Get GREAT at DMing FAST! (Warning: it's easy) 

good advice here, not just for DM skills but also for general life improvements!

I really liked the advices. Also, really nice to see the channel getting sponsored, it's a gem that deserves all the recognition. Congratulations!

Great video as always Baron. One tool I've been using to get feedback from players is Stars and Wishes. At the end of every session, the players (myself included) share one thing they liked about the game (Star), and one thing they wish for in a future session (Wish).

Your contents feel a lot different from what other DMing advise RU-vidrs do. Highly analytical and feels you're actually trying to pick out what the problem is. I was intimidated by when I saw the thumbnail for this, but it was well worth it.

Great advice! I just had a session 1 yesterday, and this was an excellent reminder to go back and analyze the feedback I was getting from players.

Not a bad video, I definitely appreciate the advice to make sure to ask players individually about their feelings on how the campaign went. Thanks also for finding a way to make the advice both sound and genuinely based on individual/group playstyles, wasn't sure what to expect from the video but glad I watched it.

Great videos as per usual.

Interesting topic perhaps in the future : Holding an online group together. Tips , ideas , ways to keep attention and excitement between sessions. ?

Great video. The process needed is to game test your adventures before the players complete them....then add this advise.

He is the CEO of the *drum roll please*, Quest Club!!

Excellent as always

Ten thumbs up please :) Thanks for this as I am now running session 5 on my homebrew ... so far no problems but all at level 1, so easy(ish). This video is great advice - I have asked all players your suggested questions ... but will keep asking to make sure I keep on track.

Also, give your players a Safe phrase they can use if your toxic DM microaggressions trigger them. Something appropriate like Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

oh no, i'm 35 seconds in and this is starting to sound like the AGILE dev process. i guess i'm not surprised since i use a lot of my GM skills when running meetings

I really feel the title is misleading. 6 sessions (anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks) is not what most people would consider fast. Speed should not be the focus here, but consistency. A slow but constant improvement will be better than a fast but singular improvement. Great video otherwise, and I do personally check in with my players every couple of sessions and see how they are doing, if they feel like they are missing something etc

When I did this in the past it was the first red flag I noticed with my ex: everyone had more fun without her, including me.

gotta disagree about house rules. i've only seen 1 house rule that was actually about the narrative. most DM house rules are either attempting to make the games less clunky/crunchy, or they're nerfing/banning things they don't like.

Gosh if I had to guess, I'd say you were a software engineer.

This is easy, why does the title say it isn't? You should be encouraging new DMs, not making them nervous.

I like the idea of dscryb but I joined and it’s been so damn disappointing!

Haha, are you applying corporate productivity toolkits to D&D? Brilliant

This is very similar to the instructions given to teachers - I did self-evaluations & got occasional student evaluations when I taught ESL. Also, every teacher gets materials to use in their lessons, but you pick, modify and add to them based on your individual abilities and your students' preferences. DMing is similar to teaching: you have to plan ahead, then improvise in the moment, to have an overarching arc (story/curriculum) that you split into episodes, and to achieve goals while entertaining a group of people. And both are tough, but also very fun!

As always fantastic. TL;DR to DMs. Always. Take. Notes. These are all things that I did unconsciously whilst I was a younger DM though not as organized as you as you had suggested.

Congrats on the sponsorship!

When we started D&D we were three GMs who took turns. There were extensive discussions between the adventurers about what we found good and what we found bad. We were all beginners and had to teach ourselves how to lead. but it was great because we were all really excited about it. I think that's the best way to learn: friends who give you advice. Today - after many years and being the only game master, I actually do it exactly as described. However, in the head without a note. And I can only agree with the tips here! Thank you for the effort!

How dare you associate The Protectorate with "boring"

Very nice video, it reminds me of my experience as lean consultant (what you describe is essentially a PCDA cycle): strangely enough I never thought to apply it to dnd! Super videos, keep up the good work!

This is kinda what I'm going through right now. I'm taking my friends through a series of one-shots wherein I throw a bunch of different things at them. It's really interesting watching what and how they react to certain things. Player feedback is critical, and I want to exclude as much bias as possible, so I made a Google forms survey, but I'll be sure to either sit down with or call up who I can when I can.

Did you write the Subtitles of this video yourself? They are spot on and I found myself reading them throughout the whole video :D

While the process you describe does sound like a good idea, my experience (as both player and DM) has been that players don't generally want to have scrum meetings with the DM about the campaign, or be given homework assignments to fill out.

I try to check in with players on what they like and don't like after sessions 1, 3, 6, 12, 20, 30, then every 10.

Good points... I'm doing this each time our YT session end, sometimes online play has tech issues and we strive to resolve them, and working out our lulls in the session

You are so dapper. Well done sir. 😁 Always good content and advice. Cheers 🍻

Yep in avation they have the debreif where they go over the flight and what whent right and wrong which is like this... Which in all my games I GM I do exactly that which when playing with people I write down events that happened after the Session plan. As I've never been able to take writen notes but am good at mental ones. Which for me I also have to write notes for what parts of my Universal TT wargame/RPG game broke and what I should change or add or take away... But I do have a great group of people who know what they want in a game as they have been playing TT games for dacades... They are all GMs as well. So yeah great video and advice!

With this level of quality and clarity, I feel it almost deserves a publication in a peer-reviewed journal! Great job!

Very interesting video. I am a new fan of your channel, and it is becoming my favourite fast. I feel, unlike other channels, that I can learn something here. I will soon look into becoming a patron. Also, if the Combat was boring... It was probably because it was D&D ;)

Another great video! Love this content so much. Literally been telling everyone about you!

Keep descriptions short and punchy. Use natural language and references your players will get to help visualizations Accept that players will go off the rails Become comfortable being uncomfortable. In other words, improvisation is your friend. Learn the basics of the system like the back of your hand. (Advantage/Disadvantage, AC, hp, initiative, etc). Keep quick reference cards for everything else Simplify NPCs to a look, body language or catch phrase. You don't have to be a trained actor to make them appear different. Players like hand outs. It reduces the notes they need to keep. Learn to be vague. "Seems" and "appears to" generate paranoia and tension. A good poker face is key. Out of combat, I keep the interaction with each player short and move randomly from player to player. This means they never know when they'll be called on and tend to pay more attention. I combat I use basic wooden clothespins on the top of my screen to mark initiative. They have the character names on each side for quick reference. Be open to new ideas from your players. Keep things plausible but heroic. This instills belief but also motivates players to try new things. Watch the time and try to end on either a cliffhanger or a rest period. Knowing how your players are feeling will tell you which is best Know your players. No matter what character they play they'll have key triggers. Know when to push those buttons and when to back off. I prefer "theater of the mind" for everything but combat. For combat I bring out minis. That tends to remove confusion and reduces arguments. Neither are the villains perfectly telepathic nor moronic. (Unless their descriptions say so). That means you should have them behave accordingly. Plausibility is everything. If a rule applies to the players, it applies to the monsters. I roll openly. Many roll behind the screen. Both are valid. Call players by their character names at the table. It builds immersion. Unless they have digital sheets, remove devices from the table. I allow those with kids, spouses, or "on call" to keep their devices.

You're style is similiar to the Magic the Gathering Professor from Tolarian Community College, check it out 😉. Awesome and well thought approaches on both awesome games 👍. Greetings from Germany 😁

So your clickbait video advice boils down to trial and error and consistent review off one's own performance. The fact of the matter is, that most people that stick with DM'ing end up doing this to some degree as they hone their skills. They just don't fill out paperwork and lengthy player interviews to that effect. Oh and while this might be an easy way to find ways to improve, is it really that fast? Reviewing 6-8 sessions worth of "reviews" for broad patterns requires at minimum a months' worth of work and at most two months! Is that really fast?

I like to ask my players every so often if there was anything they liked or disliked after random sessions. Also, I'd like to thank RU-vid for alerting me to the existence of this video! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

You're a breath of fresh air in a GM how to space dominated by complaining about "bad wrong ways" to play the game without much substance to work off for your own games.

This is one of the most helpful DnD videos on youtube. I shall do this now and forevermore.

Plan, Do, Check, Action - simple framework for exactly this.

Pretty close to the OODA loop. That's what I use to judge my DMing skills

Delivering worksheets for personal improvement? Baron's more of a professor than The Professor 😋

I do something similar with my session review videos, though I haven't reviewed them en masse to look for trends. 👍

Great tips! Sending to my new DM friends and will keep in mind for my own future games!

Nice! I will surely try out your advice! If you are looking for topics for your videos, here's one: how to deal with DM bloodlust :D I have this problem, as I always make my encounters tough as hell and can't feel satisfaction if at least one of the PCs isn't dropped to 0HP during combat :(

Noted, wait no... Dually noted. Journaling is great.

Excellent video! The finesse and intent you display with these discussions make me want to try a game at your table! I'm getting ready to DM again after half a year without action and this advice gives me peace of mind and enthusiasm in equal parts!

Good points I try to find out what my players like and dislike Notes are important too

Was that a Menoth light jack early in the video?

I can't stand the presentation. If I want a guy in a suit keeping his calculated hand movements obnoxiously visible, I'll buy a car.

I couldn't find a way to contact you on itch, but you have "Masterpiece" misspelled as "Masterpeice" on your main itch page.

Let the computers do what humans can't.

Thank you, Statuesque Noble.

My biggest challenge is setting up goals for npcs and factions. When I do retrospective, it is the lack of consistency and coherence of their actions. Sometimes I forget to write down plot points so since I did not writing motivations, it even changes their behavior from session to session. Could we have a video on consistent plot making and/or npc motivations? On side note, it would be great if we got less DND/fantasy content and more of others. Thanks

It's funny that you show a Menoth Warjack and saying combat is boring.

I played the theme song as a piano duet in college. I feel bad because I can't remember what it is or who was the composer.

great video! i'll use your advices + you remind me of the stuart little kid

Great images in this one haha

Deliberate practice?

i was literally just talking about this on NSR the other day

Great vid keep it up

already 25k subs. congrats! Great video as always. I just started taking notes of my players preferences (my observations about them, and their own specific call outs) for future adventure building and I think I might implement this retrospective system, as I had noticed that some sessions are spectacular, while others feel lethargic and boring, but I've never actually put down on paper (or notepad) why they went so well/poorly. Might write down a few things regardless, even though my memory of the events are mostly faded, heh. Thanks again.

I'd like to see video of Baron de Ropp's own game.

Excellently done

This also works as a corporate sales and marketing seminar.

You flashed the first printing of the 2nd edition DMG, but the second printing is on your shelf. Is that just because it looks better on camera, or another reason ? Also great advice, wish I had it 30 years ago. Learned it from the worst teacher, trial and error. Truly noble of you to gift young DMs with this. /salute .

thank you!

Jesus you move your hands a lot. But also good video man

Un6

A great point. All the content on RU-vid can help you, but you are the only one who knows your players. If they are having fun, you win. Getting them to tell you exactly what they do and don't like is difficult. Spending time looking at your own work helps because you can bring those specific issues/topics to the players and ask them. They may love the game you lay awake at night and stress over. Thanks.

more fantastic info man as always! idea: maybe an episode on the easiest ways/ games for complete noobs to jump straight into tabletop and dm a game for their friends even when none of them have ever played a similar game.

P

I always really enjoy your abstraction of ideas and a more meta approach. Also very much enjoyed the picture of the Blood of Martyrs from Warmachine

Cha'alt!

As always. Good stuff. Nuff said 😅

Please notice: this is general life advice. Valuable in every life situation ☺

Great video. It comes at a convenient time as I just finished running a campaign and intend on starting a new one soon. Thanks for the advice :)

This channel is going places with these great quality videos that are perfectly deep and analytical yet not bloated and kept on point.

100% agree, this is top tier DM'ing advice.

Good job as always. Keep up the great content!

I do love the idea of self analysis over the course of 6+ sessions. My issue is that I am spent after a night of 4-5 hours of gaming and don't seem to have the energy for session note taking let alone analysis. Then again, I do think it is time to up my game ;)

Hi baron, do you take requests? I would love a video on foreshadowing. When the party are choosing the east or west corridor they should have information to make that choice. What techniques can you use to foreshadow what is down each corridor? It’s something i haven’t considered before

I think the only thing I would add is giving a cool down period. If you ask right away you might not get a good picture at the overall impression of the session and instead might just get hot takes that dissipate between sessions.

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What's with the random art and photos during this one?

Love the videos

Awesome!

Is it difficult to hold that smile at the end for several seconds while the music plays out? XD

Was that a low-key dig at Warmachine or Iron Kingdoms I saw there?

These are very good suggestions. Each group is different and this allows you to personalize your game mastery to the group.

Since you mentioned it, I would be curious what you have to say about Cogent. Apart from the people involved with it's development I've seen no one talk about it. One core feature - the reactionary combat - sounds like a cool concept, but I have yet to see a good showcase of it in action. I saw bits and glimpses on their Table Top channel, but so far found nothing substantial.

I don't think this guy is a real baron.