Play or GM?

[Akrasia]

In my last group, some of my players would talk about DMing at some point, but none of them ever seemed to willing to do the actual work to put together a campaign (the one exception moved right before he had a chance to start his campaign).

I've found that lots of people like to talk about their 'campaign ideas', but far fewer are willing to actually sit down and do what is necessary to realise those ideas in play.

 

[Wombat]

I readily admit that I ended up GMing D20 games simply because I couldn't find enough players to sustain any other game. When I told my then-potential players that I was going to be tweaking the rules heavily, their reaction was, "But you'll still GM it, right?"

GMo, ergo sum.

I've never had a problem finding a GM, because I am one. In my group there are two other people who like to do "fill in" work in that regard -- giving me a breather now and again, as it were, especially between campaigns. I don't get to play very often and, in the main, I'm not sure if I am all that good of a players. I know I have to hold myself back while in other people's games from thinking "Gee, if I had run that adventure I would have done X, Y, &Z..." Guess that marks me as a bad player...

For our current campaign we are experimenting with co-GMing. We have a world set up and the two others who are interested in some time behind the screen have been given corners of the world; I will do absolutely nothing with those areas other than say, "This area is mountainous" (well, that is for one of them). When the other co-GM gets the bug, we will put the main game on hold, switch to his/her (one of each) corner of the world, play a few sessions with a different group of characters, and then eventually work back to the main story line. Over time the three different story lines might even meet, which could be really interesting.

I have found that a number of people are decent GMs, but that they need a bit of coaxing to get them to try being on the other side of the screen. I encourage a lot of folks to try it. Maybe their first session is not the greatest, but that is no reason to stop. So I give 'em some pointers (IF they ask for them! I'm not here to force my ideas on them) and suggest they give it more shots. I've trained-up a couple of really fine GMs over the years.

I think as much as anything it is a matter of combined desire and encouragement that makes a good GM. Give folks a shot. Lend them some support. More GMs in this world is very far from a bad thing.

 

[Pinotage]

In our group that play over PbP, we almost all played in one game and DM'd another at one time. These days I think there are only one or two of us that still actively DM. I'm taking a break from 4 years of DM'ing, and it's great to only be a player for a change.

Pinotage

 

[Hitokiri]

My groups tend to be a mix of experienced players and new players. Thankfully, most of the experienced players have experience on both sides of the screen and can GM when they want (and do fairly well with it). It seems we are on a rotating schedule, as one person gets burned out on running a game, another will get an idea for a campaign or decide they want to take over the existing game. We have a kind of round robin GM set-up.

This is in stark contrast to my friend who got me into D&D in the first place. He started as a GM and has been the GM ever since for that group. 18 years and he has been a player for a single one shot adventure back around 1997. Never have to worry about who's in charge of the game when he's around

 

[RhysG]

Personally, I love being a player and DM, but have found myself as DM pretty much most of the time, due to the rest of the group's lack of desire to run anything more than a couple sessions. This is fine, as I've had so many years of DMing experience--and the players tend to like my games quite a bit--but it would be nice to be a player for awhile. Oh well.

Luckily, my group consists of very able players who develop interesting characters and motivations more than 'get-rich-quick-by-looting-the-dungeon'. As much as I'd like to play a character--as opposed to always playing the rest of the world's inhabitants--you can't beat a good group of players . . .

 

[kenobi65]

In my two home games, I'm the DM. Most of my players have either (a) no interest in being the DM, (b) no confidence in their ability to be a DM, or (c) not enough time to devote to being a DM.

It's why I play RPGA games, as well; that's usually my only chance to be a player.

 

[Jdvn1]

So are there a dearth of GMs?

I've seen both situations. When I first started playing, in a group of about twelve, only two people wanted to GM. A lot of us were new to the hobby, though. Since then, from that group two more have started to GM.

When I moved, in a group of six, four wanted to GM. That caused problems and there was a lot of waiting.

In my more recent group of eight, three are GMs (this time I don't include myself because I wanted to get used to their style of play before I GMed anything), and the consensus was that anyone who wanted to GM could get a chance. If there were conflicts, they would be worked out (round-robin GMing was discussed).

Is there a dearth of GMs? I don't think so. They're just not evenly spread out.

 

[Woas]

Not me! I prefer to DM. I become really bored really fast as a player in 3e actually.

But it might just be me. Because as a person, I am very indecisive and when I have been a player, I get bored with my character within three levels and want to try another character type. So when I DM, I get to play all sorts of different characters and monsters and WOWSERS I LOVE TO DM!!

 

[smilinggm]

BOTH!!!

I am a player in several campaings, and I run several campaings. By being a player I have become a better DM and by being a DM I have become a better player. I enjoy both aspects of the game.

 

[jcfiala]

As best as I can figure it, in all of my ongoing games (whether I"m the GM or the player), about half of the players are GMs at one time or another.

And a fair amount of the time, these are d20/D&D GMs too.

So, it's complex, but there's enough ways to reduce that complexity (Use book-standard monsters, get pregen NPCs out of other books, run modules) that it doesn't seem to be a problem around here.