In our group, there are 5 people. 2 of us GM frequently (including me); and 1 has GMed in the past. The other 2 are players only. We have had plenty of d20 games, including D&D & derivatives; but I still say it is hard to find a d20 GM. More precisely, it is hard to find a d20 D&D DM. 3.0 is the best edition in my opinion, but the shine is off the penny for me. I was the biggest proponent of d20 in our group (or groups--past & present). I would still run some d20 games, but D&D is just too hard. And I ran a core game for the most part. Most d20 OGL games approach D&D levels of difficulty, but none really equal or exceed it; and they all just confuse the game. It's just not worth it. It's too much work for not enough play, even with pre-printed adventures. Maybe a succession of low-level games or heavy modification of the rules would work, but I haven't hit upon a way to do it yet.
Play or GM?
- Thread starter JoeGKushner
- Start date
I enjoy DM ing.
Its nice to be a player occasionally, but if I had to choose one or the other (and I do have to choose - my "experiment" of playing once a week and DM ing once a week was a dismal failure due to time constraints) then I'd DM every time.
In our group only 1 other person has ever DM'd. In fairness, 2 of the group have never even played before, and 1 had never played 3rd edition before.
Our players prefer my style to the other potential DM (who'd rather play anyway) so I've got the job for the forseeable future.
It can be a lot of work, but only if you let it be.
Its nice to be a player occasionally, but if I had to choose one or the other (and I do have to choose - my "experiment" of playing once a week and DM ing once a week was a dismal failure due to time constraints) then I'd DM every time.
In our group only 1 other person has ever DM'd. In fairness, 2 of the group have never even played before, and 1 had never played 3rd edition before.
Our players prefer my style to the other potential DM (who'd rather play anyway) so I've got the job for the forseeable future.
It can be a lot of work, but only if you let it be.
Odhanan
Adventurer
IME, to some extent, yes, Joe. Or at least, there isn't any great impulse from players to run the game in my stead. That's not because the interest isn't there, but because of the number of variables to take care of in D&D, as you pointed out, or having to learn yet another game system.
As for my former gaming group back in France, some would like to play the game, a few would like to run the game, but they are always talking about it and not actually trying to do it. I think that's a problem of commitment and interest in this case when compared to having a party Saturday night by just bringing a few beers and playing a few CDs.
Varianor Abroad
Explorer
I dunno. Out of my PBMB games, ten players, at least three are regular DMs in real life, two do it occasionally, and one of the three full-timers does it with his own PBMB. But, that's not a good statistical sample.
So, out of the group I'm currently playing with? Five people, three of whom (myself included) DM or like to. Although I'm enjoying playing.
Out of my former group? Two out of five were DMs.
Out of my former, former gaming group of college buddies that I still occasionally get together with? There are 12-15 depending on how you count, and fully 50% are active DMs. Not all with D&D admittedly.
So, out of the group I'm currently playing with? Five people, three of whom (myself included) DM or like to. Although I'm enjoying playing.
Out of my former group? Two out of five were DMs.
Out of my former, former gaming group of college buddies that I still occasionally get together with? There are 12-15 depending on how you count, and fully 50% are active DMs. Not all with D&D admittedly.
The_Universe
First Post
I often say that I prefer to play, but I, in fact, seem to tire of it within a month or so, and am drawn back to the GM chair. Quite simply, I prefer to have some element of control over how a story is framed, and proceeds, and I am much more likely to have that power as a DM than as a player.
EDIT: AND, I prefer to DM D20 and its variants over all other systems. I think it's a very friendly system to GM/DMs.
EDIT: AND, I prefer to DM D20 and its variants over all other systems. I think it's a very friendly system to GM/DMs.
genshou
First Post
I love play-by-post/email games for exactly this reason. It's easier to teach new gamers, and it's easier to familiarize most of the people I know since I know them FROM play-by-post games that are free-form in style. They're used to posting character actions, and usually have decent creative writing skill.Rel said:
There are some things that you just can't duplicate in online games (like, actually sitting around a table) unless you're just stupid and you ARE all sitting around a table on your computers...
