+dragatus Seen a lot of people try to seek in game solutions for out of game problems... which just flat out doesn't work. This is pretty much all that's required.
he didnt mention that "what happens in game, stays in game". its the hardest one i think. for someone to look at another player and insult them in game, and not translate that into real life
+Carlos Ferrabone Good point. I've seen and experienced first hand how in-game disagreements cross-over to real life which ruins it for others causing them to leave the group and possibly never try D&D again.
yeah, most people say they're on board with the idea, because thats how theyd like to see themselves, but most people arent really when faced with something they dont like
Yeah, this happened to me aswell. One good tip here is, aslong as your players can act well and stay in character it wont really happend because everyone feels its not personal. But once u start yell out of character it can start to be hard telling the difference.
I think that generally don't give in-game insults, threats, or yelling until you've "tested the waters" to see how well the others handle the separation between player and characters. Start mild and work your way up over a couple sessions. Or maybe don't completely roleplay the insult -- say it in third person, clearly directed at the character you're insulting and not the player. And ask others before the game starts what they're comfortable with, especially when you have some newer people. I've never really had this be an issue, though I've spectated some in-person games where one or more people were going overboard with their performances and I wasn't sure the other players were comfortable with it. You're not going to get an Emmy for your performance, so remember that less is more, lol.
+DavidKyokushin That's certainly how the person takes it sometimes. Our group of some 15 years and running now had to tell someone to take a break because his mind wasn't right for gaming anymore, he had too much of an agenda. He ended up burning most bridges and was a bitter recluse for a good 9 months before starting to reach out again. A few of us still hang with him, but knowing someone is a distraction, potentially caustic to progress or the campaign in general, and is a person you like hanging with (or worse a good friend), it's VERY tough to tell someone to stay home. I had other group members there when I had to do it, and they were statues... they sure as hell didn't want to be the person to tell them. It takes balls to tell a friend 'you're being an asshole, take a break' in some fashion, but I also feel a friend should be one of the few people to get away with being blunt. It's never easy though, no matter how many times you may have to do it.
Funny enough, our group had the reverse where the players had to sit our DM down. We weren't trying to kick him out, we just wanted to have a little more freedom rather than the rigid storyline he had made. It was chock full of unfair moments where the players had no say in the matter for the purpose of his story and every single battle was an ordeal. There are layers and layers to the whole thing. We may have been suppressing our frustrations for a little too long because it came out really harsh and it was a long time before he rejoined as a player. Not a pleasant experience, especially since we're all friends at the end of the day.
+10far2many Never pleasant, but unfortunately sometimes necessary. In general, it's best to have "the talk" as soon as something becomes an issue - that way, there's less time for people to start getting pissed off.
My first group at college had a bit while everyone got used to the game and each other. After that, I offered them 4 possible missions. Very quickly, they realized each mission focused on one of their characters. They began referring to them as "your mission". And what happened was they began to defer to current "star" for the direction. One guy asked what he should, probably concerned he was about to make a crazy decision and that the others won't go along with him. The others told him to do whatever he wanted; it was his story. And then there were other missions where no one was the star, but I liked giving them each a small mini-campaign. And I liked how the players respected that.
+Tyler Arnold - What helps with this as a DM is to try and get your players to play very different roles. That way every player will be the "star" at some point depending on what kind of event you let them encounter. For a basic example, if you have three players play a fighter, a rogue and a mage, and the mage is usually pretty quiet, let them discover some sort of unidentified magical item or door etc. putting him naturally in the spotlight. If you'd had three mages they'd be "fighting" for that spotlight.
Tyler Arnold my old DM gave each character a small backstory-related quest during the course of our main storyline, and it was a really nice touch and made it both more enjoyable and easier to get into character.
The last session we had, we visited my sister's rogue's family. She's the first one to have their backstory directly in the compaign. I'm excited to see everyone else's. Btw her rogue's brother now owns the deed to the mine after we rescued the lord of the town from a failed summoning of an eldritch abomination. I'm glad I thought of asking for the deed. So far the most clever thing I've thought of.
In my weekly game in college (that I participated in, not GM'd), I really liked something we did at the end of every game. Everyone would vote for the best character moments of the night. The person voted for would get bonus XP. Only like 100 or so, it was mainly symbolic. But it was a great way to recap the night, and get a feel for what this group of players enjoyed. It was also fun the variety of things that won. Sometimes you won on pure role playing. Through superior acting or a great one-liner or something. Other times you might just win because a dice roll allowed you to do something unbelievable, but otherwise didn't have anything to do with you. It was fun :)
In a campaign that I participated in, I am the main diplomat because I'm a Paladin and I have 18 Charisma. So one day the people of the town were rioting about the quest system. I go in there and propose a system that actually works and I get the automatic nat 20 for just how good the idea was. Sadly I forget the exact details as of this writing (2:20 PM PST, June 9, 2020), but it was really good.
I end every session with a few questions; 1) What can I do to tell a better story? 2) What can I do to run a better game? 3) What would you, as players, like to see? 4) What would your characters like to see?
I like to end the session with a, "Thanks for playing. Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Is there anything you'd like to see more or less of from me?" I think I like your approach better. I might try to splice this up a bit
Don't be the guy who just say " i don't care about the necromancer trying to conquer the world, i'll just stay in the city, the rest of the party can go if they want to", or leaves the party or dodges plot hooks or makes the entire campaign impossible to resolve.Regardless of the legimitate roleplaying justifications your character has , you are there to play with the other people, using(at least a big share) of the material your DM has prepared.Some DM like to run open, sandboxy campaigns where this behaviour would be partially tolerated, just be aware of how much DM-written content you are dodging and how much your story can fit into the party's story.
God yes. They guys that try to play the "I'm a angsty lone wolf who never wants to do anything with anybody because I'm so cool" character is just annoying. You keep throwing them more and more and more bait to get them to actually PLAY the game with everyone else, but the never do. Then they get all pissed off because you didn't have a separate campaign set up just for them...
I have a simple solution for those kinds of players. "You want your character to stay behind while the party goes and does something? Fine, but I can't allow you to sit here at the table while they do it. Your character wouldn't know what happened and how, therefore you shouldn't either. You will also, obviously, miss out on all EXP they may gain along the way and their characters would be perfectly justified in not sharing whatever loot they may come across." If they don't want to play, they don't have to. The encounters may have to be a tad handicapped because of them and they may throw a fit, but its on them in the end.
I had a friend who's in game character motivations were to spoil my DM plans just because... Like he had no motivations about his character except just ruining my plans by any means. "Oh the whole groups going to a party can I leave the party then?" Eventually after a few things we all sat at the table and talked to him. I said it was alright if his character genuinly had motivation for doing certain things but that just going against what I say ruins things for everyone and is just over all annoying to me. Other players made several good points and he stopped and actually got a lot better. That was however an annoying start
The playgroup I am currently most frequent with sat down and we had a really mature and open conversation about the things that are and are not working, and the next session had a noticeably better flow and I think everyone enjoyed it more. I was really glad we talked about it, especially since I was part of the problem, and my part was escalated by some miscommunication. We managed to clear it all up like the adults we are. It was a great feeling.
He starts off by saying, "Welcome to my silly video series..." But I don't find these videos silly at all. They're super helpful, informative, and should be a must-watch for any tabletop group. I think "lighthearted" or "casual" is a better choice of word. :) I hope he does one on meta-ing. That's my biggest pet peeve.
Unfortunately, most humans don't naturally know how to appropriately interact with other humans in every setting. And, "Don't be a jerk." is too subjective. For a structured social environment like a tabletop game, it is a good idea to have a written set of etiquette rules that all players must agree to in order to play. This eliminates subjective opinions about what is and isn't acceptable, as well as accusations of being unfair or arbitrary when it comes to calling out players for rude behavior.
i found that, atleast as a player, it's much easier to roleplay when there is less people at the table. I have noticed that it's easier for the DM to listen to everybody, and that it doesn't take as long waiting for your turn, and it also makes it easier to manage your party.
Too true. I just ran a game this weekend with seven players; I’m glad to know I’m able to do it and they still enjoyed it but it was hectic as DM and a lot to keep track of. I found the combat especially took forever and the pacing of the quest was pretty difficult to manage with so many turns
Something to think about is that the more players you have, the more adversaries the GM will typically use in combat with them. So, with a party of five members, a standard fight will have an average of around 5 opponents. That means that with a 5 member party, each player is getting ~10% of the combat time (not exactly, as the GM can probably run through them a lot faster than PCs take their turns, but close enough). With larger parties an experienced GM can try to keep things running briskly by making sure players are prepared on their turns, but that can also mean that players can feel rushed. Role-playing starts to suck when you get that many people too. My ideal is 3-4, with 5 being my absolute highest tolerance.
My group had this one jerk who had no manners. He never paid attention when it wasn't his turn, he straight up brought a Nintendo Switch to the table. His character finally died and he got so mad he actually quit D&D
Nicolas Volaski Had a similar player in one of my groups. He’d show up and pull out his laptop, phone charger, Nintendo DS and he’d just sit there doing his own thing. Bringing the game to a screeching halt during his turn every single time and never paying attention to the story. He didn’t even play his character effectively. During combat he wouldn’t coordinate with other players or work around the enemy to fight them based on their weaknesses. He’d just whack whatever was closest because it got him back to his computer/phone/DS faster. Only paladin I know of that didn’t heal anyone during or outside of combat. Never used effective powers against undead. He just played like it was a barbarian because it was easier than paying attention.
There is a technique that might be helpful: When as a GM I have to create a BUNCH of story elements, like when I have to come up with a dozen NPCs or something like that on the fly, I use the creativiy of my players. I tell them to come up with an NPC concept each, and voilá, I already have as many NPCs as players. It can be very helpful to use the creativity of a whole party to do the job instead of just one slow brain.
Yep, same. Also I like to use flashbacks, where players can tell a little piece of the character story and gain a reroll for that, from which i also can gain some ideas for ongoing story. For example, a player tells a story about some foe that tried to kill him in a past and now i can bring that foe back to interact with the character. I took this mechanic from AW.
Oh sigh, i wish my players saw this. I spend hours and hours of the week planning the next leg of their adventure. But they treat the sessions like some sitcom were they can come and go as they please. If I try to make them decide if to come or not, they rather not. Or they'll say they come and never show up. It's pure hell trying to run a campaign, were most of the players havn't seen or been at the same places at the same time. "You recognize him as the necromancer from Bara-Thur, but the rest of you were never there", but the response usually is "who's he?" cause they haven't taken any notes.... Try to do an epic climax with sutble leads and mystery, when the players are texting while you describe the interior of a temple... Or tell you to skip to the "important part" when you describe an important NPC "Can I just pickpocket his bag and walk away?" Or the last session when one of the players couldn't afford the weapon he wanted and proceeded to sneak and steal the silverwear from their new ally who just saved his life. Or when I ask them to repay a humble favor to beggar monk they simply say "I'm chaotic neutral, my characters doesn't care, and besides he's got more important stuff to do"... sigh... I try to reprimand them in and off but everytime the game flatlines...
I've had people like that. It's a huge pain. I have a few things that might help in some of those situations if you'd like. I hope this doesn't intrude: Epic climax that requires paying attention to the temple interior? Have some key bits hiding in the temple that would only be found quickly if players were paying attention. "Can I just pickpocket his bag and walk away?" Have the merchant roll for perception. If they succeed, have them kick out the player, reprimand them, chase them down, call the guards on them, stab them, charge them extra on anything and everything, warn other merchants so they are wary of them, etc.. Whatever fits that particular merchants. Generally they are more considerate and aware of their actions if there are harsh consequences. PCs stealing from other PCs or NPCs? For NPCs, have some realistic reactions. Have them yell at the character, demand the items back, possibly attack them, refuse to aid them, pull some shenanigans as revenge, hold grudges, etc.. For other players, make their characters very aware that another character stole form them. Perception checks, investigation checks, things like that. Ask them how they would react in real life and ask them if that is how their character would react, then encourage them to act that out. "I'm chaotic neutral" surprise encounter. Have them get mugged, or have an NPC that they helped refuse to repay them with the same excuse. Harsh, but usually works. Overall, I would try to make the stories more personal to their characters. Maybe kill one of the players if needs be, putting some emotion into it. Try to get the story to connect with them on a personal level. Don't be afraid to tell them no and have serious consequences for their character's actions. And if all else fails, don't be afraid to call it off or kick out players. Sometimes you can't help them, and sometimes the only way they'll learn is through rejection. I know this post is 2 years old, but I hope this will help in the future, if not now.
One thing I cannot stand as a GM: When players don't pay attention. It's a very rare case, since most people do their best to remain attentive, but occasionally I get the asshole who's texting while doing D&D or just simply not caring and doing a little as possible. Here's a little tip on making it work: Be sure to address them and let them know what they're doing is bothering you and disrupting the campaign. Usually, one warning is enough and they respect it and get along just fine. If this is repetitive, then I suggest drastic measures and booting them from the game, seeing as they care little or not at all about what's happening.
Kaipyro67ALT Hah, I’m trying to DM/GM a new group of 12 year olds, I’m new myself, and 2/4 players are always goofing off without paying attention. Yet, when I say that maybe we shouldn’t play this for now, no, we want to play, we will pay attention. 5 minutes later, I want to have the same conversation again. Edit: generally, the player who’s turn it is is paying attention and 2 others are goofing off, but in a role play moment I’m screwed, people listening can’t even hear what I say because of the noise!
In the players defense, I'm an experienced veteran, I know how to play my character When it's my turn, I immediately know what I want to do, and how to get a good roleplay vibe out of that moment, whether it be my character making a daring attack, save, or even retreat However, whether it is 5 or even just 2 more players beside you, they always take forever to decide what their going to do, in and out of combat. you need to be prepared to make action on your turn as soon as it comes and also the DM needs to make sure that the players EVERYONE including me, get included in some good roleplay moments outside of combat Secondly, and this isnt just the players fault, but when I'm playing with others, I see a lack of roleplay or interest in their turns, and the dm doesn't help either because he doesn't take the time to explain how we hurt the monster, even after I especially do a really cool and serious power move. So if it's me in those players position, where the do is not trying to make it interesting or the players aren't really putting effort in to the game or even the roleplay, the only thing I can think of doing, since I know what I wanna do on my turn already is check some texts, watch some RUclips videos, or even look for a distraction. If the other players and do can't put in some effort, why should I?
Not rare at all. I run a game online using Maptool and Discord, because Roll20 was even worse with this. No one payed any attention to anything. Had a caster kill innocents with AoE spell and didn't give him take backs because not only did a player mention it I mentioned it, he had 2 warnings that he would kill or harm prisoners of their enemies. Had another not pay any attention at all to anything happening and never once tried to roleplay while bitching about a lack of roleplay, even when another player tried to RP with them. I just stop warning players more than once, and I don't repeat myself. I let the consequences in game stay in game and keep it on track. The constant OOC talk in modern games is killing attentiveness. Didn't hear what the wizard said? Too bad he already left. Did he die because he expected you to do what you agreed to do and you didn't? Oh well. This is correcting the behavior quite well.
@@TheCart54321 The thing I saw some other DMs do and I really like it, is you have a hourglass (just a minute or two) for them to take their turn. If they don't take it by the end of that hourglass, their turn gets skipped. This helps with people who take forever to decide because they weren't paying attention to the game.
@@dragoneye6229 The only problem with this approach is be aware that some players have hearing problems and literally did not hear what you said, especially if other players (not them) are talking.
Matt, the whole spotlight thing, you perfect in Critical Role. I love it so much. One time you're having Vex hunting a beast in a trial, another time you're having Pike message Scanlan with the earring and having an emotional moment, etc.
I've usually had very little issue with fellow players, though perhaps that's because I've often played with people I was already friends with before the game, and so I had a good feel for who they were and what they'd like. Only once did I, as a DM, have problem players. Well, players that were enough of a problem that I couldn't just give them polite little "nudges" in game or make some adjustment to have things work a little better. And that said, while I will ask players, after a session, what they thought, what they liked, what they weren't so keen on, the responses are almost universally "I liked it. Everything was good." in that sort of tone that says even if they had a complaint they don't intend on sharing it... which kind of defeats the purpose of me asking. So I'll usually follow that up with "well, if anything comes to mind you'd like to talk about, give me a call or a text or something." But anyway, the one time I had a genuine problem with players, it was _All_ of the players. Well, all but one, but she would side with the majority out of peer pressure, which I can't blame anyone for doing. These were people I'd met just after moving to a new-ish area. But as I was trying my best to provide the game these players wanted -- players I'd been gaming with for about 6 or 7 months at the time -- they began to pay less and less attention to the game. I was giving some of the players their chances to shine since they'd often be talked over by the more charismatic fellow and this would sometimes result in about 5 or 10 minutes of them being apart from everyone else to do something -- not a big deal in most games. Of course, what they were doing tended to involve the interest of all the players -- something akin to them going undercover to deal with agents of the big bad or what have you. In any other group this is the kind of thing that the players would be quite invested in to find out more about what was _really_ going on even if their characters wouldn't know. Instead, this group would make a habit out of using their cell phones to play games, browse Reddit, or whatever -- it started minor and quickly amped up. They'd start to wander away from the table -- ostensibly to go to the bathroom or get a snack, but often two or three would wind up in the next room watching youtube or something. I tried to talk to them about this, that it was making me feel like I was wasting my time. "No, no, it's fine" they'd tell me "we were totally paying attention, we just wanted to watch this video". Or "I can browse on my phone and pay attention at the same time... just repeat everything you said because I missed it." I honestly don't know what the deal was. They were in complete denial about it, though at one point started saying it was my fault because all they wanted was combat (which there had been plenty of when they would actually participate). What made me a bit more upset about it all was the one player who really did seem to be interested in the game, but because she wanted everyone at the table to be in on it, she'd politely acquiesce to their growing tendency to be distracted. And of course, every week they'd say "Oh, we're sorry, we'll do better next week, please don't stop. We were just distracted this _one_ time." Of course my patience (which I have a lot of) ran out and I just stopped. Whenever they'd contact me, I'd suggest "maybe we can just play a video game instead." Because I don't think any DM wants to be treated that rudely, and if the players are in denial or can't communicate what they actually want, it's best to just let it go and find some other folks if you can.
Every single week you improve my game. Some fantastic tips this week, I'm still struggling to balance things between the game half my players wants (high powered dungeon delve) and the game the other half want (all Rp, all the time). We're getting better though, the last few games are the first where I've had no complains. The other biggest tip I've learned actually came from Liam O'Brien when, during the dragon attack he said 'Matt's not doing it, it's the dragon." Directing my players anger at their loss of items/status at the NPC rather than myself should have been something I worked out on my own, but it has improved my relationship with my players tenfold. Thank you for all you guys do!
+Brett Symons +Brett Symons yeah. They are flowing better together, and I'm getting better at merging the two together so no one really notices that the thing they like least is happening. Getting better at puzzles too. Thanks for your advice though :)
+Emma Guy - Keeping characters/NPCs separate from the actual players/DM is really important but can be tricky. Some people just can't do it. The clearest examples of this I've experienced during LARP, where it's maybe even a little more difficult since you're playing characters live-action (obviously) face-to-face, and not around the table. When it's "time-in" anything I say and the way I behave is my character, and at the time I played an elf thief/assassin that was forced to be there by circumstances. So let's just say he wasn't a people person. I've had interactions where people got mad at "my character" and carried that grudge over into down time.
Few months ago we got a HUGE problem player (let's call her D) at our table and it almost ended our one year long campaign we were running every week and was close to ruin long time friendships. And listening to how you described it echoed a lot with this situation because this player was clearly not expecting the same things from the game and feeling entitled to hog the spotlight and be vindictive over the whole table. D knew she was the problem player, and instead of questionning herself and correcting herself, she tried to manipulate and turn the players one by one then collectively against me (the DM), and when the whole table defended me spontaneously, she refused to face the consequences and talk with all of us together and almost shattered our group's mutual trust. D was a strange player to deal with. She had no real hobbies or social interactions and a pretty relaxed/boring job so she got hooked like crazy by D&D and was invested like crazy into it (no joke, it was like 8 hours per day thinking about D&D, her character background...Etc). As she was super invested and pretty smart she quickly became a good actor and a good player to rely on as a DM (for stuff like ordering the initiative, looking for rules or some other stuff when I was busy) She was playing a lightly problematic character at the begining of the campaign because between the 2nd to 5th session she decided to betray the group and tried to run lone wolf to try to kill the party....of course her character ended up killed super easily by the group and it seemed that she had learnt the lesson. So she made a new character, telling to the table that now she won't try to screw the group anymore. So she made a cleric from the town the PC had just arrived in to facilitate the introduction to the group, and she acted as the cliché Lawful Good "group mom". We were playing in a setting based on the old Might and Magic videogame serie, I was the DM for 5 players (D and my 4 best friends, and with my friends we absolutely LOVE playing D&D with each other alongside tons of videogames and other activities) and everything was fine until we all decided to add an other player because she was a close friend of us and was watching all of our session replays and making super cool artworks and illustrations of our campaign. For various reasons, in order not to break the narrative, we agreed with the new player that she would play one of the Cleric's sons that was long gone and now working as a mercenary in the continent. The new player, let's call her A. was delighted with this idea and got super invested in her character. The other player, D, playing the Cleric, was also delighted when she was surprised by a "Mom...?!" scene. At the same time she discovered Critical Role, and started watching it almost non stop and was clearly interested in the flamboyant/acting part of RPG. But right after this session, they both got super invested in preparing a metric tons of interactions between Mom and son at the point they were spending like 3 to 4 hours per week writing stuff. And the next session...here the disaster happened...the interactions were super recurrent and were happening like 20 min scenes, with everything that needs to be done in a super flamboyant manner and not be interrupted for any reason....even by the other players. At one session I tried to keep track of the time everyone was speaking....and on a 5 hours session A and D together got more than two hours. So next session I tried to remind A and D that yeah gimmicks between son and mom might be fun from time to time but there need to be space for anyone in the group. Right after this session I got messages from D and she started (in the name of the group according to her) reproaching me that I was limiting the players in their interactions, that she was absolutely shocked to see that after 10 years of DMing and watching a lot of channels about GMing I was not letting characters develop bonds between them. That this was the reason there was absolutely no trust between the characters and that we were a group struggling to act and roleplay in character. I told her I was taking notes of that and that we'll discuss that all together at the beginning of next session to find solutions Then few days after...she started absolutely vomiting a metric ton of reproaches to me on tons of details and moment I did wrong, on how my campaign was bad and started contesting a tons of statements I made with the group about how to establish rules upon this or that situation...openly comparing our way of playing to how it's done in Critical Role and saying that she was super disappointed seeing that I was not taking advantage on her backstory that she invested soo much time into (no joke, she decided that her character had 13 childrens and she made backstory/description and character sheets for all of them). We were on a tight schedule, maybe 4 hours per week to play and all of our group members were pretty busy with jobs/life/family ...Etc so there was NO WAY I could use this deluge of informations on such a schedule while being fair to the other players. Two days before the next session, I got asked by my best friend to talk with him a moment on our D&D discord server and he told me that D was starting b*tching on me on the player's private chat and trying to return all of the table against me. After a moment we ended the discussion with my friend, he logged off and D logged in even before I disconnected and she started talking super passive agressive to me like "So...you've thought about what I wrote to you or you keep not answering directly?" I told her that I knew that she had tried to bash me and return my best friends against me and that it was totally unacceptable and that I won't let anyone abuse my trust or disrespect me this way. So if she was unhappy with how I was trying to make it fair for everyone's fun and reasons to play (other players were not all interested in acting either...one of them is a spectator player and everyone is fine with that) she had a choice: - Talk with all of us in two days at the begining of the session as planned - Become the new GM of the campaign and run it at she wants to see if DMing is as easy as she thinks - Or leave the group and find players that suit her and can invest 8 hours per day in a hobby. She instantly left the server and all the discussions we could have had on Discord Then next day it was a freakin' mess in our Discord like "Wut, D left?! What happened?", we had to setup an emergency meeting on the evening to clarify everything because she then lied to some players that asked her what happened and I think I got a natural 20 on my insight check for having decided to screenshot the whole text discussion and vomit she had sent the previous days....We got to adress collectively ALL of her reproaches and we figured out that all of us were perfectly fine with how the game was running, that we were feeling super free and not restricted in the PC's actions by my way of DMing (my signature phrase is probably "You can try if you want, it's certainly unlikely but probably not impossible"), but by D and her vindictive way of playing the Laweful good group mom withinin a neutral/chaotic good party. They even said they were disturbed by how D's character was keeping her personal quests (which when they discovered it all said "why didn't you told us about it before so we could have helped you?). Also, all the players simultaneous agreed upon the fact that there was absolute comfidence between the characters...they even gave me examples of this, like right in the first sessions the fighter who accepted to drink a nasty poison bottle at level 2 to save the whole group, or the group stopping the main quest for 3 sessions to gather crazy ingredients to cure A's character from vampirism. Unfortunately, A got really pissed of by D having left the group, so we had to wait one month before playing D&D again and two month before getting D back at the table, and we can clearly see now that she is staying at the table just because the campaign is almost over now and then she'll get back playing with D. In fact, few times she said she was unable to play with us on certain evenings and we got evidences she was playing with D instead on our table schedule. This sunday will be the grand finale of the campaign, I've planned great things for my beloved players, and despite the fact that I had an absolute blast running this campaign overall, I now realize how relieved I feel knowing this campaign, and the last bits of bitternes we feel from A, is over; and that for the next one I'll be a simple player (after almost 10 years of DMing) and we'll finally, I guess, have a perfectly sane table.
So 7 people in a 5 hour session, that's 42 minutes each. The two fanatics each did 60+, making up for the 1+ others not interested in acting, or extending the session like only they enjoyed?
That’s a great story! Was a bit busy here. Had to go to the hair salon and then get lunch while making sure youtube wouldn’t refresh and take away this page so I could finish reading.
I have started tracking my quest lines by character. I had all of my players give me a list consisting of their character's fears, secrets, short term goals and long term goals. Then I started writing quest hooks for each of them based on how it would relate to a character's drives. It has made including everyone a lot easier for me to keep track of, and helps me to build the story around them, so they feel like they are familiar with the world.
Player tip etiquette: "Players, do your part and learn the rules that revolve around your character's actions. You shouldn't rely on the DM to remember or remind you of EVERY rule, they have enough to remember already without having to remind you how to play your character."
UGH, the thing about hogging the spotlight is too real. I can do it a lot without realizing, as much as I like to see other players interact or shine. I always appreciate someone calling me out if I take it too far
One thing I would love to see in the future is your DM setup - for example the way you have your notes, screen, models and table set up and laid out for you, and why. I think that would be really useful to see - especially for people like myself who would like to host a game but are unsure how best to organise their notes, etc for their best and most effective use throughout a game. It would be pretty awesome to see.
Something I've found useful is when I invite people to play, I give them a 2 paragraph write up about the setting. General things like what kind setting (sea, mountains, urban), any special quirks or motivations (magic is not tolerated), as well as how much RP, politics, and combat they could expect from the game. It really helps establish expectations.
Great tips! Could you also make a tutorial on your sound effects? Monster voices, arrows flying, door creeking... I'm trying to figure them out by myself, but I sound funny.
Keep in mind this guy uses his voice professionally. As a voice actor he has a lively hood in great voices so don't feel bad if you can't get exactly close to his voices
Dalty D it is always good to learn basic stuff before playing your first game. These videos are full of good information, even for an experienced player like myself. Hope you got to play your first game?
nah I am getting into D&D as well from watching TFS at the Table, and Critical Role, and DnD the unexpectables but have yet to start a game... Have reached out to a few friends I know that play or have friends that do, just trying to work time into my life to get into this game... But in the mean time I passively watch these to get more insight and experience before playing
Yes, that is very bad, and you should feel bad about yourself. How dare you?! For punishment, you must roll a spin-down d20 1000 times and record the results. Then do a statistical analysis to determine whether or not it is a fair die. No more D&D videos for you until you have atoned for your transgressions!
Great advice, especially about communication among the group members. My last group played for a year, and it was the best group I was ever a part of, but they didn't discuss what style we'd be playing beforehand. Me and the DM were the only veteran RPG players and everyone else was sort of a first-timer, so we started with simple systems and laid back gameplay that didn't take itself seriously, getting more invested in story and character with each new system. When we got to our first Pathfinder campaign, I thought we were ready for our first real RP game where we'd really get invested in the story and characters, only to find out later that I was the only one doing it and the others wanted to be laid back. I never realized that's what they were doing, and they never brought up their discomfort with me (if I'd known, I had no issue with dialing it back), until eventually it came to a head and the host's wife used it as an excuse to bring up some imaginary personal issues she had with me out of game, and basically got me kicked out of the group. During a session I wasn't even attending. And they never planned to tell me I wasn't in the group anymore. Later they realized it was pretty fucked up, but at the time nobody's head was on straight, and I'm still insecure about what my peers really think of me even now. So yeah. Communicate with your group members.
I'm actually gonna be sad if and or when this series ends. I hope Matt starts to get to the little stuff or cover one subject in a video. Like how does exp work or making enemies stronger as the players grow stronger. That's what I'm having trouble with creating my game of how to balance power so people won't be destroyed at level 3.
Kay, I know this is a late response, but here's a tip: Throw a higher level monster at them, even when they're level 3. BUT always have a contingency plan if it looks like it's going south. ex: My players (4 + 1NPC) went into an abandoned Cathedral and encountered a Young Green Dragon (Challenge lvl 8 while they were only lvl 3) and they fought it. My intention was, it was there to scare them more than anything and if they couldn't do too much damage to it, I was gonna have the Cathedral roof collapse in on it. HOWEVER, certain players rolled extremely well and they managed to defeat a lvl 8 enemy at lvl 3 completely legit. Sometimes stuff like that happens. Basically, the challenge levels are guidelines, but feel free to bend the rules.
+Kairpyro67ALT My DM had the opportunity for the players to encounter a young Green Dragon, which we did, except his intention wasn't to "scare [us]". It was to make us consider not everything is "Kill shit, get loot" and that we must approach powerful adversaries with caution and tact. Had we fought instead of talked, it would've been a TPK. I could say the characters who fought a Wraith were lucky they didn't die, but their health was perma reduced in angering the Wraith, so... +Just2Eyez lol I'm late now but it depends what kind of DM you are. Some DMs prefer milestone-based Level Ups, while other DMs use individual progress based Level Up (I believe Mercer uses this one, as does my DM.) The latter is the one I prefer. As to balancing enemies for low level players, the challenge levels are guidelines, but allow the characters to make their own mistakes.
Thanks, I needed this info :) Just getting into this world and I'm kind of afraid of either not participating enough to make it fun or just making an ass of myself by overstepping. This was helpful.
I’m absolutely someone who takes the spotlight without realising I’m doing it, and then I feel awful later, so am always happy when people point it out to me BEFORE I ruin the whole game
Question about working with new players. What's the best way to work with a really wooden player who can't act their way out of a box in an RP group? How can you help them to find their voice as an actor/roleplayer?
+Bryan Runyan This admittedly is a bit of a tricky thing to do, and it comes down to learning what the player responds to best, but one thing I've found works sometimes is having NPC's address them in a low-pressure social setting. For example, having an NPC talk to them in a bar, or talking with someone on a street. From there it's a matter of creating an interesting conversation that engages them. When they become comfortable speaking from a first person perspective, then they may begin to apply it to other aspects of their gameplay. That being said, sometimes there are folks who just lack that dramatic spark, for whom roleplaying is genuinely uncomfortable. If that turns out to be the case you should first and foremost make sure they're having fun, if they are then just let them enjoy the game in their way. If they're not, then you may have to talk with the player and find out if your game really is a good fit for them.
My advice for this is to allow them to observe and acclimate themselves for a little, then start to ask them what their character thinks, does, ect to what has just happened. ' Tim's been gone for a good while to scout ahead, what has Tina been doing while she's waited?' Having done that for a while you can start having NPCs talk to their character, if it can include aspects of the characters background all the better. 'Jenna walks up to you John and clasps your wrist in the secret handshake that your crew used to use in your smuggling days, how do you react?' You can also start asking them first what their character does before the other players jump into something. 'Sally, you've finally reached the tower, the door's smashed. What do you do?'
My advice for this is to allow them to observe and acclimate themselves for a little, then start to ask them what their character thinks, does, ect to what has just happened. ' Tim's been gone for a good while to scout ahead, what has Tina been doing while she's waited?' Having done that for a while you can start having NPCs talk to their character, if it can include aspects of the characters background all the better. 'Jenna walks up to you John and clasps your wrist in the secret handshake that your crew used to use in your smuggling days, how do you react?' You can also start asking them first what their character does before the other players jump into something. 'Sally, you've finally reached the tower, the door's smashed. What do you do?'
To be clear, the issue with this particular player isn't shyness. It's just inability to roleplay with any sort of energy, immersion or enthusiasm. I think it's a lack of acting/stage confidence, and I know they want to improve but not sure how to help.
I admire you Matt Mercer, you bring a lot of happines and emotions with your creation. and i think the dice roll gods (or whatever it is) like like you, and that the why for the "miracles" that HAD HAPPENED in the show. just amazing, thank you man.
Could there be an episode about how to plan short story style games? My group is planning on doing a series of "try out being a dm" sessions, since we're all really interested, but trying to think of ideas of stories that could be played out in one or two sessions (since our sessions tend to be more along the 3-4 hour line, rather than 6-8) is something I, and I think the rest of my group, would really appreciate advice on
I've been watching a lot of these videos as of recent and learned so much. all my past worlds and campaigns would take swan dives because i wasn't that good. well with your help and these videos Matt I was able to have a full 9 hour session with vivid detail and heartache. thank you for all the help !!!!
I really like this whole series.. it has shed a lot of new lights on things that I will be doing later in the year as I finally get my world up and running. Thank you for taking time out to put this all together.
Thank you so much for this! This video couldn't have come out at a better time. My DM and I were going to have a discussion with our group (we just laid out some new etiquette rules this past week) the next time we have a session. Not including our DM, there are around 10 players (some aren't always able to show up, which is why we have so many) and they get very rowdy and get distracted by stuff such as drawing and watching videos on their phones. We are going to show them this video and hopefully they will begin to understand why we put these new rules in place. Our DM, as you said, puts hours of his time into creating the next session. As for myself, I host it at my house and I have probably put over $300 in supplies into the group. No one really seems to appreciate the things that he or myself do. Him and I are the only Critters in the group, which I think is the problem :P
Have an honest talk to your group about this. Consider dropping players off. 10 players is a behemoth party, and (clearly) not all of those 10 players are committed to the type of fun D&D is. Neither will your DM be able to efficiently handle such a load without skimping on game quality. We have a party of 4 (excluding DM) and the session before last I had to address a few issues about table etiquette because half of the party was spoiling it for the remaining 2 AND DM. They seem to have slowly gotten on board with fixing the issues...
Should be required viewing for every gaming group. ;) Not sure that you need the multi-camera setup, at least not the way you're using it here. It's distracting. Perhaps camera #2 could be toward GMs, and the main camera is for players/everyone.
I'm so glad I found these tip videos! I've been playing for about 5 years, but am now a first time DM with a group of first time players, except one guy who has played one short campaign before. He is a bit more of the impulsive murder hobo type though and I was affraid I'd end up with a group of murder hobos if they'd follow his lead.. However, during the first session the group went through every situation without engaging in combat and finding alternative options of dealing with things. Only once did the murder hobo try to start something, but the paladin stopped him, so it all worked out great! At the end of the session we talked everything trough. I gave them some tips for their characters, asked questions and got feedback. We all felt positive about how is went, they were very patient with me and understanding when I got a bit confused and had to figure some stuff out. I think I got a great group here and am very exited to continue!
I think that if you create characters together (or even one on one, GM and each player), you'll know what they expect of the adventures to come. In some games that gets more obvious than in D&D.
allluckyseven Still, make sure you are on the same page nonetheless. I've had players seemingly follow my description of the campaign only to go off on their own trail once the campaign began. :/
Allowing other players to shine is essential! It makes everyone feel like they're an integral part of the story which I find makes it more rewarding for everyone.
At my table, I introduced a new rule. Any time that somebody does something to annoy me, for example, going on their phone while playing, I make the gods smite them for 1d6 lightning damage. It always seems to work
I have played many a different campaign, and with utmost certainty i can tell you I have experienced pretty much everything the good and the bad. But this video nails it on the head.
Yeah... my problem is that I'm always so happy to find a group to play with (which is really hard for me cause I'm not exactly the most out going) that I forget to actually talk about what kind of campaign I'm getting into which sucks cause I love rp and story heavy campaigns but I keep finding myself in campaigns where people want a more casual murder-hobo type adventure.
I need players like you. Most of my players are murder-hobos. They've already killed three crucial NPCs and wonder why they can't solve the mystery. lol
Friggin THANK YOU FOR THIS PARTICULAR CHAPTER. Because honestly I agree with alot of these points, especially with the fairness of being in the spotlight.
I've had my fair share of kicking players out over 20 years of DMing. (The first was guarenteed as the only reason why he (18 at the time) made his mother come and beg us since his 16 year old brother was playing). ((Let it be said that the older brother was and continues to be to this day a very toxic person outside of game, so there was little hope for his in game character)). The best way I've found to deal with these players is to create harsh and realistic consequences for their actions. Be it local law, and angry mage, or allow the players to understand they can take things into their own hands if it is done in game only. This has worked out very successfully for myself, and those trouble players (we'll leave it at that gentle title) quickly learned how the fun was sucked out of their wild and abusive roleplaying and ingame actions. No player wants to be left behind by an angry group to become the plaything of an angry necromancer (or even the target of another PC assassin hired by the collective group. lol). There's even been occasions where the trouble player learned their lesson, and used his new predicament to thread in new story lines to the glee of all involved. It turned a horrible situation into what that was very rewarding for all involved. With all that said, I agree that it may never be easy to cast a player out. When this happens, I require a group vote (in private), and their full and open commitment to it. But, only after the trouble player has been made clear to them that their actions are causing problems. If they become resentful, and refuse to understand the situation that's been explained (in a mature and calm way), then anything else is on them. No one should feel guilty for the actions of another, and if a friend continues to treat the other friends in a negative way in game, then there's no reason why it should not be portrayed that they wouldn't do it out of game. (Which, more often than not, they treat their friends like crap out of game as well.)
I've seen a DM do this for a problem player, and it works out great. He acknowledges it with gentle humor afterwards, too. "I made that room just for Player A because he loves to rush into things even when his mates are telling him to be cautious." :D
Lydia Krow Lmao. I had almost the same exact experience with another of my players. I actually made 6 rooms down a hall way, each filled with something horrible to condition the player to proceed with caution. In the end, he went through each room in the exact way I thought he would. (I was really only thinking he'd deal with one or two rooms and abandon the rest afterward his negative experience.) At the 6th room, his blindness to caution continued and he barked out that he was going to should slam the door and rush in as fast as he could. Well, he passed his rolls to knock in the door and found himself suddenly free falling down an endless pit (where I presume he is still falling). After all was said and done, the whole group thought I was just picking on him and was making up the stuff on the spot. I handed over my master map and notes to show that everything was created before hand. I think we all laughed for a good fifteen minutes. (Even the victim of these trapped rooms). In the end it worked out. The problem player learned from it, and actually took some weird pride in his lesson. Stories of his elven fighter falling endlessly to the center of creation was spread through the land as a children's story to teach youngsters the lesson of patience and caution. lol Sorry, guess I got carried away with that wall of text. lol
Really enjoyed listening to this. As a DM, a lot of the tips were stuff that I do! But some I didn’t know, which will be very helpful for my future campaigns. Mainly those revolving around spotlight and discussing what players want from the campaign. Thankfully spotlight hasn’t been to badly for my campaigns, however I realized as I went on that I do need to give story-lines for my newer players on their characters(They joined the campaign late for any random reader reading).
One of my players invited an old friend of his, and those two talked over me (I'm the GM), like you wouldn't believe. I just happened to video record the session for later playback, and when I saw how much those two talked, I immediately kicked out the new player. Didn't even give him a warning. The video was excruciating to watch. On the video, I was constantly fighting over their horsing around. They didn't care what was going on. We have two new players and I think they've been told I don't play around when it comes to that. Oh....and the player I kicked out? He's still angry about it. I don't care.
I had same problem. I sat back ands smiled. After a while (8 other players) those two were Todd by the rest of the party to move on, shut up etc. Fun times
@@OhNoTheFace YOU get over yourself. When the players throw all manners out the window, they have voided the social contract and the GM has ZERO obligation to discuss it with them. GM's are not substitute mommies there to teach good manners.
I'm about to DM my first game and appreciate this series SO MUCH. This in particular is helpful because I know as a relative n00b I am going to need a lot of help from my players to keep me informed since I don't know all the aspects of every character they are playing .
Damed be you and your awesomness! My brother got into rpg´s due to your dnd streams. As I managed to get the privilage to be his dm, he keeps comparing me to you and your show. I am no voiceactor, but I genuinly hurt my throat by squeesing it just to try and get him to enjoy it. I can not get a deep voice unless I squees my throat enough to genuinly hurt and at timesit gets hard to breath. At one time he even told me to stop, tell him what the male npc´s was gonna say and then he would voice them out. He have gotten a bit more apreciative but he is still bossy and a tad rude :/ I just feel that he expect me to be like you, and his campaign is the first one I not only dm, but PLAY. I have not had anyone to play with earlier. The main story is that it all takes place in the realm of demons/devils. However millenias ago mighty wizards enterd the realmand war broke out, sealing the demons into nothing and magicly transforming the plane to fit human life and what they need to live, such as plants and animals. Some demons had however mated with humans, creating halfbloods. And now millenias later ther demons are considerd nothing but a childrens tale. If somone is found out to have demon blood the king will send the mightiest of soldiers to murder said demon. The demon king have however managed to slip back into the realm he once ruled. So now he is looking for a champion to free them. Having slipped through the weakening seal took most of the demons power, rendering him nearly powerless. Thus he will meet y brothers character (who have demon blood) and try to lure him to undo the seal. If my brother decides to side with the demons the end boss will be a paladin/monk hybrid that is the crown prince. If he decides to side with the humans, he will have to travel to the dimension that the demons was sealed in, fighting the demon king in said realm. So far he have mainly meditated trying to figure out the plot. He keeps getting natural 20´s and I genunly cant give him more without spoiling everything. He have already figured out that he is most likely a demon, much more info and he will know the whole plot (wich I buildt around his character), I made a whole wrld just for him including comming up with familie crests to the nobles, relationships both peacefull and those of war. Wouuld it be fine to say "You wont find out anything else by meditating no matter the diceroll"? One last question, my brother tends to belive that the characters needs to have diffrent voices, accents, lisps and so on to be intresting. Is this not just a cosmetic thing? The thing that makes a character intresting is its personalities and querks is it not? Or am I wrong here? I just belive that the voice is more a cosmetic thing and not needed if the character is well made.
+Moku Some DM's I've seen just make an excuse like 'he's staying behind to protect your caravan', one DM turns people who miss a session into cardboard. It's pretty funny, especially when they end the session right before a battle, and then the next episode someone has to do work, so at the beginning of the battle someone turns into cardboard and runs away. Lots of ways to do it though, as long as the person is there most of the time I don't think it's an issue. I personally don't know though, never DM'd a game myself.
This one kind of differs between groups. Some DMs provide an excuse or an out for why the character isn't there for that particular session, some groups have the character absent from the session without ever addressing it, some groups let the players play the absent character, some groups have the DM play the absent character. It's worth talking over with your group (especially if you intend to do one of the latter two solutions) to find out how they prefer to handle the situation.
Our Rogue has a tendency to miss sessions so we built into the game that sometimes she wanders off or hides in the shadows then pops up like nothing happened. It's become part of her character now
Very helpful tips, Matt, thank you. I noticed I'm one of those players that unintentionally takes the spotlight. As you brought it to my attention, I'm now able to correct that and make my game more fun for my party who, thankfully, have been very patient with my poor manners. So, very much appreciated.
man one of the biggest problems i have is suggesting people how to act before letting them have a chance to think it's hard to let people do what they do when you know you are always right
Maybe that's the problem. I don't mean to sound as though I'm attacking you, please don't take it that way. But, a DM/GM is NEVER always right. We make mistakes as well, and far more often than we allow the players to see. I suggest that you allow the players to act as they want, and slowly ramp up the consequences in game to allow them to adjust to what is expected to be appropriate conduct in your story. You HAVE to allow them the freedom to think on their own from the start, otherwise they're just reading lines you've wrote and you've eliminated the majority of what makes RPGs fun.
I've never played but I've always been interested. These vids that Matt has been providing have given me pretty good insight into how games play. Watching Critical Role eps is fun and a learning session for me. But having a more personal explanation is better.
I partially agree and partially disagree. I guess there’s extensive extremes. I don’t mind if a player is chaotic and tries to change the world aggressively in character, But if they’re doing everything they can to undermine every element of my game world then I’m going to be a little disappointed.
i feel if there's somethng different with your rules and the PHB it's te gm's job to sit and discuss it with the players, both mechanically and flavorwise, this is what i do when discussing tha tin some cases a nat20 isn't enoguh to pull somethings, because some things are pysical impossibilities, (like stealing someone's pants while they're still on and buckled and the person is awake)
I'd call it more a collaberative world. Your DM can't play out stories without players, and vice versa. This whole 'never backtalk' thing ruins games with pent up frustrations.
I remember creating a cleric whose sole function was to destroy undead. First undead he encountered was a powerful ghost. Failed the will save and permanently lost 1d6 str, con, and dex. I was less than satisfied lol.
I would never make some condition permanently permanent. I would always give them a way to eventually heal/cure it. It may be a hard thing to accomplish depending on what happened and how they received it, but it would always be healable.
I am just getting back into RPG's and especially GMing...Putting together a campaign for Mutant: Year Zero....these videos are fantastic Matt, as well as watching you guys on Critical Role and Ivan and his gang on No Survivors have been a huge help and motivator. Thanks for bringing back my passion for these games!!
I have to explain every single thing to each of my players individually most of the time because it's absolutely impossible to get all 6 of them to listen at once. And, invariably, there's always at least one (usually the same one) who looks up from his phone 5 minutes later and asks for a 4th or 5th recap because he blatantly ignored me the first time I explained everything directly to him. In combat, he sometimes has to be reminded of what he's even fighting every turn. However, there is one player that always listens to everything I say, enough that he can help explain it to everyone else, and I appreciate the man so much for that.
@@meih3286 we did have a talk about paying attention more, and it has improved, but there's still some room for further improvement. We still manage to have a good time though. Even if the barbarian likes to threaten every npc he comes across just to test my leniency.
For our group one of our etiquette rules is "When improvising always go with it even if its a bit ridiculous." This lets everyone have fun and the GM can fix it up so whatever happened works. If you ever watch Acquisitions Inc. the GM almost always says "Yeah, Sure." or "OK!" to the craziness that happens there and they have a great time.
I passed this along to my game group that I GM for, you word this so much better then I do and I have been trying to explain this to them for a while now.
I generally think that I am easily excitable, I'm extremely childish in the way I act sometimes, and sometimes I do take the spotlight. Even after being told very strictly and asshole-ish to stop or I "shouldn't be playing D&D". I also recently started as a DM and basically got the party slaughtered by putting in a single enemy that they couldn't handle. This was the first session of the game and I had only read recommendations online and in the monster manual. After explaining this to the same person, she stated that I must be a bad DM and that I should improve or stop. Obviously, I found this relatively annoying, considering this was the first ever game I had as a DM and the party were OP at this point. Had they not pissed off an NPC they would have also had extra help. For plot reasons, the enemy couldn't be changed, so I don't really know what to do. Am I really bad, or just making silly mistakes?
You should have nerfed the monster while they were fighting it by docking hp. Yeah, they should suffer consequences, but its the players decisions that should get them killed, not the fact that you killed them. It should still be a challenge, and they should realize the npc was valuable. You need to be more teachable for one, and adapt to fit your party. Your job is to help the story, not be an overlord
I'm kinda a D&D noob, but have gamed for almost 40 years. Loved your series with Riddick and Cheese Burger Eddie. You are an AMAZING DM, I've watched a few video's now and love your passion and style, especially as Boo :)
Hi, so I need help. I've taken on the daunting task of DMing a group of 5 completely new players, and one player that's played a couple of games before and watches Critical Role. So I want the players to have fun and experience the game, but I also have some ground rules that I want to lay down before we begin, but I'm scared that being too harsh will make some of them not want to play anymore or have a bad first experience. So that's one situation One other is more of a, is this okay, situation. I have made tutorial's for the first session, which is gonna be making characters. I'm gonna lead them through the character creation progress while teaching them how to play. And the last two tutorials will be a prologue to the campaign. With it ending with a combat encounter. Another is that we're playing the Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign. I have heard, and experienced, that the first episode is really hard. Is there anyway to make that noticeable from the start so the new people don't get mad at me if they drop to 0 HP on the first episode, or just let them figure it out for themselves. I'm a semi-new DM and from what I've heard have done a "Great Job" DMing. But I'm getting really nervous, so worried whither the player will have a good time or not. Does anybody have any help for that? Any help is appreciated, Thx
Baylee Wharton A game zero could help. Basically a session set aside where you meet and discuss game style and player goals. A game zero is also a good time to work with players to develop good connected cohesive back stories , maybe touch on party balance so , you have a well rounded group. This type of pre campaign session also lets you explain any house rules you may want to add , as well as get an idea for what goals your characters have for their characters. Running a sample combat is a good idea , it lets you and your players better grasp rules that are new and unfamiliar.
+Baylee Wharton I can safely address the very first point for you. You will regret not establishing those ground rules immediately. It's far better that players are warded against breaking rules first, instead of breaking rules/etiquette they weren't aware of and then needing it to be addressed afterwards. If those rules put some of the players off, then it's clear those players aren't compatible with you as a DM or your campaign. While D&D campaigns are a collaborative effort, DMs still need to be resolute. If I understood I could exploit or manipulate my DM in any way favourable to me as a player, because they're anxious or easy to bend, then you will lose the respect of every other player that notices that and I will lose respect for your authority.
It sounds like you are easing them in well with the tuts you have planned. Character creation is super important... some DMs will do it for the player, but I think they miss a critical understanding of mechanics that way. If you have a hard campaign (and I'm assuming you can't just alter the CR of the monsters for whatever reason), then I think it's perfectly legit, especially for a new group of players, to give them an overview of the campaign, and give them a couple of pointers. Just rationalize it as they asked their diety or sought divination ahead of time. :D It will also teach them team play, which is one of the harder concepts for new players.
These videos are really helpful, I would also recommend actually checking out critical role and watching at least 3 or 4 episodes. If you pay attention, you pick up alot of these suggestions and tips in this video series just by watching alone. Watching his DM example is a great way to learn. His DM style isn't for everyone. But there is so much to be absorbed in watching, so I would give it a shot. Watch it with your friends if you are all new players considering to try D&D 5e, or any sort of D&D esqe game.
"taking the spotlight a little bit" sounds a bit like Vax and Vex in my honest opinion, good thing we have Grog to just shut both of them up when he has had enough of it. and sometimes Scanlan. I feel as though Percy should shine a little more than he does.
While I don't think they hog the spotlight intentionally at least, I can certainly agree that Percy is horribly overlooked in the non-combat encounters the group has.
I've been running a 2 Star Wars Saga Edition Campaigns and I have found this series to be a real help. Its given me a boost in confidence in my GMing abilities. Keep up the excellent work...also Critical Role is awesome ^_^
Another thing to note, and I admit this is probably more prevalent with forum-based games than face-to-face ones, is making sure the PCs are at least somewhat tolerant of each other. Prime example: I was in an Iron Kingdoms game on a forum a few years ago now, I wasn't the GM but I had been the one to suggest the concept (think Steampunk Burn Notice crossed with a bit of Leverage). Now, one player made a Doom Reaver character and another player had made a Llaelese Gun Mage. For those not familiar with the Iron Kingdoms setting; Doom Reavers are convicted felons from Khador who have been chained to cursed greatswords that turn them into raging berserkers. The player class is supposed to represent the few who retain some of their self-control and sanity. And during a war just a few years prior to the setting's present day, Khador had invaded Llael and, among other things, released hordes of Doom Reavers into a populated city like attack dogs to slaughter both the defending forces and the city's civilians. Needless to say, this led to the Gun Mage keeping her pistol trained on the Doom Reaver through the whole party-meeting scene and, while meeting with our first client, the Gun Mage proceeded to try and blow the Reaver's brains out. Now the Gun Mage's player claimed that it's what her character would do, that the other PCs hadn't convinced her to trust the Reaver. I've always hated that excuse - you should never have your character do something to another PC that you're not willing to have happen to your own PC as well. That player knew going into the scene that there would be a Doom Reaver character and should have been more lenient, finding a way for the Gun Mage to agree to work with the guy for at least one job. Not all the Gun Mage player's fault, though; the Doom Reaver was a pure-combat character built for a espionage/subtlety-oriented campaign and the GM was the one who made the final call on letting the Doom Reaver character into the game. Needless to say, other than some OOC griping, the game pretty much ended the instant the Gun Mage pulled the trigger.
I've never done DnD before, and am joining my fellow questers This Saturday. Hyped for it, as we're gonna meet up every sat evening. Started watching critical roll last night, and am on part 3 now and loving it.
BingoBangoBongo the problem Is when a player is being a murderhobo and saying “it’s what my character would do” as an excuse for all of there characters that are murderhobos
@@AaronWhiting18 I played a legend of the five rings campaign where my character was susceptible to possession and influence by dark spirits due to past trauma. The trade off being the ability to speak to spirits and if able to convince them of intentions, forge them into weapons granting bonuses making the item magical. - we fought a big bad, killed him, and he proceeded to possess me and murder half my party. lol
One rule that I am a stickler on, is proper dice rolling etiquette, or the art of rolling correctly. I got my start in tabletop war gaming where improper dice etiquette can and has led to fights. First things first, actually roll the dice, just don't put it in your hand, and then flip your hand over so the dice lands where you want it too. Also, after you roll, don't pick it up immediately, let it stay so everyone can have a look at it. I once had a player who constantly picked his dice up before any of us could confirm it, and he always seemed to get exactly what he needed and had a bad roll. We called him out on this and we stopped, for awhile. Then we started having our sessions over at his house where he sat away from us in his own personal chair with a dice tray, and oddly enough those higher than average rolls came back with a vengeance. Now, the DM should be allowed to fudge his rolls occasionally behind a screen, it it suits the narrative or if he wants to show mercy to the players. Though one day I did beat my cheating players roll, and he furiously stormed behind my screen demanding to see the dice so he could confirm it was a nat 20, which it was. Thankfully we don't play together anymore.
I felt like he tried to interject himself too much. I liked Orion and his character, Tiberius. But, sometimes it felt like he tried to do so much in such a small amount of time and would seem like he's trying to control the flow of the game more. But even with that, I didn't dislike him and I'm sad he's gone.
Despite all the hate he gets Orion was one of the better team players fixing items, crafting magical items where Matt let him and generally trying to increase the teams chances of survival by using some strategy beyond "Run towards it and hit it until it's dead" Even the seemingly infamous moment with Vex's arrow was good team play even though he didnt run it by her (Natural 20 is not a guranteed success with RAW) Vox Machina make for great entertainment value but they dont really work as a team ever.
Just wanted to let you know, that I love the show critical hit! In fact it's got me back in to Dungeons and Dragons. I am working on the starters set module for my first adventure. I gm'd call of Cthulhu but never dnd. I have twin daughters 26 so me my girlfriend, them and they're significant others are going to start playing. Keep it up, you guys are awesome.
![Stromae, Pomme - “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1F3OGIFnW1k/mqdefault.jpg)
So essentially it's all about respect and communication.
+dragatus Seen a lot of people try to seek in game solutions for out of game problems... which just flat out doesn't work. This is pretty much all that's required.
+dragatus despite how simple it sounds, you'd be surprised how many can't get it into their heads
+WunKewlFrawg well said
So it's marriage.
Basic life skills.
he didnt mention that "what happens in game, stays in game". its the hardest one i think. for someone to look at another player and insult them in game, and not translate that into real life
This is a really good point too! I've had problems with people failing to remember this both as a GM and as a player. :/
+Carlos Ferrabone Good point. I've seen and experienced first hand how in-game disagreements cross-over to real life which ruins it for others causing them to leave the group and possibly never try D&D again.
yeah, most people say they're on board with the idea, because thats how theyd like to see themselves, but most people arent really when faced with something they dont like
Yeah, this happened to me aswell. One good tip here is, aslong as your players can act well and stay in character it wont really happend because everyone feels its not personal. But once u start yell out of character it can start to be hard telling the difference.
I think that generally don't give in-game insults, threats, or yelling until you've "tested the waters" to see how well the others handle the separation between player and characters. Start mild and work your way up over a couple sessions. Or maybe don't completely roleplay the insult -- say it in third person, clearly directed at the character you're insulting and not the player. And ask others before the game starts what they're comfortable with, especially when you have some newer people. I've never really had this be an issue, though I've spectated some in-person games where one or more people were going overboard with their performances and I wasn't sure the other players were comfortable with it.
You're not going to get an Emmy for your performance, so remember that less is more, lol.
kicking out a player is easily the hardest thing to do in DnD, or any tabletop
+Nemenian
It's akin to "being that guy" when you fire somebody at work...
+Miles Matheson I think it's worse. You can understand a business decision, but this flat out tells them : "You are a shitty person to be around"
+DavidKyokushin That's certainly how the person takes it sometimes. Our group of some 15 years and running now had to tell someone to take a break because his mind wasn't right for gaming anymore, he had too much of an agenda. He ended up burning most bridges and was a bitter recluse for a good 9 months before starting to reach out again.
A few of us still hang with him, but knowing someone is a distraction, potentially caustic to progress or the campaign in general, and is a person you like hanging with (or worse a good friend), it's VERY tough to tell someone to stay home. I had other group members there when I had to do it, and they were statues... they sure as hell didn't want to be the person to tell them.
It takes balls to tell a friend 'you're being an asshole, take a break' in some fashion, but I also feel a friend should be one of the few people to get away with being blunt. It's never easy though, no matter how many times you may have to do it.
Funny enough, our group had the reverse where the players had to sit our DM down. We weren't trying to kick him out, we just wanted to have a little more freedom rather than the rigid storyline he had made. It was chock full of unfair moments where the players had no say in the matter for the purpose of his story and every single battle was an ordeal. There are layers and layers to the whole thing. We may have been suppressing our frustrations for a little too long because it came out really harsh and it was a long time before he rejoined as a player. Not a pleasant experience, especially since we're all friends at the end of the day.
+10far2many Never pleasant, but unfortunately sometimes necessary. In general, it's best to have "the talk" as soon as something becomes an issue - that way, there's less time for people to start getting pissed off.
My first group at college had a bit while everyone got used to the game and each other. After that, I offered them 4 possible missions. Very quickly, they realized each mission focused on one of their characters. They began referring to them as "your mission". And what happened was they began to defer to current "star" for the direction. One guy asked what he should, probably concerned he was about to make a crazy decision and that the others won't go along with him. The others told him to do whatever he wanted; it was his story. And then there were other missions where no one was the star, but I liked giving them each a small mini-campaign. And I liked how the players respected that.
+Tyler Arnold - What helps with this as a DM is to try and get your players to play very different roles. That way every player will be the "star" at some point depending on what kind of event you let them encounter. For a basic example, if you have three players play a fighter, a rogue and a mage, and the mage is usually pretty quiet, let them discover some sort of unidentified magical item or door etc. putting him naturally in the spotlight.
If you'd had three mages they'd be "fighting" for that spotlight.
Tyler Arnold my old DM gave each character a small backstory-related quest during the course of our main storyline, and it was a really nice touch and made it both more enjoyable and easier to get into character.
The last session we had, we visited my sister's rogue's family. She's the first one to have their backstory directly in the compaign. I'm excited to see everyone else's. Btw her rogue's brother now owns the deed to the mine after we rescued the lord of the town from a failed summoning of an eldritch abomination. I'm glad I thought of asking for the deed. So far the most clever thing I've thought of.
I agree with this, but I won't like it because right now there are 666 likes and I don't want to disrupt the energy.😂
That sounds amazing, thanks for posting this idea!
"Hello! I am Matthew Mercer..." gives me so much peace and hope during this quarantine
In my weekly game in college (that I participated in, not GM'd), I really liked something we did at the end of every game. Everyone would vote for the best character moments of the night. The person voted for would get bonus XP. Only like 100 or so, it was mainly symbolic. But it was a great way to recap the night, and get a feel for what this group of players enjoyed.
It was also fun the variety of things that won. Sometimes you won on pure role playing. Through superior acting or a great one-liner or something. Other times you might just win because a dice roll allowed you to do something unbelievable, but otherwise didn't have anything to do with you.
It was fun :)
In a campaign that I participated in, I am the main diplomat because I'm a Paladin and I have 18 Charisma. So one day the people of the town were rioting about the quest system. I go in there and propose a system that actually works and I get the automatic nat 20 for just how good the idea was. Sadly I forget the exact details as of this writing (2:20 PM PST, June 9, 2020), but it was really good.
I end every session with a few questions;
1) What can I do to tell a better story?
2) What can I do to run a better game?
3) What would you, as players, like to see?
4) What would your characters like to see?
+cmartinxv I sort of do that, but I really like the idea of it becoming a consistent end of game thing.
cmartinxv absolutely! Couldn't agree more.
I like to end the session with a, "Thanks for playing. Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Is there anything you'd like to see more or less of from me?"
I think I like your approach better. I might try to splice this up a bit
That's a good idea. I think I'll ask that at the end of my campaign.
345tom brilliant
Don't be the guy who just say " i don't care about the necromancer trying to conquer the world, i'll just stay in the city, the rest of the party can go if they want to", or leaves the party or dodges plot hooks or makes the entire campaign impossible to resolve.Regardless of the legimitate roleplaying justifications your character has , you are there to play with the other people, using(at least a big share) of the material your DM has prepared.Some DM like to run open, sandboxy campaigns where this behaviour would be partially tolerated, just be aware of how much DM-written content you are dodging and how much your story can fit into the party's story.
My party wants to kill my NPC who ask them to assist her in her rescue mission just to let go of the responsibility even though they will be rewarded.
God yes. They guys that try to play the "I'm a angsty lone wolf who never wants to do anything with anybody because I'm so cool" character is just annoying. You keep throwing them more and more and more bait to get them to actually PLAY the game with everyone else, but the never do.
Then they get all pissed off because you didn't have a separate campaign set up just for them...
Is that similar to, I don't care about the beholder, my mage would avoid a beholder so i will stay outside and miss the battle?
I have a simple solution for those kinds of players. "You want your character to stay behind while the party goes and does something? Fine, but I can't allow you to sit here at the table while they do it. Your character wouldn't know what happened and how, therefore you shouldn't either. You will also, obviously, miss out on all EXP they may gain along the way and their characters would be perfectly justified in not sharing whatever loot they may come across." If they don't want to play, they don't have to. The encounters may have to be a tad handicapped because of them and they may throw a fit, but its on them in the end.
I had a friend who's in game character motivations were to spoil my DM plans just because... Like he had no motivations about his character except just ruining my plans by any means. "Oh the whole groups going to a party can I leave the party then?" Eventually after a few things we all sat at the table and talked to him. I said it was alright if his character genuinly had motivation for doing certain things but that just going against what I say ruins things for everyone and is just over all annoying to me. Other players made several good points and he stopped and actually got a lot better. That was however an annoying start
First important rule as a player: shower.
Second important rule: use your own shower.
DMs shower is usually off-limits.
Even if you roll initiative before you do it.
John Kimble wait we play over discord, does this rule still apply?
Second: host is responsible for chips and soda unless someone offers to bring it beforehand
i8u2manytimes unless they can smell u through the mic no but do it anyway
John Kimble OMG SO TRUE
The playgroup I am currently most frequent with sat down and we had a really mature and open conversation about the things that are and are not working, and the next session had a noticeably better flow and I think everyone enjoyed it more. I was really glad we talked about it, especially since I was part of the problem, and my part was escalated by some miscommunication. We managed to clear it all up like the adults we are. It was a great feeling.
Awesome! Good job, all of you. :)
ImrazorZodd why do we care
Why are you whining Dan McReynolds. Show some respect and manners.
Because it's related to the subject of the video. Maybe?
ImrazorZodd How?
There are three things I hate most at the table:
1. Phones
2. Phones
3. Phones
doublea125 Dear god this is my bane
if you use a phone while the dm is talking or at any point in the quest that isnt a break leave the game
Hell yeah because then nobody knows what's going on and game play takes twice as long.
I only use it to change the background music.
Ah, the woe of only being able to up-vote this once...
Played this for my players, 8 & 10 year old daughters. "Be respectful, that means give me the Robe of the Magi, right dad?"
Dude... Just no.
Mean Old Lady way to call someone’s preteens thots. 🤨
@@AlexPBenton FBI OPEN UP
@@MeanOldLady bruh they are 8 and 10 if you find them sexually attractive can you please speak into this microphone
bruh momento numero dos
He starts off by saying, "Welcome to my silly video series..." But I don't find these videos silly at all. They're super helpful, informative, and should be a must-watch for any tabletop group. I think "lighthearted" or "casual" is a better choice of word. :) I hope he does one on meta-ing. That's my biggest pet peeve.
Matt has a humbleness that borders on insecurity at times. Four years later, at the forefront of nerd superstardom, it's still endearing.
I feel like this is just "How to interact with other humans" ans it could be just resumed to "Don't be a jerk" x)
+WirinelDuSaule True, but it needs to be said sometimes. :-)
Unfortunately, most humans don't naturally know how to appropriately interact with other humans in every setting. And, "Don't be a jerk." is too subjective. For a structured social environment like a tabletop game, it is a good idea to have a written set of etiquette rules that all players must agree to in order to play.
This eliminates subjective opinions about what is and isn't acceptable, as well as accusations of being unfair or arbitrary when it comes to calling out players for rude behavior.
Matt: Be respectful and appreciative of your game master
Our group, who practically worships him: Way ahead of you
i found that, atleast as a player, it's much easier to roleplay when there is less people at the table. I have noticed that it's easier for the DM to listen to everybody, and that it doesn't take as long waiting for your turn, and it also makes it easier to manage your party.
Too true. I just ran a game this weekend with seven players; I’m glad to know I’m able to do it and they still enjoyed it but it was hectic as DM and a lot to keep track of. I found the combat especially took forever and the pacing of the quest was pretty difficult to manage with so many turns
yes, I've Gming since the 80's and three is perfect. Two if they work together can be awesome. Five or six and the gameplay becomes way less personal.
3-4 players max, each player can play 1 or 2 characters.
My dm runs a 7 man. He watches rick n morty. Doesn't break a sweat
Something to think about is that the more players you have, the more adversaries the GM will typically use in combat with them. So, with a party of five members, a standard fight will have an average of around 5 opponents. That means that with a 5 member party, each player is getting ~10% of the combat time (not exactly, as the GM can probably run through them a lot faster than PCs take their turns, but close enough). With larger parties an experienced GM can try to keep things running briskly by making sure players are prepared on their turns, but that can also mean that players can feel rushed. Role-playing starts to suck when you get that many people too. My ideal is 3-4, with 5 being my absolute highest tolerance.
My group had this one jerk who had no manners. He never paid attention when it wasn't his turn, he straight up brought a Nintendo Switch to the table. His character finally died and he got so mad he actually quit D&D
Nicolas Volaski Had a similar player in one of my groups. He’d show up and pull out his laptop, phone charger, Nintendo DS and he’d just sit there doing his own thing. Bringing the game to a screeching halt during his turn every single time and never paying attention to the story.
He didn’t even play his character effectively. During combat he wouldn’t coordinate with other players or work around the enemy to fight them based on their weaknesses. He’d just whack whatever was closest because it got him back to his computer/phone/DS faster.
Only paladin I know of that didn’t heal anyone during or outside of combat. Never used effective powers against undead. He just played like it was a barbarian because it was easier than paying attention.
Sounds like no loss.
Good riddance. It's a shame you let it go on for so long. It is better to eliminate problem players like that immediately.
There is a technique that might be helpful: When as a GM I have to create a BUNCH of story elements, like when I have to come up with a dozen NPCs or something like that on the fly, I use the creativiy of my players. I tell them to come up with an NPC concept each, and voilá, I already have as many NPCs as players. It can be very helpful to use the creativity of a whole party to do the job instead of just one slow brain.
The RPG 13th Age is built specifically with this mechanic in mind.
Interesting. I'm gonna look that up.
Yep, same.
Also I like to use flashbacks, where players can tell a little piece of the character story and gain a reroll for that, from which i also can gain some ideas for ongoing story. For example, a player tells a story about some foe that tried to kill him in a past and now i can bring that foe back to interact with the character.
I took this mechanic from AW.
Sometimes you don't even need to ask, they just help you create the character out of pure joke, and something cool actually comes out
That is super neat!!
Oh sigh, i wish my players saw this.
I spend hours and hours of the week planning the next leg of their adventure. But they treat the sessions like some sitcom were they can come and go as they please. If I try to make them decide if to come or not, they rather not. Or they'll say they come and never show up. It's pure hell trying to run a campaign, were most of the players havn't seen or been at the same places at the same time. "You recognize him as the necromancer from Bara-Thur, but the rest of you were never there", but the response usually is "who's he?" cause they haven't taken any notes....
Try to do an epic climax with sutble leads and mystery, when the players are texting while you describe the interior of a temple...
Or tell you to skip to the "important part" when you describe an important NPC "Can I just pickpocket his bag and walk away?"
Or the last session when one of the players couldn't afford the weapon he wanted and proceeded to sneak and steal the silverwear from their new ally who just saved his life.
Or when I ask them to repay a humble favor to beggar monk they simply say "I'm chaotic neutral, my characters doesn't care, and besides he's got more important stuff to do"... sigh...
I try to reprimand them in and off but everytime the game flatlines...
They don't deserve you and that's bullshit.
Yeah, I would stop GMing with these players.
I've had people like that. It's a huge pain.
I have a few things that might help in some of those situations if you'd like. I hope this doesn't intrude:
Epic climax that requires paying attention to the temple interior? Have some key bits hiding in the temple that would only be found quickly if players were paying attention.
"Can I just pickpocket his bag and walk away?" Have the merchant roll for perception. If they succeed, have them kick out the player, reprimand them, chase them down, call the guards on them, stab them, charge them extra on anything and everything, warn other merchants so they are wary of them, etc.. Whatever fits that particular merchants. Generally they are more considerate and aware of their actions if there are harsh consequences.
PCs stealing from other PCs or NPCs? For NPCs, have some realistic reactions. Have them yell at the character, demand the items back, possibly attack them, refuse to aid them, pull some shenanigans as revenge, hold grudges, etc.. For other players, make their characters very aware that another character stole form them. Perception checks, investigation checks, things like that. Ask them how they would react in real life and ask them if that is how their character would react, then encourage them to act that out.
"I'm chaotic neutral" surprise encounter. Have them get mugged, or have an NPC that they helped refuse to repay them with the same excuse. Harsh, but usually works.
Overall, I would try to make the stories more personal to their characters. Maybe kill one of the players if needs be, putting some emotion into it. Try to get the story to connect with them on a personal level. Don't be afraid to tell them no and have serious consequences for their character's actions. And if all else fails, don't be afraid to call it off or kick out players. Sometimes you can't help them, and sometimes the only way they'll learn is through rejection.
I know this post is 2 years old, but I hope this will help in the future, if not now.
Same :(
There are FAR too many players out there who actually WANT to engage with you and play for you to put up with this disrespectful bullshyte.
One thing I cannot stand as a GM: When players don't pay attention. It's a very rare case, since most people do their best to remain attentive, but occasionally I get the asshole who's texting while doing D&D or just simply not caring and doing a little as possible. Here's a little tip on making it work:
Be sure to address them and let them know what they're doing is bothering you and disrupting the campaign. Usually, one warning is enough and they respect it and get along just fine. If this is repetitive, then I suggest drastic measures and booting them from the game, seeing as they care little or not at all about what's happening.
Kaipyro67ALT Hah, I’m trying to DM/GM a new group of 12 year olds, I’m new myself, and 2/4 players are always goofing off without paying attention. Yet, when I say that maybe we shouldn’t play this for now, no, we want to play, we will pay attention. 5 minutes later, I want to have the same conversation again.
Edit: generally, the player who’s turn it is is paying attention and 2 others are goofing off, but in a role play moment I’m screwed, people listening can’t even hear what I say because of the noise!
In the players defense,
I'm an experienced veteran, I know how to play my character
When it's my turn, I immediately know what I want to do, and how to get a good roleplay vibe out of that moment, whether it be my character making a daring attack, save, or even retreat
However, whether it is 5 or even just 2 more players beside you, they always take forever to decide what their going to do, in and out of combat. you need to be prepared to make action on your turn as soon as it comes and also the DM needs to make sure that the players EVERYONE including me, get included in some good roleplay moments outside of combat
Secondly, and this isnt just the players fault, but when I'm playing with others, I see a lack of roleplay or interest in their turns, and the dm doesn't help either because he doesn't take the time to explain how we hurt the monster, even after I especially do a really cool and serious power move.
So if it's me in those players position, where the do is not trying to make it interesting or the players aren't really putting effort in to the game or even the roleplay, the only thing I can think of doing, since I know what I wanna do on my turn already is check some texts, watch some RUclips videos, or even look for a distraction. If the other players and do can't put in some effort, why should I?
Not rare at all. I run a game online using Maptool and Discord, because Roll20 was even worse with this. No one payed any attention to anything. Had a caster kill innocents with AoE spell and didn't give him take backs because not only did a player mention it I mentioned it, he had 2 warnings that he would kill or harm prisoners of their enemies. Had another not pay any attention at all to anything happening and never once tried to roleplay while bitching about a lack of roleplay, even when another player tried to RP with them. I just stop warning players more than once, and I don't repeat myself. I let the consequences in game stay in game and keep it on track. The constant OOC talk in modern games is killing attentiveness. Didn't hear what the wizard said? Too bad he already left. Did he die because he expected you to do what you agreed to do and you didn't? Oh well. This is correcting the behavior quite well.
@@TheCart54321 The thing I saw some other DMs do and I really like it, is you have a hourglass (just a minute or two) for them to take their turn. If they don't take it by the end of that hourglass, their turn gets skipped. This helps with people who take forever to decide because they weren't paying attention to the game.
@@dragoneye6229 The only problem with this approach is be aware that some players have hearing problems and literally did not hear what you said, especially if other players (not them) are talking.
As a new player to tabletop games, Matt Mercer's advice is always welcomed. Thanks for making these videos.
and if stuff gets heated, do not be afraid to call it a day early.
This vid needs a few million more likes. It is truth, and should be embraced by all.
Matt, the whole spotlight thing, you perfect in Critical Role. I love it so much. One time you're having Vex hunting a beast in a trial, another time you're having Pike message Scanlan with the earring and having an emotional moment, etc.
I've usually had very little issue with fellow players, though perhaps that's because I've often played with people I was already friends with before the game, and so I had a good feel for who they were and what they'd like.
Only once did I, as a DM, have problem players. Well, players that were enough of a problem that I couldn't just give them polite little "nudges" in game or make some adjustment to have things work a little better. And that said, while I will ask players, after a session, what they thought, what they liked, what they weren't so keen on, the responses are almost universally "I liked it. Everything was good." in that sort of tone that says even if they had a complaint they don't intend on sharing it... which kind of defeats the purpose of me asking. So I'll usually follow that up with "well, if anything comes to mind you'd like to talk about, give me a call or a text or something."
But anyway, the one time I had a genuine problem with players, it was _All_ of the players. Well, all but one, but she would side with the majority out of peer pressure, which I can't blame anyone for doing. These were people I'd met just after moving to a new-ish area. But as I was trying my best to provide the game these players wanted -- players I'd been gaming with for about 6 or 7 months at the time -- they began to pay less and less attention to the game. I was giving some of the players their chances to shine since they'd often be talked over by the more charismatic fellow and this would sometimes result in about 5 or 10 minutes of them being apart from everyone else to do something -- not a big deal in most games. Of course, what they were doing tended to involve the interest of all the players -- something akin to them going undercover to deal with agents of the big bad or what have you. In any other group this is the kind of thing that the players would be quite invested in to find out more about what was _really_ going on even if their characters wouldn't know.
Instead, this group would make a habit out of using their cell phones to play games, browse Reddit, or whatever -- it started minor and quickly amped up. They'd start to wander away from the table -- ostensibly to go to the bathroom or get a snack, but often two or three would wind up in the next room watching youtube or something. I tried to talk to them about this, that it was making me feel like I was wasting my time. "No, no, it's fine" they'd tell me "we were totally paying attention, we just wanted to watch this video". Or "I can browse on my phone and pay attention at the same time... just repeat everything you said because I missed it."
I honestly don't know what the deal was. They were in complete denial about it, though at one point started saying it was my fault because all they wanted was combat (which there had been plenty of when they would actually participate). What made me a bit more upset about it all was the one player who really did seem to be interested in the game, but because she wanted everyone at the table to be in on it, she'd politely acquiesce to their growing tendency to be distracted. And of course, every week they'd say "Oh, we're sorry, we'll do better next week, please don't stop. We were just distracted this _one_ time." Of course my patience (which I have a lot of) ran out and I just stopped. Whenever they'd contact me, I'd suggest "maybe we can just play a video game instead." Because I don't think any DM wants to be treated that rudely, and if the players are in denial or can't communicate what they actually want, it's best to just let it go and find some other folks if you can.
Every single week you improve my game. Some fantastic tips this week, I'm still struggling to balance things between the game half my players wants (high powered dungeon delve) and the game the other half want (all Rp, all the time). We're getting better though, the last few games are the first where I've had no complains. The other biggest tip I've learned actually came from Liam O'Brien when, during the dragon attack he said 'Matt's not doing it, it's the dragon." Directing my players anger at their loss of items/status at the NPC rather than myself should have been something I worked out on my own, but it has improved my relationship with my players tenfold. Thank you for all you guys do!
+Brett Symons +Brett Symons yeah. They are flowing better together, and I'm getting better at merging the two together so no one really notices that the thing they like least is happening. Getting better at puzzles too. Thanks for your advice though :)
+Emma Guy - Keeping characters/NPCs separate from the actual players/DM is really important but can be tricky. Some people just can't do it. The clearest examples of this I've experienced during LARP, where it's maybe even a little more difficult since you're playing characters live-action (obviously) face-to-face, and not around the table.
When it's "time-in" anything I say and the way I behave is my character, and at the time I played an elf thief/assassin that was forced to be there by circumstances. So let's just say he wasn't a people person. I've had interactions where people got mad at "my character" and carried that grudge over into down time.
Few months ago we got a HUGE problem player (let's call her D) at our table and it almost ended our one year long campaign we were running every week and was close to ruin long time friendships. And listening to how you described it echoed a lot with this situation because this player was clearly not expecting the same things from the game and feeling entitled to hog the spotlight and be vindictive over the whole table.
D knew she was the problem player, and instead of questionning herself and correcting herself, she tried to manipulate and turn the players one by one then collectively against me (the DM), and when the whole table defended me spontaneously, she refused to face the consequences and talk with all of us together and almost shattered our group's mutual trust.
D was a strange player to deal with. She had no real hobbies or social interactions and a pretty relaxed/boring job so she got hooked like crazy by D&D and was invested like crazy into it (no joke, it was like 8 hours per day thinking about D&D, her character background...Etc). As she was super invested and pretty smart she quickly became a good actor and a good player to rely on as a DM (for stuff like ordering the initiative, looking for rules or some other stuff when I was busy)
She was playing a lightly problematic character at the begining of the campaign because between the 2nd to 5th session she decided to betray the group and tried to run lone wolf to try to kill the party....of course her character ended up killed super easily by the group and it seemed that she had learnt the lesson. So she made a new character, telling to the table that now she won't try to screw the group anymore. So she made a cleric from the town the PC had just arrived in to facilitate the introduction to the group, and she acted as the cliché Lawful Good "group mom".
We were playing in a setting based on the old Might and Magic videogame serie, I was the DM for 5 players (D and my 4 best friends, and with my friends we absolutely LOVE playing D&D with each other alongside tons of videogames and other activities) and everything was fine until we all decided to add an other player because she was a close friend of us and was watching all of our session replays and making super cool artworks and illustrations of our campaign. For various reasons, in order not to break the narrative, we agreed with the new player that she would play one of the Cleric's sons that was long gone and now working as a mercenary in the continent. The new player, let's call her A. was delighted with this idea and got super invested in her character. The other player, D, playing the Cleric, was also delighted when she was surprised by a "Mom...?!" scene.
At the same time she discovered Critical Role, and started watching it almost non stop and was clearly interested in the flamboyant/acting part of RPG.
But right after this session, they both got super invested in preparing a metric tons of interactions between Mom and son at the point they were spending like 3 to 4 hours per week writing stuff.
And the next session...here the disaster happened...the interactions were super recurrent and were happening like 20 min scenes, with everything that needs to be done in a super flamboyant manner and not be interrupted for any reason....even by the other players. At one session I tried to keep track of the time everyone was speaking....and on a 5 hours session A and D together got more than two hours.
So next session I tried to remind A and D that yeah gimmicks between son and mom might be fun from time to time but there need to be space for anyone in the group.
Right after this session I got messages from D and she started (in the name of the group according to her) reproaching me that I was limiting the players in their interactions, that she was absolutely shocked to see that after 10 years of DMing and watching a lot of channels about GMing I was not letting characters develop bonds between them. That this was the reason there was absolutely no trust between the characters and that we were a group struggling to act and roleplay in character.
I told her I was taking notes of that and that we'll discuss that all together at the beginning of next session to find solutions
Then few days after...she started absolutely vomiting a metric ton of reproaches to me on tons of details and moment I did wrong, on how my campaign was bad and started contesting a tons of statements I made with the group about how to establish rules upon this or that situation...openly comparing our way of playing to how it's done in Critical Role and saying that she was super disappointed seeing that I was not taking advantage on her backstory that she invested soo much time into (no joke, she decided that her character had 13 childrens and she made backstory/description and character sheets for all of them).
We were on a tight schedule, maybe 4 hours per week to play and all of our group members were pretty busy with jobs/life/family ...Etc so there was NO WAY I could use this deluge of informations on such a schedule while being fair to the other players.
Two days before the next session, I got asked by my best friend to talk with him a moment on our D&D discord server and he told me that D was starting b*tching on me on the player's private chat and trying to return all of the table against me.
After a moment we ended the discussion with my friend, he logged off and D logged in even before I disconnected and she started talking super passive agressive to me like "So...you've thought about what I wrote to you or you keep not answering directly?"
I told her that I knew that she had tried to bash me and return my best friends against me and that it was totally unacceptable and that I won't let anyone abuse my trust or disrespect me this way. So if she was unhappy with how I was trying to make it fair for everyone's fun and reasons to play (other players were not all interested in acting either...one of them is a spectator player and everyone is fine with that) she had a choice:
- Talk with all of us in two days at the begining of the session as planned
- Become the new GM of the campaign and run it at she wants to see if DMing is as easy as she thinks
- Or leave the group and find players that suit her and can invest 8 hours per day in a hobby.
She instantly left the server and all the discussions we could have had on Discord
Then next day it was a freakin' mess in our Discord like "Wut, D left?! What happened?", we had to setup an emergency meeting on the evening to clarify everything because she then lied to some players that asked her what happened and I think I got a natural 20 on my insight check for having decided to screenshot the whole text discussion and vomit she had sent the previous days....We got to adress collectively ALL of her reproaches and we figured out that all of us were perfectly fine with how the game was running, that we were feeling super free and not restricted in the PC's actions by my way of DMing (my signature phrase is probably "You can try if you want, it's certainly unlikely but probably not impossible"), but by D and her vindictive way of playing the Laweful good group mom withinin a neutral/chaotic good party. They even said they were disturbed by how D's character was keeping her personal quests (which when they discovered it all said "why didn't you told us about it before so we could have helped you?). Also, all the players simultaneous agreed upon the fact that there was absolute comfidence between the characters...they even gave me examples of this, like right in the first sessions the fighter who accepted to drink a nasty poison bottle at level 2 to save the whole group, or the group stopping the main quest for 3 sessions to gather crazy ingredients to cure A's character from vampirism.
Unfortunately, A got really pissed of by D having left the group, so we had to wait one month before playing D&D again and two month before getting D back at the table, and we can clearly see now that she is staying at the table just because the campaign is almost over now and then she'll get back playing with D. In fact, few times she said she was unable to play with us on certain evenings and we got evidences she was playing with D instead on our table schedule.
This sunday will be the grand finale of the campaign, I've planned great things for my beloved players, and despite the fact that I had an absolute blast running this campaign overall, I now realize how relieved I feel knowing this campaign, and the last bits of bitternes we feel from A, is over; and that for the next one I'll be a simple player (after almost 10 years of DMing) and we'll finally, I guess, have a perfectly sane table.
Oh wow
TL;DR?
So how did it go?
So 7 people in a 5 hour session, that's 42 minutes each. The two fanatics each did 60+, making up for the 1+ others not interested in acting, or extending the session like only they enjoyed?
That’s a great story! Was a bit busy here. Had to go to the hair salon and then get lunch while making sure youtube wouldn’t refresh and take away this page so I could finish reading.
I have started tracking my quest lines by character. I had all of my players give me a list consisting of their character's fears, secrets, short term goals and long term goals. Then I started writing quest hooks for each of them based on how it would relate to a character's drives. It has made including everyone a lot easier for me to keep track of, and helps me to build the story around them, so they feel like they are familiar with the world.
Player tip etiquette: "Players, do your part and learn the rules that revolve around your character's actions. You shouldn't rely on the DM to remember or remind you of EVERY rule, they have enough to remember already without having to remind you how to play your character."
UGH, the thing about hogging the spotlight is too real. I can do it a lot without realizing, as much as I like to see other players interact or shine. I always appreciate someone calling me out if I take it too far
One thing I would love to see in the future is your DM setup - for example the way you have your notes, screen, models and table set up and laid out for you, and why. I think that would be really useful to see - especially for people like myself who would like to host a game but are unsure how best to organise their notes, etc for their best and most effective use throughout a game. It would be pretty awesome to see.
Something I've found useful is when I invite people to play, I give them a 2 paragraph write up about the setting. General things like what kind setting (sea, mountains, urban), any special quirks or motivations (magic is not tolerated), as well as how much RP, politics, and combat they could expect from the game. It really helps establish expectations.
This is so good. Thanks for taking the time to make these!
It's amazing how many of these same skills apply to being an educator.
That's a very good point!
Great tips! Could you also make a tutorial on your sound effects? Monster voices, arrows flying, door creeking... I'm trying to figure them out by myself, but I sound funny.
If you want monster voices, look on youtube for Dee Bradley Baker.
Keep in mind this guy uses his voice professionally. As a voice actor he has a lively hood in great voices so don't feel bad if you can't get exactly close to his voices
Lmao realised this was a year ago never mind
Astrid Whiteside I'm here with you on this late arrival.
Embrace it, maybe? Also, it might not be you who's the "problem", maybe your players are just the goofy kind.
Is it bad that I'm watching tons of videos like these when I don't even have the game yet (never even rolled a d20 in my life)
Dalty D it is always good to learn basic stuff before playing your first game. These videos are full of good information, even for an experienced player like myself.
Hope you got to play your first game?
nah I am getting into D&D as well from watching TFS at the Table, and Critical Role, and DnD the unexpectables but have yet to start a game... Have reached out to a few friends I know that play or have friends that do, just trying to work time into my life to get into this game... But in the mean time I passively watch these to get more insight and experience before playing
Do you still not posess the Corebook?
Yes, that is very bad, and you should feel bad about yourself. How dare you?!
For punishment, you must roll a spin-down d20 1000 times and record the results. Then do a statistical analysis to determine whether or not it is a fair die.
No more D&D videos for you until you have atoned for your transgressions!
Not at all. I’ve never done a GM role so I’m sweating bullets to make it fun for me and my players. Bless them lol
This! +1 Bring your GM his/her favorite beverage, be cool!
Great advice, especially about communication among the group members. My last group played for a year, and it was the best group I was ever a part of, but they didn't discuss what style we'd be playing beforehand. Me and the DM were the only veteran RPG players and everyone else was sort of a first-timer, so we started with simple systems and laid back gameplay that didn't take itself seriously, getting more invested in story and character with each new system. When we got to our first Pathfinder campaign, I thought we were ready for our first real RP game where we'd really get invested in the story and characters, only to find out later that I was the only one doing it and the others wanted to be laid back. I never realized that's what they were doing, and they never brought up their discomfort with me (if I'd known, I had no issue with dialing it back), until eventually it came to a head and the host's wife used it as an excuse to bring up some imaginary personal issues she had with me out of game, and basically got me kicked out of the group. During a session I wasn't even attending. And they never planned to tell me I wasn't in the group anymore. Later they realized it was pretty fucked up, but at the time nobody's head was on straight, and I'm still insecure about what my peers really think of me even now. So yeah. Communicate with your group members.
Sounds like an issue on their part. You should not feel insecure about yourself over it.
This is spot-on. For DMs and for players.
I'm actually gonna be sad if and or when this series ends. I hope Matt starts to get to the little stuff or cover one subject in a video. Like how does exp work or making enemies stronger as the players grow stronger. That's what I'm having trouble with creating my game of how to balance power so people won't be destroyed at level 3.
Kay, I know this is a late response, but here's a tip: Throw a higher level monster at them, even when they're level 3. BUT always have a contingency plan if it looks like it's going south. ex: My players (4 + 1NPC) went into an abandoned Cathedral and encountered a Young Green Dragon (Challenge lvl 8 while they were only lvl 3) and they fought it. My intention was, it was there to scare them more than anything and if they couldn't do too much damage to it, I was gonna have the Cathedral roof collapse in on it. HOWEVER, certain players rolled extremely well and they managed to defeat a lvl 8 enemy at lvl 3 completely legit. Sometimes stuff like that happens. Basically, the challenge levels are guidelines, but feel free to bend the rules.
+Kairpyro67ALT My DM had the opportunity for the players to encounter a young Green Dragon, which we did, except his intention wasn't to "scare [us]". It was to make us consider not everything is "Kill shit, get loot" and that we must approach powerful adversaries with caution and tact. Had we fought instead of talked, it would've been a TPK. I could say the characters who fought a Wraith were lucky they didn't die, but their health was perma reduced in angering the Wraith, so...
+Just2Eyez lol I'm late now but it depends what kind of DM you are. Some DMs prefer milestone-based Level Ups, while other DMs use individual progress based Level Up (I believe Mercer uses this one, as does my DM.) The latter is the one I prefer. As to balancing enemies for low level players, the challenge levels are guidelines, but allow the characters to make their own mistakes.
Thanks, I needed this info :) Just getting into this world and I'm kind of afraid of either not participating enough to make it fun or just making an ass of myself by overstepping. This was helpful.
I’m absolutely someone who takes the spotlight without realising I’m doing it, and then I feel awful later, so am always happy when people point it out to me BEFORE I ruin the whole game
Question about working with new players. What's the best way to work with a really wooden player who can't act their way out of a box in an RP group? How can you help them to find their voice as an actor/roleplayer?
+Bryan Runyan This admittedly is a bit of a tricky thing to do, and it comes down to learning what the player responds to best, but one thing I've found works sometimes is having NPC's address them in a low-pressure social setting. For example, having an NPC talk to them in a bar, or talking with someone on a street. From there it's a matter of creating an interesting conversation that engages them. When they become comfortable speaking from a first person perspective, then they may begin to apply it to other aspects of their gameplay.
That being said, sometimes there are folks who just lack that dramatic spark, for whom roleplaying is genuinely uncomfortable. If that turns out to be the case you should first and foremost make sure they're having fun, if they are then just let them enjoy the game in their way. If they're not, then you may have to talk with the player and find out if your game really is a good fit for them.
+Bryan Runyan playing with others who rp well, alcohol
My advice for this is to allow them to observe and acclimate themselves for a little, then start to ask them what their character thinks, does, ect to what has just happened. ' Tim's been gone for a good while to scout ahead, what has Tina been doing while she's waited?'
Having done that for a while you can start having NPCs talk to their character, if it can include aspects of the characters background all the better.
'Jenna walks up to you John and clasps your wrist in the secret handshake that your crew used to use in your smuggling days, how do you react?'
You can also start asking them first what their character does before the other players jump into something.
'Sally, you've finally reached the tower, the door's smashed. What do you do?'
My advice for this is to allow them to observe and acclimate themselves for a little, then start to ask them what their character thinks, does, ect to what has just happened. ' Tim's been gone for a good while to scout ahead, what has Tina been doing while she's waited?'
Having done that for a while you can start having NPCs talk to their character, if it can include aspects of the characters background all the better.
'Jenna walks up to you John and clasps your wrist in the secret handshake that your crew used to use in your smuggling days, how do you react?'
You can also start asking them first what their character does before the other players jump into something.
'Sally, you've finally reached the tower, the door's smashed. What do you do?'
To be clear, the issue with this particular player isn't shyness. It's just inability to roleplay with any sort of energy, immersion or enthusiasm. I think it's a lack of acting/stage confidence, and I know they want to improve but not sure how to help.
I admire you Matt Mercer, you bring a lot of happines and emotions with your creation. and i think the dice roll gods (or whatever it is) like like you, and that the why for the "miracles" that HAD HAPPENED in the show. just amazing, thank you man.
Could there be an episode about how to plan short story style games? My group is planning on doing a series of "try out being a dm" sessions, since we're all really interested, but trying to think of ideas of stories that could be played out in one or two sessions (since our sessions tend to be more along the 3-4 hour line, rather than 6-8) is something I, and I think the rest of my group, would really appreciate advice on
I've been watching a lot of these videos as of recent and learned so much. all my past worlds and campaigns would take swan dives because i wasn't that good. well with your help and these videos Matt I was able to have a full 9 hour session with vivid detail and heartache. thank you for all the help !!!!
This series is incredibly helpful to me. I'm a relatively new D&D player. Thank you for all your insight and tips!
I really like this whole series.. it has shed a lot of new lights on things that I will be doing later in the year as I finally get my world up and running. Thank you for taking time out to put this all together.
Thank you so much for this! This video couldn't have come out at a better time.
My DM and I were going to have a discussion with our group (we just laid out some new etiquette rules this past week) the next time we have a session. Not including our DM, there are around 10 players (some aren't always able to show up, which is why we have so many) and they get very rowdy and get distracted by stuff such as drawing and watching videos on their phones. We are going to show them this video and hopefully they will begin to understand why we put these new rules in place.
Our DM, as you said, puts hours of his time into creating the next session. As for myself, I host it at my house and I have probably put over $300 in supplies into the group. No one really seems to appreciate the things that he or myself do.
Him and I are the only Critters in the group, which I think is the problem :P
+Connor Brown What does critters mean?
+Doc Scrove
Critters = Fans of Critical Role
Ah, thanks.
yeah, sounds like the rest of the people consider this to be a fun hang out with friends, its important they know that it isnt
Have an honest talk to your group about this. Consider dropping players off. 10 players is a behemoth party, and (clearly) not all of those 10 players are committed to the type of fun D&D is. Neither will your DM be able to efficiently handle such a load without skimping on game quality. We have a party of 4 (excluding DM) and the session before last I had to address a few issues about table etiquette because half of the party was spoiling it for the remaining 2 AND DM. They seem to have slowly gotten on board with fixing the issues...
As a long time player, and first time GM, these videos are a goldmine
Should be required viewing for every gaming group. ;)
Not sure that you need the multi-camera setup, at least not the way you're using it here. It's distracting. Perhaps camera #2 could be toward GMs, and the main camera is for players/everyone.
My dm made it mandatory
I'm so glad I found these tip videos! I've been playing for about 5 years, but am now a first time DM with a group of first time players, except one guy who has played one short campaign before. He is a bit more of the impulsive murder hobo type though and I was affraid I'd end up with a group of murder hobos if they'd follow his lead..
However, during the first session the group went through every situation without engaging in combat and finding alternative options of dealing with things. Only once did the murder hobo try to start something, but the paladin stopped him, so it all worked out great!
At the end of the session we talked everything trough. I gave them some tips for their characters, asked questions and got feedback. We all felt positive about how is went, they were very patient with me and understanding when I got a bit confused and had to figure some stuff out.
I think I got a great group here and am very exited to continue!
I think that if you create characters together (or even one on one, GM and each player), you'll know what they expect of the adventures to come. In some games that gets more obvious than in D&D.
allluckyseven Still, make sure you are on the same page nonetheless. I've had players seemingly follow my description of the campaign only to go off on their own trail once the campaign began. :/
Allowing other players to shine is essential! It makes everyone feel like they're an integral part of the story which I find makes it more rewarding for everyone.
At my table, I introduced a new rule. Any time that somebody does something to annoy me, for example, going on their phone while playing, I make the gods smite them for 1d6 lightning damage. It always seems to work
I have played many a different campaign, and with utmost certainty i can tell you I have experienced pretty much everything the good and the bad. But this video nails it on the head.
Yeah... my problem is that I'm always so happy to find a group to play with (which is really hard for me cause I'm not exactly the most out going) that I forget to actually talk about what kind of campaign I'm getting into which sucks cause I love rp and story heavy campaigns but I keep finding myself in campaigns where people want a more casual murder-hobo type adventure.
And also, in case you were wondering I'm a player not a GM
I need players like you. Most of my players are murder-hobos. They've already killed three crucial NPCs and wonder why they can't solve the mystery. lol
@@johntousseau9380 me too, is there a name for that kind of player/GM, so I can find people like that online maybe?
Friggin THANK YOU FOR THIS PARTICULAR CHAPTER. Because honestly I agree with alot of these points, especially with the fairness of being in the spotlight.
I've had my fair share of kicking players out over 20 years of DMing. (The first was guarenteed as the only reason why he (18 at the time) made his mother come and beg us since his 16 year old brother was playing). ((Let it be said that the older brother was and continues to be to this day a very toxic person outside of game, so there was little hope for his in game character)).
The best way I've found to deal with these players is to create harsh and realistic consequences for their actions. Be it local law, and angry mage, or allow the players to understand they can take things into their own hands if it is done in game only. This has worked out very successfully for myself, and those trouble players (we'll leave it at that gentle title) quickly learned how the fun was sucked out of their wild and abusive roleplaying and ingame actions. No player wants to be left behind by an angry group to become the plaything of an angry necromancer (or even the target of another PC assassin hired by the collective group. lol).
There's even been occasions where the trouble player learned their lesson, and used his new predicament to thread in new story lines to the glee of all involved. It turned a horrible situation into what that was very rewarding for all involved.
With all that said, I agree that it may never be easy to cast a player out. When this happens, I require a group vote (in private), and their full and open commitment to it. But, only after the trouble player has been made clear to them that their actions are causing problems. If they become resentful, and refuse to understand the situation that's been explained (in a mature and calm way), then anything else is on them. No one should feel guilty for the actions of another, and if a friend continues to treat the other friends in a negative way in game, then there's no reason why it should not be portrayed that they wouldn't do it out of game. (Which, more often than not, they treat their friends like crap out of game as well.)
I've seen a DM do this for a problem player, and it works out great. He acknowledges it with gentle humor afterwards, too. "I made that room just for Player A because he loves to rush into things even when his mates are telling him to be cautious." :D
Lydia Krow
Lmao. I had almost the same exact experience with another of my players. I actually made 6 rooms down a hall way, each filled with something horrible to condition the player to proceed with caution. In the end, he went through each room in the exact way I thought he would. (I was really only thinking he'd deal with one or two rooms and abandon the rest afterward his negative experience.)
At the 6th room, his blindness to caution continued and he barked out that he was going to should slam the door and rush in as fast as he could. Well, he passed his rolls to knock in the door and found himself suddenly free falling down an endless pit (where I presume he is still falling).
After all was said and done, the whole group thought I was just picking on him and was making up the stuff on the spot. I handed over my master map and notes to show that everything was created before hand. I think we all laughed for a good fifteen minutes. (Even the victim of these trapped rooms).
In the end it worked out. The problem player learned from it, and actually took some weird pride in his lesson. Stories of his elven fighter falling endlessly to the center of creation was spread through the land as a children's story to teach youngsters the lesson of patience and caution. lol
Sorry, guess I got carried away with that wall of text. lol
***** But I enjoyed the story, so it paid off! Glad the player had a good attitude... gotta learn some time!
Really enjoyed listening to this. As a DM, a lot of the tips were stuff that I do! But some I didn’t know, which will be very helpful for my future campaigns. Mainly those revolving around spotlight and discussing what players want from the campaign. Thankfully spotlight hasn’t been to badly for my campaigns, however I realized as I went on that I do need to give story-lines for my newer players on their characters(They joined the campaign late for any random reader reading).
One of my players invited an old friend of his, and those two talked over me (I'm the GM), like you wouldn't believe. I just happened to video record the session for later playback, and when I saw how much those two talked, I immediately kicked out the new player. Didn't even give him a warning. The video was excruciating to watch.
On the video, I was constantly fighting over their horsing around. They didn't care what was going on. We have two new players and I think they've been told I don't play around when it comes to that. Oh....and the player I kicked out? He's still angry about it. I don't care.
I had same problem. I sat back ands smiled. After a while (8 other players) those two were Todd by the rest of the party to move on, shut up etc. Fun times
Yeah you power tripped. get over yourself and talk to people like an adult
@@OhNoTheFace yeah definitely could have had a word first and tried splitting them up
@@OhNoTheFace YOU get over yourself. When the players throw all manners out the window, they have voided the social contract and the GM has ZERO obligation to discuss it with them. GM's are not substitute mommies there to teach good manners.
@@gentlemanbear I get it, talking to people like an adult scares you. Don't pretend that is normal though
I'm about to DM my first game and appreciate this series SO MUCH. This in particular is helpful because I know as a relative n00b I am going to need a lot of help from my players to keep me informed since I don't know all the aspects of every character they are playing .
Matt can you fix the torches in the background so they are the same height please?
Zili just noticed that
Yea let’s make this more realistic like medieval times and use a laser level.
OCD
+Erick Orihuela
Not necessarily. There's a difference between completionism and full-blown OCD
Perspective; the camera is at a slightly angle. Look at the brick work; the lamps line up on either end.
Damed be you and your awesomness! My brother got into rpg´s due to your dnd streams. As I managed to get the privilage to be his dm, he keeps comparing me to you and your show. I am no voiceactor, but I genuinly hurt my throat by squeesing it just to try and get him to enjoy it. I can not get a deep voice unless I squees my throat enough to genuinly hurt and at timesit gets hard to breath. At one time he even told me to stop, tell him what the male npc´s was gonna say and then he would voice them out. He have gotten a bit more apreciative but he is still bossy and a tad rude :/ I just feel that he expect me to be like you, and his campaign is the first one I not only dm, but PLAY. I have not had anyone to play with earlier.
The main story is that it all takes place in the realm of demons/devils. However millenias ago mighty wizards enterd the realmand war broke out, sealing the demons into nothing and magicly transforming the plane to fit human life and what they need to live, such as plants and animals. Some demons had however mated with humans, creating halfbloods. And now millenias later ther demons are considerd nothing but a childrens tale. If somone is found out to have demon blood the king will send the mightiest of soldiers to murder said demon. The demon king have however managed to slip back into the realm he once ruled. So now he is looking for a champion to free them. Having slipped through the weakening seal took most of the demons power, rendering him nearly powerless. Thus he will meet y brothers character (who have demon blood) and try to lure him to undo the seal. If my brother decides to side with the demons the end boss will be a paladin/monk hybrid that is the crown prince. If he decides to side with the humans, he will have to travel to the dimension that the demons was sealed in, fighting the demon king in said realm.
So far he have mainly meditated trying to figure out the plot. He keeps getting natural 20´s and I genunly cant give him more without spoiling everything. He have already figured out that he is most likely a demon, much more info and he will know the whole plot (wich I buildt around his character), I made a whole wrld just for him including comming up with familie crests to the nobles, relationships both peacefull and those of war. Wouuld it be fine to say "You wont find out anything else by meditating no matter the diceroll"?
One last question, my brother tends to belive that the characters needs to have diffrent voices, accents, lisps and so on to be intresting. Is this not just a cosmetic thing? The thing that makes a character intresting is its personalities and querks is it not? Or am I wrong here? I just belive that the voice is more a cosmetic thing and not needed if the character is well made.
I'd love to see one of these about how to deal with it when a player is absent from a session.
+Moku Some DM's I've seen just make an excuse like 'he's staying behind to protect your caravan', one DM turns people who miss a session into cardboard. It's pretty funny, especially when they end the session right before a battle, and then the next episode someone has to do work, so at the beginning of the battle someone turns into cardboard and runs away.
Lots of ways to do it though, as long as the person is there most of the time I don't think it's an issue. I personally don't know though, never DM'd a game myself.
This one kind of differs between groups. Some DMs provide an excuse or an out for why the character isn't there for that particular session, some groups have the character absent from the session without ever addressing it, some groups let the players play the absent character, some groups have the DM play the absent character. It's worth talking over with your group (especially if you intend to do one of the latter two solutions) to find out how they prefer to handle the situation.
Our Rogue has a tendency to miss sessions so we built into the game that sometimes she wanders off or hides in the shadows then pops up like nothing happened. It's become part of her character now
Very helpful tips, Matt, thank you. I noticed I'm one of those players that unintentionally takes the spotlight. As you brought it to my attention, I'm now able to correct that and make my game more fun for my party who, thankfully, have been very patient with my poor manners. So, very much appreciated.
man one of the biggest problems i have is suggesting people how to act before letting them have a chance to think
it's hard to let people do what they do when you know you are always right
Maybe that's the problem. I don't mean to sound as though I'm attacking you, please don't take it that way. But, a DM/GM is NEVER always right. We make mistakes as well, and far more often than we allow the players to see. I suggest that you allow the players to act as they want, and slowly ramp up the consequences in game to allow them to adjust to what is expected to be appropriate conduct in your story. You HAVE to allow them the freedom to think on their own from the start, otherwise they're just reading lines you've wrote and you've eliminated the majority of what makes RPGs fun.
I've never played but I've always been interested. These vids that Matt has been providing have given me pretty good insight into how games play.
Watching Critical Role eps is fun and a learning session for me. But having a more personal explanation is better.
It's the GM's world, don't shit on it.....
I partially agree and partially disagree. I guess there’s extensive extremes. I don’t mind if a player is chaotic and tries to change the world aggressively in character, But if they’re doing everything they can to undermine every element of my game world then I’m going to be a little disappointed.
i feel if there's somethng different with your rules and the PHB it's te gm's job to sit and discuss it with the players, both mechanically and flavorwise, this is what i do when discussing tha tin some cases a nat20 isn't enoguh to pull somethings, because some things are pysical impossibilities, (like stealing someone's pants while they're still on and buckled and the person is awake)
I'd call it more a collaberative world. Your DM can't play out stories without players, and vice versa. This whole 'never backtalk' thing ruins games with pent up frustrations.
I'm not a big Critical Role fan, but man, I could listen to this guy talk for hours!
I remember creating a cleric whose sole function was to destroy undead. First undead he encountered was a powerful ghost. Failed the will save and permanently lost 1d6 str, con, and dex. I was less than satisfied lol.
I would never make some condition permanently permanent. I would always give them a way to eventually heal/cure it. It may be a hard thing to accomplish depending on what happened and how they received it, but it would always be healable.
Te one who puts subtitles in these videos deserves a medal.
D&D has been the elusive creature I have been unable to join. Always wanted to try but unsuccessfully.
I hope that you get to play it one day man, it's a really cool system :D
@@BigJackGameplays Thank you, I hope so too.
I am just getting back into RPG's and especially GMing...Putting together a campaign for Mutant: Year Zero....these videos are fantastic Matt, as well as watching you guys on Critical Role and Ivan and his gang on No Survivors have been a huge help and motivator. Thanks for bringing back my passion for these games!!
Sometimes I just throw on a Geeks and Sundry video with Matt Mercer talking because I like to hear his voice. That is all. Carry on.
Besides all those Videos I would LOVE all these Tips, improvements etc as a podcast. That would be so awesome.
i would like to play with him tbh
I have to explain every single thing to each of my players individually most of the time because it's absolutely impossible to get all 6 of them to listen at once. And, invariably, there's always at least one (usually the same one) who looks up from his phone 5 minutes later and asks for a 4th or 5th recap because he blatantly ignored me the first time I explained everything directly to him. In combat, he sometimes has to be reminded of what he's even fighting every turn. However, there is one player that always listens to everything I say, enough that he can help explain it to everyone else, and I appreciate the man so much for that.
Wow, that must be hard. A party of 6 is so much.
@@meih3286 we did have a talk about paying attention more, and it has improved, but there's still some room for further improvement. We still manage to have a good time though. Even if the barbarian likes to threaten every npc he comes across just to test my leniency.
There was this one guy in our group once and he was breaking literally every player tip in this video. We just all got sick of it and kicked him out
Matt Mercer- DM, Voice Actor and now Life Coach! Great tips for life in general!
I am BRUTALITOPS, the magician hehahahaha ( magic user baby whaaat)
I just found table-top RPG several days ago and I have to say, Your channel really helped a lot!
Thankyou!
all throughout this video all I could think of is "is this just basically how not to be tiberius?"
+Long Tran Low blow, yet I can't argue inaccuracy.
+Long Tran Ouch...
+Long Tran OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH!!!!!
What did he do that was so wrong?
Nemenian Have you not seen Critical Role?
For our group one of our etiquette rules is "When improvising always go with it even if its a bit ridiculous." This lets everyone have fun and the GM can fix it up so whatever happened works. If you ever watch Acquisitions Inc. the GM almost always says "Yeah, Sure." or "OK!" to the craziness that happens there and they have a great time.
Il try to be a better gm henceforth.
I passed this along to my game group that I GM for, you word this so much better then I do and I have been trying to explain this to them for a while now.
I generally think that I am easily excitable, I'm extremely childish in the way I act sometimes, and sometimes I do take the spotlight. Even after being told very strictly and asshole-ish to stop or I "shouldn't be playing D&D". I also recently started as a DM and basically got the party slaughtered by putting in a single enemy that they couldn't handle. This was the first session of the game and I had only read recommendations online and in the monster manual. After explaining this to the same person, she stated that I must be a bad DM and that I should improve or stop. Obviously, I found this relatively annoying, considering this was the first ever game I had as a DM and the party were OP at this point. Had they not pissed off an NPC they would have also had extra help. For plot reasons, the enemy couldn't be changed, so I don't really know what to do. Am I really bad, or just making silly mistakes?
You should have nerfed the monster while they were fighting it by docking hp. Yeah, they should suffer consequences, but its the players decisions that should get them killed, not the fact that you killed them. It should still be a challenge, and they should realize the npc was valuable.
You need to be more teachable for one, and adapt to fit your party. Your job is to help the story, not be an overlord
You sound like a stubborn person, don't be
idk i kill my players from time to time but their first fight shouldent get party wiped as a rule
I'm kinda a D&D noob, but have gamed for almost 40 years. Loved your series with Riddick and Cheese Burger Eddie. You are an AMAZING DM, I've watched a few video's now and love your passion and style, especially as Boo :)
Hi, so I need help. I've taken on the daunting task of DMing a group of 5 completely new players, and one player that's played a couple of games before and watches Critical Role. So I want the players to have fun and experience the game, but I also have some ground rules that I want to lay down before we begin, but I'm scared that being too harsh will make some of them not want to play anymore or have a bad first experience. So that's one situation
One other is more of a, is this okay, situation. I have made tutorial's for the first session, which is gonna be making characters. I'm gonna lead them through the character creation progress while teaching them how to play. And the last two tutorials will be a prologue to the campaign. With it ending with a combat encounter.
Another is that we're playing the Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign. I have heard, and experienced, that the first episode is really hard. Is there anyway to make that noticeable from the start so the new people don't get mad at me if they drop to 0 HP on the first episode, or just let them figure it out for themselves.
I'm a semi-new DM and from what I've heard have done a "Great Job" DMing. But I'm getting really nervous, so worried whither the player will have a good time or not. Does anybody have any help for that? Any help is appreciated, Thx
Baylee Wharton A game zero could help. Basically a session set aside where you meet and discuss game style and player goals. A game zero is also a good time to work with players to develop good connected cohesive back stories , maybe touch on party balance so , you have a well rounded group. This type of pre campaign session also lets you explain any house rules you may want to add , as well as get an idea for what goals your characters have for their characters. Running a sample combat is a good idea , it lets you and your players better grasp rules that are new and unfamiliar.
+Baylee Wharton I can safely address the very first point for you. You will regret not establishing those ground rules immediately. It's far better that players are warded against breaking rules first, instead of breaking rules/etiquette they weren't aware of and then needing it to be addressed afterwards. If those rules put some of the players off, then it's clear those players aren't compatible with you as a DM or your campaign. While D&D campaigns are a collaborative effort, DMs still need to be resolute. If I understood I could exploit or manipulate my DM in any way favourable to me as a player, because they're anxious or easy to bend, then you will lose the respect of every other player that notices that and I will lose respect for your authority.
It sounds like you are easing them in well with the tuts you have planned. Character creation is super important... some DMs will do it for the player, but I think they miss a critical understanding of mechanics that way. If you have a hard campaign (and I'm assuming you can't just alter the CR of the monsters for whatever reason), then I think it's perfectly legit, especially for a new group of players, to give them an overview of the campaign, and give them a couple of pointers. Just rationalize it as they asked their diety or sought divination ahead of time. :D It will also teach them team play, which is one of the harder concepts for new players.
These videos are really helpful, I would also recommend actually checking out critical role and watching at least 3 or 4 episodes. If you pay attention, you pick up alot of these suggestions and tips in this video series just by watching alone. Watching his DM example is a great way to learn. His DM style isn't for everyone. But there is so much to be absorbed in watching, so I would give it a shot. Watch it with your friends if you are all new players considering to try D&D 5e, or any sort of D&D esqe game.
"taking the spotlight a little bit" sounds a bit like Vax and Vex in my honest opinion, good thing we have Grog to just shut both of them up when he has had enough of it. and sometimes Scanlan. I feel as though Percy should shine a little more than he does.
While I don't think they hog the spotlight intentionally at least, I can certainly agree that Percy is horribly overlooked in the non-combat encounters the group has.
I've been running a 2 Star Wars Saga Edition Campaigns and I have found this series to be a real help. Its given me a boost in confidence in my GMing abilities. Keep up the excellent work...also Critical Role is awesome ^_^
Fucking Jotaro trying to teach me how to be a nice guy.
Another thing to note, and I admit this is probably more prevalent with forum-based games than face-to-face ones, is making sure the PCs are at least somewhat tolerant of each other. Prime example:
I was in an Iron Kingdoms game on a forum a few years ago now, I wasn't the GM but I had been the one to suggest the concept (think Steampunk Burn Notice crossed with a bit of Leverage). Now, one player made a Doom Reaver character and another player had made a Llaelese Gun Mage.
For those not familiar with the Iron Kingdoms setting; Doom Reavers are convicted felons from Khador who have been chained to cursed greatswords that turn them into raging berserkers. The player class is supposed to represent the few who retain some of their self-control and sanity. And during a war just a few years prior to the setting's present day, Khador had invaded Llael and, among other things, released hordes of Doom Reavers into a populated city like attack dogs to slaughter both the defending forces and the city's civilians. Needless to say, this led to the Gun Mage keeping her pistol trained on the Doom Reaver through the whole party-meeting scene and, while meeting with our first client, the Gun Mage proceeded to try and blow the Reaver's brains out.
Now the Gun Mage's player claimed that it's what her character would do, that the other PCs hadn't convinced her to trust the Reaver. I've always hated that excuse - you should never have your character do something to another PC that you're not willing to have happen to your own PC as well. That player knew going into the scene that there would be a Doom Reaver character and should have been more lenient, finding a way for the Gun Mage to agree to work with the guy for at least one job. Not all the Gun Mage player's fault, though; the Doom Reaver was a pure-combat character built for a espionage/subtlety-oriented campaign and the GM was the one who made the final call on letting the Doom Reaver character into the game. Needless to say, other than some OOC griping, the game pretty much ended the instant the Gun Mage pulled the trigger.
Rule number one shoulda been "no metagaming" :P
I've never done DnD before, and am joining my fellow questers This Saturday. Hyped for it, as we're gonna meet up every sat evening.
Started watching critical roll last night, and am on part 3 now and loving it.
Don’t be the: “it’s what my character would do” guy
BingoBangoBongo the problem Is when a player is being a murderhobo and saying “it’s what my character would do” as an excuse for all of there characters that are murderhobos
@@AaronWhiting18 I played a legend of the five rings campaign where my character was susceptible to possession and influence by dark spirits due to past trauma. The trade off being the ability to speak to spirits and if able to convince them of intentions, forge them into weapons granting bonuses making the item magical.
-
we fought a big bad, killed him, and he proceeded to possess me and murder half my party. lol
One rule that I am a stickler on, is proper dice rolling etiquette, or the art of rolling correctly. I got my start in tabletop war gaming where improper dice etiquette can and has led to fights. First things first, actually roll the dice, just don't put it in your hand, and then flip your hand over so the dice lands where you want it too. Also, after you roll, don't pick it up immediately, let it stay so everyone can have a look at it. I once had a player who constantly picked his dice up before any of us could confirm it, and he always seemed to get exactly what he needed and had a bad roll. We called him out on this and we stopped, for awhile. Then we started having our sessions over at his house where he sat away from us in his own personal chair with a dice tray, and oddly enough those higher than average rolls came back with a vengeance. Now, the DM should be allowed to fudge his rolls occasionally behind a screen, it it suits the narrative or if he wants to show mercy to the players. Though one day I did beat my cheating players roll, and he furiously stormed behind my screen demanding to see the dice so he could confirm it was a nat 20, which it was. Thankfully we don't play together anymore.
"I AM TIBERIUS STORMWIND"
I really don't get what people have against him. I thought he tried to get exactly as much attention as anyone else
I felt like he tried to interject himself too much. I liked Orion and his character, Tiberius. But, sometimes it felt like he tried to do so much in such a small amount of time and would seem like he's trying to control the flow of the game more.
But even with that, I didn't dislike him and I'm sad he's gone.
I disagree. He overshadowed way too much.
Despite all the hate he gets Orion was one of the better team players fixing items, crafting magical items where Matt let him and generally trying to increase the teams chances of survival by using some strategy beyond "Run towards it and hit it until it's dead" Even the seemingly infamous moment with Vex's arrow was good team play even though he didnt run it by her (Natural 20 is not a guranteed success with RAW) Vox Machina make for great entertainment value but they dont really work as a team ever.
My opinions on the matter exactly.
Just wanted to let you know, that I love the show critical hit! In fact it's got me back in to Dungeons and Dragons. I am working on the starters set module for my first adventure. I gm'd call of Cthulhu but never dnd. I have twin daughters 26 so me my girlfriend, them and they're significant others are going to start playing. Keep it up, you guys are awesome.