5 GM Mind Games - Running RPGs 

"Watch your phrasing" was splendidly applied in the movie Pitch Black when the guy asks Riddick how it looks and it says "it looks clear" and then some monster spooks the the guy and he's like "I thought you said it was clear!" and Riddick replies "I said it *looks* clear." That's the moment when I learned to use that trick as a GM.

When DMing for a paranoid party I have been known to have failed perception checks result in the character missidentifying something innocuous as a trigger for a trap. For example an old spider web being confused for a tripwire, or a mossy tree stump for a troll.

The line delivery at the end was too perfect, great vid

The Angry GM has a mechanic called the Tension Pool. You get a dish or bowl, place it on the table where the players can see it, and you add one d6 to it after every in-game 10-minute round to track time. After you put six d6s in the bowl, take them out and roll them. If you get any 1s, something bad happens such as a random encounter. After rolling six dice, clear the pool. Alternatively, if the characters do anything noisy, risky, or dangerous, add a d6 for the round, then roll all the dice in the pool to see if something goes wrong, then return the dice to the pool. You only clear the pool after six die representing an in-game hour, in-game day, whatever unit of time, and you start over for the next unit of time.

An old GM of mine had a trick he loved using: When a player rolls a crit fail on a perception/mental check, be completely honest with them and tell them *exactly* what is going on, what is happening, what an NPCs true devious motivations are, etc. because the players will never believe you or never believe all of what you say as true and will tend to assume the opposite

“ I opened up the chest.” Do you kick it? “ no.”

I love using "appears" and "don't find anything" and "perhaps"

I tend to run open tables (no GM screen). I also tend to roll dice while I'm thinking. So, instead of hiding my rolls, I ask a player for a number between 1 and 7. The number that they give me is the dice roll iteration that I write down. For example, the player says four. From that point, I write down the fourth roll. I keep rolling after that and occasionally ask another player the same thing. What do I use these rolls for? Perception or other passive checks is one thing. Initial NPC disposition is another. Sometimes, I don't use them for anything. I just giggle a little and cross out the next number. The players attribute anything bad that happens soon after to that little theatric.

Thanks for these tips, I'm about to take the plunge as a first time GM for our board game groups first TTRPG. These are great

glad to see more content, also glad to see a reference to voyagers of the jump it looked like you really had playing also the context of puffer being afraid of the crew knowing he was a rat since out of the 4, Piper,was openly hostile about them putting pressure on "professor my lover". Gigi was also touchy about her cul--- commune accidently trying to colonize an inhabited world, and Filo was mostly just quietly regretful of him being blamed for the incident that got him washed out of the imperial navy. from my perspective Puffer seemed to be the only one to keep his cool in the interrogations, knowing he was probably mentally sweating buckets when him being a rat came up in the interrogations and probably had a minor freak out when the people at the hand off asked if he was a cop. also a side note for the prop idea with the skull you could use it as a short hand for if something/someone is watching the party and who they think the most dangerous/trustworthy/threatening/best target to try and manipulate is, that way its not a total bluff so the players can't completely dismiss it as just a random thing, and its still that tiny bit of "it could be a fake out or it could be legit" hope things are going well for you man

Late to the party Seth, but John Harper’s clocks function very similarly to the threat dice pool (arguably better, because they can change at any moment). The GM can give as much or as little explanation of what each clock they deploy is (as well as many at the same time as they want), and what is making them fill up as in game and background events rumble on (though fully able to wind them back based on player actions).

Hi Seth, thanks to your guides especially on CoC I have been able to confidently and happily game master that system, I was hoping to see you cover Symbaroum. It’s something that even if you never play it has amazing art and an incredible captivating world and lore. Thanks!

I do the constant specific questions my players love the tension but that is my table do what is best for yours and your style

Once in a while tell the players that one of them saw a movement by the dark corner of the room or corridor. Or heard some kind of sound: from something scurrying somewhere to chains being moved, floor or door squeaking, random bangs, to even a sound of something heavy crashing. They don't need to know there are rats moving away from the party, unfortunate cat accidentally hitting a stack of chamber pots or just people moving about in another part of the building. It's especially effective for stealthy missions. And that horrible sound was chandelier falling in the ballroom or poltergeist in the library... Also make benign NPCs act or appear a bit creepy. For example an inn keeper when asked of the quality of the rooms might say something like "No one ever complained about quality of our accommodations" and then add a small giggle...

I did something similar with votive candles, one per player, occasionally blow one out after either a dramatic or mundane story beat.

I love your videos! It's very pleasant to listen to you; I think you express yourself very well. By the way, I find it curious how some of the tips had occurred to me after many games purely by intuition, such as making meaningless dice rolls or introducing elements that players don't know the function of. I'll try to incorporate the rest. Great video! Greetings from Spain.

There's also the extra option to just share this video with your group. You know, in case they think they're hot shit, you show them this and then proceed to play it straght for MONTHS. But that's sort of "the nuclear option".

I've made an NPC named Skorth Sethkowsky for my games. He always talks with a random voice and pretends to be a bunch of different people like the one character from Last Airbender.

You forgot the classic: “Are you sure?“ Loved your examples. Literally had me laughing out loud.

Also note that the reverse is also true. If you just want to move the story along "the corridor is clear of traps" is much better than "you don't discover any traps".

My favorite “where are you standing exactly?” You find out who the honest players are

During the 70s, I created a dungeon. In it, one corridor had a note: tell the players, "You see...," then open the book to the demons secrion, then close it and tell then that they see nothing .

I had a DM, back in my college days, who would take a notebook from his pocket, open it up, say "oh, yeah", laugh, close it, and then put it away. 🙃 I miss him.

The problem with too much of #1 and #3 is that the players might overcomplicate everything. If the players believe every minor action is important, they will be forced to calculate every action. There's a point where you need to rollback on red herring details in order to keep the pace up and give the players a relief from analysis paralysis.

Years ago, during a D&D game, I noticed most of the players (it was a large group) were drifting away from paying attention a bit. I jotted down something on a note and passed it to the one player who was still paying attention. The player read it, chuckled, thought a second, then wrote something on the note and passed it back to me without a word. The whole table was suddenly paying attention again, and the game went on, more engaged. What did the note say? "Read this, write something down, and pass it back to me."

The fake die rolls and oddly specific wording are excellent for building tension in any situation. It in a way negates metagaming when it comes to those amazing rolls that the players think couldn't possibly have failed. Two of my favourite tricks to use.

I love that look on players faces when you start asking them to be very specific on their placement, direction they are facing, what they are holding in thier hands, where there equipment is placed, etc. So priceless to watch the dread spread across their faces *maniacal GM laughter*

One of my favorite gags with the treasure chest is setting a clicker or squeaky hinge, no actual danger, just something to worry them about a trap going off

The Fable 3 collector's edition included a big brass guild seal coin with good and evil facings, and it's been my go to prop for deciding things that I hadn't necessarily figured out in advance, seeing just how bad a mistake is, NPC responses, etc. Once in a while I'll flip it in response to completely arbitrary questions and actions just to keep them on their toes. It's so ingrained that sometimes someone will blurt "oh shit, he's going for the decision coin!" when I reach for it.

Sometimes, the scariest monster is the absence of a monster.

I have another good one for games that have a bunch of intrigue: If your players start spiraling into paranoia and theories, don't try to correct them. Let them spiral. In my Vampire: The Masquerade-campaign, an NPC of mine is a Malkavian girl (Malkavians are basically Vampires with the powers of Mind Control and Invisibility, but in return suffer from at least one mental illness), who is a rather stereotypical Stalker who is obsessed with one of the players. (showing up at their house or at work and invisibly following them, but for now being very harmless) Thing is, I made it into a quest for my players to find out what Clan (Vampire-"Race) she belongs to, so they don't know she's a Malkavian. I gave them all the powers either she, or the person who turned her, used, as all Clans learn a certain combination of vampiric powers. So if you know which powers a Vampire used, you can get a good guess which Clan they belong to. For example, Clan Malkavian - in the current 5th Edition - has the unique combination of Auspex (Supernatural Senses), Domination (Mind Control) and Obfuscation. (Invisibility and supernatural disguises) She mainly uses Obfuscation - which the players know - and also some minor Auspex. The players also know, her Sire used Domination on her to make her forget his name, which means they know all three powers. They simply never combined the dots. Now one of my players got it in his head, that her ability to become invisible - combined with my love for middle eastern themes - means, she belongs to Clan Banu Haqim (formerly known as Assamites, or the Clan of Assassins) and is actually set on the group to kill them off. Even me telling him, that Clan Banu Haqim doesn't use two of the powers they discovered (Auspex and Domination), couldn't convince him otherwise that she's in reality a trained and cold-booded assassin putting on a disguise as a shy bookworm. After realizing that he's literally getting paranoid over a character, who has no interest in him (as long as he doesn't get between her and her obsession) - I just let him spiral. It was glorious just nodding along to his theories (or rather, not refuting anything he said), how she already gained access to every facet of their lives and planned his demise for acknowledging her being a bit suspicious. I repeat, she doesn't care about him, while he thinks she's literally behind every corner waiting with a knife for him. So GMs - if you players start making paranoid theories and get scared over nothing - don't fight it. Just let them become paranoid until you drop the bomb.

I think most of this advice is good, my only caveat (I know, I can make my own video to say this sort of thing, but 2 kids means good luck with that) would be that you have to be able to read the room on when to bust one out. If your players are already really invested and tense, it MIGHT be a good idea to twist the screws further...or you might want to release that tension a little, so they don't decide to bail on the mission/quest for their own safety. Or if they're in a bad mood for some reason, pulling the "where are you standing/how do you open it" could change it from a tense moment to a player being pulled out of the mindset and getting annoyed. It's all about the session and the group, as always.

I like occasionally using an hourglass when players are supposed to make spontaneous decisions. If your players are used to that, you can make them nervous by conspicuously checking where it is or moving it closer to your notes or dice.

The skits with Seth and The Gang show how devilishly clever Seth is when he is playing with, uh, …himself.

As usual, all the complaints I have jotted down in the course of watching your presentation are completely addressed by you at the end of your video. I don't know, just thanks for the effort and nuance you put into your videos.

If a player makes a certain decision, I find it fun to dramatically slam a book shut, as if to say ‘well, everything in here has gone out the window, even I don’t know what’s coming next’

I used have this bad habit of rolling my dice while I waited for players to make decisions, it seemed like it would take forever for them to make the simplest decisions, one day I asked what the deal was and one of them just asked me back “well what are you always rolling for?!” Since then I try fidget with something else while I wait, mostly, stopping all table conversations dead in their tracks with a random clatter of dice is pretty fun. ❤

You know how magicians get angry when other magicians reveal how tricks are done? I feel that.

A mind game I like (although have not had much chance to use myself) is, if a player is affected mentally by something, don't TELL them that they are, simply give them information in the way their mind has been altered. If they're put into a confused or hazy state by some spell, give them vague and muddy information, instead of just saying they're confused so they can't really make something out. If they're put on edge by some drug, tell them that they have this overwhelming feeling someone npc's gonna betray them, or that they're being watched. Let them figure out why it is on their own (Oh, that potion that trap spilled on my head, that's why I can't figure anything out. Oh, that synthcoke I had before leaving the house this afternoon,) instead of telling them directly.

I love to have an NPC call out the players for being so jumpy and paranoid (like in your chest scene) and it's also funny if that NPC gets his goose cooked later because he doesn't take precautions

One of my absolute favorites is to place a large very readable die on the table. Then randomly at set intervals triggered by player actions, just tick it up or down. Sends players up the paranoid wall faster than a cat on a hot tin roof.

I use the Mystery Dice Roll from time to time. I'd love to add a GM token pool to Cyberpunk Red. There's so many times in that game where upping the stakes/danger can be telegraphed and make sense.

I have done this a number of times when I used to run games. It eventually made my players start metagaming, making their characters act in a way that was being influence by my actions, rather than what their characters would have done.

For a mystery rolls my DM once while playing curse of strahd would have us all stop and roll a d20 every now and then note the outcomes. It always made us wonder what was happening at the end of the campaign we asked him what was happening there and he admitted it was nothing but made us feel paranoid as we should in Barovia

Re: Point #5: I'm reminded of the notion that my PCs were wise enough to invoke logistics and bring carts/wagons at the entrance of a dungeon so that they can more easily empty such a place of their haul. Unfortunately for them, they were less willing to verify the security of said cart of treasure when they went into a pub (it was too late for them to cash things out). Voila, suddenly these players were all-in to track down the thief and I could start the next leg of the adventure.

Seth rolling dice behind the screen for the pizza toppings I KNOW YOUR WILES GMAEMASTER

I'd say the main purpose of such bluffs is to make sure that when something IS there, they're not tipped off to it even on their failed roll/etc.

I've got to change up my using non-committal wording all the time. There is a time and place for it. And sometimes its better off to say everything is safe and you can tell the person is not lying in normal situations. For instance, I have my players meet a contact who is going to pay them to retrieve an artifact. The players want to roll an Insight check to see if the contact is being deceitful and I say "You don't detect her being deceitful", but now they expect her to betray them later on. And can sometimes lead to too much caution on the players' part because now that idea hasn't been concretely denied.

Right before a very import but very RP heavy meeting with a bunch of faction leaders I wanted to keep things interesting so I did 2 things. First I put one of the characters rivals in the meeting knowing they couldn't confront them during it. Second I rolled dice and asked everyone's passive perception and then I made every player a note on an index card, folded it up and handed them out and immediately jumped into the meeting. Each note said "you are yourself, act normally" It was the most serious and most careful moment of the entire campaign

I never heard of DM loot, but I think I might give my BBEG something similar. Playing Curse of Strahd, I'm thinking... spoilers... I'll have Strahd encounter the group fairly early, and charm at least one of them. Then, after they KNOW they have been affected by him, I'll start adding coins to a cup in front of them, and let them guess what it's about. When enough coins have filled the cup, I will command one of the PCs to DO something they would not ordinarily do. Just to mess with them. And ONLY once Strahd has had the chance to successfully charm them. One cup for each PC. I'll treat it as a remote-control Suggest spell, so it has to follow the rules of Suggest. I can't command them to kill themselves or their party, but I CAN suggest that they do something stupid and inconvenient, including giving away a piece of valuable equipment (not the Sunsword or other vital artifact). After all, they came in at Level 5, and are WAY over-equipped, because this newbie DM had a "Monty Hall" moment, where I allowed them to gamble hit points for spins on a Wheel of Fortune, and they won some really cool gear. I can take some of that away from them, or just command them to annoy someone they were trying to persuade, or who knows what. And they can watch those coins fill the bowls, and wonder what will happen, and then, what will happen next, once I cash in a few coins.

Speaking of mindgames, I had an idea. Do a video as Jack. Start in B&W saying, "Hello, Intanet, as Seth says." Then right to the review, with no explanation. At the end, you appear as you. "Man, I hate having fevers. What a weird dream. Huh, I left my webcam on." Cut to black.

8:33 Literally rewatching VOTJ and that scene came up. I hadn't noticed before, but this time i could see that you had no physical reaction; no stutter, flinch, not even choking on your drink. Great job playing it off smoothly on the surface!

Another mind game would be to use a timer. Set it to an arbitrary time and watch your players rush to come up with a decision in a scenario they think is time-sensitive but in actuality isn't.

Mind trick from my experience: put up a smile. For some unknown reason players do feel threatened by smiling GMs.

Love the brass skull. Yup just like the X-49 robot in samurai jack and it's pet dog LuLu, sweet thing. Totally protecting that dog. Where are you standing, love it. Though honestly I like to use minis to avoid needing to do this.

#1 has me laughing, because I do that.... Not just tossing one die, but tossing multiple dice, and then saying, "It seems everything is fine...." A variation on it is to pick up the monster manual, pretend to look something up and read it, and then close it and go, "Okay, so the hall in front of you is pretty dark, it's hard to see down to the end of it... It's eerily quiet... What do you do?" LOL!

I watched this a few hours before running a session. Not for tips (which were great) or to use them that time, but just so the player I live with could report this in horror to the rest of the group.

My favorite trick as a DM is to keep a list of NPC's that the PC's interact with. As they become engaged with these characters, I formulate how to make the best use for them. Example: I had one group who rescued a NPC and then befriended him. All the while this NPC was available to either aid or hinder the party. I ended up using this NPC as a spy for an opposing lord that the PC's were up against. When they finally found out what had happened, [no actual harm was done to them, but that of betrayal], their reactions were priceless. They were actually more angry at that NPC then the actual baddie I had planned for. So I used him as a mid level boss fight. It was awesome. Point is, keep track of NPC's that the players become fond with their are so many other uses for them, most of all, make the NPC's valuable, atttractive and/or vulnerable to the PC's. I hope this is helpful.

I did that "Give them something to protect - Then threaten it" quite by accident several years ago. I'd run things as a GM before, but wouldn't exactly call me experienced at the time. I was introducing players to Warhammer 2nd edition and used the introduction scenario from the book. At one point a mutant shoots someone with a Hochland Longrifle, and the scenario makes it pretty clear that it's supposed to get away and that a weapon like that shouldn't be given to the PCs However, one of my players decided to shoot the mutant at long range with his bow, made an outstanding attack roll and proceeded to one-hit-kill the mutant. So... I couldn't *not* give them the gun. Instead I started hinting once in a while that an NPC showed particular interest to this gun. By the end of the second session they were so paranoid thinking that *I* would steal it from them, that they started hiding it in their room at the inn and setting up elaborate traps, and spending off-game time trying to figure out how to keep this gun safe! None of them could use firearms, and they were scared that it would be recognized as stolen if they brought it with them. They ended up selling it far below market price just to get rid of it, because they didn't want to get caught up in whatever I was planning - which was nothing. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, so I was just BS-ing my way through the whole thing, hoping they wouldn't sell it to a collector at premium

When I have had players attempt a simple maneuver, such as jump across a five foot space over a chasm, cross a rickety bridge or navigate a ledge, I tell them"just don't roll a one". This check is on a d20, so the player actually has little chance of failing and he doesn't know that if he fails, he will get a chance to grab the ledge or bridge to avoid falling to his doom. I have been pleasantly surprised by how effective this is for scaring players. If a player rolls a one (which has happened far more than 5%), the moment is long remembered and a subsequent check stands a strong chance to terrorize the players.

Once had a GM "accidentally" leave the Bestiary open to the Mimic page while we were exploring a dungeon... It was a fun, paranoid mess of a game!

This is missing a disclaimer: be mindful of players with analysis paralysis. You don't want to steal someone's fun by making them unable to act due to their IRL mind.

As mentioned, this absolutely runs the risk of being overdone, and the tolerance point will vary widely depending on the player in question. The worst case isn't that they cease to be effective, but that they suddenly have the opposite effect and anger your players. See also the GM sin of the ass-pull.

I often do something similar to the mystery rolls, except they're not fake. I handle a lot of things in my game world with random rolls, and often, I remember to roll for something while my players are doing something unrelated. Hence the rolls aren't fake, they're just mostly irrelevant to what's happening in the game currently. Making faces upon getting a high or low result on the dice can really sell it too.

Well I enjoy to have my player roll a die they don't know for what they don't know the target and they don't know if low or high is good. I sometimes tell them afterwards what they rolled for. Sometimes many sessions later. Eg. The PCs staged in a city a coup and well now the new guys are in power. I assigned to each of them something in the city (they knew not that or what). In between session I send each of them a message "please roll a d20 send me the result". What happend was that the Lysander priest who got the local temple as his possible changing thing rolled badly. Next time he visited the temple he noticed it is under new management. Lysander out Asomodeus in. Ill see how that pans out when we are done with the campaign and we talk it through

Remember kids: Half the fun of being a GM is the free license for unbridled sadism!

"How do you like that mind game bitch?" Had me dying at the end, completely unexpected 🤣🤣🤣

It's been said that Gary Gygax once said the only reason the GM rolls dice is for the sound they make.

A variation on 'asking oddly specific questions' and something I discovered by accident: suddenly grabbing the rulebook and turning to a specific page upon the players entering a room or deciding some course of action, and then spending a few seconds reading before letting them carry on. The timing of this totally freaked my players out, thinking I was looking up the stats for some particularly threatening monster or something when I think really I was checking whether I'd misapplied a rule or made some other goofy mistake.

3- my favorite question that calls back to OSR roots- what's your marching order? 5- Shadows of Brimstone growing dread mechanic

Wonderful advice I have been doing this stuff for years!

I always enjoy your "tips & tricks" episodes, they are VERY helpful, both for players and for GMs. Thank you.

Similar to the having a pointless prop I like to put a statue, shrine, altar, portrait, table, etc on a map describe the room in great detail but not mention this detail. The players swarm around it thinking it must be important or have a puzzle, where as it's actually benign. The best thing about this is that I have told all of my players from my various groups that I do this and they all fall for it anyway. They tell me it's because they think me telling them means that map detail will be important one time and I'm trying condition them to not investigate for when it is.

These are great for inspiring dread and paranoia in the players, and these are quite useful when that's the mood you want. I even have used a couple of these for ages when the situation warranted. But how about some mind games to inspire other moods? Maybe tricks to nudge players to switch to thinking tactically, or tricks to get them to play fast and loose (and feel "safe" doing so)?

#2 and #3 I try to pull off every game. Saying something a certain way always gets that wonderful hesitation sound of "Uhhh...."

So what was the Golden Scull about? (End of a D&D adventure.) It never came up. Maybe in a future adventure... GM pulls out the golden scull for a Call of Cuthulu adventure...

The one about being careful about your phrasing is a great one that I always try to use. My players are cautious (somtimes to a fault), and it drives them mad !

Huwhaat... Is your favorite, color?

I have a natural untrustworthy facetiousness to a lot of my verbal delivery and have relied on sarcastically going "oh, it totally works and you absolutely do not detect anything you find interesting whatsoever" and relying on the delivery to instill paranoia. Also, I feel like all perception-related stuff should be handled GM side(and I usually only allow two rolls - the most and least perceptive characters present) so the players have to have a greater degree of confidence in their skills if they're given vague results.

Honestly? I think adding these deceitful rolls is a very bad idea and should be considered a sin. In literature theres something similiar called tchekovs gun. The law states, that if youre going to show the audience a gun, it needs to be used by the end of the film/book. This is, because the audience usually gets excited or fearful about what might happen next and if it doesnt get used or is important to the plot, they might feel cheated and dissatisfied because they hoped for and expected something, that never happened. It is in essence a law, that warns writers and directors of using cheap tactics of making the audience invested. And this is exactly what I see here. Players will expect something interesting or might prepare mentally for a hard battle or ready up their resources, only for nothing to happen. I would feel dissatisfied and if that would happen regularly, Id quite frankly walk away from that dm if he insisted on continuing to do it. Because all you do is make players excited and dreadfull with cheap tactics. I even see beginner dm's seeing this video and then overusing this tool for tension, whereas real tension should arise from the story, not the rulings, making that beginners take even longer to find their place. And the worst part is: it tries to solve a problem, that you yourself introduce. Instead of saying 'there arent any traps' just say 'you dont see any traps'. Which is exactly what you would say if the players failed their roll. Likewise you could say 'yeah, you dont notice any strange movements or sounds from the surrounding bushes'. Problem solved.

Although funny, it feels like these mostly waste precious game time. Although I can understand doing it every now and then

As always, a fantastic video. I'm glad to see the methods I've used and experienced being more common than I thought, as well as perspective that I hadn't had previously on some. The random dice rolls especially, though I usually incorporate some simple binary oracle function to them for integrity. The final gag gave me a genuine belly laugh. LOL God bless you, good sir. Content like this really makes me want to start recording and referencing your videos.

😂🤣😂🤣😂 Perfect stinger from Mike at the end..... he's obviously been paying attention to Seth's teachings......

If you need a reason to roll, just make it a roll to see if a PC just contracted a disease. If they do, it'll probably take a while for symptoms to manifest, so you can make up an illness later. That'll teach the PCs to go wading through swamps, having punch-ups with giant rats, or not bathing. (For that matter, "did your character bathe before going out adventuring?" is itself a nice curve-ball question to throw at players. Especially if they caught a disease once already.)

The Specific Questions, getting standing locations specifically, is a great one to use as a bluff otherwise whenever you ask "where are you exactly" players know something's about to go down & get behind cover.😄

OR have the players make mystery rolls for you... DM: Andrew, can you roll me a D6? Andrew: I got a 2? DM: OK. Next round... DM: Melissa, roll me a D6. Melissa: It was a 5... DM: OK. Makes it so much worse when THEY have to roll. 😂

hehehe... 1. HAHAHAHA!!! I do this all the time, even too my players now that we're running Cypher System/Numenera... They'll be like "Wait, why'd you roll?" And I'll be like "Oh... nothing. Do you keep going?" Sometime's I'll even throw in a "You dont see or hear anything that catches your attention, but there's an uneasy feeling." HAHAHA! 2. LOL... see above! HAHAHA! 3. Oh, specific questions are great... I remember one time I asked the Cleric of my group, while they were in this dungeon clearing out Cultists of the Elder Gods, what colour her robe/tunic was, right after everyone made a stealth check. They said, then everyone looked around while I made a note, and then told them to continue... HAHAHA! Fun times. 4. As a player in a 3.5 game, and a DM of a few systems... this is great! In the 3.5 game, Im playing an Artificer who made these "Alchemical" *lucky* coins, that he uses for Infusions and Spell Completions (aka Scrolls). So iv been taking my Pirate and The Elder Scrolls coins to games, and using them to keep track of what Iv been using and passing around. 5. Love the use of Mando and Grogu... Yeah, I have my players have a few things, but I haven't really *used* them on the party, yet. Need to get round to that... 6. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here comes the Cypher System... Yep, since my first one-shot running Numenera, i have LOVED this system of "GM Intrusions"... I also enjoy that it's counter-balanced with Player Intrusions, but in discourages players to counter the GM Intrusion, because you get XP for it. And XP too, is a currency in the game. But I absolutely love it!

Some really useful stuff here! Thanks! 2300AD had a thing called Uncertain Rolls. Essentially the BOTH the GM and the Player rolls the player skill task with the GM doing it hidden. Both succeed: All Truth Revealed. One succeed: Some Truth. None Succeed: Nothing. Kicker is the player cannot be certain, but has an inclination. It's a great way of installing FUD.

One of my favorite tactics was to use "random varmints" in high tension territories... spooky places usually, and the out-of-the-ways or holes-in-the-walls joints one would expect to find dangerous baddies and ghosts or demonic entities and the like... Obviously, like anything in the list, this can get old REALLY quick, so it's best to pepper in a few spots per adventure, and generally leave it alone, OR you can drag it down to melo-drama and overplay the hell out of it as a running joke, which can be suitable as a "disarmament" for comedic points while setting the Players up for the "real horror"... It starts with an unusual, but SUBTLE sound... scratching, tapping, or a pitter-patter... maybe clicking... and should be delivered on the "first blush" of a scene intro'... right when the Party first enters a place or a couple PC's first enter a room... This lets it become part of that initial atmosphere, along with the cobwebs, shadows, and stark contrasts in lighting that everyone already ASSUMES to be in a spooky place. There should be a few relative details otherwise, like the pictures on the wall over a mantle and fireplace if in a den or living room, or the book shelves of a study, kitchen cabinets... workmanship if relevant (or just filler)... AND you let the Party decide what elements or details to look further into, or what otherwise questions to ask... and give a few lines about "whatever" before repeating the bit about the "varmint noise"... Treat it like atmosphere, especially if they don't pursue it, so without dwelling heavily, don't exactly let them forget about it, either... When they track it down, LET THEM... run them around the space a little bit, but let them figure it out in a fairly straightforward manner... and it's a rat or cat or bat or some otherwise relatively ubiquitous animal stuck or prowling some part of the architecture (it's USEFUL to know enough old architecture to design a place with interstitial voids and spaces between walls or secret passages and the like... BUT you can hide the varmint in a cabinet or even the piano... which can still be just as fun... AND OF COURSE, upon disturbing said varmint, it SPRINGS out with a wild or frenzied rush and outcry... The point is NOT to attack the party or PC's... At this point, the varmint can run "mal-havoc" around the room or spaces at large... OR it can just do it's relative best to evade Party members and get directly out of there. THAT is up to you (GM)... This is utterly the "cheesy-assed" jump scare from "Yellow Fever" (episode of "Supernatural") where the brothers whipped open a cabinet and the cat exploded out in a flurry of claws and squawling, while Dean "freaked out" and ran, literally screaming from the room, throwing down the flash light in his hands and everything... FLEX those storytelling muscles and practice in front of a mirror a little before you deliver this thing... Someone's GOING to cuss at you and call you names. That's a perfectly NORMAL reaction to this kind of thing, and I consider it evidence that I've done it well. Like any jump-scares (especially the cheap and cheesy ones) it's VERY easily "over done"... BUT the once or twice in a decent Campaign that you can get a rise out of the Table for it, it's INFINITELY worth the effort. It also tends to result in laughter after the squawling, jumping, throwing dice, swearing, insults, and even the occasional misjudged and random attack (which you SHOULD ABSOLUTELY hold a Player to, once announced)... roll the dice and calculate all advantages and disadvantages accordingly... and whatever happens... erm... HAPPENS. Yes, I've had a few PC's knock the living hell out of other PC's... I've had more than one bazooka fired at a bat or rat... AND even a fireball cast into a baby grand piano because of this kind of antic... It's unilaterally sadistic and hilarious... and the Players get to loosen up a little bit, which will set them up for the next "situation" you've plotted to throw them into... so there's always a pay off... even when they don't think so. ;o)

Some of these remind me of some things in the show Better Off Ted: Like when veronica gave a deposition, answering the questions honestly, but precisely. Attorney: "Can you describe your job?" Veronica: "Yes" Attorney: "How would you describe your job?" Veronica: "Cleverly" And when they changed the lab coats, but didn't give the researchers any reason why there was the change.

Sometimes you don't even need to ask questions - just repeat back what the players are doing. "Okay, so Ragnar is leaning on the...second pillar; Alessa is sifting through the pile of bones; and Trumpkin's... well, I guess he's just standing in the middle of the room..." *Quick movement of miniatures* "Actually, I want to investigate the pillar." "Yeah, and Trumpkin has his axe drawn, watching the entrance."

The token thing works in games that specifically support such a build up. I'd say an Action Track may be more of what is being represented by such a pool. Count-down to event, or count-up for aftermath of an event. Perhaps the BBEG has 5 things that need to happen before they reach unlimited power, thus using the tokens to represent each thing. Because it was mentioned in the video: The Star Wars game encourages a more free-flowing token(Destiny Point) economy. Mechanically, it is usually either enabling a Talent's activation or adjusting a Dice Pool for a better shot at the Triumph/Despair result. Narratively, it's a bit of fortune/misfortune that happens. A GM hoarding them might be counter-productive as it may limit risks taken by the players if they don't have access to any tokens. The GM is not quite as dependent on the tokens as the players may be, but they can still make good use of them when some are available. FATE also supports a free-flowing token(FATE Point) economy. The tokens are awards that can power the abilities of PCs and NPCs. So the GM isn't hoarding any themselves(unlimited supply), but might accumulate some for any NPCs, in a similar way to how PCs accumulate them.

Just D100 Dungeon it and all will be awesome again! I love a system that plays like Dungeon World, DCC and Scarlet Heroes all rolled up Into 1. I love D100 Dungeon! No more shills for WOTC.

Sometimes I use exact oposite of making it mysterious. GM: "Roll a save." Player: "Success." GM: "Okay, so that did not petrify you this time. Good." Never saw anyone so carefully position themselfs on the battlemap after that statement.

My classics are, "you find no traps", "are you sure?", and randomly rolling mystery rolls. But my absolute favorite thing? Preparing a super atmospheric or cinematic scene where the players get a very vivid description of what their characters see and hear, but it's unexpected and they don't QUITE know what is happening. A huge, dark, partly flooded chamber, where they suddenly hear splashing and movement across the room. Someone innocently touches a magical item and a shockwave of air ripples through the room, knocking books off shelves as they suddenly vanish through a warp in space. A rider comes barreling through town yelling "get back inside!" as the bells by the gates begin to ring.

I have a few tricks for player engagement, and vague language is certainly one. (Seems, appears, etc) Address players in no set order. Even if one PC is searching for something, allow someone unexpected to see something, no roll needed. I stand when I GM. It conveys more information via body language, and makes descriptions easier to convey. I will circle the table while players are seated, especially if an important NPC has something to convey. I may have villains speak to a PC while I'm standing behind the player. This isn't for every table, as it can be threatening. But for the right group, it's effect is dramatic. I will often roll openly as GM. It really ratchets up the tension, because it's clear no punches will be pulled. When you have 5+ players around one table observing a single for roll tumble across a table...you know you have them. When it comes to skill checks where a person wouldn't actually KNOW the outcome, but would HOPE they're correct, I'll use an elevated tray. Such rolls are for things like Perception, Stealth, Deception, etc, where a person THINKS they've succeeded but may have not. Trust me, people who think they're hidden often aren't, and no one is ever certain they've seen everything on a first pass. Everyone hopes their lies worked. You don't know until the repercussions of a failed roll occur. This elevated tray is one I can see, but the players can't. They still have agency over the roll; they just don't know the result. A call for an elevated tray always gets their attention. It also removes that "but I have a 20 passive perception" metagaming nonsense. The prop idea is one I might steal. Perhaps having every player roll a d20 as the game starts, then record the result for later. Or even better...a d100/% roll. That'll get them thinking. I already have a token system for a mix of milestones and "xp" for leveling where players can grant the GM a token to succeed a failed save or check, but then the DM can later spend that to help a villain or create a complication. One last trick just relies on getting to know your players. Not their characters...the players themselves. Find out the things they value, love, and also the things that disturb them or create fear. Heck, once I knew half them hated creepy insect stuff, I slammed that cherry red button like a toddler and ramped up body horror. Like Seth said, all these require use in moderation. Interject comedy, or safe zones and other relaxing moments into a setting to bring down the tension too. Fear, paranoia, and stress only work when it's the right time. Too much can ruin the moment. Think of stress like spice. Too much or too little can ruin the occasion, but the right spice at the right time makes the meal.

"So, Tom, your barbarian's wife and child leave him upon discovering the party has failed the quest. Just like how Jeannie took little Joshua and left you IRL when you lost your job. How do you react?"

Your point around using these sparingly is super important. I've played in games where the GM used these tricks constantly and it made for an adversarial, paranoid experience where the players didn't trust the GM or each other. You're absolutely correct to say use these at the right moment.

The one about asking oddly specific questions is pure gold, because every now and then you'll be running a scenario where you actually DO need to know which side of the chest the player is standing on as they open it, for some reason. If your players are accustomed to the idea that you occasionally ask weirdly specific questions, they're more likely to answer honestly as opposed to changing their tune just because you asked.

Mark of a good adventure is when the players start developing what I call "meta PTSD" basically, they start off with the mindset of goofy adventurers, but after all the traps I set, mind games, ambushes, betrayals, and infernal contracts they Start becoming paranoid. Explicitly telling me how they're looking for traps, being very conscious of marching order, even doing little things they think ls good luck.