How DnD DMs Focus Their Players

Lets look at how the different d&d DM's of #criticalrole and #dimension20 and others stop their players getting bored.
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[@heathbrinkman3126]

Minionize low level monsters and dont tell the players. 1hp mobs make the players feel powerful and if you never say the enemy has 1hp and 8ac, the PCs start feeling like the powerful heroes they are

[@Bokehstbuzzkill]

Definitely going to try this. Thanks!

[@EcthelionOTF]

Check out “Flee, Mortals!” Amazing minion rules

[@solalabell9674]

Just straight up steal 4e mechanics they actually work pretty well

[@angelalewis3645]

You’re all taking lessons from Colville. ❤

[@nahuel3433]

This advice is nice for normal players but my players have piss poor luck and they'll consistently get the lowest possible numbers "you do... 1 damage and it dies... Hm"

[@ronanshaw9731]

I did my first ever run at being a dm with 2 new players over discord who both had to dissappear from time to time so while we'd wait I'd talk to the other player to see how they thought things were going currently, what their character was thinking and offered them the chance to ask any questions about how certain mechanics work it helped to keep them engaged and thinking during downtime!

[@BuddhaMonkey7]

Whenever I hear about players getting bored when it's not their turn in combat, I always wonder why these players don't care about what their fellow players are doing. Maybe the problem is less the DM or the game and more selfish players.

[@Douglas-nt7jd]

Really depends. I enjoy playing martial characters. Usually a fighter or paladin. But my entire group, 4 other players and the DM usually play full caster characters. So my turns generally are "who am I whacking, or who am I protecting" whereas full blown caster characters need to position spells correctly, decide which spell is going to be best used, what control spells to use, can I cast this without harming allies etc. there is a lot more to consider. So my turns often take 30 seconds maybe depending on what level we are. Then I'll have to wait 15-30 minutes for the round to reset. It isn't usually a big deal for sessions with 1 maybe 2 combat encounters. But when it is story pinnacle combat so it is multiple sessions of almost entirely combat it does get dull rather quickly.

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

Same, I've had DMs be like "sorry you (singular or plural depending on the event) didn't get to have as much time in the spotlight this session" but things were coming to a head for a specific player character(s) arc so the whole table was invested in seeing how it all unfolds. We were still there, having an impact. We just let that player(s) take the lead because it was there moment to shine. Nothing to be disappointed over at all!

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

​​@@MichaelBurkhaltersomething that absolutely kills me is along that same vein. When it's an experienced player who is acting like they've never learned to read, let alone played dnd before. I especially see this with rogues and barbarians for some reason. Like they forget not just every session or every combat but EVERY. SINGLE. TURN. what their level 1 and 2 features are. I wanted to pull my hair out a few times in the last few months because, when they were deadlocked on what to do, I gently reminded them of one of their core features and they were like "I don't have that feature for this subclass." BRUH, every barbarian gets rage damage and reckless attack! Every rogue gets cunning action and uncanny dodge! Read your damn sheet...! 😭😭😭

[@jeremykeasbey4145]

Derek from the Legends of Avantris team does something ingenious to keep the players on their toes. They'll be in the middle of a roleplay moment when he randomly asks 'what's your AC?' Or 'what's your passive perception?'

[@TheStitchedRealms]

I'd have to see this in action. As player that really likes RP, this sounds like the GM punishing me for having fun. Like if it happened once, for a really good ambush, especially if there were obvious clues that gave me a chance to figure it out, great, whatever. But if he's just throwing it out there randomly, dick move.

[@jeremykeasbey4145]

@TheStitchedRealms The campaign quoted here was a hardcore survival style. They use the 5e rules for encumbrance, exhaustion, exposure and starvation. Even money has weight, so at times the party needs to leave gold behind to make room for rations, furs and firewood. Not to spoil too much, but the part I was talking about took place in a section that had an Alien Isolation vibe. Sometimes they were being stalked from the shadows, sometimes they were being ambushed, and sometimes it was just a jump-scare Legends of Avantris - Icebound

[@TheStitchedRealms]

@@jeremykeasbey4145 Fair enough. I can see why, if a player wanted to do that setting, that DM technique might work with it.

[@AlaskaSkull]

One thing that I’ve done which seems to work WONDERS is to not only give inspiration A LOT, but to also allow for the table to award it. Majority rules, but as the DM I can veto it so it does not get out of hand.

[@samsturdi]

A friend asked me for DM advice and I’ve been hesitant because there’s styles and so many considerations. More importantly I had a nagging feeling that all that isn’t really important. You’re an entertainer and there’s not enough instructional videos like this outlining that.

[@BonusAction]

Thankyou!

[@johnmagowan6393]

You said DOO DOO! Really great video I rewound it a few times to take notes.

[@themanhimself5650]

Thank you for this comment 😂🙏

[@bryand7667]

Dude... Im fairly new to dnd (2 years) and just starting up my first campaign as a dm. You mentioned "dungeons and flagons" in toronto and i checked it out and its down the street from me. What a great resource/space/event. Ill be checking out for sure. Thanks so much. Your dm advice content rules.

[@barronlucas8054]

Thank you for also editing monster stat blocks. I keep a short cheat sheet in my notebook to keep combat fast. And thank you for reminding us that the players should be allowed to develop their characters and add to the stories.

[@ph1shstyx]

In my current campaign, I created a bunch of "homebrew" enemies that have less health and more attack power, so the party is able to clear them quicker, but the enemies are still a threat to the party. Combined with increasing the amount by 1-2, it makes combat encounters feel faster, but with a threat of losing life. As an example, I made a homebrew gnoll that has half the health, 1.5x the speed, but multiattack, and added a d6 roll to the attacks (bite is 1d4 + 1d6 + 3 and spear is 2d6 + 3, no longbow). I wanted them to be able to close quickly, attack hard, but also be pretty easy to kill. Then after some testing in the first couple encounters, I was able to adjust the amount in each encounter after that.

[@burgernthemomrailer]

And then one of your players says, “I pick up their spear.”

[@joshgates1707]

Something I’ve found that’s helpful is during combat describe character actions as the player roles for them. Especially if they miss. Don’t just say “oops you missed on to the next guy.” Describe the villain parrying the attack or do some cool move to dodge cause nothing takes me out of combat faster than when my level 12 badass fighter misses 3 attacks in a row and my dm describes my character as swinging my sword like a blind idiot.

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

For real, that's the pits. The most ridiculous example of this I experienced the DM had an NPC ask me to break down a wall for them because it'sthe only way to proceed through the dungeon. Cool, I think, I'll just do a quick narration of how I obliterate this flimsy wall and... "No," the DM says cutting me off, "you have to roll for it." The DC was also like a 21 and every time my character rolled below it, he'd say my weapon 'MISSED the wall...' HOW IS THIS FUCKING WALL DODGING MY ATTACK!??? 🤦‍♂️ I could accept it being harder to break than expected, like an armored enemy with high AC is, but when you treat it like my character is in melee range of a wall and just missing his attacks over and over I'm at a total loss of what you're hoping for here. We have no time limit, so I am conceivably just going to roll until I succeed anyway. Why make it a roll at all!???

[@stevecarter8810]

My lecturer in decorative programming was a genius at this. He knew exactly the point where people were nodding off in his lectures, and would put up a slide just saying "EXERCISE is good for you". About 20% of the room would laugh and the rest would wake up just as he put a significant summary slide up.

[@zacbennett920]

I'm about to start a campaign with 5 players, half of them are just "meh" about the role play and the other half are all in. That's right, one of them is a bit of both. These notes will help to keep everyone engaged, thanks man.

[@gabbiness]

A lot of good tips in this one! Thank you for always posting such awesome content! I have been playing dnd for a few years now, but I just recently took the role of a DM, and your tips always help out so much! My group is a big one, so I will especially of the tip to trim down the enemies a bit. That's most likely gonna help speed things along more.

[@urfork1]

As a non rule of cool DM I have to say that it’s definitely possible to run a very enjoyable game without it; I ran a 1-15 game over the course of two years as my first campaign, and had every single player want to return for my second campaign. It just requires that you allow bending the rules, but never breaking them. If the player can justify why they could do something, they can do it, but they have to explain how they do it so I can give them the check. When it succeeds, it feels really creative and rewarding for the player.

[@GrimSqueaker]

Re: Celeb DMs and over describing. I have a little maxim that I try to abide by, the way I see it the DM is an equal player at the table therefore the DM should talk about as much as any other player. While this can be very difficult to live by, it is something I find useful to bear in mind while playing

[@lady_draguliana784]

A lot of parties end up with a "Face" character, usually a Bard or Cleric. The tendency to let that character and player handle things can lead to bored players. I like to give them opportunities to engage too, such as making checks for insight, perception and such. "Gamefy" things like negotiations and interrogations.

[@blkgardner]

That is often because of how the charisma state works.

[@lady_draguliana784]

@@blkgardner quite true. y'don't want your cha dump stat dwarf negotiating with the chancellor... BUT... they *can* make perception to see that the chancellor's bookcase is just a little askew, but it's perfectly aligned when they break in that night. an other character may notice a suspicious paper on the desk. left out or just poorly hidden. someone else might overhear someone outside the room making a suspicious comment, frantically hiding or destroying papers... or readying a weapon or trap. 👍

[@Douglas-nt7jd]

Describing battle is very helpful too for high AC characters. You can describe the fighters spear catching on the plate of their target but unfortunately doesn't penetrate. So it doesn't seem like your master fighter can't hit the broadside of a barn. They are hitting the enemy, but their armor protects them, or the wizards mage armor shimmers in front of the blow. It is significantly less frustrating when fighting high defense enemies when you explain why their attack was ineffective rather than just saying you missed

[@robertvanark1800]

I'm absolutely loving this part about minimal description to prompt the players to ask for what they want. My three player game grew to five players (two of whom are new to the system) and I'm looking for ways to keep people engaged. Thanks!

[@AuntLoopy123]

I think "Rule of Cool" should be limited to "One per player, per session" unless your players are young children. When you're playing with young children, you're basically directing them in their own imaginations, which WILL run INCREDIBLY wild, and that is as it should be. Basically, when you're GMing for young children, I would say, "Rule of Dreams" is better. "If you can dream it, you can do it," is not just as aspirational Disney quote. It addresses dream logic, and how that can be used in the imagination of a child. Believe it or not, dreams DO have a certain logic. And there are some dreams where you just CANNOT do some things. For instance, in my flying (standing straight up, and hovering with height and direction), I can see through my closed eyelids and breathe without opening my mouth, even with a stuffed up nose, but I CANNOT SWIM. I just can't. No swimming in my dreams. Ever. I don't know why. But it's my dream logic. Therefor, if I were to lead some young children on an adventure in MY dreamland, they could fly (standing up), they could see with their eyes closed. They could breathe, even with their faces completely duct-taped, but they CANNOT SWIM. So, how do you get across the river? "Duh. I fly." "But it's an UNDERGROUND river." "Ooooooh. A challenge!" You're basically giving them a new set of rules for them to be creative with.

[@phillipwright3183]

Higher level - half a monster’s HP and double their damage

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

Idk if my DMs are doing this but I'd be careful with it. I've seen DMs underestimate the damage they do compared to PC HP too many times, particularly crit damage. Then they're apologizing the rest of the session and maybe even after that because they feel bad after they knocked one or more players out right away in a burner encounter, so they didn't get to do anything the rest of the session and other players had to keep burning turns either healing them up just enough or fighting the battle in a worse place just to keep any damage from splashing onto the PC rolling death saves. Then the DM feels so bad they eventually stop hitting that character all together, which makes the encounter even more awkward. This especially happens with the main healer, I've noticed, because then there's no one around to pick THEM up. 😅

[@LoneWolffanwriter]

Another banger! Player boredom is my biggest fear, so thanks for addressing it. What my table does is round-robin inspiration at the end of each session, where each player awards inspiration to another. On it's face, I like it, but I've had far to many sessions end with only one or even none of the players having used it. Now, part of that's on me to present more meaningful challenges or just meaningful rolls to tempt using that inspiration, but I feel like inspiration isn't special any more if they know they'll just get it back at the end of the session... Might switch to the party voting on 1 person to get inspiration until they start using theirs more.

[@ARJGameplay]

I saw this idea that was really cool and led to some interesting things at my table. Instead of handing out inspiration I keep a “Magic D20” which is just a free critical and has lead to some very interesting scenarios and in turn made for some really awesome moments. My paladin felt super heroic after using it against a Lich that was on the verge of a TPK in a one shot I ran. The fun part is everyone can just call out for the Magic D20 and it’s gone for the rest of the session. Hope this gives you some ideas!

[@orkcol]

you got me with the pattern interrupt, i was glancing over at a dice probability thing then flicked back at the change of scene, bravo. I am engaged again and will pay attention to the rest of the "oh look a shiny thing "....

[@MiloW456]

'Come over to my Twitch, I'm probably streaming right now,' Me, watching this at 3 am: ...

[@g0mikese]

My players are all new to role playing so their still working on those skills of planning their next move in combat, and even just knowing their base abilities, spells, etc. So our combat runs pretty slow, happily they are all actively paying attention and getting bored hasn't been an issue yet. But being new also means they stress out in combat sometimes, so one of the things I did recently was give them a combat session with a ton of enemies. It was a bunch of themed zombies and a few other larger enemies. For the larger enemies I used tokens. For the zombies I placed dice around the map, not caring about face value. The first time one of my low level PCs hit a zombie and I changed the face value down by the number of damage he'd hit for they instantly relaxed. Sure it's information the players wouldn't know, but it killed the panic in a way for them to realize that most of these enemies could be killed in 1-2 hits helped a ton. It also helped establish that when I described them as being at varying states of damage and decay that I wasn't just giving them flavor. This sped combat up a bunch as they'd decide what enemies to attack a lot faster.

[@Cleanslatecliff]

Can't lie, wasn't even watching... had headphones on sleeving my magic cards.. the transition with the scenery in my peripherals along with the music change made me snap my head up lol

[@TheStitchedRealms]

Asking players to make "big bold decisions" has to be paired with a forgiving, broad-strokes DM style, or a group that's into quick and frequent character death. There are a lot of DMs that incentivize putting a lot of a weight into decisions, doing things like: * Really difficult combats and strict no meta-gaming rules: means individuals have to weigh decisions carefully, and can't get help or tips from their friends, making the turns less collobarative. * Consequences for going through to quickly. This is really common in dungeons: players often stop and search each room, because if they don't, they'll miss loot! Also for side quests. If you punish characters for not following sidequests (they disappear or end badly if you don't take them), characters will stop at every hint of a plot hook. * Asking for granular rolls. For example, multiple roles during a scene for sneaking. Or, requiring players to roll in each room of a dungeon to search for treasure. If you want them to make big, bold decisions, don't constantly interrupt them with rolls! * Mysteries with few clues - if you have mysteries, but the clues are all dependent on the players noticing small details (or worse, rolling), then it's really easy to hit dead ends. And especially if the DM doesn't signal somehow that it's a dead end, some players are likely to keep looking until they come up with a clue. * Too many plot hooks - More choices means more indecision. I'm having a lot of fun in my current game, but I think I count 13 or so story hooks (and some of items are actually groups of similar hooks). Understanding what's at stake and making a decisions is just going to be a lot harder with that much stuff going on. * Being very precise about the rules vs using the rule of cool or just quick and dirty rulings. The game is not going to go quickly if people have to go to the book look up rules constantly.

[@TheGillianReed]

Amazing video! Thanks for shouting out Dungeons & Flagons!

[@IanHamby]

I've gotten inspiration for little more than a well-timed meow.

[@Jimbr16]

My tip, specially when it comes to things like 'rule of cool', is a session Zero axiom: Make sure everyone in the table wants to play *the same game*. If you have a player that wants tactical combat, one player that just wants character expression, a DM that wants gritty heroic campaigns and a sorcerer that just wants to goofly cast polymorph and fireball on everything that that table will always be boring for everyone. Discuss with players what is fun to them, tell them what kind of games and storytelling you're bring up to them and make sure everyone is engaged with the kind of game you are running. Really, a lot of times what makes something boring is the fact that the moment in the session is just not what the player (thought they) signed for. It doesn't matter how tactical and sloggy combat is if everyone is aligned with playing that kind of game. It will lead to them discuss and engage in tactics - as long as *everyone* wants it.

[@BlackyMox]

I use a 1-Minute-Sandglass. If a Player slows my game too much, i will flip it. For stressful moments, like a hunt or a quick-time-scene while falling of a cliff, i give them a warning, than i start a short, regular discription and after that, i call their names and need a quick call, otherwise i treat it as if they fail a roll and something unfortunate happens. In combat i like to remind my players to "hold action". Most of the times, they pick my call.

[@JonJohnson-s6d]

i use the rule of cool and my players never fail to amaze me with their creative ideas. but as you said, it is not for every table.

[@mtver8348]

Ngl I love inspiration but i always forget to give it out in the moment so I sometimes just text the game group chat after to give people inspiration for specific acts

[@jeremykeasbey4145]

As a DM, I had a hard time learning how to pace scene changes. Especially when the party acts seperately. My first time DMing a combat encounter, the Barbarian had gone scouting the woods edge just outside town while the rest of the party was shopping/investigating. I was planning on narrating the players individually b4 grouping back up, starting with the Barbarian. He triggered a gnoll ambush, and 4 rounds into combat was actually holding his own pretty well... then the paladin player asked me 'so... can we do anything?' I decided against interrupting the combat encounter to avoid complications returning to the encounter. But while I thought that was the best move at the time, there are better ways to deal with these situations. 1. Change scenes immediately before/after rolling initiative. Instead of going straight into combat, moving to another player gives the barbarian time to work out how they want to play an unexpected solo fight. This also gives you a chance to read the table. The party may decide to leave the barbarian to his own devices (he DID do something dangerous without informing anyone beforehand). If they DO want to help, or if he wants back-up, then you can drop hints for the characters to act on. When you get back to the combat encounter, the players will have some meta-knowledge of x-turns until backup arrives (if backup is coming). 2. Change scenes after 1 full round of combat, right before the players second turn in initiative order. This serves the same purpose as (1.), but allows the player a round or 2 to react spontaneously. Also gives the other players more context for deciding whether or not to help. If you opt to go with this option, it's important to communicate with the entire table. 'We will get to you in a minute, but right now we're still in the middle of a combat round.' 3. Since the player in question is likely to encounter enemies, just have them go last. This option is actually a double-edged sword. Letting everyone else go first means they've already decided what their characters are doing while the barbarian is in combat. However, this also means the whole table understands that the barbarian will have to survive on his own.

[@dracone4370]

On the subject of describing, I would like to point out that word choice is very important, and will often your choice of words will be extremely important to your players, mainly because they will likely fixate on some aspect of the description, regardless of how simple or complex the description actually is. For example, if you say a room is "empty" then go into describing how there are pieces of broken furniture in the room, chances are they will feel the need to argue with you about how that is not actually an empty room, but if you describe a room as being "barren" then go into the description of broken furniture in the room, you probably won't get as much pushback due to the connotations that Empty has over Barren; even though the two are synonyms, meaning they have similar meanings. Word choice is important, and is something you need to be more cognizant and aware of when you are the one in the big chair running the game. A thesaurus is useful for you if you feel your personal vocabulary won't work for whatever reason, and you can keep a pocket thesaurus on you or keep a few quick links to an online thesaurus on your phone and/or computer for such an issue.

[@billkeeler5858]

Yes the pattern change is a great tool. I need to work on eliminating bad guys spells and abilities I won't use in a combat. Thanks for that tip. I have used ROC, but very sparingly. Great video as always.

[@christopherclubb9167]

Another good option is having the NPCs three round general strategy. Deviations may happen, but most of the time you'll be able to stick to it and you'll already have the first three actions of every NPC ready to go

[@solalabell9674]

Most of these only work with cooperative players I’ve had some who adamantly refuse to tell me they want a red tuxedo and insist on narrowing down by a series of questions

[@tonysladky8925]

A big thing if you're going to be editing/rewriting monster stat blocks: rewrite abilities to be simpler to use. The easiest example is spellcasting. Don't just leave it at "The monster can cast Scorching Ray". Write it out as "The monster makes 3 ranged spell attacks at +__ with a range of __ feet that each deal 2d6 fire damage." You don't have to eschew spellcasting monsters if you just give yourself the information on the spells they're going to be using up front. You know, it occurs to me, one of my go-to pieces of advice for new GMs is "Watch a bunch of different GMs, and steal little bits from all of them," and in a way, your videos kinda just do that in an abbreviated form. It's no substitute for actually watching Matt Mercer, Matt Colville, Jerry Holkins, Chris Perkins, Jeremy Crawford, Aabria Ayengar, Brennan Lee Mulligan etc. in action in long form, but it's a damn good crash course.

[@srmillard]

great advice, I just ran a session where the stat blocks for some of my enemies were too high. Just balance by adjusting HP, AC, spellcasting abilities

[@ryankerins361]

Yup you cam change literally anything you need to fit the situation. It's helped me a lot towards the end of battles, if they go too long or are too hard

[@sleepinggiant4062]

Making snap decisions destroys the combat pillar of D&D, unless you are playing on easy mode. My players like tactical, challenging combat, and when luck alone can result in death, screwing around is the last thing they want to do. This could apply to easy combats. Rule of cool needs to be handled carefully. The rules are there to keep things fair. Avoid favoritism.

[@dndisinteresting6741]

Realy helpful video!

[@ijustreallylikeramenokay7626]

I don't agree on the faster decisions = more memorable decisions thing. if I make decisions faster, I just fall back on the same thing I always do, or make really weird decisions that don't amount to anything

[@SenpuuNoMa1]

Well, the advice wasn't just to make faster decisions. It was to make faster AND bigger decisions. So while you should speed up the thought process, you should also get comfortable with doing things that are more outside of your comfort zone, have potentially much more impact and greater consequences attached to them

[@zebesttfd]

YOU SAID DOODOO

[@garthor]

As a player, I really enjoyed white wolf/exalted, and how they would award extra dice to your dice pool for doing cool shit. Rule of cool, and inspiration are rad, but I feel like it doesn't encourage the same kind of interaction as up to +3 extra dice to your dice pool... especially at low levels where that could effectively double your chances of success... :D

[@thethan302]

Thethan's guide to D&D: Rule 1: you are not as good a DM as you think you are rule 2: Save your epic story for the book rule 3: Your players are not an audience rule 4: Let the players take the reins, and their characters will write the story rule 5: Your descriptions are too long, rule 6: Your players secretly hate your quirky DMPCs rule 7: Miniatures are better than theater of the mind rule 8: Don’t sweat the small stuff rule 9: You are not Matt Mercer, just be yourself rule 10: Just Roleplay

[@cidlunius1076]

Give minions an appropriately leveled magic missile or eldritch blast spell. I tend to use one particular statblock in pf2e and use them as annoying threats that can harm my players when ignored.

[@WhiteLionCinema]

I tend to limit detailed descriptions of NPCs so that when I do describe something very specific like "There are 2 men & a woman at the table by the entrance to the tavern. They are dressed in very similar attire to the Vistani you met earlier except they all wear red & black. You also notice that both men have the same black feather tattoo on their left forearms" then the players will pick up on the specifics. They will know that this information eludes to something. It might not be crucial to the main plot, but it's means something to the world. It's more than just meaningless window dressing.

[@adamgoodmore1207]

Here's something I'm struggling with. I want to make the characters bored, but not the players. The concept is I want to bore them into taking action, that action will have consequence that will then progress the story.

[@BlueStreakStudio]

The best thing you can do, and it sounds obvious AT FIRST, is to ask your players "what's the one thing your characters hate/find boring", and implement that into the game. Example: A player might find monologuing fun, but the Barbarian they're playing might be a "smack now, ask questions later" kind of person, or a Wizard that wants to learn a new spell, but the spell they've been given isn'tcopying right, which is making them angry and impatient. It's also okay to throw in things like "The resistance is even beginning to get under your skin a little", because players sometimes take those suggestions and soak it up like a sponge. Or the worst they can say is "no, hold on" and you roll with how they tell you the character is feeling. Experiment with little instances that build up over time, don't shoehorn these things in, and your players might start role-playing more hasty decisions because their character doesn't want to sit still, which can lead to more fun with traps and scenarios they need to figure out because the original plan went down the potty.

[@pheralanpathfinder4897]

It's nice to know I'm not the only DM who reduces the number of attacks for enemies. I usually make the remaining attacks a bit more effective. Smaller groups are my favorite online. Face to face when it's a friendship game larger groups are more functional even though less actual gaming will happen. Four PCs is a nice number. If all the players are vocal RP 3 is a good number. If several like to follow along and talk less 5-6 players can work. Although doing more combat with less RP and only 4 PC might be the better option.

[@eric.c.bullock]

Just getting back into DMing after a gazillion years and ran across this video... what sites are those for the monsters?

[@JonathanMcKinnell]

Had no idea you live in Toronto. I want to expand my D&D sphere beyond my group of coworkers that I DM for. So in the coming months I’ll be hunting around for D&D events and groups to join. If you have any good tips lmk.

[@jobear41]

I find KZbin videos that frequently change camera angles or make a lot of cuts harder to stay engaged with (you asked, so here I am in the comments :)). An occasional change might be useful for "pattern interrupt" but frequent changes make it jumpy and harder to focus on.

[@crankysmurf]

Use 4E minions or MCDM's minions (which are based on 4E minion). They have 1 hp (or MCDM's who have only a few hp but die with one attack) but have the same offense as the regular version (but use the average damage instead of rolling). If they save from an attack they take no damage instead of half damage (since they have 1 or a few hp).

[@ryanwall1470]

How to get a player that just sleeps in another character's hoodie the entire time until combat starts to participate in rpg elements?

[@RunesonRPG]

The pattern interrupt worked.

[@LIFEcjs]

to be honest if I ever had to dm for more than 4 players I think I would actually go insane haha

[@mirtos39]

fewer monsters in 5e is really NOT the way to go. (honestly its one of the reason i dont play 5e anymore). it breas action economy and removes the challenge. there are a lot of things that can be done to speed up combat, but reducing the number of monsters is really not the right approach.

[@tiger_sochi]

As a DM and player in my groups, I am always the one who wants the game to be shorter. Everyone else wants at least 4 hours and can usually go longer. After 2 or 3, I'm ready to stop, especially when I am doing all of the DM mental responsibilities.

[@princegoodgame]

I'm the group forever DM. All my players like our 5hr sessions, but half of them "get bored" and wander during RP and Combat... And it's just... Frustrating

[@bender7167]

Our ten hour games are great

[@timeittells]

i zoned out for a second thinking about Brennan Lee Mulligan and just as I zoned back in when you changed the scenery, you said "aren't you just a little more engaged than you were before?"

[@auricmerciless7307]

Subscribed here and Followed on Twitch - took a bit of looking, you may want to put your twitch link in your 'about' here in youtube :)

[@hadesblackplays]

i say this with all the love of the world for my players, but If a player gets bored will start to do stupid shit to entertain themselves till they get to change the focus of the table to what they're doing and if they get away it once, they will do it everytime they get bored until there are dangerous (or mortal) consequencues for the party or conflict between the players blow up. im myself as a dm im not very interested in combat, i put some few here and there. Im more interested in the characters choices and how they navigate what that means throughtout the campaign. So, if any dm who has a narrative--driven campaign is noticing their players getting bored, I honestly recommend you to learn narrative structure and pacing. Make everyone get involved in what an npc or another pc' is saying, design challenges that fit that one skill thats unique to that character (that no other member of the party has) and need to be completed by everyone's involvement in it. Make them narrate how their character think and feel. Give them rewards that not only improve their powers, but make them grow or question themselves as people in your world. You dont need combat to keep the momentum rolling, you just need to know how to help when a character gets stuck.

[@princegoodgame]

Ive literally tried all of these things, and somehow, my players still make shit SOOOOO slow that even i get bored, as the DM. I feel like i might need more pattern interrupts. But like, i tried to implement combat timers, and got resistance from half the group. I run sessions with 3-4 players, instead of all 6, and the sessions still dont hold attention to all players. Honestly, i think its just two problematic players...

[@DeathDoesThings]

“Alright, player a, your up. Player b, your next so think about what your gonna do”

[@UberHypnotoad]

Heh,… “ DooDoo”

[@mattallen9629]

Could someone please let me know what website he was using to adjust the difficulty of monsters. I'm new to dming and don't want to one shot my friends....i think anyway😅

[@nolanstrife7350]

Woah there! The literal first advice of the video and you already lost me I get it the combat will become much faster if your monsters only have two actions: move and attack. But how would making enemies into a walking damage thresholds make combat not boring I have no idea

[@davidsewell9227]

yes, the pattern disruption worked. you asked

[@lacotaco748]

AHAHAHAHAHAHHA HE SAID DOO DOO AHHAHHHAHAHHAHAH

[@pluviaaeternum]

He's actually saying you're bad at narrating. and you are.

[@leonelegender]

are you playing with children, grab some colorful keys and shake on their faces will ya?

[@Toto-95]

i'd argue a DM's worst nightmare is his friends all rescheduling all the time and nobody can ever play... for fucking years... It's mine anyways. Oh wait no it's real life ! 🥶

[@soldierbreed]

Years? Thats rough bro.

[@cycloneabsol9405]

I love playing with Rule Of Cool. Let this comment feed the ALGORITHM so this amazing channel can reach more people.

[@BoojumFed]

All hail Al Gore's Rhythm!

[@BlueStreakStudio]

As a DM, I can tell you that telling others to be like another DM is categorically the WORST thing you can advise them on. Take inspiration from them, absolutely, but you will never be Matt, you will never be Brennan, you will never be Aabria. You can only be the best version of yourself and honestly, thats the best thing you can be. Your players don't come to your games to listen to professional podcast DMs, they come for YOU. So any future DMs reading this, here's my advice: Read books, study villain monologues on KZbin and take in as much fantasy/sci-fi/etc. media as you can, and translate it in the best way you and your players can understand and enjoy. They're here for you and the game, not Critical Role or Dimension 20. If they want a D&D podcast, thats what Twitch and KZbin are for.

[@Ninjabuckles]

I think I see your point, but he was clearly trying to endorse the use of a technique and not be someone else.

[@BlueStreakStudio]

@@Ninjabuckles That in itself I can wholeheartedly agree with, there's nothing wrong with taking tips and tricks from other DMs and implementing them into your game. Lord knows I've learned a lot of tricks because of Matt and Brennan alone, much less the other D&D streams that I watch on Twitch.

[@dmhostileintent2059]

teehee doodoo

[@Niksorus]

Smaller tables, YES. It's shitty that I had to leave some dear friends out of my TRPG campaigns, but with 6-7 people, nobody was having fun, especially me. With 2 to 4 players, it's perfect.

[@asherdunitz2676]

Or play a system which encourages pace of play. 2 or less actions per turn.

[@Khatastrophy]

doodoo kekw

[@siderisanon7860]

I hate all the pattern interrupt stuff in KZbin videos where there is tons of zooming in and out. It makes me motion sick. For a lot of the KZbin videos I watch, I actually have the video hidden because of all these camera tricks aimed at short attention span watchers.

[@MauroDraco]

First! ^^

[@daveb427]

Stock video is the worst. Please stop.

[@armorclasshero2103]

Attention spans aren't getting shorter. Our quality standards are rising.

[@riggler2]

Rule of Cool: Let the Player's not have to make wise decisions and choices ahead of time so their character actually has the abilities to do that Cool thing. Nope. Let's just let them make bad decisions in the past and do whatever they want anyway. Such a Gen Z outlook.

[@er4din903]

@riggler2 That’s now what I envision when I think of that idea. As a Gen Z who has run a successful campaign for 2 full years, the players are very invested in the mechanical side of the game, and are invested in being as competent at the task at hand as their characters would be. That being said, as a DM, tule of cool comes up a lot at my table. In our case, this generally is a call to embracing improvisation, specifically in situations where a player wants to make a brazen action that furthers the story in a meaningful way, while remaining immersed in their character. For example, not too long ago the characters returned to the city their adventures started in and ran into an NPC that they knew to be a powerful spell caster. This individual now appears to have turned into a raving madman, spouting prophetic nothings while standing at the edge of s cliff overlooking the city below. When talking sense into him doesn’t work, things escalate as the mage takes a step off the side of the cliff. Initistive is rolled, and he rolls low, while the rest of the party rolled high. One of the characters had feather fall prepared, of which the other players were aware of. In that sense, if we assumed that the point of the game was to make sound decisions, this encounter is pretty much over and there were no stakes at all. Everyone could pass their turn until that character could cast feather fall, at which point they could take the 20 mins to hike off the side of the cliff and meet the madman in the outskirts of the city where he would have landed. But that is boring, and would not have been what several of the other characters at the table have done in this situation. As such, I was very happy to play along, and Employ the rule of cool, when the Barbarian who went first chose to dive off the side of the cliff after the madman, intending to grabbing him and cushioning his fall with his own body. There were many in character reasons why it made sense for the Barbarian to do that. She was an inquisitor, whose duty was to protect people from foul magic, and the events at hand seemed to be caused by some magic. She also was generally a person of action first and foremost, who liked to rely improvisation more than careful planning. Now, the party were at level 11, and the player knew that numerically, his character had enough hit points to survive the 200 foot drop - the decision to jump off the cliff was not so outlandish that it could only work if the dm decides to invoke the rule of cool. Hiwever, rules as written, the moment that she did that, they both would have instantly plummeted those 2 hundred feet, and the situation would have been over before the other players and their characters were able to express themselves and contribute in any way. As such I decided to roll with it, and make an encounter out of trying to minimize the negative consequences for the 2 falling characters. The result was a very memorable and hilariously funny sequence of impromptu decision, that involved the feather fall spell caster diving off of the cliff as well in order to get back into the range of feather fall, at which point the last 2 players decided to take the dive so as to not split the party, but at that point the feather fall was already cast and they weren’t yet under its effect…. The rule of cool can be a very useful tool in order to enable actions and maneuvers that allow your players to express as their characters, i situations where the core rules may impede them from doing so for no sensible reason. The 200 fall being instant does not make sense from a physical, narrative, or gameplay perspective, as such it makes sense to omit it for the duration of the scene in order to create memorable moments. It doesn’t have to be a get out of jail for free card for when characters make blatantly bad decisions. With that in mind, something has to be said for running games for new players that are unfamiliar with the inner workings of the game system. A lot of the times new players lack the contextual knowledge to understand what is and what isn’t a bad decision. As such they’re more prone to take wilder swings when it comes to their characters decision than the system would be willing to reward. For example, I had a new player with a level 5 paladin spend his entire turn w grappling and then trying to shove a almost dead ogre / troll off the side of a ravine. It is almost certainly the case that the paladin could have just used an attack to kill the troll as he had only a handful of hp left, but the new player is not accustomed to picking up on the general cues that the game gives to be able to intuit that wrestling the troll is likely a harder challenge than landing one more hit on him, especially when he has 2 attacks, but that is not a bad thing. They rolled some dice, the grapple was successful, but rules as written the shove would have resulted in the paladin falling along with the troll. Yes, it could be argued that within the context of the game rules, this was a bad decision by the player, but it was a decision made in character that lead to pushing the story forward while raising the stakes, and I don’t see why the player should be punished for that. In that situation, I described the paladin grappling the troll teetering on the edge of the cliff, before realising that he was also in danger of falling. I effectively gave everyone else in the party a round to intervene and try to pull the paladin back to stable footing. In this context, the rule of cool did exactly what it says on the tin - it allowed the group to share a fun and memorable moment, allow the paladin player to express his heroic and zealous persona, while not meaningfully changing the outcome of the fight. Remember, the fight was basically over, the same conclusion could have been reached if the paladin just used one of his 2 attacks to smite the troll and move on to the last enemy still standing, however we wouldn’t have had this moment. And yes, it is possible to guide the new player through the decision making process, trying to make it clear on what sort of thing is more likely to work, but having run many games for many brand new players, my experience suggests that that isn’t worth it. Trying to stick too closely to rules at a table where no one except for you knows them only leads to slowing down the game, extinguishing player excitement and enthusiasm, as well as making them second guess everything that they do from here on out. Dnd 5e is not a mechanically focused system - it’s a story telling medium first and foremost. If you want to run it well you have to lean into its strengths.

[@datalemon]

Bro chill with your hands it feels like you’re frantically casting a spell at me while trying to explain your point. More distracting than anything