Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

It is worth mentioning, that becoming a DM is a huge undertaking, and you have to dedicate a lot of free time to truly make it work. I know all the DM's here would love to be able to make more stories for individuals but with the amount of players here, it's difficult to do. DM burn out is a very real thing, and these people are volunteers. I know I can't dedicate the free time it takes to be a DM with how my life is these days.

My best advice is get the people you want together, and start making your event happen. I did it with (Avacus Spyre.) at the beginning with NO DM at all. Just using my own summons/clues for the players that were after him. It went well, and eventually we had Flasmix involved and Maecius involved without even asking them, they just dropped in and helped from time to time. It was great.

Players here can be the driving force in a story all on their own, if they are dedicated enough. you will find most players here very receptive to being a part of someone elses tale, as long as it isn't self-aggrandizing and is fun for everyone. If you want it to happen, make it happen.

Winterborne wrote: 1) Do you still play character-side regularly? I have considered applying to DM at some point but I tend to go real hard at whatever I'm doing (whether playing a character, or not), and I don't know how easy it would be for me to divide my attention between the two (hence my wanting to stay strictly on the character side of things for the time being).

2) Do you JUST do DM things mostly? Do you still play your characters? I am curious to hear responses to this.

I divided your questions up so I can properly answer them.

1) Yes, I play character-side regularly. You know me personally on both Simon and Mathias. Simon's involved in the Radiant Heart, Mathias involved with the Northern Watch and my other PC Wirg is in Bregan D'aerthe. When I first joined, he was leading it so I stepped down from that but he's still a member. The general rule of thumb is, don't DM for guild.

2) I'd say I'm MOSTLY on Playerside. I really hate doing those random one-off events that go no where, provide no real value aside from giving PCs just a bit of work to do, no character development or anything. I prefer helping groups or individuals achieve personal goals or grow as a character if I'm doing an event. I've run into issues where when I'm doing large events with many people involved, everybody just disappears. Kind of puts things on hiatus!

If I'm not doing those personal kinds of events or group ones, I'll make an NPC and have it interact with different groups to see what happens. I.E. Puck.

Sometimes I'll hop around and see what PCs are doing. Saw one person kiting the Frost Giant King while blasting them with range attacks, then running still. Had the giant start yelling "THIS IS VERY ANNOYING! STOP RUNNING!"

DM Burnout is a thing and after I do a bunch of large events, I take a small break from the DM client and just focus on player stuff. Last year I took a break from NWN2 in general for a few weeks, it's what I would recommend instead of just burning out completely.

Rask wrote:My best advice is get the people you want together

I remember we did the same and after that we were accused in godmodding (we summoned undead and made a sacrifice on the Lion's Way). Not the best solution sometimes.