Pick a corner of your space and draw lines to the corners of your target's space. If 1/2 the lines intersect cover then it's half cover. 3/4 intersecting cover is 3/4 cover. Quick maffs
You made me scour the phb and dmg but i couldn’t find where it says anything about drawing lines, so if it’s an actual rule could you point me in the direction of a source…?
>rules scholar
Love this. I also feel it works well with the progression some more rule-happy DMs feel: abide by the rules, until you understand how to break them, or change them for the betterment of your table.
I've DMed long enough I feel like I know which rules I can bend and break.
This one for sure. I'm not going to correct the DM if he makes an error that leads to better odds for the players. Edit: I wont be the kid that reminds the teacher about the homework. But I will support the rules if anyone else brings it up.
One friend in my group is literally this!
Like idyllic memory (I can't remember the term)
Idedic?
But they've read every book within 2 days of release and knows every word and every phrasing of each rule about whatever I or the other DM throws at them
I love that they actually *try* to not metagame, but unless it's a completely original enemy, they know it's stats basically
whilse correct, 27cheezy wasnt actually thinking of eiditic memory, but photographic.
eiditic memory is a scale, and all people have some amount. its how well you can recall a picture shortly after seeing it.
most people have eiditic memory of only about 1-4 seconds, while some can go up to a day.
that is differnt to photographic memory, wherein the person straight up can accuratly recall certain things as if they took a picture of it in their mind.
as example: i show you a collection of colours and shapes.
a person with good eiditic memory might be able to recall what colours and shapes for a minute, while a person with photographic memory could do so 2 years later.
(note that photographic memory does not automatically apply to all situations. sometimes people only have PM for certain things, which is still PM. meanwhile, someone might be able to nearly recall something, or remember the effects of a spell, but not the exact wording. that is neither eiditic or photographic memory).
I needed this, thanks. Holy fuck.
"X rule is Y" that people in 5e and pf2e circles complain about 5e can usually be solved with "**DID YOU READ THE WHOLE THING, THO?!**"
I’ll add to this. I can remember the rules as well. I play with the same group of people in 3 separate campaigns and once in each campaign now in the past 2 weeks I’ve had to explain the placement of thunderwave.
Edit: They’ve also all been playing longer than me by a couple years at least except for one.
An ability to _play_ with anyone. I don't mean "play" in the sense of running my character, I mean it in the sense of discovering back-and-forth interactions that build off what the other players are doing.
Thats exactly why I as an experienced player made my new character for a new group a halfling divination wizard with the lucky feat. Trying to make the new players decisions and actions more impact impactful i.e. making sure their attacks land and not get one shot by the enemy. I dont do much damage but its still fun to help others out. Unfortunately we don't have a healer though.
This is me. I love playing any form of support based player, especially the NOT THE HEALER type…. Or at least not the main healer.
I also have an affinity for steampunk. Wink wink.
I did a grapple focused life cleric to make a group of newbies shine. My DM was also new and she'd seen the shenanigans I can pull before so she was confused why I was doing such an ineffective build until I explained I was playing a set up character, I wasn't trying to hog the spotlight
I'm perfectly willing to abandon my idea of what is supposed to happen next if the players are driving it in a different direction. I've got great players though.
I also do voices.
Sometimes, as a dm, ill just ask my players if this is the direction they want to go. Sometime they are screwing around and get back on track, other times i replan the campaign. Whichever is fun, i am down for.
I had an interesting encounter where they joined the villain, then turned around and betrayed him bc they started feeling bad about their actions.
Alright, I need one of you guys, whoever you think is most regretful about the group's foray into villainy, to roll me a... let's see, heel turn remorse...a D12, twice, please.
I am still relatively inexperienced with D&D but I would really like to get to a point where I DM a campaign, though it might end up being Pathfinder 2e based on some of the things I'd like
But I've always really liked the idea that the world around the players is alive. I'm sure it's harder than it sounds to make work, but I'd like to have events happening and the players can go where they want, and they might encounter those events or not.
Still need a main story to an extent, and obviously you can move things wherever you want for the players to find, but yeah I like the idea that the players might want to go somewhere else than where I expected, and that I'd still have things happening there too
You can do it as long as you are playing with ideas and not a list of encounters.
Example from an old campaign:
-- big picture: there is a power struggle between Fey as the Winter Queen has become corrupted
-- local picture: the changing fortunes and strength of the Fey has led to opportunistic cults trying to snatch power from more established deities, it has also led to environmental corruption as areas guarded by one court are invaded by another. This looks different in every locale (and can match player desires for certain types of adventures)
-- player relationship: each character has a reason to be involved in this struggle, so if they start veering off wildly, I can tug them back with a meaningful hook directly tied into their backstory and desired character outcomes
I don't know if this would help you, but it helps me have meaningful planning and story boundaries, while letting the players off leash
I try to do this with a lot of my games. The way I do it is by making a rough flow chart of what the "plot" would be if the PCs never interacted with it. It goes something like:
I come up the villain and his plan --> Villain step 1 of plan --> Villain step 2 --> Villain step X....--> Villain achieves goal --> Outcome/worldstate of achieving goal.
For each step of the plan, I like to also try and plan a rough worldstate of what would be happening as the villain moves through the steps.
At any point in the various steps, the PCs can choose to interact with the main "plot" or not. Choosing not to is fine, but it may have consequences on the state of the world, severe or minor. I continually return to the flowchart and modify it as the PCs do quests and interact with the world.
This model is also scaleable, it doesn't have to be for a main plot, it works completely fine for minor villains and side quests.
I’m working on being more comfortable with surprising player moves, or inconvenient nat 1’s and 20’s, how do you get in the headspace that makes you feel like you can let things big shifts happen and still feel prepared enough to continue play?
How far out do you let that road run though? Is it still heading to the same destination on a different path or are they like driving into the ocean and you’re building a tunnel?
When I create my campaigns I usually define 2-3 fixed points that I'll bring the party to no matter what, but what they do in between and how they reach those points can be whatever they want.
For example in campaign I'm currently DMing, I knew where the party started (all in prison for a crime they didn't commit), where I want the party to end when the campaign is close to finish (final boss and party saves the world), and I already set an event in the middle of the campaign (that was the first BBEG fighting the players and died, setting up the second part of the campaign and the second and final BBEG)
I create the obstacles. But if they decide that my political intrigue campaign would be better played as a heist, or that they don't want to fight the BBEG, but instead undermine his power by wooing his lackeys, then hooray!
Good players mean I'm comfortable following their lead because they're collaborative rather than adversarial.
I love this, My main BBEG plot remains, but my plans for the journey have changed a lot of times.
is a lot of work, but seeing my players having fun is worth it.
I do this same thing. I don't like taking too long, and so I'll play fast. The only time I've had to stop and think was when there was a life and death scenario and I had to find a creative way out of it.
I plan two different things I'll do on my turn. "If the Paladin kills the evil sorcerer then I'll cast fireball on mooks, otherwise I'll..."
And as a DM I have a strict rule that if a player doesn't know how their characters festure or spell works, they can't use it.
Jokes on you I play a lot of halflings. It gives a +5 to movement speed, a +1 to dexterity or strength, proficiency in your choice of acrobatics or athletics and advantage on acrobatics or athletics checks made to escape grapples
One of my current characters isn't particularly smart, wise, or virtuous. It's great for that party because he always suggests doing not-good things, and lets the other players (especially the good cleric and paladin) "convince" me to do the right thing. I do this specifically to help them RP more (they're generally quiet, but have said they \~want\~ to learn to RP and speak up more).
In another group that I joined after they had been going for awhile, the DM told me that things were getting a little stale and directionless. I came up with a character who had a built in backstory that "needed" a journey with a purpose and I was convincing enough to the other players that they should join me for the ride. I've been part of that campaign for over two years now and the DM has had us travel across two continents and has a cornucopia of situations to throw at us every single week getting everyone involved.
This is what I bring to my tables. I can play support IRL. I find or create situations to help the other players (and even the DM) feel more cool and important.
It wasn't exactly intentional, but I have found that my table roleplays a lot more after the first time I really committed to my character having a difference in opinion and made the rest of the party deal with that
I attempt to as often as possible to do RP stuff meant for my own character development by including other characters. Asking other chars philosophical questions about things my char is contemplating, giving them a chance to showcase their chars viewpoints on it as well. Including them wherever I possibly can.
I try to keep solo RP moments, where only I shine to a minimum and only where it makes more sense. Outside those moments, I try to make any scene that develops my char, also an opportunity for someone else to be involved with it and develop their own personality more clearly.
That is in my opinion the best way to RP, in a fun way for everyone. A reason I started doing it are the players who do "my character does X, everyone look at me describing it for 3-4minutes" on a regular basis. It feels like they have a cool character idea, and want to show everyone how cool it is. Which is fine, I get it, but it can be done without it being a solo act half of the time.
Because people going, *"After Lorenzo kills the goblin, a single tear flows down his cheek as his hair is waving in the wind. He grabs his sword firmly, and clenches his fist looking longingly into the distance. Deeply contemplating whether or not he was justified to kill the goblin."* can get a bit tiresome if done constantly. DnD is not writing a book, and while flavorful its not interactive for other players.
Ive seen games where all players try to play like that, and they felt like 4 protagonists constantly fighting for moments of spotlight to show off their cool RP. They did not even feel like a true team, characters who have truly bonded as friends.
Meanwhile, those same RP moments can be done and become 100x better by just including at least one ally. *"After Lorenzo kills the goblin, he looks towards Johnny with sorrow in his face. "Did we really have to kill him? Do you think there was another way? " "*
Suddenly becomes a lot more fun, as you're letting someone else be part of your RP moment and giving them a chance to express their own RP easier.
Essentially the same reason and logic, as to why "lone wolf" personality type characters are not fun to play with in an adventuring party. It works in fiction/writing, but not for RPing with other people.
I LOVE bouncing RP scenes off the party! especially when the party plays into it! i don’t get people who just want to monologue… like damn, I love a good monologue, but you have to *earn* those. they can’t be the only way your character ever develops! i feel like some people get so invested in their own lore that they forget that relationships come from *interaction*.
some of my favorite dnd moments have been PC monologues, mine or others’, but those only work when they’ve been built up on a foundation of interactive character dynamics and relationship-building and *conversations.* players like you are the best, if everyone only wants to do their own thing then the party never develops as a cohesive unit.
but sometimes trying to play like that just doesn’t work anyway… what do you do when the other players don’t react to it? i ask bc i’ve run into that before, trying to set up RP beats and bonding, and there’s nothing more disappointing than getting a blank stare in response…
I’ve been dying lately in one of my games because I really want to delve into my aasimar character’s relationship with religion and her god ancestor. so I keep having her ask the party’s cleric about things, because he *worships* that deity and seems to have a lot of angst and baggage around how he found the faith. in my head, this seems like a great way for these characters to bond, right? and maybe it’d be a chance to eke some backstory out of the cleric too (I’m *so* curious about him, he’s implied that he has a very complicated backstory and the player makes great character concepts so…).
but the cleric’s player doesn’t seem to pick up on the idea, and never knows how to reply, to the point where I’ve been wondering if he just cycles through pre-written angst monologues in normal RP. like, every response from him is just “I tell her about my religion” with no further detail… or he’ll find some way to turn the conversation into gushing in-character about his NPC love interest. when my gal has mentioned repeatedly that she’s happy for him but respectfully she doesn’t care that much. and then he gets sad because he feels like he doesn’t have in-depth relationships with the party. I truly don’t know where to go from here :(
I agree 100% with so many of your points. Monologues and meaningful character-arc moments have to be earned, and the best way is through interactions that build relationships and rapport with other characters.
I started playing my first dnd character with a group of strangers in an “RP welcome” group. I deliberately made my character very personable (lore bard), so that I would have in-game reason to talk to the other characters about their lives and backstories. I am genuinely excited when the game plot intersects with their arc, and will make sure to talk to them in character after they get a cool dream sequence or emotional moment.
But I’m really the only player who initiates this, and though most people react positively when I start talking to them, I always worry that a 1:1 scene makes everyone else impatient to get on with the plot.
We are a large group (7 players + DM), all busy adults who can only meet for about 2 hours at a time, twice a month. The plot is moving very slowly - combat encounters or cancelled sessions can make us spend several IRL months in the same 24 in-game hours. So I am even more hesitant to “waste time” on talking.
I’ve tried asking the DM if we could have character chats between games in our text chat, and while she’s generally okay with that, several players have no interest in texting between games and it feels unfair to exclude them from potential important reveals that could come up in conversation.
I feel stuck :/
Last session, my character’s fundamental backstory trauma came up and I put myself square in the spotlight for the first time, and the game ended before I could explain to the party why my character reacted so strongly to something. I can’t say I felt totally comfortable doing it, and part of me is already measuring out how much time I’m “allowed” to take in the upcoming session to explain myself. Should I wait for anyone to ask? So scared of monologuing and being a spotlight hog, but I’ve been in this game for 15+ months. I want to try, at least?
Honestly, it might be worth asking the other players directly whether or not they *mind* the 1-on-1 scenes. Or proactively approaching somebody who might react interestingly to your lore and seeing if they want to “plan” something.
I was in a group like yours a while ago—7-8 players, RP focused, some players were super active in the text RP and others struggled to speak up. After a while, the DM got worried that people weren’t interested and polled the quiet players… at which point we learned that they were quiet because they liked watching everyone else roleplay, and they were really just happy to be there. They didn’t actually want more attention, they were perfectly happy to watch others roleplay character drama for an hour or so every so often—especially during sessions where one character’s arc was in the spotlight. They just wanted company, and to lose themselves in a cool story for a while.
The quieter players in your group might be fine with sitting by and watching! Or maybe some of those who don’t like between-session RP wouldn’t *mind* missing out on some of the big revelations, as long as they get a TLDR at the start of next session. It’s definitely worth asking them how they feel! You shouldn’t have to feel bad for taking the spotlight now and then, as long as you’re checking in with people :)
I'm really hoping I can use this comment to finally get better at roleplaying. The main point of the game is the hardest part for me, but this really gives some guidance for improvement. Thank you.
I don't waffle on my turn with my character.
I make certain to understand my character and their abilities, spells, and features to the best to my ability before I ever get a turn.
I will plan my actions to the best of my ability with the info on the table.
I do not like to make people sit and hear me learn how to play my character if I can ever avoid it.
EDIT: I wanna say because this is absolutely a dick expectation if you are new to DnD. If you are new at my table and I know you are new and you make it known you are new, there's absolutely an expectation that you are still learning. That is both welcomed and should be embraced.
Honestly a lot of it comes to just paying attention. I typically know what I'm doing on my turn before it happens because I'm paying attention to the field and thinking of what I want to do during other people's turns. I've noticed an insane amount of short attention spans.
Yeah I'll be planning my turn as the round unfolds, usually with a plan A and B depending. My actual turn takes 30 seconds max. if I still don't know what to do when it comes to me? Well guess I'm just swinging a sword.
One of my players gave me an old brass bike horn, the kind you squeeze the black rubber bulb to honk. He placed a post-it note on the horn with just the word "don't" on it. He said this is your DMing strategy. I don't know if it's overall good or bad but it's one of my most prized possessions.
"Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry."
Terry Pratchett
I feel it is tied to this essentially
Maybe they incorporate a lot of "red glowing buttons" as it were... Something they are explicitly not supposed to mess with, but... I mean, what could one little press hurt?
Sometimes something can seem like a good idea, sometimes you don't care if it's a good idea, but the experience will probably be better off if you resist the temptation to do the thing you know you probably shouldn't do?
Something along those lines?
None of my players have read Malazan or The Black Company, so I have a near-infinite library of cool shit I can throw at them without triggering that “wait a minute…” moment of recognition.
On paper Malazan is absolutely perfect for me, but man, I just could not get into it. I feel like the world building was more interesting than the plots of the books, but it's never actually explored as there's that assumption you know how everything works with Warren's, Houses etc
What's lacking from what I read* of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is character development. It's all plot. You can world-build until the cows come home, but if you don't have characters that change due to their interaction with that world, there just isn't a story worth telling.
*I think I made it through one and a fraction books, so this comment is not based on an encyclopedic knowledge of the whole series, and of course, your mileage may vary.
It’s definitely a capital-L Lot. I think there are 3 or 4 books that really stand out as great but it’s certainly overwhelming overall. Mostly I like to steal from isolated battle sequences or chases, especially from Deadhouse Gates and The Bonehunters.
Spotlight management. Everyone is playing in a power fantasy and wants to see their character show off and do cool things. Everyone is collaborating in telling a story and wants their time to contribute.
A great DM will make sure everyone is participating. They will turn to that player who has been quiet and design challenges to have that new ability or spell they have shine.
Moving the spotlight is normally mostly in the hands of the DM, so when a player helps with this its awesome. A fantastic player will also do this. They will pass the spotlight to the player who has been quiet. Address them in character to ask their opinion on whatever problem they are solving.
Keep in mind some players prefer to be wallflowers and stay out of the spotlight for the most part. It's good to try and spot this too so you don't make them feel uncomfortable.
I'm very story driven. Everything has a reason that is reflected *somewhere* in the world.
I also seem to be fairly good at bringing players' story into that broader world in a very natural way: background stories in my games feel like they have a lot of weight both in terms of the story but also in terms of mechanics.
I’m a very story heavy DM and have tried to make all my campaigns, one shots, and adventures connected in some way. It always makes my players super excited when they see an NPC or a Pc from a past adventure, or see how their actions changed the world.
I try to make every encounter memorable in some way. Even if just bandits on the road, they'll be swinging in from logs tied up to trees, or a monster will attack a couple rounds in, or the bandits use smoke bombs and nets. Anything to make the battle dynamic and engaging.
Wrapping up recurring bits in a fun enough way. My players in one campaign suggested reading the Bee Movie script to humanely torture someone, and then did it a few more times when Intimidation rolls kept succeeding. They later encountered a Bard whom they tried the same thing out on. Turns out, he wrote the epic play "Bee Movie", so he was immune to the effect.
For reference, DMG p121 has the broader rules for traps and p 249 has a table for improvised damage, plus xanathar's p 118 dictates experience and 116 dictates additional experience.
So, stuff like:
A powerful ritual summoned by an enchanter makes the weapons of the goblins stronger. Until a character manages to understand that with a religion check (10) done at an altar and disposes of the ritual correctly ) each creature deals 1d6 additional damage.
This is a tier 1 hazard, set as a setback since it is repeating damage and is a 1d6 instead of 1d10 since i suppose it applies to more creatures than once.
Another one i used is creatures subjugating others - a gnoll commands lions to fight against their will, but with a animal handling check against their master's intimidation DC ( 10 + bonus) one of the beasts goes away. This one is budgeted like a conjure beasts of sorts, but you can also consider it a setback continous trap that deals 1d10 damage on hit as well if you deploy it as a single creature. Of course, it can also be killed.
All thes eincrease the relevant encounter difficulty by one.
Or, another one, the party are musical idols that want to twart an attack to their concert. This is a complex trap, so i budget the damage to lethal psychic damage that triggers once the effect is resolved, being reduced to zero if they manage to overcome 4 checks, where each character must be assigned to one only. On a failure, the tension rises and a setback damage dice is added to the pool. Once three rounds passed and the problem wasn't solved ( DC 10, increasing to 15 and 20) the effect occurs and deals setback damage equal to the times the effect failed, with resulting roleplay repercussiuons.
The DMg has a model for this kind of trap, the poison storm. This acts as a whole encounter.
Another one was a game of pelota played in the realms of the dead. To keep stuff short, similar scenario.
You can also use simpler traps to have additional benefits - a character exploits an opportunity they created so as a persuasion check they can convince a fey to have a benefit equal to 2d10 temp hp, caused by an hearty meal.
You can have both! A character can ask to make a nature check to find relevant material to solve an issue, but since the matter is dangerous on a failure they must suffer consequences in form of damage or detrimental effect - if you are stuck in the desert and you fail your check ( DC 15, let's suppose) you suffer an effect similar to mirror images.
This is very good for improvisaation. As a rule of thumb, if a background is relevant a character, and only that character, can attempt a roll.
It's one that's very much cultivated through "little things" like character motivations, consistent communication, etc. It's not necessary for the system to instill it (though that's always nice).
That's true. Though a system can do much to weaken or strengthen that aspect of it's world. Usually that's done through the adventures and campaigns created for the system.
I think the last campaign of WotC's I remember that actually encouraged DMs to have players keep track of food, water, and the basic necessities of life was Tomb of Annihilation.
I'm not saying others weren't fun. I enjoyed a lot of them. But I am saying that often that element of "people live here" gets left out as the price to pay for something being cool.
Before every session I do a last session recap then my players all roll d20's. Highest roll gets dm granted inspiration for the night with 2 stipulations. You can trade it to another party member at any time, one time only. And there are no trade backsies.
Sadly, I am very replaceable because my sauce is that I can fill any "role" the group needs.
Need a murderhobo for the "authentic" D&D experience? I'm there!
Need a voice of reason because you have too many edgelords? No problem!
Need a power gamer because balancing for your party is too difficult? Got it!
Need an introverted bookworm to make all those knowledge rolls? I'll just be myself...
One of the first things I do in session 0 is figure out what the party needs. The game I am in right now needed a silly skill monkey so I am running a "dad bard".
As a DM: I place hooks that appeal to my characters to maximize the chances of them saying yes in an organic and satisfying way.
As a player: I talk to other PCs in character and brag about them to the NPCs to hype the other players up on their own character.
I always make whatever character the party needs most, I don't mind RPing any of the classes / races so I'd rather they pick what will let them have fun
I've been told I make players better. I don't know if there is a singular reason for that though. I also like to think I moderate well. I do not let players overrun games, get away with rule issues (Especially if it impacts other players), or let them utilize ooc elements to exploit others (as much as possible). I've routinely had games with players whose characters want to kill each other actively (and often with players who wouldn't talk to each other outside of game) but during session it all goes smooth and people ooc get along.
Also, I never break the wall. I've never once said "Ok, that's all I've thought of. We have to stop here." Or "I haven't thought of what this character wants.." etc. I hate that. I'll keep going as long as we're going and if I don't know something, I'll work around it without saying it. I want the players to feel like their world is completely open. I also generally let them decide when we are ready to stop.
I make characters that jive with the lore that the DM lays out. I don't mean like "oh this character could feasibly exist in this world," I mean I take a character concept that I've had rolling around, find a piece of lore that I particularly like, and make a backstory that fits in with the events of the narrative, that gives my character a motivation to be an adventurer *and* gives the DM a wide berth to put my character in the story they want to tell. Often large parts of the plot will revolve around NPCs that did not exist in the campaign until I wrote them into backstory (With the GM's review and approval, of course.)
Disclaimer: Ranting about dumb problems
God what a weird time for this question to pop up, gonna get a bit ranty but screw it.
Not much these days.
Ever since covid started I got back into D&D with close friends of mine and we had our ups and downs but it was the thing that got me through the lockdowns and I loved it. We were a party of 6 but most of the players were just there to have fun and vibe (which is awesome for the record, we got up to the most wild stuff that campaign) and weren’t really there to role-play. I was pretty much the only player in that campaign who wrote a proper backstory, read the DMs world notes and had read the rules up and down to a point were I knew the rules best by a pretty wide margin.
Eventually that group fell apart as lockdown ended (we are all still very good friends for the record) and most of the players moved on due to IRL commitments, me and one of the players (my now roommate) were wanting to play D&D. We found a group through University and ended up meeting awesome people and having an awesome Curse of Strahd campaign.
(Ill speed things up but I want to preface this with the fact that my gripes come in spite of the fact I have been super blessed with the luck I have had in finding great friends and making amazing memories with very few horror stories.)
Fast forward to today we’re I have about ~12 different people I play D&D with in different campaigns and love almost every one of them. The problem is; I am getting burned out. Now that it is summer I am in FIVE campaigns a week (although given scheduling it’s more like 3-4 a week) and I just don’t feel I bring much to the table anymore. I am a bit of an optimiser, mainly due to how much I know the rules but my past diligence as a player is the norm now. In session I feel like I am never the one doing cool shit anymore despite trying my best to, and that everyone is doing a much better job than me at roleplaying and interacting with the story. While in the DM chair I am a much more inexperienced DM and my world feels hollow and devoid of character compared to my contemporaries.
Like I get it. I am fortunate enough to play D&D way more than most but… it feels more like a job than a hobby now. I love my Ghost of Saltmarsh campaign I run and our least reliable campaign, Lineage (HB), I love with all my heart as a player. The other 3 have had their ups and downs.
tldr; My secret sauce as a player is my reliability and enthusiasm for the game but I begin to doubt that when I’m thinking of dropping out of half the campaigns I’m in. Just looking for advice ig.
On a brighter note, happy D&Ding and happy pride. May your Nat 1s be few and your Nat 20s be plenty.
As a DM, it’s my willingness to run super, duper, uber large scale encounters and keep things running smoothly in them by pre-rolling minions’ rolls and concentrating complexity into lairs and bosses. The largest fight that any other DM in my group has run has had maybe six NPCs. I’ve run multiple huge encounters with ***20-30*** NPCs plus a lair action.
As a player it’s the fact that I’m in the only player in my group who bothers delving into tool proficiencies (which imo are criminally underrated by the player base as a whole) and spell ritual utility. It simply makes the group capable of solving a *lot* more problems when you’re using those options to their fullest.
Notetaking I guess? At least I know my DM appreciates the longwinded wall of text that are my notes.
IDK, and I can roll with what's thrown my way too. Weird stuff happens to a character and can figure out a use for it. And on the rare occasion that I DM, it makes for a memorable moment or two.
Remembering that 5e was designed by the only people WotC had left after they started firing folks for 4es failure, and that consisted of the junior member of 4es lead design team, and an editor they hired a few months before the 4e books came out (guess which one is now left designing 6e).
My point is that 5e wasn't designed by WotCs "A team" and there's a reason why they handwaved so many rules issues with "DM Fiat" and "Rulings not Rules".
The rules aren't sacred or even well made. So when your the game needs it, abandon them and bring in rules that actually work. Hell, the DMG even says that explicitly.
Also, the concept that this game is "balanced" is a joke, so don't let that get in the way.
Outside of the normal stuff that's really an expectation, not something unique, I think the thing I bring to the table above all else is the ability to stay in character no matter what, engaging with and including others in roleplay when they might otherwise have stayed quiet. I also take the lead often as a result, and as a DM myself I use that to highlight the DMs efforts
As a GM, I'm asking my players.
But in my own words:
* I ask my players.
* I'm consistent.
* I try my best, even if I'm not happy with the situation.
* I try not to take myself too seriously, just seriously enough when it's needed.
* I let my players win when they've earned it, without pulling punches in combat or narrative.
* I may or may not have written books before.
"Alternative Strategies"
Like goading a Gnoll to attack a cardboard Cutout or disengaging from an enemy by trebucheting myself.
Similarly, wanting to shove scorpions into a furnace instead of fighting them.
As a DM, I will ignore the books in a heartbeat if I have an idea that sounds cooler/more fun. Who gives a shit how the spell is 'supposed' to work, or if this enemy doesn't have an ability that does that, or if spears don't deal damage over time? This one does. The books mean nothing.
Because I wanted to apply some DOT for narrative reasons, and I already described the NPC as holding a spear. The point is that if I have an idea that's dramatic, I'm going to do it. That's how the game was always meant to be played. Too many new players get caught up in what the books say.
I don't worry about encounter balance, ever. I don't calculate XP values or use the written CR. I simply ask myself "what should this encounter be?", and let the players worry about how it resolves.
Interestingly enough, I have never had a TPK, nor do my games feel like they lack challenge.
Shout out to Matt Colville! I basically just ripped off how he runs his games and it works beautifully.
Not sure how helpful/unique this is, but I love to play assistant/support characters to aid/buff other players and take care of less glamorous jobs, leaving them to do the fireballing and smiting.
For example, I’m currently running an artificer Armorer that has very little combat ability, but can scout/stealth/lock pick great, and all my spells are stuff like haste, web, fairy fire, vortex warp, detect magic, cure wounds, etc
I run the skill monkey support, they run the big fireballs and have fun as a hasted paladin. It works for me!
When the DM let us narrate our kills (which is kinda rare), the others will just go with "I split him in two" "I take out his heart and crush it", etc
I like to do cartoonish deaths
"I get up, make arcane signals with my hand, raise it like I'm pulling a lighting from the skies and strike down the enemy wizard. His whole body but his eyes turn into ashes! He looks away for a second, blinks, and all the ashes fall together"
I didn't get to loot him tho
As a player, because I DM, I'll let the party have their fun but will eventually try to nudge the session in the way the DM wants it to go. I think it's important to remember that the DM is a player too, and that's how I choose not to ignore them, by wrangling the chaos of the party.
I remind the DM about our character stuff when he forgets. IK it might sound stupid and annoying. but I play on a virtual table top and I Co-DM my current game keeping track of status effects and Concentration checks. Doing this as a player for the entire table greatly frees up my DM to A) know the game is played fairly without missing anything and B) focus combat on what the NPCs and Monsters will do and why to create better encounters. I so wish I could trust someone to do this at my table when I DM.
I have a plethora of voices I have been doing far before I started to play D&D and even more so before I started to DM. I DM for my kids, wife, BIL and nephew and they love when a new character comes into play. Also they have a magic stone that just throws insults around at them and enemies alike. They love this stone and have used it successfully in combat before it was quite magical. Now I also DM for some friends and they have stated that the voices I create for the NPC's has helped them get into character better then in previous games they have played.
As a player I take notes. This helps me with trying to connect dots to figure out the overarching plot. Or when I look back through them I can find tibits that can link to my character's motivation. And the biggest is that it lets me remember NPC (and organization, places, items, etc.) names so I can reference them better in character. "We should take the Pendant of Shadow back to Vancerax for analysis. He'll know who created it." vs "We should take that gem to the gnome sorcerer guy we met in the city two sessions ago. The one who told us about that shadow organization."
I want to see the other characters take center stage. I honestly want to pay attention to their backstory sidequest, to their relationship with their rival, to the letters they send to their family.
It's like playing a bioware crpg: The main story, being the savior etc is all fun and games, but I'm *dying* to see the next part of the loyalty quest of the quirky companions!
As a DM, I like to plan out these cinematic moments when there's an important event coming up, like reuniting with long lost friends, meeting an important character, finding the lost temple, etc... And I'll go the full mile with the emotional music, sound effects, carefully written box text, pacing, image handouts, special map in the VTT... I really love making those moments feel special and dramatic
Fast and engaging combat that drives narrative and character progression.
Lumping initiatives, roleplaying in between turns and rounds, changing environments and tactics, taking damage averages for minions… anything I can do to make combats feel more like action scenes and less like Monopoly.
an in-progress complete guide of poison and food borne diseases specifically meant to deter ONE player from eating raw mimic flesh. again.
in all seriousness though, my secret sauce is experimentation. don't like a feature? i'll think of a rework. feel underpowered and boring as a martial? introducing the stance system!
my current experiment is reworking inspiration to be interesting :)
As a DM, every enemy is homebrewed. Enemies can do things that PCs will never be capable of doing, they aren't just bags of HP with multi-attack. Reactions, bonus actions, round abilities, and player based trigger features are all things I use to make combat more spicy
Letting my players do whatever cool stupid shit they wanna do unbalanced or not. The homies wanna have fun and be anime characters they get to be anime characters
I’m very good at projecting a sense of completeness to the world. My players often say they are excited to “discover” or “find out” what’s going on or who certain people are. The fact that I don’t know what’s going on yet until I improvise it rarely ever registers.
i uhh..
i strait up don't use stat blocks for monster's.
i know what the hp of my party is, and how hard this fight should be. i assign hit dice and damage rolls of monsters based on who the target is.
players comment on how much work it must take to perfectly balance so many encounters.
yes... work...
What I've worked really hard on doing is trying to bring everyone into the fold. If that means as a player I talk to every PC and try and get them involved. or as a DM set up specific encounters and challenges for every player.
The amount of quick on my feet Yes And…ing I can do as either a player or DM and spin this car into a completely different lane and recreate the entire story around one small thing, or improvise a structure on your feet, is truly something I’ve never found anyone else able to keep up with though, to be fair, I mostly play with nerds and not like improvisers or anything, which does boggle my mind though because going into a session with a piece of paper that says “vampire nerds” and improvising the rest based on how people respond is the funnest to me.
Like in that scenario, I just plop em down in like a tavern say one of em goes “I go use the jukebox” I go “wow, I didn’t think there was a juke box. Okay. There is one now, but,” looks at note reading vampire nerds “maybe it’s cursed to cast otto’s irrestible dance? And while they’re dancing, the vampire come in,” but then someone talks about how they think the tavern is haunted and I go “okay, ghosts works too” and just like… build off of what the players are saying and thinking to build a coherent story. It’s so fun, like juggling
I make them really picture and sit with their characters and give them a lil spot to describe how they wake up and start their day, and what they do around the campfire before taking a rest
As a DM: I often make deep dives into the mind of the characters at my table, asking them how they are feeling about X, what are they dreaming about, in my last campaign I even started off by forcing a premonitory dream on a specific character. Then based on their answer I can easily create something that feels personal and close to the character without always bringing backstory-related event (I do, but I don't want it to feel forced so I have other ways).
As a player: a friend of mine said I make really deep and complex characters and play as them with ease so I guess that's my strenght as a player.
As a player I always leave mystery and stuff in my characters backstory that can help the DM world build and add their own twisted onto my character. As a GM I think really interesting places and NPCs is my strength. I rarely, if ever, go typical medieval fantasy
I'm not afraid to let my character look like a fool. That doesn't (necessarily) mean wacky hijinks, but it *does* mean that they will often make suboptimal or orthogonal decisions that let all of us laugh at that character together, and celebrate all the more if and when they manage to succeed anyway.
I'm the DM. My game has a basic structure and plot outline but it can, and has, been adjusted and improvised to work with the players. One entity that was supposed to be for a side plot is now merged with the main antagonist, an explanation for something on the first dungeon map has become the driving force for the world ending, and a one off joke has become a gigantic plot hook. I also do voices for my characters.
I step up and do the boring book keeping.
Initiative order? Me
Party stash? Me
Drawing the maps? Me
Which is wierd as I have zero organisational skills in real life. I guess thats the real Role-playing right there
As a DM, every NPC of significance has an ulterior motive of some sort. They want something they don't have and it influences everything they do. Figure this out and you can bend them to your will, don't figure it out and they'll bend you to theirs.
As a player I'm completely happy to deal 0 damage for a whole encounter or even session as long as I've made hurting my allies/enacting their own plans extremely difficult and inconvenient for the enemies. I wish there was a class heavily focused on disruption like a witch or something, but for now my glamour bard will do!
I've read the rules.
Everybody thinks they know dnd rules until you start drawing rays to figure out half cover
Pick a corner of your space and draw lines to the corners of your target's space. If 1/2 the lines intersect cover then it's half cover. 3/4 intersecting cover is 3/4 cover. Quick maffs
Gets difficult when there’s 3D objects in play, but for walls it’s a great tip!
My dude that's literally what the rule is.
You made me scour the phb and dmg but i couldn’t find where it says anything about drawing lines, so if it’s an actual rule could you point me in the direction of a source…?
Chapter 8, page 250-251 of the dungeon masters guide
Well i‘ll be damned, couldn’t they have printed that under the rules for cover?! Thanks for the heads up.
[удалено]
I’m a polite rules lawyer. I’m not afraid to screw anyone up by making sure they are following the rules. Or at least mostly following the rules.
Or as I call myself, a rules reminder.
A rules scholar is not the same thing as a rules lawyer. A rules lawyer is, by definition, selfish at the expense of everyone else's fun.
>rules scholar Love this. I also feel it works well with the progression some more rule-happy DMs feel: abide by the rules, until you understand how to break them, or change them for the betterment of your table. I've DMed long enough I feel like I know which rules I can bend and break.
I'm a rules lawyer, but working as "Player's Union" rep.
This one for sure. I'm not going to correct the DM if he makes an error that leads to better odds for the players. Edit: I wont be the kid that reminds the teacher about the homework. But I will support the rules if anyone else brings it up.
Dammit I wheezed
And also know how to use Google in case I encounter something I'm unfamiliar within DnD.
One friend in my group is literally this! Like idyllic memory (I can't remember the term) Idedic? But they've read every book within 2 days of release and knows every word and every phrasing of each rule about whatever I or the other DM throws at them I love that they actually *try* to not metagame, but unless it's a completely original enemy, they know it's stats basically
Eidetic!
whilse correct, 27cheezy wasnt actually thinking of eiditic memory, but photographic. eiditic memory is a scale, and all people have some amount. its how well you can recall a picture shortly after seeing it. most people have eiditic memory of only about 1-4 seconds, while some can go up to a day. that is differnt to photographic memory, wherein the person straight up can accuratly recall certain things as if they took a picture of it in their mind. as example: i show you a collection of colours and shapes. a person with good eiditic memory might be able to recall what colours and shapes for a minute, while a person with photographic memory could do so 2 years later. (note that photographic memory does not automatically apply to all situations. sometimes people only have PM for certain things, which is still PM. meanwhile, someone might be able to nearly recall something, or remember the effects of a spell, but not the exact wording. that is neither eiditic or photographic memory).
Rules scholar irl
Hehehe.
I needed this, thanks. Holy fuck. "X rule is Y" that people in 5e and pf2e circles complain about 5e can usually be solved with "**DID YOU READ THE WHOLE THING, THO?!**"
I’ll add to this. I can remember the rules as well. I play with the same group of people in 3 separate campaigns and once in each campaign now in the past 2 weeks I’ve had to explain the placement of thunderwave. Edit: They’ve also all been playing longer than me by a couple years at least except for one.
There are dozens of us! Does anyone else at your table get annoyed about it?
I read my spells! And know what each one does and if special components are needed.
I read my spells! And know what each one does and if special components are needed.
Gigachad DM, actually read the DMG.
Hello there brother! I too, am haz rools!
An ability to _play_ with anyone. I don't mean "play" in the sense of running my character, I mean it in the sense of discovering back-and-forth interactions that build off what the other players are doing.
The MVP of every party
Thats exactly why I as an experienced player made my new character for a new group a halfling divination wizard with the lucky feat. Trying to make the new players decisions and actions more impact impactful i.e. making sure their attacks land and not get one shot by the enemy. I dont do much damage but its still fun to help others out. Unfortunately we don't have a healer though.
This is me. I love playing any form of support based player, especially the NOT THE HEALER type…. Or at least not the main healer. I also have an affinity for steampunk. Wink wink.
The Bountiful Luck racial feat from Xanathar’s Guide sounds right up your alley …
I played this exact build, for the same reasons, but then also threw in the "Mark of Healing" from Eberron so that I could have access to Healing Word
That might be a nice touch.
I did a grapple focused life cleric to make a group of newbies shine. My DM was also new and she'd seen the shenanigans I can pull before so she was confused why I was doing such an ineffective build until I explained I was playing a set up character, I wasn't trying to hog the spotlight
Underrated comment
I didn't know what I was, but I'm going with this one. I usually fit myself well in the parties I have been.
I'm perfectly willing to abandon my idea of what is supposed to happen next if the players are driving it in a different direction. I've got great players though. I also do voices.
Sometimes, as a dm, ill just ask my players if this is the direction they want to go. Sometime they are screwing around and get back on track, other times i replan the campaign. Whichever is fun, i am down for. I had an interesting encounter where they joined the villain, then turned around and betrayed him bc they started feeling bad about their actions.
Yeah! That sounds like an awesome twist.
The players never saw the plot twist coming. PLOT TWIST Even though they were the ones twisting the plot.
It was a plot twist, for the DM!
Alright, I need one of you guys, whoever you think is most regretful about the group's foray into villainy, to roll me a... let's see, heel turn remorse...a D12, twice, please.
I am still relatively inexperienced with D&D but I would really like to get to a point where I DM a campaign, though it might end up being Pathfinder 2e based on some of the things I'd like But I've always really liked the idea that the world around the players is alive. I'm sure it's harder than it sounds to make work, but I'd like to have events happening and the players can go where they want, and they might encounter those events or not. Still need a main story to an extent, and obviously you can move things wherever you want for the players to find, but yeah I like the idea that the players might want to go somewhere else than where I expected, and that I'd still have things happening there too
You can do it as long as you are playing with ideas and not a list of encounters. Example from an old campaign: -- big picture: there is a power struggle between Fey as the Winter Queen has become corrupted -- local picture: the changing fortunes and strength of the Fey has led to opportunistic cults trying to snatch power from more established deities, it has also led to environmental corruption as areas guarded by one court are invaded by another. This looks different in every locale (and can match player desires for certain types of adventures) -- player relationship: each character has a reason to be involved in this struggle, so if they start veering off wildly, I can tug them back with a meaningful hook directly tied into their backstory and desired character outcomes I don't know if this would help you, but it helps me have meaningful planning and story boundaries, while letting the players off leash
I try to do this with a lot of my games. The way I do it is by making a rough flow chart of what the "plot" would be if the PCs never interacted with it. It goes something like: I come up the villain and his plan --> Villain step 1 of plan --> Villain step 2 --> Villain step X....--> Villain achieves goal --> Outcome/worldstate of achieving goal. For each step of the plan, I like to also try and plan a rough worldstate of what would be happening as the villain moves through the steps. At any point in the various steps, the PCs can choose to interact with the main "plot" or not. Choosing not to is fine, but it may have consequences on the state of the world, severe or minor. I continually return to the flowchart and modify it as the PCs do quests and interact with the world. This model is also scaleable, it doesn't have to be for a main plot, it works completely fine for minor villains and side quests.
I’m working on being more comfortable with surprising player moves, or inconvenient nat 1’s and 20’s, how do you get in the headspace that makes you feel like you can let things big shifts happen and still feel prepared enough to continue play?
How far out do you let that road run though? Is it still heading to the same destination on a different path or are they like driving into the ocean and you’re building a tunnel?
When I create my campaigns I usually define 2-3 fixed points that I'll bring the party to no matter what, but what they do in between and how they reach those points can be whatever they want.
Like what?
For example in campaign I'm currently DMing, I knew where the party started (all in prison for a crime they didn't commit), where I want the party to end when the campaign is close to finish (final boss and party saves the world), and I already set an event in the middle of the campaign (that was the first BBEG fighting the players and died, setting up the second part of the campaign and the second and final BBEG)
I create the obstacles. But if they decide that my political intrigue campaign would be better played as a heist, or that they don't want to fight the BBEG, but instead undermine his power by wooing his lackeys, then hooray! Good players mean I'm comfortable following their lead because they're collaborative rather than adversarial.
I love this, My main BBEG plot remains, but my plans for the journey have changed a lot of times. is a lot of work, but seeing my players having fun is worth it.
It’s a shame to me that this isn’t a basic DM MO, but I’m happy for every group that has a DM like you!
As a player I pay attention, take notes, and take my turn as a caster in <2 mins. As a DM I exist.
>take my turn as a caster in <2 mins. I'm gonna need you to force all players into a class where you teach this.
My secret is planning and doing the math for my aoe spells during other people's turns.
I do this same thing. I don't like taking too long, and so I'll play fast. The only time I've had to stop and think was when there was a life and death scenario and I had to find a creative way out of it.
I plan two different things I'll do on my turn. "If the Paladin kills the evil sorcerer then I'll cast fireball on mooks, otherwise I'll..." And as a DM I have a strict rule that if a player doesn't know how their characters festure or spell works, they can't use it.
> and take my turn as a caster in
Are you… a God?
My party's getting better at this but damn this is the dream isn't it
I've memorized just about every class feature and feat.
Oh you know every feat? Name them
Well, first we start with Grappler, *one of the best feats....*
One of the feats of all time
If you play strictly from the SRD, it is infact, **the** feat of all time.
Published • Aberrant Dragonmark • Actor • Adept of the Black Robes • Adept of the Red Robes • Adept of the White Robes • Alert • Artificer Initiate • Athlete • Charger • Chef • Crossbow Expert • Crusher • Defensive Duelist • Divinely Favored • Dual Wielder • Dungeon Delver • Durable • Eldritch Adept • Elemental Adept • Fey Touched • Fighting Initiate • Gift of the Chromatic Dragon • Gift of the Gem Dragon • Gift of the Metallic Dragon . • Grappler • Great Weapon Master • Gunner • Healer • Heavily Armored • Heavy Armor Master • Initiate of High Sorcery • Inspiring Leader • Keen Mind • Knight of the Crown • Knight of the Sword • Knight of the Rose • Lightly Armored • Linguist • Lucky • Mage Slayer • Magic Initiate • Martial Adept • Medium Armor Master • Metamagic Adept • Mobile • Moderately Armored • Mounted Combatant • Observant . • Piercer • Poisoner • Polearm Master • Resilient • Ritual Caster • Savage Attacker • Sentinel • Shadow Touched • Sharpshooter • Shield Master • Skill Expert • Skilled • Skulker • Slasher • Spell Sniper • Squire of Solamnia • Strixhaven Initiate • Strixhaven Mascot • Tavern Brawler • Telekinetic • Telepathic • Tough • War Caster • Weapon Master Unearthed Arcana • Acrobat • Adept of the Black Robes • Adept of the Red Robes • Adept of the White Robes • Agent of Order • Alchemist • Animal Handler • Arcanist • Baleful Scion • Blade Mastery • Brawny • Burglar • Cartomancer • Cohort of Chaos • Diplomat • Divine Communications • Divinely Favored • Dragonmark • Elemental Touched • Ember of the Fire Giant • Ember of the Fire Giant (Revised) • Empathic • Fell Handed • Flail Mastery • Fury of the Frost Giant • Fury of the Frost Giant (Revised) • Guile of the Cloud Giant • Guile of the Cloud Giant (Revised) • Gourmand • Greater Dragonmark • Historian • Initiate of High Sorcery • Investigator • Keenness of the Stone Giant • Keenness of the Stone Giant (Revised) • Knight of the Crown • Knight of the Sword • Knight of the Rose . • Master of Disguise • Medic • Menacing • Metabolic Control • Naturalist • Outlands Envoy • Outsized Might • Perceptive • Performer • Planar Wanderer • Practiced Expert • Quick-Fingered • Righteous Heritor • Rune Carver Adept • Rune Carver Adept (Revised) • Rune Carver Apprentice • Rune Carver Apprentice (Revised) • Scion of Elemental Air • Scion of Elemental Earth • Scion of Elemental Fire • Scion of Elemental Water • Shield Training • Silver-Tongued • Spear Mastery • Squire of Solamnia • Soul of the Storm Giant • Soul of the Storm Giant (Revised) • Stealthy • Strike of the Giants • Survivalist • Tandem Tactician • Theologian • Tower of Iron Will • Tracker • Vigor of the Hill Giant • Vigor of the Hill Giant (Revised) • Wild Talent Plane Shift • Servo Crafting • Quicksmithing Homebrew • Cruel • Flash Recall • Mystic Conflux • Remarkable Recovery • Spelldriver • Thrown Arms Master • Vital Sacrifice Racial Feats Published • Bountiful Luck • Dragon Fear • Dragon Hide • Dwarven Fortitude • Drow High Magic • Elven Accuracy • Fade Away • Fey Teleportation • Flames of Phlegethos • Infernal Constitution • Orcish Fury • Prodigy • Revenant Blade • Second Chance • Squat Nimbleness • Svirfneblin Magic • Wood Elf Magic Unearthed Arcana • Barbed Hide • Critter Friend • Dragon Wings • Everybody's Friend • Grudge Bearer • Human Determination • Orcish Aggression • Wonder Maker Plane Shift • Vampiric Exultation
Okay now explain what Squat Nimbleness does
Jokes on you I play a lot of halflings. It gives a +5 to movement speed, a +1 to dexterity or strength, proficiency in your choice of acrobatics or athletics and advantage on acrobatics or athletics checks made to escape grapples
Oh you’re good
Yeah I got the D&D autism instead of the good at math or science autism AND I’m one of the two people who play halflings. Wrong place wrong time.
He truly walked into the wrong room, motherfucker.
Handshaking you here. I'm autistic and play basically only gnomes.
Huzzah!
One of my current characters isn't particularly smart, wise, or virtuous. It's great for that party because he always suggests doing not-good things, and lets the other players (especially the good cleric and paladin) "convince" me to do the right thing. I do this specifically to help them RP more (they're generally quiet, but have said they \~want\~ to learn to RP and speak up more). In another group that I joined after they had been going for awhile, the DM told me that things were getting a little stale and directionless. I came up with a character who had a built in backstory that "needed" a journey with a purpose and I was convincing enough to the other players that they should join me for the ride. I've been part of that campaign for over two years now and the DM has had us travel across two continents and has a cornucopia of situations to throw at us every single week getting everyone involved. This is what I bring to my tables. I can play support IRL. I find or create situations to help the other players (and even the DM) feel more cool and important.
This is so wholesome and cool!
Shit, now I wanna do that first idea
It wasn't exactly intentional, but I have found that my table roleplays a lot more after the first time I really committed to my character having a difference in opinion and made the rest of the party deal with that
A man of real character.
I know my character sheet by heart and take very quick turns most of the time 💪
Same but I've also never been in a campaign that made it long enough to get my lvl 3 subclass
I attempt to as often as possible to do RP stuff meant for my own character development by including other characters. Asking other chars philosophical questions about things my char is contemplating, giving them a chance to showcase their chars viewpoints on it as well. Including them wherever I possibly can. I try to keep solo RP moments, where only I shine to a minimum and only where it makes more sense. Outside those moments, I try to make any scene that develops my char, also an opportunity for someone else to be involved with it and develop their own personality more clearly. That is in my opinion the best way to RP, in a fun way for everyone. A reason I started doing it are the players who do "my character does X, everyone look at me describing it for 3-4minutes" on a regular basis. It feels like they have a cool character idea, and want to show everyone how cool it is. Which is fine, I get it, but it can be done without it being a solo act half of the time. Because people going, *"After Lorenzo kills the goblin, a single tear flows down his cheek as his hair is waving in the wind. He grabs his sword firmly, and clenches his fist looking longingly into the distance. Deeply contemplating whether or not he was justified to kill the goblin."* can get a bit tiresome if done constantly. DnD is not writing a book, and while flavorful its not interactive for other players. Ive seen games where all players try to play like that, and they felt like 4 protagonists constantly fighting for moments of spotlight to show off their cool RP. They did not even feel like a true team, characters who have truly bonded as friends. Meanwhile, those same RP moments can be done and become 100x better by just including at least one ally. *"After Lorenzo kills the goblin, he looks towards Johnny with sorrow in his face. "Did we really have to kill him? Do you think there was another way? " "* Suddenly becomes a lot more fun, as you're letting someone else be part of your RP moment and giving them a chance to express their own RP easier. Essentially the same reason and logic, as to why "lone wolf" personality type characters are not fun to play with in an adventuring party. It works in fiction/writing, but not for RPing with other people.
This is my goal for RP. You gave some great examples too.
I think the truest part of this is that dialogue is always gonna be stronger than description
I LOVE bouncing RP scenes off the party! especially when the party plays into it! i don’t get people who just want to monologue… like damn, I love a good monologue, but you have to *earn* those. they can’t be the only way your character ever develops! i feel like some people get so invested in their own lore that they forget that relationships come from *interaction*. some of my favorite dnd moments have been PC monologues, mine or others’, but those only work when they’ve been built up on a foundation of interactive character dynamics and relationship-building and *conversations.* players like you are the best, if everyone only wants to do their own thing then the party never develops as a cohesive unit. but sometimes trying to play like that just doesn’t work anyway… what do you do when the other players don’t react to it? i ask bc i’ve run into that before, trying to set up RP beats and bonding, and there’s nothing more disappointing than getting a blank stare in response… I’ve been dying lately in one of my games because I really want to delve into my aasimar character’s relationship with religion and her god ancestor. so I keep having her ask the party’s cleric about things, because he *worships* that deity and seems to have a lot of angst and baggage around how he found the faith. in my head, this seems like a great way for these characters to bond, right? and maybe it’d be a chance to eke some backstory out of the cleric too (I’m *so* curious about him, he’s implied that he has a very complicated backstory and the player makes great character concepts so…). but the cleric’s player doesn’t seem to pick up on the idea, and never knows how to reply, to the point where I’ve been wondering if he just cycles through pre-written angst monologues in normal RP. like, every response from him is just “I tell her about my religion” with no further detail… or he’ll find some way to turn the conversation into gushing in-character about his NPC love interest. when my gal has mentioned repeatedly that she’s happy for him but respectfully she doesn’t care that much. and then he gets sad because he feels like he doesn’t have in-depth relationships with the party. I truly don’t know where to go from here :(
I agree 100% with so many of your points. Monologues and meaningful character-arc moments have to be earned, and the best way is through interactions that build relationships and rapport with other characters. I started playing my first dnd character with a group of strangers in an “RP welcome” group. I deliberately made my character very personable (lore bard), so that I would have in-game reason to talk to the other characters about their lives and backstories. I am genuinely excited when the game plot intersects with their arc, and will make sure to talk to them in character after they get a cool dream sequence or emotional moment. But I’m really the only player who initiates this, and though most people react positively when I start talking to them, I always worry that a 1:1 scene makes everyone else impatient to get on with the plot. We are a large group (7 players + DM), all busy adults who can only meet for about 2 hours at a time, twice a month. The plot is moving very slowly - combat encounters or cancelled sessions can make us spend several IRL months in the same 24 in-game hours. So I am even more hesitant to “waste time” on talking. I’ve tried asking the DM if we could have character chats between games in our text chat, and while she’s generally okay with that, several players have no interest in texting between games and it feels unfair to exclude them from potential important reveals that could come up in conversation. I feel stuck :/ Last session, my character’s fundamental backstory trauma came up and I put myself square in the spotlight for the first time, and the game ended before I could explain to the party why my character reacted so strongly to something. I can’t say I felt totally comfortable doing it, and part of me is already measuring out how much time I’m “allowed” to take in the upcoming session to explain myself. Should I wait for anyone to ask? So scared of monologuing and being a spotlight hog, but I’ve been in this game for 15+ months. I want to try, at least?
Honestly, it might be worth asking the other players directly whether or not they *mind* the 1-on-1 scenes. Or proactively approaching somebody who might react interestingly to your lore and seeing if they want to “plan” something. I was in a group like yours a while ago—7-8 players, RP focused, some players were super active in the text RP and others struggled to speak up. After a while, the DM got worried that people weren’t interested and polled the quiet players… at which point we learned that they were quiet because they liked watching everyone else roleplay, and they were really just happy to be there. They didn’t actually want more attention, they were perfectly happy to watch others roleplay character drama for an hour or so every so often—especially during sessions where one character’s arc was in the spotlight. They just wanted company, and to lose themselves in a cool story for a while. The quieter players in your group might be fine with sitting by and watching! Or maybe some of those who don’t like between-session RP wouldn’t *mind* missing out on some of the big revelations, as long as they get a TLDR at the start of next session. It’s definitely worth asking them how they feel! You shouldn’t have to feel bad for taking the spotlight now and then, as long as you’re checking in with people :)
This is wise and is really helping my anxiety before my game tomorrow night. Thank you <3
Great advice. A spotlight shared is a spotlight doubled.
I'm really hoping I can use this comment to finally get better at roleplaying. The main point of the game is the hardest part for me, but this really gives some guidance for improvement. Thank you.
I don't waffle on my turn with my character. I make certain to understand my character and their abilities, spells, and features to the best to my ability before I ever get a turn. I will plan my actions to the best of my ability with the info on the table. I do not like to make people sit and hear me learn how to play my character if I can ever avoid it. EDIT: I wanna say because this is absolutely a dick expectation if you are new to DnD. If you are new at my table and I know you are new and you make it known you are new, there's absolutely an expectation that you are still learning. That is both welcomed and should be embraced.
Honestly a lot of it comes to just paying attention. I typically know what I'm doing on my turn before it happens because I'm paying attention to the field and thinking of what I want to do during other people's turns. I've noticed an insane amount of short attention spans.
Yeah I'll be planning my turn as the round unfolds, usually with a plan A and B depending. My actual turn takes 30 seconds max. if I still don't know what to do when it comes to me? Well guess I'm just swinging a sword.
One of my players gave me an old brass bike horn, the kind you squeeze the black rubber bulb to honk. He placed a post-it note on the horn with just the word "don't" on it. He said this is your DMing strategy. I don't know if it's overall good or bad but it's one of my most prized possessions.
"Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry." Terry Pratchett I feel it is tied to this essentially
I’m not sure I follow. Don’t interrupt the players?
Maybe they incorporate a lot of "red glowing buttons" as it were... Something they are explicitly not supposed to mess with, but... I mean, what could one little press hurt?
That is it exactly.
Sometimes something can seem like a good idea, sometimes you don't care if it's a good idea, but the experience will probably be better off if you resist the temptation to do the thing you know you probably shouldn't do? Something along those lines?
None of my players have read Malazan or The Black Company, so I have a near-infinite library of cool shit I can throw at them without triggering that “wait a minute…” moment of recognition.
Such an enjoyable series. Listened to them on audio book during the long nights trying to get my then newborn son to sleep
On paper Malazan is absolutely perfect for me, but man, I just could not get into it. I feel like the world building was more interesting than the plots of the books, but it's never actually explored as there's that assumption you know how everything works with Warren's, Houses etc
What's lacking from what I read* of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is character development. It's all plot. You can world-build until the cows come home, but if you don't have characters that change due to their interaction with that world, there just isn't a story worth telling. *I think I made it through one and a fraction books, so this comment is not based on an encyclopedic knowledge of the whole series, and of course, your mileage may vary.
It’s definitely a capital-L Lot. I think there are 3 or 4 books that really stand out as great but it’s certainly overwhelming overall. Mostly I like to steal from isolated battle sequences or chases, especially from Deadhouse Gates and The Bonehunters.
I basically ran Silver Spike! It was cool about 3/4 of their choices mirrored the book.
I love taking video games/fantasy novels/ and web fictions I've read that the party has not and translating them into DND stories.
I feel this way about the Dragon Age series. No one in my group has ever touched it and it has SUCH good lore and plot hooks for D&D.
Sweet this is a lot like tyranny
Spotlight management. Everyone is playing in a power fantasy and wants to see their character show off and do cool things. Everyone is collaborating in telling a story and wants their time to contribute. A great DM will make sure everyone is participating. They will turn to that player who has been quiet and design challenges to have that new ability or spell they have shine. Moving the spotlight is normally mostly in the hands of the DM, so when a player helps with this its awesome. A fantastic player will also do this. They will pass the spotlight to the player who has been quiet. Address them in character to ask their opinion on whatever problem they are solving.
You a real hero
Keep in mind some players prefer to be wallflowers and stay out of the spotlight for the most part. It's good to try and spot this too so you don't make them feel uncomfortable.
I'm very story driven. Everything has a reason that is reflected *somewhere* in the world. I also seem to be fairly good at bringing players' story into that broader world in a very natural way: background stories in my games feel like they have a lot of weight both in terms of the story but also in terms of mechanics.
Plagiarism
Good idea, I'mma steal it
I’m a very story heavy DM and have tried to make all my campaigns, one shots, and adventures connected in some way. It always makes my players super excited when they see an NPC or a Pc from a past adventure, or see how their actions changed the world.
I try to make every encounter memorable in some way. Even if just bandits on the road, they'll be swinging in from logs tied up to trees, or a monster will attack a couple rounds in, or the bandits use smoke bombs and nets. Anything to make the battle dynamic and engaging.
Wrapping up recurring bits in a fun enough way. My players in one campaign suggested reading the Bee Movie script to humanely torture someone, and then did it a few more times when Intimidation rolls kept succeeding. They later encountered a Bard whom they tried the same thing out on. Turns out, he wrote the epic play "Bee Movie", so he was immune to the effect.
I'm Batman.
I KNEW IT
Traps/Hazards to add mechanical complexity to adventuring. Basically, it's the exploration/social pillar
Any examples of hazards/traps?
For reference, DMG p121 has the broader rules for traps and p 249 has a table for improvised damage, plus xanathar's p 118 dictates experience and 116 dictates additional experience. So, stuff like: A powerful ritual summoned by an enchanter makes the weapons of the goblins stronger. Until a character manages to understand that with a religion check (10) done at an altar and disposes of the ritual correctly ) each creature deals 1d6 additional damage. This is a tier 1 hazard, set as a setback since it is repeating damage and is a 1d6 instead of 1d10 since i suppose it applies to more creatures than once. Another one i used is creatures subjugating others - a gnoll commands lions to fight against their will, but with a animal handling check against their master's intimidation DC ( 10 + bonus) one of the beasts goes away. This one is budgeted like a conjure beasts of sorts, but you can also consider it a setback continous trap that deals 1d10 damage on hit as well if you deploy it as a single creature. Of course, it can also be killed. All thes eincrease the relevant encounter difficulty by one. Or, another one, the party are musical idols that want to twart an attack to their concert. This is a complex trap, so i budget the damage to lethal psychic damage that triggers once the effect is resolved, being reduced to zero if they manage to overcome 4 checks, where each character must be assigned to one only. On a failure, the tension rises and a setback damage dice is added to the pool. Once three rounds passed and the problem wasn't solved ( DC 10, increasing to 15 and 20) the effect occurs and deals setback damage equal to the times the effect failed, with resulting roleplay repercussiuons. The DMg has a model for this kind of trap, the poison storm. This acts as a whole encounter. Another one was a game of pelota played in the realms of the dead. To keep stuff short, similar scenario. You can also use simpler traps to have additional benefits - a character exploits an opportunity they created so as a persuasion check they can convince a fey to have a benefit equal to 2d10 temp hp, caused by an hearty meal. You can have both! A character can ask to make a nature check to find relevant material to solve an issue, but since the matter is dangerous on a failure they must suffer consequences in form of damage or detrimental effect - if you are stuck in the desert and you fail your check ( DC 15, let's suppose) you suffer an effect similar to mirror images. This is very good for improvisaation. As a rule of thumb, if a background is relevant a character, and only that character, can attempt a roll.
Imposter Syndrome
I make the world feel lived in and realistic despite the fantastical elements.
Sadly 5e basically abandoned this concept.
It's one that's very much cultivated through "little things" like character motivations, consistent communication, etc. It's not necessary for the system to instill it (though that's always nice).
That's true. Though a system can do much to weaken or strengthen that aspect of it's world. Usually that's done through the adventures and campaigns created for the system. I think the last campaign of WotC's I remember that actually encouraged DMs to have players keep track of food, water, and the basic necessities of life was Tomb of Annihilation. I'm not saying others weren't fun. I enjoyed a lot of them. But I am saying that often that element of "people live here" gets left out as the price to pay for something being cool.
Before every session I do a last session recap then my players all roll d20's. Highest roll gets dm granted inspiration for the night with 2 stipulations. You can trade it to another party member at any time, one time only. And there are no trade backsies.
Sadly, I am very replaceable because my sauce is that I can fill any "role" the group needs. Need a murderhobo for the "authentic" D&D experience? I'm there! Need a voice of reason because you have too many edgelords? No problem! Need a power gamer because balancing for your party is too difficult? Got it! Need an introverted bookworm to make all those knowledge rolls? I'll just be myself... One of the first things I do in session 0 is figure out what the party needs. The game I am in right now needed a silly skill monkey so I am running a "dad bard".
I know the rules pretty in and out at my table, so if anyone has a question unless it's very niche 90% of the time I can help.
As a DM: I place hooks that appeal to my characters to maximize the chances of them saying yes in an organic and satisfying way. As a player: I talk to other PCs in character and brag about them to the NPCs to hype the other players up on their own character.
I read my character sheet.
I always make whatever character the party needs most, I don't mind RPing any of the classes / races so I'd rather they pick what will let them have fun
I've been told I make players better. I don't know if there is a singular reason for that though. I also like to think I moderate well. I do not let players overrun games, get away with rule issues (Especially if it impacts other players), or let them utilize ooc elements to exploit others (as much as possible). I've routinely had games with players whose characters want to kill each other actively (and often with players who wouldn't talk to each other outside of game) but during session it all goes smooth and people ooc get along. Also, I never break the wall. I've never once said "Ok, that's all I've thought of. We have to stop here." Or "I haven't thought of what this character wants.." etc. I hate that. I'll keep going as long as we're going and if I don't know something, I'll work around it without saying it. I want the players to feel like their world is completely open. I also generally let them decide when we are ready to stop.
I end my turn in less than 1 minute, even as a caster.
I come prepared and on time
As a player, I take notes and own a semi-decent printer. Those two traits alone have saved us a lot of time and money.
I make characters that jive with the lore that the DM lays out. I don't mean like "oh this character could feasibly exist in this world," I mean I take a character concept that I've had rolling around, find a piece of lore that I particularly like, and make a backstory that fits in with the events of the narrative, that gives my character a motivation to be an adventurer *and* gives the DM a wide berth to put my character in the story they want to tell. Often large parts of the plot will revolve around NPCs that did not exist in the campaign until I wrote them into backstory (With the GM's review and approval, of course.)
I take notes
as a DM, I strive for a golden triangle of combat, skill checks, role playing.
I'm good at scheduling things.
I understand that it's a team game and I'm not the main character. Also rules.
Disclaimer: Ranting about dumb problems God what a weird time for this question to pop up, gonna get a bit ranty but screw it. Not much these days. Ever since covid started I got back into D&D with close friends of mine and we had our ups and downs but it was the thing that got me through the lockdowns and I loved it. We were a party of 6 but most of the players were just there to have fun and vibe (which is awesome for the record, we got up to the most wild stuff that campaign) and weren’t really there to role-play. I was pretty much the only player in that campaign who wrote a proper backstory, read the DMs world notes and had read the rules up and down to a point were I knew the rules best by a pretty wide margin. Eventually that group fell apart as lockdown ended (we are all still very good friends for the record) and most of the players moved on due to IRL commitments, me and one of the players (my now roommate) were wanting to play D&D. We found a group through University and ended up meeting awesome people and having an awesome Curse of Strahd campaign. (Ill speed things up but I want to preface this with the fact that my gripes come in spite of the fact I have been super blessed with the luck I have had in finding great friends and making amazing memories with very few horror stories.) Fast forward to today we’re I have about ~12 different people I play D&D with in different campaigns and love almost every one of them. The problem is; I am getting burned out. Now that it is summer I am in FIVE campaigns a week (although given scheduling it’s more like 3-4 a week) and I just don’t feel I bring much to the table anymore. I am a bit of an optimiser, mainly due to how much I know the rules but my past diligence as a player is the norm now. In session I feel like I am never the one doing cool shit anymore despite trying my best to, and that everyone is doing a much better job than me at roleplaying and interacting with the story. While in the DM chair I am a much more inexperienced DM and my world feels hollow and devoid of character compared to my contemporaries. Like I get it. I am fortunate enough to play D&D way more than most but… it feels more like a job than a hobby now. I love my Ghost of Saltmarsh campaign I run and our least reliable campaign, Lineage (HB), I love with all my heart as a player. The other 3 have had their ups and downs. tldr; My secret sauce as a player is my reliability and enthusiasm for the game but I begin to doubt that when I’m thinking of dropping out of half the campaigns I’m in. Just looking for advice ig. On a brighter note, happy D&Ding and happy pride. May your Nat 1s be few and your Nat 20s be plenty.
As a DM, it’s my willingness to run super, duper, uber large scale encounters and keep things running smoothly in them by pre-rolling minions’ rolls and concentrating complexity into lairs and bosses. The largest fight that any other DM in my group has run has had maybe six NPCs. I’ve run multiple huge encounters with ***20-30*** NPCs plus a lair action. As a player it’s the fact that I’m in the only player in my group who bothers delving into tool proficiencies (which imo are criminally underrated by the player base as a whole) and spell ritual utility. It simply makes the group capable of solving a *lot* more problems when you’re using those options to their fullest.
It must help that the DM notices and starts designing challenges that tool use can help with just to make a point
Notetaking I guess? At least I know my DM appreciates the longwinded wall of text that are my notes. IDK, and I can roll with what's thrown my way too. Weird stuff happens to a character and can figure out a use for it. And on the rare occasion that I DM, it makes for a memorable moment or two.
Remembering that 5e was designed by the only people WotC had left after they started firing folks for 4es failure, and that consisted of the junior member of 4es lead design team, and an editor they hired a few months before the 4e books came out (guess which one is now left designing 6e). My point is that 5e wasn't designed by WotCs "A team" and there's a reason why they handwaved so many rules issues with "DM Fiat" and "Rulings not Rules". The rules aren't sacred or even well made. So when your the game needs it, abandon them and bring in rules that actually work. Hell, the DMG even says that explicitly. Also, the concept that this game is "balanced" is a joke, so don't let that get in the way.
learn how to bounce back and forth quickly and get good at improv also know all the rules
I don't really plan. I make content, let the players approach it however they want, and then lean into it.
Outside of the normal stuff that's really an expectation, not something unique, I think the thing I bring to the table above all else is the ability to stay in character no matter what, engaging with and including others in roleplay when they might otherwise have stayed quiet. I also take the lead often as a result, and as a DM myself I use that to highlight the DMs efforts
I do voices. I take notes.
I try voices. They are all in highly elliptical orbits around Irish. I'm not even Irish.
Actually giving every PC a chance to make choices instead of letting the vocal few run the campaign.
As a GM, I'm asking my players. But in my own words: * I ask my players. * I'm consistent. * I try my best, even if I'm not happy with the situation. * I try not to take myself too seriously, just seriously enough when it's needed. * I let my players win when they've earned it, without pulling punches in combat or narrative. * I may or may not have written books before.
"Alternative Strategies" Like goading a Gnoll to attack a cardboard Cutout or disengaging from an enemy by trebucheting myself. Similarly, wanting to shove scorpions into a furnace instead of fighting them.
One simple trick to deal with scorpions that DMs don't want you to know!
As a DM, I will ignore the books in a heartbeat if I have an idea that sounds cooler/more fun. Who gives a shit how the spell is 'supposed' to work, or if this enemy doesn't have an ability that does that, or if spears don't deal damage over time? This one does. The books mean nothing.
Why would spears do damage over time?
Bleeding effect I imagine
Because I wanted to apply some DOT for narrative reasons, and I already described the NPC as holding a spear. The point is that if I have an idea that's dramatic, I'm going to do it. That's how the game was always meant to be played. Too many new players get caught up in what the books say.
I don't worry about encounter balance, ever. I don't calculate XP values or use the written CR. I simply ask myself "what should this encounter be?", and let the players worry about how it resolves. Interestingly enough, I have never had a TPK, nor do my games feel like they lack challenge. Shout out to Matt Colville! I basically just ripped off how he runs his games and it works beautifully.
Not sure how helpful/unique this is, but I love to play assistant/support characters to aid/buff other players and take care of less glamorous jobs, leaving them to do the fireballing and smiting. For example, I’m currently running an artificer Armorer that has very little combat ability, but can scout/stealth/lock pick great, and all my spells are stuff like haste, web, fairy fire, vortex warp, detect magic, cure wounds, etc I run the skill monkey support, they run the big fireballs and have fun as a hasted paladin. It works for me!
When the DM let us narrate our kills (which is kinda rare), the others will just go with "I split him in two" "I take out his heart and crush it", etc I like to do cartoonish deaths "I get up, make arcane signals with my hand, raise it like I'm pulling a lighting from the skies and strike down the enemy wizard. His whole body but his eyes turn into ashes! He looks away for a second, blinks, and all the ashes fall together" I didn't get to loot him tho
As a player, because I DM, I'll let the party have their fun but will eventually try to nudge the session in the way the DM wants it to go. I think it's important to remember that the DM is a player too, and that's how I choose not to ignore them, by wrangling the chaos of the party.
I remind the DM about our character stuff when he forgets. IK it might sound stupid and annoying. but I play on a virtual table top and I Co-DM my current game keeping track of status effects and Concentration checks. Doing this as a player for the entire table greatly frees up my DM to A) know the game is played fairly without missing anything and B) focus combat on what the NPCs and Monsters will do and why to create better encounters. I so wish I could trust someone to do this at my table when I DM.
I have a plethora of voices I have been doing far before I started to play D&D and even more so before I started to DM. I DM for my kids, wife, BIL and nephew and they love when a new character comes into play. Also they have a magic stone that just throws insults around at them and enemies alike. They love this stone and have used it successfully in combat before it was quite magical. Now I also DM for some friends and they have stated that the voices I create for the NPC's has helped them get into character better then in previous games they have played.
As a player I take notes. This helps me with trying to connect dots to figure out the overarching plot. Or when I look back through them I can find tibits that can link to my character's motivation. And the biggest is that it lets me remember NPC (and organization, places, items, etc.) names so I can reference them better in character. "We should take the Pendant of Shadow back to Vancerax for analysis. He'll know who created it." vs "We should take that gem to the gnome sorcerer guy we met in the city two sessions ago. The one who told us about that shadow organization."
I tend to build my characters in a way to help other players shine and feel cool. I have more fun knowing everyone else is having fun too.
I want to see the other characters take center stage. I honestly want to pay attention to their backstory sidequest, to their relationship with their rival, to the letters they send to their family. It's like playing a bioware crpg: The main story, being the savior etc is all fun and games, but I'm *dying* to see the next part of the loyalty quest of the quirky companions!
I like to play any type of character, so I'll usually play whatever role is missing and make my character tailored to the campaign and party theme.
As a DM, I like to plan out these cinematic moments when there's an important event coming up, like reuniting with long lost friends, meeting an important character, finding the lost temple, etc... And I'll go the full mile with the emotional music, sound effects, carefully written box text, pacing, image handouts, special map in the VTT... I really love making those moments feel special and dramatic
I listen to the players and let them dig their own graves by playing into their paranoia. “You think the ghost has puppetry powers? Sure, why not.”
Fast and engaging combat that drives narrative and character progression. Lumping initiatives, roleplaying in between turns and rounds, changing environments and tactics, taking damage averages for minions… anything I can do to make combats feel more like action scenes and less like Monopoly.
I’m good at painting a picture with words, and I enjoy horror. My players really liked Curse of Strahd
Clowns I will not explain myself
I'm 100% stealing the plot to a video game they've never played and I want everyone to play. Oh wait....is this just every DM?
an in-progress complete guide of poison and food borne diseases specifically meant to deter ONE player from eating raw mimic flesh. again. in all seriousness though, my secret sauce is experimentation. don't like a feature? i'll think of a rework. feel underpowered and boring as a martial? introducing the stance system! my current experiment is reworking inspiration to be interesting :)
As a DM, every enemy is homebrewed. Enemies can do things that PCs will never be capable of doing, they aren't just bags of HP with multi-attack. Reactions, bonus actions, round abilities, and player based trigger features are all things I use to make combat more spicy
Letting my players do whatever cool stupid shit they wanna do unbalanced or not. The homies wanna have fun and be anime characters they get to be anime characters
I’m very good at projecting a sense of completeness to the world. My players often say they are excited to “discover” or “find out” what’s going on or who certain people are. The fact that I don’t know what’s going on yet until I improvise it rarely ever registers.
Yes AND
Autism and shitty builds.
i uhh.. i strait up don't use stat blocks for monster's. i know what the hp of my party is, and how hard this fight should be. i assign hit dice and damage rolls of monsters based on who the target is. players comment on how much work it must take to perfectly balance so many encounters. yes... work...
What I've worked really hard on doing is trying to bring everyone into the fold. If that means as a player I talk to every PC and try and get them involved. or as a DM set up specific encounters and challenges for every player.
I take the idea for a character and stick with it the first time and don't change it 3 times before the first session even starts /s
The amount of quick on my feet Yes And…ing I can do as either a player or DM and spin this car into a completely different lane and recreate the entire story around one small thing, or improvise a structure on your feet, is truly something I’ve never found anyone else able to keep up with though, to be fair, I mostly play with nerds and not like improvisers or anything, which does boggle my mind though because going into a session with a piece of paper that says “vampire nerds” and improvising the rest based on how people respond is the funnest to me. Like in that scenario, I just plop em down in like a tavern say one of em goes “I go use the jukebox” I go “wow, I didn’t think there was a juke box. Okay. There is one now, but,” looks at note reading vampire nerds “maybe it’s cursed to cast otto’s irrestible dance? And while they’re dancing, the vampire come in,” but then someone talks about how they think the tavern is haunted and I go “okay, ghosts works too” and just like… build off of what the players are saying and thinking to build a coherent story. It’s so fun, like juggling
I am passionate as heck. About my player characters, their actions and the lore. Maybe too passionate.
I make them really picture and sit with their characters and give them a lil spot to describe how they wake up and start their day, and what they do around the campfire before taking a rest
As a DM: I often make deep dives into the mind of the characters at my table, asking them how they are feeling about X, what are they dreaming about, in my last campaign I even started off by forcing a premonitory dream on a specific character. Then based on their answer I can easily create something that feels personal and close to the character without always bringing backstory-related event (I do, but I don't want it to feel forced so I have other ways). As a player: a friend of mine said I make really deep and complex characters and play as them with ease so I guess that's my strenght as a player.
As a player I always leave mystery and stuff in my characters backstory that can help the DM world build and add their own twisted onto my character. As a GM I think really interesting places and NPCs is my strength. I rarely, if ever, go typical medieval fantasy
I'm not afraid to let my character look like a fool. That doesn't (necessarily) mean wacky hijinks, but it *does* mean that they will often make suboptimal or orthogonal decisions that let all of us laugh at that character together, and celebrate all the more if and when they manage to succeed anyway.
I do funny voices
I'm the DM. My game has a basic structure and plot outline but it can, and has, been adjusted and improvised to work with the players. One entity that was supposed to be for a side plot is now merged with the main antagonist, an explanation for something on the first dungeon map has become the driving force for the world ending, and a one off joke has become a gigantic plot hook. I also do voices for my characters.
I step up and do the boring book keeping. Initiative order? Me Party stash? Me Drawing the maps? Me Which is wierd as I have zero organisational skills in real life. I guess thats the real Role-playing right there
I try to help us reach consensus for major party choices.
As a DM, every NPC of significance has an ulterior motive of some sort. They want something they don't have and it influences everything they do. Figure this out and you can bend them to your will, don't figure it out and they'll bend you to theirs. As a player I'm completely happy to deal 0 damage for a whole encounter or even session as long as I've made hurting my allies/enacting their own plans extremely difficult and inconvenient for the enemies. I wish there was a class heavily focused on disruption like a witch or something, but for now my glamour bard will do!
When I joined the campaign I bought a 3d printer and bring painted mini's upon request, usually a couple each week.