What Alignment is your Dungeon Master?

I like saying “We are the Dungeon Dudes” along with them, as if I too am a Dungeon Dude

Chaos is describing a perfectly normal door with a skeptical amount of detail so that your players spend an hour sniffing the door before opening it, giving you a chance to think of the next area in a map they weren’t supposed to even touch for several levels

A Neutral Evil DM could be 'The Narrator' - They have a story they want to tell, and what the players want to do doesn't matter.

Also, I'm really glad you understand Lawful and Chaotic as consistent vs. inconsistent! I swear that's what 3rd edition taught me, and nobody these days learned that from 5th.

True Neutral: otherwise known as the DM who's favorite phrase is "Are you sure?"

LG: Thanks to your heroism, Waterdeep is safe once more! NG: How do you want to do this? CG: Yes, and… LN: sigh No, there are no jellicle tabaxi in Phandalin. TN: Are you sure about that? CN: Out of nowhere, a roll Purple Worm attacks! LE: That’s what the book says. NE: Because I said so! CE: Rocks fall, everyone dies!

Hilariously my dm is The Author, and is literally a published author full-time. You nailed it.

My friend who still DMs for us to this day (been playing regularly for 5-6 years) is more of a lawful evil DM. Danger is around every corner, make the wrong decision and you will be really working not to die, but he rewards you for getting out of those situations. It’s like D&D on hard mode and we absolutely love it. It’s the most fun we have ever had.

“I could probably enjoy a lawful evil DM’s one shot but not a lawful evil DM’s campaign.” ^this, I don’t have warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings about the days of meat grinder dungeons and showing up to the table with half a dozen characters, but I could probably enjoy a session of it.

I know this comment is probably gonna get buried but I wanna comment and just say thank you to the dudes. I ran my first game ever this past weekend (and it was all my players' first time ever playing too). The players went completely off the path in a way I was not expecting, and watching the drakkenheim streams and all the rules + tips videos massively helped. My players had a lot of fun and I couldn't have done it without y'all :)

the face Kelly makes at 22:15 when Monty says he's not an evil DM is priceless

You know you've made it when your DnD content is peak quality AND you can sponsor yourself!

I'd like to add that when true neutral leans evil, you end with the Railroader or Narrator. The players are just there to hear the DMs story.

While you guys were describing the lawful neutral DM (one that allows players to make choices, but isn't afraid to show them the consequences) all I could think of as an example was the Goldfish Keyleth moment from CR lol

Over my few years of DMing, I've totally gone from Lawful Good (brand new to D&D as well as my players) to Neutral Good (starting leaning into causality and deviating from the rules and homebrewing), to where I am now, True Neutral. It's funny because I can even identify the specific campaign moments where the shifts happened as well 😂

Neutral Good, but I pull from Lawful Good, True Neutral, and Chaotic Good depending on scene and how much impact I want it to have. I generally don’t prepare many notes, but when I do, they are very deep and detailed.

Me: Chaotic Fun. My Players: He's Lawful Mean.

I started my role as the DM after about 1 month exposure to DnD. We did a few sessions with a friend who volunteered to run Mines of Phandelver for us, then started canceling every weekend for like a month. I liked the game enough that I prepared to step in and run it for my friends. I ran the written content and had a great time getting my players to level 5. When we finally beat the boss, I had gotten a lot more comfortable with world building. I started doing the "scrapbooking" that Kelly mentioned. I really believe that as the DM, I build half the world, then let my players write the other half. I feel like I'd fall in Neutral Good for this reason. My thought during this video is that most long term DM's are probably more neutrally aligned than anything. These DM's had the revelatory moment that they can't prepare for every eventuality, but that's one reason the game is so fun.

Kelly's style has helped me accept a little more fluidity and enjoy it. It's helped a lot seeing it played out and when you have things flowing so well it's basically writing itself in real-time. The people apart of it are on a wild ride of their own making

This is a great video! I find myself in the LG category - but because I mostly DM for kids. But what’s interesting is listening to the NG DM (which I think is where I want to be), I’m hearing what I need to change in order to adapt my game. This might have been pitched as a bit of fun - but it’s really valuable from understanding what not to do or things to watch for (in both yourself as a DM or as a player looking at DMs).