How I DM

A bunch of folks read the last post I wrote(and by "a bunch" I mean "more than my immediate family") so today's post is more along those same lines.

There are several types of Dungeon Masters, and because of that they tend to form different types of gaming groups. There is the Uncompromising DM, who runs a Sisyphean struggle where you curse his name and shout "GIVE ME A BREAK" at least once a game. These are the kinds of guys who have you do a quest for 45 gold and the healing afterward costs 60.

Then there are the Novelist DM's. These guys aren't running a game, they are writing a story and their group is their audience. The time between each players action is at least a century and it's like having Tolkien read you one of his books, occasionally asking you what one of the characters will do next.

Another type is the Rule Master. Everything by the book, or by all the books. This is the type of guy that'll make you roll a dexterity plus wisdom check to brush your teeth with a Difficulty Check of one. And God help you if you contest one of these rules. You will have an argument that will last long after everyone has died, both in the game and in reality.

Next we have the Friend. The Friend wants to make everyone happy. Mostly by bending or breaking the rules of the game and basically making each character a God in their own right. These games tend to be very boring because it usually runs along the lines of "You kill... uhm, everything! You win. And... you gain four levels."

Following the Friend, we have the Enemy. His only goal in life is to make you cry. Failing that, he is going to kill your character you spent three hours writing a back story for.

Then we have the Professional. The Professional doesn't let rules get in the way of great role playing. If someone wants to do something that isn't covered in the rules, the Professional will either make up or pervert a rule so that the character can continue doing his thing.

Finally, we have the Realist. The Realist wants to make fighting monsters and combat magic non-existent. He wants you to have "real" problems like someone stole a pie or the wagon's axle broke or someone impregnated the Mayor's daughter or what have you. This is the type of DM that I personally hate, because why play Dungeons and Dragons if there are no Dungeons and Dragon involved?

Of course there are grays in between. I myself am a mix of Professional and Friend... for low-levelers. When a group hits level 10 I become Uncompromising and at level 16 I become the Enemy.

And with all that there is very little else I could say about how I DM. I apply Professional to all my roles but as the players progress I turn up the difficulty and switch up the game play so that there is never the "same old same old" occurring.

I have taken a few tips from the DM tips section (redundant...) of the Goblins web comic. I keep a running tab of each characters bonus EXP in a pocket book. Goblins recommends flash cards but I love pocket books so I use those.

This is also a bit weird, but I throw in Plot Points from the Serenity RPG as well.

Plot points are points that are awarded for good role playing. D&D doesn't really have a good mechanic for creating role playing opportunities. You have your alignment and that's basically it. It depends on the players and the DM to create these opportunities. The Serenity RPG (which is REALLY good and you basically only need the one manual to start up a game) has it set up that when you make a character it already has all these quircks that you have to role play and if you do it well you get plot points.

In Serenity, Plot Points can be used to improved dice rolls if you really need one to succeed. So you can spend all your plot points make sure you snipe that bastard that's about to kill your First Mate, which if done right is role playing your Loyal complication which will award you more plot points. Capiche? And if you have any left over at the end of the campaign you can use them to upgrade your character.

In my game it runs on the same principal with a few additions. If you want you can use a plot point to divide a die. So if you need to roll a 20 you can roll 2 tens instead. This means you cannot fumble but it makes rolling a twenty twice as hard... I think. Math and averages aren't my strong suit. You can do this as many times as you want, so if you happen to spend 20 plot points, you roll an instant 20. Spend 10 points, you flip a coin ten times and heads = one, tails = two. You get it.

Each plot point saved at the end of the campaign gets turned into 1% of the EXP you need to get to the next level, up to 30%. So let's say you end the campaign by killing the goblin king with 15 Plot Points left. You need 10,000 EXP to level. The Campaign award gives you 8000 EXP and the Plot Points give you another 1500, leaving you with just 500 EXP to level. Got it?

I throw that in there for my own amusement because I thought the Plot Point thing in Serenity was really clever. The whole thing is really clever. But it doesn't have a traditional "leveling" system which, sadly, I really enjoy and so I stick to playing D&D.

And that's how I DM.

-McK