Forum: Public Forum

What was your first DM/GMing experience like?

Well the 1st level Barbarian somehow managed to kill the main bad guy (evil necromancer) when he popped by to taunt him so, it got off to a good start. Mind you this was back in AD&D 2nd ed. In the long run the experience was actually quite a good one because it taught me how to revise my DMing on the fly technique.

What are the "classic" mistakes and how do you avoid them? 2 classics I try to avoid are under/over estimating players and railroading people (this basically consists of forcing players into taking certain actions in such a way that it is obvious to the players). I avoid the 2nd one by being prepared to go off the page and let the players do what they think their characters would want to do. It is a two edged sword but, very good when it comes out right. As far as the 1st one goes I try to get to know my players a bit before we get into the real meat of the story. Alot of times running a sort of prologue or dream sequence before hand to learn playing styles and preferences.

If you had to only get one thing right hat would be the most important? Having fun. Both for myself and for the players.

How do you deal with power gamers and cheats? I try to get the "power gamers" to help some of the others "optimise" their characters better so not only do they get the benefits but, so do the other players. Ensure you have a look at the player types article in the DMG and similar articles elsewhere as they give you good ideas as well.I find a power gamer in the game isn't always a bad thing as long as you don't get too many of them in the same group (they can sometimes dominate a group as much as an Actor can). Cheats on the other hand (depends on what you mean by cheats) but, dice rolling is always done in front of at least one relatively independent witness. Mechanically, I insist that (for 4e) that I have a copy of their character in character builder and I level it up at the same time they level up theirs. If CB sends up a flag I mention it to the player and also mention to them any alternatives I can find that will give their character the same flavour but, maintains the legal tag.

What is the hardest part of DM/GMing? Finding the balance between "Rule Lawyer" and "Creative Genius". Overdose on either and the game can suffer horribly.