How Pro D&D DMs Get Their Players To Roleplay

Comments · 280

• BO

  @BonusReaction · 9 months ago · pinned

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• HU

  @HughieKing · 8 months ago

  I ran my first session with my gf and a couple of our friends. All of us total newbies. Afterwards, the biggest thing they said was that the silly, over-the-top voices I gave to all the NPCs really let them get into their own characters and let go of any nerves they had about roleplaying. I didn’t even realise I was doing anything like that. Really opened my eyes to the role the GM plays outside of the actual gameplay.

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• ED

  @eddiemarohl5789 · 7 months ago

  &quot;Say their character&apos;s name&quot; bro my campaign consists of 5 war clerics that are all named Terry but spelled differently. 😭

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• LI

  @ligarou · 7 months ago

  another thing I think it&apos;s all about that&apos;s helped me, is when my players meet a new NPC, I have them tell the NPC their story, their reason for being somewhere, why they&apos;re talking with the NPC. I found it helps remind them of the story and their motivations and more importantly: who is paying attention lol gets them more involved instead of me just rambling to myself

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• IA

  @ianjones9175 · 9 months ago

  Pairing off calling people by character name, asking them how they&apos;re feeling, etc... one of the things I find very helpful is occasionally framing the situation when moving to the next Character&apos;s turn. <br><br>&quot;Glarb, you hear enemy reinforcements coming from down the hall. Ulga just moved into place to intercept them, but your other allies aren&apos;t out of the woods yet. John is badly wounded and Knight he&apos;s fighting isn&apos;t showing signs of fatigue. What do you do?&quot;<br><br>It&apos;s obviously a lot to do for every player turn but I find it helps bring player attention back in when there&apos;s a lot going on or maybe they aren&apos;t fully paying attention during someone else&apos;s turn, and helps get them thinking in character about what action they&apos;re going to take.

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• JE

  @JesterfaceBassplayer · 5 months ago

  I have never had a DM ask me &quot;what does [character name] feel in this moment?&quot;. That is one thing I will add to my own DMing style, because it teaches players to think and act like their characters, and that their perspective matters. This works especially well if you can pull from their backstory, which Brennan does all the time in a similar fashion.

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• DA

  @DanielRcase · 9 months ago

  On posture and using your hands more etc. &nbsp;As someone with a theatre background I would advise you to focus more on the energy and enthusiasm you are bringing . Whether you stand or sit on the edge of your seat you are more engaged physically and are more available to use your body and hands etc. &nbsp;If you are thinking about using your hands you are prone to become more self aware and self conscious instead of more free and able to impulse deal. &nbsp;The more genuine energy and enthusiasm you take to risk taking to have fun and make a fool of yourself the more the table will feel it’s a safe place to play and take more risks with role playing. &nbsp;People who play dnd love quoting Monty python and the holy grail etc. If they are encouraged to bring that type of absurdity to the game it will be more fun. &nbsp;The same works with a darker tone. &nbsp;The more invested the Dm is they more invested the players will be

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• PO

  @PossumIsland · 7 months ago

  Old feeling: People having to GUESS what the victory fanfare if from. 😢

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• LU

  @Lurch1111 · 7 months ago

  Good advice; as a Forever GM since 1977 I&apos;ve recently realized I&apos;ve become a bit lax in engagement with my regular weekly group which has been meeting since 1996. I just started a second group at my office, and all my players are complete newbies; I was surprised to see how much more I was engaging with them vs. the &quot;Old Guard&quot;, making more eye contact, using different voices, giving running fight commentary during combat, etc.

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• MI

  @mikelundun · 9 months ago

  Possibly the reason people drop off when you pause in a youtube video is that youtube loves to place ad breaks in those suspenseful pauses.

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• NI

  @Ninjabuckles · 9 months ago

  That is the end combat sound in ff7

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• SW

  @sweatyeti · 9 months ago

  I&apos;ll share one of the highlights of my GM&apos;ing experience regarding a PC&apos;s death.<br><br>One player decided to chase down a fleeing assassin, and despite the risk, they split off from the party in pursuit (only they and the assassin could fly). &nbsp;The assassin hid in a shed in outskirts and ambushed the character as they took a peek through the door, firing off a poisoned crossbow bolt and hitting them. &nbsp;The character was already badly injured so it didn&apos;t take long for them to die from the poison without help. &nbsp;The player was great at roleplaying and their character was an optimistic, friendly, adorable necromancer. &nbsp;The loss felt at the table was so emotionally devastating they didn&apos;t want to continue the game. &nbsp;I haven&apos;t had a game since then that the players were so invested in their characters.<br><br>To give this a somewhat happy ending though, I recounted the events leading up to their death and realized I forgot to provide a 50% miss chance (due to cover) to the poisoned bolt that hit them -- we rolled a d20 with anticipation and to all of our relief IT MISSED! &nbsp;We continued the game for several sessions but ended up shelving it due to scheduling conflicts (the ultimate TTRPG BBEG).

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