Comments for The Consummate DM

Comment on On Continuity and Barney Stinson by Bill Bartmann

Bill Bartmann — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:05:35 +0000

Excellent site, keep up the good work

Comment on On Continuity and Barney Stinson by Edward

Edward — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:27:59 +0000

a most excellent article. star trek has always driven me a bit crazy with its complete lack of continuity.

Comment on The DM’s Role, Part 2 – Is Not by Dave

Dave — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:05:07 +0000

While I think you are correct regarding the decider role, DMs take caution: Make sure that consensus creation doesn’t take up the majority of your session.

My group, (un)fortunately, is full of very experienced players. As a result, we can sometimes take a long time to come to a consensus. In that situation, it is best to have the DM take the rein and make a decision, and we can come to a consensus after the fact.

Comment on Nomenclature, Part Deux by Tommi

Tommi — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:09:39 +0000

I use “participants” when referring to the people participating in roleplay. Occasionally “players (including/excluding the GM)”.

Comment on The DM’s Role, Part 2 – Is Not by Tommi

Tommi — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:35:17 +0000

I think it is everyone’s responsibility to be the inspirer to each other. Other than that, you speak wisdom.

Comment on Countless Worlds – The Shadow Traders by Geek's Dream Girl

Geek's Dream Girl — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:16:39 +0000

That’s pretty cool!

Comment on Countless Worlds – The Shadow Traders by Tommi

Tommi — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:32:13 +0000

Good anf flavourful solution to resurrections.

Personally, I try to keep the price of such deals pretty explicit; one I used recently was “Bring this girl to work as my apprentice, then I will tell you how to slay the giant.” The girl just happened to be another player character’s child, which sparked some tension later.

Comment on Dungeon Masters, Game Masters, and Potatoes by Geek's Dream Girl

Geek's Dream Girl — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:01:50 +0000

I’m cool with you calling players “he”. But then again, I’m also the kind of girl who will point out hot girls to my boyfriend when we’re out on the town. I’m just special. (What kind of special is up for grabs…)

Comment on The Mega Man Model by roleplay

roleplay — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:59:49 +0000

I like calling it the “Lego” model, myself – modularizing the components of your campaign into little blocks and snippets that are easily recognizable, and can combine together to form familiar aspects.

Comment on The Mega Man Model by Tommi

Tommi — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:54:08 +0000

Implemented poorly, this can make your campaign stale and predictable. Used well, I think the Mega Man Model can form a strong backbone to a campaign, allowing the players to feel like they know aspects of the world without ever having experienced it, allowing both the Players and the DM to more fully engage the campaign.

That? Very clever. The primary method I had thought of and used for creating familiarity are references to real world cultures (or caricatyres of them). Alternatively, standard D&D dwarves are fairly well defined. Using repetition is indeed a good idea.