I don't have a group in my area and the past few months I've been itching to play some D&D.
Last week I visited a friend, took my books, and at midnight we decide to put down our Wiimotes and roll up some characters. Another friend's little brother volunteers to DM for his first time. I don't exactly think he was throwing "balanced encounters" at us, but hey, just getting to roll some dice was nice, and being drunk while doing it didn't hurt either.
Having that taste only seemed to inflame my desire.
Anyway, a guy on a message board I go to said he might run a game and was wondering what people might want to play. I was interested in hearing if he had any house rules
(for obvious reasons). Anyway, the conversation went like this... (Names replaced because I'm big on protecting identities for some reason.)
[spoiler]<yeller> Well, Asshat, do you have any houserules you tend to use?
<Asshat> I tend to not use the massive damage thing...
<Asshat> But other then that
<Asshat> No.
<Asshat> I just have a Very creative style of Dm'ing..
<yeller> Hmm...
<Asshat> And i love
<yeller> Define "creative"
<Asshat> throwing at shit at people
<Asshat> tha make them go
<Asshat> " WAIT NO~! "
<Asshat> Like
<Asshat> Epic peasents.
<yeller> At what level for the players?
<Asshat> 1
<Asshat> This is fun
<Asshat> for my first game with new players
<Asshat> I always do this
<Asshat> I put a few peasents in a trading situation
<Asshat> with something rare
<Asshat> just baiting my players into attacking
<Asshat> then right out of no where
<Asshat> all the enemies pull out +5 vorpal katana's
<yeller> ...
<Asshat> its so evil
<Asshat> and I love having this mass of rule books ive collected with interweb resources
<Asshat> Lets me pick out more and more new things and idea's
<yeller> If the players win, do they get to keep the +5 vorpal katana(s)?
<Asshat> ... Players... win?
<Asshat> that sentance confuses me.
<Asshat> No.
<Asshat> They usually get the shit kicked out of
<Asshat> and they run off in a clever way that saves there ass.
<Asshat> But
<yeller> But if they survived?
<Asshat> Yeah
<Asshat> they usually survive cause they get smart
<Asshat> but its not a victory.
<Asshat> Not for that encounter.
[/spoiler]
Okay, so picking "Asshat" as his replacement name is probably a giant red flag I should be able to see....
Part of me is all
Break his game! but I don't have the skills and experience for that.
Could someone just smack me upside the head and tell me I deserve better?
So, due to this lack of DMs, I'm getting tempted to try my hand at DMing again. I'm not particularly confident about doing it though.
When I've tried DMing before, I didn't end up having any fun. Looking back, I'd been handed the DM duties shortly after all the PCs had been knocked out and thrown in a dungeon and the previous DM had absolutely no notes to give me about the place since he'd been BSing it.
Should knowing I'm not the world's best DM and wanting to improve and run a game I'd like to play in as a player be enough to give it a try? As opposed to, say, trying to compare myself with amazing DMs who've been running games longer than I've been alive.
Any advice on how to grow the balls to DM is welcome. As is any advice on how to avoid playing in a game I'll probably end up hating (both recognizing and politely (or not) saying no).
And if I'm like rambling or off-topic or in the wrong section or whatever, I'm using that it's 5 am as an excuse.