How to Describe and Narrate | D&D | TTRPG | Web DM 

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some notes 1. short evocative descriptions 2. most eye catching detail first 3. dimensions of the room 4. successes should be meaningful 5. failures shouldn’t make them hate themselves 6. colorful and consistent (take notes) 7. tell a narrative 8. don’t take player agency 9. don’t provide definitive advice 10. end with a question 11. avoid rambling/trivia/fluff 12. use all the senses

As a new DM this is PERFECTION! Well done and thanks!

Super super useful as always. Hearing that the best advice is to read when I detest reading makes me sad though. Not because it's wrong, I know it's the best advice but I feel like it's an uphill battle now when I'm already struggling to get off the ground with DMing. I wish I enjoyed reading.

It took me way too long to realize that Web DM was a play on Web MD 🤦‍♂️

When describing extemporaneously at the table, I like to stick to three sentences of description and count them off on my fingers. It forces me to be pithy and impactful while not droning on too long. In preps notes, it's trinities all the way down: three senses engaged, three objects of note in a room, three characteristics for each item.

In combat i prefer to narrate in between rounds rather than on specific turns. I don't know what a miss or a hit really means narratively until Ive seen the context of the round

"Your blow meets the shield of the enemy paladin as she raises it just in time to ward off your sword" - dungeons & dragons "Your barbarian Balthor, scourge of the north, accidentally throws his hammer on the backswing and then trips on a banana peel, hurting his rear in the process and letting out a loud 'whoopsie-daisy' as he falls" - clowns & carnivals

There's always room to improve as a DM. Love the video, guys.

Yay!! Such an important skill for DM’s! I really feel like there is just not enough writing about this in the WOTC products. As Iroh says “It is all about the fundamentals!”

"This is why history books written by journalists are better than history books written by historians. Much to the chagrin of historians." Love it XD

I love that every time I'm having an issue like feel like I'm lacking in something web DM immediately comes out with a video of the day I'm thinking of the problem it's just so nicely timed

Love DM basics. Once you run for a while you can overlook basic techniques in favor of high minded concepts.

I want to offer a counter argument to the talk about describing misses and failures. That being that it’s perfectly sensible. From a sense of realism, baseball, the people in the MLB are some of the best baseball players on earth and yet they fuck up all the time because baseball is a hard game. So if a batter can miss a pitch by a mile or an outfielder and just utterly fail to catch a ball then in that case it’s completely reasonable that a martial dnd character would just wiff sometimes. Moreover I personally would think a ahem where everything is super serious and dire and every struggle is presented as the very realistic struggle as two people fight for their lives. Well that sounds boring to me. You’d be hard pressed to find an action movie released in the last 30 years that didn’t have some comedy in it. Because you can easily fall into the trappings of melodrama. Now I can understand that if every time your 13th level fighter misses an attack they hit themselves in the head with their own frying pan that might be a bit frustrating. But you can ride that line. Having some situations of failure or success be light hearted and funny while also presenting all people involved as being competent.

If their AC is 18 and you roll 18, you do hit.

The describing failure part was especially relevant. Honestly I've seen that super-annoying slapstick fumble mentality even in many experienced DMs.

In the poor light of the cave, cast in shimmers from your torches, your thief sees endless riches... Gems, Coins, Goblets and Chests, the thief wonders at the completion of their life goal, no longer would they have to deprive others, who would go without for them to get by, no longer would they have to contend with the law, the thief could finally know rest... The rest of the party only saw the Huge, Red, DRAGON! :D

Had dms read full on paragraphs from wiki pages. Talk about some box text.

I was literally gonna ask you guys to make this video. Just started DMing for the first time and I know all the rules but struggle with narrative and descriptions. You guys rock!

Web DM! Love Wednesdays.

This will be a chunky hour and ten minutes of pure gold I presume

The comment about every room being a rectangle, reminds me of the old Bungie rip that FPS games are mainly rooms filled with crates and crate-shaped objects.

I've only been DMing for a year, and THIS is what I feel I've struggled with most! I can't wait to implement some of what I've learned from you guys in this video!

I've watched a lot of GM content from various sources. This hour may be the single best collection I've ever heard. It's got so many specifics and covers so many use-cases that I've run into as a GM. It is practical, e.g. Pruitt pulling out his sticky-notes or talking about having a list of colour-words. It is also remarkably comprehensive, covering ways to prep, handling consistency, and even handling different players and maintaining tone. This video is a highlight reel of great, *usable* advice! Thanks!

Would you guys be able to make a show on group character creation. I can’t seem to find any videos on it just people referencing it. My group keeps making ideas/whole backstories even before I know what my campaign is about is that ok or should they make one during session 0? If so how do I tell my players that?

It's always really encouraging when I see my own beliefs about writing echoed by the pros. ^^ General to specific, description with a purpose, all that good stuff... To me, aimless "filler" descriptions are such a big pitfall for amateur writers.

This was SUPER educational for a DM that has never had an actual DM run a game for them and I'm just going off what I see on streams. THANKS!

Loved how you talked about describing misses. I always think about the Obi-Wan v. Anakin battle in ROTS. Epic confrontation where every attack "misses" except for the final blows.

This video is going to be so helpful, thank you!!!

Pruitt: "okay jim. As we...." Me: "PROOCEEEAAD TO GIVE YOU WHAT YOU NEEEED"

First Time Dm and just this video has opened my eyes to more better scenes

An article by the blogger, The Angry DM, revolutionized how I approach narration. A lot of the information presented in this video is along the same lines as the article. Also, combat narrative is something that I think suffers in newer editions. In AD&D et al, players described their intended actions before initiative is rolled. When combat begins, the DM weaves a narrative using the actions announced by the players. This speeds up combat and makes it so much more cinematic. Great video as always.

Cursed thumbnail

Your quick mention of dungeon crawls and random tables and Cypher System a little while after just kept making me think of how much I love the Numenera Ruin Mapping Engine from Jade Colossus

i was watching a group play and the dm let the players describe the killing blow on the last creature of combat (or the main enemy if that dies before the rest)

love your videos guys!

Just in time for lunch!

I enjoy all your guys' stuff, but this one takes the cake. Such great information. Narrating is one of my favorite parts of DMing so this was super helpful.

Wait, what? You have to exceed the ac, not just meet it.?

I would love to see a video about how to manage your mental state when going through a session as a dm but also a player. I often struggle with feeling too personally attacked when players act negatively towards an idea and confidence dwindles

I definitively feel like a lot of adventure writers could use some help in understanding physical dimensions... Running Wave Echo Cave in Lost Mines of Phandelver for my group soon, and somehow these guys want me hide a Large sized ooze inside a 5x6 passage. I know the ooze can squeeze in there, but how in the world am I supposed to **HIDE** it there?

I LOVE the idea of the super-near misses being a superficial wound like a slash to the cheek or a bruised lip. As a pretty new DM, I had never thought of that but will absolutely implement it next game. (Whenever that is.)

I really like these super long discussion videos 45 minutes or longer thats the good stuff

I don't know why exactly, but I've made a bunch of D&D characters that are trained as cartographers; even if it never comes up in the game.

I don't dm a lot, but the thing everyone remembers in my sessions is the detail (and attention there to.) From my experience, stick with common words. And don't explain anything in a way you aren't familiar with. I.e. Unless you know engineering, don't try breaking down mechanical plot points.

Have you all done a video about Rime of the Frostmaiden?

Love the videos you two; narrating is an essential skill as a DM and listening to you both has given me insight as to how I can improve my own craft. Keep it up!

Pruitt's purple psionic eye is freaking me out!

I would add... 54:24 in... what if you let the players describe their fails, maybe the epic misses... ask, "How do you want to fail this?" "How do you want to NOT do this?"

Great video. So much to glean. One of the top things I'll be taking away from it: Giving better descriptions of failure.

Think of DBZ: 99% of the attacks are "misses", but it's a high-octane exchange of blocks and counter-attacks... and yelling

Keep descriptions pithy. Describe: •Sounds •Touch, Smell, or Taste •Sights

As a player, I very much do a quick (emphasis on quick) description of my characters action in combat and let the DM describe the outcome thereof ("I charge toward the closest Kobold and make a swift strike toward its throat" then roll and let the DM describe the outcome.) It works well. Also, loved the failure description points!

These are reasons why i don't use "you miss" or "you hit" on the result of a roll. AC isnt like, an imaginary force around someone that keeps swords and missiles away. You can swing a sword and miss the ac target and maybe the enemy has parried your blade, or hell, maybe you did hit him! At an angle where your blade just skimmed the enemies armor. I look at AC as whether or not the intent of attack actually did damage

9:20 - I switched over to 5 color mana paradigm instead of 8 schools and the visuals of revealing what type of magic is being used by color description is so much more intuitive and rich compared to the 8 schools that don't have any real thematic visual consistency. 5 color is a great example of the rules reinforcing aesthetic. Great video!

i don't know anything about sound tech. but that mic sounds like it's inside of jim's mouth and is picking up every wet click and smack. ugh.

When you said random tables my brain literally went to " You're in a room, there are random tables scattered about in no particular order."

Pruitt seems to be affected by an enlarge spell in this video. Slight scale issue detected. Did I pass my investigation to discern an illusion effect? I totally agree that vocabulary is the paintbrush of the DM, words make things real, and interesting words make things live.

One of the most useful videos for me. Thank you for making my table a little better!

A miss of 9 or lower indicates not striking at all, while a miss of 10 or more has hit their armor or shield.

I like saying “map north”, “map east”, et cetera for player orientation -

I love that when Pruitt is sitting still the top of that extremely sharp tower in the backdrop makes it look like Alfalfa all grown up had a midlife crisis and decided to leave the Rascals to become a monarch of the professional nerds. I’m there for it, for sure. 🤘

I'm still thinking about your suggestion to reveal the big bad right away, since I've historically done the opposite. I find it useful to set the scene, if you will, to better give the players the ambience as a part of the reveal. Dunno gotta think about that more.

What I hate is when my character keep failing knowledge checks regarding things within their wheel house.

What i like is you guys keep your focus but insure your points are not JUST dnd. Warhammer Fantasy is my journey this year im starting running in february and these videos, despite being targeted to Dnd primarily there is a lot worth noting for other games and systems too. Like so damn much. I appreciate that.

Thanks for this video, I've been searching for some good advice on describing. It'd be great to see you guys describe some scenes/actions etc. using the great guidelines you put out there!

With the "describe the monster/danger first" thing I'm a little conflicted. Another standpoint was from the DM Lair, where he argued that you should explain the room first, then the monster, because otherwise you'd explain the room while the Players don't care about it at that moment.

If my players keep missing attacks against an intelligent opponent, I'll have the enemy grow more and more cocky, lowering their AC as they start taunting the players

You guys have the best dnd channel on RU-vid hands down! Can’t begin to describe how much you’ve helped me fall in love with this hobby. Jim Davis and Jonathan Pruitt, you are the the true heroes of my campaign. Also you are gods in my campaign... had to find a way to pay homage somehow.

Never been this early before! I’m super excited for this one!

Mathew Mercer once mentioned his aptitude for describing scenes comes from reading books. This really stuck with me.

When my players pick up and run with something that is nothing... that's the fun part.

Just want to say I love the longer format you've seemed to adopt lately! Great channel!

Might be the deepest vid y'all have ever done. And that ain't no shade on your body of work

Really helpful video, as someone who is new to DMing, I appreciate the tips and experience you've shared!

I looked at my wife with foul intent when you said, "touch it, push that button."

Great stuff. Thankfully I'm doing well on the combat front. I'll start breaking my rooms down into 3 sentences. Easy but can do a lot

We miss you Pruitt!

I ask my players to describe how they messed up or succeeded beyond any expectation on critical rolls. "You are a smooth-talking, eloquent and confident bard. What did you do that made this old priest instantly realize you were bullshitting her?" Or "This Nat1 would ruin the group Stealth check if Lisa hasn't rolled a Nat20. Can the two of you tell me what that near disaster was and how you got out of it?"

Quick note as I believe it was incorrectly stated in this (3 year old) video, in 5e your attack hits if your attack roll equals or exceeds the target's AC. That being said, I love Web DM! My go to background D&D info videos. In the car, on the go, while drawing or doing DM prep, they're absolute the best DMs to listen to. Hopefully they return to RU-vid some day.

I thought it was "if it meets, it beats" when it comes to AC?

Best piece of advice here imho is describing missed attacks. Incorporating how much you miss a targer's AC for instance and instead of saying "you whiff your attack", saying "he barely parries your attack, you can see he is also very skilled"

NOPE...If Immersion costs more than continued play to become a negative...Then the game has failed providing what is necessary, Immersion in Roleplay itself. Time for a new RPG... PS The narrating and descriptive roleplay video admitting that the Roleplaying Game is failing with the Roleplay because of the real rules...Yep...

You know from a few comments in the past that Jim has made in the past and in this video him saying "keep kayfabe alive" unless kayfabe is also used elsewhere I'm wondering if Jim is a big pro wrestling fan

Keep that TONE. If you want a serious game, be wary of silly NPCs. When describing, VERBS are more important than ADJECTIVES. Seems weird, but it's true.

Thinking about misses and working those into the narrative, which is a sensitive subject. Back to 3.0, there was this idea of Touch AC vs AC. Sometimes you didn't even touch them, because you rolled under a 10 and they're in chain mail with no dex bonus. That's a straight up miss. Sometimes you rolled a 16 but their AC is 17 because they have a shield, and armor. Your sword hacked right into their shield and was deflected. This creates a sliding scale where you can narrate how close the hit is changes the description if you want. I think it's a little bit better than exactly telling your players the AC, and it helps build up your baddies (or the players) to remind them that their character's equipment matters. It's not "hit or didn't hit", as much as "you're hacking away at this guy but his gleaming armor still has you searching for a weak point you can exploit". This could be especially interesting trying to figure out how a barbarian's 18 CON translates to an armor class bonus of +4. He shrugs off superficial wounds to his bare skin the way a dragon would to his scales. A monk's wisdom gives them the ability to see attacks coming and mystically dodge out of the way, as if effortlessly. Etc etc.

Re: cardinal directions. Are maps common in the setting? If not, most NPCs will be using descriptors instead. Do you ever want the PCs to get lost in a dungeon? Then using cardinal should be avoided as well. It takes a special type of person to know which way North is after splunking for an hour or more. In 5e those people are Druids, Rangers and characters with Keen Mind. A good Survival skill might be helpful, but not as reliable imo.

I think a lot of the slapstick nat-1 factor is helped by priming players for it. If you tell your players "if you crit-fail this shot, your arrow's going straight into your ally, still wanna' try?" and also try to avoid keep friendly fire to a minimum (and very rarely at full damage, go more for "you pull a muscle, 1d4 nonlethal", not "you accidentally stab your ally in the back, he wasn't expecting it, roll full sneak attack damage") it helps a lot. Keeping things fresh with environmental factors, fairly applying it to enemies and having enemies respond appropriately also goes a long way. The most important factor is to tune your descriptions to the player's mood, having a bad day with the dice sucks enough without slapstick failures. In a serious segment you don't want to suddenly be tripping over your shoelaces. But in a hectic, flashy combat it can be fun to see your enemies fumbling in fear or having interesting complications like "huh, I guess my sword's stuck in this guy's shield now" For example: - I had a player (in pathfinder) nat-1 while shooting a musket into melee, he'd gone side-on to the combat though, so hitting an ally seemed unfair. Instead, because he was standing under a snowy tree, the sound of the shot dislodged snow and knocked him prone under a tiny avalanche. -Had 2 guards roll nat-1s on crossbow attacks one after another in an ice tower and decided that the cold environment had made the metal brittle and they exploded for a very low-damage AoE, 3rd guard spent his turn gently putting his crossbow on the ground and drawing his sword and shield.

It's interesting learning about the narration issues. They aren't really present in D100 systems. Hit locations, location based damage, armor coverage, success levels, ect all paint the picture of what happened in two or three rolls. Greg Stolze's One-Roll Engine does it even faster, but just as clearly.

"I drive my short swords up to the guards into his chest" Dude, you did 3 and 5 hit points (of 138). You're lucky if you broke one of his nails. Player don't know what proportion of the total hit point damage they did

Hmmm, I have to disagree a bit on avoiding 'you feel' rhetoric. This comes into play for new players who don't know what to expect. Providing some 'you feel' advice is a cue or hint as to how to RP the moment. For experienced players I sometimes use abysmal dice rolls to have the player act from a perspective for a bit. That just begs an example, I know. So, one time the party is deciding which path to take to get to an abandoned fortress on the coast. The PC with local knowledge who had been the source thus far rolled a one in an RP persuasion attempt with another player. So, the party decided to go with the advice of the winner, but I told the hapless Uno holder to RP the moment as if he were absolutely convinced the party was making a mistake. Good RP times ensued. Clearly this is situational and does not work universally. Players at my table have a lot of agency and once they are comfortable with that they usually enjoy being given a premise sometimes and acting from there. On box text. I have never had a problem redlining/highlighting the box text before game play. The box text is NEVER going to work for the DM because they didn't write it. As with everything in RP, the box text is a guide, not a videogame cut scene. The worst part for me? I often write my own box text but then in session it is irrelevant. :)

On this topic, I cannot recommend the book Visual Intelligence enough, written by an art historian who has consulted for everyone from schools to corporations to intelligence agencies. It's about how to construct objective, rather than subjective, descriptions, which works well as a fundamental pillar in narrating scenes that allows players to put the pieces together to understand what they're seeing on their own. Of course, you can then add flavorful, flowery language on top of this when appropriate, making evocative and useful imagery at the same time. I would consider it one of my top three how-to-DM books.

I hate funny shaped rooms. They ONLY work well if you're using playmats. And even then, they mess with spells and movements. KISS is the best approach, as usual.

Lately I've been ruling critical fumbles on both sides in melee combat as your attack is expertly parried by the defender and the attacker takes 1d6 damage. Can be described a million different ways and it's quick and easy to resolve. (party level 6)

Combat advice. even though the character isn't being attacked or attacking, if they are in melee range they are locking swords and feigns. the attack rolls is finding that moment of weakness where you try and strike them, between that you are dodging blows, feigning blades, and pushing your advantage in the fight. If they are at range, they are using ranged weapon or casting a spell they are doing the motions for that, and moving around in that 5 foot square trying to avoid being shot. the roll is when in that 6 seconds a round happens when they have the chance to do something. They are not just standing there like JRPG characters waiting for an ATB bar. the two rogues fighting in a minecart aren't just sat there, they are wrestling each other's knifes and trying to stab each other using every underhanded trick in the book. The wizard doesn't just sneeze up a fireball all at once, they are making the hand motions chanting aloud as material components glow and shimmer as the arcane is flowing through them. and like the mentioned, if they have a character level, to a normal person, even at level 1, they are a badass. a level 1 fighter has martial training that a commoner couldn't even understand beyond wearing metal and holding a big sword. Casters can casually use magic that could kill a normal person with ease (a commoner normally has like 4-8 HP, one firebolt could kill) rolling a 1 isn't them hurting themselves with their baffoonery. they just messed something up and it didn't work how they planned at all, or the enemy saw through it.

I feel that a humorous crit-fail really depends from the character. If a player brings a character that is the height of specialization to a group that is super focused then it can get really bad. But imagine a Jack Sparrow like rouge messing around with a more relaxed party on a lazy Sunday. It doesn't have to be a primitive like in a slipping on a banana peel kind of way, but a "I can't believe that just happened" situation can be fun every once in a while. After 3-4 competent failure descriptions it starts to feel like a participation award and if the entire night turns into rolling fails that sucks either way. So I usually try to mix it up between competent, dramatic, and if the situation allows it some levity.

Thanks Jim, I'm getting started with preparing maps for an upcoming campaign and your bit about it being ok to have room-shaped rooms was something I really needed to hear. I was giving in to the thought "but the map needs to look interesting" despite a nagging feeling that putting in weird angles would be annoying when it came to actual play.

A small caveat to the "don't describe emotions or inner thoughts of the characters"... assuming the character isn't under the influence of something. So example: "You step into a room lit by a single candle sitting on small wooden table. As your backfoot crosses the threshold you feel anxious but excited. Roll a Wisdom Save"

I agree with the box text. I tried running my first adventure, and the box text was not nearly descriptive enough of the environment. The first set of box text describing the bar fight in the Yawning portal seemed terrible.

I think describing and narrating has been hurt by online gaming. Everywhere is assumed to have a map, and less effort is put in to simply describing where you are at. And this comes from someone whose only option is online, and is exceedingly grateful for that option.