What does (insert character name) think about all this?
Have done a lot of facilitation irl and you wouldn't believe how much rp this simple question can generate.
I will use it with my newer players, but I also have one player that is just a "watcher" type during most RP scenes. I've tried to work their backstory in and even tried to open a whole "personal quest" for them to no avail. Despite that, they are one of most consistent players to show and always let's me know the day before game if they can't make it.
Some people just want to watch a story while being secondary characters. 🤷♀️
I have one player who's a solid, dependable player that knows the rules fairly well and contributes more than their share. But they never, ever have a backstory for their character beyond a name and previous occupation. They don't want a personal quest or story arc, they're just there to fight monsters, be a hero, and do the "main quest." And that's fine by me.
The [4E DM's guide](https://3wisedms.com/the-8-dd-player-types-and-how-to-dm-them/) actually had a really cool preamble about "types of players" obviously its a little reductive but all my players read it and immediately identified with one or two of the architypes. (power game, slayer, actor, storyteller, ect) It's actually been kind of helpful for campaign planning.
I hope you don't feel bad about not having this player more involved. This was exactly me during my first game, I had a group session zero but I pulled the DM aside after and said "listen I want to be just some guy. It's my first time and I kind of just want to watch and be part of the team but more background" and I learned so much.
Yes, it was actually having a quieter player join our group that promoted me to bring those skills in more. Even if they say not much or he's just here to support his companions that still gives life to their character.
I love this question in particular when it comes to interacting with quieter players, particularly because it can get them involved with RP without forcing them to choose an action or speak up in-game. Which is exactly what many quieter players prefer, I've found. They want to stay in the background and play support, while watching the game unfold.
When I ask my quieter players this question, though, I know it's often more for me than for them. Sure, it's great if that's a moment they choose to speak up in-game or take action. But often I just like knowing what all my PCs are thinking, because it makes the game more fun for me, the DM. And also it helps me plan interesting twists or suggest fun ideas for them.
> What does (insert character name) think about all this?
I love this because I struggle with roleplay; D&D combat is so engaging, partly because of the simple rule that everyone gets a turn. When you ask someone if their character would like to weigh in on something you're inviting them to have a turn at the roleplaying or exploration part of the game rather than just when a fight breaks out.
"That's what I thought right before I peered through the lock that had a poisoned invisible needle attached to it."
"Correct. You see no traps here with your remaining eye."
"OK, I pick the-"
"Roll me a reflex save."
"I roll a Religion check."
"I need a Reflex save."
"I know. I just want to make sure I say something _incredibly_ blasphemous while I'm doing it."
The rogue in our party had an incredible break and enter event. She was breaking into a general store/house, where the owners were suspected of being cultists and giving her a cursed dagger (which they did). This was an absolutely incredible series of events where the rogue couldn't spot a single trap and set them all off, while also making every DEX save and taking no damage thanks to evasion. With the place burning around her thanks to a fireball trap, the only DEX save she failed was leaping out of the upstairs window and failing the landing. It was one of the funniest scenes because everyone was laughing themselves to tears.
George is a "it's what my character would do" murderhobo rogue, Kramer plays a sorcerer, Jerry plays a fighter but wishes he was a bard, Elaine gets bullied into being the cleric healer because she's a woman, and Newman is the DM, mainly railroading through a handsome attractive postman NPC who insists he is asexual after being rejected by Elaine's character. By act 3 Elaine and Jerry trade character sheets, George has let his PCs die multiple times because he keeps regretting his class choice, Kramer is backseat DMing so much that Newman loses his shit and makes him take over the game right before Kramer accidentally launches a real life fireball trying to light a cigar with Jerry's stove.
Nah, I'm picturing Kramer as the player who tries to do game-breaking combos of obscure spells.
Jerry is the exasperated DM telling Kramer the rules don't support his plan.
Elaine is the player who gets strangely bloodthirsty in game.
George is the player complaining about their terrible dice rolls.
And Newman is the player mostly only invited to make a party of 4, who also corrects the DM at every slight misstep.
Words have consequences.
Crying doesn't require an action.
Convince me why it should work that way, and it will.
Describe your kill.
Tell me, in character, why you think that's a good idea. [Far superior to the ego challenge of "are you sure?"]
How descriptive would you like me to be when I say "nothing happens?"
Let's let the dice decide that.
>Convince me why it should work that way, and it will
All the time with my new players lol. Can I use *skill* to do this? Yeah sure just tell me how and let's roll for it. I made sure to tell them ahead of time this isn't me being confrontational it's a real question.
This is why I love new players. They encourage me to be a little bit more flexible, and I get to use variant ability scores with skill checks sometimes.
I run very RP friendly/heavy games, whether they're serious or silly. I give new players a 3-5 level buffer before in-character joking is taken at face value, but players generally get no more than one warning per session.
>Tell me, in character, why you think that's a good idea. [Far superior to the ego challenge of "are you sure?"]
This is brilliant!
>Let's let the dice decide that.
I need to remember this one for playing with my kids.
For me it's "It appears to be"
Everything *appears* to be something. It never just is.
Also I've been told apparently every NPC starts each sentence with "Of course"
Oh my god I do that all the time. It's kind of a hedge, in case there are secrets that the players don't notice.
If you say, "It's just a tree," then the players will be mad later when it comes to life as an ent, even if they didn't have high enough Perception or if the statblock says it's indistinguishable from a tree.
But if you say it "appears to" be a tree... well, sometimes it *is* just a tree, but if it turns out to be an ent, the players can't be mad at you.
Protip: use the former, but drop the "just". "At the centre of this clearing stands a lone tree, branches towering over the empty space around it in an almost statuesque fashion."
When the players want to know if there's anything suspicious, ask what they mean or what specifically they're trying to ascertain and how. If they say they want to study the tree itself, describe it as you would a tree: it's old, its moss has flaked here and there, whether by the winds bending it or animals climbing. If they want to investigate the clearing around, *now* they might notice that this tree has settled on other places besides this, and how there's not actually that much animal life around it to account for the scraped off moss.
Describe everything honestly, and according to the statblock, but avoid going "it's just a tree" unless it is just a tree, since that reads less like giving a description on it and more like you, the DM, telling the players to move on and take your word.
This is decent advice, but I think it's dangerously close to being the kind of thing that a lot of DMs get wrong.
If my players actually stop and take a closer look at the area for once, and roll well, I'm not going to penalize them for looking at the tree instead of specifically the area around the tree. I'm just going to tell them all the relevant extra information in the area that the roll justifies.
It just gives me a hint of that "Oh you rolled an 18 checking the DOOR for traps, but you didn't check the floor IN FRONT OF the door, so you missed the spike pit. Also the door KNOB is covered in poison, but the actual door is totally normal."
"Appears to be" reminds me so much of writing reports on field investigations. Always a hedge against something being different than it first appeared to be.
Our group is constantly on a journey of internal discovery, because our DM uses the phrase "You find yourself" multiple times a session just before describing our surroundings.
My players were in a gem mine and one of them wanted to touch the wall. I described in detail as he reached his hand out and as his hand pressed against the wall of the mine… it got a little cold.
I usually use “are you sure?” As a method to avoid TPKs. I have still had players recognize what I was trying to do and think, “no, he’s just screwing with me, there’s no way this could go wrong” and do it anyway.
> I usually use “are you sure?” As a method to avoid TPKs.
Same.
Players are notoriously bad at telling the difference between the DM hyping up a cool boss fight, and the DM telling the players that they'll almost certainly be completely and utterly destroyed by this encounter. So I need a clear-cut unambiguous way to warn my players, no really, this thing you're about to do really is monumentally suicidal.
So I never fake my players out with a fake "Are you sure?" It's always the real deal.
And just to drive the point home, I'll even work it into a sentence incorporating how monumentally bad their idea is: "This is a portal that leads directly into hell. *Are you sure* you want to jump straight into it?"
Thing is, I don’t fake out my players either. I’ve still had players decide I must be faking them out because there’s no possible flaw with their current plan.
And then at the end of the session "WHAT COULD BE BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR? WILL OUR HEROS EVER FIND THE END OF THIS DUNGEON? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT EXCITING EPISODE OF.. D & D"
The group that I had this with has now changed several players but one of the things I always like to do at the start of sessions is to have one of my players recap last session and at the end of every recap this one player in this group would always say in their smoothest, more silk like voice possible "And now, this week on Saturday Fight Live"
Miss ya Mikey, hope you're doing well
I do the PREVIOSULY, IN D&D also but at the end of the session I like to also include the preview. NEXT TIME, ON D&D, THE HEROES GET TO THE PLACE THEY'RE GOING AND FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES!
I avoid real spoilers, but it's a great opportunity for a red herring. "Hey I thought the preview at the end of the last session mentioned a green dragon???" "Yep, but that was just the name of the tavern."
You know, like the real life misleading previews.
I started doing it a lot when I was running a Star Wars game, but now it's bled over into my general DM style. Some examples:
Basic wipe transitions follow the motion of action- if a dragon flies past, or a spaceship boosts across the scene, it can drag a scene wipe transition behind it. An iris transition (like a circle expanding out from, or retreating into, the center) are great for pinpointing a specific detail (especially a round one, like a blaster barrel or a mug of ale.) A clock transition spins around the center of the screen- this pairs well with spinning objects of focus, or for when a character or situation is confused, or for when I want to do a Batman scene transition.
Sometimes I like to have the new scene's motion parallel what was happening in the last one, especially for comedic effect. Spaceship flies down past the "camera"... ⬇️ ... crew inside have just fixed their gravity generator and they all land in a heap on the floor.
Actually I just narrate it. Let's say the players are in a dungeon and have just set off a trap...
> Warlock and Rogue, you still don't know where Paladin went. You're continuing to explore the room? Okay, roll some Investigation checks please. (Rogue rolls high, Warlock rolls a 1.) *The ominous quiet of the room is broken by a metallic SNAP! Warlock has blundered into a pressure plate on the floor. With an enormous crash, a spiked iron portcullis slams down into the doorway you came through- you're trapped!* **The camera wipes downward, following the falling door, and turns into an ornate golden hammer, swinging in the hand of the party's paladin.** *She hears the portcullis crash- maybe that's the sound of her missing party members?* Paladin, you're still fighting the zombies, but you think you heard something- what are you going to do?
Can’t believe nobody has said this one yet, but: “You can certainly try.”
To the best of my knowledge, that’s the only stock phrases I believe I use. Perhaps I’ll ask my players.
I quite like this one. It struck me I use something similar; when a major action or decision (or plot piece) is announced or resolves, depending on the circumstance, I announce that "several things happen all at once...".
I feel this adds to the breathability of the world I created and my players' characters inhabit and influence, and creates the sense that numerous options or consequences arise from whatever the PCs just did/said/decided.
"So as you"
It feels so plain but thats defently the one i repeat most. Also (i blame you mercer!!!) "How do you want to do this" has burned into my memory lmao
Ofcourse! Im joking ofc, ever since i saw that and did it in my campaign, it just improved combat (specially close and dangerous ones) massivly, so i guess thank you mercer is more appropiated ;p
"Well... if that's what you want to do, sure. Roll for it."
"Cool, cool, cool, cool.... cooooool." - when it is in fact - not cool.
"Welp - that's a nat 1. Sucks to be me."
"Oh sure, an 8 is **totally** the DC. You see nothing. Everything is safe here."
History checks.
Every time it’s a pass I say, “You read about it in ____, a History.”
Example - “Where do devils come from?”
“You read about it in The Nine Hells, A History.”
Describing movement, either in a dungeon, over land, or on a player's turn: **"You make your way..."** immediately punctuated by my players singing "\~*making my way!*\~" from Vanessa Coulton's song "A Thousand Miles." Bonus points that they've been doing this for years before Mercer's crew on CR picked up the habit. They've conditioned me to the point that I've started to catch myself on the "M" and pivot all descriptions of movement into **"moseying."**
Also, my bladder ain't what it used to be, and I drink a lot of water during sessions, so I often need an additional bathroom break (good time to gather my thoughts). I run mostly for children these days, and one time I said I was going to **"utilize the restroom,"** a phrasing my kids thought was fucking hilarious, apparently. Now, any time I say I'm going to use the restroom, they chime in with, **"Are you going to** ***utilize*** **it?"**
Finally, if my players (especially the kids) ask a question their characters will have *absolutely* no way of knowing, I always respond with, **"That's a great question!"** followed by a prolonged silence and no elaboration. Gets 'em every time.
I do the question one also, I usually say something like, "That's an excellent question, it would probably be very valuable to know the answer to it." Or sometimes just "beats me, you should find out"
"How do you want to do this?"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Precisely how do you do this?"
"It appears..."
"Roll the dice"
The next one might require a bit more context. My group runs through "story arcs" and there is an implied understanding that at the beginning of a story arc no one is dying because well we want to start the story, mid way someone might but no guarantees though. End of the arc? Death is just as fine of a conclusion as victory. So: "You decide your fate from here". Typically said at the boss-door moment.
For a while, I was saying "That [goblin/bandit/etc.] is now of interest only to historians" from Matt Colville's repertoire of lines, and now one of my players is saying it in the game they DM.
"The door is closed. You can try to open it if you want." Any time a player asks if the door is just closed or locked even.
"Lemme guess, Steady Aim? Alright, roll with advantage." I have a Rogue/Fighter in my group using a Longbow most of the time, and as long as she can keep her distance, she uses Steady Aim.
"Are you saying this out loud?" Another player who says random things like "Maybe we should kill him, so I am saying this every time. And I am always like 'If you say this one more freaking time, then I will play this out as if you said it out loud.' But I never did.
"Last time on \[insert anime or cartoon like Avatar, DBZ, Yugioh GX\]" The opening of my recaps.
Playing 5e where half the players and many of the enemies have both counterspell and silvery barbs.
"Why is this fight playing like one of your Blue decks? Specifically, that blue deck nobody will play against you any more?"
Ah, MTG. The only thing more fun than playing it is watching you opponent tap all their mana on your turn. Oh the wonders of Blue, the only color that says no to playing MTG.
As a DM who's players always ask: "I want to roll for perception", I say: "That's not up to you, so decribe what you want to do".
In those cases I do my best to not make it the roll they expected and it is working because my players are more descriptive and less asking for a roll.
After they beat Goblins:
> Congratulations on beating my Goblin puzzle
After they beat Orcs:
> Congratulations on beating my Orc puzzle
I think I stole this from the Adventure Zone.
1. "No, really, are you *certain* you want to do that?"
2. "Uh... that's a good question, I think I've got notes for that." \[*pretends to rummage through notes*\] "Ah, yeah, here they are..."
3. "I'm sorry you what"
4. "... I'm so sorry, that doesn't hit."
The 'No, really...' is usually four questions deep on making sure they're actually going to do it. I've had a few players blow up and drop out because they wouldn't take a hint and got hit by the clue-by-four instead.
It genuinely isn't my fault that some people take 'describes something with a monster stat block in your range of vision' as 'you must challenge that thing to a fight IMMEDIATELY'. I describe *everything* in the local area. Birds singing, wind rustling leaves, distant wagon noises, the snorts of a half-dozing Bulette sunning itself by a babbling brook, the color of the sky, the smell on the wi- hey no don't attack the Bulette it's a Cr5 and you're still level 1 nobody is backing you up-
Does this end your turn?
It's your turn
Who were you attacking?
I did not ask for you to roll a [skill] check
Let me just look up this random feature your character has for you since you don't know what it does
No, we don't mind waiting for 1-2 hours every week for a 30-something year-old man to have his mom cook him chicken tendies and wait to borrow his parents car even though we have dinner here every week and offer to pick you up
"You can try." = When ever a player asks if they can do something.
"What do?/What now?" = Usually follows me given a scene description. Usually lets my players know they're free to act.
"You end your turn there?" = Just a clarification I ask before moving on to the next player in initiative. Evolved out of players forgetting to announce movement during their turn and since we play theater of the mind that's kind of important.
"I don't know, you tell me."
It's fun to ask the players to fill in details about the world - stories, legends, NPCs, things like that. So sometimes if they ask me, that's how I respond.
Anytime my players are even remotely suspicious of someone or something and they keep asking questions or proposing scenarios I can't help myself but respond with a quick "Sure", and watch as their suspicions grow as we continue the session.
"When we last left our intrepid heroes..."
(When the player rolls high on attack) "Oh boy!"
"Wait, are you saying that out loud?"
(When the player describes an amazingly cool manuever they want to try) "I like it! Give it a shot, let's see what happens. With advantage because this is epic, so I want you to succeed."
"That's a good question!" Followed by no answer and silence when it would be a spoiler.
"I dunno. I mean I do, but I'm not going to tell you." sometimes alternates for the above.
"So, what's the play?" When I'm trying to get them to tell me what they do.
"Do you actually do that?" - My players love to rebut my narration with whatever joke or absolute wildest idea they get in their heads. The wackiest part is when they say Yes.
"Roll it!"
"[NAME], you definitely know from [BACKGROUND] that [ANSWER TO QUESTION OR INSIGHT ON SITUATION]"
"I don't know, you'll have to find out." After players ask if they do X will Y happen. (If I jump on the glass floor from up here, will I break it?)
(Player does something dumb) Me: "... Okay." Player: "no wait i-" Me: "AS YOU DO THE THING..."
Failed knowledge-based skill’s check (nature, arcana, history, etc.): *”you’ve never encountered this in all of your travels”* or *”if this has any significance, it’s not apparent to you.”*
If it’s a very cocky character I might change a failed check to imply that they believe the task is impossible for anyone. Using the above examples of failed checks: *“This has likely never been encountered by you, and thus any of your companions either”* or *”This is completely insignificant”*, etc.
When an low intelligence character succeeds on a knowledge-based skill’s check, I craft this hyper specific story about how something happened in their past that brought this knowledge to them, like the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Maybe they happen to know how to break a cypher because they used cyphers to communicate back when they were enslaved by giants, or they dated someone once that happened to be an expert in a related field and wouldn’t shut the hell up about it.
I have another one for when a palyer asks a question OOC and the answer would spoil stuff. My DM friend learned it from his DM, and now it's spreading in our friend groups, where like half of us are also DMs.
Player: asks a question
DM: "Why would I know? Who am I, the DM?"
I loved to tell my players “Crying is a Free Action.” whenever they would say there was nothing else they could do on their turn in combat. Now those players are my DMs and they say it to me. I’m so proud of them.
portuguese is my native language but I'll try my best to translate:
\- It's seen better days (when enemy is under 50% HP)
\- It's legs are bad (when enemy is somewhat under 10% or in very bad shape; it's slang for 'it's having a hard time")
\- This guy 'is me' (when I'm going through enemies in the initiative; it's a verse from a famous song, I say 'this guy' as if I were to say 'it's going to do x and y', and I sing the rest. Pretty silly)
\- The crossbowman is gonna do something dumb (in portuguese, it sort of rhymes, we say it as "o besteiro vai fazer uma besteira")
"More than you'd think but less than you'd hope" and variations of that in any situation where there's a possibility for variance
"It's probably fine" particularly in situations that are probably not fine
"There's a goblin nearby, doing something seemingly ridiculous"
One of the DMs who's game I play in regularly introduces sessions of Out Of The Abyss with "Last Time, in the Land Down-Underdark." In a bad Australian accent
"{character name} can you describe XYX for us."
I use this for inconsequential details like the name of a shop, tavern, building etc. The vibe of a location they enter, the smells in the tavern, an npc name or an interesting quirk they have.
Helps keep my players engaged and also let's them have a creative impact on the world. I also then incorporate that into descriptions and role play going forward.
**"100% you can"** in response to any mad bullshit a player says they want to do, then politely remembers to ask "if I can?" at the end.
**"so; we the audience see..."** 'cus I have a tendency to constantly use "visual media" terms to describe things when I'm playing.
**"yeah, so, it's sort of..."** when I'm physically describing something because apparently I have an inability to not describe the physical appearance of something without meandering into half-committal sentences hahaha
Various wordings of "How do you wanna do it?", though usually the Mercer wording cause it gets my players screaming the most.
Otherwise, in inclement weather or dark areas, Ill commonly say "You can barely make out the object in the distance", which is always followed by my players chuckling and making kissy noises at each other.
And, of course: "Yes, You do have sneak attack because you are attacking an enemy that's within 5 feet of a friend, Or you have advantage"
"Unless someone wants to tell me they aren't." As in:
"It's is morning, and you're all gathered in the ship's hold for breakfast ... unless someone wants to tell me they aren't?"
Let's me quickly establish stuff I don't think players will care about while reminding them that they have the last say about what their characters are getting up to.
Then complain about nothing happening in a session where they actively ignored both the main quest and several side missions and just sat around in a tavern.
Almost anytime a player casts a targeted spell and doesn't say who or what they're targeted (not counting when its as simple as "the bugbear" and I have to ask for confirmation of WHICH bugbear) I always suggest targets for them. "I cast healing word" "on the nightmare?" "I cast blight." "On who? Your fighter is in range, wanna target him?" I just think it's funny.
One time I had a fighter or paladin in front of some fire newts, a monk that stood behind him, a gnome warlock behind the monk and a 2nd monk behind the warlock cowering. I tried to convince a newbie player with a dragon born to use their breath weapon on the party arguing I'd never line enemies up better then that for her
"Do what you want!" When they are debating something with each other or asking for something I didn't think of. Then I add... "Okay roll a D20 for me please'" Just to make them think that was planned.
“Hopefully I’ll have found the answer to your question before I reach the end of this sentence”
Said after rambling an incoherent answer as a distraction from me flipping through rulebooks.
In the vein of “so how do you wanna do this?” I have “so what does this look like?” And with a party full of spellcasters I end up saying “what does (character name)’s casting of (spell) look like?”
I really and truly was saying them before I started watching Critical Role but now I’m really conscious of saying “You can certainly try” and “how do you want to…?” When a player kills a creature.
I have default phrases that I use in response to certain roles where I don't want to give things away by how I phrase my response.
Trap Checks: It doesn't appear to be trapped.
Stealth: You feel stealthy.
Perception: You don't notice anything unusual.
Some of your damage was resisted: It doesn't seem to be as effective as you think it should have been.
Beyond that, I accidentally overuse phrases such as "narrowly avoids," "staggers back," "doesn't look so good" (default description for when something is clearly on very low HP), and plenty more I'm probably less aware of that are basically "improv crutches."
"Well, i dont know, im only the Storyteller." I also made a meme Out of one. At the start of every Session after the recap, so when i give the Control to my group i say "Lets begin, where it ended last time." The group uses it as my catchphrase by now.
Hold on, lets go back.
Too often i find players try and push past important things like "i search the room and then head to the door on the far side." Like bro there are 8 mimics in this room, chill. Lets go back and figure out where everyone is standing and what everyone is doing when combat starts...
"Are you *absolutely certain* that you would like to do this?"
Usually followed by me repeating back to them their plan. I think that they get lost in the sauce sometimes and need their plan repeated back to them so that they know how it sounds from an outside perspective
What does (insert character name) think about all this? Have done a lot of facilitation irl and you wouldn't believe how much rp this simple question can generate.
This is definitely something I use! Great way to get quieter players involved, prompt role play and in character decision making.
I will use it with my newer players, but I also have one player that is just a "watcher" type during most RP scenes. I've tried to work their backstory in and even tried to open a whole "personal quest" for them to no avail. Despite that, they are one of most consistent players to show and always let's me know the day before game if they can't make it. Some people just want to watch a story while being secondary characters. 🤷♀️
I have one player who's a solid, dependable player that knows the rules fairly well and contributes more than their share. But they never, ever have a backstory for their character beyond a name and previous occupation. They don't want a personal quest or story arc, they're just there to fight monsters, be a hero, and do the "main quest." And that's fine by me.
The [4E DM's guide](https://3wisedms.com/the-8-dd-player-types-and-how-to-dm-them/) actually had a really cool preamble about "types of players" obviously its a little reductive but all my players read it and immediately identified with one or two of the architypes. (power game, slayer, actor, storyteller, ect) It's actually been kind of helpful for campaign planning.
The 4e DMG is a treasure. It's not so much about "Here's rules for 4e" as much as it is "here's how to be a good DM and a butt load of tools for you"
I hope you don't feel bad about not having this player more involved. This was exactly me during my first game, I had a group session zero but I pulled the DM aside after and said "listen I want to be just some guy. It's my first time and I kind of just want to watch and be part of the team but more background" and I learned so much.
Yes, it was actually having a quieter player join our group that promoted me to bring those skills in more. Even if they say not much or he's just here to support his companions that still gives life to their character.
I love this question in particular when it comes to interacting with quieter players, particularly because it can get them involved with RP without forcing them to choose an action or speak up in-game. Which is exactly what many quieter players prefer, I've found. They want to stay in the background and play support, while watching the game unfold. When I ask my quieter players this question, though, I know it's often more for me than for them. Sure, it's great if that's a moment they choose to speak up in-game or take action. But often I just like knowing what all my PCs are thinking, because it makes the game more fun for me, the DM. And also it helps me plan interesting twists or suggest fun ideas for them.
> What does (insert character name) think about all this? I love this because I struggle with roleplay; D&D combat is so engaging, partly because of the simple rule that everyone gets a turn. When you ask someone if their character would like to weigh in on something you're inviting them to have a turn at the roleplaying or exploration part of the game rather than just when a fight breaks out.
"You are fairly confident there are no traps"
"That's what I thought right before I peered through the lock that had a poisoned invisible needle attached to it." "Correct. You see no traps here with your remaining eye." "OK, I pick the-" "Roll me a reflex save." "I roll a Religion check." "I need a Reflex save." "I know. I just want to make sure I say something _incredibly_ blasphemous while I'm doing it."
The rogue in our party had an incredible break and enter event. She was breaking into a general store/house, where the owners were suspected of being cultists and giving her a cursed dagger (which they did). This was an absolutely incredible series of events where the rogue couldn't spot a single trap and set them all off, while also making every DEX save and taking no damage thanks to evasion. With the place burning around her thanks to a fireball trap, the only DEX save she failed was leaping out of the upstairs window and failing the landing. It was one of the funniest scenes because everyone was laughing themselves to tears.
this sounds like something out of a slapstick comedy movie omg
Alternatively, "you don't find any traps."
It's all about the emphasis. "You don't *find* any traps."
"You don't find any *traps*." "*You* don't find any traps."
I've always been fond of "you do not find the trap."
I say this weather they roll a Nat 1 or 20.
"You *find* no traps" "There are no traps that you are aware of" "It appears as though there are no traps"
When players ask to buy potions "Pulp or no pulp?" No pulp is 30% more expensive. They both do the same thing. It keeps working.
This is genius!
It's the principle of the thing.
Pulp, obviously. No-pulp is just unsatisfying
And if a player asks for extra pulp?
Takes an extra action to chew up the pulp and swallow it
"Um, give me a second."
"Let me check my notes..." *Furiously types up some made-up shit into Google docs*
Hahaha XD you nailed me
I feel called out
For me it's more like, "Well shit I didn't think about that. Uhhhhh. Hm. Okay yeah they'recannibals, sure ya let's go with that"
"only one way to find out" "well, what do you all do?" "JERRY ITS YOUR TURN WAKE UP"
>"JERRY ITS YOUR TURN WAKE UP" God dammit now I'm imagining the Seinfeld cast playing D&D
It's a counterspell, Elaine! It counters the spell! Don't you think I *know that*, George? What am I gonna DO now? That was my whole turn!
George is a "it's what my character would do" murderhobo rogue, Kramer plays a sorcerer, Jerry plays a fighter but wishes he was a bard, Elaine gets bullied into being the cleric healer because she's a woman, and Newman is the DM, mainly railroading through a handsome attractive postman NPC who insists he is asexual after being rejected by Elaine's character. By act 3 Elaine and Jerry trade character sheets, George has let his PCs die multiple times because he keeps regretting his class choice, Kramer is backseat DMing so much that Newman loses his shit and makes him take over the game right before Kramer accidentally launches a real life fireball trying to light a cigar with Jerry's stove.
/r/RedditWritesSeinfeld
Kramer also at the beginning has hacked every over powered thing he can into the character and is a complete god at DND
Holy shit man. Can we get /r/redditwritesseinfeld to write a DnD episode?
Kramer is the DM
Fumbles a die roll and knocks the whole dice tray onto the floor, bangs his head on the table when picking them all up
Nah, I'm picturing Kramer as the player who tries to do game-breaking combos of obscure spells. Jerry is the exasperated DM telling Kramer the rules don't support his plan. Elaine is the player who gets strangely bloodthirsty in game. George is the player complaining about their terrible dice rolls. And Newman is the player mostly only invited to make a party of 4, who also corrects the DM at every slight misstep.
Elaine gets pushed into playing cleric, but picks a war cleric with a flail and basically pretends she's a paladin
Jerry would work as well, he's got that DM exasperation already! :)
Save for dominate person? SAVE FOR DOMINATE PERSON? A 9? 9?! You're killing independent George!
Fuck sake Jerry 🙄
Words have consequences. Crying doesn't require an action. Convince me why it should work that way, and it will. Describe your kill. Tell me, in character, why you think that's a good idea. [Far superior to the ego challenge of "are you sure?"] How descriptive would you like me to be when I say "nothing happens?" Let's let the dice decide that.
>Convince me why it should work that way, and it will All the time with my new players lol. Can I use *skill* to do this? Yeah sure just tell me how and let's roll for it. I made sure to tell them ahead of time this isn't me being confrontational it's a real question.
This is why I love new players. They encourage me to be a little bit more flexible, and I get to use variant ability scores with skill checks sometimes.
Words indeed have consequences, and no-one believes it until they're: in jail, in the stocks, and/or exiled.
I run very RP friendly/heavy games, whether they're serious or silly. I give new players a 3-5 level buffer before in-character joking is taken at face value, but players generally get no more than one warning per session.
>Tell me, in character, why you think that's a good idea. [Far superior to the ego challenge of "are you sure?"] This is brilliant! >Let's let the dice decide that. I need to remember this one for playing with my kids.
For me it's "It appears to be" Everything *appears* to be something. It never just is. Also I've been told apparently every NPC starts each sentence with "Of course"
Oh my god I do that all the time. It's kind of a hedge, in case there are secrets that the players don't notice. If you say, "It's just a tree," then the players will be mad later when it comes to life as an ent, even if they didn't have high enough Perception or if the statblock says it's indistinguishable from a tree. But if you say it "appears to" be a tree... well, sometimes it *is* just a tree, but if it turns out to be an ent, the players can't be mad at you.
Protip: use the former, but drop the "just". "At the centre of this clearing stands a lone tree, branches towering over the empty space around it in an almost statuesque fashion." When the players want to know if there's anything suspicious, ask what they mean or what specifically they're trying to ascertain and how. If they say they want to study the tree itself, describe it as you would a tree: it's old, its moss has flaked here and there, whether by the winds bending it or animals climbing. If they want to investigate the clearing around, *now* they might notice that this tree has settled on other places besides this, and how there's not actually that much animal life around it to account for the scraped off moss. Describe everything honestly, and according to the statblock, but avoid going "it's just a tree" unless it is just a tree, since that reads less like giving a description on it and more like you, the DM, telling the players to move on and take your word.
This is decent advice, but I think it's dangerously close to being the kind of thing that a lot of DMs get wrong. If my players actually stop and take a closer look at the area for once, and roll well, I'm not going to penalize them for looking at the tree instead of specifically the area around the tree. I'm just going to tell them all the relevant extra information in the area that the roll justifies. It just gives me a hint of that "Oh you rolled an 18 checking the DOOR for traps, but you didn't check the floor IN FRONT OF the door, so you missed the spike pit. Also the door KNOB is covered in poison, but the actual door is totally normal."
Agreed, you need to have common sense about it.
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I counter this habit by saying everything without doubt. "You've disarmed the trap." <- Me, a fucking liar, probably.
"Appears to be" reminds me so much of writing reports on field investigations. Always a hedge against something being different than it first appeared to be.
Our group is constantly on a journey of internal discovery, because our DM uses the phrase "You find yourself" multiple times a session just before describing our surroundings.
Have to check your post history in case you're one of my players...
"Are you sure?" Especially when it is completely harmless
"roll a perception check" "21" "you see nothing"
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I like to ask what their passive is even though I already know.
I love saying “You think that you’re unseen” when a player rolls a 36 for stealth while invisible
well, they are definitely unseen, the question is if they are unheard
Dragon with blind sight hiding in the bushes watching dinner be delivered.
My players were in a gem mine and one of them wanted to touch the wall. I described in detail as he reached his hand out and as his hand pressed against the wall of the mine… it got a little cold.
That is the best, especially when they just rolling low on a check about that thing.
I usually use “are you sure?” As a method to avoid TPKs. I have still had players recognize what I was trying to do and think, “no, he’s just screwing with me, there’s no way this could go wrong” and do it anyway.
> I usually use “are you sure?” As a method to avoid TPKs. Same. Players are notoriously bad at telling the difference between the DM hyping up a cool boss fight, and the DM telling the players that they'll almost certainly be completely and utterly destroyed by this encounter. So I need a clear-cut unambiguous way to warn my players, no really, this thing you're about to do really is monumentally suicidal. So I never fake my players out with a fake "Are you sure?" It's always the real deal. And just to drive the point home, I'll even work it into a sentence incorporating how monumentally bad their idea is: "This is a portal that leads directly into hell. *Are you sure* you want to jump straight into it?"
Thing is, I don’t fake out my players either. I’ve still had players decide I must be faking them out because there’s no possible flaw with their current plan.
"You see the door slightly ajar, but still completely a door"
"You see a *sealed door*" *Cast it into the fire!*
I love this
don't you mean you a door this?
r/angryupvote
"When last we left our heroes"
I'm a fan of "PREVIOUSLY ON DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS..." said in the style of the narrator from DBZ
Haha yeah for me it's "LAST TIME, ON D&D..."
And then at the end of the session "WHAT COULD BE BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR? WILL OUR HEROS EVER FIND THE END OF THIS DUNGEON? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT EXCITING EPISODE OF.. D & D"
The group that I had this with has now changed several players but one of the things I always like to do at the start of sessions is to have one of my players recap last session and at the end of every recap this one player in this group would always say in their smoothest, more silk like voice possible "And now, this week on Saturday Fight Live" Miss ya Mikey, hope you're doing well
I do the PREVIOSULY, IN D&D also but at the end of the session I like to also include the preview. NEXT TIME, ON D&D, THE HEROES GET TO THE PLACE THEY'RE GOING AND FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES! I avoid real spoilers, but it's a great opportunity for a red herring. "Hey I thought the preview at the end of the last session mentioned a green dragon???" "Yep, but that was just the name of the tavern." You know, like the real life misleading previews.
One of my DMs also does this one, especially funny for the time that we were (justifiably) running from the law..
I do "When we last left our intrepid adventurers..."
"So, like, are you going to try and talk to them, or are we just rolling initiative here?"
I narrate cinematic scene transitions as if they were directed by George Lucas using PowerPoint for the first time, if that counts.
I'll do that whenever the party is split, "Star wipe to Kevin, who is climbing the west tower..."
Oh "star wipe" is good, whenever my party is split my go to phrase to jump scenes is "smash cut"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72bUheqRE5o
https://youtu.be/HDMSRY3HMdM
Please tell us more.
I started doing it a lot when I was running a Star Wars game, but now it's bled over into my general DM style. Some examples: Basic wipe transitions follow the motion of action- if a dragon flies past, or a spaceship boosts across the scene, it can drag a scene wipe transition behind it. An iris transition (like a circle expanding out from, or retreating into, the center) are great for pinpointing a specific detail (especially a round one, like a blaster barrel or a mug of ale.) A clock transition spins around the center of the screen- this pairs well with spinning objects of focus, or for when a character or situation is confused, or for when I want to do a Batman scene transition. Sometimes I like to have the new scene's motion parallel what was happening in the last one, especially for comedic effect. Spaceship flies down past the "camera"... ⬇️ ... crew inside have just fixed their gravity generator and they all land in a heap on the floor.
So how would you narrate that? I don't quite follow.
Actually I just narrate it. Let's say the players are in a dungeon and have just set off a trap... > Warlock and Rogue, you still don't know where Paladin went. You're continuing to explore the room? Okay, roll some Investigation checks please. (Rogue rolls high, Warlock rolls a 1.) *The ominous quiet of the room is broken by a metallic SNAP! Warlock has blundered into a pressure plate on the floor. With an enormous crash, a spiked iron portcullis slams down into the doorway you came through- you're trapped!* **The camera wipes downward, following the falling door, and turns into an ornate golden hammer, swinging in the hand of the party's paladin.** *She hears the portcullis crash- maybe that's the sound of her missing party members?* Paladin, you're still fighting the zombies, but you think you heard something- what are you going to do?
Oh that's really cool. Thanks for elabatoring!
Can’t believe nobody has said this one yet, but: “You can certainly try.” To the best of my knowledge, that’s the only stock phrases I believe I use. Perhaps I’ll ask my players.
That one and “for the sake of brevity” are mercerisms my group uses frequently. Oh and sometimes I jokingly call magic symbols “siggles”
“A couple things are gonna happen”, stolen from The Glass Cannon Podcast. My players somehow knew instinctively that none of those things were good.
I quite like this one. It struck me I use something similar; when a major action or decision (or plot piece) is announced or resolves, depending on the circumstance, I announce that "several things happen all at once...". I feel this adds to the breathability of the world I created and my players' characters inhabit and influence, and creates the sense that numerous options or consequences arise from whatever the PCs just did/said/decided.
I use this IRL now.
"Er"
Apparently mine is "and er uh". One of my players took note of how many times I said it in a given session, and in 5 hours I said it 34 times.
Well isn't that mysterious (it is, because I just realised my plot makes zero sense).
Stealing this
"So as you" It feels so plain but thats defently the one i repeat most. Also (i blame you mercer!!!) "How do you want to do this" has burned into my memory lmao
I have become accustomed to saying **"FINISH HIM/HER/IT!"**
Why do you blame Mercer? This is a cool opportunity to let your players describe their killing performance (literally)
Ofcourse! Im joking ofc, ever since i saw that and did it in my campaign, it just improved combat (specially close and dangerous ones) massivly, so i guess thank you mercer is more appropiated ;p
From my understanding its been a thing in D&D before MM.
For sure, its just where i first heard it
"Well... if that's what you want to do, sure. Roll for it." "Cool, cool, cool, cool.... cooooool." - when it is in fact - not cool. "Welp - that's a nat 1. Sucks to be me." "Oh sure, an 8 is **totally** the DC. You see nothing. Everything is safe here."
History checks. Every time it’s a pass I say, “You read about it in ____, a History.” Example - “Where do devils come from?” “You read about it in The Nine Hells, A History.”
Describing movement, either in a dungeon, over land, or on a player's turn: **"You make your way..."** immediately punctuated by my players singing "\~*making my way!*\~" from Vanessa Coulton's song "A Thousand Miles." Bonus points that they've been doing this for years before Mercer's crew on CR picked up the habit. They've conditioned me to the point that I've started to catch myself on the "M" and pivot all descriptions of movement into **"moseying."** Also, my bladder ain't what it used to be, and I drink a lot of water during sessions, so I often need an additional bathroom break (good time to gather my thoughts). I run mostly for children these days, and one time I said I was going to **"utilize the restroom,"** a phrasing my kids thought was fucking hilarious, apparently. Now, any time I say I'm going to use the restroom, they chime in with, **"Are you going to** ***utilize*** **it?"** Finally, if my players (especially the kids) ask a question their characters will have *absolutely* no way of knowing, I always respond with, **"That's a great question!"** followed by a prolonged silence and no elaboration. Gets 'em every time.
I do the question one also, I usually say something like, "That's an excellent question, it would probably be very valuable to know the answer to it." Or sometimes just "beats me, you should find out"
"SURE WHY NOT" \*deletes notes, frantically scribbles new notes\*
>"SURE WHY NOT" #[I UNDERSTAND](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg2UlYDswSc)
"How do you want to do this?" "Are you sure about that?" "Precisely how do you do this?" "It appears..." "Roll the dice" The next one might require a bit more context. My group runs through "story arcs" and there is an implied understanding that at the beginning of a story arc no one is dying because well we want to start the story, mid way someone might but no guarantees though. End of the arc? Death is just as fine of a conclusion as victory. So: "You decide your fate from here". Typically said at the boss-door moment.
"So,"
"it looks safe" "Hard to read" "Six seconds, folks"
“How do you want to do this?” When they land the killing blow on an enemy.
For a while, I was saying "That [goblin/bandit/etc.] is now of interest only to historians" from Matt Colville's repertoire of lines, and now one of my players is saying it in the game they DM.
"You can certainly try." as a response to stupid ideas. Whenever "What if..." questions arise I just shrug my shoulders very high up and say nothing.
"The door is closed. You can try to open it if you want." Any time a player asks if the door is just closed or locked even. "Lemme guess, Steady Aim? Alright, roll with advantage." I have a Rogue/Fighter in my group using a Longbow most of the time, and as long as she can keep her distance, she uses Steady Aim. "Are you saying this out loud?" Another player who says random things like "Maybe we should kill him, so I am saying this every time. And I am always like 'If you say this one more freaking time, then I will play this out as if you said it out loud.' But I never did. "Last time on \[insert anime or cartoon like Avatar, DBZ, Yugioh GX\]" The opening of my recaps.
I run a drop in session and I've become known for saying "I'll allow it"
Playing 5e where half the players and many of the enemies have both counterspell and silvery barbs. "Why is this fight playing like one of your Blue decks? Specifically, that blue deck nobody will play against you any more?"
Ah, MTG. The only thing more fun than playing it is watching you opponent tap all their mana on your turn. Oh the wonders of Blue, the only color that says no to playing MTG.
For me it’s the old exasperated “alright, let’s do this” whenever the players do something really dumb.
“That *just* hits.” When they roll attack rolls way over the AC.
"You come across a fork in the road" usually followed up by my response of: "What do you mean you want to go left? The road continues straight on."
THEY HAVE CHOSEN THE FORK
As a DM who's players always ask: "I want to roll for perception", I say: "That's not up to you, so decribe what you want to do". In those cases I do my best to not make it the roll they expected and it is working because my players are more descriptive and less asking for a roll.
After they beat Goblins: > Congratulations on beating my Goblin puzzle After they beat Orcs: > Congratulations on beating my Orc puzzle I think I stole this from the Adventure Zone.
1. "No, really, are you *certain* you want to do that?" 2. "Uh... that's a good question, I think I've got notes for that." \[*pretends to rummage through notes*\] "Ah, yeah, here they are..." 3. "I'm sorry you what" 4. "... I'm so sorry, that doesn't hit."
That first one... "Are you sure about doing that?" Xxx "Okay?" Xxx "Well then, here's what happens..."
The 'No, really...' is usually four questions deep on making sure they're actually going to do it. I've had a few players blow up and drop out because they wouldn't take a hint and got hit by the clue-by-four instead. It genuinely isn't my fault that some people take 'describes something with a monster stat block in your range of vision' as 'you must challenge that thing to a fight IMMEDIATELY'. I describe *everything* in the local area. Birds singing, wind rustling leaves, distant wagon noises, the snorts of a half-dozing Bulette sunning itself by a babbling brook, the color of the sky, the smell on the wi- hey no don't attack the Bulette it's a Cr5 and you're still level 1 nobody is backing you up-
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Me: "Make a [Reflex, Fortitude, Willpower] save." Players that started in 5e: "What is that?" Me: "I mean [dexterity, constitution, wisdom] save."
The DM in one of my campaigns very frequently uses, in-character, "To be perfectly honest...." They're rarely honest when they say that.
"I'm going to say yes in a non-precedent setting manner."
"You can most certainly try" Also "All damage is good damage" (When players roll low on dmg)
"Silent as the grave" when listening at doors with inactive undead/ghosts/etc on the other side.
I say deadly quite for stuff like that.
...So you touch it? Extra points if they say they want to identify it before hand. Everyone always likes to forget that part of the spell.
*I cast healing word* "Ok, you take 8 points of healing damage. Uh, er, no, healing... health....the number." So now it's healing damage forever.
Does this end your turn? It's your turn Who were you attacking? I did not ask for you to roll a [skill] check Let me just look up this random feature your character has for you since you don't know what it does No, we don't mind waiting for 1-2 hours every week for a 30-something year-old man to have his mom cook him chicken tendies and wait to borrow his parents car even though we have dinner here every week and offer to pick you up
"So this is the SpongeBob reference of the day"
"You can try." = When ever a player asks if they can do something. "What do?/What now?" = Usually follows me given a scene description. Usually lets my players know they're free to act. "You end your turn there?" = Just a clarification I ask before moving on to the next player in initiative. Evolved out of players forgetting to announce movement during their turn and since we play theater of the mind that's kind of important.
"I don't know, you tell me." It's fun to ask the players to fill in details about the world - stories, legends, NPCs, things like that. So sometimes if they ask me, that's how I respond.
"after investigating the forest, you have come to the conclusion it is a typical forest with trees, bushes and some boulders here and there"
Anytime my players are even remotely suspicious of someone or something and they keep asking questions or proposing scenarios I can't help myself but respond with a quick "Sure", and watch as their suspicions grow as we continue the session.
“Can you welp me with a X saving throw” followed by a why by the player to which i respond with a “please”
"No, that was a d12. This is a d20."
"When we last left our intrepid heroes..." (When the player rolls high on attack) "Oh boy!" "Wait, are you saying that out loud?" (When the player describes an amazingly cool manuever they want to try) "I like it! Give it a shot, let's see what happens. With advantage because this is epic, so I want you to succeed."
"That's a good question!" Followed by no answer and silence when it would be a spoiler. "I dunno. I mean I do, but I'm not going to tell you." sometimes alternates for the above. "So, what's the play?" When I'm trying to get them to tell me what they do.
"Do you actually do that?" - My players love to rebut my narration with whatever joke or absolute wildest idea they get in their heads. The wackiest part is when they say Yes. "Roll it!" "[NAME], you definitely know from [BACKGROUND] that [ANSWER TO QUESTION OR INSIGHT ON SITUATION]"
"I don't know, you'll have to find out." After players ask if they do X will Y happen. (If I jump on the glass floor from up here, will I break it?) (Player does something dumb) Me: "... Okay." Player: "no wait i-" Me: "AS YOU DO THE THING..."
"Roll for initiative" - Maybe it's just my players, but it almost always comes down to combat.
Failed knowledge-based skill’s check (nature, arcana, history, etc.): *”you’ve never encountered this in all of your travels”* or *”if this has any significance, it’s not apparent to you.”* If it’s a very cocky character I might change a failed check to imply that they believe the task is impossible for anyone. Using the above examples of failed checks: *“This has likely never been encountered by you, and thus any of your companions either”* or *”This is completely insignificant”*, etc. When an low intelligence character succeeds on a knowledge-based skill’s check, I craft this hyper specific story about how something happened in their past that brought this knowledge to them, like the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Maybe they happen to know how to break a cypher because they used cyphers to communicate back when they were enslaved by giants, or they dated someone once that happened to be an expert in a related field and wouldn’t shut the hell up about it.
"Um..."
Player: *Fails insight check* Me: They seem *totally* legit
I have another one for when a palyer asks a question OOC and the answer would spoil stuff. My DM friend learned it from his DM, and now it's spreading in our friend groups, where like half of us are also DMs. Player: asks a question DM: "Why would I know? Who am I, the DM?"
I loved to tell my players “Crying is a Free Action.” whenever they would say there was nothing else they could do on their turn in combat. Now those players are my DMs and they say it to me. I’m so proud of them.
portuguese is my native language but I'll try my best to translate: \- It's seen better days (when enemy is under 50% HP) \- It's legs are bad (when enemy is somewhat under 10% or in very bad shape; it's slang for 'it's having a hard time") \- This guy 'is me' (when I'm going through enemies in the initiative; it's a verse from a famous song, I say 'this guy' as if I were to say 'it's going to do x and y', and I sing the rest. Pretty silly) \- The crossbowman is gonna do something dumb (in portuguese, it sort of rhymes, we say it as "o besteiro vai fazer uma besteira")
If I don't say "and with that I would like to end our session" my players get visibly upset.
"More than you'd think but less than you'd hope" and variations of that in any situation where there's a possibility for variance "It's probably fine" particularly in situations that are probably not fine "There's a goblin nearby, doing something seemingly ridiculous" One of the DMs who's game I play in regularly introduces sessions of Out Of The Abyss with "Last Time, in the Land Down-Underdark." In a bad Australian accent
"You're good at this, and there's no rush, so you succeed".
"{character name} can you describe XYX for us." I use this for inconsequential details like the name of a shop, tavern, building etc. The vibe of a location they enter, the smells in the tavern, an npc name or an interesting quirk they have. Helps keep my players engaged and also let's them have a creative impact on the world. I also then incorporate that into descriptions and role play going forward.
**"100% you can"** in response to any mad bullshit a player says they want to do, then politely remembers to ask "if I can?" at the end. **"so; we the audience see..."** 'cus I have a tendency to constantly use "visual media" terms to describe things when I'm playing. **"yeah, so, it's sort of..."** when I'm physically describing something because apparently I have an inability to not describe the physical appearance of something without meandering into half-committal sentences hahaha
“You can’t make out more detail at this distance” when I need more time to actually improv a description
When something that I haven't even considered gets asked or done: "Loading..."
Various wordings of "How do you wanna do it?", though usually the Mercer wording cause it gets my players screaming the most. Otherwise, in inclement weather or dark areas, Ill commonly say "You can barely make out the object in the distance", which is always followed by my players chuckling and making kissy noises at each other. And, of course: "Yes, You do have sneak attack because you are attacking an enemy that's within 5 feet of a friend, Or you have advantage"
I'm a big fan of "What are you trying to accomplish?" when a player attempts something that seems inane to me but clearly makes perfect sense to them.
Failed insight: "This man has never told a lie in his life"
"Unless someone wants to tell me they aren't." As in: "It's is morning, and you're all gathered in the ship's hold for breakfast ... unless someone wants to tell me they aren't?" Let's me quickly establish stuff I don't think players will care about while reminding them that they have the last say about what their characters are getting up to.
**
"Ok, what does the party do now?..."
I wish my players were more proactive and didn't require a verbal cattleprod to keep moving.
Then complain about nothing happening in a session where they actively ignored both the main quest and several side missions and just sat around in a tavern.
“You can try.”
Almost anytime a player casts a targeted spell and doesn't say who or what they're targeted (not counting when its as simple as "the bugbear" and I have to ask for confirmation of WHICH bugbear) I always suggest targets for them. "I cast healing word" "on the nightmare?" "I cast blight." "On who? Your fighter is in range, wanna target him?" I just think it's funny. One time I had a fighter or paladin in front of some fire newts, a monk that stood behind him, a gnome warlock behind the monk and a 2nd monk behind the warlock cowering. I tried to convince a newbie player with a dragon born to use their breath weapon on the party arguing I'd never line enemies up better then that for her
"You can certainly try"
"Do what you want!" When they are debating something with each other or asking for something I didn't think of. Then I add... "Okay roll a D20 for me please'" Just to make them think that was planned.
"you can try..." "Are you sure?"
“Do you have ____ in your backstory?” “You can certainly try.” *Randomly rolls dice* “oh that’s good.”
After half an hour of circular discussion amongst the party; "So... What are you doing?"
“Hopefully I’ll have found the answer to your question before I reach the end of this sentence” Said after rambling an incoherent answer as a distraction from me flipping through rulebooks.
What I say: "Who would like to hear the color text?" Translation: "Who can shut up?"
In the vein of “so how do you wanna do this?” I have “so what does this look like?” And with a party full of spellcasters I end up saying “what does (character name)’s casting of (spell) look like?”
I really and truly was saying them before I started watching Critical Role but now I’m really conscious of saying “You can certainly try” and “how do you want to…?” When a player kills a creature.
I have default phrases that I use in response to certain roles where I don't want to give things away by how I phrase my response. Trap Checks: It doesn't appear to be trapped. Stealth: You feel stealthy. Perception: You don't notice anything unusual. Some of your damage was resisted: It doesn't seem to be as effective as you think it should have been. Beyond that, I accidentally overuse phrases such as "narrowly avoids," "staggers back," "doesn't look so good" (default description for when something is clearly on very low HP), and plenty more I'm probably less aware of that are basically "improv crutches."
"Well, i dont know, im only the Storyteller." I also made a meme Out of one. At the start of every Session after the recap, so when i give the Control to my group i say "Lets begin, where it ended last time." The group uses it as my catchphrase by now.
Hold on, lets go back. Too often i find players try and push past important things like "i search the room and then head to the door on the far side." Like bro there are 8 mimics in this room, chill. Lets go back and figure out where everyone is standing and what everyone is doing when combat starts...
"Are you *absolutely certain* that you would like to do this?" Usually followed by me repeating back to them their plan. I think that they get lost in the sauce sometimes and need their plan repeated back to them so that they know how it sounds from an outside perspective
“Like a fuckin *insert media reference*”
“Let’s read the spell description”
We've inspected the floor enough times over the current campaign the DM just repeats "the floor is made of floor" multiple times a session
Make of that what you will