Видео

The thing they really put between towns on a log road was a coaching inn, every seven miles.

I absolutely agree. As player, our DM loves it when we pull at the strings he leaves all over the place. I myself an building a shrine for my cleric's religion in a rival faith's territory. Our other player is engaging with a love affair that was flung on them by a failed carousing check. It's a super fun, easy, and rewarding way to add verisimilitude to the setting for sure.

❤ the idea of treating geography as an NPC, with its own history, dangers & inhabitants

thank you!

I guess I am going to try Draw Steel.

Multiple funny memories over the years, .. a.) DM, well she random rolled an encounter and results came up as a juvie red dragon. She goes into role play mod and trips all over her togue stuttering the whole red dragon thing. Another player stuck a peanut butter cheese cracker to the roof of his mouth and mock the DM with his cheesy ham up red dragon with a stuttering problem of his own. The table roared in laughter, DM gives the angry sister look of " You will suffer and die to pay for that," .. look. Guest who ended up PCing that juvie red dragon for the rest of the campaign ? The peanut butter cheese cracker guy ! b.) Uh, mmm That PC guy .. in Forgotten Realms/ Waterdeep campaign. WotC3e system DM says her game will start out at 5th-level multiclass character level. Or a 3rd-level spellcaster with two caster class level Xp to gp value of self-made magic items worth of trade goods for equipment. I throw out two characters .. Paladin of Fizz Ban the Red Wizard, bard3/sorcerer1/rogue2/fighter2 CR:8 with atk+4 .. That PC guy .. had a very outgoing personality and a complete dim wit iddiot who normal you won't let handle sharp objects without hurting himself. Mentality of a child enacting a satire bard tale of a noble paladin. " Pure Comic Relief." Calls all hin/halfling Kender. He is serious crazy Neutral/chaotic neutral Good. Very easy to lie too. Few players, .. this is Forgotten Realms not Dragonlance. Me, .. it is all Fantasy and this is .. Silly. I need a comic PC to get out of grimdark. Otherwise I just want to violently beat someone bloody with a crowbar. Other player, .. so a crazy left field silly goofy good PC that thinks he is a paladin without any clerical powers to a Lawful Good god. Me, .. Palatium lawful good dragon god of order but as Fizz Ban the Red wizard he acts like an idle minded old senile goof wizard that only cast spell that accidently work. Tax codes and phone books are the top tier of order listings, but they drive you nuts just trying to find anything in there that is meaningful to daily lives. Other player, .. good point. Few players, .. who is the other PC. Me, .. ChAoTiC evil Lolth priestess that is cleric3/rogue2 with a large spider fiendish familiar who is a lying con artist who public states she is hunting for a .. worthy .. elf for Lolth. She is paid to torture murder people during Lolth rituals. Random murder is just soo bland soo soo, come on she does have a given level of class to her. Not much but some. She looks after That PC guy cause she is the evilest person she knows, and he is soo comical Navie she just has to steer him from great harm/ anyone sicker than her. When they tell a criminal that hanging is too good for them, they hire her to send the criminal to Lolth in the Abyss. It is that or get feed to a night hag. After a couple of hours of D&D silliness, we switch to d10 Vampire and it was Gotham City and I was handed the Red Hood/ Jason Todd card to play. My problem is, I can't talk Smack like a pro wrestler Lobo does in the cartoons.

That thumb nail takes me WAAAAAY back

Good video. I sometimes use the 5e initiative points for creativity but im not in love with the system. More often its not a literal reward but ill have creativity open a new plot thread that i know the player will like

I have a half giant barbarian in my campaign that I am running. The group is investigating this area fighting a race of rat creatures. The party is hurt, barbarian is at one HP so the group is looking for a rest place. The ho into a room and see a large room with a sand arena 4 heavily armed guards and a warlord is. He challenges the barbarian to a one on one fight. The boss is huge with a big weapon and heavy armor. He has no chance, but tells the group "I got this" he rages and five attempts wins a contested shove throwing the boss like a child, demoralizing the guards, humiliating the boss and winning the fight. I gave him 2 inspiration and the group went nuts. Hi ideas and I had not planned for it

Our mage Ali`ana was raised by a bard she sucked at singing but excelled at magic. So, what she did to become a bard of renown, she used programed illusion, to create cinematic cubes of their adventures. She would show them in the royal theatre, for a gold. Then show the adventure, a few months delayed at the merchant's hall, for a silver, then eventually to the common halls, for a copper. Because they were programmed illusion anyone could be M.C. in her absence. But the adventuring group became famous, because they were featured in "the programs". As the cinematic cubes were spread from place to place around the world their fame grew and their presence was requested by more and more countries and peoples with problems, until they couldn't find a place to just rest. This is my favorite example of "Yes, But..." Yes, you can make your party movie stars. But, then you have to deal with the fallout of making yourselves famous. Villains would make preemptive strikes against them, taverns wanted you to kill the rats in their basement, you are called to rescue every dragon taken captive by a maiden. Ali`ana's Magical Cinema kind of blew up in their face. Great video, they always bring some story or other to mind, sorry.

My ideal/preferred ratio is 20% Combat, 30% Lore/Exploration, 15% Roleplay/Speaking, 15% Travel, and 20% Shopping/Downtime Activities.

I created a new Cantrip/Spell that I think all adventuring party members should automatically get. It's called: "Cleanliness" & it only requires verbal and somatic components and starts as a Cantrip with 1 minute casting time. You point either at yourself or any point 10 feet away and say 'May it be Cleansed' then it forms a wave of steamy magical energy that doesn't deal damage/cause harm or damage in a 30 foot radius from point of impact. It genuinely cleans all Dust, Dirt, Grime, Stains, Bad Bacteria, Bad Viruses, Bad Mold, and Mildew in the area of effect leaving a clean area that smells citrusy fresh. It can be upcast up to 9th level as long as you have spell slots, each spell slot level increases the radius by 10 feet (so for example upcast to 9th level it has a 120 foot radius). If you want to include it in your games I think your players might enjoy it. Anyway, keep up the good work.

Creativity in my games often means that the situation gets more risky. The effect goes up but so do the stakes.

Love, love, love all of this! Some of the absolutely best advice. Player engagement is so important.

Great video!

Right on the money! I love when my players come up with a creative solution to a problem that I had not even thought of. It makes for such a better experience for all. My favorite conversations are the ones that start "you remember that time when we...".

My campaign is built around the players collecting the scattered cards in a race between themselves and other interested parties. Haven't even decided who will win the race yet, and it really doesn't matter. The deck is a tool to improve the game like any other magic item.

I think you do need to know the rules quite well as DM. First and foremost, to properly design encounters that appropriately challenge the party without having to fudge rolls or save them dues ex machina. Players, in my experience (and me as a player) want challenges that have risk.

D&D is a very combat centric game. When I go three sessions without a combat, I tend to get cranky. But I don't need a combat every session.

I find this question kind of interesting because in my games, combat occurs as much as the players encite it. There's almost always an option to get out of combat by negotiating. There's the option to stay in town and talk to npcs instead of dungeon delving. I've always put combat at the players' discretion.

It really changes with the ebb and flow of the game. We have sessions with no combat, and also sessions that run from the one combat encounter to the next....

I'm switching over to Deadlands because I don't wanna deal with the new rules DnD.

I've had one person who would fight a stop sign if they encountered one, in a group that loved social interaction, and exploration. One day he thought that he was leading the group into a five person encounter to only find himself alone. After being Swiss cheesed by a mated pair of Manticore he ran back to the party. In a good sand box if you present the party with exploration, they will create the social interactions, puzzles and fighting encounters on their own. Just be imaginative, give them things not found in the monster manuals that will make them deep dive into their world. Imagine how they will react to Dandelion Fairie so tiny they drift on the wind like dandelion seeds, their head of hair giving them lift. Only to find that the fairy are fleeing their towns that were destroyed by giants, and that your party are those giants.

My games offer combat only as an option. I introduce adversaries but my players can always get around fighting them if they don't feel like it. But I don't GM 5e. In the games I play there are always a lot of non-combat skills.

My players decide how much... 😊

Style of game, .. a.) one shots, draw index cards at random for premade characters, and the player gets an arch type to role play. b.) My past two game shop owner and more experience DMs tell new players just pick your favorite superhero and build a 10th-level PC on that. c.) Run a short 20minute to 30minute mini game to set the mood or blow off steam for the main story event. 2.) Role play vs roll play social encounters and combat. a.) Vampire is a heavy role play type of game with 1d10 dice pools adjusting social outcomes. It has combat but is faster and more lethal than stander D&D or other games. You can be at top health levels but fail a defense roll and get staked or your head remove in one 3second round of surprise. So most groups try to avoid combat. Otherwise watch a Blade movie, and you are not Blade. b.) Are we dealing with opening combat like from the movie Conan the Destroyer ? c.) Watch any show on monster hunters from Sabrine the Teenage Witch, the X-Files, Charm, or whatever Cop show/Law & Order. Opening scene of the monster attack or murder victim, the PC investigate, maybe a chase, then show down with the monster. D.) the class Barbarian the Rager. In other setting they are called Berserkers cause .. barbarian .. means uncivilized lands. We are playing a Civil setting. So they are called Rager, berserkers, or that guy with anger issues found in the nearest bar fight. Even that opera singer that goes into a verbal yelling fit and throws heavy object when things don't turn out right. 3.) Phantom of the Opera, .. Bloody Ballet. Using WotC3e rules the classes Monk and Barbarian have +10ft movement increase. Which would make them fast dancers, and hype themselves into a control Frenzy rage they throw their dance partner high in the air and spin off stage and let someone else catch them. Backstage they beat a sandbag till they come down. Feat, screaming war cry rage, lasts for 1d6 rounds + con modifier. Problem are we dealing with 6second rounds or 1minute rounds. Point being you have one of those grand opera vocalists, or you are watching a muscular heavy set grown man have an emotional break down in front of hundreds doing a wail. Even if the setting has cheap cleric magic, roll for throat tearage. How many days you .. hoars .. your voice.

I play B/X or BFRPG with my daughters. My goals are for them to be away from their phones and think. It turns out my oldest prefers coming up with creative solutions and my younger prefers to talk her way out of problems. So, fighting is nearly a last result. I don't have any problems with this.

I try to have about a third of the time taken up by combat. This gives players a chance to use their life-and-death skills as well as their own mystery-solving and exploration abilities. One thing that cuts the time taken by combat is when enemies realize they are being destroyed by the PCs they fail morale and retreat, run away, or make a deal if the PCs will let it happen.

I think a lot of players & DM’s have forgot that they can always run away from combat…you don’t have to stand and slug it out. The DM can have the monsters to run away after they suffer heavy losses or lose so many hit points. Gone is the use of morale rolls that helped to decide whether the monster surrenders or flees, continues to fight, or even fights until killed. This and the group initiative helped speed up combat and was baked into the rules along with the advice that all encounters do not have to be combat and combat can be broken off by either side whenever they choose.

I think it is a compromise between the GM and the Players - and a good campaign will ebb and flow through all three pillars so everyone can enjoy their favorite part and quietly suffer through the part they don't like.

It's such an online 5e thing to be trying to define the game by percentages of combat vs. roleplay. It's very disconnected from what actually playing a trpg is about. Pretty sure most of them advertise their games this way only because everyone else does. imo it's probably a good sign to avoid them.

Each group has different needs. A group of murder hobos would want more combat, but another group of explorers would want as little as possible. So you have to go by the feel of the group and game.

Good video, KR, I agree that there isn't really a right answer, it's whatever your group prefers. If your group is split, I think it's best to discuss that before the campaign starts. Just let them know that you'll need to compromise, some sessions might be ehavier into social, some might be heavier combat. That way if someone strongly disagrees they can find another table.

It naturally has fallen into about 15% for me 😅 Though I would, and have, run very large dungeons that last multiple sessions. I tend to have fewer but more impactful battles, and leaving other types of simpler combat relegated to Skill Challenges. But my guys tend to like the social and exploration pillars a lot. They like delving into NPCs and the political and social intrigue. Notion helps me keep track of things really well, too. I can have 250+ Unique (and, I do haha) NPCs because I'm able to sort them out so easily with Notion. Sometimes I would like more fights, but I like to run pacing and the adventures around what the players are doing; I move at their pace. And, I can always attack you in a town 😅 My players know to not feel safe, ever, EVEN WITH us sometimes not having a combat in 5-8 sessions.

I agree with you about Owlbear vs a more robust VTT. I LOVE Owlbear when I run one-shots or a couple of sessions max, but I’m running a longer-term DCC campaign right now using Owlbear, and I’m wishing I would’ve started with Foundry or Fantasy Grounds this time. Very tedious to wrangle all of the characters, notes, treasure, etc bouncing between Owlbear, Discord, and Google Drive; meanwhile, I could have everything in one place with a different system. Sure, there’s a learning curve, but you can still keep it simple even with a more robust VTT.

I don't know if you ever worked as a Bartender or in Hospitality but there can be frequent slow times depending on time of day and other factors. So theoretically the Tavern Keeper and/or Bartender could have plenty of time to chit-chat with the Adventurer Party/other guests even. 3:09 I understand where you are coming from with this, however it depends on the type of World/Society situations. If it's a strong safe city that is stable and not corrupt, yes the Adventurers & other people may be carrying weapons and/or be Magic-Users mainly for going outside the boundaries of the city. But because the city is so safe, stable, and not corrupt then even if you annoy people by asking too many questions or whatever your life wouldn't be in danger. At most they would merely call the Town Guards to escort you away, even separate from "annoyance" there is a good chance with the city being so safe and stable then people may be more willing to actually interact with each other & have long conversations. Think of a combination Stereotypical Small Town Americana & Singapore, in a Fantasy World that type of society is actually far more likely than (unfortunately) Real Life. 12:20 As for your general points in this video I agree with them, though with NPC objectives you definitely have to be careful to not make their objectives & personality so stubborn that they aren't willing to at least consider listening to other people's perspectives/objectives. There should always be potential for communication & compromise.

As one still in the older B/X game I find these later edition elements interesting to keep familiar monsters engaging. I think this was implied in those older rules if not meant to be be there as we always had monsters in the wild or in the lair. In addition to terrain the monster can modify the lair with traps or obstacles favorable to itself, and I think 4th gives us minions, plus weather or other environmental effects, plus some magiic either innate or an artifact, even the most familiar and mundane monster can be a true challenge and adventure in its lair!

I love the rulebooks, and I love the idea that there are rules for every situation. But it took me a long time to learn what you're saying, that deep knowledge of and strict adherence to the rules isn't necessary in rpg's, when all you really need is a sort of core principle and good judgment. tbh tho, I'm still working on that good judgment part.

PF2E has these baked in with hazards. Which is great because you can assign an exp value to the hazards.

Great video. I need to start using lair efects to keep my battles interesting.

Hey. This is a great treatment and fantastic food for thought. I especially appreciate the environmental elements of lair effects that can really alter tactics and expectations. Well done.

thank you!

More ideas: a pool of water the creature can dive into without fear, a flooded chamber the creature is big enough to be unconcerned by, a “hill” the creature can climb onto (getting advantage), a ledge out of reach of the heroes.

Lair effects, the night light went out, you are bare footed, and Legos were left out on the floor. Other than children, untrain house pet. Or the cat hacked up a mouse in the middle of the night. Remember your house slippers when you go to get up.

Thanks Kevin.

I've never heard necromancer pronounced that way. Made me do a double take.

Lair effects in our Kickstarter adventure for Khor can be turned on or off by the PCs or NPCs. That's 1 goal of the adventure goals I wrote into it. Those lair effects have a significant impact on the adventure. Great video sir!! 😃👍🏻

Even if the Inn/tavernkeeper doesn't know anything, they could still ask around for you. Makes it all the better when they come back, and their informant slides the silver back to them, shaking their head saying "Forget about it, you don't want to know. And we never saw eachother, got it?"

Shame you can't or refuse to understand marxism and the plight workers face in this epoch. Capitalism will not be the final progression of the mode of production. Socialism will take its place. Besides this, fine video.

People like yourself and Daniel Norton are gems of the D&D community. No drama, just shared information from years of experience. THANK YOU! Great video as always.