First of all, if your DM or a fellow player
just sent you this video, you’re probably not doing anything wrong (well, probably, I don’t know you), but I do know all of us can improve
and become better, more supportive, more engaged players within our gaming groups! And I’m sure you’ve already heard a lot
of general advice out there encouraging you to “engage” with the game to become a
better D&D player, but not a lot of practical tips on how to engage! Or how to show your DM and your fellow players
that you are engaged in the game! Or why some common pieces of advice actually
work to show your engagement! So I asked a couple hundred Dungeon Masters:
what makes a great player? Then distilled their hundreds of responses
into this single video because I’m Bob, this is where we learn how to have more fun
playing D&D together, and my personal tip for showing your engagement during a session
is to really bring your character, their equipment, their attacks and spells to life with
better descriptions! Not longer descriptions that take up everyone’s
time--brief, detailed ones that call upon the senses! So instead of: “Yeah my guy is drawing a
map of the dungeon.” Try something like: “By the light of our
torches and spells, I plot out the dungeon--leaning on the walls or the back of Aragorndalf’s
armor--I take my best guesses at the distances, then chalk up and stow away my maps to keep
them safe.” And that was really easy to write because
I based it on an even better description from the first-person player collection on dScryb! Yeah! This online library of professionally written
descriptive text is not just for DMs anymore, and combined with the free scenes for items,
spells, and characters, you have a plenty to work with as a player, but you can get
all 7000+ scenes from dScryb if you sign up through the link below and use code ‘BOB’
to save 10%! Speaking of making maps and taking notes,
those common pieces of player advice were surprisingly low on our list of what DMs really
want! But they shouldn’t be underrated! They are simple, almost mindless, activities
to show your DM that you are still listening, and that you value and want to remember and better
envision the events of the session. Plus you can share your notes and drawings
among the group to help everyone remember the details and stay engaged between sessions! That’s an easy thing to do, and I know I
love seeing when my players do this! This next one was also surprisingly low on
our list, but I think it’s either overrated or underrated depending on your game experience. Have you guessed what it is? Learning the rules! If you’re new to RPGs, 5e is not a simple
system. Period! It’s way more complicated than other games
you might play on a game night! (Besides another more complicated RPG) But after a few sessions, you should know
your character’s abilities, and the basics of the game system because if you consistently
take long turns in combat or need a lot of rules clarifications, you’re kinda wasting
the group’s time. Fortunately, the 5e basic rules are free to
view online at any time, and there are thousands of videos
on YouTube that will help! HOWEVER, all you experienced players get a
little nuanced tip here: learn the rules with your character! This is not only a nice way to say “don’t
metagame,” it’s also the most fun way to explore a new setting or just a new campaign:
think-like-your-character! That may sound really easy to you, but to
actually decouple the rules from your brain and choose actions that make sense--not because
you know what works and what doesn’t--but because it’s truly what your character would
do, is a vital exercise in keeping the game fun for yourself and for the other folks at
your table! And the easiest way to do this matches up
perfectly with our next tip, create a character that fits in the setting! It’s way, wayyyyyy too common for D&D players
new and old to create their character before they even know what the campaign will be like! How do you think I ended up with my super
cool Aarakocra bard, Bardy McFly?? You don’t have to know every detail of the
setting, but if your DM gives you a primer, read the primer! If they don’t, ask for some info AND ask
the other players what they’re thinking about so you can be a mostly cohesive party
of heroes that belong in the world! Most importantly your character should have
goals and motivations that are tied to NPCs or locations within the setting to really
show your investment in it. That’s such a simple way to show respect
for the DM--which we’re going to talk about in more detail later--especially if you’re
playing in your DM’s own homebrew setting, it’s easy and awesome to root your character
in that world from the beginning! This is also a great way to show respect for
the tone or theme of the game, which is another tip a lot of us need to hear, because I know
I love to laugh all the time, not just during D&D but definitely during D&D, so while another
tip tied into this one was to have fun and express your passion for the game to share
the excitement with others, you--or at least I--really have to balance the silly attitude
with the tone our DM is trying to capture. If it’s a serious tone, be serious for a
little bit. If it’s comedic, go wild! But recognize and appreciate the difference! And that is way easier if you master this
next tip that I never really heard articulated so well before: accept failure. I love it! Being able to try something, fail, and move
on without questioning the DM, getting angry at the dice, or blaming another player for
something is what keeps the game moving smoothly! Sure if it’s a tense and dramatic moment
when you fail, and that failure has harsh consequences, your character can lean into
that, otherwise, you probably only have like 1 more hour to play, and there’s no way
you or your friends should be wasting game time on poor sportsmanship! Whew! Okay! Here’s where we get into the big ones--the
most-desired traits of a D&D player: engage with the scene! And I know, this is one of those really broad
pieces of advice, but here’s what it really means according to a few hundred Dungeon Masters:
talk to NPCs (so many people wrote in that one! Please do it!), interact with the environment
(so if your DM describes a scene with no NPCs, you should probably be searching for something:
treasure, traps, secret doors; I don’t know your character’s objective, but they’re
in that location for a reason, and if they’re not, go somewhere else!), and when your DM plants an obvious story hook
(an extra detailed NPC, location, item, monster, whatever) bite the hook! Sure, not every player will recognize a quest
when they see one, but don’t go out of your way to ignore the things your DM has clearly
prepared for you to explore! Alright, but a little sidebar. If your character doesn’t really fit in
the world like we talked about earlier, maybe the quest hook won’t appeal to them. Fine, but if it happens over and over, that’s
a problem between you and your DM that you need to reconcile! And you can do it with this next tip: collaborate
and world-build with your Dungeon Master. If your DM is really cool, they’ll let you
do this during the session and roll with whatever you improvise as long as it matches the tone--like
we also talked about before. But this was not a super commonly-suggested
piece of advice, and that makes sense. Typically speaking, the DM controls the world,
usually players are NOT speaking things into existence, that’s the DM’s job! But every time I’ve seen a player do this,
and seen the DM say “Okay yeah, but”--and found a way to make it work--it was amazing
fun! Still, most DMs appreciate your worldbuilding
suggestions out-of-game, like between sessions, when together you can maybe add a location
or faction based on the backstory of your character! Or weave your ideas into part of the setting
that already exists. This is how you can tie your goofy Aarakocra
Bard character into the setting, and before you know it, you’ll be seeing quest hooks
you want to bite! And we’re about to get into the most important
advice of all, about ways that you can really support your fellow players and honestly be
everyone’s favorite player in the group, but first, here’s some quick tips for supporting
your DM! And DMs, this is where you should like and
share the video if you haven’t already, so more be reminded to do this stuff! Show up on time, tell them well beforehand
if you can’t make it, and thank your DM after the session--they probably worked really
hard to prep it, so it’s just polite to say thanks! But you don’t have to be exclusively positive,
be nice, but tell them if there’s something about the game you don’t like. They may be able to change it, or at least
find a compromise, but that can’t happen if you don’t communicate what’s on your
mind! And if you’re already good at talking, make
sure you’re listening to the DM! Basic manners, don’t interrupt them (or
other players for that matter), and just pay attention when they talk because asking them
to repeat what they just said gets old really fast and wastes everyone’s time! And for those reasons, be patient with your
DM, especially if they’re learning, and always respect their rulings. A mean spirited debate is the worst way to
waste someone’s time! That’s what Reddit comments are for, not
Dungeons & Dragons! But it is awesome to ask your DM clarifying
questions--especially about their own setting because either they’re dying to tell people
about it, or they don’t have a lot of answers and your question could turn into a fun thought
exercise! And keep the conversation going between sessions
with this worldbuilding, by sharing notes, or just checking in with other players to
make sure everyone can make it to the next session, and hype them up for it! That will make your DM proud to have you in
the group! And you should also be respecting everyone
else. Now this is a problem! That respecting other players was so high
on the list for being a “great player,” when really, showing respect is just part
of being a “good” person! And I know you’re already a good person,
but this tells me, and it should tell you, that a lot of us out there might not always
be acting like it during the game! And yeah I’ve seen way too many Reddit posts
to back that up, so let’s do a quick review! Mainly, when another player is talking, listen
to them! It doesn’t matter if they’re younger than
you, older, man, woman, neither, or anywhere in between, whatever they believe, don’t
believe, or look like…you just keep your mouth closed until they’re done. It’s that easy! Sure if they’re really rambling on for a
long time with like one NPC and everyone’s getting bored, then you can politely communicate
that and the DM should move the game along, but you have to exercise patience, you have
to share the spotlight, and you have to read the room to see if whatever’s going on in
the situation is actually bothering anyone else, or to see if how you’re acting is
bothering anyone else. You don’t want to be that guy! And if you realize you are that guy, communicate
to find out exactly what you did, then apologize, move on, and don’t do it again! Done! But the number one factor that came up more
than any other response on how to be a truly great player--and honestly, the fact that
DMs seem to want this more than respect for themselves and other players may be part of
the problem--but anyway, your DM wants you to engage with the other player characters! And this doesn’t mean you have to speak
in character with a cool voice! Seriously, only one person out of those couple
hundred replies specifically mentioned doing a cool voice. All this means is that you need to show that
your character is curious and appreciative of the other player characters. So in-character or third person, your character
should ask them about their backstory--think of how detailed some of your backstories are,
wouldn’t it be awesome to share some of that naturally in the game? For a fellow player to show interest in what
you created? Trust me, it does feel awesome! And you can initiate that behavior and yeah
if you’re lucky, it’ll come back around! But not just backstory details, your characters
should be discussing and speculating about the plot of the adventure, about NPCs and
monsters they’ve encountered. And this really reaches a peak when your character
just supports the ideas and motivations of the other party members. When you want them to achieve their goals,
even ahead of your own, that selflessness really creates strong bonds that any group
of adventuring heroes should have. So is this easy to do? Not really if you’re also just learning
all the rules of the game! But making an effort to invest in the other
characters as much as your own really makes you a great player. So your homework for your next session as
a player is to learn at least one fun fact about another player character in your party,
and write it here in the comments! Then watch this video about what DMs should
be doing to hold their player’s attention! And keep building! :)
