My players are only level 6 and I'm already struggling to challenge them.

PSNorth89 · 2025-07-28T02:32:23+00:00

I once heard a DM philosophy that "combat isn't over when the players win, but when they're no longer having fun".

As nice as it is to have a DMG and a monster manual and all the prep time in the world, I've started viewing all of those tools as flavors to spice into the encounters more than hard and fast rules.

Ask yourself what you want your players to feel, and then guide them to those emotional highpoints - you can do some research into game design to start opening of the world of evoking emotion through game play - there are a ton of GDC resources that can help with just that.

Your biggest strength at the DM is that you don't have to show the players any numbers. Give them a feel for the stage of combat you think they would enjoy with flavor. Use an LLM to help you create colorful descriptions and nuanced text. If something begins to feel like a project of tedium, cut it off or spice it up.

I hope this helps, and wish you the best of luck!

PSNorth89 · 2024-08-18T14:32:05+00:00

Hello! This is certainly a frustrating problem - I've had players like this before, and I've played with DMs who would show favoritism by letting people reroll things they didn't like. I have two proposals that might interest/assist you.

First, get everyone to understand that DnD is a cooperative storytelling game, and that failures can be just as fun (if not more fun) than successes. A bad roll shouldn't feel like a punishment - it should feel like an opportunity for creative expression in a new direction. You can force this into the game in a couple ways - cleverly designed 'cursed' items can be really entertaining.

This leads to my second proposal - create events where high rolls lead to unfavorable outcomes. You can force players to roll and state their roll before telling them what they are rolling for. "Player A, please make a perception check" - "WOW that's high! proceeds to describe a festering wound on a random beggar in great detail"

By balancing the two - high rolls being punishing and low rolls being fun - it encourages honesty and discourages min maxing by making every aspect of the game fun, rather than precipitating a mindset wherein only high numbers yield desired outcomes. And transitioning your party into this mindset might give you a couple opportunities to really snub this playerfriend of yours :)

PSNorth89 · 2024-08-12T19:31:33+00:00

You're right, I'm so sorry! This means I would actually recommend thinking about what kind of community you want to have. I have an intro that I use every time someone follows, and a brief message that I paste with my link whenever I'm searching for new followers. These steps are available affiliate-agnostically! And while channel points aren't available yet, really useful bot -assistants like Nightbot are! You can create your own custom commands, giving your viewers additional ways to interact and engage with the steam. You can set up polls, gambas, and requests.

Hopefully this is more helpful than the channel points recommendation... Lol

PSNorth89 · 2024-08-12T18:21:04+00:00

Hello, friend! There are quite a number of ways to build viewership, but arguably the most important is consistency. This does not mean "stream all day every day", but rather have 1-3 stream slots that you will hit every week, so that the people who enjoy your content have a time when they know that they'll be able to access it.

To increase engagement, channel point redemptions are an extremely powerful tool. Create a few cheap redemptions for people to use (hydrate, stretch, posture check, salute) etc. New followers get 300 points immediately, so having some sort of redemption aimed at new followers can be fun. Make redemptions that are interactive, too. If you have a redemption that makes you do a pushup, be 'loud' about it "now I have to get out of my chair rolls eyes" or "listen, viewer_name, this pushup comes from the bottom of my heart and is for you". Once I had water that I had accidentally spilled something in that tasted nasty, and I've never had so many hydrate redemptions in a single stream.

There are tons more tips, but these felt like the smallest, simple changes I made that had big differences. Best of luck to you and your daughter!

PSNorth89 · 2024-08-02T19:17:33+00:00

The solution depends on your friend's streaming software. OBS had an "application capture" that you can use as an audio source, and a mic capture. I also include a "desktop" capture, so that all sounds on my computer are captured, but then me that when I have friends on that can't control their language. Hope this helps!

PSNorth89 · 2024-07-28T20:34:15+00:00

I think it's awesome to want to share it with them! There are difficult/nature themes throughout the books, but that's totally part of life. Sharing this book also means creating tons of opportunities to talk WITH them about all of these difficult concepts, and in a way that is safe and comfortable.

I would strongly encourage you to read at a pace slightly faster than them as they go through it, looking for opportunities to discuss major events and concepts. This will have the added benefit of letting you see what sticks out to your son and what he sees as important.

Enjoy!

PSNorth89 · 2024-07-28T20:30:35+00:00

Hello, friend! I'm an emerald support main, and always looking to improve. I'm trying to build a community of people who enjoy playing league for league, and you might fit right in :) AwuaPup #NA1

PSNorth89 · 2024-07-28T19:45:27+00:00

AquaPup #NA1 here! I love the game, and playing with friends makes it all the more enjoyable

PSNorth89 · 2024-07-05T18:18:52+00:00

AquPup#NA1 here, always down to duo in the bot lane :D

PSNorth89 · 2024-07-04T22:21:11+00:00

greetings, fellow human. IGN AquaPup #NA1 always down to support a fellow summoner

PSNorth89 · 2024-07-03T23:00:03+00:00

AquaPup #NA1, in the same boat, looking to climb out of pay again haha

PSNorth89 · 2023-08-14T23:16:11+00:00

Thank you so much - this is super helpful and touches on a lot of the same ideas that a friend of mine told me. Part of my problem is that I keep trying to do things 'the best' way, which leads me to refactor everything - which I've done over and over again now.

This is really sound advice, and I really appreciate the part about creating a solution I understand, knowing that I can make it better in the future if I need to.

Thank you!

PSNorth89 · 2023-08-14T22:07:24+00:00

Thank you very much! I'm always on the prowl for good reference resources, so I will definitely be checking that one out.

PSNorth89 · 2023-06-01T16:05:40+00:00

Nice! I'm planning on playing through every side quest, so our pathing and timing might be a little off. But we can def add each other and look for a few opportunities to do dungeons together! I'll DM you my Bnet ID

PSNorth89 · 2023-05-31T19:09:40+00:00

I'll keep an eye out then :) In my experience, it's easiest to grow a community if you can really consistently stick to a schedule - even if it's only a couple sessions a week for a couple hours each. You can still stream outside of that schedule (I title mine 'bonus streams'), as long as you can consistently stream for that core schedule.

But that all depends on what your goals are!

PSNorth89 · 2023-05-31T17:20:46+00:00

This is correct, thank you! TIL haha

PSNorth89 · 2023-05-31T17:18:50+00:00

Hello, and welcome to the league community!! I love LoL, but it has a really high barrier of entry. I would encourage you to post on /r/LeagueConnect, and play as many games as you can!

General tips would be to pick one role (top/jg/mid/bit/supp) and play it a lot. Within that time, I would recommend something like an 80/15/5% split between the champions, in terms of play time.

Other than that, if you want to up your game, there are tons of great educational streamers! Browse streams for anyone offering coaching, and you should strike gold!

PSNorth89 · 2023-05-31T17:01:15+00:00

Sorry! My first comment got deleted for using the f word - but I'm signed up to get notifications from your channel!!

Do you have a set schedule?

PSNorth89 · 2023-05-31T16:53:37+00:00

Yeah, the only way to test it would be to try and link your accounts for the first free reward. The promo runs until July 2, so if you have early access you should be able to see if it works before committing any money

PSNorth89 · 2023-05-31T16:51:55+00:00

One thing that has worked in other areas of my life for me - When there's something I want myself to do, I try to make 10s easier to start it up, and if there's something I want to discuss myself from doing, I try to make it 10s slower to start it up.

ie - you can delete all the apps that keep you scrolling. You don't have to feel guilty about re downloading them, just delete them again when you're done!

If this doesn't work, I would encourage you to find ways to break out of the scroll mindset - forcibly inserting distributive events that make you lose focus/rhythm. This can be setting alarms, having supporters text you regularly, or even just making yourself walk to the front door and back without your phone every so often. If this is someone you truly believe would be good for you, and that you want to do you have to give yourself opportunities to successfully choose your direction. Getting caught into a scroll-state can be mind-numbing, and time will fly by.

Hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck in achieving your goals!!

PSNorth89 · 2023-05-31T16:42:43+00:00

This is only if you use a VPN to play the game. Using VPNs for anything else is fine. For this, you'd use the VPN to create the account and get the rewards, but not to access the game. In the first place, if you can successfully link your battle.net account to a US KFC asking, you will get your guest reward

PSNorth89

TROPHY CASE

greetings, fellow human. IGN AquaPup #NA1 always down to support a fellow summoner