DM-less D&D

[mhensley]

I just saw this on James Wyatt's site-

http://www.aquela.com/blog/index.html

Speaking of D&D, I played a bit of it. Friday night I grabbed Chris Sims, Logan Bonner (two of our newest editors), David Noonan, and Mike Mearls and played a random dungeon using our new Dungeon Tiles. I like the DMless random dungeon format, because it lets me put a game together and also play a character.

This sounds like Warhammer Quest. I can't wait to check this out.

 

[Belen]

<shudders>

 

[Henry]

<shudders>

What's to shudder about? Gary came up with the same thing in the back of the 1st edition DMG 27 years ago.

 

[DeadlyUematsu]

Man, oh, man, how I loved the random dungeon generator. I wonder if anyone ever adapted it to 3E.

 

[whydirt]

Dungeon Bash by The Other Game Company is supposed to be pretty good. You can check it out here:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4627

 

[FireLance]

What's to shudder about? Gary came up with the same thing in the back of the 1st edition DMG 27 years ago.

I believe Belen just doesn't like anything that makes a DM unnecessary because it puts the DM in a weaker position and forces him to be more accomodating of what the players want out of the game. If players can have fun playing D&D without a DM, then they will only play with DMs because they want to, and not because they have to.

I personally have a different perspective and am generally supportive of anything that takes the DM out of the equation.

 

[Warbringer]

It's called DDM.

Oh how accessories sell so much better than books

 

[Rystil Arden]

I believe Belen just doesn't like anything that makes a DM unnecessary because it puts the DM in a weaker position and forces him to be more accomodating of what the players want out of the game. If players can have fun playing D&D without a DM, then they will only play with DMs because they want to, and not because they have to.

I personally have a different perspective and am generally supportive of anything that takes the DM out of the equation.

I don't know--if you take away the GM from the equation entirely, you lose many of the advantages that tabletop games have over a multiplayer online RPG. I think the GM factor is utterly crucial to keeping the hobby alive in the wake of those MORPGs (and MMORPGs)--the human GM factor is the one thing we still do better than computers

 

[Mark CMG]

Speaking of D&D, (. . .)

Yes . . .?

(. . .) I played a bit of it.

Do tell!

Friday night I grabbed Chris Sims, Logan Bonner (two of our newest editors), David Noonan, and Mike Mearls and played a random dungeon using our new Dungeon Tiles. I like the DMless random dungeon format, because it lets me put a game together and also play a character.

What happened to "Speaking of D&D" . . ?

 

[ST]

I don't know--if you take away the GM from the equation entirely, you lose many of the advantages that tabletop games have over a multiplayer online RPG. I think the GM factor is utterly crucial to keeping the hobby alive in the wake of those MORPGs (and MMORPGs)--the human GM factor is the one thing we still do better than computers

Or, alternately, it's possible that new people might crossover from online gaming into a "board game" type environment where one person doesn't have to do extensive prep. (I know people who say one main reason they play things like WoW is because there's no waiting for someone to decide to GM a game for their group.)

But the thing is, there's no reason we can't have both GMed and GMless games in the hobby, so we don't have to choose one over the other.