- What works on a D&D show
may not work in your D&D game. Here are nine things pro DMs
do that you probably shouldn't. Number 1: Long monologues,
long narrative descriptions, and long cutscenes. I suppose that you could throw in long character monologues here as well. They sort of fit. These things work for D&D shows. They work when everyone is cooperating for the sake of the production. The players will sit there patiently and listen to the Dungeon
Master doing the NPC monologue or the long, beautiful
narrative description that just goes on and on, describing every beautiful,
wonderful blade of grass. However, your players in your
D&D game absolutely won't, and they shouldn't have to. I mean, maybe they'll sit there patiently and just listen to you
go on and on and on, but chances are, they won't. They're gonna interrupt
you, or go on their phones, or (babbles) you pick it. The thing is that your players
showed up to play a game. They probably want to play a game, and not listen to you talk
for minutes and minutes, or longer, on end, nor listen to each other
talk for long periods of time where they just sit there and listen. So keep your NPC monologues short, or better yet, turn them into dialogues so that the players can participate. And keep narrative
descriptions short and sweet. Keep it short with more
information available on request if your players ask about something. Now, some folks are already
(image beeping) down below writing angry comments about how I'm knocking D&D shows, disparaging them, and dragging
them through the dirt. And that's simply not true. I mean, keep writing your angry comments. I welcome them. It just
helps the algorithm. Hehe, and I love you. The truth is that D&D
shows can be amazing. People love them, they
watch them every week. They're a wonderful thing
that elevates our hobby and brings it into the mainstream, has brought it into the mainstream. The entire point of everything I do is to help dungeon masters run awesome games for their players. So the intention of this
video is to inform you that some of the things
you'll see on D&D shows probably won't work in your games. I'm trying to help dungeon masters not crash and burn at
their own game tables. I'm not knocking D&D shows. And I recognize that this disclaimer will not satisfy many of you, and you'll still hate me
and thumbs down the video. And that's fine. I still love you. But I'm not going to
hold back and just lie and say that everything you
see on TV will work at home, 'cause it won't. Number 2: Focusing too
much on the talky talky. D&D shows feature a lot
of social interactions. NPCs talking with the PCs.
PCs talking with each other. Tons and tons of what I
refer to as talky talky. And I love talky talky. We all love talky talky. I'm not trying to say that it's bad. I'm just saying that D&D shows
tend to have a lot of it. And that does make for a really awesome and
entertaining D&D show, especially if your players on that show also happen to be voice actors who are really good at the talky talky, but this approach of overemphasizing
the social interactions and making all game
sessions just talky talky may not work in your D&D game. The chances are that your players have a mixture of gaming preferences. That is, they might
also enjoy things like, oh, I don't know, combat and exploration, you know, the other two
pillars of the game. So I recommend balancing your
game among the three pillars, combat, exploration,
and social interaction, and trying to include some of each in every game session when possible. Now, D&D shows don't necessarily do this, they don't necessarily balance their games because player enjoyment is
not their primary concern. Remember, it is a show, they're maximizing for audience enjoyment. And chances are that your home D&D game doesn't have an audience. Or if you're streaming it
to like Twitch or something, there are like five people watching, so you should probably worry
less about the audience and more about your players. Some of you are like, "Yeah, Luke, I do stream
to Twitch and you're right. There are five people watching, and like four of them are us." Sorry, it's just what it is. But it's that easy to stream to Twitch and there are a bajillion
games streaming there. Like, what do you expect?
It's just the way it works. Now, if you'd like to know
more about running a game that includes all three
pillars of gameplay, check out my video titled "The Three Pillars
of a Successful D&D Game." By the way, this Saturday,
May 7th, is the last day to pledge for our Lairs
& Legends Kickstarter. If you'd like to get yourself
two amazing hardcovers full of D&D 5th Edition
game master resources, or just help support all
the free content I make, this is your chance. The first book, "Lairs & Legends,"
will contain an anthology of the 25 5th Edition adventures
spanning levels 1 to 15 and over 100 terrifying new monsters. We checked and double checked,
and they are terrifying. The second book, "Loot & Lore," will contain a variety
of other DM resources: magic items, traps,
puzzles, adventure ideas, stand-alone encounters,
NPCs, villains, and more. Digital PDFs are available, too, as is a map pack which
contains all the digital maps you'll need for online play. Become a "Lairs & Legends"
backer at the link below. Number 3: Not introducing
players' characters until it's the perfect
moment for the story. Oh, my gah. (grunts) I once had a person telling me this story about how she was being
introduced into a game. And she literally had to
wait for three game sessions before they introduced her
character into the game, because they were waiting
for the perfect moment, the perfect time in the story
to introduce her character. Do not do this to your players. I understand on D&D shows, they're telling an ongoing narrative, there's an ongoing story
that is very, very important because that is what you do when you're running a
show for an audience. I get that. But your players show up to
your D&D game to play the game. And sitting there listening to stuff and watching everybody play the game is probably not what they signed up for. Please, for the love of all that is holy, do not do this to your
beloved precious players. But, of course, if you want them to leave and find a different gaming group where they, mm, can actually play D&D. So I get worked up about this point because it just infuriates me. By the way, if you're
finding this video useful, or just enjoyed that rant,
please give me a thumbs up and leave a comment for
the algorithm down below. Please confirm your love
for sweet delicious bacon, and I will personally deliver a dozen packs to your front door. Okay, that might be weird. I could also just ship it to you. Number 4: Three hour long fights. Another thing you sometimes
see in these D&D shows are these massive crazy long
battles that last for hours. This might be an attempt to balance all the social interactions,
the talky talky bits, or perhaps the show is
just looking to have a long dramatic battle that will keep the audience
on the edges of their seats. Edges is such a hard word to say. I really can't say that word. Now, while this might work on a D&D show, it may not work for you,
especially if you plan it that way. Now, (babbles) sometimes D&D battles do go on for a long time. Sometimes even hours. It happens. I've had it happen in my games many times. But I don't plan it that way. I might think a boss
fight will be a long one, and it might just be. But my intention isn't to make it long. The goal is always just to make it fun, and sometimes challenging,
usually challenging, if that's what I'm going
for in a particular battle. While pro DMs might
plan their game sessions for long periods of social interactions because they know the audience
likes that sort of thing, and then in the next game
session have a massive battle, this is often not good pacing
for an actual D&D game. Combat is a high intensity
affair in most games and can be mentally exhausting. Players need moments of
low intensity gameplay, which is social interaction
and exploration. This is why for pacing considerations, it's better to alternate
among the three pillars during a game session,
giving a little bit of each. Those shows might intentionally be trying to have long dramatic battles. But in actual games,
they can be exhausting and feel poorly paced. Number 5: Putting the
story before the game. This is something you see
in D&D shows all the time. And for good reason. The audience is there not only to see the performance
of the DM and players, who might also be professional actors, but they are also there to
see an amazing story unfold. For instance, you might see something like this in a D&D show. Out of nowhere an NPC shows up, uses power word kill on
a players' character, and the character is dead. And the player is like,
"Cool, I'm okay with that. That's not a big deal." And then later, something happens where that PC is resurrected and comes back in an amazing way. And an awesome story results. So you think, "That's pretty cool. I should try this in my own game." And then you find out that
the players' absolutely pissed when their character gets
killed with no chance to survive and the game implodes. You ask yourself, "Why didn't this work?" And I think that we sometimes
forget that on D&D shows, the Dungeon Master and the
players can plan and conspire about things like this, all
for the sake of the story they want to tell for the audience. It may or may not be scripted. I don't know. I'm not
privy to that information. But I can tell you that D&D
shows prioritize the story that the audience will experience far above the fun of playing the game. Again, their primary goal
is to run a successful show where the audience is entertained
and comes back for more. On the other hand, when you run a D&D game for your players, your friends, your primary goal is to
run a successful game where you and your players are entertained and come back for more. 'Cause usually we don't have audiences, we don't care about the audience. So, you can't just focus
on story above all else. You must balance the story with the fact that everyone
showed up to play a game and that they want to have
fun playing that game. "Okay, Luke," you might say, "Should I just conspire with my players and plan things that will happen?" To which I respond, "No!" Not unless, of course, you want to ruin their game experience, just take away all the
mystery and suspense. Actions and decisions and
die results during the game wouldn't matter anymore because you've already planned
out what's going to happen. And at that point, one might wonder if there's even a point
to playing the game if you've already planned
out what's gonna happen. Now, even if on D&D shows,
the Dungeon Master and players are not conspiring and
planning certain things, and I'm sure they do at times, and other times, they probably don't, the player at least knows that the Dungeon Master
has something cool in mind, so they just roll with it. Now, you could try to count on
this at your own game table, but even then, players might still blow up over things they feel that
just aren't fair or deserved. Also, don't forget that the players and Dungeon
Master on these shows know they're on a show, often live, and thus, they are going
to keep their cool, because they're usually professionals, even if they don't like
something that's happening. Mommy. (tsking) What are you doing down here? I'm adorable. Mommy. Mommy's on YouTube. Hehehehe. This is Mommy 2, also known as Noki. Hi. I'm on YouTube. Hello. (laughs) Number 6: Temporary characters that are planned to be killed off. This works really well if the
cast members are planning out a really cool story they want to unfold. It works less well if
you're playing a game. And why? Well, you have the Dungeon
Master and one player who are basically metagaming and planning to get the character killed. However, everyone else at the game table doesn't know that is the plan, so they are fighting really hard to keep the character alive. Do you see how this might be frustrating? Can you see how this
might ruffle some feathers if the other players find out later that the DM and the one player
were planning it all out? Again, what works on a show doesn't always work in a real D&D game. This is yet another example of prioritizing the story over the game. Number 7: Allowing PVP
or high-tension moments between characters. Audiences love seeing conflict and tension between protagonists. It's a classic feature of
most movies and TV shows. So, if you're running a D&D show, it a good idea to include some of this. The audience will eat it up. However, it's also a great
way to ruin your D&D game. "And why would that be, Luke?" Because PVP, player versus player, has like a 90% chance of
either ruining your D&D game or at the very least, getting players pissed off at each other. It just does. And thousands of experienced game masters can attest to this. I may have made up the 90%
figure, but it's a lot. It doesn't always happen. And it is possible to
have a super mature group where it rarely happens. However, it usually does. There is a very good reason that I don't allow PVP in my games, and that I recommend you don't either. Number 8: Letting players and/or
characters talk endlessly. This is the classic moment where basically, the characters
are just talking nonstop in character with each other, or the players are
discussing nonstop something, and the Dungeon Master doesn't step in to move the game along. Often, it's only a couple
of players doing this and everyone else is bored and
wants to get on with things. This might be entertaining if
you're watching a D&D show, but if you're playing an actual game, then often, what happens is
you have a couple players doing this, talking back and
forth and discussing things, even if it's in character, and everyone else at the game table gets bored after a while, and just wants to get on with things. Number 9: Setting your
expectations too high. Expecting all of your players
to show up for every session. Expecting players to cheer
after every monster goes down. Expecting yourself, the Dungeon Master, to be as awesome as the pro DM you watch. You can't expect yourself or your players, who all have real life
jobs and responsibilities, to put on the same performance as professional dungeon
masters and players. And you wouldn't want to anyway. Are you trying to put on a show? Or are you just trying
to have a fun D&D game? What are your goals? Now, clearly there are
things that can be learned from D&D shows and pro dungeon masters. There are a plethora of videos out there that will breakdown things that pro DMS do as examples of how to be
a good dungeon master. So they're definitely doing
a lot of things right, and we can learn from those things. So observe and try some things, but be aware that not everything is going to work in your own game. So be willing to try, but then throw it out
when it doesn't work. It's not a knock on
you, the Dungeon Master, or the players, or necessarily the pro DM. Your table is just different. That's all. And you're running a game, not a show. Click on the screen now to learn 21 ways players ruin D&D games, or to back my Lairs & Legends Kickstarter before the project closes. And until next time, let's play D&D. What, no bacon comments? Now, I can't talk about
bacon every second, guys.
