Encouraging new players to not learn how their characters work is not how D&D is designed. One of my biggest gripes about players is that they don't know HOW to play their characters or even the rules surrounding their abilities, spells, or feats. This puts unnecessary stress on the DM to know everything about every character to ensure there is some semblance of balance. If you want to play a narrative only TTRPG, 5e is not that, stats are king in 5e.
Best thing is ask for what they do like "I move over and unlock the door stealthily" then add flavor so they know what you mean such as "you walk towards the door ducking and dodge the light (as you slip with easy, if they had a high success) or ( as you stumble you way around the dark but some manage not to knock over xyz in the process) you get to the door and open and see blah blah blah" and so on so they know more of how to speak but some like to hear that narrated still
Great comment but I'd say it should be a reminder for veteran players who say they are "insert player ability" rather than saying I fade into the mist with parting a sea of flying leaves.
@@techbeef While players not knowing their character is annoying and they should learn what they can do, creative play is the key difference between a TTRPG and a videogame. Depending on the DM, I can use my ice breath weapon as a dragonborn to freeze a small river or lake, which you can't in a videogame unless it's programmed to do that and therefore part of the rules. I can describe, how my character tries to convince an NPC and the DM might give me advantage on the check or says it just works, because the arguments were good, even if my characters charisma is bad. This impossible to do without an, for now impossible, AI or a human. Stats during roleplay or exploration are king if you decide to say "I would like to convince the NPC to do something, may I roll persuasion", instead of actually giving convincing arguements. Stats are needed, when the outcome is uncertain, if you describe your action well enough and it fits your character, the DM might decide that no roll is needed. A player should still learn their character and the rules, so they can know, if there is even a chance to do something or if the rules prohibit it. However that can be said after telling them, that they actually CAN be creative.
For new players, I try to encourage them to try as much as possible. Once they fail a few times, then they'll want to know how to tell what they're good at.
In my campaign there is a Goddess who is the bbeg whose name I didn't write down, and the players didn't, but since she is the Goddess of New Beginnings we just went with her having a new name every time she's introduced
About making failures into comedic elements: In one of our first sessions, my wizard rolled a 1 on Ray of Frost, so what I described happening was that instead of firing a beam, she actually conjured a ray, as in a manta ray or a stingray, made of ice, that fell directly to the ground and shattered.
See that's why I always prefer waiting until after my rolls to describe what happens. I don't want to describe the way my spell hits just to fail and have to break continuity, even that tiny bit.
In our group's second session ever, we were following a lead in a tavern that the DM was describing as not a very nice looking place, so someone - could have been me - wondered, what had a nobleman (the guy we were looking for) been doing in a run-down bar like that. Well, one guy decided to ask that directly from the tavern owner, and the DM smirked and asked for a charisma saving throw. This legend rolled a nat 1 (also with a -1 charisma modifier, not that it mattered), and the whole tavern went silent and started angrily looking at/approaching us. We prudently backed out of the establishment and had to think of another way to find the next lead. The whole situation was just hilarious to us and we've been joking about that situation ever since.
Telling the DM your intentions instead of peppering them with questions is absolute GOLD. It doesn't just speed things up, it's also that the DM often can't possibly know the answer to all the small details ahead of time, but have enough of a grasp on the overall situation to decide whether your plan is doable without having to fill in al the details.
To add onto this… LET ME FINISH DESCRIBING A ROOM. Holy cow, the amount of times players enter the boss room and immediately shout the 5 things they “do” to the boss expecting a surprise round is insane. They tried to get a surprise round when the boss opened the door for them and let them in, speaking to them the whole time. But back to room descriptions. Almost never are we fighting in a blank room. There are objects or different terrain or lava or something y’all gotta deal with. Let me talk. I have only 3 sentences written. Let me read them
I feel this, the amount of times Im describing a emvoirment or key piece of Lore and they act and roll before I am finished.Then get upset with me because I clarify that it doesn't work because of the key information I hadn't gotten to yet because they acted while I was still talking with them to fire back "well you didn't say that."
this happens a lot if the difficulty is high. Players will feel the need to quickly grab every advantage they can get so they have a decent chance of winning.
I find that another game, Dungeon World, summarizes the DM role the best: Be a fan of the characters, Fill their life with adventures and everything is in danger
Played dungeon world only twice, I feel it's really good for learning RPG since it feels less structured. I personally prefer DnD but with dungeon world there's no barrier to entry. It's probably easy to have a good experience with that kind of game --- When I played, an 8 year old showed up with his mom at the cafe and we just got him in the game (the rest of us were around 25-35 years old, his mom just watched) and it was absolutely memorable. || With DND I find people who don't know how the game works unfortunately stop roleplaying when combat or a skill challenge starts, and it just becomes a sequence of dice rolls rather than an RPG session. When people know the system this tends to stop happening.
I feel sooo lucky. Myself and my campaign members are all pretty new to DnD. Our DM I swear is an angel. He is beyond patient, informative, imaginative, and helpful. I'm so grateful for his attentiveness and creativity. Each of our sessions thus far have been absolutely riveting and magical, and none of us can get enough! It's been one of the greatest experiences of my entire life. Greg, if you see this, we love you & appreciate you endlessly! Your storytelling is unmatched and we all have such a wonderful time together. Thank you for being such a great sport & guiding us. Seriously, you're the bestest ever. 💓
You should tell Greg this instead of hoping he'll see this message on a UA-cam video! it's always good to let DMs know how much you appreciate their efforts, they put so much effort that often gets overlooked by players.
@@Sunny_Haven depends on the DM. Or maybe I'm just downplaying myself. Yes I do more work than my players (it's literally impossible to run a game without that) but I don't feel it would be fair for players to praise me for its amount. I'm the kinda DM who wings most of the story and I feel it sometimes shows in me clumsily directing them to the next path I expect them to take.
@@chukyuniqul I think you’re just downplaying yourself, even if you’re just winging it a lot of the time, it takes a lot of skill and effort to do that, I feel. It wouldn’t hurt for your players to show their appreciation for you every once in a while even if you think you could do better, because you’re helping them have fun!
@@Sunny_Haven hey, thanks for that. It's kind of a symptom of that artistic drive to swivel between "I am literal God's gift to my medium" and "I am literal scum that should apologize to people stepping in it". I try to keep myself in check to avoid growing too complacent. Today I had them find corpses in a stump!
The tail end of your comments on Character Potential (cheering on other players, supporting other characters, giving up your action so another player can do something, etc.) is soooooo important!! It literally changes the game in ways that a DM cannot because when players do those things they breathe *life* into the game. The players elevate the experience and make the game so much more than just dice rolls and number crunching.
I wish my players knew how to show up prepared and on time. We only get to play for a 2 hr session due to scheduling, but that frequently ends up being more like 1hr by the time everyone's ready to go. So I end up frustrated, annoyed, and hurt. Like, I'm pouring my heart into making this game fun for you, the least you could do is show up when you say you will.
Number 2 is a great point. So often I see players, especially newcomers, have this attitude of "I'm just going to sit back and let the story happen to my character" because they think they're being rude or they're going to mess things up if they take the narrative reigns. But as a DM, I almost always want my players to jump in and take control of the story.
I like to think of the interaction between the DM & Player as a dance. Sometimes, one leads while the other follows and vice versa. It takes both to have a "successful dance".
Not the best metaphor because in actual, at least dancing properly done, like in dancing competitions or people just serious about dance, one person (the man) leads while the other (the woman) follows. You don’t trade off. But I get your point lol.
I love describing failures as the DM. Last week we had a scenario where a skeleton dragon was swopping down on the wizard, who was down to 24 HP. One bite was going to put him into death saves, I rolled a 1 and described the dragon completely missing and lodging his jaw into the dirt and flailing about trying to get free. We all had a good laugh and the wizard was able to counter and get the upper hand. He got into it and followed my lead, describing how angry the bumbling skeleton was as he force caged it and it bashed its head trying to get out.
It’s an important thing to be able to comfortably shift between action and comedy from time to time. Not only does it build fun, but it can also act as something like a break. A DM I’m currently playing for basically had us laughing a whole session because what should’ve been an action packed market bazaar battle scene become slapstick as both the party and the NPCs rolled like hilarious garbage over and over. We’re talking a battle with what must have been an average roll of 10. It was amazing.
@@EliteSnowPirate my party first combat was a bar fight with a lot of grapples and the average roll was about 5 I described it that all the taverns patrons didn't know if it was a show or a fight because it was such bad rolls no joke a 6 was winning grapple checks
Hahaha, *Stern laugh* You should have been there! The skeletons knees where shaky, It appeared his palms were sweaty, He had drool that look like confetti! But he was trapped Already!
I had a similar situation where I was trying to kill a PC with a flashy bite from a Beholder rather than using the eyes, he was down to literally 1hp... and I rolled a nat 1. It was like a Magoo situation where the teeth came down and the charmed PC just stepped to the left to look at the cavern plants on the wall lmao was wild
16:04 I played a dwarf Cleric who had a morning star he called "Bertha", and I kept rolling natural 1's all the time, getting Bertha stuck in anything and everything except the enemies XD Bertha is now a legendary weapon in my group, and when someone rolls a natural 1 on attack, Bertha is often commemorated :) Natural 1's can make the game so much fun, and create some of the most memorable situations.
My DM adviced me to give him regular updates on what my character wants to accomplish. I realised that this can make it easier for a DM to prepare sessions for their campaign but also guide you towards a fun storyline.
My advice for new players is to try to include your intent when trying something. especially when it comes to using spells for creative uses. Even if it seems simple to you, your dm may take it a different way. The other thing is to know that your dm isn't all knowing. If you want to do something crazy try to find a way to compromise with them. Their shooting the chandelier example is good to use. For some dm they may not know how to rule this, set DC, or results. This combines with adding intent to these actions. Stating that you're shooting it to hopefully knock someone down makes things much easier for the dm. Lastly, flavor is free. Players can narrate as well what they do. Instead of making 2 attack rolls and being done with it, describe how the attacks are made before you roll, and let the roll decide how you end your narration. These take a lot of pressure off of a dm and gives them time to think and react if they need it. It's a combined narrative, you can chime in! As a dm my most hated thing players do is search a room or something and just ask "what do I find" I've gotten to the point of just saying "nothing of interest" rather than describing whats in a random part of the room. State what you're looking for in your action, and results will change a lot. If you're looking for flour in a kitchen, or letters in a desk, to even tracks on the ground. It helps way more than you think!
9:57 "I'm portraying the bad guys and I want them to get absolutely destroyed by really cool stuff what the players do." essence of having good time DM'ing :)
One of the coolest moments my Barbarian’s gotten in our current campaign was when our party got cornered by a whole brigade of guards. We had been framed for a string of murders and had no option but to run. One chunk of guards were distracted by some friendly NPCs that showed up to defend us, and we were told to run and escape. We had an elderly character as a PC, so my barbarian just picks him up and I ask my DM “Hey, I see a cart on the map… can I just… yeet our Cleric in the back and just… rickshaw the cart with him in it?” “Oh hell yeah!” So I did, and screamed at our rogue to jump in so he could shoot anyone chasing us. Rolled some honestly shocking Strength checks and passed every group of guards blocking our path by just barreling through them while our rogue threw smoke bombs/Molotovs behind us and our cleric used his spirit weapon to bonk anyone brave enough to try and grab on. Literally just blasted out of certain death in the dumbest way possible, but it was 80s action movie badass and it became a talking point for many sessions afterwards. DM said we basically negated entire fights he had planned and we ran through what he had planned for the last part of the session, but all of us were overjoyed and didn’t have a problem with it at all. “DMs are on your side” is an incredibly apt description, because *everyone* at the table wants a badass story to tell.
"Say what you imagine your character is doing." I love using spells in unexpected ways, like using Thorn Whip to catch a falling item, or Catapult to toss ropes across gaps. My GM has given me a lot of leeway on this, but sometimes throws unexpected but reasonable consequences in, which is a lot of fun for everybody involved.
My group has a joke that any character that has wandering voices was raised by mind flayers because we (mostly me but some of the others have done it) have either forgotten a voice or started to lose the voice while we're talking.
About the GMs. Keep in mind there there is difference between "players having rough time" and "characters having rough time." I saw many times that players whined about the second and blaned the GM to be a bad guy.
I’ve just gotta say to new DM’s- watch Monty, and you’ll know what to do. Best I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been playing since the early 80’s. You’ll learn far more from this channel, and watching Monty DM, than you will ever learn from watching stuff like CR. Also, watch the rare times Kelly runs a game. I find him to be a master of improvising on the fly. I’m a LOT older than these guys (😢), been doing it far longer, and yet I’ve learned a ton from this channel the past few years.
The "It's Okay to Fail" is probably the best and most important one you mentioned in this. Here's another five things I think players need to be aware of. 1. The DM didn't create a campaign and story so you could act out your bully aggressions, sexual fetishes, or other personality quirks on everyone else at the table. Especially not on the DM. 2. Though it is a fantasy game, there are consequences to your actions, particularly when you're an a-hole to every NPC or simply never learn a single thing about the world and story. 3. Your failure to work together and communicate does not constitute a requirement for the DM to make everything easy for you. Dying because you do stupid things and/or expect no consequences to your actions is your fault, not the DM's. 4. The anime character you based your character off of does not grant you powers and abilities your character doesn't have, and crying about "Rule of Cool" doesn't let you redefine the ruleset so you can outdo everyone else's characters who are actually proficient at those things. Building a complementary party is part of communication and working together. 5. When you cheat, you rob yourselves of the satisfaction of achievement. And you piss off the DM. In short, you waste everyone's time trying to "win" the game.
In our current campaign, my Tabaxi was hit with fear. Even though I could attack in my next turn, I had my character create a box, hide in it, and slowly raise his head to see what was going on with the rest of our group.
The forgetting things from one session to another is so true. I've forgotten names. Asked my players if they wrote it down, so we made up a new name for them. My players and I just laugh about it. Just recently in the last session, I got the blacksmith confused with a elvish blacksmith from the last campaign. So one of my players said "I say ____ to the blacksmith in dwarvish" I said " The blacksmith doesn't know dwarvish" They said that he did last time they talked to him. I admitted i had forgotten, and he does speak it. We just laughed. IMO D&D is not something to take too seriously. Ofc there are those campaigns like Critical roll and stuff that are more serious, but the rest of it, it's a bunch of people having fun. I explained to my players during session 0 that I may forget things from week to week. This group has been super great about it when I have forgotten something
The part about remembering names they mentioned at the start is something I usually struggle with a lot, not knowing how to spell it or not correctly assessing whether or not we will see the character again. One of the campaigns I participated in as player, the DM had done something amazing where they made a sort of 'wanted' poster of important NPCs, with an appearance reference if available, name, race, age, gender and other important 'at-first-glance' information. There was a binder on the table, and each time we met an important NPC the DM would add their character reference to the binder. Whenever players had trouble remembering an outlandish name, or just any name because (like me) some people are bad with those, we could look to the binder to quickly find their reference and remember their name. The images were also handy for me when provided, because I play a lot of different RPGs each of which might have some races look somewhat different (e.g. world of warcraft kobold versus D&D kobold is very different). If your party has trouble remembering the basics of NPCs, I highly recommend a system like this. Much less disruptive than someone constantly asking "what was their name again" or just saying "the questgiver" for the 50th time.
This last week had a real laugh when while my PCs were traveling down a road they encountered the big bad's lieutenant and told him they're whole plan to stop his master 😅
I suspect that mentioning "Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition" instead of a broader term like ttrpg plays better with the youtube algorithm. That's why most channels keep repeating it like a keyword.
Yes. It's a matter of visibility. A lot of channels are D&D channels because the platform doesn't understand what a TTRPG is outside of that single IP.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm literally saying it's good how generalized the info is. that it can be applied to multiple things. It's literally a compliment you guys don't need to white knight this
@@markkolodziej496 I was only pointing out D&Ds ever present position in the world, the TTRPG community and streaming etcetera. You make it sound like you were be accused of a bad thing. What we're saying is that it's due to a poor situation that this stuff isn't addressed generally. I would rather TTRPGs be understood than be overshadowed by a single IP. No matter it's historic significance here. Nobody is saying your being hostile or wrong. White knighting implies coming to the defence of. And that is the point being made at all.
I have to disagree with the GM not providing a service statement. The GM absolutely *is* providing a service for their players: you can have a session while missing a player, but not without the GM. The GM is like a host throwing a party. While it may be a lot of work, if the party is successful and everyone has good time, then they get the satisfaction for providing for their friends. The host can't make a good party happen on their own, but their work *enables* the possibility of a good party happening. We cannot ignore the fact that it's always the GM who sets the table and invites the players to enjoy themselves. It is inherently a servile role to take.
I think the point they’re trying to make is more that you shouldn’t treat your dm as if they’re a waitress or a taxi driver, etc. You should be treating them first and foremost as your friend. Idk that’s just what I got from it anyway, your analogy of a party host is a good one though
Communicating Interactions' chandelier example is players dealing with the antagonist DM: they are trying to paint the DM into a corner where they allow something to happen, when the DM has previously shot something down in a ruleslawyery way.
On the character potential I think it really exemplifies why I’m starting to love smaller 3-4 person parties over the 5-6 person parties that I typically run. In one of my first games it had only 3 players and it was so easy for us to have individual moments in the spot light while also sharing the spotlight sometimes too.
I appreciated that you guys addressed the 'toxic DM" issue after talking about the likelihood of your DM being more enthusiastic and an ally to storytelling. While I and others I've known are just like you guys when the players think of something awesome, I have been in the presence of and heard stories about the bad ones. I think it goes a long way to help people understand that this is a wakeup call to anyone who *is* with a bad DM, that there's something off with how they run their games, and that there are better DM's out there! I think that's one of the biggest things I wish more players knew: that terrific DM's are out there and the difference between playing with one of them vs that other kind is so enormous.
One of my favorite tools in the 5E toolbox is ability checks being freeform. You can pair any ability with any proficiency for the most part and that really helps when players start thinking big and outside of the box with their actions.
Part of the reasons for wild expectations if a DM is because of UA-camrs that say things like "this is a sign of a bad DM". I got interested in trpg games because of crpgs. "A good DM gives players tons of choices" meanwhile the games that got me started are linear with very little in the way of options.
"It's Ok to Fail." So true. At our table, our saying is "Nat 20's win battles. Nat 1's tell the story!" Letting the player tell the tale of what happened when they rolled the Nat 1 has given us years of stories we still tell when we get together.
The DM memory thing. Sometimes I get so caught up in the moment and improv and i have to come up with a name but I'm really focused on the interaction. I could tell you the whole interaction afterwards, but the npc's name? No way.
I'd want them you know that my favorite player is the one that's taking good notes. Guys I can only write so fast. I rely on at least one player to remember the exact details of that deal you made with the shopkeeper, where on the mountain you dropped some loot, how many days until you meet that NPC in the next town, etc. For my homebrew I do haven like 50 pages of notes, but it's all what I pre-planned. For the stuff that we clearly improvised, please write it down. :)
In the same vein as "that's the characters name now." I hadn't put names to cities other than the relevant ones to the story so far. So when a player asked I said, "well what do you want it to be?" We have now begun to collaboratively fill in our campaign map as its discovered.
One of the ways to explain the social contract to players might be like this: This is an challenge encounter. You can fail. If you succeed, you get to tell what happens from there for a while. If you fail, I get to say what happens. Essentially, encounter failures aren’t portrayed as character deaths and story endings, but as a loss of agency until the next encounter. Did the boss win or did the players win? The usual stakes are easy enough, but the encounters can be structured differently. For instance, the boss (let’s say a vampire) attacks. If he wins, he forwards his agenda. That could be tempting a character to vampirism, bestowing a curse, moving the characters somewhere else, or stealing an NPC off. If the players win, the boss is forced to flee and they get to see one of his get-out-of-jail free cards, plus hints on how to shut it down. In the final encounter, the PCs corner the boss and he’s out of cards to play. If they win, they get to decide his fate. How about a skill encounter? If the PCs win, they get to be clever and victorious, and surmount the challenge with style. This can involve winning contests, or navigating travel with ease. If the PCs lose the skill encounter, events happen beyond their control, and their movement is forced along a path they may not have planned (but which moves the adventure a certain way).
I appreciate your last point. As the designated DM we sometimes “hold ourselves to a higher standard” and its good to know we’re all just some regular people playing silly games! It’s not a “job”!!! Thank you!
The chandelier example: what you've described is a product of "bad dm trauma", because despite your celebrities experience with permissive dm's and AS permissive dm's, what most of us has experienced is bad dm's who's knee-jerk reaction is to say no. This is a real thing and VERY common.
I think that the other side of whole "players using a long line of questioning to get to what they want to do" thing is that there are definitely DMs out there that would say: "You want to light your arrow on fire and shoot down the chandelier? Okay, you light the arrow and shoot a straight shot up to the chandelier supports, but it was a metal chain so your arrow had no effect." And the player has now wasted their turn doing something that they 100% wouldn't have done if they were in place of the character and could see that the chandelier was help up by a chain rather than a rope. If they had gone through the line of questioning, they would know and not waste their turn.
This isn't always possible, especially for spell casters... the amount of times I've planned to use an AoE of some sort, only for the barbarian/fighter to get directly in the line of fire, usually when I'm next in the initiative line, stuck in place due to terrain and cannot move far enough to get them out of it. So frustrating!
Something I like to remind myself is that Bot every action taken in combat needs to be combat-related. For example, trying to use some noble diplomacy on human npc’s, or something like awkwafina distracting her enemies by doing silly karaoke songs at them. These things can be a fun way to do a lot more with a lot less.
For new players just try and know what the rules considering your character are. Some players try to learn the entire players handbook, but they really don't need to do that. It's enough to know the rules they need to worry about and make sure they know those well instead of knowing every rule a little bit.
18:29. I did this with one of my characters too. We were in The Temple Of Elemental Evil and we were in a room with a glowing glyph and very dusty, very big mirrors in an alcove. I knew that cleaning the mirrors was a stupid idea, however my character's flaw was that he was attracted to very shiny things. He saw the glowing glyph, saw the mirrors, and reasoned (with his 7 INT) that if he cleaned the mirrors then it would be REALLY glowy/shiny. He cleaned the mirrors using Mage Hand (he was a Barb/Monk/Rogue mix with the Telekinesis feat) and ended up getting 2 of the party members infected with a disease (he saved his CON saving throw) that would kill them in 2 days if they didn't get rid of it... they had to burn Greater Restoration spells to get rid of the disease. I was laughing as I was apologizing to them (one of MY flaws is that I tend to laugh when I get embarrassed).
One of the things that I was told by a GM was to say I AM.... Rather than I think I would, If I were... It's the moment You ARE. Once you start getting into the midless fish mindest of you ARE the mindless adventure, It becomes like autopilot and a lot of fun because people start vibing off of each others actions If you don't announce your response you will get left out like a river in a rock, Become a Boulder, so the river has to change course, or adjusting, Altering flow? Adding turbulence? Causing a WHIRLPOOOOOL!? Get 'authorative' if your more of the introvert and intimidated but loving every second. (like me😊)
The section on communicating intentions is really good and it can be very beneficial to the players. I had a situation once, where a player asked whether there were any insects in the room. I wasn't really sure where they were going with this, so I just said "no". I forgot that they had magic "staff of swarming insects" that they could have used. I would definitely said "yes" if I had remembered or they would have made their intention clear...
“I’m portraying the bad guys and I want them to get absolutely destroyed by really cool stuff that the players do” is perhaps the best description of my own DM style I’ve ever heard. Thank you for that, and for this video. Lots of good advice for players, which is honestly hard to find.
This is good stuff. The monsters are the enemy, not the DM. In the surf-down-the-stairs-on-a-shield thing, even on a failed acrobatics check, the DM might say that the shield slips out from under you with such force that it smacks into an orc, roll for damage! So the player still gets a cool moment.
Happy my players have stopped saying "Am I allowed to..." and started saying "I'm going to try to..." after months of telling them you're "allowed" to do whatever you want. I just can't promise it'll end well.
Embracing failure as a fun and meaningful part of story development is one of the most important things a player can do to keep the have enjoyable for yourself and fellow players. One of my favorite moments ever in a campaign was (spoilers ahead!) towards the beginning of OotA when we were escaping the Drow prison. I was playing an arcane trickster rogue who had struggled with landing any melee attacks throughout the escape. My character was getting frustrated (I was laughing my ass off and apologizing to the rest of the party for my lack of contribution) so I climbed up to a stalactite and hid, waited for the priestess of Lloth to be right under me and dropped down to sneak attack her. My friend who was DMing gave me advantage since I was hidden and I rolled double Nat 1's. DM groaned and laughed and said sorry, you missed, and I was like oh, no, it's way worse than that. I described how I landed on my rapier, stabbing myself in the gut and dropping me to 0 hp. I was saved and decided my character hated trying to stab things. I worked with my DM and made a pact with the goddess of magic to trade out my rogue levels and go full wizard, but had a warlock style patron relationship with the goddess of magic. I loved it, DM and fellow players loved it, and it all hinged on rolling with failure and making it meaningful to the character, not letting it get you down as a player. Great advice, as always. Love you guys! Can't wait for my physical copy of Sebastian Crowe's Guide!
Do some campfire/tavern RPing between the PCs and have your PC ask the other's about their opinions, history and goals. Put the effort into RPing the growth of party camaraderie. Also RP developing party tactics. The number of tables I've been at where it's almost seen as metagaming having my PC want to understand what they party's capabilties are and how they might work together has surprised me.
Often times, the reason a player might have a line of questioning it to ensure the DM supports their idea, rather than shoot it down. You right that some DMs want to have fun and it's not necessary, but that's just some DMs.
Don't be afraid to just yell shit out... [long story...] One of the things that was hard for me as a new player was that, you yes, you lowly peasent first timer can change your destiny, you're not just the 3rd wheel. I was under so much pressure when the other experienced players where just shouting some random shit that's sounded fun for them... I couldn't steer the cart BUT. I made a MASSIVE catalyst for the DMS storyline.... We do the intro, hey we met we fight some zombirds, We come to a church, I'm playing some dwarf death cleric, there's some kind of sigil or something, So I kind of 'evoked the spirits of my god' banging on the shield thrice and yelling a savage warcry, (being the scardey cat in the group a level 1 cleric terrified of combat after almost getting decimated in a battle) the call was heard by some ancient death god from the 2nd cataclysm.... and... a lot bad stuff happened to the group cause y'know... Ancient Death Gods at Lvl.1 :D It was at that moment... The DM looked at me, waited a few, seconds, raised his eyebrow rubbed his hands, clapped them together and got soo excited with this SINISTER grin on f That's when I became addicted to the game, it's such an amazing outlet for baggage acrewed during the week and letting it out in a humble and communal way. Amazing.
7:25 A caveat to the statement of intentions: Do not assume there will be a chandelier in the room just because you get the idea to shoot it down. It is crucial to ask questions about your surroundings to then understand what you can do. In this instance, as a player, I would have asked about shooting down the chandelier after the DM said there was one, still asking questions, but cutting back on them dramatically. 10:46 Correction: The DM SHOULD be on your side. I have played with a few DMs who's only concern seemed to be how they can cause the most damage to the party or kill the most characters as efficiently as they could. I would have DMs who would laugh manically and wring their hands if the party would split for any reason. These DMs usually only ran one session and I wouldn't go back to them. If your DM does this often, they won't be a DM for long. Do not tolerate this behavior. DMs don't like murder-hobos, players don't like party killers.
If it's a one-shot... sure... kill the party at the end of it. Otherwise, there are other games out there -- Descent: Journeys in the Dark [1.0, 2.0] and Hero Quest - to name a couple, that are designed for it to be one vs. many. In those types of games death tends to not be permanent (at least for Descent anyway), so it's all in good fun.
I have this 3rd party book which has a small table about player etiquette which I really wish PHB also had - and it tells a few good things. Apart from that, one important thing I wish all players knew (especially younger ones) was, try to figure out what other party members are trying to achieve and support them. That way they will be happy and will be grateful to you ingame/outside of game, and their success becomes your success as well - This applies to all sections of gameplay (combat as in pushing an enemy into someone's AOE effect, roleplaying as in distracting an NPC while the role performs sleight of hand, exploration like keeping an eye out for threats while your friend tries to solve a puzzle or unlock a door).
Realize that a bad joke is nearly always worth it. What I mean by that: read the group and the mood of the day. Sometimes derailing a session is the best choice for everyone als it'll get you a lot of fun for the next weeks.
That long line of questions is likely due to a player trying to think out what they're doing, or an experienced player that's spent too much time with an antagonistic DM. One bad DM can teach a player they need to act that way. Then unlearning they play style of asking questions until the DM is backed into a corner becomes an uphill battle.
Seeing all the views and commenta makes me happy so many people are actively trying to be better players. Just wanted to say thanks. You're all making games better for everyone.
hey guys. thansk for everything. my group has met probably 8 times total now. your videos have helped me realize being a DM isnt impossible or too difficult, but a whole lot of fun, despite the challenge!
I want my players to know that i often am just making stuff up as we go along, that i only have a generalized end goal and i will fit in the mcguffins where i see them fitting in with the story THEY are writing. So sometimes, i also need to take notes, cause god forbid in 5 sessions you finally return to a city and everyones forgotten what the promised reward was, or in 10 sessions you reference a character that you remember everything about but i dont remember one bit. I need just a little bit of time to shorthand some notes on whats going on. However, at the same time im making maps and dozens of character possibilities and creating the space for you to play around in and form your stories while balancing an often more than full time job and regular life on top of this. While i can make stuff up as i go, i cant just make up a characters personality and everything on the spot every time, i do need some preparation time so that you actually can see and visualize the places you visit, the people you see, and the things your characters can do and do in this theatre of the mind. I just need more than a day between some sessions, thats all. So yeah, please give me some prep time and ask things you want to do. Im here to make the game fun and fair while keeping it "on track." If you think thered realistically be barrels of alcohol nearby, you can ask and ill check what i know of the area, make the judgement call, and then you can burn the tavern down anyways.
thanks. your points are valid and helpful, even to a guy that has been playing for several decades. i have tried to run games, but am terrible at it, for many reasons. i am grateful for the guys in the group that are awesome at it, and i show that by only arguing with the DM when it provides fun for the table.
Great video! As a player I try many of these things out. I have made great friends because of these strong "We are a team"vibe and actually babysat a PC that had levels of random madness causing insanely fun encounters. Then he dove into the ocean in search of treasure and got eaten by sharks. His next character I didn't like because my character thought he was apompous arrogant jerk that just happened to show up after my friend died. This led to a completely different dynamic between us. I don't agree on the asking 20 questions to find out if something is possible. How the room is decorated furnished or constructed can completely change how an action is made. As the DM lays out the room it could influence the decision. Asking how a room is lit does not equal "i want to shoot a rope of a chandelier". I just recently threw a torch at the bad guy and ran. No harm in that. Keep up the great content.
At first I didn't want to watch this as I thought this was exactly the video that you say at the very beginning that you are NOT going to do (take notes, know your character, creating the adventure takes a lot of effort, blabla...), but man was I wrong and I'm so happy I clicked on the video. This is great stuff! Most of us know all this, but putting all this in one, easily consumable video is a great tool! I'm gonna show this all my players! Many thanks Dudes! ;)
"Do the dumb" my character had to backtrack through a haunted house and he "forgot" to take a right turn, instead stumbling into a diner with a creepy doll in a seat in the back at the table. Simple but cool moment
As a DM, almost since the beginning with the old Red box D&d, I've always allowed the npc's a reaction set, and a plan. That helps bring them to live, but it also allows them to react to what the players do by changing what they are doing.. Goblins might be brave until scared or someone pushes against their bluff,, so chances are that small team of heavy crossbow carriers might get of a shot before running off. An enemy mage, might use other of their spells if characters do certain things or they might flee in anger to try to take revenge later. Even the farmer selling vegetables from a cart at the market will have things he or she will do and how they will react, but wants too and a plan for the day. Doing stuff like that for every NPC makes them feel more alive. And if a player get's to big for their bridges, when nothing hurts quite as much as loosing to a group of crossbow carrying kobolts who more or less kills the character before they can react and wakes up naked wrapped up like a christmas steak besides a huge pot. If they don't find a way out of that they will be cocked and eaten. Do that and other things once or twice and the character learns that even the weakest being can be dangerous. Oh, and by the way, a knockout poison gas, is not a sleeping gass, that distinction will allow any DM lots of fun at the cost of the players. Being robbed blind by a teenaged robber girl who seemingly vanishes into smoke with all their best gear and all their money, tends to focus the players to go hunting or maybe seek the criminal behind it, only to find that they are the disposed noble who is fighting against the evil that has taken over the town in secret. Everyone has goal, needs, wants, in any given moment they have a plan, most of the time they have stuff to do too, so they are not hanging around for the players to stumble over, they have to go look or seek. But maybe outsiders are not well liked and that causes issues, or.... Make your roleplaying world so filled with life that it almost feels real. All it takes is a bit more imagination.
"Players should try to DM at least once" Having experienced a player who is also a DM was amazing, They can see when you stumble and are quick to start RP among players to give you your moment to wright yourself, they own their failures, they aren't afraid of character death, And they are usually better at picking up the hints that the DM puts down. I would love it if all my players ran something, I don't even need to be there. As a bonus, if any of my players came to me asking me to teach them how to run a game, I would cry with happiness.
Everyone has different opinions and thoughts about things. For me, failure for the hero/heroine is completely awful. I want them to always succeed, maybe not a complete success but still succeed in general. For example, if the Hero/Heroine attempted to kill a Villain/Villainess but didn't succeed, YET they managed to maim them in some way that is still a success technically. Another example, say they attempted to Surf down a Hill on a Shield/Sled/etc and couldn't maintain staying upright, but they managed to belly slide on the item that too is a success. As such I have various House Rules that promote "Power Playing" and failures are 99% none-existent.
DM wishlist: Know the rules. Remember that "your character" isn't "THE character". That extends to creation. Making an orc hating ranger in a party of orcs to antagonize the rest is a douche move, especially when you have a reputation for doing so. Build PCs for the setting. If your DM says it's a Savage jungle setting, showing up with a warforged isn't meeting them halfway. Let's players make their own choices. Everyone hates when another player tells you how to do your job. If someone needs help, let them ask. Otherwise play your character, not theirs. Be ready for your turn. It's not that hard. Experiment with characters that aren't just "you in platemail". The number of "Bob plays Bob at the table" players I've met is astounding. You don't have to be an actor, but you can try something else too. Your own outlook should inform your actions, but so should your characters'. There are other alignments than Chaotic Neutral. Accept the repercussions of your actions. Characters die. It's why they have hit points. Monsters want to win too. When villain's plans are ignored, they don't go into stasis like a video game. You may not need to be a hero, but you need to be involved. Rolling a character then refusing to partake in anything wastes everyone's time. Lastly, I personally take a neutral stance as DM. I am neither for nor against the PCs. I'm there to arbitrate. That means that I may favor certain actions as plausible and others as ridiculous. Accept those rulings with grace, at least at the table. If you'd like to discuss it, wait until after the game. If I'm wrong, I'll throw you a bone. If not, accept things and move forward.
I was so happy when my party discovered they could combine web and fire to create a massive explosion. It saved their assess after they charged into butterskull ranch and fought 20 orcs at once. I eased them in by introducing the orcs every turn since they had to group up, because 20 orcs at once woulda been a tpk, but after they discovered teamwork, i definitely upped the difficulty.
Even as a DM and a player both, I still end up doing the step-wise explain-to-me-if-these-things-are-here thing, although it's less because I want to trick anyone into agreeing with me, and more because I want to exactly what elements are in the combat puzzle I'm working with. I don't want the chandelier to exist just because I want to be able to shoot one down, I want it to exist because the DM thinks it's an important part of the scene that makes sense to be there. I don't wanna just be given things so I can be cool, I want to be cool by using the things that already exist, if that makes any sense? Less about "I'm gonna trick you into saying yes" and more "I want to make sure you have every opportunity to say no so that I'm not just making things up for you to go along with" Is that splitting hairs? I dunno. I guess having detailed descriptions of room layouts helps make this more of a non-issue, which I try to do myself.
It's not splitting hairs...but the DM should still be able to 'push' the players a little. "It's an empty room. You don't need to search for 20 rounds to know its empty". Or " a table and chair and some old food. Obviously no one has ben here for a while". The point is that the DM has to help keep the game moving and push the PCs along so as not to waste too much time on mundane issues that are not helping the story line.
14:50 We had a homebrew one-shot that involved a puzzle scenario, a kind of hide-and-seek, but the DM had made it clear that the penalty for guessing incorrectly was death. One guess, no matter how close you were, if it was wrong, you dropped unconscious on the spot, and if we all failed, like the many bones that littered the area, we were dead. Instant, party wide Analysis Paralysis, because it was NOT ok to fail. There was no save, the point was to figure it out and guess, but it was an all or nothing death for failure scenario. HATED it.
Regarding failure, my first session with a new character and new team of players saw me missing every single attack roll with my Eldritch blast-centric warlock. We quickly rolled it into my character, who was basically all talk, and it became one of the funniest most enjoyable parts of the game when I would miss an Eldritch blast.
I appreciate you guys bringing up how unfair it is when people act like there is only 1 good way to be a good DM, and that if you don't follow that path you are a bad DM and have somehow failed a job. That mindset is the most toxic opinion in the community and it absolutely keeps people from getting behind the screen, and reinforces a dynamic where the DM is treated as effectively a service provider instead of someone equally worthy of being entertained and having a good time.
This is just a great video for me. I just started as a DM and I couldn't agree more with the sentiment of this video and comments. We are telling a story together about challenges and cool ways to overcome them. So if everyone pitches in by imagining what the characters intent to do and see what the roll says about the execution. It's far cooler when you have a clear goal for a roll. Just alone knowing that the monster had ill intent but Missed miserably has you more emotionally invested in the story. Which leads to a more passionate way of portraying our characters, both as DM as players.
Great video! As a DM, I can relate to some of these things of what we wish players knew or did/didn't do. One of the other things to mention is, some DMs do it as a necessity to just be apart of DnD. I just had a decent length of time that I was DMing a few campaigns and not playing in any because I didn't know anyone else that could DM or wanted to. Also, I like many DMs out there, like to teach people how to play the game. We may not be the most experienced DM out there or even very good at it, but we just want to get others interested in what we love. Cut DMs some slack on the little things. Appreciate that they put their time into everything.
I wish players knew how much they affect the environment and mood of the session and campaign. I think too many players are passively awaiting the DM’s tone and feel obligated to follow. A character can make a joke or do something silly or (attempt to) make a serious alliance whenever they want even if it isn’t exactly what the current setting is. As long as it doesn’t distract or derail progress, I think it is a welcome addition.
While I'm not a huge D&D fan, I'm a big role-playing fan - and I heartily suggest all players and DM's pick up and read Dungeon World. It is a great role-playing game, but more importantly it's one of the best primers for "actual" role-playing I've ever read. The authors manage to really explain well the idea/motivations/spirit behind role-playing. It covers most of what you've mentioned in this video, and encourages a cooperative/creative experience in a world that expands well beyond the character sheet. Unfortunately when I run Dungeon World for D&D players they struggle quite a bit because the character sheets are very minimal and "skills" aren't very prevalent, so people get hung up on the sheet. They think they can't do anything, when the opposite is true; you can do anything. It's a role-playing game.
I’ve come from D&D and played both Dungeon World and Apocalypse World. I did get hung up on the character sheet for bit, but quickly found the freedom of just imagining what my character would do and hope for the best. It’s how my AW battle babe shot the bust of a statue off of a pressure plate Indiana Jones style and blew up three bad guys. I stated what my plan was and asked if I could try it. I’m also in a Scion 2e game that is heavy on roleplay and playing other games has helped in communicating my intentions better and finding more freedom in taking big swings.
DMs, please please please, actually describe the rooms we enter. Finding out there's windows, or furniture, or if the room is lit or dark should not be like pulling teeth. My Paladin has a passive Perception of 24, with natural and magical Darkvision, Observant. I have Expertise in Perception for crying out loud. I have the Devil's Sight Eldritch Invocation. I am begging you, let my character who is entirely based around having flawless situational awareness, be aware of his surroundings. I have 10 feet of blindsight, no, I did not miss that troll that was standing next to the doorway simply because I didn't specify I looked to the right upon entering the room.
16:03 I can totally confirm this. This night's game I finally got to play my "Peace Domain Battlemaster" properly in combat. I used my Emboldening Bond and action surge into casting Bless... Only to get a skull thrown right at me and break my concentration a couple of turns later. But because I described that scene as a dramatic moment that left my character with a bloody nose, it ironically became the most memorable thing for me this night. So thank you, Dungeon Dudes. Your advice turned my failed play into a good time :D
a few more tips that piggy back on things you two said: 1 - your character sheet is not a list of things you can do. It is a list of things you do well. Dont become of a prisoner of the character sheet thinking the answer is on there somewhere. Most of the time, the solution to your situation is NOT on your character sheet. 2 - This brings to "telegraphing". I think it was Kelley who said "Say what you imagine your character doing". In certain other RPGs I've seen this more robustly described as "telegraphing". Telegraphing is more about the outcome than the action itself. In short - you're speaking (out of character) to telegraph what the character is trying to accomplish. The "how" is left for after that - that's the rules discussion/ajudication part. Telegraphing helps all participants know for sure what the character is up to - like an audience watching a TV show. It's one thing to say "I bluff him". Its another to start speaking in character trying to bluff. But it's telegraphing to say "(character name) will attempt to bluff the guy into second-guessing why we are here - in hopes that perhaps he will feel he is being insulted by his employer and maybe not as loyal to him; perhaps give us a chance to find more proof that he's being lied to. Later we can use that doubt and disloyalty to our advantage" That's telegraphing. I want to shoot the chandalier rope. vs telegraphing: "I see the goblins moving towards me, I move to the other side of the room so they have to cross the floor under the chandalier, and then I will shoot the rope dropping it on to the group of them". "I slam my hand down in anger and claim I saw Arveth doing this" vs telegraphing "I slam my hand down, with a straight bold lie i attempt to convince him it was Arveth who did this "I watched the lad do this with his own hands!" Telegraphing expresses the intent that what you're saying is in fact a purposeful lie to bluff your way or deflect blame. Now the audience understands, and the GM can make appropriate rule adjudications to address the intended outcomes.
My first session zero felt very much like I was being read my miranda rights. That really messed me up as a player for a long time. I would ask a thousand questions before declaring my action, because if I didn't make an air tight case for why it should work, it would be used against me. And I would be scared of making even a tiny mistake. I am not even sure if that was the actual intend of my dm, or if that was more of a miscommunication. Looking back communication was a big problem in that first group. And we never discussed what we enjoyed or hated about our games, so nothing ever improved. It was really important to me, that the players in my new group know that they can tell me if they don't enjoy aspects of our playstyle and that we will find ways to work it out. Even the new player's opinions matter. I am not going to assume that it's a lack of experience that has them frustraded with certain houserules.
"Say what you imagine your character is doing" is the best advice I've heard for a new player
Encouraging new players to not learn how their characters work is not how D&D is designed. One of my biggest gripes about players is that they don't know HOW to play their characters or even the rules surrounding their abilities, spells, or feats. This puts unnecessary stress on the DM to know everything about every character to ensure there is some semblance of balance.
If you want to play a narrative only TTRPG, 5e is not that, stats are king in 5e.
Best thing is ask for what they do like "I move over and unlock the door stealthily" then add flavor so they know what you mean such as "you walk towards the door ducking and dodge the light (as you slip with easy, if they had a high success) or ( as you stumble you way around the dark but some manage not to knock over xyz in the process) you get to the door and open and see blah blah blah" and so on so they know more of how to speak but some like to hear that narrated still
Great comment but I'd say it should be a reminder for veteran players who say they are "insert player ability" rather than saying I fade into the mist with parting a sea of flying leaves.
@@techbeef While players not knowing their character is annoying and they should learn what they can do, creative play is the key difference between a TTRPG and a videogame. Depending on the DM, I can use my ice breath weapon as a dragonborn to freeze a small river or lake, which you can't in a videogame unless it's programmed to do that and therefore part of the rules.
I can describe, how my character tries to convince an NPC and the DM might give me advantage on the check or says it just works, because the arguments were good, even if my characters charisma is bad. This impossible to do without an, for now impossible, AI or a human.
Stats during roleplay or exploration are king if you decide to say "I would like to convince the NPC to do something, may I roll persuasion", instead of actually giving convincing arguements. Stats are needed, when the outcome is uncertain, if you describe your action well enough and it fits your character, the DM might decide that no roll is needed.
A player should still learn their character and the rules, so they can know, if there is even a chance to do something or if the rules prohibit it. However that can be said after telling them, that they actually CAN be creative.
For new players, I try to encourage them to try as much as possible. Once they fail a few times, then they'll want to know how to tell what they're good at.
In my campaign there is a Goddess who is the bbeg whose name I didn't write down, and the players didn't, but since she is the Goddess of New Beginnings we just went with her having a new name every time she's introduced
LMAO That's actually amazing lol
Emergent storytelling at its finest
That is amazing and I might steal that.
That’s funny lol
Too cool!
She is The Opportune One.
"I beseech the . . . uh, um . . . Daisy Duck!"
About making failures into comedic elements: In one of our first sessions, my wizard rolled a 1 on Ray of Frost, so what I described happening was that instead of firing a beam, she actually conjured a ray, as in a manta ray or a stingray, made of ice, that fell directly to the ground and shattered.
Now that's a funny way to give magic in your world a bit more nuance and comedic effect.
That's Great! Quick thinking!!
See that's why I always prefer waiting until after my rolls to describe what happens. I don't want to describe the way my spell hits just to fail and have to break continuity, even that tiny bit.
In our group's second session ever, we were following a lead in a tavern that the DM was describing as not a very nice looking place, so someone - could have been me - wondered, what had a nobleman (the guy we were looking for) been doing in a run-down bar like that. Well, one guy decided to ask that directly from the tavern owner, and the DM smirked and asked for a charisma saving throw. This legend rolled a nat 1 (also with a -1 charisma modifier, not that it mattered), and the whole tavern went silent and started angrily looking at/approaching us. We prudently backed out of the establishment and had to think of another way to find the next lead. The whole situation was just hilarious to us and we've been joking about that situation ever since.
Telling the DM your intentions instead of peppering them with questions is absolute GOLD. It doesn't just speed things up, it's also that the DM often can't possibly know the answer to all the small details ahead of time, but have enough of a grasp on the overall situation to decide whether your plan is doable without having to fill in al the details.
I like how most D&D videos are relationship advice.
To add onto this… LET ME FINISH DESCRIBING A ROOM. Holy cow, the amount of times players enter the boss room and immediately shout the 5 things they “do” to the boss expecting a surprise round is insane. They tried to get a surprise round when the boss opened the door for them and let them in, speaking to them the whole time. But back to room descriptions. Almost never are we fighting in a blank room. There are objects or different terrain or lava or something y’all gotta deal with. Let me talk. I have only 3 sentences written. Let me read them
I hate it because I'm trying to listen and they start talking over the DM😭
Thats why i always describe the monsters last 😂
I feel this, the amount of times Im describing a emvoirment or key piece of Lore and they act and roll before I am finished.Then get upset with me because I clarify that it doesn't work because of the key information I hadn't gotten to yet because they acted while I was still talking with them to fire back "well you didn't say that."
this happens a lot if the difficulty is high.
Players will feel the need to quickly grab every advantage they can get so they have a decent chance of winning.
high difficulty creates players that sacrefice rp and flavor for power
that not only mean in character creation
but also during scenes in game
I find that another game, Dungeon World, summarizes the DM role the best: Be a fan of the characters, Fill their life with adventures and everything is in danger
Running Dungeon World as GM taught me a lot for running other RPGs as well. I feel it's a really great game to get into GMing.
Played dungeon world only twice, I feel it's really good for learning RPG since it feels less structured. I personally prefer DnD but with dungeon world there's no barrier to entry. It's probably easy to have a good experience with that kind of game --- When I played, an 8 year old showed up with his mom at the cafe and we just got him in the game (the rest of us were around 25-35 years old, his mom just watched) and it was absolutely memorable. || With DND I find people who don't know how the game works unfortunately stop roleplaying when combat or a skill challenge starts, and it just becomes a sequence of dice rolls rather than an RPG session. When people know the system this tends to stop happening.
I feel sooo lucky. Myself and my campaign members are all pretty new to DnD. Our DM I swear is an angel. He is beyond patient, informative, imaginative, and helpful. I'm so grateful for his attentiveness and creativity. Each of our sessions thus far have been absolutely riveting and magical, and none of us can get enough! It's been one of the greatest experiences of my entire life. Greg, if you see this, we love you & appreciate you endlessly! Your storytelling is unmatched and we all have such a wonderful time together. Thank you for being such a great sport & guiding us. Seriously, you're the bestest ever. 💓
I was going to give a like but you’re at 69 rn so I wont. But YES! Cudos to Greg!
You should tell Greg this instead of hoping he'll see this message on a UA-cam video! it's always good to let DMs know how much you appreciate their efforts, they put so much effort that often gets overlooked by players.
@@Sunny_Haven depends on the DM. Or maybe I'm just downplaying myself. Yes I do more work than my players (it's literally impossible to run a game without that) but I don't feel it would be fair for players to praise me for its amount. I'm the kinda DM who wings most of the story and I feel it sometimes shows in me clumsily directing them to the next path I expect them to take.
@@chukyuniqul I think you’re just downplaying yourself, even if you’re just winging it a lot of the time, it takes a lot of skill and effort to do that, I feel. It wouldn’t hurt for your players to show their appreciation for you every once in a while even if you think you could do better, because you’re helping them have fun!
@@Sunny_Haven hey, thanks for that. It's kind of a symptom of that artistic drive to swivel between "I am literal God's gift to my medium" and "I am literal scum that should apologize to people stepping in it". I try to keep myself in check to avoid growing too complacent.
Today I had them find corpses in a stump!
The monologue on rolling a 1 and it being okay to fail was beautiful! Bravo, Kelly
The tail end of your comments on Character Potential (cheering on other players, supporting other characters, giving up your action so another player can do something, etc.) is soooooo important!! It literally changes the game in ways that a DM cannot because when players do those things they breathe *life* into the game. The players elevate the experience and make the game so much more than just dice rolls and number crunching.
I wish my players knew how to show up prepared and on time. We only get to play for a 2 hr session due to scheduling, but that frequently ends up being more like 1hr by the time everyone's ready to go.
So I end up frustrated, annoyed, and hurt. Like, I'm pouring my heart into making this game fun for you, the least you could do is show up when you say you will.
Number 2 is a great point. So often I see players, especially newcomers, have this attitude of "I'm just going to sit back and let the story happen to my character" because they think they're being rude or they're going to mess things up if they take the narrative reigns. But as a DM, I almost always want my players to jump in and take control of the story.
In a way the dm needs their players to take control and do things. Otherwise you could also just open up a book club.
I like to think of the interaction between the DM & Player as a dance. Sometimes, one leads while the other follows and vice versa. It takes both to have a "successful dance".
Not the best metaphor because in actual, at least dancing properly done, like in dancing competitions or people just serious about dance, one person (the man) leads while the other (the woman) follows. You don’t trade off.
But I get your point lol.
I love describing failures as the DM. Last week we had a scenario where a skeleton dragon was swopping down on the wizard, who was down to 24 HP. One bite was going to put him into death saves, I rolled a 1 and described the dragon completely missing and lodging his jaw into the dirt and flailing about trying to get free. We all had a good laugh and the wizard was able to counter and get the upper hand. He got into it and followed my lead, describing how angry the bumbling skeleton was as he force caged it and it bashed its head trying to get out.
It’s an important thing to be able to comfortably shift between action and comedy from time to time. Not only does it build fun, but it can also act as something like a break. A DM I’m currently playing for basically had us laughing a whole session because what should’ve been an action packed market bazaar battle scene become slapstick as both the party and the NPCs rolled like hilarious garbage over and over. We’re talking a battle with what must have been an average roll of 10. It was amazing.
@@EliteSnowPirate my party first combat was a bar fight with a lot of grapples and the average roll was about 5 I described it that all the taverns patrons didn't know if it was a show or a fight because it was such bad rolls no joke a 6 was winning grapple checks
Hahaha, *Stern laugh*
You should have been there!
The skeletons knees where shaky,
It appeared his palms were sweaty,
He had drool that look like confetti!
But he was trapped Already!
I had a similar situation where I was trying to kill a PC with a flashy bite from a Beholder rather than using the eyes, he was down to literally 1hp... and I rolled a nat 1. It was like a Magoo situation where the teeth came down and the charmed PC just stepped to the left to look at the cavern plants on the wall lmao was wild
16:04 I played a dwarf Cleric who had a morning star he called "Bertha", and I kept rolling natural 1's all the time, getting Bertha stuck in anything and everything except the enemies XD
Bertha is now a legendary weapon in my group, and when someone rolls a natural 1 on attack, Bertha is often commemorated :)
Natural 1's can make the game so much fun, and create some of the most memorable situations.
Sir Ian McKellen teaches D&D:
"I imagined what it would be like to be a wizard and then I pretended and acted in that way on the day"
Simple as that
*Kellen
But how did he know what to say?
@@StoicTheGeek Some things are not meant for mortal men to know
@@StoicTheGeek It was written down. But no scripts on the day!
Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Iran, Action: "Balrog, you shall not pass!" Cut! Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian
Being a DnD baby bird myself, having the DM review my character sheet with me has helped me immensely.
My DM adviced me to give him regular updates on what my character wants to accomplish. I realised that this can make it easier for a DM to prepare sessions for their campaign but also guide you towards a fun storyline.
My advice for new players is to try to include your intent when trying something. especially when it comes to using spells for creative uses. Even if it seems simple to you, your dm may take it a different way.
The other thing is to know that your dm isn't all knowing. If you want to do something crazy try to find a way to compromise with them. Their shooting the chandelier example is good to use. For some dm they may not know how to rule this, set DC, or results. This combines with adding intent to these actions. Stating that you're shooting it to hopefully knock someone down makes things much easier for the dm.
Lastly, flavor is free. Players can narrate as well what they do. Instead of making 2 attack rolls and being done with it, describe how the attacks are made before you roll, and let the roll decide how you end your narration.
These take a lot of pressure off of a dm and gives them time to think and react if they need it. It's a combined narrative, you can chime in!
As a dm my most hated thing players do is search a room or something and just ask "what do I find" I've gotten to the point of just saying "nothing of interest" rather than describing whats in a random part of the room. State what you're looking for in your action, and results will change a lot. If you're looking for flour in a kitchen, or letters in a desk, to even tracks on the ground. It helps way more than you think!
9:57 "I'm portraying the bad guys and I want them to get absolutely destroyed by really cool stuff what the players do."
essence of having good time DM'ing :)
My DM style is "I'm playing with my toys. Make yours cooler."
One of the coolest moments my Barbarian’s gotten in our current campaign was when our party got cornered by a whole brigade of guards. We had been framed for a string of murders and had no option but to run. One chunk of guards were distracted by some friendly NPCs that showed up to defend us, and we were told to run and escape. We had an elderly character as a PC, so my barbarian just picks him up and I ask my DM “Hey, I see a cart on the map… can I just… yeet our Cleric in the back and just… rickshaw the cart with him in it?”
“Oh hell yeah!”
So I did, and screamed at our rogue to jump in so he could shoot anyone chasing us. Rolled some honestly shocking Strength checks and passed every group of guards blocking our path by just barreling through them while our rogue threw smoke bombs/Molotovs behind us and our cleric used his spirit weapon to bonk anyone brave enough to try and grab on. Literally just blasted out of certain death in the dumbest way possible, but it was 80s action movie badass and it became a talking point for many sessions afterwards. DM said we basically negated entire fights he had planned and we ran through what he had planned for the last part of the session, but all of us were overjoyed and didn’t have a problem with it at all. “DMs are on your side” is an incredibly apt description, because *everyone* at the table wants a badass story to tell.
"Say what you imagine your character is doing." I love using spells in unexpected ways, like using Thorn Whip to catch a falling item, or Catapult to toss ropes across gaps. My GM has given me a lot of leeway on this, but sometimes throws unexpected but reasonable consequences in, which is a lot of fun for everybody involved.
We need a Dungeon Dudes Blooper Reel. Minimum 30 minutes long.
11/10 would watch
0:08 "d' gay masters" seriously
Dungeon Doh!
My group has a joke that any character that has wandering voices was raised by mind flayers because we (mostly me but some of the others have done it) have either forgotten a voice or started to lose the voice while we're talking.
About the GMs. Keep in mind there there is difference between "players having rough time" and "characters having rough time." I saw many times that players whined about the second and blaned the GM to be a bad guy.
I’ve just gotta say to new DM’s- watch Monty, and you’ll know what to do. Best I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been playing since the early 80’s. You’ll learn far more from this channel, and watching Monty DM, than you will ever learn from watching stuff like CR. Also, watch the rare times Kelly runs a game. I find him to be a master of improvising on the fly. I’m a LOT older than these guys (😢), been doing it far longer, and yet I’ve learned a ton from this channel the past few years.
The "It's Okay to Fail" is probably the best and most important one you mentioned in this.
Here's another five things I think players need to be aware of.
1. The DM didn't create a campaign and story so you could act out your bully aggressions, sexual fetishes, or other personality quirks on everyone else at the table. Especially not on the DM.
2. Though it is a fantasy game, there are consequences to your actions, particularly when you're an a-hole to every NPC or simply never learn a single thing about the world and story.
3. Your failure to work together and communicate does not constitute a requirement for the DM to make everything easy for you. Dying because you do stupid things and/or expect no consequences to your actions is your fault, not the DM's.
4. The anime character you based your character off of does not grant you powers and abilities your character doesn't have, and crying about "Rule of Cool" doesn't let you redefine the ruleset so you can outdo everyone else's characters who are actually proficient at those things. Building a complementary party is part of communication and working together.
5. When you cheat, you rob yourselves of the satisfaction of achievement. And you piss off the DM. In short, you waste everyone's time trying to "win" the game.
In our current campaign, my Tabaxi was hit with fear. Even though I could attack in my next turn, I had my character create a box, hide in it, and slowly raise his head to see what was going on with the rest of our group.
Love it
The forgetting things from one session to another is so true. I've forgotten names. Asked my players if they wrote it down, so we made up a new name for them. My players and I just laugh about it. Just recently in the last session, I got the blacksmith confused with a elvish blacksmith from the last campaign. So one of my players said "I say ____ to the blacksmith in dwarvish" I said " The blacksmith doesn't know dwarvish" They said that he did last time they talked to him. I admitted i had forgotten, and he does speak it. We just laughed. IMO D&D is not something to take too seriously. Ofc there are those campaigns like Critical roll and stuff that are more serious, but the rest of it, it's a bunch of people having fun. I explained to my players during session 0 that I may forget things from week to week. This group has been super great about it when I have forgotten something
As a new player on his first campaign, "the rules" was the most hilarious thing you could say😂 I'm trying DM, i really am 🤣
The part about remembering names they mentioned at the start is something I usually struggle with a lot, not knowing how to spell it or not correctly assessing whether or not we will see the character again. One of the campaigns I participated in as player, the DM had done something amazing where they made a sort of 'wanted' poster of important NPCs, with an appearance reference if available, name, race, age, gender and other important 'at-first-glance' information.
There was a binder on the table, and each time we met an important NPC the DM would add their character reference to the binder. Whenever players had trouble remembering an outlandish name, or just any name because (like me) some people are bad with those, we could look to the binder to quickly find their reference and remember their name.
The images were also handy for me when provided, because I play a lot of different RPGs each of which might have some races look somewhat different (e.g. world of warcraft kobold versus D&D kobold is very different).
If your party has trouble remembering the basics of NPCs, I highly recommend a system like this. Much less disruptive than someone constantly asking "what was their name again" or just saying "the questgiver" for the 50th time.
This last week had a real laugh when while my PCs were traveling down a road they encountered the big bad's lieutenant and told him they're whole plan to stop his master 😅
What happened to them lol
I like how you can substitute every time you guys say DnD with pretty much any other ttrpg. These tips and tricks are honestly so universal
I suspect that mentioning "Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition" instead of a broader term like ttrpg plays better with the youtube algorithm. That's why most channels keep repeating it like a keyword.
Yes. It's a matter of visibility. A lot of channels are D&D channels because the platform doesn't understand what a TTRPG is outside of that single IP.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm literally saying it's good how generalized the info is. that it can be applied to multiple things. It's literally a compliment you guys don't need to white knight this
@@markkolodziej496 I was only pointing out D&Ds ever present position in the world, the TTRPG community and streaming etcetera.
You make it sound like you were be accused of a bad thing. What we're saying is that it's due to a poor situation that this stuff isn't addressed generally.
I would rather TTRPGs be understood than be overshadowed by a single IP. No matter it's historic significance here.
Nobody is saying your being hostile or wrong. White knighting implies coming to the defence of. And that is the point being made at all.
Well yeah
I sometimes wish players knew how much work DMs put into their campaigns/one shots
I have to disagree with the GM not providing a service statement. The GM absolutely *is* providing a service for their players: you can have a session while missing a player, but not without the GM.
The GM is like a host throwing a party. While it may be a lot of work, if the party is successful and everyone has good time, then they get the satisfaction for providing for their friends. The host can't make a good party happen on their own, but their work *enables* the possibility of a good party happening.
We cannot ignore the fact that it's always the GM who sets the table and invites the players to enjoy themselves. It is inherently a servile role to take.
I think the point they’re trying to make is more that you shouldn’t treat your dm as if they’re a waitress or a taxi driver, etc. You should be treating them first and foremost as your friend. Idk that’s just what I got from it anyway, your analogy of a party host is a good one though
Communicating Interactions' chandelier example is players dealing with the antagonist DM: they are trying to paint the DM into a corner where they allow something to happen, when the DM has previously shot something down in a ruleslawyery way.
On the character potential I think it really exemplifies why I’m starting to love smaller 3-4 person parties over the 5-6 person parties that I typically run. In one of my first games it had only 3 players and it was so easy for us to have individual moments in the spot light while also sharing the spotlight sometimes too.
I Agree. Going with 4 this time. Making sure as a DM to give all 4 players time in the spotlight each session!!
I appreciated that you guys addressed the 'toxic DM" issue after talking about the likelihood of your DM being more enthusiastic and an ally to storytelling.
While I and others I've known are just like you guys when the players think of something awesome, I have been in the presence of and heard stories about the bad ones.
I think it goes a long way to help people understand that this is a wakeup call to anyone who *is* with a bad DM, that there's something off with how they run their games, and that there are better DM's out there!
I think that's one of the biggest things I wish more players knew: that terrific DM's are out there and the difference between playing with one of them vs that other kind is so enormous.
One of my favorite tools in the 5E toolbox is ability checks being freeform. You can pair any ability with any proficiency for the most part and that really helps when players start thinking big and outside of the box with their actions.
Part of the reasons for wild expectations if a DM is because of UA-camrs that say things like "this is a sign of a bad DM".
I got interested in trpg games because of crpgs. "A good DM gives players tons of choices" meanwhile the games that got me started are linear with very little in the way of options.
From my experience as a DM, tons of choices paralyze inexperienced players.
"It's Ok to Fail." So true. At our table, our saying is "Nat 20's win battles. Nat 1's tell the story!" Letting the player tell the tale of what happened when they rolled the Nat 1 has given us years of stories we still tell when we get together.
The DM memory thing. Sometimes I get so caught up in the moment and improv and i have to come up with a name but I'm really focused on the interaction. I could tell you the whole interaction afterwards, but the npc's name? No way.
I'd want them you know that my favorite player is the one that's taking good notes. Guys I can only write so fast. I rely on at least one player to remember the exact details of that deal you made with the shopkeeper, where on the mountain you dropped some loot, how many days until you meet that NPC in the next town, etc. For my homebrew I do haven like 50 pages of notes, but it's all what I pre-planned. For the stuff that we clearly improvised, please write it down. :)
I wish my players knew that the thing they're searching for is in the previous dungeon behind a feature they glanced at and walked passed.
In the same vein as "that's the characters name now." I hadn't put names to cities other than the relevant ones to the story so far. So when a player asked I said, "well what do you want it to be?" We have now begun to collaboratively fill in our campaign map as its discovered.
That is a good way to increase player investment in the lore.
One of the ways to explain the social contract to players might be like this:
This is an challenge encounter. You can fail. If you succeed, you get to tell what happens from there for a while. If you fail, I get to say what happens. Essentially, encounter failures aren’t portrayed as character deaths and story endings, but as a loss of agency until the next encounter.
Did the boss win or did the players win? The usual stakes are easy enough, but the encounters can be structured differently. For instance, the boss (let’s say a vampire) attacks. If he wins, he forwards his agenda. That could be tempting a character to vampirism, bestowing a curse, moving the characters somewhere else, or stealing an NPC off. If the players win, the boss is forced to flee and they get to see one of his get-out-of-jail free cards, plus hints on how to shut it down. In the final encounter, the PCs corner the boss and he’s out of cards to play. If they win, they get to decide his fate.
How about a skill encounter? If the PCs win, they get to be clever and victorious, and surmount the challenge with style. This can involve winning contests, or navigating travel with ease. If the PCs lose the skill encounter, events happen beyond their control, and their movement is forced along a path they may not have planned (but which moves the adventure a certain way).
I appreciate your last point. As the designated DM we sometimes “hold ourselves to a higher standard” and its good to know we’re all just some regular people playing silly games! It’s not a “job”!!! Thank you!
The chandelier example: what you've described is a product of "bad dm trauma", because despite your celebrities experience with permissive dm's and AS permissive dm's, what most of us has experienced is bad dm's who's knee-jerk reaction is to say no. This is a real thing and VERY common.
This is true, it sounded exactly like this
Yep. A long line of questions to back a DM into a corner is a player that spent far too long with an adversarial DM.
That's one of my favorite things to do/say as a dm. Give them a little smirk and say 'You could try!'
I think that the other side of whole "players using a long line of questioning to get to what they want to do" thing is that there are definitely DMs out there that would say: "You want to light your arrow on fire and shoot down the chandelier? Okay, you light the arrow and shoot a straight shot up to the chandelier supports, but it was a metal chain so your arrow had no effect." And the player has now wasted their turn doing something that they 100% wouldn't have done if they were in place of the character and could see that the chandelier was help up by a chain rather than a rope. If they had gone through the line of questioning, they would know and not waste their turn.
What I would like my players to do:
Know their spells and plan their next move/action after ending their turn.
This isn't always possible, especially for spell casters... the amount of times I've planned to use an AoE of some sort, only for the barbarian/fighter to get directly in the line of fire, usually when I'm next in the initiative line, stuck in place due to terrain and cannot move far enough to get them out of it. So frustrating!
Something I like to remind myself is that Bot every action taken in combat needs to be combat-related. For example, trying to use some noble diplomacy on human npc’s, or something like awkwafina distracting her enemies by doing silly karaoke songs at them. These things can be a fun way to do a lot more with a lot less.
"Failures make the story valuable" That's the best line for D&D in 2022. That's a BAR! 🔥
For new players just try and know what the rules considering your character are. Some players try to learn the entire players handbook, but they really don't need to do that. It's enough to know the rules they need to worry about and make sure they know those well instead of knowing every rule a little bit.
18:29. I did this with one of my characters too.
We were in The Temple Of Elemental Evil and we were in a room with a glowing glyph and very dusty, very big mirrors in an alcove. I knew that cleaning the mirrors was a stupid idea, however my character's flaw was that he was attracted to very shiny things. He saw the glowing glyph, saw the mirrors, and reasoned (with his 7 INT) that if he cleaned the mirrors then it would be REALLY glowy/shiny. He cleaned the mirrors using Mage Hand (he was a Barb/Monk/Rogue mix with the Telekinesis feat) and ended up getting 2 of the party members infected with a disease (he saved his CON saving throw) that would kill them in 2 days if they didn't get rid of it... they had to burn Greater Restoration spells to get rid of the disease.
I was laughing as I was apologizing to them (one of MY flaws is that I tend to laugh when I get embarrassed).
One of the things that I was told by a GM was to say I AM....
Rather than I think I would, If I were... It's the moment You ARE.
Once you start getting into the midless fish mindest of you ARE the mindless adventure,
It becomes like autopilot and a lot of fun because people start vibing off of each others actions
If you don't announce your response you will get left out like a river in a rock,
Become a Boulder, so the river has to change course, or adjusting,
Altering flow? Adding turbulence? Causing a WHIRLPOOOOOL!?
Get 'authorative' if your more of the introvert and intimidated but loving every second. (like me😊)
You guys are so freaking thoughtful! Been watching you for years. Rewatching this video now. You advice has made my game much better. Thanks!
The section on communicating intentions is really good and it can be very beneficial to the players.
I had a situation once, where a player asked whether there were any insects in the room. I wasn't really sure where they were going with this, so I just said "no". I forgot that they had magic "staff of swarming insects" that they could have used. I would definitely said "yes" if I had remembered or they would have made their intention clear...
“I’m portraying the bad guys and I want them to get absolutely destroyed by really cool stuff that the players do” is perhaps the best description of my own DM style I’ve ever heard. Thank you for that, and for this video. Lots of good advice for players, which is honestly hard to find.
This is good stuff. The monsters are the enemy, not the DM. In the surf-down-the-stairs-on-a-shield thing, even on a failed acrobatics check, the DM might say that the shield slips out from under you with such force that it smacks into an orc, roll for damage! So the player still gets a cool moment.
Player: "DM, how much money does it cost to be a DM?"
DM: The DM starts crying and wanders off to howl in a corner.
Happy my players have stopped saying "Am I allowed to..." and started saying "I'm going to try to..." after months of telling them you're "allowed" to do whatever you want. I just can't promise it'll end well.
Embracing failure as a fun and meaningful part of story development is one of the most important things a player can do to keep the have enjoyable for yourself and fellow players. One of my favorite moments ever in a campaign was (spoilers ahead!) towards the beginning of OotA when we were escaping the Drow prison. I was playing an arcane trickster rogue who had struggled with landing any melee attacks throughout the escape. My character was getting frustrated (I was laughing my ass off and apologizing to the rest of the party for my lack of contribution) so I climbed up to a stalactite and hid, waited for the priestess of Lloth to be right under me and dropped down to sneak attack her. My friend who was DMing gave me advantage since I was hidden and I rolled double Nat 1's. DM groaned and laughed and said sorry, you missed, and I was like oh, no, it's way worse than that. I described how I landed on my rapier, stabbing myself in the gut and dropping me to 0 hp. I was saved and decided my character hated trying to stab things. I worked with my DM and made a pact with the goddess of magic to trade out my rogue levels and go full wizard, but had a warlock style patron relationship with the goddess of magic. I loved it, DM and fellow players loved it, and it all hinged on rolling with failure and making it meaningful to the character, not letting it get you down as a player. Great advice, as always. Love you guys! Can't wait for my physical copy of Sebastian Crowe's Guide!
Do some campfire/tavern RPing between the PCs and have your PC ask the other's about their opinions, history and goals. Put the effort into RPing the growth of party camaraderie. Also RP developing party tactics. The number of tables I've been at where it's almost seen as metagaming having my PC want to understand what they party's capabilties are and how they might work together has surprised me.
Often times, the reason a player might have a line of questioning it to ensure the DM supports their idea, rather than shoot it down. You right that some DMs want to have fun and it's not necessary, but that's just some DMs.
As a player, your job is to, "Not throw away your shot!" *queues Hamilton musical*
Don't be afraid to just yell shit out... [long story...]
One of the things that was hard for me as a new player was that, you yes, you lowly peasent first timer can change your destiny, you're not just the 3rd wheel.
I was under so much pressure when the other experienced players where just shouting some random shit that's sounded fun for them... I couldn't steer the cart BUT.
I made a MASSIVE catalyst for the DMS storyline....
We do the intro, hey we met we fight some zombirds,
We come to a church, I'm playing some dwarf death cleric,
there's some kind of sigil or something,
So I kind of 'evoked the spirits of my god' banging on the shield thrice and yelling a savage warcry,
(being the scardey cat in the group a level 1 cleric terrified of combat after almost getting decimated in a battle)
the call was heard by some ancient death god from the 2nd cataclysm.... and... a lot bad stuff happened to the group cause y'know... Ancient Death Gods at Lvl.1 :D
It was at that moment... The DM looked at me, waited a few, seconds, raised his eyebrow
rubbed his hands, clapped them together and got soo excited with this SINISTER grin on f
That's when I became addicted to the game, it's such an amazing outlet for baggage acrewed during the week and letting it out in a humble and communal way. Amazing.
7:25 A caveat to the statement of intentions: Do not assume there will be a chandelier in the room just because you get the idea to shoot it down. It is crucial to ask questions about your surroundings to then understand what you can do. In this instance, as a player, I would have asked about shooting down the chandelier after the DM said there was one, still asking questions, but cutting back on them dramatically.
10:46 Correction: The DM SHOULD be on your side. I have played with a few DMs who's only concern seemed to be how they can cause the most damage to the party or kill the most characters as efficiently as they could. I would have DMs who would laugh manically and wring their hands if the party would split for any reason. These DMs usually only ran one session and I wouldn't go back to them. If your DM does this often, they won't be a DM for long. Do not tolerate this behavior. DMs don't like murder-hobos, players don't like party killers.
If it's a one-shot... sure... kill the party at the end of it.
Otherwise, there are other games out there -- Descent: Journeys in the Dark [1.0, 2.0] and Hero Quest - to name a couple, that are designed for it to be one vs. many. In those types of games death tends to not be permanent (at least for Descent anyway), so it's all in good fun.
I have this 3rd party book which has a small table about player etiquette which I really wish PHB also had - and it tells a few good things. Apart from that, one important thing I wish all players knew (especially younger ones) was, try to figure out what other party members are trying to achieve and support them. That way they will be happy and will be grateful to you ingame/outside of game, and their success becomes your success as well - This applies to all sections of gameplay (combat as in pushing an enemy into someone's AOE effect, roleplaying as in distracting an NPC while the role performs sleight of hand, exploration like keeping an eye out for threats while your friend tries to solve a puzzle or unlock a door).
Realize that a bad joke is nearly always worth it.
What I mean by that: read the group and the mood of the day. Sometimes derailing a session is the best choice for everyone als it'll get you a lot of fun for the next weeks.
That long line of questions is likely due to a player trying to think out what they're doing, or an experienced player that's spent too much time with an antagonistic DM. One bad DM can teach a player they need to act that way. Then unlearning they play style of asking questions until the DM is backed into a corner becomes an uphill battle.
Seeing all the views and commenta makes me happy so many people are actively trying to be better players. Just wanted to say thanks. You're all making games better for everyone.
LET'S GO, now we need this to go viral! As a DM, I'm very happy about it.
hey guys. thansk for everything. my group has met probably 8 times total now. your videos have helped me realize being a DM isnt impossible or too difficult, but a whole lot of fun, despite the challenge!
I want my players to know that i often am just making stuff up as we go along, that i only have a generalized end goal and i will fit in the mcguffins where i see them fitting in with the story THEY are writing. So sometimes, i also need to take notes, cause god forbid in 5 sessions you finally return to a city and everyones forgotten what the promised reward was, or in 10 sessions you reference a character that you remember everything about but i dont remember one bit. I need just a little bit of time to shorthand some notes on whats going on.
However, at the same time im making maps and dozens of character possibilities and creating the space for you to play around in and form your stories while balancing an often more than full time job and regular life on top of this. While i can make stuff up as i go, i cant just make up a characters personality and everything on the spot every time, i do need some preparation time so that you actually can see and visualize the places you visit, the people you see, and the things your characters can do and do in this theatre of the mind. I just need more than a day between some sessions, thats all.
So yeah, please give me some prep time and ask things you want to do. Im here to make the game fun and fair while keeping it "on track." If you think thered realistically be barrels of alcohol nearby, you can ask and ill check what i know of the area, make the judgement call, and then you can burn the tavern down anyways.
thanks. your points are valid and helpful, even to a guy that has been playing for several decades. i have tried to run games, but am terrible at it, for many reasons. i am grateful for the guys in the group that are awesome at it, and i show that by only arguing with the DM when it provides fun for the table.
Great video! As a player I try many of these things out. I have made great friends because of these strong "We are a team"vibe and actually babysat a PC that had levels of random madness causing insanely fun encounters. Then he dove into the ocean in search of treasure and got eaten by sharks. His next character I didn't like because my character thought he was apompous arrogant jerk that just happened to show up after my friend died. This led to a completely different dynamic between us.
I don't agree on the asking 20 questions to find out if something is possible. How the room is decorated furnished or constructed can completely change how an action is made. As the DM lays out the room it could influence the decision. Asking how a room is lit does not equal "i want to shoot a rope of a chandelier". I just recently threw a torch at the bad guy and ran. No harm in that.
Keep up the great content.
My DM really appreciated that I shared your video with him. He might share it with the party so they understand more about the game:)
At first I didn't want to watch this as I thought this was exactly the video that you say at the very beginning that you are NOT going to do (take notes, know your character, creating the adventure takes a lot of effort, blabla...), but man was I wrong and I'm so happy I clicked on the video. This is great stuff! Most of us know all this, but putting all this in one, easily consumable video is a great tool! I'm gonna show this all my players! Many thanks Dudes! ;)
"Do the dumb" my character had to backtrack through a haunted house and he "forgot" to take a right turn, instead stumbling into a diner with a creepy doll in a seat in the back at the table. Simple but cool moment
As a DM, almost since the beginning with the old Red box D&d, I've always allowed the npc's a reaction set, and a plan. That helps bring them to live, but it also allows them to react to what the players do by changing what they are doing.. Goblins might be brave until scared or someone pushes against their bluff,, so chances are that small team of heavy crossbow carriers might get of a shot before running off. An enemy mage, might use other of their spells if characters do certain things or they might flee in anger to try to take revenge later. Even the farmer selling vegetables from a cart at the market will have things he or she will do and how they will react, but wants too and a plan for the day.
Doing stuff like that for every NPC makes them feel more alive. And if a player get's to big for their bridges, when nothing hurts quite as much as loosing to a group of crossbow carrying kobolts who more or less kills the character before they can react and wakes up naked wrapped up like a christmas steak besides a huge pot. If they don't find a way out of that they will be cocked and eaten. Do that and other things once or twice and the character learns that even the weakest being can be dangerous.
Oh, and by the way, a knockout poison gas, is not a sleeping gass, that distinction will allow any DM lots of fun at the cost of the players. Being robbed blind by a teenaged robber girl who seemingly vanishes into smoke with all their best gear and all their money, tends to focus the players to go hunting or maybe seek the criminal behind it, only to find that they are the disposed noble who is fighting against the evil that has taken over the town in secret.
Everyone has goal, needs, wants, in any given moment they have a plan, most of the time they have stuff to do too, so they are not hanging around for the players to stumble over, they have to go look or seek. But maybe outsiders are not well liked and that causes issues, or.... Make your roleplaying world so filled with life that it almost feels real. All it takes is a bit more imagination.
"Players should try to DM at least once" Having experienced a player who is also a DM was amazing, They can see when you stumble and are quick to start RP among players to give you your moment to wright yourself, they own their failures, they aren't afraid of character death, And they are usually better at picking up the hints that the DM puts down. I would love it if all my players ran something, I don't even need to be there.
As a bonus, if any of my players came to me asking me to teach them how to run a game, I would cry with happiness.
Everyone has different opinions and thoughts about things. For me, failure for the hero/heroine is completely awful. I want them to always succeed, maybe not a complete success but still succeed in general. For example, if the Hero/Heroine attempted to kill a Villain/Villainess but didn't succeed, YET they managed to maim them in some way that is still a success technically.
Another example, say they attempted to Surf down a Hill on a Shield/Sled/etc and couldn't maintain staying upright, but they managed to belly slide on the item that too is a success. As such I have various House Rules that promote "Power Playing" and failures are 99% none-existent.
DM wishlist:
Know the rules.
Remember that "your character" isn't "THE character". That extends to creation. Making an orc hating ranger in a party of orcs to antagonize the rest is a douche move, especially when you have a reputation for doing so.
Build PCs for the setting. If your DM says it's a Savage jungle setting, showing up with a warforged isn't meeting them halfway.
Let's players make their own choices. Everyone hates when another player tells you how to do your job. If someone needs help, let them ask. Otherwise play your character, not theirs.
Be ready for your turn. It's not that hard.
Experiment with characters that aren't just "you in platemail". The number of "Bob plays Bob at the table" players I've met is astounding. You don't have to be an actor, but you can try something else too. Your own outlook should inform your actions, but so should your characters'.
There are other alignments than Chaotic Neutral.
Accept the repercussions of your actions.
Characters die. It's why they have hit points.
Monsters want to win too.
When villain's plans are ignored, they don't go into stasis like a video game.
You may not need to be a hero, but you need to be involved. Rolling a character then refusing to partake in anything wastes everyone's time.
Lastly, I personally take a neutral stance as DM. I am neither for nor against the PCs. I'm there to arbitrate. That means that I may favor certain actions as plausible and others as ridiculous. Accept those rulings with grace, at least at the table. If you'd like to discuss it, wait until after the game. If I'm wrong, I'll throw you a bone. If not, accept things and move forward.
Kelly's shirt is the definition of a cool dude shirt
I was so happy when my party discovered they could combine web and fire to create a massive explosion.
It saved their assess after they charged into butterskull ranch and fought 20 orcs at once.
I eased them in by introducing the orcs every turn since they had to group up, because 20 orcs at once woulda been a tpk, but after they discovered teamwork, i definitely upped the difficulty.
Even as a DM and a player both, I still end up doing the step-wise explain-to-me-if-these-things-are-here thing, although it's less because I want to trick anyone into agreeing with me, and more because I want to exactly what elements are in the combat puzzle I'm working with. I don't want the chandelier to exist just because I want to be able to shoot one down, I want it to exist because the DM thinks it's an important part of the scene that makes sense to be there. I don't wanna just be given things so I can be cool, I want to be cool by using the things that already exist, if that makes any sense? Less about "I'm gonna trick you into saying yes" and more "I want to make sure you have every opportunity to say no so that I'm not just making things up for you to go along with" Is that splitting hairs? I dunno. I guess having detailed descriptions of room layouts helps make this more of a non-issue, which I try to do myself.
It's not splitting hairs...but the DM should still be able to 'push' the players a little. "It's an empty room. You don't need to search for 20 rounds to know its empty".
Or " a table and chair and some old food. Obviously no one has ben here for a while".
The point is that the DM has to help keep the game moving and push the PCs along so as not to waste too much time on mundane issues that are not helping the story line.
14:50 We had a homebrew one-shot that involved a puzzle scenario, a kind of hide-and-seek, but the DM had made it clear that the penalty for guessing incorrectly was death. One guess, no matter how close you were, if it was wrong, you dropped unconscious on the spot, and if we all failed, like the many bones that littered the area, we were dead. Instant, party wide Analysis Paralysis, because it was NOT ok to fail. There was no save, the point was to figure it out and guess, but it was an all or nothing death for failure scenario. HATED it.
Regarding failure, my first session with a new character and new team of players saw me missing every single attack roll with my Eldritch blast-centric warlock. We quickly rolled it into my character, who was basically all talk, and it became one of the funniest most enjoyable parts of the game when I would miss an Eldritch blast.
I appreciate you guys bringing up how unfair it is when people act like there is only 1 good way to be a good DM, and that if you don't follow that path you are a bad DM and have somehow failed a job.
That mindset is the most toxic opinion in the community and it absolutely keeps people from getting behind the screen, and reinforces a dynamic where the DM is treated as effectively a service provider instead of someone equally worthy of being entertained and having a good time.
This is just a great video for me.
I just started as a DM and I couldn't agree more with the sentiment of this video and comments.
We are telling a story together about challenges and cool ways to overcome them.
So if everyone pitches in by imagining what the characters intent to do and see what the roll says about the execution.
It's far cooler when you have a clear goal for a roll. Just alone knowing that the monster had ill intent but
Missed miserably has you more emotionally invested in the story. Which leads to a more passionate way of portraying our characters, both as DM as players.
Great video! As a DM, I can relate to some of these things of what we wish players knew or did/didn't do. One of the other things to mention is, some DMs do it as a necessity to just be apart of DnD. I just had a decent length of time that I was DMing a few campaigns and not playing in any because I didn't know anyone else that could DM or wanted to. Also, I like many DMs out there, like to teach people how to play the game. We may not be the most experienced DM out there or even very good at it, but we just want to get others interested in what we love. Cut DMs some slack on the little things. Appreciate that they put their time into everything.
I wish players knew how much they affect the environment and mood of the session and campaign. I think too many players are passively awaiting the DM’s tone and feel obligated to follow. A character can make a joke or do something silly or (attempt to) make a serious alliance whenever they want even if it isn’t exactly what the current setting is. As long as it doesn’t distract or derail progress, I think it is a welcome addition.
While I'm not a huge D&D fan, I'm a big role-playing fan - and I heartily suggest all players and DM's pick up and read Dungeon World. It is a great role-playing game, but more importantly it's one of the best primers for "actual" role-playing I've ever read. The authors manage to really explain well the idea/motivations/spirit behind role-playing. It covers most of what you've mentioned in this video, and encourages a cooperative/creative experience in a world that expands well beyond the character sheet. Unfortunately when I run Dungeon World for D&D players they struggle quite a bit because the character sheets are very minimal and "skills" aren't very prevalent, so people get hung up on the sheet. They think they can't do anything, when the opposite is true; you can do anything. It's a role-playing game.
I’ve come from D&D and played both Dungeon World and Apocalypse World. I did get hung up on the character sheet for bit, but quickly found the freedom of just imagining what my character would do and hope for the best. It’s how my AW battle babe shot the bust of a statue off of a pressure plate Indiana Jones style and blew up three bad guys. I stated what my plan was and asked if I could try it.
I’m also in a Scion 2e game that is heavy on roleplay and playing other games has helped in communicating my intentions better and finding more freedom in taking big swings.
I’m definitely guilty of asking multiple questions when they weren’t necessarily for me to do something cool. Thank you for this eye opener!
Love you guys. New dnd adventurer and have learned so much from y’all and excited to learn even more about 5e and Dnd One
DMs, please please please, actually describe the rooms we enter. Finding out there's windows, or furniture, or if the room is lit or dark should not be like pulling teeth. My Paladin has a passive Perception of 24, with natural and magical Darkvision, Observant. I have Expertise in Perception for crying out loud. I have the Devil's Sight Eldritch Invocation. I am begging you, let my character who is entirely based around having flawless situational awareness, be aware of his surroundings. I have 10 feet of blindsight, no, I did not miss that troll that was standing next to the doorway simply because I didn't specify I looked to the right upon entering the room.
16:03 I can totally confirm this.
This night's game I finally got to play my "Peace Domain Battlemaster" properly in combat. I used my Emboldening Bond and action surge into casting Bless... Only to get a skull thrown right at me and break my concentration a couple of turns later. But because I described that scene as a dramatic moment that left my character with a bloody nose, it ironically became the most memorable thing for me this night.
So thank you, Dungeon Dudes. Your advice turned my failed play into a good time :D
a few more tips that piggy back on things you two said:
1 - your character sheet is not a list of things you can do. It is a list of things you do well. Dont become of a prisoner of the character sheet thinking the answer is on there somewhere. Most of the time, the solution to your situation is NOT on your character sheet.
2 - This brings to "telegraphing". I think it was Kelley who said "Say what you imagine your character doing". In certain other RPGs I've seen this more robustly described as "telegraphing". Telegraphing is more about the outcome than the action itself. In short - you're speaking (out of character) to telegraph what the character is trying to accomplish. The "how" is left for after that - that's the rules discussion/ajudication part. Telegraphing helps all participants know for sure what the character is up to - like an audience watching a TV show. It's one thing to say "I bluff him". Its another to start speaking in character trying to bluff. But it's telegraphing to say "(character name) will attempt to bluff the guy into second-guessing why we are here - in hopes that perhaps he will feel he is being insulted by his employer and maybe not as loyal to him; perhaps give us a chance to find more proof that he's being lied to. Later we can use that doubt and disloyalty to our advantage"
That's telegraphing.
I want to shoot the chandalier rope. vs telegraphing: "I see the goblins moving towards me, I move to the other side of the room so they have to cross the floor under the chandalier, and then I will shoot the rope dropping it on to the group of them".
"I slam my hand down in anger and claim I saw Arveth doing this" vs telegraphing "I slam my hand down, with a straight bold lie i attempt to convince him it was Arveth who did this "I watched the lad do this with his own hands!"
Telegraphing expresses the intent that what you're saying is in fact a purposeful lie to bluff your way or deflect blame. Now the audience understands, and the GM can make appropriate rule adjudications to address the intended outcomes.
My first session zero felt very much like I was being read my miranda rights. That really messed me up as a player for a long time. I would ask a thousand questions before declaring my action, because if I didn't make an air tight case for why it should work, it would be used against me. And I would be scared of making even a tiny mistake. I am not even sure if that was the actual intend of my dm, or if that was more of a miscommunication. Looking back communication was a big problem in that first group. And we never discussed what we enjoyed or hated about our games, so nothing ever improved.
It was really important to me, that the players in my new group know that they can tell me if they don't enjoy aspects of our playstyle and that we will find ways to work it out. Even the new player's opinions matter. I am not going to assume that it's a lack of experience that has them frustraded with certain houserules.
the communicating intentions example is due to players having had DMs who were AGAINST the party. i have a friend who is that type of DM.
I have experienced this as well... dnd is isa cooperative game yeah? But... people are used to playing games where one side wins
Mother, may I? "No." = sad 😔