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

[EzekielRaiden]

I do think it’s harder today. Way back when I started in the 80’s I played a pretty simple style of game. Some people still play and enjoy that style, but some (many?) expect more from their games now and that definitely raises the bar in some ways.

There's also the familiarity factor.

When you literally have no idea how the rules work, it looks--and feels--like magic, a black box where ideas go in and fun times come out. Once that particular illusion is dispelled and players do, in fact, know how the rules work, they can start seeing all the places where the rules...maybe aren't so great. That awareness catches. It makes older rules harder to work with, not because they are actually any different, but because wide-eyed wonder has given way to pragmatic awareness. You can never recapture that feeling of "OMG this is a MAGIC BOX OF JOY", because that's inherently an illusion. You can still feel joy using the rules! But they'll never have precisely the same joy they offered when it was an enchanting field of unknown wonders.

It's one of the reasons why I have never been particularly copacetic to maxims like "Make magic feel magical again!" or the like. Because that's trying to recapture an inherently ephemeral feeling. You will always feel less enchanted by a rules system that you understand. That's the nature of learning. That doesn't mean there's NO enchantment; but it does mean we are doing ourselves a disservice trying to chase that illusive high, like trying to find the end of the rainbow.

 

[Shiroiken]

One of the things I really dislike that has come out of the rise of popularity of D&D (and to some degree other RPGs; but let's be honest, it is mostly D&D) is the monetization of convinging people that being a Dungeon master is hard.

Early on as 5E gained steam, we had people like Matt Coville and Matt Mercer conving people that yes, you can be a DM. Coville in particular built a following around explaining how to DM, but never telling his viewers that they could not do it. Others have followed, such as Ginni D, who offer similar advice.

But something I see a lot more of now is an endless stream of products aimed at DMs trying to convince them that Dming is hard and the only way to manage it is to buy this book. There are tons of books of super simplified adventures and advice on how to be a better DM and ways to cut corners, and the marketing is all "DMing is super hard, buy this to make it easier."

DMing is not that hard. We learned to do it when we were 10. We fumbled around and made weird calls and built bad adventures and still had a blast -- enough to still be doing it decades later. We need fewer products marketed as ways to make DMing easier, and more people advocating for letting new DMs screw up.

And part of this, IMO, is the professional DM cottage industry. I get why people would want a paid GM, especially as it relates to scheduling, but pro DMing amplifies the attitude that DMing is some sort of elite skill set that only someone with expertise can do. And that is nonsense. Anyone can DM.

Anyway, I saw an ad that really turned my crank. Had to get that out. Everyone can go back to their regularly scheduled Best of 2025 lists or whatever.

/rant

DMing is easy. As you point out, even 10 year olds can do it. Being a good DM, however, is actually hard. It takes a lot of work to become good. It's a skill that one refines over time, and one that can degrade without practice. If you disagree with this notion, then you either have a low opinion of your DMs or you have a low expectation of quality.

I think your real issue is advertising. Marketing to people's fears and inadequacy is as old as time, and it's not limited to RPGs. People try to sell DMing advice because most DMs suffer from imposter syndrome. Hell, I've been DMing for over 2 decades, and I still feel crappy when I deliver a less than stellar session. Don't denegrate the efforts of DMs everywhere because you have a problem with advertising.

 

[overgeeked]

In order to be good at something, you have to be ok with being bad at it for a while. I usually make this comment in the context of art, but it’s true here as well.

Exactly. And if the prevailing attitude is “no gaming is better than bad gaming,” then new referees never get the time they need to suck before they get good. You’re not going to improve if you only ever get 1-4 sessions to become a rock star. And we wonder why there’s a referee shortage.

 

[Cadence]

Exactly. And if the prevailing attitude is “no gaming is better than bad gaming,” then new referees never get the time they need to suck before they get good. You’re not going to improve if you only ever get 1-4 sessions to become a rock star. And we wonder why there’s a referee shortage.

It feels like there is a lot of space between rock star and not sucking with signs of a positive trajectory.

I certainly believe that too many groups don't have nearly enough patience for this process. But I also don't know if I believe there are folks with limited time and a choice of games who will spend all of their gaming for months on end to help someone stop sucking as a DM. (Of course there is also a lot of space between months on end and 0-4 sessions too. But that would dodge the spirit of a rant ).

In any case, I will certainly root for patience and openness to new experiences from players and courage and openness to advice from prospective DMs.

 

[Lanefan]

Why do you think that is? Are new players less tolerant of new DMs?

I wonder if it's more that existing players are less tolerant of new DMs.

If everyone at the table is new, including the DM, then they all learn together. But if some of the players have played before, it's on them to put up with the rookie DM's mistakes; and some people maybe aren't as willing to do that as they should be.