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Why does the stigma of the "jerk GM" still persist in our hobby?
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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7570337" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>Sorry, I forget this isn't the 5e forum, sometimes. "DM Empowerment" is a feature of 5e D&D, one that I've talked up, a lot, so I felt obliged to acknowledge that it's not all rainbows & unicorns, all the time.</p><p></p><p>Like so much of 5e, it's a feature that's been brought back from the classic editions of the game, the TSR era, in particular. (Though it wasn't seen as a feature or given such a trendy name as 'empowerment' back then - DMing was just hard, and the DM held a lot of imaginary 'power' in the play procedures, thus, between the two, a lot of social power in the group dynamic.) Since the D&D of the 80s was so influential in the development, perceptions - and stereotypes - of our hobby, and 5e is again far out in front, today, it seemed relevant.</p><p></p><p> There's more exposure. The current edition of D&D, itself, is not as approachable as 4e/E was, and is more DM-dependent than it was or 3.x/PF are. While the other WotC-era eds were disliked by DMs because they encouraged "Player Entitlement," they did put less of a burden of the DM as a consequence of putting so much in the hands of the players. You could run 3.x formulaically like you were a video game AI just putting challenges in front of your players; you could positively 'phone in 4e,' it was so carefree to run. </p><p></p><p>5e is like 1e: it demands more DMs, but Empowers them, in return, and allows them to deliver exceptional experiences to their players...</p><p></p><p>...or be total jerks. </p><p></p><p>DM's choice.</p><p></p><p> We were 7th graders playing 1e AD&D back in the day. It was a nightmarishly complicated game in many ways, and there was nobody streaming games on YouTube, but if you were enthused enough you did it anyway. </p><p></p><p>People strangely underestimate kids.</p><p></p><p>Whether you're in 7th grade or retired or anything in-between, AD&D and 5e present challenges to the DM that only a fraction of players are equal to. </p><p></p><p>DM's were and are a precious resource.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7570337, member: 996"] Sorry, I forget this isn't the 5e forum, sometimes. "DM Empowerment" is a feature of 5e D&D, one that I've talked up, a lot, so I felt obliged to acknowledge that it's not all rainbows & unicorns, all the time. Like so much of 5e, it's a feature that's been brought back from the classic editions of the game, the TSR era, in particular. (Though it wasn't seen as a feature or given such a trendy name as 'empowerment' back then - DMing was just hard, and the DM held a lot of imaginary 'power' in the play procedures, thus, between the two, a lot of social power in the group dynamic.) Since the D&D of the 80s was so influential in the development, perceptions - and stereotypes - of our hobby, and 5e is again far out in front, today, it seemed relevant. There's more exposure. The current edition of D&D, itself, is not as approachable as 4e/E was, and is more DM-dependent than it was or 3.x/PF are. While the other WotC-era eds were disliked by DMs because they encouraged "Player Entitlement," they did put less of a burden of the DM as a consequence of putting so much in the hands of the players. You could run 3.x formulaically like you were a video game AI just putting challenges in front of your players; you could positively 'phone in 4e,' it was so carefree to run. 5e is like 1e: it demands more DMs, but Empowers them, in return, and allows them to deliver exceptional experiences to their players... ...or be total jerks. DM's choice. We were 7th graders playing 1e AD&D back in the day. It was a nightmarishly complicated game in many ways, and there was nobody streaming games on YouTube, but if you were enthused enough you did it anyway. People strangely underestimate kids. Whether you're in 7th grade or retired or anything in-between, AD&D and 5e present challenges to the DM that only a fraction of players are equal to. DM's were and are a precious resource. [/QUOTE]
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Why does the stigma of the "jerk GM" still persist in our hobby?
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