DM Tip: Being A Better Storyteller

DM Tip: Being a better Storyteller

I talk a lot on this blog about constructing better stories, but I frequently forget to talk about what I call “Tableskills”, those parts of the DM’s craft that are less about formulating plots and laying out narratives than they are relating those narratives to the people around the table.  The thing is, teaching tableskills is a lot harder than just suggesting ideas about stories that could be told, as every DM or prospective DM has their own particular type of storytelling that they’ll grow into as they master the art. As such, there’s no hard and fast rubric I can pass down, only the things that have improved my own performances over time.

The basics: The DM Narrator Loop

I’ve been playing d&d for well over two decades now, and I’ve never heard the DM’s art summed up any better than this video by VOX: Describe, Decide, Roll.

You as the DM Describe what situation the party is in and ask them what do they do next ( in a very leading tone, pulling them forward or offering them direct choices)

The players Decide among themselves what they’re going to do, with clarifying input as needed.  

If anything needs to be decided by dice, you Roll and figure out the outcome, then you snap right back to the descritption phase. 

Keep doing this and your party will be guided along your storiy at a steady clip while having a lot of fun. Keep rolling to when it’s really important, and you’ll be doing just fine.

All Killer No Filler

The most basic trick I’ve learned for tabletop storytelling is asking yourself “ what’s the most interesting thing that could happen this session “ and then telling a story abouthow the party gets from where they are to where that interesting thing happens.  Sometimes that interesting thing kicks down their door and forces them to react, other times it doesn’t quite happen on time, and you need to elude to the fact that it’s about to happen next time they play. Sometimes your players will take the initiative upon themselves to make interesting things happen, ranging from deep roleplay moments to taking an unexpected narrative turn and throwing all your plotting out the window. Learn to love when this happens, but don’t rely on it. Players should be given the spotlight when they stand up and take it, but that doesn’t mean you should shove them on stage before they’re ready. 

Because you’re running a live session and thus have limited “screen time” in which your interesting thing might happen, you should focus on scenes that push the party forward, building narrative momentum while offering the party a chance to break off and do their own thing. “Does anyone want to do anything before we X” and variations of it is your best ally here, as including a pending time limit spurs the party to act before circumstances change while also giving them a direction to fall back on when they don’t want to make a decision. This is where radically open world/hands off DMs fail, because the players showed up expecting to be part if a story rather than entirety making their own fun while a friend if theirs silently chides them for not pretending to be an elf good enough. TLDR: Always be moving towards something interesting happening inside the session, but never be afraid to detour when it looks like your party is going to do your job for you. 

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Rough scenery concepts for other dimensions in worldbuilding for Sableheart. Borromea, domain of impish but diabolical beings known as Borromeans, and the Void, a dark, cold, desolate and apathetic underworld for those denied passage into the higher planes.

Borromea (and particularly the Imperator's Furnace, in all those flames) is where Arctos burned for 2400 years after selling his soul to the Borromeans and then dying. That's where all those who make pacts with Borromeans go when they die- to burn by shadow's flame until the Borromeans decide they're useful again and revive them.

The Void is where Orubrus had to spend that period of time after his own (first) death, sleeping at the bottom of a lake until the Borromean known as Halosis approached him, striking a deal with Orubrus to grant him life again in exchange for hunting down the recently escaped Arctos, and giving up his own soul (which is to be returned back to Orubrus, if he ever succeeds, buuut... the Borromeans are holding it until that happens).

I SEE YOU BUDDY I KNOW IT'S WEIRD JUST TRUST ME THIS IS GONNA CHANGE YOUR LIFE

as we enter the age of artificial intelligence, woefully underprepared and mired in countless problems of our own creation, I think it's time for everybody to read (or reread) this thoughtful little article from 2017 which speculates on what the future of this paradigm shift might hold, and the things we should hold in our minds as we approach the singularity.

if you open the link and get a few sentences in, and start to wonder "is this the right article?" the answer is yes. just trust me and keep reading.

Submitter comment: "I think you'll appreciate this paper from Zeng et al. 2019, Growth model interpretation of planet size distribution.

"It's. a lot."

I went to the beach with a friend last month and wanted to share some of the creature pics I took. We found tons of (live!!!) shellfriends (I love that you can see their eyes), a hermit crab with the most orange shell I've ever seen, very many birds, and a horseshoe crab who was just chilling by the shore.