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I'm actually the opposite.
Wanted to play DnD for years but never really had the opportunity as I didn't have enough friends who also wanted to play so we could get a campaign going.
We've got a group together last year and now manage to play about once per month.
I think I'd have still been interested in BG3 even if I didn't have a DnD group, but I'm definitely more interested in BG3 now than I would have been because of my DnD group.
It's a really cool game! After I learn enough about dnd by playing it I'm going to try to talk my friends into getting together to try it out.
The one friend I mentioned sent me some PDFs of short campaigns "that anyone can DM"
Being DM is a big responsibility, and being able to do it well is a real talent, but it's one of those things that you can absolutely improve on with practice.
Players have to take some responsibility too, by getting a grip on the core rules and mechanics, dedicating time to fleshing out their characters, and committing to the role itself. They can't rely on the DM for absolutely everything.
There are some one-shot campaigns out there which I hear are designed for beginners which would be a good place to start. In fact I'm pretty sure if you make a DnD Beyond account, you get the basic rules and a beginner campaign for free, so that would be a good resource for you.
Also, if you haven't seen it, go check out Critical Role, starting with campaign 1. Matt Mercer is an outstanding DM and will give you a great demonstration of how to run a campaign.
I'm in the same boat. A bunch of friends are interested, too but none of us trust themselves to be DM or has the necessary time to prep campaigns. Hence BG3 is our only option.
Check out Lost Mine of Phandelver: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/lmop
It's a one-shot campaign, pretty much ready to go, to the point that I think it's even got pre-rolled characters included.
Very little set-up required beyond the DM familiarising themself with the campaign itself, and the players reviewing their chosen character and brushing up on the core rules of the game so that they know how to actually play.
Beyond that, pretty much everything else is already taken care of, so far as I know (I've never played it, but I know it's a firm favourite for beginners for these very reasons).
And as for DM experience, someone who is willing to put in the work kinda just has to bite the bullet and go for it. It's a skill like anything else, and you only get better through practice. Start with pre-written campaigns to help keep the amount of prep required and wildly unexpected events that require lots of improv on the DM's part to a minimum. Branch out from there into more homebrew stuff when you're feeling ready.
Above all though, just give it a shot and see what happens. There will always be reasons not to play, but if you've got a group who are willing to give it a go then you've already overcome the biggest hurdle by far.
I just hope that Larian releases a campaign maker so I can make campaigns on the engine for my friends.
I honestly don't trust local game shops anymore after way back when I was first getting into DnD, during the 3.5 era, I'd wanted to run a CG Drow Warlock. This character sheet got laughed out of my local, and I developed a blistering ten-year hatred for the very concept of Drizz't Do'urden as a result for how often the sheet got accused of 'aping' a character who doesn't even fit the archetype I'd designed.
That whole thing was what sent me into learning Pathfinder a few years after-- but I won't bullshit. BG3 has me considering going back and giving it another try what with 5e's changes to the system. Just... Never a brick and mortar local, ever again.
Sorry you had such a bad experience. Bullying someone for their choice of character is especially shitty! Fear of such judgment is why I tend to only play with friends.
Entire reason when Roll20 became a thing, boi I jumped. Even then, it takes me long enough to vet people for Roll20 tables that I just don't have the time to go sifting while I've still got coursework on my neck, otherwise I'd be looking for something now with all the character concepts already in my BG3 save folder.
Now that you mention it, the oneshot I played was actually Pathfinder. I have no idea what the differences are aside from Pathfinder being based on an old dnd ruleset (...right?)
I'm moving in a few weeks so my search is on hold until then. I know my friend has a GREAT local shop that he goes to so I don't think that's a universal experience you had
Pathfinder (1st edition) was basically a cleaned up/ refined version of DND 3.5 Current versions of each system differ quite a bit more
DND 5e is much more user friendly and approachable system. Easier to learn and jump right in.
Pathfinder 2e is more complex, bit tougher to learn, but comes with a lot more options and flexibility.
Both give you similar experiences of playing DND, but the mechanics are different
Gotcha, that makes sense. The people I played with had been playing it for years and I had no idea what was going on lol
BG3 has taught me quite a bit about D&D but I wouldn’t play IRL because that’s a hell of a time commitment and I’m antisocial. I can totally see it getting lots of people to play tabletop rpgs though. I’ve already but 150 hours into it.
I beat it on normal (druid, Wyll, Lae'zel, and Shadowheart) now I'm replaying it on easy (dark urge paladin, Karlach, Gale, Astarion) to see their storylines. After im done with this I'm doing it again on hard mode with a proper team comp. Absolutely (hehe) loving it.
That's been my big hangup with dnd. Not the time commitment but the social aspect since I don't know anyone local.
I played once through already as a bard (shadow heart, karlach, and wyll in my party) because I wanted to RP as Edgin and it was a blast. But I really suck at action management and had to play on easy. My second time im playing a fighter and I still have to play on east but next playthrough I’ll do dark urge on normal since I’ll just kill people if I fail my rolls.
I found normal mode to be "just right" but I have a ton of experience with strategy games so I imagine that made it easier for me. The story had me just as hooked as the gameplay so if story mode is your jam, more power to you!
Dark Urge has been a wild ride so far. I planned on going Oathbreaker but I kept failing (well..succeeding?) rolls so now I'm walking into Act 2 having not broken my oath. Admittedly I've done some savescumming, though only for Urge-related choices
BG3 seems like a great primer for D&D. I've only played D&D a couple times in the past but BG3 showed me I was playing pretty poorly. BG3 visualizes concepts/mechanics/systems really well, if anyone I knew wanted to get into D&D I'd suggest they play around with BG3 first. I was going to pick up a bunch of D&D materials when they went on sale recently, but a lot of people were saying the new player handbook and core rulebook and stuff were due to come out in 2024 so I decided to wait til then.
Good call! I didn't know that about the handbook. I guess I'll wait too!
Give it some time.
?
It indirectly is making me want to leave my current DND group more. I love rpgs but DND specifically makes me grind my teeth. Bg3 is a great game but honestly it would be better with a different rule system. And the fact that DND is so popular that it sucks all the air out of the hobby just frustrates me.
But at the end of the day it's just a game, and if people are having fun they're having fun.
I switched my group over to PF2e back in January, and playing BG3 makes me wish there was a similar calibre CRPG using the Pathfinder 2 system
Yeah, when the new Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG was announced, despite the OGL controversy that happened earlier this year the only TTRPG mentioned by name in the titles of news articles about it is Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). You would think it would cause a major shift in other properties being mentioned. Nope, it still seems it will be like the Mario Kart or Pokémon of TTRPGs, where people seemly instantly try to compare TTRPGs to D&D and mention the latter by name, but not anything else in the field, as if there were only two of that genre at a time or something.
I like DnD more as a video game, in BG3. A while ago, I started exploring more narratively centered systems, like Fate, or even the new Cowboy Bebop TTRPG, for actual role playing.
Fate is my current game crush I want to play more, but I haven't had much opportunity. I got my D&D group to try it as a one-shot twice, and both times didn't really sing.
The Cowboy Bebop TTRPG seemed easier to setup, less involved character creation, and works nicely for one shots.
The rules are not very well written imo, not a lot of support for DMs, so I had to kind of lean on my past experience, and there wasn't really any guidance on how to use the clocks so one session was great, the other just slogged because I think I messed up the pacing since it was a lot fewer players.
Its also somewhat predicated on most people being familiar with the aesthetic of the show cowboy bebop.