How has Player Agency (or lack thereof) influenced your game for better or worse? Read my article about Player Agency: www.flutesloot.com/player-agency-in-dnd-is-essential/?
This could be the GREATEST D&D video ever! Just full of fantastic ideas, but also fueled by the experience of playing and running games and seeing that the secret sauce is the players feeling engaged in a world but also know that they're not simply creating that world. That it exists independently of their actions. I could go on and on. Thank you Jordan!
Great points and advice. I will say, that player agency is not just creating opportunities for choices that matter, but having players believe it, and act upon it.
Absolutely! A DM needs to foster the players' trust in their agency mattering. I'd also suggest that session zero should involve the DM reinforcing this.
First, it’s wonderful to see a Flutes Loot video pop up on my feed!! Second, this is some fantastic advice and these are the kinds of questions that will transform your game. Bravo, good sir!!
@@FlutesLoot I forget which number it was, I think it was in the roleplaying tips… you mentioned something about modifying how difficult a lock might be because of a poor roll from an expert thief… that one has me thinking. I’m looking forward to that video when it comes out.
Ha! We knew you’d come through! At the moment my game is a bunch of random one shots which are, by nature, a bit railroady. I still try to give my players agency, for example our last game ended with my players putting the BBEG, which was actually a possessed not-so-big skull, into the Bag of Holding. Didn’t see that coming. I can see how your information will be very helpful in all TTRPG games, no matter how long or short. Thank you for putting so much effort into a topic that sometimes gets pushed aside.
@@DnDDM_Mom one-shot series are fun. That's actually how I learned to DM. We had different adventures unlock rewards and give continuous opportunities for player agency between. It was a good time as a West Marches style.
I let my players choose combat or not. They can try to parlay or during combat they can ask the opponent to surrender. They’ve actually talked a fire giant into joining their group as a henchman that they pay and now he helps guard the player’s stronghold
Great video that needs far more views!! Even as a veteran DM and player for TTRPGs this is still great to dig into :D I have also been playing in my own world for 10+ years and building it along the way. Even after 5 years into the campaign my players got super excited last week during a session about how they impacted the world. They all gushed about how cool it is, and about how an act they did 3+ years ago has come back around in a way that they could see impacted the world. I was so happy hearing them talk about it and about how anyone (including themselves in any future campaigns) playing in the world in the future will have that to look forward to. I should also say that I have 2 campaigns atm. One is a 5+ year campaign and the other is a nearly 2 year campaign all set in the same world. They are impacting themselves as well. When I sat down with the newer group at the start I gave them a small list of ideas I would like to run. They chose one and then we all sat down and created that part of the world together. I had not explored it in any sessions, so I treated it as a blank slate. I had a small list of style and theme for them to fit into, but they got to help make a really unique city / nation, got to create how the economy works, made NPCs that they would know for various reasons, got to create buildings/shops/attractions, and they really got to be immersed. I then took their PCs, their ideas, and their creations to make the setting proper. It started as a collaborative project, and they still talk about how great it is after nearly 2 years. Makes me so happy!
3:05 The term railroading has been bastardized into meaning linear adventures. What railroading really means is that no other solution will work for arbitrary reasons but the one solution the GM has in mind. No you can't bribe, seduce or threaten the guard to let you through. You can only show him your writ of passage you can only obtain this one way. ....no you cant climb the city walls at night! No you cant be polymorphed into spiders and put into a bag of holding your wildshaped druid will innocuously carry into the city!
Thanks for the video! I agree that player agency is the most important thing to prevent D&D from feeling like a fantasy style board game. I’m currently 1/4 of the way through my first campaign as a DM and the initial advice I heard that influenced the world and central conflict I made was the idea of a BBEG. So I’ve got this villain whose agents are busy running amok in the world and working to bring about his great return and he is being fueled by higher divine powers. So far, my players have had to be very reactive to the things the henchmen have been doing and are working to stop their plans and find and kill them all. So my players have all the agency they want in how they deal with what’s going on, but they kinda are forced to deal with these things or risk lots of people dying or other bad stuff happening. I kinda needed the linear plot as a new DM at first, but I’m thinking my next campaign will be very faction focused and not have an initial BBEG planned at the start. Given the story/world structure I’ve got going on for my current campaign, do you have any specific advice for how I could give the players more agency as the campaign progresses? Right now it definitely does feel like Skyrim with main plot adventures and side quests adventures, but the main plot doesn’t sit around and wait for you because if you ignore it, things get real bad real quick. I would kinda like to see some part of where the campaign goes being player led, not just, great job guys at defeating that guy. I can give more details about it if you like, but I appreciate your advice, you make great videos 👍🏻
Hey! I think you'll enjoy those goals for your next go of it. For your current campaign, I recommend finding a reason for things to slow down. Maybe the BBEG's plans are not immediately obtainable and the players need time before they get a lead on what's happening next. Time is essential for them to flex their creativity in the world. To be fair, if they are super into the BBEG's plot and they're not complaining about being unable to do anything else, you're probably fine. In that case, you'd want to find ways along the way to let them influence what happens as they combat the BBEG plot. They can recruit allies, commission weapons, flip an enemy to their side, or otherwise affect *how* they will eventually defeat the BBEG. It's hard for me to comment without specific knowledge of your campaign and play group, but I hope that helps.
@@FlutesLoot Well even so I certainly appreciate the response! Those are the sorts of things I have been doing so far and the kind of options that are available for them in the future. I had planned after the second arch was finished to allow some space for the story to breathe before the next phase began so I’m happy to see that’s also your recommendation to just allow them some time to go do things in the world that aren’t necessarily tied to preventing imminent doom. I’ve only received one comment about my campaign always being go go go with little time for downtime so I started baking in some more roleplay heavy sessions that revealed secret plots and whatnot and weren’t as heavy in the combat department. My campaign premise is that ever since Shar became mad at her twin sister goddess Selune and tore the dragon god, Azgorath, in half forming the halves Bahamut and Tiamat, dragon kind has been at war and lack balance. Every 5,000 years the dragons awake and it’s a cataclysmic event that lasts centuries until the dragons once again slumber. I’ve got a whole lore of what has happened each time, but the last time a Paladin and his army sold their souls to Asmodeus for the power of undeath and they all became the first liches and death knights and their children the first tieflings in my world. They used this power to defeat the dragons and to take their revenge on the other races that had “sold out” to dragon rule and even sent an army to destroy these abominations. What stopped them is they were lured to a site that a powerful mage with the help of many other factions pretended was a last stand battle but was actually a trap. The mage teleported the entire mountain into the 9 hells banishing this guy and now he’s working to come back. All my players backstories tie back to factions involved in this struggle. Tier one is a hag rousing three clans of orcs to attack the villages that sprung up where this mountain once stood. Tier 2 is the Red Hand of Doom module (modified of course) which seeks to bring Tiamat into the world and involves plenty of foreshadowing of the surrounding nations on the brink of war. Tier 3 is the dragons awakening and nations going to war. Tier 4 is the return of this paladin on a floating mountain with a army of undead and devils and an invasion of Drow who have been using purple worms and ankhegs to destabilize the entire region from underneath. The final climax is the party venturing into heaven where Bahamut and Tiamat are fighting and fuse them both back together reforming the true neutral deity Azgorath and stopping the cycle.
Regarding player agency and random encounters: I feel random encounters can not only increase verisimilitude of the campaign but also increase player agency by giving players more options about how they would like to interact with the campaign world.
That's an insightful observation. I think you're right. Running a module tends to lull DMs into accepting what's in the book while forgetting to make sure players have agency. Some modules have agency built in, but not all of them and not all the time.
Thank you! I'm glad you think so. I want to enable DMs to run good games, not stress them out. I'm interested to hear more about the nature of the rabbit hole you mention.
@@FlutesLoot in my own experience, once I felt comfortable with the fundamentals of running the game, i was trying to ensure player agency…almost forcing my players to have agency. To the point where I was afraid to even set an opening scene and opting for “what do you want to do?” I was so concerned with making sure they had freedom, that my players didn’t feel like they had enough information at times.
This is an interesting take, but it's been done to death by many channels and feels myopic... only geared from a player's point of view and experience. Player Agency AND DM agency is crucial to a healthy D&D group, not just one, or the DM WILL burn-out or lose interest. It's everybody's game, not just the player's over the DM. It can't be just the players, and not just the DMs game. Both sides need to "have Agency" IN the game and story, and during gameplay. The DM is NOT there to just come up with a basic homebrew idea, or just be a referee between the players in whatever pre-written module they are trying to accomplish, nor just be a potted plant as a spectator. There's (usually) 3-6 players in a D&D game, all fighting for the spotlight, but only 1 DM... everybody can share in that spotlight. The DM is a "player" too. Each side needs to meet the other half-way, so both sides can have fun! If only the players or just the DM is having fun, then the game will NOT be healthy.
Thank you for your comment! I speak from my own experience: focusing on player agency cured my burnout and made the game the most fun it has ever been for me. It's easier to prep, effortless to roleplay, fun to improvise, and everything feels like it matters. The six players have constantly thanked me for my effort. The sum of my efforts is the same as ever, just with a worthwhile focus. There may be only 1 DM, but everything that players do interacts with me as the DM, so if anything, it's easy to feel like I hog the spotlight. So, I disagree that promoting and focusing on player agency will make the game less fun for the DM. This is a false dichotomy, and it's easy to say that any good advice can be applied poorly or out of balance. I also feel fine making a video about a topic I'm passionate about. Believe it or not, I researched other videos that had already been covered on the topic and made it my own to add something new.
@@FlutesLoot Ok, it's on.... No, you didn't "research" other videos, you just ripped them off, especially the Dungeon Dudes Player Agency video, "Quantum Ogres" and all. And please don't fabricate a Strawman for my post. You, like the other videos you ripped off, promoted a game that is only character and player based, (pleading to the peanut gallery as it were, and like we don't have enough videos and D&D books only geared to the players) while I promoted a game for all... so, you tell me Mr. "False Dichotomy" and rip-off remora... which of us has the moral high ground?
@@MarkLewis... Hi Mark, I think we just have different ways of playing TTRPGs or we at least have different methods, but I wish you all the best. I do my best to produce content that is useful and different, but I clearly didn't accomplish that for you. I'd enjoy supporting you with a like and comment if you ever make a video about DM agency.
@@FlutesLoot My only issue with your initial retort was it was strongly implying there's a right way and a wrong way to play, and your way is the right way, thus mine wrong. As if (then in the video) you had some epiphany that you were at first controlling everything way too much, but then, went to the other extreme and completely laid down for your players, in pretty much of them doing whatever they want to do. Going to these extremes, total control to the players doing (pretty much everything creative) is going to cause another "burn out" for you, and your players. You will have no sense of game satisfaction because you accomplished nothing in the game, and they will feel all the pressure on them to create... all you did was shift the responsibility on your players. Sure, easier for you because you have little to no prep. Just like your total control got old for you and your players... so will turning everything over to them. I've been playing and DMing since the 70s... I've seen it all with D&D... trust me, find a middle ground between you and your players. Play however you wish and do whatever videos you want, but my point wasn't DM Agency... my point was players AND the DM having Agency, so everyone shares the spotlight.
@@MarkLewis... I must not have made my core point well in the video. I fancy myself a middleground guy but saw greater need to hit this point home to even people out and help them understand likely why their games die out. I enjoy preparing a lot of content and things I get excited about while also leaning into the players getting excited about their choices.
How has Player Agency (or lack thereof) influenced your game for better or worse?
Read my article about Player Agency: www.flutesloot.com/player-agency-in-dnd-is-essential/?
This could be the GREATEST D&D video ever! Just full of fantastic ideas, but also fueled by the experience of playing and running games and seeing that the secret sauce is the players feeling engaged in a world but also know that they're not simply creating that world. That it exists independently of their actions. I could go on and on. Thank you Jordan!
Thank you Kevin :)
@@FlutesLoot I reread this comment just now and realized I look a little crazy!😂 But, in the moment it really spoke to me!
Great points and advice. I will say, that player agency is not just creating opportunities for choices that matter, but having players believe it, and act upon it.
Absolutely! A DM needs to foster the players' trust in their agency mattering. I'd also suggest that session zero should involve the DM reinforcing this.
First, it’s wonderful to see a Flutes Loot video pop up on my feed!! Second, this is some fantastic advice and these are the kinds of questions that will transform your game. Bravo, good sir!!
Thank you Jake :)
@@FlutesLoot I forget which number it was, I think it was in the roleplaying tips… you mentioned something about modifying how difficult a lock might be because of a poor roll from an expert thief… that one has me thinking. I’m looking forward to that video when it comes out.
Awesome video! Thanks for the suggestions on how to get your players more involved, and having more fun.
You're welcome and thanks for watching :)
I have anxiously been waiting for this video! Excellent information and tips! Totally worth the wait. 😊
Finally making good on my promise from Bob's stream haha
Ha! We knew you’d come through! At the moment my game is a bunch of random one shots which are, by nature, a bit railroady. I still try to give my players agency, for example our last game ended with my players putting the BBEG, which was actually a possessed not-so-big skull, into the Bag of Holding. Didn’t see that coming. I can see how your information will be very helpful in all TTRPG games, no matter how long or short. Thank you for putting so much effort into a topic that sometimes gets pushed aside.
@@DnDDM_Mom one-shot series are fun. That's actually how I learned to DM. We had different adventures unlock rewards and give continuous opportunities for player agency between. It was a good time as a West Marches style.
We enjoy it!
I let my players choose combat or not. They can try to parlay or during combat they can ask the opponent to surrender. They’ve actually talked a fire giant into joining their group as a henchman that they pay and now he helps guard the player’s stronghold
That's a fantastic example. I bet players loved flexing their agency in that way.
Love all flutes videos, really nice to see him back
Thanks Darel :)
Harrumph!
@@minimoose7890 lol nice Blazing Saddles reference
@@FlutesLoot You give your Flutes Loot a harrumph! "Harrumph harrumph harrumph!" -- You watch your dice...
Great video that needs far more views!! Even as a veteran DM and player for TTRPGs this is still great to dig into :D
I have also been playing in my own world for 10+ years and building it along the way. Even after 5 years into the campaign my players got super excited last week during a session about how they impacted the world. They all gushed about how cool it is, and about how an act they did 3+ years ago has come back around in a way that they could see impacted the world. I was so happy hearing them talk about it and about how anyone (including themselves in any future campaigns) playing in the world in the future will have that to look forward to.
I should also say that I have 2 campaigns atm. One is a 5+ year campaign and the other is a nearly 2 year campaign all set in the same world. They are impacting themselves as well. When I sat down with the newer group at the start I gave them a small list of ideas I would like to run. They chose one and then we all sat down and created that part of the world together. I had not explored it in any sessions, so I treated it as a blank slate. I had a small list of style and theme for them to fit into, but they got to help make a really unique city / nation, got to create how the economy works, made NPCs that they would know for various reasons, got to create buildings/shops/attractions, and they really got to be immersed. I then took their PCs, their ideas, and their creations to make the setting proper. It started as a collaborative project, and they still talk about how great it is after nearly 2 years. Makes me so happy!
Thank you!
You're clearly giving players agency and it's paying off for the gaming experience of everyone :)
WE'RE BACK BABY!!!
Straight up!
3:05
The term railroading has been bastardized into meaning linear adventures.
What railroading really means is that no other solution will work for arbitrary reasons but the one solution the GM has in mind.
No you can't bribe, seduce or threaten the guard to let you through. You can only show him your writ of passage you can only obtain this one way. ....no you cant climb the city walls at night! No you cant be polymorphed into spiders and put into a bag of holding your wildshaped druid will innocuously carry into the city!
You're saying railroading used to mean a programmed series of solutions and challenges as opposed to a storytelling track?
Thanks for the video! I agree that player agency is the most important thing to prevent D&D from feeling like a fantasy style board game. I’m currently 1/4 of the way through my first campaign as a DM and the initial advice I heard that influenced the world and central conflict I made was the idea of a BBEG. So I’ve got this villain whose agents are busy running amok in the world and working to bring about his great return and he is being fueled by higher divine powers. So far, my players have had to be very reactive to the things the henchmen have been doing and are working to stop their plans and find and kill them all. So my players have all the agency they want in how they deal with what’s going on, but they kinda are forced to deal with these things or risk lots of people dying or other bad stuff happening. I kinda needed the linear plot as a new DM at first, but I’m thinking my next campaign will be very faction focused and not have an initial BBEG planned at the start. Given the story/world structure I’ve got going on for my current campaign, do you have any specific advice for how I could give the players more agency as the campaign progresses? Right now it definitely does feel like Skyrim with main plot adventures and side quests adventures, but the main plot doesn’t sit around and wait for you because if you ignore it, things get real bad real quick. I would kinda like to see some part of where the campaign goes being player led, not just, great job guys at defeating that guy. I can give more details about it if you like, but I appreciate your advice, you make great videos 👍🏻
Hey! I think you'll enjoy those goals for your next go of it.
For your current campaign, I recommend finding a reason for things to slow down. Maybe the BBEG's plans are not immediately obtainable and the players need time before they get a lead on what's happening next. Time is essential for them to flex their creativity in the world. To be fair, if they are super into the BBEG's plot and they're not complaining about being unable to do anything else, you're probably fine. In that case, you'd want to find ways along the way to let them influence what happens as they combat the BBEG plot. They can recruit allies, commission weapons, flip an enemy to their side, or otherwise affect *how* they will eventually defeat the BBEG. It's hard for me to comment without specific knowledge of your campaign and play group, but I hope that helps.
@@FlutesLoot Well even so I certainly appreciate the response! Those are the sorts of things I have been doing so far and the kind of options that are available for them in the future. I had planned after the second arch was finished to allow some space for the story to breathe before the next phase began so I’m happy to see that’s also your recommendation to just allow them some time to go do things in the world that aren’t necessarily tied to preventing imminent doom. I’ve only received one comment about my campaign always being go go go with little time for downtime so I started baking in some more roleplay heavy sessions that revealed secret plots and whatnot and weren’t as heavy in the combat department. My campaign premise is that ever since Shar became mad at her twin sister goddess Selune and tore the dragon god, Azgorath, in half forming the halves Bahamut and Tiamat, dragon kind has been at war and lack balance. Every 5,000 years the dragons awake and it’s a cataclysmic event that lasts centuries until the dragons once again slumber. I’ve got a whole lore of what has happened each time, but the last time a Paladin and his army sold their souls to Asmodeus for the power of undeath and they all became the first liches and death knights and their children the first tieflings in my world. They used this power to defeat the dragons and to take their revenge on the other races that had “sold out” to dragon rule and even sent an army to destroy these abominations. What stopped them is they were lured to a site that a powerful mage with the help of many other factions pretended was a last stand battle but was actually a trap. The mage teleported the entire mountain into the 9 hells banishing this guy and now he’s working to come back. All my players backstories tie back to factions involved in this struggle. Tier one is a hag rousing three clans of orcs to attack the villages that sprung up where this mountain once stood. Tier 2 is the Red Hand of Doom module (modified of course) which seeks to bring Tiamat into the world and involves plenty of foreshadowing of the surrounding nations on the brink of war. Tier 3 is the dragons awakening and nations going to war. Tier 4 is the return of this paladin on a floating mountain with a army of undead and devils and an invasion of Drow who have been using purple worms and ankhegs to destabilize the entire region from underneath. The final climax is the party venturing into heaven where Bahamut and Tiamat are fighting and fuse them both back together reforming the true neutral deity Azgorath and stopping the cycle.
Thanks for the video, Jordan. I enjoy your videos since I usually don't have the time (or remember) to read the Flutes articles.
You're welcome! I'm glad the multiple mediums are useful :)
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 thank you! this is awesome, I'll be subscribing
Regarding player agency and random encounters: I feel random encounters can not only increase verisimilitude of the campaign but also increase player agency by giving players more options about how they would like to interact with the campaign world.
Amen
Yessssss! Been waiting for this one!
Such a build-up :P
Good on the Bobblehead stream holding Flutes to the promise of the video, lol
I find that DM's running things out of a module tend to disregard player agency the most.
That's an insightful observation. I think you're right. Running a module tends to lull DMs into accepting what's in the book while forgetting to make sure players have agency. Some modules have agency built in, but not all of them and not all the time.
Thank you! Agency is really matter! )
100% :)
Usually hearing about “player agency being so important” sends DMs into a rabbit hole they can’t get out of. However there is some decent advice here.
Thank you! I'm glad you think so. I want to enable DMs to run good games, not stress them out. I'm interested to hear more about the nature of the rabbit hole you mention.
@@FlutesLoot in my own experience, once I felt comfortable with the fundamentals of running the game, i was trying to ensure player agency…almost forcing my players to have agency. To the point where I was afraid to even set an opening scene and opting for “what do you want to do?” I was so concerned with making sure they had freedom, that my players didn’t feel like they had enough information at times.
@@CaseyWilkesmusic Ah ok
This is an interesting take, but it's been done to death by many channels and feels myopic... only geared from a player's point of view and experience. Player Agency AND DM agency is crucial to a healthy D&D group, not just one, or the DM WILL burn-out or lose interest. It's everybody's game, not just the player's over the DM. It can't be just the players, and not just the DMs game. Both sides need to "have Agency" IN the game and story, and during gameplay. The DM is NOT there to just come up with a basic homebrew idea, or just be a referee between the players in whatever pre-written module they are trying to accomplish, nor just be a potted plant as a spectator. There's (usually) 3-6 players in a D&D game, all fighting for the spotlight, but only 1 DM... everybody can share in that spotlight. The DM is a "player" too. Each side needs to meet the other half-way, so both sides can have fun!
If only the players or just the DM is having fun, then the game will NOT be healthy.
Thank you for your comment!
I speak from my own experience: focusing on player agency cured my burnout and made the game the most fun it has ever been for me. It's easier to prep, effortless to roleplay, fun to improvise, and everything feels like it matters. The six players have constantly thanked me for my effort. The sum of my efforts is the same as ever, just with a worthwhile focus. There may be only 1 DM, but everything that players do interacts with me as the DM, so if anything, it's easy to feel like I hog the spotlight.
So, I disagree that promoting and focusing on player agency will make the game less fun for the DM. This is a false dichotomy, and it's easy to say that any good advice can be applied poorly or out of balance.
I also feel fine making a video about a topic I'm passionate about. Believe it or not, I researched other videos that had already been covered on the topic and made it my own to add something new.
@@FlutesLoot Ok, it's on.... No, you didn't "research" other videos, you just ripped them off, especially the Dungeon Dudes Player Agency video, "Quantum Ogres" and all. And please don't fabricate a Strawman for my post. You, like the other videos you ripped off, promoted a game that is only character and player based, (pleading to the peanut gallery as it were, and like we don't have enough videos and D&D books only geared to the players) while I promoted a game for all... so, you tell me Mr. "False Dichotomy" and rip-off remora... which of us has the moral high ground?
@@MarkLewis... Hi Mark, I think we just have different ways of playing TTRPGs or we at least have different methods, but I wish you all the best. I do my best to produce content that is useful and different, but I clearly didn't accomplish that for you. I'd enjoy supporting you with a like and comment if you ever make a video about DM agency.
@@FlutesLoot My only issue with your initial retort was it was strongly implying there's a right way and a wrong way to play, and your way is the right way, thus mine wrong. As if (then in the video) you had some epiphany that you were at first controlling everything way too much, but then, went to the other extreme and completely laid down for your players, in pretty much of them doing whatever they want to do. Going to these extremes, total control to the players doing (pretty much everything creative) is going to cause another "burn out" for you, and your players. You will have no sense of game satisfaction because you accomplished nothing in the game, and they will feel all the pressure on them to create... all you did was shift the responsibility on your players. Sure, easier for you because you have little to no prep. Just like your total control got old for you and your players... so will turning everything over to them. I've been playing and DMing since the 70s... I've seen it all with D&D... trust me, find a middle ground between you and your players. Play however you wish and do whatever videos you want, but my point wasn't DM Agency... my point was players AND the DM having Agency, so everyone shares the spotlight.
@@MarkLewis... I must not have made my core point well in the video. I fancy myself a middleground guy but saw greater need to hit this point home to even people out and help them understand likely why their games die out. I enjoy preparing a lot of content and things I get excited about while also leaning into the players getting excited about their choices.