BEHIND THE DM SCREEN 150328 TRANSCRIPTION (from twitch.tv live broadcast) HOW NOT TO BE A BAD DM B1. MAINTAIN CAMPAIGN BALANCE - ENCOUNTER BALANCING. Whether you're playing your own homebrew game, or in this case, a commercial, play tested adventure module bought at a local hobby store, some times there may be a climax to a certain portion of the campaign, in the form of a boss battle. The boss will typically be more challenging than any of the other encounters, in any of the prior sessions, and so logically speaking, should be the pinacle of that portion of the game, thus having more hit dice, more hit points, more abilities, etc, etc, etc. Ok, having said that. Let's back up a second, and preface this with things that are considered before any of this is to occur. If you take a look at a store bought module it will provide you with some basic pre-requisites so that you, the DM, know if it is for you and your group at this point in time, or not. For example, that information will be presented in this format 4-8 characters, levels 18-22 Which basically means that, in order for your group to be able to survive and not feel overwhelmed beyond their abilities, there must be any combination of the following: 8 characters of 18th level, or 4 characters of 22nd level or any combination in between. Characters of levels higher than that, OR characters playing at a level higher than they are currently at, will not feel challanged and basically be bored. Something that we don't want. On the other hand, characters of less level than what is required will, at some point, be destroyed, and rolling up new characters...which we do not want to happen either. Ok, so if they meet the requirements, the combat situations that they engage in, through out the module, will typically fall into these generic categories. - Initial encounters are relatively weak (say, 1/4 of the total levels of the PCs in HD) ... an annoyance - Middle encounters are getting tougher, wearing down the PCs (up to 1/2) bothersome, wandering monsters - Near climatic encounters are equal to the PCs in toughness. ... pay attention - The final, climatic encounters, are a little tougher than the PCs in total....good rolls and strategy required! Which means you add up all the levels of all the characters in the group and then compare that to the total hit dice of all the monsters in the encounter and adjust accordingly. In other words, add or remove monsters to bring up their total combined hit dice to fall into one of the categories just mentioned. When you prep the module and read it thoroughly, pay attention to the encounter HD progression and you will typically find this to be true. On a side note, high level modules don't necessarily mean a constant barrage of high level monsters. I'm reading a high level mod right now that has an encounter made up of only a small handful of ghouls and ghasts, low hit die monsters, as an example. Lastly... B2. POOR ENCOUNTER EXECUTION. Basically, botching the encounter all together. Or put another way, not utilizing the monsters full power, the right way, or using their power the wrong way (too little, too late). The only way to not fall into this trap, is to be sure to read, re-read and read again the monster manual entry for the encounter and pay special attention to their intelligence, alignment and special abilities. If they have no intelligence, or even animal intelligence, conduct them accordingly. They will more than likely have the sole motivation of finding their next meal...or in other words, they will fight to fill their belly....and for no other reason. If their intelligence is high and their alignment is evil, then conduct the monster accordingly, which basically means the gloves come off. These types of encounters will set traps, may have been following or studying the player characters prior to the actual encounter, and they will basically use everything in their power to destroy the group starting with the biggest threat, usually spell casters or fighters, and will most certainly use trickery, dirty pool tactics, and the like. Of course, torture and other forms of nastiness would not be beyond their frame of mind, even after the battle has been won in their favor. Read up on them, if they have magic abilities, they typically can be found in the PHB under the wizard spell section of the same name, that way, you know what they are, and you then plan ahead as to what strategy they may employ (cast this spell first, this spell second, then attack with weapon, attack with claw, claw, bite, then escape or parley if necessary, etc). Some adventure modules will write this out for you, if not, you have to figure that out in advance. Prep, prep, and prep some more. The DM's job is never done. Just dont play all your monsters the same, they're either intelligent or they're not. Conduct them accordingly. Bottom line is this. As DM, don't feel that you have to constantly try to destroy your players with each encounter equalling or exceeding the total party level. Not everything in life is a kill or be killed situation. Sometimes it's nice to just take out a little frustration and clean the floor with something. There are times that players just love to be the next door neighbors pit bull and grab a hold of that favorite toy and shake the stuffings out of it like a rag doll. My buddies brother had been quoted as sitting down at the D&D table and the first words out of his mouth were 'I want to kill something' to put it in perspective. If the monsters were meant to be an annoyance, a foreshadowing of things to come, don't be upset if your players plow through them like a hot knife through butter, let the encounter serve their purpose and move the proceedings along in a timely manner. I would much rather have the group 'over prepare' and use every available asset to their advantage and as a result be 'overly successful', than not. At some point, your players (assuming the module is spec'd right) will find themselves in over their head soon enough, if they are not careful, and, as a result, the module will have given them all the entertainment, and most importantly, the enjoyment that is possible...over all (from beginning to end), and that wonderful sense of accomplishment (good, bad or otherwise). Avoid the pit fall of getting too creative, otherwise you may, directly, and indirectly, ruin the balance of the campaign. Don't do it! Stick to the way it was play tested, and everyone will have fun. After all, that's the whole point, right? Otherwise we could just go to yahoo games and play cards, but we don't, we're all here each week playing the game that we love so much. So, as DM, use your head, and do the best that you can do.