how to become your Game Master's favorite player

One of the reasons I love this channel so much is that Ginny is always looking for more creative and engaging ways to present her content. From ads to today's theme of "getting ready for D&D", it makes every episode feel fresh.

Great advice. As a DM I love the players who help to drive the story, whether that's recklessly nursing through a door, callously rejecting the tempting offer of the BBEG, or just talking to each other to ask how they interpreted recent events. The best DM moments are when you can sit back and listen for blocks of time.

DM, "There's a button." Me, "I press the button." Group, "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" Me, "You heard me DM, what happened?"

I have to disagree with you on one point. You putting yourself out here on YouTube in your first video and keeping going day after day is quite fearless and daring.

I get weak in the knees when a player says "how do you spell that?" note takers are so few and far between at my table, I love when players take an active role in my lore and world

Next Ginny video: Progressively becomes a Mr. Rogers episode, welcoming the audience to her house to talk about D&D 😂

That overhead bed shot took commitment.

I’ve gotten a trophy for it! Highly recommend. My group and I do this thing at the end of every year, around Christmas or New Years, called the RPies (pronounced are-peas). Basically we give a bunch of awards to each other like certificates and 3D printed trophies and we all vote at the table so we can reminisce. We do like “Coup d’grace” for best finisher move. “Best Scrollplayer” for the person who has the worst habit of scrolling in their phone but still manages to know what’s going on at the game. “Archivist” for best note taker. “Best moment”, “favorite character”, favorite NPC” are other categories. Yes we have DM trophies too. You should try it!

One of my fav things to see as a DM is when one of my players comes up with a creative new way to solve a problem which completely blows me away. Being in awe of the creativity and incredible skills of your players just can't be beat.

I love the phrasing of these types of videos more than ‘worst things you can do as a player’. just positive vibes make me happier thank you

The camera work and general "get ready with Ginny" b plot was super fun

love the staging of this as prepping for going to the game

Be bold is such a great way to articulate on what I mean when I encourage my table to 'follow the fiction'. I'm gonna share this during my next session 0. ❤

Can absolutely verify on bold. One of the most frustrating games I ever ran featured the players regularly discussing/planning for half a session on what they wanted to do. Everything set to go. next session comes around and suddenly the person (who got the plan they wanted) wants to revisit everything because dear god...there might be some danger involved in assaulting a Dragon's lair to stop it from burninating the country side.

Lmao Ginny always knows how to nail those endings. Love the thought and care you put into not only making this a great advice video, but also a thoughtful narrative element that fits the theme! I’m personally the type that definitely leans into characters that aren’t too far from me (as in they’re usually antisocial in one way or another so I can easily fade into the background, but you inspire me to go outside my comfort zone a bit more often.

I literally DM for the first time next week. I'm so excited! Your videos are a huuuge help.

There's no way you got that perfect eyeliner on the first try. HOW?? But also thank you for the advice, I always feel a bit bad when my all out, acting DM is just not met with same energy...

That opening hit too close to home lol. I recently had a dream (as a DM) that one of my players told me she really loved the city they've been spending time in, that it was so much flavour and a strong atmosphere and is so unique, and that she just immediately came to care about that city. I was so sad when I woke up and realized she never actually said that...

The videography in this video was actually really great, I can tell you put a lot of effort into it! Physically showing you waking up at the start, getting ready throughout the video and ending on you leaving made the video start, end and flow REALLY naturally! Seriously good job!! ❤️

Over-prepping hurts for sure! I've played in two long-running campaigns (over 5 years and one still ongoing), and the DM style can make a huge difference in whether players feel comfortable and encouraged to make those bold decisions. TLDR; Reward the behaviors you want to see, which may mean fudging the rules. If your players know there's a crash mat, they're way more likely to try some cool stunts. In one campaign, there was a lot of room for shenanigans. The story leaned episodic, the climactic battles frequently ended with a rule-of-cool escape montage after the enemy was defeated, and there were a lot of theater kids in the group who were happy to lean into the drama of a decision over the mechanics. And since doing the dumb thing didn't have a real risk of character death (unless the DM explicitly asked in advance), there was more emphasis on emotional stakes. We got to have the scenes of PCs fighting each other in front of an enemy because of personal character revelations, as well as players actually crying real tears over the death of an NPC former comrade. In contrast, my other campaign feels very much like a simulation, with a deep, rich world the DM homebrewed and has been running with various groups for over a decade. There are real consequences to messing up, and several close calls. The result is that we as a party have become paranoid. For example, I spent months working on an entire stringboard to track 14 different factions, 8 mythical figures, 5 locations, and over 40 NPCs and their connections in a desperate attempt to stop an oncoming apocalyptic event, only for us to fail utterly because we had made one mistake: two of the NPCs we'd trusted wound up being double agents, so our entire plan unraveled instantly. Honestly, we were so wrung out at that point that when the big bad finally showed up, the DM tried to convince us it was a winnable fight and we flat out didn't believe him. The big bad won uncontested, and we're dealing with the consequences over a year of real time later. It's still a fabulous game (I wouldn't still play if it wasn't), but it has frustrated both the players and the DM that we now either overprepare or don't bother to try prepping at all when heading into major conflicts. So, if you're a DM and want players to make bolder choices, it may take some flexibility on your part. If you're in a world where PC death is expected and everyone's on board with it, that's great! Make them work for it so victories feel earned! But if your players are set on a long-term path with high stakes, don't be afraid to fudge numbers or change plans if you need to. If you see your players running toward a cliff because they've missed something vital, you can insert a scene to spell it out for them more, giving a chance to course-correct and also drive home the danger that they were close to. It's often the near-misses that feel empowering, rather than smooth sailing or harsh punishments. [end rant 😅]