Elevate TTRPG

[Yorveth]

What can one do to elevate the quality of the game (aside from the obvious story improvements) ?

I already make the world map on my own, have pictures of tons of characters, there is OST (not mine ofc but shamelessly "insipired" by soundtrack from various sources) pictures of some important locations.

[Annoging]

My DM had me lead a character diary. That really helped with the immersion.

You write out what happened to your character from their POV.

[Yorveth]

My DM had me lead a character diary. That really helped with the immersion.

You write out what happened to your character from their POV.

I have a player that wanted to do that, seems like a great idea.

[Annoging]

My DM had me lead a character diary. That really helped with the immersion.

You write out what happened to your character from their POV.

I have a player that wanted to do that, seems like a great idea.

It helped me remember the sessions in detail. A lot of players are casual about how they play but this had me focused and invested

[Monsterio]

depends. dm or pcs?

if the dm has a god complex the campaign is shit to begin with. i'd say you need to engage with the backstory of the players. your typical dm usually ignores the personality of your character treating it as window dressing

the worst players are the inconsiderate trolls making sure you don't enjoy a single minute of gameplay

[Peril]

I'll drop my hot takes after a nap

[Peril]

Double posting because I'm cooking.

So, I think people should polish their core skills when it comes to Tabletop RPGs. Most campaigns suck because the players and the DM have shit communication skills.

First you need to all realize what type of campaign and story you're playing. Is it a comedy? Gloves off or on? Trad dnd, or special snowflake gang of misfits? Large-scale, small-scale?

There is so much that needs to be decided before you start the campaign.
Not the lore, not the backstories, not character details. You should all decide on the overall vibe and rules of how the story will develop. Hard-lines, how long the story will be, how serious.

Because most campaigns fail because the expectations are mismatched. One person is playing a murder hobo, the 2nd player came to season 0 with a ten page backstory prepared, third person doesn't even know their spells, 4th guy wants to be the main character.
The GM is a sadist who's going to fuck you over if you disagree with him about goblin lore. It's really that silly. You can have a board, make a character diary, buy the most expensive miniatures, but if the table members lack communication, it's all going to shit.

Everything else is a great bonus, but this is the core principle of being a good GM.

Once you know how to communicate and set expectations, you can think of everything else.

[Yorveth]

Double posting because I'm cooking.

So, I think people should polish their core skills when it comes to Tabletop RPGs. Most campaigns suck because the players and the DM have shit communication skills.

First you need to all realize what type of campaign and story you're playing. Is it a comedy? Gloves off or on? Trad dnd, or special snowflake gang of misfits? Large-scale, small-scale?

There is so much that needs to be decided before you start the campaign.
Not the lore, not the backstories, not character details. You should all decide on the overall vibe and rules of how the story will develop. Hard-lines, how long the story will be, how serious.

Because most campaigns fail because the expectations are mismatched. One person is playing a murder hobo, the 2nd player came to season 0 with a ten page backstory prepared, third person doesn't even know their spells, 4th guy wants to be the main character.
The GM is a sadist who's going to fuck you over if you disagree with him about goblin lore. It's really that silly. You can have a board, make a character diary, buy the most expensive miniatures, but if the table members lack communication, it's all going to shit.

Everything else is a great bonus, but this is the core principle of being a good GM.

Once you know how to communicate and set expectations, you can think of everything else.

First off one long ass nap nicee


I mean, yes you are correct. But somehow i am thinking of more game to game type of thing. All the things you said seem like they should be done and talked before the campaing even starts and somehow i dont see that as elevating it to the next level but more of an essential type of thing.

I had a talk with a group i was dm-ing and one person played a murder hobo, one was deeply unintersted in everything around them (but they claim they had fun) and 2 were taking it seriously (where one was evil and the other was good) Now the problem is that the first 2 kinda fucked over the other 2 (they got punished in game and i even told them outside of the game that that type of behaviour will lead into trouble if they continue), and as such this more seems like a requirment then oh look i have now maps which are neat and the immersion gets deeper or oh i play music so u can feel the vibe and tensity.

[Annoging]

Double posting because I'm cooking.

So, I think people should polish their core skills when it comes to Tabletop RPGs. Most campaigns suck because the players and the DM have shit communication skills.

First you need to all realize what type of campaign and story you're playing. Is it a comedy? Gloves off or on? Trad dnd, or special snowflake gang of misfits? Large-scale, small-scale?

There is so much that needs to be decided before you start the campaign.
Not the lore, not the backstories, not character details. You should all decide on the overall vibe and rules of how the story will develop. Hard-lines, how long the story will be, how serious.

Because most campaigns fail because the expectations are mismatched. One person is playing a murder hobo, the 2nd player came to season 0 with a ten page backstory prepared, third person doesn't even know their spells, 4th guy wants to be the main character.
The GM is a sadist who's going to fuck you over if you disagree with him about goblin lore. It's really that silly. You can have a board, make a character diary, buy the most expensive miniatures, but if the table members lack communication, it's all going to shit.

Everything else is a great bonus, but this is the core principle of being a good GM.

Once you know how to communicate and set expectations, you can think of everything else.

But at least I wasn't a power gamer.

First off one long ass nap nicee


I mean, yes you are correct. But somehow i am thinking of more game to game type of thing. All the things you said seem like they should be done and talked before the campaing even starts and somehow i dont see that as elevating it to the next level but more of an essential type of thing.

I had a talk with a group i was dm-ing and one person played a murder hobo, one was deeply unintersted in everything around them (but they claim they had fun) and 2 were taking it seriously (where one was evil and the other was good) Now the problem is that the first 2 kinda fucked over the other 2 (they got punished in game and i even told them outside of the game that that type of behaviour will lead into trouble if they continue), and as such this more seems like a requirment then oh look i have now maps which are neat and the immersion gets deeper or oh i play music so u can feel the vibe and tensity.

I was a murder hobo first time I played Dungeons&Dragons. I carry that shame everywhere.

[Peril]

Double posting because I'm cooking.

So, I think people should polish their core skills when it comes to Tabletop RPGs. Most campaigns suck because the players and the DM have shit communication skills.

First you need to all realize what type of campaign and story you're playing. Is it a comedy? Gloves off or on? Trad dnd, or special snowflake gang of misfits? Large-scale, small-scale?

There is so much that needs to be decided before you start the campaign.
Not the lore, not the backstories, not character details. You should all decide on the overall vibe and rules of how the story will develop. Hard-lines, how long the story will be, how serious.

Because most campaigns fail because the expectations are mismatched. One person is playing a murder hobo, the 2nd player came to season 0 with a ten page backstory prepared, third person doesn't even know their spells, 4th guy wants to be the main character.
The GM is a sadist who's going to fuck you over if you disagree with him about goblin lore. It's really that silly. You can have a board, make a character diary, buy the most expensive miniatures, but if the table members lack communication, it's all going to shit.

Everything else is a great bonus, but this is the core principle of being a good GM.

Once you know how to communicate and set expectations, you can think of everything else.

But at least I wasn't a power gamer.

First off one long ass nap nicee


I mean, yes you are correct. But somehow i am thinking of more game to game type of thing. All the things you said seem like they should be done and talked before the campaing even starts and somehow i dont see that as elevating it to the next level but more of an essential type of thing.

I had a talk with a group i was dm-ing and one person played a murder hobo, one was deeply unintersted in everything around them (but they claim they had fun) and 2 were taking it seriously (where one was evil and the other was good) Now the problem is that the first 2 kinda fucked over the other 2 (they got punished in game and i even told them outside of the game that that type of behaviour will lead into trouble if they continue), and as such this more seems like a requirment then oh look i have now maps which are neat and the immersion gets deeper or oh i play music so u can feel the vibe and tensity.

I was a murder hobo first time I played Dungeons&Dragons. I carry that shame everywhere.

m8 wtf did you just say about powergamers