How Brennan Lee Mulligan can make you a better DM
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
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Brennan Lee Mulligan from #dimension20 can make you a better DM! Brennan is one of my favourite Dungeon's and Dragons Dungeon Masters. His D&D DM style is heavily focused on improv and narrative. He is best known for Dimension 20, and his new podcast Worlds Beyond Number. Brennan has been playing #dnd for most of his life, and is a fan of fifth edition. There's lots that we can learn from Brennan!
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I see a lot of advice that can be interpreted as “as a DM, do everything you can to please your players”. It’s important to remember that the DM also plays the game to have fun. Brendan is a great DM, but he’s also obviously having fun with his group and their play style. DMs need to find groups that also allow the DM to have fun. It’s important to state, because 5E is bleeding DMs these days due to unrealistic expectations of self-sacrifice in pursuit of “good DMing”
Absolutely agree! It's so much work to DM, so you have to be having fun as well otherwise it's not worth it
@powerwordspill I'm actually playing my very first game as a dm tomorrow! I learned foundry and got it all setup in 4 days, and tomorrow I dm for the first time! Hopefully I do well.
@@hincapiej4 how did it go? 😊
@@cyanl.2245 I think it went really well! we've played 3 times now and everyone seemed really excited and happy
Thank you for asking!
I’m one of those DMs who built an entire world complete with country maps, war histories, flag designs, etc. before I started the first session. That said, there’s nothing I enjoy more than having my friends play around inside this world I built for them. I love seeing them change things, shape the world, and make meaningful connections with each other and the NPCs. It’s a real trip to see how excited they can get about something that is purely made of our collective imagination that grew out of the seed I planted in their heads. 😂
Something people forget to mention, and need to realise, is that in actual-play content both the DM AND the players are very good. Brennan and Matt are great DMs, but if the players around the table are not receptive or invested in the game then nobody can salvage that. Don't try and force a pro-level experience from your players, and don't kick yourself if you aren't getting the same reception that you see on actual-play. Just have fun.
That's a really good take 👌
congratulations on the first sponsor. im glad to see youre getting some recognition
Still really enjoying your videos as they come out. Thank you for not trying to monetize as much as possible by stretching these videos out to 15-20 minutes. Your videos are engaging, smart and fun to watch and I appreciate it
This kind of advice of having an open story for your players is honestly great. I’ve been doing this for a long running Star Wars campaign, and the story has been great evolving the world around their actions.
As for listening to player actions I’ve actually just finished writing out a new session scene for this: one of my players for D&D got suspicious of a servant and I decided to run with it to encourage them all to be a bit more “hey, I wanna see if this person’s lying” and use more social skills rather than fighting or intimidation so this is solid advice
The LOTR reference at the beginning 😂
First time on this channel, and I have to say: That's an amazing moustache!
Thanks for sharing these insights! It's nice to reflect on people who have great skills to learn from, including yourself, Kelly!
Well that's very kind of you!
Brennan is absolutely my muse for dming
Words of wisdom.
Oh my god I have never felt so accidentally called out as I have at the "panic and start making up unfair rules to stop the PCs doing what they're doing"; can definitely say as someone who has done this it's definitely an insecurity thing so I encourage anyone who has found themselves doing this and being embarrassed in hindsight to try to have faith in your dming and generally try to improve your confidence as a person.
First of all, love this channel! I understand that this video is focused on lessons we can learn from Brennan Lee Mulligan; however, most of the time, the advice in your videos can be considered "system-neutral", but this video seems to be more D&D 5e-centric than most. Here are my thoughts on the Tips presented in this video:
#1. "Listen to your players. Allow their decisions to guide the story and shape the world" - This is great advice that can be leveraged by any GM for any RPG and the example from Brennan's campaign was a good illustration too.
#2. "Reward creativity by using an additional check to let players bend the rules." - I agree that RPG rule sets provide players "a framework to play in" but the idea that the rules are designed to "bring balance to the game" is definitely a 5e construct. Early additions of D&D placed a heavy focus on the concept of "rulings, not rules" allowing for the GM to use there own judgement when reacting to player actions, rather than strict adherence to the letter of the rules or any lack thereof. I'm not clear on what is meant by requiring "an additional check" to allow a player to execute a fun idea. The players should be able to try just about anything and depending on what the action is, it may require a roll (but not always) to see if they succeed. So I'm not clear on what the purpose of the "additional check" would be.
#3. "Don't panic if things don't go the way you planned, you can always find a solution." - Death should be a real threat in most RPGs. It provides meaningful stakes and adds weight to player decisions/actions. Seeing character death as a problem that needs a solution, i.e. resurrection, cheapens death and weakens player agency.
#4. "Don't be afraid to railroad your players, if that's the kind of campaign they want to play." - I suppose this depends on the definition of "railroading". I do think there should always be a degree of discovery during play for both the players and the GM. If everything is "on the rails", then you're not playing a game at all, you're forcing players to be actors in a play. This is where Tip #1 comes into play - the GM may have ideas of where the players may be led, but the GM should also be reacting to the players and allow their decision to take them down unknown paths. My preference is constrained choice, meaning the GM provides the players with a list of options to choose from, e.g. - "you can travel to any of these locations" or "you can choose to pursue any one of these rumors you have heard", and then the players make their choice from the limited options provided by the GM. It is an on-the-rails sandbox, that is to say, there are many directions to go and choices to make but from a limited list and once the choice is made, the players are on-the-rails of that chosen path to its natural conclusion.
#5. "Don't forget that your players are the heroes of the story, so make them feel cool." - This is a specific type of play style (and then default style of play in D&D 5e), but having the PCs be the heroes of the story can be problematic because it often results in PCs having plot-armor, which leads to PC death being viewed as a problem, rather than a natural consequence of actions (also see comments to Tip #3).
@GenuineMattyC sorry this took me so long to reply! You have some great discussion points in here so I wanted to put some though into my reply. I’m glad you’re liking the channel! I do try to keep my tips system neutral for the most part, but tbh I play 5e 99% of the time so that’s probably bound to happen. I do want to branch out more though!
#2 This tip is definitely 5e focused. Sometimes I think some DMs get too worried about letting players do something that goes against the rules, but if it’s creative and fun then I think you can let it go ahead. Which speaks to your point about rulings vs rules. But what Brennan does is he asks for an additional skill check to make the final decision about whether or not to allow it. If you’re a GM who is using rulings instead of rules then this tip might not be good for you. But for the DM who is afraid to allow something that is “against the rules” this can be a stepping stone because in the end the dice are still making the final decision.
#3 I think this totally depends on what your group likes! I would agree with you that I like death to be a real threat when I play, I feel like it makes the rolls that much more intense. But I know that not all of the players in my group feel the same way. Some of them feel that the story is what they enjoy most, and that they would enjoy it the same if death wasn’t on the table at all. So I guess this one just depends on what your group likes! Although my example was about player death, I intended this one to be more general. The other example that came to mind was getting flustered if your PCs destroy your BBEG in the first round of combat because you didn’t get the encounter balance right. I read so many stories of GMs panicking and then making up rules to protect their BBEG. So perhaps the example I chose wasn’t the best for this one.
#4 I think that’s great advice! I like that term.
#5 I’d disagree on this one. I don’t think that making your players the heroes of the story gives them plot armor because it’s an ensemble cast. I think it’s pretty common in fiction if you have a large cast of characters for some of them to die, in fact it can make the story better sometimes. My intention behind this tip was that other characters in your story shouldn’t upstage your PCs because I don’t think that’s as much fun for your players. I think there are lots of ways to make your players feel cool, one of them being tip #1. If the world reacts to their decisions that makes them feel cool. And then if you let them have a big victory every once in a while that also feels cool. I’ve been guilty of this as well for sure, but I think sometimes GMs get wrapped up in their stories and making cool NPCs and cool villains, and they forget the whole reason they’re at the table, to play with the real people that are actually sitting there, not the NPCs.
Really enjoyed reading your discussion points!
Nice a sponsor. Your channel is worth watching
great video.