New DM, I choose you! DM Trainer Edition

[CuRoi]

There are things I don't care for in 4e, but my DM prep time is literally a quarter -- or less -- of the time it once took me to prep 3.5 games.

I never used a laptop at the table until 3e. I had to to keep track of the specifics for the countless NPCs I generated and all their feats, skills, items et along with custom or "classed" monsters or just about anytime someone cast "Summon Monster" or "Polymorph" so we could get solid numbers on the fly.

So with 4e - are we saying now the -players- need the laptops? Heh. There has to be a middle ground. I know, there are plenty of other RPGs that provide that, but I'm a DnD kid.

 

[Hussar]

I wouldn't say the players need laptops. It's not like you have players with spreadsheets to calculate the effects of the buffing suite that you can see in high level 3e.

I would say that the players really do need to be on the ball though - the days when you had a single A4 piece of paper for your character sheet (and only on one side too!) are not going to happen when you play 4e. Especially not higher level 4e when you have a dozen or more different powers to track.

So, yeah, the players need more than just a character sheet. But, I don't think it's gone so far as to need a whole laptop. Although, a laptop would be nice.

 

[Stormonu]

The great thing about the 4E DMG is it really puts all the cards on the table in a way I haven't seen in any other edition. How the game works is pretty much laid bare. It's also a breeze to put things together, compared to how complicated 3E encounter design could be.

2E/1E probably match 4Es complexity of design (i.e., it's not), but the older versions run easier at the table. To me, where 4E bogs is the execution, not the prep.

But, I do feel more educated about mechanical choices I'm making in other games now after sifting through the 4E DMG.

 

[Jhaelen]

I won't air a laundry list (cause I think that will derail this thread instantly and I'm sure it has been discussed ad nauseam) but I'm willing to bet many people that never really made the transition to 4e might share my sentiments.

That's why I didn't, either

Having started with the AD&D DMG, I still really love the contents of that book (that and the ADnD Monstrous Manual are always at hand even in 3e games). [...]Its a bit more inspirational than instructional IMO.

I agree. But the 4e DMG is mostly about giving advice on how to deal with players, it's about teaching how to be a good DM.

In contrast (or maybe in addition) the AD&D DMG is more about giving advice on how to deal with situations that will come up in games that aren't covered by the PHB rules. It offers a bazillion of odd subsystems which in 4e are all resolved by page 42!

The AD&D DMG is also about world-building, which isn't covered in great detail in the 4e DMG since it assumes you'll use an existing setting (which includes the Nentir Vale).

 

[wedgeski]

For sure, DM'ing 4E is the easiest I've ever had it in D&D.

But anecdotally I haven't met anyone strongly persuaded to DM by it, akthough my group is pretty set in its ways by now. I will say my wife, who has only ever played RPG's and never run then, did a little while ago suggest she might like to give it a go, but I'm not sure that can be put down to 4E as she plays a lot of different games with me in the course of our two gaming nights a week.

In this instance, corporate and gamer goals align perfectly: Wizards likes more DM's because they spend more money (or at least, that was true in the pre-DDI days), and gamers like more DM's because more DM's means more gaming and more choice.