This is really scary. You were one of only 3 youtubers I subscribed to that hadn't been named in video's of others I'm subscribed to. Now only 2 are left. It is all connected man, all connected.
I have a player that doodles during sessions, I didn't think much of it until i asked copies of everyone's notes. And then i saw she was drawing the scenes i was describing! I was over the moon!
I haven’t DM’d since like 2004 in 3.5e D&D and after this week’s session of 5e told me “you really nailed it today, all of your descriptions painted a great image in my head” I basically cried 😭
Players being chill about their character dying My group in character: *Emotions are running high, the gnome is in tears and the half-orc has probably killed whoever killed the party member* Out of character: It's meme time bois
That feels like my group. In character we're like "no, damn it, noooooo" but out of character we are just sharing memes in the discord and putting up gifs like "this is the enemy pimpslapping us."
Always have a backup character ready. Just don't let that distract from the Character you're playing currently. I used to be itching to play the backup character more than the current character and that brought up problems. But once you master your expectations, you're always ready to embrace the odds
Our group is more unaccepting in the way of, if one of our loved ones dies then we will drop literally everything and go on some hair brained quest to resurrect them, even if it means doing some alignment changing things.
@@lancercu8640 tbh that's fine when your just a npc is just that cinnamon roll I would go full death March just to get them alive. (Aka if bbeg trys to they will have someone who will have all to gain and nothing to lose! The people you fear)
I think one of the best experiences I’ve had as a DM was when my party of four saw a stuck up noble and, in character, spent 20 minutes discussing the ethics of killing them.
I was actually brought to tears when a Player, in character, was teaching an NPC *about* the lore of my world, the fact that she was so willing to invest herself in the game that she was able to put concepts into words that even I had struggled with. Yela, if you happen to see this, you are wonderful
man i actually get shot down when i have like a really in detail concept and i want it to integrate it into the world, and im like "okay here's the general idea" how can i integrate it into your world what would i need to change from my character or how would the society impact the characters behavior and have certain habbits rituals or like certain bonds with people. the respond i got was like Man that's too much work with there can you have something more simple? i know who people who write llike pages at lv 1 but i assure you its not that. we are lv 7 , so to start at that you gotta have some story its literally 3 paragraphs of how i got born, background , and last paragraph is what is my quest and what i am looking for in the world, and ws told its too much
@jackson edwards I think it's the people that bring the spirit, that make the fun happen, that make the memories last, and make it all worth it. It is delightful of you to appreciate the people you have with you. =)
@@edarddragon maybe what you could do is tell them "look man, I appreciate all the work you've put in to this. Could you summarise what you feel are the most important highlights of your char in a few bullet points first. We can work on the rest later"
I love it when players role-play in-character WITH EACH OTHER, so the game is not just a bunch of separate PC-to-DM conversations. It really brings all the characters to life, and gives the DM a welcome mental break too.
Opposite happened to me unfortunately. Had a couple of players start bickering in character, which was quite fun, but it then evolved into them actually having a go at each other ooc, and one of them ended up just getting up and leaving. Seriously guys, be your character, by all means, but don't start getting offended on their behalf.
Yes All three of my main campaign groups ive run for did this. All three very different groups regarding who knows whom, and playstyle. But all 3 were great roleplayers together and made the story more natural
Best session I've ever run in my life, I only said maybe 30 words over 4 hours. The party was discussing all of the plot leads they had through the campaign thus far, and were putting all of the connections together after 3 years adventuring together in real time (5 years for their characters). I had their NPC mentor clarify a few points two or three times. But they were gearing up for endgame, not just physically, but emotionally. They RP'd as old friends that might not see each other again come dawn. I think that was more emotional than the TPK they caused themselves the final session. 🙃
Two of my Players' characters had an almost 20 minute heart to heart about trauma they went through and they had me in tears with how uplifting and kind they were to eachother
As a dm of 8 years I'm doing that for a guy who just started. All these goals of business and trade routes and getting standing. Giving all a heads up to him so he keeps thinking. I made a character with him and my gnome has 15 siblings who run the family business in a town his family started called luckspring. All the npcs are my best friends and business partners hahahaha
Yep, when Im playing an rpg I'm doing it because I want to ROLEPLAY! Which means my character does not always do what *I* know or think would be the best/smartest/most efficient thing...I actively make decisions in the mindset of my character. It's way more fun!
Absolutely true. It's actually true for anything in life: work, playing in a band, supporting friends of family... One might not be the skilled or the most open or pleasant person, but people WILL appreciate you in all walks of life if you are the person who always shows up, ready and on time.
This. There's nothing that makes me feel worse as a GM than having players skip out last minute. It shows you have no respect for the time and effort I've put in and that the time spent with me as a person isn't worth as much as whatever you've dropped the session for last minute. Cuts deep. :(
The party was investigating a ghost town, the person they were escorting through there requests to investigate a certain building that stood out from the others. They approach the door, and the feral changeling rouge PC decides to try and kick down the door. She doesn’t roll high enough, so she kicks the door, and it just shakes a bunch. She hisses at the door in anger, and then steps back for someone else to try. The barbarian walks up to the door and asks if it’s locked. I stifle a laugh and the following exchange takes place. Me: “Twist the doorknob and find out” PC2: “Ok, I turn the knob, is it locked?” Me: “No” PC2: “I open the door” We took a 5 minute break to stop laughing. It was incredible.
We have a druid who for the past few sessions has been trying to talk to the animals we meet to figure out where we are but after the first 2 said the same thing everyone else started just killing them without talking and got to the point where she would just watch us fight. So when my battle hungry half orc cleric heard the druid yell " guys were going to kill these fuckers" well those skeletons weren't around much longer 💀
one of my favorite things as a dm is when my players actually find creative ways outside what could've been a rather tough scenario. for example, in the dead of night, my players, who were on an airship, heading towards a dwarven mining town, i had 2 vampires land on the ship. sure, some of the players were quick to get hostile.....but a few other players actually struck a deal with them, giving them 2 bottles of dragons blood instead of their own, and the vampires just walk away....the vampires agreed to the terms, and there was no fighting at all. i dropped hints that the vampires were actually friendly and didn't want to hurt anyone, and a few players actually took notice of it and defused the situation. the funny part is that they actually learned more about the 2 vampires, and even managed to cure them with a scimitar luckblade wish
I love when players "draw" in the possible "wall-flowers", the players who might not speak at all, or whose characters might not do anything but roll dice when asked. Those players who engage them, ask them questions in-character and just draw them into the game. Whoever you are, if you play like this. I love you.
Except it's annoying if players are telling shy people "why aren't you talking?" Best for the DM to directly interact with the wall flowers and for other PCs to ask for their advice
I'm so lucky my group has always been amazing about playing well with wallflowers, and honestly it warms my heart how these kinds of players can get so many to truly experience the wonder if this dorky ass game
To be totally honest, I love when my players give me a really inventive solution for a challenge that I planned. Once I planned a boss battle within a cave with a ancient dire bear. The Druid of the group said "If I buff the thing with enlarge animal, he will be to big to manuver itself within this cave" He avoided a boss battle with the bear by BUFFING the damn thing. It could not follow them through the caves. Man, that got me by surprise.
One of the players in my group (side note: I'm one of the players in my group, too) who is playing a druid totally out of his element recently managed to pull a fantastic spell use on the DM, the group was fighting a clockwork dragon, and it suddenly took flight, and the druid, almost immediately, goes "I cast Earth Bind" everyone at the table had to give him props for that one, especially since it seemed up to that point that the player had moonbeam and water walk and nothing else prepped ever.
That's so clever. In the notoriously deadly final battle in Starfinder Dead Suns volume one, the party's mechanic came up with the brilliant idea of SABOTAGING THEIR OWN SHIP to electrify part of the hull, essentially creating a deadly OH&S violation. The electricity-vulnerable monster that can phase through solid matter tried to cunningly attack them through the hull and got its demonic arse fried. I didn't expect it at all, and it was super clever.
These are GREAT! Our DM gave us a chest with a combination that we had overlooked when searching the previous place we were at. The chest did damage every time the combination was wrong. So our elf rouge decided to cast mage hand and use it on the lock. It's a cantrip, so he just said "I'd like to systematically try all combinations. How long will that take?" The DM replied, "About two hours. Do you just wanna time-skip?" It was beautiful. XD
I love it when a player pushes back against my plans for absolutely valid RP reasons. Also, several times my players have taken a liking to a one-off NPC and this has inspired me to make that NPC a permanent part of the game.
This happens to me so frequently that I just prepare to do that for just about any NPC I make, important or otherwise. My players love it, though I will admit, it is somewhat improv-heavy.
I absolutely love when a player has a prediction and instead of asking me “irl” about it they have their PC tell the group what they think might happen. Often the party gets wrapped up in how I respond to the question to gauge its validity instead of the idea the player had.
My favorite thing is when a player wants to contribute *outside* of a session. As DM's, spending time outside of the session to prepare is almost a must. So when a player says "Hey, I like drawing characters, is there anyone you'd want me to draw?" or "Oh yeah, I'd love to work out what's going on in my rogue's criminal organization that I don't really want to talk about in front of everyone else", it really feels like they're enjoying the campaign and investing as much as we are.
I'm DMing Curse of Strahd for a group of friends and one of them actually created a poster (fully drawn and written in a medieval style) with political slander to... well, de-stabilize the political climate in Vallaki. That was, easily, one of the highlight of the campaigns for me - I'm both proud and delighted at what this player did. Seeing your players engage the story and immerse themselves to that point just makes everything worth it.
@@szymonsokolinski9907 Either is a step up on "I cast this, tell me what it does", but I prefer them knowing the rules and being able to explain them without having to read me the description.
@@szymonsokolinski9907 I'm referring to players who cast a spell and then say "what does that do?" as they wait for me to look up the spell. I don't mean reading the whole spell out loud every time lol
Roleplaying is pivotal in combat. I'm running a homebrew where the players' decisions can influence the TN. Good strategies get rewarded, bad ones are punished. It forces the players to really think about things, and their descriptions can get really amazing. The voice thing is huge, too. I either use an accent when in character, or imitate a celebrity that everyone will recognize. I get requests all the time to bring old voices back. My biggest hit is Alan Rickman, may he rest in peace.
I absolutely love to roleplay in D&D Games. Even my barbie who talks in 3rd person and simple sentences. A dm mistook it as me not being interested in rping. We were doing a quest that didn't require combat, Skadi ( the barbarian), walked to a wall and leaned on it as he set his weapon down. Cleric asked if something was wrong, Skadi replied to her with " All good at something, Skadi good at killing not talking, Skadi let those who good at speak speak and Skadi wait. ", I'm pretty sure it connected with everyone that Skadi actually had a character. lol
The best D&D players show curiosity about other characters. It's very rare that I see one PC ask another in character about their background, experiences, fears, triumphs, opinions, etc. As a DM, I LOVE in character PC-to-PC interaction.
Something that can be really interesting is a character relationship matrix. Make a shareable Google spreadsheet, and down the side type in "What does [character A, B, C, etc.] think of..." and along the top write "...[character A, B, C, etc.]". Share the link and invite players to fill it in briefly in-character (and yes, fill in how they view themselves - this can be really useful for roleplaying). Every few sessions, encourage them to revisit it and see if their opinions have changed.
I know doing, multiple characters for a player isn't common (keeping characters seperate, etiquet, and ect. for why) but a player that can work with a pair of characters, where one is invested in the whole party and the other only cares about the one other character for that player, can lead to some really interesting story moments.
For one of my best characters I ever played, my first question to each of the other player's characters was "You look interesting enough to tell a story?" That game is awesome.
I'm doing a Drow centric game. When a Drow broke down in front of her "second class" son about the visions Eilistraee gave her my player said, "You are a slave too. Lolth just holds your chains." I was ecstatic.
Just send it to them! I watched this literally because my DM sent it to our group. Some of us are new to the game so he wanted to give tips. If your players are looking to have a good time and are true friends, they'll WANT to help you out and do things that will let the DM be included in the fun!
I'm the notetaker for our group and another player actually started recording out sessions. She's writing a diary entry from her character after every session and they are a BLAST to read.
I play once every two weeks so sometimes I forget who is who. But my dm is kind enough to allow it as role play for my low intelligence barbarian. Playing it off as my barb to poke my wizard commrad who takes notes and Is the coin purse of our pirate campaign keeping really good track of the gold and who we gotta rob next.
I'm a DM and a player asked me a question. I responded with this massive bit of lore and the players love it. Except after the session, I messaged me players like "hey remember that lore drop? Yeah, why did I say that again? I can't remember what the situation was that it came up" All 5 players remember the lore, but not how we got there, and I didn't write it down. Whoops
I took notes for a campaign that I was in that ended a few months ago. I had two separate docs, one for general notes/story summary and a second one entirely for characters. I numbered the characters at first, but kind of gave up numbering them some time after 200 because google docs has terrible formatting. I did keep taking notes on them though, and the character notes ended up being 27 pages. The story notes ended up being 162 pages. In the last session, a character from the beginning of the game who had sort of indirectly led to the death of a player character reappeared and I recognized the name, let out a gasp, and the DM immediately said "Why do you take such good notes?!" I was playing a bookish character whose job it was to collect information on people, so I thought it made sense to take detailed notes, I had never done it before outside of writing down NPC info.
One girl in my group always had the next level prepped. Whenever out DM milestone leveled us, she just move a sheet from the back of her binder to the front and was good to go. She was able to help others level, and motivated me to do the same.
One of my players had his PC fall in love with my DM PC. It was especially spicy when the BBEG *killed* my DM PC as the result of the party not giving into the BBEG’s demands. That player loved it and retired his original character for me to use as an NPC with PTSD
I always love it when a player, that doesn't speak that often, comes up with a great plan or uses their ability in an imaginative way. Really warms my heart.
Yes. Our game has a really quite player, but the times he has come up with a plan and actually said it out loud, an orge got convinced to fight a treant instead of us, a golem was bribed to smashed a duegar that was about to kill my character, and an umberhulk helped us kill a god king. He is quite, because he is a giant whisperer.
When players ask when we're going to play again even though we just finished a session, feels so good! That tells me that they're having fun and are enjoying the plot!! Its such a fantastic feeling!!
It's always like that with my group :D We also recently played for like 13 hours with just tiny breaks in between and it didn't even feel like that?! Idk about others, but for me that's the ultimate goals and I hope one day I will be as good at this as my DM is!
The greatest feeling as a Dm I’ve had is looking around the table and seeing everyone smiling and leaned on the table with excitement in their eyes. It is one of my fondest memories.
I’ve learnt that a consistent group is the best thing ever. I can even deal with players being annoying sometimes as long they are always there when we get together
Honestly I'm trying to get to just basic courtesy. Show up on time, ask questions, say thank you, bring snacks, work with other players, do more than sit there and wait for me to ask for initiative.
@@2MeterLP I had that once, and that player then started falling asleep and wanted us to wake him when combat started. Told him after that session that there are other people who want to join the group and his spot was being given to someone else because he didn't want to participate. Glad I didn't end the campaign on account of one player, because it's been going strong for 6 years. The players are setting the scene up for character retirement.
When players remember that they have flaws and embrace them. Also when they make decisions that their character would make and not what the player wants.
One of our dms actually rewards players for creating a flaw with their character (and using it), the more extreme the flaw the better reward. (nothing game breaking just maybe a special item skill point if it's real bad.)
I don't only love when players thank me for the work i've put in and the fun they've had but also when they deliver constructive criticism on what im doing, especially since im a pretty new DM and don't really know what i'm doing.
I do play that differently. My character is bad with names, so I write down a description, but not the name. I can describe the innkeeper in that one village from 25 sessions ago and tell you his dreams and hobbies, but I can't for the life of me remember the name.
I absolutely love it when a player takes a bad roll and runs with it, creating role playing moments from it. It really grinds my gears when a player begs for a re roll out for me to just not notice the roll.
I once played a knight, and the party had a fighter who claimed to be from a small knightly order from a small and distant kingdom, dropping names and such to cozy up to my new character. I rolled a 3 on my knowledge nobility and royalty check, looked up at him and said "never heard of you" the whole table bust out laughing. Rolling low can be way more interesting than rolling high.
I'm in the middle of my first official DnD campaign and I'm really stoked to see that most of our group is doing things right! And in particular, about thanking our dungeon master... we literally can't stop! At the end of every session we get up like we just saw the most amazing movie ever, and we keep telling him how cool the session was all the way to the door! We're all so glad that he's doing this for us, he's really good!
DM here: My favorite players are ones who give audible reactions to the campaign. Like when something is revealed to the group that nobody expected or initiative is asked to be rolled after a tention filled RP that just didn’t go the way the players wanted, when I hear the “Ohhh shit!!!” Or “Ahhhhhhh” or similar noise effects some of my players make. It does make my day, just a little. 😆
Chris V.H. Exactly! Once everyone is relaxed and having a good time it makes it a lot easier to DM...... and to surprise them with mimics and shapeshifters.
Yes this. I played with a group of players that I thought for the longest time might be robots, because they never reacted to anything. Yet when I'd take one of them privately aside after the game or whatever to ask how things were going and if they had any suggestions they'd be like "oh no its great, i'm having a blast!" and I'm like "WTF? You are?"
I am this person in game and I always feel like I interrupt 😅 I can’t help it though as a lot of things are still new to me for Dnd so I’m always like “oh shit!” Or “daaamn!”
Failures can be funnier and more memorable than successes. We were once stuck in a tsunami that was sweeping through a massive coastal city, and our paladin pulled off some good rolls to literally surf on the wave with his shield. That was awesome enough, but then he failed the next roll to duck under a bridge, and this is why one of the stone bridges in Freeport still to this day has Roland's face imprinted into the side of it.
@@MCDexX I have to say that is very true. A memorable session of mine was when my gnome character Tobias was strapped to a cultist table but my arms were free. I told my DM I wanted to untie myself. You see, I have this curse over me that creates really funny scenarios. For the first 3 or 4 sessions I never rolled higher than 4. Another player joked that I would roll a 1 and end up getting rope burn. I rolled a 1 and ended up getting rope burn.
@@theofficalchairmanrevoluti614 - Captive gnomes seem to be a key ingredient for mishap comedy. This story requires some background... In our long-running Pathfinder campaign, we often face impossible non-magical steam-powered enemies - flying sword-bladed helicopters we call "choppers", armoured mechanical warriors we call "clankers", etc. Because of the nature of their high-pressure steam boilers, when they die they explode violently. They also have a security feature where if someone tries to hack them and reprogram them without authorisation, they can spontaneously explode to keep them out of enemy hands. Sadly, they can be VERY over-sensitive that what constitutes "tampering". So, we've tracked the trafficking of these clockwork monsters to a major port town on the south coast, and worked out they are being moved by a notorious pirate family. In our investigations, our gnome bard is captured and held captive. We track down her captives to a network of sewer tunnels that empty out into the sea that the pirates use to smuggle illicit goods. Pirates swarm into the tunnels to fight us, and the captive gnome is left with a single guard, in a room stacked high with wooden crates. She comes up with an escape plan, which starts with kicking her guard in the shin. She rolls a natural 1, and the DM says that she misses and kicks one of the crates... and a distinct whistling sound begins to build up. The clockwork machine in the crate has interpreted the hard thump as an attack and has begun the self-destruct sequence. This would be bad enough, except the room is full of DOZENS of them. Short version: we and the pirates and recognise the noise and know we have one round, maybe two rounds tops, to get to a safe distance, and the battle is forgotten as we all scatter like ants in the rain. The underground room explodes, the sewer outflow pipes turn into giant cannons, and a volcanic eruption of flaming stone flies up and starts raining down over the entire town. End result: sea-side half of the town razed by fire, half of the merchant fleet sunk by falling stones, gods-know how much cargo lost, pirates scattered and untraceable, but thankfully nobody killed because we ran around madly rescuing people from burning buildings and putting out fires, and four years of jokes about the most dangerous thing in the world being Carella's toes.
One of my favorite examples of this was at a convention many many years ago. We were playing a DC Heroes game, and had all drawn a random Justice League member from the deck of character cards. We ended up with a fun mixed group of mid-power characters, including Batman, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Big Barda, and a few that didn't even begin with a B. This was during the time when Blue and Gold were buddies, but also pranking each other constantly, and Booster Gold was starting to get twitchy about always being seen as a joke, when he really wanted to be taken seriously. So, we need to get into a warehouse. Rather than have our best B&E person open something so we could all enter, we all went to different possible entries and tries to break in. No, I don't remember why. I don't think it made any sense at the time either. Every single one of us makes our roll, and opens our respective entry... except Batman, who fails. Then fails again. Then botches. By this time, everyone else is inside wondering where Batman went. Figuring out that he's still on the other side of the door, Booster Gold goes to the door, unlocks it from the inside, opens it and graciously holds it open for Batman, who just glared and swept through cape billowing behind him like he'd meant to do it that way all along.
one of my favorite things is my note taker, i have one in my party, shes amazing. she said her character has a notebook in which she writes down her adventures, and she really does. i looked through them the other day, and its literally "day 1." "day 2." "day 3" and so on, and theres tiny sketches in the notes, and its all written like how her character thinks! no meta gaming. and idk i just really liked you bringing that up because it made me really happy lmao
I think one of the things I adore the most is when players come to me with a really thought out character concept. When they tell me about their backstory, their interests, their bonds, and ESPECIALLY their personality. It bums me out so much when a player comes to me and says "I'll be a dwarf cleric because it's an optimal build", and when I ask about their personality, they just shrug me off with a few traits thrown in that they don't even bother to remember later. So thank you to the players who are willing to give ANY personality to their characters and roleplay that personality. You're the good ones.
Agreed. I especially love it (and enjoy doing this myself) when the background includes one or more intentional story hooks that could draw in roleplay from other party members. I also enjoy as GM being handed a character with mysterious intentional holes in the background that I am asked to help fill... stuff that the character is not aware of that will affect them at some point during the game, and that the player doesn't want to know about either until it happens. This shows that the player 1) has an interest in participating in creation of the story, 2) has enough trust in you as the GM to not do something they'll hate, and 3) fully intend for some serious roleplay to happen at some point. This works especially well in games with disadvantages, as one can be taken where the player is aware of the category and point value of the disad, and that's it. It can make for great story when a sudden appearance is made by the person the player accidentally ruined years back who has been plotting revenge, or the young child they didn't know they'd sired shows up, or a messenger arrives with a package from a relative that hasn't been seen in years and is now presumed dead....
I also love when people do a character voice! Thanks for mentioning that! It doesn’t even have to be very different from your normal voice, you can just use a noticeably different tone or something. It makes it so much easier to distinguish when people are speaking IC and OOC, so I don’t have to always ask “do you actually say that, or was that a joke” when interacting with NPCs.
I was running Curse of Strahd, specifically the death house, and the party took specially good care of putting the children's bones to rest. They roleplayed the finality of these children's existence so well, I had planned to give them a d6 inspiration for the day, I instead gave them a d10 inspiration for next in game week. Long story short, when a DM wants you to take something serious, take it seriously, when it's time to joke, joke around. Follow the tone set by the DM. Even if it's just RP.
I truly appreciated the Druid at my table trying many times to seduce my villain during combat and rolling incredibly badly each time but still roleplaying it out with me, then playing "My Heart Will Go On" once the fight was over.
The person who likes bringing rp between the players is my fav. That’s why everyone on critical role is great because they always bring each other up through the rp without having to force the DM to bring the only character change
I've only been GMing for.. well.. since april. I started with creating my world. So far, my favorite thing is when my players show they're having fun. Cutting loose and laughing about a situation or celebrating when they overcome an obstacle. That feedback has been the most rewarding for me, personally.
It's definitely harder when players don't really know each other out of character. Oddly enough, my current character has about the lowest CHA of the party, but he's the one prodding other PCs to have a voice.
as a player, it warms my heart and makes me happy when other players actually care about and enjoy their fellow players stories and role play moments even when they aren't involved. i have a co player that has told me they cried during one of my scenes with another player before and that made me feel so happy. if you have players who care even when they are not in the spotlight cherish them
I love it when a PC will do something that they know will hurt them majorly, but their character doesn't. It really proves their dedication to the roleplay.
Yes! It's fantastic when players make a choice which is true to their character but detrimental to them or the party. It shows such a deep commitment to the character and story. Knowingly taking that risk and somehow finding a way out of it makes for amazing party memories versus just playing it safe.
Good Lord, exactly that Made me angry with my group. I was low on Money and my Character is rather confident in what He does, thats why i used my pickpocked skills on people. They were shitting on me in the after session because there was a risk that WE would all be closed behind bars.
Yeah, there have been a few times when I've said, "I'm so sorry, guys, but I'm going to have to do something REALLY dumb now..." One of my characters was fascinated by clockwork and machinery, and when the party found a dimensional portal with no magical aura, that could apparently open a gate across the world through machinery and science, she just HAD to stick her head through and see what was on the other side. I apologised to the party first, saying "This might get me killed, and could cause trouble for everyone, but there's no way she WON'T do this. Sorry everyone..." It worked out okay in the end, but I had no way of knowing that ahead of time. :)
My grave cleric drank a vile of clear liquid to prove to the party that it wasn’t water. He was right... it was a very potent poison. 😅 (Had one turn to act before death while on the ground retching his guts out. Luckily, he was able to cure himself before he succumbed.) The party has given him crap for it ever since, and constantly doubts his judgment calls. 😆
I had a Bard with a very low intelligence stat but a heart of gold. After seeing a NPC making death throws on the floor, he realized he couldn't make it to her in time to save her (in his mind anyway) his big idea was to throw a healing potion extremely hard at her, hoping it would break and the potion would somehow secrete into the skin and heal her. It turns out that's not how healing potions work and the flask broke on her, instantly killing her. Now the character took a feat in improvised weapons and uses potions and empty flasks on the regular as a ranged/melee attack
as a player... with a somewhat mean dm... i also love when the casters in my group does this XD (my dm is wonderful, but if you cast fireball in his games then things catch fire... you get my drift)
I love it when players show interest in the characters of other players. Everyone loves their own character (usually) and wants some spotlight time, but it is so great when people also join in the special moment of another character and seem excited or worried for another character's development, both IC and OOCly.
As a DM, I love when my players talk about the session afterwards. Seeing them comment on their favorite parts of the session is really fullfiling. Also when they remember this is a GROUP storytelling game! There once was a time me and a player created a whole backstory for an NPC (related to a players' backstory) just from a random conversation between said NPC and Player, I love it when I plant the seed for them to grow an improvised backstory or what have you and they don't respond with "bruh, YOU are the DM, not me"
I like doing this, had a session just yesterday and couldn’t help but want to recap and talk to everyone about it, or how great we did or how lucky the rolls have been and so on.
We started my current weekly PF1 game with a session zero plus a lot of offline work and on-on-one conversations with the DM. In the sessions zero, the DM would just pause and say, "Okay, someone has walked into the shop, and this is going to complicate the situation. Anyone got any ideas?" If we had a good idea we got to jump in with an off-the-cuff NPC and get to roleplay them during that scene. We not only ended up with really interesting, complicated, and flawed PCs, but a whole host of ready-made NPCs and a stack of in-jokes.
@@DnDorBust Around three months ago in Warhammer Fantasy RP 2nd edition our mage shit himself explosively while casting a spell. Oh and he was not wearing pants. It is moments like those that make DMing worth it
My pc's don't have backgrounds, or character. It's getting mighty stale. I'm assigning this video and some others as homework, and handing out some background sheets im making up for them to fill. No background, no character.
I wrote about 5 pages of back story for 2 characters I played in a campaign I was in a few years ago. My DM was so blown away with all of the detail, time, and effort I put into their stories, and making them actually fit in to Forgotten Realms lore (especially difficult with a 150+ y/o high elf wizard), that he incorporated a lot of their backgrounds into the story. My 2 favorite moments were Velcuthimmorhar (the red dragon who's blood was used on my PC) swiping the head off my Sorcerer's head, and an unknown bad guy posing as my Wizard's dead mentor in order to get his guard down to stab him with a poison dagger.
My absolute favourite thing is when the group engages each other in Roleplay for extended periods of time. Not only do I get to sit back and watch these characters grow and their stories unfold, but it also keys me into things that are important to them. What is on this character's mind? What are they willing to open up about? What information are they keeping close to the chest? What characters don't get a lot of interaction together that could use a scenario or two that might bring them closer together? What do they feel like they're lacking? It...also gives me a minute to eat the dinner I made 5 minutes before session start and never got to eat because I lost track of time making encounter maps lol
LOL at "supportive PCs." I've taken the role of "team dad." One guy basically has PTSD, so I've taken to (admittedly awkwardly) helping him cope. When our party pulls through a rough underwater passage, I'm the one counting heads and making sure our healer knows who needs help. Reminding the Druid (in character) that she can wild shape and asking her if she can brew health potions (or poisons) since she described her home as being covered in herbs. Digging up the grave that the DM OBVIOUSLY set up as cover for a puzzle when the rest of the players decide they're really not down with graveyards at midnight.
As an ex soldier with real ptsd, there is no way to be supportive except for awkwardly. Its impossible to be useful for something you don’t fundamentally understand.
Had anither game recently where the players were overwhelmed. A tpk situation was obvious. Combat was slowing to a grind, they were helpless to escape and clearly losing. You could tell the new guy was disheartened but the other was trying hard to overcome and they made it out. He griped about it repeatedly in that game and the next. Days later he told me that looking back it was about the most exciting thing he could have asked to experience. In the moment he’d felt the terror of being harassed, grabbed and dragged off by a skeletal horde trapped in an underground temple. Now he’s hooked.
Our party has had two character deaths. Both reduced other players to tears, and as much as their deaths sucked, it brought home the enormity of the characters' sacrifice & the perils we were facing. I may have left those sessions with wet spots on my notes, but I wouldn't have it any other way!
Something I love about my players is that they are not afraid to actually role! They're not afraid to cry, scream, sing, fight, get angry with each other's characters, interact with my NPC (some of them actually are in a relationship with one haha) I really love that ~♡
Nothing makes me happier than players roleplaying amongst themselves. It really shows me that they're into the story, having fun, and I get a few minutes for a break to organize some notes
One thing that I love is players that dive themselves into the world. I mainly DM on Forgotten Realms to people not familiar with it, and I really love when the cleric player reads the lore behind his God and roleplay with it. And when people adapt their character as the story goes on. I had a rogue that survived a ton of times because of stupid decisions followed by absurd Dice luck. Then on lvl 4 he got the Magic Initiate Feat as cleric and roleplay as Tymora was giving him her blessing.
Next Thursday I'll be joining my first true campaign. The only experience I have are two one-shots. The world is a wuxia homebrew, beautifully created by the DM. I enjoy every bit of writing, it's just that masterful. There are so much rp possibilities, it would be a crime not to explore them. Can't wait till next Thursday
I can confirm this from the players side as well Crafting a character that ties deeply into a campaigns setting, such as being part of a certain community (guilds, religions, etc.) or knowing certain things in-character about the world (regardless of that knowledge's relevance) is almost as rewarding as playing it
As a player (haven't DM'd yet), I remember my fellow player Jim, a D&D vet. Every time...EVERY TIME....he got quiet, with his fingers steepled in front of him, index fingers tapping lightly, followed by a whimsical expression and,"I've got an idea...," you knew some s#@& was about to go down! One specific example was his character (who could fly) picking up my goblin Artificer in a battle with a corpse worm and dropping my goblin in for the final blow...this was the tamest instance (and I very much summarized it). for some reason, I can't remember all of the crazy stuff he pulled to solve problems, but, our DM loved him for it!
We broke a siege once by having the wizard 1) enlarge himself and throw the never-subjected-to-falling-damage ninja around the battlefield like a living bomb, and 2) polymorph the paladin into a dragon and ride him like a flying horse into battle, raining down fireballs, breath weapons, and dragon melee attacks with smite from the sky. God that was a fun session...
I absolutely love it when my players work with me on their backstory! If I suggest something that may make their character more inclusive or involved in the campaign, and they actually go along with it, or, even better, try to compromise with me, I absolutely love it!
In the same vein as the supportive character, the player that takes the time to listen and engage with other players' backstories. Everyone can be so wrapped up in their character that they don't let anyone share the story they made. I love when my players don't leave it solely on me to make sure that everyone's backstories get some attention.
Back when we were still playing in person, I had a player who would handle the music AND do sound effects for me while I was handling all of the million other things I had to do. So nice 😍
I remember. Back in the day we used to gather in the same physical space, talking, rolling dice, touching minis, and sharing chips from the same back. Kids these days have no idea... I'm just getting ready for my years on the hermitically sealed porch, on my rocking chair, dispensing wisdom tot he wasteland raiders in exchange for caps.
I’ve particularly enjoyed the moments when players interact with one another’s storylines or embrace their downtime to role play. A great arm wrestling competition between the barbarian and paladin breaks out or there’s some personal exchanges of dialogue/hopes. Whatever it may be, I always feel a sense of relief to see it happen and that’s where I start to feel my own joy in running the game ... in part because it’s running itself and totally surprising in those moments
One of the PC has a -5 in Charisma and we decided to roll it as him having a tremendous negative aura that makes everyone uncomfortable if not outright dislike him. He has been adviced by some NPC to explore the world so he can build some personality. Another NPC witnessed this and now he is going to spend their downtime convoluting a plot with the town to make him go through a fake trial. He wants to help him grow out of his condition by using an extreme method, but damn if that ain't one of the most commited things I have ever seen a player do for another.
It's really cool when you have 1 experienced player amongst newbies and the experienced player helps clarify rules and certain rulings that a newbie might be struggling with
One of my favorite things is when a player engages with the world I created, Play a character from the culture I created, treat your cleric as an actual priest of one of my gods, shout out the name of the King as you charge into battle... Such a player, always has a chair at my table.
I always find myself so proud of my players when they completely stray away from the path I expected them to take due to a decision or action that they made. Example: I offered my players a choice of 4 magic items completely expecting them to take the item the best "damage dealing" item then travel south to their destination which would have been about a 14 day journey which I prepared. Instead, they decided on the magical foldable boat (homebrew version) and instead of traveling south, they decided to cut west to the coast and sail to their destination (7 day journey). This completely threw me off as I wasn't expecting to have them sail so quickly. I had to prepare a completely new experience for them but it worked out because it turned out to be one of the most compelling arcs in my campaign. I asked them why they went with the boat instead of any of the other "powerful by numbers" items and they said it was so they could explore the other areas of the world. I have never been more proud... Until one of them suggested that they could summon the boat in the middle of combat as if it were a giant improvised weapon... They have yet to do it, but I fear that my BBEG will fall victim to a giant sail boat falling on top of him.
My DM gave me a grey bag of tricks, so when we were sneaking out of somewhere i threw a fuzzy ball, rolled an 8 and suddenly there was a giant elk in the middle of the room with its head crashing through the floor. We managed to get out with stealth and deception checks instead of combat.
My players always pick the weird stuff. when asked what item to take from one campaign to the next, one player said, the billowing cloak, does nothing, just billows, some minor item from the essential set. The foldable boat is cool, a weapon is a dime a dozen item, most players expect there will be other weapons they can pick up, but there might only be one foldable boat ever, noone wants to miss out on unique experiences.
My paladin and our cleric did that. Both lawful good, we saved this unicorn *twice* (thanks random encounter table) and were offered a wish each, each time and we both just said. "oh no we couldn't trouble you we are just glad you are okay!" and our dm was just dying on the inside since the both of us are DIRT poor lol
We were playing in a one shot as goblins. Each player had a team of goblins and our player characters were the leader of these teams. In the world, goblins believed they were descendant of giants. So, one of the players was playing a barbarian. His whole team was then, barbarians. As we got to the last boss of the one shot; the barbarian leader yelled, "WHAT ARE WE!?" and the rest of his group yelled. "GIANTS!" and then all raged and ran into battle. It was so unexpected but such a good moment, we still talk about that one time in that one shot...etc. etc.
I'm still a newbie, and my second real character (half wolf using half orc features) would vanish outside of combat as he repeatedly used the help action while not actually doing anything on his own, and then try to roll for deception the first round of combat to pretend to be an ordinary dog. I was playing a bard. I was putting the roleplay a little bit before my munchkinry at that point, and I did the roleplay poorly too. I'm kinda glad my DM vetoed that idea.
I just don't see how you are ever going to roleplay a fighter's secret love for floral arangements. Roleplaying is the entire game, not just combat. In fact, some of the most intense roleplaying i have ever experienced had no combat at all.
@@julianhenderson4507 What?! I have an oath of ancients paladin that is all about flowers. He walks on rose peddles when entering any place of business. Creativity man.
As a DM, I love when my players interact in character with each other. Whether it's making a plan of attack or hashing out whether or not to trust an npc, I love sitting back and listening to them roleplay. I run a Star Wars game, and one game I introduced an npc that they became suspicious of, and they had a conversation amongst themselves in character about the possibility of this guy being a Sith that went on more than 15 minutes. It was awesome! Or once the party was attacked by giant birds and one of the PCs was picked up and carried away, nearly dying in the encounter. After that, he always role played watching the skies for large birds even on other planets! Those moments are so fun!
I just finished a year-long campaign with some people who at the beginning I barely knew and by the end, we are good friends. When they thanked me during the final session, after doing narrative RP, being attentive to the story all year, and being true to their characters, I legitimately cried. We love being thanked, in part because we almost always think we're doing it poorly.
Something a friend came up with and that I love is that after every session, our group talks about the moments that were excellent, or great character role play, etc, and award one or two players inspiration for the next session. This allows us to positively reflect on the session, and praise great moments.
This video is just what my players and I needed. I was just talking about this last night with my party after a 3 hour session turned into an 8 hour epic run with 2 potential TPKs. They had their best session yet.
Just finished a session that was 3hp from a tpk, such fun. these are the sessions that make the story. Everyone but the rogue is unconscious but stable and he has no healing abilities. Cant wait to see how this works out.
@@christopherfelser So my lv 5 party of 4 (Paladin, Life Cleric, Necromancer, and Barbarian- yea they're strange) *demanded*, "We want ALL the EXP this session". Dungeon floor boss was a CR 9 Fire Giant with Legendary abilities I homebrewed. First turn knocked the tanky Paladin down to 13 out of his original 58, Paladin got KOed shortly after, got healed, went back for more. Paladin and Barbarian RPed this full frontal assault tag team against the giant with the necromancer casting web as support and the cleric buffing them and healing from a distance. It was glorious. Everyone finished that fight bellow 1/10 of their health, and they spent an hour after the session ended going nuts over the battle. First time this particular group worked together like this and brought in the RP into combat. I'm so proud :D
What's funny is that we just had a TPK in my party (everyone lived, but was unconscious and completely looted) because we were fooled by the dust of choking and sneezing mid combat
I love when players come back with character lore that they worked out during the week in downtime based on what's happened so far, and the backgrounds they've got -- not serious plot stuff, but things like a mutual love of parakeets, and the stories about why. ❤
I love when my players come up with creative solutions, even just of the top of their head, to situations they're in. Last night in the game I dm, the barbarian was grappled and restrained by a canoloth, she was kind of frustrated about the situation and was just like "I just want to rip this things tongue out." So I let her. I said it'll still take her action, so not like she's bypassing anything by doing it, and a contested strength check instead of a strength saving throw, but if she succeeded, she'd literally rip its tongue out. She rages and succeeded, so I described it. "you wrap it's tongue around your arm a couple times, and with a mighty heave, you see ten more feet of tongue come out of the things mouth before hearing a ripping sound, and the whole tongue lands on the ground with a wet squelch. You're no longer grappled or restrained and the canoloth takes 20 points of damage. You used your bonus action and your action, anything else?" That was the first time a player told me that one of my descriptions actually made them shiver. It was pretty awesome.
I think I found a way to get players to role play at my games by altering the inspiration system. But yes, effort means a lot. Nobody likes a munchkin.
One thing I really appreciate from my players, this week actually, is that I'm really behind on prep (I'm running a megadungeon, and while all the plot stuff is done I still have tons of encounters to balance and traps to set) and so one of my players is stepping up and running a one-shot for this evening's session to give me some time to work ahead!
I absolutely love when players actually work together and support one another. Seeing them plan out an ambush, helping eachother with skill checks, avenging a downed comrade and rushing to their aid, and in general being very supportive of eachother. Especially when they roleplay it!
as a new player and GM, i dont have many friends that are willing to actually try, so if i do find someone openminded enough to give it a try, it literally makes the game. I appreciate just anyone actually TRYING to play the game, and not awkwardly sitting there trying to be "the cool one" at the table while i weave my imagination in front of everyone lol
I'm new to D&D and I've been binge-watching your older contents for reference and it just surprised me that you're bald here when just only an hour ago I watched you with a mohawk. Jokes aside, great video as always.
@@stevevondoom4140 Dungeon Dudes and Runesmith are usually my go-to other than Taking20 (learned really A LOT in a span of a month). They are all really helpful, almost felt like I'm already playing, well, the technical stuff at leats. Checked some of Nerdarachy's content as well and I've learned much from them too.
You could have given this the RUclips editing classic: - Ken Burns Zoom and pan over creative commons art - Different camera angles - Motion text graphics breaking each list item into a different take But you didn't. And this is still informative. And is very engaging. I can see why people like you as a DM.
My favorite (and rare) good player habit is when two or more players role play with each other in character. It's such a relieving moment for me as a DM, I can sit back and literally breathe and enjoy my players taking advantage of what the world has to offer.
As a DM I love 2 things in players specifically: 1 Punctuality! If we are going to play at 8, don't walk in the door at 8, you should have already shown up, set your stuff up, went to the restroom, got your drink, sit down and ready to roll at 8. I know its not a dealbreaker, but, I like giving Inspiration for players that do that. and 2. I want to see that you did your homework while we are NOT at the table. I don't need you to know every spell and rule in the book. I just want you to know YOURS.
I absolutely hate player's that can't just read their character abilities beforehand and remember their PC toolset. Recently I was a player for a change and one of the fellow players was a standard human paladin. We were 3 session into Sunless Citadel when he get to know his PC abilities for the first time (1st level paladin has only two: Lay on hands and Divine sense). He had to read them on the spot during game. Don't get me wrong, he is not a new player per se and he isn't roleplay focused player. I was just boiling inside when that happened ;d
I love your point one. We start at 9 and go to 11. I'm there at 8:50. The rest of the group has usually trickled in between 9:10-15. The worst offender is the one who is MAKING DINNER AT 9 O'CLOCK! now that same player is asking if we can move to 10-11.
When players say “When are we playing again!” At the end of the session. I love it when players take the initiative to schedule the next game session, and it also shows that they enjoyed the game.
There’s nothing better than when a player gets interested in something in the game, and goes out to investigate it. Especially if it’s not related to the main plot. One of my favorite moments is when a player of mine saw a crumbled statue on the way into a city, and spent almost all of their downtime trying to figure out what happened. It was just so cool to have a little detail spiral into something so big for the player. You should have seen the look on their face when after all that, the lich they ended up meeting a couple weeks later had the same name as the statue. Like I’ve never seen such genuine excitement from one of my players.
As a DM, I absolutely love, love, LOVE it when a player thinks creatively and outside of the box - especially when it's so far outside, the box isn't even visible anymore. For example, I had a druid once that failed their checks and save to avoid falling down a 300 ft crevasse. They asked if they could use the entangle spell to stop their fall. Not only did they succeed on the check for it, but they nat 20'd it, and instantly became a favorite story to retell.
I love when I notice they are happy and engage. You know, laught, make in game references, talk about ideas that went wrong... It takes out the weight I put on myself for every error as a DM
Thanks for the shout out, man! Really appreciate it!
Thanks for the laughs my man
About to visit the channel, awesome that your doing shout outs for others :)
This is really scary. You were one of only 3 youtubers I subscribed to that hadn't been named in video's of others I'm subscribed to. Now only 2 are left. It is all connected man, all connected.
@@Taking20 i like the thumbnail. Who is the artist.
I have a player that doodles during sessions, I didn't think much of it until i asked copies of everyone's notes. And then i saw she was drawing the scenes i was describing! I was over the moon!
Too cool!
That's amazing!
My brother loves it when I doodle for our campaign
We have a talented speed-doodler in a campaign I play in, too!
Awwwww my heart just melted!!! That’s amazing
I had a player say "That imagery is so damn cool..." Like I cried on the inside... like... I did it guys. I made a happy.
That alone makes me feel you’re probably a great dm
You've probably made lots of happies!
Feels
I haven’t DM’d since like 2004 in 3.5e D&D and after this week’s session of 5e told me “you really nailed it today, all of your descriptions painted a great image in my head” I basically cried 😭
You "made a happy" , I love it I'm dying 😂
Players being chill about their character dying
My group in character: *Emotions are running high, the gnome is in tears and the half-orc has probably killed whoever killed the party member*
Out of character: It's meme time bois
That feels like my group. In character we're like "no, damn it, noooooo" but out of character we are just sharing memes in the discord and putting up gifs like "this is the enemy pimpslapping us."
Always have a backup character ready.
Just don't let that distract from the Character you're playing currently. I used to be itching to play the backup character more than the current character and that brought up problems. But once you master your expectations, you're always ready to embrace the odds
Like I’d cry, but I’d accept it
Our group is more unaccepting in the way of, if one of our loved ones dies then we will drop literally everything and go on some hair brained quest to resurrect them, even if it means doing some alignment changing things.
@@lancercu8640 tbh that's fine when your just a npc is just that cinnamon roll I would go full death March just to get them alive. (Aka if bbeg trys to they will have someone who will have all to gain and nothing to lose! The people you fear)
I think one of the best experiences I’ve had as a DM was when my party of four saw a stuck up noble and, in character, spent 20 minutes discussing the ethics of killing them.
The rogue just loves starting crap
I have been in the position of DM, and player in this situation.
Well, what was their conclusion?
I was actually brought to tears when a Player, in character, was teaching an NPC *about* the lore of my world, the fact that she was so willing to invest herself in the game that she was able to put concepts into words that even I had struggled with. Yela, if you happen to see this, you are wonderful
Resulting quantification in chicken tests
I had one of those once. Goodbye Trad...
man i actually get shot down when i have like a really in detail concept and i want it to integrate it into the world, and im like "okay here's the general idea" how can i integrate it into your world what would i need to change from my character or how would the society impact the characters behavior and have certain habbits rituals or like certain bonds with people.
the respond i got was like Man that's too much work with there can you have something more simple?
i know who people who write llike pages at lv 1 but i assure you its not that. we are lv 7 , so to start at that you gotta have some story its literally 3 paragraphs of
how i got born, background , and last paragraph is what is my quest and what i am looking for in the world, and ws told its too much
@jackson edwards I think it's the people that bring the spirit, that make the fun happen, that make the memories last, and make it all worth it. It is delightful of you to appreciate the people you have with you. =)
@@edarddragon maybe what you could do is tell them "look man, I appreciate all the work you've put in to this. Could you summarise what you feel are the most important highlights of your char in a few bullet points first. We can work on the rest later"
I love it when players role-play in-character WITH EACH OTHER, so the game is not just a bunch of separate PC-to-DM conversations. It really brings all the characters to life, and gives the DM a welcome mental break too.
When everyone just keep starring at you the DM in stead of the character their suppose to be looking at delivering dialog.
Opposite happened to me unfortunately. Had a couple of players start bickering in character, which was quite fun, but it then evolved into them actually having a go at each other ooc, and one of them ended up just getting up and leaving. Seriously guys, be your character, by all means, but don't start getting offended on their behalf.
Yes
All three of my main campaign groups ive run for did this. All three very different groups regarding who knows whom, and playstyle. But all 3 were great roleplayers together and made the story more natural
Best session I've ever run in my life, I only said maybe 30 words over 4 hours. The party was discussing all of the plot leads they had through the campaign thus far, and were putting all of the connections together after 3 years adventuring together in real time (5 years for their characters). I had their NPC mentor clarify a few points two or three times. But they were gearing up for endgame, not just physically, but emotionally. They RP'd as old friends that might not see each other again come dawn.
I think that was more emotional than the TPK they caused themselves the final session. 🙃
Two of my Players' characters had an almost 20 minute heart to heart about trauma they went through and they had me in tears with how uplifting and kind they were to eachother
"Smash through the back door like your dad when your mom gets drunk"
JESUS Cody I'm dying
I near soiled myself on that one! 😂
That can have several meanings behind it.
( if you take a moment and think about it. Lol)
Well, my dad is dead. He smashes back doors in Valhalla now.
And I do not myself smash drunk back doors, I prefer them sober and begging for it.
I actually find that for the supportive character, former DMs are really good at this. They realize what is happening and help the current DM out
As a dm of 8 years I'm doing that for a guy who just started. All these goals of business and trade routes and getting standing. Giving all a heads up to him so he keeps thinking. I made a character with him and my gnome has 15 siblings who run the family business in a town his family started called luckspring. All the npcs are my best friends and business partners hahahaha
I'm like a walking questgiver for the group.
I love it when I absolutely know one of my players has meta knowledge and they don't act on it.
I always ask what I know and then play off that information. I have a great memory so I accidentally memorize things I read but to counter this I ask
Just 500xp on the spot
God that’s the best thing
I actively punish people acting on meta knowledge. They tend to stop pretty quickly.
Yep, when Im playing an rpg I'm doing it because I want to ROLEPLAY! Which means my character does not always do what *I* know or think would be the best/smartest/most efficient thing...I actively make decisions in the mindset of my character. It's way more fun!
The best D&D players are the reliable ones.
Absolutely true. It's actually true for anything in life: work, playing in a band, supporting friends of family... One might not be the skilled or the most open or pleasant person, but people WILL appreciate you in all walks of life if you are the person who always shows up, ready and on time.
Be there and be on time!
Turn up! Maybe bring snacks. Just don't ghost me.
facts
This. There's nothing that makes me feel worse as a GM than having players skip out last minute. It shows you have no respect for the time and effort I've put in and that the time spent with me as a person isn't worth as much as whatever you've dropped the session for last minute.
Cuts deep. :(
The party was investigating a ghost town, the person they were escorting through there requests to investigate a certain building that stood out from the others. They approach the door, and the feral changeling rouge PC decides to try and kick down the door. She doesn’t roll high enough, so she kicks the door, and it just shakes a bunch. She hisses at the door in anger, and then steps back for someone else to try. The barbarian walks up to the door and asks if it’s locked. I stifle a laugh and the following exchange takes place.
Me: “Twist the doorknob and find out”
PC2: “Ok, I turn the knob, is it locked?”
Me: “No”
PC2: “I open the door”
We took a 5 minute break to stop laughing. It was incredible.
the funniest thing is that the Barbarian was reasonable, and not just going throught the wall.
Barbarian showing how being dumb can actually be good for role play
We have a druid who for the past few sessions has been trying to talk to the animals we meet to figure out where we are but after the first 2 said the same thing everyone else started just killing them without talking and got to the point where she would just watch us fight. So when my battle hungry half orc cleric heard the druid yell " guys were going to kill these fuckers" well those skeletons weren't around much longer 💀
one of my favorite things as a dm is when my players actually find creative ways outside what could've been a rather tough scenario. for example, in the dead of night, my players, who were on an airship, heading towards a dwarven mining town, i had 2 vampires land on the ship. sure, some of the players were quick to get hostile.....but a few other players actually struck a deal with them, giving them 2 bottles of dragons blood instead of their own, and the vampires just walk away....the vampires agreed to the terms, and there was no fighting at all. i dropped hints that the vampires were actually friendly and didn't want to hurt anyone, and a few players actually took notice of it and defused the situation. the funny part is that they actually learned more about the 2 vampires, and even managed to cure them with a scimitar luckblade wish
Okay that is f**king amazing
I love when players "draw" in the possible "wall-flowers", the players who might not speak at all, or whose characters might not do anything but roll dice when asked. Those players who engage them, ask them questions in-character and just draw them into the game. Whoever you are, if you play like this. I love you.
I have a player who refuses to talk even when we actively engage him.
Except it's annoying if players are telling shy people "why aren't you talking?"
Best for the DM to directly interact with the wall flowers and for other PCs to ask for their advice
I'm so lucky my group has always been amazing about playing well with wallflowers, and honestly it warms my heart how these kinds of players can get so many to truly experience the wonder if this dorky ass game
@KitiaVicious Aaah! I loved to read that! Your gaming group sounds wonderful
To be totally honest, I love when my players give me a really inventive solution for a challenge that I planned.
Once I planned a boss battle within a cave with a ancient dire bear.
The Druid of the group said "If I buff the thing with enlarge animal, he will be to big to manuver itself within this cave"
He avoided a boss battle with the bear by BUFFING the damn thing. It could not follow them through the caves.
Man, that got me by surprise.
One of the players in my group (side note: I'm one of the players in my group, too) who is playing a druid totally out of his element recently managed to pull a fantastic spell use on the DM, the group was fighting a clockwork dragon, and it suddenly took flight, and the druid, almost immediately, goes "I cast Earth Bind" everyone at the table had to give him props for that one, especially since it seemed up to that point that the player had moonbeam and water walk and nothing else prepped ever.
One of my fellow players in my game saved us an encounter with pirates by convincing a pod of orcas to tow our ship out of dodge in exchange for meat.
That's so clever. In the notoriously deadly final battle in Starfinder Dead Suns volume one, the party's mechanic came up with the brilliant idea of SABOTAGING THEIR OWN SHIP to electrify part of the hull, essentially creating a deadly OH&S violation. The electricity-vulnerable monster that can phase through solid matter tried to cunningly attack them through the hull and got its demonic arse fried. I didn't expect it at all, and it was super clever.
These are GREAT!
Our DM gave us a chest with a combination that we had overlooked when searching the previous place we were at. The chest did damage every time the combination was wrong. So our elf rouge decided to cast mage hand and use it on the lock. It's a cantrip, so he just said "I'd like to systematically try all combinations. How long will that take?" The DM replied, "About two hours. Do you just wanna time-skip?" It was beautiful. XD
I love it when a player pushes back against my plans for absolutely valid RP reasons. Also, several times my players have taken a liking to a one-off NPC and this has inspired me to make that NPC a permanent part of the game.
This happens to me so frequently that I just prepare to do that for just about any NPC I make, important or otherwise. My players love it, though I will admit, it is somewhat improv-heavy.
I absolutely love when a player has a prediction and instead of asking me “irl” about it they have their PC tell the group what they think might happen. Often the party gets wrapped up in how I respond to the question to gauge its validity instead of the idea the player had.
My favorite thing is when a player wants to contribute *outside* of a session. As DM's, spending time outside of the session to prepare is almost a must. So when a player says "Hey, I like drawing characters, is there anyone you'd want me to draw?" or "Oh yeah, I'd love to work out what's going on in my rogue's criminal organization that I don't really want to talk about in front of everyone else", it really feels like they're enjoying the campaign and investing as much as we are.
I'm DMing Curse of Strahd for a group of friends and one of them actually created a poster (fully drawn and written in a medieval style) with political slander to... well, de-stabilize the political climate in Vallaki.
That was, easily, one of the highlight of the campaigns for me - I'm both proud and delighted at what this player did. Seeing your players engage the story and immerse themselves to that point just makes everything worth it.
Mini painters, mount up.
Absolute gold
Fure2 ye haw!
I totally agree!
The player that reads their spells *before* casting them.
Sooo, anime bs?
Wait, reads it as in knows the rules, or explains them to everyone?
@@szymonsokolinski9907 Either is a step up on "I cast this, tell me what it does", but I prefer them knowing the rules and being able to explain them without having to read me the description.
@@szymonsokolinski9907 I'm referring to players who cast a spell and then say "what does that do?" as they wait for me to look up the spell. I don't mean reading the whole spell out loud every time lol
@@WilliamShakspere "I cast darkness"
-that one tiefling in Puffin Forests party
Roleplaying is pivotal in combat. I'm running a homebrew where the players' decisions can influence the TN. Good strategies get rewarded, bad ones are punished. It forces the players to really think about things, and their descriptions can get really amazing.
The voice thing is huge, too. I either use an accent when in character, or imitate a celebrity that everyone will recognize. I get requests all the time to bring old voices back. My biggest hit is Alan Rickman, may he rest in peace.
I absolutely love to roleplay in D&D Games. Even my barbie who talks in 3rd person and simple sentences. A dm mistook it as me not being interested in rping. We were doing a quest that didn't require combat, Skadi ( the barbarian), walked to a wall and leaned on it as he set his weapon down. Cleric asked if something was wrong, Skadi replied to her with " All good at something, Skadi good at killing not talking, Skadi let those who good at speak speak and Skadi wait. ", I'm pretty sure it connected with everyone that Skadi actually had a character. lol
The best D&D players show curiosity about other characters. It's very rare that I see one PC ask another in character about their background, experiences, fears, triumphs, opinions, etc. As a DM, I LOVE in character PC-to-PC interaction.
I guess some players treat dnd kinda like a theme park where they are put on the same ride as other people, but they don't really care
Something that can be really interesting is a character relationship matrix. Make a shareable Google spreadsheet, and down the side type in "What does [character A, B, C, etc.] think of..." and along the top write "...[character A, B, C, etc.]". Share the link and invite players to fill it in briefly in-character (and yes, fill in how they view themselves - this can be really useful for roleplaying). Every few sessions, encourage them to revisit it and see if their opinions have changed.
I know doing, multiple characters for a player isn't common (keeping characters seperate, etiquet, and ect. for why) but a player that can work with a pair of characters, where one is invested in the whole party and the other only cares about the one other character for that player, can lead to some really interesting story moments.
Definitely
For one of my best characters I ever played, my first question to each of the other player's characters was "You look interesting enough to tell a story?" That game is awesome.
I'm doing a Drow centric game. When a Drow broke down in front of her "second class" son about the visions Eilistraee gave her my player said, "You are a slave too. Lolth just holds your chains."
I was ecstatic.
This gave me the feels right in my cold dead dm heart. I love when players take the game and RP seriously.
Wow, that's some good improv.
As a dm for a drow player rn, GOD I love when they learn the lore and rp the hell out of it like yours did
I should sneakily somehow leak this into my group without me doing it as their dm..... cuz this is a dam good video :D
Just send it to them! I watched this literally because my DM sent it to our group. Some of us are new to the game so he wanted to give tips. If your players are looking to have a good time and are true friends, they'll WANT to help you out and do things that will let the DM be included in the fun!
I'm the notetaker for our group and another player actually started recording out sessions. She's writing a diary entry from her character after every session and they are a BLAST to read.
"write down a damn name once in a while"
this man understands my pain
I've passive aggressively told all my players off at one point or another for never taking notes
I play once every two weeks so sometimes I forget who is who. But my dm is kind enough to allow it as role play for my low intelligence barbarian. Playing it off as my barb to poke my wizard commrad who takes notes and Is the coin purse of our pirate campaign keeping really good track of the gold and who we gotta rob next.
I'm a DM and a player asked me a question. I responded with this massive bit of lore and the players love it.
Except after the session, I messaged me players like "hey remember that lore drop? Yeah, why did I say that again? I can't remember what the situation was that it came up"
All 5 players remember the lore, but not how we got there, and I didn't write it down. Whoops
Hello, Brother.
I took notes for a campaign that I was in that ended a few months ago. I had two separate docs, one for general notes/story summary and a second one entirely for characters. I numbered the characters at first, but kind of gave up numbering them some time after 200 because google docs has terrible formatting. I did keep taking notes on them though, and the character notes ended up being 27 pages. The story notes ended up being 162 pages. In the last session, a character from the beginning of the game who had sort of indirectly led to the death of a player character reappeared and I recognized the name, let out a gasp, and the DM immediately said "Why do you take such good notes?!" I was playing a bookish character whose job it was to collect information on people, so I thought it made sense to take detailed notes, I had never done it before outside of writing down NPC info.
The supportive player character is the secret leader/decision maker.
This is true in real life as well.
One girl in my group always had the next level prepped. Whenever out DM milestone leveled us, she just move a sheet from the back of her binder to the front and was good to go. She was able to help others level, and motivated me to do the same.
Okay, that is cool. Especially with how much I would want to sweat over the choice.
One of my players had his PC fall in love with my DM PC. It was especially spicy when the BBEG *killed* my DM PC as the result of the party not giving into the BBEG’s demands. That player loved it and retired his original character for me to use as an NPC with PTSD
I always love it when a player, that doesn't speak that often, comes up with a great plan or uses their ability in an imaginative way. Really warms my heart.
Yes!
As a DM I am both fair and impartial...most of the time
Yes. Our game has a really quite player, but the times he has come up with a plan and actually said it out loud, an orge got convinced to fight a treant instead of us, a golem was bribed to smashed a duegar that was about to kill my character, and an umberhulk helped us kill a god king. He is quite, because he is a giant whisperer.
When players ask when we're going to play again even though we just finished a session, feels so good! That tells me that they're having fun and are enjoying the plot!! Its such a fantastic feeling!!
This!
Yep, basically EVERY campaign I play in. My new DM is awesome.
Also when you finish a campaign and the players are hyped for a new campaign you're planning!
Yeah, my friends get jealous about that.
It's always like that with my group :D
We also recently played for like 13 hours with just tiny breaks in between and it didn't even feel like that?!
Idk about others, but for me that's the ultimate goals and I hope one day I will be as good at this as my DM is!
The greatest feeling as a Dm I’ve had is looking around the table and seeing everyone smiling and leaned on the table with excitement in their eyes. It is one of my fondest memories.
I’ve learnt that a consistent group is the best thing ever. I can even deal with players being annoying sometimes as long they are always there when we get together
Honestly I'm trying to get to just basic courtesy. Show up on time, ask questions, say thank you, bring snacks, work with other players, do more than sit there and wait for me to ask for initiative.
This is where it's at. This right here.
When one of my players got up after his turn and layed down on the sofa, I was VERY close to ending the campaign.
@@2MeterLP I had that once, and that player then started falling asleep and wanted us to wake him when combat started. Told him after that session that there are other people who want to join the group and his spot was being given to someone else because he didn't want to participate.
Glad I didn't end the campaign on account of one player, because it's been going strong for 6 years. The players are setting the scene up for character retirement.
@@2MeterLP I ended my campaign on the third to last session before the boss battle because of that
When players remember that they have flaws and embrace them. Also when they make decisions that their character would make and not what the player wants.
I'm going to keep this in mind
When I have a character with -1 intelligence and -1 wisdom, I like to act like I actually have -1 intelligence and -1 wisdom
Getting inspiration points from my dm is the greatest honor oml
I find characters without clear flaws boring. What makes a character interesting and life-like is precisely their flaws
One of our dms actually rewards players for creating a flaw with their character (and using it), the more extreme the flaw the better reward. (nothing game breaking just maybe a special item skill point if it's real bad.)
How to make me - a DM - happy: Have fun in my campaign
I don't only love when players thank me for the work i've put in and the fun they've had but also when they deliver constructive criticism on what im doing, especially since im a pretty new DM and don't really know what i'm doing.
If a player doesn't have to ask "who's that again?" every time they run into an NPC - they're at least A-Tier player in my book.
As a new DM, my players sometimes help me remember who some of the NPCs are.
I'll ask this even if I know who the npc is just to annoy my dm
I do play that differently. My character is bad with names, so I write down a description, but not the name. I can describe the innkeeper in that one village from 25 sessions ago and tell you his dreams and hobbies, but I can't for the life of me remember the name.
It's hard though when every NPC seems like it's name was a random roll of letters.
menno graafmans that is amazing
I absolutely love it when a player takes a bad roll and runs with it, creating role playing moments from it. It really grinds my gears when a player begs for a re roll out for me to just not notice the roll.
I once played a knight, and the party had a fighter who claimed to be from a small knightly order from a small and distant kingdom, dropping names and such to cozy up to my new character. I rolled a 3 on my knowledge nobility and royalty check, looked up at him and said "never heard of you" the whole table bust out laughing. Rolling low can be way more interesting than rolling high.
I'm in the middle of my first official DnD campaign and I'm really stoked to see that most of our group is doing things right!
And in particular, about thanking our dungeon master... we literally can't stop! At the end of every session we get up like we just saw the most amazing movie ever, and we keep telling him how cool the session was all the way to the door! We're all so glad that he's doing this for us, he's really good!
I appreciate players who link each other's character backgrounds together. It's solving so many problems!
DM here: My favorite players are ones who give audible reactions to the campaign. Like when something is revealed to the group that nobody expected or initiative is asked to be rolled after a tention filled RP that just didn’t go the way the players wanted, when I hear the “Ohhh shit!!!” Or “Ahhhhhhh” or similar noise effects some of my players make. It does make my day, just a little. 😆
Yes! Displaying enthusiasm picks up the energy of the whole table and makes the DM's job easier- everyone can relax and have a bit more fun.
Chris V.H. Exactly! Once everyone is relaxed and having a good time it makes it a lot easier to DM...... and to surprise them with mimics and shapeshifters.
Yes this. I played with a group of players that I thought for the longest time might be robots, because they never reacted to anything. Yet when I'd take one of them privately aside after the game or whatever to ask how things were going and if they had any suggestions they'd be like "oh no its great, i'm having a blast!" and I'm like "WTF? You are?"
I am this person in game and I always feel like I interrupt 😅 I can’t help it though as a lot of things are still new to me for Dnd so I’m always like “oh shit!” Or “daaamn!”
i have cried because of my dm before. he killed my cat. i killed the entire tavern.
I attempted to coolaid man in the middle of combat. Rolled a nat 1. Failed misserably, and it was hilarious.
Failures can be funnier and more memorable than successes. We were once stuck in a tsunami that was sweeping through a massive coastal city, and our paladin pulled off some good rolls to literally surf on the wave with his shield. That was awesome enough, but then he failed the next roll to duck under a bridge, and this is why one of the stone bridges in Freeport still to this day has Roland's face imprinted into the side of it.
@@MCDexX I have to say that is very true. A memorable session of mine was when my gnome character Tobias was strapped to a cultist table but my arms were free.
I told my DM I wanted to untie myself. You see, I have this curse over me that creates really funny scenarios. For the first 3 or 4 sessions I never rolled higher than 4. Another player joked that I would roll a 1 and end up getting rope burn.
I rolled a 1 and ended up getting rope burn.
@@theofficalchairmanrevoluti614 - Captive gnomes seem to be a key ingredient for mishap comedy.
This story requires some background... In our long-running Pathfinder campaign, we often face impossible non-magical steam-powered enemies - flying sword-bladed helicopters we call "choppers", armoured mechanical warriors we call "clankers", etc. Because of the nature of their high-pressure steam boilers, when they die they explode violently. They also have a security feature where if someone tries to hack them and reprogram them without authorisation, they can spontaneously explode to keep them out of enemy hands. Sadly, they can be VERY over-sensitive that what constitutes "tampering".
So, we've tracked the trafficking of these clockwork monsters to a major port town on the south coast, and worked out they are being moved by a notorious pirate family. In our investigations, our gnome bard is captured and held captive. We track down her captives to a network of sewer tunnels that empty out into the sea that the pirates use to smuggle illicit goods. Pirates swarm into the tunnels to fight us, and the captive gnome is left with a single guard, in a room stacked high with wooden crates.
She comes up with an escape plan, which starts with kicking her guard in the shin. She rolls a natural 1, and the DM says that she misses and kicks one of the crates... and a distinct whistling sound begins to build up. The clockwork machine in the crate has interpreted the hard thump as an attack and has begun the self-destruct sequence. This would be bad enough, except the room is full of DOZENS of them.
Short version: we and the pirates and recognise the noise and know we have one round, maybe two rounds tops, to get to a safe distance, and the battle is forgotten as we all scatter like ants in the rain. The underground room explodes, the sewer outflow pipes turn into giant cannons, and a volcanic eruption of flaming stone flies up and starts raining down over the entire town.
End result: sea-side half of the town razed by fire, half of the merchant fleet sunk by falling stones, gods-know how much cargo lost, pirates scattered and untraceable, but thankfully nobody killed because we ran around madly rescuing people from burning buildings and putting out fires, and four years of jokes about the most dangerous thing in the world being Carella's toes.
One of my favorite examples of this was at a convention many many years ago. We were playing a DC Heroes game, and had all drawn a random Justice League member from the deck of character cards. We ended up with a fun mixed group of mid-power characters, including Batman, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Big Barda, and a few that didn't even begin with a B. This was during the time when Blue and Gold were buddies, but also pranking each other constantly, and Booster Gold was starting to get twitchy about always being seen as a joke, when he really wanted to be taken seriously. So, we need to get into a warehouse. Rather than have our best B&E person open something so we could all enter, we all went to different possible entries and tries to break in. No, I don't remember why. I don't think it made any sense at the time either. Every single one of us makes our roll, and opens our respective entry... except Batman, who fails. Then fails again. Then botches. By this time, everyone else is inside wondering where Batman went. Figuring out that he's still on the other side of the door, Booster Gold goes to the door, unlocks it from the inside, opens it and graciously holds it open for Batman, who just glared and swept through cape billowing behind him like he'd meant to do it that way all along.
one of my favorite things is my note taker, i have one in my party, shes amazing. she said her character has a notebook in which she writes down her adventures, and she really does. i looked through them the other day, and its literally
"day 1." "day 2." "day 3" and so on, and theres tiny sketches in the notes, and its all written like how her character thinks! no meta gaming.
and idk i just really liked you bringing that up because it made me really happy lmao
One word: Engagement. To try and buy into the game. To give the game a good, honest attempt.
I think one of the things I adore the most is when players come to me with a really thought out character concept. When they tell me about their backstory, their interests, their bonds, and ESPECIALLY their personality. It bums me out so much when a player comes to me and says "I'll be a dwarf cleric because it's an optimal build", and when I ask about their personality, they just shrug me off with a few traits thrown in that they don't even bother to remember later. So thank you to the players who are willing to give ANY personality to their characters and roleplay that personality. You're the good ones.
Agreed. I especially love it (and enjoy doing this myself) when the background includes one or more intentional story hooks that could draw in roleplay from other party members. I also enjoy as GM being handed a character with mysterious intentional holes in the background that I am asked to help fill... stuff that the character is not aware of that will affect them at some point during the game, and that the player doesn't want to know about either until it happens. This shows that the player 1) has an interest in participating in creation of the story, 2) has enough trust in you as the GM to not do something they'll hate, and 3) fully intend for some serious roleplay to happen at some point. This works especially well in games with disadvantages, as one can be taken where the player is aware of the category and point value of the disad, and that's it. It can make for great story when a sudden appearance is made by the person the player accidentally ruined years back who has been plotting revenge, or the young child they didn't know they'd sired shows up, or a messenger arrives with a package from a relative that hasn't been seen in years and is now presumed dead....
Stop apologizing for sponsors, it's essential for both the RUclips and DND economy
Ya man I will never donate to anyone but I will sit through as many ads as they have
Charles Krause I’m with you, I fucking hate adds but I’m not gonna use ad block because these people deserve to be paid for their service.
I’m new here. First video of this guy I’m watching and I can’t agree more. Make that money so the rest of us plebs can enjoy brother.
I also love when people do a character voice! Thanks for mentioning that! It doesn’t even have to be very different from your normal voice, you can just use a noticeably different tone or something. It makes it so much easier to distinguish when people are speaking IC and OOC, so I don’t have to always ask “do you actually say that, or was that a joke” when interacting with NPCs.
I was running Curse of Strahd, specifically the death house, and the party took specially good care of putting the children's bones to rest. They roleplayed the finality of these children's existence so well, I had planned to give them a d6 inspiration for the day, I instead gave them a d10 inspiration for next in game week.
Long story short, when a DM wants you to take something serious, take it seriously, when it's time to joke, joke around. Follow the tone set by the DM. Even if it's just RP.
I truly appreciated the Druid at my table trying many times to seduce my villain during combat and rolling incredibly badly each time but still roleplaying it out with me, then playing "My Heart Will Go On" once the fight was over.
The person who likes bringing rp between the players is my fav. That’s why everyone on critical role is great because they always bring each other up through the rp without having to force the DM to bring the only character change
I've only been GMing for.. well.. since april. I started with creating my world.
So far, my favorite thing is when my players show they're having fun. Cutting loose and laughing about a situation or celebrating when they overcome an obstacle. That feedback has been the most rewarding for me, personally.
It's definitely harder when players don't really know each other out of character. Oddly enough, my current character has about the lowest CHA of the party, but he's the one prodding other PCs to have a voice.
@@AM-hf9kk Yea that happens for sure, but that's why d&d makes friends out of people whether you like it or not lol
as a player, it warms my heart and makes me happy when other players actually care about and enjoy their fellow players stories and role play moments even when they aren't involved. i have a co player that has told me they cried during one of my scenes with another player before and that made me feel so happy. if you have players who care even when they are not in the spotlight cherish them
If a PC makes me in the DM seat laugh, it’s instant inspiration for them.
Man this really puts into perspective how good my group of friends are. We have at least one person who exemplifies each of these points you've made.
Hold them tightly, kidnap them if you must.
O' how I envy you.
I love it when a PC will do something that they know will hurt them majorly, but their character doesn't. It really proves their dedication to the roleplay.
Yes! It's fantastic when players make a choice which is true to their character but detrimental to them or the party. It shows such a deep commitment to the character and story. Knowingly taking that risk and somehow finding a way out of it makes for amazing party memories versus just playing it safe.
Good Lord, exactly that Made me angry with my group.
I was low on Money and my Character is rather confident in what He does, thats why i used my pickpocked skills on people.
They were shitting on me in the after session because there was a risk that WE would all be closed behind bars.
Yeah, there have been a few times when I've said, "I'm so sorry, guys, but I'm going to have to do something REALLY dumb now..." One of my characters was fascinated by clockwork and machinery, and when the party found a dimensional portal with no magical aura, that could apparently open a gate across the world through machinery and science, she just HAD to stick her head through and see what was on the other side. I apologised to the party first, saying "This might get me killed, and could cause trouble for everyone, but there's no way she WON'T do this. Sorry everyone..." It worked out okay in the end, but I had no way of knowing that ahead of time. :)
My grave cleric drank a vile of clear liquid to prove to the party that it wasn’t water. He was right... it was a very potent poison. 😅 (Had one turn to act before death while on the ground retching his guts out. Luckily, he was able to cure himself before he succumbed.)
The party has given him crap for it ever since, and constantly doubts his judgment calls. 😆
I had a Bard with a very low intelligence stat but a heart of gold. After seeing a NPC making death throws on the floor, he realized he couldn't make it to her in time to save her (in his mind anyway) his big idea was to throw a healing potion extremely hard at her, hoping it would break and the potion would somehow secrete into the skin and heal her. It turns out that's not how healing potions work and the flask broke on her, instantly killing her.
Now the character took a feat in improvised weapons and uses potions and empty flasks on the regular as a ranged/melee attack
I absolutely love it when the player knows what their spell fully does at the time of casting it
as a player... with a somewhat mean dm... i also love when the casters in my group does this XD (my dm is wonderful, but if you cast fireball in his games then things catch fire... you get my drift)
I love it when players show interest in the characters of other players. Everyone loves their own character (usually) and wants some spotlight time, but it is so great when people also join in the special moment of another character and seem excited or worried for another character's development, both IC and OOCly.
As a DM, I love when my players talk about the session afterwards. Seeing them comment on their favorite parts of the session is really fullfiling.
Also when they remember this is a GROUP storytelling game!
There once was a time me and a player created a whole backstory for an NPC (related to a players' backstory) just from a random conversation between said NPC and Player, I love it when I plant the seed for them to grow an improvised backstory or what have you and they don't respond with "bruh, YOU are the DM, not me"
The best
I mean, you are... you should be able to fill backstorys without players, but it is fun to share the role
I like doing this, had a session just yesterday and couldn’t help but want to recap and talk to everyone about it, or how great we did or how lucky the rolls have been and so on.
We started my current weekly PF1 game with a session zero plus a lot of offline work and on-on-one conversations with the DM. In the sessions zero, the DM would just pause and say, "Okay, someone has walked into the shop, and this is going to complicate the situation. Anyone got any ideas?" If we had a good idea we got to jump in with an off-the-cuff NPC and get to roleplay them during that scene. We not only ended up with really interesting, complicated, and flawed PCs, but a whole host of ready-made NPCs and a stack of in-jokes.
@@DnDorBust Around three months ago in Warhammer Fantasy RP 2nd edition our mage shit himself explosively while casting a spell. Oh and he was not wearing pants.
It is moments like those that make DMing worth it
One of my favourite things was when my players physically cried at a player death
That is one hell of an investment in the story
I love it when some of players want their backround to be involved in the story somehow. it really gets the creative juices going.
My pc's don't have backgrounds, or character. It's getting mighty stale. I'm assigning this video and some others as homework, and handing out some background sheets im making up for them to fill. No background, no character.
I wrote about 5 pages of back story for 2 characters I played in a campaign I was in a few years ago. My DM was so blown away with all of the detail, time, and effort I put into their stories, and making them actually fit in to Forgotten Realms lore (especially difficult with a 150+ y/o high elf wizard), that he incorporated a lot of their backgrounds into the story.
My 2 favorite moments were Velcuthimmorhar (the red dragon who's blood was used on my PC) swiping the head off my Sorcerer's head, and an unknown bad guy posing as my Wizard's dead mentor in order to get his guard down to stab him with a poison dagger.
My absolute favourite thing is when the group engages each other in Roleplay for extended periods of time. Not only do I get to sit back and watch these characters grow and their stories unfold, but it also keys me into things that are important to them. What is on this character's mind? What are they willing to open up about? What information are they keeping close to the chest? What characters don't get a lot of interaction together that could use a scenario or two that might bring them closer together? What do they feel like they're lacking? It...also gives me a minute to eat the dinner I made 5 minutes before session start and never got to eat because I lost track of time making encounter maps lol
Honestly I just love it when my players give me out of character reactions to things right before they jump back into character.
LOL at "supportive PCs." I've taken the role of "team dad." One guy basically has PTSD, so I've taken to (admittedly awkwardly) helping him cope. When our party pulls through a rough underwater passage, I'm the one counting heads and making sure our healer knows who needs help. Reminding the Druid (in character) that she can wild shape and asking her if she can brew health potions (or poisons) since she described her home as being covered in herbs. Digging up the grave that the DM OBVIOUSLY set up as cover for a puzzle when the rest of the players decide they're really not down with graveyards at midnight.
As an ex soldier with real ptsd, there is no way to be supportive except for awkwardly. Its impossible to be useful for something you don’t fundamentally understand.
Had anither game recently where the players were overwhelmed. A tpk situation was obvious. Combat was slowing to a grind, they were helpless to escape and clearly losing. You could tell the new guy was disheartened but the other was trying hard to overcome and they made it out.
He griped about it repeatedly in that game and the next.
Days later he told me that looking back it was about the most exciting thing he could have asked to experience.
In the moment he’d felt the terror of being harassed, grabbed and dragged off by a skeletal horde trapped in an underground temple. Now he’s hooked.
Our party has had two character deaths. Both reduced other players to tears, and as much as their deaths sucked, it brought home the enormity of the characters' sacrifice & the perils we were facing. I may have left those sessions with wet spots on my notes, but I wouldn't have it any other way!
Something I love about my players is that they are not afraid to actually role! They're not afraid to cry, scream, sing, fight, get angry with each other's characters, interact with my NPC (some of them actually are in a relationship with one haha)
I really love that ~♡
Holy hell, you are one lucky person. This is very rare, even for those who Played it many years
Nothing makes me happier than players roleplaying amongst themselves. It really shows me that they're into the story, having fun, and I get a few minutes for a break to organize some notes
I awoke from a nightmare of Kool-Aid Man smashing my mom's back door, and grunting "Oh Yeah!"
One thing that I love is players that dive themselves into the world. I mainly DM on Forgotten Realms to people not familiar with it, and I really love when the cleric player reads the lore behind his God and roleplay with it. And when people adapt their character as the story goes on. I had a rogue that survived a ton of times because of stupid decisions followed by absurd Dice luck. Then on lvl 4 he got the Magic Initiate Feat as cleric and roleplay as Tymora was giving him her blessing.
Next Thursday I'll be joining my first true campaign.
The only experience I have are two one-shots.
The world is a wuxia homebrew, beautifully created by the DM.
I enjoy every bit of writing, it's just that masterful.
There are so much rp possibilities, it would be a crime not to explore them.
Can't wait till next Thursday
So you basically like people who know how to RP properly
Reminds me how my current character is a young bard who I decided worships Lathander because why should only Clerics and Palidans praise the gods?
@@pdorfigliodikmer1098 there is no proper way to roleplay.
I can confirm this from the players side as well
Crafting a character that ties deeply into a campaigns setting, such as being part of a certain community (guilds, religions, etc.) or knowing certain things in-character about the world (regardless of that knowledge's relevance) is almost as rewarding as playing it
As a player (haven't DM'd yet), I remember my fellow player Jim, a D&D vet. Every time...EVERY TIME....he got quiet, with his fingers steepled in front of him, index fingers tapping lightly, followed by a whimsical expression and,"I've got an idea...," you knew some s#@& was about to go down! One specific example was his character (who could fly) picking up my goblin Artificer in a battle with a corpse worm and dropping my goblin in for the final blow...this was the tamest instance (and I very much summarized it). for some reason, I can't remember all of the crazy stuff he pulled to solve problems, but, our DM loved him for it!
We broke a siege once by having the wizard 1) enlarge himself and throw the never-subjected-to-falling-damage ninja around the battlefield like a living bomb, and 2) polymorph the paladin into a dragon and ride him like a flying horse into battle, raining down fireballs, breath weapons, and dragon melee attacks with smite from the sky. God that was a fun session...
I absolutely love it when my players work with me on their backstory! If I suggest something that may make their character more inclusive or involved in the campaign, and they actually go along with it, or, even better, try to compromise with me, I absolutely love it!
In the same vein as the supportive character, the player that takes the time to listen and engage with other players' backstories. Everyone can be so wrapped up in their character that they don't let anyone share the story they made. I love when my players don't leave it solely on me to make sure that everyone's backstories get some attention.
Back when we were still playing in person, I had a player who would handle the music AND do sound effects for me while I was handling all of the million other things I had to do. So nice 😍
Ohhh I want that
I remember. Back in the day we used to gather in the same physical space, talking, rolling dice, touching minis, and sharing chips from the same back. Kids these days have no idea... I'm just getting ready for my years on the hermitically sealed porch, on my rocking chair, dispensing wisdom tot he wasteland raiders in exchange for caps.
Stop it man that sounds a dream.
Bless this person existing whoever they are.
I’ve particularly enjoyed the moments when players interact with one another’s storylines or embrace their downtime to role play. A great arm wrestling competition between the barbarian and paladin breaks out or there’s some personal exchanges of dialogue/hopes. Whatever it may be, I always feel a sense of relief to see it happen and that’s where I start to feel my own joy in running the game ... in part because it’s running itself and totally surprising in those moments
Yes
100% this! I've been running a game for a long time now that I love, but the players almost never talk to eachother unless I prompt it.
One of the PC has a -5 in Charisma and we decided to roll it as him having a tremendous negative aura that makes everyone uncomfortable if not outright dislike him. He has been adviced by some NPC to explore the world so he can build some personality. Another NPC witnessed this and now he is going to spend their downtime convoluting a plot with the town to make him go through a fake trial. He wants to help him grow out of his condition by using an extreme method, but damn if that ain't one of the most commited things I have ever seen a player do for another.
It shows that the player really care about the campaign and the characters.
Lol I always feel like I'm bugging DMs when I'm asking questions to build my character
Your not!
It's really cool when you have 1 experienced player amongst newbies and the experienced player helps clarify rules and certain rulings that a newbie might be struggling with
"...it's not cheap."
* laughs in Guard Armor *
Laughs is skaven clanrats army
*laughs in arbitors armor*
*laughs in Ork tighty whiteys*
Imperial Guard Armor? *laughs in Catachan*
One of my favorite things is when a player engages with the world I created, Play a character from the culture I created, treat your cleric as an actual priest of one of my gods, shout out the name of the King as you charge into battle... Such a player, always has a chair at my table.
Skilled players who help more shy/newer players, talks to them and gives them chance of shining are just amazing and I love them so so much. SO MUCH
Finally, a wholesome take on players. You don't realize how much the negativity drags you down until you get a video like this :)
I always find myself so proud of my players when they completely stray away from the path I expected them to take due to a decision or action that they made.
Example: I offered my players a choice of 4 magic items completely expecting them to take the item the best "damage dealing" item then travel south to their destination which would have been about a 14 day journey which I prepared. Instead, they decided on the magical foldable boat (homebrew version) and instead of traveling south, they decided to cut west to the coast and sail to their destination (7 day journey). This completely threw me off as I wasn't expecting to have them sail so quickly. I had to prepare a completely new experience for them but it worked out because it turned out to be one of the most compelling arcs in my campaign. I asked them why they went with the boat instead of any of the other "powerful by numbers" items and they said it was so they could explore the other areas of the world. I have never been more proud... Until one of them suggested that they could summon the boat in the middle of combat as if it were a giant improvised weapon... They have yet to do it, but I fear that my BBEG will fall victim to a giant sail boat falling on top of him.
My DM gave me a grey bag of tricks, so when we were sneaking out of somewhere i threw a fuzzy ball, rolled an 8 and suddenly there was a giant elk in the middle of the room with its head crashing through the floor. We managed to get out with stealth and deception checks instead of combat.
My players always pick the weird stuff. when asked what item to take from one campaign to the next, one player said, the billowing cloak, does nothing, just billows, some minor item from the essential set. The foldable boat is cool, a weapon is a dime a dozen item, most players expect there will be other weapons they can pick up, but there might only be one foldable boat ever, noone wants to miss out on unique experiences.
My paladin and our cleric did that. Both lawful good, we saved this unicorn *twice* (thanks random encounter table) and were offered a wish each, each time and we both just said. "oh no we couldn't trouble you we are just glad you are okay!" and our dm was just dying on the inside since the both of us are DIRT poor lol
Knowing some of my friends I know at least a few would use their rogue to use stealth and ride the boat as it falls on top of the BBEG.
Oh combat is where role play starts! “It’s clobberin time!”
We were playing in a one shot as goblins. Each player had a team of goblins and our player characters were the leader of these teams. In the world, goblins believed they were descendant of giants.
So, one of the players was playing a barbarian. His whole team was then, barbarians. As we got to the last boss of the one shot; the barbarian leader yelled, "WHAT ARE WE!?" and the rest of his group yelled. "GIANTS!" and then all raged and ran into battle.
It was so unexpected but such a good moment, we still talk about that one time in that one shot...etc. etc.
Nononononononono.... ROLEPLAYING STARTS WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR CHARACTER! It just intensifies when you're in combat.
I'm still a newbie, and my second real character (half wolf using half orc features) would vanish outside of combat as he repeatedly used the help action while not actually doing anything on his own, and then try to roll for deception the first round of combat to pretend to be an ordinary dog. I was playing a bard. I was putting the roleplay a little bit before my munchkinry at that point, and I did the roleplay poorly too. I'm kinda glad my DM vetoed that idea.
I just don't see how you are ever going to roleplay a fighter's secret love for floral arangements. Roleplaying is the entire game, not just combat. In fact, some of the most intense roleplaying i have ever experienced had no combat at all.
@@julianhenderson4507 What?! I have an oath of ancients paladin that is all about flowers. He walks on rose peddles when entering any place of business. Creativity man.
As a DM, I love when my players interact in character with each other. Whether it's making a plan of attack or hashing out whether or not to trust an npc, I love sitting back and listening to them roleplay. I run a Star Wars game, and one game I introduced an npc that they became suspicious of, and they had a conversation amongst themselves in character about the possibility of this guy being a Sith that went on more than 15 minutes. It was awesome! Or once the party was attacked by giant birds and one of the PCs was picked up and carried away, nearly dying in the encounter. After that, he always role played watching the skies for large birds even on other planets! Those moments are so fun!
I just finished a year-long campaign with some people who at the beginning I barely knew and by the end, we are good friends. When they thanked me during the final session, after doing narrative RP, being attentive to the story all year, and being true to their characters, I legitimately cried. We love being thanked, in part because we almost always think we're doing it poorly.
Something a friend came up with and that I love is that after every session, our group talks about the moments that were excellent, or great character role play, etc, and award one or two players inspiration for the next session.
This allows us to positively reflect on the session, and praise great moments.
This video is just what my players and I needed. I was just talking about this last night with my party after a 3 hour session turned into an 8 hour epic run with 2 potential TPKs. They had their best session yet.
Just finished a session that was 3hp from a tpk, such fun. these are the sessions that make the story. Everyone but the rogue is unconscious but stable and he has no healing abilities. Cant wait to see how this works out.
@@christopherfelser So my lv 5 party of 4 (Paladin, Life Cleric, Necromancer, and Barbarian- yea they're strange) *demanded*, "We want ALL the EXP this session". Dungeon floor boss was a CR 9 Fire Giant with Legendary abilities I homebrewed. First turn knocked the tanky Paladin down to 13 out of his original 58, Paladin got KOed shortly after, got healed, went back for more. Paladin and Barbarian RPed this full frontal assault tag team against the giant with the necromancer casting web as support and the cleric buffing them and healing from a distance. It was glorious. Everyone finished that fight bellow 1/10 of their health, and they spent an hour after the session ended going nuts over the battle. First time this particular group worked together like this and brought in the RP into combat. I'm so proud :D
What's funny is that we just had a TPK in my party (everyone lived, but was unconscious and completely looted) because we were fooled by the dust of choking and sneezing mid combat
I love when players come back with character lore that they worked out during the week in downtime based on what's happened so far, and the backgrounds they've got -- not serious plot stuff, but things like a mutual love of parakeets, and the stories about why. ❤
I love when my players come up with creative solutions, even just of the top of their head, to situations they're in.
Last night in the game I dm, the barbarian was grappled and restrained by a canoloth, she was kind of frustrated about the situation and was just like "I just want to rip this things tongue out."
So I let her. I said it'll still take her action, so not like she's bypassing anything by doing it, and a contested strength check instead of a strength saving throw, but if she succeeded, she'd literally rip its tongue out.
She rages and succeeded, so I described it.
"you wrap it's tongue around your arm a couple times, and with a mighty heave, you see ten more feet of tongue come out of the things mouth before hearing a ripping sound, and the whole tongue lands on the ground with a wet squelch. You're no longer grappled or restrained and the canoloth takes 20 points of damage. You used your bonus action and your action, anything else?"
That was the first time a player told me that one of my descriptions actually made them shiver. It was pretty awesome.
Best D&D Players are the ones that make the effort.
This is very true. I am 100% on board with you.
I think I found a way to get players to role play at my games by altering the inspiration system. But yes, effort means a lot. Nobody likes a munchkin.
One thing I really appreciate from my players, this week actually, is that I'm really behind on prep (I'm running a megadungeon, and while all the plot stuff is done I still have tons of encounters to balance and traps to set) and so one of my players is stepping up and running a one-shot for this evening's session to give me some time to work ahead!
I absolutely love when players actually work together and support one another. Seeing them plan out an ambush, helping eachother with skill checks, avenging a downed comrade and rushing to their aid, and in general being very supportive of eachother. Especially when they roleplay it!
as a new player and GM, i dont have many friends that are willing to actually try, so if i do find someone openminded enough to give it a try, it literally makes the game. I appreciate just anyone actually TRYING to play the game, and not awkwardly sitting there trying to be "the cool one" at the table while i weave my imagination in front of everyone lol
I love it when my players know how their attacks and abilities work.
I'm new to D&D and I've been binge-watching your older contents for reference and it just surprised me that you're bald here when just only an hour ago I watched you with a mohawk. Jokes aside, great video as always.
He’s great for rewatching while doing chores and refreshers before game day
check out the guys at Nerdarchy as well for more d&d videos and tips or Runesmith
@@stevevondoom4140 Dungeon Dudes and Runesmith are usually my go-to other than Taking20 (learned really A LOT in a span of a month). They are all really helpful, almost felt like I'm already playing, well, the technical stuff at leats. Checked some of Nerdarachy's content as well and I've learned much from them too.
Also, how much sponsorship money does he get from Under Armour? ;)
You could have given this the RUclips editing classic:
- Ken Burns Zoom and pan over creative commons art
- Different camera angles
- Motion text graphics breaking each list item into a different take
But you didn't.
And this is still informative.
And is very engaging.
I can see why people like you as a DM.
My favorite (and rare) good player habit is when two or more players role play with each other in character. It's such a relieving moment for me as a DM, I can sit back and literally breathe and enjoy my players taking advantage of what the world has to offer.
As a DM I love 2 things in players specifically: 1 Punctuality! If we are going to play at 8, don't walk in the door at 8, you should have already shown up, set your stuff up, went to the restroom, got your drink, sit down and ready to roll at 8. I know its not a dealbreaker, but, I like giving Inspiration for players that do that. and 2. I want to see that you did your homework while we are NOT at the table. I don't need you to know every spell and rule in the book. I just want you to know YOURS.
I absolutely hate player's that can't just read their character abilities beforehand and remember their PC toolset. Recently I was a player for a change and one of the fellow players was a standard human paladin. We were 3 session into Sunless Citadel when he get to know his PC abilities for the first time (1st level paladin has only two: Lay on hands and Divine sense). He had to read them on the spot during game. Don't get me wrong, he is not a new player per se and he isn't roleplay focused player. I was just boiling inside when that happened ;d
Goodness, dnd is supposed to be fun and Not work or school.
I love your point one. We start at 9 and go to 11. I'm there at 8:50. The rest of the group has usually trickled in between 9:10-15. The worst offender is the one who is MAKING DINNER AT 9 O'CLOCK! now that same player is asking if we can move to 10-11.
When players say “When are we playing again!” At the end of the session. I love it when players take the initiative to schedule the next game session, and it also shows that they enjoyed the game.
There’s nothing better than when a player gets interested in something in the game, and goes out to investigate it. Especially if it’s not related to the main plot. One of my favorite moments is when a player of mine saw a crumbled statue on the way into a city, and spent almost all of their downtime trying to figure out what happened. It was just so cool to have a little detail spiral into something so big for the player.
You should have seen the look on their face when after all that, the lich they ended up meeting a couple weeks later had the same name as the statue. Like I’ve never seen such genuine excitement from one of my players.
As a DM, I absolutely love, love, LOVE it when a player thinks creatively and outside of the box - especially when it's so far outside, the box isn't even visible anymore. For example, I had a druid once that failed their checks and save to avoid falling down a 300 ft crevasse. They asked if they could use the entangle spell to stop their fall. Not only did they succeed on the check for it, but they nat 20'd it, and instantly became a favorite story to retell.
I love when I notice they are happy and engage. You know, laught, make in game references, talk about ideas that went wrong...
It takes out the weight I put on myself for every error as a DM