Do you DM?

[RangerWickett]

Since the third adventure in the War of the Burning Sky campaign saga will be coming out soon*, I've been wondering how many posters here are potential buyers. And that got me to thinking of the general demographics of EN World. How many people here run games, vs. those who just play in games? And how do your buying habits differ.

*For those who are interested, an overview of Shelter from the Storm:
[sblock]

The heroes arrive at Seaquen, a coastal city that is the rallying point for those opposing the scourge by the Ragesian armies. But spies lurk in the city, preparing a plot to destroy it with a magically-conjured hurricane.[/sblock]

Also, an edit, since a lot of people have been mentioning that they don't buy pdfs, and I would be remiss in my duty if I didn't mention this:

Many E.N. Publishing products, including our adventures, are available in print, through our print storefront at Lulu (http://stores.lulu.com/enpublishing).

 

[Voadam]

I DM.

Buying habits, I buy lots of cheap pdfs. Mostly d20.

From my group of 6 face to face players 5 of us have DMd at one point, only one exclusively plays. I'm not sure if the one player-only member of our group even has a PH.

 

[SubMensa]

WOOT, I'm the first non DM.

I would like to say that I DM, and have done so in the past mainly for one-shots. I fully realize my own limitations though and have come to realize that they type of games that I like to play (and would like to DM) are completely beyond my ability to DM.


This is not to say that I would not purchase the Burning Sky campaign for my current GM. After all I enjoy long campaigns with a overarching purpose. He may be receiving an early Christmas present if he is a good boy.

My major reluctance to do so at the moment stems from it being a serial. I go out of my way to wait for a book series to be completed before purchasing the entire thing, and the same goes for any on-going purchases I make. Television series on DVD, trade-paperbacks among others.

I'm not sure that I want to take the plunge with an adventure series. After all, what happens if we unexpectedly resolve that installment's conflict within one week, how does the adventure handle "busywork" while waiting for the next focus to appear?

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I think I prefer to GM because of the diversity in characters it allows me to play.

 

[Thanee]

I DM (and GM, too ).

I vastly prefer hardcopy books (and the vast majority of those is rulebooks/settings/sourcebooks for various game systems... in the last six months or so, I bought books for at least five different games... and the grand total of one adventure).

Bye
Thanee

 

[awayfarer]

I've done a few short adventures for one group and I'm about to DM a game in Eberron for my other group. This will be the first time I've attempted an entire campaign so we'll see how it goes.

 

[Trickstergod]

I DM. For maybe the past five or so years I DM'ed almost exclusively until about three of my friends all at once decided they wanted to run games.

That said, my buying habits are a bit spotty at times, for one. My funds aren't always quite so ample as I'd like.

With that in mind...most of my purchases are campaign settings. This has been the case for most of my years gaming. Very few books I've purchased are game generic. This may or may not be a hold over from my years playing in the World of Darkness - most of the books were entertaining to read and light on the mechanics. The fact is, I don't think I used most of the books I bought for the game.

So when I buy a book, I want it to entertain as much as prove useful during play.

I also want it to provide story hooks. I have bought three adventures total in the 13 or so years I've played D&D and all three were tied to a setting and they were all super cheap.

Otherwise, I run my own adventures. Some folk homebrew the setting and use written adventures; I do it the other way around.

I own very few books not tied to a setting. Unearthed Arcana. The core books. The Tome of Horrors. Not much else comes to mind.

My other purchases tend towards different types of genres for d20, though still with a tendency towards setting elements. Star Wars, for example. Mutants & Masterminds is my latest purchase, which comes closest to a generic d20 book, at least in comparison to my other purchases. Something like d20 Modern or the like just doesn't appeal to me.

When I do have the urge to buy something slightly more generic, it tends towards class books or rules "expansions" I guess would be the way to put it - Unearthed Arcana, Player's Handbook II, that sort of thing. They occasionally pique my curiosity.

Adventures, though. Eh. Way, way down on the list of things I would buy. When I DM, I'd rather take a plot hook and run with it.

 

[irdeggman]

I DM occasionally. Well I just started running an Age of Worms game.

I did order War and am holding onto it (without reading it) - hoping I can get one of the other DMs to run it so I can play.

If I can get them hooked on an Adventure Path structure via AoW then there is hope.

 

[Kestrel]

I DM, and desperately want to play

Buying habits: Mainly pdfs unless its something I will use heavily at the table. Most recent purchases: Magic Item Compendium, Hordes of the Abyss, and Tyrants of the Hells.

 

[drothgery]

WOOT, I'm the first non DM.

I would like to say that I DM, and have done so in the past mainly for one-shots. I fully realize my own limitations though and have come to realize that they type of games that I like to play (and would like to DM) are completely beyond my ability to DM.

... and I'm the second. I've run online games (some of which lasted a long time), but other than a very short game I ran for my younger brother and a friend back in the 2e days, I've never run a tabletop game.

I tend to buy most Eberron and player-oriented stuff from WotC (which is to say no adventurers or monster books), and that's about it.