"Watch your phrasing" was splendidly applied in the movie Pitch Black when the guy asks Riddick how it looks and it says "it looks clear" and then some monster spooks the the guy and he's like "I thought you said it was clear!" and Riddick replies "I said it *looks* clear." That's the moment when I learned to use that trick as a GM.

@stevearkham4827

Жыл бұрын

My friends who are also GM's still reference that scene!

@brianpembrook9164

Жыл бұрын

My favorite part is when he said "what does it look like now?" Player B looks. GM rolls. Player B turns back; "looks clear."

@Lrbearclaw

Жыл бұрын

My gut tells me that was not scripted originally as VD is a Dungeon Master.

@nickshaw3619

Жыл бұрын

My old DM loved that trope. He also loved making "it" not actually clear on a regular enough basis that we didn't trust that phrase at all.

@robinblaine5385

Жыл бұрын

I use that one frequently...

You forgot the classic: “Are you sure?“ Loved your examples. Literally had me laughing out loud.

@raymondbrasuell2564

Жыл бұрын

Let's not forget: "Well, you can TRY."

@0Fyrebrand0

Жыл бұрын

*Player:* "I open the door." *DM:* "Okay, so you're putting your hand ON the doorknob?" *Player:* "Um..."

@johnathanrhoades7751

Жыл бұрын

I HATE “are you sure?” As a player it just makes me feel like I’m missing something that should be obvious. Th stating back their action with a specific detail to the player is much better. Instead of “are you sure?” Ask “are you jumping feet first?” Or “so you are touching the doorknob?”

@Tasfarel

Жыл бұрын

I reserve this phrase when my players are going to to something rly stupid and they know that

@johnathanrhoades7751

Жыл бұрын

@@Tasfarel that is an appropriate use 😁 I just had bad experiences with a dm who was way stingy with info and say “are you sure?” When he thought we were making a bad decision but there was no way for us to know…

My favorite “where are you standing exactly?” You find out who the honest players are

@biffstrong1079

Жыл бұрын

Where are you standing is a great one. I do prefer mini's for this

@AuntLoopy123

Жыл бұрын

We use tokens, with our names on it, so I think that if I use this, and include, "What direction are you facing," they are going to be SO VERY VERY NERVOUS that they might explode. Heheheheh

@Metal_Horror

Жыл бұрын

"I'm standing facing the door with my sword raised over my head, in a perfect position to bring it down the moment it opens, and I have my left leg forward, right leg behind, almost like a lunge, to provide optimal balance and power for a swing if someone comes through the door, or to turn and run if necessary." Gm: you open the chest and find 10 gp. "Oh..."

Also note that the reverse is also true. If you just want to move the story along "the corridor is clear of traps" is much better than "you don't discover any traps".

@jgr7487

Жыл бұрын

oh, this double negative is evil!

@gnarthdarkanen7464

Жыл бұрын

That's the thing about a "plot device". It's a tool. Just because you have it, doesn't mean it's THE way to do things. I do a LOT of woodwork, so I have several hammers for various reasons. I actually don't use any particular one of them very often. Of the bunch, more "miles" get put on the carving mallet for my chisels than even my claw hammer, because I so rarely drive nails... and hardened steel (like a claw hammer head) is HELL on wooden pegs and wedges. SO think before you employ the plot devices of choice. WHAT is the goal of your plot at this particular situation? Are you moving things forward intentionally, or do you want to get the Players up on their toes again? Neither answer is particularly right or wrong, and the ARTISTIC value of the storyteller is figuring out when filler should be employed to slow down the plot for emotional substance and when to let the emotional experience go for increasing the pace. The tool, itself, simply is the tool. You have both tools, so pick the appropriate one correctly for your situation, which will change from one adventure to the next or even just from one situation to the next, depending on your intentions in the Campaign as a whole. ;o)

@Tomyironmane

Жыл бұрын

@@gnarthdarkanen7464 I'll agree. Sometimes you get a player who is already on the edge of analysis paralysis and kicking them in the anxiety won't make for a good story, it'll make them fold up, and bring the story, or at least their part in it, to a screeching halt.

@johnf.kennedy5454

Жыл бұрын

My players want to keep searching and searching, especially when there is nothing to find. There comes a point where I have to tell one player in particular, my wife, there is NOTHING TO BE FOUND!

@gnarthdarkanen7464

Жыл бұрын

@@Tomyironmane Yeah, so sometimes I invent the intensity inducing "scritch scritch" noise... only to have an ordinary alley cat jump out of whatever closet or cupboard the Players track the noise to... hilarious and frequently good for shenanigans, to let the anxious Player settle and breathe a little bit. ;o)

I had a DM, back in my college days, who would take a notebook from his pocket, open it up, say "oh, yeah", laugh, close it, and then put it away. 🙃 I miss him.

During the 70s, I created a dungeon. In it, one corridor had a note: tell the players, "You see...," then open the book to the demons secrion, then close it and tell then that they see nothing .

@craigforrest6548

Жыл бұрын

I freaked my players out once playing Aftermath! by flipping to the bio weapons section of the rules when a nosy player was looking over my shoulder.

@doomguy19931

Жыл бұрын

That's devilishly clever

@gavinboyer4634

Жыл бұрын

​@@craigforrest6548 What's Aftermath?

@craigforrest6548

Жыл бұрын

@@gavinboyer4634 A post apocalyptic RPG from the 80's. Its mechanics were terrible. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath!

@mikethetooth

Жыл бұрын

I'm stealing this 🤘😎👍 thank you

The skits with Seth and The Gang show how devilishly clever Seth is when he is playing with, uh, …himself.

Years ago, during a D&D game, I noticed most of the players (it was a large group) were drifting away from paying attention a bit. I jotted down something on a note and passed it to the one player who was still paying attention. The player read it, chuckled, thought a second, then wrote something on the note and passed it back to me without a word. The whole table was suddenly paying attention again, and the game went on, more engaged. What did the note say? "Read this, write something down, and pass it back to me."

@shadowheartart3898

Жыл бұрын

I'm borrowing this for next time I have a bunch of players not paying attention. Thank you

@oz_jones

9 ай бұрын

Love this. Its fun being in a conspiracy

When DMing for a paranoid party I have been known to have failed perception checks result in the character missidentifying something innocuous as a trigger for a trap. For example an old spider web being confused for a tripwire, or a mossy tree stump for a troll.

@MatthewSmith-pv6gd

Жыл бұрын

That's kind of brilliant

@sinisterthoughts2896

Жыл бұрын

That's good, and accurate to failed appraise checks.

@Belphegorite

Жыл бұрын

I do the same. Miss it by a little, and you detect no enemies/traps. Miss it by a lot, and you detect enemies and traps that aren't even there.

@hawkthetraveler6344

Жыл бұрын

that's a good one. I'm going to trying have the person with lowest passive perception in a tense situation just see lots of wrong stuff :)

@kylkim93

Жыл бұрын

That's a great one! Recently I've been playing systems with fixed successes (i.e. roll dicepool, 6 pips = success), and while they're great for speed and clarity, the lack of qualitative results means these kinds of tricks aren't available outside of the GM rolling modifiers against the player. 🤔

I love that look on players faces when you start asking them to be very specific on their placement, direction they are facing, what they are holding in thier hands, where there equipment is placed, etc. So priceless to watch the dread spread across their faces *maniacal GM laughter*

@LadyLunarSatine

Жыл бұрын

Just have to be careful you don't ask a question that could lead to unneeded debate (i.e. DM: "Your sword sheath's metal, right?" Player 1: "No." Player 2: "Hold on, its an ironwood sheath, right? It's not *actually* metal but it *is* as strong as metal. Does that matter?")

@negative6442

Жыл бұрын

I always like to ask where everyone is sitting when they get into a car, even if nothing's gonna happen.

@celebrim1

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, but also, this is inevitably going to lead to metagaming. A more general rule is that, "If you don't tell me what you are doing, I can assume facts about what you are doing based on what I think is the most likely thing to do." This leads to players generally phrasing things more explicitly when they do things. Instead of "I open the chest" you get "I crouch down beside the chest and open it, trying to take care to keep my body away from the opening." This solves lots of problems.

@frandumont

Жыл бұрын

I remember during a LOTR game, a player said he was going to sleep, and I asked him if he intended to remove his heavy armour and helmet for that purpose. He said: "Emm no! I keep it on!" The next morning I gifted him with a -5 in all movement because his character's back and neck were hurting XD

@stevearkham4827

Жыл бұрын

@@frandumont Well done!

Sometimes, the scariest monster is the absence of a monster.

@yonghominale8884

Жыл бұрын

Fear is the ultimate monster. Learned that from the Twilight zone.

@sinisterthoughts2896

Жыл бұрын

"There is no fear in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." -Alfred Hitchcock To the best of my memory

@Bluecho4

Жыл бұрын

Nothing is scarier.

One of my favorite gags with the treasure chest is setting a clicker or squeaky hinge, no actual danger, just something to worry them about a trap going off

@thomasbecker9676

Жыл бұрын

Oh, that's a good one. It's good environmental storytelling, too.

The fake die rolls and oddly specific wording are excellent for building tension in any situation. It in a way negates metagaming when it comes to those amazing rolls that the players think couldn't possibly have failed. Two of my favourite tricks to use.

The problem with too much of #1 and #3 is that the players might overcomplicate everything. If the players believe every minor action is important, they will be forced to calculate every action. There's a point where you need to rollback on red herring details in order to keep the pace up and give the players a relief from analysis paralysis.

@thomasbecker9676

Жыл бұрын

It's similar to using traps. Too many, and the game slows down because the party is paranoid. Not enough, they get careless.

@Kidneyjoe42

10 ай бұрын

@@thomasbecker9676 Sometimes it doesn't even matter how many you use. I was DMing for some new players and intentionally not using many traps and doing basically the opposite of this video and trying not to spook/troll them precisely because I didn't want them to wind up paranoid. But it turned out they already were. And, since they were new, it's not like this came from experiences with a previous DM. At this point, I think there's this sort of cultural understanding surrounding ttrpgs in general and d&d in particular that has people thinking that stuff like tomb of horrors is the norm.

@thomasbecker9676

10 ай бұрын

@@Kidneyjoe42 It's like new players thinking D&D must be like CR.

If a player makes a certain decision, I find it fun to dramatically slam a book shut, as if to say ‘well, everything in here has gone out the window, even I don’t know what’s coming next’

@joellacour9281

Жыл бұрын

Bonus points if it's the rulebook.

@DjigitDaniel

Жыл бұрын

ROFL I forgot that one.

@crunchydragontreats6692

Жыл бұрын

When they kill an NPC on sight and the GM grabs a random piece of paper and sheds it shaking their head woefully. Grab your ketchup and crunch away my friends.

@williamross6477

Жыл бұрын

Related to this, it’s also fun, when a player successfully does something unpredictable, to pull out a random piece of scrap paper (preferably with something printed on it) and casually rip it in half before carrying on as normal.

I think most of this advice is good, my only caveat (I know, I can make my own video to say this sort of thing, but 2 kids means good luck with that) would be that you have to be able to read the room on when to bust one out. If your players are already really invested and tense, it MIGHT be a good idea to twist the screws further...or you might want to release that tension a little, so they don't decide to bail on the mission/quest for their own safety. Or if they're in a bad mood for some reason, pulling the "where are you standing/how do you open it" could change it from a tense moment to a player being pulled out of the mindset and getting annoyed. It's all about the session and the group, as always.

@--enyo--

Жыл бұрын

I think this almost goes without saying for anything in TTRPGs, whether as a player or GM.

You know how magicians get angry when other magicians reveal how tricks are done? I feel that.

I used have this bad habit of rolling my dice while I waited for players to make decisions, it seemed like it would take forever for them to make the simplest decisions, one day I asked what the deal was and one of them just asked me back “well what are you always rolling for?!” Since then I try fidget with something else while I wait, mostly, stopping all table conversations dead in their tracks with a random clatter of dice is pretty fun. ❤

@Bluecho4

Жыл бұрын

Plus, nothing quite gets a group of players out of a spiral of dithering like the clatter of dice. It makes them remember that time is the essence, and events may happen on their own if the party does nothing but deliberate.

I like occasionally using an hourglass when players are supposed to make spontaneous decisions. If your players are used to that, you can make them nervous by conspicuously checking where it is or moving it closer to your notes or dice.

The Fable 3 collector's edition included a big brass guild seal coin with good and evil facings, and it's been my go to prop for deciding things that I hadn't necessarily figured out in advance, seeing just how bad a mistake is, NPC responses, etc. Once in a while I'll flip it in response to completely arbitrary questions and actions just to keep them on their toes. It's so ingrained that sometimes someone will blurt "oh shit, he's going for the decision coin!" when I reach for it.

@Bluecho4

Жыл бұрын

Two-Face approves.

I have another good one for games that have a bunch of intrigue: If your players start spiraling into paranoia and theories, don't try to correct them. Let them spiral. In my Vampire: The Masquerade-campaign, an NPC of mine is a Malkavian girl (Malkavians are basically Vampires with the powers of Mind Control and Invisibility, but in return suffer from at least one mental illness), who is a rather stereotypical Stalker who is obsessed with one of the players. (showing up at their house or at work and invisibly following them, but for now being very harmless) Thing is, I made it into a quest for my players to find out what Clan (Vampire-"Race) she belongs to, so they don't know she's a Malkavian. I gave them all the powers either she, or the person who turned her, used, as all Clans learn a certain combination of vampiric powers. So if you know which powers a Vampire used, you can get a good guess which Clan they belong to. For example, Clan Malkavian - in the current 5th Edition - has the unique combination of Auspex (Supernatural Senses), Domination (Mind Control) and Obfuscation. (Invisibility and supernatural disguises) She mainly uses Obfuscation - which the players know - and also some minor Auspex. The players also know, her Sire used Domination on her to make her forget his name, which means they know all three powers. They simply never combined the dots. Now one of my players got it in his head, that her ability to become invisible - combined with my love for middle eastern themes - means, she belongs to Clan Banu Haqim (formerly known as Assamites, or the Clan of Assassins) and is actually set on the group to kill them off. Even me telling him, that Clan Banu Haqim doesn't use two of the powers they discovered (Auspex and Domination), couldn't convince him otherwise that she's in reality a trained and cold-booded assassin putting on a disguise as a shy bookworm. After realizing that he's literally getting paranoid over a character, who has no interest in him (as long as he doesn't get between her and her obsession) - I just let him spiral. It was glorious just nodding along to his theories (or rather, not refuting anything he said), how she already gained access to every facet of their lives and planned his demise for acknowledging her being a bit suspicious. I repeat, she doesn't care about him, while he thinks she's literally behind every corner waiting with a knife for him. So GMs - if you players start making paranoid theories and get scared over nothing - don't fight it. Just let them become paranoid until you drop the bomb.

@junkbucket50

Жыл бұрын

Gosh VTM being the best yet again. Sounds like a great game you were running and a great cast of characters you had there

@jefferydraper4019

Жыл бұрын

Hey...just because youre paranoid doesnt mean the world ISNT out to get you.

@urdaanglospey6666

Жыл бұрын

The ONLY thing I'll do in those situations (as the DM), is ask for a History (or relevant check) to see if their character might realize one of their "facts" is wrong or if they might remember something that contradicts their conclusion. Other than that, if their facts are accurate but they're just connecting the dots incorrectly, they're free to draw whatever conclusion they want. AND, if it's more interesting than the story I'd planned/expected, that conclusion will be correct ;)

@Avankiri

9 ай бұрын

I just hope he doesn't strike first, cause she could either be a good ally or a terrible enemy if provoked.

I love to have an NPC call out the players for being so jumpy and paranoid (like in your chest scene) and it's also funny if that NPC gets his goose cooked later because he doesn't take precautions

@NoizeViolation

Жыл бұрын

"I don't why you're being so paranoOOIIIAAAAAGGGHH!!"

@dauchande

Жыл бұрын

This was shown aptly by the survivor speech in Deep Blue Sea

@J2982able

Жыл бұрын

I've done exactly this, but it was to impress upon some new players the threat of mimics.

As usual, all the complaints I have jotted down in the course of watching your presentation are completely addressed by you at the end of your video. I don't know, just thanks for the effort and nuance you put into your videos.

One of my absolute favorites is to place a large very readable die on the table. Then randomly at set intervals triggered by player actions, just tick it up or down. Sends players up the paranoid wall faster than a cat on a hot tin roof.

A mind game I like (although have not had much chance to use myself) is, if a player is affected mentally by something, don't TELL them that they are, simply give them information in the way their mind has been altered. If they're put into a confused or hazy state by some spell, give them vague and muddy information, instead of just saying they're confused so they can't really make something out. If they're put on edge by some drug, tell them that they have this overwhelming feeling someone npc's gonna betray them, or that they're being watched. Let them figure out why it is on their own (Oh, that potion that trap spilled on my head, that's why I can't figure anything out. Oh, that synthcoke I had before leaving the house this afternoon,) instead of telling them directly.

I have done this a number of times when I used to run games. It eventually made my players start metagaming, making their characters act in a way that was being influence by my actions, rather than what their characters would have done.

"It sounds antagonistic" "Good, because sometimes, GMs need to remember they're there to set a CHALLENGE...There has to be stakes to the story, or victory isn't fun"

"How do you like that mind game bitch?" Had me dying at the end, completely unexpected 🤣🤣🤣

Seth rolling dice behind the screen for the pizza toppings I KNOW YOUR WILES GMAEMASTER

The line delivery at the end was too perfect, great vid

@jefferydraper4019

Жыл бұрын

Its hard sometimes to remember...all the people you see in the videos...are Seth.

You always tell us hello but who says hello to the Seth?

Right before a very import but very RP heavy meeting with a bunch of faction leaders I wanted to keep things interesting so I did 2 things. First I put one of the characters rivals in the meeting knowing they couldn't confront them during it. Second I rolled dice and asked everyone's passive perception and then I made every player a note on an index card, folded it up and handed them out and immediately jumped into the meeting. Each note said "you are yourself, act normally" It was the most serious and most careful moment of the entire campaign

@nyarparablepsis872

Жыл бұрын

That is absolutely brilliant, and I am totally going to steal this for my campaign!

8:33 Literally rewatching VOTJ and that scene came up. I hadn't noticed before, but this time i could see that you had no physical reaction; no stutter, flinch, not even choking on your drink. Great job playing it off smoothly on the surface!

My favorite trick as a DM is to keep a list of NPC's that the PC's interact with. As they become engaged with these characters, I formulate how to make the best use for them. Example: I had one group who rescued a NPC and then befriended him. All the while this NPC was available to either aid or hinder the party. I ended up using this NPC as a spy for an opposing lord that the PC's were up against. When they finally found out what had happened, [no actual harm was done to them, but that of betrayal], their reactions were priceless. They were actually more angry at that NPC then the actual baddie I had planned for. So I used him as a mid level boss fight. It was awesome. Point is, keep track of NPC's that the players become fond with their are so many other uses for them, most of all, make the NPC's valuable, atttractive and/or vulnerable to the PC's. I hope this is helpful.

The one about asking oddly specific questions is pure gold, because every now and then you'll be running a scenario where you actually DO need to know which side of the chest the player is standing on as they open it, for some reason. If your players are accustomed to the idea that you occasionally ask weirdly specific questions, they're more likely to answer honestly as opposed to changing their tune just because you asked.

Re: Point #5: I'm reminded of the notion that my PCs were wise enough to invoke logistics and bring carts/wagons at the entrance of a dungeon so that they can more easily empty such a place of their haul. Unfortunately for them, they were less willing to verify the security of said cart of treasure when they went into a pub (it was too late for them to cash things out). Voila, suddenly these players were all-in to track down the thief and I could start the next leg of the adventure.

For a mystery rolls my DM once while playing curse of strahd would have us all stop and roll a d20 every now and then note the outcomes. It always made us wonder what was happening at the end of the campaign we asked him what was happening there and he admitted it was nothing but made us feel paranoid as we should in Barovia

I did that "Give them something to protect - Then threaten it" quite by accident several years ago. I'd run things as a GM before, but wouldn't exactly call me experienced at the time. I was introducing players to Warhammer 2nd edition and used the introduction scenario from the book. At one point a mutant shoots someone with a Hochland Longrifle, and the scenario makes it pretty clear that it's supposed to get away and that a weapon like that shouldn't be given to the PCs However, one of my players decided to shoot the mutant at long range with his bow, made an outstanding attack roll and proceeded to one-hit-kill the mutant. So... I couldn't *not* give them the gun. Instead I started hinting once in a while that an NPC showed particular interest to this gun. By the end of the second session they were so paranoid thinking that *I* would steal it from them, that they started hiding it in their room at the inn and setting up elaborate traps, and spending off-game time trying to figure out how to keep this gun safe! None of them could use firearms, and they were scared that it would be recognized as stolen if they brought it with them. They ended up selling it far below market price just to get rid of it, because they didn't want to get caught up in whatever I was planning - which was nothing. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, so I was just BS-ing my way through the whole thing, hoping they wouldn't sell it to a collector at premium

I use the Mystery Dice Roll from time to time. I'd love to add a GM token pool to Cyberpunk Red. There's so many times in that game where upping the stakes/danger can be telegraphed and make sense.

“ I opened up the chest.” Do you kick it? “ no.”

I'd say the main purpose of such bluffs is to make sure that when something IS there, they're not tipped off to it even on their failed roll/etc.

"The room seems empty" and "You don't detect any traps" are two that I have used for decades. They never stop working for me, always putting the PCs on edge. Also, if you want to make your players look like fools and clowns, try the following: "Using this door, show me exactly how you open the door." Never will they simply open the door like a normal human, instead you get the best gymnastics you've ever seen.

Two things: first, these are all super useful and fun. Second, my players must never ever ever find this video.

Your point around using these sparingly is super important. I've played in games where the GM used these tricks constantly and it made for an adversarial, paranoid experience where the players didn't trust the GM or each other. You're absolutely correct to say use these at the right moment.

My classics are, "you find no traps", "are you sure?", and randomly rolling mystery rolls. But my absolute favorite thing? Preparing a super atmospheric or cinematic scene where the players get a very vivid description of what their characters see and hear, but it's unexpected and they don't QUITE know what is happening. A huge, dark, partly flooded chamber, where they suddenly hear splashing and movement across the room. Someone innocently touches a magical item and a shockwave of air ripples through the room, knocking books off shelves as they suddenly vanish through a warp in space. A rider comes barreling through town yelling "get back inside!" as the bells by the gates begin to ring.

Awesome... Now to re-watch it and takes notes. Thank Seth, quality video as usual. I have begun to feel like your characters have taken on a life. So good.

I always enjoy your "tips & tricks" episodes, they are VERY helpful, both for players and for GMs. Thank you.

Great episode Seth! I'm using some of these tips for sure!

When I have had players attempt a simple maneuver, such as jump across a five foot space over a chasm, cross a rickety bridge or navigate a ledge, I tell them"just don't roll a one". This check is on a d20, so the player actually has little chance of failing and he doesn't know that if he fails, he will get a chance to grab the ledge or bridge to avoid falling to his doom. I have been pleasantly surprised by how effective this is for scaring players. If a player rolls a one (which has happened far more than 5%), the moment is long remembered and a subsequent check stands a strong chance to terrorize the players.

Best video I've seen all week! Thanks Seth!

Hi, Seth. Good stuff. Nice to keep them on their toes Glad your reno process is coming along well. Best of luck with that 🙂

Wow i absolutely love the new video quality, especially on the skit! And thanks for the tips!

Fantastic advice and as usual killer humor, especially the ending. Top notch, always a pleasure to watch!

I recently bought these 6 sided skull dice. One player laughed and said what are those for. I just smiled. During a certain point in the session I put one of the skull dice down on the table. every few minutes I would change the number on the dice clearly showing the dice counting down. When it got to 3, I let them know they heard a noise. Then again when it moved to 2. The players got so paranoid they started running away certain it was some big bad monster. It was nothing, just theatre. So much fun.

This is all fantastic material. Great video

Great vid as usual! I'm including these in my GM book of tricks. :)

Love it when you drop a video Seth. Waiting on the Kult episodes.

Speaking of mindgames, I had an idea. Do a video as Jack. Start in B&W saying, "Hello, Intanet, as Seth says." Then right to the review, with no explanation. At the end, you appear as you. "Man, I hate having fevers. What a weird dream. Huh, I left my webcam on." Cut to black.

Excellent video! Thanks for this free content!

As always, a fantastic video. I'm glad to see the methods I've used and experienced being more common than I thought, as well as perspective that I hadn't had previously on some. The random dice rolls especially, though I usually incorporate some simple binary oracle function to them for integrity. The final gag gave me a genuine belly laugh. LOL God bless you, good sir. Content like this really makes me want to start recording and referencing your videos.

Great stuff, Seth!

My personal favorite is to just start asking backstory questions sometime between sessions. A player told me out of game that he was scared after I just started asking oddly specific questions about his character's family

I love your videos. Keep them going

Excellent video!

Wonderful advice I have been doing this stuff for years!

Great video like always

These are excellent tips, really good to cement player engagement. I use "something to protect" heavily at the moment in my Symbaroum campaign. Specific questions ...what a great idea.

Seth you continue to have an amazing ideas. Definitely gonna implement these ideas into my next game.

It's been said that Gary Gygax once said the only reason the GM rolls dice is for the sound they make.

As mentioned, this absolutely runs the risk of being overdone, and the tolerance point will vary widely depending on the player in question. The worst case isn't that they cease to be effective, but that they suddenly have the opposite effect and anger your players. See also the GM sin of the ass-pull.

Great stuff! I've been doing these things for years, but never considered what I was actually doing. It's always been ways to create uncertainly to limit what the players can count on -- because certainty is rarely a thing in reality. Thanks for another gun video!

Love these tips! I have used all of them for years, except the clever brass skull...now grinding through some ideas of what I already own that I can "just have lying about", at an upcoming session. 👹

Love the "what color shirt are you wearing?" Definitely going to use that

Great advice! I especially liked the unexplained prop gag. I gotta try that one at my own table. 🙂

Great stuff, I'll be using at least one of these in my game tomorrow.

I love your videos! It's very pleasant to listen to you; I think you express yourself very well. By the way, I find it curious how some of the tips had occurred to me after many games purely by intuition, such as making meaningless dice rolls or introducing elements that players don't know the function of. I'll try to incorporate the rest. Great video! Greetings from Spain.

When I put this on I did not expect to see my face! Great vid as always Seth

👏Beautiful! Wonderful video! I use #2 all the time as my standard operating procedure.

Loved the ending Seth!

I've used all of these, so it wasn't all that enlightening for me personally. But...I so love that you're passing this along to an entire host of prospective GM's who can use it. Keep it up!

Love these!

Love the brass skull. Yup just like the X-49 robot in samurai jack and it's pet dog LuLu, sweet thing. Totally protecting that dog. Where are you standing, love it. Though honestly I like to use minis to avoid needing to do this.

Great vid. It's a cool paradox in that, with the exception of protection and tokens, most of these tricks are forms of misdirection, but misdirection that creates a tension enhancing the players' immersion in the game. On red herring props, I'm now inspired to bring a bunch of sand hourglasses to my table and set them up for player view at irrelevant moments in game, but that inspiration needs to be shared with John Wick 4. Oh and I kinda like the temp set up, with the window dressing and the bench it gives a sort of "Confession booth" vibe you could use for Kult reviews if things go behind schedule, hope the reno work stays on track though.

Fantastic!! I appreciate a good mind game.

I started playing D&D in the early 80s, as a player. The very first game I ever ran that was outside of D&D was Paranoia (the cover looked way different than the one you showed). Anyway, many of the tricks you shared were instilled in me by running that game. Its a great game to build mistrust of not only the GM but the other players too. Loved all of the examples Seth! Thanks

I remember a game where two players had broken into an office and were searching it. As they were telling me what they searched I kept pausing and rolling dice. I could see them getting more and more nervous until they just bolted out through the window. It made the whole thing much more tense and exciting for them. I think everyone benefits from this kind of thing.

Thanks for these tips, I'm about to take the plunge as a first time GM for our board game groups first TTRPG. These are great

@stevearkham4827

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Good luck James! Being a GM is often a labor of love, but always worth it.

Great video! Thank you! In addition to your unexplained prop, the To Distant Land blog has an article called Death is on the Table that is very interesting and could work very well with the unexplained prop! Thank you for the useful advice! Cheers!

Solid Gold, Seth!!! Thank you. Btw hope your birthday was groovy.

One of the best videos for newbie DMs. The purpose of the mind games here is to create tension; however, I mostly use them to prevent meta-gaming. This means I use these approaches more than recommended here, since my goal is to make the players stop reading too much into what I do.

Tokens! There was a system I played at Origins about 9 years ago. I can't remember the system but the GM had smashed Doctor Who and The A-Team together, and whenever a player would do something incredible, very in character, or otherwise, we would get a token that we could use, I think to re-roll the lowest dice in saves. I was pretty blasted, as you generally are at an event where you don't have to walk outside for a whole week, and I still remember that session vividly.

I love asking oddly specific questions, especially before they open a door or walk into a forest. "Do you have a weapon drawn?" Is a good one. If they don't they always do a few seconds later.

Great stuff!

The Specific Questions, getting standing locations specifically, is a great one to use as a bluff otherwise whenever you ask "where are you exactly" players know something's about to go down & get behind cover.😄

Thanks for those, great advice. I remember once my GM told us there is a scratch on the stone in the corridor we went through... We spent so much time checing for hidden stuff there 😃

The Angry GM has a mechanic called the Tension Pool. You get a dish or bowl, place it on the table where the players can see it, and you add one d6 to it after every in-game 10-minute round to track time. After you put six d6s in the bowl, take them out and roll them. If you get any 1s, something bad happens such as a random encounter. After rolling six dice, clear the pool. Alternatively, if the characters do anything noisy, risky, or dangerous, add a d6 for the round, then roll all the dice in the pool to see if something goes wrong, then return the dice to the pool. You only clear the pool after six die representing an in-game hour, in-game day, whatever unit of time, and you start over for the next unit of time.

The phrasing is always a good one. It works equally well whether there is or isn't something to find and how well their dice roll went. "You don't find anything" after a *_low_* roll is especially terrifying.

This is great stuff ^^ I'm sure MM uses all these things

And you absolutely stuck the landing on that one. Great end gag.

Congratulations on home renovation! That’s both exciting and stressful! These mindgames are fantastic too!