Cheap DM Tricks

Some time ago, Phlox of the blog Whose Measure God Could Not Take posted More Cheap Tricks and put out a call for others to do the same.

After nearly a year, I am writing some of my own to contribute.  

1.  Use rumor tables.  It lets the players roll dice and learn about the game world without needing to sit through boxed text readings or have homework reading assignments.  Incorporate PC activities in the rumor tables.

2.  Use random encounters, being sure to include non-hostile creatures and events. Good tables also help build the world in a fun way. Incorporate PC-made significant beings on it, be it the freed slaves, the recurring wandering monk, or the revenant of someone the PCs killed.  Frankly, I am a fan of Twk-Men (from Dying Earth), as they are another means to make item #1 happen.  Here is a method that informs my random encounter tables.

3.  Let the players roll more dice.  A random encounter comes up, let them roll what it is.  They've hired some Meatshields, so they can roll attacks and damage for them.

4.  Make concrete comparisons using things your players know.  I'm fortunate in that I taught at the school many of my players attended, so I can say 'as big as the gym,' or 'taller than the 3-story' and they can see it in their minds.

5.  Use internet-based images, gifs, and video clips to enhance a game - especially if you're playing online (we use Discord).  Just be smarter than me, and have such things already pulled up, so you don't lose the flow of the game Googling them.  Showing that bit from Highlander when the final quickening happens can be simpler than explaining it - especially to those unfamiliar with the movie.  

6.  Get players to commit to a course of action for the next session - ideally at the end of the current one.  Don't hesitate to remind them of (some of) the many options that they have (probably due to Item #1).  Doing so lets you focus your planning.

7.  Include nonbook magic items, be they from other blogs or your own mind.  Items with quirks are by far more entertaining.

8.  Encourage players to describe items they discover, especially nonconsequential things (books and art objects are fine examples).  Not only does this provide shared world-building, it frees the DM to concentrate on stuff of consequence.  Sometimes, what the players come up with is far and away better than the DM's plan, so then the player's item(s) become stuff of consequence.

9.  Embrace weird in the game, be it due to background music, random die roll, or too much wine.  Things are said, actions happen, laughter reigns, fun is had.

10.  Use treasure maps.  In my case, they tend to lead to the start points of published adventures, like Hole in the Oak, the White Tower, or the Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom.  Regardless of where they lead, maps provide additional hooks, just like Item #1.

Dave Trampier from the AD&D Players Handbook, 1978