Guiding The Players (Players stay out!) | Running The Game
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Sometimes players need a little guidance to prevent a TPK.
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“This video is for *DMs Only.* If you are a player do not watch this video”
Me, a DM and a Player: *Confused Screaming*
oh dont worry.. just pay half attention...
@@Malkuth-Gaming Thanks, I was worried about what to do.
A DM and player? No. You're a DM that gets to play sometimes.
@@Gofex1337 *Cries in DM*
@@Gofex1337 If I'm in two games, both of which are reliably weekly, and I'm running one and playing in the other, then I think I'm a DM and a player
(puffs cigar)
Ah, the teacher's lounge is nice.
Yeah man... An' we get these big ol' stogies filled with weed, man...
- takes another loooong puff then passes it to his left -
Use both hands, man... Don't wanna drop this thing, man...
@@billstephens396 course not man
this just became my favourite youtube comment of all time
Let's turd some lockers!!
@@Lampman700 i second this
Clicking this felt like accepting my lot as the forever DM
It is the way.
@@benjaminstout941 lol
This is the way.
This is the way
😔
Lol same like can i watch this if i want to be a player eventually xD
Matt: Players, don’t watch this video!
Me, in a D&D group where three of us alternate between DMing and playing: *nervous sweating*.
I am seen by this comment.
Seriously...4 of my players are also dms lol
My group is 5... and 4 of us DM, well 3 and me flailing about behind the Screen
@@user-cl9zf9wj9i me.
"Players can counted on to come up with solutions."
My players have either:
-picked the most obvious solution that I had not considered
-picked the most harebrained plan I have ever seen
I suppose I should finished video...
Crazy idea, stupid idea, so crazy it might work and completely ruin the plot you have. I think those are the player options. To hell with anything logical.
@@silasrobertshaw8122 Reminds of a crazy stupid idea my group had to infiltrate a fortress on the inside of a volcano, and to cut a long story short, the plan backfired so hard that they aggroed the entire 3 floor dungeon, resulting in one of the longest, most complex, funnest clusterfuck of a combat encounter I have had the (unlucky)pleasure to participate in.
@@qaztim11 Ah, you have encountered the patented Colville Screw I see, deeply unfortunate. I hope you have paid your patent license.
Isn't that part of the fun though? :D
"Bahave yourselves in my absence."
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, MATT. YOU'RE NOT MY DAD."
But he could be your daddy
Oh, man, do I have some news for you...
"I aim to misbehave."
"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good" never felt more appropriate.
YOU'RE NOT MY SUPERVISOR!
Certainly a technique that requires you to know your players. There’s some people where I imagine if the GM challenges their idea, the player will throw it out thinking “Oh, that must not be want he wants us to do.”
Definitely a case of know your players and choosing your words carefully
When reverse psychology fails, it’s time to employ reverse-reverse psychology!
I've definitely had moments where I challenged a player's good idea in this way hoping to get them to hone it and instead made them abandon it entirely because they thought I was criticizing it. Also the opposite has happened where they were so confident in a mediocre idea with limited benefit (despite my lack of attention paid to it) that they really pushed it and then were disappointed it didn't immediately solve all of their problems.
Now I try to stay out of PC scheming entirely unless their ideas hinge on something catastrophically stupid that will immediately kill everyone.
I think if you make it more general the concept works better. Don't always or just challenge the idea. But do ask some questions and draw attention to that idea. If the players start discussing idea B they may forget about idea A all together!
Or maybe they discuss both in more detail and the DM sees a change in the success chance of the idea that wasn't great if they happen to go that route.
Yeah, if your players are metagamey and are trying to guess “what the dm wants” that could be a problem.
To be honest, I feel like my players would react the exact opposite. If I asked if they had 'considered what could go wrong?', I think they would immediately abandon the idea. That would be because of the culture from school where the teacher would ask 'are you sure?' when he wanted you to reconsider.
I thought about that too because as a player that’s how I’d react without thinking.
That’s why it’s good to know your players. Now you can tailor the idea to guide your players in the way that would work for their personalities. That’s my plan as well ☺️
I think it comes down to exact phrasing. "Are you sure about that?" is a commonly used GM euphemism for "that is a bad idea," and players are trained to be sensitive to those words. If you instead use more neutral phrasing like "have you considered [this facet] of your plan?" then it sounds more like a prompt from the GM to explain your plan in more detail, and shouldn't trigger an alarm.
@@tuomasronnberg5244 Definitely. It's the difference between a CHALLENGE and a prompt. When you offer a concrete potential negative it becomes a complication to overcome in the course of making the solution work. If you just do ARE U SURE or variations, it's sounds like a vague threat.
I also will just ask them to clarify their plan to me, and then ask questions within that to help guide.
I've used the 'are you *sure* you want to do this?' deliberately several times GMing, almost always they fell for it.
Or the player doing the action fell for it, often the other players would try to convince the one to stop. Heh, I've never had one stop due to other players in the group seeing thru me. Yet...
Sorta like a 'throw down the gauntlet' challenge, i think.
"ONE TAKE!" He exclaimed with joy, directly after pointing the wrong direction during the end card :D
Matt: one take!
Me: Huh, like Tom Scott
Matt: In your face, Tom Scott!
Me: 😮
Yeah but TC can do it while walking lol
I did a full double take because at first I thought he was calling out someone on the team and then my 3 brain cells caught up XD
Tom Scott did it walking, uphill, on grass, without going too fast so the cameraman walking backwards fell over ...
I literally laughed out loud.
Don't forget Lindybeige he makes is video's in one shot too and they are often even longer than Tom Scott's
Matt Colville: "This will be a particularly radioactive video."
Me: *"A small price to pay for salvation."*
Comrade DMlov: 3.6 Roentgen, not great not terrible
Comrade Colville: it's not 3.6, it's 15,000
@Comrade Scully’s Tie
3.6 Roentgen its the equivalent of a chest x-ray, so if you are overdue for a TPK . . .
@@scullystie4389 Explaining the fact the BBEG has an aura of death to a new player
"Please behave yourselves in my absence!"
Me planning on playing an Illrigger
"I aim to misbehave."
Hells Yeah
"Players Stay Out"
It would seem that feeding your videos to my players like a long term coke addiction will be coming back to bite me in the butt here
Daaaaamn, that was one hell of an analogy 😅
That's a fucking great description, oh my god
Wait....I know you...You're the guy named Caleb who isn't a huge fan of wizards! Fancy meeting you here
@@jonathanlautre489 I deny everything!
Lemme guess it was on Dungeon Dudes wasn't it
Matt: "Behave yourselves while I'm gone"
Also Matt: "Raise Hell !"
I swear Running The Game is the best series for GMs, period. I get so excited for every video and it always gets my creativity running at full pace.
I think the Alexandrian gives it a run for its money and that's only good for us.
@@Gibbons3457 absolutely, always great to get more quality DM material/ideas. Thanks for the suggestion
Seriously. Even when I'm unlikely to use the content of the video, his excitement for DMing fills me with an urge to create something myself; a cool NPC, a cool adventure kernel, a magic item.
If I do this, I'm afraid that my players take it as "oh he's warning us, this isn't a good idea." I'm afraid it'll backfire.
Matt: "No player intentionally comes up with a dumb idea... just to come up with a dumb idea."
Matt, I'm sorry, you have not played with the same people I have. We had a player notorious for doing *exactly that* in every game.
Every group has one of them
@@thelorewriter9460 Can attest
Is this the mad scientist player type? We have a player like that, too.
I’ve got a guy who tries to come up with the dumbest plans ever. It’s like he’s challenging me to kill him. I don’t because they’re entertaining dumb plans.
Aka 'players who think that playing chaotic neutral means doing the most random and/or dumb thing at any given moment'.
While Matt has stopped counting down the Running The Game series (and for a valid reason), we are 3 videos away from a 100 great DM tips!!!
Let the countdown begin 🥳
can you explain why he stopped the count? before this I would always get the next running the game video recommended in order, but with these latest ones I don’t, so I only saw a drawback of it so far
@@markvandenthillart5739 Running the game is a series for new dungeon masters. Now how would you feel if you were an aspiring DM who searched for "how to run dnd", got recommended this series as one of the best and see that there are almost a hundred episodes, many of them almost an hour long? You would be discouraged as shit, anyone would be! Therefore, no number in the title.
@@ni1ix I see, that does make sense. thanks for explaining!
@@markvandenthillart5739 Coming in late to his library, I don't know where to look anymore. Thre's as much not-D&D stuff in his video list as there are DM tips and idk how to sort through it well enough.
My only takeaway is that Matt does indeed look like a badass bugbear
Yeah, but I am worried for his health with the evident weight gain.
Not that I am in a great position to be throwing stones, lest I break my glass house...
Yeah, he sure has reach : ) What does he reach like 377K subscribers?
@@MonkeyJedi99 I haven't noticed. He certainly doesn't look unhealthy in my opinion. He's been a great role model for me for years now and he just looks like normal Matt to me. Who knows tho, could be a quarantine 15 or something. I wouldn't ever comment on it though, the community here isn't about that kind of negativity.
@@buckhunt6832 I only noticed because a thumbnail for a year-old video was sitting next to this one.
A lot of difference.
guess if you want your kid to be a creative DM name him matt
Well then, since you eventually read all the comments.
Thank you for making a very wonderful series. This is helpful even to us veteran DMs, who appreciate advice to make our games even better.
that panther growl was literally terrifying.
What was its significance? I am confused.
@@solaries3 it's from Anchorman, the original quote is about Sex Panther cologne and the character says that 60% of the time, it works every time.
@@40Found Anchorman is peak Will Ferrell for me.
I hate it
i actually jumped when it happened!
Matt, I watch your channel only occasionally, but this vid title caught my eye. And wow, I have to say: I've been a DM since 1978, and this is the first insight about player guidance I've heard in many, many years that made me sit up and smack my forehead and go, "*that's* what I should have done in that game!" Thank you so much for the concise tip and great insight about subtle psychology at the table. I'll be making a point of watching your channel regularly from here on out. :)
This video further comfirms my hypothesis that most of Matt's DM lessons are just psychological tricks and social advice. That actually makes a lot of sense considering what DnD is.
Yep is all about them relationships
The art of gamemastering is people skills.
I think this would definitely work with most players but just make sure to read the room and know your table. I know one of my players has high anxiety and I can see them taking any questioning from me as a sign that their plan is awful and I'm trying to warn them.
That was my first thought, too. So this can be turned into a more encouraging form of "Oh, I like that...oops!" ;) or an eyebrow raise with "You might want to think about..."
"Hey this bugbear lookin' fella has a point! Several in fact!"
"Neat!"
"Does this sound crazy to you?"
Oh no Matt is using the tactic on us!
I usually describe Colville as "that DM youtuber with amazing mane", but "bugbear looking dude" will do too.
In the middle of re-watching all the Chain videos and campaign diaries. This was the first time I caught what Matt was doing when he grabbed Lars' charactersheet! Matt succeeded on both his Slight of Hand roll and his Persuasion roll!
Ah, the mythical one-take video. Makes Jerry happy, and when he's happy, we all benefit.
Not happy enough to put the Illrigger image where Matt points though!
This is the kind of sociology stuff I will NEVER notice as a player but the moment I am behind the screen it's a lifesaving tool.
Thank you, sir, as always, for being a river to your people.
"In your face Tom Scott!" 🤣
I was not aware there was beef!?
@@TheRealProfwalrus I don't know of any beef either. I just thought it was funny.
Good ol' onetake :D
Tom ... One Take.... Scott ....
"Please behave yourselves, in my absence."
No
I know that those campaign diaries didn't get a ton of views, but i really loved them. They were some of the first things i watched, right when i started running d&d, and they helped a ton. And made me spand a lot of money on the Night Below box set
Yes, the Campaign Diaries are my favorite. I have started recording my own since Matt said he will stop. But boy, I'll miss them. His story telling is amazing!!! Wish I were 1% of what he is.
@@Tabletop_Nonsenseverse I dug them too, but I do think these vids are more efficient, especially considering him tracking his views.
PREACH
Matt, i'm a fairly new DM, only been at it for about a year. I've binged your entire youtube channel and i am LOVING your "running the game" series. it's freed me in many ways and in some ways it's freed my players. Thank you.
I want to be a better DM...
But my DM watches these...
_But I want to be a better DM..._
You can do both. You just have to silence the part of you that will try to navigate around your bucket of DM's tactics while you're playing. It's tough! But it is possible.
Immediate loud chuckling when you revealed the lede. You can always rely on player opposition defiance to make them dig in their heels and drive in their banners.
"See you in May" In 2 days, got it.
This is exactly what I do with my players! Works almost every time.
As soon as the group of hot headed adventures are told, "you know you might fail?" they think, "There is no way we can fail!!! We're gods!" (Hard cut to turning into a goldfish, jumpin off a cliff)
Oh boy, when Matt yelled one take, I immediately thought of Tom Scott, and was then very surprised when Matt did as well
Came here to say exactly this! Well played Matt, well played.
What was he referring to?
@@iainsims4557 another youtuber named Tom Scott who does science, geography, trivia, and mechanics of languages who is (in)famous for doing videos in one take and needing to speaking louder as interruptions and noises appear in the background because he does a lot of videos on-site.
Damn. With my first (non one-shot) session 1 coming up this weekend, Matt's disclaimer felt like the most formal appointment to the role of DM I could ask for. 🥺
I completely HAVE done this! It was predicated on my having painted my first large mini for a big fight - a giant, one of the GW ones, from just prior to them deciding to reduce the utility of their products to people who don’t just play their games - and I was so happy with him that I felt a little sad that he was just going to be in this one set piece battle and maybe not get used again for a few years.
One of my players wanted to try and talk to him, calm him down. I actually experienced a sort of transcendental arrhythmia at that point. I had already told them that he stunk of booze, and I WANTED this giant to live.
So I - for no reason other than instinct - almost scoffed at the idea. “Well, you can try, but he’s bellowing and hungover and cranky; he very may well not even hear you, let alone agree to stand down”.
She rolled.
Natty 20.
And that’s how Gugvunt joined the band. Well, not for actual adventuring purposes - he had a cart load of stolen wine to sleep off. But he became their ally, and they were able to summon him to another fight they had with some evil druids. Which meant my mini got another run out in the sunshine!
So yeah - I can vouch for this. The player in question was pleased as punch, the party marvelled at her lateral thinking, and I didn’t have to lift a finger. I wouldn’t necessarily have been upset if it hadn’t come up, or if it came up and didn’t work - but as an anecdotal showcase of the kind of thing you can do to - I don’t want to say ‘manipulate’, because that implies the negation of choice which isn’t what I did... maybe “mechanically encourage”? Whatever, you get it - your players into a whole different kind of fun than was expected when they sat down.
Bravo, sir. Bravo!
Late to the party, but wanted to add something I often use. Another way to get players thinking about the plan you want them to choose is to remind them of a resource that might be helpful for that plan. Similarly to questioning their decisions, this gets the wheels spinning on how to integrate the device/information/npc into their plan and now that's the plan
"In your face Tom Scott!" really took me for a ride considering I've only just started watching his videos.
The Algorithm is starting to predict the future. I only saw one of his videos recommended on Monday. To have a reference today that I wouldn't have known otherwise? And he'd never been recommended before? Creepy.
LOL... been using this for years. I cannot tell you the feeling of getting the players thinking they'd "outsmarted" me. It's one of the main reasons I'm still DM'ing after 20 years.
Since you are reading all the comments, have a great break and love ya!
That calling out of Tom Scott at the end genuinely made me smile. Thank you Matt, it's been a long day for me
Ah yes this is my go to move. My other one is just to repeat their horrible plan back to them so they're like....oh shit wait that's a stupid plan.
Yes I often do that too. I do a very monotonous voice to remove my emotions and just spell out their plan back to them.
Rephrasing can help point out the flaws.
For you DM/Player multiclassers out there: Being a DM is like being a magician, and being a player is like being the audience. Being a DM who gets to play is sometimes like being a Magicians assistant, meaning you get to know how the trick is done. If you are a player who sometimes DMs, then it's like knowing one or two of the most basic magic tricks, and you aren't supposed to know the advanced stuff.
If you don't know which one you are? choose! what do you want to be? and then act accordingly, but remember: once you learn the trick, even if you never learn how to do it, the magic is ruined. That doesn't mean it can't be fun to see someone pull it of, but just be aware that reading the monster manual and the dmg, learning the DM's secrets, and watching videos like will take away your ability to fully become enchanted by the game when these things are used, but hey, it's fun to be the magicians assistant sometimes, and if you get tired you can allways play a different game, as while some things like the contens of this video applies across games, the monsters in call of cthulhu will be as new to you as the first time you encountered a flail snail.
Thank you for being a river, Matt
UUHHHH that refence to both movie and video. Nice
Proceeds to turn off Player side of brain so only DM side will know this info.
God damn this is genius. This helped me realize that my usual strategy of reminding players of a piece of information that their characters would definitely know only ever made them slightly change their plans to accommodate that piece of information as opposed to realizing they were about to do something really silly.
It's always good to make the players feel like they've outsmarted the DM without going off of the intended storybeats. It keeps them engaged and makes their clever moments really hit home, and from my experience, makes them more comfortable getting into character. The preparation or idea they had, paid off, and makes them feel less like they're sitting around a table saying what a disembodied idea of a person is doing, and more like that character is an extension of themself in that world.
Can't wait for my players to send me this in despair.
illrigger came out and i immediately bought it, tore it apart and repurposed it into my own custom class with specializations. was such a great source for what i wanted to make
"Hit it with a stick", or "Old faithful" as it should be called, appears to be my players go to solution.
I like it! I did something like this during a campaign finale. I review my players character sheets every few sessions, and I knew he picked revivify for his second magical secrets pick. When the dragon counterspelled the paladin's revivify spell, it felt like epic doom-until the bard revealed their pick to the party! He got to be the hero and own the moment, not me, which is the way it should be IMO.
I try not to draw attention to "bad" ideas because I think it also validates them in a way. Then if they *do* end up setting their hearts on it, there's a breach of trust when it goes catastrophically bad!
"By this bugbear looking dude"
HE KNOWS! ABORT MISSION! I REPEAT, ABORT MISSION! THE BUG FOUND THE BEAR!
"In your face, Tom Scott!"
Literally every time you mention another RUclipsr it's someone I've been following for ages.
Matt: "I read all the comments"
Me: Hi Matt!
Mister Coleville, please don’t stop making the campaign diaries. Watching your campaign diaries is what hooked me back into D&D after 20+ years. I’ve gotten so many creative ideas from watching your videos, and probably would not be DMing today had it not been for them. Enjoy your vacation, and keep rockin’
Already know this is going to be great. The Ill-Rigger is amazing, by the way. :)
Today's episode is sponsored by Sex Panther by Odeon.
60% of the time, it works every time.
That panther seriously jumpscared me 😅
I think I've been inadvertently doing this for a long time. I sometimes say to the players "When I ask questions, it's not a rhetorical thing to make you think your plan sucks, it's because I genuinely want to know if you've considered a certain angle." And, I love that feeling when I say "Have you thought about?" and my players bite back with the "Oh yeah, but we could do it this way!"
Great video, Matt. Real simple, real effective. I disagree somewhat on shooting down 'bad' plans because some people I've played with sometimes do come up with intentionally bad ideas because they crave chaos, but I generally just need to ask them to take the game seriously, not question how effective their idea is, when that happens.
AH YES. Just what I needed. I'm running a game later today
Huh I feel like I've heard all this before. Oh look, Matt just talked about how he's brought this up in his Campaign Diaries! Which I watch and re-watch just as regularly as RtG.
Would love to see an episode about returning to a campaign after an extended break. e.g The chain
I'm returning to a campaign after a long break and it feels overwhelming because the players may not even remember half the things that happened.
Next week my players are about to enter a centuries abandoned mine full of traps and puzzles made by an assassin of legend, who is also one of the player’s deceased mentors. This is going to help massively.
All my players run their own games. BUT, I think only two of them watch your content, so I'm definitely completely safe
I am sad that the Campaign Diary videos don't get more views and thus aren't more of a priority. Those videos are great and they have so much general DM advice as well, plus you get to hear an interesting story from the DM's point of view. They're excellent.
You kinda need to know the campaign too and i think others share my problem of not having that much time. If you watch them without watching the campaign you get spoilers.
Enjoy your vacation!
I think I've actually done this before, but I didn't realize it until you pointed it out. I tasked my party with staging a heist in a casino with incredibly tight security (monks and anti-magic fields) and run by a rakshasa. The party sat around planning and it was only when they pointed out a potential gap in the security I'd missed that I pressed them on it, and eventually they laser-focused in on that gap and successfully broke into the casino.
Their plan included starting a casino-wide conga line which sounds stupid, and it was, but it's still talked about to this day nearly 2 years later so I consider it a great success.
I'm a DM and my DM watches these videos too lmao it just means I'm gonna listen when he interacts like this
Oops same here
Doing a bit of Neurolinguistic Programming Training makes interacting with middle management fun, when they try to use NLP on you :D
As a therapist, i appreciate the heck out of this! Its actually a tool we use in therapy to great success. Challenging a person on their plans helps a person to better plan for their plans, thus, cementing the good plan. It's sneaky psychology and as you say 60% of the time, it works every-time~
But all things like this are best done by prescription, so be sure to evaluate your players and don't continue to do it if they've figured you out or if it doesn't seem to be working.
As you read all the comments, what are your thoughts about when / if a DM should simply level with their players? What i mean is potentially breaking immersion, but especially with newer DMs sitting down and laying the cards out in front of them and saying something to the effect of: "Hey guys, your idea is really cool, we could stop here to give me time to prep, because im not prepared for that, or you can rock through the dungeon i have prepared here."
In a couple times i tried it earlier in my DM career, my group especially very much appreciated some of the clarity rather than having to jump through hoops. I think its a tool that gets a little underused these days because DMs get so fixated on being wiley, creative and clever. But I think the best option sometimes is to just drop the veneer of the DM and just out with your intent in a scene so your players can dedicate fully into it. As Gandalf said "This foe is beyond any of you... run!"
This seems like a combination of reverse psychology and directing the focus of the players, so they think more about the better solution. Interesting
A.k.a. simple manipulation
I ran a game which I called "return of the goblin king" it is multiple ideas from your ideas the players had to start as Dwarves. Classes were players choice. The campaign started with a massive goblin invasion, we are talking Thousands so the players knew that after a bit of fighting it was hopeless. It ended up being a campaign about finding allies to eventually take back the dwarven city! Must say, the best campaign I made so far. Players where super excited about the whole experience! I even stole the goblin boss you made and made it a bit stronger. Great fun! Thanks for all the tips and help!
But I'm both a DM *and* a player ;_; ERROR DLL
not anymore
not anymore...
Just half listen, and you'll be okay.
The tactic that I usually employ is to ask a player randomly “Make a history check” or “make an arcana check” and then give them a clue. It’s important that I don’t tell them “if you make an check you’ll get a clue” or it won’t work.
After I tell them this clue, the players (in my experience) NEVER think that I gave them a clue. They think that THEIR CHARACTER figured something out. And when they tell stories about this encounter they always say: “and then I figured out the inscription on the door”. Works like a charm every time.
You’re a prophet. I’m about to play curse of strahd and I needed this right now
This is a technique I've been using instinctually from time to time for a while now, and it's nice to hear it spoken out loud. Sometimes it's a friendly NPC who who voices these considerations, to keep the narrative flowing smoothly.
Matt's on vacation, the viewers rule the comments now!
Watched this video some time ago, gone away and tried it in my group some 4-5 times over several months of my near 2-year campaign. It WORKS. The moment I say "Wellll, that would require X checks and Y time. and might be risky..." all the players bizarrely latch on to it and this now becomes the plan. My players are sadists and/or Matt Colville is a genius.
ok I want to upvote a second time because of the "one take..." bit at the end. :)
This is literally why I have 2 accounts.
MeToo
I think it is important to point out that Matt is teaching the players to think things through and consider the outcomes. This is much different than just guiding players away from bad ideas or fudging dice in their favor. I can tell you from experience, if you only guide them away from bad ideas and they don't learn anything, they will continue to arrive at the same bad ideas. Also, at some point, you need to let off of the reins and let them learn from the consequences. I can certainly appreciate my DMs doing so and letting me grow to become a better player.
the bugbear looking dude upload once again!
I full on snorted at that bit 😏
As a DM, I am enlightened and excited; as a player as well, I would just like to say that understanding this sleight-of-hand just gives me even more respect for all the crafty DMs out there. It's like a magic trick - the act is fantastic, and knowing the method behind the act just makes me all the more happy to be here.
I feel like I need to share this video with my other dm friends but then I remember that I'm also a player in their games 0_o
When hearing Matt talk about the various questions he would ask or how he would phrase them brings to mind something my dad used to do as part of arguments (debate, not conflict) with me. “Never ask a question to which you don’t already know the answer.” If you ask players a question about what they want or what they’re doing when you already know what will happen, it can give them a chance to really think, “Will this work?”, or reaffirm what they already think, and they come up with the plan after you plant it without really knowing you planted it.
I am unlikely to behave in your absence. BUT I'll name whatever I do after you.
That feeling when you wake up and there is a new Running the Game video.
*chefs kiss*
I would be afraid that my player take this as me going: *wink wink* " this is a bad idea"
I watched this entire video thinking something was off but couldn't put my finger on it. Then Matt said "One take", and I realized what it was. No hair transitions. I'm not poking fun. In the transition from cut to cut it is often obvious that life has happened in-between. I look for those as a flag that says, " give extra attention to what he is about to say". That little pause reassures me. He believed it was important enough to put in the extra thought to get it right. Or, I could just be reading way to much into what is him simply running his fingers through his hair in frustration. Congratulations on the single take. and thanks again for being a river to your people.
I am a teacher and I might use this to move my students in the right direction. "Have you considered that if you do your homework, will you have time to go to the dance?"
Lots of his stuff sounds like teacher stuff to me... or manager stuff or parenting
2 years ago I was just a regular player...
I never even made it past 5th level...
And all I played was Humans...
Then I went to MCDM University!
Since then I've run a solid year and a half long campaign, which is now the longest campaign I've ever participated in! My party comes back week after week for all of my shenanigans - and to deliver some of their own!
Now I'm even thinking of starting a second campaign with a different group in a Sci-Fi setting!
Thanks MCDM University, you're the best!
Would love a Running the Game about the planes of existence
I think this is great advice, I had noticed during the Chain games that there are times when you will shrug to a question when the players are asking you things that they just wouldn't know and then ask them questions otherwise and I think that is great. Love the Video, love the Advice and this is easily the best channel for DM's on youtube.
im a player in one game and a DM in another I don't know what to do 😅
I actually have done something like this on accident in my Star Trek game. The players were arguing over how they could get another ship to drift into a wormhole for reasons I won't get into, and they had this whole plan with an away mission and it was really cool, and they had this other plan which I knew for a fact would just blow the ship up and that wouldn't be good for anyone, so all I said was "remember, you can't use the transporters while their shields are up." And bam, they were set on solving the problem, almost out of spite for me challenging their cool plan. It felt super
I just wanted to use this opportunity of you reading every comment, to wish you a very cool vacation ^.^
Seconded!
Well, I'll send the wish right back to you :)
This makes a lot of sense. I've seen this tendency in players a lot but never had it identified so concretely before. That sort of elated "gotcha!" feeling is one I love seeing my players experience. An example from my campaign was when a gith npc tried to disarm and steal a magical sword from a player with the weapon bond feature. The npc's plan failed, and my player got excited about a feature that isn't often a factor. Outsmarting an opponent is an amazing feeling, even if that opponent is the world state as determined by the DM.
Thanks!
But... What if... What if I play AND DM? The terrible choice looms before me!
I'm in the same boat. I watched because strangely, I think learning to be a better DM helps me be a better player.
"players can be counted on to come up with solutions" even more astonishingly, they come up with solutions not even in the face of problems
anyway this is insane, and i cannot wait to try this.