You sit down at the fire. You’ve traveled a long distance to reach these particular nomads. You’ve heard tell that these nomads have mystical powers and can guide you on finding unknowable secrets. You look around. Their long arms show a fierce exterior, but they’ve let you sit in their circle. They’ve shared their meat with you. Their hair hides their faces though you can see pinpricks of light reflect off of their eyes and hidden behind their hair. They seem to look at you expectantly. “Um… what am I…” It’s at that moment that one of their numbers starts beating a drum produced from somewhere within the folds of their outer garments. More drums are produced and the rhythm continues and amplifies. Soon the sound of beating drums is all you hear. It echoes the beating of a heart. Not your heart but the communal heart of this tribe. You let yourself fall into the rhythm. After a moment, you notice an elder stand up and walk towards the central fire. He chants some things and then throws some dust into the fire. There’s a puff of green smoke and you smell a distinct earthy smell. Soon, your senses become slurred and you seem to drift from reality. Your eyes open and instead of at a ritual fire, you’re standing waist-deep in the ocean. You look over and see another tribal member standing with you. You both wield spears and look for fish. You throw your spear.  Flash. Instead of being near a ritual fire, you’re crouching low in a snowy copse of trees. You peer out from behind some bushes and see an auroch munching on greenery. The rest of your hunting party has snuck around to flank the beast. You hear the double hoot of an owl. That’s the signal. You jump up and charge to attack the beast. Flash. Instead of at a ritual fire, you’re in a grotto. You see a large stone monolith. Inscribed on the giant stone are ancient runes. They glow softly blue in the dim light. At the base of the monolith is a pool of water that seems pure and as you approach it starts to glow light blue. This is what you’ve come for. So what would you like to do?

Welcome back to another episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and together you and I will learn how to tell better stories as we DM sessions of Dungeons and Dragons 5e. 

First of all, I’ve got to say thank you so much. Since we started the show, we’ve seen amazing growth that I never could have predicted. It’s all because of you guys. You guys have allowed us to create cool content and spread it to some awesome people.

Next don’t forget to listen to the end of today’s episode to hear how you can support the show.

Today, let’s talk about immersion. 

Now, I’m not going to be talking about Virtual Reality, though we can all expect that within our lifetimes we’ll see all sorts of leaps in bounds in that area.

No, I’m talking about learning to help your players feel like they are in your world. You have to help your players slip the bonds of our time and space and instead drift through the planes to the material plane on which you play D&D.

Better descriptionsNo amount of cool voice-changing software or LED lights will cover up bad storytelling. Storytelling is character, plot, voice, and conflict. It’s also scene. You need to be able to paint pictures with your words. 

Work on your descriptions of all points of your gameplay. There’s a fine balancing act here though. You can’t take forever describing something but you also shouldn’t do it in just one word. You need to be concise and evocative. 

It’s helpful to describe things using your senses. Don’t forget that sixth sense we all get. You know like when there’s tension in the air and no one is saying anything but you can feel that something is wrong.

One thing I’d recommend steering away from that is somewhat a crutch is using analogies from our world. I struggle with this because it’s so helpful and easy but I think it pulls your players...