3 Ways on How to Avoid Boring Adventures - GM Tips 

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Why do you keep starting off your videos with impressions of me?!

The skit in the beginning hurts oh god

I agree. I was running a monster hunting group and my PCs said that a pet shop owner looked suspicious so they decided to break into his basement while distracting them. As a reward for excellent RP I decided "screw it, this guy is into the occult and turns people into shop animals" They felt smart, I felt satisfied and was also able to world build from that point

"What's that, Katherine? You throw yourself off the bridge?" As someone named Katherine who was staring at this video like 'oh god. I'd love to jump off that bridge right now' I feel psychically called out right now.

Now my campaign has a: -Stoner shopekeeper - Caravan of dogs -god of chaos as a bartender -mimic airship -slimes that make good pets - cocky rival team and also the sky is crying.

I was running a pre gen medieval fantasy game with, my friends, but they were getting bored of it, so aliens invaded the planet in the middle of their quest and blasted the planet completely out of orbit. After some nonsense about how the atmosphere and conditions were preserved by the planetary guardian angels, and after the halfling bard stole the keys to the “Overlord’s” long lost mother ship and became “The Chosen One”(much to the comedic ire of the other characters), we have spent the last two years thoroughly enjoying this campaign that is both sci-fi and fantasy. It is set to draw to a close this summer, and everyone is still on the edge of their seat. I watch your videos on a regular basis, and your tips have been the basis for my growth As a GM. Thank you

Ha. This totally isn't one of my biggest anxieties when planning. I'll watch anyway.

Video? Watched. Undead Church Construct? Stolen for my adventure. Hotel? Trivago

I can totally imagine a church bending it's steeple over and almost assuming the posture of a dragon before shaking it's head and jangling the bell in it's bell-tower so loudly that the soundwaves shake the players to their bones. It clearly wants those bones for itself.

One surefire way to surprise your players in almost any location: Mimics. Tables, chairs, doors, statues, rocks, cave entrances, treasure chests, gazebos, facades on the front of an existing structure, and the list goes on. There's almost no situation in which a mimic would be out of place. Use them sparingly though. Too many mimic encounters leads to parties of characters that stab every piece of furniture they come across before using it or passing on.

I love taking ideas that my players inadvertently give me. I have a character that i once played as years ago and she is my favourite character i've ever created, we'll call her "May". I drop her into my campaigns as an easter egg for myself and she helps/annoys the party members, before leaving again. In the last campaign I played, I only planned to use her once, but one of my players developed a bit of a rivalry with her. May then left to go on other adventures. Anyway, about 10 sessions go by and my players have been working for this monster hunting branch, with an unseen benefactor and leader. Originally it was just supposed to be this old man who was once a great warrior blah blah, but then the player with the rivalry very loudly went "oh GOD NO it's gonna be MAY ISN'T IT? It had BETTER NOT BE! I will not work for her!". No, player, it WASN'T May...but you better believe it is now. "Hello again, friends!" exclaims May as the doors swing open...

This reminds me of that facebook post: DM: You see a warehouse in the distance Player: Is it like a werewolf, like man turning into a wolf but instead turning into a house? DM: *frantically writing down stats* ... it is now! :D :D :D

12:06 "Does it affect your plot? Nah, they're going to kill him anyway." This sums up adventure design so well.

Love the video! Technique addition here :) Surprise is based on establishing, then subverting, an expectation. Something I learned a long time ago, learning counterpoint, was the rule of 2+ 1/2. Because we are all pattern-finding machines, set up your surprises.... 1) do something once. instance is noted 2) do it the same way again. instance repeated. pattern recognition kicks in. 2.5) Begin a third time. Pattern noticed, this is totally going to///////WAIT it changed halfway into something completely different at the end. Then meta this up one level. Your first surprise follow the 2+1/2 method, your second does too, and your third abruptly departs at stage 2. works super well for single long sessions, or for players who take extremely thorough notes (those rare unicorns).

A(daptability) S(tructure) S(urprises) W(eight of decisions) E(motions) C(uriousity) A(rrow traps) N(ecromants who use undead to bring them a cup of tea early in the morning)

My favorite surprise was when a GM took a turn of phrase said near an alien. "I'll be back in a Jiffy" > to whats jiffy? > you dont want any jiffy > I need the jiffy whats the jiffy > look here is some jiffy but I only sell jiffy to those worthy of jiffy > I am worthy of jiffy > I don't think your worthy of jiffy > I have a shiny gun is it worthy of Jiffy > hmm barely but I guess it's worth jiffy > hands over a bag of salt > alien leaves happy with his jiffy.

"I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something that I loved from my childhood. Something that would never ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay-Puft."

My Players sought the audience of the Elder Druid. They’ve spent the last session gathering as much info about her as possible and knew they had to face the Elder Druids champion! Weapons were out, spells were prepared, and actions readied! Finally the Champion stepped out from behind a towering tree! ... a pixie. He’s a 15th Level Monk with a +4 STR Ring around his waist.

Shadowrun game. My players found a suitcase nuke because it literally fell from the sky and landed on their car. One of them said, "I bet the combination is something like '666.'" So that's what it was.

"The church... IS THE ZOMBIE!!" It needs to be a shirt.

I once ran a Pathfinder one shot out of necessity (for once, nobody else had an idea after our current GM took a break). The PCs had discovered that the undead forces they were supposed to be facing were actually orcs that had been covered with sophisticated illusion and mind-control spells so that they looked and acted like skeletons. Since they could now see through the illusion, they also noticed that one of the "skeletons" was actually a human woman. Upon dispelling the enchantment on her, she told them that the Big Bad (tm) was performing a terrible ritual and they had to hurry to stop it, whereupon she raced down the corridor with the PCs in hot pursuit. They entered a huge ceremonial chamber where the floor was about 30 feet down. Instead of stopping and using the stairs, though, the woman ran and leaped over the banister, hurtling toward the floor below. ...and in midair, she transformed into a huge Silver Dragon, dive bombing the BB in a blind fury. Sadly, she dive bombed straight into the middle of the ceremonial area, which immediately activated as a trap-like effect, completely restraining her and beginning to charge up to cast an epic-level permanent Dominate Monster ritual. The PCs (level 4) now had 10 rounds to defeat the BB (he was gloating, so he told them directly they had a single minute = 10 rounds) and/or stop the ritual or else they would be facing a permanently mind-controlled CR 12 Silver Dragon. I won't reveal what happened, but let's just say the PCs were inspired to be JUST as creative in resolving the situation as I had been in coming up with it. Also, half of what I wrote up there was stuff I pulled out of my ass just 'cause I thought it would be neat.

That's one of my favorite things, when my players tell each other don't give the DM any ideas.

Regarding Giving players what they guess....its also a great way to have fun yourself as a DM. It's amazing the number of diferent things that they will come up with, so sometimes Im just like "Oh, yeah that is a much better idea!!".

Surprises: Local gladiator champion is actually a halfling barbarian named "Turo Heavenlyhair". He likes good food and fancies himself as a talented singer and song writer in his past time and he likes smashing heads at work. He has his own fanclub, and indeed, very gorgeus locks. Players like him.

Im love the church golem idea - it very much makes me think of the golden rule of "yes, and?"

"Oh my goodness, there's a lich around the corner, right?" "Well, there is now..."

You know you are doing things right as a GM when your player are so paranoid they whisper to each other about their plans in secret. I really love these advice. It's the downfall of a newly starting GM that they are not used to things and they make boring predictable stories. People hate it and they quit being GM.

"The duke is now a vampire. Does it affect your plot? Nah, they are just going to kill them anyways." Greater truths have never been spoken.

During a campaign I had, there were 2 npcs that accompanied the party Once they got to the dungeon entrance, it was decided everyone should rest up first. When Players awoke the npcs were gone Once the Players got to the lowest level they encounteted a nightwalker who was casring spells hokding the 2 npcs ripped out hearts Next episode was a flashback episode where my 2 players played the 2 npcs and the events that lead up to their deaths they actually got to plat through the general consensus was, that it was a neat idea

"500 orcs, all running away from the PC's, why are they doing that?" Duh, they're murder hobos. XD

I was doing a one shot for my now group. The goal was to teach the rule and then let the PCs make their own characters. They loved the characters they kept them. I didnt have a master mind for this campaign. The PCs rolled a huge success and forged documents based on an actual NPC who was a high level figure. Surprise! They pissed him off for doing this and he is now the master mind. PCs are truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Loved the video. My favorite situation reversal/surprise I ever did involved a cabal of necromancers. They were threatening mass destruction of a town and the death of the citizens so they could then raise a small band of undead wage war with. PCs successfully did what they had to do to sneakily evacuate the citizens through a underground tunnels that were part of a mineshaft. PCs then have final climactic battle with necromancer cabal who in the throes of defeat evil laugh and say "behold my zombie army" and do a mass raise dead and look very proud of themselves. Necromancers successfully a raise a tiny zombie kitten that a little girl had buried a few days ago. Players look smug and laugh, while BBEG looks sad. Then Necromancer leader on death's door says "screw it" and enlarges the kitten and now we have a giant zombie leopard/panther that wants to eat the party. Now I as DM get to laugh while players look sad (but secretly happy).

I've just started GMing and you're honestly keeping me going. Before today's session my nerves were really getting to me (because first session went really well and sequels are stressful), and I watched your video on not giving up being a GM. So that, later on, when my very anxious (new to D&D) friends had a lot of silent patches (made worse by playing on Discord so I couldn't even see them), I reminded myself that it's not my story, I'm doing my best, and my delivery of NPC lines doesn't have to be Oscar winning, and I need to just keep at it. I love your delivery on these videos, and I see I have a whole lot more to learn from!

I think one of the keys to keeping games moving is to actually understand the basic structure of RPGs: 1. GM sets the scene. 2. GM calls for action (explicit or implied). 3. Players declare actions (an intention and an approach) or ask further questions about the scene (answer and goto #2). 4. GM adjudicates actions, describing consequences. 5. Goto #1. To make an analogy with riding a bike, this is the "keep turning the pedals and don't fall over" bit of GMing. You can take a bike on a cross-country trip, ride it to work, compete in BMX, whatever you like. Just keep those pedals turning and don't fall over. Same deal with running an RPG. Just keep running through the cycle. You're not going to be able to employ any of the tips in this video (which are all good, BTW) if you don't run through the cycle and keep the game _moving._

Party members: Wouldn't it be funny if an owlbear fell from the ceiling? DM: :D Bard and barbarian in pit trap: D:

13:58 "isn't it supposed to be holy" My mind: "there are many gods." "It's a church of [insert God]" *Laughs behind screen*

"don't give Guy any ideas. No one is to think about what they think is coming up..." That made me think of "Choose and perish. Choose the form of the Destructor" Gozer summoning Stay Puft the destructor in the original Ghostbusters 😂

I've allowed my players to creativity kill the main villain. They followed the rules, used the tools they had and made a plan on the fly. I was in awe and had to let them do it. There were bigger forces at play, but I didn't know that back then

You open the supply room door. In the darkness you see four martial arts masters. "SUPPLIES!!!!!"

"We need to get holy water from the church and there's probably gonna be zombies" *You come across a church that is being tended to by intelligent, fully sentient zombies. They greet you kindly as you arrive and ask if you are in need of assistance.*

6:24 "my wrist doesn't rotate that way" *SURPRISE!!*

"Dont give the DM ideas!" is a constant thing said at my table as well.

Our first play session this campaign, I had several scenes:Two characters were on a ship, and we had a fairly quick scene of their ship being caught in a storm that seemed to come from nowhere, nearly drowning them, then wash up on a beach, where they ended up in a life and death struggle with scavenging goblins. As I was about to introduce the next character, I described what she saw: rain and tidepools- washed up crabs and her prize: small fish trapped in the tidepools. I described how delicious they looked, and how delighted she was, and how much she LOVED the rain... on ... her... _fur_ . Then I dropped her token on the map- it was of course, an otter. Nobody saw it coming. I had not warned her that she was in fact, an otter. She also turned out to be tougher in otter form than anyone else in the party, and saved them all from the goblins just before, in a sudden flash, being transformed into a slightly bloodied, naked, and very wet girl. I told her she'd been an otter for 7 years now, and had no idea how it happened, nor how she got changed back. The party wrapped her up, and dressed her wounds, and she's been rolling with it brilliantly ever since. She's the girl who thinks like an otter.

I was running a game of Weapon of the Gods (Wuxia kungfu game, loads of fun) and the party was after the second leader of the Three Colors Gang Red Sparrow (they defeated the first leader White Crow a few games prior). They met with the governor of the city, who was a sickly man that housed them for a night. After discussing the situation with him he pointed them to the Peony Pavilion, a brothel further in town where Red Sparrow was known to frequent. They go to the brothel and challenge him to a fight as the honorable Wuxia Warriors they were. But during the fight an arrow came flying out and hit one of them with unerring accuracy, a black arrow with black fletchings, that came from the direction of the Governor's home. Turns out the Governor was the third leader of the gang Black Swan.

I set up a boss room under a mansion that was slowly spawning elementals and my party managed to leave the room before the enemies could fully spawn (I forgot to close the door behind them oops) and exit the mansion and convince the mansion owner that they completed their quest. So I made the owner go into a shed to give them their payment and then the shed fell into the boss room. They wanted the money.

I love subverting situations. Like imagine you come across an Egyptian style skeleton, slinking and slithering around. He announced himself as a the "Bone Pharaoh. He easily towers over the party. When the players come near, he holds up his hands and says "Don't hurt me! I just want you to know that you're all beautiful, and you cannot argue with me because I'm the Bone Pharaoh!"

I can confirm. "DON'T GIVE HIM ANY IDEAS!" is indeed frequently uttered when we play with Guy. XD

i did the "living church" trick in vampire the masquerade. my players were invited to a tzimisce haven, and upon them rolling successful intelligence checks, i warned them that tzimisce are 1. known for the art of fleshcraft and 2. very touchy about hospitality and guest conduct laws, and that the player characters probably should take the shoes off as they go in. They didn't take their shoes off, because "the floor was weird". Well, surprise, the floor was a part of their host and he didn't appreciate being treaded upon by a toreador's high heels. Next time when a slavic person tells them to take their shoes off, I know they will ;)

Mimic Church, job done. People have been going missing for years and the town people think its a Ghost. Let them stock up on silver and give em magic items that are great at capturing and containing ghosts so when they're done they can show the captured soul to collect the reward. Once waiting for the ghost to show its self the inside of the church sprouts tentacles and slim leaving them totally unprepared for the encounter of a giant mimic they are already inside. When they kill it and try and claim their prize they get run out of town by the locals for destroying the church without capturing/killing the ghost. The above it good for 4x 3hr sessions depending on how big the town is and the minor quests to go and retrieve the soul stone that can capture the ghost and silver weapons for injuring it enough to be captured.

I love dark twists in my campaigns because the people I usually play with are all really familiar with each other and tend to joke around a lot, so the hard hitting stuff hits even harder. My favorite twist I ever did was having a completely silent wizard help out the party and basically point them to what they thought was the solution and the place to further the plot inside of a mine. When the players came back empty-handed from the mine, the wizard had just escaped after razing the city and forest around it, with all life being a pile of ash.

The strongest tip I have, taking this having been on both sides of the DM screen, talk with your players between sessions, come up with cool things, let your players have a part in building the story. If the player has a part in the story, whether it be implementation of their back-story or giving them a major plot point that will come up as things progress, it gives them an investment into the story. I can't tell people how many times I've become so excited with an upcoming session just because I talked with the DM or one of my players about what can be expected in the game either in themes or game mechanics, or in the part the character will play.

This is great advice! My early days of of GMing were burdened by these issues? Everyone is having more fun now, even me!

Subscribing to this channel was one the best things I did on YT!! I've spent an unbelievable amount of hours being bored and watching other players being bored at the gaming table, even to the point of getting their character to suicide in very stupid ways. It happened with different DM's and I wished I had a video like this one back then to comment on the subject with this clarity. The following years of gaming would have been a lot better. I speak up now, and I don't stay in a game if I can't find a point of agreement of what's fun. Great content!!

One of my favorite things to do in combat, is make a trick out of pre-combat "You see a suit of armor on the floor" as my party assumed it was animated armor but THEN they meet a wall of ooze! Took them like 15 minutes trying to get the edge on this thing, but they later found out they never needed it

I laughed and laughed at Zombie Church - may your imagination never fail!!!

As a new dm, this really helps me with the campaign I'm leading. It's been dim lately, and now I've got some new ideas.

One of the best intros so far, speaking acting-wise. Not to mention that the subject of matter happent to the best of us ))

"Giving them what they guess" is what I use to motivate, and distract, the players. I usually tie it to a character backstories. The party may get super excited about finding out who the warlock's father is that they forget for a bit that they need to stop the ritual or get supplies to the village before it's too late. Combine that with the story being told in game is about the Villain(s) and all these guesses cause side quests and natural distractions giving the villain(s) time to progress their plans. I try not to let them get too far off plot. Traveling bards, knights or militia marching off to fight, something to remind them they have broader responsibilities. Always enjoy your videos Guy. I love the church zombie.. I may need to reskin the Grave Titan coming up in my game.

Personally I try to include a "Chain of Consequence" portion to the mix, every so often you'll have something they did either to themselves or to others coming back around either as a subtle nod that their actions actually did something in the world, sometimes it knocks them on the head though if they happen to let a mid-boss get away or if they caused significant collateral damage in a kingdom or business. Sometimes it's as subtle as a headline in a newspaper, sometimes it's a street urchin who used to be a noble jadedly glaring in their direction, sometimes it's a two tonne mech suit with an AI core that they were too slow in dealing with and had to abandon the city to it's thralls.

Give them what they guess is one of the best pieces of advice ever. I can't tell you how many traps/plot twists/special enemies I have conjured up during a smoke break with players in various groups. Often it's the best part of the adventure, and they feel smart for having figured it out.

I've been running a homebrew campaign for a short while, where turned everything upside down for my players while making them as paranoid as humanly possible. At the time, they had just finished a short quest in a small village. They decided to end the session the local inn, where I told them to level up til next time. - The next session started with them waking up, but not at the inn. They were in a large abandoned mansion. There was no way out of it, and looking outside, they could see that at least half a year had gone by. There was also a new player at the table whos PC no one knew. Exploring the mansion, they found it mostly empty except for a spider nest and some derro's squatting. They also found a lady hiding there, whom they recognized from a painting as the lady of the house (but for some reason, no one questioned how young she looked compared to the ruined house). She as well as one of their party members whos player could not join, were in fact clones created by an oblex hiding in the basement with a few more crazed derro. - Throughout the house, I had planted clues, such as the oblex clones smelling faintly of sulphur, there were notes talking of a monster and it weakness, there were several fire related items pointing to that weakness, as well as a book of monsters where I had written short descriptions of several monsters with similar traits. With enough clues, they would easily figure out that it was an oblex, which they did not. They thought it was a succubus, which was fun. But having every little expectation turned upside down, "friends" stabbing them in the back, and an eerie emptyness in the house made them nervous and paranoid of what manner of trickery I would present them next! - In the end, they managed to slay the oblex, and found their missing comrade who were in a mild coma because of the memory drain. Since they left the house, they have been trying to piece together their lost memory, gaining aid from mages and alchemists alike. Since this is what they were invested in, I created a timeline for each of my player's characters, and I drip feed them fragments of their memories from time to time. Some including their own personal quests, such as meeting a key NPC at one point, or hinting at a later adventure.

I try to adapt based on what the party says/does. One particular adaptation I've made, which I'm very happy with how it turned out, is on one part of the adventure, the party ventured to a farm to retrieve something. They found the farm abandoned, but after some searching, found a girl hidden in a closet. She was there to shed some light on the danger the party was in, but some of the members didn't trust her at all. She wasn't designed to be part of the story beyond the current situation, but my players were hell-bent on proving she was evil. They failed due to bad rolls and poorly chosen spells (most of the group is relatively new to d&d), and reluctantly gave up on the idea. Two sessions later, they are hunting her down after she revealed her true nature, stole the object they retrieved and murdered a city guard that was bringing her and the object to the magister, whom they worked for, while the party was indisposed (actually, imprisoned for horse theft ... One of their many questionable decisions along the way and their first lesson in "Actions Have Consequences"). I had responses such as "You $#@$!! I effing knew it!" and "I told you guys we couldn't trust her!". She makes a wonderful villain that the party loves to hate. It didn't change the overall story, it just added a shift in focus, for the time being. The general plot and story are still roughly the same, but it organically grew to be more than I originally came up with. And I hope they ignore their fellow players when they say "Don't give any ideas" and keep their visions of doom coming :D

I guess I'm a big time "give them what they guess" DM. I've always thought of it as the "Schrödinger's Dungeon" approach.

I'm glad Katherine made it in the end. Rock on, man! Great content.

That intro was hilarious and I love it lmao

I've actually had the zombie in the church scenario, the players guessed it, but I decided to screw with the group a bit more. Zombie clerics of Wee Jas, the area was so toxic that the living couldn't stay so these priest stayed and allowed themselves to slip into undeath allowing them to ceaselessly assist those in the area trying to rid it of the corrupting magic. One of the many ways I have enjoyed screwing with paladins for being a stick in the mud.

God I dread being this as a DM, I have been occasionally, but I manage to avoid it most of the time. Just sometimes I get worried I am straying from the rules to far thanks to a bad old friend of mine who was a rule lawyer and burrowed such things into me my first campaign :/ Been getting better at avoiding this as I go on and gain confidence in myself, and with a bit of help from the good ol' GreatGM!

One surprise I have made was making a mimic in a dungeon… but the mimic was a friendly fellow who was bored of living in a dungeon and assists the party through the dungeon in exchange for getting him out.

The skit at the end was a nice play on words. A welcome SURPRISE!

That ending was great! The smoothest outro!

This channel is great!! Im currently running a DnD campaign and i am consistently coming back to this channel for tips and tricks to keep it fun and interesting👍

One of my players said, "how do you make up quests and characters on the fly? How do you just go with what we do, give us choices and keep making new events on and on?" Inner monologue: *I'm trying not to be boring* 😰

Subtle flex at the end "I'd respond if I can, but there is simply too many comments to do that." Funny Guy, funny Guy.

This is my favourite video on this channel. I needed to hear what is said here. Thank you.

This might be the best ttrpg advice video ever! Short, to the point, very valuable👍🏻 Top notch! Thanks and greetings from Germany

I gotta say thanks man, your videos helped me a lot. I just dm'd my first game last night, with my Wife and her cousin playing. It was an awesome time! I'm pretty sure I fudged a few of the rules by accident, but we had a blast which is what it's really all about so I consider it a roaring success,! Thanks for all the tips man!

My players were captured by a coven of vampires only to suddenly have one of the "young" vampires be a fan towards one of the players who had a background story of them being part of a band in the past. They had to give a live band performance as an entire group that satisfied the coven despite the one player being the only one with any performance skills or they'd all be eaten. They surprisingly made all the rolls needed to succeed so I didn't have to improvise anything to save them & it was a blast for all of us. They still talk about it to this day & they've learned that if I'm given a background story I'll implement it into my games in some way at a random time.

Definitely one of the best DM tips videos I've watched. Well made.

You do surprises like I do dumb attacks in Smash Bros: Repeat it because it's so stupid that no one would ever try it twice in a row, let alone three times. Also, these are good ideas. Thanks. :)

Guy, as a new GM I want to thank you as your videos (especially like this one) always give me inspiration and creativity to keep my adventures entertaining both to myself and my players. I gained almost everything I know solely from your channel and from experience of hosting sessions. Thank you again and continue doing what you doing!

Very fresh and very useful Guy, thank you for coming up with this!

Thanks so much for the content! I’m not a GM but I use some of these tips as an RP! I ❤️Guy

The False TPK is one of my favourite surprises. Very reliable way to make sure the players are paying attention.

You are a genius! I love you :) Running my first game ever this Saturday :)

Excellent, and very helpful! Thank you!

Great video. I just started DMming about 3 months ago. I've been playing myself about a year and a half. I always try to make sure my players are having fun, and they have ..so far. I've had them do some crazy things, because I find myself adapting to them a lot. My fear is, what to do, when my brain locks down, and I have no ideas,but your "Give your players what they're guessing, but bigger or smaller," is brilliant. Takes a lot of the trying to decide what I should give them off my mind. Great video.

I think there's one more thing that should be considered. Don't wait for the players to take action. For example, if they are in the middle of town and don't know what to do next, have a random pick pocket grab something, but make it obvious. Use the pick pocket to lead the players where you need to. I actually have a pick pocket rolled up and ready just in case for my games. As for surprises, there's many. Though, my favorite comes from an ongoing game of Heroes Unlimited. The short of it, the players are locked in a basement by a mutant St Bernard. While investigating, my players found a mutant talking dog that they thought they can trust. Initially, I thought of using the dog for combat. Basically, a talking Kujo with human like hands and above average IQ. One player decided to talk to it, so I made the dog smug and condescending for role play. No combat this time. The dog "agreed" to help them with their investigation. He lead them into a basement they previously examined. When they were in the far corner away from the door, the dog retreated to the door and locked the players in the basement. I figured that they would expect the dog to be loyal to the smugglers and cultists in my game. Instead, they thought it was a wild mutant roaming the property. In a sense, I was more surprised by their decisions then they were of being locked in a basement. Surprises are fun.

If my players are predicting what I'm going to throw at them (and being bored by the obviousness of it), I don't change it radically. If they need holy water from a church, I'm not making a Dread Church thing, because I have been a player who could figure things out in advance before, and it looks as bad as being super predictable, aka "You only did that because we figured it out." What would I suggest? Something "subtle"... like the holy water is oozing out of an ancient priest in the undercroft, and the zombies can't get close enough to hurt him but will attempt to snack on anyone who goes down there. I think subtler moves do better than sudden, over the top stuff.

Awesome video. At 13:10 I was laughing, and when the zombie became the church that was a solid "HELL YEAH".

"Give them what they guess" is awesome, I agree, because it is part of the collective storytelling

A lot of this is that simple stuff that is way too easy to forget. great video.

I've never clicked on one of your vids so fast

Watching this was great! I'm a relatively new DM, and I switched it up using one of these last week. The big bad villain started to monologue then ran away from then flee. They had no idea what to do, and half the party wanted to pursue immediately! It was great.

AMAZING TIPS THANK YOU !! ill be a first time dm in a couple of weeks and i needed that tips to prepare better, thanks alot!

Adaptability: There was a situation where the players had defeated a huge demon that attacked them first, but instead of trying to kill it off, they started talking to it and convincing it that "eat humans is bad; only eat if they attack you first" and so I ran with that, and they had a demon companion for a while. Surprise!!

I absolutely loved this episode. Particularly the part about adaptability. :) I needed to hear that.

I think subversion of expectations might be a better way to describe this than surprise. Things don't necessarily need to be strange or shocking, just interesting and different to help hold attention. And honestly, if "don't give the GM ideas" isn't a regular phrase at the table, you might be doing something wrong.

Your character throws themself off the bridge. LOL SUBBED

This was fantastic. Thank you!