Need more bad DMs?

[Oni]

I played the play test with Monte Cook was my DM. Sadly, my group and I did not like the game play much.

I had fun because Monte is an excellent DM, but that had nothing to do with the system. I think in the hands of the average DM it would be really bad.

It is my hope that the game play will be significantly better with various rule modules, and that the play test will result in a very different game than what I played over the weekend.

Yours is the first negative review I've head back from the playtest. I would be greatly curious to hear more about your experience and why you felt it did not work for you and your group as much as your NDA allows (perhaps in its own thread so as not to derail the conversation).

 

[pauljathome]

So, people who've tried the 5E playtest have enjoyed it.

Also, many of the playtest DMs are highly experienced and skilled.

Does that mean the system is good, or would any game run by those DMs be enjoyable?

DDXP is really a lot more about marketing than it was about playtest. It could only give the most basic possible feedback to WOTC (limited rules set, 1 particular scenario, 1st level pregens, very good GMs, players likely to be very forgiving).

This is NOT a slam at WOTC. Getting people interested in DndNext and talking about it is very important, both from a business perspective and also to get more people into the Open Playtest.

The current Friends And Family playtesting is presumably a lot more important to them. That and general feedback from people (on the WOTC forums ) that they're getting from the seminars

The real playtest is the Open Playtest in the Spring. That is when they find out how it works at multiple levels with multiple play styles using different sets of slot in rules across multiple groups with good and bad GMs.

 

[Ahnehnois]

If one posits that good DMs run a quality game regardless of system, doesn't it follow that bad DM's can screw up any system?

On the other hand, there isn't a game in existence than can make playing under a bad DM fun, amiright?

We need more voices from average and beginner DMs, but that's not the same as bad ones. The truly unskilled, unmotivated, or ignorant DM is someone who I don't want to hear from.