The types of problem tabletop RPG players, and how to avoid being one.

Set up a session zero to establish rules so most issues and play styles can be agreed upon. Enforce the house rules, what are the consequences if players do break the rules?

You can avoid a lot of problems when the players know exactly what to expect. A heavy role player will not enjoy a Hack-n-slash session. So if they know beforehand what to expect, they don't get the right to complain about it later.

Different players end up in different roles depending on the group.

1. The Rules lawyer. Is sometimes helpful, is most of the time annoying and slowing down the game.

2. The Attention whore. Usually the class clown. Does idiotic things just for a reaction.

3. The Game Breaker. The murder hobo. this is the one who wants to burn down the tavern and kill the king.

4. The one who doesn't pay attention. what we call an audience member. Why are you even playing if you don't care what is going on?!

5. The one who keeps interrupting. Usually the attention whore. This idiot doesn't realize that it's a group game and everyone deserves a turn.

6. Audience member. Doesn't engage in the story and doesn't make decisions in game. The audience member is happy to just sit back and watch.

7. The serious player. No nonsense, Always getting things done, the only one who takes notes, always moving on the the next puzzle or plot line, usually only role plays to ask questions, usually ends up becoming the party leader to keep everyone else on track. usually makes decisions for the rest of the group.

Are you the problem player? Just stop it.

The best way to avoid being a problematic player is to just try to play along, be nice to everyone at the table, show respect and support, be patient with people when they are trying to figure things out. Do not ever call people names, or make fun of people. If someone asks you to stop doing something, you will respect their boundaries and stop you behavior without arguing.

The entire point of playing RPGs is having fun together, if you are taking that chance away from someone else, then you are a problem. 

Be a good listener. Listening and paying attention to other players is the best skill you can utilize at the table. If you know what the players want and actively apply that knowledge, your friends will always be back for more.

How to stop murder hobos from destroying your game

 A players behavior at the table is based on expectations and rules that need to be agreed upon before the game even starts. I am a huge advocate of stopping people from acting rude or disrespectful.

If you know that your players wanted to be murder hobos in the first place, then you should have a game style that reflects their play style. However something can always become an issue no matter what rules and expectations you establish.

During session zero, everyone in the game needs to agree on what the play style is and how evil the party wants to be. Alignments should be followed according to character. If a player wants to be evil in a party full of good people, the players need to have a really good reason for it. Good characters won't travel with known criminals or evil people. And that needs to be role played.

Share the Spotlight
   If another player is always interrupting or trying to hog all of the attention your other players will never get their turn. This selfish player is probably trying to do everything without giving other players a chance. This is easy to control by simply giving the attention to another player. Interrupt the rude player if you have to.

"We know what you are about to do, now lets take turns and see what our paladin would like to do." As the DM you need to take your attention away from that player.

If you are a player, you can help too.
   Your character can interrupt the selfish player too. The DM will probably appreciate it too.
Talk in character,
 "If you attack the king, you won't be my traveling companion anymore. Your actions prove to be  unbecoming and insulting. You will get no further support from me. If I (my characters) can't trust you, I can't help you." Hopefully the offending player will understand that he needs to act according to the rest of the group.

You can also say something like this
 "In order to finish our quest, we need everyone working together for the common cause. If you want to kill kings and burn down taverns, you should look for another group to travel with."
Hopefully the player will get the obvious hint.

A player can also help intervene on behalf of the story. When a bad player makes the bad decision to kill an NPC. Your character can and should hold them back. In a one shot game it isn't as important. But an ongoing campaign will most likely have dire consequences. Stay in the way of the bad player until the DM can intervene and stop the conflict.

How to stop a player who wants to destroy your game.
The dungeon master has all the power to allow  anything in the story to progress. This means that if there is an interruptive or rude player, they don't get to do anything until the DM says so.

Stop a rude boy in their tracks. This trick also works to stop players from destroying your game.

Rude Boy: "I slap the bartender in the face, then I light the tavern on fire, then I kill the closest guard next to me."

Dungeon Master: (taking the wind out of rude boys sails.) "Before you get close to the bartender, I want to know what everyone else is doing. Lets take turns and go around the table."

Take turns and let all the other players go first. Usually that can de-escalate a game destroying rude boy. Since the narrative was changed by another player, the rude boy should be focused on something else beside killing. If it gets back to his turn and he still wants to be destructive, let him give it a try. Since we already know that the rude boy wants to attack the bartender first, we can have a little time to prepare while the other players are going.

The key word here is 'Before'. Don't let a rude boy get away with even getting close to what they want to do. Don't even acknowledge what rude boy is saying.  The word 'before' can be used in any situation to take control of the action and slow down a player.

"Before you get to the bartender, roll a dexterity save, (make the DC impossible to beat) you have been hit in the leg with an arrow, you will now be moving at half speed." or something like this.

"Before you move to attack the bartender, you realize that the bar is full of royal guards and other witnesses who probably want to enjoy their dinner."

"Before you attack the king, the two guards closest to you grab the crossbow out of your hands. "

Get the other players to help.
This is another diversion tactic, but a little more involved. Talk to the other players. "You see your rude companion about to attack the bartender, what are you going to do." Let all the other players go first and hopefully they will stop or otherwise slow down the attacking player.

A Party of Hobos
If your whole party is a group of murder hobos, it might be hard to ask for help from other players.  So get more NPCs involved. Bring in guides or advisors who can speak for you as the DM. Warn the players of the consequences. "I really don't think you would want the entire regions army on your tail if you do try to kill the king." "If you allow this fire to burn down the entire forest, it will be your heads that the wrath of the gods come down upon!" Let your party of hobos reap what they sow.

If the party wants to act like villains, everyone in your world will treat them like villains. 

Bring alignments into play and make the players suffer every time they don't act accordingly.

Players need to deal with consequences 
If the player still insists after a warning. Say this. "You hit the bartender in the face and suddenly you feel the point of a sword in your back. One of the guards has hit you for 900 damage. (Don't even roll for attack or damage at this point. Do enough damage to teach a lesson.)You are now unconscious and are currently being dragged toward the prisons. Now what do the other players want to do?"

Consequences are only limited by your imagination. Players killed a bartender or burnt down a town? Now there is a price on their heads. High level NPCs will always be hunting them down. Rogue NPCs will turn them in for a reward at any moment. The PCs are never the strongest people in your world. If they just keep surviving, throw something stronger at them. Make them learn their lessons the hard way. There is always a bigger fish. There will always be something stronger than your PCs. Bring the gods down if you have to. Have celestials and archons hunt the players down. You have my permission to make your murder hobos life a living hell.

More Consequences. 
The murder hobos faces are plastered everywhere. Every NPC knows what the wanted posters look like. Guards won't let your party into town. Shopkeepers and taverns refuse to serve the criminal party. "You burnt down my grannys hometown! There's no way I will let you into our city!"

If the party has a reputation for evil, cultists, murderers, and other criminals might want to join forces with the party. "We know you killed the royal guards in the city, maybe you can help us destroy them all! Take down their peacekeeping ways!" or, "Clearly you don't have any qualms about preserving life, so maybe you can help us summon our great god of death"

At this point the players should have some kind of moral quandary, if not, the campaign just turned into a villains story. And all the good guys will be constantly hunting them down.

Teaching New dungeons and dragons Players

Tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons can be really big and complicated. New players can be easily overwhelmed with all the rules and weird terminology. 

If you want your friends or family to role-play with you, it is important to be patient and supportive while teaching new players to learn your game.

Keep the rules simple.
Don't overwhelm new people with too many rules.

Only teach the race and class the player is using from only the main rule book. Don't let them try to create some weirdly complicated character from a 3rd party rule book. Keep it simple. let them learn the basics first.

 Focus their learning on what is personal to the student. Attacks. abilities, and spells, that are specific to their character.

Make sure they know what dice to roll and how to find information on their character sheet.

Let new players base their characters off of a famous or recognizable character. This way they can think "What would Legolas do? How would john wick do this?" 

Using a famous character will give new players a framework or guideline to follow instead of being overwhelmed with infinite character possibilities.

Create a supportive environment.
Make sure players feel free to do whatever they want. Let them tell you (the DM) what they want to do and you can tell them what checks or rolls they will need to do.

Don't let them be afraid of not knowing the rules. Let them know that it is okay to make mistakes.

Be open and accepting. Don't condescend or make fun of players who don't know what to do.

Allow new players to make mistakes. Do not judge or criticize a noob mistake. Being critical or judgmental automatically kills the learning process.

The more you criticize, the more new players will not want to play. Nobody wants to be judged or bullied when they are trying to learn something new. If this is happening, new players will be disengaged and they won't ever want to to play again.

Hopefully most issues and play styles were previously agreed upon during session zero or through established house rules. However something can always become an issue no matter how many rules and expectations you establish.

 Don't assume the worst in people or new players.

Wheatons Law: Don't be a dick.
Don't make assumptions about people or their actions without talking to them first. 

Nothing is worse than that person who complains, criticizes, or starts ranting without knowing what is going on. Do not be that guy. 

Players and dungeon masters will like you a lot better if you aren't complaining. 

If you aren't following this law, the problem could be you.


Be Welcoming
A lot of players are new to the game, so don't assume that people know everything. Most tabletop RPGs are big and complicated and it can be overwhelming for new players. 

Be welcoming, supportive, and inclusive. A group game doesn't work unless you are actively part of the group. If a new player doesn't feel welcome, they aren't going to want to play at all.


Ask questions before you criticize. 
If you come into a situation where you don't know what is going on or you see something that you don't like, talk first, ask questions first, before making assumptions and yelling at your friends. 

This is especially important if you are the Game Master. Listen first before making game altering judgments.

Before you criticize, ask questions and learn about what the other person is thinking. This is a lot more constructive than blindly attacking or judging.

"Are you Okay?" Is the best thing to say if you don't know what else to ask. Always listen first and acknowledge what they say.

After that, the communication can become more specific. "I asked if you we're okay because it seems like you are refusing to wait for your turn when I'm trying to tell the story." 

Or, "I asked if you are okay because it seems like you aren't listening to the other players."

 Or, "It seems like you are trying to take the attention away from other players."

If the player in question doesn't respond well, you'll most likely need to talk, and listen to them, privately outside of the game and away from the table.

Review your house rules and expectations before the game starts.

Remember that every dungeon masters play style is different. Every group has different players and a different group dynamic. No two games are ever the same. So don't expect assumptions or behavior to be exactly the same either. 

Make sure all players who come and go from your table know your house rules and the consequences for their actions.

This might feel harsh at first, but you'll know it's worth it when there are a lot less arguments about how to calculate critical hit damage. 

Behavior expectations should be common knowledge.... Things like waiting for your turn. Or rules like don't be a cheater. It is important to talk about this stuff instead of assuming that everyone knows how to behave.

These games are supposed to be fun. The more supportive and relaxed environment you create, the more fun everyone at the table will have.







   

How To Create Memorable NPCs

Non-player characters aren't just cannon fodder or set pieces for players to destroy. NPCs can be utilized for any narrative purpose or game play needs. NPCs will usually be the ones to create conflict, which is necessary for a good story.

Prepare a characters emotion or personality type.
Describe the characters main emotion in one word. Descriptors can be really simple. Nervous, confident, joyful, grumpy, sad, aloof, indifferent, etc. Once you have a specific word to describe an NPC you can base your entire performance on that one word. If you would rather improvise during the game, you can prepare a list of random descriptors and personalities to have on hand. Also you can prepare a list of random names prepared because we always need to make a new NPC during the game.

How does your character deal?
Another way to describe your characters is how they operate in a deal. Are they givers, takers, or matchers?

A giver would offer whatever they can to help and support his friends without expecting anything in return. A giver is happy to work as a team without getting credit for himself specifically.
A taker will manipulate and lie to get whatever they want. A taker will always steal credit for achievements and always keep the glory for himself.
A matcher is someone who will always repay a favor for a favor. If someone does a favor for a matcher, he will feel like he owes them a favor. I got this idea from reading Give and Take by Adam Grant.

Set up a goal. 
NPC goals can be really simple too. A farmer wants a new plow that works better. A blacksmith who is in love with the prince. A neighbor keeps trying to borrow a cup of sugar. An apprentice who doesn't want to learn her trade. If you keep NPC goals simple, your world will be grounded realistically and feel more believable to your players. Not all their goals need to be about avenging their father or finding a secret family heirloom.

With these goals set up, you'll be able to direct the conversation for a good role play encounter.

Now that you have a personality, or emotion word, a giver or take action and a goal, you can use all three together to tell you what actions the characters will take. 

Let Your Characters grow
Allow your characters grow throughout the game itself. Improvise, learn, and adapt your characters just like a player character. Find their voice during game play. Be patient with yourself and your characters, let them grow naturally over time. The best characteristics are revealed in game.

 Don't forget to write down important things that NPCs say or want. This way your world and characters will be consistent from session to session.

Don't worry about making NPC stats unless you know specifically that they will be fighting the players. If the NPC never sees any combat, you won't need their stats. You can make up or fudge any of their rolls if you need to.

Be the character, not a game master.
The Angry GM says "Play the character instead of running the game." 

While in conversation with players, don't trying to narrate and manage the game, just act in character and react to what the players do. Don't think about what will happen next in the game until the conversation is over. 

You can even narrate with an NPCs voice. Focus solely on how the NPC will react to what the players are doing. Focus on your NPCs main goal and try to control the conversation in character. practice reacting how that character would react to different things.

How Helpful are your NPCs?
Use NPCs as the voice of reason instead of the DM talking. When giving out quests, use NPCs to give players hints about what monsters they might fight or warnings about what is ahead. Hopefully, (for their sake) your players are smart enough to ask questions.

Set up characters that the players can go to for advice or help. A wizard who can identify items, a cleric who can heal, and criminal contacts. Maybe there is a woodsman or ranger who can guide the players through the forest or a hireling who has experience fighting specific monsters.

NPC Voices.
Along with accents, you can also consider talking just by changing your voice a little bit. Make a NPC talk a lot faster than your normal voice, or slower. Talk with a deeper or higher voice. These changes are simple and effective. Every time my voice gets lower, my players know that the bear is talking.

You can also use different vocabulary for different types of people. Perhaps your players encounter a well-educated higher class scholar or wizard. They would use fancier words and some magical technobabble. A bum on the street or a barbarian raised in the forest probably won't be using big words.

If you want to get better with accents, you'll have to practice talking a lot in that voice, outside of the game.

My dilemma on sandbox versus railroad.

High Expectations.

I've been accused a few times of giving the players too many options. This is because I want to be able to improvise new things and enjoy the unexpected during the game. That is what is exciting for me when I run a session. I want a game where players feel free to explore and go find out what is behind the waterfall. The problem is that my players will never see the waterfall because most of my players only see what is directly in front of them.

In one of my longer games, my players are ignoring all the side quests that I have given them and are just focusing on the main story. These players have gotten tons of hints in game and me as the DM specifically telling them where to go, and they still aren't doing it. I had 3 different portals put in front of them and they only went through one. Each portal leads to another part of the story and after at least 6 sessions, the players are still ignoring them after my constant reminders.

I am annoyed by this because I have stories prepared that will never been seen by my players. At the same time, I want my players to choose to go somewhere and explore as well as getting the job done. There should be time for both.

I have played in games where the railroading was so bad, that we as players couldn't look around or talk to the characters we wanted to. So I will always want to give my players as many choices as possible.

Prepare for specific players.

 A good player will take their time to ask questions and explore the world around them instead of waiting for the DM to lead them by the hand. The players are supposed to be the main characters but that means they need to be actively trying to move the story along. That is what I expect in my games. I'm sure other DM's will be different.

The answer to this is simple. if you don't want your players to miss anything, you'll need to put them on a track. I guess I will have to railroad them. Whatever I want them to deal with, will just be placed in front of them. For me, this means I'm a DM who railroads. At least for this specific game for these specific players.

The problem is that my players will never see the waterfall because they only see what is directly in front of them. So I'll have to put the waterfall right in their path in order for them to explore it.

Bad pacing leaves no time to explore.

In one of my recent games online, I set up some hobgoblins who were kidnapping slaves from a village. The players had to track them down and rescue the villagers. I also had a separate plot thread about a couple who was smuggling a baby through that same village. I expected the players to find the baby in a hidden cellar, under one of the ruined houses.

The problem in this case was my pacing. The players didn't do any exploring. Which was my fault. I had enemy goblins nearby and the players wanted to chase them down. My placing enemies in their path distracted them from exploring. So they never ended up finding the baby that was acting as a plot hook.

In this specific case, my timing was off. If I had the bad guys show up later, maybe the players would take their time to look around. Give them downtime so they feel like they have the freedom to explore. When I want the story to move forward, That is when I let the players notice the bad guys.

It is okay to railroad when you have to.

It all depends on the situation and how good you are at pacing and working with specific players. If the players aren't good at exploring you'll have place everything in front of them. If a player doesn't want to look around, then they get stuck on a track.

Another tactic for helping them along is to have NPC's tell the players exactly what to do and where to go. Help them along with a local guide or a mentor, even a bad guy during a battle can leave clues before he gets muder-hoboed by the players.

The trick is to leave clues and plot hooks wherever the players choose to go. If your players are the exploring type, you can leave things that you have prepared wherever the players go. This gives the players the illusion of choice, they choose where to go and what to do, but they still get the plot hooks and everything you have prepared. Then you won't be seen as a railroading DM.

"The benefit to loosing is that you get to learn from your mistakes." -MegaMind

The pacing and set ups will always be changing.

For example, I could have had my goblins in the village lead the players to where the cellar is instead of having them run away distracting the players. Or I could have had a villager ask the players for help. My expectation was that the players would find the cellar on their own, let them do the exploring.

Going forward, my fix to this specific problem will be to move the cellar forward and have them find it after they defeat the current set of goblins. It will be right in their path, ready to start off the next session. It would actually make better sense to have the house outside of the village, more suited for baby smuggling.

What Critical Role teaches us about being good RPG players

Critical role is a you tube show where an exciting group of professionals play some Dungeons and Dragons. Here is a link to Season 2. Because its better. https://youtu.be/byva0hOj8CU

If you are here you probably already know what all this is. so I'll get on with it!

Watching others play role playing games such as Critical Role or Adventure Zone can help you learn how to be a better role player and actor. We always want to learn from the best! Here are some excellent takeaways that I got from critical role.

Good players pay attention and are prepared.

During a battle, the players are always ready for their turns and they know what they want to do. Making a choice on their turn is always better than stalling. You'll never see the CR cast wasting time by not making a decision. If they don't know what to do, they ask for help, in character, and the group role plays to get to a solution.

Act like you are reading from a script. Accept the fact that your character is not in every scene and they shouldn't be in order to make a good story. Your character is not talking in every conversation. Good players know that some scenes are not all about them, other players need their own screen time too. Caleb doesn't interrupt when Fjord and Beau are having a conversation, unless it adds to the interaction.

Wait for your turn before your characters speaks. Wait until a scene is over before you try to start a new one or try to change the subject. Wait for a conversation to be over before starting a new one.

Good Players Don't Interrupt
The players in Critical Role never interrupt the DM. They always wait for Matt Mercer to finish his story or describe what is going on before they do any talking. They show the ultimate respect for their DM and the other players.

The players never argue with the DM, whatever he says goes. The only thing that arguing accomplishes is wasting your game time.

Don't be the player who is always interrupting. The players need to hear the GM so they know what is going on. You should be listening too. A good GM will give you a chance to role play or make decisions, you'll just have to wait for it. It's okay to ask questions and offer suggestions. But never interrupt the GM or the players who are trying to role play. Role playing is a collaborative experience, and it only works when you let other people have a turn to talk. 

Another player interrupting or trying to change the subject will always destroy the flow of a conversation and therefore the flow of the game. Wait for the scene to play out before you take your turn. You will never see players on Critical Role  interrupting or trying to take up all the attention.

A story can only develop when a scene comes to its conclusion.
Allow yourself as a player to sit back and watch the game unfold. Take your time with the game and let the story develop naturally, one scene at a time.

 Don't try to advance a scene until the previous one is over. This is especially important for GM's who ignore or dismiss a player trying to role play. Matt Mercer never interrupts his players when they are role playing. Matt is usually in character as an NPC, role playing along with them.

When the other players are done talking, that is your cue to either react and say something in character. Do not interrupt or change the subject until that story beat or plot point is concluded.

A game is only as good as it's players.

The players rarely bring up side conversations, and if it happens, they are still very quiet and focused on the story. There is no talk that is completely out of game. Save it for the commercial break. If a pop culture reference is mentioned, they still keep it within the confines of the story. The players never go off on tangents and talk about a subject that isn't part of the game.

Everyone in critical role acts like respectful adults who go with the flow of the game and they are mature enough to listen and wait patiently for their turns. When Nott and Jester are playing cards, the other 5 players listen patiently and let the scene play out to it's conclusion. Only one conversation should be happening at a time, no matter who is talking.

Role play doesn't work unless at least two characters are involved and interacting with each other. The cast is constantly reacting and asking questions in character to keep the energy and role play alive.

If you want more role play in your group, you need to react in character to whatever is going on. When you react to another player, who is role playing, it gets you into the scene and lets the other characters role play with you.

If a character says something and no one else reacts or get involved, then the role play dies.  Role-play won't ever happen if other players are dismissive or don't engage in the conversation. A lot of lines that are spoken in character fall flat simply because other players never respond to them. 

The cast of critical role are always engaged and always ready to react. Their performances are fun and entertaining because of how much energy they put into staying in the action and paying attention.

The CR Players are confident in their characters, choices and actions. They think before they speak. Having confidence means knowing you can handle whatever comes up. A good player learns and grows along with their character.

Support your game to make it endure.

Why does critical role work so well? Why do they have a game full of energy and continues to work for multiple seasons?
Aside from them being professional actors, they do whatever they can to support the game and the story.

Critical Role avoids all the pitfalls of game ending behaviors. There isn't a player who is constantly trying to get all the attention. They always share the scenes with other players. There is no interruptive player who messes things up for other players. They are all great listeners and they know how to react and engage in the story without upstaging others.

The PC's are always supporting each other to keep the story moving forward. Make sure your character is supporting the other characters with their goals or plans. The more effort you put into the characters friendship, the more you will get out of it. You won't get a Beau and Jester without that conscious effort. Your characters are always playing and fighting together they should become friends pretty quickly.

 If you want your game to last 6 seasons and a movie, then give the DM and PC's all of your attention and support.

The DM is a great listener too, he doesn't rush a scene forward, he takes the time to listen to his players role play.

 But the most important reason that this show has gone on so long is that everyone continually supports each other. The players take the time to make sure their characters genuinely care for and support the other characters during the game. Supporting other characters goals and plans,  creates a lasting bond you will never see in other games.

You will never see a lone wolf edge lord character who is only out for himself in Critical Role. Because it is a group game. A game where supportive characters make a better story. The loner has no place in a group game and Critical Role knows it.

Be kind and respectful
If you want a good story and you want to put on a good show, remember to always be attentive, always be ready for your turn. Do not interrupt or try to change focus when a scene is already in play. Do not hog the spotlight. Be active in the story by reacting and engaging, in character,  with what is going on. Go with the flow.

Be supportive of all the players and make an effort to include them all. This applies to players and game masters alike. If you aren't including others,  no one will want to play with you.

And most importantly be a good listener. The best way to get support from other players is to support them first. Listen to other ideas and work with each other. The player who listens is the player that will be included.

The four major principles of being a great Dungeon Master

1. Listening

Listening means paying attention to what the players want out of the game, and making sure they know that you have heard them.

Listening means stepping back to allow players to solve problems and plan strategies. Instead of micromanaging and telling players what to do, give players the freedom to think of things you might never have thought of. Step back to allow the groups creativity to flow.

Pay attention to the characters goals. Listen to what they want and where they are headed. Listen to your NPCs as well. Great role-playing and character moments will come more naturally when you can see what characters want. Send characters in a certain direction and make the story happen by putting obstacles in the way.

If you have an idea, no matter how weird or silly it is, write it down. Listen to yourself and your ideas when planning a session. Don't dismiss your thoughts and ideas. Allow yourself to use crazy situations. The goal of the game is to be creative, allow yourself to create. Always listen to yourself and your fun ideas. You never know when they could come in handy. Stay open to new ideas. It's okay to plan something just for fun!

Pay attention to players predictions and ideas about the plot or the story. Their ideas might be better or more interesting than what you already had prepared. Use them. Change your plans if you hear a more exciting idea. Adapt your plans to make a story more exciting. This makes your story more interesting and lets the players think they are smart for predicting things.

Listen to feedback. This is the only way you will be able to grow and become a better game master. Be open to criticism and new ideas. Don't take it personally. Your ego is not your game. Your game will improve infinitely if you can listen to feedback and adapt to new ideas and techniques.

2. Adapting 

Adapt to the feedback.
Allow yourself to be able to change and grow. Listening and learning mean nothing if you can't adapt to the new ideas. Take action and adapt the game to what you have learned. Learning and growing only happen when you try new things. Take action.

Change your best laid plans and adjust the pacing to let your game flow smoothly. Allow the story and plot to change when you need it to. Be adaptable as to how you get to your ultimate goal. It's okay to change paths and allow new paths to reach the same conclusion or encounter you have planned. The ideas of "how to get there" might become different every session.

The more you stick to trying to keep the players on one story path, the more rigid and boring your story becomes.

Allow you and your players to try new things and take new paths. Let those new paths lead to something you already had planned anyway. This will make the pacing and creativity flow a lot better and allows players freedom to come up with their own ideas about what to do.

Learn to change and alter course along the way. Adapt to different terrain on the path that is your story. You need to be adaptable enough to step over roots and turn corners when the path demands. The more you cling to staying on one path, the more frustrated you and your players will get when the story doesn't follow your exact plan.

Choose to be adaptable on the path that is a fun game, or stick to the and rigid path of ruin. Don't focus so much on getting to the goal that you might miss out on the fun along the way.

Let your villains and NPCs adapt and react to what is going on. The more your villains can immediately respond and adapt, the more believable and alive your story will become. Role play your NPC's and improvise their characters as you go along. Spend your attention on being a specific character instead of trying to run the whole game.

Adapt your mindset to running your characters instead of being a game master that is just talking to the players.  If you are in a specific encounter with a villain or NPC, try to play the role instead of trying to run the game.

Stories and game sessions need to flow freely, improvise with creativity and fun as the ultimate goal. Allow yourself to let go of your plans to let something new develop. Every game and every session will be different. Give them room to grow.

Adapt to players styles and ideas. The nature of the game is ever changing. Work with the group and their play styles. You don't necessarily need to change your style, but you should be able to let players play how they want. Unless it gets disruptive or problematic. Everyone at the table should be allowing different play styles, not just the DM.

The game will always have numerous moving parts with many people who have different ideas and play styles. Accept that the game is ever changing and allow yourself to adapt to that. The quicker you can accept the change, the quicker your game will get better.

The ultimate goal of the game is to have fun, if a member of the group is dismissing or disrupting someones play style, then that person is taking the fun away from someone else.

Create a more believable and interactive world by constantly adjusting it. Players will want to explore and find out new things about your world all the time. Don't be afraid to improvise and make things up. Giving the players something to see and interact with right away is always more interesting than giving them nothing or denying your players a chance to explore.

How do you listen and adapt without going crazy? Balance.

3. Balancing

How can you listen and adapt without loosing total control? Try to balance the game as much as you can.

A good game master isn't the captain of the ship nor the helmsman. The Good GM is the navigator, who can see where the ship is headed and what path it needs to stay on. The good GM nudges players and story in the right direction without fighting for the wheel. A great GM can balance between what all the players want and adjust the movement of the game into something exciting for everyone.

The smart GM navigates by advising and adapting to ever changing situations without railroading.

Balance your story along with the players ideas. Balance is adding what the players want without stepping off of the path altogether.

Balance means running encounters that are focused on role-play or exploring instead of just continuous combat.

Balance means having a few easy battles among the harder ones.

Give every player a chance to role-play and a chance to use their different abilities to solve problems. Instead of letting just one player trying to control everything. Balance means giving every player an equal amount of attention and game time.

Balance means seeing problems with players and the game. Take care of those problems and get them back in harmony before they destroy the entire game.

A campaign needs balance between the high stakes-high energy sessions and the quieter character driven storytelling sessions. Use some simple plots to balance out the intensity.

Balance how much information and lore you are giving your players. Instead of pausing the game and making everyone wait for you to spout exposition to a single player, write down what is important and hand it to the player when you have time.

If you are droning on about the history of your dwarven cities, you need to pay attention to how the players are reacting to the information. Are they paying attention? Or are they bored out of their minds? Balance means being brief and giving players only the relevant information and then moving on.

Take a short rest to re-gain your GM spell slots!

Take breaks from the game every few hours. Let yourself and your players relax without feeling the need to constantly be preforming. Renew your mental batteries. Drink water.

It's okay to take breaks between sessions and campaigns. Take a break from running games if it gets to stressful or too much work. If you allow yourself to get burnt out, the game won't be enjoyable for anyone. A tired and stressed out game master means a boring game.

4. Most importantly, HAVE FUN

Having fun is being together with your friends. Having fun means playing with people you actually want to be around.

Have a safe place to be creative, without worrying about other agendas.

Having fun means experiencing good interactions and feeling connected to the group.

Having fun means the game isn't stressing you out or making you worried about it.

Having fun means you are excited to run a game and you are excited to see what your players can come up with.

Having fun means your story line is moving forward and you are confident in where you are going.

Having fun means that you enjoy the creative process, working with your players and adapting to create a story together.

Having fun means you are excited to play again.

If you aren't having fun, then you should not be doing all the work to run a game.

If you are stressed out and feeling pressure to preform, or have anxiety about the next game, then you probably aren't having fun.

Having fun means making sure your players are having fun too.

Having fun means feeling accepted and respected by your players. Your players are willing to work with you and your story. Your players are accepting your play style. Your players are not arguing or complaining about your game.

If you are not having fun, why you are doing this?

How to Improve your tabletop role-playing. (Without too much Improvisation.)

If you want more role-playing at your table, or you want to improve your skills, as a player or a game master, you came to the right place. This article will help you play a character that people will be talking about for years to come.

 Here you will learn how to implement new character aspects you can use right away to improve your role playing skills.

Improvising is important, but if you aren't good at that, it's okay. We'll look at strategies that you can prepare for almost any situation, instead of feeling the pressure to improvise.

Using just a few of these fundamental tools will help you and your character be ready for any situation.

Put some extra thought into your character. (This should be obvious, people.)

First of all make sure you have a backstory created and a simple goal for your character to eventually accomplish. Having even a few sentences of your characters backstory and goals is a lot better than nothing at all. Check this for how to create a character.

If you are lucky enough to have a session zero, make sure to be utilizing that time. 

If you jump into a game and don't have time to prepare a character, that's okay. When you have nothing to work with, you can help out the other characters work toward their goals. It's great to be a supporting player, as long as you are consciously making decisions and using your abilities that help out the rest of your party. The DM will definitely make it clear where your party needs to go.

It's totally okay to develop your character in game. It happens all the time. Players are always making decisions about their characters during the game. Let them evolve naturally instead of trying to force every personality detail right away.

 The more time you spend with the character and the more encounters they are exposed to, the more you will get to know them.

Create a catch-phrase so you don't have to improvise every time you have to talk in character.

If you do have a catch-phrase, I would suggest making it reflect you characters goals or alignments. 

Captain America says "I could do this all day." This shows that he will always stand up to bullies and never back down. 

Maybe your catchphrase reflects what you believe in or what you care about. "Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come." 

Or a specific philosophy, "Do, or do not, there is no try."

You don't need to read that deeply into it. "I’m really bad at stealthing. We should go."
–Scanlan, Critical Roll episode 6.

How about a fighter or barbarian who says, "It's clobberin' time!"  Ben Grimm knows what he is good at and isn't afraid to say so.

Say something that reflects your goals. "You killed my father, prepare to die."

What specific actions or habits does your character have?

How does your cleric or wizard meditate? What does it look like when they cast their spells?

What does your character do when they are spending alone time standing watch? Does your character have a victory dance they do after they make a kill? Are they obsessed with making sure all the adventuring gear is organized? 

Do they take time to talk to horses or other pets? Is your character always using magic to change their hair color?

 Does your character keep a journal? Do they write poems or songs? Are they always doing some kind of research?

Does your character like to whittle or carve wood? Make toys? Forge weapons? Tell stories? Buy low and sell high? Knit sweaters? Make jewelry? Constantly make bets? Flirt? Host parties? Wear costumes?

Making small character habits will prepare you when you need to make more drastic choices. 

Use actions that don't disrupt the game flow or stop other players from doing what they want to do.

Simple choices can be made to  participate in the game. These pre-prepared actions give you something that you are ready to do instead of having to improvise.

What are your characters social circles?

being part of a group or a club gives your character something to talk about and connects your character to the world.

Is your character part of an athletic or a golf club? A group of adventurers? Do they frequent a specific tavern or coffee shop or weapon smith? 

Do they hang out with old college buddies on the weekend? Are they a part of a study group? Are they in a choir or a acting troupe? Do they gamble or attend a poker night?

Or maybe your character wants to get back to town just to have a drink with the boys.

Being part of a social circle makes your character more connected, you could get help or contacts you might not normally have. Having your character be initiated into a specific guild or legion could become a huge plot point.

Give your character a specific item that they can't live without.

This is another thing to prepare for before the session starts. Another trick to have prepared instead of improvising.

Arthur Dent just wants to find a good cup of tea. Sam-wise always has his pots and pans with him. Gandalf is always puffing on his pipe.

Maybe your character has a pocket watch that belonged to their grandpa. Or a locket with your lovers picture in it. 

Get specific weapons or armor that you can't leave without. Or other accessories. A very comfy robe you need to travel with. Or that impressive cape you like to wear to parties.

If your character is awkward at a party, you can tug at your fancy cape, or fiddle with your necklace.

Hold up your holy symbol and pray to your gods that the awkwardness will end soon.

Bring a real life props to the table.

Having something specific that your character plays with gives you something to focus on when you don't know what else to do. If you don't have a plan, fall back on sharpening your sword or tuning your lute.

Don't think about how intelligent your character is, instead think about how your character is intelligent.

Everybody is smart in some way, or an expert in some specific area. Make your knowledge and skills mean more than what is on your character sheet. With your DM's permission.

This isn't limited to what you get from your class or background. Your characters skills go beyond just a profession. I'm talking about what your character enjoys and excels at.

Do you know how to play five different musical instruments? Do you know all the landmarks between here and the mountains? Can you track every deer trail and footprint you see?

Can you read magic without a second thought? Can you navigate your way through any social situation?

You might not be able to read but you know all the critical areas of the human body and know exactly where to strike. You may be knowledgeable about 17 different types of poison and their effects.

Maybe you can recount every bit of gossip or scandal in the royal court? You can talk endlessly about the history of the region and never be bored of it.

Can you identify 53 different species of monster or magical creatures and list their weaknesses? Do you understand all the trade agreements from 7 different countries?

Do you know how to sail a ship? Identify weather patterns?

Is your character a talented artist or sculptor? Can you brew potions and recognize every spell component?

You might not know how to act in front of the queen, but you can forge the strongest sword out of any type of metal available.

These ideas can be another weapon in your arsenal when you want to contribute to the story or you don't know what else your character can talk about.

What subject is your character an expert in.

Figure out what your characters likes and dislikes about themselves.

Are you proud to be a dragon-born or ashamed to be half demon? Are you hiding the fact that you are half-goblin? Do you agree with the fact that your fellow dwarves might have dug too deep?

Do you support your elfin nation making alliances with the orcs?

What part of your backstory are you ashamed of? What does your character regret?

What abilities do you resent? Are you ashamed of being born as a sorcerer? Do you hate the fact that you can sing to inspire people? Are you constantly healing people that don't deserve being healed? Are you dismayed of turning into a rage monster whenever you get angry?

How does your character react when they know they can't do something? Or fail to do something? Are they afraid of change or scared to try something new?

What about your backstory are you the most proud of? What do you like to brag about?

Knowing what your character likes or supports, goes a long way toward knowing how to react and respond to specific situations during the game.

Set the Scene. Ask players about their characters. 

Now that you have more inspiration prepared about your character, you need to put your character into the action. Don't be afraid to start a conversation or set the scene. Relate your character to the other characters.

If you want to role play, you can't do it by yourself, involve others in it too!

Ask the monk where he learned how to fight. Ask your wizard why he wastes so much time reading. Talk about your family or why your character wants to protect innocent people.

 Ask another player why they need that fancy cape at all the parties. 

Have your character tell the other characters what they care about. Show off your magic sword you got from the holy order of knights. Talk about why the pots and pans always need to be clean.

Tell other characters why you are so good at picking locks. Brag about your favorite things in your backstory.

Tell the players that you are ashamed of being a sorcerer and you didn't choose to be born with it.

The more you work with others to develop characters the more they will work with you too. This is how character moments are created together.

A good DM will let the players role play a scene without interrupting the players or rushing the plot forward.

Support and react to other players actions.

I am always baffled by how many players don't do this. Your party is travelling together, camping out together,  fighting side by side constantly, and yet so many players don't react or play off of the other characters.

A great game master, who wants to emphasize roll play, will always be reacting or responding in character.

React to other players stories and support their character arcs.

If you want good role play and character development, this is how you do it. Create friendship and camaraderie with the party members. Grow your personalities and interactions together!

 Include the other characters in your story!

Interacting with other players characters will create so many chances for good role-play and too many players don't even think about this! 

React to your friends making a great kill or executing a creative plan. 

Support other players when they are role playing, get involved with the conversation. If you aren't good at improvising, have catch phrases and other stuff ready to use.

Work with your DM and players to create your characters story. You should be helping them do the same.

If you want to plan a character arc, make sure the group knows about it.

If the party knows what is going on, they can, and should be helping you out with your character development.

Especially if your character is insufferable. Make sure the other players know that your character will learn his lesson. This way the players will actually be patient with you when your character acts like a jerk.

Other players can then make informed decisions and role-play their reactions, based on where they know your character wants to go.

The DM can work with you to prepare specific scenes and opportunities to role play towards that goal.

Work together to emphasize characters abilities. 

Ask other PC's to help you out.

Get the fighter to cause a distraction. Ask the rogue to scout ahead or pick some locks. Ask the cleric to turn the undead. Ask the bard to help talk your way out of a situation.

Work together with other players to plan ahead and use each others' skills to support each other. This is why it's a group game.

Take advantage of your skill proficiencies, spells and racial bonuses. These are what makes your character unique. This is how you contribute to working with the party.

Do not dismiss other players' ideas.

Be inclusive, adaptable and supportive.

Let other players try out their ideas. Next time you have a creative idea they might listen to you.

The crazier the idea, the more interesting the game will be. Tabletop RPGs are designed to allow freedom of creativity.

If you are denying creative freedom, you are denying a main element of the game and denying what makes the game fun in the first place.

If players are afraid to be wrong, or make the wrong choice, they won't be able to create anything. Be supportive so you won't be the reason why people  are afraid to be creative.

Get the hint! React and respond to the story.

If the NPC gnomes tell you that their friends were kidnapped by goblins, you should get the hint and maybe go save them.

Getting the hint means moving the plot forward. Ask questions. Why were the goblins kidnapping people in the first place? Why are the goblins working with a bunch of skeletons?

What happened in your tragic backstory that is relatable to this situation? 

When anyone is talking about their character or their goals, there is a chance for role play. Get the hint and start interacting.

How does it make your character feel when the bad guys plans are revealed? 

How offended are you when someone raises the dead? What is motivating you to catch the bad guys?

Are you scared or nervous when you find a terrible cursed item?

Make sure you have clear actions that support your characters goals.

Having a cool backstory and a goal doesn't mean much if you aren't including it in the game. Use your goals to drive your character and the role-playing ever forward.

Use backstories, goals, and alignments to inform your characters decisions.

Use your backstory to relate to other characters and whatever else is going on in game.

Make sure you and your character adapts to the group dynamic and play style.

You need to know why your paladin is willing to travel with a bunch of thieves. Why does your necromancer work with a group of clerics? How does a wizard work with a bunch of hack-n-slash barbarians who can't read?

Adapt to the DM's style of play. If the DM wants a game about killing monsters and you want to role-play, put some effort into making a compromise and work together.

Some of the best role play I've seen is during battle. Don't just attack on your turn during battle. Take advantage of the spotlight on your turn to role play as well as fight.

Make sure the DM knows how you want to play so you both can adapt to each others styles.

If the Dungeon Master doesn't know what you want out of the game, they can't give it to you. It's your job to communicate to them what you want and how you want to play.

If that doesn't work, you need to find a different group to play with.

All of this goes along with how to be a good player in general.

Be responsible for your character.

Be responsible for moving your story forward. Your character won't evolve or grow unless you put effort into cultivating them. It is your responsibility to continue moving forward.

Be proud of what you create. Be confident in your choices.

The more confidence you have, the more realistic your character becomes.

Don't rely on the DM to remember that you sent a love letter to your main squeeze. Remind the DM that you are waiting for a reply. Ask the DM if you recognize someone specific from your backstory.

The more you ask about things, the more likely the dungeon master will add things in for you.

Take your special magic sword to the blacksmith for repairs. Go home to visit your family. Create your potions and scrolls. Look for leads to solve a mystery. Find out what kind of enemies you are fighting next and get their weaknesses.

Do not wait for the DM to say what you are going to do. You need to take action and make decisions for your character. Ask if you can try something. Tell the DM what you are planning on doing.

If your character isn't making decisions or taking action, you aren't role playing. 

Deciding to stay back at the farmhouse while the rest of the players continue the game without you, is not a decision. If you choose to stay behind, you deserve to be left behind.

The DM can only give you so many options as far as where to go and what to do. Make smart choices based off of those options.

You are responsible for how much role-playing you want to do and how much fun you have with it. No one else is going to play your character for you. No one else can control your attitude at the table.

Remember why you are playing in the first place. Have fun with it.

The more effort you put into the game, the more you will enjoy it.

Lets face it, you will have to improvise a little bit.

In fact you will probably be improvising a lot, thus is the nature of the game. But you can be prepared for it. And practice it.

It's okay if you aren't good at improvising. Use these tricks, your backstory, and your characters goals to inform your decisions.

It's totally okay to plan what you want to say beforehand or follow another players' lead. You can even print out the ideas here or other character questionnaires to motivate you in the midst of the game.

 As long as you can interact with the game you will be role playing.

When you don't know what to do, have something prepared that your character can say or do. This gives you something to fall back on. Your character can play with props, do a little dance, using specific sayings, etc.

Put some effort into your game. Experiment with what works and what doesn't. 

You'll never get good at anything if you don't test things out and practice. It's okay to experiment who your character is.

Trying new things is the only way to grow and learn.

Don't be afraid to change something you don't like about your character. That is what experimenting is.

Practice asking questions in character.

Practice relating your character to the story and ask how they feel about what is going on.

Practice improvising.

Take the time to listen and allow other players to role-play. Don't dismiss others ideas. This is a group game and everyone deserves a chance to role play too.

Drive your characters story forward.

Use these skills to find out who your character is, and what is working for you.

Session Zero Checklist

Games Mastery

Session Zero Checklist

Character Creation.

• How do you roll your character ability stats? 4 dice, don’t count the lowest? Point buy? 

• Are the Characters only using races and classes in the core rule book or any other books or home-brews acceptable?

• Do you want to set up your characters personality before the game or grow it naturally during the game.

• Do the PC’s already know each other? Were they hired to do a job together? Do their backstories relate to each other?

• Make sure characters have specific goals that can lead to role-play opportunities and adventure hooks.

• Add character backstories to your world. Or create locations together as a group.

Establish tone and genre of the game.

• Fantasy with low or high magic setting, Sci-fi, Horror, western, A spy thriller, post-apocalypse setting?

• Serious tone. Funnier themes?

• What type of story does the group want to play? 

• Epic quest or dungeon crawl, Monster Slaying, Political Intrigue, Heist, Survival, etc.

Choose characters alignment. Good or Evil Campaign?

• Do the characters work well together? Figure out why the paladin is willing to travel with a pack of murder hobos.

What is your play style? Does it match with the players style?

• Linear story or open world sandbox?

• Hack-n-slash? Role-Play heavy? Or both?

•  Exploration? Do players want a lot of puzzles and traps?

•  Lots of voices and acting? Costumes and props at the table?

Establish your house rules. 

• Do you allow players fight each other?

• Do you confirm critical hits?.

• No cheating on dice rolls, stats, keep track of spell slots and ammo. Do you re-roll if the dice doesn’t land flat?

• Teach the players that they should know what they are doing on their turn. 

• What rules do you use to for critical hits and misses? Can you crit an ability check or saving throw?

• Are you using experience points or leveling by session or story arcs?

• Do you use Inspiration points or Bennies in your game?

• Are phones allowed at your table?

• How much do you expect players to work together?

• Do you use flanking rules or rolling advantage?

• Will you be role playing shopping or travel time?

• Will you be counting rations and encumbrance rules?

If you have time during session zero, start the game with a practice battle or encounter. New players might need to take extra time to figure out their characters abilities and combat rules.

Make a Schedule. 

• Decide when and where the next session is.

• Is the game a one shot or an ongoing story?

• Will the story last 4 sessions or 2 years?

• Is the group okay if a player misses a session or two? 

• How does the group handle a missing player?

• Do you want the whole party there every session?

• When is the next game?