Sunday, May 31, 2009

Dungeons and Dragons: DMing as an Art

I recently recieved a comment stating that DMing is like an art...I agree to this and would like to delve a little further:

Dungeons and Dragons is split into two parts: playing as a character and DMing the campaign. Playing as a character is great fun as you can watch the story unfold and leave your mark on it as you wish. It is also much easier as you are responsible for only your character and his/her actions.

DMing is much harder as you are responsible for much more than a single character. NPCs (Non-Player Characters) are a big portion of the DM's job. any villagers, guards, enemies, royalty, or other adventurers (plus more) that the PCs (Player Characters) meet are your responsibility. A good DM inteacts with the players as best he can with every NPC the players meet. This can be especially difficult if your a male DM, for instance, controlling a female NPC that is infatuated with a male player's character. You have to remember that this is all happenning within the game and you are not actually flirting with your best friend across the table...it can be difficult.

The story that the PCs playthrough is also a large part of the DMs responsibility. How do the PCs actions affect the story? How will the key NPCs react to those actions? Is there now a portion of the planned story that the players can no longer access because of what they have done? If so, where do you go from here? You have to constantly ask yourself these questions throughout the game. For instance, in my current campaign, the players are in the major Dwarven nation and are seeking a way to become honorary citizens so they can defend a Duegar (Dark Dwarf) in court. This could be very interesting...so how do I, as DM, help them go about their task? Well, I have offered up quests that will get them some sort of reknown with the dwarves. In addition, since the players helped the dwarves stop a large prison break, they already have a welcomed status within the nation. Now, assuming they succede in becoming honorary citizens, how will the dwarves react to them using such an honor to defend a member of a dark race of hated dwarves? Will they then be cast out? Will their citizenship be revoked? Will they recieve thanks and welcomings by the Duegar? You must keep in mind that their actions must recieve proper consequences and sometimes this means a very indepth knowledge of the world you created for the players to adventure in.

There are pre-made worlds (ex: Forgotten Realms), adventures (ex: Pyramid of Shadows), and dungeons (ex: The World's Largest Dungeon) that DMs can use. This way, especially for beginners, DMs learn how a structured campaign works. However, in my personal opinion, it is much more rewarding to make my own world, adventures, and dungeons to put my players through. It is much more difficult but far more rewarding when my players comment on how they liked it and talk about their favorite parts. In the same aspect, I find DMing to be a much more rewarding experience than simply playing a character.

In reality, people die but the world goes on. In Dungeons and Dragons, characters may die, then that magical sword you saved for or that feat you couldn't wait to get is gone. But the world continues and the adventure pushes forward and as DM you are there, guiding that story, guiding the adventure, guiding the characters to greatness and many good, fun times.

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