When did DM's get lazy?

[diaglo]

it is something that has been needed for a very long time.

a lot of n00b DMs suck at adaptations. just look at all of the threads on multiples messages crying about how you can't find decent DMs.

 

[Crothian]

Have gamers gotten so self-involved that they can't see that just because something doesn't help them, that doesn't mean it's not helpful to others?

This reminds me, I noticed your books are not written with only me as an audience and we need to talk about that. When you write you need to ask yourself: "will this be useful to Crothian?"



Not all books are useful to everyone and not all parts of books are going to be useful either. I perfer to have this info becasue it is easier for me not to use material that is there, then wishing material I needed was there.

 

[scourger]

WotC has to do something to make the game easier to run. I've been at this for a long time (25 years), and I'm just plain tired of WORKing at DMing. The game is top-heavy at its core. The mad proliferation of crunch--even just official rules--is unmanageable. It's nearly driven me from d20 & D&D altogether. It's not that I'm lazy as a DM. I just don't get enough return on the investment. It's very easy to play the game, but it's too hard to run it. I recently realized that there's a reason why there are only 2 DMs in our group of 5 gamers--it's too much work and not enough reward.

Disclaimer: all of this is my opinion; YMMV; et cetera; etc.

 

[Hussar]

Heck YES! I am that lazy! Self proclaimed world's laziest DM and proud of it.

A question that really has to be asked is: Why am I buying a product only to have to do umpteen hours of work adapting it on my own? That's fine for those who enjoy reinventing the wheel with every product they buy, but, for me, I want to buy a product and with the minimum amount of effort possible, plunk it down into play. It bugs me to no end to buy a product and then have to completely rework it in order to use it. If including a couple of pages of information as to how this can be slotted into this or that campaign, then it's all good. I wish more publishers would do this. Include ideas for how to fit this into a low magic (Eberron), mid magic (Greyhawk) or high magic (FR) campaign.

Isn't the point of buying stuff to make my life as a DM easier? Why should buying a new book mean MORE work for me? If I'm willing to shell out the thirty bucks or so for the book, then, hey, I want to save thirty dollars (or MORE!) worth of work.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Q) When did DM's get lazy?

A) 1987

Explanation: Graduating from High School dramatically cut back on my game prep time.

 

[Banshee16]

I was looking over the new PrC format WotC has and noticed the "Adaption" section, which details how the class can fit in Forgotten Realms, Eberron and homebrews.

I don't know about other DM's but most of these sections seem pretty common sense to me. Have DM gotten so lazy that WotC can pad a word count offering them advice they should figure out on their own.

What's next? Another sentence or two on how a XXX of Hextor fits in a Greyhawk setting?

It's not lazy...it's helpful. Planning the game takes long enough as is. I suppose if you're a DM in high school you may have time to make everything up from scratch and work out all those details, but those of us with wives, full-time jobs, children, etc. have to make do with less time, so the increased support by WotC is pretty good. Maybe a *little* overkill....but better than the alternative.

Banshee

 

[pogre]

Everybody has pretty much made this point, but the fact is most DMs fall into a couple of categories these days:

Old grognards like me with jobs, kids, etc.

New younger DMs trying to figure things out.

The less these two categories of game masters have to figure out, the better.

 

[Sledge]

I've always been lazy. Fortunately story is effortless and roleplaying is effortless.

 

[glass]

I don't know about other DM's but most of these sections seem pretty common sense to me. Have DM gotten so lazy that WotC can pad a word count offering them advice they should figure out on their own.

Given enough time and effort, I could probably figure out everything in the book on my own. But, with a full time(ish) job and a day-release university degree to complete, I don't have the time or the energy.

I'm not DMing at the moment, but if I was I'd want all the help I could get.


glass.

 

[Flyspeck23]

I was looking over the new PrC format WotC has and noticed the "Adaption" section, which details how the class can fit in Forgotten Realms, Eberron and homebrews.

I don't know about other DM's but most of these sections seem pretty common sense to me. Have DM gotten so lazy that WotC can pad a word count offering them advice they should figure out on their own.

As others have said, it's ok for WotC to do that, because most GMs will need all the time-savers they can get.

OTOH, I don't think the "adaption" guidlines are for new GMs... I just can't imagine a "noob" reading an Eberron book looking for PrCs to add to her homebrew.