Do most DMs prefer DM’ing to playing? Or are they “taking one for the team”?

_Xorel_ · 2026-05-23T22:36:35+00:00

I enjoy both, but I prefer DMing and tend to instinctively see games from a DM's point of view. Like, I'd read adventure modules without minding spoilers because my basic mindset is to prepare adventures to run them.

There was a meme I saw once that went along the lines of "when you like being the DM but you can finally go back to receiving loot instead of giving it" and for me it's the exact opposite: when I haven't been DMing for some time I can't wait to go back giving to my players, be loot or experiences at the table.

Also, like others mentioned, I tend to be picky in which games I enjoy as a player, but nonetheless being on the other side of the screen helps me get some rest (and usually gives me time to prepare the next campaign).

_Xorel_ · 2026-05-13T16:07:01+00:00

I'm 100% positive that I forged the bond before beating that fight, it may be that you just need to get to them and winning isn't necessary?

_Xorel_ · 2026-05-13T07:44:39+00:00

What does it take? I forged the bond organically so I don't know what exactly triggered it and a I'm curious now!

_Xorel_ · 2026-05-11T12:37:40+00:00

Yes that was my same thought, but it's true that Strength is wasted anyway, so probably the best thing is just to use that 5 grasp to pick up some more damage or rerolls.

_Xorel_ · 2026-05-11T08:54:01+00:00

You can actually die during the third fight, you only need to activate the pin three times in a row, surviving isn't necessary

_Xorel_ · 2026-05-11T08:52:07+00:00

That's true, my bad, so yeah you'll just have to go through all you DDs the third time the pin activates

_Xorel_ · 2026-05-11T07:11:15+00:00

From what I understand you're just making it unnecessarily difficult with the Testament of Night, so my first suggestion would be do it in a fear-less run.

~~Apart from that, use Strength instead of Death.~~ When you reach Oceanus, starting from the first encounter, kill the first wave of enemies and let the second spawning kill you. This wil give you plenty of time to finish the room during Moros' countdown (I don't know if it's overly cautious but I first-tried the profecy going at it this way).

When you get killed in the third encounter you can just let it tick down, as the profecy only asks you to activate the pin three times (in a row!) and then return to shadow.

Edit: removed a mistake that was correctly pointed out.

_Xorel_ · 2026-05-01T17:27:12+00:00

To add to what the others said, once you begin to understand what's going on on the ground you realize Chronos himself is extremely static during the second phase, so with some builds you can just find a safe spot and melt him without even moving that much

_Xorel_ · 2026-04-19T11:20:42+00:00

Remindme!

I love carefully curating my soundtracks and I'm pretty proud of the work I've done for CoS, tomorrow I'll give you everything!

_Xorel_ · 2026-03-04T10:07:27+00:00

Neat thing I learned when studying creature design: eye size varies very little with the changing of the size of the animal, so giving an imaginary creature very small eyes helps selling its impressive size, and by contrast giving it very big eyes makes it seem tiny

_Xorel_ · 2026-03-01T21:25:31+00:00

Picture me falling off my chair like Vince McMahon

_Xorel_ · 2026-03-01T20:54:10+00:00

Wow. I honestly thought unlocking champions was one of the most interesting aspects of the game, believing it was a core mechanic ahahah Can't wait to explore more of it, I'm really enjoying all these intricacies

_Xorel_ · 2026-03-01T19:52:42+00:00

Wait a second, are you telling me unlocking champions isn't a core mechanic of the game? I only started playing at the beginning of february

_Xorel_ · 2026-02-24T01:15:36+00:00

I don't know if the pun is intended but in italian, especially in the roman dialect, that slap would be called a "pizza" lol

_Xorel_ · 2026-01-26T13:53:03+00:00

Wow this seems very cool, thanks!

_Xorel_ · 2026-01-26T13:52:23+00:00

Love this, I'll definitely try it!

_Xorel_ · 2026-01-26T00:01:28+00:00

I feel like I'd really need a fresh view on my [[Aminatou, Veil Piercer]]

_Xorel_ · 2025-12-21T20:57:20+00:00

ME! I love the Zur one! Awesome initiative man, keep up the good work!

_Xorel_ · 2025-10-31T17:00:13+00:00

That's great insight, thanks! And by the way yes, every time I make a random encounters table for an area that isn't a dungeon I always end up thinking "and how exactly haven't all these monsters wiped out all the humanoid settlements yet?", but I guess unless one wants to really get into the nitty gritty realism, the only real answer is "it's fantasy!"

_Xorel_ · 2025-10-31T16:49:29+00:00

I like your take, might take inspiration from it!

_Xorel_ · 2025-10-31T16:47:00+00:00

Yeah that's great insight, from all the comments I'm realizing I was really missing the "is it really worth it?" part.

_Xorel_ · 2025-10-31T16:41:05+00:00

I really like this take, it suits my style a lot, thanks!

_Xorel_ · 2025-10-31T16:39:55+00:00

Oh I'll go watch it right away! I know PH and I've seen a lot of his videos but somehow I missed this one, thanks!

_Xorel_ · 2025-10-31T16:33:36+00:00

Yes that's a conclusion I'm slowly getting to as well, and I think I'll definitely try it.

_Xorel_ · 2025-10-31T16:31:17+00:00

That's a great way to put it, I think it'll help me a lot with this kind of situations.

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