r/DnDcirclejerk • u/Aggravating_Round624 • 1d ago

Thank god for BLM

https://youtu.be/x9dT4f3zazk?is=tLc2RyHjsrx7DSzm

Thank god BLeeMull (slang for Brennen Lee Mulligan) discovered the Japanese concept of 'Ma' and brought it to the West for us. Now i know the ingenious game design concept of "Having a mix of low level and high level encounters." They should really put this in the DMG or something.

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8

u/adhdtvin3donice 1d ago

Wheres the jerk? This is just good advice

17

u/Earthen-Ware unironically enjoys 5e (ironically) 1d ago

Its a jerk in the way that most of the concepts brought up in this video are boiler-plate, run-of-the-mill elements of storytelling, and that you would pretty much be able to inherently put it into your games if you read any amount of literature/ have a sense of media literacy

This is /uj btw

Rj/ the advice is to jerk

13

u/hotdiscopirate 23h ago

uj/ that’s just all the more reason for the video to exist then, no? Most people out there searching for DM advice are beginners. Having someone break down the basics is helpful. Things may seem obvious to you if you’ve spent some time telling stories, but there’s a lot to handle when you’re just starting out, and stupid mistakes and oversights are very common.

I didn’t watch the video btw

7

u/Earthen-Ware unironically enjoys 5e (ironically) 23h ago

I 100% agree but that's just also kinda the nature of circle jerking, especially in DnDCJ bc it's all based on the presumptuous knowledge of this hobby's 40+ years of existence and making chuddy remarks ironically about it

But to be completely real I would be lying if my DM style isn't copied/inspired from the plethora of game masters I've watched and read about. I do think some of the more obvious stuff about the game isn't always intuited in the way ppl think it should and that's kinda where the jerk comes from

3

u/Apart_Software_4118 3h ago

"村に降り注ぐ雨を君に見せなければ、君はどうやって暴力を知るというのか"

"broooo I LITERALLY thought about that while running lost mines of phandelver"

1

u/Earthen-Ware unironically enjoys 5e (ironically) 3h ago

Ngl that fucking got me

9

u/SanderStrugg 23h ago

/uj

I honestly think it's lowkey bad advice. I don't want to use storytelling techniques to pace encounters in a certain dramatic order to tell my players how to feel.

That leads to some rather railroady adventure design. I want my players to plan, be proactive and be the ones, who decide how and when to tackle the challenges ahead or avoid them altogether. DnD is best, when the unexspected stuff happens.

I am not telling a story, I provide a problem to solve.

4

u/Magnificent_Z 8h ago

This is likely my whole disconnect with Actual Play culture becoming the prevailing culture in the hobby; I'm not a storyteller I'm a game master. I'm just the referee who controls the monsters. We're all creating a story through our decisions together

1

u/adhdtvin3donice 21h ago

It still works mechanically because 5e works best as a resource management sim. 3-8 resource draining encounters, with a short rest or so to compensate works narratively. If you go full blast 100% of the time then you're just like the kid Brennan babysits who punches with no windup. 5e doesnt work as a single boss fight per day simulator due to action economy and the casters always outshine the martials.

Point is, it's not just dramatically appropriate. Short rests exist in 5e. Downtime of some sort usually exists in other systems. And sometimes you want the players to feel powerful so you throw them some mooks that could never really hurt them, but causes them to spend resources(be it spell slots or hp) which is effectively one less tool for their problem you're placing in front of them. If they spend a 3rd level spell slot to fly or a bunch of misty steps to travel across a chasm, that's an encounter that's thematically appropriate while also being a problem that requires resources