_"DnD 5e is a complex game"_ I laugh in Shadowrun. Those are good advice, even outside of this game. Shadowrun, World of Darkness, Star Wars, Fragged Empires, Blades in the Dark, Heavy Gears... it ALL applies.
Kudos for the intro! Still, in a real group we should be ourselves AND have fun without toxic BS. Else, we can just run outside, trying to befriend repeat offender type criminals lurking in the neighborhood... 😉
@@priestesslucy3299 Yes, the "/s" tag means that the preceding statement is meant to be taken sarcastically. Feel free to use it; it's quite widely known and generally saves a great deal of explanation.
I thought I was immune to shitty player behavior since I had experience dming for a tough group but these vids make me realize that I’m just as bad at times and how to improve, as well as how to communicate problems with players without being a douche. Thanks for the advice!
Good tips I like players that take notes and know their character and abilities especially spells. Respect at the table is needed for sure. Roleplaying is always nice too.
As a DM myself, i agree with this list pretty full hardily. Ive been dming for close to 20 years now and have structured several types of campaigns. I have personally landed on a specific style now however that players who know me seek me out to play. I still run my campaigns in a 3.5 setting because of its freedoms, and i have a very grim dark style of campaign that is always a homebrew setting. What im getting at is it takes a lot of time to create and maintain these settings and my campaigns are not hand holdy and easy. Thats what people seek me out for. With that being said, there is still a lot of effort that goes into crafting these settings and sometimes players dont see this. Making a challenging but not impossible campaign is difficult and i have so many notebooks full of settings that didnt take off. So my tip to players. Ask questions, explore possibilities, respect the entire party (dm included), and work together. I actually killed a quest giver today in my campaign because the party failed to stop it. It bummed them out a bit when they realized what happened, but they loved it because no one else they played with does that so openly. Now, they collected themselves, respected each other and myself, and are working on a solution to get out of the area together. Its fantastic! And they are (mostly) a pleasure to DM for. Everyone, including myself, has moments.
I love it. But one exception to keep your mouth closed when another player is talking. i had with another palyer an incharacter argument and we both incharacter yelled at each other and it ended in a fist fight between them. Also incharacter we made up for it. It was such an awesome RP moment and it was because with didnt shut up while the other was talking. I can't even remember why these both fought but it was hillarious for us players.
So here's the setting: My first campaign, session 2, everyone is new eccept DM (we're a friend group that already plays a lot of other games together), we just got out of some cave where some bandit group tried to feed us to giant spiders. We find a small town and NPC keeps affirming that there's no caves in that place. Everyone just decides to ignore it and move on to some other city. I'm sure DM had a whole ass plotline planned out for that cave but we'll probably never get back there xd.
i’m a new dnd player and a new dm, group is 5 players who have never played dnd before and it’s so fun knowing some of the rules and when i don’t know something and can’t find it quickly we just wing it. we are having fun and that’s all that matters
take 5 minutes after the session to journal in a shared discord! it helps the DM know how the character perceives, and helps reveal narrative the author is most interested in. it mean the world to me when characters write notes, especially RP notes from the character's personality.
My old DM used to hate it when I tried to interact with the environment. Supposedly he'd had one person at game who he refused to DM for after said person took to monologuing these intricate acts of acrobatics which tended to take 6 times longer than anyone else's turn. After that he'd lost all patience with any action that didn't serve either an immediate purpose or was clearly part of a larger plan to benefit the player, especially at the expense of the rest of the group. And he couldn't figure out why his games kept getting derailed after incentivizing his players to turn on each other. Classic.
Failure is fun to me, except when the stakes are too high, or when you end up achieving absolutely nothing during a session. It's so hard for me not to let that frustration slip out when we reach a really tense moment in the campaign, or when I'm at my 15th fail in a row ^^". Once, one of my characters missed a shot at a boss that was being grappled by an ally less than 3m away from her. She is litteraly a bow master lol.
At 4:10 you said read the primer. I usually do this as a session 0, I give context for the land's history, it's towns, economy(it's been asked about before), and common races. then we all make the characters together, and the players can ask more questions very easily. While we do this we have fun, try to intertwine the backstory's, and gamble on who gets the lowest and highest stats. Because of this setting the start of the campaign is easy for the DM, and the players know who the rest of their party is. it also is a great way to introduce the game to new players, as they can learn the rules without the consequence of not knowing them, and will usually fall in love with their character as they helped make it. In short, do a session 0 where you all make the characters together, either ask your DM to do this, or host it yourself.
Session 0s are really essential, I think. Try to fit one in, even if you don't get to play that often, because the quality of time spent in sessions going forward will outweigh the quantity. Just getting everyone to mesh together and make characters that fit in the setting!
Good tips, as usual! Funny, as a DM, I don't require direct thanks - for me them showing up on time, knowing their characters, and enjoying the game enough to come back IS thanks. I guess I'm just a weirdo like that.
Our Light Cleric after a YEAR of play: "what does Bless do?". Please be familiar with your character. A good way to do that is to not do the exact same thing in every session, even if its 'your build'. Experiment and play around with your underused features and abilities every now again. You never know, one of those underused abilities might be the spell Bless.... a spell that makes people want to play with you.
@@lamichka To a point you are correct - I have so much experience with 2nd that I can make it do what I want it to do. Plus I like all the resources that edition has - most supported edition by far.
part of my autism is i struggle with memory and have executive dysfunction nad dyslexia and adhd etc . is it ok to take notes when the other player is talking so i can remember what's happening and build on that when its my turn because otherwise i would be super lost.
Shame that Number 8 is by all means impossible for me cause the LGS by me doesn't know what scheduling is, either that or they pay their DMs such a little cut of the DnD seating proceeds that the DMs feel like they can flake at a moment's notice and it doesn't matter. Also, no there isn't an F in that abriviation, they're not friendly, they pose that way but be there for DnD more than one session and you'll know it's pure hypocrisy due to how they behave and how they want DMs that run games there to behave. Their schedule says it's a specific campaign you've been a part of? Lol no, it's a pre-gen one shot tonight! Their schedule says it's a one shot? You get there just to find out they're in the middle of a campaign that's been going for months and they aren't really happy to take on a new party member (another part of why there's no F in the abbreviation when I refer to them) All of this on top of having to pay for seats, and despite them having a bigger location that they could actually fit multiple DnD sessions at, they instead host DnD sessions in a cramped corner of the main store that you couldn't even fit a pool table in... and they try to have 2 tables in there, so you basically have to reserve seats by paying in advance before you even know wtf is actually gonna be going on, and until very recently they were VERY against refunds for it. As for the rooms and how sessions go being that cramped? As a DM I hope your maps aren't any bigger than standard 8.5 by 11 paper or you'll have every player's crap blocking the map. That's WITHOUT having people in the group with items such as dice trays, mind you. Many players there use DnD beyond via their phones cause they don't even have room on the table for character sheets, let alone writing materials. It is such a mess 😫
Collaborating with the DM on your character's background is severely underrated! Creating ties to the world makes for a much more fleshed out character AND world, and also creates the opportunity for plot hooks and role play moments. If you're new or just don't want to mess with the setting, just ask how to make your idea work with his world. Good luck finding a DM who won't want to talk your ear off about all the different facets of his setting and they'll probably get a ton of inspiration just from hearing your idea!
Yeah any homebrew DM will love you for it, and any DM running a module SHOULD love you for it because that's a big part of what makes playing out of books fun in my experience!
A caveat: if you work with a player extensively on their backstory, don’t then undermine it or contradict it, or take it in a direction you decide is right rather than the way the player wanted to play it. For example, if the character is deeply invested in family and blood obligations, think very carefully about your idea that the character will find out at some point that they were adopted so some villain could fulfill some contract clause or the like, and their cherished family relationships, which they were expecting to provide a specific kind of set of expectations and tensions, are not what they intended. This kind of thing has happened multiple times in games I’ve been in and it can really damage players’ trust. (It can also work if the player is interested and wants to go with it, but imposing that kind of thing on them is a problem.) (Also note that I’m not saying anything about adoption here. You could tell any number of awesome stories of whatever theme with a *willing* player.)
I take this one step further. I'm a very spontaneous, seat of the pants type GM (or at least I used to be. It's been a long time and I feel like my creativity is retired lol) and I would always collaborate with my players to create not only their characters but their entire homeland. The homelands of the party would be the cornerstone of the setting, with everything else evolving out from there.
THIS! I'm currently in a campaign and we're just 8 sessions in (It's going great). Initially, I didn't know almost anything about the world while creating my character, yet I talked with the dm and he confirmed that my backstory will work. I was starting to think that I shouldn't be rambling about my ideas as much, but gosh he had implemented my backstory into the world so well!! It feels so nice and validating that my character feels like he belongs to the environment. When some important plot points from my story were touched it had such an incredible impact on both me and the character! Glad that we could talk and figure out what would work and so on, cause now the experience is incredibly enhanced because of it.
My favorite players throughout the years all had one thing in common: They chatted me throughout the week about their character. There were much fewer surprises in-game that way, they showed that they were invested in the world and in the game, I was able to know their goals and likes/dislikes better so I could tailor the story and rewards to them, and overall it just made me want to work harder on the game and the world to make it fun for them. Players who only talked to me and the other PCs on the day of the game seemed less invested, and would sometimes be disappointed or apathetic with the way their character arc and rewards went.
Absolutely! Keeping the conversation going between sessions is great evidence of a player's investment, and it can be really helpful for the DM! Of course, not everyone will find time to join in that extra conversation, but it's great when they do :)
This is an extremely underused part of the game, tbh. With the days and days worth of travel montages that feature in most campaigns, you are really just making the character bonds feel realistic. _Of course_ the PCs are suddenly much closer, coordinated, and understanding of one another _after traveling together for a week._
Ok. But what to do when GM is not open at all to listen to players between sessions ? I hit a situation when GM says he wants to chat online but any time I start to communicate something he seems irritated, almost hostile? I thought he has some problem with me but in some time I learned that essencially nobody from player side is communicating in those chanels at all.... its dead town. I realy dont know what to think of it. Kinda mixed messages for me. Did you ever encounter it?
@@lamichka two steps. Bring this to the DM and try finding a solution, communicate. It doesn't work? Decide if that's a campaign worth your time, and comunicate that to DM and players. Ghosting is kinda rude.
Accepting failure is also a HUGE tip for GMs. When a planned session falls flat, don't hate yourself. Investigate sessions in the past that worked well, identify elements that made it succeed. Conversely, identify weak points in that "failed" session, so you never make the same mistake twice!
Yup, this is the best one. I had a chase scene in my last session that I felt was pretty weak. Lo and behold, there are RULES for that in the DMG, and they would've been way better than the lame thing I cooked up on the spot. Lesson learned!
My first session went horribly, imo. It was a tower defense homebrew and it started out fine but then came the combat and badly balanced waves and I could feel them fading 😭 it's taken a while to gather enough courage to DM again but I'm doing another one, a pre-made campaign, next week and hope it'll go better.
@@tybronx2446 How'd it go? In my experience, going premade as a starting DM is a good choice. You get a feel of balancing that way - which is more an art than a science. Later you can start tweaking things, or even overhaul elements wholesale if you think they'd work better with your game world. When I first started DMing 5th edition, I took a module from a whole different fantasy setting and retooled it for D&D.
@@Smilley85 You do get a better feel for balance, but not all adventures are balanced well either. I feel homebrewing my first campaign is a lot more freeing because anything and everything about the world is up to me to decide so I can just make up anything on the spot.
As someone who's been DMing for more than 40 years, I endorse this list. 😆 For the rules one, I would say that just learning the rules for what their character can do would be enough to make me happy. I don't mind helping players out with reminders or quick explanations of rules for unusual situations or when they are trying out something new, but I expect players to understand how their own class abilities and spellls work so I don't have to stop the game to look them up.
If you're been DM'ing for 40 years... what exactly are you having to "look up" at this point? If you already know what classes/races your players are, you should have cheat sheets up (and literally at the ready) so that you don't have to "stop the game" to "look it up".
@@Dyanosis 5 editions, tons of classes, tons of subclasses, hundreds of spells, additional books (tosha, xanathar, UA etc). Hell, even knowing the PHB by heart can be hard.
I only played 4 sessions so far and the DM basically made us into the 4 four horseman of the apocalpsy. We ended up getting ambused by demons and now someone gave us four talking horses. We started to notice that weird stuff started to happen around us in town. I play a cleric and instead of healing people, the people I try to help get the plague. 😭 It was pretty exciting to figure it out. Now we have to "master" our powers so we can stop messing stuff up around us.
@@Revelwoodie Yeah, there was a fire in a temple and the priestesses asked me to help. Then I go back to help the next day (while our rogue is having an identity crisis) and BAM! everyone I healed has the plague. The priestesses: "Do you know what happened?" "No idea, but look I'm busy today, I really can't help." While inside I'm freaking out. I find our warlock who greets me with: "I was having lunch and the waiter dropped dead when I touched his hand." So we had an Oh Shit moment. Great way to find out that we're Death and Pestilence. Let's not even mention the barbarian who sent half of the town guards into a bloodrage. So he's War, yay? Wow, that was an info dump, sorry about that.
I ALWAYS makes sure to give my players an after-session feedback survey. The three questions I ask are: What they liked about the session, what they didn't like, and if they'd like to add anything else. It can be tricky getting your players to consistently do it so I decided completing a survey would give them a point of my homebrew inspiration they liked. It half remedied it, as I can still struggle to get responses. But if you're open to criticism and improving it's a super helpful tool.
@@BobWorldBuilder I agree! It makes things better for everyone, and makes players feel much better if things go wrong because they know there is a way to improve it.
I do the same, but with slightly more detail to the questions: 1. What did you like? Keep it as is? Or more of it? 2. What did you not like? Want less? Or none at all? 3. Anything you felt was missing that we should add? Or anything you would like to see eventually that would be disappointing to not experience?
I never really comment on youtube videos but I just wanted to say thank you so much for your excellent subtitles on your videos. Makes it so much more enjoyable as someone who struggles with hearing.
My golden rule: It's the job of each person in a roleplaying group, including the DM, to make sure everyone is having as much fun as possible, including the DM. Also communication in an open and respectful way, at the right time, is the key to groups that go on for years and years.
That last tip is something I have experienced as DM and am slightly ashamed to say, only started recently implementing it as a player. And BOY, does it help make the game fun, grounded AND smooth. Just by the simple act of asking or engaging with other people's backstory instantly transforms a group from a couple of mercenaries individually working at the same goal by luck of the fates to an actual group with greater stakes when a PC dies than just for the player that controlled that PC. As a wild magic sorcerer with large aoe spells and spells like dimension door that can save friends from the stomachs of monsters, it became so much more impactful when using those spells around friends and spending two of my turns just to give an ally a slightly greater chance of surviving than if I didn't. The sheer tension when you are standing next to a low health ally while a wild magic burst happens is something I would have never been able to experience before just talking to those silly little sheets of paper we call a character sheet with a backstory.
I've played in games where the party is hiding their backstory and it sucks so much, there's nothing you can do because the characters don't trust each other
Another youtube page I follow, Dungeon Dudes, has a great character creation tool where every player character has to have some kind of relationship with at least one fellow PC and at least one possible NPC. Its a great tool for building a sense of belonging within the party and the campaign world.
My first character I ever played ended up not really having much of a personal goal of her own, so she just focused on supporting her friends. Which, incidentally, ended up with her the center of the group, and now there's an entire revenge arc involving her family and the BBEG that the DM brought to life, including her grandpa, who is played by another player who recently lost their PC. This, among other reasons, is why as a player, this is still my favorite campaign and character. Not because my PC is that great on her own (she has an incredibly (and purposefully) generic backstory and personality, in fact), but because of the connections she built with her group and all the shenanigans and RP that generated. Can definitely recommend.
Fun Fact about one of my fellow PC’s: Their character told mine they were a noble, so I asked them what there titles were… Anyways my character now referees to them as ”Ressyn, the sweetest tongue, most beautiful voice, youngest son of the king Trogar.”
I got sent this video from our DM as a sort of "thank you" letter. That's so sweet. To share the effect that taking an interest in another PC can have, one of our players didn't know what to build for the game, so she settled on a complete joke character, not to be taken seriously whatsoever. Well, too bad for her. I *did* take her character seriously, and now we're BFFs in the game. Just taking her at face value got her more invested in the campaign than she would have been on her own.
The rules one hits, I have had too many players say they are not really having fun. But have shown so little towards learning the rules, it makes me sad. Even basics like learning how the basic turn goes makes the game so much more for a player. It just makes being the GM so hard when you get to one players turn and you have to drop the game to explain how to make an attack a month into a campaign for the 5th time In a night. For exalted I give everyone a sheet that goes though the entire combat in a check list, and I make my players follow it every single time. It was a bit awquard at first. But I think my players have always done so much better despite it being so complex. I think D&D needs a good cheat sheet to give out players, I don’t really need most of the info given on DM screens, but would love a single sheet I could hand players. Just something like, taking your turn. Making an attack. Casting a spell. Simple, and covers some of the basics.
I know Anto of the Icarus Games channel on UA-cam is currently working on producing 5e cheat sheets for various classes and races. The kickstarter already funded so some digital versions may already be available. I just haven't kept up to date with it, but it sounds like exactly what you're looking for!
On another note "D4: DnD Deep dive" has a "DnD university" playlist where he goes over the basics of the game. He is super easy to listen to and explains things very well. He helped immensely when I first started playing. It is also good to as a refresher
Ohhh, cool. Anything to give players I think is great, some I do think just need a good one page of info so they don’t need to ask basics and can ask the more fun stuff !
Love this idea. Whether it's quick cheat cards in front of players, or on the face side of a GM screen, reminds me of quick guides I've designed at work for codes, reference etc
You might have found a solution by now, but I recommend checking out MPMB's PDF for character sheets. There's an optional last page that gives some great shorthand on what a player can do with their turn. It even explains some basics of casting spells, like cube, cone, etc. We started a group with all new players, and they found it really helpful.
"Accept Failure." Oh boy, I finally have a story. So I was playing a paladin in an undead dungeon. There was a Specter floating just out of reach above some charging undead. Through both starting equipment and looting the dungeon, I actually had a longsword, a magic flame tongue short sword (which I was primarily using), and a longbow if needed. Our dragon monk frog lept into the air and pummeled the Specter, getting it super low. I wanted to kill it, but I didn't want to have to drop my short sword (which was ignited and my primary source of light in the dark dungeon) to draw my bow. So, thinking myself cleaver, I drew my longsword and threw it at the specter, an epic strike. I missed. After my hilarious failure, the specter retreated on its turn and I chased it, this time dropping my sword and drawing my bow, thinking the specter was hovering in the nearby light. As I was drawing my bow, the flame went out on my short sword. The torchlight, didn't extend far enough to cover the Specter (which was in the air), so it disappeared in total darkness. I had two shots, both with disadvantage. Knowing where it was moving to, I fired blind...and hit! Killed it with a blind shot as by sword flame was going out behind me! Managed to save an epic fail with a totally different epic success! Also, even knowing I killed it with that shot, my character didn't, so I had him fire his second shot into the wall before hearing the thud of the body hitting the ground (there were only a few undead left anyway. I did a lot of suboptimal things, but my DM was super cool with not punishing me for it and even helping out.
@@cole7274 I used to be a proofreader and a typesetter -- I'm sick and tired of seeing the English language being butchered by people who can't take the time to learn how to spell and/or the differences between words. My first language was Spanish that I learned from my immigrant parents. I made the effort to become an expert in English, my second language. If you don't like my attitude, you can kiss my posterior! 🤬
@@pablohammerly448 Oh I don't doubt you're an expert with language, you clearly know your stuff mate. It's pretty impressive to have that kind of language mastery, I'm struggling pretty hard in my own studies of Swedish (maybe not struggling per say, but it is a slow-going process). I'm certainly sorry to have caused offense, my goal was to point out some of the niceties of being nice. Your comment reads as if you're really angry about the whole ordeal, and I wouldn't want to cause that either. For you, as someone who's had to put an exhaustive amount of work to learn English, wouldn't you agree that you've had your fair share of mistakes while learning? Or that the annoyances of the internet, autocorrect and typing with keyboards sometimes leads to errors through no fault of your own? It seems that a comment with any error is a major annoyance to you, and I just can't help but wonder if being so heated about this all is healthy for your own sake or making you happy. What do you think? Maybe I'm missing the perspective of someone who knows more about other languages and sees a value to commenting that I don't.
@@cole7274 For example, how my phone likes completely changing words on me without me noticing. Another is trying to edit a comment and deleting a word and not noticing then you look very foolish. Anyways, my phone hates me.
A youtube channel must always distinguish itself from others in order to stand out. Your recent focus on becoming a nexus of community information puts you in a unique position that is different from all the other dnd youtube channels. I'm happy to see you find a niche that supports the community and lets your channel grow. Well done.
A Bard became one of my all time best characters (I’ve been doing this since the 70s) when he & I became the DM’s asset. This occurred because the DM had built his own world from the ground up and I, as a lore master, showed a lot of interest in the world allowing him to info dump often. I also became the party note taker as well as composing an in-character weekly recap of the game which always painted the other party members as heroes of ledgendary proportions which further ingratiated me to the DM as well as the party.
As I write this, my friend is making a campaign. He essentially uses me as a way to make sure plot points fit, help him refine details and the other players are getting my assistance with their character backstories, all because I kept asking how the writing was going. I'm his right-hand man. Not to mention the sessions are at my place and I work as an anonymous form of criticism. He calls me his secretary.
Fun fact about a fellow player at one of our games: Her dark elf rogue's character name is Bonk because when she came to the surface world she was taken in by a family of halflings and the youngest son couldn't pronounce her dark elf name so he called her Bonk instead. So she kept the name. :)
Really good as usual. One thing I would add, "perfect your craft" i.e. somethings are more basic others are more advanced. Make an effort to get better.
I find that in long campaigns with long hiatuses, backstory conversations between PC's are especially hamstrung by the player forgetting what they and their character know about the other PC's. For a campaign I'm in that had a year-long hiatus, I'm now going through my notes and trying to list all meta and in-game knowledge I have about each PC. I hope it enables deeper roleplay. I wish I did it sooner!
Maybe have an OOC update before the next game if there's a significant gap? It's a bit meta but the net effect of making those IC convos easier to have will be a positive one.
Taking notes is INSANELY useful. We had a dedicated archivist / cartographer last game. I can't count the number of times he saved us from our ignorance. There's no way you'd remember what a particular NPC said 4 sessions ago without notes.
As a player I managed to get a loop roaring with the DM which turbo-charged everything and brought huge amounts of detail and generated a phenomenal 25 year long campaign, much of which continued for me after the other players had dropped out years back. Cultivating a good working exchange with the DM and even feeding them creative data (videos, novels, graphics, scenarios) can make something really special happen. It's all about collaboration I think, despite me very much having to go it completely alone these days as a DM. 'Make your DM feel optimistic' is a good rule of thumb maybe. Bob World Builder, this video is really really good and I'd like to send the link to future players I get. Thought provoking and cool!
Learned this week that the Aasimar Druid's family got murdered whilst protecting a Gate to the Feywild, the Tiefling Rogue got groomed as a child, the Leonin Bloodhunter might be royalty, and the Paladin Elf thinks that he was born from a tree...great tips, Bob!!!
The most important thing for me is: communication. In and outside of the game. Tell me what you want from the game. I cannot read minds. I want my players to come up with an amazing backstory and let me weave that into the plot, so that their characters are actually motivated to resolve that plot. (also to talk them out of playing a toxic character that sabotages the party before they even start)
I’m the dm. Can’t wait to have my other players find out the war scarred tortle actually killed his whole village in rage after he found out that a certain magic powder he had been using was illegally made from other tortles. Hes sworn eternal vengeance on whoever made the invention. But he’s been keeping it surprisingly tight lipped.
The note on accepting failure is absolutely a great one and seems to get overlooked. Tbh the Nat 1s are usually more fun to remember than the Nat 20s and it's great when it happens. When my paladin has to make a Dex save, I don't get mad at the inevitable failure - I usually preface it with a "it was nice knowing y'all" and make the roll and I go with it. When I fail a persuasion check, I roleplay really bad strawman arguments or sometimes end up making points against myself. When I miss an attack, I describe how I put too much weight behind my halberd and missed wildly. Moments of failure can and are fun if you're a good sport about it, and it's a solid bonus when you engage in roleplay based on your bad rolls. As a player, it's fun to make this bit of narrative make sense - as the DM, it's great to see players engaged this way and nice to have a brief moment to breathe during an encounter as the player describes what happens
Engage with the scene! If there’s an npc it’s because they’ve got something to fish out of them. I actually don’t play in the local shop anymore because I end up at a table of six people playing essentially solo campaigns and solo heroes. I get they want to express the character they’ve been thinking of all week, but be human-right?
Yeah if you're not playing with people you already know, it can feel weird to really invest in the game outside your own character. Definitely happened in my few experiences playing at game stores
A bonus advice concerning engaging: Don't just kill everything you believe to be a monster/bad guy/enemy sometimes the DM adds a story plot in these characters or they will turn them into one. try it, it is fun to "convert" a "Bad-Guy" to your side.
one of my players was a cleric and one day just out of nowhere could see where the campaign was going and said "it's in the prophecies, brother, we must do this" his prophecies are now an integral part of the game. "Yes, and" + collaborative world building are the best. Stuff that happens that I have no control over is what makes me the DM have fun, i don't know what to expect, and reacting to it is the challenge and skill and what makes us all leave the table with a smile.
I played several games as a PC before I became a DM and in all of those games I played, we didn't do travel time. If a place was three days away, we started walking and basically fast traveled. When I became a DM I decided that I didn't want travel to be painful, but there should at least be one night of camping if they're taking 3 days to travel somewhere. I came to this realization after watching Critical Role. So many of their interactions happened during watches, that it just made sense to me to add it to my game. Plus, without it, we'd might have miss the "killed my whole family" interaction which still makes me smile. Sitting around a campfire is something many of us know how to do instinctually, so sitting around a campfire in game isn't a stretch of the imagination. By setting up two shifts to watch camp, different PCs that may not speak often with one anther have a few minutes of conversation and interaction one on one, without interruption from the other players. It's been great.
I do this too. I skip travel time, and edit the travel distance so that locations are within a days travel unless I want something interesting to happen. I do this because I think random encounters that aren't driven by the story are kind of boring and a time sink.
@@jayspeidell I agree. I have a few random encounters planned, but they're more designed to be RP and world building, that just "7 bandits attaack. Roll initiative." However, I do think having an opportunity to find, set up, and guard the camp allow for interesting RP with characters that give them opportunities to build their backstory, use those skills that don't often get used (ranger's foraging skills) and just have a moment to talk.
I LOVE this, Bob! Thank you! Sending this to my group. And you come across as SO empathetic that I'd let you raise my kid. But you wouldn't want to raise my kid because she's quite the minmaxer and way too jammy with rolling crits.
I'm old school 2nd Edition. I always tried to play like it was a living world. Most of my characters invested time and energy in the campaign as well as after the campaign. In some campaigns I played in, if I tried learning things about the other characters, they would think I was trying to either kill them or steal their treasure. See, I was the Thief in the group.
with the last one though, I've noticed that a lot of players, and not just the old ones, don't really think out the motivations and backstories of their characters, but I find way the best way to do so is to work with the DM on your own so they can see how cool it will be. Last week, my DM did a whole section with my mom and we had a great interaction and afterward, one of the other players was like "I really need to flesh out my backstory" and he worked on it and this week the DM incorporated that into the session. Of course this also requires a DM that really puts the work in because I've had DMs where you might as well play a video game because the work I put into who my character was was completely irrelevant to the plot
My favorite questions to ask my fellow PCs are “firsts” like when did you first know you could cast magic? When did you first pick up a sword? What was the first thing you stole? Lots of convos open up after that
7:40 my absolute favorite dnd moment was when my dwarf barbarian was walking into the woods accompanied by the city guard in search of some threat, and what would have been just a description of the forest we were walking through and a skip to the next combat was entirely changed when I interrupted the end of my dms fantastic description with one simple question: "are there monkeys?" And because he was awesome he said "yes. Absolutely." And dove right into the description of the monkeys I see and then my barbarian yelled so loud the monkeys fell out of the trees and he went over collected the dead monkeys (finishing one off) and walked back to my now in aw group of soldier acquaintances turned fearful helpers. It took all of five minutes and it added so much to my character, the flow of play and the overall humor of the game.
3:10 see, what's fun here is that in a current campaign im playing in, we realized my arcane trickster's spells weren't really within the list of spells they should be able to access (partiallty my fault for not reading the thing clearly, but also D&DBeyond just gave it full access to the entire wizard spell list) so between the last session and this one, i asked the DM to change the list for me because they're a lot better at forming spell-lists to fit a specific theme. i've read briefly through the spell-list i have now, and what we're thinking to do is decide to give a narative explination that ties into the themes of magic and the abyss that are already present in the campain. I asked the DM to throw something like mephits at us so that my character could go for "ol' reliable: chromatic orb," just for Color Spray to come out. the character is already getting paranoid about how much control he has in the setting, so realizing his spells are "acting up" is just gonna mess with him more. What's also great is that I get to "learn my abilities with the character" in a sense, because the character is gonna have to try out different spells to figure out how they work and how to apply them during some downtime stuff. it's great for RP
I had a “supporting the DM” moment once and it felt great. Basically in our world there’s only humans and a few monster races(But no tiefiling). My character, a Fiend Warlock, had as a role playing style turn more and more similar to a tiefiling when he uses a spell. My DM had the idea of making it the normal effects of making the pact when he saw it, not only that, eventually the tiefiling kind was born due to my character’s action. It was so awesome.
when I GM, I always tell my players that, if something you feel should be in the scene, but I haven't described it. It's probably there. I haven't had any bad GM experiences using this guideline yet. And I hope that it encourages my players to be engaged in the scene! And as a player, I always tentatively use this guideline by asking if there's something that would seem likely to be there, if it is. And I accept whatever answer they give me. :)
What I want more than anything in my players is for them to be excited to forward their stories. I want them to engage with the players at the table, talk and plan things out with the group between sessions, and most importantly, *talk to me* about what they want to happen for the next session, or further down the road. If nothing else, that's what I think makes a player truly great.
A big tip back to DM's. Facilitate player interaction! Give moments, story beats, breaks in the narrative where players can do things. Rushing from set-piece to set-piece, or even worse, hushing players RPing with each other so you can continue your story, is only giving yourself MORE work to do!
@@Dyanosis I mean, there's lots to specify, but in UA-cam comments brevity tends to be better than wordiness. No one wants to read my 3000 word dissertation on table etiquette and facilitating rp. One big paragraph is already a lot for most comments!
A friend was making his own ttrpg (still in the works) and we were play testing it for a few months. I would track what occurred each session by making memes. Just make some based on the situations we got into or how bad a characters luck was. Things like that. Made it easy to track and remember what happened because you see a image and text and think "oh yeah that boulder thing hit us all and the paladin couldn't get a hit to save his life".
One of my players has giggle-fits that go be forever. They could be triggered by anything and I mean anything. One session he decided to walk into the front door of a stronghold that contained 15 goblins, 8 hobgoblins, a bugbear boss, a grick, and an owlbear. Everyone else wanted to sneak in, not knowing what’s to come, but he went right through the front door with his goblin sidekick. To my surprise, he did some great role play and I was going to reward him by making him the king over the goblins. He did great up to the point he got a giggle-fit and tried to grab a goblin to wipe his butt after taking a dump over a hole in the wall. He infuriated every goblin and they locked him and his sidekick in a dark room with a starving owlbear. He survived but just barely. I wish it was as easy as “be serious during serious moments and silly during silly moments “.
Be patient with this guy. My sisters and I get giggle fits… and based on what my dad did to us, I’m pretty dang sure it’s actually a trauma response, part of how we deal with awful fears now in adulthood.
I have to say SESSION 0! I cannot express how important sitting with your party to define the tone, kind of story characters etc... This way everyone gets what they want Otherwise, for example If a dm prepares a serious session but everyone is being goofy, probably the players will not have fun because this is not what they wanted, and the dm will be sad because he spent so much time and no one cares. The important thing is to all have fun :D
The most important thing for me is, show up on time, keep your phone in your pocket and try to organize when the next session takes place. Nothing shows more that you dont respect your dm then coming late, playing on your phone and never making suggestions when to play next time.
One of the things that I appreciate most from my group is feedback at the end of the session. Because they let me know what do they like and what they don't like and then I think about a way that I can maintain the campaign I want to run while also making sure they get to enjoy it. Because as a DM can easily fall into the trap of satisfying my players and forget about his own satisfaction.
Hi Bob! I made a free version of your video in spanish, with a few things of my own opinion. Obviously i gave you credit and reccomended your great channel. Respects from Chile and let the dices keep rolling!!!
Thank you for saying that D&D 5E is not a simple game! It honestly might be the most complex TTRPG out of multiple dozens I have ever played, only rivaled by games inspired by D&D in the first place (though many games inspired by D&D are also way easier or flexible to engage and do amazing flashy things). This doesn't necessarily mean it is a lesser game, but it really needs to be stated clearly that on a rate of 1-10 for complexity for newcomers, D&D rests at around 8. Furthermore, accepting failure is also much more fun in other TTRPGs, since they are less focused on the tactics and more focused on the flash, theme, and narrative. Plus, there are little ways to compensate! Many PbtA games like Masks or Apocalypse World give XP whenever you fail a roll. Meanwhile, games like Kids on Bikes / Kids on Brooms give an Adversity Point when you fail, which kinda act like mini-inspiration.
I love it when players get involved with the world-building, particularly when it comes to historical events and NPCs. If a player pops off some improvised story about some event that took place once upon a time, I take note of that and make it part of the world's history, though some of the actual details might be a little different than what the player had said, as things are often exaggerated or changed as stories are retold. Players sharing stories about various NPCs "back home" gives me material to work with and saves me a lot of trouble creating characters to populate that town that fit with the image the player has of it. If I had players that were really engaged, I would have them help build the world from the ground up by having them describe their characters' hometowns, some nearby settlements and points of interest, their culture, some interesting historical events that took place in the region, etc., then plop all of that into different areas on an otherwise blank world map and build around what the players had given me to start with. Add in whatever they improvise about their home regions during play and most of the heavy lifting is done for those regions by the time I actually need to do anything with them. First adventure takes place in a trade hub that is somewhat central to where all of the characters are coming from and the players are tasked with explaining what brought their characters to that location. My own worldbuilding can focus on the trade hub and surrounding region, expanding to other regions as the adventure moves to them. Early plot hooks move the adventures toward whichever player-made region is the most fleshed out, and we eventually make our way through each of the regions. From there, any future campaigns involving most of the same players can be set in that same world, which they are all intimately familiar with because they helped make it what it is.
Thank you for the tips! I'm nearly at the one year mark since I met my group and started playing. I really should talk to my dm more outside the game Plus the thanking thing. I do slip in comments about liking stuff from the game but I think I'll start thanking after every session It's one of those little things that make a big impact at the end of the day. Like a kiss at the end of a date. The best I've tried to help is learning obsidian and taking notes so I can casually mention some plot points and NPCs we've forgotten after a while.
I think a lot of DMs could do well to adhere to #1. I don't expect them to understand every single rule perfectly by heart but what does annoy me is when they don't know basics like how surprise works, grappling or skills. It quickly destroys the game when they do something like call for a new stealth check every 30 feet then stealth is no longer a thing. So many DMs ignore so much of the game because they just don't bother to even read them. I'm sympathetic to the amount of information they need to know but it is a problem because it is a dangerous thing to be informing the DM that they are misunderstanding a rule. I end up trying to find a way to diplomatically ask after the session if we are playing with RAW or a house rule in regards to whatever it is that they seemed to just read the title of and make an assumption.
An easy way to figure out how your character thinks is by taking a personality test online as my character. It really helps flesh out their personality
I just want focus... don't be on your phones and not paying attention. My problem is that I understand why we have IRL conversations, not having seen some of my best friends for 2 weeks at a time, but its no excuse still lol.
My best suggestion for that is to start the "session" with like 10-15 minutes of just catching up, unrelated to the game. And then tell the group, okay now we're gonna start the game and stay in the game!
So that's funny... I've tried it and the 15 minutes, easily turns into 30 minutes, turns into an hour sometimes 😆. I just added a person to my group who has never played, and he came in saying "oh, I see now, how over the last 5 years real time, you've only gotten through a year and 2 months in game."
@@BobWorldBuilder btw, love your content , Bob... I understand changing things for the sake of "staying ahead of the curve" and being relevant, lol. But try not to change. You're amazing.
All of this is great advice. Especially about characters matching the setting. I played in a Shadowfell game, playing a character I had made well before a campaign was even planned, who didn't fit at all. When he died, I made a Harengon monk who also didn't fit the setting. When I started wondering why I wasn't quite invested in the party's goals, I realized it was because, in a party of a half-orc oathbreaker, undead monstrosity, tormented wizard, and secretive warlock, a rabbit warrior didn't exactly make sense. So I rolled up a Shadar-Kai druid/cleric who was cursed with madness and now I fit in perfectly and everything flows much more naturally for us.
For point 1: Our DM asked us to provide birthdays for our characters, and informed us that two of them would have theirs during our next downtime, so we would have time to prepare. One character's animal companion had died in the climax of the last arc, so I (in-game) commissioned a wooden carving of ol' Boss. The player almost teared up at the image.
Some of the best moments we've had around the table have been when someone rolls a 1 and fails spectacularly at something they were trying to do. So, I'd not, not only accept failure, but embrace it and own it.
As someone who's spent more time DM'ing then playing, the PC interaction is probably the most satisfying thing to listen to. Makes me feel that I somehow wove the threads of fate to gather an odd party together and it makes sense for them to adventure together.
So when it comes to the engaging with the game part of video, I would like to add an asterisk to that. Mainly with how some players will jump the gun and try to examine every little tiny ass detail. First off, please wait until the DM is finished talking until you suggest something. This sounds really dumb, but I've seen this happen so many times. Second thing is to try and look at the bigger picture before hyperfocusing on something. Sometimes the goblin in the tavern is just a goblin, and the very obvious inportant NPC is just left out to dry. What i'm trying to say is... please just engage with what might be important first, THEN we can talk to Boblin the Goblin.
I am currently writing a game, and I am openly chatting with all my players about plot points, NPCs, Homebrew, Homebrew rules, and the setting. Your advice on getting the players involved is really helpful
Bonus tip: Make an adventurer, not an NPC. An adventurer is excited about doing quests and exploring the world, an adventurer does not go "GM, what is my motivation to even accept this quest?". Compare this to being a hard rock fan and you hear about a secret gig in an quarry in the forest.. Would you go "Do I even have any motivation to do this?".
This is actually solid advice. I'm starting up a new game of Warhammer RPG 4e and one of the questions it asks in the character creation process is why your character isn't just another NPC, and why do they adventure.
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Love your stuff. All good and practical.
_"DnD 5e is a complex game"_ I laugh in Shadowrun.
Those are good advice, even outside of this game. Shadowrun, World of Darkness, Star Wars, Fragged Empires, Blades in the Dark, Heavy Gears... it ALL applies.
Kudos for the intro! Still, in a real group we should be ourselves AND have fun without toxic BS. Else, we can just run outside, trying to befriend repeat offender type criminals lurking in the neighborhood... 😉
Murderhobos in the making, that is, what roleplayers have in common. Worldwide. 🤣
Finally, a player tips video that isn't condescending that most players will take the wrong way if sent by their DM! Thanks Bob :)
But how will my players know how contemptible I find them!?! /s
@@BoojumFed I suspect this is sarcasm, but I've _felt_ contempt (likely real, possibly misperceived) from a gm before and it's an awful feeling 😔
@@priestesslucy3299 Yes, the "/s" tag means that the preceding statement is meant to be taken sarcastically.
Feel free to use it; it's quite widely known and generally saves a great deal of explanation.
@@BoojumFed Totally didn't recognize that was shorthand for /sarcasm lolol.
My b 😋
@@priestesslucy3299 Not a prob. Have a good 'un!
I thought I was immune to shitty player behavior since I had experience dming for a tough group but these vids make me realize that I’m just as bad at times and how to improve, as well as how to communicate problems with players without being a douche. Thanks for the advice!
Good tips
I like players that take notes and know their character and abilities especially spells.
Respect at the table is needed for sure. Roleplaying is always nice too.
Yeah many of these suggestions are basic things players should be doing, but things that can be practiced to make them great players!
Accept failure? I full on embrace that. Failing is where my favorite dnd moments come from
As a DM myself, i agree with this list pretty full hardily. Ive been dming for close to 20 years now and have structured several types of campaigns. I have personally landed on a specific style now however that players who know me seek me out to play. I still run my campaigns in a 3.5 setting because of its freedoms, and i have a very grim dark style of campaign that is always a homebrew setting. What im getting at is it takes a lot of time to create and maintain these settings and my campaigns are not hand holdy and easy. Thats what people seek me out for. With that being said, there is still a lot of effort that goes into crafting these settings and sometimes players dont see this. Making a challenging but not impossible campaign is difficult and i have so many notebooks full of settings that didnt take off. So my tip to players. Ask questions, explore possibilities, respect the entire party (dm included), and work together. I actually killed a quest giver today in my campaign because the party failed to stop it. It bummed them out a bit when they realized what happened, but they loved it because no one else they played with does that so openly. Now, they collected themselves, respected each other and myself, and are working on a solution to get out of the area together. Its fantastic! And they are (mostly) a pleasure to DM for. Everyone, including myself, has moments.
I love it. But one exception to keep your mouth closed when another player is talking. i had with another palyer an incharacter argument and we both incharacter yelled at each other and it ended in a fist fight between them. Also incharacter we made up for it. It was such an awesome RP moment and it was because with didnt shut up while the other was talking. I can't even remember why these both fought but it was hillarious for us players.
Yeah lol, I guess if it's part of the roleplay--and both players are 100% aware that it's only roleplay--then you're good :P
So here's the setting: My first campaign, session 2, everyone is new eccept DM (we're a friend group that already plays a lot of other games together), we just got out of some cave where some bandit group tried to feed us to giant spiders. We find a small town and NPC keeps affirming that there's no caves in that place. Everyone just decides to ignore it and move on to some other city. I'm sure DM had a whole ass plotline planned out for that cave but we'll probably never get back there xd.
i’m a new dnd player and a new dm, group is 5 players who have never played dnd before and it’s so fun knowing some of the rules and when i don’t know something and can’t find it quickly we just wing it. we are having fun and that’s all that matters
take 5 minutes after the session to journal in a shared discord!
it helps the DM know how the character perceives, and helps reveal narrative the author is most interested in. it mean the world to me when characters write notes, especially RP notes from the character's personality.
My old DM used to hate it when I tried to interact with the environment.
Supposedly he'd had one person at game who he refused to DM for after said person took to monologuing these intricate acts of acrobatics which tended to take 6 times longer than anyone else's turn. After that he'd lost all patience with any action that didn't serve either an immediate purpose or was clearly part of a larger plan to benefit the player, especially at the expense of the rest of the group.
And he couldn't figure out why his games kept getting derailed after incentivizing his players to turn on each other. Classic.
Failure is fun to me, except when the stakes are too high, or when you end up achieving absolutely nothing during a session. It's so hard for me not to let that frustration slip out when we reach a really tense moment in the campaign, or when I'm at my 15th fail in a row ^^". Once, one of my characters missed a shot at a boss that was being grappled by an ally less than 3m away from her. She is litteraly a bow master lol.
At 4:10 you said read the primer. I usually do this as a session 0, I give context for the land's history, it's towns, economy(it's been asked about before), and common races. then we all make the characters together, and the players can ask more questions very easily. While we do this we have fun, try to intertwine the backstory's, and gamble on who gets the lowest and highest stats. Because of this setting the start of the campaign is easy for the DM, and the players know who the rest of their party is. it also is a great way to introduce the game to new players, as they can learn the rules without the consequence of not knowing them, and will usually fall in love with their character as they helped make it.
In short, do a session 0 where you all make the characters together, either ask your DM to do this, or host it yourself.
Session 0s are really essential, I think. Try to fit one in, even if you don't get to play that often, because the quality of time spent in sessions going forward will outweigh the quantity. Just getting everyone to mesh together and make characters that fit in the setting!
We discovered that another player is actually a half elf yeti, not just your typical half elf.
Good tips, as usual!
Funny, as a DM, I don't require direct thanks - for me them showing up on time, knowing their characters, and enjoying the game enough to come back IS thanks. I guess I'm just a weirdo like that.
A great player doesn't stop roleplaying after imitative is rolled.
you're like the Bob Ross of d&d!
Our Light Cleric after a YEAR of play: "what does Bless do?". Please be familiar with your character. A good way to do that is to not do the exact same thing in every session, even if its 'your build'. Experiment and play around with your underused features and abilities every now again. You never know, one of those underused abilities might be the spell Bless.... a spell that makes people want to play with you.
NOTI GANG RISE UP!
Woo!
"5th Edition is way more complicated than any other game you might play on game night." My brain: "...Rolemaster..."
try 2nd edition ;)
@@lamichka 2nd Edition D&D is the version of D&D our group plays. I find it much easier to run than 5th.
@@erc1971erc1971 Then I envy you. Maybe its the years of training and playing. Iam glad that 2nd Edition D&D is still alive.
@@lamichka To a point you are correct - I have so much experience with 2nd that I can make it do what I want it to do. Plus I like all the resources that edition has - most supported edition by far.
Thanks
tldr: collaborate, and metagame to tell a fun story, not to "win"
Bardy McFly 😅
part of my autism is i struggle with memory and have executive dysfunction nad dyslexia and adhd etc . is it ok to take notes when the other player is talking so i can remember what's happening and build on that when its my turn because otherwise i would be super lost.
Shame that Number 8 is by all means impossible for me cause the LGS by me doesn't know what scheduling is, either that or they pay their DMs such a little cut of the DnD seating proceeds that the DMs feel like they can flake at a moment's notice and it doesn't matter.
Also, no there isn't an F in that abriviation, they're not friendly, they pose that way but be there for DnD more than one session and you'll know it's pure hypocrisy due to how they behave and how they want DMs that run games there to behave.
Their schedule says it's a specific campaign you've been a part of? Lol no, it's a pre-gen one shot tonight! Their schedule says it's a one shot? You get there just to find out they're in the middle of a campaign that's been going for months and they aren't really happy to take on a new party member (another part of why there's no F in the abbreviation when I refer to them)
All of this on top of having to pay for seats, and despite them having a bigger location that they could actually fit multiple DnD sessions at, they instead host DnD sessions in a cramped corner of the main store that you couldn't even fit a pool table in... and they try to have 2 tables in there, so you basically have to reserve seats by paying in advance before you even know wtf is actually gonna be going on, and until very recently they were VERY against refunds for it.
As for the rooms and how sessions go being that cramped? As a DM I hope your maps aren't any bigger than standard 8.5 by 11 paper or you'll have every player's crap blocking the map. That's WITHOUT having people in the group with items such as dice trays, mind you. Many players there use DnD beyond via their phones cause they don't even have room on the table for character sheets, let alone writing materials. It is such a mess 😫
13 minute video up for six minutes already has comments about the video. Hmmm... Bob must have said something early in video to engage the viewers.
I think some folks just love commenting immediately haha
some of us are 2x speed watching chads
@@bean9315 Or the chronically overworked
@@thenoble1 lol, when you dont have the free time to enjoy life, that makes you a beta
Do people still post "first" or am I just showing my age
Collaborating with the DM on your character's background is severely underrated! Creating ties to the world makes for a much more fleshed out character AND world, and also creates the opportunity for plot hooks and role play moments. If you're new or just don't want to mess with the setting, just ask how to make your idea work with his world. Good luck finding a DM who won't want to talk your ear off about all the different facets of his setting and they'll probably get a ton of inspiration just from hearing your idea!
Yeah any homebrew DM will love you for it, and any DM running a module SHOULD love you for it because that's a big part of what makes playing out of books fun in my experience!
I won’t play a character without a full backstory. It is essential to any character
A caveat: if you work with a player extensively on their backstory, don’t then undermine it or contradict it, or take it in a direction you decide is right rather than the way the player wanted to play it. For example, if the character is deeply invested in family and blood obligations, think very carefully about your idea that the character will find out at some point that they were adopted so some villain could fulfill some contract clause or the like, and their cherished family relationships, which they were expecting to provide a specific kind of set of expectations and tensions, are not what they intended. This kind of thing has happened multiple times in games I’ve been in and it can really damage players’ trust. (It can also work if the player is interested and wants to go with it, but imposing that kind of thing on them is a problem.)
(Also note that I’m not saying anything about adoption here. You could tell any number of awesome stories of whatever theme with a *willing* player.)
I take this one step further.
I'm a very spontaneous, seat of the pants type GM (or at least I used to be. It's been a long time and I feel like my creativity is retired lol) and I would always collaborate with my players to create not only their characters but their entire homeland.
The homelands of the party would be the cornerstone of the setting, with everything else evolving out from there.
THIS! I'm currently in a campaign and we're just 8 sessions in (It's going great). Initially, I didn't know almost anything about the world while creating my character, yet I talked with the dm and he confirmed that my backstory will work. I was starting to think that I shouldn't be rambling about my ideas as much, but gosh he had implemented my backstory into the world so well!! It feels so nice and validating that my character feels like he belongs to the environment. When some important plot points from my story were touched it had such an incredible impact on both me and the character! Glad that we could talk and figure out what would work and so on, cause now the experience is incredibly enhanced because of it.
My favorite players throughout the years all had one thing in common: They chatted me throughout the week about their character. There were much fewer surprises in-game that way, they showed that they were invested in the world and in the game, I was able to know their goals and likes/dislikes better so I could tailor the story and rewards to them, and overall it just made me want to work harder on the game and the world to make it fun for them.
Players who only talked to me and the other PCs on the day of the game seemed less invested, and would sometimes be disappointed or apathetic with the way their character arc and rewards went.
Absolutely! Keeping the conversation going between sessions is great evidence of a player's investment, and it can be really helpful for the DM! Of course, not everyone will find time to join in that extra conversation, but it's great when they do :)
This is an extremely underused part of the game, tbh. With the days and days worth of travel montages that feature in most campaigns, you are really just making the character bonds feel realistic. _Of course_ the PCs are suddenly much closer, coordinated, and understanding of one another _after traveling together for a week._
Ok. But what to do when GM is not open at all to listen to players between sessions ? I hit a situation when GM says he wants to chat online but any time I start to communicate something he seems irritated, almost hostile?
I thought he has some problem with me but in some time I learned that essencially nobody from player side is communicating in those chanels at all.... its dead town. I realy dont know what to think of it. Kinda mixed messages for me. Did you ever encounter it?
@@lamichka two steps. Bring this to the DM and try finding a solution, communicate.
It doesn't work? Decide if that's a campaign worth your time, and comunicate that to DM and players. Ghosting is kinda rude.
@@claire3614 thanks for the advice. :)
Accepting failure is also a HUGE tip for GMs. When a planned session falls flat, don't hate yourself. Investigate sessions in the past that worked well, identify elements that made it succeed. Conversely, identify weak points in that "failed" session, so you never make the same mistake twice!
Yup, this is the best one. I had a chase scene in my last session that I felt was pretty weak. Lo and behold, there are RULES for that in the DMG, and they would've been way better than the lame thing I cooked up on the spot. Lesson learned!
My first session went horribly, imo. It was a tower defense homebrew and it started out fine but then came the combat and badly balanced waves and I could feel them fading 😭 it's taken a while to gather enough courage to DM again but I'm doing another one, a pre-made campaign, next week and hope it'll go better.
@@tybronx2446 How'd it go? In my experience, going premade as a starting DM is a good choice. You get a feel of balancing that way - which is more an art than a science. Later you can start tweaking things, or even overhaul elements wholesale if you think they'd work better with your game world. When I first started DMing 5th edition, I took a module from a whole different fantasy setting and retooled it for D&D.
@@Smilley85 You do get a better feel for balance, but not all adventures are balanced well either. I feel homebrewing my first campaign is a lot more freeing because anything and everything about the world is up to me to decide so I can just make up anything on the spot.
Bingo! Actually working on DMing like any other craft can make it so much easier to improve!
As someone who's been DMing for more than 40 years, I endorse this list. 😆
For the rules one, I would say that just learning the rules for what their character can do would be enough to make me happy. I don't mind helping players out with reminders or quick explanations of rules for unusual situations or when they are trying out something new, but I expect players to understand how their own class abilities and spellls work so I don't have to stop the game to look them up.
Wow, 40 years! Respect.
If you're been DM'ing for 40 years... what exactly are you having to "look up" at this point? If you already know what classes/races your players are, you should have cheat sheets up (and literally at the ready) so that you don't have to "stop the game" to "look it up".
@@Dyanosis 5 editions, tons of classes, tons of subclasses, hundreds of spells, additional books (tosha, xanathar, UA etc). Hell, even knowing the PHB by heart can be hard.
I only played 4 sessions so far and the DM basically made us into the 4 four horseman of the apocalpsy.
We ended up getting ambused by demons and now someone gave us four talking horses. We started to notice that weird stuff started to happen around us in town. I play a cleric and instead of healing people, the people I try to help get the plague. 😭 It was pretty exciting to figure it out. Now we have to "master" our powers so we can stop messing stuff up around us.
Wow! That sounds like a blast!
@@Revelwoodie Yeah, there was a fire in a temple and the priestesses asked me to help. Then I go back to help the next day (while our rogue is having an identity crisis) and BAM! everyone I healed has the plague.
The priestesses: "Do you know what happened?"
"No idea, but look I'm busy today, I really can't help." While inside I'm freaking out.
I find our warlock who greets me with: "I was having lunch and the waiter dropped dead when I touched his hand."
So we had an Oh Shit moment. Great way to find out that we're Death and Pestilence.
Let's not even mention the barbarian who sent half of the town guards into a bloodrage. So he's War, yay?
Wow, that was an info dump, sorry about that.
@@greenwren5072 WOOOOW, now I want to play a campaign with the settings🤣
@@ElifasTeQ It's pretty fun, but I really wish I could stop giving people the freakin plague every time. 😂
@@greenwren5072 😂
I ALWAYS makes sure to give my players an after-session feedback survey. The three questions I ask are: What they liked about the session, what they didn't like, and if they'd like to add anything else. It can be tricky getting your players to consistently do it so I decided completing a survey would give them a point of my homebrew inspiration they liked. It half remedied it, as I can still struggle to get responses. But if you're open to criticism and improving it's a super helpful tool.
Yeah any kind of debrief after a session is super helpful. Mixing the positive, negative, and other things left out is great!
@@BobWorldBuilder I agree! It makes things better for everyone, and makes players feel much better if things go wrong because they know there is a way to improve it.
Any room left in your group for another player?
I do the same, but with slightly more detail to the questions:
1. What did you like? Keep it as is? Or more of it?
2. What did you not like? Want less? Or none at all?
3. Anything you felt was missing that we should add? Or anything you would like to see eventually that would be disappointing to not experience?
My GM does something similar, but his questions are these:
Questions? Comments? Death threats? 😆
I never really comment on youtube videos but I just wanted to say thank you so much for your excellent subtitles on your videos. Makes it so much more enjoyable as someone who struggles with hearing.
My golden rule: It's the job of each person in a roleplaying group, including the DM, to make sure everyone is having as much fun as possible, including the DM. Also communication in an open and respectful way, at the right time, is the key to groups that go on for years and years.
Well if the DM has to have fun too, then the group is just screwed.
That last tip is something I have experienced as DM and am slightly ashamed to say, only started recently implementing it as a player. And BOY, does it help make the game fun, grounded AND smooth. Just by the simple act of asking or engaging with other people's backstory instantly transforms a group from a couple of mercenaries individually working at the same goal by luck of the fates to an actual group with greater stakes when a PC dies than just for the player that controlled that PC.
As a wild magic sorcerer with large aoe spells and spells like dimension door that can save friends from the stomachs of monsters, it became so much more impactful when using those spells around friends and spending two of my turns just to give an ally a slightly greater chance of surviving than if I didn't. The sheer tension when you are standing next to a low health ally while a wild magic burst happens is something I would have never been able to experience before just talking to those silly little sheets of paper we call a character sheet with a backstory.
That's a great testimonial! lol, and so true, when I see these tips in practice, the game is so much more fun for everyone :)
I've played in games where the party is hiding their backstory and it sucks so much, there's nothing you can do because the characters don't trust each other
Another youtube page I follow, Dungeon Dudes, has a great character creation tool where every player character has to have some kind of relationship with at least one fellow PC and at least one possible NPC. Its a great tool for building a sense of belonging within the party and the campaign world.
My first character I ever played ended up not really having much of a personal goal of her own, so she just focused on supporting her friends. Which, incidentally, ended up with her the center of the group, and now there's an entire revenge arc involving her family and the BBEG that the DM brought to life, including her grandpa, who is played by another player who recently lost their PC. This, among other reasons, is why as a player, this is still my favorite campaign and character. Not because my PC is that great on her own (she has an incredibly (and purposefully) generic backstory and personality, in fact), but because of the connections she built with her group and all the shenanigans and RP that generated. Can definitely recommend.
Fun Fact about one of my fellow PC’s: Their character told mine they were a noble, so I asked them what there titles were…
Anyways my character now referees to them as ”Ressyn, the sweetest tongue, most beautiful voice, youngest son of the king Trogar.”
That's such a beautiful way to refer to someone :3
Their titles*
Refers* Referee is someone who oversees a game and is a general "judge" of a game. A DM could be seen as a referee at times.
I got sent this video from our DM as a sort of "thank you" letter. That's so sweet.
To share the effect that taking an interest in another PC can have, one of our players didn't know what to build for the game, so she settled on a complete joke character, not to be taken seriously whatsoever. Well, too bad for her. I *did* take her character seriously, and now we're BFFs in the game. Just taking her at face value got her more invested in the campaign than she would have been on her own.
The rules one hits, I have had too many players say they are not really having fun. But have shown so little towards learning the rules, it makes me sad.
Even basics like learning how the basic turn goes makes the game so much more for a player.
It just makes being the GM so hard when you get to one players turn and you have to drop the game to explain how to make an attack a month into a campaign for the 5th time In a night.
For exalted I give everyone a sheet that goes though the entire combat in a check list, and I make my players follow it every single time. It was a bit awquard at first. But I think my players have always done so much better despite it being so complex.
I think D&D needs a good cheat sheet to give out players, I don’t really need most of the info given on DM screens, but would love a single sheet I could hand players.
Just something like, taking your turn.
Making an attack.
Casting a spell.
Simple, and covers some of the basics.
I know Anto of the Icarus Games channel on UA-cam is currently working on producing 5e cheat sheets for various classes and races. The kickstarter already funded so some digital versions may already be available. I just haven't kept up to date with it, but it sounds like exactly what you're looking for!
On another note "D4: DnD Deep dive" has a "DnD university" playlist where he goes over the basics of the game. He is super easy to listen to and explains things very well. He helped immensely when I first started playing. It is also good to as a refresher
Ohhh, cool. Anything to give players I think is great, some I do think just need a good one page of info so they don’t need to ask basics and can ask the more fun stuff !
Love this idea. Whether it's quick cheat cards in front of players, or on the face side of a GM screen, reminds me of quick guides I've designed at work for codes, reference etc
You might have found a solution by now, but I recommend checking out MPMB's PDF for character sheets.
There's an optional last page that gives some great shorthand on what a player can do with their turn.
It even explains some basics of casting spells, like cube, cone, etc.
We started a group with all new players, and they found it really helpful.
"Accept Failure." Oh boy, I finally have a story.
So I was playing a paladin in an undead dungeon. There was a Specter floating just out of reach above some charging undead. Through both starting equipment and looting the dungeon, I actually had a longsword, a magic flame tongue short sword (which I was primarily using), and a longbow if needed. Our dragon monk frog lept into the air and pummeled the Specter, getting it super low. I wanted to kill it, but I didn't want to have to drop my short sword (which was ignited and my primary source of light in the dark dungeon) to draw my bow. So, thinking myself cleaver, I drew my longsword and threw it at the specter, an epic strike. I missed. After my hilarious failure, the specter retreated on its turn and I chased it, this time dropping my sword and drawing my bow, thinking the specter was hovering in the nearby light. As I was drawing my bow, the flame went out on my short sword. The torchlight, didn't extend far enough to cover the Specter (which was in the air), so it disappeared in total darkness. I had two shots, both with disadvantage. Knowing where it was moving to, I fired blind...and hit! Killed it with a blind shot as by sword flame was going out behind me! Managed to save an epic fail with a totally different epic success!
Also, even knowing I killed it with that shot, my character didn't, so I had him fire his second shot into the wall before hearing the thud of the body hitting the ground (there were only a few undead left anyway. I did a lot of suboptimal things, but my DM was super cool with not punishing me for it and even helping out.
@Kevin Meeker: clever* (cleaver = small ax like a butcher might use) 🙄
@@pablohammerly448 it's one thing to point out an error, it's another to do it with condescension
@@cole7274 I used to be a proofreader and a typesetter -- I'm sick and tired of seeing the English language being butchered by people who can't take the time to learn how to spell and/or the differences between words. My first language was Spanish that I learned from my immigrant parents. I made the effort to become an expert in English, my second language. If you don't like my attitude, you can kiss my posterior! 🤬
@@pablohammerly448 Oh I don't doubt you're an expert with language, you clearly know your stuff mate. It's pretty impressive to have that kind of language mastery, I'm struggling pretty hard in my own studies of Swedish (maybe not struggling per say, but it is a slow-going process). I'm certainly sorry to have caused offense, my goal was to point out some of the niceties of being nice. Your comment reads as if you're really angry about the whole ordeal, and I wouldn't want to cause that either. For you, as someone who's had to put an exhaustive amount of work to learn English, wouldn't you agree that you've had your fair share of mistakes while learning? Or that the annoyances of the internet, autocorrect and typing with keyboards sometimes leads to errors through no fault of your own? It seems that a comment with any error is a major annoyance to you, and I just can't help but wonder if being so heated about this all is healthy for your own sake or making you happy. What do you think? Maybe I'm missing the perspective of someone who knows more about other languages and sees a value to commenting that I don't.
@@cole7274 For example, how my phone likes completely changing words on me without me noticing. Another is trying to edit a comment and deleting a word and not noticing then you look very foolish. Anyways, my phone hates me.
A youtube channel must always distinguish itself from others in order to stand out. Your recent focus on becoming a nexus of community information puts you in a unique position that is different from all the other dnd youtube channels. I'm happy to see you find a niche that supports the community and lets your channel grow. Well done.
A Bard became one of my all time best characters (I’ve been doing this since the 70s) when he & I became the DM’s asset. This occurred because the DM had built his own world from the ground up and I, as a lore master, showed a lot of interest in the world allowing him to info dump often. I also became the party note taker as well as composing an in-character weekly recap of the game which always painted the other party members as heroes of ledgendary proportions which further ingratiated me to the DM as well as the party.
As I write this, my friend is making a campaign. He essentially uses me as a way to make sure plot points fit, help him refine details and the other players are getting my assistance with their character backstories, all because I kept asking how the writing was going. I'm his right-hand man. Not to mention the sessions are at my place and I work as an anonymous form of criticism. He calls me his secretary.
My all time greatest character was an AD&D Bard I started/played back in the 80s. I eventually gave him up to the DM to use in the world he built.
Fun fact about a fellow player at one of our games: Her dark elf rogue's character name is Bonk because when she came to the surface world she was taken in by a family of halflings and the youngest son couldn't pronounce her dark elf name so he called her Bonk instead. So she kept the name. :)
This makes me so happy. ☺️
Really good as usual. One thing I would add, "perfect your craft" i.e. somethings are more basic others are more advanced. Make an effort to get better.
Yeah totally! A lot of these tips are just fundamentals of the game, but honing these skills really makes a great player!
I find that in long campaigns with long hiatuses, backstory conversations between PC's are especially hamstrung by the player forgetting what they and their character know about the other PC's. For a campaign I'm in that had a year-long hiatus, I'm now going through my notes and trying to list all meta and in-game knowledge I have about each PC. I hope it enables deeper roleplay. I wish I did it sooner!
Maybe have an OOC update before the next game if there's a significant gap? It's a bit meta but the net effect of making those IC convos easier to have will be a positive one.
Every time Bob gets to the part where he says, "Because I'm Bob, and this..." I immediately feel at ease
Same. ☺️
Taking notes is INSANELY useful. We had a dedicated archivist / cartographer last game. I can't count the number of times he saved us from our ignorance. There's no way you'd remember what a particular NPC said 4 sessions ago without notes.
All of these are phenomenal! ESPECIALLY Collaborative Worldbuilding!
Thanks, Baron! That's definitely my favorite!
The 11 dislikes are from people who are salty that their DM sent them this video
This is a great synthesis of the community post! As always, great insights delivered with soothing presence.
Thank you! Yeah it was really nice to be able to read all the comments and put this one together :)
As a player I managed to get a loop roaring with the DM which turbo-charged everything and brought huge amounts of detail and generated a phenomenal 25 year long campaign, much of which continued for me after the other players had dropped out years back. Cultivating a good working exchange with the DM and even feeding them creative data (videos, novels, graphics, scenarios) can make something really special happen. It's all about collaboration I think, despite me very much having to go it completely alone these days as a DM. 'Make your DM feel optimistic' is a good rule of thumb maybe. Bob World Builder, this video is really really good and I'd like to send the link to future players I get. Thought provoking and cool!
Learned this week that the Aasimar Druid's family got murdered whilst protecting a Gate to the Feywild, the Tiefling Rogue got groomed as a child, the Leonin Bloodhunter might be royalty, and the Paladin Elf thinks that he was born from a tree...great tips, Bob!!!
The most important thing for me is: communication. In and outside of the game. Tell me what you want from the game. I cannot read minds. I want my players to come up with an amazing backstory and let me weave that into the plot, so that their characters are actually motivated to resolve that plot. (also to talk them out of playing a toxic character that sabotages the party before they even start)
I’m the dm. Can’t wait to have my other players find out the war scarred tortle actually killed his whole village in rage after he found out that a certain magic powder he had been using was illegally made from other tortles. Hes sworn eternal vengeance on whoever made the invention. But he’s been keeping it surprisingly tight lipped.
Excellent tips all around... especially the one that's a reminder we have one mouth and two ears, so we should be listening twice as much as we talk.
The note on accepting failure is absolutely a great one and seems to get overlooked. Tbh the Nat 1s are usually more fun to remember than the Nat 20s and it's great when it happens. When my paladin has to make a Dex save, I don't get mad at the inevitable failure - I usually preface it with a "it was nice knowing y'all" and make the roll and I go with it. When I fail a persuasion check, I roleplay really bad strawman arguments or sometimes end up making points against myself. When I miss an attack, I describe how I put too much weight behind my halberd and missed wildly. Moments of failure can and are fun if you're a good sport about it, and it's a solid bonus when you engage in roleplay based on your bad rolls. As a player, it's fun to make this bit of narrative make sense - as the DM, it's great to see players engaged this way and nice to have a brief moment to breathe during an encounter as the player describes what happens
Engage with the scene! If there’s an npc it’s because they’ve got something to fish out of them.
I actually don’t play in the local shop anymore because I end up at a table of six people playing essentially solo campaigns and solo heroes.
I get they want to express the character they’ve been thinking of all week, but be human-right?
Yeah if you're not playing with people you already know, it can feel weird to really invest in the game outside your own character. Definitely happened in my few experiences playing at game stores
A bonus advice concerning engaging: Don't just kill everything you believe to be a monster/bad guy/enemy sometimes the DM adds a story plot in these characters or they will turn them into one. try it, it is fun to "convert" a "Bad-Guy" to your side.
one of my players was a cleric and one day just out of nowhere could see where the campaign was going and said "it's in the prophecies, brother, we must do this"
his prophecies are now an integral part of the game. "Yes, and" + collaborative world building are the best. Stuff that happens that I have no control over is what makes me the DM have fun, i don't know what to expect, and reacting to it is the challenge and skill and what makes us all leave the table with a smile.
I played several games as a PC before I became a DM and in all of those games I played, we didn't do travel time. If a place was three days away, we started walking and basically fast traveled. When I became a DM I decided that I didn't want travel to be painful, but there should at least be one night of camping if they're taking 3 days to travel somewhere. I came to this realization after watching Critical Role. So many of their interactions happened during watches, that it just made sense to me to add it to my game. Plus, without it, we'd might have miss the "killed my whole family" interaction which still makes me smile.
Sitting around a campfire is something many of us know how to do instinctually, so sitting around a campfire in game isn't a stretch of the imagination. By setting up two shifts to watch camp, different PCs that may not speak often with one anther have a few minutes of conversation and interaction one on one, without interruption from the other players. It's been great.
I do this too. I skip travel time, and edit the travel distance so that locations are within a days travel unless I want something interesting to happen.
I do this because I think random encounters that aren't driven by the story are kind of boring and a time sink.
@@jayspeidell I agree. I have a few random encounters planned, but they're more designed to be RP and world building, that just "7 bandits attaack. Roll initiative." However, I do think having an opportunity to find, set up, and guard the camp allow for interesting RP with characters that give them opportunities to build their backstory, use those skills that don't often get used (ranger's foraging skills) and just have a moment to talk.
I LOVE this, Bob! Thank you! Sending this to my group. And you come across as SO empathetic that I'd let you raise my kid. But you wouldn't want to raise my kid because she's quite the minmaxer and way too jammy with rolling crits.
I'm old school 2nd Edition. I always tried to play like it was a living world. Most of my characters invested time and energy in the campaign as well as after the campaign.
In some campaigns I played in, if I tried learning things about the other characters, they would think I was trying to either kill them or steal their treasure.
See, I was the Thief in the group.
This video should just be called gaming ettiqute.
with the last one though, I've noticed that a lot of players, and not just the old ones, don't really think out the motivations and backstories of their characters, but I find way the best way to do so is to work with the DM on your own so they can see how cool it will be. Last week, my DM did a whole section with my mom and we had a great interaction and afterward, one of the other players was like "I really need to flesh out my backstory" and he worked on it and this week the DM incorporated that into the session. Of course this also requires a DM that really puts the work in because I've had DMs where you might as well play a video game because the work I put into who my character was was completely irrelevant to the plot
My favorite questions to ask my fellow PCs are “firsts” like when did you first know you could cast magic? When did you first pick up a sword? What was the first thing you stole? Lots of convos open up after that
This is such a great idea! Thank you!
7:40 my absolute favorite dnd moment was when my dwarf barbarian was walking into the woods accompanied by the city guard in search of some threat, and what would have been just a description of the forest we were walking through and a skip to the next combat was entirely changed when I interrupted the end of my dms fantastic description with one simple question: "are there monkeys?" And because he was awesome he said "yes. Absolutely." And dove right into the description of the monkeys I see and then my barbarian yelled so loud the monkeys fell out of the trees and he went over collected the dead monkeys (finishing one off) and walked back to my now in aw group of soldier acquaintances turned fearful helpers. It took all of five minutes and it added so much to my character, the flow of play and the overall humor of the game.
3:10 see, what's fun here is that in a current campaign im playing in, we realized my arcane trickster's spells weren't really within the list of spells they should be able to access (partiallty my fault for not reading the thing clearly, but also D&DBeyond just gave it full access to the entire wizard spell list)
so between the last session and this one, i asked the DM to change the list for me because they're a lot better at forming spell-lists to fit a specific theme. i've read briefly through the spell-list i have now, and what we're thinking to do is decide to give a narative explination that ties into the themes of magic and the abyss that are already present in the campain. I asked the DM to throw something like mephits at us so that my character could go for "ol' reliable: chromatic orb," just for Color Spray to come out. the character is already getting paranoid about how much control he has in the setting, so realizing his spells are "acting up" is just gonna mess with him more. What's also great is that I get to "learn my abilities with the character" in a sense, because the character is gonna have to try out different spells to figure out how they work and how to apply them during some downtime stuff. it's great for RP
I had a “supporting the DM” moment once and it felt great. Basically in our world there’s only humans and a few monster races(But no tiefiling). My character, a Fiend Warlock, had as a role playing style turn more and more similar to a tiefiling when he uses a spell. My DM had the idea of making it the normal effects of making the pact when he saw it, not only that, eventually the tiefiling kind was born due to my character’s action. It was so awesome.
when I GM, I always tell my players that, if something you feel should be in the scene, but I haven't described it. It's probably there. I haven't had any bad GM experiences using this guideline yet. And I hope that it encourages my players to be engaged in the scene!
And as a player, I always tentatively use this guideline by asking if there's something that would seem likely to be there, if it is. And I accept whatever answer they give me. :)
Thanks Bob, I think you bring up a lot of really good points, especially the last one. Thanks for sharing!
What I want more than anything in my players is for them to be excited to forward their stories. I want them to engage with the players at the table, talk and plan things out with the group between sessions, and most importantly, *talk to me* about what they want to happen for the next session, or further down the road. If nothing else, that's what I think makes a player truly great.
A big tip back to DM's. Facilitate player interaction! Give moments, story beats, breaks in the narrative where players can do things. Rushing from set-piece to set-piece, or even worse, hushing players RPing with each other so you can continue your story, is only giving yourself MORE work to do!
Your statement should also define that "RP'ing" doesn't mean "any form of table talk".
@@Dyanosis I mean, there's lots to specify, but in UA-cam comments brevity tends to be better than wordiness. No one wants to read my 3000 word dissertation on table etiquette and facilitating rp.
One big paragraph is already a lot for most comments!
A friend was making his own ttrpg (still in the works) and we were play testing it for a few months.
I would track what occurred each session by making memes. Just make some based on the situations we got into or how bad a characters luck was. Things like that.
Made it easy to track and remember what happened because you see a image and text and think "oh yeah that boulder thing hit us all and the paladin couldn't get a hit to save his life".
One of my players has giggle-fits that go be forever. They could be triggered by anything and I mean anything.
One session he decided to walk into the front door of a stronghold that contained 15 goblins, 8 hobgoblins, a bugbear boss, a grick, and an owlbear. Everyone else wanted to sneak in, not knowing what’s to come, but he went right through the front door with his goblin sidekick.
To my surprise, he did some great role play and I was going to reward him by making him the king over the goblins. He did great up to the point he got a giggle-fit and tried to grab a goblin to wipe his butt after taking a dump over a hole in the wall. He infuriated every goblin and they locked him and his sidekick in a dark room with a starving owlbear. He survived but just barely.
I wish it was as easy as “be serious during serious moments and silly during silly moments “.
Be patient with this guy. My sisters and I get giggle fits… and based on what my dad did to us, I’m pretty dang sure it’s actually a trauma response, part of how we deal with awful fears now in adulthood.
@@angelalewis3645 that’s fair. Never know what things a person has endured throughout their lives and how it might affect them.
Buy us more pizza.
That helps too lol
I have to say SESSION 0! I cannot express how important sitting with your party to define the tone, kind of story characters etc... This way everyone gets what they want
Otherwise, for example
If a dm prepares a serious session but everyone is being goofy, probably the players will not have fun because this is not what they wanted, and the dm will be sad because he spent so much time and no one cares.
The important thing is to all have fun :D
Now this is why I love Wednesdays
Thank you! :)
The most important thing for me is, show up on time, keep your phone in your pocket and try to organize when the next session takes place.
Nothing shows more that you dont respect your dm then coming late, playing on your phone and never making suggestions when to play next time.
One of the things that I appreciate most from my group is feedback at the end of the session. Because they let me know what do they like and what they don't like and then I think about a way that I can maintain the campaign I want to run while also making sure they get to enjoy it. Because as a DM can easily fall into the trap of satisfying my players and forget about his own satisfaction.
Hi Bob! I made a free version of your video in spanish, with a few things of my own opinion. Obviously i gave you credit and reccomended your great channel. Respects from Chile and let the dices keep rolling!!!
Thank you for saying that D&D 5E is not a simple game! It honestly might be the most complex TTRPG out of multiple dozens I have ever played, only rivaled by games inspired by D&D in the first place (though many games inspired by D&D are also way easier or flexible to engage and do amazing flashy things). This doesn't necessarily mean it is a lesser game, but it really needs to be stated clearly that on a rate of 1-10 for complexity for newcomers, D&D rests at around 8.
Furthermore, accepting failure is also much more fun in other TTRPGs, since they are less focused on the tactics and more focused on the flash, theme, and narrative. Plus, there are little ways to compensate! Many PbtA games like Masks or Apocalypse World give XP whenever you fail a roll. Meanwhile, games like Kids on Bikes / Kids on Brooms give an Adversity Point when you fail, which kinda act like mini-inspiration.
I love it when players get involved with the world-building, particularly when it comes to historical events and NPCs. If a player pops off some improvised story about some event that took place once upon a time, I take note of that and make it part of the world's history, though some of the actual details might be a little different than what the player had said, as things are often exaggerated or changed as stories are retold.
Players sharing stories about various NPCs "back home" gives me material to work with and saves me a lot of trouble creating characters to populate that town that fit with the image the player has of it.
If I had players that were really engaged, I would have them help build the world from the ground up by having them describe their characters' hometowns, some nearby settlements and points of interest, their culture, some interesting historical events that took place in the region, etc., then plop all of that into different areas on an otherwise blank world map and build around what the players had given me to start with. Add in whatever they improvise about their home regions during play and most of the heavy lifting is done for those regions by the time I actually need to do anything with them. First adventure takes place in a trade hub that is somewhat central to where all of the characters are coming from and the players are tasked with explaining what brought their characters to that location. My own worldbuilding can focus on the trade hub and surrounding region, expanding to other regions as the adventure moves to them. Early plot hooks move the adventures toward whichever player-made region is the most fleshed out, and we eventually make our way through each of the regions. From there, any future campaigns involving most of the same players can be set in that same world, which they are all intimately familiar with because they helped make it what it is.
Thank you for the tips! I'm nearly at the one year mark since I met my group and started playing. I really should talk to my dm more outside the game
Plus the thanking thing. I do slip in comments about liking stuff from the game but I think I'll start thanking after every session
It's one of those little things that make a big impact at the end of the day. Like a kiss at the end of a date.
The best I've tried to help is learning obsidian and taking notes so I can casually mention some plot points and NPCs we've forgotten after a while.
I think a lot of DMs could do well to adhere to #1. I don't expect them to understand every single rule perfectly by heart but what does annoy me is when they don't know basics like how surprise works, grappling or skills. It quickly destroys the game when they do something like call for a new stealth check every 30 feet then stealth is no longer a thing. So many DMs ignore so much of the game because they just don't bother to even read them. I'm sympathetic to the amount of information they need to know but it is a problem because it is a dangerous thing to be informing the DM that they are misunderstanding a rule. I end up trying to find a way to diplomatically ask after the session if we are playing with RAW or a house rule in regards to whatever it is that they seemed to just read the title of and make an assumption.
As a Pathfinder Main and Forever DM I love the little nod to "(Besides another more complicated RPG)" with the transparent popup.
love the content
Thanks! :)
An easy way to figure out how your character thinks is by taking a personality test online as my character. It really helps flesh out their personality
i wish my players would show up when we have a session planned
I just want focus... don't be on your phones and not paying attention. My problem is that I understand why we have IRL conversations, not having seen some of my best friends for 2 weeks at a time, but its no excuse still lol.
My best suggestion for that is to start the "session" with like 10-15 minutes of just catching up, unrelated to the game. And then tell the group, okay now we're gonna start the game and stay in the game!
So that's funny... I've tried it and the 15 minutes, easily turns into 30 minutes, turns into an hour sometimes 😆. I just added a person to my group who has never played, and he came in saying "oh, I see now, how over the last 5 years real time, you've only gotten through a year and 2 months in game."
@@BobWorldBuilder btw, love your content , Bob... I understand changing things for the sake of "staying ahead of the curve" and being relevant, lol. But try not to change. You're amazing.
This is a good compilation of whats nice to have in dnd.
Thanks Bob for the great tips as always.
Our Dwarven paladin is terrified of moldy cheese. His home town was decimated by a food poisoning incident.
All of this is great advice. Especially about characters matching the setting. I played in a Shadowfell game, playing a character I had made well before a campaign was even planned, who didn't fit at all. When he died, I made a Harengon monk who also didn't fit the setting. When I started wondering why I wasn't quite invested in the party's goals, I realized it was because, in a party of a half-orc oathbreaker, undead monstrosity, tormented wizard, and secretive warlock, a rabbit warrior didn't exactly make sense. So I rolled up a Shadar-Kai druid/cleric who was cursed with madness and now I fit in perfectly and everything flows much more naturally for us.
A rabbit warrior never really makes sense 😺
For point 1: Our DM asked us to provide birthdays for our characters, and informed us that two of them would have theirs during our next downtime, so we would have time to prepare. One character's animal companion had died in the climax of the last arc, so I (in-game) commissioned a wooden carving of ol' Boss. The player almost teared up at the image.
❤
This is great! Very concise and a new take on the topic. Cheers Bob.
Some of the best moments we've had around the table have been when someone rolls a 1 and fails spectacularly at something they were trying to do. So, I'd not, not only accept failure, but embrace it and own it.
As someone who's spent more time DM'ing then playing, the PC interaction is probably the most satisfying thing to listen to. Makes me feel that I somehow wove the threads of fate to gather an odd party together and it makes sense for them to adventure together.
So when it comes to the engaging with the game part of video, I would like to add an asterisk to that. Mainly with how some players will jump the gun and try to examine every little tiny ass detail. First off, please wait until the DM is finished talking until you suggest something. This sounds really dumb, but I've seen this happen so many times. Second thing is to try and look at the bigger picture before hyperfocusing on something. Sometimes the goblin in the tavern is just a goblin, and the very obvious inportant NPC is just left out to dry. What i'm trying to say is... please just engage with what might be important first, THEN we can talk to Boblin the Goblin.
I am currently writing a game, and I am openly chatting with all my players about plot points, NPCs, Homebrew, Homebrew rules, and the setting. Your advice on getting the players involved is really helpful
Bonus tip: Make an adventurer, not an NPC.
An adventurer is excited about doing quests and exploring the world, an adventurer does
not go "GM, what is my motivation to even accept this quest?". Compare this to being a hard rock fan and you hear about a secret gig in an quarry in the forest.. Would you go "Do I even have any motivation to do this?".
This is actually solid advice. I'm starting up a new game of Warhammer RPG 4e and one of the questions it asks in the character creation process is why your character isn't just another NPC, and why do they adventure.
"Yes, and" is the mindset that has helped me be a better player so much