Todd Roybark
Hero
As many DMs are, self reportedly, taking a turn on the player side of the DM screen, what insights have people gleaned from taking a spin at being a player?
As many DMs are, self reportedly, taking a turn on the player side of the DM screen, what insights have people gleaned from taking a spin at being a player?
The biggest thing I've learned from being a player, after decades of being a DM only: the rules-as-written are just fine.As many DMs are, self reportedly, taking a turn on the player side of the DM screen, what insights have people gleaned from taking a spin at being a player?
The biggest thing I've learned from being a player, after decades of being a DM only: the rules-as-written are just fine.
I used to love house-ruling, but being a player really broke me of that habit and I've learned to stop tampering with the rules. Don't house-rule stuff just for the sake of doing it, as if I were somehow "making it my own," or making it "work the way it should." The DM might think it's fun to change stuff around just for the sake of change, but the players find that stuff distracting and annoying.
Yes, even my stuff. Yes, even your stuff.
If I want to tweak something in the game to fit my setting or the table's play style, I'll do it with the existing stuff in the DMG. Feats are optional, use them or not. Multiclassing is optional, use it or not, it's fine. Even the battle mat is optional, so playing over Zoom or MS Teams is as hard as you want it to be. Are rests too long/short? Use the variant rest times in the DMG to fix them. Want psionics? Use the spell points system in the DMG, and describe everything as CoMiNg FrOm YoUr MiNd or whatever. The tools are in the DMG, you should use them.