Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 230 - DM Tips from the Theater

Episode Date: June 30, 2024

There are similarities between delivering a performance at a theater and running a game whether online or in person.  In this episode I’ll tell you what lessons I learned on and behind the stage that can be applied to your tabletop game.   #pf2e #dnd #dmtips #gmtips   Resources: Episode 187 - Imposter Syndrome - https://taking20.podbean.com/e/ep-187-short-imposter-syndrome/ Episode 26 - Basics of Improv - https://taking20.podbean.com/e/ep-26-basics-of-improv-and-how-it-helps-you-be-a-better-gm-and-player/

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. There is an isolation between backstage and onstage. There are things that we could discuss like light and sound discipline where the backstage is set up to minimize any light or noise that could leak onto the stage and shatter the illusion of the story. The crew backstage staying as inconspicuous as possible so as not to reveal what's going on back there. But this same idea of keeping backstage isolated

should be applied to what you're doing as a GM. Thank you for listening to the Taking 20 podcast, episode 230, giving DMs tips I've learned from performing at a theater. I wanna thank this week's sponsor, Seatbelts. Yeah, I was struggling to come up with a pun involving seatbelts, but then it clicked. We have a coffee, ko-fi.com slash taking 20 podcast.

While we've received some donations this year and thank you to everyone who's donated, we're running behind our pace for paying for this year's expenses. If you enjoy the podcast and are willing to do so, please consider donating to the podcast. Every dollar helps, and again, if you've already donated, thank you so much for doing so. Tabletop RPGs and theater. Now, I'll grant you this is a weird topic, but then again, I did a whole episode about improv skills used while DMing in another episode called lich better have my money

So when is being weird ever stopped me? I Do want to start this episode off with a warning though today? I'm gonna talk about some of the machinations of being a DM behind the screen and some of those can I don't know how else to say it if it sounds so pretentious Shatter the illusion of an RPG, adventure, or narrative. I'm not giving away the entire store of what DMs do behind the screen, but I do discuss some things that your DM may be doing that you just don't know about as a player. So if you're a player and a player only and you have no aspirations of becoming a DM or

GM, you may want wanna consider skipping this episode or just accept the fact that some of the magic, for lack of a better term, of being a player may be lost after you listen to it. Last chance to back out. Okay, when I first had this idea for an episode, I almost abandoned it, but it was stuck in my brain and I just kept thinking about it,

putting layer after layer of shiny pearl-like layers on that piece of sand until I came to the conclusion that there really are a lot of similarities between theater productions and tabletop RPG games. Either I found a ground truth or developed some sort of Stockholm syndrome with the idea and had to do something with it. When everything is going right in the theater, everything in front of the curtain is like a well-oiled machine. The players know their parts, they hit their marks when they're supposed to,

the sound effects and lighting are on, and the audience is treated to a story thanks to the talent of those in front of and behind the curtain, with both being just as important to the success of the production. So let's start with some similar setups between theater and DMing. Theater has a backstage and DMs have behind the screen and backstage and behind the screen should mostly stay hidden.

For those of you who have never done theater and this is the first lesson I can think of that we can learn from it, for everything you see going on during the play, on stage, there are dozens, if not hundreds of things that have to go right backstage for the production to go off without a hitch. The same is true for what goes on behind the screen with activities taken by the DM or DMs being critical to the success of the game going on in front of the screen. The DM prepares the adventure, sets up the maps, prepares the proper order of encounters, makes sure they understand the rules and properties

of creatures and areas, gets their dice ready and anything else they're using while gaming. Lights, sound effects, miniatures, bad jokes, and do their best to keep the adventure and combat flowing smoothly and with the right level of excitement, adjusting as needed, adding and subtracting monsters and hit points and so forth. It's like a theater production where the props and scenery and sets have to be built and ensuring that any mechanical pieces work properly. Lights have to be set up and tested, costumes have to be procured or made and prepared for

the actors to use. Makeup and hair ensure consistent appearance or change in accordance with character changes throughout the performance. There's green room and snacks and safety and so on and so on and so on. But one thing to keep in mind with all of that going on backstage

is that there is an isolation between backstage and onstage. There are things that we could discuss like light and sound discipline where the backstage is set up to minimize any light or noise that could leak onto the stage and shatter the illusion of the story. The crew backstage staying as inconspicuous as possible so as not to reveal what's going on back there. But this same idea of keeping backstage isolated should be applied to what you're doing as a GM. Behind the screen, you may be making up NPCs on the fly, adjusting monster abilities during combat, deciding on which encounter is next and getting it ready.

There are a lot of moving parts to being a DM that, honestly, I usually don't share this work or these machinations with my players. Part of it is I don't want to shatter the illusion of being a DM. I never want my players to know if I ended a combat early because it was dragging on or adjusted the DC of a baddie ability because it was causing too much difficulty for the party or it made the encounter too easy so I had to make it a little more difficult. Ideally everything and I mean everything going on backstage during a theater production should be in support of delivering a good performance. Making sure that the actors have what they need, they know their cues, get in and out of costume on time, the lighting and sound technicians making sure everyone's microphones

are on the right channel and set to the right volume for the actor or actresses' voices and the voice of their character. We in the audience never see all of that work being done, but it's critical to the success of the stage production. Without all that work, the play, when the curtain goes up, simply won't be any good. Similarly, there are a hundred little things that GMs can do behind the screen to ensure good gaming sessions. Do you know what's coming next for the players, the next encounter or two?

Do you know what kind of encounter it is? What creatures are involved? What abilities those creatures have? One of them has the grab ability? Do you know how that works in your game system? Do you have the miniatures or tokens ready? Are there macros you need to trigger within the virtual tabletop? Do you need to set the ambiance with music and sound effects and so forth? The director in a play or the GM in gaming has to worry about every single one of these things happening behind the scenes and in front of it. The good news is, is that in the second similarity between theater and being a DM, your production or your game can

be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. Think about theater productions given, for example, by children all the way up through, say, high school theater. There aren't a ton of special effects, moving pieces of set, complicated lighting effects, or stunt work. The story is told fairly simply with backstage people moving the waves behind the scene if they're in a boat, if they even have something like that. New directors, even in more adult plays, will sometimes keep the production complexity as low as possible to give them and their production a greater chance for success. Similarly, no one is expecting your game to use every single bell and whistle of technology at the table or on your virtual tabletop or VTT.

If you want to use Foundry as a glorified digital map that just shows where the players are, what they can see, and you don't use dynamic lighting or maybe even vision or map scene teleporting, digital die rolling, condition tracking, or any of the other features, that's fine. There is nothing at all wrong with that. I encourage all of my DMs out there when you start using technology or you start using a new feature, start simple. Start with the high school play of gaming sessions. Use what you're comfortable using and when the existing tools you're using start feeling

like an old, soft, broken in pair of blue jeans, then you can possibly start adding those other tools that are available. So based on that similarity, here's another tip. Don't start off trying to be the Orson Wells of DMs. Start simple and use the tools and techniques that you know. As you get more experience, you can add more features if you choose and if you think it makes the game better. A third similarity between theater and tabletop RPGs we've talked about there being action going on on stage and in front of the screen and that action is different backstage or behind the screen. The action of what's being shown to the audience or the players in your game is completely

different than what's going on behind the scenes or behind the screen if you're a DM. Another way to say this is that if your players enjoy a calm, smooth, relaxing game, then do your best to give them that type of game, even if in your mind and behind the screen, you are frantically scrambling like a squirrel on meth to keep everything going. If your players like an exciting and upbeat game, do your best to give them that excitement,

even if everything you're saying has been said and rehearsed by you a dozen times. For example, one of the most common games that I have run over the past couple of years is the Pathfinder 2e Beginner Box which includes the adventure Menace Under Otari. I have run that adventure a dozen times, maybe more, to introduce players to the PF2e system. I know it pretty well, but I make it my job to make sure players never know that I have that game all but memorized. They'll never hear this from me.

At the fisheries you meet Tamalee Tandervale, the proprietor of the warehouse slash entertainment hall and she has a job for you. No! That's not how Jeremy Rolls plays. Roll plays. That's not how I play Rolls. Dammit, there's a joke here somewhere and I just can't find it. Even if it's the third time I've run this adventure this weekend, they are going to get the full pour out my heart into it type of performance. Tamalee Tandaville at your service or should I say you'll be at mine?

I need some brave stout-hearted folk to investigate why me fish and wine keeps going missing. I'd go downstairs and do it myself, but since that accident I had with me leg, I'd try to avoid all the undue excitement. What do you say, I'll toss you a few silver and get to the bottom of the mystery and I'll give you all the fish you can eat in a week to boot. I attacked that character with the same gusto as the first time I ran it. So even if behind the screen I'm calm, maybe even bored, I show the same frenetic energy to the characters that need it. Let's talk about this in theater terms. I was in a play in high school where the cast

was very talented and what I was doing there I still don't know. There were chase scenes on the stage and even some mock combat so to the audience it was a frenetic, crazy and very active performance. Meanwhile, backstage the director had done a great job of preparing everyone so there wasn't a lot of fast movement running around. People were where they needed to be and while there was activity none of it felt desperate or panic frenetic. It was all deliberate and purposeful and well practiced. In an example of the reverse I've been in stage productions where the production is a calm almost actionless play with a lot of quiet moments, soliloquies, and not a lot of frenetic scenes in front of the audience.

Meanwhile, backstage, people are running around like the house is on fire, trying to get the right costume, getting the right people prepared, and making mechanical adjustments to the backdrops and scenes with this quiet, panic-rispering of, the garden backdrop is stuck and we can't get it up there, what the hell are we going to do now? In the gaming version of that, you're roleplaying a scene where the barbarian is talking to the station chief about the damage caused to the filigree district during the fight with the fire elemental. It's a funny little scene with not a lot of action. Meanwhile, one of the key facts you need to relay to the PCs is in your notes document somewhere…

Damn it! I can't find it. Your brain is screaming at you that you're an idiot for losing it. It's the baker who owns flour power in the district with the... Baker had big eyes and a boisterous laugh. What the hell was their name? You're blowing it.

They're going to realize you're a giant fraud as a DM and they're gonna hate you forever. By the way, no, they're not. See episode 187 for my discussion on the concept of imposter syndrome. Behind the screen though you're frantically looking for the information you need, but to the players I do everything I can to shield them from the stress of the moment and show myself as calm. Cool, collected, I got this. By no means am I suggesting you should harm

your mental health, but it's just an example to show that there may be two completely different energy levels behind the screen compared to what's going on in front of it. The third similarity between GMing and stage production is that you must remember what makes a good production great is that both the audience or the players and the actors or backstage personnel, the DM, all have a good time at the end of it. Period. Some people make good money at acting and directing and working on stage production,

but that's a relatively small percentage. Many people doing the work do it because they enjoy it, no matter how much they gripe mid-production. When the curtain comes down, they're smiling, sometimes exhausted, but still smiling. Similarly, yes, there are people who GM for money and treat it like a job, but most of us do it because we love it. We love our friends and we love the game or hopefully a bit of both. Players should be having a good time, the DM should be having a good time, and when the session completes

everyone's glad that they were there even if as a DM you feel a little tired. I don't think I needed to add that fun is the most important thing bit, but it's better to be explicit about fun than have people assume the wrong thing. Don't get me wrong, being a DM can be stressful, but it should be more fun than not. Another similarity between theater and DMing

is that shit is going to go wrong. I've been DMing for about 40 years now and sessions that I had something go wrong overwhelmingly outnumber the ones that went perfectly. It could be something small like you can't find a rule or you have the wrong miniature ready so your Minotaur big bad is represented by a cow chewing its own cud.

The wrong sound file plays or plays at the wrong volume. Your power goes out, taking out your digital map or any of a thousand things that can go wrong in the middle of a session. Or it could be the big shit goes wrong. Players getting into an argument with each other or with the DM. You underestimate the toughness of a monster or overestimate the capability of the party and the party's TPK'd. The player whose PC was going to have a dramatic moment related to their backstory cancels at the last minute. Or you prepped the wrong adventure, been there done that.

Or something happens with the technology that you're using. The other night I was running a group through Abomination Vaults on Foundry. Let me preface by saying I love Foundry for Pathfinder 2E. It has its foibles but it's nice to be able to handle a lot of manual processes with digital automation. They're not paying me to say this, by the way. I'm saying it because it's a tool I use almost every time I DM. Anyway, Foundry updated from version 11 to 12,

not too long ago, and after giving version 12 a little bit of time to bake, I updated Foundry on my server to stable release of 12, and it broke a few of the things that I didn't realize. I couldn't prompt for skill checks easily, had to do so by hand, and even like the ping feature broke. It's not Foundry's fault all that happened, it's mine, because I didn't test those features

before game night. All I could do was apologize as we limped along as best we could during the time we had. This group are a bunch of sweethearts, they're very forgiving when it comes to stuff like this, but I still felt bad. And the more moving parts you add to your game, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. So I'm telling you now, expect it. Chaos is undefeated over a long enough time frame. Wait, wait, sorry, not the alignment chaos. That's not what I meant. It's like just the general

weirdness of shit happening that destroys any order that you've set up. Shelves fall, hard drives fail, that kind of thing. Nothing to do with the forces of chaos versus the forces of law. That's something completely different. But something will go wrong. You just expect it and how you handle it will depend on your personality and your group. Some groups who are familiar with each other will laugh it off, some may make a joke about it, some may decide to take a break until you can get it fixed or find a workaround. But like the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy said, very succinctly, don't panic. I lost all fear of failure when I realized that when it comes to gaming, like the theater,

it's not life or death. It may be something great for your mental health and it may be an enjoyable time, but if something absolutely horrible happens, more than likely no one's going to be injured or lose their life because of it. We're not running medical devices here or pumping air into a submersible. If the attacking goblin miniature is nowhere to be found and has to be represented on the battle map by a young human or a sheep or even a bolt that you found on the floor. It'll be okay.

Promise. Things go very wrong in theater productions all the time. I remember a time when one of the characters decided they would improvise and jump on the table in the middle of the scene. I think we had gotten that table from a thrift store for like 10 bucks, so it was not exactly sturdy and that would be an understatement. It collapsed almost instantaneously and he wound up with a bruised tailbone. All we could do is play it off and continue to play. Same things should happen when you DM and things go wrong. Play it off as best you can, take a break if you need to, fix it or find a

workaround. As a DM you are going to have that breaking table moment where something very unexpectedly goes wrong. Even if you're the type who gets very wound up about mistakes, try to give yourself some grace and forgiveness. No one is expecting you to be perfect and mistakes, if anything, show the other players that you're human. And when it happens, by the way, improvisation can be your friend. And if you could use some tips on that,

please see episode 26. A tabletop RPG game is a lot like a theater in that there's a stage and a backstage and lots of moving parts that have to synchronously work to deliver a fine product. Remember the lessons of theater to make yourself a better DM. Keep your production simple

until you're comfortable with expanding. Remember that what goes on behind the screen should support the game that you're delivering in front of it. Focus on a good time for everyone, but realize something will go wrong. Accept it and forgive yourself when it does. If you do, I'd be willing to bet that you and the players would have fun doing it. Hey, if you have a moment, please like, rate, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you happen to find it. If you have a moment, please like, rate, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you happen to find it. Now, with your forgiveness, I'm going to take a few weeks off this summer and early fall. One here, one there.

I'm not planning on taking more than one off in a row. I do have some trips coming up and I need to set up my class for the fall semester, so rather than rerunning an old episode, I'm just going to announce that week as a break. For example, next week will be a week off for me to celebrate the 4th of July weekend here in the US with family. In two weeks, I'm going to give you some tips preparing a pre-made adventure or campaign. But before I go, I want to thank this week's sponsor, Seatbelts. Once I thought of the first seatbelt joke, a bunch more came flooding in, but I'm only including two this episode. After all, I need to restrain myself. This has been episode 230, all about lessons about DMing that we can learn from the theater. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game.

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