💖 Support us on Patreon and get Lair Magazine and other rewards! www.patreon.com/thedmlair ⚔ Get Lairs & Legends! Over 700 pages of D&D 5e GM resources: adventures spanning levels 1 to 15, 100+ new monsters, encounters, puzzles, traps, villains, NPCs, maps, and more! - the-dm-lair.myshopify.com/collections/lairs-legends

Honestly a lot of this is more "make sure the DM and players are on the same page". You can do almost all of these things in your home game IF the DM and players communicate and everyone agrees on the best approach. Not doing that will definitely lead to issues but so will bringing in a homebrew class or a new house rule or changing up how initiative functions or anything else. Successful games are built on a foundation of player/DM communication.

I think the thing here is that this stuff can be good advice for action-oriented tables, but a very large chunk of new groups are, as my wife just put it, more interested in telling collaborative stories with their OCs, than they are in an action packed game. For those tables, the emotional moments between participants, the "cool" moments in a dialogue, etc, and (again credit to my wife) even the action scenes they tell their friends about arre framed in terms of how they impacted the characters and the story and what the narrative leadup to and fallout from that event was.

The last three sessions of my game have had zero combat, but my players also went over time by an hour each of those sessions so they could do even more "Talky-talky". I guess they have been enjoying the story.

In my current campaign, I had a new player join at a point where the party was in the middle of nowhere exploring the lair of a dragon they had just killed. There was no logical way of introducing a new PC... So I had him frozen to the wall of the lair... The treasure was literally the friend they made along the way.

The one about talky talky is kind of subjective. A recent session I played in for a modern game a friend of mine is running had no combat and occurred across a total of three rooms, and it seemed like everyone enjoyed it.

I'd like to point out that sometimes a game at home may end in such a way that the entire next session will be combat, or social, etc. It happens that way sometimes.

Respectfully, I’ve done pretty much all of these things, and it’s worked really well! The key here is communication, and knowing what you and your players want. Some of them are huge fans of those shows, and want a similar experience. The others don’t watch the shows, but have been on board for all of the shenaniganry that you’re describing. One size for sure does not fit all, but most of these things can work well if done right, and communication is at the forefront!

I think it's extremely close-minded to condemn the concept of conspiring with a player. If a player is onboard for a particular narrative beat and it would help make the experience more interesting for everyone at the table there isn't really a problem. Matt Colville has a great video on this topic.

You certainly can conspire with players to create drama or some minor character thing, just never conspire to solve a problem.

These are definitely things to watch out for and be aware of. But as someone who's been dming since 2001 I could have made the same video and called it "eight things I do that my players say make my games the best they've been in." Streaming didn't create a new style. It happens to be the case that there's only a couple of gaming styles that make for good television.

I just wanna share a story for number 6. Back in the early games of our campaign, i had 2 players who confronted me saying they would like to switch characters, but they also informed the rest of the rest of the players, they didn't really know how they'd have their characters taken out of the story though, so as we were nearing the end of this siege on the city where they were I kinda explained a situation where I thought their characters could say goodbye, basicly it was them sacrificing themeselves so the others can escape, and these 2 players just picked up on it perfectly, they realised without me telling them directly that "this is our moment", and because the other players already knew that these 2 would be switching characters they didn't go to extreme lengths to stop them (of course they had a little rp moment of "cmon stay with us" etc.) But it also suprised them. In the end we had a very epic and emotional farewell to those 2 characters, everybody loved that moment and now after 2 years with still talk about it here and there

In a narrative focused game, the participants are also the audience. Much like improv theatre, which these tables are very good at. They aren't focused more on audience than players, they just know that each person at the table will be just as engaged as as an audience would be when two characters are having a dramatic moment away form the rest of the group.

I think it depends on the table. As a DM, I love to fully describe what my players see, but I won't go overboard with character monologues, as that isn't my style. I've found players that also are not super-focused on social encounters, and don't spend hours (literal in game time) role playing dialogues. Your DM style needs to meet your players expectations and desires, otherwise you'll get frustrated and annoyed when things don't go as planned.

Not all games are the same, but I want attentive, actively engaged, mature, patient, role players where we all have the same creative agenda. My creative agenda includes many of the things you mentioned as not do to.

That one about "the perfect moment" happened to me once, had to sit around for 5 straight sessions for my character to be introduced, then second session that I actually played one of the other players thought it might be fun to mind control my character so I couldnt play for another session, DM did nothing. Lets just say I did not stick around

We once successfully pulled off the "character planned to die" thing in a CoC oneshot. But that is probably because CoC has a much higher random character death rate than most rpgs...

My players and I can be a little too sparing on the talkie talkie. So I can try to encourage and facilitate it when I can, because I have noticed over the years that a decent amount of the right kind of talking can make the combat and exploration way more fun because it sets the stakes

Nah. My players LOVE these things. They LOVE social interactions. They LOVE description. We delight in an 8 hour sesh with no combat. One of my players was my DM that did all these things in a TEN YEAR LONG campaign that is still the epitome of what we chat about and compare things to, and that was way before Critical Role ever hit the ground. The ongoing story was THE reason we played. Some of us cried watching other characters play a side scene, it was that intense. Two characters got into a screaming match, and it was AMAZING. We conspire all the time. We trust each other to just roll with it. We never "planned" for long social interactions or long combat. We "planned" story. As a DM, I'm trying to balance the pacing so that my players are *interested* throughout the game. As other commenters have said, it's all about communication with the players - what do they like, what do they dislike, and how much trust will they extend to the DM for things they may not be sure about, and trusting their fellow players.

7:53 It's funny. I find the combat low intensity and the social back and forth high intensity. I feel more on the spot in social time. Combat turns are soooooo much easier.

The amount of balances you have to find is genuinely a challenge. The balance between Long-winded, overly dramatic combat and group maths, the balance between roleplay and gameplay, the balance between players' gaming preferences. At the end of the day, there's always going to be parts of your game that some of your players will enjoy less than others. It's a lot of lime-juggling. The best way I've found to make this easier for yourself is to tell your players what kind of game you're running. Because some will hate combat and love roleplay. Some will love keeping track of resources whilst travelling and others may just want to get from A to B in 8 seconds and just want progression. Make sure your players know what they're signing up for!

I really love shows like CR but I totally hear what you are saying. When I first started DMing I strived to reach Matt Mercer level, but I later learned that that was not realistic and caused me too much anxiety before a game. Your videos have been a huge help in getting me to focus on what is fun for the players vs epic highly produced story telling.

In regards to introducing characters, one thing that I have had work out in my home game is having the short solo vignettes for each character in the first session. You probably don't want to have them go on as long as Dimension 20 does, but it's a fun way to give the rest of the table a peek into the character's backstory (especially if they didn't create their characters together). Just make sure they know it's happening ahead of time, get their input on it, and make sure it ends with them all coming together. I do this by having the last question in my character creation questionnaire asking how their character got to the actual start of the campaign (examples include "why are you running through the woods," "why are you sailing to [location]," "why are you in jail," or "why are you at the royal ball?"). I use their answer to construct a short scene that leads up to them doing that thing.

Last Saturday we had a session where it was actually the DM who got frustrated that we spent 3 solid hours doing talky-talky! It's still very early in the campaign, and we had a lot of potential pc v pc conflict to air out and work through.

Great advice! Just want to note - only because I didn't hear it mentioned - the best piece of advice for any DM is to do what works for them and for their players. Sometimes, that does involve heavier role-play, extensive descriptions, and long sessions dominated by one element of the game. It always depends on DM style and player expectations, which is why Session 0 is so important. Generally, though, you make excellent points, as most new DMs tend to idolize show DMs and look to their styles as the de facto for how all D&D should be run, instead of catering the experience to their own strengths and table.

I had a great experience with a simulated PVP performance at the Witchlight carnival by two performers at the big top. It kept the stress out of it because it was a semi-coordinated match for the imaginary audience to enjoy. I could see a full brawl going poorly, but I had a ranger and a monk fighting with metal poles and magnetic arrows so it was a fun surprising session under a controlled circumstance.

The talking really depends. Our table is very RP heavy, and most players prefer story and interactions to combat - we've even had an entire minicampaign of seven sessions with only three instances of combat and it was amazing! For those of you asking "how was it not boring" - it was a whodunnit mystery about an alchemist that worked with a clan of ninjas to overthrow the shogun, our party was hired by said shogun to help solve the problem after clearing out a cursed temple. Also present was a cult of corrupt Jesuit monks that worshipped Beelzebub, the demon himself possessing one of said monks, a group of friendly revolutionaries, and a dried up mummy monk at another temple that gave dream life lessons. Did not miss combat.

I think DMs should discuss with their table to decide what works best for all of them. Much of what you described sounds like it's coming from combat oriented groups. There's nothing wrong with that style of play, but I personally enjoy increased focus on description and roleplay than each session being solely a math problem.

About "conspiring with the players" I often do this, either as DM or a player, where I discuss with the specific player (or DM) possible cool moments for their (or my) character. I''m personally a big fan of this. Obviously, we don't discuss EVERY moment like this, but that gives the player something to be looking forward to, and creates a cool moment other players get to witness. Just make sure to keep that limited. It's especially good near the start of a campaign to "show off" the ideal scenario the character was made to shine in.

This is really affirming! As someone who started as a player, jumped into watching Dimension 20 and Critical Role, and only THEN decided to take a shot at DMing (in that order), I held the bar incredibly high for myself after watching Brennan and Matt weave these beautiful narrative storylines, monologues, descriptions, you name it. I legitimately thought that was how world-building was meant to work. But as I picked up more experience, I realized I didn't have to describe every new place, NPC, whatever in excruciating detail. A big part of participating in this hobby is getting over our own perfectionism as artists, creators, storytellers, or just simply as people playing a game, and I think the greatest gift D&D gives people - if they allow it to be given! - is the ability to take a breath and really internalize that it's not all up to us as the DM (or even as a PC)- we're all co-creating together, and when it's balanced, the burden is no longer a burden. One of the most crucial things I've learned since starting to watch your videos is to champion player agency above all else. I really do think this is the best core maxim to use when making decisions as a DM / always ensuring your game is the best it can be. Thank you for that :)

I also would argue about the descriptions; while they shouldn't take up ridiculous amount of time, if your players are engaged they are not a problem and sometimes can be a GREAT way to reward players that pay attention. For example I once used a trick when every few descriptions of a place I would throw in a mention of a black dog. I never underlined it; it was basically a throw-away mention that a black dog was there. After several such instances, one of my players decided "Hey: what the hell is with that dog" and actually interrupted my description to ask if he could walk up to the mutt. A simple act that eventually led to said player coming into possession of one of the most powerful weapons within the campaign as it ended up ^^' But for long descriptions to work, players must be engaged in the world, story and characters. Same goes with social interactions to work.

Number 3: I ran a couple sessions after our group finished Lost Mines of Phandelver while giving our regular DM time to prep for Storm King's Thunder. With one PC continuing, I had him be the reason for the trip down the High Road. It took like a minute to introduce our first new PC, a couple of minutes of interaction and after five minutes (like half-day in-game) from the start of the session we meet our second new PC. Having all three at the same place at the same time would have been lame but it's not like I'm going to have the guys meet at sessions apart, jeez. It was my first time DMing and boy was I lost at times but that's just common sense.

Brennan, and Matt among others would agree with you. Do *not* try to be like their games. Though I have been playing around the same time as most of the PRO DM's; I DM very differently than him or Brennan but my players have fun. I think a lot of newer DM's struggle with this the same way new writers try to emulate their favorite authors. Things I do or try to do: 1. I do use voices for NPC's I always have it livens up the game but I am not a voice actor and as the night wanes on this wavers a bit if I get tired LOL 2. I let my players describe their new spells the first time they cast them 3. I do not use maps unless there is a tactical reason to use a map - You have to learn to be okay with fuzziness. "How far away am I? About 30 feet, you could probably get to that Orc if you needed to." 4. I try not to use dice rolls whenever possible 5. I do not allow party conflict, thats a hard rule. If it starts I ask the players involved the step away from the table and sort it out before they come back without dice and characters involved. It is NEVER "my character" this in real life is always about the players themselves taking issue with something and I am not a life coach go work it out. 6. I do not use alignment and tell my players to forget everything about the system as it doesn't exist. There are no "evil" parties. Alignment is a cool tool but its usually just an excuse to be a d*** and nothing should be that black and white. Not every Red dragon is a psychopath. 7. I have my characters write a backstory before play begins and I work with them to figure out what kind of story they are trying to tell with that character, what do they want to see happen. - Sometimes if its a combat focused player their story is simple they want to kill stuff and make gold. Easy - A recent player of mine really wanted to "be a dragon" so I worked with them and their backstory is they are in fact an old silver dragon who was cursed by an enemy (a BBEG) and every time they die they forget everything after the curse 50 First Dates style. But they reappear unharmed in their lair... its a nasty curse. So they keep journals in their old lair and during downtimes they take the journals back and store them. Occasionally when they kill a big enemy one of their lost journals is found. Their story arc is that one day they will indeed end that curse and they know as a player that means at the end of the campaign their character will become a dragon again ... and have no reason to adventure any longer and will return to doing dragon things. So they are telling the story of a slice of that characters life. - I have had a player write a story for a Goliath fighter who woke up from a drunken brawl but has no memory of how they arrived in the city. All they had was a note to meet with the NPC to kick things off. So their story was a Hangover style story amidst the rest of the game. They would occasionally remember things 8. This is likely the most important. Listen to your players. - I had one tell me I took away any chance of negotiating with enemies when I would say roll for initiative. In my mind I was just moving to tactical tracking to keep track of time, and where everyone is if combat happens. In their mind rolling for initiative meant combat was imminent. I adjusted how I transition. Now I say, "Lets move to turn based gameplay." That way everyone gets a chance in order. I just go around the table and dont call for initiative until combat begins. Some things I _do_ think DM's could adopt that are helpful... 1. Teach your players to let you as the DM talk - just respect them and keep it brief - For example I try to set aside a 30 minute detritus session before a game starts I call: "Office Hours" it allows people to show up early, eat if they like, BS with other players and ask me questions - I hold one of those same sessions for 30 minutes after the game typically 2. Always try to find a way to say, "Yes" to your players. Not exactly give them what they want but if they express a desire to accomplish something try to find a way to make it work 3. Keep you ruling consistent 4. Have a conversation with your players about what they are looking for in the game - I do this before every campaign or a new player joins 5. Use downtime. No seriously, use downtime. Between adventures in campaigns I set each adventure when possible a few months apart. I then ask each player what their character is doing during that time. This allows for spell research, crafting items, personal quests etc. Its entirely narrative and involves combat very rarely as it is a low risk thing - I use these to introduce a new player to the game when possible - These are great chances to "tell a good story" if that is your thing as the DM

Some good thoughts, and mostly correct. It can depend on the game and the players though. My wife and I play a one-on-one campaign (I the DM, her the player, also known as a "duet") and in that setting, the "talky-talky" can really take center stage. We often play whole, multi-hour sessions with little to no combat or exploration, because we are both so committed to the narrative we are building. Of course, we have also played combats that have lasted a whole day when the situation warrants it. Also, bacon could quite possibly be the world's most perfect food. Please ship me several packs of the tasty stuff! :'D

I just started watching DnD videos (both Dm training ones like yours and DnD shows) and I love the fact that you constantly refer to the fun factor. That is the ultimate goal, whether it's a Monty Haul campaign, a super realistic campaign or anything in between, the goal as a gm is to make sure everyone (including yourself) is having fun. The fact that you constantly mention that within multiple videos of yours that I have seen let's me know you get it. I've been playing for over 35 years and have run multiple campaigns in which the party constantly grows in size because of word of mouth and enjoyment and I can't stress how important it is to focus on both you and the party having fun. I cannot imagine a game session in which a person had to wait three sessions to play. I've had people added in middle of a campaign, but it's usually no more than 20 minutes into the session (although we did have one time the party nearly killed the new character because they didn't realize it was a new character type of thing) I love your passion for these things and enjoy the rants you do....

Thank you Luke for this video! Not only did it come with some good tips for me (a few-oneshots-dm), but it also made me appreciate my DM and co-players in my regular campaign even more. My DM has done a great job of keeping it balanced between the three pillars, but us as players also really appreciate the occasional prolonged monologue or long exploration or combat encounter, we have even had one player who's character was kidnapped and he was still there for almost 2 full sessions just observing, before the party managed to rescue his character, and he was there just to not miss out on the story! :D And our DM also put up with a lot of our shenanigans like when we pass through a village that he just intended for us to rest at the inn but we decide to have a good 2 hours of social interactions and he just goes with it! Sorry for the boasting comment, but I just wanted to say that I'm really happy with my party!

These tips are way more helpful than watching out for the "Matthew Mercer effect"

I am running my own campaign with my friend and brother, and your advise has made me a better DM although I am still new at this I am getting better at it. I also like how straightforward you are with your answers and tips, they are great. P.S. I would eat bacon every day if I could.

This feels like a really narrow viewpoint. As has been stated in the rest of these comments some tables love the talky talky stuff. I had an entire session where my players did nothing but talk to npcs and buy dresses (all male group btw). And they loved it. I think rather than stating things you shouldn't do, cause every table is different, the key is communicating and making sure everyone is on the same page.

This is such a great video with amazing insight and advice. Thank you for saying what needs to be said!

Interestingly, in my online, weekly game, every bit of this applies. The sessions would be horrible slogs by not following this advice. But in the one-shot I ran recently in-person, I ran it exactly contrary to this advice. Everything you're saying not to do, I absolutely did. And there, it was incredibly successful. The lesson I take away from both experiences is the importance of knowing your audience. My weekly game is more action-oriented because that's what my players want. My one-shot was cinematic because that's what those players wanted. Both are successful, because both groups knew what the boundaries and expectations are.

I always appreciate good DMs sharing with us amateurs how we can run smooth games and not necessarily a production! Great job Luke!

I needed to see this video - I'm in the middle of prepping for a game, watched this and realised I've been unintentionally monologueing all this time. I took a look at what I had prepped, cut down half the stuff I wanted to say and now just made the information available should they ask as opposed to just flat out telling them. Thanks as always! a MASSIVE help

Thanks Luke, for the newer DM’s they made not been part of a live table. This is all good advice.

Thank you for the valuable advice. I'm returning to D&D after being away for years and I have to admit, I learned a lot by watching the entire second season of Critical Role. But I've also been watching videos made by very experienced DMs , like you, to help balance out my "crash course education".

I am here to confirm 1) my love of bacon, and 2) that Luke does not suck. He is actually quite cool.

I am seriously so glad that I stumbled upon your channel dude. I've been a dm for a few other campaigns, but I always struggled to really execute the game play. But your advice helps me so much! I can't wait for my new upcoming campaign I'm in the process of making (thanks to your video series of how to build a campaign!)

This was really helpful for me thanks. I definitely have expectation issues forgetting the shows are changed for audiences.

I think a lot of this entirely depends on the group. Especially the second one. Some of my players for example aren't massive fans of combat, and in recent games 4-5 of them have been entirely limited exploration and NPC discussion. I have balanced it however by giving pros to those, keeping everything interesting by throwing in details to be pieced together, and having entire sessions of combat as well. This works with my group, and they really enjoy it, and that's what channels like this and other DM advice channels always say: Learn your players, only YOU as the DM can know what works for them, and creates the most fun game for all of you. Hope This Helps :)

"FUN and sometimes challenging... eeh, often challenging" 😆 Love you too Luke, never stop, how you say, "telling it like it is"!

Just have to say, love that picture with the Gelatenous Cube in the background with the Tabaxi floating in it.

This time i will wright a little bit more to assure that the Algorithm take me in to account. I really like the moments, where it is obvious that you are personally engaged in the topic. Also it was great, as you say "... and WE can learn from those things." You don´t make a distinction to your audience. Love it! Carry on.

For me, the tip on 5:03 helps a lot to resolve the 11:42 problem . In my region is a comum sense to start a game with the PCs not knowing each other And every time, they fight, they plot. And just sit in the character creation saying "Hey your characters already meet and are at least colleagues" Solves a looot of problems, the game go so smoothly

In the past I have certainly been guilty of waiting for a the 'right' moment to introduce a player's new character. As I've gotten older I just contrive the S*** out of whatever situation they're in and drop new characters in right away. Also - reaffirming love of bacon. I'll expect you at my doorstep forthwith. Come, bring bacon, stay for the D&D. :P

Keep these videos coming they are very useful and give a lot of good information.

Love your content, thanks mate!

Multiple of the points are unnecessarily absolute and very much can work in a real game in a subdued version and dependent on the table mood. But unless you really know what you are doing and really know your players, these minutiae are better left for people that do (you'll get there eventually through experience) and keep the start simple enuff.

Personally speaking, I love giving good descriptions when DMing, and my players enjoy hearing them. I mean even the early modules text blocks for players had extensive descriptions. They are integral to setting the "stage" of the room or area your players are existing in. I don't know, maybe there are some people out there who just want your average board game hack and slash, but D&D is so much more than that in my opinion. I think if a dm is describing something and players aren't listening, then they need to reevaluate their narrative and practice their improv skills a little more (which is mostly done by playing). These so-called pro DMs you refer to, I mean they're successful for a reason--they're good at what they do. And while that is nice and all, let that inspire you, but always strive to be a better you. And by all means if any of you see something that one of the so called pro DMs do, that you want to do, I say go for it. You lost me on this one DM Lair...after #1. I'm not upset about the list, it just feels like it comes from somewhere personal for you. I just think it is bad advice for someone's personal DMing growth.

Awesome video. Another good way to approach this entire problem is to simply focus on the importance of communication, as this is not only important for a fun and coherent gaming experience, but is imperative in all successful interpersonal relationships. Whatever you wanna do, in game and in life, the sky (or the dirt) is the limit, all you need are communication and consent.

Thank you for this. I did not do all of it and some of it I was just trying to go for, but your video helped me understand why I shouldn't.

As a DM, I can’t make it through a single full Critical Role session due to getting bored. I strive to make my games fun for my players

Love it luke! Everyone should adjust for what their players want. There is no one the DM has to impress but them.

Sometimes as a GM it's a cool idea to conspire with players for certain specific parts of character stories. For example, after the party's warlock died, his imp survived, so we talked to the GM to make a conflict between the warlock's new character and the imp, hinting that she has been manipulating the warlock all along......

This is an awesome perspective! Thank you!

Thank you. I’ve always been concerned at the lack of ‘talky talky’ at my table, which a good number of players don’t feel comfortable with and so a couple people steal the spotlight. I learned to play 5e basically by watching CR. Glad to see this isn’t some glaring deficiency 😄

to all DMs: dnd shows are *not* playing dnd. they are making a dnd show. your games will never look like those games because you are playing dnd, while they are not

Great insights! Thanks for the reminders!

Number 3 happened to me once, except I don’t think the dm even had a plan because they kept responding with a "jus trust me" type response and leave me out of the game, while INTRODUCING OTHER PLAYERS and the players started to see an overcrowding problem. I was one of the first to volunteer leaving because I was scared people would resent me if my character nobody knew remained at the cost of a player who’d already gotten a dynamic with the others. The campaign quite literally died after that whole ordeal because the dm was sad and wanted to make a second game for those who left, even though he’d already done something like this in the past and had to end all his previous campaigns early as a result.

Nah, the conspire with your players bit shouldn't be on here. You're immediately taking it to the extreme by saying "oh everything's planned out and do noe nothing will be fun for them" but that's never what someone means when they want to conspire with a player. I want my character to become a werebear, so I told the DM that. So that he can prep a chance for me to achieve my goal. What if the player wants to be a secret traitor? You gotta conspire with the DM for that. Conspiring with the DM doesn't mean "you plan out that player's every single move", you tell the DM what you want to do and they help give you the chance to make it happen. Travis on CR, to use a relevant example, simply told mat he wanted chetney to be introduced later on in the game. But obviously they couldn't just not have him in the game for several sessions. So he played Bertrand. And they planned for Bertrand to be offed, but Travis didn't know when or how until it happened. That's hardly the "everything is planned and they have no fun" situation you described.

As a DM I know I could never be Matt Mercer, I don't create broken, overpowered, munchkin subclasses that artificially accelerated the powercreep in 5e. Did no one at WotC bother to vet them?

Wise comments and things to keep in mind. There are definitely things to be learned from Pro DMs, but some of the best DMs to watch on KZfaq are the old grognards that sit back and let their players just move the game along, like say Jeff Richards of Chaosium, rather than trying to put on a goofy show like Matt Mercer. It's a whole different style of game.

The longer an npc monologues, the higher the chance that someone is going to light something on fire.

These shows are effectively dnd porn. Some version of the game that isn't realistic and will never happen in reality.

A recurring element in our current campaign is the conversations one of the party members have with his wife trying to explain their involvement with horrifically dangerous magical situations. These are long back and forth roleplay bits between just that player and the DM that the rest of the party are not aware of in game. These are also some of the most interesting, tense moments in our game that all of us look forward to despite having to sit out of playing and watch. Probably wont be as fun if your group isn't all improv theater people but it's totally possible to have friends who are so good at that kind of thing that it's very entertaining to watch, hope you're able to diversify your friend group and experience how fun it can be.

I once went six MONTHS before my character was introduced. It didn't bother me at all because the campaign had a number of adventuring NPC's and the DM had me playing them.

I would claim that long monologues from DMs do not work in the shows either. I want to see the characters explore the world. I want to discover the world with them. Those long monologues are usually dense with unfamiliar terms, and I do not retain them. A few shows have lost me due to long flowery intros.

This was my problem with Sir Bertrand's death in CR Season 3. Matt and Travis obviously planned all that out ahead of time, and Bertrand 100% had to die for Matt's DM narrative story to go the way he intended it to. Travis had his backup character already to go, and was clearly planning to play the backup character for most of the campaign. I get why they did this from a storytelling perspective, but to me it felt very bizarre, like all of a sudden the D&D game came to a full stop and they cut to a section of a movie. Bertrand had no reasonable chance to survive, which was by design. Any DM who had a PC die in that manner in an actual game would correctly be criticized by the player.

Watching this video was like listening to my mind talk + explaining the why! Great video. Thanks.

Great advice! As others have said, some of things can be pulled off to great effect, but it’s a good general rule to avoid them.

Very much enjoy the tips. Thankyou. Can't help but see the irony of not going on a huge monologue by the guy who does exactly that. Perhaps it's a "Rantologue". 🙂 Smiley face for added cuteness.

I love your videos, they have been a great source of both information and entertainment. I also love bacon and would LOVE that personal he delivery. 😁😁

For #3, I actually had it PERFECTLY aligned in my campaign; a tavernkeep had his wife kidnapped by bandits who were holding her ransom in his own house. The party decided to try to stealthily save her, and the tavernkeep decided to tag along (due to all 3 making persuasion rolls under 10 lol) Fast forward a bit, the session ends right before they enter the house. Over the week, another friend asks to join the game and gives me a character she made. Lightbulbs pop up, I ask if she's okay being the tavernkeep's wife, and she agreed. So next session, it's less than 15 minutes of the session before she's introduced into the party

On my refrigerator is a magnet that says, "People who say 'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' have obviously never tasted bacon." I love that magnet!

I actually just finished watching Dimension 20's Blood Keep episodes, and it's amazing how many of these points I noticed without any actual D&D experience. They very obviously had 1 episode of story telling and exploring with sometimes only a few dice rolls the entire episode, and then the next one is entirely fighting. I hope to be starting my first game with coworkers soon, I'll keep these tips in mind.

Thank you for pointing out the problem of perfect introduction. Two of my friends couldn't participate in two sessions because new dm waited for the perfect moment introduction. We had to sit with him and explain that we don't care about small story inconsistancy as long all of us can play together

This video (actually, this whole darned channel in general!) is one of the best resources for me! I'm coming up to running my first ever D&D campaign (I'm a veteran White Wolf DM), and the differences in the systems are making my brain kinda go "ASKDFGHLCBLARGAUGH!!11". So, thank you for being both informative AND entertaining!

Yeah, this is very hit or miss with the long speeches. My buddy had a character that all the players fell in love with, when he died he went on a 5 minute monologue and we all loved it and ate it up! It works when everyone is on the same page

Most of these can be done depending upon the group. My group has always cared about story first and everything else 2nd. They LOVE talky-talky for instance. I have had multiple time where I, as the DM, didn't say anything for 30 to 40 minutes while they sat around a fire or at an inn just having conversations and getting to know each other in character. Those are always some of my favorite moments.

OH MY GODS THANK YOU!!! I just started DMing (tonight’s my second session) and the DnD shows are honestly terrifying. I like Critical Role but I’ll never be Matt Mercer. I feel like other DMs try to be like the pros and it sets up bad expectations for players. Anyway thank you so much for this-you literally addressed all of my concerns that I felt in my gut were right but was being contradicted by watching the pros.

I gave a narrative description of the bbeg lair as the PCs entered, what they saw and with accompanying music. Built up the encounter, lasted maybe 2 minutes? I rehearsed and scripted what I was saying to keep it as short as possible. It built the suspense, heightened adrenaline and ended with "I would like you to roll for initiative." They were hyped. (Foundry so quick initiative and started, they downed the arc villain relatively quickly, but then had to deal with an awakened warfordged titan)

I think it's good to think about these things and make sure you're not comparing yourself to professional streaming DM's-- but I'd also like to add my voice to the many others here in saying that most if not all of these things are the style of game that I enjoy the most as a player or as a DM. I LOVE the talky-talky, story-driven games, and if the DM is up to fun character monologues and conspiring with players behind the scenes on any number of secrets, that's amazing! That being said, I do like to try and add plenty of puzzles / exploration / combat encounters into my story because (while they require more prep time) they are much less demanding and stressful in the moment than narration & roleplay. But for me, the narration and roleplay are the foundation for why my players even care about the combat/puzzles/etc in the first place. Like many are saying, though, it's between the players and the DM to find the balance that works for them. ^^ Also-- I kind of don't love the implication that you should avoid doing these things in order to avoid your players being mad at you / eachother / fighting / being distracted on their phones. If you're having those sorts of issues, there are other things (communication, mostly, or finding a new group if it's really bad) that will address it a lot better than leaving out aspects of the game that are fun/enjoyable to you out of fear.

I wish my DM now did even half of this. It's like getting rushed through a video game while they skip the dialogue.

I just started DMing D&D, have been a long time player, but wanted to dm my own story. I love using your advice for combat and all aspects, though ironically my group loves the talky talky, loves me giving long narratives on details. While it makes it much harder to do the job, I love it as so.

Thank you so much. You are fantastic

Like you said, I’m glad that shows like Critical Role and Dimension 20 have brought more people to the hobby. Growing the hobby benefits all of us. The sooner we realize we aren’t Mulligan or Mercer, the sooner we can get on with being the best version of a DM we can be that even gets more people into the hobby

Aw man, one of my favorite moments was a moment of tension with a player! My Paladin - youthful and inexperienced - had to look like a coward or fight our Dwarven Fighter leader, and it's put real tension between the two of them. I absolutely loved it.

Good advice! Shared it to several D&D community discords & friends. Also, I'm waiting on that bacon. I'm holding you to your word.

I do so enjoy a good rant! Luke, you never disappoint. :D

Wow it must be an absolute joy to play D&D with you...

The DM and a player has conspired for a story beat at the end of one of the adventrue, but it was where a player wanted to retire his character, so the DM sent him out in a blaze of glory type of thing. But it was set up between the two on a "If you guys manage to beat the BBEG, and he tries to escape, chase after him" was about all the conspiring that took place. It ended up with the character in a crashing helicopter heroically punching a drake in the face to save the city from an engineered plague. Also, I have had PvP in my games, but, it was to cover a big exposition dump. Basically what the DM did was hand us a bunch of high level character sheets, divided us into two groups, and had us play out the titanic clash between two sides that our characters had discovered in the history books. It got us invested in the lore, and the GM didn't have to narrate it all. The GM had multiple outs for the story based on which side won and so on.