Legends and Lore : The Fine Art of Dungeon Mastering

[MichaelSomething]

Greg Stafford was making the point years ago that DMs were the most important asset to the gaming community - but I feel that game releases are still pitched to the players. e.g. PHB scheduled for a first release, then changed to simultaneous release. Have we ever had a game sold as: look how much fun you (the DM) could be giving a group of friends.

DMs are the most vital resource yet also the hardest to produce. Is there anything WOTC can do to increase the supply of DMs out there?

 

[Agamon]

Finally, can DMs learn from books or is the real induction always via a gaming group and then learning by experience.

Both, I think. Little is retained if learning is outside any practical application, but reading gamemastering advice while GMing can only help in most cases.

 

[Umbran]

I feel like this article is all stuff we've heard before and are aware of.

I think people have to remember that not all these articles are, or even should be, aimed at experienced players. There's always room for bringing up old discussions again when it's a magazine all about running the game itself.

I think Kzach makes a good point. These articles are likely not aimed at the EN World population, specifically, or even DDI subscribers (as the articles aren't behind the paywall).

They're articles for a very wide audience - including folks who haven't been having discussions on messageboards. So, maybe it is known to you, or us, but that doesn't mean there aren't folks he should be trying to reach who haven't heard this before.

 

[ExploderWizard]

DMs are the most vital resource yet also the hardest to produce. Is there anything WOTC can do to increase the supply of DMs out there?

Yes. Produce a game that makes people look forward to running it.

 

[Quickleaf]

Yes, good mudules and good design are important. But I don't think that is the point here and I also think that they are sigificantly less important than the points here.

I guess it depends on your intro to D&D and DMing. I see plenty of DMs who've been stuck in the module mindset. There are several ways to cultivate good DMs, and IMO good modules are at the top of that list. Advice is well and good, but I believe in show, don't tell.

I think there is a difference between a murderous adventure and a murderous game. You know, going into the thing, that entering the Tomb of Horrors will be a bloodbath. That's different from the game where no matter what your characters do, demons will pop up from out of the street and slaughter you on your way to the market.

I can't imagine that type of game (and type of DM) lasting more than one session. I don't take seriously that that is a significant subset of DMs; I've encountered one in 20 years of gaming and well, it made for a fun one-shot and never games with him again.

 

[MrMyth]

I can't imagine that type of game (and type of DM) lasting more than one session. I don't take seriously that that is a significant subset of DMs; I've encountered one in 20 years of gaming and well, it made for a fun one-shot and never games with him again.

Oh, I certainly don't know how common they are firsthand - I've never run into a DM like that, and similarly, don't imagine I'd return if that was the case. But it does seem to be a recurring trend in "DM horror stories" - where the DM is unabashedly out to kill the PCs (or specific PCs), regardless of plot, reason, or any sense of fair play. And I'm pretty sure that was the sort of bad DMing that Mearls was talking about.

If a group sets out to play a lethal dungeon crawl - or lethal campaign in general - that's a very different thing from a DM who either sets out to murder PCs from the start, or has a tantrum and resorts to it at the drop of a hat whenever something doesn't go the way he wants.

 

[BryonD]

I guess it depends on your intro to D&D and DMing. I see plenty of DMs who've been stuck in the module mindset. There are several ways to cultivate good DMs, and IMO good modules are at the top of that list. Advice is well and good, but I believe in show, don't tell.

I can imagine that there are "DMs stuck in the module mindset". But that would simply fall under the bad DM heading.

A now-good DM could start his career using ToH, run it as a newbie and have terrible results and still learn from the experience.

The association that a kind of module predestines DMing quality is completely false.

I'd also challenge the new claim here that ToH is not a "good module". It is an awesome module. As I readily agree, it isn't in MY personal preference. But it is designed with a certain style of gaming in mind and it delivers. There are TONS of RPG fans out there with great stories and memories of their adventures and misadventures through the Tomb.

By any measure of how much awesome fun has been produced, ToH is not just good but is among the GREAT classic modules. (And I still don't like it much)

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Yes. Produce a game that makes people look forward to running it.

And who would be able to design and develop such a game? Someone with years of experience running games? Who would be able to decide whether the game succeeds - before it is released?

 

[Agamon]

And who would be able to design and develop such a game? Someone with years of experience running games? Who would be able to decide whether the game succeeds - before it is released?

Not to mention, who releases a game, thinking, "Wow, this will be fun to play, but it really sucks to have to run it." Obviously any designer that releases a game believes it will be fun to run it. Odds are that's why he designed it the way he did.

 

[Umbran]

I can imagine that there are "DMs stuck in the module mindset". But that would simply fall under the bad DM heading.

I'm not at all convinced that's true.

Maybe that depends on what "the module mindset" is. My first guess is that's the mindset where the DM figures he'll make his campaign out of published modules, and not write his own adventures. There's no reason why one can't have an amazing gaming experience that way.

If you want to call a module-based campaign "bad DMing", we're going to have an argument in about three more posts, so I hope I've got you wrong.