DM types

[BRC]

Every DM is unique, but we won't let that get in our way now will we. Describe various DMing styles, Identify your DM with this handy guide!


The Railroader
Go to the dragon's lair, go DIRECTLY to the dragon's lair. Do not pass the weapon shop, do not collect 200 dragonbane arrows.
Youve all heard about this guy. He dosn't seem to get the fact that the players are supposed to make decisions. Now, don't confuse a DM that wants you to follow a plot with a Railroader, the first gives you a goal and lets you pick how to complete it. The second, gives you a goal and tells you how to complete it. When faced with a railroader it's best to just roll the dice, he won't let you lose the encounter unless that was his plan from the beginning.


The Sandbox
So yeah, your in a forest, there are proably goblins or somthing somewhere.

The opposite of the Railroader; The Sandbox has absolutally no plans for whats going to happen. If they are good at improvising this may be a great thing, allowing the players to build a plot of their own that is entierly based on their decisions. If not, expect multiple, almost identical adventures where he just sticks a CR appropriate encounter wherever you decide to go.


DMPStu
A knight in gleaming armor swings through the window and decapitates the dragon moments before it charbroils you.
A DMPC is a character that fufills the same role as a PC while being DM controlled. Normally this is a way for the DM to have some more fun or to provide a neccessary role in a party. However, the DMPStu dosn't fufill a role in the party, it makes the entire party redundant. Propelled with the almight fudged role with a character sheet concealed behind the DM screen, a DMPStu is the best there is at everything, and encounters are mostly just the DM showing off their characters awsomeness.

The Alignment Dictator
No, you can't fufill your promise to the duke, you're CHAOTIC!
Normally, if a character starts acting outside their alignment the DM decides to change that characters alignment to reflect their actions. Not the Alingment Dictator, who will bar you from certain actions that go against your alignment. Evil characters cannot save the village, no matter how much gold is offered. Chaotic Character cannot respect legal authority, and Lawful characters cannot refuse the orders of a junior constable.

The Inquisitor
No, you roll Unarmed attack damage. You just said you attacked the orc, you Did not say you did so with your sword.
If it is not explicitally stated, The Inquisitor assumed it didn't happen. You didn't say you put your armor on this morning so you didn't. You didn't specify you prepared spells this morning, you didn't specify you were eating food. Ect Ect

First Degree DM
Ghosts come out of the floor, the doors slam shut and the ceiling starts lowering towrds you with spikes. Oh yes, and the room fills up with acid
The First Degree DM measures the succsess of a gaming session by how many PC corpses he's built up. This isn't unbalanced encounters or unlucky rolls, The DM just wants to kill your characters as often and painfully as possible.


More later, Add your own. For now, I'm going to sleep.

[Da King]

Nice. My DM is the sandbox type. The one time he planned things out we ended up completely destroying his plans(whoops). Maybe the "So You Wanna be a DM" thread could make use of this?

[Crow]

I believe the accepted title for the "Railroader" is actually "The Conductor".

It rolls much better off the tongue, while Railroader just has too much "rarrrarrrar".

[evisiron]

Do these all have to be negative? Where is the "Good DM - Who has prepared encounters, but won't force you into them. Sets a goal, but lets players seek their own route. Saves time by keeping reference materials on hand and even pre-rolling attacks which would eat up time (blasted dragons and their many attacks). Hands out loot justly and overall lets the players have fun"

Now, to completely work against what I just said, I present:

The Worst

Yes, that player who has taken part in years of other peoples games and decides to run his own. Of course, he ignores other experienced DM's advice and invites 9 people to the game. Then arrives 2 hours late, before saying he wants to get food before the game starts. Then makes it obvious he only has a faint idea of what should happen, and spends at least 40 minutes looking up each encounter before the fighting starts. Who then decides to kill a players character by having [pick a monster] appear from nowhere and knock him out without any rolls, only to be finished off by something else.

As you can guess, I have endured this one before. *shudder*

[drengnikrafe]

What about...

My DM (I don't have a name for it)
This is my kind of DM. He will set out goals in front of the PCs, one after another, and they are welcome to take or decline any of them, though he always has plans for all of them. He accepts of the PCs want to go a different way, but generally knows what he's doing. He prepares everything beforehand. If you come up with an idea, unless it horribly unbalances the game, and if it's creative, he'll accept it.
Best example of this:
Rogue: Can I still deal Sneak Attack Damage?
DM: No, he's seen you.
Rogue: What if I climbed across the roof of the nearby building and jumped down onto him?
DM: ... Roll a bluff check, a climb check, a balance check, a jump check, and an attack roll.
Rogue: *Rolls 5d6, noting each one*
DM: .... Uhh.... You succeed.

[Narmoth]

The Starvator

This dm puts up an adventure where you fight monsters dealing lots of damage for negligable xp (rat swarms and such) in a dungeon with no treasure and who sends powerfull monsters who you have to run from to succed rather than fight.
When you complain, he'll start banging his head against the table and then deside to end the campaign.

[TheCountAlucard]

DM: ... Roll a bluff check, a climb check, a balance check, a jump check, and an attack roll.
Rogue: *Rolls 5d6, noting each one*
DM: .... Uhh.... You succeed.

Don't you mean d20's?

[Tengu]

The Darker And Edgier DM

In love with Song Of Fire And Ice, this DM sets his campaign in mud-filled worlds where characters, both PCs and NPCs, in order to accomplish anything have to be total bastards. Idealism, or even goodwill and wanting to help someone out of something else than selfishness, is always naive and punished. If one of the players plays a paladin or a similar character, expect him to fall within minutes upon the first game's start. Common WFRP GM, usually combined with The Starvator.

[DiscipleofBob]

The One Player's Best Friend/Girlfriend

Okay, so you find a +5 Legendary Plot Sword of Deus Ex Machinas... No, only the paladin can use it... I love you too, honey.

This DM might exhibit one or more of any of the above traits, or simply be a good DM in every way. Doesn't railroad too much, lets the players do what they want within reasonable limits, provides decent plot and encounters, etc. But they just happen to favor that one player who they're going out with/been BFF's. Not necessarily a girlfriend or significant other, but could be a roommate or simply has been friends with the DM longer than everyone else. Either way, they seem to get a little bit more attention than everyone else. The plot might revolve more around them, the encounters might revolve more around them, maybe their plans for some reason work better than everyone else's, heck, they could be getting away with blatant rules infringements just because the DM happens to be turning a "blind eye" to the matter. Not even subtle, arguable rules infringements, I mean flat-out broken that's-definitely-NOT-how-that-feature-should-work. Maybe the DM's playing favorites. Maybe they simply spend more time with that person and just have more opportunities to bounce ideas off each other. The end result, either way, is the rest of the PC's playing supporting cast since they don't get half as much screentime.

[Swooper]

Story Teller

"Just put the rulebooks down, you don't really need them."

This is the type of DM who should be running a free-form game, but for some reason, isn't. He will commonly come up with brilliant plots, story-arcs involving the PCs backstories and deeply thought-out NPCs, but can't adjudicate rules to save his life. In fact, he seems to think that the rules get in the way of his story most of the time and prefers to ignore them whenever possible. His encounters are usually not planned beforehand, and are either way too easy or way too hard for the characters because he doesn't know how to calculate EL's, and he hates using battlemaps. At best, he will run very entertaining and memorable campaigns, at worst, the game will break early on because the much more rules-savvy players took advantage of him for not actually knowing most of the rules. Alternatively, the players will leave because he forbids them to play things because they're 'too powerful' when they're just asking to play a warlock or a monk.

[Ascension]

The Forgetful

"Hey look, here's a neat magic shop full of nifty items I put here just so you could have someplace to spend your hard-earned loot! Here's a list of what they've got."

"Umm... We can't afford any of this."

"You can't?"

"I've only got [x] gold!"

"I thought I gave you more than that!"

Or...

"It's been a while since we leveled up, hasn't it? How much xp have we got?"

"Oh... let me check... *does some math* You should have [x] by now..."

"Wait... that means we must have leveled up two encounters ago!"

This is the DM who wants to be good to you, who wants to give you nice stuff... just sometimes he forgets to do it. It's not because he doesn't like you, it's just because he has a hard time remembering things sometimes. Don't worry, he'll make up for it. Eventually. Somewhere down the line. In the mean time, just make do with what you've got, okay? He's working on something better! No, really!

[Pronounceable]

???*

"Just put the rulebooks down, you don't really need them."

This is the type of DM who should be running a free-form game, but for some reason, isn't. He will commonly come up with brilliant plots, story-arcs involving the PCs backstories and deeply thought-out NPCs, but can't adjudicate rules to save his life. In fact, he seems to think that the rules get in the way of his story most of the time and prefers to ignore them whenever possible. His encounters are usually not planned beforehand, and are either way too easy or way too hard for the characters because he doesn't know how to calculate EL's, and he hates using battlemaps. At best, he will run very entertaining and memorable campaigns, at worst, the game will break early on because the much more rules-savvy players took advantage of him for not actually knowing most of the rules. Alternatively, the players will leave because he forbids them to play things because they're 'too powerful' when they're just asking to play a warlock or a monk.


*Anyone got a good name for this one?

Me.

OK, not good, Story Teller then.

[valadil]

The BBEDM

A distant cousin of the DMPStu, the Big Bad Evil DM runs his campaign out of his own insecure need to prove that he's smarter than his friends. While the DMPStu does this by inserting his own avatar in with the PCs, the BBEDM has a tendency towards "DM vs PC" style play, often believing that it's the only way to play. His monsters are all at an appropriate CR by way of inappropriate templates. Avoid this DM at all costs. He just wants to feel he's the better powergamer of the group and cares little for whether any players have any fun at all.

[Storm Bringer]

The Uncreative (working title, adjust if needed)
"the door on the LEFT?.......it's, errrrr....locked. Yhea, locked. No, you can't pick it. No, Knock doesn't open it. why not try the door on the RIGHT?"
When he's got a pregenerated/prewitten adventure on hand, he is a decent DM, with a firm grasp of the rules and player management, and all is well.

He just....isn't to hot on the whole improvising thing. While things are in the bounds of his planning, he's fine. but he needs to make stuff up on the spot, he panics, backtracks, does what he can to get the plot on the lines he thought about. Sort of like railroading, with very wide rails.

The Wargamer
"Ok, thier is a Panzer 4, model 1943 late production type, with maybe a squad of Panzergrenadiers with it, armed with MP40s and a panzerschreck, here, by the woods. A MG, 34 or 42, you can't tell, is in the guardhouse amd covering the road........"
The DM equivelent of a roll-player. Sees the game as a tactical simulator frist, rp platform last if at all. This is more of a style thing, and with a group of like minded players he is right at home and everyoen has fun. It's only when a dedicated RP type joins the group that trouble occurs, as the Rp'er gets bored with the long stretches of combat unbroken by plot breaks.

The freeformer
You meet a dragon. What colour? er....Let go with Blue, we've not had one of those for a while.

Makes it all up as he goes. No planning, no arcs, just gives the players a hook sees where they go and runs with it. if done well, it leads to superb games fillied with very memoerable moments and the players feeling that they are uncovering a very complex planned adventure. If done badly, leads to a muddle as the players stuble blindly about, unfocused on any goals and someone unenthused.

the above a based VERY loosly on some DM's I've played under, with traits exaggerated for Illustration purposes.

[Deepblue706]

First Degree DM
Ghosts come out of the floor, the doors slam shut and the ceiling starts lowering towrds you with spikes. Oh yes, and the room fills up with acid
The First Degree DM measures the succsess of a gaming session by how many PC corpses he's built up. This isn't unbalanced encounters or unlucky rolls, The DM just wants to kill your characters as often and painfully as possible.

Ooh, ooh, this is me. Except I've never filled a room with acid. That is a good idea, though.

Well, in all honesty, I'm not quite this DM type, because I never *want* to kill anyone. I just feel that it is my duty. Killing PCs is vital to a successful game.

[Pirate_King]

Player: So how much xp did we get from that last battle?

DM: uuuuuum, you level up.

not so much a type, but this was a habit of my first DM. He often felt lazy and leveled us every other encounter instead of calculating experience. not really a bad habit, and it made the campaign get interesting very quickly, but didn't require much creativity in the role-playing part of it.