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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 6210940" data-attributes="member: 59082">Very simply: Inspire DMs. Inspire people to want to DM, to make book-keeping and other nitty-gritty stuff--anything from campaign design to encounter set-up--relatively easy. But not just easy, inspiring. That's the short version. If you want the longer version, read on.PART ONE: WHY?There are two primary angles on this:1) No DM = no game. Its as simple as that. How many campaigns have you been in that fizzled out due to DM burnout and no one else being willing to take up the reins? Here's the rub: an inspired DM means an active game. An inspired DM means inspired players. If you (the DM) build it, they (the players) will come. 2) Inspired DMs buy product. This is simple economics, but think about it: While there are allegedly millions of D&D players, let's face facts - there are probably only thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of folks that are really into the game, that buy a lot of product. We the Ten Thousand (or so - that's just a symbolic term) keep the game going. We are the Few, the Proud, the DMs. What percentage of D&D products are purchased by DMs? It is certainly the majority, but the question is whether it is 60% or 90+%. I tend to think towards the latter end of the spectrum. If there's a spectrum of casual to serious to diehard D&D players, it is the serious and diehard players that keep the financial boat afloat. The vast majority of the supposedly million+ of D&D players are "casual" - they might show up for a session, but they don't invest any serious time, energy or money into the game. They don't own any books or, at most, buy a set of dice, maybe a Player's Handbook and are done with it.So there you have it, Wizards of the Coast: Focus on your bird in hand, the DMs. Sure, think about generations - the graying core that has been playing for decades, as well as how to draw in a new generation. Think about how to make the game fun for players. But more than that--more than any other factor--focus on inspiring DMs, both old and potential. Because it is the DMs that are at the heart of the game, both in terms of what brings a campaign to life but also what keeps the money flowing. Furthermore, if you inspire the DMs, if you inspire the Ten Thousand, even if those serious-to-diehard fans can't find a game, they'll be buying product dreaming up a game.PART TWO: HOW?So now that you we know why DM inspiration should be central, let's focus on how to make it happen. A few things come to mind (although this is not meant as an exhaustive list - feel free to add your own takes):1) Make the Game Easy to Run - this includes anything from simple stat blocks to useful campaign and adventure-design tools. How about an Encounter Builder where you plug in some specifics and you get recommendations on monsters and other factors? How about a guided adventure design machine that doesn't take the creativity out of it, but gives a framework to build from?2) Bring back the Settings - Even if they are loss leaders, settings create a context, a living world for the game to be based on - a shared language that, even if most DMs don't use it, is at touching point for all to enter into. This is one of the ways in which 4E really flopped, in my opinion. Inspire DMs through example.3) Adventures! - Last but not least (perhaps even first), create adventures. Adventures are settings, they arise out of settings and give living examples of play of the game. They give busy DMs something to work with, and inspired DMs something to draw from and modify. Create all kinds of adventures - one-shots, adventure paths, mega-campaigns. Low-level save-the-village-from-orcs, to epic level save-the-world-from-the-demonic-invasion. Adventures that comb the local region for lost ruins, to those that travel the depths the multiverse. We want it all.Make it so, Mearls.</blockquote>

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