How being a Teacher made me a better Game Master - D&D / TTRPG
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- Teachers know a lot of things. Like tips on how to keep players engaged, for example. That's why we should always listen to teachers... No I'm not biased.
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Music used (CZcams Audio Library License & Creative Commons) & assets:
The Plan's Working - Cooper Cannell
Dead Forest - Brian Bolger
Skeleton Dance - Myuu
A Fool's Theme - Brian Bolger
Song for Michael - Magic in the Other
Sprightly Pursuit - Cooper Cannell
Spiral Swirl effect by @Loopy Toons
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Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:49 The Chaos problem
02:08 Warm ups and Cold Opens
04:28 The Magician
06:27 Tell, Show, Do, Apply
08:43 Outro - Zábava
color coding the teacher perspective and the gm perspective with different color lights is mesmerizing
glad to hear it, because attempting to color grade nearly killed me hahahahah
@@corkboardsandcuriositiesI think you did great! But then teachers often are good at grading ;)
@salmontan or at structuring visuals. @corkboardsandcuriosities You did a good job, which program are you using?
I use colors to highlight important things like loot (magic items), traps, or certain actions the pcs are likely to take.
Ah shit, I just learned I’m colorblind
I am a college professor in game design and I’ve found a lot of cross over between teaching and GMing! I think that “magician mode” is something I’ve got to read more about too!! Wonderful video!! Cheers!!
Great video! I once did the reverse trick, using TTRPG in my education setting. I'm in university, and we wanted to make a reading club for our classmates to go over things that are not in our classes. I suggested we host a Session Zero to set norms, expectations, and boundaries. Very helpful tools!
Love your channel
I teach at a college as well, and I agree. There's so much crossover! I'm finding that teaching is helping my DMing and vice versa.
Greeting professor!
Teaching college is performance art.
I've heard said that the Venn diagram of teachers and tabletop gamers in nearly an eclipse 😌 Also THAT NOTE ON "THEY PULL YOUR NOSE BECAUSE THEY'RE BORED" IS TIMELESS.
clowns are vessels for all the wisdom in the world !
This is incredibly helpful! Fascinating to learn more about teaching through GMing as well
This is such a fantastic video - great points approached in a new way, paired with really clean production and fantastic storytelling! I can't wait to see where your channel goes, if this is what you're accomplishing within your first ten uploads 🙌
Seriously. She has fantastic insight, and great presentation
I love when people make crossovers of... anything really, this is a *Hobby × Profession* crossover
hahaha, i think that's just my impulse to relate literally everything in my life to ttrpg
@@corkboardsandcuriosities That's such a relatable impulse.
I am also a teacher and a GM. During the pandemic, I convinced a group of teachers to try D&D. They became instantly obsessed and we have been playing every week for 4 years now :) I used to be the "forever DM" - but no longer :D
Are you KIDDING ME? I JUST came across your video and I have been a teacher for 18 years and one of the few things I have been going for longer than the classroom is Dungeons and Dragons. And I love both.
And I have ALWAYS thought there's a huge connection between doing one well and that improving the other!
Masterful approach!
aaah amazing! I didn't expect to see so many teachers in the comments, and it is absolutely delightful to hear that this resonates!
"...people are always going to remember something they experienced or achieved better than something they witnessed" this is phenomenal advice. The challenge of conveying lore and plot effectively is a big one. Putting your players at the center of that experience is such great way to build momentum.
I'm not a GM, but the "kids pulling on your nose because they're bored" concept really resonated with me. It feels analogous to focusing on tasks when you have an attention disorder. So, thank you!
I will be using the "what are you thinking as you wake up?" open with my session tonight! I have done in the past a "what are you doing to prepare for the day?" open, but I really love the thoughts/feelings angle...better to get them into RP mode. Thank you!
Me too! I'm really curious to see how it goes.
happy you like it! I feel it also helps for the player, they get more used little by little to really consider the impact that a game event may have on their character
Same, I'm yoinking
I might do "What woke you up?"
oooh that's a cool one @@jamesscullion3034
"Don't comment me, I'm a beginner teacher. Just... pray for my students." That was fantastic!
And thanks for the excellent video!
a warmup i use at my table is asking everyone who was the most badass and the bigger loser npc/pc moment from the last session. they always start describing every single detail about hilarious stuff and how cool it was.
i also prepare a top 3 "things" and reveal them one by one letting the players guess what's in the first position
I'm a High School teacher in the USA and I run the Tabletop Gaming Club, with a focus on DnD. As far as warm-ups go, having players introduce their characters/what they did last session, take notes about their party mates/their actions, and share out a connection or feeling the characters have about at least 2 of their party mates is a good way to get them into the roleplaying mindset while having them focus on the table in the middle of a loud room. It also leads people to "defending" their character or explaining their actions better, which leads to better characterization.
We found that a chronicle or log helps to maintain continuum. The current team looks up what happened last time and decide what they want to work on from there. The players write what they think was important.
So many youtubers seem to be teachers. Must be a natural connection 😊
the real challenge is making sure my high schoolers don't find my youtube channel hahaha
@@corkboardsandcuriosities I'd be psyqued if I knew my teacher plays D&D!
@@danielzarkos I've not yet had a student who was into TTRPG... but it's only a matter of time until they join our ranks!
lmao :D@@corkboardsandcuriosities
I was gonna ask where you're from, but the way you pronounced Dominique's (?) names gave it away!
THIS!
IS!
EPIC!
I used to teach. When I got into DMing, it quickly dawned on me how running a table wasn’t much different from teaching! You are absolutely spot on in every aspect of this video.
I’ve been out of the classroom for a couple years now, and I would miss it if it weren’t for DMing. This time, there isn’t the pressure of managing a classroom and I get to work and teach (because D&D has many educational benefits, especially social skills) to children and adults alike!
aaah this is so lovely to hear, especially from a teacher!
YES! there's so much that feels so similar to running a game, and tbh, I feel like even as a beginner teacher, being a GM gave me a lil bit of a head start on a few things.
@@corkboardsandcuriosities absolutely! And being a teacher taught me skills for running a table. They overlap in group management, communication, planning, multitasking and other skills.
From a didactical standpoint, I think we need more inventive Teachers just as yourself, integrating more luddism into teaching.Your students are just in the right hands.
If you master your subject (or your gameworld!), improvisation is key, too. It is vital for a GM, but it also serves me well as a teacher! Makes lessons more lively and students more involved (you're adapting to them). Cheers!
I'm also a teacher and a GM! One of my first thoughts when I was being introduced into teaching theory and general lesson structure was "Wait... this is just D&D with less dragons". I love this video - thank you!
Hi! I find that people who are professional teachers, have advantage since they know how to prep, and discuss the subject to a classroom of students. You also learned to communicate and explain things better. I find the CZcams people, that are teachers, are the ones I listen and learn from. Some CZcamsrs are selling, and entertaining, but I don't need that. Would you be open to have people, like me, to watch one of your game sections? I would pay for it. I learn from watching and taking notes. I don't need to be a player character. I think you are in France, I would watch it on your schedule. No pressure. Thank you for doing this episode. 😀
haaaa you flatter me so much! I will soon be playing online with a few really cool people to test out a new game called Archeterica, i'll make sure to send you the link! Thank you for all the encouragement!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities I'd also be super interested to watch if that's okay! Your persona here is very fun to just listen to, so I wonder how you are when GM'ing (assuming you are).
me too, if that’s alright! i love playing ttrpgs, but also…i’m a magician myself! i’ve found that there’s lots to learn from any source of drama, be it a performance or a game!
I'm a teacher myself and have been playing dnd for 30 years and I love your point of view! It's so easy to join the to concepts! Bravo!
From a writer's perspective, you get the Narrator premise: "Show, don't tell...". If you actually show it properly, you don't need to spoil anything in anticipatìon (unless you want to purposely build anticipation, most commonly to avoid the expected effect in the end... The former is surprise, the later builds suspense...). So, skip the "telling" part right into the "show" one, and your formula simplifies to "Show (don't tell) - Do - Apply".
I like your video. Pretty cool content. Keep going!
The greatest boon to me as GM, was when I became a flight instructor. Those fundamentals of instruction and how people learn and engage made everything fall into place so I know exactly what you mean and you are exactly correct (in my experience at least)! Literally every beat you touched on here I learned as an instructor and applied in my games to great effect. I also have "the class" open up with a player-led session recap and it sucks us all in every time. I'm loving your videos after just discovering your channel and can't wait to see what you've got coming up. Keep up the great work!
P.S. If you ever figure out how to make lesson plans that aren't absolute chaos or absolute inane bullet points please share with the class. Send help.
DMing is teaching. That's why after a long day of class, I can sometimes resent having to DM that night.
Same here. Also why I dread my friends saying, for the umpteenth time, "Can we play on Sunday night?" I go to sleep teaching and wake up teaching lol
High School Game Development Teacher chiming in, 10 years in (7 as a DM). A lot of this is good advice, but in both mentoring new teachers and new GMs. I find the focus on "engagement" to be a bit unhealthy at times. Young teachers really put a lot of pressure on themselves to be the driving force of energy and engagement in a classroom and unfortunately this can lead to a lot of burn out, as you point out, DMs (especially new DMs) feel similar pressure. The hard fought wisdom that is learned over time is that yes, you have an important role to play in engagement, but over the long haul, the teachers/DMs that make it over the long haul are the ones that understand that they cannot be a constant font of learning. As one of my mentors put it "There are classrooms where the math teacher does a lot of math and there are classrooms where the students do a lot of math. Guess which teacher makes it to year 5."
Oh, this is a very good point, and quite reassuring to hear tbh? I do tend to feel that exhaustion, especially since I'm just starting out, and when you're starting out, you can't help but be so aware of all the skills you have yet to build! I think perhaps what also drives me (and likely others, recently I was talking about it with a friend of mine who is a young teacher too) to this kind of pressure is the image of the teacher in media, in movies.. This idea that in every movie the teacher is a life changing figure for their students. People talking of teaching not as a job, but as a vocation, because for a "good teacher, there is no real work/life balance". That's a lot of pressure to put on a person! I know that realistically, this is not the expectation, only the mythology built around teaching, which makes a lot of teachers feel like they are not doing enough, like they could give even more. So these days I'm trying to loosen up. Hearing this from an experienced teacher helps a bunch!
As a fellow teacher and GM; this was helpful on both sides of the coin! Thank you for this! 😄👍💯
feel like I've stumbled upon most of these things you talk about through happenstance. When I GM, I'm constantly throwing mysteries and whatnot at the party- usually because they see something weird, or something weird happens to the players they can't quite understand yet. Dangle a question in front of your players and watch them tear your world apart trying to find the answer. Very satisfying!
Awesome video.
I'm a teacher too and I started applying techniques to my players without noticing it. It was until one of them said "He's using his teacher powers against us" when I was like "uh, he is right, it is similar"
English Lit teacherling of 1 month and GM of 18 months. There’s a good bit of crossover for sure. I’ve been thinking about this idea for a while!!
Im currently writing a paper on how being a gamemaster can make people better teachers through the abilities they learn dm-ing so seeing this video is super funny
omg I would be so interested to read that paper
@@corkboardsandcuriosities I would have to translate it and its more than 25 pages so I'm sorry I won't be able to do that probably 😅 If you know german I can provide it to you after grading if I'm happy with it :D
I'm a senior IT professional, and I find *loads* of skills which cross the gap between Game Mastery and professional communications. Time management, focusing the spotlight on individuals in measured ways, researching topics, managing expectations, and much more. Practicing GMing in a methodical way makes me a better professional, and vise versa.
This is also how RPG Elite has framed his "RPG Elite philosophies for your life" series of videos, which are pretty great too.
Table culture is very DM dependent and it's almost like a dance - keeping people engaged.
For a popular example there was a thread with people complaining that the CR players are getting more and more rowdy during the game - and it's true due to not having their attention kept.
As a fellow teacher (teaching assistant, to be exact) and D&D noob, this video couldn't be more perfect
I became a DM last year, and am a teacher and I have said for the past year that teaching SO set me up for success as a DM. I also play in a game where the DM was a professor, and he's far and away the best DM I've played under. They're directly correlated.
As a teacher I always felt like DMing felt very natural but I couldn't tell you why. Now the connections are obvious. 👍
this is a perfect channel to binge watch at 4AM
How funny it just got recommended to me for the first time at 4am
Teacher/GM here, and this is a brilliant video. I learned a little about teaching AND running games! Great video
doing a level up at the start of a session is genius. They're going to be excited to use new abilities and whatnot, immediately pulling them into the game.
Agreed.
Different kinds of teachers with different skills equal different kinds of DMs.
The worst is a lazy teacher that DMs, because it carries over.
:o hopefully my students don't think that of me!
@corkboardsandcuriosities I'm sure they enjoy your lessons if your channel content is any indication!✌️
This is so neat and a concept I never would've thought of before!
aaaah i'm happy you liked it! I was really worried that this one would only be interesting to teachers hahaha
Sorry if tldr, but I promise it's worth it. My mother was an elementary school teacher, and she taught me a lot: to be a good student, to love to read, and to love to learn. And she taught me a great deal about children, teaching, and behavioral psychology (tho not in that specific sense). I even got my degree in Music Education, tho I knew by the end I did not have the gift for being a proper teacher. You have an excellent understanding of the basics, and I'm sure you'll be a very good teacher too. I would love to spend hours with you talking about teaching and its relationship to gaming. Or to be a member of your gaming group. But I will tell you this little thing about my dear Mom. She was very religious, and when I discovered D&D in high school, she was unconcerned about it at first. But unfortunately, her religiosity made her gullible, and vulnerable to the slander and lies of the "Satanic Panic." So I did not get to play until college, and even then she worried for my soul. She never understood the positivity or the potential developmental benefits of rpg's, and I was never able to talk with her meaningfully about it. One last thing. I was in her class in 3rd grade, and I kept trying to address her like the other kids, "Mrs. H~" but always caught myself, and ending up frequently calling her "Mrs.... Mother." Bless you, dear Val. Good luck in the classroom and at the table. ❤
As an English teacher, something being a DND player/DM helped me with is setting the context of roleplays in speaking tasks. It made students more engaged and visualized the situation more clearly.
Another teaching technique I want to utilize in DND is student-centeredness. That is students/players doing most of the work with facilitation from the teacher/DM.
Ah! You were looking for becoming a better teacher and found something to become a better GM and now I'm going to use that to become a better game designer. It will be fun re-adapting all these concepts to videogames :)
New C&C video about D&D, gonna get myself some E&E (education & entertainment)!
I've also used my teaching experience to reel my players back in when they get distracted. No one likes the teacher who snaps their fingers and shouts, especially when all you have to do is lower your voice to a whisper and say something intriguing. It sparks that curiosity again, and boom, they're back.
As a new DM and new teacher myself, I found this video very intriguing on both fronts!
As a GM one thing I really like to do and received good feedbacks from my players is having a small music like the opening credit of a show. It's a small time during which everyone turn off their mics and at the end of it we directly engage on the game. It gives them a bit of time to put their feet in their character and being a recurring thing help it a lot.
As an experienced GM, I use everything I know to enhance my classroom.
Brings me back to the time I was a teacher, Great video as always!!
I found there are strong similarities in prepping.
haha, prepping is not my strong suit as a teacher, I just take too long with it, but I'm getting better, finding a method helps!
@@corkboardsandcuriosities well you can go the other way around, just apply your RPG prepping skills on the classroom.
I don’t know whether my students are going to ace their upcoming test, but you’ve aced this video. Super-well explained and super-interesting, as ever. Thanks, Val!
That was the singular most helpful video for me as a dm out of every video I have ever watched, thank you.
I have dmed for about 3 months now and something was missing the whole time, I see my sessions looking up now.
If only we were taught pedagogy like that!!! I learnt more useful things in 20 minutes than in a semester at Uni! I am one of those crazy ones who dared to combine DnD and teaching (English), so it was crazy helpful, thank you, will follow you
I'm yet another teacher and long time DM. Honestly, I'm probably better as a DM, but it is good to see that crossover highlighted so clearly. Time for me to bring more DMing magic into the classroom.
I find your channel to be one of the most interesting and captivating I've seen in many years. The way you think outside the box and connect different content in an entirely new perspective is really something unique. And learning you're a teacher makes perfect sense. I may be a little biased, seeing I'm finishing my master's in education, but I see a lot of bell hooks' and Paulo Freire's teaching as a practice of freedom in what you teach. And seeing you want to keep growing... You seriously inspire me. Thank you so much ❤
qsjdhbiqsdjfbqsiudhc aaaaaaaah you're gonna make me cry this is so good to hear
Loosely related to engagement I would like to share my proudest moment of derailing a campaign. Me and my group were playing a pirate AP for pathfinder which wasn't the most interesting thing ever. We were doing our pirate stuff and we came across an item which the DM off handedly remarked that Dwarves would find it valuable. So as good enterprising traders we asked where we could find some dwarves and the DM mentioned that they are high up in the mountains obviously not expecting us to bother going there. Queue the next 6 to 7 sessions of the party dragging a sailing ship up a maintain so we can find some dwarves to sell items to.
before seeing this video i always thought there had to be a crossover between gming and teaching, its cool to finally hear someone talk about it
Fellow teacher and GM here! I love this video! Both the warm up and cold open are great for classroom and table engagement, and I often find myself comparing notes between what I see at the table vs the classroom. I’ve found that both players and students will often default to socializing with their friends unless I take the reigns. It’s the same in kids and adults! Of course it’s less stressful at the game table where the stakes are lower lol.
I loved what you said about Doing! Giving your players a more unforgettable experience and I feel silly I didn’t make that connection myself sooner haha. I guess sometimes I’m just too much in my own head. Excellent video with excellent info!
I think this is the most understandably structured, actionable video of player engagement advice I think I've ever seen on youtube. Thank you so much for this!
This was great, so glad CZcams is finally refining my recommended section. That last bit about putting players at the center of action is something I tend to struggle with, and you really nailed the importance of that with the example you gave. Great video, hope to see more soon.
This was lovely! Im looking forward to seeing more of your videos 👍
This is so cool! I was a TA in college for 2 years before I was a GM. Used to have a brainstorm session with them to give them ideas of what they'd like to go on & major in. Honestly, my students were as chaotic as my table. Their research ideas were nuts!
oooh i love that
you didn't choose the chaotic crowd, the chaotic crowd chose you
I cannot thank you enough for this addition to my Kit. Incredible!
With you as my teacher, I think I would continue to have a love for learning.
This had some great insights, I'm sharing this video with all the DMs in my life
Loved it! Your delivery and video production, Fabulous!!
Great video, thank you! I particularly liked the "filthy witch" example at the end.
ha! that's my favourite part of this video I think haha, I'm glad you like it too!
As one who uses games to help kids reach their full potential in a safe space, this advices are gold.
Thank you for the beautiful ideas and input!
You raise some very informative and not often discussed points. Great video! Very happy to subscribe = )
thank you so much! consider me bardically inspired!
I really enjoy your videos and your perspective. You explain GMing from a point of view that I don't get from other CZcamsrs. Thanks for your great content.
Great stuff and very good advice! Missed you for the past few weeks. Hoping for more soon!
thank you so much! Happy to finally be back! the next one should be here faster than usual, fingers crossed!
I never take notes but this video had me engaged, breaking out the google doc and constantly pausing and rewinding to make sure I got everything down. this is wonderfully done and one of if not the most helpful guide I've seen for helping with player engagement. thank you so much!
Wow! Just stumbled onto your channel from a CZcams rabbit hole. Great find and a great video! I love the concept of the funeral body snatching. That is a cool game opener!
First video I’ve seen of yours. So good!
My mom is a teacher and we have conversations about teaching/DnD all the time. It was so cool when we discovered we could relate to each other over our passions!
You're amazing, please keep making more helpful bits like this!
Great video, with many cool and effective applications ! Thanks a lot !
Your videos are such high quality! What a gem of a channel
Lovely video. Love the concept of warmup activities, involving players in recap and checking in with PCs what they are doing/thinking as the game starts. And your voice is Devine.
thank you so, so much! happy to hear this resonates!
Wonderful video! a lot to unpack here thank you for this information!
This might be one of the best videos I've seen about maintaining player engagement. So many useful tips I'm definitely gonna take to the table next time I GM
I gotta rewatch this video because this is a banger. Thanks for the info! Will think about it more and how to apply it
Very helpful examples! Thank you.
These are amazing tips! Thank you!!
Very good video, well crafted, pertinent information, no fluff. I love it!
This video is underrated. Amazing new perspective about GMing I've never heard in all my years of enjoying the hobby! Thank you!
I semi-recently became a Pre-school teacher. It is amazing how much crossover there is in teaching smol kinders and running a table are. Even in how you narrate a story, increasing pace, changing voices, the volume of your voice can all work wonders for building excitement, or undercut it terribly if you don't do it or do it badly. So I really appreciated this video from the parallels of my own experience, as well as the additional ideas you've given me. Thanks!
Great video. Also,thanks for going on Roll for Combat recently. It was good to have your insights into RPGs.
yaay! it was awesome to be there! we had planned an episode together a few weeks back but my schedule got in the way hahah, it was super fun though, hoping i can hang with them again, they're wonderful!
Wonderful work, very helpful! 😮
Amazing video! Great research. Thank you!
This is awesome! You gave a lot of great advice that I can start using in my games. Thank you😃
Finding this channel really feels like finding a hidden gem.
Amazing work.
Just joined the patreon. That was probably a personal record.
I just found your channel this morning. Thank you so much for your fun and informative content.
I've been deep into D&D for about 5 years now and this is genuinely some of the best advice I've heard. Really smart & really well presented, thank you for sharing!
gosh, you kept me engaged for the whole video, now I even want more! at least for me, you're doing a terrific job at being a teacher/GM :)
your voice is soo pleasant, and the light tricks and editing are just chef's kiss, definitely subscribed
I do wonder if we could ever get Miss C&C to make adventures with examples of all her ideas?
They do seem simple, "Fire is warm and also life giving. Here is a bush that needs to be burnt down. Here is someone close to dying." is very simple, but how would more complicated ideas be?
I'm an amateur rules writer for tabletop wargames and finding ways to increase player engagement is something I'm always looking to keep at the top of my list. You've got a load of great stuff in here that I think will be super applicable outside teaching and TTRPGs alone. Thanks!
Really enjoyed! I often think of how real-life experience and game mastering bend to each other. We bring what we do best to the table, and GMing trains us in problem-solving, planning, preparation, creativity, and so much more. I love this format. Thanks for the video!
thank you so much, this is lovely to hear!
absolutely agreed, GMing encompasses so many skills that the best way to learn them is just by being out there experiencing being human hahaha
@@corkboardsandcuriosities totally agree!
Very instructive video full of good advices once more. Thanks a lot.
Oh wow, the quality of both the content and the editing is incredible!
As both a GM and beginning university professor myself, I appreciated your thoughts. I certainly know the importance of maintaining engagement in both realms, and am far from mastering it in either, but I happened to be working on implementing a lot of these same strategies in the classroom just prior to watching this video.
Good luck with your teaching efforts; my command of my students' (or players') attention is tentative at best, but based on how this video held mine, you're already likely to do well in both arenas.
I just discovered this channel and I really liked this video. You give a lot of useful advice. Thank you!