Edit: Spleling
This is good advice except for the bit about Dora the Explorer. That would require watching Dora the Explorer.
Sub in any genre movie or TV show you know well. If you players catch on and recognize it, that’s even better, because then they think they know what to expect, and that’s when you zag on 'em.
Farscape is my go-to. It’s niche sci fi that I’ve watched, but none of my players has…
I should rewatch that. And actually finish it this time.
First I watched it on TV and you know how that is for continuity.
Then I watched it downloaded and got distracted.Farscape is so good, I loved watching it back in the day
I should really give it a watch again
There’s plenty of episode synapses available everywhere for every show. You don’t have to watch them, just have to read them
I’ve stolen places from different shows and plot beats from other shows quite a bit since I started DMing about a decade ago
Only recently did someone catch on that the location (the dungeon they delved into) was stolen from a show (well, more “heavily influenced” by a show (think someone gave a elevator pitch for a location and I built from that)) though no one has caught on yet that they’ve been exploring Idaho now for 2 years. I’ve even laid maps down on the table for people to look over and no one’s caught on yet.
That would require watching Dora the Explorer.
what if you smoke the weed
Dang thinking back, Dora quest would be so dope. I want to save the Ice princess!!
If you think they’ll be too simple then it should only take your players about 20-30 minutes to solve.
Wow. If those PCs could read, they’d be very upset.
If you think they’ll be too simple then it should only take your players about 20-30 minutes to solve.
That being 15 minutes to tell stupid jokes, and 15 more to burn down the building and leave.
Almost happened in the last Warhammer session I was in. DM made a door that had three locks depending on knowing alchemical symbols, formulae, and the geocentric model. Because the GM forgot that Warhammer doesn’t have a flat “magic knowledge” roll like Arcana in D&D 5e, the party mage doesn’t know anything, the rest of the party was illiterate, and everyone got so frustrated that everyone except my character tried either breaking the door or entering through the window while the wizard was still home and foiling their attempts. To our credit, we were able to figure out the first two locks with trial and error, with the first being a very simple balancing of the four elemental triangles around a plus sign in a plus shape, and the other being three symbols in a vertical line, the problem was seven symbols to be arranged in a circle. After my party face character shook herself from her puzzle frustration and realized that the wizard is actually home, she just asked him for what we came here for, he was cordial about it, and we left when we got it. During that time, the GM gave the solution (because Wizards are assholes that love to brag about their genius to the stupids) which taught us that in geocentricity, neither Venus nor Mars are closer to Earth than Mercury is, and the sun is between Venus and Mars because of course it is.
In geocentricity, neither Venus nor Mars are closer to Earth than Mercury is
This is actually (kind of) true, mercury is the closest planet to every planet on average
I feel that with the puzzles.
I’m not very good at them, but every time I design one players spend so long on it!
If you don’t identify at least 10 pop culture references every session in my games, you’re either not paying attention to the game or have no culture.
Need names? Whip out a map and start using placenames.
Example; I zoomed in on a random spot in London
Allen Brown Bury Leanenhall Billter Fenchurch Creechurch Mitre Asperior Sino Kentro Aioi Ardent WeightmanI don’t understand how cereal box puzzles would translate over to DnD.
I also don’t know about ripping off movie and TV characters and just swapping out the names. I suppose it depends on the character, but I feel like this is the easiest one to tell that it was “stolen”.
Using Pokémon descriptions for monsters is aces though, even if you use the older mons. I think Monster Hunter monsters would also translate over pretty well.
Mazes, riddles, color coordinated pictures, I think the cereal boxes point is actually a good idea for a kernel of a puzzle.
This post just made it very real to me how I could DM a game.
Cool cool cool
As a forever DM, it’s pretty fun to DM and I think everyone should give it a shot
Especially if you enjoy the roleplay aspect, you get to roleplay so much
I do like roleplay, I write stories for fun already.
How did you get started?
Basically I just figured out what I needed to know for the bare minimum to run a game
Then my friends and I discussed it and that I was really new at it so things might be rough, and the DM screen is basically a quick reference guide for things you’ll need to know
That was back in the days of DnD 3.5
With the new group I’ve got we decided to do 5e (which I had never ran before) so I picked up a starter set and ran it from there, which was really easy to do
A few quick tips for you: don’t be afraid to improvise, don’t be afraid to ask for a moment to look something up, don’t worry about doing different voices for everyone you roleplay as it ain’t necessary, and most of all have fun
Basically the biggest hurdle for DMing was getting past my nerves to actually commit to a date
ohet
Not to just keep replying to you but it’s also very doable online if you can’t find players where you are
ohet
