#DMing might be fun; I enjoy worldbuilding and power

[alsogiraffes]

@clockworknomad @graymaven @chemicallywrit @iamherculesmulligan @shaulahinspace

[serkonans]

i would legit love to know ur answer to all of those dnd questions tbh

so many gfsljgf thank you antonia i love ask memesputting #13 up here for the anon who requested it and the rest below the cut!13. Introduce your current party.I currently DM a few games! School is hectic and I don’t get to play very often but all the characters are GoodI have one group campaign titled “When the River Bleeds Red” (which is probably news to you, Antonia, and everyone else who plays, idt I ever mentioned that slkfjglfskj) that has a blacksmith (half-elven cleric, @the-idiot-who-stood-still​) named Brigitte Faestrum, a pumpkin farmer (halfling druid, @beesgnees​) named Cathal Headrig, a former stage performer (fire genasi sorcerer, @merrigold​) named Emelia Sparks, and a former mercenary (gnome fighter, @jacqmutiny​) named Nyx!I also DM one-on-one campaigns for @merrigold​ (who plays an aasimar druid named senua tasked with undertaking journeys on behalf of the gods in “The Glacial Erratic”) and @fictitiousbees​ (who plays a kenku wizard named scribbles called to the service of a high dragon in “Luck of the Draw”)Everything else below the cut!

1. A favorite character you have played.

I’ve only played two characters! One was Carran Warset, who is my Son and like the bulk of the reason I know I’m trans, and one was Chim from your one-on-one campaign. I rly like both of them tbh but Carran is my child gkjlsfgjs

2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.

Excluding anything I’ve DMed, Sivarna by @pluviance!

3. Your favorite side quest.

In the group campaign we played in together, there was one session that idr if you were able to be there for but we like,,, went into a forest and bought a really ugly belt from a stoner for zero plot reasons and I count it as a side quest in my heart

4. Your current campaign.

Well, you know everything about all my current campaigns that you’re allowed to know rn, but for anyone who might be reading who isn’t in them:

The group campaign is being used as scapegoats in the brutal murder of an ambassador’s daughter and is fleeing a city through secret tunnels -- we last left off at Cathal becoming a giant badger and burrowing upward

In the solo campaign with Senua, she’s attempting to deliver a large, magical object from the goddess of earth deep inside a mountain, and she’s facing down a basilisk with three NPCs

And in the solo campaign with Scribbles, he’s just played a card game that was really more of an interrogation, where he found out a high dragon has taken interest in him, and he is, in unrelated news, taking a package to the local apothecary

5. Favorite NPC.

Of someone else’s, I love Lucy from the Chim campaign!

Of mine, I will never stop loving Mr. Kretever Tatell. Kret is a goddamn idiot but he’s my goddamn idiot

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).

Carran once killed an evil poison merchant by seducing her in an enemy king’s bedroom and stabbing her when he went in for the kiss gkfsljgfsj. Then he and Sivarna wound up hiding with her corpse under a bed discussing the concept of threesomes in whispers while the king wandered around his room. Not as like, a possibility. Just because the topic came up

7. Your favorite downtime activity.

S,,,hop,,,,,,, money tiem $

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.

I liked the fight where I balanced the combat correctly lkgsflkjskljg, the one with guards in the tunnels

9. Your favorite thing about D&D.

Storytelling!

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.

Homebrew enemies are coolest imo but hard to balance; the giant gemstone ant I had you fight would’ve been my favorite if it’d been able to get more than like two attacks in gskjgksj

And insect swarms are very annoying to fight

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?

How often I play is whenever every single one of the stars align and ideally I would play like every other day fksjglskfjg

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.

God the current ones haven’t gone long enough for those yet really and I’m blanking on most from the group player campaign

I do remember Carran was 1000% convinced basil was poison at one point and his pet rat killed an evil, powerful sorcerer by chewing his ear

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.

Just the group player campaign with Carran, which didn’t get to the heavy plot stuff before it ended tbh, and then the solo one you ran with Chim in what was rly a Very cool world concept of like hellish Las Vegas that I’d like to steal at some point

And then you ofc know this but for anyone reading who doesn’t, I’m going DM a maybe-oneshot, maybe-a few more than oneshot post-apocalyptic campaign for you and @fictitiousbees​, set in a world that’s been destroyed by fast growing invasive fungi which is like. only The sexiest apocalypse scenario

15. Do you have snacks during game times?

Yes, religiously. Game time snack time

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?

I’ve never played in person other than a single test game for new players! I prefer online tho; you can look things up and type if you’re shy

17. What are some house rules that your group has?

I have a rule about only two players being able to try the same sort of check, but that’s it for us so far that I can think of

18. Does your party keep any pets?

Not yet! Cathal has a way with animals though

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?

I Do

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?

I got into it bc Critical Role made it look super super fun, and I’ve been playing off and on for two years now

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?

I’ve regretted everything any character I’ve controlled has done I think that’s just dnd

Realistically tho, big yes for a lot of what Carran did, most notably snooping on another player character who had cast Alarm on her room

22. What color was your first dragon?

Haven’t had one yet!

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?

100% original babey

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?

3% planning 97% “oh fuck I need to have an idea Now” babey

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?

Everything, it’s why I never know what I’m doing

I never expected Cathal to become a large badger and dig out of the underground, how do you prepare for someone to, in all seriousness, tell you they’re going to become a badger and scrabble to the surface

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters.

I really tend to enjoy the one-on-one scenes; I think my favorite was having you roll that insane wild magic surge and detailing What Happened At The Theatre

27. Do you allow homebrew content?

Yes if it can go in DND Beyond

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?

In group campaigns, not often, although we have two with us right now. In solo campaigns, if you want combat you’re getting an NPC party, at least for a bit

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions?

Personally I love RP heavy sessions; combat is fun but I crave Story

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?

I think mostly diplomatic with a dash of murder hobo

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?

I’m so so so boring but I love humans gksfjgsk

Humans, elves, and half-elves are my favorite

And then I Would Die For Every Rogue, it’s hands down my favorite class

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)

Rogue role

Lemme stealth and steal and stab

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?

For Carran it was,, A Whole Process

I came up with a basic idea, then journaled as him several times and wrote and rewrote until I had what felt Right, and then I kept toying with it and adding more details throughout the campaign -- I love playing and would really like to again but the obsession with expanding upon his story made me realize I need the freedom of worldbuilding that goes along with DMing; I don’t think I could be a player without DMing a separate campaign bc I just try to take over

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?

Both!

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?

So much, I usually use old acting techniques and get fully into character

thank you again antonia!!! these were fun

[ill-be-istj-if-no-one-else-is]

DMing and MBTI, part III

So now we’ve reached the last and most important part: making sure your players - and you - are enjoying the game.

In the end this rule takes precedent over all. If you’re not having fun then there’s no point to playing tabletop RPGs, which are, you know, games.

Having fun relies on the other two rules: you should be worldbuilding in a way that is fun for the players, and you should have a rule system that works for them.

This starts before you even sit down to play: what sort of game should you play? D&D is the classic and the one I’ve been talking about, but there are other options - I haven’t played many others, but I’m generally familiar with the Powered By The Apocalypse and Dread concepts from media and so if you want a more flexible, story-driven game that is either super-adaptable but especially good for episodic storytelling (like Monster of the Week) or a horror game, one of those respectively might be better than D&D for your group.

Then, once you’ve decided, maybe you have a premise (like I discussed in worldbuilding) or maybe you don’t. If you have a premise, great! Make it clear that’s the game you’re running. Otherwise, discuss what kind of game your players want - combat and monsters? Political intrigue? Saving the world? Robbing everyone blind? Figure it out - and figure out what restrictions you need to ensure that people will get along (eg: no evil alignments helps cut out players being assholes for no reason and claiming it’s in character).

There are tons of other things that are important before you even play too: how will death work in this game? Why are these characters together? Do players have any triggers that you should avoid? Do the players want to be seriously challenged, or have a relatively chill game?

Once you’ve started, you then sort of need to make sure all the above is being respected and the game evolves to fit the players. Note that this is different than fitting the characters, though they’re intertwined.

To distinguish between the two: Fitting the characters means that if you have a player who’s playing a rogue, throw in some fun thieves cant bonuses and opportunities for stealth as opposed to open combat all the time. Fitting the players means that if the player who plays the rogue hates shopping expeditions in-game, you either keep those to a minimum, or if the player who plays the cleric loves shopping expeditions you let the player who plays the rogue go fix themselves a snack during the shopping expedition and fill them in on the essential details later.

Additionally, when you need to make a difficult rule call, that’s a case where ‘is this fun for the player’ is absolutely crucial, and in fact, when in doubt, go with what makes it fun for the player - and don’t confuse ‘fun’ with ‘a success.’ Part of the fun for most characters is that there are stakes and consequences, so don’t just give in, but let the player at least try something weird and creative.

Finally, keep an eye on how the players seem to be reacting. Again, that doesn’t mean you can’t do things that are scary or upsetting! But there’s a difference between watching a horror movie voluntarily and being forced to watch one and you need to respect that difference. (For a lot of really thoughtful and good discourse on this: check out the Geek and Sundry GM tips that began with Matt Mercer but later were hosted by Satine Phoenix are good, especially Satine’s longer-form shows with guests). If someone gets really quiet, or seems to not be having fun, talk to them and find out what’s going on.

It’s my guess that a feeler DM will be more focused on player experience naturally, but anyone can learn to do it. In fact, my last paragraph makes that point - reading people in terms of knowing how they actually feel is bullshit, but you can and should learn (in life in general) to recognize basic “I’m potentially uncomfortable signs”, like someone getting really quiet. And sometimes they’re just quiet because they’re tired, or they need some time to process but they’re enjoying themselves, or they feel like it’s someone else’s turn. But sometimes they’re quiet because they’re not having fun but they want to be polite. Your job as a DM is to be a facilitator and listener: give them the space to raise objections and concerns, and act accordingly if they do.

I do think that similar to world-building a high Si or Ni DM will try and plan ahead making note of player habits and likely reactions, whereas a high Se or Ne DM will improvise more based on the players in the moment. I also as mentioned think that thinkers will have to work a little to overcome their ‘but those are the rules’ or ‘it’s just a game, compartmentalize’ tendencies when it comes to respecting player feelings, but they certainly can learn - and feeler DMs are just as capable of steamrolling over a player’s feelings if they’re not careful.