D&D General Has online play changed your DM style?

[Hussar]

Ever feel like you've overused or abused that 'privilege'? Refined your selections to the point of pure self-service and lost track of what other plays might want in a game? Wonder if you've let brilliant players slip through your net?

Nope. Not at all.

Bit of background. I started playing on VTT in 2003 with OpenRPG. Dark ages man, dark ages. When I first started, I treated the table like I was playing at an FLGS, just put up an ad and take whoever came. I was super nice about things and would bend over backwards to be accommodating.

Then, over time. This changed. I noticed that many online players didn't seem to treat the game as a priority. I'd get players showing up fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes late, no notice, no email. Or, not even show up at all. Then I had the players who would come in, spend all sorts of time creating a character, get everything just right, only to vanish into the aether the next week. On and on and on. So, my recruitment signs started to change. They went from something along the lines of come one come all, to "Look, I'm running THIS kind of game. The game starts at THIS time on THIS day. We are not interested in players who (shopping list of things). Miss three sessions without prior notice and you're uninvited."

Funny thing was, the nastier I got, the more people wanted into the games. :/

But, over the years, I finally whittled down the group to a great bunch. I've got a group of six players now and this is my longest running group (almost ten years now, with three of us bordering on 20).

I have no interest anymore in being accomodating to other people's playstyles. I don't have to be. Why should I change how I want to play to play with some stranger? Bugger that. I'd much rather sit at a table of like minded individuals. So much more fun.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I realise this is a bit of a tangent to the thread topic, but would you care to elaborate on this.

I'm not bookbarbarian, but I experienced the same thing.

Many moons ago, I recorded several sessions, edited them, stuck them on Youtube, that sort of thing (those videos are now gone, but more "recent" play can be found if you go looking for Rat's Workshop). And as I watched them, I noticed the things that I wasted time on that weren't actually valuable in actual play. Things like detailed religions, deep histories, etc. that, while fun for me to create, nobody seemed to care about.

Other things I wasted my time on: figuring out the nuances of the VTT I was using (at that time Roll20). Even going as far as pausing game-time to get it right. They disengaged big time if I paused the action to figure out how to use an API script. Big time.

Conversely, I saw the things that players were engaging with: plot, battles, etc.

What it boiled down to, and I'm generalizing here, is that Players wanna play. For the most part, they don't give two spits for all that deep stuff unless it directly relates to the adventure.

Plus, I learned that I have a very nasally voice. Heh.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I'd get players showing up fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes late, ...

I was doing this, except that I was an hour late each time. It took one of the players asking what my time zone was. After I told him, he politely let me know that I had the time differences wrong by one hour.

I thanked him and the group profusely for correcting me. Apologized a LOT for screwing up their game time and then dropped out of the group as I knew I'd never be able to make it on time reliably.

@WookieeChan , if you're listening, I still feel naughty word about messing up the group. I owe you a beer or soda or something if we ever meet in person.

 

[Sadras]

I started playing on VTT in 2003 with OpenRPG. Dark ages man, dark ages. When I first started, I treated the table like I was playing at an FLGS, just put up an ad and take whoever came. I was super nice about things and would bend over backwards to be accommodating.

Then, over time. This changed. I noticed that many online players didn't seem to treat the game as a priority. I'd get players showing up fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes late, no notice, no email. Or, not even show up at all. Then I had the players who would come in, spend all sorts of time creating a character, get everything just right, only to vanish into the aether the next week. On and on and on. So, my recruitment signs started to change. They went from something along the lines of come one come all, to "Look, I'm running THIS kind of game. The game starts at THIS time on THIS day. We are not interested in players who (shopping list of things). Miss three sessions without prior notice and you're uninvited."

Funny thing was, the nastier I got, the more people wanted into the games. :/

But, over the years, I finally whittled down the group to a great bunch. I've got a group of six players now and this is my longest running group (almost ten years now, with three of us bordering on 20).

@Hussar just out of curiosity - as I understand it you're a Canadian living and rpging online in Japan with I'm guessing people back home and perhaps other parts of the world. How big is the rpging community in Japan? Is the language barrier an issue for forming an in-person game there?

 

[iserith]

Ever feel like you've overused or abused that 'privilege'? Refined your selections to the point of pure self-service and lost track of what other plays might want in a game? Wonder if you've let brilliant players slip through your net?

It's possible, but I would say what makes a "brilliant player" is actually just someone who is a responsible adult with a good sense of humor capable of having a meaningful conversation with other people. That's fairly easy to judge via a one-shot. I'm not really selecting for people who have particular D&D preferences per se. D&D 5e is what it is and I run the game as advertised by the game itself with campaigns changing up every 6 months to 1 year, the themes and focuses based on player input.

 

[iserith]

Yes, absolutely. I no longer spend huge amounts of time drawing shoddy imitations of maps on dry-erase boards. I now have beautiful maps that are revealed as I need and each player can only see what their character would see.

Heck yeah. I'm pretty sure Gabriel Pickard (one of the Roll20 map sellers) is naming a wing of his house for me given how many of his map packs I buy. Plus I have the entire internet's worth of art I can download and make into tokens, handouts, and evocative splash pages. I take pride in how good my games look in addition to how smoothly they play.

My opinion is that if you're not taking full advantage of the visual elements of online play, you're squandering the full potential of the medium.

 

[jmucchiello]

I play-by-post more and I find it has given me the bad habit of not planning more than 10 minutes into the future. Because checking a door for trap could take a whole week in real time, it is unnecessary to plan for "filling up a 4 hour session"-worth of material. While I know what the major NPCs are up to and stuff like that well into the future. The current location of the party, I only know precisely what's around them within the next in-game 10 minutes. Developing more is just a waste of time.

Now, when something happens, it'll take me 30-60 minutes to write a detailed post or update a map for them going forward. But the concept of planning is totally different in PbP.

 

[LordEntrails]

Online play means I use more maps. And though not directly related to online play, I do less world building preparation than I used to. Not because of time, but because of player engagement. Players don;t engage with detailed historical mythologies or intricate NPC backstories. They engage with visuals, interesting items, plots and challenges. So that's where I put my prep time.

This was the big one for me. When I was still DMing on Roll20, I had applicants answer all sorts of questions about their gaming experience and their playstyle. Basically I wanted a cover letter ...

I get this. But I also see the downside of it. Basically you're asking people to write a bunch of stuff that will never be used other than as a screening tool. It takes you time, it takes them time, and you only get to use it for screening.

I'm totally for screening players, I do it myself. But what I do is run one-shots during online cons and take notes about the players. Those that show up on time, are engaged, etc, those are the ones I take notes on and when I start a campaign I seek out and ask if they want to play. Not only is doing it this way fun for me, because we are playing a one-shot rather than reading and sifting through applications, it also serves the community because it helps support a con or event. And about half of these players are new or returning to RPGs, so it helps them get back into it as well.

The biggest change is that I am not able to use physical handouts... For example, drawing "treasure maps" in charcoal on "duck-cloth" to represent canvas/sail cloth, or hand-written letters on real parchment, etc.

I use more handouts online, they just aren't physical. It's easy to make a parchment type look and use it as a handout. For example;

Sure, the players can't feel it, but they can see it and understand what they need (the map, the material it is made on, that it's burnt, worn, and hand drawn, etc). Not the same, but works well enough.

Its really easy to do, their is a tutorial I put together on the Cartographer's Guild on making that map and ones like it.

Conversely, I saw the things that players were engaging with: plot, battles, etc.

What it boiled down to, and I'm generalizing here, is that Players wanna play. For the most part, they don't give two spits for all that deep stuff unless it directly relates to the adventure.

Yep, agree. Over the years (not really related to online play) I too have come to the same conclusion. The elaborate world history, the myths and legends I created for my world, all of that the players never really cared about.

My opinion is that if you're not taking full advantage of the visual elements of online play, you're squandering the full potential of the medium.

Agreed on this. Online using maps are so easy and so valuable that I get annoyed at TotM play (as a player). There are millions of great maps out their, their are several free mapping tools that do just fine, and their are others if you want to get a near professional look that are quick (I use Campaign Cartographer).

 

[LordEntrails]

I play-by-post more and I find it has given me the bad habit of not planning more than 10 minutes into the future. Because checking a door for trap could take a whole week in real time, it is unnecessary to plan for "filling up a 4 hour session"-worth of material. ...

Now, when something happens, it'll take me 30-60 minutes to write a detailed post or update a map for them going forward. But the concept of planning is totally different in PbP.

I don't think of it as a bad habit. It's a different medium.

I did the same thing when I ran PbP. I had my detailed world and occurring events, and after the initial plot, everything that happened to the characters was in response to what the characters did. I had nothing pre-planned. It was a great experience, but very different than a playing in real-time event (in person or online).

 

[digitalelf]

I use more handouts online, they just aren't physical. It's easy to make a parchment type look and use it as a handout...

Sure, the players can't feel it, but they can see it and understand what they need (the map, the material it is made on, that it's burnt, worn, and hand drawn, etc). Not the same, but works well enough.

I absolutely continue to use handouts... Using appropriate backgrounds (parchment, sail-cloth, wood, stone, etc.) as needed.

I was just saying that my style of DMing only changed in that my handouts are now electronic, rather than physical.