Is anyone else having trouble finding a good DM? It took my friends and I a while to find one, who turned out to be too good to be true. He bailed on us last minute after we did all the prepping for the first session. 

So we're back to square one again, but haven't been finding anybody who would want to play traditional 5e DND Campaigns

Quote from WitchQueenSav >>

Is anyone else having trouble finding a good DM? It took my friends and I a while to find one, who turned out to be too good to be true. He bailed on us last minute after we did all the prepping for the first session. 

So we're back to square one again, but haven't been finding anybody who would want to play traditional 5e DND Campaigns

From what I have read so far, it seems like the best way for a group of friends to find a GM is to be one yourself. And generally speaking, the person who wants to experience D&D the most generally turns out to be the one who GMs too, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences.

For me personally, I wanted to try D&D the most out of my friends, so I volunteered to be a GM. After a while, I let my friends be GMs and I tried being a player, and it turns out I enjoy being the GM far more than being a player, so I decided to stick with being a GM. So I luckily for me and my group, we do not have a lack of GM problem.

For some groups though, there is a possiblity that everyone prefering to be a player rather than GM, so that would definitely suck. However, you can always rotate the GM position to spread the work load around. Worst case scenario is that you have to be a GM once in a while. Best case scenario is that somebody finds out that being a GM is actually more fun than being a player for them (so you  now have a new permanent GM) or everyone finds that they do enjoy doing a bit of both.

I've pretty much always been a DM. When we first got D&D, I was the one with the time to prep, and so I got tye job. I've been in 3 campaigns so far, one full one (upto L13 that I finished the other night) and one a third of the way (upto L4) that I've DM'd and then one quest as a player. I don't know if it's a difference in ability, but the one I did as player I enjoyed much less - that was the only time they've DM'd though, so it could easily be the result of them just not having the experience. They're all small parties, so I had a (very passive) character in all the campaigns, so I had some of the positives of being a player too. Still, while I'd like to be a proper player at some point with a good DM, I'm not itching for it.

Suck it up and be DM or get a friend to do it. It can be really fun. The fact that none of you are stepping up of your own accord is representative of why your struggling to find one. It's more fun than people think. It's hard, but fun.  Do a one shot first. If they don't like it, rotate to someone else until you find someone that is happy to do it. Once you find that person, then go for an adventure - that means that they can read ahead and prep properly rather than only reading their part which can screw the plot over. If you get a friend to do it, make sure that your party provides them with perks, like not having to pay for the adventure or everyone else provides the snacks or something.

Got to confess, when I ran my first game I fell in love with DMing. I enjoy playing, and will pick up one-shots and am playing in a campaign as well, but I love seeing the reveals and how the players approach the obstacles and encounters I throw their way.

I believe there is a shortage of DMs in the world, so your best bet might be to collectively get together as a group and agree on days you can commit to, then post up on here and in and dnd discord servers that your group is lookign for a DM at these times (and timezone) on these days for a campaign. You might find one that way!

That, or one of you becomes DM. Are you playing locally or online?

In my group, everyone DMs once in a while. My group is mostly filled with healthcare workers (and one software dev) and for the past two years, there have been serious availability issues. We created a workaround for this by each of us taking on the role of DM when someone else can’t. We each have our own campaigns we run. I am running a homebrew adventure epic, another runs a mystery campaign, there is a gritty, meat grinder, Diablo type of campaign, and there is a simple, ‘check your brain at the door’ tournament style campaign. What we play each week depends heavily on availability and group interest.

We went through a few months where the group did not have the mental energy for anything other than the tournament campaign. Now we are starting to branch back out into the other stories, which I am very excited about. 

In short, try to get everyone in your group to try DMing. Someone in the group may love it and become a permanent DM, or perhaps you will enjoy the rotating system that my table uses.

We also rotate and it's the only way I can handle DMing. I tend to burn out after a couple months.

Quote from WitchQueenSav >>

Is anyone else having trouble finding a good DM? It took my friends and I a while to find one, who turned out to be too good to be true. He bailed on us last minute after we did all the prepping for the first session. 

So we're back to square one again, but haven't been finding anybody who would want to play traditional 5e DND Campaigns

 Why haven't one of you taken up the role as DM? Not attempting to be snarky at all, just trying figure out where the issue lies so you can get the best guidance.