D&D 5E Are DMs getting lazy?

[Sunseeker]

That's why it's up to strong DMs to keep the real spirit of D&D alive.

I'm sensing a real "no true scotsman" might be about to pop up.

 

[halberd10]

Our local RPG club has about 35 members ranging from 16 to 60+, but it's almost exclusively the over-40s who run games. We've tried to encourage a wider range of GMs recently, but it's an uphill struggle.

I quickly moved from playing to DM'ing, and honestly, the reason why was because it was the easiest way to get a group going. I'd rather be DMing than not playing at all. I've since grown to enjoy DMing as much as I enjoy playing, but it is a bit daunting at first, and I image that it is even more so for a teenager DMing a group of older players.

 

[Schmoe]

I'm not convinced it's a generational thing. I've been DMing for 30 years now. At times because it was the only way for me to get my friends to play the game with me, but also because that's what I enjoy. There is a real sense of satisfaction when you are able to create and facilitate something that other people enjoy.

Having said that, I never played with anyone else who had any inclination to DM until I was in my mid-20's and started gaming through a FLGS. In my experience, there just aren't many people interested in DMing, period. At most it's an age thing, not a generation thing.

 

[Mark CMG]

Some thoughts for the RPG Blog Carnival: Best GM Ever - http://tinyurl.com/m3qxgor

 

[JWO]

I'm a new DM, having previously only played in other people's games. I wouldn't say I'm lazy but I have a ton of other hobbies competing for my precious free time when I'm not at my real job, especially my illustration work which takes up vast amounts of my free time. I try to create as much new D&D content as I can but it's a lot more practical for me to use pre-written stuff alongside the material I've written.
Luckily, I have quite a lot of free time at work, and access to Google drive so I'm able to write a fair amount of D&D stuff when I'm sat at my desk...

 

[JRedmond]

I'm in my mid thirties with three kids under three including a four month old baby. I was able to convince my wife to let me play every other week with my friends. None of my players and I have played D&D for 15-20 years. This is my first time DMing and if I didn't do it we wouldn't play. I like having adventures I can buy and play, I adjust them a bit of course. I'm not complaining that I don't have enough content though, playing every other week extends things quite a bit. I have a backlog of adventures to play after ToG including a bunch of 1E stuff. Don't hate on the people playing published stuff, I just want to get together with my friends and have a good time. Thanks.

 

[Umbran]

For fear of of sounding like an in-my-day curmudgeon, are DMs these days just too lazy to make the game their own?

No, Reynard, they are not lazy. In fact, for many, I expect quite the opposite. They are busy. The time they have to devote to prepping things up and designing stuff is limited. They want to be efficient, and spend their time creating the things that nobody else can, for not knowing their group. They don't want to have to spend time cleaning up unintended consequences of rulings by having suggestions from someone else who has more time to test and consider the ramifications of changes.

How many times in your life have you looked at something and thought, "Yeah, I could make that," but you never get around to making it? Well, if you just pay someone competent, you get to have it without spending that precious time.

 

[Zaukrie]

So much judging in this thread. Some people want to spend less time creating adventures from scratch than others. That makes them nothing, other than people that want to spend less time creating adventures from scratch. It makes them neither lazy or spoiled. Or bad, wong, evil. Why are you all so judgemental about how others use a game?

 

[Coredump]

For me it isn't a matter of time, it is a matter of what I spend my time on.

I am better at editiing than creating, I am better at merging than creating.

My best work comes from looking at 15 adventures, finding the 6-8 that work best for me, editing their content to meet my story goals, merging their storylines so they blend and flow well, and then perhaps writing a few encounters to toss in.

If I had to also create the entire world and write all of the modules... I would have far less time available for putting it all together.

 

[Sunseeker]

I quickly moved from playing to DM'ing, and honestly, the reason why was because it was the easiest way to get a group going. I'd rather be DMing than not playing at all. I've since grown to enjoy DMing as much as I enjoy playing, but it is a bit daunting at first, and I image that it is even more so for a teenager DMing a group of older players.

Unfortunately I often find myself in similar situations. With lackluster DMs and short-lived games, often the only way to actually get to play D&D is to start a game myself. Unfortunately I rarely get to play, even at times when I have the desire to run a DMPC and the group is cool with it, I just don't have the energy to run the game and a character.