What Makes a Good DM?

[rweird]

Post what you think is good for a DM to have...

I think that bad luck is good for DMs. Though I have had horrid luck as a DM and as a player as a player it makes a big differnce though the monsters the DM sends are supposed to lose. As a player my character died, the next characters Animal Companion died fighting the same guy that killed my previous character, I rolled 2 natural 20s in one round and my Crit missed due to miss chance :smallfurious:. My animal companion had evasion and rolled a 2 on its reflex. If I was the DM when that happened it would be fine. The PCs would have been fine and the enemies would have done bad but there will be more. Long and short of it is that if a DM with bad luck (like me) DMs, then the PCs will have fun and will feel cool when there enemies fail.

[NimbleNZ]

i think good DMs should have:
-a wide and thorough knowledge of the rules (to keep play moving fast)
-always make concessions to drama (builds tension and excitement)
-tailor make his monsters/enemies (so that enemies are tough and players feel exultant when they defeat them)

finally he should create imaginative campaign settings (skyships!:smallbiggrin:)

there's my 10 cents

[Aegis013]

A good DM should have a few things.

NUMBER 1: A reasonable level of communication with the players. Communication prevents, solves and mitigates almost every problem.

A moderate level of preparation and commitment (DM shouldn't be randomly skipping his own sessions or anything like that). By preparation I mean having a general idea of some things to have happen, or more details as desired.

Having important speeches or info blurbs written out considering how easy it is to accidentally leave out important bits of info.

If they want to have a puzzle or a mystery style thing, be sure to have at least twice as many clues as they think are necessary to solve it (players are great at missing or misinterpreting things)

Roll with the punches, don't make players feel forced into something (unless it's a consequence of their own actions) or invalidate player choices.

A bit of creativity, don't make every encounter a tank-and-spank unless you know that's exactly what your players are looking for. Add some interactive bits into the environment; a cliff face, a roaring furnace, something that players may think of a way to manipulate to assist them in a combat.

There's my spiel. There are other things but those are just the ones that came to mind.

EDIT: These bits of advice come from personal experience as an on-and-off DM.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Aegis013's advice is pretty much spot on. I've got considerably less DMing experience, but will say that everything he's said is very true.

A few I'll further emphasize:
Flexibility - If the players come up with a crazy scheme and make the dice rolls to back it up, let it work. It stinks to spend the time coming up with a plan only to be told that it doesn't work for no better reason than that the DM didn't plan for it. Making it through an encounter in an unexpected way can be very satisfying for players and will often result in the stories that get repeated the longest ("Remember that time Mike threw a kegger in the temple of the time goddess to distract the guards?").

This one might be a little more controversial, but I feel like a good DM values drama and fun over what the dice say. If having an NPC blow a save would lead to a more fun situation for all involved, consider ignoring that nat 20 you rolled for him. If there's a choice between a monster's damage outright killing a PC and fudging the roll so the PC drops and the others have to rush to save him before he bleeds out, while someone distracts the monster, I'll go for the more dramatic situation almost every time.

Planning - Knowing what's likely to happen makes the game go so much faster and so much smoother it's amazing. If the PCs are going to fight a dragon, have the dragon's stats ready to go before the session. If they'll find a treasure, know what it is beforehand. It keeps the game moving and keeps people having fun.

The rules - A good DM isn't afraid to be wrong if it keeps things running. I had a game once where the PCs were fighting in a store room full of barrels and crates and I forgot to look up the rules for jumping/climbing onto obstacles like that before the session. I made a quick house rule for that session to keep things flowing and told the players I'd have the official rule next time it came up. The game continued without having to pause for me to dig through books and a good time was had by all.

Don't think of it as me vs. them - Everyone, player or DM, is there to have a good time. Yes it's the DM's job to challenge the players, but that doesn't mean he needs to be a jerk about it or try to kill or screw over the PCs at every turn. If the players get miserable, the DM will be miserable and nobody will look forward to the next session.

[Human Paragon 3]

Short answer. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?u=46979)

[Medic!]

As high a charisma score as he can get, with heavy rank investment in Diplomacy, Knowledge (Dungeons And Dragoneering), and a very inexpensive medium wonderous item, the DM Screen (gives a +10 concealment bonus to Bluff checks).

All you need to be a good DM is to know that it's just a game, and games are played to have fun. That and know what your players consider "fun."

[Oracle_Hunter]

A Good DM:

Plans enough beforehand that the session should go smoothly if all goes well...
... and is mentally nimble enough to keep the session running when it doesn't.

Runs the sort of game he enjoys...
... and tweaks it to suit his Players' desires.

Knows the rules well enough to that he rarely has to check the books...
... and can fairly adjudicate situations the rules don't cover.

Seldom makes mistakes...
... and owns up when he does.

[GoatBoy]

Regardless of any other characteristics:

A good DM provides a fun gaming session for his group...

...by keeping the game moving at a good pace

-via good working knowledge of the rules
-via knowing when a disagreement is no longer worth prolonging, and just making a judgment
-via focusing on relevant details and letting the player's imaginations do the rest

...by telling a good story
-via making sure the players are the stars
-via a good imagination
-via knowing good plot devices from a variety of genres

...by providing a reasonable degree of challenge

-via knowing the capabilities of the players, and how familiar they are with the game's mechanics
-via keeping track of what was too easy, too hard, and just right for the party in earlier encounters
-via knowing when to make slight adjustments on the fly to tweak a fight which isn't going the way it needs to

...by giving every player a chance to contribute

-via knowing how each player wants to have their character excel
-via knowing his players and what each of them wants from the game

[Gotterdammerung]

#1 a strong knowledge of the rules.

#2 a strong sense of the intent of the rules and a strong grasp on the customizable nature of the game structure.

#3 a flair for drama

#4 a talent for writing and telling stories.

#5 a strong sense of balance (metaphysically speaking).

#6 Respectable. If the players don't respect the GM it leads to problems.

#7 Communicative.

#8 Dependable.


It is hard to find the perfect GM because many traits that make up a perfect GM are unlikely to appear in the same person.

Example: People who are well prepared, studious, and organized usually do not like spontaneous changes on the fly.

Imaginative storytellers aren't usually into boring, repetitive, monotonous, clerical work, such as statting out a village.

There are other examples, I am just not going to list all the possibilities.

[candycorn]

My answer would be:

A good DM's mother.

[Zagaroth]

My answer would be:

A good DM's mother.

Not when the DM's mother hates DnD. :-D

[NimbleNZ]

Not when the DM's mother hates DnD. :-D

i think she means...like...beacause the DM's mother 'made' the DM...you know...like "here's a ticket to the movies"

:smallwink:

[Basket Burner]

Comprehensive knowledge of the rules, a complete and utter non desire to cheat, the same non desire for a DM vs player mindset, the ability to keep people engaged both in and out of combat, the ability to redirect players onto more successful paths if needed (for example, if someone wants to play a Monk the DM should stop them and direct them to a class that won't die one session in), and most of all the ability to be impartial.

That means if the players succeed it means they succeeded, not because they were allowed to win or any other such nonsense. It also means that if they fail, it's their own fault.

[Tyndmyr]

1. He needs to show up. The rest are irrelevant if he's not there for sessions.

2. He needs to have a session sufficiently prepped when he shows up. Sufficiently prepped means "enough to run it". This can be a notebook or a post it, I don't much care.

3. He needs to treat the players fairly, and with respect, just as all players should behave toward their fellow gamers.

4. He needs to know the rules for the system he is running.

5. He needs to understand what kind of game his players want, and how to provide it.

That's it, really.

[Karoht]

Balance.
A good DM is able to balance between Rule of Fun/Awesome, and Rules As Written.
A good DM is able to balance between combat and role playing, with the right mix of both to appeal to all the players at the table and keep them all engaged.
A good DM is able to balance between spontanuity and 'the plan' and doesn't stick too hard to the rails. Usually this entails having enough hooks to guide players back towards major plot events, but without railroading or forcing them to go save town X.
A good DM is able to balance between compromising and ruling. Sometimes you compromise, sometimes you stick to your guns on a ruling.

[Big Fau]

Post what you think is good for a DM to have...

I think that bad luck is good for DMs. Though I have had horrid luck as a DM and as a player as a player it makes a big differnce though the monsters the DM sends are supposed to lose. As a player my character died, the next characters Animal Companion died fighting the same guy that killed my previous character, I rolled 2 natural 20s in one round and my Crit missed due to miss chance :smallfurious:. My animal companion had evasion and rolled a 2 on its reflex. If I was the DM when that happened it would be fine. The PCs would have been fine and the enemies would have done bad but there will be more. Long and short of it is that if a DM with bad luck (like me) DMs, then the PCs will have fun and will feel cool when there enemies fail.

Good DMing does not mean mitigating bad luck, it means making good judgement calls when a rules issue or party balance problem comes up. Why should the DM coddle you for missing due to concealment/miss chance, or for your animal companion failing a save?

Coddling a player is actually a sign of bad DMing. I can understand fudging rolls in favor of preventing a player from sitting out of an entire session (due to needing to make a new character; the character creation process takes too long for most games), but what you are ranting about is just how the cookie crumbles.



Conversely, constantly trying to kill characters is also a sign of bad DMing. You're the DM, you can kill them at your leisure. Why waste time making them reroll if you are just going to kill them again (hint: play Paranoia)?

[Tonal Architect]

My answer would be:

A good DM's mother.

She isn't really making the DM, she's just assembling him from the parts she consumes during her nourishment.



Roll with the punches, don't make players feel forced into something (unless it's a consequence of their own actions) or invalidate player choices.

This.

I think it's very important to tell the story according to your character's actions, rather than dictate and forcefully determine the route the player characters will act. A good DM understands the player's characters are their to do as they wish, and not his characters bundled with dedicated dice rollers.

I'm currently having trouble with a DM who not only forces the party to play the story he wishes, through the use of various epic level npcs (keep in mind the party is currently level 6), but also has as one of said NPCs his very own character, who constantly bosses the party around and threatens the players into submission. I've had a character commit suicide last session, given that he wouldn't take any more of the crap (not a tantrum, actually, it was in line with what the character would do, considering he was an ex-slave).

Everyone is somewhat pissed with that, especially that given the way the table is running, with a plethora of high-powered NPCs running around and bossing the party here and there, the PCs can't help but feel as though they're actually SUPPORT characters, rather than the story's protagonists.

It's not the first time I've had DMs like that, who feel tempted to rail the story through the use of their own main cast. I think that that's one of the worst possible flaws in DMing. So...

I think that what makes a good DM is, mainly, the ability to build the plot around the player characters, and not force the players into decisions they will not want. If a DM can't (quite literally) play along with his players, he shouldn't be DMing.

Also... I should mention I'm probably dropping out of said table soon.

[Big Fau]

Everyone is somewhat pissed with that, especially that given the way the table is running, with a plethora of high-powered NPCs running around and bossing the party here and there, the PCs can't help but feel as though they're actually SUPPORT characters, rather than the story's protagonists.

That sounds like a standard FR campaign...

[ZerglingOne]

A good storytelling ability.

The ability to make content on the fly.

The ability to get a group of 3-8 people to focus on the task at hand.

A collection of your own ideas for recurring villains.

The ability to keep combat moving and keep track of everything going on.

A short list of everyone's stats that matter to combat.

Having something to deal with the munchkin of the group (there's always one)

Not being reluctant to kill off your players, but not to the point of stomping them.

And finally, a reliable group of players. Really I can't stress this last one enough, very few things are more frustrating to a group of players than one or more people that can't make it to the sessions regularly. It ruins everything.

[candycorn]

She isn't really making the DM, she's just assembling him from the parts she consumes during her nourishment.

By that logic, GM doesn't make cars... It just assembles them from raw materials.

In fact, by that logic, nothing is ever truly made.

No, I define making something as assembling her from the parts consumed, and proper imbuing with information through upbringing.

[Tonal Architect]

By that logic, GM doesn't make cars... It just assembles them from raw materials.

In fact, by that logic, nothing is ever truly made.

No, I define making something as assembling her from the parts consumed, and proper imbuing with information through upbringing.

I don't really agree with the upbringing part, but you have a point. Alright, GM's parents are the answer, then... So say we all!


That sounds like a standard FR campaign...

It could be run like that, I guess, now that I think about just how many high-level NPCs the core books come pack with... But in all games I've played in FR, those Npcs were acting as part of the landscape, too busy with other npcs and their own schemes to notice the lowly party of adventurers, and ocasionally interfering directly, but only when the party performed a major screw-up, on when the party could actually take them on.

Maybe more DMs are willing to resort to "Elminster appears. Obey him or take Twinned-Maximized-Quickened-Admixtured-Fell Drained-Invisible Fireball" tactics than I thought.

[bloodtide]

A good DM really needs to be a 'master' of everything. Even knowing the rules is not important as a good DM can cover that.


1.People Skills-- Just like anyone running any type of group activity a DM must have people skills. They must be able to talk and communicate well, lead people, help people and disciple people.

2.Control-- The DM needs to have control over everything related to the game, just like any other group activity. Such things as late players or phones or jokes and all that need to be dealt with and kept under control.

3.Spin-- This might be the greatest DM skill, to make anything anything to keep the game going and make sure everyone is having fun.