PSA: Show your DM some love and appreciation /u/drakoran DnD: Roll for Initiative!

I just ended a game of about 1.5 years. All my players were long time friends of mine but new to D&D. At first it was just going to be a short adventure but they all seemed to really love it and be excited for it, so I ended up running a much longer adventure than I had originally planned.

It was frustrating to be honest, they were very slow to pick up the game and the rules and never really understood the role playing enough to really get into character. Just typical video game RPG mentality, kill the monsters, get the loot, get the levels sort of vibe with little interest in the story or character development.

I soldiered on though because they seemed to be having fun and kept asking to play. Finally after a year and half I decided to call it though as I was getting pretty burned out from running, and it was clear the style of game I like to run is not what they were looking for.

And once I let the group know I got a “that’s understandable”, and a “sorry,” but that’s it.

No thanks for introducing us to and teaching us D&D. No we really had a lot of fun and appreciate all the hard work that you put into the game. No words of affirmation at all.

DM’ing is really hard guys. It takes a lot of work. You commit a lot of time, energy, sanity, and even a bit of your soul into trying to craft a campaign and a story for your group, at least if you’re a good DM you do.

This wasn’t my first time running a game by any stretch, but sitting on the other side of the table is an enlightening experience. It really makes me appreciate all of the DMs who have run games for me, and I wish I had been more vocal at the time of my appreciation for the work they put in.

So next time you see your DM give them some love. Let them know you appreciate them and all the effort they put into this production. We sacrifice getting to play our own characters in order to make stories for and about yours. And without DMs there is no D&D.

I just ended a game of about 1.5 years. All my players were long time friends of mine but new to D&D. At first it was just going to be a short adventure but they all seemed to really love it and be excited for it, so I ended up running a much longer adventure than I had originally planned.

It was frustrating to be honest, they were very slow to pick up the game and the rules and never really understood the role playing enough to really get into character. Just typical video game RPG mentality, kill the monsters, get the loot, get the levels sort of vibe with little interest in the story or character development.

I soldiered on though because they seemed to be having fun and kept asking to play. Finally after a year and half I decided to call it though as I was getting pretty burned out from running, and it was clear the style of game I like to run is not what they were looking for.

And once I let the group know I got a “that’s understandable”, and a “sorry,” but that’s it.

No thanks for introducing us to and teaching us D&D. No we really had a lot of fun and appreciate all the hard work that you put into the game. No words of affirmation at all.

DM’ing is really hard guys. It takes a lot of work. You commit a lot of time, energy, sanity, and even a bit of your soul into trying to craft a campaign and a story for your group, at least if you’re a good DM you do.

This wasn’t my first time running a game by any stretch, but sitting on the other side of the table is an enlightening experience. It really makes me appreciate all of the DMs who have run games for me, and I wish I had been more vocal at the time of my appreciation for the work they put in.

So next time you see your DM give them some love. Let them know you appreciate them and all the effort they put into this production. We sacrifice getting to play our own characters in order to make stories for and about yours. And without DMs there is no D&D.