Poll: Are you a nice, Dick, or fair DM?

[Xanadu84]

Fair and nice. That's the real, hidden secret of being a DM. You want the players to believe that you are being a dick, but you want to ACTUALLY be nice. You want players to succeed, you just want them to succeed and feel like they succeeded over something. That's the biggest mistake that newbie DMs make. Also, realizing that cheating in the players favor is quite frequently a good thing.

 

[Rylot]

I've only DM'd a few times but I try and be fair and keep it fun for everyone. We're all pretty noobtastic so I try and not do too much, but sometimes the dice just want to be dicks. I always show die rolls and I seem to get way more 20's than I ever do as a player. Damn evil dice.

 

[Roganzar]

I've been DMing for a very long time. Oh Gods how I miss playing.
Anyway, I fall into a little of all of the options. I do prefer to keep the story going and I can be pretty loose with the rules, with a few exceptions, and when it comes down to it I will kill the players if it comes up.
I usually will go easy but then it comes down to a "boss" fight or deathtrap situation and the kid gloves come off. I never go out of my way to kill players for the sake of killing players. If its applicable to the story then, yeah no problem. Other than that, its bad form. Played with a few DMs that had that mentality and I absolutely hated those games. Player death has to be meaningful on some level. Even if the cleric can rez them after the battle, its still has to be meaningful.

 

[Gauntes]

I award players who try their best to roleplay
and I try to keep the encounters as balanced as possible

so far, only 1 tpk

 

[Techsmart07]

I am a little bit of everything when it comes to dming. I DM 3.5/PF campaigns, and I warn my players several things.
1) whatever you throw at me, I will throw at you. I.E. I won't use psionics if you won't.
2) The enemy will fight intelligently. This means, it will take all advantages it can in combat within reason (aka earth elemental trap).
3) If you want it, you are gonna earn it.
4) the magic items I give you can be incredibly powerful, weak, random, self-destructive, what have you. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. (My most recent item was a bag - roll a d4 when something is put into it. On a 1, the bag creates an effect that bullrushes everything within 15 feet. On a 2, the bag shoots the item out, much like a void bag. On a 3, the item is stored inside of it. On a 4, the item disappears into the bag. Never to be found again).
My campaigns, despite these warnings, tend to be fairly popular. I've got a waiting list of 5 people in my currently-full 4-man campaign.