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

[aco175]

Different people have different levels of what is hard/difficult. There is also varied parts of being a DM that one needs to be able to do. The making of an adventure/campaign is different than running one at the table. One can buy an adventure that bypasses most all of this and just run it at the table. Lacking the table skills makes things more difficult.

Most people can/should be able to do all the parts to some degree. There are books and videos that make all these parts easier and people that want to be better at something practice and learn.

 

[AlViking]

Because, unlike, say, a basketball team, where the people who are getting together are only there to play basketball, RPG gaming is broader. If someone at the table wants to run a new system, and no one is willing to play it, then that person is SOL. Someone who plays with you can only play D&D with you, no matter what because you won't play a different game. The why is fairly immaterial.

The closer analogy would be refusing to play 2 on 2 basketball and only playing full court.

But, then, you seem to believe that it's ludicrously easy to find whatever game you want to play whenever you want to play it because there is this giant ocean of DM's out there just waiting to snap up new players. Which does seem to run rather counter to the evidence as shown by the mountain of LFG type advertisements vs looking for players. I know, right now, that if I posted that I needed five players at any point in time on any day of the week, I would have a group in under 24 hours. There are FAAAAR more players out there looking for a game than there are DM's.

IME, the reason there are far, far more players out there than DM's is because running D&D is a LOT of work.

Where did I say anything at all about any other games and what does being able to find other players have to do with anything? If I don't want to play your preferred game that I'm not going to enjoy that's not my problem and I'm not going to feel bad saying no.

 

[AlViking]

-nm-

 

[AlViking]

I see it as being like cuisine.

I know Italian cuisine pretty well. Not like, infinitely well, but if someone tells me they're making an Italian dish, I kinda know what to expect--even though two Italian dishes can contain almost no ingredients in common, I know the shape of it. If I'm told an Italian recipe, I can generally cook it if it doesn't require special equipment or rare goods.

I don't know French cuisine hardly at all. I've heard of herbes de Provence, for example, but I don't know what's in it. Even though French cuisine and Italian cuisine are related (after all, France borders Italy), I'd have to learn all the ins and outs, the ingredient substitutions, the intuitions for the right ratios of ingredients. But given the similarity, I might be able to wing it. Conversely, I know literally nothing about traditional, say, Senegalese cuisine, other than that it includes jollof rice, which I heard of for the first time a few days ago. I would not be able to wing it with cooking Senegalese dishes, as I know nothing about the flavors or ingredients.

I do think it is silly and excessively self-limiting to choose to never prepare any dish that doesn't come from the one country you grew up in, or the one cuisine you first practiced cooking, or whatever. I would understand why someone might choose to do that...but I would also think they are self-sabotaging, and would not feel all that much sympathy if they then complain about the limitations arising from that choice. And...if they opined things about cooking in general, I would not give those opinions much credence.

Meanwhile I think its silly to judge other people's preferences and choices when it comes to playing a game.

 

[prabe]

I see it as being like cuisine.

I do think it is silly and excessively self-limiting to choose to never prepare any dish that doesn't come from the one country you grew up in, or the one cuisine you first practiced cooking, or whatever. I would understand why someone might choose to do that...but I would also think they are self-sabotaging, and would not feel all that much sympathy if they then complain about the limitations arising from that choice. And...if they opined things about cooking in general, I would not give those opinions much credence.

I think there is perhaps a difference between unwilling to cook any dish not from one's native cuisine and, I dunno, preferring to cook dishes from a cuisine you're familiar with. I'm a pretty experienced hobby cook, and there are things I'm not at all willing to deal with preparing, for reasons including but not limited to lack of familiarity with the ingredients and/or processes, and just not wanting to clean my kitchen after.

To drag things back to TRPGs, there are TRPGS I've played--and enjoyed the experience--that I wouldn't want to run. Or really much play again (which probably points some at why I don't want to run them). Not everyone who doesn't want to play or run [some game that's not D&D] is being close-minded, is my point, here.

Yeah, I understand it intellectually. After about two years, I almost always find myself starting to look for something new and exciting to try, and what I don't understand is how people manage to avoid the lure of the new and shiny for so long, when I am so weak and subject to random whim.

I think three years is probably a hard maximum for the amount of time I'm capable of running a game before it loses it's lustre for me.

The campaigns run 130+ sessions, we play every-other week. I've finished two campaigns and I'm running two more (staggered starts and ends--of my current campaigns, one is on session 53, the other is on session 14). Obviously, my patience and/or persistence with campaigns and systems is different from yours. That's fine, whatever works at a given table, sincerely.

 

[SableWyvern]

I do think it is silly and excessively self-limiting to choose to never prepare any dish that doesn't come from the one country you grew up in, or the one cuisine you first practiced cooking, or whatever. I would understand why someone might choose to do that...but I would also think they are self-sabotaging,

And there we go.

If you only want to play D&D that is "silly and excessively self-limiting" and "self-sabotaging".

How about it's simply choosing to spend your leisure time in a way you enjoy? In no way, shape or form is a type of "self-sabotage" nor is it imposing limits that are "excessive", nor is it "silly". It is ridiculous to treat playing a game and enjoying it without playing some arbitrary range of other games as something that should be couched in terms of self-harm.

and would not feel all that much sympathy if they then complain about the limitations arising from that choice. And...if they opined things about cooking in general, I would not give those opinions much credence.

I would agree that it is reasonable that, if someone is only willing to play one game and also complains that they don't like being limited to the options found in the one game they play, that you don't offer them too much sympathy when the refuse to even try other options. You can't help someone who won't help themselves. But who actually makes serious complaints about the game they choose to play while also refusing to try other options once presented with them?

 

[MichaelSomething]

You could form a non-profit academic style society for TTRPGs. It’s not that hard. I remember advocating for that 20 years ago.

I have experience managing societies. You just need members willing to pay dues, a leadership group that can get benefits running, and a journal never hurts either.

I used to try and convince Morrus it was a good idea. An advocacy group for players/GMs/consumers is a good idea.

I thought ENworld already has that role filled??

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I think there is perhaps a difference between unwilling to cook any dish not from one's native cuisine and, I dunno, preferring to cook dishes from a cuisine you're familiar with. I'm a pretty experienced hobby cook, and there are things I'm not at all willing to deal with preparing, for reasons including but not limited to lack of familiarity with the ingredients and/or processes, and just not wanting to clean my kitchen after.

To drag things back to TRPGs, there are TRPGS I've played--and enjoyed the experience--that I wouldn't want to run. Or really much play again (which probably points some at why I don't want to run them). Not everyone who doesn't want to play or run [some game that's not D&D] is being close-minded, is my point, here.

Sure, sure.

I've just seen far too many people whose stance is "I've never played anything but D&D, D&D is the best and only game for me, I won't even look at other games" when, y'know, that's a pretty strident stance with zero experiential reference for comparison.

 

[Lanefan]

I think there is perhaps a difference between unwilling to cook any dish not from one's native cuisine and, I dunno, preferring to cook dishes from a cuisine you're familiar with. I'm a pretty experienced hobby cook, and there are things I'm not at all willing to deal with preparing, for reasons including but not limited to lack of familiarity with the ingredients and/or processes, and just not wanting to clean my kitchen after.

Fair enough for one's own cooking at home.

I think a better analogy here, though, is a restaurant. If I'm running an Italian restaurant with a big sign outside saying "Fine Italian Food Here - Come Get Some!" then it's pretty obvious that Italian food is what you're going to get here, which means expecting me to make fine sushi or rock out a variety of curry dishes (or even cpay the least bit of attention to advice on how to do so) is a bit absurd.

It's the same with DMs running a game. It doesn't take long for a DM to realize what she's good at, what she's maybe not so good at, and what type of game or style she likes to run; and there's no blame to her if she only ever runs what she likes and-or is good at.

To drag things back to TRPGs, there are TRPGS I've played--and enjoyed the experience--that I wouldn't want to run. Or really much play again (which probably points some at why I don't want to run them). Not everyone who doesn't want to play or run [some game that's not D&D] is being close-minded, is my point, here.

Agreed. What that means to the thread topic, however, is that so-called DM advice that conflicts with what a DM is good at or comfortable with - or worse, that outright tells her what she's doing is bad even though her players keep enthusiatically coming back for more - is going to fall on deaf ears; and telling those DMs to "watch it, you'll like it" is pointless.

 

[Lanefan]

Sure, sure.

I've just seen far too many people whose stance is "I've never played anything but D&D, D&D is the best and only game for me, I won't even look at other games" when, y'know, that's a pretty strident stance with zero experiential reference for comparison.

There's about a gajillion different makes and models of cars out there. I've owned the same car since 2009 and it's more than good enough for what I need it to do, 99% of the time (the other 1% usually involves things I want to haul not fitting in it).

And yet I think I'm still allowed to hold opinions about cars other than my own.

Same goes for RPGs.