Christopher's introduction and some musings on Dungeon Mastery

Many of you know me as a mediocre Magic player with an unhealthy love of slivers, UW Control, and trying to win without casting my commander, but I've spent way more hours playing and running Tabletop RPGs, in this essay I will…

But in all seriousness, I've played in Tabletop RPGs for over 20 years. I've run them for about 18 years. I've played in collaborative storytelling, Star Trek PBEM (Play By EMail, yunno back when we would separate the 'e' or capitalize the 'M'). I had 3 separate AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) accounts just for that. I've run for as few a 1, or as many as 20ish (local event of a nationally networked LARP (Live Action RolePlay)).

I've played without dice, I've played without any randomization at all, I've played with buckets of d6s or d10s or d20s. I've played Rock/Paper/Scissors.

All this rambling is mostly just to clarify that I've seen a lot of systems. Systems don't define your fun. Stories do. Whether the stories your group is telling are in character, or the ones that happen completely out of character (insert gif of somebody trying to scoop Dr Pepper off a playmat).  Your stories as a group are what will be remembered years later. 

In this series, I will likely use anecdotal stories from my own tables to drive home a point. Some readers may recognize those stories, or have been there for them. These stories are what we're all really after. Whether we're sitting down for some "mindless" hack and slash, or thought provoking fear as the final candles go out. It is the stories we create that will be retold, distorted, and misremembered fondly for years to come. 

In another ramble I'll likely go into finding the right table. Because EVERYONE, and I do mean EVERY ONE, can enjoy an RPG session.

The first tip I have for anyone running a game: Be flexible. 

You need to learn to roll with the punches. Players will do things not accounted for in the module, your meticulous planning, or your ad hoc barebones idea you threw together while everyone was grabbing drinks.  They will come at the encounter sideways. Some encounters can handle this better than others. Some are instantly broken. So you need to be flexible. 

Matt Mercer and others have entire videos devoted just to this concept. But the simplest way I can phrase it comes from improv.  Use "yes, and" and "no, but" and don't be afraid to make it all up on the spot.

If your players are coming at an encounter from a module so wildly out of left field that the module won’t make sense, you can allow that, “yes, and” modify things so that it will still function as a challenging encounter.  From changing the timing of a boss’s appearance on screen, to adding an extra patrol of goblins that wanders in after a few rounds.  

Or you can tell your players “no, but” and offer something that doesn’t break the encounter completely.  Give your players the surprise round.  Allow them to sneak up or catch your NPCs unawares.  But don’t just fold the encounter over, if the players never feel like they are facing a challenge they will have less fun.

Don’t be afraid to modify the stats of your NPCs or monsters as the encounter is happening.  If the base mobs fall too fast, the 2nd wave has more HP.  If they’re lasting too long, take a few HP off.  If the Boss is missing consistently even though your rolls are fine… then give the boss an extra bonus to hit after a few rounds because he learned something about their defenses.

When changing stat blocks on the fly, always remember that you’re all telling a story together.  It should almost never be you vs them. There’s a specific type of table where that’s appropriate, but in general you never want the players to feel like YOU are the antagonist.  The NPCs that survive.  The NPCs that betray them.  Those are supposed to be the antagonists. 
We’re telling stories together.

Speaking of those antagonists, they aren’t mindless cardboard cutouts sitting there waiting for the adventurers to come kill them.  Be willing to give them life outside of what the module may have written.  Don’t have them become meta-aware.  They shouldn’t ALWAYS know what the players are doing (unless they have a spy in the group) but they also didn’t get to be noticeable named NPCs with a unique stat block by being boring.  Give them life, have them surprise the players.

All of this is hand wavy, wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey.  Which isn’t something everyone can do effortlessly right away.  It takes practice, experience with the system you’re using, and a lot of educated guesses.  Do it enough, and you can get a feel for what works for you and what doesn’t.

I don’t run modules very often.  I mostly homebrew my setting, my deities, all of it.  This gives me a lot of freedom to ad hoc change things behind the curtain.  But even with a module in a well known setting, there’s still lots of wiggle room.  You just have to look.  And, if your table doesn’t care about “correct” or “canon” then don’t feel bad about killing a well known named character from a well known universe because a certain wookie with a lightsaber wanted to fight them.

Players that have sat at my table can sometimes tell when I’ve changed something, or made it up on the spot.  I’ve literally had players ask if they could (or just try) and had to break for 10 minutes to grab snacks...and gather my thoughts.  Figure out what I was gonna do with the entire encounter that was now sideways.  It is ok if the table knows you are pulling something out of thin air.  As long as everyone is still having fun, and we’re telling stories.

Let your players say “yes, and” or “no, but”.  Don’t railroad them through everything.  Give them the freedom to come at an encounter from a novel direction. If they can do creative and interesting things they will enjoy it more.  One of the more popular memes of this is “I know a guy”.  Literally riffing on Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back.  Letting a player sketch out a quick relationship, why that NPC could be useful, and then you’re off to the races.  Maybe they don’t like the player character, but they can help...for a price.  Maybe everything goes smoothly, this time.

Giving your players the freedom to improvise will give them more fun.  And they’ll give you ideas that you hadn’t thought of yet. “Warehouse? WHAT kind of lycanthrope is THAT?!”

Simply put, be flexible, and let your players be creative.  You’ll all have more fun.  You’ll tell great stories.  And years later, you’ll retell those stories.

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