How can D&D and TTRPGs improve for DMs and GMs?

Tabletop RPGs are a fantastic hobby. They combine sociability, collaboration, creativity around a framework of mechanics and lore to make gaming like no other medium.

However, this flexibility and limitless possibility also creates friction for gaming groups. It requires players to spend hours creating interesting characters and honing their knowledge of the rulesets (in theory...), but more impactfully it puts a huge amount of emphasis on GMs and DMs to prepare for sessions. As the saying goes, "No D&D is better than Bad D&D". Whilst glib, this accurately represents the responsibility that the DM has in making sure that groups have a good time. They often create entire worlds for their groups, and even pre-written campaigns and content takes a substantial amount of time for people to prepare.

The results from the research on this was stark. The amount of time spent preparing was around 3.5 hours on average, whether they are creating their own Homebrew campaigns or using official materials. This may not take into account time setting up at the beginning of the campaign, which I would expect would add significant amounts of time to the Homebrewers who are creating their own settings (a question for the next survey).

A couple of interesting thoughts that popped out:

1) The balance of Homebrew to people using the Official campaigns was surprising (67 versus 20). Maybe people willing to fill in a survey on D&D are also those likely to create their own world- but if this is truly indicative of the universe of playing groups then the focus should be on how to help these players create and manage their own content (as well as the ongoing digitalisation of official campaigns that is already happening)

2) Many DMs enjoy prepping for sessions- it's not just a chore to enable the setting. This was especially true of Homebrewers who found great enjoyment in creating an immersive world for their players to appreciate. Adulation (for want of a better word) is an important component for DMs; a note to players- appreciate them LOUDLY if you want to encourage them to continue.

However, what we can see from the survey is that the chore/enjoyment ratio is well off. DMs and GMs are spending too much time doing things they do not enjoy.

This is particuarly true for Homebrewers; only 27% felt that preparation did not take too long, compared with 50% of those using the official materials. Additionally, 19 out of the 20 DMs who used the pre-written campaigns agreed that it helped their game run smoothly. Kudos to the writers and publishers on doing an amazing job.

However, if the assumption that 75% of DMs are Homebrewing is correct, then the 54% of that cohort that feel preparation is too onerous represents a massive proportion of the playing universe, and who have a potential pain point that may result in reduced play time or groups stopping altogether.

For me, this is the critical point, and the one that really sparked my interest in doing the research to begin with. Anecdotally, I have heard of numerous groups who no longer play, and the abiding reason is the pressure and time commitments placed on the DM. We all know this, and the DM knows this going in, but the research confirms it- the main reason for people no longer playing TTRPGs is the DM can no longer commit to running a campaign.

So far, so confirmatory. We intuitively know that D&D and Tabletop roleplaying games are a big time commitment, and we know for a fact that this falls disproportionatley falls on DMs and GMs.

More interestingly, what can be done about it? And what is being done about it? Feedback from DMs suggested preparation would be aided by having more automated tools, and help navigating assets across the myriad

My quick suggestions to solving some of these include:

1) A campaign management system; Currently Homebrewers typically manage through a combination of Scrivener, Notes, Word etc...a simple (key emphasis here) and free system to organise campaign maps, writing, and characters would go a long way to cut out some of the 'chore' time experienced by DMs.

2) Access to assets; sourcing and managing assets such as battle maps and tokens across different systems is a pain! Lots of people are creating amazing maps, but sourcing appropriate ones without contributing to dozens of Patreons is a challenge (at least for me). Having a freemium model (linked to the CMS) would provide ease of use and a way for creators to get in front of DMs. I know this kind of exists in numerous places, but I haven't found a version that works well for me. For example, Roll20's asset library is fine, but I think it could be a lot better and less focused on the upsell

3) In-game management; a personal bug-bear of mine when prepping was finding and running monsters / beasts / opponents. I just don't think the book properly reflects how people play the game, and too much time is spent flicking back and forth. A simplified, non-linear version of the Monster Manual would be helpful.

4) 'Throwaway' session prep; a quick and dirty NPC generator that gives basic stats, quick background history, and an autogenerated image. The AI image generators I am sure we have all seen being released could be incorporated here.

To be fair, there are clear signs that publishers are taking this seriously

The WOTC acquisition of D&D Beyond has to be a step towards helping make games easier to run. I think most people assumed D&D Beyond was always run by WOTC.

Paizo has also partnered with a 3rd party website to try and streamline management for GMs: “Paizo have recently launched its own digital platform (Pathfinder Nexus) which will help DMs and Players prepare and run their games.”- Paizo website

My hope is that both these focus on the whole ecosystem of DMs and not just official content, and take a step backwards to help create a wireframe that streamlines prep and playing for DMs to help keep as many people playing the game as possible.