[rant] My DM is taking his toys and going home!

Just got an email today from our DM saying that he doesn't want to run our game any more. Grr. We've been in a FR campaign, currently averaging 13th level. When he started the campaign, he billed it as being "role-play intensive" and would make casual mention of the grand plots of the enemies. Thus our group prepared for a story-based game, and created character backstories and subplots.

Unfortunately, we never really saw the story part of it; we just seemed to be going from one semi-random fight to another, with no connections. No one's background came into play. After a while, we players got together to brainstorm what we could do to push the campaign back to where we thought it was 'supposed' to be. At this point we aren't including the DM in this discussion; not because we're trying to be secretive or mean, but mostly so we were sure we were all on the same page, and could come up with joint solutions to the problems, and not just say "this is broken, you fix it". So two days ago, I email our DM and tell him about what our concerns were. I include ways that we as players are going to contribute to this. Overall, I try to give the impression that we're not blaming him for anything, that in fact we enjoy the game. We just want to refocus our efforts on the story.

So in the email today, the DM says that he's not enjoying himself anymore, because we want a different type of game than he wants to run. He says that his style is to act as the environment, to let the characters do their own thing, and he's just there 'for the rules questions and to run adventures of glory and conquest'. He says he's fine with characters having backgrounds, but he doesn't really want to deal with sub-plots. He states that he only wants to spend 45-60 minutes a week on prep time.

Now, the DM's actually a decent guy, and he's not a bad DM. But my disappointment is in the discrepancy between advertisement and product. I specifically remember him billing this as "roleplay intense" when he started. And the phrase "run adventures of glory and conquest" implies a little more to me than repeated rolls on the random encounter table. Not once did he tell any of us when we submitted character backgrounds that none of it would ever see play time. Instead, we find out his DM style is completely reactive, not proactive, and that there's no cohesive thread to it at all. Smacks too much of Everquest to me. And less than an hour of prep a week? That's barely enough time to run a random monster generator and print the results. Granted, I don't expect a DM to spend every waking moment on the game, but for goodness sake put in more time than I do as a player.

Ultimately, I can't begrudge his decision. There's no point ito playing f he's not having fun. I just wish we'd had some warning that he wasn't enjoying the game. I also wish there'd been a clearer understanding from day one what his ideas were.

The real frustration is what to do now. We have a really, really good group of players, and I'd hate to have us go our separate ways. But finding a new DM is never easy, especially one who's going to meet our needs. None of the other players are that excited about taking the DM chair.

Sigh. Well, we're getting together on our regular game night to talk things over. I'm going to see if the DM wants to come too - maybe he'll want to play rather than run. Let's hope for the best.

You might also decide this is an opportunity for something fresh and new--something you may not have tried before. The nice thing is that you get to decide.

Have you thought about DM'ing yourself?

the DM says that he's not enjoying himself anymore, because we want a different type of game than he wants to run

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Well, that's a pretty good reason not to want to continue playing with a group of people. It could be a player saying the same thing to a DM, and it'd be just as fine.

As far as finding a DM, you should probably look within the group first, and recruit players from outside sources.

I sympathize -- my own situation is a close parallel.

A few months ago, I ended a campaign that was not working; the chief issue was a clash of styles between what I wanted to run and what the players wanted me to run.

Before the campaign, I asked the players how they wanted things to go.. how tightly they wanted the adventures connected to each other, and similar questions about the style and tone. The majority favored isolated dungeon-crawls with little or no connecting thread.

That was fine.. until one of the 4 made his character a mounted combat specialist. That did not exactly fit the "dungeon-delving" theme. The player making a Cleric in the party decided to worship the god of War, because that was the god who offered the specific combination of domains he wanted. Domains that, thematically, are generally offered by the monstrous gods of my homebrew pantheon.

The first adventure went fairly well, and the second was connected only by virtue of being located in the same area. I had dropped some hints during the first adventure that set up the second, but nothing major that would be a problem if they decided to go somewhere else.

The second adventure did not go so well. Perhaps I made too many assumptions about how they would view the setup, and did not provide enough clues for them to avoid making the catastrophic wrong decision. Of course, the catastrophically wrong decision is the one they chose.

We differed over how "obvious" their choice was.

To sum it up, one e-mail comment I received from one of the players after the campaign was underway was to the effect of "D&D should be like comics" and ' lots of combats with little or no thinking required to get from one to the next' (paraphrased, but near-enough to a quote).

It sounds like your (former) DM would suit my (former) players.

Delemental said:

My DM is taking his toys and going home!

[snip]

He states that he only wants to spend 45-60 minutes a week on prep time.

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That's plenty, if you only play every couple of months. That DM could benefit from either running adventures strictly out of the box, or spending those 45-60 minutes a week mining the materials on EN World. Even then, that's hardly enough time to properly weave disparate/found elements into a cohesive game. He'll never achieve the amount of depth he advertises with that little prep time even with all of the FR products ever produced at his finger tips. It would be tough to know the rules well enough to run a simple hack and slash/random encounter campaign with that meager time investment. If Edison were alive today, he would first demand to be let out of his coffin, and then might go on to exclaim that DMing is five percent inspiration and ninety-five percent preparation. Your DM may be going home but I truly doubt he ever had any toys with him in the first place.

How about taking turns at GMing? Most of our campaigns run that way, and it works fairly well - and that prevents GM burnout, too.

If you like both players and characters, there is no reason not to stick together...

I have to agree that 45 - 60 minutes is only good for basically nothing. You don't really need to prep for a random encounter, since you can basically pull everything out of the books. It's why we have all those lengthy charts in the DMG that I have never, ever, used. Come to think of it: I haven't actually opened the DMG during a session for a very long time...* shivers *...weird.

Count the average level of the party.

Roll d100

write down the results on paper

repeat until you feel you have enough random encounters.

If you feel the need for a story there are random charts for those.

If you feel the need to go into a dungeon there's a random chart for that.

Basically anything that the DM does, or throws at you, can be randomly generated in the middle of the game without any prep work.

And I definitely agree that Dungeon Mastering is 95 % prep and 5 % other, if you want things like: plot, storyline, character interaction (other than straight out fighting) or a dozen other things that a well balanced campaign should offer.

By the way: did he ever use the word campaign when he was advertising his game? Maybe you have it wrong, and you are actually just playing short stories, which are not connected to each other?

Having read your Story Hour on this game, I agree with caudor. You might considering DMing yourself. You know, and enjoy, the characters so well already and there's no reason you couldn't keep your current one on as a party going NPC. I do it myself and it can be a great jumpstart for character development and interaction.

As to the preperation, I'd personally say I don't even put that much time a week. My players love the game and story though. So I must be doing something right. Or they think so. Personally, I think it's them that make it great.

But, to be fare, that doesn't count the time I spend reading Story Hours or purusing other boards getting inspired. Or the time I spend thinking about the game when I'm bored, sitting through comercials, or trying to sleep (talk about some weird dreams).

I don't consider that prep work. I consider it fun!

The reason I bring it up, Delemental, is because you seem to consider the story telling aspect of the game fun too. DMing can be much the same. You just happen to be putting in some plot elements you like, accepting less than perfect dialog, and thinking much in broader terms. Sure, the story doesn't always (read: NEVER) goes the way you expected. But that's the best part.

I'd seriously consider it if I were you. I think you'd be good at it.

If he wants out, he got it. Sounds like there wasn't enough communication going on on his end and he has been thinking about leaving for quite some time. It happens and I've been there myself. Perhaps he wanted to do it a certain way, something happen and he lost the fire. I've been there, too.

It sucks. I feel bad for your whole group and yourself.

Telperion said:

And I definitely agree that Dungeon Mastering is 95 % prep and 5 % other, if you want things like: plot, storyline, character interaction (other than straight out fighting) or a dozen other things that a well balanced campaign should offer.

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I think prep is important but (my taste and style) doesn't have the 95/5% split. A homebrew could get me close to that but my breakdown is as such for a really good game:

Me: 80%
60% Prep time: This includes going over rules, generating encounters, NPCs and the like.
20% Game time: I leave some blanks in my planning because I like the players to make choices that affect what will happen. Otherwise it is no fun for me. If I write the whole story, that will lead to problems with the game and with the players. Making things up on-the-fly and adjusting to the players is what makes the game really fun, for me.

Players: 20%
The players have to give me something to work with. Give me some background, some quirks and some willingness to go along with things. I always say the the games that have been the most fun come from the players. They make me look good much of the time. Sure, I provide the arena and it is a ton of work but it's really easy for a player to mail it in for the night. You loose that 20% and the game can only be above average at best.

Delemental said:

So in the email today, the DM says that he's not enjoying himself anymore, because we want a different type of game than he wants to run. He says that his style is to act as the environment, to let the characters do their own thing, and he's just there 'for the rules questions and to run adventures of glory and conquest'. He says he's fine with characters having backgrounds, but he doesn't really want to deal with sub-plots. He states that he only wants to spend 45-60 minutes a week on prep time.

Now, the DM's actually a decent guy, and he's not a bad DM. But my disappointment is in the discrepancy between advertisement and product.

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I think you are going to have to realize that people change. He may have thought that he wanted a "roleplay intense" game, but realized when actually DMing that he didn't want it as much as he thought.

And that's fair - he even pointed out to you afterwards that he wasn't having any fun and why... so it's not like he's being unclear, IMO.

And less than an hour of prep a week? That's barely enough time to run a random monster generator and print the results. Granted, I don't expect a DM to spend every waking moment on the game, but for goodness sake put in more time than I do as a player.

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*shrug* I've heard of some DMs who can spend even less time, and still have fun (how often do you play? Weekly? Maybe he might have been better off running a game biweekly - a much more reasonable gaming time-frame, IMO - especially for those with careers and lives). Maybe the players are too demanding, and the time he's putting in isn't worth it to him? Nothing wrong with that, especially if he's not getting any payoff (in terms of fun). Adding in subplots, etc. created by players is a major time-burner... maybe the players weren't being supportive enough in their endeavors? Who knows? Without all the information as to the dynamics involved in your group, I can only guess (which, admittedly, is quite fun to do on messageboards during a slow day at work ).

Ultimately, I can't begrudge his decision.

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No, you can't.

I also wish there'd been a clearer understanding from day one what his ideas were.

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Wishful thinking, IMO. ONe can never really know what one wants until you actually start playing (and especially, DMing). However, does this guy have a history of this? How much has he DMed in the past? If he's experienced, I can see your problem.

The real frustration is what to do now. We have a really, really good group of players, and I'd hate to have us go our separate ways. But finding a new DM is never easy, especially one who's going to meet our needs.

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So, what's the problem? Why don't one of you guys DM? Just because someone leaves, doesn't mean suddenly no one else can run the game...

None of the other players are that excited about taking the DM chair.

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Hmmmm... I wonder why that could be?

I'm not sure if I have much sympathy (given the current info). If the DM quits, what's the big deal? Why can't another person do it? I don't get it.

I do really like what John Crichton says, above.