"Danger of Story Failure or Narrative Objective". This is the reason why I'm not a fan of "funnel" style game play. Character death is one of the least-most interesting things to me. Let me find my character in a hairy situation or two, where my actions really matter. I'll be on the edge of my seat!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Real consequences are what separate RPGs fromany other game. It's why we play, so let the players have them!

@nairocamilo

3 жыл бұрын

If you play a videogame (those with quests), there's a reason why when your character dies they generally autoload a save, but when you fail a quest your heart sinks to the lowest of points, and you voluntarily erase lots of hours and investments, just so you can have the opportunity of concluding it.

Dude. You’re a game changer for DM advice. I love how you skip the introductory stuff and get right to the meat

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks a bunch! I try not to ramble on or put out spam :)

The part "it's the symptom, not the cause" was like a bucket of cold water! I needed it!

I love that “whew...that’s it!” at the end 😂

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

LOL what I think a lot of folks don't know is that these 10 min vids take like 90 minutes of talking to make! It's exhausting!!!

Mentioning characters by name is a valuable tip to keep engagement. I do this in combat in particular all the time, referencing what different characters have done as I ask what the next character is doing.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks mate! I like the idea of shifting "camera" perspectives around a lot too. Narrative fromm other characters POV

Love your comment about the infamous “no phones” advice. DMs should not feel the need to control players’ connection with the outside world - many schools don’t even prohibit cellphones during class anymore! It’s a great tool for any d&d player to double check rules or how features when it’s not their turn.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Bob! I've been digging your Essentials vids!

@BobWorldBuilder

5 жыл бұрын

@@ZipperonDisney Thanks, I'm taking a short break from them, but there will be more! Keep these pacing videos coming!

@twilightgardenspresentatio6384

4 жыл бұрын

Bob World Builder man that’s a weak school where the children lead the administration around. I’m glad I’m already old, the old school was better.

Since I found you I've felt like DMing again with all your unique insight in mind. Thank you so much for challenging other peoples 'fixes' for wide spread issues at gaming tables.

@brandonvaughan4236

5 жыл бұрын

Devouration 1000% This guy is making me reevaluate everything I thought I kneed about DMing.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

That's what I'm aiming for - to feed my people some food for thought!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I'm thrilled that you like it! Check the description for some good reads too!

@brandonvaughan4236

5 жыл бұрын

@@ZipperonDisney Thanks. Will do!

You take dnd to a whole different level. It goes from a game, to an art.

Omg im so glad i found you, jesus. Finally answers to the questions i (didnt know i) was really asking :D

@MultiMaikimaik

4 жыл бұрын

Theres soo much information here, i think ill need to watch this like 20 times hahaha

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Welcome aboard! I like to think my vids have a different take :)

I don't think that I'm understating this when I say your up there with Matt Colville in giving that abstracted big idea right down to practical mechanics in DM advice. Keep creating man it's amazing!

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!! part of the reason why I'm so slow in releasing videos is I want each of them to be unique and useful!

Hands down, you are the best D&D advice on KZread. Just straight to the point, I like it

@ZipperonDisney

2 жыл бұрын

That's what I aim for :)

Real talk, this is some of the most immediately applicable and practical DM advice I've ever seen.

@ZipperonDisney

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!! 😊

The tip about Challenge apropriate to the expertise of the player was great. So many GMs do this wrong. Great video!

@ZipperonDisney

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it!

Thank you for challenging the bad advice of others! And I appreciate the original ideas.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I try :) Thanks for watching!

Best DM advice on KZread. I've been searching for months and now I've found what I was looking for. THANK YOU!

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful! I try to only put out the best! ❤️

Your point about when to abstract is so enlightening!

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you found it helpful!

I’ve been GMing since before you were born... and I still learned a lot. I subscribed!

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

@Scott Nolan Glad to help!!

Great soft skills for DMs. I got some awesome insight and reminders out of this. If I may add : On Gary's turn call out that Karen is up next (on deck in baseball terms). It gets them engaged and the flow goes so much faster. Love the channel.

Just wanted to say that I'm loving these; keep it up!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the encouragement! I try to get one out every two weeks :)

This is the first video I watched of yours, and it’s the day right after I run a d&d session that kinda slowed down too much and bored my players. I didn’t know what to fix and how to fix but this video really helped me a lot with some ideas. Thank you!

@ZipperonDisney

Жыл бұрын

Welcome aboard! Let me know if your next session is better!

Love the Matthew Quote!

I feel like your making videos from my ideas. You hit the nail on the head!

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

That's cause I spy on you from inside your dreams... oooooOOOOOOoooo :)

I’d say an important caveat to the “phones are a symptom and not the disease” mindset is to know your players, and to take that advice with a grain of salt. You are correct the DM is the leader, but they are not responsible for everyone’s fun. Some folks are just more prone to idle behavior or aren’t willing to buy in no matter your skill at running games. Your advice I think puts too much of the onus of a good session on the GM alone, where in truth it requires a lot of player buy-in. I’d check out the RPG social contract video by Seth Skorkowsky. He outlines this concept really well. I really like your videos and channel. You do a great job of expressing yourself and clearly have good ideas and ways to use the rules. Keep up the great work!

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

You have a great point about the players being responsible for their own fun and buying in! Thanks for sharing!

@twilightgardenspresentatio6384

4 жыл бұрын

mightystu49 some people still need a pacifier to deal with social settings.

I am finding so much value in your videos, man. I stumbled onto this from a link via the Matt Colville subreddit. Been watching a lot of your vids today. I'm a big fan of Web DM, Seth Skorkowsky, Jorphdan, and the like. Your content is on par - unique and really just substantively useful. Great work, looking forward to more videos!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I love all those folks, especially Seth's content! Thanks for putting me up there with them :)

All your stuff is super insightful. I can tell you think about things a lot. Thanks for the advice!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I'm so happy you like it!! :) I run polls to help pick the next topic - keep your eyes peeled!

@r7erickson

5 жыл бұрын

Zipperon Disney You could have a whole mini series about pacing, player psychology and fun.

Since we're all playing exclusively online it has made this so much harder. I, as DM, always have my cam on so I can gesture and emote but only 1-2 players will use their camera in a game and sometimes I won't see anyone's face but my own. It makes it very difficult to gauge engagement. When you call on someone to act and they don't respond immediately you have to go through the process of, "Is your mic on? Are you muted? Did he walk away?" and it absolutely murders the flow of the game.

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

Ouch! I feel ya, I've been DMing online for the past year, and I struggle too. It's harder on the players too - keeping focus on a zoom call or whatever. I think it's all the more reason to double down on making things as sharp and punchy as possible

I’d never really focused on reading my players that much before, but it’s definitely on my next steps as a dm!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Good to hear! I hate being a player and thinking 'can the DM not tell I'm bored out of my mind?' With your attitude, that won't happen :)

I'm glad one of my players randomly sent me a link to your combat video a few days ago. I've been enjoying your content.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I'm happy you like it! Thank your player for me for sharing!!

Great discussion of pacing techniques! I particularly enjoyed your discussion of slowly paced scenes breaking tension & providing information. One of the more useful DMing videos I've found. Thanks for sharing!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Angry GM has a great article about the same topic - check it out!

Wow! Yes! You make great videos, thank you :) Very nicely put and sensible GM advice!!

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you think so! I try really hard to put out different content than your standard KZread faire, glad you like it :)

Thank you so much. I'm an amazing DM in theory, but in game my flow was making things feel flat. This put into words a lot of what I felt I was missing. I'm taking notes, and hoping Curse of Strahd, session 2, goes well.

Another great video with some great tips!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you!! I'm writing the next one now!

This was a piece of useful information. Keep it coming. Thank you.

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you! :)

Awesome man this was so helpful to me and my games.👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Great video again. Getting DMs to realize what the dramatic question... what's really at stake here... is like the hardest thing in the world. Idk how you teach someone that but your first half of the video nails it. The later parts about reincorporating characters in spotlights is also cool. i do that sorta "describing a party member doing something" while something else is going on all the time in my Ultraviolet Grasslands game. To add to your points: not just does it boost engagement of that player but it just boosts much more: the minds-eye image resolution of this abstract thieves tools test. It's great color to a scene. Not to mention now you know when the guards are alarmed you have the thief saying "ITS YOUR FAULT YOU WOULDNT STOP TAPPING" etc. Its space to build.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for bringing that up Eric! Keeping up a narrative rather than just a mechanic is so important to building a strong story :)

Thanks for this video, I have nearly all tips you're giving out written down in my notes that I use for prepping sessions and will be using them for the next sessions I'll run!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Awesome!!! If you haven't write down "Exigency" too (from the Combat Flow vid)!

@TanaisNL

5 жыл бұрын

@@ZipperonDisney It has a prominent location in my notes! I'll test it in about two weeks and we'll see how I'll do! :)

This is all really solid advice.

This guy doesnt miss

Well done, great info!

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you :)

This is pure gold!!!! 🤘

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

Definitely one of my favorites, if I say so myself 😎

Wonderful video! Pacing is something that I want to improve for a while and I've learned a lot by watching you speak about it. Abstraction in particular, is something we all do without realizing, but I believe that being aware of it is key for improved pacing. Thank you for this!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

It's really broad topic, and as I cited at at the end of this video, I could probably go on for another 30 min just on session pacing. But I meant it when I said, I think it's the most important skill a DM can have. Being aware is the most important part of improvement, and wanting to improve is the mark of a great DM

@BeyondTheScreenRPG

5 жыл бұрын

@@ZipperonDisney Thank you for the kind words! I've started a KZread channel recently that talks about GMing as well! If you have a few moments to spare, you can check it out and support a fan 😉

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

NP!

Great video! I'm taking notes

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

That just made my day :)

Excellent video.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

You came up in my recommended. I watched, I destroyed that bell icon. Awesome vids man! 😎

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

THANK YOU!!!

Great advice.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Well done!

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you sir!

I really think this is a fantastic video. Great advice!!! Would love for you to make a Part 3- Pacing through your campaign.

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

I've been thinking about that a lot lately, how I never DID do the part 3. It's still sitting in my unfinished scripts folder...

@moogamooga2100

3 жыл бұрын

@@ZipperonDisney I know that I’d certainly like to see Part 3 as well. 😁

Sound advice!

👍🏻 I love it

I agree. However, a higher action is in place to engage any party. I call this the "Good Faith" action. The Good Faith action is that you play in order to advance the story, not your own personal fulfillment. When players play for their own personal fulfillment it doesn't advance the story arc. They don't play in "Good Faith". Their wants are not for the story, but for themselves on what they can get out of the game. Not what the story can bring to them, personally and character-wise. In these scenarios, it does not matter how engaging you maybe because if the story is not revolving around them, they have no interest in the story. The question that really comes from the "Good Faith" is what do you want out of the story? Do you want to go on a journey with this party and build something together? Or do you care more about the fulfillment of your own personal character and yourself? One of these players is really fun to have in an Epic, the other I'd suggest playing one-offs. One Off's are designed for these kinds of players. The Good Faith question is a question of "are we in this together." It's one of the big reasons Matt's campaigns are so engaging, the characters and players are playing in "Good Faith". We are here to write/play an epic story, and we are here to do it together.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

Yes! Getting your players committed to advancing the story is absolutely key to a long term campaign!

@twilightgardenspresentatio6384

4 жыл бұрын

blitz thekraken yup

Great advice. 1 thing stepped over the lkne a bit was *younare fiddling with the intrigue lock and you hear the tapping of +++++'s foot you glance over and give them a look* you are playing the character for the player. Ive had players react and get upset with that type of over stepping

5:17 Ok, this was hauntingly true. Imma learn from this.

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

RIGHT?!

I know this was an older video but I loved it

@ZipperonDisney

2 жыл бұрын

I'm happy you found it useful! There was a whole string of vids in 2019 that I think are some of my best 😁

@DungeonsAndDrams

2 жыл бұрын

@@ZipperonDisney I've been making my way through them actually!

I heard good advice. I subbed. It's a shame I didn't hear this before I made a LOT of mistakes in past campaigns I DMd.

10:00 you’re a genius

Another great video! It's about time I hit that subscribe button (which I just did ;)). I'll be watching your "Make Combat Flow" vid multiple times. Can I ask, how do you go about getting the art for your vids and dealing with copyright? I speak as one video maker to the other who is jealous (in the best possible way) of your resources :)

Good video with several ideas I'll incorporate. One area I do differ with you is where, in your session narratives, you appear to initiate actions for players. In my group, if I said something like "You shoot Ivellios a dirty look" as part of describing a character's actions, my players would struggle with that, because it steps on player agency. I've found it's one thing to do a DM narrative of what a player experiences, the physical environmental social demands/reactions to what they say their character does; it's another thing altogether when I start saying how their character reacts/feels/thinks in turn.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

This is a valid point! There was a great discussion on Matt Colville's sub about the same thing: www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/c87vn9/how_to_keep_a_session_engaging/?ref=share&ref_source=link

@twilightgardenspresentatio6384

4 жыл бұрын

Matt G you’re players need to learn to role play and not just “be themselves” in their character I bet you get a lot of “I’m just playing my character” error comments

Abstracting certain moments is a good tip! I’d love to see how you do this during sessions. I also love to see your combat as well. Could you record a bit from one of your sessions? One thing that i wonder with abstracting, is that it has a chance to remove player interaction. If I always assume they check every chest, corner and object, they won’t have to come up with that themselves. That might disconnect them from their characters more? Same as with sneaking through a dungeon.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I have one very-not-special video of warfare. I'm thinking of putting up a quick one shot sometime too. Thanks for the suggestion :)

Another great video! Solid advice as usual! I also love your changing stack of books in the back. Do you put them there with some intent or do you really read them all? ;) Keep up the great work, any new subscriber is well deserved! All the best from switzerland! :D

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I use them for color balance and to keep things visually interesting. Yes, they are all my books and I have read them! Even if not all the way through :)

@TheCocoJambo93

5 жыл бұрын

@@ZipperonDisney Nice! ;) I value my books too, sometimes I get distracted by the easy media like games or movies though😅 On a sidenote, have you considered making a discord-chanel? :)

Good video

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Cool!

I'm stopping 2 min in to say YES! Distractions like phones are a symptom not a reason for lack of engagement! Tell me more!!

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Sooooo glad you understand where I'm coming from!

I find what you say interesting. Pacing is not just controlled by the DM, even if they want it too.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

This is true, but the DM has way more control over the pacing than the players. Only the DM can say 'Orcs attack!' when nobody can decide what to do.

Hi, Thank you so much! I am a new DM and this is very helpful. When will you upload the video about the Pacing of a Campaign?

@ZipperonDisney

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I dunno about the other vid...it's on a to-do list. For years 😅

I have 7 ppl. scaling combat deadliness hasn’t been much problem as I thought it’d be but juggling individual engagement can be real tough for me.

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

With 7 people you just gotta hope everyone knows they're just gonna have to wait for their moment sometimes!

How am I just finding these videos? If matt colville is giving a good DM101-201 this is upper division dnd advice.

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! That's exactly what I'm after :)

11:48 "if you're going to be a dungeon master then you must develop the basic social skills" me, as someone on the autism spectrum: *fuck* 😆

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

Shucks, but I belive in you! ❤ Are there any channels that specifically help DMs with austism?

Really enjoy your content. Do you have a discord or patreon?

@ZipperonDisney

2 жыл бұрын

In the description! ❤

one of the issues my group has is ahuge difference in player skill, across all aspects of the game. 2 of us do a lot of research mechanically, some of us are great at puzzles, and others can diffuse NPCs. But, there are a few that are completely left in the dust over all things. for example, when we had traps, only two people actually tried to understand them.

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Eh, some people have just as much fun having out with friends, enjoying pretzels and beer, and occasionally rolling dice to slay some orcs. That's okay too :)

How do random encounters fit in with your philosophy of abstrscting to the next point of meaningful choice?

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

I did a vid on random encounters, and how I use them to either further the plot or reveal something about the world

I'm curious as to how you prep. In the last two weeks I've wavered like crazy between feeling like i overprep vs feeling like i underprep. Moments I'm not prepared for fall flat but generally they're not the climax of the session so should i have fleshed out the npc they interacted with once or skipped him?

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

Occasionally I'll do a session prep live stream, then put the VOD on the "Sekrit Playlist" on my $1 Patreon ( www.patreon.com/zipperondisney ), or I also have a video about the tension between prepping and preparing -> kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZZ57m8iIeMewc7Q.html

It's been a while since a DND advice channel triggered me to think differently. It started with the Indy video, but these two videos about pacing have really been a game changer. I feel like pacing is one of my strengths, but discord constantly kills that when the voice chat craps out. Sometimes rules have to be explained as well, which kicks the pacing in the shin. Also there is always the player who interrupts for what ever reason. How do I get pacing and tension back once it's been lost?

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to see you're digging the channel! After I notice that things seem to be drifting, I tend to take charge and lay out some clear options to progress the story, or switch scenes to introduce something new

"If you're going to be a DM [...] then you must develop basic social skills" Follow up question: how, if you can at all, DM a game with players that have low / no social skills? What do you do to help avoid interpersonal conflict but maintain a game? Some conflict may always happen between players in any game - basic social skills will help to mediate but what DM actions will help keep the story flowing? And when is too much conflict just too much?

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I think the most important thing at a gaming table is that everyone gets along. Conflict happens, it's inevitable, but it's your responsibility as a Dm (as a leader!) to resolve conflict. Ignoring it won't make it go away, it festers right under the surface and will pop up at the worst time. Conflict resolution is too deep a topic for a YT comment, but in general here are the top two things to keep in mind: 1) make sure everyone feels like they were heard. 2) Get everyone committed to moving forward. Hope that helps!

The thing is that the advice doesn't really work if each of my players wants a different thing from DnD. 1. One wants to know the story and wants to skip literally anything RP related, "just get to the good stuff." Zero RP and immersion. 2. Another one wants to just fuck around. Would RP talking to a random NPC for 20 minutes just to be able to snag that coin purse with 5gp despite having a giant mansion worth hundreds of thousands. 3. Another wants deep, developed personally tailored story. Grandiose heroic deeds and think of the twists, gets completely bored by actual combat. 4. 4th one wants to explore new lands, go where nobody was before, mountains and caverns. 5. This one wants to live in the cities, getting allies, scheming in politics, etc. 6. The last one wants insane bossfights and gets hyped by massive fights. No matter what I do, there is always someone on the phone, that's just how it is. However at the end they still want to come play next week and are visibly having fun. We literally play weekly for 1,5 years now...

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

It sounds like you know the most important tip of all: make sure everyone gets along! That is what *really* makes for a good game of DnD!

the first time a PC got knocked in my campaign, the player, as a joke, whipped out there phone, as went "well, I'm out" he was joking, and put it away. but then it became a joke and this happened every time, until I told them politely to stop xDDD

While I agree with just about all of this advice, sometimes there will just be players that don't find DnD not interesting and prefer to be in their phone or maybe they don't mesh with your current group, but usually those are just individuals so if this happens I recommend talking to that one person individually.

@theghosty99

5 жыл бұрын

I think Matt Colville's coverage of the different types of players addresses most of these people pretty well. Some people come to D&D for the combat, some people come for the chance to hang out with friends, and these people will frequently check out during long RPing/downtime scenes. Sometimes even trying to engage them in those scenes directly doesn't work. But that's okay. If they don't want to keep playing, they'll stop coming. There's no need to force people to pay attention if they're not that interested.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I'm lucky in that I can pick up a D&D group from a large number of players. That is, I don't have to force my friends to be D&D players, I can turn my D&D players into friends.

Pacing is the most important thing in a ttrpg game in my opinion.

@ZipperonDisney

Жыл бұрын

I agree

..how do you deal with players that require different levels of tension and/or longer/shorter times between lulls in the gameplay?

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

I usually cater to the player with the shortest attention span. As soon as I notice their attention is waning, I'll try and push on. My games move really quickly as a result

can you let the add subtitles options available? I'm need to put spanish subtitles in this

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

I think I just turned them on. Here is the script if you want to go off that: docs.google.com/document/d/1xeqzUuQXnZPmh9XRPGCAbNjJLXQDcCPSnnnjFw5dIak/edit?usp=sharing

@MsQuikly

4 жыл бұрын

Wonderful, i thought for a moment there was some form of country restriction that didn't let me add the subs.

I'm guilty of being frustrated with players being on their phones. I need to remember it's a symptom, or it might be benign as we're a society that looks at our phones often. Many D&D tools are on phones too.

@ZipperonDisney

5 жыл бұрын

It's true that a lot of tools can de digital. And I DM from a laptop most of the time, but I really, really like the traditional physicality of playing a game. I like paper sheets and the noise of the dice. The way books feel. We spend soooo much of our lives staring at screens I like taking a break.

Your face looks really familiar I feel like I've seen it before somewhere

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Entirely possible, I've lived many lives outside youtube :)

Four hours?!?!

@ZipperonDisney

4 жыл бұрын

Not sure if that's "I play no less than six hours at a time!" or "I can barely squeeze in two hours at a time!" lol

Lol. A bible quote (paraphrase) in a dnd video. What is the world coming to?

I cannot sympathize with this narrative beats style. It is not why I play. To me it renders an rpg down to a computer game level of shallowness.

@ZipperonDisney

3 жыл бұрын

I don't understand your point, could you elaborate?