Just to chime in with a different perspective, I don’t use ChatGPT and have no plans to. Although I totally understand why some may find it useful, and don’t have judgements towards those that use it for personal purposes.

For me, one of the many reasons I enjoy DMing is specifically to push myself to improvise and creative. I wasn’t encouraged to be imaginative or creative as a child, and so as an adult I often find myself trying to make up for that. As well as letting go of the fear of not being in control, and having fun with making ideas on the spot. It also feels much more fulfilling when something I make up ends up going down well.

Also I tend to like coming up with new concepts that go against the grain, or at least attempt to. And while ChatGPT is good at scraping and spitting out what has been done before, I ambitiously want something that is more surprising or unique than what it offers.

We’re at the start of our campaign (they’ve just gone though Death House) so I’ve yet to dig deep into it but I have been taking a close look at both MandyMod and DragnaCarta.

At first I was preparing to follow MandyMod closely with the Fanes and stuff but it ended up getting a bit overwhelming for me and I realised I didn’t actually need or want all of it. So I’ve dialled back a bit and am just taking bits and pieces of inspiration wherever fits. I’ve liked stuff from both supplements so I’ll probably continue to do so, although I have to be careful with MandyMod because there’s so much homebrew lore in it that I need to remind myself what is module lore and what is fan lore. Nevertheless, there’s a treasure trove of stuff to add which is a really nice change for running a module.

I haven’t actually heard of the interactive tome, marvel missed that but I’ll have to check it out!

DM here, mine is a bit vague and cheesy but whatever. Favourite part is seeing how excited my friends get when something cool happens! Whether it’s pulling out a spicy combat encounter, or they connect the clues of some big plot point, or they pull off something heroic and/or disastrous in game and we all know it’s unforgettable.

Being a DM feels a bit like hosting a party (except less overwhelming). It feels like giving gifts to my friends in the form of a fantasy world. It’s highly fulfilling, and we end up weaving many joyful memories together.

(Also hello from a fellow Curse of Strahd DM!)

Love the general non-DND RPG epiphany moment, I definitely relate to that. I asked the DND question just cause of this particular mag but I 100% agree with that sentiment. My first non-DND rpg was Call of Cthulhu, and similarly we had the same feeling of “no spells? guess I gotta figure out something else creative…”.

I think that dabbling in other ttrpg’s has actually improved our DND games. Bringing in new flavours and ways of thinking that don’t occur until opening your mind to other systems.

I still love DND but it’s certainly an eye-opener to mix it up once in a while.

This is a great answer.

I feel like I can do away with the doomscrolling and time-wasting, but it’s the specific advice and hobby subs that will be difficult to tear away from completely.