Hi hello. So I do online highschool and my friends (classmates of mine) and I have this DND club. It's great and all, most of the people are great and cool, but there is one problem. There's too many people in the club. We had to split into 2 groups to do separate campaigns but still it's a WHOLE lot of people. Our group's DM is a little bit older than me but he's still technically a child. Overall, he's a great DM. He's cool, he makes awesome adventures, he's great. But the only issue with him is that (I think, I don't know for sure) there's too many people for him to handle? Which is fine and all, I get that totally, but he doesn't actually like. read our character sheets. Which is fine I guess, but also that's kind of crucial information to be a DM? Like, I'm pretty sure you need to KNOW your player's characters to make it work. I'm relatively new to DND (I got an interest in it last year because I read the Adventure Zone books) but I'm just wondering if I'm wrong for thinking that he should at least know our characters. I just wanna know if I'm like dumb or something.
You're doing wonderful. The fact that you care means a lot - and if you present your concerns that way - the DM will appreciate it too.
- You can ask the DM (and the other players) if it's okay that you help the DM learn the other character sheets, so that you can be a helpful assistant to making sure people roll/handle their characters properly? This accomplishes two things: 1) You are helping the DM manage a very unmanageable situation. 2) As a new player, you are exposing yourself to different classes/races/mechanics, so that you can learn the game faster. *If you do this, make sure the other players are okay with this as well; you don't want to turn into the "backseat DM".
Within the last 4yrs, I did a 14-player group for a few sessions. That was insane but it was a necessary evil to get everyone together and at least introduce the game to everyone. I immediately cut that down to 2-groups of 7. Even that is - at best - a juggling act with one hand tied behind your back. It's doable but it is very stressful on the DM (and the players; as it's hard for everyone to "get some spotlight" when there's that many people that want to roleplay).
Long story short - again, welcome to roleplaying and the highs and lows that come with it. It seems like your heart is in the right place. Talk to your DM, plan out some of what you want to say - or practice; that way you're confident it'll come across as helpful and not aggressive. You want to help. Let that shine through. Even if the DM says "no"; they'll know they have someone in the group that gets how stressful and overwhelming it is.
Hi hello. So I do online highschool and my friends (classmates of mine) and I have this DND club. It's great and all, most of the people are great and cool, but there is one problem. There's too many people in the club. We had to split into 2 groups to do separate campaigns but still it's a WHOLE lot of people. Our group's DM is a little bit older than me but he's still technically a child. Overall, he's a great DM. He's cool, he makes awesome adventures, he's great. But the only issue with him is that (I think, I don't know for sure) there's too many people for him to handle? Which is fine and all, I get that totally, but he doesn't actually like. read our character sheets. Which is fine I guess, but also that's kind of crucial information to be a DM? Like, I'm pretty sure you need to KNOW your player's characters to make it work. I'm relatively new to DND (I got an interest in it last year because I read the Adventure Zone books) but I'm just wondering if I'm wrong for thinking that he should at least know our characters. I just wanna know if I'm like dumb or something.
I'm not surprised that your DM doesn't look at or care about what is on your character sheet. This might come as a surprise to you but a good number DM's really don't know the basic functions of most classes (even worse with subclasses). So if there is a question on what you can do they might ask to look at your sheet. D&D is not an easy game to master, because when WoTC acquired the game from TSR they opted to continue using Advanced rules (hence AD&D). They should have included a version of the Basic Set for newer and younger players. That and number of subclasses even in AD&D fewer than the game is today. So the DM has a lot on his plate, and could probably benefit from an Assistant DM.
A DM does not need to know the mechanics of every Class or Sub Class. They need to be able to reference the material and understand its use when the situation requires it.
If DM is light on mechanics but creates material the group enjoys. The mechanical knowledge of the game can be learned over time. Creativity is not something you can teach it is something you nurture when you find it.
You never once described an actual problem happening. You say you're "pretty sure" they need to know your character, but what makes you pretty sure?
I don't know. I read a book of a group of three whose DM knew their characters (the book was based off of an actual session) so I just kinda thought it would be the same way. My apologies
I know plenty of DMs who don’t know what the PCs can do. It helps, sure, but it’s not strictly necessary. Are you still having fun? Is everyone else having fun? What’s the problem that is being created here?
We are having fun, I just kinda thought it would be a little different. Sorry
You never did say how many players there are. How many is too many varies from DM to DM but, it is my experience that the DM isn’t necessarily the one who struggles with a big group, it’s actually the players. They can feel left out when the group is too big. The DM has a hard time keeping all the players engaged as the finite game session is split between the large group meaning each person gets less individual attention than they might in a smaller group and the quieter voices get lost in the crowd. This is honestly the impression I’m getting from your post. It seems like you want to have more of the DM’s attention than they can afford you in such a large group. Your concerns are worth mentioning to the DM but it’s also worth some self-examination; is this really the DM’s problem to solve or do you need to adjust your expectations?
There are at least seven of us, but it varies depending on who's able to come. I do need to adjust my expectations - I've learned that now - and I will work on that. I apologize for the inconvienience
DM doesn't HAVE to know your characters, especially if there are too many players. Sounds like this campaign is more combat-based rather than RP, Right?
Actually, a lot of the stuff we're doing is RP. We do occasionally have fights but our DM is sticking to RP for now
I don't see it noted, but how many are you thinking is too many players? My standard group is 4 players (we cycle who DM's) but we have had 5 and are looking at perhaps 6 players at times. Even with just the 4, we all (the 3 of our 5 person regular group that DM) often forget certain things our players can do.
The amount of players we have is around seven but it varies depending on who can make it. We had to split into two groups because there were too many originally to do a campaign. He isn't DMing both groups, though
Our DM recently asked for our character sheets because he wasn’t familiar with our mechanics. I’m sure one of his plans went sideways. Knowing the party can make forming an encounter more fun, without accidental one sided massacres.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
You're doing wonderful. The fact that you care means a lot - and if you present your concerns that way - the DM will appreciate it too.
- You can ask the DM (and the other players) if it's okay that you help the DM learn the other character sheets, so that you can be a helpful assistant to making sure people roll/handle their characters properly? This accomplishes two things: 1) You are helping the DM manage a very unmanageable situation. 2) As a new player, you are exposing yourself to different classes/races/mechanics, so that you can learn the game faster. *If you do this, make sure the other players are okay with this as well; you don't want to turn into the "backseat DM".
Within the last 4yrs, I did a 14-player group for a few sessions. That was insane but it was a necessary evil to get everyone together and at least introduce the game to everyone. I immediately cut that down to 2-groups of 7. Even that is - at best - a juggling act with one hand tied behind your back. It's doable but it is very stressful on the DM (and the players; as it's hard for everyone to "get some spotlight" when there's that many people that want to roleplay).
Long story short - again, welcome to roleplaying and the highs and lows that come with it. It seems like your heart is in the right place. Talk to your DM, plan out some of what you want to say - or practice; that way you're confident it'll come across as helpful and not aggressive. You want to help. Let that shine through. Even if the DM says "no"; they'll know they have someone in the group that gets how stressful and overwhelming it is.
I'm not surprised that your DM doesn't look at or care about what is on your character sheet. This might come as a surprise to you but a good number DM's really don't know the basic functions of most classes (even worse with subclasses). So if there is a question on what you can do they might ask to look at your sheet. D&D is not an easy game to master, because when WoTC acquired the game from TSR they opted to continue using Advanced rules (hence AD&D). They should have included a version of the Basic Set for newer and younger players. That and number of subclasses even in AD&D fewer than the game is today. So the DM has a lot on his plate, and could probably benefit from an Assistant DM.
A DM does not need to know the mechanics of every Class or Sub Class. They need to be able to reference the material and understand its use when the situation requires it.
If DM is light on mechanics but creates material the group enjoys. The mechanical knowledge of the game can be learned over time. Creativity is not something you can teach it is something you nurture when you find it.
I don't know. I read a book of a group of three whose DM knew their characters (the book was based off of an actual session) so I just kinda thought it would be the same way. My apologies
We are having fun, I just kinda thought it would be a little different. Sorry
There are at least seven of us, but it varies depending on who's able to come. I do need to adjust my expectations - I've learned that now - and I will work on that. I apologize for the inconvienience
Actually, a lot of the stuff we're doing is RP. We do occasionally have fights but our DM is sticking to RP for now
The amount of players we have is around seven but it varies depending on who can make it. We had to split into two groups because there were too many originally to do a campaign. He isn't DMing both groups, though
Our DM recently asked for our character sheets because he wasn’t familiar with our mechanics. I’m sure one of his plans went sideways. Knowing the party can make forming an encounter more fun, without accidental one sided massacres.