Artwork for podcast How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM
How to Engage Unengaged D&D Players
Episode 6529th September 2022 • How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM • Justin Lewis
00:00:00 00:30:48

Share Episode

Shownotes

One Shot Sign up 

Warmup:

Your D&D Group of 5 is suddenly and permanently moving to a D&D group of 4. Your players love having 5 characters. You get to now create a character that is actually your character.

Intro:

Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, Justin Lewis, here with my cohort, Tanner Weyland. Together, we’re here to help you learn how to craft better stories for your players as you play D&D. Today, we’re going to talk about a big challenge today: how to engage players in D&D who don’t seem to be engaged.

Before we get to today’s topic let’s go through some housekeeping items.

Main topic:

Justin

Reality check.

At some point (whether before or after trying any of these tips), you will have to come to grips with the fact that maybe your player doesn’t actually want to play D&D. They might be playing just to make you happy or they are giving it a try and they don’t really grasp it yet (or it isn’t their thing). So when you get to a point when you don’t know how to engage an unengaged player, ask them if they really want to play. Chances are, D&D isn’t for them.

  1. Flank your players

Your unengaged player is not just an unengaged person. No matter what you think, there is something in life that does engage them. So with this step, examine your player. Think about what they like to do in their free time. Think about what you might find them doing when they don’t have any responsibility and can do whatever they want. If you can’t think of anything, then ask them. Learn about your players. Something in what they choose to spend their free time on will trigger an idea. Let’s think of a few possibilities.

T.V.: Most people, when asked what they do in their spare time, will say they watch a handful of shows. This is golden material for you. Ask them what shows they like to watch and then go research those shows. Try and dissect what those shows bring to the table. 

Video Games: A lot of people will also say video games. This is also golden material because not all games are the same. You get different things from playing Halo Infinite than you do Elden Ring. So ask them what games they play mostly. Then try and incorporate some of that game into the campaign.

Social Media: Many people might say they spend a lot of time scrolling the feeds of social media. Excellent. Ask them about that or even follow them and do some research.

You might be noticing a pattern. You see, everyone has things that they like. Your job is to figure out what your players like and then add that to the game.

Bonus: After you get good at that, you can then start to anticipate what they *probably* will like. That is when the game gets even more exciting.

  1. Shorter Sessions


Tanner

  1. Side Arc: If your players are having a hard time connecting, do a side arc! Kind of like a bottle episode, but longer. Using what you learned about their favorite shows/games//genres, create a side arc that puts their character into an interesting situation. Just remember that you want them to have high control of the new arc—otherwise, they will be disconnected from the experience. The real joy of a side arc is that the players can have a real effect on the world. When it is the main campaign, DMs have to be careful with how much creative control. With side arcs, you can be more free with player control. Examples:
  2. Have them create a store, restaurant, or other business, and have them participate in a business rivalry.
  3. Have them wake up in a Squid Game style death game run by some noble.
  4. Make a boat journey where they run the boat.


Intermission:

Now that player came back. You have to get rid of your character that love. How do you do it?


Main Topic Cont:

Justin

  1. Secrets

One way to help your unengaged player re-engage is to involve them in a conspiracy. Well, it’s not actually that insidious, but you get the idea. Everyone loves a juicy secret. While you are at the table try incorporating whispers to a singular player or having everyone but one player leave the room for some time. Even if your unengaged player isn’t the player involved in the secret, they will still wonder and speculate as to what might be happening. This will involve their mind and hopefully spark their curiosity which will trigger interest. 

If you can’t find a way to do that at the table, then try it in between D&D sessions. You’ll have to use the unengaged player as your accomplice otherwise they’ll likely never know of the secret. Make sure to use phrases like, “Pretend like you don’t know,” or “Don’t tell anyone else”. This will give them a prompt for their role play. Everyone has lied so they’ll know how to do it which should make roleplaying slightly easier.

  1. Lighten up on the long-winded stuff
  2. Travel time.


Tanner

Player Controlled NPCs

  • this is always fun to me: players come up with the most fun NPCs. Give them some guidelines. If you are really wanting them to get involved, let them control a villain!


Conclusion

Mentioned in this episode:

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.

Hire Us as Your Dungeon Master

Did you know that you can have one of our hosts here at How to Be a Better DM be your dungeon master? That’s right. All of our podcast hosts are professional dungeon masters that you can hire for your private or corporate dungeons and dragons game. We can do one-shots or long-term campaigns. If you want to schedule your first session with us, go to https://session0studios.com/dungeon-master-for-hire/ and get started.

Dungeon Master for Hire

Join Our Discord

So a little bit of a spoiler alert. We’re building an army. That’s right, we’re building an army of amazing dungeon masters who want to make the world of D&D a better place. If you want to join our army and fight by our side against the evil forces of boredom and bad dming, join our Discord and lend your voice to the cause. Go to Session0studios.com/discord and join for free today.

Discord

Transcripts

lewis]:

m m

lewis]:

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

lewis]:

warm up topic tanner

weyland]:

yes

lewis]:

your dandy group of five is suddenly and permanently moving a dandy group of four

lewis]:

one of your players is leaving for whatever reason and the rest of the players

lewis]:

love having five characters so you now get to create a character that is actually

lewis]:

your character you will be playing what character do you create

weyland]:

okay for my

lewis]:

yah

weyland]:

character since i would not

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

want

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

you know especially since i'm the i'm the d m i don't want too much

weyland]:

involvement what i'd probably do is i would take it an existing n p c

weyland]:

like from this story

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

and i just embody them and

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

they now tag along right and at that point it just

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

depends on

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

what it is so i'm gonna in order to really go with the spirit of

weyland]:

the warm up

lewis]:

my

weyland]:

i'm goin to say that it is a

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

a half ling

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

a half ling who specifically

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

is like overly empathetic you know

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

that's kind of like their character flaw slash

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

quirk where they're just like

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

any time that a player is like i heard

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

at all or inconvenienced they just they're

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

like oh my oh my goodness i didn't

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

how are you even live you know

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

like they just get overly concerned

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and that's kind of the character quirk in terms of what they are

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

i'm going to go with cleric just simple cleric you know i think that that's

weyland]:

like

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

um in terms of an n p c that i would have fun going back

weyland]:

to over and over again i think that having a cleric who is

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

like overly pathetic

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

um and maybe like a little nosy you know like and to

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

get confessions or the equivalent

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

of that from players and being like hey

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you can you can trust me you know and i think it's a good chance

weyland]:

for

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

one of my favorite types of humor which is annoying people um

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

no on joking but h

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

but

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

i think that would work out well

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

let's say that he's a half ling cleric named dunder yeah

lewis]:

i love that it's funny that you say half ling clerk because in the campaign

lewis]:

i'm running right now like a lot of sessions back i actually did introduce an

lewis]:

m c who was a half ling cleric to tggleinwith

weyland]:

nice

lewis]:

a while

weyland]:

nice

lewis]:

you know venner done

weyland]:

yeh

lewis]:

that but welcome back listener to how to be a better excuse me i'm your

lewis]:

host justin lewis with my cohort tanner wayland

weyland]:

hello guys

lewis]:

and and today we are here to help you learn how to craft better stories

lewis]:

for your players as u d m sessions of d and d and today we're

lewis]:

actually on to talk about a big challenge which is how to engage players who

lewis]:

don't necessarily seem to be engaged and before we get to do day's topics let's

lewis]:

go through some housekeeping

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

items as usual

weyland]:

perfect

lewis]:

sorry tenor

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

i don't know why i'm yawning so much today

weyland]:

you know what i hear that kirsty and i we just had the weekend

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

we're already kind of dead because it was a busy weekend and then we're also

weyland]:

leaving chicago on uh

lewis]:

oh fun

weyland]:

yeah yeah we're leaving thursday coming back the following wednesday so um

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

so anybody from chicago you know just you keep your eyes

lewis]:

yah

weyland]:

open and you probably still won't

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

see us because we're a you know needle and hay stack but

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

but

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

regardless uh yeah so but like even just the preparation like we both have to

weyland]:

get it on work and stuff and we're just we're tired

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

so i

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

might be doing my own share of yawning but anyway

lewis]:

i

weyland]:

i'm

lewis]:

get

weyland]:

curious

lewis]:

that

weyland]:

justin i hear that you have

lewis]:

yes

weyland]:

one shot coming up

lewis]:

yes yes so this saturday october first at four o'clock p m mountain time i

lewis]:

will be i will be posting the one shot for september ah and if you

lewis]:

want to watch that that is at better dungeon master dot com slash watch all

lewis]:

of the slots to play

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

are actually full and we we had to re schedule a couple times but we

lewis]:

finally got it nailed down and it's going to happen this saturday for sure

weyland]:

great

lewis]:

and then the next one shot is actually happening on october twenty second i believe

lewis]:

that's happening at six p m mountain um and again you can also watch that

lewis]:

on better than gamester dot com slash watch that is being hosted by our

lewis]:

h such a struggle

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

our friend and guests of the show bone daddy rob from this dungeon is occupied

lewis]:

which is a podcast similar to how to be a better dim and then if

lewis]:

you want to sign up for the next one shot or even just get on

lewis]:

the list for anyone shots coming up just go to better dungeon master dot com

lewis]:

slash one dash shot and sign up it's free and it's first come first

weyland]:

yeah i think those both sound awesome you got you got a little tit

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

bit of what your your one shot is going to be about this saturday

lewis]:

yes yes i do it's one that i've run before actually so if you have

lewis]:

had me run it for you you'll get a more polished version but essentially you

lewis]:

and your companions get a letter from one of your friends from the town of

lewis]:

autumn's grace in the no prefecture of fair wind and this letter indicates that strange

lewis]:

things have been happening in the town a few families have gone missing and then

lewis]:

they have inexplicably

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

reappeared without any notice and their behavior has been modified somehow they're acting strangely and

lewis]:

this friend of yours teresa

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

is concerned them no one else in the town shares her concerns even though the

lewis]:

third family of kind of this string of events has recently disappeared and then reappeared

lewis]:

and they're happening more close together but that's just a little haste of the one

lewis]:

shot you'll be getting

weyland]:

love it

lewis]:

this saturday if you watch it or play

weyland]:

great awesome

lewis]:

yeah next housekeeping item is i want to give a special shout out to all

lewis]:

of you spotify listeners out there we i looked the other day we have thirteen

lewis]:

reviews pretty pretty good reviews actually i haven't figured out how to see sorry they're

lewis]:

not reviews the ratings thirteen ratings on spotify

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

i haven't figured out how to see reviews but they're pretty good and there's no

lewis]:

names attached to him so i can't thank you by name but thank you so

lewis]:

much you spotify listener out there who has found it worthy of your time to

lewis]:

give us a five star rating it's it's very humbling and we're super grateful to

lewis]:

you for that

weyland]:

yeah that's that's honestly incredible

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

means a world to us

lewis]:

yeah and if there are apple podcast listeners out there that think apple podcast is

lewis]:

better than spotify well you're just gonna have to prove it by going in giving

lewis]:

us some ratings and we'll see who is the better pot as listener but the

lewis]:

last thing we want to do is

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

ask you for a very big favor see only you can prevent horrible episodes only

lewis]:

you can prevent horrible how to be a better dungeon master episodes and the way

lewis]:

you do that is by going to better dungeon master dot com slash feedback and

lewis]:

give us feedback on these episodes tell us what you like what you don't like

lewis]:

i was in a facebook group the other day and i posted our show and

lewis]:

i said hey give us some give us some information on what you think and

lewis]:

one person said i missed the old seven minute episodes i think your episodes are

lewis]:

too now so um that's something to consider but if you like longer episodes you

lewis]:

need to tell us or else we're goin a do shorter episodes

weyland]:

that's actually a good point i'll keep that in mind for my other solo podcastskay

lewis]:

exactly but but but don't do anything drastic until we figure out what the listener

lewis]:

actually wants

weyland]:

no

lewis]:

because that was

weyland]:

i'm

lewis]:

just

weyland]:

going to change

lewis]:

one voice

weyland]:

everything

lewis]:

in

weyland]:

due to one comment everything in my life

lewis]:

i love that

weyland]:

just

lewis]:

i

weyland]:

realize

lewis]:

love that

weyland]:

your power over me just everybody you could say that my name is bad changing

weyland]:

it i'm changing it i'll do it just kidding

lewis]:

what

weyland]:

i

lewis]:

would

weyland]:

like

lewis]:

you

weyland]:

my

lewis]:

change

weyland]:

name

lewis]:

it to just just by the way

weyland]:

now i'm totally joking on that one i actually really like the name tanner m

lewis]:

really

weyland]:

yeah i do i do

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

i actually like my middle name to lewis but with an e w

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

i asked m

lewis]:

oh i like that name too

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

actually

weyland]:

i mean you got the last name right but i've always thought like

lewis]:

yes

weyland]:

that louis would be a good first name specifically

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

like spelled that way because i mean there's

lewis]:

yes

weyland]:

a lot of louise you know and i'm like louis i don't think it's

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

highly of but louis is a first name that's

lewis]:

m ah

weyland]:

you know that's that's a

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

good one otherwise

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

i mean you got to love erigorn i mean just getting

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

i would never

lewis]:

just change

weyland]:

never

lewis]:

your name to rigor and why not i mean i might

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

be tempted to but i digress anyways let's get to today's main topic which is

lewis]:

helping play s who feel disengaged or you feel disengaged to re engage and the

lewis]:

first thing i want to start with and then tender kind of go off and

lewis]:

begin the points we want to bring up and the methods but the first thing

lewis]:

i want i want to bring up is that uh it's time for a reality

lewis]:

check you know at some point whether

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

or or after trying any of these tips you might have to come to grips

lewis]:

with a fact that maybe that one particular player you're trying to engage in the

lewis]:

game doesn't actually want to play dan d they might just be playing to make

lewis]:

you happy they're giving it a try and they don't really grasp it yet or

lewis]:

it just isn't their thing so when you get to a point when you don't

lewis]:

know how to engage an unengaged player ask them if they really want to play

lewis]:

and sometimes you'll just find out that dandy isn't

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

for them so with that reality check done let's get into our tips for engaging

lewis]:

unengaged players tenner will you go first

weyland]:

yeah and just as a cave

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

at the start of this you know it's it's never wrong to if a player

weyland]:

is not even joying themselves obviously use the tips we're going to suggest

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

now but also if they'd rather just like back out gracefully give them that chance

weyland]:

right but

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

if it doesn't seem like that's what they

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

want like they don't necessarily want to back out gracefully they just

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

want to be more engaged then this this is the podcast

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

for you but like one thing that i thought

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

was very is very important for engaged players

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

is you know giving them more control like

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

just more creative

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

control in general right because the whole idea about being engaged is i mean if

weyland]:

you think about times in your personal life

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

when you're unengaged you know a lot of times they will and if you're in

weyland]:

a conversation or you know and you're not actually talking you know i've had moments

weyland]:

like that i'm generally

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

like a very like social

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

person but like if i go out on a on a date with my with

weyland]:

some friends of hers and specifically i don't know the husband that well he doesn't

weyland]:

know me you know but my wife

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

knows his wife pretty well then like sometimes they talk and i try and you

weyland]:

know interject and be involved but there are moments when i'm like i'm not a

weyland]:

part of this conversation i us you know and

lewis]:

yeah oh

weyland]:

and it's times like that that gets easy to get unengaged now when i'm able

weyland]:

to contribute and that's kind of the key word here and i think a lot

weyland]:

of our tips are going to deal with that if you're able to contribute um

weyland]:

in a way that makes the game feel different then your player will get re

weyland]:

engaged you know

lewis]:

i like that a lot actually um i know that personally for me in school

lewis]:

whenever i've had to read things or or study materials it was really difficult for

lewis]:

me when i felt the material didn't relate to me when it was just kind

lewis]:

of esoteric or ethereal but when i found that i was reading about a topic

lewis]:

that i could like you said or maybe

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

not i could but it would contribute to me you know like because we're all

lewis]:

in some way self centric i like your idea of helping the players realize what

lewis]:

they can do and helping them do more of that putting their giving them more

lewis]:

control and i think that's a really good point one other thing that i really

lewis]:

like to do is you know i've thought about this specifically in terms of people

lewis]:

with a d d and it's a real thing but people often characterize them as

lewis]:

just people who struggle focusing right but one thing i've noticed is that they don't

lewis]:

struggle focusing on everything

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

you know i've noticed that a lot of young boys but in particular who have

lewis]:

d managed to focus on video games for long periods of times which means that

lewis]:

they don't just have problems of focusing they have problems focusing on certain things so

lewis]:

you're you're unengaged player that doesn't necessarily mean that they're an unengaged person that they

lewis]:

don't like doing things in general so what i encourage you to do is try

lewis]:

and figure out what actually interest them outside of deity what things fascinate them with

lewis]:

things they like and if it's not obvious you're goin to have to do some

lewis]:

kind of problem solving an analysis but you know ask them what sort of things

lewis]:

they like to watch on t v ask them what video games they play and

lewis]:

if you need to start you know trolling are not trolling what's the word stalking

lewis]:

them

weyland]:

ah

lewis]:

on social media i guess you control them but hopefully you're doing it in a

lewis]:

nice way but uh

weyland]:

you're like hey

lewis]:

stock

weyland]:

hey

lewis]:

them on social

weyland]:

you suck

lewis]:

and

weyland]:

tell me what you like about games

lewis]:

exactly exactly but essentially you know i figure out stuff that they actually have interests

lewis]:

in you know for example like if someone was there stocking me gosh why can't

lewis]:

i remember that word but if someone was stalking me on social media they'd find

lewis]:

out that you know i spend time with my wife i have hydroponic garden in

lewis]:

my house and i do thready printing and those are all facets that you can

lewis]:

kind of dissect and put into a game because and maybe i'm not a perfect

lewis]:

example but let's say someone has an interest in cars well what's the best thing

lewis]:

to do with that then you start putting mechanical monsters or problems into your game

lewis]:

and hopefully that should interest your uninterested person because it's bringing in one of their

lewis]:

interest from outside of the game into the game if that makes sense

weyland]:

yeah i love it because i think there's so many aspects about i mean the

weyland]:

great thing about the india is that it's a whole world right that's why we

weyland]:

have different skills

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

that have nothing to do with fighting right because there's so many

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

things

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

it's essential you

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

could treat it like

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

life now but just like in a fantasy world and like from you know

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

a few centuries ago and that's what's amazing

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

is like hey

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

if they if they aren't down for just the typical talking to

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

an n p c about you know some thing quest related and then combat and

weyland]:

then some exploration and and treasure i mean i'm guessing they're going to be interested

weyland]:

in some aspect of that but it might get wrote for them

lewis]:

m yep

weyland]:

and they might get engaged

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

if that's the case be like okay

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

let's spice this up let's throw in any of the numerous other things in life

weyland]:

that make it interesting in that kind of like

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you know i think

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

like you said you know finding out there what t v shows they like you

weyland]:

know what video games uh like different things like that that's a great way to

weyland]:

get started you know

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

and then you can find out what kind of themes they like in games like

weyland]:

if they like eldon ring or game of thrones then you know some of these

weyland]:

darker themes might be their jam and it's like hey got to happen to that

weyland]:

more ah

lewis]:

exactly

weyland]:

but if they're like oh no i love like aragon then you're like okay so

weyland]:

more of a light fan to see more like typical but like

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

a lot more dragons i guess

lewis]:

on

weyland]:

you know

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

whatever it is and that's actually kind of leads into my

lewis]:

oh oh

weyland]:

one of my

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

tips which is specifically like side arcs because the thing is if someone's on aged

weyland]:

maybe you've been stuck with the main campaign for too long you know

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

maybe they just

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

feel like they've kind of been like pushed railroaded in some aspect towards like the

weyland]:

big bad and everything you as the d m have planned along the way so

weyland]:

just you know take a pit stop instead being like okay let's do a side

weyland]:

arch where you know i think d m is like i was mentioning their little

weyland]:

protective

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

of their work and so

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

they may be don't

lewis]:

m yeah

weyland]:

allow players to be as creativebecause they're like oh i don't want my players to

weyland]:

be creative in terms of coming up with like a really cool sword because that

weyland]:

will break the game or be really creative in terms of

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

like certain relationships are funny

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

solves for things because like oh man i meant for this to be a hard

weyland]:

battle no instead

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

like have us dark that it's like

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

you know what they're on a boat and they are travelling up river to go

weyland]:

to a vacation island and everything goes wrong but like they also like do a

weyland]:

lot ship type stuff you know and it's kind of like

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

the managing a ship and that's like very different but if they're people who are

weyland]:

into pirates of the carabean that's their jam you know and it's a nice little

weyland]:

wait rekindle their creative spirit you know

lewis]:

i agreed and on the show we talk a lot about the virtues of doing

lewis]:

one shots and there's no harm in doing one shots within the arc of your

lewis]:

campaign and they don't have to even be called one shots um

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

you essentially you know you can take any of these one shot type adventures change

lewis]:

things here and there and put them within our campaign as tanner is saying and

lewis]:

you have a nice break as it were without really taking a break and even

lewis]:

i just started watching the show demons layer have you have you

weyland]:

oh yeah

lewis]:

heard of that tanner

weyland]:

yeah yeah girl with

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

the

lewis]:

it's

weyland]:

bamboo thing in her mouth has brother the whole thing

lewis]:

yep

weyland]:

a great

lewis]:

yeah it's super popular right now and i highly recommend it but spoiler alert in

lewis]:

case you are planning on watching it but around like episode gosh i don't even

lewis]:

know like episode five essential um he goes to the main character goes to the

lewis]:

big city and essentially meets the big bad boss like face to face right and

lewis]:

then the next episode he does a little bit in the city and then the

lewis]:

next episode he's basically the way that they work they get missions from crows

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

essentially the crow tells him to leave the city and go do something else and

lewis]:

me as you know a very linear thinker i'm thinking wait but the big bad

lewis]:

guys there why is he leaving you know but the way the story goes it's

lewis]:

much more delightful because you know that there's this big bad guy in the back

lewis]:

ground and it's kind of building this tension but it goes on this full long

lewis]:

detour which then turns out to not be a detour so if you feel like

lewis]:

putting in one of these kind of side arks is jarring don't feel that way

lewis]:

because it's not

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

at least if you don't make it that way

weyland]:

yeah because you can still tie it back in like at the end

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

into the big bad or you just add it is like a wonderful little little

weyland]:

break

lewis]:

exactly

weyland]:

and you know like i had some

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

well i was tinking about this i was like oh there's so many side arts

weyland]:

that you could do that would change

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

everything up for a bit right for like two or three sessions

lewis]:

exactly

weyland]:

you know like you could do a squid game il death game when it's like

weyland]:

oh the players slept in in they wake up there in the middle of an

weyland]:

arena you know or you know or it's like oh

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

your characters are obviously kind of done with the combat and everything and some of

weyland]:

them have side hobbies maybe they get together to create a store or like a

weyland]:

stand at a local farmers market

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and there's kind of a business rivalry and that sounds like such a funny like

weyland]:

little side thing where you can still do all the roles may be a combat

weyland]:

or two

lewis]:

yah

weyland]:

but it's just totally a different flavor and i think if you especially based the

weyland]:

side arc off of something that you found

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

out about that player like you said you know earlier then then you got you've

weyland]:

got an engaged player immediately you know

lewis]:

agreed and on the note of having them you know do stores or restaurants or

lewis]:

things part of me wonders if maybe some players become disengaged because they aren't aware

lewis]:

of all that things that they actually can do with their character like i wonder

lewis]:

if my current group even knows that you know they can start businesses or do

lewis]:

things in between quests you know and and have other non quest related long term

lewis]:

of goals and so that might be something to also add helping your players understand

lewis]:

that they can do those things and helping them really expand their create

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

um but let's let's do a quick intermission hop back to our warm up of

lewis]:

earlier in the show so tanner in this situation you've created your character your new

lewis]:

kind of long term m p c but the player who said they were never

lewis]:

going to come back has come back and now you have to get rid of

lewis]:

this extra character how do you do it

weyland]:

okay going with the theme of our episode today

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

about engaging players what i would do is have the least

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

engaged player go for an outing with with under the the halflin cleric um dunder

weyland]:

would be like hey i've noticed you've been down no you don't need to lie

weyland]:

to me you know just like like le be up

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

in

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

that person's face and be like you know what let me take you to my

weyland]:

favorite place and then his favorite place is a waterfall or something i'm going to

weyland]:

say waterfall uh where when

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

he was a kid he would go a lot when his parents died and you

weyland]:

know that's where he first started like falling in love with nature and feeling peace

weyland]:

and that kind of him to his faith and why i became cleric so what's

weyland]:

going to happen is he goes there

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and then they share like a good moment and then out of the blue something

weyland]:

horrific happens right like for example

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

from

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

the maybe from the top of the waterfall a giant rock falls and then the

weyland]:

player rolls rolls of checking and is able escape but dunder doesn't and he's just

weyland]:

done ah and then

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

and then like the player looks up

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

and

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and there's like a shadow and someone obviously like left and had pushed it or

weyland]:

you could go the more classic route and it's like

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

oh there's a giant octopus

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

arm that reaches out grabs dunder and just drags like under drags him away and

weyland]:

then i could always bring him back later um

lewis]:

it drags dunder under

weyland]:

under under

lewis]:

is that what you're

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

saying

weyland]:

that's you got

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

it

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

we're

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

just so in since i love this yeah so that's that's

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

what i'm saying dunder

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

went under ah thunder yeah

lewis]:

the thunderous waterfall

weyland]:

yep

lewis]:

i love it i love it well continuing on with our tips for engaging your

lewis]:

disengaged players the last one i think i'm going to share today is secret and

lewis]:

i think one way to help your unengaged player re engage is to involve them

lewis]:

in a conspiracy well not really like a conspiracy but kind of a conspiracy because

lewis]:

everyone loves juicy secrets so while you're at the table tryingcorporating whispers to a singular

lewis]:

player or having every one but one player leave the room or text individual players

lewis]:

if you do that i would say make it a little bit obvious that someone's

lewis]:

getting a text with specific information because even if you unengaged player isn't the player

lewis]:

involved in the secret they are still going to wonder they're still going to be

lewis]:

like what does that person know that i don't know they're goin to speculate as

lewis]:

to what

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

might be happening and this is going to involve their mind and hopefully spark their

lewis]:

curiosity which triggers interest if nothing else

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

and if you can't find a way to do it at the table try to

lewis]:

find ways to do it in between sessions but if you do that again you're

lewis]:

going to have to use the unengaged player as the accomplice the person who knows

lewis]:

the c it's otherwise they're never going to know the secrets because you know you

lewis]:

have to make curiosity or intrigue and make sure to use phrases like pretend you

lewis]:

don't know this or don't tell anyone else again this this kind of puffs them

lewis]:

up a little bit and gives them a prompt for how they should role play

lewis]:

and you know everyone's lied a little bit so they know how to do it

lewis]:

but but it really kind of our you're feeding them a little bit of the

lewis]:

intrigue and curiosity and an interest that can help them spice up kind of how

lewis]:

they're playing dandy

weyland]:

yeah and even going along with that i think allowing the secrets that you have

weyland]:

with your characters to be substantial you know i think that

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

can because going back to my mirigual

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

point if you are so protective of your game that you don't include players in

weyland]:

the creative process in a way that actually affects every he else and affects the

weyland]:

story then they're not going to care so if you give them a secret it's

weyland]:

like oh my goodness you found out there was ten pieces of gold in a

weyland]:

brick under the wall that's not going to do anything

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

you know that's going to be like oh cool

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

so my character comes back and he's ten gold richer whatever you

lewis]:

yep

weyland]:

know versus being like you

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

actually were the person who killed that character's sister you know um and like you

weyland]:

come up with

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

that together

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

and you like really try and keep that a secret then that's like you know

weyland]:

that that's some real medi uh like engagement that you're going to get there you

weyland]:

know and it actually

lewis]:

agreed

weyland]:

kind of like um it kind of brings up something that i thought of which

weyland]:

was now letting players create and our control n p c s that's kind of

weyland]:

like one of the biggest forms of secret keeping in the game like period right

weyland]:

like

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

you know sometimes i listen to a few like table top you know liveplapodcasts and

weyland]:

some of them you know they have like improve like people who are trained and

weyland]:

improve and what they're really good at is yes and you know where they're like

weyland]:

oh you know you go get a lot back and forth and kind of buying

weyland]:

into them imagination

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

um

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

and some

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

of them like the specific podcast called the campaign

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

podcast

lewis]:

my

weyland]:

uh they are very good at like oh if there's just some random o n

weyland]:

p c they'll let a player like just jump in and pretend to be that

weyland]:

shopkeeper and it will be hilarious you know

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

and so like

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

i

lewis]:

ye

weyland]:

think that things like that or a more substantial kind of an involvement having the

weyland]:

player play kind of a rook purring side character

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you know in addition to their main character or even the villain you know uh

weyland]:

maybe not the huge villain because you know i know that's a lot but like

weyland]:

there's a lot of side boss many bosses along the way and having like a

weyland]:

player kind of like pitch some to you and then like oh you just everyone

weyland]:

ill pepper that in and they get to act like weird and maniacal and all

weyland]:

the kind of things that we kind of wish we could do with our players

weyland]:

but we don't with our characters i mean but we don't as we don't want

weyland]:

to ruin it for everyone else let them

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

create an

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

n p c with you know

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

ah you know and be creative as they want if you're worried do it on

weyland]:

a side arch you know it's like oh so they're having that they're making a

weyland]:

bakery and then the rival bakery that they're going to go to the fair and

weyland]:

compete against each other may be the player one of the players plays the the

weyland]:

baker and he like has an accent and all you know he's kind of goofy

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you know just play with it i think that's a great way to give players

weyland]:

some some change and also some creative license

lewis]:

i really like that to anything to help the d m out source is is

lewis]:

a good tip in my book and that that should take some time effort and

lewis]:

stress off of table and hopefully put it back in the players table the players

lewis]:

hands and actually make it more fun for them so

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

i really really like that type so in conclusion some tips to help you engage

lewis]:

those unengaged players there's probably a lot more tips uh and actually we'd encourage you

lewis]:

to send those to us and and open up a conversation you know you can

lewis]:

reach out to us on instagram at how to be a better d m which

lewis]:

is also the place where we will be having a give away coming up and

lewis]:

here so keep an eye out for information on that but thank you for being

lewis]:

here listener tanner any parting words for our wayward adventurer today

weyland]:

um honestly i just hope that you guys have the best campaigns and that the

weyland]:

players who are engaged you know are able to get that engagement and kind of

weyland]:

living up the game again because i think that will make everybody happier

lewis]:

m agreed make sure you have the best of campaigns the best of sessions will

lewis]:

be back next week for the best of episodes until then let's go ahead and

lewis]:

roll initiative

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube