As a Dungeon Master I see that not many people aspire to become one. I know that it does take a lot of work, and you are pretty much the one in charge of everything. How can DnD change to make being a DM more appeasing?
They can't. every story needs a story teller. Railroading things even more so that its easier on a DM would just make it less fun. AL had this 'DM reward' feature to encourage people to DM, but it just didn't mean anything.
I agree, you can't. At best making the game easy to handle would make it easier for new DM and thus maybe invite more people to try. But at some point, it's just something you have to want to do. (or have, but that's another story)
More campaigns, that are easier to prep and run. And honestly, a DMG that's a better guide to DMing. It's never not going to be a lot to do, but it could be less and it could be easier.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
They can't. every story needs a story teller. Railroading things even more so that its easier on a DM would just make it less fun. AL had this 'DM reward' feature to encourage people to DM, but it just didn't mean anything.
When I did DM AL they gave you experience to add to a character so when you did get to play as a player you could level up spending your time DMing.
When I did DM AL they gave you experience to add to a character so when you did get to play as a player you could level up spending your time DMing.
which is nice but (imo) has absolutely nothing to do with compelling someone to be a DM (or making the role easier). Pretty sure no one in existence saw that and said 'sweet, now I want to be a DM'.
Making knowledge like this more broadly available to the playerbase, ie.. "How to run D&D without spending twenty hours every goddamned week preparing the game".
For DMing to be more accessible and popular it needs to stop being an entire second-ass job. The DMG basically needs a ground-up do-over, for many reasons. it's far and away the worst of the three core books, which is a shame because a case could be made that it's the most important.
Truly, I find the ongoing addition of tools here on DDB are a big help to me. The encounter builder, while useless in SETTING encounters, has proved a boon in running them for me. Less scribbling on papers or small white boards to track stuff. As it evolves, I am sure it will continue to be a benefit.
So far as ideas, a fully interactive mapmaking tool, maybe something that lets you develop a web page type setup would be cool. Link in areas to pop up information windows, plot points, tips and so forth, all integrated to a map on screen. I am sure something of some sort already exists for it and my limited knowledge of PC applications is preventing me using it lol, but a simple little tool that would let me set something like that up easily and refer to it as we proceed would again, cut down on the documents I use (digital AND paper) to keep everything straight.
As noted above, however, many who get into the game come to realize a homebrew campaign is often the most fun and it takes a fair bit of imagination, creativity and time to put it all together. Next it takes a lot to be able to present this in an interesting, invoking way, which is your storytelling ability. Add to that the REworking of things, as your players take off on a side romp, for no real reason, creating an unexpected change in YOUR plans. A lot can chase folks off from being a DM but there's not a whole lot to lure them in to begin with lol.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
For me it is much more fun, even just prepping, when you try to build things like buisnesses and lore, like writing a story, but more crunching numbers. Though being a forever dm isn't fun most of the time.
When I did DM AL they gave you experience to add to a character so when you did get to play as a player you could level up spending your time DMing.
which is nice but (imo) has absolutely nothing to do with compelling someone to be a DM (or making the role easier). Pretty sure no one in existence saw that and said 'sweet, now I want to be a DM'.
It's a nice bonus for doing something for the community
I find many of the perks of DMing quite appealing in theory (getting to create your own fantasy world and share it with others is definitely awesome), but when I actually get a chance to sit down and run a game I'm usually overwhelmed in short order (partially because of the sparsity of good advice that's readily available, but also just because of how my brain works if I'm honest).
More good world generating tools - there are free ones out there, but most aren't great. Here's where my big prep time is spent:
Creating maps. Give me a great big library of maps. I spend a lot of time online looking, lot of time making my own in DungeonDraft, etc. Huge time sink for me (we play on a VTT).
Generating locations in a town - inns, shops, etc. Every time my group heads to a new major city in my world, I dread the time I'll spend coming up with lists of things (I also use random name generators to improv some, but it's not how I like to play - I want the world to feel like it's there and lived in, not made up on the spot).
Generating NPC's. I'd love to have a slick generator that lets me pick a few parameters (race, age, gender) and it creates a graphic of their face and clothes and some basic background. (Bonus points if I could feet it a spreadsheet or XML file of my world so it can know that most halflings come from Greenvale or Westwharf and give them a little background including that).
I love the creative aspects that revolve around storytelling - making up another general store run by another NPC just starts to be drudgery to me.
Again, some of these things there are some free tools (or somewhat cheap ones), but they are not great and are not well integrated with each other. If I could imagine a to-be state for WotC (or D&D Beyond) for DMing, it would be:
A suite of tools that work together - you build your world (or use published campaigns) similar to World Anvil and other tools, then you can dive into a city and give it some parameters like population size, racial make up, etc. and it spits out a reasonable number of inns, taverns, shops, etc. that I can tweak. The stuff it creates includes the names of innkeeps, barmaids, shopkeeps, etc. that I can then edit.
When I need an encounter, I can search a library of maps by putting in something like a faceted search (terrain type, day or night, etc.) and it shows me a selection of battle maps I can choose from.
A set of tools like this would cut my DM prep time to about 25% of what it is now and it would leave the creative, fun parts to me (tying in character backstories, coming up with interesting encounters, etc.).
Dittoing that the rules designers can't really do anything with the rules to make DMing easier. As a GM for a bunch of systems, the chore is pretty much the same, I can't say any system is easier to GM than the other, other than some rules are more complicated, but if I'm playing a more complicated game, I'm playing that more complicated game because I want to.
Agree that there are a bunch of organizational tools out there folks should explore, but I doubt there's a one size catch all organization accessory because different DMs DM differently.
One thing I think gamers can do is delegate some of the non actual DMing responsibility. In my current groups, I'm not the scheduler. Figuring out a time when we can all play is not my job. Obviously I have veto on any proposed time slot, but it's not on me to shepherd the group to the table. And I like that.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
For starters I think we need to redefine the role of DM. We, as players and as a community, need to remember that D&D is a cooperative team exercise. It's not the DM's job to entertain you and tell you a story and draw your maps and to perform every little piece of worldbuilding while we the players are nothing more than passive recipients of that labor. There's simply too much to do to make that a fair equation. Rather, the DM is simply "First Among Equals". While the DM's job is very different than the player's job (from a game mechanic perspective), they both have the same job when it comes to fleshing out the world and making the imaginary space feel "lived in", and creating a compelling story within that space. So how do we do that?
Well, we need to remember that D&D is an exercise in cooperative storytelling. It's improvisational theater in which the writers, the actors, and the audience are all the same people. As such, we are all responsible for contributing to the worldbuilding effort of the game just as we are responsible for building our own characters. Before a campaign begins, or during the Session Zero, while you're building your character you should also talk to the DM about where in the game world that player is from. Wherever they are from, take the initiative and design that place so the DM can simply plug it into the game world. Subject to the DM's guidelines of course you should feel free to draw a map of your hometown, describe a few notable sights and places in the area, name a few important people, and dream up a few colorful tidbits of cultural minutiae that make that place feel real. If you're playing a cleric, or warlock, or other character with a supernatural buddy, work with the DM on building a pantheon and assigning roles and duties of each deity and their followers in the gameworld culture. If you're playing one of the more rare or exotic races, work with your DM to decide how someone of your background might be received by various segments of society.
Of course, anyone willing to accept the duties of DM will probably already have ideas about how they want their game world to look and feel and function, but any DM worth their salt should not only accept the input of their players but welcome it! DMs should encourage players to design holidays and conflicts and rumors and legends and traditions that make the game world feel like a living thriving three dimensional place where people actually live. It is not the job of D&D, or DnDB, to make the role of DM easier. It's the job of all of us. We're all in this together. We're all here to create a good story. Sooo...... create it!
The idea that the DM is the end-all-be-all of the rules can hold people back. There is a LOT of pressure to make the "correct" ruling. At my table, I tell my guys that we'll play by RAW, and that if we can't figure something out in 30 seconds, I'll make a ruling and then we'll figure it out later. It takes the pressure off me to be correct, and it lets the players know that if I got something wrong, we'll play RAW when we figure it out (which reduces in-the-moment angst that comes with some DMs whose "arbitrary" rulings are then codified as the "right" way to play moving forward). It's a game. Relax. Let's have fun and fix things as we move forward.
The published books need to be easier for new DMs. Give me a standard breakdown of each NPC so, at a glance, I can see his name, occupation, and motivations. I HATE having to read through a paragraph of text during a session just to make sure I get an NPCs name correct. Put the NPCs in a mini stat block or something to make it easy for me. There are a million other things that the books could do to be easier for new DMs.
Better digital tools. DnDBeyond is doing a good job here, but as they know, there's work to be done. Why, for example, can't I roll a monster's spell damage? Don't get me wrong, the Combat Tracker is a lifesaver. But run a complicated encounter, and the shortcomings quickly become obvious.
The worst part about DM rewards is that it gives you PLAYER rewards for running games. That's lame as hell. If they want to reward DMs they should do what they do for MTG judges, Promotional swag, store credit, etc.
Dming has never been easier with the power of dndbeyond....
no seriously, dndbeyond already makes my dm-life a lot easier. That an clever use of VTTs have dramatically reduced the pain of being a new DM. but ultimately the instant gratification of sitting down and getting fun delivered to you will always be more appealing than the unseen hours of work spent preparing that fun for your group. Not that I blame people! People have jobs, lives, and families! It's just the way it is. Hopefully online tools can continue to improve making the prep time even smaller...
They can't. every story needs a story teller. Railroading things even more so that its easier on a DM would just make it less fun. AL had this 'DM reward' feature to encourage people to DM, but it just didn't mean anything.
So I disagree vehemently with this.
People can sit here and shit on Critical Role sometimes for things like "The Matt Mercer effect", but honestly, as much as he's done to bring players into the hobby he's also shown the world that DMing can be fun AND rewarding.
It's easier to see how much joy DMs get now than ever before because of live play podcasts, and I think going back to Critical Role, with the upcoming 8 episode mini, we're going to see Matt thoroughly enjoy being able to experience his world in a much different light. Those are things DMs can look forward to.
More campaigns, that are easier to prep and run. And honestly, a DMG that's a better guide to DMing. It's never not going to be a lot to do, but it could be less and it could be easier.
I think this is the first step.
A lot of the tools exist, but at the same time, I know one of my own personal shortcomings was SAVING the information and then indexing it in easy to use formats.
I've spent a bunch of time one day just figuring out random Inns, who the owner was, the main person behind the bar, etc. Then I did the same thing with general goods stores. Alchemist shops. When my game is starting, I take five of each have the info ready, and go. When it's used, I just put a small mark on that page knowing its done.
The idea that the DM is the end-all-be-all of the rules can hold people back. There is a LOT of pressure to make the "correct" ruling. At my table, I tell my guys that we'll play by RAW, and that if we can't figure something out in 30 seconds, I'll make a ruling and then we'll figure it out later. It takes the pressure off me to be correct, and it lets the players know that if I got something wrong, we'll play RAW when we figure it out (which reduces in-the-moment angst that comes with some DMs whose "arbitrary" rulings are then codified as the "right" way to play moving forward). It's a game. Relax. Let's have fun and fix things as we move forward.
This goes into social contracts, right. Hey, these are the expectations. If I **** up, that's fine, but let's not slow down the pace of play for everyone. Our time is limited, and its important, lets have fun! Let's not spend 30 minutes arguing about niche rulings. Same thing with player rulings, as a DM if your goal is to screw someone over, it's wrong. Period. I don't care what edition you've played in, how long you've played, how much experience you have. This isn't to say you can't have deadly encounters with the chance of player death.
The worst part about DM rewards is that it gives you PLAYER rewards for running games. That's lame as hell. If they want to reward DMs they should do what they do for MTG judges, Promotional swag, store credit, etc.
It's hard to do that with D&D. You could reward AL DMs in the same way you reward M:tG judges, but how? For one, AL is so much different than what D&D typically is. Problem is, how do you vet it? How do you recognize DMs in that way? Magic gives out custom foils to rated judges with a special stamp showing it was a Judge card. What would recognized DMs get? Access to ultra-playtest content(think pre-UA) to help gather info? Custom scenarios/modules?
What about non AL DMs?
I think it is doable, but for as much effort as we want Wizards to do it? It can be done by us as well.
In my opinion I think a big deterrent to being a DM, particularly now that Dungeons and Dragons is becoming more roleplaying focused is the fear of what to do as the players deviate from the ideas you have planned for. There are plenty of great resources out there in both written and video format to talk about and provide examples of techniques to deal with this. The barrier though exists in having the experience and having the confidence to test ones own adaptability.
What I think Wizards could do is spend more time diving in to this topic in their core material. Some example based activities in the DM book where you list out the planned material for a small section of the game and then show examples of the ways in which players might deviate from it. Let the reader work out how they'd deal with the situation first and then provide examples of how other reputable DMs dealt with the same scenario.
Spend some more time in the DM book on topics around rolling spare NPCs or creating random encounters. I know there are tables that help with this but I think going one step further and giving some real examples would do a lot to give people that little bit more confidence to give it a go.
I honestly sometimes think the DM book misses the mark in training up fledgling dungeon masters. I know for myself some of what I regard as the more important lessons I've learnt by turning to Youtube channels firstly, and then by finding the courage to try secondly.
I honestly shudder at the cries for making DM'ing more easy than it already is.
The rules have been simplified, the content is instantly searchable, there are image libraries, world writing tools, map generators, and thousand of freely available adventures - what more do you want?!
There does however seem to be an inordinate amount of content on "how to be a good DM" that's probably sucking out preparation time :)
I think there are two kinds of DM's
- The ones with a story to tell and can't imagine playing in any other way: They will work on it and gradually get better and better
- The ones who agree to DM just to get a game going: They will get frustrated since they didn't really want to tell the story in the first place.
Having said that - I suspect there are many aspiring and great DMs out there - but it is not about making it easier - it is about giving them opportunities to play in a setting where they feel comfortable telling their story. (Even modules written by others become the DM's story and the group's experience IMO)
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As a Dungeon Master I see that not many people aspire to become one. I know that it does take a lot of work, and you are pretty much the one in charge of everything. How can DnD change to make being a DM more appeasing?
1 shot dungeon master
They can't. every story needs a story teller. Railroading things even more so that its easier on a DM would just make it less fun. AL had this 'DM reward' feature to encourage people to DM, but it just didn't mean anything.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
I agree, you can't. At best making the game easy to handle would make it easier for new DM and thus maybe invite more people to try. But at some point, it's just something you have to want to do. (or have, but that's another story)
More campaigns, that are easier to prep and run. And honestly, a DMG that's a better guide to DMing. It's never not going to be a lot to do, but it could be less and it could be easier.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
When I did DM AL they gave you experience to add to a character so when you did get to play as a player you could level up spending your time DMing.
which is nice but (imo) has absolutely nothing to do with compelling someone to be a DM (or making the role easier). Pretty sure no one in existence saw that and said 'sweet, now I want to be a DM'.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Making knowledge like this more broadly available to the playerbase, ie.. "How to run D&D without spending twenty hours every goddamned week preparing the game".
For DMing to be more accessible and popular it needs to stop being an entire second-ass job. The DMG basically needs a ground-up do-over, for many reasons. it's far and away the worst of the three core books, which is a shame because a case could be made that it's the most important.
Please do not contact or message me.
Truly, I find the ongoing addition of tools here on DDB are a big help to me. The encounter builder, while useless in SETTING encounters, has proved a boon in running them for me. Less scribbling on papers or small white boards to track stuff. As it evolves, I am sure it will continue to be a benefit.
So far as ideas, a fully interactive mapmaking tool, maybe something that lets you develop a web page type setup would be cool. Link in areas to pop up information windows, plot points, tips and so forth, all integrated to a map on screen. I am sure something of some sort already exists for it and my limited knowledge of PC applications is preventing me using it lol, but a simple little tool that would let me set something like that up easily and refer to it as we proceed would again, cut down on the documents I use (digital AND paper) to keep everything straight.
As noted above, however, many who get into the game come to realize a homebrew campaign is often the most fun and it takes a fair bit of imagination, creativity and time to put it all together. Next it takes a lot to be able to present this in an interesting, invoking way, which is your storytelling ability. Add to that the REworking of things, as your players take off on a side romp, for no real reason, creating an unexpected change in YOUR plans. A lot can chase folks off from being a DM but there's not a whole lot to lure them in to begin with lol.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
For me it is much more fun, even just prepping, when you try to build things like buisnesses and lore, like writing a story, but more crunching numbers. Though being a forever dm isn't fun most of the time.
It's a nice bonus for doing something for the community
I find many of the perks of DMing quite appealing in theory (getting to create your own fantasy world and share it with others is definitely awesome), but when I actually get a chance to sit down and run a game I'm usually overwhelmed in short order (partially because of the sparsity of good advice that's readily available, but also just because of how my brain works if I'm honest).
More good world generating tools - there are free ones out there, but most aren't great. Here's where my big prep time is spent:
I love the creative aspects that revolve around storytelling - making up another general store run by another NPC just starts to be drudgery to me.
Again, some of these things there are some free tools (or somewhat cheap ones), but they are not great and are not well integrated with each other. If I could imagine a to-be state for WotC (or D&D Beyond) for DMing, it would be:
A suite of tools that work together - you build your world (or use published campaigns) similar to World Anvil and other tools, then you can dive into a city and give it some parameters like population size, racial make up, etc. and it spits out a reasonable number of inns, taverns, shops, etc. that I can tweak. The stuff it creates includes the names of innkeeps, barmaids, shopkeeps, etc. that I can then edit.
When I need an encounter, I can search a library of maps by putting in something like a faceted search (terrain type, day or night, etc.) and it shows me a selection of battle maps I can choose from.
A set of tools like this would cut my DM prep time to about 25% of what it is now and it would leave the creative, fun parts to me (tying in character backstories, coming up with interesting encounters, etc.).
Dittoing that the rules designers can't really do anything with the rules to make DMing easier. As a GM for a bunch of systems, the chore is pretty much the same, I can't say any system is easier to GM than the other, other than some rules are more complicated, but if I'm playing a more complicated game, I'm playing that more complicated game because I want to.
Agree that there are a bunch of organizational tools out there folks should explore, but I doubt there's a one size catch all organization accessory because different DMs DM differently.
One thing I think gamers can do is delegate some of the non actual DMing responsibility. In my current groups, I'm not the scheduler. Figuring out a time when we can all play is not my job. Obviously I have veto on any proposed time slot, but it's not on me to shepherd the group to the table. And I like that.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
For starters I think we need to redefine the role of DM. We, as players and as a community, need to remember that D&D is a cooperative team exercise. It's not the DM's job to entertain you and tell you a story and draw your maps and to perform every little piece of worldbuilding while we the players are nothing more than passive recipients of that labor. There's simply too much to do to make that a fair equation. Rather, the DM is simply "First Among Equals". While the DM's job is very different than the player's job (from a game mechanic perspective), they both have the same job when it comes to fleshing out the world and making the imaginary space feel "lived in", and creating a compelling story within that space. So how do we do that?
Well, we need to remember that D&D is an exercise in cooperative storytelling. It's improvisational theater in which the writers, the actors, and the audience are all the same people. As such, we are all responsible for contributing to the worldbuilding effort of the game just as we are responsible for building our own characters. Before a campaign begins, or during the Session Zero, while you're building your character you should also talk to the DM about where in the game world that player is from. Wherever they are from, take the initiative and design that place so the DM can simply plug it into the game world. Subject to the DM's guidelines of course you should feel free to draw a map of your hometown, describe a few notable sights and places in the area, name a few important people, and dream up a few colorful tidbits of cultural minutiae that make that place feel real. If you're playing a cleric, or warlock, or other character with a supernatural buddy, work with the DM on building a pantheon and assigning roles and duties of each deity and their followers in the gameworld culture. If you're playing one of the more rare or exotic races, work with your DM to decide how someone of your background might be received by various segments of society.
Of course, anyone willing to accept the duties of DM will probably already have ideas about how they want their game world to look and feel and function, but any DM worth their salt should not only accept the input of their players but welcome it! DMs should encourage players to design holidays and conflicts and rumors and legends and traditions that make the game world feel like a living thriving three dimensional place where people actually live. It is not the job of D&D, or DnDB, to make the role of DM easier. It's the job of all of us. We're all in this together. We're all here to create a good story. Sooo...... create it!
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
There's a couple of things....
The worst part about DM rewards is that it gives you PLAYER rewards for running games. That's lame as hell. If they want to reward DMs they should do what they do for MTG judges, Promotional swag, store credit, etc.
Dming has never been easier with the power of dndbeyond....
no seriously, dndbeyond already makes my dm-life a lot easier. That an clever use of VTTs have dramatically reduced the pain of being a new DM. but ultimately the instant gratification of sitting down and getting fun delivered to you will always be more appealing than the unseen hours of work spent preparing that fun for your group. Not that I blame people! People have jobs, lives, and families! It's just the way it is. Hopefully online tools can continue to improve making the prep time even smaller...
Until then, appreciate your dms folks!
So I disagree vehemently with this.
People can sit here and shit on Critical Role sometimes for things like "The Matt Mercer effect", but honestly, as much as he's done to bring players into the hobby he's also shown the world that DMing can be fun AND rewarding.
It's easier to see how much joy DMs get now than ever before because of live play podcasts, and I think going back to Critical Role, with the upcoming 8 episode mini, we're going to see Matt thoroughly enjoy being able to experience his world in a much different light. Those are things DMs can look forward to.
I think this is the first step.
A lot of the tools exist, but at the same time, I know one of my own personal shortcomings was SAVING the information and then indexing it in easy to use formats.
I've spent a bunch of time one day just figuring out random Inns, who the owner was, the main person behind the bar, etc. Then I did the same thing with general goods stores. Alchemist shops. When my game is starting, I take five of each have the info ready, and go. When it's used, I just put a small mark on that page knowing its done.
This goes into social contracts, right. Hey, these are the expectations. If I **** up, that's fine, but let's not slow down the pace of play for everyone. Our time is limited, and its important, lets have fun! Let's not spend 30 minutes arguing about niche rulings. Same thing with player rulings, as a DM if your goal is to screw someone over, it's wrong. Period. I don't care what edition you've played in, how long you've played, how much experience you have. This isn't to say you can't have deadly encounters with the chance of player death.
It's hard to do that with D&D. You could reward AL DMs in the same way you reward M:tG judges, but how? For one, AL is so much different than what D&D typically is. Problem is, how do you vet it? How do you recognize DMs in that way? Magic gives out custom foils to rated judges with a special stamp showing it was a Judge card. What would recognized DMs get? Access to ultra-playtest content(think pre-UA) to help gather info? Custom scenarios/modules?
What about non AL DMs?
I think it is doable, but for as much effort as we want Wizards to do it? It can be done by us as well.
In my opinion I think a big deterrent to being a DM, particularly now that Dungeons and Dragons is becoming more roleplaying focused is the fear of what to do as the players deviate from the ideas you have planned for. There are plenty of great resources out there in both written and video format to talk about and provide examples of techniques to deal with this. The barrier though exists in having the experience and having the confidence to test ones own adaptability.
What I think Wizards could do is spend more time diving in to this topic in their core material. Some example based activities in the DM book where you list out the planned material for a small section of the game and then show examples of the ways in which players might deviate from it. Let the reader work out how they'd deal with the situation first and then provide examples of how other reputable DMs dealt with the same scenario.
Spend some more time in the DM book on topics around rolling spare NPCs or creating random encounters. I know there are tables that help with this but I think going one step further and giving some real examples would do a lot to give people that little bit more confidence to give it a go.
I honestly sometimes think the DM book misses the mark in training up fledgling dungeon masters. I know for myself some of what I regard as the more important lessons I've learnt by turning to Youtube channels firstly, and then by finding the courage to try secondly.
I honestly shudder at the cries for making DM'ing more easy than it already is.
The rules have been simplified, the content is instantly searchable, there are image libraries, world writing tools, map generators, and thousand of freely available adventures - what more do you want?!
There does however seem to be an inordinate amount of content on "how to be a good DM" that's probably sucking out preparation time :)
I think there are two kinds of DM's
- The ones with a story to tell and can't imagine playing in any other way: They will work on it and gradually get better and better
- The ones who agree to DM just to get a game going: They will get frustrated since they didn't really want to tell the story in the first place.
Having said that - I suspect there are many aspiring and great DMs out there - but it is not about making it easier - it is about giving them opportunities to play in a setting where they feel comfortable telling their story. (Even modules written by others become the DM's story and the group's experience IMO)