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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RyanD" data-source="post: 2401605" data-attributes="member: 3312">I believe that there are three kinds of people who interact with D&D:1)  People who play it2)  People who DM it3)  People who design content for itA key issue here is that #2 and #3 have become inextricably linked.  A default assumption on the part of many people could be summarized as "the act of DMing requires substantial content design activity".I think that this conjunction lies at the heart of much of the DM-side problems with fun factor in D&D (and many other RPGs).Note how little comment we see from people who say "I sat down to run [Adventure Path Module X] and realized I had to invest several hours of prep time."  I'd suggest that when such comments are made (and I'm certain that some people have already clicked "Reply to this Post" to make them) they invariably start with "in order to change the module to fit my needs, I ..." (or some similiar wording).  [Note:  Occasionally, people will have to invest time because the module itself is just broken or lacks fundamental information.  In those cases, I A) apologize, and B) feverently hope the problem was engineered not to recur, at least at WotC.]As long as DMs are also pressured to be content creators, the prep time for DMs will remain substantial.  But things don't have to be that way.I agree with previous posters that WotC could do a better job of supporting D&D with electronic tools.  Its foray into that segment (ETools) was stupidly expensive, way over deadline, and satisified little of its target market.  It seems easy on this side of the fence to advocate for additional electronic support, but I can tell you that until an entire strategy and effective team of people are recruited and trained by WotC, such a project is likely beyond their scope of ability.  However, I think it is so important for the future that I have often suggested to friends at WotC that they get started on such an initiative.Electronic tools could solve a lot of the problems of prep time, certainly as they related to stat blocks.Another area that I think the game could stand improvement is in scripted combat.  One big issue is that players already know most of the ins and outs of their PCs, but most DMs are playing most higher level monsters for the first time.  That puts the players in an information advantage.  "Scripted" combat actions for monsters that fully exploit their powers to maximum effect would relieve some of this burden.  I think there's even room for "Core Book V:  Fighting the Monsters" a DM's guide to monstrous tactical combat.I guess all this is a way of saying "much more work needs to be done".</blockquote>

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