D&D 5E Are DMs getting lazy?

[Reynard]

Also, you're making second bad assumption - that because it takes you a long time to adapt stuff compared to generating it, that's fairly universal. I do not believe that's true. I mean, take me or my wife - we can certainly write our own adventure faster than we can prep a pre-made one (you sound the same way). My brother, though, or most DMs I know? Definitely the other way - and indeed many of them don't even significantly modify the adventure for their group. You're welcome to sneer at that, but it's how they roll.

Maybe. But if I have to go through the stat blocks and figure out what each spell and feat does (because why put that information right there where I need it) and I have to draw plot flow charts and NPC relationships webs and all the rest, I might as well write the damn thing myself. Most adventures are terribly produced from a utilitarian standpoint. They don't give you the information you need where and when you need it. Whether this is a huge problem depends on your point of view, of course, but for me it basically means no matter how "good" a module or AP is, it is not worth the effort -- and players (especially those at cons orgame days) are none the wiser. Everybody has a good time, including me.

 

[TerraDave]

Keep in mind that a lazy DM in, say, 1981, would have had access to the following, beyond the core books (and basic and expert D&D rules)

B1 In Search of the Unknown
D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth
D3 Vault of the Drow
S1 Tomb of Horrors
G1-2-3 Against the Giants
B2 The Keep on the Borderlands
S2 White Plume Mountain
T1 The Village of Hommlet
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
X1 The Isle of Dread
A1–4 Slavers Series
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess
I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City
L1 The Secret of Bone Hill
U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
X2 Castle Amber

PLUS Deities and Demigods, the Fiend Folio, the World of Greyhawk Folio,
PLUS PLUS Monthly issues of Dragon, which had been in print since 1976 (since 75 as the strategic review)
ADD, from even earlier, licensed Judges Guild products.

They may have been industrious with their games, but DMs also still had some help.

 

[GregoryOatmeal]

My philosophy as a DM boils down to the Jon Stewart quote "Creativity comes from limits, not freedom". He was essentially saying within the context of news commentary his writers create better/more focused comedy than they would given a complete blank slate.

I tend to repeat myself and design epic railroads when I create my own content. With the content of others I'm much less emotionally attached to ideas, stories, and possible outcomes, and inclined to let the chips fall where they may.
(This requires using modules that are not railroads)

Beyond that - I DO spend creative energy trying to make things interesting. The Cult of the Dragon in the starter set is pretty boring as is - how can I kick it up a notch? How can I make character X stick? The author presents a layer of creativity, then I add my own extensive personal touch. I like the fusion of my ideas with other ideas, the laissez-faire plot style, and the sense of detachment.

In my experience it is mostly a lie that official content cuts down on preparation time. I find I actually spend a lot more time reading the plot, taking it in, and polishing the dull parts than I would had I created my own content.

 

[Reynard]

My philosophy as a DM boils down to the Jon Stewart quote "Creativity comes from limits, not freedom". He was essentially saying within the context of news commentary his writers create better/more focused comedy than they would given a complete blank slate.

I tend to repeat myself and design epic railroads when I create my own content. With the content of others I'm much less emotionally attached to ideas, stories, and possible outcomes, and inclined to let the chips fall where they may.
(This requires using modules that are not railroads)

Beyond that - I DO spend creative energy trying to make things interesting. The Cult of the Dragon in the starter set is pretty boring as is - how can I kick it up a notch? How can I make character X stick? The author presents a layer of creativity, then I add my own extensive personal touch. I like the fusion of my ideas with other ideas, the laissez-faire plot style, and the sense of detachment.

In my experience it is mostly a lie that official content cuts down on preparation time. I find I actually spend a lot more time reading the plot, taking it in, and polishing the dull parts than I would had I created my own content.

I think the best way to avoid repetition and a lack of creativity in design is to incorporate randomness -- whether that is any number of books filled with random charts like AEG's Toolbox or just grabbing a book off the shelf and opening to a random page and forcing yourself to incorporate something from that page into your work. I agree that the blank slate can often be intimidating or lead you to rely on your own tropes. A few random elements will do wonders.

 

[Nebulous]

I think the best way to avoid repetition and a lack of creativity in design is to incorporate randomness -- whether that is any number of books filled with random charts like AEG's Toolbox or just grabbing a book off the shelf and opening to a random page and forcing yourself to incorporate something from that page into your work. I agree that the blank slate can often be intimidating or lead you to rely on your own tropes. A few random elements will do wonders.

yep, I use that Toolbox book sometimes. And definitely random encounters. I'm using random encounters more in 5e than probably ever before. Actually, random encounters completely deterred the heroes last time from trekking 500 miles across the wilderness because they flat out did not want 2 weeks of potentially deadly stuff flying at them. And it was totally their call, I would have rolled with whatever the decision was. I'd planted lots of seeds for the plot to go one way, but they decided another, and now that's why I have the Neverwinter campaign thread on the boards, I have to throw something together before next session. And I'm going to mine the hell out of that campaign book, but it's not an adventure, i still have to string stuff together into a story.

 

[TwoSix]

If I spend more than half an hour doing any sort of prep work for my DMing, I feel like I've done something dreadfully wrong.

In general, I think of various campaign hooks while I'm driving to and from work, and I'll sketch some bare bones ideas for interesting encounters together. If I need a custom monster, I pull one out of a Monster Manual and add or subtract abilities till I'm done. Elementals make a great baseline monster to tack abilities onto, I've found. But dungeons, maps, NPCs, etc, are all things I make up on the fly.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Keep in mind that a lazy DM in, say, 1981, would have had access to the following, beyond the core books (and basic and expert D&D rules)

B1 In Search of the Unknown
D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth
D3 Vault of the Drow
S1 Tomb of Horrors
G1-2-3 Against the Giants
B2 The Keep on the Borderlands
S2 White Plume Mountain
T1 The Village of Hommlet
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
X1 The Isle of Dread
A1–4 Slavers Series
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess
I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City
L1 The Secret of Bone Hill
U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
X2 Castle Amber

PLUS Deities and Demigods, the Fiend Folio, the World of Greyhawk Folio,
PLUS PLUS Monthly issues of Dragon, which had been in print since 1976 (since 75 as the strategic review)
ADD, from even earlier, licensed Judges Guild products.

They may have been industrious with their games, but DMs also still had some help.

I guess one can only hope that 5 years from now there are 20 adventures for 5e out there...

 

[TerraDave]

I guess one can only hope that 5 years from now there are 20 adventures for 5e out there...

1976...star wars came out?

In 1976 Dragon was in print. Unlike now.

OD&D was 74, and AD&D sort of overlapped with it and was dribbled out.

But the DMG was 79, and the first 8 or so things on that list came out in that year.

 

[halfling rogue]

My philosophy as a DM boils down to the Jon Stewart quote "Creativity comes from limits, not freedom".

I don't know if I'd call that my own philosophy, but it sure is true. Currently I'm DMing with only the Basic Rules (started with Starter, but now on our own), and the games have been some of the most fun in D&D I've ever had.

 

[Halivar]

So none of you guys did homework in college? Had jobs? For me, college D&D was a "fit it in whenever" thing, and it meant sacrificing another pastime, hobby, or social obligation. Marathon sessions didn't happen except on holidays.

I think someone else hit it on the head when they said that we have simply filled our lives with other things we value more: Facebook, Reddit, Youtube. We are always on, always engaged, and our brain is always occupied. No planning is possible like that.

But the solution, I think, is not to rely on published adventures that 1) make presumptions of the characters that require railroading and 2) are of questionable quality. The solution is to remaster the arts of extemporaneous storytelling and reactive DM'ing. These are not genetically bound abilities. They are arts that are learned and mastered necessarily without any time commitment.