Looking back to the games I've ran, my saying would have to be "You can describe that if you want", something like a combination of "how do you want to do this" and "how does it look like when"
One I like is "Okay, how do you do it?" The players might ask to do something that could be difficult or near impossible, but I want to let them rule of cool it, so the "okay" makes it clear we're trying. Then they have to come up with a plausible or extra awesome way to actually pull it off, and depending on what they're describing I'll ask them to make a roll with the skilll that fits their description. Depending on that description I'll also set the DC. If it's something with an immediate outcome I'll tell them what they have to beat before the roll, which adds great tension. If it's something they wouldn't find out if they were successful in until later I'll just say "all right" and move on, and watch them sweat.
I personally go about it totally different. I just know what kind of places the players arrive, what's going on lore wise thered and what kind of pressures the average NPC there deals with. I write a few general ideas for NPCs with certain occupations and gimmicks, and then I let the players shape how the NPC plays. If they find connection to this NPC and want to engage with them, this NPC will gain relavence to the plot. If this NPC is uninteresting to the party, they will fulfill their niche or purpose and the party can move on. There are certain NPCs of course that I knew are going to be important to the plot, and for those I made sure I have proper stat-blocks, stories the likes, but I usually let it develop over time. That way the old cranky mayor of a squalid town never came up again due to lack of relavence, but a random NPC meant to shed light on one of the characters' backstories over time joined the party as a bard just because they wanted to keep him around. Improvising it is key.
i highly disagree with how matt handled that because there are many ways it could happen since it is not logical for a demonkin to be running around with an eastern european accent talking about the traveller and eating cupcakes, but it exists. its up to the dm to make it fit into the world. if marisha was trying to do something out of bounds with sentinel, then it is up to matt to decide how that fits, if it does.
the sentences in turkish because why not? matt: You can certainly try. Elbette deneyebilirsin. Elbette means "Certainly", dene- means "Try", -(e,a)bil(mek) means "Can" but "e" or "a" is not written because the verb "dene" is already have "e" and "mek" isn't written because "-siz" will steal her chair. And -siz means "You". Aabria: What you don't see is.. Görmediğiniz... Gör- means "see", "-me" makes it negative in the meaning, but it is attached to a verb so means "do not" right now. "-diğiniz" means "You" but plural, if you don't want it plural it becomes "-diğin". Brennan: How does your character feel in this situation? Karakterin nasıl hissediyor? Karakter- means "Character", "-in" means "Your". Nasıl means "How". "His-" means feel, "-ediyor" is completes the sentence and adds the "Right now" or "In this situation" meaning. And it is build on simple present tense of turkish, not the past tense. Mercer: How do you want to do this? Bunu nasıl yapmak istersin? Bunu means "this". Nasıl means "how". Yapmak means "do". Istersin means "you want" but again in the simple present tense. "r" is a playfull letter in turkish. Everyone:... I got bored, you can use ai or translater to translate it. see ya
My party summoned a devil to seek information and as I was describing him a player who was from the hells suddenly said “Dave?” The party made him the lord of the hells at the end of the game. It was great
I’d say, try to atleast have a level of detail for every Npc as atleast knowing how they would act and treat the player will make the world feel more alive and like these are actual people instead of just props to push a story
The best accessories to me are: - Neodymium magnets to stick notes on your screen - a sheet with pregenerated names in case you need one on-the-fly - a Tarot of Marseilles deck
one thing i do after a recap is have everyone role a d20 and have them highlight anything from the last session give me a head start on what i need to have prepped in my head
Dnd additionally helps make people more confident with speaking and also being more comfortable with things you enjoy. It also helps you communicate with others as often you need to explain what you need to do or need to explain what is happening (as a Dm)
I actually very much disagree with the DM screen. It's a barrier between the players and the gm being able to RP, and it's murder to see the battle map over. It really needs to either be cut down to about 3 or 4 inches tall, or pair it with one of the table toppers that brings the nap up off the tables on long legs.
Dnd made me join around 4 campaigns so far. all of them died mid way and we didnt got to finish them. I had fun sure, but i really hate social interactions now
One of my go tos for when I am on the fence about a calling, or if this ability applies here is "Talk me into it." It allows the player to describe how they are going to take the action that will allow them to use acrobatics to climb the wall. For recaps, I borrow "When we last left our crew..." (I run a Star Trek Adventures game) But now that you mention it, for the big finish, I'm going to start using "blow my special effects budget" ie, describe your action so cool that it will blow our FX budget if we were a TV show.
I disagree heavily with the "sorry, you should've known better than to break your invisibility" mindset. I've walked back a lot of things for my players because we are NOT our characters. I might not have remembered that my invisibility would break, but my hyper intelligent and tactical minded wizard character absolutely would have. I may have forgotten to pack fire spells, but my character who's fought trolls before and knows their weakness to fire WOULD have. Etc etc.
In one of the campaigns I recently played there was a conversation like this: rogue: "can I sneak behind the bandits while they walk away?" DM: "okay you can try, roll me a stealth check" rogue: "14" DM: "You think you are well hidden from the bandits" The "you think" really got us scared we had to pull the back and let someone else tail them 😂
i really like the phrase "are you sure?", used when a player comes up with what is, objectively, an idea that is dangerous to their character or a massive derailing action. when a player wants to do a scam that seems perfect in their head but theyve not remembered the security system their character knows about that would obviously catch them, or reacting violently to a ne'er do well in front of the city guards who dont know the victim is an asshat, or a player decides to chuck the macguffin into a volcano rather than bringing it back to the NPC who sent them to retrieve it, these are perfect times for a "are you sure?" its a warning that the DM has seen a flaw in the action, and a savvy player (or just a nervously disposed player) will give the plan another think .
I'm on the spectrum and I'm pretty sure my first DnD group was a turning point for socialising and empathising with others my own age. It is a social meeting with a clearly defined activity other than just "socialising", which made that socialising a lot easier for me. I was able to practice talking and empathising through a character, and when I wasn't sure, able to roll an insight roll, or make mistakes without hurting the feelings of real people. Quite aside from the fact that I still know people from that group 11 years later; or that I've researched geology, mythology, and various other subjects for crafting my own campaigns.
READ LITERATURE LOOK AT GREAT VISUAL ART WATCH FANTASTIC MOVIES between a sponge for all things art--and think structurally. thats the best, best, best way. plus, also, eating rules
meanwhile, the highschool dnd group that I run, the Forsaken Adventurers Guild, just invaded Fantasy Coles-Walmart-Home Depot and ran over a devil with a forklift. (I'm a student)
That's awesome! I do the same thing for some of my students at school. And they all feel like they are becoming better by playing D&D. Thank you for your amazing video!
I'm 14 and are still a stupid, idiotic dumbass. Edit: All you really need to play dnd is writing equipment, time and friends. oh and dice, lots of dice. That's what i told too my family anyway.
A common one I use in my games is "Who wants to be cool?" or some variation, which evolved from me asking players to roll the miscellaneous random checks in the game (encounter rolls, treasure table rolls, etc.). I started it as kind of a silly variant of dimension 20s Box of Doom rolls, but to keep it from bogging down the game I limit it mostly to stuff that I add mid-game. I didn't think much about it at first, just that it would be fun for them to do while I look up stats and stuff, but now when I ask someone to make a "Cool" roll they know it's because something they did is making me add or change something in response to their actions. Kinda like "You did this. You did something Cool and now stuff is going off script. I hope it's not another Bag of Devouring."
I wonder if the kids who jumped to the top maybe are succeeding because they became healthier socially and thus became more invested in life leading to better academic results.
Man I wrote a damn paper on basically this a not too long ago...i wish I could have used this video for inspiration and as a "source" A big thing in learning through narrative, roleplaying etc is that gamification isnt applied correctly. A lot of games, specifically those directly intended to teach learners content through games, lack the key aspects that make games fun and engaging and instead lead to reduced learning instead of furtherin the learning process. Authenticity, immersion, autonomy and interactions are KEY to learning. And most games simply cannot provide that. TTRPGs are a special case here, because they are not reliant on rules, or code but allow for creative problem solving in a space which doesnt really limit the imagination. It also allows for immersion through characters etc etc. I could write a whole 30 pages on this (and have) but there are a bunch of articles on the topic out there, though the field hasnt been explored fully so go for it people! Its actually a lot of fun to research.
