🧙 The Secret Art of Game Mastery is live! Get decades of GM experience in one book! - www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedmlair/the-secret-art-of-game-mastery?ref=77qgbg ~~~LINKS TO GMS REFERENCED~~~ Joe O'Brien, "Get in the Trunk" th-cam.com/video/HkSwENyij78/w-d-xo.html Troy Lavallee, "Glass Cannon Live!" th-cam.com/video/ASID9zjFqio/w-d-xo.html Mark Hulmes, "High Rolllers" th-cam.com/video/ok5yNiLrBbU/w-d-xo.html Matt Mercer, "Critical Role" th-cam.com/video/5DHEj9nY-wo/w-d-xo.html Chris Perkins, "Dice, Camera, Action!" th-cam.com/video/sw_2r0TfGEc/w-d-xo.html Brennan Lee Mulligan, "Dimension 20" th-cam.com/video/2Kktwa0kqaU/w-d-xo.html
The most fun games I have been in or DMed, the players had the PCs interact with each other "speaking in character" at least 2 times per 4 hour session.
My players (Who tend to be very shy and awkward IRL) have never really been interested in roleplay. The times i tried to encourage some PC dialogue or RP with an NPC It would always be super short and awkward. Now a couple of them told me that they would like to have more RP in the next campaign. I'm hoping I'm gonna be capable of getting RP started but I am afraid that I'm gonna do It wrong and they're gonna be bored
That is a complicated desire. YES, baseline interacting in character would be fine. BUT, if you expect them to use character voices to do so then that is excessive.
@@bohvedetevoi One way I like to encourage my players is by not allowing them to speak out of character for some stuff. They usually get so comfortable that end up talking between each other. Specially when they have to discuss stuff like a plan. You could also reward them by giving them inspiration for doing so or some other reward that you find appropiate.
00:30 1. Know the rules and don't be afraid to explain to the players 02:11 2. Don't be afraid to "lift the curtain" to increase tension 06:34 3. Don't be afraid to try a new house rule or rule set (also, don't be afraid to admit when something isn't working & change it) 09:53 4. Use narrative description to spice up the game and give immersion 12:47 5. Not all descriptions need to be long and detailed 14:20 6. Use specific words/language to drive emotion and atmosphere 15:25 7. An RPG can be anything you want it to be Just for more simple navigation of this great video :D
My hero! 💪 You are the person I'm always looking for im the comments after watching a good video lacking time stamps. Thanks for saving me the time of having to do it.
Naish represent! I’ve been listening to the Glass Cannon Network for years, and Troy is a master of building tension and drama. So glad they’re getting featured on more channels!
To add a point to the "narrative descriptions" (point 4). Used sparingly, they are the means by which a DM can retake control of a situation when the players get carried away and it all starts to get chaotic. If you do it all the time, (point 5) you end up monologueing. In my experience, (over 40 years as a DM) keep it clear, punchy and do try to avoid over-talking situations where players could act. A decent opening monologue can set the scene beautifully, but I try and keep those to maximum of two per session. And while some players won't mind this sort of thing, I try to avoid situations like..."waffle waffle waffle... and as you watch, the prisoners are led onto the gibbet the ropes are lowered and the nooses placed around the prisoners necks... the hangman gives one loud cry, and pulls the handle plunging them to their deaths!!!" I can almost GUARANTEE that at least one player in your party would have wanted to try and intervene in that situation, but when you put them into a "Time Freeze" by way of over describing a situtaion you take that away from them. I have a personal rule of thumb that as the DM I should probably talk more than any individual player during the game but never more than all of them combined. Something else that experienced DMs will be doing while delivering exposition, is thinking of what to do next. The best DMs often operate like a duck on the water. The bit you can see floating on the surface looks smooth, and silky, and completely under control while underneath they are paddling like crazy just to stay balanced. When the players throw you a curve ball, those narrative descriptions can give you time to figure out what you are going to to avoid their latest crazy idea from burning down the room they just locked themselves in.
Know the difference between "No", and "You can certainly try." While it can be an absolute blast to keep your games open ended and permit almost everything, remember that you as a GM are also human and have your limits and boundaries. You owe it to yourself, and your players, to maintain your self respect and draw lines when necessary. A Chaotic PC is fine until it becomes disruptive, and you'll be doing yourself and your players a serious disservice by letting certain players walk all over you and your campaign. If it's something you feel can open new story and roleplay opportunities, "You can certainly try". But if it's something that will disrupt or hinder your campaign and your players, and is doing more harm than good 'for the lulz', "No" is absolutely a complete sentence and a perfectly valid answer.
10:46 use other characters in your narrative descriptions, too! Not just "ball bearings go scattering" but "Char1, you see Char2's ball bearings rolling past you, and you recognize them as the ball bearings Char2 and Char3 bought months ago". By bringing in other characters into narratives, you can bring the PLAYER'S focus back to the table. or things like "as Char1's lightning bolt zaps the monster it lights up the area and you can see the grimace on Char2's face as they line up their attack" or "Char2, as you prepare your turn, you just saw lightning arc from Char1's hands to the monster. What are you doing?"
Exactly this. When I move to the next player in initiative order during combat, I recount what the previous player did and what they were most likely to notice since their last action.
Oh, I love this one! You can mention several characters while you describe one thing, and it makes them naturally want to react to the action X character did, because you gave them an opportunity and importance in the scene. Definetly taking note on this one.
Good to see some GCN love, Troy and Joe are both incredible GMs. (Also, the stressed syllable in Troy’s surname is the second one, so it’s pronounced “La-VA-lee”).
Im DMing for the first time and so far the best lessons I'm learning are: -Don't overdo your worldbuilding, monsters, npcs backstories etc. Just keep the skeleton of your world and story, and let the players build from it. I like to take it as a story we are all telling ourselves together -Playing with children can teach you a lot that adults won't (children are more spontaneous, more imaginative, they'll come up with bizarre ideas that make you think fast and see things from a different perspective)
If you come from watching Critical Role, this is #1 advice, yes xDD (although with that in your mind, there's a lot to learn from the guy)@@rootfish2671
Children are awesome. They're also generally much more willing to work with you even if you say things that don't add up or make other mistakes. And if they can't make sense of something, they ask.
As a non-English native speaker GM'ing in English routinely, your hardest tip to apply is "narrative descriptions". The right words in English just don't pop up in my head fast enough. Nor can I translate my native vocabulary fast enough to maintain combat tension.
I'd recommend getting the players to describe their actions, then. It should help you by giving simple words to respond with. Ask them to describe how they are attacking the armored hobgoblin. Then saying 'the sword hits the helmet and puts a dent in it' should come to mind quickly, and should get both you and the players describing the scene together, while keeping the descriptions quick as well.
Point 4 is a great one, and the example for how to give narrative descriptions rather than just say "OK, sure" is so helpful. I want to keep practicing the "Yes, and" rule, but I never thought of just jumping into description like this. Thank you for this video!
Mark has such epic fights - I love how he does some of those high end fights, they aren't just HP sinks. And as mentioned, he retracts and changes things so they all have fun. Such an amazing DM.
One thing I've learned - is keeping a list of names. Inside of your head, if you can - on paper if you are a normal person :D At the simplest 10 random names 5 male 5 female of the region you are playing in. You can go haywire if you like - but don't overdo it. Point is: Sometimes you have to improvise. Best example is the players wanting to know the name of the shopkeep or towns guard. Struggling and fumbling names for them instantly give away, that those peeps aren't important. But with your handy list you can just go "One Sec, have to check: Ah. Baldwick" And suddenly it's not that easy to distinct between important story NPCs and random fillers. Another thing in my opinion: Random events aren't random. There are countless lists of random loot or especially random encounters. It seems as you just can use the list and throw a dice, whenever the situation calls for loot or events. BUT, unless you aren't a master of improvisation, do yourself a favor, look up 2 or 3 or 5 encounters, loot ideas or random NPCs beforehand. Play the scene in your head, make notes, get familiar with the random encounter. For one you don't run in situations that simply don't fit the atmosphere of your adventure and second it's way smoother and immersive if YOU know what's going on If you want, you can keep the illusion and throw dice behind the screen - but that's unneccessary in my opinion. Loot is more up to taste. If you want chaos and randomnes - go for it. But a little preperation goes a long way. Rolling the fifth item only useful for classes not currently playing is boring. So make sure to sprinkle in useful stuff or objects that may be connected to a later story. (Wait a minute... didn't we find the SAME ancient bronce amulets at the gang of assassins, trying to kill us? Why do the monks from the halls of eternity in the mountains of lonlines have exactly the same objects?!)
As someone who is diving headfirst into running games, I really appreciate all these tips. I can see how these will all go a long way in being a better storyteller and providing a more immersive experience for my players. Thanks!
One that has been a challenge for me over the years is to encourage your players’ role playing, but don’t overwhelm or intimidate them. One of my players isn’t good at improvising quick speech, but likes to play charismatic characters. Giving them a chance to come up with what their character says, but not penalizing them if they can’t has been a big deal in improving their enjoyment of the game.
Not to contradict this solid advice! Some DM advice I got just last week actually from my old DM who‘s now a player in my game. “Stop pulling the curtain back all the time. Don’t be afraid to just let things happen organically” I think pulling back the curtain is an awesome tool! But I now realise, when it was pointed out to me, I run to that extreme too often as a way to make sure my players never were confused or lost. I think it also probably depends on your players but for me the lesson was one in not underestimating my group. Sometimes your breadcrumbs will be enough, the party is genre savvy enough, the encounter is super well designed. Constantly undercutting the players trying to RP by calling out a mini game or mechanics can feel just as bad and can do a lot to harm verisimilitude.
One thing I love to do is to offer choices in critical moments or to avoid excessive frustration from failed rolls. For example -- Player is trying to grapple his enemy and hold him in place. He tried that for his last 2 turns and failed his check to do so. Once he fails a third time (He really wants that grapple) I offer him a choice: You can succeed at that grapple, but your enemy gets a free hit on you. You're opening yourself up for an attack in order to get a hold of him. Another one -- Player is about to get hit HARD, and he will very probably die from this massive critical hit. I give him the choice of surviving the hit by using his magic weapon to block it, breaking the weapon in the process. That kind of choice usually comes in dramatic moments or to manage frustration like in example 1, but it always involves some sort of sacrifice, a price to be paid by the player. It takes a bit of sensibility from the DM to avoid doing it too much, but so far it's worked really well and we got some cool or intense moments because of it, along with a better game flow overall!
One of the most fun campaigns I had the pleasure of GM-ing was to work in to the narration of the game the character flaws a player had given her character. It was a tone deaf Bard, that had the chance of Wild Magic occurring when she cast a spell. So much fun... plus it made the tavern and town events more interesting.
Just pledged to the KS, easy decision. Your content has been what has not only made me comfortable enough to GM, but made me love being the forever GM. Thanks for all you do to keep the TTRPG community going by making being the GM a fun choice for newer players!
Liam O'Brian in Critical Role's Campaign 3 puts on a masterclass of narative description in combat. He is playing a battlemast fighter (a solid but very vanilla class) in a campaign with some wild homebrewed classes and some how he manages to stand out every combat just in the way he describes his actions. Most of the time its just move and hit, but Liam never simply says "i step here and attack".
At age 13, I started playing RPGs with no game system or dice, and what held it all together was the GM's narration skills. We all trusted him to fairly determine the outcome of combat, and he didn't go easy on us. I GMed a similar systemless adventure years later, a personal homebrew called Black Ops, and everyone loved it because of the focus on narrative and improv above all else.
One thing I've learned over the years as a GM is, it's not all about you. Sure, you wanna show off your cool stuff you made up--but it is just as important for the players to have a chance to strut their stuff. You need to give everyone a chance to do their thing, whether their thing is showing off what their badass character can do or their thing is quirky roleplaying.
My trick to getting descriptions right is that I use the 'minds eye' approch inspired by Dimension 20. When something happens that the PCs experiance and this may become important this is told to the PCs - eg a shattered window may become a exit/difficult terrain and a 'thorns' effect if a PC or enemy falls prone or crawls over it. A sudden chill might just be the breeze or the breath of a invisible monster...but there's only one way to find out! This also means that I repeat PC actions when I need to verify that I'm imagining it correctly so the players can fill in any gaps e.g - is the PC looking left or right stabbing wildly or trying to stay hidden? Are they paying attention to something that would show up on a passive check or busy arguing with their party members? I use the same trick to give clues in combat, rather then using statblocks I might describing a monster as big and strong as hints to it's HP, a fast moving monster may have high Dex and AC. This way I train my players to pay attention and consider their PCs as characters existing in a world vs statblocks. My go-to line when DMing is now "how EXACTLY do you do this?" To remind the players that this isn't a videogame, their answer will dictate the rules used, and often a good answer that fits into the moment and 'makes sense' for the PC will bypass the roll entirely! I also hate long pointless descriptions so if there are no actions the PCs can take from telling them something (eg does the colour of a PCs clothes matter in this moment?!?) I will wait for a PC to ask first, or for that detail to become significant (eg if the PC spills a drink on them).
Bless you, Luke, keep doing what you're doing! But since you've asked, here are some of my GM lessons learned. Ever since I started DMing (at the age of 13), I've always been cursed with the desire to make my own TTRPG systems, or at least heavily homebrew existing ones. These are the things I've found over the two decades: 1) Don't try to make the perfect and complete system right from the start. Make solid foundations, and then flesh out the rules you need to start playing. Many "great" ideas will not survive their meeting with reality, and you will have to tweak, adjust, change, and sometimes even rework entire pillars of the system. Don't be married to your original ideas, they will have to mature! 2) Be as open as possible with your players - they're the ones playing in your game, so if a mechanic is overly burdensome and they struggle with it even after (let's say) ten sessions, it is probably not a very good mechanic. If something feels cool to you, but everyone finds it a nuisance, think of how to implement the rule differently so that it is actually cool in practice, not just on paper. 3) Admit your mistakes and apologize when you're rebalancing something your players enjoyed, but it was OP/game-breaking. Sometimes things (skills, items...) need to be nerfed, as nobody can expect the creative fuckery players will come up with, but try your best to soften the blow (nerf the broken thing, but offer viable alternatives). On that note, remember that it is always easier to make something stronger or give a bigger reward next time, as opposed to taking something away, which may hurt. That's why I tend to be stingier and more cautious in the beginning, and once it feels safe, I start giving out more, or allowing more ridiculous skill/spell combinations. 4) In my opinion, no ttrpg system is perfect for all types of play (think DnD 5E vs. Call of Cthulhu vs. Warhammer Fantasy). Build your system with some reference in mind (is it sci-fi? Is it high or low fantasy?) and tailor it to suit your needs. This is essentially why I created my latest homebrew system we've been using the past couple years: I absolutely love DnD, but at the same time I vehemently dislike how insanely powerful PCs get, and how quickly it happens. Around level 6+ is when things start to break down for me - you can bring back (recently) dead people, you can solve most problems with a spell, tough fighters start being able to survive 100ft falls, etc. Because that didn't click with my idea of a compelling world and adventure, I made my system witch a far flatter power curve. But what works for us may be an utter slog for others. What's the world you wanna experirence with your players?
Narrative description is a VALUABLE game mechanic. I have used this method long before the internet was even a thing. Describing player critical hits for the less experienced gamer and allowing the more experienced player to describe how they deliver a killing blow if they make a critical hit (or roll a 20 in the old D&D games) that kills their opponent. The excitement and laughter from the players justifies that narrative description for those who succeed in an epic moment. Also, explaining a fumble can be less embarrassing to a player if they roll a 1 for a skill they are normally very skilled at. Using a narrative by explaining how an unexpected environmental circumstance justifies their fumble while adding an element to the immersion. "A splash of water from between the two ships, as they slowly close the gap, engulfs you when you swing over to the enemy's deck. This causes you to loose your sight at that critical moment when you land. You are unable to judge your timing appropriately. You blindly release the rope, enabling you to loose your footing and fall flat on the deck. You take 5 points of damage as you struggle to catch your breath." This is a little less embarrassing for the swashbuckler character. At the same time it illustrates the danger of the encounter and keeps the characters immersed in the action.
Love your emphasis on keeping narrative descriptions short. Really helps keep the flow and pace of the game high. That being said, long descriptions can be great for tension, so it can be used as a dial for how dilated time appears to the players.
I've found out that long descriptions usually become boring because DM are not so good at reading thing and making them interesting (or maybe even at writing descriptions). If you don't practice it, it's probably not worth it to go further than mentioning 2-3 details. Of course it's like improvisation and voices, with practices it get better, just don't assume that you reading cool stuff automatically translate into a cool moment.
@@vincent-antoinesoucy1872yes keep it short and sweet, this isn't writing a scene in a novel. Overly descriptive info dumps will bore players and you can usually communicate the same info with less words.
So glad you're giving some love to the Glass Cannon Network. Most people know Mark Hulmes, Brennan, and of course Matt Mercer. No one really talks about the Naish!
Super excited to kickstart this. I've been running a "how to be a GM" class for two years or so in my community, and I'd love to see what you all have to say as well. I actually just picked up a number of other books on the subject to see what others have to say as well, cause I got curious how everyone approaches teaching differently. For anyone curious or concerned, yes I charge, no its not much (basically just enough to pay for some of the materials), its main function is to provide a few tools and a bit of confidence for those who are looking for it, and I've never once told anyone that they *need* such a thing to be a good gm (I certainly didn't take one when I started).
One thing I've learned over the years is that a monster encounter can be as exciting or boring as you write the monsters to be. Even if the monsters are standard minions, if you have them only able to walk on the walls and ceiling, it's instantly a bit more exciting. Also, I once had a mimic eat a legendary weapon that one of my players threw at it and it ran off with it. That instantly created a tension that wasn't there before.
I love 6, i had never thought of doing a key word tone list. And i ha e been doing this for over 20 years. Only goes to show you can always learn something new.
I've learned to introduce the games as if it was a tv series or movie, something familiar to people, describing what the camera is showing and where it is moving as if they are watching an actual show. My players love it 😂 (Joe O'Brien does this very well in Delta green, I took inspiration from him when I first started and kept the habit of doing it, even telling the story of how the players meet, introducing them while we see them in the introduction shots).
current game I am DM'ing i have two new players who, in a previous campaign we were all players in, never got to shine and when they tried narrating, their actions were not acted upon by the DM to 'flourish' some spice into the descriptions. I understand the DM for that game was busy (it having around 12 players on average) and needing to work through scenarios and everybody's happenings, but it all came down to mechanical descriptions and actions. In my sessions, I have been encouraging descriptive actions. When the player describes that she wants her character to try to scale the nearest building with an alleyway nearby, i ask for a stealth check (to see if she can duck into the alley without the guards seeing her), a climb check to see how quickly and if she is able to scale the wall. She describes that she also wants to use her daggers to gain better holds since she remembers some of the buildings were made of various materials that would make climbing a bit easier. She rolls, describing the general stone she would be looking for as well. After rolling, instead of saying 'your character climbs a building with a successful climb check' and say 'As (character) looks around, becoming slightly winded from the guards chasing her through the streets, gaining ground slowly with each passing moment, (character) suddenly brandishes two small but sturdy daggers, slightly blunted from their use in this manner before. (character) leaps into an alleyway and begins digging the blades into the sandstone wall and begins her ascent to the rooftops above. Her grip is sure and steady, her footholds making quick work of the climb before rolling over the crest of the building, panting while laying face up at the sky. The warm stone roof beneath her and low rise wall next to her gives an air of security as she hears the guards boots below her, run past, pausing a moment at the alley before continuing onwards down the street. She has evaded her quarry...for now.' This extra time given to the details I previously give, along with their desire for how they want it to go has really helped bring out their imagination and voice at the table. Three sessions later, she is really narrating and role playing like I have never seen. Getting into (in character) arguments over the plans and details of missions, how they act around each other with each new piece of personal information about their characters, etc. So my advice is, when you can, take an extra minute to describe and include the details the players wanted to really let them know you are listening, and want to see the characters in their minds come to life at the table.
I had a DM that would preroll for events happening in the campaign, be it an encounter or weather or whatever, anything that would happen to the party in the course of a day. 4 rolls for each day and he would roll about a week's worth of game time for this. It allowed him to focus on the story, whatever the players and him created during that time then he would check his prerolled numbers versus an events table and would organically weave it into the story. A pinch of preparation made for a surprise for everyone at the table, GM included.
One thing I do as a DM is create my players backstory and character with them. They will have the last say in the creation, always. But I give ideas that might be cool or interesting based on the world I'm creating. I've noticed that I'm much more invested in their characters and they love the experience we have while creating an interesting character. I really recommend it.
About narrative descriptions. If you have the players describe things they do, they can easily give you a starting point. In the clip from the CR episode, she already described what she was doing, so it was extremely easy to follow. So, try to always engage with the players asking how they do things, how they act, even how they imagine certain things to look like, etc.
One of my favorites is asking how something obvious looks. "What does your magic missile look like?" It's a great simple way to make it feel more personal and demonstrate to the players that even the smallest things can be claimed as their own.
#7 FTW - I have always been completely and utterly befuddled by the "Rule system X is no good for setting/genre Y" concept. Sure, rule system Z might have a system for something that really shines in a certain genre and therefore makes it a better candidate to play something in that kind of setting. But to say that a rule set is just flat-out incompatible or poor for a certain genre or setting has either struck me as someone lacking imagination or a real understanding of what a role playing game is.
I have had the experience that I got to become a GM by having the courage to do it and to trust that my successes outweigh my mistakes. That I can be confident in the quality of my adventures.
I once used a thunder wave to clear an area of difficult terrain (caltrops) with the intention of moving it further into enemy foot traffic and pelting them with the caltrops. Some spicy action description could certainly have made the act more fun
Pre selecting emotive specific words for common synonyms is a good one. The brutish barbarain does just the party, tell he snarls or barks information...
i've only been doing the dm thing for about a year and a half and really the most important thing after 'do your prep work' is: Let Go. like really. you can think you've planned for everything, have all these ideas, best intentions but at the end of the day, just let go. breathe. let the game and the players go where they will (within reason). attempting to control every little detail will just make a dm stressed, then eventually stress out the players and make the game no longer fun.
The first part is crucial, otherwise you'll have players who always ask what their bonus is, and not know the minute differences between Attack and Damage Rolls.
I tried using the Lingering Injury table from the DMG. The players were initially cool with it, but then because it took around nine sessions before it ever came up again, they forgot about it and found it to be an annoying penalty when someone did finally fall to 0 hit points. So we scrapped it.
House rule thing reminded me of one of my groups recently. So most of the group is inexperienced except myself and one other player. The dm is sorta experienced but he is under 18 and this is only the second campaign he ever ran (the other experienced player is his older brother who introduced him to the game way back when). Well, I’m experienced with 5e as it’s the edition I started and only one I have tried and is the one I plan to run when I finally dm, so i pay close attention to it. The other experienced player is more experienced with 3.5e though. And so he is actually the one getting most confused because there is certain mechanics he mixes up between the two. This leaves our dm confused sometimes which has him relying more on me for help in rulings. I found that a bit uncomfortable but he is a kid and he is a good dm actually. His brother also means well and is genuinely confused at times. Anyway, to curb some of this, we actually adapted one of the rules for 3.5 and made it a possible bonus action for players to take. Several reasons, I hated shooting down the brother player because the rules he thinks he is following aren’t ones 5e has. Two, I could tell that the dm was starting to be uncomfortable too and genuinely wanted to give his brother a positive answer. And finally, three, the most important reason we adapted this new house rule, was because it actually helped out our frontliners better. It also helped out those players who don’t usually have a use for their bonus action and so just don’t do anything with it. It felt like a waste. So we enacted this house rule and it went well and seemed to work flawlessly in combat without feeling overpowered. We did add it to the discord channel that we made specially for it that so we could track and reference houserule specific information. Anyway, this was nice and I feel like there is less pressure on me too as being the 5e experienced person. I don’t want to be a rules lawyer but part of my role at that table is to help teach even though I’m doing it from the player side. Except for the brother player, all the rest of the table is under 18. So we both help the dm with social conflict and advice on rulings and helping the party gently pick up the hints the dm is trying to provide. We also set an example of merging roleplay and flavoring into character creation and how one goes about playing dnd. Except for that hiccup, over all it’s a fun and smooth experience and I love playing at this table with these people. I see all the young players and the dm going on to be great players and dms. They definitely have the skills for it now. They really just needed more experience….and less murderhobos in the party lol 😅 which maaaaaay have been one of the initial reasons I joined up. Poor dm needed an outsider adult player who knew their stuff to help out and take some of the pressure off his poor older brother who was basically herding cats at that point.
It's absolutely okay for a DM to ask for rules advice from a more experienced player. Sometimes, it's better to take it slower and learn the rules rather than to just skip over with a temporary ruling and taking it up later on. The latter is good for arguments, but less so for learning the game. Additional options for the bonus action is one thing I've seen a lot of want for. Several classes just don't use it that much, which does put them down a bit in the action economy.
I know as a player, I have a hard time with maps (ironically my one-shot character is a cartographer). I appreciate when DMs alter maps or give hints when a party is being absolutely slaughtered and it isn't intentionly set up that way. I have been to a death game with 36 players where the goal of the game was not to die too many times using pregenerated characters. There were only 8 to choose from and one guy had to double up.
My players helped me co-opt a house rule of Luck. In describing random events, I would, more often than not, make the random event go against the players. Now, I roll 3d6 and only tell me how many 1s and 6s you rolled. This would give me an idea how bad or good this random event was for the player. I try to keep this as anything beyond any skill check or ability the player has will fall to luck. This has helped my players feel that the world I'm running is no longer out to get them as well as helping my lazy butt decide just how bad or good an event effects them.
11:23 got to say I 100% believe taking the time to narrate consequences of players actions, it's a low cost high return way to give the players a more enjoyable experience without which the GM often would need to work much harder to achieve
My main problem when it comes to narrative description is that I can only describe the same spell that one of my players used for the last 2 or 3 turns so many ways before I run out of descriptions.
The best advice that I've only recently embraced is this. Play the game that is being run. And ask your players to play the game you have prepared. As a player if I turn up to a game that is about life on the edges of civilisation like a western, where the morals are grey and life is hard and full of mystery beyond the borders of the pop up resource harvesting towns, I'm just going to have more fun and be more part of the world if I make a character the either fits those themes or is set up to hit all the pitfalls of the set up and learn from them. But if I stat a power ranger and insist on yelling "it's Morphin' time!" Every time I activate my suit up mechanic and just ignore the gritty, morally complex game being run *I* may have a good time, but it will fundamentally be at odds with the game the DM has set up. As a DM I have been frustrated fairly consistently with a couple of players just ignoring the setting and lore I've established in my setting doc and at session zero and just done something they think is cool amd dropped into my setting with no consideration for what should exist. I've had a literal space marine dropped into a game of thrones game. Down to them calling pelor the god-emperor and writing oaths of moment to wax seal to their armour. It's a really cool character if it makes literally any sense to exist in the setting. But it thoroughly derailed my game until they got themselves super killed by ignoring the gritty and deadliness of the game I was running. Players showing up for the wrong genre, deadlyness level and setting put a spanner in the works for a dm on a fundamental level, and apart from the practical problems it's also insulting to the dm. It communicates "I don't want to play your game" to them. And that sucks.
I think the best advice I could give would be to have a code of conduct in writing. Especially when playing with new people. The game will run A LOT smoother if expectations are understood, and the players know what kind of behavior is not allowed. It really cuts down on the amount of murder hobos as well.
Good idea and don't hesitate to boot problematic players. Too many rpg horror stories are about everyone putting up with someone's crappy behavior for far too long
Regarding the having descriptions but keeping them short, it reminds me of that lil anedocte of the guy who sent a letter that said “sorry for the long letter, if I had time I would have sent a shorter one” or smth like that. I think most DMs who are not used to doing this don’t know how to describe and when they do, they end up on the verbose side of things, they (and/or the players) don’t enjoy it and they don’t try again. When the reality is: ya just gotta keep practicing. Slowly you’ll get better at being more concise. Also an expansive vocabulary isn’t a bad idea either
My DMs have it so the players narrate their kills in combat. One time my Barbarian threw his Spear Of Returning out a window, I had it turn the guy into a shish kabab, and hadn't thought about the reprocussions. My DM made it come back with the guy still on it. Then he turned into a zombie, for kicks. It was canon, but just very ironic.
My game master often allows us to do different things if we describe a good way to do something. Like targeting limbs or other such to weaken an enemy or so on. But the best thing I ever did was take an enemy that would kill us, and cast friends on the enemy and walked them to the air hatch and space them. It was one of the best plays in any game we ever did. Or another time when I used a very large energy sword to cut through the outside of a hull of a ship to weaken the position of the enemy then crawl in and save people stuck inside that had been captured for enslavement and killed the enemies well they had been exposed to space. As well as loads of other things from trying to decide the behavior and action to get the results we wanted. We have open an air lock well in space suits to space the position of an enemy for the advantage it would give us for exposing them to the vacuum of space. But the person we had been trying to save had like the enemy not in spacesuits in some cases but not others. I also would add don't try and impend player creativity if able, creative solutions should be rewarded.
Oh my, the very first thing (I am commenting before seeing the rest at this point) Yes for skill challenges but also for other non standard rules applications. I was playing in a game with our long time DM and we end up getting goaded into a pit fight to gain information that we need. I had a combat oriented mood druid and we also had a fighter in the pit. We are ready to go and I have a form picked out ahead of time for my turn. Then suddenly the DM says "Oh we aren't using normal combat rules we are doing stat checks and non standard rolls to work out winners and losers." So that screws me over and the fighter to that are relying on our actual combat abilities such as to hit mods and number of attacks etc. Instead we end up doing str vs str or dex or even con instead and my three attack beast form is totally neutered, because it has great attack and damage but low basic stats. And we are making only one stat check roll not actually rolling to hit. The fighter nat 20's his first stat check then gets hammered because of average rolls after that. No way these enemies would have beaten us if we used the normal combat rules. We were totally blind sided by the rules AFTER we jumped into the pit fight. I was not happy. I don't mind losing a fight but I didn't lose a fight I lost to new rules that were not explained ahead of time.
Follow the dice. .. if a player wants to do something cool or that will alter the world, let them roll. If they roll well, the fates have spoken, and that thing is now part of the world. Example is their a hole in the roof. Roll high on a perception, and the answer is yes. On a larger scale, an artificer seeks a tome on how to build a clockwork creature. Roll an investigation. Of course, as the DM, you don't have to make the process easy.
On point 6 I would like it if you could elaborate a little more on the words that evoke emotions and making a list of adjectives or nouns (or even verbs and adverbs) that work well for these GM descriptions. Maybe show more examples of how these words could better describe a situation or description of an area. "The very appearance of this foreboding archway to the cemetery acts as a natural deterrent for visitors looking to explore what lies beyond. The cascading mists from the hill, overlooking the withered stone epitaphs, silently cloaks it's permanent inhabitants." Words like 'foreboding' or 'deterrent' followed by 'cascading' or even 'silently cloaks', when used correctly or creatively, can add spice to the immersion. Perhaps you could teach us how to come up with some of these words. Adjectives and adverbs (when not overused) can really enhance your descriptions if they are written and practiced beforehand. You don't have to be a terrific writer to do it either. Just envision the picture you have in your head, practice writing down the words that describe it along with how it makes you feel as you picture it, and commit to using the words you chose. If you don't feel you are using the appropriate words to describe what it is your players are witnessing, describe the feeling it gives you when you picture it. Players don't usually like being told what they feel by the GM. So you can use words like "Depending on who you are as a character, it almost makes you feel.... [enter feelings here]" The "depending on who you are" gives a sort of disclaimer that you are not forcing the players to feel something, but that a "normal" person would probably feel when confronted with the event or scene. I recommend this only if you are having trouble choosing the right words to describe the scene.
Keep in ear out for your players thoughts and predictions. Sometimes a player will give you a better idea than you had for the story and then they get "I was right!!!" moment too.
Number 4, to me, it is not an "another ball to juggle". Au contraire, I take the time to narrate stuff so I can reassess the players of the combat situation, enemy positions and intentions, etc... Combat is way simpler to narrate and keep track of if I do this. Also, amps up the players and incentives then to also narrate their actions
In regards to #7, this is why I've jumped off the D&D train - specifically I dropped the latest iteration of D&D, because WotC can't take my 5e and 3.5e books from me. But WotC has made it blatantly apparent they want to maximize their control over the D&D IP by making it an online product with digital books and a VTT. So the only way you'll be able to play D&D in the future is the way WotC wants you to play D&D. It'll basically be a video game, and at that point you might as well just go play Dragon Age again.
As a relatively new DM I sometimes feel like I need to read a thesaurus for fun so I don't sound repetitive and boring when I describe things. Or maybe its just me.
Find a mentor. I've really appreciated people that have mentored me along the way. If you don't know an answer or the players catch you off guard, take a breath and think. You don't need to answer everything fast.
When doing live play I find if I really want to inject some quick energy to my players, i stand up when discribing the important scene to them. It doesnt have to be long but it does seem to work. And if I stand through a chase scene it seem to help keep the pace and pressure going.
I love 3rd party content because 5e is so vanilla to me. I reskin monsters and homebrew a lot. I basically use 5e rules as a backbone. Already backed the book and I'm hella excited for it get here.
1:49 so for example if you were running ToA, would you let your players know the DC for whether they successfully navigate the hex crawl or whether they get lost?
8: Trick your PCs into flunking their own carefully constructed plans! 😈 I was DMing 4 PCs, all tribal warriors. Their most present enemy at the time was a Shaman, and they had spent the previous 2 game sessions just gathering evidence & catching up to him. Finally they confront him, and a 'Banner' (team of fighters taking turns to do one vs one) begins between our heroes & other tribesmen loyal to the Shaman. As our heroes take turns to fight surrounded by a crowd, each of the PCs insists they are not taking their eyes off the slippery Shaman. As the Banner progressed, a friend (NPC) is injured but refuses to back down & looks like he's about to killed. Our most personable PC wants to persuade him to back down so I offer him a persuade check, adding that if any of the other PCs want to join in, he can add 1 to his check for each of them. Of course they all agree & the attempt is successful. However, a few moments later they realise that the Shaman has escaped. "NO FAIR!" scream all the players, "I said I was watching him!" No. You ALL took your eyes off him at the same time... Although they protested, they knew I was right. They weren't very happy with me for a while, but later agreed that I'd been very clever 🤓
In my group, I have some players that intentionally play kleptomaniacs or murder hobos just to see what others at the table do. Let players like that do their thing! They need to have fun too. That doesn't mean they can't be placed in prison, though. If you fear that it will make too much of an unnecessary side story, rule a character as permadead for now, then maybe allow that character to come back later in the campaign. Make sure the players have fun and these nutbag characters they make are good stories to tell later.
I love *reading* The Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit; but if my GM wanted to make Tolkien level descriptions, every *scene* would take the whole *session*.
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~~~LINKS TO GMS REFERENCED~~~
Joe O'Brien, "Get in the Trunk" th-cam.com/video/HkSwENyij78/w-d-xo.html
Troy Lavallee, "Glass Cannon Live!" th-cam.com/video/ASID9zjFqio/w-d-xo.html
Mark Hulmes, "High Rolllers" th-cam.com/video/ok5yNiLrBbU/w-d-xo.html
Matt Mercer, "Critical Role" th-cam.com/video/5DHEj9nY-wo/w-d-xo.html
Chris Perkins, "Dice, Camera, Action!" th-cam.com/video/sw_2r0TfGEc/w-d-xo.html
Brennan Lee Mulligan, "Dimension 20" th-cam.com/video/2Kktwa0kqaU/w-d-xo.html
The most fun games I have been in or DMed, the players had the PCs interact with each other "speaking in character" at least 2 times per 4 hour session.
I always encourage pvp dialogue
It's so hard to get that going. I wish my players were into RP
My players (Who tend to be very shy and awkward IRL) have never really been interested in roleplay. The times i tried to encourage some PC dialogue or RP with an NPC It would always be super short and awkward. Now a couple of them told me that they would like to have more RP in the next campaign. I'm hoping I'm gonna be capable of getting RP started but I am afraid that I'm gonna do It wrong and they're gonna be bored
That is a complicated desire. YES, baseline interacting in character would be fine. BUT, if you expect them to use character voices to do so then that is excessive.
@@bohvedetevoi One way I like to encourage my players is by not allowing them to speak out of character for some stuff. They usually get so comfortable that end up talking between each other. Specially when they have to discuss stuff like a plan.
You could also reward them by giving them inspiration for doing so or some other reward that you find appropiate.
00:30 1. Know the rules and don't be afraid to explain to the players
02:11 2. Don't be afraid to "lift the curtain" to increase tension
06:34 3. Don't be afraid to try a new house rule or rule set (also, don't be afraid to admit when something isn't working & change it)
09:53 4. Use narrative description to spice up the game and give immersion
12:47 5. Not all descriptions need to be long and detailed
14:20 6. Use specific words/language to drive emotion and atmosphere
15:25 7. An RPG can be anything you want it to be
Just for more simple navigation of this great video :D
Thanks for this. Strangely enough almost everyone talks about all these things. At least we do in the indie RPG scene
My hero! 💪
You are the person I'm always looking for im the comments after watching a good video lacking time stamps.
Thanks for saving me the time of having to do it.
Really appreciate this!
@@ryanpoulter6286 Yeah I just thought this as well. I'm not even deep into the scene and I feel like this is just very basic stuff?!
Naish represent! I’ve been listening to the Glass Cannon Network for years, and Troy is a master of building tension and drama. So glad they’re getting featured on more channels!
I came to the comments to support the GCN.
GCN easily has the best AP content right now. So many great shows and they're all 10/10, never feels slow, never a dud episode. Aweswome channel
Right? I saw Troy's face and cheered
To add a point to the "narrative descriptions" (point 4). Used sparingly, they are the means by which a DM can retake control of a situation when the players get carried away and it all starts to get chaotic.
If you do it all the time, (point 5) you end up monologueing. In my experience, (over 40 years as a DM) keep it clear, punchy and do try to avoid over-talking situations where players could act.
A decent opening monologue can set the scene beautifully, but I try and keep those to maximum of two per session.
And while some players won't mind this sort of thing, I try to avoid situations like..."waffle waffle waffle... and as you watch, the prisoners are led onto the gibbet the ropes are lowered and the nooses placed around the prisoners necks... the hangman gives one loud cry, and pulls the handle plunging them to their deaths!!!"
I can almost GUARANTEE that at least one player in your party would have wanted to try and intervene in that situation, but when you put them into a "Time Freeze" by way of over describing a situtaion you take that away from them.
I have a personal rule of thumb that as the DM I should probably talk more than any individual player during the game but never more than all of them combined.
Something else that experienced DMs will be doing while delivering exposition, is thinking of what to do next. The best DMs often operate like a duck on the water. The bit you can see floating on the surface looks smooth, and silky, and completely under control while underneath they are paddling like crazy just to stay balanced.
When the players throw you a curve ball, those narrative descriptions can give you time to figure out what you are going to to avoid their latest crazy idea from burning down the room they just locked themselves in.
Know the difference between "No", and "You can certainly try." While it can be an absolute blast to keep your games open ended and permit almost everything, remember that you as a GM are also human and have your limits and boundaries. You owe it to yourself, and your players, to maintain your self respect and draw lines when necessary. A Chaotic PC is fine until it becomes disruptive, and you'll be doing yourself and your players a serious disservice by letting certain players walk all over you and your campaign. If it's something you feel can open new story and roleplay opportunities, "You can certainly try". But if it's something that will disrupt or hinder your campaign and your players, and is doing more harm than good 'for the lulz', "No" is absolutely a complete sentence and a perfectly valid answer.
great advice
10:46 use other characters in your narrative descriptions, too! Not just "ball bearings go scattering" but "Char1, you see Char2's ball bearings rolling past you, and you recognize them as the ball bearings Char2 and Char3 bought months ago". By bringing in other characters into narratives, you can bring the PLAYER'S focus back to the table. or things like "as Char1's lightning bolt zaps the monster it lights up the area and you can see the grimace on Char2's face as they line up their attack" or "Char2, as you prepare your turn, you just saw lightning arc from Char1's hands to the monster. What are you doing?"
That is a good point!
Exactly this. When I move to the next player in initiative order during combat, I recount what the previous player did and what they were most likely to notice since their last action.
Oh, I love this one! You can mention several characters while you describe one thing, and it makes them naturally want to react to the action X character did, because you gave them an opportunity and importance in the scene. Definetly taking note on this one.
Why is the DM saying char2 grimaced? Did char2 indicate they were grimacing?
Good to see some GCN love, Troy and Joe are both incredible GMs. (Also, the stressed syllable in Troy’s surname is the second one, so it’s pronounced “La-VA-lee”).
It might be easier put that it's pronounced "Luh Valley."
Lol thank you for providing the correct pronunciation that was a bit triggering.
Im DMing for the first time and so far the best lessons I'm learning are:
-Don't overdo your worldbuilding, monsters, npcs backstories etc. Just keep the skeleton of your world and story, and let the players build from it. I like to take it as a story we are all telling ourselves together
-Playing with children can teach you a lot that adults won't (children are more spontaneous, more imaginative, they'll come up with bizarre ideas that make you think fast and see things from a different perspective)
Don't try to be the next Matt Mercer and don't expect your DM to be him either
If you come from watching Critical Role, this is #1 advice, yes xDD (although with that in your mind, there's a lot to learn from the guy)@@rootfish2671
Children are awesome. They're also generally much more willing to work with you even if you say things that don't add up or make other mistakes. And if they can't make sense of something, they ask.
As a non-English native speaker GM'ing in English routinely, your hardest tip to apply is "narrative descriptions".
The right words in English just don't pop up in my head fast enough.
Nor can I translate my native vocabulary fast enough to maintain combat tension.
You could perhaps prep a few phrases in advance for locations you're expecting the PCs to visit or things you know the PCs are likely to do.
I'd recommend getting the players to describe their actions, then. It should help you by giving simple words to respond with. Ask them to describe how they are attacking the armored hobgoblin. Then saying 'the sword hits the helmet and puts a dent in it' should come to mind quickly, and should get both you and the players describing the scene together, while keeping the descriptions quick as well.
I saw the thumbnail earlier at work and didn’t even notice Troy and Joe in the picture! So glad you also enjoy the GCN Luke!
Point 4 is a great one, and the example for how to give narrative descriptions rather than just say "OK, sure" is so helpful. I want to keep practicing the "Yes, and" rule, but I never thought of just jumping into description like this. Thank you for this video!
Glad to see glass cannon get some love
Never played pathfinder but I’m addicted to their podcasts 👍
Nice to see the Glass Canon boys getting some love.
Mark has such epic fights - I love how he does some of those high end fights, they aren't just HP sinks. And as mentioned, he retracts and changes things so they all have fun. Such an amazing DM.
Dude!! Im so glad you gave GCN some love!!
One thing I've learned - is keeping a list of names. Inside of your head, if you can - on paper if you are a normal person :D
At the simplest 10 random names 5 male 5 female of the region you are playing in. You can go haywire if you like - but don't overdo it.
Point is: Sometimes you have to improvise. Best example is the players wanting to know the name of the shopkeep or towns guard. Struggling and fumbling names for them instantly give away, that those peeps aren't important. But with your handy list you can just go "One Sec, have to check: Ah. Baldwick"
And suddenly it's not that easy to distinct between important story NPCs and random fillers.
Another thing in my opinion: Random events aren't random.
There are countless lists of random loot or especially random encounters. It seems as you just can use the list and throw a dice, whenever the situation calls for loot or events. BUT, unless you aren't a master of improvisation, do yourself a favor, look up 2 or 3 or 5 encounters, loot ideas or random NPCs beforehand. Play the scene in your head, make notes, get familiar with the random encounter. For one you don't run in situations that simply don't fit the atmosphere of your adventure and second it's way smoother and immersive if YOU know what's going on
If you want, you can keep the illusion and throw dice behind the screen - but that's unneccessary in my opinion.
Loot is more up to taste. If you want chaos and randomnes - go for it. But a little preperation goes a long way. Rolling the fifth item only useful for classes not currently playing is boring. So make sure to sprinkle in useful stuff or objects that may be connected to a later story. (Wait a minute... didn't we find the SAME ancient bronce amulets at the gang of assassins, trying to kill us? Why do the monks from the halls of eternity in the mountains of lonlines have exactly the same objects?!)
As someone who is diving headfirst into running games, I really appreciate all these tips. I can see how these will all go a long way in being a better storyteller and providing a more immersive experience for my players. Thanks!
One that has been a challenge for me over the years is to encourage your players’ role playing, but don’t overwhelm or intimidate them. One of my players isn’t good at improvising quick speech, but likes to play charismatic characters. Giving them a chance to come up with what their character says, but not penalizing them if they can’t has been a big deal in improving their enjoyment of the game.
I'm a big proponent of not testing a players ability to act.
I'm a big proponent of not testing a players ability to act.
@@sleepinggiant4062 Yep, I’m happy to give them a chance, but I don’t force anything.
I givevout role playing XP as an incentive
Not to contradict this solid advice! Some DM advice I got just last week actually from my old DM who‘s now a player in my game.
“Stop pulling the curtain back all the time. Don’t be afraid to just let things happen organically”
I think pulling back the curtain is an awesome tool! But I now realise, when it was pointed out to me, I run to that extreme too often as a way to make sure my players never were confused or lost. I think it also probably depends on your players but for me the lesson was one in not underestimating my group. Sometimes your breadcrumbs will be enough, the party is genre savvy enough, the encounter is super well designed. Constantly undercutting the players trying to RP by calling out a mini game or mechanics can feel just as bad and can do a lot to harm verisimilitude.
You can foreshadow by leaving a trail of clues in the background and not hit them over the head with it.
Also, bringing up mechanics constantly makes it feel like a video game when it isn't.
@@aiodensghost8645 yes it totally breaks immersion you're in a fantasy world
One thing I love to do is to offer choices in critical moments or to avoid excessive frustration from failed rolls.
For example -- Player is trying to grapple his enemy and hold him in place. He tried that for his last 2 turns and failed his check to do so. Once he fails a third time (He really wants that grapple) I offer him a choice: You can succeed at that grapple, but your enemy gets a free hit on you. You're opening yourself up for an attack in order to get a hold of him.
Another one -- Player is about to get hit HARD, and he will very probably die from this massive critical hit. I give him the choice of surviving the hit by using his magic weapon to block it, breaking the weapon in the process.
That kind of choice usually comes in dramatic moments or to manage frustration like in example 1, but it always involves some sort of sacrifice, a price to be paid by the player.
It takes a bit of sensibility from the DM to avoid doing it too much, but so far it's worked really well and we got some cool or intense moments because of it, along with a better game flow overall!
One of the most fun campaigns I had the pleasure of GM-ing was to work in to the narration of the game the character flaws a player had given her character. It was a tone deaf Bard, that had the chance of Wild Magic occurring when she cast a spell. So much fun... plus it made the tavern and town events more interesting.
Just pledged to the KS, easy decision. Your content has been what has not only made me comfortable enough to GM, but made me love being the forever GM. Thanks for all you do to keep the TTRPG community going by making being the GM a fun choice for newer players!
Liam O'Brian in Critical Role's Campaign 3 puts on a masterclass of narative description in combat. He is playing a battlemast fighter (a solid but very vanilla class) in a campaign with some wild homebrewed classes and some how he manages to stand out every combat just in the way he describes his actions. Most of the time its just move and hit, but Liam never simply says "i step here and attack".
At age 13, I started playing RPGs with no game system or dice, and what held it all together was the GM's narration skills. We all trusted him to fairly determine the outcome of combat, and he didn't go easy on us. I GMed a similar systemless adventure years later, a personal homebrew called Black Ops, and everyone loved it because of the focus on narrative and improv above all else.
LOVE me some Glass Cannon!
For the lifting the curtain I usually roll out in the open when something major can happen that's decided by the dice.
Love seeing Glass Cannon podcast love. Troy and Joe are amazing GM/players
One thing I've learned over the years as a GM is, it's not all about you. Sure, you wanna show off your cool stuff you made up--but it is just as important for the players to have a chance to strut their stuff. You need to give everyone a chance to do their thing, whether their thing is showing off what their badass character can do or their thing is quirky roleplaying.
My trick to getting descriptions right is that I use the 'minds eye' approch inspired by Dimension 20. When something happens that the PCs experiance and this may become important this is told to the PCs - eg a shattered window may become a exit/difficult terrain and a 'thorns' effect if a PC or enemy falls prone or crawls over it. A sudden chill might just be the breeze or the breath of a invisible monster...but there's only one way to find out! This also means that I repeat PC actions when I need to verify that I'm imagining it correctly so the players can fill in any gaps e.g - is the PC looking left or right stabbing wildly or trying to stay hidden? Are they paying attention to something that would show up on a passive check or busy arguing with their party members? I use the same trick to give clues in combat, rather then using statblocks I might describing a monster as big and strong as hints to it's HP, a fast moving monster may have high Dex and AC. This way I train my players to pay attention and consider their PCs as characters existing in a world vs statblocks. My go-to line when DMing is now "how EXACTLY do you do this?" To remind the players that this isn't a videogame, their answer will dictate the rules used, and often a good answer that fits into the moment and 'makes sense' for the PC will bypass the roll entirely! I also hate long pointless descriptions so if there are no actions the PCs can take from telling them something (eg does the colour of a PCs clothes matter in this moment?!?) I will wait for a PC to ask first, or for that detail to become significant (eg if the PC spills a drink on them).
Bless you, Luke, keep doing what you're doing! But since you've asked, here are some of my GM lessons learned.
Ever since I started DMing (at the age of 13), I've always been cursed with the desire to make my own TTRPG systems, or at least heavily homebrew existing ones. These are the things I've found over the two decades:
1) Don't try to make the perfect and complete system right from the start. Make solid foundations, and then flesh out the rules you need to start playing. Many "great" ideas will not survive their meeting with reality, and you will have to tweak, adjust, change, and sometimes even rework entire pillars of the system. Don't be married to your original ideas, they will have to mature!
2) Be as open as possible with your players - they're the ones playing in your game, so if a mechanic is overly burdensome and they struggle with it even after (let's say) ten sessions, it is probably not a very good mechanic. If something feels cool to you, but everyone finds it a nuisance, think of how to implement the rule differently so that it is actually cool in practice, not just on paper.
3) Admit your mistakes and apologize when you're rebalancing something your players enjoyed, but it was OP/game-breaking. Sometimes things (skills, items...) need to be nerfed, as nobody can expect the creative fuckery players will come up with, but try your best to soften the blow (nerf the broken thing, but offer viable alternatives). On that note, remember that it is always easier to make something stronger or give a bigger reward next time, as opposed to taking something away, which may hurt. That's why I tend to be stingier and more cautious in the beginning, and once it feels safe, I start giving out more, or allowing more ridiculous skill/spell combinations.
4) In my opinion, no ttrpg system is perfect for all types of play (think DnD 5E vs. Call of Cthulhu vs. Warhammer Fantasy). Build your system with some reference in mind (is it sci-fi? Is it high or low fantasy?) and tailor it to suit your needs. This is essentially why I created my latest homebrew system we've been using the past couple years: I absolutely love DnD, but at the same time I vehemently dislike how insanely powerful PCs get, and how quickly it happens. Around level 6+ is when things start to break down for me - you can bring back (recently) dead people, you can solve most problems with a spell, tough fighters start being able to survive 100ft falls, etc. Because that didn't click with my idea of a compelling world and adventure, I made my system witch a far flatter power curve. But what works for us may be an utter slog for others. What's the world you wanna experirence with your players?
Narrative description is a VALUABLE game mechanic. I have used this method long before the internet was even a thing. Describing player critical hits for the less experienced gamer and allowing the more experienced player to describe how they deliver a killing blow if they make a critical hit (or roll a 20 in the old D&D games) that kills their opponent. The excitement and laughter from the players justifies that narrative description for those who succeed in an epic moment. Also, explaining a fumble can be less embarrassing to a player if they roll a 1 for a skill they are normally very skilled at. Using a narrative by explaining how an unexpected environmental circumstance justifies their fumble while adding an element to the immersion. "A splash of water from between the two ships, as they slowly close the gap, engulfs you when you swing over to the enemy's deck. This causes you to loose your sight at that critical moment when you land. You are unable to judge your timing appropriately. You blindly release the rope, enabling you to loose your footing and fall flat on the deck. You take 5 points of damage as you struggle to catch your breath." This is a little less embarrassing for the swashbuckler character. At the same time it illustrates the danger of the encounter and keeps the characters immersed in the action.
Love your emphasis on keeping narrative descriptions short. Really helps keep the flow and pace of the game high. That being said, long descriptions can be great for tension, so it can be used as a dial for how dilated time appears to the players.
I've found out that long descriptions usually become boring because DM are not so good at reading thing and making them interesting (or maybe even at writing descriptions). If you don't practice it, it's probably not worth it to go further than mentioning 2-3 details. Of course it's like improvisation and voices, with practices it get better, just don't assume that you reading cool stuff automatically translate into a cool moment.
@@vincent-antoinesoucy1872yes keep it short and sweet, this isn't writing a scene in a novel. Overly descriptive info dumps will bore players and you can usually communicate the same info with less words.
So glad you're giving some love to the Glass Cannon Network. Most people know Mark Hulmes, Brennan, and of course Matt Mercer. No one really talks about the Naish!
Joe does and excellent job with Delta Green
Narrative descriptions elevate a game so much. Sometimes I pass it off to the player while I'm doing math.
Super excited to kickstart this. I've been running a "how to be a GM" class for two years or so in my community, and I'd love to see what you all have to say as well. I actually just picked up a number of other books on the subject to see what others have to say as well, cause I got curious how everyone approaches teaching differently.
For anyone curious or concerned, yes I charge, no its not much (basically just enough to pay for some of the materials), its main function is to provide a few tools and a bit of confidence for those who are looking for it, and I've never once told anyone that they *need* such a thing to be a good gm (I certainly didn't take one when I started).
One thing I've learned over the years is that a monster encounter can be as exciting or boring as you write the monsters to be. Even if the monsters are standard minions, if you have them only able to walk on the walls and ceiling, it's instantly a bit more exciting.
Also, I once had a mimic eat a legendary weapon that one of my players threw at it and it ran off with it. That instantly created a tension that wasn't there before.
I love 6, i had never thought of doing a key word tone list. And i ha e been doing this for over 20 years. Only goes to show you can always learn something new.
I've learned to introduce the games as if it was a tv series or movie, something familiar to people, describing what the camera is showing and where it is moving as if they are watching an actual show. My players love it 😂
(Joe O'Brien does this very well in Delta green, I took inspiration from him when I first started and kept the habit of doing it, even telling the story of how the players meet, introducing them while we see them in the introduction shots).
current game I am DM'ing i have two new players who, in a previous campaign we were all players in, never got to shine and when they tried narrating, their actions were not acted upon by the DM to 'flourish' some spice into the descriptions. I understand the DM for that game was busy (it having around 12 players on average) and needing to work through scenarios and everybody's happenings, but it all came down to mechanical descriptions and actions.
In my sessions, I have been encouraging descriptive actions. When the player describes that she wants her character to try to scale the nearest building with an alleyway nearby, i ask for a stealth check (to see if she can duck into the alley without the guards seeing her), a climb check to see how quickly and if she is able to scale the wall. She describes that she also wants to use her daggers to gain better holds since she remembers some of the buildings were made of various materials that would make climbing a bit easier. She rolls, describing the general stone she would be looking for as well. After rolling, instead of saying 'your character climbs a building with a successful climb check' and say 'As (character) looks around, becoming slightly winded from the guards chasing her through the streets, gaining ground slowly with each passing moment, (character) suddenly brandishes two small but sturdy daggers, slightly blunted from their use in this manner before. (character) leaps into an alleyway and begins digging the blades into the sandstone wall and begins her ascent to the rooftops above. Her grip is sure and steady, her footholds making quick work of the climb before rolling over the crest of the building, panting while laying face up at the sky. The warm stone roof beneath her and low rise wall next to her gives an air of security as she hears the guards boots below her, run past, pausing a moment at the alley before continuing onwards down the street. She has evaded her quarry...for now.'
This extra time given to the details I previously give, along with their desire for how they want it to go has really helped bring out their imagination and voice at the table. Three sessions later, she is really narrating and role playing like I have never seen. Getting into (in character) arguments over the plans and details of missions, how they act around each other with each new piece of personal information about their characters, etc.
So my advice is, when you can, take an extra minute to describe and include the details the players wanted to really let them know you are listening, and want to see the characters in their minds come to life at the table.
I had a DM that would preroll for events happening in the campaign, be it an encounter or weather or whatever, anything that would happen to the party in the course of a day. 4 rolls for each day and he would roll about a week's worth of game time for this. It allowed him to focus on the story, whatever the players and him created during that time then he would check his prerolled numbers versus an events table and would organically weave it into the story. A pinch of preparation made for a surprise for everyone at the table, GM included.
One thing I do as a DM is create my players backstory and character with them. They will have the last say in the creation, always. But I give ideas that might be cool or interesting based on the world I'm creating. I've noticed that I'm much more invested in their characters and they love the experience we have while creating an interesting character. I really recommend it.
About narrative descriptions. If you have the players describe things they do, they can easily give you a starting point. In the clip from the CR episode, she already described what she was doing, so it was extremely easy to follow. So, try to always engage with the players asking how they do things, how they act, even how they imagine certain things to look like, etc.
One of my favorites is asking how something obvious looks. "What does your magic missile look like?" It's a great simple way to make it feel more personal and demonstrate to the players that even the smallest things can be claimed as their own.
#7 FTW - I have always been completely and utterly befuddled by the "Rule system X is no good for setting/genre Y" concept. Sure, rule system Z might have a system for something that really shines in a certain genre and therefore makes it a better candidate to play something in that kind of setting. But to say that a rule set is just flat-out incompatible or poor for a certain genre or setting has either struck me as someone lacking imagination or a real understanding of what a role playing game is.
Loved the quotation fingers when mentioning High Rollers. Very nice. XD
I have had the experience that I got to become a GM by having the courage to do it and to trust that my successes outweigh my mistakes. That I can be confident in the quality of my adventures.
I once used a thunder wave to clear an area of difficult terrain (caltrops) with the intention of moving it further into enemy foot traffic and pelting them with the caltrops. Some spicy action description could certainly have made the act more fun
In addition to watching yet another great video from you, I came here to congratulate you on fully founding your kickstarter in 6 frikking minutes!
Pre selecting emotive specific words for common synonyms is a good one. The brutish barbarain does just the party, tell he snarls or barks information...
i've only been doing the dm thing for about a year and a half and really the most important thing after 'do your prep work' is: Let Go. like really. you can think you've planned for everything, have all these ideas, best intentions but at the end of the day, just let go. breathe. let the game and the players go where they will (within reason). attempting to control every little detail will just make a dm stressed, then eventually stress out the players and make the game no longer fun.
The first part is crucial, otherwise you'll have players who always ask what their bonus is, and not know the minute differences between Attack and Damage Rolls.
I tried using the Lingering Injury table from the DMG. The players were initially cool with it, but then because it took around nine sessions before it ever came up again, they forgot about it and found it to be an annoying penalty when someone did finally fall to 0 hit points. So we scrapped it.
This is great, I definitealy do all this as a major part of setting my players expectations, great DM examples.
Great vid. I’m happy to see Troy and Joe get their shine finally.
House rule thing reminded me of one of my groups recently. So most of the group is inexperienced except myself and one other player. The dm is sorta experienced but he is under 18 and this is only the second campaign he ever ran (the other experienced player is his older brother who introduced him to the game way back when). Well, I’m experienced with 5e as it’s the edition I started and only one I have tried and is the one I plan to run when I finally dm, so i pay close attention to it. The other experienced player is more experienced with 3.5e though. And so he is actually the one getting most confused because there is certain mechanics he mixes up between the two. This leaves our dm confused sometimes which has him relying more on me for help in rulings. I found that a bit uncomfortable but he is a kid and he is a good dm actually. His brother also means well and is genuinely confused at times. Anyway, to curb some of this, we actually adapted one of the rules for 3.5 and made it a possible bonus action for players to take. Several reasons, I hated shooting down the brother player because the rules he thinks he is following aren’t ones 5e has. Two, I could tell that the dm was starting to be uncomfortable too and genuinely wanted to give his brother a positive answer. And finally, three, the most important reason we adapted this new house rule, was because it actually helped out our frontliners better. It also helped out those players who don’t usually have a use for their bonus action and so just don’t do anything with it. It felt like a waste. So we enacted this house rule and it went well and seemed to work flawlessly in combat without feeling overpowered. We did add it to the discord channel that we made specially for it that so we could track and reference houserule specific information. Anyway, this was nice and I feel like there is less pressure on me too as being the 5e experienced person. I don’t want to be a rules lawyer but part of my role at that table is to help teach even though I’m doing it from the player side. Except for the brother player, all the rest of the table is under 18. So we both help the dm with social conflict and advice on rulings and helping the party gently pick up the hints the dm is trying to provide. We also set an example of merging roleplay and flavoring into character creation and how one goes about playing dnd. Except for that hiccup, over all it’s a fun and smooth experience and I love playing at this table with these people. I see all the young players and the dm going on to be great players and dms. They definitely have the skills for it now. They really just needed more experience….and less murderhobos in the party lol 😅 which maaaaaay have been one of the initial reasons I joined up. Poor dm needed an outsider adult player who knew their stuff to help out and take some of the pressure off his poor older brother who was basically herding cats at that point.
It's absolutely okay for a DM to ask for rules advice from a more experienced player. Sometimes, it's better to take it slower and learn the rules rather than to just skip over with a temporary ruling and taking it up later on. The latter is good for arguments, but less so for learning the game.
Additional options for the bonus action is one thing I've seen a lot of want for. Several classes just don't use it that much, which does put them down a bit in the action economy.
I know as a player, I have a hard time with maps (ironically my one-shot character is a cartographer). I appreciate when DMs alter maps or give hints when a party is being absolutely slaughtered and it isn't intentionly set up that way. I have been to a death game with 36 players where the goal of the game was not to die too many times using pregenerated characters. There were only 8 to choose from and one guy had to double up.
I'm GMing for Cyberpunk RED as my very first GMing. I'll be on session #3 and tips like this makes me feel a lot better
My players helped me co-opt a house rule of Luck. In describing random events, I would, more often than not, make the random event go against the players. Now, I roll 3d6 and only tell me how many 1s and 6s you rolled. This would give me an idea how bad or good this random event was for the player. I try to keep this as anything beyond any skill check or ability the player has will fall to luck. This has helped my players feel that the world I'm running is no longer out to get them as well as helping my lazy butt decide just how bad or good an event effects them.
Troy and Joe are my favourites out there! Great GMs to take inspiration from 👍👍
11:23 got to say I 100% believe taking the time to narrate consequences of players actions, it's a low cost high return way to give the players a more enjoyable experience without which the GM often would need to work much harder to achieve
My main problem when it comes to narrative description is that I can only describe the same spell that one of my players used for the last 2 or 3 turns so many ways before I run out of descriptions.
Troy Lavallee is my favourite GM, big love for the Naish!
The best advice that I've only recently embraced is this.
Play the game that is being run.
And ask your players to play the game you have prepared.
As a player if I turn up to a game that is about life on the edges of civilisation like a western, where the morals are grey and life is hard and full of mystery beyond the borders of the pop up resource harvesting towns, I'm just going to have more fun and be more part of the world if I make a character the either fits those themes or is set up to hit all the pitfalls of the set up and learn from them. But if I stat a power ranger and insist on yelling "it's Morphin' time!" Every time I activate my suit up mechanic and just ignore the gritty, morally complex game being run *I* may have a good time, but it will fundamentally be at odds with the game the DM has set up.
As a DM I have been frustrated fairly consistently with a couple of players just ignoring the setting and lore I've established in my setting doc and at session zero and just done something they think is cool amd dropped into my setting with no consideration for what should exist.
I've had a literal space marine dropped into a game of thrones game. Down to them calling pelor the god-emperor and writing oaths of moment to wax seal to their armour. It's a really cool character if it makes literally any sense to exist in the setting. But it thoroughly derailed my game until they got themselves super killed by ignoring the gritty and deadliness of the game I was running.
Players showing up for the wrong genre, deadlyness level and setting put a spanner in the works for a dm on a fundamental level, and apart from the practical problems it's also insulting to the dm. It communicates "I don't want to play your game" to them. And that sucks.
I think the best advice I could give would be to have a code of conduct in writing. Especially when playing with new people. The game will run A LOT smoother if expectations are understood, and the players know what kind of behavior is not allowed. It really cuts down on the amount of murder hobos as well.
Good idea and don't hesitate to boot problematic players. Too many rpg horror stories are about everyone putting up with someone's crappy behavior for far too long
Regarding the having descriptions but keeping them short, it reminds me of that lil anedocte of the guy who sent a letter that said “sorry for the long letter, if I had time I would have sent a shorter one” or smth like that. I think most DMs who are not used to doing this don’t know how to describe and when they do, they end up on the verbose side of things, they (and/or the players) don’t enjoy it and they don’t try again. When the reality is: ya just gotta keep practicing. Slowly you’ll get better at being more concise. Also an expansive vocabulary isn’t a bad idea either
My DMs have it so the players narrate their kills in combat. One time my Barbarian threw his Spear Of Returning out a window, I had it turn the guy into a shish kabab, and hadn't thought about the reprocussions. My DM made it come back with the guy still on it. Then he turned into a zombie, for kicks. It was canon, but just very ironic.
These are great tips!! I've watched all of these GMs and admire their abilities (also a Naish member)! Thanks for the great vid 🤓
Thank you! :D
My game master often allows us to do different things if we describe a good way to do something. Like targeting limbs or other such to weaken an enemy or so on. But the best thing I ever did was take an enemy that would kill us, and cast friends on the enemy and walked them to the air hatch and space them. It was one of the best plays in any game we ever did. Or another time when I used a very large energy sword to cut through the outside of a hull of a ship to weaken the position of the enemy then crawl in and save people stuck inside that had been captured for enslavement and killed the enemies well they had been exposed to space. As well as loads of other things from trying to decide the behavior and action to get the results we wanted. We have open an air lock well in space suits to space the position of an enemy for the advantage it would give us for exposing them to the vacuum of space. But the person we had been trying to save had like the enemy not in spacesuits in some cases but not others. I also would add don't try and impend player creativity if able, creative solutions should be rewarded.
All great advice and in my experience have indeed made the difference between a decent campaign and a legendary one.
Oh my, the very first thing (I am commenting before seeing the rest at this point) Yes for skill challenges but also for other non standard rules applications. I was playing in a game with our long time DM and we end up getting goaded into a pit fight to gain information that we need. I had a combat oriented mood druid and we also had a fighter in the pit. We are ready to go and I have a form picked out ahead of time for my turn. Then suddenly the DM says "Oh we aren't using normal combat rules we are doing stat checks and non standard rolls to work out winners and losers." So that screws me over and the fighter to that are relying on our actual combat abilities such as to hit mods and number of attacks etc. Instead we end up doing str vs str or dex or even con instead and my three attack beast form is totally neutered, because it has great attack and damage but low basic stats. And we are making only one stat check roll not actually rolling to hit. The fighter nat 20's his first stat check then gets hammered because of average rolls after that. No way these enemies would have beaten us if we used the normal combat rules. We were totally blind sided by the rules AFTER we jumped into the pit fight. I was not happy. I don't mind losing a fight but I didn't lose a fight I lost to new rules that were not explained ahead of time.
I love glass cannon
I really like that we see real dnd game masters at work.
I've been DMing for over 20 years. And I'm still finding my style. LOL.
I need to work on narrative descriptions
Good tips
Follow the dice. .. if a player wants to do something cool or that will alter the world, let them roll. If they roll well, the fates have spoken, and that thing is now part of the world. Example is their a hole in the roof. Roll high on a perception, and the answer is yes. On a larger scale, an artificer seeks a tome on how to build a clockwork creature. Roll an investigation. Of course, as the DM, you don't have to make the process easy.
An amazing and helpful video once again. Thank you, Luke.
On point 6 I would like it if you could elaborate a little more on the words that evoke emotions and making a list of adjectives or nouns (or even verbs and adverbs) that work well for these GM descriptions. Maybe show more examples of how these words could better describe a situation or description of an area. "The very appearance of this foreboding archway to the cemetery acts as a natural deterrent for visitors looking to explore what lies beyond. The cascading mists from the hill, overlooking the withered stone epitaphs, silently cloaks it's permanent inhabitants." Words like 'foreboding' or 'deterrent' followed by 'cascading' or even 'silently cloaks', when used correctly or creatively, can add spice to the immersion.
Perhaps you could teach us how to come up with some of these words. Adjectives and adverbs (when not overused) can really enhance your descriptions if they are written and practiced beforehand. You don't have to be a terrific writer to do it either. Just envision the picture you have in your head, practice writing down the words that describe it along with how it makes you feel as you picture it, and commit to using the words you chose. If you don't feel you are using the appropriate words to describe what it is your players are witnessing, describe the feeling it gives you when you picture it. Players don't usually like being told what they feel by the GM. So you can use words like "Depending on who you are as a character, it almost makes you feel.... [enter feelings here]" The "depending on who you are" gives a sort of disclaimer that you are not forcing the players to feel something, but that a "normal" person would probably feel when confronted with the event or scene. I recommend this only if you are having trouble choosing the right words to describe the scene.
Keep in ear out for your players thoughts and predictions. Sometimes a player will give you a better idea than you had for the story and then they get "I was right!!!" moment too.
Number 4, to me, it is not an "another ball to juggle". Au contraire, I take the time to narrate stuff so I can reassess the players of the combat situation, enemy positions and intentions, etc... Combat is way simpler to narrate and keep track of if I do this.
Also, amps up the players and incentives then to also narrate their actions
In regards to #7, this is why I've jumped off the D&D train - specifically I dropped the latest iteration of D&D, because WotC can't take my 5e and 3.5e books from me. But WotC has made it blatantly apparent they want to maximize their control over the D&D IP by making it an online product with digital books and a VTT. So the only way you'll be able to play D&D in the future is the way WotC wants you to play D&D. It'll basically be a video game, and at that point you might as well just go play Dragon Age again.
I like this showcase style of video.
As a relatively new DM I sometimes feel like I need to read a thesaurus for fun so I don't sound repetitive and boring when I describe things. Or maybe its just me.
Just remember that the other players aren't looking at the thesaurus. If you have to define many of the words you use, this will lag gameplay.
@@EnkiTeaches I just realized I should probably ask them 😅
@shaarangvaze8623 It's fun being a linguist, but you have to understand most people aren't.
Find a mentor. I've really appreciated people that have mentored me along the way.
If you don't know an answer or the players catch you off guard, take a breath and think. You don't need to answer everything fast.
When doing live play I find if I really want to inject some quick energy to my players, i stand up when discribing the important scene to them. It doesnt have to be long but it does seem to work. And if I stand through a chase scene it seem to help keep the pace and pressure going.
Stan Lee would do that explaining his writing to artists
i litterally just watched that episode of highrollers today lmao
I love 3rd party content because 5e is so vanilla to me. I reskin monsters and homebrew a lot. I basically use 5e rules as a backbone. Already backed the book and I'm hella excited for it get here.
Today I learned I'm apparently a pro GM! I've been doing these for years
Im running my group through Fantasy High Sophomore Year right now
1:49 so for example if you were running ToA, would you let your players know the DC for whether they successfully navigate the hex crawl or whether they get lost?
8: Trick your PCs into flunking their own carefully constructed plans! 😈
I was DMing 4 PCs, all tribal warriors. Their most present enemy at the time was a Shaman, and they had spent the previous 2 game sessions just gathering evidence & catching up to him.
Finally they confront him, and a 'Banner' (team of fighters taking turns to do one vs one) begins between our heroes & other tribesmen loyal to the Shaman. As our heroes take turns to fight surrounded by a crowd, each of the PCs insists they are not taking their eyes off the slippery Shaman.
As the Banner progressed, a friend (NPC) is injured but refuses to back down & looks like he's about to killed. Our most personable PC wants to persuade him to back down so I offer him a persuade check, adding that if any of the other PCs want to join in, he can add 1 to his check for each of them. Of course they all agree & the attempt is successful. However, a few moments later they realise that the Shaman has escaped. "NO FAIR!" scream all the players, "I said I was watching him!"
No. You ALL took your eyes off him at the same time... Although they protested, they knew I was right.
They weren't very happy with me for a while, but later agreed that I'd been very clever 🤓
I have actually been failing with descriptions as I pull battle maps from the web. I don't spend the time describing what they can already see.
If you always have extreme bad luck as a player like me, become a DM.Your players will love you and will feel more powerful than they have in a while
NAISH!
In my group, I have some players that intentionally play kleptomaniacs or murder hobos just to see what others at the table do. Let players like that do their thing! They need to have fun too. That doesn't mean they can't be placed in prison, though. If you fear that it will make too much of an unnecessary side story, rule a character as permadead for now, then maybe allow that character to come back later in the campaign.
Make sure the players have fun and these nutbag characters they make are good stories to tell later.
I love *reading* The Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit; but if my GM wanted to make Tolkien level descriptions, every *scene* would take the whole *session*.
Take time to listen to your players. It’s the most important rule, in my opinion.
Thank you for your information video
I backed the kickstarter.
The GM lesson I found out over the years is that I don’t have friends to play with IRL 😢