So don’t play tabletop RPGs? I mean the first two can be solved with simpler systems, but a GM still needs to prepare quite a bit of material to bring to the table to facilitate the collaborative story. In my experience paid GMs are sought after for being very good at storytelling more than anything else.
Depends entirely on the game. For example, you can do all the planning required for Apocalypse World at the table during a five-minute break after character creation.
Perhaps that is a throwing the baby out with the bathwater solution.
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All the most prominent ttrpgs are cyclopean tomes full of rules, but most of the indie stuff and even AA production is way more understandable as a game
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The best TTRPG experiences I’ve had involved just making shit up on the spot. Often with no GM. Even with a GM, with hardly any preparation. Also, when I am a GM, I find I do my best when doing no preparation and reminding myself to “just make shit up.”
There are fantastic GMless games, Fiasco is always a fallback for me. There is something great though about a good GM, that of course eventually a system or algorithm can eventually supplant, but we’re not really there yet. We do a lot to “work around” that problem in game design, and eventually I think we will be able to get there, but I don’t think we’re there today.
And in my experience that makes the WORST tabletop experiences. Groups vary but by and large I have found that without some structure from the GMs part, even just plot points to steer toward, the game devolves to stupid shenanigans and not in a fun or productive way.
I will say I loved my highschool D&D group because they shouldered some of the GM responsibility, whether intentional or not, by always pushing their own plots forward. When I went to college the first groups I had there expected all that momentum to be on the GMs shoulder, and I found that… boring.
To explain that better, my friends Phil, Jacob, and a few others were people that would invent their own plots and motivations and work to move the game forward independent of me as GM, and I find that particular style of gaming commendable.
I think you just suck at making shit up.
I’d argue it depends on the GM’s strengths. I known GMs who can just make up a fantastic story on the spot but also others who need forethought in order to get a functional story across.
I’m sure we’re all inadequate at some level, but I’m confident in my abilities.
From a blank slate on the fly I won’t argue, hence why I mentioned having plot points to move toward with room for improvisation where necessary on the way there.
I have met very very few in the former category but plenty that are serviceable to amazing in the latter.
I think the big trick at making improvised campaigns work is to be great at observing players, something games like Monster of the Week empower. Being good at improv comedy is helpful but it’s observing the players and their interactions that really make it work. That same concept also helps in games that are fully prepped for but is imperative for making games up on the fly.
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It should also be noted that “making shit up on the fly” has tremendously different implications in DnD vs most other rpgs
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I’ll put it more simply.
Most people will never be able to play a GM-heavy rules-heavy role playing game with any regularity. It just isn’t possible. It won’t happen. It’s a rare thing.
GM-heavy rules-heavy games aren’t suitable to the majority of circumstances, and are not generally viable. They never will be. There aren’t enough people able and willing to do that kind of work to run the game for the rest. There are far more people who want to PLAY in these games than run them.
This is the magic of Burning Con. Want to play in some games? You have to run one. That’s the price of entry.
Most people would be better served by giving up on finding the magic GM, and simply playing a game that doesn’t need one.
I am wholly uninterested in a non-GM’d game. I would literally rather not play at all. If I believed in Hell I think that might be a good one for me.
Fiasco is a great game. Don’t entirely discount it.
I think for the vast majority of people who want to role play, that’s the option. Most will end up either not playing, or having very bad experiences.
I think in the past this has been the case, but I feel as though it is getting better with the movement toward online tabletop in services like Roll20. For one it allows people who know each other but cannot be physically together to play regularly (My group has been using it very nearly every week for two years) and for another it allows people to find games and GMs that interest them.