Tavern Talks

Adam: Well met once more dear travelers
and welcome back to the heart of

our tales the illustrious tavern
talks podcast I'm adam and with me

as always is the ever ready zach

Zac: Cheers to all the familiar faces
and the newcomers joining our fellowship

in this cozy corner of the multiverse

Adam: Today, our tankards are
raised for a special celebration, a

celebration of beginnings of forging
new paths and the magic that unfolds

in that pivotal first session.

Zac: That's right Imagine stepping
into our virtual tavern where the

air is charged with excitement and
the possibilities Are as vast as

the realms themselves We're here
to delve into the heart of it all

Adam: So pull up a chair, gather
round the table, and let's embark

on a journey through the intricacies
of that inaugural gathering.

Whether you're a dungeon master
eager to set the stage, or an

adventurer ready to step into the
unknown, this is the place to be.

Zac: The echo of the first footsteps in a
new world and the stories yet to be woven

Welcome back to the tavern talks podcast

Adam: Let's discuss why
the first session matters.

Ah, the first session, to
me, just re reimagining,

you know, ten years ago when
I first started this journey

on becoming a dungeon master.

Trying to catch them all like Ash
Ketchum, but I feel like I feel like

that I feel like Ash Ketchum in a
way because he wanted to be a Pokemon

master so bad I wanted to be the
dungeon master and be the best I could

be so I read so much stuff early on

trying

to yeah,

So

So the first session when I first
started and my first ever session,

it just, it went very poorly.

I was nervous.

I even though you had your friends
around and stuff, I was just nervous

'cause I wanted to make sure that
I made a good impression on the.

patrons at the table and made sure
that they had a good time and I spent

a lot of time worrying About how it
went and the more times I've started

campaigns on first sessions now I
have gotten more and more comfortable

with just being flexible There's a lot
that gets thrown at you at the first

session from just from experience.

There's a lot of questions.

There's a lot of rules, especially
if people don't know DND already.

There's a lot of rules
questions that happen.

You may be three hours into the session
and you haven't even made it out of

the tavern yet or wherever you start.

So

you want to establish that.

core foundation of yourself
and of the aspect of the table

when you do your first session.

But you do it in a way where you
are not rigid but you are flexible

in what happens and what comes up.

You have an idea of where you want
the story to go and you have an idea

of how you want it to be presented.

And at the end of the day, you can only
control certain variables in certain

aspects during the first session.

And those are fundamental.

And these are the ones that we're
going to discuss is you're, you

can control the controllables and
the rest is you got to be flexible.

And as a DM, Zach, as you're going
through this journey as a new

DM a lot of them have the idea
of, Oh, it's got to be perfect.

It's got to go well.

Oftentimes, you're gonna stumble, and
you're gonna fall, and you just got to

pick yourself back up and say, it's okay.

Zac: right?

And I think honestly for session one,
being the first session with your party

you have to You Recap the session zero
of it all you have to bring that back

up in your mind You have to remember
what was discussed as both the dm and

the player And what you're going what
you're saying adam If you're a new dm

like my i'm relatively new myself It
does not have to be perfect I know we

all want to Create the next big lord
of the rings if you had to choose one,

it's not just the size story, but in
truth and essence, any good creator

writer DM is going to take their time.

They're going to have the falls, the
hiccups, and everything along the

way that they pick up just through
their players, through themselves,

and just through experience.

Thank you.

And backtracking a little bit, but session
zero is really important to getting a

fresh and head start on session one.

Remember that comfortability with
amongst your party, what they're

going to experience is a big thing.

What your set, what stage
you're setting for them as

Adam: them is the key.

Yeah, Session Zero lays the foundation.

You're letting it dry, and then
you go into your first session.

How strong that foundation is sets the
next pillar of how the campaign starts.

You started out, you're ready to go,
the next step is your opening scene.

And how exciting is every
movie that you've ever watched

in that first opening scene?

Interstellar, for instance.

It just blows your mind.

It just, you can't comprehend, you're
on a farm you get these you get these

TV screens of them talking about farmers
and you're confused, you thought this

was a space movie, but they're talking
about farmers and all and you're very

confused and Christopher Nolan does
a great job at just captivating you,

pulling you in I went into this thinking
it was a space movie, what are they

doing and what are they talking about?

Come to find out.

Those interviews that they do in
the beginning, it makes it seem

like it's real alive to you.

And then at the very end of the movie,
it comes full circle because you see

the same people doing the interviews and
stuff of what they had to go through.

And you're like, it clicks in your mind.

You're like, Oh my God, the first
time I watched that, I was like, Whoa,

It's

just incredible.

And then Zach, I'm sure you have a certain
movies that just captivate opening scenes

Zac: it's i'm gonna use one that's
very near and dear just because of

how In my opinion, how well it's
written as a opening scene and Glorious

Bastards written by Quentin Tarantino
Christoph Waltz as, essentially,

a Jewish Nazi, or he's a Nazi
hunter in essence he's big bad guy.

Correct.

Oh, it's amazing.

And it builds tension amongst major
players in the rest of the movie.

And I think for me, that's
also a valid way to go.

As both players and DMs, we want to
be intrigued and excited, engaged.

But we also want to leave a little
bit of room for the players to react.

Yeah.

And

Adam: react.

was well thought out by me, but
coming from a player's perspective.

I would commend you

Zac: on it for sure.

If we're talking about, are
we talking about session?

Now, I know

Adam: You're You're level 20
characters, yes, but then how

Zac: you got

How we actually got it.

Adam did a really clever way
of where Our session zero was

essentially a prequel to our campaign.

We had level 20 characters and
we set the foundation of what

the actual campaign would be.

Then we created our new
characters starting at level one.

I created Poe and Poe was more so a
Almost Noir type detective drinking

his pain away, one bottle at a time.

And Adam had a really clever way
of introducing Poe into a new

investigation by the Empire itself.

So he received a letter from the Empire
asking him to investigate a small town

called Reinford and our other players.

My wife who's playing a elf rogue
in the game itself was introduced

running away from the Empire.

And hitching a ride on a

caravan.

Yeah, scene

a whole chase scene and skill check.

And Poe was getting a letter.

He was to meet at a specific
carriage at a certain time.

While he was on that carriage,
he met another player named Amax,

who was actually an order member.

Who was.

Essentially a bad guy the way, the
best way to put it she was a paladin.

That was one of our good friends, Maya.

And we went to this town called Rhymeford.

And then my wife was
running away from the law.

She hitched somebody's ticket
or then snuck on a caravan,

I think, to get to Rhymeford.

Happened to be And then Madeline,
one of our good friends she was

actually a denizen of Reinford.

She's grew up there her whole life.

So you had a very natural
way of flowing that story.

Adam: Yeah, It wasn't

forced.

It wasn't, you railroad yourself into an
opening scene, but the chase scene was

one of my favorite ways to get a character
from the city to a far away place.

And it wasn't your traditional,
you meet in the tavern.

Y'all got to the tavern eventually,

Zac: Yeah,

Adam: but

there was a lot of actions beforehand.

Like I had a fight scene to
get you introduced to combat.

All of that was all a part

of my overarching.

Theme of the first opening act of how
this was going to work in that world And

that just goes to show you don't as a
dm You don't have to do the traditional

that you know meet in the city and you
meet in the tavern You can make them you

can greetings adventurers, they wake up
on slabs not knowing their characters on

the flip side you have people that have
started campaigns that are You on the they

are all being imprisoned on a prison ship

getting sent off

or they're on an island somewhere
where they're castaways or you could

do the traditional they meet in the
tavern because of such and such thing.

Tyranny of a Dragon starts you off
with you rolling different scenarios.

different scenarios from a list.

So you roll like a D10 and it tells
you a little history of why you're

meeting in the town of greenest.

And when you meet in the town
of greenest, you have a vendetta

or a background because you're

here.

So,

having those

options out there, and if you're
homebrewing something, you definitely

want an incredible first scene for
some people, and your characters,

and your players, because you want to
captivate them, and you want to discuss

the world and that sets the tone,
and sets the atmosphere of how you

describe it, so in the opening scene,

you want to really

Hone in, almost script alike, you want to
hone in of the descriptions of everything

because that really captivates everybody's

mental idea

of what this place looks like.

Is Renfrewd a rundown town?

Is Renfrewd a shanty shack town?

Is it, is the empire, the city in the
empire, it's like white marble everywhere

because it's the best thing since

sliced bread,

basically.

Basically.

But in D& D, they still
don't have sliced breads.

Just keep that on the down low.

But if you want to invent
sliced bread, you can.

But you got to describe the ambiance
and you got to describe the music.

If there is the smells, you
become the narrator of the story.

So having a script of
what things smell, sound,

Right.

Zac: Right.

and this kind of goes off to the previous
episode of world building You really

have to hone in to what you're going to
create for your players and the reason

this is so important is because You
This is gonna go feed into your player

introductions your character your main

Character introductions and kind of how
we were discussing how you introduced

our party you as the dm want to give that
option and availability to your players

Adam: our party.

You asked the DM to give that option
and availability to your party.

With Lyra Morningstar it becomes
a real life scenario, like she's

running away from the Empire.

And she's all alone.

But the thing is like you as the
characters don't know that but you as

a player is oh my God, I can't believe

I have

to

you

know,

Deal with this later on like
she has a thousand gold of royal

gold

in her bag.

I know this but my
characters don't know it.

So you got to play that off.

So sometimes it's fun.

to introduce your characters separately,
then they all come in at the tavern

one after another, and then you
describe their characters or whatever.

It's fun to set up a little bit of
backstory and a little bit of tension

of where do these people come from?

Why are they here before they
introduce themselves to each other?

Zac: right?

And this gives your players the
opportunity to create a backstory.

As of which should have been introduced
within that session zero, but this is

really their time to shine on expanding
their own personal lore and also building

into the world you have laid out for them.

Piggybacking off of what Adam
said, you do not have to have this

group immediately introduced to
one another right off the bat.

This does not have to be a
Power Rangers Situation where

everybody's mighty morphing five
minutes within the first session.

Adam: Now I want to create a group of

Zac: No, you can't, no, you can't do that.

You've already done the turtle.

We can't

still an IP.

No,

Adam: right here.

It's the best way to do it.

Like you will find out later
on it's certain sessions and

scenarios that they will play out
just like they do from movies.

And

I

will

see if you catch on to the movie
scenes that I described sometimes,

because a couple of them I've already
done that y'all didn't catch on.

And I'm

like,

seriously, guys, we just went

through

this.

Zac: We were talking about the
statues where they came to life.

bit.

Where was that That is

Adam: from Prometheus.

Zac: How?

Adam: well he creates life, you know,

Zac: That is a far fetched Well, look

Adam: fair enough, but there's a couple
of times where I like make andy and what?

Yeah with

anwin And she understands
because she's hip and cool,

Zac: Oh, she's

Adam: But

y'all are like I didn't get that.

I'm like

It was like help

Zac: me

out, Ewan.

You're supposed to.

Not everybody is supposed to agree
with everything and everybody has

Adam: You're supposed to not everybody
supposed to agree with everything and

everybody has their own individual goals.

You as the dungeon master get to
decide which individual goals that

they're going to go off of first, and
then you have your overarching goals.

And if you spend enough time weaving the
stories around their individual goals

will eventually lead into the overarching
goals that you have within the characters.

Perspectives and the characters goals
that they have to accomplish themselves.

Zac: And, this is going to Essentially
enhance the cohesion amongst the

party itself, but with Among that
and within that itself, you have to

manage the expectations of players.

And Adam, you've done this with me
personally, where an idea or part of

a backstory gets a little bit too out
of line where it can't be successful,

successfully integrated within the story.

You as a DM has to have to say, this
is You can say no, it's all right,

But also present Give
them an a b c d e f g.

My point is don't completely
kill their hopes and dreams,

but definitely don't Spoon feed

Adam: Yeah, it's a fine
line that you walk.

Zach has some wild ideas out of it.

And, you talk them off the ledge, you
don't want them to go full deep dive into

some things that you already have planned.

So you look at it as a way is yes, they're
providing they're interacting you want

them to continue to interact because if
you don't get any feedback or anything

like that, then You fault yourself
because you almost railroad them in those

scenarios because the characters are You
know giving you feedback of how they want

their characters to interact in the world
themselves and they've kind of built out

some stuff Find a way to pull from that
story or that episode and try to find

a way to weave that through and you'll
end up Finding out that you'll get more

from it than saying just no altogether.

But at the day, if it doesn't fit with
the scenarios that you have or the

challenges that you're created as a group
and as an individual, you as the DM.

Set the rules you set the tone you can
say no and don't feel bad about it,

but have a good explanation Just don't
tell them no and not why you just it's

not fair to the players at that point

Zac: And Yeah, really emphasizing on
that when you tell a player no like you

were saying explain to them why i'm a new
a relatively new dm Adam when he tells

me hey, this idea is not going to work.

He goes You In detail as to why
and for me what that does it better

explains it fleshes out the story
a little bit more It gives me a

grander idea of what we're dealing
with as a party both as a player and

Also as a future dm and what i'm
going to be doing in the future

campaigns that I have planned it gives
me a little bit more I don't want

to say backbone, but it Integrity.

Got a

little

bit of a back.

No it gives me a little bit of integrity
as a DM because, you, at the end of the

day, there is a game master, a dungeon
master, whatever you want to call it here.

Correct.

Adubious.

But, I think that's NPC.

Oh, Shiitake Mushrooms.

I didn't even think about that.

Adam: Scratch that from the last episode.

His favorite one is a dubious thing.

Zac: That was a quite an
elaborated character, though.

It started out something very

Adam: started out as just a a Basically
a one shot kit from DM's Guild.

Also go to DM's Guild, you can
find a lot of cool things there.

So I found a one shot called Adubius's
Tower, because I needed a spire encounter.

So I

rolled with it, and we gave

Adubius a

Zac: great

voice.

Adubious!

I am Adubious, the

Adam: master

Wizard!

Yeah, and and it, I integrated
a dubious into my story that he

fought along during the Wizard
Wars alongside Poe and all of them.

Zac: That

one shot became a

Adam: a real life

Zac: like event in correct.

So

Adam: again,

this is about the first session
and we're getting back on topic.

It just goes to show you in Dungeons
and Dragons, you're gonna want

to be as flexible as possible.

And that's just what it is.

You just, you gotta be flexible
with it, and if it works in the

world, it kinda works in the world.

And Adubius

Zac: does.

Right and that's one of those
things like The most random NPCs,

encounters, or interactions you have
with both yourself and the party can

lead on to something much greater.

Adam: Yeah,

and even when you introduce
as the group's goals we, we

sit there and you

want to have an overarching goal,
but a lot of times you need to work

on the individual goals before you
create the overarching goals because

they need to be able to be cohesive
and they need to form a unit and

they need to form a family group.

Ties, basically, they feel
like their family as a group,

all of that needs to happen.

And that isn't going to happen
during your overarching goals.

Always.

A lot of times is your individual
goals, investigations or quests that

you have laid out will oftentimes
lead to an overarching goal later on.

So

that

kind

of,

you sit there and look at the
overarching goal of who the BBEG is,

what you want them to do, how they,
how you're going to guide them along.

But.

Early on

in the

first session, I always like to
introduce either a skills challenge

or a encounter just to get them a feel
of what combat is and what kind of

encounters that they expect in the world.

kind of

first introduction to the challenge
at hand really can enhance the

capabilities of the party themselves.

So you don't want to give
them just a single goblin.

Give them, eight goblins and a and
probably a half orc or something

of that.

Yeah.

Hobgoblin.

Something

like

that.

And see

how the players band together and try
to defeat something that they feel like

they can't.

You

want them to feel during these
challenges, Almost defeated at

the beginning because you want
their challenges to be challenges.

You don't want them to
always be a cakewalk.

Every now and then is fine, but
having a challenge really hones in

their skills and gets the players
to know each other's potential.

capabilities as they play out.

If you have a ranger, he's an
AOE kind of person in the back.

He's long range.

He's not going to be up front.

If you have a Paladin or a
Barbarian, you're going to have

somebody

up

front fighting.

If you

have a wizard,

you have an area of effect
person player that ends up

being

a

useful

support character, similar to, your
Warhammers and your And your magic,

and your wow, and smite and all of

that.

Yeah,

that

kind of, you set

that.

Good of a challenge as a first challenge.

As a first combat.

I always try during a first session
to get at least a combat and a skill

challenge in, because these sessions
run about four hours and combat's kind

of

slow.

I'll either leave it for the end or
do it in the be beginning, middle-ish.

I don't ever do it like dead, middle
or towards the back half of it, because

it can be long, it can be arduous

for

people.

But

having those skill challenges
can really enhance a player's

capabilities.

Zac: And, honestly, not only skill
challenges, or even, these first

encounters are something to think about,
but how the party's own interactions

between one another are going to go.

And I understand this, the
skill challenges, the encounters

are meant to start, kickstart
that, light a flame under that.

But even if you weren't, To have a skill
challenge or, a combat encounter within

the first session right off the bat.

The dynamic and dialogue between your
characters and your, or essentially

your players are, it's going to
build its own set of challenges.

I'm trying to think.

Me and my own wife.

If I'm, no, it was A Max,
excuse me, it was Maya.

Our characters were vastly different.

You had more of a lawful, I
would say, good character.

And then, where me, I was
more of a chaotic, neutral,

maybe good type character.

And the dynamic was just
very nerve wracking.

And I'm just saying, your party's going
to really build that amongst themselves.

Really try to build that.

Edge them into the role
play side of things

Adam: Yeah,

Zac: because

Adam: going to have nervous
people in role play.

Yeah,

Zac: And that's fine.

The whole point why we play dnd is
because we've eventually become so

Alienated, outcasted, weird, nerdy,
geeky, whatever you want to call us.

We've become such that we can
finally just be ourselves and

be weird and have fun with this.

And that's what this is
about at the end of the day.

Is to create this sense of inclusion
and just overall, Goodness that we share

amongst each other and having your players
role play and Have these challenges

amongst themselves is a good way to

What's the best word?

Direct them

Adam: Yeah, you don't ever want to
railroad them, but you definitely

want to observe how the table is
going throughout the first session.

And I like to just make notes of
who's participating a little bit

more and who's not and who's more
comfortable in that role and who's not.

And you find out.

Through the first session, the first
couple of ones of what to expect from

your players as a as a atmosphere,
because you observe them in a different

light from who's interacting with who,
who's not interacting with others, how

are they interacting with the NPCs that
you're playing off of, but you as the

DM

set the tone Of

how

to interact because they're looking

to you

to make the funny voices to make,
as a male, try to do a woman's

voice and,

embarrass yourself all the time.

So that's why half of mine sound like

Zac: smokers,

but

Adam: just, this is how it is.

I have a very deep voice and it's hard
for me to do a woman's voice, but I do.

I'm not going to make an
all male dominated world.

That's just not how

that's

Zac: not

Adam: it is.

You gotta play the woman part,
you gotta play the male part,

you

gotta play the tiefling, you gotta play
the dragon, you're the DM, you gotta

understand when you take on as a dungeon
master, you need to, and you're the, you

set the tone you set the characters how

they're

going

to

interact with you.

If you're in character as

the NPC, you're going

to see that they become more in
character because they become comfortable

because you're embarrassing yourself.

They're embarrassing
themselves were equals at that

Zac: point.

Correct.

Your embarrassment is to
the benefit of your players.

Adam: And that kind of goes into

you start observing how they're
interacting, and you start looking at

where you're at in the story on that
first session, and you already described

how they meet, and you did your great
opening scene, and you're in the gist

of it all

you're letting them interact
with each other, you have an, you

always need to have an NPC there.

As you play the NPC to direct and
guide in case there's a lull in the

gameplay itself, that way you can guide
and push them in a certain direction.

So I always suggest having either
two or three NPCs ready to go

to push and guide them on that

first session.

That

kind

of

thing.

It can give you a good idea of
where the pacing goes for the,

for dungeon

mastering.

You always set where you want
to start, where you want to end

on

certain sessions.

Sometimes you get there,
sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you're having such a good
time, you get beyond that and you're

having to make up stuff because
you're not prepped enough further.

And oftentimes, sometimes you
have prepped a little less and

you need to end it on better.

different

cliffhangers

and

you shorten

the episode

and

that's

okay.

If

you do

it

that way, it's just,

you got to be flexible and got
to read the room right of how

they're

interacting.

A lot of times,

a

lot of times we sit at crossroads
of, do I go into the next session?

Certain way or do I want to continue
this current session or is there

going to be a good time to stop?

I always think in my head if there's going
to be a good place to end the session

if we get there early, then we end it.

If we get there a little later,
I let them know out of character.

Being like, we're almost to
the end where I want to be, do

you mind staying a little later

and

we can

end

it

there, or do we have to
cut it off at the end?

It's all about pacing and the balance
between the players and what they give you

versus what the others can give you going
forward as an NPC and as a player itself.

Zac: And this also majorly depends
on your play time with your party.

Something that should be
established within session

zero, if not session one itself.

You need to know how long
you're playing for this.

The reason this is such a key and
critical role, no pun intended

for yourself is because you as
the DM have to set this pacing.

You have to know what you're looking at.

You have to know where
this story is going to end.

And if you're making enough
progress for it to end on a

good or not such a cliffhanging

note.

Adam: cliffhangers.

Zac: cliffhanger.

Yes, you

do.

I make

them

Adam: so mad sometimes.

do.

It's

alright.

And that's fine.

And as

you're reading the room with

where you want to end it, I also,
going back to the, reading players

reactions, you also want to see
how they involve themselves with

each

other,

as

well as

how to encourage themselves to help one

another

and make sure that no player gets
more spotlight than the others.

It's hard.

Sometimes you'll have sessions where
one player says more, does more than

others, and just take note of that.

So the next session isn't
heavy on that one character.

You want

to get

a good picture.

balance, and there's no good way to
get a good balance other than trying

to interject an NPC somewhere and
ask direct questions to the other

characters that aren't getting
involved during conversations.

So just see

how

that, that you can encourage player
involvement and active participation.

Sometimes it's just coming out
of character and being like, Hey

guys, I need more participation
or this isn't going well.

If you have a good group,
they'd understand and then

they'll fix and correct.

But if you don't having
scenarios come in mind.

Having those NPCs there set the tone
for you can help also with the player

involvement if they're not participating
because you can directly ask them

questions directly give them quests
per person and that forces them into

interacting with you as the NPC and the
DM and interact with the rest of them.

Also, you always will
have players themselves.

Push other players During in roleplay
scenarios, and they can also direct

conversations directly to people that
aren't getting involved as much And

that's something to talk to the player
that does well at that a little bit

on the outside out of session I always
suggest that if you want a player to push

another player just ask the player that

does the

pushing a lot, be like, Hey, have you
noticed that so and so isn't involved

as

much?

Can't, can we see if we
can get that changed?

And they're like, yeah, sure
I'll interact with them a little

bit more and then that gets

them

to participate because you'll always
have the quiet kid in the corner Don't

ever forget about the quiet kid in the
corner ever during D& D because they

are

sitting there and they're like listening
more than they are playing, and they

may be having a good time, but also
sometimes they want to play as well.

Make sure that you are balancing
your time with each person.

I just think that's just
important to keep in

Zac: Yeah, we use a prime example
My wife was that quiet player.

I feel like in the beginning, especially
and She's just really flourished and it

Adam: be that they like your wife, they
weren't familiar with D and D and the

rules and they were worried that they
were going to make a mistake and all

of that

Yeah,

and at the same time, you as the DM,
Set the tone you set how you interact

with it But you're not gonna make
fun of them for them making mistakes

Everybody makes mistakes me as a DM
makes mistakes But I was hide behind

DM screen where no one else can see the

mistake

So

you interact with that on the flip
side and you always want to bring a

welcoming environment So mistakes are just
happy little accidents and you move on

and learn

from

them

Going

into that you want

to

Have that participation and have that
player participation amongst peers,

but also as the DM I also like to throw
in a little bit of surprises every now

and then just because it's fun to see
their shock value as well as how they

handle surprises that they don't expect.

So you can have a horde of goblins come
invade a town just randomly because

you can and see how they interact.

You can have a very rude
NPC, go off on them, see

how

they

react.

It's fun

to have those little surprises to make the
unexpected happen because they expect it's

going to go one way when really it's not.

Have the big bad evil guy be
the first person that they meet

and they don't even know it yet.

Those kinds of things
are really fun to me.

As a DM, because you know a lot
more about the world than they

do, and they're just in it.

I like doing that a lot.

Zac: story itself, at the end of
the day we're getting towards the

end of what session one should be is
wrapping up session one and looking

ahead as to what you're going to do.

When it comes to finishing session one we
really want to just make sure that you've.

Gotten every player you can actively
involved as much as they can be

involved and like Adam said earlier,
take notes of who's being more of

a extroverted player role playing.

You extroverts, introverts.

Right, but, and make sure that nobody's
quarterbacking as you like to call it.

Just taking a hundred
percent of the dialogue time.

You want to.

You know give this a fair run for everyone
in terms of the first session, right?

You can't just have one player
do 90 percent of dialogue and

then the other players are just

Adam: You might as well
just do with one person.

Zac: Impossible

But ultimately, you know I'm
going to leave this one to Adam

because he's really good at it.

You want to

Adam: you want

to

Zac: Talk about the cliffhangers you
can leave session one on or the hooks?

Adam: So, potential

cliffhangers.

I leave my players in
suspense more often than not.

It's a little cliche.

I try not to do it every Episode
or session, but I end up doing it

anyways

So it ends up a lot of good first
session episodes in my case was like I

had a murder happen at the end and y'all
couldn't get to it So that gives the

players a chance to want to come back
to the ave to the campaign and be like

Oh, we got to solve this because there
was another murder in town Another cool

way you can do it is you can always send
them on a quest, and right before a big

boss battle that you had planned, you
could do like an ambush style, and then

you say, that's where the episode ends.

And you catch them in suspense
of a goblin ambush or an orc

ambush while they're traveling.

If you end it right before combat, those
are always fun because they're dying to

get into combat if they hadn't already.

or they're just frothing
at the mouth for more.

some more interesting cliffhangers
you could know, you can make

them all roll a perception check
and you can end up just saying,

all right, thank you.

Write the numbers down

and just end it there without saying

anything to them.

And then they can speculate what
the perception check was for,

Those are more fun ones, but ending on a
good note for the first session, I think

ending them in a suspenseful situation
creates them wanting to come back for

more

Zac: Yeah, we're trying to get a hook
line and sinker for your players.

Essentially.

you're wanting to leave them with
something that's going to keep

them interested enough to come back
next session, but also want to do

it on their own time and yearning
for more, like you were saying.

I think that's a big reason.

you do a lot of your cliffhangers
the way it is the way they are.

It's just because

Adam: because it's fun, It's fun
to mess with your players as a DM.

in a

Zac: Okay, that's cruel but

You know in a

sense, it's almost cinematic
in a way, I know a lot of us

play You know, some people use
miniatures and tabletop elements.

Whereas we're more

Adam: theatre of the mind,

Zac: Theater of the mind there you go.

so I think it gives a sense of cinema and
follow through to what D& D is supposed

to be and where it originated from.

Adam: It's supposed to follow a story.

And at the end of an arc or a
session, it should feel complete in

a way, but you are wanting to leave
them little breadcrumbs for more.

You don't want them to end up.

Becoming less enthused by the next
session because, Oh, we were in the

middle of combat when we had to end.

That's not, you never want to
end in the middle of combat.

You never want to end in the middle of
a conversation with something unless

combat is about to happen with the
said party, or you get in an anger

fight with the other players and
you end the session there as well.

it promotes a cohesion, In
the storyline, you don't want

to get bogged down by rules.

You're the

DM.

You, at the end of the day,
the rules are what they

are.

You can decide whether or not to use
them the way they're meant to be, or you

can create on the fly, some fly by rules.

It's just how it goes and
ending the first session.

You can end it whenever you want.

However, we're just trying to help

you

end it on a good note so
your players will come

back and wanting more out of
it for the next time they come

down for the second session.

Zac: Plus, if you end on this kind
of note, you're going back to the

breadcrumb, I guess we'll call
it the bread breadcrumb theory.

you're pretty much Hansel and
grelin your way through the story.

you're allowing yourself to be a better DM
the next time around for your next party.

Or, even as a player's perspective,
it gives you an idea and sense of

direction of what you want to do.

And it also gives you time to
figure out what you're going to

do for the next session as a DM.

Adam: Yeah, you also want to be able
to not just go point A to point B

and then you go back to point A.

You don't want to do that
kind of to your characters.

So when you're planning out.

Your full story for all of it you want
to make sure that you also have a See

that if the players are on a road or
something they do a see it has nothing

related to the storyline overall But
hey, they may find a magical weapon or

they may find an NPC that helps them
later on You don't want to leave them I

think a lot of video games nowadays, it's
a point A to point B back to point A.

There's no more point C that takes them
off a different route to discover other

things that are happening in the world.

Yeah, it's essentially side

quests and you want to make sure
you include them in that when you're

concluding your campaign So when you
finally in the campaign you're in the

first session I always like to take a note
of the players and you know We are out of

session at that point you make it known
you want to make sure that you receive

the feedback from the players themselves.

So I always have a list of five
or six questions that I ask them.

The first one is always, did you have fun?

And they, some of them like, yeah, great.

I can't believe you

left it on that.

And then the next couple
of questions are more of,

Hey, this is

what I want from you.

As a

DM and this is what do you

want from me as a

DM And

then they can get into specific
So this is where accepting

criticism of your weak points as a
DM and not only trying to improve

upon them But to make it better for
everybody else as well because not

only are the players going to improve
throughout the campaign you as a

DM will only get better the more times

you do it

Zac: Yeah, essentially, we've got to,
especially with me being a new DM.

I've got to take constructive
criticism to as much as I possibly can.

I'm pretty much going to be a bullet
sponge of criticisms at that point.

And, we're not going to be perfect DMs.

I don't think even the most
veteran player, Adam included,

is going to be a perfect DM.

Every.

Adam: I gotta work it.

Zac: Exhibit A, but,

Adam: A.

Singing.

Zac: no, we're gonna have our flaws,
but that's the beauty in D& D is that

you get to, Mastercraft storytelling
without being a master at it.

you really get to learn, you get
to have different opinions and

this ongoing communication and open
communication between yourself and

the players, is really just going
to set the stage for the campaign.

it's going to give you a way to go.

how we've talked about
throughout this episode.

Adam: throughout this episode.

Yeah.

They want to

Zac: only comfortability just building the

Adam: Yeah It

builds upon what you receive as
criticism or constructive criticism

or things that you can as a DM
build upon from the players.

Take notes of that if they have questions
about what happened during combat

or what happened during these rules.

This is the time at the end of
the session to explain why you

made the decisions that you did.

But also if you made good notes during
the first session, it will lead you.

Into a direction where you can figure
out where you want future plot points

to be and where you want to plant your
seeds for the overarching Arcs of your

campaign to go your first session gives
you the feel of where you want to go in

the direction But it also gives you the
input you need for the future plot points