dialog myself. So, I say something like: "You need to create characters that are part of a travelling entertainment group." Then I start the story and let the PCs be the characters in the story.

[Kris Strife]

Because no one else in the group knows the system.

[Ingus]

Why?

1. When you call in a great fight, very well balanced, very hard, in which even the most skilled player is turning and turning his sheet, looking what to do; when most of the PCs and the enemy are most of the time on the edge of loss; when, finally, the players work in team and someone has a good idea... rolls... scores... when the whole table (myself included) explodes in awe and hi fives swarm around... then you know it is worthwhile.

2. When there is a dungeon or an encounter that keeps players go around and around, trying to "fix things" and, one end or another, they keep talking of it months afterwards, telling the tale to friends and keep laughting on it... then you know it is worthwhile

3. When a player improves his play (no need to get thanks, no need even that he notices it)...

4. Simply when things goes plain good, everyone has fun and you too...

All this is worthwhile.
And besides, while your players can improve and evolve their PCs, you've the opportunity of variety. Just to say: I've always wanted to play a Superior Doppleganger, but even put in class the Savage Species way, even capped, it's still too good to be a PC (putting aside the problem of finding a GM allowing it in the first place). Now it is coming the time that my group approaches my S. Doppleganger Chameleon 10... If they handle the encounter properly, he will last just few rounds. But this is worthwhile too :smallbiggrin:

[Lev]

Personally, I prefer to be a player, but DMing fulfills the roll of the story telling, and for those of us with big inner worlds and the imagination to generate those, we have the chance to be a DM, which is a talent for even the slightly autistic even if you're not a writer per se.

As for 4e, it's a "special" brand of ruleset, it's not that it can't be played awesome, I mean the theory that role players do not need either RP rules nor RP characters to actually RP characters is technically solid, it's just that the way 3.5 and 4e genericize the characters is wildly different... barbarians are a LOT tougher-- but all their power now comes from colorfully different nonsensically mystical rages, and they now have the maximum capacity to wield the same sized weapon as the healing devout cleric beside you has. No, 4e is not good for campaigns similar to princess bride, but it is good for campaigns similar to most weaponry focusing manga.

How to spot a good DM is that everyone is having fun, most new DM's go into the game expecting X or wanting Y and shoot WAYYY past their abilities, where as DMing a coherent group is more like telling your kids to settle down, sit still, behave, and have fun, if you're a good DM they will have the maximum amount of fun with the least hard feelings after.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

My players still talk about a villain from five years ago in hushed tones, and compare him favorably OOC to current villains in campaigns other DMs in our group run. I consider that sufficient motivation for the time being. :smallamused:

[Shademan]

Because I have god-complex issues.

[Dragor]

Because, as the OP said, it's insanely satisfying to have players really care, and give you a pat on the back for it. You simply know positive feedback from 'I'm just trying to be nice' feedback.

[JohnnyCancer]

I probably had reasons at one point, but I'm an emotional cripple with a vaguely defined personality. I don't know why I do anything at all anymore.

[Swordgleam]

I just finished up a two year campaign last weekend. The final session involved a battle in a crumbling temple of Torog, a PC switching his allegiance from Asmodeus to Bahamut, a character sending her own life-force into an altar to weaken the creatures the rest of the party was fighting, an incredibly moment of diplomacy by the bard, and just all around awesomeness from all of the PCs.

And I had no idea any of it was going to happen until an off-hand comment from one of the players five minutes before the session.

To me, that is D&D.

[TheThan]

Why do we do this crazy thing called Dming>

We do it because its fun.
We do it because if we didn’t no body else would
We do it because we have a story to tell
We do it because we like building worlds and seeing how people interact with it
We do it because we like to flex our imagination’s muscles
We do it because its satisfying when people say “that was awesome”

[Lost Demiurge]

Just doing my part to bring the awesome.

[Jarian]

Because I have control issues.

Also, everything mentioned above.

[Lord Vampyre]

Honestly, if I didn't, then nobody else would.

[Umael]

Because they still talk about that one game.
Because I got this little idea that's been sitting for a while so now it's sentient and needs to be unleashed on the unsuspecting world.
Because my friends roped me into it.

[Drakevarg]

Because as much as it gives me a screaming headache, I love obsessively building up every conceivable detail of a universe, from how the planes are arranged all the way down to the patrol schedules of the local city guard.

As for anecdotal reasons-

Last time I ran a campaign, I was on vacation at my cousin's place and hadn't actually planned anything out. I'd brought my books assuming that my cousin intended to DM, but since he had no materials I had to wing it. We managed to get four sessions in that week, each one made simply because the players were eager for more.

On the down side, the last session was a total flop because I literally made it up at the last second (most of them gave me a few hours of prior thought) and had to panickedly pull such maneuvers as making the doors open the wrong way so the mooks could run for backup more easily.

So, as much as I love worldbuilding, I'm apparently a good enough DM that I can run an entertaining campaign that's literally 100% Ass Pull. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AssPull)

[Tar Palantir]

In one of my longest-running campaigns, the most powerful PC was a Sorcerer/Elemental Savant who used Searing, Admixtured Fireballs to lay waste to everything in sight. After a brutal romp through a dungeon filled with mummies, they come across the final boss, a lich druid. He pulls out his Super Fireball(tm), and...nothing; it fizzles against the enemy's Flame Ward, which he had put up after the Sorc burned fifty mummy and Teleported out for a nap. That's what I DM for: the look on their faces when, just when they thought they had me licked, I find a way to make them sweat.

[Frog Dragon]

I introduced my friends to D&D 3.5, and I'm still the one with the best grasp of rules.
Also, I like coming up with stuff for the games. As DM I can do anything in the game as long as it functions in the campaign, and the players like the stuff I pull.

[Saintjebus]

One of the first sessions I ever ran, I had 7 characters. When I read through the DMG section on combats, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me(one lvl 1 guy is supposed to be able to take on 4 lvl 1 guys? Really?) So I improvised. I sent them up against 7 lvl 1 hobgoblins(That's PC classes, too), plus one "boss" enemy that was level 2. Looking back, I'm pretty sure I made significant errors as far as the encounter went, but everyone had a blast. Combat lasted about 4 hours, and at the end of it, 3 PCs were in the negatives, and the rest all had less than 5 Hp remaining. Every single one of the players was engaged the entire time( in a group that normally has at least 2-3 people wandering around absently at any given time). It was a blast.

That's why I DM.

[Vitruviansquid]

I have stories that only I can tell and worlds that only I can run.

[Ernir]

Because seeing the players having difficulty controlling their breathing from sheer excitement when the dragon shows up makes it worth it.

[WorstDMEver]

Because watching Levitate + charging Bulette = crazy pinata is hella fun! I didn't see it coming because the party was 6th level and I'd already made them burn up most of their spells for that day.

I have a player who hates modern/future RPGs. I talked him into Space Opera with the rest of a slightly skeptical group (and we won't go into the system's deficiencies - I understand the rules and have made adjustments), and after three sessions he says "Well, this is actually very cool. I think it's because you're keeping mostly to roleplaying." I said "you don't want to have to fight much in this system - it'll kill you fast and it's nasty rolling up characters...." and we all had a laugh.

I think that when you have a cool group and a solid story idea, and when you can roll with the players' choices - then it's all just good fun and the rules are just a way to help you decide how it falls out. My group is funny in that all of us take turns running campaigns. We each have our own style and each of us interprets the rules a little differently. And it seems sometimes that when the players do something cool and we all love it, one of us will get the itch and we'll trade up after a few more sessions. It's funny because we get to see each other from both sides of the DM's screen, and that makes it even cooler when the group loves what you do.

[monkey3]

I'd rather play than DM. But I DM because I don't like the style of the other DMs in the group. They are too wishy-washy and bend rules at different times. I can pretty much figure out which of their monsters will have enough hps to live "one more round" depending on how the battle is going.

[amanamana]

The bad side of this exists. For years I've been the only DM in my group, through a plethora of systems and games, just because everyone that had ever DMed before being in my group was afraid of DMing for me and the others and don't measure up to my campaigns.

Sometimes they would consider it, but, as soon as the planning began, they would step back. One of them even said that he would look for his old gaming buddies, DM for them a couple of times (to practice) and them DM for us when he get more confident (this was not a ruse to get out of my games, because he intended to keep playing with me while DMing for those guys).

Meanwhile, I've spent almost a decade only DMing. If not for PBP, I don't think that I would play again soon.

I could take this as a compliment and an ego massage, but I just like playing so much that this actually sucks big time. Not only that, but I don't think my games are that good and I surely could have fun in their games.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Because I read the Silmarillion when I was young and impressionable, and have been making up vast backstory and epic worlds ever since.

And because engaged and excited players are awesome fun to run stuff for.

[Swordgleam]

everyone that had ever DMed before being in my group was afraid of DMing for me and the others and don't measure up to my campaigns.

Have you told them that you don't care if their campaigns are any good, you just want to play? Have you pointed out that you were new and mediocre once, and no one expects them to be as good as you right off?

The first time I ever tried DMing anything, my current DM happened to wander by and was a jerk about it, pointing out all the things I was forgetting and questioning all my rules interpretations. I didn't let that discourage me, and now I'm a better DM than he ever was. But I could have easily just never DMed again after that. If your players have had anything like that happen to them, I can see them being worried to DM for another DM.

[Divide by Zero]

We choose to DM...not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to measure and organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.

[Saintjebus]

We choose to DM...not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to measure and organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.

Quoted for truth and win. :smallbiggrin:And the American way? Oh wait, that's not right......

[Ingus]

We choose to DM...not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to measure and organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.

Yes. And because DMing is going to the university of RPG. Being professor :smallbiggrin:
Also, it is quite difficult because, in spite of our natural instinct, we are here to lose, not to win. Worst, at least for the crucial encounters, to lose close to a win. And this is funny too

[Semidi]

1) I love to tell stories. I'm an entertainer at heart. 90% of the time I improv storytell and DM (10% of that will be cool, the rest I make up on the spot).

2) It warms my heart when a player comes up to me afterwords and tells me that they had a lot of fun or that they're really enjoying the game. Usually it's "My character is frustrated, going crazy, and in a bad place right now but I'm loving it."

3) My mostest favoritist thing ever is like a year after something happens, someone mentions it and tells one of those "oh my god this was so cool" stories. It usually ends with something bad happen to their character.

Those three things make any work I do worth it.

[Ormur]

Because my thirst for D&D can't be quenched by the games I play in. Also because I like worldbuilding, it's a very convenient outlet for my creativity. I get to draw maps and floor plans, model buildings and castles, write histories and narratives and describe environments and people.

[The Glyphstone]

Right now, my theory is deep-seated masochism.

[Kaun]

Right now, my theory is deep-seated masochism.

I shift between Sadi and Maso depending on the day but a deffinate +1 to this.

[hotel_papa]

I want to say something poignant about how I love to create a massive, interconnecting, protean sand box for my characters to explore.

I want to say that I love writing a fantasy epic where I don't know what the characters will do until they do it.

I want to say I love to entertain and live for the looks on their faces when they experience something magnificent.

Truth is, though: I'm addicted to this goddamn game and I hate it when other people DM.

[Shademan]

I have a simmiliar problem in a way...
I find my campaign to be totally awesome and would love to play in my own campaigns. sadly, unless I can clone myself and convince said clone to DM I'm stuck DM'ing and playing in others campaigns.*


*) which is still great.

[Irreverent Fool]

I learned D&D back in the AD&D days, when modules were deadly, random numbers killed you, and it was okay to run away once in awhile.

I didn't play much back then, but when 3.x came around, I felt that something of value had been lost. I saw games where characters began to say things like "He's got a flaming sword? Let's take it!" rather than, "He's got a flaming sword? Oh my god..."

Perhaps this is a result of being raised by the books rather than DMs, but I saw something fundamentally wrong with this picture. I decided that fear must be returned to the game. Horrible, hopeless, gut-twisting fear. I communicated my intents when I offered to run a game (to give our regular DM a break and a chance to play).

Many characters have died.

After a couple years, I can say that I have achieved my goals. The players hang on my every word when I describe a room or monster, searching for the one scrap of information that may save their precious characters. The characters approach every situation with caution, because they know death looms around every corner. They fear for their lives.

This is why I DM. Fear.

It sustains me.

[Dienekes]

The look on my players face when they realize just how screwed they are.

[AtopTheMountain]

I learned D&D back in the AD&D days, when modules were deadly, random numbers killed you, and it was okay to run away once in awhile.

I didn't play much back then, but when 3.x came around, I felt that something of value had been lost. I saw games where characters began to say things like "He's got a flaming sword? Let's take it!" rather than, "He's got a flaming sword? Oh my god..."

Perhaps this is a result of being raised by the books rather than DMs, but I saw something fundamentally wrong with this picture. I decided that fear must be returned to the game. Horrible, hopeless, gut-twisting fear. I communicated my intents when I offered to run a game (to give our regular DM a break and a chance to play).

Many characters have died.

After a couple years, I can say that I have achieved my goals. The players hang on my every word when I describe a room or monster, searching for the one scrap of information that may save their precious characters. The characters approach every situation with caution, because they know death looms around every corner. They fear for their lives.

This is why I DM. Fear.

It sustains me.

obnoxious
sig

You, sir, are incredibly twisted. Exactly what a good DM should be. :smallbiggrin:

[Kurrel]

For many of the reasons Altair gives, but also for the sense of excitement both I and the players get as they take in the scope of the world and leave their mark on it.

There's also nothing like the moment where a plan comes together. Like in a recent game that spanned over 4 months and is still ongoing. Right near the beginning they become close friends with another character, meeting regularly and enjoying down-time with and being the big crush of one of the players.

The entire time, the character has been on the evil side... but not the evil they've been fighting. Her master has set her to help them and she's been doing her best to do so, but the fact remains she is one of the darkity-dark enemies.

And seeing a players eyes go WIDE and hear him breath 'Ohhhh %$#@!' when it hits him. And after he explains why, the whole party is bowled over because it all makes sense and yet they missed it the whole time.

Ahhh, satisfying.

[IonDragon]

I consider running a public service. I do it because I know other people will in turn do it for me. As I now have more time to join PBP games, as I'm able to play while at work, I am running one to show my appreciation.

It's kind of a 'pay it forward' philosophy, only in reverse: If everyone ran one game for every four they played in, there would never be any shortage of games going on.
Receive four, give one. Since that one can easily be given to 4-6 people, you may actually end up with an over abundance of games being run, which would be a refreshing change.

Aside from that, I like to write. I just don't have the drive to keep on writing. I've got more couple page long stutter starts than you can shake a stick at. Having other people bring in fresh ideas, drama, desires really makes the process much more enjoyable.

[Volos]

1) There is the look of ultimate terror that comes to you from every player at exactly the same time when you pull out the great wyrm black dragon minature that takes up more then half of the current map.

2) When players remember a major NPC's name and their reasons for interacting with the PCS. (Or better yet, when they remember some minor NPC with an interesting quirk)

3) And finally because I enjoy the feeling of controling moments that my players find so precious and enjoyable. That I am telling an amazing story that they want to come back for week after week.

[Heliomance]

I learned D&D back in the AD&D days, when modules were deadly, random numbers killed you, and it was okay to run away once in awhile.

I didn't play much back then, but when 3.x came around, I felt that something of value had been lost. I saw games where characters began to say things like "He's got a flaming sword? Let's take it!" rather than, "He's got a flaming sword? Oh my god..."

Perhaps this is a result of being raised by the books rather than DMs, but I saw something fundamentally wrong with this picture. I decided that fear must be returned to the game. Horrible, hopeless, gut-twisting fear. I communicated my intents when I offered to run a game (to give our regular DM a break and a chance to play).

Many characters have died.

After a couple years, I can say that I have achieved my goals. The players hang on my every word when I describe a room or monster, searching for the one scrap of information that may save their precious characters. The characters approach every situation with caution, because they know death looms around every corner. They fear for their lives.

This is why I DM. Fear.

It sustains me.

obnoxious
sig

That obnoxious sig really spoils the tone. Normally I don't notice it much, but it's just so out of place there it jumps out at you.

[Techsmart]

I started dming my first campaign a couple months ago. I first started because I always felt my dms were being too light on us most of the time (somehow, my lvl 8 assassin went through a CR8 dungeon solo sustaining just enough injuries to work me out of CMW potions). So, I made my own campaign to try pushing the party to the very edge every single session. Enough to kill the foolish, but just enough to test the smart ones. At first, I had some trouble getting the group together, but what made me happy is now, they never miss a session. Last time I had to cancel, someone else did a campaign they wanted. One guy said to me "I really would prefer to do your campaign over this one anyday." So far, 5 deaths (one thanks to an animated gazebo... don't ask), and nobody has left.

[The Tygre]

1.) Pain is the cleanser.
2.) Being a hero isn't about stepping forward; it's about everyone else stepping back.
3.) I have the bull whip.