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Advice on how not to feel like a lousy DM
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<blockquote data-quote="Shadowdweller" data-source="post: 7865177" data-attributes="member: 14563"><p>I've been DMing for decades. And things still go wrong...sometimes disastrously wrong. My personal advice?</p><p></p><p>* Accept that Sometimes Things Go Wrong: No plan survives first contact with the players. Try to have a sense of the underlying forces at play in the world and have enough back-up material that you can wing it when the players side with the BBEG, miss a critical clue, destroy or alienate important allies, or break the world.</p><p></p><p>* Don't Overprepare: Keep the game world flexible enough that you can improvise when instead of taking the left or right fork, the PCs travel to another dimension. You don't need exact stats or playlists for everything that's going to happen....just enough to improvise when the PCs take a particular course of action. IMHO it's actually counterproductive to overprepare....one can actually narrate one's self into a corner, create plot holes or non-fun adventures (aka "The Slog") if you don't respond to table needs. Let the PCs upend the world and react accordingly, it lets them feel their agency.</p><p></p><p>* Do Try to Anticipate What Could Go Wrong: Try to think about the ways the PCs could mess things up. If a character falls on the wrong side of plot-based challenges (e.g. ends up on trial for murder), consider how you're going to get the <strong><em>player</em></strong> back into the game ASAP. What if a PC with a long-term plot investment falls during a particularly lethal encounter? Do you really want to kill them? How are you going to mitigate the plot damage or the sting from the player's perspective? How are you going to keep things going if the players inadvertently set off the nuclear bomb spell in the middle of town? What are you going to do if the PCs decide they absolutely hate the quest-giver's guts?</p><p></p><p>* Don't Let the Seams Show: Don't apologize too much. Don't hyperfocus on your mistakes. Solicit feedback from the players and LISTEN, but not every five minutes. Bringing up your personal DM fails in front of the players too much focuses attention to said fails and results in a less pleasant experience. Remember that as DM you have artistic license to change rules and creatures around; be careful not to undercut player agency with this power, but don't be afraid to use it to improve the play experience. And be consistent about it. Change monsters around if you need before the fight not during the fight.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shadowdweller, post: 7865177, member: 14563"] I've been DMing for decades. And things still go wrong...sometimes disastrously wrong. My personal advice? * Accept that Sometimes Things Go Wrong: No plan survives first contact with the players. Try to have a sense of the underlying forces at play in the world and have enough back-up material that you can wing it when the players side with the BBEG, miss a critical clue, destroy or alienate important allies, or break the world. * Don't Overprepare: Keep the game world flexible enough that you can improvise when instead of taking the left or right fork, the PCs travel to another dimension. You don't need exact stats or playlists for everything that's going to happen....just enough to improvise when the PCs take a particular course of action. IMHO it's actually counterproductive to overprepare....one can actually narrate one's self into a corner, create plot holes or non-fun adventures (aka "The Slog") if you don't respond to table needs. Let the PCs upend the world and react accordingly, it lets them feel their agency. * Do Try to Anticipate What Could Go Wrong: Try to think about the ways the PCs could mess things up. If a character falls on the wrong side of plot-based challenges (e.g. ends up on trial for murder), consider how you're going to get the [B][I]player[/I][/B] back into the game ASAP. What if a PC with a long-term plot investment falls during a particularly lethal encounter? Do you really want to kill them? How are you going to mitigate the plot damage or the sting from the player's perspective? How are you going to keep things going if the players inadvertently set off the nuclear bomb spell in the middle of town? What are you going to do if the PCs decide they absolutely hate the quest-giver's guts? * Don't Let the Seams Show: Don't apologize too much. Don't hyperfocus on your mistakes. Solicit feedback from the players and LISTEN, but not every five minutes. Bringing up your personal DM fails in front of the players too much focuses attention to said fails and results in a less pleasant experience. Remember that as DM you have artistic license to change rules and creatures around; be careful not to undercut player agency with this power, but don't be afraid to use it to improve the play experience. And be consistent about it. Change monsters around if you need before the fight not during the fight. [/QUOTE]
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