DnD Tricks DMs Use To Engage Their Players

Awesome video!

I would have liked to hear some examples of the cinematic language you talked about from Aabria though - any sources?

Brennan has a way of just rolling with any decision (thats reasonable) and roleplaying his npcs to feel like the players have an impact on them and the games world.

Aabria is so freaking talented. I love her sm

Honestly I'd love to give my players those quiet moments where they're encouraged to roleplay with eachother, but unfortunately my players, being less experienced with dnd, aren't very comfortable with roleplaying or atleast haven't figured out how to really start doing it properly. I'm fine with this since honestly, I'm just glad to have anyone to play with at all living here in the south, but I do wish I had a party that was a bit more comfortable with roleplaying and stuff. I'm honestly not that skilled or experienced myself so it makes it difficult for me to handle all of the responsibilities of being a dm while also ensuring I help these players find their footing with dnd and ALSO not accidently turn them away from dnd because I don't make it seem entertaining enough.

It's a lot of stress, but I like being a dm. Just wish I could be a player eventually-

Mulligans Face always reminds me of IT

The outtro / sum-up was great.

One of the best DM advice I got was from the director of John Wick - which is that the film works because the camera sticks with John - he is the story. I see the DMs role as giving just enough information to the players as the PCs discover it, so that their characters can move the story forward. This is what makes a TTRPG different to a movie or book. One of my first times DMing our ForeverDM said their very paranoid PC 'doesn't look at walls, because walls aways lie'. This set me a challange as each room I'd have to mentally map and skip over any information the PC didn't want to know. I described the roof, the floor and if there was a door along with any obvious items and the detail of anything they often asked about/where interested in but anything 'wall related' was skipped as per the players request. I had made it clear that players just need to ask if they wanted to know more. So when their PC opened a door and were immediatly hit with a lightning bolt that dropped them to 0 it came out of nowhere! It was only when another PC heard the blast and came to save them that their player was told that the door had a big sign stuck to it saying: WARNING: THIS DOOR IS A TRAP!!! It took me a while to figure out why a player would intentionally make the game harder but DMing them taught me that not every player wants to 'win' DND. What I didn't expect was how much FUN it was to let the PCs fail and dictate how events played out. By the end of the game the entire table of players were giggling over the repeated fails of their characters...and it's now changed how I and the rest of the table approch the game. Now it's often the players setting out to make their characters lives difficult and working together to enable chaos.

It would be nice to mention that all examples given have players that know and agree to be on for-profit stream. They are actors, they have to be entertaining, it is great if they don't have to think about it, but you wont allow someone that is just not sure if he is willing to show how entertained he is on your for-profit stream, especially if they get slice of the pie. Those people are motivated to be entertained in a very different way than your average play-for-play's-sake-table is. Also ... most of them are actors or have a career in performing, they will know how to perform / communicate fun and you are likely to believe them xD
Nice video, just wanted to point it out :)

That's funny, you point out the benefits of "show, don't tell" but you didn't show us anything! Of all the points to have illustrative clips, you did your points about Aabria and even Matt dirty by talking too much and not showing!

When I was a new DM I did the mistake of talking too much. Since then I've learned to shut up, and work on my notes while my players are talking in character.

just subscribe after this video because god u are good

A parte mais interessante foi o fichário de mapas que ele usou no primeiro exemplo. Vou copiar a idéia com certeza.

Ah, this teleporting cat in the background. 10/10

Really good stuff, gave me a lot of things to think about for my next session.

wow. just wow. thank you.

Bro you have some of the most high quality DnD content out there.

I aspire to be half of the dm that Brennan is.

one thing that i like to do to make my players more engaged and to have them connect to their character more (especially if they are newbies) is "how does that make you feel" and "what did you do?" questions.

blame it on my background in psychology, but it's fun to open the scene with "you wake up in a pile of hay in an unknown barn, surrounded by livestock. what could you have done last night to end up here?" and have the player backtrack by themselves. or say something like "—when your gazes meet, why do you feel an instantaneous connection with the beast before you?" only to have that creature killed moments later, or ask "why haven't you sent them a single letter in these past few years?" when a character meets someone they've had a falling out with. players love it when they are prompted to explain those things. especially fun in sessions 0 and 1

I used the 'talk less' strategy with my table this weekend and for as much as I try to learn everything I can from Matt by watching CR, I never thought I'd learn from the things he DOESN'T say. Thanks for this!

I use the slience moments more then people expect, I also give them a 5ish second window when they seem to have gone silence, the reason is pretty simple, sometimes people aren't done talking and the silence is them thinking.

When I think flow might need to continue, I describe what other things are doing in the area, they are in a tavern? "the local drunk has just fallen of there stool and they is a round of laughter", they are at an abandoned windmill during a rain storm? "You can hear the creaking of the axis as the rain attempts to force the long forgotten blades to turn".

There is setting the scene, then there is making the scene immersive

I have a guilty securet from the times that my home game could not meet on line. I knew I could seed a conversation and do as I had in person and just listen, but I have wireless headphones. I sometime had to use the bathroom. I was always listening.

One thing that I am currently struggling with is being a relatively new GM and having brand new players. I find myself struggling to carry the narrative and make it interesting so that my players can engage with the world more. Any tips?

Thank you for the useful advice!

I absolutely love when I stop talking during a game and the players take over. I often watch the clock to see how long that phenomenon can go.

Great observations!

Matt's ability to let the players talk is superlative, IMO, because he's actively listening. You never forget that he's there, like the gods of Exandria unobtrusively watching people interact, and you can tell that he's evaluating why people are talking and deciding when or whether to intervene.^ He rarely does, because Critical Role's players are actors who are instinctively conscious of how what they say is landing. But there have definitely been moments where the group is stalling because no one's confident about what to do, and Matt will describe the situation changing so that someone chooses to act.^

It's interesting that Liam, who Matt has said would take the DM position if he couldn't, did the same thing as a player in Campaign 2. There's a point at which more talking kills the momentum, and at several points, Caleb said, "Well, I'll do it," and set off the encounter.

^Another good tip: it's almost always the situation that pushes things forward. Matt rarely communicates that a decision needs to be made because he is getting impatient. Which has several benefits: 1.) It keeps the players immersed in the scene, 2.) It's more realistic - if they're hesitating that much, it's usually because they're about to enter a dangerous situation, and those situations (if they're good :)) are constantly shifting, and 3.) it keeps the mood neutral. The amount of stress a player character feels in a situation doesn't need the DM's input.

Another that I love about Matt is that he creates spicy NPCs that keep things exciting for everyone. For instance, Travis hates shopping, so Matt creates a kooky shopkeeper or a hidden nugget that brings energy to it that would make everyone surprised and excited for what strange thing comes next.

Boy is this fucking true, I have one DM that talks way too much and it really drags on.

It’s very good Trick

Agh, I genuinely started at your face as the video began to play. You are very attractive, my man!

Depending on the action I try to let my players set game flow.

great video, but it would be really helpful to see examples of the kinds of things you're talking about from these DMs!

Kitty!!!! <3 :D

I tend to do most of these as a DM (I tend to get inspiration from actual play shows more often than I’d like to admit,) and if I had to choose one of these tips to prioritize it would definitely be Murph’s dynamic combats.

Before combat in an area starts I take a moment to set the scene to my players, letting them observe or interact with the environment for a moment before the combat starts. I am continuously surprised how much my players utilize mundane items, from trapping a quasit in a bakery’s oven, to pouring alcohol to help burn some giant insects in a tavern storage room.

Adding a time limit as a DM also makes more easy encounters a little more tense, causing players to take risks they normally wouldn’t.

“Talk less…. Smile more… don’t let them know who you’re against and who you’re for.“ -Aaron Burr

I'm sorry, I don't know what's funnier - the picture you chose for Brennan, or the fact that the tape doesn't even BEGIN to cover his mouth 😭

i notice this how brennan won’t interrupt the playera to move along the story. if they’re laughing and having a good time he’ll let them run out of steam before continuing. so amazing

I really enjoy starting each session with a mini session zero. As a player, I remember going into sessions thinking about what I want to try for the entire week. I like letting the players express something they want to do, whether it be focus more on RP or maybe try out a spell they've thought a lot about. I have a lot of social anxiety, so I prefer to make sure players are getting what they want out of the experience.

I like how Matt Mercer's "superpower" is knowing when to shut up lol

what about anthony burch?

A little tip I found is to make death saves secret between you and the player. That way other players cant just think "oh he succeeeded this round no need to worry about him" because thats metagame-y and there's no way their character would just...not care about an ally being downed.

Whats cool about Matt's way if DMing is that him sitting in silence lets the players discuss or come up with plans, while in the background guves Matt time to formulate a repsonse or scenario counteracting or adding to the players' decision 😂

Good video, I enjoyed seeing your cat.

I want to learn from these great DMs but I usually don't enjoy these shows. I wish these videos included examples.

Murph is ultimate power.