this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
388 points (97.3% liked)

RPGMemes

10268 readers
80 users here now

Humor, jokes, memes about TTRPGs

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Not really! I love being a DM. But then unlike my two friends I wasn’t the regular DM weekly for 12 years. So there’s that.

For forever DMs out there. Do you ever get to play?

Do you take regular breaks?

How does DMing work for you?

And thanks. I see you.

🙏❤️

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't tell my friends, but I actually like GMing more than playing now. It's fun to have the galaxy-brain "always on" feeling and multitask information. (And it's always your turn in combat!)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How to accomplish with peanut brain?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Practice makes perfect!

I'd say the most important thing is knowing who your NPCs are and what they want. That's what you should prepare outside of sessions. Once you have that, it's a lot easier to deal with players throwing curveballs.

A constrained scope helps as well. Give the group a prompt like "make characters who want revenge on the Lich Queen" or "make characters who care about the city of Korvosa."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Use a different, simpler system.

DnD and PF are on the crunchier side of the spectrum for ttrpgs, as much as I love PF2. There are tons of great systems you can learn all the rules to in a matter of minutes and run awesome campaigns in without all the crunch. Personally, I love the crunch but it's not for everyone so you shouldn't force it if it's not for you. Simple doesn't mean dumb either, a great example is the newer system Shadowdark. Dungeon Crawl Classics is another solid choice, there are a bunch of others though. Like the indie system The Electrum Archive or TEA. The rules are free, simple, but engaging (with inspiration from Morrowind and Dune so bonus points from me).

Don't confine yourself!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I get that, but then I also love that sense of figuring out a creative solution to some social interaction or encounter. I only ever played once, but man I had a blast.