ABOUT THE DM

I don't think of myself as a god (*gasp*!)
No, seriously. As a DM I see my job as primarily a StoryTeller, and go-between among the players, the populace in the world I create, and the action. I feel that while I've created the world the characters inhabit, and present situations to the characters, it's the characters/players that end up forming the path of the story.

Oh, I might steer things now and then, hopefully very subtley, but I let the players do with their characters what they want to do in most respects. In fact, I encourage and reward players who develop unique and colorful characters who throw me a curve now and then.

I'm certainly not perfect. I make my share of mistakes, but I always own up to them. And if the mistake led to the detriment of the player, I'll almost always make it up to them in an at least equal level. I'm also a stickler for a balance between established rules and increased realism. If a situation requires a slight change to the established rule, I'll favor increased realism if it seems logical. I accept petitions from the players for adjustments in favor of logic and realism. That doesn't mean I'll always agree and change things, but I'll consider it.

I do believe also that while I try to be fair and always keep player enjoyment in mind, the DM's Final Word is final and should be respected. After all, there has to be SOME sense of central organization and order.

DM EXPERIENCE

I've been playing RPG's, D&D specifically, for about 22 years now. (*Hangs head in weary incredulousness* Has it been that long?!) Since I was 8 or 9. I was a player until I was 12 and since then, all these lo 18 years, I have been the GM of purt'near every game I have ever been a part of. Be it AD&D, Top Secret, Shadowrun, Twilight 2000, Paranoia, or others. Not that I don't enjoy being a player! I certainly do! But every group I've been a part of I've either introduced RPG'ing to, or quickly rose to the rank of GM.

However, to be honest, the last couple of years I've had very little RPG experience at all. I've had to move around a bit due to my job and so have been without a gaming group for some time. WHich is what brought me to PBEM gaming. Back in the early and mid 80's I always wanted to join one of those PBM groups advertised in Dragon magazine, but never was able to. When you're in grade school it's hard to convince your mom that paying a subscription fee to send mail back and forth to play a game she was already leary of my obsession to was a good idea (*grin*). But now that chance is finally here! (*sticks tongue out at mom*) I started playing PBEM games recently. Alternity and D&D. My most recent game as a player had to fold due to the DM's real-life good fortune, so I thought now was a good time for me to foray into the world of DM'ing a PBEM game.