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I've actually heard a great tip for people who want to jump straight into combat while other players want to talk it out. You as the DM have control of the time frame, if you're in the middle of interrogation and one person is bored so they say "I cut him in half with my axe" but the others aren't finished, you can control the amount of time it takes. Say "you all see him grabbing his axe and preparing to swing" now the player's agency hasn't been taken away because you didn't just not let him do anything, AND those who aren't finished with the interrogation have the ability to stop him or hold him back. And your other players, having seen than one person is bored, will probably understand that it's about time to wrap it up. With your combat scenario, "ELDRITCH BLAST!" "You all see him raise his hands and they glow with eldritch energy." And they can decide if they want to stop him or let the blast continue. Now instead of one person deciding to start combat, it's everyone's decision.
Outstanding video! "Are they on their phones?" This drives me insane. I banned phones from the table unless there is an emergency. I've caught people on Facebook and playing games during RP times. It's so annoying.
Yeah, totally. I know my players use their phones for spellbook apps anf to look things up on DnD Beyond, so it's not always easy to tell if it's legit usage or goofing around.
The only time im ever on my phone as a player is to check the time cause my clocks not working, to quickly check texts incase their important, or if the dm asks me to look up monster stats or needs me to look anything up because i have apps like the bestiary and 5e character creator etcetera. Other than that my phone is usually on the floor collecting dust
@@0gDragon_Hero DnD Beyond has some GREAT resources... but maybe it's paranoia of being a fairly NEW DM, that I see a phone and immediately think not paying attention. :(
@@joshuasolt8416 I used to have some worries about this, too... SO I started occasionally implementing "GM's mischief"... It's inserting a few absolutely critical details when you're concerned your Players aren't entirely paying attention... as a sort of "test" for them. Jot down your own notes (unless of course, you've prepped for it) and take particular care to make those critical details count... Then later on, either just later in the session (as kind of a puzzle) you can find out who's been paying attention and concern yourself with those who obviously aren't absorbing the material... You ca do this kind of thing with "foreshadowing" techniques, like dropping a few hints at a future outcome or situation that's likely... OR you can give inherent keys to puzzles, like symbols etched into arts, treasures, or even artifacts and magic items as significant methods to resolve something later... only don't exactly explain that the funky scratches and lines on the medallion are the positions of a certain set of levers in the order needed to open a drawbridge or turn off the fountains of boiling oil... whatever. Just give them the medallion and a fairly articulate description of lines carved into it in sets of three or four... and later match with three or four levers... It's the kind of "trick" that rewards folks for focus, and causes trouble for folks who dismiss everything except whatever they want... like their damn phones... laptops... pocket games... whatever. Personally, I haven't had too much trouble with Players who'd rather be on their phones. It's been a rare occurrence, and even then, usually with explanations... reasons... etc. Once or twice, I've had an actual problem... but nothing that didn't resolve itself with a bit of mischief, and someone "pitching a bitch" about the puzzle was unfair, when it was pointed out that HE had the key to it the whole time (which half the table knew)... AND as with any Table-side conflicts of interest... Part of a GM's process toward greatness is to TALK to the Players that might have issues... and try to reach a comfortable resolution. ;o)
I feel it's always good to have those small moments, I played a halforc monk who is usually action first and didnt care much to the area around him but I love that out of nowhere I say something that is logical and the rest of the players get confused
By the by, if you're designing a puzzle, design in reverse. Start with the solution, then work backwards until there's a sufficient number of steps between the finish and your current move that it can be the beginning of the puzzle. Leave just a tiny bit of wiggle room for alternative solutions or different approaches to your one conclusion and bam, you have a puzzle.
@@theDMLair While it's not D&D, this is a principle used by some game designers of fairly major video games. The best example I can give is the original God Of War video game. They created the insane, action-packed opening level last, so it could pull players in and show them the heights of the game out of the gate, getting them to stay for the puzzle-filled less exciting later levels by giving them an immediately and lasting impression of what's being offered of both the story and gameplay. They designed the entire game, from puzzles to action, using this reverse philosophy, so much so that the final boss is essentially just two guys in a circular arena when you look past the spectacle.
@@theDMLair If you need additional tips, I highly recommend Mark Brown's UA-cam video on puzzle design in games (Found here: ua-cam.com/video/zsjC6fa_YBg/v-deo.html ). Just keep in mind that the mechanics of D&D are far more expansive than anything he talks about, and don't panic if your seemingly tight-knit puzzle design is bested in a way you don't expect. If that occurs, reward your players for outsmarting you rather than punishing them or telling them it doesn't work that way. Though I'm sure you're a good enough DM to already understand this.
I have a good example from my dnd game. The players had to open doors in dungeon. The password was "boat" and I made a riddle for them to solve. I started with the solution: Boat (or ship or whatever). Then I asked myself what does the boat do? It floats on water, it sails, it travels with cargo. Then I twisted it a look making "floating on water" into "riding the blue horses", "sailing" into "gathering the power of wind" and "traveling with cargo" into "having the riches of far away lands inside". The I just personified the boat. "I am the one who rides the blue horses, I am the one who gathers the power of wind, I am the one who hold the riches of far away lands within." I could never make something like that just by going: "I need a good riddle" and trying to create the riddle before having the solution.
When dealing with murder hobos, I love the tip of GMs being able to sorta control time. "You folks see Murder Hobo draw his sword/start casting his spell. What do you do?" Another, more overt method of curbing violent behavior is to make use of custom explosive situations. A wizard might hold back on the fireballs when dealing with a kobold lair that has been hoarding black powder for their rituals. That rogue might think twice about stabbing all the things if the last one had some kind of fungal growths that exploded when it died, covering him with spores and infecting him with... something. A weirdly drastic method that could totally derail a planned campaign is to bring divination and resurrection magics and social/political pressure into the mix. NPCs could find the bodies afterwards and figure out how they died, possibly raise mostly innocent victims, and testify against the players in their town/home. You'll probably want to talk to the players before dropping this one on them. The players could either roll the new angle and become fugitives or seek to recover the goodwill of the people and make reparations of some sort. Prime plot hook material.
Ooooh, love the idea about raising victims who might later testify agains the PCs. Lol If I ever run into murder hobo behavior (my players usually don’t go there), I might just use that! :D
As my Hobgoblin Paladin would say: "I can't fight all the time; I need time for my hobbies. Preparing for the next fight, dreaming of my next glorious victory, and woodwork."
Many years ago, in a 3.5 game, we had a player who wanted to attack everything as soon as he saw it. We had a rotating DM thing going, so, when it was my turn to run an adventure, I thought of a way to curb his behavior. The party was on their way to retrieve a relic from the lair of a red dragon when they ran into a strange, horned monstrosity. After the player in question charged and insta-killed it, they found out that it carried a letter from my wizard who was away dealing with other business (absent as I was DM). It stated that he heard that they were off to face this dragon, so he called in a favor with the monster who was the sole person alive who had befriended the dragon and that he would speak on their behalf to convince it to let them borrow the relic. After a near TPK by the dragon, he stopped attacking on sight. Interestingly, this is also when the cleric learnt to prepare fire resistance spells...
I remember I was DM for a completely new group of players. None of them had ever played D&D before. The very first session started with One of the PCs running into the Tavern, being tailed by 3 Dragonborn Warriors. (Makes sense if you know his backstory) My intention was that the party would attempt to reason with the warriors and figure out why they were chasing this PC, I wanted this to be a campaign where we really didn't focus on combat. However, this was not the case. The rest of the PCs got up, and the Tiefling Druid (I Know) attempted to seduce one of them. She rolled a nat 1. The VERY FIRST dice roll in their VERY FIRST CAMPAIGN was a natural 1. I describe as she tries to seduce one of them, she tries to get in close with him. He takes this as a threat and makes an attack. It was a NAT 20. The VERY FIRST ROLL was a NAT 1, immediately followed by a NAT 20 on an attack against her. I ask how many hit points she has. Lets just say it was not a fun encounter for her. To this day, this player exclusively has the absolute WORST luck. I won't even mention the attempt to seduce a red dragon.
Im the type dude that likes everything about d&d. You can't have combat without roleplay you can't have roleplay without exploration and puzzles and you can't have exploration and puzzles without combat. No matter what is happening during the campaign im always intrigued. I enjoy every second.
I’m much the same. I LOVE LOVE LOVE tactical combat. However, I also get really into social interactions. (This is when I’m a player, which admittedly isn’t too often.)
@@theDMLair also i love your videos they really help you inspired me to become a dm and im currently making a homebrew campaign and have about 3 people intrested in playing. I call it "WAR OF THE REALMS"
Personally I like most aspects of dnd, I'm just not huge on puzzles or investigations. Although when they're done well I find myself having a ton of fun.
I love running puzzles, they are my favorite things to run because it gives me a chance to prepare what comes next, without pausing the game. After they’ve done a puzzle or two, I drop 2 other encounters in front of them: 1 intended to be a fight, and another where they can talk if they wish or just fight. I find it gives everyone a chance to do what they want to do
I recently had my party clear out a cave full of kobolds (and a red dragon wyrmling) and they came across the runt of the litter. They took pity on him and brought him along with them, and now he's serving at the local temple and training to become a cleric or paladin of Pelor.
Favorite tactic for rp encounters is when the bbeg or minions talking about worshipping or willfully working for bbeg and going along with it to get close enough to have a tactical advantage in combat.
Yes, I love it when players try to deceive the enemies like that. Great role-playing opportunity. Of course as the deception becomes more involved it usually gets tougher to pull off. :D
I attacked mid monologue once. Utterly destroyed the bbeg because of that round of suprise. I was barbarian, and my job was to "throw him off his rythm". Climbed right up his pike (deadpool style, not on the edge), stared him in the eye, and it was impossible for him to hit me with said pike. Also, that was a two handed weapon. He was too terrified to do anything that round. I then proceeded to shove lit dynamite into his armor. Fight goes on, we're doing good at splitting aggro, keeping him frazzled, and finally, he falls. Smoke clears, dm, in awe, says "that was supposed to happen when you guys were level 10 at least, and it was supposed to be hard" Dm made a new boss, and apparently word has spread. She's taking NO chances XD In addition, I'm very resourceful, and the dm has realized this, so I'm usually seperated from my teammates if we are captured, due to the sheer power of my chaotic aura (last prison break, i taught our goblin paladin to rocket jump using his sheild and dynamite)
I am in a group with three actors/actresses and two trainee actors. We have just had our first fight in over three months across eight sessions. We talk and walk our way out of everything and we don't even have a bard. It is hilarious convincing a demon to rethink its life choices and have it end up taking all of us to a tavern for a free round. We now call him Mr. T.
Great video and tips as always, learning alot in the wee hours of the morn. Hopefully I'll find time and a group to DM someday. Keep up the great work.
I always try to include a mixture of mystery, adventure, hack and slash, and conversation in all my campaigns. I find it caters to everyone's tastes and provides good brake time conversation.
Oh, yeah, break time conversation! I sometimes have to cut our break times short because we could just stand there the rest of the night talking about what happened and other stuff rather than playing. Lol
Well, in my experience, the most fun stuff happens between players themselves. They compete, they try to trigger their coplayers, they haggle about some piece of treasure or they want to get the other players to follow their lead.
"the day I have to sit through an entire game session of talky talky is the day I walk out" come on luke it was right there, he needed it finish that sentence with "is the day I walky walky!" it was right there! love your videos though, keep up the good work man
To help with social interactions, I remember that almost all monsters are thinking creatures. Goblins, orcs, dragons, vampires, and kobolds are all able to communicate with the players, and probably don't want to fight to the death with everything they meet. My rule is that if it makes its own decisions, and can communicate, then the players can negotiate with it in some manner. Sometimes it is fun to just drop in some bears or zombies for an unfiltered beat down, but it adds to the depth when the players have to decide how to deal with another person.
I don’t need traps in my campaigns, my players are enough of a hazard unto themselves. One guy ate one of the magic beans from the Bag of Beans (labeled “DO NOT EAT”) and a fruit tree exploded from inside of him, killing him instantly. Another one flung a fireball at 20+ Orcs. He was an elf. And within 60 feet of the Orcs. And the only one they could see. He died in 1 round. The rouge ran off, on his own, in a crumbling underground labyrinth filled with cultists who followed Baphomet. The cultists had the Unerring Tracker and Labyrinthine Recall (Mordekeinen’s Tome of Foes) traits. He was cornered and killed. They knew that the Cultists had supernatural powers, and the cleric confirmed that they can navigate mazes with ease and easily track anything. Can people get any more stupid?
Nick Rhymes with you can spell rogue correctly 99 times, but man. The one time you spell it wrong, you’ll get swarmed by those “Internet intellectuals” like a cloud of gnats.
Here's a topic potentially worth a video: Party Leaders. What should they do, how should they act, how can they draw in other players, etc. I've been fumbling through this issue myself of late (confirmed with a friend that it wasn't all in my head a couple days ago). Somewhere along the way I shifted from Official Party Face to Official Unofficial Party Leader. I do my best to delegate (just trying to throw the spotlight around, really) and involve the other players in decision-making as much as possible, but it feels like the game stalls out if I don't make a call, and I have somehow become defacto "come up with a plan guy" for our group. It can feel like quite a lot of balls to juggle while also trying to stay in character. There's actually only a single video that I can find on UA-cam covering the topic, and, as great a guy as Guy is, I'd love to hear another opinion on the topic. _(Hurrah! This one is only pamphlet-sized!)_
Well... from my dubious amounts of experience you're already doing it. Try to delegate, though it's mostly trying to toss the spotlight around to the other Players... and somehow I'm the one who "makes the call"... {yeah, I paraphrased... too lazy to copy-paste it} That's exemplary of a team-leader. Some of it (most of it usually) involves defaulting or leaning on the Other Players to get their PC's involved in the spotlight... and sometimes that can involve mental gymnastics and even dragging the PC's, kicking and screaming if necessary, into the decision making process... You're essentially instigating conversations... finding out what the "Tableside consensus" is or seems to lean toward... AND you hold the slightly smaller but noteworthy responsibility of listing OPTIONS... because every option is important, even the ones nobody thought of... yet. AND STILL, there just comes a point in all the conversation, where SOMEONE actually has to make a decision. You can't stand in front of a giant planked oaken door and wonder what's on the other side forever... you know??? SO somebody has to make that call... I'd point out that you probably found yourself "Unofficially Chosen" as a Leader entirely BECAUSE you keep a worthy attention on what everyone seems to want to do. That makes it instantly easier to trust you as their leader, since they still have some functional say-so in the decisions of the team, and therefore in the fates of their PC's. Nobody feels like they're getting railroaded, or blindsided by a negligent jack-ass with delusions of grandeur when you defacto to one or all of them, and allow a short time for "taking a reading" before making your direct push. Of course... once in a while, it IS kind of fun to list off some of the WORST possible Options, just to get a rise out of your teammates... but that's just cake. ;o)
Hey Luke! I just recently found your channel and I am a beginner DM and I find your insights very valuable! Instant Subscribe! And as a coincidence my party just reached level 6 in my own campaign, so I will definitely try your new adventure ;) Thank you! And I am looking forward to more of your videos!
Awesome, thanks a lot! I’m glad I can help. Feel free to join us over on Discord, too. There’s a link in the description. Let me know how Into the Darkness goes for you, too! How long have you been DMing?
@@theDMLair Will definitely do! I got into DnD in general only more than a year ago but I was taken by a blast. Totally got obsessed by it :D I always was a big fan of RPG PC Games. I heard about DnD and it being one of greatest tabletop role-playing games ever. Even called the father of RPGs. But last year I got introduced by my old childhood friend to this game (which also helped us reconnect and spend more time together again). And from that point I just took off absorbing every detail I could. I knew that one day I would definitely try to sit behind the other side of the screen. And here I am. I have been doing a lot of homework - watching videos, studying rules and etc. before I ran my first game. And somehow I never wanted to play a written campaign, I wanted to build my own. And that's what I am doing now. So it's been roughly 3-4 months of DMing career for me :D And your videos are definitely a huge help! Thanks Luke!
My current planning campaign contains players that say "it's your world, do what ever you want". I sad because I want them to have fun when afraid I screw up.
When I take my PCs abilities into account, I like to go both ways. The boss can out-play the players abilities in one way or another but they also have a couple of abilities that the PCs can completely exploit. Like in the necromancer situation I WOULD still have the ground-bound minions if the players could fly. But the necromancer, seeing this, would then begin to animate bone gargoyles instead of normal skeletons. Where the boss falls for their ability at first, but then adapts to counter. Makes the battle feel more organic I've found
*proceeds to roll 8 1s and target the Tiefling (or Red Dragonborn) Oath of the Ancients Paladin with Eldritch Ward and the party of Tieflings and Red Dragonborns succeed on their saves, dealing a grand total of 1 point of damage per target creature*
I do get it, just suggesting that there could be a level 7+ Oath of the Ancients paladin on the enemy's side and that most of the enemy forces had resistance to fire damage somehow, and that the wizard rolled low damage for their fireball
My favorite is advancing my characters backstory or my teammates backstories. But that happens rarely so figuring out things like puzzles or plots set up by our DM is a close second.
I guess I've almost had someone steal the opportunity to solve conflict non violently but I always get either really good or really bad initiative rolls and I rolled really well that time. We tried to sneak attack an ogre with a big gunpowder keg on his back but failed so as soon as the combat begins I (the bard) immediately look at my low hp and 2 spell slots and calmed him down to become our ally. Helped us out too cause there where about 30 orcs in the next room and they hated elves
What I like to do as a DM is build encounters that appeal to the problem solver, the combat player, and the actor (The guy who likes social interaction) all at the same time, when I can. I give my actors time to interact with the possible enemy combatants, before, during, and after combat. During combat there is usually an objective. I usually have one or more objectives other than just killing stuff. For example: protect the goods from being stolen from the caravan while defending the dukes daughter from being kidnapped by a group of Blues (I always throw variations of monsters at my players. In this chase, these are psychic goblins with pyromancy who's fire spells, mechanically speaking. The fire is also blue spirits). The Blues will taunt the players here and there telepathically throughout the combat. The blues will retreat if at least five Blues die or capture both the Philosopher's Stone, and the dukes daughter. A blue will plea for his life and spill the beans where the blues are located if they escape with the good, Philosopher's Stone, or the duke's daughter if his life is spared. The blues are also very skinny and sickly. If their offered food, before combat starts they may leave the adventures alone if enough food is provided.
I love shopping sessions. Just an entire 3 hour game session when we're just trading, selling, buying, and most importantly haggling. Getting that diamond down from 500 gp to 450 gp is always satisfying for some reason.
My players generally don't like combat, actually. They just find dice rolling dull. They love puzzles and talking, and exploring. So I'm thinking of what I can do to keep things balanced. These guides really help.
So 2 things here... 1. - If you are going to make puzzles your puzzle should be obvious and relatively straight forward. The party should know, even if you have to explicitly tell them "Your character would know this is a puzzle of some kind." Show them the goal and the obstacle stopping them from getting there, then step back and let them work it out. The puzzle should also match the theme of your dungeon/setting. 2. - Do NOT hide the traps in your dungeon. Nothing will turn a fun dungeon crawl into a 8 hour slog of tapping every square with a 10ft pole faster than an invisible trap. Make the trap something they see as they enter the room. For example, a ballista at the end of a hallway with a spike pit between you and it, or a statue on each side of the room with scorch marks around the mouth of each statue. If the players know the goal they will have fun reaching that goal, if they don't know where the goal is then they get frustrated and bog down.
I made geese hydras. (For reference, they are the size of horses) And one of the players befriended them. They only like her, will hiss and threaten if others get close, but the problem is the group was supposed to get the eggs as loot. And now every single one is just like "awwww no, it's okay sweetie, not gonna touch your babies" So instead of everyone getting a (marginally better behaved) fantastic steed, one of the players has 4
Hey Luke I got a question for you, not sure if your doing the “ask a DM series” but still: How do I make a Dnd world more vibrant and interesting description wise, when is a good time to go into detail about the environment, what details would I give to an important environment? My dnd games I run always seem a tad dry because I feel like I lack description in my world, any tips?
In all honesty I'm about to run by first published campaign. My friends and I have always done our own. Only issue with this current group is two of the 6 people REFUSE to talk. One of them claiming hes just super expierenced and doesnt need to roleplay. That's a load of bull crap no?
His reasoning certainly seems flawed. And the issue with that is that he and the other that refuse to talk are ruining the fun of the other 4 players who WANT to converse with others.
@@theDMLair I know. I'll give em a few more sessions but if things dont change he those guys wont be welcome. If they wanna play hack and slash. Go play video games
If you are dealing with a player that always attacks unprompted, start checking his alignment. Attacking an NPC who had yet to threaten you makes sense in a few scenarios, but in the grand majority of them could be ruled an evil like action. Do it too many times, and a character's alignment should shift. Alternatively, set up an encounter where, despite appearances, the enemy truly is innocent and harmless. Then the act is definitively evil, and you can issue an appropriate wanting to your player about such an act.
Hey, so I’m more of a newer DM and I have noticed that with my group they seem to not pay attention to the information I am trying to give them, where they will be having full on conversations while trying to tell an important story moment. Also, I have actually been playing with this very group for about a year now as a player, and noticed that I’m the only one focused on what’s going on. Do you have any recommendations on how to help them get more involved? (I have tried combat and role playing and the group isn’t really working together well)
Also the reason I’m asking this is because I’m actually starting to prep a full campaign for the party in the Dragonlance campaign setting, and am planning to make a fresh start while interesting the whole party
Oh yeah I totally agree I think that the nature of combat though is that it requires lots of rules. But the other aspect of it is that Dungeons & Dragons is at its core a miniature wargame. Like that's how it originally started people instead of wanting to do battle with large army is they wanted to have individual characters that would go into Dungeons and battle things. So the fact that most of the rules speak to combat is because that's kind of what the game is. The exploration and social interaction is all just really cool elements obviously and I love that stuff but the heart of the game is combat.
Dang, I should put a disclaimer on my videos: The DM Lair is not responsible for medical bills resulting from the extraction of oatmeal from nasal passages. 😁
Puzzles and traps are obstacles. You shouldn't really worry about the solutions unless the dungeon creators wanted them to be easily solvable. Players WILL solve the puzzle in a way you don't expect so dont worry about making it too difficult. The dungeon builder certainly doesnt want random people running amok in their dungeon/crypt/temple.
haha lol - unveal mysteries ... that's right, in an effort to keep this mystery sustainable, there is no veal in this mystery. As a matter of fact, this mystery is completely vegan. jk, great video ... if it makes you feel any better, earlier this week, I accidentally said ferty instead of forty ... which lead to me doing a Swedish chef impression to make fun of how I can't talk.
Personally, while there are some very useful D&D apps, I feel like devices need to be banned from the table for most people. The temptation to get distracted is just too strong it seems.
Draeckon problem is most people can’t have the paper character sheet ready to go at all times especially when you go to a group who games at a hobby shop
I gotta disagree. Dude always wanting to attack? Well you said it, things almost always become combat anyways, you’ve primed them to expect it. If the only reason to talk is to show mercy, and many players have had GMs who use mercy as a way for backstabbing, you’ll get combat. Some things you’ll always kill, say zombies, orcs fall into that category. Kobolds, sure, you can talk to ’em. However, if you truly want a social interaction? Add a neutral-type of intelligent creature, that if the PCs just kill, they discover its plans. Its plans? To find allies to cleanse the scourge below. The PCs just killed a source of information, strategy, and spellcasting. It’s their fault that it’s a harder encounter, and then really make it hard, put in something like a rust monster to make them remember they lost gear because they went murder-hobo.
Awesome, thanks! I recently did a poll here and on my Discord. The overwhelming majority of folks (60%+) enjoy the skits, so they shall continue. Feel free to scrub past them if they aren't your cup of tea.
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"Oh, crap, somebody broke our barbarian"...Man i almost puked my lungs laughing.
Lol
Same, I'm usually not a big fan of these skits, but this was beautiful lol
"I'm still casting fireball"
Talky-talky!! 🤣
He got better...
(Relatively speaking)
SOCIAL INTERACTION!?! IN A ROLEPLAYING GAME!?!? I didn’t sign up for that! Lol
I know, I know... But this is cutting edge stuff here. It may take some time to get used to...
Roleplaying?
In my roleplaying game?
I really wish someone would've warned me, smh.
I've actually heard a great tip for people who want to jump straight into combat while other players want to talk it out. You as the DM have control of the time frame, if you're in the middle of interrogation and one person is bored so they say "I cut him in half with my axe" but the others aren't finished, you can control the amount of time it takes. Say "you all see him grabbing his axe and preparing to swing" now the player's agency hasn't been taken away because you didn't just not let him do anything, AND those who aren't finished with the interrogation have the ability to stop him or hold him back. And your other players, having seen than one person is bored, will probably understand that it's about time to wrap it up.
With your combat scenario,
"ELDRITCH BLAST!"
"You all see him raise his hands and they glow with eldritch energy." And they can decide if they want to stop him or let the blast continue. Now instead of one person deciding to start combat, it's everyone's decision.
Outstanding video!
"Are they on their phones?"
This drives me insane. I banned phones from the table unless there is an emergency. I've caught people on Facebook and playing games during RP times. It's so annoying.
Yeah, totally. I know my players use their phones for spellbook apps anf to look things up on DnD Beyond, so it's not always easy to tell if it's legit usage or goofing around.
@@theDMLair You should make a video on phone rules some time
The only time im ever on my phone as a player is to check the time cause my clocks not working, to quickly check texts incase their important, or if the dm asks me to look up monster stats or needs me to look anything up because i have apps like the bestiary and 5e character creator etcetera. Other than that my phone is usually on the floor collecting dust
@@0gDragon_Hero DnD Beyond has some GREAT resources... but maybe it's paranoia of being a fairly NEW DM, that I see a phone and immediately think not paying attention. :(
@@joshuasolt8416 I used to have some worries about this, too...
SO I started occasionally implementing "GM's mischief"...
It's inserting a few absolutely critical details when you're concerned your Players aren't entirely paying attention... as a sort of "test" for them.
Jot down your own notes (unless of course, you've prepped for it) and take particular care to make those critical details count...
Then later on, either just later in the session (as kind of a puzzle) you can find out who's been paying attention and concern yourself with those who obviously aren't absorbing the material...
You ca do this kind of thing with "foreshadowing" techniques, like dropping a few hints at a future outcome or situation that's likely... OR you can give inherent keys to puzzles, like symbols etched into arts, treasures, or even artifacts and magic items as significant methods to resolve something later... only don't exactly explain that the funky scratches and lines on the medallion are the positions of a certain set of levers in the order needed to open a drawbridge or turn off the fountains of boiling oil... whatever. Just give them the medallion and a fairly articulate description of lines carved into it in sets of three or four... and later match with three or four levers...
It's the kind of "trick" that rewards folks for focus, and causes trouble for folks who dismiss everything except whatever they want... like their damn phones... laptops... pocket games... whatever.
Personally, I haven't had too much trouble with Players who'd rather be on their phones. It's been a rare occurrence, and even then, usually with explanations... reasons... etc. Once or twice, I've had an actual problem... but nothing that didn't resolve itself with a bit of mischief, and someone "pitching a bitch" about the puzzle was unfair, when it was pointed out that HE had the key to it the whole time (which half the table knew)...
AND as with any Table-side conflicts of interest... Part of a GM's process toward greatness is to TALK to the Players that might have issues... and try to reach a comfortable resolution. ;o)
Love that the point of reason is the barbarian....XD
Isn't the barbarian usually a reasonable fellow? lol
Me too
While I tend to dislike the "strong but dumb" archetype, seeing the Barbarian be the reason the party takes a step back is a nice change.
I feel it's always good to have those small moments, I played a halforc monk who is usually action first and didnt care much to the area around him but I love that out of nowhere I say something that is logical and the rest of the players get confused
By the by, if you're designing a puzzle, design in reverse. Start with the solution, then work backwards until there's a sufficient number of steps between the finish and your current move that it can be the beginning of the puzzle. Leave just a tiny bit of wiggle room for alternative solutions or different approaches to your one conclusion and bam, you have a puzzle.
That’s interesting. Could you give an example of how this would look in practice?
@@theDMLair While it's not D&D, this is a principle used by some game designers of fairly major video games. The best example I can give is the original God Of War video game. They created the insane, action-packed opening level last, so it could pull players in and show them the heights of the game out of the gate, getting them to stay for the puzzle-filled less exciting later levels by giving them an immediately and lasting impression of what's being offered of both the story and gameplay. They designed the entire game, from puzzles to action, using this reverse philosophy, so much so that the final boss is essentially just two guys in a circular arena when you look past the spectacle.
@@theDMLair If you need additional tips, I highly recommend Mark Brown's UA-cam video on puzzle design in games (Found here: ua-cam.com/video/zsjC6fa_YBg/v-deo.html ). Just keep in mind that the mechanics of D&D are far more expansive than anything he talks about, and don't panic if your seemingly tight-knit puzzle design is bested in a way you don't expect. If that occurs, reward your players for outsmarting you rather than punishing them or telling them it doesn't work that way. Though I'm sure you're a good enough DM to already understand this.
I have a good example from my dnd game. The players had to open doors in dungeon. The password was "boat" and I made a riddle for them to solve. I started with the solution: Boat (or ship or whatever). Then I asked myself what does the boat do? It floats on water, it sails, it travels with cargo. Then I twisted it a look making "floating on water" into "riding the blue horses", "sailing" into "gathering the power of wind" and "traveling with cargo" into "having the riches of far away lands inside". The I just personified the boat.
"I am the one who rides the blue horses, I am the one who gathers the power of wind, I am the one who hold the riches of far away lands within."
I could never make something like that just by going: "I need a good riddle" and trying to create the riddle before having the solution.
@@ondras5241 That’s so cool!!! I’m totally borrowing this one.
Gauging whether a player is engaged when playing online is much harder.
Agreed. That’s rough.
When dealing with murder hobos, I love the tip of GMs being able to sorta control time. "You folks see Murder Hobo draw his sword/start casting his spell. What do you do?"
Another, more overt method of curbing violent behavior is to make use of custom explosive situations. A wizard might hold back on the fireballs when dealing with a kobold lair that has been hoarding black powder for their rituals. That rogue might think twice about stabbing all the things if the last one had some kind of fungal growths that exploded when it died, covering him with spores and infecting him with... something.
A weirdly drastic method that could totally derail a planned campaign is to bring divination and resurrection magics and social/political pressure into the mix. NPCs could find the bodies afterwards and figure out how they died, possibly raise mostly innocent victims, and testify against the players in their town/home. You'll probably want to talk to the players before dropping this one on them. The players could either roll the new angle and become fugitives or seek to recover the goodwill of the people and make reparations of some sort. Prime plot hook material.
Ooooh, love the idea about raising victims who might later testify agains the PCs. Lol If I ever run into murder hobo behavior (my players usually don’t go there), I might just use that! :D
As my Hobgoblin Paladin would say: "I can't fight all the time; I need time for my hobbies. Preparing for the next fight, dreaming of my next glorious victory, and woodwork."
Many years ago, in a 3.5 game, we had a player who wanted to attack everything as soon as he saw it. We had a rotating DM thing going, so, when it was my turn to run an adventure, I thought of a way to curb his behavior. The party was on their way to retrieve a relic from the lair of a red dragon when they ran into a strange, horned monstrosity. After the player in question charged and insta-killed it, they found out that it carried a letter from my wizard who was away dealing with other business (absent as I was DM). It stated that he heard that they were off to face this dragon, so he called in a favor with the monster who was the sole person alive who had befriended the dragon and that he would speak on their behalf to convince it to let them borrow the relic. After a near TPK by the dragon, he stopped attacking on sight. Interestingly, this is also when the cleric learnt to prepare fire resistance spells...
VERY smart @u@
I remember I was DM for a completely new group of players. None of them had ever played D&D before.
The very first session started with One of the PCs running into the Tavern, being tailed by 3 Dragonborn Warriors. (Makes sense if you know his backstory)
My intention was that the party would attempt to reason with the warriors and figure out why they were chasing this PC, I wanted this to be a campaign where we really didn't focus on combat. However, this was not the case.
The rest of the PCs got up, and the Tiefling Druid (I Know) attempted to seduce one of them. She rolled a nat 1. The VERY FIRST dice roll in their VERY FIRST CAMPAIGN was a natural 1.
I describe as she tries to seduce one of them, she tries to get in close with him. He takes this as a threat and makes an attack. It was a NAT 20. The VERY FIRST ROLL was a NAT 1, immediately followed by a NAT 20 on an attack against her. I ask how many hit points she has. Lets just say it was not a fun encounter for her.
To this day, this player exclusively has the absolute WORST luck.
I won't even mention the attempt to seduce a red dragon.
Seduce a red dragon?!? 😬
Im the type dude that likes everything about d&d. You can't have combat without roleplay you can't have roleplay without exploration and puzzles and you can't have exploration and puzzles without combat. No matter what is happening during the campaign im always intrigued. I enjoy every second.
I’m much the same. I LOVE LOVE LOVE tactical combat. However, I also get really into social interactions. (This is when I’m a player, which admittedly isn’t too often.)
@@theDMLair also i love your videos they really help you inspired me to become a dm and im currently making a homebrew campaign and have about 3 people intrested in playing. I call it "WAR OF THE REALMS"
Personally I like most aspects of dnd, I'm just not huge on puzzles or investigations. Although when they're done well I find myself having a ton of fun.
OG Jason, that's awesome. I'm happy to be able to help and inspire! 😁
We actually had a Tomb of Annihilation session at one of the camps, with not a single d20 roll. It was entirely social and problem solving.
I love running puzzles, they are my favorite things to run because it gives me a chance to prepare what comes next, without pausing the game.
After they’ve done a puzzle or two, I drop 2 other encounters in front of them: 1 intended to be a fight, and another where they can talk if they wish or just fight.
I find it gives everyone a chance to do what they want to do
I recently had my party clear out a cave full of kobolds (and a red dragon wyrmling) and they came across the runt of the litter. They took pity on him and brought him along with them, and now he's serving at the local temple and training to become a cleric or paladin of Pelor.
Favorite tactic for rp encounters is when the bbeg or minions talking about worshipping or willfully working for bbeg and going along with it to get close enough to have a tactical advantage in combat.
Yes, I love it when players try to deceive the enemies like that. Great role-playing opportunity. Of course as the deception becomes more involved it usually gets tougher to pull off. :D
I attacked mid monologue once. Utterly destroyed the bbeg because of that round of suprise. I was barbarian, and my job was to "throw him off his rythm". Climbed right up his pike (deadpool style, not on the edge), stared him in the eye, and it was impossible for him to hit me with said pike. Also, that was a two handed weapon.
He was too terrified to do anything that round.
I then proceeded to shove lit dynamite into his armor.
Fight goes on, we're doing good at splitting aggro, keeping him frazzled, and finally, he falls.
Smoke clears, dm, in awe, says "that was supposed to happen when you guys were level 10 at least, and it was supposed to be hard"
Dm made a new boss, and apparently word has spread. She's taking NO chances XD
In addition, I'm very resourceful, and the dm has realized this, so I'm usually seperated from my teammates if we are captured, due to the sheer power of my chaotic aura (last prison break, i taught our goblin paladin to rocket jump using his sheild and dynamite)
I am in a group with three actors/actresses and two trainee actors. We have just had our first fight in over three months across eight sessions. We talk and walk our way out of everything and we don't even have a bard. It is hilarious convincing a demon to rethink its life choices and have it end up taking all of us to a tavern for a free round. We now call him Mr. T.
I want to be ur dm lol
I've been a high school since I was in DM
I tip my hat to you, sir. 😂
Great video and tips as always, learning alot in the wee hours of the morn. Hopefully I'll find time and a group to DM someday. Keep up the great work.
Thanks! Yeah, dude, you gotta start yourself up a D&D group!
I always try to include a mixture of mystery, adventure, hack and slash, and conversation in all my campaigns. I find it caters to everyone's tastes and provides good brake time conversation.
Oh, yeah, break time conversation! I sometimes have to cut our break times short because we could just stand there the rest of the night talking about what happened and other stuff rather than playing. Lol
@@theDMLair I find myself setting a 10 minute timer, or everyone gets side tracked.
Well, in my experience, the most fun stuff happens between players themselves. They compete, they try to trigger their coplayers, they haggle about some piece of treasure or they want to get the other players to follow their lead.
Yes, player interactions are certainly fun!
Making the players attack first as a mission(let's say, kidnap someone) is far funnier than making simple hostile encounters, like goblins.
"I'm still casting Fireball." Love that.
That's what wizards do, right?
Hey, Fireball has verbal components. It technically counts as talking :p
"the day I have to sit through an entire game session of talky talky is the day I walk out" come on luke it was right there, he needed it finish that sentence with "is the day I walky walky!" it was right there! love your videos though, keep up the good work man
To help with social interactions, I remember that almost all monsters are thinking creatures. Goblins, orcs, dragons, vampires, and kobolds are all able to communicate with the players, and probably don't want to fight to the death with everything they meet. My rule is that if it makes its own decisions, and can communicate, then the players can negotiate with it in some manner. Sometimes it is fun to just drop in some bears or zombies for an unfiltered beat down, but it adds to the depth when the players have to decide how to deal with another person.
I don’t need traps in my campaigns, my players are enough of a hazard unto themselves. One guy ate one of the magic beans from the Bag of Beans (labeled “DO NOT EAT”) and a fruit tree exploded from inside of him, killing him instantly.
Another one flung a fireball at 20+ Orcs. He was an elf. And within 60 feet of the Orcs. And the only one they could see. He died in 1 round.
The rouge ran off, on his own, in a crumbling underground labyrinth filled with cultists who followed Baphomet. The cultists had the Unerring Tracker and Labyrinthine Recall (Mordekeinen’s Tome of Foes) traits. He was cornered and killed. They knew that the Cultists had supernatural powers, and the cleric confirmed that they can navigate mazes with ease and easily track anything.
Can people get any more stupid?
Wow, yes, you don't need any traps. I gotta put something in my game labeled do not eat and see what my players do. 😈
Clearly yes, if you spell it rouge :)
@@nickrhymeswith4302 Rouges have been a staple in D&D since the very beginning. Occasionally, an actual rogue turns up, too.
Nick Rhymes with you can spell rogue correctly 99 times, but man. The one time you spell it wrong, you’ll get swarmed by those “Internet intellectuals” like a cloud of gnats.
Nick does not rhyme with either of these
Of course I crit bro! *Rolls 5 natural ones. See!
Well done! Lol
I have my DM die that I use for when I DM and it rolls 20's like crazy. However, if I use it as a player it never works =/
Here's a topic potentially worth a video: Party Leaders.
What should they do, how should they act, how can they draw in other players, etc.
I've been fumbling through this issue myself of late (confirmed with a friend that it wasn't all in my head a couple days ago). Somewhere along the way I shifted from Official Party Face to Official Unofficial Party Leader.
I do my best to delegate (just trying to throw the spotlight around, really) and involve the other players in decision-making as much as possible, but it feels like the game stalls out if I don't make a call, and I have somehow become defacto "come up with a plan guy" for our group. It can feel like quite a lot of balls to juggle while also trying to stay in character.
There's actually only a single video that I can find on UA-cam covering the topic, and, as great a guy as Guy is, I'd love to hear another opinion on the topic.
_(Hurrah! This one is only pamphlet-sized!)_
Well... from my dubious amounts of experience you're already doing it.
Try to delegate, though it's mostly trying to toss the spotlight around to the other Players... and somehow I'm the one who "makes the call"... {yeah, I paraphrased... too lazy to copy-paste it}
That's exemplary of a team-leader. Some of it (most of it usually) involves defaulting or leaning on the Other Players to get their PC's involved in the spotlight... and sometimes that can involve mental gymnastics and even dragging the PC's, kicking and screaming if necessary, into the decision making process...
You're essentially instigating conversations... finding out what the "Tableside consensus" is or seems to lean toward... AND you hold the slightly smaller but noteworthy responsibility of listing OPTIONS... because every option is important, even the ones nobody thought of... yet.
AND STILL, there just comes a point in all the conversation, where SOMEONE actually has to make a decision. You can't stand in front of a giant planked oaken door and wonder what's on the other side forever... you know???
SO somebody has to make that call...
I'd point out that you probably found yourself "Unofficially Chosen" as a Leader entirely BECAUSE you keep a worthy attention on what everyone seems to want to do. That makes it instantly easier to trust you as their leader, since they still have some functional say-so in the decisions of the team, and therefore in the fates of their PC's. Nobody feels like they're getting railroaded, or blindsided by a negligent jack-ass with delusions of grandeur when you defacto to one or all of them, and allow a short time for "taking a reading" before making your direct push.
Of course... once in a while, it IS kind of fun to list off some of the WORST possible Options, just to get a rise out of your teammates... but that's just cake. ;o)
Hey Luke! I just recently found your channel and I am a beginner DM and I find your insights very valuable! Instant Subscribe! And as a coincidence my party just reached level 6 in my own campaign, so I will definitely try your new adventure ;) Thank you! And I am looking forward to more of your videos!
Awesome, thanks a lot! I’m glad I can help. Feel free to join us over on Discord, too. There’s a link in the description.
Let me know how Into the Darkness goes for you, too! How long have you been DMing?
@@theDMLair Will definitely do! I got into DnD in general only more than a year ago but I was taken by a blast. Totally got obsessed by it :D I always was a big fan of RPG PC Games. I heard about DnD and it being one of greatest tabletop role-playing games ever. Even called the father of RPGs. But last year I got introduced by my old childhood friend to this game (which also helped us reconnect and spend more time together again). And from that point I just took off absorbing every detail I could. I knew that one day I would definitely try to sit behind the other side of the screen. And here I am. I have been doing a lot of homework - watching videos, studying rules and etc. before I ran my first game. And somehow I never wanted to play a written campaign, I wanted to build my own. And that's what I am doing now. So it's been roughly 3-4 months of DMing career for me :D And your videos are definitely a huge help! Thanks Luke!
That's awesome dude! I'm happy to be a part of helping you run d&d! 😁
My current planning campaign contains players that say "it's your world, do what ever you want".
I sad because I want them to have fun when afraid I screw up.
Every DM screws up from time to time. The key is to learn from our mistakes and become better as a result.
@@theDMLair There's enough live streams of sessions now to take it a step further: learn from others' mistakes, so can avoid making them yourself!
When I take my PCs abilities into account, I like to go both ways. The boss can out-play the players abilities in one way or another but they also have a couple of abilities that the PCs can completely exploit. Like in the necromancer situation I WOULD still have the ground-bound minions if the players could fly. But the necromancer, seeing this, would then begin to animate bone gargoyles instead of normal skeletons. Where the boss falls for their ability at first, but then adapts to counter. Makes the battle feel more organic I've found
"...I still cast fireball"
The best response to anything, period. :D
*proceeds to roll 8 1s and target the Tiefling (or Red Dragonborn) Oath of the Ancients Paladin with Eldritch Ward and the party of Tieflings and Red Dragonborns succeed on their saves, dealing a grand total of 1 point of damage per target creature*
@@patheronaetherson2860 You don't get it
I do get it, just suggesting that there could be a level 7+ Oath of the Ancients paladin on the enemy's side and that most of the enemy forces had resistance to fire damage somehow, and that the wizard rolled low damage for their fireball
@@patheronaetherson2860 I still cast fireball
I still play a Monk with Evasion
My favorite is advancing my characters backstory or my teammates backstories. But that happens rarely so figuring out things like puzzles or plots set up by our DM is a close second.
I guess I've almost had someone steal the opportunity to solve conflict non violently but I always get either really good or really bad initiative rolls and I rolled really well that time. We tried to sneak attack an ogre with a big gunpowder keg on his back but failed so as soon as the combat begins I (the bard) immediately look at my low hp and 2 spell slots and calmed him down to become our ally. Helped us out too cause there where about 30 orcs in the next room and they hated elves
Great advice! Also, I really like these characters you have!
Thanks! Glad you like the characters. They are a lot of fun to do. Lol
What I like to do as a DM is build encounters that appeal to the problem solver, the combat player, and the actor (The guy who likes social interaction) all at the same time, when I can. I give my actors time to interact with the possible enemy combatants, before, during, and after combat. During combat there is usually an objective. I usually have one or more objectives other than just killing stuff.
For example: protect the goods from being stolen from the caravan while defending the dukes daughter from being kidnapped by a group of Blues (I always throw variations of monsters at my players. In this chase, these are psychic goblins with pyromancy who's fire spells, mechanically speaking. The fire is also blue spirits). The Blues will taunt the players here and there telepathically throughout the combat. The blues will retreat if at least five Blues die or capture both the Philosopher's Stone, and the dukes daughter. A blue will plea for his life and spill the beans where the blues are located if they escape with the good, Philosopher's Stone, or the duke's daughter if his life is spared. The blues are also very skinny and sickly. If their offered food, before combat starts they may leave the adventures alone if enough food is provided.
And thus begins the murder hobo party.
Lol - yep.
I love shopping sessions. Just an entire 3 hour game session when we're just trading, selling, buying, and most importantly haggling. Getting that diamond down from 500 gp to 450 gp is always satisfying for some reason.
Were all the players enjoying the shopping session?
Your channel seems very underrated. You deserve more subscribers my good sir.
When another player attacks a creature unprovolked, I would respond by being the problematic goody-towshoes paladin, and trying to stop them.
"Come on, man! I need the Exp!"
EXP = EXecution Points
@@gavingameplay5790 was this an undertale reference
Tylon Taylor mayyyybe
My players generally don't like combat, actually. They just find dice rolling dull. They love puzzles and talking, and exploring. So I'm thinking of what I can do to keep things balanced. These guides really help.
I know a cool ork grognak he's a barbarian who almost a lawyer with a great quote "more wine more women more table "
So 2 things here...
1. - If you are going to make puzzles your puzzle should be obvious and relatively straight forward. The party should know, even if you have to explicitly tell them "Your character would know this is a puzzle of some kind." Show them the goal and the obstacle stopping them from getting there, then step back and let them work it out. The puzzle should also match the theme of your dungeon/setting.
2. - Do NOT hide the traps in your dungeon. Nothing will turn a fun dungeon crawl into a 8 hour slog of tapping every square with a 10ft pole faster than an invisible trap. Make the trap something they see as they enter the room. For example, a ballista at the end of a hallway with a spike pit between you and it, or a statue on each side of the room with scorch marks around the mouth of each statue. If the players know the goal they will have fun reaching that goal, if they don't know where the goal is then they get frustrated and bog down.
I made geese hydras. (For reference, they are the size of horses) And one of the players befriended them. They only like her, will hiss and threaten if others get close, but the problem is the group was supposed to get the eggs as loot.
And now every single one is just like "awwww no, it's okay sweetie, not gonna touch your babies"
So instead of everyone getting a (marginally better behaved) fantastic steed, one of the players has 4
I know this Barbarian, I work with him!
Same. I usually have to explain things to him twice...
Twice before first break!
Dave Ford yeah he’s awesome!!😈😈
Hey Luke I got a question for you, not sure if your doing the “ask a DM series” but still:
How do I make a Dnd world more vibrant and interesting description wise, when is a good time to go into detail about the environment, what details would I give to an important environment? My dnd games I run always seem a tad dry because I feel like I lack description in my world, any tips?
I have a Q&A live stream tomorrow night. Why don't you pop in and ask that question and we'll see if we can answer it. :)
I am doing a combat session after 2 roleplay/exploration session in the game I'm dming. It works kinda well for me
Ignoring shitty behavior is one of the best, yet I imagine rather controversial, advice you gave.
"I'm still casting Fireball." I mean, it's good to know your role.
The barbarian is the voice of reason? Uhoh
In all honesty I'm about to run by first published campaign. My friends and I have always done our own. Only issue with this current group is two of the 6 people REFUSE to talk. One of them claiming hes just super expierenced and doesnt need to roleplay. That's a load of bull crap no?
His reasoning certainly seems flawed. And the issue with that is that he and the other that refuse to talk are ruining the fun of the other 4 players who WANT to converse with others.
@@theDMLair I know. I'll give em a few more sessions but if things dont change he those guys wont be welcome. If they wanna play hack and slash. Go play video games
If you are dealing with a player that always attacks unprompted, start checking his alignment. Attacking an NPC who had yet to threaten you makes sense in a few scenarios, but in the grand majority of them could be ruled an evil like action. Do it too many times, and a character's alignment should shift. Alternatively, set up an encounter where, despite appearances, the enemy truly is innocent and harmless. Then the act is definitively evil, and you can issue an appropriate wanting to your player about such an act.
Ooooh, alignment! I have a video coming out in the next few weeks about alignment. Fun stuff. :D
@@theDMLair sweet. Glad to hear it.
Orcs mean stabby time, man that rogue speaks the same language as my soul
Hey, so I’m more of a newer DM and I have noticed that with my group they seem to not pay attention to the information I am trying to give them, where they will be having full on conversations while trying to tell an important story moment. Also, I have actually been playing with this very group for about a year now as a player, and noticed that I’m the only one focused on what’s going on. Do you have any recommendations on how to help them get more involved? (I have tried combat and role playing and the group isn’t really working together well)
Also the reason I’m asking this is because I’m actually starting to prep a full campaign for the party in the Dragonlance campaign setting, and am planning to make a fresh start while interesting the whole party
The real funny thing is though, two thirds of the PHB is combat.
Oh yeah I totally agree I think that the nature of combat though is that it requires lots of rules. But the other aspect of it is that Dungeons & Dragons is at its core a miniature wargame. Like that's how it originally started people instead of wanting to do battle with large army is they wanted to have individual characters that would go into Dungeons and battle things. So the fact that most of the rules speak to combat is because that's kind of what the game is. The exploration and social interaction is all just really cool elements obviously and I love that stuff but the heart of the game is combat.
Sometimes you can use them as a pawn or a friend. Depends on the Creature. Like for a example a dragonborn talks to the Kobolds into work with them.
Nice vid boiii
Thanks, boiii! 😆
Some people love puzzles, and some people hate them. And some just smash them.
I had more befriend encounters than combat because I befriend everything
I befriend 50 wolfs 2 level 5 sharks 37 kobolds like 20 dragons
Toxic Danya d-dragons???
How???
@@remixtheidiot5771 gold? Puppies? Princesses?
@@remixtheidiot5771 I have 5 dragon borns on my team which I use and I love dragons
@@remixtheidiot5771 animal handling and persuasive checks
"Orcs= stabby time!"
I feel a lot of Taking 20 and Matthew Collville Influence in your videos, said that though good job. Keep on Like this ;)
I don't watch much Taking20, but I LOVE Colville's stuff.
Dude, you are hilarious, oatmeal through the nose is unpleasant!
Dang, I should put a disclaimer on my videos: The DM Lair is not responsible for medical bills resulting from the extraction of oatmeal from nasal passages. 😁
I really would enjoy playing a campain with you :)
Thanks! One of my Patreon tiers gets you just that. (Link in description if you want to check it out.)
Where do you get your D&D shirts?
Guerrilla Tees or from conventions I go to.
Puzzles and traps are obstacles. You shouldn't really worry about the solutions unless the dungeon creators wanted them to be easily solvable.
Players WILL solve the puzzle in a way you don't expect so dont worry about making it too difficult. The dungeon builder certainly doesnt want random people running amok in their dungeon/crypt/temple.
That’s a really good point!
What are the best online sites for D&D puzzles?
Google :)
@@theDMLair i know you're being funny, but it is obvious Ive googled before and was honestly looking for good advice...
haha lol - unveal mysteries ... that's right, in an effort to keep this mystery sustainable, there is no veal in this mystery. As a matter of fact, this mystery is completely vegan.
jk, great video ... if it makes you feel any better, earlier this week, I accidentally said ferty instead of forty ... which lead to me doing a Swedish chef impression to make fun of how I can't talk.
well one the talking out thing i my have saved a party by talking the party's way out of a dragon encounter that provably would have wiped us
Yes there is a time for fighting there is a time for talking and there is a time for running. :-)
Are they on their phones? Well I mean I am, we are playing through FB voice call lol.
Is there a tutorial of how you do that squeaky voice? I want the squeaky voice
That's trade identity right there. Some Secrets may never be revealed.
red, blue, teal, black... where's the gold?
I love setting up situations where combat is the worst choice.
Interesting. Do you have an example of that?
Lmao the barb. 😂😂😂😂 Had to hit like because of ya barb and that I am the 666 like. 😄
Gotta love that big dumb idiot, right? Lol
There is dnd phone app
A phone app for what?
the DM Lair character sheet management and auto level management like dnd beyond fight club 5e and other dnd related information
Personally, while there are some very useful D&D apps, I feel like devices need to be banned from the table for most people. The temptation to get distracted is just too strong it seems.
Draeckon problem is most people can’t have the paper character sheet ready to go at all times especially when you go to a group who games at a hobby shop
Draeckon plus I am use to playing with a group of 6 to 8 people just bring you phone and dice is very easy and convenient for most people
THESPIANS UNITE
I gotta disagree. Dude always wanting to attack? Well you said it, things almost always become combat anyways, you’ve primed them to expect it. If the only reason to talk is to show mercy, and many players have had GMs who use mercy as a way for backstabbing, you’ll get combat.
Some things you’ll always kill, say zombies, orcs fall into that category. Kobolds, sure, you can talk to ’em. However, if you truly want a social interaction? Add a neutral-type of intelligent creature, that if the PCs just kill, they discover its plans. Its plans? To find allies to cleanse the scourge below. The PCs just killed a source of information, strategy, and spellcasting. It’s their fault that it’s a harder encounter, and then really make it hard, put in something like a rust monster to make them remember they lost gear because they went murder-hobo.
Don’t you have other squeaky, pathetic voices you can use? Ah well, good video.
Yep, lots of them!
First lol
Someone has to be first, right?
While I like your advice, I despise your skits, namely the voices.
Awesome, thanks! I recently did a poll here and on my Discord. The overwhelming majority of folks (60%+) enjoy the skits, so they shall continue. Feel free to scrub past them if they aren't your cup of tea.
@@theDMLair hard to do when it's interwoven throughout the videos, but I try. You have to do whatever is best for you and growing tge channel.