[BelGareth]

Dungeon Master's Section
Below is a list of active DM's on the boards, they have all answered a series of questions to allow people to better understand how games work, are run, the motives behind them and to better the general community.

Dire Reverend

Spoiler

1. Why do you like to DM?
   Because I enjoy making stories.
   
2. How long have you been a DM, how long have you been a player of Dungeons and Dragons?
   I have been Playing D&D for a couple of years, and I have recently started DMing last year.
   
3. What is your style of DM’ing?
4. What are some key elements of your games? (and why)
5. Do you like Hack & slash, puzzles, RP or a combo? (and why)
   I prefer Roleplaying and Hack & Slash. Puzzles, especially in PbP get annoying.
   
6. Do you like High fantasy, Low fantasy, Magitech or something else? (and why)
   If Magitech means Magic and Technology, then I prefer Magitech. This is mainly because I like technology and magic.
   
7. When you are a player what kind of character do you usually play?
   I don't have a specific kind of character.
   
8. Describe your favorite NPC you made for a game.
   A good half-vampire that had to convince the heroes that she was not evil.
   
9. What are some rules you live by when running a game?
10. Do you have any expectations of players in your game, if so what are they?
11. How do you handle a bored player?
    Death. With an axe.
    
12. How do you handle creativity from players that is obviously not within the rules to allow?
    Never really had to deal with that.
    
13. Psionics, transparent?
    I really never looked into Psionics.
    
14. What is your favorite race?
    Undead, mainly because I like the concept, and in addition I do not have to deal with the Con score.
    
15. Favorite alternate magic system? (psionics, Incarnum…etc)
    As stated above, I really have not looked into alternate magic.
    
16. What are some house rules you use and why?
    I am especially homebrew friendly, because I make homebrew myself, and I enjoy user-made material when they are not overpowered.
    
17. How do you handle in game tension between players (ooc)?
    Usually death by cat, but when the player has energy immunity (cat), I talk it over with the both of them.
    
18. How do you handle character death (beyond the normal)?
    Low level: Make a new character.
    High level: Do you want to make a new character or get somebody to resurrect him/her?
    
19. What medium do you use for battlemaps?
    In play by post I use photoshop to make grids, in real life I use a giant grid sheet
    
20. Why do you like Pbp?
    Because I have such a hard time finding people to play with IRL

PairO'Dice Lost

Spoiler

1. Why do you like to DM?
   Two reasons. First, I like the whole creative aspect of it--coming up with worlds and scenarios, playing as interesting NPCs, etc. Second, and slightly more selfishly, I rarely get to play rather than DM with my real-life group, so my DMing lots of games takes care of my D&D fix like other peoples' playing in several games at once.
   
2. How long have you been a DM, how long have you been a player of Dungeons and Dragons?
   I first learned to play when I was 8; a friend's dad DMed a game of 1e for five of us for a year or so to teach us the ropes. We switched to 2e after that, since that was the game currently in print, and that's when I started DMing games myself, so it's been about 12-13 years now.
   
3. What is your style of DM’ing?
   I'm very good with the mechanical aspect of the game and can stat up high-level NPCs and templated monsters in a few minutes if need be, and I'm also a good actor and improviser, so I rarely prepare more than the basic outline for a session/scenario (what are the plot-relevant things the PCs should learn here, how do I want the session/scenario to end up, etc.) and just improvise the details. This can be a disadvantage at times, as for instance I'm terrible at giving NPCs names and would be better served coming up with those beforehand, but it's much more of an advantage for most of my groups, who tend to be very mobile in-game and come up with crazy plans that would destroy most preparation.
   
4. What are some key elements of your games? (and why)
   Here's a few I can think of off the top of my head:
   
   --The world doesn't revolve around you. Things happen when the PCs aren't around, their actions have consequences, there is no plot railroad, and so forth. I find it makes the world a lot more realistic if you don't treat the PCs like the protagonists of a story and instead treat them like every other NPC until they do something to get noticed (and they will, don't worry).
   
   --We're not telling a story, we're playing a game that can generate stories. I don't view playing RPGs as "telling a story," and I don't view the plot as something to be followed. Rather, the stories are told after the fact, and the plot is a set of points that can generate different stories if hit (or not hit) in certain orders. Thus, I don't fudge rolls for or against PCs, I don't employ narrative tropes as much as I can help it (e.g. you won't show up "just in time" to interrupt an evil necromancer's ritual regardless of your actions; if you're early, you have more time to deal with it, and if you're late...sucks to be you), and I follow the rules as strictly as I can for both PCs and NPCs. If the PCs don't get access to certain mechanics for plot reasons (e.g. there are no wizards or other arcane full casters for whatever reason) the NPCs don't get access to them either, and any rules tweaks or custom content I use are presented to the PCs upfront. Basically, NPCs don't special advantages just because they're "plot relevant."
   
5. Do you like Hack & slash, puzzles, RP or a combo? (and why)
   Puzzles don't tend to work out very well in RPGs, I've found, as either you don't have rules for them (in which case it's a game of "guess what the DM is thinking") or you do use rules for them (in which case it's a game of "make a few rolls to bypass the puzzle"). So I tend to use puzzles sparingly if at all in my online games and only use them with my RL group who have a much better chance of "reading my mind" on those. Even the least-sociable members of my RL groups have had good roleplaying skills, so I like quite a bit of RP in my games, and many of my most recent group's members came to TTRPGs via cRPGs and MMORPGs, so I run plenty of combats as well. I try to split my games about 50/50 or 60/40 either way.
   
6. Do you like High fantasy, Low fantasy, Magitech or something else? (and why)
   Magitech and high fantasy over low fantasy, definitely. Again, my groups are kind of crazy, and are the types of people who can wreck a bad guy's day with shape stone, silent image, half a dozen flasks of alchemist's fire, some rope, and a hammer. They come up with lots of off-the-wall uses of magic in high-magic games like D&D that people logically would have discovered if they lived in the world, so it makes no sense to run low magic or low fantasy in those systems. I try to make my casters as logical as possible, and whether things proceed to magitech or to high fantasy depends on the setting, really.
   
   I haven't really like any of the low fantasy/low sci-fi systems I've played. d20 Modern, low fantasy GURPS, Conan d20, and so forth just don't hold my interest mechanically because characters can't do much individually. Characters accomplishing things without magic or technology only goes so far; my players and I have more fun with basic D&D illusions than with combat spells, and anything you can accomplish as a player regardless of your class (such as convincing NPCs to aid you or rely on items to get things done) gets old after a while.
   
7. When you are a player what kind of character do you usually play?
   I've only had a chance to play (as opposed to run) 3e with my RL groups since 2000, and even then I can count the number of PCs I've played on one hand. I play high-Int types with several Knowledge skills without exception, since (A) that lets me use my knowledge of the game (IDing monsters, drawing on setting fluff, etc.) without metagaming, and (B) lots of diverse skills means lots of potential for the wacky plans we love so much (who knew Forgery and Craft could be so useful?). In my RL group, I've played two types: if we have new players learning the game, I've been the party-support/utility caster (using things like war weaver, bard, theurge PrCs, etc.) in order to shore up weaker party members while their players learn the ropes, and if we've had a party of experienced players I've played the arcane+skills type focusing on trickery and manipulation (using things like factotum, beguiler, eldritch disciple, etc.).
   
8. Describe your favorite NPC you made for a game.
   It's hard to describe any of my favorite NPCs in just a few paragraphs, since a lot of the favoritism comes from fun and interesting things I did with them in game, but here's one example.
   
   In one of my games, the NPCs were part of a secret society that tended to fight without items and carry no identification of any sort, the better to help them hide among the populace and be ready to ambush their enemies at any time. The PCs were having a hard time tracking them down and were annoyed at a lack of loot from this particular enemy. At one point, they fought a caster who wielded a staff of fire spells, and the party's resident pyromancer went to great trouble to disarm him of it. After the NPCs died and their bodies self-destructed as usual, the party wondered if the staff was a setup. Nah, couldn't be.
   
   One night, the staff made itself known to the PC who took it with "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a staff of wealth and taste." Turns out the staff was an intelligent item sent by Mephistopheles to corrupt the party from within, since (as they later discovered) the society they were working against was a cult of his that was working towards a diabolical invasion of their home plane. The staff gradually granted the PC more and more benefits (mechanically, via becoming an Item Familiar and a legacy weapon and a legendary weapon and...) in exchange for him gradually becoming Lawful Evil and swearing allegiance to Mephistopheles. The player knew terrible things were happening, but the PC couldn't resist at all and was willing to do whatever the staff wanted, and that PC/player tension and the eventual reveal to the party made for some memorable sessions.
   
9. What are some rules you live by when running a game?
   --As already mentioned, don't bend the rules for or against the players; you're empowered to tweak rules in order to make the game as a whole better, not to either "save" the PCs or to impose a railroad.
   
   --Give the players maximum latitude in creating and playing their characters; you control a whole world, they have 1 PC, so they should be able to play what they want, how they want.
   
   --Say "yes" to players as much as you can, even if it's a "yes, but..."; I'm not telling a story or dictating a plot to the players, this is a cooperative enterprise.
   
10. Do you have any expectations of players in your game, if so what are they?
    I expect PCs to come up with creative solutions to problems, think outside the box, and otherwise avoid a straightforward, boring approach to things. You can fireball a bunch of goblins or scry-and-die a BBEG in any game. You can't always build a flying turtle fortress to assault your enemies in style, take out an assassination contract on yourself to frame your major political opponent, or set off a forgewraith invasion in Sharn to distract House Cannith in every campaign (and yes, those are examples of things that have happened in my campaigns).
    
11. How do you handle a bored player?
    Honestly, I don't recall having had one in my RL games, and there's not much you can do in PbP since they just stop posting and don't respond to queries. If you have a bored player, it's probably due to one of two things. First, they're feeling overshadowed as a player--another PC in the same niche is better than theirs, another player is hogging the spotlight, etc. To solve that, you need to talk to the player and find out what's wrong, and then take steps to fix it (let them rebuild a character or ask the other player to tone it down, for instance), all out-of-game. Second, they're not engaged with the plot--they don't find the party's current objective interesting, they don't care about the BBEG, whatever. In that case, you can take suggestions from the player, but you should really talk to the party as a whole, as it's possible that others feel the same way but just don't want to tell you. Sometimes you'll have to drastically change your plot hooks/NPC styles, etc., and sometimes you can't really change much at this point, but you should always try to respect players' wishes.
    
12. How do you handle creativity from players that is obviously not within the rules to allow?
    I don't subscribe to the view that designer intent trumps rules at all, so if by "not within the rules to allow" you mean "it's not fair to let PCs drop heavy things on enemies/use BoVD sacrifice rules/scry-and-die opponents/make SBG fortresses/whatever," I say tough noogies. They've found something cool and useful that gives them an advantage, congratulate them. Then keep in mind that NPCs can do the same things. I always tell my players that anything they can do NPCs can as well, so if they start abusing things, I remind them of this. Either they don't want an arms race and make a gentleman's agreement to stop, or they want to have fun with it and the NPCs start using it too. I'm willing to call it quits any time the PCs aren't having fun anymore, but it they are having fun and you can handle it, why stop them?
    
    If you instead mean blatant rules abuse like bringing modern physics into things or the like, again, I tell players that anything they can do NPCs can do too, and they really don't want to pull physics abuses on a DM who's familiar with everything from quantum mechanics and particle physics to virology to computer programming and more. Stupid things like the commoner railgun get disallowed, but if they really want to try to, say, build a supercomputer and the internet in Eberron using animated objects and contingencies (again, real example from a campaign), they can certainly try.
    
13. Psionics, transparent?
    Always. I've played and ran 1e, 2e, 3.0, and 3.5 psionics, so I know firsthand that nontransparency does not work.
    
14. What is your favorite race?
    Tough choice. I love elans and illumians both flavor-wise and mechanically, but there are some close runners-up.
    
15. Favorite alternate magic system? (psionics, Incarnum…etc)
    Yes.
    
    Seriously, I allow them all in my games and have run NPCs who use all of them (including truenaming!). Psionics and binding are my top two, but the others are close behind.
    
16. What are some house rules you use and why?
    I have 3 and only 3 rules (barring houserules for a specific campaign, of course, like "in this campaign there are no full divine casters" and such):
    
    1) Anything you can do, the NPCs can do, and there are more of them. Don't abuse the rules.
    
    2) This is a cooperative game. Do not try to overshadow other players mechanically or RP-wise; if you do, it is your responsibility to fix it.
    
    3) This is a game first and foremost. Don't bring IC things OOC or vice versa, and don't take things too seriously.
    
17. How do you handle in game tension between players (ooc)?
    Talk about it, as mentioned above. If both players are fine with it and can separate IC and OOC matters, they can go ahead. If one player doesn't like it or can't handle it, we'll take steps to fix things.
    
18. How do you handle character death (beyond the normal)?
    Characters die. It happens. No fudging. Don't blame yourself, or the DM, or other players. Roll up a new character at average party level and come up with a way to work yourself into the party, and I'll take it from there.
    
19. What medium do you use for battlemaps?
    For RL games, I have a large dry-erase board with squares on one side and hexes on the other for battles where exact position matters and a large blank dry-erase boards for those where it doesn't. Online, I make maps in a paint program and post those, updating the map each round.
    
20. Why do you like Pbp?
    It lets me game with different groups of people to experience new and different party dynamics and themes, and it lets me easily run multiple games at once. Also, I find it helps players with their roleplaying because people can take the time to compose their posts and thus get more into character.

Togo

Spoiler

1. Why do you like to DM?
   It's an outlet for my creativity, and I like my creativity interactive, with other people contributing and joining in.
   
2. How long have you been a DM, how long have you been a player of Dungeons and Dragons?
   25 years & 25 years
   
3. What is your style of DM’ing?
   It's not a style I've encountered elsewhere. Hm..
   It's Sandboxy, in the sense that PCs can go anywhere, do anything, and I dutifully fill in what happens. It's plot driven in the sense that there are things that happen in the game that will impact the PCs, it's event driven in the sense that these events will continue to happen whether the PCs investigate them or not. The PCs can stop or change events, or the actions of NPCs, but if they just ignore them, then they won't go away, they'll continue to have an effect on the game world.
   
   That said, I tend to vary my style depending on the players I get, and on the style of the game. My BESM games tend towards commedy horror, my fantasy games tend towards epic low fantasy (sic).
   
4. What are some key elements of your games? (and why)
   Metaphysics. I like it, and it's a way of making the players think about where they are as a different world with different mores.
   NPCs with conflicted motives. Noone in my games is just a good guy, or just a bad guy, and I try and make sure they have real motives for what they do
   Player trumps plot. Nothing gets a 'plot immunity' in my games, (unless the players want it to). The PCs are good at what they do, and if the foil a villain that I didn't want foiled I have rewriting to do. That has it's downsides as well as upsides, but it's worth it.
   Prophecy/timetravel/twisted causality. Players like thinking about the sequence their characters have gone through. Turning it into a puzzle to solve is giving the PCs a RL puzzle that they all are qualified to solve.
   
5. Do you like Hack & slash, puzzles, RP or a combo? (and why)
   Combination. It's too easy to get bored otherwise. Of the three, I have been known to drop combat entirely, (even playing D&D) if that's where the players want to go.
   
6. Do you like High fantasy, Low fantasy, Magitech or something else? (and why)
   Low fantasy. Magitech doesn't interest me, and I believe that if someone comes up with a cool and practical combination, they deserve to have it unique to them as a character, rather than as a feature of the game world to showcase the DM. (I get to show off in other ways.) I like high fantasy, but it only works if everyone has the same sort of vision of the world and playstyle, and that's rarely the case in the groups I play with.
   
7. When you are a player what kind of character do you usually play?
   Characters with unique abilities. I don't much care what kind of character I play so long as noone else can do what I can do. I hate having duplicate capabilities. Otherwise I go for characters with obscure special rules - generally odd or different uses of something familiar rather than customised characteres. Personality wise I like either boisterous characters with obvious flaws (desperately poor judgement is a favourite), or quiet characters with a secret to hide (that will come out in the game).
   
8. Describe your favorite NPC you made for a game.
   A gothic japanese high school girl who filled her hair with coloured elasticated hair bands and bangles, and fiddled with them extensively. She had an obvious hook to make her memorable, until just by playing with a rubber band without saying anything, the players could tell who I was portraying. She had some interesting secrets. (she blamed herself for the death of a friend), some interesting things to discover about her (her father was local yakuza, and had no time for her, so she wanted to stay over a friends houses rather than go home), some interesting capabilities (she was really quite rich, for a high schooler, and knew all the seedy places in town).
   
9. What are some rules you live by when running a game?
   Player trumps plot.
   Plots and NPCs don't go away just because the PCs choose to ignore them
   If the players get bored, the game needs to change
   Players need to succeed when they do well, and fail when they do badly. To this end I've killed off major villains before their time, and invented new antagonists just to capitalise on major screw ups
   Players should be balanced in their capabilities. If a PC is weak, the plot should make them more powerful.
   
10. Do you have any expectations of players in your game, if so what are they?
    They play their characters in a manner consistent with the game they want to play. So if they don't want to be constantly screwed over, they shouldn't constantly screw people over. If they don't want a lot of combat, they shouldn't attack people. If they want intrigue, they need to not use brute force.
    
    Don't split the party. I can't make more of me, so if you split up, the game will go more slowly for each character
    
    Play characters who are roughly as powerful as the rest of the group. A variation on don't split the party. the whole group faces challenges together. If you're more powerful than everyone else, I have to split the challenges, and the game falls apart.
    
11. How do you handle a bored player?
    Throw them events/characters that are aligned either at their interests or their own character's backstory. For example, in a BESM game one character kept on followed by a particular NPC. Another discovered that the illegal cloning lab was manufacturing clones of her. Another character, wanting more combat in an investigation game, ended up duelling an NPC to distract him while the the rest of the group raided the NPC's room for clues.
    
12. How do you handle creativity from players that is obviously not within the rules to allow?
    Change the rules. If it's a major change, then poll the players first to make sure they don't object.
    
13. Psionics, transparent?
    eh? Is this is a 3.5 question? In AD&D 3.5 I treat psionics as magic, and everything that effects one effects the other.
    
14. What is your favorite race?
    ... human. I find it's better not to play a race unless you have a firm idea of how you're going to play it.
    
15. Favorite alternate magic system? (psionics, Incarnum…etc)
    Expanded bardic song systems, like seeker of the song, or virtuoso. I generally prefer abilities to magic. In a pinch the divine crusader (spells from one domain only) works well for me.
    
16. What are some house rules you use and why?
    Diplomacy is limited to things that could plausibly be accomplished by talking to someone.
    Don't use the polymorph chain - I can abuse it better than most, and most of my players know this.
    There are no shops for anything above 50 gp or so. You get these by going to the right places and making deals in person. This includes almost all magic items. Fantasy is not a retail experience.
    Spells are not freely available. They're hard to come by. Some simply won't turn up in some games.
    Anything non-core is subject to approval. I'm pretty generous, but I will limit things that would spoil the game world
    
17. How do you handle in game tension between players (ooc)?
    Out of character. Get them to talk it out, either with me or without me.
    
18. How do you handle character death (beyond the normal)?
    I try and avoid it. Generally the players are more keen on death than I am. If they all really want it, I let players with dead characters introduce a new character to replace the old one. I expect the players to expedite this process.
    
19. What medium do you use for battlemaps?
    I generally avoid battlemaps entirely. If necessary, I use whatever the players are most familiar with.
    
20. Why do you like Pbp?
    I don't particularly. It's just a lot easier to find the time if you don't have to get x people in the same room at the same time.

Silva Stormrage

Spoiler

1. Why do you like to DM?
   It gives me the option to actually build a story and a world. Also it allows me to use a lot of the interesting build ideas and homebrews I find and want to use.
   
2. How long have you been a DM, how long have you been a player of Dungeons and Dragons?
   I have played the video game Neverwinter Nights which is based on DND for 6 years and have played DND for 2. I have DM'ed most of the time and only played as a player for three sessions.
   
3. What is your style of DM’ing?
   I tend to like having a sandbox world but with multiple plots going on at a time. For example I will have the basic idea for something happening in each of the major kingdoms so that no matter where the players decide to go they have something to do. Play it by ear since players don't do the expected.
   
4. What are some key elements of your games? (and why)
   Key elements of a game would be an open world, I never use pre existing settings, I tend to try and balance the tiers of classes somewhat but mostly tell the players not to try and outshine all the other players.
   
5. Do you like Hack & slash, puzzles, RP or a combo? (and why)
   I prefer hack and slash and RP. Puzzles were never my forte at solving and they tend to eat too much game time to really be worth it IMO.
   
6. Do you like High fantasy, Low fantasy, Magitech or something else? (and why)
   High Magic and High Fantasy.
   
7. When you are a player what kind of character do you usually play?
   I almost always play necromantic characters, only now trying to branch out from that.
   
8. Describe your favorite NPC you made for a game.
   Well he started out as a player but a Thrallherd named Grimgrol. A list of accomplishments made by this NPC would take the entire reply so I will shorten it.
   Defeated the Party three times without taking damage
   Ended up becoming a Lich and a dragon for the BBEG of a campaign.
   Then ended up betraying the BBEG killing the players in the final showdown and then garnering enough strength to kill the gods
   This one character has caused more fear in my players than any trap, monster, quest or experience I have sent at them.
   
9. What are some rules you live by when running a game?
   Rule of Common Sense > Rule of Cool > Rule of Funny > RAI > RAW
   
10. Do you have any expectations of players in your game, if so what are they?
    In a live game, make your turns quickly, don't bring phones or laptops and surf the web on them at the table, don't be a jerk
    
11. How do you handle a bored player?
    Try and find out what is boring the player, usually asking the but some people won't respond truthfully. If I can change what is boring him (Lack of times to shine, too hard of encounters, not enough RP, etc) I will change it. If I can't change it without causing serious table issues, (The player hates me DMing, wants to just walkthrough all encounters, etc) I simply don't bother since I can't change anything.
    
12. How do you handle creativity from players that is obviously not within the rules to allow?
    If the effect is obviously unbalanced (Major Creation to create antimatter) then I rule zero it down, if its creative and can be down repeatedly in combat I will let it work but at a lesser rate so he doesn't just use this creative tactic over and over again, if its creative and it can't be easily duplicated then I let it work.
    
13. Psionics, transparent?
    Yes transparency in full effect
    
14. What is your favorite race?
    Favorite race would be Ithilid no doubt. They make great BBEG, masterminds, and all around creepy opponents.
    
15. Favorite alternate magic system? (psionics, Incarnum…etc)
    Psionics. Its much more balanced then standard spell casting and has several cool tricks with it.
    
16. What are some house rules you use and why?
    I tend to adjust my house rules based on the campaign and what went wrong in the last campaign. For example, in my last campaign the players never once used any form of resurrection since I allowed them to create a new character of equal level to come back as. In the current one a new character starts at 1 level lower. One thing I always do is allow max HP for PC's just to extend their survivability.
    
17. How do you handle in game tension between players (ooc)?
    I can't answer truthfully because with my group I haven't had any OOC player conflicts.
    
18. How do you handle character death (beyond the normal)?
    See house rules. I mostly just let it happen, I don't avoid player death and I let the dice fall.
    
19. What medium do you use for battlemaps?
    I use a grid in a google doc or a battle map if a live game.
    
20. Why do you like Pbp?
    In regular live games I need to have a decent chunk of material ready for the game. In pbp's I can improvise a lot more effectively. Also since I am not that great of an actor (Voice or otherwise), I find roleplaying in a PbP to be a lot easier than a live game.

DrK

Spoiler

1. Why do you like to DM?
   In the past it was because my friends plied me with beer and convinced me. Nowadays I prefer DMing to playing as it means I can play in a game where I can have some degree over the tone and the setting.
   
   Plus I can try out all manner of class/ race combination to see if ideas I think "that may work" actually or or not.
   
2. How long have you been a DM, how long have you been a player of Dungeons and Dragons?
   Been playing D&D/cyberpunk since ~1990 and then picked up WFRP and the 40K rpgs since and mixed in a few of others along the way.
   
3. What is your style of DM’ing?
   Not sure I reall have a style. Try and run enjoyable games where the players are the stars. So no high power NPCs to overshadow you. In general also try and play it fairly gritty.
   
4. What are some key elements of your games? (and why)
   Monsters get abilities I think they need and I sometimes play with bad guys number behdin the scenes.
   
   In general I also do not use or like save of die effects. So I won't normally use them on a PC or allow my "main bad guy" to fail a save against them. PCs are heroic and if you've played from level 1 to the md teens its a bit harsh to kill you off with a single dice roll.
   
   In settings I try and keep them slightly dark and grim and even in Sandbox I try and have an overarcing threat in the background that alters the world around them as time goes by.
   
5. Do you like Hack & slash, puzzles, RP or a combo? (and why)
   In a RL game I like puzzles and RP with plenty of combat. But I've found that puzzles don't make the transition to PbP post well and neither does RP to a great extent as a 1 hour roleplayt can section in RL can take 2-3 weeks on a PbP to resolve. And its speaking in what are essentially text messages
   
   So in Rl I like a 33% split
   In PbP I lean towards about 60/30/10 Combat/RP/Puzzle
   
6. Do you like High fantasy, Low fantasy, Magitech or something else? (and why)
   I quite like low fantasy. I'm not always that happy with spellcasters and their mass reality bending.
   Save for Eberron which I think has done lowl level high fantsay very well.
   
7. When you are a player what kind of character do you usually play?
   I normally play melee types. I'm not a huge fan of spellcasters and I like the visual associated with battling swrd Vs claw rather than pointing a finger and the bad guy is in a force cage and then magiked to death.
   
8. Describe your favorite NPC you made for a game.
   "Jherath the B@stard": He was in an Eberron game and was an enemy of the group from level 4 to 19 where he wsa the big bad guy. He started as a minor bard assistant to a Dragon Below Cult and in the first battle was essentially a nameless mook with a human skull drum and silly hair.
   
   He escaped the first battle as he fled and the players talked about so he started to become recurring- but a born coward would often run. He was good and fun and vexed the player often.
   
9. What are some rules you live by when running a game?
   It should be fun for all the players
   All the players deserve some time in the limelight
   NPCs are expendable (thats a rule for me, I've met some GMs who are very protective of their NPCs)
   Rules are guidelines in favour of the rule of cool
   
10. Do you have any expectations of players in your game, if so what are they?
    In RL I expect players to put at least some effort into their PC. Such as levelling up between sessions and if I'm asking for info via email to reply.
    
    In PbP I expect people to maintain a reasonable posting rate. And most importantly as PbP is a purely written medium to write a decent post.
    Even in posts where nothing happens I try and keep a good flow of description to give the players a feel of the world. This is easily crushed by a player who writes "I attack" and then has info in the spoiler tag.
    
    In PbP I really do expect the players to make an effort as in PbP the players and DM are essentially co-writing a story.
    
11. How do you handle a bored player?
    Normally try to give their PC some spotlight time. Then quiet chat/PM to find out whats wrong and see if its a problem I can accomodate without chaging the game too much.
    
    Though sometimes its a problem of a PC creating a very unsuitable PC for a game. Like a noncombat diplomancer in a dungeon crawl
    
12. How do you handle creativity from players that is obviously not within the rules to allow?
    It depends if its using something within the existing rules or making up homebrew. I'm far more amenable to the former than the latter.
    
    I'm always very suspicious of homebrew. But if a player goes for the "can I trade class ability X for class ability y" in the normal classes I'm more likley to say yes.
    
13. Psionics, transparent?
    Always magic/psionic transparency. But depends on the game if I allow them in or not.
    
14. What is your favorite race?
    The core ones.
    
15. Favorite alternate magic system? (psionics, Incarnum…etc)
    I really like incarnum, weak as it may be and I'm a massive fan of the binder and Vestiges
    
16. What are some house rules you use and why?
    I modify power attack/combat expertise ratios so other melee styles can work.
    Diplomancer cheese does not work
    I tend to limit certain lines of silly spells.
    Multi-classing stays in to avoid silly dipping
    
17. How do you handle in game tension between players (ooc)?
    Its only been an issue since playing by PbP actually. But tried to calm things down with PM's and then in that case it didn't work so asked one player to leave.
    
18. How do you handle character death (beyond the normal)?
    Well not using save or die the players normally have strong options for saving themselves by retrateating. But if they die they die.
    
    But normally I'm soft on the difficulty of finding a suitable way of them coming back. If its been a long campaign I like the PCs as much as the players do.
    
19. What medium do you use for battlemaps?
    Normally nothing but somtimes use Pyromancers if I have time.
    In RL sometimes a map, othertimes just a pen and paper and rogh scribbles. Counting squares gets in the way of narrative combat.
    
20. Why do you like Pbp?
    Its an easy way to play though results in a very different game. I started PbP because I moved to a different part of the country and so lost my RL game.
    
    I can also run several different games with a moderate investement of time.

[Note]
If you are a DM or have a DM and you think they/you should be here, answer the questions and PM me.
[/Note]