I've been running a game for three sessions now, and each time I feel uncertain as to how to raise the curtains, so to speak, to let everyone know that we're entering the  and it's time for me to be the dungeon master and them to be the players, as opposed to us  being just friends sitting in a circle. I can of course do something like say "Okay guys we're starting now, time to get serious", but this feels to me a bit heavy-handed, and I'm not sure it would help us all get to the place we're aiming for.  This is especially important as I'm going to be moving to a new place in a few days, and any players I find in the new game I want to run then might not be experienced players and have the presence of mind to consciously put themselves in that roleplaying state of mind.  What techniques can I make use of to put everyone in the right mindset at the start of a session and to provide that rigid turning point beyond which everyone knows the game is really on?
123478
We have a weekly game in the evenings; however, we often don't start playing for a few hours after we get together, if at all. This has been exacerbated recently by other events with the same people being scheduled for the few hours prior to the game; last week we barely managed to struggle through a five-minute scene over the course of 8 hours we'd scheduled for gaming! Since we rather enjoy our "social hour" just before the game, what can we do to signal a definite switch to "Game time is now!"  (It's a World of Darkness game, if that helps; not settling down to play seriously takes away from the horror aspect significantly)
82987
I'm DM'ing a play-by-post campaign and I'm at a point in the adventure where the group all meets for the first time. They've all had something stolen from them at the same time and saw a creature that took something run into a nearby alley (there's three separate parties within the play group currently, as they've only just started, so there's three separate robbers running into alleys in the marketplace).  Ideally, I want the players to have their PCs all give chase so they end up in the same part of town, all looking for the same thing. However, I don't want to railroad my players into doing this. I know I'm not supposed to take away player agency or narrate their actions for them, but the only way I could think of was to tell them that they start giving chase.  So how would you deal with this situation? And more broadly, how can I stop something like this happening again?  If it matters, we're currently playing D&amp;D 5e.
107399
I GM a long-running Pathfinder campaign, and for some time now I've been noticing our group fall into a familiar pattern of lethargy, where only one player engages with me at a time and the rest seem to sit aorund waiting for "their turn".  For example, last session the party tried to enter a city in the midst of a natural disaster, only to be detained in a jail while the town guard figures out what to do with them. There are any number of ways a party could handle an encounter like this, so I don't think I set them up in a place where they are particularly constrained - I didn't even take away any items except obviously displayed weapons. What happens is:   The barbarian takes the pillows they've been provided and starts punching them. After telling me this, that player goes back to playing a game on her computer. She occasionally checks back in to inform me that she's still tenderizing her pillows. The paladin writes a letter to some important person trying to talk his way out. When that doesn't work immediately, he builds a pillow fort and his player goes back to  The bard decides to start singing loudly in Dwarvish in an attempt to annoy his way out of jail. His player and I have a long back and forth in which several NPCs react to his singing, and finally they get out. Now that they're all out, the bard's player goes back to playing Diplomacy online. The cleric takes over, leading the group to where she encountered someone wounded earlier. She chats with some NPCs for a while. The group ends up at the waterfront. Each player takes turns separately checking with me to see about buying items.   By the time they've done all this, three hours of real-world time have passed and 90% of the session has been the PCs taking turns engaging the world one-on-one. As a player in that situation, my default would have been "I'm in situation A, I'd like to be in situation B. Does the rest of the party want situation B? If so, then let's formulate a plan to get out of here. If not, let's roleplay some intraparty conflict". But it seems like their default algorithm is "I have a vague sense that my character would do X, so I'm going to do 'X'. If I can't do X, I'll wait until the GM can pay attention to me".  I figure the first answer is going to be "have them put the computers away", and I agree that fewer distractions would force them to try and engage with the game even when they aren't in the spotlight. But they all use online character sheets and have been somewhat resistant to going full pen-and-paper.
99301
New GM attemping to get ideas for a campaign down something similar to a tabletop fallout game.  How much info is too much info for general prep? Can there ever be too much? Or is there a general balance between the GM's plans and the PC's being PC's. Level differences aren't too big a deal in the game I'm running (All Flesh Must be Eaten) but they can happen. Do I want to specify everything in the room and say how things are meant to be used if they find them? or allow more creativity on their part.  eg: Going with an "If it's reasonable for it to be there approach let it be there" or "I didn't say specifically anything interactable was there, so you can't use it."
78938
I have a party of new players, who are enjoying a sporadic session of Fate Accelerated. I'm learning a significant amount from the experience, and I hope they are too. In addition to some problems I'm trying to correct in my GM techniques, I've also identified a systemic problem in many of the players' approach to roleplaying: they are not always descriptive enough of what they're doing to accurately paint a picture for both me and the other players. I don't mean to dismiss my GMing problems as theirs, but I feel I can help them grow as players by helping them describe their actions more thoroughly. I understand that part of this is simply experience with what works and what doesn't, but as the facilitator of gameplay I feel it is both within my power and is my responsibility to encourage good roleplaying. Except there's one little problem: I have no clue how to go about this.  As an example of what I'm seeing, I'll take a few lines from a recent session:  I run away and hide. I steal the wrench from him.  These result in miscommunication issues. Someone says &quot;I tie him down,&quot; but since they think 'he' is someone else, metagame confusion results. What I am really looking for is something like:  I run back out of the alley and hide behind the nearby pillars. I wait until the worker has his back turned, then I slip behind him and remove his wrench from his belt.  The benefits are obvious: everyone knows exactly what's going on.  If I I just keep asking players to be more descriptive, I'm going to sound like a broken record. How do I encourage descriptive speech in-game? Are there any training campaigns or scenarios that I could, perhaps, run to get them in this mindset? And if it's merely a function of experience, what in-game opportunities should I provide to allow and encourage descriptive actions?
62325
I've noticed a problem with my PC's lacking rich backgrounds, or players lacking knowledge of the mechanics of their own characters. This has lead to me giving the players "homework", which I have even set aside time every other week to do. The type of "homework" includes, fill out this "", read this short section on "Willpower", convert this small subset of your character sheet to a digital version so I can review it at my leisure, wherever (Things like PC Name, Aspirations, Virtue and Vice).  I am a reluctant GM, who is GM-ing because no one else wanted the job.  I am basically asking the players to take note of the rules, provide interesting backgrounds, and help me out with data entry (that's specific to them). Part of the interesting background problem has turned into snarkily answering the questionnaire as "My family is dead", "I have no friends". I don't feel that most of what I'm asking is exceptional, and most of it is suggested in the storytelling section of the God Machine Chronicle.  It might be worth saying that the chronicle has had some missteps that are my fault. We're basically on our third iteration now playing Hunter: The Vigil. We started as mortals that were going to become templated characters, which happened briefly. Then the group decided to play Werewolf, due to their perceived durability when I threw a challenge at them that was too hard (resulting in PC death). I recently realized that I couldn't get into the mood of Werewolf, so asked for a change, provided there were WoD 2e rules as a limitation. We landed in Hunter, which is satisfying to me. I'm pretty sure there's some resentment for this. It's also worth noting though, that this has been a pervasive problem throughout. I also made the mistake of not asking for these kinds of things in the beginning because I didn't realize I needed them.  Currently I spend anywhere from 10-20 hours on the chronicle a week, making it sort of a part time job. Of course I accepted that as being a GM, and I know This will go down once I've got more world created and more books reread. However, it's making me frustrated and resentful when I ask them to do tasks that should take at most 1 hour, and time is allotted for it every other week where we have off night (where no story is ran).  on a brighter side, I did get them through a Location creation thing last week.  How can I convince my Players it is in their best interest to help me out?
93753
So, after a few sessions, the new player I'd invited has been a bit of a disaster. He doesn't get on well with any of the other players, laughed when someone's character died (in our campaign that's permanent at the moment), and generally has been a nuisance. However, he doesn't seem to notice this. I've talked to him about his behaviour, but it hasn't helped. Several other players have also approached me on their own to register concerns.  The long and short of it is, he's not a good fit for our game or social group, due to his abrasive personality/playstyle (as I and the other players perceive it). He's also not interested in roleplaying (something my group does heavily, at the moment) and continually pushes to place himself in the limelight - which he does by instigating combat and trying to skip over what he sees as 'boring' scenes. His character is a Minotaur barbarian, and the most exotic race in the game, but he only uses it for the stat bonuses, and doesn't even have a backstory - he simply says he doesn't need one. However, I don't want to be rude or otherwise unkind to him, as I will still see him around after he leaves the group, and so will the other players.  How can I politely ask him to leave the group, without being dishonest but avoiding embarrassment for anyone? I also want to avoid seeming to 'abandon' him, or 'go behind his back'.  Note: There are few/no in-game problems with adding or removing characters, and I don't need advice for that. This is strictly about handling the player. The system (not that it's all that relevant to the problem) is
79923
I'm a first time DM (3.5e), and, being a passionate writer, I decided to create the entire campaign and campaign setting myself. It's been good fun, and I have about 12 pages of (elaborated upon) ideas for it. However, I'm starting to worry that I'm becoming too specific. My original plan was to get several dozen pages of ideas for my campaign setting (easy enough), then compile it into a formal "specification" that would basically establish the whole state of the world. (Originally I had planned to write it out normally, but I've been thinking now that I'm gonna use Obsidian Portal or something like that. Not too important.) Following this idea, I set some backstory for the world politics in general, and for the powerful nation that'll be the setting for most of the campaign. I decided it was a good time to draw a map of the continent, so I did. I ended up with about eight countries, including the main one. Within the main country, I drew in fifty districts. Then I look at it again.  At that point I realized that I would have to go through and name fifty districts.  Now, it's not impossible. But I've never done this before, and it doesn't seem necessary. I know that the PCs will need to know the names of three districts within an hour of play, and that's it. The others could come later. Do I need to worry about them now?  This is a bit more general, as well. What level of specificity should I write it at this point, when I haven't even had a game with my players yet? As a first-time DM, I really can't foresee what I'll need. Any suggestions?
36561
I'm going to be hosting a game at the end of the month. Myself, I am a semi-experienced DM but I will be playing with those who know only the basic mechanics of the game or have never roleplayed before. The group will consist of my wife, myself and three friends. My friends don't really know my wife as well as I do, which makes me think things might be tricky if we're going to be playing a role playing game.   Is there anything I can do to provoke role playing in the PCs (Such as making loose rules about it)? How can you encourage improvisation and in-character actions for newbies?
22271
I GM a Dresden Files campaign, and I have a first time role-player that has become a problem in terms of advancement of the story.  At first I chalked it up to inexperience, but its become more and more pronounced, to the point that tonight he took up half of the time with an inconsequential inter-party conflict, then after he was rendered unconscious, left.  The players and I are becoming more frustrated with his antics as we have a very short time weekly to play, and much of that time is taken up by this player.  I've tried to talk to him both in-game and out-of-game (and other players have also) and though he appears to be understanding and receptive of the talks, it continues to be a problem, and in many cases, his retort is that this is important to his character, so we continue to work through this week after week, and I have to end the session in exposition rather than a gradual discovery/uncovering so that we can make progress.  I'm attempting not to exclude him from the game, but short of that is there something that as a game master I can do to enforce direction and advancement of plot?  NOTE: I was trying to make the question a bit generic, but to give a bit more insight about one of the situations: he was using the sight to assess the scene, and after he was finished with his assessment, he attempted to look at each of the players in turn.  As they'd seen him use the sight before, he was able to get a good look at one of the characters before they figured out what he was doing, and one of the other players took exception to the intrusion on their privacy IC.    The situation escalated and became physical.  In other cases where there's been inter-party conflict, they've played the combat a bit, then the person on the losing end concedes and they tell the story from that perspective.  But he wouldn't concede.  The other players used this as a cover as it happened to be a distraction, but as he's the only full wizard, when the combat started, they were a bit hobbled by the loss of their spell power going against a wizard.  So it's not enforcement of a particular plot.  If he was going in a different direction with the plot, I've done that before with this group, even to the point of improvising scenes when they do stuff I haven't planned.  It's the movement with any plot.
69604
This situation came up last week during our session. The party was facing a pretty difficult mob of enemies and one of the party members was knocked unconscious. Seeing the situation worsening, one of the players decided to use the  (DMG p. 197). In the text, it says:     The rod then instantly transports you and up to 199 other willing creatures you can see to a paradise that exists in an extraplanar space.   At first glance I thought this was actually a pretty good time to use the rod. The question came up though, what about the party member who is unconscious? In the end I made the call that the character went with them to keep things moving and more fun.  However, I'm feeling like back pedaling a bit and notifying my players that for future uses, the line "... willing creatures..." will be more strictly enforced as I don't feel like an unconscious creature could be willing.  Did I handle this the right way?
109232
As a GM, what kind of techniques could I use to help a player re-join the gaming session after their character dies? I want to avoid any major interruptions to the flow of the adventure. I would also like to avoid having to end the session immediately or making them sit on the side-lines for the rest of the session.
60271
Everyone in this story works mostly together. Some work friends and my wife were talking about playing D&amp;D, and I was appointed the DM. I've played the game once 20 years ago, so I've spent the past few months buying the resources and learning as much as I can about the game so I can make it as enjoyable for then as possible, we are yet to have our first session.  But to make it easier so I don't have to teach them literally everything I asked them to read the Basic Rules so they have some idea of what they are in for and the expectations of them and me are.  But they came back with "its too hard to read it, I learn by doing, that's what we have you for".  I'm super pissed by this, I've spent so much time and effort learning this game and they can't be bothered to put any effort in.  My question is should I let them know how much it's annoyed me, and reiterate they need to know stuff, or just ignore it and carry on?
48806
One of the assumptions I make as GM is that the players should always be in the spotlight.  Sometimes the players find themselves in a situation where they watch NPCs speak to each other.  I don't like using this kind of situation, because it forces the players to watch me talk to myself and that turns them from active participants into an audience.  Usually I handle it by avoiding the situation.  I try not to write scenes that the players watch.  Instead the players speak to the NPCs one at a time.  When I do come across an exchange between NPCs I opt to summarize the conversation instead of acting it out.    I don't like this limitation though.  It gets a little contrived when all conversations in the game feature 5 PCs and 1 NPC.  Any suggestions? Either how to avoid doing it, or how to effectively role play a conversation between two (or more) NPCs that the characters may or may not be interacting with?   How do you keep clear which character is speaking? How do you make sure that the conversation feels like a real one and not like one person playing both roles?
28295
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 in 5E and the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure, however I've noticed the game can come to a stop when checking the rules or how to do something, while getting the books and stuff like that. So I thought to make a DM screen with some cheat sheets, of the most usual things new players, and new DM's have doubts on, and how to make the game flow well without long rule-checking breaks. What are the essential things to have on that screen? So far this is what I found  but not sure if it has all I need or so much stuff that'll also make the game stop a lot while cheking it out.
37273
About two month ago I got interested in D&amp;D and I decided to start playing it. I read the rules, found an adventure and got four of my friends to play with me. They always show up to play and we have fun, but I think the game could be a lot better and fun than it currently is.  I think my main problem is that the players don't seem to care that much, mostly about RP. I know you shouldn't force RP, but they never ever speak in character (Instead they choose "I ask him if..." "I try to intimidate him..." and come up with the simplest stuff when I ask them what they're saying exactly).  They don't seem to take most of the NPCs, the world, or the challenges seriously, and they don't take initiative at all no matter how I try to make them. I have to ask "What do you do?" every 5 minutes, and most of the time they say they don't know or very vague stuff, like they just wanna get the story going.    It annoys me because I like DMing, but I would also really like to be a player so I could immerse myself in the world and RP.  My players, on the other hand, don't seem interested in that, and so the only moments where anything seems to be happening are during fights.  Another problem I have is pacing. We play something like 2-3 hour sessions, and all we can do is a very tiny bit of roleplaying and at most 2 fights, or one fight and one skill challenge.    In the end I'm really frustrated, because the story doesn't move very quickly, the players don't seem to care that much about it anyway, I kinda have to hold their hands if I want something to happen, and while I was excited to roleplay with them and let them discover this awesome world that I created on my own, they don't really do that.  I really like them, they're my best friends, but sometimes it's really unsatisfying to play with them.  However, they're the only players I've got.    Oh and one last thing which may be one of the causes of the problem:  we play on Roll20, not IRL, so sometimes they just mess up with the drawing tool and sometimes they just don't answer and are kinda lost.
18429
I am the DM for a group of players, 4 of which are very new to the game, and one of which is a very experienced player.   I have run into a problem now where the experienced player is effectively trying to play everyone else's characters (telling them what they should be doing, getting frustrated when they don't do what he says, etc..). This player is also a massive rules lawyer, making it rather frustrating for me. He argues against rules he dislikes, and tries to get me to change rules unfavorable to him. Example: He got into a 10 minute argument trying to get me to change the damage vulnerabilities of animated rugs to include fire because he thought they should, and he was a fire elemental at the time.   Additionally, he continues to play optimized characters that make it difficult to form encounters of any kind, because if an encounter works against him, he complains about how I am "specifically trying to nerf his character because he knows how to play." Specifically, the optimized character issue is an Aarakokra druid. Flies above you, turns into an elephant. He complains when I put anything that can hit him when he's in air.   I have tried to talk to him about it, but he won't back down from his position, and I'm not sure what to do. I would respectfully ask him to leave, but I DM at an after-school intramural (high school) and I am unable to make him leave, because of the nature of school clubs. We are both students. We have a faculty advisor, but they don't understand the issue.  And everyone agreed to let me DM at the beginning because I was the only one with DM experience. We have run and enjoyed one campaign together already.  Anyone dealt with a similar situation and had a solution work for them?