DnD Tricks DMs Use To Engage Their Players 

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Protip - remember these are actors in these online videos, not everyday friends and family. Don't expect performances or instant brilliant creativity - even from you, the GM. Your home game is for fun, not for show.

Ah yes, my personal tricks: - Talk less - Smile more - Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for

For me, Brennan's biggest quality ("trick") is his "Yes, and..." attitude towards whatever the players ask of him. Whatever they come up with, he'll interact with it.

Yo I legit got my players to just start chatting in character. The veteran at the table looked up at me after 30 minutes and gave me a look of sudden realisation that was just amazing to behold. That session was one of the most fun he’d ever had in game and I barely lifted a finger lol

Another thing Murph does so well in Naddpod as a theatre of the mind podcast to have incredibly dymanic battles is that there's frequently lots of movement involved, like encounters that take place while falling down a mountain, or jumping between cablecars. For boss battles, he also makes great use of mid-battle flashabcks. It makes for some incredibly cinematic encounters and is definitely a different experience.

i notice this how brennan won’t interrupt the playera to move along the story. if they’re laughing and having a good time he’ll let them run out of steam before continuing. so amazing

Abria: Roll a perception check. Player: 3 Abria: What you don't see... I stole this immediately.

The DM silence bit is definitely real. I have many times when I fall silent after exposition or setting up a scene, and players look at me waiting for me to essentially tell them what to do. What I have learned to circumvent that is to either outright ask "what do you do?" or simply end with an expression on my face that beckons them to provide a response. It's a simple physical trick, but it does wonders.

That final tip about "draw attention to the game, not yourself. your players are there to play, not to be entertained by you" hit actually

Out of the millions of ‘Tips’ and ‘you’re not DMing right’ videos infecting RU-vid, this was actually, genuinely helpful to me. Thanks!

I love Aabrias "... and here is what you don't see"

Hey man I appreciate how you don't beat around the bush and go straight into the tips. Its awesome! Great video

Another that I love about Matt is that he creates spicy NPCs that keep things exciting for everyone. For instance, Travis hates shopping, so Matt creates a kooky shopkeeper or a hidden nugget that brings energy to it that would make everyone surprised and excited for what strange thing comes next.

I do a lot of Mercer's strategy. I'll let my players talk and sometimes they indirectly give me ideas to throw their way (not always bad).

Honorable mention: Monty from Dungeon Dudes is good with storytelling and flawless with the voices of multiple NPCs in a single conversation.

Interesting video. I like Murph's way of just leaving things in the room for players to interact with. You're right, it's something to keep you engaged and trying to figure out if/how that might turn the tide of an otherwise potentially drawn-out combat. Just noticed your wee countdown timer in the upper left corner - that's such a great idea!

I’m glad you pointed out that they are doing a lot of that for the audience. These are good tips, especially considering it’s focused on live play DMs, which are not the same as DMs for regular tables where being an actor is not only irrelevant, but usually a drag for those that are there to play a game.

I'd have loved an example or more explanation for Aabria's section because I don't know what the difference between a book description and movie description is, since both are spoken by the DM.. Otherwise, solid solid video

I think what makes people like Matthew and Brennan so good at what they do is they let DnD be what everyone imagines it to be when theyre told about it. They arent telling a story, theyre propping the world and letting the players tell it. Matt sets up his plots in a way where without the people he does his campaigns with it wouldnt be as good, his campaigns are always done with such imaginative creative people and its fantastic. Brennan on the other hand (and what makes him easily, my favorite DM) doesnt have his players tell stories, he has them tell adventures and creates this wonderful dymanic relationship between DM and Player where he doesnt restrict them to the linear story because he wants to tell stories in a living world and lets his players go off track constantly for the dumbest stuff.

I'm very pleased to see that a lot of these tips are things I've already been doing, and recommending to my newer DM friends. I think my biggest one is knowing when to start/stop narrating. I have a newish DM friend that often finds himself monologuing for way too long, or leaving pauses for player interaction when there is no desire for it. Finding the pulse of when your party needs freedom vs when they need guidance and narration is tricky, but incredibly rewarding to master

I tend to do most of these as a DM (I tend to get inspiration from actual play shows more often than I’d like to admit,) and if I had to choose one of these tips to prioritize it would definitely be Murph’s dynamic combats. Before combat in an area starts I take a moment to set the scene to my players, letting them observe or interact with the environment for a moment before the combat starts. I am continuously surprised how much my players utilize mundane items, from trapping a quasit in a bakery’s oven, to pouring alcohol to help burn some giant insects in a tavern storage room. Adding a time limit as a DM also makes more easy encounters a little more tense, causing players to take risks they normally wouldn’t.

Had multiple sessions where the players discussed the situation for an hour or more at a time. Not running in circles, but combining the information they each separately had and trying to figure out the story. Also had a session where they just talked with some NPCs for the entire session, no combat, not even any rolling. Just 4 hours of roleplay.

I use the just shutting up method alot, the game is a story driven by the players, all I'm there to do is to guide the world around them. I provide a world they set the scene! I love it when player interact with each other without needing my input it means "I got them!" They are in that world in that moment and I don't need to spoil that. I pay rapt attention to what happens and adjust my plans accordingly.

I think you skipped the actual tip in the Aabria section. What does it mean to "describe like a movie instead of like a novel"? The rest are good tips though, sitting back and letting the players take the scene sometimes is definitely a good way to go.

Super underrated channel. These were all awesome tips

Very focused and helpful video. You convey your points clearly and without wasting any words.

I've always been a mix of Aabria and Matt but watching the two of them still made me improve because it's become their job and they managed to hone it in ways I can't just yet

Man your videos are really well done. Thank you for presenting and breaking down these strategies! I feel much more equipped going into my next session with this new group :)

Great video, however I could have used some examples for some of them like you did with Murph’s. Even just a small clip of Aabryia’s stle would helped me understand what “cinematic” means

My current group, that's my favorite strategy. Just sit back and let them engage with each other. Works wonderfully. Gives me time to check notes on what's coming, leads to some of the better character development, lotta benefits.

Can't stress how good of a practice it is to be silent at times, did a one shot where the dm talked a lot! (granted its a one shot so he probably wanted to finish it at a decent time) and my god did it really make me feel out of control and I enjoyed the session a lot less because of it. When I do my one shots I pretty much describe the room and go "what do you wanna do?" and just leave the party to cook until I need to speak again, its nice to let the players pace the game (obviously to a degree) plus it means I do a lil less work 😂

Really good stuff, gave me a lot of things to think about for my next session.

Good video. This is the 1st time I've seen this channel and dude makes some great points.

The outtro / sum-up was great.

Very good video. I'm starting a new campaign soon with players I've only ever played alongside with or DM'd one-shots for. Trying to figure out how to keep them engaged is stressful and we haven't even started yet.

Incredible channel, editing and tips

Imagine Murphy,Aabria,Brennan and Mercer do a Campaign as DM together, each of them telling and acting together making an epic campaign xD

Bro you have some of the most high quality DnD content out there.

This is very insightful, and great advice for all DMs.

Absolutely love your video style. Reminds me a bit of the Tech RU-vidr MrWhoseTheBoss but taking that video style, and putting it into a D&D tips video. Absolutely love it!

I loved the video! Gentle critique, during the Aabria section, I don't think there was any more actionable advice than "describe stuff like a movie"

Thank you sir for this summary!

Talk less... smile more? Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for?

I like that the thumbnail show Aabria and Mercer as some kind of UrSkeks-style elevated light-beings, while Brennan got to be the deranged Tide-pod CEO.

one thing that i like to do to make my players more engaged and to have them connect to their character more (especially if they are newbies) is "how does that make you feel" and "what did you do?" questions. blame it on my background in psychology, but it's fun to open the scene with "you wake up in a pile of hay in an unknown barn, surrounded by livestock. what could you have done last night to end up here?" and have the player backtrack by themselves. or say something like "-when your gazes meet, why do you feel an instantaneous connection with the beast before you?" only to have that creature killed moments later, or ask "why haven't you sent them a single letter in these past few years?" when a character meets someone they've had a falling out with. players love it when they are prompted to explain those things. especially fun in sessions 0 and 1

One of the best DM advice I got was from the director of John Wick - which is that the film works because the camera sticks with John - he is the story. I see the DMs role as giving just enough information to the players as the PCs discover it, so that their characters can move the story forward. This is what makes a TTRPG different to a movie or book. One of my first times DMing our ForeverDM said their very paranoid PC 'doesn't look at walls, because walls aways lie'. This set me a challange as each room I'd have to mentally map and skip over any information the PC didn't want to know. I described the roof, the floor and if there was a door along with any obvious items and the detail of anything they often asked about/where interested in but anything 'wall related' was skipped as per the players request. I had made it clear that players just need to ask if they wanted to know more. So when their PC opened a door and were immediatly hit with a lightning bolt that dropped them to 0 it came out of nowhere! It was only when another PC heard the blast and came to save them that their player was told that the door had a big sign stuck to it saying: WARNING: THIS DOOR IS A TRAP!!! It took me a while to figure out why a player would intentionally make the game harder but DMing them taught me that not every player wants to 'win' DND. What I didn't expect was how much FUN it was to let the PCs fail and dictate how events played out. By the end of the game the entire table of players were giggling over the repeated fails of their characters...and it's now changed how I and the rest of the table approch the game. Now it's often the players setting out to make their characters lives difficult and working together to enable chaos.

Alternative Title: "Irish Harry Potter teaches you useful DM tips"

I used the 'talk less' strategy with my table this weekend and for as much as I try to learn everything I can from Matt by watching CR, I never thought I'd learn from the things he DOESN'T say. Thanks for this!

Thank you for the useful advice!

This is an amazing video. Props

This analysis of DMs is awesome!

you're good af at this

Oh man! Once I had two groups in the same campaign going without them knowing what the other group experienced so far. THere was this magical session when those two groups finally encountered each other. I as the GM shut up for like 45 minutes watching every player fully immersed in character sharing information and making plans how to carry in while I just sat there enjoying all of it!

First time I hear cinematic descriptions being used was by the sounds like crowes gang and god damn, such a great idea.

Great tips!

Not a DnD dungeon master here but a Fallout Overseer, and this tricks are really useful for any game! I will use more than one next time. Thanks! Personally I like to make things the most realistic possible, I mean, if a player rolls a critical shooting on the eyes of an enemy, there is no way that enemy survives, same backwards. And most of all, we always had to be specific about what's happening, I mean, I always make some little act, and I don't let my players simply say, "I shoot" or "I attack", they have to describe the situation, and this makes my players even more involve in what is happening. Things can turn very gross too ( the post-apocalypse is bloody and gross). Once I had a player that used a deathclaw, it was her first time playing an tabletop rpg, but she was really creative! Her character had the habit to rip enemies hearts with her claws. In fact, I don't know if there's something about my way of leading the game, or maybe fallout is a world where you can do whatever you want, but I love to see how even the "first-timers" let their imagination run wild, and they all feel so free! I love to see how they mess things up and then manage to get away with any situation. Seeing how I get all emotional sharing this I realize that that's the thing I love more of being an Overseer. That and the fact that I really LOVE improvisation. I have so many funny moments to share that I could write a book!

You videos are wonderful! Keep it up! Really good content! 🥰

Gran video!! Muchas gracias por este contenido, es increíble

I noticed the Matt thing too once I started DMing. I noticed how much I would talk or comment on things the players were doing and realized how little Matt did this. Made me realize sometimes shutting up is the best thing

An utterly AMAZING example of Murph's DM ability is Snot's Yacht from the cutthroat chronicles. The players spent so much time interacting with the environment and ship, that they almost lost the, admittedly, incredibly easy encounter.

This Video is made for people with adhd. Thanks for the Timer for each segment of the Video

A fun way to stop players turning away and playing with phones during combat rounds: every time they kill something, no matter how small or weak, enthusiastically ask them to describe how they absolutely destroy/maim/slaughter their enemy. It makes them reengage and turn on their brain every few moves or so.

So I just learned that my style is similar to Matt frickin Mercer. I love setting scenes and then prompting them with a "what are you talking about?" I've had full sessions of multiple groups that were purely roleplay and the players progressed their own story further. I've had more than one player tell me that it was the most memorable session they have ever played. I prefer Brennan to watch, but I will take that.

One of the hardest lessons I had to learn as a DM was when to shut the F**K up. Knowing when to chime in with lore, and when to let the players talk. You have a top down view from everything and having that knowledge when players are coming up with plans or ideas, it can be hard not to instruct them. Me shutting up has brought on some really great character interactions and some goofy plans that ended up working that the party may not have tried if I kept "um actually"-ing them.

Please check out Monster Hour if you're looking for more examples; Quinn's a master DM in terms of taking throwaway comments and tentative ideas put forward by his players and making them feel very integral and important to the campaign. The first campaign ends with several of the players voluntarily nerfing themselves because they know Quinn will do something cool with it, and then for the second campaign Quinn went out of his way to make a new system and setting that actively seeks out those motes of inspiration.

Some things I like to do as a DM is that I describe the environment and what potential dangers there are and when my player enter a fight maybe something that's happening before the fight could have a huge affect on it as well. For example let's say a city is under attack and the players are fighting an enemy, but thanks to catapults in the distance it causes some stones or boulders to fall. That way the player could possibly avoid the falling rock so they don't take damage or possibly use it for their advantage. Like to crush an enemy or for shelter and I do this stuff while in combat at random times just to see how things go.

great video, but it would be really helpful to see examples of the kinds of things you're talking about from these DMs!

Great video. It would be nice to see some examples of Aabria's technique... I'm not sure I understand what she's specifically doing.

I really love your use of the timer, as someone who has a tough time paying attention, it kept me in the zone!

When I was a new DM I did the mistake of talking too much. Since then I've learned to shut up, and work on my notes while my players are talking in character.

Sneaky that timer made me keep watching 😂

Good video, I enjoyed seeing your cat.

3:50 When you said "if they don't work out for you, throw them out the window", for a second i thought you were talking about the players 😅 How violent.

Nice video!

I use the slience moments more then people expect, I also give them a 5ish second window when they seem to have gone silence, the reason is pretty simple, sometimes people aren't done talking and the silence is them thinking. When I think flow might need to continue, I describe what other things are doing in the area, they are in a tavern? "the local drunk has just fallen of there stool and they is a round of laughter", they are at an abandoned windmill during a rain storm? "You can hear the creaking of the axis as the rain attempts to force the long forgotten blades to turn". There is setting the scene, then there is making the scene immersive

nothing breaks me out of immersion more than a DM saying "The camera pans down" what fucking camera i am a barbarian with a big stick

Ah, this teleporting cat in the background. 10/10

It would be nice to mention that all examples given have players that know and agree to be on for-profit stream. They are actors, they have to be entertaining, it is great if they don't have to think about it, but you wont allow someone that is just not sure if he is willing to show how entertained he is on your for-profit stream, especially if they get slice of the pie. Those people are motivated to be entertained in a very different way than your average play-for-play's-sake-table is. Also ... most of them are actors or have a career in performing, they will know how to perform / communicate fun and you are likely to believe them xD Nice video, just wanted to point it out :)

I love using silences. Unbearably awkward silences sometimes and it just works. Using Yes and... is a good shout too

On the first tip. One of my favorite battle encounters I ever ran was when my players had a brawl in a fake cafe hiding the secret base they had to get to. The area itself was pretty simple, (I pulled the map online and moved some stuff around lol) but what made the encounter so fun was the place was loaded with secret weapons. Pull out a plant? Frag grenade. Look under a cushion? Full on Assault Rifle. It allowed me to throw a large amount of enemies at the PC's, teach them to use their surroundings, (and how all the homebrew items worked) and all while keeping combat fun and engaging. The best fights will have miniature games inside of the encounter. Think about the teleporting Sheriff in Starstruck, or the portal from ACoF&F. DnD has been optimized to hell in back, the best DM's make encounters less a problem of statblocks and DPS, and more into the strategy which makes tabletop so fun.

great video man! if you do a part 2 id suggest anthony burch from dungeons and daddies (not a bdsm podcast) he does a really great job and writes like a video game bc he wrote for borderlands

wow. just wow. thank you.

I figured out the talk less one by accident. I improvise a lot and don’t plan much, and didn’t have anything to add… then my player just started to fill the silence and talk to each other in game. Was a total lightbulb moment.

Brennan has a way of just rolling with any decision (thats reasonable) and roleplaying his npcs to feel like the players have an impact on them and the games world.

I think also, that box of doom would help you if playing with more sensitive family members as it reframes the pressure of the win/lose scenario back towards 'it's a game'. I just absolutely love the idea. Dice being dicey.

Something I like about Brennan Lee Mulligan that heavily contributes to his skill as a dm, and just sorta a skill dms should have or at least attempt to have is just his improv. Like a lot of Brennan's beloved NPCs, Arthur Aguefort, Plug Strutt, Gilear Faeth, Chungledown Bim (I'msure theres more but ive only watched Fantasy High S1&2, and am partway through Starstuck Oddessy) they're beloved because they regularly outcrazy the party. It both helps the players that there are NPCs who can keep up with the craziness, and are so crazy that they make the feel normal, since regularly in DnD, (at least imo), adventuring partys just feel out of place, due to being at the whims of a higher power. Those NPCs show them, no, you're not crazy, the world is crazy, you're just one part of it

Those moments where I go quite and let the players talk together are my favourite part of DMing. It's like good, I've done my job so they can play.

I really enjoy starting each session with a mini session zero. As a player, I remember going into sessions thinking about what I want to try for the entire week. I like letting the players express something they want to do, whether it be focus more on RP or maybe try out a spell they've thought a lot about. I have a lot of social anxiety, so I prefer to make sure players are getting what they want out of the experience.

I adore Matt Mercer's style. A previous dm i played with really ran the game. Player choice was minimized while he played god, it wasn't fun for anyone but him.

The example of the Wolves in a Cage and Potions on a Table is a tip for making more choices in combat!

These are really great advices, but let's not forget, that we are talking here about show/entertainment Dungeon Masters. Recorded series for streaming-audience and general dnd sessions in your local town are different in many ways.

For my players I describe specific items in scenes for either jokes or to push the story. But it's up to players what to interact with and how.

Awesome video! I would have liked to hear some examples of the cinematic language you talked about from Aabria though - any sources?

There is ONE tip I would give to DMs is this: "Make sure *everyone* has fun. - get to know your table. What do your players want from the session ? What are their personalities ? How do they handle pressure ? - be willing to wrap your story around THEIRS. You all came together for some storytelling - let THEM tell some of the story if they want to. - have a goal and push when you have to. When nothing gets done or the discussion gets into territory you know to be uncomfortable - be there to push the narrative along with an npc or event. It's *never* you vs the players. Its *always* a group of friends enjoying time together.

Thank you!

A parte mais interessante foi o fichário de mapas que ele usou no primeiro exemplo. Vou copiar a idéia com certeza.

I aspire to be half of the dm that Brennan is.

A little tip I found is to make death saves secret between you and the player. That way other players cant just think "oh he succeeeded this round no need to worry about him" because thats metagame-y and there's no way their character would just...not care about an ally being downed.

I had one DM that didn't let talk. We would like pause to just barely process what they said for them to almost immediately start talking again. We had a lot of beginners so we might, when we rarely did speak to each other, struggle to process what to do next and end up taking too long discussing what to do. But... we'd never get to otherwise speak? So it was very very weird.