Tumgik
#Dungeon master advice
cloaksandcapes · 2 months
Text
Problems Brewing with Homebrew
Dear DM Robbie,One of my players always asks for homebrew "fixes" to increase the power of his weaker subclasses. He is more experienced than me so he assures me that his changes won't imbalance the game, but I'm not so sure. Any suggestions?
-Confused at the Table
Dear Confused at the Table,
This is a great question that could have a lot of different answers depending on various contexts. I’ve been in your seat myself many times and have seen other Dungeon Masters struggle with players who feel underpowered but are committed to their subclass aesthetic. I’ve also seen countless players both intentionally and unwittingly cause problems with wanting homebrew rules included.
My stance is that homebrew, when used correctly and balanced, can be used to help elevate the fun at your table and fine-tune mechanics to further the story being told at large, or on an individual player basis.
Before getting into all of it, the key thing to remember is that communication will always be your most important tool as a Dungeon Master. Talk to your players about what they want, why they want it, and how it’s going to affect the game. But remember, you are the Dungeon Master and this is your table. You have a responsibility to the party at large to keep things fair and balanced, so ultimately, you do have the final say.
No Rules Are Forever
The great thing about being the Dungeon Master is that you get to decide the rules, but they aren’t unbreakable laws once put into effect. If you’re unsure about a suggestion from your players, feel free to run with it for a session or two and feel it out. If you feel it’s too powerful, walk it back or re-tool it so it feels more in line with the rest of the party’s power level.
Homebrewing is a very necessary tool that all Dungeon Masters should learn to use at some point. Not every subclass is a Circle of the Stars Druid that can drop a 1st-level Healing Word spell for 31 hit points. And for someone who may be playing a sub-optimal class, because it fits their character, there’s nothing wrong with giving them a magic item or new feature to boost their capabilities.
It can also be extremely rewarding for the players and you as a Dungeon Master to give out awesome rewards that aren’t in the rules. I’ve rewarded players with Ability Score Increases despite the level-up not calling for it, as well as giving out free feats when they accomplish something momentous.
In some cases, there might be a fix that is present in the way other subclasses operate, like Hexblades being allowed to use Charisma as their primary ability modifier for attacks. But Paladins for some odd reason are forced to use Strength despite Charisma also being their primary ability modifier? Do what feels right for you and whatever is going to make things the most fun for your players, but always communicate clear expectations that if something homebrewed starts to feel overpowered, you may have to reign it in.
This includes if a player brings you third-party content that you think is too strong. Edit that content as you see fit so that it aligns with the rest of the table.
Balance in Dungeons & Dragons and TTRPGs is a fluid thing that you’ll learn to interpret on a game-by-game basis. Power Creep is an issue everyone struggles with, so don’t let the fear of that get in the way of the fun you can have.
Collaborate With Your Homebrew
Customizing things for your table can have a profound impact on your players beyond just making sure they all feel equally powerful with their mechanics. Sometimes players come up with amazing ideas for their characters and the themes they want to explore in a story, but the official D&D options don't help support those ideas.
Take time to work with your players and come up with your own! In my own game with the Second Chances, our Paladin Rosalind wanted her playstyle to be more about taking hits for her comrades so they didn’t have to. She wanted this image of a powerful protector who got knocked down and stood back up, being the shield for her friends. It’s not something the Paladin class leans into very well, so we homebrewed her an Oath of Protection.
There are thousands of third-party creators out there making so many amazing things. Some might fit well at your table, some may not, but they can all be used as inspiration for creating something that does fit.
Ultimately, I don’t think you should be afraid to try new things and to collaborate with your players on how you can best help them have the most fun with the character they're playing. Communicate, listen, respond. Make sure you’re expressing your concerns and that down the line, things may need to be rebalanced or re-tuned as you have a chance to test them out.
In most cases, if you’ve got a good table and good friends this isn’t going to be an issue. Everyone wants to have fun and build a safe table to share stories and ideas. If, however, rebalancing seems to be an issue and a player becomes combative or antagonistic because they can’t have their way…then a more difficult talk will need to happen about their attitude at the table. But that would require an entirely different post.
If you have a question or a situation you'd like advice on from Dungeon Master Robbie, you can submit it via this link, https://forms.gle/d4rib7nR9kiHYf3fA
If you have a website dedicated to TTRPGs or Dungeons & Dragons and would like to feature Dear DM Robbie, or guest-posting, please reach out as we'd love to collaborate!
You can also find all previous posts of Dear DM Robbie for free at the Cloaks & Capes Patreon.
19 notes · View notes
dice-wizard · 2 years
Text
Hey traditional TTRPG game designers. Hey, you. Yeah you. Look at me.
Stop including mechanics that remove player engagement.
What do I mean by this? I mean shit like stunning effects that prevent a character from taking actions and therefore remove a player's ability to continue to participate, abilities that knock out a player character and therefore remove the player from participating in a fight, effects that instantly kill a character (therefore removing a player from participating), and literally any other effect you can think of that ends in the player no longer playing.
Trad designers, our artform is dependent on player participation. People enjoy maximalist, crunchy, tactical games because they're fun to engage with. What's the point of having all these rules if you're going to include things that stop your players from using them??
You're gonna say "oh, but only D&D does this" - no it fucking does not. These rules are everywhere. They're even in Blades in the Dark. Stop it.
Here are some cool alternatives. I'm trying to present these as open ended as possible:
Force a choice between two actions
You can't attack this enemy, but you can attack another, make a movement action, or any other non-attack action
Present a hard bargain
Attacking this enemy means you choose between taking a certain amount of damage or accepting emotional attachment to them, causing issues later.
Present high risk and high reward
Attacking this enemy means incurring extra damage against you if you hit, but if you succeed, you gain a stat boost for the rest of the fight.
Consider stakes other than character death
In many instances this will require rules reconfiguring, but that's a topic for another post. Besides that, remember that if someone's character gets instantly killed in the first round, that player must then sit on their hands for the rest of the session.
Yeah I know "let them play an NPC" is often a "solution" to this problem, but why do that when you could just implement a rule that lets other PCs get the downed character back to the fight - like in Borderlands or Left4Dead (or Gears of War or Vermintide, or...)
Consider how much more exciting that is, and how much energy won't be lost by someone having to literally sit out while all their friends have fun. Furthermore, players make much more interesting and risky decisions when they aren't at risk of losing their blorbo.
The point is to play. Nothing else. Stop shooting yourself in the foot with your own rules.
365 notes · View notes
sarahscritfail · 3 months
Text
the best piece of dming advice I ever got, which is not mentioned almost at all in most advice videos. this one piece of advise has made me leave tables because dm’s didn’t do this. It is to ALWAYS be your players #1 fan. this doesn’t mean that you make their lives easier, because normally our favorite characters / hero’s go through hell, but it centers your relationship to your players/their characters in a very healthy way that keeps moral and storytelling up at the table. celebrate their successes , revel in those nat 20’s even though it took you three hours to plan for this boss fight and it’s done in 20 minutes, find them and the stories they come with interesting. the most overwhelming part of dming is thinking that you’re the one telling the story, and this takes a lot of the pressure off of you and can also make the story you’re telling 10x better.
8 notes · View notes
legendl0re · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
My version of the Cloaker from D&D, about to swoop down and devour some party members 🙂 How'd I do?
Made this piece for my video on running Cloakers in D&D linked below :)
youtube
17 notes · View notes
dungeoneering102 · 1 year
Text
MECHANUS: Culture & Law
Tumblr media
(art credit to Chris McDowall’s book - Electric Bastionland)
So I’m currently working on a small two-shot that will take place in Mechanus, the Plane of Absolute Law (from the current D&D cosmology). I’ve been working on designing a point crawl and developing the Capital City of Mechanus, which I named Bastion (a direct rip-off of Chris McDowall’s Electric Bastionland book).
While working on this, I started on my regular process of designing a city, and decided to share some of it with you guys. My first step in designing ANY large settlement. 
The process is simple: break it down into smaller pieces and define what they are. From there, fill each piece with ideas. So join me, as I brainstorm the template for a new city.
Cities as Districts
To better manage a city as DMs, it’s best if we divide them up into smaller segments. Districts or boroughs are good way of doing that. We can further divide those into Streets or Neighborhoods if we need to.
Most cities can be simplified into a few key districts required to run it:
Administrative District. This is where the city government is! This is the king’s court, the guards’ HQ, the city hall, maybe even the city dungeon. It’s the BEST defended and patrolled area. 
Industrial District. A city survives on what it makes. The goods a city produces travel out to generate income. Furthermore, industry provides jobs to the denizens of a city. Every city usually has one or two different industries - from coal mining to rice farming. You can even make up more unique industries that power a city, like film and theater.
Mercantile District. People tend to want stuff - food, furniture, etc. And not everyone is going to make their own stuff. So Merchants come into play. These are craftsmen and salesmen of various goods who provide to people that can’t (or won’t) provide themselves.
Sin District. Every town worth it’s salt has one of these - the slum filled with shining casinos and loud taverns, where people go to forget their worries. It’s vices might not be morally wrong, but they still are vices. 
Poor & Rich Districts. These depend on the city you make. If you want to make an economic utopia or don’t care to highlight different classes of citizens, you can just combine these into Residential District. Otherwise, these are the homes of the poor and the noble, the destitute and the wealthy. There should be obvious differences between these. It’s hard to get into the Rich District due to borders and gates, its hard to get out of Poor Districts due to its sheer size and overwhelming nature. 
Academic District. Most towns have districts dedicated to their schools, academic pursuits, scientific labs, wizard towers, what have you. Here gather the minds of the future!
Recreational Districts. These are parks, art quarters, gardens, and other places of relaxation and distraction that people can visit when they’re feeling bored. These locations may be gated behind status and luxury or they may be open to all who will come by. 
This ☝️ all is of course an oversimplification of what a city makes. But I’m just a DM and I gotta prep a session in 2 days, so I don’t have time for complex systems. Simple and easy. But if you got time and energy, I welcome anyone to come up with more complex systems of city design. If you’re interested, I can share some pointers. Consider:
Ptolus: City by the Spire, by Monte Cook. It’s considered one of the most comprehensive guides to a SINGL city.
Spire: the City Must Fall, by Rowan, Rook, & Decard. It’s a system and a setting, but man what a setting it is.
In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil, by Wolfgang Baur. It’s an old school, D&D 2e guide to Sigil, the city in the center of the universe in the Planescape setting. One of my favorites.
Tumblr media
(art credit to Strata: A Spire RPG Sourcebook, by Rowan, Rook, & Decard)
On the other hand, if you want simpler city design ideas, look here:
Electric Bastionland, by Chris McDowell. Check the GM’s section for EXCELLENT advice on quick and easy design of cities, dungeons, and wilderness. 
Fever Dreaming Marlinko, by the Hydra Cooperative. It’s a great pseudo-slavic fantasy city with nice, crunchy details.
Worlds Without Number, by Kevin Crawford. Has one of the BEST DM toolsets I’ve ever seen - including stuff for designing cities. 
24 notes · View notes
unnatural-twenty · 11 months
Text
Here's a WIP of some tips for Dungeon Masters on how to begin and maintain a long form dnd (and ttrpg in general) campaign. This advice is intended for irl table sessions. I'll be updating this as I think of more stuff and there's some more point I'll elaborate more on later
Introduction
Hi, I'm Pat. I'm a dungeon master, and I like to think I'm a pretty good one. I've run a completed 2.5 year campaign in dnd 3.5 running a small group of 2-3 from level 1 to level 20 and beyond, and I'm currently running an ongoing 5 year campaign of 4-7 people in dnd 5e which (so far) has run from level 1 to level 13.
My players have remained consistently interested and invested in the game world, their characters, the npcs and overall plots of our games. They've both created and commissioned wonderful pieces of art for both the campaign in general and their characters, and I've done the same for them. They trust me to handle their stories with respect, challenge them and entertain them, as well as allow them the freedom to make strong and meaningful changes that permanently impact the world they play in. My current party are my closest and dearest friends, and the game we're running is something that, I consider my masterpiece. My Magnum Opus, my life's work. Is it perfect? Absolutely not, it's a chaotic mess. We've missed sessions, taken long haituses, and sometimes left the table feeling that an individual game might of been lacking. I've made errors in judgement while dm'ing and sometimes I've had to put to my foot down on my players, or mediate arguments. They've also taken the story on wild turns that I would never have seen coming! We've had players join for individual sessions or story arcs that last a few weeks or months before leaving again. The Party have been heroes and terrorists, the tools of fate and breakers of prophecy.
Not to brag but, I have the best party ever.
All of the above are basically my credentials for when I say 'hey, are you looking to start a long form campaign? here's some advice!'
We here a lot of advice in the online d&d community about specific builds for players or fun encounters for dms to run. But there is rarely any good advice on how to actually keep butt's in seats at your table and tell a great story.
The Advice
So here's a few things to keep in mind.
Spark.
The spark is simply the first idea that eventually blooms into the overall story. Something to inspire the events that will happen at the table. This can be anything from a single cool moment, or an item/s that you'd give the players, a place or person or situation or anything at all! This first idea is enough for you to want your players to interact with it. There really is no need to plan much further than this at this stage, but this first spark is vital! It doesn't even have to do with the first session, it can be something later down the story that you'd want the players to encounter for plot/fun/character reasons. Any good campaign comes from this spark.
Pick your Party.
So you have an idea for a story. Great! Now it's time to think about the people you want to share this idea with, your Players. Like I said earlier, we see a LOT of player advice about how to build characters or do 900 damage in a single run or ideal party composition (blah blah blah) but we rarely see any advice about WHO your players should be. If you genuinely want to run a long campaign that spans months or years, you need to make sure that the people at your table will be able to commit AND MOST IMPORTANTLY that you will all have fun together. Invite your friends, people that live nearby and you don't see moving anytime soon, invite people who seem interested and you think will get along. Invite people you've played with before who's presence you enjoy. Your game will live or die by these people, your story will be about them - so be discerning and honest with yourself about who you want to invite. Do not invite anyone you think is a buzzkill, do not invite people who have beef with each other, do not invite people who hate sitting down for extended period of times, and do not invite newly formed couples.
Additional clarification on this point: Sometimes couples at your tables can be dicey. Breakups between 2 players can KILL campaigns. One of them will probably leave the game, and resentment can build between you and the exiting player, even if you mean them no ill will. The exiting players absence might be keenly felt by the remaining players and the whole vibe might be ruined. However, longer and more serious relationships are less likely to suddenly and explosively end. In my current game I've had two people from the start, they were already dating for a long time when we began and they're now married.
So yes, the people you choose to play with will make or break your game, choose carefully. Which brings us to our next point -
Dont overfill your table.
For starting out I really would suggest limiting it to a maximum of 4 players + yourself as the DM. 5 players at an absolute stretch and never more than 5 to begin. You can add more people later as your skill with DMing improves and your players get more into a rhythm of sharing time and space with each other. But every player at a game is another wild element introduced into the world, another person to divide your attention among, another combatant in fights, another inventory to distribute loot into. Each player added to a game exponentially increases your workload as a Game Master - so don't overdo it if you're just starting out.
Characters
You've got an idea, you have interested and interesting people to play with. It's time to build characters. These characters are going to be ones you'll be spending a LOT of time with and a LOT of time thinking about. Your players come up with an idea or concept, and you help them stat them out and suggest people/places/locations/deities that you already know in your head exist to fill in any blanks or question marks in their characters story. Allow your players creative control over who their characters are, what gods they worship and what lands they hail from and try AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE to fold what they give you into the existing world in your mind. Giving your players this level of input over not only their own characters but some of the worldbuilding of the campaign will really help them start thinking of the campaign of theirs as well as yours. This investment is what leads to commitment and hey, its free worldbuilding. That being said, if a player tells you "This is Greg, he's a Gnome thief. He lived in the forest" End of character backstory - that's fine too! Not every character is gonna have nor should have a 5 page backstory. Some characters find themselves during play, maybe more about who they are and what they want and who they come from will develop naturally along the way. And these people have often been my favorite to play with.
My REAL tip is here though. Tell your players in no uncertain terms that no matter what character they come up with they have to 1) Be able and willing to work with strangers and 2) Be able and willing to do jobs for money. I tell them that 'This is a cooperative game, your starting point is level 1 adventurers who've left their homes and who will be working TOGETHER to solve difficult problems for loot and treasure and money, you can't play an antisocial wierdo whos going to immediately dick over the other players. thats not fun and we're all here to have fun together.' Sidenote, I VASTLY prefer and reccomend traditional pencil and paper character sheets. They're discreet, personal and don't take up space. If you're at a table and all your players and you all have your laptops out, it's a logistical nightmare. Table space can be limited, plugs can be limited, you don't know if your players are distracted on social media. Same goes with phone and app based character sheets to a lesser extent. Yes, you will have to replace the original character sheet eventually as it gets rubbed out and filled in as the game progresses. This is a small price to pay for more space on the table to put snacks, drinks, maps and minis, and avoid excess screen time and distraction....
That being said if a player is playing a spellcaster I HIGHLY reccomend That they download a Spell App on their phone to pull up spell descriptions and reference what their spells actually do. I can't stress how much time and bullshit this saves. Help them find one they like and maybe install it yourself, that way you can pull up this info on your phone at a moments notice. You can either track spell slots in app or on paper, dealers choice.
TBC
Individual and joint session 0's / tutorials
planning the first game JUST DO IT
Actions have Consequences
Be Fair
it's not about you
kill your darlings
you are not smarter than your players.
you are not smarter than your players because you know more about the world than they do
balance wins and losses
downtime
loot
Flagged Danger versus Unflagged Danger
Combat and common problems with it
Framing Expectations
Player Versus Player
So, your Players did something so unexpected you could do nothing but roll with it and now you're half a planet away from the plot.
Being a player makes you a better dm
One shots
Mini sessions and solo sessions
Other game systems
How to handle dm/gm burnout
Idea Piracy, it's fun easy and free
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, THIS IS A GAME, HAVE FUN
17 notes · View notes
Text
I’ve come up with a clue for my next campaign that I know logically is cool but does involve me having to sing for them over zoom. Do I kill myself or what
2 notes · View notes
Note
Hello there DM! I am a (very new) DM, and I have a question. I am running a oneshot, and designing the PCs for my players (mostly inexperienced) to pick from. I haven't designed the monsters yet (waiting on the monster manual from the library) so I'm trying to decide if I should put all the PCs at level 5 or so (instead of level 1) to make sure they have a fighting chance against the monsters I send them. Would you raise their level a bit, or leave them at level 1? Or does it depend heavily on what I choose with the monsters?
Hello! Thank you so much for your ask and welcome to the wonderful world of DMing!
Starting with your question on levels, I personally recommend tapping the starting level out at level 3 with brand new players. It's not so simple that your players could get bored but also not so complicated that they could get confused and overwhelmed.
When it comes to encounters, you'll want to consider 3 things:
What story do you want to tell?
What monsters and/obstacles do you want to put in to tell that story?
What level do your players need to be in order to overcome those obstacles?
The first two are pretty self explanatory. Do you want to run a Gothic adventure? Then your players might encounter spooky mansions and vampires. Sci-fi? Spaceships and robots. Classic Fantasy? Dungeons and Dragons ���. When you have a direction, what to fill it with becomes easy. And when you know what level your players are, then the catalog to choose from narrows down even more.
Monsters have what's called a CR level. This is their relative power level in relation to the player's level. For example, a giant rat has a CR of 1/8, a vampire has a CR of 5, and a young red dragon has a CR of 10. A level 5 party could easily handle themselves against quite a few giant rats. Likewise, they could take on one vampire, giving them a fun challenge that is easily beatable. However, put a level 5 party against a young red dragon and they very well could turn into a crispy appetizer. You don't want to run a Level 20 adventure and have your players fighting little rats in the basement nor do you want to put some bright-eyed level 1s against Tiamat herself. (I'm looking at you, Animated Cartoon.)
All in all, it's up to you! Craft an adventure that you think will be fun and more than likely your players will have fun to. Happy gaming and may the dice gods be ever in your favor!
Tumblr media
39 notes · View notes
9d12kobolds · 24 days
Text
Don't roll death saves until someone checks to see if the character is dead. Just keep track of how many rolls are queued.
2 notes · View notes
nekosdnd · 1 year
Text
Help TTRPG community!
I'm a small DM looking for alternatives to character sheet management from DND Beyond as I am planning on cancelling my subscription due to the OGL nonsense.
Changing systems is out of the question for the game we are running, so I would rather focus on minimizing giving Wizards money.
The qualities that are most important to me and my players are:
ease of use (i have first time players in my group)
Ability to easily add custom items with stats
Custom feats and abilities
spellbook
dm access/editing for party character sheets
works on both mac and windows
18 notes · View notes
juddgeeksout · 4 months
Text
Reddit GM Advice: Machinations, Gladiators & Through the Radiant Citadel
I made a list of 3 GM advice subreddits called RefAdvice. r/OSR HELP and r/DnD DMing https://www.patreon.com/emielboven/posts How to make it feel like there are complicated machinations going on in the background? Similar to WoT Daes Dae’mar byu/PrincipalSkudworth inDMAcademy Comment byu/PrincipalSkudworth from discussion inDMAcademy https://www.patreon.com/emielboven/posts Arena fight for…
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
2 notes · View notes
cloaksandcapes · 2 months
Text
Crawling Clueless in Dungeons
Dear DM Robbie, How can I make a dungeon crawl exciting? Mine seem to drag on for the players and they get bored. -Clueless in the Dungeon Dear Clueless, This is a question I ask myself and still I struggle with a solid answer. Like most things that come with being a Dungeon Master, fixing it takes time, practice, and preparation. Here are a few good, general tips from Sly Flourish! The problem with dungeon crawls is they’re predictable. Most of them devolve into one of two scenarios. Scenario 1, you send the rogue, or whoever has the best stealth ahead to scout things out and they return with information and then you plan an attack. There’s nothing wrong with this scenario! It happens a lot and it’s a tried and true way to safely and efficiently give the party the best chances of survival. When it’s happening once every handful of sessions, that is. But when you’re in a dungeon crawl and it’s happening for every room, it leaves everyone else in the party bored. So, how do you break up the predictability? You don’t want to deny the sneaky character the chance to flex their skills and be useful to the party. But you need to give the other players a chance to do the same. Find ways to include challenges or obstacles that your players have the tools to overcome. Perhaps there’s a trap that is triggered and now the only way through is shutting it off on the far side. The Wizard could Misty Step through, but what dangers lurk on the other side? The Ranger could try to hit the switch with an arrow, but what if it breaks and can’t be turned off? The Barbarian could rage and run through, taking minimal damage. Do any of your players have specialties that don’t get to use often? Maybe the Bard took a feat to learn extra languages and can speak, read, and write in 7 different languages. Give them a chance to help decipher a forgotten dialect. Fending off boredom in dungeons is usually just about finding what tools your players have and like to utilize and giving them a chance to do it. Dungeons don’t have to be a crawl, nor do they always need a map. I find that when you drop them in a dimly lit cave and ask them to explore, they always default to the slow, stealthy approach and have a hard time kicking it. But here is my hot take on dungeon crawls, which lately hasn’t seemed to be that hot, don’t do them. If everyone in the group gets bored during dungeon crawls, you don’t need to put them in your games. At their core dungeon crawls are just a series of events meant to drain the resources of your party leading up to an eventual boss encounter. If the gas tanks are all full, then the encounter is likely to be a breeze. But the fact of the matter is you don’t need to present a full dungeon map for them to explore square by square to achieve this. My good friend Kali and fellow Dungeon Master achieved this with great affected in a session she once ran that featured four challenges, a roguelike mechanic, and a final battle in the Feywild. An entire dungeon crawl can be done using theater of the mind and only busting out the map when combat calls for it. Don’t let the confines of a map stifle your creativity, or funnel your players into a specific playstyle. Find ways to surprise your party, keep them guessing, and keep them using different skills and tools from start to finish.
If you have a question or a situation you'd like advice on from Dungeon Master Robbie, you can submit it via this link, https://forms.gle/d4rib7nR9kiHYf3fA
3 notes · View notes
dice-wizard · 2 years
Text
Here are some basic tips that will improve your ability to run games for people just starting:
- Ask your players for some in character goals at the start or end of the session. Encourage them to engage with the current plot. If the plot you've presented involves investigating a monster that's haunting a town, encourage them to make this part of their goals. Then reward working towards it with XP, or something like that if the game you're playing doesn't have experience.
- Always make characters together. Schedule one of those session zeroes you've heard so much about. During that session, insist the players establish the relationships their characters have had with each other in the past. Make sure everyone has an answer for someone else so no one is left out.
- Consistently ask players what they're interested in and what they'd like to see. Then include those things. Sexy goblins? Fights in formal wear? Eligible monsters looking for a date? Relationship drama involving a dangerous ex? Make it a point to work those things into your plot.
- Always be a fan of the characters. You're not here to embarrass them or just inflict suffering. It's supposed to be fun for everyone involved, and you want the heroes to defeat the villains you've spent time on, right? That's the point of a good villain.
- Once you've gotten their goals and the things they want to see, tie those things together. That's way easier than making up all your plots by yourself and your group will be significantly more engaged.
66 notes · View notes
legionofmyth · 1 year
Text
How to run a haunted adventure
Opinions and Commentary: 🎲 In this video we react to an article titled that discusses how to run a haunted adventure in #DnD or any #TTRPG. #DnD5e #DungeonMaster #GameMaster #TTRPGFamily
In this video we react to an article titled that attempts to teach Dungeon Masters and Game Masters how to run a haunted adventure. 📢 Let us know what you think about the video below, or if you believe we made any mistakes, in the comments. 👍 Please take a moment to like, subscribe & share, it really helps us out. Thank you. SUPPORT LEGION OF MYTH • PayPal: https://paypal.me/legionofmyth •…
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
8 notes · View notes
legendl0re · 4 months
Text
youtube
Advice for DMs on running the Hags of Old Bonegrinder in Curse of Strahd, complete with loot, RP and combat tips, and more!
7 notes · View notes
circle-of-memes · 2 years
Text
So one of the hardest things about being a Game Master or Dungeon Master, for me, is that I would put hours and hours into worldbuilding and storycrafting only to have most of my work not come up at the table. Since I also believe in not railroading my players, it felt like a constant battle to make the stuff I prepared enticing enough that the players would choose to engage with it willingly. Frequently, this set me up for disappointment, and I was finding that I was dreading game night.
But I also noticed something else. When my players would engage with the story or worldbuilding, it still didn’t quite satisfy. Sure, it was nice to show off my hard work and when the players genuinely had fun with it, it would make for an epic game session. But something still felt missing. What worked for me is asking myself “what do I enjoy about this game as a player? What keeps me coming back? Why do I spend so much time worldbuilding and character-building?” Now, this answer will probably be different for each person but if you’re anything like me, it would be some variation of “I enjoy the element of discovery, of going on an adventure and finding out what’s around the corner.” When I control the world and flesh it out in detail, that feeling of discovery can be pretty fleeting. By the time my players encounter any given detail, I’d already “discovered” it for myself. 
So once I’d realized this about myself, what did I do? To be honest, I wallowed for a bit. I even handed off my games to another DM, because I was afraid that the core thing I enjoyed about the game was incompatible with leading game sessions. But then this current season of The Adventure Zone dropped and introduced me to a new tool: The Quiet Year. 
The Quiet Year is a standalone game from Buried Without Ceremony that facilitates cooperative worldbuilding between its players. The McElroy family used it to flesh out the details of a broad concept that their DM had. In this manner, they all had a hand in building the world that they would explore in their upcoming game of DnD. 
The next time I had a chance to DM a campaign, I utilized this same technique. I have to tell you, it not only did wonders for my sense of discovery, but also offloaded a lot of worldbuilding and provided bounds for my creativity to flow between sessions. I also discovered that when you give your players more of a role in the worldbuilding of a setting, it makes them feel more invested in the world and its story. 
So, if your DM struggles are anything like mine, I highly recommend giving The Quiet Year (or other worldbuilding games if you know of any) a try before starting your next DnD campaign. You never know what you might find!
14 notes · View notes