Behind the Screens: DM Advice Q&A

more than 2 years late and haven’t finished the ep but re: last question: LORD OF THE RINGS. Hobbits weren’t high level. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, very high level. varying ages. ah, yep, literally Murph just said it lmao

No shit when they were talking about dummy npcs to make an Emily was talking about the magic water treatment I was at work mockingly being like oh hello my names Gerald then they said that name an I got so excited they picked that name I almost dropped my work hahaha

robert great shout with the old kingdom books, that is a MAJOR emily vibe

On the subject of items behind my DM screen, I did actually wear my 2 crew pin (available at shop.naddpod.com) the first time I DM’d because I was nervous (despite know the other players since high school).

I love the Sabriel series!!! I’ve had Abhorsen as my tag forever!

Yay my question was answered! I look forward to the next Dungeon Court so I can speak of my blessings from Dice Christ!

Does anyone know the time stamp for when they listed some good beginner one shot options? Or alternatively any personal suggestions? :)

Schrödinger’s Lore

You know your DM is sweating when Gerard the Mailman shows up.

Hoping they put a Murph & Emily wedding photo up in the store so I can also put one behind my screen.

What was the campaign module Emily said lots of people were running? When I went back to scrub through I couldn't find the timestamp

Emily, Sabriel is so good!! If you like audiobooks, I highly recommend listening to Sabriel, the narrator is Tim Curry!

Can anybody figure out what Caldwell was saying at the end when he mentioned the Orb DM’s TikTok username? I’ve listened several times, but everyone was laughing (understandably), and I can’t make it out. 😅

And for combat descriptions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-n2Jdt7lWBwvZCWuP8f9Q2R5yvXk7fTc/view?usp=sharing

I'm about halfway through the episode, and I just had to share these tables for coming up with stuff: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DIvgOgmnP9mxXhfCNF6XjRYEPHMpu7Zb?usp=sharing

my good luck tchotchke is a little rubber rat we used as a mini for a hellhound in a different campaign two years ago, my character made the killing blow and my dm gave me the rat to keep. he lives in my dice bag now

For GMs who use laptops like me, look into mind maps (xmind is great and free)! You can put in foldable sections all your NPCs, locations, events and stuff all under your eyes. Very easy to update on the fly to, so you don't forget NPCs or important information.

Thanks for answering my question!

Niiice, this is perfect lol looking at getting back into dungeons and dragons and there's a chance I'll be needed to DM ☺️

Murph starting out immediately saying the most unhinged shit? Amazing.

Thank U, I’m going home in July so I’ll use these tips!

I'd like to be Where dead roam free In a necromancer’s garden In the graves He'd let us in To flay our skin In his necromancer’s' garden In the graves I'd kill my friends Unwillingly In the necromancer’s garden You see I'd like to be Where dead roam free In the necromancer’s garden In the graves Where evil’s born And our flesh torn Where weapons are no help Not swords or glaives Sever my head Until I’m dead In the necromancer’s garden Near a cave We would scream Beneath the ground Because we know We can't be found I'd like to be Where dead roam free In an necromancer’s garden In the graves We would shout And cry and pout And the demons would hear Our rants and raves (Demons hear our rants and raves) Oh what joy For every ghoulish boy Knowing that we Cannot be saved (Know that we cannot be saved) We would become undead You and me No soul to tell us What to do I'd like to be Where dead roam free In the necromancer’s garden In the graves In the necromancer’s garden In the graves In the necromancer’s garden In the graves

Eh I don't think you need to make every npc kind of pathetic or goofy, not every group is going to be as comedic all the time.

I can't download it as a file like I can the other podcasts. Is there a way to do that?

On the heart breaking betrayal front, Bev Senior is a great example. Especially bc Murph and the Crew do such a good job explaining where he's coming from.

Making likeable NPCs that will betray the party: for me it's a balance between making them likeable and making their betrayal motives make sense. And I don't like if they have to always lie because some bad rolls could mess it up. I introduced a character for this-- they wanted a npc healer to join them, and I thought this was a good opportunity to introduce a traitor. So I made an absolutely adorrable fairy healer. Part of what helped the party latch on was that she teased one of the players in a very fun way that made him annoyed, in general making ttheir interactions very fun. Her motives are known to the party somewhat, because her whole tthing is loving a fascinating plot. This makes her so fascinated by everything the players do. But what's a spicy story than being central in a betrayal? She just doesn't care about morals as much as a good story... which can vibe very well with the party but at tthe same time should make sense for why she betrays them.

USE HOMEBREWERY.com FOR PHB STYLE HOMEBREW MONSTER SHEETS. Sry for yelling

just play with a guest character wheres Jabari at

I would say be so SO careful having an npc betray the party. I did it with my group and they are wildly suspicious of everyone they meet. Somehow they’ve kept their guard down and of course it’s with an npc who is going to betray them. I say plant clues and evidence that the npc is betray-focused to give the players a more-than-50% chance to discover the betrayal before it occurs.

This is sooo good! I love hearing what's physically behind everyone's screens.

The fact that 3/4 of the permanent cast of the show have been DMs is really making me wish for a Jake DM one-shot at some point.

The fact that there's an actual action in basketball called a screen and Murph didn't go there is wild.

Please keep doing these I’m wanting to dm and this is a major help! Thanks!

please do more Hot Boys Summer

Murph coming out swinging with real Ernie energy

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I will be working on this one-shot for little later this summer. My lower level party is the RP power houses so I'll make sure to make them feel important and get v some good moments! I've got just the npcs to make this happen too! Thank you so much again!!!

I need Murph to play that goblin PF2E character immediately with 'that' goblin voice! PLEASE!!

In regards to the improving descriptions, one of my favorite tips I heard: next time you're watching something on Netflix or whatever, check to see if you can change the audio to "audio description". It's weird at first, but going through The Witcher or something and hearing everything described... I feel like it's helped my descriptions a lot.

“Tiny Hat Helm” - A cute, shiny, metal tiny red baseball cap that can be used once to nullify any non-magical attack if the enemy rolls a natural 1 or 2 (shout out to the 2 crew) Gets destroyed after nullifying 1 attack, so use it wisely.

Ab to listen the HELL out of this on my ten out car ride tm

3rd. cant wait, you lot bring joy to my week; every week. Hello and love from Binghamton NY, and from Tupelo, MS

Hell yeah, cleaning and naddpod

Good morning from Germany, after night shift, 5am Thank U lads, I treasure this

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