Am I an atypical DM?

[DonTadow]

I have a player who need a freakin calculator to add up 6d6. Silliest thing in the world. Its like bringing a calculator to second great.

 

[DungeonMaster]

The first two are normal. In fact it's so normal that it's not worth mention really. Mastering the ruleset is beyond important, it's essential to run D&D.
The last "Overload of options" isn't normal. Every good DM I've met prunes and strips to a small ruleset that works well. How any DM can allow all the ridiculous, absurd and moronic options available to 3.5 with a straight face is beyond me. I pick up ANY supplement in recent memory and have issues with practically every single page of rules.
I use 3rd edition core rules with a list of houserules that fit on one page. All non-core material is banned, outright. No "prestige" classes, "new classes". I have a small set of new feats and spells. I allow for original spells and magic items, even things inspired by non-core rules but I play it by the book - they pay upfront with no advice from me and the player might get fruitless research. I use plain monsters from the MM, but I play them very rough, to their fullest potential. I make all rolls in front of the players.
The game runs very smoothly, the players are often heavily challenged and generally enjoy themselves (except when running for their lives from vampires).

 

[Michael Morris]

I have one player who takes ages every single time to add up his bonuses and rolls. Thing is, he knows the rules, and his mathematical skills are just fine. Buit every round it's "Oh, he's making an attack roll... everyone go for a walk for a while or something!"

You just hear this stream of numbers from him... 17..9...23...2...31... you don't know whether these numbers are rolls, modifiers, totals or subtotals, they just go on for a while then stop. And I have to say something like "So that last number in the series was your total attack roll, right?" in the hope that, in the absence of any other indication, that was, in fact, the last number!

Then comes the damage roll... which takes even longer... and, with multiple attacks presented in a stream of numbers muse format, makes it hard to determine which numbers are damage rolls, which are modifiers, which are totals, or even how many separate damage rolls are there or if he's added them all up. Gah!

God knows where it all comes from!

I had a player like that *once* in 2e. I finally got fed up and started casting his rolls for him. He didn't seem to mind that too much.

 

[Arnwyn]

Am I an atypical DM?

Based on your comments in this thread in particular - absolutely you are.

You run a lot of D&D... a lot. Further, you yourself admit that "there's no doubt that (you) assimilate rules quicker than many people". My personal opinion is that you might be closer to the "sloppy" DM that another poster alluded to (though I'm loathe to use the word "sloppy", but instead "unambitious and cookie-cutter"), based on your comments that you refer to the DMG tables rather often.

But then again who knows, considering the entire gaming population? Since there is, of course, no statistics it's all just wild conjecture.

 

[billd91]

Thanks idol mind,
Our group has tried index cards. But perhaps its a question of discipline for our group. Although we've tried it we are not always consistent and don't keep the cards up to date. Often the spellcasting players don't have the time or don't take the time to keep their quick-reference stuff current.

I find that writing the stuff myself, including descriptions of how Improved Grab works or the text of a spell helps me to remember stuff. Another alternative is to be reading and reviewing cards whenever its not your turn or when not actually in combat. It all helps to keep the stuff fresh in my head.
Maybe you should start each D&D session with a 10-15 minute "get your cards in order" period where you make sure that everyone checks over and acknowledges that they've got their stuff up to scratch. If they acknowledge that they're ready and it turns out they're not, they don't get to use the ability that isn't updated yet. At the very least, they'll have a chance at the beginning of the session to spend time getting updated if they're so pressed for time they can't get it done otherwise.

 

[billd91]

<snip>
Prep time is brutal for levels 6+. Create an NPC Wiz who doesn't suck (level 10, say), get the spells/theme picked, get DC's, get skills, get equipment, get level up bumps, get rough skill set, get hp's... then do rough tactics, special tactics, defensive spells, common buffs... then you have to make the apprentice(s).

Yes you can handwave a lot of it. But if you really want a legitamite (tough) well defended sensible good-feat choice wiz/sorcerer/cleric/etc NPC it takes a long time. 30 min? 1 hour? at levels 10+ it's often more than an hour. This isn't fun for many.

<snip>

You baldly and blandly assert this. D&D 3.5 is the most complex game ever published (with regards to number of rules and page count). There are not a few variables. There are hundreds of variables. Even to do something like stun an opponent you need to know how the stun is delivered (hit? what is the bonus to hit? is it tough or melee) and the stun DC. Is it a spell? Does casting it provoke AOO in this case? Does the dwarf get a special racial bonus against the spell (yet another variable)? What is the effect if any for a made save. And if you do fail, what does "STUN" actually do in the game (look it up, likely).

<snip>

You might think people are complaining overmuch about slow combat... and your "defense" is to claim simplicity for D&D...

D&D is not simple nor straightforward; particularly at levels 6-8+. Above level 15, it can be an absolute nightmare, even with players/GM focussed on speed.

If you have managed to tame this complexity and it works well for you and your group: fine.

You might even want to give us some tips at speeding up combat.

But don't try to tell us D&D isn't a huge, complex game!

Is 3.5 complex? Yes. Is it the MOST complex game out there? I take it you've never played the Hero system or Rolemaster. Hero's character generation and endurance cost calculation is easily more complex than anything in 3.5 and Rolemaster isn't derisively known as "tablemaster" for nothing.
But that's beside the point. Some people master D&D better than others. When I run combats, they generally don't take too long unless my players are looking up a lot of spells. But now that they're 9th level, most of their bread and butter spells are well known around the table and things are fairly streamlined.
When it comes to dealing with generating NPCs, I agree that things do get a bit complex, but they're NPCs and not PCs. I don't have to have extremely carefully choosen feats that are designed to be effective throughout the life of the character. I'm not playing the NPC throughout its life. It makes an appearance or two on the stage of my campaign and its gone. Skill and save buffing feats make excellent choices for NPCs precisely because they don't have a lot of contingent effects and just add to static values while still tailoring the NPC in the direction I want to take it.

I will admit I spend a fair amount of time on prep, but then I'm also rewriting stat blocks using the new Dungeon format (because, though it takes up more space, it's MUCH faster to use) and reviewing monster special abilities so that I don't have to bone up on them at the table during play time. It's not like I have tons of time during the day (I have 2 kids, one of them a dynamo of a 2-year old, I work full time, my wife is constantly filling up our weekends with stuff to do, and I do the cooking and dishes in the evening), but I do try to use the time I have effectively. So my co-workers might see me taking the Monster Manual to the john once in a while... who cares? I'm getting prep work done.

At its core, D&D just isn't that hard to deal with. It may be reasonably complex, but most of that is situational and doesn't come up all the time. A lot can be eased by good use of documentation by the DM. Spells are giving the party a morale bonus? Write it on a whiteboard for all to see and use. Put boxes to check off next to it to count down the duration. Have players look up their own spells before it's their turn and hand you their books open to the right page. There are tons of ways to manage the complexit effectively and efficiently.
At least 3E/3.5, while adding some complexity over earlier editions, has taken great steps to regularize it. Try calculating the chances of surprise in 1st edition after the Fiend Folio and Unearthed Arcana came out (with drow and deep gnomes and their irregular chances to be surprised) and compare it to 3E's opposed spot/hide or listen/move silently checks.

 

[Lanefan]

I'm curious, though: why do your rounds take so long? Number of players? Level of campaign? Ordering a new pizza in the middle of each?

Not the pizza, that's for sure. Usually if a combat gets ugly-long per round, it's the complexity of the situation causing it...spellcasters on both sides using area-effect spells, large party vs. lots of opponents, or whatever. Usually, though, people don't mind as long as things are happening and there's dice to roll.

Lanefan

 

[Shroomy]

Based on your comments in this thread in particular - absolutely you are.

You run a lot of D&D... a lot. Further, you yourself admit that "there's no doubt that (you) assimilate rules quicker than many people". My personal opinion is that you might be closer to the "sloppy" DM that another poster alluded to (though I'm loathe to use the word "sloppy", but instead "unambitious and cookie-cutter"), based on your comments that you refer to the DMG tables rather often.

But then again who knows, considering the entire gaming population? Since there is, of course, no statistics it's all just wild conjecture.

Wait, why does using DM aids like pre-generated characters from the DMG for a random encounter make one "unambitious and cookie-cutter?" I mean, MerricB is using incarnum, weapons of legacy, taint, non-core monsters etc. Frankly, his campaign sounds really interesting to me, and if he wants to use pre-generated aids to make his job a little easier in some respects, how can you begrudge him?

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

My records tell me I've run 57 D&D sessions in the first 8 months of this year, or almost two a week. (Session length is about 4 hours).

Ah, to be single again. [smiles wistfully]

 

[WizarDru]

Ah, to be single again. [smiles wistfully]

Or you marry a gamer, like some of us did.

And while I lament the loss of gaming the kids brought, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. And we still get a weekly session every weekend, so no big loss.