D&D (2024) Unloading some DM duties to the players.

[mellored]

Something I've been doing at my table for a while, is assigning certain aspects of the game to the players.

Mainly, I have one player track initiative, and one track damage delt to the monsters (who die when it exceeds max HP). And occasionally a friendly NPC to role play.

Doing so really helps keep things moving, keeps players involved off turn, and allows the DM to focus more on the story than the numbers.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I really agree with this. I'll take it a step further sometimes and ask players to design a guild, NPC, or town we are going to, especially if it is part of their character's background.

 

[HammerMan]

I play at tables full of DMs. Not all of us but 2/3 or more. We outsource everything as needed.
With Roll20 we don’t need someone to run initative anymore and monster hp can be tracked in tokens.

However rules questions and even some personal calls get out sourced or workshopped.

World creation we try to but with mixed success.

 

[bloodtide]

This is great for group games where "the DM is just a player" and "everyone is a DM" or "The DM is a Fan of the Characters". When you have a group of gamers that all agree on everything all the time, your all ready in a "group type game".

It can make such games great.

It can also be great for DMs in general that can't, or just don't want the burden of "running" the game.

It also has the bonus of you can "get" a player that does not pay attention and watches You Tube Videos for all six hours of the game, to do something game related like "attack the other player characters with monsters".

 

[aco175]

I tend to have one player look up spells and items if needed. My father used to track initiative, but I made a tracker with one of those extendable magnet poles and some clothespins that seems to work better so far. I have the players roll for damage against them and sometimes if there are lots of monsters attacking, I'll have them roll to hit themselves as well.

 

[cbwjm]

I got turned into a zombie in the game I played in last Sunday, DM let me roll for the attack and damage, but I did say that I can decide who to attack rather than him deciding for me, it was fun shambling around going "brains" rather than making the zombie another monster for him to run. Managed to get a couple hits in and even managed to keep going with zombie fortitude, lots of fun.

 

[R_J_K75]

I really agree with this. I'll take it a step further sometimes and ask players to design a guild, NPC, or town we are going to, especially if it is part of their character's background.

I've done this as well years ago when we were younger, played more and everyone was more invested. I let players create spells, magic items, locations, monsters, campaign lore etc. It worked pretty well, but now that were older and life takes more and more time away from gaming its hard to get players to do this. Hell, even when I DM I have trouble coming up with stuff myself sometimes these days. But even when I did let players create stuff for our games some players contributed more than others. One thing that I had to look out for was players creating things that were overpowered and/or specifically for their characters hoping to find it. Usually, this wasn't a problem only on rare occasions.

I do have players look up rules, track treasure, take story/campaign notes but rarely have them help run an encounter or roleplay an NPC, though it's something to think about for our next session zero. I wouldn't want to make people do more work than they want to. Depends on the group I guess; some players have trouble running their own PCs let alone taking on other tasks above and beyond playing their character.

 

[Yaarel]

My favorite games are when rotating the DM. Each DM covers one adventure then moves to the next DM, for the same group of characters. The worldbuilding happens organically, as each DM populates the world in different places for different reasons. In a long term game, future characters are the descendants of retired characters, or relating in some way.

 

[GMMichael]

. . . Doing so really helps keep things moving, keeps players involved off turn, and allows the DM to focus more on the story than the numbers.

I was going to ask why this is in 5.5's forum, when I realized that all of the above are probably going to be 5.5 problems.

What about my favorite PC jobs: mapper, treasurer, leader, and chronicler?

 

[Yaarel]

I was going to ask why this is in 5.5's forum, when I realized that all of the above are probably going to be 5.5 problems.

What about my favorite PC jobs: mapper, treasurer, leader, and chronicler?

2014 made an effort to make 5e easier for players to play.

I think that you are correct that 2024 will make an effort to make 5e easier for DMs to play.