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Lou getting up and flipping double birds at Brennan had me in stitches. Also Marisha saying she is canceling the show because it's too stressful. I think Calamity is the best actual play there is.

Karina and Nathan going for the drunk acting hall of fame.

If they somehow stretched this bit to a whole 2hr stream, I'd probably still watch it.

Me vs. Me vs. Me anytime I open Clip Studio.

By the way Nathan plays being drunk you can tell he has been the sober guy at the party many times

merry porfmas!!

"Do you think she likes me?" "She did say you're not the worst" "I don't believe I've actually said anything" *dissapears forever * xDDD

did they RP being drunk? or did they actually get tipsy for the recording?

I looooove this moment so much 😂

Alternate title: a prince, a dog walker, and a thief walk into a bar

👏

Such a highlight of the season! Thank you for making this cut, I hope you have a great 2023!

It'd be a disaster if York got tipsy or drunk

watching this also drunk is v fun, thank you

This is such a highlight of the last season of Drawtectives and thank you for putting it together!

I do this kind of thing all the time! Just slap random abilities on different monsters. Great video!

So true Unfortunately all of these rely on the players respecting the DM, which I have found is a rarity

Advice for anyone who's not seeing players bite with this: every party tends to be different, and my advice is to have your first session (or next session, if you feel you need to adjust something in your GM style) have three encounters: a social encounter, a combat encounter and a narrative encounter. The narrative encounter isn't really something you roll dice, but roleplay IMHO. It's s chance I give players to describe themselves, something they do, buy, etc. I say "encounter" because I'll set things up to sorta put players on the spot and see how they react. After this first session I normally get s better ides for how the party's gonna be, and I start making the encounters less rigid and adapt (or not) my style and module to their wants. Even if I know players for a while, it still helps me (and them) get acquaintanted with their characters.

I loved the four episodes of Calamity more than I loved the entirety of Campaign 2. The flow of decisions was laser-focused as opposed to too open-worldy, the pacing had a perfect ebb and flow, and the characters were fully engaged in the world that made me engaged in it as well.

The too much time explaining checks complaint misses a major point that is actually one of Brennan's main strengths as a DM. Brennan does the same thing in the first episode of every game he runs. He gives each player a 10 to 15 minute vignette introducing their character. During that vignette the player describes their character, the NPCs most important to them may get introduced, and he often has them make at least one roll or lets them cast spells. Yeah, that means the players who go last may have to wait longer, but when you're running a game as entertainment for an audience without visual aids, costumes, or animatics you absolutely need to get the entire audience locked in on who is playing what character and what their deal is. Abriya didn't get called on until 30 minutes into the first session not because he was ignoring her or taking his time. She waited because the audience needed to be caught up on who three people at the table were before getting to the other three. In the very first season of dimension 20 Brennan rolled to decide who would get introduced first/next. I'm pretty sure he rolls ahead of schedule now to speed things up.

This is like saying “wanna be a great actor? Just copy Morgan Freeman!” 😂

I've tried this with my players. Their usual response is "...eh...I dunno" because they spend all of their brain power making their warlock or paladin deal a tiny bit more damage per damage and don't want to engage with anything beyond stab the bad guy on sight. I think they're just not into the same aspects of the game as me.

NO! No other GMs do NOT COPY the "famous" GMs we see on RUclips, do your own thing! On an unrelated note: I AM the only person alive who knows who that man is and can't stand him! Everyone must have forgotten that we once got upset at Legedary(or whoever they hell they are) when they started locking all the cool shit at Geek and Sundry behind some paywall BS! Brennan took it one step further and as SOON as the first EXU started he through a "teaser" up and made sure to say "HEY! Throw money at me to see more!"

If you REALLY want to get your players attention, get rid of the D&D hit point system as they're written and do this instead: Each character has three base hit points, which is considered them being in a stable condition. Non-lethal (but still noticeable) attacks impose some sort of temporary condition but no hit point damage, but dangerous, lethal attacks actually cause hit point damage, along with a condition that matches the type of injury they receive. After taking the player's protective gear into account, if the attack the PC took would still be considered dangerous and potentially lethal, they suffer at least one hit point of damage, if not more. To determine how much hit point damage an attack would deal to a player, put on your dramatic movie director hat on and ask yourself (as the DM): how many of these attacks could kill a main cast member of this movie? If it would take three of these attacks (like the arrows that killed Boromir in Fellowship), then said attack would deal 1 hp of damage. If it would take two of those attacks (typically a sword slash), then it would deal 2 hp of damage. If it would one-shot someone (like a sword plunged through the gut and sticking out of the exit wound), then it would deal 3hp of damage. Anything that would turn someone into a pile of gore or more would deal 4+ hp of damage. At zero hit points, the PC is taken out. What happens afterwards is up to the GM. Now I mentioned "base hit points," because it would be possible for PCs to go beyond that total. Anything that would sufficiently motivate or invigorate a character to fight on more than they normally would will add 1 temporary bonus hp to said character. Anything that would tremendously empower the character's will to persevere would add 2 temporary bonus hp to said character (only use the higher temporary bonus hp). To further accentuate the invigorating properties of this bonus hp, through in a +d4 or +d6 to d20 rolls that would correlate with the boost. As for monsters and NPCs, you can choose to either use the same system or simply get rid of their hit points and make damage purely descriptive. When they've taken a dramatically appropriate amount of damage, they die or are taken out of the fight. Gauge the amount of damage the players deal in the same way you do for NPCs and monsters. Dispense with damage dice and immerse yourself (and your players) into the dramatic and cinematic nature of it all. Last but not least, nerf the hell out of healing magic and make it so that it just shortens natural recovery for 1 hp of damage (not all hp loss).

I found that epic moment at the end of ep 4, 5hr,32min, 30sec to be a bit awkward, Abria starts throwing all kinds of dice around and rolling before the DM even says what she needs to roll for. The first time I watched it seems like she rolled 3 or 4 times,.. but I guess she just set the first die aside, then fumbled,... but yeah. Just felt like it was a must make roll, and then 24 or something like that.... anyways, no biggy, It was the Best 4 episode campaign adventures ever.

Calamity was excellent, Brennan Lee Mulligan IS excellent. MY personal favorite DM. However, You use a couple all inclusive statements in this review that are not universally applicable… BLM plays with people who enjoy the spotlight and enjoy telling a story about everything, even picking out a new outfit… and if you’re DMing for players that enjoy those moments then YES, do this… but know your players, some aren’t story tellers or spot light lovers. I’ve had players who don’t even think about what their character looks like, but know every aspect of their abilities. Asking them to describe how they end an opponent is too much for their imaginations, asking them to world build or describe the outfit they buy would stop all momentum and make that type of player uncomfortable. So no not All DMs but the DMs who DM for fellow storytellers… employ this advise.

Talk naturally.

"Do you see how excited she is?" That's right, good players will automatically jump on these prompts and be invested/engaged. You can't force engagement from shitty players 🤷‍♂️

The first point I feel a little weird about. Because sometimes I would ask my party about A B C about what they might see or what their backstory is and they would say "I don't know. You're the DM"

For those printing pictures for minis give some thicker paper a shot or pick up some cheap card stock or cardboard and you can make little Vs to glue your pictures to and get verticals minis.

This isn’t a plot hole. Teleportation isn’t accessible to the baker or the cobbler. Planes exist but I have never been to Hawaii. As for the “friends circle”… spells cost money/materials. I have friends in Denmark but they don’t pay for tickets to fly me out there….

His long winded way of describing everything is the main reason I couldn't get through the intro portion of the first episode. I decided I'd just wait for a breakdown of the series. Hopefully they do a recap of the series like with the mighty nein.

The only thing I would say is that he is trying to lore dump because he only has a limited time to complete this campaign. I think he would have done this more organically if it had been a home game.

“Build suspense” is a pretty vague piece of advice though. You could also say “be dramatic” but those things are pretty difficult things to do and require a lot of storytelling skill

I am printing my own minis since I started playing Savage Worlds a few years ago, but the idea with the glasses for big monsters was new to me. Nice video!

na not my players, they dont want this. it breaks their immersion so hard. i let them describe anything thats from their backstory and i let them describe the final kill of combat if its an important encounter (sometimes they cba and just say i stab/punch/etc.)

DO roll for all the NPC's saving throws for AOE, and minions are great. Reducing them to a 1hp target IS lame. Give their dog 1hp, but the person should get at least a "STRUGGLE" ability. Or let a few have advantage and some with disadvantage (based on position or their temperament). And maybe have one die to their own traps in an encounter room THE PARTY IS TRAPPED INSIDE OH NOO! And let the party witness the consequences of the traps! They will have to use actions to spot the traps during initiative, rewarding RP while under attack! OR nice NPC's attempting to survive. Like have people get spotted and retreat back away from a gateway BEFORE THE PARTY EBEN KNOWS WHATS HAPPENING your players should have to insight the crowd.. meaning if their perception checks are shooting Zombies it's a little too late to PREP. The NPC's 'who flee the undead at the gate in shock'😲 RUN and tell NOBODY what is happening, unless the party asks or they retreat to the place the party is at and begin to panic. So group saves- perhaps squad them up based on initiative so you DONT have to take a bunch of turns at once. I'll clump up 3 zombies who work as a "smart-team" to "get" a player. The shock of a zombie JUMPING and shoving somebody PRONE vs. dealing damage can set-up the hoards next attack or make the players movement speed reduced next turn! If the party finds the WALKING DEAD bike woman.. alright she is an arm+torso+head.. Any monster can impose the SHOVE conditions and I do it alot! Especially out of combat in bar fights because it's more fun to throw someone than to PIN 📌 them.

Them: flying is too strong, ban that race! Me: hey shoot that guy everyone he's not in cover!

Just subscribed 🌛 #3 lions are a race and they roar :) it's in the game!! But intimidating NPC's? That's bigger than any cone effect

Okay you asked me to checkout your HOT TAKES 🪵🔥🪵 🥵 🪵🔥🪵 I'm listening, but starting out idk who wrote this and I haven't seen it but loved your positive video from a few days ago.

I think the party is less for the movers and shakers like the ring of brass, who are constantly busy, more like the many families and civillians.

BLM is probably the best DM I ever saw, the ending of EXU calamity is legitimatly made me tear up

I’m planning a Zelda-based campaign. Lesson 1: I’ll split the party backstories across the races/cultures, and have them help set up some things in their towns. Lesson 2: At the end of sessions, as well as the start, we’ll recap. If there’s a forking path ahead, they can pick up to 5 days before the next session. Lesson 3: I’ll save those for when it’s appropriate for the story.

Players: that's your job

This is the Way

I really love Brennan’s way of using words like “amazing” or “incredible” to direct the players without them really realizing. It’s often used like the period of a sentence when they are off on a tangent, wrapping up a scene on a positive note. The players feel like their actions are appreciated while the group is ready to move on to what is next, incredibly well done.

I feel the whole Teleportation Circle thing is a 2 sided blade. I could immagine, that those mages, as parraniod as they are, wouldt want some circles around. Especially permanent ones. In a city if backstabbing wizards i wouldnt have some tbh. But yeah. Its a bit weird that they are so city centered but family lives way off with no chance to see them is weird. I mean its atleast regular. Every 7 years you can see your kids. Sounds fair XD

brennan is genuinely the best DM on the planet

Doesn't work if your players are introverted, non creative, prone to overthinking. roll players etc etc Btw there is nothing wrong with being anything like this at a table ^ Different players engage in all sorts of different ways

Cool video. Subscribed.