Dungeon Master Essentials: 7 Tools Every DM Should have in their Dungeon

[justin_lewis] 00:00:02

welcome back to how to be a better d m let's jump in with our

[justin_lewis] 00:00:06

warm up today and tanner is actually going to give me a warm up so

[justin_lewis] 00:00:10

let's let's go ahead and jump in

[tanner_weyland] 00:00:11

let's do it okay mine is it's pretty simple pretty open decided to go with

[tanner_weyland] 00:00:19

a broader warm up here so let's say that you only had an our prepare

[tanner_weyland] 00:00:25

a session for some friends who hadn't played d and d let's say they're over

[tanner_weyland] 00:00:29

at your house and you're talking about d and d you're talking about this podcast

[tanner_weyland] 00:00:32

and they're like we've never played and you know

[justin_lewis] 00:00:35

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:00:35

that you don't have all that much time if you were in that position what

[tanner_weyland] 00:00:39

would the simple premise of that one hour session be

[justin_lewis] 00:00:45

that is a really good question so i've actually kind of been thinking about i've

[justin_lewis] 00:00:52

started making something kind of along these lines of like the perfect intro ucxtury uh

[justin_lewis] 00:00:58

one shot for new dams new players this isn't my answer my answer would just

[justin_lewis] 00:01:06

be like a tavern brawl simple

[tanner_weyland] 00:01:07

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:01:08

effective but this more interesting answer i would call it a dungeon and a dragon

[justin_lewis] 00:01:14

and the premises you and your group walk into a town and you're looking for

[justin_lewis] 00:01:18

work and you're told to meet a mysterious stranger in these woods next to this

[justin_lewis] 00:01:24

large landmark and you get there and you hear a loud voice and you turn

[justin_lewis] 00:01:31

around and behind the landmark pops out a large copper dragon and obviously you and

[justin_lewis] 00:01:36

your companions are like who we we can't fight a dragon in her and dragon

[justin_lewis] 00:01:40

says hold on i need you to do something for me i need you to

[justin_lewis] 00:01:45

go in to this cave and clear out some monsters go into my dungeon and

[justin_lewis] 00:01:50

clear out some monsters on want you to do it because frankly i'm lazy i

[justin_lewis] 00:01:54

have gotten used to a life of luxury and you can see the dragon is

[justin_lewis] 00:01:58

actually somewhat portly

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:00

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:02:01

and then you go into the dungeon and you simply fight maybe one or two

[justin_lewis] 00:02:05

levels down and then you go out and the dragon gives you some gold and

[justin_lewis] 00:02:09

it's kind of a nice fun almost cheeky way introducing you to dungeons and dragons

[justin_lewis] 00:02:14

with a dungeon and a dragon

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:16

i love it i love it yeah it's great too

[justin_lewis] 00:02:18

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:18

because it jumps

[justin_lewis] 00:02:20

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:20

right into the fantasy aspect gives them a quest

[justin_lewis] 00:02:23

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:23

right from the beginning you

[justin_lewis] 00:02:25

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:25

know because i feel like a lot of people who don't know their way and

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:28

d n d don't know about you know tabletop role playing that much they might

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:33

not understand the whole the freedom of it and so it's nice to kind

[justin_lewis] 00:02:37

hm

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:37

of in a way be like hey don't worry about the freedom right at the

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:41

start i'm going to give you the quest with this dragon flying and being like

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:44

sup here's what i want you

[justin_lewis] 00:02:46

right

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:46

to do you know

[justin_lewis] 00:02:48

you almost need to railroad them into the maze and then once they're in the

[justin_lewis] 00:02:52

maze you let them have free rein because

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:54

exactly

[justin_lewis] 00:02:54

they can't get out of the maze without solving it

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:56

exactly great love it are you feeling warmed up feeling good

[justin_lewis] 00:03:02

feeling loose feeling good i'm ready

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:04

perfect well honestly it's going to be a great episode today and so for you

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:10

listeners welcome back to how to be a better dam my name is tanner land

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:15

and i'm here with justin lewis my good friend

[justin_lewis] 00:03:19

hi

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:19

he's waiving you can't see it

[justin_lewis] 00:03:20

yah

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:21

sorry

[justin_lewis] 00:03:21

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:23

so

[justin_lewis] 00:03:23

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:23

anyway together we learn how to weave better stories for your players so that everybody

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:29

can have a wonderful time and that starts

[justin_lewis] 00:03:32

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:32

with you as the dungeon master we're specifically focusing on d and d fifth edition

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:40

and we're excited

[justin_lewis] 00:03:41

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:41

to take that next step on that

[justin_lewis] 00:03:43

yah

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:43

on that road to being a high level dungeon master today so before

[justin_lewis] 00:03:47

h

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:47

we get to the main topic we have a couple housekeeping items slash things that

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:51

we're psyche

[justin_lewis] 00:03:52

ah

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:52

about to talk about

[justin_lewis] 00:03:54

hm

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:54

first off a huge thank you to our good friend anna craven she actually was

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:02

in a couple of our one shots and then she sent out of the blue

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:07

really from the kindness of her heart sent to justin and i an amazing gift

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:12

it's these handcrafted notebook covers with the design of a dungeon on the front kind

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:17

of like a grid in all these different rooms it looks amazing it's going to

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:21

be the perfect dungeon journal honestly we love them we're going to use the crap

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:26

out of them

[justin_lewis] 00:04:27

m h

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:28

but

[justin_lewis] 00:04:28

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:29

thank

[justin_lewis] 00:04:29

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:29

you so much anna we're gonna be posting pictures of them instagram in fact but

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:37

yeah we really appreciate that otherwise the next reminder is that we're going to be

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:43

doing our once a quarter one shots now as you know in the past we

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:49

tried to do him every month we felt like our we could produce better one

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:55

shot adventures if they were once

[justin_lewis] 00:04:56

ah

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:57

a quarter so if you haven't had a chant sign up for them as you

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:02

know we send out a news letter and there's actually a link on that to

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:06

sign up for the one shot so definitely sign up for that anything else justin

[justin_lewis] 00:05:15

um i would say we haven't scheduled the date for the one shot quite yet

[justin_lewis] 00:05:21

we're going to nail that down and probably let you know on the next podcast

[justin_lewis] 00:05:25

episode but we had someone sign up today for that one shot so seriously if

[justin_lewis] 00:05:31

you you know if you don't get a chance to do it then i can't

[justin_lewis] 00:05:34

help you so it's first come for serve so try and be the first people

[justin_lewis] 00:05:37

there you know

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:38

yeah and and the good news is if we can't get you in on this

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:41

one we always try and get you in on a on a future one so

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:47

get excited but anyway let's

[justin_lewis] 00:05:49

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:49

move on to the main topic today we're talking about dungeon master essentials and this

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:55

this just to kind of set the framework here everything that that we're going to

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:04

be talking about is like what is absolutely necessary um specifically we're not talking about

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:12

nice to have you know not talking about table tops where the screen is inlaid

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:18

and also it's a halo gram or anything like that

[justin_lewis] 00:06:21

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:21

right we're going to be talking

[justin_lewis] 00:06:23

ah yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:23

specifically about about things that for us we feel like is necessary for dem to

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:30

have so that they and their players have specifically them mostly because you got to

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:35

think about yourself sometimes so that you feel like

[justin_lewis] 00:06:38

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:39

you're

[justin_lewis] 00:06:39

ah

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:39

going to have a great session let's start with you

[justin_lewis] 00:06:43

exactly

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:43

justin

[justin_lewis] 00:06:45

yeah so for me the very most essential thing for a high grade dungeon master

[justin_lewis] 00:06:54

is water sitting at the dungeon master well the d m table can be very

[justin_lewis] 00:06:58

tiring especially if you aren't properly hydrated and for me if you spend you know

[justin_lewis] 00:07:03

you spend the entire session talking and naturally you're goin to need water you're going

[justin_lewis] 00:07:08

to be parched personally i found that water does the best because you know other

[justin_lewis] 00:07:13

beverages let sugar or flavor get in the way and sometimes i can kind of

[justin_lewis] 00:07:18

be distracting obviously you can splurge here and there i found that water is just

[justin_lewis] 00:07:22

the best thing to kind of keep your head straight and not get too anse

[justin_lewis] 00:07:26

just help you stay focused on the game so that's my take on water

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:31

agreed one hundred percent water is technically my favorite drink in the world

[justin_lewis] 00:07:36

uh

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:37

and i'm not even

[justin_lewis] 00:07:37

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:38

lying my wife thinks i thinks i'm crazy that's fine let them laugh but

[justin_lewis] 00:07:43

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:43

anyway i think that

[justin_lewis] 00:07:44

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:44

water is just

[justin_lewis] 00:07:44

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:45

if you don't have it you're just going to get parched and you talk so

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:48

much as a dam like what are you doing if you don't have enough water

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:51

at the table um

[justin_lewis] 00:07:53

h m

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:54

you kind of something else that feels very basic but for me it means all

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:00

the world like about how session goes especially when it comes to like a good

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:06

you know three or four hours session even a two hours session or one you

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:10

know uh having a good seat and our tea it's just so important now what

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:18

do i mean by that i mean if you're going to be sitting there you

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:22

don't want to be hunched you don't want to feel like you can't lean back

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:27

so i'm going to say that having a stool might not be the best option

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:31

if you're the kind of

[justin_lewis] 00:08:32

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:32

and who gets a lot of tension in your back and

[justin_lewis] 00:08:34

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:34

you don't want to lean you know and if you're having a set on a

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:37

stool you don't have the option to kind of relax during times when maybe maybe

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:42

the players are talking or you know when gathering your thoughts um and conversely let's

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:48

say you're the kind of person who doesn't sit a whole ot you know there's

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:50

a lot of dams who like the kind of vacillate between sitting and walking around

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:56

the table

[justin_lewis] 00:08:57

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:57

kind of like using their hands a whole lot right so with them

[justin_lewis] 00:09:01

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:02

with the people standing i don't think that a coffee table would be a great

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:07

option for you to be frank right and i've played around a coffee table it's

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:11

you know you sit on the

[justin_lewis] 00:09:12

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:12

floor sat on the couch

[justin_lewis] 00:09:13

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:15

you know sit up when you need to move your your many but but i

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:19

think that for d m s that's like okay if you're bending below the waist

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:23

to move things around that puts a lost strain on your back you're not comfortable

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:27

um i think that as far as essential s it's one that gets overlooked

[justin_lewis] 00:09:34

i agree and just to hammer in the point of this is really based on

[justin_lewis] 00:09:39

your damning style i've played with people that absolutely refuse to use mines and things

[justin_lewis] 00:09:46

like that in those cases clip boards and couch was perfect because you know they

[justin_lewis] 00:09:52

had a coffee table where we could stand and grab the ice and throw but

[justin_lewis] 00:09:56

we were all really comfortable and things like that but for me you know i

[justin_lewis] 00:09:59

need a chair that i can stand up and sit down in it's comfortable both

[justin_lewis] 00:10:02

ways so i couldn't agree more this one is not so basic it's kind of

[justin_lewis] 00:10:10

i guess like a step above basic is music for me and and generally i'm

[justin_lewis] 00:10:15

not a heavy handed person but one way that i like to use music is

[justin_lewis] 00:10:20

both to set the mood but also to remind the players that it's dungeons and

[justin_lewis] 00:10:24

dragons time

[tanner_weyland] 00:10:25

yep

[justin_lewis] 00:10:26

and what i mean by that is you know it's really nice to be able

[justin_lewis] 00:10:29

to slowly turn the music up to annoying levels when certain players get distracted and

[justin_lewis] 00:10:33

start having conversations on the side once they can't really talk to each other because

[justin_lewis] 00:10:38

the music is so loud you can turn that back down and they're focused on

[justin_lewis] 00:10:41

you rather than cutting through the immersion and saying hey we're playing dandy can you

[justin_lewis] 00:10:46

guys stop you know it's nice to just turn up the music slowly until you

[justin_lewis] 00:10:51

get to the point where they do stop but again it's it's also really im

[justin_lewis] 00:10:54

and to set the mood but i like it that other way as well

[tanner_weyland] 00:10:57

yeah and even just to show that it works outside of d and d as

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:02

well i've bent a few different you know training seminars just you know motivations of

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:08

like various different kinds of things and they'll do that often right if they do

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:12

a break they'll turn on music

[justin_lewis] 00:11:15

hm

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:16

or if

[justin_lewis] 00:11:16

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:16

they're trying to like you know some of the cheesier ones sorry maybe it's not

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:20

cheesy maybe i'm just

[justin_lewis] 00:11:21

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:21

bitter uh

[justin_lewis] 00:11:22

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:23

like some of them will do it like this rising soaring music in the bay

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:28

ground when they're really making their point right uh

[justin_lewis] 00:11:31

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:31

but oftentimes like they will do intermissions with music so that people know like hey

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:36

it's good and then when the music stops then that's like hey something is going

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:41

on for you know you can do it in reverse too if you want like

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:47

let's say that you're trying to get ready for a thing your players are just

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:51

kind lucy goose and you're like him going to be introducing a major villain or

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:55

a major plot point you know or n p c there hasn't been music and

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:00

then suddenly you just turn the music up slowly and then that's like okay of

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:05

course they're going to be listening you know

[justin_lewis] 00:12:08

yeah i especially like it when like the music accidentally like creates this awesome epic

[justin_lewis] 00:12:15

moment where you're like and that's when they come and then there's this crash and

[justin_lewis] 00:12:18

everyone's like whoa

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:19

yep

[justin_lewis] 00:12:20

it's just kind of super serendipitous but it happens all the time it's great

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:23

yeah exactly okay so mine and this is again something that i feel like is

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:31

very basic but you got to think about is dice

[justin_lewis] 00:12:34

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:34

you know i've mentioned

[justin_lewis] 00:12:35

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:35

it before and i'll keep saying if you're not ready with enough dice uh yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:41

you can try and blame the players but you're the d m i mean you're

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:45

you're supposed to be the one who's bringing the most of the table you signed

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:49

up for it and i think having extra dice

[justin_lewis] 00:12:51

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:51

the few friends that i've

[justin_lewis] 00:12:53

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:53

had to have

[justin_lewis] 00:12:54

okay

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:54

you know been courageous enough to d m they all have extra dice and and

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:59

it's for a good reason it's because players

[justin_lewis] 00:13:02

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:02

need it and it's also because to be frank i don't know if justin you

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:07

probably used a few online dice rolling software programs

[justin_lewis] 00:13:11

hm

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:11

right

[justin_lewis] 00:13:13

yep

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:13

some of them can be kind of lucky you know

[justin_lewis] 00:13:16

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:16

like

[justin_lewis] 00:13:17

h

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:18

it takes forever to do it and especially when you i mean is the d

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:22

m you're supposed to be the fastest one at the table you know as

[justin_lewis] 00:13:26

hm

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:26

much as we want players to be snappy with their decisions

[justin_lewis] 00:13:28

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:30

d m has no excuse

[justin_lewis] 00:13:31

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:31

so it's it's one of those things where it's like hey

[justin_lewis] 00:13:34

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:35

if you can't find software like on abet or some kind of way where you

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:39

can quickly roll dies like that just have so many dikes and have them organized

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:45

so that you can just you know whip out rolls very quickly without honestly having

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:51

to stall the game

[justin_lewis] 00:13:54

for sure in fact in my last one shot i had to stop using the

[justin_lewis] 00:13:59

digital dice roller because it was giving me a lot of advantages not not like

[justin_lewis] 00:14:05

advantage in the game but i was just rolling really really high and it was

[justin_lewis] 00:14:10

uncharacteristic so i had

[tanner_weyland] 00:14:12

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:14:12

to i had to switch

[tanner_weyland] 00:14:13

you had to get your own diet tape a penny

[justin_lewis] 00:14:16

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:14:16

to one side just to make sure it was

[justin_lewis] 00:14:18

exactly

[tanner_weyland] 00:14:18

uneven on purpose

[justin_lewis] 00:14:21

exactly exactly but the next one i have and actually have two more is the

[justin_lewis] 00:14:27

d m screen now when i first started playing d and d as a player

[tanner_weyland] 00:14:30

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:14:31

i saw the screens that the dungeon star or dungeon masters were using and i

[justin_lewis] 00:14:34

thought you know that's kind of unnecessary ended up playing with another group where he

[justin_lewis] 00:14:37

didn't use a screen and i think it might have been just because the table

[justin_lewis] 00:14:40

was too small or something but then when i started damming i thought the same

[justin_lewis] 00:14:45

thing i thought it was not useful so i didn't and actually didn't have one

[justin_lewis] 00:14:49

that was probably why didn't think it was useful but then i got one and

[justin_lewis] 00:14:52

i started using it and i found two major differences improvements in how i played

[justin_lewis] 00:14:58

number one is my players kind of regarded me a little bit more as the

[justin_lewis] 00:15:03

d m i had i seem to have more authority you know whether the was

[justin_lewis] 00:15:07

perceived or not doesn't matter in fact i like to think of the dungeon master

[justin_lewis] 00:15:11

screen is almost kind of like a part of the dungeon master uniform that helps

[justin_lewis] 00:15:16

you get into to roll and the second thing that improved is obviously i didn't

[justin_lewis] 00:15:21

have to worry about hiding my notes from my players i sit next to my

[justin_lewis] 00:15:24

wife

[justin_lewis] 00:15:28

and i love her naturally but she's also very curious and her eyes wander and

[justin_lewis] 00:15:36

having a d m screen takes that temptation away from her and it doesn't doesn't

[justin_lewis] 00:15:40

allow me to get mad at for seeing things that i wrote down that were

[justin_lewis] 00:15:43

supposed to be secret so if you if you haven't thought about getting a dungeon

[justin_lewis] 00:15:46

master screen i would highly recommend you know just trying it out

[tanner_weyland] 00:15:51

yeah absolutely i think i think some people know if you're the type that has

[tanner_weyland] 00:15:57

like two lap tops in front of you you know maybe that actually is

[justin_lewis] 00:16:01

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:16:01

your dungeon master screen either way you need some

[justin_lewis] 00:16:03

hm

[tanner_weyland] 00:16:04

you need some space whether that's

[justin_lewis] 00:16:07

ah

[tanner_weyland] 00:16:07

you know being

[justin_lewis] 00:16:08

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:16:09

further away like everybody

[justin_lewis] 00:16:10

ah

[tanner_weyland] 00:16:10

scrunched to the other side of the table or whatever but the dungeon master screen

[tanner_weyland] 00:16:13

is probably one of the most space efficient ways to do it and it's functional

[tanner_weyland] 00:16:18

because it's got like rules

[justin_lewis] 00:16:19

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:16:19

and different tables and stuff it so get it

[justin_lewis] 00:16:23

sure for sure uh then my next one is tabletop minnies and i know this

[justin_lewis] 00:16:29

is kind of an incendiary topic like i said there are people out there who

[justin_lewis] 00:16:33

only prefer theater of the mind you people are much more cerebrally gifted than i

[justin_lewis] 00:16:39

am i am not smart enough to know how to describe things in such a

[justin_lewis] 00:16:43

way that my players understand spacially exactly where they stand d but i actually like

[justin_lewis] 00:16:49

d and d because it transitions between you know hyper regulated combat to very fluid

[justin_lewis] 00:16:56

role playing of theater of the mind you know and having mines for me takes

[justin_lewis] 00:17:00

a lot of the guess work out of combat and makes it a little bit

[justin_lewis] 00:17:03

more visual and because combat is so um touch and go it matters who goes

[justin_lewis] 00:17:09

when and how far away you are and those things can make big differences in

[justin_lewis] 00:17:14

combat i find it is important to have mines or visual representations at scale so

[justin_lewis] 00:17:20

that way they can see and they can understand the stakes and you can make

[justin_lewis] 00:17:24

things a little bit more um i guess closer the encounters don't have to be

[justin_lewis] 00:17:28

so obviously won or lost but that said i do recognize that having mines can

[justin_lewis] 00:17:33

be a crutch and should be used judiciously you should also explore options for trying

[justin_lewis] 00:17:38

you know other opt other ways of doing combat you know theater of their mind

[justin_lewis] 00:17:42

or using less isticated visual representations but for me having that there is a must

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:50

yeah yeah absolutely and it kind of speaks to a bigger a bigger need which

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:57

is to make your games more visual right let's say you are someone that

[justin_lewis] 00:18:00

h

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:00

doesn't

[justin_lewis] 00:18:01

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:01

use mines i would still recommend that you find some like pictures you know like

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:06

maybe you've got your lap or or whatever connect to screen then it's like t

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:12

v screen and you could like put up a picture of this of the the

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:17

m p c that they're running into or like you

[justin_lewis] 00:18:20

hm

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:20

know there's so many beautiful fantasy backgrounds or just kind of like uh scene scapes

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:28

and it's a great way to paint a picture so so minnies are kind of

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:32

heart and soul

[justin_lewis] 00:18:32

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:32

of that ere it's like hey make it as visual as you can and your

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:37

players will be more into it

[justin_lewis] 00:18:40

for sure and actually one bonus that just came to my mind is light control

[justin_lewis] 00:18:47

being able to control the amount of light that enters your game space as well

[justin_lewis] 00:18:52

as if possible the color and brightness where we play there's too many windows and

[justin_lewis] 00:19:00

not enough curtains so if we're playing in the middle of the day it's it

[justin_lewis] 00:19:04

feels like it's middle of the day but if you could try and play in

[justin_lewis] 00:19:07

a basement with very few windows or close them up and then be able to

[justin_lewis] 00:19:11

dim lights and things like that that goes back to setting the mood i think

[justin_lewis] 00:19:14

that is essential to creating the perfect gaming situation so just a little bonus went

[justin_lewis] 00:19:20

there

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:21

agreed agreed i love it yeah so those are some i'm sure you can think

[justin_lewis] 00:19:27

yah

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:27

of other essentials but as far as it goes i think that those are great

[justin_lewis] 00:19:32

h

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:32

for

[justin_lewis] 00:19:33

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:33

buddy who's you know

[justin_lewis] 00:19:35

ye

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:35

and here's one thing worth noting the things we just mentioned aren't crazy hard to

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:41

get you know uh and yet they can change the game in fundamental ways and

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:46

so if you're trying to get more serious you know buying some extra dice that

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:51

d m screen uh finding like you know grabbing your little i don't know alexa

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:57

or some other kind of thing

[justin_lewis] 00:19:59

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:59

and learning how to

[justin_lewis] 00:20:00

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:20:00

play some music are all things that probably only take not too long you know

[tanner_weyland] 00:20:06

half an hour online at most to get all of those or look up how

[tanner_weyland] 00:20:10

to do it right and it can change everything

[justin_lewis] 00:20:13

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:20:14

uh so

[justin_lewis] 00:20:14

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:20:14

let's go last thoughts from you justin go

[justin_lewis] 00:20:20

my last thoughts are a dungeon master is simple it's not easy but it's simple

[justin_lewis] 00:20:29

in reality there were story tellers eons ago who were passing along story just with

[justin_lewis] 00:20:37

their mind and their voice that's essentially what being a dungeon master is except we've

[justin_lewis] 00:20:42

added rules to it and made kind of a two part system in essence to

[justin_lewis] 00:20:49

have a good dungeon master session or a session of d and you only need

[justin_lewis] 00:20:53

friends something to write down or record what's happening and rules that everyone agrees to

[justin_lewis] 00:20:58

you those are the like bare minimum not even a skeleton just like the idea

[justin_lewis] 00:21:03

of a game that's all you need but everything else just adds layers of greatness

[justin_lewis] 00:21:08

on to your game and these these are excellent tools and in my opinion essential

[justin_lewis] 00:21:13

to having not just a great game but a superb game at least in my

[justin_lewis] 00:21:16

opinion

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:17

yeah yeah and that even

[justin_lewis] 00:21:19

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:20

you were mentioning how back in the day you know storytellers would do that and

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:24

the great thing about d and d that makes it such an awesome you know

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:27

adventure and journey for players and dim is the fact that it's i mean i'm

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:33

kind of blinking on other examples but it might be one of the first collaborative

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:38

story telling experiences you know in the modern age and possibly for older ones

[justin_lewis] 00:21:43

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:43

like i frankly don't know but

[justin_lewis] 00:21:46

uh

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:46

it's it's amazing and

[justin_lewis] 00:21:48

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:48

we really just

[justin_lewis] 00:21:49

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:49

want to thank all your listeners for being on this journey with us to be

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:54

better dmsuh so justin and i have learned so much and we're continually learning and

[tanner_weyland] 00:22:01

we look forward to putting out even better content to help you and ourselves to

[tanner_weyland] 00:22:06

even better stories we'll be here next week so until then let's go ahead and