D&D General The DM Shortage

[Zardnaar]

Yeah, it bugs me when fellow OSR fans (of which I am one) go off into one-true-wayism and how OSR is the best for everything, without realizing that people want different things.

however...

Certain aspects of the OSR:

• rulings over rules
• DM's world
• Less text of rules

Do help address a lack of DM's. When you have more DM empowerment and less rules to memorize, that makes DMing more appealing.

Pretty much how I see it. I like OSR gaming I'm not an OSR purist. Nor do I have a favorite edition (my S tier is B/X, 2E and 5E for three different reasons).

 

[Zardnaar]

Nope! I said that to encourage more DMs, we should reassure them that DMing isn’t that hard.

You responded:

You claim is that telling players that DMing isn’t that hard is a lie.

That’s on you to prove. The fact that an 8-year old can pick it up (even with a father that’s a gamer), strongly suggests that it isn’t.

Could also be an exceptional 8 year old with appropriate guidance.

My first DM graduated high school at a stupid age (10-12), University age 16 double degree age 20 or so.

Went and got a job at Bungie and worked on the good Halo games. He is interviewed in the Halo2 DVD.

I don't think that's typical.

 

[Xamnam]

I think the main question for me here is: what is the GMs job? What is the GM supposed to be doing before and during games? This is a bit pithy, but:
OSR: design an interesting location, use procedures, allow for player creativity
PBTA/FITD: don't prep anything, ask interesting questions and use the answers, introduce complications, play to see what happens

5e: Be able to constantly reference and parse an extensive ruleset, read a 300 page module and then direct the PCs through it, create 6-8 balanced encounters per adventuring day, understand or create world's full of lore, improvise and act like Matt Mercer, buy all the books, set up fancy battlemaps on a vtt, or some combination of the above.

This isn't pithy, this is a heavily unbalanced framing. One side you've drilled down to the essential core framework, and the other you're putting high-level assumptions on. 5e asks you to only parse a dense ruleset as much as you run into problems outside of the bog standard loop of ask the players what they do, and tell them what happens. There's absolutely no requirement about worlds full of lore, and it's not like Blades in the Dark doesn't come with a very detailed setting attached with more of an assumption you use it than 5e and the Forgotten Realms. Skill as a DM is as present an issue in any game, because that's based on players, not the rule set. Likewise, presentation and purchases is all about your own standards, not the expectations of a rule set.

Sure, 5e is wordy, and sometimes hard to find the right intersection of rules, I've no bones about that. But otherwise? I don't think this comparison holds as fair.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Could also be an exceptional 8 year old with appropriate guidance.

While I definitely think all my children are exceptional (and all have DMed), Occam’s razor suggests that DMing isn’t that hard, rather than I am the father of RPG savants.

 

[Oofta]

I think the main question for me here is: what is the GMs job? What is the GM supposed to be doing before and during games? This is a bit pithy, but:
OSR: design an interesting location, use procedures, allow for player creativity
PBTA/FITD: don't prep anything, ask interesting questions and use the answers, introduce complications, play to see what happens

5e: Be able to constantly reference and parse an extensive ruleset, read a 300 page module and then direct the PCs through it, create 6-8 balanced encounters per adventuring day, understand or create world's full of lore, improvise and act like Matt Mercer, buy all the books, set up fancy battlemaps on a vtt, or some combination of the above.

Why? Seriously ... I don't have those high expectations even for a seasoned DM. You don't need to know the entire ruleset as DM, you just have to have a decent grasp. Heck, if you're just starting out all you need to to is let people know and they'll help you or you can figure it out together.

There's no reason to assume all DMs are professional grade in any edition. If you have unrealistic expectations for any version it's going to be difficult to live up to them.

An integrated online ruleset + vtt would help with all those things, and for that, you'll have to pay...

 

[Malmuria]

This isn't pithy, this is a heavily unbalanced framing. One side you've drilled down to the essential core framework, and the other you're putting high-level assumptions on. 5e asks you to only parse a dense ruleset as much as you run into problems outside of the bog standard loop of ask the players what they do, and tell them what happens. There's absolutely no requirement about worlds full of lore, and it's not like Blades in the Dark doesn't come with a very detailed setting attached with more of an assumption you use it than 5e and the Forgotten Realms. Skill as a DM is as present an issue in any game, because that's based on players, not the rule set. Likewise, presentation and purchases is all about your own standards, not the expectations of a rule set.

1) A game can be clear about what's required of the DM, and then provide the appropriate tools. From looking at DM section of the basic rules, I'd take it that one of the essential things a DM has to do is prep an appropriate number of balanced encounters for the adventuring day. Yet, those guidelines are notoriously inaccurate. That's not great!

2) You're right that the play culture, more so than just the game, is important. 5e play culture, with its Matt Mercer effects, seems to leave a lot of DMs burnt out. That's not wotc's responsibility per se, or something within their control, but it is something that makes 5e hard to DM.

 

[Xamnam]

1) A game can be clear about what's required of the DM, and then provide the appropriate tools. From looking at DM section of the basic rules, I'd take it that one of the essential things a DM has to do is prep an appropriate number of balanced encounters for the adventuring day. Yet, those guidelines are notoriously inaccurate. That's not great!

2) You're right that the play culture, more so than just the game, is important. 5e play culture, with its Matt Mercer effects, seems to leave a lot of DMs burnt out. That's not wotc's responsibility per se, or something within their control, but it is something that makes 5e hard to DM.

1) That's only if your goal is to leave a standard strength party close to empty on resources on a particular given day, and that's not a omnipresent goal of the game.

2) If play culture expectations are being included in 5e's GM responsibilities, then it should be included on the other side as well.

 

[Zardnaar]

While I definitely think all my children are exceptional (and all have DMed), Occam’s razor suggests that DMing isn’t that hard, rather than I am the father of RPG savants.

You mentored them through it though that's not edition specific imho.

 

[Faolyn]

So... what topics do people think would constitute useful "DM Advice" for D&D specifically? Not the advice itself, just the topics, like what would the chapter subheadings look like?

Guides for:

organizing your notes and tools
encounter design
random encounter design
non-combat encounter design
treasure placement
how to create short and long one-shots
how to create meta-plots and overarching plots
how to improv
how to engage different types of players
typical DM shortcomings and tips for overcoming them
typical "problem players" and tips for working with them
how to not be an abusive DM
things that it's OK to do--like stop the game for a moment when you need to collect your thoughts, stopping abusive players, etc.
how to run a session 0
how to create realistic cities, towns, dungeons, ecosystems, etc, as well as how to create fantastic cities, towns, etc.
how magic or fantastic creatures might affect your world
how to create settings with limited player options versus how to create kitchen sink options

 

[James Gasik]

Guides for:

organizing your notes and tools
encounter design
random encounter design
non-combat encounter design
treasure placement
how to create short and long one-shots
how to create meta-plots and overarching plots
how to improv
how to engage different types of players
typical DM shortcomings and tips for overcoming them
typical "problem players" and tips for working with them
how to not be an abusive DM
things that it's OK to do--like stop the game for a moment when you need to collect your thoughts, stopping abusive players, etc.
how to run a session 0
how to create realistic cities, towns, dungeons, ecosystems, etc, as well as how to create fantastic cities, towns, etc.
how magic or fantastic creatures might affect your world
how to create settings with limited player options versus how to create kitchen sink options

Some of those are more advanced concepts. It's almost like they should create one game book for starting play, one for intermediate play, one for high level play, and one for epic level play. Man, where have I heard that before?