Ask a DM (w/ Murph)

Hypothetically... if you started playing the first time ever as a GM and started a group with 5 players assuming a few would drop out or move on with the usual adult things, but we're coming to the end of a homebrew campaign that's taken 3 years so far with no-one leaving. How would you reduce the group to 3 players (I think the ideal number) without upsetting anyone? or should I suck it up and keep playing with 5? Only a couple of them are keen to roll-play and I feel like the others just wait their turn and get bored. I've tried all sorts of things to encourage improv, and include the other PCs during other's turns, but most just don't want to.

Every day I pray that the long hair means new starstruck season 🙏

What a handsome man!

Really enjoyed getting to hear from murph about what it takes to be a good DM and all the work that goes into it. I love the show but what truly keeps me coming back is how good the band of boobs are as people in the real world.. Thanks for all the joy you bring to us listeners!!

Love how Murph shares my opinion on how people are way too precious about "player agency" and "railroading" because we're all here to have fun together and one player going rogue is fun for them but not for anyone else

Woahhh murph is so beautiful here

Truly, Murph just gets more and more handsome every year! I love that for him and for Emily too hehe🩵

God he’s so good looking. That fucking grimace at the beginning 😩😩😩

when... when did brian become a hot fabian-esque DM? I'm not okay with it, I'm threatened by it, and frankly, will never be showing my SO this podcast now. Congrats tho

Long hair Brian is back, baby!!!!!!!

Every time I see murph in a stream like this he reminds me more of High Grant

NOOOOOOOO I FORGOT!!!! AND I HAD SO MANY QUESTIONS TO ASK A DM (EMILY)

This was so cute, I love this.

Giant W! The haters are starving

Everyone needs to shut up about murphs's hair right now, Smashford is gonna get jealous and beat us all up

murph looks so good what

God dsmn did Murph jump into a de ager??

How do I get my players to use the magic items and new abilities I give them more? I admit that I have given my players way too many things. From a mimic bag of holding named Prada to an area of effect Smite in the form of eye rays for the paladin. I just want them to feel powerful (as well as feel better throwing harder fights and challenges at them) but they hardly make use of them! I even tried making them fight their shadow selves in a super smash Bros like challenge (even used a Hyrule castle battle map) to show them the various ways they can use their stuff but it doesn't seem to have stuck. Is there a way to encourage them to use their items more, or should I just ease back with the gifts and give them time to adjust to what they have?

Love the 10 episode arcs idea

omg gorgeous bob

Hello my good sir, as a dm that runs some of the most interesting and intense combats. How do you come up with the mechanics/inspiration behind them. How do you combine so many moving parts into a comprehensive combat?

Murph hair Murph hair

Im planning a Home Alone-esque heist holiday one shot for some friends. how would you frame it so your players aren’t just trying to murder a child?

How is baby Caldwell doing? 🖤🥹🖤

Hi Murph! New DM here! How do I take all the ideas on my page and turn them into an actual adventure/encounter? Trying to figure out how to go from idea stage to play stage!

Love the hair!

Hi Murph! What's your best advice for creating recovering villains or bad guys that aren't the final big baddie. When bringing them back, how is it best to scale them and feel new while still being familiar without too much of a power creep?

Why did I get excited when I saw his hair?

How can my players best feel my wrath for dunking on me all the time?

How are you feeling about the Bloodline storyline in WWE right now?

Hi Murph, I'm a DM who's gotten really excited recently by going back and reading material from older editions of D&D to bring into my game. What are some older ideas (items, spells, monsters) that you would bring into a campaign if you could?

Is balnor part of the maverus verse

Don't know if I missed it regarding shorter campaigns, but is there a chance we'd see other systems come out? More than a one shot Pathfinder 2e? Starfinder 2e?

When making custom monsters how do you make sure they don't have to much hp or their attacks are too strong or have too many abilities before its to late?

Murph, since beginning nadpod what experiences or practices do you feel have contributed most to your personal growth as a DM?

I’m a new DM and running my first one-shot campaign for my sister and brother-in-law. I have been having trouble feeling prepared for sessions and creating engaging combat. I have been using a pre-made campaign, but I still feel unprepared during sessions. When you prep for a session, what do you do to prep for the 2-crew’s random questions?

How do you get back in the mode to DM again after long breaks? I struggle with building up the enthusiasm to prep if our regular session momentum is lost.

I have a player who wants their character to die but doesn't want to go through a resurrection ritual because she doesn't want any aspect of her physical form to change. How can I still make death and resurrection have consequences?

Hey murph, had a situation come up in my last campaign where a player wanted to retire their character after their personal arc was over, not the campaign. How do you handle or give a pc a new purpose or should that just be up to the player? Feels weird not having a character there that’s been there from the start of the campaign

How would you overcome the presentation part of DMing? I. E.- I'm a writer first, but when I'm DMing I also have to be an actor and director, etc. I'm not good at that. How do I make sure my story beats have the oomph that I want, if they rely on my subpar acting skills?

How do you like to tackle character creation, both for NPCs and helping make PCs

What would you do in the case that your party is too skeptical about everything no matter what?

Do you support mental saves if you’re trying to persuade in a pc-to-pc interaction?

What steps do you take to stave off DM burnout, and what, if anything, do you give to your players as pre- or in-game tasks (i.e., session note-taking, active worldbuilding, recapping, etc.)?

Didn’t realize Ryan looked like me 8 years ago lol

Hi is this chat live with the video? If so I have a question for Murph: Did you guys get the choose your own adventure book that I left for you in Orlando last year?

What’s the best way to play a heap of npcs in one scene, I sometimes get a bit flustered do you have any tips?

How do you approach balancing encounters?

How would you recommend getting a party of new players get started?

Murph as a writer and DM, how do you know when to keep an problem a problem, how do you decide "alright im concluding this"

I have a lot of trouble maintaining character personalizes and motivations during a conversation with my players. It’s very easy for my characters to eventually settle down to a similar equilibrium (my personality). What advice do you have on maintaining character voice?

DMs of course plan for many eventualities so that they can be flexible to the whims of their players, but what’s the most your players have ever thrown you off your plan?

How far ahead do you plan your big story points?

What is the method you use for making non-combat encounters? For example, the one you did for the Elemental Chaos running to the earth elemental

What do your DM session notes look like? OneNote, paper and pencil, Obsidian, Google docs? Etc.

When's the seance to summon the Grinch