Hi, I'm Andrea

[Nevvur]

Strongly disagree about watching Critical Role. It's entertainment, not education. In the words of Stu Venable, "Watching Critical Role to learn how to play role playing games is like watching porn to learn how to have sex."

 

[rgoodbb]

Welcome.

I waited a long time not sure if I could DM and when I eventually did, it was great.

Don't wait. Do it!

Below is an account of my first DM'ing session if you are interested. Hopefully it will encourage you.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showpost.php?p=7008807

Have fun.

 

[rgoodbb]

Strongly disagree about watching Critical Role. It's entertainment, not education. In the words of Stu Venable, "Watching Critical Role to learn how to play role playing games is like watching porn to learn how to have sex."

Watching Critical Role will not let you get all the rules exactly, as they do one or two things differently (as do a lot of DM's)


Watching Critical Role will hopefully inspire you as a DM to better describe and enrich your world through dramatic scenes and memorable NPC's and good inter-party relationships and it should show you how a DM can go with players ideas and say the word Yes, to players whenever they can. It should also show that a story that is built upon by the DM and the players is rewarding to all around the table.


It can be also be a lot of fun to watch as well.


I suggest you watch it and make up your own mind. If it does nothing else, then it provides great weekly entertainment for a lot of folk.

 

[CapnZapp]

Strongly disagree about watching Critical Role. It's entertainment, not education. In the words of Stu Venable, "Watching Critical Role to learn how to play role playing games is like watching porn to learn how to have sex."

Agreed. Watching professional high-confidence extrovert gamers-cum-actors act out D&D sessions with high production values is great if you want to make yourself insecure about your own DM-ing abilities. Even worse, using that show to instill impossibly high expectations into your players.

A far better approach is to collect three or four (not more, not less) friends and just start playing. Start with something small and simple - even if you later find Lost Mines of Phandelver, say, is not sophisticated enough for your gaming tastes, it should work well at giving you a taste of what DM:ing entails.

Don't worry about production values. All you need is pen, paper, dice and your collective imagination. Everything else can come later.

 

[Harzel]

Strongly disagree about watching Critical Role. It's entertainment, not education. In the words of Stu Venable, "Watching Critical Role to learn how to play role playing games is like watching porn to learn how to have sex."

I know nothing of Stu except this quote you have given, but absent any context that strikes me as an assertion born of either envy or ignorance. In particular, the analogy to porn is inflammatory without having any substance. It's pure put-down with no insight.

That said, it is true that for a new DM (or player) viewing CR probably should come with the observation that the cast are professional actors, and the way they have fun with D&D is much more heavily slanted toward RP (in the sense of acting out characterizations) than it would be for the average D&D group. In particular, if you took it as some sort of ideal to be attained (instead of an example to be considered), it would set up unrealistic expectations of the players on the part of the DM, and vice versa in terms of "playing" PCs and NPCs.

On the other hand, CR exemplifies a number of things that I think it is useful to see:

• You don't have to play a highly optimized character to have fun.
• It's ok for a DM to be humble and admit they make mistakes.
• You don't have to be ego-involved in your character's success.
• Games thrive when DMs and players support and appreciate each other.

 

[The Big BZ]

I know nothing of Stu except this quote you have given, but absent any context that strikes me as an assertion born of either envy or ignorance. In particular, the analogy to porn is inflammatory without having any substance. It's pure put-down with no insight.

That said, it is true that for a new DM (or player) viewing CR probably should come with the observation that the cast are professional actors, and the way they have fun with D&D is much more heavily slanted toward RP (in the sense of acting out characterizations) than it would be for the average D&D group. In particular, if you took it as some sort of ideal to be attained (instead of an example to be considered), it would set up unrealistic expectations of the players on the part of the DM, and vice versa in terms of "playing" PCs and NPCs.

On the other hand, CR exemplifies a number of things that I think it is useful to see:

• You don't have to play a highly optimized character to have fun.
• It's ok for a DM to be humble and admit they make mistakes.
• You don't have to be ego-involved in your character's success.
• Games thrive when DMs and players support and appreciate each other.

I think it's an excellent analogy, watch this:

That said, it is true that for a teenager (or someone becoming sexually active) viewing porn probably should come with the observation that the cast are professional actors, and the way they have fun with sex on screen is much more heavily slanted toward fake and overstated pleasure (in the sense of acting out characterizations) than it would be for the average couple. In particular, if you took it as some sort of ideal to be attained (instead of an example to be considered), it would set up unrealistic expectations of the participants on the part of themselves and their partner.

Very good advice!

 

[Harzel]

Agreed. Watching professional high-confidence extrovert gamers-cum-actors act out D&D sessions with high production values is great if you want to make yourself insecure about your own DM-ing abilities.

That has not been my experience. I have watched CR regularly for quite a while, and to the best of my knowledge it has not made me more insecure about my DM-ing. Matt Mercer is very good at somethings, competent at most, and has a few weaknesses - some of which he works at improving, and others of which he doesn't seem to care about (or are just low priority for him). In a few spots, I think I am better than he is; other places I try to learn from him.

Even worse, using that show to instill impossibly high expectations into your players.

Yes, it would not be a good idea to treat it as a D&D ideal that must be matched (or even necessarily emulated). If you pay attention, though, you will notice that the cast do not style themselves as great D&D players - they're very explicit about the notion that they are doing what is fun for them.

A far better approach

It doesn't have to be either/or.

is to collect three or four (not more, not less) friends and just start playing. Start with something small and simple - even if you later find Lost Mines of Phandelver, say, is not sophisticated enough for your gaming tastes, it should work well at giving you a taste of what DM:ing entails.

Don't worry about production values. All you need is pen, paper, dice and your collective imagination. Everything else can come later.

All solid advice.

 

[CapnZapp]

That has not been my experience. I have watched CR regularly for quite a while, and to the best of my knowledge it has not made me more insecure about my DM-ing.

I never said it would make an existing DM insecure.

My comment was made under the assumption I was addressing a complete newcomer.

There is a difference. If you already are a DM I'm sure watching is great to improve your DM bag of tricks.

 

[ClaytonCross]

I never said it would make an existing DM insecure.

My comment was made under the assumption I was addressing a complete newcomer.

There is a difference. If you already are a DM I'm sure watching is great to improve your DM bag of tricks.

I can say my current GM has been GMing for many year but watching critical role has improved his game. He never used lair actions, complicated traps, down time the, or out of initiative combat the way he does now as result of watching the show. Also, corrections about surprise status and surprise rounds that came out due to conversations where the players were trying to "correct" their play ended in use making the same changes.

 

[Imaculata]

My advice would be to simply have fun. Not just your players, but you as well. A key element in that regard, is to get everyone on the same page. This is usually what I use a session 0 for. A session 0 to me, is getting all the players together in a room, and discussing how I plan to run the campaign, what they can expect from me, and what I expect from them.

This is what I do in a session 0:

-Discuss with my players what classes and characters they want to play, and helping them out if they have trouble making up their mind. The DM can be very helpful in making sure the party is balanced. The DM can also help out a lot with rolling up the characters, and explaining to the players how to make their character, and fill out their sheets. Remember that as a DM you are not expected to know 'everything', but you are expected to be best informed about the rules. If you have experienced players, this is also where you discuss what is and is not allowed in your campaign. Are any supplements/classes/spells/races off limits?

-Discuss with my players what kind of campaign I intend to run, and in what kind of setting it will take place. Is it going to be a one-off adventure? An adventure module? A long campaign? A sandbox campaign? Will it be heavy on combat, roleplaying, or a bit of both? And what do the players really want to see and do? If the adventure involves a lot of exploration and traveling, do the players even like that sort of stuff? Are the players okay with a campaign that mostly involves a lot of talking, and political backstabbing? Or do they want combat, or a little bit of all those things?

-Discuss with my players what subjects will be off-limits. Especially if you plan to run a campaign with adult elements, it helps to set up some basic guidelines. This is also a good opportunity to check with your players if there are any things they may be uncomfortable with. Will there be sex, torture, religious themes? And what happens when those situations occur? Do you 'fade to black' when such scenes happen, or do they not happen at all?

-Make appointments with my players when we will be playing, and at what time(s). If you plan to play each week, on sunday, at 14:00, this is the moment to check when everyone is available, and for how long. What happens when someone can't make it? Do you continue playing without them, or skip a week? Will they miss out on experience rewards when this happens, or is there shared 'party exp'? You can also arrange with them how food and drinks will be handled. Is everyone expected to bring some drinks and snacks? And what about game supplies? Does everyone bring their own character sheets and dice? Or do you as a DM keep everyone's character sheets in one place?

-Explain to my players how they are expected to play. This is especially important with players who are new to D&D. What can they do? How do they declare actions? When do they roll dice? Do they wait till you ask them to make a roll? Do they have to talk in first person as their characters, or can they also talk from the third person? Do you want them to do voices? What happens if a character dies?

-Discuss the general etiquette of the game. Are they allowed to make out-of-character remarks and quote Monty Python endlessly? How strict or relaxed do you want the game to be? Do you want them to play as heroes, who are generally good characters, or are evil deeds allowed? Do you want them to work as a team? Do you want them to do things as a group (don't split the party!), or can they wander off on their own?

I do all of these things before I start playing with my players. Getting a lot (if not all) of these details out of the way before your first session, can help a lot with getting everyone on the same page, and prevents anyone from having wrong expectations. If a particular player doesn't work well with the rest of the group, you can often catch this during your session 0.