The Player DM

Aside from doing the DM thing, I also get to spend time playing. I currently have three characters in three campaigns: a halfling assassin in a D&D4E campaign, a human fighter in a Pathfinder campaign, and I have just started a dwarf rogue in a heavily-modified D&D Greyhawk campaign.

The D&D4E campaign is played with the same small group of three with whom I also DM. After a solid year of having them play and get comfortable with D&D, I asked if either of them would like to try to DM a session. So, one day I had them both DM a short encounter with the remaining two of us, while I offered up DM tips when asked and needed. One took to being the DM better than the other, liked it, and agreed to doing it more often, giving me breaks from being the sole DM to allow me to get a balanced play experience in.

The Pathfinder and newly-started Greyhawk campaigns are played online with a group spread across the US, and with one player located in Isreal. We use a combination of tools to facilitate the game, including MapTool, PC Gen, and Oovoo. So far, they have worked well for our needs. Not as smooth as all of us sitting around a single table in person would, but we handle the little problems as they arise and get on with our gaming.

Being able to both play and DM is the best way to experience the full spectrum of these RPGs, I believe. It’s balanced, and I think doing one very often allows me insight into how to do things better in the other. And since they are both very fun, and I like to do fun things, I make sure I get (and give) all the fun I can from them.