DMs: Would you choose to never play, or never DM, again?

[Kallisti]

I'd choose to play. I've never been very good at DMing. I can tell my stories by writing them, not making other people play them.

[RebelRogue]

That's... an awesome job, dude. What system do you guys play?

Mostly D&D. We shifted to 4e when it came out, though one team is doing 3.5 again now. I've also used a number of other systems from time to time. Some WoD (Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Vampire: Dark Ages) and Basic Roleplaying. Some of the other guys have done WFRP, BESM and Via Prudensia (scroll down). But mostly D&D.

But I haven't got too many hours there anymore, and I'll probably stop entirely after this month (unless I can get to do some guitar teaching there, but I don't thinks it's going to happen).

[Mystic Muse]

I work at a youth club. I suppose that is the english term too? Anyway, it's a place where kids go after school or visit in the afternoon to do activities with friends. One of the activities we offer is RPGing, so I essentially play with them at work. 99% of the time that means DMing, usually improvising since you have to play with a lot of groups and you soon realize they don't give a damn if you prepare or not, at least not the younger ones, hehe.

*wants this job*

*thinks about killing you to get it*

*decides I would rather not go to jail*

[arguskos]

Mostly D&D. We shifted to 4e when it came out, though one team is doing 3.5 again now. I've also used a number of other systems from time to time. Some WoD (Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Vampire: Dark Ages) and Basic Roleplaying. Some of the other guys have done WFRP, BESM and Via Prudensia (scroll down). But mostly D&D.

But I haven't got too many hours there anymore, and I'll probably stop entirely after this month (unless I can get to do some guitar teaching there, but I don't thinks it's going to happen).

Like, um, wow. This job sounds AMAZING. I need to work at that position.

[RebelRogue]

*wants this job*

*thinks about killing you to get it*

*decides I would rather not go to jail*

It may sound glorious, but I've grown rather tired of it. You have to deal with inattentive kids most of the time, never get to prepare properly. Turning something you love into work isn't always pleasant. But yes, sometimes it is awesome, of course.

Anyway: it wasn't my intention to steal this thread, so maybe we should get back on topic?

[Dienekes]

I'd choose to not be a player, since no one in my group can run a consistent game if their lives depended upon it.

If I had a guaranteed GM, good bye all that extra work, good bye trying to create encounters so everyone can do something, good bye designing complex plots and interesting characters that the players are gonna forget about anyway. Hello easy street.

[Fuzzie Fuzz]

DM, definitely. I love the world creation, from the grand cosmic scheme of things to the individual inhabitants of every dungeon. I love the plot creation, the messing with my friends' heads, the tedium of statting various plot-centric NPCs who are subsequently ignored/killed on sight by the PCs, the refereeing, the secrecy behind the screen, the ability to fill my free time, the pleasure of feeling all my work pay off and watching my players grin when they figure out the solution to a puzzle, or bellow in an RP-filled rage as they charge the BBEG.

Playing is... meh. You're just one guy, with a fragile illusion of control over some small part of the world. All the advantages of playing are part of DMing, for me, except for the lack of work, which I enjoy anyways.

[Swordgleam]

Playing is certainly fun, but once you've got into playing a world instead of one character, there just seems something limiting about being a player. Maybe that's conceited, but that's kinda how I feel. DM all the way.

I feel the opposite. When I DM, I'm limited by my players' choices. I'm just an engine to show their impact on the world. I have no ultimate control over how the story ends - that's all up to the players.

When I play, I make things happen. I move the plot forward, I make choices, I steer the campaign's destiny.

[Temotei]

I feel the opposite. When I DM, I'm limited by my players' choices. I'm just an engine to show their impact on the world. I have no ultimate control over how the story ends - that's all up to the players.

When I play, I make things happen. I move the plot forward, I make choices, I steer the campaign's destiny.

Boulders fall. You die. I win.

That said, I'd be a player.

[Mystic Muse]

Oh, I forgot my response

I'd ask why This guy is being such a royal jerk and what he's going to give me in exchange. If I have to give up being a player or DMing I better get something equivalent in exchange. (What can I say? I love D&D and nothing else I've done has been so consistently entertaining)

[potatocubed]

I barely do any playing anyway.

[Akal Saris]

I feel the opposite. When I DM, I'm limited by my players' choices. I'm just an engine to show their impact on the world. I have no ultimate control over how the story ends - that's all up to the players.

When I play, I make things happen. I move the plot forward, I make choices, I steer the campaign's destiny.

I tend to agree with this assessment - as a DM, there's nothing I can really do if the players aren't engaged and interested in what their characters are doing. As a PC, I feel more free to pursue "my" goals than as a DM.

That said, I'd definitely give up playing over DMing. Being a DM is much more rewarding at the end of the night, when everyone is happy and thanking you for such a good time, especially after the sheer adrenaline rush of running a game that's going well, especially when your players took you by surprise and you have to improvise quickly, are all things that I wouldn't want to give up.

Maybe it's conceited, but I also think that it's much more difficult to be a good DM than it is to be good player. Given all the effort that I've put into improving my DMing and the campaigns that I run, I would also hate to give it up for those reasons.

Good question, by the way - it's one I haven't seen on these forums before :)

[Zaydos]

I'd choose to DM. Mostly because I've ran into lots of bad DMs (of the last 4 people who've DM'd for me, 2 were first timers and 2 were people who people who have played with before groan and apologize that you had to play under). The first timers had their problems, one just added fiated modifiers to penalize everyone but his best friend and I was only playing because I was his friend and I have to agree with our other mutual friend that it wasn't fun. The other, well I intend to keep playing under him although the first adventure was literally a checklist I gave him as to how to screw over my character (even without it I'm only the 2nd strongest character, and with it... well 1 screws everyone over, 1 screws everyone over but me the most, and the other 1 screws the stronger half of the party over). He should do fairly well, although he needs to realize that giving the swordsage opportunities to use his powers well is better than just trying to stop other people from using theirs (then again his first adventure was something thrown together on short notice because he wanted to see party power level). I think he'll do fine, although restarting a campaign that got ended at Lv 9 might be a little tough for a first time, but he has promise.

The above, though, is not the primary reason. The primary reason I'd choose DMing is while I love crafting a character, building his back story and actually playing him, I love building a world more. Now just to build a world when I actually have PCs that care what the world's fluff is.

[AslanCross]

I actually enjoy both. I tend to be the DM the most because I have the time, resources, patience and managerial skills needed for DMing. Everyone else in my group just wants to remain a player. XP

[Temotei]

Oh, I forgot my response

I'd ask why This guy is being such a royal jerk and what he's going to give me in exchange. If I have to give up being a player or DMing I better get something equivalent in exchange. (What can I say? I love D&D and nothing else I've done has been so consistently entertaining)

The deity (or whatever) would smite you for blasphemous response. DM fiat!

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I, DM.

I rarely play in games. I enjoy it, but I need a very good DM to enjoy playing more than I enjoy DMing, and I only know one who consistently runs good games - and he lives a couple of hundred miles away.

[rezplz]

If I was guarenteed a good DM that could keep an ongoing storyline that could keep me interested enough to roleplay and whatnot, I'd definitely choose to play. But while my dad and one of my friends are pretty good at DMing, its usually been multiple shorter adventurers that aren't really connected to each other. And I've recently started working more at making longer campaigns with a story to them, which I'm starting to really enjoy and get better at. So if I wasn't guarenteed a DM that played best to my style I'd choose to DM. It'd still be a tough choice either way, when it came down to it.

[Danin]

Choosing to DM rather than play means... nothing changes given my current circumstances. I can count the number of campaigns I've played in on two digits, the number I've finished on none.

If it means I got the chance to play, well, I'd do that. If it meant no more D&D, well, obviously DM.

[Kaun]

I feel the opposite. When I DM, I'm limited by my players' choices. I'm just an engine to show their impact on the world. I have no ultimate control over how the story ends - that's all up to the players.

When I play, I make things happen. I move the plot forward, I make choices, I steer the campaign's destiny.

If you cant get your players to do what you want with out them realising, you are doing it wrong.

One of the bigest kicks i get of DMing is when the players think they have it all figured out and that they have it beat only to stumble on a clue which makes everything else fall into place and leaves them with the realisation that they are screwed.

[dsmiles]

Finding players is never overly hard.

Wanna bet? I've been at my new place for FOUR MONTHS and still can't find a group...

But, all said and done...I'd give up playing. I have just as much fun (maybe more) DMing, because I really enjoy writing up campaign settings, and letting my players rampage through them creating stories and history for the world.

[JaronK]

I'd love to never DM. I just like playing so much more. But right now, all of our DMs would rather play, so we have to rotate it, and besides, the game I'm running is very popular. Plus, a lot of our DMs are new so someone has to show them how to do it.

But if I could actually keep playing without ever needing to DM, I'd love that.

JaronK

[Kaiyanwang]

Hard choice, but DM. Maybe because I generally DM, or maybe because I love it more.

[Kaun]

Wanna bet? I've been at my new place for FOUR MONTHS and still can't find a group...

But, all said and done...I'd give up playing. I have just as much fun (maybe more) DMing, because I really enjoy writing up campaign settings, and letting my players rampage through them creating stories and history for the world.

I guess to every rule there is an exception.

I hope your luck changes.

Back on topic tho it seems to me that most people that consider themselfs a DM are the ones who enjoy it.

A lot of the people who are opting to give up DMing seem to be players who have been left with out a DM.

[Lioness]

Well, I DMed a couple of sessions, so I guess I count.

I would choose to play. Frankly, I really don't like DMing. I'll do it, to give the normal DM a break, but it stresses me out and makes me feel overly responsible.

[Longcat]

For me, it's either:
a) Never DM again or
b) Always DM, but with a DMPC!

That said, I vastly prefer playing over DMing. I only DM when I'm with inexperienced players or when my long-time group gives me guilt-trip. I don't enjoy writing up stories, and my plots invariably end up as a mixture of George R. R. Martin novels and Michael Bay films.

[ken-do-nim]

DM, that's an easy choice. DMing is how you turn D&D from a game into a hobby.

[Guinea Anubis]

I would give up being a player, as much fun as it is being one I like DMing more.

I love being the story teller and being the one that crafts the world the PCs play in.

[peacenlove]

Never play.

Nobody I personally know can DM worth a damn.

This. Sadly

[Kaiyanwang]

DM, that's an easy choice. DMing is how you turn D&D from a game into a hobby.

I really like this one.

[Satyr]

I so rarely play in a game anymore, so giving it up all together would not be that much of a sacrifice. It would be harder to test new games, though.

I like to think that I am a good gamemaster and the fact that people I play with travel a long way to participate and I was once paid to run a weekned campaign, I like to think that others share this opinion.

I like playing in a game, but I think I actually prefering to run it. Yes, it is more work and more responsibility, but first of all, I have high standards for the games I run myself and thus tend to apply these same standards to other gamemasters as well, which often makes me a cranky player, and I also tend to have more fun developing a story and describing a world than exploring it.