Ever want to take a peek into the hidden world of a game master? Wonder how the bits and pieces of a fantasy world come together?
What's a Dungeon Master? They control every aspect of the game, from location to random encounters of monsters. It's their job to make an immersive experience for the players. The best go to great lengths to make that happen, with theme appropriate music, applicable titles, and quite frankly awesome scenery.
Behind such a great collection of creative minds lie the mods. I sat down with a few to discuss the community.
1. Tell me about yourself. How did you get into Dungeons and Dragons? How'd you end up modding?
/u/OrkishBlade I think it all started in my friend's older brother's basement (2E, half-elf rogue whose first piece of a loot was a jagged shortsword taken from the body of an orc). I was 18 and fairly naïve regarding D&D. I had never read much fantasy literature, but I had always been drawn to high-adventure type stories—Star Wars, Robin Hood, Princess Bride, Indiana Jones, Swiss Family Robinson, and I had had a terrible brush with horror when I was young (which led me to sleep on the floor of my parents room for a week)—the kind of scare that really messes with you at the time, but with the distance of years I realized it was actually pretty fun.
After my first taste of D&D, I dove in and started DMing my own hacked version for my little sibs and the neighbor kids and shortly thereafter picked up the newly released 3E books and fell down the rabbit hole.
/u/famoushippopotamus I created /r/DndBehindTheScreen to give dungeon masters a place to talk about the creative aspects of their game outside the noise of /r/Dnd. I wanted to have a curated, high-quality subreddit that could also serve as an archive that people could browse through like a library.
/u/OlemGolem I first got here with a question on how to challenge my social-burglar players who could slip by anything with spells. It was close to being a 'drama post' but hippo allowed it. Later on, I used my experience to write a Let's Build post for stealth sessions and it was quite a hit. I kept helping posters who needed a brainstorm and I was on the sub so long that I got asked to be a moderator. I tried it for a month and was okay with it ever since.
/u/Kami1996 Hippo invited me to mod thinking I was a female who had contributed to the society here to add some diversity to the mod team. Instead, he just did it by adding an Asian instead of a female. ;)
/u/PivotSs I was pretty new to D&D when I started looking at the sub, I was attempting to make a campaign world from scratch and honestly this sub was the best place I found do do that, really got the creative juices flowing. When there was an offer for a mod to compile good posts for the wiki I jumped on the opportunity, since I was sort of doing it for myself anyway.
/u/HomicidalHotdog While waiting on my research experiments, I filled the time by lurking on the subreddit and occasionally chiming in with some level-headed noob-DM wisdom. I've only been DMing for about 2 years now, but when /u/famoushippopotamous went looking for new moderators, I made the list somehow. I suspect that pact with Asmodeus good karma just pays off sometimes!
2. Many people have preconceived notions of DnD. What would you say to them?
/u/MisterDrProfDnd is less a singular entity but rather an entire genre. You wouldn't say you dislike all sports because you don't like baseball and you wouldn't say all sports are for runners because you watched a marathon. There's something for everyone.
/u/Kami1996 DnD isn't satanic or nerdy really. It's escapism just like movies and books and all the other things you do to escape reality. It's just different because instead of enjoying and escaping with someone else's live, you're creating your own. I'd suggest it anyone who wants some stress relief and a way to build great friendships.
/u/PivotSs Well stereotypes are infrequently wrong, but rarely apply to any given individual. D&D is nerdy, sure. If you can't get past the stigma and immerse yourself in the game it probably isn't for you. On the other hand there is so many ways to play, don't be discouraged if you have one bad run, changing DM can completely change the game.
/u/HomicidalHotdog You know that thing you'd do as a kid with your friends on the playground? Just running around pretending to be a dinosaur and laughing? Now take out the physical exercise, add character depth, improv comedy, a drop of booze and narrative structure and you've got D&D. There is literally no downside to it, when played for fun. The idea that it's for nerds and that some people take it way too seriously has some basis in reality and history, but it's increasingly just a way to hang out and tell stories together. And stories are all Humanity has ever made and cherished. Fifth Edition D&D (5e) has made it easier than ever to play, so find some friends and give it a chance!
3. How would you describe the community?
/u/3d6skills A positive one where people are very willing to help folks out with tricker aspects of DMing. DMing is a wonderful activity with all the various creative streets you go down in the generation of your world. However, its very easy sometimes to create A, know you want to get to C, but be exhausted in trying to figure out B. This is where the community can step in to help. And we seem to have a nice mix of DMs from way back, to just starting.
/u/OrkishBlade The community is fantastic—very positive, very constructive, and full of orthogonal ideas. That's a great part about this place, as well as playing D&D, the other people in the room will constantly surprise you with an idea that not only did not occur to me, but could not occur to me.
/u/HomicidalHotdog Mostly people who have been focused on one problem for so long that they need a new perspective to get them over a creative block. The majority of users are dedicated to providing a good experience to their group and put in a lot of time. We all get cornered in our own narratives occasionally, so it's good to have a sounding board to bounce ideas off of. Between them and the star posters who have written nearly thesis-level works on worldbuilding, magic-and-war, character depth and many other topics, it's a pretty good group. New folks come around and go through many of the same steps we all did, and hopefully we can all learn from each others mistakes and ideas.
4. You can have one item in real life from a Dnd Campaign. What would you take and why?
/u/OlemGolem The Bag of Holding. I can put anything in there without it increasing in volume or size. I carry a lot of heavy stuff with me anywhere I go and I never know what I would need. Plus, I can do a lot of other crazy stuff with it!
/u/MisterDrProf Hmm... standard dnd items probably something like wings of flying because they're just super cool... or wait, no, spelljammer ship. I want to travel the stars and their designs are always delightfully ridiculous.
/u/PivotSs It's been done a few times but any variant on the "refilling flagon". Every long rest (full sleep) you can chose a liquid for the flagon to be filled with. It will magically re-fill with that liquid for the following day (Limit of 5-10 refills per day).
/u/Joxxill hmm, that is a tough one, i think the immovable rod, simply because it is such a cool and versatile item, simple at first sight, but full of opportunities.
/u/3d6skills A Deck of Many Things because if you are ballsy enought to own a magic item, you might as well feel lucky enough to risk negatives in the same measure as positives.
5. So what is the screen between DM's and players for?
/u/OlemGolem A screen is a tool against cheaters and meta gamers who like to peek at the DMs dice rolls. Plus, it provides some handy memory joggers for the DM or a way of showing the in-game initiative. I like to make a hidden roll whenever a player thinks an NPC is lying. It's not a check for lying, it's just a die to roll and look at, nothing else. The downside is that it also covers the hidden dice towers some players make.
/u/MisterDrProf That's an interesting question. The "screen" is really more of a semipermeable membrane. You're not a god or an all powerful author as the DM but rather a coach, referee, opposing player, field, and equipment all in one (man, I don't know where all these sports analogies are coming from). The exact nature varies between groups as each person needs a different level of contact.
/u/famoushippotomusI never called it a screen. I always called it a shield (fits with the medieval theme anyway), and for me, its like the curtain of a stage play - behind it is where the magic happens.
6. Any last thoughts?
/u/Kami1996I genuinely believe this subreddit is the greatest place ever. Thank you all for helping cultivate it.
/u/Joxxill Don't tell anyone about the moderator brain paras.. erm.. i mean, don't tell anyone about how awesome it is to be a moderator, and they'll all come running. Also please just skim the rules before posting.
/u/3d6skills 5th edition is the most current official version and is free too!
/u/HomicidalHotdog Just try DMing. Find a group of friends and pretend for a little while. D&D has a daunting amount of rules, but they're only there to make it fun for people, and there are many rules-light systems like Dread. Live out some narrative tropes, make some crazy stories, and have a good time together. I guarantee it'll improve your ability to think on your feet and improv. Thanks for the spotlight!
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