The 7 Types of DM in D&D

It's a HUGE 5e expansion bursting with amazing new races, subclasses, a whole new class inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, and a whole new gargantuan monster battle system.

There are many types of GM in D&D, here are some of the main archetypes!

I've been told to use keywords in video descriptions, but I don't know what I'm doing. I stole these tags from MonkeyDM who seems on top of this type of thing when we chat.

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[sandyposs]

My Dad used to be a DM. Later on when he had me, as many parents do he would tell me bedtime stories. But these weren't out of a book - these were 'Possumcat stories', set in a world where me, my little sister, and a creature named Sam the Possumcat were the main characters improvising our way through a series of oneshots that wove a greater canon over the years. Each 'Possumcat story', Dad would set up an adventure premise, tell part of the story, then prompt me at points to choose what the characters do next. Whatever I chose would influence the direction of the story, whether it be tempting fate and opening the crypt or playing it safe, whether or not we try to steal some dragon gold, whether we investigate the gurgling bunyip sounds, etc. He totally ran my very own D&D-lite experience my whole early childhood! Best Dad ever. ❤

[jackservans]

As a worldbuilder, here’s a tip: it’s often better to make one, really fleshed out halfling village for the players to get invested in than an expansive world. And if you can isolate them in an abundant setting, even better.

[ugurcankarakas]

A tip for The Conductor DM's. At the end of your sessions or story blocks ask your players what want to do next and be prepared for that. That way they get to choose what to do and you got to build awesome adventures, enjoy!

[neprosne]

I am a minimalist, and I have mastered the art of: “Yes I predicted that of course”

[TheBlackZodiacGhost]

I have another archetype for you: Apocalypse Prepper
As a DM I like to prepare all the rollable tables, all the items the world has, easy ways to access less-used rules on the fly, creating important NPCs, creating maps, etc, so basically everything I'm going to need over the course of a campaign, before the campaign starts, except for the story itself (other than a premise and starting point). I like to call this my campaign skeleton.
The rest is left up to the players and their interactions with the world, and I improvise a story depending on how they interact with the premise.
So, much like an apocalypse prepper, I prepare for (nearly) every mechanical eventuality, but improvise to survive when chaos hit the fan.

[SuPeRNinJaRed]

I always tried to be a conductor (because I foolishly thought that was what all DMs were supposed to be) until I finally realized that I’m in fact a minimalist (or maybe more cool cousin) but once I stopped forcing myself to be what I thought a DM was and just followed my gut, I found my true type and honestly it makes all the difference!

[MafiaCow]

My DM is a world builder with a bit of architect. It's incredible. The best DnD I've ever had.

[skelly_snipez]

My dm literally made a new floor for the campaign on the spot because the dwarf barbarian thought breaking all the stone circles on the floor would solve a puzzle of some kind(we failed the perception checks). He ended up making a 30 ft hole which we fell down and we had to fight out of it. Earlier in the campaign I also seduced 13 armor pieces into being lighter so I could hold them.

[hellotobi]

My current DM is 100% a worldbuilder. He literally congratulated and praised me for taking notes 💀

[ResaleRonin]

I love a good minimalist. My friends and I would play like that when I first started playing D&D. We would just sit around and one of us would DM and the rest of us would talk about what we were doing. No dice. No books. No character sheets. We just had a good group that could create a narrative out of the blue. I wish I could find another group like that.

[kpny]

I myself, am a Props DM. Whether I'm running a one shot, homebrew, or module, I try and have a prop for just about anything the party might come across, but for things like actual gear and such. For instance I'll have printed magic scrolls, small bags of coins, potion bottles of all types, a few backdrops of a medieval tavern to help set the mood, color changing lights. I once ran a one shot for a friends birthday, with one of the players bringing her 5 year old kid, as she couldn't get a sitter, and since he would be playing his switch in the other room all evening, I went and asked if he wanted to play a ghost. I told him I'd let him know when it was almost time, then when he heard the bell, to put a long black wig on his head, backwards, and to stand in the doorway. I told him after everyone turns to look at him, to just leave. (the players were inspecting a clients family home as he had not heard from them in years after he had left to do his own thing away from his parents)

I ring the bell as I tell them that they see the what looks like a little girl walking from one room to another at the end of the hall. he comes into the doorway with the wig on over his face, one person notices, then everyone else looks and freaks out, everyone turns back to me to try and figure out wth is going on, he then leaves as they are looking at me, they all look back (not seeing him anymore) they look back to me, and I just simple ask them "What?". It was amazing. I also had changed all of the lights in the room to blue and green, including in the bathroom. I heard one of my players as they had to go from down the hall say "god dammit" as he turned on the lights in there. It was great.

[TheKirbyT]

I go for a minimalist/cool cousin style in the game I run. I made it extremely clear when we started the game that this was going to be a mostly improvised game because we're all busy adults with very little spare time and we'd rather spend it together rolling dice and slaying monsters than prepping for weeks just for plans to blow up immediately after starting the session. I also told my players that they can do basically anything if the situation warrants it and in return for making them feel like heroes I pull out bigger enemies. Picking good encounter tables are the name of the game if you try this.

[PenjiTV]

Intro 0:00
Nick Fury 0:06
The World Builder 1:28
The Cool Cousin 3:10
Baldurs Gate Sponser 4:18
The Boxer 5:48
The Minimalist 7:06
The Conductor 8:32
The Architect 9:32
Outro 10:55

[jbdelphiaiii]

A tip for minimalist GMs; a decent way to do a percentage 'roll' is to just use a clock with a stopwatch feature; have the player start and stop the clock while not looking at it, and use the tenths and hundredths of a second as the tens and ones digits. You have a d% in your hands probably right now.

[marcumlovett]

I'm definitely a Nick Fury, Architect, and World Building DM. I just love running huge open world games where my players fight armies and literal gods. Using existing rules and homebrew together to make powerful players and enemies that clash against each other like world ending tsunamis is just so rewarding. Balancing the narrative and mechanics together is always so fun for me to give to my players to interact and play with.

[jinxshadow]

Worldbuilders are also the most likely to use gritty realism resting rules. It stops players from just throwing fireballs at any problem and actually lets time pass in the world.
My DM is definitely one. He is quite "restrictive", but any spell, class or race he bans is usually tweaked and then added back.
We can go many sessions without combat and just filled with dialogue and lore. And we are all super into that!

[Crocogator]

My DM for our 1-20 campaign was definitely an architect. Ended up as a war cleric / tempest sorcerer with a greatsword that could be loaded with a gemstone like a gun, the damage going up the more expensive the gem was.

[Maehedrose]

I think a good GM has elements of several of these types. I used to be a minimalist but as I got older I became more of a worldbuilder, but I do some of all this.

[AwesomeWookiee]

"Cool Cousins usually run funnier games"

*Shows the most harrowing adventure ever put to screen*

[theFunkyThumb]

The two tables ive been at the longest and enjoyed the most are essentially polar opposites. One is pure minimalist and the other is an architect/world builder(currently on our second reset to get everything "just right" lol)