D&D General A Rant: DMing is not hard.

[prabe]

"Takes time and practice to get better at" is not the same thing as "massively difficult." No, you're not going to look/sound/feel like a professional voice-actor running on a stream, first time, but that's also not the same thing as "good."

My own take is that it's neither as difficult as some people present it as being, nor as easy as others do. Some people will pick it up more quickly, and will probably have a higher ceiling, than others; there'll be some difference as to what games different people find easier (I'm open to the possibility there are some games practically everyone will find easier, but that's not the claim I'm making).

 

[Reynard]

Yes…that’s what being “hard” means.

Not in the context of the thread, and of the rant.

But, hey, who doesn't love a good semantics argument. I'm all ears! (or is it eyes, since we are reading?)

 

[Charlaquin]

Yes…that’s what being “hard” means.

"Takes time and practice to get better at" is not the same thing as "massively difficult." No, you're not going to look/sound/feel like a professional voice-actor running on a stream, first time, but that's also not the same thing as "good."

Both of these things are true. DMing takes effort, and doesn’t give immediate positive results for that effort. Running a game, particularly a game that puts the significant majority of the creative and rules-management onus on the GM, as D&D does, isn’t something anyone can just do right out of the gate and have be a particularly enjoyable experience for players. If you read the several hundred pages of rules and advice in the core rulebooks, and you also either buy and read another few hundred pages adventure or put in the creative effort to design your own, while remembering and following the advice in those books, you’ll probably run a “good enough” game that your friends will enjoy playing. If you want to run a great game that they’ll remember fondly for years to come… chances are that isn’t going to happen your first try. Or your second. Or your third. You’ll have to run a lot of “ok” games, take note of what works and what doesn’t, and refine your personal style before you can reach that plateau.

Does that mean DMing is “hard”? Depends what you mean by “hard.” It is eminently doable, and the stakes are generally pretty low. So, you could reasonably say it isn’t hard. On the other hand, that is a heck of a lot more investment of time and creative energy than a lot of other leisure activities ask of you, so you could also reasonably say it is hard.

Given that the context of this thread was a complaint about advertising for DMing advice, I would say that DMing is probably not hard in the way that many advice products try to frame it. All of the skills of DMing can be learned without this outside help. It might, in some cases, still be beneficial to have such advice, though whether or not it’s worth the asking price is a different question.

 

[Reynard]

Given that the context of this thread was a complaint about advertising for DMing advice, I would say that DMing is probably not hard in the way that many advice products try to frame it.

This. I mean, it was a rant. Of course measured discussion will reveal naunce and differing opinions. Which is fine. Awesome even.

All of the skills of DMing can be learned without this outside help. It might, in some cases, still be beneficial to have such advice, though whether or not it’s worth the asking price is a different question.

There is a lot of good GMing advice out there. As I meantioned, Coville and Di are both good communicators of the game and very helpfuyl, without descending into cyncical grifterism liek some others that have been mentioned. But even The Alexandrian isn't really who I was talking about. i am talking about the people selling or Kickstarting dubious tools, usually by people that if you do some digging don't actually have any history in the D&D or TTRPG space. They are just trying to see some stuff.

I have done some freelance work for people sort of like that: people putting out a D&D books without having much knowledge of D&D, because they know that D&D books can have great results on Kickstarter. Some of those people have good intentions, just lack expertise. Some are just interested in money. I try not to work for the latter anymore.

 

[AlViking]

When I look at the reaction to ads or products framing GMing as “hard,” I see something deeper than a disagreement about difficulty. The way people enter the hobby today isn’t the way many of us entered it decades ago, and that difference creates tension in how GMing gets talked about.

Earlier generations learned in an environment that was quiet, narrow, and consistent. There was one ruleset, far fewer supplements, and very little public play to compare yourself to. Most groups were isolated pockets figuring things out as they went, and that made experimentation feel normal. A new GM could fumble through a session without any external pressure shaping expectations.

The modern hobby is a different ecosystem. New players walk into a landscape filled with multiple editions, third-party expansions, high-production actual plays, and constant streams of advice. That creates a sense of noise and comparison that didn’t exist before. When someone feels uncertain, the market naturally fills that uncertainty with tools that promise to make things easier. The products aren’t inventing the anxiety; they’re responding to it.

When you talk about "many of us", you do realize that you're talking about a small minority of DMs, right? Even back in the 90s there were multiple editions, not just OD&D, 1e and 2e but multiple versions with incompatible rules being sold at the same time. I don't see how today's environment is all that much worse. I get that it can be overwhelming at times, that's why I would recommend someone starting from scratch start out with a small campaign using just the free basic rules even if only for a short mini-campaign.

What often gets lost is that these two environments produce very different assumptions. For many long-time GMs, the idea of “needing help” runs against the culture they grew up with, where the role was something you simply picked up through doing. For newer players, the expectation is almost the opposite—they start from a place where GMing is framed as a skill supported by visible examples and structured guidance.

That doesn’t mean one approach is better. It means the center of the hobby has shifted toward the audience that entered through the modern ecosystem. Companies speak to that audience because that’s where most new growth comes from. Someone who learned the role decades ago isn’t the target for those products, not because their experience is invalid, but because the hobby no longer assumes a single shared entry point.

The point about “letting new GMs screw up” still matters. People learn best by trying, and the role has always been accessible. But the context surrounding that accessibility has changed, and the messaging around it changed with the context. Understanding that shift helps explain why these ads exist without needing to assume that the hobby is claiming GMing has become inherently difficult.

In any case I agree that no amount of reading or watching videos is going to make you a great GM out of the gate. People need to figure out what works for them and their players ... but for some people it can give them confidence and a sense of preparation to read or watch advice on what to do. Especially if you and your friends have just heard about this TTRPG thing and it sounds interesting but you don't have an experienced GM to run some sessions for you. I just don't think this is anything particularly new, back in the day I used to subscribe to Dragon and Dungeon magazines and read the articles to get ideas of how to run better games. One of the reasons I used to go to gaming conventions was simply to see how other DMs ran their games. Now of course it's far easier to watch streams but that can set unrealistic expectations.

The more things change the more they stay the same. Some people find it best to just jump in, others want to read up or watch others. As far as the OP goes, unfortunately the hobby has gotten fairly large so of course there are people trying to make a buck. The biggest issue now is separating the wheat from the chaff, something we didn't have to worry about as much back in the day.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

This. I mean, it was a rant. Of course measured discussion will reveal naunce and differing opinions. Which is fine. Awesome even.

There is a lot of good GMing advice out there. As I meantioned, Coville and Di are both good communicators of the game and very helpfuyl, without descending into cyncical grifterism liek some others that have been mentioned. But even The Alexandrian isn't really who I was talking about. i am talking about the people selling or Kickstarting dubious tools, usually by people that if you do some digging don't actually have any history in the D&D or TTRPG space. They are just trying to see some stuff.

I have done some freelance work for people sort of like that: people putting out a D&D books without having much knowledge of D&D, because they know that D&D books can have great results on Kickstarter. Some of those people have good intentions, just lack expertise. Some are just interested in money. I try not to work for the latter anymore.

I think part of the problem here, is that I and I suspect some others here have not run into the latter kind or if we have, I know that I have not really noticed them.
DMing is not all that easy either, there are a lot of people that will flat out refuse to do it. I think the biggest barrier to DM'ing is lack of belief in oneself that one can do it.
I have had the experience that I have run a terrible game, complete fail as a DM and not only have the players not said so but they were completely willing to come back next week and play again. Which strongly suggests that my perception of that session was not what they thought it was.

 

[Reynard]

DMing is not all that easy either, there are a lot of people that will flat out refuse to do it. I think the biggest barrier to DM'ing is lack of belief in oneself that one can do it.

This is the thing I am pushing back against -- specifically how some people weaponize that feeling for clicks, backers and sales of products that don't really do what's promised. The only thing more ubiquitous than a D&D influencer-grifter is a fitness one IMO.

 

[prabe]

DMing is not all that easy either, there are a lot of people that will flat out refuse to do it. I think the biggest barrier to DM'ing is lack of belief in oneself that one can do it.
I have had the experience that I have run a terrible game, complete fail as a DM and not only have the players not said so but they were completely willing to come back next week and play again. Which strongly suggests that my perception of that session was not what they thought it was.

I know a couple of the people I GM for have run into anxiety-related walls connected to their GMing, that's a real thing, and it's at least vaguely connected to your "lack of belief in onseself" idea. While I think that is/was pretty much on them, not the rest of us at the table, I have no doubt that more tables need to be more patient with new GMs' learning curves.

I also agree that the GM's perception of a session might not be the same as the players', but that can work both ways--that session you (general "you" who GMs) thought was fricking brilliant might have stunk, or maybe worse been bland, at least as easily as the other way around. So, I guess in addition to being patient, tables need to be willing to be some degree of honest about what's working and what's not, and GMs (not just new GMs) need to be willing to ask for that kind of feedback.

 

[cbwjm]

I think part of the problem here, is that I and I suspect some others here have not run into the latter kind or if we have, I know that I have not really noticed them.
DMing is not all that easy either, there are a lot of people that will flat out refuse to do it. I think the biggest barrier to DM'ing is lack of belief in oneself that one can do it.
I have had the experience that I have run a terrible game, complete fail as a DM and not only have the players not said so but they were completely willing to come back next week and play again. Which strongly suggests that my perception of that session was not what they thought it was.

I've had that before, thought it was bad but actually players enjoyed it, it was just my own self perception that thought it was terrible (though I'm also sure that I've run some sessions that weren't as engaging for the players).

Someone said that we shouldn't use what 10 year olds can do as the standard, but I kind of feel like we should when it comes to DMing. Kids just get down and do it but as you get older you start to think about what others might think about you and so you start to worry that the game you run might be judged harshly or that the players won't have fun and it can really hold you back. I get this feeling even though I've been DMing off and on for years.

 

[Reynard]

I know a couple of the people I GM for have run into anxiety-related walls connected to their GMing, that's a real thing, and it's at least vaguely connected to your "lack of belief in onseself" idea. While I think that is/was pretty much on them, not the rest of us at the table, I have no doubt that more tables need to be more patient with new GMs' learning curves.

People that do GM need to stop talking about how hard it is and talk about how fun it is.