Exactly! I didnt mean podcasts arent going to help you at all, I meant you shouldn't try to copy their style of DMing as many new DMs do.
Unless one can find prdcasts/streams/YouTubes that already stand as examples of one’s own style. My personal style is halfway between Mercer and Colville, so I learned quite a bit from watching both of them. But if I had a different style, I would probably have learned more from watching different examples.
Exactly! I didnt mean podcasts arent going to help you at all, I meant you shouldn't try to copy their style of DMing as many new DMs do.
Unless one can find prdcasts/streams/YouTubes that already stand as examples of one’s own style. My personal style is halfway between Mercer and Colville, so I learned quite a bit from watching both of them. But if I had a different style, I would probably have learned more from watching different examples.
True, however, there are so many possibilities, if you found one that was your style, you'd have be one lucky DM.
My style is more like Colville's, though I can't claim to be a thousandth as good as he is.
I made no assertions as to the quality of my DMing, only the style. 😂
And actually, my style is still really my own. I stand while DMing, I move around the room and act out what the NPCs are doing. If an old man is shuffling over to a bookcase and muttering to the PCs in a reedy voice, I hunch and shuffle over to a bookshelf and talk to the PCs (through their players) in a reedy voice. I squint and blow imaginary dust off of “old” books and sneeze or cough and sputter a little.
My point is, that there is no perfect example online for every DM, but I can still steal the gems from the best examples I can find for me.
THATS SUCH A GOOD IDEA! I've always tried to find a more immersive way to play. Thank you so much! My personal style is to give all of the monsters and NPCs goofy voices and have all the failed saves turn into hilarious complications. Some players in my group are just beginning, so I try to be funny and get them engaged. Thanks again!
Voices are hard, even if you're a professional voice actor.
If you watch Critical Role, you'll eventually pick up that even Matt Mercer doesn't give every NPC a unique voice, he usually has a stock voice per NPC type: all Dwarves are Scottish, all bandits and guards are whiny and sound like they have a very mild southern English accent, all Zemnians have a German accent, etc.
What you can do is give each NPC a verbal tic, or stock phrase - even if you never adopt a single accent. Couple this with a particular attitude, and they take on a life of their own.
If you read a lot of fiction, you can see how this is a pretty common tactic :)
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Voices are hard, even if you're a professional voice actor.
If you watch Critical Role, you'll eventually pick up that even Matt Mercer doesn't give every NPC a unique voice, he usually has a stock voice per NPC type: all Dwarves are Scottish, all bandits and guards are whiny and sound like they have a very mild southern English accent, all Zemnians have a German accent, etc.
What you can do is give each NPC a verbal tic, or stock phrase - even if you never adopt a single accent. Couple this with a particular attitude, and they take on a life of their own.
If you read a lot of fiction, you can see how this is a pretty common tactic :)
Yeah, I frequently butcher accents, so only do ones I can pull off. (My Eastern European accent ends up a horrible conflux of bad Scottish and bad generic Middle Eastern. Either that or it sounds like an “in Soviet Union...” joke is about to fall out of my mouth at any moment.) And I can only alter my “reedy old man voice” so much from one NPC to another. It’s the rest of the affect that really sells it as an individual character.
What you can do is give each NPC a verbal tic, or stock phrase - even if you never adopt a single accent. Couple this with a particular attitude, and they take on a life of their own.
Last session the Aarkocra cleric's favorite uncle, who is a traveling salesman, showed up and made some comments to the human character about you "You humans all look alike to me," and then told his nephew that adventuring would "put feathers on his chest." My players found it amusing.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I don’t write a campaign. I don’t use a giant module. I have tons of smaller modules and a fleshed out campaign setting that I am very comfortable and familiar with. I know the NPCs, the factions, political powers, churches, etc. I know what they want and what they are willing to do to get it. All of that goes on in the world regardless of which choices the players make. If they decide to go deal with what the evil Duke is doing, that becomes their next adventure. If they decide to go do something else, that becomes their next adventure. When they get back, then hey will then find out what the evil Duke did. If they decide that interests them, then dealing with that becomes their next adventure.
I am constantly dropping opportunities for side quests or parallel adventures. Maybe one of the thieves’ guilds does something two days after a politician does something. Those two things may be completely unrelated to each other and unrelated to the quest they are currently on for one of the churches.
By having all of that stuff going on at once, it makes the world dynamic and allows the party to choose the course of their own adventure.
You may not have all of that put together, it took me more than two decades. But you can start to put that stuff together, just like I had to do in the beginning. It takes time, work, and dedication. But it all starts with one adventure. Pick two or three small modules that you really like, and drop hints for all three spaced out and let them pick the one they want to pursue, it hen have the other ones progress (or at least seem to) behind the scenes. Now, instead of following a railroad, they get to play in a sandbox.
Just pick a small Barony to start with, maybe a few small towns and some wilderness with a couple ruins. Just get a vague idea for things in your head, you don’t need every little detail, or even most of them. You only need one village to start with, and a rough idea of the other two. A couple small dungeons, maybe a few rooms each. Have at least two things happening. Tada! You have a small sandbox that could take your players months to get through while you curate more stuff for your collection.
Welcome to the other side of the DM’s screen, and good luck!
Edit: Labeled link.
You and I DM the same. Great advice for long time DMs that want to homebrew but not railroad the party.
I don’t write a campaign. I don’t use a giant module. I have tons of smaller modules and a fleshed out campaign setting that I am very comfortable and familiar with. I know the NPCs, the factions, political powers, churches, etc. I know what they want and what they are willing to do to get it. All of that goes on in the world regardless of which choices the players make. If they decide to go deal with what the evil Duke is doing, that becomes their next adventure. If they decide to go do something else, that becomes their next adventure. When they get back, then hey will then find out what the evil Duke did. If they decide that interests them, then dealing with that becomes their next adventure.
I am constantly dropping opportunities for side quests or parallel adventures. Maybe one of the thieves’ guilds does something two days after a politician does something. Those two things may be completely unrelated to each other and unrelated to the quest they are currently on for one of the churches.
By having all of that stuff going on at once, it makes the world dynamic and allows the party to choose the course of their own adventure.
You may not have all of that put together, it took me more than two decades. But you can start to put that stuff together, just like I had to do in the beginning. It takes time, work, and dedication. But it all starts with one adventure. Pick two or three small modules that you really like, and drop hints for all three spaced out and let them pick the one they want to pursue, it hen have the other ones progress (or at least seem to) behind the scenes. Now, instead of following a railroad, they get to play in a sandbox.
Just pick a small Barony to start with, maybe a few small towns and some wilderness with a couple ruins. Just get a vague idea for things in your head, you don’t need every little detail, or even most of them. You only need one village to start with, and a rough idea of the other two. A couple small dungeons, maybe a few rooms each. Have at least two things happening. Tada! You have a small sandbox that could take your players months to get through while you curate more stuff for your collection.
Welcome to the other side of the DM’s screen, and good luck!
Edit: Labeled link.
You and I DM the same. Great advice for long time DMs that want to homebrew but not railroad the party.
That's like saying that I can't ever learn anything from watching a professional: I'll never learn anything from cooking by watching a professional chef on a cooking show, I'll never learn anything about woodworking from watching The New Yankee Workshop, etc.
Podcasts will not tell you how you should run your game, nor does it present a caliber of game which you should use as a standard to determine if your game is successful or not, but they absolutely can be used as a source of inspiration, a source of DM tactics, and clarification of how some rules and sub-systems work, as you see them in action.
Humans are - at least partly - social learners: monkey see, monkey do. We learn from watching others do, as well as doing ourselves.
Totally agree! Also, when you watch, rather than get overwhelmed by what the pros are doing, try to focus in on one aspect of the game, then try to improve just 1 thing when you play. For example, I'm really working on pacing right now, and have been focused on different ways the pros keep games moving. Having cheat sheets of my players AC/HP/main attack/passive perception, building a GM screen (well, binder) so I don't have to dig through books, giving story cues as nudges, etc.
Run short one shots! Find opportunities to run short one-shots to try things out, and keep groups to limited 3-4 people. Try running the same dungeon with different groups of people, see how it can turn out very differently. Let the players know up front that you are learning and would love helpful feedback afterwards. Try to recruit experienced, helpful players. Don't worry about holding onto the same players, or trying to orchestrate a campaign while you're still learning.
It's a bit abrupt that the players said, "You're bad, and we're out." Just as there are DMs who are still learning, well, there are players that are still learning. I was really crappy at first, but had really patient and entertaining players. No one is born knowing how to do this. It's just a skill, and you can learn it!
Exactly! I didnt mean podcasts arent going to help you at all, I meant you shouldn't try to copy their style of DMing as many new DMs do.
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Unless one can find prdcasts/streams/YouTubes that already stand as examples of one’s own style. My personal style is halfway between Mercer and Colville, so I learned quite a bit from watching both of them. But if I had a different style, I would probably have learned more from watching different examples.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
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True, however, there are so many possibilities, if you found one that was your style, you'd have be one lucky DM.
I Love Gelatinous Cubes
And Gelatinous Humanoids.
I am a full supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.
Black Lives matter
Dont forget your mask!
My style is more like Colville's, though I can't claim to be a thousandth as good as he is.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I made no assertions as to the quality of my DMing, only the style. 😂
And actually, my style is still really my own. I stand while DMing, I move around the room and act out what the NPCs are doing. If an old man is shuffling over to a bookcase and muttering to the PCs in a reedy voice, I hunch and shuffle over to a bookshelf and talk to the PCs (through their players) in a reedy voice. I squint and blow imaginary dust off of “old” books and sneeze or cough and sputter a little.
My point is, that there is no perfect example online for every DM, but I can still steal the gems from the best examples I can find for me.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
THATS SUCH A GOOD IDEA! I've always tried to find a more immersive way to play. Thank you so much! My personal style is to give all of the monsters and NPCs goofy voices and have all the failed saves turn into hilarious complications. Some players in my group are just beginning, so I try to be funny and get them engaged. Thanks again!
I Love Gelatinous Cubes
And Gelatinous Humanoids.
I am a full supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.
Black Lives matter
Dont forget your mask!
I don't really do the voices. I'm not good at accents and my voice can only take on a very limited range of tones.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Voices are hard, even if you're a professional voice actor.
If you watch Critical Role, you'll eventually pick up that even Matt Mercer doesn't give every NPC a unique voice, he usually has a stock voice per NPC type: all Dwarves are Scottish, all bandits and guards are whiny and sound like they have a very mild southern English accent, all Zemnians have a German accent, etc.
What you can do is give each NPC a verbal tic, or stock phrase - even if you never adopt a single accent. Couple this with a particular attitude, and they take on a life of their own.
If you read a lot of fiction, you can see how this is a pretty common tactic :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Yeah, I frequently butcher accents, so only do ones I can pull off. (My Eastern European accent ends up a horrible conflux of bad Scottish and bad generic Middle Eastern. Either that or it sounds like an “in Soviet Union...” joke is about to fall out of my mouth at any moment.) And I can only alter my “reedy old man voice” so much from one NPC to another. It’s the rest of the affect that really sells it as an individual character.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Last session the Aarkocra cleric's favorite uncle, who is a traveling salesman, showed up and made some comments to the human character about you "You humans all look alike to me," and then told his nephew that adventuring would "put feathers on his chest." My players found it amusing.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
You and I DM the same. Great advice for long time DMs that want to homebrew but not railroad the party.
Thank you.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Totally agree! Also, when you watch, rather than get overwhelmed by what the pros are doing, try to focus in on one aspect of the game, then try to improve just 1 thing when you play. For example, I'm really working on pacing right now, and have been focused on different ways the pros keep games moving. Having cheat sheets of my players AC/HP/main attack/passive perception, building a GM screen (well, binder) so I don't have to dig through books, giving story cues as nudges, etc.
Run short one shots! Find opportunities to run short one-shots to try things out, and keep groups to limited 3-4 people. Try running the same dungeon with different groups of people, see how it can turn out very differently. Let the players know up front that you are learning and would love helpful feedback afterwards. Try to recruit experienced, helpful players. Don't worry about holding onto the same players, or trying to orchestrate a campaign while you're still learning.
Here's a helpful template for designing one shots: https://youtu.be/y0fP5x-O9lg
It's a bit abrupt that the players said, "You're bad, and we're out." Just as there are DMs who are still learning, well, there are players that are still learning. I was really crappy at first, but had really patient and entertaining players. No one is born knowing how to do this. It's just a skill, and you can learn it!