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3 months ago ::
Feb 19, 2013 - 8:13PM
#31
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Date Joined:
Jan 23, 2012
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I Banish You to the Abyss, Demonspawn
Go Bengals
Yes, go Bengals. I mean, seriously, go. Somewhere. I'd like to say they're stinking up the AFC North, but that job is, and will always be, handled by the Bengals' state neighbor, the Cleveland Browns. 
To all of you right-thinking people in this thread, Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go! *waves the Terrible Towel proudly* (Although hey, we can cheer for the Pens now, and the Buccos in another month or two....)
For those confused on how DDN's modular rules might work, this may provide some insight: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/11/the-world-of-darkness-shines-when-it-abandons-canon
@mikemearls: Uhhh... do you really not see all the 3e/4e that's basically the entire core system?
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3 months ago ::
Feb 19, 2013 - 8:18PM
#32
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I Banish You to the Abyss, Demonspawn
Go Bengals
Yes, go Bengals. I mean, seriously, go. Somewhere. I'd like to say they're stinking up the AFC North, but that job is, and will always be, handled by the Bengals' state neighbor, the Cleveland Browns.
To all of you right-thinking people in this thread, Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go! *waves the Terrible Towel proudly* (Although hey, we can cheer for the Pens now, and the Buccos in another month or two....)
Let the Steel Curtain fall on all who oppose. 
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3 months ago ::
Feb 19, 2013 - 8:26PM
#33
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Date Joined:
Dec 10, 2008
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I Banish You to the Abyss, Demonspawn
Go Bengals
Yes, go Bengals. I mean, seriously, go. Somewhere. I'd like to say they're stinking up the AFC North, but that job is, and will always be, handled by the Bengals' state neighbor, the Cleveland Browns.
To all of you right-thinking people in this thread, Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go! *waves the Terrible Towel proudly* (Although hey, we can cheer for the Pens now, and the Buccos in another month or two....)
Let the Steel Curtain fall on all who oppose.
Don't MAKE me derail this into a thread about how you're all just living a lie thinking anyone other than the Green Bay Packers is the greatest sports team in the history of all sports teams, ever, Amen. (snap)
(except maybe whoever Mark Martin is driving for, but that's another discussion)
But re: the topic at hand, I like this list. Not necessarily because I agree with everything on it, cause I don't, but it makes me recognize some bad DM habits I have myself, and makes me think about how I can turn those into good habits. Particularly I need to work more on "selling it" and "acting." I've never been big on those things but I've become more comfortable with myself over the years and maybe it's time my DMing reflected that better.
OD&D, 1E and 2E challenged the player.
3E challenged the character, not the player.
Now 4E takes it a step further by challenging a GROUP OF PLAYERS to work together as a TEAM.
That's why I love 4E.
"Your ability to summon a horde of celestial superbeings at will is making my ... BMX skills look a bit redundant."
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3 months ago ::
Feb 19, 2013 - 8:47PM
#34
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Date Joined:
Oct 23, 2012
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Who takes that long to prepare?
A good DM wings it and sell it like it was prepared.
Sorry Crow, but I have to disagree.
Yes and I disagree also. There are different types of preparing. I for example will just make long lists of NPCs (many of which originate in ideas presented to me from their charachter's backstory, and previous adventures). I spend a lot of time thinking of personal challenges for the chrachters, that fit their story and abilities. So that no matter what they do, I can seed those in the story as needed to keep charachters and players feeling important.
According to a study done about gaming a few years back the two most important thing gamers want from any immersive type of game is 1. Suprise. 2. Sense of achievement. I look at those as my goals. If the players aren't feeling either then I am failing as a DM. BTW- Suprise doesn't mean BAD suprise. It means suspense, keeping things unpredictable enough that there is tension about decisions.
My mind is a deal-breaker.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 20, 2013 - 1:55AM
#35
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Date Joined:
Jan 17, 2012
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31) Chaos Rules! This DM is the king of random, random die roles, random rule applications, and random vengeance. You can’t depend on anything with this guy, pretty much all role-playing, all resolutions break down into what you rolled on a d20, and your actual actions mean nothing. (For Baudelaire) 32) Hey did ya see… you showed up to play a game, but this guy is interested in talking about anything but the game. His views on movies, music, books, sci-fi, philosophy, some random thing that happened to him once, current events, etc are all more important than what your character just did. You get the feeling he’s not getting enough real life attention. Buy him a pet. (For chuck 80) Failed Legend- GLBT is gay lesbian bisexual transgender… I was looking for a game and for months I had been checking the pin up board at the local game store, every week “Orange County GLBT Gamers Association meeting and game” notice was always up and avoided, then it disappeared for a week and the next week I saw a new advert for a D&D game… I and another victim from the game store showed up... It was the GLBT association, and it was a trap. I could hang with one of the 6 people in the association, the other 5 were the strangest people I had ever met; with names like “shadow” and “raven” in particular the transgender guy “bunny” who talked about eating chicken bones everyday because they were good for the skin and nails etc. I just couldn’t cope here, me and the other innocent ended up running away after a couple of hours. While were on the subject of "Bad DMs" how does everyone keep their players focused between their turns focused during combat when they have nothing to do? With an iron fist and making sure there is as little down time as possible, I run a small group (no more than 6 very dependable players) and I resolve each action/RP event as quickly as possible to get the rotation moving quick, don’t know what you want to do when your turn comes up, or you need to re-read your spell/ability? “look it up, I’ll get back to you” end of the round comes “k, know what your gonna do?” if the answer is no or need more time, this is where the iron fist comes in, “your character cant figure out what he should do, your skipping this round” I also have a no-cell phones, no laptops, no un whispered cross talk rule. Generally if you need to do these things you get up from the table to do them... one of my biggest pet peves is when something is going on the player’s character is involved but the player is too busy playing puzzle games or facehooking on his cell to be involved. I dunno, sometimes I think people assume it’s their right to pull out a cell and ignore everyone around them whenever they want regardless of what’s happening... Penandpaper2- agree pre-preparedness is paramount to winging it. Zago- “According to a study done about gaming a few years back the two most important thing gamers want from any immersive type of game is 1. Surprise. 2. Sense of achievement. I look at those as my goals. If the players aren't feeling either then I am failing as a DM. BTW- Surprise doesn't mean BAD surprise. It means suspense, keeping things unpredictable enough that there is tension about decisions.” Very good points, sometime we should do a thread on that, how to run a good game or something. Personally I agree with George Lucas that speed (chases, races, fleeing, making a deadline, etc) if you can keep the pacing very fast and involved is one of the best ways to keep the players glued to the edge of their seats, great for suspense. Regarding fun- Well, this is the end goal of a game make it fun for the players, I agree with a lot of you on that. But I think if your too concerned about “fun” the game becomes more comedy than action adventure. I really don’t like a game that is too comedic, it definitely needs to be included especially when everything is way too serious (the BBEG is going to slaughter some valued innocent to teach the PC’s a lesson etc but their being delayed for some reason… might be time for a Halfling fart joke&hellip but comedy has to be balanced with seriousness or you never create that immersive feeling.
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." Gygax
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3 months ago ::
Feb 20, 2013 - 5:08AM
#36
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if all you do is wing it without even basic campaign notes of what you want to do an experienced player will call you on it. i know i would, its not hard to read an adventure or create a dungeon ect and takes only an hour or two a week at most to be well prepared so to just wing it is being a lazy dm.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 20, 2013 - 5:23AM
#37
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Date Joined:
Nov 30, 2012
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21) I WANT TO ROCK! This Dm requires the right music to set the stage for the game… get ready, its either going to be some Danish unholy black deathmetal bands, or darkwave trance. You’ll be lucky if his speakers only go to 11.
That would be Norwegian, not Danish.
Just sayin'
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3 months ago ::
Feb 20, 2013 - 6:43AM
#38
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Date Joined:
Jan 17, 2012
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Just mike- generally not, I might have some idea of what I'd like to do, but I dont come up with the actual campaign until I read the PC's back stories, then I create sub-plots run an adventure or two on them, then depending on where the player interest is strongest I make the main plot. this way the story always revolves around the characters and unveils as the characters progress the same way it does in any good movie or book. I think thats one of the things that got lost when APs, settings, etc became more important than freestyle DMing, now in any AP the campaign revolves around the BBEG rather than the PCs and that is a big fail in my book.
Sad clown- I was referring to a death metal band made up of fruity breakfast pastries.
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." Gygax
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3 months ago ::
Feb 20, 2013 - 8:26AM
#39
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Date Joined:
Jan 10, 2012
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No technology allowed at my table. No Phone, No Laptops. Everyone focuses on the game. I don't really have a problem with this though. Everyone wants to be there and actively participates. If you don't want to BE there, then don't show up. That is how my players and I feel.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 20, 2013 - 8:32AM
#40
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Date Joined:
May 24, 2012
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#31, too long : didn't read
no patience.
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