DMing: Filling in the Gaps

Dungeons & Dragons is more than a game of numbers. It is a game of stories and description. Clever and descriptive language can change adventuring from a dry exercise in dice rolling into the fantastical journey the game is supposed to be. In a Role Playing Game, part of the Dungeon Master’s job is to facilitate the game via description and challenge.

Read on to learn about storytelling, pacing, priority, as well as things to avoid when DMing.

Here are some core ideas for improving the quality of the storytelling at the table:

• Setting the Scene: As a DM, you are the ‘lens’ through which the game world is seen. Using vivid descriptions allows the players to make better informed choices and engages them in the game. Instead of, “You see a village”, you could say, “You see a hamlet of about a dozen thatched roof huts scattered on the hillside. There are about a dozen villagers visible and a few children and dogs. One or two of them look you over as you approach, but most pay you no mind.” The second description gives more points of interest for a player to seize on when you throw it over to them.
• The Choice: Games of all types have Choice. Even something as simple as flipping a coin – Do you flip it, or not? When you finish a description, you should end with something that throws it back to the group or to a specific player. Most of the time, “What do you do?” is sufficient. In the above example, you could have one of the villagers come down the hillside and wave at the group. This indicates that it is their turn to make a decision about the flow of the game. Do they greet her back, or do they ignore her and move further into the village?
• Intent: This is the player’s contribution to the game. They will either say what they are attempting, or they will express their desired outcome. Following the previous example, they could say they want to talk to the villager and try to befriend her, or they simply state that they make friends with the villager. The latter is usually a bit better, because it lets you, as a DM, know what their intended outcome is. Also, let the players know they should avoid using game bonuses or stats when making their action known. Numbers on character sheets and in the rule books are for players, not characters. The numbers come in at the next step, the Chance.
• The Chance: As a DM, you now use your discretion to assign the difficulty of the task and what ability, skill, perk, or tools will be used. This is also when you can talk about Advantage and Disadvantage for the roll.  This is the one point in the interaction when the rules should come up.  Accept reminders from your players about the rules, but as DM, your word is final. The pacing and continuity of the game are your responsibility and also your prerogative.
• Describing Results: As important as presenting the Choice or setting the scene with Description is communicating the results (good or bad) and describing the fallout. Continuing the example above, when the character fails his Charisma check, the woman makes a sour face and says, “Well, an adventurer marching through here is all fine a dandy. But it won’t help us get the harvest in any sooner.” With that, she walks past the group with her nose in the air. When you describe results, it should restart the cycle back to the Choice or a new description.

An Example from the first Episode Horde of the Dragon Queen:
“As your characters reach the edge of Greenest, the smell of smoke from the numerous fires fills your nostrils. There are sporadic screams and the sounds of things being broken. The town is in chaos, but to the south the keep seems intact. Every few seconds, you cannot resist a look upwards, as there is something large swooping around in the sky. There is one main road cutting across town, and two side lanes. The main square of town looks overrun with a mixture of dark-cloaked brigands and small creatures. What are you doing?”
Players <after conferring>: “We’re going to go to the nearest house and get under cover so we can look around without being exposed to whatever is flying around.”
DM: “Okay. A nearby house looks like it already had the doors kicked in and is deserted. The house itself is issuing a thick column of smoke from the back room.”
Dwarf Player: “I’m going to put the fire out.”
DM: ”You enter the front room, which is still intact but smoky. Moving towards the back of the house, the smoke gets heavier. Roll a Constitution saving throw, against a difficulty of 12.”
Dwarf Player: “I got a 12.”
DM: “You are fine for now. You open the rear door to find a pile of rags and lamp oil has been set on fire. You don’t think you have enough water to put it out.”
Dwarf Player: “Do I see anything around to smother it with? Can I use a cloak or curtains to beat out the flames?”
DM: “Sure. While he works on that, what is everyone else doing?”
Elf Player: “Keeping an eye out on that thing in the sky.”
DM: (rolls some dice for an encounter) “Give me a Perception check.”
Elf Player: “I got a total of 16.”
DM: “Dwarf, roll a check on either Survival or Athletics to beat out the flames.”
Dwarf Player: “I’ll use Athletics.” (Rolls dice) “I only got a 4 total.”
DM: “This fire is too far gone for you to stop with the tools you have. You may need to move to another house soon.  The elf sees that the thing above is just circling for the moment.”

Pacing, Choice, Priority, and Inspiration

• Pacing: Another factor to consider when engaging a group of players is pacing. If the pace is too slow, players will become distracted and lose the thread of what is going on. Move too fast, and the game will lose depth; players may miss important points of the story. For more on pacing read Keeping the Pace.
• One Sentence: Unless you are setting up a scene (like the description of Greenest in the previous example), you should limit descriptions of action or incidental things to one sentence or phrase. Sometimes, if you dwell too long on something the players may get a mistaken impression of its importance to the game.
• The Countdown: When things are chaotic and moving fast, like in a chase or combat, a DM can use the following tool. If a player is taking more an a few seconds to decide what to do, hold up your hand with fingers spread in full view. Count down your fingers (silently) until you hit ‘zero’. If they still haven’t made a decision, move on to the next initiative. Make sure to let them do something later in the round, and always give them the chance to act before something happens to them. This should not be used as a punishment, but as a way to keep the game rolling and give a sense of urgency. Also, don’t count a player down if they already told you what they’re going to do. This is not something to do while they are looking up a spell range or adding modifiers to hit together.
  
• Door ‘A’ or Door ‘B’: Sometimes the Choice can be used without the Chance. For instance, talking to Lord Nighthill on the battlements (Episode 1: Horde of the Dragon Queen), he presents a choice to the group. On one hand, he says the cultists are preparing to move on the Lumber Mill (Area 4) which is the livelihood of the town. If there is any future for Greenest, the Mill must survive. On the other hand, he has reports that some villagers and the village priest have barricaded themselves in the temple to Chauntea (Area 3). The building is one of the strongest in town, but he doesn’t know how long they will hold out. Let the characters decide what will come first in the encounters. This will allow them to take control of the action, and make them feel more invested in the outcome.
• Let Them Win: Another time to discard the Chance is when little or nothing is at stake. If a character is proficient at a task, and it falls within the scope of things they would know how to do, and there will be no consequences of failure – let the player have this one. However, if a group of cultists are chasing the characters, that’s a great time for the rogue to make a roll to pick a lock when trying to hide in a house. A competent character is one the player is more likely to identify with.
• Trained and Untrained: When a task is particularly well suited to characters that are trained, ask which characters have the skill. Let the trained ones roll first, and only if they fail should you allow the untrained characters to roll (if at all). For instance, to identify a drake, ask the characters with either Arcana or Nature Lore to roll first, and then let others in the group have a crack at it if the first rolls fail. This rewards players for having the right skill at the right time, and will create a stronger bond with that competent character (like Let Them Win, above).
• Get Inspired: Before play begins, take a look at the character sheets and make some notes about the characters’ Personal Characteristics (Traits, Flaws, Bonds, etc.). During play, use them to award Inspiration liberally. Players should be aware that the Inspiration mechanic says that you can’t save up multiple Inspirations, so the most efficient way take advantage of it is to constantly try to gain it, use it, and then gain it once more. This promotes role playing, but it also allows the DM to reinforce story points, keep the game moving, and reward players paying attention and being engaged.

Integrating role playing, pacing, priority to the trained and Inspiration might look something like the following (from The Lost Mine of Phandelver):
DM: “You move up through the steep corridor into a cave with several bedrolls and a smoky cooking fire. There is the smell of unwashed goblins and uncured hides. The cave you enter is split into two levels; the one you entered on and a higher platform to the left. The sound of your movement up the passage seems to have panicked several small creatures that scurry up some stairs, deserting their campfire, at the back of the cave onto the platform looming over you to the left. To the right, there is another exit. What are you doing?”
Player #1: “Let’s get ‘em.”
Player #2: “Wait. They might have the prisoner the last goblin talked about.”
DM: “You hear them scrabbling about up there, and hear someone moan.”
Player #2: “You speak common?”
DM as Goblin: (form up on the platform) “A little. Go away or we kill prisoner.”
Player #2: “We don’t want to kill anyone; we just want the dwarf.”
DM as Other Goblin: “Dwarf? This guy’s a dwarf?”
DM as Third Goblin: “Shut up, Yeemik is talking.”
Player #2: “Let him go, or we’re coming up there!”
DM: “Do you have the Intimidation skill?”
Player #1: “My barbarian does.”
DM: (noting that the character is holding the bugbear leader’s shield) “Alright, what do you say then?”
Player #1: “Let the prisoner go Yeemik, and nobody dies!”
DM: “Roll intimidation, with advantage.” (For holding the shield)
Player #1: “Ugh. Even with advantage, I only rolled a 12.”
Yeemik: “Twenty gold, and we give.”
Player #2: (has ‘believes in direct action as a personality trait’) “How about one spear you ugly clown? I throw a spear at him.”
Player #2: “Wait…”
DM: “You hurl your weapon, roll to hit. After the attack, you gain Inspiration.”
Player #2: “I rolled a 19! Take seven damage!”
DM: The spear flies through the air, and the goblin squawks as the edge grazes his neck.” (Yeemik has 5 hp remaining of his 12) “The other goblins heave and a human in tattered chain mail rolls off of the ledge and lands on the floor with a graceless thud. Roll initiative.”

Miscellaneous

• Rewards: Reward clever play and having the proper skill, ability, or spell for the task just as much as you would good dice rolls. Each time you reward them and get them involved, it builds trust, and you can use that trust to build better adventures.
• Never Say Never: In customer service, employees are told to never say “No”. Similarly, a DM should avoid just flatly disallowing something. You should instead say that the chances of success are slim to none, describe the probable consequences, and offer alternatives. In the previous example, if one of the players had asked if their character could leap up onto the platform (10’ high), the probable answer is ‘not likely’. But they could climb up while the other character distracts the goblins, or retreat to fashion a ladder, or dash for the stairs at the far end of the room.
• The Warning: One of the alternatives to outright denying an action is the Warning. The Warning is most often used when a character has failed at a task, and the player wants a do-over because of a bad roll. Nothing stops them, usually. But sometimes, to prevent a drag in action, the DM can use a Warning to urge the players to come up with something new. The rogue stoops down and begins to pick the lock, and fails with a low roll. Frustrated, the player says they will try again. Tell them trying again is allowed, but trying the same thing may result in broken tools: “You didn’t open the lock because the mechanism doesn’t want to move. It looks like the lock hasn’t moved in ages, and you don’t want to bend or break your thieves tools.” The players should describe that they are putting in extra effort, being persistent, or trying to give themselves and edge. Whether they try again is their decision, but if they try again, and it fails – enforce the consequences: “You snapped off your tool in the lock. You lost one of your best picks, and the lock is now thoroughly jammed.”

Things to Avoid

Of course, with any discussion of description and pacing there are some things to be aware of and avoid.

• Avoid Vulgarity: Try to avoid crude language or profanity when describing things to players, especially if you’re playing in public.
• Sensitivity: Don’t dwell on unnecessary detail or action when it comes to the unfortunate effects of battle and conflict. Aside from the standard caveats about over-sexualizing or creating sex objects, incest, rape, torture and other nastiness; be mindful of the reactions of your players at the table. A good alternative is to use a ‘Fade to Black’ (see below).
• Fade to Black: One of the effective tools for dealing with the verisimilitude of a violent and dangerous world of goblins and beasts is the ‘Blackout’ or ‘Fade to Black’. For instance: orcs have broken in the door, and everyone is already down except for the fighter. You roll the first attack, and it is a critical. You can simply say, “The lead orc leaps out at you with his weapon, and you lose consciousness. Everyone needs to roll out your death saves.” When the characters are done with this, and assuming there are survivors, you then say to the survivors; “You wake some time later with your head throbbing. Some members of the party have been dragged off. You were searched for loot, you are sure of it, but they left your weapons behind. The drag marks the orcs left are easy to follow. What do you do?”
  This sparse description of a brutal event lets each player ‘fill in the blanks’ on their own. If they want more detail, they will ask for it. Again, it acknowledges the dire nature of the situation, does not dwell on gory specifics – and the last phrase effectively challenges their heroism: what are you going to do about this?

Becoming a Better DM

• Accept Feedback: Everyone has their own comfort level with language and description. If someone feels uncomfortable and says that they are, respond to it not as criticism of your game mastery. If it is in reference to a specific type of event or idea, try to steer clear of it at the table while they are present, or give them a means to communicate their level of comfort.
• Seek out Peers: Talking to other DMs might be useful. Ask them if they have any ideas on keeping things described, engaged and moving. This also means engaging with the Venue Coordinator – they may have issues, ideas, or even offer help.
• Record and Review: A final tool that may prove useful, if you have the technology and venue for it, is recording sessions. If the players agree you can record the session with a digital recorder, laptop, iPod or smart phone. Go back and listen to yourself during the game. Did you offer choice appropriately? Did you set the scene? Did you keep things moving? Does anyone sound upset or seem marginalized? Sometimes during the rush of the session, things can get lost.

This may all sound very intimidating and a lot to take in at once, but being a DM is not much harder than telling a good story. Humans have been entertaining each other with storytelling for thousands of years; we are just doing it with cool-looking dice.