Best DM/Player you ever met.

[super dark33]

Like the worst Player/Dm thread, but with the best ones.

best player: My brother. who always solved all the probloms in game, didnt roll diplomacy rolls on monsters, but on the Dm (he has like 20+ to it IRL)
quickly solves all probloms, has a verynice tactical knowlege and he actually made himself a Demigod in game, by metagameing.

[Kaww]

Like the worst Player/Dm thread, but with the best ones.

best player: My brother. who always solved all the probloms in game, didnt roll diplomacy rolls on monsters, but on the Dm (he has like 20+ to it IRL)
quickly solves all probloms, has a verynice tactical knowlege and he actually made himself a Demigod in game, by metagameing.

This makes him a bad player...

[Totally Guy]

This makes him a bad player...

You can't say that without a better understanding of the context.


I played a one shot with a guy named John at a con. He was really good. My character and his quickly found themselves at odds with each other. The conflict continued to build up bit by bit and our relationship as enemies was explored.

He killed the woman I loved and I was ready to kill him. He persuaded my best friend to turn against me and I was killed on the stairs by them both.

Best session ever!

[WalterBlack]

Once met a handsome young DM who'd engage all the players equally, come up with creative and engaging plot hooks, all the while minimizing conflict between a player group lacking both the intellectual capacity and the social awareness to even play a friendly game of tic-tac-toe without incident. He was praised by all who played with him, and enjoyed wide reknown in local D&D circles as a man of integrity and honor, intellligence and social virtue. A true aristocrat in a world of peasants.

Best of all? It was me.

[Zerter]

Player? Me. Why? I'm a Quick thinker, a leader, have strong knowledge of the tactical system, activally try to roleplay, make great characters, put the group's interest before my own knowing that I'll only have fun if everyone does and most importantly I activally try to keep the story moving forward in a game that attracts passive people.

Sure I have downsides as well, I'm arrogant and manipulative. I also have a tendency to play very safe, taking few risks and getting other party members to take them for me. Sometimes I let party members die because it's in my best interest and on a recent occasion I killed one myself making it look like a accident in-game and in the meta-game. But nobody's perfect.

[WalterBlack]

Once met a player at the height of his vitality and power who inspired all with effortless and undemanding sophistication and style.

Best of all? It was Zerter.

[Mastikator]

The best DM I've had is one who is now gone, he left to some other city for some girl. It's too bad because he was really good, he made sure to know all the characters we had, he was always well prepared and he very convincingly acted out all the NPCs, his descriptions of the world made you feel like you really were in it.

I wanna say myself as the best player, but that's tacky and I'm only kinda certain of it anyway, we're all good roleplayers in my group.

[Zerter]

The best DM I ever met? There are two actually. We play in the same group and rotate DMs and they have similiar qualities that make them great as DM: intelligence and the urge to improve themselves.

The first I experienced as a DM years ago and he was terrible. He handed out a major artifact early on, build a rather vague campaign world and it self-destructed after 1.5 sessions. More recently he DMed again and he was awesome. He changed the way he handed out items to protect himself against himself and put a lot of work in building a structured campaign that made sure situations did not get out of hand so quickly. I'm sure he'll be even better next time as I've witnessed firsthand that he's the kind of person that can look at himself honestly and improve on his flaws as well as his DM skills in general.

The second I saw DMing for his first time doing a good job building an interesting world and making engaging characters. It was a great, open world, and after a few months he halted his campaign even though we were still having lots of fun because he was getting tapped out creatively. We played the DM's campaign mentioned above instead (all taking place in the same custom setting) and when he continued DMing later it was even more awesome as he had obviously learned from his own experiences as well as from the DM prior.

They represent possibly the best experiences I've had D&Ding and what makes it extra great is that I know they'll only get better in the future.

[CrazedPachyderm]

I've been lucky enough to count all the DMs I've played under as good ones, but Brauron is the best. He has wonderful and interesting NPCs, yet they never steal the spotlight from the PCs. The PCs are always the Big Heroes, yet the adventures are rarely a cakewalk (though a small tip: maybe make the rest of your wolves fiendish to resist fire). The story and good roleplaying are always high priority, yet we're never railroaded. The world and villains are masterfully crafted. Rules lawyering is not tolerated, and the Rule of Cool tends to resolve rules questions in a fast and fun way.

Best of all, he keeps getting better.

All my DMs have influenced my own style, with examples of both what worked and didn't work. I think Brauron wins with the most positive points. When my players tell me how awesome and fun a session was, I can't help but imagine what they'd say if he were running the game instead.

[Killer Angel]

Does Gary Gygax count?

[Trinoya]

Well... best DM would be one I met a few years back, runs his world realistically, with fairly normal (if somewhat aggressive (nature of the world stuff) and paranoid) actions.

He's great at it, and fantastic at the role play, his world is quite in depth, making my own in depth world look like a drop in the bucket.


Best player: That's a harder nut to crack. I could give it to all of my players because in their own rights they are all good at it and contribute and bring something important to the table...

If you had to ask me to choose... I'd pick a former player (HA) who was pretty good on the up and up in my world, but he adored a lot of the same genres as me. He also didn't take things too seriously, something some of my other players have had to work on. That said: All my players are fantastic, and I wouldn't let them be at my table if I thought they were not bringing something critical to the game.

On a pure sub note and to reiterate a point: They could all win the 'best player' award depending on how you view a specific playstyle... be it in dedication, ingenuity, creativity, contribution, or even just being able to throw a curve ball out from left field. More importantly though they keep me humbled and in check because sooner or later they all... every last one of them, have surprised me.

[Tengu_temp]

Does Gary Gygax count?

If you met him, sure. From what I heard about Gygax, though, I met many DMs who are better than him from my point of view, because his playstyle is very different from mine.

The best DM I know is my brother. He creates great, compelling storylines, his characters are colorful and memorable, the way he uses a large vocabulary in his descriptions and narration creates a unique style, and he likes to throw hard but beatable challenges at you that make you feel accomplished when you beat them. His campaigns are both the most dramatic and funniest I participated in.

[Stryke]

http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/

These guys, hands down. and FYI Codys denial about being "that player" is half the fun of the D&D campaign.

By god when i opened that link to copy and paste i saw casts for two game systems i didnt know they did, seriously these guys are awsome

[Killer Angel]

If you met him, sure. From what I heard about Gygax, though, I met many DMs who are better than him from my point of view, because his playstyle is very different from mine.

As a DM, I'm pretty sure you're right...
As a player, well, I've played with him, once, and the man was... fascinating. It was him the focus of the table, nor the DM, or the adventure. Pretty high charisma, y' know.
But while saying "Gygax" is cool, it's true that i've played with many exceptional players for many years, so it's hard to tell, in the end, who was really the best one.

[Shadowknight12]

The best player I met was a grandmother who wrote the absolute best character backstories you could possibly imagine. Her posts were legendary in the forums. She wasn't that good at optimising, but she accepted advice and was quick to change classes or adjust her mechanical options to better fit her concept. She also learnt fairly quick and proved to be greatly entertaining, both IC and OOC. A lot of the players from that game were also absolutely top notch. Ending that game due to DM burnout was a regret I will take to my grave.

The best DM I met... hm. Erm. I haven't had many, and they have all been acceptable, but I don't know if I could pick just one. They were all fairly average. There was one guy I never got around to playing with, who showed so much promise. I think he might've been the best DM, if our game had actually got going. Ah, but it shall forever be a "what might have been" instead.

[Serpentine]

My ex-boyfriend, and his new girlfriend/my ex-friend, unfortunately Great roleplayers, willing to take risks, creative and clever. Ex-boyfriend had a bit of trouble with a slightly overbearing DMPC, but overall was one of the best DMs I've had (not that I've had all that many...).

Haven't met them, but Vorpal Tribble was a pretty great DM, and my current Gailwaith(sp?) is doing a good job so far.

[Ya Ta Hey!]

My favorite GM could beat up your favorite GM

In all seriousness, I say this as a spectator with no vested interest in that group that Kyrathaba is a great storyteller. I stayed up for 3 nights straight devouring all 60 chapters of the archives, because I just had to know what came next.

His pacing and game management is good, good enough to keep a pbp game moving for three years. However, my favorite thing about his style is the simple, zen-like narrative he uses--its immersive and you really do go go somewhere else when you read it, but its also concise enough not to wear you out.

He's cool.

[DontEatRawHagis]

Best DM I ever met was a guy by the name of James, he was fun loving and a veteran of the game. In order to make sure the rogue of the party didn't steal from a caravan we were hired to guard he had the blacksmith who was running trade only in hinges.

I was laughing so hard, later I saved the blacksmith's life and he promised to make me hinge gauntlets. Sadly I can't go to the game any more due to work.

[rayne_dragon]

My best DM was the one who talked me into giving 4th edition D&D a try (I find it helps if you think of it as an entirely different game from D&D) and it turned out I enjoyed it. He also played things out without fudging things either for against the players, so I respect him a lot for his integrity in that. Also, he once made a scale model of an entire fortress/town out of lego which made for one of the coolest sessions I've ever been a part of (even though if he hadn't made the model I wouldn't have been getting shot at from something like 200' away ).

[navar100]

My favorite DM was one in college. He was very accomodating with my character ideas. In those days it was 2E before the Player's Options series. There wasn't much flexibility to be had, but he indulged my imaginative ideas and helped to fit them in the game. When troubled brewed with my worst DM when we were both players in his game but had nothing to do with his game, he ignored it and our DM/player relationship continued on merrily as if nothing happened.

My favorite player is one in my current group. Though currently playing a paladin, in previous campaigns he would play the rogue. In games before I joined this group I've had issues with rogue players. In some cases it was player vs player while in others at best we just happened to be two individuals who attacked the same bad guys and otherwise left each other alone. As for this player and his rogues, while he was as roguish as you expect rogues to be against NPCs, to the party he was the most loyal and honest friend you could have. It was the first time I could, both in and out of character, completely trust the party rogue in everything. He kept his word to you. Party treasure he happened to be the one to find remained party treasure. If for some reason he had to hold onto your stuff, you got all your stuff back despite several temptations the DM set up. He never lied to the party. He supported you in whatever personal roleplay stuff with NPCs happened.

[Popertop]

rogues and paladins are surprisingly similar