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10 Tips For Beginner Dungeon Masters
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- Опубликовано: 16 авг 2024
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Never underestimate the players ability to ruin everything. My party encountered a dragon that they weren't supposed to be able to touch, but with a powergaming cleric in the party, uncannily good rolls, and by sacrificing an npc companion they killed off the next several plot points I had planned. They were really proud of themselves.
Then one of them died to wolves in the next encounter.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong - murpheys law
@Eduardo Sambugaro that sounds absolutely amazing
Campaign is still running, and I'm not DM
But we were in the woods once and one player pointed at a beehive (DM never said there was a beehive but k) and told another player to touch it, then someone just randomly said, "That's not a beehive, that's a portal!"
And we went through and ended the session. Another player jokingly said it lead to candy land.
Next session, candy land has a full map, lore, and backstory with essential characters tied into it and also connects to the main plot.
The party destroyed it in one session.
One time my party split up completely, we were a 3 player party and the other characters wanted to go to this shady town that was east and I decided to head for the big city since my character had a bad past in the shady town and was too afraid to go back. I ended up making a mortal enemy who killed me and stole a trinket that was very important to the plot and on the other side of the world my in game sibling blew up children because they stole from him.
Last session was supposed to go like this: You get on the train. Roleplay for some minutes. Bandits attack, you kill them because they're very CR enemies, then you arrive at the city and finish the job you were hired to do.
It actually went like this: I describe one of the people on the train to have a goblin slave and they spend the entire session plotting and going through rooms to free the fucking goblin. The little shit I put in there for flavour will cause their main cause to become the abolishment of slavery. They'll become Harriet fucking Tubman because of one Lucius Malfoy-ass motherfucker I put in there for the sake of flavour.
On the topic of expecting the unexpected, I once had a Half-orc barbarian throw a sharpened log as a spear at the villains caravan in an attempt to stop it, but missing the caravan and hitting the horses pulling it, causing the caravan to careen off a cliff and instantly killing the villain who was on his way to become a lich. This was supposed to be a 3 month campaign, we finished it in three hours.
Mytru Mara oh no, your dm must have like just died.
Mytru Mara that was totally the DMs fault, He was the one that choose that the caravan would fall if the cliff
Eh only one villain down. Another, more dangerous one will take its place.
Also the villain could have somehow survived and crawled away.
- The 'miss' results in the log/spear just missing completely, not still taking out the caravan anyway (it's barely even a fail if it results success)
- The caravan just doesn't fall off a cliff
- The villain survives/escapes
- Just transfer ideas to another NPC and segway back in to it
- Just fudge rolls/stats and don't tell them
From your description, there's a ton of ways that 3 month campaign could have continued and the players probably wouldn't even know alterations were being made. There's nothing wrong with fudging the occasional roll either for the benefit of the DM or the players, nor making tweeks to you plans along the way.
"Ask your players how they do something." OK MARCUS THATS ALL WELL AND GOOD BUT WHEN I ASKED MY HALF-ELF WARLOCK HOW HED LIKE TO CAST ELDRITCH BLAST HE DECIDED TO DAB AND SHOOT IT OUT OF HIS FINGERS AND I HAD TO WATCH AS THIS OCCURRED RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME AS IN BEFORE MY EYES
Weeping tears of joy here. Thank you for sharing this marvel!
OMG THIS IS SO UNDERATED!!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!!!
You got those true virgin players lmao or ya know 12 year olds
@@ztggaming3265 your fckin name just implies your are both of these things
@@nitebadger8506
Well, I'd hope someone who's TWELVE would be a virgin...
If you haven't played D&D and are already searching for this kind of things, you're in a good track.
thank you
aww thx :)
Thank you. :)
that's actually comforting thanks
:)
I had a DM who whenever we killed an enemy, he always said, "yeah you killed him." There was no context, no "You raise your great sword over your head and hurl it 20 yards and completely dismember him." Like when you roll a nat 20.
CripTik Storm As a player, you could have talked to him into letting you describe the killing blows, at least the battle ending ones. A dm may not have exactly in mind what you're doing, and they already have so much on their hands. I ask my players how they do things. His fault, sure, but perhaps it just never occurred to him.
@@mrknarf4438 True, OP should've said it himself, it is his job to describe his execution of a kill
You could talk to the DM about that
Like just a lil advice for him :))
Our DM is a writer so the descs are always... Detailed
That's because the player says what the player does!
"do not control their characters!"
Me: "How do you cast a spell ?"
Player: "I just... cast."
*Wiggles fingers at you*
Me: I trace a sigil with my wand in the air, as it leaves a blueish light trail, and when complete I give the wand one last swish and flick.
Other player: a sigil? Sounds awesome!Whats the pattern look like?
Me: oh, when you take a closer look... *hands them a piece of paper with a scribble*
Other player: this is a dickbutt..
I played with a friend that would talk about pulling out the components from his component pouch and what movements his character did if it had a somatic component. It was something I had never thought of, but playing with him was fantastic because he made spell casters such a dynamic character in combat. I hope to play a spell caster in the same way one day.
i dab on 'em and shot magic missile out of my peepee
its wingardium leviosA
One of the first times playing dnd, for the whole group, including the dm, we started off with lost mines. We stole the cart, went off the map, discovered some holy dragon city and did some other stuff. Only now that I am preparing to run my own game of lost mines do I realize how much he had to improvise
A good alternative to you feel scared is you feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up or you sense a strange presence. You can tell them what they do in automatic response such as, the pan is so hot you pull your hand away without even thinking, just not how they feel. Like you start to cry as a heavy emotional response to your burn. That would be annoying for the player. Also consider putting a skill check in there. Say to the player, as you open the door... roll a dexterity check. Then say the floor on the other side of the door is missing. If they succeeded, they respond quickly and take a step back. If they fail then you say, you realize the floor is missing but it was too late. You had already committed to your step and you fall in. It makes the player feel the strengths or flaws associated with their characters
Lmao wat
Players ruining your story:
Examples:
1: In the Lost Mines adventure my party killed the first friendly NPC, ran off the map, robbed a bank and stole a basilisk...
2: I got my group to explore a haunted keep with a lord paying them to do so, they didn't free it of the curse, the lord told them to go do it and they killed the lord with a ball of melted steel they got from mealting 40 shovels and stole his money...
3: A player in my group tried to arm evil pixies with splinters he broke off his shovel and turn them into a militia
4: A player wasted a wish on improving his shovel wielding skills
And yes the last two was me...
Sounds more fun than actual adventures. :D
Grater Good, I like to try to run with what ever the players say, never saying "No you can't" unless it breaks the game eg: "I chop all their heads off at once" I do not allow that bullshit...
My goal as a DM is really to great memorable fun stories that my players can tell. I actually just had one the other day, my players basically got Palor, the god of giving, healing and growing crops to force a bunch of people to commit suicide and as now become a bit of a running joke at my local game store.
THat's how a story is driven as far as I am concerned. Usually I preseent my players a world where they can go wherever they want as I feel comfortable pulling stuff out of my ass. Sometimes though I carefully coax my players in a certain direction. Sometimes blatantly by using an incentive, for example derived from their backstories.
There is one thing I utterly hate, though. Something I feel DM's do, when they don't want to interact with their players, es*PECIALLY* on the first game night as an introduction. Worst possible idea ever.
A setting void of other NPC's, except enemies, like a forsaken Island or shit like that. That's not an interesting roleplaying scenario as far as I am concerned. I had this happen so many times now, I'd rather not play but do the work of a DM so my players don't have to go through this tedious and boring bullshit.
Just as an example. I miraculously showed up at our club, and one of our members wanted to do an adventure: First mistake (although subjective): We started at Level 1. Boring as hell. He was not a good DM, really not. It was this exact setting. Forsaken Island. Alright, there's a ship. We plundered it, found some stuff, some information about this guy in chains. Every DC was 20 or above, so we coulldn't do anything. One way of the DM telling us "this is not how I envisioned it". I couldn't remove his shackles. Then when we went into the ship we found the information that he is a high security risk, basically. So there was the question: Why are you shackled? I wont free you until you tell us.
He wouldn't tell us until we freed him. Again a 20 was not enough to coax him. Bullshit. I threw the keys into the ocean. DM was angry and upset. After that a player told me, we would need that guy cause he would be our healer. I wondered how that would fit into the narrative of a high security risk, but anyway how should I know. That guy could've been a bloody murderer as far as I am concerned. And as far as I was concerned, there could only be one bloody murderer on this Island. My fucking dwarfen assassin.
God I'd rather not play anymore and be DM instead.
Grater Good, ha ha ha! Yeah, I would have most likely just lied about the rolls and just given it to the players, or hinted that they could just rip the shackles from the wall and figure it out later, but... A bad Dm is a bad DM...
One of the biggest call sign of a bad DM is they want the players to do it THEIR way. Played with a guy the other day, the quest started in a Tavern, we met a dwarf who told another Dwarf he was nobility and he tried to kill my half orc monk cause she was Half Orc. Then we had a battle with some goblins and trolls busting in, they killed the dwarf in one shot (he was meant to survive but the DM killed him for some reason) and tried to search the tavern.
We killed them all and it went down hill from there. He was constantly telling us that we were "playing our character the right way" apparently I was to nice as an Orc, I was to smart for an Orc, the Dwarf we were with didn't hate me enough for being an Orc.
Then we were meant to open a door by looking at runes. We looked around the Tavern for (and I shit you not) 7 FUCKING HOURS not doing much, I was not allowed to role a Arcana roll cause i was to dumb and "would not even try to look for magic" Even though my backstory was i fought Ents...
So anyway we eventually found the hidden door and the runes (with the help of another player that joined around the 6 hour mark) but we could ot open it. So as my "Dumb Half Orc" who liked breaking things (especially wood) tried to punch my way though it. The door though me back and damaged me. So I tried to punch it again getting a natural 20 on a strength roll... Hurt me again.... So i kept doing it until I died... Screaming at the Dm "THAT'S HOW MY STUPID HALF ORC BRAIN CHARACTER WOULD DEAL WITH IT"
Also our fighter quite literally well asleep while playing...
Oh geez what the hell. That is quiet terrible!
We once had a DM who's "adventures" were all about sex, sexuality and fucking each others brains out.
He was single for two years at that point...
I thought we were best friends with the last video, but this makes it locked in stone.
My first tabletop experience was DMing a Fate Core Dresden Files game with 8 players; we ended up a 10 person group that played weekly for 2 years. The game is still local legend years after I moved away. -single manly tear-
Wow
Oh hey look a comment I don't remember writing
I also recommend to anyone DM'ing, first time or otherwise, to ask players how they feel the game is going at the end of every other session. Player feedback is amazing as a DM and it helps you grow, and getting 1on1 feedback about what a player is thinking will help you tailor the experience to each and every player at the table.
What to do of they're reluctant in feedback cause they know one is a first-timer??
nodeterin - Dont ever force feedback. Ask for it but allow players to respond in their own time and their own way. If youre in a group chat allow PM feedback for those who are shy or dont feel comfortable being slightly negative publicly if they didnt enjoy something. (Dont take anything to heart too! Its all just an opinion in the end). Also, offer feedback to players - they need to know how theyre doing too and helps a DM know their idea of character progression and expectations and if you offer feedback, sometimes it helps encourge them to give it to you too.
Yeah I do this. One of my first DM's called it "Roses and Thorns" and I've since appropriated it from him.
After watching this I got the courage to play my first game. The players befriended the first group of goblins they encounter and raided a bunch of villages with them and killing everyone in sight. Then they left the goblins and tried to assassinate the king but failed horribly.
Sounds like my players, sometimes your players are just evil.
Now that, that sounds like what dnd is really like.
I'm very happy to see a DM approve of stealing ideas
The point of Roleplaying sometimes is to self-insert yourself/your character in a setting you're interested in. If they've already seen a story like this told before, it doesn't mean that they don't want to be the hero in it
"As long as they aren't disrupting the game, just let them do what they want. It's supposed to be a game." Thank you. I've never had a problem with a casual table.
I disagree completely on the Cell Phone thing.
My friends and I had a couple of friends who would show up for games nights when we were playing things like monopoly, life, cards against humanity, etc. and we eventually had to set a no-phone rule because they would pay more attention to their phones than the game. They would barely talk to anybody, they wouldn't pay attention to what was going on, and they'd have to be reminded when it was their turn.
Cellphones area cancer to games, if you're on one when everybody's playing a game, you might as well not show up. That extends to movies as well.
I completely disagree with the Cell Phone thing as well. I've had players that go on their cellphone or, god forbid, laptop. I even had a guy who said "Hey guys I am gonna have to write this essay but I'll be in game, yeah", and started writing his essay on his laptop. This isn't a huge problem for me if they are able to pay attention, but guess what? Everytime they need to do something, they don't know what's going on. Combat might roll to their turn and suddenly, they ask you for update and they have no idea what happened the last 6 seconds in game. Consistently. That is /exceptionally/ disruptive, as that one person's turn starts grating on everyone else, and the player become exceptionally non-participating.
I have no problem with cell phone use if it's game related, such as having a pdf of the PHB or whatever open to look up a spell or something like that... If they're just using it for Facebook though, that's a no...
I mostly just use my laptop to keep track of my spells and what all they do on a spreadsheet, that way I'm not taking up everybody's time reading through splatbooks or forgetting what spells I have prepared. You can write it all down, but I'd rather not waste half an hour of real-time every in-game day reorganizing my spell list. I have a tenancy to play Wizards in particular though, which introduces a lot more "paperwork" to the game than other classes.
I just know that, if I were playing my usual Wizardy self and didn't have access to some spreadsheets to keep track of my shit, it would turn into a timesink on the game, fast, even with mitigating steps taken.
As long as the player's attention - and use of electronics - is primarily focused on the game being played, I see little issue.
I think it extends to every aspect of real life. I hate smartphones so god damn much.
I only use a cellphone for stat blocks if I forgot the 5e monster manual
*tries to suplex dragon*
*rolls a one*
Well shi-
You died
Dank Memes “As you put your hands on the Dragon’s underside to lift , you touch a ticklish scale. The Dragon bursts into a hearty laughter so hard it loses it’s balance. The massive reptile falls onto your body, leaving nothing more than gore and crushed steel implanted into the stone floor”
Should have called Sabin to do it.
I did that to a tarrasque and forgot I had amazing strength and I was crushed
"In an effort to suplex the dragon, you lift yourself off the ground and are now clinging loosely to the front of its face"
No shit i heard the „You died“ in my head
Take food breaks if you feel bad. Players can sack the whole time but dms rarely get a few seconds to eat something.
My groups first time playing D&D and running 'Lost Mines of Phandelver', Having defeated the 4 goblins hiding beside the path right after the introduction, my players decided they'd reward themselves by stacking the goblin corpses ontop of one another and starting a blood orgy at it's peak, this lasted for a good half an hour.
Once they'd had their fill of the desicrated corpses, one of my players (The fucking Wizard ofcourse) found through his cunning intellect that hidden amongst the woods lay a trodden path leading towards a cave,laden with traps and stinking of Greenskin. I ofc had no choice but to describe it to them as they made their way towards the cave, But those goblins....The- I didn't see that coming They did nothing but fuck them
my friend nearly had to suck one of the goblin's ten inch peepee
Valorath they fucked the corpses? That’s hilariously grotesque! Sorry for experience though.
G. R happens in every game I've had
Don't ask what G.R means
The F0x what does G.R mean?
In that encounter we kept one of the Goblins and had it join our party. He died at the mid way point of the game but getting the final blow on a boss. Little Houlgont will never be forgotten
I don't really have a story in mind but I really want to name all my NPCs after famous rap artists. For example, an Ice Mage who's named O'Shea Cube.
ScowlyOwl
Hello JoJo my old friend.
PLEASE
A Gnome Barbarian named Biggey Smalls
In a campaign I'm in, we have a monk named Yach'ty the Small and Ko'Dak the Black so I feel this
"You wouldn't ban cellphones from a game of Monopoly"
Yeah, I totally would
I was gonna say, allowing cell phones works quite well with some groups.
Not my group.
Leche de caballo same, one person in my group keeps blasting music from fire emblem and its just more annoying than entertaining.
@@lordscrubbinton858 Better than my cousin who played video games 90% of the time. He ended up telling me he just didn't have the attention span to play D&D and quit the group.
@@arandomzoomer4837 Least he was honest about it
@@dave7886 I am thankful for that.
I remember when I introduced a bunch of new people to D&D 3.5 and I gave them a sort of "guide" character they could consult during their adventure. I tried my best to just make him a nice old man, but they were really paranoid about him for some reason, that was super fun!
GM Screens? Pah! We don't need no stinkin' GM Screens! We will shamelessly use our laptops untill the end of time!
Screens are cooler.
Hehehe what about hiding a laptop BeHiNd the DM screen
@@glacierheart4680 that's exactly what I'm planning to do hehe
@@jackforzenski9021 Haha yes!
@@glacierheart4680 One of my DMs does this..
Did you just insult high lord Nalkelar?
The day I have a player who sits on his phone most of the session is the day I give him a choice: you're either here to play D&D (not be on your phone) or you're not. There are LOTS of people who want to play D&D. I wouldn't let a person who sits on his phone most of the time take up a seat at my table. And I've spent a crap-ton of time preparing the game. A person who sits on his phone the whole session is disrespecting my effort and the other players. I wouldn't put up with that.
That said, I've never had a player do this, and I have never had a "no phone" policy. My players almost always pay attention at the table. If I had to propose a theory, there are two main reason players don't pay attention:
1) The DM is running a crap game.
2) The player just doesn't want to play D&D.
Scenario 2 has an easy solution. Scenario 1 is more complicated.
you would hate me,I play dnd by using my phone
Same, my notes and dice are on my phone as well lol.
calm your ego there buddy
I am with you DM Lair. You can roll real dice if you are at my table, and you can look up your spells in the rule book. Sitting on a phone makes everyone else feel like you are not really there.
On number 10.
I still remember the tine i was running a 1 on 1 star wars campaign and my friend was playing an assassin/bounty hunter. And he needed to escape police but was on a parking garage on courascant. His idea? Jump.
What do I do if one of my players will not stop rolling friking 20 so he seceded at nearly everything
ah, i know what you're dealing with. "I'm rolling intimidation.... 4. shit, ok I'm rolling persuasion... 7. shit, ok I'm rolling deception... 18 NICE ok uh hey its me your brother, give us free shit please."
sound familiar? I had a player doing the same thing.
the thing to remember is that players cannot say "I'm rolling for intimidation". they say, "you are outmatched! drop your weapon!" or simply "I'm going to try to intimidate this guy" and THEN you say "ok, roll intimidation." this gives you a chance to come up with a DC in your head (hint: DCs can be higher than 20!) and decide if you want to let that happen based on the roll. if a player rolls without being prompted, I recommend you ignore it. in a social encounter, there should be more talking then rolling. there will be a lot of protesting at first ("but I rolled a 20!") but they'll get the idea soon enough.
to save time for common checks, players can just ask "can I roll perception?" and you can say "sure". easy.
some DMs only let one person try a skill. if they fail, no one else can try that same skill on the person/object.
personally I just adjust DCs and impose disadvantages where appropriate. if one person tries to bluff the shopkeeper and fucks it up, then he's gonna be suspicious of the party. any other charisma checks on him are made with disadvantage, and if they fail too many times without buying something, he kicks them out.
tl;dr: players only roleplay/describe their actions. they only roll dice when prompted by you. impose disadvantage and use high DCs to deter players from abusing the RNG.
Shadowgear if there rolling nat 20s, nothing, theres nothing you can do.
Ha. Work it into the story that they are favored by a God. Randomly send high level minions devoted to a rival God whose goal is to destroy the newest champion of their Lord's enemy. His party may not be able to help much or have to be creative and if he keeps rolling 20s it just adds flavor to his story
All these other answers are great, but my favourite is a "luck trade-off." For every "lucky" roll (a 20 or higher frequently) a bad luck thing will happen
For skill checks, in most any edition of D&D and Pathfinder, there is no such thing as a critical success. Similarly, you cannot crit succeed on a concentration check to maintain a spell. There is also no such thing as a critical failure for skills or concentration checks. If your skill modifier is high enough, it becomes impossible to fail routine tasks, so don't go thinking that even a master of acrobatics has a 5% chance of tripping over his own feet at any given moment.
So, if your player tries to jump a 100 ft. gap, rolling a natural 20 does not mean he's going to make the jump, because the DC on that is 100 and there's no way he has a +80 Acrobatics modifier.
Also, sometimes skills just aren't applicable in a given situation. To give an examply, by the rules in Pathfinder a Diplomacy check takes at least 1 minute in-game time of continuous interaction. If an NPC is already hostile toward the player and intent on combat, they're unlikely to wait for the character to talk them down. Additionally, according to the rules, it is (subject to GM discretion) most often impossible to change a creature's attitude by more than 2 steps over the course of a single Diplomacy check. That means he can't talk the guy who wanted to kill him around into adoring him outright and being willing to follow his every command, no matter how high he rolls.
And, of course, some skills are Trained Only, meaning that no matter how high they roll, anything with a DC higher than 10 is impossible for a character who has no ranks in the skill. Such skills include (in Pathfinder) Disable Device, Handle Animal, all Knowledge skills, Linguistics, Sleight of Hand, Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device.
Also, remember your skill check DCs. If you're intimidated by that natural 20 on the die and instinctively feel that that must be high enough always, just go by the book. For example, the Diplomacy DC to improve the attitude of a hostile NPC is 25 + the NPC's Charisma modifier, assuming the NPC even decides to wait around for 1 minute while they try to talk them around. The DC to use Acrobatics to move through an enemy's threatened area without provoking an attack of opportunity is equal to that enemy's CMD, or the enemy's CMD + 5 if they try to move through at greater than half speed.
Thank you so much for making this video. You've helped me with figuring out a ton of how I'm going to be starting out. While not all these tips are applicable to every singly DM out there, your advice has helped me an absolute ton. Thank you especially for the tips on using a DM screen, having a bunch of encounters and other things prepared, starting from a pre-made story, and not intricately fleshing out every little thing the party might encounter. Seriously, thank you, Marcus!
I find over planning is useful in one aspect. World building.
I've run Homebrew games so I had to build a world from scratch.
Something as simple as an ongoing war between factions the player has no stake in can be great at making a world feel alive.
I've rolled out conflicts before sessions That shape the world beyond what the players do.
And it doesn't even need to be a full on fight. Sometimes I'll just flip a fucking coin.
"Aright so that fortress days jouney 2 days east successfully repelled an attack from some bandits at the cost of (percentage die) of their manpower"
I wish I could download all D&D knowledge into my brain, maybe someday
I cannot get Cosmonaut videos soon enough honestly once a week is not enough for my fix. I've seen like. Every video at least twice. Help.
i feel your pain
this is super useful as a just starting out dm. the way i made my dm screen waht i cut up a monopoly board then taped it together and spray painted it
Never was a better use for such a board.
Mr.monopoly had no problem with tearing down peoples houses for a hotel so it's simply justice tearing up his board for another game.
Voicing acting
I literally can do one female voice. Elderly grandma
My current players have a habit of interrogating EVERYONE like; every encounter they leave someone alive and interrogate them (with either charm person or zone of truth to boot) and it makes my life hell!! Upside is that I excel at giving them personalities so my players end up guilty for killing the NPC's friends.
Your in charge... your dm... when players try to take advantage over you ... stop it wisely... tell them the characters had a scroll of dispel and your charm is ineffective.. or the character is beautiful has high charisma of 22 and he laughs at your attempt.. players who are over powerful or use spells to fristrate you balance the game. Or take away their power...
Im not a good dm but played many many years.
Rule 11 dms shouod always not be overidden ..
I hope i helped you... just sit back and go to your notes and even if you have to cheat abit you need to valance their cheating. I call soome of this cheating or abuse..
So wait for their tactics then sit back and say oh one second ..
That charcter you are tying to interrogate just disappeared.... they will say thats impossible.. you can say oh no he had a ring of invisibility and is gone.. lol or he just took a pill and will never give up any infirmation to you peasants..
Balance the play ... talk soon
Yeah I have a list of random items for whenever my players want to search for stuff and they found macaroni art from the children of the guy they just killed (and they had killed the children too, though the kids were jerks)
@@loserchips1112 if u feel they r legit let it go if they always are like this dm for another group
Just stay with this group as a player only
I just came back gamr hit a power gamer control freak he plays 6 games runs everything
So i play away from him now or if he dms i go there to meet thr other good ppl.
Take care..
I disagree with you advice on being lenient about players not paying attention, on their phones. If I'm spending hours planning a story/encounter for them, they should have the courtesy to pay attention. I would rather have an empty chair than a player on their phone because at least I'm not responsible for an empty chair's fun.
Garaway I never mind my players simply going on their phones, but my thing is if they have to be reminded it’s there turn or have to ask what’s going on, that’s where I draw the line. If you can manage to go on it and pay attention, I see no harm.
If your players aren't paying atention to the game then that's either because your game is boring or because they don't want to play. You can't really force them to do so.
I got into DnD because of you and I am DMing my first game in a few weeks and your advice is so helpful.
Been a year and I now have 2 full campaigns and it's super fun. Thank you so much for your advice
Second addition: The very last point "make sure to have fun", would have deserved a lot more spotlight.
That is really an importan lesson.
Learn how to have fun as DM. You won't overthrow the players, you don't thwart their plans, you don't kill their characters (at least not on purpose). You in a way don't play.
For the love of everything lovable - you don't play an DM-character that 'helps' the PCs while in reality plays the game for them. Overcomes the obstacles and so on.
You are not a player character interacting with this world. You ARE the world.
For me the satisfaction in being DM lies in showing the players an amazing world that direly needs heroes. To engage them, to let them grasp the victory in the last moment. Oh - and of course throw them completely of track sometimes with mean twists and turns
Monsters, riddles, traps, plots are my tools to craft an amazing story together with my players. I provide the world, they provide the heroes braving it.
And yes - making others happy is also satisfying.
The phone/videogame problem is that they never know what's going on and pretty much only participate with "are we in combat yet? No? *back to phone* oh we're in combat now? I attack. *rolls, back to phone*" Ignore my poorly crafted narrative, fine, but if you're going to take up a spot at the table I demand you actually participate as a character. This is a role-playing game, not a board game.
But you're right, I wouldn't ban phones from monopoly. Instead I would go "you seem completely uninvested in both the game and its players, you're letting other players make most of your moves for you besides rolling, why are you even here? If you didn't want to play, then sit out."
My brother has that problem
I wouldn't let that sit even for board games.
Then that means they don't want to play.
@ but see, then why are they there? no one forced them to join or to keep coming, and when confronted they're resistant to the idea of leaving (or being kicked out, depending on how much you're suggesting vs forcing).
I disagree to voices being mandatory. So long as you describe well enough your players will have a grand time. I say this as someone who does voices but not all DMs are comfortable with this. Be you its your table live it!
matt colville has a great video on the subject. if you want "memorable" npcs, then yeah do voices and ham it up. but really, NPCs should just be there for the player characters to interact with. they don't have to be memorable, they just have to be *believable*. it should feel like they're talking to a person, a distinct person. its ok to just do a normal voice. whats usually better than a shitty accent or falsetto voice is a mannerism, a speech pattern, a different cadence or pitch. talk in a slightly higher or lower register, talk more slowly or more quickly. talk with a preference for swearing or a tendency to be verbose. maybe they have a favorite phrase ("ya know what I'm sayin'?") or they use colorful swears and idioms. some NPCs might be chipper, some might be somber, some might be apathetic. do something to distinguish them from your normal speech so they're distinct characters (and so you don't confuse your players between DM narration and NPC dialogue) but not so much that its distracting.
but yeah doing silly voices/accents is absolutely not mandatory. especially if you're not comfortable doing it, it will just make you dread having your players talk to NPCs.
see what i do since im not comfortable with voice acting is i will describe the voice to put it in the players heads so that the players still remembers the npcs. Anytime the characters run into the npc again they can hear a familiar voice without me doing acting or me failing at the voice.
I agree with all of you honestly, I think it also greatly depends on the atmosphere of the campaign you are running. A not-so-perfect accent might help a light-hearted D&D campaign but might take away from the immersion of a very serious and involved one, I always play it by the situation. Chaster Mief I couldn't agree more, mannerisms and speech patterns make a character as believeable as a decent accent.
I would put it at not mandatory, but definitely recommended.
I don't think accents are mandatory at all, what I woulf say is necessary is giving NPCs their own speech pattern and tone
Nalkelar is a young tiefling boy who was raised in a strange upbringing. His parents were devoted Warlocks of a secret evil coven. But Nalkelar has different ambitions for his life, so he exposed his parents and there demonic like rituals to the nearby town and was rewarded for the telling of there evil deeds. Since then Nalkelar has been given special privileges in the town but must live out his life knowing he was the reason his parents were murdered......
Not so bad of a name ;)
The problem with Random McNames is that they're kind of obviously fantasy, you know? Especially if your important NPCs have names that might be a little outlandish like Tumas or Odvra, but then you run into a random dude with a name like Jorleilan or something.
I applaud your use of footage from the Dungeons and Dragons show
"You can steal ideas you're not posting it! Just have fun!" Great great advice. I've been rping for years. That is the best advice 👌
I once made a Star Wars campaign and my friend became a ship salesman and hunted gungans for sport
This actually helped a lot, since I joined a D&D club at my school, and somehow convinced my friends to join, however the club had two full groups and so the most experienced person (me) had to be GM, so I had to help set up characters and give a general lesson on what is what, when I only had a session under my belt. thankfully we ran out of time before I could start a actual session. This and a few other videos from different channels helped me through this.
I’ve been reading the d and d books, painting minis, watching d and d videos, making an entire crafting system book, making a d and d map, and making a d and d book series called the Iron Keep, the campaign is also called the Iron Keep as well. So I’ve got a lot of things to prepare for my d and d campaign. The campaign will have moving and replacing monsters to make it seam more realistic.
This was very useful for me! I want to get into DnD but I also want to start with the DM because I want to try something different.
Initially I was a little afraid to invest time into the premade adventure, but hearing that it's usually the best route for beginners is more reassuring. Thanks for the good content as always Marcus!
(Also professor layton music!!!! How did you know my love for it so??)
Even if you end up not liking the game you can count on that you can sell the books in 10-20 years from now for a big buck. RPG-books that are out of production tend to be VERY expensive. And as D&D 5E seem to be very popular I would expect it to be one of those systems that will be expensive/profitable in the future.
You can design your own adventure as well, a very easy one to start is a simple dungeon crawl. The players wake up in a cell, don't remember how they got there. Their gear is in the guard's room, and here comes a trope... "The guard has the keys on a big ring on his belt. It's a boring job, and he is fast asleep. What do you do?"
Actually, he didn't know your love for it. Unfortunately for you, not everything is made to tailor to your exact needs.
@@virtual__ lighten up fluffy, they were only teasing, or cooing- or whatever word you want to use. A form of sarcasm that was instead used to show appreciation instead of the usual mockery sarcasm is *normally* used for.
yes. your comment is 5 months old.
but also yes... i am just one of those people.
1. Get a DM screen 0:32
2. Know your stuff 3:27
3. Do NOT control their characters 4:59
4. "How do you want to do this ?" 5:25
5. Voice acting 6:18
6. Snacks n' breaks 6:59
7. Take your time 7:50
8. Make the first adventure- a premade adventure 8:09
9. Don't be afraid to be VANILLA 8:49
10. Prepare your players to ruin all of your plans 10:30
Arbatov_mem thx
Love these kinds of videos, ty for all cool music, voice over and different DnD content. I don't even play DnD but it's so entertaining.
I took over my friends campaign with absolutely no knowledge before hand and ive been reading and watching as much as i can and this helps so much
I have DMed once and I totally improvised, it ended up with a castle and the town around it being taken over by a comuniste revolution started by the players... one time and I can already relate with the "they will destroy your story" part but it was amazing and amazingly fun (and amazingly unexpected)
People tend to forget how important and helpful having a session zero can be. Personally, I'd put it at the top of the list
Great irish music track in the background ! Thanks from Paris, think I'm gonna jump back to Maitre du Jeu business... It's been 20 almost years... Cheers man.
And also give direction to players. Have a general or even specific plot to go off of. Yes, let your players have autonomy, but no one’s going to have fun in a complete sandbox where nothing important happens
I once played as a dwarf tank fighting some higher level demons that I don't remember, but I got frustrated so I said that I caught off a demons arm and it fell on its spear which then trip another to fall on it too. We had been fighting this group of demons for hours and needless to say I had a luck streak and it ended quite abruptly
I can relate to the last one, in my very first session with my pals one of them just starts to slaughter a entire village which had no guards or people who can even fight. Then I needed some time to think of a new start for the storyline -_-
I mean... a group of 10 or so commoners should have still been able to take down a single 1st level adventurer with sticks, knives, hatchets, and other farm equipment.
Also, I find it hard to believe a small village would have NO combatants, like huntsmen or a sheriff.
Can they really destroy towns and villages if their alignment is not evil?? :/
Small towns with literally no combatants of any sort don't exist in DnD, not with the sheer variety and numbers of horrific monsters that tend to exist, without even mentioning more mundane brigands/bandits. Or at least, they don't tend to last very long unless they're nestled deeply within settled/civilized land (in which case, I'm curious what's happening that would actually need the attention of a group of adventurers, even 1st level ones). Those are the ruins you'll be finding scattered around the countryside and wilderlands.
Only discovered you a few nights ago but i really enjoy the majority of your videos. Keep it coming my dude.
It's my first time DMing and I was totally unprepared... My previous DM decided she just wanted to stop, and now it's on my hands! Thank you thank you thank you for this video, it's so helpful!!
If my players said “I suplex the Dragon” I woukd let them try but need maybe a 19 or a 17
I had a fun experience with some new friends but it got ruined after I kept trying to go on my own path and avoid the DM's quest. He got really frustrated and made everything I tried fail.
Then you had a bad DM. No fault of yours.
The right response there is to make a lot of train noises and train motions and stare at your GM while going down the path he ordered. Sarcasm fully intended - it's something called railroading. It's perfectly fine to be on rail, especially when players don't really know what to do in an open-world game. It's not alright to force the players to be on that rail. Of course, they should also be ok with the consequences of their lack-of-action. A town is under bandit attacks and nobody cared? The town's gonna burn, baby.
Ignoring the knee-jerk reactions of the bad DM, I'm curious - you say 'to go on my own path.' Are you saying you kept trying to go off on your own away from the rest of the party? Because if that's the case, I can understand a DM's frustration with the party being split. Some simply don't know how to manage swapping back and forth like that. Likewise, it can drag the pace of the game to a crawl if you're spending a lot of time on your own while the rest of the party is doing the DM's quest or whatever.
Were your other party members okay with you splitting off from the group? Or did they and/or the DM feel like you were taking too much of the narrative on your own or distracting from what the group as a whole wanted to do?
While yes we played D&D to have fun, you also have to remember there's more people playing than just you. If your fun is at the expense of everyone else's, then you need to find a different group that's more in line what you like to play. You can't blame your DM and/or the other players if you're the only dissenting voice there.
And if you are literally going out of your way to avoid the plothook the DM is giving you, frankly, you need to have a chat with them (and the group), because it sounds like you two aren't on the same page for game expectations. Try communicating what you want with them, and see if there's some compromise that can be reached. If not, then you just need to find a new group. You can't force them to do what you want, if they don't want to.
I LOVE this video, so many points here are extremely good. Especially about not exaggerating with NPC backstories and preparations, to be ready to roll with what the players want to do, and to not think of "your story" as something that entitles you, the DM, to step on other people's fun (especially this is SO critical to understand, and one of the main reasons why campaign derails and players leaves the table, in my experience).
However, the cell phone problem is more complex then it looks. I read a lot of people here complaining that having players constantly not caring of the game because the are just stuck on their smartphone/laptop is cancer. And I agree, in part. As I also agree in part with the video.
The thing is: if people prefer to stay on the smartphone other then doing what they are doing there, you have to understand *why*.
If everybody is involved and clarly having fun, and one or two guys/gals are preferring the social medias to that, it could be that the game is not fun for them, *for valid reasons*. So, at first I would say: try to reach for them. Is there something in the game that they are ot enjoying? Is there something that can be changed to prevent that? Are they not getting the fare share of spotlight that everybody deserves?
Or: are they being there just because they like the company, and not because they like the game? This happens too (it happened to me pretty recently).
Otherwise, if basically everybody is constantly reaching for the phone instead of giving attention to the game, it could be that the game itself is just being boring. In that case, you as the DM should definitely reach for the whole table, as above, and ask to the players what they are not enjoying and figure out together how it could be changed.
Most of the time, the "cell phone problem" is one of the aboves. Sometimes though, it can also just be that one or more people at the table are being assholes: they just don't *want to* care of the whole imaginary world and of the other characters. But they still show up because they just care of their own, they want their spotlight and they like it, and they don't really care of anything else.
This, is something bad that should be adressed seriously. It can really damage the game and the relationships between people on the long term.
But, just to be clear, this is an extreme case: most likely, is one of the aboves. I would recommend to first assume that people have a reason for what they are doing, and not just that they are assholes.
In all the above cases though, there is a thing that helps: to put a timer in the combat. In my current campaign, I realized that people where getting to accustomed to take A LOT of time to decide what to do in their turn, and also that they would often get distracted during other people's turn and then take a lot of time to do their own because they need to catch up (of course the two things reinforces each other). So now I just put a 25 seconds timer in combat and in every danger situation, that rolls every time they are thinking or discussing to take decisions. I stop it when they are asking rule questions to me (DM) or when they are going through the resolution, and I resume if they are doing any kind of decision-making process (thinking, talking to other players, changing their mind on what to do in their turn). If the timer stops, they are forced to go in full defense and I move on to the next in initiative.
At least, like that, they know that they have to think of their actions ahead whenever possible, and to do that they must focus on the game. It helps.
Basically this was rpg maker mv before personal computers but I got into it thanks mate.
I wish I had this information much earlier, I've still got to try get hold of a Player's handbook (Nevermind a DM's handbook, since I'm forced to be DM)
very relevant to my current interests
Thank you for the tips! Next week I am most likely hosting a game of D&D with my friends. This will be everybody's first time playing, so I hope things turn out well
Good luck! 🍀
I have had an epic idea brewing for at least twelve years now for my own campaign setting and it turns out, it is quite a rich & complex story, full of original content of my own design. I am using pre-made templates according to the base 3.5 ruleset to create new variants to certain rules of nature and thaumaturgy in my realm, plus a few new monsters that are actually modifications of actual pre-existing encounters. Along with some magical items and a modified spell or two, only to compensate for certain element that take place in my world. Needless to say, my campaign setting is full of detail and complexity and I am having a few issues with the applications of certain content due to their extravagant designs and how to integrate it in the regular 3.5 setting. I am a 36 year DND veteran and have played my whole life so I am jammed packed ideas and most definitely have the main plot and storyline all committed to memory, as well as a ton of NPC and cities with solid background stories. Liniage, purpose, setting, architecture and plot aren't my issue, it's the timely revealing of their implementation I struggle with. All the while keeping in mind to keep things simple at first during actual game time. It's so complex that I could use the insight of any highly seasoned Dungeon Masters out there? If you would like to hear about my campaign in more detail, I promise you'll be at least a bit impressed by it's story and design, but you will definitely see the hurdles that I have to overcom before it is ready in full order. I would love any advice so as not to fall short in my telling of my adventure and most importantly implementation of it's new mysterious elements I bring to bare on my party of PC's. What I need is to be able to keep it rolling and the players engrossed! Any suggestions... PLEASE?!? Love all you gamers out there with my whole heart!
Thanks, Marcus. A friend and I recently got Force and Destiny and although I'm more used to the star wars universe, she really wanted to be DM, so we're kind of sharing the load. Not sure if that's a good tactic for first time rpg'ers though.
Was dm for first time ever today, went over well, had way to many players but the chaos was able to cover how bad I was. Though one of my friends stayed over late and asked for a one player game, it kinda sucked because I didn’t have anything set up, so we just fleshed our her backstory.
All and all not as bad as I thought it would be.
Sometimes those side sessions can be a really nice thing, and if she is asking for them shes probably going to be an excellent player. I had a similar player, and boy did we make a kick-ass story (except this really big boss fight that LITERALLY took three sessions and a total of 16-18 hours in real life). So yeah, definately keep doing those sessions with her, it'll most likely create a fantastic and involved player and stories you guys will cherish for decades.
Thank you bro, love you. Crazy that these vids came into my recommendations the moment i thought of getting into dnd
This what the first thing i watched when i curious about D&D 3 years ago… now I am coming to the end of a 2 year campaign as the DM❤️ Thank you Marcus!
Have you watched the latest Node D&D series? It is fucking HILLARIOUS.
Great video btw, im a new subscriber and the Why You Should Play D&D vid got me inmediatelly.
I want to be dungeon master because all my friends are too lazy to check the book and stuff lol but I think it will be fun to be like *AN ENEMY APPROACHES*
I have no idea #11 under no circumstances state "an enemy approaches" as the dm, as an npc with a overly formal dialect and serious attitude maybe but as a dm that is instant immersion death.
As someone who is starting a Mass Effect conversion campaign of Edge of the empire, these tips have been really helpful writing my first story as DM, thanks cosmonaut
I will dm for the first and the first adventure I am not using a premade one, I actually made one myself, I spent 3 weeks making it
Freaks And Geeks: James Franco playing a dwarf fighter. Carlos the Dwarf. After all these years i still remember it.
I really want to play DnD someday, I watch loads of videos about it and read the books but
a) we just never get around to it, and
b)I'm conscious about my wacky character ideas but I'm too attached to them not to use them
If you're looking to getting into D&D, something I would personally recommend is checking out the Essentials Kit. (Over the Starter Set.) It's very similar to the starter set (And don't worry, it's pretty much the same price, although it might be a little less accessible; meaning you might not be able to find it at like say, Wal-Mart.) but I think it's a little bit better in my opinion; depending of course on what you're looking for. If you and most of your players are pretty familiar with fantasy concepts, and/or RPG elements from other games, the Essentials Kit is great, and I think they'll appreciate this more. Especially if they have a pretty good concept of D&D, like if maybe you and your group know about tabletop games, and always wanted to play, but never got around to it, or couldn't find a group, or if maybe they're familiar with podcasts like Critical Role. However, maybe your group, or a few members aren't a big fan of the fantasy scene, or aren't very familiar with those concepts, or maybe even if all of you guys are just kind of trying to dip your feet into the scene, The Starter Set will probably be the best bet. In general though, I think the Essentials Kit just has MORE. It's more supportive of 1-on-1 play, or small groups, it gives you access to character creation rules, it has a little more detailed rule book, and it also includes cool cards for quests, magic items, and other things which serve as helpful reminders for newer players. The only thing I would say it lacks compared to the Starter Set, is that the Starter Sets story has more bones to it, and has a more interesting narrative. If you're new to DMing, if you go with the Essential Kit (Like I did my first time.) you might have to fill a few things in here and there to kind of bring things together, but it's a little more contained. If you go with the Starter set, there's more opportunity for exploration, but you might have to reel players in a little.
Amazing how none has disliked this vídeo so far. Great job, man.
I enjoy playing rather than DMing because power creep after a 5 year campaign when we were all teens is exhausting
Sure its about them, but would it kill them to just play along so I can tell my story just once?
i get what you _mean_ but the phrasing is weird. Even as a GM, this is still a cooperative game, the story is theirs as much as it is yours.
keeping track of time or asking “what would be happening everywhere else” to yourself between sessions might help them feel the consequences better so they don’t fuck around as much
You can get the party to buy in by turning the tables on them. "You all wake up in a dark, dank pit. You have scratches and wounds all over your body. Worse still, you have no armor or gear and appear to be wearing only rags." From here they will naturally buy right into your plot. "Why am I here? What is this place? Who is responsible for me being enslaved?" Of course the Big Bad in your game world is responsible (or one of his or her minions)... and now they have a vested interest.
It is entirely possible to tell your story. However the DM's story shouldn't be the entire crux. I had a campaign where magic was failing. EXCELLENT START!! Magic is incredibly important to our campaign and play style. However eventually we started finding out that the DM was trying to do world building by tying in sci-fi-fi elements to fantasy. Magic was generated by this computer system and we would need to turn it off and turn it back on. Since the DM was much older than us, he had been planning this for a long time and now had a chance to tell it, it would have a dungeon crawl from AD&D, explain the starships (constructs found earlier in the campaign, not a big fan of those), and get to explore.
What happened was it fell flat on it's face.
I hated the mixing of sci-fi and fantasy as I feel they are separate for good reason and explore different subjects. I personally don't care much for descriptive texts of a room or it's layout. I don't mind a paragraph or two, but that's about it. Also the whole technology and magic description was poorly thought since it sounded like a holodeck in Star Trek making me believe our actions were pointless. I prefer plot driven experiences and combat.
The other player enjoys doing cool stuff, cracking jokes and power fantasies. He made the first real break from the plot making the adventure branch into two storylines (we had 7 characters) causing the DM to have to struggle.
We eventually completed the campaign. The DM has since learned from the experience and he isn't a bad DM. he just wanted to tell this story and do these things and didn't consider the players wants and desires. That created a blind spot when I, admittedly too harsh, showed my dislike for the adventure. We had a lot of arguments about that since we are both firmly established DMs. The DM can tell his magnum opus as long as he considers the players wants and provides it. If the party loves cracking jokes, Allow it and don't be worried about moving the story along. If the party loves combat, create unique and interesting settings, if the party loves role-playing, make voices or mannerism for your NPCs. If the party loves to progress along the plot, keep things moving. At the end of the day, all of these don't change the story and the party ends the session wanting to do more.
You can and will get the opportunity to tell the story, but DM's have to play to the audience just like every author, director, playwright, and poet has hd to do since time immemorial.
stop writing stories, let the players do that part. If you're homebrewing, write out or draw interesting areas, cities and towns, really flesh those out. Write a ton of NPCs, start with shop keepers and move to interesting folks around towns and such, only give them a few descriptors, motivations and such. Then, create problems your NPCs and regions need solving. Start small, rats are invading, theres an ugly ship with a rowdy crew disrupting the harbor district, a child is missing, litereally whatever. Small plot points, and as the players level up the plots become more interesting and challenging.
This allows players to enter your world, become totally immersed and write their own stories. It's also critically important for your players to have really fleshed out characters they can get into, and so that you can write player specific events so their characters actually grow beyond just levels.
been DMing like this for a while and not only am I having the most fun ive ever had with DnD, my players are as well.
If you want to tell a story then write a book. This is a game.
Thanks for your video! I may have already seen dozens of GM tips videos like this and have some crappy sessions under my belt already, but this helped to reignite my passion for RPGs (watching first season Stranger Things again helped too).
I very much agree with all of this. On random encounters I recomend instead of rolling them just pre make some for each area that fit the region/ story. Just keep them in your back pocket for when the players seem bored or are taking to many rests/ sneaking searching every square inch of everything. This allows the world to feel much more real. If oyu are in the goblin infested woods it makes much beter if most of the encounters are goblins, giant spiders, and wolves than just random skeletons, orcs, and troglidites. Ideally random encounters should not feel random that often, just a product of travel.
Hey cosmonaut variety hour, look I'm making my own story in DnD and I'm going to be a DM soon, but I don't really know how to be a good DM. So I'm asking if you could create a pretty full video explaining this more in detail( this video helped me a lot but it is not enough). It would be really nice and it will help me so much. Thanks
Oh and if you have other tips (or anything about DnD that you want to explain more in detail) please do so, so that we can learn.
Look up matt mecer dms tips he has a full series.
Web dm is also pretty great and you can find specific subjects.
How to dnd is good for researching a module.
The best way to learn in my opinion is watch a stream of dnd session or go to adventures league it helps you get some hand on experience and watch how the dm manages a session.
How to be a good DM: be Griffin McElroy
Sarf YES
My friends listen to TAZ so now I'm really scared to write my own campaign cause they have high expectations.
While Griff is a good dm boy, his style is more suited for podcasting. Good for when you have a story to tell, not so great for a bunch of friends. Don't railroad so much and lose the whole camera panning thing and your good to go.
Sarf lmao yes
Believe me, playing the game is gonna be better than listening to someone else play it, no matter how mediocre your campaign might be. As long as you can get your character motivation right, you can make a good story.
Yes, it is about having fun with the players. On the other hand, it's a collaborative game and that includes the DM. If a new DM puts hours into crafting what he thinks is a cool adventure, play along. Most new DMs have enough going against them as it is, and willfully and whimsically pushing it off the rails is not likely to be fun for him. If you feel constrained, say so afterwords and encourage the new DM to open up to other possibilities a bit more.
My favorite thing in all of dungeons and dragons is rollplaying, especially villains. Just being able to voice and being able to use movements or RUclips music to really create a character
I think the DM has as much right to have fun as the players do. If players don't like a DMs style or stories then just don't play her/his game. As far as I've seen there's a shortage of dms, and no shortage or players. Beggars can't be choosers
That Guy some times the dm does not let you play your way, like, he wants you to walk to certain city, you want to walk to another, the bridge colapsed, you roll a 20 to jump to the other side, he just fucking ignores it and you dead.
Aaaaah Yuusha Yoshihiko!!! I love that series!
I've seen thousands of videos this is the only one I enjoyed watching and was able to use easily thank u
Played my first D&D session last night and it was a lot of fun. The stupidest thing that happened was after finding this treasure map and the person at the first location told us to go fuck ourselves, we just went to the second location without pressing the issue, and thus not getting the item we needed to progress. The second location was this high class restaurant on opening night, and not knowing what we were looking for, we decided to infiltrate this place. One guy posed as a rich noble and got a table, and got the rest of us kitchen and waiter jobs since they were short staffed. So the game essentially ground to a halt as it turned from a treasure hunt to a restaurant simulator as we all went around doing our duties while perception and arcane checking every damn thing in sight. I was a waiter and tried subtly interrogating the customers but to no avail. The DM later admitted he was internally screaming the whole half hour we fucked around in this place but kept his cool. Eventually half of us went back to the first location and figured our shit out. Some of them made excuses to leave, but my character just yelled out “I quit!” and walked out the door, stealing the waiter outfit for later when we had to break back in.
What's your opinion on "guiding" your players as a DM?
Sereda Hawke Create an in game legend that is known to lead people astray. For Example. In my Game I have a Ghostly Black Dog that wanders the wastes of the planet. the Local legend about the dog is that it's a demon. It communicate telepathically through visions and feelings. People tend to say "Don't let the Black Dog in!" and are absolutely afraid of it when they see it. I use this character when the party gets lost or goes astray them self, and through role playing I bring them back to where they need to be. I also always reward the players when they follow this dog or go on the story path, but also give them the ability to do what they want to.
You have to be careful with guiding players. Don't railroad them into things, but offer plot hooks. Something like they see a poster in the center of town, "Lord Marimar is offering 500 gold to anyone who will get rid of the bandits hiding in the Endspire Swamp." They can choose to do it or not, so don't pin your whole game on that adventure seed. Learn what kinds of things your players like... perhaps Lord Marimar is offering the hand of his beautiful daughter in marriage, or is willing to promote who ever drives the bandits off as knights of the realm. Play to their desires. If they just never take the bait, you can always resort to "You wake up to find thieves have stolen your mounts and gear, a peasant claims they were the bandits from the swamp." OR as they are wandering in town the bandits brazenly raid the town, retreating to their swamp hideout.
I do it with my noob friends
it goes down in the DM
about the last point: i always imagine how my story would turn out if the players would not take aktion (or didnt even exist). so in my head everything is just continuously happening while the group explores the story :) it also makes reacting a lot easier
Man, hooked on your videos lately. You've got a good style.
I remember this one time when my friend was dm and I wanted to throw a dagger at a guy. I rolled a nat one. He said it landed in the guys balls and he was a masochist. So he went Super Saiyen
YES ITS HERE AND ITS WATCHABLE THIS TIME
Do you know how happy I am that you have a DnD podcast? I'll let you know. I'm ecstatic.
Yeah as a DM I've found it almost necessary to do distinct voices and add a "says the (insert NPC name here)" at the end of any dialogue when they interact with multiple NPCs so they can more easily distinguish who is talking
So, in my first sessions of DM-ing, I didn't know how to combat the whole "players ruining your story direction" issue. I'd either improvise and make a half-assed conclusion to an encounter, or I'd simply sit there for minutes figuring out how to rewrite the story. Here's how I managed to fix this issue: Branching story paths. If you know your groups typical play style and can predict their action, then you can make a bunch of various scenarios for how your story will turn out. You can also entice your players with various items, abilities, plot devices, etc. Just try to be as meticulous and wide-reaching as possible. If you make a story that depends on acts of heroics and bravery, make an alternate route that lets them be selfish, or one that lets them not give a fuck. One that lets them sneak around, fight tooth and nail, let them steal the evil plot device for themselves, anything you can think of. The more options you give them, the more real your world will feel to your players.
Speaking of options, I strongly recommend giving your players the option to fight various secret bosses. Just sprinkle them all over your world and they'll feel like tiny story arcs of badassery. Now, if done right, they almost certainly won't be able to find them all (or maybe even choose to fight these bosses) and that's perfectly fine. It's all about the sense of discovery and they'll feel proud for being able to find these little easter eggs. I'll give you an example; I made this one gnome shopkeeper with a shrill British accent, who gives you a fetch quest to find the gold that some thieves stole from his shop. In exchange for returning his gold, he'll give the players discounts for half off everything at his shop. Then he tells the party (in a cheery shrill Brit accent), "Just keep in mind, if I find out ye kept the gold all to yerself, I'll come fer ye and rip off yer testicles to feed to me dogs!" Now, I gave them two options to activate the secret boss. The first is to keep the gold and go on your merry way. At some random point in the campaign, the shopkeeper finally finds you, but is instead a hideous disgusting behemoth of black oozy death. He deals devastating blows and if given a nat. 20, will instantly castrate you. The next method of activation is by fulfilling the quest. He thanks you and gives you the discount, but a worker there pulls you away and begs for your help, saying he's a slave kept there against his will and forced to work or else the shopkeeper will feed his wife and child to the previously stated dogs. If you choose to help, but fail to instantly stealth kill him, he laughs a cheery sadistic laughter and cackles, "Deary me. Ye should've left when ye had the chance. Now yer gonna be dog food! *more bloodcurdling laughter as his voice changes and he morphs into a black ooze-like creature.*" Sure, they left the guy there to suffer and kept the discount, but hey, it's the attention to detail that I'm talking about.
I just realized how butthurt I still am that they denied this secret boss, since i spent a whole 10 minutes explaining to random passerby strangers exactly how it was supposed to pan out. You know what? Save your sanity and don't follow any of this advise. Fuck your groups play experience. They deserve linear shit.
Daniel Preciado Generally, you should always expect PCs to behave erratically. For instance, I had a NPC whose sole purpose in life was to aid the PCs by providing puzzle hints, maybe throw some magic in combat, that sort of thing.
The group didn't use her, didn't even trust her. I'm not talking over the course of the adventure, I'm talking like out the gate, "this bitch be lyin'" kind of distrust. Naturally, this made running the puzzles a nightmare and made me have to rethink the adventure.
Personally, I would rather have an empty chair than a player on her phone. At least I'm not expected to spend time preparing content for an empty chair.
Maybe you should think why the player is on their phone. Are they bored? Are they having fun? Did they wanted to play in the first place? Things don't really spin around you in this case.
I've been trying to do a Pathfinder podcast for a few months now. It's my first ever time GMing a game, and I have been having a TON of trouble. Just stumbling onto this video and going through the tips, comparing them to my game is helping me so much. (I especially have trouble taking my time and that's caused a couple of problems in my game thus far.)
I enjoy the process of fully fleshing out a world and campaign, making maps, designing NPCs, encounter tables, etc. My players will inevitably only engage with 2% of what I've planned and go off in random directions that don't lead to as interesting adventures, but I've found that since I have done all that planning (again, that I do just for my own enjoyment anyway), that I am more prepared to improvise and create on-the-spot adventure ideas no matter what the players choose.
With luck, I can weave in enough story hooks to lead the players back to the main story. If that doesn't work and the game goes completely off the rails, then I just say that we are going to change format and do episodic, mission-based adventures instead of a continuous campaign. The players either take on the mission and succeed (or fail) or nothing interesting happens.