The 4 Worst GM Styles & How To Avoid Them

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I think another major GM style pitfall is "The Author". It's one I've both seen and fall into myself more often than I care to admit. It's where the GM has already plotted out how an adventure will play, and expects the players to naturally fall into that. This sort of mentality is where I feel the textbook definition of "railroading" comes in, because the GM has already decided how the story will play out, and the players can only abide by that series of events or else be told how any deviation won't work. It will inevitably reach a point where the GM is just an orator in which it doesn't matter who your characters are or what they're doing, the "grand story" will play out how the GM has already decided it will, even if a PC dies and gets replaced things will progress all the same. Such a GM will likely believe they're telling a riveting tale that the players are enjoying, without realizing that the players aren't there to hear a story, they're there to PLAY OUT a story. If the campaign is going to play out the same way regardless of player deaths or actions (and I'm talking even minor details, not just big picture elements), why should the players be invested? At that point you may as well start a book club instead of a TTRPG game. I actually had a GM who was as much this as The Winner, which became more infuriating when he would get angry when the party used some tactic against the monsters but was outwardly gleeful when he pulled the same trick on us (and then would be confused why we would stop using tactics he was constantly hard countering). We were but visitors to his world, and story, and would accept nothing but the story playing out exactly how he wanted it to (even going so far as ending a session early and rebooting an encounter when he realized his original monsters combat tactics were ineffective against a particular party member).

Excellent video. One "silver lining" of the actor DM - if you have a group of players heavy on the tactical or problem-solving side but doesn't role-play much, it can get them out of their shell and into character. Sometimes they just need that little bit of help from the GM to get started.

If you're a winner DM/GM, just go get Descent and play that game. At least everyone knows in that game, the DM/GM is deliberately antagonistic.

I use GMPCs for different reasons: To fuel social play. My GMPCs tend to ask "Hey, what do we do now?" to spark conversation or point things out in conversation that the characters know but the players forgot or to simply be part of the story that the players can experience. In combat they make extensive use of the help action to enable the player characters to do awesome stuff! They use their actions to enable the PCs. Could I use NPC Stats for them? Yes. But I ran into a problem. Many of my players asked me "Why would it make sense to have a character with us that is weak and as such we have to protect him? This becomes an escort mission and that's not fun." So I use player character stats but intentionally choose to not play the most effective builds or classes and have them about one level behind the PCs and use the help action more and have them nearly as capable as the PCs.

One of my friends ended up being a winner GM because we killed an enemy that he intended us to run from. He sent a CR26 vs us level 17s. We killed that CR26 on a technicality, and he just had Vecna come kill us all.

I''ve fallen into a few of these. 100% been the actor a few times. I had this session I thought was going to be amazing, the players had been inviting various npcs to a war council to fight an evil big bad. So, I figured them all at the table whilst the players can watch the fruits of their labour from afar would be awesome. It was not. I quickly noticed they were all losing interest, so I spun in an after party and let them join in the politics and the session went 10 times more fun.

THERE we go. I was wondering why none of the previous styles fit me, and it's because I'm Not-a-GM. I DO try to show the rest of the group a good time, and plan things out to a small degree, and I do try to keep track of what's happened and have a vague overall plot for people to head towards, because I know that's fun for players - I give the crowd what they want, so my players do seem to enjoy themselves. But ultimately, no. I personally don't have any fun with doing this stuff, I'm just doing it because nobody else will, so I just don't care about this world I've "created". If the PCs get bored with the town they're in and go elsewhere, OK, whatever. Off they go, I guess.

GMPCs are definitely something I struggled with in the past. Until my mid-20s, I had almost exclusively not-great GMs, and most of them fell into the Winner or Player styles (or both). It took a close friend gently taking me aside after a session I ran and telling me that the point of the story should be for the PCs to shine, not the NPCs, for me to realize what I was doing wrong and to try to change things going forward. I'm so grateful to him for doing that. He was the only one who ever took the time to explain how I was misunderstanding rules or mechanics, or how something I did was problematic, and he did so in a calm and friendly manner as opposed to my past GMs and groups who chose to punish me without explaining why. I learned about a whole new side of D&D (and RPing in general) thanks to that man.

Guy, I am still what I would consider new to DnD (a little under a year playing). I just started developing my own Homebrew campaign, and you have been so incredibly helpful! Love your videos, love your insight!

My personal dm style is to make the nemesis a sorta gmpc. What I mean is after the session I do a quick game by myself as the dm and nemesis and just basically roll a few times to see if the nemesis has done a few things "off screen." Such as hiring a new mini boss or getting a piece of the item they are searching for in a place the PCs wouldn't be.

I have definitely been guilty of being "Not A GM" -- I only run games for our group when the regular DM needs a break between campaigns. But it kind of works out...the players know and accept that things are gonna get kind of silly and loosey-goosey for a while, and it can actually be a fun change of pace before we go back to the "real", "serious" style of game.

What I think this video does best is show us how different positive aspects of GMing can become a problem when the GM loses sight of the entire purpose behind RPGS: sitting around with your friends to have some fun. The very good desire to challenge your players can become the Winner when it loses sight of the players. The desire to play a game with your friends becomes the Player when it loses sight of the what the GM is meant to do for the players. The willingness to take on a role so everyone can enjoy a game becomes the Not A GM when the GM forgets the entire reason they decided to be the GM in the first place, so their friends could have some fun. And, of course, the GM who wants to put on a good show for their friends can become the Actor when they lose sight of the fact that the entire stage is meant to be set so their friends can shine. All of these are positive traits so long as the GM never loses sight of their players, the fun of the group, and the reason we all love playing these games.

Amazing tips as usual, i recognize a few of these styles. The first few sessions that i DMed, i was the winner and the player DM, but later sessions i learned to set the party in the headlight. Now i do sometimes slip into the actor DM, but not too much. On the other hand, a friend of mine who DMs a campaign im in, i would say is a mix of all these types except the Actor Dm, i have even tried to give him tips, but he is a bit stubborn, i think and just interupts and says he knows what he is doing. It is getting dull i can see. He wont probably watch too many tips-videos, even the ones i send him. At this point ive just given up on giving him advice as a 3,5 year experienced Dm.

Thanks as always :) Your videos are always informative and loaded with excellent advice! Keeps me coming back over and over to learn and grow as a dm.

I really enjoyed when the players surprised me. I sometimes would tell them not to tell me not to tell me what their end goal is , just go step by step. That way I didn't fall into the meta gaming trap. And my players actively avoided meta gaming themselves. It was a great group.

It's sometimes great to watch videos like this and get yourself a heads up. I have always been very self conscious and after a session think of myself as a bad DM. But a video like this one can show me that I'm not bad, just inexperienced. Thanks for that!

It's interesting to see the archetypes that I fit into (and fight against!). Thanks for the full picture you're trying to give. Having the good and the bad to compare against is the most helpful, I think.

The unprepared GM! Not knowing all the rules and making them up on the fly, having no NPCs prepped, nor maps, nor immediate goals, just an overarching grand theme. Great and interesting overall idea but each session filled with ah's and um's, shuffling papers, not knowing what the PC's abilities and spells do, rolling on random generators, then looking up monster stats, delay, delay, delay.

I've been the winner and actor types for sure. I've gotten some lulz from the group at my attempts to kill them or switch things up, but I realize it can be a frustrating experience as a player. Sometimes I do these things for my own amusement, as my group is super reluctant for anyone else to be gm...(can we get a video on encouraging others to jump in the gm seat? 🙏🏽) The current campaign I'm doing has been going on for over 10 sessions and interest is still there, so I must be doing something right! Having the descriptions of these pitfalls out like this will hopefully help me help the pcs to continue to have a good time ^^ THANKS AS ALWAYS! 😊