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Easy solution to the guardproblem: "I am not legally obliged to tell you my name nor badge number. You sovereign adventurers always try to get guards into trouble and I am not going to aide you in that effort."

Matt: the monster is "lightly damaged," or "heavily wounded" Me: the monster is "still chillin" or "fuuucked up"

“Why is every minor npc named Geoffrey” “Uh... it was... the name of a great king”

You give your players information. Why? BECAUSE YOU ARE A RIVER TO YOUR PEOPLE!

"What's the guard's name?" "She doesn't say." Bam.

“The Dragon Knights are incorruptible.” Is the Orden equivalent of “Vulcans never lie”.

14:10 There was one great moment in the game my brother ran a while ago, where someone rolled a natural 1 on a knowledge check to identify this weird crab monster called a hammerclaw, and my brother's response was "this is a dangerous sea creature known as a hammerhead shark."

"If something would be obvious to the character, make sure it's obvious to the player." *It is profoundly unsportsmanlike to trick your players by withholding character information just because the player didn't think to ask for it.* This needs to be a quote in every DMG. I've played with so many bad DMs who don't do this, and there are few things more frustrating to me as a player than a DM who is hunting for opportunities to make my character look like a *@#$-up because I failed to state something that should have been a given.

Player: What's the name of this guard? DM: (Thinking $#**, stall stall stall) Is your character asking the guard his name? Player: sure DM: (Continue Stall John? no Graham? maybe change some letters) You see a look of joy spread across the guards face while his companions look down and groan silently. DM: (Take sip of water, ok switch the "A"s) "I am Grehim son of ($#**) Grehim the Dragonslayer.". The other guard says : Seriously Grehim everyone knows who your daddy is." The guards start arguing with each other. (whew) Player what's the other guards's name?

I was a player in a Call of Cthulhu game set in the 1920s, we were doing some low-grade investigation of a disappearance. So we were standing in the street, and the GM has us all make Spot Hidden checks. Only I succeeded, and the GM turns to me and says "you see a glint in an upper window of one of the buildings". My instant thought was "telescope". I announced that I turn away from the window and tell my friends not to be alarmed, but we were being watched. ... Then the sniper fired. A player character almost died. I felt like such a tit. Afterwards, every player told me they all knew exactly what was going on, and I was the only one who misinterpreted the information.

"If something is completely obvious to the character, make is completely obvious to the player." I completely agree with this statement and am shocked how many GMs just aren't. This isn't a board game, people, you're trying to challenge your players...not beat them.

"What's the guard's name?" "You don't know that yet, until you either hear it from someone or ask the guard himself, and right now is not the time to ask. After all, him and his colleagues are trying to arrest you." That gives several signals - one, the information does in fact exist. Two, they're not getting it at this moment. Three, there's other things I want you to worry about."

Here's a fun story from one of my recent campaigns: One of my players pulled a scam to gets lots of cash in a town. On his way out of said town he was stopped by a guard for a routine cargo check. Mind you, the player experienced this TSA-ish pat down when he entered the city. He knew this was coming. He just had no plan for it. He thought fast and started lying about this plan he had for an investment strategy to explain the cash. The guard inquired more(Partly because everyone wanted to see if he was gonna get away with the scam, and partly because his rapport with this guard was amusing). Very quickly this player had created a fake investment plan he had for the city. The guard asked if he could join in on the plan. My player agreed. He asked the guard what his name was. Suddenly this nameless NPC was a person. In a snap judgement I said his name was Eric. He became a part of the story for these players. It really helped make the world more fun to interact with, and it showed them the possibilities of what they could do. It was great fun. Another fun little part of this story is that one of my other players missed this session. So this other player gets patted down by the guard, and noticed the guard had tons of cash on him(from the "investment" plan) as he walked away. This other player became incredibly paranoid that the guard was robbing him. Every time he went in and out of the city he checked his person to make sure all his money was still there. No matter how many times I told him he still had all his cash he remained ever suspicious. It was a great laugh for the party.

When they ask me about something, I just grin slyly and say with clearly feigned innocence: "I dunno" ;) Their response is usually "yes you do" I usually actually don't know.

About withholding information, that one time in a D&D game, I was acting as a scout in front of the big group accomanpying NPCs on a big road in a forest. I was alone at the front because we needed good eyes to be on the lookout for ambushes. When I saw someone hiding in the forest, I managed to not let that enemy know he was spotted. And I decided I should raise my hand to signal to the group, even if that meant being spotted myself. What the DM then did was tell me "Oh, the group can't see you, you're too far in front. But the mage hiding behind a tree did see you and you're now getting swarmed by enemies" I was so pissed. I told my DM "Hey wait a minute! My character would have never raised his hand as a signal if he knew he'd be scouting so far in the front. I only said he raised his hand because I took for granted he was in sight of his group. Don't force me to live with an action I would have never done if you'd had been clear." And she categorically refused to fix the situation. My character almost died because the DM didn't care about the accuracy of wether it was normal for my character to do what I said he did. She and she alone knew I was out of sight of the group while all the players believed I was close enough to be seen. She didn't care and it made the fight way harder and soooo frustrating. To all the DMs out there, if your player says "I would have never done that if I had had the same knowledge as my character", that means you consciously misled your player and you're being a really bad DM.

“Just remember that every time you fail, you’re that much closer to succeeding.” I recently had the experience of shooting down my players’ desire to explore outside of the area I had essentially cordoned off in my mind for our current adventure. I said ‘no’ to their creative thinking and world building. I realize now that I should have rewarded their engagement with the world, and used their exploration as a springboard for interesting adventure. I’ve since felt a lot of guilt over this perceived failure, but this reminder is really helpful. I simply need to use this as a lesson so I can continue to grow as a DM. Thanks Matt.

Moment in my first session of Starfinder: "Wait, what's the captain's name?" me(gm): "...Captain... Expendable..." "So anyway, Captain Expendable and his first mate, Lieutenant Redshirt, open the blood spattered door..." There were 3 Void Zombies behind the door...

20:27 "Just remember that every time you fail, you've gotten that much closer to succeeding." Golden advice.

Matt, if you're seeing this, I just want you to know how fantastic and helpful your videos are for me. I've been DMing for about 3 years, I absolutely love it, and can't tell you how wonderful your videos are for me. I feel I've learned so much from you and you have made me a much, much better DM. There are an enormous amount of pitfalls to DMing and thanks to you, I've avoided so many and course corrected many times. Thank you for what you do and keep up the great work. I so appreciate you!!!

tbh I usually tell my players when an enemy has low HP. I feel like that's something the players would be able to tell. I mean, if you're in a literal fight to the death, you'd be able to tell if your opponent "has low HP" just by looking at them. Bleeding profusely, struggling to stand, limping, etc are all indicators of that

I have to appreciate the amount of Latin Matt incorporates into his vocabulary

Coming up with names on the spot is my biggest weakness. Hell, coming up with names _at all_ is my weakness. I ended up giving up once and turned a guard into a hostile jerk by answering "My name? It's "Sir" to you!". It's a good trick but it can't work all the time... so on other occasions I've resorted to: Player: What's the guard's name? Me: He tells you his name. It's really the best I can do if I'm hurried. I keep wanting to make a list of names for people... I should use the player handbook's suggestions more often.

I've been a rollplayer (and gamer) for literally decades but because of inspiration from several shows (like Critical Role, Highrollers, Exalttwich, etc) I am currently working on starting a campaign as a Dungeon Master for the very first time. Your videos are not only inspirational but also educational and I am studying and re-watching them over and over in order to give myself a head start when I get my game going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you very much for all the work you do to make these videos and the sharing of your experience! You are basically growing the net "fun" of D&D games all over the world. That is something that you deserve to take some pride in sir!

This is probably the single most important episode of this series. I am right now watching it for the third time just to make sure it sticks. Well done, Matt.

DM: "Your party walks into a room. In the center of the room is a pecuilar wodden construct. A coushined round flat board supported by four slender pillars. Possibly a stool." PC: "AWWW DUDE LET US FIGURE IT OUT OURSELFES!!!!"

There is an article online called "Every campaign should have a primer." Basically it says that there is information every CHARACTER should know about the game world and it's only the jerk GM who acts like this is secret information and punishes players for not knowing what they don't know. In preparation for my current game I created a list of common knowledge tidbits that everyone in the character's society would know. Things like who makes the best beer, which merchants will cheat you, how the gods interact with The People, where gold and silver are mined, where the best armor is crafted, etc. I also prepared handouts for important social and cultural subjects so that the players, and more importantly the characters, would know just how important some of the recent events in the game were. I expect that a lot of GMs might think of the information as unimportant fluff, but I think that adding information like this helps the players feel that their characters are more connected to the world and that this aids in the suspension of disbelief that is a big part of role playing.

I had one of my old players tell me a story of something he loved from a game that I ran years ago. The players were trying to figure out what a piece of dark slate was attached to a wall in a magic-users study. There was white powder scattered about on the floor nearby. I recall that particular object fascinating the players and they spent time trying to detect magic and sus out what the purpose of the object was. After quite a while they figured out for themselves that it was simply a chalkboard. It wasn't something that I had intended as being unique but it was something they had fun figuring out. Almost like a riddle. It wasn't integral to the story but it brought flavor to the world by describing that particular object that they would otherwise be familiar with in its most primitive terms. It made that magic-user's study that much more mysterious.

Matt does the same drawn out vowel thing as James Earl Jones. It's like a not at all intimidating Darth Vader.

About not making the connection, this one time, the DM did exactly what you said, she explained what the enemy was doing, but not what his goal was or what the overall conclusion of his actions would be. We were attacking a kobold den. After some fighting, one of them walked out of the den but stayed under the little entrance part. Then he lifted and showed us a long branch at the end of which was a piece of dirty white cloth. He was communicating the the den had given up on fighting. A white flag. But I was the player who just didn't make the connection. I convinced myself he was trying to set up a fancy spell. I thought he was attacking. I'm not gonna go into what I did in response, but basically, yeah, some players just don't get what the NPCs are doing, even when the DM is giving tons of details and the scene is pretty clear.

"I do not tell my players how to feel" This is good tip. One of my worst experiences as a player was when the DM ruled that the high charisma rogue with expertise in persuasion could roll persuasion on the other players to convince them to do stuff. It removed player agency which is vital component. Luckily I managed to argue for why the rest of the table found this to be a bad idea and the DM conceded. Nonetheless, I do think there are notable exceptions to when you can tell a person how to feel. The obvious example are insight check. The player gets the impression that the DM is portraying an NPC who is lying so he wants to roll insight. He rolls a 1 so I don't think it's unfair to say "you find nothing unusual about these words". I am however tempted to instead treat those rolls as "You are unable to pinpoint exactly what make you suspicious in the first place". Another example is one I've seen Mercer use and got to experience for myself as a player last session. The wider context is based on speculation because it's probably related to what might have happened pre-stream, but at one point a character in Critical Role has to essentially overcome a presumably established phobia to save a friend. The player is ready to make the character jump into danger but before doing so, Mercer stops him and asks for a charisma saving throw. My character had a vaguely similar moment where my drow, whose personal mission is to return to the homeworld in the underdark he has never known but greatly idealizes, was suddenly and to his INCREDIBLE surprise face to face with a Drow matron who confused him for a man servant and compelled him to obey. The DM promptly made me roll a charisma save. That's because I've specifically noted on my character sheet that my Drow has a complicated relationship with women. It is his Flaw. On one hand he idealizes them because his harsh upbringing on the surface world compels him to long for a better life among his people and all the values they stand for. On the other hand he has severe mother issues because it was his exiled mother who was presumably the reason for why he couldn't grow up among his people. It's a Flaw that is central to the character and the DM was ready to let the dice force me to act in character and I'm not exactly opposed to that because the Flaw part of the character sheet are often both hard to actually roleplay while also having some great consequences for the story.

"Whats the guard's name?" "I don't know, why don't you ask him/her?" That oughta give you a hot second or two to make something up.

...the guard's name is ALWAYS Sven...pshh...everybody knows that ...

Oh man I just dm'd my first game after putting it off for 1.5 years because i thought I wouldn't beable to do it. With the help of your channel and adventure guide it seemed like a big success. I fudged some rolls...forgot to play all the music I had...forgot to have the sentry goblins try to run to warn the others. Didn't know a bunch of rules so just said sure why not. They tried to make the riddle way more complicated then it was and tried so much with the magic sword that I didn't even think about(like trying to put it in the statues hand). But at the end without prompt they said they had so much fun and wished it wasn't just a one shot. Big success, thank you!

"Every time you fail you've gotten that much closer to succeeding", tell that to Wil Wheaton.

my ranger rolled a Nat 20 when identifying a monster. I just covered the monster's stat block with post it notes and let him read the monster manual.

This video is twenty-two minutes of gold. I actually took almost no notes, but that's only because if I tried to write down everything of use, it would practically be a transcript; instead, I'm going to have to just re-watch this on a regular basis until I've internalized it all. Thank you for yet another invaluable resource!

Great video again, Matt. I know this will be nothing new to you, Matt, but just to expand on your advice: Another way I've found that's a cool method for inserting information, thoughts or inspiration into a character's head is to have them roll a situation-appropriate check, then give them a "flashback" to something someone in their backstory once told them or taught them. A parent, sibling, combat teacher, military officer, guildmaster, ect--someone in the character's past that was a wise/crafty mentor or leader. That way it's not the DM telling them "This is a dangerous cave. Don't go in there and get yourself surrounded" or whatever, which makes it seem certain that it is predetermined that they will fail. Instead, it's someone/something in their past raising their "spidey sense." That gives the player agency. They know the risk, but they can choose what to do with that knowledge. Of course to do that, you have to have that backstory info. During character creation, I always try to nudge players to backstory someone in their past that was particularly influential on teaching the character the ways of the world or the skills of their class. Because those characters are useful for a myriad of narrative reasons.

Could you perhaps give a player a note, but tell them that before they say another word to their friends, they have to pass the note back?

You should do a video on audio in games(playing music or background sounds to simulate the world)

I always have my players make up names and the like for npcs. Madame Abbot, head of a brothel, a surprisingly ugly woman for her position that wears a large ruby on her neck that's is prettier than she is. This character was made by my players. They enjoy making the world feel alive.

“Matt did it so it must be okay” every dm ever

TMI Matt......said no one, ever. Always a good watch. Thank you for the effort you and others put in.

One of my favorite characters to roleplay regarding information is my (flavored) Tabaxi ranger, Lynx. She's always an outlander in any situation, and not only does she not know much about the cultural understanding of where she is, she also tends to zone off, as Tabaxi are wont to, into thinking about whatever their newest interest is or what they may find on their next adventure, which is great fun! I get an excuse not to pay very much attention to exposition so I know about as much as she does, and make decisions just as informed. I love toying with information and information relaying and digestion. Beautiful stuff.

I started dungeon mastering about a month ago and you and Matt Mercer have been my biggest guides I really appreciate the videos you make and thank you

"Short Klingons" Thank you, I'll be saving this one for later.

"My dwarves are basically short Klingons." HAHAHAHAHAH Matt you are awesome.

I don’t ever tell players the AC of a creature. If they’ve sussed it out by, say, missing a 13 and hitting on a 14, I’ll confirm, but I never say it ahead of time. I had a level 4 fighter who was fighting an abominable yeti (CR9) mostly by himself (there were more normal yeti taking the party’s attention) and he rolled a 14 which he was pretty sure _wouldn’t_ hit (he wasn’t sure what the AC was, he just figured it was between 15 and 18). He quickly said, “don’t tell me the result yet! I’m burning my _last_ superiority die!” He didn’t _know_ that the simple act of burning a die would make him succeed- that he was 1 shy of the AC- and so that gave me an absolutely amazing feeling. I _knew_ the result but I got to see my friends discover it themselves. It was like introducing someone to a favorite song or TV show.

"There's no reason that the character would remember the facts better than the player" That's where the Keen Mind feat comes in XD

Typically when my players make rolls to try to find thing, and they roll bad or crit fail i send them on a scenery journey. Giving they precise details of the world around them while leaving out anything related to plot. This allows me to bring the world alive visually without allowing for progression. So far my players love it, they tell me it helps bring the world alive.

The line - my dwarves are basically small Klingons, cracks me up every time.

Wonderful channel here, Matt. I just discovered it and it's occupied 2 nights of what should have been prep time! Anyway, I had the best experience in many years at my last session with something that involved information. The four players found themselves in the sylvan cottage of what appeared to be a friendly fey witch. There were subtle strange things about the interior and about the witch herself. Through the passing of notes, I managed to give each of the four players a different perspective by revealing certain information to them. One PC went out to the garden to pick vegetables with her and heard about how she was looking for love. The skeptical dwarven smith who originally wanted no part of the cottage or its inhabitant noticed an oddly-forged sword on the wall. The badly injured ranger realized the woman had a healing touch. And the fighter glanced into her kitchen where he saw that she was boiling the head of an alseid in a cauldron. She returned from the garden before anyone could share information privately. That's when I sat back and watched for about a half hour as the players danced through efforts to discuss what to do in front of the potentially dangerous witch, each with different information and newly obtained information that changed their respective feelings since the last time they could speak candidly about the situation. The players were as flummoxed as their PC's. Why did the dwarf suddenly soften his feelings about the cottage? Why was the fighter who wanted to follow the woman now seemingly about to have a seizure near the kitchen door? Luckily, despite having three of the four players in their first campaign ever (with one in his second session ever), none of them did the reading the index card out loud thing. I was proud of how I set it up, but even more proud of how they played it - all thanks to four little index cards.

This so far was one of the most important videos for me. I struggle with refraining from giving the players to much information because as a person I like to alleviate confusion and teach people things they don't know. But as a DM you gotta keep some of this stuff to yourself.

My Players understand WOW, Final Fantasy and Mobile MOBA as "True RPGs" so to me it's funny when they bitch and cry because I don't reveal certain types of information that they shouldn't have anyways like "How much HP does Orc number 2 has left?", "So what's the name of that creature we just fought? we never saw that one before", "Would you roll all the attack's damages together? So I know on which one should I use my Uncanny Dodge", "Where in the dungeon is our objective? the quest giver never said it" and my favorites "If I use this or that spell/class feature that way or in this fashion/situation would it work? I can only use 1 per long rest" & "Can I do this or that"... Never ever have I seen a group of players hate so much Matthew Mercer's catchphrase "You can certainly try" like this group...

In lieu of me commenting this in all of Matt Colville videos, I'll leave this here, on the video I am currently re-visiting. I really appreciate the education Matt is providing in these videos. And I thoroughly respect the perspective that comes from playing and designing games for as long. Because as a newbie DM, I would maybe have had the same knowledge and wisdom acquired over decades. Maybe. But to have it all available from the get go, makes the games I run exponentially more enjoyable for me AND my players, And the worlds I create for the players have a lot more depth and verisimilitude. There are a lot of D&D youtubers, and a decent amount are really good, but the quality of these videos is head and shoulders over all of them. Thank You, Matt Colville.

This is amazing information! I've been rewatching everything just taking notes and trying to memorize as much as possible. Thank you! Now I'm going to watch this a few more time haha

This video changed my whole perspective on the game before I ever even ran it. As a fledgling DM I've made it my mission to always have a name for every NPC, and always imply there are canonical answers to every question my players ask. For the NPCs there really ARE, I sit down for hours making names and motivations. For the answers, I'm often figuring things out along with the players. But thanks, Matt, because I think this video is part of the reason my players think hard about their decisions even though the world, their characters, and their DM are all new.

One of the magical things about roleplaying, is that out of character information can create in character tension. Think of the dread tower, and how much terror intention that creates even though it is a completely abstract narrative construct that has no one-to-one corollary in the world of the game. This is how I feel about giving players information at very calculated moments

>Your players approach the gates to the city. >After a little Roleplaying one of the players asks this guard's name. >You shrug and say- "Fuckface. Mr.Fuckface. Yeah, I know, gods-aweful wizard blew through a few fortnights past and this is my new name now."

About the nameless NPCs, I've been playing a game of tabletop Fire Emblem (super simple and a lot of fun, basically the fighting and stat rules of FE, but with the roleplay and storytelling of a living DM able to adapt and keep you interested while you also interact with other players with motivations and goals). In that game, there's this concept where if a character has a name, it means that it can technically somehow join the party. Or the character needs a name because he's central to the story or is a character from a previous game set some twenty years prior. Anyways, so an NPC not having a name (and instead just having a title, often its class' name) says something clear about its role, not about the DM not caring. It means we can still interact with him, we can still do all sorts of roleplay, but he's not important to the main plot and he can never join the party as a playable character. So that's one alternative on the whole "NPCs without names are bad". But it does require a system that makes that rule worth something. A D&D game where you can keep adding playable characters would be a little too intense to deal with.

this is the best series I've ever found. Thank you so much!!! I was so worried when I had to DM for my friends but I feel a lot more confident now

So glad that I discovered your channel, Matthew. This is really great content and you seem like a great person to boot! Keep up the great videos.

My wife spent all campaign literally failing every 'charm person' as her wizard. Near the end she interrogates a prisoner and succeeds on her spell. I literally dropped the entire plotline, including the secret big bad's name and the location and name of the hag that's trying to return him from the Abyss -- where the players banished him in the last campaign. It felt painful giving that much info at once, but in her shoes I can only imagine the angst of not gaining anything useful through the whole campaign. --> Keep it fun.

I decided to do something different with my insight rolls. When a character wants to know if an NPC is lying/telling the truth, I pause, and ask the player what they think out of game... They can either say the believe the NPC , disbelieve, or can just say I really don’t know. If they are right, I add +2 to their total, if they’re wrong I minus -2 to the total and if they had honestly no idea I take the straight roll. I kind of let their player bias/beliefs either help or take away from their characters insight (especially cause insight is so subjective to begin with)

I've started watching this series about 3 weeks ago when I started running Out of the Abyss for a few friends of mine because I had this hobby for 4 years now, I've played thousands of hours online, but not even my closest friends had any idea what I was talking about when I went off on something that happened in one of my campaigns (either running or playing), so I had enough, I have played so many other games, but I barely played DnD before. I played one short Pathfinder campaign that I barely understood, and then a month prior I joined in on a 5e game an online friend of mine was in, I never had so much fun as I that game. So I decided time to run DnD, except I had no idea what DnD really was. This series has helped such an insane amount to both understand what DnD is, and be able to run it better that after thinking I'll never comment watching the first video I just had to sit down and say, Thank You. My players are having an incredible time in the world of Darc, and I'm having so much fun GMing, I didn't know it was even possible.

This is probably the thing I struggled with the most as a teenage DM who hated metagaming and loved defamiliarization. This is a great video though, and I love the points made about drama and agency.

I honestly enjoy playing a character who doesn’t know much about anything outside of home, or just much in general. I find it really fun. I played a Kobold once and he is my favorite character I’ve made. He never went more than 50ft away from the cave for his entire life until the party came to deal with the kobolds who lived in the cave. And my character was poorly treated by his fellow kobolds because he was different, so he decided to side with the party to get revenge. And once the party left the cave, they had to teach my kobold everything. He didn’t know the value of money, he just liked it because it’s shiny. He didn’t know many manners. And he didn’t understand why the party had to hide him, he didn’t understand the fact that people saw him as an enemy. And I had an absolute blast playing him. And because he was so naive he ended walking toward a dragon that the party was avoiding, and because of that he got the option to leave the party and fly away in a dragon.

Hey Matt! Just finished watching all of this series and I'm finding it so helpful! Also bought both books and loved them to bits! Cant wait for the next one!

I always have a name for a random NPC because I have seen players make NPCs into things that they weren't before. I try to keep a list of about 20 unassigned names in case someone asks for them. I try not to tip my hand in any way. I will have a modus operandi for a NPC, but may never tell the players. It's fun for the players to discover easter eggs like that.

Having donjon open with a few random generators is handy for situations just like this. Especially when running a sandbox and the players decide to go to an area not fully fleshed out yet.

My campaign is riddled with “Yeah, that’s what everyone in the world thinks” types of things. Some of my biggest plot points (and twists) are built on the fact that the primary civilization and culture unanimously believe a handful of facts because its such commonplace, regardless of how true it is

This is by far one of my favorite videos in the series, I always find a new nugget or application of its principles each watch

I agree that this in one of the most important videos you've put out so far. Thank you for helping new DMs with important stuff like this!

"This NPC knows the answer. I do not, but I'll get back to you." Maaaaaan, this works so well in the classroom too. Yet another way that teaching and DMing are kindred spirits.

This video is the single most helpful video about running a ttrpg I have seen as of this date. I rewatch it often!

The ending of your intro story reminded me of Puffin Forest recounting how the DM said his character was just there at the quest location with everyone else and his response was "Woah! You can do that!?"

Catching up on all these videos (been watching Critical Role since it started, but missed the references Mercer and the cast made regarding you). By far, this video has been the most helpful. They're all great so far, but this video addresses some of my biggest downfalls as a DM. Thank you! A million times over. Can't wait to continue to grow and do better for my players.

I've watched this video twice already. I think a third time will be in order soon. Lots of information with giving and keeping information here.

This is one of the most helpful videos you've done so far. I've been playing D&D for many years and a DM off and on for 4 years now, so a lot of the stuff you talked about is your early videos was stuff I've already learned through trial and experience, but lately I've been trying to open my world and my sessions up to be more sandbox-y and guide my players by the hand less and less. It's more nerve-wracking not knowing what's going to happen, and it takes a lot more improvisation. I've taken a good bit of your advice and created a table for random encounters the players might have in their current location that I roll on whenever they go a new place that I hadn't planned on them going. Giving my players information without just telling them directly what to do is a real challenge as I try to railroad less and less. I do often read directly from the monster manual to the players, and the amount I read to them (just the creature's name, one sentence, a paragraph, two, what attack or resistences it has, etc.) depends on how well they roll on their nature or arcana check to identify the creature, and I will prompt players when it might be a good time to use their insight or a particular knowledge skill, but I would love to do that more organically and have it be less of, "The information you need is behind the door. Can you get it open?" The door being a successful investigation, perception, nature, insight, history, etc. check.

Very good video! I can definitely tell that it will take practice to get used to what works and what doesn't. I imagine I'll rewatch all your Running The Game videos every year or so to remind myself of your advice. Great job matt

This was very helpful and timely in my current stage of planning - thank you, Matt! I also appreciate the reminder that this is an art form and will take practice. I've been struggling not to put undue pressure on myself as a new DM to be perfect from the get-go, so the combination of help and reassurance is much appreciated :)

I've struggled with the 'is this too much or too little information' questions for ages, I love your videos Matthew as they're broad enough to apply to my own setting yet your examples always help understand what is should or could look like. Thank you !

Joy! A new Running the Game. Really missed this series while it was put on hold for streaming VODs and the like. I'm taking notes and building the courage to start my first campaign as a DM. These videos definitely help in that respect. I always feel like I can do it by the end of each lesson. Thank you, Matt Colville!

Very important for new DMs. Thank you.

Question Matt, in your example about the name of the guard, what are your thoughts on engaging the players and saying, yes what should his name be? It's not something I do a lot but I noticed that my players liked adding to that small detail in world building. TL;DR We did it with a halfling bard NPC who was performing at a festival and they came up with the name Justin Kace. I chuckled but ran with it. He was later killed in the session when a troll who was inside a giant beer stein that was gifted to the mayor by a rival town attacked. Justin Kace thought it all a part of the fanfare and performed an acoustic version of Portishead's "All Mine" that ignited one of our warlock's demonic patron's power that she used in delivering the fatal blow. They still talk about this moment saying in passing, "R.I.P. Justin Kace".

Such a good rule distilled at 10:21 - if something would be obvious to the character, it should be obvious to the player. So obvious!

I'm a wannabe new DM and this video, just like all those in this playlist, are incredibly insightful and helpful! Story vs Adventure and this video especially! Thanks for taking the time to put all these together.

I think I just came back to this video 2 years after my first viewing and first being a dm and I can definitely tell that I use this on instinct. Thanks Matt

This episode is awesome, taking notes like madman. I've run a bunch of games with the same friends for years, but recently I've lost motivation to do because a particular friend hasn't been all that good of a friend. Your videos have me excited again and ready to run another campaign. This content in particular feels so important, I'd really like more along this vein. Thanks, Matt.

Hey Matt, Been playing D&D for just 3 years when a friend of mines group opened up to some new players. I've just decided to start running my own game as well and found your videos right off the bat. Just wanted to say that these videos are great and are a huge help. As a new player/DM and only experiencing one DM so far, all your videos are giving me lots of inspiration for how to run my game. Thanks!

I enjoyed hearing your philosophy of dispensing information to the players. Lots to think about here. I also like your out-of-the-room technique for replacing note-passing. Good stuff. "Show me, don't tell me..."

I DM'd my first game a few weeks ago (without ever having been a player). It was completely homebrewed, completely improvised, and very fun. Because it was a solo session, I thought my player should have a companion, so I created an NPC follower for him. It wasn't until about halfway through the session that the player realized the NPC was deaf. I dropped hints and had him do perception checks, but all failed until I had to reveal the fact that the NPC carried an ear trumpet. I was so proud of the slow buildup of information, and my player was more engaged than he would've been if I had just spoon-fed him. This is a subtle skill, but ANYONE can do it, and it will make a huge difference in the way you and your players remember your games.

This video is BEYOND helpful! Thanks, Matt!

Backed you on KS... Now I'm working my way through what I have found to be one of the best DMing series on RU-vid... I will almost certainly be buying your books soon. Thanks for everything!

I love that Mr. Colville know of, has read, and thoroughly enjoys The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. It's my dad's favorite book series and, when I got old enough to understand what the heck is going on in those books, has be come one of mine as well. I have met so few people that have even heard of Thomas Covenant, let alone read them. If you haven't, check it out.

Bro this is great, I actually needed to hear this so bad. I have a terrible way of telling instead of showing, and of going meta way too much, instead of just immersing my players. Thank you Matt Colville!

I'm running my first campaign in about twenty years, so been loving these videos to catch me back up. And this video has showed me something I could have done differently in my last session. One of the party is a Dhampir (half-Vampire), and during the first battle after they all met up, had to use the vampiric bite, giving away what his character is. As the party was settling in to camp for the night the players started to roleplay how their characters would react, but stopped and asked me, "Wait, would we know what a Dhampir is?" I had them roll for it, but after this video, I think I could have done a bit better. I could have gone, "Cleric, you know everything, because you're a Cleric and that makes sense. Ranger, you also know everything because you worked as a monster hunter in your backstory. Everyone else, there's no reason for you to know or not, so you three roll for it and lets see what you've picked up in your travels." As it was I lucked out and got that result from the dice anyway -- the Cleric nat-20'd, the Ranger got a dirty 20, the others rolled between 10 and 14... save the Fighter, who nat-1'd and then had to roleplay not even knowing what a Vampire was, let alone a Dhampir. And even that made sense because he was a pirate and had spent his life at sea, so it wasn't unreasonable that he'd never heard of it.

For the last few month's I've really been wanting to start a game of D&D, having watched almost all of your videos in the last five days or so I've found all the information extermly valuable. While I'm a bit nervous at the idea of being the DM I know I'll do a much better job then I would have if I never found your channel. Thank you, for all the great advice! I just bought Priest on Amazon and look forward to reading it on Kindle.

Most important DM video I ever watched. Thank you for that. I think you would be proud of my job as a 30 years DM... and still, I learned so much. Awesome.

Wonderful episode on information! Also, I agreed with all your points and have used those techniques as well. For example, part of my intro-talk for new players is that when I'm playing an NPC, I am really playing that NPC from their own point of view, not the GM's. Sometimes it's fun for everyone if I mess about with description from a marginal investigation roll on something not too complicated, by starting mysterious and then pointing out something obvious about it in a "Oh... it's that..." flat voice.

Here's two schticks I like to use; I'm all about in the beginning of the turn I still have everybody roll initiative, even if there is no monsters or anything. Then in order I have them make INT, WIS, and/or PER checks. Based on the roll I decide what I tell them, but don't spill all the beans at once, you move on to the next INIT, and have them do stat rolls, and then explain more, etc.