Mixed Bag: DM Advice

Hello DMs!!! I will be attempting to dm my first game. I am a relatively new player to begin with but My friend who usually runs my games moved away leaving us with the fire to play and no one knowing how to dm. I’m in the process of buying all the starter books but was wondering if there is any other helpful books out there for running a pirate campaign

Hi guys! One of my favorite things about the show is how visual it is, despite being a podcast. My friends and I play theatre of the mind as well, and combat always ends up feeling cramped with everyone just within melee range just taking whacks. How as a DM can I make movement more of an aspect in combat with just theatre of the mind?

Hi all my daddy DM's, do you have any advice for building a believable world for your players with the little details? (How much money costs, how magical people are? etc)

rickr0ss

Hey DMs, what would be any advice you’d give to a DM who is struggling to get players to act on their own and direct the story themselves. For example, in a recent encounter, two members of the party were taken hostage after a few bad rolls and a lot of bad decisions. I expected them to try and come up with ideas or plans to get them back, instead of that, they walked straight into the BBEG lair and played it with very low stakes (despite the fact that I warned them sessions prior that the evil guys were too powerful for them to take on directly), and expected me to try and find a way out for them that didn’t end in a TPK. (Which I had to, as I think it would end the campaign if they all died, as it’s very character focused). I want my world to feel like it has stakes and that they can chose their own paths, but I don’t know how to do that because they struggle to take the hint even out of character.

Hey Gang, I’m a DM how is running a campaign with three people. Two of the three people don’t engage as much, they have problems Role Playing at times and getting out of their shells. How can I help my socially awkward PCs?

All Pulp! No Juice!

Hey Gang! Just how do you keep track of npc resources hp initiative etc when running an encounter? It always gets very overwhelming very quickly for me and I’m not sure if there is something i’m missing. Thank you!

How do you move the plot along without railroading?? I’ve been dming for a while but I’m always scared that I’m inadvertently railroading my player.

Abby Reeves

How do you handle pacing of the game/story? What makes you choose to slow down and really settle into a scene or moment or description and when do you choose to speed onwards towards other moments?

How do you keep track of where your story is going after 3 hour plus sessions where everyone has run outta energy, and a mission has taken longer than expected, do you always have the next mission ready to be written or do you run into writers block like I do?

I know I'm not the gang, but our campaign has had success with roll20.net

Claire Lines-Mattei

When you put magic items into a campaign for players to find, do you usually have a particular player in mind that the item is “for” or do you just go with whatever the players decide? If you do have particular players in mind for an item, how do you hint at that without making it obvious?

I am currently running a campaign set in a frozen wasteland north of a dwarven mountain range where players must trek through a boreal forest in order to find a "dwarven relic" and slay a dragon. While planning, I felt like the current rules for frostbite (basically just rolling CON saves and gaining levels of exhaustion) were kind of boring. I'd like to try and spice up the environmental hazards but still make it interesting and enjoyable for the players. Besides combat encounters, what kinds of dangers will players fear and love? (Also Emily's campaign is such a joy to listen to so far!)

Mason McCauley

My current champaign has alot of newer players and they are starting to find a rhythm with each other except for my druid. She struggles with understanding spells and spell slots and ends up running in with a quarter staff and getting knocked out. Ive tried switching her to a monk or even multi class to let her still be the druid she wants but, it hasnt helped.. side note we are 4 sessions in and she also tries to talk to every enemy and ask them to not fight. Your my only hope boobs!! How do i guide my druid into better gaming? (Thanks for creating such an amazing podcast! I have listened to everything and am currently 30 eps deep into a re listen while keeping up with Emily's content of course 🥰.)

Holly

I'm taking my first stab at DMing and I'm very nervous because my group does not have a healer. They are a Warforged Artificer, Dwarf Blood Hunter, and Yuan-Ti Wizard. How do I balance the game and make it challenging without them feeling like they need to run in every situation?

Michael Sanders

Hey guys long time fan first time Quizprentice. You all play a lot of D&D, both professionally and privately. Do you ever get burned out? I’m going through a bit of a slump creatively both as a PC and a DM.

Hi Two Crew, My question is about homebrew mechanics like wrestling, jampoints and sidebars. What's your process in making them, do you ever think it might unbalanced, are you just relabeling existing mechanics? I always wanted to do something like this for my PCs but I'm kinda worried they'd abuse it, so they're usually underleveled. I gave them magical tattoos but they barely use them! Thanks so much, and Emily love the music, hope it's cool that I use it in my campaigns. If so, please release more!

Emily, how do you go about writing a mystery? What pieces do you think need to be there, and how do you make sure that players see the connection?

Callum

Very late to the party but would love any thoughts on a “The Thing” inspired campaign? Currently in the process of writing for this campaign (3-4 PC) any fun ideas on creepy other worldly encounters? Low Fantasy setting with a Sci-Fi Horror twist.

Kyle Taylor

I have a simple question: How do you remember the voice of an NPC?

Hey gang! Would love to know if any of you have advice for running large dungeons on a table top without having miniatures, how do I keep my players orientated within the dungeon?

Jayson Bailey

I’d love to know more about how much prep you had going into each of your campaigns. It’d really help to know what basic ideas and structure you had going into the game, and what you changed on the fly. Emily may not be able to speak to this as much because her campaign is ongoing but I’d love all 3 of your thoughts! Thanks!

Joe S

Modules- much harder to run than homebrew. I want to dm curse of Strahd and just keep getting lost in the book and my eyes cross trying to make sense of how to run it. Advice?

Hi hi hi! Big fan of all of you spectacular dms (Special shout out to Emily, your npc voices are everything), and wondering how do you deal with a group of players with wildly different playstyles? They all love the game, but get bored when they’re not doing what they do best (Dungeon crawling for some, heavy roleplaying for others). How can the game stay positive and cooperative? Much much love never stop brewing ❤️❤️❤️

Hi, I'm a huge fan, been listening to/watching D&D podcasts since a certain webcomic started one in 2008, but it was NADDPOD that inspired me to actually start a group and start playing. Thanks for turning the fun factor up to 11. Question: I'm GMing a campaign that started out with an emphasis on investigation and I told the players it would have a Dashiell Hammett/Hard-boiled detective vibe. One of my players went all-out to build a Sherlock Holmes type who has crazy high *passive* investigation, perception, and insight at level 5. Rolling a 27 insight just to figure out what's the deal with some random NPCs the party met is common, and any information he doesn't learn automatically, our super-smart wizard usually figures out on her next roll. Do you have any advice on how to keep challenging the players without simply scaling the DC checks to make clues and motives harder to discover? I want to reward my players for having built characters to the setting, but I also think that solving a mystery is more fun if they have to work for it.

Joseph Foley

Hey dungeon damily, I’ve recently been home brewing a campaign with fun puzzles, adventures, and role playing experiences anything you can imagine I have put into this campaign. I’ve taken a lot of time and effort to make it. My problem is I’m afraid my friends, who I generally play with, aren’t naturally curious or have a hard time digging deep into the story and explore. I’ve tried talking to them about what they want and how I can make a cooler adventure but every time I take their advice on what they want, my players still aren’t into it any ideas how I get my players to be more interactive?

Hey. Question of all the dms. I tried running a campaign based off of Ebberon with my own twist to it, but found it really hard to come up with original ideas, tell a story and to keep it fun for the players. How do you guys come of with your ideas, and how do you plan for a session while telling a great story and keeping it fun for the players?

For Murph: What’s your process for designing your dynamic encounters? They’re always so fresh and cool, with neat obstacles that encourage the shenanigan problem solving we love to see. They have almost a videogame structure to them. And what would be your advice for someone wanting to take inspiration from your encounter designs?

How could I get into DND without having any friends that play? And I've never played.

Brotten

Hey guys. So a weirdly specfic question for you I'm DMing for the first time (you guys actually already gave me some great advice) and my very first session my players derailed for half hour. I made a tree you see. This tree was simply for flavor. But my players fixated on this tree that had the ability to heal itself. My archer in particular happily exclaimed 'INFINITE ARROW SUPPLY' I adapted pretty well in the moment having to make up rules for something I didn't expect. But now it's a meme in the group. So... Would it be petty or fun to make this tree a big plot device/point in the future. I've been going back and forth. And also what's a good way to avoid half hour derailments, should I do less flavor things? Be less specfic? Or just keep rolling with it?

Neeork

Hey guys, let me start by saying I listen to your podcast all the time. I am a long-time DnD player but I'm recently trying my hand at DMing. What I'm having trouble with is building the world and settling on names. What are each of your methods to world building and naming thing's?

Adam

To whom it may concern, Hi, I'm an longtime fan, first time many things. I come here today representing my little brother. He and some classmates are starting a DnD campaign, and this will be his first time playing. They're in the process of creating characters, and he needs help. All he knows is he wants his character to be inconveniently small. He's very excited. Please advice. Thank You, Fan

Francisco

I have a question about map making! How much (if any) research did you do about geography/topography before making a whole continent, like Bahumia, or a world, like Trinyvale? I want to start a homebrew campaign but I'm stuck on how to make a realistic, but interesting, continent!

Kaitlyn with a K and a Y

Been running a campaign in a post-apocalyptic world inspired by the Elemental Chaos (thanks Daddy Murphy!) where one of my players is a Genasi, so we're giving them a sort of combined elemental power set. Double question - what powers would you give a master elemental weapon in four parts (similar to the Kingshammers combining into the Godshammer), and how do I make sure that with all this cool stuff that everyone is enjoying, we don't turn the campaign into the story of that PC as the chosen one?

Mark May

How often do you move things around when PCs "open the wrong door" as it were, i.e. give the secrets you need revealed to the NPC that survives a battle, make sure players get the dope magical item before encountering the boss they'll need it for, etc.? Emily has mentioned in short rests that she actively does not do this, but what about Murph and Caldwell? Are there reasons you choose to do so or not?

Bob Grannan

Do you have any advice for getting your players to develop a backstory for their characters? I've started DMing a campaign from a module so the world is pretty straight forward but I am finding it difficult to get the players to inhabit the characters have interesting role play rather than just hittin' and crittin' .

For a homebrew campaign how much do y’all prep for each session?

Shepard Price

Hey, just a fellow DM offering some advice from personal experience: increase the damage the monsters deal, but decrease their hitpoints. Definitely allow cleaving, and consider allowing casters to ignore the 'one spell per round' rule. If you're used to throwing tons of minions into fights, give them 1 hit point or treat them as part of the environment rather than actual monsters.

Michael Kessler

NADDPOD has a reputation for some of the most unique battles and skill challenges of any podcast or stream. How would you apply Bahumia- or Trinyvale-style combat to a home game?

Michael Kessler

I would love to DM for some of my friends, but I'm a student so don't have a ton of spare cash to splash out on books etc. Is it important to buy loads of different D&D books and resources or is there a way to do it that's more accessible? I've tried to look online for inspiration but there is so much out there and as someone very new to this I have no idea where to start because even the DM's guide is a little on the pricey side for me :/ would really appreciate any advice, also I'm absolutely loving listening to the Bon Fréres shenanigans, can't wait for more !! :)

What would be your number 1 tip for DM's about to DM a new play podcast.....and thanks....you all are the best entertainment on the internet

Lance Minnis

When you create a new campaign, where do you get ideas?

Lance Minnis

I’m a first time DM About to run the curse of strahd. Do you have any advice for DMs running modules? Love the show!

I've been DM'ing for about a year now, but have been mostly using adventure modules and linking them together for campaign stuff. Would love to build a campaign world but really don't know where to start. How do you start building your campaign world, is there a specific idea you start with or do you start with rules or a setting?

What is worth preparing ahead of time for the next/upcoming seasions? Never have I played or DM'd, but my group of friends are finally showing interest in starting up a game if I lead the campaign. But it is way too easy to get lost in writing lore and backstory, or setting up encounters to the detail that just might not ever happen. When is it safe to just say "ill improve this scenario" and when do you railroad? Its is overwhelming enough to world build, let alone decide how to organically let events unfold. any guidance on prioritizing prep is appreciated 🙏

preston packer

How do you come up with such challenging, brain-melting puzzles such as the witch puzzle?

Ethan Bridenhagen

NADDPOD always has a very funny improv tone and everything is really good at razzing each other and using it to build up gameplay. I want to start a campaign with my friends with that kind of comedic tone but in the campaigns we’ve played, they’ve been serious in tone or just struggle to add in the improv between players. You all have a comedy background so it’s probably easier for you but how can I develop and establish comedic, improv tones any home campaigns that I run? It will be my first time to DM.

As a DM, how often do your fudge your numbers for the sake of your party. Example being a rogue on deaths door and you roll a nat 20. I’ve fudged it a few times just because I didn’t want them to get mad at me, but I have heard you guys say that part of the fun is the risk and prioritization when a party member goes down. Am I wrong for doing this? Am I taking away from their fun?

Jeremy Woods

How do you go about making a battle both interesting and diverse enough, but also a challenge for them that’s still fair and won’t be guaranteed to TPK them? I’m writing my first campaign and I’m struggling to come up with encounters that are different from each other and can remain balanced.

Justin Neal

How do/did you get over the embarrassment/nervousness of doing an npc voice for the first time? I've only been DMing for like 20 hours, and I haven't done a single voice. It embarrasses me but I want to be a better DM.

Michael Coggins

Do you ever have what characters will say planned out? Or do you just make up their speeches and dialogue on the fly?

Cameron McEwan

I DM my nephew and friends kids(14yr old boys) and they are always wanting to try and one up each other, which does kinda make conflicts spike.. how would you best keep a story going and have adventure without it just having to be about fighting and it not turning into a PvP thing. Also they find difficult to stay with the RP, in makings decisions and actions they do what they want as a player. So now all they do is wanna make OP characters that will wreck me. Any thoughts/tips would be grateful. Thanks for the show, your all awesome

Lisa Hilton

Hey everyone! First time commenter, long time listener! I am running a new campaign soon with players of mixed experience. I've homebrewed my own world and lore and we are actually doing a limited run evil campaign! Something I really want to do well is creating an immersive experience because we are using discord and aren't in person. We are using roll20, I've designed my own RPG maps for the players, I've written some music for them as well as implementing tabletop sounds from various sites. I really want the players to get into the game and roleplaying. Is there anything specific you've all tried before that you feel really got the players to be more engaged? Also, I just wanted to say home much I enjoy your episodes! I listen every morning for at least a year now and I actually learned how to play because of you guys, so thank you!

Hey gang, I am writing a homebrew campaign that I am super excited about and I am planning to have the Fey and Feywild play a pretty significant part in the world, specifically the whole 'time warp' element of the Feywild is going to be a key element of the story itself. I am planning to have the PCs enter the Feywild to rescue an NPC and then have several decades (potentially around 100 years) have passed once they get back to the material plane so that a once friendly NPC now has BBEG potential. I want to have the drama of 'oh shit we missed a whole bunch of things that went on and potentially friendly NPCs are going to be mad at us because we weren't here to help' but would making it so the PCs miss out on the lives of their friends/families due to this warp they don't have much control over be too mean? I have said multiple times that the campaign is going to be pretty intense and that death is going to be a pretty big threat for both players and NPCs (Kind of inspired by Dimension 20s A Crown of Candy but less zesty) but I feel as though there should be some way that players could stop/minimise this warp effect so that if they don't do [insert thing here] it's just a consequence of their action/inaction and not just me being a dick. Basically how much should/can I fuck with the parties shit when it comes to the Fey and Feywild? (suggestions on how to fuck with said shit is very much appreciated)

I realize this may be a difficult question to answer, but do you guys have any ideas or advice for running a game for players who are bilingual? i.e. running a game where the fact that everyone speaks two languages factors into the campaign

Mateo Miranda

I struggle with challenge rating and the specifics of how they work, I love writing worlds and encounters but most of the time the party instantly blows through combat, how do I make the encounters more engaging and tense?

Sawyer Rogers

Hello fellow DM's and NADpoles, I am in a predicament and would like some advice. I am a fairly new DM, and have been running my first semi-homebrew game for over a year now with my dad and brother. They have been doing a loooong dungeon crawl and have just randomly acquired a second bag of holding. Well, one of the players casually placed the new Bag of Holding into their old Bag of Holding, and in doing so created a portal that sucked everyone into it and sent them all to the astral plane! So, I don't know much about the astral plane and would love some tips or tricks on fun counters they can do there and more importantly, how can they get back home! God husks will be present....

NADPOD had such good non combat encounters. How do you come up with and then execute encounters for the party that aren't just fighting?

My players are interested in a 5v5 team tournament style arc in our campaign. I pitched it as an idea, but have no idea how to follow through. How can I optimize combat for my team of NPCs so I'm not shuffling papers all night for multiple sessions? I did this to myself, but I'm willing to suffer for my player's enjoyment.

Hey everyone, I DM for  a party of 6 and I am having difficulty balancing out fights.  I feel that I am underestimating the threat of  the encounters I create, resulting in battles which drag out longer than I had intended. I don't want to reduce the CR of these encounters as I worry that I may rob my friends of a well earned victory.  Any solutions as to how to cut the time of these types of lengthy battles? Or at the very least, any way to spice them up when there is a lull?

Karol D.

Could you give some advice on enticing characters to do more RolePlaying or even any? I have a group that still uses player names when talking to each other and I feel like we are all missing out on the full experience.

Aaron Thomas

Do you have any advice on how to DM for a group where one player always chooses “loner” characters? In our home campaign, one player seems to always want to go off alone, not follow hooks given by DM, and not work together with the party.

How much of a campaign should I have envisioned or planned out before I jump in to it? I often start world building but quickly run out of steam, or get caught in the weeds and small details

Caoimhe

Emily, I love that your campaign has a mystery hook! Do you have any tips or advice on how to build a mystery campaign? How to work with finding clues? Could a murder mystery be done, or would revivify and speak with dead spells make that too hard? Anyone can answer! I know Murph has mentioned a detective Witcher style campaign as a possible idea. Would love advice on how to build a mystery!

Hi! I'm a new DM (and player) who started after binging NADDPOD at the beginning of quarantine. I want to incorporate a festival as a fun way to incorporate some of the information they need to get from various ways, but also get my players to get into their characters and roleplaying more. I have a variety of games to choose from, but I'm not sure how to do prizes and rewards, including how to scale it.

Combat in 5e oscillates between my favorite part of the game and my least favorite part of my game so I am hoping for some guidance on how to consistently create engaging combats. Sometimes you just need to drain a party's resources so not every fight can be a big climactic final fight. That doesn't mean they still can't be fun. All of you have shown a great ability to create interesting combats that help enhance the narrative (Frostwind Dragon Fight, Prince Dance-Off, Brew-Cruise Ghost, etc). What parts of encounter building do you typically try and emphasize? What mindset do you use when reflavoring stat blocks (you guys use a lot of cool kobold press monsters)?

Andrew Davis

What were your all's processes in creating such vibrant NPC's in your respective campaigns? I'm a DM using a custom story around the new(ish) Mythic Oddseys of Theros sourcebook, and can roleplay the gods/planeswalkers they encounter fairly easily since they're already fleshed-out characters. Custom NPC's not so much. Thank you!

Hello Lovely DMs, I am brand new to DMing and have my first session next week (yikes!) I have a pretty prepped idea of what I want from my first session and what I want for my main campaign arc but am struggling to connect the two. How to I get my adventurers from rescuing local teens who broke into the haunted historic water park to going on a top secret mission for the King (she/her King is a title)?

Aver

Hi!! Firstly I love NADDPOD and everyone involved with it so so much. I'm starting a campaign as a DM for the first time soon, and my biggest worry is that Ill get lost in combat. How do you keep track of initiative and HP and concentration and stuff like being prone all at once? And my players are big proponents of shenanigans, so any advice on how to keep them on track? Stay awesome

Heyo Jake, Duncle, Direct Messenger, and DM-ily, Writing from LA, moved from Brooklyn in February and Covid kinda fucked my shit up. Building up a social circle out here, and I found out that a new friend plays D&D. I’m writing a campaign and taking a lot of inspiration from you all, D20, and dungeons and daddies. I understand the core of the rules and know the gist of improv/story structure within D&D from work my work running Greek mythology LARP summer camps. My biggest road block thus far is how to approach writing my own city’s and making them feel lived in. Love the way Murph handled Galaderon and all the amazing and iconic places in the main campaign. Trinivale was also so rad and out there creatively, and I’m excited to see more of Emily’s world. Long story short, how do you approach building locations out as a DM, and what advice do you have for writing in immersion through characters or playing with the environment. Love you all! Thank you so much for the many many hours of joy listening to you all.

Timothy Ling

how much of the books do I actually need to read before DMing for the first time? Like I have a pretty solid grasp on the mechanics from listening to NADDPOD and D20, but I’ve never read the players hand book/DM’s guide

Andrew

I’m working on dming a campaign over Zoom. Do you have any suggestions for keeping people interested even if it’s in a new format. None of us have met in person, and I want to make sure that the session is still interesting even though I’ve never dmed before.

I had this same question, about to start my first campaign and I feel like this is the thing that feels most daunting. How to manage challenge rating clearly and efficiently with as little fudging as possible.

Do you recommend fully finishing module before beginning to run it? my friends and i want to start descent into avernus but its like 200 pages long and a lot to memorize, is it smart to start without knowing the ending?

I really want to write a bioshock campaign and I was wondering what you guys would do? Sorry for the broad question I just want to hear how you guys would run it more than anything haha

Alex aka Zol Ark

Hi DMs! My players are a pretty standard D and D party, which is to say, extremely horny. They often attempt the tried and tested seduce-the-NPC/monster approach to problems (or sometimes just for fun) and it always catches me a bit off guard. I'm not a massive flirt irl and my brain kind of short circuits when I have to do it in character as a hobgoblin guard, a dwarvish politician, or, on one memorable occasion, a sentient door. It's something my players clearly enjoy doing so I'd like to get more comfortable with it to make the roleplaying more rewarding - any advice? Should I just make less attractive NPCs? Thanks!

How do you create these detailed worlds, and keep everything consistent? I know there is a lot of improve by the DM & PCs, and things get retconned and explained later, but it seems like all the DMs have so many little details and nuggets of the world prepped and ready. I’ve recently started DMing as my first D&D experience, and keeping all these facts and world building consistent feels so daunting. Props for the awesome job y’all do weaving these stories both as DMs & PCs.

My Names Mike

Ive never DMd or even played but i want to start a comedy game one day. What advice can you give for keeping it funny and balancing encounters for a first time DM?

Bulph

If you tear apart the lost mines book and put it in a 3 ring binder you can take out all the villains that are on separate pages and run encounters much easier. If you’re embarrassed with voices, the starter pack doesn’t have too many in the beginning especially since your players are rusty and they’ll move slowly through encounters/shops. Honestly, if they laugh like maniacs with a voice you’ve chosen for an NPC, lean into it. Every single one of murphs villains got shit on or they were horny for. You’ll do great! There are a ton of videos about specifically running the starter set too :)

Marge In Charge

In regards to combat, in what order do you do to create a battle? Do you do enemies first, environment first, something else, or some combination?

Barbie Pootsky

I'm a new DM with a group of 3 people who are also new. One insists on being a shy character and not talking much, and I'm worried that this player is less involved in the game overall as a result. How can I compensate with alternative forms of engagement, and what forms of engagement would you suggest?

How do you guys manage balancing fights with your party? I feel like I'm constantly underestimating the capabilities of my players and they just constantly end up womping my monsters long before they get to do anything cool. My players team composition is the following if it helps: Barbarian Monk Druid Fighter/Paladin multiclass Bard Ranger

I DM'd for the first time recently and came across an issue mid combat. I had my level 8 players face off against 100 feral cats, realizing halfway through that the internet lied to me and this was a way to difficult challenge. We ended up pausing the game mid fight, but my question is do you have any tips for helping players survive encounters that you realize mid game are way to hard? Some sort of exmachina maybe? Cheers!

Kaylie Elise

What do you do if your players’ characters don’t trust eachother? I’ve put them in situations of having to save eachother but yet no bonding has happened. We’ve even come close to pvp combat. What do I do?

If you have tips for running games on zoom, that would be superb. Here are some of the topics I ride the struggle bus with: -Facilitating banter between players that isn’t completely one sided -Forums for when, goodness me, a player argues their spell should work and 2 other people are obviously politely hanging through their boredom -tips for better descriptions...battle set ups are especially hard when I have to describe how each person has moved in 3 turns 3 different times.

Marge In Charge

They've actually said before in a prior episode about how at the end of the day, the game is all about everyone having fun (including you, the DM). So I think the mindset that would help in this situation would be that as long as the players are having a good time and you're also enjoying things despite being off-track, there's no harm, right? It's when either you (the DM) or the players aren't having fun where perhaps some adjustments need to be made.

What have you found to be the best way to get your characters invested in the world and in their characters?

Sothe Dain

What have you found to be the best way to get players invested in the world and in their character?

Sothe Dain

any tips on how to manage dming/playing multiple campaigns at once? i currently dm a long term campaign for my irl friends and pretty frequently play one shots with internet friends, but i want more! i’m thinking about dming another campaign but i don’t want to overwhelm myself. i know murph and emily specifically are usually juggling naddpod, d20, and a home campaign — how do you stay focused and invested in multiple games and characters without crossing your wires too much or spreading yourself too thin? thanks for everything, love y’all! 💖

Murph always has bosses that are narratively interesting, unique and challenging abilities, and are well seated within the world. I can get one or two of these, how do you manage all 3??

I'm currently planning my first campaign, and have 4 players from new to d&d to 1-2 campaigns. How do you plan first encounters between the PCs, how can I start their journey strong?

Jack James

I LOVED the mixed bag on NPC creation and I was wondering - my PCs NEVER trust my NPCs (constantly thinking them suspicious even if they are meant to be helpful) What are some ways to get your PCs to be more trusting of NPCs they have to interact with?

Noah James Perito

What are some tips for DMing a podcast specifically? Is there a difference when you are doing it for entertainment (especially for combat because we are having trouble making that short and more enjoyable)?

Justin Borak

How do you deal with multiple NPCs in a single scene as a DM. I'm a new DM, inspired by NADDPOD to start playing D&D and I'm not great with character voices or accents. I find sometimes I design a scene in my head with a couple of NPCs in the conversation with my PCs but then they'll say something wild and unexpected (I love them, they are great fun) and that makes me want to RP my multiple NPCs honestly in that instance, but I don't want to turn it into a conversation with myself for too long, especially as it can confuse my players who is speaking. It came to a head when I introduced two temporary DMPCs into the party to take on the BIg Bad of the arch. PS I have tried using props to help distinguish between a couple of the key NPCs but my stocks are limited (sunglasses for the "cooks dude" and a jarrah wood wand for a wizard.

James Lloyd

I am a new DM and running my first campaign in the Ravnica setting. I originally was planning for the campaign to take about a year and end around level 15. We are now 1 year in and at level 8. It was fun making up a story and setting at first but I find that I am starting to write myself into a corner. How do you avoid going on too many tangents when trying to run a longer campaign?

I just started DMing after being a tabletop and LARP player for six+ years. So far I have run one homebrew campaign, one off the shelf campaign and a few one shots from various online sources. My homebrew campaign incorporated what I feel like is my one "big creative idea" but I don't want to be stuck with just pre-written adventures forever more. I really struggle with feeling like I have any ideas (not sure if my ADHD affects me there) and I really want to make stories my players will love. Any suggestions from my favorite DMs/Players? (That's you all)

Stephanie Thompson

I've sent this using my fourth fastest pigeon. What do you do when you are coming to an end of a campaign and your party is ignoring (or procrastinating against) plot hooks that are time sensitive? I have spent time building up connecting encounters about a dead king's resurrection, but my players seem to think they have all the time in the world, and I want to create a sense of urgency. I gave some telling plot hooks to cement the point that crunch time is now, but now I feel like I am railroading them. Is it fine to forego your plans for what the party wants to do, or is there a better way to create a sense of risk and keep true to the progression of the world and its events?

Murph, how do you come up with ways your players actions can bite them in the butt in the future?

Matteo Cina

When there isn’t a recording/podcast going on, how do you keep track of the specifics of what happens in a session? I find it impossible to take notes and DM at the same time. Also I’m usually drunk. Love you all 💖

meaghan sheridan

Starting my first campaign in over 10 years as a DM. All players are new to 5e and also haven't played in quite a while. Just wondering about general advice on how to make it enjoyable with a premade story guideline. We're doing the Lost Mine of Phandelver and I started reading the book the other day. I dont know how im going to remember all the info 😭 Also, how do you not get embarrassed doing the voices for characters? I'm terrified im just going to get laughed at.

Kelly Hardik

So how can I set up the real big bad of a campaign? The only option I can seem to think of is to rip off the ending episodes of Naruto Shippuden

Samuel Jasek

How do you manage loot? Like amount, when to give it and how powerful etc specifically money or if you don’t want to make money a big thing in your campaign how’d you manage it? Just give them better stuff milestone based ?

Cheeky question #2 Do you have recommendations for creating a Heist?

How do you deal with DM burnout for regular sessions? When you're struggling to put the prep work in to advancing a campaign.

I’m pulling the Social Patron into a homebrew setting! Very inspired by you guys and unsleeping city. Any tips for creating homebrew there’s that intertwined in a character wend keeping it balanced! Also just homebrew items in general! I usually resort to curses

Máighréad Shelley

I actually ran a game with my best friend the other day, it was him and I and it went really well!

I DM for two groups, one 3 person strong, one 6 person. The 3 person group tends to be a lot more decisive and talkative, whereas the 6 person group tends to get quiet and wait for one person to make the whole plan. Everyone in both groups is very outgoing and we've all known each other for years in real life (I somehow convinced a bunch of my former fraternity bro's DnD wasn't as nerdy as they thought). The only differing factor seems to be group size. So, is there any advice you all have for prompting group discussion amongst a larger amount of people, trying to involve everyone, while avoiding railroading. Thanks y'all!

Charles

How do you manage focus between players so everyone feels important and nobody feels left out? I like to interweave players' backstories with the main story, but I find it difficult to balance with a full party.

Hey y'all! Long time lover of the Boobs, and I've just restarted Trinyvale to keep catching up. When it comes to the stories you guys end up telling, what is your philosophy on how much you let the story run the game? I've been trying to get my campaign off the ground with my now 4th group in it, and I just want the story to be good, but I think I keep overthinking it. #ReleaseTheLetterCut Have a great day, Boobs!

As a new DM I know everything I plan will get side stepped if I put too much effort into it. What amount do you plan and what amount do you improvise?

Bobbyo2014

I have a player who only knows how to move toward an enemy and punch. He is a drunken master monk, and while he is the only physical attacker we have (the others are a cleric wizard and bard), he never backs down and always ends up knocked down. We have told him about the drunken master essentially free disengage but he never uses it. At one point between ling rests the cleric used 7 spell slots, one death ward and 5 heals all on the monk, with one other spell used elsewhere. I feel that battles could be a lot more interesting if he used the monks cool movement abilities, so how can I convince him to try some new things out?

I thought of another question and if either of my are answered I'd be ecstatic. Have any of you ever ran a game with just one PC? I would love to find a way to introduce my girlfriend into this amazing world and community

How do you come up with setting descriptions on the fly? I always stumble when my players go to a place that I haven't thought they would go, and I feel like the picture I give them is never as vivid as when I have a destination in mind

beperkyalways

How do you learn the number side of DnD? Like how to calculate stats and what stats do what

Michael Shelley

When you're usually a DM, how do you make sure to be a good player when you get the chance?

Dustin K

How do you wrangle your players? I dont like telling my players they cant play something but it sucks when my lawful good cleric doesnt play want to play with the chaotic evil warlock.

Question for each of you: Say you're the DM, and the players run into a Sphinx who is guarding an ancient, powerful sword. As Sphinx are won to do, they say you have three options: answer a riddle, leave, or get torn to shreds. The PCs try the riddle, of course. What kinds of riddles would you go for? And when a PC starts debating existential concepts with the Sphinx to get around the riddle, how do you respond?

Here's an honest question, why is Jake so dang cool? Like honestly that guy is just so much cooler than anyone else on the podcast. Maybe everyone should be more like Jake? (I just really want to hear Jake say this and have the rest of the crew make fun of him for like ten minutes)

John Solorzano

Hello noble council and non-noble champion of the people who frowns on the idea of despotism, I come requesting your infinate wisdom. I run a 4 player campaign in a magical noire esque setting. My issue is every week 1 or 2 of the players show up absolutely fucking blitzed (or get so within the first hour of the session) I can literally hear one of them taking fat fucking rips as NPCs are spewing exposition. They then proceed to either not interact with the game at all and for lce the party to wait for them to come back to take their turn, or they just go full incoherant murder hobo and ruin the scene for everyone else. I've tried tall ng to both of them and one seems to have slowed down his weekly intake of 2 bottles of wine per session, but my other friend says if he doesn't get high he gets crazy anxious and starts panting like a pug in heat on a summer day due to a medical condition that makes it difficult to breathe. How do I get him to stop blazing more than snoop dog at burning man every week so we can all just play a little more seriously? How would you all handle this? I live my party and we're all friends bit this is really causing a rift. Please give me your advice papa, single and dungeon mistress Thanks, Droo droo

Hello all you amazing people! Small backstory, I have listened to every podcast, seen every dimension 20, currently catching up on critical roll, own the base DnD books and starter modules. Yet have never had a chance to play. Now there is an opportunity for me to DM 3 other people who have little to no knowledge of any DnD but they say they are down to try. I gave them info on classes and races so they have a base idea on who they would like to be. Now to my question, would it be best if build out their character sheets and give it to them so they are just ready to go?

A question for the masterful trio of DMs, I have a bard in my party that never uses their bard skills and is now looking to multiclass with warlock as that will fit better with their characters back story. Should I let them replace their bard levels with warlock ones or work something in to inspire them to use their bard skills more. I don’t want to force them to play a particular way because that’s how I’d play or that’s what the other party members want. What would you do?

Hey there Daddy Murphy. I've got a bit of a problem. And that problem is 6 degenerates that I have to wrangle in order to get them through my campaign. Each of them have their own little agendas while they play and I have a hard time getting them to progress sometimes due to the shenanigans they each try to get into. For instance, I have a tiefling rogue who wants to sprinkle glitter on everything and everyone, a human ranger who's hunting a sentient kayak for some reason or another, and a highly libertarian artificer who wants to destroy the government in order to sell... machine gun hand modifications. It would be fine with three of them, but these miscreants overshadow the other players so hard I have to literally push the others into the spotlight. When I attempt to make roleplaying encounters like tavern scenes and hostage encounters, the "Three Banditos" take over the scene. The only thing I can do is throw powerful enemies at them and hope they all band together like a team, but instead they all just surround the thing and kick its teeth in like that incredibly problematic scene from American History X. What do you think this exasperated DM can do in the face of such tomfoolery? Yours Truly, Nate the Forever DM

Nathan Perez

I want to play in my first ever D&D game. I am cool with DMing it. I even bought a starter pack module. The problem is that due to family commitments I can’t feasibly play any way other than over zoom. My friends don’t think this will be a fun experience. What can I say to them so that I can cajole them into trying it?

DMCDawg

I have a question about getting back into DnD, My Friends and I have been busy with work and family that we have not gotten the chance to play together for over 10 months how do I go about asking if they still want to play and asking if it's okay to bring new players to the game?

How do you keep all the different character voices distinct and remember what they are if the NPC only shows up every other session or longer? Like Memaw or Mawmaw for example.

For all our DM's I am sure it is different when doing it for a podcast, but how do you approach handing out loot? Do you try and hand out typical plus armor and weapons, roll for items on the tables, make custom items, or hand out more wondrous items for your players to build a handy toolkit? 2nd part: How do you make sure you aren't handing out too much or too few to keep the game moving along a good pace?

Have you guys played Divinity Original Sin 1 or 2? If so have you taken any inspiration from it for any of the campaigns?

Hey Boobs, I'm a fairly new DM, guiding a campaign of 3 totally new players to DnD. We've had about 5 sessions so far and each one is better than the last. Here's my problem. Our games are going on for too long, sometimes for up to 7 hours. What are some tips for becoming more time efficient, without railroading the players? I try my best to streamline the material when I notice we're running late, but we often get hung up on things like 1 player wanting to shop for 20 minutes while the rest are ready to move on. I love to follow the "rule of cool" but unfortunately that usually means spending precious time on things that may or may not be relevant. PS: Any chance of Hot Date season 3?

Hey guys, sup sup sup, I'm a DM for my friends. I don't normally DM. We're currently playing a Witcher-esque campaign, where the fights are brutal, including our own bestiary of made-up monsters and an incredibly punishing wound mechanic (when they take enough damage in a single turn, they must save a con saving throw. If they fail, then they get a wound and roll a d20 or the corresponding damage type). It's been really fun for me, however I'm worried that the encounters have been way too hard, and that everyone is too focused on staying alive to have fun. How can I fix this situation, and find a balance between having hard monster fights and having fun ones at the same time?

Allie Rosner

This question is mostly aimed at Caldwell - Em and Murph are both incredibly talented storytellers but for whatever reason, Trinyvale really resonated with me and got me to pitch to my group that usually plays pretty grimdark settings (Vampire: Masquerade, Changeling: the Lost, Dark Heresy etc) our current campaign.... Arcane University, where the group are a ragtag group of freshmen in a ridiculous university for wizards. The mix of fantasy and comedy with actual story has been a great hit so far, very much inspired by Trinyvale (Our warlock is looking at Social Sorcerer as a feat!) - But when is a goof too goofy and when is it not?

Patrik Axelsson

How do you keep your campaign on track when real life keeps getting in the way. Getting my party together is like herding cats.

GREYFOX!!!!!

How do you balance making cool, interesting NPCs with not letting them take the spotlight from the players?

Kestrel

To all the dm's (Sorry jake) How do you plan for a campaign? I have had trouble with writing my campaigns, cause i tend to write out the whole story and then run the campaign, but like always, the pc's go on with stuff i didn't plan for. Is it better to write just one session at a time and rather choose a bunch of pathways the players can go, then reducing the chance of improvising myself to a screwed campaign?

Cool homebrew magic items. How do you all do it?

Robert McDaniel

What do you do when you have doubts about your dming abilities. I definitely have weak spots that my players have been pointing out recently and I’m getting big depresso. I’m in the middle of running a big arc for them but all I want to do is stop dming because I feel like I’m doing a terrible job. Any help from the DM squad to boost my storytelling quads would be a send from god!

Melnar Bonemaker

Don't really have a question just wanted to highlight that Jake signing his email off "love ya" just nearly made me cry after a lonely day poorly in bed 😂😂. About to start DMing my first campaign and so excited for this mixed bag! X

My current campaign is inspired by Republic City in Korra, and my players are members of a Peacekeeping force in the city. However, with the Black Lives Matter movement and the horrific police brutality around the country, I'm trying to think more critically about how my campaign can be in solidarity. Do you all have suggestions about how I could rework my campaign? Thanks for what y'all do! It has literally allowed me to survive this weird, hard time.

Maggie Schaller

I done goofed and said there were docks in a city I said was landlocked, now there are airships and guns and everything is spinning out of control and the Rogue wants to build a crime robot. Help.

Austin Johnson

Do you have any tips for better balancing encounters most of my encounters seem too easy.

Do your feelings on PC death differ when you're in the role of a DM as opposed to a player? How so, or why not?

Bastet

How do you guys get over the first time DM jitters? What were your first campaigns that you DM’ed liked? Thanks!!!

I am a kinda new player (have played like 3 low level campaigns, but have listened to NADDPOD and watched D20 since inception) and the most recent campaign we started with someone who wanted to DM for the first time. Our friends wanted to play, and I am the only one who has played before, so we are all pretty green. Wow, did he do his homework! I love the world he created, but he can be pretty harsh about rules (decided each turn was 6 seconds rather than round was 6 seconds, didn't let my bard have a mandolin because how could a bard stand in battle while holding such a large instrument) and he doesn't like that our party talks and makes jokes while we play. I want to think that he is nervous and wants to be able to stay one step ahead of us, but he keeps initiating combat or cutting us off while we are enjoying roleplaying in his world. Is there a way I can make it clear to him that we enjoy roleplaying and making jokes, and that making combat restrictive makes it hard for everyone (especially new players) to catch up? He is otherwise a very fun person, and I don't want him to think that we are having a bad time, but I also worry that his rules-lawyering is making other people not want to play anymore.

Devi Fitelly

I have 2 questions! When making a homebrew setting like Bahumia or Trinyvale, how do you come up with everything like lore or religions and communicate that to your party without having a massive lore dump snooze fest? How do you best balance homebrew and modules? such as incorporating something from Storm Kings Thunder into a homebrew setting.

To all y’all Do you have a specific scenario/encounter that you’ve always wanted to DM but haven’t been able to work into a campaign?

Harry B

Inter group drama. I've been considering dropping being a DM in general because of how often im burned. Am I overreacting? Or should I keep it up?

Nick V.

For all our lovely DM's: How do you handle NPC/NPC interactions? Sometimes during a large meeting multiple NPCs will be talking to each other. You all do a great job at making that experience believable and entertaining, but I sometimes struggle and feel like I'm just talking to myself as my players stare at me. Any advice? Thanks!

Christophe Putnam

How do you deal with discouragement as a DM? I've been DMing for about a year and a half now, and I've been hitting lots of walls either though a lack of adequate skill on my part, or though

Nick V.

Any tips or references on puzzle making? I haven't DMd much but when I do it usually is a homemade/homebrewed 1-shot that may or may not organically turn into a campaign. But because its a 1-shot I feel like I need to have one actual puzzle. With love from a drow trucker, Endar.

Do you ever give your players the illusion of choice? For instance, choose Door A or Door B, but either way, the Big Bad is on the other side. Is this dishonest or totally cool? Does it make it less fun for players?

Gabi H

What's up Two Crew. I've been DMing a group of adventurers for two years now, and I've noticed a gap forming between the players. There are the players who really only like combat, and players who really like story as well. I try to work both together, but sometimes sessions don't have combat. What are some ways to really make RP more interesting to the mechanically minded beyond rolling for insight and persuasion?

What do y'all think of the idea of a campaign where it is just you playing you? I am so interested in seeing what people think their class would be based off of their normal lives. You start off as just lvl 0 noob you during session 0 and then something happens where you become imbued with magic and are forced to act with your friends/party.

Casey White

What would you do to encourage a player to play a character outside of their normal class/race. Example if you have a player who only wants to play a sneaky archer with with same basic backstory from one campaign to the next how would you convince them to play something else?

Adam Golden

For each of you beautiful DMs, how do you each structure your notes and research that you make and find for your present/past campaigns? Keeping organized and on task, but being able to go down any rabbit hole curve ball that comes your way in a campaign seems daunting and messy!

Kreamcheese

If you were doing a themed campaign in an existing world separate from DnD (like Harry Potter or Avatar), would you still use normal DnD rules for making characters and running the game? Would you reskin everything, make new spells on your own, use a homebrew thing, or switch to a different system entirely?

Questions for all, but especially Murph: I love when your villains have legendary/lair actions! Q1: What's your process for coming up with them? I feel like part of it is predicting with high accuracy how the combat encounter will go so you know what actions will be useful and/or narratively powerful. I'm struggling to come up with villains that do more and stay interesting. Thanks! Q2: Have you seen Matt Colville's video on Action-Oriented Monsters? Instead of legendary/lair actions, he encourages DMs to give Big Bads a specific special action for each round (e.g., Round 1: "Hurry!" command and all allies get a free dash; Round 2: "Attack, minions!" and 2 allies get a free attack; Round 3: "You don't have my permission to die!" as a reaction one dead ally gets back up)

Dan S

HEY GANG. For DM-ing homebrew worlds, how and from where do y'all get your ideas? I struggle a lot with having to come up with "new" or "original" things sometimes, and hard to resist just essentially creating a fanfiction. Thanks y'all!

Astrud Adler

I think all of you create really amazing and unique encounters that are way more engaging than standard "I attack, you attack" battles. I especially love Caldwell's really unique mechanics like the cooking challenge or the courtroom case. How do you go about coming up with and balancing such encounters?

Teo Tamashiro-Harris

So I recently had an NPC in my campaign betray the party and attempt to summon Asmodeus to the material plane at the end of a dungeon crawl where they fought the Cult of Orcus. It was an awesome fight with some of my favorite role-playing scenes from the whole campaign, but now my players refuse to trust any NPC they see. Random shopkeep? INSIGHT CHECK. Their literal best friend from childhood who has a plot hook for them? INSIGHT CHECK. Is there any way to get my players to trust again?

Dermot Louchart

Dear 2 crew, My characters, fall flat in terms of personality. My npcs just dont have much depth to them and is causing my players have trouble interacting with my world. Do you have any tips for giving characters depth?

Adam McKinney

What is the very best price of DMing advice you each have received

I’m starting a new homebrew campaign in pathfinder soon and I’m going to have a very advanced gnomish city who technology is way more advanced than anyone else I Have the base map for the world drawn but I can’t seem to get any sort of story put together in my head. So my question who just be general advice on running and writing a homebrew campaign what issues you have faced yourselves and any advice for me building mine

The Lady Of Cram Over A Field Of Daniels

I tend to run games in the Adventurers League public games and tend to get lots of newer/first few months players. However when people who play for a long time drop in for a session they have weirdly multiclassed and min maxed characters, making the newer ones feel like they aren't doing enough. I really can't deny players as they either pay for a spot or it's a random choice but how could I go about appeasing both sides or should it even?

Travis Butcher

Just started running a campaign where the player are stranded in the feywild and I was wondering if you guys could give some advice on how to properly balance encounters when in wild and wacky world. Much love, Sebastin

Sebastin Boyer

This is a fun jumping-off point: https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/town/ - you can randomly generate a few cities and pick the elements you like to start fleshing out the city.

Dan S

Hey y'all just binged your entire backlog of content. My question for our lovely DMs is what twists do you find most compelling for your players? Where do you get your ideas for your twistyness?

Muse93

What kind of prep do you usually do before a session ? Is there a line you try to follow or is it mostlt freestyling ?

Baptiste Bouyer

Is there ever an element of frustration when you create a complicated and challenging scenario and it's solved by the PCs much faster than you expected? Or does it present an opportunity for you to develop as a DM and test your improvisation skills? Similarly, when you plan something and the PCs choose to go a completely different way, making the time and energy you put into that potential encounter redundant.

Also how do you decide what to call the overall setting (continent, world, etc.) such as Bahumia or Trinyvale?

Ethan Bridenhagen

Hey all! I'm running a campaign for the first time for the Dropout mods and was wondering, what do your session notes look like? Are they extensive or do you just jot down a general idea of what's going to happen?

Jack Morgan E.F. Lavandowska

I struggle with this all the time! How do you design combat encounters that feel fun and fresh and they move the story along as opposed to yet another slash and dash?

Hello, first time listener long time caller. Would you discourage people DMing before they were even a player? A few people I know want to get into D&D but none of us have played! Is it a bad idea for me to volunteer to be the DM even though I’ve never played? Thanks I’ll take my answer off the air.

Stephen Charbonneau

If it would behoove the Bahumians, could we get some tips for map making?

How do you create interesting towns and how do you decide what to call them? I have no idea what to call any of my cities/towns or how to give a background.

Ethan Bridenhagen

I'm preparing to run an evil campaign and I'm a little worried, do y'all have any advice on how to apply moral stakes even though saving innocents wont be as much a concern when dealing with the BHGG (Big Holy Good Guy)?

Dean Garcia

I have a player who's character concept is a wizard who casts reduce on himself, then casts mage hand to pick himself up and fly away a la the Lorax. I need to tell them that they can use this, but I don't want to come off as rude. Everything else about their wizard is cool except for that, how show I go about telling my player that they can't do that without being rude?

Eric Grochowski

Hi from Birmingham, England! How do you balance an encounter in this format where you tend to have big fights instead of several small encounters throughout the day as the DM guide doesn’t seem to offer a clear way to do this. I run several campaigns like this because we enjoy the NADDPod/Dimension20 style and never feel like I’m getting the balance quite right. What are your thoughts? As an aside - Emily I also really love “Dungeon Tour Guide” and may start using that myself, let’s start a trend!! Thank you and hope all is well with the crew. Joe

Joe Lenton

What sort of time goes into prepping each weeks episode from a DM perspective and whats your process for planning sessions out especially given the time constraints? Basically how do you do your prep?

When balancing encounters...how do you know your doing it right? Most DMs discuss using the DM screen to modify things on the fly as needed, but what does a balanced encounter look like with minimal DM magic?

Mark Mcknight

How the absolute HECK do you you make high level end game god monsters that are a suitable challenge but don't insta tpk??! Currently trying to make stats for a raven queen like final boss for my campaign.

Zed

How do you deal with players who want a compelling story, but refuse to add anything into it themselves? I’ve had players tell me that I don’t write a compelling narrative, but they don’t make any interesting character choices while playing.

Expedia the Forbbiden One

Currently writing a Hogwarts themed rule set for 5e, but I'm worried people will think I'm supporting JK Rowling (a real chosen if there ever was one). The truth is that it's for a group of Harry Potter fans who's main fantasy pop culture knowledge comes from the Harry Potter universe. They've also not played a lot of TTRPGs with 5e being the exception. What's the Boobs' thoughts on death of the author in this sense (JK Rowling, HP Lovecraft, ECT) and co-opting 5e to tell different kinds of relatable stories. I.E. Fantasy High, Tiny Heist, Escape from the BloodKeep

Austin Hendry

Hey gang! Long time player, prospective DM here. I’ve been wanting to make my own proper, whole world campaign for my friends to play in for a while, and I’ve run a few modules and one-off games to get in some practice. My main issue is that I spend so much time world-building and setting up things like locations, gods, etc., that I have no clue where I would actually begin a campaign. Should I just set up the world, give my players the essentials, and build a start based on who they wanna play? On that note, how much influence should I have on pc character creation? Specifically, in my campaign some races like gnomes and tabaxi are really, really uncommon in places with dwarves and elves. So, if two players are really invested in playing a gnome and elf what should I do? Change the world to make it less weird, propose an alternative character choice or make a point to acknowledge in universe that this ragtag band of folks is very improbable?

Maddy Leaman

When creating a new area or city, do you build the whole city or do you build important areas and just improvise the rest?

Josh Rindt

Hi, how would you handle a character who wants to create his own homebrew arcane spell or other magical effect? The rules in the dms guide aren't to specific. Thank you for the time.

Crane

as a beginner DM who's only just now working on laying the groundwork for a campaign setting, do you have any tips for worldbuilding? anything helps but i'm especially curious how much you tend to come up with before playing and how much you leave unwritten so the players and story can help write and uncover the world as it progresses. super excited to get started DMing but also nervous lol. thank y'all for the show and all the extra work you do for it!

Daryl Hudson Davis

Murph, Brennan complimented you in a recent AP for making "masterful" encounters. Do you have a strategy for encounter building? I tried using "Kobold Fight Club" but most of my encounters end up too easy or uninteresting. Also curious about Emily and Caldwell's strategies too, you all seem to make such interesting and challenging encounters. Thanks

I’m building my own campaign setting and I’m really struggling on getting an overarching plot together, do y’all have any tips on how to pull together the “big bad” plot?

Kay Schatz

How does one keep the magic going when the party has long interludes between sessions (e.g. several weeks to months in our case)?

Hi from Luxembourg! Been DMing for a year, how in the world do you keep track of everything? I DM curse of Strahd with the book, dndbeyond, Improved Initiative, paper notes and a Word document and I STILL can't keep track of everything. I need your Wisdom, clearly mine is negative!

Specifically for caldwell, how did you get to the point where you'd be setting up such unique encounters? The trial, mawmaws great British bake off and the dancing prince, the room smash, they were all so creative and I dont know how you got to a place where you were able to come up with these

Daniel Stewart

Is there anything specific to be aware of when DMing a game that has an audience watching/listening? I've DMed on my friend's twitch channel a few times, but I still feel like something is "wrong".

Dani Sharkey

How do you reign in a party that is going too off topic/not taking the game seriously enough without killing the vibe? I'm all for frequent laughs, but not when almost all of it is out of character. Also, what's a good first time DM exercise?

Danley Staniels

Any tips for keeping track of where the PCs and baddies are during a battle where you have lots of elements going on and aren't using a battle map?

For daddy Murphy, what are your opinions on DMPCs like Balnor and what were your difficulties?

Pj

I keep bugging my players to give me a backstory. This is our 8th session coming up and I've tried to bribe them with magic items and other in game benefits but they're still procrastinating. I want to integrate their stories into the campaign but without them I'm forced to just give generic quests unrelated to anything. I'm not sure what my PCs motivations and goals are.

Nathan

How do you decide on mechanics of home brew games and fun flavor sections? I am currently running a campaign and want to add a game of flip cup and beer pong for my players and am unsure how to make fun things fit in 5e mechanics.

I have never DMd before, but I have recently started getting some of my friends who have never played D&D before interested in playing. I would love to get them to fall in love with the game as I have but I am nervous to offer to run something for them since I have never been a DM. Do you have any advice for my situation or for a new DM (aside from reading the DMs guide of course). Im just nervous that I would let them down as a Dungeon Master. Signed, Scared and Overwhelmed

Mikey Ambrowiak

When you are home brewing items/abilities/mechanics/etc. for a PC, do you find it's better to give them more versatility or help them lean into what they're good at?

Blair the bugblair barblairian

Hey y'all! What do you think are good rituals to have after a session, as a DM (or player)? I know I like asking how people felt while playing and what they would like to see more of later on, but do you have other things to add ?

Nour

How do you find creative ways to make info dumps interesting. Including getting the PC’s involved so you’re not just monologuing for too long

How do you create compelling NPCs or enhance NPCs that the PCs naturally take an interest in? my players vacillate between ignoring NPCs i spent a lot of time on and adopting NPCs i have no real background for, i want to go with their flow but i also want the NPCs to be well really built if they’re going to be interacting with my party a lot!!! is the solution just to build out every single NPC? :) love you all, thank you!

Renegade

Hello! Do you prefer DM'ing or being a PC, and why?

I've recently started a campaign with a mix of new and veteran players. The long time players are quick to speak with NPCs and act in social situations while the new players stay quite and let them handle it. How would you encourage the newbies to speak up and role play more?

Making sure the players don't feel railroaded, how do you balance breadcrumbs without letting them go to far off track. I love world building but it takes the urgency away when I can't get the players to 'chase'

Daniel Paddison

I’m a new DM (and I DM for fellow NADDPoles, too!!) and while I’m super comfortable with the roleplay and intriguing storyline aspect, I struggle a lot with making tough, engaging encounters. How can I make my encounters interesting (and longer than like 2-3 rounds!)

Peter Mundell

Do you have any advice for putting a more serious tone into a game? I'm a goofy gal, and I've DM'ed some one-shots for my friends that instantly go off the rails every time. It's really fun, but I think I want to DM something longer and I don't know if I can sustain an interesting campaign on shenanigans alone. I still want everyone to have a good time, but I also want to tell some stories that I think need a more serious tone. I feel like NADDPod balances that so well. Any advice?

I'm building the world for my first campaign as a DM and am super excited, but worry about overloading them with lore dump just to make sure they know what their characters would already know from living in this world (gods, politics, etc). Any advice on how to give your PCs the knowledge they would already possess without sending them a history essay?

Luke Polito

Id love some advice on how to get players who are less comfortable with the role playing side of dnd more willing to jump into their characters. My group is fairly new and there tends to be some awkwardness when people try to make more “character driven” decisions

Any tips for DMing in large city setting? My group wants to go to Sharn and I’m am essentially stalling to get them there because it feels overwhelming.

Drew Hellenthal

Do you need the DMs guide to start a campaign? How do you get started? I want to be a great DM like the band of boobs.

BigFred78

You all do such fun & unconventional encounters. How do you go about designing non-combatant encounters?

Luciana

When homebrewing magic items, how do you avoid giving your players an item that is too powerful (like the long rest potions in Ezry). If you notice that an item or ability you've given your PC is way too powerful, how do you talk to them about changing it?

Jordan Fields

Thoughts on having some pre-rolled "canned" character sheets for reluctant new players? I'm trying to get some friends into it and character creation seems like too much of a hurdle.

The jPod

How do you discourage murder hobos while still allowing them to find a story and without outright killing them

When creating a home brew world do you start big and create an entire continent with cities and then go in and create each individual city or do you start small like in the starting city and expand out. Just wondering what y’all’s preference is when creating home brew worlds

Hey y’all, I’m running a couple games in these Quarantimes and I had a player come to me with a problem I didn’t even realize I was having. One of my campaigns started off in an inherently low magic world for story reasons, and my players made their characters accordingly. However, after a couple of really great story choices by my PCs and a late addition of a warlock to the party, my story got spun into hard into a reveal of magic I hadn’t planned to get dropped this early. Is it worth trying to wrangle my players back into low magic land or do I say fuck it and let them fly high through the mountains of magic? Thanks, love you all.

Christopher Zeller

What are y’all favorite DND monsters that you’d love to base a campaign around?(thinking mindflayers, beholders, dragons, etc)

saphssquatch

I'm having a bitch of a time putting together my capital city in my campaign, mainly the royalty and nobles. Any pointers?

Jeff Merz

Hell yeah, I have a question for the Dungeon Docent. I'm prepping a Pirate/Nautical themed campaign for my players, can Emily share any mechanics or ideas she was thinking about using for hers for me to blatantly steal so my players think I have anything approaching her creativity?

William Higgins

My party just hit level 5, and I am scared of encounter building for mid level, I am finding it difficult to make battles engaging and fun without making them too easy or too hard Also, for our newest DM you're doing amazing, and do you have tips for planning a mystery? How to lay clues, how to build suspense etc. Love yall

Leith H.

How do you go about making puzzles? I know the general "don't kill them instantly if they're wrong" and other basics, but how do you make the puzzles themselves?

Taylor Schult

Hey y'all! Do you have any tips for creating random encounters? I'd love to be able to incorporate more into my settings to make them feel more alive, but the ambiguity of them really stresses me out! Thank you so much in advance!

I'm really interested in if you ever play modules and if so do you have any tips for running them. Or just anything you think ruins the process. I dont have the time to homebrew as much but I've never gotten a feel for running the adventures

christien

How do you get other people to try playing? I am ready to DM but am having a hard time getting people to try D&D.

My question is about designing encounters, each of our 3 DMs have provided some truly harrowing and narratively interesting fights so JAKEY when we eventually hear some Hurwitz penned adventuring, what is your "dream encounter" to run these knuckleheads through? What encounters from past or ongoing games inspire you the most? Love you all and the show!

Aidan Warlow

New DM here, done a few one off sessions but I’m looking to take the plunge into a full campaign. I have a rough story idea and a basic outline of the world I want it to take place in, but I get intimidated every time I work to flesh it out. Should I just let it develop as the PCs explore, should I try to have the whole thing fully planned before jumping in with players? Any guidance would be really appreciated!

Jacob Deaven

Have you ever fudged a roll/altered stats midfight as a DM in a fight that maybe u made too hard

What are some of the mistakes you’ve made as a DM, and what did you learn because of them?

If I pulled a kefka and built toward a bbeg to only off him and blow up the world, an I risking totally losing my players by not letting them save the world the first time?

Brian Jones

When you have a very particular encounter/set of encounters in mind, how do you go about creating/modifying monsters in sourcebooks to have them fit? Do you look for certain creature types, or use the DM guide to home brew monsters?

I have a player that is going to have to miss a few sessions and I don’t want to play without her, but we haven’t played in a while and she says it’s okay. What should I do to keep the story cohesive while her character is gone?

Ryan Keefe

I believe it's specifically DMing stuff

Codey Borges

How do you improve and expand your repertoire of voices?

Clay

All I want is a peek at everyone's note taking style, how do you keep the game so fluid?

Devin Tyler

I love playing with flexible dms & having fun & cool interpretation of rules & such but do you think there is a specific rule dms shouldn’t budge on?

Luciana

My players want me to run a "Superhero City" campaign in 5e with a mega-dungeon. What cool stuff would you come up with to make them feel like heroes without losing the challenge of the game? Thanks, Boobs!

Codey Borges

What's your advice for a world building home brew?

Looking to open the world up after my introductory adventure, what advice do you have regarding leaving bread crumbs around the world to keep driving the story toward the BBEG?

Brian Jones

Can I DM if I can't do accents? I specifically would like Jake to answer this.

David

What is your biggest womping?

How do each of you approach encounter design? My method of throwing a mix of weenies and beefies is getting stale, and I'm trying to figure out how to work in cross-angles and higher stakes.

Muqtadaa Miandara

The day Jake DMs is gonna be so exciting

Kris Barnes

What attitude/mindset do you have to put yourself into to not get furious about players going waaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy off-track?

Edmund Barker

What are some ways to make your players a bit more comfortable with the role playing aspects of D&D if they are new to the concept?

Garett symes

For someone who doesn't know where to start, what reference books or websites would you recommend for beginning DMs?

How do you know when you stop planning and start playing?

Steve Slatky

How do you best deal with hostile players (aka real "sorry but that's what my character would do" types)?

Darby Nicole Mishra

Specifically on D&D advice or will this be more "If I Were You" style?