Hey gang. As I’m frantically cleaning, packing, and gathering equipment for PAX East, I had a thought for an article. On that, please pardon the tardiness and slight brevity of the article; it’s getting crazy here down east before we head north. Regardless, I wanted to talk about a common misconception when it comes to running an RPG. And I say all of these words, keeping in mind that I’ve never really had this problem with any DM/GM/Storyteller.
However, I do believe that this problem does exist and even persists in a lot of gaming circles. Everyone will often turn toward a power gamer as the problem in a campaign. In other words, issues and problems in the campaign frequently are blamed on the players. I’ll admit it: even I’ve had these inclinations. However, this is not always the case; in fact, a troublesome DM can even be worse, as it is a fundamental issue from which all other issues can stem. And all these problems come from one place: thinking that the campaign belongs to the DM. It doesn’t. It’s not the DM’s game. After all is said and done, the game belongs to the players; the DM is there to facilitate this.