Five Ways to Improve Your D&D/Pathfinder Game
![Matt Click [aFistfulofDice]](http://yt3.ggpht.com/Omje4j2w1emmnZJeUp5Y3B1gbJd92-oXa8niOaMRg-LIt50KchuJ_KtB5WvBOW0YiDr3wdWwPA=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- To everyone complaining about the lengthy intro: watch some of my recent videos. The intro was only featured on my earliest videos.
In which I give you five (plus one) tips on how to improve your D&D and Pathfinder sessions. These tips are applicable to pretty much any RPG out there.
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Wow dude, 3 years old and this video is still super relevant- hell, your fate tokens even made it into the 5e core rules set by way of Inspiration! Good stuff, we're actually going to use this to springboard a video response. One suggestion, is that you might want to list your tips in the Description Notes for easy access. -Nerdarchist Ryan
Good stuff! I'm a 100% (er, 90%) new Loremaster -- the GM for The One Ring RPG -- and these tips are very helpful. I'll be poking around here and your blog for more goodies!
Will do! Thanks for watching.
Hello Friend. I am from Russia, and I am generally too lazy to comment on youtube. But I logged in just to tell you thank you. I am 30, got a wife and a kid, and stopped playing after I got out of college. I am back on the track now, and I used your advice - make players do some jobs. I asked my wife to help me draw maps, and It got here interested to play with me and my buddies, since she never even had a clue what Pen&Paper RPG mean! And another thank you for your last advice - I often get tired since I like to do my maps and NPC in detail and full time job leaves small time for that. I will keep in mind that all this effort is for my fun as well, not just for the player sake! Best luck, and don’t you ever give up on Pen&Paper RPG!
MrRevolutionizedNerd Glad I could help! Happy gaming!
Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad I can help.
Tip 5 reminds me of when I was playing a wizard for the first time. We started in a desert two days away from the city the DM had plabned the campaign to be in and 9 days from where we came. He learned that you can't tell a wizard who took create water, to keep going foreward. He said going back was suicide. Showed him, and the campaign ended there. He didn't plan or want to plan for what I did.
Just found this channel through the Dawncast channel hangout you did, seems like you got some nice videos here for a new DM!
Timeless tips for any GM
Thank you!
I like the fate chip idea. I have players who tell me what there characters are saying than themselves having their characters tell me what they want to say. Chip could help enforce more role involvement from the player.
I always enjoy your videos, and you sound like you would be a fun and engaging GM
Funny you mention it -- if you watch some of my more recent videos, I no longer have this intro. Thanks for the comment!
I like the idea with music. I used music before in Vampire the Mas, but never D&D.
Great video. Thanks for sharing your insights.
I'm lucky enough to be in a group where we can play every weekend, barring any plans being made.
Love the intro
You do great videos! Keep it up! I'd recommend cutting the 40 second intro though. It serves no purpose and potentially makes you lose viewers due to load times. Ask yourself what the purpose of an intro is. This is RUclips. Viewers most likely know who you are, what your channel is; (and if they don't, they don't care; they just want to hear what you have to say), eg; an intro is redundant.
Hope you take this the right way. Only saying because I want MORE people to see your awesome videos! :)
Nice clear tips.
tip 2; be integrated. players need to make sure their characters will get along with each other before the game starts and gm's need to make sure their characters will have a reason to interact with the players before the game starts. shared histories and goals make this much easier.
Thanks, this was really helpful!
45 sec intro? C'mon.
This video is old, dude. I don't use this intro anymore.
Hey you probably wont get around to answering this but im really curious. Is that black and white opening screen a screen shot takin from Little big planet?
I don't think the puzzle ebook is available anymore. Message DMJ.
I do the same thing with the poker chips except the reward was exp not rerolls. i like that option though. My group is way to A.D.D. for music. We cant have distraction or we will just lose our train of thought. When that happens we just say fuck it lets fight.
Where can I find that puzzle system creation ebook? I couldn't find it by googling.
Anybody know where i can get the puzzle book?
I personally liked the into was a bit long but you shortened it so its all gravy to me.
I have real problems keeping a main story in my games, i can do it, but it usually ends up being really drawn out. So, most of my games revolve around just part-and-parcel adventures, singular missions that my PCs do.. for my group, this works. But i really, really wanna try running an entire story, I've tried modules and my group just gets bored with the set pieces. I'd love some help, if anyone is willing to give it!
Recently I mixed The Father of Obidience, of the scarlet brotherhood, joing forces with a group of being called the Krell , who are similar to the things from the DEAD SPACE video games, mixed with a powerful sword , a lost brother, a old companion returning, and one of them finding out they had a son from an elf queen 500 years ago....long story. Just use your imagination and KNOW your players. Im sure they know and trust you. If all else fails ASK them what sort of adventure they would like, that works surprisingly well
It sounds like your having a problem with the story cohesion that keeps a group interested in the game. I would suggest running, or at least reading through some of the campaign arcs that dungeon magazine came out with years ago. They include the shackled city, age of worms and the savage tide. Once you run a story arc or 3 its much easier to come up with your own.
can i hire you as a dungeon master? It sounds like so much fun
I would never charge to DM!
tip 5; grow and share. learn from your mistakes. accept constructive criticism. level up your gaming. then share the hobby, introduce new people to it, help weaker players improve, be an ambassador of the hobby.
Yeah you are the last person to be an ambassador to our hobby. Your elitist attitude is off outing!
Magus i want everyone to be elite. to be the best players they can be.
David Ducker you mean play like how you are because all I see is a little control freak who is scared of anyone infringing on his domain, and that you are not open minded enough to see people do not play like you. I mean you know the guy who says all DMs who use miniatures are trash dm, funny considering the game originated from miniature warfare games....simpleton.
Yeah, I don't use that intro anymore. I liked it, but 40 seconds is much too long for an intro.
Great video! Thanks!!! But I’m still going to pronounce it BeAstiary! If you have a good sense of humor, you will immediately laugh at that comment. If not then...oh well...another joke lost to the wind! Cheers mate! Keep up the good work!!!
If you had died, should he Mulligan? Take your response as what he should do.
never heard someone advocate less prep. most people would say 'work smarter, not harder.' and you seem to say 'don't work at all!'. the problem with that is the setting ends up bland and generic. and the npc's end up being cardboard stereotypes. maybe you just need to word your advice better man. like; 'prep what is important and what the players will interact with only'.
I think my cat has earned more than one, sadly. :)
Maiden rules !!!!
the cutting in mid/start of a word was kind of anoying
Tip 1: Be a storyteller. Narrate the story, unravel a setting, explain emotions, looks and feels...sounds and settings. Let the players imagination fuel their actions. Let narration and story take control of situations rather than dice chucking. Narrate actions can intensify scenes for good and bad and keep a story flowing. Why roll a bunch of dice to bash in a door when you can narrate that your players gang up on the door and with some time and effort break it down. Tip 1: be a storyteller.
better than all 5 of his tips put together.
David Ducker well it's all opinion. I love being immersed...I could care less about rolls...sure each character is a special snowflake...so they think--- but the story can make them special regardless of every character possibly having access to X power or X weapon etc. When a story drives the characters...that's accomplishment...not when it's oh 'bob the orc is mean he comes at you with an axe, get your dice together'...i'd get up and leave that game. But if you approach it like, "You enter the darkness-- the abyssal mouth of the treacherous cave. Something inside you begs to turn around but you shrug it off when you see that your teamates urge you forward. You know they feel the same way, but must push forth-- suddenly you all stop...hearing a terrifying noise of metal scraping rock. The noise makes your ears pound as each scrape draws the mysterious shadows closer..." stuff like that... :)
The tip to "Ask your players for feedback, but not right away. Wait a couple days" made me picture one of those sitcom scenes when the main guy's friends are telling him how long to wait until they call last night's date back
I tend to use a game mechanic that I found in my favorite TRPG, Exalted. Whenever a player is being really expressive or really creative with an action, I give them a bonus to that action, which varies depending on how cool or expressive or creative that action is.
I heard about some GMs who recycle scooby-doo story lines to create a campaign.
I disagree with the "extra XP" idea for rewards. I think that parties in a campaign should level up together. When you allow a character to get behind on levels, it is really discouraging to the player and can seriously destabilize the party. XP is not something that should be strictly adhered to, it's just an arbitrary number to track character progress.
I was running a Mystic Theurge (not Pathfinder, so I was at a disadvantage right off the bat) in the last game I was in and happened to miss a play session. Because the rest of the party leveled up during that session, it put my character at such a disadvantage that he because essentially useless. I stopped playing with that group shortly thereafter (granted, at least 1/2 the issue was the lackluster DM), and will never play with them with Micah as the DM again.
Character balance is extremely important in D&D and once you start rewarding players with permanent advantages just because they are funny or happen to think of something "cool", you are essentially permanently _PUNISHING_ players who perhaps can't think as fast or are not as dramatic as others.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying don't reward them at all, just not with something as permanently unbalancing as XP or ability scores or something like that.
The use of music is a wonderful thing. Specially if you take clips of the music and say for instance like what I did on one of my games. Make an NPC that the music plays around them. That normally gets the party looking around or trying to do something. Another thing is don't just use music for setting the mood for a place like tavern, bar, or church. Push it off to everything you can. Make a living instrument monster if you have to. Just try to give the party something to listen to other then your voice the whole time you are gaming.
Love the intro and the tips seem really useful! Will definitely try to implement in upcoming games
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU , its my first time DMing and i was quitly crapping myself and this helped so much
D&D tips and Iron Maiden poster in back...subbed immediately.
For such a young guy you have a great grasp of the game.
Thanks! Been gaming for a long time. :)
A lot of people have jobs, families, and other obligations. For me, Sunday is my free night. I have nothing going on Sunday evenings. It just works for a lot of people. I imagine if Saturday worked, you'd game on Saturday. And yeah, DM works, but the "official" title used in the Pathfinder source books is GM. I use both titles interchangeably.
As a huge Army of Darkness fan, the title of that book alone intrigues me. I'll keep an eye out for it. My group uses a dry-erase board as well to track initiative and buffs. I usually have one of my players running it, which takes a lot of strain off of me during encounters.
Yeah, there's always those "game-breaking" things that can create huge hurdles for GMs. The trick is to work around them and find a way to create challenges that force the players the think. I'm actually doing a video on this subject in the near future.
I've been going back to the old videos and you can really see Matt grow.
his quality has gotten ten Times better. but his advice has always been great.
Thank you, I really appreciate that!
I'm not sure what you mean? People game every day, not just on Sunday. Also, I use the term GM because it's universal to most games, whereas DM is specific to D&D.
Totally agree. I always try to include tangible things in my campaigns (like if the players find a map, I'll actually give them a map, etc.).
I love Savage Worlds! That's actually where I got the idea of the fate chips. I played SW almost exclusively for a long time.
Tip for David Ducker. Don't be an elitist jerk who thinks everyone should do it Davids way an interprete this video as if it were for players, it's obviously for DMs.
All these suggestion are good for any and everyone way to be a jerk for no other reason then to be a jerk dude, good job ;D you got the I'm an snob ass achievement!!!
GMs are players too! is that the 'I'm a Snob Ass-Achievement' or 'I'm a Snob-Ass Achievement' by the way? i need to mark it properly for my resume... lol
grunt25100
Give the GM a break! GMs are always trying to create a fun adventure, if your not having fun, just have a conversation after a session and talk about this issue, *and not shaming him online*
Sounds like we have a similar philosophy to GMing. I always try to encourage my players to think outside of the box.
at the beginning you say done need to start from scratch but when I use someones adventure, 1: like to make my own cause it makes me feel like I actually did work and you feel better when you make something verses you buy/find it. 2: we only play about 3 hour games instead of the 7 or 8 hour games most people play so I couldn't really do that big of a dungeon.
tip 3; roleplay. make sure to describe what your characters look like, speak in their voice and for gm's what the scene looks, sounds and smells like. also make sure to describe your character's fighting style and/or spellcasting style. a necromancer and a transmuter should cast very different versions of 'ghoul touch' in terms of description.
Seems silly to me! Never punish players for being creative and using their spells/skills to solve problems.
tip 4; take it slow. introduce only 1 or 2 new elements per session and explore those elements thoroughly. don't overwhelm players with too much detail all at once. layer it up. and save some characterization for later. first introduce a wizard. then have him be curious about forgotten lore. then have him start to learn ancient spells. then have him stumble upon some necromancy. then have him embrace it. finally he can become a necromancer. the character will be much better for transforming slowly than overnight.
tip 1; do lots of prep. both players and gm's need to make sure they know their characters appearance, personality, history and goals before they even start building their stats. gm's of course need to make alot of character's and give each an ally, enemy and lieutenant to create a political web. and gm's are also responsible for the places and their appearances and histories.
In my current campaign, one player each session is responsible for Record-keeping - laying out what happens during the session, party members' individual achievements (or dismal failures), loot acquired or quests found or completed. As a reward, I grant a 10% experience point bonus to whoever volunteers. It helps me to remember small details I may have forgotten, but primarily I like that it tells me what the players were focused on each session. They may have battled a dragon, but maybe they were more interested with who those mysterious lackeys were, or why his lair was situated in that particular spot.
All in all, some good ideas here, and there are plenty more :)
I totally forgot about this video. The first tip you gave applied directly to my biggest problem I was having with making my campaign, which was putting so much on my plate for it that I didn't know where to start to make it all myself! Glad I ended up looking back through your videos.
We had a system called "Fame and Fortune" points. Fame points were granted at each new level. it was a D6 roll and that was how many Fame points you had. At any point in a game, you can spend a Fame point to regain either 2D10 in hit points or regain a cast spell for a mage/cleric. They were super helpful in impossible situations and led to great gameplay.
Fortune was the hand of fate. You could spend a fortune point to make an attack not damage you. YOU get a D10 in Fortune points at the beginning of the game and only the DM knows what that roll was.
These were two very powerful things in our games. they were fate changers and the players loved them. The players are Heroes after all. Their fame and the whim of fate should play a part in their destiny. For the DM, it was a ton of fun seeing players trying to hoard their points.
Hope this idea helps a DM.
I use TOS+ to improve my gaming experience... I can then focus on the game, while the number crunching is handled by this tool!! Thanks for the Tips!
Huuuge Input for my RPG Comeback after 15 years without game-mastering.Well done, subbed immediately :)
OK so your life is work.then prep for D&D whatever prep for a game means. on Saturday then Sunday play d&d then go to work sweeet.just play the video game save time and still be a complete nerd
The thing with music is realy cool and i plan to do this too, however i have technical difficulties with it.
I would like to make several palylists, 1 for town / tavern music, 1 for temples and crypts and so on.
Is there some piece of software or device that can create those playlists and then be able to play 1 ofet hose lists in randow?
otherwise the palylists always would start from the top with the same song.
One time during a campaign the players met the primary antagonist in a small town full of tieflings and decided to blow up the entire town in order to try and kill him. Little did they know he was not in the town at the time of the town's explosion AND that the town was supposed to be destroyed far down the line in the campaign. So they accidentally jump started the villain's plans and altered the campaign almost entirely. Good god that was an interesting campaign haha
I only liked this in the first 40 seconds because I like the channel name, "A Fistful of Dice." I don't even know if I'll like this video at all.
I like the speaker idea! Also, bonus XP is the BEST way to encourage involvement, etc.
Yes, specific questions are always good when it comes to feedback.
Not seen your recent videos yet, working my way backwards through them, one minor complaint about this video: The intro is way too damn long.
I don't think it is available anymore. Contact DMJ.
That Game Mastery Guide is fantastic. I don't own it but I have seen it and I really want to pick it up sometime.
I show it at some point in my Game Table video.
Thumbs up for the "meow" reaction when suddenly a cat appears xD
Excellent points. To expound a bit on getting feedback: ask them pointed questions, instead of yes/no type questions. Ask different questions to different players, and rotate these.
Very good video.
Mine too. Technically I first played a rule-less sessions of D&D but my first proper introduction to RPGs was Star Wars D6. Wouldn't you know it, it is still the centerpiece of my collection today.
this was very helpful thank you!
p.s love the intro btw
I hope someone can get back to me but how do you let the players draw maps without spoiling what's ahead for them?
Like do I not let them draw caves and castle, and let them draw out towns and such? I'd appreciate feedback, thanks
Allow them to see only the surrounding area they're in. For instance, if they're in a small village called Glenndale, but it has a castle that the local Baron lives in while the rest of the town starves, then the PC's would almost definitely know about it and they should know it. Also, if they happen to do a knowledge local check and blow the DC out of the water, it might make sense to open up the map a little.
Personally I host games on Sunday because: people work during the week, go out on Friday/Saturday and usually rarely have plans for Sunday. So Sunday is the safest option.
I used to plan sessions a lot more, but as I've gotten used to allowing the players to have more freedom, I find that it's better to go into a session with more of a vague outline. As long as you keep giving them interesting situations, good players will make the story work in a way that's best for them.
It helps to give each player a secret personal side story. It builds conflict, and by the time these stories are concluded, there's usually enough tension to make the story interesting.
So, I have just watched your video, and I know that it has been over a year since you posted it, but I would like to know where to find that PDF for Puzzle Creation is. I saw in the other comments that one other person asked this as well and has not gotten a reply, so maybe continued interest in the source will spur a posting. Can you place the PDF on Google Drive with a link here? you mentioned that you paid for it, can you provide the link to the website where we can buy ourselves a copy?
i do something like your "fate chips" but i call them "power chips" and they are worth an untyped +1 anytime bonus to any one action, and yes i do let them stack their bonuses so if someone keeps their mind in the game and saves up their chips they can do one truly epic action in their lives.
I once had a Wizard drop a +5 to sleep against a Solo Briar Troll 4 levels higher than him after the fighter, ranger and cleric were already down.
He still brags to this day about slaying that troll...
My reply to the first tip: Dammit! I shoulda watched this vid sooner. Already fell into that one lol. After writing up quite a bit of story, then having the players go about it in a way that I had to brainstorm on the fly, as per tip 5, I quickly realized that I'm not making a book. While I have a story and end goals, I try to offer varied ways for my players to go about it, while leaving enough room for them to be inventive. Anyways, great video man.
So I find that my dm fucked up big time on our last session. We were level7 and I challenged a warlords best "fighter" so that we could pass safetly through their territory. This "fighter" was a CR 18 dragon that there is no way I should have been able to solo as a fighter. I somehow critted 6 times in a row with vital strike and killed it. With the XP we instantly jumped from 7-9. Should he Mulligan or keep us at 9 despite the huge jump?
Nice video, and great tips.
Im kind use all the that u sayd always that our group is playing and im the GM
Another great tip that i always have to remenber the other GMs is that, u r not a lawyer of the rules but a judge. =p
My biggest challange is that our group have 7 players and a GM, im still trying figure out how to maintain focus on the game, and the batles that is normaly for 4-5 players
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well nice video and sorry for my crap english
Most people play on sundays because it is a free day, people aren't going out at night to get drunk or over exert themselves because the day after is work, also sunday is popular over saturday because it allows people to relax and calm down for a bit after work and have a day free.
For people who have hectic lives and fulltime jobs this is usually what ends up being the best option. I run tuesdays and sundays because of time.
My DMing weakness is, I tend to spiral. Things will go good until I get stuck on something (such as not knowing quickly how to resolve something a player does) and from there I start thinking that the players probably didn't enjoy themselves, and the final arc of the spiral tends to be game death. An example of this, is that one player played a character with a 30 PRE (in HERO) in Champions, which tended to frighten even the most hardened villain into running, this made adventures hard.
some good advice mate
one of te best GM guid book i have come across in my 30 years of reffing was for Cyberpunk 2020 called "listen up you primitive screw heads" although aimed at the cyberpunk game, it has lost of real good advice for reffing game in general. one thing my game groups do i use a drywipe board to keep track of monsters in encounters having a player run the "battle board" alows me as the DM to focus on the game more. i am looking forward to your future posts
In some games I've seen GM's flat out add some points to the rolls when a palyer tried to do something really cool. "Oh, you rolled a 12 but needed a 14 to (let's say) slap the King of Tamriel in the face? fuck it, you hit him anyway!" I imagine that's a good way to keep the flow going and keep everyone having fun.
well im from Bolivia, and i just started to play pathfinder, all this advices help me so much to start, really great video men, it`s fucking useful.
I have a 6th way to improve youDMing. Watch a lot of aFistfullof Dice's videos! He's got a lot of great stuff. When I feel like Dming I watch your (and others too) to help get inspired or for reminders of the tips. thanks for your uploaded vids. :D gwen
my players have just done this to my game. I planned for them to get on a ship and sail away to my next game plan, instead they decide to follow up on some npcs they encountered which took our game into a whole other direction but we are all having lots of fun .
GM is used because it is universal and DM is licensed as a phrase to dungeons and dragons and is illegal for other companies to use.
Also GM makes more sense than DM anyway, and there are so many games that aren't set in dungeons or caves once you get past basic DMing.
Piazo have to use GM due to DM never being in the OGL, so it's still technically an IP of WotC. When I'm in Pathfinder, I rock DM. Just has fun connotations of an evil wizard, peeking over his dusty, evil tomes, planning and schem- I mean err, I'm a good DM...
It's on its way to a theater near you.
Hey I just had to say thanks for the video, I really like the ideas you have here and think it will improve my games a lot, so just wanted to say thank you. I am new to DMing and running my first group so this is really helpful.
any advice about how to get yourself out of a player created conundrum