Episode 93
How to Dungeon Master When You're Super Busy
Tanner Weyland:
Hello, my name is Tanner Wayland and I, along with my co-host Justin Lewis, are here on How to be a Better DM. How you doing, Justin?
Justin:
I am good. I'm good. How are you, Tenor?
Tanner Weyland:
Oh, doing well, doing well. It's a lovely day outside, you
Justin:
It
Tanner Weyland:
know?
Justin:
is.
Tanner Weyland:
It's great. Here in Utah, it's been winter for 20 years, it feels like. And
Justin:
It really does.
Tanner Weyland:
it's finally clearing up, and we're just gonna get so much flooding, but everyone's happy it's sunny. Ha ha.
Justin:
That's the truth.
Tanner Weyland:
Well, anyway, to get going with this, uh, with this topic today, we'll just hop right in. Um, the topic is how to be a DM when you're just busy, busy as all get out. Like how do you make time for it? Um, first off, Justin, has this ever happened to you where you just feel too busy to even meet or prepare or anything like that?
Justin:
Yeah, yes. I would say most recently it's been that I felt too busy that I wanted a break and I didn't want to actually have my players come over and have the game. I just kind of wanted a break. But I like what you said there, having to make time for it. Because I feel like DMing when busy, the art to DMing when you're busy, that you can do it and one of those is just making more time for it. You know, simple enough, you make it a bigger priority in your life, you get rid of other things. The unfortunate aspect with that is that it's a game. Like it's a hobby,
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah.
Justin:
you know. So if you are attempting to push out family matters or work or you know, religious obligations or social obligations, I don't know, I would maybe reconsider and try some of our other methods we'll talk about rather than stop working.
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah. No. Yeah. I totally hear you because if there was something on the chopping block, I think for a lot of people, it would be, you know, running dungeons and dragons, frankly. And, and,
Justin:
Yeah.
Tanner Weyland:
you know, I think just as an initial disclaimer on this episode, if you feel overburdened by your DMing, like you are absolutely entitled to stop, you know, to take a break, a longer term break. the kind of person who's like, Hey, I think I can if I could keep it going. And I really like it. If I change some things, that's kind of what this is for. Um, now like, I'll be honest, like there have been times like, uh, in the same campaign, I had to both, uh, at one point stop it, but then before then, uh, when I was in school, I had to learn how to deal with it during the school year versus summer, right? this was when I was in college and And you know, I think that it was actually an enlightening experience And I think this is what you'll learn too Is that you know, we all wish we had plenty of time to prepare for our sessions We all wish we could do like three four-hour sessions every week, you know but the fact is you know, sometimes you don't and it makes you actually kind of fall back on what's the core of Right? Like for me, and this was kind of my first tip, I guess, we were doing pretty long sessions. We were doing like three, sometimes four hour sessions. And my wife was just like, hey, Dan, you got a lot of other stuff you're trying to do. And then you always, she pointed out that I often complained about being short on time. And
Justin:
Hehe.
Tanner Weyland:
she's like, maybe don't do it as long. And initially I was like, oh, but what will they think? these stupid reasonings in my mind. But then I just did it. I was like, you know what, fine. We'll just plan for like an hour and a half. And then, you know, it usually ended up being like two hours sessions. But even that little change meant that I didn't have to prepare as much. It meant that I had more time. It also meant that the sessions felt punchier. And I really appreciated that change.
Justin:
Yeah, I would say with doing something like that, it definitely is like a good challenge for yourself because everyone wants to make every session impactful and fun and memorable.
Tanner Weyland:
Mm-hmm.
Justin:
And when you only have an hour and a half, you start to think of, okay, well, what is like most important? You know, like we can't
Tanner Weyland:
Mm-hmm.
Justin:
deal with the fluff, you know, and you probably could, So I really like that And you know what like Tanner said if you ever have problems with being super busy Talk to your players see if they can help out or give advice or just make changes like they did in Tanner's case You know communicate communication is very important right Tanner
Tanner Weyland:
Oh, you know what? I couldn't have said it better myself, Justin. Um, yeah, honestly, communication is huge because if you're feeling overwhelmed, then the worst thing you can do is keep that bottled up. Uh, so talk to, you know, in the case you will do have a significant other, like I can say that probably one of the reasons you feel so busy is because you have obligations there and that's not bad, you know, that's part of being in a relationship. Uh, but if you just hold it in, then there's going to be that tension. So talk about it, be like, hey, Deming's really important to me, but you're even more important to me. How can we make this both work? You know, and then once you discuss that, then talk with your players and be like, hey, here's some thoughts I had. Uh, have you guys had any thoughts? You know, maybe they'll be down to be like, Hey, yeah, we can, we can do once a month or,
Justin:
Mm-hmm.
Tanner Weyland:
you know, every two weeks instead of every week or something. Right. Um, I think people are
Justin:
I feel
Tanner Weyland:
more understanding.
Justin:
like, yeah, I
Tanner Weyland:
Go
Justin:
was just
Tanner Weyland:
ahead.
Justin:
gonna add, I feel like that is just good life advice in general. Over the last few weeks, I myself have been incredibly busy with Monsters.Rent, which if you guys haven't heard, that's our new company and Tanner's actually a part of it now.
Tanner Weyland:
I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.
Justin:
But I've been super busy with that myself. So my wife has had conversations with me of like, well, something's gotta give and doing exactly what Tanner said saying here are some of my priorities, what are your priorities, and then how can we make both of these work together and you have to have an open mind. You know, like Tanner said, your DMing might have to go from once a week to once a month. And again, it's a simple fact of the matter that most of us, it's not our money making stream. Like, it doesn't make us money. So we can't always justify sacrificing other things for it. should but
Tanner Weyland:
Mm.
Justin:
I think you do definitely need to keep an open mind with what you might need to give up.
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah, absolutely. And so I think with communication, with the willingness to be flexible, uh, there's also, uh, this is maybe a simple tip. Some of you are very creative and you write all of your campaigns and all of your sessions and that's wonderful. Uh, I would argue that, that you could benefit though, during a very busy part of your life, um, you could benefit to switch to a pre-written material. that the others have done, whether that's free or you purchase it or whatever else. Um, that can help save you a lot of time in prep work because I mean, I think you'd agree, Justin, like the actual session, like the time you spend in the session, that's not all the time you're spending. You're spending like you're spending hours beforehand, like preparing for every little possibility, right? Uh, it's like, oh, if they're in a town, suddenly you have to do a bunch of prep they could have. And if you have to come up with all of that, that's all time you're spending. Unless you're getting a pre-written adventure. It doesn't save as much time as you'd like, because the fact is I've done a lot of pre-written adventures where you just you're very interested in the world and you're like oh I got to remember what happens here. But it does streamline the process and it takes a couple steps out. So I would suggest that honestly.
Justin:
Yeah. And to that point, there's nothing wrong with inserting this or that encounter from your favorite, uh, D and D DM, YouTuber or podcaster or whatever. Um, I know that, you know, I'm, I'm a fan of the high rollers in the UK with their Eros campaign. I really liked that campaign. And, you know, I used to watch that while working because my job, it just me to basically listen to podcasts or watch YouTube videos basically all day while working. So I'd watch that. And thinking back, if I really needed to, I could insert a few of the minor story arcs into my campaign. You know, adding in twists and flavors here and there. And that might save some time in the prep. And this one might be a little bit controversial, but pull back on the stats and the rolling. You know
Tanner Weyland:
Mm.
Justin:
D&D, I've said before at its core, it is just a story with agreed rules and a system for how you interact, right?
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah.
Justin:
And if you need to, without your player's permission even, you can kind of dial back how many times you use the dice to interactions. You know, I'm not saying get rid of it all the way unless you want to, but really, you know, if you're having trouble coming up with this next session, don't prepare any combat encounters and make it a much quicker roll of the dice, you know, when it does happen. Obviously, if it's a big bad, you have to play it out, but if it's like, you know, a street urchin comes and fights you or something, I don't know, just one or two rolls and that should be fine. That way, fudge those numbers on the spot. And this method I think really works well, like Tanner said, in city environments where if they don't spend a ton of time in this one encounter with these street thugs, it's fine because there's thousands of other things to do in the city. And they probably have other things that they want to do as well. Uh, the only thing I'd, the only cautionary thing I'd add is make sure that you focus on the story when you do this. very plain and very boring like if you're not giving everything you can to the to the segments of role-playing and Actually kind of getting into character your players will start to realize like hey, we didn't really do much this session, you know
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah, and I think that that idea has at the core of its flexibility, right? It's, uh, it's being flexible with like, Hey, what, what is core to the thing? And having big old battles with a bunch of stat blocks. Uh, that's, I mean, sometimes that's fun, but like other times it's like the players just want to feel, you know, the concept of their players moving around the map, hitting, they don't, they don't need anything too complicated, right? And I was thinking about being flexible with your DMing style. I think that roles and map prep, all of that can be not fudged, but kind of loosened up a little, you know? Like with your roles, maybe you aren't being so harsh on like, oh, let me look up online. What's the challenge level to cross a wall in the winter? know, you don't have to be as like strict on that. Um, you can be like, Oh, it's a, it's a 15, you know, roll that and, and just be more flexible that way. Uh, further, I was thinking about it a lot of times in my DM prep and this, this took time, especially if you're using like an online, like a roll 20 and you have to find maps, you have to have, find a character's tokens. Uh, sometimes that takes time because you're like, Oh man, this idea for this enemy but I can't find the exact token and then you spend an hour you know stressing over this one thing because you want it to feel realistic you don't have to do that like if you're stressing about it guess what you could find a little token of Barney or the Teletubbies
Justin:
Hehehehehehehehe
Tanner Weyland:
and plop that in and your players would get a kick out of it and
Justin:
Yeah.
Tanner Weyland:
it would save you an hour of stress obviously spend the time because I'm sure enemies, you're going to be able to find an easy token, you know, without too much effort. But if it's taking you too much time, just find the parts, the sticking areas in your prep and just be like, Hey, do I need to go as hard as I am here? Or can I, can I loosen up, you know?
Justin:
Yeah, and actually to that point I'd like to cite two examples of guests we've had on our show who have hosted one shots for us and they did it completely theater of the mind because that's what they do. That's what they love
Tanner Weyland:
Yep.
Justin:
and gauging the players experiences they enjoyed it, you know, if you remember Bone Daddy Rob and Thorn from This Dungeon is Occupied of the mind. And
Tanner Weyland:
Mm-hmm.
Justin:
that's a quick way if you're stressed out and busy as a DM. That's a quick way to shave off a bunch of prep time because you don't have to worry about getting minis, you don't have to worry about getting maps. I mean you can for reference but it might even be
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah.
Justin:
easier to just kind of create it as you go along. And I think that naturally lends and things like that just because it has to fit what everyone can imagine.
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah, and that's honestly a theater of the mind. That's a great way to, I think your players, it might take a little bit of getting used to, but if you just still provide some key descriptions, then people can get into that, right? And you're still gonna have roles, you're still gonna have a lot going on, and your players are still spending time together. That's key, right? Otherwise, I mean, so I was thinking about, one more tip. I was just... oh go ahead please.
Justin:
Well, I was gonna say, while you're thinking about that, there's a couple things I'd like to share. A couple tools that I would recommend. So I know you mentioned dungeon map preparation. As
Tanner Weyland:
Yes.
Justin:
always, we'd recommend Dungeon Alchemist. They're a great, great company. I love using them. But
Tanner Weyland:
Mm-hmm.
Justin:
also, you know, most of the time when I need a map and I'm in a hurry, I just type in, on Google, I say city sewer dungeon map, right? that comes up and there's tons of results on Pinterest and then I pick the one I want, copy and paste it into the doc I'm using and I'm good to go. And then usually from there I'll take it to Canva and label each room and then write a description for each room but that might be overkill. If you're in a bind, even in the moment, someone goes somewhere you could just type in on Google you know, Windmill Map D&D and something will pop up just as long as it's not a commercial you're okay to use it and you know that's that's a nice and easy dungeon or map that you can use usually when I when I do that I populate the rooms based on what the image the map looks like so if if it looks like there's a fire in there that'll usually spark in my mind oh for some reason there's a goblin camp down in the sewers for I don't know I don't know why it doesn't matter but they're there um that's one tool there's also a couple tools that you can get on your phone for one uh toolkit it's on iPhone and it allows
Tanner Weyland:
Mm-hmm.
Justin:
you to randomly generate all sorts of things including NPCs, cities, even quests so like you know stuff you find on a quest board, traps, dungeons, monsters, enemies, magic items, treasure. The one thing I don't like about this app is that it does not tell you how much the magic items are worth because I'll often use that when my players go into a store And that gets me in trouble because I don't know the street value of, I don't know, wand of spell storing. I, you
Tanner Weyland:
Mm-hmm.
Justin:
know, and my players have gotten wealthy because of it. But
Tanner Weyland:
Hahaha
Justin:
this tool is very useful because even in prep, I can quickly create names and not have to spend the time thinking about it and just move on.
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah, I love that. Honestly, if you find labor saving tools and prep, like you're gonna be happy. It's gonna make, and here's the thing. You should honestly, even if you don't feel busy, you should take some of these tips because it'll save you time and that'll help you make a better campaign period, right? Did
Justin:
So
Tanner Weyland:
you have something else,
Justin:
this might,
Tanner Weyland:
Justin?
Justin:
yes,
Tanner Weyland:
Oh, go
Justin:
this
Tanner Weyland:
ahead.
Justin:
might be a topic for a future one, a future episode, but I think we should breach the idea of chat GPT for dungeon prep.
Tanner Weyland:
Yes.
Justin:
I think you might be able to create some pretty awesome things with chat GPT, and a lot of people might be thinking, oh, that's not the spirit of the thing, but let's talk about that another day.
Tanner Weyland:
Yeah, yeah, it's worth talking about because if one of your issues is coming up with general story arcs or a description of an area and you're just stressed out of your gourd, why not get some help? It's not always perfect and we'll talk about that later, but yeah, I'm interested in that topic.
Justin:
for sure.
Tanner Weyland:
Last thing for me before we end here, how do you keep up the excitement when you're I was thinking about it and I was like, you know what, even though all of these things Are like, oh, let's save time and everything You know, sometimes if you're spending a long time like a long period of time multiple months like a year In this kind of like oh i'm really busy. I gotta make time for dm for dm-ing It's very easy to let the excitement uh, just kind of Peter out I guess is a good word for it like how do you keep that up? You know How do you make it so that there's still that excitement? constantly pressured.
Justin:
Yeah, well one thing I'll say is, that's how everything in life is. You're gonna have ups and downs, and for me, I constantly remind myself that what I feel has no impact on what I actually choose to do....
Transcript
Hello, my name is Tanner Wayland and I, along with my co-host Justin Lewis,
[Tanner Weyland]:are here on How to be a Better DM. How you doing, Justin?
[Justin]:I am good. I'm good. How are you, Tenor?
[Tanner Weyland]:Oh, doing well, doing well. It's a lovely day outside, you
[Justin]:It
[Tanner Weyland]:know?
[Justin]:is.
[Tanner Weyland]:It's great. Here in Utah, it's been winter for 20 years, it feels like.
[Tanner Weyland]:And
[Justin]:It really does.
[Tanner Weyland]:it's finally clearing up, and we're just gonna get so much flooding,
[Tanner Weyland]:but everyone's happy it's sunny. Ha ha.
[Justin]:That's the truth.
[Tanner Weyland]:Well, anyway, to get going with this, uh, with this topic today, we'll
[Tanner Weyland]:just hop right in. Um, the topic is how to be a DM when you're just busy,
[Tanner Weyland]:busy as all get out. Like how do you make time for it? Um, first off,
[Tanner Weyland]:Justin, has this ever happened to you where you just feel too busy to even
[Tanner Weyland]:meet or prepare or anything like that?
[Justin]:Yeah, yes. I would say most recently it's been that I felt too busy that I wanted
[Justin]:a break and I didn't want to actually have my players come over and have the game.
[Justin]:I just kind of wanted a break. But I like what you said there, having to make
[Justin]:time for it. Because I feel like DMing when busy, the art to DMing when you're busy,
[Justin]:that you can do it and one of those is just making more time for it. You know,
[Justin]:simple enough, you make it a bigger priority in your life, you get rid of other
[Justin]:things. The unfortunate aspect with that is that it's a game. Like it's a hobby,
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah.
[Justin]:you know. So if you are attempting to push out family matters or work or you know,
[Justin]:religious obligations or social obligations, I don't know, I would maybe reconsider and
[Justin]:try some of our other methods we'll talk about rather than stop working.
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah. No. Yeah. I totally hear you because if there was something on
[Tanner Weyland]:the chopping block, I think for a lot of people, it would be, you know,
[Tanner Weyland]:running dungeons and dragons, frankly. And, and,
[Justin]:Yeah.
[Tanner Weyland]:you know, I think just as an initial disclaimer on this episode, if you
[Tanner Weyland]:feel overburdened by your DMing, like you are absolutely entitled to
[Tanner Weyland]:stop, you know, to take a break, a longer term break. the kind of person
[Tanner Weyland]:who's like, Hey, I think I can if I could keep it going. And I really
[Tanner Weyland]:like it. If I change some things, that's kind of what this is for. Um,
[Tanner Weyland]:now like, I'll be honest, like there have been times like, uh, in the
[Tanner Weyland]:same campaign, I had to both, uh, at one point stop it, but then before then,
[Tanner Weyland]:uh, when I was in school, I had to learn how to deal with it during the
[Tanner Weyland]:school year versus summer, right? this was when I was in college and And
[Tanner Weyland]:you know, I think that it was actually an enlightening experience And
[Tanner Weyland]:I think this is what you'll learn too Is that you know, we all wish we
[Tanner Weyland]:had plenty of time to prepare for our sessions We all wish we could do like
[Tanner Weyland]:three four-hour sessions every week, you know but the fact is you know, sometimes
[Tanner Weyland]:you don't and it makes you actually kind of fall back on what's the core
[Tanner Weyland]:of Right? Like for me, and this was kind of my first tip, I guess, we
[Tanner Weyland]:were doing pretty long sessions. We were doing like three, sometimes four hour
[Tanner Weyland]:sessions. And my wife was just like, hey, Dan, you got a lot of other
[Tanner Weyland]:stuff you're trying to do. And then you always, she pointed out that I
[Tanner Weyland]:often complained about being short on time. And
[Justin]:Hehe.
[Tanner Weyland]:she's like, maybe don't do it as long. And initially I was like, oh, but
[Tanner Weyland]:what will they think? these stupid reasonings in my mind. But then I just
[Tanner Weyland]:did it. I was like, you know what, fine. We'll just plan for like an hour
[Tanner Weyland]:and a half. And then, you know, it usually ended up being like two hours
[Tanner Weyland]:sessions. But even that little change meant that I didn't have to prepare
[Tanner Weyland]:as much. It meant that I had more time. It also meant that the sessions
[Tanner Weyland]:felt punchier. And I really appreciated that change.
[Justin]:Yeah, I would say with doing something like that, it definitely is like a good challenge
[Justin]:for yourself because everyone wants to make every session impactful and fun and
[Justin]:memorable.
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm-hmm.
[Justin]:And when you only have an hour and a half, you start to think of, okay, well,
[Justin]:what is like most important? You know, like we can't
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm-hmm.
[Justin]:deal with the fluff, you know, and you probably could,
[Justin]:So I really like that And you know what like Tanner said if you ever have problems
[Justin]:with being super busy Talk to your players see if they can help out or give advice
[Justin]:or just make changes like they did in Tanner's case You know communicate communication
[Justin]:is very important right Tanner
[Tanner Weyland]:Oh, you know what? I couldn't have said it better myself, Justin. Um, yeah,
[Tanner Weyland]:honestly, communication is huge because if you're feeling overwhelmed,
[Tanner Weyland]:then the worst thing you can do is keep that bottled up. Uh, so talk to,
[Tanner Weyland]:you know, in the case you will do have a significant other, like I can
[Tanner Weyland]:say that probably one of the reasons you feel so busy is because you have
[Tanner Weyland]:obligations there and that's not bad, you know, that's part of being in
[Tanner Weyland]:a relationship. Uh, but if you just hold it in, then there's going to
[Tanner Weyland]:be that tension. So talk about it, be like, hey, Deming's really important
[Tanner Weyland]:to me, but you're even more important to me. How can we make this both
[Tanner Weyland]:work? You know, and then once you discuss that, then talk with your players
[Tanner Weyland]:and be like, hey, here's some thoughts I had. Uh, have you guys had any thoughts?
[Tanner Weyland]:You know, maybe they'll be down to be like, Hey, yeah, we can, we can
[Tanner Weyland]:do once a month or,
[Justin]:Mm-hmm.
[Tanner Weyland]:you know, every two weeks instead of every week or something. Right.
[Tanner Weyland]:Um, I think people are
[Justin]:I feel
[Tanner Weyland]:more understanding.
[Justin]:like, yeah, I
[Tanner Weyland]:Go
[Justin]:was just
[Tanner Weyland]:ahead.
[Justin]:gonna add, I feel like that is just good life advice in general. Over the last
[Justin]:few weeks, I myself have been incredibly busy with Monsters.Rent, which if you guys
[Justin]:haven't heard, that's our new company and Tanner's actually a part of it now.
[Tanner Weyland]:I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.
[Justin]:But I've been super busy with that myself. So my wife has had conversations with
[Justin]:me of like, well, something's gotta give and doing exactly what Tanner said saying
[Justin]:here are some of my priorities, what are your priorities, and then how can we make
[Justin]:both of these work together and you have to have an open mind. You know, like Tanner
[Justin]:said, your DMing might have to go from once a week to once a month. And again,
[Justin]:it's a simple fact of the matter that most of us, it's not our money making stream.
[Justin]:Like, it doesn't make us money. So we can't always justify sacrificing other things
[Justin]:for it. should but
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm.
[Justin]:I think you do definitely need to keep an open mind with what you might need
[Justin]:to give up.
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah, absolutely. And so I think with communication, with the willingness
[Tanner Weyland]:to be flexible, uh, there's also, uh, this is maybe a simple tip. Some
[Tanner Weyland]:of you are very creative and you write all of your campaigns and all of
[Tanner Weyland]:your sessions and that's wonderful. Uh, I would argue that, that you could benefit
[Tanner Weyland]:though, during a very busy part of your life, um, you could benefit to
[Tanner Weyland]:switch to a pre-written material. that the others have done, whether that's free
[Tanner Weyland]:or you purchase it or whatever else. Um, that can help save you a lot of time
[Tanner Weyland]:in prep work because I mean, I think you'd agree, Justin, like the actual
[Tanner Weyland]:session, like the time you spend in the session, that's not all the time
[Tanner Weyland]:you're spending. You're spending like you're spending hours beforehand, like
[Tanner Weyland]:preparing for every little possibility, right? Uh, it's like, oh, if they're
[Tanner Weyland]:in a town, suddenly you have to do a bunch of prep they could have. And
[Tanner Weyland]:if you have to come up with all of that, that's all time you're spending.
[Tanner Weyland]:Unless you're getting a pre-written adventure. It doesn't save as much time as
[Tanner Weyland]:you'd like, because the fact is I've done a lot of pre-written adventures
[Tanner Weyland]:where you just you're very interested in the world and you're like oh
[Tanner Weyland]:I got to remember what happens here. But it does streamline the process and
[Tanner Weyland]:it takes a couple steps out. So I would suggest that honestly.
[Justin]:Yeah. And to that point, there's nothing wrong with inserting this or that encounter
[Justin]:from your favorite, uh, D and D DM, YouTuber or podcaster or whatever. Um, I know
[Justin]:that, you know, I'm, I'm a fan of the high rollers in the UK with their Eros
[Justin]:campaign. I really liked that campaign. And, you know, I used to watch that while working
[Justin]:because my job, it just me to basically listen to podcasts or watch YouTube videos
[Justin]:basically all day while working. So I'd watch that. And thinking back, if I really
[Justin]:needed to, I could insert a few of the minor story arcs into my campaign. You
[Justin]:know, adding in twists and flavors here and there. And that might save some time
[Justin]:in the prep.
[Justin]:And this one might be a little bit controversial, but pull back on the stats and
[Justin]:the rolling. You know
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm.
[Justin]:D&D, I've said before at its core, it is just a story with agreed rules and a
[Justin]:system for how you interact, right?
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah.
[Justin]:And if you need to, without your player's permission even, you can kind of dial back
[Justin]:how many times you use the dice to interactions. You know, I'm not saying get
[Justin]:rid of it all the way unless you want to, but really, you know, if you're having
[Justin]:trouble coming up with this next session, don't prepare any combat encounters and make
[Justin]:it a much quicker roll of the dice, you know, when it does happen. Obviously, if
[Justin]:it's a big bad, you have to play it out, but if it's like, you know, a street urchin
[Justin]:comes and fights you or something, I don't know, just one or two rolls and that
[Justin]:should be fine. That way, fudge those numbers on the spot. And this method I think
[Justin]:really works well, like Tanner said, in city environments where if they don't spend
[Justin]:a ton of time in this one encounter with these street thugs, it's fine because
[Justin]:there's thousands of other things to do in the city. And they probably have other
[Justin]:things that they want to do as well. Uh, the only thing I'd, the only cautionary
[Justin]:thing I'd add is make sure that you focus on the story when you do this. very plain
[Justin]:and very boring like if you're not giving everything you can to the to the segments
[Justin]:of role-playing and Actually kind of getting into character your players will
[Justin]:start to realize like hey, we didn't really do much this session, you know
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah, and I think that that idea has at the core of its flexibility, right?
[Tanner Weyland]:It's, uh, it's being flexible with like, Hey, what, what is core to the thing?
[Tanner Weyland]:And having big old battles with a bunch of stat blocks. Uh, that's, I
[Tanner Weyland]:mean, sometimes that's fun, but like other times it's like the players
[Tanner Weyland]:just want to feel, you know, the concept of their players moving around
[Tanner Weyland]:the map, hitting, they don't, they don't need anything too complicated, right?
[Tanner Weyland]:And I was thinking about being flexible with your DMing style. I think that
[Tanner Weyland]:roles and map prep, all of that can be not fudged, but kind of loosened
[Tanner Weyland]:up a little, you know? Like with your roles, maybe you aren't being so
[Tanner Weyland]:harsh on like, oh, let me look up online. What's the challenge level
[Tanner Weyland]:to cross a wall in the winter? know, you don't have to be as like strict on
[Tanner Weyland]:that. Um, you can be like, Oh, it's a, it's a 15, you know, roll that
[Tanner Weyland]:and, and just be more flexible that way. Uh, further, I was thinking about
[Tanner Weyland]:it a lot of times in my DM prep and this, this took time, especially if
[Tanner Weyland]:you're using like an online, like a roll 20 and you have to find maps, you
[Tanner Weyland]:have to have, find a character's tokens. Uh, sometimes that takes time because
[Tanner Weyland]:you're like, Oh man, this idea for this enemy but I can't find the exact
[Tanner Weyland]:token and then you spend an hour you know stressing over this one thing
[Tanner Weyland]:because you want it to feel realistic you don't have to do that like if
[Tanner Weyland]:you're stressing about it guess what you could find a little token of
[Tanner Weyland]:Barney or the Teletubbies
[Justin]:Hehehehehehehehe
[Tanner Weyland]:and plop that in and your players would get a kick out of it and
[Justin]:Yeah.
[Tanner Weyland]:it would save you an hour of stress obviously spend the time because
[Tanner Weyland]:I'm sure enemies, you're going to be able to find an easy token, you know,
[Tanner Weyland]:without too much effort. But if it's taking you too much time, just find
[Tanner Weyland]:the parts, the sticking areas in your prep and just be like, Hey, do I need
[Tanner Weyland]:to go as hard as I am here? Or can I, can I loosen up, you know?
[Justin]:Yeah, and actually to that point I'd like to cite two examples of guests we've had
[Justin]:on our show who have hosted one shots for us and they did it completely theater of
[Justin]:the mind because that's what they do. That's what they love
[Tanner Weyland]:Yep.
[Justin]:and gauging the players experiences they enjoyed it, you know, if you remember
[Justin]:Bone Daddy Rob and Thorn from This Dungeon is Occupied of the mind. And
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm-hmm.
[Justin]:that's a quick way if you're stressed out and busy as a DM. That's a quick way to
[Justin]:shave off a bunch of prep time because you don't have to worry about getting minis,
[Justin]:you don't have to worry about getting maps. I mean you can for reference but it might
[Justin]:even be
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah.
[Justin]:easier to just kind of create it as you go along. And I think that naturally lends
[Justin]:and things like that just because it has to fit what everyone can imagine.
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah, and that's honestly a theater of the mind. That's a great way to,
[Tanner Weyland]:I think your players, it might take a little bit of getting used to, but if
[Tanner Weyland]:you just still provide some key descriptions, then people can get into
[Tanner Weyland]:that, right? And you're still gonna have roles, you're still gonna have a
[Tanner Weyland]:lot going on, and your players are still spending time together. That's key,
[Tanner Weyland]:right? Otherwise, I mean, so I was thinking about, one more tip. I was
[Tanner Weyland]:just... oh go ahead please.
[Justin]:Well, I was gonna say, while you're thinking about that, there's a couple things
[Justin]:I'd like to share. A couple tools that I would recommend. So I know you mentioned
[Justin]:dungeon map preparation. As
[Tanner Weyland]:Yes.
[Justin]:always, we'd recommend Dungeon Alchemist. They're a great, great company. I love using
[Justin]:them. But
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm-hmm.
[Justin]:also, you know, most of the time when I need a map and I'm in a hurry, I just type
[Justin]:in, on Google, I say city sewer dungeon map, right? that comes up and there's tons
[Justin]:of results on Pinterest and then I pick the one I want, copy and paste it into
[Justin]:the doc I'm using and I'm good to go. And then usually from there I'll take it
[Justin]:to Canva and label each room and then write a description for each room but that
[Justin]:might be overkill. If you're in a bind, even in the moment, someone goes somewhere
[Justin]:you could just type in on Google you know, Windmill Map D&D and something will pop
[Justin]:up just as long as it's not a commercial you're okay to use it and you know that's that's
[Justin]:a nice and easy dungeon or map that you can use usually when I when I do that I
[Justin]:populate the rooms based on what the image the map looks like so if if it looks
[Justin]:like there's a fire in there that'll usually spark in my mind oh for some reason
[Justin]:there's a goblin camp down in the sewers for I don't know I don't know why it
[Justin]:doesn't matter but they're there um that's one tool there's also a couple tools
[Justin]:that you can get on your phone for one uh toolkit it's on iPhone and it allows
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm-hmm.
[Justin]:you to randomly generate all sorts of things including NPCs, cities, even quests
[Justin]:so like you know stuff you find on a quest board, traps, dungeons, monsters, enemies,
[Justin]:magic items, treasure. The one thing I don't like about this app is that it does
[Justin]:not tell you how much the magic items are worth because I'll often use that when
[Justin]:my players go into a store
[Justin]:And that gets me in trouble because I don't know the street value of, I don't know,
[Justin]:wand of spell storing. I, you
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm-hmm.
[Justin]:know, and my players have gotten wealthy because of it. But
[Tanner Weyland]:Hahaha
[Justin]:this tool is very useful because even in prep, I can quickly create names and not
[Justin]:have to spend the time thinking about it and just move on.
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah, I love that. Honestly, if you find labor saving tools and prep, like
[Tanner Weyland]:you're gonna be happy. It's gonna make, and here's the thing. You should
[Tanner Weyland]:honestly, even if you don't feel busy, you should take some of these tips
[Tanner Weyland]:because it'll save you time and that'll help you make a better campaign
[Tanner Weyland]:period, right? Did
[Justin]:So
[Tanner Weyland]:you have something else,
[Justin]:this might,
[Tanner Weyland]:Justin?
[Justin]:yes,
[Tanner Weyland]:Oh, go
[Justin]:this
[Tanner Weyland]:ahead.
[Justin]:might be a topic for a future one, a future episode, but I think we should breach
[Justin]:the idea of chat GPT for dungeon prep.
[Tanner Weyland]:Yes.
[Justin]:I think you might be able to create some pretty awesome things with chat GPT, and
[Justin]:a lot of people might be thinking, oh, that's not the spirit of the thing, but
[Justin]:let's talk about that another day.
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah, yeah, it's worth talking about because if one of your issues is coming
[Tanner Weyland]:up with general story arcs or a description of an area and you're just
[Tanner Weyland]:stressed out of your gourd, why not get some help? It's not always perfect
[Tanner Weyland]:and we'll talk about that later, but yeah, I'm interested in that topic.
[Justin]:for sure.
[Tanner Weyland]:Last thing for me before we end here, how do you keep up the excitement
[Tanner Weyland]:when you're I was thinking about it and I was like, you know what, even
[Tanner Weyland]:though all of these things Are like, oh, let's save time and everything
[Tanner Weyland]:You know, sometimes if you're spending a long time like a long period of
[Tanner Weyland]:time multiple months like a year In this kind of like oh i'm really busy.
[Tanner Weyland]:I gotta make time for dm for dm-ing It's very easy to let the excitement
[Tanner Weyland]:uh, just kind of Peter out I guess is a good word for it like how do you
[Tanner Weyland]:keep that up? You know How do you make it so that there's still that excitement?
[Tanner Weyland]:constantly pressured.
[Justin]:Yeah, well one thing I'll say is, that's how everything in life is. You're gonna
[Justin]:have ups and downs, and for me, I constantly remind myself that what I feel has
[Justin]:no impact on what I actually choose to do. So if I feel lazy, I can still choose
[Justin]:to prepare for my Dungeon Master, for my D&D session. To that effect, I've also
[Justin]:routinized certain parts of my D&D prep, So that way it's not so much I think
[Justin]:about it or even feel excited or not excited. I just do it, right? And
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm-hmm.
[Justin]:one of those is writing every single day. And I've chosen to do this for a number
[Justin]:of reasons. Just to make sure that I'm good at writing because I do think that
[Justin]:writing is one of the hardest skills, maybe not one of the hardest, but it is a very
[Justin]:difficult skill to master and it takes a long time. So I use a tool called write track
[Justin]:dot cloud. track.cloud and in that you can essentially set goals, either like
[Justin]:a daily goal for how many words you write or a monthly goal. I prefer the monthly
[Justin]:goal because it motivates me to know that I could finish early, essentially, even
[Justin]:though when I finish early, I just start the next month's goal early.
[Tanner Weyland]:Hehehe
[Justin]:But, and I use this and I just write a little bit every day. So right now I just
[Justin]:write 250 words every day current session and then I also write 250 words in
[Justin]:the homebrew world I'm working on or anything else professionally so like newsletters
[Justin]:or things like that and I like this because you think 250 words is a lot except
[Justin]:when you get to your session prep doc and you see hey like I already have this
[Justin]:written so I just need to continue this idea and then you stop before you fully
[Justin]:continue the idea so you have somewhere to start tomorrow I think keeping excitement
[Justin]:is a when you realize you only have to do so much every day. You don't have to
[Justin]:do it all today, you know.
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's great because like I was thinking about it
[Tanner Weyland]:and you put it in a better way than I could have that. I think that the
[Tanner Weyland]:key of excitement in anything, whether it's, you know, DMing Dungeons and
[Tanner Weyland]:Dragons or just your life, it's goals, right? It's having something to
[Tanner Weyland]:reach for. Uh, and if you have the regular small goals, like daily goals
[Tanner Weyland]:or weekly goals for your DMing, and then you occasionally, the thing I would
[Tanner Weyland]:add, I think to keep excitement up, you occasionally need to work towards bigger
[Tanner Weyland]:goals. Like that could be like, hey, once a year, me and my, uh, and
[Tanner Weyland]:my players, we go to an Airbnb and we have like, uh, maybe a full day session,
[Tanner Weyland]:you know, broken up by going out to eat or something, right? Kind of like
[Tanner Weyland]:a Dungeons and Dragons trip. That could be a bigger goal. It's almost like
[Tanner Weyland]:a relationship, right? Uh, you
[Justin]:Yeah.
[Tanner Weyland]:have these small things that you do every day for your partner, but then
[Tanner Weyland]:you also plan bigger things and both of those together lead to a feeling
[Tanner Weyland]:of excitement. Right. Uh, and even if you aren't excited, like you said,
[Tanner Weyland]:it keeps the thing going.
[Justin]:Yeah. One thing that I just came to mind, and this is zero censoring or filtering
[Justin]:Tanner, that idea was genius. So Airbnb, you know,
[Tanner Weyland]:Mm-hmm.
[Justin]:the question I have for the listener is, would you actually be interested in something
[Justin]:like that? Like if we had, you know, a few players sign up or something like that,
[Justin]:like once a year, you could sign up and come to an Airbnb with us and we'll DM
[Justin]:a long session or something like that. Obviously you'd pay for it, or at least yourself.
[Justin]:Like would that be something you'd be interested in? I guess, if it is, send us
[Justin]:a message on Instagram at howtobetabetterdm, cause that sounds quite interesting. But I
[Justin]:mean, only if you guys would actually like it, so.
[Tanner Weyland]:Yeah, exactly. And, and even if you're like, Oh, I don't know if I want
[Tanner Weyland]:to get together with these weirdies, I'm just kidding. We're not weird,
[Justin]:Hehehe
[Tanner Weyland]:but, uh, these people on how to be a better DM, you know, I would consider,
[Tanner Weyland]:I would think about, Hey, what would be fun, like capital F fun, uh,
[Tanner Weyland]:for our sessions and that's a big goal. You know, you don't have to do
[Tanner Weyland]:that every week, but you know, make a plan to do that in the next number of
[Tanner Weyland]:months or next half a year and that mixed with your daily things like
[Tanner Weyland]:writing or prep or daily prep, that's going to help you feel excited. It's
[Tanner Weyland]:going to help you feel like you're like DMing is a fun thing because it
[Tanner Weyland]:should be at its heart and it should also be a relationship because that's
[Tanner Weyland]:that's why anyone plays. I mean there are games you play solo but the
[Tanner Weyland]:majority of games that people play whether it's sports or you know board
[Tanner Weyland]:games or card games or anything it's with people and you like
[Justin]:Mm-hmm.
[Tanner Weyland]:hanging out with people and you need to make goals to build a relationship.
[Tanner Weyland]:I think that's the key of being excited
[Justin]:I
[Tanner Weyland]:when
[Justin]:love
[Tanner Weyland]:you're
[Justin]:it.
[Tanner Weyland]:busy. Okay, great.
[Justin]:I love it.
[Tanner Weyland]:Well, we're gonna end this. Justin, thank you for talking. I feel like
[Tanner Weyland]:I've learned a lot from you. Thank you.
[Justin]:Likewise. Thanks, Tanner.
[Tanner Weyland]:Perfect. Okay. Well until next time, get out there, have some fun and
