Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 187 - Short - Imposter Syndrome

Episode Date: August 13, 2023

In this short episode I talk about a common feeling among DMs:  imposter syndrome and give DMs some advice for dealing with it.    #dmtips #dnd #Pathfinder #ImposterSyndrome

Thank you for listening to the Taking20 Podcast, episode 187. A very short episode about the concept of imposter syndrome. I want to thank this week's sponsor, Wiggs. I know someone who sold their soul for something to cover the bald spot on their head. I don't think I'd make that deal. Eventually, there'll be hell to pay. Yeah, I'm starting to make shorts, but you didn't think I'd skip the puns, did you? Susie's professional voice to lead us off? Gone.

Intro? Cut. Summary? Mostly cut. But puns? Never, my friend. Never. Let's get right to it. Tell me if you've ever said something like this to yourself. I am such a shit DM. No one enjoys my campaigns. They're just telling me they enjoy it so they don't have to DM themselves.

Any moment they'll realize that my campaign is held together by duct tape, bailing wire, and a hope that no one realizes that the story arc is lifted wholesale from a combination of the movie Ice Pirates and part of the storyline from The Expanse. Your thoughts are racing 100 miles per hour and you're convinced that any second they're going to see through the facade of competence to the frightened DM you feel like every single week. Well, congratulations, my friend. What you're experiencing is called imposter syndrome, and almost all of us have it at some point. It's a feeling of inadequacy that you feel like a fraud because you see your own flaws magnified a hundred times more than others

will ever see them. The players don't know that you had to rearrange encounters behind the screen or stats or maybe other things you had to adjust. They just know what you put in front of them. Look, I've been GMing a long time and feel like I can put together some damn good stories and adventures. I've done it for years and years, but there are still times when I'll say stuff like this to myself as well. Oh, they're just being nice. No one's actually having a good time. They're just saying they had fun. I would say cut it out and end the episode, but that would be a disservice to every single one of you. Immediately after you finish your session and people are packing their stuff,

take a long deep breath and ask yourself a few questions. One, did the players tell you they had fun? If so, don't look any deeper. Don't assume that they're lying. If they say they had fun, they had fun. Two, do you see smiles around the table? That's usually a pretty strong indicator that they did have a good time and you can relax because you did a good job. Three, are they talking about the next session? If so, they're excited for what's to come next. And then most importantly, four, do they want to still be in your game and do they want to game with you again? If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, you're a good DM. And if the answer is yes to more than one of those questions, you're a great DM.

Quit beating yourself up over little mistakes. So you gave the quest giver a voice that sounds like Kermit the Frog on a two-day helium binge. So you gave the wrong name to the next town over and had to retcon that later in the session. So you forgot an important piece of lore early and it would have been important to reveal it then and had to reveal it later. So what? No mistake is unforgivable and there's nothing you can do that you can't really recover from. If you make a mistake, then the first thing you need to do is forgive yourself for it. Even if the session was a disaster and outside your window is a literal trash fire right now, I want to encourage you to relax. Just like players, just like characters, hell, just like the dice you roll, you're going to have sessions where everything is great and sessions where it isn't.

Finally, some of you may feel inadequate because you're comparing yourself to the likes of Matt Mercer, Troy LaValle, Rick Sandage, Abria Iyengar, Deborah Ann Wall, Chris Perkins, or any of a thousand other professional DMs and streamers out there. Do you know what they would tell you? That they experience the same feelings that you do sometimes and that your style is great for your game. Don't be the second best Matt Mercer DM. Be the best you. Here's normally where I would ask you to like, rate, subscribe.

If you want to do that, I'd appreciate it and thank you so much. But instead, I want to ask that you go easy on yourself. Forgive yourself as a DM and give yourself permission to make mistakes behind the screen. I promise you that you notice your mistakes way more than your players ever do. Even if they don't say it, and they freaking should every now and then, they'd love you as a GM. And if you'll hold on to that fact, I'll bet you and your players would have fun doing it. Tune in next week when I'm going to have a full-size episode

about a serious moment in your game, replacing a character when one departs. But before I go, I want to thank this week's sponsor, Wiggs. I was riding a friend's motorcycle when my hairpiece flew off on the interstate. Police are combing the area. This has been episode 187, a short episode about dealing with imposter syndrome.

My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking 20 Podcast is a Publishing Cube Media Production. Copyright 2023. References to game system content are copyrighted by the respective publishers.