by DeAnn Iwan
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| Dragon 43 | - | - | - | Dragon |
When Tuborg the not-so-bright <Priest>
decides to cook breakfast in
the dungeon, the DM can immediately roll for
which of
the wandering monsters attracted to the aroma of sizzling bacon arrives
first. When Eldor the elf shoots his crossbolt into melee and
clobbers Grimly the dwarf, Grimly can take his hefty axe and chop
Eldor’s irritating head off.
what the strengths and weaknesses of his own campaign are. All
players gloat the day they literally stumble over an unguarded invisible
chest full of treasure. All players bitch the day the Magic-User
throws a lightning bolt at the
gelatinous cube, and that bolt rebounds
to crisp the entire party.
But when the DM announces that he will offer 5,000 gp for a Rod
of Cancellation but wants 40,000 gp for a Knock Scroll, the hapless
character has nothing he can do to immediately and forcefully voice
his displeasure. Well, the player can storm out of the house in a huff,
but that approach is, strictly speaking, outside the framework of D&D.
There simply isn’t (and realistically, cannot be) automatic feedback
going from player to DM built into the game.
Ideally, DMs and players can informally discuss the format of individual
games between adventurers and the players can thereby
coax the DM into adapting the campaign more to their liking. But, as
is
typical of most versions of Paradise, this situation is rare. Even
if a
player is willing to try and discuss a DM’s campaign, the player may
succeed only in getting the DM defensive and angry. This is particularly
true if the player waits until the party has just been wiped out by
seven spectres encountered on the first level of a dungeon when the
average player level was second. All too often, players who really
enjoy D&D or AD&D end up quitting campaigns in particular,
and
even in general, when they find the DM’s world unrewarding.
Yet, most DM’s have spent a lot of time developing their dungeons
and want players to enjoy coming to their adventures. DMs want to
run a good campaign, one that is fun for themselves and their players.
Yet even if a DM listens to his players, he may not be able to figure
out
what the strengths and weaknesses of his own campaign are. All
players gloat the day they literally stumble over an unguarded invisible
chest full of treasure. All players bitch the day the Magic-User
throws a lightning bolt at the gelatinous cube, and that bolt rebounds
to crisp the entire party.
Nor does sifting through Dragon for helpful hints necessarily aid the
poor DM. For example, there have frequently been articles and comments
about campaigns which are far too liberal, where 150th-level
characters abound. Reading these articles will not help the previously
mentioned DM who is offering 5,000 gp for that rod of cancellation.
He’s likely to cross out half the (already rare) treasures in his dungeon,
up the price on a sleep scroll to 50,000,000 gp and tax all his players
85% of their take per adventure (not including the cost of living).
Nor
should a player be able to force a DM to “go by the book.” Smalltown
on the Bywater may not have ten gp in the entire town to pay for any
magic item or anything else.
More, there is no perfect game. An exciting campaign geared for
thirty-year-old astrophysicists who’ve been playing together for five
years will leave a group of twelve-year-olds bewildered. A welldirected
story line for small children which guides them through an
adventure will bore college students used to determining their
campaign as much as their DM does. In some communities, players
may be able to walk out of one DM’s dungeon and into another DM’s
without pausing for lunch. In some places, DM’s can play in their own
worlds. A DM has to adapt to be at his best.
The key to being a DM is to provide a BALANCED campaign.
Since the one form of feedback intrinsically missing from the game
is
that from player to DM, the following worksheet (read “slaughter
sheet”) may help. At least, it may help the players to get even, if
not to
get results.
Dungeon Master Evaluation Form
(Fill in or indicate only those which apply)
1. ________ I think your games are much too easy for characters.
No matter how stupidly we play, we survive, advance and gain treasure.
________ Your games are much too difficult. If I wanted the brutality
of real life,
I'd be playing the stock market.
______ Bassically, I think hazards and rewards are fairly well balanced in your world.
2. ________ Haven't you ever heard of resurrection?
________ Doesn't anybody ever die in this place?
For the frequency with which we play, I think that an average of of about ________ person(s) per ________ campaign(s) should die resurrectably/nonresurrectably in order to keep the game exciting.
3. ________ It's much too easy to gain treasure in your world.
4. ________ You need more treasure in your dungeons.
5. ________ Your major treasures are really inventive, but you need
a few more minor treasures
scattered about.
________ You have enough treasure in your dungeon, but you need some
concentrated piles we
can really be creative about going after.
6. ________ More minor magical items would add a lot to your campaign.
________ You need more major magical items in your world.
7. ________ I think it's most fun to play low level (1-3 level) characters
when you're scrambling
for coppers to buy torches for the expedition. This is the level most
like real people; I
identify with it.
8. ________ I prefer games with only a character per player per adventure.
________ I prefer party-sized adventures where some or all of the player characters have one or two companions in arms.
________ The best games are when we play armies against armies.
9. ________ The whole point of these games is creativity. When I'm inventive
and daring
enough to pick the vampire's pocket, I expect to be rewarded if I succeed.
________ Picking the key out of that vampire's pocket was cheating.
You should have to hack
your way through a monster.
10. ________ The best parts of your campaigns are the dungeons themselves.
Your rooms,
traps and the like are always a surprise, delightful or otherwise.
________ Your non-player characters are what makes your game. We run
into the most fascinating
people; they bring the adventure to life.
________ Your inventive curses are intriguing. Were you a gypsy in a former life?
________ It's really the themes to places in your world that give the
campaign body. No one will
ever say you had a computer run off rooms, monsters and treasures.
11. ________ It's most fun to play competent characters.
I prefer the "newer" techniques of
rolling up characteristics. I can fall over the trash can in real life.
When I come to D&D, I want to
track my arch-enemy over rocky mountains and through marshy mires.
________ One of the best parts of playing a character is to accomodate
their attributes. It's a
challenge and a delight to play a grumpy dwarf that hacks down the
door everyone else is tip-toeing
by. I prefer "older" techniques of rolling up characters which give
more average, more believable traits.
________ Overall, I thought your last adventure was ________ excellent;
________ pretty good;
________ better than being hung up by my toes for four hours;
a few more that bad and I'll stay home to wash my hair.
13. Usually, though, your games are fantastic; ________ great;
________ fun;
________ better than being run over by a Volkswagen;
________ worse than being hit by a Mack truck.
14. Your games give too much advantage to ________ Magic-Users;
________ Fighters; ________ Druids;
________ Thieves; ________ Ellves;
________ Clerics; ________ Illusionists;
________ Humans; ________ Dwarves;
________ Other ( ___________________________________________________
).
15. On the other hand, it's a horror to be a ________ Magic-User;
________ Fighter;
________ Ranger;
________ Human;
________ Cleric;
________ Paladin;
________ Elf;
________ Druid;
________ Thief;
________ Dwarf;
________ Other _________________________________________
) in your world.
16. Advancement in your dungeon is ________ too fast;
________ slow;
________ too variable; as close to perfect as it
could be unless I were DM.
17. The pacing of an adventure is almost entirely up to you as DM. In
general, your pacing is
________ good; could stand some beefing up; Pacing?
Do you have pacing?
18. Your pacing could be improved if ________ you stopped characters
from discussing their
moves in melee by making that discussion their move;
________ you rolled for wandering monsters when the party gets bogged down in an argument;
________ you were a little sharper and more orderly about asking each
person what they were
doing in melee;
________ you didn't let one of the characters boss the others so much;
________ you didn't let one of the characters boss you so much;
________ you didn't take half of forever to look up something in the manual all the time;
________ you didn't stop characters to make them back up moves when
you thought of something
after the fact;
________ other ( __________________________________________________________ )
19. On those occasions when you don't quite remember what the manual
says on a certain
point, I would prefer that you ________ look up the answer no matter
how long it takes;
________ guess, if you have to. After all, the reason we have a DM instead of a computer running us is for flexibility, creativity and responsiveness.
20. ________ DMs should almost always go exactly by the rule book. I value consistency above all.
________ Each DM creates his or her own world. The rule books are intended
only as a guide to
aid in playability.
21. Your game is consistent/inconsistent with itself, and consistent/inconsistent
with D&D
or AD&D. I do/do not like this situation.
22. Your campaign world could use more/less (write "m" or "l") ________
general weapons.
________ complicated, realistic combat;
________ powerful wandering monsters;
________ simple, fast-moving combat systems; ________ general wandering monsters
________ chaos/law confrontations; ________ dead characters;
________ chaotic creatures; ________ available resurrections
________ lawful creatures; ________ divine intervention
________ powerful magic items; ________ ways to get information;
________ lesser magical items; ________ ways to get useful information;
________ very minor and obscure magical items; ________ non-player characters;
________ interesting non-magical items (e.g., telescopes) ________ room for player initiative;
________ variability (e.g., being likely to run into machine gun wielding commandoes or carapaced humanoids); ________ gold; ________ gems; ________ armor; ________ silver and copper;
________ other ( ________________________________________________________ )
23. ________ There is too much magic in the campaign.
________ There is not enough magic in the campaign.
24. ________ is the ideal ratio of levels progressed through to games played.
25. You have too many/few curses in your game; the ones you have are dull/inventive.
26. You have too many/too few physical traps in your game; the ones
you have are horribly
mystifying/delightfully simple.
27. You have too many/few non-player characters in your game; the ones
you have are
fascinating personalities/boring cannon fodder.
28. ________ I prefer that non-player characters have strong personalities
and can be persuaded
into being true side-kick companions.
________ I just want to hire me some cannon fodder. When I charge him
at the golem, I don't
want to feel bad about losing the turkey.
29. You do/do not let a bossy player get away with running everybody else.
If you do, you might be able to limit this by ________ specifically
asking each character what
they're doing; ________ making any "bossing" that
character's move in melee;
________ devise a method of choosing a leader, such as making the character
with the highest
Charismas-plus-level lead; having some non-player character put a zipper
spell on the jerk's
mouth; ________ I don't know but PLEASE do something.
30. ________ Worlds where the DM borrows heavily on mythologies, literary
fantasies, etc.
which interest him -- whether or not these are in the AD&D
manuals -- are the most interesting
worlds.
________ Please stick to the manuals. I don't play often enough to figure out all of your quirks.
31. ________ DMs who guide us through an adventure are best.
________ I prefer lots of opportunity to choose my own path in your
world, but this does require
lots of chances to find out information (blind stumbling around is
boring).
32. You need more/less everyday objects in your campaign. Finding a
good pair of scissors
or a flashlight may suond trivial, ________ and it is ;
________ but ultimately such objects vastly expand what you can think
of to do and hence
make the game much more fun.
33. ________ I don't like getting knifed in the back. We shouldn't invite
unruly and unreliable
characters to our games anymore.
________ On occasion, I like a chaotic adventure where I can vent my hostilities as an Assassin.
34. The best part of your game is________ the break for pizza;
________ the incredible detail of your world; ________ the concrete rewards of money for effort;
________ the fascinating non-player characters; ________ seeing my character steadily advance.
__________ the inventiveness you encourage in us players; ________ the thrill of defeating monsters;
________ the ingenious traps; ________ playing a game with people instead of against them;
35. My favorite role-playing game is ________ one close to medieval tales; ________ heroic fantasy;
________ one with a heavy scientific bent; ________ one with mutants; ________ one with space travel;
________ other ( ______________________________________________________ )
36. My favorite game (irrespective of DMs) is________ D&D; ________ AD&D; ________ Traveller;
________ Runequest; ________ Metamorphosis Alpha; ________ other ( _______________ )
37. The gods should be offended when a player ____________________________________
38. If I were to make ONE single suggestion about how to improve your
campaign, it would
be _____________________________________________________________________
39. I don't think you give enough credit to ________ lawful integrity;
________ chaotic audacity;
________ bravery; ________ brute force; ________ persistence; ________
other (________________________________)
40. ________ I enjoy miniatures. Elaborate miniatures are one of the best parts of the game.
________ Miniatures are useful for knowing who Clumsy Alfred fell into when he stumbled.
________ Miniatures are irrevelant or even distracting from the game.
41. ________ Town adventures are one of the most colorful parts of the game.
________ Wasting an hour in town bartering for a sword or hireling is boring.
42. Time in your dungeon is/is not realistic, and your distortions make
the game more/less
playable.
________ It doesn't take a man on crutches 10 minutes to walk 30 paces.
________ Not even Conan could polish off 3 vampires, a dragon and 42
orcs while traveling 100
miles in a single morning.
43. ________ I like to hack and slash. ________ I like dungeons that take many adventures.
________ I like minicampaigns that take one or two adventures to complete.
It’s okay to copy
Dear Editor:
Your Dungeon Master Evaluation Form
(Issue #43) should be invaluable to any
DM
desiring to improve his dungeon. However,
one copy of the form will not be enough. May
the form be reproduced from the magazine?
You didn’t say.
Paul Parsons
Silver Spring, Md.
(Dragon #46)
Oversight on our part, Paul. Yes, the form
may be photocopied or otherwise reproduced
so that it can be distributed among a group of
players. The article should have carried a
notice to that effect, but obviously it didn't.
-- Kim
(Dragon #46)