15 Things New DMs Must Know Before Their First Game
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- Опубліковано 19 лип 2024
- 15 foundational truths for new dungeon masters to know.
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Running D&D for the first time often seems like a daunting task for new dungeon masters. And it rather is. It's no wonder that new game masters often feel nervous and wonder if there's anything they're missing before they run their first D&D game. Is there anything else they should know as a new DM? Did they check all the boxes? In this video, we discuss 15 things all dungeon masters should know before running their first D&D game.
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#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #dungeonmaster #ttrpg - Ігри
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your discord server has more rules than D&D
White with hollandaise
Thank you. That is a feature not a bug.
Is critical role scripted - no. Is critical role storylined and the players told in advance damn well they are. Take a look at the set up for each fight, the DM and Players know exactly what's coming their way with the fully set up area. Their lines are mostly adlib.
As a improv prefered dm, I still plan. owo And am relatively new, too.
"No plan survives contact with the [players]."
This is true. But this is also true:
"Plans are useless. Planning is essential."
Like Luke points out, the more you plan, the better you'll be at coming up with a new plan at a moment's notice.
Improv uses the same "muscles" as planning. And if you have planned for every possibility that you can think of, when your players inevitably come up with something you didn't, you'll be better equipped to come up with the response.
Good points. Still in my experience at least 90 % of plans survive the players
Plans are still needed so someone knows what to change when different stuff starts happening.
@@NegatveSpace exactly.
Also, planning gets you in the villain's mindset or more familiar with the situation at hand so, when things go awry, you have a better idea of the pieces/pawns/etc in play that are available to respond with.
@@nilsjonsson4446 You obviously don't have MY group of players.
I LOVE how unexpected they are. They are patient with me, as I sit there, holding my head, moaning, "Whaaaaa? How the heck do I DM THIS?!" And then, I respond, and wind up changing canon.
For instance, in our world, carrion crawlers are now allergic to and terrified of chocolate. Also, chocolate makes "chocolate noises" that are very loud and frightening.
Because why the heck not?! It was hilarious, so I ran with it. It all started with a critical failure, while one player was trying to tame the carrion crawler, by offering it chocolate. The animal handling check was not likely to succeed, but that Nat 1 clinched it. I always come up with some sort of more-than-mere-failure for a Nat 1, so I said that "It gets a rash, and does 1d4 of damage. It's shocked and surprised." The next thing I know, they're throwing chocolate, and smearing it on their weapons, and casting minor illusion of 5-foot-cubes of chocolate behind the carrion crawlers. 5-foot-cubes of chocolate that "make chocolate noises" thanks to another minor illusion spell. And carrion crawlers have an Int score of 1, so they were terrified of it. And now, it is part of our world lore. Carrion crawlers are allergic to, and terrified of, chocolate.
They kept four carrion crawlers contained DURING A COMBAT, simply by drawing a circle of chocolate around them.
Now they're almost out of chocolate, and have to get back to town, and try to place a special order for more, though the Lionshield Coster, because they used seven pounds of chocolate in one encounter.
Seriously, there was no way to PLAN for that sort of stuff. My niece doesn't just think outside of the box. To her, the box doesn't even exist. Put her with her father (who taught her about ignoring boxes), and no plan I make for them is going to go exactly to plan. I have to spend SO MUCH of my time thinking on the fly.
But prep is key, so that I can respond with some sort of confidence, and know how things WORK in this world, and what is likely to happen, due to their actions, and "Well, I know that not 50 feet away, around the corner and behind a door, are X monsters, who hear this commotion, and respond by..."
We've been playing for a while now, and NOT ONE of our encounters have gone according to my plan.
This is the group that used a rope to pick a lock. "You do whatnow? HOW? Well, when you explain it that way, it actually makes sense. OK, I guess you can try that. Give me a Dexterity check. Wow. You rolled REALLY well."
These things are also good reminders for veteran DMs. Especially knowing that your players aren’t judging you as much as you think, and knowing that you’ll have a bad session every once in a while… very important to keep in mind
He mentions these things, so why say ‘also’
protip to new aspiring DMs: forget trying to play with friends that you want to get interested in the game, find new friends that are already want to play
This tip is gold, am still going to keep trying to get my baby cousins to play though. While I keep playing with my other groups, obviously.
Of course, ask your friends, if you have them. Lots of people want to play and don't have the balls to speak up unless asked. Now I'm running 2 games at once for 11 people.
I think a good balance between people who have played and people that haven't is best. Otherwise, no one ever joins the hobby, but having a few people you know already enjoy the game help hold the game together while the other players learn the rules and figure out if they like it or not. Some people just aren't going to enjoy it. I had friends who just didn't like that they couldn't control the narrative like a video game.
I’m currently making this mistake.
*cries in middle school me trying to run AD&D*
20 year DM here. This vid is spot on. It took me years to learn some of these lessons. New DMs take this to heart.
20 years. That's awesome.
I played dnd 5yrs when younger. I just learning 5e. Not played in longtime. Ppl want me to dm but im green. I feel not ready .. what do you recommend..?
Im poor with combat etc
@@joeharvey5556 my best advice for this is aside from running something premade is to give your players upfront honesty that you’re new and learning. Then run a time loop based game. Then you can get messy and make potentially fatal mistakes but it’ll all be okay.
I will run some one timers then after 3 months when they say im good we get into module etc
@@joeharvey5556 Late reply, but honestly? Jump right in, don’t let failure get to you. You’ll make mistakes regardless of how much you prepare, we all do (I especially still do.) Treat any mistakes as learning experiences, always err in encounter setups on the side of too hard, (especially this edition, PCs are very resilient,) and never let them know what you’re thinking.
The number one thing you’ll need to learn is to think on your feet, which no amount of world building, planning or record keeping will train you to do. You really just have to get that one “trial by fire” and it takes time.
Above all act like what they are doing was always your plan, no matter how many notes you have to rip up.
"If you see your players laughing and smiling, if they come back week after week, then you're probably doing just fine." This made me genuinely cry in relief. I'm judging myself too harshly! Thank you for making me realize it, Luke!
"The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group cooperative experience."
~ Gary Gygax
👍
Proceeds to invent the tomb of horrors and tomb of annihilation...
Rip Gary. Thanks for the games.
@@jonsimpson6240 yeah, acererak is kinda an asshole
And really creepy
Not in an undead way, as much in a "erase someone's memory and keep them trapped in a lagoon in your dungeon as a personal joke"/"trans your gender and send you outside naked" kinda creepy
Right on Gary
My previous DM actually quit half way because he wasn't having fun. We were not doing literally anything he planned for... and that was both of our faults. He would make everything seem optional or not important, and besides me, my group was very indecisive, so it turned out badly for all of us.
For example, my character's brother was going into a dungeon. So I asked if his life was at risk if I didn't go with him. DM said he'd be fine. So I didn't go with him and got back to the main quest. The DM had the whole dungeon planned out and he was very disappointed. However, so was I because I wanted to go down there too, but i thought I'd be helping my DM more by going back to the main quest since I figured if thr DM wanted me to go with my brother, then he'd have told me he was in danger or about some reward.
I say all of this to new DMs from a player perspective... if a player asks you "I'm not sure what to do" don't be afraid to break the 4th wall and just say "well I planned for you guys to go into the dungeon." In my limited experience, if you tell players you have a direction planned, then they will be more than happy to go that way and come up with a realistic character reason to do so.
And another note- be careful saying "the room SEEMS empty" when it's actually empty... cause players will spend far too long trying to solve a puzzle that isn't there.
It is perfectly OK to lead the party in these moments. You gave a solid example when a little railroading is a good thing.
Thank you such for the explanation and example. As a long time DM, it's hard to tell when it is appropriate to railroad and especially how. But being upfront was overlooked by me. Thank you again for the Insight and Inspiration 😉
you're better off. keep moving.
But it is Dungeons and Dragons. If there is a dungeon or dragon, you must. It's in the title, after all.
@@tylerwellman8252 im hosting my first DnD with my friend group and i never did any DnD or DMing before, we are playing stromwreck isle and i noticed my group didnt go the way where i had stuff ready and there are many kobold as friendly npcs, i just created a kobold named flip that put them to the right direction without breaking the game and it worked wonders, had to do that a second time when the party spend way to long in a tavern, drinking...
It seems like your party just isn't very smart
So since you asked for the "Nein Flavours of Aspargus", here is my explanation:
1) The Cobalt Aspargus - It somehow tastes blue in a kind, not to confuse with the smurf variant
2) The wild grown Aspargus - It tastes a clay. Clay. That's it.
3) The Aspargus of the Sea - It tastes a lot like fish, yet it is vegan. Delicious.
4) The Colorspray Aspargus - Having his name from a wild sprinkle of color, its taste really reminds me of tealeafs.
5) The Two-Faced Aspargus - The taste of this one really depends, on some days its really beautiful and delicious, on other days is smells and looks like a rotten green cucumber.
6) The electrified Aspargus - This one is a special. Unlike most other Aspargus, this one gets fried via electricity and gets really crispy and tender that way.
7) The Rainbow Aspargus - Probably my favorite one, it tastes like sprinkled with the dust of deliciousness.
8) The Hot Boi Aspargus - Well this one is more for the eye, than for the taste. It has a dark, purple look, and it kinda tastes like regular aspargus, but with a twist.
9) The Reborn Aspargus - It tastes like a mixture of the Sea and Colorspray variant, but in the end, it still creates his own flavour. Delicious.
You are welcome!
Came here looking for you
LUKE GIVE THIS MAN A PRIZE
I have to disagree with you. There is one, and ONLY one flavor of Asparagus. It is called "Inedible" ( or as some say ... Sh*t) LOL
Can I roll to romance the Hot Boi
@@AFmedic nah, when its a soup its mawh
These tips are exactly what I learned over 40+ years playing DND, it’s good to see that they’re being passed on to the younger players.
Common misconception: the primary purpose of corn fields is for pilots-in-training to crash into. Harvesting only happens as a byproduct and corn prices are as low as they are because of a lack of interest in piloting 😁👍
That’s why popcorn pops. It is genetically engineered for cushioning the fall of planes.
Yes, we should encourage more pilots to get trained so we could avoid tthe liquid poison that is corn syrup.
@@calvinjohnson6242 the fire helps activate the cushions, it all makes sense
Since I've literally just started putting together my first campaign I really appreciate this. Thank you.
@@ork44 Ill have to check it out, thank you.
same.
I really appreciate this video, I've been "planning" my first DMing session and secretly been avoiding it because I was so worried about how I'd do
Yeah, just gotta start. Put a date on the calendar with your players and just do it, rain or shine, terrified or excited. It's not nearly as bad as one's mind might make it seem.
I was always overprepared and found so much of my planning went to waste (though I've since recycled some things that were not used initially). Now, I only really plan for the current trajectory of the party and have a loose-but-adaptable plotline for the overarching story.
I'm making my game world and initial campaign concepts into an RPG, so anything I plan that goes to waste is still getting use
I always end my sessions with asking what the players intend on doing ( where they are going to go next with the intent of doing what ever ) so that I can prepare only those things with a few extra bits that can be rotated infront of the players if I need to try and hook them in certain directions .
@Soul Firez that's what I've learned to start doing as well. Makes things so much easier. Especially now the druid is level 11 and has access to Transport Via Plants 😂
Fantastic
They're all level 17 now so now more than ever my plans are incredible loose, because they can just "nope" their way through most things 😂😭
I'm currently writing a new campaign, and one of my players (a DM of a couple of our other games) decided to send me this video.
I'm feeling called out but it was extremely helpful in putting a couple things into perspective. Cheers!
I have a safe phrase for my players when they're about to do something silly. When they hear, "Are you sure you want to do that?" they know the choice they're contemplating has a high chance of very unpleasant consequences. Sometimes, however, they do it anyway. =)
The most terrifying things I ever utter to my players are: "Are you sure...?"
And: "You can certainly _try._ "
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 "You can try" is fine if you only use it to warn players about bad ideas. Just don't do that to poor innocent players when they ask if they can attempt _anything at all ever._ I've had that DM! Twice! It's not fun! It results in a game where as a player I feel too intimidated to take much action at all, nevermind play the seemingly-reckless, semi-calculated-risks swashbuckling types I want to play.
Don't try to fake players out with that _or_ with asking "Are you sure" for reasonable tasks. Remember that the players don't always have all the same information on the world or even their immediate surroundings that you do as a DM. They're not in that environment, they don't have the luxuries of sight and hearing and touch that their characters do, and they're not familiar with their characters' bodies the way their characters would be. And they're not familiar with the world itself the way the characters would be, having lived in it all their lives! So don't fake the players out unless it makes sense to (such as illusions or a foreign civilization being involved so the characters are just as out of their depth as the players, for example).
@@FlameUser64 You maybe didn't read the original comment, but certainly sound advice nonetheless 😎
Thank you for taking the time to share your story.
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 No, I did, I just wanted to put that out there anyway, heh. I just feel fairly passionately about that particular phrase because, yeah.
@@FlameUser64 I always tell the players they can try anything ever. The dice will decide if its possible. and in some cases the negative modifiers will simply make it impossible. Theres always the chance of rolling two nat criticals in a row though.
Not sure about flavors but the 12 types of asparagus are Green, White, Purple, Wild, Apollo, Atlas, Jersey series, Mary Washington, Precoce D’Argenteuil, Purple Passion, UC 157 and Viking KB3.
Also the head tastes different, so that is 24 flavours.
Your job as the GM: set up a string of situations, hold a coherent, fantastical world, force the players to act.
How to be a player: ask yourself what you would do as your character because he is defined by his actions, aslways state intent and approach.
The GM decides when the players roll the dice: when there's a chance of success, a chance of failure, and a consequence for that failure, the dice are rolled to determine the rest of the story. Be fair, telegraph most everything, and tell your players why they are rolling the dice.
Your GM lexicon: conflict, opportunity, danger, call to action, fellowship, motivation, arbitration, and tags.
Your best tools: Maze Rats random tables, Godbound random tables, and ICRPG.
GM reading list: Trap Theory video by Runehammer, the AngryGM's book or his articles about GMing, Basically, SlyFlourish's Lazy Dungeon Master book, and The Monsters Know What They're Doing by Keith Ammann. DM Lair as well, obviously! ;P
*And know this: you're NEVER going to be perfect, we simply can't and we keep learning forever, so stop worrying and get into the fray because you'll have a hell of a lot of fun. And Luke (Lucas? I don't hear it well.) is right, your players aren't judging you as much as you think they would, they'rej ust busy having a good time. Oh, and steal. Steal, steal, steal good and interesting ideas, you're now part of the coolest club ever: all that advice above? I stole it from the sources I've shared, it's a pleasure for us GMs to have our ideas, adventures, traps, and even advice stolen for somebody else's table. GLHF!* :D
Thought I'd see Angry in your list of resources after you brought up "intent and approach" (which I agree is key).
If I could give a new GM only one piece of advice, it would be to read the Angry GM blog. There's just no one else who breaks down the fundamentals quite as well. And a hell of a lot of people (Luke's a notable exception) who don't even try.
I've been a GM for a few years and always good to hear tips, and your first tip is already fantastic!
This helped a lot, it's actually my second time but you cleared up ALOT of my errors and anxieties! Thanks :)
Relax and enjoy , I would remind you to shine the spot light on each of the players to give them all there moment to do something cool or just important to the story ,as its there story , its your plot but its your characters story .
For planning. We always plan 3 sessions ahead, we aim to do a session every month.
We have found out that planning 3 months ahead is the sweat spot for us to make sure we can have a monthly session in a group of 6 players and a DM.
The Dice touching thing is on page 235 of the DMG. "Don't touch others' dice if they're sensitive about it." That is, if we are thinking of the same quote.
It never even occurred to me that anyone WOULDN'T be sensitive about it... Why would you want someone else touching your dice without asking? Not grabbing and touching other people's things without permission is just common courtesy isn't it? It's just polite. It's not even about dice.
@@MannonMartin I mean... it IS very sus behaviour haha.
I just think that including it in the DMG is like swatting houseflies with cricket bats. A bit over the top imo.
@@MannonMartin Agreed, it's just like anything.... It's rude to touch other peoples stuff without permission... Dice included... or trading cards... or pawns...
Solution: just use virtual dice. No touching involved.
This is a fantastic video man. I needed something like this to send my players who want to start their own games but are getting over that initial first hump of anxiety/fear to get started.
Awesome! Happy to be able to help.
You just had to say it... Here ya go:
The 9 flavors of asparagus (yes, these are just ways of cooking it):
1) Grilled
2) Sauteed
3) Roasted
4) Creamed
5) Puree
6) As part of a gross "nutrient shake"
7) Steamed
8) Raw
9) Broiled
My grandmother used to boil it too, so the list of ways of cooking it is even incomplete.
10. Uneaten. The best flavor.
Awesome tips. Don’t be afraid to DM, the DM’s standards for the experience they generate are always higher than the players’.
As a new/very inexperienced DM, you have given me a lot of things to consider. My last group fell apart due to holidays and schedule changes. Hopefully we'll get to start back up soon.
Long time player finally running my first game with a coworker and his young sons. We rolled character sheets as a separate event and plan to play our first Golden Vault game next week. I’m really excited to get to help them build the world they want to live in, and this video really helped me seat my confidence in my readiness and ability to make this game fun for them.
One of my players is a 6yo that decided on Warlock and it threw me for a loop initially. After this video, I’m realizing I can “gift” him his patron with loot during the opening session of our campaign instead of expecting him to be able to choose one.
I genuinely LOVE all of your videos, they are so helpful, and they have actually gotten me a group that always comes back eagerly. Thank you soooooooo much!
Every one of these points is a gold nugget of timeless advice. You shared many of these points with me a couple years ago and I've been running a game and having fun ever since.
13:47 I don’t care if people touch my dice unless it was Wil Wheaton
I still struggle with number five. I have thought all of those things after about half of my sessions. But they do keep coming back, they do seem like they're having a good time, so I try not to worry as much. It's been helpful that some players will stay after a bit and we talk about the session, what we thought went right and what went wrong, so that's been good.
I'm a beginner Brazilian master and day after day I fall more in love with your content
Thank you very much for these pearls of learning
Forgive me for my bad English :D
Luke, thanks so much for this video! Your number 9 tip completely changed how I look at being a DM... I've been wanting to run an adventure myself for ages, but I've always bene so so nervous about doing it. But with these tips in mind, I feel infinitely more at ease with DMing my first game. Happy New Year, man!
Actually good advice that will save you days and days of trial and error to figure this out on your own. Good video!
I agree on almost everything. Except the rules-as-written point. I've played with some house rules since day 1 - for instance ignoring XP and using a milestone system for levelling up instead (which I haven't regretted even once).
Of course it does come down to how well you do know the more common rules when you start. I've played a few adventures in my group as a player before I became our de-facto DM (The others enjoyed my style best, I guess, plus I go all out with printing minis, making terrain and props and the like and they love that haha), so I already had a decent understanding of what worked well in our group and what didn't.
So I'd say it depends. For someome completely out of their depth initially, it's probably a good idea to stick to the rules exactly, but if you feel comfortable with it, having house rules from the get-go can totally work.
Also depends on if you prefer some things from earlier rulesets. There's a lot in 5e I don't like compared to 3.5e and a lot that felt missing, so house rules to the rescue.
I just want to say that I find your videos extremely helpful and insightful. In nearly every one that I watch, you make me think of something that I can incorporate into my own game. Something that I simply have never thought of before or a new way of doing something. And for that simple fact, I thank you.
This is huge, thank you so much for the tips. Starting my first campaign in a few weeks and I’m super nervous and a bit overwhelmed. Thankfully I know my players well and we should have a good time regardless
"DnD is not DM vs Players", yeah, tell that to our table lol. We have a running gag that we are always scoring points against the DM and he on us when any makes a question or statement where the other stumbles to or can't answer.
DM: "you're standing in your tavern..."
Player: "What's the name of the keeper?"
DM: "..."
Players: "OH YEAH, WE'RE WINNING DND"
Any important characters i prepare names and even thier sheets beforehand.A tavern keeper? yeah id just make something up on the spot. your inkeeper is Vasylyj, an immigrant from the east who came here as a child and started his own business. And i just stole his personality from a rat exterminator in a tv show The Strain.
1: Roasted Red Pepper
2: Himalayan Salt & Cracked Pepper
3: Korean BBQ
4: Sweet Mango Habanero
5: Bacon
6: Lemon Pepper
7: Garlic Parmesan
8: Jalapeno & Cheddar
9: Wasabi
Bonus: Dill Pickle
My main DM used a dry erase map and dice for enemies. We as players could use minis or whatever. I used a putting green coin or small shiny rock. Didn't bother us to busy having fun.
I'm a new DM with my group playing a basic D&D campaign from D&D beyond. These are amazing tips! I've been super nervous but so far it's been really fun and I've been looking into possibly creating my own homebrew campaign.
I prefer green asparagus to white, but like both. I'd rather have it steamed, but I'm not opposed to grilled or even boiled, if there's no other option. All it really needs is a little salt and pepper to bring out the flavor of the asparagus. Adding too many spices just overwhelms the natural taste.
Everything important has been said by this man! But try lemon on your asparagus... it´s a completely new level.
I think I really only ever had boiled or grilled asparagus. And then we just put salt I think on it. I like the flavor though. Don't need to add anything to it to
@@theDMLair
Nothing more heartlifting than having a conversation about asparagus with a great DnD-content creator 😄
Ok, but hear me out: bacon-wrapped asparagus.
As of now, I feel personally attacked and called out by tips 1, 3, and 5. Lol! I used to write novels **for fun**; granted, I'd never tried to have any of them published, but making sure that what I'm creating is fleshed out with no plot holes, and is something that everyone will enjoy AND be able to critique is one of my biggest "perfectionist" moments. I struggle with enjoying having fun myself in positions of authority because I'm too busy trying so hard to be perfect.
Edit: On the dice touching debate; I'd say it depends on the dice. A $10 set of dice you can get at your local game store? Sure no problem. A $100 tempered glass set that my best friend got me on my birthday to also commemorate our year long friendship? No, absolutely not. Hands off.
2nd Edit: "There are no winners or losers in D&D." This is blatantly incorrect. You see, when everyone gets together and has a good time, then everyone is a winner! :3
I've been playing and DM'ing for almost 40 years now and I really like the format of your videos. I've got some friends or family that are thinking about trying their hand "behind the screen" and I think your videos will help me, help them. I don't want to teach them how I run a game, I want them to find their own style. I play a wide variety of pen and paper RPG's and I really enjoy see different styles of story telling. Much appreciate the work you've put into these.
Being a relatively new DM it feels good to hear that if they come back they are enjoying it enough. Thanks for that !!
Definitely good tips to remember 👌 even for experienced DMs
My tips
A book of dry erase battle maps( like 20 maps) is the best thing I've ever bought.
Have ideas for a plot line but don't push it forward, prepare locations, npc and there goals. Don't railroad let the players decide what to do and think how the world reacts.
Try to prompt close to the end of the session the players plan for next session
Create combat shortcuts for yourself you could use average damage, roll all attack rolls at one, don't keep track of all hit points on some make them die after so many hits or just decide when.
What is a book of dry erase battle maps?
I love it so much I'm getting the creators volume 2 map set. Easily the best accessory I've ever bought for dnd
@@nimric3348 okay, but what is it?
It's a collection of themed dry erase battle grids, you can draw maps on them or use the base themes. Like beach, forest, city ect.
@@nimric3348 That sounds convenient. I probably would have used some PVC tablecloth.
Great advice for new DM’s and a great refresher for the more experienced. Sometimes we loose sight of the basics.
I have watched a few of your videos and I really appreciate how you point out the difference between a game and a show. I don't expect to have my games run or feel like one. I don't have the resources and time. Thank you for being down to earth for noob DM's.
Great video, Luke! These are good reminders for new and experienced DMs and players at any level to remember.
This term has caught on like wildfire: “You can certainly try.” And often, the challenge is stated in the inflection.
... And asparagus baked with olive oil and freshly-crushed garlic. 😁
I've just started DMing for my first campaign a few months ago, and this really eased a lot of my anxiety around it, still. Thank you LOL
Thanks Luke! Great tips and reinforcement for those of us fairly new to DMing.
Just started DMing my first adventure. Gotta say, these are all things I know just rationally from being a player. Still, hearing them addressed directly definitely helps with some of the pressure. I really appreciate this video. And the wealth of resources on your channel I have to dig through still.
New Dm and running lost mines of phandelver, really having fun and want to praise people like you who have provided superb information and dnd common sense.
Thanks!
I really enjoy your videos, they are very informative and fun to listen to while doing chores between dnd sessions!
running my first one-shot today, first time DMing. found this super helpful!!
Great video, all great advices!
Very, *very* important stuff, every DM should keep these things in mind.
Just come across this video as me and a small group are looking in to starting a campaign for the first time. I'm going to be giving DM a shot and this video has been incredibly helpful!
My first time being a DM, I ran the first chapter of Lost mine of Phandelver. The goblin encounter, (I use minis and mats) I set up my goblins in such a way, that when it was the goblins turn, rolled a Nat1, goblin shot the arrow and killed a fellow goblin. I made that spur of the moment change and it was down right hilarious and fun. It was memorable.
I've run my fair share of games, and looking back on this, these are all great advice. Thank you for your video, I will share this will my friends who want to DM but are unsure about it.
I've bumped into this video and for me as an experienced GM (35 years in RPG) this list is great. Perfectly summarizes all points for new and experienced GMs!
I'm just so happy I stumbled upon this channel! Gonna run my second game for my friends soon, and I ran some as DM but they were just small one-shots, and I loooove your advices and the way you put all the info :D Also made me to sit back and work through all the notes for second game a bit more :)
Awesome, happy to hear you're finding the content helpful!!! :D
For those interested, here is my way to long experience of the past 4 months. As a little bit of background, I started playing about 2 years ago and haven't played as much as I would have liked (something about a pandemic, idk?) and decided a couple months ago I wanted to try DM'ing as my previous DM was strapped for time and cut his campaign short. Decided to start with Lost Mines of Phandelver to get a feel for the trade while making my own entire world from scratch (I have a pantheon I'm decently happy with but might scratch and redo the world map, it's a long-term thing hence the module).
TLDR: trust your players with a bit of freedom, roll with their decisions, don't pull your punches with monsters that 'seem' too strong out of fear one of the players may go down, let them. Make mistakes, it's the fastest way to learn.
I got a 3D printer for mini's, then a second one (first was filament, second is resin for better quality). Only do this if you want an extra hobby, it takes up a lot of time and especially resin printing has a bit of a learning curve, but wow do they look good on the table. Having your own means of producing mini's also allows for a lot of flexibility in what monsters and other things to throw at your players.
I gave my players quite a bit of freedom with their characters, one is a dragonborn with wings and a tail, he doesn't use them functionally, though I might allow him to eventually. This was justified in his backstory as being experimented upon by the Cult of the Dragon. I also have a fairy barbarian, by one of my experienced players, this was before fairies were offically released. I gave the wizard a ram with the stats of a Nyx fleece Ram, which is utterly to strong as a familiar, but the ram is the husband of the fairy and the roleplay between me as the ram, the fairy and the wizard is absolutely hillarious. Lastly, I have two nobles, one paladin/warlock and one draconic sorceror. The freedom I gave my players has turned out fantastic as all of them are more interested in playing an interesting character rather than metagaming.
Funny things that happened so far in the campaign: both the fairy barbarian and the dragonborn barbarian absolutely fail at opening doors, they have become the bane of my player's exsistance. They convinced the Redbrands to clear out of the cellars of Tressendar Manor, to avoid being utterly obliderated, aided by the scene of the dragonborn kicking in a door (the only one that would be kicked in) holding a Redbrand up by the throat and the warlock slicing their neck as a statement (great rollplaying ensued). They are now potential allies and the party hired one of them, named Cole, to be a guide to Thundertree. Cole has never really done much adventuring, and roling incredibly low several times he now officially has PTSD from all the monsters he's seen these insane people fight against. He's become the guide/cook/nanny to the fairy's 4 baby mimics, found during a session 0.5 to give my players a 'prologue' to their story and why/how they know eachother.
Some things I learned: I have been to nice to my players. i had them start at lvl 3 because I personally dislike lvl 1 and 2 and I have been pulling punches when it comes to monsters with multi attack. I have now decided to stop that, underscored by a spontaneous 'gauntlet' we decided to do as we reached a plot point for an absent player and cut the session short. The monsters i threw at them they had already fought before, but now with multi attack and such. They did fine.
During one session we had a guest player. One of my players decided they wanted to go back a bit to try open 'The Door' again. I should have cut this off before it started or after his first failed attempt and not gone on for 1.5 hours, it wasn't fun for the guest and we could have done this some other time.
One of my players is an 'audience memeber', he made the sorcerer because the other player made a warlock and they would play off each other as the characters are brothers, the idea being they could help each other with certain skill checks. The player unfortunately doesn't know what to do with this character and during a great oppurtunity for some character development and roleplaying he completely shut down. When I or the warlock player brought this up, things didn't go so well, this player also copes with some mental problems which, I admit, I have no idea how to deal with. For the forseable future i will leave him to be an audience member, maybe prod him again in a few months if he's feeling better.
Thanks for reading, hope you found it useful or at least entertaining!
Always love your energetic videos.
Thank you for the content you create!
"Your players aren't judging as hard as you think they are"... Straight to the heart. Thanks.
I just ran my first one shot and am looking forward to running my first campaign, and i must say it is a really good start. If gives you good practice for dungeon design and how to guide your players to interact with your world but not feeling overly stressed.
This is just a fantastic reassuring video. I started DMing again after forty, count them, forty years and it’s been all kinds of challenging. I’m enjoying it but I need advice and uploads like these are making it so much easier.
Awesome so very happy to help! Swing by our live streams to if you have any questions. We have q&a in a live streams almost every week
@@theDMLair Sadly I'm in the wrong timezone but what I've taken to doing is replaying them while I paint my minis for the next session. They are very good too, lots of excellent DM tips.
My wife is studying to be a first time dm, NO DND EXPERIENCE, she's currently taking notes from the 5e dm guide book. So ready to see how this one shot turns out
This is amazing, I just started my first campaign as a DM last month and your videos have helped so much! And the offense is the funniest but most truthful parts of your videos, keep it up lmao
Awesome, so happy to help! 😁
Thank you for the encouragement and the help💜
About a year ago, I began running a campaign for my family as my first trial run in 5e. This video was incredibly helpful. Failure is inevitable. As a player and a DM. I love this mindset. It has all been a learning process. And I've never failed more fantastically than this first run. My advice, full send it. Try it out amd dive in head first. Failure is learning. DM's roll nat. 1's too. Once you accept that, you can't have a bad time
To your third point, about starting small, I definitely agree for the most part, but there is something that does bug me about that technique. Mind you this is more of a pet peeve of mine, so maybe take it with a grain of salt.
The issue I have with only developing the starting area is your players' characters. For the most part, they've all probably grown up in this world you're creating, and even if they're the lowest of peasants, they'll probably still have a vague sense of the world's geography. To that end, it might be helpful to come up with a general layout for a world map (online map generators can help with that), place a few dots around the world, pick one to be your capital, and another to be your starting area. You probably wouldn't need more than that to start off.
A bit of a bonus to this is that as your map evolves and develops, you can sometimes get some kind of quest idea or world building detail from certain features on it.
Number 9: I almost cried of joy when I saw this one. So many DMs that imagine a '"cool scend" and want to impose it onto the players as the conclusion to an adventure. Thank you for mentioning it, I feel not enough people do.
I started a D&D group 6 months ago. Im DMing the Lost Mine Of Phandelver. Its been an awesome experience. I make a lot of mistakes, but i get a tad better every time, and my group is merciful. I just try to prep, and be as consistsnt as i can. The advice in the book that says "when in doubt, make up the rules" has been a major help...If i make a mistake, they are none the wiser and i fix it the next time around.
I'm new to DMing and yes, I dis the exact thing you said at the start.. I said, damn, I'm a new DM and need help, so UA-cam it is.
Great advice for new and old DMs. Ill be creating content about my journey as a new DM. Ill definitely link to this video!
Thanks for the advice.
Man as a new DM binging your videos is a life saver. Luckily my players are all super chill and just in it for some fun escapism and know full well I only even played part of one campaign before jumping in to DMing but still. Wanna do well for them and all these tips help.
Great vid, Luke! Thank you for this one.
thanks man, great video! i'm preparing for a first campaign as a DM (first ever, actually, we're doing Princes of the Apocalypse), with only first campaign players (all the friends I could talk into it lol). so i'm going through your material and it's very useful. Also, personally i love asparagus risotto. Not an asparagus flavor per se but sooo good.
I'm only six sessions into my first campaign and these suggestions are already quite useful.
Fun video. As always very informative. I enjoyed how you pushed your products as part of the show.
The great Johnny Carson did a short sketch back in 1982 where he performed a scene from Hamlett as if it were a TV show. The vibe I got from your video was so similar, that I had to stop and look it up about midway through. If you have never seen it you might want to give it a look.
Anyway- Thanks for doing what you do.
Thank you for content! I am new to D&D and this is helpful!
I've been running games at home for my family and their primary experience is in my game. Now my sister is wanting to DM a game but she's scared we may not like it or so on. This video is absolutely perfect and I need to show her, hell it's even helped me with the way i think.
Thank You!
Late to the party, but thanks for passing on the knowledge. All of these tips are wonderfull for new DM's.
In the years I've ran as a DM some of these tips stand out to me because it felt like very important lesons I've learned while DM'ing.
5. is a great realisation to have. Once you see your players having fun and coming back for more games, you know you're doing a good job as DM. You don't have to worry even if you mess up, which was one of my fears, you are often the only one who knows a mistake was even made in the first place, since only you have knowledge about what should have happened. So don't worry as long as everyone is having fun.
7. I'm currently 3 years into a weekly campaign and I sometimes still run a bad session. It's no big deal unless it happens more frequently. Whenever I feel I ran a bad game, I just ask my players about how they feel and point out what I think wasn't fun. Often they say it wasn't as bad as I think it was and when they feel the same as I do, we talk about how we could prevent whatever went wrong in the future and no one makes a big deal of it.
13. Sticking to a set time is key to having a good campaign. When it comes to canceling or rescheduling game sessions, our group has agreed that if at least half the players can't make it, we either reschedule if more than half can make it on another night that week, or cancel whenever that's not possible. This prevents me from having to cancel a lot more games when a single player can't make the session. This keeps at least the half of the group that did make it engaged and when they talk about the game, it draws in the players that missed the session again.
15. Be a fan of your PCs! Provide them with interesting scenarios that makes them feel like the heroes of the story that you are all telling together, instead of finding out ways to "win". If you are a fan of the PCs and they win and are excited or relieved because they barely pulled something risky off, you as a fan of the party win too, and everybody wins.
Thanks for the video dude! It really helped!
Great info for new DMs. Glad I found your channel.
Thank you so much I was feeling great anxiety as I just signed myself up to run a one shot on Oct. 1st. I was feeling like Oh MY GOSH I am not going to be good at doing this. I do thank you for your video because it calmed my anxiety and reminded me that at the end of the day this is for fun, my fun the other player's fun everything else will be ok.
As a completely new DM i'm currently in the "Don't change the schedule due to one player" but it's our first campaign and i've told them that after we all get comfortable with the game we'll start running even though we're missing players! So i feel like i found a slight middleground!
Another very informative video! Thank you for sharing! It was terrible to play in a game with a DM who had the 'DM versus player' mindset and only felt like he was having fun if he was crushing the players with overpowered enemies or causing party conflict.
I just started with my friends as the DM. NONE of us have ever played before (besides me with one single session when I was 10% awake). We are all having so much fun and I’m investing money into random props for the game. We’re learning the game as we go along and having a phenomenal time doing so. I wouldn’t be shocked if an experience DnD player saw us and went wtf are you doing it’s all wrong! We’re having fun and that’s the end goal
Looking forward to the channel showdown! :)
Thank you for this video, as a new DM. It helped to hear some of these.
A couple of mates and I decided to try DnD recently. None of us had played before, so I stepped up to the DM role. I had a massive beast hidden behind a door that was meant to almost wipe out the players... one of them threw down some ball bearings and pulled a lever to slam the door shut on the monster, cutting it in half. Nearly 100 hitpoints... gone like that. But I knew it was the right thing to do to give them a chance to win that way as they were laughing about it for the next 5 minutes.
One thing that really helped me as a new DM with players who are new to the game is starting out on an island. I don’t have to do too much prep work for things like that and they don’t have too much decision paralysis when it comes to what direction they need to go to. Also I’d recommend watching yters play first since even watching one campaign can really set you up strong on how to play.
I found your channel by chance, I can really tell that you enjoy this stuff and I have found these videos super useful!
Awesome, so happy to hear it! :D
I’m doing a heavily home brew campaign and it’s been really fun. My players enjoy the combat and the characters. I’m a first time DM, but my friend who has been DMing us for almost 10 years who is one of the players said I’m doing really well. And honestly I’m mostly winging it. I go in with a plan, they do something funny and dumb, it changes the course, and we have more fun by changing the plan based on their actions. It’s fun for them and myself
I like your laugh and your channel. You give a lot of great advice! I liked asparagus as a kid, but I only know about ways of eating them, which is raw, cooked or fried :D
I've been DMing for over a year now, mainly because my friends wanted to play, but no one else wanted to DM. We play online using Fantasy Grounds and Discord. And it's not fun anymore for me. I host two weekly scheduled games and the thing that gets me is that my players do not put in any effort. We only reschedule if only two players can make it, the rest of the time you the player allow another player to take over your character for that session. It's something we discussed as a group. We took a break over December and I literally had to beg some of them to level their characters. At this point in time, I am trying to speed up my homebrew game, so that can finish and I can tell my friends one of them will have to DM.
My homebrew game uses RAW, but contains some homebrew monsters and a homebrew setting.
Thank you so much! I'm happy to be able to help.
Happy I found this, I am going to begin to DM very soon and needed these 😅
Even to play with a grid, you don't need minis! You can just make a few round tokens with the PCs names and monsters name out of some kind of hard paper, and use some maps and grids made out of paper.
Or even just sketch the map and grid with a pen, and let players mark their positions using pencils and when they move they just erase the previous marker.
Coins, and dice can be great to substitute minis.
As someone who had problems having access to miniatures for years, but always prefered playing with a grid, I can assure there are plenty of ways to do so without being cumbersome.
I will also add: gummy bears: you beat the enemy, you get to eat the gummy.
Best D&D DM channel on UA-cam. Can't wait for my books I ordered from his site to arrive! Luke is a stud. Bacon is delicious. Huzzah!
Back in mid December, I had what was by far the worst session I'd had in my campaign up to that point. I knew it was a crappy session, a couple of my players made it obvious that they weren't having fun... it was a rough session. But rather than getting worried about how I was going to fix it, I simply apologized and let them know that the session didn't go how I expected and that I'd fix it next session.
That was three sessions ago. The past two sessions? Two of the best sessions we've had. Everyone had fun, the players were engaged, I got to introduce an NPC I'd been waiting to introduce (which was a character I played in a previous campaign which two of my players were also in, so they knew who the NPC was and were really excited to see her)... everyone was happy and totally forgot about the clunker of a session from a couple weeks before.
I hate those dud sessions but its all part of being a DM. They are learning experiences.