Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thornir Alekeg" data-source="post: 3996384" data-attributes="member: 15651">Regarding a group to help make better DMs:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Such a group should be dedicated to making better GMs rather than DMs.  Much of the learned skills for running a role playing game are genre and rules independent.  Don't limit the audience by making it D&D focused.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">While helping to improve GMs would be a good thing, it does not at its core fix the basic problem: you need to get someone to teach.  A group like this would be great for those already interested in RPGs, but how would it appeal to people who just don't know much about RPGs?</li> </ul>I think a significant factor that ordinary gamers can do something about is the social stigma of RPGs.  I admit I don't help in this since I am a <a href="http://weregeek.comicgenesis.com/d/20061127.html" target="_blank">Weregeek</a>.  I don't talk about gaming with people unless I know they are also gamers.  I don't want to bring it up with co-workers because there are certain things I don't want to have to deal with at work.  It is generally the same reason I avoid discussing politics or religion with co-workers unless I know they are of similar a mind, or I know they are very open-minded and respectful of different opinions.  Anyhow, somehow we need to improve the social view of RPGs.  In that respect I think the booming popularity of WoW and things like the LotR and Harry Potter movies are a help.  They open the door a bit to talking "geek" with people you might not normally.  This might lead to an opportunity to mention RPGs without people instantly assuming you are a freak.  Last point for now: People talk about time - how difficult it is to schedule games, preparation time etc.  Schedule will always be an issue.  Prep time is another story.  Obviously the publishers need to create systems that streamline some of the work, but we also need better resources for busy people to run games.  One thing I think could really help would be if there was a central source for lots of free homebrew adventures organized by genre, length, level etc.  Of course the quality of these adventures becomes an issue as I have found many really bad free adventures people have posted on the internet.  Maybe this could be something linked in with a GM organization.  GMs could post their adventures, get critiqued, make changes, discuss how different groups handled the adventure or integrated it into their own campaign.</blockquote>

Verification