If a DM does a great job he ain't the one telling the story, but lets the players tell the story to begin with and then the hate, if it needs to be there, will be even greater.
Any decend roleplayer would love such an opportunity to roleplay, and only a weak DM would have trouble preventing players to exploit or cheese the situation.
That's where we disagree. In my opinion and experience, weak DMs have no plot line when it starts, which includes no villain and no strategy of character building -- that includes no strategy of building up hostile feelings towards the antagonist. The players do have a part to play in shaping the story, but if you let the players run with telling the story, it is going to turn out quite sloppy.
Originally Posted by Neonivek
A DM does a great job if everyone, including the DM, is having fun (Unless it is a paid DM I guess... they don't have to have fun)
Different DMs have different strategies of cultivating that "fun". Some DMs sloppily let the players guide the whole story, which turns into a lucid dream simulator and gets boring fast, without any anchor and anticipation or long term goal to work towards. These typically are Joe DM with no experience in writing or story building whatsoever.
I, on the other hand, am a professional writer as my primary source of income and have years of experience doing so. This experience in writing and story building carries over to my DM endeavors and produces a more suspenseful, goal oriented experience for my players.
Last edited by Shapeshifter777; 09/08/1712:18 PM.
GMAddon1: Adds almost every single monster and NPC from the main campaign into GM mode, plus a few large custom maps to use in GM mode.
