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New DM Handbook: Explain Your Actions

New DM Handbook: Let Your Players Inspire Your World
New DM Handbook: Starting gaming in Adulthood

New DM HandbookI can’t speak for experienced players, being that my only experience is with new players, but if the show Critical Role is any indication, then it likely applies to everyone. As the Dungeon Master, you have to play the role of enemy creatures and NPCs, which means thinking like them. Your decisions have to reflect the decisions they would make. That means making a lot of unpopular decisions.

As DM, Make Decisions That Would Make Sense

D&DAs I said, the decisions you make for the enemy have to make sense for them. Are they a mindless creature that’s going to lash out at whatever’s closest? Are they a captain in an army who is going to use tactics and troop movements? Are they the type to focus on the most immediate threat, or do they consider the battle in the long run? Where do their loyalties lie? What makes the most sense?

If you have a clear vision in your mind of how they would operate, you can make sense of what they do. More importantly, the decisions you make and how you explain them will affect how players react to the decisions you make. They may grumble, but they’re more likely to accept it than if you just arbitrarily attack them, or if they think you’re trying to single them out.

In my last session, I had an encounter where two pirates were hiding, waiting to ambush the party when they engaged the rest of their party. When they entered the fray, they saw their pirate sergeant (I know it’s Petty Officer, but some inaccuracies are easier to use to relay the point) taking an arrow to the shoulder that did significant damage. Logic would dictate that whoever is the biggest threat to their boss is the one who needed their immediate attention, so both of them targeted my Gnome Ranger.

Tell Your Players Why

It’s not enough to just think like the enemy. In a game where a two-minute fight (which would be an insane 20 rounds of combat) can take six hours to complete, where players are allowed to consider and talk out their actions, it’s ridiculous to think that the DM needs to keep a level of realism that they shouldn’t telegraph their own intentions. That’s not even including the element that there is a lot of nuance lost when playing a game. Something as simple as someone looking at one of their allies, then at the player, isn’t going to be effectively relayed, if at all. So, much like how some video games have begun to replicate the intention of the skills and abilities of the player characters through special senses (like Wolf Link’s Senses and Arkham BatmIR Visionan’s Detective Mode), telegraphing intent is a simple and effective tool for supplementing the information the players don’t have access to.

With the exception of when I ganged up on my Gnome Ranger, explaining my decisions to my players curtailed a lot of conflict. It was plainly obvious to me they accepted why the encounter was unfolding the way that it was. They felt confident I wasn’t just out for blood, but I was presenting these pirates as real, living people, with clear motives of their own. Even then, the only reason why my Gnome Ranger balked was because I hit her twice, and at second level she didn’t have a lot of health to be able to absorb the hits. Before she could blink, and from where she thought she was at a safe distance, I had dropped her well below half of her max hit points.

Be Prepared to Explain the Circumstances

Players aren’t always going to accept your decisions at first, even if you explain them. Even then, I’m sure some never will. They may feel, justified or not, that they’re being singled out for reasons other than the enemy’s most logical decision. The only reason to single a PC out is because they’re being a particular nuisance, are the greatest threat to them, or are the closest. The player and the PC are different, and they shouldn’t be confused (for further explanation, see my First Commandment of TableTop RPGs).

DM ExplanationIn the instance of a player having a problem with your decision, take a moment to explain it. As a DM, your job is to be the arbiter of everybody’s fun. If someone isn’t having fun, then no one is having fun. It may slow things down for a minute, but it’ll speed things along in the long run. It’s much more likely that the player won’t argue with you every time if they feel you’re being fair, even if they’re the continual target of the enemy’s ire. That being said, not all players are going to be so accepting. In those cases, you’re going to have to move on. You can’t spend half of the session explaining all of your decisions in great detail. Depending on the circumstances, you will need to address them (see my Sixth Commandment).  The best case scenario is that you have to explain to them that their actions are ruining everyone else’s fun in the interim, and address the player during the next break, or after the session. If they continue to be disruptive, then ask them to walk away from the table for now, and you can talk privately at the break.

In the case of my Gnome Ranger, I was able to take a few moments to give her the greater context. There was no conflict. She was just surprised by the sudden turn of events, and frustrated by her reversal of fortune. Her party came to her aid very quickly and the pirates turned their attention on my Human Monk and my Wood Elf Rogue that very quickly became immediate threats to them. Of course, the Aasimar healing Sorcerer (which I previously created as a means to test my knowledge of the game’s mechanics, and am using the opportunity to play test) getting a very good roll on his Cure Wounds did a lot to make her feel better. Being very new to Dungeons & Dragons, they tend to not consider all of the tools at their disposal, but that’s why I created the Tutorial Quest in the first place.

Stay Nerdy, my friends.

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Joshua Brickley

Despite looking so young, I'm in my mid-30s (36, to be exact). Up until I was 21, I focused a lot of my attention on stage acting, mostly local and school theater. At some point, I felt a need to change my life's direction, so I joined the Air Force. After 10 years, where I was an Intelligence Analyst and Mission Coordinator, I was medically retired. I went back to school and got my Bachelor's in English, focusing mostly on literary theory and rhetorical criticism, at the University of the Incarnate Word. In this next chapter of my life, I'm turning my attention towards tabletop RPGs.

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