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I use the metod: The world don't revolves around the players. If they want to spend days in a city to explore every detail, this days will count for the villain too, so he will get stronger and closer to his objective or other treasure hunters can find the treasure before the players because they delayed the mission
That's exactly my strategy as well, I always "simulate" the world between each session - "What would have the villan done in the meantime? Where did those bandits that managed to flee end up?" etc.. I'm about to hit my party with an unexpected sad resolution to a sidequest they didn't complete and chose to delay several times. I hope they are heartbroken (laughs maniacally) =D
@@mrs.w5539 They didn't make it back to the city yet (it's gonna be another 2 sessions I reckon). Long story short, there was a drug dealer who sold some semi-illegal stuff to university. Turns out he's just one of the students and he has no bad intent, just trying to make some money to pay tuition and buy food. If they investigated further, they would have found the real culprit - an alchemist who is testing his powders and concoctions on the aforementioned students. However, since they delayed this quest too much already, when they get back, they will find that the student has been caught by city guards, and executed (or imprisoned, depending on how lenient or evil I wanna be :D ).
That's how my campaign is working. Of the five main city/territory locations, each one the party goes to causes the ones they don't go to to become more consumed by conflict
I'm playing a campaing like this Its BAD Most of the time we simply dont have time for personal goals and preparetions, just main quest and what de DM wants.
"what's in the crate?" "dried apples." "okay, What's in the next crate?" "the desiccated body of your mother. You just fulfilled your character's arc of discovery. Have 5xp."
I distinctly remember our gm running a session where we thought there was something important in the back of a seaside cavern that was “partially dug out”. So we started digging.. and kept digging, even after the gm sent aboleths and all kinds of stuff at us..(to make us run away since nothing was there). Of course this only convinced us there was something behind this area worth defending as we proceeded to slaughter all opposition. We would not be denied our prize! Yeah, turns out nothing was there. Wasted pretty much a whole session. lol
that's just an example of a bad dm. The whole point of a dm is to reward your players for doing crazy and out there things even it was never planned. If your party spent a lot of time digging out that area there should certainly be some kind of reward for putting in the effort.
@@magicalgoldfish7208 Yeah, to be honest sending the aboleths was the wrong move if he wanted to convey there was nothing there. If I chose to go this route, I would have for sure put some reward in that cave. Possibly an old treasure map or something that hints at a further quest, so that I have time until the next session to actually prepare that sidequest
@@magicalgoldfish7208 or be could've told the pcs that there characters, after an hour of digging, are positive there's nothing there. Either way, it would've gotten them back on track.
@@magicalgoldfish7208 or just ask for a check appropriate to what they’re thinking. If they roll well ish then tell them outright, if not then just go ahead and expedite the process. “You spend the day arduously digging away and eventually find nothing of value”.
he could have used it differently... something like: The group dug up the whole time and ended up digging an escape tunnel into a prison cell of the nearby castle The bandits they brought to justice and where imprisoned there used this escape route to run away Or an old pirate treasure was hidden there (nothing special, maybe 3D6 gold pieces and a saber or something) or a partly buried smuggler route into the local tavern (Prohibition Style)
I am in a game with a DM that had his main quest so vague we did not know what to do so our group had about a years worth of side quests before the DM got fed up enough to use a players new character as a plot hook
This was really helpful! We have a DM right now who I think is accidentally making us distracted, because it can take us hours to get anywhere. Not saying the distractions are bad, because otherwise they would not be so distracting, but I find that even when we have a clear goal, we end up talking to the NPCs more than walking to do The Thing. ^^ So this video might help, I'm gonna share it with my DM! Thank you!
"What you explain in detail, the players will think it's important." / "Use detail to focus your players" - Great advice. It's hard not to get into the descriptions some time. Session 0 saves my bacon every time. It helps communicate expectations.
My campaign, got derailed, but I ended up making a stupid plot, that they actually followed. From capturing a orc fort, to stealing a table and a horse. My players were goblinoids. It was great
@@kendrickrochelanzot2053 i was thinking having a 5 session interlude between my campaigns, where the players all play Goblins attempting to steal from the King lol
Most of this stuff is among things I already do, so great advice. (because obviously, if I do it, it must be great.) The other thing I often do is that when my players get distracted, and they do, I do my best to come up with new and interesting things in the area where they are showing an interest, and tie them back into the main story. This can be difficult if you're running a premade module, but when I'm running a homebrew campaign in a homebrew setting, my innate understanding of the world usually gives me enough data to stitch things together. Many times this entails just putting an adventure or combat or something in front of them for the rest of the session, and then taking time between sessions to link it up, if there's not an obvious link that I can make right there at the table. The other thing I do is sometimes I'll just put the main quest right in the place where they end up wandering off to. This gives them the satisfaction of thinking that they put it all together and solved something, when in reality I just stuck the adventure behind whichever door they walked through. You need to be careful not to do this too often or else your players will catch on and just do whatevs all the time, (knowing you'll drop them into the adventure no matter what) but playing this shell game and sometimes tying the trail they're following back into the main quest is a solid move, especially if they've followed some trail of things that seemed like clues to them to reach it. This last one also often ends up with them unearthing a major clue to the main adventure rather than just plopping them into the next section, which gives them the agency to get there on their own.
Yeah thank you appreciate it. Yes the all roads lead to Rome strategy is totally legitimate. It's always something that a DM should keep in his tool belt for sure. I usually don't have to employ it because my players usually don't ignore my plot hooks, however it's a totally legitimate way to get distracted players to run the adventure. 😂
@@theDMLair yeah. I generally use it in situations where the players are following a set of clues or interesting things in front of them that seem like legitimate leads, but aren't really the leads I intended. It's basically covering up my own failures as a DM to make the actual important clues stand out. I very rarely have to use it, since my players are pretty good on picking up on the important clues, and when they're ignoring them, they are doing so for often completely legitimate reasons from their character's perspectives. I'm pretty good at improvising new adventures on the fly, so when they go off the rails deliberately, I have no qualms putting the intended adventure back in the binder for later use and coming up with something new that fits into what they're up to. Of course, that doesn't mean that the bad actors behind the original adventure will stay silent or stationary. Depending on its nature, there may be consequences down the road for ignoring it. The more tricks you have up your sleeve as a DM, the better your adventures will be.
Yes I agree the more tricks you have up your sleeve the easier life is that dungeon master life. I've had players go off on tangents because of things that I said that they thought were Clues but weren't. And then yeah you have to scramble to figure out how to get them back on track. Or just move the dungeon in front of them. LOL
As a beginner DM, I have found success in telling the party that their purpose in their adventure is to "go adventuring". Because of the dangers out in the world, they cannot do it alone. That is why I also tell them that they have found a party with that same general purpose. This prevents them from deciding as a party from doing a few things. Firstly, it makes it such that they do not have any good reasons to just go backstabbing their party at all. I already make it a rule at my table that you cannot just go pick-pocketing your party or murdering them, but even if I did not have this rule in place, it prevents the chaotic neutral rogue types from risking their butts just for a few extra coins against the team they are supposed to be aligned with. Secondly, because they are a party with the same purpose of adventuring out in the world, they don't have the crazy urge to split themselves up on purpose. Even before session 1, I explain to them that splitting the party should be kept at minimum except when exploring something like a town, or if a booby trap splits them. Even if I have not explained this to them, the explanation of them being on an adventure together is enough for them to, well, stay together. This also has them work better as a team. I can just throw a new challenge right at their face, and they can just figure it out rather than complain about how their wizard is on another plain of existence with a different purpose in mind. Finally, telling them that they are on an adventure does not limit their creativity or make it come at a cost. With the only necessity for the game is that one's character has to have a reason to be on an adventure, one could possibly go on an adventure because their backstory is full of a lineage of warriors, or one could just want to spread their wisdom from years of study and meditation, or one could just be out risking their life all for the gold and glory. A party of three could take on each of these backgrounds with completely polar alignments and still work play it out as a close group of friends. It makes my job as a DM more fun and easy. With the focus of players set out on exploring the world of the DM, their enjoyment is set on the enormous ancient green dragon towering over them on its hoard, just waiting for them to make a wrong slip of the tongue to send a toxic breath, or a beautiful woman, who unknown to the party is a plotting old hag that is out to eat their hearts for an evil ritual.
@@theDMLair have the bbeg enslave the village that is home to the player's favorite NPC, not necessarily the NPC themself, cause then you can use the plight of old man Gonigue, the kind old farmer that gave them a place to stay that one time, to get them to do something about the bbeg.
@@theDMLair In my recent game, the warlock was acting like a shit to this halfling NPC, almost tormenting him. Instead of amping up the action, like bringing in someone to harm the player, I just later put that NPC in trouble in the town. The PCs helped the NPC of course, but the NPC's response was "Oh no, not you!" and basically told the PC they were a bad person and started walking away. The warlock suddenly felt really bad about what happened and apologized to the NPC. This worked because I didn't reward the PC with glory, but instead made the PC out to be just another villain. Just like Homelander, PCs really want to be seen as epic.
I've been watching you for years ,download your stuff online ,subscribed online...and only now did I subscribe...I'm so sorry you deserve more from me 😭
For me it's a fair mix of the two, I've out right told them that their guide will point them in the tight direction when they are ready, but in the meantime side quest and socializing galore if they so choose.
DM: *Spends half a second longer detailing the candle stick on a table* The Party: This candle stick is clearly some sort of item of importance, let us spend five in real life hours examining and arguing about it
#1: No electronics at the game table. Cell phones go on a side table. #2: Don't give them a hint of something to do if you are not ready for them to do it. #3: Assign a schedule of who brings snacks and/or a specific time for the pizza order. #4: Have a mini fridge near the table full of appropriate beverages. (each can bring their own 6 pack of their favorite soda or everyone can have bottled cheap Wal Mart water)
I have cell phones at my table because I premake magic items and texts that they find. It makes the table flow better if I send those items to the party and allow them to read them as they wish.
I have cell phones at my table because a lot of people (me included) use spellbook apps to look up what spells do, and also because I'll sometimes text players at the table with stuff like "you're under mind control" or "an NPC tells you this plot important info in secret."
My group is the same way. A lot of us use cell phones for Spellbook apps. My players also have DND Beyond so they're looking up things on that. One of my players just uses his laptop with his DND Beyond character sheet on it. But the thing is they're all engaged they're all paying attention and they're listening and when it's their turn for combat for instance I can tell they've been listening and you know what they're going to do. The point is they are not in la la land. If they were then we have some trouble right.
Sadly I seem to run into the opposite problem more often. I put a lot of detail in my campaigns and the players just seem to focus on the main quest or worse . . . sit around waiting for the plot hook to come up and bite them. Sometimes when you build a world you want to be a little passive and let the players chase you.
The one-session adventure I’d made for one of my groups ended up lasting two sessions because I made the mistake of mentioning a ghost haunting the grounds of the mountaintop temple, so the group spent half the first session fannying around in town trying to learn more about the ghost. Poor planning on my part, perhaps, but they loved having the chance to explore the town and interact with its key residents, so I guess it was alright in the end.
That's really good advice! A game I'm in has lacked direction partly because there always was other cool / dangerous stuff around the corner that we could / had to deal with first. I've been guilty of this myself in my Astral Sea Campaign though, so I will focus more on things that are relevant to the module and/or the PC's backgrounds/interests.
During my 'Session 0' with my new group, I noted to them that I will have a prepared adventure or 2... but if they decide on going a 'sandbox' route.... they can but the 'challenge rating math' can possibly get 'fuzzy' shooting from the hip. In short... "Good Luck."
Great use of the RGB lighting on the shelves to help with establishing the tone of this video. I strongly recommend that you keep doing that. Great job on the storytelling there!
My main problems are: 1) My group OVER analyzes everything and looks way too far into simple things. and 2) Phones, tablets, electronics. Some use them for character sheets or inventory.... but I often hear the chime of messenger or clicking of a mouse when they should be paying attention.
Yeah electronics are tough. Usually I have no issues, but there have been a few times I've addressed the entire group about it, pausing the game, when it seemed excessive. I usually view excessive electronics as MY fault and try to make my game more engaging overall OR specifically call a players name who I can see is on a device, asking him what he does or says. My goal there is to draw him back into the game. I don't mind a little overanalyzing by the players (it usually gives me good ideas...) But too much has brought down "random" encounters. Afterwards its amazing how quickly they come to a decision.
ah yes that happened to my first session I hosted. I accidentally spent two sentences on the description for a random NPC and *of course* the players thought it was a hint. So they started bothering the guy and *really* gave me a sweaty moment where I desperately tried to come up with something, but every sentence seemed to make the man more suspicious. By that point they thought he was an illegal smuggler for drugs and wanted to either chase him to his hideout, or call the guards, until I had to draw in other NPC's to pull the players away from the guy. I imagined in my head how relieved the dude must have been ... and then he quickly stuffed the last packs of drugs on his cart xD
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH, I'm not even exaggerating when I say this, the PC got a home in a city and made food for themselves and picked out bedrooms. In that much effort they got detracted NINE TIMES, THEY MADE A SANDWICH AND THEIR BEDS. Again thanks
I had a few players actually pretty much ignore a fair amount of the map I made and rush the "objective" even after I explicitly threw an npc in they ignored him and when one of the doors was locked they ignored that too so when they got to the room that probably contained the item (because they literally went straight there) they were looking for i just went "its not there" because they weren't role-playing characters they were ignoring 90 percent of the area they didn't search anything. I literally gave them every incentive i could narrative wise to investigate the area that would clue them in as to where they are supposed to go. These particular players pretty much ignored most of the dialog and information given other than "go get this item" and got confused when the item wasnt there even though narrative wise it made sense as to why it wasn't there
I have been binge watching your videos since last night and I am completely blown away! I found you through your Mad Mage review and I really appreciated that you talked about things no other reviewer talked about (like the fact that it is NOT a hack and slash). Great work! I'm subbed and I'm gonna find you on Patreon! P.s. have you looked up ImprovedInitiative at all? Its a free web app but I think it is the single BEST tool for a DM running combat!
Awesome, thanks a lot! 😂 Yeah I think others look down on DotMM because it's a mega dungeon and must only be a hack and slash dungeon crawl. I'm running it now for a group and it's anything but, though a DM could strip all the roleplay opportunities from it... That'd be sad though. Anyway if Discord is your thing, consider joining my server, too. Lots of cool DM discussions and advice there. I'll check out that improved initiative app, too!
I always run a more sandbox world that possesses a primary story within it. Prior to starting I just explain to my players that they are free to ignore the main story, but keep in mind the BBEG is still going to be out there continuing his mission whether they choose to do anything or not.
Once I was playing a pre made campaign (DoIP) and a description required me to describe the land. I accidentally stuttered on a waterfall, and my players proceeded to spend 15 irl minutes trying to investigate this waterfall with zero purpose.
You can always move around the plot points without the players realizing. With the example Luke gave, perhaps the party gets arrested for their theft, and the jailhouse is near where the Dungeon Master wanted them to go in the first place.
True story. I'm playing in a game with a borderline suicidal rogue that likes to run off on his own this has failed miserably all but once. The one time it doesnt go poorly he brings us back a crapton of look. Like...600gp worth of crap and we're barely level 5. When asked where he found it he basically says, "found it over there". Didnt bother to tell us (our characters) that the area he found this stuff on was littered with bones, feathers, and corpses. We all start to divvy up the spoils. Suddenly our elf hears distant screeching, looks up and sees large flying shapes. We quickly stuff things away and haul ass away. Long story short, we were almost ambushed by a flock of fucking harpies because we got distracted by shiny.
I was LN in our Stradh campaign, while my friends were CE and CN. This is exactly what happened: DM: *gives an interesting quest* the chaotic characters: "nah I don't care about it, it doesn't help me" So we skipped half of the quest at least.... We even argued OOC that the game is supposed to be played, roleplaying someone who doesn't do anything or care about adventures just sucks.
I tell my players: “I know what level you are; my world doesn’t. I try and give you relevant plot hooks to the type of story we all want to tell, that are also level appropriate. The further you stray away from the clues and hooks I give you, the more boringly easy or impossibly difficult things may become”
Well I'd you had fun then the session was a total success. The thing is that since you had fun in game then it was ok. Also if I was a dm and I had spent so much of my free time preparing that loot magic furge then of course I would want my players to "exploit it". So I see this as an absolute win
Rate my plot hook: I’m a fledgling DM wanting to make sure my players have a good experience as this will be the first session I’ve run. Ok so the party is aboard a large avia (the term for sky ship in my setting) on transit over the ocean to the southern continent. For convenience their rooms are all placed next to each other and there is a small lounge connecting all of them before they go out to the main deck. During the night they hear a screeching of metal and then voices coming from a vent in the ceiling. The voices talk about a raid and mutiny that will be happening on the ship in 3 days. There will also be discussion of ‘side activities’ that if done can help in preventing or surviving the raid such as the planned assassination of a VIP and a powerful artifact onboard that needs to be secured. The party is then left to do what they want by either trying to warn the captain, gather information to help in foiling the raid, or even sneaking into the secure layers to steal the artifact for themselves or find more valuable information if they know where to look. This is the premise for my short campaign I plan on running so how is the idea? I know it’s a bit sandboxy but the fact it’s on a confined ship helps with that I think.
Honestly i roll with the party and let them do whats fun. I dont mind going off the path. Where i form the plot that i have made from there sidequests.
I got my players to be interested in a plot hook by describing the wizard eating eggs at the bar in great great detail. "There was an older elven looking man sitting on a wooden chair that has seen better days. His silverware scraped gently on the ceramic plate as he attempted to scoop up remaining bits of yellow egg. His beard had some crumbs in it from his toast and THE LIGHT FROM THE HEAVENS SHONE DOWN AND ILLUMINATED ONLY HIM. IT SINGLED HIM OUT. HE IS BATHED IN SUNLIGHT AND IS FINISHING HIS MEAL AND SITTING AT THE BAR ON A STOOL HE IS SITTING" So yeah they went up and talked to him
Here's my hook for this Tuesday, my first session, "you all are in the town square, you see a figure in a cloak, surrounded by 15 corpses. You see that one of each of your relatives are on the ground. As he fades into to shadows, you run towards the corpses, and the guards arrive to see you by the corpses. Everything fades to black, and everyone says you 6 killed them, as if they couldn't see them. The one who took your mother or father, or sibling or cousin or daughter, who spilled their blood. You all wake up from your troubled sleep in cells. What do you do."
Currently I struggle with introducing too many plots that feel like they have to be handled right away. Roomie was keeping a plot count lol. I kept putting in something new each session instead of build on the original. Trying to get better and out seeking advice from other DMs
Im having my players go through a forest which they now clearly know that the feywild has begun to leak through the material, and im subtlety throwing hits for the future "the odd dead magic knight from one of the players homes, a photograph of one of the players parents and a large group who have had their faces scratched out, a banshee telling the party to be 'safe' " and yes of course one of the party failed the Wail Save lol
Mostly unrelated word of advice, never run a sandbox for just one person. 90% of the time, they will get bored, and the game will die. If you're lucky enough to have an instigator, then that'll work just fine, but otherwise it'll just go nowhere. Instigators are a blessing to us sandbox GMs.
how about the opposite, giving them hooks to purposely get them off track? Making them choose to push forward on certain arcs while letting other ones fall behind. For example: I purposely give my players many tempting hooks, more than they can possibly complete. They know that ones that they choose not to complete will progress and possibly not have a good outcome for them and/or the world as a whole. kind of a page from the game Mass Effect, you would get choices of missions but you'd have to decline other ones in order to do them which could affect the world going forward. My last session on saturday i had a thing that they had to ignore last summer come back and bite them in the butt. A bunch of extra work for you as a DM but it gives weight to the choices the PC's make, when they decide which plot hooks to follow through on.
I pretty much have to run psuedo-sandbox. I don't neccessarily have a BIG bad guy figured out yet, but these players I have already YEETED the pathway to a boss I was going to push them towards. So I gotta be fuckin' ready.
A game I was part of had the problem of the DM having sooooo many things going on, that US, as PCs, didn't know what was a distraction and which was important to the story. It became such a frustration (along with some other things that were happening), that I left the group.
Just think of all the video games where they use bright colors on dull backgrounds as you move from one place to the next. That's what that's for; drawing your attention and making you walk down a specific path. Intentionally making areas look less appealing to keep you from wasting time there. This is most noticeable in things like Assassin's Creed where they did a really good job blending handholds and paths into cityscapes while still making them stand out such that they become second nature.
Yeeah, I mean, from the story I(a dm who is a beginner but can improvise a lot) think he could give a small power up to the lord of the fortress(be it more HP,spell slots,or even status to bump up that DC) and increase the orcs surrouding them, using the fortress as an alternative path to the true objective.
Make the main quest obvious. Yeah I tried that and they tunnel visioned on the main quest and wouldn't take any other quest. So they ended up dying at level 11 because they were supposed to be level 15 by then, and the other quest would have got them to that level. Any suggestions on how I can change this?
What happened once to players. Me: you enter a room it is empty except for a chest. The thief :I go open the chest Me: make a thief tools check. Thief:my skill is so high and abilities I cant get under a 25. Me just because they were arrogant: as you touch it you realize your stuck. Thief guys help I'm stuck: Dumb paladin: you just need to spit on it. Proceeds to lick the thief's hands and get stuck to the chest. Wizard investigates: looks like this chest is covered in sourvern glue. *proceeds to cast fireball* Chest brakes the party is attacked by the contents poisonous flaming spider swarm. Thief : why is this chest filled with flaming feking spiders. Me I point to the wizard: hey it's his fault they are on fire. I laughed the wizard laughed the thief dropped to zero hp the paladin laughed then that player was alittle less arrogant from that point on
Best plot hook (Me): The day is humid, a thick fog hang high blocking all view, a man appears bleeding profusely "help.... there is not much time lef..." he drops dead, inspecting his body you find a note and.... Players: Any money? Me: ...500gp Players: Deal Hasnt happened in my game like that yet, but that is my players lol
What do you think about a timed quest, with known rewards (like a vague weapon description) to keep them focused on the main quest? In the meantime as they are going about the quest, insert temptations and see if anyone bites the bait, maybe see if any of the party can recall it/come back for it later? xD I mean it sounds better than a neon green light... arrow sign that reads "go here, numbnuts" xD.
You gotta be careful when adding extra detail to the important things, clever players will know to save their supplies, abilities and spells for those more detailed hooks and will be incredibly scrupulous with their effort until then 👍
Well, I do it like this: I have some kind of story prepared, and thee are some plot hooks. And everytime one of my players does something, i rewrite the story to fit their actions and still go on
If players are easily distracted, use counter-distractions to course correct. PC: "Very interesting to find this book here . . ." GM" "Oh look, an ogre!"
I'm confused he's said I've been a dm since 5th grade, middle school and high school. Soooooo which is it? Why you lie. But this is good to listen to at work.
Hm, no, I'm gonna let them derail the plot by giving the fast travel magic to the enemy but I'm gonna make this be something they'll need to solve before going back to the main adventure ^^ I'm the kind of dm you'd have run Cult of Cthulu so they will learn to not let themselves be distracted. :D but k, that'll only work for my own group, if I have to run a oneshot I'm not gonna be able to pull that off :/
Is it valid to create distractions intentionally? I would assume it is. And if the PCs get distracted for too long, the main quest will get harder (big bad gets more power etc.). (Obviously, establish this at early levels so I don't screw them at the final battle.) Or am I an evil DM?
My players will more often than not fixate on a throwaway detail and ignore the stuff I described in detail..like, rather than examining the chest placed in the room, where I described it as having a Y-shaped lock, the wood of it being a deep red with white streaks through it, glistening with a clear varnish, and with mithril hinges and banding...they will go investigate the plain wooden bowls on the table in the room..
Yep! I think the dungeon master figured out that was a bad idea very very fast. But hey we've all done stuff like that right? And then when we see the ramifications were like oh crap. LOL
@@theDMLair If I do add a bunch of crates, they're all going to be full of a material they can pay to have crafted into good weapons, or maybe full of small packets labeled "rations". Useful, but not OP.
I give many thing and details when they are wandering, but if they "leave" the quest to much, they'll quickly receive news about a village that has been destroyed because they can't find adventurers to take care of them.
The DM should be ok with characters going in a different direction than the DM wanted, the DM is not the character...the characters can't get "Off Track" it should be an open world to some degree, not a total railroad. I use railroads a lot, but as a DM, thinking the characters are going the wrong way is just a wrong idea. The point is to have fun, make their direction fun and interesting, recycle your plans, give hints that will lead them toward your plans, but be prepared to improv when needed, because you will need to for sure.
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I could just see that barbarian catching that butterfly, acidentily killing it, then breaking out in tears.
And that's exactly what would happen too. The barbarian is a gentle soul. 😁
I imagine your daughter just goes, “ Dads wearing the weird costumes again!” 😂
Yes, I do lots of wierd things at home for my videos... Lol
I love your characters man! When I first saw the rogue I thought he was the mad wizard or whatever. 😋
i feel so called out by this
I use the metod: The world don't revolves around the players. If they want to spend days in a city to explore every detail, this days will count for the villain too, so he will get stronger and closer to his objective or other treasure hunters can find the treasure before the players because they delayed the mission
That's exactly my strategy as well, I always "simulate" the world between each session - "What would have the villan done in the meantime? Where did those bandits that managed to flee end up?" etc.. I'm about to hit my party with an unexpected sad resolution to a sidequest they didn't complete and chose to delay several times. I hope they are heartbroken (laughs maniacally) =D
@@elendiel How did it go?
@@mrs.w5539 They didn't make it back to the city yet (it's gonna be another 2 sessions I reckon). Long story short, there was a drug dealer who sold some semi-illegal stuff to university. Turns out he's just one of the students and he has no bad intent, just trying to make some money to pay tuition and buy food. If they investigated further, they would have found the real culprit - an alchemist who is testing his powders and concoctions on the aforementioned students. However, since they delayed this quest too much already, when they get back, they will find that the student has been caught by city guards, and executed (or imprisoned, depending on how lenient or evil I wanna be :D ).
That's how my campaign is working. Of the five main city/territory locations, each one the party goes to causes the ones they don't go to to become more consumed by conflict
I'm playing a campaing like this
Its BAD
Most of the time we simply dont have time for personal goals and preparetions, just main quest and what de DM wants.
"what's in the crate?"
"dried apples."
"okay, What's in the next crate?"
"the desiccated body of your mother. You just fulfilled your character's arc of discovery. Have 5xp."
I- um... DM ... 😥
I would award 10xp for that.
I distinctly remember our gm running a session where we thought there was something important in the back of a seaside cavern that was “partially dug out”. So we started digging.. and kept digging, even after the gm sent aboleths and all kinds of stuff at us..(to make us run away since nothing was there). Of course this only convinced us there was something behind this area worth defending as we proceeded to slaughter all opposition. We would not be denied our prize! Yeah, turns out nothing was there. Wasted pretty much a whole session. lol
that's just an example of a bad dm. The whole point of a dm is to reward your players for doing crazy and out there things even it was never planned. If your party spent a lot of time digging out that area there should certainly be some kind of reward for putting in the effort.
@@magicalgoldfish7208 Yeah, to be honest sending the aboleths was the wrong move if he wanted to convey there was nothing there. If I chose to go this route, I would have for sure put some reward in that cave. Possibly an old treasure map or something that hints at a further quest, so that I have time until the next session to actually prepare that sidequest
@@magicalgoldfish7208 or be could've told the pcs that there characters, after an hour of digging, are positive there's nothing there. Either way, it would've gotten them back on track.
@@magicalgoldfish7208 or just ask for a check appropriate to what they’re thinking. If they roll well ish then tell them outright, if not then just go ahead and expedite the process. “You spend the day arduously digging away and eventually find nothing of value”.
he could have used it differently... something like:
The group dug up the whole time and ended up digging an escape tunnel into a prison cell of the nearby castle
The bandits they brought to justice and where imprisoned there used this escape route to run away
Or an old pirate treasure was hidden there (nothing special, maybe 3D6 gold pieces and a saber or something)
or a partly buried smuggler route into the local tavern (Prohibition Style)
I am in a game with a DM that had his main quest so vague we did not know what to do so our group had about a years worth of side quests before the DM got fed up enough to use a players new character as a plot hook
This was really helpful! We have a DM right now who I think is accidentally making us distracted, because it can take us hours to get anywhere. Not saying the distractions are bad, because otherwise they would not be so distracting, but I find that even when we have a clear goal, we end up talking to the NPCs more than walking to do The Thing. ^^ So this video might help, I'm gonna share it with my DM! Thank you!
Awesome! Glad this was helpful. Let me know how it turns out with your DM.
I love that when my players go off track and make some have the best Stories especially when I don't even know how they do some of the stuff
"What you explain in detail, the players will think it's important." / "Use detail to focus your players" - Great advice. It's hard not to get into the descriptions some time. Session 0 saves my bacon every time. It helps communicate expectations.
My campaign, got derailed, but I ended up making a stupid plot, that they actually followed. From capturing a orc fort, to stealing a table and a horse. My players were goblinoids. It was great
All goblin campaigns can literally be anything its great! Havent ran one but that could be funny
@@ethanhopkins3263 you should try it, heist is prefered. The chaos is fun to watch
@@kendrickrochelanzot2053 i was thinking having a 5 session interlude between my campaigns, where the players all play Goblins attempting to steal from the King lol
I'm struggling with this now....
@@davidcnutt5826 sorry to hear. Is it on purpose?
Most of this stuff is among things I already do, so great advice. (because obviously, if I do it, it must be great.)
The other thing I often do is that when my players get distracted, and they do, I do my best to come up with new and interesting things in the area where they are showing an interest, and tie them back into the main story. This can be difficult if you're running a premade module, but when I'm running a homebrew campaign in a homebrew setting, my innate understanding of the world usually gives me enough data to stitch things together.
Many times this entails just putting an adventure or combat or something in front of them for the rest of the session, and then taking time between sessions to link it up, if there's not an obvious link that I can make right there at the table.
The other thing I do is sometimes I'll just put the main quest right in the place where they end up wandering off to. This gives them the satisfaction of thinking that they put it all together and solved something, when in reality I just stuck the adventure behind whichever door they walked through. You need to be careful not to do this too often or else your players will catch on and just do whatevs all the time, (knowing you'll drop them into the adventure no matter what) but playing this shell game and sometimes tying the trail they're following back into the main quest is a solid move, especially if they've followed some trail of things that seemed like clues to them to reach it.
This last one also often ends up with them unearthing a major clue to the main adventure rather than just plopping them into the next section, which gives them the agency to get there on their own.
Yeah thank you appreciate it. Yes the all roads lead to Rome strategy is totally legitimate. It's always something that a DM should keep in his tool belt for sure. I usually don't have to employ it because my players usually don't ignore my plot hooks, however it's a totally legitimate way to get distracted players to run the adventure. 😂
@@theDMLair yeah. I generally use it in situations where the players are following a set of clues or interesting things in front of them that seem like legitimate leads, but aren't really the leads I intended.
It's basically covering up my own failures as a DM to make the actual important clues stand out.
I very rarely have to use it, since my players are pretty good on picking up on the important clues, and when they're ignoring them, they are doing so for often completely legitimate reasons from their character's perspectives.
I'm pretty good at improvising new adventures on the fly, so when they go off the rails deliberately, I have no qualms putting the intended adventure back in the binder for later use and coming up with something new that fits into what they're up to. Of course, that doesn't mean that the bad actors behind the original adventure will stay silent or stationary. Depending on its nature, there may be consequences down the road for ignoring it.
The more tricks you have up your sleeve as a DM, the better your adventures will be.
Yes I agree the more tricks you have up your sleeve the easier life is that dungeon master life. I've had players go off on tangents because of things that I said that they thought were Clues but weren't. And then yeah you have to scramble to figure out how to get them back on track. Or just move the dungeon in front of them. LOL
As a beginner DM, I have found success in telling the party that their purpose in their adventure is to "go adventuring". Because of the dangers out in the world, they cannot do it alone. That is why I also tell them that they have found a party with that same general purpose. This prevents them from deciding as a party from doing a few things. Firstly, it makes it such that they do not have any good reasons to just go backstabbing their party at all. I already make it a rule at my table that you cannot just go pick-pocketing your party or murdering them, but even if I did not have this rule in place, it prevents the chaotic neutral rogue types from risking their butts just for a few extra coins against the team they are supposed to be aligned with. Secondly, because they are a party with the same purpose of adventuring out in the world, they don't have the crazy urge to split themselves up on purpose. Even before session 1, I explain to them that splitting the party should be kept at minimum except when exploring something like a town, or if a booby trap splits them. Even if I have not explained this to them, the explanation of them being on an adventure together is enough for them to, well, stay together. This also has them work better as a team. I can just throw a new challenge right at their face, and they can just figure it out rather than complain about how their wizard is on another plain of existence with a different purpose in mind. Finally, telling them that they are on an adventure does not limit their creativity or make it come at a cost. With the only necessity for the game is that one's character has to have a reason to be on an adventure, one could possibly go on an adventure because their backstory is full of a lineage of warriors, or one could just want to spread their wisdom from years of study and meditation, or one could just be out risking their life all for the gold and glory. A party of three could take on each of these backgrounds with completely polar alignments and still work play it out as a close group of friends. It makes my job as a DM more fun and easy. With the focus of players set out on exploring the world of the DM, their enjoyment is set on the enormous ancient green dragon towering over them on its hoard, just waiting for them to make a wrong slip of the tongue to send a toxic breath, or a beautiful woman, who unknown to the party is a plotting old hag that is out to eat their hearts for an evil ritual.
They call them story *hooks* for a reason. You can't escape from a hook after all... at least a good one.
Yep, exactly.
(And ignoring a hook usually has consequences in my games, too. Ignore the BBEG? Now he's enslaved yet another village.)
@@theDMLair have the bbeg enslave the village that is home to the player's favorite NPC, not necessarily the NPC themself, cause then you can use the plight of old man Gonigue, the kind old farmer that gave them a place to stay that one time, to get them to do something about the bbeg.
@@theDMLair In my recent game, the warlock was acting like a shit to this halfling NPC, almost tormenting him. Instead of amping up the action, like bringing in someone to harm the player, I just later put that NPC in trouble in the town. The PCs helped the NPC of course, but the NPC's response was "Oh no, not you!" and basically told the PC they were a bad person and started walking away. The warlock suddenly felt really bad about what happened and apologized to the NPC. This worked because I didn't reward the PC with glory, but instead made the PC out to be just another villain. Just like Homelander, PCs really want to be seen as epic.
I've been watching you for years ,download your stuff online ,subscribed online...and only now did I subscribe...I'm so sorry you deserve more from me 😭
Just had my first ever session tonight. LISTEN TO THIS MAN!! I learned three of these points the hard way.
For me it's a fair mix of the two, I've out right told them that their guide will point them in the tight direction when they are ready, but in the meantime side quest and socializing galore if they so choose.
"Keep it secret. Keep it safe"
DM: *Spends half a second longer detailing the candle stick on a table*
The Party: This candle stick is clearly some sort of item of importance, let us spend five in real life hours examining and arguing about it
Oooo, look a butterfly! 🦋
#1: No electronics at the game table. Cell phones go on a side table.
#2: Don't give them a hint of something to do if you are not ready for them to do it.
#3: Assign a schedule of who brings snacks and/or a specific time for the pizza order.
#4: Have a mini fridge near the table full of appropriate beverages. (each can bring their own 6 pack of their favorite soda or everyone can have bottled cheap Wal Mart water)
Oh yeah those are good ones. Lots of groups have trouble with electronics.
I have cell phones at my table because I premake magic items and texts that they find.
It makes the table flow better if I send those items to the party and allow them to read them as they wish.
I have cell phones at my table because a lot of people (me included) use spellbook apps to look up what spells do, and also because I'll sometimes text players at the table with stuff like "you're under mind control" or "an NPC tells you this plot important info in secret."
My group is the same way. A lot of us use cell phones for Spellbook apps. My players also have DND Beyond so they're looking up things on that. One of my players just uses his laptop with his DND Beyond character sheet on it. But the thing is they're all engaged they're all paying attention and they're listening and when it's their turn for combat for instance I can tell they've been listening and you know what they're going to do. The point is they are not in la la land. If they were then we have some trouble right.
F Huber why are we eating so much over such a short period? That’s gotta change too.
"If they know there is one adventure you're going for they will seek it out"
Bullllll shiiiiit. Or at least it is at my table
Sadly I seem to run into the opposite problem more often. I put a lot of detail in my campaigns and the players just seem to focus on the main quest or worse . . . sit around waiting for the plot hook to come up and bite them.
Sometimes when you build a world you want to be a little passive and let the players chase you.
Thank you! Or when you work super hard to weave in stuff subtly and they miss everything 😭
The one-session adventure I’d made for one of my groups ended up lasting two sessions because I made the mistake of mentioning a ghost haunting the grounds of the mountaintop temple, so the group spent half the first session fannying around in town trying to learn more about the ghost. Poor planning on my part, perhaps, but they loved having the chance to explore the town and interact with its key residents, so I guess it was alright in the end.
That's really good advice! A game I'm in has lacked direction partly because there always was other cool / dangerous stuff around the corner that we could / had to deal with first. I've been guilty of this myself in my Astral Sea Campaign though, so I will focus more on things that are relevant to the module and/or the PC's backgrounds/interests.
During my 'Session 0' with my new group, I noted to them that I will have a prepared adventure or 2... but if they decide on going a 'sandbox' route.... they can but the 'challenge rating math' can possibly get 'fuzzy' shooting from the hip. In short... "Good Luck."
Great use of the RGB lighting on the shelves to help with establishing the tone of this video. I strongly recommend that you keep doing that. Great job on the storytelling there!
My main problems are:
1) My group OVER analyzes everything and looks way too far into simple things.
and
2) Phones, tablets, electronics. Some use them for character sheets or inventory.... but I often hear the chime of messenger or clicking of a mouse when they should be paying attention.
Yeah electronics are tough. Usually I have no issues, but there have been a few times I've addressed the entire group about it, pausing the game, when it seemed excessive. I usually view excessive electronics as MY fault and try to make my game more engaging overall OR specifically call a players name who I can see is on a device, asking him what he does or says. My goal there is to draw him back into the game.
I don't mind a little overanalyzing by the players (it usually gives me good ideas...) But too much has brought down "random" encounters. Afterwards its amazing how quickly they come to a decision.
Stream the session so they’re shamed into performing.
rettwoods
I like your style.
ah yes that happened to my first session I hosted. I accidentally spent two sentences on the description for a random NPC and *of course* the players thought it was a hint. So they started bothering the guy and *really* gave me a sweaty moment where I desperately tried to come up with something, but every sentence seemed to make the man more suspicious. By that point they thought he was an illegal smuggler for drugs and wanted to either chase him to his hideout, or call the guards, until I had to draw in other NPC's to pull the players away from the guy.
I imagined in my head how relieved the dude must have been ... and then he quickly stuffed the last packs of drugs on his cart xD
Created a random item called rock bread. Side tracked my players for 5 sessions. Ending with an assassination contract from the baker's guild.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH, I'm not even exaggerating when I say this, the PC got a home in a city and made food for themselves and picked out bedrooms. In that much effort they got detracted NINE TIMES, THEY MADE A SANDWICH AND THEIR BEDS.
Again thanks
I had a few players actually pretty much ignore a fair amount of the map I made and rush the "objective" even after I explicitly threw an npc in they ignored him and when one of the doors was locked they ignored that too so when they got to the room that probably contained the item (because they literally went straight there) they were looking for i just went "its not there" because they weren't role-playing characters they were ignoring 90 percent of the area they didn't search anything. I literally gave them every incentive i could narrative wise to investigate the area that would clue them in as to where they are supposed to go. These particular players pretty much ignored most of the dialog and information given other than "go get this item" and got confused when the item wasnt there even though narrative wise it made sense as to why it wasn't there
I have been binge watching your videos since last night and I am completely blown away! I found you through your Mad Mage review and I really appreciated that you talked about things no other reviewer talked about (like the fact that it is NOT a hack and slash).
Great work! I'm subbed and I'm gonna find you on Patreon!
P.s. have you looked up ImprovedInitiative at all? Its a free web app but I think it is the single BEST tool for a DM running combat!
Awesome, thanks a lot! 😂 Yeah I think others look down on DotMM because it's a mega dungeon and must only be a hack and slash dungeon crawl. I'm running it now for a group and it's anything but, though a DM could strip all the roleplay opportunities from it... That'd be sad though. Anyway if Discord is your thing, consider joining my server, too. Lots of cool DM discussions and advice there. I'll check out that improved initiative app, too!
the DM Lair awesome! I will join discord now!
Cool! See you there.
This is great advice. I have made this mistake before. Thanks.
I always run a more sandbox world that possesses a primary story within it. Prior to starting I just explain to my players that they are free to ignore the main story, but keep in mind the BBEG is still going to be out there continuing his mission whether they choose to do anything or not.
Once I was playing a pre made campaign (DoIP) and a description required me to describe the land. I accidentally stuttered on a waterfall, and my players proceeded to spend 15 irl minutes trying to investigate this waterfall with zero purpose.
You can always move around the plot points without the players realizing. With the example Luke gave, perhaps the party gets arrested for their theft, and the jailhouse is near where the Dungeon Master wanted them to go in the first place.
Note to self: Even in in playing a tabletop game any form loot boxes distracts players for days. xD
True story. I'm playing in a game with a borderline suicidal rogue that likes to run off on his own this has failed miserably all but once. The one time it doesnt go poorly he brings us back a crapton of look. Like...600gp worth of crap and we're barely level 5. When asked where he found it he basically says, "found it over there". Didnt bother to tell us (our characters) that the area he found this stuff on was littered with bones, feathers, and corpses. We all start to divvy up the spoils. Suddenly our elf hears distant screeching, looks up and sees large flying shapes. We quickly stuff things away and haul ass away. Long story short, we were almost ambushed by a flock of fucking harpies because we got distracted by shiny.
I was LN in our Stradh campaign, while my friends were CE and CN. This is exactly what happened:
DM: *gives an interesting quest*
the chaotic characters: "nah I don't care about it, it doesn't help me"
So we skipped half of the quest at least.... We even argued OOC that the game is supposed to be played, roleplaying someone who doesn't do anything or care about adventures just sucks.
I kinda enjoyed the crate story. I wouldn’t mind if I was the DM and my players did that 😆
lol at 6:19 you adjusted the direction of my attenttion
Lol
As always, great tips!
Thanks dude! 👊
I tell my players: “I know what level you are; my world doesn’t. I try and give you relevant plot hooks to the type of story we all want to tell, that are also level appropriate. The further you stray away from the clues and hooks I give you, the more boringly easy or impossibly difficult things may become”
$$ instead of eyes, yeap.
It's how my players are motivated to follow the plot, so far, it's really powerful for as long it last ^^
Usually it works yes. Lol
The Barbarian is awesome 😎
2:50 that's Christmas music lol
Well I'd you had fun then the session was a total success. The thing is that since you had fun in game then it was ok. Also if I was a dm and I had spent so much of my free time preparing that loot magic furge then of course I would want my players to "exploit it". So I see this as an absolute win
Rate my plot hook:
I’m a fledgling DM wanting to make sure my players have a good experience as this will be the first session I’ve run.
Ok so the party is aboard a large avia (the term for sky ship in my setting) on transit over the ocean to the southern continent. For convenience their rooms are all placed next to each other and there is a small lounge connecting all of them before they go out to the main deck.
During the night they hear a screeching of metal and then voices coming from a vent in the ceiling. The voices talk about a raid and mutiny that will be happening on the ship in 3 days. There will also be discussion of ‘side activities’ that if done can help in preventing or surviving the raid such as the planned assassination of a VIP and a powerful artifact onboard that needs to be secured.
The party is then left to do what they want by either trying to warn the captain, gather information to help in foiling the raid, or even sneaking into the secure layers to steal the artifact for themselves or find more valuable information if they know where to look.
This is the premise for my short campaign I plan on running so how is the idea? I know it’s a bit sandboxy but the fact it’s on a confined ship helps with that I think.
Great advice
Honestly i roll with the party and let them do whats fun. I dont mind going off the path. Where i form the plot that i have made from there sidequests.
So many times. So many games. So many players.
*bangs head on table*
I got my players to be interested in a plot hook by describing the wizard eating eggs at the bar in great great detail.
"There was an older elven looking man sitting on a wooden chair that has seen better days. His silverware scraped gently on the ceramic plate as he attempted to scoop up remaining bits of yellow egg. His beard had some crumbs in it from his toast and THE LIGHT FROM THE HEAVENS SHONE DOWN AND ILLUMINATED ONLY HIM. IT SINGLED HIM OUT. HE IS BATHED IN SUNLIGHT AND IS FINISHING HIS MEAL AND SITTING AT THE BAR ON A STOOL HE IS SITTING"
So yeah they went up and talked to him
Here's my hook for this Tuesday, my first session, "you all are in the town square, you see a figure in a cloak, surrounded by 15 corpses. You see that one of each of your relatives are on the ground. As he fades into to shadows, you run towards the corpses, and the guards arrive to see you by the corpses. Everything fades to black, and everyone says you 6 killed them, as if they couldn't see them. The one who took your mother or father, or sibling or cousin or daughter, who spilled their blood. You all wake up from your troubled sleep in cells. What do you do."
Ill just run it like skyrim, and enjoy the madness that ensues from it
So you'll use the same two character voices, refuse to allow any depth in the world (besides books!) And not reward them for exploration at all?
Currently I struggle with introducing too many plots that feel like they have to be handled right away. Roomie was keeping a plot count lol. I kept putting in something new each session instead of build on the original. Trying to get better and out seeking advice from other DMs
Im having my players go through a forest which they now clearly know that the feywild has begun to leak through the material, and im subtlety throwing hits for the future "the odd dead magic knight from one of the players homes, a photograph of one of the players parents and a large group who have had their faces scratched out, a banshee telling the party to be 'safe' " and yes of course one of the party failed the Wail Save lol
Mostly unrelated word of advice, never run a sandbox for just one person. 90% of the time, they will get bored, and the game will die. If you're lucky enough to have an instigator, then that'll work just fine, but otherwise it'll just go nowhere. Instigators are a blessing to us sandbox GMs.
how about the opposite, giving them hooks to purposely get them off track? Making them choose to push forward on certain arcs while letting other ones fall behind. For example: I purposely give my players many tempting hooks, more than they can possibly complete. They know that ones that they choose not to complete will progress and possibly not have a good outcome for them and/or the world as a whole. kind of a page from the game Mass Effect, you would get choices of missions but you'd have to decline other ones in order to do them which could affect the world going forward. My last session on saturday i had a thing that they had to ignore last summer come back and bite them in the butt. A bunch of extra work for you as a DM but it gives weight to the choices the PC's make, when they decide which plot hooks to follow through on.
I pretty much have to run psuedo-sandbox. I don't neccessarily have a BIG bad guy figured out yet, but these players I have already YEETED the pathway to a boss I was going to push them towards. So I gotta be fuckin' ready.
A game I was part of had the problem of the DM having sooooo many things going on, that US, as PCs, didn't know what was a distraction and which was important to the story. It became such a frustration (along with some other things that were happening), that I left the group.
Just think of all the video games where they use bright colors on dull backgrounds as you move from one place to the next. That's what that's for; drawing your attention and making you walk down a specific path. Intentionally making areas look less appealing to keep you from wasting time there.
This is most noticeable in things like Assassin's Creed where they did a really good job blending handholds and paths into cityscapes while still making them stand out such that they become second nature.
While 'workin on the railroad' is easy for the DM, it sucks for players. Balance is key.
Yeeah, I mean, from the story I(a dm who is a beginner but can improvise a lot) think he could give a small power up to the lord of the fortress(be it more HP,spell slots,or even status to bump up that DC) and increase the orcs surrouding them, using the fortress as an alternative path to the true objective.
Make the main quest obvious. Yeah I tried that and they tunnel visioned on the main quest and wouldn't take any other quest. So they ended up dying at level 11 because they were supposed to be level 15 by then, and the other quest would have got them to that level. Any suggestions on how I can change this?
What happened once to players.
Me: you enter a room it is empty except for a chest.
The thief :I go open the chest
Me: make a thief tools check.
Thief:my skill is so high and abilities I cant get under a 25.
Me just because they were arrogant: as you touch it you realize your stuck.
Thief guys help I'm stuck:
Dumb paladin: you just need to spit on it. Proceeds to lick the thief's hands and get stuck to the chest.
Wizard investigates: looks like this chest is covered in sourvern glue.
*proceeds to cast fireball*
Chest brakes the party is attacked by the contents poisonous flaming spider swarm.
Thief : why is this chest filled with flaming feking spiders.
Me I point to the wizard: hey it's his fault they are on fire.
I laughed the wizard laughed the thief dropped to zero hp the paladin laughed then that player was alittle less arrogant from that point on
Last time a grand adventure I was playing with turned into a class action lawsuit against the BBEG... funny part? We were winning
Best plot hook (Me): The day is humid, a thick fog hang high blocking all view, a man appears bleeding profusely "help.... there is not much time lef..." he drops dead, inspecting his body you find a note and....
Players: Any money?
Me: ...500gp
Players: Deal
Hasnt happened in my game like that yet, but that is my players lol
What do you think about a timed quest, with known rewards (like a vague weapon description) to keep them focused on the main quest? In the meantime as they are going about the quest, insert temptations and see if anyone bites the bait, maybe see if any of the party can recall it/come back for it later? xD
I mean it sounds better than a neon green light... arrow sign that reads "go here, numbnuts" xD.
In short: the murder hobos are the reason we can’t have nice things.
What if the distracted player is the DM? Now you need a video on how to keep the dm on track!
I was in a game where my friends rouge was saved by a butterfly. Random yes but really funny.
The d4 on your shirt disturbs me
what if they stick with the story but ignore the side quests
You gotta be careful when adding extra detail to the important things, clever players will know to save their supplies, abilities and spells for those more detailed hooks and will be incredibly scrupulous with their effort until then 👍
Well, I do it like this: I have some kind of story prepared, and thee are some plot hooks. And everytime one of my players does something, i rewrite the story to fit their actions and still go on
Is that rogue using a letter opener? Don't you have a real knife anywhere? =P
How to make a good plot hook.
Step one
Make a strong plot hook.
Groundbreaking
So what happenes did you kill the monster? And get the magic anvel??
Distractions.....the chair is a prime example for those Critical Role fans.
If players are easily distracted, use counter-distractions to course correct.
PC: "Very interesting to find this book here . . ."
GM" "Oh look, an ogre!"
You forgot that it has to be in a heavy Australian accent
I'm confused he's said I've been a dm since 5th grade, middle school and high school. Soooooo which is it? Why you lie. But this is good to listen to at work.
Just wait until you listen to my most recent video... 😬
@@theDMLair I'll be there haha I've been Bing watching all day 😂
Hm, no, I'm gonna let them derail the plot by giving the fast travel magic to the enemy but I'm gonna make this be something they'll need to solve before going back to the main adventure ^^
I'm the kind of dm you'd have run Cult of Cthulu so they will learn to not let themselves be distracted. :D
but k, that'll only work for my own group, if I have to run a oneshot I'm not gonna be able to pull that off :/
Is it valid to create distractions intentionally? I would assume it is. And if the PCs get distracted for too long, the main quest will get harder (big bad gets more power etc.). (Obviously, establish this at early levels so I don't screw them at the final battle.) Or am I an evil DM?
My players will more often than not fixate on a throwaway detail and ignore the stuff I described in detail..like, rather than examining the chest placed in the room, where I described it as having a Y-shaped lock, the wood of it being a deep red with white streaks through it, glistening with a clear varnish, and with mithril hinges and banding...they will go investigate the plain wooden bowls on the table in the room..
Yeah, the whole "Vauge details? That HAS to be important somehow!" It affects every DM's game no matter what...
2:35 This kids, is why you never make a city full of crates a loot table for said crates.
Yep! I think the dungeon master figured out that was a bad idea very very fast. But hey we've all done stuff like that right? And then when we see the ramifications were like oh crap. LOL
@@theDMLair If I do add a bunch of crates, they're all going to be full of a material they can pay to have crafted into good weapons, or maybe full of small packets labeled "rations". Useful, but not OP.
I played in a campaign where we didn't know what the main quest was, it was... crappy.
I give many thing and details when they are wandering, but if they "leave" the quest to much, they'll quickly receive news about a village that has been destroyed because they can't find adventurers to take care of them.
I do that and they still tend to ignore the "great deal of detail." LOL.
Sometimes you just can't win! Lol
What you need to do and where to do it is also great advice for new sexual partners.
Do you have a video on roleplaying as a dm?
What do you mean exactly by role playing as a DM?
@@theDMLair I found the one on improving dialogue that's basically what I meant.
The DM should be ok with characters going in a different direction than the DM wanted, the DM is not the character...the characters can't get "Off Track" it should be an open world to some degree, not a total railroad. I use railroads a lot, but as a DM, thinking the characters are going the wrong way is just a wrong idea. The point is to have fun, make their direction fun and interesting, recycle your plans, give hints that will lead them toward your plans, but be prepared to improv when needed, because you will need to for sure.
I miss the barbarian. :-(
We all do... 😢
the forge sounds an awful lot like lord of the rings
Eu gosto das squets
The looting comment for us?
Lol - maybe. 😇
@@theDMLair that's funny stuff
Where the High School GMs at?
Try to describe the forest without drawing attention to too many trees
This story plot is legit orzammar from dragon age origins
Players reason to take the quest: So they can actually play the game instead of not play at all.
My dungeons and dragons players get distracted by things out of game...
I don't know, sounds more like you and the party let greed get the better of you instead of the DM distracting you.
hAVE YOU HEARD i WAS A dm IN HIGHSCHOOl?