Getting your players genuinely invested in what they’re doing—who their characters are, their friends in the world, and the story they’re making—is one of the most fulfilling things you can do as a dungeon master. After playing Dungeons and Dragons for ten years of my pallid Gen Z life and dungeon mastering for the last five, I found that to get players to really care about their characters and their campaign I had to learn how to use fear.
Unfortunately, I don’t mean JUST trying eldritch horror adventures, throwing liches (plural) at a 1st level party, or installing trap doors beneath your player’s seats that lead to a pit of half-formed reptilian Matt Mercer clones to encourage them to stop dropping character. I also mean emotional or interpersonal fears. Mystery. All the things that make your player’s brain go, “something’s up, I need to pay attention”.
Our imaginations are adept at focusing & motivating us when it comes to fear. Fear has a very different effect on players then, for example, deception which is used in Among Us and One Night Werewolf. In D&D, fear pushes us out of the rational and self-conscious, into the emotional, subconscious, and imaginary—which helps ground us in the world and in our characters. If your DM has described the unnerving sound a troll’s tongue makes as it wraps around someone’s intestines, maybe you’ve felt your own shoulders start to tighten as your hero reaches for their sword.
One of my favorite things to do as a DM is to use small sensory details to build mystery and tell their imaginations that something’s not right (a villain that acts a bit too casual, a dungeon that smells sweet, a vegan lizardfolk, etc.). This becomes really cool because not only does it bring your characters in physically, but it also engages them mentally by making them figure out what does it mean—which in turn engages their imagination.
However, players need to be able to trust their DM and feel safe in order to let their imaginations run wild, which means trust, safety, and communication need to be well established. Personally, I’m a big fan of the “before, during, after” model, where at every step there’s an opportunity for players to communicate what’s working and what’s not.
Before you introduce sensitive or intense content, RPG consent checklists (like this one) work great. In-game tools for players to stop, switch, and communicate discomfort are fantastic (like the consent flower). Individual check-ins after an intense session go a long way to show your players that you care. I also love doing campaign check-ins each level-up to give players a chance to give feedback and start conversations. More tools are linked below!
Fear is exciting with D&D because it makes our adventures & alter egos feel more real. But just like you wouldn’t want the knives at a haunted house to be sharpened, your players need to know they’re getting into before they can face their monsters. What other tools have you used playing RPG’s? When have you felt most engaged at D&D table? What DO you do if you meet a vegan lizardfolk? Let us know down below or on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!
Tools to Explore:
Safety Tools by Golden Lasso Games