Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 269 - DM Burnout and Showing Progression Through Descriptions

Episode Date: February 1, 2026

Do your descriptions fall flat?  Are your characters, locations, and NPCs just static items in time that never change?  In this episode I’ll give players some tips for changing their character descriptions and for GMs to change NPC and place descriptions to improve their game.   #rpg #ttrpg #dnd #pathfinder #gmtips #playertips #tabletop #burnout #descriptions Resources: Crispy’s Tavern, The Real Matt Mercer -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV-4HnJT_Rg Roll 4 Initiative - A Guide to Better Descriptions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhFmAW3KIYY Buy Me a Coffee! - ko-fi.com/taking20podcast www.taking20podcast.com  Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/taking20podcast  Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/taking20podcast  Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/taking20podcast.bsky.social 

This week on the Taking 20 podcast. Consider adjusting your physical description for your character as they grow and evolve and gain levels throughout the campaign. It will increase your attachment to an investment in your character. Keeping the description up to date will help others know more about your character, especially in the roleplay heavy campaign. Thank you for listening to the Taking 20 podcast, episode 269. Giving you some tips for using descriptions and showing progression in characters in people. and your campaign.

I want to thank this week's sponsor, Soup. I started making my own soup stock like chicken, beef, vegetable, and if I keep it up, I'll be a billionaire in no time. Do you have any topics you'd like to hear me discuss? I mean, people who

maybe you'd be willing to be interviewed about RPG topics? Send me ideas. Links are in the socials. Also, or you can email me. Feedback at at taking20podcast.com. I had planned for this episode to be nothing but descriptions and progressions, but I want to call attention to an interesting news article I read this week about DM Matt Mercer and burnout. For those of you who have not experienced Critical Role,

Matthew Mercer is the longtime DM and GM of Critical Role, the progenitor of a lot of live play games published on the internet, and in my opinion, he's one of the best DMs on the planet. In a recent episode of the Crispy's Tavern podcast, link at the description, and if you're listening on YouTube, there's a little card in the corner. Matt Mercer confessed that he was approaching the point of burnout, describing it as, quote, a threat on the horizon. And that being in creative work, sometimes you need to ruminate, to absorb, to find inspiration.

Consequently, when Critical Role began Campaign 4, he stepped back and let Brennan take the DM reins for a while. Bear in mind, this isn't just some local DM at your friendly local game store. This is Matthew Fing Mercer, who's been DMing the most popular let's play podcast on the planet for the better part of a decade. He's a voice actor and is used to the rigors of constant output and production. But his speaking called attention to the rigors of running a game behind the screen, and it's something to consider when thinking about your local DM. There is an unrelenting stress level to running games for that all GM's experience to a greater or lesser to. agree. Make no mistake, by the way, being behind the screen creates a constant pressure to perform,

produce, and entertain that can erode the joy that brings DMs to the table. If a GM with Mercer's skill and support and resources and experience can feel burnout, then it serves as a vital reminder that your local DM, who likely has a nine to five job on top of world building responsibilities, is just as susceptible to creative exhaustion and burnout as Matt Mercer would be. I want to commend Mr. Mercer for being brave enough to talk about this. There was some hue and cry from listeners about Mercer not being the DM for campaign for, and I'm glad he's taking the time he needs to manage his well-being.

I'm mentioning this not because I want everyone to be stressed about of being a DM or create a narrative where you should pity your poor DM for the work they put in. Tabletop RPGs are collaborative experience with hopefully everyone contributing, but running a game does require a lot of improvisation and adjustment behind the screen. Even games that are being run from pre-built adventure paths require some sort of adjustment every now and then. My GM Tom Robinson rewrote the entire beginning of an adventure path to more accurately tailor the game to us players. I'm running Abomination Vaults right now and I'm constantly changing the relationships in the nearby town to adjust for the decisions made by the player.

A buddy of mine is running Curse of Strad right now and is changing how and how often Strad interacts with the party in the early parts of the adventure. These adjustments take time and effort and honestly a toll on the GM. Effectively, we DMs are a combination of directors and screenwriters, producers, and actors all in the same game. Again, I am not mentioning this because I want a hug for running a game or two per week. I just want players to realize that DMing requires more from a person than playing does, and this level of commitment and giving into a game can take its toll. I spoke at length about burnout in episode 150. I'll include a link in the description and a card in the corner on YouTube.

Please give that episode a listen for much more on this topic, but I want to encourage players to do a few things to show that you value the hours of prep and emotional energy their GM pours into the game. First off, one thing that contributes to burnout is when the players are passive, scared to make choices, have to be dragged through the story. I understand the fear of making the wrong choice, the wrong call, setting off the trap, getting into combat maybe the party didn't need to. Choices by their very definition can lead to negative outcomes. That's part of the responsibility of making a choice, but please, the love of your local DM, make a damn choice. Yes, bad things can happen. It might even mean your character dies. But in the grand scheme of things, that's still not that big of a deal in most games.

Your DM is probably dangling hooks out there left and right, NPCs asking for help, foreshadowing about the big bads plans or possible challenges for the party to overcome. When there's a hook or especially, damn it, multiple hooks hanging out there, talk about it as a party and bite on one of them. don't make the DM make the decision for you. When it comes to time to make that decision, yes, briefly discuss it, and then please get on with it. That will help your DM not burn out quite so quickly. Similarly, in combat, plan your move in advance. Know your abilities and be ready to declare your actions when your time in the spotlight comes.

Keeping the game moving will reduce stress on your GM. I could go on and on, but for brevity's sake, I'll give one more thing you can do to support your DM. Be proactive with the logistics of running a game. R-SvP when you're asked, as soon as you know you can make it, please let the DM know. And also, if you say you can make it, please make it if you can. Nothing saps my fun for the game as having someone cancel one hour before game's start time. Look, shit happens. I understand. But if it's week after week, session after session, that takes a huge emotional toll.

And I say that as a DM who's had to cancel a recent session because I had the flu. As soon as I had any doubt I could run the game, I reached out to my players, confirmed it as soon as it was absolutely known, I could not run a game that night. So similarly, if you're a player, step up and start helping out your DM. For example, one thing you can do is scheduling. Don't make your DM do that too. It's not much, but it's one less thing that your DM has to worry about. Share the responsibility and the load of running a game, and it helps everything run smoother.

Now, the original topic for the week and the second topic of today's episode is for players and DMs how they can show progression with the descriptions that they use. A few days ago, I was catching up on Fallout Season 2, and I was thinking about how Lucy, the protagonist, played by Ella Pernet, her appearance and mannerisms have changed throughout the one and a half seasons I've seen so far. At first, she wears a pristine and clean fallout jumpsuit, always looks put together, shows an innocence to the harsh world outside the vaults. She shies away from violence and is repulsed by the ease with which the ghoul played by Walter Goggins can murder, injure, and ignore the pain of others. As the show has progressed, she now looks more bloody.

and dirty and bruised, and she started dressing in more practical armor and upgrading from a non-lethal tranquilizer pistol to a lethal rifle and pistol. While she still isn't keen on violence, she's displayed more of a willingness to use it and understands that survival sometimes requires difficult choices. As a huge fan of the Fallout game since the late 90s, the ending of the first one, by the way, still lives rent-free in my head, it got me thinking about how I would role-play someone from Lucy's background and how you could show the changes to the character over time. In the original games, your choices might show a change over time as you learn more about the wasteland and make decisions based on learning about the factions and the dangers of the top world.

In games, Fallout 1, 3, 4, and 76, you start out as a similarly naive vault dweller, but it's different playing around the table than playing on a computer, obviously. So I want you to think as a player how your character has changed from the start of the campaign as the campaign progresses. How have the hardships and challenges your character has suffered change the way they look and the way they act? Why is it change in appearance and behavior important? Well, first off, it shows investment in the character and your character's growth. If Lucy in the Fallout TV show acted the same in the middle of season two as she did in episode one, she'd be freaking dead by now.

The show would be over, and Ms. Pernell would probably be talking a lot more about yellow jackets that she was on rather than the current show. While researching this topic, I found a great video by role for initiative about the importance of visualization called A Guide to Better Descriptions.

The video has a lot of good tips and goes into much more detail than I can here. I'll put a link in the episode description and corner card on YouTube. For players, about four minutes into the video, they discuss their changing descriptions can show character development and progression over time. As an example, imagine your character is a level one. You know, fresh-faced, happy, still has that new adventurer smell on them.

With the confidence that can only come from the fact that they have no idea that their single-digit hit points are a serious problem. They probably bought quite a bit of first-level gear. Most of it brand new. Their backpack doesn't even have creases in it yet. armor probably still has the price tag hanging off the corner. They're holding a scroll and ink and they're ready to start mapping their first dungeon. Ah, the innocence of youth.

Now imagine that same character, level seven. They have some magical gear. Probably some of the mundane gear has creases and burn marks, patched tears on them. They now sport scars from that flame trap or magic missile and that one pole arm crit by that evil dwarf a few levels back. NPCs who see that level one character will likely immediately recognize that they are new to the adventuring game

while those who see the level 7 character coming at them they know they're dangerous. That adventurer has seen some shit and will likely wreck yours if you cross them the wrong way. The point is that your character will change in appearance over time and that appearance can help tell the character's story. The generic term for this, by the way, is visual storytelling

where our character's physical changes help show the burdens they've endured. Of course, their equipment will improve, be more intricate, higher quality, made of nicer materials. The Faye hunting fighter may start out with slightly rusty chain mail, but as they fight more powerful Faye,

their weapons and armor may now be inlaid with cold iron. Short sword that glows with Eldridge power, cruising the first world, looking for that green hag that's harassing the local village. So players, consider adjusting your physical description for your character as they grow and evolve and gain levels throughout the campaign. It will increase your attachment to an investment in your character.

Keeping the description up to date will help others know more about your character, especially in the roleplay heavy campaign. The good news is that you don't have to change a lot, one or two minor things going along the way. Maybe their beard now has a touch of gray in it, their stride has a little bit of a limp to it, Their left arm has a scar from that failed saving throw against the Black Dragon acid breath weapon. Make little changes, and it'll show their growth as a character.

Now, let's transition to my DM friends out there. When it comes to NPCs, a lot of these same concepts I've just talked about can apply to them in your campaign. However, with the caveat, you're not going to be spending as much time with these NPCs as the players will with their characters. So I wouldn't spend a tremendous amount of time keeping appearances updated from minor NPCs who may not even make multiple appearances in your campaign. But the important NPC, the recurring NPC, yes, absolutely, start thinking about how their descriptions would change. Generally, if not a lot of time has passed, then there hasn't been many momentous events in the NPCs like. Okay, then don't bother changing their appearance. Unless something dramatic happens to me, I'll probably look the same on.

Monday as I look today. I'll probably be about the same height, probably about the same build, wearing approximately the same clothes, and just generally be the same in both appearances. However, if there were a major time jump, like you see somebody age 25 and then see them again at 55, they're going to look different, probably a little softer, fatter, grayer hair, wrinkles and lines on their face, maybe more scars that have happened over 30 years of living. It could be laugh lines, could frown lines. People who don't undergo a lot of plastic surgery will look considerably different over time. Gravity and time takes its toll on all of us, and our body begins to droop and sag.

We aren't as nimble or fast. We have more pain and other effects of significant time passage. Similarly, if there's a major event like an attack or some other traumatic event that affects an NPC, the scars from such an event could be present and obvious to the PCs, even if not a lot of time has elapsed. The goblins set fire to their house and they have scars on their left arm from that. Their caravan was attacked by cobalds and maybe they're still recovering from wounds they suffered. If they have a family member pass away or lose their job or some other emotionally taxing traumatic event in their life, that can show on a person in a short amount of time.

The stress can actually increase the signs of our aging. There's an old trope about someone's hair turning gray or white overnight due to trauma, being scared, losing someone, that kind of thing. Their skin looks more sallow, gray or yellow, hollowed with sunken cheeks and obvious signs of lack of sleep with their dark circles under their eyes and bloodshot eyes as well. Their posture may be more closed off, their arms staying inward, as if they're subconsciously trying to protect themselves at all times. Maybe the stressful event makes it hard for them to relax,

so they're always tense, always jumpy, jaw clenched while waiting for the inevitable bad thing that's going to happen any moment now. These changes to a description of an NPC serve as another feature of storytelling. You're not telling the story out loud, but you're telling it by description of everyone who sees them. For example, in the movie Tombstone,

At one point you see a school teacher with a giant scar vertically down her face like right across her eye. It tells the story of past violence and trauma, even though we never really know what it was. I mean, we can assume it was tied to something caused by the evil group called the Cowboys, but either way, it shows that Tombstone is a violent town desperately in need of someone to enforce the law. Also, it's not just people that change over time, but places do as well. The previously peaceful glade where the party camped a week ago looks different now. Maybe there was a huge battle with large combatants that uprooted trees or stomped the foliage or maybe there's footprints everywhere, corpses rotting in the field being picked over by scavengers.

To really adjust descriptions in a meaningful way, it requires answering three simple questions. One, what did the person or place look like before? Two, what happened that could have caused a change? And then three, what story do you want to tell with the new description? For example, the party entered the dungeon, cleared it out halfway, and returned to town to rest, sell crap, etc. Before, it looked like a cave system used by a smuggling group. What happened? The PCs killed all of them that they found but missed a few of the smugglers.

So what story do you want to tell? Some of the smugglers are still alive. So when the party returns to the cave the next day, they found crates open that they hadn't touched. Bloody or muddy footprints leading out of the cave. Changes to rooms the PCs have already seen. With this slight change to what they experienced, you have told the story that there are survivors out there

and they're probably pissed. Another example. The PCs visit the peaceful town of Halladin. They find out about the dragon nearby that's been harassing the good people in town. They get some intel about where the dragon's layer is and set out to defeat the dragon, but they aren't exactly moving at a crisp pace.

They wander for a few days, explore a few hexes, oh, look, neat, there's some ruins, but there's nothing important there, and they don't find the dragon. They return to Halladin to find half of the buildings collapsed, covered in ice, people recovering from horrific cold burns and frostbite, slowly thawing dead in the streets.

What did Halladin look like before? A peaceful little village. And what happened? The white dragon attacked the town directly. So what story do you want to tell? Tempus Fuget, my friend, time flies. The world does not sit idle while the PCs fart around. The dragon is a real and present danger to the town,

and the PCs better put it down before it attacks the town again. Changing descriptions over time is a form of visual storytelling and can allow both players and GMs to show how time has changed PCs, NPCs, and locations. By considering what it looked like before, identifying the major change that happened and how that change would be shown now, the DM can tell a story showing repercussions of decisions made, events that happen, and can deepen immersion into a campaign.

Take a few minutes before each season, session and start thinking about how your descriptions can improve your game session for NPCs, PCs, and locations. If you do, I'd be willing to bet that you and your players would have fun doing it. Thank you so much for listening. I'd like to get your feedback, by the way, on this episode. Social media or email, feedback at taking20podcast.com. Please send me a message and let me know your thoughts on the episode.

Tune in next time where I'm going to give my beloved DMs out there some tips about starting your campaign. But before I go, I want to thank this week's sponsor, Soup. I made a hearty beef and vegetable dish in my crock pot this weekend, and not to brag, it was stew pendous. This has been episode 269, all about showing progression. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking 20 podcast is copyright 2026 by Jeremy Shelley. The opinions or views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host. References to game system content are copyright their respective publishers.