Where Are All the Dungeon Masters?

In light of the Labor Day celebrations happening in the U.S., now's a good time to look at the amount of effort tabletop role-playing takes. Is it holding the hobby back from a bigger audience?

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[h=3]Why Oh Why Won't They DM?[/h]Dungeons & Dragons and many tabletop role-playing games that debuted after its release have struggled with an inherent part of its structure: one of its participants has a disproportionate share of the game's work. This isn't to say that players can't help, but the structure of the referee role as envision by co-creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arenson created a very different form of play for one "player." What this means is that there are always more players than Dungeon Masters (DMs) and Game Masters (DMs) -- by necessity, the game is built this way -- and as tabletop RPGs grow in popularity, a GM shortage is a real possibility.

The GM challenge stems from a variety of factors, not the least of which being the level of organizational skills necessary to pull off playing not just one character, but several. In Master of the Game, Gygax outlined the seven principal functions of a DM:

These functions are as Moving Force, Creator, Designer, Arbiter, Overseer, Director, and Umpire/Referee/Judge (a single function with various shades of meaning). The secondary functions of the Game Master are Narrator, Interpreter, Force of Nature, Personification of Non-Participant Characters, All Other Personifications, and Supernatural Power.
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With a list like that, it's no wonder that potential DMs find the role intimidating! Spencer Crittenden, the DM for HarmonQuest, summarizes why it's so challenging to be a Dungeon Master:

Being a DM, like being a ref, means acknowledging you will make mistakes while still demanding respect for the authority you have over the game. It means taking charge and reducing distractions, it means observing everyone to get a sense of their feelings and levels of engagement, and keeping people engaged and interested. This is not easy, especially for beginners. There's a billion things to keep track of on your side of the DM Screen: maps, monsters, rules, dialogue, etc.
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It's a lot, but there's hope.
[h=3]The Best Way to Learn[/h]D&D's style of play was unique: part improvisation, part strategic simulation, with no end game. But the game's popularity has increasingly made the idea of playing D&D less foreign to new players as other forms of gaming have picked up the basic elements of play, from board games to card games to video games. The idea of playing an elf who goes on adventure with her companions is no longer quite so novel.

That familiarity certainly made it easier for the game to be accepted by the general public, but learning to play the game is best experienced first-hand, something not many future DMs have a chance to do. Enter video.

Thanks to the rise of live streaming like Twitch and video channels like YouTube, prospective DMs can watch how the game is actually played. In fact, the sheer volume of video viewers has begun to influence Kickstarters on the topic and even merited mention by the CEO of Hasbro. If the best way to learn is by watching a game, we now have enough instructional videos in spades to satisfy the demand.

And yet, if this thread is any indication, there still aren't enough DMs -- and it's likely there never will be. After all, knowing how to play and having the time, resources, and confidence to do so are two different things, and not everyone wants to put in the effort. That's why there's an International GMs Day, conceived on this very site.

But you don't have to wait until March 4 to say thanks. If you ended up playing a game this weekend, it's worth thanking the people who help make our games possible. To all the GMs and DMs out there, thank you for everything you do!

Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.

 

[Jeff Carpenter]

One way to solve the DM problem is to make D&D easier to run for larger groups. If each DM can run for 8 and not 4 players you cut the number of DMs you need in half. But it takes better players to run a large group.

1st edtion D&D was made to run fast with group initiative and simple combat. I've run games with 9 players easily and could probably handle a dozen. As the game evolved the complexity of combat and options bog the game down for many players. I run my 5e game with 6 players, but If player came more prepared and focused in combat I could probably run 7 or 8. But it's no fun to have slow combat.

Secondarily I feel modern players want more time in the spotlight. Nothing wrong with that I guess but if player were willing to share the spotlight more players could be in the game.

 

[TerraDave]

The biggest advance I see with 5e over 3e is that it is just easier to DM (with 4e in between). 5e has a lot for players, but its very DM friendly.

As for videos...I am sure they help. Playing helps. But it is a "just do it" kind of thing. What really helps is having something like the starter set and its adventure , as their B and X equivalents did back in the day.

The real impact of the videos, and 5e, and hobby gaming's popularity, and ability to find games on the interwebs, is that there are now a bunch of players looking for DMs. The shortage is probably worse then its ever been. But it should work itself out.

 

[Blue]

I DM much more than I play, by a ridiculous ratio. Let's see, this year I've run 39 times and played 4 times. I'd prefer it to be 50/50.

But I am also choosy about the games I'm in. Both in terms of quality of the others in the group (DM + players) and in terms of my availability (I can't do weekends regularly, only weeknights after work). As a DM I had a lot of control over both of those factors. As a player, not so much.

 

[dragoner]

I like playing as well as GM'ing, I really don't suffer for the lack of either, except in the amount of my own personal time to do so. While I have played some 5e, it really didn't scratch the itch for role playing, so I have moved on, though if someone likes it, I think that is cool. Basically though, there is a time difference between learning how to play, and learning to GM, what we are seeing now is that gap in time.

 

[Von Ether]

I've been a DM since 1984, and do the player thing infrequently. (Though right now, I'm enjoying one of my player's first games GMing)

One of my complaints over the decades has been that we need people to be less attached to D&D as their only RPG to play.

One of the reasons for DM burnout is because of running the same things over and over again.

If playgroups would be open to playing other RPGs, it would keep more GMs inspired.

It's not the only way to get inspired, but can be after seeing how other games tackle different RP tasks.

 

[Rhianni32]

Well a DM will put in hours every week mapping, planning, writing flavor text, story, appropriate monsters to fight, setting background and tying everything together. DMs don't get the enjoyment of learning a story as it unfolds.
You have to keep track of all the enemies in combat, make judgement rulings, argue if players try to debate you on why they should be able to do what they want to do.
DMs get fatigue during the week and at the game table. Its a lot of work to run a session even if you buy a premade adventure.

Players show up, may or may not pay attention to details, may or may not be on their phones, may or may not make side conversations.

The above is an issue when new groups form or the weekly pick up game at a game store. Regular dedicated groups have less of this problem. But the article seems to talk more about the problem as a whole for the hobby and getting new people to play.

 

[DragonLancer]

A lot of players don't want to be a Games Master. They either don't have the confidence, or the time to devote to everything that a GM has to do whether a published campaign or a homebrew one. I don't think we should be trying to force such people into a role they aren't happy with or confident doing. Also, from past experience I think that players should be players for as long as possible. Too many want to jump into the GM's chair far too soon and end up spoiling their playing experience because they then know how everything works - a bit like the man behind the curtain in Wizard of Oz. We want GM's but we want players who are likewise happy to remain seeing the wonder and majesty of an RPG from the player's side of the screen.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

I'm the opposite of this - I'm ONLY a DM.

Playing bores me. A single character to keep track of just isn't enough, and I've met few DMs who are skilled enough to really immerse me and hold my interest.

But let me DM and I come alive. I love building a world, creating NPCs, devising set-piece battles, concocting conspiracies, writing mythology, rolling up and modifying treasures, rewriting adventure modules, and then setting it in front of players. If they aren't going "whoa!" - I've failed. For me, inspiring, challenging, frustrating and ultimately satisfying the players IS the game. I concoct an elaborate machine, and make myself the ghost within it, watching what happens. Some DMs hate it when things go off the rails - I WANT things to go off the rails in ways I'd never imagine. If my glorious machine isn't a wreck by the end of the night, leaving all of us panting in the afterglow of hard fought battles, painful conflicts, epic rewards and horrifying plot destruction... it's a bit of a disappointment.

But it's been over a decade since I've run a campaign. Life just got in the way. I got out of college, and moved across the country, and then across the planet. I changed entire careers multiple times. I earned advanced degrees. I got married and had a child.

I remained a gamer, but my gaming moved on from RPGs... I did tournament MTG for awhile, and tried to qualify for the pro tour. Then for years I had weekly board game sessions. But after marriage, and moving back to the states, those drifted from weekly to every other month or so. And then, after my most recent relocation... to nothing at all.

I'm jonesing for a game.

So... if you've got a group of 4-8 mature (over 30, though younger are welcome if vouched for) players in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area who could use a DM, I'm your man. I'd love to start a twice a month campaign again. Hit me up if you're down for it.

 

[Kobold Boots]

One way to solve the DM problem is to make D&D easier to run for larger groups. If each DM can run for 8 and not 4 players you cut the number of DMs you need in half. But it takes better players to run a large group.

1st edtion D&D was made to run fast with group initiative and simple combat. I've run games with 9 players easily and could probably handle a dozen. As the game evolved the complexity of combat and options bog the game down for many players. I run my 5e game with 6 players, but If player came more prepared and focused in combat I could probably run 7 or 8. But it's no fun to have slow combat.

Secondarily I feel modern players want more time in the spotlight. Nothing wrong with that I guess but if player were willing to share the spotlight more players could be in the game.

I tip my hat to you re: 1st ed combat.

Personally, I never found round segments, initiative with weapon speed factors and best roll moving last all that intuitive, especially when keeping track of spell effects and such.

Then again, I find that when people say 1e combat is simpler, I often find they're not running it as written.

 

[Loren the GM]

This is why I charge for my DM services. I think if D&D continues to grow at the pace it is growing, the gap between the amount of DM's and people who want to play will continue to grow - as will the expectations of what a DM should do and be, since everyone will have seen Matt Mercer or other celebrity DM's. While there are lots of systems that are DM-lite, D&D is still the heavy hitter. Even though paid DM'ing is controversial, I expect to see it grow significantly over the next few years as the systems grow, due to all of these issues.