D&D 5E Let's Have A Thread of Veteran GM Advice

[Campbell]

Session Zero is the start, not the end, of an ongoing conversation about the group's expectations, boundaries, and desires for the game. As a game evolves, we need to check in with each other and make sure we all stay on the same page. Part of your responsibility as a GM is to facilitate that ongoing conversation and address areas where expectations/desires start to drift before it becomes a thing.

 

[Wolfpack48]

So, I sometimes steal a method from Spirit of the Century to accomplish this. It establishes connections between the characters before play beings.

Sit the players down at a table - imagine a virtual table if you are playing online. Give each player an index card, and tell them to imagine that their character's backstory before play was a novel. Write down the title of that novel, and a couple of sentences giving the main conflict or problem in that novel, like the blurb on the back of a paperback.

Now, pass the card to the left. The next player as a "supporting role" in the book. They can ask the main character a few questions so they can understand the gist of the story, and then adds a couple of sentences describing a bit more of the story, and how their character helped (or "helped", if it is that kind of game). Pass the cards again one space to the left, and repeat with a second supporting character.

When you are done each character will have their own novel, in which two people had supporting roles, and will also have played supporting roles in at least two other stories. So, in a table of 5 players, every character has met all the others before play begins.

Then you can start however you want, with the addition that the characters have some sense of each other and a bit of personal history to draw on.

It's interesting to see a couple of different approaches, one the in media res a part of the first adventure, which throws parties together and gives them some reason to team up, and the other the thoughtful backstory/system showing how characters know each other. The second seems to require more of a Session 0 that is either coming together and playing that through or metagaming the group's relationship almost as part of character creation.

I've found in my experience that a lot of players like to focus on their own character and not give a lot of attention to the others. Sometimes they don't even want to create their own backstory, although I encourage this. I think I gravitate toward letting each character have their own silo'd experience (though perfectly fine to have a relationship if they want one), and then make the first part of the initial adventure about "how they met" which is why I like that in media res approach. It gives them freedom to be their own idealized self, and the adventure is the emerging story for them as a disparate group. I brainstormed some other situations that might work - I don't know if these are good or bad:

• A mysterious benefactor has contacted each PC and asked them to meet at his bedside as he is soon to pass away. He/she wants to deliver a final message (and task).
• A forgotten mystical sign appears in the sky on the horizon and each PC remembers they have seen that symbol in their family heirlooms. Each PC can be in far flung locations and do not know each other (yet).
• A family heirloom emits a mysterious glow in each of the PC's locations, and when touched gives a vision of each of the other characters working together to avert some epic tragedy. The PCs do not know each other (yet).
• Mysterious objects, when touched, transport the PCs together and immediately place them in danger.
• The party are the only survivors of an attack/disaster/crash and stumble out to meet each other having been left for dead.
• The group are misfits/criminals within their society and are sent on a mission as punishment.
• (Similar to the caravan), PCs are all on a ship traveling between cities when it comes under attack or disaster
• PCs are returning to their home having been traveling abroad for some time to find it burning and in ruins, perhaps with some raiders still remaining. Searching the ruins finds the clues for the attack.
• At a party/event the PCs are all attending, each of the PCs is handed a parchment with a message to meet at a location at a certain time, where they are ambushed.

 

[SteveC]

One more piece of advice that can really help a GM in a game. Be a fan of the PCs. I don't mean have everything they do work out and treat them with kid gloves, I mean accentuate how they're skilled and just awesome at times.

It's been a long time now, but I used to play with many GMs who just treated the PCs as if they were trash. NPCs were rude to them, and if things came to a head, of course they were always much more powerful than the group was. When the group went out of there way to help those in need or do dangerous and heroic deeds, they were often punished or made to feel like chumps. It's no wonder that groups turn into murder hobos when things like that happen.

When a character is good at something, make sure you highlight that in your descriptions. Make them feel like they are something special. And when they fail at something, don't make them seem like idiots. Yeah, a poor roll may have had your character who is very good at something fail, but why did they fail? Maybe something unexpected happened or maybe their opponent was shown to be equally impressive.

When the group does something impressive, let people be impressed. In the game I'm running, the group got a task of seeing what happened to a group of thieves who went rogue and went into a dungeon, never to be seen again. They rescued most of them. The individual rogues basically called them heroes, and the guild they did the job for has already helped them with information and gear. Every time they go into the tavern where the "thieves guild" is located, they drink for free and are warmly regarded. That meant something to them.

In other words, make things as difficult for the group as you can, but let the world recognize what they do. It goes a long way.

 

[el-remmen]

@SteveC's suggestion reminds me of how I like to provide in-game non-treasure/magic rewards as a way to have the PCs engage more deeply in the setting.

For example, in my current in-person game, the PCs are helping out some outlander shepherds who do no have much of anything to give as a reward. Sure, they offered some woolen items and dried meat rations, but what they offered that was most valuable is a place they can always come back to in order to recoup and hide outside of usual confines of local "civilization." The fact that this adventure is happening in a wild place where the party's rep will not be bolstered outside of this small group, actually provides them a place where no one is bound to find them sans scrying should they need it (and knowing adventurers, they will likely eventually need it).

 

[FrozenNorth]

Following on the previous post, one bit of GM advice that I have tried to internalize is:

Look at what behaviour you incentivize by your actions and rulings as a DM, and don’t be surprised when the players when the players act in line with the expectations you set.

If every time players try improvised actions or think outside the box the result is less weaker than “I attack twice” because you’re afraid of setting a precedent, don’t be surprised if the players limit themselves to actions on their character sheet.

 

[cbwjm]

Something I'd recommend DMs do is use chatgpt, it's great when you're trying to come up with names for taverns or locations, rumours, encounters. I've asked it before to create a number of encounters that can occur in a crowded fantasy market, then I can turn that into an encounter table. I've also used it to create a quick dungeon, more to see what it can do, and while I likely wouldn't run it straight, it gives a good start, great if you've got to prep a game but you're running late.

 

[overgeeked]

Following on the previous post, one bit of GM advice that I have tried to internalize is:

Look at what behaviour you incentivize by your actions and rulings as a DM, and don’t be surprised when the players when the players act in line with the expectations you set.

If every time players try improvised actions or think outside the box the result is less weaker than “I attack twice” because you’re afraid of setting a precedent, don’t be surprised if the players limit themselves to actions on their character sheet.

100% this.

If you want your players to do cool things, you have to reward them. It's not a reward to have to make extra rolls to add a descriptive flourish to an attack, for example. That's a punishment.

Player. "I jump up on the table and kick the guy in the face."

Referee. "Okay, roll Athletics or Acrobatics to jump up on the table."

You as the referee have just punished your player for trying to do something cool.

This is how you stop the players from doing cool things in future. If all you want them to do is stand still and hack away until someone dies, make them roll to add descriptive things to an action. They will stop doing it very quickly.

Player. "I jump up on the table and kick the guy in the face."

Referee. "Okay, take advantage on your attack."

You as the referee have just rewarded your player for trying to do something cool.

This is how you ensure the players will try to do cool things in future.

 

[Lanefan]

It's interesting to see a couple of different approaches, one the in media res a part of the first adventure, which throws parties together and gives them some reason to team up, and the other the thoughtful backstory/system showing how characters know each other. The second seems to require more of a Session 0 that is either coming together and playing that through or metagaming the group's relationship almost as part of character creation.

There's a third approach: drop the puck and let the players find their own way for their characters to coalesce into a party.

My current campaign started with 2 PCs roaming from village to village recruiting other neophyte adventurers because "there's gold in them thar hills, we just gotta build a team to go get it!". This was entirely the idea of the players of the two recruiting PCs, and it worked like a dream. (it helped that one of the two recruiters was a Bard who intentionally emphasized the gold-and-glory side in his fanciful tales while conveniently forgetting to mention the risks and dangers...)

 

[Reynard]

There's a third approach: drop the puck and let the players find their own way for their characters to coalesce into a party.

My current campaign started with 2 PCs roaming from village to village recruiting other neophyte adventurers because "there's gold in them thar hills, we just gotta build a team to go get it!". This was entirely the idea of the players of the two recruiting PCs, and it worked like a dream. (it helped that one of the two recruiters was a Bard who intentionally emphasized the gold-and-glory side in his fanciful tales while conveniently forgetting to mention the risks and dangers...)

What benefit did you see of doing this in play rather than backstory? Did any players sit out for a significant amount of time waiting to be recruited? Did any PCs turn down the pitch? If so what happened then?

 

[Ancalagon]

a very simple piece of advice:

Prep what you are bad at. Improvise what you are good at. Very few of us have enough prep time. So spend it on things you can't easily do on the fly.