Chris Perkins On Making Your D&D Game Great!

Chris Perkins On Making Your D&D Game Great when you consider that Chris Perkins has
been developing stories for DMV for
years now and also DMS a game live on
stage for Penny arcade’s acquisitions
incorporated and on top of this he has a
twitch stream dice camera action he’s a
fantastic resource for knowing how to
make a great game when I first started
out DMing it was a long time ago and we
didn’t have things like the Internet I
was worried I made a lot of mistakes
I over prepared I made huge campaign
worlds not realizing that the players
wouldn’t see one 100th of them I created
adventures that were very linear and
railroad II and didn’t really offer even
the illusion of choice I’ve gotten over
that and that’s simply by virtue of
experience I think that if you’re
starting out DM just be aware that you
will make mistakes but ultimately they
don’t matter you’re going to learn from
them and you’re going to change the next
time you run a game the great thing
about DMing is that every game you run
will end and that you’ll have the next
one to basically do it all over again so
you have this constant you can you can
blow it but you’re going to have another
chance
you’ll get better and better and better
and better and you’ll learn things about
your players that will make it easier
and you’ll learn things about yourself
that will make it easier try to listen
more than you talk because a DM who
listens can better understand what the
what the players are trying to get out
of the game you can look for
opportunities to take the game in
interesting directions often the players
will feed you ideas without even
realizing they’re doing it that will
lead the campaign in very interesting
directions so I think it can’t be
overstated enough that listening is
really the the biggest skill that a DM
can have for success if I were to say it
close number two it would be the sense
of don’t be married to a particular
thing
be prepared to throw what you have away
if something better happens at the table
and just allow yourself to kind of go
with the flow of the narrative you
control your campaign to an extent and
you are building a world to an extent
but as soon as it comes into contact
with the players they are now adding to
it and helping to shape it and if you
let them push it in interesting
directions you may be surprised that the
depth of the campaign is far more than
you thought
and honestly it’s good to be surprised
as the DM to come to a point in the game
where you don’t know what’s going to
happen next because that’s suspense and
your ability to try to cope with that
situation is going to make you a
stronger DM down the road and your
players are going to like you for it I
want the gain and the story of the game
to be rewarding and to have closure and
to have the characters grow and
transform the way I’ve always looked at
the indie games at least in recent years
is it’s like a serialized TV show where
you are if you watch it long enough
you’re going to know the characters on a
deeper level and you’re going to want to
see them go from point A to point B so
that they’re not the same people at the
end of the story as they were at the
beginning things have happened to them
and they’ve the relationships have
evolved and deepened and become much
richer but you know episode episode you
want to make sure that every character
gets their moment to shine or every
character gets a fish out of water
situation or something so that the
people who are watching the show can
differentiate the characters but also
love each character for a different
reason that’s sort of serialized TV show
mentality even filters down into how I
think about the game when I’m not at the
table because when I’m out walking my
dog or when I’m out you know when I’m in
the shower when I’m getting ready for
bed or whatever I’m thinking about the
game I’m thinking about what future
episodes I could do what fun things I
can do to torment and his character or
Holly’s character what-if scenarios but
I think of it very episodically and
I think in terms of seasons like when
this season of the show is over what’s
the next season going to be and what’s
the main story thrust that that season
going to be and how are each of the
character is going to change during that
season these thoughts are constantly in
my head which is really annoying because
I have like five other projects to think
about and constantly ideas are popping
in my head I think great DMS they never
stop thinking about their games I think
it was Martin Scorsese who said that he
considers himself less of a director and
more of a casting guy that is to say
that if you cast your movie right it
doesn’t matter what happens next the
actors you have are going to be so good
they’re going to give you great
performances you’re going to end up with
a great movie I feel the same thing with
a D&D group a DM and a DMS game is only
as good as the players in the game you
can take the best DM in the world and if
you saddle them with a bunch of lame-o
players or players who have no interest
in actually telling a story or getting
into their characters you’re not going
to have a very fulfilling experience and
it’s going to be hard to pull that out
of them so I’m very lucky with the
players I have on dice camera action the
only thing you really need to know in
order to succeed with the group of
players is D&D has a social contract the
contract is the DM is going to create a
story and try to keep the game moving
forward and make it as fun for everybody
at the table and in exchange the player
part of the contract is they’re not
going to act like a bunch of doorknobs
and just try to tear everything apart
and ruin the experience for everybody
else at the table if you can find
players who will embrace that
fundamental social contract there is
almost nothing you can do that’s going
to disappoint them now there is I mean
there’s just as a game can’t really
survive unless the players are good a
game can’t survive if the DM isn’t good
and so fundamental DM skills are I don’t
think you have to be a rules master you
but you have to know the very basics of
the rules and you can get that by
downloading the basic
rolls off our website or by having
somebody just by playing in a game so
that you get the fundamentals and then
going off and starting your own game
that’s often most a lot of VMs don’t
start by being dm’s they start by being
players and that’s where they get the
fundamentals of the rules and that’s
where they they they feel or they learn
that that maybe it’s not so hard to be a
DM after all if they can watch a DM do
it and that GM’s not breaking down in
tears
well maybe you can do it too thank you
Chris Perkinshttps://t.co/Kjp32SpIN7 via @YouTube

— Todd Kenreck (@ToddKenreck) May 10, 2017