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hey, so I'm usually the Dm in my group, but I let one of the players use my curse of strauhd book and Dm for us. he seems to be doing all the wrong things but trying his best, for example forgetting about space/distance/ location. misrepresentation of my own ablities. when we were rushing to a walled off church to help a teammate , I said I use stone shape to break through the wall, he haven't breached through the wall of the town yet, but he said that I break through the churches walls and get attacked by the cleric their, which must've meant we just phased through or teleported past the walls of the town without mentioning it. he is trying his best, and I don't know how to help him, any advice?
Players should review their character sheets before game day. Not only to know their spells, inventory and abilities; but also their desires and motivations. I don't remember what DnD 5e calls it, but there is some form if creed or anathema that they have. Also, pay attention to your alignment and the teachings of your deity (if you have one). Get into the mind of your character. That doesn't begin 5mins before game time.
@@Spiceodog it is difficult to be a new GM. Be patient with him. Don't try to make him GM the way that you GM. Everyone has their own style. If he asks you for advice, you can give it but try not to be accusatory. The game needs more GMs and kudos to this player for even attempting it.
97% agree. Not a fan of the "act out your characters' feelings". Nothing wrong with saying "my character remains silent but is visibly upset" or something to that effect.
@@theDMLair I was curious on this one. Say there is a being which reads a character's feelings to try and ascertain their emotional state. Would that be a valid use of having the player give their character's feelings?
I would take issue with the last part of Point 6. Sure, skilled RPer's will act out how they feel. But the shyer players, the newer ones still learning, those who enjoy the game but still struggle to fully RP, nothing wrong with them describing how they are feeling, so the other players will know. Rest of the list though, yeah! Completely on board!
Yeah, nothing wrong with that if roleplay doesn't come easy. At least it trains to think like the character. If I feel I can't really roleplay something I try to describe a behavior or nuance that gives away an emotion, rather than describe the feelings themselves, like say "she looks terrified" or "she's listening very carefully" something like that. I'm bad at roleplay while some of my group are heavy roleplayers and I think this is a decent middle road. You're still kinda letting them see the character from the outside, almost like in roleplay, and letting them act on those nuances if they want to, which seems more natural and realistic instead of just laying everything out. Also characters with lower insight might not be able to read some emotions and in that case it almost becomes metagame-y if you give away too much. Some groups might see it differently, but like I said, mine is pretty roleplay heavy and simply describing how she feels would really stick out.
I would advocate for this for individuals not comfortable with RP or for fairly understated characters. Doing a "round the room" thing and putting the players on the spot isn't though.
@@robinthrush9672 True. That example did seem kind of strange. Maybe for a newbie group to help them think about in character feelings, but even that is a maybe.
Especially if your character is shocked by fear, or falling silent after someone says something to them. You can’t just not say anything you’d need to describe how you feel.
As a DM myself, a good character in my eyes is someone who is willing to interact with NPCs. I think it’s really rewarding to see players travel through the same area again and stop to say hello to characters I’ve made. It lets me know that I made good characters and that my players are immersed
Its also usually an excuse that they don't follow through with when it doesn't benefit them, sorry for not helping last fight I have an INT of 5, now let me go barter with this devil like a genius.
The only time I did this was when my fallen aasimar, demon and devil hating paladin found out he had turned into a tiefling after being tricked into signing a deal with a devil. He tried to commit suicide.
@@grantbaugh2773 The problem isn't doing what your character would do, it's using that as an excuse to something you know - or should know, at least - that you shouldn't.
@@tafua_a only time I did this was when I played a bugbear rogue who wants to avoid goblinoids because they were on the run from his tribe for a crime he didn't commit. There's a city, named Goblinhold, 1st instinct, don't go there, it has goblin in the name & goblinoids are set up as celebrities. Why would a goblinoid who wants to lay low go to a place where lots of people will pay attention to him? Furthermore, why would he go out of his way to interract with the person who accused him of the crime & can easily kill him as soon as he is recognized?
my players rarely even read the spell, they literally just say a spell that sounds cool and I'm the one who has to either remember it off the top of my head or look it up. if they keep doing that I'm gonna change what the spell does against there favor and see if they correct it
When the Intern said that the Barbarian is dead, I thought, "Oh, I bet that the Barbarian is actually playing Garry going forward." Yep, I was that drawn in by the skit, that I forgot the characters are all the same guy :D
Describing what a character does and feels is a way to overcome embarresment of roleplaying and make certain roleplay aspects faster. Like a brooding wizard just looking into the fire quietly for half an hour before another character notices and starts asking whats wrong. Imagin trying to do that IRL at the table.. no thank you. My quiet character doesn't like showing emotions for fear of appering weak, but it is used as a joke in our group, because they say something funny, character calm and quiet on the outside, but then I tell them what he is actually thinking. "Wait, Gnomes can do that?" "good Gods she is cute when she's angry," or he is calqulating (spelling) the best way to reach the pie before dawn. it's a way to communicate to your table that you are having fun despite playing a darker character While staying in character. And alot more timid or sirious moments can be alot easier for players if they don't have to put themselves in uncomfterble places. I understand his point and mostly agree but honestly, most players don't care about my emotes unless I Describe what is going on with my character with words. Also as he himself has said. Just play the way you like, if you are all having fun you are doing great.
Big agree on this one. Everyone's comfort level with getting into character is different, and not every table has the same expectations re: immersion. One of the best games I played was full of fourth wall breaks and meta commentary. It really depends on what each player wants from the game and what skills they'd like to deploy, you know? Anyway, your character sounds lovely. Big, scary goons with hearts of gold are some of my favorites.
1: Know what your character can do! 2:37 2: Declare actions instead of yelling out game mechanics 4:25 3: Respect the game master and other players 5:51 4: Work with the game master, not against them. 8:59 5: Play with the group! 10:53 (Note: 11:20, this is pretty much what I thought the game was. I'm joining a game full of fairly experienced players (meaning middle schoolers who played every school day last year, I didn't because I have band and now it's an after-school thing), and in the mornings they're always talking about how they're going to plot against [person 1] with [person 2]'s help and then they're going to backstab [person 2] and they're going to 'win' or whatever. Glad it's not that.) 6: Roleplay a character with an actual personality 11:47 7: Erase the phrase "That's what my character would do" from your vocabulary 14:07 8: Communicate with the DM and other players 14:46
The struggle of trying to solve everything passive aggressively is the only thing that truly upsets me about DnD. Especially when you confront a player with some constructive criticism and the say "well I guess i just won't play DnD anymore" like that is not what we want. We want everyone to have fun, we want you to learn and become a better player. God man this is an underrated comment, thumbs up from me.
@@zachharrell7776 I currently have great players. I was running a game with like 6 10-16 year kids which was a nightmare but they're just kids so there's only so much I can do
It's interesting the way "that's what my character would do" is used at my table. I'm aware of the usual use of the rogue who's backstabbing the party and shrugs it off with that phrase. It's mostly used when the player's character's actions differ from the player's opinions on what would happen. Like when our rogue is a little blunt talking to the tiefling when the player is usually kind to everyone
Yup, it's a lot of gray area. Built up trust is definitely an issue here. I also think talking about it away from the table helps. Especially if players feel you are ruining their experience (or vice versa). Depending on how attached I am to the character, I may be willing to allow him to retire (which I may have to retire my Rogue for being "appreciative" of his life).
My cleric would repeatedly badger him ingame with questions a therapist would ask regarding his behaviour. That's what *my* character would do, because mental well being is just as important as physical health. The in-game argument would go: We understand everyone wants to keep their skills sharp with regular practice, but could you do sneaky pranks instead? Tie a pink ribbon in the barbarians hair, write "wizard" on the wizard's hat, use a disguise kit to make the dwarf cleric eyebrows look more impressive or just plant your signature calling card on on somebody. You could even make a point of making your party notice you're busy crafting a new calling card.
The point about limitations of spells defiantly hits home here, I took an eldritch knight into a one shot with phantamsal force as his trick... only to have it be against entirely undead so I couldn’t use it once. The temptation to ‘forget’ that limitation was strong there
That sounds really annoying! Did you and the GM communicate before the game? I don't know, but if I'm the GM and I see something like a ranger taking a favoured terrain that will not come up a lot, I'll throw them a hint that it might be not very optimal. Especially for a one shot.
July Ol honestly we were both focused on bigger things, like the race and class as I am a relatively new player, and it would be my first time properly spellcasting so it never got brought up. Honestly it was for a one shot so there wasn’t too much lost. The happy ending here is that next campaign I’m playing an archfey warlock who gets phantasamal force as a pact spell so I’ll get to use it, and for much longer than just a one shot.
Made an illusionist one to try something new that no one likes to play....gm made 99% of encounters immune to illusions...i also was the only one who would get randomly attached...later I figured out he was just a jerk who didn't like me...lol...now he's no longer around and we just laugh at him....
I feel personally called out by the wizard with the thousand-year turn: my first ever character was a wizard, and he joined the campaign at 5th level. Literally had no idea what I was doing, and I'm glad that there were more experienced players at the table to help me (and a DM who let me respec my character once I figured out what the hell I was doing). As for me, my table really only has two rules: 1. Be excellent to each other 2. Party on, dudes
I get that. I'm lucky to play in a fairly big group so i get plenty of time from the end of my turn to my next one to plan ahead a bit and have a fairly decent idea of what my next turn will look like. I think the best advice I can give is if you tend to take a bit of time for your turns, don't wait until it is your turn to plan it. You can know, for the most part, what your next turn should look like on the in between. Once you have that Idea, it boils down to making minor adjustments to make it fit into the changing battlefield. Even if you don't get all the way through the prep, you've at least gotten some of it out of the way and your party and the DM will notice your effort... and they will love you for it.
Coming here after a rough session as a player yesterday when I've been primarily a DM for a year. Not gonna lie, I was salty. Got into the first combat of the game, after two sessions of just roleplaying, and I got to make one attack roll - a miss - before I got one-shot by a gladiator in an arena. (not killed, mind you - it was a first-to-downed tournament, my character was healed up after but they didn't get to do anything until everybody else's characters finished their runs in the tournament) I realize that I probably should have gotten over it and not walked away to make something to eat or spent the next two hours playing Minesweeper on my phone off-camera, but it was a shitty feeling made worse by the fact that I had to sit there for 3/4 of the session listening to everybody else getting to do stuff. So while I generally agree with #3, I do understand how player frustration could feed into that sort of behavior a little bit. If you're reading Luke, (or anyone who's been there, I guess) is there anything my DM or I could have maybe done to make this situation a little less unbearable?
A few things that could've been done: 1. You get approached by a bookie (or choose to approach one) and start making bets on (or against) party members still in the arena. 2. What was the goal of the arena? If it was part of a step to get a particular NPC's attention, maybe start mingling with the crowd to find out other information that can help the party when dealing with said person (especially if they'd only grant you an audience if you win and everyone in the party loses, the extra info to find alternate ways to meet the NPC keeps the story moving forward). 3. You get approached by some shady bystander who knows you lost, but still have access to the arena changerooms etc, and they want you to steal something from another gladiator (or poison them) etc, or wants you to convince another character to throw their match for a huge sum of money. That gives you RP opportunies and ties you in to other PCs that are having a break between their bouts, and might lead to sidequests that can be explored later. 4. You tell your GM your character thinks the opponent that one-hit you cheated and your PC wants to investigate it. As a DM, I'd absolutely go with the idea and come up with some things you can do to try and prove your case (and in fact I might even make it so that, yes, they did cheat; or you plant info on them to make it look like they cheated). You get a little side-quest that can potentially get you back into the arena matches, disqualify an opponent, and make an NPC enemy who might take their time to retaliate...
Yes, the DM could have made sure that everyone in the group had something to do at a group game and that you weren't just sitting there for much of the session listening to others play the game.
I actually like the Dungeon Coach's advice about flaws. Have flaws, but work in improving them. A flawed character with a redemption arc is so much for enjoyable to play with than a character who just lives with their annoying flaws without trying to fix them, or worse, wants to keep them.
Agreed, but also don't make them the focal point of your character. That way lies an open door to those annoying "It's what my character would do..." situations. I've been involved in a few games where someone has made their character a "kleptomaniac" and it rarely ends well. Most of them feel the need to remind everyone that their character "has a problem" at every opportunity and has fun sitting back enjoying watching everyone try to deal with shit they have caused that none of the party, or The DM, really wanted or needed to bother with. This is subsequently replaced with the player having fun making the others try to stop him stealing anything that isn't bolted down at inappropriate times in the game.
Hey, I've had a legitimate issue over "what my character would do"! (Granted it was in Savage Worlds, Deadlands -- not D&D.) My character had flaws that prevented him from fleeing fights with powerful enemies, and also compelled him to save people. (I asked the DM what kind of game he wanted, and he said he wanted a high stakes action adventure, so I made a heroic cowboy that fit into his ideal). Unfortunately, he was a totally new DM - I'm typically our group's "forever DM". So, the DM sends out an enemy battle that seems possibly undefeatable. My character refuses to leave the fight, and the DM finally breaks the fourth wall and asks me, as a player, why I'm not fleeing yet (he didn't expect us to fight). I look at him and I go, "Look at my character sheet. I literally can't." My character would never allow it -- there was a powerful enemy endangering lives. I wanted to run like hell, but my character literally had rules preventing it. The moment the other members of the group realized I was stuck in a fight to the death, things got real for everyone. I told them to help the NPCs (who had been enemies moments before) evacuate the mine collapsing around us, because I had no intention of surviving at that point. As everyone else fled, my character stood his ground and took on a giant spider queen of some sort that was practically invincible. I actually got lucky, and wound up winning that battle. It was one of the few times where, "It's what my character would do" was not only a necessity, but better for the story and drama.
That's what my character would do can work super well if played right. Story from my sister: Her group was half beaten to death by mercenaries but there was one NPC kept in prison and my sister, whoes character was a former slave who values freedom over anything else, said: "I know I most likely lose my character here, odds of coming out alive are pretty damn low, but my character could not live with herself, knowing that there is a person inprisond by a very crule creature that she could have possibly saved" So against all logical thinking my sister rather played the principles of her character, who want to live a life with no regrets, then play it save and run away as they should have done. Long story short: They ended up surviving on their last bit of resources and have a reliable ally after an amazing adventure just because of a "That's what my character would do"
"That's what my character would do" in general is a good thing when used properly. Play your character but don't use "that's what my character would do" as an excuse to be an asshole. Can be covered under the rule of DBAD
On the feeling thing, some people really aren't comfortable acting. Describing what they do and how they do it (including feelings) can be the only way that people are comfortable role playing. If the rest of the group is acting and the DM is acting, that can help as well as asking them to try saying things how there character would from time to time. Often this is an insecurity thing that needs to be handled gently, not dismissed.
Picks up pitchfork and torch... I usually preface my statements with, "I use this " followed by "describing the action/RP" because I've learned that occasionally (OK, who am I kidding. All of the time) when I RP it doesn't match my intended action. I get caught up with thinking about how my character is going to do this (or that) and say something I think will be cool or epic only for the GM to say, "Roll Intimidate" (instead of deception or persuasion, for example). So for me personally, its a defense mechanism. I've seen it happen multiple times at our table. And I will admit that these can be memorable moments (we still get a chuckle over the Hobo we intimidated a little too successfully when persuasion was our intended goal) but it also caused mechanical issues and lost information (to advance the campaign) because our RP didn't match our description/intended goal of talking the Hobo down. I wonder how many players simply do this because of repeated experience of this happening? "This is what my character would do..." In my defense my group knows my Halfling Rogue is "happy go lucky" and runs whenever out matched (ok, so I slightly, kinda, highly meta game this) but it isn't like it was NOT the 4th or 5th time this happened (for the record he's done it at least 6 times). And he's made more than his fair share of death saves already (the most in our group) so he's gained a healthy respect for self-preservation. So yeah, "This is what a living breathing character would do..."
I've had that happen. I was playing an UA changeling bard with advantage on deception rolls (+11) when pretending to be someone else trying to pass herself off as our paladin who was out that session to get into a martial class bar without having to prove herself in combat. After roleplaying some excuses and flat out lies, the DM just states the bouncer doesn't believe me. I make a quick quip without thinking (my personality) and the DM asks if I'm trying to intimidate. Succeeded in that unintended check.
Hmm. I agree with all of these in general, but sometimes there are special circumstances. One thing I don't agree with though, is the whole "do voices and gestures for your character". I love playing rpgs, and I do my best to be in-character from I sit down until end of session, but voices and arcane gestures/mumblings is just a bit too far for me. I'm just not comfortable with it, and it feels very "improv theater". If that was what I wanted, I'd join an improv group
Total agreement. If they don't have notes, it's not the DM's job to tell them what they forgot. I do a brief recap of the previous session, but that's it. Anything else is on them.
@@Lhight85 we run an average of two or three 9 hour sessions a week since lockdown began and as a DM to keep track of exactly what happened to each character Into such specifics as whether an NPC told them the lord's coat of arms is a pig or whatever is completly impossible
My problem is that I write down names and places and I assume I'll remember the main events, but then it's months before the next game and I've forgotten most of what's not written down.
My best tip for a better rolplay is this: Learn to be your pc. When you think and feel like him/she/it, then everything that you just say here becomes easyer to follow.
Absolutely, this, yes. Don't mind me being a year late xD If you or someone else are looking for a suggestion to get in tune with your character better, turning session notes into character journal entries can help. The more you write as them, the more into their headspace you can get - and as a bonus, you'll get a better sense of their usual speech patterns and vocabulary, meaning that you'll have a more solid character voice too😄
@@lunaredelvour2972 I usually have "a filter". As to say: Something hapends ingame. Then I interpret how my pc would see that. And I would remember and act apon it. For expample. A fire starts on a lonely dry village. One pc would think: "This is a tragedy. I must help quench/rebuild" other would see: "This hole town is prepared for fires. This has to be intended." And another would only see an oportunity to sneak away and check for loot. And remember, there are multiple ways of seing things. It also helps with metagaming. Lastly, becouse most of dose who try to follow this tip but end up as jerks or boyscouts with no intermediate: Think for a moment wat would be more entertaning/hepful for the party. Then think. ¿What could my PC think to being tempted to follow that rout? And voilá. Party improved.
I actually had one positive roleplaying experience related to one of my Players using the phrase "That is what my character would do". She had rolled a natural 1 on her Wis save against being mind-controlled by the Villian and I had him order her "Kill anyone in the room". The player did actually make a good case for why her mind-controlled Wizard would follow that order by fireballing the room based on her backstory and past events in that campaign, including the fact that ever since gaining the Spell she had tried to use it and been talked out of it by the others in the party. Nearly killed the whole party but allowed everyone to reroll failed saves and to run away from the encounter. All at the table agreed it was one of the most entertaining event of the campaing. So to summerise, it can be a good thing if the player isn't doing it to do random or shitty things. Talk with your players and DM about what it actually is that your character would do.
You are very welcome! Hope you have fun in that group! Sometimes groups are hit or miss so even if that one doesn't turn out to be a good fit for you or the most fun don't give up. DND is amazing and tons of fun.
@@johnbabylon7626 No a death is a cause for review to see if I made a mistake. Example burned a spell slot which was already used. Forgot the dead pc had a bonus on a save. Etc. Now if the pc got stupid and slapped Grandma. Well. She does wear combat boots for a reason.
DM: You see the person that just blew up your town. They are asking for a truce. Bad RP: I am angry, and tell him no. Good RP: You want. A truce. AFTER YOU BURNED DOWN MY TOWN!
That's not necessarily bad RP. Some people feel more comfortable narrating than speaking in character. Bad RP is when people create a one dimensional character.
I as a GM would see it as good RP if the player said: My character, in tears looks up att him and hises "there can be no truce after this act of pure madness". I as a GM prefer the one that describes instead of the one who acts even though both kind of players are welcomed at my table. All I want them to describe is how the feeling takes form for the character. If I ran my games with the intention of acting I would rather start a group for impro-theater.
Pro tip for all casters.... actually, correction. All players! Want to be ready for your turn or action? Write the page number and book for every spell and ability for your character beside its name! Dont just write "Fireball". Write "Fireball PHB ###" whether on pen/paper or PGG. Got some unique grapple ability? Also do it! Takes seconds to find that way, and if DM asks "Why are you adding +4 damage?" you can reply with X ability on page ###. Makes it faster and more enjoyable for you and everybody else.
One more HUGE tip for the players: get yourself something you can write notes in and take notes of things, important or not so much. This would save so much time and nerves, yours and others'. Nobody likes listening to same things being repeated just cause you can't remember them - take notes, it's important. Don't ignore it and don't rely soley on your memory
I had a new player last night who was so hard to play with because he did ALL of these things you mentioned. I'm no longer letting him come back. Being a DM is hard sometimes because of people like this.
On the subject of players not throwing tantrums when they fail I can agree on that but I'm 100% with you on the idea "roleplaying that failure into something fun". If a player at my table can do that then great but even as DM, I dont enjoy seeing my players fail at crucial moments and I certainly dont enjoy seeing them have a string of bad luck in their rolls as I have been that player myself. I would argue that its better and healthier to let a player vent their frustrations a bit, if only to get it out of their system. Failure serves to make success more rewarding and teaches players to be more appreciative when they occur but failure just feels bad.
Coming from playing Pathfinder back in the day where combat could take nearly the whole session, here's my tip: Have a default, go-to action for combat. That way, if the player before you inadvertently messes up your plans by killing the enemy you were gonna go after or something, you can still take your turn and not be lost. It could be as simple as: Attack the nearest/strongest/weakest enemy. Or: Buff the strongest/weakest ally. Or: Cast my go-to damage cantrip. Just have something ready to go in your back pocket. Nothing slows down combat more than not knowing what to do next because your carefully laid plans got messed up at the last minute. Default act, and give yourself another round to come up with something cool again.
I never considered this before but am totally going to start doing this! I always treat my action in battle as if 1) I’ll never have another chance and 2) I must do something awesome. Thanks!
I'm scheduled to play my first dnd session next weekend. I have a difficulty in being able to create mental pictures from words, like when the DM will describe a scene or just reading fiction books, so this should be interesting...
From the perspective of someone that is the opposite, I hope that changes over time. It's such a different experience when your minds eye opens to the stories being told or read. It even gets to the point, sometimes, when you'll have a difficult time remembering if an image in your mind was from a movie or a book. I hope you develop that, because you will find a whole new way of seeing the things that were seemingly intangible in the past. Also, I hope you enjoyed your first session! If you did, tell us about it, if you want.
My dm does this thing where depending on the lie on very rare occasions characters have earned advantage on deception and intimidation checks. One time I had this morbid intimidation tactic and my dm said he didn't know how the goblins wouldn't be scared so I get advantage.
Number 4 is a big one for me. I had a player who seemed to always have a 'dm vs player' mentality and would create private group chats with all the other players (and not myself the DM) to talk about things they should do with their characters. They seemed intent on hiding things from me as they didnt seem to trust me. (I might add that this player ran a game before this where she locked us into an unwinnable encounter so my character would die).
I once had a plan the DM knew about that would be my PC trying to help the party from a hidden place. We were in front of the BBE, so I couldn't say it out loud. When my PC ran away, I told them in jest, "that's what my character would do." Right before my invisible familiar brought a healing potion to an unconscious party member
I disagree with players choosing to write a lengthy backstory for their characters. What I did, was to tell my dm of my pc's personality, goals, strengths, flaws and notable events that happened in his life, which did not require him to read my pc's lore at all, but it is there if he ever decides to check it out. All the while, I've written a lengthy back story for my character, for my own sake, for the purpose of breathing life to this character that I made and giving me a very clear mental image on who he is. It certainly helps a lot in terms of roleplaying, at least for me. You see, it's all in the approach. If a player shoves a book and demanding the dm to read it. Then it's not really about being a bad player, they're just being a bad person.
I agree. I wrote a three paragraph backstory for my DM. However, I have written pages and pages about my characters for my own consumption. I like the idea of fleshing out my characters. Hell, I do that with RP toons on video games I play. It's fun for me. Doesn't mean it would be fun for the DM to read my less than passable novel about my characters childhood. lol
Great video luke! I'm a fairly new DM. But im a big fan of your tip, "don't be afraid to do things that aren't optimal" I've played with a group that was so careful, it was almost agonizing to DM. anytime before opening a door they would all stack up and listen at it. They would check for traps every few feet. They would agonize for 10 minutes over every small choice or fork in the road. I love doing things that are occasionally rash if I am playing a rash character. The most memorable sessions come from coming up with a crazy plan, flying by the seat of your pants. And escaping by the skin of your teeth 😆
Can you replace “That’s what my character would do” after they make an action with “What would my character do?” before an action? Because I do that a lot but never intentionally screw the party over
i love every single "thats what my character would do" moments we had because they were genuine roleplaying moments that werent always to our advantage, but made fun stories to tell. real inspiration worthy moments sometimes too. i am very lucky haha
I agree with all of these though I do worry that our group thinks my character is the main character or something because a lot of the information is centred on them. This is only the case because until a couple weeks ago, I was the only one with a fully fleshed out backstory from day dot and the first arch of the game has led us to my characters home town.
With the first one i have one addendum. If you are dealing with new players, help them as a DM. Once they get the hang of it, start to step away more and more
Feels less like tips and more like don'ts. Like don't be rude/learn dnd etiquete, learn the game. I do like the tip about not asking to do rolls tho, that's pretty cool.
On making a character that would have a reason to adventure... The starting kingdom in my world has an official adventurer's guild called "The Irregulars" Session zero, players are told they will be starting with graduating training for the Irregulars, what the irregulars are, and instructed to ensure their backstory includes a reason why they would have joined. In that one simple thing all my pc now have... 1) A reason to adventure. 2) A source of quest options 3) A fairly hands off oversight organization that only comes in if they start going murderhobo 4) A reason to know each other that isn't, "You meet in a tavern" 5) A guild hall where they can get free rooms by showing their membership in any medium sized town or larger.
I used to play ttrpg in high school and I had the worst DM ever, actually more than 1. I had 3 different campaigns going and they all suck, but in the end it was that or nothing else. I was super shy didn't know what I was doing and I didn't get any help. This was when the internet was just grass + small town. I was traumatized and didn't want to participate in any other section because I had enough of horrible experiences. Fast forward to last year, I was convinced to try again and oooh the difference a good DM does. I am still getting my confidence back for my warlock but my DM told me to declare actions instead of asking if I could do something - haha now I am here looking to be a better player. Thank you for this video, super helpful! :D
I do agree with the points in this videos and think it’s highly insightful for players. I do also think it’s important to ask why a player makes one of these mistakes instead of immediately labelling them a bad player and kicking them from the game. We’re all human and sometimes we do these things by accident. Good players will make these mistakes but then apologise for it afterwards and work out with the group how they won’t fall into that trap again. If they refuse to take accountability and insist it’s everyone else’s fault then they are a bad player. We’re all playing dnd for fun after all and it’s not a game where we all have to be immediate pros from day one giving a flawless performance.
I agree heavily with all but one point. Dont force people to act out their roleplay. Some people just arent comfortable with that. Let people simple describe what emotions a character might be showing or let them simply give a brief over view of what they are trying to say to an NPC rather than word for word act it all out. This is also a way of roleplaying. When playing games like Skyrim (also a roleplaying game) you dont yourself have to speak every word or express every emotion you want your in game character to show. Its simply conveyed through brief explanations in dialogue choices. If you like acting your character out, amazing. If you arent comfortable and rather simply say how they act, also amazing.
Thank you for this content! I’ve been playing D&D for 20 years. I was let go from a game with a lot of bad things I did as a player. I wish it would have been communicated that my sorceress was too much. It’s always a good idea to try and be better player!
I appreciate this video. I’m brand new to DnD and I’ve made so many of these mistakes already. I hope I can make up for it next session. I will say, because we are using discord for our games, we really can’t act out our feelings and actions. If we doesn’t say it, no one know it.
Select a scribe. The scribe is responsible for keeping a journal/diary of the groups adventures. It becomes way easier to keep track of the story in the long run when its gathered the same place in cronological order. Heck the diary itself becomes an ingame device the players can shuffle through when "what was the name of that guy?" or something similar comes up. As a DM you should provide the players with an actual notebook to use for this purpose. After all you get a cool ingame prop to use in future games.
Completely fine - until you become the only scribe of the 15 campaigns you're playing in. It was honestly extremely exhausting (plus the other players have to actually READ my notes ...) but the other players were like "nah, you're the one studying German" acting like they couldn't form normal sentences so that I would have to be the one taking notes. So no. Please, people, EVERYONE should take notes FOR THEMSELVES - or as a group. So that EVERYONE can remember things that happened for their own character in their own way.
All of these are so good. The standouts for me are knowing/accurately representing your character. Games slow down when someone doesn't. I assure you that it will be much less embarrassing for you if I don't have to call you out later when I look things up later. If you don't know, for the love of God, please ask, preferably out of session but better there than nowhere.
Two ways I learned how to roleplay better: 1. Playing a mute bard who casted minor illusion to conjure up signs that said what she wanted to say (instrument sounds are viable for verbal components, right?) 2. Playing in text-only games, where you're basically forced to describe what you're character's doing and have to differentiate it from what they're actually saying. both of these helped in the long run for me.
My current character is a NG Orc Kensei Monk. Trying really hard to be diplomatic, through gritted teeth and poorly veiled threats, while slowly caressing his katana (reskinned longsword) is EXACTLY what he would do, under most circumstances. After being dropped from max hp to zero, in a single hot, in a fight with a giant spider, I've taken to playing my Monk as being somewhat paranoid, about the prospect of that happening, in the future. As such, he's taken to using only Unarmed attacks, when possible, to allow for the AC boost from Agile Parry. (Level 3 still. Will likely use Sword and Fist as my attacks, at level 5)
I love the idea of having past failures affect the way your character thinks. it's so simple, but I feel like so few players implement that into their RP.
Whenever I have a player who rolls before I ask, I give 1 warning and tell them if they continue to do that I will treat each subsequent "pre-roll" as having disadvantage. You would be amazed how quickly people break that bad habit.
The Biggest bestest tip is to sell, sell, sell. Play up how cool, scary and weird everything in the world is and your DM and fellow players will love how you recognize their ideas.
If you're a new player don't worry too much about every one of these, as the DM to a bunch of new players I can assure you we're very forgiving and we get that it takes practice to get comfortable
Thank you for the construction criticism most important things I learned was don’t brake character, erase that’s what my character would do from memory and make the game fun for everyone else too
Even as a player, oh my God every one of these! However, I do think a couple can be fudged a little if you have a strong enough rapport with your DM. I will sometimes roll without declaring because it can determine how my character acts or reacts to a situation. For example, another character is doing something, doo I might role a perception check to see if I notice. If it's low, I'll just give a little head shake to the DM, and pretend like my character is clueless: sometimes even leave the table if i want to not even know what's happening as a player. If it's a high role, I'll start paying more attention, maybe look at the DM and point to my eyes or ear; something subtle to not break the scene but let him know that my character is aware. If it's more questionable, I'll try to briefly ask something like "Is a 15 high enough to notice?". But, my DM knows me well enough to know that I'm not doing any fudging or trying to break anything, I'm just trying to not interfere with the scene more than I have to. "That's what my character would do" can also be ok if you're not just being a jackass with it, or if the group is experienced enough to deal with it. That actually comes up quite often in Shadowrun where most characters have a laundry list of flaws. I do understand that I'm lucky enough that most, if not all, of my current group has DM experience, so we are able to handle such situations, and will talk out why our character would do the stupid thing. Granted, these points are for very experienced players and GMs, and this video is aimed more towards less experienced players. But, these are the kinds of things you can work towards if you follow the video's advice until you can work up enough rapport with your GM and group to deal with tougher situations. Except not paying attention or taking 20 minutes to figure out what you're going to do because you don't know your character or didn't plan before your turn. That's never acceptable.
Yes, I agree. Few things are absolutes. My players sometimes declare a roll and then roll without me promoting them because we've done it a hundred times and they know by now.
I sometimes roll by myself if I come up with a cool idea but don't know whether my character would have thought of it. Usually this is something that comes up if I, as a player, figured something out about our current mission that I don't think I should know at that point. I may have come to that conclusion as a player, but I have all of my notes in front of me that I can string together. That doesn't necessarily mean my character could just come up with that on the fly while trudging through a sewer at two in the morning. My DM has other things to worry about other than whether or not I think my character could come up with an idea or not. It's mostly to sate my own thirst for realism and not something I expect the other players at the table to do with their own characters. However, skill checks are only rolled when they are called for. That's holy ground. Never piss on holy ground.
@@krimzonghost1987 yes! Rolling to see if my character would think of something or not is also something I do. My character hasn't seen hundreds of plotlines from books/games/movies/etc like I have to fit certain concepts together, not does he have modern scientific knowledge to draw on. And he might only have a 10 intelligence.
This is one of the only DnD channels where I actually enjoy the skits! Good job making fun characters that, sometimes to my own detriment, act like some of my players IRL.
As a fellow DM/player. Especially as the DM, I've experienced everything you said over the last 35+ years in the RPG world. On that note, the one thing that burns me, and makes me feel sorry for the player (even more so when they're a friend who like AD&D as much as me), is when every single character that player creates and plays has EXACTLY the same personality as the previous one. Regardless of class/race of said PC. I work with those players to help with their imagination and develop distinct PC's. Or, like I did with the above friend, put his initial PC in perpetual reincarnation until that character accomplished a goal of the gods. Of course, the player was required to accomplish certain quests to eventually achieve that goal. Which was always just a little bit beyond his reach (like the show Quantum Leap). When that campaign ended he had to sacrifice his PC to save all of reality. And, just when he needed the luck of all of his incarnations, the player rolled a natural 1. POOF‼️ Well, the table was stunned, then the laughs started. It was the best ending to a campaign I've ever had. To his credit, the player quit playing and became a DM. Which he is quite good at. Oddly enough. Until they make a d20 with nothing but "20" on each side, good gaming to all.
I don't think holding a person's inability to roleplay against them is fair personally. Some people enjoy participating in D&D games but just don't have the same expressiveness that other players do and I don't think that really takes away from the enjoyment of the group as a whole (for some groups it might, but it hasn't really for mine). A comment I saw on Reddit made a good point: if a player that can't lift a boulder IRL is allowed to make a check for it in game, a player who isn't exceptionally charismatic or expressive IRL should still be allowed to play a character who is. This is coming from a bit of a personal place for me because I am autistic and I have difficulty communicating my emotions, even Roleplayed ones. Also, I really don't think showing up to games inconsistently interferes with everyone else's experience that much. Maybe it does in more rigid games with limited numbers of players. But personally, I wouldn't boot someone out of a game just because they have scheduling issues. I know I couldn't show up to all of my D&D games because despite enjoying them a lot my parents simply didn't want me to go. For some tables this is probably perfectly okay.
Sometimes, feelings might be relevant and affect what comes next, and describing how your character feels could be a substitute for communicating feelings via facial expression since your facial expression as a player won't often reflect the feelings of your character. But I agree that if the character's feelings aren't relevant at that time, there's really no point in having the players describe their characters' feelings.
at this point, if the players read what the spell does before casting it, it's the highlight of the session. the amount of times they say, I cast ****** on the orc, look up at me and ask what happens is maddening
I think backstabbing or conflict between other players can be great, it just has to be done for roleplay reasons not because you don't like the person. Also let the dm have control over stuff, player conflict can take away some of the stuff dms get to do. I enjoyed one session where my party and I had to separate because our leader whos village was destroyed when he was a kid and his parents died and sister was kidnapped, found out it was my family that did it. So they drew their weapons and told me to leave, in my fit of rage I attacked them and ended up wounding two of them badly, I left and went out on my own eventually another player joined and him and I paired up.
My brother will often make a DM PC when he runs games and I always find an in character reason for my character to hate him. One time, my character made sure he had the night watch before his DM PC and then woke him up as soon as my shift started and told him it was his watch. As an entire group we laughed for about 15 minutes.
Some very good advice. Not too sure if I agree on the final point - that’s what my character would do. In my experience that phrase is usually used as an antidote to meta-gaming - as a player I know this is not the optimal action to take, but my character would not have all that additional information, so this is what they do, because this is consistent with the way I have been playing them up to this point.
The only time I’ve had to ooc describe when my character is thinking/ feeling is when a bard *NPC* cast detect thoughts on them, that’s the only real reason you should have too. Best part? My character passed the saving throw but him, neither anybody else IC knows detect thoughts was cast...
There are - occasionally - times when "that's what my character would do" is appropriate. I once roled a goliath fighter who attempted to open a chest and was hit by a lightning bolt. I responded by yelling at the chest and hitting it with my hammer. The DM looked at me and said, "Really?" Yes, really! I'm role-playing a goliath fighter whose instinct is to solve the problem with violence. "That's what my character would do." I took an additional 4 points of lightning damage, but I broke the chest open. Problem solved.
I think "that's what my character would do" is fine if you're the one harmed by your actions. It's when it harms the rest of your party that it becomes a party. And even then I think it's only a problem if you do it frequently. I'm fine to be hindered on occasion for the sake of roleplay and story, but if someone is screwing over the party every session that's a problem.
I like your example of a good use of the tired phrase. Good point there too, Grant. Having your character do something to screw over the party because you just want to be a jerk or a giant memelord is not cool *ever*. Doing something that totally feels in-character can be awesome though, even when it is not exactly the "tactical/smart" thing to do. Two examples from my days as a player (one good, one bad): (#1, the good one) We had a "big stupid fighter" type who set off a few arcane sigil traps due to his lack of knowledge on them. He got terrible Arcana rolls and decided that breaking the sigil would disable the trap. After doing this only a few times, he started to learn. He is now an echo knight and tries to use his echo to trigger them. Our PCs are still working with him to get the "smart spell guys" to look at it first. He roleplays learning it well and it makes for a good time (and watching his PC learn/grow). (#2, the bad one): We had a PC who would often run 30+ feet ahead of the group, triggered traps to "see what happens", told obviously dangerous NPCs stuff that we knew would make them angry, touched everything that looked incredibly obviously dangerous/like a trap... It goes on. Their whole excuse was that the character had the personality of an impulsive kid as they appeared to be about 10 (despite their age being 50, which they constantly reminded us of). The character also had like 16-18 Wisdom, making the whole situation make even less sense. They never learned from their mistakes, never stopped playing stupid, and always got mad at us/DM when they nearly died because they got ganked by 5 mobs when they ran 50+ feet ahead. We don't miss them too much.
It can actually be fun if everybody playing understands everyone's characters and the flaws that might lead them to act in certain ways. As I said in my own comment, this is actually pretty common in Shadowrun which tends to have very flawed characters. You often have to plan around how certain characters will react to certain situations. As an example, I'm playing a character who is a disciple of The Monkey King, so he's very brash and impulsive. The other players (and characters) know this though, so they take it into account. They know that he (and I) don't act that way maliciously. The GM will even intentionally throw things at us to trigger that impulsiveness.
@@gregr28 I like to have the specifics of each other's personality over the course of a game. At least, if it's a game with a typical "you all just met for the first time and decided to adventure together" setup. If the characters have intertwining backstories, I have them give each other at least some specifics. Basically, I think part of the fun is getting to know the other players' characters during the course of the game. But screwing over the whole party is by all means right out.
I’m so glad you uploaded this, as I’m joining my first game as a player this Saturday! 😁 Well, I’ve played a player before, but not as someone who knew how the game actually worked. 😂😅
I got asked to convert a ranger into a cleric, because by the time I joined the rest of the party consisted of two wizards and a rogue. Since he was running a homebrew campaign I developed a variation of Sehanine Moonbow as she's a Knowledge domain deity in the phb. He then revealed he was using the Dawn War Pantheon instead (and no he didn't provide that information until the week prior to my first session in that setting) and used my character's backstory in his introductory adventure. Once that adventure was over rather than letting my character find her presumed dead son's body, he wanted us to return to his port city instead of using the settlement that introduction was set up at as the PC's base which made more sense for low level characters. However he refused claiming the introduction wasn't relevant to his campaign thus removing any reason for my character to be still involved. I got around that by running the next adventure set in Exandria and had my character banished from there, thus suffering a bit of amnesia upon her arrival and now recovered enough of her memory to now be seeking a way back home or a means to contact her family to make sure they're ok. Sadly my DM liked my adventure so much he decided his setting was also on Exandria completely ignoring the fact my adventure made it clear they're entirely two different worlds and he had on multiple occasions had said it wasn't set there. Thus annoyed at his idiocy I quit the group feeling initially very hostile, but later wishing I hadn't bothered running my game on Exandria, instead set it at the hamlet he thought irrelevant and subsequently demonstrated how wrong he was about that. Sometimes shit happens pardon my language.
4:22 this is actually one of my house rules as a DM. I tell my players, tell me what you want to do, and I'll tell you what or IF you need to roll. If you want to do something cool, depending on what it is, I'll give it to the player for being creative and fun. If you want everything to be mechanical and fixed by what the rules say as written, play a video game and press x to win. Again, nothing wrong with that but I see a lot of players handcuff themselves.
I am new to watching UA-cam videos about D&D. You are easily my favorite. Thanks. You make me laugh every time you say I have been a dungeon masterful sense I was in High School. As a guy who was in High School in the 80’s.... not impressed ;) Keep up the great work!
You should revisit your thoughts on how describing how your character feels. Every person or character has how they act on the outside, and how they feel on the inside. People should be showing how they feel as much as they can, but inherently you can't show all of how you feel. Talking about how you feel can show things that actions and inter character dialogue cannot. Plus its a really good tool to help players find what they feel and in turn inform their future actions by them.
So fun story about making a failed dice roll work. We had captured a goblin whose clan was ambushing people on the road and kidnapping them and since people in that situation usually have a bad end, we of course decided to find out where the goblin camp was. Problem was, all of our social skill dice rolls had failed due to bad rolls so it was time to get on with the physical interrogation techniques. Thing was, I was in no mood to sit through a bunch of messed up torture stuff so I say "I get up close to the goblin until my face is about 2 inches from his and stare deeply into his eyes. I then tickle the goblin." My table immediately bursts into laughter and through his guffaws my DM tells me to roll a sleight of hand check. I failed the roll so the DM tells me "You just kind of awkwardly touch his feet." My response? "I keep doing it." No matter what the DM said my response was "I keep touching his feet weirdly while staring into his eyes." I know it's because the DM wants to get the game going but damn if it didn't work. The goblin screams "STOP! THIS IS SO WEIRD! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! FINE! I'LL TELL YOU!" and then spills the beans. We were laughing so hard a few people had to take bathroom breaks.
I’ll be dming my first game soon and I’m so nervous about how the players are gonna act,,,, so I plan on having a session zero where we can talk about what we all expect from the game. I hope it all goes well!!!
Fight the good fight!!! Personally, the times I grabbed a book and hurriedly flipped through it as my turn was approaching brought fear to my DMS. It meant I 'membe'd someth'n' and it was about to get awesome!
I remember that one time I accidentally missed a plot point (in my defense I was reading some stuff my character can do and forgot to pay attention) so when my character was asked to ask a couple guards about something. So my character strolled to the guards and puffed out his chest to prepare and ask something, only for him to turn around and ask what they were doing again. Thank the heavens my character was 12, an introvert, and had ADHD.
This was a great video! Tip no 1 hit hard and I'm sending this to my players... xD I would also highly recommend Luke's backstory template, it really helped my first time players and it has helped me get back into character creation after taking a few years off! Additionally, with taking notes... don't forget to USE your notes! It is so frustrating when your players literally have all the info they need written down, but make the game harder on themselves because they don't remember to use that information!
watching these videos I find out how lucky I am as a DM cause I have rarely had any of these problems and we get to have a ton of fun thanks to not getting caught in these issues
What tips do you have for players looking to up their game?
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hey, so I'm usually the Dm in my group, but I let one of the players use my curse of strauhd book and Dm for us. he seems to be doing all the wrong things but trying his best, for example forgetting about space/distance/ location. misrepresentation of my own ablities. when we were rushing to a walled off church to help a teammate , I said I use stone shape to break through the wall, he haven't breached through the wall of the town yet, but he said that I break through the churches walls and get attacked by the cleric their, which must've meant we just phased through or teleported past the walls of the town without mentioning it. he is trying his best, and I don't know how to help him, any advice?
Players should review their character sheets before game day. Not only to know their spells, inventory and abilities; but also their desires and motivations. I don't remember what DnD 5e calls it, but there is some form if creed or anathema that they have. Also, pay attention to your alignment and the teachings of your deity (if you have one). Get into the mind of your character. That doesn't begin 5mins before game time.
@@Spiceodog it is difficult to be a new GM. Be patient with him. Don't try to make him GM the way that you GM. Everyone has their own style. If he asks you for advice, you can give it but try not to be accusatory. The game needs more GMs and kudos to this player for even attempting it.
@@linus4d1 thx, so I should play a mores passive advisor, right?
@@Spiceodog each situation and personality is different. I'm sorry but I can't really answer that. Just be honest and kind.
97% agree. Not a fan of the "act out your characters' feelings". Nothing wrong with saying "my character remains silent but is visibly upset" or something to that effect.
Agreed. I'm more referencing the 5 minutes of exposition of how a PC is feeling.
@@theDMLair ok bump it up to 99% then! 🤣
@@theDMLair I was curious on this one. Say there is a being which reads a character's feelings to try and ascertain their emotional state. Would that be a valid use of having the player give their character's feelings?
Yes that'd be a good time to do that I feel.
I came here to say the same thing. Thanks for clarifying!
I would take issue with the last part of Point 6. Sure, skilled RPer's will act out how they feel. But the shyer players, the newer ones still learning, those who enjoy the game but still struggle to fully RP, nothing wrong with them describing how they are feeling, so the other players will know. Rest of the list though, yeah! Completely on board!
Yeah, nothing wrong with that if roleplay doesn't come easy. At least it trains to think like the character.
If I feel I can't really roleplay something I try to describe a behavior or nuance that gives away an emotion, rather than describe the feelings themselves, like say "she looks terrified" or "she's listening very carefully" something like that. I'm bad at roleplay while some of my group are heavy roleplayers and I think this is a decent middle road. You're still kinda letting them see the character from the outside, almost like in roleplay, and letting them act on those nuances if they want to, which seems more natural and realistic instead of just laying everything out. Also characters with lower insight might not be able to read some emotions and in that case it almost becomes metagame-y if you give away too much. Some groups might see it differently, but like I said, mine is pretty roleplay heavy and simply describing how she feels would really stick out.
I would advocate for this for individuals not comfortable with RP or for fairly understated characters. Doing a "round the room" thing and putting the players on the spot isn't though.
@@robinthrush9672 True. That example did seem kind of strange. Maybe for a newbie group to help them think about in character feelings, but even that is a maybe.
I agree with that, even if your not new to role-playing, it's hard for some people to express or understand emotions
Especially if your character is shocked by fear, or falling silent after someone says something to them. You can’t just not say anything you’d need to describe how you feel.
As a DM myself, a good character in my eyes is someone who is willing to interact with NPCs. I think it’s really rewarding to see players travel through the same area again and stop to say hello to characters I’ve made. It lets me know that I made good characters and that my players are immersed
If "It's what my character would do" creates problems, you should not have made a character who would do that.
Its also usually an excuse that they don't follow through with when it doesn't benefit them, sorry for not helping last fight I have an INT of 5, now let me go barter with this devil like a genius.
I'd be ok if it happens occasionally, like a handful of times in the whole campaign. But if it's every session, that's just being a jerk.
The only time I did this was when my fallen aasimar, demon and devil hating paladin found out he had turned into a tiefling after being tricked into signing a deal with a devil. He tried to commit suicide.
@@grantbaugh2773 The problem isn't doing what your character would do, it's using that as an excuse to something you know - or should know, at least - that you shouldn't.
@@tafua_a only time I did this was when I played a bugbear rogue who wants to avoid goblinoids because they were on the run from his tribe for a crime he didn't commit. There's a city, named Goblinhold, 1st instinct, don't go there, it has goblin in the name & goblinoids are set up as celebrities. Why would a goblinoid who wants to lay low go to a place where lots of people will pay attention to him? Furthermore, why would he go out of his way to interract with the person who accused him of the crime & can easily kill him as soon as he is recognized?
And from the the time of upload, right abooooout...NOW. The wizard finally decided on their spell.
The wizard casts invisibility on himself
@@short7440 you mean fireball right ?
my players rarely even read the spell, they literally just say a spell that sounds cool and I'm the one who has to either remember it off the top of my head or look it up. if they keep doing that I'm gonna change what the spell does against there favor and see if they correct it
@AlphaWolf10 , the wizard casts fireball at the very end of the video.
This will get funnier the older this comment gets lmao
Ah yes, the dreaded, "that's what my character would do."
Yep
Famous last words.
This should not be carte blanche to be a turd.
Yep, I hate those words. They almost always come after a declaration of doing something that ruins everyone's game experience.
@@theDMLair so many champaigns ruined, won't somebody please think of the champaigns?! Oh, and the other characters as well.
When the Intern said that the Barbarian is dead, I thought, "Oh, I bet that the Barbarian is actually playing Garry going forward." Yep, I was that drawn in by the skit, that I forgot the characters are all the same guy :D
really?, Are you sure???.......
@@princesskanuta3495 oh, no, you've sown the Seeds of Doubt (a common, cursed magical item)
Yes... The Barbarian is Gary! 😂
@@theDMLair Oh, so the Intern is Kevin?
it's a cross breed doppleganger/mimic, double the trap!
Describing what a character does and feels is a way to overcome embarresment of roleplaying and make certain roleplay aspects faster. Like a brooding wizard just looking into the fire quietly for half an hour before another character notices and starts asking whats wrong. Imagin trying to do that IRL at the table.. no thank you.
My quiet character doesn't like showing emotions for fear of appering weak, but it is used as a joke in our group, because they say something funny, character calm and quiet on the outside, but then I tell them what he is actually thinking. "Wait, Gnomes can do that?" "good Gods she is cute when she's angry," or he is calqulating (spelling) the best way to reach the pie before dawn.
it's a way to communicate to your table that you are having fun despite playing a darker character While staying in character. And alot more timid or sirious moments can be alot easier for players if they don't have to put themselves in uncomfterble places.
I understand his point and mostly agree but honestly, most players don't care about my emotes unless I Describe what is going on with my character with words.
Also as he himself has said. Just play the way you like, if you are all having fun you are doing great.
I agree, I like hearing about what other characters are feeling, especially in really big moments. It feels more like collaborative storytelling
emotes? Um... if you're playing online, that sort of limits your ability to "act out" how your character feels, anyway.
Big agree on this one. Everyone's comfort level with getting into character is different, and not every table has the same expectations re: immersion. One of the best games I played was full of fourth wall breaks and meta commentary. It really depends on what each player wants from the game and what skills they'd like to deploy, you know? Anyway, your character sounds lovely. Big, scary goons with hearts of gold are some of my favorites.
Agreed. If you all enjoy it, don't listen to me. 😀
1: Know what your character can do! 2:37
2: Declare actions instead of yelling out game mechanics 4:25
3: Respect the game master and other players 5:51
4: Work with the game master, not against them. 8:59
5: Play with the group! 10:53
(Note: 11:20, this is pretty much what I thought the game was. I'm joining a game full of fairly experienced players (meaning middle schoolers who played every school day last year, I didn't because I have band and now it's an after-school thing), and in the mornings they're always talking about how they're going to plot against [person 1] with [person 2]'s help and then they're going to backstab [person 2] and they're going to 'win' or whatever. Glad it's not that.)
6: Roleplay a character with an actual personality 11:47
7: Erase the phrase "That's what my character would do" from your vocabulary 14:07
8: Communicate with the DM and other players 14:46
Thanks!
Thanks for laying them out plainly! These are all such good points that I think I want to incorporate them into our group's constitution
"Share this non-passive aggressively with your players!" Boy we can try lmao
The struggle of trying to solve everything passive aggressively is the only thing that truly upsets me about DnD. Especially when you confront a player with some constructive criticism and the say "well I guess i just won't play DnD anymore" like that is not what we want. We want everyone to have fun, we want you to learn and become a better player. God man this is an underrated comment, thumbs up from me.
@@zachharrell7776 I currently have great players. I was running a game with like 6 10-16 year kids which was a nightmare but they're just kids so there's only so much I can do
It's interesting the way "that's what my character would do" is used at my table. I'm aware of the usual use of the rogue who's backstabbing the party and shrugs it off with that phrase. It's mostly used when the player's character's actions differ from the player's opinions on what would happen. Like when our rogue is a little blunt talking to the tiefling when the player is usually kind to everyone
Yup, it's a lot of gray area. Built up trust is definitely an issue here. I also think talking about it away from the table helps. Especially if players feel you are ruining their experience (or vice versa). Depending on how attached I am to the character, I may be willing to allow him to retire (which I may have to retire my Rogue for being "appreciative" of his life).
My cleric would repeatedly badger him ingame with questions a therapist would ask regarding his behaviour. That's what *my* character would do, because mental well being is just as important as physical health. The in-game argument would go:
We understand everyone wants to keep their skills sharp with regular practice, but could you do sneaky pranks instead? Tie a pink ribbon in the barbarians hair, write "wizard" on the wizard's hat, use a disguise kit to make the dwarf cleric eyebrows look more impressive or just plant your signature calling card on on somebody. You could even make a point of making your party notice you're busy crafting a new calling card.
The point about limitations of spells defiantly hits home here, I took an eldritch knight into a one shot with phantamsal force as his trick... only to have it be against entirely undead so I couldn’t use it once. The temptation to ‘forget’ that limitation was strong there
That sounds really annoying! Did you and the GM communicate before the game? I don't know, but if I'm the GM and I see something like a ranger taking a favoured terrain that will not come up a lot, I'll throw them a hint that it might be not very optimal. Especially for a one shot.
July Ol honestly we were both focused on bigger things, like the race and class as I am a relatively new player, and it would be my first time properly spellcasting so it never got brought up. Honestly it was for a one shot so there wasn’t too much lost. The happy ending here is that next campaign I’m playing an archfey warlock who gets phantasamal force as a pact spell so I’ll get to use it, and for much longer than just a one shot.
Made an illusionist one to try something new that no one likes to play....gm made 99% of encounters immune to illusions...i also was the only one who would get randomly attached...later I figured out he was just a jerk who didn't like me...lol...now he's no longer around and we just laugh at him....
I feel personally called out by the wizard with the thousand-year turn: my first ever character was a wizard, and he joined the campaign at 5th level. Literally had no idea what I was doing, and I'm glad that there were more experienced players at the table to help me (and a DM who let me respec my character once I figured out what the hell I was doing).
As for me, my table really only has two rules:
1. Be excellent to each other
2. Party on, dudes
I get that. I'm lucky to play in a fairly big group so i get plenty of time from the end of my turn to my next one to plan ahead a bit and have a fairly decent idea of what my next turn will look like. I think the best advice I can give is if you tend to take a bit of time for your turns, don't wait until it is your turn to plan it. You can know, for the most part, what your next turn should look like on the in between. Once you have that Idea, it boils down to making minor adjustments to make it fit into the changing battlefield. Even if you don't get all the way through the prep, you've at least gotten some of it out of the way and your party and the DM will notice your effort... and they will love you for it.
Coming here after a rough session as a player yesterday when I've been primarily a DM for a year. Not gonna lie, I was salty. Got into the first combat of the game, after two sessions of just roleplaying, and I got to make one attack roll - a miss - before I got one-shot by a gladiator in an arena. (not killed, mind you - it was a first-to-downed tournament, my character was healed up after but they didn't get to do anything until everybody else's characters finished their runs in the tournament) I realize that I probably should have gotten over it and not walked away to make something to eat or spent the next two hours playing Minesweeper on my phone off-camera, but it was a shitty feeling made worse by the fact that I had to sit there for 3/4 of the session listening to everybody else getting to do stuff. So while I generally agree with #3, I do understand how player frustration could feed into that sort of behavior a little bit. If you're reading Luke, (or anyone who's been there, I guess) is there anything my DM or I could have maybe done to make this situation a little less unbearable?
A few things that could've been done:
1. You get approached by a bookie (or choose to approach one) and start making bets on (or against) party members still in the arena.
2. What was the goal of the arena? If it was part of a step to get a particular NPC's attention, maybe start mingling with the crowd to find out other information that can help the party when dealing with said person (especially if they'd only grant you an audience if you win and everyone in the party loses, the extra info to find alternate ways to meet the NPC keeps the story moving forward).
3. You get approached by some shady bystander who knows you lost, but still have access to the arena changerooms etc, and they want you to steal something from another gladiator (or poison them) etc, or wants you to convince another character to throw their match for a huge sum of money. That gives you RP opportunies and ties you in to other PCs that are having a break between their bouts, and might lead to sidequests that can be explored later.
4. You tell your GM your character thinks the opponent that one-hit you cheated and your PC wants to investigate it. As a DM, I'd absolutely go with the idea and come up with some things you can do to try and prove your case (and in fact I might even make it so that, yes, they did cheat; or you plant info on them to make it look like they cheated). You get a little side-quest that can potentially get you back into the arena matches, disqualify an opponent, and make an NPC enemy who might take their time to retaliate...
Yes, the DM could have made sure that everyone in the group had something to do at a group game and that you weren't just sitting there for much of the session listening to others play the game.
Remember to give your characters flaws.
You're not trying to build a Mary Sue.
I actually like the Dungeon Coach's advice about flaws. Have flaws, but work in improving them. A flawed character with a redemption arc is so much for enjoyable to play with than a character who just lives with their annoying flaws without trying to fix them, or worse, wants to keep them.
Agreed, but also don't make them the focal point of your character. That way lies an open door to those annoying "It's what my character would do..." situations.
I've been involved in a few games where someone has made their character a "kleptomaniac" and it rarely ends well. Most of them feel the need to remind everyone that their character "has a problem" at every opportunity and has fun sitting back enjoying watching everyone try to deal with shit they have caused that none of the party, or The DM, really wanted or needed to bother with. This is subsequently replaced with the player having fun making the others try to stop him stealing anything that isn't bolted down at inappropriate times in the game.
My flaw is that I am too perfect
@@justinmadrid8712 A tough one to deal with, I know
Hey, I've had a legitimate issue over "what my character would do"! (Granted it was in Savage Worlds, Deadlands -- not D&D.)
My character had flaws that prevented him from fleeing fights with powerful enemies, and also compelled him to save people. (I asked the DM what kind of game he wanted, and he said he wanted a high stakes action adventure, so I made a heroic cowboy that fit into his ideal). Unfortunately, he was a totally new DM - I'm typically our group's "forever DM".
So, the DM sends out an enemy battle that seems possibly undefeatable. My character refuses to leave the fight, and the DM finally breaks the fourth wall and asks me, as a player, why I'm not fleeing yet (he didn't expect us to fight). I look at him and I go, "Look at my character sheet. I literally can't." My character would never allow it -- there was a powerful enemy endangering lives.
I wanted to run like hell, but my character literally had rules preventing it. The moment the other members of the group realized I was stuck in a fight to the death, things got real for everyone. I told them to help the NPCs (who had been enemies moments before) evacuate the mine collapsing around us, because I had no intention of surviving at that point. As everyone else fled, my character stood his ground and took on a giant spider queen of some sort that was practically invincible.
I actually got lucky, and wound up winning that battle. It was one of the few times where, "It's what my character would do" was not only a necessity, but better for the story and drama.
That's what my character would do can work super well if played right. Story from my sister: Her group was half beaten to death by mercenaries but there was one NPC kept in prison and my sister, whoes character was a former slave who values freedom over anything else, said: "I know I most likely lose my character here, odds of coming out alive are pretty damn low, but my character could not live with herself, knowing that there is a person inprisond by a very crule creature that she could have possibly saved" So against all logical thinking my sister rather played the principles of her character, who want to live a life with no regrets, then play it save and run away as they should have done. Long story short: They ended up surviving on their last bit of resources and have a reliable ally after an amazing adventure just because of a "That's what my character would do"
"That's what my character would do" in general is a good thing when used properly. Play your character but don't use "that's what my character would do" as an excuse to be an asshole. Can be covered under the rule of DBAD
Wait the wizard *DIDNT* cast fireball!
He casts fireball at the very end of the video.
What else would he cast???
Dain, cast a fireball, I don't have that spell in my spellbook!
Damn I didn’t catch that
On the feeling thing, some people really aren't comfortable acting. Describing what they do and how they do it (including feelings) can be the only way that people are comfortable role playing. If the rest of the group is acting and the DM is acting, that can help as well as asking them to try saying things how there character would from time to time. Often this is an insecurity thing that needs to be handled gently, not dismissed.
Picks up pitchfork and torch...
I usually preface my statements with, "I use this " followed by "describing the action/RP" because I've learned that occasionally (OK, who am I kidding. All of the time) when I RP it doesn't match my intended action. I get caught up with thinking about how my character is going to do this (or that) and say something I think will be cool or epic only for the GM to say, "Roll Intimidate" (instead of deception or persuasion, for example). So for me personally, its a defense mechanism. I've seen it happen multiple times at our table. And I will admit that these can be memorable moments (we still get a chuckle over the Hobo we intimidated a little too successfully when persuasion was our intended goal) but it also caused mechanical issues and lost information (to advance the campaign) because our RP didn't match our description/intended goal of talking the Hobo down. I wonder how many players simply do this because of repeated experience of this happening?
"This is what my character would do..."
In my defense my group knows my Halfling Rogue is "happy go lucky" and runs whenever out matched (ok, so I slightly, kinda, highly meta game this) but it isn't like it was NOT the 4th or 5th time this happened (for the record he's done it at least 6 times). And he's made more than his fair share of death saves already (the most in our group) so he's gained a healthy respect for self-preservation. So yeah, "This is what a living breathing character would do..."
I've had that happen. I was playing an UA changeling bard with advantage on deception rolls (+11) when pretending to be someone else trying to pass herself off as our paladin who was out that session to get into a martial class bar without having to prove herself in combat. After roleplaying some excuses and flat out lies, the DM just states the bouncer doesn't believe me. I make a quick quip without thinking (my personality) and the DM asks if I'm trying to intimidate. Succeeded in that unintended check.
Hmm. I agree with all of these in general, but sometimes there are special circumstances.
One thing I don't agree with though, is the whole "do voices and gestures for your character". I love playing rpgs, and I do my best to be in-character from I sit down until end of session, but voices and arcane gestures/mumblings is just a bit too far for me. I'm just not comfortable with it, and it feels very "improv theater". If that was what I wanted, I'd join an improv group
Remembering to take notes is the bane of my players
I need to get in the habit but "I'll do it next time" seems to be my motto.
My notes are scattered and disorganized. I can find notes when things make an appearance again though.
Total agreement. If they don't have notes, it's not the DM's job to tell them what they forgot. I do a brief recap of the previous session, but that's it. Anything else is on them.
@@Lhight85 we run an average of two or three 9 hour sessions a week since lockdown began and as a DM to keep track of exactly what happened to each character Into such specifics as whether an NPC told them the lord's coat of arms is a pig or whatever is completly impossible
My problem is that I write down names and places and I assume I'll remember the main events, but then it's months before the next game and I've forgotten most of what's not written down.
My best tip for a better rolplay is this:
Learn to be your pc.
When you think and feel like him/she/it, then everything that you just say here becomes easyer to follow.
Absolutely, this, yes. Don't mind me being a year late xD If you or someone else are looking for a suggestion to get in tune with your character better, turning session notes into character journal entries can help. The more you write as them, the more into their headspace you can get - and as a bonus, you'll get a better sense of their usual speech patterns and vocabulary, meaning that you'll have a more solid character voice too😄
@@lunaredelvour2972 I usually have "a filter". As to say: Something hapends ingame. Then I interpret how my pc would see that. And I would remember and act apon it.
For expample.
A fire starts on a lonely dry village. One pc would think: "This is a tragedy. I must help quench/rebuild" other would see: "This hole town is prepared for fires. This has to be intended." And another would only see an oportunity to sneak away and check for loot.
And remember, there are multiple ways of seing things.
It also helps with metagaming.
Lastly, becouse most of dose who try to follow this tip but end up as jerks or boyscouts with no intermediate:
Think for a moment wat would be more entertaning/hepful for the party. Then think. ¿What could my PC think to being tempted to follow that rout?
And voilá. Party improved.
I actually had one positive roleplaying experience related to one of my Players using the phrase "That is what my character would do". She had rolled a natural 1 on her Wis save against being mind-controlled by the Villian and I had him order her "Kill anyone in the room". The player did actually make a good case for why her mind-controlled Wizard would follow that order by fireballing the room based on her backstory and past events in that campaign, including the fact that ever since gaining the Spell she had tried to use it and been talked out of it by the others in the party. Nearly killed the whole party but allowed everyone to reroll failed saves and to run away from the encounter. All at the table agreed it was one of the most entertaining event of the campaing.
So to summerise, it can be a good thing if the player isn't doing it to do random or shitty things. Talk with your players and DM about what it actually is that your character would do.
Yeah the problem arises when people use this as an excuse to do selfish things while not mind controlled.
Just joined my first D&D group. Trying to not be a nuisance. Thanks for the tips!
You are very welcome! Hope you have fun in that group! Sometimes groups are hit or miss so even if that one doesn't turn out to be a good fit for you or the most fun don't give up. DND is amazing and tons of fun.
#4 Working with the DM. Small mistakes. My standard is. Unless a dead PC is on the board at the end of the session, don't worry about it.
And even then, how about you just enjoy the story and see how it goes, eh?
@@johnbabylon7626 No a death is a cause for review to see if I made a mistake. Example burned a spell slot which was already used. Forgot the dead pc had a bonus on a save. Etc. Now if the pc got stupid and slapped Grandma. Well. She does wear combat boots for a reason.
Nooooo! The Barbarian is my favorite!
Maybe Old Man commoner can bring him back! He seems to know a few tricks when it comes to escaping from death's embrace!
DM: You see the person that just blew up your town. They are asking for a truce.
Bad RP: I am angry, and tell him no.
Good RP: You want. A truce. AFTER YOU BURNED DOWN MY TOWN!
That's not necessarily bad RP. Some people feel more comfortable narrating than speaking in character. Bad RP is when people create a one dimensional character.
I as a GM would see it as good RP if the player said: My character, in tears looks up att him and hises "there can be no truce after this act of pure madness".
I as a GM prefer the one that describes instead of the one who acts even though both kind of players are welcomed at my table. All I want them to describe is how the feeling takes form for the character.
If I ran my games with the intention of acting I would rather start a group for impro-theater.
Pro tip for all casters.... actually, correction. All players!
Want to be ready for your turn or action? Write the page number and book for every spell and ability for your character beside its name!
Dont just write "Fireball". Write "Fireball PHB ###" whether on pen/paper or PGG. Got some unique grapple ability? Also do it! Takes seconds to find that way, and if DM asks "Why are you adding +4 damage?" you can reply with X ability on page ###.
Makes it faster and more enjoyable for you and everybody else.
One more HUGE tip for the players: get yourself something you can write notes in and take notes of things, important or not so much. This would save so much time and nerves, yours and others'. Nobody likes listening to same things being repeated just cause you can't remember them - take notes, it's important. Don't ignore it and don't rely soley on your memory
I’m betting that one of his next videos will be How to be a Good DM from a Player
Great idea! 😂
I had a new player last night who was so hard to play with because he did ALL of these things you mentioned. I'm no longer letting him come back. Being a DM is hard sometimes because of people like this.
On the subject of players not throwing tantrums when they fail I can agree on that but I'm 100% with you on the idea "roleplaying that failure into something fun". If a player at my table can do that then great but even as DM, I dont enjoy seeing my players fail at crucial moments and I certainly dont enjoy seeing them have a string of bad luck in their rolls as I have been that player myself.
I would argue that its better and healthier to let a player vent their frustrations a bit, if only to get it out of their system. Failure serves to make success more rewarding and teaches players to be more appreciative when they occur but failure just feels bad.
This intro skit is some of the most authentic D&D I've seen on youtube.
Coming from playing Pathfinder back in the day where combat could take nearly the whole session, here's my tip:
Have a default, go-to action for combat. That way, if the player before you inadvertently messes up your plans by killing the enemy you were gonna go after or something, you can still take your turn and not be lost.
It could be as simple as: Attack the nearest/strongest/weakest enemy.
Or: Buff the strongest/weakest ally.
Or: Cast my go-to damage cantrip.
Just have something ready to go in your back pocket. Nothing slows down combat more than not knowing what to do next because your carefully laid plans got messed up at the last minute. Default act, and give yourself another round to come up with something cool again.
I never considered this before but am totally going to start doing this! I always treat my action in battle as if 1) I’ll never have another chance and 2) I must do something awesome. Thanks!
I'm scheduled to play my first dnd session next weekend. I have a difficulty in being able to create mental pictures from words, like when the DM will describe a scene or just reading fiction books, so this should be interesting...
From the perspective of someone that is the opposite, I hope that changes over time. It's such a different experience when your minds eye opens to the stories being told or read. It even gets to the point, sometimes, when you'll have a difficult time remembering if an image in your mind was from a movie or a book. I hope you develop that, because you will find a whole new way of seeing the things that were seemingly intangible in the past. Also, I hope you enjoyed your first session! If you did, tell us about it, if you want.
@@krimzonghost1987
At this point, this isn't something I am going to develop. It's just how my brain works.
My dm does this thing where depending on the lie on very rare occasions characters have earned advantage on deception and intimidation checks. One time I had this morbid intimidation tactic and my dm said he didn't know how the goblins wouldn't be scared so I get advantage.
Number 4 is a big one for me. I had a player who seemed to always have a 'dm vs player' mentality and would create private group chats with all the other players (and not myself the DM) to talk about things they should do with their characters. They seemed intent on hiding things from me as they didnt seem to trust me. (I might add that this player ran a game before this where she locked us into an unwinnable encounter so my character would die).
Omg, just realized a fellow player constantly asks for checks. Thanks for helping me realize why this was irritating me.
I once had a plan the DM knew about that would be my PC trying to help the party from a hidden place. We were in front of the BBE, so I couldn't say it out loud. When my PC ran away, I told them in jest, "that's what my character would do." Right before my invisible familiar brought a healing potion to an unconscious party member
I disagree with players choosing to write a lengthy backstory for their characters. What I did, was to tell my dm of my pc's personality, goals, strengths, flaws and notable events that happened in his life, which did not require him to read my pc's lore at all, but it is there if he ever decides to check it out. All the while, I've written a lengthy back story for my character, for my own sake, for the purpose of breathing life to this character that I made and giving me a very clear mental image on who he is. It certainly helps a lot in terms of roleplaying, at least for me.
You see, it's all in the approach. If a player shoves a book and demanding the dm to read it. Then it's not really about being a bad player, they're just being a bad person.
I agree. I wrote a three paragraph backstory for my DM. However, I have written pages and pages about my characters for my own consumption. I like the idea of fleshing out my characters. Hell, I do that with RP toons on video games I play. It's fun for me. Doesn't mean it would be fun for the DM to read my less than passable novel about my characters childhood. lol
Great video luke! I'm a fairly new DM. But im a big fan of your tip, "don't be afraid to do things that aren't optimal" I've played with a group that was so careful, it was almost agonizing to DM. anytime before opening a door they would all stack up and listen at it. They would check for traps every few feet. They would agonize for 10 minutes over every small choice or fork in the road. I love doing things that are occasionally rash if I am playing a rash character. The most memorable sessions come from coming up with a crazy plan, flying by the seat of your pants. And escaping by the skin of your teeth 😆
Can you replace “That’s what my character would do” after they make an action with “What would my character do?” before an action? Because I do that a lot but never intentionally screw the party over
i love every single "thats what my character would do" moments we had because they were genuine roleplaying moments that werent always to our advantage, but made fun stories to tell. real inspiration worthy moments sometimes too. i am very lucky haha
>Failure to be a story to be told
I failed a con save and done the big stink in the toilet, which the group almost passed out because of the smell.
My sister has a stuffed cat that looks exactly like the one in the first skit only black, ALSO called Fat Cat. Fun little coincidence
I agree with all of these though I do worry that our group thinks my character is the main character or something because a lot of the information is centred on them. This is only the case because until a couple weeks ago, I was the only one with a fully fleshed out backstory from day dot and the first arch of the game has led us to my characters home town.
With the first one i have one addendum. If you are dealing with new players, help them as a DM. Once they get the hang of it, start to step away more and more
Feels less like tips and more like don'ts. Like don't be rude/learn dnd etiquete, learn the game. I do like the tip about not asking to do rolls tho, that's pretty cool.
On making a character that would have a reason to adventure...
The starting kingdom in my world has an official adventurer's guild called "The Irregulars"
Session zero, players are told they will be starting with graduating training for the Irregulars, what the irregulars are, and instructed to ensure their backstory includes a reason why they would have joined.
In that one simple thing all my pc now have...
1) A reason to adventure.
2) A source of quest options
3) A fairly hands off oversight organization that only comes in if they start going murderhobo
4) A reason to know each other that isn't, "You meet in a tavern"
5) A guild hall where they can get free rooms by showing their membership in any medium sized town or larger.
I used to play ttrpg in high school and I had the worst DM ever, actually more than 1. I had 3 different campaigns going and they all suck, but in the end it was that or nothing else. I was super shy didn't know what I was doing and I didn't get any help. This was when the internet was just grass + small town. I was traumatized and didn't want to participate in any other section because I had enough of horrible experiences. Fast forward to last year, I was convinced to try again and oooh the difference a good DM does. I am still getting my confidence back for my warlock but my DM told me to declare actions instead of asking if I could do something - haha now I am here looking to be a better player. Thank you for this video, super helpful! :D
I do agree with the points in this videos and think it’s highly insightful for players. I do also think it’s important to ask why a player makes one of these mistakes instead of immediately labelling them a bad player and kicking them from the game. We’re all human and sometimes we do these things by accident. Good players will make these mistakes but then apologise for it afterwards and work out with the group how they won’t fall into that trap again. If they refuse to take accountability and insist it’s everyone else’s fault then they are a bad player. We’re all playing dnd for fun after all and it’s not a game where we all have to be immediate pros from day one giving a flawless performance.
I agree heavily with all but one point. Dont force people to act out their roleplay. Some people just arent comfortable with that. Let people simple describe what emotions a character might be showing or let them simply give a brief over view of what they are trying to say to an NPC rather than word for word act it all out. This is also a way of roleplaying.
When playing games like Skyrim (also a roleplaying game) you dont yourself have to speak every word or express every emotion you want your in game character to show. Its simply conveyed through brief explanations in dialogue choices.
If you like acting your character out, amazing. If you arent comfortable and rather simply say how they act, also amazing.
Thank you for this content! I’ve been playing D&D for 20 years. I was let go from a game with a lot of bad things I did as a player. I wish it would have been communicated that my sorceress was too much. It’s always a good idea to try and be better player!
I appreciate this video. I’m brand new to DnD and I’ve made so many of these mistakes already. I hope I can make up for it next session. I will say, because we are using discord for our games, we really can’t act out our feelings and actions. If we doesn’t say it, no one know it.
Select a scribe. The scribe is responsible for keeping a journal/diary of the groups adventures.
It becomes way easier to keep track of the story in the long run when its gathered the same place in cronological order. Heck the diary itself becomes an ingame device the players can shuffle through when "what was the name of that guy?" or something similar comes up.
As a DM you should provide the players with an actual notebook to use for this purpose. After all you get a cool ingame prop to use in future games.
Completely fine - until you become the only scribe of the 15 campaigns you're playing in. It was honestly extremely exhausting (plus the other players have to actually READ my notes ...) but the other players were like "nah, you're the one studying German" acting like they couldn't form normal sentences so that I would have to be the one taking notes. So no. Please, people, EVERYONE should take notes FOR THEMSELVES - or as a group. So that EVERYONE can remember things that happened for their own character in their own way.
All of these are so good. The standouts for me are knowing/accurately representing your character. Games slow down when someone doesn't. I assure you that it will be much less embarrassing for you if I don't have to call you out later when I look things up later. If you don't know, for the love of God, please ask, preferably out of session but better there than nowhere.
I disagree with point number 6. my group regularly does this as an intro. It is SUPER helpful for relationship heavy roleplay
That opening sketch is the perfect example of how players always seem to make the situation worse for themselves. It's so accurate.
Finally about to play my first campaign with my friends from the local community theater, so the role-playing aspect should be a blast!
Torches can cast sputtering light? That's amazing you best loot those magic items.
Two ways I learned how to roleplay better:
1. Playing a mute bard who casted minor illusion to conjure up signs that said what she wanted to say (instrument sounds are viable for verbal components, right?)
2. Playing in text-only games, where you're basically forced to describe what you're character's doing and have to differentiate it from what they're actually saying.
both of these helped in the long run for me.
i rarely agree with every single thing you say in a video but youre pretty spot on here
My current character is a NG Orc Kensei Monk. Trying really hard to be diplomatic, through gritted teeth and poorly veiled threats, while slowly caressing his katana (reskinned longsword) is EXACTLY what he would do, under most circumstances.
After being dropped from max hp to zero, in a single hot, in a fight with a giant spider, I've taken to playing my Monk as being somewhat paranoid, about the prospect of that happening, in the future. As such, he's taken to using only Unarmed attacks, when possible, to allow for the AC boost from Agile Parry. (Level 3 still. Will likely use Sword and Fist as my attacks, at level 5)
I love the idea of having past failures affect the way your character thinks. it's so simple, but I feel like so few players implement that into their RP.
Whenever I have a player who rolls before I ask, I give 1 warning and tell them if they continue to do that I will treat each subsequent "pre-roll" as having disadvantage. You would be amazed how quickly people break that bad habit.
Wow ! I am sending this to my players right now !
The Biggest bestest tip is to sell, sell, sell. Play up how cool, scary and weird everything in the world is and your DM and fellow players will love how you recognize their ideas.
I’m new to DND and you have helped me see my flaws. Thank you so much.
If you're a new player don't worry too much about every one of these, as the DM to a bunch of new players I can assure you we're very forgiving and we get that it takes practice to get comfortable
Thank you for the construction criticism most important things I learned was don’t brake character, erase that’s what my character would do from memory and make the game fun for everyone else too
I appreciate this video. I realize I've made some of these mistakes that my DM was too nice to call me out on.
Even as a player, oh my God every one of these!
However, I do think a couple can be fudged a little if you have a strong enough rapport with your DM. I will sometimes roll without declaring because it can determine how my character acts or reacts to a situation. For example, another character is doing something, doo I might role a perception check to see if I notice. If it's low, I'll just give a little head shake to the DM, and pretend like my character is clueless: sometimes even leave the table if i want to not even know what's happening as a player. If it's a high role, I'll start paying more attention, maybe look at the DM and point to my eyes or ear; something subtle to not break the scene but let him know that my character is aware. If it's more questionable, I'll try to briefly ask something like "Is a 15 high enough to notice?". But, my DM knows me well enough to know that I'm not doing any fudging or trying to break anything, I'm just trying to not interfere with the scene more than I have to.
"That's what my character would do" can also be ok if you're not just being a jackass with it, or if the group is experienced enough to deal with it. That actually comes up quite often in Shadowrun where most characters have a laundry list of flaws. I do understand that I'm lucky enough that most, if not all, of my current group has DM experience, so we are able to handle such situations, and will talk out why our character would do the stupid thing.
Granted, these points are for very experienced players and GMs, and this video is aimed more towards less experienced players. But, these are the kinds of things you can work towards if you follow the video's advice until you can work up enough rapport with your GM and group to deal with tougher situations.
Except not paying attention or taking 20 minutes to figure out what you're going to do because you don't know your character or didn't plan before your turn. That's never acceptable.
Yes, I agree. Few things are absolutes. My players sometimes declare a roll and then roll without me promoting them because we've done it a hundred times and they know by now.
I sometimes roll by myself if I come up with a cool idea but don't know whether my character would have thought of it. Usually this is something that comes up if I, as a player, figured something out about our current mission that I don't think I should know at that point. I may have come to that conclusion as a player, but I have all of my notes in front of me that I can string together. That doesn't necessarily mean my character could just come up with that on the fly while trudging through a sewer at two in the morning. My DM has other things to worry about other than whether or not I think my character could come up with an idea or not. It's mostly to sate my own thirst for realism and not something I expect the other players at the table to do with their own characters. However, skill checks are only rolled when they are called for. That's holy ground. Never piss on holy ground.
@@krimzonghost1987 yes! Rolling to see if my character would think of something or not is also something I do. My character hasn't seen hundreds of plotlines from books/games/movies/etc like I have to fit certain concepts together, not does he have modern scientific knowledge to draw on. And he might only have a 10 intelligence.
@@gregr28 oh, good! I don't feel so weird now. lol
I will add (And y though it will be on the list) take note of your spells or abilities that are more difficult for you to remember.
This is one of the only DnD channels where I actually enjoy the skits!
Good job making fun characters that, sometimes to my own detriment, act like some of my players IRL.
As a fellow DM/player. Especially as the DM, I've experienced everything you said over the last 35+ years in the RPG world.
On that note, the one thing that burns me, and makes me feel sorry for the player (even more so when they're a friend who like AD&D as much as me), is when every single character that player creates and plays has EXACTLY the same personality as the previous one. Regardless of class/race of said PC.
I work with those players to help with their imagination and develop distinct PC's. Or, like I did with the above friend, put his initial PC in perpetual reincarnation until that character accomplished a goal of the gods. Of course, the player was required to accomplish certain quests to eventually achieve that goal. Which was always just a little bit beyond his reach (like the show Quantum Leap). When that campaign ended he had to sacrifice his PC to save all of reality. And, just when he needed the luck of all of his incarnations, the player rolled a natural 1.
POOF‼️
Well, the table was stunned, then the laughs started. It was the best ending to a campaign I've ever had.
To his credit, the player quit playing and became a DM. Which he is quite good at. Oddly enough.
Until they make a d20 with nothing but "20" on each side, good gaming to all.
You hit my biggest pet peeves with players in this. Great video! Every player should watch this video.
I don't think holding a person's inability to roleplay against them is fair personally. Some people enjoy participating in D&D games but just don't have the same expressiveness that other players do and I don't think that really takes away from the enjoyment of the group as a whole (for some groups it might, but it hasn't really for mine). A comment I saw on Reddit made a good point: if a player that can't lift a boulder IRL is allowed to make a check for it in game, a player who isn't exceptionally charismatic or expressive IRL should still be allowed to play a character who is. This is coming from a bit of a personal place for me because I am autistic and I have difficulty communicating my emotions, even Roleplayed ones.
Also, I really don't think showing up to games inconsistently interferes with everyone else's experience that much. Maybe it does in more rigid games with limited numbers of players. But personally, I wouldn't boot someone out of a game just because they have scheduling issues. I know I couldn't show up to all of my D&D games because despite enjoying them a lot my parents simply didn't want me to go. For some tables this is probably perfectly okay.
Sometimes, feelings might be relevant and affect what comes next, and describing how your character feels could be a substitute for communicating feelings via facial expression since your facial expression as a player won't often reflect the feelings of your character. But I agree that if the character's feelings aren't relevant at that time, there's really no point in having the players describe their characters' feelings.
"a completely non-passive aggressive sort of way"
so... um... would that be an "actively aggressive sort of way" ?
Midevil road flares lol
Yes. Absolutley. 😂
at this point, if the players read what the spell does before casting it, it's the highlight of the session. the amount of times they say, I cast ****** on the orc, look up at me and ask what happens is maddening
Lol, yeah...I totally feel that.
I think backstabbing or conflict between other players can be great, it just has to be done for roleplay reasons not because you don't like the person. Also let the dm have control over stuff, player conflict can take away some of the stuff dms get to do.
I enjoyed one session where my party and I had to separate because our leader whos village was destroyed when he was a kid and his parents died and sister was kidnapped, found out it was my family that did it. So they drew their weapons and told me to leave, in my fit of rage I attacked them and ended up wounding two of them badly, I left and went out on my own eventually another player joined and him and I paired up.
My brother will often make a DM PC when he runs games and I always find an in character reason for my character to hate him. One time, my character made sure he had the night watch before his DM PC and then woke him up as soon as my shift started and told him it was his watch. As an entire group we laughed for about 15 minutes.
Some very good advice. Not too sure if I agree on the final point - that’s what my character would do. In my experience that phrase is usually used as an antidote to meta-gaming - as a player I know this is not the optimal action to take, but my character would not have all that additional information, so this is what they do, because this is consistent with the way I have been playing them up to this point.
"Follow me on twitter where I livestream"
I think you meant Twitch buddy
Nah have you not seen his twitter streams they are hype
Twitcher?
The only time I’ve had to ooc describe when my character is thinking/ feeling is when a bard *NPC* cast detect thoughts on them, that’s the only real reason you should have too.
Best part? My character passed the saving throw but him, neither anybody else IC knows detect thoughts was cast...
I’m a experienced player with a experienced dungeon master and my plan is to follow these steps as a example for the players
There are - occasionally - times when "that's what my character would do" is appropriate. I once roled a goliath fighter who attempted to open a chest and was hit by a lightning bolt. I responded by yelling at the chest and hitting it with my hammer. The DM looked at me and said, "Really?" Yes, really! I'm role-playing a goliath fighter whose instinct is to solve the problem with violence. "That's what my character would do." I took an additional 4 points of lightning damage, but I broke the chest open. Problem solved.
I think "that's what my character would do" is fine if you're the one harmed by your actions. It's when it harms the rest of your party that it becomes a party. And even then I think it's only a problem if you do it frequently. I'm fine to be hindered on occasion for the sake of roleplay and story, but if someone is screwing over the party every session that's a problem.
I like your example of a good use of the tired phrase. Good point there too, Grant. Having your character do something to screw over the party because you just want to be a jerk or a giant memelord is not cool *ever*. Doing something that totally feels in-character can be awesome though, even when it is not exactly the "tactical/smart" thing to do.
Two examples from my days as a player (one good, one bad):
(#1, the good one) We had a "big stupid fighter" type who set off a few arcane sigil traps due to his lack of knowledge on them. He got terrible Arcana rolls and decided that breaking the sigil would disable the trap. After doing this only a few times, he started to learn. He is now an echo knight and tries to use his echo to trigger them. Our PCs are still working with him to get the "smart spell guys" to look at it first. He roleplays learning it well and it makes for a good time (and watching his PC learn/grow).
(#2, the bad one): We had a PC who would often run 30+ feet ahead of the group, triggered traps to "see what happens", told obviously dangerous NPCs stuff that we knew would make them angry, touched everything that looked incredibly obviously dangerous/like a trap... It goes on. Their whole excuse was that the character had the personality of an impulsive kid as they appeared to be about 10 (despite their age being 50, which they constantly reminded us of). The character also had like 16-18 Wisdom, making the whole situation make even less sense. They never learned from their mistakes, never stopped playing stupid, and always got mad at us/DM when they nearly died because they got ganked by 5 mobs when they ran 50+ feet ahead. We don't miss them too much.
It can actually be fun if everybody playing understands everyone's characters and the flaws that might lead them to act in certain ways. As I said in my own comment, this is actually pretty common in Shadowrun which tends to have very flawed characters. You often have to plan around how certain characters will react to certain situations. As an example, I'm playing a character who is a disciple of The Monkey King, so he's very brash and impulsive. The other players (and characters) know this though, so they take it into account. They know that he (and I) don't act that way maliciously. The GM will even intentionally throw things at us to trigger that impulsiveness.
@@gregr28 I like to have the specifics of each other's personality over the course of a game. At least, if it's a game with a typical "you all just met for the first time and decided to adventure together" setup. If the characters have intertwining backstories, I have them give each other at least some specifics. Basically, I think part of the fun is getting to know the other players' characters during the course of the game.
But screwing over the whole party is by all means right out.
I’m so glad you uploaded this, as I’m joining my first game as a player this Saturday! 😁
Well, I’ve played a player before, but not as someone who knew how the game actually worked. 😂😅
I got asked to convert a ranger into a cleric, because by the time I joined the rest of the party consisted of two wizards and a rogue.
Since he was running a homebrew campaign I developed a variation of Sehanine Moonbow as she's a Knowledge domain deity in the phb.
He then revealed he was using the Dawn War Pantheon instead (and no he didn't provide that information until the week prior to my first session in that setting) and used my character's backstory in his introductory adventure.
Once that adventure was over rather than letting my character find her presumed dead son's body, he wanted us to return to his port city instead of using the settlement that introduction was set up at as the PC's base which made more sense for low level characters.
However he refused claiming the introduction wasn't relevant to his campaign thus removing any reason for my character to be still involved.
I got around that by running the next adventure set in Exandria and had my character banished from there, thus suffering a bit of amnesia upon her arrival and now recovered enough of her memory to now be seeking a way back home or a means to contact her family to make sure they're ok.
Sadly my DM liked my adventure so much he decided his setting was also on Exandria completely ignoring the fact my adventure made it clear they're entirely two different worlds and he had on multiple occasions had said it wasn't set there.
Thus annoyed at his idiocy I quit the group feeling initially very hostile, but later wishing I hadn't bothered running my game on Exandria, instead set it at the hamlet he thought irrelevant and subsequently demonstrated how wrong he was about that.
Sometimes shit happens pardon my language.
4:22 this is actually one of my house rules as a DM. I tell my players, tell me what you want to do, and I'll tell you what or IF you need to roll. If you want to do something cool, depending on what it is, I'll give it to the player for being creative and fun. If you want everything to be mechanical and fixed by what the rules say as written, play a video game and press x to win. Again, nothing wrong with that but I see a lot of players handcuff themselves.
I am new to watching UA-cam videos about D&D. You are easily my favorite. Thanks. You make me laugh every time you say I have been a dungeon masterful sense I was in High School. As a guy who was in High School in the 80’s.... not impressed ;) Keep up the great work!
You should revisit your thoughts on how describing how your character feels. Every person or character has how they act on the outside, and how they feel on the inside. People should be showing how they feel as much as they can, but inherently you can't show all of how you feel.
Talking about how you feel can show things that actions and inter character dialogue cannot.
Plus its a really good tool to help players find what they feel and in turn inform their future actions by them.
So fun story about making a failed dice roll work. We had captured a goblin whose clan was ambushing people on the road and kidnapping them and since people in that situation usually have a bad end, we of course decided to find out where the goblin camp was. Problem was, all of our social skill dice rolls had failed due to bad rolls so it was time to get on with the physical interrogation techniques. Thing was, I was in no mood to sit through a bunch of messed up torture stuff so I say "I get up close to the goblin until my face is about 2 inches from his and stare deeply into his eyes. I then tickle the goblin."
My table immediately bursts into laughter and through his guffaws my DM tells me to roll a sleight of hand check. I failed the roll so the DM tells me "You just kind of awkwardly touch his feet." My response? "I keep doing it." No matter what the DM said my response was "I keep touching his feet weirdly while staring into his eyes."
I know it's because the DM wants to get the game going but damn if it didn't work. The goblin screams "STOP! THIS IS SO WEIRD! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! FINE! I'LL TELL YOU!" and then spills the beans. We were laughing so hard a few people had to take bathroom breaks.
I’ll be dming my first game soon and I’m so nervous about how the players are gonna act,,,, so I plan on having a session zero where we can talk about what we all expect from the game. I hope it all goes well!!!
Fight the good fight!!!
Personally, the times I grabbed a book and hurriedly flipped through it as my turn was approaching brought fear to my DMS. It meant I 'membe'd someth'n' and it was about to get awesome!
I remember that one time I accidentally missed a plot point (in my defense I was reading some stuff my character can do and forgot to pay attention) so when my character was asked to ask a couple guards about something.
So my character strolled to the guards and puffed out his chest to prepare and ask something, only for him to turn around and ask what they were doing again.
Thank the heavens my character was 12, an introvert, and had ADHD.
I can see the effort you put into these vids man, keep it up
This was a great video! Tip no 1 hit hard and I'm sending this to my players... xD I would also highly recommend Luke's backstory template, it really helped my first time players and it has helped me get back into character creation after taking a few years off! Additionally, with taking notes... don't forget to USE your notes! It is so frustrating when your players literally have all the info they need written down, but make the game harder on themselves because they don't remember to use that information!
watching these videos I find out how lucky I am as a DM cause I have rarely had any of these problems and we get to have a ton of fun thanks to not getting caught in these issues
Huh. Surprised this wasn't covered sooner, seems like 101 for a D&D educational video. Still, these tips are always welcome.
Damn, dude, I've been seeing you everywhere.
@@TheCoolerDrilis I get that a lot.
@@CappuccinoSquid Guess we like a lot of the same stuff.
@@TheCoolerDrilis eeyup.