iserith
Magic Wordsmith
I'm at my peak performance as a DM when I've had a couple of Jameson's on the rocks.
D&D 5E Your one best piece of GM/DM advice?
I'm at my peak performance as a DM when I've had a couple of Jameson's on the rocks.
Demorgus
Explorer
I think if everyone can handle their alcohol or whatever, than it's fine.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
One piece? But I have so many, and many would echo (and some contradict) advice already given here. So I'll pick one:
Be evocative with descriptions - and not just by preparing or reading box text for locations. Be prepared to provide the players with other descriptions to give them the impression of the game location, the creatures they are encountering, the things they're doing. If they're in a big city with tall skyscrapers, feel free to tell them the streets are canyonesque so they have mental impression of being in deep with tall walls around them. Tell them about smells, sounds, the character of an alien's movement. Even if your vocabulary isn't great, do your best to describe things so that the players can have a mental image in their heads. Their own images will all be different, but by telling them about the impressions their PCs have, they will all fit similar descriptors.
I also suggest browsing photo sites on the internet or find some decent gaming tumblr or pinterest boards or even National Geographic. The number of interesting locations and descriptions that I've pulled from photos of exotic or interesting places... for example, I wouldn't have had a superhero scenario involving the PCs trailing Yakuza to Japan and fighting in Kyoto's Koke-dera (moss temple) if I hadn't seen an interesting photo of it in National Geographic.
Be evocative with descriptions - and not just by preparing or reading box text for locations. Be prepared to provide the players with other descriptions to give them the impression of the game location, the creatures they are encountering, the things they're doing. If they're in a big city with tall skyscrapers, feel free to tell them the streets are canyonesque so they have mental impression of being in deep with tall walls around them. Tell them about smells, sounds, the character of an alien's movement. Even if your vocabulary isn't great, do your best to describe things so that the players can have a mental image in their heads. Their own images will all be different, but by telling them about the impressions their PCs have, they will all fit similar descriptors.
I also suggest browsing photo sites on the internet or find some decent gaming tumblr or pinterest boards or even National Geographic. The number of interesting locations and descriptions that I've pulled from photos of exotic or interesting places... for example, I wouldn't have had a superhero scenario involving the PCs trailing Yakuza to Japan and fighting in Kyoto's Koke-dera (moss temple) if I hadn't seen an interesting photo of it in National Geographic.
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One thing I started doing in the last campaign I ran - after each session, write up a brief summary of the highlights for yourself. Include any notable NPC interactions (especially the NPC names so you don't forget) and how the NPC's will remember or act toward the party in future meetings.
It doesn't have to be super detailed or anything, just enough to jog your memory and give yourself plot points to follow up on in future sessions. I found it really helped me a lot, especially when I wanted to follow up on a plot point several sessions after it was introduced.
Suddenly, the characters actions no longer happened in a vacuum. I actually had the NPC's remember things the PC's did weeks or months later.
It doesn't have to be super detailed or anything, just enough to jog your memory and give yourself plot points to follow up on in future sessions. I found it really helped me a lot, especially when I wanted to follow up on a plot point several sessions after it was introduced.
Suddenly, the characters actions no longer happened in a vacuum. I actually had the NPC's remember things the PC's did weeks or months later.
MARCVS AVRELIVS
Explorer
My advice...
Recognize that gaming is like a roller coaster; some sessions are going to be amazing, some are going to lead to blahs. Not everyone around the table is going to experience the same ups and downs, either. If you have a great session, don't fall into the trap of "chasing the dragon" and trying to force every following session to hit the same high. If you have a bad session, don't fall into despair and give up, because things tend to improve.
TLDR; develop patience.
Recognize that gaming is like a roller coaster; some sessions are going to be amazing, some are going to lead to blahs. Not everyone around the table is going to experience the same ups and downs, either. If you have a great session, don't fall into the trap of "chasing the dragon" and trying to force every following session to hit the same high. If you have a bad session, don't fall into despair and give up, because things tend to improve.
TLDR; develop patience.
MechaPilot
Explorer
I'm inclined to think [MENTION=57326]sunrisekid[/MENTION] meant drinking to excess, or at least to the point of starting to be negatively affected by it (perhaps because one is drinking on an empty stomach). If you're just drinking a little bit, and not on an empty stomach, and you can hold your liquor, then have at it. Just make sure you're sober before you drive home.
I offered some advice upthread so please consider this my second-best GM advice.
Use ability checks to say "Yes, but..." to your players. When they want to do something blatantly against the rules, if it makes sense as something their character might be able to do, have them make an ability check of some sort (details vary based on game system). On a success, they can do it; on a failure, they can't, and might even face negative consequences as a result of the attempt.
This works much better than just saying "No." By allowing a check, even a difficult one, you take much of the decision out of your hands. Ultimately the dice are deciding, but also the player can decide how much effort they want to put into it (expending special resources to improve their results; again, details vary by game system). It works well because even if the players fail, they still feel that they at least had a shot; and when they succeed, you know they "earned" it, and you're not just being a softie.
In most respects this is no different than a regular ability/skill check. Except that I advocate allowing check results to override even things that are phrased in the rules as absolutes. E.g.,
Use ability checks to say "Yes, but..." to your players. When they want to do something blatantly against the rules, if it makes sense as something their character might be able to do, have them make an ability check of some sort (details vary based on game system). On a success, they can do it; on a failure, they can't, and might even face negative consequences as a result of the attempt.
This works much better than just saying "No." By allowing a check, even a difficult one, you take much of the decision out of your hands. Ultimately the dice are deciding, but also the player can decide how much effort they want to put into it (expending special resources to improve their results; again, details vary by game system). It works well because even if the players fail, they still feel that they at least had a shot; and when they succeed, you know they "earned" it, and you're not just being a softie.
In most respects this is no different than a regular ability/skill check. Except that I advocate allowing check results to override even things that are phrased in the rules as absolutes. E.g.,
- You want to move farther than your speed allows? Yes, but... make a Dexterity check, and if you fail, you fall on your face.
- You want to concentrate on two spells at once? Yes, but... make a Constitution check, and if you fail, you lose both spells.
- You want to just totally ignore the mind-control for 1 round? Yes, but... make a Wisdom check, and if you fail, not only are you still mind-controlled, but saves to escape from mind-control are at disadvantage.
- You want to cast lightning bolt as a cone instead of a line? Yes, but... make an Intelligence check, and if you fail, then your spell hits you and no-one else.
Sorcerers Apprentice
Hero
Make sure to kill at least one character during the first session. Getting a kill in the very first combat is ideal.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
I like this one. Even if you never kill another character for the entire campaign, the table knows you mean business right from the start and that adventuring has its risks.
Lan-"also, it's much easier to bring in the replacement character when the party is still almost raw 1st level"-efan
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