Forum: Public Forum

Good questions.

They deserve some good answers. Let me try a quick reply to get the ball rolling.

What was your first DM/GMing experience like?

The first time I ever DM'd was because two great DMs, friends, and players with fiery personalities finally refused to be in the same room as each other. This kind of broke up the group, but some of us still wanted to play. Our only other experienced DM was in the throes of squeezing out a baby, and understandably did not want the hassle. I decided I would give it a go provided the rest were understanding. It worked out OK, and eventually even resulted in the first version of Grendon. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but was very aware of all the things I was doing wrong. Luckily, the players were understanding, and encouraging too. They claimed not to have noticed I missed a group of monsters out of the initiative order & such.

What are the "classic" mistakes and how do you avoid them?

Not being prepared. I gave up using pre-written games simply because as a DM you need to be able to deal with anything that crops up. I did not have the time to learn the entire module to the extent needed. I found having to look up what happens if the players turn right instead of left to break my enjoyment of the game, and so probably that of the players too. Writing my own meant that I already knew the whole thing as far as it was written.

The only way to avoid not being prepared, is to prepare.

If you had to only get one thing right what would be the most important?

Involve the players. Let them have fun.

How do you deal with power gamers and cheats?

That is a difficult one. The Min-Maxer is always a DM nightmare, as are cheats and other power gamers. Almost as difficult for the DM as the DM who needs to win is for players. I am not sure there is a single answer. Certainly folks who role-play rather than play games to win are easier to deal with. Rules lawyers are also both a boon and a bane. If you have one, use him/her as a lookup tool, provided they are accurate. It saves the DM a little work.

What is the hardest part of DM/GMing?

There is a hard part? Well, it is not always easy when you are sure the players will deal with X by doing Y, then the players come up with Z right out of the blue, which none of your careful planning even considered a possibility. However that is also part of the fun.

Len