D&D 5E Are DMs getting lazy?

[Drake M]

Folks have other things to do with their time away from game. Even if the DM doesn't work, they may have plenty of other duties, activities and hobbies to devote their time to than be a unpaid game designer.

Most of the employed professionals i know waste most of their free time on netflix. I'm not sure i agree.
Heck, most of the Mom's Basement Trolls I know waste most of their time on netflix.

 

[KingsRule77]

You mean...to buy a book? Like, maybe a game book? Oh, wait...there aren't any.
Or do I have to buy novels? Short stories? Can I buy online? What about the library? How many should I read a week? Can I count the ones I've already read this month? Do I have to get your permission for each of them first, or do you just want to approve authors ahead of time? Are we going with Mother May I, or Simon Says?

Actually yes. You can do all those things and more! You aren't actually handcuffed to Wotc as a source of inspiration. There's even a whole wide world out there to draw inspiration from. Only wanting one thing from one publisher and crying because it isn't out there isn't lazy per se... But the pouting about it is a waste of time one could spend doing something like creating an adventure.

 

[Cyclone Duke]

As a DM most of my focus/efforts for making the game fun for my group is in the delivery of characters and situations and making them impressive. I do get flashes of inspiration about how to weave my own story into campaigns, my own encounters and NPCs, but beyond this I don't have the interest to create whole worlds by myself when there is already the amazing works like WotBS available to be used, which is guarenteed to be a good delivery on lore, tactics and setting. I am happy to modify it from there when it gets going.

I spend hours upon hours reading and re-reading all the 3.5 sourcebooks and the 700page WotBS campaign book, and thinking of how to have NPCs interact with my group's characters in a personal way. I assure you I'm not lazy I just don't design my own worlds - I put my (ton of) effort into other areas I think will benefit my group better.

When there's awesome work done by devoted people out there, you can get THAT level of quality in your campaign's world/setting - but then inject your own level of devotion into other areas YOU are good at!

 

[Nellisir]

Actually yes. You can do all those things and more! You aren't actually handcuffed to Wotc as a source of inspiration. There's even a whole wide world out there to draw inspiration from. Only wanting one thing from one publisher and crying because it isn't out there isn't lazy per se... But the pouting about it is a waste of time one could spend doing something like creating an adventure.

You're putting words and intentions in my mouth. Please don't do that. It's rude, and you're not even correct. Saying I'd like to see what ideas WotC has (which is what I actually said) is a long, long, LONG way from "being handcuffed to WotC as...inspiration" or "only wanting one thing from one publisher". I'm pretty sure you don't know what I read last week, or what's on deck for this week.

People have the right to set their priorities and act accordingly. I'm here, expressing my opinion, because it's important to me. I'm disappointed that there are people who can't be respectful of that, and spend their time criticizing others instead of acting on their stated beliefs and being productive and creative in a way that they feel is important, but I'm sure they're capable of rationalizing it to themselves. "Ah," they whisper to themselves. "It is IMPORTANT that I tell other people what to enjoy."

Just because I don't tell YOU about it doesn't mean I'm not creating something, or being creative. We see tiny facets of people's lives online.

(Edit: Sorry for those that had to see the GIANT MAP. Is there a simple way to make an image smaller?)

 

[Hussar]

You're putting words and intentions in my mouth. Please don't do that. It's rude, and you're not even correct. Saying I'd like to see what ideas WotC has (which is what I actually said) is a long, long, LONG way from "being handcuffed to WotC as...inspiration" or "only wanting one thing from one publisher". I'm pretty sure you don't know what I read last week, or what's on deck for this week.

People have the right to set their priorities and act accordingly. I'm here, expressing my opinion, because it's important to me. I'm disappointed that there are people who can't be respectful of that, and spend their time criticizing others instead of acting on their stated beliefs and being productive and creative in a way that they feel is important, but I'm sure they're capable of rationalizing it to themselves. "Ah," they whisper to themselves. "It is IMPORTANT that I tell other people what to enjoy."

Just because I don't tell YOU about it doesn't mean I'm not creating something, or being creative. We see tiny facets of people's lives online.

(Edit: Sorry for those that had to see the GIANT MAP. Is there a simple way to make an image smaller?)

But, he does have a point. Sure, it would be great to have more sources of inspiration and possible even sources that will directly reference D&D lore the way WOTC could, but, it's hardly necessary. I mean, I had a discussion here recently telling me that a new player could never know what an abbey was because it wasn't detailed in the DMG construction rules. I'm not saying you're going that far, but, there are those here who are apparently incapable of looking beyond the game books for any source of information.

I mean, if someone doesn't know what an abbey is, and cannot be bothered to take the 30 seconds to look it up on Wikipedia or in a dictionary, then I despair on the quality of any campaign developed by that DM. Which does roll back into the idea of DM's being lazy. Yup, it's nice to have books from WOTC, but, in the absence of those books, it shouldn't be too difficult to look for other sources.

 

[Eric V]

Wanting a product made by professional game designers =/= being lazy.

The idea that something one could design in one's spare time (of which for me personally I spend on D&D? Not much) would be just as good as that which is designed by professionals as part of their work day smacks of hubris. You're essentially saying you can do as good a job in a quarter of the time that Rich Baker, Mike Mearls, and co. can do.

No offense, but I doubt your (directed to everyone calling DMs lazy) homebrew stuff is as good.

 

[KingsRule77]

Wanting a product made by professional game designers =/= being lazy.

The idea that something one could design in one's spare time (of which for me personally I spend on D&D? Not much) would be just as good as that which is designed by professionals as part of their work day smacks of hubris. You're essentially saying you can do as good a job in a quarter of the time that Rich Baker, Mike Mearls, and co. can do.

No offense, but I doubt your (directed to everyone calling DMs lazy) homebrew stuff is as good.

This would be a valid point except that the work done by professionals is roundly derided by the people clamoring for work done by the same professionals.

Also the definition of 'good' is not what is as high quality as professional designers, but what entertains your group.

 

[Eric V]

This would be a valid point except that the work done by professionals is roundly derided by the people clamoring for work done by the same professionals.

Also the definition of 'good' is not what is as high quality as professional designers, but what entertains your group.

Seen way too many fanboys on here talking about 5e and how awesome it is to take the bolded part above seriously, sorry.

I haven't seen any non-5e fan asking for more stuff.

 

[Henry]

This would be a valid point except that the work done by professionals is roundly derided by the people clamoring for work done by the same professionals.

Also the definition of 'good' is not what is as high quality as professional designers, but what entertains your group.

Have to agree with Eric V -- you might be conflating the opinions of two separate groups here. Me, I wanna see more material, but specifically more adventure and monster material, and really, with their staff at its current size and mission statement, I'd rather see some kind of open license to facilitate more third party development to satisfy what id like to see.

In fact, the reviews and interviews concerning Princes of the Apocalypse have caused me to change my mind about it, to the point where I intend to buy it in a couple of weeks. Just because some of their material isnt in the vein I want to see doesnt mean they arent good, nor that they still arent better than designing than me. it's also why I'm giving patronage to EN5ider, because they're filling a gap that WotC is leaving, doing the best they can while working within the confines of what they can legally do to meet that need. If we had uniform guidelines, they could meet that need even better.

 

[Sunseeker]

This would be a valid point except that the work done by professionals is roundly derided by the people clamoring for work done by the same professionals.

So some people are hypocrites. Also the sky is blue and water is wet.