Favorite Trait of Your Favorite DM?

[Black_Zawisza]

Of all the DMs you've played under, which one was your favorite and why? What was the single most important thing he did that made the game fun?

[CigarPete]

Current DM is the best. It's a sandbox game set in Ptolus and he really makes the world come alive. I wonder about the motivations of NPCs because they feel like real people to me. We can influence the world, but we do not control it. Really great to play with.

[panaikhan]

Out of our group, my favorite DM is the rules lawyer because, he's the rules lawyer.
Because of his fundemental grasp of almost every rule, we spend far less time looking things up (and he is more likely to remind us of a rule that works in the party's favour than any of the other DM's)

[Mightypickle]

I love, and strive to be, a lawful good rules lawyer. =)


My favorite DM would be a friend of mine who has been playing D&D for the longest time in our group. He has a great understanding of what makes the game fun for the players, all things he learned from playing experience. He's also a really reasonable person, meaning he's very likely to listen to the party's opinions on the game. Like what might be fun to do. Stuff like that.

[Rallicus]

Never had a good DM in my life. The campaigns are always generic and boring, the storylines are contrived and uninteresting, and the gameplay is always bogged down with weird homebrew rules (not being able to move through friendly spaces or extensive fumble tables, as an example). I can't say anything good about any of them, and I'm not even exaggerating.

It's pretty sad when you find yourself to be your favorite DM, especially when you think you're an average DM at best.

Maybe I just have really bad luck.

[Aegis013]

snip

I'm sorry your experience has been as you have described. I've suffered similar problems, though more of DM's being unprepared and wasting time and not having any direction. Not providing any plot hooks even when the party goes looking for plot hooks.

My favorite DM was not only lenient, but encouraging of my optimization. He let me play a Shadowcraft Mage, though he eventually fell into the above category after about 5 sessions. He also let me assist the other players in keeping pace with me, so nobody felt overshadowed.

An honorable mention goes to a DM who I only played one session with, we did a one-shot of a group of strange adventurers fought a great wyrm white dragon. In his real game, I observed several times and he actually turned to me for impartial rules lawyer-ing when rules questions arose, which helped me feel involved. I wish I could've played under him but I always have a scheduling conflict with a college class, sadly.

[Blisstake]

Favorite DM right now: Leviathan. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?u=56056)

Moves things along in an orderly fashion with the group, keeps the world detailed and interesting, and incorporates the players background into the plot of the game. So much to love about how Leviathan DMs :smallsmile:

In my IRL group, I'm almost always the DM, because the other players are either completely new to D&D/PF, make games that are way over the top (like fighting 50 foot tall demons at level 1), or flat out refuse to DM.

[Yukitsu]

My favourite DM lets the players drive the story, the events and the world. He doesn't have so much a story that must occur, but a story that we write as go.

[Pyromancer999]

My favorite trait of my favorite DM? Morph Bark being Morph Bark.

Morph was the DM for the Homebrewer's campaign, and made it interesting while it lasted. Also, I've only had two DMs and the first was not good. Seriously though, Morph is an awesome DM.

[legomaster00156]

My favorite trait of my favorite DM is the ability to put up with everything thrown at him by a party of Epic-level PC's. In particular, the ability to read and understand the posts of a character who is literally Chaos personified. He knows who he is.

[Sheogoroth]

2 things:
1. Let the players fail.
2. Don't be lazy.

On the first count, It's my belief that DMs should really never use a Deus Machina even if it does fit into the story. If your players do something stupid, have the environment react the way you think it would and not the way that would most further the plot.
if one of your players decides to push the king out of an open window in the heart of his kingdom, by all means. If it kills your carefully laid plans, just roll with it.

Second, put a little dramaticism into it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iztRfwxiq28

[Eldariel]

My absolutely #1 favorite thing about my favorite DM is the fact that he's insane. The stories are far more interesting that way; in most of my groups I do the heavy lifting far as rules go so that's not really an issue for me either way; as long as the DM trusts me, we can proceed swiftly.

[Malak'ai]

My favourite DM was a guy I gamed with a few years ago.
No matter what, if he taking the micky out of you or your characters (never insulting, just funny/sarcastic) he would do it with such a straight face it just made you laugh all the harder.

[navar100]

During my 2E years in college, with all its restrictions and "Thou Shalt Nots" to what player characters can do, there was this one DM who worked with, you could even say "tolerate", me to play whatever crazy concept I came up with, whether it was a lawful good undead cleric or some new spell I created for my cleric of Justice/Revenge. More, when two mutual friends chose to stop* being my friends due to their disagreement with how I play clerics, such as the audacity to cast a spell that was not Cure Light Wounds, he continued to let me play in his games. He was a nice guy, and his games were fun. I still remember a terrific battle of my cleric of Justice/Revenge with a PC paladin against a balor.

*Now in our more mature years we are back on friendly speaking terms whenever we meet at conventions. Sadly, I've never seen the DM again since I graduated.

[Griffith!]

My favorite DM? Any DM that's not me. I'm the de facto designated dungeon master in my group. My opportunities to play rather than run are rare, so I treasure them.

[Dsurion]

My DM's a pretty cool guy. He gives me free reign and doesn't afraid of anything.

[DigoDragon]

He gives me free reign and doesn't afraid of anything.

Doesn't afraid of anything indeed.


My favorite DM was Joe, way back in our college years. He's a writer and has this vivid imagination for coming up with really inspiring campaign worlds. He generally liked running the lighter styled games such as Toon and IOU, but I think those settings suited his style best.

[Blackknife]

Toss-up between my younger brother or me, for the same reasons. He writes good stories, I just like mine better. :)

[only1doug]

A GM i had a long time ago (he moved away), What I liked was the determination to kill the PCs (with CR appropriate threats) if he could kill off a PC he practically gloated at you.

Sounds Unappealing?

Well if you can keep your PC alive through the determined efforts of a Decent GM who wants to kill you, then you know you are playing well (and you know dang well you better pay attention during the game, or he'll get you).

Yes a GM can easily kill off PCs if he wants to, thats why he was good, he wanted to kill us but restricted himself to using appropriate threats.

[Invader]

I had a DM that really liked getting input from us after the sessions about what we liked/didn't like and what worked well and didn't. He really encouraged actual role play which is something I never really spend a lot of time on. The one thing I hated was he wanted tons of info on you character/backstory/goals and I spent tons of time on it and then he never included any of it in his campaign/story so I felt like what was the point of wasting all my time.

[Tyndmyr]

Never had a good DM in my life. The campaigns are always generic and boring, the storylines are contrived and uninteresting, and the gameplay is always bogged down with weird homebrew rules (not being able to move through friendly spaces or extensive fumble tables, as an example). I can't say anything good about any of them, and I'm not even exaggerating.

It's pretty sad when you find yourself to be your favorite DM, especially when you think you're an average DM at best.

Maybe I just have really bad luck.

This is....far too often the case. My DMs haven't all been equally bad, but I often find myself DMing because I'm just too frustrated at terrible DMs.

Not being all authority-focused is perhaps the #1 trait of good DMs. They don't have to be.

[Ninja PieKing]

My best friend because as long as I actually roleplay it right I am allowed pretty much anything short of pun-pun and he helps me build it sometimes.
Sad thing is he has this attitude with all the players because he likes seeing the game breaking in most cases

[NichG]

Current GM. I'd say the favorite trait is that he builds mysteries to be explored into many different places. Some of these are things like new invention subsystems using alchemical metals, symbols, etc or a combinatoric soulgem system or the like - mysteries that are adjunct to the campaign but are still there to be explored. Others are tied right into the game plotline.

But in either event, you can actually engage with the unknowns of the game and try to figure things out, and generally speaking this doesn't fall apart due to hitting inconsistencies unless there's something to actually find buried in the inconsistency. I like working out the puzzles, and even more I like when something that I worked out over the course of a month of play by piecing together little facts from here and there turns out to actually have a basis in what was going on, rather than just being an oversight or pattern that wasn't really intended.

[moritheil]

She, actually. Friendliness is my favorite trait in a DM. Ultimately it's a social game.

[LadyLexi]

Favorite DM gets hard because everyone has ups and downs but I got to give it to the DM who threw in a romance plot just for me cause I said I would like one before we started. I have never left a game with as much enjoyment as I did the game she ran, even if she didn't know all the rules.

I really like a good plot, but if a DM can bring me in on an emotional level then I really enjoy it. If its just disconnected looking at stats I don't have a lot of fun.

[Bloodgruve]

My current DM isn't afraid to bring his characters to life. Every npc we meet has a personality which really makes it easy to get into the session. He will go places most other DM's that I've run with wont, which is fun bordering on weird sometimes. Our Bard was cursed with a high DC attraction to old ladies which eventually lead us to hunting his demonic offspring.. Memorable to say the least.

Blood~

[killianh]

My favourite trait had to be matrix building. A DM I had (in the rare times I play instead of DM) use to make notes of every little thing we did. If I hit on the waitress, there was a chance of me fighting her father. If I hit on her and one thing lead to another, there was a chance of having a little me sitting around in a year or so when we get back from an epic quest.

We could be assured that every action we took meant something for what would happen to us down the road, and most of the adventures we went on were entirely based on what we had been doing rather than a strict plot we had to railroad our way through

[Ninja PieKing]

My favourite trait had to be matrix building. A DM I had (in the rare times I play instead of DM) use to make notes of every little thing we did. If I hit on the waitress, there was a chance of me fighting her father. If I hit on her and one thing lead to another, there was a chance of having a little me sitting around in a year or so when we get back from an epic quest.

We could be assured that every action we took meant something for what would happen to us down the road, and most of the adventures we went on were entirely based on what we had been doing rather than a strict plot we had to railroad our way through

That is awesome