noncombativednd

[noncombativednd]

The Problem with DnD Culture

Wow, guys... you do this? You just.. keep playing with the person who tries to sabotage everyone else’s fun for no reason, and then think YOU need to change something to accommodate THEM? TTRPGs are games where everyone is trying to have fun together, right? If someone is breaking that rule, you stop game, and you tell them to stop. You say “Hey, not cool. Why are you trying to just randomly stab someone, and in the middle of someone else’s fun? It’s not fun or funny, so can you please stop?”

It really is that simple. This isn’t a free for all game where anyone can shit on anyone else’s fun. It’s a game everyone is playing together to have fun together. Like if someone on your football team keeps handing the ball to the other team and is tackling your own team.. you don’t go “It’s cool, he’s just having his fun.We’ll keep him on the team and just make sure one of our defenders is blocking him at all times just in case”. No, you kick them off the team! Just because it’s not against the rules for them to do it, doesn’t mean they should do it; and the problem is them, not you or football.

Let me expand on this. People who think screwing everyone else’s fun is their only fun, is a bigger issue with DnD culture than most other TTRPGs and it’s understandable why. The big problem is that DnD advertises as a game that “you can do anything!”, This creates two problems. -Player who think that because the rules say “The system can emulate any action”, it means “They can do whatever action they want even if it ruins everyone else’s fun, and they can do shitty actions without consequence”. -DM’s with the added stress of having to come up with rules on the fly for any random action (because the system doesn’t actually have rules to “do everything, it just has “one rule” that say the DM should to make up rules if no rule exists) who's too focused on that they have to make up everything to let players do these shitty actions.. and forget they should stop a player from being a jerk to everyone else in real life.

It makes the DMs and Players think that anyone can be shitty, because isn’t the whole point of the game that you can do whatever you want. There’s no rules that say “you can’t do something in game that all the other players hate and ruins their fun, right?” Well, no. We can all just agree it’s bad, and every players should understand it’s cool to call out someone’s bad behavior to stop it. The problem is that DnD thinks it doesn’t have to put this as a rule, even while spending so many sentences in their books saying “Do whatever you want!” they don’t pause to tell players “Hey, treat each other with respect”.

It’s important to understand, almost every other modern TTRPG does put rules to help stop this problem, and help players understand how that makes things way more fun then “randomly kicking someone in the nuts”. Rules like “Share the spotlight” and “Treat the world and the story with respect” are important rules in other TTRPGs, and you definitely should bring that to DnD. Set boundaries for other players if they don’t respect those rules, and help them understand that everyone here is playing to share the story so everyone can have fun. If they don’t respect those boundaries and keep ruining everyone’s fun.. then you tell them to leave the game.

And, you can still have moments where a player “stab the innocent NPCs that most players don’t want stabbed”. I put up some ways in earlier posts that helps this, but basically you just let players know they can still ask everyone else “Hey can I just stab this guy I don’t think you all want stabbed? I think it would be a cool thing to do because ___.” and problem solved. If everyone agrees this weird sudden stabbing of an innocent makes sense and/or would be fun, you’re all cool to do it! And, if it’s not cool to everyone, the other players can help explain why “randomly kicking this innocent NPC in the nuts” really just doesn’t feel like fun right now.

Oh, and a reminder. DMs can be the same kind of jerk, too, so watch yourself DMs. If you’re a DM and you think it’s cool to blindside your players with some unbeatable thing for no reason but to kill off a PC; or a insert scenario that is not appropriate for your players and not something they sign up for; or you just randomly decide to kill off one of the PCs pets just to get a rise out of them.. you are the jerk from above still. The DM is still another player, and you can’t pretend “your story” is more important than everyone else’s fun. If you’re giving your cool NPC monologue and not letting the players have their PC’s cool monologues.. well see above notes; and don’t hesitate as another player to call out the DM if they start ruining everyone’s fun for their own fun.

#I remember when I was DM and the party had all just finally worked up to their first fight with a dragon #Everyone was excited and then suddenly one player just said I take a shit on the dragon #Most people dream to fly on a dragon but this dude dreamed of shitting on one #We had to pause the game to ask the dude if he was like okay #He just said that he can do whatever he wants to do #So I said well so can we and we all kicked him from the game #TTRPG #TTRPGS #DnD #D&D #5e #Dungeons and Dragons

[noncombativednd]

First off, I hope you actually read this because I know these can feel like an attack on an individual even when it’s not meant to be. What I wanted to show was that you seemed to skip over the one part that highlights the problem most people talking about.

As someone trying to help people get more fun out of D&D (and mostly help fix the toxic combative nature of D&D), Do NOT think this is a fight about playing different systems. It’s the fact that once you realize you can replace the D&D system with “Rock Paper Scissors”, that you realize the flaws in the system you love a little more. Every system has flaws, and you gotta admit and understand them to get better at it. If the fun is not in the mechanics of the system, and those mechanics can be replaced with a simple rock, papers, scissors; What are you gaining from D&D? Why are you giving Wizard of the Coast money and credit for something you created all on your own? Is it cause they invented The Elves that you like? Are your Tieflings only the full range of human coloration plus shades of red, or did you already ignore that rule too (because WotC is dumb, let’s all be honest they said only shades of red but put a purple one in the picture?)

Most people just say “Also, try playing other TTRPG systems” because it’s shorthand. It’s like watching your best friend do a math equation the long way that takes 3 hours to do one problem... and you want to show them how to do the same thing in 10 seconds. Would you get mad at your math teacher for trying to get you to learn that different method? They’re not dissing the thing you love, they’re trying to help you find ways to enjoy it more! They could try to explain a complex thing, or I could point you in the direction of a system that shows you in play what they’re talking about.

If you’re defending a specific TTRPG system like D&D so hard that you get mad when someone says “Hey, why not try playing something similar to learn more about why you enjoy your system and how you can improve it”, you might need to take a step back. If you say D&D is great, but you’re in a homebrew world with homebrew rules, homebrew classes, and homebrew everything... why are you giving credit to D&D or any other system for this? You did that work! Congrats you! You could use that same homebrew stuff in any other system too! In fact, Rock, Paper, Scissors is probably most famous from World of Darkness LARP community Mind’s Eye Theater. Honestly, if you dig that Rock Paper Scissors things, you can learn a lot from how they adjusted the original games for it.

But also, as much as you love D&D, don’t brand TTRPGs by “short handing with D&D”. Phrasing is important. Wizard of the Coast doesn’t need your help, and it gives people the wrong message that every TTRPG is just derivative of D&D. Phrasing is important, and while the OP almost fixes it, the ending of “D&D is more about story” is what breaks everyone’s soul. It’s like you make your own recipe chicken sandwich and then call it a delicious Popeye’s chicken sandwich because it’s what you were craving when you made it. Worse, because it’s almost like making ANY sandwich and calling it a Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich.

I mean, I get it; it can be just as annoying if people just short hand and say “try another system”, but they’re just as tired of trying to explain it in detail and being ignored, too.  However If you love something, understand WHY people are telling you why it’s mind blowing that the entire 320 pages of the Dungeon’s Master Guide can be replaced with Rock, Papers, Scissors. Because if you think that THIS shows how great D&D is, then let me introduce you to systems that have rules that you would hate to replace with Rock, Papers, Scissors.

Also, who hurt you with Exalted? No one is talking about it here, but you sound as hurt as one of my players in my game that kept asking me before opening EVERY door “I check if the door is squeaky”. Which DM hurt them!? And how did some hurt you with Exalted!? Did they replicate that whole marketing campaign to “graduate your game?” Cause that would be funny, because it’s got so many different problems than D&D, and I would just love to hear their pitch.

Imagine your kids straight up inventing a completely new rules-lite roleplaying game completely separate from D&D during a car trip and then you somehow take it as an example of the flexibility and adaptability of D&D.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpgs #A lot of you seriously ride the line of of white knighting D&D and WotC like they pay you or something #D&D already has a bad culture of bullying indie games to feel better about themselves so don't encourage it

[noncombativednd]

The Problem with the“Paladin’s Conundrum”in DnD

The Paladin’s Conundrum, also known as the “My Guy” Syndrome. A lot of people seem to have problems with a player that does mean things because... well.. it’s “in character”. Killing other PCs, Stealing their stuff, Ratting them out to the guard, etc. Some people just don’t know how to resolve this and seem to either just constantly allow it to happen... or just kick the problem player out and get confused when it happens again later with another player. It’s really sad, because neither of those solve the problem from happening again or preventing it. I’ll give you a better way to resolve this and prevent it, in all it’s forms.

Let me explain the Paladin’s Conundrum first. Let’s say a Paladin makes an oath to never hurt an innocent person. The party find an innocent person that’s possessed and they need to stop that person, but the only way to do that is risky and may hurt them. The Paladin wants to find a better solution because of their oath, but the party cleric is willing to take the risk; the cleric believes their deity will provide the needed luck. The “In Character” but “Bad for Play” choice is for the Paladin is to try to stop the cleric... But the only alternative “Bad In Character” and “Good for Play” is to risk harming an innocent against the paladin’s oath. So what can they do?

We obviously there isn’t only two answers. A rule in my game; You Don’t Interrupt, and (sometimes) Enhance. The Paladin lets the Cleric take their risk, and then afterwards has free roam to just chew out the cleric for taking the risk. As a DM, you obviously don’t punish the Paladin if the Cleric takes the risk. Both get to play out their character, and neither of them steps on each other’s toes. They both understand each other’s approach, but allow each other to take risky actions.

The “(sometimes) enhance” is about the other issue that crops up now and then that is similar. If someone is trying to do something, and you really want to do it too... please don’t jump in front of the player and steal their spotlight. If you have to, the most you should do is enhance; after the players says a bunch of angry threats, it’s okay to say your character “slams their fist into the table in front of them”. You’re trying to enhance their actions, but not trying to take over the job of intimidating. Make sure you don’t enhance always though, because... well doing it a lot will still starts to steal the spotlight from the player trying to do their own cool thing.

Now don’t be alarmed about the finality of saying “Don’t interrupt”. I help newer players with tools to help that, too. For one, Micro Agreements. A player thinks “My character is growing tired of this interrogation and is gonna slit the captured baddies throat because they’re not talking”. Instead of just doing it, they say “My Character goes to slit the guys throat, if no one stops them.” Wonderfully sneaks in a “you can stop me” into the action, letting players know it’s okay to stop their potentially risky action. Or lets say that Paladin wants to see if that cleric would actually be okay with being stopped. They can still say just plainly ask out of character in the moment, “Hey, you think it would be fun if my Paladin actually tried to physically stop your cleric from performing the risk exorcism?” Again, this is still a game, and we should all be trying to make sure everyone has fun together. You can talk out of character, it won’t hurt the flow; I promise.

TL;DR: Paladins can keep their oath while still allowing other players bad actions to happen by getting mad at the party for the action after. This goes for anyone, not just Paladins, so don’t step on each other’s toes. Don’t hesitate to ask things out of character like, “Would it be okay if my Character tries to stop you?” Communication is key, we’re all trying to have fun here so share the spotlight fairly. Speak up if you start to feel like things aren’t fair, and work it out together.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #TTRPG #ttrpgs #It's funny how many people forget that they control their character and they don't have to do dumb mean things #I might write up more later about how to stop the thieving rogue that keeps bringing trouble to the party for no reason #this is still a shared story and if you just keep doing the dumb safe things it'll also just be a boring story

[noncombativednd]

If your BBEG is so easily talked out of a fight with the party with  kindness, you really have to rethink what your BBEG motivation and drive  is anyways. This is a story, and things need to be interesting and harder to solve so easily because... well why did it take the PCs getting there to do solve it? why would someone still want to listen to this story recap?

This really is mostly a problem with DMs who are nice people with a lot of empathy, that have issues being NPCs who don’t have that same  level of empathy. I had this problem myself and actually talked to a friend of mine at the time to try to learn. He was someone who would do anything for his family, but would let a stranger suffer without blinking. He came up with justifications, and I started to learn how people simple and smartly justified bad things without any easy way to talk them out of it.

Yes, you definitely could and should  make sure some mechanics are in place so the player can adjust the  story with their actions and rolls, but making it “more robust” is not  solved by just adding more random new dice rolls. If you’re mad about one d20 making a seduce dragon work, you’ll get just as upset with 4 nat 20s doing that same. If you’re adding more rolls just to have more excuses to not give the players what they ask for with match, then you’re still just trying using the dice to justify your actions.

Instead, think of social situations as a give and take. Players use rolls to sway decision in their direction, but it’s only tipping the scale over, not giving them everything. In some systems like dnd, you can use multiple rolls (DnD 4e had a interesting system of X Successes before Y Fails), but you can also use a more PbtA system of failure, mixed success, and full success to help you think even outside of rolls. If someone’s conviction is too strong to just be given away, perhaps a success is a compromise? Maybe the players have to prove their words with actions. Sure, you can tell the BBEG that they are just misunderstand and will be accepted as friends if they just stop.. but now they need that players to prove it by having the leader of the town come back to his lair with written proof that he will not be in trouble. This could still be solved with more social interactions and checks, but it brings to light that this issue isn’t so easily solved. It might even start a bit of back and forth as the town leader might require more of their own proof.

So the reality is not that you need to add more rolls to make this social interaction more fun, but instead that you need to make the reason behind the whole problem a little more realistic. Understand what a person would want next if a rolls succeeds, and make sure the players can interact with things to get closer to their goal.

TL;DR - Understand why your NPCs problems can’t be resolved with just a few simple words; Understand that one roll doesn’t have to fully resolve a conflict, just open up new doors; Make those new doors just as interesting to resolve

One time I was DMing a campaign where the players walked into that tavern every campaign has and one of the patrons was a Mindflayer wearing a very bad human disguise who insisted his name was Johnald Humanman. And they were just like "Oh, okay. Well, that's his business" and didn't interact with Johnald Humanman at all.

#The friend still remains a bit of a mystery to me in how he thinks #He is very much against supporting lgbt yet flew out of state to my very lesbian wedding and gave the largest gift outside of direct parents #Don't hesitate to have both good and bad" npcs have weird lines like this. we all have them.

[noncombativednd]

The problem with “Immersion” in DnD

It’s easy to think that having a detailed menu in your tavern actually makes the game better. Wouldn’t a game be more immersive with the more details in it? It’s not hard to imagine that the answer is to just add more and more information to make it more and more immersive, right?

Well, obviously I wouldn’t write this up if that was true. Immersion and a better game is not found in more details. Immersion is such a bloated word, so let’s focus on the specifics of just details and the goal of immersion. There is a very bad misconception going on that in order to be better than “Matt Mercer” you have to be more detailed, but honestly you have to be less. See, details distract from the goal of immersion. Immersion’s goal is to get the Players to feel more like their character belongs there. That the world revolves and adjust around their character. When you create too many details, you are actually distracting from their story. You are focusing on what YOU want to see and not what they want to see. A player is more immersed by adjusting the world, then by having the world told to them. Your detailed menu detracts from their ability to imagine the world as they see it.

Not only that, but honestly the amount of time you spent trying to detail every tavern and their menus, is time taken away from the player’s story and what’s important to them. You players’ stories are far more important than your world’s details. A lot of other ttrpgs talk about this as soft and hard framing. You determine the ability for the players to adjust the story by adjusting the place they are in, when needed. Let me explain it a bit.

Hard framing is detailing the tavern down to the amount of chairs that exist. The more you detail it, the harder it is for the player to adjust the details of what you already said. Soft framing is the opposite, just saying “It’s a tavern” is soft framing and allows the players to adjust the place and it’s purpose. If you don’t mention if there is or isn’t windows, this allows them to say “Oh, this place probably has a window, so I jump on out window”. The soft framing allows the window to exist where it’s needed. Soft framing allows the players to get more immersed because it always looks the way they see it, when they see it.

In the end, a detailed tavern menu is just a gimmick. It’s nothing great, and most experienced DMs know it’s wasted time. Gimmicks can be fine, but the more you use them, the worse it gets. Imagine if in the middle of a movie like Die Hard, they spend the time to show you and explain in detail the menu for a restaurant that they stopped by in before they were hostages. You’d be confused... looking around for a meaning. Did something on the menu mean something? Imagine if every character was introduced that way before they arrive into the plot. It’s more details, it’s just information so that players know where they ate, and what options they had. Does that help tell the story of Die Hard? Nope, like adding too much details to anything in DnD, you are simply confusing people and wasting time. Instead, make sure the details only go to the things that are important in the moment at that table, during the game.

It’s really simple when you look at it from a bigger picture. Good storytelling stays focused on the story. Immersion is not in more details, but in making sure things stay focused on the characters and their story. A DM needs to keep that in mind when they put any details into any thing. Am I just trying to add more details for details sake, or does this detail allow the player to better tell their story? Am I putting this detail in just to make the world seem more “real” like I picture it or am I putting this detail in to give choice and consequences for the players? Don’t pull out a detailed menu with many finely detailed options for your tavern, instead wait for the right moment where the characters are feeling down and out after a hard fight and tell them, “As you go to rest and eat at the tavern you one thing does stick out on this tavern menu; A favorite meal from your hometown even all the way out here. What meal is it?”, and watch as they go wide-eyed and feel connected to the game and the world. You didn’t give them a detailed menu, you didn’t even tell them what it was. You immersed them by helping them tell the story, and left the details up to them.

#It's important to understand when details are and are not important. Not just for wasting time #Details can also bog down the brain as everyone has to focus on keeping the same details in mind #The key thing to remember is that the players perception is more important than your own #If you give the players the basics of details they will help fill in the gaps. Let them. #DnD #D&D #5e #Dungeons and Dragons #TTRPG #ttrpgs

[noncombativednd]

The Problem with Realism in D&D

I’m gonna try a new style here in my writings. Hot take time, stop making rulings in D&D because of “realism”, while also still using Hitpoints, Armor Class, D20 Attack rolls, D6 damage, etc. It’s a game, make the ruling about the mechanics and balance, not just some sudden “realism”.

No seriously, there is a difference between realism and “realistic and consistent”. I already talked about how “not having guns” in D&D isn’t a fight about realism, but instead genre.. This is similar, but a toward gaming perspective. D&D is a game, and it’s mechanics need to be balanced in a way to have fun while still giving a challenge. The WORSE thing you can do is break that balance because of “Realism”. Things only need to be consistent and realistic enough for things to be fun and fair. It’s the whole reason we lump things into groups and don’t have to stat out each type of “long sword” and rate their sharpness.

Things like this Jeremy Crawford’s decision a while back to “not include pikes” in a polearms feat is a misunderstanding of his own game. A pike is somehow longer and more “unwieldy” then a glaive, but somehow it still has as short a reach as the others? Every glaive, halbard, and pike somehow all exactly hit people exactly an extra 5 feet away compared to a sword and all do the same damage and all use the same skill... and yet one just can’t have this fun feat? If there is literally no reason mechanically or balance wise to do it; don’t stop your players from having fun. Jeremy just made one weapon a worse weapon for no reason. I can just call my halberd a pike and... Bam! Broke his “realism” apparently, but nothing in game or balance. If it seems silly, it is.

But it’s not just strictly weapons, understand that "realistic enough and consistent” is more important than “but realism” for everything in your ttrpg. Things like “how a werewolf curse works” or “why magic is the ways it is” are things that only need to be consistent once said, and don’t need to follow any sort of “realism”... I mean it seems obvious, but that means you don’t have to like follow forgotten “realism” werewolf lore; you just need to choose how it works when it comes up, and then write it down so it doesn’t change for the rest of the game.

Remember, this doesn’t mean throw away all realism, the word “realistic” is still important. Some games can even be more loose with that term, because they’re not trying to be as much of a simulation. D&D is far more simulation based, so you have to be careful with it’s number to keep it’s semi-realistic simulated balance; while a game like MASKS doesn’t need to worry exactly how your super power really works, because it doesn’t change the roll that determines how it effect success or not. Understand your game before you start fooling around with it too much, but don’t hesitate to “reskin” something if the game makers make confusing decisions for no reason.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5E #ttrpgs #ttrpg #The power of reskinning is the ultimate power of any new DM when you aren't sure of balance. #Need a CR 2 guard but don't see one? Just call that CR 2 Barbarian Leader a guard and know you're okay!

[noncombativednd]

What Does a good D&D game.. look like?

“Those Lost Shall Not Be Forgotten” is what the flag says. That’s the Flag to the city of New Hope. It’s written in Infernal, and it’s about the previous city “Last Hope” that was destroyed by a powerful ritual that wasn’t stopped in time. Last Hope was the only Tiefling run city and when it was destroyed, the survivors were kicked off their “borrowed” Elven lands and forced to create a new city on new lands.

The flames and the colors on the “compass“ represent the 8 major families and the common colors of their houses. Those families are suppose to be direct bloodlines from powerful devils who’s powers they used to help keep the city in control. Those houses where not spared from the powerful ritual that destroyed most of the old city; and new young upstarts to these houses are starting to learn the powers their bloodline has, as they struggle to built up a whole new city on foreign lands.

Now here’s the kicker. That’s not Lore. That was the GAME. What started up as a joke with all three of us saying “Ha! Let’s all just play Tieflings! Oh, they have high Charisma? Why not make them all part of a traveling Band!” turned into a powerful story about a tiny nation struggling to survive against those who would rather see it destroyed; with us, the players, at the center of it. Each of us started as just children of the leaders of a powerful Tiefling house, but due to our own incompetence and inability to see the real threat.. We went from wanting to run away from home.. to being 3 of the 8 council members of the only Tiefling Nation! We would die to keep this nation afloat.

We would not forget those the died that day.

Now I’m not saying a game is only good if your players decide to make a fricken flag! Or even (and yes we DID do this,too) write a song to inspire the survivors of a tragedy... but it goes to show how engaged with the game we were by the fact that we did all this because we cared. We were invested! Now, how did we do this? How did we get so invested in the game we were taking time out of our life to slap together flags, songs, and business plans for our game? I’ll tell you how. We, the players, helped create everything.

The DM didn’t write a whole lore dump we had to create our characters against, she worked with us on the spot to write up the whole things about Us, our powerful bloodline families, and what it meant for us, why the city was the way it was. We, the players, were creating it; she just helped glue all the pieces together so it all made sense. It wasn’t just that though. Last Hope, the old city. We started there!

That’s right, we started level 1 in Last Hope. We were kids of the powerful adults, just starting to grow up enough to want to get the hell out of that city and out of the shadows of our parents we didn’t like. We wanted to, but.. then we heard rumors. That whole Ritual? We are the ones that failed to stop it in time. We were distracted, we were misunderstood, and not trusted. One of our parents died and we couldn’t figure out if the Half-Elf that told us that something worse would go down meant “assassinate all the powerful families” at the funeral, or “do some strange ritual” at the park that would damage the city. We split up, and failed to think that the ritual itself was what would kill our parents, our people, our... city. Half the city was erased from the world in a moment. Then the game kept going.

See, this was why it was so good. Everything was just part of the game. Our rolls, our choices, our story. We decided to get boats, and take all the survivors away when the Elves, who’s “land” the city was built on, decided that the giant explosion was our fault. Fuck em! We’d rebuild the city elsewhere, and we’d use the help of their enemies, a Dragon/Dragonborn empire. We took whatever we could and found a new island that wasn’t on the charts. There, we started to rebuild. More rolls, using an updated kingdom system to build a city, setting up defense armies using an updated army warfare system, and setting up a council of the 8 houses that made up the strongest and.. well richest of the Tieflings choose what resources would be spent on what. Our rolls, our choices, our story. The DM had never planned on this, she just.. changed things after every roll.

Now if not obvious enough, there was plenty of combat. We fought to stop the ritual, as my character who is affectionately called “En”, the fighter of the group, was knocked out in the fight, only to be woken up by Chant, the bard of our group, that had finished the fight, but too late to stop the ritual. Monsters poured out of the portal, and our parents arrived in time to tell us to help evacuate the city. Beaten, but not broken, we decided to do just that. As we fought monsters to buy time for the citizens to get to safety, En lost consciousness again as she once again jumped in the way of the blow targeting another, and was impaled by it’s horns. Tresse, the sorceress of the group, was able to finish off the monster, but En was in no shape to wake up anymore. En would have to be told what the explosion that left a giant crater in the city looked like.

En would have to be told what she had failed to stop.

The combat was just the backdrop, though. Our decision to not leave the city, our decision to investigate our cities problems, our decision to try and stop a dangerous ritual on our own; That was the story. It all added up to our story, where we now are trying to help our flegling new city grow and thrive on a large island that we found out once was home to a large empire once before. Nothing was prewritten problems, nothing was just about one player’s character, nothing was about our long elaborate backgrounds, and nothing was about the NPCs. It was all about us.

So when I talk about the game, I talk about what we all did together at the table. Not our character’s backgrounds. Not the grand lore of the world. Not just one small moment in the battle where ZOMG I Crit. No, the game was good because the DM let the players help guide the story. She took our ideas and built on them, not around them. It still ongoing, too. We had to take a break, but we’re in the middle of a tense situation as we later found the “old” empire actually still existed on the island. They had their own “magical” problems hundreds of years ago, and they had finally recovered enough to try and reclaim their old lands... our lands. Needless to say, we are not giving them up. We’ve learned what horrible things they did that killed off their own people, and we’re not letting them get back that horrible power. We will not let a tragedy like that happen again. We will not lose hope again.

We will not lose our city again.

TLDR; The DM of the game asked me to add this. At the end of the day, this is the player's game. They improvise and deliver lines for the main cast of characters, decide who they are, where they go, and what they do. They make up a majority of the game even! The campaign doesn't belong to the DM, though their job is important. They still have to manage background characters, keeping the pacing right, throw problems at the players, but the editor doesn't write the book, the authors do. The Players are the Author, the DM is the Editor.

#D&D #DnD #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpgs #Those lost shall not be forgotten #Are you? Are you? Fleeing this city? They murdered our own in a great conspiracy. #Strange things did happen here but not stranger would it be #If we fought for our own in Last Hope our city.

[noncombativednd]

The Problem with Not Rolling in D&D

Hey guys... you know what else can have zero combat and no rolls? Your imagination. Why on EARTH are you claiming D&D helped you do this? Give yourselves credit! Just please, don’t think the system is doing you any good... by not having rolls. You may think because I lean heavy on storytelling vs combat I’d be “anti-rolling”, but rolls are the only thing the system does to help you tell a story.

Rolls are what make a system shine. They make it so neither Player nor DM knows for sure what will happen. Yes, you don’t want to roll for everything, but without rolls... it’s just DM Fiat! Player says they do something, DM arbitrarily determines if it does or doesn’t work out. Without a Roll, the player is at the whim of DM’s fancy. Worse, this means the DM just... doesn’t get any way to add tension to the story... specially for themselves! Most other TTRPGs focus heavily on trying to make sure the DM is just as surprised about outcomes as players. It’s not just “Will they or will they not defeat that bad guy”, other systems focus heavily on having the players choose the whole directions of stories!

Now you may be asking, but wait.. how do you make rolls if everyone is just talking? Crazy story here, but if in 4 hours (average dnd session) you only roll two times... why call it D&D? You’re just basically in a RP chatroom.

But wait! Maybe it’s because you CAN’T find rolls in situations that aren’t dangerous combat and tense negotiations! Sorry, other TTRPGs show that you can and should roll more often for more things. Players need rolls so that they can help make actual changes to the story that the DM can’t just veto. If the only options they have that can’t be vetoed are either “Combat” or “Negotiate”, the players only have those two ways to make sure their rolls matter. 

Other games have rolls for things like “Hit the Streets” that allow you to find someone to get the stuff you need. Roll succeeds, the DM can’t just stop them from getting what they need. Other games have “Pierce the Mask” Where you roll to see the real person underneath someone you are talking about. On a hit the DM HAS to answer a few questions the player chooses from a list. This doesn’t just have to be “Other games” this can be D&D!

Find ways to offer rolls. They say “Man, I wonder why the really care about us finding that lost shipment” Offer for them to roll insight to seem if they can tell if it’s because their brother was helping ship it, or if their intention is just to steal all the gold because it’s not really their lost shipment! Are they stumped with what’s the best way to get in or out of this dungeon? Have them roll a dungeonering check to notice patterns that prove that there is a secret exit that’s much safer to use! Don’t stop giving them options to make rolls that force you, the DM, to change your plans! That man probably never HAD a brother until someone rolled to check their motive. That Dungeon may not have had an easy shortcut until they rolled to try and find one. Don’t let the game be so set in stone that you are okay with not doing rolls. Because, if you’re not doing rolls, then you’re not letting your players help tell the story.

P.S. There are diceless systems, but they just determine outcomes with things other then dice. It would work the same way, why use this diceless system if you’re not trading resources or offering deals like system has built in.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpgs #I can not stress how important it is that the DM is not choosing what does or doesn't work #The DM should be just as surprised as to where the story is going and not just "how they get to eventually kill the BBEG #The more you prewrite the adventure the more you are just writing a story that the players have to follow #That's not a TTRPG it's just a regular RPG and you might as well just play better computer games about those.

[noncombativednd]

Reminder: This isn’t an argument about what you can or can not play, it’s an argument of EXPECTATIONS. Fantasy GENRE isn’t the definition for the WORD Fantasy. The classical expectations of the Fantasy Genre does not include Electricity, Guns, etc. That’s why people get confused. Do not get surprised if you ask someone to play a “Fantasy” game, but get a game without guns and electricity. On that same note, You will have people far less confused if you have Guns and Electricity in an Urban Fantasy while still having magic and swords. Make sure you and everyone else at the table know the expectations of a games setting before starting. Equally as important, make sure everyone follows it. Don’t give one person guns when you told everyone else this is just normal medieval fantasy.

Don’t know exactly what sub genre you’re game is all about? I mean what is the name for the genre of a game set in medievalish time but with electricity? If you’ve played the video game Thief, what the HECK do you call that genre!?! Doesn’t matter! Explain why it’s different then the classical definition of the fantasy genre. “It’s fantasy, but with...” Yes the word fantasy does basically means “anything made up”, but you don’t help set expectations unless you describe it against the Genre instead of the Word. Use the very commonly known expectations of fantasy, to help describe how yours is different.

Nothing wrong with setting your game in something different than “the norm”. My favorite setting is Eberron, but I don’t help me or my players by just calling it a Fantasy game. I usually explain it as fantasy, but with low powered magic being very common place to replace some simple needs, in a world with an uneasy peace after a hundred yet world war was ended by an unknown magical explosion taking out an ENTIRE COUNTRY! Expect more pulp fiction and noir themed stories as the world is a powder keg of nations with spies sure that someone will start up the war again. But I make sure to explain to them, that doesn’t mean there are guns, as who needs gunpowder when you already can replicate similar things with magic.

In short, Communicate. Explain things in more detail to make sure everyone is on board with the setting and genre you’re going for. Don’t expect someone to be on board for the exact sub genre of fantasy you want without in being said in detail. And please, don’t get mad at a DM that asks you to not have gun, electricity, etc. Just the same, don’t do that to your players as a DM either. No reason to argue, just work together to help have a more fun game.

#Thief is a fantasy steampunk world resembling a cross between the Late Middle Ages and the Victorian era in the grim dark genre. #No one knows what that means so just explain it in a few more sentences instead #Honestly genre vs word issues occur when talking about video games too #Yes there is adventure in a zelda game. no it's not an adventure game. It doesn't fall into the adventure genre expectations. #DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #ttrpg #ttrpgs #5e

[noncombativednd]

You’re on to a good point, but creating a bigger problem. You shouldn’t need to know ahead of time every NPC’s knowledge, current mood, personality, bank account numbers, etc! That’s CRAZY! How do you even determine “how willing they are to share these things” or “their current mood”. Do I need to know the weather too!?! Drop that prep for a simpler one.

What’s the NPC’s motives/drive? Would it be reasonable for them to know something?

Would it be reasonable for this NPC to know something? Then they do know it.

If not, they have a hint on someone who might.

Is their motives in line with giving out that information? Then they do give it out.

If not, the players are given a clue they are holding back. This allows them to engage that NPC more and try and find a way to get them to tell.

They key here is that the details of all this don’t need to be known in advance. This stops you from needing to know exactly which of the thousands of citizens know something or someone, and allows every NPC to be useful and meaningful. You can very easily create on the fly what drives an NPCs actions, and can flesh out that NPC’s responses from that. If you decide that an NPC is driven by keeping their loved ones safe, then the PCs will notices this and try to find a way to show that getting that information will keep their loved ones safe. Is the NPC just driven to have more power, then the PCs will pick up on that and try to explain how this will benefit them.

Always make sure those NPCs drives and motives conflicts with the PCs task, at least a little. A NPC with the drive to keep their loves one safe, is not in conflict with the PCs unless the players actions might harm their loved ones. An NPC who wants more power also needs a way for players to give them power in return for that information. This also makes more “talkative” skill checks to overcome these needs more meaningful. Sure I can say I’ll keep their loved one safe, but was I able to really convince them [insert skill check here] it was truth... or do I have to go get them to safety first to prove it?

Less scripted, much quicker, still full of personality.

GMs, you're not writing NPC dialogue for a video game

When I started running TTRPGs, I prepared NPC encounters like this:

- NPC says X

- If PC says Y, NPC says Z

- If PC asks A, NPC responds B

which would be great if the NPC was in a video game and after they say X, the player gets to choose between saying Y or asking A.

A better way to prepare for NPC enocunters is to write down the relevant things the NPC knows, how willing they are to share these things, their current mood, their personality, etc. That way, you're prepared for your players to ask unexpected questions, and don't feel like you wasted your time if they don't ask expected questions.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpgs #More prep is not better prep. Use quicker tools to help you not have to prep as much

[noncombativednd]

I love these stories, but I really wish people would stop saying “D&D” is the best game ever when they talk about awesome role playing moment because:

You’re talking about TTRPGs in general. They can all do this and some do better at creating it.

D&D did NOTHING to help create that moment. The player and DM wrote the backstory together. Both chose to push the romantic subplot despite no mechanic benefits. No D&D mechanics were used to create that crying moment. Nothing in D&D encourages or gives benefit to the players for doing it.

Look, as someone working to help others have more fun with D&D beyond it’s wargame roots, I super appreciate anyone who creates moments in D&D that get the trust of players to have vulnerable moments, but I don’t pretend D&D did any other work for me. There are other TTRPG systems that have mechanics and helpful tips for DMs and players to help create these moments in play. D&D has none. My players and I deserve that credit.

Things like MASKs having conditions like “Angry” that you have to check off during play. It gives the player safety to say “Well, I did check of angry, so acting angry now makes sense!” Doesn’t force it, just promotes it. On top of that, there are mechanics to remove the angry condition where you have to break something important or hurt someone! And you do want to because some rolls take penalties for being angry. These things help the players feel “hopeless” or “Insecure” with prompts not only to BE hopeless, but how to get out of being hopeless. That’s right, TTRPGs can help you create role play moments like that crying moment! You don’t have to create it all yourself.

So please, understand D&D has done zero help to create that moment for you. Stop praising D&D, and Praise Yourself Instead. You did an awesome thing, despite how little D&D did to help you. You could have done the same with freeform role playing, and honestly probably easier, too.

Very much, if your players enjoy the whole emotional moments more, play a game like MASKs with them. It’ll help them understand how to have more of those moments in D&D as well. They will start to realize how people usually get emotional, how they express emotions, and how they get past them. You don’t realize how much you can learn to have more fun in D&D from other systems, until you’ve played a few other systems that aren’t just D&D or D&D adjacent games.

I’ll even put out what my wife put out before. If anyone is willing but just afraid to play a non-dnd system, and wants to learn from it; I will gladly run a game of MASKs for you and any friends. I’d love to help show how other systems can not only be more fun, but also help you have more fun in D&D. They really do help you out in having more fun one way or another.

D&D is the best game.

Tonight I GOT another player. Made them cry at the table.

Fellow DMs, if this is something you’d like to achieve, I have one piece of advice that has served me well:

Cry first. Let them know it’s okay. Let them know it’s safe to be vulnerable.

This character lost her mother when she was very young. Left home. Returned for this quest. Started up a little romance with a childhood friend.

Tonight they’re talking. And the friend … she starts to break down.

She says, “You’re so much like her. I remember her, and you’re so much like her. She deserved to see the person you’d grow to be. And it’s such a shame that she didn’t.”

AND I GOT HER.

And there we were. Crying together at the table. Rest of the table reacting. Never taking our eyes off each other.

AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH this is such a good game.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpgs #Totally happy people are learning how important trust is to create good story moment #trust and communication are probably the most important first steps to getting more story out of DnD #Also almost everyone I introduce to a PbtA game immediately realize how little DnD helps players role play

[noncombativednd]

This is honestly the worst way you could treat your players. This is a big part of the whole DM vs Player mentality problem. The players are not dumb, you are just literally their perception and you’re refusing to give them all the information needed. Not only that, but you’re just scaring them into thinking they have to pick “your” right answer, or they’ll get punished. That’s no fun, and makes no sense when you can just tell them the potential consequences of the action and ask if they want to do it. Let them make the choice still if it makes sense to them, and then whatever happens next is actually on them.

It is not good behavior to pull the rug out from underneath your players. You always want to make it clear to a player what their action is going to cost them to get what they want done. The DM should always be on the side of the players, your goal isn’t to laugh at them because they don’t know “how stupid their choice is”. Because, guess what.. since you, the DM, are their perception; you’re the one failing them! A lot of these situations are just a DM not realizing they didn’t give enough information to begin with.

I’ll be honest, the “Are you sure?” question is just a passive aggressive power trip. It’s probably not intentional, but stop doing it. If you’re saying that, then you’ve already pre-scripted the story and wanted them to go a certain way. You need to stop, let the player help create the story with you, and be as surprised at where the story goes as they are! If you wanted your players to all make the correct decisions that you put forward, stop DMing and write a book about this cool story you made with your own characters instead of theirs.

I tend to agree with Murph on many things anyway (I too am lawful grouchy) but I very specifically agree with him saying that if the DM says “are you sure?” and you do it, whatever happens next is on you.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #ttrpg #ttrpgs #5e #The DM hiding information and saying gotcha is the weirdest power trip #Gotcha the person was a powerful dragon the whole time and now you're dead #Wow the thing you didn't tell me was something I didn't know. what a twist!

[noncombativednd]

So No One Plays The Game You Like To Run

or, I Was Into Forge Indie Narrativist Shit, So I Got Good At Running And Writing Teaching Games, And So Can You

Not just the act of teaching games, but of writing teaching games, one-shots to introduce new players to tabletop games that are the shit but that don’t have free advertising from the MacElroys.  Or Matt Mercer.  

(Well, Matt Mercer doesn’t advertise for them most of the time.  What I’m saying is, please play Monsterhearts.)

Above all, you need to get to the stuff that makes the game good, quickly.  What that means in theory is that teaching games can’t have the same structure as games for people who know how to play, where a slow burn and self-expression and mechanical mastery can come into play.

In practice, this means I have three things to keep in mind:

1: Preconstructed Characters Are Your Friends 2: Go High-Concept, Genre, and Simple 3: They Won’t Finish The Adventure, So Frontload The Good Stuff

Explanations after the cut.  Post 1 of 3.  Today I’m explaining why Precons Are Your Friends:

Keep reading

#tons of good advice #all of this is still good advice toward normal games #don't make players wait to have the fun

[noncombativednd]

The problem in DnD with player engagement

Okay, I’m gonna try to change up my writing style here a little bit and be blunt. Here it goes.

Your story isn’t engaging your players enough to get them to remember because you didn’t let the players take part in creating it.

Phew! That took a lot out of me. But seriously, why do you think they don’t remember or care about your breadcrumbs? Is it because they all are short sighted or just have a bad memory? Or is it because you wrote a story by yourself and didn’t try to play to find out what happens along with the players? Hint, it’s the second one.

You know, I used to think I was a good DnD DM because I was clever. I would be playing out the story I wrote and then some players would say “OMG! What if that whole time it was... THEM”  and then I would immediately throw away all my previous ideas and start using that. I kept altering it behind the scenes every time they shared a “Wow, if THOSE actually caused THIS.. that would be crazy!” I was praised for amazing games every time, and I was secretly thinking “Ha! They don’t know that I just let them create the story”... and then I realized the reality. That’s why they were engaged! It wasn’t my story anymore, it was OUR story.

They were helping creating the story and didn’t even know. They created rumors, and I acted them out. They still didn’t know the whole picture, but they were always going toward things that were interesting to them! Fast forward to the present, and I’m playing Urban Shadows and their system literally starts every session with “each player creates a rumor”. I realized how much I had been using this same system. More so, I realized how I had adjusted this to work with DnD.

DnD’s biggest problem with engagement remains that the DM is taught to create everything alone. Most DMs end up writing a “Story” instead of an “Adventure”. They plan outcomes, not problems. Some create stories that aren’t even centered around the player’s characters. Worse, because of the DM/Player combativeness, destroying the DMs plans is considered bad behavior while at the same time “not letting the players kill the BBEG early” is also considered bad behavior as well! That’s crazy! There is no winning this! Or, is there?

Create everything together and, just as importantly, along the way. Always create the bare minimum of what’s needed for the world to remain realistic and to what the players create. If your setting hasn’t defined elf culture yet and a player plays en elf, let them help create the culture with you while they create their character. Is there a place they want to go to and they don’t see it on the map; good news! You left space open on your map and you mark that place down now! Do they think a dangerous group of criminal masterminds might be behind this, consider what part of that plan was probably created by a criminal mastermind!

Only create obstacles, problems, and hard decisions for them to make on the way, not outcomes. Don’t ever prepare an outcome, or plan around an outcome that hasn’t happen yet. If you need something to die or live; stop your planning there! You’ve already planned too far. You can’t assume and shouldn’t make that choice for the players. Don’t assume what side they’ll take on an issue, and make sure that the choices they’ll have are not comparable. You want to be as excited to find out what’s next, just as much as your players. Know your BBEG’s plans, but don’t assume they’ll ever finish them. Know the path, not the destination.

I know this is kinda hard to take on. Honestly, I could go on and on trying to help explain this. I think most people worry that without intense planning, they can’t make things work. You need to feel confident you can create encounters of all types in advance, but be okay to adjust them to the choices of the players. You have to believe that you can create realistic and interesting NPCs without having to detail out ever bit of them in advance. I’ll write up some more stuff later on all that, but be confident in yourself. Soon you’ll start to understand that planning less is both easier and more fun for everyone.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpgs #It's hard to believe but the more you prep the more you dig yourself into a hole you can't get out of. #How many times have you heard a DM talk about how players not doing things in order and it being a problem #What's the point in having players make choices if you need them to make specific choices for you to give them fun?

[noncombativednd]

TTRPG Representation: Intro

How do we put representation into TTRPGs? The hobby’s origins being white boys demonizing other cultures leaves lots of room to improve which has only gotten into the spotlight in the last few years. The steps being taken in the mainstream so far have been far from revolutionary, but in this hobby you don’t have to wait for a corporation to give you the representation you want, you can make it yourself.

The first step of creating representation is knowing what you are doing with it. Representation in most media exists on a spectrum going from depiction to exploration. A depiction is the simple act of showing; for a bad example think Disney getting all the female characters in the Avengers into one shot to prove they have representation. Depiction is the easiest and least controversial way to represent something, it is a neutral acknowledgement of existence. An exploration weaves the representation into the themes of the work; for a good example think of Birds of Prey showing women finding liberation from the societal forces that oppressed them.

Any minor depiction is going to have someone who sees it as not doing enough, and any deep exploration is going to have critics in that community that don’t see themselves in it. The good news is, for a TTRPG, the work only caters to a half dozen people at a time (excluding actual play shows). For any depiction, all you need is to be accurate and obvious. To do exploration, you’d need more than accuracy though, you’d need experience and confidence that what you cover is sensitive to the people at the table. I feel safe playing a Chinese-American character named Shaun Wei, but I don’t have the knowledge required to grapple with his disconnect with Chinese and American cultures, especially if someone else at the table is Chinese.

Knowing all of that, there are many steps that can be taken to facilitate good representation. The first step is in the creation of the game. The developers of games can make it explicit that these things belong. In the case of Shuan, I probably wouldn’t have created an Asian character if it wasn’t on the list of options on the character sheet in Urban Shadows. However there is no such option for disability, and the same goes for sexuality. Simply providing the option to do so can do a lot for making someone consider playing a character different for themselves.

Outside of the mechanics, is the world building. In a pseudo-modern setting it is easy to let the players’ understanding of the real world inform how representation is put in. The only problem there comes when someone’s idea of urban fantasy Dublin wouldn’t have disabled people for some reason. It doesn’t get easier with fantasy or sci-fi settings either. Between ableist ideas of a future without disability and fantasy lands where different cultures are turned into different species, some labeled “evil“, wholly fictional worlds can be a minefield for representation. The best way out for depictions, is to make it explicit that representation exists, but leaving open the exactness of how and where to the individual. To handle deeper exploration, ideally you would involve people of the represented identities to bake that experience into the mechanics of the game so that it can be explored and understood without being an expert. Consider all that when picking a game and looking through the world it wants to put you in.

But what can you do? As a player in a game, there is always a limit to how much effect you can have on the story being told; you only have control over one character in most games. The first step is to feel safe at your table. We become very vulnerable when we roleplay, and stepping out of your comfort zone to play someone of a different sexuality in a romantic setting is scary. The second step is to know your limits. It took me a while to play a black character in a modern setting because I knew that I couldn’t express what it meant to be black in America. When I did I tried to avoid exploring her identity too much because I didn’t want to accidentally depict her poorly or inaccurately. The third step is to do more research. Whether it’s talking to other people or reading about other cultures, knowing more makes everything easier. I wouldn’t have started this if I didn’t have a friend dealing with a disability trying to find ways to represent it in game. On top of that, you might just learn something about yourself.

Being the GM is a lot of work. Even in systems that are less burdensome, you are still the one managing the story and a majority of the characters. That being said, in many ways it is easier to bring representation into the game. Very few NPCs will even have the opportunity to have their identities explored, so all that needs to be done is a healthy depiction. The hardest part in my opinion is making it obvious. I struggle to describe characters as a GM because it’s kinda awkward. Most of the time you don’t have to explicitly say what a person’s skin color or sexuality is for the story to progress and the players will make assumptions of who they are. There is benefit to leaving it open since its already very limited representation, but for the times when you can, making important characters more explicitly diverse is always good.

This isn’t the end, I want to go deeper into the representation of disability, race, sexuality, and gender in games. There are plenty of problems that often get pointed out, but I want to have more positive representation than “letting elves be black” and “a combat wheelchair getting slightly endorsed”. There is a lot of potential in this medium and hopefully we can learn to make better use of it.

#wifeposting

[noncombativednd]

The Problem with Simulation in DnD

Oh gods, how DnD Memes always make me want to write up about problems in DnD and how to fix them. Seriously, do you all think even the NPCs all roll for EVERY action they do?! So again, DnD on the TTRPG spectrum of Simulation system to Story telling system is very strictly in the simulation department. It’s mechanics goal is not to help you tell a story, it’s to help you simulate actions and boy does it show in the memes. Not just memes, but the fact that you can find the next pyramid scheme inventor in your group when you get an Alchemy Jug and someone says “How much does Beer sell for, and who will keep buying 4 gallons of it every day?” See that’s the problem there, DnD wants to be a storytelling system while using simulation rules; and Someone, SOMEONE will always see that and say “Well why doesn’t everyone just use ___ spell/magic item to create a kingdom!?” You know why they don’t Billy? Because that’s not the goal of DnD, Billy! But don’t worry, Billy, we can help you fix this.

The Players are already Heroes at level 1. Now, this is the quick and easy fix that DnD 4e did better than 5e. PCs are already better than everyone at level 1, and thus you never expect anyone to ever really be at your level. See, the problem with 5e returning back to “everyone, even a commoner, is like a PC and/or better” mentality is that it gets people to think normal citizens.. make rolls! Why would they need make rolls?! they’re not heroic, rolls are heroic! I know level 1 PCs in 5e are squishy, but even having the mindset is important. Also, we all start DnD 5e at level 3, so like... that helps out.

Stop Giving NPCs the same Abilities and Spells the Players use. This is harder and, I hate to repeat this, another thing 4e did better. Honestly, take notes from 4e and just give NPCs things that are similar, but adjacent to players. If they swing a longsword and the players, it does 1d6 instead of 1d8. The enemy monk only get one extra attack from the flurry of blows. Their Fireballs are basically a normal fireball, but half the size. Now, warning on this part; If you ever use this idea, make sure it’s always less impressive then anything they can do at the same level. If anything is an “upgrade” it should only be in ways that are not easily compared, like don’t shy away from the enemy necromancer just laughing and suddenly animate up 20 skeletons around the party, even though the PC version... really shouldn’t be able to do that. A player isn’t going to feel bad that some super evil necromancer had a trick up their sleeve, but if Jim’s fireball splits in two mid flight, the players is GOING to demand that they can learn that spell on the spot.

Throw Gold out of the game. I swear, the first thing smart players stop caring about is gold. Embrace this! Gold is useless to storytelling beyond “have it” and “don’t”. Once your group gets some gold, stop counting. This will stop players from even thinking about how they’re going to rule the world through goodberry economics. Economics is not fun (Sorry to all my Economic Major followers), and there is a reason movies don’t revolve around keeping track of how much money every protagonist has at every moment in the movie. It’s not important to a story. Neither is arrow count; there is a reason we mentally stop counting how many bullets someone shots in movies, too.

Remember, the goal of DnD is to tell a story. This is always hard for some players to admit, but this is where the “you don’t play DnD to win” comes from. Everyone at the table has to have the same mindset here for things to work. You’re not dumb if you though that wasn’t the goal either; the system started as a fantasy war game. But, the system evolved and while it was purely a stab and blast simulator, now it’s not. If you embrace that, you can get a much better game. You still have to help guide it away from it’s simulation side to tell a story, but I’ve had some lovely games from it. Yes, if the player has guidance what the hell wouldn’t they just cast it right before EVERY check? Let them, it’s not worth fighting the simulation; just let them get to the story faster.

Again, it’s not hard to see why when someone see’s the simulation level of DnD, they start crunching numbers on how to successfully take over the world with just a few decanters of endless water. It’s like the beauty of realizing you can unleash a tornado in simcity or remove the the ladders in the Sims. Just remember that while it’s very simulator heavy system, DnD is not built to be a good simulator. Things are broken, because it wants desperately to help tell a fantastical story more than be a perfect simulation of medieval peasantry. Embrace the storytelling, ignore Min-Maxing your commoners, and focus more on the fun moments of failure and success instead of the gold count and the “I swear I said my character casts guidance right before ever roll I ever do”. Sure Jim... sure you do.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpgs #The funniest player I ever had did seriously automatically set up roll20 to always have guidance attached to every roll they could #Which I guess is the same broken problem as when players always helps each other for every roll to get the +5 of advantage #Which please don't be the bad DM that tries to fight this by finding more excuses for disadvantages to try and counter it #Just talk with your players and try to make sure that their bonuses are cool story moments of characters actually working together

[noncombativednd]

I feel like you missed some of my second post, too. Your big thing about stating communications, though I even stated “Make sure everyone has the same expectations of the game, theme, and genre going in.“ and even also talked about how the Noble Paladin is the problem in the magical school girl game, just as the magical school girl is the problem in a noble paladin game. Feel a little bit skipped there. Also, I’m quite glad you’re not trying to be confrontational, and I hope I’m not being too confrontational either; I just want to elaborate to hopefully grant further understanding to you or anyone else reading.

Communication is definitely of big importance to a good game.. but also a separate issue to the meme I posted and to what I’m talking about. Honestly, I’ll do a “communication in DnD” post later, but I feel like you’ve gone in the wrong direction of the issue I’m talking about. The problem I’m talking about is the fundamental flaw of DnD character creation that leads to thinking that you need to be a snake with a thousand mage hands in order to get more engagement. That characters need to have premade fun that’s unrelated to the game at the table. Honestly, this might even been part of yours and others need to make characters that are elevator pitches on their own.

The meme isn’t about people who like being fun quirky snakes with mage hands being quirky mage hands snakes all the time. It’s also not about “not judging a character by it’s cover”. It’s about how players seem to naturally progress from normal, to hyper quirky. An example of how I’m fine with natural quirk, I talked about it in the tags but I’ll go into more detail here. I’m currently running a game with Three Demonic Werewolves Siblings and A Half Phoenix Half Werewolf Half Sibling. Quirky obviously isn’t a problem me here here, Nor was it what got the players to play it. They did this because when I pitched a game about playing the descendants of a past game, they all perked up and picked from these very weird niche siblings. The fun was not in being a Werewolf Demon Phoenix, but being siblings and coming out from under the shadow of their legendary parents. The quirk was pure happenstance, and technically not even picked by them since they had to pick from established parents.

When I talk about the game, I completely ignore mentioning the weird race or class combinations because that’s not the fun of the game. The fun is talking about all the character’s fights, choices, arguments, and interactions in the world. I don’t elevator pitch their characters, I elevator pitch the story. Young adventurers coming out from under the shadow of their heroic parents.

Just like when I talk about Bojack Horseman I completely ignore talking about there being Animal People when I explain it, to emphasize how little important it is. You could replace all there character their being normal people, with little change to the story. Again, this isn’t me saying you can’t take a magic snake seriously; it’s me saying that DnD needs help to make the noble paladin engaging, when it doesn’t need to do that for a magic snake. That it shouldn’t be that way and that players aren’t dumb; they’re going to take the thing that gets them more game engagement if you’re a bad DM that doesn’t make being normal fun.

It’s about the fact that DnD does nothing for players in its mechanics to make a Noble Paladin Fun, while it’s super easy to see how you can have “fun” if you get the DM to agree to you playing a snake with many mage hands. Players use character creation to try to strong arm narrative control of the game, because they feel left out to dry when they just play a noble human paladin. I’m saying fix that by adding in your own to make that noble human paladin more fun.

A noble human paladin has no automatic game prompts. “Greetings fellow person!” A snake with a hundred mage hands has... well about a hundred automatic games prompts. “Oh! It’s a snake!?! Ah It opened the door! AH it used magic! Ah the snake just talked!?. Everything about the game has to adapt to this snake “well how does your snake do ___” “How do you get them to take a snake seriously?” “Wow, you did all that, and you’re just a snake!” “Oh, am I falling in love with a snake, I can’t!” “Is that snake truly sentient enough to love?” “What rights does it have, and should we trust it with magic!” “I have SO many questions! Can you cast a spell on me and prove it’s you!”

Back to the Noble Paladin. “Welcome back to the inn, how I can help you.” “Oh, you cast bless on me for some reason... well that’s fine we have our own human clerics too, so please spare your effort” “Oh, you're confused why we’re already in your room, ah; well I skipped past narrating the boring normal parts of walking up stairs and opening the door...”

“.. but anyways, Snake friend! how do you use your mage hands to get your snake up stairs safely... Uh oh! Watch out there are other patrons and they might stomp on you! I’m gonna need rolls from you to dodge getting stomped.”

Is that getting the point across more? The weakness again is not that “Magic Snake too OP”; the problem is “Noble Paladin too weaksauce”. That’s why my advice is to empower the Noble Paladin to be more connected to the story, so that no one has to pick the magic snake because that’s the only way they can get the extra game prompts. And, just as importantly stopping the game prompt from mostly being “Oh no! Tavern crowd might stomp you snake! roll to save!” into more in genre ones  “How does your noble paladin from their bloodline handle dealing with being in a fancy party when a rival noble from a group that has gone unpunished by the law for the murder of your relatives shows up, but your oath to your deity says you shouldn’t just get cold blooded revenge. What do you do?”

Take time to fix the noble paladin and you get just an interesting ones as the snake, “Oh, I can see by your crest that you’re a Belmont; I guess I should get ready to clean up the mess you’re going to create in a moment.” “Ah, of course you kicked down my door instead of knocking, you nobles think you’re allowed anywhere you want!” “My house will never let your house back to these lands without reparations for what they’ve done!” “Oh, you say your deity won’t allow you to kill without a good reason, well then let me give you one!”

And I’ll add one more thing for you. Don’t defend problems with DnD mechanics with “there is no way to do it wrong”, just because you’re having “enough” fun. It’s a horrible fallacy to say “It’s been fine the way it was”. Yes if you’re playing Calvin Ball and having fun; that’s great, but that’s just the fun of the power of friendship.. You don’t need DnD to do that. Bad mechanics built into DnD, or in this case lack of mechanics built into DnD, that you are circumventing by manually having fun with the power of friendship is not a benefit to a System and should be fixed even if it’s “enough” fun. Sure you can’t ever “do it wrong” if you’re having fun, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it better and thus have more fun. Honestly play a game like MASKS and you can easily see what you’re missing out on with your Calvin Ball DnD.

The Problem with Player Characters

Okay, I’ll be honest. Certain systems have this problem more than others, and let’s all admit that good ol’ DnD has a problem with this. Character building gets boring fast. This issue with making more and more absurd characters is not a player problem, it’s a problem with character creation at heart. Sure, it won’t always go as extreme as this joke, but in a system that a player feels like they have little to no control… they want to try and have some control of having fun in the game; and making “extreme” characters is the only way they can see. This is, unless you help them out first! That’s right! This is another problem of combative DnD that we can fix! \o/ Get excited everyone!

Look, some systems help the DM and the players out on making a character, but DnD does not. It’s pure numbers to them. Don’t worry, you can help resolve this yourself as either the player or DM, but you can only really fully solve this by making sure the whole party works together (I know! Crazy! Everyone working together in a cooperative game!?). If you make a cooperative character, but no one else does.. you’re just going to bump into the other character’s problems. If you’re the DM, make sure everyone makes a character together in this way.

So you, as a player or DM, need to fix this yourself. Create past connections between PCs, find a theme for the party to be together, or just make sure that player OOC know teach other’s goals and can bounce off them in advance. I know that there’s a feeling that everyone’s character needs to be secret and seperate, but that really doesn’t work well with DnD.

My best games have always been games where all the players work together to make connections in advance. A group of siblings has worked wonders every time, even when we were once just all adopted to the same family. A group of Tieflings all from different prestigious families, but wanting to escape them, is a still running amazing game. A runaway who bumped into a annoyingly optomistic genasi in the forest that in turn found a hermit like druid who wants to do more to helps other forests has been an amazing pregame connection to make all the future adventures easier to explain.

In short… making the group story important helps remove the need for… snake with too many hands. This is a cooperative game and we all really want to feel like we can consider our group family. “found family” is probably the MOST wanted feeling in DnD Groups, so help seed that in advance. Don’t expect it, don’t think the game will automagically make it, and don’t let people play extremely silly characters just because they are tired of not having fun in the game.

#DnD #D&D #Dungeons and Dragons #5e #ttrpg #ttrpgs #the worst fallacy defense to trying to stop improving dnd is there is no wrong way to play #Imagine telling someone playing any other game with there is no wrong way to play and see the confused looks #Yeah sure there is no wrong way to play soccer but why say you're playing soccer if you're just sitting on the field in a circle talking