Are you a DM Novelist? 🗺️🎲

Are you a Dungeon Master or Game Master falling into the trap of being a novelist instead of a facilitator of fun? 🚫📖 Let’s talk about why player agency matters, and how to create dynamic, collaborative stories without forcing your players down a pre-written path. 🗺️🎲
In this video, I dive into:
✨ Avoiding the "novelist DM" mindset
✨ Letting your world breathe and evolve with your players
Remember, it’s their story too! Let's build worlds together, not just tell them. 🌟
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[@raulhess]

Great video, keep it up!

[@NikGushue]

I'm not joking when I say "make the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails, throw away the plan" is the best DM advice you can have. I love having "a plan" less as what I think needs to happen, but instead something to break the glass in front of to help shape a campaign if needed. Tbh the main benefit of "a plan" is having something to go back to for what happens to the world outside of the players to help make it feel alive to the extent that it changes and doesn't remain static even without the players.

[@Frederic_S]

Thanks for the video. As a GM, if I want to see some plot points in the campaign, because I think the story we tell together gets more interesting that way, that's ok. So I guess a campaign can be 5-10 % planned like a novel. It's all about balancing player agency and GM agency. After all I am a player too and my character is "everyone else in the world" 🤗

[@Galefrie-v4x]

I think that all you really need to figure out for a great night of D&D is the following
A handful of NPCs - this is a roleplaying game after all and who are the players going to roleplay with? The NPCs
3 - 6 action encounters - these can be combat but it could also be a puzzle or a trap or whatever, basically a cool moment designed to be dropped in wherever one is needed
Some kind of exciting opening - something that immediately tells the players what the goal of the session is and gets them playing!
Some random tables - tables of things like "stuff in a treasure chest", things that'll help inspire your imagination on the fly

[@YawdroGaming]

If a DM is telling you about their campaign, and they are only describing what they created, and not mentioning the cool things the players did and created, they might have a problem. I love highlighting the creativity of my players. They are what make the game. I'm highlighting some of the cool stuff my players have made on my channel and it's things I would never thought of on my own. I can then take those threads and surprise my players in ways they never expected. This is what makes the game so much fun! Not writing a mountain of notes to live out a novel.

[@windmark8040]

I think the best practice is to talk to your players and ask what they want out of a campaign. Some players want clear "paths" and objectives to weave them throughout a game world, while others may prefer a more sandbox-style of gameplay and others may want a mixture. In my experience, this still doesn't guarantee that the players will be consistent session to session. But that's both a positive and a negative. Keep up the great content!

[@brucegusler5208]

This! My table likes the stories that I craft but I don’t have them on a railroad. They can influence the story in anyway at any point. I find ways for things to still happen or I change it up. The real thing is to not be set in stone with your vision, let it evolve. Sometimes my players come up with better ideas than I could ever do and I will change things around to match that.