How being a Teacher made me a better Game Master - D&D / TTRPG

color coding the teacher perspective and the gm perspective with different color lights is mesmerizing

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!!

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.

I love when people make crossovers of... anything really, this is a Hobby × Profession crossover

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!

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!

So many youtubers seem to be teachers. Must be a natural connection 😊

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.

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.

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!

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!

"Don't comment me, I'm a beginner teacher. Just... pray for my students." That was fantastic! And thanks for the excellent video!

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 🙌

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!

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 YouTube people, that are teachers, are the ones I listen and learn from. Some YouTubers 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. 😀

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.

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!

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."

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.