Sometimes its difficult to remember who the game is for. As the DM, I've poured countless hours of prep time into the campaign world, NPCs and monsters, political dynamics and every other aspect of the game. Needless to say, when the PCs get to my huge boss monster who has all these great abilities, its kind of a bummer when the paladin riding a hippogriff one-hit-KO's him with a lance charge.
As any DM knows, the PCs can throw a wrench into the best-laid schemes as easily as Shakespeare could pass Creative Writing 101. The most difficult thing for a DM to do is to sit back and let it happen. Lately, I've been thinking about the examples set by the best DM's I've seen. One salient feature of their work - the thing that above all makes their games so much fun and keeps players coming back for more - is that they never say no.
Chris Perkins, who ran the game for the Robot Chicken guys (and who, incidentally, happens to be the Wizards of the Coast D&D Design Manager) is one of the most renowned DMs out there. I've never been to a convention before, but every time I read about someone who's played in his games, they say he's one of the best there is. One of the things that has been noted about him is that he never says no to an idea a player has. If a player wants to do something, he wont tell them they cant - no matter how stupid the idea is. He might make the chance of success very small (its possible, if exceedingly improbably, that a half-orc barbarian in tattered rags could convince a great wyrm gold dragon that he is a master scholar of draconic poetry - especially since he cant even read) but he does not say flat out no.
As a DM, I have the most fun when the players have fun; and as a player, I have the most fun when the DM makes me feel like I have limitless options; like I could go anywhere or do anything I wanted, so long as I was willing to face the probably consequences.
With this in mind, I want to make it my own private house rule to never say no as the DM.
Player: "Can I lance-charge the king?"
Me: "...?!!? But he just gave you 5,000gp for saving his daughter... He has 30 guards in this chamber who exceed your character level."
Player: "Yeah but could I lance-charge him?"
Me: "....*with extreme effort*... Yes. Yes you can lance-charge him."
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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