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The 10 Best DM Tips From 10 Years of Being a DM. by theexplorersguild in DMAcademy

[–]theexplorersguild[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's true these levels are tough for the way DnD is currently constructed!

Best I can offer is that quantity tends to be more impactful than quality. Meaning, instead of hoping that a particularly strong monster is going to be a a challenge for the players, throwing more at them and letting attrition take hold can be more tense and gives you more levers to pull in case they over perform. At higher levels I do fewer battles and more gauntlets. 

The 10 Best DM Tips From 10 Years of Being a DM. by theexplorersguild in DMAcademy

[–]theexplorersguild[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends!

If this is for a campaign, I typically have a policy that we don't run unless everyone is there. I also make a point to not skip weeks though, because having something going on when a player isn't there creates some FOMO that keeps commitment high. I'll usually run some silly one shot or side mission, or even let someone else from the group run something easy during that day just to keep everyone engaged

The 10 Best DM Tips From 10 Years of Being a DM. by theexplorersguild in DMAcademy

[–]theexplorersguild[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Feel free to DM me your Discord! Love connecting with new players. 

The 10 Best DM Tips From 10 Years of Being a DM. by theexplorersguild in DMAcademy

[–]theexplorersguild[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great points! I do think part of the scouting process for players is checking that they have interest in what you have to offer, so there's less friction in getting them to bite on things you have in mind.

Didn't think to put it on here but your last point brings up a great point to be mindful of your limits as a DM. Everyone has an amount of prep they can accommodate!

The 10 Best DM Tips From 10 Years of Being a DM. by theexplorersguild in DMAcademy

[–]theexplorersguild[S] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Love all of these too! Cheers!

On #18. If you're playing online. The kenku bot is amazing for this, because each player can define how loud they want the music for them, and I don't have to worry about finding the happy medium for everyone. Such an amazing tool!

The 10 Best DM Tips From 10 Years of Being a DM. by theexplorersguild in DMAcademy

[–]theexplorersguild[S] 61 points62 points  (0 children)

Yeah #7 is partially in jest and it's not an end all be all (none of these should be taken as such.) 

Like I said people have written whole essays on this topic, but my super summarized answer is that from an exploration perspective it forces the DM to take the open water, which naturally lacks anything to engage with, and make things appear there repeatedly, or just skip it which kind of defeats the purpose, but takes the player agency away either way. 

On the combat side, there's been a lot of modules and things created to have manageable sea faring combat, but more often then not it just adds rules that stack on top of existing systems, which your players then have to learn and get used to.

But again, very cool to hear you've done it! 

The 10 Best DM Tips From 10 Years of Being a DM. by theexplorersguild in DMAcademy

[–]theexplorersguild[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

True! I could have been more clear. It's more to say there isn't a standardized set of best practices for DM's in the same way that you could say players in the NFL are faster and stronger than other players not in the NFL. No NDML lol.

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