All right this is the fourth video in the series that I've watched. You have hit the nail on the head for why people do not DM and why things have gotten out of control for dungeons & dragons. It is a GAME that needs a dungeon master. It's not a story that you're running. You're not supposed to weave in everyone's backstories. That's all ancillary stuff that will fall into place as soon as the DM starts to look at each session as a GAME. I think in one of your videos you looked at it like a board game that your friends consider on the table and play. I agree playing dungeons & dragons should be like sitting down and just having fun with a board game. The story emerges as we play every week or every month.
You've given me a lot to think about as a GM. In my experience trusting players with narrative control is fun, but also often results in a lot of conflict between players, who are often ill equipped to work out those differences without a shouting match or secret seething bitterness. The idea that dungeon masters are taking on too much responsibility for the way the plot plays out hit close to home though. I often feel that way, and I think talking to my players about their narrative power, how to use it, and then just giving it to them especially for downtime events will be good for me, and more importantly good for everyone's fun~
🤔 The story is the reason the group exists in the first place- I used an over arching story line but that was just the reason for the group for the adventure All the real stories happened along the way-
🥳🫂👍🏿 Noticed you said you don’t like house rules, but as someone who’s played all the editions, have you liked any house rules - would love to hear about them, especially any from pre AD&D and before
Sounds like you want an intersection of skirmish war games and Dungeons and Dragons customization. You could get rid of a DM and have the players be DMS, but you would need to write an entire booklet of houserules to distribute the ability to effect the world, bring in monsters or whatever in a balanced way. Seems like games would devolve into the "I have an impenetrable shield" "I have an impenetrable shield laser that goes through impenetrable shields" kind of silliness that needs to be reigned in by some kind of authority/rules keeper. You could make a system to do that, but it seems to fall into customizable skirmish game at that point to me with a written out game AI that tracks resources and decisions.
Loving the content. Will continue going through the videos, and hope you keep at it. Kudos!
All right this is the fourth video in the series that I've watched.
You have hit the nail on the head for why people do not DM and why things have gotten out of control for dungeons & dragons.
It is a GAME that needs a dungeon master. It's not a story that you're running. You're not supposed to weave in everyone's backstories. That's all ancillary stuff that will fall into place as soon as the DM starts to look at each session as a GAME.
I think in one of your videos you looked at it like a board game that your friends consider on the table and play. I agree playing dungeons & dragons should be like sitting down and just having fun with a board game. The story emerges as we play every week or every month.
You've given me a lot to think about as a GM. In my experience trusting players with narrative control is fun, but also often results in a lot of conflict between players, who are often ill equipped to work out those differences without a shouting match or secret seething bitterness. The idea that dungeon masters are taking on too much responsibility for the way the plot plays out hit close to home though. I often feel that way, and I think talking to my players about their narrative power, how to use it, and then just giving it to them especially for downtime events will be good for me, and more importantly good for everyone's fun~
🤔
The story is the reason the group exists in the first place-
I used an over arching story line but that was just the reason for the group for the adventure
All the real stories happened along the way-
This is exactly right and it is sorely missed in a lot of dungeon master videos and D&D videos.
🥳🫂👍🏿
Noticed you said you don’t like house rules, but as someone who’s played all the editions, have you liked any house rules - would love to hear about them, especially any from pre AD&D and before
Sounds like you want an intersection of skirmish war games and Dungeons and Dragons customization. You could get rid of a DM and have the players be DMS, but you would need to write an entire booklet of houserules to distribute the ability to effect the world, bring in monsters or whatever in a balanced way. Seems like games would devolve into the "I have an impenetrable shield" "I have an impenetrable shield laser that goes through impenetrable shields" kind of silliness that needs to be reigned in by some kind of authority/rules keeper. You could make a system to do that, but it seems to fall into customizable skirmish game at that point to me with a written out game AI that tracks resources and decisions.