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

[Fanaelialae]

I'm not very good at mapping, so what I do is draw a very rough map. I don't even try to get the exact dimensions, but rather just the rough positions of hallways and locations; just enough that the party can navigate without getting lost. My maps (more or less) look like a point crawl, rather than a proper dungeon map.

We have another guy at my table who is a mapping genius. He can map anything with precision and ease. He once managed to figure out that we had ended up on a Mobius Strip and successfully navigated us off of it. He's explained how he did it multiple times over the years, but I still can't seem to wrap my head around it.

Differences in mapping ability are very real, and if you don't have good mappers in the party, either don't force them to map or, if you really feel you must, suggest that they draw a rough map rather than a precise map. They may find that considerably easier.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Without a map, players quickly lose any sense of where they are and where they can go, and it's just a matter of time before they request one anyway.

Good. Have you ever been in a large cave network? They should loose track of where they are, unless they resort to classic techniques like the spool of thread or marking junctions with chalk (chalk used to be in the standard adventurers equipment list). Not much point in having a maze if you hand out free maps!

So long as the DM knows where they are, it's fine.

 

[el-remmen]

What would you do? I'm thinking of drawing each room myself on the whiteboard behind me so they can just copy it,

It is basically what I do, but directly on the battlemat (or with the tiles) once we run out of room I wipe what had and the players are responsible for making some kind of notation of what they have passed through. The map doesn't have to be perfect (heck, they don't even have to make one if they really don't want to) but they sure do find it helpful when they are low on hps and desperately trying to find their way back out before the monsters they disturbed catch up with them.

 

[Reynard]

It occurs to me that player mapping and Shadowdark's real time torch timer would dovetail nicely.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It occurs to me that player mapping and Shadowdark's real time torch timer would dovetail nicely.

This was part of the tournament version of Hidden Shine I mentioned either. The PCs are dying from poison gas, which represented the real-world time limit of the tournament game. On the scorecard, one of the things players would loose points for was trying to make a detailed map. Why is your character surveying the ruins when they need to get out as quickly as possible or die?

 

[bloodtide]

For those of you who run theater of the mind, do you have methods or tools for incorporating the environment into your games? Or betters for dealing with AoE abilities?

I lot of DM that do Theater of the Mind are doing it as they like the vague "things are sort of kind of here or there" or they simply don't want to put the work and effort into details. So, make sure you are not either type of DM.

Then, you have to add lots and lots of detail. You can't say "the woods" or "a castle", you have to describe it in more detail. There are a couple hundred words to describe nature and a couple hundred to describe man made things: You need to learn them all and use them. And you will have to use lots of numbers for everything. You can't just say "a small stream of water", you will need to say "a small stream about a foot wide of water". It helps to have a bunch of pre made ones, and you can re use them as a great many places are exactly the same.

In 2024 it is easy to add pictures too. A couple minutes online and you should be able to find what you need. Online you can send the pics....in real life you can put the pic on a large screen for all to see.

And, finally, you need to make it matter in the game. If you describe an area for ten minutes then are just like "whatever roll 1d20 and attack" your just filling time. You need to have game rules that matter. Your PRG of choice might have some....but chances are you will need to add a lot.

The players take up the rumor/hook/job and ask a few initial questions, I provide the answers, point them clearly to some next possible steps, then they largely seem to just falter and stop dead. The fact that they have options seems to confuse them. That there isn't one blinking neon sign pointing to an obvious right choice puts them into analysis paralysis. They're looking for the rails when there aren't any, and the fact that they can't find them causes them to freeze.

As the Railroad Tycoon Baron: This is why you need rails for an RPG. When most players feel the pure Openness that they can do anything, they get confused at best and freeze or stop paying at the worst. It's not new to 5E, but it is sure a lot more common with younger players and/or anyone who started gaming within the last couple years.

In general, you will need to provide rails....though say "breadcrums" or such if it makes you feel better. What ever the thing, provide a somewhat direct way to take care of it. The Rail Rider Type player wants and needs to be told what to do: they don't want to figure it out. There background of TV shows, movies and most of all video games has taught them that there is just one pre made path.

How do you get your players to start taking notes???

Well, first remove any DM Buddy help from the game. When the players ask the DM "hey, whatever we don't really care..um..what was that gnome guys name?" Simply Don't Tell Them. Even when it's "important": Player "um we go to that nice cleric guy in that up place that said we could get free healing!" Dm: "What guy in what place?" Player-"Um...Idonooo, lets just say we got there ok, DM". DM-"nope"

Then you need to add a lot of mechanics to the game play: information notes should have game value. Give a bonus or penitently or advantage or disadvantage or whatever. Some games to have some lite rules here...but you will have to add more and better ones. If you want a player to remember a lords title, the game effect needs to be more then "a plus one on charisma rolls for one round".

Also make information treasure. That is you can get more rewards and more perks and more items using information.

Likewise, any suggestions on how to encourage high amounts of roleplay or narrative input?

This crosses over with "taking notes. And again it is about adding game mechanics.

You want to add Social things into the game play: Honor, Reputation, Trust, Fame. Some games have such rules....but most fall flat. As they are game rules made for limited space and just crammed in a book they don't really work well. Most are "character does action x and gets 100 fame points" and just let players say "oh my character does the thing 20 times and is now super famous".

An example from my game is list of deeds done. A typical NPC will list three: the "big" one they have done, a "famous" one they have done, and a "new one" they have done. A Ranger might say-"Slayer of the Dragon Rixx, Master Tracker that caught Royal Assassin Duckar and Slayer of the fearsome flump". So knowing and saying the deeds, gives a bonus when interacting with the ranger or his allies. And the important one is to keep track of that last new one.....it's a big bonus when you use a new deed done.

And PCs can do this too....list their deeds and have other NPC use them. And it gives a sneaky reason to adventure: characters want to add a new unique deed.

Remembering all this information and using it has game rule benefits, and adds to the characters honor points...and those have benefits.

 

[gorice]

The obvious solution to this to run an adventure someone else has written.

A lot of the pleasure of being a DM comes from watching the players enjoying the game. So the old axiom "give the punters what they want" tends to apply.

That thing you really wanted to do? It might be better to save it for a different group who might appreciate it more.

Eh, that works if your problem is that you don't feel up to the job in terms of creativity, but if the problem is passivity as such, prewritten adventures are likely to make it worse. I think linear written adventures has a lot to do with how people learn to stop having agency as players. I can't speak for @overgeeked , but as a GM, I feel like no-one's playing if we're just following a script.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Eh, that works if your problem is that you don't feel up to the job in terms of creativity, but if the problem is passivity as such, prewritten adventures are likely to make it worse. I think linear written adventures has a lot to do with how people learn to stop having agency as players. I can't speak for @overgeeked , but as a GM, I feel like no-one's playing if we're just following a script.

The idea that a pre-written adventure involves following a script implies you have never played one. Not even Dragonlance does that!

And if the players prefer to have a clear objective, so they can feel like heroes, rather than money-grubbing mercenaries, who are you to tell them they are wrong?

 

[overgeeked]

Eh, that works if your problem is that you don't feel up to the job in terms of creativity, but if the problem is passivity as such, prewritten adventures are likely to make it worse. I think linear written adventures has a lot to do with how people learn to stop having agency as players. I can't speak for @overgeeked , but as a GM, I feel like no-one's playing if we're just following a script.

Exactly. There's no point running a railroad. Just pass the book around and let everyone read the story. The whole point of these games is the collaboration.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Exactly. There's no point running a railroad. Just pass the book around and let everyone read the story. The whole point of these games is the collaboration.

My players believe the point of the game is fighting monsters whilst downing a few beers. If you don’t agree with your players about the point of the game is it’s not surprising you run into problems. Maybe you should ask your players what they think the point is?