Sorry I'm a day late uploading! Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-page By subscribing, you'll get access to behind the scenes content, bonus content, home-brew content and more. In today's episode, we talk about how to prepare your players for a D&D session. We discuss things like useful materials for players, Rules and mechanics of gameplay, and giving players feedback on how to enhance their gameplay experience. Please leave a review if you enjoy the episode, and feel free to reach out to us with questions or topics you'd like to see in the future! Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Add the Magic of Sound to Your GameplayWhen you set the scene you need to tap into the five senses. When it comes to sound one of the best ways to do that is with music, sound effects, and ambience. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Monument Studios. Monument Studios provides an easy-to-use Soundboard perfect for Dungeon Mastering. If you want to see this in action, go to fantasy-plus.com and get 10% off of your first month of their Fantasy+ App by using the code BETTERDM at check out. Again that is fantasy-plus.com and BETTERDM at checkout. Monument StudiosWe Like YouHey Bud… How’s it going? Just wanted to say… we like you. We’re think you’re pretty cool. We hope you like us too. If you do like us and what we’re doing, you can support us on our Patreon. Just $1 a month is enough. Just go to https://session0studios.com/patreon and show your support. But even if you don’t… we still like you. See ya around bud. Patreon

You all finish your long-rest and you wake up to a bright, if not bitter cold winter morning. The view from the mountaintop lookout on which you slept is breathtaking, as is the chilling wind that blows. You all slept comfortably thanks to the warmth of the fire.As you all wake up you prepare for the day, memorizing your spells, stretching your sore limbs and generally preparing yourselves for whatever may come next, except one of you.Roen the druid, as you wake up you are met with the sight of a small brown squirrel sitting before you, patiently waiting for you to awaken. Tied around the squirrels neck is a tiny scroll of parchment.Naturally, you reach down and untie the scroll and unroll it. As you do, the squirrel scampers off into the trees.The scroll is very small yet is crammed with writing. The writing is clumsy as if it was written with charcoal rather than a quill and ink. On the parchment is a line of text that turns your heart to ice.“Help. Captured by Xyxyx in Waterdeep. Cynthia.”And that is where we will end today’s session.Welcome back to the 29th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, Justin Lewis and I’m here to help you craft better stories for yourself and your players as you DM Dungeons and Dragons 5e.Before we get to the show let’s go through a couple of announcements. First, I hope you all enjoyed our last episode where you all met our new team member, Tanner Weyland. If you have any comments or questions for him or me, send us a direct message at @geronimolevis through Instagram.Next, today’s show is brought to you by our monthly newsletter.You can sign up using the link in the show notes and get access to extra tips on being a DM, behind the scenes content and extra homebrew pieces that you can use in your campaigns. You can also sign up to play a one-shot with myself as your DM. This is first come first serve so sign up for the newsletter and let’s play a session together.Now, to the show.Planning your sessions can often be the most difficult part of playing D&D. Sometimes it helps to have a general structure to your sessions. Well let’s look at this simple D&D structure.What happened last timeOne of the most important things you can do to start off a good session is a recap of the session before. This gives your players a chance to get into character and into the game. It also serves as a nice way to transition out of friendly chatter and into playing a game where you have to be quiet while the DM talks. Lastly, it’s great to remind your players what happened last because they’ve probably forgotten. Resolve what happened last timeFinish what you started last time. If you had just started an encounter, then run the encounter. If you left off on a cliff hanger then run through what implied the cliff hanger. Sometimes though, it makes for a nice twist to not resolve what you started but that is an advanced technique.Ask about Character’s BackstoriesAt this point, ask if every person’s back story has been featured lately. If not, add in something that relates to the backstory of someone. It doesn’t need to be in depth but it can be. Add the next main plot pointThink about the next logical plot point and prepare that. Pretty simple. Just beware, you will not be able to plan for everything. I like to ask myself the question, “What would I logically do next?” And then I prepare for that. Then I ask myself, “If I didn’t do that, what would I logically do?” Then I prepare for that. Then we end up doing neither of those things and doing something completely random that my players came up with at the moment. Se la vie.Prepare at least one encounterMost often your players expect to fight something  So I find it helpful to have at least one combat encounter in my back pocket. The best way to do this is using D&D Beyond’s encounter builder. It’s a great way to save an encounter and then go in and tweak it a bit when things have changed but you still need an encounter.Plan for the cliffhangerThe last thing you want to do is plan for a probable cliffhanger. I say probable because there’s no way of knowing exactly where the session will end. You’ll have a lot of input but so will the players. For me good cliffhangers are right before big encounters, or right after a reveal of something, or when there’s a twist. You’ll want to be thinking about your cliffhanger during the session so that you can prepare for it and possibly even change it.There you go, a simple session structure that should help you figure out what your players will be doing next session.Was this helpful? If it was please leave a rating and review so others can bask in the glory of Dungeons and Dragons!I’d also love to know what you think about the show. So send me any comments or questions in a direct message through Instagram @geronimolevis and I’ll be sure to respond.Don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter to get even more D&D secrets and shortcuts as well as the opportunity to play a one-shot with me as your DM.Come back next week for an amazing episode but until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Listen to Our New PodcastAs a listener of this show, you obviously love story. Now that you’ve learned how to craft your own story on this show, wouldn’t it be nice to have some inspiration? Or maybe just a moment of immersion and escape? Then come join us in our new Actual Play D&D 5e show, Pact and Boon. Enter the World of Calignos where our characters, Jolly, Wolfgang and Alon will meet each other in Hell. Enjoy our troublemaking and near-death experiences wherever great podcasts are heard. Just go to session0studios.com/pactnboon and start listening today. We Like YouHey Bud… How’s it going? Just wanted to say… we like you. We’re think you’re pretty cool. We hope you like us too. If you do like us and what we’re doing, you can support us on our Patreon. Just $1 a month is enough. Just go to https://session0studios.com/patreon and show your support. But even if you don’t… we still like you. See ya around bud. Patreon

Welcome back to the 28th episode of How to Be a Better DM.Today I get to introduce you to my new team member Tanner Weyland!Before we go on, I’d like to invite you to sign up for my monthly newsletter in which you’ll get access to behind the scenes content, bonus content, homebrew content and more. Sign up for this newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageToday we talk about what makes a perfect DM.Here are some highlights of the show:EnergyUnique creativityAllowing the characters to do their own thingNot being harshMentioned in this episode:Signup for Our Email NewsletterDo you love the show but can't always listen to it? Do you prefer written content? Go to session0studios.com/newsletter/ and sign up to get weekly tips and tricks sent to your inbox so you can become the greatest DM the world has ever seen.Level Up GuideHire Us as Your Dungeon MasterDid you know that you can have one of our hosts here at How to Be a Better DM be your dungeon master? That’s right. All of our podcast hosts are professional dungeon masters that you can hire for your private or corporate dungeons and dragons game. We can do one-shots or long-term campaigns. If you want to schedule your first session with us, go to https://session0studios.com/dungeon-master-for-hire/ and get started. Dungeon Master for HireBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.

You face your aggressors stoically. They scoff at you and you feel the presence of one as he edges around to flank you from behind.“Leave me alone. I’ve never done anything to you guys,” you say.The older boy looks at you and then looks at his thug-like friends. “You’re a freak, an orcish freak. You always will be.” He then nods to his friends.You feel a rock hit you in your shoulder. It stings and you turn to look at the thrower. At the same time you feel a stick hit the back of your leg. You feel your knee buckle. You start to feel tears flow to your eyes. You throw one punch and land it on someone’s face. You immediately feel one then two then three fits hit you in differently places, You instinctually fall to the ground and ball yourself up. Despite your efforts, you still feel flashes of pain in your head, your gut, your spine. As the beating goes on, you realize they aren’t going to stop. You weakly whimper out a pathetic, “please..”Your eyes fade to black. You hear, “I can save you.”You don’t even question it. You respond, “please save me.”When you open your eyes, there are four bodies on the ground. Four young boys lie at your feet. Your hands are smoking and for once, you feel no fear.What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 27th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and today you and I are going on a journey. That’s right. We are going to explore what it takes to create amazing experiences for yourself and your players as you DM a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.  It’s going to be a back and forth and hopefully we each learn something.Before we go on, I’d like to invite you sign up for my monthly newsletter in which you’ll get access to behind the scenes content, bonus content, homebrew content and more. Sign up for this newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageIn the January issue of the newsletter you’ll get a special opportunity. There will be a link to sign up to play in a one-shot with me as your DM. It’s first come first serve so make sure to sign up fast. It’ll be a one-shot online and it should be a lot of fun… I hope. So sign up for that newsletter and let’s get to know each other.I also want to take a moment and share my gratitude with you. You’ve made this podcast possible and I just want to say thank you.Now why would you plan a session 0? What a great question.First, you should probably know what a session 0 is if you’ve never heard about it. I won’t go into too much detail here but a session 0 is a first session of a campaign where things aren’t completely set in stone. You get to play the characters before having to commit to them.So why would you plan a session 0?Well there are a few benefits.You can spend more time with each individual playerOne of the nice things about session 0’s is that you can split them up. For example, if you are having a campaign of 5 players, you can have a session 0 with 2 of them, 3 of them or even one of them. I don’t really recommend doing it with just one, but you could. You can have a session 0 with just 2 of your players which makes it more intimate and helps your player feel like you care about them and their character because you do.You can have your players play test their characterWe’ve all had players who’ve played a character that they weren’t really into that much. Playtesting during a session 0 allows your players to see what the features, spells, actions and abilities actually do in a live session. This changes it from, “That sounds really cool,” to “that was really useful and really cool.” I truly hate it later in the campaign when I start to wonder if a player is having fun. A session 0 can help them find the character they love and will have lots of fun playing.You can have your characters meet each otherOne of the biggest thorns in my side is figuring out a way to get the characters to meet each other without completely distrusting each other and somehow finally forming into an adventuring band. I don’t know why but it’s really hard for me. With a session 0 you can actually play the moment when 2 characters meet and become friends. This makes it easier when in session 1 you have all the characters meet and a few of them already know each other. Critical Role does this really well in their 2nd Campaign on Youtube. You can help set expectations before getting too farAs a DM you might have to train your players. This means you’ll probably have to help them understand that your campaign will likely take months and that it will be a commitment and that you expect them to give time and energy just as you will (though as the DM you will give way more). Obviously things change and people have to constantly be shifting their priorities which is ok. What isn’t ok is someone starting to be a flake on session 2. That’s not ok. You need to let them know that and any other expectations you have (such as no phones at the table or other rules you like to have).You can ask your players what sort of things they want from the campaignIt’s one thing to ask, “Do you want more combat, role-play or a mix of both?” and it’s another thing to have your players do a big role-play scene and then find out they don’t really like that. You can ask them real-time what sort of things they like and what they didn’t. This lets you tweak your campaign to fit what your players want.You can teach each player how to play their characterEach character will generally have a lot of bells and whistles. It will take some time learning how to play your character. Most players generally like to try new classes so if they had a barbarian last campaign they might try a spellcaster this campaign. That means they’ll have to learn a whole new set of rules. A session 0 is a nice way to gently introduce them to those new rules and help them learn how to play their character correctly. I’ve mentioned before the sorcerer who wanted to walk first into the dungeon. A session 0 is a great way to teach them sorcerer squishy get dead quick. That way, they don’t die in session 1.You can play out backstoryMaybe one of the coolest benefits of a session 0 is that you can actually play through part of the character’s back story. That way when your character tells the rest of the group that they met their warlock patron at a cookout for a local bardic group, the player actually knows the details. Using the session 0 to help the characters flesh out their backstory works the best when it features the reason the characters started adventuring. That way their motives are fresh in the players’ minds.Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Like always, I’m super appreciative of your patronage. I’m very grateful that you listen week in and week out.If you get a second, please leave a rating and review so that others can find this show.We’ll be back next week for another episode. Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Signup for Our Email NewsletterDo you love the show but can't always listen to it? Do you prefer written content? Go to session0studios.com/newsletter/ and sign up to get weekly tips and tricks sent to your inbox so you can become the greatest DM the world has ever seen.Level Up GuideBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Always Have Your Sessions Prepared!You work 8 hours a day. You spend time with your family when you come home. You do work around the house and it seems you never have as much time as you would like to prepare your D&D sessions. Does this sound like you? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have endless material prepared for your D&D sessions anyways? That’s where Roll and Play Press comes in. Roll and Play Press provides D&D 5e Compatible materials for any type of session. Running a one-shot? Check out their One Shot Wonders book with over 100 one-shot ideas. Getting started with your new sci-fi campaign? Get their Game Master’s Sci-Fi Toolkit to have your games much more prepared. Why reinvent the wheel? Check out Roll and Play Press at rollandplaypress.com and get 10% off when you buy something by using the code BETTERDM10. Roll and Play Press

You look around you. You see the circle of stones surrounding you. You see Judir watching you with his arms folded surrounded by your closest friends and companions. You take a deep breath and walk forward.“The winds whisper still,”Runic symbols appear on the stones of the circle.“The voices of the ancients.”You stand above the bowl with it’s red liquid.“And the mountains remember their steps.You bend over and pick up the bowl.“Their hearts beat still with the rhythm of our drums.”You raise the bowl to your lips.“And we dance to the rhythm of theirs.”You drink the liquid.“The storm carries the embrace of our elders as through us their memory lives on.”You open your eyes. You don’t remember closing them. You also don’t remember being so cold. You look around you. You are on the slope of a mountain. It’s snowing. You see the mountain peak. You see the dancing lights of the northern sky surrounding the mountain. You hear a faint drum beat and distant voices singing an ancient song.What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 26th episode of How to Be a Better DM. As always, I’m your host, Justin Lewis and together you and I will learn how to craft ever better stories for yourself and your friends as you DM a session of D&D 5e.Before I get to today’s show, let me make a few announcements.First of all, welcome to a brand spanking new year! I hope 2022 is everything you hope it will be for you and more. This year you will have amazing adventures that you can’t even fathom yet. You’ll have struggles and triumphs and I’m excited for you.Next I’d like to invite you to join us on those adventures. The best way to do that right now is to sign up for our monthly newsletter. You can do so on this link: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageWhen you sign up you’ll get access to behind-the-scenes content, special event links (like the one-shot I will be hosting, more on that in a second), and even access to homebrew content I make that you can test out and give me feedback on. As more and more people join the newsletter we’ll put more and more stuff in it. So go to the link here in the show notes and subscribe. As I mentioned, I’m going to DM a one-shot online for a handful of people. If you’re interested make sure to sign up for the newsletter and then look for the link to sign up for the one-shot there. It’ll be a fun experience and you’ll even get to give me feedback and be my critic :)I think that’s all the announcements … for now… so without further ado, let’s talk about barbarians.As I said last week, any person can play any class and still have fun. Your job as a DM though is to help shepherd your players to find the class that offers the experience any given player is looking for. That means you should know what each class is good for and what each class does not offer. Last week we talked about who should not play as a barbarian.This week, let’s look at who would have the most fun playing a barbarian.Someone who wants to be strongIf someone wants to be strong, then a barbarian class is a great fit. You get a natural bonus to strength and while you are raging you get advantage on strength checks. So if your player is looking to be the beefy fella at the gym that everyone stares at, then a barbarian is the way to go.Someone who wants to be up-close-and-personalBarbarians, while being able to throw javelins and use ranged weapons, are not known for being ranges combatants. In fact their rage only gives them a bonus if they are using melee weapons. Most barbarians therefore tend to stay close to their enemies in order to get in there and whack em real good.Someone looking for simple combat turnsMost barbarian turns are comprised of movement, rage, attack. As you level up, that attack action allows you to attack more than once. You may find magical items that allow you to do more on your turn, however talking just about the class itself, a barbarian’s combat turn is relatively simple compared to other classes. This makes it a great option for someone who doesn’t want to have to write their whole turn down just to remember it.Someone who enjoys describing combatObviously any class can do this, but because a barbarian’s combat turn is very simple it allows for more time to craft intricate embellishments of attack options. Even as a DM you can do this for your player if they are somewhat shy or un-descriptive. For example. Your player might say, “I attack the gnoll.” They then roll and roll a 18 which is a hit. You ask them to roll damage. They roll 7 points of damage. You can then narrate it like, “Yolanda pulls back her great club in her right hand and with her left shoves the gnolls shield out of the way so she can get a good crack right under its ribs forcing it to send out a hyena like yip yip yip as Yolanda growls in triumph”. Now let me assure I am not that eloquent in my actual games but you get the idea. Feel free to encourage embellishments like that at the table, especially for players whose turns seem really short compared to other players.Someone who is naturally boldBarbarians are somewhat known for rushing into situations without thinking them out completely. If you have a player who tends to play like this no matter what type of character they are, then maybe lead them toward choosing a barbarian so that their character doesn’t seem so out of character sometimes. Someone who wants to be able to take a hitWith rage, and especially the totem warrior whose chosen one of the bear options and gets resistant to almost all types of damage, you get to reduce the amount of damage you take from most weapons by half. Add to that the fact that barbarians generally have much more health than other classes and you get a pretty tanky character. Other classes might have higher armor class, but a barbarian can take a ridiculous amount of damage and still keep fighting. Someone who isn’t yet aware of the consequences of actionsBecause a barbarian can take a punch and still keep going it’s a great choice for a newer player who hasn’t yet realized you can’t just go in guns-a-blazin everywhere you go. If you have a sorcerer who thinks they can be the first one walking into a dungeon, they will probably die. That exact thing happened in my group when we started and now that sorcerer is in the back and the barbarian goes first. There’s a lot more room for error.Now you know who to help choose a barbarian. As I’ve said probably 3 or 4 times before, any player can play any character. We are just trying to give each player the highest chance of having as much fun as possible.But what do you think?Are there other players that should play a barbarian?Tell your thoughts and experiences DMing by sending me a direct message on Instagram @geronimolevis and let’s get talking.Thank you so much for listening to another episode. Seriously if you have any feedback please let me know what you think or any other topics you’d like to hear. Please leave a rating and review wherever you listen to this, on Spotify, Apple Podcast or Google Podcasts. That would go super far in helping other DM’s find this resource.We’ll be back next week for another awesome episode, but until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Today’s music:Viking God Wisdom - Ean GrimmViking music (Epic battle music) - EPIC MUSIC NO COPYRIGHT - Medieval music 1 hour mixMentioned in this episode:Signup for Our Email NewsletterDo you love the show but can't always listen to it? Do you prefer written content? Go to session0studios.com/newsletter/ and sign up to get weekly tips and tricks sent to your inbox so you can become the greatest DM the world has ever seen.Level Up GuideAdd the Magic of Sound to Your GameplayWhen you set the scene you need to tap into the five senses. When it comes to sound one of the best ways to do that is with music, sound effects, and ambience. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Monument Studios. Monument Studios provides an easy-to-use Soundboard perfect for Dungeon Mastering. If you want to see this in action, go to fantasy-plus.com and get 10% off of your first month of their Fantasy+ App by using the code BETTERDM at check out. Again that is fantasy-plus.com and BETTERDM at checkout. Monument StudiosBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.

You and your companions finally crest the hill. Judir said it wouldn’t be far and it wasn’t.He leads you all through a small copse of trees to an overlook with large stones in a circle.“Ulv, you stand in the center of the ring. The rest of you, sit down and witness.” Judir says with a tone of finality.You give each of your party members a meaningful glance and then move to the center of the ring as your friends sit down on the ground outside the ring of stone.Judir walks up to you and pulls your pack off of your back. He then beckons for you to remove your shirt. He take is all out of the ring. He comes back and now has a small bowl in his hand. He dips his finger in the bowl and then begins moving the finger along your face, neck and arms. He’s painting something.“You will be completely alone. Your friends won’t be able to help you and neither will I. Once you start the ritual, you have to finish it… or it will kill you. Now is your last chance to change your mind. After this there is no going back.” Judir turns his back on you without letting you answer. He moves a few feet away and places a bowl on the ground, uncorks a cask and pours a liquid into the bowl and then sprinkles some powder into it. He then walks to outside of the circle and says, “Drink the liquid and say the words to begin.”What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 25th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and I’m here to help you craft more compelling stories for yourself and your friends as you DM a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.I hope you all had an amazing Christmas with you and your family. See, that’s what it’s all about, family. I hope you and your family had an amazing Christmas and maybe even had some fun playing games like D&D.Next, I’d like to remind you to sign up for my monthly newsletter starting in January. You’ll get access to behind the scenes content, access to homebrew items, game hooks and one-shots and even the ability to sign up to play a one shot with me and some other cool cats! If you want to sign up for this awesome newsletter, sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageNow, a few weeks ago we talked about who should and shouldn’t play a rogue. Well, we’re continuing our discussion today with who shouldn’t play a barbarian!Aside from the wizard and the fighter, a barbarian might be the quintessential D&D class. When people think D&D, they think wizard, fighter and barbarian. But not everyone is cut out to enjoy a barbarian.Like I’ve said before, anyone can play any class. Period. But each class offers different experiences and if you’re looking for the following experiences, you won’t want to play a barbarian.You want to avoid getting hitBarbarians have the ability to halve a lot of damage types when they are raging. This means they are ideal to be up front and center in most fights. Being a barbarian generally means you are the spearhead in most fights. So if you are shy around getting hit by weapons, you might not want to play a barbarian. You enjoy complicated combat turnsIn D&D the only true limitation is your imagination! That said, unlike monks who can punch like 15 times a turn or sorcerer’s who can cast like 15 spells, as a barbarian, you generally whack. When you get higher levels, you can whack whack, and later even whack whack whack. Oh and don’t forget to RAGE!! Yeah that’s generally how your turns will go: Rage, move, attack. Sometimes you’ll do a strength check or stuff like that but compared to the other classes, a barbarian has a relatively simple action economy.You Want to Be a Ranged CombatantAs a barbarian, you will naturally get a bonus to your strength. As well you get a bonus because of rage to your melee attacks. Put these two together and choosing to fight with mostly ranged weapons is seriously foregoing a large part of the class. Being the Absolute SmartestUnlike the other more academic classes (your wizard or your bard), the barbarian is not known for their powers of intellect. I’m not saying you can’t have a tremendously intelligent barbarian, but I am saying in character creation we each make choices. There are tradeoffs. As a barbarian, you will likely prioritize strength and other physical characteristics. So get used to showing off your muscles and not your brains… usually. Don’t like to be High EnergyIf you want to play a character that is generally calm and smooth and relaxed, then a barbarian might not be for you. One of the central pillars of being a barbarian is the rage. So naturally, your character will often be enraged. This means that your character will probably have lots of energy and get angry, at least part of the time. So there you have it. If you want these experiences, don’t be a barbarian. Now one thing to remember is that these are the general principles of being a barbarian. It may be a really cool character to buck the trope and instead do something opposite. For example, you have a mild mannered person who gets incredibly angry. Or maybe you have a very high energy character who when they rage get very calm, serious and deliberate. All of these could be fun ways to twist the trope. But it has to make sense. Thank you guys for listening to today’s show. I really appreciate all the support you shown me. Don’t forget, if you want to play a one-shot with me as you DM sign up for the newsletter and then sign up for the one shot in January’s Newsletter. If you have any suggestions or comments about the show, send me a direct message on Instagram @geronimolevis I look forward to starting up the conversation with you.We’ll be back next week for another great episode. Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Also, if you liked the music at the beginning of today's show, then head on over to Instagram and send a thank you to @caydmusic and tell him you loved his music!Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Signup for Our Email NewsletterDo you love the show but can't always listen to it? Do you prefer written content? Go to session0studios.com/newsletter/ and sign up to get weekly tips and tricks sent to your inbox so you can become the greatest DM the world has ever seen.Level Up GuideListen to Our New PodcastAs a listener of this show, you obviously love story. Now that you’ve learned how to craft your own story on this show, wouldn’t it be nice to have some inspiration? Or maybe just a moment of immersion and escape? Then come join us in our new Actual Play D&D 5e show, Pact and Boon. Enter the World of Calignos where our characters, Jolly, Wolfgang and Alon will meet each other in Hell. Enjoy our troublemaking and near-death experiences wherever great podcasts are heard. Just go to session0studios.com/pactnboon and start listening today.

You finish pouring the elf’s blood in a circle in the prescribed way. “Hey Bolgir, are you sure we’re supposed to do it this way? Doesn’t this seem uh…. Somewhat uh… hellish to you?”Your dwarven wizard pauses and looks at you and says, “Well, honestly yes, but this is what that cooky wizard, Kamere, said when we were at that council meeting. It’s even here on his shopping list he gave us.”You smile. That parchment did indeed look like a shopping list.Bolgir steps to the center of the bloody circle and looks toward the arch of uncut stones. He mutters a few words and smacks his hands together. The space under the arch splits as if reality itself were torn. The rift widens and soon you see a large figure step through. They had dark blood red garb trimmed with stark white fur. You hear a tremendous laugh, deep and imposing. You feel a gravity that accompanies those of great power. It’s then that you notice the scenery through the right behind the figure. You expected to see the bright colors of the Feywilds. Instead you see the dark hues of Shadowfell. You then notice the figures eyes glowing blood read.“Bolgir, I think we’ve made a mistak….”Instantly you are blasted with a wave of power as the red-clad figure blasts you and your companions and then bounds off towards the village. You and your companions raise yourselves to your feet.What would you like to do now?Welcome back to the 24th episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and I’m here to help you craft better stories for yourself and your friends as you DM a session of D&D 5e. First of all, Merry Christmas! I sincerely hope that this holiday season sees you surrounded by loved ones and filled with joy.Second, I’d like to invite you sign up for a monthly newsletter I am going be publishing starting in January. The newsletter will include updates from the H2BBDM team as well as bonus content, behind the scenes looks and access to Homebrew content created by me! A little teaser of what you might get this January is access to a new item I created called the Gym Bag. If you want to know what it does, sign up for the newsletter at :https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageThirdly, would you like to join a session of D&D with me? I’ll be your DM for a one-shot online. I’ll be looking for five people to sign up for a fun one-shot on a first-come-first-serve basis. How do you sign up you ask? Well sign up for the newsletter and then in January you’ll get the sign up link right to your inbox. I’ll tell you right now, I got a few interested people already so be quick or you lose your chance :)Now, in honor of this festive season, here are 2 Christmas themed one-shot or side quest ideas for you to celebrate the season. The Search for the Prophesied ChildThis one shot starts with your adventurers arriving in a foreign port after having been charged by a benevolent mage-king to find and bring special gifts to, a prophesied child of great power. The whole side-quest will take place in a kingdom that is at war with the Kingdom to which the benevolent mage-king belongs, therefore he needs adventurers to go incognito to find the child.At the foreign port, along with any other tasks the adventurers want to handle, they must first find a guide to take them through the desert to the region that is prophesied as the site of the child’s birth. I would give them a couple options, each with consequences, for example. One group might find a desert guide name Yosran who is a large Dragonborne, but is secretly a spy for the malevolent kingdom. If the group travels with Yosran, there is a large chance that they will be stopped by enemy legionnaires. The next challenge is for the group to travel through the desert. This will encompass survival checks, random encounters if you want, and possibly even some planned encounters such as fighting a cloud giant. Finally the group will find the child, and in a true Christmas-3-kings-vibe, will present the gifts to the child and their parents.The last challenge will be to help the child escape when it is found out that a large army of soldiers has been sent to kill the child. If it’s a one-shot, it might be cool to have the heroes give their lives fighting the army 300-Style so the babe and it’s parents can escape. I would plan another method for escape though because your players may not like that option. Having a diversion and a secret escape where the group only needs to content with a handful of soldiers is a great option too. The end of the one-shot may feature the heroes returning to the mage-king brining the prophesied child and it’s parents to explore a bright new future, or something like that.Full of Christmas FearThis Christmas one-shot is all about spreading Christmas cheer, until things go really wrong. The group will start out being summoned by the council of one of the big cities. They appear and the council makes the case that things have been very dreary lately. The council has decided that they need to brighten the city’s spirit. To do this, they have decided to hire the adventuring group to summon a great fey spirit of immense power to bring cheer and joy to the city. A wizard then gets up and explains how to summon the spirit. The wizard is incredibly old and misremembers many things. He eventually gives the group a list of things and says this is what you need. You also need to travel to a specific place (probably Christmas related) and perform a special ceremony. He then gives the group everything they need except for 2 things on the list. Each item can be harvested by enemies (for example, Hags hair from a hag, Ice Giant’s white hair, etc.). These become the encounters. The group then makes their way to the ritual location where the enact the ritual. A red rift opens up letting in flurries of whimsical snow. Out steps a large red-clad individual who laughs a deep laugh. The group thinks it’s Santa Claus, that is until they peer past the individual into the realm behind him and see not the Feywild but Shadowfel. The Creature then sends blast of power at the party and then runs. The group then can reexamine the note and realize that they misread the handwriting for one of the items. They’ve summoned a Shadow Claus instead of  Santa Claus.Now they just find him and destroy him before he possesses the children of a neighboring village.Well there you have it, 2 Christmas themed one-shots of side-quests.I hope they help make your season bright and life your spirits.I want to say thank you for your support this year. Next year I look forward to helping you create ever better stories for you and your D&D sessions. Don’t forget, if you want to play a one-shot with me, sign up for the newsletter and then use the link in the January Newsletter to sign up to play a one-shot with me. I look forward to next week but until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Hire Us as Your Dungeon MasterDid you know that you can have one of our hosts here at How to Be a Better DM be your dungeon master? That’s right. All of our podcast hosts are professional dungeon masters that you can hire for your private or corporate dungeons and dragons game. We can do one-shots or long-term campaigns. If you want to schedule your first session with us, go to https://session0studios.com/dungeon-master-for-hire/ and get started. Dungeon Master for HireFollow us on InstagramThanks again for listening to our show. If you like our content and would like to engage with more of our content, head over to our Instagram account, @howtobeabetterdm, and give us a follow. Make sure to watch some of our helpful Dungeon Master Rules videos to give yourself some structure and procedure as a Dungeon Master. Don’t forget to reach out with a DM and we can talk shop. https://www.instagram.com/howtobeabetterdmpodcast/

Can You Play D&D with 2 PlayersWelcome back to the 23rd episode How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and I’m here to help you craft more immersive stories for yourself and your players as you DM a session of D&D 5e.Thanks for coming back week in and week out to listen to this show. I am extremely grateful to you for your support. I’d like to invite you to sign up for a monthly newsletter I’ll send out with updates and behind the scenes content as well as free home brew content that you can try in your campaigns. If you would like to sign up for that, click this link: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageSo, you are wondering, can you play D&D with 2 players?Simple answer: Yes.But how do you make it incredibly fun?Here’s how.Make sure you create a character as the DMPlaying with just one player is a great opportunity to make your own character as the DM. You’ll have fun being a player and it will give you a great chance to focus on your role-playing skills as well. You just need to make sure that your player is the star and has just as much fun as you do.Make the sessions much looser.Having one player makes it much easier to follow every single side quest of your player. This means that you can follow every rabbit hole and improvise without worrying about making sure each player gets fair time.Dive deep into the back storyWith one player you can work deeply on their backstory. You can spend much more time working with your player on hashing out their character’s quirks and really generating a backstory with twists and turns that your player will enjoy.Don’t focus on long sessionsWith just one other player you won’t want to expect extremely long sessions. If you do your job and make the sessions really fun then you’ll have no problem doing long sessions but with two people it might get stale. Be prepared to be flexible with how long you and your player play.Make sure you and your player get alongBecause there will be just one other person at the table, you have to make sure that you and that person can get along for hours and hours and hours. Because theoretically, that’s how long you and your player will be playing. So take some time and get to know your player. If it’s an acquaintance, don’t give the expectation of a long campaign. You should also hang out with that individual for some period of time, just to make sure you get along.Spend extra time learning loreAs a DM of only one player, you have the opportunity to delve deeper into the lore of your campaign. This allows you to offer more immersive experiences whenever your player asks you interesting questions about the lore. When you give your player a deeper answer to a question about the lore it will help immerse the player and give them an experience they won’t forget.Make every NPC A Real CharacterBecause there are only a few real people sitting at the table, every NPC will have to feel like a real person. You’ll have to spend extra effort and energy in making each NPC a true character with quirks, traits, and funny characteristics that are memorable. Spend time giving the NPC’s layers. Doing so will help you and your player feel like you are surrounded by more people.There you have it. You can play with just two players and here’s how you do it.Thanks for listening to today’s show. I really appreciate your support and would like to invite you to reach out to me with any ideas you have for the show or just to tell me how your DMing is going. Reach out to me @geronimolevis on Instagram and let’s get the conversation started.We’ll be back next week for another great episode. Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Always Have Your Sessions Prepared!You work 8 hours a day. You spend time with your family when you come home. You do work around the house and it seems you never have as much time as you would like to prepare your D&D sessions. Does this sound like you? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have endless material prepared for your D&D sessions anyways? That’s where Roll and Play Press comes in. Roll and Play Press provides D&D 5e Compatible materials for any type of session. Running a one-shot? Check out their One Shot Wonders book with over 100 one-shot ideas. Getting started with your new sci-fi campaign? Get their Game Master’s Sci-Fi Toolkit to have your games much more prepared. Why reinvent the wheel? Check out Roll and Play Press at rollandplaypress.com and get 10% off when you buy something by using the code BETTERDM10. Roll and Play PressFollow us on InstagramThanks again for listening to our show. If you like our content and would like to engage with more of our content, head over to our Instagram account, @howtobeabetterdm, and give us a follow. Make sure to watch some of our helpful Dungeon Master Rules videos to give yourself some structure and procedure as a Dungeon Master. Don’t forget to reach out with a DM and we can talk shop. https://www.instagram.com/howtobeabetterdmpodcast/Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.

“Well what do you think?” Geva asks you. You steeple your fingers and think for a moment. “They’re all a very interesting lot aren’t they?” you ask.“Yes but who would you want be stuck on a ship with for months at a time?” responds the ever wise Geva.“Well, there is Imora. I think having a tabaxi on the ship would be useful, though we’ll have to do something about her antipathy towards tieflings if we’re going to have her work with Heresiel. I was also impressed with Rudruguk. His strength will come in handy should we come in contact with pirates. He might be a discipline problem though. I’ve asked around and that half-orc loves his strong drink. Lastly, there’s Wupreha. Having a priest on board would be very useful, even though he is a primal priest of Ossus.”“What about System?”“The war forged? I don’t know how well he’ll fare on a voyage in the open sea. From what I heard, he’s somewhat unstable, even though he is a genius when it comes to woodworking, metalworking and engineering.”Geva smiles and says, “Looks like you’ve got a choice to make captain.”So what would you like to do?Welcome back to the 22nd episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and I am happy to be back with you guys this week. As always you and I are going on a journey to craft more engaging stories for yourself and your players while you DM a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.First thing I want to say is that there are cool things in the works! I know that’s super vague, but I don’t want to spill the beans before it’s a sure thing. Let me just say, I’m working on getting great people on my team and that’s all I’m gonna say :)Now second thing, I’d like to invite you to sign up for a monthly newsletter I’ll send out with updates and behind the scenes content as well as free home brew content that you can try in your campaigns. If you would like to sign up for that, click this link: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-pageNow that I have done all my selfish self-serving announcing (wink wink) let’s talk about making NPC’s. Every game is filled with hundreds of NPC’s. From the poor shopkeeper to the ruthless arch villain ruining the universe, you will have to create NPC’s to move your story along and to give your players what their characters need.So how exactly do you create a good NPC?We’ll here are some questions to ask yourself to help you do just that?What is the purpose of this NPC?I found myself falling into the trap recently with my own campaign of thinking, “I need to put in an NPC at this castle that they’ll meet and Journey with for sometime.” I never asked myself the question of this NPC’s purpose. So after I did, I realized their purpose was threefold: 1. To give vital information about the plot and help solidify the players’ desire to defeat the bad guys 2. To be a light hearted little-brother type character and give the group some comedy relief 3. Eventually die and make the group all sad that he died (oops, spoiler alert!). Answering this question has already helped me identify a lot about how the character will act. When you answer this question you won’t have those useless NPC’s that seem random. Instead, everything will feel necessary.How impactful is this NPC supposed to be on the story?The answer to this question will help you determine how in depth the answers to the rest of the questions need to be. In the case of a small shopkeeper the party meets when they are level one, the answer will likely be that they are of little impact. That means you mostly need to just make the one encounter the party has with them fun and sensical. On the other hand if the answer is the NPC will be very impactful, then you need to understand that NPC! A little word of warning though, your players also get a vote on who is impactful and who isn’t. Just be prepared to make things up on the fly if your players start asking about the back story of the one hobo in the village.What emotion should this NPC cause?This question goes hand in hand with the first question. I believe every NPC should make the players feel some emotion. Sometimes that emotion is comedy, and other times it’s a deep loathing that lasts long after the session is over. Heck, the emotion could even be boredom if you’re wanted to players to move on with the story (though I wouldn’t recommend that most of the time). Whenever we meet people in real life they act and we react, often with emotions. Our NPC’s should mirror that experience.Who will be interacting with this NPC?NPC’s don’t stand alone in the story. They exist specifically to interact, whether directly or indirectly, with your players’ characters. Therefore, who the NPC’s interact with is important. It’s important because it will determine how they act, what the NPC must know and do and what the NPC wants. If one of your player’s characters is a rogue who has an assassin mentor that no one else in the group will ever meet, that NPC can act very differently toward the rogue than if they were to interact with the whole group.What does this NPC care about?If you are making things up on the fly about NPC’s, then this is the first question you need to answer. Just as with murder, no one does anything without a motive. So why does the shopkeeper want the highest price for their health potions? Are they greedy? Do they have a family to feed? Do they enjoy the back and forth of negotiations? Are they concerned about making rent? Do they love the thrill of enterprise? All of these questions paint the NPC in a different color and tell you how to play them. It also makes them much more interesting.There you have it. 5 questions to ask when you are making an NPC. There are only 5 questions here so if you think of any more reach out to me on Instagram @geronimolevis and tell me your thoughts!Again, I thank you all for your support and ratings and reviews and I wish you happy holidays. I’ll talk to you next week but until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Follow us on InstagramThanks again for listening to our show. If you like our content and would like to engage with more of our content, head over to our Instagram account, @howtobeabetterdm, and give us a follow. Make sure to watch some of our helpful Dungeon Master Rules videos to give yourself some structure and procedure as a Dungeon Master. Don’t forget to reach out with a DM and we can talk shop. https://www.instagram.com/howtobeabetterdmpodcast/Add the Magic of Sound to Your GameplayWhen you set the scene you need to tap into the five senses. When it comes to sound one of the best ways to do that is with music, sound effects, and ambience. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Monument Studios. Monument Studios provides an easy-to-use Soundboard perfect for Dungeon Mastering. If you want to see this in action, go to fantasy-plus.com and get 10% off of your first month of their Fantasy+ App by using the code BETTERDM at check out. Again that is fantasy-plus.com and BETTERDM at checkout. Monument StudiosBrought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.

“What is happening to you Gardo Yic Hama?” you ask in your steady voice.The old svirfneblin looks up at you and a single tear slides down his face.“I’m dying.” He pauses to cough a little. You hold a handkerchief to his mouth and dab a little blood that had escaped. “Soon I will be gone.”You look at his chest where a blade had impaled the deep gnome. You look at the two Drow warriors who had ambushed you both. You were able to dispatch them but Gardo Yic Haima was mortally wounded.“But I have so much to learn from you Gardo Yic Haima.”The gnome smiles and says, “As I told you, call me father.”“Father Gardo Yic Haima, I do not know what to do without you.”The Svirfneblin points up and says, “Follow your prime directive [cough cough]. Relieve suffering. Go to the surface. There you will find more people who need relief. Learn what you can and find out how to relieve as much suffering as possible. I am so proud of you. Though you are not flesh and blood… I still consider you my family. Good luck… Prophet….” And with that the eyes of the old gnomish face unfocus and a last breath escapes from his lips. You sit there cradling the head of the gnome in silence.Moments pass and then you stand and look at your hands. They are purplish metal. “I am to relieve suffering.” you say. What would you like to do?Welcome back to the 21st episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and I’m here to help you craft more memorable stories as you dungeon master a nice session of Dungeons & Dragons 5e.First thing I want to do is give a quick shoutout to Reid Cardwell who reached out to me on Instagram just to say hi! Reid, if you’re listening, thanks for reaching out and I wish you luck on your next campaign.If you, like Reid want to reach out and say, “What’s up?” then send me a message on instagram @geronimolevis . I look forward to hearing from you.Next, I want to remind that I am coming out with a Patreon pretty soon. We’ll give you the opportunity to get shoutouts on the show, get access to bonus content and early access to these episodes, and even access to beta test homebrew content that I create! If you have any other ideas of stuff you want from the Patreon, send me your ideas on Instagram @geronimolevis . Alright, that’s enough announcements for one day right.Let’s talk about making your stories better. Because that’s what they are. Stories. D&D is just the continuation of one of the longest forms of entertainment in history, so luckily there are many resources  that help us craft better stories that aren’t D&D related. If we could only use D&D stuff, I think the game would get pretty stale pretty fast. Instead, you can find inspiration from all sorts of place and so here are my top Non-D&D DM ResourcesPodcastsFor the busy man or woman on the go, almost nothing is easier than consuming a podcast or audiobook through your earbuds or car stereo system. Even while washing the dishes you can listen to great podcasts about how to craft amazing stories. I even like to listen to a lot of my favorite tabletop play-through campaigns in podcast format because I’m not always in front of Youtube. Writing ExcusesSpecifically I would encourage you to listen to a show called Writing Excuses. It features a handful of authors all talking about how to write better stories. If you want to be a great DM, then learn to write great stories. I like Writing Excuses in part because it features one of my favorite authors of all time, Brandon Sanderson. I also like Writing Excuses because it demystifies the writing process. We read stories like Mistborn or Harry Potter and feel the magic of the story and mistakenly believe that the story just happened. Not so. Instead it’s the great result of a long process. The same goes for your Dungeons and Dragons stories. You’ll need to grow skills and workshop many things before you are a legendary DM.Audible / LibraryAs I’ve already said, listening to books or podcasts is a very powerful tool. You already know this because you are listening to me right now.  But I specifically like apps like Overdrive and Audible because it gives you access to so many types of books. Audible is great because you and own the books you buy. Overdrive, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it might be even better because you can listen to so many books despite your budget. Overdrive is an app that connects with your local library system to allow you access to audiobooks most times at no cost to you. You just need a library card. So get these apps and start consuming many different types of stories. At first you’ll be able to emulate what you listen to in your D&D stories. Then after a while you’ll create new and imaginative stories.Instagram I love Instagram a lot because there is so much free inspiring content on there. I find a lot of profiles that put out homebrew items, supplemental races and classes and even Game Hook Inspiration. One profile that I like is @criticaldice because they put out awesome Game Hooks which can inspire amazing one-shots. If you ever need an idea for your next session just check them out and you’re bound to find something crazy and entertaining.YoutubeWe all know that Youtube is basically the University of Learning Whatever. In fact, they should make that their tagline and sell T-Shirts with that on it because it’s so true. That means you can find other great creators putting out great content about how to be a great DM (just like my show) on Youtube.Black Magic CraftI specifically would like to make mention of Black Magic Craft here because for me personally, he gave me a lot of inspiration in building the terrain that I use (and no my terrain is not perfect) and really helped me get excited about my sessions during times when I wasn’t. Go check him out if you’re into the DIY Tabletop terrain space. Now there are so many resources out there that I obviously can’t cover them in one podcast episode. So maybe we’ll do another one in the future. At any rate, make sure you reach out to me with any ideas you have for that future episode. Send your ideas to @geronimolevis and let’s have a great time chatting.Next, I’d like to ask for a very special favor. Please leave a rating and review on the show wherever you are listening. I would appreciate it so much and want to be able to put out even more content and a review would help that happen.That’s it from me my friends. As always, we’ll talk next week.Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Listen to Our New PodcastAs a listener of this show, you obviously love story. Now that you’ve learned how to craft your own story on this show, wouldn’t it be nice to have some inspiration? Or maybe just a moment of immersion and escape? Then come join us in our new Actual Play D&D 5e show, Pact and Boon. Enter the World of Calignos where our characters, Jolly, Wolfgang and Alon will meet each other in Hell. Enjoy our troublemaking and near-death experiences wherever great podcasts are heard. Just go to session0studios.com/pactnboon and start listening today. Brought to you by Session 0 StudiosVisit session0studios.com for more information.Follow us on InstagramThanks again for listening to our show. If you like our content and would like to engage with more of our content, head over to our Instagram account, @howtobeabetterdm, and give us a follow. Make sure to watch some of our helpful Dungeon Master Rules videos to give yourself some structure and procedure as a Dungeon Master. Don’t forget to reach out with a DM and we can talk shop. https://www.instagram.com/howtobeabetterdmpodcast/