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What kind of GM are you? (forms.gle)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by to c/rpg@ttrpg.network
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Greetings, programs! With the MCDM community's help, I've prepared a survey of GM styles, so that I can use factor analysis to find the common variables underlying GMs' responses, and come up with a scientific answer to "what kinds of GM styles are there?" The survey has 43 questions and takes a few minutes to complete. The more people answer, the better the data we'll get.

EDIT: We got 101 responses and now we're analysing the data. First results: There are 9 dimensions of GM style! Not sure what they are, but there's 9 of them.

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[–] 5 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Fun initiative. A bit narrow in its scope as others said because it focuses on DnD style games and fails to encompass much of the rest. Notions like encounter and art prep make no sense if these things are not part of the game. Same with "behind the screen" if there's no screen, but especially annoying to put sandbox and railroad with no definition on a single scale. Feels like a questionnaire asking about whether you're catholic or protestant, ignoring the rest of the world's perspectives.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    A fair criticism, as these questions were submitted by the MCDM community, and most of us play Draw Steel, so the questions are probably biased towards games like Draw Steel.

    However, if a GM mostly runs Blades in the Dark as a player-directed experience, and spends way more time collecting music and paintings to set the scene and mood, rather than preparing heist obstacles for their Crew, I'd say that GM runs an art-prep-heavy sandbox game. Such a GM might also prefer to hide enemy factions' plans from the players and blindside them with twists, or roll on the complication table in front of the players and let them see how the mechanics are creating the story. So while I agree with your point, I don't actually find your examples convincing. Perhaps you have experience with games even less like D&D than BitD, and I'm simply too narrow minded to understand your critiques.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago* (2 children)

    Nah, you're probably right that I was not very good at explaining myself.

    I think this one link can hopefully make my point clearer: 1d6chan.miraheze.org/wiki/Everyone_Is_John

    Using that game would then make less sense to ask about encounters or challenging players/characters, or railroaing, or sandboxing.

    Same for example if a game has a specifically defined setting not made by gm or players, does not have encounters and is not involve the idea of challenging anyone. Technically, I can go around the world classifying people as "proactive" or "reactive" in the way they see life, but it would not necessarily mean much to many of them.

    But it is fine, I'm far from being representative. Many questions work on a broader scale, but some did not. Especially if my perspective on ttrpgs does not align with the way things are often presented in groups where DnD is a synonym for ttrpgs.

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