Dungeon Masters Share the Most Entertaining Things They Keep From Players in Their Dungeons and Dragons Campaign

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Eleonora Bader
Jan 31, 2024 11:30 AM EST

Calling all Dungeon Masters who wear many hats!

With the role of DM, comes a lot of responsibility, and not all of it is pretty. Sure, it's fun to tell elaborate stories, make up imaginary worlds with diverse and often weird characters, and being a sort of referee in an epic adventure where everyone's actions shape the story. But it can also be hard, as you need to make sure everyone is following the rules, that your players are enjoying themselves, and also to keep track of a LOT of information. Keep those notes ready, eh?

One Dungeon Master posted a question to r/dnd, 'What's something you do that you'll never admit to your players?'. DM's from across Reddit began to chime in, and a funny and wholesome thread was built. Scroll down to sift through the interesting comments, and then when you are done, check out these DnD memes for players competing for Dungeon Master.

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  • 01
    What's something you do that you'll never admit to your players? 91
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  • 02
    What's something you do that you'll never admit to your players? DMing For me, I sometimes roll dice for no reason just so they don't know which rolls are the ones they should worry about
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  • 03
    --0___0--- 21 hr. ago "hang on let me check my notes" is just me giving myself more time to figure out something I never made notes for Reply Share 823
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  • 04
    NotInherentAfterAll 20 hr. ago Intermission! I nearly had to call an intermission the other day after the players arrived at the military city and pretended to be a guard and prisoner to get in to the city. They then decided, for some reason, that the destination of the prison ship was worth going to and so they kept the ruse and got on the fing boat. I had to frantically plan an entire new section of the game i had not intended them to get to as they ended up on a collision course to the BBEG's
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    SnooConfections7750 · 20 hr. ago · edited 17 hr. ago Agonize over if they enjoy it even if they say they do Normally not too bad but my anxiety and de ision are currently really bad that I don't want to do it and I feel like they are phoning it in and are just playing for the sake of it 198▼ Reply Share
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  • 06
    urcrookedneighbor - 19 hr. ago . Yep. I recently did what I called an "Insight Check" -- sent out a Google form with a few questions to get a feel for what the table is enjoying. A couple "what do you want more/less of" questions with examples to get them thinking about everything from story tone to travel times. Then I put in a couple 1-5 rating scales (combat balance, satisfaction with time spent in one
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  • 07
    location, etc.). Seeing the results made me feel a lot better about what I have been doing, and knowing what people felt the campaign was lacking helped me feel confidence that I know what do better moving forward. Doing this informally would probably get similar results. (Also I did throw in an ego boost question: who's your favorite NPC? We do have a crowd favorite.) 53 ▼ Reply Share
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    LawfulNeutered - 20 hr. ago . Sometimes I steal their ideas. You think that the BBEG was behind the random flavor text that is secretly actually a quest hook? It wasn't a quest hook 5 minutes ago, but it sure is now, and guess who was behind it the whole time? 130 Reply Share ...
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  • 09
    starcraftre 20 hr. ago · edited 19 hr. ago . The only reason we played "Star Wars" for 3 years was because I was upset that they didn't recognize Episode 1, and *I wanted to see how oblivious they actually were. I made it through Ep 1, The Clone Wars, 3, Rebels, A pre- Rogue One adaptation of stealing the Death Star plans, 4, and up to 5 before someone said "Wait, was that the battle of Hoth? Wait... did we just blow up the Dh... how long have we been doing this?"
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  • 10
    They still think it was a huge plan because we finished out through Ep 6. edit: a word 104 Reply Share
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  • 11
    TAI PASKAN NerdQueenAlice - 22 hr. ago I don't want to DM anymore. My players keep saying how much they love the campaign, so I'm going to finish it out, but DM burnout hit me a while ago, and I'm just pushing on and improving 90% of the story. Spent half of last session with them trying to make a deal to benefit them, but they refused to do even one thing in return for what they were asking for, so they left without a deal.
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  • 12
    One PC/player keeps convincing the rest of the party of incorrect information, which leads to a lot of them just missing plot points in favor of chasing misinformation. Reply Share 365 ●●●
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    01 Casey090 21 hr. ago PLEASE talk to them. Not talking about GM burnout will not make it go away. It will still be there in 3 months, and it will be much worse by then. If you honestly feel you need to stop, for a game that you effortlessly ran for years, than this is a warning sign. They did the easy convenient thing for years, and let you do all the work... it is time to switch. Reply Share 182 ...
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  • 14
    Elvira_Skrabani · 21 hr. ago Sometimes I correct monster HP's for players to have an awesome finishing move =) Reply Share 89 Fulminero 20 hr. ago . ... Obligatory "the nemesis of character X only dis when character X is dealing the finishing blow" A48 Reply Share
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    AlacarLeoricar · 21 hr. ago . I wish they would learn the rules better. More than half of each session is going over what they are capable of doing at any given time, or looking up what stuff does. It's fine if you're new to the game entirely. It's not fine if we've been playing off and on for months. You're not going to learn the mechanics of the game in a single 4 hour session.
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  • 16
    Like, do some go mn homework and learn how your class and race abilities work ahead of time! Also, ROLE PLAY, DAN IT! 122 V Reply Share ●●●
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    D&DO TEUR laix_19 hr. ago I play online and players don't start roleplaying on their own because, in their words, they can't see each other- they don't know when the others are going to start talking so they don't want to seem rude and interupt. They also don't know when i as a DM are going to communicate more information. The sollution i found was "what do your characters say in this situation". I'll give it about 15 seconds, before i prompt someone at random, that usually results in them havin
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  • 18
    Sometimes i pull out inspiration as a reward. "Why don't you discuss what your characters say to each other during this rest, such as anything backstory related, what they're thinking, hopes or worries. If you do that i'll give you inspiration". It has been very successful for roleplay incentives. 27▼ Reply Share
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  • 19
    Azrolicious 22 hr. ago Sometimes I do RP only sessions because I was to lonely and not motivated to prepare. My players are extremely charismatic, Inquisitive, and most importantly for me as the DM - invested. They created a whole story arc to our campaign, impromptu in our role play, and I just tweaked the outcomes a bit to fit the story thematically.
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  • 20
    These sessions usually result in encounters to which they have agency and takes a huge burden off of me for encounter creation. The creative aspect of DMing is exceedingly difficult for me. Reply Share 98
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  • 21
    Mac4491 22 hr. ago DM The bad guys often die sooner or later than they should if they are related to a particular PC's backstory. You did 32 damage and left the NPC with 5hp. The same NPC who munered your father. Yeah, he's dead.
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  • 22
    You did 25 damage and took the NPC to Ohp or lower. The PC who was betrayed by this NPC is up next. The NPC will hang on for one more round just to see if that PC can even do a single point of damage to them. I also will not hesitate to throw an extra 50hp on an enemy if I've vastly underestimated the PC's damage output. Reply Share 221
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  • 23
    Willing_Ad9314.20 hr. ago I don't have nearly as much planned out as it seems Reply Share 29 McClutters 8 hr. ago Been running a campaign with the map I made and four pages written in spiral notebook. I have name/city/landmark generators on my hotbar so I can pull those quickly. 2 Reply Share
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  • 24
    Ghostyped - 20 hr. ago DM Just how much of the story I pull out of my a s. I've learned to plan in broad strokes because players never do what you plan for. A player commented on some of my NPCs and how fleshed out they are as well as how interesting the customs are of a culture and how much time I must have spent making it all feel cohesive. I can never let them know I pulled the whole thing out of thin air. 27 Reply Share ...
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  • 25
    Salt_Ad_9195 OP · 18 hr. ago . Oh my god yes! We had a session yesterday, first session of the campaign and the characters all started as prisoners. The introduction was basically a guard coming into each of their cells and giving them food, and one of them off hand just said "Hiya Bob, How's the wife?"
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  • 26
    That single question spawned a totally unplanned NPC and his family, almost all of whom had some form of disease so they spent about 4 hours game time just healing each of them and learning about how this prison guard and his 10 children (all of whom have the same name (I suck at naming things on the spot)) live. It turned out to be the most memorable part of the campaign and I loved every minute of it 16 V Reply Share
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  • 27
    Feefait I'll bet 99.9% of these responses players already know we do. lol . 71 21 hr. ago I put my PC's into a very difficult fight last night and was going to fudge rolls to make sure they made it through, but then I couldn't roll above a 10 and they sailed through. lol Reply Share
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