GREAT GM: Storytelling within your RPG Game - Great Game Master Tips - GM Tips 

Peter change slipped on a banana causing him to end up in front of an on coming pink mini van. Roll for dexterity

What you’re doing is actually incredible - it’s basically motivational interviewing (a strategy health professionals use to inspire lifestyle change) but directed and adjusted in a fashion to suit roleplay. Incredible approach 🙏🏻

7:12 out of context greatness.

3:09 Got it. Peter Chang is a mini van driver. He has been at this job for years and hasn't been taking good care of his van. The colour has faded from red to pink and is in poor condition. During work he takes regular breaks since if you drive tired you could cause an accident. During these breaks he eats a banana.

Peter Chang is in a lot of distress, because there is a pregnant banana giving birth in his pink mini-van and he must rush to the fruit hospital IMMEDIATELY.

I starting playing D&D for the first time a few months ago. I was absolutely hooked. I started scratching out all the details of my character and really looked forward to playing him in our adventure. I started thinking about mastering my own game for some friends. As you can imagine I have a lot to learn. I have found these videos extremely helpful. Thank you for your lectures! I will continue to watch and take notes!

I've been having a lot of anxiety over feeling I'm not a very good DM. My brother recommended this channel to me and even this one video has made me feel like I'm not doing as bad as I think, but still feel inspired to do even better.

Lots of years have passed since I have found you, looking to expand my knowledge as a GM and the fruits of my labor have ripened. I am so appreciative of you Guy, and my many players I have that love my games all appreciate you as well. I hope you're doing well, I hope to hear from you again one of these days :D

Iw watch nearly all things on how to be a better GM/DM and you 2 videos have helped me more then all others. Keep on good work.

Subscribed. Came to this because a friend often asks me about how to be a better game master and - while I have my own thoughts as well - this video is a really excellent entry point for the subject. These are all approaches that I have used in my own games ever since a player first told me (at the tender age of 16) that my games were exciting but felt like cut scenes, resolving me to change everything I did, and they absolutely work. Glad to see them expressed here as well. Sure enough, this video is ripe with information to help a game master improve. Also, your voice is as smooth as vanilla pudding. So good.

I have to admit as well that, the best things about post-session discussions are when the players keep talking about what they did and what amazing thing happened during the week leading up to the next session, and when they planned ahead about what their char is going to do the next session...makes my cold, dark, helfire GM heart smile...and chuckle with incessant, death foreshadowing...*cough* cough* I mean uplifting glee :)

I've always struggled with Freeform weaving, when it's good, the party skips over the main quest entirely, when it sucks it feels like a railroad, I can never find a balance.

Excellent video! I really appreciate how you broke imagination down into four activities that you can practice: research, experience, inspiration, and free form association.

I really enjoyed this video, looking forward to watching those that follow (I purposefully went to the oldest available at the time), but I do have one caveat I'd like to offer on the subject of having fun. I would argue that it isn't the GM/DM's job to ensure everyone is having fun, merely that they ensure the atmosphere allows for it. It could be a discussion on semantics, but it really is a matter of the players to decide to have fun. I say that because if someone arrives at the session after a horrid day at work or a big fight with their significant other or family member, it's not within the GM/DM's power to change their attitude at that point, merely to offer a change of attitude within the purview of the game. (If that makes sense. It's after midnight and I fear I'm not being very clear.)

"3 things everyone can do" Aphantasiacs started sweating profusely when you talked about imagining senses such as smells or visualizing a troll in a cave lol

Thanks for this I’m only 12 but me and my friends play RPGs and I am always the GM

Hey, I'm not only a new GM but new to dnd all together. Your videos have really helped me out. Currently running a campaign with 7 players and its going great. Thanks a bunch :-)

Absolutely Brilliant! I am about to adventure on GMing my first campaign. I have been researching my upcoming role for sometime, and your channel has become a wonderful avenue for me. Many thanks, Good Sir!

Hallo there, i am a new gm for a Group of People and just wanted to Tell you that your youtubechannel has been a great resource and helped me a lot in terms of becoming a good dm/gm (maybe someday even a great one we'll see ) so thank you:D

I came to your page via Cody @ Taking 20. with only 1 video watch i can see instantly why you rank among his favorites. Add to that your creative writing back ground and I cannot wait for more. I have been the primary GM for most of my 30 years of gaming and while I am currently running a good game with Great players and a few newbies, I want to to be better than I have been in the past. thus I am researching GMing. Thanks for being part of the process.

I've been a DM for over 15 years, and I can say this is some excellent advice.

This seems like some super solid advice. Thanks for sharing!

Invaluable advice! It never occurred to me to ask my players questions, but after trying it out, I do think it helps everyone feel more involved and indeed, satisfied.

HOW ON EARTH can you say that 7:13 and not burst out laughing??

Thanks for this. In my head I created a world where the undead and vampires were rising up to try to take back the human cities, and my group would be introduced to each other during an invasion of the capital human city. But one of my players said his character was a former slave and had a vendetta against slave owners, he seemed really excited by his backstory. Now initially I thought it had no place in my world, but instead of telling him no, I adjusted my world a little bit to include a few small colonies/cities where slavery was still allowed, but the capital city outlaws it, so that he could develop his character.

I just DM'd my first session of DMing D&D tonight. Finally, I can use your tips about being a great GM!

Huge thumbs up! I recommend this channel to any game master, veteran or beginner! You have been such an immense source of inspiration. I have been a player for a few years now and recently decided to master my own rpg with some friends. I watched a few of your videos and the tips and info you give really are awesome! They helped me create an elaborate and coherent story for my players. We had our first session last week. At the end, I asked them how they thought it had went (one of your tips! ;) ). They all said that it went great and that they had really enjoyed themselves and couldn't wait for the next session! One of my players in particular is an experienced games' master himself so I was particularly pleased when he said that the plot seemed rich and the story telling really made the whole adventure come to life! I was so happy ; I think the most important thing is that the player have fun, and to see them like that made me feel like I had achieved my goal! Thumbs up for all your precious advice! I can't wait for your next videos!

I'm sooo happy I found this video, thanks for working to help the folks that struggle with creating thinking.

Fantastic video! Thank you for giving a name to free form association. Much easier to explain my dm style now.

Your videos are really good and as a new GM are helping me with lots of ideas :) so cheers, keep up the good work

You feel so laid back in this one, I don't know, it feels much more relaxed and approachable and less intense, don't get me wrong, I love your new stuff but this is pretty good.

I am thrilled that I found your channel! I am about to start playing Cyberpunk 2020 with my tabletop group but it's going to be my first time as a GM and while I'm a little nervous I'm not as bad as I was after watching your channel!

Awesome tips! Thanks I'm going to enjoy your videos.

Greetings from Greece. You shared some really helpuf info here mate. Thanks for sharing it with us. :)

I'm soon going to be a GM with a group of newer players and this is gold! Thank you so much for the wonderful tips AND the giant banana.

I think "Insert the giant banana" is the best out of context thing I've ever heard... I'm so mature

your content is unique and substantive. thank you for existing. freeform association is amazing as a concept.

Free form association. Brilliant idea!

Thanks for the content man 🙏

Thank you so much! I've been feeling like I failed my players recently but I couldn't figure out why. I took a character's backstory from them (an action possible to take in Apocalypse World). I have plans for it and all but I didn't even realize the actions they were taken were in an attempt to get a plot hook towards getting it back, and instead of feeling involved they felt ignored, or worse singled out. I'm going to rectify this as soon as possible. I don't want any of my players not having fun like that again and I'm so glad you got me to realize how I made a mistake.

Liked and subscribed! Great insight.

Some really nice insight in there thanks for that

Great video. Good examples, simple soothing voice with no cliche phrases or cheesy photos and sounds effects. You found the focus, and stuck with it. I watched this and felt respected, and had the feeling of talking to a friend. Compared to being a faceless person on the internet who gets bored easy and must be entertained. Easy sub and like.

Peter Chang was driving to work in his Subaru cross trek. He is running a little late so for lunch he just grabbed the left over German food from the night before. While driving someone throws a banana peel out their window and peters car hits it. Nothing happens of course but Peter does start to think about the situation and gets distracted enough to plough into a pink minivan. A mother and her nine year old son are rushed to the hospital with serious injuries but within a couple days they return home mostly recovered. Years later the boy who is now a man is still very cautious on the road never able to forget that day. Peters grave rarely gets any visitors.

Simple tips. I try to make things quite similar to that and I agree!

These videos are so good, you deserve more subs!

Great video :) Giant banana idea is great!

About to GM my first game of Edge of the Empire. Thanks for all of this. liked and subbed.

Great stuff here! I would also like to add that freeform is another great way to keep people included in your main story.

Wonderful video with some very interesting info. My friend has recently learned the hard way on trying to make a structured story for his players, so I'll have to link him here. Thanks again, great stuff. Can't wait to see more!

Wonderful video, thank you!

Very good video. You are a Smarvilous teacher :)

Excellent. It would be great if you could add summaries in the comments section, so I can easily refer back to this (I hate having all sorts of notes in my computer filesystem, as I never consult them): *Imagination* Research Use your experiences Store/take note of any moments of inspiration (which can strike at any moment) Free association (a kind of practice exercise) *Ask questions of your players* What does your character want to do? Why does your character want to do this? *Backstory* Explore backstory for the characters (they explore it by discussing it with you, the GM)

A note on character backstory: one thing that I do is my friends are rather clueless when making a backstory so I help them and plant seeds and one thing I do is I do one shots that tell the most important event in their backstory so that way they get a clearer picture of what they want their backstory to be and the experience is more visceral and real than just writing the backstory down.

you need like 50k more subscribers

Dude your the best thoguh i left quite a lot of comments and you took the time to respond to them all

This became my favorite youtube channel with this video. :) I have a question though, regarding backstory. You mention that we should help our players create backstories by "asking questions". What questions should one ask? I have this problem, and I try to ask questions like "What are your characters dreams?", which is fine in creative writing, but when Game Mastering and dealing with "normies", what should one ask?

Your videos are really, really good, please continue making them! Furthermore, may I suggest returning to character creation and backstory, like you mentioned at 6:10 or so? I'm really enjoying these!

Oh! Loved this

Great video! ^^

Dear lord this is put so well.

Insert a giant banana... a cobra dragon who owns a massive city and has a giant throne made of gold, but he is a good and friendly cobra dragon who likes riddles and jokes like a copper dragon and also likes conversations to... I believe that’s what a copper dragon likes. Basically a cobra dragon with the manipulative power of the cobra dragon but the friendliness of a copper dragon because this is my world and a red dragon doesn’t always have to be a primal evil chaotic force of destruction.

My issue is not being low on imagination.. the issue is the chaos.

It's a shame there aren't more of these!

Great advice. I don't agree with all of it, but very solid overall!

Amen, brother!! PREACH!

Hey all, Massive thanks to everyone who got us to over a 1000 views! Secondly tomorrow From the Cave will be posting up three more video's so watch out for that. Included is a review of the new DND release, and how it helps you to tell an even better story!

Holy shit, this is great! I'm certainly going to use this next time my players come around. Subbed instantly. /Dude with 6 months of GM experience

Great vid, thanks

Thank you

Awww 1st videoo ♥️

This is the video I use to introduce people to the channel.

Such solid advice. Wow!

Been absorbing a lot of Lazy DM tips from Sly Flourish. This is the missing glue. He says to make lists and short descriptions or elements you may use each session But you have to hone your freeform association chops to pull that together in the moment

This actually helped alot

Well I think you are a great story teller, that is a reason!

Rory´s story cubes are awesome for free form association!!

Great GM, thanks for the video, very helpful as all your content. I remember watching a video you made on vocal acting and changing voices that I found amazing but I cannot find now, can you direct me to which one is it? Thanks

Subscribed at 3:25 Excellent video!

Very nice video ! Have my sub!

Oh, wow I actually feel weird to have something to contribute but in that free form association section I though of a game I had made for myself and basically it was to try to link two random object in the longest chain you could without stopping to think. Take ice cream and imperial china, and just start by associating something with ice cream ( like ice cream is cold, ice is cold), and something with that thing you associated with ice cream (like ice is found in arctic regions), and so on until you end up at imperial china, and the more you do this the more you'll notice loops you end up in and the way you think and how to avoid, or change, those and it's really good for training your brain to think on the fly.

All this value, not charging a penny, nice guy.

I as a player do backstory the other way around. I try to tailor my _character_ to whatever I imagine _the DM_ has planned, or barring that, write a character that shouldn't interfere too much.

Very cool video, I learned a lot. Yet one question is hitting my mind. Everytime i do backstory with my players (I play mostly Exalted where the Backstory is played in solo session) I Ask them question and give them example like : "Ok so where their any thaumatic event in your character's childhood" "Hmmmm" "Like for example, your parent go murdered in front of you" 9 times out of 10 they answer : "Ho yeah like you said" And i'm like "mehhhhh"

i do have a tip for keeping your playes active i dont know if you do it or not, its usaly easier to do if you know your players but one thing i always do is brig snacks. i think it helps alot!

Wow this was such a helpful video!

That's damn good advice presented memorably. And as you're a lecturer on creative writing, I assume you can direct me toward some of your own fiction?

i also think it would be pretty cool if you could make a video on how to make props or something i have three small ones which is two potion shaped bottles one the traditional fat rount one and then another long kind of one that i really like and i filled them with water and added dye and they have cool cork stoppers for lids.(i bought them at michals for $1.56!) and the other is a plasma ball i use as like a sorcery orb or something.

*Cracks knuckles* Ok, hopped around at random and watched campaign creation recent stuff, time to do a proper archive run. 520 videos. Dang.

Peter Chang was on the run... He ducked behind a musty half-full communal trash bin, tucked in an alleyway, and peeked around the blue steel obstruction. A pink minivan with fully tinted windows drove slowly by. He held his breath and ducked into the shadow as it slowed. He heard a door open, then close... He didn't know what to do, his heart thumped in his ears like death drums as the clicking sound of hard sole shoes against pavement slowly echoed in the tiny alleyway. Darkness engulfed him, he closed his eyes and held his breath, hoping to not be found. The steps sounded like they were in front of him. He huddled as close to the wall and trash as he could, hoping the shadows cloaked him from his pursuers gaze. He heard the footsteps halt... half expecting it to be the last sound he will hear. "Hey buddy... you left this." his pursuer said and grabbed his wrist, wrenching something into his hand. His mind racing as to what unspeakable device was placed there. A grenade? A venomous snake? The sound of hard-soled shoes clicked and fell away, the car door closed, and the engine doppler out of earshot. All that was left was himself, and whatever fate put into his hand. A yellow banana.

Yes, sensei... I shall use this new knowledge to insert a giant banana into my players.

"they are gonna think youre a great GM" Boy are they gonna be surprised!

you used to talk few times faster than you do now you are also far more theatrical and relaxed in the more recent vids!

oml you are amazing

The majority of my experience comes from roleplaying in MMOs. I've spent, I think, 10 years of my life playing roleplaying games 4 to 5 hours a day and actively roleplaying my character, always coming up with new and strange things to put in front of my fellow players and tickle a new, evocative response out of them.

I DM'ed for a group I know and no matter what I did, they just never got into it like I expected. They said they enjoyed it and that they wanted to keep playing, but to me a lot of the time it just felt like it's something they had to do instead of what they wanted to do. I tried so many different things to try and change their attitude, but nothing ever worked and they just carried on going with the motions instead of getting fully into it.

cheers for the video. You touched on players reluctant to do backstory... what about those who view sitting down to talk about backstory as badwrongfun? I know a player like that and i'm wondering if i could handle him better?

Peter Chang was the great hero who trow the first banana to the pink mini-van of the president-dictator's son, and the one who inspired this great revolution against tyranny: The Revolution of bananas.

Peter Chang is an old master martial artist of Dragon Kung Fu. He lives in an old pink minivan and can repower his chi by eating large quantities of bananas.

Hey so I don’t know if you’ll read this, but I have a bit of a dilemma. My GM, who is my twin brother has this weird thing with me that he doesn’t like to take information from me. So he’s very new to GMing, and he doesn’t know the rules very well, or understand the numbers. Now that can all come with experience but where the problem lies is that, he doesn’t care to learn them. It’s one thing to rules lawyer but it’s another to just ignore them entirely, and he makes up house rules for almost everything, and nearly every time they favor the NPC’s. This is a particularly big problem because we’re playing through Mines of Phandelver right now and we only have a group of 3 PC’s, and he’s not scaling the encounters, for which I have him a tool to do so should the need arise because the unaltered version is for 5-6 players. So we’re getting the shit kicked out of us, and he’s making house rules that favor the enemies as we go, (for example that my green flame blade will only hit enemies standing to the left or right of the enemies instead of just within 5’ as the real rule states) making it way less useful. I don’t know what to do, and I’ve brought it up twice already. Does anyone know what I can do? Or maybe if you know the module well enough is there something I could do to get enough of an edge for my party to push through? It’s all of their first experiences with D&D and it feels awful.