Failure

I'm joined by one of the hosts of the Double DM podcast, Emil Auerbach, to talk all about failure: how it comes about, how to mitigate it, and most importantly, how to learn from it. Failure is an intrinsic part of Dungeons & Dragons because as soon as you roll a dice, you run the chance of failing. Emil and I discuss several methods to mitigate this as players controlling characters who everyone at the table wants to succeed. From pandering to NPC desires to taking realistic notes, there are always ways to tip the balance in your favour! We then go on to talk about how, as a DM, you can work with your players to overcome challenges and reframe failure as a positive occurrence. Another tricky thing as Dungeon Master is deciding where the line is between introducing realistic consequences for failure versus trying to keep the story progressing and seeing character arcs to fruition. And finally, to make you all feel better, Emil and I take you through a couple of personal examples of where we've failed, so if you ever feel you've made a mistake, know full well you're not alone.

01:20 - Avoiding a single point of failure
10:24 - Ways to reducing failing PCs
16:46 - Working together to mitigate knowledge gaps
22:42 - Failing to prepare != preparing to fail
43:12 - You're not alone - our personal anecdotes
52:55 - Balancing cost of failure versus story progression

Find Emil (@DoubleDMpod) on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoubleDMpod
Double DM Podcast: https://linktr.ee/DoubleDM
Hope for TTRPGs Discord: https://discord.com/invite/sYpH7vKvJh?ltclid=4427d97d-72d2-49c4-9b9c-4f2b002ec462

Find me on:

Website: https://www.thinkingcritically.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThinkCritDnD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinking_critically_dnd/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThinkingCriticallyDnD

Intro Music: 'Local Forecast' by Kevin MacLeod

Intermission Music: 'Chill' by Kevin MacLeod

Outro Music: 'Local Forecast - Elevator' by Kevin MacLeod