Even if that's true of the Starter set, there have been two more sets since then.
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D&D General The DM Shortage
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Oofta
Legend
It pretty much died down. You aren't the only one that didn't have PCs dying in droves. Even under completely different DMs in different states, the body count wasn't that high. I was at a con playing AD&D when a DM killed my PC (a half elf of course) and he really felt terrible about it. Said that he had been DMing for years and never killed a PC before. I wasn't overly surprised, all of my elven PCs die so it wasn't a big deal.
Meanwhile, the very first time I was a player in a 5E game my PC (an elf again, naturally) died at the end of the first session when a monster critted them and he was killed immediately. Not counting elves, I could probably count the number of my PCs that died on one hand and have fingers left over. That includes all editions, going back to the very beginning. D&D has always been as deadly as the DM and group wants.
And they still were not written for a new DM. They were written for new players.
That's the issue. 5e's books are written for DMs with years of experience who already are comfortable with worldbuilding, storytelling, wargaming, houseruling, and homebrewing.
Why would you write starter sets for old hat DMs? It's nonsensical.
I haven't seen the newest one (Stormwrack Isle?). Is it more like something a group of 12 year old can pick up and learn to play D&D with?
"Doing what the book says" is not the same as "Learning to DM"
The stater sets tell you what to do. Not why you do them and how to do this
A cynic would say that the starter sets and DMGs are designed to let you play DM but be reliant on buying adventure books because it doesn't teach you to create your own. A master telling motions to the apprentice but not what they are for so that the apprentice can't strike out on their own until the master retires.
But that isn't what WOTC was doing. 5e was written like an "apology" edition to pull back lapsed fans. IT was designed to bring back old DMs and convert them to modern gaming. It wasn't written to teach modern gaming to a fresh new DM.
Bayushi_seikuro
Hero
Old gamer here who started with the old Red Box (damn you, Bargle!)
There seem to be a lot of factors going on in this 'DM shortage'. I think when I started out, gaming groups fell into two categories: First, the group that discovered D&D together (someone got it as a present and invited their friends over and they made a mess of learning to play) or you got into a group with a Tolkienphile who had a lot of self-created world building done.
I feel like maybe there's an age divide here, in much the same way Gen X splits between those who had computers available in the home and those who came before that period. Maybe it isn't about a shortage sometimes as much as all the other factors: scheduling conflicts, distance between places if you're a non-driver, sometimes maybe even in the fact your preferred play style isn't the preferred play style of people you meet.
I had gotten involved with D&D night at the local library. It ended up a few adults and a bunch of high school-ish aged kids. I ran for awhile and helped teach them the basics and how sessions SHOULD go. After awhile, I let this girl take over and run for them while I played in a different game. Were they playing D&D 'correctly'? I highly doubt it. But you know what? That table was having an amazing time, and that was always the point.
There seem to be a lot of factors going on in this 'DM shortage'. I think when I started out, gaming groups fell into two categories: First, the group that discovered D&D together (someone got it as a present and invited their friends over and they made a mess of learning to play) or you got into a group with a Tolkienphile who had a lot of self-created world building done.
I feel like maybe there's an age divide here, in much the same way Gen X splits between those who had computers available in the home and those who came before that period. Maybe it isn't about a shortage sometimes as much as all the other factors: scheduling conflicts, distance between places if you're a non-driver, sometimes maybe even in the fact your preferred play style isn't the preferred play style of people you meet.
I had gotten involved with D&D night at the local library. It ended up a few adults and a bunch of high school-ish aged kids. I ran for awhile and helped teach them the basics and how sessions SHOULD go. After awhile, I let this girl take over and run for them while I played in a different game. Were they playing D&D 'correctly'? I highly doubt it. But you know what? That table was having an amazing time, and that was always the point.
You're not wrong, you're just arguing something different. RAW vs. actual experience, where DMs can make or break how fun a game actually ends up being if they're too strict on RAW. Personally I've seen more 2e PC deaths than 5e, but I also played 2e much longer so it probably averages out to be about the same. As a 2e DM, I didn't think the character creation part of playing was where the fun was so I didn't like to put my players into extremely deadly situations without giving them a way to put the odds in their favor through strategy. 5e? If they have some spell slots for a clutch Healing Word to get a PC back up, no need to hold back due to the typically less deadly nature of the RAW game.
Now we need a test subject who has never played a TTRPG of any kind to read a 5e Starter Set and see if they can run a game..
I feel like there's enough info, between the rulebook and the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure, but I'm definitely looking at it through the eyes of someone who has GMed at least 6 different TTRPGs and generally understands the role.
Oofta
Legend
There's a lot of guessing and guilt by association going on around here, so I agree. We picked up the game just fine back when and while the material was presented differently, most people only learn by doing. All the text in the world doesn't mean anything, and if you're going to read notes and thoughts on how to DM you can also look up blogs and videos that are freely available.
If kids are deciding to play video games instead of D&D, that is not proof that D&D is somehow failing them. It's just that they have a ton of options on how to spend free time (which is often more limited than when I was young) and they chose to do something else.
You keep saying "was" like the game hasn't exploded in popularity and seen an unprecedented influx of new players (and thus GMs) since it launched. I'm honestly not sure what your point is. Yes, 5E started put as the "apology edition" but the formula also worked to draw in new players and apparently keep a bunch of them. So why hasn't an effort been made to help make GMs out of as many of those players as possible? After all, no GM, no game.
My point is they have a proven model for how to do it, introduced the last time D&D had a unprecedented influx of new players approximately 40 years ago.
