Tag: D&D

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Emergent Gameplay — Co-Creating Awesome Adventures with Your Players

emergent gameplay

If you’ve ever run a tabletop roleplaying game and watched a story unfold in ways you never expected, you’ve already experienced emergent gameplay—the joy of watching a narrative evolve not from a script, but from a conversation.

Few systems embrace this more fully than Dungeon World. Built on the Powered by the Apocalypse engine, Dungeon World encourages GMs and players alike to let go of control and lean into collaborative storytelling. At the heart of this approach is a powerful principle: the game world belongs to everyone at the table.

This article explores how Dungeon World’s GM advice promotes emergent play, highlights key techniques, and shows how these tools can shape rich, player-driven narratives.

What Is Emergent Gameplay?

Emergent gameplay is storytelling that arises during play, rather than being planned in advance. It’s what happens when players surprise the GM with clever choices, and the GM says “yes, and…” instead of redirecting. It’s the difference between following a script and building a story together. Dungeon World thrives on this. It asks GMs to prepare situations, not scripts, and to embrace the unexpected. The game’s core principles encourage openness, improvisation, and player input.

The Dungeon World GM Principles

Some of the key principles from Dungeon World that promote emergent storytelling include:

  • Ask questions and use the answers
  • Draw maps, leave blanks
  • Play to find out what happens
  • Make a move that follows

These aren’t just rules for Dungeon World—they’re tools for any GM who wants to co-create with their players.

Let’s look at one of the most powerful techniques: Paint the Picture questions.

“Paint the Picture” Questions

This is a technique where the GM prompts the player to help describe the world around them, often adding emotional, cultural, or sensory details.

Examples:

  • “You enter the ruined temple. What about it tells you that this place was once holy to your people?”
  • “As you step into the market square, what sound overwhelms you first?”
  • “What’s the one thing in the bandit leader’s camp that surprises you?”

These questions do more than build the setting. They:

  • Signal to players that their ideas shape the world
  • Tap into backstory, emotion, and personal stakes
  • Provide instant richness and depth with minimal prep

You’re not just running a game—you’re inviting players to become storytellers alongside you.

Co-Creation in Practice

In Dungeon World, players don’t just fill out a character sheet—they fill out the world. There are even paint the picture questions on the character sheets. When you ask a player, “Who rules this town, and why do you owe them a favour?” you’re inviting them to help shape the political landscape. When you ask, “Why do you fear the forest you grew up next to?” you’re creating lore together.

Some GMs are nervous about giving up control. But the truth is, player input doesn’t dilute your world—it enriches it. The players don’t need to invent major plot points. Even small contributions (a tavern name, a strange superstition, a former ally) add texture and depth.

The secret is to guide, not dictate—to build the skeleton and let the group add the muscles, skin, and spirit.

Making Emergence the Core (Or Just a Flavour)

This co-creative style can form the foundation of your game. A whole Dungeon World campaign might begin with just a few questions:

  • “What threat looms over this land?”
  • “Who among you has a connection to it?”
  • “Why is your party already in trouble?”

From those seeds, an entire world blossoms.

But you don’t have to go all-in. These techniques work just as well in a more traditional game like D&D or Pathfinder:

  • Use “Paint the Picture” questions to add local colour and culture
  • Let players invent small NPCs or towns they’ve visited
  • Ask what their character remembers about a place or why they hate a particular enemy

A few well-placed questions can shift players from passive participants to creative collaborators.

Final Thoughts on Emergent Gameplay

Dungeon World’s approach reminds us of something essential: roleplaying games are not individual performances—they’re involved conversations. When players feel like their ideas matter, the story becomes theirs. That ownership creates richer narratives, stronger investment, and more memorable moments.

Whether you use emergent techniques as your main style or just sprinkle them in for flavour, the result is the same: a world that feels alive, responsive, and uniquely yours. So next session, don’t ask what the players do. Ask them what they see. What they fear. What they hope for. Then let the adventure emerge.

I’ve compiled a two page emergent play prompt sheet full of paint the picture questions for you to use at your table. Visit the Play2Lead area from the top menu to download your copy.

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Building a Party That Works — Unlocking the Secrets of Team Composition with D&D

Building a Party

In games of Dungeons & Dragons, survival isn’t guaranteed by brute strength alone. It’s the party—a team of adventurers with varied skills and personalities—that determines success. A well-balanced party navigates danger, solves puzzles, negotiates with kings, and defeats dragons. Building a party that is poorly balanced? They get wiped out in the first dungeon.

This isn’t just fantasy. Building a good party is a powerful metaphor for creating real-world teams—whether in business, education, or community leadership. Let’s explore how the lessons of D&D party composition can help you build more effective, resilient, and exciting teams.

The Classic Roles: Diversity of Function

In most D&D parties, players naturally fall into a few core roles:

  • The Fighter (or Tank) – Soaks up damage, leads from the front, keeps the team safe.
  • The Healer (or Support) – Keeps the team alive, fixes problems mid-battle, often overlooked until things get desperate.
  • The Arcane Master (or Wizard) – Wields immense power, but fragile. A thinker and planner.
  • The Thief (or Rogue) – Deals precision damage, scouts ahead, solves traps. Agile and clever.
  • The Negotiator (or Face) – Talks the party through problems. Reads the room, persuades the crowd, calms the chaos.

Each of these roles plays a critical part in a party’s success. And just like in the workplace, it’s dangerous to build a team with only one type of thinker or doer. A team of fighters might get stuck on a puzzle. A group of wizards might collapse under pressure. True strength comes from complementary roles—from people doing different things well, not the same thing better.

Unique Players, Unique Takes

But D&D is never just about archetypes. Each player adds their own twist to their role. Of course, one fighter might be a stoic knight. Another, a reckless brawler. One rogue might be a sly thief with a heart of gold, another an acrobat who only steals for sport. A cleric might be a devout priest—or a cynical medic who just happens to carry a holy symbol (“I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer”) .

These personal touches matter. They affect how players interact, solve problems, and support one another. In leadership, we call this individual agency within a role. Just because two people have the same job title doesn’t mean they’ll approach it the same way—and that’s a strength, not a flaw.

Encouraging individuality within roles allows team members to take ownership, play to their strengths, and bring their full selves to the work. You don’t want five clones with different names. You want five distinctive voices working together.

The Magic of Synergy

Some of the most memorable D&D moments come from synergy—when players combine their abilities in surprising ways:

  • The rogue distracts the guards with sleight of hand while the wizard casts invisibility on the fighter, who then sneaks into the vault
  • The druid wild shapes into a blue ring octopus and is thrown by the fighter, on the end of a spear into the villain, poisoning him fatally (yes, this really happened).
  • The barbarian takes all the hits while the healer stacks buffs and the bard inspires everyone with a heavy metal song.

These combos aren’t in the rulebook. They come from understanding what your teammates can do and planning together. In other words, collaboration.

In leadership, encouraging synergy means helping people know each other’s strengths, build trust, and experiment together. Cooperation like this doesn’t just increase output—it creates those unforgettable “we did it!” moments that build lasting team culture.

Who will make up your party?

Building Your Party in the Real World

So how do you use the concepts of building your party in your own team or organization?

  1. Define Your Roles Clearly
    Just like D&D characters have classes, your team members need to understand their roles—not just their job titles, but how they contribute to the team’s overall success. This can be done individually as people step into a new role. However, it can also be done as a group where everyone’s role is defined collectively.
  2. Value Diversity of Skills
    Don’t hire or assign roles based on sameness. Bring in people who think differently, act differently, and bring different types of magic to the table. You want to avoid groupthink at all costs, get diversity into your team quicksmart.
  3. Let People Own Their Role
    Encourage creativity. Let team members adapt their roles to suit their strengths and interests. Don’t just assign tasks—give ownership. Watching a team member make a role their own is one of the joys of leadership.
  4. Foster Collaboration, Not Competition
    Create a culture where people look for combo moves, not solo glory. Reward teamwork over individual brilliance. Collaboration and teamwork should be the norm. Don’t encourage or reward Lone Wolf behaviour.
  5. Make Time for Storytelling
    In D&D, parties bond over shared adventures. In real life, teams need time to reflect, celebrate wins, laugh over failures, and tell the story of what they’ve achieved together.

Final Thoughts on Building a Party

Whether you’re storming a goblin-infested ruin or navigating a complex project at work, success rarely comes from going it alone. It comes from assembling a party that works—people with different talents, unique styles, and a shared goal.

Leadership, then, isn’t about being the strongest character. It’s about building the right party, helping each person shine, and creating the space where together you can do something extraordinary.

And honestly? That’s where the real adventure begins.

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Stories Lived. Stories Told Podcast

A few months ago I recorded an episode of the Stories Lived. Stories Told. podcast hosted by Abbie VanMeter. Abbie was an excellent host, who made the experience very straightforward and the kept the conversation flowing. We talked about D&D in the context of leadership and communication. Heres the official blurb:

How do games like Dungeons and Dragons enable us to practice a CMM-informed way of relating, participating, and communicating?

…

Today, Abbie and Tom explore Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) as a powerful practice and metaphor for developing more relational, emergent, and collaborative ways of being and leading, touching on the value of experiental learning in scenarios our brains will remember as real; the need (both in game and out) to coordinate across different meanings being made in each of our own imaginations; and the opportunity to transform and be transformed by collective storytelling and world building.

I had a great time recording the episode and we covered a lot of ground. You can find it by following the links below:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4RDvlAgU0CdgiXk8KtTfAC?si=5004742137b043df

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-lived-stories-told/id1610827437?i=1000722748681

Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/cmminstitute/p/on-practicing-leadership-playing?r=3momjn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

YouTube: https://youtu.be/9m4Bhtjme14

And the SLST website: https://www.storieslivedstoriestold.com/podcast

I’d love for you to check it out!

For other podcasts that DnD at Work has appeared on check out our page here.

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Three Valuable Lessons from the Infamous Leeroy Jenkins

Over the last 15 year, few moments have become as iconic in the gaming sphere as the infamous “Leeroy Jenkins” incident from the video game World of Warcraft. For those unfamiliar, Leeroy Jenkins is a character who, in a recorded raid planning session, abruptly charges into battle without waiting for his team’s strategy, resulting in a spectacular failure. While this moment is often remembered for its humor, it also holds valuable lessons that transcend gaming and apply to various aspects of life and teamwork. So what can we learn?

1. The Importance of Preparation

One of the most glaring takeaways from the Leeroy Jenkins saga is the significance of preparation. In the video, the team meticulously plans their strategy, calculating odds and discussing tactics. However, Leeroy’s unplanned charge into the fray completely derails their carefully laid plans, leading to most of the party being wiped out and their objective lost.

Lesson: Preparation is key to success, whether in gaming, work, or personal projects. Taking time to plan, understand the task at hand, and ensure everyone is on the same page can dramatically increase the chances of success. While spontaneity can sometimes lead to positive surprises, a lack of preparation often results in preventable failures. Think of the six Ps: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

2. The Value of Teamwork and Communication

The Leeroy Jenkins moment underscores the importance of teamwork and clear communication. The rest of the team was engaged in a collaborative effort to strategize, yet Leeroy’s solo actions ignored this collective effort, leading to chaos. The actions of one, completely destroyed the goal of the group.

Lesson: Effective teamwork relies on every member contributing and adhering to the agreed-upon plan. Communication is crucial in ensuring that all team members understand their roles and responsibilities. Disregarding team dynamics can undermine the entire group’s efforts, leading to conflict and failure.

Although amusing, Leeroy Jenkins does highlight the issues of having a Lone Wolf on your team. As a leader you need to try and get everyone pulling together as a team. If an individual doesn’t want to do that, then perhaps it is time for them to work/play elsewhere.

Some great memes came from the Leeroy Jenkins incident.

3. Embracing Failure and Learning from It

Despite the catastrophic outcome, the Leeroy Jenkins incident has been embraced by the gaming community as a legendary moment of humor and learning. World of Warcraft now has a Leeroy Jenkins NPC for players to interact with and references have popped up in media ranging from Family Guy to serious military discourse. It highlights that failure, while sometimes embarrassing or frustrating, can also be an opportunity for growth and camaraderie.

Lesson: Failure is an inevitable part of any endeavor. The key is to embrace these moments, analyze what went wrong, and use the experience to improve future efforts. In both gaming and life, laughter and resilience in the face of failure can transform a setback into a memorable and educational experience.

Final Thoughts

The legend of Leeroy Jenkins is more than just a funny internet video; it’s a cautionary tale with lessons about preparation, teamwork, and the value of learning from failure. By taking these lessons to heart, we can approach our own challenges with greater foresight. So next time you’re about to charge into a situation, take a moment to plan, communicate, and remember the enduring cry: “Leeeeroy Jenkins!”

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Dealing with Problem Players in Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is built on teamwork, creativity, and shared storytelling. However, at least once in their journey every Dungeon Master will eventually encounter a problem player—someone whose behavior disrupts the game, frustrates other players, or creates unnecessary conflict. Whether it’s an attention-hogging player, a rules lawyer, or someone who constantly derails the campaign, handling these individuals effectively is essential for maintaining a fun and engaging experience for everyone.

Types of Problem Players

The problem player takes many different guises. But the one thing they have in common is disrupting the game and reducing the fun of everyone else at the table. Here are a few of the more common varieties:

  1. The Spotlight Stealer – Always wants to be the center of attention, overshadowing others and making the game about themselves.
  2. The Rules Lawyer – Constantly argues about the rules, slowing the game and creating friction with the DM and players.
  3. The Disruptor – Makes inappropriate jokes, derails the story, or causes in-game chaos just for the sake of it.
  4. The Lone Wolf – Ignores the party and pursues their own goals, disregarding group decisions.
  5. The Power Gamer – Focuses entirely on optimizing their character for combat, often at the expense of roleplaying and team dynamics.
  6. The Flake – Frequently misses sessions, arrives late, or isn’t engaged when present, disrupting game flow.

Strategies for Handling Problem Players

Players who disrupt the game in the ways described above need to be dealt with. Otherwise, the alternative becomes a game that is not as fun. Players will leave the table with a sense of frustration and are much less likely to come back to your table. Here are a few strategies that myself and other DMs I know have used to minimize the disruption caused by problem players.

  1. Have a One-on-One Conversation – Most players don’t realize they’re causing issues. A private chat can help set expectations and find solutions. I’ve found this is the most successful strategy, particularly if you enter the conversation with tact and not in attack mode.
  2. Set Clear Table Rules – Establishing a social contract at the start of the campaign ensures everyone understands acceptable behavior. I would encourage every DM do this at the start of a new game, especially when new players are present.
  3. Redirect and Reinforce Positive Play – Encourage collaborative play by giving equal spotlight time and rewarding teamwork. Simply moving round the table and asking what each player is doing in turn ensures that everyone has a chance to shine and that no one person dominates the action.
  4. Use In-Game Consequences – A rules lawyer might meet enemies who don’t follow the normal rules. A lone wolf might face an enemy too powerful to handle alone.
  5. Know When to Ask a Player to Leave – If a player consistently ruins the experience despite multiple discussions, it may be best to part ways. But make sure to have tried speaking to them first, offering them a chance to change their behaviour.

The Business Parallel: Problem Employees

Of course, this article wouldn’t be complete without a parallel to the workplace. Just like in D&D examples above, businesses also deal with problem employees—individuals who disrupt workflow, cause conflicts, or refuse to collaborate. A few of the more common problem employee types include:

  • The Credit Hoarder – Takes all the glory, ignoring the contributions of the team.
  • The Policy Lawyer – Constantly challenges company rules, slowing down processes.
  • The Office Disruptor – Engages in gossip, negativity, or distractions that harm morale.
  • The Lone Operator – Works in isolation, refusing to communicate or coordinate with colleagues.
  • The Bare Minimum Worker – Does only the absolute minimum required, affecting team efficiency and ultimately morale.

Managing Problem Employees

Dealing with problem employees is not dissimilar to handling problem players as a DM. Communication and tact are the name of the game as well as understanding when to enforce consequences. A few good examples include:

  1. Provide Clear Expectations – Just like table rules, workplace policies should be well-defined and enforced. These should be explained to new employees as part of onboarding and reinforced by the organization’s leaders.
  2. Encourage Constructive Feedback – Open dialogue can often resolve behavioral issues before they escalate. This is key to nipping problems n teh bud and letting employees steer back on the path before becoming disruptive.
  3. Recognize Positive Contributions – Reinforcing good behavior can shift workplace culture in the right direction.
  4. Use Consequences When Necessary – Performance reviews, coaching, and structured feedback can guide employees toward improvement. However, use these sparingly and only when other attempts have failed.
  5. Know When to Let Go – Sometimes, letting an employee go is the best option for the team’s overall success. Weighing up the time and effort being spent on performance managing an employee and the impact on the team against keeping them is a hard but worthwhile exercise.

Final Thoughts on Problem Players

Whether at the gaming table or in the office, a single disruptive individual can have a significant negative impact on team morale and productivity. By addressing issues directly, setting clear expectations, and reinforcing positive behavior, both DMs and business leaders can cultivate a more cooperative and enjoyable environment for everyone involved. Ultimately, strong leadership, communication, and proactive management are key to dealing with problem players—whether they’re rolling dice or filing reports.