Your DMing style?

[WadeWay33]

Self explanatory, how do YOU DM? Do you tend to do intrigue or combat? Modules or homebrew?
I tend to do a little more intrigue and I’ll take modules for inspiration and rewrite them. I DM 4 campaigns and play in one, but the one I play in is all combat, so I’m slightly biased.

[Man_Over_Game]

I like the scenarios where there's a lot of things going on, and what they interact with is up to them. Maybe they'll notice something of intrigue that they just don't have the time or resources to investigate it yet, or they'll receive word of an issue that works against their current mission. Not only does it make the world feel organic and constantly moving, but it gives them this internal conflict to decide what the best course of action is.

The more the players interact and dispute amongst each other, the less work I have to do (since information and desires are revealed to me without having to do much).

Otherwise, I'm pretty free-flowing when it comes to being strict on what actions you might take. I'm pretty mechanically minded, so gauging how much impact an improvised action should have usually comes pretty easily. I also prefer improvised actions over the ones written in the rules, so I am very generous to my players who try to add to the game instead of just playing it.

Magic is pretty inherent in everything I make or do, although I often times add mechanics that allow martials to shine (such as totems that regularly cast Counterspell and are resistant to magic damage, but are easily destroyed with a melee weapon). Everything is friggin' magical, but that doesn't always mean that it's good to be a mage.

I'm also a really big fan of "triggered" mechanics, like Pack Tactics, changing a boss when it reaches 50% HP, or having enemies changed when they're set on fire. The tricky part is finding ways to include martial characters in these scenarios, since martials are the only melee characters and are the only characters that use Bludgeoning/Slashing/Piercing (and are usually limited to those). How do you add a trigger that relies on Slashing or Piercing damage, so the Rogue isn't doing more than just shooting each turn? It's a pretty tricky dilemma, and I love it.

Regrettably, my worst fault is the storytelling. I can write the monsters, the world, the magic, the actions, the GAME. I can write the GAME, but how it's presented to my players has often been mentioned to be my weakest topic. I describe the world on a grid, not a world. Usually I'm told this by my wife, who ironically can describe a grassy field to be a majestic and enchanted grove. We're trying a duo-DMing situation in the near future, to use both of our strengths, so we'll see how that goes.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Combat as war; clever, morale solutions always lead to a better outcome than bloodthirsty murderhoboism; going with the story always results in a better reward than actively trying to avoid it; high risk, high reward; I will kill you the moment it makes sense, but I will never do so unfairly and never leave the deciding factor up to the dice, even if that's what it comes down to; some days may have no combat, some days may be all combat, some days might use unique adventuring mechanics I made up just for that day.

As for my presentation, I'm all about: foreshadowing, lovable NPC's, vicious but fun villains, and narrating like a supervillain, up to and including laughing at the players' misfortunes and slow clapping their greatest successes while sipping out of a wine glass. I believe very strongly that a good DM should act like an arrogant, charismatic supervillain at the table, someone fun and interesting to struggle and fight against, though you should never forget that you're only playing the part for the players' benefit.

[Pex]

I try not to do everything I complain about that mean, nasty DMs do. :smallsmile: I can still say no to players when what they want is too powerful or doesn't fit the gameworld, but in trying not to be mean and nasty my game has become quite light hearted. There has been criticism it was too silly and I am mindful of that, but I've also learned that sometimes there's lack of compatibility between what a player wants and the game I run. I have players enjoying something for the same thing another player dislikes and quits. My Brady Bunch of the Corn adventure is one of those. (It's exactly like it sounds.) I know I'm far from the best DM ever, but I'm confident I'm also far from the worst.

The DC to climb a tree in my game is yes. :smallbiggrin:

[Sigreid]

I'm a sanbox DM. I set up a setting, impose some requirement just to help put the party together like "for at least the last 2 years you have lived in x village for whatever reason". Even when I run a module, I tell the players they can do whatever they want, and mean it. Right now we're doing Descent, and if the players decided to go over the wall and abandon Baulder's Gate to its fate, we'd have done that.

That said, die rolls are in the open and death among the players isn't unknown or particularly uncommon. For the most part the players are expected to tell me what they're interested in doing and I'll pull something together. Sometimes making it up on the spot, unless I'm totally uninterested in the premise, in which case I state flat someone else will have to DM that.

[Tawmis]

Self explanatory, how do YOU DM? Do you tend to do intrigue or combat? Modules or homebrew?
I tend to do a little more intrigue and I’ll take modules for inspiration and rewrite them. I DM 4 campaigns and play in one, but the one I play in is all combat, so I’m slightly biased.

All homebrew, for starters. My world, gods, adventures are all things I created.
(I tried to run Hoard of the Dragon Queen - and as stated in this thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?608622-Anyone-else-NOT-want-to-play-in-a-long-epic-adventure-anymore&p=24400159#post24400159), it didn't work out).

For my adventures, I love to mix it up. Sometimes it's a straight fight. Sometimes, it's puzzles. But most frequently, I like a mix of both, as a DM.
The story of the current set of adventures I run, these groups all play in the same world, and their game actions can impact the world (and the other games) - and they're all on a continent that's been newly discovered. There are races here that have lived here for a long time, but there's also an entire region (called The Broken Lands) that has some odd artifacts coming out of there - some so powerful that they change the people who wield them - often for the worse. But Wizards of the main continent are paying high prices for adventures to bring these relics back to them if they can. So the Broken Lands is very much an... Egyptian/Arabian mixture, with these temples, and odd puzzles.

[FrancisBean]

I do almost entirely homebrew. I run my campaigns as a series of arcs, each one focusing on one member of the party. This means that the style can change dramatically! I've had one where the focus on the combat guy was all-out war, bombs dropping and civilians in danger and the villains out for blood; and then another one was purely political and maneuvering in the bureaucracy from which that PC came. It's all about the character backstory and the hooks they hand me. I have an over-arching plot in mind, but I'm willing to throw it all away if character stories go in another direction entirely.

The downside is that I tend not to weave a lot of independent threads together until I have each character's individual arc established, but so far my players have always been happy with it.

Once I've made the rounds of everybody's character taking center stage, I weave the dangling threads together in as coherent and unified story as I can. Since I run almost purely plot and story, I typically take as many hours as it needs to find a good way to work everything together, usually around 12+ hours to plan each session. I'm lucky to enjoy that sort of planning.

[SunderedWorldDM]

I could be described as "fast and furious". I take great joy in keeping the game constantly moving forward- counting down from 10 at a point of indecision, narrating at lighting speed with intense emotional energy, and using game hacks to keep everything flowing as smoothly and quickly as possible on both sides of the screen. When I prep, I spend a lot of time on plot and setting (perhaps too much, my world has a pretty sprawling canon that I sometimes find it hard to track) and less on NPCs and monsters, because I know I can improvise and spin those things from very little when I hit the table. Typically, my players enjoy my games, though the high lethality that sometimes emerges from all the tense and hard encounters I like to throw at the PCs sometimes causes some problems. I'd consider my two greatest influences Hankerin Ferinale from Runehammer and Matt Mercer of Critical Role fame- the former for their punchy, high-speed-low-prep game mastering style and their emphasis on intensity and "cool" games and Matt for his worldbuilding, descriptions, storycrafting and enjoyable voices (I'm no voice actor, but I have fun figuring out what NPCs and monsters "sound" like as part of my prep)!

[MrStabby]

Most of the campaign content is homebrew. World, enemies, a lot of spells. I am feel that exploration is about turning the unknown into the known... having players familiar with all aspects of the world in advance diminishes this pillar.

Themes are heavy on combat and exploration. This is partially down to the players and partially down to me. With online play and a somewhat open world I never know where players will go - coming up with NPCs that are real feeling, interesting, individual and deep at a moments notice is tough for me so the social side suffers a bit.

I also have set some out of character expectations. Outside of a dungeon roleplay is useful - people are going to care how you act and you should think about the moral consequences of your actions. In a dungeon pretty much murder anything you want and take its loot. Potential moral hazards in a dungeon are well telegraphed. This caters to the kick the door down players.

I have a rule that for each plot hook finished I want to create two more. Players can never do everything, once this is accepted the party can cherry pick the most interesting and fun quests.

I run a pretty dangerous world with multiple character deaths, but resurrection is reasonably accessible. I run high magic as default with lots of enemy casters, and even martial focussed enemies may have a bit of magic added (shield, misty step, some utility) - mage slayer is a top tier feat in my games.

Magic items are rarer - I feel resistance to non magic weapons should be more than a ribbon. I usually add magic items about level 8 or so but with a pretty steep curve. Loot is used to help party members excel at the things the players want their characters to excel at. Later loot is a lot more liberal (and mostly homebrew) - with limited attunement slots a bundle more items is more about giving g players choice than power.

I like to offer players mechanical rewards as well as roleplay awards from their adventures. New spells, new fighting styles... whatever ticks their desired fantasy box.

Player homebrew is allowed, but we develop it jointly at the table. No 3rd party stuff.

[Maan]

Depends on the players I DM for.

Especially when there's some new player in the crew (generally I play with old friends), I always have a chat with all of them to get a good sense of what they would like to see in the upcoming campaign.
From there I know what should be the strongest element in the campaign (free exploration/sandbox? Intrigue? Epic campaign? Strong narrative? Immersive, detailed world?) and set the rest based on what I caught from what they said to me: how much challenging it should be and how to spice a single adventure with other elements they might also like.

I do that even when I'm DMing for friends I know very well: their tastes might change over time and even if you like cheese you get bored of it if you eat that for four days in a row! :smallbiggrin:

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I am running a sandbox homebrew games.

The PC choose what to do, I usually give them information about events in the world and they meat and interact with the world.

They may start as adventures look for jobs in the guild, continue working for the main religion in the kingdom, continue to help the people re establish the ruling council of a different land by pretending to be servents in the king castle for a few weeks.

Hearing about a dark skinned elf that hunts man in the area and go to the underdark to fight the duegars in order to move a beholder to a spot that will force them to fight the drow for territory.

I don't give them quests, they search for them and I make the quests on the spot(sometimes they will tell me if they are going to a place they know I need to make maps for).

[Catullus64]

I try my absolute best, when designing adventures, to create scenarios that will reward players for engaging with the lore of the setting. I work very hard to tie useful information and options to the Nature, History, Arcana, Religion, and Performance skills, due to many players' dim opinion of the usefulness of those skills.

I usually roll with whatever crazy scheme the players concoct, rather then suppressing it (That kind of openness towards player actions seems to be a really consistent point in this thread, which I think speaks volumes about how well 5e conditions DM style.)

One strong suit of which I am particularly proud is thematic richness in my games. My campaigns will often feature multiple characters whose motivations all tie into a central theme, such as hubris, generational injustice, or the desire for transformation. Locations that the player characters visit will often tell detailed stories with architecture, wildlife, and little clues. Archaeological storytelling is my favorite kind. If there's anything I do well as a DM that goes beyond basic Best Practices, that's it.

As combat goes, I make it deadly as a rule; the freedom of my games is counterbalanced by their danger. I avoid random encounters altogether. Most of my combats (the ones that I plan for; what can I say, PCs get in fights with town guards, it just happens) will involve non-violent objectives which are necessary for victory, like retrieving a treasure map from a burning building with a Fire Elemental in it, or completing a ritual in a crypt to stop the endlessly spawning skeletons all around, or fixing a winch mechanism to lift a portcullis, in order to escape the castle before the guards overwhelm you.

My main flaw as a DM is probably an inability to let the players fail too readily. If they piss off an NPC, I usually give them too many chances to smooth things over; if they miss a vital clue, I'll drop another one. It's like player-friendly railroading, and I've been trying to cut back on it.

[loki_ragnarock]

It depends on what game I'm running, because I get bored of doing the same thing over and over.

The Last Game:
Homebrew, predefined world designed to have multiple doomsday scenarios that leveled up with the characters, plot evolved depending on which aspects of the world/threats they choose to pursue, a ton of constantly moving parts, deeper RP with extensive character development. So much work, lasted several years.


Currently:
Homebrew, world built around weaving PC backstories together, extremely permissive, supremely forgiving, open to commentary, will discuss a ruling with the other players at the table before enacting it after there's consensus about what's fair, willing to just let players be OP, everything is to further the story, tends to the silly end of the spectrum. Lower stress in general, still so much work, has lasted several years.

Soon:
Homebrew, modestly adversarial, unflinching about killing PCs, time limits for turns, counting arrows and rations, enforcing encumbrance, letting them get lost, gritty rest, a sanity tracker, punishing encounters where they can stumble on them well before their ready, no narrative guidance given, tighter character creation requirements. Has the potential to last a long time, lots of work on the front end, hopefully I can be a bit more detached on the back end.

It's not really about evolving as a DM; it's just an attempt to tell different types of stories requiring different styles of running things. Though I guess the evolution might be trying to create less work for myself over time.

[prabe]

Here's how I describe my GMing style in the documentation I hand out at campaign-start:


I have a preference for multi-threaded campaigns where character decisions matter on multiple scales, and I like to connect characters' backstories to those threads. It may take a while for threads to emerge, but they eventually will.

Not every bad thing in the world is something I expect (or want) the characters to solve.

I don't aim for character deaths, but I won't protect characters from consequences, either. Other than the houserules and suchlike, I try to run very much to the rules as they are in the books. It I screw up the story or the rules I will apologize and do what I can to make things right.

I run a fair amount of combat, usually big fights--I don't care much for attrition--but I'm not above the occasional gantlet. There are things parties might want to solve that can't be solved by fighting things, though. Everything I run is homebrew, but I steal shamelessly if I see something I like.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

Self explanatory, how do YOU DM? Do you tend to do intrigue or combat? Modules or homebrew?
I tend to do a little more intrigue and I’ll take modules for inspiration and rewrite them. I DM 4 campaigns and play in one, but the one I play in is all combat, so I’m slightly biased.

Like an 80's wall street exec who hasn't ran out of coke... Awesome. Awesome to the max.

Rule of Cool + RAW (basics) + A lot of Homebrew.

Levels 1 - 10 is 99% what I run. Also I expand saving throw proficiency to 2 full Prof, 2 half Prof, and 2 no Prof.

But... Ever fight a Lich at 5th level? Ever fight a Lich at level 5 and win? Ever ride a giant's body down a mountain side while fighting clockwork-oozes? Ever accidentally become part of a plan to asasinate a Duke at 1st level?

Fun times.

Level =/= Plot is actually something I learned from OotS. My number one suggestion to DMs is to stop equating level with plot, it gets absolutely boring.

Ever want to use all those cool Homebrew stuff? Yeah, I love Homebrew.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I dm fairly relaxed....
Like my style sort of is perfect for any instigators, because I'm fairly good at improvisation. I like maps, and so do my players so I have a lot of those floating around too.

[MaxWilson]

Self explanatory, how do YOU DM? Do you tend to do intrigue or combat? Modules or homebrew?
I tend to do a little more intrigue and I’ll take modules for inspiration and rewrite them. I DM 4 campaigns and play in one, but the one I play in is all combat, so I’m slightly biased.

For TTRPG play, short adventures aiming to provide closure at the end of the evening. I don't want people to have to wait 6 months for an emotional payoff, each adventure has to be emotionally complete in and of itself, even if they build into larger arcs. Also the goal of play is to provide players with opportunities to make meaningful choices.

For solo 5E play, almost all Deadly+ combat with some minor character vignettes.

[werehounding]

I love to focus on investigation, mystery, and political intrigue. One of my players described my style as political thriller/film noir, which is one of my favorite compliments about my DMing I've received. I also enjoy incorporating real-life elements (like reskinning creatures to be based off of a weird deep-sea creature or incorporating folklore and history - I am a folklorist-in-training). I also enjoy writing histories of places, and letting the players see in-game that their actions have influences and consequences. And of course, I like to punctuate big moments with combat.

[Sam113097]

My goal is to make players feel like they're in an Indiana Jones-style adventure. I like action set pieces that require clever solutions, races against time, and exploration; I'm not as great at political intrigue, but I do like building interesting villains and filling the ruins, dungeons, and wilds that the players explore with cool bits of lore and interesting details. I wouldn't say that I'm a particularly great DM, but when I pull off creative and engaging action set pieces, my players seem to love it, and I try to reward creative, cinematic combat choices. In my current campaign, some of my favorite action scenes were fighting a giant snake while hanging on to vines on the side of an island floating in the sky, saving civilians as an erupting volcano swallowed a city, trying to drive off a dragon-turtle on a sinking ship, and taking out a black dragon by Thunderstepping onto its head!