Same. And man, would my last D&D group ever have benefited from this advice! Basically EVERY encounter was unavoidable, making conversations feel pointless.
You were my first inspiration in the dungeons and dragons world 3 years ago and i always love watching your videos. My local area has even titled me "best dm around" and i really owe a lot of that to you. Thank you!
A most fantastic title, I am overjoyed to know you have gained so much from these videos and ideas! Make sure to share the channel with others, and look forward for more to come!
Outstanding! Regarding maps, since the lines and icons are fairly simple, it may not be as difficult at you are perceiving it. Let me know how #1, #2, and maybe possibly #3 go.
Glad to see someone else who thinks this hard about their campaigns. I've been working very hard using #'s 2 and 3, but I think the first part is something to explore some more
I inadvertantly used tip 1 in my campaign last week. The party had encountered a band of kenku in the city that attempted to mug them. The party defeated them and took a magic dagger off one of the corpses. A few encounters later the party ends up in a forest and they hear strange noises. They are able to recognize the noises originate from the kenku's mimicry ability. Then the party stumbles upon a village filled with tribal kenku and learn the dagger they looted belonged to the chieftain's son and the villagers are abandoning their tribe for the city and the encroaching winter could result in their demise. The party stumbled in expecting an encounter but spent a whopping 10 days in this village doing what they could to help these poor kenku. It really seemed to throw the players for a loop and made their heroic deeds all the more rewarding!
I can't say enough about your videos. I have enjoyed everyone of them. I really liked this one because I really enjoy bouncing ideas of other players and DMs. One thing I have done is re-imagined some of the magical items in the D&D. This is a great place to start for an adventure either a one shot or a whole campaign. Using items I found recently in AD&D I now have a dragon skull from each dragon represented by Tiamat, that gives its wielder the power to the breath weapon of that dragon once per day. (Now a real dragon skull would be too large so these skulls have been crafted by a very well know necromancer of an ancient kingdom.) It is said the one who has them all rules dragon kind and the world. Plus if you ask your player's what magic item they really, really want they will tell you and that gives you the opportunity to craft a fantastic back story. Give it a special name, the name of its creator, the magical way in which it was created and the location it can be found....You got my creative juices pumping! Thanks Esper! Keep up the great work!
Bob Cain Many thanks, Bob! I am very glad to contribute to your experience. Magic items that have story and meaning to them are fantastic. Not only are you adding to the characters' uniqueness, you are also threading your campaign with "drivers." Essentially, you are introducing motivations for the players to drive the stories and adventures forward (instead of having to "hook" the characters).
***** Esper I started thinking about the magic items and your tips. I started re-imagining my world. What if dragons where a means of transportation however dragons used in this manner had their breath weapons removed...In this land to use magic you have to have been born with it. You can learn to use it, control it, manipulate it but you must have been born with the "spark".
I'm enjoying exploring lots of videos on storytelling currently, including yours, thank you very much!!! It is interesting, because applying traditional storytelling formats to an RPG Game, can be quite challenging. I like to maintain the feeling of unhindered choices, yet there is no denying the foundations of a good story can do volumes for your game. I think there is room for both in gaming. Currently I'm experimenting with the concept of a five scene story. My outline has an opening scene, two combat scenes, a key non-combat driven scene that hinders or helps the characters reaching their goal and lastly a scene of some type of reflection that pulls together what the characters learned. I find having a structure, even if a little rigid, can actually enhance creativity and push you to find new ways to drive each session forward. If things come off the rails so to speak, then so be it... let there be improv! However, it can also be enjoyable if the characters see fit to follow the road I have carefully laid out for them. Just curious what your thoughts were, on having such an outline?
+Epic Story Thank you for watching and being a part of my channel! Yes, I agree that a healthy amount of structure is a great thing. It provides a context for everything. It makes things matter, and it gives character to the over story and setting. It things are too strict or too wide open, it is hard to care or even follow at times. By the way, have you watched any of my short stories or adventures?
i am doing something with a Dryad and Satyr where they are the antagonist. I have changed them where they are immortal and when they die they go in to a torpor, which in itself can have negative effects such as memory loss, power loss and even insanity. Living forever even presents its own challenge :D.
Absolutely! Give it a try, you will enjoy how satisfying a villain can be when he is unorthodox or flawed, or if the PCs can even empathize with him to a degree.
I have a lich who, while not a BBEG, *was* a BBEG in my world's backstory. It was pretty similar to the one you described. By the time my players had found him, he had lost all interest in his evil ways and even wanted to atone for his countless sins. Once my party had found him, he was nothing more than a skull rotting in a treasure-filled cave. Even with nothing left, he could not suppress his magical influence enough and started transforming the woods and creatures outside the cave into twisted, evil versions. This resulted in death dogs nearly wiping out an entire city and he had been in that cave for so long that he didn't even know there WAS a city nearby, much less an established monarchy. After my players found him, he wished for death so he could move on, and after a little fetch quest to find a silver warpick infused with his blood, they eventually granted him his final wish as his spirit passed on to the Elven afterlife. Now my party's wizard holds the pieces of his shattered skull and the only weapon capable of destroying it. He plans on reforming the skull and using it as his own phylactery so he may live on in the lich's stead. Not for evil, but for the ultimate pursuit of knowledge and the arcane mysteries of the world.
My current adventure's villain is a necromancer who got into contact with the raven queen after his village got burned down and his family slaughtered in a raid. He decided to never again feel powerless and was granted a strong form of necromancy. He travels the world to experiment with his powers and strenghten them, hoping to eventually grow strong enough to kill every human and replace them with zombies. A society of creatures who obey one entitiy who has full controll over their action. He aspires to become a God and make the human race into a true peacefull society. The heroes do not encounter him early on, however I'll let them follow his trail of destruction resulting from his experiments. I'm hoping to eventually lead them into a catacomb so I can tell them how retarded they are for following a necromancer into a catacomb xD
I always thought of hobgoblins as more urban creatures for some reason. Thugs and gamblers, brawlers and bouncers, and most importantly keepers of goblin culture. I find hobgoblins interesting and when possible, I play one. But that is my look at hobgoblins.
I love non combats sessions. I do a lot of that. Example from what I'm in right now: In 3 sessions of Advanced Fighting Fantasy as a GM, only one had combat In 30 sessions of Dark Eye as a player, I think we didn't have more than 10 combats total Great campaigns, even without them
China Mieville sh*t :-) Try to read Dungeon World, that is one of the best pieces of DM couching game. :-) I'm happy youre back with 5th edition... I'm stoned by the way...
Hey Esper have ever thought of doing a series on the horror module i6 from raven loft you would make for a good count Strad von Zorovich? I believe you could do a wonderful job with all your voice work and experience with dungeons and dragons. Seeing as your getting back into the groove of making videos.
Reagan L Smith Thank you Reagan! I do quite enjoy voices and characters. At the moment, I am deeply involved in creating my campaign setting, so I do not see myself making content in other settings (other than setting-neutral advice). On an interesting related note, I used to have an old interactive game novel set in Strahd's castle. Negative levels ... oh the terrible negative levels.
***** Was the game "strad's possession" by any chance the old cd rom game or something else? Also will you be uploading this new campaign setting on youtube? And finally I would have loved to hear you as the count chuckling at the adventurers being attacked in the gloomy fog of the forest by your own worgs.
Reagan L Smith It was not a video game, it was a book, sort of like "choose your own adventure," but with some game mechanics as well.My adventure videos typically take place in my campaign setting. I will eventually want to release an actual product-a full pdf or book of the campaign setting, Novaura. It is in development and playtest currently (and will be for some time).I am a sucker for gloomy foggy forests and gothic horror fantasy settings.
Well Esper do hope to see your world's campaign come to life and be published. For I too have story that I am writing and it may become a campaign someday but for now I would rather it become an animation.
I had an idea which I have been struggling with, thinking that it may be a bit cheesy. they have their epic level battle with the great evil. when they defeat it they bring down a veil that has been constructed by the dream of a godlike being, a baby which floats in space. the trophies collected turned into a giant mobile which appears much like a nebula at a distance. the being is so powerful that it's bad dream has influenced the world unintentionally. it struggled with images of war and evil that it eventually has nightmares that create things to combat it, this manifests in the prime material plane as the evil tyrant that tries to take over the world by force. like a child trying to take over a session of a game because it doesn't understand the concept of improvisation. the emblems the player characters received begin to resonate and make a lullaby to sooth the child back to a peaceful sleep to end the horrors of its nightmare and the world they live in. giving them the big finish and to tie the story together. I called the game woven liberty, not just because they weave freedom into the world with their actions but they will also weave a song to free the being from its night terrors. please be kind, but I'd like some oppinions.
I DM a group of three myself included. We each play two PCs. Since two of us are experienced RPers we are telling a pretty fantastic story. However, our third is more interested in combat and loot than character development. These elements of the game are harder for me to manage. Does anyone have recommendations for running interesting combat when I'm managing all foes plus two PCs?
+Esper the Bard You can probably imagine how well that's going. I have plenty of time to plan how things will work out before each session so it's not so bad. I wish I was better at the technical aspects of the game.
This is indeed a challenge you have. A setting in which duels take place could help you. So you have to be used to the way to behave in the society or you will be involved in lots of duels. The way these duels are fought follow social rules as well. Like a small insult would demand only first blood. (This means the first hit would end the fight) The other would have to accept defeat and express this in a few words. This is just a small example of a culture based on duels which are in a social setting. So to either get into one and to end it you have to have social interaction. One could combine it even with a small token that has to be given to the winner of such a duel. A nice form as well are tournaments which offers all kind of combat in a social settings. Woman can choose fighters are their champion in giving them small tokens to wear through servants. Another man can get angry about this as he wants to be the favorite. The idea is to bring combat in a social setting. It has to be talked and social interaction gets so normal and may be even very interesting for the other character. Not to forget that winning in a tournament brings prizes and social acceptance. One gets invited to social events and may be hired. The possibilities are endless.
This doesn't necessarily apply everywhere. Most of my players are new and are transfixed by classic monsters. This is better for more advanced players.
+Oliver Atack D&D is a social construct. It's as much about interacting with your friends as it is killing monsters and leveling up. That having been said, you can find groups on sites like Roll20, letting you play from home but with a group from across the globe. So, no D&D is a game for at least 3 players (a Dungeon Master and two other players) but you don't have to go to someone else's house and be around people you don't know if that is what you're trying to avoid.
Good ideas, but the whole is kind of over produced and hard to listen to. Your character session sounds like a session 0 that I do with all my players. It'll help with ties they may have together, or to help with ideas that you as the GM can use in the future.
Damn, you are one of the good guys! I can't believe I didn't run across your channel until now.
El Grosso Ties the Knot Better late than never. Welcome!
Same. And man, would my last D&D group ever have benefited from this advice! Basically EVERY encounter was unavoidable, making conversations feel pointless.
Omg this music is amazing
Good stuff! So glad your posting often and dnd content again!
You were my first inspiration in the dungeons and dragons world 3 years ago and i always love watching your videos. My local area has even titled me "best dm around" and i really owe a lot of that to you. Thank you!
A most fantastic title, I am overjoyed to know you have gained so much from these videos and ideas! Make sure to share the channel with others, and look forward for more to come!
***** I most certainly will continue to share your videos with my friends. Thanks a lot Esper!
StringBasser
Absolutely. By the way, I just noticed your avatar is Madmartigan. I love that character!
Hes fantastic! Willow is basically my childhood movie haha
I will put your first two suggestions to practice, seems simple and effective. Maps though... I am horrendous at art.
Outstanding! Regarding maps, since the lines and icons are fairly simple, it may not be as difficult at you are perceiving it. Let me know how #1, #2, and maybe possibly #3 go.
Glad to see someone else who thinks this hard about their campaigns. I've been working very hard using #'s 2 and 3, but I think the first part is something to explore some more
Wonderful ideas Esper. My creative spark is glowing!
I inadvertantly used tip 1 in my campaign last week. The party had encountered a band of kenku in the city that attempted to mug them. The party defeated them and took a magic dagger off one of the corpses. A few encounters later the party ends up in a forest and they hear strange noises. They are able to recognize the noises originate from the kenku's mimicry ability. Then the party stumbles upon a village filled with tribal kenku and learn the dagger they looted belonged to the chieftain's son and the villagers are abandoning their tribe for the city and the encroaching winter could result in their demise. The party stumbled in expecting an encounter but spent a whopping 10 days in this village doing what they could to help these poor kenku. It really seemed to throw the players for a loop and made their heroic deeds all the more rewarding!
I can't say enough about your videos. I have enjoyed everyone of them. I really liked this one because I really enjoy bouncing ideas of other players and DMs.
One thing I have done is re-imagined some of the magical items in the D&D. This is a great place to start for an adventure either a one shot or a whole campaign. Using items I found recently in AD&D I now have a dragon skull from each dragon represented by Tiamat, that gives its wielder the power to the breath weapon of that dragon once per day. (Now a real dragon skull would be too large so these skulls have been crafted by a very well know necromancer of an ancient kingdom.) It is said the one who has them all rules dragon kind and the world.
Plus if you ask your player's what magic item they really, really want they will tell you and that gives you the opportunity to craft a fantastic back story. Give it a special name, the name of its creator, the magical way in which it was created and the location it can be found....You got my creative juices pumping! Thanks Esper! Keep up the great work!
Bob Cain Many thanks, Bob! I am very glad to contribute to your experience. Magic items that have story and meaning to them are fantastic. Not only are you adding to the characters' uniqueness, you are also threading your campaign with "drivers." Essentially, you are introducing motivations for the players to drive the stories and adventures forward (instead of having to "hook" the characters).
***** Esper I started thinking about the magic items and your tips. I started re-imagining my world. What if dragons where a means of transportation however dragons used in this manner had their breath weapons removed...In this land to use magic you have to have been born with it. You can learn to use it, control it, manipulate it but you must have been born with the "spark".
So simple but really got me thinking ablut how I can make my antagonist more interesting.
Thank you Esper. This came at a perfect time for me.
Sage advice. You really sound like an experienced GM and respectable teacher.
I'm enjoying exploring lots of videos on storytelling currently, including yours, thank you very much!!! It is interesting, because applying traditional storytelling formats to an RPG Game, can be quite challenging. I like to maintain the feeling of unhindered choices, yet there is no denying the foundations of a good story can do volumes for your game. I think there is room for both in gaming. Currently I'm experimenting with the concept of a five scene story. My outline has an opening scene, two combat scenes, a key non-combat driven scene that hinders or helps the characters reaching their goal and lastly a scene of some type of reflection that pulls together what the characters learned. I find having a structure, even if a little rigid, can actually enhance creativity and push you to find new ways to drive each session forward. If things come off the rails so to speak, then so be it... let there be improv! However, it can also be enjoyable if the characters see fit to follow the road I have carefully laid out for them. Just curious what your thoughts were, on having such an outline?
+Epic Story Thank you for watching and being a part of my channel! Yes, I agree that a healthy amount of structure is a great thing. It provides a context for everything. It makes things matter, and it gives character to the over story and setting. It things are too strict or too wide open, it is hard to care or even follow at times.
By the way, have you watched any of my short stories or adventures?
i am doing something with a Dryad and Satyr where they are the antagonist. I have changed them where they are immortal and when they die they go in to a torpor, which in itself can have negative effects such as memory loss, power loss and even insanity. Living forever even presents its own challenge :D.
Excellent tips Esper. Time to contemplate my villains a bit more :)
Absolutely! Give it a try, you will enjoy how satisfying a villain can be when he is unorthodox or flawed, or if the PCs can even empathize with him to a degree.
I have a lich who, while not a BBEG, *was* a BBEG in my world's backstory. It was pretty similar to the one you described. By the time my players had found him, he had lost all interest in his evil ways and even wanted to atone for his countless sins. Once my party had found him, he was nothing more than a skull rotting in a treasure-filled cave. Even with nothing left, he could not suppress his magical influence enough and started transforming the woods and creatures outside the cave into twisted, evil versions. This resulted in death dogs nearly wiping out an entire city and he had been in that cave for so long that he didn't even know there WAS a city nearby, much less an established monarchy. After my players found him, he wished for death so he could move on, and after a little fetch quest to find a silver warpick infused with his blood, they eventually granted him his final wish as his spirit passed on to the Elven afterlife.
Now my party's wizard holds the pieces of his shattered skull and the only weapon capable of destroying it. He plans on reforming the skull and using it as his own phylactery so he may live on in the lich's stead. Not for evil, but for the ultimate pursuit of knowledge and the arcane mysteries of the world.
A lich is not capable of that according to lore.
Well, I feel a lot better about my campaign, now! Hitting all three!
look at your villain
look at your character background
"zoom" at the map
My current adventure's villain is a necromancer who got into contact with the raven queen after his village got burned down and his family slaughtered in a raid. He decided to never again feel powerless and was granted a strong form of necromancy. He travels the world to experiment with his powers and strenghten them, hoping to eventually grow strong enough to kill every human and replace them with zombies. A society of creatures who obey one entitiy who has full controll over their action. He aspires to become a God and make the human race into a true peacefull society.
The heroes do not encounter him early on, however I'll let them follow his trail of destruction resulting from his experiments.
I'm hoping to eventually lead them into a catacomb so I can tell them how retarded they are for following a necromancer into a catacomb xD
I always thought of hobgoblins as more urban creatures for some reason. Thugs and gamblers, brawlers and bouncers, and most importantly keepers of goblin culture. I find hobgoblins interesting and when possible, I play one. But that is my look at hobgoblins.
I love non combats sessions. I do a lot of that.
Example from what I'm in right now:
In 3 sessions of Advanced Fighting Fantasy as a GM, only one had combat
In 30 sessions of Dark Eye as a player, I think we didn't have more than 10 combats total
Great campaigns, even without them
China Mieville sh*t :-) Try to read Dungeon World, that is one of the best pieces of DM couching game. :-) I'm happy youre back with 5th edition... I'm stoned by the way...
Of course i mean apocalypse world also.... Dont stone me nerds!!!
And DCC to... dont stone me stoners...
Hey Esper have ever thought of doing a series on the horror module i6 from raven loft you would make for a good count Strad von Zorovich? I believe you could do a wonderful job with all your voice work and experience with dungeons and dragons. Seeing as your getting back into the groove of making videos.
Reagan L Smith Thank you Reagan! I do quite enjoy voices and characters. At the moment, I am deeply involved in creating my campaign setting, so I do not see myself making content in other settings (other than setting-neutral advice). On an interesting related note, I used to have an old interactive game novel set in Strahd's castle. Negative levels ... oh the terrible negative levels.
***** Was the game "strad's possession" by any chance the old cd rom game or something else? Also will you be uploading this new campaign setting on youtube? And finally I would have loved to hear you as the count chuckling at the adventurers being attacked in the gloomy fog of the forest by your own worgs.
Reagan L Smith It was not a video game, it was a book, sort of like "choose your own adventure," but with some game mechanics as well.My adventure videos typically take place in my campaign setting. I will eventually want to release an actual product-a full pdf or book of the campaign setting, Novaura. It is in development and playtest currently (and will be for some time).I am a sucker for gloomy foggy forests and gothic horror fantasy settings.
Well Esper do hope to see your world's campaign come to life and be published. For I too have story that I am writing and it may become a campaign someday but for now I would rather it become an animation.
Could you ever do a vid on time and scale? I have always and problems in this area of gaming. this includes the passage of time. Thank you.
Excellent. Thanks for the tips!
I had an idea which I have been struggling with, thinking that it may be a bit cheesy.
they have their epic level battle with the great evil. when they defeat it they bring down a veil that has been constructed by the dream of a godlike being, a baby which floats in space. the trophies collected turned into a giant mobile which appears much like a nebula at a distance. the being is so powerful that it's bad dream has influenced the world unintentionally. it struggled with images of war and evil that it eventually has nightmares that create things to combat it, this manifests in the prime material plane as the evil tyrant that tries to take over the world by force. like a child trying to take over a session of a game because it doesn't understand the concept of improvisation. the emblems the player characters received begin to resonate and make a lullaby to sooth the child back to a peaceful sleep to end the horrors of its nightmare and the world they live in. giving them the big finish and to tie the story together. I called the game woven liberty, not just because they weave freedom into the world with their actions but they will also weave a song to free the being from its night terrors.
please be kind, but I'd like some oppinions.
I think this idea is interesting. Just don't make the baby and the mobile look like modern day, it will be less cheesy.
4:32 this image is so funny lmao
If only you knew the deep lore ROFL
Not bad! Yoink !
Nice video hermano, regards from Chile.
+Esteban Quezada Gracias! Thanks for watching, I hope the tips help you. Saludo de EU!
I DM a group of three myself included. We each play two PCs. Since two of us are experienced RPers we are telling a pretty fantastic story. However, our third is more interested in combat and loot than character development. These elements of the game are harder for me to manage. Does anyone have recommendations for running interesting combat when I'm managing all foes plus two PCs?
+Jada Franksain You yourself are running 2 PCs and DMing at the same time? Madness. Sheer madness, I say.
+Esper the Bard You can probably imagine how well that's going. I have plenty of time to plan how things will work out before each session so it's not so bad. I wish I was better at the technical aspects of the game.
This is indeed a challenge you have. A setting in which duels take place could help you. So you have to be used to the way to behave in the society or you will be involved in lots of duels. The way these duels are fought follow social rules as well. Like a small insult would demand only first blood. (This means the first hit would end the fight) The other would have to accept defeat and express this in a few words. This is just a small example of a culture based on duels which are in a social setting. So to either get into one and to end it you have to have social interaction. One could combine it even with a small token that has to be given to the winner of such a duel. A nice form as well are tournaments which offers all kind of combat in a social settings. Woman can choose fighters are their champion in giving them small tokens to wear through servants. Another man can get angry about this as he wants to be the favorite. The idea is to bring combat in a social setting. It has to be talked and social interaction gets so normal and may be even very interesting for the other character. Not to forget that winning in a tournament brings prizes and social acceptance. One gets invited to social events and may be hired. The possibilities are endless.
ehm like 10-20% of my sessions are combat. We have had whole weekends with up to 20 hours of play without any combat :P
This doesn't necessarily apply everywhere. Most of my players are new and are transfixed by classic monsters. This is better for more advanced players.
Shared.
Wanted to finish this, but the highs in the mix are too harsh.
But can you find the hot singles in my area?
Sorry, the title looked like an add name at first.
Thanks
i can think of some but it would involve no clothea
The thumbnail is unrealistic.
Are there any games like D&D that i can play by myself
+Oliver Atack D&D is a social construct. It's as much about interacting with your friends as it is killing monsters and leveling up. That having been said, you can find groups on sites like Roll20, letting you play from home but with a group from across the globe. So, no D&D is a game for at least 3 players (a Dungeon Master and two other players) but you don't have to go to someone else's house and be around people you don't know if that is what you're trying to avoid.
My apologies, but the background music is just too loud and grating to tolerate listening to the rest of what is probably a very interesting video.
Good ideas, but the whole is kind of over produced and hard to listen to. Your character session sounds like a session 0 that I do with all my players. It'll help with ties they may have together, or to help with ideas that you as the GM can use in the future.
Thank you! And yah, I would change and lower the music if I could do this one again.
So stealing that dragon idea.
I frequently do full sessions of just RP and adventuring/exploring.
Get rid of the echo,cheesy music, and crappy art and this could be watchable. I lasted less than a minute.
Seems perfect for me :/