As I mentioned in the first and previous DM Lessons post, this 'series' isn't about me teaching you to be a DM. From what I can tell the only way to really learn how to be a DM is to do it. It's more a place for me to talk about the things I've learned.
This week we're going to talk about my favourite phrase, 'But what if they do though?' Its a phase I stole from Puffin Forrest, a youtuber who does the D&Ds. Whenever I'm designing something (anything, not just D&D, at work even) if I find myself deciding that a player wouldn't do something I always ask myself;
"But what if they do though?"
I do this for a number of reasons. the first and foremost is that I've been surprised by my players more ways than I can count. from them finding a secret room I wasn't expecting them to find for another 3 levels to buying a bunch of Taverns and turning the bandit that attacked them for the second time into their bartender.
For the most part their surprises have been fun and inconsequential but there's always that occasional time that it messes me up. So now whenever I design something that has to work one way and I don't want the players to do it another way I have to ask myself;
"But what if they do though?"
And I come up with alternates, and make sure I know the reactions most things would give to other simple situations.
I guess I've written all of the above just to say, over my however many years DMing I have now learned to be prepared, and I know how to improvise, because the players will invariably do something you dont expect.
Cheers
- James
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