1.) Always say "yes, but" or "you can try" when a player asks "can I..."
This is a piece of advice that's thrown around quite often and it's with good reason. Your goal as DM is to encourage your players to roleplay and think creatively, and this rule helps with that a great deal. Telling a player no generally shuts down this kind of thinking instead of promoting it.
This doesn't mean that you let your players run roughshod over you and do whatever they want, but it means that if they have an idea that it outside the box, as long as they are willing/able to overcome your handicaps associated with the idea, they can do it.
So if a player decides they want to have a pet dragon, or wants to design their own class, or wants to try something outlandish "I'd like to convince the King to give his throne to me because I'm the long lost relative of an ancient King" If they can overcome the penalties/setback associated with that choice, or live with the consequences if they fail, then let them try it...
Along with this is the idea that I've spoken of before, allowing automatic successes on a natural 20 and automatic failure on a natural 1. Players may try to abuse this idea by trying outlandish things hoping to roll a natural 20, but this is easily overcome. Make the "punishment" or "bad stuff" associated with failure match the difficulty/outlandishness of the action. So using the earlier example, if they try to convince the King and fail, perhaps the King has them thrown in prison or executed for impersonating royalty.
Using this rule has led to some very interesting situations in my campaigns. I had one player who was playing a Barbarian and the group was fighting a pack of dire wolves. He decided he wanted to try intimidating one of them into "surrendering". He succeeds with a 20, so not only does said wolf surrender, but he has a new companion.
Also, I never have a problem with players wanting to change or add "cosmetic" things to their characters. I had one player who wanted a pet spider to follow him around. It couldn't/wouldn't attack and gave no real advantages for the most part (he used it in creative ways once in a while).
If you have a player who wants to have his fireballs be green instead of red, or who wants their lightning bolt to be black instead of white... let them have it. It'll have no real impact on the game and it lets the player do something to "personalize" their character.
2.) You are not the players enemy and you don't win anything for killing off all the player characters... in fact you lose when you do...
This is something that many DMs, new and old, seem to forget. Your goal is not to kill the PCs, your goal is to tell a story with the PCs, and if they all die, the story ends.
You will be playing the monsters against the heroes, and it is your job to challenge the heroes. This does mean that sometimes they will get themselves killed. Players are notorious for doing dumb or careless things that get their characters killed. You don't need to actually do anything to make this happen, it will happen naturally as you play. You don't want to be engineering things just to kill a PC, let them get themselves killed instead.
This is not to say that your monsters and NPCs shouldn't fight intelligently or that they shouldn't employ tactics and strategies against the PCs... it does mean, however, that you should not be designing a world just to kill your players. Design a world that is interesting and let your players loose in it...
3.) If you want your players to do something more often, reward them for doing so...
Do you want your players to RP more? Give them extra XP when they find a way to solve a problem via RP instead of just hacking their way through it.
Want them to try figuring out a creative solution to a puzzle or problem? Perhaps that creative solution means that the bad guy is more willing to negotiate with them, and offers them a ton of gold and magic items for letting him live...
If you want your players to use more creative means to solve problems, reward this. If you want them to RP more, reward them for doing so, if you want them to fight more (rare, but it could happen) then reward them better for fighting. Whatever the case, make sure they are aware that they are receiving an "extra" reward for what they did, this will cement the idea that it's a good behavior and it will hopefully click for them that they should continue that behavior.
4.) Don't argue rules at the table, make a judgement and make a note of it so you can revisit it at a better time...
We've all played with rules lawyers... We've all been wrong at the table on how a certain rule or ability works...
Arguing rules at the table tends to bring the game to a screeching halt. Instead of arguing the rules at the table in the middle of playing, you should be making a judgement as the DM, and the table will abide by that judgement. Later, during a break or after the session, you can always revisit that rule/judgement and fix the ruling for the future.
If you have a player who wants to argue the rule, make a judgement and they can look up the rule while it's not their turn, you can always fix it a couple rounds later if necessary. But you don't want to completely stop everything while you page through a book, it's BORING...
Hand-in-hand with this rule is...
5.) At the table, your word is law, make sure your players realize and respect this, also make sure you don't abuse this power...
As the DM, you are making the world and the rules. Your word is law, no matter what the books say.
Do you want your NPC to be able to wave his hand and transform into a dragon? Then do it... Even if there's not necessarily a rule for it, make one up, but make sure you are consistent with these rules. If you make a ruling on something, make sure that ruling stands for everyone until you have the chance to all agree to "fixing" it later.
You don't want to make arbitrary judgments, but you want to be able to change the rules as necessary. The rules as written are a great framework, but your job is to bend, manipulate and change those rules as you see fit to tell a compelling story. In my opinion (and that of many of the best DMs I've seen) story trumps rules every time.
6.) Talk to your players...
This seems like a "duh" tip, but you'd be surprised how many new DMs don't think to do this...
Usually, when I start a group, especially one with players I haven't DMd for before, I like to ask the players what they want to see or fight. They like zombies and want to fight undead? Cool. They like battles with big, epic monsters like dragons and tarrasques? Ok. Do they maybe like to wade into combat against tons of minions and hack their way through? Easy enough.
Try to give your players what they want, but with your own twists on it.
Don't be afraid to outright ask your players what they like or want and tailor the campaign to their wants... Remember, it's their story, you're just helping them tell it.
7.) Don't be afraid to reskin things...
Don't be afraid to change the flavor of anything. Do you want your PCs to encounter a goblin brute, but only have the zombie brute available? Change the damage and resistances a bit and you can easily use the stats interchangeably.
Changing the flavor of a monster or NPC can make a huge difference and can save you a ton of time.
8.) Your "bad guys" need a motivation...
All good villains have a motivation of some sort. They have a reason why they do what they do, even the crazy ones.
The Joker is a great example of a crazy one, but even he has a motivation for what he does, he doesn't just do things randomly, he does them to prove a point. It doesn't matter that the point itself is flawed or crazy, to him it makes sense.
When you look at the best villains in film and books, they all have some overarching motivation that they are trying to accomplish. Voldemort wanted to rid the world of non-magical people and wanted to become more powerful. (Revenge worked its way in as well in his hatred of Harry Potter). Darth Vader and the Emperor wanted to rule the Galaxy. Sauron wanted to rule the world. They all had a motivation of some sort.
When you design a villain for your PCs to encounter, come up with some grand goal that villain is trying to accomplish. Are they trying to eradicate magic from the world? Are they trying to build an empire? Are they trying to become the most powerful necromancer there is? Are they trying to become a god?
Make sure the things that villain does work towards that goal. It doesn't have to be apparently right away how those actions work towards the goal (and it can be better if it's not at all apparent until later) but they should have some reason for happening in concert with the ultimate goal of the villain.
and on that note...
9.) The PCs should have a motivation as well...
This goes doubly so for evil PCs (if you allow them), but all of the PCs should have some motivation.
Not just for the current adventure, but also some ultimate goal. Perhaps they want to become a warlord, perhaps they want to be the greatest assassin the world has ever seen, perhaps they want to create a new form of magic, or their own spells through years of study.
Whatever that end motivation is, the PCs should be moving towards that motivation with things they do. It doesn't have to be a specific goal, it can be something as vague as "I'd like to spread the teachings of my god", but they should have some goal or motivation to work towards. This can also change as their character progresses.
For evil characters, I try to head off the "I'm going to be a jerk randomly because my alignment says evil." If you want to play evil that's fine, but you can't just be a jerk for no reason. If you're doing something evil, it should be to further your eventual goal.
One way I try to stem off the "random jerk acts" from evil characters is to punish those acts harshly when they are just random, instead of working towards the character's goal.
"Oh, you decided to randomly kill that barmaid for no reason? Well, she was actually a rather important person and her friends are none too happy about it and are sending hit squads to take out you and your companions."
Also, if you choose to do this, make sure the party knows that they're having a tougher time because of what that character did... they will help to keep the character in check themselves...
10.) Your players will upset or avoid your carefully laid plans... expect this and be able to adapt...
A nearly universal rule of DMing is that your players will always find some way to upset or bypass your carefully laid plans. The rule of thumb seems to be... the more time you put into planning that encounter or dungeon, the higher chance they'll find some way to completely avoid it...
Be ready to improvise, sometimes that improvisation will put them back on the path you have prepared, other times you'll be improvising a whole new path, either way, your players will always find new and interesting ways to surprise you.
Did you plan for them to fight a dragon at the end of the current dungeon, and they decide to try and negotiate with it instead? Let them, either find some way for the dragon to decide to attack via negotiation, or allow them to actually negotiate their way out of it, perhaps said dragon can even become a "patron" of the PCs, giving them quests to do for him in exchange for rewards...
I hope these tips help you out in your journey as a DM... do you think I forgot some important tip? Tell me below!
Until Next Time,
Your Humble DM,
-Zach
Hello Zach,
ReplyDeleteI have a question regarding the "always say 'you can try'" point you explined at the start of the post.
In my previous campaign, the PC's arrived at a village where the 'mayor' was long-absent, without the knowledge of the people. When they decided to search for him they first went to his mansion, and after receiving no response broke in, only to find it abandoned and dilapidated, though still full of belongings. And so, they proceeded to raid the mansion, in search of magical items.
So, how do I react to this? I had not at all thought of this, and found it quite creative, albeit amoral, and so I let it pass giving them a few magical items. In hidnsight, maybe I shouldn't, since it felt like an extremely cheap way of acquiring them, and some of the items I gave were a bit out-of-context for a mayor (although he wasn't exactly ordinary).
Should I reward their idea and let them have their items, give them another challenge before letting them find the equipment (in which case, what challenge?), or just deny it outright?
Imho, if you never reward your PCs for things like looking for the mayor and thinking to break into his house, they're going to stop doing such creative and plot-relevant (if off-track for your planning) things. If you give them a couple of moderately cool items, they'll do it again next time, when maybe you've planned for them to go into a place. But if you don't give them the items, then they'll say "yeah but the last six times we've gone somewhere, our DM was difficult and just said there was nothing there" and will move on to the next area. Another benefit of providing treasure, even just GP, is that your players will be less likely to start meta-thought about what you as DM/GM will or won't provide.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I play with at least one player who is HIGHLY motivated by treasure, so when she doesn't get treasure she gets kind of pouty and harder to handle and starts questioning things. Get a good "read" on your group and decide accordingly!