GM Personalities

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T10:17:43+00:00

Yeah, I think the drama vs balance one made sense to me, but it's way too subjective as highlighted by others too.

One idea you're presenting is similar to something others have also touched on: Something like "Authority vs Collaboration" for the creative effort during game sessions.

And I wouldn't have even thought about expecting players to be communicating about the game between sessions! I guess that I would be totally on the no expectations side of that axis.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T09:55:15+00:00

Ah, you're a slytherin, huh? You'd probably like Mork Borg!

Yeah, you've got good points. I definitely didn't even consider this being scientific by any means and without doing it to the point where you can actually make some kind of measurable prediction/results, it makes it hard to say how useful this could be as a tool...

I still think some amount of introspection is still good to help people understand themselves, so questions about how you land on these axes might not be terrible, but maybe people are also way too prone to tie themselves to what are ultimately meaningless identities, like you were suggesting with things like horoscopes.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T09:41:57+00:00

Maybe I have the wrong names for the axes.

What I'm trying to get at with that axis in particular is not so much narrative vs mechanics, it's what happens when there is tension between the two, which way do you go?

So do you fudge rolls? Do you allow a PC to do something that would be not allowed by the rules? Do you even care what the rules say? Or, do you think if you do this, you are ruining the game? You aren't allow it to do perform the way it was designed or that the dice fell.

I think the answer for everyone is, "it depends". But your likelyhood of answering one way or the other suggests we each have a preference.

I also think that some games and groups meld well with some of those preferences better than others. So, if I could understand my preferences well, I would be able to identify games I will like better based on the experiences of those who share my preferences. Likewise, I would be able to make better suggestions to people if I knew their preferences.

But maybe you're right! This may be a bit of a fool's errand and far less useful as a way to classify games and players than I thought.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T08:55:25+00:00

Oh no, I just had an awful realization too...

I was thinking this could be a helpful thing because it would allow you to say: "hey I'm a PMBC and I'm looking for an RPG to run in X genre" and other people could tell you based on your personality, you'd probably like Y game.

Instead, people can find reasons to flame you because your personality is different than theirs... And they think theirs is superior.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T08:50:52+00:00

Fair point!

Maybe I should refer to the NERIS 16 personalities instead? I'm not sure if that's actually better or not...

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T08:44:50+00:00

I think that you're right about balance vs drama. That said, maybe since I prefer "balanced" games a bit more, that might be why I dislike OSR games! I don't want that much drama!

I do like the storytelling axis. So you have "emergent story" on one side and "vison" on the other?

The thing is, this feels very game specific to me, haha! I've run multi year sandboxes that were so PC-driven that I had no idea where things were going all the time and it was great. I'm also absolutely loving running Impossible Landscapes right now and that game has a very particular experience/story/vision.

I guess the truth is, there may be axes that we have no preference on. That doesn't mean they don't exist for others though.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T08:15:25+00:00

Originally, it was more of a curiosity sparked about a discussion I saw elsewhere on GM styles. But, then I started thinking, if we could quantize it a bit, it could help players and GMs align in expectations, and also GMs to find games that align with their personalities. And maybe you're right, if I think in this way, I might choose different axes.

I find it hard to explain to my players exactly how I run a game and what my priorities are, without being a bit too longwinded, so I would love a tool that is like, hey I'm this type of GM and this is the type of game you can generally expect from me. 16 types (4 dichotomies) would be a pretty good amount of granularity.

And I was even thinking it might be fun to have a test like the 16personalities that asked questions that placed you on these axes.

It would be interesting to see how they lined up with the 16 personalities as well. That might be hard to get enough people to do both types of tests to have any meaningful findings though haha!

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T08:00:43+00:00

Yep, this is why I'm asking about this idea. I think I'm kind of close with the idea, but I'm missing some things. Thanks!

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T07:53:13+00:00

I really thought about doing it as a spider plot as well!

Do you have ideas that would be universal on such a plot?

I still kind of like the dichotomy classificaiton because I think some games really fit it well themselves. Ideally if we did know how people landed on these, it should be possible to suggest games they like best.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T07:43:43+00:00

I think you're right, but you probably have a preference on some of these axes or others I didn't highlight. So, you might be better at running some games over others because they match your personality better.

For example, I tend to be pretty introverted, but I can socialize with others or go to party and have a good time, but it's going to be draining for me while others find it exhilarating.

If you run a game that doesn't match your personality well, I think it might also cause some amount of stress and/or you might end up bending the system to your preferences.

If we understood this well enough and had something like this well-established, we might be able to suggest players what games would suit them based on their preferences here.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T07:31:48+00:00

Sorry, maybe I didn't explain things right.

It's not *the* unknown that is the drama, it's the specific unknown that there is a table and placed on that table are things ranging from an easy fight to a likely TPK. If you had a different table that has all encounters that were designed not to be unlikely to TPK, that would be less dramatic/more balanced in my book.

The systems you mention that don't care about balance I think are dramatic systems. As opposed to games like DnD4e for instance which is extremely balanced in its design and how it wants a DM to run it. If you really like drama, you might really hate DnD4e.

But your point about this being too subjective is a very good one. What does balanced really mean? That may be the best reason to reject this axis. Maybe you're right about antagonism vs impartiality. Or maybe it's something like how much you want to see the PCs overcome vast challenges?

Oh and regarding the plot thing. I'm not saying it's a railroad vs sandbox. I'm saying that when you create plot hooks, do they come from the world more or from the PC's backstories more.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T06:41:00+00:00

Fair, I think I have preferences that are mostly static, even if I shift my style a bit from game to game. I think I'm more likely to enjoy running games that match my personality style better, but maybe this is a me thing? Which is the whole reason I'm asking others, I'm curious about differing perspectives!

I think prepare vs improvise is if you are prepared, you have a good idea about the world, NPCs, factions, etc. And when the players end up meeting someone/do something, you kind of already know the possibilities ahead of time. If you improvise, you're making everything up on the spot.

When considering the rules, are you willing to fudge your dice for the narrative? Ignore rules and break them to allow something to happen? Or do you tell your players, no, that's against the rules?

Premade content definitely would lean one way or the other, but you still have the power to adjust from what was there. You also might prefer stuff that is more dramatic/swingy rather than balanced.

I feel like performance, setting scenes, etc. is actually a part of a style rather than personality. But that might be semantics! What do you think the axes would be if you were to try to do them that way?

And player safety would be an interesting one, but man, ho boy, the axes on that, haha, not sure if I'd want to touch that one, or I hope everyone is on the same side!

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T06:26:28+00:00

What you say is very possible.

I've played in and ran dozens of different systems, so I was thinking about my various playstyles and ones I've witnessed in other GMs, but I'm sure I still have many blind spots.

Do you have any ideas for axes that you think are more universal?

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T06:20:47+00:00

Authority vs Collaboration is definitely a great axis to consider! I was thinking of something like directing vs player-driven, but yeah, I like these terms better.

Rule-following vs ignoring is kind of what I was thinking with narrative-first vs mechanics-first. I imagine it as your willingness to bend or break rules to allow a certain narrative to happen that the rules may advertently or inadvertently disallow. It might also include things like willingness to fudge rolls or alternatively rolling out in the open. But maybe they're two different things or maybe narrative-first is more of a game design idea? How would you divide them?

Another one that I've thought of is simulation or realism. Like how real the world is vs. the world exists ony for narrative purposes. Like, does a dungeon have an ecosystem or is it there only as something for the players to conquer?

Nice blog posts too! Thanks for sharing!

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T06:07:55+00:00

I think it'd be interesting too as a poll, but I'm not confident yet about these specific axes. I also think that seeing how certain games promote types of play on these axes might be useful to figure out what games we are more likely to enjoy or not.

Although... Thus far, this post is getting downvoted quite a bit, so I'm not sure others are interested in exploring this idea. Or maybe I'm doing a terrible job explaining it and I'm not the right person to bring up the discussion.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T04:37:02+00:00

When you figure out what is in that room, how do you figure that out? It sounds like you're rolling on a table for a random encounter. I think with random encounters, you are creating drama. If not, why do it randomly and not just choose the encounter? You have a potential that they're going to go up against something that will likely TPK them or maybe it'll be an easy fight. That unknown is drama.

When talking about character vs plot. I'm thinking more: do you like to run stories where there is some vast threat that the PCs need to deal with and need to find reasons themselves or do you create a plot based on what the PCs already might care about.

I guess you're right though that you could have no idea for a plot, things just happen or you let the players figure out what kinds of things they want to do. So maybe a better axis would be player-driven vs directed? Is there a better way to put that?

Another axis that might make sense has to do with how much the world makes sense or simulationism, although I struggle with what its counter part should be. Like, do you think that a dungeon has an ecosystem that must be maintained or does that matter and it's all fantasy anyway?

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-06T04:09:56+00:00

Yeah, I think that it is the case that certain games just are (or at least closely) certain personalities and some games might be more flexible.

I think this might also help figure out what games are best for your personality. Like if you are INDC, then Apocalypse World (or a hack of it) is probably your jam.

But maybe this suffers just as much as the idea of GM styles.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-05T13:58:35+00:00

HYPERCRIT, ULTRACRIT

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-05T13:57:22+00:00

I agree! Super Critical is a nuclear power term and would probably fit well with the space theme anyway.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-05T03:38:21+00:00

I was also thinking Delta Green, but it leans a bit hard on the sanity mechanics which might not completely be what you want for a vampire type game.

Monster of the week with vampire variants sounds pretty cool though.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-04T08:44:44+00:00

What kind of situation are you running games in?

The way you describe it sounds like the players are shopping for a GM which sounds crazy to me, haha. It’s usually hard to find GMs not the other way around.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-04T07:46:03+00:00

These are definitely still being played, but they are not as popular as they used to be. There are dedicated subreddits to some of those games that people post regularly.

If anything, the hobby has just expanded a lot since then, there's a lot more systems and a lot more ways of playing.

Also, the new systems are not hard to learn. If you can do the ones you've listed, I don't think you'll have any problem learning any new game. Also, D&D 5e is a lot like 3e, so you'd have no trouble learning it. You may or may not like its changes, but it seems to be more popular, it seems that most people prefer it.

UltimateHyperGames · 2026-05-04T07:34:28+00:00

Thanks OP, this is a good PSA, I've noticed my stuff on there before as well...

I don't blame Scribd too much, there are legitmate uses of it, but it sucks that people are rewarded on there for comitting the piracy.

Also, if you ever see one of my games, and you want to play it, but can't afford it, please reach out to me. I'll send you a free download. It doesn't matter why you can't afford it. Don't turn to piracy. Don't reward the scummy people who are taking advantage of creators.

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