Are You A Forever DM?
Today’s article is for the more advanced DM. Maybe you’ve been the DM for your group for such a long time and you forgot what it’s like to be a player? If this is you, you already possess a lot of skills to help other players feel valued or even inspire them to better RP.
This makes you the veteran player at the table and puts a lot of responsibility on you. That being said, if you work with your DM to figure out how much your player knows about things in a pre-existing module. Maybe your character is a scholar of the region or a historian. You could also be in the role of a teacher or mentor, especially if your DM is newer.
Don’t Expect Your DM To Follow The Same Path You Would Choose
One thing to remember is not everyone will follow the same path in a module you do. The DM may change a few things if they know you’ve played the module before, so be prepared to see new things.
Now this brings us to that fancy word called “Metagaming”. This is a term of much debate in what is fair for Rp, and in short is using advanced book knowledge to trivialize the task in a story. As a DM, you may already know all the solutions or monster weaknesses. This is where the responsibility comes in because you could be a safety for the group to find the solution or you could be a secret agent of the bad guys causing a disruption to the solution.
How To Avoid Metagaming
The best way is to allow the other players to take the spotlight to figure out the solution and if they struggle you can start giving them hints like “maybe the key is hidden in one of those books.”
In this way you aid the DM with allowing the story to run smoother and it removes a small portion of the things the DM has to keep track of. Think carefully of your actions and deeply consider if your character knows something, when in doubt always ask your DM first then use that response to fuel your own.
What Else Can You Bring To The Table?
If you’ve been a DM for a long enough time, you already have experience describing actions and motives. This is where the advanced portion comes in, and I feel this is where you can step up and describe your actions deeper than most players may not. In this way you can lead by example and bring in deeper immersion to all the players.
You also may know how to pull others to the RP and this can help newer players directly with learning the game. This way they gain first hand experience and have an enriching experience.
Wrapping It Up
I feel that a DM stepping back into the player role can be both exciting and daunting. You may feel a lot more is riding on you since you may have the most experience in these games. There is a lot more responsibility you take on, but it is worth it. Sometimes that break is enough to help stop burnout from striking. As long as you share the spotlight and allow everyone equal chance of input then the game becomes stronger and a better experience.
As always, any comments or questions are appreciated. You can leave a reply here or chat on WallyDM’s discord.
I’m a published author that has written various stories over the span of about 25 years. I’ve also been playing TTRPGs for just as long, if not longer. I am currently DMing a campaign thats been going for about 5 years and still going.
