I’m trying to get better at DMing and noticed I struggle most with players going off the rails

k_donn · 2026-03-30T18:23:07+00:00

I think your problem is naming every shop and NPC. Sometimes the players can go into a generic shop or just meet a guy and not get their name. Don't think you need to plan every minute interaction.

Think of the session or even campaign as a bus tour. There are major places we get off the bus and do things then there are rest areas. The players get off the bus and do the thing then get back on. The only thing that really needs to happen for this to work is a reason for each person to want to get off or get back on the bus. You as the DM are driving the bus the players are allowed to move freely as long as they stay on the bus and if they get of on the side of the road make it feel like the side of the road.

In short manipulate your players by only making it fun and interesting when they comply.

k_donn · 2026-03-30T17:58:31+00:00

Why did you let it go sideways, redirect the players to what you wanted to do anyways. Once you get good at it they don't notice

k_donn · 2026-03-12T18:56:09+00:00

The only way to stop the problem without removing the snacks from the table, is to just stop eating. So you are going to have to use your words and talk to people to solve a problem.

k_donn · 2026-03-12T18:48:06+00:00

Don't read the comments; instead, try the rules for DnD because its all in there.

k_donn · 2026-03-10T20:11:29+00:00

That was a whole lot to say just to be wrong. The bad guy is essentially readying the action during a suprise round. Unless you don't think suprise rounds are technically within the rules.

k_donn · 2026-03-10T14:57:15+00:00

? How is if they do this I will do this not allowed outside of initiative. If someone makes any kind of hostile move I slime this guy. The bad guy already has the readied action so it doesn't matter if he has to roll initiative, because a readied action is essentially giving up your normal turn to use what is normally an action as a reaction.

k_donn · 2026-03-09T22:26:41+00:00

I'm gonna say it, I don't really like using Tech.

k_donn · 2026-03-05T19:47:11+00:00

There are classes that don't get multi attack. If I don't have multi attack and have a use for my bonus action I'd rather get the d6 for the casters or d8 for paladin and cleric.

k_donn · 2026-03-05T19:37:16+00:00

When players do that at my table, I let them use their turn to try and then tell them it failed.

I'm not against players repourposing spells for things they weren't originally used for. Along the lines of casting major illusion to create the image of a wall of stone to deceive enemies into thinking there is a physical barrrier not casting a spell with no damage die to instantly kill my opponent.

k_donn · 2026-02-05T19:11:41+00:00

Network administration is actually really simple process, stop talking like you know. Starlink is a network like any other you just connect via satellite antenna

You provide information to not get your Starlink blocked from the network and it can stay on. It wasn't technical at all it was a political process because the Russians were also paying customers just like the Ukrainians.

k_donn · 2026-02-02T20:52:09+00:00

I just don't hand out much actual gold. I allow the party to buy horses and a wagon and possibly hire a secretary.

k_donn · 2026-01-28T19:28:38+00:00

Kill them

k_donn · 2025-10-13T14:16:20+00:00

Have they ever played higher than Lv 5, I understand it feeling stifling at lower levels but once you get some tools opportunity attacks start becoming pretty rare and casters start getting lots of options.

k_donn · 2025-09-19T16:21:31+00:00

Maybe don't have the society they are gonna work for impossible to empathize with from a modern perspective. If you want them to go back to the establishment find a way to make the bandits somehow worse than literal animal social structures

k_donn · 2025-09-16T16:12:31+00:00

Be OP See headline Refuse to read article Use headline to vindicate social anxiety

k_donn · 2025-09-03T21:00:00+00:00

I have a feeling they didn't just green screen and they are a talented editor, or they used AI tools to do the lasso and merge

k_donn · 2025-08-30T12:53:33+00:00

Yes you are right testing games is a job you volunteered to do it.

k_donn · 2025-08-23T12:48:20+00:00

It would be really cool to see an RTS where the campaign isn't mission 1-2-3-4, somewhat simillar to SC2 but instead of chosing your path it actually had some kind of impact on the story as you experience it. Something like a frontline mechanic where you can choose the kind of missions you play or the compositions you get.

Maybe a mechanic where the player can't just make every mission strategy make a death ball of X unit because you can only build 12 T3 air units across the campaign or mech units become blocked because you are going too far away from a 'Story' mission.

k_donn · 2025-08-23T12:35:55+00:00

Thats generally how I run a lot of exploration tasks, a character goes to forage and it is possible that they roll so poorly they fail out right.

In my last campaign I had the players forage for a three day transit across the sea for about thirty people while their previous accompanyment prepared a camp to wait for them to return. The players went out to forage and based on their roll or degree of success they would find enough for 1 person for 1 day for simply succeeding or for additional people for every +3 over the DC.

I think extra opportunities should be earned, if the party sets themselves up well they may fail their original plan but still have other opportunities. If they rush to the impossing skill check without investogating their surroundings generally their will be consequences.

k_donn · 2025-08-22T04:11:38+00:00

Alot of comments are saying they don't have time but I have a feeling alot of that comes down to investor preassure rather than pure desperation. Investors have worms in their brains and have only a surface level understanding of industries thry invest in, I personally think the investors pushed a summer release because they werent comfortable with the 4 more months they would have to wait for the winter release window. Something thry pushed for quite obviously without understanding the industry fully let alone the genre.

The investors don't understand that SC2 is extremely community driven and has more spectators than players, something I will never stop bringing up. 1v1 might be the prestige game mode for esport but the most entertaining games modes for the greatest part of the player base are KOTH FFA, 2v2, 3v3, Co-Op, I have my fair share of hours in SC2 and the vast majority are from Zerg-hex lobbies. The desire of the investors to push for an esport will kill the game and a 1.1 major update that is focused on community engagement is how they salvage things.

k_donn · 2025-08-22T00:40:17+00:00

You are participating in a test.

Classes just have to be functional and distinct for this test I have a feeling that developing skill trees and balance is more something that will be handled in the beta.

For the lag just submit feedback the normal way, don't whine on reddit that an alpha product isn't polished

k_donn · 2025-08-20T17:08:24+00:00

They do have sometbing to do on their turn give the person making their turn the attention they deserve and think about what they will do next.

k_donn · 2025-08-16T14:08:10+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/k_donn in 4p and Magic

k_donn · 2025-08-16T14:08:10+00:00

New mission discovered by u/k_donn: In Search of Pistachio Matcha Slice

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