Welcome to How to Be a Better DM, the official podcast of Monsters.Rent. I’m your host today, Justin Lewis, and together we are going to talk about how to improve your gameplay both from a mechanical and storytelling point of view.Today, I’m excited to talk about an aspect of the game that for me holds a lot of interest and for a lot of people can be a rich source of story elements and intrigue. At the same time, for other people it can be completely boring, and possibly offputting. I’m talking about Gods, faith and religion.Before I get into the rest of today’s episode, I want to take a moment to talk about The Guild. For those of you who don’t know, the Guild is our unique membership for dungeon masters. It allows you to connect with other DMs like yourself and get access to a library of video courses and downloadable resources for your gameplay. Oh and it’s 100% free. I hope you’ll join us there, so go to monsters.rent/get-started and scroll all the way to the bottom.Table ComfortNow, the very first thing you need to do is assess your table’s comfort level with the topics of God, Religion, and Faith. In some cases, you’ll have a natural understanding. In my case, a few members of my table are also members of my faith, so I knew that they would be ok having some of those topics in the game. In other circumstances, it would be a smart idea to ask if the table is alright with those themes and topics being in the game. In most D&D settings, having a mystical god or gods is all part and parcel to the game, but depending on how your players feel about it, then you might want to tread lightly. Some games might be focused on the path of divinity, others might have gods as simply an afterthought. No matter what you do, you want to avoid these two mistakes.Avoid Pushing ReligionSaying this as a religious person, you absolutely do not want to turn your D&D sessions into sermons. I know you’re probably thinking that that would kind of be funny, and it might, but honestly, you don’t want to force players into roleplaying something they don’t want to roleplay. A person’s faith is a very personal thing, and if someone is not a person of faith, religion or Diety, then they don’t have to be even in a make-believe world.Avoid Making A Farce of ReligionOn the other side of the coin, you definitely don’t want to make fun of religion and make it appear as something that is farcical. Even though your players may be ok with it, it’s best not to form bad habits because there will come a time when you sit down to play at a table with someone who cares, and then you’ll make the slip up of a lifetime. Best to avoid those big mistakes. Extend the same consideration and courtesy you would to any other sort of way of life.Now, with your players on board for having Gods be an active part of the game, let’s talk about some other questions you need to ask. These questions apply to both homebrew settings and settings that are prewritten, but the questions will apply a little differently to each. How Involved Will Your Gods BeThe first question that you need to ask is how involved will Godhood (god or gods) be in your setting or game. This is important because if they won’t even matter, then you likely don’t need anything else in this episode. I’d still recommend listening to the end because you never know when a player might ask you a question or make a choice that will make the gods much more involved.In different settings, Gods behave differently. In some games, Gods are active members of the universe, granting divine boons with ease. In other settings, Gods are basically hidden from sight, deigning not to intervene with their followers’ lives. It’s important that you know which type of setting yours is and how the Gods will interact with players and NPCs alike. Really, the interaction of Gods falls on a spectrum with an asterisk. The spectrum is set up with very involved on the left and not involved at all on the right. The asterisk stipulates that the spectrum can describe the entire setting and the involvement of each individual deity.  An entire pantheon can be relatively involved with one or two being basically inactive. Or you could have the inverse where the pantheon is basically a non-entity with one or two who are trying to control the universe. Both instances can make for a very fun campaign.Interactions with PlayersUnless you have players who make clerics or paladins you don’t necessarily need to have the gods or god interact with your players. In fact, you could make a case for why your god doesn’t interact with the devoted paladin or cleric. But if you do have gods who interact with players you need to know how involved the gods will be with those players. Will the god in question have multiple role playing scenes face to face with the player? If they did would that be normal for the player or the god? Each of these choices has impacts on the story and you should definitely help your players realize when something special is happening. Will your players know that it is a god they are interacting with? Maybe your deity has decided to be a beneficial patron of the player but will not show themselves. The players then may draw the conclusion that a wealthy land owner has decided to show them favor. Sometimes you’ll need to realize that if one God is involved, like very involved, then that might push another deity who is at odds with the one helping the party to get involved. You might put your party in between a turf war of two gods. That could make for a pretty epic campaign. I would say that you need to set some pretty simple yet clear guidelines for yourself on what the party members can expect from a deity. Do they hear whisperings of advice when the player has no idea what to do? Or does God just show up in a brief Vision and explain that a certain task needs doing? When you have established your “rules” for how Gods interact with players, then you get to occasionally break them, which becomes a very fun Plot device.Will You Have One God or ManyThis question is more about the setting than the individual player interactions. Is your pantheon filled with numerous gods, only a handful or just one? This question naturally morphs into other considerations. For example, if your pantheon is filled with multiple gods, then the likelihood of all of the Gods having omniscience goes way down. Having 7 beings who all know everything that is happened yet have cross purposes becomes very difficult to handle very fast. Or, the gods just know everything to the point that the don’t really do anything against each other so then the Gods become more observers than actors. I suppose you probably could figure out a way to make it work, but I haven’t.If you have one God, it’s much more possible for them to have omniscience, but having them favor certain things becomes more difficult. Either the God is the God of everything or for some reason your God just very partial to only a few things, like they’ve decided to be the God of the harvest, but there are no other gods. That could make for a very silly setting or one that just doesn’t make sense. With this question also comes the question of whether or not the characters and the world at large even know about all of the Gods. It might make a fascinating campaign if there are a slew of gods that hide from the world.Is Your God Good, Neutral or EvilNow, that you’ve come up with the number of gods that will populate your pantheon, you need to decide whether or not they will be good, neutral, or evil. You also need to decide whether the gods will actively fight against each other or will they be friendly towards each other and, even if they are somewhat antagonistic towards one another, they’ll still be somewhat friendly? Let’s take an example. Let’s make up two gods. We have Ordos and Sruptos, the good god of order and the evil god of chaos respectively.In your setting, will Ordos and Sruptos be battling each other, to the death if possible? Or will they, by nature of the invincibility of Gods, be forced to be cordial and respectful to each other, using mortals as pieces on a game board rather than soldier in a battle? All of these questions add to the narrative and help you know how to bend and twist the story.If you have multiple gods, then it is common to have gods who have all sorts of alignments. If you have only one god, then alignment isn’t really useful, unless it is pivotal to the story. For example, if you only have one god, but that God just so happens to be evil, that could be the genesis for a very interesting campaign setting. I’d imagine that the God has some sort of rules that prohibit them from taken certain actions, which allows the characters to still choose to be Good if they want, or the entire cosmos is evil and everything just works within those parameters.As you can see, how God’s act and react shapes in very large ways how your story goes.Can Gods be Killed?Now, I just brought up a point that forces us to think about these next two questions: 1. Can Gods be killed? And 2. Can anyone become a god?In the previous example of Ordos and Sruptos, I explained that they might have to treat each other like game partners because they can’t kill each other. The fact that both are invincible is very important because it explains why they would want to be nice to each other. They are essentially stuck with each other forever.So in your campaign, you need to decide early on if Gods can be killed. It may be that that turns out to be the secret quest of one of your players. They want revenge on one of the Gods because they let their wife die or something like that. That can become a very epic story very quickly. You could also take the opposite approach and show that the God’s cannot be killed. In the same story of a player who wants revenge, the entire story could be about the God trying to gain back the trust of the vengeful player, while also explaining that they can’t be killed. The DM could even throw in some touching moments where the God explains that he’s tried to kill himself but it didn’t work.If gods can be killed then you need to start figuring out what does and doesn’t kill a god. As I’ve already mentioned, that means that you also need to figure out why any other gods haven’t already tried killing their rivals. In most cases, God Killing will be a very difficult task. In many ancient mythologies, Gods were “killed” but if their body parts were reunited, the God was essentially brought back to life. In other fantasy settings, like Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere, when a “god” dies, their power essentially either rests on the planet the God was bound to or the power seeks out another “host” transcending them to godhood. How will it be in your setting? Can anyone kill a god? What happens when the God dies? If they were the God of sunrises, does the sun stop rising? All of these are importantCan Anyone Become a God?The next question that needs to be addressed is whether or not becoming a god is possible. This too could potentially become a personal quest of one of your party members, so you need to know whether or not it is possible. This question can be decided in the moment, though as you are roleplaying.If the answer is yes to the question of can anyone become a god, then you probably need to answer the follow up question of “Why aren’t there more Gods?” The natural answer will likely be because becoming a God is very difficult. A more interesting answer might be that becoming a God is not even actually that desirable for reasons that are unknown to most people. The point I’m trying to make with these two questions of Killing or Becoming Gods is that diety can be very powerful plot points and since they can be very powerful, you must treat them with care and attention. Your player’s will wonder why Gods can be killed at the drop of a hat. You better have a good well thought out reason. True, you can probably come up with something cool in the moment, but it needs to make sense because in most cases Gods have their hands in a lot of pots, so to speak.Using Faith as a Plot DeviceNow that we’ve talked at length about using Gods in your campaign setting, let’s start diving even deeping into how to move your story along. We all know that great stories in D&D start with plot hooks, or rather simple introductory elements that entice player’s to explore a particular story line more to eventually find a much large and more fulfilling story.A simple example of a plot hook is, “While digging through this dungeon you find a strange bow made out of black wood in the hands of a corpse that dried up decades ago. You pick up the bow and in your mind you hear, “Hello!” The player does not know practically anything about the bow except that it said hello which is interesting and curious.When it comes to faith, there are limitless plot hooks to use. That’s probably the most common way to use Faith or Religion or God as a plot device. It can help start the story.Another interesting tidbit about plot devices is that they are just plot hooks, except usually you have knowledge that connects past experiences to the plot hook. An example of this would be, “While traveling on this long road to do your Diety’s bidding, you turn a corner and see your God bartering with a local merchant. He does not notice you. You approach him and confront him, only to have him completely vanish. Before he did though, you put your hand on his arm and were not shocked with his power. He felt warm, and mortal…”This plot device has the same elements as a plot hook, in that it makes the consumer of the story curious and incentivized to finish the story, but we have some knowledge of the god before the exchange.In my estimation, there are only two ways to really use plot devices and certainly only 2 when it comes to faith. The Push and The PullThe PushA plot device is designed to move the story along. Since our players are the main motivators of the story, a plot device in D&D is designed to get the players taking action in any particular direction. A good DM then, gives lots of reasons for players to have their characters choose various paths.The Push method is generally something that happens or exists in the space a character is in that the character wants to avoid or eliminate. In the case of faith or religion, a few examples includeThe character grew up as a child of insane cultists worshiping a demon lordThe character lives in a town where a religion runs rampant and is very xenophobicThe character has been persecuted themselvesThe character does not agree with the popular religion of their areaFor the most part, the Push method is the installment of some sort of negative circumstance for the character. The idea here is that the character wants to avoid something negative. The PullThe pull method then is quite the opposite. It is the pursuit of something positive. Usually these circumstances exists (or don’t yet exist) elsewhere. Some great examples of this are:The Character wants more peace in their mortal lifeThe character wishes to attain great spiritual powerThe character wants to rid the world of evil (or good)The character wants to restore a religion to its previous gloryIn all of these, the character is reaching for something that they do not yet have.In reality both of these methods are really the same. It doesn’t matter much whether a character is running from the hopeless condition they are in, or if they are running to find hope somewhere else. In fact, it only matters if it matters to the player and the character.Using Faith as a Character DriverNow, let’s talk about using faith and religion as tools to affect change within a character’s life and make them more dynamic. Usually, this means introducing conflict. I sometimes view conflict in a story as sort of a very hard object that will either break a clump of minerals of crack bits off, slowly revealing the precious gemstone inside.Either way, we use these elements to create instances in which the character knows that things have changed and that they can’t continue being the person they were.Religion, faith, and God are perfect for this kind of application.My go-to usually involves something that my character in question already wants. I then try and make them want that thing either more difficult, more confusing, or strangely attainable.  I figure they already have this motivation, so let’s put a twist on the motivation. When it comes to religion and faith, there are a few examples that you might try.The Faith CrisisThe first method is one that a lot of us have probably experienced so I would maybe opt for this one first, although it strangely might be harder within a fantasy D&D setting. This is the faith crisis. Most of us who grew up with one faith or another probably had wonderful experiences as a kid but then realized that the world is a lot harder to make sense of when we grew up. You could have the same thing happen to your player. Admittedly, it’s very common that a faith crisis develops when someone thinks about the religious organization rather than the tenets of the religious organization, but there is nothing wrong with a character questioning the tenets of their God. In the very well written books of R.A. Salvatore, spoiler alert, Drizzt Do’Urden, the skilled Drow Elf from the Underdark realizes that he has no affinity for the teachings of the Spider Queen Lolth. He experiences a faith transformation and decides to forgo all the customs and teachings of his entire people in favor of what he believes to be right and good. That’s a perfect example.Also, a quick side note, these Character Drivers must always come with some benefits and some negative consequences. In the case of Drizzt, he was able to live with a clean conscience, but he was also forced to leave his homeland or face death.Now let’s make up an example of a faith crisis that your character might undergo. The most obvious faith crisis would be for the character to discover that a large part of their religion is just a cover for malignant activities. That’s too easy. Let’s do something a little more nuanced.Also, I must add that a faith crisis doesn’t always mean that the character abandons the faith. Sometimes the Faith Crisis turns into a metamorphosis.So for our example, let’s say Exander the Tiefling Paladin serves my homebrew god of Coronus, or Crown as he is commonly called. Crown champions the leader, the patriarch, those in command, and those who make difficult decisions. He is all about guiding those who lead people. Exander decided to follow Crown because Exander’s father, Exantos, prayed to Crown for guidance in protecting and providing for his family....

Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM, the official podcast of Monsters.RentWe have an awesome podcast today for you. We were able to sit down and chat with Andrew Ashby, owner of We Geek Together. We Geek Together is a store focused on Tabletop Gaming but themed after a tavern, and it's located in Provo Utah. Last April, Andrew hosted the Dead Wars, which was a 1000+ Player D&D game that broke a world record. Today we talk a lot about Dead Wars but also about some important tips for DMs of all experience levels. Below are a list of questions we had prepared for Andrew, but the conversation was so much better than these questions.Andrew also started his own podcast as well which you can find on his website.Show Notes: Warm up question: what have you been geeking out about recently?Section 1: Dead WarsSummary- Talking about orchestrating Dead WarsQuestions:Where did the idea first begin for you to beat the world record?What was the session prep like?What were the biggest hurdles you had to overcome and how did you get past them?How was finding players and DMs for the event similar to finding players for a normal game? Different?Would you recommend this style of group D&D play to DMs wanting to get a big group together?What tips would you give to any DM who wants to put on a multiple group session or event?Section 2: Running the TavernSummary - Talking about setting up a D&D business that is very welcoming of DMsQuestions:What made you want to start this kind of business?How did you test and prove your business idea?What specific goals or values are the focus of WGT?What would you say is the best part of WGT for DMs, specifically?How did you figure out what to put in the tavern?Section 3: Patterns of the Most Successful DMsSummary - talking about what sets the best DM’s apartQuestions:What positive patterns do you see in the groups that play the most often?How do your regular DMs do effective session prep? And how do they create immersion?What sorts of tools or equipment do your regular DMs use?What are the most noticeable differences between an engaged table of players, and one that is stalled?Mentioned in this episode: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/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.

Tanner hosts this episode of the How to Be a Better DM Podcast, the official podcast of Monsters.Rent. He discusses how random encounters don't need to be simple filler, or poor storytelling tools for the overburdened DM. Rather, with some important tips, you can create a tool that saves you time but also adds fun in specific ways. Just remember to add pizzaz!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 PressBrought 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/

Tanner Weyland:Hello and welcome to How to be a Better DM, the official podcast of Monsters.Rent. My name is Tanner Weyland and I'm here with Justin Lewis. Say hi.Justin:Hi there.Tanner Weyland:Well, everyone, we are so happy to be together. As you know, Justin with his new baby, we haven't had as much of a chance to record. How's it been, Justin?Justin:Honestly, having a baby is easier and harder, much harder than I thought, right? It's just, it's crazy. The effect. Honestly, if that doesn't tell you what you needTanner Weyland:I'mJustin:to know aboutTanner Weyland:sorry.Justin:having a baby, then I don't know what would.Tanner Weyland:Exactly. I love that though that Jan was timed perfectly.Justin:Seriously.Tanner Weyland:Either way, we're super happy to have you back and just to be recording again. Let's let's hop into a fun little topic, kind of a creativity focused topic about how to make a campaign that is focused on going on an expedition. namely what makes an expedition-based campaign different from a normal campaign. Now, Justin, have you ever seen any movies that come to mind of an expedition or a journey or something like that?Justin:Absolutely. There are many, many out there. And just to give you kind of an idea of sort of the breadth that you can go when you think of Expedition, there's Atlantis, the Disney animated movie, which is a hidden treasure, I'd say. I would love to play a D&D campaign in that world. That would be so fun. And on the other hand, there's Alien versus Predator. Both of those are expeditions right but obviously there's twists and turns along the wayTanner Weyland:Yeah, exactly. You know, I think. I think it's such an important story format for movies especially, but for D&D there's so many great things that you can do with it. Many D&D campaigns, like longer running campaigns, kind of take the form of an expedition or they can, but I think that there are specific things that you can do that can kind of set it apart and offer a new type of experience. to players. But you know, I think that our greatest teacher of what makes an expedition different from a normal campaign is Dora the Explorer, if we're being honest.Justin:Yeah.Tanner Weyland:I just I was thinking about it earlier and I was like actually she's like the kind of format of her thing of like, oh we need something we're going to go through this dark tunnel around the mountain, you know, for anyone who isn't from the US, Door of the Explorer is this cartoon that, you know, was supposed to teach, you know, English speaking. Children about how to speak Spanish, right? It was mostly in English But you know she'd have teach some Spanish phrases and the kind of the whole thing was like, oh she needed an object In order to get the object she would find the map in her backpack Look at it. It'd be like oh you do these go past these three places with their own challenges And then you reach the thing that you're trying to get and that's kind of I think that can really be a good benchmark for what makes an expedition different.Justin:Yeah, it's kind of the idea of... Well, and I guess we need to be careful when talking about expedition because it could be easy to think, oh, well, that's just the hero's journey, right? Because the hero is supposed to, you know, theoretically go on this quest. But generally expeditions have sort of a different feel, right? With the hero's journey... there's the quest, but I feel like the expedition, one of the biggest parts of the expedition is the travel. Right? It's the idea that we, like the quest is to travel, you know, to go there, to get there. And I think you're right exactly in that Dora the Explorer, every episode, well I haven't watched it in a while, soTanner Weyland:Hahaha.Justin:I don't know exactly every episode, but you know, she's always calling for the map, right? Which... tells you kind of the steps to get there, right?Tanner Weyland:Yeah, exactly. Like I think you kind of hit the nail on the head. An expedition is different in the way that the journey is kind of the main thing you're focusing on. And we're not saying this in a, you know, philosophical like, oh, find joy in the journey thing that we'reJustin:FriendshipTanner Weyland:saying that literally.Justin:was the treasure all along.Tanner Weyland:Exactly. You know, I think that that's I don't want you to think well, duh, Tanner, everything's about the journey. No, I'm saying the X and expedition type campaign should be about the journey. It's about getting there. And it's about the things that you kind of carry through throughout the journey, right? Like to hop into it about like some specifics. I think that I think another thing that we could look at that's honestly analogous to Dory the Explorer is Indiana Jones. And if you kind of compare these two examples, you find out a few things that really, I've seen in a lot of D&D expedition campaigns that really work. Now first, I would say that it's very important that in an expedition, that in an expedition campaign, you emphasize time and resources. Now, by this I mean like usually and I do this too. DMs, we will kind of retcon or hand wave using rations from day to day or food or anything like that, right? And even like, oh man, it's really cold outside because it's winter. You know, we'll do flavor snow or flavor sun, if that makes sense, where we're like, oh, the sun's in the sky and it's hot. But then you just go into the inn and you're fine or oh, man, it's just it's pouring rain out there. Luckily, you're near your house or you go back inside with an expedition. You actually take these mundane elements and you're like, hey, roll skill checks, it's freezing outside. or man the rain has gotten really hard and there's a mudslide on the road that you're on you know and you kind of make the journey have traps you make the journey have enemies you make the journey have items in a way that usually you might reserve for just like a dungeon you knowJustin:Absolutely. And in bringing that up, I think it's important to talk about two things. One is you can make an expedition, sorry, my kid's crying in the other room, but you can make an expedition campaign, not be an expedition campaign, right? So what do I mean by that? In my current campaign, right? The party entered the Astral Sea to get to, well, in my campaign, the Astral Sea is basically treasure planet rules, right? Where everyTanner Weyland:classic.Justin:plane is, yeah, super fun, every plane is a different planet and you can get there on basically, you know, spaceships. And they are trying to get to this far off planet to rescue some friends of one of the party members who have become slaves, right? So theoretically, that could be an expedition, right? Somehow, I made it not an expedition, right? And I think part of it was, I definitely forgot that you have very cool touristy spots, like we kinda talked about, it's this journey. But I think I also fell into the main trap of expedition-type stories in that I made it a slog. right? There's one side where you have to keep track of rations and you know you keep track of the days you're traveling and there's the other side where you're essentially playing you know Oregon Trail where every day is very similar right? Like you sort of run out of things to do every day and I think it might be good for us to talk about ways to make it so it isn't so much of a slog but you still incorporate some of those really interesting mechanics like, hey, it's been snowing every day, are you gonna get a point of exhaustion today, right? Or what can you do around that? So I think that might be something we should talk about too.Tanner Weyland:Yeah, I totally agree. Cause cause I've noticed that too, where it's like, hey, you might get excited as a DM about this concept of like, oh my goodness, I'm going to have him roll for survival in a real way, you know, uh,Justin:I'm gonna go.Tanner Weyland:the ranger is going to just hit his peak in this campaign because you know, we're going to be out in nature, but that can get really boring because it's one thing to be like, oh my goodness, a monster like breathes ice breath on you. You know, uh, roll this kind of check, right? Um, that's very different from like, oh, hey, you've been a cold for the past few days, roll a check to see if you get, uh, hypothermia or something, right? Uh, that if, cause like a monster is very exciting and it's very immediate. Uh, weather is not. And so I think that a few ways that you can do this is, you know, having limits and stating those kind of like. Limits to the players in a way that they can understand like being like, oh my goodness You see that the map you are halfway through this region. That's very snowy You still have another half What's your plan, you know and giving them specific things? consequences, but maybe even more specifically giving them like Explicit goals like being like if you do not find shelter you're going to have, I'm going to roll a thing and if you fit and if it passes, you lose a finger. Right? If you give certain things like that, that it's like time barred, it's not just a consistent thing. It's like, it's one event that you're being explicit about, but it has a consequence and it has a specific goal that you are giving them. I think that can add some good direction that will kind of make it less of a slog. If that makes sense.Justin:Oh yeah, I think you're exactly right. And another thing that you were, you were saying that really kind of triggered on me, maybe one of like the biggest keys of the expedition is the map, right? And normally it's, it's a multi-staged map, right? It's a, it's a treasure map where, you know, take 15 paces to this landmark and then do something else rather than go into the astral seat and then go to this planet, right? Like my, my case. uh, and with those sort of maps where it's like, uh, and then the map doesn't always necessarily need to be clear, right? But it does take you from point A to B to C to D to E to F, which is where you actually want to go all along the way. Those points are points of interest. And at that point, it becomes a lot easier to do every single day or do like what a lot of movies do and do sort of montages, right? where, youTanner Weyland:Yes.Justin:know, for the next two or three days, you guys are walking through the snowstorm and, you know, behind the scenes, you can roll whatever you want and decide, oh, a storm hit. And guess what? Like Tanner said, you guys have to find shelter in the next half hour, or each of you are losing something that's attached to your body. And I think, you know, that makes it a little bit more manageable, even for the DM, because you know, all you have to worry about is this stretch. and then this stretch and then this stretch, right? And it's, I know we talk a lot about railroading a lot on the show.Tanner Weyland:Mm-hmm.Justin:It's railroading, except you're not railroading because they're railroading themselves, right?Tanner Weyland:Yeah. And that's the thing. In Expedition, I think you have a little bit more license to Railroad because you're kind of being like, hey, I'm taking you on a literal journey. Come along with me. You know, so that kind of. brings us to another part of this that it's like, hey, if you're going to do an expedition type campaign, you're going to want some interesting spots along the way, right? Yeah, you want the journey to be interesting, but you want some specific spots that fulfill a couple of things. One, they show a change of pace, right? So it's not always going to be a city, you know, and it's not always going to be a dungeon. It's going to be a little peppering of each, right? And sometimes it's just going to be a little oasis, right? an oasis where it's like, oh. monster attacks them or You know or a trap or they find a little tunnel like at the bottom At the very center of the oasis of the pool that if they dive down into there's a treasure chest or something You know you want highlights along the way almost like tourist spots That stand out right much like you would in your if you were to go on an expedition I say in quote marks because like The most the closest anyone gets to an expedition now nowadays is going on vacation. But you have, like the travel is interesting, but it's less interesting if you're not going between interesting spots, you know?Justin:Absolutely. And even on that note, I would say the very last place has to be like the most interesting or the most desirable or something like that, right? Like, you know, it's the Holy Grail, you know, that you have to get at the end of the challenges, right? Or it's treasure planet, right? Which could theoretically be considered an expedition.Tanner Weyland:Oh yeah,Justin:So.Tanner Weyland:totally.Justin:You definitely want to bake that into the story. Whether you tell your party members everything, it's up to you, but they need to have some sort of large motivation to get there. And because of that, because there's often this large motivation to get there, there will often be reasons for others to try and get there as well. AndTanner Weyland:Yes.Justin:you know... in expeditions, I think one constant has to be danger, right? And theTanner Weyland:Mm-hmm.Justin:unknown, right? You know, thinking about Jumanji, like the latest Jumanji movies where they're in a video game, right? That's sort of an expedition because they're going from point to point to point trying to do certain things and the goalTanner Weyland:Mm-hmm.Justin:is to get out of the game. There's always this nemesis that kind of wants the opposite of what they want, but there's also like sort of environmental danger. And so You never know if when you get to point B, you're gonna see the nemesis or it's just gonna be like a sandstorm, right?Tanner Weyland:Exactly, you know, because you kind of need... that consistent sense of danger, but sometimes you want it to be a specific type of danger that's following, right? Because I mean, isn't that more interesting storytelling, right? If at the start of your quest, like the town mayor or a dying scholar is like, oh my goodness, you have to get the book of such and such before they do. And then suddenly you have someone that you're chasing or who's chasing you or that you're goal right and that's just great storytelling and it and it allows for interesting run ins along the way going back to door of the Explorer it's exactly like swiper you know SwiperJustin:Absolutely.Tanner Weyland:no swiping. Once again, for people who don't know about Dora the Explorer, every episode she ran into a specific fox with a thieves bandana, something like that, but over its eyes. And it would try and steal something from Dora. And you see that in Indiana Jones, where it's like, oh, the Nazi that he runs into at the very start that follows and chases him throughout the whole thing, right?Justin:callbacks.Tanner Weyland:And I think that that's not accidental. It's not because they're like, oh, what do we do? I guess we do this. It's like, no, that adds tension and it adds conflict and also makes a reason for your players to hurry, which can't be overstated because with an expedition, players could be slow about it and you want to have a sense of urgency to be like, hey, the other people are on their way too. They might be ahead of you. Can you really afford to rest?Justin:Yeah, yeah. And we're coming down to the end of today's episode. I think it would be really cool if we gave sort of like an off the hip, off the cuff, I guess, example of like some sort of expedition you could do in a D&D setting, right? Like we just make it up on the spot. I can go first if you want.Tanner Weyland:Yeah, go ahead.Justin:You know, let's say in this world, one of the gods has just decided to retire, right? And so he's literally... giving his godhood up to the first, you know, whoever can get to his house. His house happens to be inside a pocket dimension, and he's placed portals all over the world, right? And he's toldTanner Weyland:Mm-hmm.Justin:you if you can get to this portal, and then he probably says some riddles, so once you get to the portal, you enter the pocket dimension, have to travel through his realm, get to his house. The twist at the end would probably be that he's not actually looking to... um, like give up his godhood. He's probably trying to root out his biggest competitors. So he, you know, he kills people who probably could kill him or something like that. Or, you know, he does give it up. Anyways, that's one quick example because in that you and your party would probably make it to a portal, come out the other side and see a rival party doing the same thing and realize, okay, this is a race for time. But then you also realize that you're not exactly there yet and so forth. So that was just when I came up.Tanner Weyland:Okay, I've got one and it's kind of, I would say that it would start with the players going to an old abandoned church. So also religious, but inJustin:ITanner Weyland:aJustin:loveTanner Weyland:differentJustin:it.Tanner Weyland:way. And within that church, they find a group of, you know, common bandits who have come to get an ancient relic that was hidden in the kind of basement beneath the basement. The one that people didn't know about. and the players fight them off because they're like, oh, we were asked by the local clergymen to check out who's defiling this old church, you know, this abandoned church. And they do that. And then they find that the bandits had found this ancient, like, withered looking like staff that was made of wood, but it had like interesting carvings on it. And then they hear like from the bandits, like the bandits saying that they were had to deliver it to, you know, so and so. Right. And then they find clues on the staff and they go back to the clergy who signed them and they were like, oh, this is the staff of, you know, Yggdrasil or something. Right. That, you know, the world tree and it has writing that can actually lead you there. And then that goes on the journey, you know, where they take the staff. They have to go to the druids forest. To get some you know knowledge there and then the druids are like oh we could help you But this kind of info was in our library at So and so and then you go there and then the library actually has the info and then you go to...

Explore the importance of allowing creative solutions in D&D problem-solving and how it can enhance the adventure. Learn about the issue of unintentionally restricting player choices and discover practical strategies to promote a more open and creative approach. Empower players with examples of different ways to approach obstacles, from mystic teleportation to communication with the dead.

Explore the benefits of multi-option dialogue in tabletop RPGs and how it can enhance player immersion. Learn about incorporating additional information and choices in the game based on player interactions. Discover the importance of multi-dimensional NPCs and offering roleplaying opportunities for players.

Welcome dungeon masters to How to Be a Better DM, the official podcast of Monsters.Rent. Today, I’m your host, Justin Lewis and together let’s discover how to make every session the best session of Dungeons and Dragons with you as the dungeon master. Today, like so many other episodes, I’ll be discussing some tips for how to deal with a particular problem that faces many dungeon masters. Unlike other episodes though, today I offer my point of view with the full knowledge that I myself am new at facing this particular challenge, and I hesitate to say anything because I don’t want to offend, or give the impression that I even know half of what I am doing. Today, we are going to talk about how to be a dungeon master and play D&D regularly when you have kids.Big topic, I know.As some of you might know, my child was born back in August of 2023 and him coming into my life has really shaken things up for me, as parenthood has for many people. I firmly believe that parenthood changes a lot of for you, but it doesn’t have to delete your hobbies and passions, and in fact, one of the great challenges of parenthood is finding ways to continue doing all the things you love with the addition of your family. I think that is a great example to set for your kids and it leads to a lot less resentment later in life. Obviously, I’m not saying to forget about your kids and your family. There is a fine line to walk and sometimes you do have to pass up a particular session because your family needs you. But hopefully, with these tips, that won’t happen as often. DisclaimerBefore I get started into these tips, I need to give a brief disclaimer. You absolutely need to know and understand that I am in no way a parenting expert. I do not give any of this as direct parenting advice. Instead these are ideas that you can try out. I’ve only been a parent for a little more than a month now and am not the guru of parenting that I wish I was. So take my advice at your own peril… That said, these ideas aren’t that extreme. With some tweaking and changing, you should be able to make it work for your unique situation.So with that, let’s get into it.Get the Buy In of Your Significant OtherThe first thing you need to do is get the buy in of your significant other. This is crucial because as we all know, communication is key in any relationship. It’s also important for you and your partner to both communicate your wants and wishes. You want something, in this case you probably want to play D&D. Your partner wants something too. The only way to know what they want and to let your partner to know what you want is to start communication.This works the same way with partners where one partner is playing D&D or partners where both partners play in the same D&D group.If the partners are in the same D&D group, then the buy-in you each need to give and get is for a commitment from each of you to do whatever it takes to make the games happen and make them fun for each partner. This means that each of you will need to be willing to adapt and try new things that might feel weird or look strange.If only one partner is playing in a D&D group, then the buy-in changes a little bit. You both need to give your buy-in but in this case, the terms change. In the case of the non-player partner of the relationship, the buy-in needs to be such that they are willing to watch the child/children while you play D&D. They need to understand how long the games will be and the cadence of the games. They must not be surprised at the length or frequency of the games. On the player side the terms are a little different. You will likely need to show a willingness to make it so the non-player partner can have a similar opportunity to hang out with friends. Be willing to watch the child while they go out every once in a while. Or just be willing to be a little more present with the child while you are at home. Honestly, it’s very possible that you don’t even need to give anything for your partner to be ok with you going to play D&D every week. But, make sure their wants and wishes are heard otherwise, you’ll be headed for disaster. Get Table Buy InEven after you and your partner come to an agreement, you’re not done getting buy-in. Now, you’ve got to get your table’s buy-in. Because this podcast is for dungeon masters specifically, I’ll talk from that viewpoint, but that doesn’t mean that this advice doesn’t apply to everyone at the table.First, you need to help the adjust their expectations of you. You have a child, a family. That takes precedence. That means that sometimes, you won’t have as much time to prepare the sessions, or sometimes your D&D sessions will need to be cut a little short. It might even mean that you’ll have to DM with a baby on the hip. Your situation will look different and unique and your players need to understand and be given the chance to decide whether that’s something they want to deal with. It’s your child, not theirs. It wouldn’t hurt in this instance to also explain your commitment to the table as well. They would probably like to know that you care about the game and want it to be a success.Just as long as everyone at the table is fully aware (for the most part) of the experience they will have while playing, and they are all ok with it, including you, then you have set your table up for success.Enlist the Help of Relatives or FriendsThe next thing you can do is start compiling a list of people that you 100% trust that would be willing to watch your child while you play D&D. Often relatives are a good place to start. If there are Grandparents in the mix, then that is an excellent place to start, but brothers, sisters, cousins, and neighborhood babysitters work too. The type of babysitter will change depending on how many kids you have and what ages. Also, if you can find a relative or someone who is willing to watch your child for free, that is ideal. Paying for a babysitter every week can start to add up. You might also consider doing some sort of a babysitting trade, finding someone who needs it on days or nights when you are not playing.AdaptThe last general tip that I can give is that you need to be just as creative at finding a solution as you are when you play D&D. Life can be complicated and messy and when you can think outside the box to find uncommon solutions, things work all the better.Now, let’s talk about some more specific methods that might be just what you need to make playing D&D with a child or children at home that much more possible.D&D While Your Child is SleepingThe first method you might give a try is to play D&D when the kid/s go to bed. Most kids have an earlier bedtime so playing afterhours might be the solution you’ve been looking for. If your group has content that belongs after-hours anyways, then this might be a match made in heaven.If you do want to give this method a try, there are a few things that you should think about.How loud is my group? If your group happens to play loud and proud then you might consider trying a different method. Or you might think about soundproofing the room you play in. At the end of the day (pun intended) the last thing you want is for your child to not be able to sleep and to start crying or screaming or just having a bad time.Will we be playing at my house?If your group doesn’t play at your house, then having your child sleep may be somewhat strange depending on the circumstances. For example, if your group normally plays at the local game store, then having a child sleep while you play probably won’t work without a babysitter. On the other hand, if your group plays at a friend’s house and that friend is ok with you bringing a pack-n-play or a bassinet and setting it up in another room where the child can get some nice sleep, then that totally works. Will the child sleep in the same room that we will play D&D in?If you have a small infant like I do, then having them sleep in a different room would probably be a very unpleasant thought, at least in the newborn phase of your child’s growth. For me, I would need to have the baby in the same room in a bassinet or something. If the child is older, then having them in another room would likely be the ideal situation so that the child can get a good night’s sleep.Will the child need monitoring? If the child is young enough, monitoring might need to be set up to keep track of the child and to make sure that they do not fall victim to any danger that could harm them. If they are in the same room, then no worries. If they are in a different room, then you may want to bring all of your technological prowess to bear. Maybe the simplest and cheapest method of monitoring a child would be to set up a video call between two phones and position one to always be able to see the child.More expensive options include things like an Owlet camera or a simple baby monitor and more.D&D With Baby In ArmsIf you have an infant like myself, then another option opens up and that is to play D&D with the child in your arms. Obviously, this option is only available if your table is open to it, knowing that there is a major possibility that at random intervals, the person holding the baby will have to tap out of the game for a moment to take care of baby, and also there is the obvious risk of a crying baby mid-game.That said, if your baby is young enough then having them sit in your arms (or something like it) can be a great thing. For example, even as I wrote this episode, I had my son in a baby carrier strapped to my chest. I sat at my kitchen table writing while gently swaying back and forth to keep him calm and entertained. Whatever you have to do works.When pursuing this method, it may help to have various tools at your disposal. For exampl the baby carrier that I already mentioned or some handy swaddles to keep the baby wrapped up nice and snug.Having some clean binkies or toys might be what you need to do. If you are breastfeeding your baby, having one of those breastfeeding shawls or covers so you can feed while at the table would be helpful.In this case, I would say having your character sheet on some sort of computer or ipad would be preferable to having it on paper because an electronic device is a lot harder to get mixed up when you have a squirming baby in your arms. Of course, at the end of the day, what works for you is what works.Get a BabysitterHonestly, when it comes to getting a babysitter, I’ve said so much already that how can I possibly say more? Watch me!When it comes to finding a local babysitter you can try a few different things. First, I would ask family and friends, in that order. Family is usually more willing to help but friends can be just as awesome too. Whoever it is, make sure you trust them completely and that you leave crystal clear instructions on how to care for your child and what to do in an emergency.After that, you might try your neighbor kids if they are in that perfect babysitting age. 12-16 is generally a good range. Personally I would opt for a girl babysitter just because they would generally be more patient, kind and understanding of my child’s needs than a teenage boy would be but you do you.If you still can’t find a babysitter, you can ask at your local church if you attend to see if someone there might be able to help.After that, start asking people you know if they know someone. Always vet the baby sitter to hearts content when getting referrals because sometimes things aren’t as they appear.Finally, you can hire a professional baby sitter from professional service, though that will likely cost you much more.Involve Your ChildNow, if you are unlike myself and your kid/s are old enough to start to understand some of the game, then you might consider involving them a little in the game.Again, though it doesn’t need to be said, I’ll say it anyways, you can only do this if your D&D group is ok with it. You also need to realize that if your other players in the group have kids too they might want to involve their kids and the whole thing can spiral out of control real fast so be wise.But if your child is 5 - 10 you might have them sit at the table and play the game with you. If your DM is ok with it, the Child could become sort of an NPC, like a child in the game or some sort of familiar. You can ask them what to do and how to act in certain situations.If you play a paladin, cleric or a warlock, you might have your child play the part of your Diety or patron respectively, giving you guidance in moments of need. This will likely lead to some laughs along the way and you and your kid will bond over a very fun hobby, D&D.If the child is younger, you might have them sit on your lap and roll the d20 anytime you need one rolled. They can be around you and the game and start to enjoy rolling the dice, seeing the outcome and hearing everyone at the table cry is dismay or triumph.This all only works if your child cooperates obviously, so don’t press the point if kiddo isn’t impressed.Play Shorter SessionsOne of the simplest tactics to take if you have to balance being a parent and a Dungeon Master is to play shorter sessions. I know that we are all thinking that this is probably the least desirable method, but you have to admit that it is effective. Ask your players if they would be willing to play shorter sessions. Most will agree just to be able to keep playing.Doing shorter sessions is a good method to try for a couple reasons. For one, you don’t always have to play shorter sessions. Sometimes, you’ll get a good 4 hour game in and other times, you may have to cap it at one hour. Secondly, having shorter sessions means that you have to prepare less. You don’t have to come to the table with 4 hours prepared if you are planning on only playing for 2.Even though it might be a really great idea to do shorter sessions, you still need to keep some things in mind.With shorter sessions, you will need your table to understand that they really need to pay attention and be courteous when the spotlight is on someone else. It often happens that one character is doing something while everyone else waits. In those moments, everyone needs to be adults and wait patiently for their turn. Doing so will allow a reciprocal exchange of respect for everyone at the table and it will make it so each person can do their thing uninterrupted, and therefore faster, making it easier to get to everyone.I find this consideration to be one that people seem to miss a little. Even though we are playing a make believe game, we can still act like adults, so let your player’s know.Play OnlineIf you can’t find a babysitter, then consider playing online. I know for some people it’s a bit of a leap, but drastic circumstances call for drastic measures. Being able to play online would allow you to take breaks every so often to do the necessary things with your kid. If you have a wireless headset and are a master at multi tasking, you might even consider doing both at the same time, though I wouldn’t recommend it. Dividing yourself between two things means that two things get only fractions of your whole self. You don’t want to do that to your kid or your D&D group.That said, it is a lot easier to keep an eye on your kid as they play with toys in the same room that you are DMing in. You might need to ask for some patience from your group because you’ll likely need to give direction to your kid every once in a while, but it might just be the fit that you need to make sure you keep playing.Become a Scheduling WizardFinally, the last tip that I would suggest is to make sure you become really good at maintaining a schedule. This is for a few reasons. As a parent, any time you get to yourself is precious, just as any time you have with your little one is precious. You want to make the most of both. Being able to alot the right amount of time for the things that are important to you will make sure that they don’t fall by the wayside.You’ll also be able to fulfill any promises you made to your significant other about watching the kid so they can go do something fun too. Time is our most precious resource because it really is the only thing we have. Being able to spend the right amounts of time doing the things that matter will make all the difference.Now, there is a big chance that a lot of you don’t have kids. That’s ok. You’ll likely play with someone who does and these tips will allow you to help them and be in their corner. It should also give you a little more sympathy for parents trying to play D&D and parent at the same time.At the end of the day, I hope these tips have given you some good ideas and hopefully sparked some creative ideas that I didn’t even think of. D&D is fun and so is being a parent and by golly, I truly believe that we can do both. Thanks for joining me on today’s episode. We’ll be back next week with another amazing episode. Until then, let’s roll initiative.Mentioned in this episode:Brought 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 PressJoin Our DiscordSo a little bit of a spoiler alert. We’re building an army. That’s right, we’re building an army of amazing dungeon masters who want to make the world of D&D a better place. If you want to join our army and fight by our side against the evil forces of boredom and bad dming, join our Discord and lend your voice to the cause. Go to Session0studios.com/discord and join for free today. Discord

In this podcast, they discuss the importance of the "Yes And" principle in D&D. They explore how this concept can enhance player interactions, creativity, and gameplay. They also provide examples and highlight the benefits of using "yes and" in storytelling

Hello, and Welcome to How To Be A Better DM, the official podcast of Monsters.Rent! My name is Tanner Weyland, and together we will learn about how to prepare the best adventures and environments for our players to enjoy. Today, we just have one big announcement about Justin: he had his baby! Congratulations, Justin!For today's topic, we are going back to the basics: Saving throws. Do you just see them as a slightly different type of roll, or do you see them as an opportunity to build suspense and prompt character struggle or change? Let's talk about it.Find out more about our podcast and also Monsters.Rent here: https://monsters.rent/podcast/Mentioned in this episode: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. PatreonAdd 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.

Here's the transcript of today's episode:Tanner Weyland:to How to be a Better DM, the official podcast of Monsters.Rent. This is Tanner Weyland, and I'm here with Justin Lewis. Say hi!Justin:Bye.Tanner Weyland:Hi. Perfect. We're glad to be here with you guys. And today we're going to have a little, you know, just a little question episode, just a little episode where we're answering one question. How do you convince a non-playing person to play D&D? Justin, let's get your thoughts.Justin:Alright, for me, step one, ask what movies they like to watch, right? Because most people like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, you know, or any number of fantasy movie. And once you know, oh, you like Harry Potter, well, how is Harry Potter any different than Dungeons and Dragons, right? That would be my first tip. Ask what movies they like.Tanner Weyland:Yeah, one thing that I would throw in there is convince the people around them. Like, for example, my wife, she's never played D&D, never wants to. She's firmly in the camp that's like, oh, that's nerdy stuff, you know, and yet she has friends, friends that she thinks are cool. who liked D&D and they heard that, you know, I'm into D&D. They're like, oh my goodness, you should have read a D&D campaign or a session for us, right? And I was like, oh yeah, that sounds great. And then, you know, the thought was planted in my mind. I was like, I can get Kirstie to join. These are her work friends. Of course she would play. Why would she not? She tried to play a little bit of hard to get. It's like, oh, I don't know. I just want to watch you guys play, but. I was like, I think I can get her specifically because she has friends, people that she respects as normal people, not as nerds like me. And that's a good way to convince them. And I think pairing with that, even if she doesn't play, if she sits and sees how an actual game is played, right? Because I got into D&D, frankly, because I started listening to podcasts, you know, live play podcasts. And that was, I was like, oh, this is really fun. I can do this. This isn't too far of a leap. She's never going to do that. What she could do is get a in-person live play podcast, quote unquote, you know, where I'm playing with her friends. If I'm unable to convince her, of course. And that would totally open up the way for like, Hey, if they like it enough and they want to do it again, she'd probably be willing to do the next time. Right.Justin:Absolutely. In fact, my wife's aunt still sort of thinks D&D is related to devils and demons, right?Tanner Weyland:Oh, yeah, the satanic panic kind of thing.Justin:Yeah, exactly.Tanner Weyland:Yeah.Justin:And it's not so much that she like actively thinks that. She just had a bad experience essentially, but her daughter, right, is living with my wife's parents and because of that her daughter, her daughter my wife's cousin, is not allowed to play D&D, right? But she's come over while we're having our sessions and watched us play and we ask her and we say like, hey, do you think there's anything wrong with this? And she's like, no, it kind of sounds a little boring. Which I mean, you know, that's her opinion, but exactly what Tanner said, expose them a little bit to D&D, right? Have them watch the D&D movie. And everyone knows the D&D movie was funny because you have, you know, lots of kind of new up and coming actors as well as some pretty old and storied actors, you know, who Hugh Grant has been in countless movies, but you have themTanner Weyland:Mm-hmm.Justin:watch the D&D movie, they're going to laugh, they're going to see things that are pretty cool, and they're going to ask questions like, wait a second, is Thimbershod that giant fat dragon? Is he like a real character? And the answer is yes. He actually features in The Lost Minds of Vandelver, which is in fact basically like the first D&D anything that most people come in contact with, Would You Like to Play, right? That's an easy segue.Tanner Weyland:Mm-hmm. Exactly. And, you know, above all, just... I think if you bring a good positivity to D&D when you talk about it, you know, talk about how fun it was. Talk about, you know, things that you think that they would really find funny or interesting. You know, if you're a DM, which I mean, you're listening to this podcast, so hopefully you're trying to be, then just be like, hey, I was really stumped with this thing, but then I came up with this cool solution. And they really enjoyed it. You know, just be super positive, even if they think you're so nerdy and that it's not to them, they're not going to be intimidated by it, right? And that kind of opens up a pathway for them to be open in other ways, right?Justin:Yeah, and along those lines, don't push too hard because our natural inclination as human beings is when someone tells us, you know, you need to do this. Our natural inclination is to say, no, I don't, and I'm not going to because you told me to, right? So in trying to get them to play, make simple invitations, say, it means a lot to me, and I enjoy doing it with my friends. In fact, it keeps my relationships with certain friends. strong, you know, sometimes you don't have the ability to see them, but everyone can schedule something and make it happen. But anyways, don't push too hard.Tanner Weyland:Yeah, and I think something that I would just throw in as kind of a gateway drug to tabletop you know role-playing games is you know there are easy tabletop role-playing games and then there are also board games that include a little bit of role-playing right? I would say that that certain games like based off of mafia, like the, what is it? One Night WerewolfJustin:Yep.Tanner Weyland:game. Like to some extent that's a lot of like playing a role. And then there's other games where you're like working with someone to do like, it's kind of co-op, right? Like there's Pandemic, there's... Oh man, there's this firefighter board game. I'm blanking out the name. But anyway, there are these games where it's like, hey, you're embodying a role, you're role playing, and you know, you're working together with some people. Those are great gateways to doing something more serious. And then if you're trying to do a gateway role playing game, there's a lot of options, right? Like there's some games that... Like there's one game called Dread. It's kind of horror based, so I don't know if you, you know, do it with everyone who you're trying to get into D&D. But the whole idea is that you're playing Jenga. It's a role playing game based around Jenga.Justin:I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.Tanner Weyland:And each time, like you have, you can find pre-written scenarios, but every time that a player wants to do something, they pull a block, put it on top. And then they do the thing that they said their character would do, right? But the moment that tower falls down, oh my goodness, that person's dead. And the DM, you know, who can be you in this case, kind of takes over that character and they die or transform or who knows what, right? Something horror related. That's a very simple game that doesn't require a lot of rules. And it can be a nice segue, you know.Justin:Yeah, another game is Betrayal at Hill House. ThatTanner Weyland:Oh, exactly.Justin:one, it's basically an RPG in board game format. Kind of, you know, going the opposite way rather than using games. You know, if you know this person to be one who is very much into personal development, challenge them and say, have you ever wanted to try and see how quick you are at thinking? you know, using your wits, being creative. How creative are you at problem solving? How good are you at improvising? And how good are your performance and presentation skills? Well, Dungeon and Dragons is the best kind of mix of all of those because it's fun and it does challenge you to kind of think on your feet and improvise, take things as they come and try and craft new solutions that are unique and sometimes absurd.Tanner Weyland:Yeah, and kind of as a last point from me, I think that what you said about not pushing is important. Now, if you did wanna do kind of a last hurrah, if you will, I think that you could try and ask them. to do a favor for you, you know, to be like, hey, I wrote this thing, I really think it'd be fun and I have a couple of friends, you know, or mutual friends who want to play it, but we really could use another player. Would you be willing to sit in just one time, right? Or you could even be more direct and be like hey, I've always loved the idea of playing with you But I never thought that you'd be into it Even though I'm sure you'd be great. Would you try it once for me? You know, and if they're like hard no, don't push it too much But I think a lot of a lot of people if you're that direct and that honest about like hey I would really like to try it because if you did like it, it'd be really fun then that would be, you know, I think some people would be willing to try that. I think that'd be the right approach for certain, you know, individuals. And if you're able to do that, then you try it. And if they don't like it, they don't like it. You know, you tried your best, you can move on. You can do it knowing that you've put your best foot forward and that they've actually tried it and you can be grateful and thank them for that. And it can be a memory, you know, to look back on.Justin:Absolutely. The last thing I'd say is, even though you shouldn't push too hard, you shouldn't give up. I have a friend who I've been inviting to play D&D with me for the last three years plus, and I feel like I can feel him slowly slipping, right? Eventually I'll get him to say yes. But sometimes people just aren't in the right space. You might ask them one day and they'll say yes. So don't give up.Tanner Weyland:Exactly. And with that, you know, we invite you to go out there. Give it another try with your friend, with your family member, your significant other, to, you know, invite them into the rich, rich world of D&D. And, you know, even if it doesn't work now, keep trying. Try in different ways because we know that it's going to be a great experience for you. And until next time, let's 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. 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