DMs, what are your favorite parts of running this game? Players, what are yours?

I’ve started running Curse of Strahd and have been having a ton of fun making wacky homebrew things for my party and tweaking the module. Unbeknownst to the players so far, I have made them all a secret Dark Power trying to use them to usurp Strahd and Vampyr, and they’re just waiting to offer their dark gift.

For example, I have a druid with some fire giant ancestry who loves Produce Flame and is their front line, so he’ll be offered a slightly weaker Rage with the Path of the Storm Herald desert feature to use once per long rest. The celestial warlock would get charges to boost his Eldritch Blast damage and some secondary healing in exchange for sapping his life.

Giving my players powerful upgrades alongside typical class advancement can make some encounters harder to balance around, but as long as we’re all having fun who cares about balance??

bogosort,

DM here, mine is a bit vague and cheesy but whatever. Favourite part is seeing how excited my friends get when something cool happens! Whether it's pulling out a spicy combat encounter, or they connect the clues of some big plot point, or they pull off something heroic and/or disastrous in game and we all know it's unforgettable.

Being a DM feels a bit like hosting a party (except less overwhelming). It feels like giving gifts to my friends in the form of a fantasy world. It's highly fulfilling, and we end up weaving many joyful memories together.

(Also hello from a fellow Curse of Strahd DM!)

Servantoffire,

Have you used any supplementals? I’ve dug through most of Mandymods stuff (shout-out to her) but haven’t looked at Dragnacarta or the interactive Tome yet.

bogosort,

We're at the start of our campaign (they've just gone though Death House) so I've yet to dig deep into it but I have been taking a close look at both MandyMod and DragnaCarta.

At first I was preparing to follow MandyMod closely with the Fanes and stuff but it ended up getting a bit overwhelming for me and I realised I didn't actually need or want all of it. So I've dialled back a bit and am just taking bits and pieces of inspiration wherever fits. I've liked stuff from both supplements so I'll probably continue to do so, although I have to be careful with MandyMod because there's so much homebrew lore in it that I need to remind myself what is module lore and what is fan lore. Nevertheless, there's a treasure trove of stuff to add which is a really nice change for running a module.

I haven't actually heard of the interactive tome, marvel missed that but I'll have to check it out!

TheThemFatale,

I love creating the bones of a world or a situation, then seeing how the party interpret, contribute, and react to it, then reacting to their decisions for the next session.

Also sometimes, making traps and BBEG plans for them then being able to pull it off (and watching like a proud parent as they successfully get out of the situation)

Upvotes_Kills_Birds,
Upvotes_Kills_Birds avatar

Yes exactly. For me, the most rewarding part is including the breadcrumbs to the real story while allowing them to explore the world we're building together.

Redsven,

I’ve just been throwing breadcrumbs in front of my party for years now and taking them where ever they go. Its been so much more fun than just ‘telling my story’ for me. I would always have the start of a story I wanted to tell, but could never sort out the middle and the end, so I just let the players do it now and enjoy the show.

Zoutpeper,

Three years ago I wrote some notes regarding the lore and background of the world I placed my players in. Now they’re invested and actually hunting down the villain I added only as a background.

Nothing is as good as players being invested and exploring the world well past my initial ideas.

Percy,
@Percy@lemmy.one avatar

I’m a new DM and all of my players are new. I’m working on my own campaign and world my favorite part so far is the excitement of my players. When I told them I got the books it’s the only thing they talked about for two weeks

RubberColby,

I enjoy watching my players hands shoot up in excitement when something incredible happens. Happened during my last session. Gave me all the fuzzies.

the_accidental_mind,

I enjoy helping others experience the first time wonder of discovery, even after years of playing. It’s why I play in a custom setting and regularly create new monsters, spells, subclasses, and magic items. So many people crave that moment of first contact, and I love to help them find it.

On the DM side of that, when there are new things for the players to find, I get to stretch the creative muscles that I thought I had lost for years. I get to challenge myself to create new, interesting, and balanced experience to offer up for my table.

f4hy,

My favorite part of DMing is to hide some inside joke into a dungeon or campaign. So everything seems like generic fantasy world but upon completing some quest it results in exposing some silly that is some dumb joke my friends.made years ago. That reveal is the best. I think in general it’s that I get to juxtaposition silly things and serious moments throughout.

Space_Cat_95,

I love when my players get deeply immersed in a scenario I created and engage with all of the NPCs and create a story we’ll tell each other for years.

all_or_nothing,

As a DM, I love when my players absolutely love or gravitate towards an NPC I made. So many times my players latch onto an NPC and it becomes their mascot. It also works really well as a tool for plot hooks or to give players engaging side quests to chase.

macgregor,

Players: “oh man, Stink Eye was the best, I’m still waiting for the reveal that he is the real big bad”

Me furiously trying to recall some ad-libbed NPC from years ago: “oh yeah, Stink Eye, he’s a great…pirate? Man?..”

Pronell,

“Oh yeah, Stink Eye! What do you all remember about them? What do you think they’ve been up to?”

Get them to jog your memory.

iAmTheTot,
iAmTheTot avatar

Not strictly a dnd thing, but I'm a worldbuilder first and GM second so my favourite part is creating a world for the players to explore. And their faces when they begin piecing together a puzzle, or remember some lore, or recognize a name.

dethb0y,

I do almost entirely solo, but my favorite part is the unexpected.

If you play a computer game, you know what’s going to happen or what’s within the boundaries of the simulation it’s running. Tabletop isn’t like that. It can spiral into anything and end up anywhere. That’s very refreshing and mentally engaging.

Servantoffire,

That freedom is exactly what I like about ttrpgs too. How do you do it solo?

dethb0y,

Oh it’s a whole method. I use oracles, i roll on tables, i automatically generate NPC’s.

The actual easy part is combat because “usually” there’s a best choice for the enemy to take in any situation that makes sense for them.

bighi,

My favorite part is having to explain a rule for the 17th time.

klenow,

DM here. The biggest thing for me is when the players get emotionally engaged to the story and the beats. They fell actual hatred for the BBEG. They get so excited about a reveal that they all can't talk for a minute. Something happens in game, and half the players are having a chat in the Discord in character, outside of game time. The reactions from the players are so rewarding.

The next best is when they come up with a solution to a problem in the game that I hadn't even considered. It's kind of fun to have to just say "OK. Hang on a minute. I was totally not prepared for y'all to try that, so I'm going to need to figure out what they impact of that is." The players always get really excited about that; I think they love to stump me.

FaceDeer,
FaceDeer avatar

As a DM, my favourite part is the worldbuilding. I love figuring out how the setting works, what its history is and who the prominent people are. I do worldbuilding as a solitary activity sometimes, but having an audience makes it better and having a participatory audience is best. I ran a year-long campaign I called the "zero-prep campaign" where I didn't do much or any preparation ahead of each session, letting the party's decisions guide things and frantically filling in the universe around them as they went, and I managed to produce one of my most cohesive and fun settings yet.

As a player, it's similar but much smaller scale - I focus on building my character. I try to settle in to his or her skin, get to know them, figure out what they think about and how they'd react to various situations. The character is on a road I don't know the ultimate destination for and I am keen to find out.

the_accidental_mind,

I also love the world building, but I think I approach it from a different direction. Rather than prepping sessions, I like to build mechanics and details into the world. These are often informed by the actions of my players, but in the game it allows me to run a similar “zero-prep” style because the world already exists. Especially after several campaigns in the same world, when so much has been generated over hours of play.

The experience of seeing my world unfold before me, and seeing the wonder and emotion on my player’s faces, brings me so much genuine joy. I feel like I did when I was a kid.

Andy,
@Andy@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I like the term “zero-prep campaign”. I think I want to use that now. I’ve also had the most fun with those, although planning ahead can be very rewarding in its own right.

blackbelt352,

Not strictly a DnD player (Pathfinder and World of Darkness mainly) I love the “creatively appropriating” ideas and concepts from other media, figuring out what makes different genres work and pulling everything together into an awesome narrative. I love it when my players get into their characters.

My current PF campaign is heavily Destiny inspired, so I’m pulling all kinds of ideas from the lore and the game itself and reworking them into a more strictly fantasy setting.

Servantoffire,

I always say it’s not ripping off, it’s an homage! I love pulling inspiration out of other media.

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