𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐃𝐌 𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧 - Get Lair Magazine (5e adventures, VTT maps, puzzles, traps, new monsters, and more), play D&D with me, and other perks ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐲 - Get my level 1 to 5 fifth-edition compatible adventure module featuring new fey creatures here ▶▶ www.thedmlair.com/intothefey 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗠 𝗟𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 ▶▶ discord.gg/thedmlair
If it's their first time, help them. By all means help them. With all your help it won't be as overwhelming leading to them wanting to try more. Giving you more time in the player seat. I did this with my wife 😀
Regarding #10 Panic (Don't Panic) My group has surprised me more than once when I sheepishly said "I'm not well-prepared, maybe we should cancel". They recognized the need to maintain momentum. With a great deal of understanding, they said things like "well maybe we can just do some social encounters -- I've got to to get a bunch of spell components" or "well maybe just run us through some random monster encounter." Little did I know that the component shop owner would turn out to be a beloved NPC, or that the random encounter I made on the spot would turn the campaign in a different direction for the next two months.
@leithcrowther6086 yes definitely stop that. Two of my best sessions weren't necessarily when I wasn't prepared, but bc players were having a lot of fun. We had 2 sessions, almost consecutive to one another, where all they did was RP. I didn't have really anything planned for that part of the campaign but they wanted to explore a city I barely worked on so I improved almost all of the social interactions. Ended up being 2 of our best sessions that campaign. If we had continued on, or maybe if I felt unprepared, then we would have missed those sessions and probably never experienced them. Hope to see you reply with news that you tried not canceling.
They always love the random NPCs named Bob, because you could not think of another name for the random dude. Soon they will come to live as much as the player characters and that is when you kill them for maximum benefit.
I have seen a ton of DMing guides but this one is my favorite, I think you really emphasize how to NOT over prepare, which is one of the main problems I was running into: prioritizing
One thing I’ve found is that, concerning prepping the location, the more I prep beyond the bare necessities, the less flexible I am when presented with the goals the party has. Don’t be too much of a stickler! Be flexible and allow the players to change the world they’re in no matter how big or small without breaking the game!
A lot comes with experience, but what you really should know is: A. services defenitely availeble B. services defenitely NOT available C. quest related NPCs D. special items or prices E. general layout and theme of the place You do need the bones and know where the references are you might suddenly need (like item lists for shops, which I generally pepare with little changes between towns). Flesh and skin will get added while playing. The same thing goes for NPCs. Have general information like occupation, looks, rough age etc and have a stereotype. Once I heard the advice to have animal stereotypes from typical fables and just decide on playing an NPC as a fox, rat etc.
Some timestamps for those who refer to this video in the future again and some notes of my own. 1 Prepare the setting 00:33 Single page or two of references is SUCH a help, to keep track of stuff like factions and districts. This would probably be my top priority too as even a 'derailed' session is informed by the context it happens in and can help improvise. 2 Prepare the Adventure 01:36 2.1 Don't worry about reading the whole module 03:35 Completely agree, don't pile too much at once. Take notes of the general motions and directions you are nudging towards but no person can have it all in their mind and run with it. Highlight/take note of crucial details. 3 Preparing NPCs 06:17 This is such an easy time sinkhole. I tend to make 'tables' for random NPCs so I can roll 3-5 dice and know what they are about in broad strokes, or have some prebuilt ones ready to be dropped anywhere. Caution with the latter, as it can be too tempting, keep it until you need it. My tables include stuff like Race, Gender, Profession, Goals/Aims, Affiliations and so on. Some of those will change depending on the locality. 4 Prep the Encounters 09:10 I particularly like the 'Dramatic Question' as something to be put into session prep. It's less "will the party prevail" and more "how will they tackle this?" so you might end up being more open about resolutions. 5 Prep the monsters 10:32 FANTASTIC example of prepared tactics right at the beginning. I like to do something similar with my guards: they usually have 'roles' like a party might though their capabilities depend on the background. In Eberron, Aundarian guards might have access to spells. 6 Prep Players 12:53 7 Prep the PCs 14:32 I like to skim on this front so players can surprise me. I read character stuff extensively so I usually know if something smells off, but I don't want to know necessarily everything the PCs can do. Catering adventures to them is okay sometimes but the world at large would probably not adapt to the party getting/losing a druid. Thus, I usually end up playing by in-world logic as to how antagonists and such would be prepared. 8 Prep DM tools 15:48 Just adding Xanathar's and Tasha's to that list, they have wonderful things to pull even if you don't use it all. 9 Prep the session 17:21 Personal shoutout to the LazyDM on this front, it's helped me loads to trim down time spent and have some structure - I have a standard document by this point that helps me guide my efforts. 10 Relatable feeling 19:19
Reading the entire module is old school, back when the modules were $10 to $15 paperbacks with 70 some pages and 6 or so linked adventures each of which were writen to last a 4 hour session or two. So, using the old rule and adjusting it, be very familiar with what will be covered during one or two sessions.
I'm prepping my first session as DM and I'm almost ready to start. The advice I never considered was the "what do you want to do next time" and that's such a helpful tip. Thank you!
Had an adventure on a ship once. Presumed they'd go deck by deck. They split the party with half coming up from the hold and half starting on the main deck. They aggroed the entire ship, which was otherwise going to be several encounters
If it's your first time maybe run a shorter module, levels 1-5 for example. Then you can read through the whole module easily. If you skim through the important sections it won't take long. Then read the sections you need each week.
I'm that guy. I volunteered to be the GM two weeks ago to my friends from work. The last time I played D&D was back in the 80's lol. I do have the big three 5e manuals, PM, MM, DMM I bought last year just on a whim, and I should be receiving Return of the Lazy DM along with the workbook soon. It'd be myself, six others and needless to say, I'm super excited and nervous at the same time. I've been watching this channel for days now, getting ideas while taking notes and so much of the content has been super useful. Thanks for everything Luke, your hard work is definitely appreciated!!
I tried DMing for the first time in 2021 and it ended after only 5 sessions because we ended up moving for a job. but i am going to start a campaign in December of this year (the same one i tried to run last time and didnt get to finish) using discord and owlbear rodeo! im super excited about it... its a fully homebrew world with rich history, political intrigue, a kingdom on the verge of war, and dragons influencing global events. I'm super proud of the world i created im just hoping i can portray it well and make it enjoyable and immersive for my players. I've hand crafted dozens of maps (including full city maps that are 500x500 squares), hand crafted dozens of characters, and im incorporating my player characters backstories into the world in an organic way (even changing 1 world event to better suit the events of the background of one of the PCs). I learned from the 5 sessions i DMd last time not to fall too in love with the characters, events, and places i crafted since my characters may never visit/meet them or may kill and destroy them haha I've been working on this world since 2019... Super excited to see the story get fleshed out and unfold. Thanks for your videos... they've been super helpful in so many ways
This video is AWESOME! I’m DM’ing for the first time soon and this is unbelievably helpful. I’m becoming less overwhelmed with every second of this video haha thank you so much!
I'm currently playing D&D for the first time ever with a group of other girls and I'm also considering trying to DM sooner than later so I find these videos are really amazing.
Just started a curse of Strahd campaign last week. My DM for the last three years through Keep and Tomb is excited to have a chance to be a player. Hope I get it right.
On the note of NPCs and players not interacting with them very much a very long when you give them a backstory. I had an NPC that the players were meant to interact with, she was meant to be their guide through this new land when the players decided that they didn't want her following them around because they thought she would be useless or get in the way I had that same NPC start hunting them down in order to kill the party
My first campaign i read and added details to the entire PRINCESS OF THE APOCALYPSE multiple times. The players destroyed the entire adventure idea at lvl 8, i literally had to homebrew everything to keep playing, we played for 4 years. This was 7 years ago, I AM NEVER DOING SOMETHING THAT CRAZY AGAIN.
I am a new dm (6 months of experience by now) i am proud that i figured most of this by myself in time but hearing it from someone with a lot more experience made me proud Ty very much man😊
I didn't even get up to panic and cancel. I bought a module, felt the anxiety rise and decided I had enough on my plate to not add something else to worry about. Shelved until I get about 4 - 7 stresses resolved. But I still watch you and others and learn. I hadn't really understood planning the session as opposed to all the other prep Stuff which I've picked up, mostly from you
I wonder how much u improved since this video :) im on the same spot rn. Ive been a player for two years now, but still, im really nervous ngl. Becoming a dm looks so intimidating
I will occasionally use a voice recorder on my way to work to talk through an adventure and practice NPC voices and backstory. I don't seem as crazy that way, I just look like I am on my phone hands free. ;) Haha, but seriously, it does help give me a feel for the characters that I expect to use. I only do it for a few that will be in the session, but I do feel it helps me be more prepared, and if anything it gives me some practice for when things hit the fan and I need to improvise.
I have been playing for 25 years and been a DM for 18. I love these videos Luke. I have been feeling very intimidated about beginning my 1st 5th edition campaign for my group. I feel like I did when I 1st took up the DMG. This video specifically helped me to take a step back n simplify my intro idea while at the same time adding some depth. Thank you for the great tips!!
I've been writing my own campaign and recently found your videos. Seems I'm on the right track with things. I'm really good at improvisation so I'm prepared for players to go off story, but for now I still need to leave myself lots of notes. This is my first time DMing and it's a homebrew, but I have confidence in it after watching your vids.
I’m literally about to run a game for some internet friends within the week. I’ve ‘run’ games in the past for friends when I was a kid, but they never lasted past one or two sessions. This is PERFECT!
"are you going to read the entire book?!?!?" *laughs nervously while sliding a 400+ page fantasy novel out of sight* 😅 Thanks for the advice! It's been YEARS since I played and I decided to dip my toe into running games. I appreciate all of the advice!
Aaaah, the very next day after my first session as a DM. Thanks Luc (I hope you write it like that, I'm not from an English speaking country) for all the advices from all your videos ! It helped me a lot. I didn't crashed in flammes, fortunately! I adapted my campaign from old Dnd 2e Lankhmar book, and it was great, I made a session zero, and then we played 2 hours, i just misjudged what i had planned, so we did not finished... At all ! But it's ok, they loved the encounter with the thieve guild's i prepared them
I suggest watching more of this guys videos(and subscribe) if you’re a new DM, take notes, book mark key sections in your dnd books to refer back to, and read/watch things to give you inspiration and concepts for your next game. This guy is offering seriously valuable information put into very well put together and easy to watch videos that he’s gotten over years of playing the game for free, same with many other dnd channels; One of the great things about living in the era of information is content like this, don’t take it for granted.
found this over 2 years later because i decided to DM for the first time to new players and im really nervous about it. But this really helped!! i feel a whole lot more prepared!
Pushes glasses up nose. Well actually those are adventure BOOKS. Modules are modular and should run less than 32 printed pages. I suggest new dms run short adventures like the first of each season of Adventure League. But be aware not much story to those beginning modules.
Congrats on the 100k!! You are informative and funny enough to deserve that!! I prepped for last sunday (we run lost mines of phandelver my 5th session as DM) I had no clue what was going to be their action after killing the villain in cragmaw castle and retrieving the map to their next target in the previous session. So i read about the rest of the castle, read about the next target, read about the village and some sidequests and prepped some random encounters if they went on traveling. Then we started, I asked them about their level (I am not a good note taker) and being level three, the next target was a bit daunting according to the manual, so I pondered a bit and suggested to clean out the castle for the well being of the neighborhood. They then found the owlbear congered up some story to make the owlbear fight the goblins and co. positioned themselves upon a ridge of debris, took out the popcorn and started a short rest while the fight broke out below. I was so running blind in this bloodfest 😳😳😳, but we had lots of fun even when I had to spend ten minutes figuring out how many foes actually lived there and how many of them would show up and in which round of the fight and all. Eventually they where spotted and had to fight some of the foe’s themselves, but the owlbear thrashed through more then half of the goblins for them, earning the fighter jumping on its neck and rolling a succesfull Dex save to shove a potion of healing in its beak 🤣. After that turning the empty castle upside down for the bits of loot was difficult for me to make something not tooo boring out of, but hey it was fun!
One of my pre-game preps are lists of 'random' results. You don't have to do this for everything, or extensive lists, but I never have to worry about enemies in a random encounter not using better gear that they had, but were keeping in a sack. For some reason.
- if running a campaign feels a bit overwhelming, just start with a oneshot. that way you can reduce the amount of prep yu have to do to start with. prepare a single quest with plothook, a dungeon, with an encounter or two. so basically: group meets somewhere, gets a quest, goes clear a dungeon/solves a mystery and returns for the reward. - remember some cool quest from your favorite computer game or a cool episode from a book you like? borrow! change up some details and maybe adept it to the setting you have in mind and off you go. my first dm session was an adaptation of a quest from one of my favorite games and it turned out quite well. - if you plan a combat encounter, do some testing beforehand. how much damage can the monsters do in one turn. ideally, the monsters should not be able to down/kill a player in one turn (for example, if the monster has 2 attacks, even with two crits, it should not down a player). a player being down or dying without ever having the chance to do anything about it feels very frustrating for that player. if you want the fight to be tough, rather give the monsters more HP than more damage. - especially at higher level groups, be aware of their strenght, and dont be afraid to occasionally use stuff like counterspell against their aggressive spells, especially against stuff like pychic lance, that has a chance to stun/disable your monster/NPC. (i was recently in a oneshot encounter (average group level 10) by a fairly new dm who hadnt have much experience with spellcasters. My wizard managed to keep the BBEG incapacitated for the whole fight, so he didnt get a single action out, despite having access to counterspell. the rest of the group just kept pummeling him with attacks on advantage till he went down).
Prep the NPC's probably the best advice here. The first time I dm'd for strangers (roll20) what both carried me and impressed the players was knowing about 3 dozen NPC's in town and who among them related to who. Who likes who, doesn't like who, is related to who, and does what in town along with pictures of all of them pinched from the web. I had nothing written down, not enough about each to need it. just the ability to bump in to the same person several times and this interaction makes sense with any prior interactions will convince players of just about anything.
Thank you so much for the tips! I've been binging the channel recently to help get prepared for my first ever campaign, and everything has been super super helpful. Thank you so much!
I personally enjoy reading adventure modules, so I don't consider reading the whole thing to be a hardship. I do think though that it has advantages, even if it isn't completely necessary. As well-written as many published campaigns are, even the best of them usually leave something to be desired. I'm prepping for _The Wild Beyond the Witchlight_ at the moment, which is for the most part very well written and provides some great tools, but for all that it completely skimps on the actual backstory and timeline of events. You have to get to the last chapter to find out who a major NPC really is, and to find out about the events that actually triggered the campaign in the first place. That knowledge is obviously useful to the DM. On top of that, reading the whole thing means that I know in advance what kind of changes I want to make later in the game, which may requires tweaking other things earlier on. It would still be possible to do this if I hadn't read it all, but it would probably be less coherent.
Love this! I'm a new player, want to be a dm soon and I sent this to my group so my DM, who is also new to the game watches it, we had a bit of trouble with our session attempts lol Bacon is delicious
A friend of mine so happen to have a map ready and she never been a DM so, I have one ready and another player o have had been a DM for several years so I have all the help I need for mine!
A huge reason I homebrew everything is exactly because I can’t remember the details from an individual premade adventure, let alone a module. My ADHD makes studying hard. But I do remember the background I make myself in during day-long hyper focus creative sessions.
I used to be able to bench press 215 but now im down to like 155 :(. youre videos have been so helpful as a first time DM prepping for their first session. Thank you!
The only module you need to read in the entirety from the get-go is Strahd since it is so open ended. Stuff like Rime of the Frostmaiden are easier, just read ch. 1 and 2 and just go.
Love your channel. Definitely helps me since I am new to being a dm I started last year or in 2020 running the mines of phlandren I think that was the name. I picked up the hoard of the dragon queen a while back. I am getting my 4 kids involved in d&d they love it we just started the dragon queen adventure. I always prep about 4 parts in each episode and only read so far ahead. But so far they love it.
It’s about time you got 100k! I don’t understand why it took you so long. You are one of my favorite DnD RUclipsr. Exceptionally your one shots. They are so much fun😁
Thank you!!! One reason it took this long, IMO, is because my content focuses more on helpful advice as opposed to sensational topics that get lots of views.
You don't completely suck. (There, now the algorithm has been thwarted.) In fact, these have all been very helpful suggestions. Thanks! It can be a daunting challenge to take the reigns as DM. I appreciate what you do for us.
I’m preparing for my very first game and I’m just so nervous. I considered myself a forever player but our DM needs a break, but I’m going to watch this again and write some of the tips down. Thanks!
I love you so much sir, I'm so stressed abt my campaign in a few days and I'm not prepared at all and the way you explain things helps so much I'm crying😭😭
Unless you are some rare improv savant, do not start home brewing out of the gate. Mercer, Brennan, Satine, all these DMs you're seeing on streams have been running for YEARS. They've run multiple settings, they've run modules, prefab campaigns, and yes, also homebrew, but they've built up that ability through years of effort. Learn the rules. No, you probably won't get all of them, but knowing how to run combat, as well as learning the abilities of your PCs is a baseline. Don't just yank rare monster after rare monster. I've seen so many DMs get it in their head that they don't want to use the normal array of baddies, instead combing through tomes for the rarest things they can find. Have normal baddies, it helps set up the rare monsters AS rare. If everything is rare, then nothing is. Don't make every encounter ball-busting, just don't. Use mooks, there were tons of mooks in pretty much every fantasy book or movie you've ever loved. Not everyone enemy has to, or SHOULD, fight to their last breath. It drags out combat needlessly if every bandit is willing to fight to the death, and it lowers suspension of disbelief.
Talking about monsters in pre-written campaigns: in the Adventure Paths for Pathfinder Second Edition (maybe also first, haven't played that) it often gives one or two sentences on how the creature reacts to PCs. One funny example in Abomination Vault is a ghoul giving up one of their 3 actions to rant about the PCs disturbing them in their work xD
Nice I’ve been DMing since the 90’s, but I always try to learn to be a better one. These are some good tips, I try to do most of them. I don’t run premade adventures so.. Congrats on the growth
My best bench of all time was 425, but currently cutting so strength isn't optimal at the moment. Also as a DM that is now 39 and started DMing when I was 16, I still learn a ton from your channel, its been an amazing resource. All the other channels are good too, but yours has been the best and most helpful.
I appreciate that you said not to read the whole module... I'm in a FB group on running Curse of Strahd, and there are some people who say that new DMs have to read the module, cover to cover, two to three times to prepare.... I've been running it for about a year, and still haven't read the whole book :P
First, i genuinely appreciate your video for yhe scrub dms like me who have chronic fears of not knowing all of a campaign or events in advance.(About to do my first DM run with mines of phandelver, just to get my bearings.) IMO the best sessions ive had with otgers DMing is when things are generally on the fly in terms of random encounters. (Randy random from rimworld would be my ideal DM) secondly, i will be using all of your advice and have many new ideas for once our campaign with the mines is over. Thank you my guy. Lastly, yes, bacon is delicious.
I highly recommend reading the whole book before running it. You don't have to know it by heart, you're not trying to have all the knowledge but knowing ahead of time the frame of the adventure, any twists and turns or relationships that only get revealed later on is important.
Thank you for this. I used to let my friend freeform RP within my own created book universe and it was the best thing in the world. But I've been too worried about the structure to DM, only doing it now because our group agreed to take turns being DM. And I get so stressed that even during this video I start to dissociate, zone out and other outrageously overblown anxious reactions. I feel a lot more prepared watching this. I just need to not get stage fright, and I think I might make it through this.
A good mysterious plot feature for a character is a selected character's blood can undo any curse. Just imagine a vampire goes around an inn at Knite taking small amounts of blood to survive and being careful not to inflict any diseases (Vampierisum) or infection so as not to be discovered. But cums across you ASLEEP bites down and within seconds turn back to their original race. In all the shock wakes you up. obviously, your character would not know of this ability until this event takes place or something similar.
This is gonna be very helpful for me, im new to playing and more new to DMing, and am struggling NOT to overprepare for a campaign. These tips are incredibly helpful. My hubby and i are trying to do a new game where we co-DM in the session, either by narrating scene by scene or one of us is the parties side vs the villians side. Any tips you could give us there?
I totally have my wife be a player in the game so that she can nudge people down my story hooks when they get lost. Really awesome to build up when the rest of the party doesn’t know she is in on the world building. Ps. We don’t do this in such a way that makes her able to solve the encounters in an advantageous way, more so able to lead the party to cool encounters I planned but can’t get the party to check out.
120kg bench press…bunch more on squats and deadlift. On the topic, mid January my 1st DnD campaign as DM…and with little experience before (4 or 5 sessions). Doing whatever possible so my players don’t send me to the gym right away : ))
Thank you Luke for make this video, This video help me a lots to running my first One-shot. But I have some worry about future about WOTC and DnD, I'm not the content creator but the thing WOTC does make me little uncomfortable to play any future content they making, Can you suggesting me what to do?
Hi Luke thank you so much for your helpful tips! I made a lot of notes! And I just bought The Monsters Know What They’re Doing because of you, thanks for the recommendation
I don't think reading a couple of hundred pages is a big deal. Reading's not hard, mmm'K. The wholistic understanding of the module/adventure will stand you in good stead for when the party does the unexpected like finding a way down two levels of the dungeon or the like. Definitely agree with the advice on NPC's - did you know pre-printed NPC sheets used to be a thing? Use the Index Card method: key details only - include 2 personality traits, e.g. Greedy, Gross. Good viewpoint on dramatic questions - very useful perspective.
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- Get Lair Magazine (5e adventures, VTT maps, puzzles, traps, new monsters, and more), play D&D with me, and other perks ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐲 - Get my level 1 to 5 fifth-edition compatible adventure module featuring new fey creatures here ▶▶ www.thedmlair.com/intothefey
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗠 𝗟𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 ▶▶ discord.gg/thedmlair
I’ve been playing since 1982, and 98% of the time as DM, and I still feel panicked before the game.
I've been dming my friends for 2 years and one of them has decided to dm the next campaign. Bless his pure little heart
Yes, giddy up. Always cool to see that.
If it's their first time, help them. By all means help them. With all your help it won't be as overwhelming leading to them wanting to try more. Giving you more time in the player seat. I did this with my wife 😀
@@sitkidgaming8579 we are now in a full blown year long campaign dm'd by him. Total success
Lol
Update?
Regarding #10 Panic (Don't Panic) My group has surprised me more than once when I sheepishly said "I'm not well-prepared, maybe we should cancel". They recognized the need to maintain momentum. With a great deal of understanding, they said things like "well maybe we can just do some social encounters -- I've got to to get a bunch of spell components" or "well maybe just run us through some random monster encounter." Little did I know that the component shop owner would turn out to be a beloved NPC, or that the random encounter I made on the spot would turn the campaign in a different direction for the next two months.
I needed to see this. I’ve faked personal emergencies to get out of poorly-prepared sessions. Maybe I should stop?
@leithcrowther6086 yes definitely stop that. Two of my best sessions weren't necessarily when I wasn't prepared, but bc players were having a lot of fun. We had 2 sessions, almost consecutive to one another, where all they did was RP. I didn't have really anything planned for that part of the campaign but they wanted to explore a city I barely worked on so I improved almost all of the social interactions. Ended up being 2 of our best sessions that campaign. If we had continued on, or maybe if I felt unprepared, then we would have missed those sessions and probably never experienced them.
Hope to see you reply with news that you tried not canceling.
They always love the random NPCs named Bob, because you could not think of another name for the random dude. Soon they will come to live as much as the player characters and that is when you kill them for maximum benefit.
I have seen a ton of DMing guides but this one is my favorite, I think you really emphasize how to NOT over prepare, which is one of the main problems I was running into: prioritizing
Awesome, happy to hear you found it useful! :D
One thing I’ve found is that, concerning prepping the location, the more I prep beyond the bare necessities, the less flexible I am when presented with the goals the party has. Don’t be too much of a stickler! Be flexible and allow the players to change the world they’re in no matter how big or small without breaking the game!
A lot comes with experience, but what you really should know is:
A. services defenitely availeble
B. services defenitely NOT available
C. quest related NPCs
D. special items or prices
E. general layout and theme of the place
You do need the bones and know where the references are you might suddenly need (like item lists for shops, which I generally pepare with little changes between towns). Flesh and skin will get added while playing.
The same thing goes for NPCs.
Have general information like occupation, looks, rough age etc and have a stereotype. Once I heard the advice to have animal stereotypes from typical fables and just decide on playing an NPC as a fox, rat etc.
Some timestamps for those who refer to this video in the future again and some notes of my own.
1 Prepare the setting 00:33
Single page or two of references is SUCH a help, to keep track of stuff like factions and districts. This would probably be my top priority too as even a 'derailed' session is informed by the context it happens in and can help improvise.
2 Prepare the Adventure 01:36
2.1 Don't worry about reading the whole module 03:35
Completely agree, don't pile too much at once. Take notes of the general motions and directions you are nudging towards but no person can have it all in their mind and run with it. Highlight/take note of crucial details.
3 Preparing NPCs 06:17
This is such an easy time sinkhole. I tend to make 'tables' for random NPCs so I can roll 3-5 dice and know what they are about in broad strokes, or have some prebuilt ones ready to be dropped anywhere. Caution with the latter, as it can be too tempting, keep it until you need it.
My tables include stuff like Race, Gender, Profession, Goals/Aims, Affiliations and so on. Some of those will change depending on the locality.
4 Prep the Encounters 09:10
I particularly like the 'Dramatic Question' as something to be put into session prep. It's less "will the party prevail" and more "how will they tackle this?" so you might end up being more open about resolutions.
5 Prep the monsters 10:32
FANTASTIC example of prepared tactics right at the beginning. I like to do something similar with my guards: they usually have 'roles' like a party might though their capabilities depend on the background. In Eberron, Aundarian guards might have access to spells.
6 Prep Players 12:53
7 Prep the PCs 14:32
I like to skim on this front so players can surprise me. I read character stuff extensively so I usually know if something smells off, but I don't want to know necessarily everything the PCs can do. Catering adventures to them is okay sometimes but the world at large would probably not adapt to the party getting/losing a druid. Thus, I usually end up playing by in-world logic as to how antagonists and such would be prepared.
8 Prep DM tools 15:48
Just adding Xanathar's and Tasha's to that list, they have wonderful things to pull even if you don't use it all.
9 Prep the session 17:21
Personal shoutout to the LazyDM on this front, it's helped me loads to trim down time spent and have some structure - I have a standard document by this point that helps me guide my efforts.
10 Relatable feeling 19:19
Thanks
Reading the entire module is old school, back when the modules were $10 to $15 paperbacks with 70 some pages and 6 or so linked adventures each of which were writen to last a 4 hour session or two. So, using the old rule and adjusting it, be very familiar with what will be covered during one or two sessions.
I'm prepping my first session as DM and I'm almost ready to start. The advice I never considered was the "what do you want to do next time" and that's such a helpful tip. Thank you!
Luke, congrats on the 100k subscribers!!! I don't know if that's recent, but it's the first time I notice it. Thanks for all the great work you do :D
Thank you!!! And you are very welcome. :D
@@theDMLair Now you got to step it up to make that half milly. GET ON IT! (whip crack!)
Coming into dming to give my dm a break, between u and some of these other great RUclipsrs, I appreciate you and all the good advice give!
Had an adventure on a ship once. Presumed they'd go deck by deck. They split the party with half coming up from the hold and half starting on the main deck. They aggroed the entire ship, which was otherwise going to be several encounters
If it's your first time maybe run a shorter module, levels 1-5 for example. Then you can read through the whole module easily. If you skim through the important sections it won't take long. Then read the sections you need each week.
I'm that guy. I volunteered to be the GM two weeks ago to my friends from work. The last time I played D&D was back in the 80's lol. I do have the big three 5e manuals, PM, MM, DMM I bought last year just on a whim, and I should be receiving Return of the Lazy DM along with the workbook soon. It'd be myself, six others and needless to say, I'm super excited and nervous at the same time. I've been watching this channel for days now, getting ideas while taking notes and so much of the content has been super useful. Thanks for everything Luke, your hard work is definitely appreciated!!
Just read your comment. 'Hope it's going well for you! 😃
@@gwynherstein5530 Yes Gwyn, we all are! Our fourth session will be tomorrow. I'm running them through LMoP and we're all enjoying it! Thank you 😁
I tried DMing for the first time in 2021 and it ended after only 5 sessions because we ended up moving for a job. but i am going to start a campaign in December of this year (the same one i tried to run last time and didnt get to finish) using discord and owlbear rodeo! im super excited about it... its a fully homebrew world with rich history, political intrigue, a kingdom on the verge of war, and dragons influencing global events. I'm super proud of the world i created im just hoping i can portray it well and make it enjoyable and immersive for my players.
I've hand crafted dozens of maps (including full city maps that are 500x500 squares), hand crafted dozens of characters, and im incorporating my player characters backstories into the world in an organic way (even changing 1 world event to better suit the events of the background of one of the PCs). I learned from the 5 sessions i DMd last time not to fall too in love with the characters, events, and places i crafted since my characters may never visit/meet them or may kill and destroy them haha
I've been working on this world since 2019... Super excited to see the story get fleshed out and unfold. Thanks for your videos... they've been super helpful in so many ways
How’s it going?
This video is AWESOME! I’m DM’ing for the first time soon and this is unbelievably helpful. I’m becoming less overwhelmed with every second of this video haha thank you so much!
How’s it going 2 months later?
I'm currently playing D&D for the first time ever with a group of other girls and I'm also considering trying to DM sooner than later so I find these videos are really amazing.
Just started a curse of Strahd campaign last week. My DM for the last three years through Keep and Tomb is excited to have a chance to be a player. Hope I get it right.
On the note of NPCs and players not interacting with them very much a very long when you give them a backstory. I had an NPC that the players were meant to interact with, she was meant to be their guide through this new land when the players decided that they didn't want her following them around because they thought she would be useless or get in the way I had that same NPC start hunting them down in order to kill the party
My first campaign i read and added details to the entire PRINCESS OF THE APOCALYPSE multiple times.
The players destroyed the entire adventure idea at lvl 8, i literally had to homebrew everything to keep playing, we played for 4 years.
This was 7 years ago, I AM NEVER DOING SOMETHING THAT CRAZY AGAIN.
I love Luke's videos but hearing 'Lair' pronounced 'Layer' absolutely grinds my gears.
My PR ever was 300. More recently I put up 275, 6x4 sets and reps.
I am a new dm (6 months of experience by now) i am proud that i figured most of this by myself in time but hearing it from someone with a lot more experience made me proud
Ty very much man😊
I didn't even get up to panic and cancel. I bought a module, felt the anxiety rise and decided I had enough on my plate to not add something else to worry about. Shelved until I get about 4 - 7 stresses resolved. But I still watch you and others and learn. I hadn't really understood planning the session as opposed to all the other prep Stuff which I've picked up, mostly from you
I wonder how much u improved since this video :) im on the same spot rn. Ive been a player for two years now, but still, im really nervous ngl. Becoming a dm looks so intimidating
I will occasionally use a voice recorder on my way to work to talk through an adventure and practice NPC voices and backstory. I don't seem as crazy that way, I just look like I am on my phone hands free. ;) Haha, but seriously, it does help give me a feel for the characters that I expect to use. I only do it for a few that will be in the session, but I do feel it helps me be more prepared, and if anything it gives me some practice for when things hit the fan and I need to improvise.
I have been playing for 25 years and been a DM for 18. I love these videos Luke. I have been feeling very intimidated about beginning my 1st 5th edition campaign for my group. I feel like I did when I 1st took up the DMG. This video specifically helped me to take a step back n simplify my intro idea while at the same time adding some depth. Thank you for the great tips!!
I've been writing my own campaign and recently found your videos. Seems I'm on the right track with things. I'm really good at improvisation so I'm prepared for players to go off story, but for now I still need to leave myself lots of notes. This is my first time DMing and it's a homebrew, but I have confidence in it after watching your vids.
100k!!! Amazing work Luke, you absolutely deserve it. Been here from 15k, and I am SO GLAD I stuck around this whole time :)
Thank you!!! :D And thanks for staying on the train. Free bacon for all!!!
Don't do what I did and try to homebrew a completely custom system
By system are you actually meaning a homebrew world or do you mean your own TTRPG system in its entirety?
I’m literally about to run a game for some internet friends within the week. I’ve ‘run’ games in the past for friends when I was a kid, but they never lasted past one or two sessions. This is PERFECT!
Awesome, happy to help. Best of luck!!!
"Panic and send a group text to cancel the game" really resonates with me, even after having dmed _numerous_ times by now.
"are you going to read the entire book?!?!?"
*laughs nervously while sliding a 400+ page fantasy novel out of sight* 😅
Thanks for the advice! It's been YEARS since I played and I decided to dip my toe into running games. I appreciate all of the advice!
Aaaah, the very next day after my first session as a DM. Thanks Luc (I hope you write it like that, I'm not from an English speaking country) for all the advices from all your videos ! It helped me a lot. I didn't crashed in flammes, fortunately! I adapted my campaign from old Dnd 2e Lankhmar book, and it was great, I made a session zero, and then we played 2 hours, i just misjudged what i had planned, so we did not finished... At all ! But it's ok, they loved the encounter with the thieve guild's i prepared them
I suggest watching more of this guys videos(and subscribe) if you’re a new DM, take notes, book mark key sections in your dnd books to refer back to, and read/watch things to give you inspiration and concepts for your next game. This guy is offering seriously valuable information put into very well put together and easy to watch videos that he’s gotten over years of playing the game for free, same with many other dnd channels; One of the great things about living in the era of information is content like this, don’t take it for granted.
Thanks for the “dramatic question” advice. I have definitely missed that in the past.
found this over 2 years later because i decided to DM for the first time to new players and im really nervous about it. But this really helped!! i feel a whole lot more prepared!
Pushes glasses up nose. Well actually those are adventure BOOKS. Modules are modular and should run less than 32 printed pages. I suggest new dms run short adventures like the first of each season of Adventure League. But be aware not much story to those beginning modules.
Congrats on the 100k!! You are informative and funny enough to deserve that!!
I prepped for last sunday (we run lost mines of phandelver my 5th session as DM) I had no clue what was going to be their action after killing the villain in cragmaw castle and retrieving the map to their next target in the previous session.
So i read about the rest of the castle, read about the next target, read about the village and some sidequests and prepped some random encounters if they went on traveling.
Then we started, I asked them about their level (I am not a good note taker) and being level three, the next target was a bit daunting according to the manual, so I pondered a bit and suggested to clean out the castle for the well being of the neighborhood.
They then found the owlbear congered up some story to make the owlbear fight the goblins and co. positioned themselves upon a ridge of debris, took out the popcorn and started a short rest while the fight broke out below.
I was so running blind in this bloodfest 😳😳😳, but we had lots of fun even when I had to spend ten minutes figuring out how many foes actually lived there and how many of them would show up and in which round of the fight and all.
Eventually they where spotted and had to fight some of the foe’s themselves, but the owlbear thrashed through more then half of the goblins for them, earning the fighter jumping on its neck and rolling a succesfull Dex save to shove a potion of healing in its beak 🤣.
After that turning the empty castle upside down for the bits of loot was difficult for me to make something not tooo boring out of, but hey it was fun!
Thank you!!! :D
By far the most helpful session prep video on youtube if you don't know where to start
One of my pre-game preps are lists of 'random' results. You don't have to do this for everything, or extensive lists, but I never have to worry about enemies in a random encounter not using better gear that they had, but were keeping in a sack. For some reason.
- if running a campaign feels a bit overwhelming, just start with a oneshot. that way you can reduce the amount of prep yu have to do to start with. prepare a single quest with plothook, a dungeon, with an encounter or two. so basically: group meets somewhere, gets a quest, goes clear a dungeon/solves a mystery and returns for the reward.
- remember some cool quest from your favorite computer game or a cool episode from a book you like? borrow! change up some details and maybe adept it to the setting you have in mind and off you go. my first dm session was an adaptation of a quest from one of my favorite games and it turned out quite well.
- if you plan a combat encounter, do some testing beforehand. how much damage can the monsters do in one turn. ideally, the monsters should not be able to down/kill a player in one turn (for example, if the monster has 2 attacks, even with two crits, it should not down a player). a player being down or dying without ever having the chance to do anything about it feels very frustrating for that player. if you want the fight to be tough, rather give the monsters more HP than more damage.
- especially at higher level groups, be aware of their strenght, and dont be afraid to occasionally use stuff like counterspell against their aggressive spells, especially against stuff like pychic lance, that has a chance to stun/disable your monster/NPC. (i was recently in a oneshot encounter (average group level 10) by a fairly new dm who hadnt have much experience with spellcasters. My wizard managed to keep the BBEG incapacitated for the whole fight, so he didnt get a single action out, despite having access to counterspell. the rest of the group just kept pummeling him with attacks on advantage till he went down).
Prep the NPC's probably the best advice here. The first time I dm'd for strangers (roll20) what both carried me and impressed the players was knowing about 3 dozen NPC's in town and who among them related to who. Who likes who, doesn't like who, is related to who, and does what in town along with pictures of all of them pinched from the web. I had nothing written down, not enough about each to need it. just the ability to bump in to the same person several times and this interaction makes sense with any prior interactions will convince players of just about anything.
I find these tips very helpful! I’m thinking of becoming a DM soon once our current one is finished with his campaign so these help a lot!
Thank you so much for the tips! I've been binging the channel recently to help get prepared for my first ever campaign, and everything has been super super helpful. Thank you so much!
Clear explanations presented in a fun way. Great job!
I personally enjoy reading adventure modules, so I don't consider reading the whole thing to be a hardship. I do think though that it has advantages, even if it isn't completely necessary. As well-written as many published campaigns are, even the best of them usually leave something to be desired. I'm prepping for _The Wild Beyond the Witchlight_ at the moment, which is for the most part very well written and provides some great tools, but for all that it completely skimps on the actual backstory and timeline of events. You have to get to the last chapter to find out who a major NPC really is, and to find out about the events that actually triggered the campaign in the first place. That knowledge is obviously useful to the DM.
On top of that, reading the whole thing means that I know in advance what kind of changes I want to make later in the game, which may requires tweaking other things earlier on. It would still be possible to do this if I hadn't read it all, but it would probably be less coherent.
Comment for the algorithm.
Thanks for brining wisdom to the next generation of DMs.
Love this! I'm a new player, want to be a dm soon and I sent this to my group so my DM, who is also new to the game watches it, we had a bit of trouble with our session attempts lol
Bacon is delicious
A friend of mine so happen to have a map ready and she never been a DM so, I have one ready and another player o have had been a DM for several years so I have all the help I need for mine!
Recommend you use "backstories" from the module, really helps ground your players and gives the DM ideas for eqrly plot hooks and later plot twists
A huge reason I homebrew everything is exactly because I can’t remember the details from an individual premade adventure, let alone a module. My ADHD makes studying hard. But I do remember the background I make myself in during day-long hyper focus creative sessions.
I used to be able to bench press 215 but now im down to like 155 :(. youre videos have been so helpful as a first time DM prepping for their first session. Thank you!
The only module you need to read in the entirety from the get-go is Strahd since it is so open ended. Stuff like Rime of the Frostmaiden are easier, just read ch. 1 and 2 and just go.
One thing that’s helped me is to set dcs for things I think the players might encounter beforehand. Keeps me impartial when they come up .
100k!!!!!!! You deserve it Luke!
Thanks!!
Love your channel. Definitely helps me since I am new to being a dm I started last year or in 2020 running the mines of phlandren I think that was the name. I picked up the hoard of the dragon queen a while back. I am getting my 4 kids involved in d&d they love it we just started the dragon queen adventure. I always prep about 4 parts in each episode and only read so far ahead. But so far they love it.
It’s about time you got 100k! I don’t understand why it took you so long. You are one of my favorite DnD RUclipsr. Exceptionally your one shots. They are so much fun😁
Thank you!!! One reason it took this long, IMO, is because my content focuses more on helpful advice as opposed to sensational topics that get lots of views.
You don't completely suck. (There, now the algorithm has been thwarted.) In fact, these have all been very helpful suggestions. Thanks! It can be a daunting challenge to take the reigns as DM. I appreciate what you do for us.
I’m preparing for my very first game and I’m just so nervous. I considered myself a forever player but our DM needs a break, but I’m going to watch this again and write some of the tips down. Thanks!
I love you so much sir, I'm so stressed abt my campaign in a few days and I'm not prepared at all and the way you explain things helps so much I'm crying😭😭
Unless you are some rare improv savant, do not start home brewing out of the gate.
Mercer, Brennan, Satine, all these DMs you're seeing on streams have been running for YEARS. They've run multiple settings, they've run modules, prefab campaigns, and yes, also homebrew, but they've built up that ability through years of effort.
Learn the rules. No, you probably won't get all of them, but knowing how to run combat, as well as learning the abilities of your PCs is a baseline.
Don't just yank rare monster after rare monster. I've seen so many DMs get it in their head that they don't want to use the normal array of baddies, instead combing through tomes for the rarest things they can find. Have normal baddies, it helps set up the rare monsters AS rare. If everything is rare, then nothing is.
Don't make every encounter ball-busting, just don't. Use mooks, there were tons of mooks in pretty much every fantasy book or movie you've ever loved.
Not everyone enemy has to, or SHOULD, fight to their last breath. It drags out combat needlessly if every bandit is willing to fight to the death, and it lowers suspension of disbelief.
Talking about monsters in pre-written campaigns: in the Adventure Paths for Pathfinder Second Edition (maybe also first, haven't played that) it often gives one or two sentences on how the creature reacts to PCs.
One funny example in Abomination Vault is a ghoul giving up one of their 3 actions to rant about the PCs disturbing them in their work xD
Nice
I’ve been DMing since the 90’s, but I always try to learn to be a better one. These are some good tips, I try to do most of them.
I don’t run premade adventures so..
Congrats on the growth
My best bench of all time was 425, but currently cutting so strength isn't optimal at the moment. Also as a DM that is now 39 and started DMing when I was 16, I still learn a ton from your channel, its been an amazing resource. All the other channels are good too, but yours has been the best and most helpful.
I dont see the relevance of the bench weight
@@Degulines 10:25
I appreciate that you said not to read the whole module... I'm in a FB group on running Curse of Strahd, and there are some people who say that new DMs have to read the module, cover to cover, two to three times to prepare....
I've been running it for about a year, and still haven't read the whole book :P
How would you run a building on fire? During combat or even out of combat, I’ve tried to find a rule for it but I can’t
I'd say 5 to 15 minutes of work and a successful DC 10 survival check. If flammable material is scarce, the DC is 15.
First, i genuinely appreciate your video for yhe scrub dms like me who have chronic fears of not knowing all of a campaign or events in advance.(About to do my first DM run with mines of phandelver, just to get my bearings.) IMO the best sessions ive had with otgers DMing is when things are generally on the fly in terms of random encounters. (Randy random from rimworld would be my ideal DM) secondly, i will be using all of your advice and have many new ideas for once our campaign with the mines is over. Thank you my guy.
Lastly, yes, bacon is delicious.
I highly recommend reading the whole book before running it. You don't have to know it by heart, you're not trying to have all the knowledge but knowing ahead of time the frame of the adventure, any twists and turns or relationships that only get revealed later on is important.
woah. My entire week of collecting information from different sources in one video. Very nice
Happy to help! :D
3:50 Meanwhile, I read through the Monster Manual and am Reading Volo's Guide to Monsters.
Thank you for this. I used to let my friend freeform RP within my own created book universe and it was the best thing in the world. But I've been too worried about the structure to DM, only doing it now because our group agreed to take turns being DM. And I get so stressed that even during this video I start to dissociate, zone out and other outrageously overblown anxious reactions. I feel a lot more prepared watching this. I just need to not get stage fright, and I think I might make it through this.
Great summary about where to focus your energy for a DM game
A good mysterious plot feature for a character is a selected character's blood can undo any curse.
Just imagine a vampire goes around an inn at Knite taking small amounts of blood to survive and being careful not to inflict any diseases (Vampierisum) or infection so as not to be discovered.
But cums across you ASLEEP bites down and within seconds turn back to their original race. In all the shock wakes you up.
obviously, your character would not know of this ability until this event takes place or something similar.
Congratulations on the 100k subs!!!
Thank you!!! :D
Congrats on 100k Luke! Also, love the shirt! :D
Good advice. Thanks!
I read the whole module looking for crunch to steal for my home game
Thank you for all this information, I'm a beginner DM. Links also sounded nice! 😁
I've been reading through the first pathfinder adventure path and it did quite the good work describing enemy tactics during encounters.
First time DM and using this as a final checklist. Session zero is 5 days away. Wish me luck
Thank you very much, I’m trying to do my first run dming and this was very helpful.
Just had my session zero. I love the internet. I can get amazing advice from 2 years ago right now.
This is gonna be very helpful for me, im new to playing and more new to DMing, and am struggling NOT to overprepare for a campaign. These tips are incredibly helpful.
My hubby and i are trying to do a new game where we co-DM in the session, either by narrating scene by scene or one of us is the parties side vs the villians side. Any tips you could give us there?
I totally have my wife be a player in the game so that she can nudge people down my story hooks when they get lost. Really awesome to build up when the rest of the party doesn’t know she is in on the world building.
Ps. We don’t do this in such a way that makes her able to solve the encounters in an advantageous way, more so able to lead the party to cool encounters I planned but can’t get the party to check out.
120kg bench press…bunch more on squats and deadlift. On the topic, mid January my 1st DnD campaign as DM…and with little experience before (4 or 5 sessions). Doing whatever possible so my players don’t send me to the gym right away : ))
Great info for new DMs!! 🤓⚔️
Great content Luke, your videos have been very helpful, and they are appreciated!
You don't completely suck! 😉 Thank you for all the really good advice, I plan on incorporating a bunch of your ideas into my campaign!
Even worse than players saying two words to a NPC is when they say three words:
“I kill it”
Great name, great video and great backdrop. 5 stars.
Daaamn the intro got me laughing so hard hahaha great video my dude
Do we get access to all Lair Magazines or just the currents month one, when entering Patreon? Would love to get all at once at some point :)!
Thanks for the tips Luke!
Thank you Luke for make this video, This video help me a lots to running my first One-shot.
But I have some worry about future about WOTC and DnD, I'm not the content creator but the thing WOTC does make me little uncomfortable to play any future content they making, Can you suggesting me what to do?
You are very welcome!!!
04:04
_/looks at his 7 in intelligence on his new character sheet_
Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty sure I can remember all of it!
Great video! keep making great stuff please!
Just had session 1 for a new goblin campaign. We get to fight heros and stuff.
Great video. I learned a lot
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
Hi Luke thank you so much for your helpful tips! I made a lot of notes! And I just bought The Monsters Know What They’re Doing because of you, thanks for the recommendation
I don't think reading a couple of hundred pages is a big deal. Reading's not hard, mmm'K. The wholistic understanding of the module/adventure will stand you in good stead for when the party does the unexpected like finding a way down two levels of the dungeon or the like. Definitely agree with the advice on NPC's - did you know pre-printed NPC sheets used to be a thing? Use the Index Card method: key details only - include 2 personality traits, e.g. Greedy, Gross. Good viewpoint on dramatic questions - very useful perspective.