D&D 5E Is D&D becoming TOO popular (More DMs Needed)?

[Jester David]

I recently had several couples in our neighborhood ask me to DM a game for them. I am running 2 separate groups to try and accommodate everyone. Few have ever played before. Yesterday, several more neighbors asked if I could run a game for them too. So, I am looking at starting a 3rd game. Our church youth group leaders asked if I would run a one-shot D&D game for their teens as an activity. Maybe this is just a fluke, but I cannot believe how popular D&D is in my area. There seems to be lots of people who want play (most with no RPG experience) because of watching games being played online. I have been playing D&D for 37 years and I have never seen anything like this wave of interest in RPGs. I don't think I can take on another group and so others will have to step up and DM at some point. I am wondering if anyone else is having more requests from friends to play than they can handle or if this is just an isolated situation. It seems like a "golden age" of D&D to me.

It does seem like a new golden age.
The hardest part of introducing new players to D&D was explaining the concept. RPGs are so different. But online videos have removed that barrier, making discovering and understanding tabletop games so much easier.

 

[discosoc]

Our church youth group leaders asked if I would run a one-shot D&D game for their teens as an activity. Maybe this is just a fluke, but I cannot believe how popular D&D is in my area.

Wow, times have really changed. As for the topic, I think there have always been a shortage of DMs -- it's just scaled up a bit now, and maybe amplified by the dynamics of more fluid or temp players coming and going. Especially if you do AL. It's not so bad for the classic "home grown" group where all it takes is a single person who's willing to invest the time and effort to preparing the session, because once established those groups are pretty solid. It's just harder for the random "PUGS" like you mention because *everyone* is new.

I think maybe the genre needs some kind of breakout paradigm shift in how it brings new DMs into the fold, honestly. Starter Sets just really don't cut it for a lot of people, because they'd rather learn by example rather than be the one diving head-first into the unknown. It's also probably a huge wakeup call when they realize that most groups don't function as smoothly as a produced podcast session with actual voice actors would have you believe.

Maybe what's needed is something like a starter version that takes a queue from co-op board games and uses pseudo-randomized events (via cards or something?) that gets everyone into the DM roll, and lets everyone play a character as well. So like maybe you draw a conversation card to figure out how this NPC interaction should go and see that it's labeled with a blue symbol. Jimmy was assigned the blue symbol at the start, so he's the one who gets to act in-character for that NPC. The card itself says the NPC is a gruff but likable former-adventurer who walks with a limp, and now Jimmy has the basic requirements to RP the encounter.

I don't know -- something like that. It just seems that although D&D has grown in popularity, it hasn't grown in the same ways as before. A lot of the new people looking to give it a try aren't looking for a new full-time hobby (although it may become one), but rather something more like a role-play enhanced board game. I think that should definitely be encouraged, because it's a natural stepping stone for getting people comfortable enough to make it a full-time hobby where they want to DM.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Maybe what's needed is something like a starter version that takes a queue from co-op board games and uses pseudo-randomized events (via cards or something?) that gets everyone into the DM roll, and lets everyone play a character as well. So like maybe you draw a conversation card to figure out how this NPC interaction should go and see that it's labeled with a blue symbol. Jimmy was assigned the blue symbol at the start, so he's the one who gets to act in-character for that NPC. The card itself says the NPC is a gruff but likable former-adventurer who walks with a limp, and now Jimmy has the basic requirements to RP the encounter.

I don't know -- something like that. It just seems that although D&D has grown in popularity, it hasn't grown in the same ways as before. A lot of the new people looking to give it a try aren't looking for a new full-time hobby (although it may become one), but rather something more like a role-play enhanced board game. I think that should definitely be encouraged, because it's a natural stepping stone for getting people comfortable enough to make it a full-time hobby where they want to DM.

http://lonesharkgames.com/games/thornwatch/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1350948450/gloomhaven-second-printing?ref=category_popular

 

[Haffrung]

To be honest, I don't understand why players are so reluctant to DM. In the first D&D craze, literally millions of kids learned to play without adult instruction or videos. I started DMing when I was 10. So did my buddy. We played in a group with a friend's older brother (he was 12) for a few weeks and figured if he could do it, we could do it. So I just drew up a dungeon and winged it. You don't have to wow a table of strangers to be a good DM. You just have to be competent enough to facilitate fun for your friends.

 

[Valetudo]

I recently had several couples in our neighborhood ask me to DM a game for them. I am running 2 separate groups to try and accommodate everyone. Few have ever played before. Yesterday, several more neighbors asked if I could run a game for them too. So, I am looking at starting a 3rd game. Our church youth group leaders asked if I would run a one-shot D&D game for their teens as an activity. Maybe this is just a fluke, but I cannot believe how popular D&D is in my area. There seems to be lots of people who want play (most with no RPG experience) because of watching games being played online. I have been playing D&D for 37 years and I have never seen anything like this wave of interest in RPGs. I don't think I can take on another group and so others will have to step up and DM at some point. I am wondering if anyone else is having more requests from friends to play than they can handle or if this is just an isolated situation. It seems like a "golden age" of D&D to me.

I wish I had your problems.

 

[Beleriphon]

Generally speaking, DM's are the bottleneck of the hobby. Most people have no idea how to fix that. Mearls is trying though.

The biggest issue is the books are terrible at explaining how to be a DM. The DMG is a great book, tons of good advice, if you know what you're doing at least in general. What we really need is a solid text book of step by step here's how to DM/GM a roleplaying game.

Even the D&D for Dummies book (which is actually pretty good) is more what I'm talking about. The current model seems to be know somebody that already plays and learn from them. What I'm talking about it something that works on the basis that the person has no idea about D&D other than they want to try it and their willing to shell out some cash to give it a go, but need more than a starter kit. They need in depth direction to really get the idea of what being the GM of a roleplaying game is all about.

 

[Hussar]

To be honest, I don't understand why players are so reluctant to DM. In the first D&D craze, literally millions of kids learned to play without adult instruction or videos. I started DMing when I was 10. So did my buddy. We played in a group with a friend's older brother (he was 12) for a few weeks and figured if he could do it, we could do it. So I just drew up a dungeon and winged it. You don't have to wow a table of strangers to be a good DM. You just have to be competent enough to facilitate fun for your friends.

I imagine it might have a lot to do with the fact that the the DMing section of Basic/Expert was maybe thirty pages long. Not exactly intimidating.

Unlike the 5e DMG tome which is a big fat book of tiny, tiny text.

 

[robus]

The biggest issue is the books are terrible at explaining how to be a DM. The DMG is a great book, tons of good advice, if you know what you're doing at least in general. What we really need is a solid text book of step by step here's how to DM/GM a roleplaying game.

Even the D&D for Dummies book (which is actually pretty good) is more what I'm talking about. The current model seems to be know somebody that already plays and learn from them. What I'm talking about it something that works on the basis that the person has no idea about D&D other than they want to try it and their willing to shell out some cash to give it a go, but need more than a starter kit. They need in depth direction to really get the idea of what being the GM of a roleplaying game is all about.

The current starter set is terrible as a teaching tool. The DM is thrown straight in the deep end. WotC should make an annotated starter adventure featuring possible player declarations and how they might be adjudicated. Basically spell out the thinking that goes with being an effective DM.

 

[Sacrosanct]

All they really have to do is reprint the first set of pages from Mentzer's basic set and include it in the boxed starter set and be good. A whole new generation can loathe the name, "Bargle".

 

[S'mon]

The biggest issue is the books are terrible at explaining how to be a DM. The DMG is a great book, tons of good advice, if you know what you're doing at least in general. What we really need is a solid text book of step by step here's how to DM/GM a roleplaying game.

Even the D&D for Dummies book (which is actually pretty good) is more what I'm talking about. The current model seems to be know somebody that already plays and learn from them. What I'm talking about it something that works on the basis that the person has no idea about D&D other than they want to try it and their willing to shell out some cash to give it a go, but need more than a starter kit. They need in depth direction to really get the idea of what being the GM of a roleplaying game is all about.

It doesn't need "in depth" instruction, quite the reverse I think. I learned from "Fighting Fantasy:
The Introductory RPG", just a short paperback book. Millions learned from Moldvay Basic or
Mentzer Basic, which do a fantastic job taking you through what you actually need to do to run a
successful game, in a format that's infinitely repeatable. The usual problem is games that make
it look complicated.

Edit: The best full intro RPG I know currently is the Pathfinder Beginner Box. Fantastic intro to GMing, and unlike D&D Starter Sets it's a full RPG.