D&D General Time spent on D&D outside of actual play

[Mercurius]

One of the things that has struck me over the many years of D&D fandom is that a rather large portion--vast majority, really--of my "D&D time" is spent not actually playing the game, but engaged in other activities related to D&D/RPGs. In other words, there are "active" and "passive" modes relating to actual play, and the latter is much larger. I think the analogy of an iceberg works, at least for my experience.

Or to break it down further, I would split my own time spent on D&D in the following categories:

Actual play: Rolling dice and such, whether in meat- or cyber-space.
Campaign Preparation: Includes campaign design, reading adventures, and other prep work for actual play.
Reading/Thinking/Making: Reading for fun, thinking up ideas; also includes world-building and adventure brainstorming that aren't for a specific campaign.
Discussion and Commerce: Hanging out on ENWorld (mostly) and other online habitats for gamers, as well as the occasional in-person conversation. I'd also include browsing stores for new books to buy.

It would be impossible to quantify, but my guess is that since I started playing in the early 80s, far less than 10% of my D&D time has been actual play. It fluctuates over time, but that's been the overall trend. Again, I don't know the exactly figure, but the point is that actually playing is a small minority. And this was always the case; the ratio of time spent might change if I'm actively DMing, but even then most of my D&D time spent is prepping or researching, whether reading books or discussing online (starting in the 90s). My participation here and elsewhere online has waxed and waned over the years, but I've always come back. Even in truly fallow times--sometimes spans of years where I don't play and don't think about D&D too much--I've kept my eye on what's going on, and dipped into the waters every so often.

I was last in an active campaign a bit over a year ago. I stepped out due to various life circumstances, and have only played a bit with my daughters since. Chances are I'll probably play again at some point in the not-so-distant future, but I find myself somewhat ambivalent, for two reasons. One, the bulk of my creative juices are focused on my own fiction writing and world-building, which I'm even more passionate about than RPGs. For instance, right now I'm dabbling with colored pencils, preparing to draw/paint a full-color world map.

The second reason circles back on the theme of this post, and I'll phrase it differently: Most of my enjoyment of (and time spent on) D&D is spent in various non-play activities, and I'm OK with that. It is not that I don't want to play again, or that there aren't opportunities, it is that I'm satisfied with my current phase (of focusing on other creative work, yet also continuing my current "passive" non-playing approach).

So I'm curious about others, and have attached a poll. What is your relationship to D&D (and RPGs) in terms of enjoyment and time spent on non-play activities? It is a bit difficult to translate this to a poll, but pick the most applicable option and share in the comments. And of course the caveat: this is all relative; "a bit" could be many more hours for someone who plays twice a week, then for someone who hasn't played in awhile. But I think the ratio is what I'm most interested in.

 

[Zio_the_dark]

Too much time I must be crazy and wife is very patient (she plays so that must help...)

 

[Stormonu]

Back in my college days, at the height of my D&D playing, it was not uncommon for me to spend 3-4 hours a day prepping for games or working on D&D related projects (new spells, classes, campaign world work, etc.). Because of my players, I couldn't use pre-built adventures (after an episode where one of my players went and bought the next adventure we were going to play and read it!) and had to come up with my own. Cue cries of "Stephen!?!" and "That's Bull****!!!!" as they faced yet another untested monster or scenario I thought would be a balanced challenge as it instead teetered towards a bloodbath. I learned a lot, though.

Nowadays, I may spend 1-2 hours a week every other week prepping my game, usually by reading pre-built adventure books. Other D&D work (updating my 3E monster books to 5E, campaign work, etc.) is as I have a free moment, usually 3-4 hours a month in a single burst.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

I feel as though this poll will end up being very skewed based on two factors: 1) if said person voting is a DM (whom sort of by definition must spend at least some time out of game preparing), and 2) the very nature that we are asking it on a web forum dedicated to the game, which tends to cater more towards hobbyists that tend to devote a lot of time towards said hobby.

...those caveats aside, I fall under the "a lot of time" camp mostly because between game prep, building monsters, browsing forums, keeping up with news related to the hobby, and discussing characters with both my players and just general I tend to devote almost three hours a day to the hobby, despite only playing about 4 hours each week. Of course the amount of time i spend also varies depending on my other hobbies and availability of money or things to do. Given the pandemic, and loss of my job due to it, there is much TO do other than job searching and scheme for D&D.

My significant other and I are also nerds, so we tend to translate almost any story or life event into d&d terms as well. Like we'll claim that not being able to find a lost item is "failing a perception check" or try to class characters in movies/shows as if they were d&d characters, etc.

 

[Shiroiken]

By including thinking and time on forums/social media, the amount of time is WAY more than the time spent playing the game. I usually go over campaign/adventure stuff in my head while driving (and while bored at work).

 

[Imaculata]

I spend an absurd amount of time prepping my campaigns (and that includes thinking about them). I've noticed that as I get better at writing them, my prep-work multiplies tenfold. I find myself dedicating whole pages to npc descriptions, creating elaborate descriptions for each and every one of them. I also spend hours on making maps for various locations, and then writing up a short description for each room. Additionally, I spend a huge amount of time doing historical research.

I'm currently working on a film noir pulp adventure set in 1930's London and find myself obsessing over the smallest details. Like, what was it like to make a phone call in that time period, and having to be connected by a phone operator? And what would such a phone operator say to you? What was it like to take a taxi in that time period? How much would a taxi cost, and did you know the meter was on the outside of the taxi back then? What were the laws regarding weapons, and which weapons would be common in that time period? Which technological innovations had been invented in that year, or had not been invented yet? These are all details that I want to get right, because they will enhance the realism for my players.

It can also be hard sometimes to get the whole plot to just make sense. I tend to have certain scenes in my mind that I want to include, but I don't know how to make it work with the rest of the plot. Plus, character motivations need to be taken into account. Just thinking about all of that keeps me up at night.

 

[Charlaquin]

I feel as though this poll will end up being very skewed based on two factors: 1) if said person voting is a DM (whom sort of by definition must spend at least some time out of game preparing), and 2) the very nature that we are asking it on a web forum dedicated to the game, which tends to cater more towards hobbyists that tend to devote a lot of time towards said hobby.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. I imagine the general D&D playing audience spends significantly less time on D&D outside of actual gameplay than the folks on these forums. And among both groups, DMs generally spend more time on it than players do.

 

[Mercurius]

My impetus behind the poll wasn't to try to get a sense of the larger D&D player base, but ENWorld, which is comprised mostly of serious and long-term fans.

 

[Richards]

As the DM, I'm not only writing the adventure but also compiling the monster stats, making any map tiles required, creating any player handouts that might be needed, crafting the initiative cards for any monsters I don't already have in my initiative deck, building standup tokens for any monsters I don't have a decent mini (or suitable substitute) for, and possibly updating PC support sheets from the previous adventure if, say, a wizard leveled up and added new spells to his spell list. On occasion, I'm designing and statting out one or more monsters from scratch. And sometimes, I've been known to craft an actual mini of sorts if the monster involved needs it. (I've built a wood colossus, stone colossus, zygomind, and walking brain out of cardboard and construction paper, plus made a tailored "costume" to turn a giant plastic spider into a giant retriever. I've also created a scale-model riverboat, a castle keep, a Daern's instant fortress, a Pelorian temple, a giant Easter Island head, an exploratory vessel capable of traveling to different planes, and several obelisks.)

All of that takes much more time than actually playing through the adventure, but fortunately I like doing all of that stuff.

Johnathan

 

[Burnside]

The pandemic has really altered this calculus for me. Previously, I spent far more time on D&D related activity - reading, writing adventures, selling stuff on DMSGuild, watching Critical Role, prepping, etc. than I did on playing. I had been playing about once per week, in person - maybe twice sometimes. But now I run or play an average of 4 games per week online, so it’s shifted to equal or even more time actually playing than other activities. This has also made me gravitate towards running simpler material or stuff I’ve run before, since I don’t have time to prep more complex stuff.