Where’s my DnD players at?

[Gwaeron]

On 1/29/2020 at 10:26 PM, Remmirath said:

I've been playing D&D in some form for about 25 years

oh wow what a history 😃 I’ve only played 5e for a few years, though I seem to go through characters pretty quick (rip...) 😅 and I’m absolutely in love with your drawings too!

[HolidayT]

Hi! DM in training here!

 

I need lots of advice before I design my next campaign!

First question: How much freedom should I give my players?

When I DM I like to let my players have control of their characters. Here’s an example:

 

Player: Marsha the Barbarian Orc would like to say hello to the shopkeep.

Me: Roll for charisma

Player: 3, with -1 modifier. Okey dokey, Marsha looks at the shopkeep and goes “AAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Me: The shopkeep is offended and calls security. 

 

Playing this way gave everyone a chance to play an active roll in the game and made for some hysterical scenarios! However, one of my younger players expected me to tell her what her character’s actions were after she rolled and felt put on the spot when I kept asking her “How will your character proceed?”

 

DMs, what works best for you?

Players, how much control do you want over your characters?

 

(Psssst, I might need to recruit some players later, so keep me in mind if you're thinking of joining a new party!)

[Unleash the Echidnas]

2 minutes ago, Katya G. said:

DMs, what works best for you?

Players, how much control do you want over your characters?

In every campaign and one off I've been in, either as player or DM, players have always been fully responsible for their characters (and often terribly effective at ruining the DM's plans). The DM has plenty to do without also taking on semi-roleplaying the characters. And, for example, if someone couldn't make a session I was DMing I would assign another player to run their character. I also tend to get fuzzy with long-term NPCs, potentially handing them off to players if their role in the campaign suits. Every group I've played in does allow an override where the DM can call out a player who isn't being realistic with what their character would do. It's never been used, but we gave some care to screening munchkins and were (nearly always) successful in avoiding rules lawyers.

 

Sounds like your player might be new, getting used to what role playing means in practice, and maybe a bit shy. It might be good to have an out of game, no pressure conversation about what role playing is and figure out how to grow their comfort zone. If you have experienced players in the group who have the skills and are likely to be compatible, something to consider might be arranging for one of them to mentor your younger player.

 

 

3 minutes ago, Katya G. said:

(Psssst, I might need to recruit some players later, so keep me in mind if you're thinking of joining a new party!)

(Mentioned this up thread but I should have time for group come April!)

[Cross Stitching]

46 minutes ago, Katya G. said:

First question: How much freedom should I give my players?

like how @Unleash the Echidnas said, your player might be new to the whole thing, or had a previous DM who did something differently. Just talk to them about it, and give choices for them. 

 

49 minutes ago, Katya G. said:

I kept asking her “How will your character proceed?”

For example, you could say, “does your character feel angry about this, or chided?” (Wait for response). Depending on the answer you could help walk them through what they could do. (Example; If angry, do you want to argue with them, start a fist fight, or ignore them?) — that way they start to learn what they can do in the game, rather than get nervous or stuck.

 

As the game goes on you won’t have to keep doing this as the player gets more confident.

[HolidayT]

1 hour ago, Cross Stitching said:

For example, you could say, “does your character feel angry about this, or chided?” (Wait for response). Depending on the answer you could help walk them through what they could do. (Example; If angry, do you want to argue with them, start a fist fight, or ignore them?) — that way they start to learn what they can do in the game, rather than get nervous or stuck.

Glad you suggested this, because that is what I ended up doing. And you're right! Her confidence did seem to grow as the campaign went on and she took a more active role. She said she had fun when the campaign ended, so I don't think my inexperienced DMing traumatized her TOO bad

[HolidayT]

2 hours ago, Unleash the Echidnas said:

potentially handing them off to players if their role in the campaign suits.

We can do that?!!!! That opens up a whole new world of possibilities!

[HolidayT]

Thank you @Unleash the Echidnas and @Cross Stitching! You are being so helpful!

 

Next question:

 

Maps. Should I bother? I had a BEAUTIFUL map drawn for my last campaign but I threw it out so I could move landmarks closer when my wonderful players started heading in the wrong direction.

Also, I should note that I homebrew everything. Easier to know the world's nooks and crannies when I'm the one that put them there. Plus worldbuilding is my favorite part  

[Unleash the Echidnas]

9 minutes ago, Katya G. said:

We can do that?!!!!

Sure! In general, in role playing the DM/GM and players are team who collaborate to tell a story. The main difference is the DM usually has the broadest narrative in setting up the world and the players take on the specific stories of their individual characters. The rules of whatever gaming system you use provide a shared set of expectations about how stuff works but, ultimately, the only limitation is imagination. Though, in practice, it's usually important to keep things relatively straightforward so they stay fun.

 

A couple of examples of things I've done in this direction:

• A player in one campaign I was DMing was having a hard time making regular gaming meets due to unexpected scheduling with work and school. So I killed their character (which prompted some spectacular role playing from the rest of the party) as that worked well with the plot that was set up and then had the player drop in on a guest basis to run various "N"PCs. In effect, I stayed a generalist DM and we had a specialist DM for certain key plot elements. That particular player was known for rigging badass NPCs when they were DMing so the arrangement was loads of fun.
• I had a couple split up in a way where it would be awkward for both players to continue coming. I asked the players to sort out how they wanted to deal with that and the result was the member of the couple who stayed in the group ended up running their ex's character. Since there were some feelings I talked with the player who stayed and we worked out a subplot where the ex's character drifted off from the group and became a minor opposing villain. That let the player work off of their post-relationship frustrations and the rest of the party had rather a good time running right along the fourth wall. It did, however, require the player to be able to switch sides and not leak information between the two characters. They had the chops for that, so it was successful (if sometimes a little meta).

 

8 minutes ago, Katya G. said:

Maps. Should I bother?

I find them really useful. But maybe separate maps as art projects from maps as functional devices for navigating a game. I've moved terrain effectively hundreds of km to accommodate players, so usually keep anything with the particulars of a given plot arc on it at more of a sketch level.

[AllTimeBubble]

3 hours ago, Katya G. said:

 

Players, how much control do you want over your characters?

 

(Psssst, I might need to recruit some players later, so keep me in mind if you're thinking of joining a new party!)

I enjoy having a fair amount of control over what my character does, so in our campaign, the DM tells us whats happening and I get to decide what my character does or atleast attempts to do. I quite enjoy that because it makes me feel more involved and immersed 

[Skeletonducky]

I'm not around very often due to work, but if any of y'all want help with DMing or just DnD questions in general, just hit up my PMs  

Always happy to help with DnD-related queries, and I'll respond as soon as I can.

Happy DnDing!

[Cross Stitching]

1 hour ago, Katya G. said:

Should I bother?

In our current campaign, we are in a sea/archipelago setting (also home brew). We’ve “unlocked” only one area of the world so far. We have to get higher level in order to go other directions. (In game this means; one area has a large kraken sighting; we could go that way, but at level two you’re certainly testing fate). We don’t feel this is road blocking either, because we have plenty of islands to search and discover still. - and if we want to go that way, our characters know to prep for a kraken fight.

What might also be helpful is not developing as deeply into areas that the PC’s haven’t shown interest in yet. (That way you don’t waste time and energy). You can have basic plot mentions and geography, but not a fully fleshed out area until you know the PC’s plan to go that way. 

[HolidayT]

4 hours ago, Unleash the Echidnas said:

had the player drop in on a guest basis to run various "N"PCs.

You are an absolute genius! I just gave the character a sleeping potion every time it's player couldn't make it and had the other characters figure out how to lug around their unconscious comrade. It was funny, but time consuming

 

4 hours ago, AllTimeBubble said:

it makes me feel more involved and immersed

One of our primary goals as DMs! Thanks for the input!

 

3 hours ago, Skeletonducky said:

Always happy to help with DnD-related queries

Awesome! Thank you!

 

3 hours ago, Cross Stitching said:

In our current campaign, we are in a sea/archipelago setting (also home brew). We’ve “unlocked” only one area of the world so far. We have to get higher level in order to go other directions. (In game this means; one area has a large kraken sighting; we could go that way, but at level two you’re certainly testing fate). We don’t feel this is road blocking either, because we have plenty of islands to search and discover still. - and if we want to go that way, our characters know to prep for a kraken fight.

Ooh, an archipelago setting would be so fun! My players would have challenged the Kraken right away, but if I just banned them from going anywhere until they unlocked the next area, that would give them some incentive...

 

You guys are a wealth of knowledge! Thank you!

[Anthracite_Impreza]

1 hour ago, Katya G. said:

I just gave the character a sleeping potion every time it's player couldn't make it and had the other characters figure out how to lug around their unconscious comrade. It was funny, but time consuming

We have Derek Arcana, the giant mafia toad. He sells "air quotes", wears fancy suits, is mixed race, eats players who don't turn up and is on the payroll of my mafia boss car, Dubhthach.

[HolidayT]

6 minutes ago, Anthracite_Impreza said:

Derek Arcana

Derek Arcana sounds like a quality chap! I really have the urge to draw him 😂

[Karst]

I ran the one-shot I mentioned earlier in the thread today, and it went really well!

The players were pretty experienced and competent, so they ran through it much faster than I expected.

I might make some adjustments and run it again.

[Karst]

Highlights:

- Party adopted a rust monster as a pet, naming it Professor Scruggles.

- Characters figured out that the health potions were made by draining some poor adventurer's life energy.  Players figured out that I got this bit from The Dark Crystal.

- Clever use of illusion magic to avoid a difficult fight.

- I finally got to use my knowledge of ancient Anglo-Saxon riddles.

[#Cthulhu]

So I have two characters. One a high elf ranger with three names, and different personalities, she has multiple identities and one of them talks like theasous its great.

My other character is a half-elf trickery domain cleric named Carter. He is a sucker for creative solutions and as a hobby tries to get paladins to break their oaths.

[Anthracite_Impreza]

1 hour ago, Katya G. said:

Derek Arcana sounds like a quality chap! I really have the urge to draw him 😂

Oh don't worry, he's already been drawn multiple times.

[Unleash the Echidnas]

2 hours ago, Katya G. said:

It was funny, but time consuming

And at least my groups would find it getting old by the end of one session, much less as a regular thing. Though there was the time we used a ring of water walking to line an unconscious character down a stream. Not always simple keeping their breathing clear of the water but it beat carrying them and we were all giggling so hard about it nobody bothered with the hypothermia bit and soaked clothes. It was summer anyways.

 

A mechanism we've had success with is to have a player who can't make a session be responsible for arranging who will play their character instead. Encourages people think farther beyond their character more than they usually would and deepen intraparty interactions. Also makes it a little harder for people to get steamed if something bad happens to their character at a session they miss since, after all, they left the player who made the decisions in charge.

[Cross Stitching]

4 hours ago, Katya G. said:

I just gave the character a sleeping potion every time

With players who can’t make it, my group is pretty lenient. It doesn’t happen all the time, and we are all adults; sometimes things happen. 
 

For us, their character is with us, but really just a silent follower. We don’t reference/talk to them, and if it’s a fight they don’t contribute in it. (Unless we managed to get their character sheet/it was a planned miss, and another player controls combat like what @Unleash the Echidnas said.)
 

 There are two consequences though; if a tpk happens your character dies too. (but that’s an extreme happenstance). 

The one that always hits is that you don’t receive XP for that session. If the party got any loot, it’s up to the players to decide if they want to share it with you. (We almost always do). 

[Larkaloke]

13 hours ago, Katya G. said:

DMs, what works best for you?

Players, how much control do you want over your characters?

I always let my players do whatever they want, no matter how terrible the idea, and figure it out from there. As a player, I prefer complete control over my characters, and I see that as a large part of the purpose of playing a roleplaying game to begin with (which extends to CRPGs, and is why I've become increasingly annoyed with some RPG developers). The player decides exactly what their character does, and the DM determines how the world reacts to that. Now, obviously, there are some caveats; sometimes a character is doing something that the player really has no idea how to act properly, and then assuming that they said something appropriate with some slight guidance by the player is fine (example: diplomacy/persuasion checks when the character would know the right things to say and the player hasn't got a clue).

 

Once or twice I've had a player who wanted to know what their character did, and I've started by giving them a few options to pick between and then guiding them towards just saying what their character does to begin with. It seems to work pretty well.

 

10 hours ago, Katya G. said:

Maps. Should I bother? I had a BEAUTIFUL map drawn for my last campaign but I threw it out so I could move landmarks closer when my wonderful players started heading in the wrong direction.

Also, I should note that I homebrew everything. Easier to know the world's nooks and crannies when I'm the one that put them there. Plus worldbuilding is my favorite part  

If you enjoy it there's no reason not to do it no matter what, but I find them very useful in a homebrew setting (which is almost all of what I run). They don't have to be super-detailed, although since I enjoy drawing them, mine sometimes end up being; but it's good to know where things are in relation to each other, the names of them, and so forth.

 

I also personally find it extremely useful to have drawn out sets/maps for almost everything that goes on in the campaign and move the minuatures around, so I have dry erase sheets and markers for that. I don't do very well keeping track of where people are with purely auditory information. So I include a lot of location specific maps in my plans as well as larger-scale area maps.

 

10 hours ago, Unleash the Echidnas said:

A player in one campaign I was DMing was having a hard time making regular gaming meets due to unexpected scheduling with work and school. So I killed their character (which prompted some spectacular role playing from the rest of the party) as that worked well with the plot that was set up and then had the player drop in on a guest basis to run various "N"PCs. In effect, I stayed a generalist DM and we had a specialist DM for certain key plot elements. That particular player was known for rigging badass NPCs when they were DMing so the arrangement was loads of fun.

That's a neat way to deal with that! I usually just come up with a reason that the character can't be around a lot, working with the player, but I usually haven't had people miss terribly many sessions.

 

 

[Karst]

Once, when one of my players was late to a session, I had his character wander off to take a leak just before a fight.

[Gwaeron]

Late characters: overslept xD

Player can’t come (and has told me beforehand and was organised like an adult): I often say the character was off on some special mission that contributes indirectly to the story, or they’ll have some information the next time to share (or not!) with the rest of the party.

[(A) & A]

I haven't played D&D in a long while and I'm almost always a DM.   I like to tell stories though so that's alright.

 

I'm actually starting a campaign this weekend with my own custom rule set, heavily based on 1st edition of Dungeon & Dragons, with less random character creation, improved chances to survive at low levels, but decreased power at higher levels.

[EllieTheNerd]

I'm new but hi!

[EllieTheNerd]

On 1/15/2020 at 7:23 PM, Gwaeren said:

Tell me about your characters, valiant adventurers 😎😬

 

 

My character is a drangon born barbarian named Storm. So far I've slapped someone so hard that they lost 3 hp 

[Gwaeron]

9 hours ago, EllieTheNerd said:

 slapped someone so hard that they lost 3 hp 

I mean that’s like half the hp of a wizard sooo accomplishment 😬

[EllieTheNerd]

Welp it taught the bard not to mess with ne.

[uhtred]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:44 AM, Katya G. said:

Thank you @Unleash the Echidnas and @Cross Stitching! You are being so helpful!

 

Next question:

 

Maps. Should I bother? I had a BEAUTIFUL map drawn for my last campaign but I threw it out so I could move landmarks closer when my wonderful players started heading in the wrong direction.

Also, I should note that I homebrew everything. Easier to know the world's nooks and crannies when I'm the one that put them there. Plus worldbuilding is my favorite part  

Been playing since...um.... 1980.

 

Maps can be a great aid.  Never tell the players, but you can move things around as needed.   The adventure in one city can be relocated to another.   Ancient temples to N'Grath can pop up pretty much anywhere.    Providing fortune tellers, old ladies from scene 28,  etc can also help guide PCs to head in the right direction. 

 

To be honest I also wing things a lot as we go.  Trying to create a consistent story in real time is part of the fun / challenge 

[uhtred]

On 2/9/2020 at 12:19 PM, AllTimeBubble said:

I enjoy having a fair amount of control over what my character does, so in our campaign, the DM tells us whats happening and I get to decide what my character does or atleast attempts to do. I quite enjoy that because it makes me feel more involved and immersed 

Yes.  I think the sign of good DMing is that the players feel free to have their characters do anything that the want, that the world seems endless.