I'm an extravert at heart and DMing gives me a lot of energy. After most sessions I need about an hour to calm down before I can get some sleep. There are a couple of things that can drain my energy tho.
I find it very draining when people interrupt me or other players. When I'm trying to describe a vivid scene or location and someone's causing a distraction it can really mess with the flow I'm in and it's hard to get that energy back. The same goes for players who are engaging with my story but they get distracted or interrupted by someone else. Another drainer is combat. If the players are not engaged in the battle and only start thinking about their moves when it's their turn it can be very draining. I like combat high paced. Cellphones at the table is another one. Please don't scroll through instagram when I'm tyring to entice you with an adventure which I've created out of thin air...
Anyway, I'm trying to be more thoughtful about the things that other DMs and players find draining so I was wondering if you guys had any?
So, here's something that happened in my last session...
The players were planning an attack against a White Dragon. They went out of their way to recruit some NPCs in the area to assist them with the task, and the White Dragon had minions. So we get to the fight, and we all roll initiative... and all the NPCs roll extremely high and the players all roll low. So the first round of combat, with all these NPCs setting up combat and everything all happens right at the start. So I'm trying to balance getting through all these NPCs, have them all act intelligently, and also narrate what's happening in a way that's both clear to the players what's happening, and more engaging than just, "The giant swings.... hits. 22 damage". I was just really, really trying to get to an actual player's turn since the whole point of the game is to let the players face off against a challenge and go on an adventure, and not just me playing a war game against myself (plus, y'know... they would kill off some of the minions and give me less stuff to keep track of).
In general I don't like having NPC allies with the party for extended periods of time. It's hard not to metagame against myself... any NPC who's assisting the party "knows" everything that's happening, and I don't want them to just say, "Oh, go in this direction, and do this." However, my players tend to get really attached to NPCs and regularly try to convince them not to leave.
As a GM, generally any time players aren't putting effort into the game, anything from not paying attention out side of their turn, tuning out outside of combat, not knowing what their abilities/spells do, generally not participating and acting like it's a TV show they are watching rather than participating in.
As a player it's when a GM constantly ask for checks with no consequences or for things that should be trivial. It bogs down the game, isn't fun or interesting, and if you just keep asking for check it's just a matter of time before you will fail one. Also asking for checks/saves for just adding flavor to something. If a fighter wants to run up the back of the Trex wildshaped druid to jump off and make an attack don't have him roll to see if they will slip, fall and fail. You are punishing them for making the game interesting and from then on they are just going to walk up and attack which is boring.
When the players roll poorly and a TPK is imminent with multiple members down. Then one of two players up hits the baddy (AC13), and rather than smite casts searing smite and takes the bad guy down to 6 hit points (smite would have killed him) and the baddy wipes everyone out.
It takes about an hour to read up your character and understand how to make it run, but to wipe the party for not doing that taking away the other players work, that really kills DM's desire to play.
I can roll with high energy, and if a player interrupts too frequently I can just spawn in a random encounter. but the thing that drains me more than anything else I've encountered is when a player isn't prepared, and the whole game grinds to a stop on that player's turn, because the player doesn't know his/her own character's rules.
Don't get drained in a negative way. My sessions run really well. We play up to 6hrs per session and have a lot of fun, chaos and great character/story growth. So running all of that information getting it out to the players can be quite draining in a positive way. Gotta love that kick back moment and unload the game world from the brain.
Yawning, players getting sleepy, or otherwise unable to focus on the game.
Combats that have no purpose other than to be combat are really dreary. I rolled a random encounter with 2 Treants last session, and I blitzed through it as fast as I could because the players were flagging and the combat didn't really have much purpose.
Long games! After a certain amount of time, it's best to call a halt. Games over 5 hours often develop into a bit of a slog. I usually run 5 hour games, and have run games as long as 12 hours, but past a certain point nobody is doing their best gaming.
…the thing that drains me more than anything else I've encountered is when a player isn't prepared, and the whole game grinds to a stop on that player's turn, because the player doesn't know his/her own character's rules.
That does it for me as well.
And when I'm tired, my ability to resist shouting YOU HAVE FOUR —ING CANTRIPS HOW —ING HARD IS TO REMEMBER THE RANGE OF THEM HEY HERE'S A —ING IDEA MAYBE WRITE THEM DOWN ON YOUR CHARACTER SHEET ARRGGGHHHHHH drops and drops. :-)
I'm not actually sure what they are writing on the character sheets, because every time they do stuff they are looking in the PHB or (WORSE ARRGGHH) scrolling through ******** on a tiny smartphone screen.
Or… *twitches* armour class. We've been playing for three years. Why is it that when I say "Does a 16 hit you?" several of my players have to look things up. And not just "look at one number on a piece of paper" but "look up how armour works, ask the person sitting next to them whether they add DEX score or bonus, what does a shield provide, do I get something cool for being an elf…" ARRGGHHGGHLLGLGHGHGLLGLGHGHGHHGHGHGHG
Back now, feeling better. :-)
The other thing that saps my will to live is when players don't remember names. It's a little thing, I know, but when the ingrates can't even be bothered to learn (or write down) the name of the person that hired them, or the name of the town they are in, it sucks all my fun out of the game. Every time a character has a conversation and the player is saying things like "yeah, we are here on behalf of that guy you know the one who hired us"… *sigh*
So, here's something that happened in my last session...
The players were planning an attack against a White Dragon. They went out of their way to recruit some NPCs in the area to assist them with the task, and the White Dragon had minions. So we get to the fight, and we all roll initiative... and all the NPCs roll extremely high and the players all roll low. So the first round of combat, with all these NPCs setting up combat and everything all happens right at the start. So I'm trying to balance getting through all these NPCs, have them all act intelligently, and also narrate what's happening in a way that's both clear to the players what's happening, and more engaging than just, "The giant swings.... hits. 22 damage". I was just really, really trying to get to an actual player's turn since the whole point of the game is to let the players face off against a challenge and go on an adventure, and not just me playing a war game against myself (plus, y'know... they would kill off some of the minions and give me less stuff to keep track of).
In general I don't like having NPC allies with the party for extended periods of time. It's hard not to metagame against myself... any NPC who's assisting the party "knows" everything that's happening, and I don't want them to just say, "Oh, go in this direction, and do this." However, my players tend to get really attached to NPCs and regularly try to convince them not to leave.
This is why I usually let the party control NPCs that join the party for any length of time. If something comes up where the NPC knowledge is important or the players intend to have the NPC take an action they wouldn't take (hey! how about you jump across the lava pool and tell us what is on the other side?) then I will interject. However, during combat or other activities, I let the PCs control them so that the players are more involved.
I was asked to take on a player no one else wanted in organized play in the second to last chapter (all other DMs starting new campaigns) because I was "kind and patient". Five sessions in and they don't know how to play a Rogue. Don't know: cunning action, to hit bonus, stealth bonus, or no draw/doff rules or weapon range. At least they rolled real dice last time. And they did play creatively in combat. Just wastes so much time not PLANNING their turn. And can't do basic addition.
tl;dr when players don't plan, know what numbers to add or how to add them.
So, here's something that happened in my last session...
The players were planning an attack against a White Dragon. They went out of their way to recruit some NPCs in the area to assist them with the task, and the White Dragon had minions. So we get to the fight, and we all roll initiative... and all the NPCs roll extremely high and the players all roll low. So the first round of combat, with all these NPCs setting up combat and everything all happens right at the start. So I'm trying to balance getting through all these NPCs, have them all act intelligently, and also narrate what's happening in a way that's both clear to the players what's happening, and more engaging than just, "The giant swings.... hits. 22 damage". I was just really, really trying to get to an actual player's turn since the whole point of the game is to let the players face off against a challenge and go on an adventure, and not just me playing a war game against myself (plus, y'know... they would kill off some of the minions and give me less stuff to keep track of).
In general I don't like having NPC allies with the party for extended periods of time. It's hard not to metagame against myself... any NPC who's assisting the party "knows" everything that's happening, and I don't want them to just say, "Oh, go in this direction, and do this." However, my players tend to get really attached to NPCs and regularly try to convince them not to leave.
If the players recruit NPC Allie’s I have the players roll for them and describe what happens in combat. I then just roleplay them out of combat. Out of combat I handle It the same as if a player is away that week, the party control them but are not allowed to really do anything with them intermarriage of social etc, they go in the middle of marching order, or are paired with a character who player is present, if they are a scout up front, they don’t search for or try and disarm traps and are not the first down a hallway.
If the NPC or Character who is away has specific information that will help in that moment I will RP the individual, or make a history/arcana etc roll but generally all running of the NPC is taken by the players.
So, here's something that happened in my last session...
The players were planning an attack against a White Dragon. They went out of their way to recruit some NPCs in the area to assist them with the task, and the White Dragon had minions. So we get to the fight, and we all roll initiative... and all the NPCs roll extremely high and the players all roll low. So the first round of combat, with all these NPCs setting up combat and everything all happens right at the start. So I'm trying to balance getting through all these NPCs, have them all act intelligently, and also narrate what's happening in a way that's both clear to the players what's happening, and more engaging than just, "The giant swings.... hits. 22 damage". I was just really, really trying to get to an actual player's turn since the whole point of the game is to let the players face off against a challenge and go on an adventure, and not just me playing a war game against myself (plus, y'know... they would kill off some of the minions and give me less stuff to keep track of).
In general I don't like having NPC allies with the party for extended periods of time. It's hard not to metagame against myself... any NPC who's assisting the party "knows" everything that's happening, and I don't want them to just say, "Oh, go in this direction, and do this." However, my players tend to get really attached to NPCs and regularly try to convince them not to leave.
Having players recruit NPC's has been around since the creation of the game back in the 70's. You need people to help tote the "L3wts". You can also use them for defense as well. The thing is, make henchmen common (guard type NPC CR 1/4 and no advancement) but hirelings (leveled characters try sidekicks at best they are 1/2 parties level) should be extremely rare and only earned through heroic actions not charisma rolls. You can make it if a player dies, then have a henchmen comes to the plate and becomes replacement adventurer.
As the players level up there will be almost no use to henchmen, but they should be very helpful to them up to level 4. It would make sense for players to have a small gaggle of henchmen helping them when they start out and it also insulates the party from death to a degree. Just have the henchmen count as 1/4 a player for XP purposes and require payment up front so they aren't free. If the players are evil and kill the henchies off deliberately, well now you got a revenge arch from their family or organization.
Henchies and Hirelings don't have to be a drain, they can be a positive depending on how they are used. As to metagaming, they are hired by the players, they can discuss what the party will do. To get around the metagame narrative I do this:
-Henchies/Hirelines never roll initiative they only go AFTER the player they are assigned. You can make it a requirement where the player gives verbal commands on their turn and the NPC follows it.
-A player can have only 1 henchy/hireling, so the max NPC they control is 1.
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I'm an extravert at heart and DMing gives me a lot of energy. After most sessions I need about an hour to calm down before I can get some sleep. There are a couple of things that can drain my energy tho.
I find it very draining when people interrupt me or other players. When I'm trying to describe a vivid scene or location and someone's causing a distraction it can really mess with the flow I'm in and it's hard to get that energy back. The same goes for players who are engaging with my story but they get distracted or interrupted by someone else. Another drainer is combat. If the players are not engaged in the battle and only start thinking about their moves when it's their turn it can be very draining. I like combat high paced. Cellphones at the table is another one. Please don't scroll through instagram when I'm tyring to entice you with an adventure which I've created out of thin air...
Anyway, I'm trying to be more thoughtful about the things that other DMs and players find draining so I was wondering if you guys had any?
So, here's something that happened in my last session...
The players were planning an attack against a White Dragon. They went out of their way to recruit some NPCs in the area to assist them with the task, and the White Dragon had minions. So we get to the fight, and we all roll initiative... and all the NPCs roll extremely high and the players all roll low. So the first round of combat, with all these NPCs setting up combat and everything all happens right at the start. So I'm trying to balance getting through all these NPCs, have them all act intelligently, and also narrate what's happening in a way that's both clear to the players what's happening, and more engaging than just, "The giant swings.... hits. 22 damage". I was just really, really trying to get to an actual player's turn since the whole point of the game is to let the players face off against a challenge and go on an adventure, and not just me playing a war game against myself (plus, y'know... they would kill off some of the minions and give me less stuff to keep track of).
In general I don't like having NPC allies with the party for extended periods of time. It's hard not to metagame against myself... any NPC who's assisting the party "knows" everything that's happening, and I don't want them to just say, "Oh, go in this direction, and do this." However, my players tend to get really attached to NPCs and regularly try to convince them not to leave.
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As a GM, generally any time players aren't putting effort into the game, anything from not paying attention out side of their turn, tuning out outside of combat, not knowing what their abilities/spells do, generally not participating and acting like it's a TV show they are watching rather than participating in.
As a player it's when a GM constantly ask for checks with no consequences or for things that should be trivial. It bogs down the game, isn't fun or interesting, and if you just keep asking for check it's just a matter of time before you will fail one.
Also asking for checks/saves for just adding flavor to something. If a fighter wants to run up the back of the Trex wildshaped druid to jump off and make an attack don't have him roll to see if they will slip, fall and fail. You are punishing them for making the game interesting and from then on they are just going to walk up and attack which is boring.
When the players roll poorly and a TPK is imminent with multiple members down. Then one of two players up hits the baddy (AC13), and rather than smite casts searing smite and takes the bad guy down to 6 hit points (smite would have killed him) and the baddy wipes everyone out.
It takes about an hour to read up your character and understand how to make it run, but to wipe the party for not doing that taking away the other players work, that really kills DM's desire to play.
I can roll with high energy, and if a player interrupts too frequently I can just spawn in a random encounter. but the thing that drains me more than anything else I've encountered is when a player isn't prepared, and the whole game grinds to a stop on that player's turn, because the player doesn't know his/her own character's rules.
Don't get drained in a negative way. My sessions run really well. We play up to 6hrs per session and have a lot of fun, chaos and great character/story growth. So running all of that information getting it out to the players can be quite draining in a positive way. Gotta love that kick back moment and unload the game world from the brain.
Yawning, players getting sleepy, or otherwise unable to focus on the game.
Combats that have no purpose other than to be combat are really dreary. I rolled a random encounter with 2 Treants last session, and I blitzed through it as fast as I could because the players were flagging and the combat didn't really have much purpose.
Long games! After a certain amount of time, it's best to call a halt. Games over 5 hours often develop into a bit of a slog. I usually run 5 hour games, and have run games as long as 12 hours, but past a certain point nobody is doing their best gaming.
That does it for me as well.
And when I'm tired, my ability to resist shouting YOU HAVE FOUR —ING CANTRIPS HOW —ING HARD IS TO REMEMBER THE RANGE OF THEM HEY HERE'S A —ING IDEA MAYBE WRITE THEM DOWN ON YOUR CHARACTER SHEET ARRGGGHHHHHH drops and drops. :-)
I'm not actually sure what they are writing on the character sheets, because every time they do stuff they are looking in the PHB or (WORSE ARRGGHH) scrolling through ******** on a tiny smartphone screen.
Or… *twitches* armour class. We've been playing for three years. Why is it that when I say "Does a 16 hit you?" several of my players have to look things up. And not just "look at one number on a piece of paper" but "look up how armour works, ask the person sitting next to them whether they add DEX score or bonus, what does a shield provide, do I get something cool for being an elf…" ARRGGHHGGHLLGLGHGHGLLGLGHGHGHHGHGHGHG
Back now, feeling better. :-)
The other thing that saps my will to live is when players don't remember names. It's a little thing, I know, but when the ingrates can't even be bothered to learn (or write down) the name of the person that hired them, or the name of the town they are in, it sucks all my fun out of the game. Every time a character has a conversation and the player is saying things like "yeah, we are here on behalf of that guy you know the one who hired us"… *sigh*
This is why I usually let the party control NPCs that join the party for any length of time. If something comes up where the NPC knowledge is important or the players intend to have the NPC take an action they wouldn't take (hey! how about you jump across the lava pool and tell us what is on the other side?) then I will interject. However, during combat or other activities, I let the PCs control them so that the players are more involved.
I was asked to take on a player no one else wanted in organized play in the second to last chapter (all other DMs starting new campaigns) because I was "kind and patient". Five sessions in and they don't know how to play a Rogue. Don't know: cunning action, to hit bonus, stealth bonus, or no draw/doff rules or weapon range. At least they rolled real dice last time. And they did play creatively in combat. Just wastes so much time not PLANNING their turn. And can't do basic addition.
tl;dr when players don't plan, know what numbers to add or how to add them.
If the players recruit NPC Allie’s I have the players roll for them and describe what happens in combat. I then just roleplay them out of combat. Out of combat I handle It the same as if a player is away that week, the party control them but are not allowed to really do anything with them intermarriage of social etc, they go in the middle of marching order, or are paired with a character who player is present, if they are a scout up front, they don’t search for or try and disarm traps and are not the first down a hallway.
If the NPC or Character who is away has specific information that will help in that moment I will RP the individual, or make a history/arcana etc roll but generally all running of the NPC is taken by the players.
Having players recruit NPC's has been around since the creation of the game back in the 70's. You need people to help tote the "L3wts". You can also use them for defense as well. The thing is, make henchmen common (guard type NPC CR 1/4 and no advancement) but hirelings (leveled characters try sidekicks at best they are 1/2 parties level) should be extremely rare and only earned through heroic actions not charisma rolls. You can make it if a player dies, then have a henchmen comes to the plate and becomes replacement adventurer.
As the players level up there will be almost no use to henchmen, but they should be very helpful to them up to level 4. It would make sense for players to have a small gaggle of henchmen helping them when they start out and it also insulates the party from death to a degree. Just have the henchmen count as 1/4 a player for XP purposes and require payment up front so they aren't free. If the players are evil and kill the henchies off deliberately, well now you got a revenge arch from their family or organization.
Henchies and Hirelings don't have to be a drain, they can be a positive depending on how they are used. As to metagaming, they are hired by the players, they can discuss what the party will do. To get around the metagame narrative I do this:
-Henchies/Hirelines never roll initiative they only go AFTER the player they are assigned. You can make it a requirement where the player gives verbal commands on their turn and the NPC follows it.
-A player can have only 1 henchy/hireling, so the max NPC they control is 1.