10 things DMs wish players did 

Kobold Press is good. 👍

In my experience - as ADHD-Dude -it is rareley the ones with that Problem that do not pay attention. Worse, common People go salty about that more often when they had missed something and thus do something "stupid". And, not little Things, I talk like "I go further down the Street." - "What?" - I go straight ahead." "Ok, you fall down the Crevasse the Quake you obviously missed had created and that I described and your Party was planning to get over for the last 5 Minutes."-Stupid.

That was a good plug you did for them. I didn't fast forward through it. Well placed as I imagine there are many DMs that would click on this video.

YT recommended this video and now I'm glad it did! For another video, if you haven't already done something like this, maybe tips on how to get a non-RPG player to try D&D and how to make it interesting for them?

i've always wanted to join a D&D game but nobody near me plays it and beyond that i have no idea how to even begin looking for groups to join

Player 3: No way, airship all the way DM: *Turns to plan W, labelled ‘Flying Kraken of doom’*

Wait I thought the Land Kraken was baking cookies in the kitchen? D&D is so hard!

@@RhantheSlayer bring them both in if the characters are a high enough level

If you're on a boat that's a chance of falling into the sea. The big thing to watch out for is wearing plate mail (takes 60 seconds to remove) and being near water. Mind you if you have a good DM that could be how your party meets the mer-people.

DM: (Benedict Cumberbatch voice) You think you're safe on land...

Same!

Dude same

Same here. lol

He’s my friends dad. I’m not holding his hand.

Same lolz

Our games tend to be fine if not everyone is on time because we always start with like half an hour of banter anyway xD

Genius...

Pssssh 250 or I show up 10 minutes late! Lol

We give (depending on lvl) x hp damage per 5 minutes late in 1 campaign...it can be necessary for frequent offenders. One person got struck by a freak bolt of lightning and had to roll death saves after arriving 30 mins late with no valid reason or call. He wasn't late again since.

I never understood not wanting to be on time, I get so excited to play every week that I'm ready like 20 minutes early XD

As a DM, I actually announced at the end of one session: so, you guys, hope you guys are paying attention from now on, because I am going to randomly ask one of you guys to recap at the beginning of next session. Worked out perfectly ;)

I do this also. I started to get an idea on what the players found interesting and what they might have missed. I have found the players tend to be more invested in the overall story, which is a nice bonus.

Our GM(-s) are asking for, what do your characteres remember, so we start in character recapping the last 1-2 sessions and directly start roleplaying ;-)

Every DM worth a copper piece does this.

I dont ask anymore. I just start with a quick recap and ask if I missed anything.

I would actually love doing a library crawl with players. That'd be really fun :)

When you are playing a sexy goblin with a thirst for books, that can read celestial(which I am in one of my campaigns atm). This is a good result.

My player: I can read all written languages, tell me exactly what it says

@@bryangibbs7191 "You start to read the books, but it's all a trap to derail your sexuality." DM gives you a note: "You are now a masochist, and will actively try to end up in torture sessions with enemies, as the prisoner being tortured".

@@notequalto5179 right? I can think of some fun things. Like make a "bookworm" encounter

I should have done that when my DM cancelled on my entire party!

When I was playing back in the 80's in college, we used to occasionally give the DM a break and hold an in-character "tavern night." We drink beer, ate pizza, and played tavern games with cards or dice, all while roleplaying in character. The DM joined us as an NPC when he wanted to party, too, which gave him the chance to participate without needing to plan the session..

This is such a great idea 😍.

LOVE it! Will keep this in mind for the future.

I would definitely keep cliff notes or something and forward them to the DM for this though, so they can stay in the loop about any newly revealed character hooks

Hey, DM? With a character's backstory, how much is too much? I've never played D&D but I have a character in mind and what I hope is a good portion of the backstory. This includes location the character grew up in (not named yet), the deity they answer to (not named yet (character is paladin/cleric)), and a portion of history and religion of the area. I just don't want to overstep my bounds as a player.

@@orphancloud1132 Keep a simplified version for sharing with others, so they don’t get bored, but feel free to quite as much as you want for your own purposes. Just make sure it doesn’t clash with world lore or other similar factors.

same here as the forever dm, whenever my party is having just a 30 minute roleplaying session with each other i cant help but just have a huge smile on my face the whole time watching them talk.

Isn't it just the best feeling in the world? You feel like a proud parent.

@@naturalone6529 My group just started an in character chat group on what's app. It allows players to get to know each other's characters much better. And if you end the session at a camp or inn or whatever, the players can discuss plans for the next "day," in character, without metagaming.

Love interest flow chart. Hilarious and awesome. So jelly.

@@Vinemaple I don't think I've ever encountered any love interests in D&D before, with the exception of a player who had a divorced spouse as the BBEG.

I sometimes find that I need to build the right environment for them to roleplay amongst themselves. If after a battle an NPC invites them to drink something together to celebrate, tells them a bit about themselves and then asks of them, they will talk for a while only sporadically asking questions to the NPC and it works very nicely

I think part of what did it was that, at the beginning, I gave them some info about the town they were starting in, and had them all write their backstories with the understanding that I was going to make a small tweak or two to what they wrote. That tweak was that I basically connected each of them to the noble family that ruled their starting town. One was the blacksmith who made the lord's sword. One was the midwife for the lady of the keep. One was a squire to the lord's chief knight, etc. It gave them all common ground to start out with.

So helpful that you brought this up, Ginny! One of the best examples I’ve seen of a team role playing amongst each other are the excellent Drakkenheim campaigns at the Dungeon Dudes channel/podcast.

Opinion. ;)

@@Dave-nm9yx Lmao

@@Dave-nm9yx Neither.

That is just not true whatsoever

Not everyone on the internet wants to dispute everything!!!!! Ahhhhgg why would you even assume that!!!!

Margarita go brrr

I am disappointed to find out at the end there was no consumation of tequila.

@@5618Fishbone eh, it's her personal choice

Are you my party member? We spend 90% of our time doing downtime "quests" and haven't been in a dungeon in several months. It's refreshing.

I've had regular weekly sessions for a year where the characters never progressed past 6th level. By then, they made so many connections in town and in the dungeon and were used to each other's personalities, so would spend entire sessions just chatting with each other and NPCs. I'd have to shake them up a little sometimes: "You know that thing from months ago you found? Yeah, it's cursed. Maybe clues in the dungeon..." - "Nah, I know a guy in town who can tale care of this."

I'm more OK with players doing this if they enjoy it and things progress in one way or another. But dont expect to XP or level without taking risks in my game

Same here, but I was on the opposite side! I was running a pretty homebrewed game with some different rules, so I wanted to include a sort of 'tutorial town' for them to figure stuff out, have some basic combat and roleplay, etc. and then they ended up staying for almost a year in the real world because of how much they were roleplaying with each other lol I don't mind, but it was nice to get back to the story

I mean, it IS your character, that you created...

@@galehunter2519 SO YOUD THINK IT WOULD MAKE SENSE TO DO RIGHT???? (sorry for yelling)

@@adamkaris Well, yeah, your charecter, your responsiblity.

Sure. I never run out of ammo, food or gold because of this.

@@GunnyStilgar Same. I also wildly adjust the starting equipment and sometimes purposefully ignore like, half the list for character reasons.

Communication is the key to any relationship. You have to be willing to say what you want if you hope to get it. People are not mind readers. So tell them " hey. I say this and want this from you all. What are your thoughts on it. Lets talk so everyone can have more fun." Your being assertive, upfront and your doing it because you care not out of anger. Just make sure they can come to you with feedback and things they want too.

Send the whole playlist and go "hey, this person does some intereting discussions on roleplay"

Think it depends on your group :D I sent it with the gif of Jack Nicholson nodding yes!

I have. Better than me being aggressive-aggressive.

Just post the video and then respond to it, alarmed, "oh god oh jesus how did this get here you guise help i am not good with computers" Totally understandable error, happens to the best of us.

It has drastically improved my life

You notice how she included it in the video for you? Almost like it already occurred to her there might be a viewer in exactly your shoes?

That’s what my current DM did! This is a campaign with both experienced and first time players, and he showed up to session 1 with journals for every player. As an aspiring writer and DM, My “notes” read more like a novel based on the campaign. Apparently it’s used to write the recaps. But a few other players also use them, while a couple (most notably the little eighth graders) hardly touch it. But it was a great touch to the campaign!

I totally understand why DM's would want this, but as an ADHD person trust me, my notes would be useless and I'd lose track what of what you were saying by trying to take notes. :/

Had a DM that required this, I got so busy writing and organizing notes I went from being a party leader to the guy who only responded when called on. Some players may do much better under a system like this, but some of us can't keep up with taking in depth notes and staying involved. Really depends on the players in your session.

It's been a long time since I've played d&d but I remember I got some kind of ability that had to do with journaling enemy stats (but you had to manually write them down). I used it like twice, realized it would be boring to bring back the same monsters again, and never touched my notebook since.

I keep an in-character diary that I write (in a Google Doc stylized to look like handwriting on parchment) between sessions based on quick bulleted notes scrawled during the session (with pencil on notepad because my weak baby chromebook can't handle word processing at the same time as running the video chat of the game 🙄) It's fun and gives me a good way to sit down and reflect on how my character feels about the things that happened more deeply than I can in the moment when it's actually happening. The rest of the group has the link to my diary but I don't think any of them read it... if they do, they'll find juicy backstory hints 👀

So, kinda do this, but not quite. I tell my DM ALL THE TIME that I will only ever respond if I’m NOT coming. He doesn’t buy it.

@@0storietales091 Man just respond with "k" or something. Your method has the critical flaw of the DM not being able to tell the difference between you reading that message and deciding to come or you not getting the notification and thus not becoming aware of it in the first place

@@MegaAgamon You know, this is actually a great idea! Thanks for telling me this. I’m usually to busy to give a formal reply, so this is perfect

@@0storietales091 das shitty. Just reply wether you're coming or not.

Why does no one automatically think to make a pouch out of their shirt? What does he think he is? a Court jester?

@@kerbangol.8386 But muh navel!

I feel this way in school, teachers say to take initiative, and I don’t know what to do

Agree, but party dynamics matter, a few of our players dont want to be the party lead ever even though they rolled charisma classes so i always give them the option to do it but if they wallflower ill make a decision or pick a direction. I frequently worry that im controlling the party so i do my best to atleast make sure the option is there before i pick our direction.

Unfortunately, as uni has ended we play online, and every time I make a suggestion I'm straight up ignored whilst the louder players always get listened to. I think this was less of a problem in person. At this point I've p much given up trying to take initiative bc I have very thin skin, and it hurts too much to feel like ppl don't care about what I say 😅 I think if you're worried about taking the spotlight, then you're not the one taking the spotlight. I think the issues come about when ppl stop seeing it as a team game of adventure, and start seeing it as a challenge to hit the most enemies + steal the most stuff

If you're that character in your group, you can involve the characters by interacting with them. "Hey, Drazzen the Edgelord, you don't suppose there might be traps in this hallway, do you?"

I've had similar issues since I started playing D&D, I have no problem taking charge as a player. Suggesting courses of actions, talking to NPC's, etc, meanwhile a lot of people at our table are less inclined to do the same. The way I've found is to drag them into it one way or another. It can be very gentle, say asking the parties bard about how to sweet talk the ominous tavern guy. Sometimes i'll just pick someone who hasn't talked recently and ask them what they think about whats going on even if they arent an expert in the field, say a magical effect, which typically sets up a situation where two people who comedically dont know what their talking about get told by another player what is likely going on. Or you can pull what my low int, low charisma character does and ignore all social queues and drag unsuspecting NPC's into a group who hates outsiders which will get a rise out of them and get things moving. It does take some knowing of how your fellow players operate and a bit of creativity to bring them out but its more than possible. Most people just need a jumpstart. TLDR: If youre gonna be in the spotlight, drag someone in with you

I had to pause there and just take a minute. XD

I lost it at the end, when I heard the sheepish admission that "There's no tequila in this; it's just sparkling water." As if Ginny's conscience wouldn't allow her to maintain the implicit lie.

I subscribed when this happened

@@carnahanlovewell3418 Yeah, I "Awww" 'd out loud when she admitted that....

Ginny Di-vious?

Get out. Jk, lol.

We need our cupcake making land krakens!

Alongside "Information Cadaver"

You can tell she's specifically a mad scientist because of how many lab safety protocols her outfit is breaking. For God's sake, Dr. Di-vious, at least put your hair up!

That sounded like a failed quest to me ;)

That's great though... They're making their own story, your not the guiding force, you're the window into the world. All you do as a DM is offer possibilities, tbh you are so goddam lucky that they bother doing their own stuff instead of riding into the King's throne room and talking to the guy with an exclamation mark above his head, without any consideration of how it was intended to go, and then bee-lining the questline and burning out your story in a matter of 1-2 sessions. You've just been handed a huge amount of time by your players to work out plot holes and plan even further ahead without them being hot on the heels of your story, embrace it and flourish instead of wallowing and becoming annoyed. There is always a good part to what a character does, it is only perception that makes it terrible. They could murder your king and your mind might jump to hating their actions, but why? They just gave you a political intrigue story of them murdering a king and attempting to get away with it, role with that and it will be memorable.

So you are upset they are doing things freely and not being railroaded along your story?

@@Nyx_2142 Where did you get railroading from this?

I think it kinda ruins the role playing angle for the DM’s. People often make plans only to discover life itself has other plans. Gaming should be no different for their characters. I’ll respect a player’s expectations and interests, but a campaign should be full of surprises.

That would be awesome! So many times I feel like I'm stymied in my roleplaying because I don't know what my character should know, don't want to be constantly asking, and am not sure I can make up random stuff without stepping on the dm's toes

Yes. *nods in complete agreement*

A campaign where half of the major monsters are actually transformed tradespeople: baker kraken, blacksmith archlich, mindflayer therapist/psychiatrist(setting dependent), a drider surgeon. Imagine the RP possibilities of trying to convince a town full of people traumatized after a demon invasion that the best thing for their mental health is to sit down in a room with a mindflayer and tell it all of their deepest secrets and fears. Edit: corrected a tense

@@diveforknowledge I seriously want this to be a thing now

@@diveforknowledge in my modern world, comical campaign, the main city (parody of NYC) has something like that: - Most belovef neurosurgeons are mindlayers. they know their way around a brain. Same goes with vampires and cardiosurgeons. - Succubuses are models and e-girls

@@diveforknowledge You my good friend are a GENIUS

This is why my world building is based on previous games. I started with vanilla 2e toril, and over a decade later, it's grown into an insanely large and comprehensive world of its own.

Steal from every game and book you've ever consumed. It's free real estate

I once had a Character who was seriously into lying... as in I'd even picked it from the "Mental Disadvantages" list (GURPS 3e/revised)... AND I spent almost a half-hour literally making up a bunch of crap to explain something to one of the other Players, only to notice the GM furiously scratching out notes behind his screen... Now, the WHOLE time I'd been prattling on about (If I recall) an abandoned Temple Ruin, I'd been expecting the GM to step up and correct me or find some NPC to inject into the scene to call me out on the utter load of BS... but no... NO he did not. I decided against going too much further with it, and rather than confront the GM about the matter right then, I waited until later... whereupon he just shrugged and laughed at me. "It sounded better than anything I was thinking at the time." SO the "Compulsive Liar" trait got splintered into a Compulsion for Pontification (Which I can do reasonably well) and a mild obsession with History and Lore... still technically (By GURPS standards) Mental Disadvantages with relevant consequences... It's not the only time I've taken up a hobby at world-building as a Player Character... so... yeah, taking initiative (depending on the GM at hand) can definitely create its own perks in the Game. ;o)

One of players asked me the origin of the name of the kingdom they were in (in character. They were asking a NPC.) And I just kinda froze for a minute. I have no idea. I most certainly did not think that far ahead. I literally got this name from an online world map generator. I ended up having the NPC tell them it was some old elvish dialect and they didn't know anything about it. Can't help thinking that one is gonna come back to bite me if I don't figure it out.

@@GeneralNickles At least you didn't misplace a mountain.

The unfortunate thing is that the monk could have had a lot of great opportunities, if they hated the church but were willing to invest time inside it doing a lot of the same type of research and relationship development as the paladin, if they were willing to work inside the framework you built. They just would have done those same things for opposite reasons

I've noticed rogues generally do not give a single shit about the setting or the mood you put in the story, and they will just do "rogue things" no matter what, which is great. The whole party can be intensely rolepaying in a complex political intrigue and the rogue is prolly gotta get his ass kicked and end up in jail trying to steal something that wasn't even worth it.

I have a character take notes. And do a summary of the previous session at the start of each session

I'm gonna test a "mechanic" on my next group: if SOMEONE doesn't have the info written down, it's a History check to see if your character remembers it (the DM reminds you of it). I hope it urges my players to write stuff down without me being an asshole and going, "ha! You have no idea who gave you that quest because you should've wrote it down! Sucks to be you!"

@@SpiderDilly Or an intelligence check, to see how well they retain information? :)

I'm not trying to make excuses, I have ADHD...I'm truly afraid that me taking notes is me missing half the plot and the other half misspelling every word... Advice?

@@bgreaud try writing in point form and fill in later. for example; Quest giver: No'la Silverhoof Centaur paladin, Quest: kill skeletons in Vampire fang mountain. Reward: 500 goldpieces. oh and do yourself a little bit of prep on your notebook, Write out little tags like its a chart so you can fill it in, Things like Npc name, Role, location, whatever you think is important and will spark your memory later. add more details later if you need them.

Or bringing some to the session and rolling it on the table towards said player

I can no longer think of anything else and I'm the DM.

Love isn't always on time?

"You are the man with the lime?"

@@YewbPlays I had the same thought! :D

I would try to make some kind of visual reminder to make a note that falls in your line of sight constantly. Flow, try to pace yourself with sips of your drink maybe. Gather your next bit while you sip. Take frequent breaks if you need to. Call it a stretch break, let everyone go refill their drinks, take a pee, stretch out, stim. Then it should be easier to refocus. Remind players to be respectful of other players having spotlight time. Do you really need to minimize sidequests and player-directed distractions? If you do, try to minimize giving hooks for distractions.

As a DM with adhd as well, I can’t help with a lot of this but as to staying focused, listening to music helps me, gives my brain something to distract it while I work.

I personally write down pretty much everything as it occurs to me. It means that things are in a few places, some of it is digital and some of it is in my everything-notebook (full of random notes and shopping lists and ideas), but it at least condenses everything, so I know where my notes are when I need to check something before or during a session.

I know I'm late, but I can answer a few of these; You don't need good notes, you need consistent notes. Hopefully most people are taking notes at the table, especially for their character events, so as long as you have something down you can fill in the blanks. Managing players is just about giving people things to focus on and not being afraid to step in as a GM and say "No." At the same time, you'll never fully get rid of distractions. My party never does the main plot, we are constantly off doing our own thing. It's DnD, just make sure you have something on hand in case things go off the rails. Keeping focused is just about doing interesting things that people want to be involved with, but this is also something you'll never be able to fully avoid. Sometimes people are tired, sometimes people are stressed, and sometimes you just don't have the creative juices. Not every session is going to be memorable, and you won't be able to cover it all, so don't be afraid to let the players go off on their own. Just be ready to improv.

Have player who knows you well sit near you and when thing are going haywire, have them put a hand on your shoulder and say "take a breath". Works for me😅

"What the hell are you doing?" "Coping, & keeping my hands busy." "Pull up your pant dammit!"

@@paulogaspar8295 granted, but in this case its also rude in real life.

-I try to go murder hobo doing my best impersonation of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille-

Be advised: Character driven games are the antithesis of a prepared scenario.

@@GunnyStilgar Well said. Meanwhile it is not an open world. The DM has to have something prepared on some level even if it is just surface level data, if they want to do something the DM has no prep for whatsoever it is not going to be a fun time for the DM or the players. Meanwhile character driven stories have a giant risk, one or two characters hogging all the spotlight and all the other players just checking out.

@@DKarkarov I've stolen a mechanic from a FATE game called Spirit of The Century that forces the PCs to have mutual backstories so they already have a basis for cooperation and a history of being friends. I'm fine with character driven games, but not with random characters.

@@paulogaspar8295 I agree, even in "random table, roll to see what is there based games" the open world is an illusion. Even in a pure hack and slash dungeon crawl style game the combat focused no story content was "prepared" by the DM. But what do you mean by doing something unexpected and forcing them back on track? Parties will generally do something unexpected every session, so what is the DM doing to "force" them? A lot of players these days seem to be taking "the DM makes a change so things continue mostly as planned, just differently than original intent" to be "DM railroaded me" for some reason.

I've done this for the campaign I'm running atm. It's useful for including bits of info a specific character knows as well as allowing players to send me a message indicating what they want to do if I'm busy doing something with another player. Especially helpful given you can't have more than one person speak on discord

Like, even out of session? 6/7 of the players in this just don't care about the entire existence of the game outside of a session tbh

My character is a soldier, so I got a weathered-looking journal and write After Action Reports in character, then read it in character at the start of each session.

@@frenchbassguy That’s seriously cool!

That type of player also sees the GM as an opponent in the game. I wouldn't play with such players any more.

@@davidmorgan6896 To be fair, -Tiberius- Orion was doing drugs at the time, which most likely messed up his decision-making somewhat. Worth taking into consideration, if a player starts to go off the rails, even though he/she's been a good player for a long time before then, and maybe have a chat in private, ending with "come back when you're clean".

@@silvergreylion oh... well damn that kinda sucks that he was on that, im only on episode 15 of the first campaign so i hope and pray he got clean

@@arrowb.8438 He supposedly did but burned way too many bridges before doing so. If you look into it, he did some pretty shitty things and CR have zero desire to bring him on ever again.

@@Nyx_2142 whas that the shaky dude?

ooooh i love this

Oh what a cool idea! Don't mind if I steal it! ;) I'm sure your players were super grateful

For a while I (DM) did a journal on Obsidian Portal, and the beginning of each session would be reading last session's entry. It was super fun! Eventually the campaign died off due to the pandemic, but if I DM another campaign I might bring this idea back.

@@vortex5234 That's a great idea. I didn't even think of having them read the past entry before each game. So simple and I am ashamed I didn't think of it lol.

I just wish my players took notes...

Well I guess I need to start doing that bc my dm is like "I'm working on world building I just haven't written it all down yet"

I try. I have notes, but I haven't had time lately to make them in a form that anyone else would understand. I should in a week or so, fortunately. I try to send my notes to my DM and to any players who missed so that they're not in the dark of what happened.

I have tried this, but I had to constantly edit out large parts because of things I wanted to keep a surprise. Became a bit hard to keep up. But I will help my DM out during session if needed.

In mine we have a running gag where The Spirit Of Chaos possesses those characters and another player takes over for a session

Well, now I know who baked that pastry golem that almost killed my cleric.

@@FedoraDog13 The case of the ginger-dead man!

That's kinda what she meant by roleplaying with each other without the DM being involved. Something I have desperately been trying to get my players to do, and they are having none of it.

@@GeneralNickles careful what you wish for, some parties will larp two levels deep and end up establishing things which they can then use to acquire massive wealth with no need for battles

besides her point of "rp with each other", what else can I as a player do to help the dm? I love taking notes (one of the few upsides of moving the campaing online during covid was I started note-taking much more because I type much faster than I write) but I always feel like my poor dm friend has SO MUCH WORK! what else can I do to help ease his job?

I don't know how many times I've told a player, "If you want your character to do something super cool and it's not in the books, dude, ASK ME and we'll work it in!" Me: I give you the power of limitless creativity for your character! Player: Chooses four cross-classes and still isn't happy. Just TALK to your DMs, guys. Please!

@@giualonso as a dm I can rightfully say that when you feel the pace of the game start to slow, say you’ve been rping in a restful state; Push the plot forward or pursue an action that is character motivated( hopefully involving other party members, but anything at all is good) that can spur the rest of the party along. It goes along with her last rule of the video. The worst thing about dming from my small sample size is having to ask a party what they would like to do more than once in the span of 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile I struggle to get people for 2

@@goint Online or in person ?

When I was her age I was running two 10+ hour sessions every week for the same DnD campaign and playing in or running a couple of other '3, 4, 5 hour seesions' too. That was a long time ago and I wouldn't/couldn't do that now; even if I could find the players.

@@davidmorgan6896 That's a lot. Basically, you spent every day either preparing or playing a session ?

@@WallySketchyes. Now, two of my team at work, both not not long out of university, are pretty much the same.

Same!

I actually fast-forwarded to the sponsor segment this time.

This is my first video watched on this channel, but I had the same sort of thought. Didn't skip the sponsor.

I used to skip ALL sponsors and ads, until one day some youtuber said "and thank you to everyone who actually watched the sponsor section". It wasn't until then that I realized skipping the sponsor screws them out of some of their well deserved revenue. I don't skip them anymore, although most of the time I will mute it cause I really don't care to be advertised at.

His trademark baked good? Spiced Cheese Krackers

I remember trying to do that with a good friend of mine. Perfect on paper. I'm good at handling NPCs and slipping lore/world-building into conversations or surroundings and coming up with stories/plots, but I'm *shit* at running combat and incorporating ideas when there's mechanic-changing shenanigans happening (and don't even ask me to touch the economy. I can never do it right). But all those things are exactly what my friend is good at (it helps that he's amazing at balancing things. If there's any magical items I want to add, homebrewed especially, I know I throw him the idea and related story/lore and he's happy to sort out a fun and balanced version). Ended up in a "too many cooks in the kitchen" situation unfortunately, so it kinda fell apart after two sessions

@@lunaredelvour2972 It is a delicate balance and in some ways we are both compromised, but overall it has led to better campaigns as my rough ideas get fleshed out a bot more and his crazier ideas get toned down just a bit. It's certainly not for everyone and 1 DM has to defer to the other regularly to make it work.

Also if you are a druid know the DC's of your animals abilities

As a level 11 druid, there is no way for me to memorize each one of my spells. Instead, I have a list of all my spells with a brief summary of their effects to reference.

@@Sunsetdreamer52 I get that---high level gaming makes knowing all of your spells a real feat. So were I running a game at that high level, I'd want you to know your go-to spells down cold. The less leafing through books during combat the better. And brief summaries is an excellent reference. So consider the box "know your spells cold," as being checked. And to quote professor Dungeon Master, may all your rolls be 20s.

If a player does not know what the spell does, then I get to decide.

i keep a simple sheet with basic descriptions. easy to look through and if we really need more detail it’s easily googled

Thanks, I'm stealing that :-)

Really? As a player I started off by narrating my actions in 3rd person but the other players did in in 1st so i went along, it actually helps some in terms of immersion. BEING the character instead of just spectating them. Though i can understand the metagaming trouble lol

Grognak attorney at law?

I'm a new player and I do this, but I keep feeling like I shouldn't because everyone else doesn't. :,)

Notetaker, here. I take notes because the DM has made a game with a lot of intricacies and NPCs to keep track of. Can't tell you how many times I've consulted my notes, like I did just today. I'd been sending them to my DM so he has an idea of what happened and what we picked up on, but I don't know if he actually reads them. I still do it for myself, though.

I once plopped a Necromancer into a Game... only as a villain he was TERRIBLE... He certainly indulged in raising the dead... BUT all they'd do for him was sing and dance... not that it wasn't plenty disturbing and resulted in more than a little dissent through the kingdom(s)... BUT for a low-level party it was a pretty good little adventure (misadventure?) primarily low risk for Character Growth... AND the Players got a kick out of it. ;o)

@@gnarthdarkanen7464 That’s absolutely hilarious-

@@yourlocaldemon2195 Well, when you start out with PC's that a stiff breeze could threaten, it can be a "bit of a stretch" to find a good villain... SO I make do... Kobolds stealing undergarments to remove elastic for powering slingshots and siege weapons (that generally sucked at what they did)... Necromancer turned "rock-star" plot with an army of undead song-and-dance legions... Some dragon or other in a swamp has a tooth ache... Farming village struggling with crops because a band of tinker gnomes lost control of their "irrigation invention"... They don't necessarily have to be at huge risk of instantaneous pink mist to be an adventure worth the going... ;o)

@@gnarthdarkanen7464 Ah you're right! That's some good thoughts there... I should really make more silly characters some time.

@@yourlocaldemon2195 Thanks... AND if you see something that might serve as inspiration for a "low level misadventure" for you or your group, take it. I don't share stuff online unless I'm happy to give it away... What's great about starting at first level is the chance later in the Campaign to look back and realize how far you've come... how much your PC's have grown... On the first adventure, everyone struggled to deal with a basically harmless (though disturbing) undead army... ...but some months later, they're six branded heroes marching gallantly off to face a horde of demons... blah-blah-blah... ...they've seen milestones with the first zombie someone one-shotted in two rounds... the first troll turned pink-mist by a clever pairing in the party... the first dragon that actually backed down (and wasn't a hatchling)... Not to mention 9 out of 10 times, when a PC has levelled up in Campaign XP and gets measured against another of "equal" level and XP by the book, the Campaigner will outgun, out class, out shine, and by every measure trounce the "by the book" PC... We (as GM's) just have to figure out how to play "with kid gloves" and make it interesting... to give them a chance to grow... and then when (exactly) it's time to take the kid gloves and training wheels off, to let them fly. ;o)

I personally like to rp and make conversation with the other players, but none of them wanna talk, they all just wanna get to the big stuff lol

@@Allosaurus05 a lot of people treat it as a choose your own adventure book, rather than rp characters who are part of a world

@@hoid9407 Yeah, the party I'm with is still learning, and we're all getting better

Session 1 in my group's Star Wars campaign: our actions defending ourselves and our Jedi ally (Order 66 just happened) were caught on camera in a Republic ship. We were then wanted criminals for the next session. Every instance we entered Empire facilities from that point on, my rogue specifically looked for cameras and destroyed them, or where the recordings would be kept, or both because we were caught off guard that first time and it was used against us to help an NPC. Hell, just a few weeks back my Rogue stole a Star Destroyer and crashed it into a mostly uninhabited planet partially to destroy any recorded evidence of him being on the ship.

@@RottenBen Crashing an ISD in order to destroy evidence was the right solution.

@@wargrizzero5158 may have also been to crash it on top of a recently resurrected Darth Bane, but really I don't need just one reason to crash a ship!

I read this as, "players expect their Dommes to be on top of everything" Well...

@@RottenBen Who needs a reason??? An opportunity is generally enough... ;o)

Yes. As the only note taker I am essentially the DM’s assistant.

I had this issue for years trying to DM online. Not sure if you've DMed online by recruiting from places like Discord and D&DBeyond Forums, but dear lord those people are so flakey.(late / no-show / rescheduling constantly.) Could never keep a campaign going for more than a few sessions, so i decided to do IRL game running with my bro, his gf, my sister, and a friend of ours. Bro and his GF were the typical people who constantly were late (usually an hour+ late, and refused to offer justification on why that is.), and were the reason for CONSTANT reschedules. And they never saw a problem with it. After 8 months of this I confronted them just last week, and they acted like I was some awful dick for being upset with them. I tend to spend the night and morning before a D&D session of mine going through notes, writing down stuff, and preparing, so when someone cancels on me it means that I have to refresh my memory on all that stuff before the next session (that is most likely gonna be rescheduled.) Used to provide drinks and snacks in the form of juice and snack trays but stopped since half the time they just sat in my fridge since I wasn't able to take them to the game night. Anyways, just needed to vent about that. Recent thing that really annoyed and upset me. With an online group i'd just cut off contact with those people but because it's my bro and his gf it's awkward as heck. But the experience did teach me that it's a bad idea to play D&D with family, unless it's a responsible family member that makes it to sessions on time and will understand the time you put into it. --- Joined a group as a player a few days ago. Pay-To-Play online game, hoping it goes better than prior experiences. First time being a Player in many years, so I'm super pumped. The fact it's Pay-To-Play ($10 per 4 hour session) gives me hope that the other players will also take the game seriously and show up on time.

Ironically I actually took to DMing better than I did to playing. I think it was a combo of just my personality type, and the fact that my first DM (who was awful) instilled some bad player habits in me that I’m still working to overcome.

I encourage any Table I'm at (for sufficient time) to rotate the GM'ing duties around the Players... No need to start all new Campaigns, just everyone finds or builds an adventure to go on, and we pass the screen and appropriate material around... It's created FAR MORE benefits than trouble... GM's (the few regulars that prefer it to Playing) don't tend to suffer burnout, so Campaigns tend to last longer... just in general. Since EVERYONE has a term behind the screen (as it were) AND we all get time as Players, we learn to cut a little slack for the others... We'll tend to take it a little easier on the GM because we'd prefer a little easier time when we're back there trying to functionally "operate the Game World"... AND vice-versa for letting Players just a bit of slack for their antics, RP, and the best chance to understand the situation for puzzles, riddles, and the like... With a fairly diverse set of styles (both Player and GM) we pick up tips from each other about how better to handle certain situations in the future and as we go along. When someone creates a clever and efficient mechanic, we tend to just adopt it as if it's Canon... Short-cuts to the math issues get filtered through the group quickly and new tricks of the trade get refined just as quickly as they get "invented" or "discovered"... Everyone gets engaged in some of the World Building... They own this or that part, so they feel more connected to the growing World/Setting and engage just a little more effectively in the Game itself. As for difficulties?? Well, it might at first seem like we'd suffer from Continuity issues, and... well... I'd admit our Games and Story-lines look a lot more like some weird technicolor spaghetti slung at a wall than a "normal story line" or Plot structure, BUT it's actually not as big a problem as you'd expect. A World is a BIG place, so there's space on the Map to find some mysterious little corner country or strange land to put just about anything, especially in a World full of magic... A tiny bit of effort shared among us for creative continuity corrections (reskinning Dark Sun Adventure Modules to fit in any of several desert territories, rather than separating them into a different Canonical World/Setting... for instance) is a LOT less effort than it sounds... AND with the WHOLE of the Group adding to the World and Map as much as the history or legend/lore, we help each other frequently as GM-to-GM, and shore up where plot-holes or misunderstandings and miscalculations might arise. ;o)

@@gnarthdarkanen7464 My group in high school had a similar setup, and I loved it.

@@jeremyfrost2636 Glad to know it's not "lost" to the D&D community. Keep spreading the ideal! ;o)

@@gnarthdarkanen7464I need to find people in this cornfield of a town who won't try to burn me at the stake when they find out I like D&D. High school was 25 years ago and several states east.

Maybe the bard just wants to seduce a dragon.

I have the opposite problem. As a dm I tend to make up reasons for the characters to be there myself if they don't tell me anything. It's really annoying for them, and I need to stop, but sometimes I can't help myself to see someone just say "I like songs" and try to NOT make a little mermaid refence by having a song stealing warlock trying to make the entire country full of mutes, starting with their village, only to find out that the warlock is the ex husband of said bard who they totally had the entire time and I didn't just make it up for them.... Yeah, please include some sort of story thing so psychos like me don't have too much to muck with.

@@noblesseoblige319 Oh I've already done a bit of that with those that have given me at least a little backstory but left it very vague. Since we've only just started I'm going to give the bard a bit more time to flush out her backstory or she's gonna get something for sure. For context, I'm running a pirate campaign. Your brother mysteriously left your tribe for the high seas and you don't know where he is? Turns out he's about to be executed for piracy. But even if you do manage to save him you'll learn he's a member of the crew of the evil pirate captain you've been rivals with since the start of the game. Your family died mysteriously from some strange water monsters but left you alive? Turns out they made a pact with a Deep One but were trying to go back on the deal. That deal? Sacrifice you in order to help the Deep One ascend to godhood and take over the world. You were spared so their followers could manipulate you into being in the right place in the ocean to complete the sacrifice. You have heard stories of a legendary dragon stone and want some of its powers? The stone is currently in the hilt of a sword left in a legendary captain's hidden treasure, but you must pass many trials and traps that he laid down to guard it first. And once you get the stone in the sword, those dragon powers may be far more dangerous than you realized. The bard? Well if she doesn't give me something I'll figure it out once we get a few more games in and I see what she's interested in.

@@sarahcb3142 that is a thing of beauty right there

My barbarian told me his entire backstory is that some asshole burned his house down, and he just wants to go kick his ass.

I have the same "it was fun" issue. I have started to try and think about what I found fun though, and put that in my compliments, because positive feedback is also feedback. E.g. That npc was really well made, or I really liked that quest or it was nice to have a bit of a chill session today so we could do some roleplay. This will also help your DM.

Yeah. It's difficult finding DMs who are worth it though. I've been stuck as a forever DM for YEARS and it has only ever been something I've tolerated, it's never been something I've loved. I did it because it was the only way I could get people to play the game. Otherwise i'd be stuck alone. Most DMs i've found for online games have been really bad at actually planning stuff, and also tend to just recruit the first people to message, even if said people are, er..... yeah..... But you say you DM. Do you do online games?

@@Alino- I do, yes. Mostly on Discord but I've made an investment in Foundry and it's amazing

@@dylanstacey6782 Interesting. I play online, Discord. And then for the other thing (so we can have battle maps and the like) I use whatever the party does. Usually Tabletop Simulator or Roll20. Are you looking for any players?

As a player, I never thought there was a way to make a character except by talking to my DM. How else can I make something that fits into the world they created?

why make a back story when the DM's just going to use it against you? there's a reason the orphan adventurer is a cliche.

I do the same thing! My players are constantly nervous I'm rolling for hidden monster attacks

Just realized why I roll dice a lot. Huh.

Mistermaestersir Thomas Just in case you're not clinically diagnosed, try not to self diagnose :0 seek a professional instead of a relatable comment! And also the precious moments of travis popping his stressball and Laura giggling at him is adorkable af!

I constantly find myself playing with a handful of d6s when I’m sitting in my room working. Doing something mindless that occupies my hands has always helped me focus, and those are real effective.

I started GMing around 1980 myself and still suffer also so yeah definitely

I've only got 36 years in but same here. Pretty sure my players hate our current campaign so I'm thinking about scrapping it and just asking them what they want to do. I'll just have the king bring his armies in to take care of the bad guys that the players were supposed to stop and then we'll just do what they want to do.

Try a late session zero. Its never to late for one and comunication makes everyone understand better each other.