Make It Yourself

[Reynard]

Is everyone who does that a GM? Who runs only in a home game, rather than organized play? Because people stuck in those situations can still have issues with those design choices, but what they can do about it is pretty limited.

I realize this board is probably pretty GM-heavy, but you still can't jump to that assumption.

You response implies that players are powerless to create things or impact the game. That is not my experience, and if a player really is stuck with a GM that refuses to listen to their concerns, they need a new GM or maybe to get behind the screen themselves.

 

[jdrakeh]

I've gone and done it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

You response implies that players are powerless to create things or impact the game. That is not my experience, and if a player really is stuck with a GM that refuses to listen to their concerns, they need a new GM or maybe to get behind the screen themselves.

There are all kinds of places where GMs are thin on the ground; and some people actively don't want to GM. They want to play. So in practice these are non-solutions for them.

 

[Reynard]

There are all kinds of places where GMs are thin on the ground; and some people actively don't want to GM. They want to play. So in practice these are non-solutions for them.

So is complaining.

 

[payn]

In before Oberoni?

 

[Umbran]

You can do it. I believe in you.

Alas, your belief isn't among the issues.

So is complaining.

If your car engine will not start, if you go inside to make yourself a sandwich, it is a non-solution to the problem. The sandwich, however, may serve other purposes - like being a nutritious lunch.

In your complaint about complaining, you may have missed that the complaints may serve other purposes.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

TTRPGs are an inherently DIY hobby. They are often not so much "games" as they are "toys" with which we make our own fun.

So it is frustrating when people complain that this style of game or that character class or a certain sort of adventure doesn't exist or they don't like the one from the publisher.

Make it yourself. Create that mundane fighter or that cosey vampire game.

You can do it. I believe in you.

But I don't have time to do that homebrew work, I'm too busy here on ENWorld complaining about what other people have created!
/sarcasm

 

[Thomas Shey]

So is complaining.

Of course it is. Its called "venting", and its often all you can do when no practical solution is available.

 

[aramis erak]

TTRPGs are an inherently DIY hobby. They are often not so much "games" as they are "toys" with which we make our own fun.

So it is frustrating when people complain that this style of game or that character class or a certain sort of adventure doesn't exist or they don't like the one from the publisher.

Make it yourself. Create that mundane fighter or that cosey vampire game.

You can do it. I believe in you.

Most people really can't do it well enough to be enjoyable to their victims players.

Many don't enjoy trying, either.

Even if one has the skill, one often has not the time.

And all the happy belief in the world won't give someone without the skills nor time a good result.

I approach the skill, and have the time, but am not one who really is comfortable sharing my creations. It was as true as a musical composer in college (first major was Music Performance - Vocal, had to take upper division composition classes because there were not many other upper division music electives, and wasn't good enough on my minor instrument for that ensemble). It didn't help that the music written in those was often nigh-painful. (My Music Comp instructor was a 12-tone serialist.)
I have serious levels of imposter syndrome as a musician. I have worse as a game designer. The games on my website are there not for me, but because someone else asked me to put them there.

I've (literally) 2 dozen half-started designs on my hard drive, and only one that looks like it's going anywhere.

Third option: wing it!

Which requires a whole load of skills that most GMs never develop past a minimal level.

There's a reason adventures sell - it's less self-harm to pay the cash for a module than internalize the stresses of creating an adventure, let alone doing so on the fly in realtime during session.
Yes, I wing it. I'm not as good as I used to be - age (and increased psych meds needed due to brain traumas) rob me of ready memory access so essential to doing well winging it.

 

[John Dallman]

• If I'm the DM, I have a serious shortage of time. I'd ideally love to run an entirely homebrewed set of adventures in an entirely homebrewed setting. But I simply don't have time. So I'll outsource what I must so I can pick my battles.

Nobody publishes the stuff I want to run, so I have no choice but to create it myself. I take inspiration from many sources, and sometimes re-purpose scenario outlines from other games, but I have to do most of the work myself.

• If I'm not the DM, I don't get to choose what materials are allowed in the campaign. How am I supposed to use my game-breakingly powerful Cavalier class if the DM is so unreasonable as to not let it in?

I've always found the key to that was in creating stuff that was interesting and different, without being over- (or under-) powered.