D&D General The DM Shortage

[Minigiant]

I think it is still an interesting question. I wonder if there's any data out there. I suppose the VTTs might be able to provide some insight based on what is activated for any particular game.

WotC must be asking? I know they do the playtest surveys but do they do general surveys?

Again it's an impossible and overall not useful question to ask as new DMs like the support to play 5e in any way but the one style.

You could ask "What do New GMs want to run?" they let them list in order the characteristics of the game they might want to run.

But "What do New GMs play?" is a terrible question as 5e only supports one option with any sense of importance.

 

[jasper]

"A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author." - GK Chesterton

This dude is not even on kindle! what does he know? jasper sneered. And he wants to much money for his paperbacks. What does he think I am. A college student taking his class?

 

[Cruentus]

Yes. And they can be really good for that purpose. However, they're mostly fan-created and given few resources. It's not exactly the same as when we'd get original art, quality maps, and professional designers like Gygax, Bruce Cordell, or Monte Cook writing them.

I spend just as much time changing and modifying stuff made by “professional designers” as by folks I’ve met here, or from kickstarter, or from random things I’ve bought on Drivethru or DMsGuilid. Being a professional does not automatically mean its useful or good. I mean, look at half the criticism of 5e and various adventure books, etc.

I still use (and re-use) old Dragon and Dungeon adventures to plug into my homebrews, and even add them when I’m running a “module”, which often also requires a ton of extra work to make it run consistently.

I would posit that DMs tend to run the adventure books, or other canned adventures first thing, as they’re “easy” to pick up and go through. Many probaby end up with uneven results, but we all had to start somewhere. My son is 13, learned a little from me, from his DnD elective at school (he learned a lot about how not to run adventures), and reads tons and has lots of ideas and such. So much so that he has already jumped from DnD to other systems that let him and his players play how they want to play. And he is having much more fun.

 

[Celebrim]

It's surprising but awesome to see so many people saying the rules don't matter.

Oh, the rules matter. They just don't matter as much as DM preparation, DM skill, player skill, the process of play, and how the group collectively thinks about play.

 

[Celebrim]

This dude is not even on kindle! what does he know? jasper sneered. And he wants to much money for his paperbacks. What does he think I am. A college student taking his class?

Books by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith) (sorted by popularity)

Project Gutenberg offers 69,484 free ebooks for Kindle, iPad, Nook, Android, and iPhone.

www.gutenberg.org

I say, if a guy is good enough to be a character in Sandman, then he's probably good enough to read.

 

[Minigiant]

There was a complete villain book back in the 3.x days that was really good (even today) but I'm not sure if it could be expanded to one for each race like that

Exemplars of Evil.

It was more or less amusing during workhours. Since there were 12 classes and 12 races (9 PHB plus orc, goblin, and undead), I thought to link up each iconic CR 10 class villain with a iconic CR 5 race villian.

The the evil berserker barbarian would be linked to the evil orc. The evil fiend warlock would be linked to the evil tiefling. The evil necormancer wizard would be linked to a evil undead.

New DMs could chose a villian and have their starter dungeons molded by their villian's personality, henchman, and effects.

 

[pemerton]

what do the actual games of these new GMs look like?

A 17 year old I know bought a copy of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight to use running a game for her family (siblings and parents). She seems a fairly typical teenager who might get into D&D. I've no idea how representative she might be.

 

[Belen]

IME unless you are "in a gamer setting" (hobby shops, campuses, etc.), finding players has been more difficult. As older adults, I've lost players mostly due to conflicts such as family, work, moving, etc. At this point, my Saturday "group" is almost to the point we hang out, talk shop, etc. almost more than we play. One of the guys in this group also DMs as he wanted to try it and I've given him help with that. He's working out pretty well.

I was lucky to find my Tuesday group due to a younger co-worker that plays. He introduced me to their group, who had a DM, but for the last few months I've been DMing so the other DM can play and see some first-hand DMing from a much more experienced DM.

---

Anyway, as for a DM shortage, reasons why newer players are reluctant to pick up the DM mantle are:

• they lack confidence / don't want to appear foolish
• they don't want the responsibility
• they don't have the time to commit to prepping
• they are intimidated by videos they watched / stories they heard
• they have more fun playing
• they feel they don't have the imagination
• they don't believe they can handle the story-telling aspect
• and so on...

Having a mentor can certainly help, especially if they are willing to co-DM with the new DM. This is what I will typically do for a few sessions when a new DM is ready to run a game. I'll help with tracking initiative, running monsters, etc. and remind them of things they forget about or overlook.

Frankly, I would love to have a job as a full-time DM, but I am not a big person for online gaming and I've never found players around here who want/ need a DM badly enough to pay for one.

I am sure those are the main reasons but old school groups often just spoke and decided on who would be a DM. My firsts groups would all chip in and purchase a module for the DM and help out where needed. I think that the mindset of players has changed and the core reason really tied to lack of desire to be responsible.

 

[Belen]

Basically

1. Old School Location Based- The location is the star. You play someone there.
2. New School Event Based- The event or adventure is the star. You control how the event unfolds
3. Modern Character Based- The characters are the the stars. Your relationships and actions choose the events and the locations.

I guess I have always been a Type 3 DM; however, Type 3 players are very rare. A true Type 3 player gets involved and makes decisions and tried to push the narrative. I try to get my players to think about opening businesses or getting a keep or being part of a guild and there is never any work done outside or inside of the game.

The problem with players is that they want to show up, have fun in the moment, and go home after being entertained. They MAY choose to update their characters in their own time but that is about it. A DM has to direct and write and star in the movie.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I guess I have always been a Type 3 DM; however, Type 3 players are very rare. A true Type 3 player gets involved and makes decisions and tried to push the narrative. I try to get my players to think about opening businesses or getting a keep or being part of a guild and there is never any work done outside or inside of the game.

The problem with players is that they want to show up, have fun in the moment, and go home after being entertained. They MAY choose to update their characters in their own time but that is about it. A DM has to direct and write and star in the movie.

Type 3 tends to grow out of playing in other games than D&D or being exposed to people who have.

Our epiphany as a group stemmed from HERO, where your Disads are literal narrative levers to decide what NPCs and situations should go into the game. We then brought it back to our D&D and other games.