Is a DM shortage partly to blame?

[Emirikol]

As our hobby has continued to shrink over the years, I wonder if a DM shortage is partly to blame. Are there too few players willing to give back by DMing for new groups?

jh




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[ZSutherland]

While I can say for my group that I've been trapped in the DM seat (with very infrequent one-shot vacations for good behavior) for years now, I don't know that such a thing is common. I hear about lots of groups here that regularly rotate DMs. I'm also not sure where everyone gets the notion of that the hobby is shrinking. I've read industry reports that suggest that sales have been down for FLGS's across the US and for 3rd-party publishers, but I think WotC's and WW's sales have been up. My FLGS owner has told me before that if a product isn't selling regularly after the first 6-months, he doesn't carry it anymore, but he has about 4 shelves devoted to WotC D&D products and then another devoted to FR and Eberron products. He has nearly as much space for WW products. I realize it's antecdotal, but I think the evidence is that the hobby is growing slowly year to year, but that many new players are limiting their purchases to 1st-party publishers.

 

[Einan]

I don't know if there's a DM shortage, per se, but I think D&D in particular does not supporting learning how to DM as much as it supports learning how to play. The way I see it is that DMing is a very different skill than playing. Playing involves strategy, decision making and keeping things fun for oneself and to a less extent, others. DMing involves long-term planning, rapid decision making, creative story building and keeping things fun for everyone, to name a short list (by no means comprehensive.) The two skill sets overlap but are not identical.

In addition while playing is pretty easily gotten into, running a game is not. A new DM who is willing to take the risk of running a terrible game in order to learn must have all appropriate resources (books, dice, ideas) as well as a group willing to play with a new DM. (There's no real DMing apprenticeship, although perhaps there ought to be.) A new DM has to be open to new things, new methods of play that aren't necessarily his/her own and be willing to work with them in order to make play fun for all types of players. A new DM must be willing to learn a large ruleset in order to keep play flowing, and also to learn the art of collective storytelling to keep a cohesive plot going. It's a lot to take it, and very few players I know would willingly take on that much work and time-absorbing preparation for what is basically an often thankless task.

I DM, to answer the obvious question. I love doing it. However, I cut my teeth as a DM during a round robin D&D game, with each of us players running a two-three session game while the others played, then trading off. It was an ideal situation for me, since we all got to equally suck and shine in our times as DM. It removed a lot of the pressure of being good right off the bat, since we all had our time to learn. I recommend it highly to any group who is lacking a DM.

EInan

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

As our hobby has continued to shrink over the years, I wonder if a DM shortage is partly to blame. Are there too few players willing to give back by DMing for new groups?

Do you have any data to back up your core assumption? It's certainly true that the d20 industry has shrunk, but I don't know of anything to indicate that the hobby of playing D&D has shrunk at all.

That said, more DM's certainly can't hurt, although my personal experience is a lack of players, not DM's.

 

[bento]

We built into a D&D campaign I kicked off in January the ability for players to try their hand at DMing. So far three have given it a try with varying results.

I think several factors play into whether someone jumps into DMing.

* Exposure to other DMs - were the games they played focused on rules, tactics or story?
* Apptitude of learning rules
* Desire to tell stories and entertain others
* Ability to juggle lots of different things
* Love of homework

I got "stuck" with DMing because of the last three items on the list.

I don't think I've ever had a DM where I said "wow, I love playing in their games" which is kinda sad.

And for learning rules, hey this is a form of let's pretend, isn't it? Who needs rules if you're having fun!

 

[Odhanan]

I agree. I think many players just exclude the possibility of being DMs themselves.
I often read about players searching for new groups without thinking about starting one of their own.
Another thing I see often is players not finding groups and not willing to just have fun with people new to the game, introducing them to it.

As to the reasons this keeps happening, I don't know if it's just about "not thinking about it", laziness, just wanting to remain a player, or lack of confidence. I suspect this is a bit of all this.

I'm living in a very remote community. I have a steady (for the past two years) gaming group, because I started one.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I stopped running DnD but didn't stop GMing D20 games. My group had rotating GMs, but for a long time I was GMing half the time even though we had like four GMs. I ended up leaving that group.

I wish I got to play under more experienced GMs. I've literally never played under a GM older than myself! There's only so much you can learn without "advanced training". Finding a new group isn't easy - I lucked into my new group. Finding a new GM is even more difficult.

* Exposure to other DMs - were the games they played focused on rules, tactics or story?
* Apptitude of learning rules
* Desire to tell stories and entertain others
* Ability to juggle lots of different things
* Love of homework

For me it's 2, 3 and (to some extent) 5. Also, no one else wanted to run D20 Modern, but lots wanted to play it.

 

[Bardsandsages]

DMing is practically a part time job, for which I am paid handsomely in chocolate, snacks, and assorted otehr bribes But I also have been stuck in the DM seat. DMing requires an enormous amount of preparation. As a player, you only have to worry about your character. The DM has a whole world to worry about. You either have the mindset to handle that or you don't. And it isn't just the game itself, it's dealing with the PCs. If the DM's girlfriend expects preferential treatment and throws hissy fits when her PC dies, I don't want that person DMing. I've had DMs who give their significant others special gear or special treatment in character that makes them more powerful than everyone else. A DM with two small kids pulling at her constantly and distracting the game doesn't work either. Basically, the DM has to be a person who can separate out of character life from in character play, and who can properly schedule and manage his or her life to allot that few hours a week or whatever to deliver a good game.

 

[Janx]

I don't know that there is a shortage of DMs or not. Logically, there are fewer DMs than players. Most people want to play, not DM. Not all people are good at DMing, so it makes sense that they are rarer, and in demand.

One thing I observed a few years back when I ran games for WizKids, was their founder Jordan Weisman was always making comments about how hard it was to have a good game, because of the lack of DMing resources. I think that was part of the drive for MageKnight Dungeons (DMless dungeon crawling) and their story oriented tournaments (which were army versus army).

I think, Weisman was trying to design games that took less paperwork and tracking (combat dial), and could create a story/role-playing experience without a DM (faction oriented armies, and games like MK Dungeons).

 

[TheNovaLord]

I much rather prefer to DM. I think its cos i am a bit of a b*gger to GM too! maybe im a control freak. I thinks its a reason why i can no longer finish any fantasy novel i start....cos i rapidly start thinking 'no the plot should do this' etc.

Dunno if their is a shortgae of DM's but where i live lately players seem to be appearing all over the place. Like buses you dont see a rpger for ages then D3 come at once!

JohnD