Random thoughts

I’m back from vacation and I’m more tired than I was 10 days ago! But it’s a good kind of tired. It’s time to get back to business and I’m definitely pumped / intimidated by everything happening on Dungeon Mastering.

Fluff and Crunch

Phil - the infamous Chatty DM - has been spewing great content non-stop for the last 2 months and I especially enjoyed his article on fluff and crunch. In a nutshell “crunch” is a cooler word for game mechanics and “fluff” refers to game mood and atmosphere.

So I was wondering. Am I fluffy or crunchy?

Expy the dragon says:
DMs taste better
when they’re roasted
to a crisp crunch.

I’m not crunchy

I don’t like rules. You might have noticed that I never really get into the game mechanics of D&D. I know the rules very well - I must have read the whole PHB at least 5 times - but I often choose not to use a rule to keep a game flowing. So I’m definitely not a crunchy DM.

I’m not fluffy

I’m not a fluffy DM either. I’m not a very good actor and my ongoing campaign is very laid back. We switch from in-character to out-of-character frequently and I enjoy it because I don’t get to hang out with my buddies often enough. I can instill some atmosphere in important scenes anyway and it’s usually good enough.

My superhero weakness

Bringing great fluff concepts to life and sustaining an intense atmosphere for a whole game is actually my superhero weakness. I’ve tried to pull it off many times. It’s never quite right.

Meta-fluff

So I’m neither fluffy nor crunchy! What am I? I’m a meta-fluffy DM! I like to entertain and show everyone a good time. I used to throw huge parties at my place when I was in college and I also held a few RPG conventions and other big events. I’m just a social DM who likes to have fun, hang out, tell and create a good story.

An you know what? Playing D&D has always been a lot of fun… except when I wiped out my party!