D&D (2024) Not enough DMs / new edition

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Do campaigns not fall apart when DMs get overwhelmed by prep anymore?

Getting overwhelmed with prep is due, for the most part, to too much prep.

The good news is that new DMs are more likely than ever to encounter the concept of minimal required prep, as espoused by @SlyFlourish and others. If WotC puts similar advice in the DMG -- and fingers crossed that they do -- that can help a ton.

At this point, though, we don't know many details about what will be in the DMG.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In principle, it should be easy to create a monster of a specific level on the fly, using a chart. A DM can customize it with normal player character rules, plus a hit point boost and heavy damage for several rounds.

The Lazy DM's Forge of Foes

128 pages of tools, advice, and practical tips for building, customizing, and running fantastic monsters for your 5e fantasy roleplaying games

shop.slyflourish.com

It would be great if this kind of advice was in the DMG or Monster Manual, but we are months away from knowing if that's happening.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Maybe I'm just weird (it's probably the ADHD), but I find refereeing to be wildly easier than playing. As a player, I'm often bored out of my mind. As a referee, I'm always busy. Being bored is way harder to deal with than being busy.

Every rules has their exceptions. So maybe the true response we should give to the OP is that if more people with ADHD pick up 5E24 D&D, then the answer would be yes.

 

[Yaarel]

The Lazy DM's Forge of Foes

128 pages of tools, advice, and practical tips for building, customizing, and running fantastic monsters for your 5e fantasy roleplaying games

shop.slyflourish.com

It would be great if this kind of advice was in the DMG or Monster Manual, but we are months away from knowing if that's happening.

My impression is, SlyFlourish wants deadlier encounters to be more normal. The difference in math complicates establishing a measuring system to reliably predict the difficulty of a future encounter.

Plus. Discontinue the technical jargon of "Challenge Rating". The math is already complicated enough without injecting an arbitrary and opaque unit of measurement into it. If one level 4 monster is a medium challenge for four level 4 player characters, this is the kind of information I need to know. It might be difficult for two such player characters.

Then I could use a DM player character of level 4 with the appropriate modifications, with a sense of how everything works together.

 

[J.Quondam]

It's not difficulty that makes people not want to DM (or GM)... it's that most people would rather just play.

Yes, this. I don't necessarily agree with the single "why" you give, because I think people have many different reasons for not wanting to GM. But whatever those varied reasons are, the net result is that most gamers just don't want to be GM.

I don't know that rules can really fix that, since for so many people it's just a perception or a personality thing. But all the online tools and advice books/videos/etc, out there probably can have a positive impact, if enough folks are exposed to them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My impression is, SlyFlourish wants deadlier encounters to be more normal.

I don't think so. He, @Alphastream and their co-writer just weight things differently than WotC does. But, as you are fond of pointing out, the way WotC scores CR isn't a particularly useful barometer of how tough a fight will be.

In any case, if you want the ability to create a monster in seconds, Forge of Foes has you covered. If you think it produces monsters that are too tough, just go one level weaker on its chart.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Yes, this. I don't necessarily agree with the single "why" you give, because I think people have many different reasons for not wanting to GM. But whatever those varied reasons are, the net result is that most gamers just don't want to be GM.

I don't know that rules can really fix that, since for so many people it's just a perception or a personality thing. But all the online tools and advice books/videos/etc, out there probably can have a positive impact, if enough folks are exposed to them.

Fair. My single 'why' was basically due to reflecting the OP's original question of whether WotC will make DMing easier in 5E24. So my response about playing being easier than DMing means that people choosing to DM are mostly not doing so due to how easy it is, it's probably other factors.

If a player is deciding how they wish to participate in D&D is based on how easy it is... then playing will almost always win out. And thus it doesn't matter how easy or difficult WotC makes DMing because it'll always be the more difficult job.

 

[overgeeked]

Every rules has their exceptions. So maybe the true response we should give to the OP is that if more people with ADHD pick up 5E24 D&D, then the answer would be yes.

Well, on one hand there is the "oh, shiny" on the other...

 

[Yaarel]

In any case, if you want the ability to create a monster in seconds, Forge of Foes has you covered. If you think it produces monsters that are too tough, just go one level weaker on its chart.

Not wrong. But.

Having the official advise be, literally, figure it out for oneself. Is quite frustrating.

There needs to be a solid, reliable, way to predict difficulty.

 

[KYRON45]

Being a DM is daunting. The best way to get better at it is to find material that makes the parts you find difficult easier.
There is an overwhelming amount of RPG material on the market. There are full color hardcover books for everything. Shouting "why is this so hard?" into the void is understandable, but not productive. The game is much bigger than Wotc so once you know that the DMG isn't your cup of tea...its very easy to look elsewhere.