 Howdy how's it going? My name's Davy Shappie, and welcome to another weird Shappie vlog thing that I still have not properly named, but whatever. Today I'm going to be talking about how to limit your importance as a DM. And I thought that was a really interesting question when it was presented in the comments down below. Like, as a DM, how much effect should you have on the story? How much is too much? And how much is not enough? When are you just being a bystander to somebody else playing the game? And that is a fine line to cross if you don't know exactly how to conceptualize it. So for me, I have ran a lot of games in my time. How big surprise Dungeons & Dragons Man runs Dungeons & Dragons. But for me, the way it's always been is when it comes to in-game, I do not decide what the players do at all. A lot of the time I'm playing from the books, so obviously I have to get them into where the books want them to go. But I don't decide that for the players. I do not tell the players, oh, you do this. I will have it be where they try to investigate a room, and so I tell them to roll, and then I will tell them what their character does in the context of their ability to roll high. But it's never, oh, you wanted to investigate this book, but you instead of investigating this book, you inexplicably decide to investigate the bookshelf itself. And then all of a sudden, oh, there's a secret door! Oh, look at how smart you are! Ah! You can never take control of a person's character. That is their person. It is a violation of the statutes of D&D to decide for a character what they do. You can give suggestions of what you would like them to do, maybe, but you can't force them. You can't strong on them into being your little story play things. And I don't think that's what people really mean when they say, how do I limit my importance as a DM? Because I think a lot of people know, hey, you can't play the game for your players. But it is something that's worth mentioning just because it falls under the umbrella. As for talking, like having verbal weight within the game, as a DM, what I do is I will describe the area, I will play the NPCs, I am really the world. So whenever the players need to interact with the world, then I step in and I either explain what they're looking at, or I play the NPC for them. That's perfectly normal. It's a very reactionary thing that you have to do. I try not to, unless the plot is really meandering, I try not to just have an NPC show up at random and be like, hello, yes, I am Mr. Plotman and I am here to show you where the plot is, because that's cheesy and dumb. And it sort of spoils the ability to roleplay. I'll try to have my players talk to each other as much as possible. And sometimes when they're in the middle of traveling, like let's say that they are in one town and then they pick up some horses and they're traveling from one town to the other. Sometimes again, as the plot demands it, as the story demands it, the flow, I will just say, okay, you go from this town to that town. The journey is largely uneventful. You do spot some deer grazing over on the pasture, but that is about as important as your travel is to you. But sometimes if there's like a good place for it, and I try to measure it up so that there is, I'll say, okay, you guys are traveling, please take some time to roleplay with each other. You guys have just had this experience. You just fought off a necromancer in a town and discovered that he not only controls this town, but controls perhaps the entire region, or at the very least has spies. What do you, what do your characters think of that? Discuss it with each other, please. I know it's sort of like a teacher-y thing to do, like, okay, class, please share with the rest of the class how you feel. But it really does help. And after a little while, you won't need to do that anymore, hopefully. And while it does pull away from your ability to play, because you're literally telling the players, hey, leave me out of this, it does make the game better. And if you're talking about limiting your importance as the DM, that is really what it comes down to. As the Dungeon Master, you're only there to make the game better. That is all you're trying to do. And once your actions move beyond that, then it no longer matters. Now, out of game, I probably talk to my players a lot more than I need to. I make a lot of jokes with them, and we're laughing and a whole bunch of things, and I interject my opinion in, like, out of game stuff a whole lot. But that is because we are a bunch of nerds that are sitting here out of table hallucinating over Magic Dice. Out of game, I'm still a person there. I still intend to be entertained in some way because it's a game. And as much as the players having fun matters, and it should be the thing that matters the most, it isn't the only thing that matters. I'm still a person, and if I'm not getting any enjoyment out of the game, then I'm not going to want to keep playing anymore, and that's the quickest way you could DM burnout. In the game, you are just the vehicle for how the players interact with the world. But out of game, you are a player yourself. And so talking with your friends about things is perfectly fine. And when it comes to that, really, the amount of verbal communication you should be having with your players boils down to how much conversation you should just be having with people in general. If you talk too much, maybe talk a little bit less. If you find yourself not talking that much, I mean, you do you, man. But if you constantly are just breaking the fourth wall to talk to your players while the game is going on, please, I beg of you, stop doing that. You are going to throw the entire game out of whack, unless your players are completely cool with it. Because as I always say, talking to your players and discussing with them about what they would prefer for your game is how you will have good D&D games. Communication is key. So if they just want to chum around and laugh out of game forever about some random crap that you guys are talking about, then feel free, have fun. But it is always good to, if there are one or two people, even if there's only one person that is not playing D&D as much as they want to, because everybody else is laughing out of game, then it's your responsibility as the DM to pull everybody in, bring them back into the game. Because honestly, that is what you're there for. And if you are going to have a D&D group for the express purpose of not playing D&D, but one person is there to play D&D, then you're being a dick to that one person. And you should just stop leading them along. Another way of limiting your importance as a DM, and this is a very experimental thing that I've heard people do, but I have not done myself, is you can switch out who is the DM at certain points. Like, you can have your DM play an arc, like run an arc, like run their own little mini story. And then as soon as that mini story is over, you pass it along to another group of people, and then you keep going, you cycle all around that way and just have different DMs. It prevents a DM burnout, and it means that if you're worried about being the DM forever and taking too much social time, then not only will you not have to worry about it that much, because you'll be the player, the majority of the time, but you'll also be able to, as the player, see how much is too much time for the DM to just be talking and NPC-ing and explaining scenery and that. You'll be on the opposite end, so you'll be able to see the different point of view. You'll be able to know if the DM is taking up too much time, because you as the player will feel it. And so when you go to be the DM again, you will have that other point of view. That is another thing that I don't talk about enough. Having a different point of view is so very, very important. You want to limit your importance as a DM? Be a player, and then see how annoying the DM is for you. If they're not annoying at all, emulate that person. If they're talking way too much, don't emulate that person, but reflect on how they're talking too much, and try to lower it down when you yourself decide to be a DM. But yeah, that's about as much as I can talk about here. I've rambled on for long enough. I hope you enjoyed this video. Please, if you want to support me, check out all my social media in the description below. But yeah, devio.