D&D General D&D as a Curated, DIY Game or "By the Book": Examining DM and Player Agency, and the DM as Game Designer

[Lanefan]

There is a difference between selling your game and saying what your game is.

Yeah, if simply saying what your game is doesn't attract players and you have to resort to selling it, you've probably done something wrong.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Obviously not all posters get cool Tolstoy references...

Tolstoy never played D&D. If he had he wouldn't have written that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That is why I boggles my mind on the concept of DMs not explaining or giving details of a world before players agree to play. I can't stress how important campaign clarity is.

I agree with that.

Games will have to be fully sold to players in the future and not simply thrown out there.

Far from having to sell a game, my experience is the DM is the last person to take a step backwards when the group asks "who is going to DM?"

 

[Minigiant]

Yeah, if simply saying what your game is doesn't attract players and you have to resort to selling it, you've probably done something wrong.

Many forget that since the DM creates the world, they are the one who know where are the fun is. Until the DM informs them about the specifics, the players are just guessing.

 

[Minigiant]

I agree with that.

Far from having to sell a game, my experience is the DM is the last person to take a step backwards when the group asks "who is going to DM?"

Well this is a "Future D&D" thing and not a "Present D&D" thing.
In the future, there will be apps and sites to find DMs.
So DMs might have to make settings that both they like and attracts players.

 

[Campbell]

Many forget that since the DM creates the world, they are the one who know where are the fun is. Until the DM informs them about the specifics, the players are just guessing.

That very much assumes the DM knows what is fun for a particular player, they can provide it, or the player wants to be provided for.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well this is a "Future D&D" thing and not a "Present D&D" thing.
In the future, there will be apps and sites to find DMs.
So DMs might have to make settings that both they like and attracts players.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I can't see myself ever wanting to DM for a group of strangers I met off the interwebs.

 

[Minigiant]

That very much assumes the DM knows what is fun for a particular player, they can provide it, or the player wants to be provided for.

The DM often doesn't. Butt's not the point. The goal is for the DM to describe the world and what they have fun doing to the players to see if there is a match. If the game is all about fighting nonstandard monsters, the DM needs to state that.

That's the difference between seeing the game as a hobby or a ruleset. Hobbyist come to the game with the same ideas of fun. Rulesetfolk find their own fun it the rules and tone. If you change the rules or tone, you will only get hobbyists until you lay the rules and tone back down for the rest to scan it.

 

[Dausuul]

Well this is a "Future D&D" thing and not a "Present D&D" thing.
In the future, there will be apps and sites to find DMs.
So DMs might have to make settings that both they like and attracts players.

Those exist already. It doesn't change anything. It's just making the market more efficient, not changing the balance of supply and demand. There are still a lot of people wanting to play and far fewer people wanting to DM.

If one DM has a super-popular idea that many players want to play, they'll get their 4-6. And then all the other players who wanted in on that campaign will have to choose from the less popular ideas.

 

[clearstream]

This really, really isn’t the root of the disagreement. All this is, is an attempt to dismiss the camp that enjoys a more curated D&D experience.

I'd like to expand on your thought here (which I agree with): when I read an author I love or view an artwork that satisfies me, I do so because of that person or group's particular perspectives and narratives. In a similar vein, a DM can offer a particular world and stories to be part of, and to shape, that would be diluted or lost entirely if they gave up authorial perogatives.

This is a separate matter from DM as arbiter of rules etc. And it does not deny the possibility of shared narratives being hugely satisfying. Rather I mean to point out the value of sometimes relinquishing creative power: we don't always want to, need to, or even benefit from making decisions about how a word should be built, or which interpretation of a rule is the best one for this campaign.