Monday, March 14, 2011

DMing Styles

"I would like to introduce Tysylio, a good friend of mine who has agreed to submit some of his work over the course of time to 20ft Radius.  Read a little more about Tysylio in the About section.  I hope you enjoy his work and I look forward to working with him in the future. He is a great guy, so read well..."
-Alton 

The group I play in currently enjoys a Dynamic style of DM rotation. That is, we rotate the DM responsibilities every module. Whereas other groups don't do this; they have one DM, and that's it; a Static style. Another way could be a Static/Dynamic DM, where one person DM's players from 1st to 30th, and then passes the torch.
There are obviously pro's and con's to each method.  Here is a little brain storm of how I see the pro's and con's of each:
Dynamic (one DM per module, rotated amongst the group):

  • Pro: No one person is constantly burdened with the workload of the DM.
  • Pro: We each get to create and develop characters.
  • Pro: We all learn how to DM.
  • Con: We have to "retire" our PC while we are DM.
  • Con: It can be hard to create a campaign setting, and continuous storyline.
  • Con: Everyone has different methods or styles to DM'ing, which can lead to disagreements about rule calls, or expectations.
  • Con: There can be cross contamination between modules, "if the PC's killed 'X NPC' and took his torch in 'Y adventure', then here in 'Z adventure' this happens..." This could spoil the surprise for the former DM, and raises the chance of meta-gaming Players.
Static (one DM, forever)
  • Pro: You always know what to expect regarding the DM's style.
  • Pro: The DM has an opportunity to create the campaign setting, and storytelling intricacies.
  • Pro: There is no chance for cross contamination between modules.
  • Pro: Player's characters don't have to "retire" while that person DM's.
  • Pro: You get to take your character from 1st to 30th, hopefully.
  • Con: The rest of us don't have an opportunity to DM.
  • Con: One person has a lot of work to do all the time.

Static/Dynamic (one DM for one "lifespan" of PC's, then a new DM)
  • Pro: The DM has an opportunity to create the campaign setting, and storytelling intricacies.
  • Pro: There is no chance for cross contamination between modules.
  • Pro: Player's characters don't have to "retire" while that person DM's.
  • Pro: No one person is constantly burdened with the workload of the DM (at least not forever).
  • Pro: We each get to create and develop characters, eventually.
  • Pro: You get to take your character from 1st to 30th, hopefully.
  • Con: One person is burdened with the workload of the DM for a long time.

So, what are your Pro's and Con's? Which method do you think you like best?
I think I like the Static/Dynamic, but Dynamic is okay too.