Things your DM does that delight you as a player

[Waffle_Iron]

I'll go first:

My DM draws on years of experience to create his NPCs, and has populated the world with people who have goals beyond "provide the quest" or "kill the PCs"

[Master O'Laughs]

My DM plays on your assumptions as a player. He takes a common fantasy trope and flips it on its head so you get a true sense of discovery. His homebrew world is also really awesome with a wealth of history to it.

[Millface]

I love it when DMs

Craft a world with interesting NPCs that don't take the spotlight, but enhance and flesh out the area (have their own goals and ambitions, and play to them regardless of the party)

Craft villains with more interesting motivation than "kill the NPCs", who make decisions that make sense, even if it makes things really difficult for the party. Give a villain a goal, and stick to the goal. If the party gets in your way, handle it like the character would handle it. I've seen villains trick the party entirely because, big shock here, real bad guys don't always have horns or a big neon sign that says "I'm evil af, hi!" We didn't do enough checking, enough vetting, and inadvertently helped him complete a ritual that drained the life force of every living good aligned wizard into a vessel to achieve minor godhood. New god in the pantheon, about 25% of all good wizards died that day in the world, and the effects were noticeable and immediate in the world. Consequences. No one in the party died, because no one in the party got in his way in the slightest. With a smile on his face, because he couldn't believe the story took that turn, he took out his boss encounter and ripped it in half. Our characters did have to live with what happened though, and for some the guilt was immense.

I like to feel things when I play. The joys of success, the sorrows of loss, the whole shabang. If my DM can do that for me I'm in love.

[Maxilian]

I love that not all enemies are to be beaten.

That some enemies, even if they are evil, you can talk with them, and maybe even become their allies, same the other way around, not all good NPCs are going to be your friend, both of you may be good, but your ideals may clash.

[Millface]

I love that not all enemies are to be beaten.

That some enemies, even if they are evil, you can talk with them, and maybe even become their allies, same the other way around, not all good NPCs are going to be your friend, both of you may be good, but your ideals may clash.

This exactly! It's not always in a villain's best interest to fight you just because he/she is a villain, and vice versa. Not to mention other kinds of take downs. Political moves, framing for crimes, extortion, the list is endless. Some villains even just do petty, passive aggressive things. Show up to your favorite inn after thwarting one of their plans just to see the name has been changed, you're on the ban list and your friend the Innkeeper put out of work. There's a whole world to play with, use it!

[JakOfAllTirades]

Our GM does an excellent job of roleplaying NPCs and it's a delight to interact with the characters we meet on our adventures.

I'm also delighted that he runs D&D 5E on a Rules As Written basis so we don't have a bunch of clunky home rules messing up our campaign.

And he has an excellent eye for game balance, so if something in UA (or any other source) is completely broken (I'm looking at you, Ambush Ranger!) he keeps it out of the campaign. OTOH, if there's something that would be an interesting addition, he's open to new material if it's playable and balanced.

[Arcangel4774]

When they just go with the flow and can successfully adlib when you take the story down a path they didn't even begin to expect.

[MrStabby]

He makes awesome cookies.

My DM is a beginner DM so not yet awsome at loads of things but really showing promise. He seems to have found his feet recently - making a ruling against the views of most of the players, which takes guts for a new guy. Even better in retrospect he was right. Confidence and good judgement are important skills.

He homebrews, which is cool. One thing I like is he involves others in the homebrew so it is a collaborative effort. It helps to tie the party and the world together.

His world is also more detailed than I gave it credit for at first. Whilst he is still improving at the description side so many of the details have later become relevant that I have a reel feeling for a living world. I discovered it isn't planned - he just has a great memory and adds loads of little detail. Later on he remembers what was added and considers the implications.


A DM I had - a few years ago now - was pretty good. My group likes games with a decent about of hack and slash - about 60% being use of force, the rest being planning, diplomacy, and RP. She ran a very different game - really good diplomacy and research based game. I still remember some of the enemies we let slip through our fingers. They felt like real people. Each enemy we killed felt significant - still not quite sure how she did it so well.