DM tips and tricks.

[Reaper34]

I couldn't find a thread like this. so i made one. this isn't intended to be a discussion thread as much as a tool for DM's to learn and share tips on how to improve their DMing. if you're just a player feel free to contribute any tips you have and questions you want answered.

to address a few current issues. to roll or not roll stats.

1. it's your game, YOU decide how they get stats. the players are there to have fun and it is a GAME, but you are the one putting in the lions share of the work. you choose how they get their stats. that being said discuss it with your players. Answer their questions on why this and why not that. keep communication open. not "because i say so." (though i will address using that later).

2. be consistant in your game, how they get stats doesn't matter. if one person rolls. everyone rolls. if one person point buys, everyone point buys. this applies to new players to a existing game. how they get stats is less important than consistancy. this is an idea that holds true throughout the game. and can be exploited later.

3. really high or really low scores. a.high scores help new players survive and have fun getting started. low scores help seasoned player find new and interesting ways of playing their characters. that being said new players can have fun with low scores and old players can have fun with high ones. b. you are the judge of getting stats. if someone rolls really low for everything decide if you want them to re-roll and how many re-roll. if you do this be prepaired to defend your decision. other players WILL ask about it. be consistant. if what you decided is good for one player to re-roll it's good for all of them. c. for high rolls see above. except players arn't going to ask "me too?" but "Why not him too?"

on to other things.

4. it's your world. if you say something doesn't exist (like winged tieflings or even regular humans) it doesn't exist. in this case "they just don't exist in this world." or "because i didn't put them into this world." are perfectly good answers. as with everything discuss it with your players and be reasonable, but don't let them dictate your decisions to you. read that last part again just so you get it.

5. listen to your players and try to give them what they want. if they want a duel wielding GWM barbarian, try to let them play one. meke them earn it but try to give it to them. yes it's work for you and them, they lose other things. but try to give them what they want within reason. however remember nothing comes for free. remind them of that.

6. you are writing the players story. not yours. don't force them into something. try to hook them into it. and if they are just not going talk to them out of the game and find out why. you may have to re-write what you had planned.

7. re-skin when needed. orcs can become bandits. manticores can become dragons. if you have to improvise. re-skin what you have. chances are you've already balanced that displacer beast, but they won't go to where it is. they are going after the x. well x just became a displacer beast without displacement and tenticals and got 2 other similar abilites and they fight the x beast and never know it was the displacer beast they were avoiding.

i'll continue later. others please add your tips. i always love to learn new tricks.

[EvanescentHero]

For the love of Pelor, do not come up with a solution to a problem and then penalize your players for coming up with a different one that you weren't expecting. Let their plans work unless you have a really good reason not to.

P.S. "It's not what I thought of" isn't a good reason.

[Reaper34]

For the love of Pelor, do not come up with a solution to a problem and then penalize your players for coming up with a different one that you weren't expecting. Let their plans work unless you have a really good reason not to.

P.S. "It's not what I thought of" isn't a good reason.

you make a good point. the players for having a good plan (I'll address "good plans" later) really doesn'a apply here. to clairify this is for those situations of ok this encounter is set up and they don't know what's comming but they won't go there because... a. roleplaying (if they are having fun roll with it and hope) b. they arn't taking the bait (it'll happen trust me) or c. they did something you didn't expect. (happens more often than us DMs like to admit.) you planned a forrest encounter. now you need a urban encounter. can't just go SUPRISE DISPLACER BEAST. how did it get there? no one saw this massive flickering cat thing walking the streets? doesn't work. but say replace the tentical attack with a breath weapon and the displacement with excess fur (gives mis chance from only hitting hair) make it a helhound or frostwolf crossed with a chow domesticated dog. a stray in town that noone really pays attention to. more importantly, it fits the setting where its encountered and is ready on the fly without digging through a book and slowing the game down. so it's not that they had a good plan it's just they weren't following your plan.

now as mentioned GOOD PLANS. these fall in several catagories.
a. accually well thought out plans (cool or not). these should almost always work barring really bad rolls. like 4 out of 6 players didn't hit the dc needed and 3 were natural 1s. even the best plan can fall apart due to random chance.
b. a cool plan that's decent. should work sometimes. even most of the time. the rolls are a bit harder, but somethings are pushing suspension of disbelief.
c. cool but bad plans. work for really good rolls but most fail. the story needs to make sense. sometimes the gods smile on you and it doesn't and you pull off thet epic thing, but most times it falls apart.
d. a bad plan from the start. "lets attack this city and make ourselves rich." just them, no army, no dragon, just them. this ends badly. no ammount of good rolls can make these succeed. they might escape with good rolls but sacking the city ain't happening. (except maybe at epic levels but then they should know better.)
e. kill everything plan. this is usually plan a sometimes plan b for most groups. the good/ bad plan is a matter of scale but in most rational encounters it's not a bad plan. combat sorts this out.

some of these you haven't planned for. usually the really thought out epically cool really good plan that should work but you have no idea how to make it happen. turn your dm hat around and hunker down for seat of the pants dming cause they are depending on you to create this story they will tell their other rp friends about. make it happen. even make their fails epic (make it funny or build suspense with it). make the party save each other in the nick of time (make them beleave it was anyway.) be a leaf on the wind and fly the game to greatness. and know you did a good job every time you hear a player talk about that one time they did that thing and killed the dragon/saved the king/ect. (vicious mockery finishing the big boss is a personal favorite.)

to do this you will have to make challenges on the fly. it takes pratice. but if it was a good plan the dc's can be low. they don't need to know that. "tell them things like you just made that." when they are unsure if they did or not. don't just hand the encounter to them (unless thats the idea of the plan. make them roll for it if it is and make the dc's realistic.), make them work for the victory tell a good story, and make it is a victory. and victory sometimes comes with a loss. sometimes the best stories end with one of the party dead. don't intentionally kill a character, but if the rolls are just against them and it's realistic that they die... don't be afraid to kill them. take comfort in that you now need to think about how the party is going to bring them back. thats the nice thing about the game.

sorry if that got a bit longwinded. thanks for the input. every little bit helps.

[EvanescentHero]

I didn't mean to direct that at you. I don't think you gave any bad advice! I was more talking about some of my own experiences where a DM stubbornly refuses any solution to a problem besides the "right" one.

I am also a big proponent of reskinning monsters into other monsters. 5e doesn't have any velociraptors? Oh well, tweak a wolf slightly. I gave my players one encounter with an abominable mixture of plant life and aberration, and it was really easy to simply reskin a shambling mound. Stuff like that can really easily expand your list of options.

[JoeJ]

Keep a list of potential NPCs. You don't need stats, just a name, a few words about appearance, and a sentence of two describing their personality. Anytime the party encounters some random stranger, it's whomever is at the top of the list. (If stats are needed for some reason, just use Commoner or Noble or whatever is most appropriate from the MM.) Before the next game, cross whomever they encountered off your list and add as many new names as you crossed off. And don't forget to include them in your notes, in case the party encounters the same person again later.

[Foxhound438]

For the love of Pelor, do not come up with a solution to a problem and then penalize your players for coming up with a different one that you weren't expecting. Let their plans work unless you have a really good reason not to.

P.S. "It's not what I thought of" isn't a good reason.

then there's the good old "guess what i'm thinking game". kind of irritating to deal with that.

even more irritating is "you did something i didn't expect so i came up with something on the spot that exactly counters that exact one thing".

[Officer Joy]

I could really use some help with the descriptions of hits and misses.
we have been using HP as meat.

[silverkyo]

I could really use some help with the descriptions of hits and misses.
we have been using HP as meat.

So getting the flow of combat is actually something that takes a bit of practice and is something a few DM's completely ignore. It's good that you're already thinking about it. Sometimes, you'll get players that provide the flavor of how they want to hit something and that helps, but usually you don't and you need to come up with it yourself. First, you need to think about what the players are trying to hit and vice versa. Imagine in your head what a hit or a miss would like in a match up between two characters. This is much easier to do with misses, not going to lie. For instance, is someone wears a lot of heavy armor or a monster has thick scales or hide, then weapons might just bounce off or barely scratch/dent them. Alternatively, if something is small and has a high dexterity, you probably want to default how they would dodge whatever attack is coming at them. Also with misses, think about how close someone missed by. It hints what the monster's AC is, but honestly that isn't a huge deal. It also helps pull the players into the action because they can feel each roll. If every response is "they dodge" or "armor blocked", they'll get bored, but saying that a bandit leaned back just in time to where the monks punch just barely missed the tip of their nose, the players feel their dice rolls reflected in the game world. Also factor in monsters resistances to damage or anything like that.

Secondly, for hits, don't be afraid to go hard on the damage factor. If a player gets a really high damage roll and almost kills something, let them see it in how you describe the damage. An arrow goes through a goblins arm, a blade goes into the gut, a warhammer caves in a breatplate. Conversely, if the damage was a bit more on the low end, dial it back a bit. Go more for black eyes or deep gashes. The most important things to reflect with your flavor text is how much damage the player just did and how much damage the enemy has currently taken. Both of these will be the primary numbers you pull from to generate the flavor text on the fly. Resistances can play a part here too in helping define what damage actually looks like. And again, don't be afraid to let the players describe how they want to attack or damage something, it will help pull them into the combat more and get them more involved in the game.

Third, and this is one I still haven't nailed down perfectly but one that I'm trying to improve more on, is how to flow the combat together in the flavor text. This is done by having a really good mental picture of the initiative order and the battlefield. Depending on who just went and who goes next, you can help direct your players around the battlefield or what might come next. For instance, if a party member just attacked a goblin, after describing the damage and I move on to the next party member, I might mention that the goblin is caught off guard and has an opening, while his ally is pulling his bow back ready to counter attack. It gives them idea of an immediate opportunity while keeping their mind on the rest of the battlefield to try to make an informed decision. And you can do this with enemies as well, having them group and make decisions make based on openings, but it's little things like that which will keep your pacing up.

Last little thing, but I thought I would expand on it more here, is getting good combat flavor text is all about pacing, flowing from players rolling attack and damage to describing what happened, how the battlefield changed, and what the next player or enemy does to react to it. And dear god keep it short. Two sentences max unless it's a deathblow on something big. If you can get that flow and pacing right, combats will feel much more visceral and tense. The one thing that can hamstring this is players not paying attention or not thinking about what to do when their turn comes. If you have experienced players this rarely is an issue, and if it does happen don't be afraid to have the characters be frozen with indecision just like their players are, people can panic on the battlefield. And it sends your players a message that if they can't think quickly, they'll lose the turn. The six seconds to make a decision doesn't only have to be in game. That is something I would only do with experienced players. I just started a new campaign with 3 brand new players to D&D and 2 of them are spellcasters. Obviously I've had to cut this idea and cut down on my pacing for now, but i'll pick it back up again once they have a better sense of combat and their spells. Also making them spell cards to speed up the process a bit more.

Hope this helped :)

[Reaper34]

I could really use some help with the descriptions of hits and misses.
we have been using HP as meat.

I agree with everything silverkyo said. to add to that and get a "feel" for it. if you can watch things like critical role on youtube. there are a few other online games where the dm's are really good too. the story is entertaining but if you watch how the dm's tell the story and handle combat, it can help spice it up past "the goblin swings at you *dice rolling* what's your ac? 16. he hits. mark off 10 hit points" and turn it into "the goblin in front of you snarls, you can smell the rotten stench of his breath. he swings his sword at your belly" *while you're saying this dice rolling* "seventeen" *look at player* "that hits" "you gasp as the blade finds a joint in your armor and opens a gash in your side you lose 10 hp as blood spills from under your armor. *look to next player* what do you do?" talk to your players and get them use to knowing what you are going to need from them. in combat on the monster's turn they should have looked at their ac and know if that hits or that doesn't hit. they should be paying attention to you when their turn comes up and ready to do what ever they are going to do. new players take more time but older players know how this works. attack rolls and ac hasn't changed that much since 3e.

on to others.

no one likes "guess what i'm thinking" it has it's place but it's not where it's usually used. "guess what i'm thinking" works well when you have a diviner in the party. a spell or 2 later and they know what you are thinking. or a rogue good at gathering info from contacts. not when i'm crap at describing the puzzle trap and my player's have no clue what i'm trying to say.
the other side of this is players that want to do this thing but won't tell you what it is. surprises for the rest of the party is fine. surprises for the master of reality not so much. we get enough surprises without you intentionally setting us up. you want it to work? let me know the plan. chances are i'll allow it. you spring it on me after a long time of planning something and the chances go down cause i have to scramble and keep things balanced and interesting for everyone.

the magical appearing counter. it's another tool that has it's place. like when it makes sense. you try to flush the wizard out of his hole with fire. well is he a necromancer or a evoker or a abjurer? is it a city mage or a battle mage? try flushing out a battle mage abjurer out and he's gonna spell up and good luck hitting him or hurting him with elements. city mage diviner knows what you are gonna do before you do. evoker battle mage isn't gonna hide in a hole. city necromancer is gonna come scurrying out with his robe on fire. if it makes sense use it if you must but if it doesn't, it doesn't work. big bad doesn't read minds or know the future *usually* don't treat them like they do *unless they do*. also gods and weather and nature don't just suddenly do what you want them to mid battle. yes you are dm and you control these things. but sudden flash flood right when you need it to counter what the players did is bad form.

moving on.

cheating. the players may try to cheat sometimes. discourage it in and out of game. cheating ruins the game for everyone else. except when you do it...... think about that for a moment.
you are the dm. you control reality. you know all, and sometimes even that's not enough. you misjudged this encounter. it's way to hard. the dice say big bad just cried on the half dead wizard. do you kill him? maybe. do you fudge? maybe. do you use divine intervention from all those times he was really devout to his deity? maybe. rules say he dies. cheating says either you didn't crib or you rolled less damage. divine intervention says you made up a rule and stuck it in on the fly.
the other side they are walking over the boss. no plan just swing and hit. no over the top rolls you just miss calculated. your human it happens. they don't know how many hp it started with. add a few more. or a item the prevents damage type x. or it learned x ability somewhere. or surprise minions rush in from some where else that wasn't searched already.

killing a pc. never set out to kill the players unless thats the idea of the game. epic campaigns are not the place for you to try to kill them over a few bad rolls. it may happen anyway. don't be afraid to kill a pc. really bad runs of luck can end them. usually not a tpk but a single player dyeing isn't the end of the world. as said before work on how they bring them back.
on the other hand. sometimes it's fun to play "with the gloves off" let your players know this is a adventure where their pc can die really easily. they are usually short and usually end with a tsk. but before that they can have some really great encounters. it also lets them play those pc's that they know don't have real staying power in a long game but can get some screen time then die before they get boring. another example is dm balancing death arena. they make pc's of level x knowing they will die 1 or more times that night. you use it to judge how to adjust encounters. use it to work out strategies. let them know that they are helping you get better. yes they keep getting killed that session. better there than in the "real" game. you learn can't do that and that is too easy. this monster does nice damage but has x,y,z problems.
another instance *one i use in my games* is areas where the gloves come off. having fun, just killed the dragon, you helped them out a couple times. everyone walked away with a sack of gold. come to the city arena. they don't have to fight in it. but if they do the gloves come off. don't try to kill them but don't fudge either. great risk deserves great rewards, but failure gets a shallow grave. make sure the players understand that area x *for me it's arena or other dangerous competitions* is dangerious and has a high risk of killing them. out of game tell them this "rule". they need to understand it before having joe fighter sign up.

[NewDM]

My suggestion is to read up on various DM articles on the internet. A lot of them have good advice.

One blog I keep coming back to the is the AngryGM. I don't particularly like his 'angry' style, but the actual advice is invaluable.

[pwykersotz]

Be open to trying new things. Variant rules, styles of play, homebrew, etc. You may like none of them after trying them, but trying them is the only way you learn if something is out there that can make a better game.

Read the rules of or play other games if you have the time. Very little is more informative than understanding how different games handle different tasks.

Always recap the last session, and give players the chance to chime in. Memories are notoriously vague when gaming week-to-week or month-to-month. If you have an ongoing campaign, take the time to refresh everyone's memory. And if your players watch the show Supernatural, do it to the tune of Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas.

Learn to read your players faces. Sometimes you'll make a judgement call or take an action that completely breaks the fun of a character. It happens sometimes. Learn to know when you've done this so you can recover it if possible. Reading faces also helps with knowing when to let shenanigans continue to follow their natural course. Sometimes your players just need a few minutes of levity, and cutting it short helps no-one.

Have your stuff in order. If you can keep all the conditions, exp values, monster stats, player sheets, and item prices in your head, good for you. But if not, make sure you have what you use often in front of you. If you know the party will be facing wolves, dire wolves, goblins, and hobgoblins, don't flip through the monster manual for each one, have the stats printed or on the screen all at once. It saves a LOT of time and effort.

A picture is worth a thousand words. It doesn't have to be perfect, but if you describe a beautiful mountainscape or a lush field, or an imposing castle, a quick google search for something similar will really help get your players on the same page as you. The same thing can apply for monsters, if the players have to constantly look at the picture of the creature they're fighting, they'll stay more immersed in the combat.

Take the time to both look at and talk to each of your players during games. It's an old trick with giving speeches. If eye contact and focus is all on one person, other people will feel left out. Even the ever-silent player who's an introvert will appreciate the focus. Don't force them to talk if they don't want to, but make it clear that the floor is theirs if they want it.

You can learn a lot by keeping notes of what games your players thought were "AWESOME!!!" and which ones they simply smiled at you and said "good game". Players are rarely critical of you or the game by themselves, so negative feedback is hard to come by. Try to parse what games really made them engaged in order to find out what they really want to do.

Have snacks. Food brings people together more than anything. It also keeps up energy. It makes it an enjoyable hang-out time instead of an extended play or recital.

If a player dies or is otherwise incapacitated, have a way handy for them to jump back into the game. Let them run a monster against the party or play an NPC. Maybe even let their ghost haunt a party member for a time. Anything to keep them from sitting and watching with nothing to do for an hour or more.

If it's plausible, roll real dice. This advice is a bit subjective, but I find it builds engagement and anticipation, whereas electronic dice are just waiting for a player to recite a number.

[Reaper34]

all good points. the only excepting to those for me would be rolling damage for higher level spells. 40d6 for meator swarm can take forever especially with only 3 or 4 dice. but as was stated when plausible roll real dice.

colored dice help. if your players can have them have several colors of dice. this lets multiple attacks and damage be rolled all at once. red for 1 green for 2 and orange for 3. if you are use to each players setup a quick glance and you know what they rolled and how much damage that hit, if it hit, did.

if you use minis and like large combats, "baseball team" minions. paint a small number on each one *i use the back hince baseball team*. it helps you keep track of what each of them is doing and if they went this turn. write their numbers down and hash mark each as they act. this works with any combat but u usually only have one dragon on the mat at a time. easy to track. 15 orcs on the other hand....

on to telling the story. hints and tips. or making the story.

the CE necromancer needs to die for raising dead. no moral quandry. but what about the LG paladin that comes after you after you kill the necro. you did open the coffins and loot the dead of his order. from his prospective. evil was fighting evil and you need to die just as much as the necro. but he's good and probably a nice guy. but he's still trying to kill you. don't make every combat easy for the players to say "we kill it". give them a quandry. if they kill the guy, have the more evil members of society congratulate them and offer them jobs. leave them a way out though if they don't want to kill him. they may have to fight him. sometimes fighting something and trying to keep it alive is harder than killing it. especially when it's trying to kill you.

another fun time. give them something that's not easy for them to part with. not a cursed item, but like a child. they kill the evil whatever, free the kid, escort him back to the village to find that mom and dad died when he was taken. no one there will take him for fear he's cursed. what do they do now.

standard go in and kill big bad can be fun, but if it's all the characters get they will eventually get bored. spice it up.

also actions have reactions. you do good things good things like you bad things don't and neutral could go either or. works the other way around too. break the law expect the town watch to look for you. really break the law and a bounty is placed. let the players feel their actions both good and bad.

[JoeJ]

On setting DCs: Trust yourself. Most of the time there's no one right answer anyway. How hard is it to find food in the wilderness? To open a lock? To follow a trail? To recognize the signs of a secret door? In reality, all of these tasks vary so enormously from situation to situation that any answer at all is defensible for some specific case. So pick a number that feels right (if you're really unsure of yourself, keep it within the range of 10 to 20) and don't worry about it.

[mgshamster]

Remember: this is a social game and everyone at the table is there to enjoy it and have fun. The game is not *yours.* It belongs to everyone playing it.

When it comes to rules and character creation and what style of game is going to be played, discuss it with everyone at the table and come to a consensus. You are not the overlord. You are not the boss. You're not there to lord over everyone else. You're not somehow better than everyone else just because you're the GM. You're just another player playing the game - just in a different role. Your job is to arbitrate the rules and adjudicate as necessary; your job is to guide the players along a story that is a mix of what you want to tell and what they decide to do.

Enjoy it, have fun, and treat others as rational adults.

[mephnick]

2. be consistent in your game, how they get stats doesn't matter. if one person rolls. everyone rolls. if one person point buys, everyone point buys. this applies to new players to a existing game. how they get stats is less important than consistency.

I have all players roll a set of stats and then anyone can choose any array that was rolled. Usually there's one that's best for most players, but I've had players pick different arrays depending on their build. Keeps it consistent but adds a little choice to the matter.

[mephnick]

You can learn a lot by keeping notes of what games your players thought were "AWESOME!!!" and which ones they simply smiled at you and said "good game". Players are rarely critical of you or the game by themselves, so negative feedback is hard to come by. Try to parse what games really made them engaged in order to find out what they really want to do.

I'll add to this and say "Keep notes of everything."

Takes notes during the session and immediately after the session on small things so you don't forget:

- "Barthok found a gnome (Gixel) in Blosfield to enchant his dagger with fire"
- "Introduced wandering merchant NPC (Julia), party liked her"
-"Kraven insulted a noble in the market, reaction?"
-"Had a rough fight with some displacer beasts."

This lets you more easily plan further sessions, gives you an automatic recap for the next session and allows you to build a deeper world by remembering more things the players interacted with. If you leave it until your next prep session you'll likely forget a bunch of stuff.

[pwykersotz]

Remember: this is a social game and everyone at the table is there to enjoy it and have fun. The game is not *yours.* It belongs to everyone playing it.

When it comes to rules and character creation and what style of game is going to be played, discuss it with everyone at the table and come to a consensus. You are not the overlord. You are not the boss. You're not there to lord over everyone else. You're not somehow better than everyone else just because you're the GM. You're just another player playing the game - just in a different role. Your job is to arbitrate the rules and adjudicate as necessary; your job is to guide the players along a story that is a mix of what you want to tell and what they decide to do.

Enjoy it, have fun, and treat others as rational adults.

This is great advice to the over-controlling, but having seen a number of timid DM's I'd caution against the opposite as well. Make sure that you are having fun, not just putting in all the work. But that wraps into your last line as well. :smallsmile:

[mgshamster]

This is great advice to the over-controlling, but having seen a number of timid DM's I'd caution against the opposite as well. Make sure that you are having fun, not just putting in all the work. But that wraps into your last line as well. :smallsmile:

I concur! If you're too timid, then step up your game and don't let your players run roughshod all over you.

Playing the game is about having fun. If the GM is having fun at the player's expense, that's bad. If one or more of the players are having fun at the GM's expense (or another player's expense), that's also bad.

Recognize that sometimes some of us have to make minor sacrifices so everyone can have fun - but not so large of a sacrifice that our own enjoyment is significantly reduced or eliminated.

[Bakenal]

Don't forget plot points in the heat of rp... Did that last night, kinda messed up the flow.

[mer.c]

All I have to add (so far):

When RAW/RAI/DM fiat comes up, work with your players, but remember that you're the ultimate authority. If you and a player don't see eye-to-eye on something, try as you may, you may just have to put your foot down. Even if you have to do that, do your best to be gracious about it.

[PeteNutButter]

1. it's your game

Now I agree with all your points, but I suppose I have more of a philosophy disagreement with this first sentence here. Most of the words that follow alleviate my concerns that you are an evil domineering DM, its good advice in all, but I disagree with the sentence, "It's your game."

I don't mean to spark an argument, but I have to say I think it's better to view it as everyone's game. If you don't take fun out of your players having fun then you won't be DMing long. DMing has to really be a labor of love if you are going to have a lasting campaign.

Anyways I would caveat on point 5: When your players ask, "Can I..." The best answer is usually, "Yes, but..." Let them know options exist, as it is a TTRPG you can essentially do anything.... But there are always consequences.

Also the best DMs are flexible in general. You mentioned about adjusting monsters, but it goes much further. If one of your players thinks a shortcut out of something that should have taken a session or even a campaign... well you just got outsmarted, let the world be consistent. If a player has an ability or spell that foils your big fight, you forgot to consider... well let them have their win. It can be lame if the BBEG of the session gets insta-killed by the assassin because he got great rolls and bypassed all the traps etc. It might be lame for the party, but its one enemy. Let the players have their wins.

Consistency and flexibility are the two most important qualities in a DM imo.

[Reaper34]

Now I agree with all your points, but I suppose I have more of a philosophy disagreement with this first sentence here. Most of the words that follow alleviate my concerns that you are an evil domineering DM, its good advice in all, but I disagree with the sentence, "It's your game."

I don't mean to spark an argument, but I have to say I think it's better to view it as everyone's game. If you don't take fun out of your players having fun then you won't be DMing long. DMing has to really be a labor of love if you are going to have a lasting campaign.

Anyways I would caveat on point 5: When your players ask, "Can I..." The best answer is usually, "Yes, but..." Let them know options exist, as it is a TTRPG you can essentially do anything.... But there are always consequences.

Also the best DMs are flexible in general. You mentioned about adjusting monsters, but it goes much further. If one of your players thinks a shortcut out of something that should have taken a session or even a campaign... well you just got outsmarted, let the world be consistent. If a player has an ability or spell that foils your big fight, you forgot to consider... well let them have their win. It can be lame if the BBEG of the session gets insta-killed by the assassin because he got great rolls and bypassed all the traps etc. It might be lame for the party, but its one enemy. Let the players have their wins.

Consistency and flexibility are the two most important qualities in a DM imo.

Ill be the first to admit i don't always convey my thoughts in the best way. barring a direct attack *your stupid* that has nothing to do with the discussion, don't worry about insulting me. it's an open discussion. no offense will be taken. having said that i can be preachy and have been told i can come across as condacending at times. it's un intentional if i do. as stated above sometimes i don't say what i mean right. moving on.

"it's your game" refers more to not letting your players roll over you. listen to their ideas and plans, but your ruleing on it in the end is final. getting there may include digging through books and a couple hours of discussion (out of game), but the last say is yours. in that particular context it was for stats. if you don't like rolling for stats, for whatever reason, it's your perogative to disallow it. explain why, discuss it with the players if you need to. then make the decision, but it's you that makes that decision not them. DM's are not always the nice guy. sometimes the rulings are not in the player's favor. for some that can take some getting use to. it's like being a ref in a baseball game sometimes. the fair call isn't always the popular call.

"Yes, But..." the "Give them what they want" refered to character creation and some plots. a few post ago i covered conquences to actions, it's a work in progress and i'm CN, kinda organized chaos. some of it i haven't gotten to yet. but i agree have actions have conquences.

side stepping the bad guy. if it makes sense let them go around him. the reskinning discussion was more for keeping everything making sense and using what you have ready to keep the game moving. one encounter or 10 arn't going to break a game. but in a dynamic world if you don't go point b. instead of a. there is also possibly something going on at b. could be a social encounter rather than a combat encounter. i find players are happier with things happening than not happening. the new thing might not kill them of have a major impact, but it's something to keep them thinking and fill the time. also if you plan for the players to level up on a sceduale. that missed combat can throw things off. makes more work for the DM. not always a bad thing but it can be.

consistancy and flexability. i agree with whole heartedly. part of this thread is to teach and help DM's achieve that. it's not always easy to be consistant with 1 to 8 or 10 other people all wanting what they want. and flexability can be harder. atleast most players respect their DM's rulings. rolling with the actions of the party and making it flow can be tough and i hope to provide ways to help do that.

[Reaper34]

being a troll. it's not always a bad thing to troll your players a little. example.

lvl 4 rogue goes down a hall avoiding all the traps and throws the lever on the other side. party follows across disarmed hall. continue into room fight ensues with evil wizard. back up starts to come from behind. party wizard uses unseen servent to turn on traps. back up dies. Evil wiz flees.

lvl6 party is makeing it's way down a trapped hall making great rolls. they see a familar face appear at end of hall and duck back. muttering shimmering clear humonoid shape starts down hall carrying a brick.*players start yelling what they try to do to stop it. noone attacks the brick* it gets to edge of trap pattern and drops brick slowmotion *click* players "thats not good." player wiz smiling "i hate you so much right now."

key to this was attack the brick. they all attacked the Uservant.

if it makes sense to troll them a little do it. just because they are rolling great, doens't mean they are safe. geve them a few yes i did it. oh god no. moments. not too many but one here and there is fun. another good one is "you disable the trap and unlock the chest. when you open it you find a very angry x roll for initive."

now for small parties. usually less than 4. a 4 person party should have all they need. but for smaller parties, give and extra skill porficiency to each of them or a minor magic item. it makes each person a bit more powerful but it re balances the game somewhat without having to fix every encounter. thats usually for premade adventures.

[MaxWilson]

I'm going to assume that you (generic "you") already know how to adjudicate actions and control adventure pacing. You're already a competent DM, you're just looking for ways to become a better DM. (Otherwise, read this post: http://angrydm.com/2013/04/adjudicate-actions-like-a-boss/ and this post http://www.runagame.net/2013/05/building-encounters-angry-dm-style.html.)

In that case, the most valuable advice I can give you:

(1) Read this post: http://angrydm.com/2014/01/gaming-for-fun-part-1-eight-kinds-of-fun/ and figure out what kinds of fun you seek, and what each of your players is into.

(2) Then go to this blog: http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/p/index.html and read at least the first four posts on adventure design.

On Adventure Design: An introduction
On Line Structure and the Flowchart Style
On Space Structure and the Sandbox Style
On Time Structure and the Schedule Style

(3) Then, go to this post http://theangrygm.com/traps-suck/ and read (at least) the part labelled "The CLICK! Rule" about traps. It's excellent. Short version: give your players a split second to choose to react to the "click" of a trap going off, without telling them what was just triggered. If they choose wisely they get some kind of advantage against the trap. It makes the traps feel fairer and more fun for them.

-Max

[pwykersotz]

The most valuable advice I can give you:

Read this post: http://angrydm.com/2014/01/gaming-for-fun-part-1-eight-kinds-of-fun/ and figure out what kinds of fun you seek, and what each of your players is into.

Then go to this blog: http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/p/index.html and read at least the first four posts on adventure design.

On Adventure Design: An introduction
On Line Structure and the Flowchart Style
On Space Structure and the Sandbox Style
On Time Structure and the Schedule Style

-Max

Hrk...my kryptonite...why Max? Why? You've just killed about 20 hours of my life. :smalltongue:

Seriously though, that's awesome. I love blogs with multitudes of articles on ways to run the game. Even though this isn't my thread, thank you very much. :)

[MaxWilson]

Hrk...my kryptonite...why Max? Why? You've just killed about 20 hours of my life. :smalltongue:

Seriously though, that's awesome. I love blogs with multitudes of articles on ways to run the game. Even though this isn't my thread, thank you very much. :)

I edited in a couple more links too.