3e DM's who have never played 3e.

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Re: Rule Omega

If Rule Zero is "If you dont like it, change it", then I have a Rule Omega.

Excepting other specific arrangements, if you bought the books, then your the DM.

I learned this first hand when I decided to buy the 2nd edition PHB, DMG and MM when I got curious and wanted to play.

It is quite possible that if you have never actually played the game as a player, that you are the one who owns the MM and DMG that your group primarily uses.

Am I correct?

END COMMUNICATION

Yep, one player bought a PHB and four of the splat books, another bought the splatbook for his MU. Beyond that I've bought all the core books, and a lot of other books. Plus nearly all the mini's are mine, I've painted them all, and....damn I'm doing way too much for these guys! My last game I was playing the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set back when it first came out using 1e. I like to DM so I'm not complaining or anything.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

If you've been DM'ing for two years with no chance to play, SOMEBODY in that group knows the rules well enough to take a turn DM'ing! Get the loafers off their duffs and tell them to get cracking! They ain't gettin' any more free rides off of you!

Seriously, there may be a player in your group who has an expressed or hidden desire to try their hand at the DM screen, especially if you enjoy your job and make it seem like fun. Sometimes a little coaching is all that's needed. If you find a volunteer, give them as much help as they need, coach them a little, if they ask for pointers feel free to give them, but don't offer until they ask - just let them know that you're glad to offer opinions or guidance.

I have a casual player who was actually very good at tactics in battles - but he was a first time DM, and got turned off at the feeling that he was a novice. The important thing is to never let a first time DM feel useless or poor at the task - because everybody started with a DM guide and a campaign idea at one point.

Fortunately, I have one other person in my group who is a ready DM, and we trade jobs quite frequently, so I do get a chance to play. But sometimes, when you can't find 'em, you just gotta take a seed and grow one.

Of the four players I have one is a very causal player, he just started playing again becuase we were playing. There is no way he would spend a dime on stuff or put the effort in to DM, plus he as a kid on the way and is shot on time to play. My brother is the only one who I would really like to take over DM'ing for awhile, in a different campaign of course as I don't want him messing with my stuff! He's good at it and has a decent grasp of the system but says he doesn't have time. I have one player who keeps talking about his GURPS Cyberpunk game he wants to run. I'm waiting but not expecting much out of it. He has trouble with d20 and I don't know if GURPS will be easier unless he sticks to GURPS lite and even then I bet it will be a rules nightmare. The last guy knows the system but he spends his off time playing hours and hours of Everquest. He's hooked and never got his Champions game off the ground becuase of it.

 

[cildarith]

As DM, I have yet to actually participate in 3E as a player.

 

[Henry]

Flexor, based on your descriptions, I salute you actually being able to get your group together to play at all! I'm sorry to hear about what sounds like a pretty tight spot, but the only real advice I can give is two-fold: cultivate your potential DM's (your brother and your GURPS player sound like the best options), and the other is that if you are near any local conventions or gatherings, that you might want to try participating in a con game or two as one shots, just to get the experience of play from the other side. Often, our DMing skills are improved by playing just as much as they are by DM'ing - because there's always room to learn from someone else's style.

 

[Davelozzi]

I haven't had a chance to play D&D 3e yet, but I feel like I have since I've been a player in other d20 games.

 

[buzz]

I tend to be DM more often than not, so when I decided to join a new group last year, I specifically told potential groups that I was looking to play. I needed time on the "other side of the screen."

So far, it's been awesome. I often find myself thinking, "Man, I totally wouldn't have done it that way," though, but that's part of the fun. You experience someone else's style, and thereby learn more about your own.

 

[Zappo]

Eh... I have a few players who keep saying that they'll soon start a campaign. Except that the guy who wants to start a SW D20 campaign also keeps saying that he hasn't got the adventure ready because he's had too much work to do; the guy who wants to start a Ravenloft campaign wants to wait for the Italian translation of the 3E manual (yeah, as if that was going to happen); and the guy who wants to start a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying campaign wants us to write backgrounds for the character and while I've done it, none of the other players have in months and he isn't making pressure on them in the slightest.

Me and another guy are the only ones who *actually* do DM. I do D&D, he does SW. Of course, he wants to play in a sci-fi game and I want to play in a fantasy game. He doesn't want to DM D&D, though, and I am already running two campaigns and I'm not going to start another.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I have the same problem. I suggest taking a look at the play-by-post games going on in the "Talking the Talk" and "Playing the Game" forums.

It isn't exactly the same of course, but it is really fun.

 

[Matt Neuman]

I run one game and play in another (sort of).

The second group is run by rotating DMs. I run a few sessions, then another DM runs a few sessions, and so on.

So everyone who is in the game gets a chance to play and to get some practice DMing for those who don't do it very often.

This does mean that there is little in the way of overarching plot in the game, and that the emphasis tends to be on side-trek type adventures but it works ok, and everyone has a good time.