Hey I Can Chan

I build a world framework. You help make that world real. I build the kind of world in which I’d like to adventure because my NPCs are adventuring there. You then help make it into the kind of world in which you want to adventure by making choices about what happens.

I never have a PC when I DM. You are players. You have player characters. I’m the DM; I have all the non-player characters. I don’t need a PC to make me feel connected to the world or point you in the right direction. I made the world. They’re all right directions.

I run a sandbox-style game, but with plots happening all around you. You can choose to get involved with them or forge your own way. But things happen when you’re not around, and ignoring a plot doesn’t make it go away; instead, it means the campaign world will change because you didn’t get involved as much as it will change because you did.

I don’t expect the world to survive the campaign. I don’t expect NPCs to survive the campaign. I expect you to raze cities and murder NPCs. Don’t worry about them; I’ll make more. I have infinite resources for regeneration.

You should make character choices based on the kind of game you want you be in. If you take as your feat Weapon Focus, I’ll assume you want more combat. If you take an item creation feat, I assume you want more detail on that. And so on. Every choice you make tells me something about the campaign world and its shifting focus. But it’s also up to you to use what you have to solve problems. I don’t design problems specifically so your abilities will solve them; I set up situations, you solve them with your abilities.

I expect you to be smart. My NPCs will be smart (when that’s appropriate). It’s rare, but I might give you actual real-life challenges like puzzles and riddles that need solving with on your own brain power rather than a series of die rolls; I know that’s kind of shitty and takes power away from your character sheet, but I also know it can be interesting and entertaining and make for some good storytelling. In such cases, I’ll sometimes employ an intermediary—like the wife or the boy—to stand in for the world while I play an NPC if the challenge is a competitive one so as to even the playing field.

I don’t railroad. I’ve have an outline of what the antagonists are doing while you’re doing what you’re doing, and you tend to cross paths with the antagonists, but if you don’t care, so be it. If you want to go off the rails, that’s great: you can’t. There are no rails. Do what you want.

I’m tightfisted, but not unreasonably so. The game’s advancement scheme means that encountering treasure is less frequent than leveling up. You’re going to be poor, but your character’s going to be badass, so that makes up for it. You won’t feel it until you’re third level and still tracking copper pieces. That usually means you’re going too slow not that I am.

Don’t try to con me. If you want to do something, let’s talk about it. If you’re picking something because there’s a rules interpretation out there that you want to exploit, don’t spring it on me. Talk to me. Make sure we agree before you choose something upon which reasonable people disagree. I am an extremely liberal DM, but I’m not a goldfish. I think the rules are there for a reason, and sometimes shit doesn’t do what you think it does, and sometimes shit doesn’t do what I think it does.

Above all: Talk to me. I can’t game without you.