Uncomfortable Truths You Probably Need To Hear! 

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Covered in the video, in regards to having villains work through lieutenants. This is a specific subset of the DM's Gun Safety Rule: Never put anything in front of the players that you are not prepared to have them kill.

Not Everyone Will Be Equally Invested: Players have varying levels of commitment and engagement. Some may be deeply immersed in the story and their characters, while others may treat the game as a casual social activity. Accept that not all players will share your level of passion. You Can't Predict Everything: No matter how much you plan and prepare, players will surprise you with unexpected actions and decisions. Flexibility and improvisation are essential skills for a GM. You Will Make Mistakes: GMs are human, and you will make errors in rules, storytelling, or judgment. It's okay to admit these mistakes and correct them, but avoid dwelling on them during the game. Some Players Will Try to Break the Game: Certain players enjoy finding loopholes or breaking the game's rules. It's your responsibility to maintain balance and fairness while addressing their actions. Player Disputes Are Inevitable: Conflicts among players can and will arise, both in and out of character. Your role as a GM includes managing these conflicts to maintain a positive gaming atmosphere. Not Everyone Will Like Your Style: Different players have different preferences for game styles, themes, and settings. It's impossible to please everyone, so focus on creating an experience you're passionate about and finding players who share that passion. Burnout Is Real: Running a campaign can be exhausting, especially if you're juggling multiple responsibilities. It's crucial to recognize signs of burnout and take breaks when needed to prevent GM fatigue. Storylines May Fizzle Out: Not every plotline or story arc will resonate with players or reach a satisfying conclusion. Sometimes, you'll need to adapt and move on, even if you had grand plans for a particular storyline. Some Players May Not Respect Your Efforts: Despite your hard work and dedication, some players may not appreciate the effort you put into the game. It's essential to communicate your expectations and boundaries clearly. Real-Life Issues Can Impact the Game: Players may have personal problems, schedules, or commitments that disrupt the game. Be understanding and flexible when these issues arise. Balance Between Role-Playing and Combat Can Be Tricky: Striking the right balance between storytelling, role-playing, and combat encounters can be challenging. Finding what works best for your group may take time and experimentation. Not All Sessions Will Be Epic: Some sessions will be less exciting or eventful than others. It's okay to have quieter moments in your campaign; they can provide opportunities for character development and reflection. You May Not Always Get Player Feedback: Players may not always provide feedback on your GMing. Don't assume silence means everything is perfect; actively seek feedback to improve your skills. Player Characters Can Die: In many RPGs, characters can die as a result of their actions or decisions. While this can be emotionally charged, it's an integral part of the game's risk and reward system. You Will Learn and Evolve: GMing is a skill that improves with practice and experience. Don't be discouraged by early challenges or mistakes; embrace them as opportunities for growth.

This video went from "you may need to think and have a difficult conversion with some of your friends" to complex high-level military theory so fast and I love it

After months of trying to get my group to earnestly try and embrace Old-School Essentials, I eventually realized that they just weren't the right people for that kind of game. I'm still friends with them, but I've since had to look for people who are more interested in old-school play.

As the GM you may build the past, and some of the present, but the future is built at the table.

Nobody cares about your world more than you do, and thats fine. In a similar way, nobody cares about a characters role/story more than the player who runs it. Tie their backstory to the main plot/important world events and make them relevant, and you both will enjoy a shared emergent narrative. Edit: sry, bad grammar

As a DM, you must say both yes and no. Say yes to your players: let them try crazy things, make decisions, and even have input into worldbuilding. But also say no: give them hard boundaries, don't sacrifice the tone/theme due to player wants, be consistent with your limitations. They will respect you for it.

Listening to Baron effortlessly roll through all the complicated names and places in the Improv vs Prep section is even more amazing considering sometimes I pronounce "oil" differently. :-)

Finally. Somebody who understands the complex relationship between planning and improv. Where DMs fail in regards to planning isn’t necessarily planning too much, but planning too inflexibly. You can plan a game months in advance and still be good since planning was done mindfully. While we can argue about which matters “more,” it doesn’t change the fact that both are consequential if used mindfully.

Your videos are always fabulously helpful. I recently had to improv an entire settlement with multiple social encounters. Luckily I had recently watched a video you made about the basics of what's needed for a town or settlement. I asked players how the session had gone. No one realized the entire session was made up on the spot. They thought they must have just done exactly what I'd planned.

First is a false dichotomy. If someone is being disrespectful of our time, autonomy, etc, D&D or not, a proper friendship means telling them it's not cool. No situation where you need to pick one or the other unless there's some serious immaturity afoot, in which case good riddance. Edit: To be clear, loved the video. I needed to hear the second one and the no plan survives one most.

How big of a nerd am I? I called out a pronunciation correction when Baron de Ropp said Damodor rather than Damodar. Literally said it to my screen, with only my cats for an audience.

At its core, I think it is about having fun. You came here to hang out and just roll some dice and kill a few monsters at the same time? Cool, but that's not fun for everyone and perhaps not for the DM who pour hours into prep and see a friend completely ignoring his work. Granted, there may be tables out there that this kind of behavior is normal and cool. That's great! But when you are about to embark on the journey that dnd is, first and foremost you must all agree on the destination. Epic high fantasy heroic combat no rp campaign? Chill monster slaying while we talk about our week? Intricate political intrigue? Whatever floats your boat! But if all want to go to Rome and one wants to visit London, you better be ready to part ways, and that's OK! Unless the DM wants to go to London of course. In that case, the DM better find players that want to go to London as well. Did that make sense? I hope it did. Love to you all!

Once you are a DM, you are ALWAYS the DM. Forget about playing ever again.

Our group has been together for decades, we get along well at the gaming table and deal with personal issues away from the table. Yes the plan is the first casuality

"Munchkins are good, actually"

An uncomfortable truth - as a DM, you are going to make mistakes! Everyone makes mistakes, and perfection is impossible. When you make a mistake, own it, and move on and try and avoid making it again in the future.

That was awesome! Nice to see Moltke being referenced; there's a habit in 5e (in particular) for DMs and players to ignore theory (dramatic and literary especially) then whinge with things go to hell... 😅

Uncomfortable truths for players #1: if the DM isn't sharing their snacks, you pissed them off last game, or your playing a monk.

The uncomfortable truth of unengaged players who are only there to hang out is a real one. It's always been the number one problem Ive had with running games.

Compare this to How to Be a Great GM's "If you're doing these things..." video and this is pretty much why I love your channel.

This is the smartest nine minutes of advice for GMs that Ive heard in 20 years.

Where was this video back when I started GMing, would have saved me years of bad games. Glad to see the insightful content!

I had to come back to this video as the "Pleasing Everyone" section I found to be the most enlightening and helpful. Thank you the advice! We had a free game night from our regular campaign and everyone was wanting to play something, but not committing to anything. In the past I would have presented a list of choices of things I had available and let them pick, which either ended in no choice being made and we just play Jackbox, or a game I wasn't enthusiastic about. This last time though I specifically said which game we were playing and gave them the guidelines to roll up quick characters, the session was a blast and I felt so invigorated. Thanks Baron!

Man... this video came a little too late for me. I managed to get like 20 friends to play D&D during the pandemic. Now I play with just one of them who is compatible with my playstyle and has similar expectations of what a "fun" D&D game is. The few were incompatible, one was edgelord extremus, and the majority didn't had time nor interest to play the game. Anyway, to all beginner DMs. This is honestly one if not the best non-mechanics based DM advice videos that YOU need to hear. Especially for advice number 1 and advice number 2. Relating to the advice. One of the best advice/lines I've heard about inviting friends to play D&D is this: "You don't have to have every friend you have involved in every hobby you have" - Dungeon Craft (Let's Talk About THAT Guy, Ep.275). Sometimes, it's better to go solo and meet strangers to play the game. You'll know more people AND you can leave groups freely without the awkwardness/fear associated with telling friends that they're not a good fit in the group. Lastly, when your group becomes shit, remember the adage "No D&D is better than bad D&D".

Eisenhower said “Plans are nothing, but planning is everything.” That’s how I try and run my games. I have bits and pieces of prepped material and ways to string them together logically in response to player action.

Such a tightly organized and smoothly delivered video!

I prefer talking to friends to resolve issues, ensuring similar play time among different people in the group, (no complaint about respecting player decisions, except for just telling players openly where my ideas need guidance and asking them whether that’s ok), and I usually don’t play D&D but other RPGs, so what you describe as to be prepared is not what I usually need ☺ But it was interesting to listen anyway - thank you 🙂

The art of improvisation is the greatest magic there is. Masters really do need to learn it, if they want to get even remotely good at the table. Its kinda sad the resources nowadays don't tend to foster that spirit. A video (or a few) on how to get your improv game up would surely be very useful.

Reassessing, rethinking, revising between sessions is how i mostly prepare my games. A report/summary of what happened last session is the starting point of my prep for next session. "Players did A, what will happen now?" How will faction B and C respond? " It allows for great inner dynamics, and a easy way to make the world feel alive and reactive to what players do.

oh the old scry teleport hoodwink… timeless lol

Unfortunately tho, the moment I pick games over friends, I lose all my friends and there's nobody to play the games but me. The moment I pick friends over game, nobody plays the game because every circle of friend just gets stuck within the mindset of the circling of thought within the context of that friendship. But what are friends, and what are games, when all I have left is the feeling of being lost within delusions of grandeur and the conflict of self interest/worth?

I spend 2 to 5 hours in prepping for the next game session. Then i become flexable when the players seeming avoid everything i preped for. However, being flexable in a session with wasted prep time is strangly better than running the whole game from Improv which can be a disaster. Improv where you need it. being a little prepared goes a long way.

That blazer easily adds +2 cha. Stylin

Uncomfortable Truth (to some, but still needs to be heard): If you, as a DM, are tired of losing all the time, you're playing the wrong game. As a DM, you must be a fan of the players and their characters. They are your actors AND audience. If you have the mindset that you're constantly losing, you should play a PVP board game instead.

The care and regard with which we treat another human being, and the value of that connection *always* takes precedence over a game.

I disagree with the entire schema of friendship vs game. You can have a friend that it turns out you don’t want to play D&D with, and you don’t have to immediately ostracize them afterwards.

On difficult truths: You aren't creating D&D for a faceless mass of players, you're doing it with and for these specific people at your table. If they walk away happy and engaged, if they remember the events of the campaign fondly, you've succeeded. All other victories in DMing are ephemeral in comparison to this: Did your players have a great time?

This is fascinating! Extremely valuable content!

If there's ever an argument at my table, I always threaten them with switching over to Mario Party where EVERYONE'S gonna be mad.

hard choices are not as such in DnD, most players make decisions based on "now" in game, & the 2nd most important indicator for understanding a players actions is they are not thinking about the logic of the world the same as the DM; logic for a player are effected by occupation of thinking about not just what's going on in game, but also how the character would react. Meaning just because the players is not going to always see the same consequences that you do, so you should ask for a explanation of the reason the character to plan to act that way: it might be intentional just acting in character, it may be the player is to deep in the thinking about character mindset, or it could be 700 other things, but knowing *why* they are acting can help inform the storyline going forward.

I like to have concrete items/terrain/buildings made as well as detailed plans, that being said, the plans are less my own for the story and more the plans of the various NPCs and factions, subject to modification. I find it helpful for the players to have somewhere between 2-4 identifiable choices at any point where they need to commit to a course of action. I ran a campaign that was very open-world with dozens of potential paths that players could follow and they actually became very frustrated because they kept getting distracted and starting quests without finishing others. But they might have all had pretty bad ADHD, come to think of it.

One i've found especially with online discourse: Nobody will ever care about your world as much as you do. You do not need a comprehensive history of your setting and even worse - your players will *never* read it. Prep what's going to be interacted with. Players will engage with "history footnote A" as soon as it interacts with them and not a second before.

Players make the table

I play solo mostly now and sometimes run one-shots if there's an interest but there was this one DM back in the mid 90's who had his GF join a game to learn how to play. It was Shadowrun. Our patron was a dragon. It was neat. Next thing we know, it's a few sessions of just his self-insert NPC (the patron who hired our group) and her obvious avatar mooning after each other. Not sure what happened to the game because I just stopped going. Come to think of it, this was around the time I really got into dungeon crawls and 40k.

Just satisfyingly ended a good campaign with my friends. We are going to boot back up here soon and this is exactly what I needed to revamp our session 00 checklist!

Tabletop RPGs are social games and this means, there will be bullies. They may be just a single bad actor, but it can also be the majority of your group, that decides, that one of them doesn't belong at the table and will try to force that player out. As a GM, you are not obliged to enforce harmony in such case, but at least you should try to prevent as much emotional damage as possible for every side. Sometimes, it may be just a misunderstanding, that can be resolved. However, sometimes it will be bigotry. Never underestimate how even your best friends may be in the grip of some terrible prejudices.

Its especially a conflict when the other dm bins his entire game to shift it to Exandria when thats not possible because someone is running a game there already and the actual premise is theyre entirely different worlds!

This feels like it’s only useful for DM’s who are planning a sandbox game, which is fine. I’ve been in a few they are fun. Not my style though I tend to have a fully functioning world where people in that world are active and are doing things and react to the player actions so having an enemy run away from the players isn’t taking their agency away. It is a direct result of their actions A.k.a. My players are the primary aspect of my campaign but they are one of many things in action so they’re very important but are not the center of the universe there is more than one clog in the machine And the whole friend dilemma thing is just weird. You could just talk to your players see how they’re feeling it’s not that hard in all reality it’s just a game. The whole problematic couple thing just gives you a reason to help the person that’s in the right. I have heard many stories of couples joining and the group realizing one of them is being abused and they work together to help that specific person get out of that situation

I disagree with some of this. No game is more important than the people playing it. I might need a new group to play the game I want to play, or I might need to change the game to fit the style of the people I want to play with, but whatever I choose I should never value a thing above a person.

Be prepared...to make it up!

You won’t make the next middle earth, or Westeros, or cosmere. Your homebrew works and lore will inevitably be significantly less developed than those of dedicated storytellers and experts of key aspects of their worlds, and that’s ok. The important thing isn’t to know every detail of a deeply complex and interwoven narrative in the history of your world but to make enough that your players can believe it and enjoy it. Realizing this made it much easier to world build personally, I don’t feel like I need to have my silmarillion finished by session 1, just the shire so to speak.

Makes me wonder... How do YOU prepare for a game? How do you make sure that the "story" will still be interesting? I'd like to know if you got tips on heuristic/modular storytelling based on themes and concepts so to let the plot be player-driven while still be something "well written" in a sense. World building is obviously a big part of the answer. Thanks in advance :)

Uncomfortable truth: You really don't need another dice set. (That kickstarter though...) That being said, great video, I learnt most of those the hard way. Either as a DM or a player.

Wait which one trumps the other - #2 put yourself as DM first or #3 never impede player agency

Uncomfortable Truth: The enemy would not stop attacking when their opponent is on the ground, and neither should the GM. Have you dropped a player's character down to zero HP and they're going to have to make death saves, but Deathbringer isn't done attacking? Deathbringer would absolutely finish the job. Don't be afraid to kill when it's what the enemy would do.

The second point hit home really hard just now woopsie

"No dnd is better than bad dnd." -Dm Lair (I think?)

This is your best video to date. And that's saying something.

As for having players who get caught up in "hanging out with friends" and distracting from the campaign. ... I don't think that's got to be a bad thing as long as everyone is having fun... as a Dm the "real" social aspect of the game can be just as entertaining for me as progressing the plot. I don't think any RPG needs to be so serious that you have to get x amount of plot done in y time or it's a failure. Unless that's what everyone wants.

Now that's a spicy meatball.

Hi, interesting video. Whose is the art that you use?

There was some great artwork on the first 2 minutes of this video. It looked like it was all the same style or artist... do you have a link? Thank you!

"Reserve the right to do this for the sake of the game". Well....yes and no. I don't think GM's need to be given a sense of superiority. It's true they are often the sole host but it's a social endeavor that all the people at the table are signing up for. If that group of people is really too chill to mediate problems then the difficult situation would arise regardless of if it was a ttrpg that was being played.

Well said, DM.

Not yours to tell I think this is the number one most common large sin I see dms commit. " I investigate the rope.” says the player. "Okay" says the dm "as you grab hold of the rope...." Never assume player action. Neve take away player agency 5:00

For the most part, game systems are designed favorably for the players and not the GM, because you simply can’t rely on players to care enough about managing their characters, let alone help the GM run a fun session

wow.. almost 10 minutes and everything you said was wrong..

Here's one- You're not Matt Mercer, or any of the other famous DMs. Every effort you make to do something "like" one of these other DMs takes away from your game. Get good at the basics. Get to know your players. Get good at building the story that the table wants to play, and leave the showmanship to the actors.

Great stuff, dude!!!

Good as always

I enjoy your videos and find them helpful, but I find the AI art distracting.

Are you using AI art for the graphics you roll throughout?

I don't like to post negative comments on videos. And Baron's content is usually very informative and sensible, even when offers advice I disagree with. But this video reeeally rubs me the wrong way. Sorry if I come off a bit harsh, it's late here (Germany) but I know that if I postpone the comment to tomorrow I will simply never do it. To me this video very problematic. It's a mix of any of the root elements that are toxic and unhealthy in D&D (and mainstream Trad rpg) culture 😨 The problems presented are reasonable enough. But the mindset with which they are examined? And the subsequent "solutions"? Gosh... 1. Having people at the table that behave problematically (be they more or less justified by personal circumstances) does NOT result in a choice between saving the game or the friendship. Nor is the GM the person responsible for addressing such a problem. If a person behaves like an a-hole, obviously abusing the group's SOCIAL CONTRACT (no matter what the game rules allow or not) then the solution is to COMMUNICATE with them. As EQUAL PEOPLE (and supposedly friends), certainly not as "Master and Player". The game has to stop. The only sane solution is within the realm of social and human interaction, NOT in an extremely skewed power dynamic that only exists for the purpose of the game. Same with people that bring out-game conflict on at game table. COMMUNICATE. The human relationship ALWAYS comes first. Are you in distress? Are you in a bad mood? Are you whatever? Then HERE AND NOW we support you. The game stops. We chat, have a beer, play crokenole. Any other response means you value a game session more than a real world "friendship". And this is just sad and unhealthy. THEN... in case of gross or repeated abusive behavior... then the GROUP should decide whether to GENTLY reorganize their play activity. So the problematic people will not participate (and disrupt) the game for the rest, and instead will be called in for meeting and games they actually enjoy and are capable of having with the others. Certainly no one is KICKED out of the group. Certainly this is NOT a game master exclusive prerogative, nor their personal responsibility. I can't believe this sh*t is still going around as "good advice" (worse, as "hard truths") in 2023. Especially from an otherwise very good source such as Baron 😞 2. The GM needs to have fun too. True. The GM puts way more effort in the game than anyone else. True. As before, the "problem" is real. But, as before, the perspective is so toxic I can't even... The idea that the GM has to "make players happy" is THE reason GM burnout exists in the first place. And diverting it towards a sort of "egoism" where the GM comes first because they "deserve" it in virtue of all the work they put in while the others don't. If this weighs on you... then the problem is THE GAME. It's good that Baron mentions how GMs should not play novelists with their RPG groups... but how can they NOT do it when every element of the game structure (and the cultural "common sense" surrounding it) pushes them toward being an unpaid entertainer for a more or less interactive audience? :( Instead, every person at the table should BUY IN into the idea that each of them is responsible for everyone else's fun. We are friends trying to have a good time together. And we specifically agreed to do it by playing an RPG. If someone does a lot more than the others... there's a problem. Maybe that someone doesn't mind, then ok (until they burn out). But if that someone DOES mind, then the solution is not to make them the Alpha person of the game. The solution is to play a different game that supports a more SANE and SUSTAINABLE play activity. OSR games require waaay less "work" from the GM. Most Modern games require even less, or balance it in other ways. Hell... there are even gmLess games! Why is the Traditional solution always to insist on a game that PROMOTES resentment among friends? Why is the solution to fix an unbalanced social dynamic, the one between GM and Players, always to unbalance it even more, suggesting to the GM to focus even more on their role of "owner" of the whole game? Will we ever mature out of the 90s ? 3. Finally something that makes sense. Until it doesn't 😓 Why do I hear in the same breath that the GM should respect Players' autonomy and only mind the handling of world and NPCs, and that at the same time it is OK for the GM to "want the story to go a certain way" ??? Where the practical advice is to negate the Players the OPPORTUNITY to perform impactful decisions and actions??? Really? Wouldn't be easier (and again, more honest and healthy) to have the GM be simply HONEST and GENUINE? Play their NPCs as the GM thinks they would. Have undefined events unfold as they think they might. This is already A TON of power over the unfolding events of the game. Probably things will go as they wish. And if not? Well, that's just how the game works. The Players act and react and have the rules mediate this all. And the GM should play by the same rules. This puts a lot less strain on the GM, and teaches them good habits rather than toxic ones. Even contemporary D&D allows for this play attitude without creating too many problems. Why insist on forcing on the GM the idea that it is OK for them to decide how the game should go? Because it is NOT ok. And it is also NOT EASY, to thread the fine line between gently weaving the invisible threads of fate and railroading (or illusionism). Why teach GMs that the road to burnout is the correct one? 😡 4. I have no qualm with this point. It sounds like an awful lot of work for what I am used to... but that's personal preference and depends on the game being used. If contemporary D&D is the baseline, than sure, this is actually a substantial improvement on over-planning everything.

Your first point really got under my skin as a disabled person. A lot of us get shamed so much we're afraid to even ask our friends to accommodate us. You need to start including caveats about this when you make abrasive videos. Cause atm, I just feel like you see disability as an inconvenience that gets in the way of your gaming.

It bears repeating, but as you've explained in a previous video, DMs need to know that using WotC modules is generally a disservice to their game mastering. With their lengthy descriptions of encounter locations, poorly fleshed out NPCs, and box texts to be read to players, the modules do not give DMs what they need: brief outlines from which to improvise. Instead, utilizing WotC modules is usually more work than simply creating your own adventures. So the hard truth is you can't purchase an adventure to play from WotC and hit the ground running because of the prep time required. Third party adventures can be more helpful, but tracking down useful ones also takes time.

Facts.

The first point is no problem for me, since I do not run D&D but better games that have more focus on narrative elements, and thus all the murder hoboing is not happening. And yes, I want to enjoy running games as GM, which is why I find that entertainment mentality or even the idea to make it a job and hence a service a horrible idea. I agree mostly with the third point too, even though I have found ways to let the players meet the big bad evil gal early without having to negate any of their decisions. But again, I prefer systems that do not rely on combat and thus that is rarely a way to go, especially in horror games. And I am willing to risk TPKs should the players overestimate a situation, especially in horror, which is something I run a lot! The fourth point is why I plan not much, certainly no plot, but usually go more with the theme and thus I have always a through line on which I can base any improvisation on. What did I miss? I mean the thumbnail says five truths, but I counted only four in the video. Was the sponsoring counted as a bulletin point? Anyway, seems like the video was not really for me, but then, I run games for about two decades now.

Uncomfortable truth: Keeping track of the passage of time, even just a spreadsheet with “Campaign Day 1: fought goblin camp, talked to Ted the Tanner” is annoying but will make your game seem more real

The game.

First point is terribly made and the second one not much better. You don’t have to include everyone in your game- I have plenty of friends I would never invite to a TTRPG- but presenting it as if the game is more valuable than your friendships is a terrible way to express the idea, especially assuming many people watching these videos are fairly young and lacking in the life experience to handle a difficult situation like that in a mature and skilful fashion. I am in a long running game right now which has had several tense out of character moments and disagreements. Those have never got out of hand because all of us playing know that at the end of the day, it’s just a stupid game, not at all worth damaging friendships over. Yes, if someone is disrupting the game for everyone else, that person should be made aware that they are out of line, and if it continues they’ll be asked to leave the group. But handling that as if the game is more important than they are is a great way to needlessly damage relationships like an asshole.

I love your videos, the concepts you put forth and explain are always very useful to me and my game. However, I do have to call out that I have not enjoyed the AI generated images in the last couple videos. Not only is AI art generated from stolen art, but it is 98% white and/or male. It feels alienating due to both the repetition of white dudes doing everything and it makes me not want to support stolen art.

It's a little disappointing to see the use of AI Art in this video

great vid

"It's a good game if everybody has fun" is a bad axiom to live by. At best, it leaves you settling for C+ because everyone had fun; at worst it leads to the mall rats scenario. Puzzles and riddles are in the game because puzzles and riddles are fun, to the point that they're an entire category of game that people spend real money on. It cheapens the experience *and* says a lot about the player when they want to resolve part of the fun by just making a d20 check. Not every moment of every game even *should* be fun. Losing a baseball game generally isn't fun, but if you agreed to play baseball and you throw a little tantrum and want to leave in the middle because you're being blown out, *you have a serious emotional regulation or self importance problem and the whole game and hobby space would be better off if you moved on to something else instead of being a bad sport in a game of make believe.

I'm uncomfortable with your use of AI images.

Love the AI art. Not supporting you anymore

I see AI art, I dislike the video. Simple as.

We don’t all play D&D.

this is bad advice, i have a friend that just show up to look at the cellphone and roll dice, we got pretty pissed at the start but was just his personality

Omfg please quit using the words story and storyline. D&D isn't story time. THIS is the problem with 5e and 5e players.

not gonna lie, dungeon master burn out is not real, pce.

lol like we have infinite friends to throw, you will end up alone, the DM wants to build a world lord of the rings, the player wants to play a character spiderman, compromise or no game

"Fuck your friendships." - Baron de Ropp

The truth will set us free, but at what cost?

Painful truth: Do not get too attached to specific ideas, unless they are loose enough to get repurposed. E.g you make an NPC you think is cool and the players will love that they either don't encounter, or simply meet and walk off never to interact with them again. If you really care that much about them, just make them important to the overall plot. Another truth: There is no such thing as "balanced" in DnD, stop trying to make every encounter the same difficulty. Some should be easy, some should be hard, some are allowed to be "You guys really need to run". Same goes for items, or whatever. This is more tangential but I know it's something some DMs struggle with: When designing puzzles, the answer should be extremely obvious. I say extremely obvious because anyone who has designed a puzzle will think the answer is obvious already. Your players will overthink the puzzle simply because it is a puzzle. Create skill checks that will help them towards the answer, but won't solve it for them. Make each step in solving it obvious that they have progressed to the next step, so they aren't taking one step forward and two steps back continuously. Give the puzzle to someone who's not playing, and have them try and figure it out, if they just can't, you need to go back and look at it again.

For me the most uncomfortable truth that I had to accept to enjoy DM’ing is too not put a lot of effort into things, a la the sky flourish lazy DM. What’s the point of writing a complex history and personality of a villain if the party immediately just kills them? Worse yet, I found that when I put a lot of effort into a set piece encounter, I would feel obligated to force the players to experience it. Putting less effort into my prep means I’m not married to any concepts or characters until the actual session begins, and then I can adapt to the players decisions. I can still have cool villains or set pieces, but they arise naturally at the table, with a small bit of prep and a lot of improv. All that effort I used to put into prep, I know put into world building, which is mostly just for my own entertainment, not for my players.

Good overall, but there are much better ways to ensure player buy-in. A session zero where you lay out the type of campaign you intend to run, with it's overall focus, and judge whether players are a good fit for this campaign prevents a lot of kicking players out later on. Secrecy is *vastly* overrated. Further, prepping is a lot easier when you note what a character's goals are, and their player's interests. Most great D&D scenes can easily be inspired by a character's arc, backstory, and core goals, saving you the time and energy of convincing players to commit. End the session with major decisions like which route to take allows you to prepare in reaction to a decision the players have already made, rather than prepping for all possible decisions. Instead of trying to keep players focused throughout a long session, break for a short time before major combat, with the rule that once the battle stops, nothing will pause.

Sometimes "I love you." is pronounced "No." You can say no to someone you care for exactly because you care for them. The opposite of love is indifference, and often, trying to avoid hurting someone's feelings at the expense of telling them the truth is the most unloving thing you can do.