Some DMs do be sus though. Don't get me wrong, I do want to hide the traps and I can't tell the party outright that they're about to sleep in a dangerous area, but they're all over the place I swear.
I always joked that GLaDOS was the perfect GM. She made difficult puzzles for Chell to solve and repeatedly stated that she hoped Chell would die while testing. On the other hand she had "the itch", the wave of euphoria whenever a test chamber was completed. The more difficult the test chamber the better it felt when Chell solved it.
It would not take much work to turn the ending song sung IG by Glados into a theme for GMs completing a campaign. This was a triumph! I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS It's hard to overstate My satisfaction. Aperture science: We do what me must Because we can. For the good of all of us. Except the ones who are dead. But there's no sense crying Over every mistake. You just keep on trying Till you run out of cake. And the science gets done. And you make a neat gun For the people who are Still alive. I'm not even angry... I'm being so sincere right now- Even though you broke my heart, And killed me. And tore me to pieces. And threw every piece into a fire. As they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you! Now, these points of data Make a beautiful line. And we're out of beta. We're releasing on time! So i'm glad i got burned- Think of all the things we learned- For the people who are Still alive. Go ahead and leave me... I think i'd prefer to stay inside... Maybe you'll find someone else To help you? Maybe black mesa? That was a joke! Ha Ha!! Fat chance!! Anyway this cake is great! It's so delicious and moist! Look at me: still talking When there's science to do! When i look out there, It makes me glad I'm not you. I've experiments to run. There is research to be done. On the people who are Still alive. And believe me I am Still alive. I'm doing science and I'm Still alive. I feel fantastic and I'm Still alive. While you're dying I'll be Still alive. And when you're dead I will be Still alive. Still alive. Still alive.
Even REALLY SIMPLE THINGS, I've seen players ask "Can I stand on the Barbarian's shoulders?" Well, probably? But WHY are you trying to stand on the Barbarian's shoulders? "Oh, so I can attack the Harpy that's hovering in the air above us!" Ah! Well, in fact the harpy isn't that high up! You can reach them without standing on anyone's shoulders. If the player had just asked "Hey how do I attack the flying harpy?" things would have moved along more quickly, rather than the playing devising this Rube Goldberg solution that wasn't necessary.
our gm is currently trying to get us to abandon a group being invaded by fantasy aliens and long story short we are currently at the "teleport shrunk rods of ceramic coated lead into orbit" stage of plan negotiation.
Excellent points. Learning to parse the question behind the question instead of just waiting to gotcha! the party by taking their questions at surface value despite knowing the players have imperfect information was one of the biggest ah-HA moments I had when running. Alternately, teaching players how to ask clearer questions more effectively is crucial. I often find that players ask things vaguely by design because they don't want to tip their hand to me. Because they think I might screw them if they give away too much information before they act. Or screw them more than usual :) So this is great! It's a fantastic corollary to your language video.
So much this. It can feel like pulling teeth as a player tries to roll out their plan bit by bit. If they can get a yes on each step, you can't say no when they reach the end. DnD isn't a competitive sport. It's cooperative storytelling. The DM is the facilitator of the story, not the enemy. Tell me what you want to try, so I can give you the info; maybe there is a better way for your character to reach that goal that your character might know about, and I can tell you. Never has my hope been (for important combats) "I hope they roll bad so they all die!" it's always "I hope this combat is the proper mix of drama, interesting, and difficult to be satisfying." It just so happens that that mix often rides pretty close to TPKing the party. XD
"You're trying to game the algorithm" "Matt Colville's videos are never short, RUclips Viewer. Nor are they long; they end PRECISELY when he means to."
"To what end?" is such a good question, and one I employ frequently. About half the time it results in "Oh. Well sure you could, but here's a way better way that I think is equally in character). The other half of the time is usually something like "Oh, that's brilliant. Go for it."
Ok, here's more. The floor is also a gelatinous cube flesh-to-stoned. An evil mage comes along in the middle of combat (or a trap is triggered) and casts stone-to-flesh on it.
I had that player too... When I was much younger. They would try to trip up or catch the DM in a ruling so they can sneak some rules bending plan by. I wouldn't stand for it now. Rulings not rules.
What I really dislike is when players fish for several rulings where I try to bend the rules a bit in their favor - but it turns out they want to combine all of these imperfect rulings for something completely absurd. So I very much support the idea of laying out your plan from the start.
Yeah, it is the wrong approach that I see newer players doing... How can we take the limited set of rules to bend them to our plan... Rather then saying, here is the plan and let the DM know so he can work make the rules fit.
@@farrout000 I wouldn't say it is just new players. I have run into a lot of power gaming munchkins who will attempt the same thing. At least in my personal experience.
What you're talking about is exactly why players do the thing matt is addressing in this video. they want the plan to work so they think they have to keep you in the dark. and in your case, they're right.
@@chastermief839 And the result is that any good will is lost and the players and their plans never get any leeway again. Congratulations, you played yourself. Just like Matt said - DMs want to help their players. If players exploit that instead of respect it, they only undermine their own situation.
In short, if you say “I jump off the cliff; is that an athletics check?” I need to know what success looks like to you. Is it landing unharmed in the water, grabbing a handhold so as not to fall, or landing gracefully on the other side of the ravine? That way I can tell you obvious facts the character would have noticed, like if the river has run dry, if the cliff face is completely flat, or if it’s a 300 foot gap and you can’t clear it. Or, if that isn’t the case, I at least know what your amazing success looks like when you roll a natural 20.
"Jumping of the cliff requires no check because you will obviously succeed at jumping down. What you do after requires a check tho because i am not sure if you will succeed with that."
Not telling the DM the plan, plus thought-process, is how we get "Keyleth jumping off a cliff, turning into a goldfish, and then subsequently smashing herself into carpaccio".
This is actually the same problem I have to solve at work all the time. People tell me their ideas on how to solve a problem instead of telling me the problem they want to solve. I cannot even guess how much time I have lost helping people create solutions to problems I had already solved but they just wouldn't tell me what their actual goal was. At least with my players I have some authority to tell them to slow down and explain to me what they are trying to do.
I think a part of this boils down to the desire from the player to have a dramatic reveal. A point where they lay out all the puzzle pieces of their plan hoping that when they all click together that the table will be blown away by their brilliance. It's just part of the fantasy, especially when playing a character that's supposed to be smart... It's how things work in all the stories about super smart characters, after all. It's better to let these kinds of things happen naturally rather than trying to force it by being obtuse with the plan until it goes off: We pass around "oh dang, that's really smart" at my table pretty regularly without forcing it.
The desire for the dramatic reveal is a very real thing. It's the one thing that the DM gets to do on the regular that the players don't, so of course there's a real urge to do it whenever the players sense an opportunity. As a player, I've been guilty of that myself, especially when playing sneaky or devious PCs. As a DM, I find that it's good to let the players have one every once in a while. :)
I have learned literally (Besides things o learned from experience or me growing as a dm/player) everything I know when playing Dnd and DM’ing from your video’s mister Colville, you remind me of an old timer in a game store sharing his knowledge to the newbies. Thank you so much for all the stuff you’ve shared over the years and I hope to be able to be just as helpful as you are in your videos.
That's a great way to describe Matt's videos. He's the Veteran casually giving the greenhorns tips, tricks, and anecdotes at the tavern. His videos always feel less like a lecture and more like a conversation with a friend.
Matt has masterfully constructed his OWN gaming shop and filled it with the hearts and minds of the uninitiated. I am eternally grateful for everything he has done
After recently having a negative experience with an 'older' style DM. Myself and my group have just come up with a simple mantra 'A good DM makes it challenging for characters. A bad DM makes it challenging for players'.
Hmm. Matt is making me re-think my DMing technique. I often purposely ignore the players when they are developing a plan, because I'm trying to be impartial AND to appear impartial (two different and equally important things). Players will fish for what the DM says will work, so I stay silent. Also, I often have DMy stuff to catch up on in the background while they scheme: updating my notes, reading ahead, etc.. So when they say "OK then, that's what we do," I say "Great! I wasn't listening. What do you do FIRST?" They want me to adjudicate their 12-step plan in one roll or ruling, but that's not how D&D works. Let's start with your step-1, roll the dice, and see how things pan out. But, but, but. Matt raises some good points. Players DO forget things, misremember things, and invent obstacles that don't exist. The DM should be ready to remind/correct the players of what the CHARACTERS surely know and would not have forgotten (e.g. while this scenario has been 4 sessions across 8 weeks for the players, only 2 days have elapsed for the characters).
I try very hard to be present for those conversations, but as an NPC, Familiar, etc. "They" can then make comments, inject humor, remind of things they would have knowledge of, etc. It also keeps me engaged: I'm not listening, "they" are. But if we hear something the PC should know, I can ask them to make an appropriate roll, or have the NPC remind them of something. It keeps it in-game, but keeps the information flowing.
Some DMs are on your side. The good ones are. I've had a terrible one that I will not play with again due to being very adversarial. They would contradict themselves, break the rules, and meta game just to have me fail. "Old school" DM where they thought punishing the players was the challenge. "Well, I call that a win for me" after a party wipe.
I never understood that - how adversarial DMing is supposed to work I mean. If I really wanted to wipe the party for some strange reason, I'd drop an asteroid on their heads. That would probably end that game in more ways than one, but the point is, roleplaying can't be a contest. Because one supposed side of it is literally omnipotent.
I was reading the Dark Heresy rulebook yesterday - it's got a great bit about this near the start: "Of course, any GM who tries to use [the fact they are GM] to justify decisions that keep the game from being fun soon finds that he lacks a group of players. Remember, the goal of the game is always for everyone to have an enjoyable time. Clear and open communication is essential to keeping a gaming group going."
To add to the ideas here - Tell us your plans so we can actually prepare the specific encounters, get our brains going on more flavor details and ways to make it interesting. I should have done my prep work and be ready for you generally, but letting me know exactly what it is you’re going to be looking at, so that part of the game can get 1 more cost of paint before you get there? Those are some of the best sessions I’ve ever run.
Even as a DM this video is helpful to remind me of the mindset I need to carry into every session prep. I’m on their side obviously, but mostly to empower my players with that knowledge that I know from my hours of “in my head” world building that they need to make the best decisions. We are all playing this game together, and it is a benefit to all of us to always be putting each other at the table in the best position to succeed.
I actually had a perfect example of the GM working with me as a player just last night while playing Blades in the Dark. I had a plan but wasn't sure it could work, so I started asking a couple of questions to make sure I understood the situation right. I quickly realized I was just beating around the bush, talking AROUND the plan rather than talking ABOUT the plan, so I just laid it out: I wanna drown this giant ghost in the nearby river. A wildly audacious plan, to be sure, but my GM then let me know that it was actually going to be even easier than I'd thought, and they were able to cut straight to "here's how you can make that happen". Turned out to be an awesome dramatic moment and we saved ourselves probably ten or fifteen minutes of dithering over the unimportant details and cut straight to the execution. If you feel like you can't trust your DM/GM to be on your side, to WANT you to win and support your crazy plans, you gotta have a talk with them. The best fun of TTRPGs comes out of the GM and players working together to make the impossible happen.
While I prefer Craft Beer to pizza, I do want players to know I’m cheering for them but to be truly heroic they may need to face “an Avengers level threat.”
With my party, my hardest job most of the time is trying to keep them alive. The best part of being a DM is watching them solve the problem in a way that never imagined. E.G last session an escape in a stolen airship and they are attacked by 3 magic using griffon riders (We used the 'Aces High' rules from Arcadia, amazing) and how did my party win???? The Goliath misty stepped onto the Griffons and jumped up and down, 350 pounds of additional weight and you clearly loose 2 points of altitude per turn till you crash. D and D, solving the adventure one turn at a time.
"With my party, my hardest job most of the time is trying to keep them alive." This is fascinating, because I sort of have the opposite problem. Because of the way my current group works, combat isn't all that super common (they really like to talk their way out of stuff or engineer non-combat work-arounds) and I guess I unconsciously pull punches when combat does happen? So I work them up on how big and bad this bad guy and his minions are, but then they wipe the floor with the bad guy. I suppose there's a balance between "punishingly difficult" and "way too easy" and I'm erring too far on the easy side of it. It is fun, though, to see the things they come up with to avoid or truncate combat!
So I finally got a job and finally had a reason to listen to an Arcadia plug-in and holy crap 5 dollars for 46 pages IS a steal. I think I'll get at least one :D
While this is generally true, it can sometimes be fun to mess around. Once my group was planning a heist, and I intentionally left the room while they planned, so that, as I said "When my basic security measures foil your plan, there can be no possibility that I was cheating." ...The basic security measures ABSOLUTELY foiled their plan, and it was glorious.
I had a situation where the players devised this plan to secretly give one of their enemies of a love potion to charm them. The only problem was, it was secret from me too. They never got the chance to slip her the drink because I never gave them the chance... I never knew there was a reason to.
A couple of months ago, I was quite literally just telling the newer Call of Cthulhu players in my group nearly every exact point you stated in this video. One of the new players was quite sure my homebrew scenario was going to end in all of their deaths. And I had to explain that I am on their side. That as a GM, I want the player characters to make it as far as possible while having as much player agency that they can handle so that they can experience the plot as it unfolds and how their decisions may or may not change various plot points and outcomes. I told them that this a horror mystery game and I cannot guarantee there won't be some sort of tragic outcome for some or all of the players but I am not going to set out and purposefully kill them off, especially if their decisions are creative and smart. Also said that the more information you can give me about your ideas and plans the more I can prepare to make their plans successful and more fun by adding in little details that I don't always think of on the fly during a game time decision by the players. Very good video Matt! 🙂
One of my players would often say to me "I have a great plan, but if I tell you then you can stop it from working." Every time, my response was "If you don't tell me, then it definitely won't work."
Just found your channel and this series about a week ago, as I am DMing for the first time for some friends this weekend. I'm so grateful for what you have done, keep up the great work!
One of my favorite moments was when one of my players, playing a human variant bard, decided to, during combat, cast Speak with Animals to persuade a Moorbounder to switch sides from the bandits that had the party outnumbered in an ambush to their side. I thought it sounded like an interesting idea and allowed it. The Bard player rolled well, managed to convince the Moorbounder that hunting bandits was more fun and the party managed to get out of a really sticky situation, all because the bard didn't feel like attacking a giant cat with tusks. The bard then rolled really well on Animal Handling and the party now has a pet Moorbounder. They still have to roll regular Animal Handling checks, because Murray, the giant cat with tusks, is not domesticated, but the story that has blossomed from that one small moment is just so great.
Ths has been my number one piece of advice for GMs for a very long time. Any time the players say they want to do something that seems weird or stupid, it's most likely because they misunderstood the situation. To clear things up, simply as the players what they think they are going to accomplish with the action, and then it will become clear immediately if there's a miscommunication error.
I think this needs a companion video for DMs to remind them that it's not their job to foil their players plans either. I think a lot of DMs do it subconsciously, from little things like if Character A is immune to a damage type, that Character just _never_ seems to be targeted with that damage type, to a bigger things like the making players' roll very high DCs to make a plan work, and if they fail just one it all fall apart...effectively discouraging the players from enacting it.
This is so important. I'm glad that Matt is apparently an eldritch being who was able to pull this out of my brain and articulate it a lot more efficiently than I would have. I'm afraid of coming across as snarky or condescending
I love this video. It doesn't quite hold true if you actually have an adversarial/railroading DM - but if you've got one of those you've got bigger issues.
I fully endorse this message as a GM. If it were easy for you to do, we wouldn't be rolling dice. So go hog wild, but lemme join you in these festivities.
I'm so fortunate to have a player group that not only talks to me when they want to do something, but also who each come to me one at a time to discuss cool moments they envision for their characters! We've had so many dramatic moments driven by my players. I encourage anyone to reach out to their DM and include them in future plans, especially if you see a way your character's growth can intersect with the DM's story. Many of us love that.
the game relies on communication, and players asking questions of the DM are essential to this. many times players screw themselves because they skip that "ask the DM first" step. DMs are playing the game too. and whether you need them to clarify what they said or help you understand the situation or your character's options, that's their job. don't break down the door before you check if it's locked.
Crazy plans remind me of one incident with my group: I forget what we were fighting, but when my turn came up, I wanted to try something unorthodox, so I prefaced it by saying, "uhh... let's get weird." Since then "Let's get weird" has been my group's catchprase for when we try to do something (potentially) stupid.
This exact situation came up last week! It's amazing how often I have to ask my players to 'please explain' because they were keeping the info close to their chest in fear of my ruling.
One thing that Matt said that I initially disagreed with (and almost always have) is the idea that "the players could (do anything) even kill a god." First, I'll say that I always enjoy Matt's videos since they invariably get me thinking; introspection is good. I think that I figured out what I've always took issue with is this idea; I don't think gods should have stats because they are simply too powerful - they provide some of their power to mortals to cast up to 9th level spells, after all, so it can be argued that they simply outclass and outstrip the power any mortal or group of mortals can throw at a god in a direct assault. And that's where I figured out that I'm not opposed to the idea of a god being killed by a party of players, but rather the way in which it typically happens. In my mind it's less about them having the power to do it and more about having the knowledge and means through something external that allows them to accomplish the Herculean task that would (and should) otherwise be an impossible feat for mere mortals. Anyway, this is slightly 'off topic' from the main thrust of the video, but as I stated earlier, he always gets me thinking deeper about things even if it's in regard to a throwaway line. ;-)
It depends on your fantasy you are wanting to run. God of War is a setting where a mortal man went from blessed man of the god's, to a God, to slaying the entire Greek Pathneon. The God's were both forces of nature capable of immense destruction, yet also had physical forms which made it possible. Are they massive creatures that are just doing their own thing, and their bi-products and rivalrys naturally spill over into the mortal realms as a side product of merely existing. Or are gods merely ideas? Primodeal forms of nature that simply aren't an individual but a law written into the universe by something resembling a form? That slaying them is as realistic as slaying an idea, that they don't really have any agency or relevance to the mortal planes, but just existing means they are a source of power to draw on. Or are god's given strength by worship like we do in our world? Did they start off as people or an abstract idea that gained sentience based on worship and thus was able to bless the followers that created it. Are they all born equal? Or are there greater and lesser divine beings that are responsible for aspects of the universe. The god of Kobolds for example is unlikely to be as powerful as a God of Dragons or Giants, but it's traits are suitable for the people it pays patronage too. And if a player is successful in slaying a god, what is the consequence of that action? Does someone else have to take it's place or does it simply recover over time like Legends of Zelda, where the cycle periodically repeats itself across time. There are many ideas on what God's could and couldn't be, limited only by the world building and the willingness of GM's to allow players to potentially overthrow Pantheons or take on massive tasks. Just it really depends on what the people want to do together.
Theres a 12th level spell that allows you to SUMMON a gods physical being into the material plane. We're probably talking about several thousands of hit points; but if your players are that high level. Why stop them?
@@lordbiscuitthetossable5352 To be sure, and God of War is a fantastic setting; it's just not mine. And, to add, I've answered all your excellent questions in creating my world and pantheon. Every DM, I'd hope, are or have done so as well.
@@willfrancomb3203 It's not about outright stopping them.... that, I would never do. However, I'd likely never give a god stats as I personally don't think it would have any real meaning in relation to the players' power level - the gap is simply too vast, IMW (in my world). SO, the point is that if the players took a direct assault route then they're really laying their lives on the line because a god (again, IMW) would have the ability to manipulate reality or simply kill with a single word or negate a caster's spells, or reverse or stop time, or any number of things of equal power and how would the players hope to deal with that? I'll give you the example of the first season of Critical Role when Vox Machina took on Vecna. I really enjoyed that and feel it was possible as Vecna was not a god *just* yet. In taking that route it made it possible, in my mind, for mortal PCs to kill an 'almost' god. Really dramatic and tense and I loved it. There are many other similar situations that addresses the immense power disparity which I can imagine such as the god somehow had their power (or a vast majority of it) stripped from them for whatever reason, or maybe they were divinely injured by another god... lots of ideas to make such a situation as killing a god possible, IMW.
@@jchunick That's totally cool. I was just basically playing devils advocate promote discussion as I thought it was a pretty cool thing to muse about. Personally I've never run a game so I don't actually have an answer yet, aside from some vague ideas in my drafts. Though level 20 characters basically either are God's or demi God's in their own right based on the amount of world altering stuff they can preform. A martial class is basically like having Goku in Dragon Ball, he could simply devastate entire armies by themselves with their physically disproportionate might. A Druid would literally have the entire four seasons at their disposal e.t.c. It's actually pretty incredible how powerful Player characters actually are, that it's kinda like calling the Avengers together when something comes up. XD Whether it takes that kind of united front to slay a god or peel one eldrich finger off of the mortal worlds really is up to imagination.
My first computer went "DING" and had a paper monitor. This is the best and most impactful information that you have presented to the players so far. This is a collaborative game. It requires clear communication of intent from the players and DM alike. I have always, as a player, made it a habit to ask a few questions about the circumstances before declaring my characters actions. I find that to be the best moment to clarify any assumptions about what my character is about to attempt. I also, as a DM set up the understanding that I am a fan of the characters. I want your plan to succeed. I, also, want it to make sense, represent the challenge, and be believable. We can achieve that more easily if we sculpt this scenario together. Trust the DM. They want you to experience your character as the bad ass adventurer you see in your head. Matt, thank you for being a river to your people.
An important thing that good DMs will remember and communicate to their players is that sharing information about your plan is NOT the same as giving that information to the NPCs. This must remain true as the same brain that arbitrates the rules and narrates the world also controls the beings within it. The DM must not use this information against the players without the NPCs having their own reasons for gaining that detail.
When I DM I just say: "That is an assumption you can make." to almost everything. Mostly because players linger in the Hypothetical/Planning phase to try to 'coax solutions out of their DM'.
I am sending this to my players. THIS IS SO GOOD. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. Especially in the games I like to run. Thank you Matt, and please send your team my thanks as well. I consider your style as a cornerstone of my DM style, and ability to covey and consolidate topics and info is insanely useful.
I started learning from Matt’s videos four years ago, and I have always done my best to encourage my players to ask “Why?” I strive to create challenges that I have no solution for
Oh my god, as a DM, so many players need to hear this. Making sure both the players and the DM are on the same page with wacky player plans improves the game immensely.
A word of advice from me: Prepare encounters which the party are unlikely at defeating. Then be on their side and support their clever plans at dealing with the situation. If they don't have a clever plan, they can always run. If they don't, well they might end up dead.
Have been screaming these exact things to my fellow players at the table for years. Our forever DM is not out to destroy them and their plans if they speak them out loud.
I honestly think my favorite thing as a dungeon master is giving my players open-ended tools with no challenge in mind, then hearing them scheme with those tools many sessions later. I have the most fun when my players are engaging with the world in ways that surprise me. I didn't come to the table to write a story, I came to watch (and sometimes help) it unfold.
Sir! You are the greatest. I was literally having this same conversation with a newer member of our group and you explained this scenario better than I can. I'll have to tell him about this video
4:57 Some of my most frustrating experiences as a player have been when a GM has forgotten that they are the eyes and ears of the PCs, and have a responsibility to describe and explain observable details accurately. If every single player believes something "false" about the situation based entirely on the description, it's the fault of the description.
I guess this means that Bashew and Colville are the newest members of the Mutual Appreciation Society (which is wonderful, since lots of us have been admiring both of them individually for quite some time 👍
It's worth noting that not all DMs are super kind and permissive and I think that can foster this secretive nature in players. I changed my DMing a little a while back and I think I've managed to make all of this crazy plan stuff much better with a simple fix. I often used to worry about things turning out too easy for the PCs while I was running at the table, and for the precise reason mentioned too, I want the victory to be satisfying. As a result I often found myself saying no to wacky ideas that would have made the encounter less challenging as I worried, well if they use this strange idea to defeat a key problem which makes the encounter hard, it might end up being underwhelming! My solution, I have 2 DM hats. I have the evil jerk DM hat (which I put on during prep), and the kind and fun DM hat (which I put on during play). The result is that jerk DM makes the encounters err on the side of too hard, and tries to preempt any obvious fixes the players might have, then nice DM comes along and is worried about how hard it looks, so lets all the players' plans work to bring the difficulty back down to the right level. Basically, make it too hard and then you'll have a good reason to say yes to the players when they have an idea to make it easier for themselves.
Imma buy the shit outta that packet. I was making my own to do that exact thing, but having a template to /expand upon/ has been rough. A thousand appreciations upon you Mr. Colville.
As a GM, I have taken the "I'm here for you guys" role very seriously, and have, in fact, migrated that to my playing style. To be more clear: my Friday games I constantly try to egg on my GM. Tell them to recharge the dragons breath, do the enemies have any cool things they did? Magic or item? I play a low AC wizard I and I will wholeheartedly giggle at any damage that comes my way (I will say that that is not me being a masochist, but rather a player that is used to playing tanks and is an above 100HP wizard with bottles of healing and polymorph) Great vid. TL;DR: Yes the GM wants you to have fun, why not extend the courtesy?
When DMing, I have to resist the impulse to interject too much bc I don't want to solve the problem for them. However, I do pay careful attention bc often players are making plans based off assumptions not held by the characters who live in the world, or dismissing plans based off false assumptions the players are making... ideally, my job during the pc planning stage is to bridge the gap bw character and player knowledge to enable characters to make plans their players could not... bc the map is not the territory. This requires careful attention, and is more art than science.
My goal as a learning DM is to walk this fine line: be on the side of the players and help them achieve entertaining heroic success... but also create a situation where I get to narrate, "The earth elemental steps on your head to make sure you're dead."
OK, so I haven't gotten very far into this video yet. But I LITERALLY put a party of my players in a hallway in which the door at the end of the hallway was a mimic and when they tried to open it, a gelatinous cube dropped from the ceiling in behind them. Glad to see I'm not the only one who appreciates such a scenario.
My most recent game ended due to scheduling conflicts. But the last session was also a very bad session that ended poorly. The players were trapped in a room. Just outside the door with a high-level monster that everyone at the table new would TPK then. So they just started saying actions, "i try to set the wals on fire, i try to brake the altar. Ect,ect) No planing and no explanation of anything. I asked "why are you doing this?" "Because i can't think of anything else" Eventually they just voiced their out of game frustration and I made up some explanation of what happened, essentially hand waving the whole thing. I apologized and excepted blame for making a bad encounter. How do you still except partial blame. But i still would have expected any plan if they came up with one and explained the reasoning.
DM: "Help me, help you."
Players: *suspicion intensifies*
lol
"No really, I want you guys to have fun."
*Suspicion intensifies HARDER*
@@adamkaris DM: Smiles.
Players: *Peak suspicion, they now question the nature of their reality*
"No really, trust me"
MCDM sus
Some DMs do be sus though.
Don't get me wrong, I do want to hide the traps and I can't tell the party outright that they're about to sleep in a dangerous area, but they're all over the place I swear.
"WHY do want his pants?"
-"I don't _want_ them, I just wanna see if I can steal them."
"And I'm gonna need that guy's leg." - Rocket Racoon.
Love it when Gamers shows up in the comments
I don't care about stealing his pants, I want so see if I can put them _back on him_ without him noticing.
you want to backstab him... with a ballista?
@@CathrineMacNieldm:" ...ok so you load the ballista"
Player: "no"
Dm:
Player:
Dm: **sigh** "roll strength with disadvantage"
I always joked that GLaDOS was the perfect GM. She made difficult puzzles for Chell to solve and repeatedly stated that she hoped Chell would die while testing. On the other hand she had "the itch", the wave of euphoria whenever a test chamber was completed. The more difficult the test chamber the better it felt when Chell solved it.
niiiice, that's just the right mindset for a DM
Never thought about it that way. Interesting, came here per a fellow GMs request and learned more about a favorite character of mine.
It would not take much work to turn the ending song sung IG by Glados into a theme for GMs completing a campaign.
This was a triumph!
I'm making a note here:
HUGE SUCCESS
It's hard to overstate
My satisfaction.
Aperture science:
We do what me must
Because we can.
For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.
But there's no sense crying
Over every mistake.
You just keep on trying
Till you run out of cake.
And the science gets done.
And you make a neat gun
For the people who are
Still alive.
I'm not even angry...
I'm being so sincere right now-
Even though you broke my heart,
And killed me.
And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned it hurt because
I was so happy for you!
Now, these points of data
Make a beautiful line.
And we're out of beta.
We're releasing on time!
So i'm glad i got burned-
Think of all the things we learned-
For the people who are
Still alive.
Go ahead and leave me...
I think i'd prefer to stay inside...
Maybe you'll find someone else
To help you?
Maybe black mesa?
That was a joke! Ha Ha!! Fat chance!!
Anyway this cake is great!
It's so delicious and moist!
Look at me: still talking
When there's science to do!
When i look out there,
It makes me glad I'm not you.
I've experiments to run.
There is research to be done.
On the people who are
Still alive.
And believe me I am
Still alive.
I'm doing science and I'm
Still alive.
I feel fantastic and I'm
Still alive.
While you're dying I'll be
Still alive.
And when you're dead I will be
Still alive.
Still alive.
Still alive.
The euphoria wears off after the AI gets in the habit of testing.
@@kendrajade6688 not if its programmed to enjoy it which GLADOS is.
Even REALLY SIMPLE THINGS, I've seen players ask "Can I stand on the Barbarian's shoulders?"
Well, probably? But WHY are you trying to stand on the Barbarian's shoulders?
"Oh, so I can attack the Harpy that's hovering in the air above us!"
Ah! Well, in fact the harpy isn't that high up! You can reach them without standing on anyone's shoulders.
If the player had just asked "Hey how do I attack the flying harpy?" things would have moved along more quickly, rather than the playing devising this Rube Goldberg solution that wasn't necessary.
Gonna give my players a magic weapon called Occam's Razor and see if they get the message!
@@shywoofer1620 the Orc Ham Razor: for only two payment of 29,99 gold coins, get perfect cuts with every use.
“Meat is back on the menu, boys!”
our gm is currently trying to get us to abandon a group being invaded by fantasy aliens and long story short we are currently at the "teleport shrunk rods of ceramic coated lead into orbit" stage of plan negotiation.
Excellent points. Learning to parse the question behind the question instead of just waiting to gotcha! the party by taking their questions at surface value despite knowing the players have imperfect information was one of the biggest ah-HA moments I had when running.
Alternately, teaching players how to ask clearer questions more effectively is crucial. I often find that players ask things vaguely by design because they don't want to tip their hand to me. Because they think I might screw them if they give away too much information before they act. Or screw them more than usual :)
So this is great! It's a fantastic corollary to your language video.
So much this. It can feel like pulling teeth as a player tries to roll out their plan bit by bit. If they can get a yes on each step, you can't say no when they reach the end.
DnD isn't a competitive sport. It's cooperative storytelling. The DM is the facilitator of the story, not the enemy.
Tell me what you want to try, so I can give you the info; maybe there is a better way for your character to reach that goal that your character might know about, and I can tell you.
Never has my hope been (for important combats) "I hope they roll bad so they all die!" it's always "I hope this combat is the proper mix of drama, interesting, and difficult to be satisfying." It just so happens that that mix often rides pretty close to TPKing the party. XD
"You're trying to game the algorithm"
"Matt Colville's videos are never short, RUclips Viewer. Nor are they long; they end PRECISELY when he means to."
As a DM, I could use some pizza too.
a common thing i ask my players when they're proposing insane plans is simply "to what end?", and that generally clears things up
Brilliant. Stealing this.
I tried that last session, the answer was "to save money" - and they ended up spending more money through their copper wise, gold goofy antics.
D&D equivalent of a psychiatrist asking how something made you feel
@@bunnythekid TRUE
"To what end?" is such a good question, and one I employ frequently. About half the time it results in "Oh. Well sure you could, but here's a way better way that I think is equally in character). The other half of the time is usually something like "Oh, that's brilliant. Go for it."
Me: (taking notes) "trapped in room... Gelatinous Cube... Mimic... Oh, do tell more!"
Ok, here's more. The floor is also a gelatinous cube flesh-to-stoned. An evil mage comes along in the middle of combat (or a trap is triggered) and casts stone-to-flesh on it.
@@davidm6387 How about the floor is made of Gray Oozes; who can turn into a dungeon's brick, hardness and all
"Players often invent problems that don't exist." Oh, how true this rings to my ears...
He's done it! A short running the game video!
Impossible
I've seen a player who will ask vague rules questions in an attempt for me to agree that his plan will work without any context.
I had that player too... When I was much younger. They would try to trip up or catch the DM in a ruling so they can sneak some rules bending plan by. I wouldn't stand for it now. Rulings not rules.
Me too. Now a days i just ask them to stop wasting time and explain to me what they are planning.
What I really dislike is when players fish for several rulings where I try to bend the rules a bit in their favor - but it turns out they want to combine all of these imperfect rulings for something completely absurd. So I very much support the idea of laying out your plan from the start.
Yeah, it is the wrong approach that I see newer players doing... How can we take the limited set of rules to bend them to our plan... Rather then saying, here is the plan and let the DM know so he can work make the rules fit.
@@farrout000 I wouldn't say it is just new players. I have run into a lot of power gaming munchkins who will attempt the same thing. At least in my personal experience.
What you're talking about is exactly why players do the thing matt is addressing in this video. they want the plan to work so they think they have to keep you in the dark. and in your case, they're right.
@@chastermief839 And the result is that any good will is lost and the players and their plans never get any leeway again. Congratulations, you played yourself.
Just like Matt said - DMs want to help their players. If players exploit that instead of respect it, they only undermine their own situation.
A short and to the point info with important information and a well-deserved shout out to Zee Bashew? Take my like as always, Matt!
In short, if you say “I jump off the cliff; is that an athletics check?” I need to know what success looks like to you. Is it landing unharmed in the water, grabbing a handhold so as not to fall, or landing gracefully on the other side of the ravine? That way I can tell you obvious facts the character would have noticed, like if the river has run dry, if the cliff face is completely flat, or if it’s a 300 foot gap and you can’t clear it. Or, if that isn’t the case, I at least know what your amazing success looks like when you roll a natural 20.
"Jumping of the cliff requires no check because you will obviously succeed at jumping down. What you do after requires a check tho because i am not sure if you will succeed with that."
@@Trashloot Douglas Adams rules: when falling, you still roll because on a natural 1 you will miss the ground and finally learn how to fly.
Not telling the DM the plan, plus thought-process, is how we get "Keyleth jumping off a cliff, turning into a goldfish, and then subsequently smashing herself into carpaccio".
A DM never ends a video late. Nor does he end it early. He ends precisely when he means to.
Well hello Gandalf
This is actually the same problem I have to solve at work all the time. People tell me their ideas on how to solve a problem instead of telling me the problem they want to solve. I cannot even guess how much time I have lost helping people create solutions to problems I had already solved but they just wouldn't tell me what their actual goal was.
At least with my players I have some authority to tell them to slow down and explain to me what they are trying to do.
"oh that, you know i posted this little tool on the intranet which does that" :P
I think a part of this boils down to the desire from the player to have a dramatic reveal. A point where they lay out all the puzzle pieces of their plan hoping that when they all click together that the table will be blown away by their brilliance. It's just part of the fantasy, especially when playing a character that's supposed to be smart... It's how things work in all the stories about super smart characters, after all. It's better to let these kinds of things happen naturally rather than trying to force it by being obtuse with the plan until it goes off: We pass around "oh dang, that's really smart" at my table pretty regularly without forcing it.
The desire for the dramatic reveal is a very real thing. It's the one thing that the DM gets to do on the regular that the players don't, so of course there's a real urge to do it whenever the players sense an opportunity. As a player, I've been guilty of that myself, especially when playing sneaky or devious PCs. As a DM, I find that it's good to let the players have one every once in a while. :)
I have learned literally (Besides things o learned from experience or me growing as a dm/player) everything I know when playing Dnd and DM’ing from your video’s mister Colville, you remind me of an old timer in a game store sharing his knowledge to the newbies. Thank you so much for all the stuff you’ve shared over the years and I hope to be able to be just as helpful as you are in your videos.
That's a great way to describe Matt's videos. He's the Veteran casually giving the greenhorns tips, tricks, and anecdotes at the tavern. His videos always feel less like a lecture and more like a conversation with a friend.
Matt has masterfully constructed his OWN gaming shop and filled it with the hearts and minds of the uninitiated. I am eternally grateful for everything he has done
Couldn’t have said it better!
After recently having a negative experience with an 'older' style DM. Myself and my group have just come up with a simple mantra 'A good DM makes it challenging for characters. A bad DM makes it challenging for players'.
Ooh, I like this. I like this a LOT.
Hmm. Matt is making me re-think my DMing technique. I often purposely ignore the players when they are developing a plan, because I'm trying to be impartial AND to appear impartial (two different and equally important things). Players will fish for what the DM says will work, so I stay silent. Also, I often have DMy stuff to catch up on in the background while they scheme: updating my notes, reading ahead, etc.. So when they say "OK then, that's what we do," I say "Great! I wasn't listening. What do you do FIRST?" They want me to adjudicate their 12-step plan in one roll or ruling, but that's not how D&D works. Let's start with your step-1, roll the dice, and see how things pan out.
But, but, but. Matt raises some good points. Players DO forget things, misremember things, and invent obstacles that don't exist. The DM should be ready to remind/correct the players of what the CHARACTERS surely know and would not have forgotten (e.g. while this scenario has been 4 sessions across 8 weeks for the players, only 2 days have elapsed for the characters).
I try very hard to be present for those conversations, but as an NPC, Familiar, etc. "They" can then make comments, inject humor, remind of things they would have knowledge of, etc. It also keeps me engaged: I'm not listening, "they" are. But if we hear something the PC should know, I can ask them to make an appropriate roll, or have the NPC remind them of something. It keeps it in-game, but keeps the information flowing.
Some DMs are on your side. The good ones are. I've had a terrible one that I will not play with again due to being very adversarial. They would contradict themselves, break the rules, and meta game just to have me fail. "Old school" DM where they thought punishing the players was the challenge. "Well, I call that a win for me" after a party wipe.
I never understood that - how adversarial DMing is supposed to work I mean. If I really wanted to wipe the party for some strange reason, I'd drop an asteroid on their heads. That would probably end that game in more ways than one, but the point is, roleplaying can't be a contest. Because one supposed side of it is literally omnipotent.
Sometimes players don't trust the DMs because, in the past, they have been trained not to.
I was reading the Dark Heresy rulebook yesterday - it's got a great bit about this near the start: "Of course, any GM who tries to use [the fact they are GM] to justify
decisions that keep the game from being fun soon finds that he lacks a group of players. Remember, the goal of the game is always for everyone to have an enjoyable time. Clear and open communication is essential to keeping a gaming group going."
I don’t game with people like that. I’d rather just write fiction.
@@pipp972 then they don’t have a clear understanding of play or player roles. Time to talk out of game in your free time.
To add to the ideas here -
Tell us your plans so we can actually prepare the specific encounters, get our brains going on more flavor details and ways to make it interesting.
I should have done my prep work and be ready for you generally, but letting me know exactly what it is you’re going to be looking at, so that part of the game can get 1 more cost of paint before you get there?
Those are some of the best sessions I’ve ever run.
Even as a DM this video is helpful to remind me of the mindset I need to carry into every session prep. I’m on their side obviously, but mostly to empower my players with that knowledge that I know from my hours of “in my head” world building that they need to make the best decisions. We are all playing this game together, and it is a benefit to all of us to always be putting each other at the table in the best position to succeed.
I actually had a perfect example of the GM working with me as a player just last night while playing Blades in the Dark. I had a plan but wasn't sure it could work, so I started asking a couple of questions to make sure I understood the situation right. I quickly realized I was just beating around the bush, talking AROUND the plan rather than talking ABOUT the plan, so I just laid it out: I wanna drown this giant ghost in the nearby river. A wildly audacious plan, to be sure, but my GM then let me know that it was actually going to be even easier than I'd thought, and they were able to cut straight to "here's how you can make that happen". Turned out to be an awesome dramatic moment and we saved ourselves probably ten or fifteen minutes of dithering over the unimportant details and cut straight to the execution.
If you feel like you can't trust your DM/GM to be on your side, to WANT you to win and support your crazy plans, you gotta have a talk with them. The best fun of TTRPGs comes out of the GM and players working together to make the impossible happen.
While I prefer Craft Beer to pizza, I do want players to know I’m cheering for them but to be truly heroic they may need to face “an Avengers level threat.”
Oh my god if my players started buying me a nice sour ale every session they would DROWN in magic items.
As a DM you are a “Master of Illusion,” Mysterio…
I prefer craft pizza with my craft beer! I miss Portland....
With my party, my hardest job most of the time is trying to keep them alive. The best part of being a DM is watching them solve the problem in a way that never imagined. E.G last session an escape in a stolen airship and they are attacked by 3 magic using griffon riders (We used the 'Aces High' rules from Arcadia, amazing) and how did my party win???? The Goliath misty stepped onto the Griffons and jumped up and down, 350 pounds of additional weight and you clearly loose 2 points of altitude per turn till you crash. D and D, solving the adventure one turn at a time.
"With my party, my hardest job most of the time is trying to keep them alive." This is fascinating, because I sort of have the opposite problem. Because of the way my current group works, combat isn't all that super common (they really like to talk their way out of stuff or engineer non-combat work-arounds) and I guess I unconsciously pull punches when combat does happen? So I work them up on how big and bad this bad guy and his minions are, but then they wipe the floor with the bad guy. I suppose there's a balance between "punishingly difficult" and "way too easy" and I'm erring too far on the easy side of it.
It is fun, though, to see the things they come up with to avoid or truncate combat!
So I finally got a job and finally had a reason to listen to an Arcadia plug-in and holy crap 5 dollars for 46 pages IS a steal. I think I'll get at least one :D
While this is generally true, it can sometimes be fun to mess around. Once my group was planning a heist, and I intentionally left the room while they planned, so that, as I said "When my basic security measures foil your plan, there can be no possibility that I was cheating."
...The basic security measures ABSOLUTELY foiled their plan, and it was glorious.
I had a situation where the players devised this plan to secretly give one of their enemies of a love potion to charm them. The only problem was, it was secret from me too. They never got the chance to slip her the drink because I never gave them the chance... I never knew there was a reason to.
A couple of months ago, I was quite literally just telling the newer Call of Cthulhu players in my group nearly every exact point you stated in this video.
One of the new players was quite sure my homebrew scenario was going to end in all of their deaths. And I had to explain that I am on their side. That as a GM, I want the player characters to make it as far as possible while having as much player agency that they can handle so that they can experience the plot as it unfolds and how their decisions may or may not change various plot points and outcomes.
I told them that this a horror mystery game and I cannot guarantee there won't be some sort of tragic outcome for some or all of the players but I am not going to set out and purposefully kill them off, especially if their decisions are creative and smart.
Also said that the more information you can give me about your ideas and plans the more I can prepare to make their plans successful and more fun by adding in little details that I don't always think of on the fly during a game time decision by the players.
Very good video Matt! 🙂
One of my players would often say to me "I have a great plan, but if I tell you then you can stop it from working."
Every time, my response was "If you don't tell me, then it definitely won't work."
Just found your channel and this series about a week ago, as I am DMing for the first time for some friends this weekend. I'm so grateful for what you have done, keep up the great work!
One of my favorite moments was when one of my players, playing a human variant bard, decided to, during combat, cast Speak with Animals to persuade a Moorbounder to switch sides from the bandits that had the party outnumbered in an ambush to their side. I thought it sounded like an interesting idea and allowed it. The Bard player rolled well, managed to convince the Moorbounder that hunting bandits was more fun and the party managed to get out of a really sticky situation, all because the bard didn't feel like attacking a giant cat with tusks. The bard then rolled really well on Animal Handling and the party now has a pet Moorbounder. They still have to roll regular Animal Handling checks, because Murray, the giant cat with tusks, is not domesticated, but the story that has blossomed from that one small moment is just so great.
Yessss! I want Pizza. Matt knows everything....
Ths has been my number one piece of advice for GMs for a very long time.
Any time the players say they want to do something that seems weird or stupid, it's most likely because they misunderstood the situation. To clear things up, simply as the players what they think they are going to accomplish with the action, and then it will become clear immediately if there's a miscommunication error.
I think this needs a companion video for DMs to remind them that it's not their job to foil their players plans either. I think a lot of DMs do it subconsciously, from little things like if Character A is immune to a damage type, that Character just _never_ seems to be targeted with that damage type, to a bigger things like the making players' roll very high DCs to make a plan work, and if they fail just one it all fall apart...effectively discouraging the players from enacting it.
I love this so so much. We DMs are on your side, players! We just want to give you a good time :)
This is so important. I'm glad that Matt is apparently an eldritch being who was able to pull this out of my brain and articulate it a lot more efficiently than I would have. I'm afraid of coming across as snarky or condescending
Matt says all this. But he's never seen the glee in my DMs eyes when one of us has to roll death saves.
That's a sign that your DM is a wangrod
Just bought your two books. You've given me so much help, even if it takes me a while to get to them I'm happy to help support you
I love this video. It doesn't quite hold true if you actually have an adversarial/railroading DM - but if you've got one of those you've got bigger issues.
After the recent PSA from Steve from blue's clues, this feels like Matt is the D&D analog for Steve
I fully endorse this message as a GM.
If it were easy for you to do, we wouldn't be rolling dice. So go hog wild, but lemme join you in these festivities.
I'm so fortunate to have a player group that not only talks to me when they want to do something, but also who each come to me one at a time to discuss cool moments they envision for their characters! We've had so many dramatic moments driven by my players.
I encourage anyone to reach out to their DM and include them in future plans, especially if you see a way your character's growth can intersect with the DM's story. Many of us love that.
the game relies on communication, and players asking questions of the DM are essential to this. many times players screw themselves because they skip that "ask the DM first" step. DMs are playing the game too. and whether you need them to clarify what they said or help you understand the situation or your character's options, that's their job. don't break down the door before you check if it's locked.
Remember, in order to invoke the rule of cool, the dm needs to know how cool your plan is.
This my best birthday gift ever! Love it so much!
Tanti auguri! :)
Happy birthday!
Crazy plans remind me of one incident with my group: I forget what we were fighting, but when my turn came up, I wanted to try something unorthodox, so I prefaced it by saying, "uhh... let's get weird." Since then "Let's get weird" has been my group's catchprase for when we try to do something (potentially) stupid.
Love that. I’d try to steal it but it would probably just feel forced.
This exact situation came up last week! It's amazing how often I have to ask my players to 'please explain' because they were keeping the info close to their chest in fear of my ruling.
One thing that Matt said that I initially disagreed with (and almost always have) is the idea that "the players could (do anything) even kill a god." First, I'll say that I always enjoy Matt's videos since they invariably get me thinking; introspection is good. I think that I figured out what I've always took issue with is this idea; I don't think gods should have stats because they are simply too powerful - they provide some of their power to mortals to cast up to 9th level spells, after all, so it can be argued that they simply outclass and outstrip the power any mortal or group of mortals can throw at a god in a direct assault. And that's where I figured out that I'm not opposed to the idea of a god being killed by a party of players, but rather the way in which it typically happens. In my mind it's less about them having the power to do it and more about having the knowledge and means through something external that allows them to accomplish the Herculean task that would (and should) otherwise be an impossible feat for mere mortals. Anyway, this is slightly 'off topic' from the main thrust of the video, but as I stated earlier, he always gets me thinking deeper about things even if it's in regard to a throwaway line. ;-)
It depends on your fantasy you are wanting to run. God of War is a setting where a mortal man went from blessed man of the god's, to a God, to slaying the entire Greek Pathneon. The God's were both forces of nature capable of immense destruction, yet also had physical forms which made it possible.
Are they massive creatures that are just doing their own thing, and their bi-products and rivalrys naturally spill over into the mortal realms as a side product of merely existing.
Or are gods merely ideas? Primodeal forms of nature that simply aren't an individual but a law written into the universe by something resembling a form? That slaying them is as realistic as slaying an idea, that they don't really have any agency or relevance to the mortal planes, but just existing means they are a source of power to draw on.
Or are god's given strength by worship like we do in our world? Did they start off as people or an abstract idea that gained sentience based on worship and thus was able to bless the followers that created it.
Are they all born equal? Or are there greater and lesser divine beings that are responsible for aspects of the universe. The god of Kobolds for example is unlikely to be as powerful as a God of Dragons or Giants, but it's traits are suitable for the people it pays patronage too.
And if a player is successful in slaying a god, what is the consequence of that action? Does someone else have to take it's place or does it simply recover over time like Legends of Zelda, where the cycle periodically repeats itself across time.
There are many ideas on what God's could and couldn't be, limited only by the world building and the willingness of GM's to allow players to potentially overthrow Pantheons or take on massive tasks. Just it really depends on what the people want to do together.
Theres a 12th level spell that allows you to SUMMON a gods physical being into the material plane. We're probably talking about several thousands of hit points; but if your players are that high level. Why stop them?
@@lordbiscuitthetossable5352 To be sure, and God of War is a fantastic setting; it's just not mine. And, to add, I've answered all your excellent questions in creating my world and pantheon. Every DM, I'd hope, are or have done so as well.
@@willfrancomb3203 It's not about outright stopping them.... that, I would never do. However, I'd likely never give a god stats as I personally don't think it would have any real meaning in relation to the players' power level - the gap is simply too vast, IMW (in my world). SO, the point is that if the players took a direct assault route then they're really laying their lives on the line because a god (again, IMW) would have the ability to manipulate reality or simply kill with a single word or negate a caster's spells, or reverse or stop time, or any number of things of equal power and how would the players hope to deal with that?
I'll give you the example of the first season of Critical Role when Vox Machina took on Vecna. I really enjoyed that and feel it was possible as Vecna was not a god *just* yet. In taking that route it made it possible, in my mind, for mortal PCs to kill an 'almost' god. Really dramatic and tense and I loved it. There are many other similar situations that addresses the immense power disparity which I can imagine such as the god somehow had their power (or a vast majority of it) stripped from them for whatever reason, or maybe they were divinely injured by another god... lots of ideas to make such a situation as killing a god possible, IMW.
@@jchunick That's totally cool. I was just basically playing devils advocate promote discussion as I thought it was a pretty cool thing to muse about. Personally I've never run a game so I don't actually have an answer yet, aside from some vague ideas in my drafts.
Though level 20 characters basically either are God's or demi God's in their own right based on the amount of world altering stuff they can preform. A martial class is basically like having Goku in Dragon Ball, he could simply devastate entire armies by themselves with their physically disproportionate might. A Druid would literally have the entire four seasons at their disposal e.t.c. It's actually pretty incredible how powerful Player characters actually are, that it's kinda like calling the Avengers together when something comes up. XD
Whether it takes that kind of united front to slay a god or peel one eldrich finger off of the mortal worlds really is up to imagination.
Oh man. I've been waiting for this one!
this hit the nail squarely on the head, as always, on point Mr Colville.
That got really intense all of a sudden. Thank you for being an inspiration!
My first computer went "DING" and had a paper monitor.
This is the best and most impactful information that you have presented to the players so far. This is a collaborative game. It requires clear communication of intent from the players and DM alike. I have always, as a player, made it a habit to ask a few questions about the circumstances before declaring my characters actions. I find that to be the best moment to clarify any assumptions about what my character is about to attempt. I also, as a DM set up the understanding that I am a fan of the characters. I want your plan to succeed. I, also, want it to make sense, represent the challenge, and be believable. We can achieve that more easily if we sculpt this scenario together. Trust the DM. They want you to experience your character as the bad ass adventurer you see in your head.
Matt, thank you for being a river to your people.
"despite (...) all the giggling when they read what the monsters can do"
this man truly knows us so well
Easily one of Matt's top ten Running The Game videos! "Your DM is on your side!"
Bravo Matt, bravo and thank you 👏👏👏
An important thing that good DMs will remember and communicate to their players is that sharing information about your plan is NOT the same as giving that information to the NPCs. This must remain true as the same brain that arbitrates the rules and narrates the world also controls the beings within it. The DM must not use this information against the players without the NPCs having their own reasons for gaining that detail.
When I DM I just say: "That is an assumption you can make." to almost everything.
Mostly because players linger in the Hypothetical/Planning phase to try to 'coax solutions out of their DM'.
The quote "All our videos are exactly the same length: as long as it needs to be" has very "a wizard is never late" vibes :D
I am sending this to my players. THIS IS SO GOOD. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. Especially in the games I like to run.
Thank you Matt, and please send your team my thanks as well. I consider your style as a cornerstone of my DM style, and ability to covey and consolidate topics and info is insanely useful.
I want my players to win, because if they always lose then they won't want to play, and then I won't have any players to torment.
I started learning from Matt’s videos four years ago, and I have always done my best to encourage my players to ask “Why?”
I strive to create challenges that I have no solution for
A DM's video is never "too long". It is precisely as long as he means it to be!
That portcullis mimic trap is indeed fiendishly evil!
stealing that for the goblin lair next session...
@@AlleyFang seems like a great idea!
Oh my god, as a DM, so many players need to hear this. Making sure both the players and the DM are on the same page with wacky player plans improves the game immensely.
A word of advice from me:
Prepare encounters which the party are unlikely at defeating.
Then be on their side and support their clever plans at dealing with the situation.
If they don't have a clever plan, they can always run. If they don't, well they might end up dead.
Have been screaming these exact things to my fellow players at the table for years. Our forever DM is not out to destroy them and their plans if they speak them out loud.
Really glad to see you back on running the game videos!
I honestly think my favorite thing as a dungeon master is giving my players open-ended tools with no challenge in mind, then hearing them scheme with those tools many sessions later. I have the most fun when my players are engaging with the world in ways that surprise me. I didn't come to the table to write a story, I came to watch (and sometimes help) it unfold.
Sir! You are the greatest. I was literally having this same conversation with a newer member of our group and you explained this scenario better than I can. I'll have to tell him about this video
This is the best advice. I’m gonna add this to a playlist of helpful videos for my players who wanna run they’re own campaign some day
The only downside to playing online, no free pizza.
Order online, prepaid, and have it delivered to their house.
”What you are trying to achieve?" is a question I find useful when this comes up.
Thanks for the video fam 😎 love the content! Regardless of where our campaign is at the current moment, I watch every single one of these ❤
4:57 Some of my most frustrating experiences as a player have been when a GM has forgotten that they are the eyes and ears of the PCs, and have a responsibility to describe and explain observable details accurately. If every single player believes something "false" about the situation based entirely on the description, it's the fault of the description.
I guess this means that Bashew and Colville are the newest members of the Mutual Appreciation Society (which is wonderful, since lots of us have been admiring both of them individually for quite some time 👍
I'm thinking crossover...Colville voices an episode.
Oh Zee has been stopping by in twitch chat streams for ages! He's great and always has good questions
It's worth noting that not all DMs are super kind and permissive and I think that can foster this secretive nature in players. I changed my DMing a little a while back and I think I've managed to make all of this crazy plan stuff much better with a simple fix. I often used to worry about things turning out too easy for the PCs while I was running at the table, and for the precise reason mentioned too, I want the victory to be satisfying. As a result I often found myself saying no to wacky ideas that would have made the encounter less challenging as I worried, well if they use this strange idea to defeat a key problem which makes the encounter hard, it might end up being underwhelming! My solution, I have 2 DM hats. I have the evil jerk DM hat (which I put on during prep), and the kind and fun DM hat (which I put on during play). The result is that jerk DM makes the encounters err on the side of too hard, and tries to preempt any obvious fixes the players might have, then nice DM comes along and is worried about how hard it looks, so lets all the players' plans work to bring the difficulty back down to the right level. Basically, make it too hard and then you'll have a good reason to say yes to the players when they have an idea to make it easier for themselves.
Oh, thank you! You got my note. Now I'll send it to my players.
Good one. Easy to explain, harder for your players to wrap their heads around.
Imma buy the shit outta that packet. I was making my own to do that exact thing, but having a template to /expand upon/ has been rough. A thousand appreciations upon you Mr. Colville.
As a GM, I have taken the "I'm here for you guys" role very seriously, and have, in fact, migrated that to my playing style.
To be more clear: my Friday games I constantly try to egg on my GM. Tell them to recharge the dragons breath, do the enemies have any cool things they did? Magic or item? I play a low AC wizard I and I will wholeheartedly giggle at any damage that comes my way (I will say that that is not me being a masochist, but rather a player that is used to playing tanks and is an above 100HP wizard with bottles of healing and polymorph)
Great vid.
TL;DR: Yes the GM wants you to have fun, why not extend the courtesy?
Brilliant video! I didn't know I needed to watch this. Yet, here I am blown away by how useful this will be to both myself and my table.
When DMing, I have to resist the impulse to interject too much bc I don't want to solve the problem for them. However, I do pay careful attention bc often players are making plans based off assumptions not held by the characters who live in the world, or dismissing plans based off false assumptions the players are making... ideally, my job during the pc planning stage is to bridge the gap bw character and player knowledge to enable characters to make plans their players could not... bc the map is not the territory. This requires careful attention, and is more art than science.
Thank you once again for your wisdom, sir. As a DM this is invaluable
Nice vid. Don't mind me, just an algorithm bumping comment. Greeting from Greece!
Great video as always! I appreciate your videos all being the same length. I think it is the perfect amount of time to talk about something. :)
My goal as a learning DM is to walk this fine line: be on the side of the players and help them achieve entertaining heroic success... but also create a situation where I get to narrate, "The earth elemental steps on your head to make sure you're dead."
You are truly a river to your people! Thank you Matt!
OK, so I haven't gotten very far into this video yet. But I LITERALLY put a party of my players in a hallway in which the door at the end of the hallway was a mimic and when they tried to open it, a gelatinous cube dropped from the ceiling in behind them. Glad to see I'm not the only one who appreciates such a scenario.
I can't wait to get my hands on those monster harvesting rules!
Player advice videos that are short and to the point like this one are my jam.
Oh my god this is the timeliest video ever. I needed this for my group so bad.
Excellent video, Matt - Perfect timing for our Campaign!
Perfect. Thank you thank you thank you Matt!
Just noticed the "yes" album on the shelf. Matt has such good taste
YES!! The album! And this video!
That's my favorite Yes album on the shelf. It's like finding an easter egg!
Great video. Players should really feel like they have a chance to accomplish the goals in their character background.
This is probably the best advice that can be given to players. It should be part of every Role Playing 101 "course"
Just put so many of my frustrations into words.
My most recent game ended due to scheduling conflicts.
But the last session was also a very bad session that ended poorly.
The players were trapped in a room.
Just outside the door with a high-level monster that everyone at the table new would TPK then.
So they just started saying actions, "i try to set the wals on fire, i try to brake the altar. Ect,ect)
No planing and no explanation of anything.
I asked "why are you doing this?" "Because i can't think of anything else"
Eventually they just voiced their out of game frustration and I made up some explanation of what happened, essentially hand waving the whole thing. I apologized and excepted blame for making a bad encounter.
How do you still except partial blame. But i still would have expected any plan if they came up with one and explained the reasoning.