Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Is the DM the most important person at the table
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7929314" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>In a game that uses a technique like "kickers", or otherwise has the players play a role in framing and set-up, generally that will continue. One would expect the players to drive the action to a considerable extent. For instance, in my Dark Sun game the PCs ended up sheltering in a safe house that one of the players posited was familiar to that player's PC. A fair bit of action revolved around that.</p><p></p><p>In this sense it is more than just the GM tying backstories into an adventure that s/he plans. That's how it reduces GM prep requirements.</p><p></p><p>I'm confused. The post of mine that you quoted wasn't a reply to you. It was a post that was responding to the general theme of <em>must GMing be hard work?</em>, which had also crystallised into an actual request for advice about how to reduce prep for a 5e D&D game.</p><p></p><p>I interpreted your post as part of the ongoing discussion, which is about the challenges of GMing. If people want to play games driven overwhelmingly by the GM working from GM-prepared material, then yes, GMing will be hard. The reason some posters are identifying other possible approaches and techniques is because they have been asked for concrete examples of how GMing 5e D&D can be made less demanding.</p><p></p><p>If the parameters for discussion are <em>how can GM prep and demands on GM time and energy be reduced in a game where the main orientation of play is towards the players working through material provided by the GM from his/her prepared notes</em>, then the answer is obvious: it can't be. I mean, there might be some efficiencies like using already-prepared stat blocks (as [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] has suggested) and cribbing exising maps (as someone elase suggested). But most people are probably already doing that as much as they happily can.</p><p></p><p>This is why I have been taking <em>5e D&D </em>literally but talking about techniques that move away from the approach italicised above.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7929314, member: 42582"] In a game that uses a technique like "kickers", or otherwise has the players play a role in framing and set-up, generally that will continue. One would expect the players to drive the action to a considerable extent. For instance, in my Dark Sun game the PCs ended up sheltering in a safe house that one of the players posited was familiar to that player's PC. A fair bit of action revolved around that. In this sense it is more than just the GM tying backstories into an adventure that s/he plans. That's how it reduces GM prep requirements. I'm confused. The post of mine that you quoted wasn't a reply to you. It was a post that was responding to the general theme of [I]must GMing be hard work?[/I], which had also crystallised into an actual request for advice about how to reduce prep for a 5e D&D game. I interpreted your post as part of the ongoing discussion, which is about the challenges of GMing. If people want to play games driven overwhelmingly by the GM working from GM-prepared material, then yes, GMing will be hard. The reason some posters are identifying other possible approaches and techniques is because they have been asked for concrete examples of how GMing 5e D&D can be made less demanding. If the parameters for discussion are [I]how can GM prep and demands on GM time and energy be reduced in a game where the main orientation of play is towards the players working through material provided by the GM from his/her prepared notes[/I], then the answer is obvious: it can't be. I mean, there might be some efficiencies like using already-prepared stat blocks (as [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] has suggested) and cribbing exising maps (as someone elase suggested). But most people are probably already doing that as much as they happily can. This is why I have been taking [I]5e D&D [/I]literally but talking about techniques that move away from the approach italicised above. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Is the DM the most important person at the table
Top