Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Meech17" data-source="post: 9290021" data-attributes="member: 7044459">I appreciate you taking the time to type it up. It was really insightful to read. There also seems to be this thing where younger people feel the need to be proficient in something before they do it. I'm 31, so just a younger millennial, but growing up in the internet generation, I feel like I lived between two distinct periods. The period before, the only way to learn something was to have someone else show you how to do it. The period after was the one where you can learn anything with a few taps on your phone. I got to experience both, which I feel like was a huge boon. I learned to be teachable, but also learned how to learn independently. I recently engaged in a post on one of the DM focused SubReddits, and it was a group of 5 new players looking for a dungeon master. The obvious top comment was &quot;Well, why don't you do it?&quot; and the OP seemed astonished. &quot;None of us have ever played before. Shouldn't we have a DM with some experience?&quot; It's this weird thing where when I was a 15 year old we had all played in a single session before my older brother sat down and tried running the game for the first time. These people have probably absorbed more D&amp;D knowledge through osmosis watching Critical Role or Dimension 20 than we had experienced actually playing. My brother wasn't expecting to be amazing, and we weren't expecting him to be either. I don't know if newer players are afraid of failure, or perhaps they are afraid of letting down their friends.&nbsp; I think you're onto something when you suggest we stop stressing how hard DMing can be. I think we need to be upfront that it is work. More work than playing. But ultimately your group, especially if it's a group of your friends, likely won't care how well or not well you do. There's nothing to lose by goofing it up.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Meech17, post: 9290021, member: 7044459"] I appreciate you taking the time to type it up. It was really insightful to read. There also seems to be this thing where younger people feel the need to be proficient in something before they do it. I'm 31, so just a younger millennial, but growing up in the internet generation, I feel like I lived between two distinct periods. The period before, the only way to learn something was to have someone else show you how to do it. The period after was the one where you can learn anything with a few taps on your phone. I got to experience both, which I feel like was a huge boon. I learned to be teachable, but also learned how to learn independently. I recently engaged in a post on one of the DM focused SubReddits, and it was a group of 5 new players looking for a dungeon master. The obvious top comment was "Well, why don't you do it?" and the OP seemed astonished. "None of us have ever played before. Shouldn't we have a DM with some experience?" It's this weird thing where when I was a 15 year old we had all played in a single session before my older brother sat down and tried running the game for the first time. These people have probably absorbed more D&D knowledge through osmosis watching Critical Role or Dimension 20 than we had experienced actually playing. My brother wasn't expecting to be amazing, and we weren't expecting him to be either. I don't know if newer players are afraid of failure, or perhaps they are afraid of letting down their friends. I think you're onto something when you suggest we stop stressing how hard DMing can be. I think we need to be upfront that it is work. More work than playing. But ultimately your group, especially if it's a group of your friends, likely won't care how well or not well you do. There's nothing to lose by goofing it up. [/QUOTE]

Verification