Forever DM Hasn't Played A Character In Six Years, Claims He 'Prefers It This Way'

A Dungeon Master who has not played a character in any tabletop role-playing game since 2020 has told friends, family, and three separate gaming groups that he genuinely prefers running games to playing in them, a claim that his wife says he repeats with "the conviction of someone who is lying to himself and knows it." Grant Encounter, 38, began DMing as a temporary arrangement when his regular group's DM moved to Portland in January 2020. Six years and 312 sessions later, Encounter has run campaigns for five different groups, none of which has produced a replacement DM. "I love worldbuilding," Encounter said, gesturing at a wall covered with hand-drawn maps, seventeen pages of NPC genealogy charts, and a corkboard of plot threads connected by colored string. "I love creating stories for my players. I love giving them agency. I love watching them ignore my carefully crafted storylines and murder the innkeeper for no reason. I genuinely prefer this." Encounter's wife, Rachel, noted that he spent two hours last Thursday evening creating a level 5 ranger character sheet "just to see what it felt like," then closed the document without saving and went to bed without speaking. "He has a folder on his computer called 'Characters I'll Never Play,'" Rachel said. "There are twenty-three files in it. Each one has a full backstory, personality traits, and a hand-drawn portrait. He says it's creative exercise." When asked directly whether he would accept a player seat if offered, Encounter paused for seven seconds before saying, "Someone has to run the game." He then opened his laptop and began preparing his next session, which involves a dungeon that he estimates took forty hours to design and which his players will likely complete in ninety minutes. Two of Encounter's players have independently described him as "irreplaceable," a compliment that Encounter has internalized as "a life sentence delivered with gratitude."