We had a player and she would always show up to a play session with her amazing homemade pies, She played a ranger and the rest of us players quickly made a secret pact where we would give our own lives to save her if she was in danger.. save the ranger save the pies. :D

i love how the "player" who always gets bullied switches place to not get picked on, yet the player he switched places with is the one who's praised in the video

I like it when veteran players patiently help newbies understand the game, not by telling them what to do and dominating them, but by gently explaining options and rule mechanics.

"Nah, that ain't my style, brotha." That was some nice acting.

Dude, I love the way you illustrate your points with those fun characters. You really strike that balance between informative and entertaining. I get so excited when I see that you've posted a new video!

I often forget all of those folks are the same person, I love how you keep your videos fun to watch with those characters :D

8:18 Me, as both a player, and a part-time DM: TWO WEEKS. IT'S NOT TOO HARD TO THINK ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER FOR A FEW MINUTES WITHIN TWO WEEKS.

My favorite thing any player has ever said during a game was, "are you the GM? Then you don't get to make up the rules" immediately following our local rules lawyer trying to police the game. I'm so happy when players not only police themselves, but are willing to stand up for the GM if a player is being uncooperative.

The note taker! I can't tell you how many times I've requested to see my one player's notes just to make sure my own were on the mark. With all the irons we have in the fire, it's so nice to have a player who is not only willing to take on a few irons herself, but work with those irons to help build the campaign. My note taker recently handed me several pages of character background info that contained a faction, 10 NPCs, an iconic location, and several potential plot hooks. When my current plot line ends, I'm likely just going to use all that to build the next campaign. Now that's a co-GM!

I hate you - you are a genius! I love it! Absolutely love you video. Your characters are super cool. Truly awesome. Let's do something together!

I have no idea why you are not more popular on here, man; your videos are so fun to watch! I love your format! Please keep up the great work!

i like the player that helps others shine. the one who fits their builds to create set-piece moments not just for themselves but for others. this seems to be a subset of the prepared and excited player since they learn how their team works and what they can do to make others enjoy the game more. these are typically the players that give you small trinkets that can be handed to other players when they cast buffs so the other player can remember their buff easier.

I still feel so weird when I hear people praise those that bring food to share. At our table it was never even a discussion, we just always do bring snacks and drinks. We'll even have potluck once in a while. It's great, and makes me sad that other tables don't have the same joy.

Agree on all points. I especially love the players that bring excitement and food. One of my players almost always brings me a beer; love that guy! A special shoutout, too, to my players that host our game sessions. We couldn't do what we do without them!

I love it when players give me as a GM story hooks to work with, like "My PC is betrothed to someone she's never met." or "My brother left to be an adventurer when I was young after a falling out with my father and I've been keeping an eye out for him ever since." or even something as simple as, "Hey dude, I've always wanted to do a musical session or a ballroom scene or something." Just little tidbits to get those creative juices flowing in a direction that you're sure the player can get excited about. On that note I like it when my players do stuff to add to the lore between sessions, like "Hey I want to talk to you about the nature of my paladin's religion I had some thoughts..." or "So I was thinking that my orcish samurai could come from a culture that's kind of a blend between Japanese and Scottish..." Stuff that's important to their characters, but that you're probably too busy writing adventures to really play around with. I suppose this is sort of splitting hairs with the player who's excited to play/thinks about the game between sessions this is specifically world-building stuff that's purposely open-ended enough that I can take it and play around with it.

My favorite players are the highly co-operative, team oriented players. Specifically, the ones who keep the party together, alive, and on track. In most games of D&D I've been in they trend toward Paladin, Bard, or sometimes a Fighter. I doubt class really matters but they also tend to being a party face. Having a player who can be the glue to assemble the party is invaluable when you have large tables or conflicting characters in play. But that's just in my experience.

Haha, this is so much fun to watch. I wish we could see a whole campaign done in character. Maybe Seth Skorkowsky's magnum opus of videos? (Roleplaying about roleplaying, i.e. meta-roleplaying, not to be confused with metagaming . . . hmm . . .)

Suggestion for your next video, 5 awesome GM traits.

Honestly, this is one of the most underrated channels on KZfaq. Seth, you're awesome, keep up the great work!

So, every time we have a new campaign starting, we start an IM group (like on Messenger) and I really love it when they make plans during the week. This expands on the section of this video where one person thinks about the game in the "between time". One person is thinking about something game related and brings it up and that get everyone thinking about it! It really helps me plan, too.

I'm a little surprised you din't have dude-bro player (that's just how I think of that player) go, "aww, man!" when you gave the video's title. I would have totally included that in the script.

I think we can all agree on one thing: we need to hear about the adventures of Captain Horatio Burnwood.

I Love the shirt! #1 is very, very important. When I GMed Apocalypse World, I got frustrated because the players weren't taking notes and weren't thinking about the game between sessions, so I kept having to remind them of details over and over, as the energy drained out of the campaign little by little. A player who's paying attention and taking notes can be the GM's best friend.

I appreciate note takers and cartographers. I call note takers "Lore Masters". Help me with all the the names and details

I always really love the players who dive into their characters, especially their character's special traits and flaws. That makes everyone roleplay more, allenig the party to create awesome or funny moments without needing the DM to create a handle for them.(Might be that I just feel this way because I play with friends from my theatre association :P so roleplaying to the max is kind of a given for us ghehe)

You know you've got great players when you watch this and certain ones come to mind with each point. I'm just another player in our group, but my friends definitely fall into most of these in different ways. Our bard is our awesome chef, and our monk has his entire character planned out from level 1 all the way to level 20. We've all had to be mediators at some point because we have terrible Adhd sometimes. Even I spend a lot of time between games looking up obscure feats and spells to see if I can make my ranger/cleric more effective. And it's capped off with a highly talented GM who's adaptable, clever, and entertaining. I love my group. 😊

I have noticed that your shirt selection is often extremely awesome.

I'd like to add my favourite kind of player. The co-op storyteller... Since I direct sandbox games with a lot of free will, it is amazing to have one player that goes along building up your story and only trying to add more drama and depth to your game. They re totally centered around improving the story... And let me tell you, that's awesome.

One time in a game of Degenesis, our group got so into the game, we discussed a ton of stuff outside the game to the point where we far exceeded the ability of the GM to even accommodate our forethought. We planned into opening a communal bar that also served as an auctioning house, set time tables and ground rules to not upset the balance of local interests, all so we could promote communal growth and improve trade. Then we ended up discussing the government of our new town for weeks between sessions, discussing mode of government, how to transition from tribal groups into a common group identity, how to organise taxation, property rights, assigning positions, voting rights, civil service etc. In the end lityle of that had much of an effect because we were overthinking the details when the GM was interested in broad narrative strokes. However, we made a big dent in the world with our efforts and had a ton of fun. Getting halfway to drafting an actual constitution has to mean you care, doesn't it?

I like this one, in part because I'm always a tad worried that I exude some negative traits in a game, and I'm always looking to improve. Having some of this stuff laid out has helped me kind of appreciate some of what I didn't realize I was doing right.

I love the planner. The player that communicates with everyone else and puts together plenty of options and plans for taking down hard enemies. Once I had a guy who just threw everything he could into defense. He was a crazy durable warforged that carried around a heavy duty Tower Shield. He would literally block off the majority of a doorway and take up a defensive stance exclusively for the point of having me and the other melee characters flank him and attack over and under his shield. Everything we did in that campaign was almost as if the entire party was a single character. Everyone supported everyone else. We had players D buffing the enemies and buffing us, we have people calling out and weaknesses and Rapid firing intelligence checks to see how much they knew about the enemy they were facing, and we had someone who will put everything into defense and we had me who put everything in offense. Together we constantly fought and decimated enemy groups far above our own challenge rating. All because we knew how to work together and chain our abilities. So having planners in the group just works out amazingly. Sure, it might make the game a little too easy sometimes, but I far far prefer to think of that not necessarily as making it easy but more of a plan coming together perfectly.

There is a term at my table called “Side-Kicking”. The concept is that a player will in-game help facilitate or create a spotlight moment for other PC’s maybe something like withholding the final blow on a villain for a PC that had a more personal investment in the villain. Or playing in a way to empower and support others more so than getting glory kills. Or even just simply asking questions to from PC to PC to get the other PC to drop hints or details about their mysterious backstory. I think one of the biggest reasons the mystery backstory or even edgy backstories work in movies but not in DnD is due to no other main characters (PCs) showing interest in them.

I offered to bring Oreo's to my first game with a new group only to find out that the place we were meeting didn't allow food. ;_;

I just want to say a general thank you to you, Seth. The time you and other experienced DMs/GMs put into your channels has been a blessing to me. I'm running my first Pathfinder campaign using the Hell's Rebels modules and your videos have helped me immensely in my story telling and planning, as well as supporting my players by discouraging bad behaviors before they become habits, and encouraging thoughtful role playing.

I have to say this: this is our group. I couldn't ask for a better group of players (we all have our 'bad player days', but not often). Keen, basically honest, often bring food and help the game along when necessary. If they read this, they know who they are.

While I've never played DnD, I can understand the need to keep players calm and collected as much as possible. This bring to mind a rule within my choir class back in school. Through Middle and High school I had the same teacher/director for both. Was even in his humanities music class(aka music appreciation), as I enjoyed his class all the time. Still my fave class to this day. Regardless, the first rule we had for choir, was to leave all drama from life and school outside the classroom. This was to prevent fights between students over petty drama, as well as to create a calm environment so we could focus on the task at hand. And naturally if anyone was having a particularly bad day our director would let us know about it and ask us to help support them through the class and day. We practically became a sort of family unit and my class in particular even began the nickname of Grandpa for our director. He got used to it overtime, even though word of the nickname spread to younger classes and everyone started using it. Hehe. Regardless a similar rule to that could be applied before games. Life is hectic and often shitty for people. So giving players a chance to vent before the game, to talk out disagreements, or to get something off their chest, could be beneficial. It makes the games something to look forward to all the more. At least I could see it that way. But hey maybe I'm just being optimistic, as I said I've never played. Though I have a desire to try it out in due time.

I definetly cherish the Player who comes up to me between the Sessions with Ideas of Plotlines he'd like to play and has some nice Ideas how to weave them into the World i create. A Player who "Co-Creates" (even on a Meta-Level). Because this Way he is like a Muse to me as GM and also I learn more about his Char and the Players understanding of "Roleplay" to bring this into my Story and thus make the Plot feeling more "alive" for the other Players. I order every Player to give his Char an Agenda, a Motivation for doing so as he does - a personal "Plot" you may say. Thoose "Personal Plots" are the Inspiration for me as GM as well as a Hook for the Players to go on. This way, every player is the "Main Char" from Time to Time but do not get silly due "Plot Armor" - the opposite, they fear Death and get more Careful as they want to play the Story they "made up" (see here: the GM-Flaw of GMing what you always wanted to play, not GMing what your Party actually wants to play). Thus, "a Tale about cowardice and bravery" keeps epic as it should be. Also, this works towards "forming a Party" instead keeping "5 Guys working together occasionally" as in the Tavern or on the Campfire Players can talk about their Past . or, suddenly get eeriely quiet about it if some Topic comes to speech. This makes the Chars more "Real" to the others and also makes them interested in the others Background. I love this Way and so Players who support this as it takes away a lot of "plain Work" from me as GM (like "creating memorable NPCs" or "creating wonderfully created Plotlines"). I just have to arrange it in an interesting Pattern so it is not too foretold even for the Player who came up with the Idea.

I like the type of player who knows the rules of the game, doesn't interfere with them constantly, but is willing to tell what the rule is when there is uncertainty or a dispute, and is willing to check and be wrong. So not a rules-lawyer, maybe call that a rule-buddy or something. Something helpful and friendly who doesn't shout at the GM for not remembering exactly all the rules of grappling in Pathfinder (there's a lot of them).

This is such an amazing channel

Love your videos.Would like to see you run a one shot for this channel. kinda like see your Dm/Gm/Keeper style in action.i know i would watch it. anything from D&d to Cthulhu

I initially didn't like Todd, but he's really grown on me. Not entirely sure why; maybe I'll figure why later.

The note taker, the party loot tracker..

Man. U deserve more viewers. The content is awesome!

5:01 i thought i had a second video playing lol

What a great video, and what a great set of player traits!

Thanks! I'm a huge fan of d&d style games, with little experience. I played one summer of pathfinder lol. Just beginning my 1st real life campaign, thanks for the tips!! Big fan.

Thank you for awesome videos like these, Seth. As a new player, every session has not only been an adventure, it's been a learning curve and your videos are making it easier for me to identify what's happening in our games in real time. This was some nice positivity, too! Cheers, sir. :)

I've loved all these tips. Started my first campaign as a dm 3 months ago and they've been really enjoying my campaign. Your dm tips are a godsend, and now I'm off to write a civil war.

Awesome video as always! And absolutely agree that these are the top 5 traits I want in a player.

Thanks for the advice! Got a session coming up Saturday that I’ve been thinking about. I’ll start making notes and such to make it easier come Saturday!

wonderful as always Seth. thanks again for all you do

Always awesome videos Seth! These are definitely fantastic attributes to develop as a player.

Your videos are so insightful, and sane and fun

Great video, Mr. Seth. Thanks for your work!

These videos are fantastic. Though it has been ~15 years since I've GM'd tabletop formats, I do both play in and GM for an IRC based role-play community, and most of this content still applies, so it has been helpful, especially in appreciating the great players (and picking out my own shortcomings as a GM so I can improve my storytelling.) Cheers!

Fantastic video. Will be sharing this one!

Oh man! These videos are fantastic. It’s one thing to just talk at the camera; you really go the extra mile to make your content interesting and easy to consume for all learning styles. Love your funny character examples! subbed, cant wait for more!

I really like your creative videos. Thanks for posting them

Great video! And man, what a great T-Shirt - makes me wanna rewatch those two episodes :)

Never played any kind of tabletops, but have always been keen on the idea, and I’ve thoroughly been enjoying these vids! Will definitely be referring to this channel when the opportunity arises...

Very well done, I am learning alot. I am a fledgeling dm, with experience and personality more of the puzzle side of rpg than the character acting side, but your descriptions and idiotproof examples are really helping me understand other styles of playing. Thank you.

This is one of my favourite videos of yours

Seth, I’ve watched your RPG Philosophy series multiple times! I absolutely love it! The skits, the advice, it’s all wonderful stuff! I play in a group and run another, and I must say my experience in both has been improved by heeding your advice! For example, I started doing a lot more handouts ever since I saw your video on that topic! Thank you so much! Can’t wait for the next one in the series, my friend!

your skits are top of the game, as usual!

i love his side characters especially surfer dude.

Great video and as a DM I love all of these player types when they play at my table. I think the best example I can think of falls kind of into the player that thinks about the game between sessions. Its the note taker. The one that writes notes during the session and will likely remember some things because of it that you won't off the top of your head as DM and can save you from having to dig through your notes for a name or event.

Hey I just want to say your videos are super helpful and they go by so fast because content is awesome!

Very well done, as usual. I love all of these traits and love to see them at my table. Unfortunately, I don't see them as often as I'd like. My most recent game of Call of Cthulhu (Valentine's in Innsmouth) turned out to be the best game I've ever run as one of my players completely invested herself into the story to the point of working up tears (or, in a couple of amazing moments, actually spontaneously breaking out in them) and committing herself to the story and the character completely. There was still a lot of silliness and fun, but her dedication to her character and the other players' politeness in allowing it and not cracking jokes during some of the more dramatic moments really went a long way to making a wonderful story. I've got a highlights video of the game up and included some of her stronger moments. Like I said, probably the best game I've ever had the privilege to run.

Keep up the good work Seth, thank you for sharing

Amazing vídeos! Full of insights that not only experienced Dm’s and players can rely on. Awesome pronunciation, easy for non native english speakers. Thank you for your time! My feelings towards your sucess!

You have great tips for GM/DMing and your videos are by far the most engaging to watch i have found. I have a request though... would you make some videos for player etiquette? I run a weekly game and have been playing tabletops for about 10 years now, so i mostly watch your videos for entertainment purposes. But i would love to show some informative videos to some of my players who are pretty new to tabletops. And im SURE there are people who stumble on your content who want the same. Thanks!!

I agree with everything Seth said in this video. Since he asked for other player behaviors that deserve praise: The mentor player, who helps new players so the GM doesn't have to. New player comes to the table, they don't know what the social responsibilities are, they don't know the rules of the game, they don't know anything at all. I often play at a game store, and I can't count how many times I've had people walk in off the street and ask what we're doing and ask to join, or had heard about roleplaying and came to the store to try it out, or had only played once and are now looking for a regular group. It's nice to have a player willing to deal with that new person so the GM can keep his focus on the other players who are waiting that half-hour or so while the new person is helped, since turning away that new person might be losing them to the hobby forever. A veteran player needs to know better and be prepped for the game, and set that example, but you can't turn away a clueless new player just because it'll take you a half hour to make their character, when you're playing in a game store. And after-all, for me, the reason I run games at the game store is to find and groom new players, the best of which I invite to join me in other games, not at the game store (no newbies allowed!)

This is the #1 D&D youtube video that needs to be shared.

Great stuff. You asked for some good player things and here are a couple. You sort of partially covered them, but here they are: (1) The rememberer- The player who remebers what happened last game and so far and recaps for the other players at the start of each new game. (2) The Ruler: The person who knows alot of the rules and can help out when a question comes up. There are alot of rules in D&D and noone can remember them all, but these types of players sure help alot.

I am greatly enjoying your stuff. I have subscribed and liked as I go. I am also sharing with my RP group. Keep up the great stuff!

lookiing to get back into the game after a long absence ( last game was back in college). Entertaining and informative.. subbed... also, love the shirt When I saw the trailer for PICARD, I instantly imagined him walking into the HQ, standing in the lobby and looking at the stairwell to his destination, and shouting "THERE ARE FOUR FLIGHTS! "

Great video, as usual! As a player, I couldn’t agree more on the benefits of being prepared. In my group we always tend to do some off game planning. We decide on a basic course of action, we agree on which plan we’re going to use, etc, so that we don’t have to waste precious time during the game. I also make a list of the things I personally want to get done in the game asap (questions I want to aak NPCs, for example). My suggestion would be to include the other players as much as possible in this process, if it’s something that concerns their characters as well, so that they can contribute to the planning, otherwise, if you always show up with plans they disn’t have a say on, they might get upset. Besides, if you ask them, they might come up with good ideas themselves. And if they know the plan in advance they will respond faster in game and will have an idea of how their character will react and contribute. If you don’t have a group chat somewhere for your group of fellow players, you should have one.

Seth, I have a favor to ask. Could you redo your first video, the one about the social contract? It's absolutely awesome, just like all your videos, and I love to share it with my players at session zero. However... the audio kind of sucks. You've gotten so much better at editing your videos now, and giving that video another shot would be amazing.

You have no idea how much "inspiration" I got when I brought chips and the GM's favorite soda every session.

Another great video, keep it up!

Awesome Video!! Sent it directly to my players. :D

Great video! I am a person who both DMs and always brings the beer. Lately, I’ve been starting to feel a little taken advantage of.

What a great content, and hilarious ! great work !

Keep up the great work man! Hot damn, posting this at 11 PM? I mean, I was awake anyways, dang...

Man I’m glad I have two groups like this!

Wonderful video. Thank you for uploading.

I love these videos and awesome shirt.

This entire video perfectly describes my husband. He loves playing, can hardly wait for the next session, has goals for his character, and is always ready to help the others ooc with pc advancement.

Haven't seen the entire video, just want to say I love your Picard t-shirt.

Goddamn your shirt choice is always high tier but that Picard tee cements your godhood, fucking choice mate

As a new DM, especially one who hasn't.played much in general, I'm thankful my players are patient, and one of which who is a semi seasoned DM (he also DMs for.us, we switch weekly) helps me out when I'm struggling or whatever.

3:40 My man brought a bag of Milano cookies and a single plum tomato. I think I’m dweebles.

This is a great video, and every tabletop gamer should watch it.

stuff like this keeps groups together. my buddy is starting a Pathfinder campaign and so i had everyone find stls of a mini that they feel like matches their character so i could 3d print it for them. Everything helps

Kewl video, a favourite player trait of mine is a variation of the enthusiastic player - the player who embraces role playing. This is the person who always speaks in character and puts effort into portraying somebody else. Now not everyone is comfortable with role playing but I find if at least one player embraces it then it encourages others to do so...it’s always nice to see Hollow Earth Expedition, any plans for a review?

Players who do their best to participate in the world and all it has to offer are awesome even if it means putting the dm on the spot. A couple of my players have established a store (setting routes, prices, vendors and shipping), others partake in random interactions with the people around them, creating NPCs that are dear to the party that were born from the interaction with them.

It is great when players can spot a developing theme and run with it, what the theatre types might call Improv'. There is always that time when plan a disintegrates, or an unexpected encounter. Average or below characters want to return to the tavern, rest and begin plan b from scratch. Or with the encounter, do a bare minimum: kill the bandits, repair the broken cart. Great players will roll with the unexpected, or support the players who want to press on and find out what lies ahead. Likewise, they will have the smart talk when meeting bandits, and maybe question one to their advantage, or engage with the city's owner and learn some useful intelligence.I Just like the GM leaves gaps for player input (otherwise the GM s just a story teller), so player plans need a bit of slack. This saves the plans from breaking when one roll is failed. It also provides the scope for the TH to add interesting detail.

Good list. Great shirt :)

I wish I had players like Seth. It's almost like they all share one mind.

This probably will depend on DM preference, but I personally love players that world build stuff that’s relevant to their character. Getting in deep on a homeland or an organization provides so many awesome potential plot hooks! I once had a player who, no joke, wrote a 70+ page history of the fictional country his character was from. SINGLE SPACED. SIZE TEN FONT. He’s now turning that into his own campaign that I’m super excited to play in.