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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Art Waring" data-source="post: 8851967" data-attributes="member: 7037141">I wish this was more prevalent, say apprenticeships for GMing. I tried to show a new GM the ropes but it didn't go too well.I had an awkward experience a while back related to a new GM who was a good friend of mine. It was my own fault for introducing them to critical role, but before that they had never really heard of d&d, and the only likely fantasy material they were exposed to was probably the Lotr movies. After a few weeks they said they were going to run their own rpg game, so I said I would play, to give things a try and help out a friend.It was a disaster on the GM side. He basically had no idea about how to run a game, but he was also completely unwilling to take any advice at all. No joke.He saw a 5e character sheet and balked at it, instead insisting on making his own ability score system (I was like, dude, there is no need to do things so off the cuff, maybe try and play in a game first before rewriting the whole system?).He was literally making things up as we went along (and seemingly making up numbered stats on sheets as the game went along), and I was kind chafing at the seams.And the kicker? I wish I was making this up...But he claimed he was going to design the first Disney & Dragons book, like an official licensed disney d&d book, when he had never run games before or even read the 5e PHB and I was honestly at a loss as to how to go about explaining things. He just didn't understand the legality of it, let alone the complicated process to publish any licensed IP in a ttrpg. Nevertheless, he insisted on doing things his way, even recording our sessions on his phone without asking us beforehand.Anyway, I did get through all of his three homebrew sessions before he finally realized it was not working. In part because I was actually doing things a player would do: Playtest report: We were all forced to pick disney characters (oh the horror), but using my skills of persuasion, I managed to get the GM to agree to let me be Hellboy (nevermind he's not marvel or disney, but the only way I was going to play in a disney & dragons game was by subverting the disney theme in some way). So my Hellboy PC is standing with the other players in a chamber with a pool of mirrored reflective water, no way to see what was under the water, but I obviously know its a trap. Another player picked doctor doom, and I said, "hey let me borrow your electric gauntlet." I put on the gauntlet, placed it into the water, and snap, a bunch of electrocuted sharks rise to the surface.The GM didn't know how to respond, since he never learned how to run a game from other people, and never played himself, he saw this as a lose-lose situation in his head, he actually thought I was supposed to just jump in the water without looking first. I think it kind of messed with his head because he ended the game soon after that.A few weeks later, he had bought the 5e core books, and we started a 5e game, but he was still running it on his own, still disney themed, and still refusing to take advice from an experienced player and GM. And still recording the sessions without asking.This is just one recent tale of new players entering the hobby.</blockquote>

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