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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9438728" data-attributes="member: 6790260">And I'm saying that advice is either useless or outright bad for brand-new DMs needing help.It is, as my analogy above said, like giving a middle schooler e e cummings and Frost and Plath and saying &quot;see! Poets can do whatever they want! Do whatever you want.&quot; That's not how you build up good poets. Good poets must master the fundamentals before they can begin doing high-flying stunts with language. Children must learn to walk before they learn to run, and learn to crawl before learning to walk. Students need to master the rules of algebra and trigonometry before you teach them calculus. Etc. Throwing a child to the wolves and expecting them to come back with pelts is foolish, not wise.Until someone builds up the necessary intuitions and skills and repertoire of experiences to make such decisions on their own, it is critically important to help them make such decisions. Instead of uselessly telling them &quot;do it yourself!&quot;, there are easily half a dozen things you could do instead that would be far more productive:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Start by asking questions, &quot;Do you have any ideas for how you would like to handle this already?&quot; &quot;What are your players like?&quot; Etc.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Give examples of what you've done in similar or related situations, &quot;My last group did X&quot; type stuff</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Point to useful rules (a rarity in 5e) or other guidance that helped you with figuring out a solution</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pointing them to 3rd party rules you have enjoyed (this was obviously not very available in the first year or two of 5e)</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Walk them through how you would make that decision, as if they were one of your players and you were running right that moment</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Provide more general DMing advice and explain why it's relevant and how to use it, rather than tossing a pithy maxim at them and dropping the mic</li>
</ul>THAT is how you actually mentor a brand new person seeking advice for how to improve their skill at a complex and challenging task. But of course I essentially never saw people actually doing that. They instead chose the laziest possible approach: &quot;just do it, 4head.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9438728, member: 6790260"] And I'm saying that advice is either useless or outright [I]bad[/I] for brand-new DMs needing help. It is, as my analogy above said, like giving a middle schooler e e cummings and Frost and Plath and saying "see! Poets can do whatever they want! Do whatever [I]you[/I] want." [I]That's not how you build up good poets.[/I] Good poets must master the fundamentals before they can begin doing high-flying stunts with language. Children must learn to walk before they learn to run, and learn to crawl before learning to walk. Students need to master the rules of algebra and trigonometry before you teach them calculus. Etc. Throwing a child to the wolves and expecting them to come back with pelts is [I]foolish,[/I] not wise. Until someone builds up the necessary intuitions and skills and repertoire of experiences to make such decisions on their own, it is critically important to [I]help[/I] them make such decisions. Instead of uselessly telling them "do it yourself!", there are easily half a dozen things you could do instead that would be far more productive: [LIST] [*]Start by asking questions, "Do you have any ideas for how you would like to handle this already?" "What are your players like?" Etc. [*]Give examples of what you've done in similar or related situations, "My last group did X" type stuff [*]Point to useful rules (a rarity in 5e) or other guidance that helped you with figuring out a solution [*]Pointing them to 3rd party rules you have enjoyed (this was obviously not very available in the first year or two of 5e) [*]Walk them through how you would make that decision, as if they were one of your players and you were running right that moment [*]Provide more general DMing advice [I]and explain why it's relevant and how to use it[/I], rather than tossing a pithy maxim at them and dropping the mic [/LIST] THAT is how you [I]actually[/I] mentor a brand new person seeking advice for how to improve their skill at a complex and challenging task. But of course I essentially never saw people actually doing that. They instead chose the laziest possible approach: "just do it, 4head." [/QUOTE]

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