D&D General The DM Shortage

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Make ad hoc rulings is the core rule.

Trying to houserule for every eventuality is what should be avoided by inexperienced DMs.

5e seems to be moving in a direction that makes it more thematically appealing to new players.

But traditional D&D, if you mean have a hole in the ground and fill it with monsters, takes less work for DMs. That's probably how it caught on in the first place. So, if you are trying to say "newer players like a strong narrative, and that generates extra work for DMs" then you might have a point.

Exactly. I don't think newer players like "stick random monsters in a cave willy nilly and just let it happen" appeals to the newer fans. They like a strong narrative of why each group of monster is there, their goals, personality, and attitudes. With more types of fantasy ideas added. And that's more work for DMs.

And D&D is slowly moving there. But it's not there yet. So the guides and tools to create the game they like and graduate for starter adventures don't exist in official dnd yet.

 

[Reynard]

Avatar is science fiction. You can do it in Traveller.

Are you serious?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Exactly. I don't think newer players like "stick random monsters in a cave willy nilly and just let it happen" appeals to the newer fans. They like a strong narrative of why each group of monster is there, their goals, personality, and attitudes. With more types of fantasy ideas added. And that's more work for DMs.

And D&D is slowly moving there. But it's not there yet. So the guides and tools to create the game they like and graduate for starter adventures don't exist in official dnd yet.

How do you teach someone to create a gripping narrative? Rule zero for creativity is learn all the rules. Them break them good and hard.

Although my try trick is to read widely. Then plagiarise.

 

[Minigiant]

Avatar is science fiction. You can do it in Traveller.

Avatar the Last Airbender

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Are you serious?

Would I use the Traveller ruleset to run an Avatar based campaign? Sure, defiantly a better choice than D&D.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Avatar the Last Airbender

Oh, that's different. Never seen it.

 

[Oofta]

I didn't say they don't like D&D
I said they might not like straight traditional D&D.

Less dwarves, wizards, delving and grit. More rabbitfolk, firebenders, intrigue, and shine.

So starter adventures and beginner DM advice might have to change to appeal to them.

Which is why we have products that appeal to a wide variety of folks and why the game has changed and will continue to evolve. There's a wide variety of products being released, which is a good thing. We have everything from Strixhaven to Dragonlance. People can find their own niche and I don't think we should be lumping all new players into one bucket. Some people will be inspired by anime, some by LOTR, some by Castlevania.

I'm not sure what straight traditional D&D even is. It hasn't been limited to straight up dungeon crawls for decades, if it ever was. It certainly wasn't limited to that in the games I play going way back.

 

[Minigiant]

Which is why we have products that appeal to a wide variety of folks and why the game has changed and will continue to evolve. There's a wide variety of products being released, which is a good thing. We have everything from Strixhaven to Dragonlance. People can find their own niche and I don't think we should be lumping all new players into one bucket. Some people will be inspired by anime, some by LOTR, some by Castlevania.

I'm not sure what straight traditional D&D even is. It hasn't been limited to straight up dungeon crawls for decades, if it ever was. It certainly wasn't limited to that in the games I play going way back.

The DMG's rules, advice, and tables leaned heavily of straight dungeon crawls and the majority of the starting adventures and character options were traditional.

I don't think there is a shortage of new players converting to old school style games.

 

[Reynard]

I'm not sure what straight traditional D&D even is. It hasn't been limited to straight up dungeon crawls for decades, if it ever was. It certainly wasn't limited to that in the games I play going way back.

That's actually an interesting thing to think about. If we can presume that the adventures that WotC put out for 5E represent was D&D was about for the designers and was what they perceived what the audience thought of as D&D, maybe we pick up some hints baout how things have changed over the last 8 years.

Here is the order of publication of Adventures:
Starter Set/Phandelver (Jul 2014)
Tyranny of Dragons (Aug/Nov 2014)
Princes of the Apocalypse (Apr 2015)
Out of the Abyss (Sep 2015)
Curse of Strahd (Mar 2016)
Storm King's Thunder (Sep 2016)
Tales from the Yawning Portal (Mar 2017)
Tomb of Annihilation (Sep 2017)
Dragon Heist (Sep 2018)
Dungeon of the Mad Mage (Nov 2018)
Ghosts of Saltmarsh (May 2019)
Essentials Kit/Dragon of Icespire Peak (Jun 2019)
Descent into Avernus (Sep 2019)
Rime of the Frostmaiden (Sep 2020)
Candlekeep Mysteries (Mar 2021)
Wild Beyond the Witchlight (Sep 2021)
Strixhaven (Dec 2021)
Call of the Netherdeep (Mar 2022)
Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (Jul 2022)
Spelljammer (Aug 2022)
Dragonlance (Nov 2022)

Now, I am not familiar with all of those, but it seems to me you can draw a line somewhere around mid 2019 where there is a shift in the style of fantasy being presented. Avernus is bonkers. Rime is "traditional D&D" but is presented as a CRPG in a book (which was new for 5E adventures). While I was underwhelmed by Candlekeep, its use of short adventures written by diverse creators was new, and (as I understand it) improved upon in Radiant Citadel. Strixhaven is a MtG world but it's genre is obviously aimed at those more nostalgic for HP than LotR. I don't know anything about Netherdeep other than it is from Critical Role. Spelljammer is a throwback, but is weird. The most nostalgia driven one seems to be DL, but it is too early to tell if that is the start of a new shift back toward nostalgia or a one off.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There's a wide variety of products being released, which is a good thing. We have everything from Strixhaven to Dragonlance.

It might be a good idea to think about doing it with starter sets though. I can see a case for Stryxhaven and Feywild starter sets to sit alongside the existing ones.

It hasn't been limited to straight up dungeon crawls for decades, if it ever was. It certainly wasn't limited to that in the games I play going way back.

My games where never limited to dungeon crawls, but they where always a handy fallback option when I didn't have time to prepare anything fancier.