I was a late bloomer, too. I had great role models -- whose examples I've never quite lived up to, really -- and I knew if I ever ran a game I wanted to shoot for something that immersive and memorable.

I had no plans to run a game of my own, but then the DM of our long-running 2ePO game (not one of the aforementioned role models, FWIW) abruptly announced that he was converting the campaign to a newer edition and resetting our hard-won XP to zero. It had taken years of meager XP awards to grind to where we were, and we already had a number of concerns over wacky game admin decisions and rules calls, so we split off into our own thing with n00bish me as the DM.

And hilarity ensued.

Quote from: hamstertamer;777687Most people want to DM but most are terrible at it.  Being the DM is hardest job at the table, that's why game designers try to "fix" DMs with their rules.  The latest fad is simplicity and more vague rules.  The purpose is to hide the incompetence and laziness of the certain DM styles.  If you can call it a style.

I personally don't get any satisfaction in a game from poorly or not prepared DMs. It's a fun exercise to just sit down and make stuff up sometimes, but I find it more enjoyable to play with a well prepared and knowledgeable DM.  It takes the game to a whole new level and makes players invested more.

Finding a good DM willing (or capable) to take time to prepare is tough, but finding someone who will just sit down and make it up as they go is easy, but less satisfying in my opinion.

The best DM I ever had didn't even refer to books anymore. He had played so much D&D that he pretty much internalized the game, and improvised everything with a system he kept in his head that was stripped-down to bare bones. Which I loved. The system got out of the way, and we instead engaged with the absolutely incredible and intense settings and adventures that he conjured up from scribbled notes on a page or two of lined paper.

Frankly, the notion that DM needs comprehensive preparation and an encyclopedic knowledge of the game is one of the anchors around the neck of the hobby keeping it in the domain of jobless ubernerds.

So are you one of these elite DMs yourself?

Quote from: Haffrung;777729The best DM I ever had didn't even refer to books anymore. He had played so much D&D that he pretty much internalized the game, and improvised everything with a system he kept in his head that was stripped-down to bare bones. Which I loved. The system got out of the way, and we instead engaged with the absolutely incredible and intense settings and adventures that he conjured up from scribbled notes on a page or two of lined paper.

Frankly, the notion that DM needs comprehensive preparation and an encyclopedic knowledge of the game is one of the anchors around the neck of the hobby keeping it in the domain of jobless ubernerds.

So are you one of these elite DMs yourself?

That's just it, it's not about the system, it's about the GM making sure they know how things "are supposed to be" and playing through. The problem with new GMs is that they hold onto the rules tightly, and it takes years to realize what happens where there are no rules is where you grow as a GM.

Something I observed starting with 3e (though this existed in other games like GURPs) is this notion that the rules themselves are the game. The rise of "builds" free of context of the campaigns players are actually playing in, and in many cases there is no game at all. People just "make builds" for fun.

4e only cemented this stupid idea.

What's really funny? Go to the WotC forums and look at all noobs trying to make "builds" with 5e...

I'm not sure easy even applies in my case because I'm the type that always came up with some whack scenario and then finally my friends said cool....you run it. And the rest is history or disaster depending on who you ask. Basically I ran Palladium before I played Dnd other then running somebody else's character.

It was all women and man was it viscous! Also the only reason I got to play Mage was because I had to run the first campaign with no clue about the rules. I was just trying to kick my player's asses.

Heh, charopping 5e is quite amusing to watch.

Quote from: Bren;777060Very, very, very easy. Like skim through the OD&D rules and draw a dungeon up that same night easy.

+1.  That was how I did it myself.  I had the forethought to grab City State of the Invincible Overlord while I was at it, so the PCs had a home base -- and because from Day One, I liked urban adventures -- but there it was.

I must have been head-and-shoulders about the other GMs in my somewhat large gaming circle, because I had two groups almost overnight (and have run two groups for most of my GMing career) and a large waiting list, but it took years before I became what I'd consider good, and I cringe to recall some of the boners I pulled in those first couple of years.

It took me a while to figure it out. The first game I ran, I prepped a lot. Like a bucket load, and it went very well. My follow-up session was nowhere near as good. I was running two campaigns out of the gate, because I somehow I had two different groups interested in the setting I was using. Eventually I figured out how to do it. I remember observing other GMs, reading GM advice and just kind of finding out what worked and what bombed over time. Every so often I would shift my play style a bit and undergo the same process again.

I was 11 the first time I tried GMing a game of Drakar och Demoner for my father and younger brother. I had no idea what to do, and broke down in tears. Then my dad read the rulebook and ran a game for us. After that it didn't seem hard - I started making maps and introducing the game to my friends.

Quote from: Haffrung;777729The best DM I ever had didn't even refer to books anymore. He had played so much D&D that he pretty much internalized the game, and improvised everything with a system he kept in his head that was stripped-down to bare bones. Which I loved. The system got out of the way, and we instead engaged with the absolutely incredible and intense settings and adventures that he conjured up from scribbled notes on a page or two of lined paper.

Frankly, the notion that DM needs comprehensive preparation and an encyclopedic knowledge of the game is one of the anchors around the neck of the hobby keeping it in the domain of jobless ubernerds.

So are you one of these elite DMs yourself?

+1 Though I am thinking now the previous poster might have been talking about people making up the rules, rather than internalizing them (maybe?).

Quote from: Haffrung;777729Frankly, the notion that DM needs comprehensive preparation and an encyclopedic knowledge of the game is one of the anchors around the neck of the hobby keeping it in the domain of jobless ubernerds.

You can say that, but try handing a newbie the rulebook for an RPG and encouraging them to "just GM a game and don't sweat the details". I suspect 9 times out of 10 it won't work out very well. A certain type of personality is required to perceive even casual GMing as anything but a chore. Those 1 in 10 who embrace GMing will run the game exactly as they want to in terms of prep level.

Hard. I am still working on it, I guess. I was never very good at it. I am a better player than GM. I didn't help I played Warhammer Fantasy in the late nineties and then started again in 2008/2009 with the new WoD. With all it's pretention (about it's themes) and it's lack of lore (aka toolkit) it wasn't the easiest choice. So I handed it over to a friend of mine and now I am starting again. The sandboxing advice really helps and is very practical. I think you could run any game (sf, fantasy, pirates) using the same method.

Quote from: Opaopajr;777115WotC's killing off its 'zines (and outsourcing their subscription list first) might actually be the stupidest thing they have ever done.

Yeah, because the print industry is clearly experiencing such a major boom right now...

Quote from: RPGPundit;779128Yeah, because the print industry is clearly experiencing such a major boom right now...

They fed a subscription list to their current competitor. Even the staff of Pathfinder said it was solid gold to their transitioning into a major RPG publisher. Come now, do keep up with connecting the dots.

I played one game, then I decided I would much rather be GMing. It is so much easier for me! It was like being let out of a straitjacket!

-clash

Anyways, for me it was ridiculously easy; technically, I GMed before I got to play.

Quote from: RPGPundit;780654Anyways, for me it was ridiculously easy; technically, I GMed before I got to play.

Now that's unusual to me, as I take you to be younger and thus closer to the next generation of players, and would have expected you learned from someone else who played. Most of the people under 50 I've talked to learned from another as a player first. Were you in Uruguay then and had no immediate community reference?