Appreciating the Group Effort

Tonight was probably the best session of D&D I've ever run, the end of a year-long adventure campaign, and many of the players gave me, the DM, most of the credit for the success of the session and the campaign as a whole. Some would argue that this is only fair; the DM does a lot of planning, improvising, and adjudication, all of which is set toward making the campaign as fun as possible for the other players, but I think that those other players deserve a good deal of the credit for the game as well. Without the players, there is no game, and it's the players' emotional investment on the game that gives the game its emotional weight. The players' plans and actions determine a lot of the plot of the game, and as the main characters, they provide most of the flavor as well. Perhaps it's most accurate to say that the players and the DM need each other, and neither of them could create a good game without the other.

It's nice to feel appreciated, and it's good to appreciate others as well. Everyone who participated in that year-long campaign deserves some of the credit for making that game as fun as it was, and I'm glad that we're all giving each other the credit we're due. This game was a group effort, and I'm glad that our group (and our game) was a good one.