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Player Management

6 Ways to Get Everyone at the Game Table More Involved

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Ideally, you want all of your players getting the most from their gaming experience instead of just one or two players stealing the show. Rather than trying to coach several of your players to be more involved, there are ways you can adapt how your game runs to accomplish this painlessly. This is why we’ve composed a list of tips to get all of your players more involved in the game without it feeling forced. If done well, these will help your party not only function as a more effective team but perhaps enjoy the game itself even more. 

14 Tips for DMing First-Time Players: Teaching RPG Newbs the Game, Their Characters, and How to Have a Great Time Playing Both

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Of all the roles the DM takes on, none is more important than bringing new players into the hobby. DM a game, and your player has fun for a night. Teach them to play, and they may have fun for the rest of their lives (or think you’re a gigantic weirdo — it’s a win either way). In this episode, on the eve of DM Dave launching a mostly rookie campaign, the 3 Wise DMs talk about how they handle new players, what they do to try to teach them the game, and how they make it fun without overwhelming the poor newbs.

DMing RPG Party Conflict: 5 Tips for When Your Players Get Along But Their Characters Don’t

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Gaming keeps friendships together. But. what do you do when one or more of your friend’s characters either don’t get along or outright dislike each other? Unfortunately, when this happens, it can kill a game like nothing else. And on this topic, I’m speaking from experience. So, I would like to give some tips to help navigate this situation if you happen to be that unlucky DM whose party members have more hate for each other than the final boss.

RPG MythBusters: PC Party Balance Is Essential! … Maybe Not as Much as You Think?

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TTRPG Party balance: It’s the most important thing every new campaign needs, right? Maybe not. Is there any role the PCs really NEED to have a good time? In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave take a deep dive into what party balance and imbalance do to the game, what it means to the DM, and what it means to the players.

TTRPG Party Dynamics: How We Want Players to Work Together and What We Do When They Don’t

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In this episode, the 3 Wise DMs talk about what they want in the RPG parties and players they DM for, what they care about, and what they let slide.

The Cannonball Run: 3 Ways to Handle Players Missing Sessions

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In our latest episode, we answered a listener’s question regarding how to handle players missing sessions. This led to a brainstorm about how to build a campaign that turns this apparent weakness into a strength. Starting from the basic idea of a West Marches-style campaign, I offer you “The Cannonball Run.”

Missing in Action: How to Handle Players Skipping Games and Scheduling Conflicts

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The ultimate BBEG for any tabletop RPG is the calendar. And judging by the vast gallery of memes about this topic, that villain is nigh unbeatable. Whether our schedules are hard to align or players have important things that come up or someone in your group is just flakey, every DM has to deal with some level of absenteeism. It’s always a little bit disruptive, and sometimes it can outright kill your campaign … How do you handle it?

The Case for the DMPC

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Understandably, many DMs and players feel strongly against adding a DMPC to the table. However, I am here to tell you that, if done correctly, this NPC could not only be valuable to the party dynamic but also provide the DM with unique perspective that you’d never get from the other side of the DM screen.

When Metagaming Goes Wrong: How Do You Stop Out-of-Character Knowledge From Ruining Your Game?

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It may be the DM’s world, but the players know the game too. They have access to all the books, all the lore, even all the monster stats! What do you do when they can’t keep personal TTRPG knowledge separate from PC knowledge?

How to Move a Stalled RPG Campaign Forward

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At some point, every DM sees their campaign get lost in the weeds. How do you get the PCs back on track and involved with the big, bad plotline?