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

[Yaarel]

but mostly games expect the GM to be rules expert, social moderator, host, have all the story, and be the creative director.

5e 2014 made an effort to make D&D easier for the players. A wise move that paid off.

But the heavy lifting was left for the DM to do.

Now for 2024, there might be an effort to make the game easier for the DMs.

I like that the WotC will delay the Monster Manual until later and even into 2025 the DMs Guide. There is a sense they want to simplify the DM responsibilities as much as possible and explain it as clearly as possible.

 

[overgeeked]

The key to getting more people to DM is probably to make DMing more fun. Lightening the cognitive load is one way to help that.

The one area where I really think DM fun could be improved is in combat. In 5e combat the DM is basically putting on a performance where the monsters pretend to put up a fight, since if the DM tries too hard to win then it's likely to end in a campaign ending TPK. If the game was set up to allow the PCs to lose a combat without necessarily being wiped out, combat could also be challenging and fun for the DM.

There's a lot to learn from previous editions about setting up interesting combats. A lot of the advice comes down to varied terrain, monster selection, and objectives that don't rely on simply killing the enemy.

 

[Quickleaf]

I don't see how it could get any easier. there are 3 or 4 different introductory sets (depending on how you classify R&M and ST) as well as a tsunami of How To GM videos, both official and unofficial. And it isn't that hard to begin with.

I totally feel that.

I also belong to a few discords where the community skews younger than EN world, and there are a ton of questions along the lines of how do I start being a GM? Or how do I do some very foundational thing for GMing?

I think the Internet videos are not 100% a good thing but more a mixed bag. I think there are best practices, a sort of cultural transmission, that used to happen when we were learning from our friend Mike’s older brother or whomever.

I believe that transmission gets lost in translation, listening to YouTube videos or watching live plays. It’s not that the advice is terrible - well ok rarely it’s IS terrible - rather it’s that the advice doesn’t take into account the needs of that GM, and it’s not being given in a conditional “if you’ve got this sort of group / if you’re this sort of person, here’s what you can try” way. And that can feed misconceptions.

Often with new GMs I’ve mentored their game prep priorities are skewed (eg. thinking they need to do all this worldbuilding before running the game) or they think of things that are obviously a bad idea to those of us who have experience… but they don’t know any better. They don’t know the questions to ask to interrogate their own design ideas involving taking the party captive. They don’t realize that relying on a chase scene as the exciting opening scene might not work when the druid has the entangle spell. They don’t know what will really help them feel prepared (eg one GM needing a list of names but another rattling off fantasy names with ease).

Many new GMs don’t know how to conduct a productive session zero - they wonder what to ask, how to facilitate conversation about what everyone wants, what even the list of “here’s what we might choose from to describe what we want in D&D” looks like!

 

[Micah Sweet]

As long as players don't insist on OC play, running D&D is dead simple.

What does "OC" mean in this context?

Edit: never mind, I got it

 

[overgeeked]

One way to do that may be not presenting the GM with a 250 page adventure they are required to learn before session 1 while also committing to for the next 18-24 months.

Ad more short adventures. Very short. 2 pages.

Normalize improv.

Yes, exactly.

Which is bad for WotC's business so likely won't happen. It's happening outside WotC, though.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's a play style described in the Six Cultures of Play. The short version is Critical Role. The PCs all have wildly over-the-top backstories where they're destined to save this or that. Play is all about the PCs and their amazing backstories.

Cool. Very much not my style.

 

[Reynard]

I totally feel that.

I also belong to a few discords where the community skews younger than EN world, and there are a ton of questions along the lines of how do I start being a GM? Or how do I do some very foundational thing for GMing?

I think the Internet videos are not 100% a good thing but more a mixed bag. I think there are best practices, a sort of cultural transmission, that used to happen when we were learning from our friend Mike’s older brother or whomever.

I believe that transmission gets lost in translation, listening to YouTube videos or watching live plays. It’s not that the advice is terrible - well ok rarely it’s IS terrible - rather it’s that the advice doesn’t take into account the needs of that GM, and it’s not being given in a conditional “if you’ve got this sort of group / if you’re this sort of person, here’s what you can try” way. And that can feed misconceptions.

Often with new GMs I’ve mentored their game prep priorities are skewed (eg. thinking they need to do all this worldbuilding before running the game) or they think of things that are obviously a bad idea to those of us who have experience… but they don’t know any better. They don’t know the questions to ask to interrogate their own design ideas involving taking the party captive. They don’t realize that relying on a chase scene as the exciting opening scene might not work when the druid has the entangle spell. They don’t know what will really help them feel prepared (eg one GM needing a list of names but another rattling off fantasy names with ease).

Many new GMs don’t know how to conduct a productive session zero - they wonder what to ask, how to facilitate conversation about what everyone wants, what even the list of “here’s what we might choose from to describe what we want in D&D” looks like!

If D&D took a page from Shadowdark and presented a bunch of adventures that literally fit on two sides of a 3x5 card, that would go 75% to making new GMs' lives easier.

Then, tell GMs that the PC stuff is the responsibility of the players. Tell GMs that it isn't their job to explain the basic rules or how to play. Tell players they have responsibilities too. Learn how to roll to hit. Learn how your spells work.

 

[Micah Sweet]

5e 2014 made an effort to make D&D easier for the players. A wise move that paid off.

But the heavy lifting was left for the DM to do.

Now for 2024, there might be an effort to make the game easier for the DMs.

Any indication they're planning on actually doing that, or is this just wishful thinking?

Not that I want DMing to be simpler or more in the hands of the players in D&D anyway.

 

[Reynard]

Any indication they're planning on actually doing that, or is this just wishful thinking?

Not that I want DMing to be simpler or more in the hands of the players in D&D anyway.

They have stated that the 2024 DMG is much more beginner friendly.

I think this is a mistake. Make a starter/basic set that does what BECMI did, walking both players and GMs through the process and multiple escalating levels of detail, and any 10 year old could do it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If D&D took a page from Shadowdark and presented a bunch of adventures that literally fit on two sides of a 3x5 card, that would go 75% to making new GMs' lives easier.

Then, tell GMs that the PC stuff is the responsibility of the players. Tell GMs that it isn't their job to explain the basic rules or how to play. Tell players they have responsibilities too. Learn how to roll to hit. Learn how your spells work.

It's sad, but in my experience a distressing number of folks simply won't step to learn the game if you don't hold their hand every step of the way. Showing them where to look isn't enough. Demonstrating (sometimes over and over) isn't always enough. A lot of potential players simply don't want to put in the effort of understanding the rules of the game.