D&D Performance

Now, lowly adventurer, you must roll at least a 12. Or you shall be absorbed by the Tree of Despair. Hello and welcome to another exciting edition of Performance Check. My name is Rob and today I'm going to be talking about somet I want you to imagine that you're playing a character in the I just did that. That was really weird. So t You are running. You are running out of ancient temple as it is collapsing around you. Rubble, dust, debris is collecting behind you can see the exit in front of you, the light at the end of the tunnel, and you are increasingly aware that your window of opportunity to escape is narrowing at every second. You're also beginning to realise that the ground in front of you is beginning to s As the DM, I ask you quickly to make an athletics check to see if you can make the j You make your role! Athletics, plus three. You roll a 13. And I look and I wait. You just make it across the gap that is growing at every second. You clamber up rocks as they are falling, So the technique that I was using there is something that I Now, obviously it's not quite as easy to simulate what I'm just talking to my camera, but you get the idea. When there is a tense moment and there's an uncertain role, you need to take advantage of that. The best t Now, the thing that I'm telling If you dramatically pause, If you just let it wait a bit, let it cook. Now, typically there are a lot of different examples that you could use where a dramatic pause would be perfect. For example, do you give me permission to cross t You ask to the guard that is preventing you from doing so. And the guard can look at you and say, Yes, tension is relieved, but. . . You see what I mean? It then catches your players off guard. Now tension builds, you tell them yes, oh thank God, but there's a clause. You can basically make any interaction a rollercoaster ride simply by waiting for a second and then continuing with whatever dilemma you want to present the player with next. But you get what I mean. It'somet Anticipation is the greatest t It relies on that chaos, it relies on that chance. And that is what gives the thrills and the c I'm just full of s A lot of people when running a game or playing a game think that silence is dead air That isn'the case. Silence is palpable. Silence is a tool that you can use and it can cause a lot of dramatic effects. And it'somet Next time one of your players rolls a. . . It has to be a questionable roll, You're not entirely sure whether that's going to be an outright success. So you're And that is when you utilise your tension because your players don't know. If they roll the natural 20, then they're going to be I can sit back and you can then describe how excellently they succeeded. But if uncertainty is on the menu, order it. That doesn't make any sense. And now it's night time because I totally didn't film an outro and then delete it. So do you How do you Let me know in the comments below. I've been loving the feedback that I've been having so far with these questions. So by all means, just write anyt Don't write anyt Just answer the question, God. And if you've If you would Or not, we're all friends here. And I hope that all of your performances are up to standard.