Thoughts on Reoccurring "Meeting of the DMs or whatever" Threads?

[DrowPiratRobrts]

I want to gauge interest on starting a sort of "Meeting of the Minds" thread that pops up occasionally with popular topics for discussion. It would be open to all, but I'm mainly thinking about this as a way to get to know some of the more frequent posters better. It's hard to synthesize all the different opinions, optional rules, and ways we run games from hundreds of threads so that you get a good idea of how specific DMs on the forum run their games. Occasionally the posts might be more player focused, but I'm thinking this is a cool way to bring the DM community a little closer and help us get to know each other better.

So I want to know if you'd be interested. I thought of this today when I believe it was PhoenixPhyre who told someone they should get with Unoriginal Tanarii about how he runs his games without feats or multi-classing. It would be nice to me to get a better idea of linking ideas and playstyles with certain usernames who commonly show up. We could also then reference the posts easily if we know that we covered a topic particularly well and want to help someone else out by providing a variance of opinions. We could also use spoilers at the bottom of each post to link to and briefly describe each previous post's topic of discussion.

The users that immediately come to mind right now are as follows (I'm sure I'm forgetting several of you) Let me know what all of you think, whether you post and discuss much on the forum or not:

@Lucid Savant
@MaxWilson
@Man_Over_Game
@PhoenixPhyre
@Pex
@Unoriginal
@Mephnick
@JackPhoenix
@Sigreid
@Tvtyrant
@ImperiousLeader
@strangebloke
@Misterwhisper
@Tanarii

[Kadesh]

Isn't the entire forum quite literally the goal of meeting the DM's.

Awful idea. Go to Facebook for this instead.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Isn't the entire forum quite literally the goal of meeting the DM's.

Awful idea that is only going to overinflate the egos of already overinflate egos, going from my experience of hanging around this forum.

I don't know. I think there are probably more DMs than players, but I see a lot of player posts and builds as well. My vision for it is also less "rulesy" so to speak, and more general, constructive discussion on a topic.

Sorry you run into so many issues on the forum, but I think most of the more common users I run into are pretty reasonable even when we disagree strongly.

[Unoriginal]

but I'm thinking this is a cool way to bring the DM community a little closer and help us get to know each other better.

Not telling you this is badwrongfun and you shouldn't to it, but I wouldn't even consider DMs on this subforum a "community".




I thought of this today when I believe it was PhoenixPhyre who told someone they should get with Unoriginal about how he runs his games without feats or multi-classing.

I'm sorry, what? Where did that happen?

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Not telling you this is badwrongfun and you shouldn't to it, but I wouldn't even consider DMs on this subforum a "community".




I'm sorry, what? Where did that happen?

It was Tanarii. I misremembered.

As far as the DMs not being a community, that's kind of the point. To give dedicated posts focused on building that up a little bit for those who are interested. That's why I'm asking who's interested. xD

[Man_Over_Game]

Isn't the entire forum quite literally the goal of meeting the DM's.

Awful idea. Go to Facebook for this instead.

There's not much to lose. It's a forum. Worst-case scenario, it gets ignored and pushed back to page 2, AKA The Phantom Zone, never to be seen again.

Best case scenario, the trolls jump in, post whatever they want, and keep the thread alive for a couple weeks. I don't see any issues about it.

------

[MaxWilson]

I want to gauge interest on starting a sort of "Meeting of the Minds" thread that pops up occasionally with popular topics for discussion. It would be open to all, but I'm mainly thinking about this as a way to get to know some of the more frequent posters better. It's hard to synthesize all the different opinions, optional rules, and ways we run games from hundreds of threads so that you get a good idea of how specific DMs on the forum run their games. Occasionally the posts might be more player focused, but I'm thinking this is a cool way to bring the DM community a little closer and help us get to know each other better.

Interesting idea. I presume the idea is to create more of a community by getting to know each other as individuals, instead of just people to argue specific points with? Makes it easier to be nice to people when you view them as actual people in your monkeysphere.

I think it's not a bad idea, but I would suggest that any such meetings should ideally be as synchronous as possible (to foster that sense of community)--if we all lived in the same place (I'm outside Seattle), a night out at Denny's would be appropriate. Since we almost certainly don't live in the same place, maybe a chatroom would work.

Count me as mildly interested in this, provided it doesn't demand too much of my time.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

..page 2, AKA The Phantom Zone, never to be seen again.


So true.

On the topic though, do you find the idea of getting to know the other frequent users appealing/worth the effort of making dedicated posts every now and then and sifting through the trolls?

[Unoriginal]

It was Tanarii. I misremembered.

Alright, that's less confusing.



As far as the DMs not being a community, that's kind of the point. To give dedicated posts focused on building that up a little bit for those who are interested. That's why I'm asking who's interested. xD

*shrug* leaving aside the concerns of if the people of your list want to discuss with all of the others or will do so respectfully, I don't think anyone on this forum should be put on the spotlight just because they happen to post a lot.

If you want to make threads about popular topics of discussions, with others expressing ideas and opinions, sure, that's what the forum is for. But some kind of roundtable where a topic is asked to a bunch of specific people to know their opinions on it? I can't see that as desirable.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Interesting idea. I presume the idea is to create more of a community by getting to know each other as individuals, instead of just people to argue specific points with? Makes it easier to be nice to people when you view them as actual people in your monkeysphere.

I think it's not a bad idea, but I would suggest that any such meetings should ideally be as synchronous as possible (to foster that sense of community)--if we all lived in the same place (I'm outside Seattle), a night out at Denny's would be appropriate. Since we almost certainly don't live in the same place, maybe a chatroom would work.

Count me as mildly interested in this, provided it doesn't demand too much of my time.

That's exactly the idea. To see past specific arguments and get to know each other better as DMs/people/kobolds...oh er, I mean I'm a human of course. *nervous chuckle*

I thought about a chatroom/discord, but at the same time doing things by post means it wouldn't take up much time and you wouldn't have to be on at the same time. That said, we could do both...

[Man_Over_Game]

So true.

On the topic though, do you find the idea of getting to know the other frequent users appealing/worth the effort of making dedicated posts every now and then and sifting through the trolls?

Isn't that how it is now? At least, this way, it's a little more focused. We know that someone is considering each post, each counter. Sometimes, good stuff gets passed over, but the people on the list are less willing to do so, and often have something to add rather than just trying to make your argument feel like...less.

How about something like this:

Each thread as a "DM" that handles the agenda, keeps us on track, and shuts us down when we get into a flame war (which, let's be real, is gonna happen). Before the thread fades, the next person down the list becomes the DM and lists what the agenda will be on the next weekly/monthly/whatever thread.

[MaxWilson]

That's exactly the idea. To see past specific arguments and get to know each other better as DMs/people/kobolds...oh er, I mean I'm a human of course. *nervous chuckle*

I thought about a chatroom/discord, but at the same time doing things by post means it wouldn't take up much time and you wouldn't have to be on at the same time. That said, we could do both...

Good points. It's a hard problem you're trying to solve (fostering community where it doesn't natively exist) and I applaud you for the effort. I'd say, go for it and see what happens.


Each thread as a "DM" that handles the agenda, keeps us on track, and shuts us down when we get into a flame war (which, let's be real, is gonna happen). Before the thread fades, the next person down the list becomes the DM and lists what the agenda will be on the next weekly/monthly/whatever thread.

This is a really good idea. The mods on this forum are erratic: sometimes heavy-handed, sometimes entirely absent. The one danger I see is that the "DM" of the thread could be given infractions by the mods for "vigilante modding"--I've gotten in trouble before for asking people to be nice to each other, strange as that sounds.

[Man_Over_Game]

(I'm outside Seattle)

I feel like I need to make a Seahawks reference for my boy here, but I'm sure I'd find a way to insult sportsball.

[MaxWilson]

I feel like I need to make a Seahawks reference for my boy here, but I'm sure I'd find a way to insult sportsball.

Naw, it's cool. I don't follow football anyway. Guys at church sometimes get excited when BYU plays Utah or University of Washington or something; to me they're all just sports players I've never met.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Alright, that's less confusing.

Fair enough, haha.


*shrug* leaving aside the concerns of if the people of your list want to discuss with all of the others or will do so respectfully, I don't think anyone on this forum should be put on the spotlight just because they happen to post a lot.

If you want to make threads about popular topics of discussions, with others expressing ideas and opinions, sure, that's what the forum is for. But some kind of roundtable where a topic is asked to a bunch of specific people to know their opinions on it? I can't see that as desirable.

The idea isn't to exclude people or bring the spotlight solely to specific people, but rather to help everyone understand each other better. The fact remains that whether you want people to have a spotlight or not, some of us pay a lot closer attention to the forum broadly or have a lot more we want to offer our perspective on than a majority of users. I actually hardly count myself in that group. But because I see that list of names so frequently, I inevitably tend to look more closely at what each of you have to say. I believe there could at least be some value in those people having a regularly scheduled discussion on some bigger ideas in the game, and invite others in as well.

And maybe people don't want to discuss respectfully, but that's why I'm asking and not just trying to start it.

[Man_Over_Game]

This is a really good idea. The mods on this forum are erratic: sometimes heavy-handed, sometimes entirely absent. The one danger I see is that the "DM" of the thread could be given infractions by the mods for "vigilante modding"--I've gotten in trouble before for asking people to be nice to each other, strange as that sounds.

Could just make it something obnoxious, ambiguous, and hard to ignore. Something like this:


DM SAYS NO

Kinda hard to really call that vigilante justice. People who care will listen. Those who don't listen get ignored.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Each thread as a "DM" that handles the agenda, keeps us on track, and shuts us down when we get into a flame war (which, let's be real, is gonna happen). Before the thread fades, the next person down the list becomes the DM and lists what the agenda will be on the next weekly/monthly/whatever thread.

Yeah, this is kind of what I had in mind. I like this idea a lot!


I feel like I need to make a Seahawks reference for my boy here, but I'm sure I'd find a way to insult sportsball.

Haha, just say something about how Russell Wilson is always 30 points down at halftime and wins every game in the final seconds.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Could just make it something obnoxious, ambiguous, and hard to ignore. Something like this:


DM SAYS NO




He is vengeance, he is the night, he is...


https://media.giphy.com/media/xTiTnoHt2NwerFMsCI/giphy.gif

[Sigreid]

I would participate in topics that interest me, but if it is meant to be one long ongoing thread I would stop paying attention in a few days.

[Unoriginal]

And maybe people don't want to discuss respectfully, but that's why I'm asking and not just trying to start it.

Sure, and as I said I'm not trying to badwrongfuning you. Just be aware that those who claims they want/would enjoy/would be open to discuss in such a medium aren't necessarily those who will be respectful.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

I would participate in topics that interest me, but if it is meant to be one long ongoing thread I would stop paying attention in a few days.

It would be several different threads. I'm thinking one a month or one every two weeks or something. Maybe more if the idea really took off and everyone had great topics to talk about.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

What do you guys think about a name? "Meeting of the DMs" sounds a little pretentious to some I'm sure, but I'm thinking it needs to be something easily recognizable for those who want to come back for each post. More than anything I guess it should just be "X Y Z #1" and so on.

[Unoriginal]

What do you guys think about a name? "Meeting of the DMs" sounds a little pretentious to some I'm sure, but I'm thinking it needs to be something easily recognizable for those who want to come back for each post. More than anything I guess it should just be "X Y Z #1" and so on.

Around the Table

DMs' Screen

Role Call

Session 0

Green Dragon Inn

The DMing Portal

Tomb of DMs

Anyway. Good luck with your idea, DrowPiratRobrts. And thanks for the invite.

[Pex]

I enjoy partaking of the discussions, but other than rule clarifications I hadn't known nothing anyone writes here would apply to my gaming. We're in different parts of the country, heck the world. There are a couple of individuals with whom I get into heavy debates, but we'll never meet in real life and never play together so we go about our business with our own opinions in our own games. I'll continue to suffer relearning how to climb a tree depending on who is DM, and it doesn't matter someone here thinks there's no problem with it. Meanwhile I'll multiclass just to get a class feature I think is cool while someone here would figuratively foam at the mouth if a player in their game wanted to do that without a 3 page essay explaining their character's motivation, due on Session 0.

I'll amend to say I may steal borrow ideas of adventure hooks, ability combinations, tactics, etc.

[Darth Ultron]

The idea isn't to exclude people.

Odd, that is exactly what it sounds like. You want to make an group of people only you like and agree with..and anyone else will be ''voted" away as they are wrong.

Not that it's a bad idea. I think this would be a great idea for a Private Forum. Pick a forum website, only invite the people you like and endlessly agree with each other.

If you just do it here....I'm pretty sure you can't just ''force" people to not post on ''your" thread on this public website, just because you don't like them. So, everyone can post whenever and where ever they like.

[Sigreid]

I enjoy partaking of the discussions, but other than rule clarifications I hadn't known nothing anyone writes here would apply to my gaming. We're in different parts of the country, heck the world. There are a couple of individuals with whom I get into heavy debates, but we'll never meet in real life and never play together so we go about our business with our own opinions in our own games. I'll continue to suffer relearning how to climb a tree depending on who is DM, and it doesn't matter someone here thinks there's no problem with it. Meanwhile I'll multiclass just to get a class feature I think is cool while someone here would figuratively foam at the mouth if a player in their game wanted to do that without a 3 page essay explaining their character's motivation, due on Session 0.

I'll amend to say I may steal borrow ideas of adventure hooks, ability combinations, tactics, etc.

I often read threads just to see another perspective. It doesn't usually change mine, but it might. More beneficially, it might help me understand better a different perspective at my table.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Odd, that is exactly what it sounds like. You want to make an group of people only you like and agree with..and anyone else will be ''voted" away as they are wrong.

Not that it's a bad idea. I think this would be a great idea for a Private Forum. Pick a forum website, only invite the people you like and endlessly agree with each other.

If you just do it here....I'm pretty sure you can't just ''force" people to not post on ''your" thread on this public website, just because you don't like them. So, everyone can post whenever and where ever they like.

I'm not sure where you're getting this...I thought it was pretty clear that I wanted a place where people who engage the community most frequently can clearly state how they agree and disagree without talking to a specific point or trying to prove that their answer to a question is best. This is why the conversation wouldn't be "rulesy" (as in asking for how a ruling plays out in a specific situation), but more generic and big picture. It would aim to help us understand each other's perspective on the game as a whole as well as the specific rulings or ideas we discuss in other, more specific threads. This idea is the opposite of what you understood. Sorry if something was poorly written for you.


I often read threads just to see another perspective. It doesn't usually change mine, but it might. More beneficially, it might help me understand better a different perspective at my table.

Exactly right for me as well. In fact, tonight I had my idea of how to run stealth changed, albeit in a minor way. Still, the way we were discussing a question made me rethink part of how I think stealth will work in my games moving forward.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

I know I'm extremely new here, but you could potentially re-frame this as a recurring "interview" with a certain regular about their gaming philosophy, tools for running the game, random personal questions, etc. This would likely be easier to organize than some virtual ongoing "summit."
Just coordinate with somebody to ask them questions about aspecific or general topic, post the results on a thread, slap a common prefix on the thread title (to keep them somewhat related). Then, sit back and watch as spontaneous discussions break out responding to these views. I'm just saying that this might be a better and easier way to make a serialized discussion of experienced DM's tactics.

Just a thought. Feel free to ignore.

No, I think this is good! Thanks for posting, and welcome to the Playground! Even if we don't go this route entirely, I think this is a great idea for those who would be willing to be interviewed.

[MaxWilson]

What do you guys think about a name? "Meeting of the DMs" sounds a little pretentious to some I'm sure, but I'm thinking it needs to be something easily recognizable for those who want to come back for each post. More than anything I guess it should just be "X Y Z #1" and so on.

How about "Community virtual brunch"? Something to make it clear its purpose is primarily social rather than argumentative.

[Knaight]

The general idea of a thread where you get people with unconventional styles to talk about their styles is potentially solid, especially given the interview format.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

How about "Community virtual brunch"? Something to make it clear its purpose is primarily social rather than argumentative.


The general idea of a thread where you get people with unconventional styles to talk about their styles is potentially solid, especially given the interview format.

I like this. So far I've got two ideas and I'm thinking they might be separate, but they could potentially overlap.

1. Basically the social idea of Virtual Brunch with a bunch of DMs sounds great.

2. Then there's also something like a DM Spotlight where we highlight particular DMs and interview them then publish as it's own thread for discussion.

I love you guys.

[KOLE]

...I mean, isn’t this sort of what this whole forum is? Peope ask questions ranging from optimisation, to world building, to homebrew, to RAW vs RAI, etc an everyone has a discussion about ideas generated from the idea? I don’t see how this would be any different from the normal goings on in this forum other than limiting the scope to the people listed, which is fine.

I don’t mind the idea of interviews with the individuals listed, however. Most of the names I recognize have an interesting insight on things.

[Knaight]

...I mean, isn’t this sort of what this whole forum is? Peope ask questions ranging from optimisation, to world building, to homebrew, to RAW vs RAI, etc an everyone has a discussion about ideas generated from the idea? I don’t see how this would be any different from the normal goings on in this forum other than limiting the scope to the people listed, which is fine.

It's a different set of topics. Instead of something like questions about world building we'd get World Building by Yora, where they talk about their particular unconventional stuff. Holding up a whole thread on your own like that is both labor intensive and requires a pretty decently sized ego to start, but joining a larger one for a time by request? That's workable.

[Man_Over_Game]

No, I think this is good! Thanks for posting, and welcome to the Playground! Even if we don't go this route entirely, I think this is a great idea for those who would be willing to be interviewed.

I think that would be a lot easier than working on making an exclusive cool kids club of people who everyone thinks is cool and everyone else who wasn’t invited.

1 on 1s can also get more personable, and really drive who to go to for what as a community. Like if you want a jackass who pretends to know what he’s doing, call MOG. That sorta thing.

[Tvtyrant]

Oh can I be an interviewer? I'm doing it in character as Diane Soldier.

[Man_Over_Game]

Oh can I be an interviewer? I'm doing it in character as Diane Soldier Sawyer.

Username checks out. He’s got my vote.

[strangebloke]

Sure, sounds cool. I've done this on Spacebattles, and its a fun way to get a conversation going. Forums are incredibly disorganized and full of people who post after just reading the OP, so if you could frontload a lot of discussion into an OP, that would be good for focusing a thread more.

I'd be happy to assist in this, though I'm less of a DM than my argumentative nature implies. I run two groups currently, each on alternating weeks. Not like some of these phychos here who play three times a week.

For the format, I think a pretty simple method would be to set up a discord, then just have an interviewer text chat with an interviewee for a bit. Or maybe just two guys of differing viewpoints talking about a given topic, like MaxWilson and PhoenixPhyre talking about 'optimized play.' or something similar. Phoenix being a guy who cares a lot about getting the fiction right, whereas Max cares about the game more as an abstract game engine.

Then once you've got a couple paragraphs of discussion, you post it as an OP and let everyone comment on it. Should lead to a good, focused thread in theory.

As people have been complaining about, there's no real method for establishing notoriety on this site so there'd be no basis for excluding people from being in the interview process beyond "I don't know him."

...I mean there's post count. But whatever. I would just scupper the social side, get a couple people to run interviews, and then request interviews with people who have the time.


Awful idea. Go to Facebook for this instead.


Not that it's a bad idea. I think this would be a great idea for a Private Forum. Pick a forum website, only invite the people you like and endlessly agree with each other.

If you just do it here....I'm pretty sure you can't just ''force" people to not post on ''your" thread on this public website, just because you don't like them. So, everyone can post whenever and where ever they like.

Who spat in your guys' cereal? Even if you disagree, there's more charitable ways to talk.

[MaxWilson]

Or maybe just two guys of differing viewpoints talking about a given topic, like MaxWilson and PhoenixPhyre talking about 'optimized play.' or something similar.

Urgh, not that subject. I have no interest in "optimization" as the term is used in 5E circles.

I'd rather talk about agency and game structures, but anything interesting I have to say on the subject has already been said better by Courtney Campbell (http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2013/10/on-theory-defined-player-agency.html) and Justin Alexander (https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/15126/roleplaying-games/game-structures) so I'd rather just point people to their respective blogs. The only original contributions I have to make to 5E are on the software side and it turns out that even there I'm just re-inventing well-known Haskell monads.

[Kadesh]

What was impolite about being honest?

[Luccan]

What was impolite about being honest?

The shortness of response, with the hard judgemental "awful" and an invitation to do this anywhere else might come across as more harsh than you intended. Short responses tend to be viewed as less interested/more aggressive when read.

As for DU, well, they are rather caustic if they disagree with you even slightly and prone to massive exaggerations of other peoples thoughts and viewpoints, intentionally or not.

Edit: As to the topic, I think this could be an interesting thing to read through. I see no harm in trying, at least. If it doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't go anywhere. There is a slight risk of being seen as vigilante-mods in the proposed format, but if people can keep their heads on straight, I don't think it will cause trouble.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I would be willing to trial such a thread, although I'd rather not let myself get sucked into a rules debate again :smallfrown:

I might recommend asking the people who are on the spot for a short (paragraph length) blurb about them, their experience, and their play style to go in the OP of the relevant thread.

Some suggested questions:

* What game element have you used that was most memorable (ie what do your players remember most about your games?)

* Tell me an experience where you handled a particularly tense inter-personal situation in a way that helped everyone get along.

* What kind of game/style do you want to try that you haven't really gotten to, and why?

[Man_Over_Game]

I would be willing to trial such a thread, although I'd rather not let myself get sucked into a rules debate again :smallfrown:

I might recommend asking the people who are on the spot for a short (paragraph length) blurb about them, their experience, and their play style to go in the OP of the relevant thread.

Some suggested questions:

* What game element have you used that was most memorable (ie what do your players remember most about your games?)

* Tell me an experience where you handled a particularly tense inter-personal situation in a way that helped everyone get along.

* What kind of game/style do you want to try that you haven't really gotten to, and why?

* What part about 5e are you the most passionate about?

* Where do you think there's the most room to grow in our edition, and why is it the Ranger?

I can dig this. My recommendation is to have two lists of people: Those who are to be interviewed, and the waiting list.

Interviews occur in order based on their GitP rankings (as a universal, unambiguous way of determining experience).

Once the list is exhausted, the waiting list is then made into the new list of interviewees.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Some suggested questions:

* What game element have you used that was most memorable (ie what do your players remember most about your games?)

* Tell me an experience where you handled a particularly tense inter-personal situation in a way that helped everyone get along.

* What kind of game/style do you want to try that you haven't really gotten to, and why?


* What part about 5e are you the most passionate about?

* Where do you think there's the most room to grow in our edition, and why is it the Ranger?

I can dig this. My recommendation is to have two lists of people: Those who are to be interviewed, and the waiting list.

Interviews occur in order based on their GitP rankings (as a universal, unambiguous way of determining experience).

Once the list is exhausted, the waiting list is then made into the new list of interviewees.

These are great suggestions. What other questions would all of you be interested in hearing about from other DMs.

I'm gonna let this thread run its full course, then when it dies down a little more and people aren't bringing new ideas I can head up organizing things. I'll certainly be messaging some of you at some point to see how you'd like to help and if you'd like to be interviewed.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Oh can I be an interviewer? I'm doing it in character as Diane Soldier.

Done. (this has to be 10 characters but I really just wanted to say "done")

[MaxWilson]

These are great suggestions. What other questions would all of you be interested in hearing about from other DMs.

Speaking for myself only: I'm not that interested in this aspect of the proposal. I feel I get an adequate diet of game advice/ideas already from reading blogs, and occasionally from an insightful forum post. I'm more interested in the community-fostering initiative than the interview initiative, which to me seems redundant with normal forum threads.

Best of luck to you though. I wish you well and may occasionally browse the interview threads when they look good.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

Speaking for myself only: I'm not that interested in this aspect of the proposal. I feel I get an adequate diet of game advice/ideas already from reading blogs, and occasionally from an insightful forum post. I'm more interested in the community-fostering initiative than the interview initiative, which to me seems redundant with normal forum threads.

Best of luck to you though. I wish you well and may occasionally browse the interview threads when they look good.

That's good to know. Even though we shifted the conversation to interviews in the last few comments, I still want to stick with the community building idea as well. For now it seems like they'll probably be different things, and as you've noted different people will be interested in one or the other or both or neither.

[Man_Over_Game]

Bit of 5e humor:

List of Interviewee order is called Initiative Order.

Waiting List is either called Surprised (since they don't act in the initiative order yet), or simply just called the Upcoming Encounter.

[strangebloke]

These are great suggestions. What other questions would all of you be interested in hearing about from other DMs.

I'm gonna let this thread run its full course, then when it dies down a little more and people aren't bringing new ideas I can head up organizing things. I'll certainly be messaging some of you at some point to see how you'd like to help and if you'd like to be interviewed.

*How do you go about finding new players and teaching them the game?

*(related)What's the biggest problem you have with new players?

*What makes a class/build fun to play?

[Pex]

The problem is as soon as two DMs differ on how to do something the thread will derail into a debate about it. It could start innocently enough by someone just stating they do it differently and why, but people will chime in on why they like or dislike how something is done. Then those opinions will be commented upon. This happens in most any thread, but this particular idea isn't wanting it.

[mephnick]

I'm willing to take part in whatever form this ends up taking. I enjoy hearing about the playstyles of other DMs and seeing if I can use parts of them to enhance my own game.

[DMThac0]

I'd really like to see it as an Interview followed by Q&A style approach.

First post is an announcement of the "Guest Speaker" and a series of questions for them to answer. Second post is the Guest's Answers, and each subsequent post will be Q&A for the guest to talk about and respond to as fellow forum board users drop by and ask for clarification or counter the points that were brought up.

I'm curious and I'll dip my toe in the water for now.

[KorvinStarmast]

How about "Community virtual brunch"? Something to make it clear its purpose is primarily social rather than argumentative.
Invite a bunch of people to the same Discord channel for an hour ... chaos ensues. :smallbiggrin:
If you go to an interview format, that might work best.

[Knaight]

The problem is as soon as two DMs differ on how to do something the thread will derail into a debate about it. It could start innocently enough by someone just stating they do it differently and why, but people will chime in on why they like or dislike how something is done. Then those opinions will be commented upon. This happens in most any thread, but this particular idea isn't wanting it.

There are enough threads that force topic changes on this forum which tend to kill previous arguments to potentially make this workable, particularly given the hard shift and new information that comes with the new DM interview.