5 Dungeon Master Secrets to Keep Behind the Screen in D&D
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- 5 dungeon master secrets not to share with your D&D players. 𝗱𝗦𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗯 - Get finely crafted boxed text for your RPG game ▶▶ www.dscryb.com/thedmlair - Use coupon code THEDMLAIR for 10% off!
When is it okay for DMs to share metagame information with their Dungeons & Dragons players? After the adventure is over? After every game session? And it's tempting to share "behind the screen" DM information with your D&D players, isn't it? The question is, doesn't sharing metagame information (DM secrets) with your RPG players improve the game experience? In this video, we discuss 5 dungeon master secrets to never share with your D&D players AND the one exception when it is okay.
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I disagree with #5, solely because I have players, who also DM from time to time, who like to know that their decisions helped broaden the world they are playing in, and have helped contribute in some small way to the creation of that world. The also tend to find it equally impressive when they discovered that the underground laboratory of a flesh sculpting mad alchemist hidden at the back of that seemingly inocuous cave was a completely ad libbed event.
Okay I have a question on something about this, let's say your players went along and finished the campaign, can you have a manila envelope with red hearings and some small missed chances not like "What would have happened if they let gobo the goblin live" but more like the painting they struggled to understand and forgot about, even if the ending would totally explain it, can that be shared in a post game sit down with a beer or something?
I kinda feel some games with things in it that you as a player don't get, but get explained to at the end of the campaign, may lead to the other player's thinking, "What I would have done..." and lighting the small flame of the inferno that is know as the creation lust, thus a new DM is born!!!
I'm not saying anything like your monster stats or missed loot and things, but that small thing that had no baring in the game, or yes when Hel'ga said "Be careful he might strike!" In stead of "it might strike" saying she knew the monster was a innocent shifter or lycanthrop that could have been made crazy or cursed by Hel'ga for revenge. Stuff like that, I really wanna know your take on this.
Love the channle
prepared vs improvised? if my players only knew how often I go into a session with a single note. often something like "a goblin named groin."
@@tonyyachuk8484 This is me every other session.
On "what would have happened if..." An honest answer is often "I don't know, we didn't play it out", since the series of events that follow a choice often lead to rolls, that lead to other choices and so on
My answer is usually something like that I am only DM, I do not know everything and the outcome would depend on some dice rolls I cannot predict and maybe NPC mood and such. Great portion of my campaing is NPC driven by the NPCs having agenda, goals and using player character if possible to achieve their goals eventhough it sometimes complicates things for me as DM. And players know it that NPCs have their own will.
Sometimes I tell them what could have happened if they were lucky or it could have been all bad.
I'm also a huge fan of the "I don't know" answer. It's a good reminder for the players to TRY things from time to time rather than wait for the next goblin to jump out.
This is a REALLY good static answer---and it's actually TRUE..
Oh, well that's very true too. Ty
In one of the very first DnD games I ever played in, after our very first fight (against a bear) the DM said, "Oh yeah, I don't really use monster hitpoints. I just had it die towards the end of the third round because I didn't want the combat to go too long."
In the span of a single sentence I immediately lost all respect for and interest in the campaign.
Yeah, the dm uttering the words "because i wanted it to happen" or some variation to that effect, pretty much kills all interest, because nothing matters anymore, that's why i tell my players how i run games, with crap loads of random rolls for decisions, i don't tell a story, i narrate the out comes of these rolls, i also don't bothing rolling publicly because most of the time there isn't really a chart I'm using, npc reactions and responses are almost always along the lines of favorable, less favorable, neutral, poor, very poor, and the likelihood is based on the interactions before the rolls, it's also a pain to keep standing up to get my dice lol but i always make sure to make it a point that I'm rooting for them, but I'm not on their side, I'm just the observer and narrator for them, very few things that they will directly interact with will have any sort of direct pre planned course that needs to happen, because after all, as soon ad you have a plan, the players will doing something you didn't plan for =P
Yeah, at that point he is saying the mechanics of the game don't really matter. Meaning combat specifically is nearly meaningless, and it removes most of the tension since you know things will probably play out as the DM wants it to narratively.
As both a DM and player, I'd finish up that session and let them know I won't be coming back.
Often, I'd actually appreciate this. There have been so many times that just ending the combat would increase the enjoyment of the game. I'm happy with getting close to either of both ends of the "DM Tells a Story" to "DM Facilitates Player's Stories" spectrum. As long as there's a good story either way, and what the players do isn't pointless, I'm happy. The very extremes of the spectrum can be pretty bad, though, and I don't have enough information from your comment to know about your DM. Really, what your DM did is not really much different than 4E minions that go down in one hit no matter what. He chose when he thought it would be appropriate for the bear to go down in the interest of not bogging down the game. As long as he doesn't fiat EVERYTHING, it's fine.
@@piranhaplantX I think you're all potentially taking this too far. First off, the game itself says that the game mechanics can be dismissed if it hurts enjoyment of the game. Also, like I said in my reply directly to Zhukov, this really isn't that different than Minions in 4E that die with one hit no matter what. He instead chose that it dies in 3 rounds no matter what, under the assumption that the players are putting effort towards killing it. You shouldn't play it quite like this for every monster all the time, but I don't see the harm in noticing that continuing the fight would make the game more boring.
@@CrapE_DM the point isnt just that going over the rules is bad, is going and telling the players about it, too. You kill your own campaign with just that. Do it often, and it's unsolvable.
Exception to the what if. If the players are new to ttrpg letting them know talking to the goblins is an option they could take in the future.
I would respond with "that definitely was a possible option, and honestly I don't know what would've happened. It's interesting to think about though."
Nope... Show them what they can do by having the people they fight do it first.
Have the goblins try to talk their way out of a fight.
@@VaSoapman Exactly. I upvote your GM level.
@@VaSoapman Its even more satisfying to slay monsters when they are begging for mercy!
@@vincejester7558 🤣
I purposely reveal a metagame piece of information: I always announce when a monster has used a legendary resistance and how many it has left. Purely as an antifrustration measure, so players don't feel like their actions are pointless.
I don't think of this as necessarily metagame. Players can in-character an idea of how much HP a creature has left by looking at it
Similarly, they should be able to get an idea of their 'strength of will' or w/e powers their Legendary Resistance
If you're still worried about it "feeling" metagamey, have their characters roll an Insight check when asking and/or have it be something tested against a characters passive Insight (Can do the same for HP with Medicine if you want)
Same thing. "It uses a legendary resistance and chooses to succeed", "it uses a legendary action", "now is the lair action turn" and "the monster begins to bleed (50% HP) is what I personally use.
Edit: I noticed another reply and decided it's important enough to include it - you can and SHOULD roleplay while announcing this stuff, before or after doing it.
I'm not one to give out that kind of meta-knowledge at the game table or afterward. Instead roleplay it in the combat. Don't just announce that "Ancient Red Dragon uses legendary resistance to X spell" . RP the dragon " Is that all you've got you worthless worm of a wizard? Now let me show you how powerful I truly am!" then use the dragons Legendary action or lair action on its appropriate sequence. Let those heroes Know that they may have to fight for their lives.
@@thebikerlarry roleplaying and announcing can go together. You can roleplay and then announce, or the other way around.
Doesn't matter either way lol. All I need to know is that it does use Legendary Resistances. Unless your party is saturated with casters/Monks, 2 or 3 damage dealers will just burn through their HP before you burn through their Legendary Resistances. Spells are just better spent on healing, buffs, damage, summoning, battlefield control or dealing with minions.
Nah.
Absolutely no regrets about telling one of my friends that there were hundreds more of a horror monster deeper in the dungeon after the crew opted to just escape. If only to get the response of "THERE WERE MORE!?!!?" from them afterwards.
Didnt that make them more prone to escape?
Ive done the same to my players only I kept asking them "do you wanna go further in?" And finally they desided to leave if they hadn't I could of been a TPK
It really depends on the group. My group I DM has 2 DMs in it as well as a very curious eternal new-player. They like hearing bits about how I plan the session, I don't give things away. But if they're interested I'll explain how I constructed stuff.
I did something similar to fudging things once. My players came up with a creative solution to a challenge that blindsided me completely. It was a great solution, it required roll playing, and it avoided combat when I had designed a combat encounter. Their plan was SO good and so well thought out that I decided that they were going to succeed unless they didn’t follow the plan no matter what the dice said.
If the plan is solid, don't make them roll. Every skill has its passive alternative, which is 10+skill modifier. If the plan is detailed enough, the skill check should be easy, and that's a 10 or higher roll, based on the DMG.
@@porsevalex I had them role play the plan and they had a blast! Yes I had them roll dice and make some ability score checks for the suspense of it. That added to their fun since they didn’t know that success was guaranteed due to their creativity. It worked and was a great session for everyone.
That's not fudging. That's playing the game. The very best part of DMing is when the players solve a problem in a way you hadn't foreseen.
Kobayashi Maru!
@@tscoff And no plan survives first contact. How they react and adjust can be just as fun. Dice adds that element of randomness that makes the plan a gamble, just like it would be in real life. Maybe the guard remembers to keep looking around while talking to the distraction. Maybe they got the timing wrong on something, or someone wasn't ready when they needed to be. Then someone gets the opportunity to successfully get the plan back on track and the satisfaction of being clutch.
One time one of my players asked a question about something they had done in game and when I responded he said my answer sounded "vaguely unconvincing" to which I responded "I'm the GM, it's my job to be vaguely unconvincing"
In the "keeping the peace" category, I've had an encounter where the NPC was a Sorceress with the subtle spell metamagic, and a player has cast silence at the beginning of combat specifically to prevent her from casting spells. When the player mentioned that she shouldn't be able to cast spells for the 3rd time, I simply sent them a screenshot of the silent spell feature on the stat block.
I like this - keeps it inpersonal; you're not having a direct disagreement that then turns into a shouting match
With those sorts of things, I usually say something like "I'm aware". Lets the player know that I'm not making a mistake about the rules, but doesn't specify what is causing the exception.
@@michaelramon2411 I would shout breathlessly "I KNOW, RIGHT?!?" And make duck lips.
"You don't see her even trying to speak..."
Part of this comes back to players often not being accustomed to the same tricks they used being used on them. I've had some players get salty when I've counterspelled them after their sorcerer spent half of the encounter trying to counterspell the BBEG, or getting upset when one of them got polymorphed into a turtle and thrown off a cliff after they spent half of that adventure abusing polymorph.
"Was it possible for us not to get TPKed during that encounter?"
"I don't want to ruin the mystery."
"Of course it was possible, I just had to roll poorly!"
"Like dice rolling off from behind the screen, so you can see what I REALLY rolled, poorly."
The answer is yes. Failure is ALWAYS a possibility.
I;'ve only TPK'd the party once in 15 years. INdividual PCs have died, sure, but only the one TPK. From a series of stupid and oblivious moves, and quite a lot of arrogance. Afterward they asked "What happened????" So I explained what the clues they had already seen had meant, and some other options they could have made. And then, as a consensus, we all decided to "reload at the last saved game" -- far into them being oblivious, but before they fatally combined stupidity with arrogance.
@@frederickcoen7862 Why? Just roll up new characters and start over. The first party was too stoopid to live.
Luke has been slowly losing his mind since he killed his split personalities, but the advice is still solid. 10/10
I honestly prefer no skits.
They aren't dead. They are just at war within me.
@@theatheistbear3117 ,
I love the skits! They were the highlight of the videos... :(
I miss the skits!!
Bring back the skits, please.
9:12 I ran this one-shot one time with a bunch of my players whom are still relatively new to the game and have never fought a legendary monster. When they reached the boss, it had legendary resistance, and the warlock cast a powerful damaging spell, which the boss rolled a nat 1 on. I said "He chooses to succeed it," and when they started arguing how that's unfair, I had to briefly explain that some monsters have this thing called legendary resistance and can thus choose to succeed saving throws, to which one player jokingly screamed out "HE'S A SIGMA MALE", sparking the meme that "Legendary Resistances" are actually "Sigma Grind Points"
You may not like it, but this is the peak male body: *picture of tarrasque *
Naw I wouldn't Let that happen
DMs don't have that Power to Overturn Rolls and Rolls on NPC/Monsters, The Boss Rolled a Nat 1...idc how much the DM is Crying cause the Roll blew his Plan Still a Nat 1 I would not continue the Turn DMs need to Remember your the Storyteller... Then On my Turn I Would turn the the DM and Fire off 3 Spells at Once
Word Pain
Word Death
Word Banish
Which One you Blocking Dude...
Either you Play Fair or Not at All
And that goes to Both DM and Adventure
@@williamwhitney5266 Legendary Resistance is LITERALLY a feature on the stat blocks of some monsters that majorly contributes to how they're balanced. If you removed them, many bosses would be complete pushovers because they're balanced under the assumption that they're going to use Legendary Resistances.
Also, you can generally only cast one leveled spell on your turn unless you Action Surge, "Word Death" is actually called "Power Word Kill", there's no such thing as Word Banish, and it's not based on a save, it's based on current HP.
And this is why I Luv E1 over E5
E5=Limits,Limitations,Limitiers
E1= by the Word of Gary Gygax said "When One Comes to Playing DnD there are No Limits,Limitations,Limitiers...
Only One Creativity&Imagination
Is Ones only Limits when Playing The Game
@@williamwhitney5266 It's not a limiter though, it's a limited use auto-success on a saving throw. Calling that a limiter would be like saying armor or saving throw proficiency is a limiter. If anything is a limiter it's how older editions handled spellcasting in general.
I feel like some these dynamics change when you DM for players who have DM'd for you aswell and also when you are a player but you have previously DM'd for the current DM aswell. There is a lot of insight coming from both sides on the ongoings of being a DM or a player.
This! Our group has rotating DMs, and we often give each other advice, and because we have played in each others games we know we can use those experiences as examples
This has been especially true since one of the players has been DM'ing for the first time, so me and the other forever DM often reveal behind the scenes stuff to help give a better idea for how the tools work behind the scenes and to run a game better
_ ________ _
Like, sure you have to guard your secrets to a certain extent. But the other DMs at the table will recognize not everything is planned, and it can be fun conversation to chat at a later date about some random stuff that was completely improvised
I accidentally dropped an apocalyptic event / old god on my setting once. And it became one of the primary plot threads of the campaign
Yeah, I have a similar situation. Three of my players are also DMs. It would probably help immersion not to call attention to specific examples, especially if they've happened recently.
This was going to be my comment. All of us in our group have taken their turn running the game. The whole "Don't let them know it's not real" (??!) premise sounds odd on its face. It completely breaks down when everyone at the table knows how the sausage is made.
This, 100%
4:45 I missed a session last year where consequently only two level 12 players showed up, and they decided to play anyway. The players went through the kobold caves near our fortress to find who was leading them, and found a deep aquifer under the desert that laid host to an ancient black dragon. Despite all odds, the two level 12 characters beat this ancient black dragon (the first few times my friend mentioned it after the fact, I assumed he misspoke and meant adult, which is at least somewhat more believable). However, both ended up dying at different points trying to make their way out of the trap-ridden, kobold-infested caves, and my druid had to go track them to revive at least one of them. I asked the DM a few weeks back after the campaign ended about how he managed to fudge the rolls enough to let them win that unwinnable fight, and he was dead serious and told me that he never fudges rolls (after playing with him for a while I 100% believe him. He is a BRUTAL DM), and he still has no clue how they survived.
I had that happen with a couple of player like level 3~5, kobold caves [just a couple dozen] and a juvenile shadow dragon, they got to the end with like 1~7 hp, went up against the dragon, and the dice just favored them like crazy.
It was cool but also kind of, -you should have just died-, it was intense though, knowing any attack could end them, and they probably only won because the dragon decided to retreat and heal instead of risking it, but got critted on the way out.
I disagree on #5 if you are talking to a newer DM and they ask. It can be helpful for them to know how seamlessly improvised and planned content stream together in the player's view so they feel less anxious about improv in their own game.
As a brand spanking new DM, I've done this at my first season from my one shot turned mini-campaign. My players were telling me they were pleasantly surprised how deep and slow paced the one shot was and I told them that my notes are literally a page long and most of the stuff that they did were stuff I came up with on the spot.
Granted about half of my players are DMs themselves and some of my closest friends. They were pretty much congratulating me on a good session and we're saying they were excited to continue.
I definitely see where you're coming from.🤔 But in my experience telling players you improvised half or more of a game usually leads players to think about how much of the game as a whole was improvised.
@@jheads5371 If most of the game was improvised but everybody had a good time, I wouldn't have any problem with that. I'd applaud the DM and say, "Same bat time and channel next week?"
Right? What's wrong with whether or not I came up with it at the table on the spot or last week while sitting on the couch. I still made it up.
@@chicohudson4914 nothing.😂I dmed a ton for our dnd club back in high school and middle school. Just in my experience. A lot of players get kinda taken out of it when they realize the dms just winging it. Of course others don't care and if its with your friends it shoudlnt matter. 🤷♂️So I agree with Luke that it's easier most times to just keep the curtains closed on that matter.
never tell them they were suppose to have a magic item that another character has. they will badger the player for it.
I'd add an asterisk to that second one(what ifs). If you're DMing a new table, there's no harm in letting folks understand your DMing style sooner by giving them little peeks behind the curtain.
Considering how often campaigns can end in the first few sessions, I'm a strong proponent in getting complete strangers used to the table as soon as possible.
Agreed.
When with new players or a new game format i often say "this is where i usually like to _______", or like for a game 0.5, when some players have not rolled their character sheets fully.
For an one-shot session where all of us were supposed to die, I had the foresight to pack armor that turned critical hits to regular hits. I took the hit that almost truly kill me from the final dungeon boss, but then DM told the guy across from me that “I rolled a crit” I informed him my armor’s ability and he pulled a “shit” moment
and your DM allows such OP items in game?
@@WayneBraack adamantine armor is an uncommon magic item, bruv
@@WayneBraack It's a one-shot so it doesn't really matters AND you don't know the level they were playing at so I don't see the problem.
@@igormartins2701 oh a one shot. So nothing really mattered. I find that sad. It makes for less interesting gaming. I'm people like One shots good for them but personally I like a campaign world spring several adventures together over a long periods of time and the fact that things you do and happen to you do matter. To me that just makes immersion in the setting a thousand times better. So I guess it wasn't a campaign after all. Good point.
@@WayneBraack It could have been a campaign tho, what I meant with "it doesn't matter" was that you can get away with balancing issues since it won't last that much (and it might even be a meme one shot).
But after all we don't know the level of the game, having an uncommon magic item happens pretty easily after level 5 anyways and it's not broken.
Concerning the monster one: (Even though I'm not the Dm for our current campaign) EVERYTIME we get into an encounter one of our players will 100% immediatly reach for the monster manual and check resistances, hp and attacks. This has gotten to a point where our DM homebrews monsters for almost every encounter so that he can actually keep up the suspense.
I'll disagree about the revealing what was improvised and what was planned-
D&D is ultimately collaborative storytelling, and the greatest stories are the ones where everyone was engaged in the creation. This does not reduce or deny the player's agency, but can be seen as a way to reward their choosing to do more than simply follow a script.
This has the downsides of giving you less time to prep and react, or complicating story arcs down the line, but that's all part of worldbuilding.
The players learning that that amazing session was actually built off of ten minutes of back-of-napkin scripting because *they* made it work tightens the bonds between players, and when a session feels uninspired because everyone dutifully stuck to a lackluster script it's a fantastic segue into encouraging your players to come up with some encounters or plot hooks to keep things fresh.
I've had people tell me they think it's hilarious when I get hit as a DM or player with something unexpected because I have this look when the wheels are turning. And I can usually come up with something very quickly. It's also gotten a few of them because there will be times when I'm so quick they can't tell whether I was prepared or just that fast. And they know I'm a bit of a psychological player that works out how they or their characters would think as part of my own RP. Which one party member took advantage of in Blades in the Dark by not so subtly musing out loud how he wanted a grenade launcher knowing my character would find one just to manipulate him. We were both honest about the fact that it was just so that he could acquire one sooner since he could see what notes I was taking about the team.
(Sorry for replying to an old comment) I love to hand out DM inspiration when PCs come up with some inventive solution to the puzzle or succeeding in pulling off something crazy instead of doing the obvious and fighting it. For example, I had a group that was running the first chapter of hoard of the dragon queen and my party was doing the dragon fight. The lvl 1 Dragonborn Paladin decides to talk the dragon off instead of fighting. Two dirty 20 persuasion rolls later and some roleplay and the dragon was off
On the topic of "what-ifs", If a player asks, I generally advise answering these in the same way the question is framed. As a possible theory, maybes and mights. No problem here
In fact, answering and posing potential answers to what-ifs could help to reinforce the decisions the players made and make them feel more validated.
Oh yeah, something like this could have happened. Might have been a hard sell to try and convince the guards to let you go if you did that
If my players forget or overlook loot I just try to give it to them somewhere else. Had a party overlook so much stuff in lost mines of phandelver than when they finally rescued Gundren, I had Gundren give them a key to his safety deposit box in Neverwinter and a note to get them a line of credit from his bank account. Had all the items and gold they overlooked up to then so they could prepare for the final dungeon lol.
When your trying reward your players with a magic item, but they keep missing the secret area for multiple sessions, so you finally just decide to have it out in the open.
Great video. I do approve of the ‘maintain the illusion’ style. I find it hard sometimes as I get too excited by what’s going on and want to over share! I run an open ended sandbox game, and one thing I have done on occasion is admit to the players that “I have no frickin clue how tonight’s game is going to unfold...” the players should be able to recognise that the GM is a player too just going along for the ride and as long as you stay true to the laws of physics and fairness, no problem.
I really liked how they did it on CR, re: monster stats, where the players were given information as they encountered it, since the PCs would obviously gain knowledge from experience (or could make intelligence checks to recall or deduce info, or wisdom checks to notice). The whole, “something about this creature seems to make X less effective,” or, ‘18 just *barely* hits,” is the sort of thing you can justify meting out as they gain battle experience with that creature. And revealing the name of the creature later on, after they’ve encountered it once or twice. The PCs would be savvy enough to know the level of effort required or effectiveness of certain magic after a certain amount of trial and error.
Brand new to d&d, and also picked to be DM for our group of also brand new players. And I have ALOT to learn. And your channel is giving me ALOT of good tips
I’m the exact same lol
In my game, I am DMing for all dungeon masters and game masters. I think in this case, a lot of the rules go out the window, because we all kinda play in the meta anyway being that there are no secrets behind the curtain. Openly fudging rolls, giving away free RoC inspiration, talking about alternative timelines, and describing what was missed are all part of the fun, and something that helps us all improve.
I have had moments where I tell my players "I didn't expect you to try that." To their zany schemes.
This does give away that I am switching to improvise mode, but it also is a direct acknowledgement of their creativity. It also puts less pressure on me to maintain a poker face, since they already know that I am going by the seat of my pants.
As a DM in training, I love this comment!
This is exactly it. I tell my players this (mainly when they prompt it from me) and I'll freely tell them when I didn't expect them to kill someone. This gives them a sense of achievement and purpose. Even if the guy they killed was a no-name barman.
"Ha! You won't be using Squeaky McGlasswipe any more. I did that."
I mean, if its truly zany, theres no prediction to be had, no poker face needed, improv is inevitable
A very good reason to reveal 'what ifs' and 'you missed' information is to shape future player behavior. It they have been doing the murderhobo thing it could be beneficial to let them know that positive outcomes are possible for other solutions. If they are missing stuff due to carelessness then rubbing their noses in it ,ight get them to be more attentive.
This is a really slippery slope.
Maybe in those very specific instances you gave, but even then. "Shaping player behavior" sounds a little on your high horse. They're essentially cats after all.
@@lildemon6816 don't worry, you're not going to shape player behavior too much. They're essentially cats after all.
Someone’s already said this probably but I’ll do it anyway:
Player: “so was there any cool loot that we missed?”
DM: looks away and fiddles with a mini
Player: “alright then. Keep your secrets.”
Started my first Campaign as the DM last Friday and just wanted to say that your videos helped a ton. My friends, non-DND players) are sucked in and are stoked for our next session. Thanks for helping me nerdify them lol
My term for this is "not revealing how the sausage is made". Just like a sausage that tastes great but is made from lots of parts, which knowing about will ruin the dining experience, knowing stats of monsters or what treasure they didn't find will ruin the immersion of the role-playing experience.
I would definitely mention the "fly-by" abilities if it is questioned, "why can't I have an opportunity attack?" only because sometimes it feels like DM is just trying to give an excuse to make sure you can't attack because fly-by actually says something about the creature's actions rather than just "meh because stat said so". Though if it is something like poison immunity I'll just not count the damage. or if it is vulnerable then I will add more damage, again without telling them. though players will pick up on the moments I'm asking for "how much of that was poison?" and pay attention to how quickly the monster dies. And I don't mind this because I really don't think it's metagaming. After all, the characters themselves should be paying attention to how effective that fire blade is against that iron golem...
Thanks for the video, Luke. Your advice is always solid, and presented in an entertaining way.
Thank you!
Don't forget that RANDOM ENCOUNTERS aren't always combats. It could be a wandering merchant with rare loot to sell (or be willing to buy off of the players), an mysterious shrine, an ancient grave holding a magic item, etc.
Love that you feel comfortable to do those laughs parts and you dont take it too seriously, you one of my most favorite youtube D&D content
Thank you! :D
Great advice Luke - for everyone just remember this are tips and tricks and not hard rules. It's totally ok to break some of these like Luke says at the end - just have a good reason for it.
My campaign was coming to a fork where depending on their choice they had to fight an epic war battle or traverse a dangerous cave. Realistically I didn't have time to prepare both paths so when they got far enough I had to just flat out say it - Sorry guys I can't prep both - would you guys rather fight a war or crawl a dungeon next?
I almost always ask my players what they'd like to do next so I prep the thing they want to do.
You didn't need to reveal a secret though. All you had to do was ask them where would they like to go for the next session.
On the topic of fudging dice to avoid TPKs, perhaps I just had a different mental image, but to me it's not the "level 1 characters decided to take on an ancient black dragon" TPKs I worry about, they earned that. I was more thinking about "trying to kill 4 goblins but the characters can't seem to roll above a 4, should I start fudging after the goblins get their sixth crit in a row?"
I would maybe add a caveat to this - for new players: yes, absolutely if the dice are just absolutely neutering them...maybe fudge the dice a bit (or if you have a healer in the group; just make sure you don't coup de grace them).
For players that are used to dying...lean into the roleplay. What has recently happened to that character that could be distracting them? What's on their mind that's making their aim off or their focus blurred? Even if the character dies, that can be a major roleplaying event for everyone at the table - especially if you're vocalizing the distraction and the player picks up on it and leans into it in combat too.
@@peterhebenstreit451 I would also say it depends on the game, the story, and the group’s players overall. Not everyone enjoys tpks when they did nothing wrong. But others are fine with it.
@@katrionaverity9128 I believe that's what I said but yes, as a DM, it is your responsibility to give your best efforts to make the game enjoyable for all players. Some players want no-risk all reward, some want deadly encounters Everytime - and most are somewhere in between.
Take your role as a DM seriously; you are the main architect to the world your players inhabit. And if you have different playstyles within the same group (very likely), it will be a juggling contest making sure each gets what they expected out of the game.
Session 0 can also assist greatly in setting expectations.
No matter how you run the game - if at the end of the session/campaign - your players sit back, sigh, and say "wow. That was crazy. Let's do it again!"...you succeeded at giving other human beings a joy that few things can replicate.
Being a DM is an honor and a joy that I want more to experience.
Nothing but peace and love to you as well. I hope this clarified what I originally said.
Nope. that's the game. Just write up new characters.
@@peterhebenstreit451 If they don't retreat, I'd let the goblins take them down. But if feeling really kind I might let them roll their death saves and not have the goblins finish off the fallen, so around 55% of the PCs should survive.
I think one other exception you can make to out of character information revealing is if you're revealing information to the player that they COULD get in-game with a lot of research and discussion that you don't want bogging down a session. Explaining a trap that was at one entrance the player's were thinking about going through after they've cleared out the area totally and could have feasibly gone back to and investigated very closely and carefully. Or discussing the different ways a rogue was planning on foiling their plans after they've captured them, etc.
Thanks so much for this video!! Rapidly approaching the end of my group's adventure, and I was just wondering what would be appropriate to share. Great video! 👍
The only time so far i have revealed a bit of something behind the screen was about a "What would have happened ?" scenario.
I had an encounter in a dungeon where my players, without realizing it, were put into a tricky seemingly impossible encounter. This encounter had many ways to be resolved, one of which was a simple brute force method of just "hitting the problem until it is dead", but there were also just a bunch of other ways of how to solve that encounter that wouldnt have relied on brute force. This group in particular is very prone to solve things with violence, unless violence is specifically stated to not work. So against all odds, they managed to beat the encounter with violence despite the overwhelming odds being stacked against them, but i did then reveal to them that there were indeed many non-violent ways that they could have gone that would have also solved this encounter but without as much bloodshed (one of the characters was actually incredibly close to a solution, but the others convinced them to just give in to violence instead). Effectivley, i only revealed that information to try to encourage their agency and imagination a bit more and show them a bit that their choices can effect the outcome in various different ways and that thinking outside the box could sometimes work better than a straight up violent method.
We had a new player join the game yesterday. After the players made a choice to go to the forest instead of the rocky hills I got up to put a pre planned board with minis and forest area. The new guy said “I guess we picked the right location”. My veteran players replied with “naw he’s probably got another board somewhere with the Wyvern den and maybe an extra one if we did something else” I didn’t say anything. Spoilers I was just banking on the forest scene and had nothing else planned 🤷🏻♂️ I mean I could’ve improvised and used a generic combat grid if need be, but the forest scene had a lot of extras so it was just my fleshed out idea and they chose it with little influence from myself so was satisfying for everyone involved.
Thank you so much for all your hard work. You have greatly enlightened and educated my family. Please keep this up and nvr stop
Love the content, super helpful for a new DM here!
As a DM if you ever feel like “oh what if”, or “oh what you missed”… I feel like you should of done something in game to hint at it.
Best tip: say "I don't fudge dice rolls" during session zero. Then fudge dice rolls.
I’ll say, from both sides of the screen, I love talking about what parts were improvised because those are the most collaborative moments of storytelling: When the players aren’t just walking down one of a number of prescripted paths, but everyone is deciding together what’s going to happen next, and the DM has as much opportunity to be surprised in the moment as the players.
I think one additional exception to these rules can be made if sharing numbers from behind the screen can build a dramatic moment at the table.
I will sometimes tell players things like...
(After hitting the AC) "The monster has # HP left, if you roll above a #, you will finish them." OR
(On casting a spell) "They have a +4 on WIS Saves, so if they roll lower than a #, your spell will work."
I would then make those rolls out from behind the screen, because after saying something like that, EVERYONE at the table is holding their breath for that next dice roll. I've found that this can result in a very cool group experience - without giving away too many immersion-breaking details.
3:08 I would work it more as their characters playing it back in their head, second guessing themselves, they can't go back and change it and it's important to remind that player of such, but if the group wants to roleplay their characters discussing the what ifs, I'd be more than happy to allow them to do so, buying time for the bbge to finish his ritual, or their friend or quest npc is being prepped for the gallows or something.
Rule 5 is incredibly important, so glad that it was included. I have one player that always asks “was that planned??”
It introduces an implication that the things that you planned ahead of the session hold more weight than something that was entirely improvised. Why should it matter that that was thought up while i was sitting behind the screen instead of while I was eating snacks on my couch?
New to your channel. You do not suck. On points one and two, as a player there is nothing more entertaining than seeing the faces of other players when in a new game (sometimes months later) a decision they made affects the new characters. Maybe the minor person you spared became an inn owner or a major bad guy. Love the channel.
Very insightful! Thanks for the video!
I'll add: never tell your players that you reduced the number of enemies.
"I planned on you guys fighting X number of orcs, but you struggled with Y."
The strength, the health, the quantity of enemies, everything can change during the game to balance, but you never say to your players.
Sometimes you plan for a session with 5 players, but 2 had problems and couldn't appear, so you must balance everything on the fly.
My 5 things I keep hidden:
1) Rule 34 art of your PCs that you commissioned.
2) Fudged Dice Rolls.
3) Map of hidden rooms and their treasure.
4) Your copy of Lair Magazine, brought to you from the creators of The DM Lair.
5) Rule 34 art of your players.
Context?
@@jheads5371 - Context?
Thank you so much for telling me all my mistakes. Seriously, i'm so happy you told us all of this. Actually i've think about it every time i've done it, and i did'nt felt so... happy. You're just telling us something that we knew but we couldn't explain.
I love these videos. I’ve been massively tempted to tell players about stuff they missed, but sure it feels wrong and it IS wrong, Luke is right again, damn his eyes.
I disagree with almost every single one of these points. And my main reason for this is that I want to show my players how DMing really works. One day they might take on the mantle from me and I don't want to discourage them from doing so by making it seem like I'm a complete mastermind who planned every single eventuality to perfection. I still don't tell them exactly what parts I improvised and whether I fudged a roll during that session or whether the boss randomly lost 50 HP. But they do know that these kind of things are sometimes part of the job.
Well, you're not really running the game, then. You're teaching how to run a game. Huge difference.
@@tomm35 You can literally do both. No difference at all. My players still enjoy it a lot and both of my groups have shown no sign of disinterest for the entire campaign so far (around 1.5 years of ca. 8 hours playtime per month)
@@XMaster340 I didn't say you can't, nor that it's bad. Just that it's not simply "running the game" and the comparison you are making is not really valid.
Great video. Made things very fun! Especially the nacho scene. LOL
That first point is a big thing. I played LMoP, and there was a section that had a pool in the middle of a small dungeon. A lot of stuff ended up happening and we ended up leaving without exploring the pool, so I made a note to myself that if we ever got back, I'd find an excuse to go back up and check it out. We ended up back in the area and so I said "hey, we need some rest, and this area has been cleared out already, so I'm going to use that pool to take a bath" and ended up finding some gold and a few potions. If the DM had told me that I had missed that, then I wouldn't have been able to do that without getting accused of "metagaming"
So glad you posted this. Just started a West Marches game, 2 sessions in, and was already making the first two mistakes.
Luke thanks for all the great tips & for helping to keep table top RPG alive! We need more public meets & gaming clubs!! Please keep providing all that great info while keeping the jokes coming!! I miss the group of players you do at the table - spitting image of a few of my old players!!
Clutch Video, I was wondering about this just yesterday night after a banger session
I’m getting ready to run my first one shot, it’s a home brew, your videos are amazing and help me so much.
This as been really helpful, I am a new dm and have been dming this group only sense november and i was doing basically all of these
Awesome video! It's a fine line to walk as a DM...these are some really good rules.
lets go almost 100k subs your advice has been so helpful (first time dm)
These are great and really helpful I appreciate these tips since I'm about to start DMing soon for some friends.
I am struggling with this session by session :D Great tips Luke!
Honestly I’m glad I stumbled on this, as I have been struggling for years to bring my world to life… knowing what not to do helps a to. Thanks
This is all very good advice. I'm guilty of doing these things, but now plan to change my ways.
Thank you the DM Lair! :)
Actually, as far as my players are concerned, I never improvise. :P :D ;D
Nice vid! Keep up the awesome work 🤣
I'm running D&D 5E for the first time and this was really helpful!
As for what's behind the DM curtain, there are a few times that I find it really good to pull back the curtain. With VERY new players, I will walk them through my side of what's going on with certain things, like investigating an area or a persuasion check, or something similar. I find it lets them know the input and output of it mechanically so that they know there is an actual process and not just some random stuff I'm pulling out of the air. Or explaining what lair actions are and how the rolling works for them.
But there are lots of things I need to change based on this video. Thanks.
Genuinely helpful, gave me some things to consider 👍
I will strategically choose times to answer the "what if" question, and I absolutely think that it is the right thing to do. It can reinforce the idea in your players' minds that the world is real, the possibilities are endless, and their choices had real tangible impact on how things played out.
I love what if questions from my players because they enjoy them. I guess each group is different. I have meta gamers in my group and I adore them for it.
This is one of the most important videos on DMing I've seen. These are crucial principles.
That bit about don’t tell the players improvisation & planning is SO true. I have a campaign that was pure improv, and the players felt like the world was little more than the local bounty board.
I generally agree with a lot of these, but I also feel like there are way more exceptions than this. A big one being that I think it's completely fine to share when things are improved vs. planned if its to provide an example or to prop up your players. For instance, one time I was running a haunted house for a group where time and reality were warped and strange. Out of game, I told my players that a lot of conventional tactics wouldn't work inside the house because of its strange nature, but that, also because of its strange nature, creative problem solving would be very strongly rewarded. In one encounter, I improved some floating instruments that I just intended to be set dressing, but they focused in on it and their reasoning for why destroying the instruments would work was clever and made a lot of sense so I let destroying the instruments defeat the ghost in that room. Then, after the session, I explained to everyone, "This is exactly what I meant when I said I would reward creative thinking." That example helped get everyone on the same page and it made them feel clever for thinking of it. Of course that wouldn't work in every scenario or in every party, but I think it's an important thing to keep in mind.
I love your movies. You give so much good information and ideas for newbie DM.
Thank you! Happy to help!!! 😀
Great work as usual
The bit about the monsters stats is so true especially if you have players that are game masters themselves. I had to change many monster statblocks just to let him really experience that scary, new monster encounter.
As a DM who’s run their first session/encounters in my first campaign as a DM I appreciate your content.
this video fascinates me. as a player and a dm. these are all so fun if you're all friends outside of the game and all understand how d&d works as a dm.
I have an interesting rule about "fudging" the puzzle solution that my players know about. If I consider their answer being better than my own solution it is going to be taken as correct. They like this because that means they don't have to try to think like me, but there is still pressure of not getting something 100% wrong.
Just curious, what do you think of Aabria's technique of telling players "What you don't see is...", basically in the interest of cinematic story telling?
My primary exception for these rules, is for teaching new DMs.
I've been DMing "since high school" ;) (and I watch too many DMing videos on youtube), so have a pretty solid grasp on how to do things. And I have several newer DMs in my group. Sometimes we'll go over dungeons, missions, or monsters, so I can share my Wealth of Experience with my players.
But it's also important to do things the other way around, where after certain sessions/scenarios (particularly after a Homebrew Monster fight) where I'll want to check in with the players after the session, and see if they liked the difficulty/mechanics involved.
I'm a new DM, and the temptation to reveal secrets is real! Thanks for this, I needed the reminder to keep as much mystery in the game as possible. 👍🏻
im a first time dm, and have only been playing as a pc for like 2 months, this helped so much... defiantly gonna listen to this
I did have an interesting position in the last campaign I played where I helped write the entire pantheon/religion system for my DM's world so I knew a lot of extremely important and relevant secrets before we even started.
Love the tips!
Very good tips. A few things I am guilty of as a new DM. Will definitely keep this video in mind!
The only things I ever fudge as a DM are things that I know I personally messed up that went completely unfairly for the players, and when I feel the need to do that I explain to my players why a situation was so stacked against them in an unfair way (usually because I misjudged am encounter or similar) and I then ask if they're okay with us fudging the result to be more fair. It rarely happens, but my players tend to appreciate that since they know it means I'm not out to get them. I don't fudge stuff if the players just made horrible decisions or had really bad luck that they didn't account for though, that's on them.
Good work! Thank you.
Love nachos man. Great content. Thanks!
We were getting a quest done and I wanted to speed things up. Searching through rooms, we came to one that was mostly destroyed. After so much searching and finding nothing in every other intact room, I had my guy say "I know a room without loot when I see it." and turned back into the hallway to get to the end and we all teleported away afterwards. The GM said that was the funniest moment they had because that was literally the only room with any loot in it. We all had a good laugh about it and occasionally I'll repeat the line in homage to that moment.
This is a good instance of telling players about something like that.
I have been getting better at those things. I fully agree with everything that you said here, and I figured out all of this a while ago, but it is so difficult sometimes. Sometimes I have revealed information just because knowing it let them know how cool it was. For example, I did a Christmas special for them where they got pulled into a story book, How The Lich Stole Christmas, and had to beat the lich within it in order to escape. I did it in a roleplay-ish manner where I had them make some wisdom checks and had them realize that they just escaped from a lich's phylactery and that lich was trying to eat their souls. Sometimes I wonder if I should have kept that knowledge to myself, but I really wanted them to know how cool it was.
In the same place they found that book, though, they did confront one creature who, to this day, they still have no idea what it was or what it could do. All they knew was that it looked weird as hell and it was very confident that it could kill them, to the point where any threat of fighting it was met with it laughing in their faces and daring them to try. It also seemed to have some ability to predict the future, so they didn't want to mess with it. Oh, they also knew that it's existence was causing lesser demons to spawn all over the place, so there's that, too.
Love these tips! Agree 100 percent. I've made the mistakes and can say these tips are true!
Sage advice! I will say that, though I also rarely fudge, I do support a flexible adventure plan and world. You can’t talk about it, but it makes the STORY 10x better when things flow from one interesting thing to another.
Im running something of a “teaching campaign” for some family members and I roll back the screen more than some. I am reducing what I voluntarily share with them but at a pace that works for them. So far we are having a blast.