Questions tagged [gm-preparation]
For questions about the techniques that game masters use to prepare for a game session. (For preparing a campaign, use the [campaign-development] tag instead.)
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Players skipping side quests just to have a laugh at the DM
Something that's happening frequently at my table recently is that the players are making choices deliberately to waste my preparation.
If they see something that obviously took some preparation that ...
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What to do when a player roleplays an extremely persuasive argument, but flubs their Persuasion check?
I have been the DM of a wonderful group of Stack Exchange friends playing an urban fantasy campaign of D&D 5e for some time now, and a question came up in our group Discord that has got me ...
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What sort of cheat sheets for a new DM lead to a better flowing 5e game of Dungeons and Dragons?
The question is, what elements on a DM screen are essential?
I'm new at playing and DMing, altough a lot of experience watching games, just got a group to play with now.
Started with the starter set ...
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How do I run a successful and engaging campaign without combat?
I'm thinking of starting my own campaign with a few of my friends with me as DM, primarily because I wasn't extremely impressed with the campaign my friend was DMing. When I started thinking about the ...
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As a DM, what changes do I need to make to my preparation when transitioning to online play?
I, like many others, have been forced by the current situation to re-evaluate how my games are played. I current run/play in pathfinder 1e and D&D 5e campaigns that have been played entirely in ...
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How do I escape the Quicksand Box?
I have a very significant problem whenever I try GMing any given game; I try to provide a world with a lot of wiggle room for the characters as well as factions/NPCs they interact with. Oftentimes my ...
user5834
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How can I manage my campaign digitally, without using a screen at the table?
For big campaigns I keep my campaign information — maps, keys, session notes, reference tables, etc. — in binders and duotangs which I can reference and annotate at the table. Their content only ...
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How can I utilize overly-violent PCs for character development / progressing the story?
I'm fairly new to D&D and especially DMing. I've started a new campaign with 2-3 people and more may be joining soon, which might make this question entirely useless to ask if the new players ...
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I feel like my DMing skills are making the game less enjoyable
I'm DMing a party of five, a rogue, cleric, wizard, fighter, and a ranger that comes every other week. Everything goes well for the first hour and a half, but then after that I can tell my narrations ...
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Can lack of planning railroad players?
There's plenty of questions on here about how to, as a GM, prepare less for sessions and learn to go with the flow your players create rather than railroading them into your plans. I'm interested in ...
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As a GM, how do I make sure a self-contained session (an episode or one-shot) reaches its completion within the designated session length?
I'd like to convert my campaign over to more of an episodic format -- a complete hook, story, and conclusion in each session, with each session feeding into a bigger story/arc, just like a TV series. ...
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How can I effectively map a multi-level dungeon?
My players are getting awfully close to entering a multi-story pagoda dungeon that exists in my game. I think it'll be a fun adventure, but I find that I am worried about trying to map it all out for ...
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How do I accommodate a blind player at my remote table?
For remote play at our table, we use a camera stuck on a microphone-boom-arm that we can rotate by 360°. We found out that we prefer it to have our rest position at about 45°, instead of top-down ...
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Overcoming setting complexity paralysis as a GM
The problem
What are the best practices to overcome that certain “complexity paralysis” that may strike a GM when trying to learn and immerse himself in a setting that has a lot of intricate ...
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In the Forgotten Realms, what happens when a god dies?
By the end of next session, due to my PCs (through a mixture of burning temples, using dark magic, and killing avatars) a god in the Forgotten Realms that the PCs have a rivalry with will probably be ...
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