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I've spent the last several years playing with the same dozen players in multiple basement campaigns. From this I've learned a lot about qualities of both Good DM's and Bad DM's (not mutually exclusive qualities in the same person) and have been thinking about what makes a DM great. What I decided is that often a DM is his own worst enemy, playing to his preference rather than to his player's personalities. With that in mind, and me on the Eve of my first campaign as DM, I created a Mission Statement to give each of my players.
My hope is that it will give myself a guide to work with while at the same time arming my players with a strong tool to they can use to promote an enjoyable game. Some of you may consider this ridiculous... no doubt you are used to a group of players who work well together. To you I say I am jealous, but the people at "my" table (while all great friends) are very different Role Players. We have a mixed group of hard-core in-character story focused role players, combat specialized min-maxing power gamers, light hearted humor driven social players, and everything in between. There is no avoiding the "mixed bag" that will be our group.
What I want from the PF community is useful feedback on my concept of a "Mission Statement". What would you change, add, or consider unnecessary (If used at all)? All constructive feedback is greatly appreciated! And if anyone cares, my campaign notes are hosted at Obsidian Portal Here (and a direct link to my Mission Statement). Your welcome peruse and get a feel for what I hope to achieve as a DM.
The number one goal in this campaign is for everyone to have fun. Everything else comes second. No matter my successes, if this goal is not met I have failed at my job as a story teller. Unfortunately this means walking a very fine line. Every player is different – each with their own goals, desires, and preferred RPG style. In addition it is also hard to resist a DM’s natural desire to push their own agenda.
To help me overcome these challenges and achieve unilateral player enjoyment I will attempt to create a guide I can use as my compass in leading our adventure. Realizing that I am flawed, I promise to my players that I will use this guide to keep true to our primary goal. It is my hope that every player will remind me when I am not living up to this promise in order to promote open communication and structured enjoyment for everyone.
1 - IS THIS FUN? It’s a simple rule and should be the question I ask myself every time
2 - Remember Quantum’s Quote! Aside from rule 1, every rule following is a guide, not a law. Rules can sometimes discourage fun rather than promote it.
3 - There is no Accomplishment without Challenge. Without challenge or consequences then your real decisions and real successes have no weight. For instance a PC death should be meaningful.
4 - Reward not Punish. Being rewarded is fun, being punished is not. We are here to have fun!
5 - I am Not God. I have more control, knowledge, and power unfortunately. And that makes me a liability. It is my job to reign myself in.
6 - It is my job to Moderate conflict. It should be achieved through open communication and by treating everyone with respect.
7 - Remember the strengths of the PC. PC specialization (Assassination, Trapfinding, Perform, Spying, Professions, Knowledge Nobility, etc) should be relevant and useful. A Players effort should not be wasted or discouraged.
8 - Remember the weaknesses of the PC. The wizard and archer may enjoy fighting flying monsters, but the monk will have nothing to do. Avoid making players the Odd-Man-Out too often but don’t intentionally ignore a player’s blatant disregard for important talents.
9 - This is a social game. Its impossible to give each person 100% game time, but it is within my power (and is my responsibility) to keep each player engaged and entertained.
10 - Not all classes are equal. Some classes scale better, have a tool for every job, or both (* cough * wizard). I will strive to provide equal footing for every class. No one should feel weak just because they finally want to play a monk.
11 - It is fun Role playing! We all want to be a hero. It is easy and simple to give player’s heroic moments, and it adds so much to the game. Don’t skimp interesting skill checks, uses of class abilities, or other special talents!
12 - Rule 0 is a last resort. I promise to respect every player by hearing them out, talking openly, and considering every perspective. If I decide Rule 0 is in the best interest of the game I will ensure every player understands why, even if they disagree.
take out the cough wizard and the examples in 8 and 10 about wizard, archer, monk, play a monk and such
You make good points, don't chap a player right from the get-go with examples that are going to make them avoid a class
I like what you're doing with this, but do you approach every campaign the same way? If not, you might need to be slightly more specific with each game.
Ex- This is a serious game about the Player's attempts to survive in a fantasy wasteland. Danger will be present, and may not scale to the abilities of the PCs. Character death is likely to be final, high level spellcasters re exceedingly rare. Rules that emphasize 'realism', like encumbrance and tracking supplies will be employed.
Not rules you need every game, but a match for this one.
I've been homebrewing for decades - if this works in your games let us know b/cause I may just steal it. I've tried something similar, but I did it verbally then hung "rule 0 - the rule of fun" on the outside of my screens. My players just giggled. Granted we were all in college at the time...
Anyway let us know and hope all runs well!
Maybe you could include something about that not every thing always has to be fun, somewhere in the "No Accomplishmen without challenge". Meaning that when a fight is really hard it might be frustrating and not fun at that moment but will reward it's self in the end.
take out the cough wizard and the examples in 8 and 10 about wizard, archer, monk, play a monk and such
You make good points, don't chap a player right from the get-go with examples that are going to make them avoid a class
I took out the specific classes. I wanted to be general for the most part and your right I shouldn't scare anyone away from a class they want to play. In the second case I wanted to keep specifics to better demonstrate my meaning. Some of the players will be newer and less familiar with the linear fighter/quadratic wizard concept. But after I thought about it I decided to drop that too and just rely on our "Character Creation Party" as a time to explain in more detail, as well as assure them that I won't mettle unless a player feels his class is being overshadowed.
Maybe you could include something about that not every thing always has to be fun, somewhere in the "No Accomplishmen without challenge". Meaning that when a fight is really hard it might be frustrating and not fun at that moment but will reward it's self in the end.
Yes, this particular line was difficult to write (in fact I've rewritten it several times). I've been unable to really convey what I mean in a single line. I don't want it to make the players feel like I'm going to be a hardass - thats not the idea. I just want them to know that the path of least resistance offers shallow rewards and I will sometimes need to use "tough love". To be honest I think I might want to soften the language, keeping the idea in the Mission Statement but better explaining it in a more comprehensive format elsewhere. For instance the way I describe Player Death and my method for character recreation offers the players more insight into my purpose. Ultimately tho I may end up scrapping the Idea all together, once I sit down with the players and come to a consensus on what their feelings are. After all, as mentioned, I want to avoid creating the game that I want to play in, instead focusing on creating a game that my players want to play in.
I like it. I stole it.
I don't know how to word it, or if it'd be redundant, but maybe something like "not every plan will work, not every roll will succeed; my job however is to encourage my players to keep trying."
I suggest this b/cause my own frustration is when, early in level 1, one of my players tries something daring like jumping off a bannister, grabbing a chandolier rope while cutting the device free, so as to setup his inevitable heroic swing next round to save the princess. Only the first Acrobatics check is a 1, totaling a miss, and he takes a d6 damage falling to the floor and benig knocked prone in the midst of 3 goblins. Then for the rest of the game I get to hear "Better make sure you make the roll or else he'll sic the GOBLINS on you..." from a captain-pouty-pants in the corner.
Players make ONE bad roll and then sulk about it and any encouragement to try future cool moves goes right in the privvy. In that instance I had a chat w/my buddy and he eventually moved on to a werewolf game but the damage was done and everyone remained skittish unless they did the math and KNEW they'd succeed at something. And YAY...my game became schoolwork...
I solved that problem with the floating +2/-2
"Grabbing the chandelier? Great idea, here's a +2 to your acrobatics roll."
When you say things like that, players all of a sudden all want the +2 for being cool, and they try nifty things.
I solved that problem with the floating +2/-2
"Grabbing the chandelier? Great idea, here's a +2 to your acrobatics roll."
When you say things like that, players all of a sudden all want the +2 for being cool, and they try nifty things.
That is so simple and brilliant. Why have I never thought of this before? I even try to use +2 as much as I can justify it.
The only issue I have with this DM statement is backing yourself in a corner or undermining yourself before ever playing a session. You also don't address your own fun, either. It's just as important as your players' fun, mind. Add yourself when talking about fun and fairness.
I solved that problem with the floating +2/-2
"Grabbing the chandelier? Great idea, here's a +2 to your acrobatics roll."
When you say things like that, players all of a sudden all want the +2 for being cool, and they try nifty things.
Yes I'm definitely stealing this. It falls under "Giving player's the small moments" that really makes them feel heroic.
That and giving reasonable and consistent DCs. We have a DM notorious for settings DC's based on the players current modifier or when trying to put the story on rails. If you have +5 the DC is 15, if you have +20 the DC is 30... But I'm off topic.
This is a great way to encourage creative problem solving and entertaining role-playing. Hopefully by giving small bonuses and being clear about the DCs/Consequences it will mitigate the negative impact of failures and make the "dice" the enemy, not myself. The DM is a player not the competition!
"not every plan will work, not every roll will succeed; my job however is to encourage my players to keep trying."
I like that phrasing a lot, thank you.
"Not every plan will work nor can every roll succeed. I promise, however, to encourage players to keep trying and reward creativity despite the dice"