I recently went down the rabbit hole of watching videos about Ted Cassidy and his career. I wanted to confirm that I remembered that he was on the Six Million Dollar Man as Bigfoot along with André the Giant.
Used mind flayers for the first time in my campaign recently. I'm thankful one of my players finally got Raise Dead, because man, describing a mind flayer eating one of the character's brains was strangely cathartic.
@@TheNordmann Funny enough for me it's Halflings. Because for the longest time if someone showed up with a Halfling character I instantly knew that we had an effective traitor in the party. Picking fights with otherwise friendly NPCs. Stealing everything around them. Hiding instead of fighting when it came down to it. Even killing off wounded PCs and 'rescusing' their gear.
Hey, Matt!! I've been quietly watching your videos from the sidelines, but I really want to say a big thank you for your amazing channel!!!! I've always loved D&D, and haven't had a chance to DM for a few years. Finally got a group together and we are four sessions in. Your videos have helped me improve my campaign tenfold. So many little techniques or bits of advice you give enhance and deepen the experience, and I appreciate you taking the time out of your hectic schedule to fill us in on your campaigns and throw us some advice. I always get really excited when I see you have a new upload, and I basically binge-watch your channel while I work. You are amazing. Thanks for being you!
It may be the amount of heavy metal I've listened to recently Matt, but the moment you described the Great Way as a Duergar highway, I just got this great picture in my head of it being some kind of Underdark Route 66, but with lots of big haired bards, battleaxes with strings, and very spiky, metallic motorcycles. When I finally get to run a campaign, there may now be a planar highway tucked away somewhere. Thank you.
Hi, Matt, Matt here, the other night i hosted a game for the first time in over three years and for a group of all new players. I discovered your page while getting ready to DM. I have to say that your method of presenting your videos is perfect. They are extremely content rich, with no fat. Im looking forward to applying many of the concepts ive learned from your DM series. Also thanks for name dropping all the DM resources available out there!
Hey Matt! Can you do an episode about levels, xp, and pacing? I have a hard time determining how much XP to give to my players outside of a prewritten campaign. Typically I've been doing episodic leveling after some major battles.
Relg, an Ulgo diviner and zealot. Relg is called the "Blind Man" in the Mrin Codex because of his home underground in the caves of Ulgo. He has the ability to walk through solid rock and is able to carry someone with this ability also, as demonstrated in The Magician’s Gambit by David Eddings. The entire series of books, the Belgariad and The Malloreon are awesome books, and you have alluded to taking from the series before (the bloodred Murgo gold!). I have enjoyed this series of videos and especially the Running the Game series, very informative and well done. I think most people enjoy actually seeing your group play, because seeing a group together, and not just heads on a screen skyping together and playing via skype is that you can see the enjoyment that your group gets from playing. Even if that means getting sidetracked and the sidebar conversations and the “ohh yeah, remember this” conversation. That’s part of the game. If it means getting in one or two encounters and the rest is roleplaying, so be it. As for references like the writings of David Eddings or Stephen R. Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (I love those books too), I look forward to your own Appendix N. I truly believe in being well read, it allows for a variety in creativity
The gnome thing is from traditional gnome lore, they are said "to pass through stone as humans pass through air". The famous alchemist Paracelsus was the first to describe them and I think the word gnome means "earth/stone spirit".
Welcome back Matt. Your point about letting the players enhance the plot is a great one. I have totally changed my plot when the players through their paranoia came up with a much cooler idea.
One of my players is a Svirfneblin that climbed out of the Yawning Portal in Waterdeep and stayed after discovering his love for Humanoid hooch. It'll be interesting to bring the campaign into the Underdark once they've levelled up sufficiently to make it through Undermountain.
The push through rock was probably also taken from Belgariad like the blood gold was. The carrying someone through rock was something that Relg could do.
I'm SOOOOOO thankful that you are posting these diaries, Matt...much appreciated. I don't think I could have went cold turkey, or not knowing what happened to this Motley Crew. Thanks for not leaving them down there, allowing us to continue on this Grand Adventure!!! Huge hugs!!!!
OMG IT IS RELG!!! THE ULGO/DARK GNOME! I absolutely adore those series and read all 12 books at least once a year. Which would actually be kind of cool if the gnome is in some kind of severe religious tension like Relg and Gorim.
So many players dislike having to make saves against freaky effects and losing character efficacy, but matt’s approach is a good lesson I think. Making fun out of rollplaying bad things that happen to your character is a great way to enjoy D&D throughout the session rather than just when things go well. Especially since these effects are really necessary to keep things interesting in combat.
Finaly i've made it to wacht all DM Advice an Campaing Diaries :D I'm currently running Pathfinder, but still greate Advice! Keep up the good Work! Greetings from Germany! PS: Hope there will be new Videos soon!
There’s always cool boardgames in the background of your videos Matt! I know that your channel is focused on D&D but I will love to see a video of the favourites boardgames of Matt Colville. Tks for the great content.
the Svirfneblin remind me of Gnomes in Elizabeth Moon's Paksworld series, Since she is/was a D&D player they might have had the walk through rock ability in earlier editions of the game
Hey Matt, The patented Colville screw is based on the dungeon getting awakened once the party has made it to the end and everything comes down to them, but wouldn’t it also likely go the other way too if not done stealthily, where the enemies come to the front of the dungeon.
So interesting to hear that their strategy is almost the same as my party's when scouting in the underdark. Our ranger/rogue travels about 60 feet ahead of the party and I use the message spell to stay in constant contact with him.
Great video's Matt, I've been playing since the late 80's but of late have gotten a group together of very new players so along with their inexperience and mine as a novice DM these are giving me great tips on how to run this wonderful game better. Thanks
Speaking as a player rather than a DM, I used to love it when there were encounters that messed with our normal tactics such as mind control/confusion etc. It got a bit dull for me if it was always hack and slash and standard combat procedure. A bit of variation forced us to think on our feet from time to time and sometimes allowed those who were in the background a bit to take centre stage and try and save the party. Definitely a good technique in my book, though I too know players who didn't like it.
Have you ever heard of the Yogscast D&D stream "High Rollers"? Their content is fantastic and I believe that Mark Hulmes, their equally fantastic DM, might have taken a lot of pointers from you. Point in fact: around the time of this video being released the characters in the High Rollers were also exploring the underdark - and they also encountered the Svirfneblin - eventually freeing them from the tyranny of an evil Medusa through some innovative use of a large tome with shards of glass hidden within the pages. Worth looking into if you have time (I know you probably don't!)
+Matthew Colville i just wanted to point out after watching your campaign streams I didn't see you give out any magic items i was really looking forward to seeing how you present those kinds of situations the only things that you gave them were the chances at getting monster brains.
Do you ever specifically target Baltair(sp?), knowing that he is the main damage dealer? Or do you try to roleplay it based on whether or not the monsters know (or would be able to deduce) that Baltair is the most dangerous? On the one hand putting the same guy unconscious more often isn't fun for that player, but certain enemies might be familiar with the party's tendencies, or might be able to figure it out based on the fact that that one guy is destroying them. What's your protocol here? How would you handle it if the party decided to go back to town? Would you repopulate parts of the dungeon? Or just roll a few times on a random encounter table as they make their way down? What exactly is happening on the other side of the door? What would the Duergar accomplish with the lens in the meantime? Would you enforce those consequences or, have it kind of default to a "they begin the ritual as you walk through the door" sort of thing? Thanks for the vid, look forward to hearing what happens next time. About the mouther: if you want to be wrong, that's 100% your prerogative. But let's not falsely portray what happened. I let you know you were mistaken; I didn't lord it over you or taunt you or point it out and then push up my glasses and snort and condescend to you. I didn't act like it was important, I just threw the info out there. I just let you know as a favor. How you react to that is up to you. And so far that reaction has been fairly childish.
If you feel your time is best spent dickering over pronunciation, by all means continue. This is not a past-time enjoyed much by creative people who love language, I've noticed. ruclips.net/video/J7E-aoXLZGY/видео.html
I don't believe Fry's point is really relevant here. He is arguing for the free evolution of words, and against, say, Samuel Johnson's desire to standardize language. That's all well and good, and I agree with his sentiment to a large degree (although I can see the value in a standard, as well), but it has nothing to do with pronunciation. You aren't creating anything new when you say gibbering with a hard G. You aren't really exploring new and fun ways to use words, such as turning nouns into verbs. You're not using a common saying for ease of use (e.g. less vs fewer) even though it's technically incorrect. You're just using the wrong pronunciation of the G. The only part of Fry's argument that could bolster your position is his argument against claims of wanting to protect clarity--that since people know what you mean, it's irrelevant what you actually said. Perhaps, perhaps. But I think word choice is different than pronunciation. Word choice allows for shades of meaning to be injected into your message. It can signify the level of seriousness in the situation, it can signify the level of respect you have for the person you're talking to, it can signify the way you feel that day. Mispronouncing a word doesn't signify anything except that you're mistaken about how the word is actually pronounced. Word choice presents a tradeoff for the loss of clarity--you alter the meaning of the sentence and achieve a new connotation, if ever so slight. Mispronunciation is all downside, no upside. I am perplexed by your insinuation that I don't love language or that I am not creative, purely based on the fact that I told you that you mispronounced a word(similarly, I think it's strange you would imply that you *are* creative or a lover or language because you mispronounced a word). I have an English literature degree--I do love language! It's part of the reason I'm embarrassed to mispronounce words, and am thankful to people when they point out my errors. I want to get it right, and understand why the correct pronunciation is correct. Because when I make a change in the standard in order to achieve a certain effect, I want to be doing it on purpose. I don't want to be misinterpreted or mis-judged because I said gibbering with a hard G. It's sort of like Fry was saying about the way you tend to heighten your language during a job interview. But hard-G gibbering isn't like the way I drop my g's from gerunds when I'm relaxin' at home--hard-G gibbering implies just a base-level misreading of the word. The kind of misreading I would think most people would be happy to have cleared up. And, as with every other person in these comment sections, Fry's distaste for "correctors" stems largely from assigning them an attitude. The attitude you joked about a few weeks ago, that of the supreme pedant, relishing in being correct and superior to others. But that's not what I did at all. That is how I've been mischaracterized, certainly. But that's not the spirit of what I actually typed. Stephen Fry is always fun to listen to, though, so thanks for the link. I just don't think it really defends you very well in this instance. Always a pleasure to discuss language with you, though I really think at this point you should admit to yourself that you also enjoy dickering over it--otherwise you wouldn't include little nods to youtube comment discussions in your vids. I do have a question though, if you don't mind answering. When you sat back down with your party, did you say gibbering or jibbering? Sheer curiosity.
if you are having trouble keeping track of NPCs, how about you designate a player (or invite someone) to play half your NPCs? like a second DM, or something? if you have a lot of people it seems like the logical thing to do. you may have to go out of the room to explain the situation or talk strategy but you could have epic battles like that. you might give them some NPCs to roll play too
Nice to see you back! Isn't 30 feet a bit short to scout? Dark vision is 60 (sometimes 120) feet and if they are using a torch it can give their position away much farther. I'm struggling with this in my game as well, I've been using 120 during the day for scouting. Hexbox (on the DMs Guild) has an interesting view on it for wilderness, I believe it was half a mile ahead and it slowed their pace significantly with the rogue going back and forth between the group and a scouting position.
That reminds me of a Pathfinder game where I fought miconids. My Fighter-Archer got caught in a sporecloud and failed his wisdom save. My dm said that it made it so that I find the miconids as friends and so I played it as if I was high and not understanding why the party was fighting our (my) new "friends". So instead of attacking my party in defense of the myconids friends I would just get in the way and then just grapple the myconid (most of them were small) in an attempt to keep them away from the party. So the dm played it like the myconids didn't expect what I was doing so they struggled rather than let me run away with them. Granting the party bonuses to attack the myconids.
2:55 I like the cut of his gibber. On a slightly more serious note, I think I've found one thing that I actually disagree with Matt's GMing style on. I have a personal rule that I award XP for problems solved, not battles won or even battles fought. If the bad guys aren't the rabid-dog sort of villains who need to be put down for everyone's good, I'll sometimes even award more XP for bypassing them or finding a way to convince them to back down. Obviously, I'll still award XP for a fight that needed to be fought or for a fight that I threw at the players too abruptly to avoid, but I'll reward the players for non-combat solutions and I might not reward them for getting into a completely unnecessary fight.
As someone else in the comments pointed out, you might have borrowed Relg's ability from the Belgariad for the Svirfneblin. Which you have pointed to as a good fantasy to steal ideas from since it's old enough to not be something everyone at the table has read. (Last time I DM'd I couldn't used anything from it without being called a lazy plagiarist :/ )
They Syst you speak of May be referred to as a:(( oubliette )) Origin and Etymology of oublietteFrench, from Medieval French, from oublier to forget, from Old French oblier, from Vulgar Latin *oblitare, frequentative of Latin oblivisci to forget - more at oblivion First Known Use: 1777
When you had them bypass most of the dungeon using gaseous form did you consider redoing the layout of the dungeon to move the location of some of the content on to their path?
+Matthew Colville they wouldn't know you'd reorganized the dungeon unless you told them. They would get the benefit of at least some of the content + they'd feel awesome cause their gaseous form plan had "worked." I mean it is sneaky DMing but I think it can be considered tricking players for their benefit, which is allowed.
I wish as a DM I could bite my tongue as well as you can when the players bypass plot points. It takes all my effort not to tell them all the interesting parts of the story they missed.
Thanks again for the videos. Hey, is the Genesis song "Snowbound" really about human sacrifice? Could you do a video about your Genesis appreciation? I'd watch it!
aboleths have no connection to the old ones as far as i know. The old ones being derived from HP lovecrafts Mythos: Aboleths being a dnd monster whose race predates Most gods
+Gabe Parada Aboleth and Mind Flayer are heavily inspired by H.P. Lovecraft mythos, I think. A really powerful Aboleth or Illithid might be a warlock's patron.
It's from THE GATES TO FIRESTORM PEAK. Night Below has an Orc fortress down here, but they've been fighting orcs for a while already and I wanted to switch it up. So I just grabbed this Duergar Stronghold from Firestorm Peak and shoved it in there. I think I covered this in an earlier video. I hope people don't buy Night Below off eBay hoping to get this Duergar fortress!
+Matthew Colville Awesome, been watching your videos for a while now. Would really love to start getting my hands on some of these old modules to use in my games to keep things interesting. Hoping that your adventure lookup idea can pull through. Would love to help you out, but alas, I am a man of medicine.
Can't wait to hear the next campaign diary. I follow you on twitter Matt, if I wanted to see the other players and what they may post how would I get their twitter names?
I am curious though after so long doubt i will get an answer. U mention around 19-20 min mark that while most of the party is overburdened with magic items vorrakus has nothing. While i get those items are theirs how do u feel about this? Like would loaning the guy some stuff until he finds some of his own really be out of the question? I get why he doesn't bring it up but noone else has either; just seems a bit selfish particularly when one cannot possibly use all the items at once...
Yeah I just axed him and replaced him with my own Evil Wizard. I'm not really using the plot of Firestorm Peak so I'm not beholden to the content therein. I use it mostly as a springboard.
Hey matt I have a off topic question but I hope you'll still answer it. How do you manage your time between prepping/working on D&D and writing your books? Do they ever come into conflict with each other?
Basically, I can't work full-time, run D&D every week, make these videos, and write fantasy novels. I don't have time. So right now I'm not doing much work on FIGHTER. I would like this to change, but I can't figure out how....
Hey! That tall guy who says "Yes, the Old Ones" in Star Trek is Ted Cassidy...my grandfather! :) way cool to see that in something like this
You rang?
I recently went down the rabbit hole of watching videos about Ted Cassidy and his career. I wanted to confirm that I remembered that he was on the Six Million Dollar Man as Bigfoot along with André the Giant.
Your grandfather is way cool!😀
Used mind flayers for the first time in my campaign recently. I'm thankful one of my players finally got Raise Dead, because man, describing a mind flayer eating one of the character's brains was strangely cathartic.
Matt put gnomes in his game. We finally broke him.
Well, Night Below put them there!
+Matthew Colville don't lie, you secretly love gnomes
Didn't Mercers Tiefling have a Gnome Drugdealer in his party, when they ate with the Count of Rend?
Ha! We hate Gnomes too. Because of a player from 20+ years ago that only played to cause party strife.
@@TheNordmann Funny enough for me it's Halflings. Because for the longest time if someone showed up with a Halfling character I instantly knew that we had an effective traitor in the party. Picking fights with otherwise friendly NPCs. Stealing everything around them. Hiding instead of fighting when it came down to it. Even killing off wounded PCs and 'rescusing' their gear.
I have been dying to see more of your content! This is like water to a rather parched man on a hot, dry day.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!
"Always be open to your players enhancing your plot."
This is some of the best, most useful advice for tabletop role-playing someone could ever get.
"*Svirfneblin*" gesundheit!
Hey, Matt!!
I've been quietly watching your videos from the sidelines, but I really want to say a big thank you for your amazing channel!!!!
I've always loved D&D, and haven't had a chance to DM for a few years. Finally got a group together and we are four sessions in. Your videos have helped me improve my campaign tenfold. So many little techniques or bits of advice you give enhance and deepen the experience, and I appreciate you taking the time out of your hectic schedule to fill us in on your campaigns and throw us some advice.
I always get really excited when I see you have a new upload, and I basically binge-watch your channel while I work.
You are amazing. Thanks for being you!
Glad I can help!
I hope everyone who's watching is doing so quietly! :D How would it be otherwise?
"I AM WATCHING RUclips!!!"
:D
It may be the amount of heavy metal I've listened to recently Matt, but the moment you described the Great Way as a Duergar highway, I just got this great picture in my head of it being some kind of Underdark Route 66, but with lots of big haired bards, battleaxes with strings, and very spiky, metallic motorcycles.
When I finally get to run a campaign, there may now be a planar highway tucked away somewhere. Thank you.
Hi, Matt, Matt here, the other night i hosted a game for the first time in over three years and for a group of all new players. I discovered your page while getting ready to DM.
I have to say that your method of presenting your videos is perfect. They are extremely content rich, with no fat.
Im looking forward to applying many of the concepts ive learned from your DM series.
Also thanks for name dropping all the DM resources available out there!
Hey Matt! Can you do an episode about levels, xp, and pacing? I have a hard time determining how much XP to give to my players outside of a prewritten campaign. Typically I've been doing episodic leveling after some major battles.
Relg, an Ulgo diviner and zealot. Relg is called the
"Blind Man" in the Mrin Codex because of his home underground in the
caves of Ulgo. He has the ability to walk through solid rock and is able to
carry someone with this ability also, as demonstrated in The Magician’s Gambit by David Eddings.
The entire series of books, the Belgariad and The Malloreon are awesome books, and you have alluded to
taking from the series before (the bloodred Murgo gold!).
I have enjoyed this series of videos and especially the
Running the Game series, very informative and well done. I think most people
enjoy actually seeing your group play, because seeing a group together, and not
just heads on a screen skyping together and playing via skype is that you can
see the enjoyment that your group gets from playing. Even if that means getting
sidetracked and the sidebar conversations and the “ohh yeah, remember this”
conversation. That’s part of the game. If it means getting in one or two
encounters and the rest is roleplaying, so be it.
As for references like the writings of David Eddings or
Stephen R. Donaldson’s The Chronicles of
Thomas Covenant (I love those books too), I look forward to your own
Appendix N. I truly believe in being well read, it allows for a variety in
creativity
Yeah, I LOVE how Lars put the thief & monk abilities together. Very cool. Please encourage him, it was a cool combo I'd never thought of.
The gnome thing is from traditional gnome lore, they are said "to pass through stone as humans pass through air". The famous alchemist Paracelsus was the first to describe them and I think the word gnome means "earth/stone spirit".
Silk (of The Belgariad) would not be thrilled about that rock walking business...
He'd do it he needed to! He did it once, he can do it again!
The Dungeons AND the Dragons! Thank you Matt for providing great inspiration!
Dude! Your story is phenomenal, love it! Your tips are incredibly useful, thanks.
Welcome back Matt. Your point about letting the players enhance the plot is a great one. I have totally changed my plot when the players through their paranoia came up with a much cooler idea.
"It's a black rose"
I wonder if swirfneblins even know how roses look like :^)
Was wondering the same thing, I'm playing a deep gnome atm
Good point, he probably learned what a rose is when he learned common or there could be special underdark roses
"Duergar guard." Say that ten times fast! :DDD
Gargardurr
XD I didn't even manage to say it _once_.
Enlarged Duergar Guard
One of my players is a Svirfneblin that climbed out of the Yawning Portal in Waterdeep and stayed after discovering his love for Humanoid hooch. It'll be interesting to bring the campaign into the Underdark once they've levelled up sufficiently to make it through Undermountain.
The push through rock was probably also taken from Belgariad like the blood gold was. The carrying someone through rock was something that Relg could do.
I'm SOOOOOO thankful that you are posting these diaries, Matt...much appreciated. I don't think I could have went cold turkey, or not knowing what happened to this Motley Crew. Thanks for not leaving them down there, allowing us to continue on this Grand Adventure!!! Huge hugs!!!!
The Old Ones. If they are what I think they are, good job! I'm glad you found an awesome name.
OMG IT IS RELG!!! THE ULGO/DARK GNOME! I absolutely adore those series and read all 12 books at least once a year. Which would actually be kind of cool if the gnome is in some kind of severe religious tension like Relg and Gorim.
That would be dope.
I love your rotating shelves of board games.
Nerd-binge-watching all of Mathhew's videos.
I really like the analogy with the Kobayashi Maru. It helped me getting better at DMing. Thanks, sir.
So many players dislike having to make saves against freaky effects and losing character efficacy, but matt’s approach is a good lesson I think. Making fun out of rollplaying bad things that happen to your character is a great way to enjoy D&D throughout the session rather than just when things go well. Especially since these effects are really necessary to keep things interesting in combat.
I'm sure its answered in a later video, but I'm still working my way through.
My guess, Old Ones = Aboleth.
ArawnNox Are Aboleths intelligent?
@@blackhornwasp yes, very
"And it brings me a certain amount of joy and delight to mess with them" aaaaaaaand liked and subscribed.
Finaly i've made it to wacht all DM Advice an Campaing Diaries :D
I'm currently running Pathfinder, but still greate Advice! Keep up the good Work!
Greetings from Germany!
PS: Hope there will be new Videos soon!
There’s always cool boardgames in the background of your videos Matt! I know that your channel is focused on D&D but I will love to see a video of the favourites boardgames of Matt Colville. Tks for the great content.
That's the plan! Just need to get out of this pandemic and back into an office.
@@mcolvilleYay!! Looking forward to see this video ❤️
Lars enhancing your plot is great, I end up doing that all the time since everyone I play with are story writers
you got a thumbs-up for your intro. Thanks for putting a smile on my face.
the Svirfneblin remind me of Gnomes in Elizabeth Moon's Paksworld series, Since she is/was a D&D player they might have had the walk through rock ability in earlier editions of the game
so... your Dark Gnome is essentially Relg from the Belgariad.. and did to the party what he did to save Silk from his hole in the ground ^^
hey Matt I am also running Night Below and Rockseekers (good underdark elfs) who have ability to travel through stone
Hey Matt,
The patented Colville screw is based on the dungeon getting awakened once the party has made it to the end and everything comes down to them, but wouldn’t it also likely go the other way too if not done stealthily, where the enemies come to the front of the dungeon.
So interesting to hear that their strategy is almost the same as my party's when scouting in the underdark. Our ranger/rogue travels about 60 feet ahead of the party and I use the message spell to stay in constant contact with him.
Great video's Matt, I've been playing since the late 80's but of late have gotten a group together of very new players so along with their inexperience and mine as a novice DM these are giving me great tips on how to run this wonderful game better. Thanks
The Svirfneblin ability to push through stone reminds me of Relg, the Ulgo Zealot from David Edding's Belgariad.
Speaking as a player rather than a DM, I used to love it when there were encounters that messed with our normal tactics such as mind control/confusion etc. It got a bit dull for me if it was always hack and slash and standard combat procedure. A bit of variation forced us to think on our feet from time to time and sometimes allowed those who were in the background a bit to take centre stage and try and save the party. Definitely a good technique in my book, though I too know players who didn't like it.
Watching old campaign diaries to keep me going in Matt's hiatus
I've missed this, thanks for the new video!
Have you ever heard of the Yogscast D&D stream "High Rollers"? Their content is fantastic and I believe that Mark Hulmes, their equally fantastic DM, might have taken a lot of pointers from you. Point in fact: around the time of this video being released the characters in the High Rollers were also exploring the underdark - and they also encountered the Svirfneblin - eventually freeing them from the tyranny of an evil Medusa through some innovative use of a large tome with shards of glass hidden within the pages. Worth looking into if you have time (I know you probably don't!)
Sounds like it's time for the patented Colville Screw.
I freakin love this campaign!
hell yeah, I've been jonesing for this
YOU'RE PRONOUNCING IT WRONG!!!!
Colville: Trollface.jpeg
The little eyebrow raise when saying 'Gibbering Mouther' made me very happy.
Yay more Colville!
Didn't we already have an episode 6?
yeap :D it is ep 7
Ha! So some commenters were gibbering about gibbering? Oh, that's sickly sweet!
Gnomes for life. (I play a gnome warlock and DM)
Matt, did you homebrew your duergar? If so, would you mind putting up stats for them?
+Matthew Colville i just wanted to point out after watching your campaign streams I didn't see you give out any magic items i was really looking forward to seeing how you present those kinds of situations the only things that you gave them were the chances at getting monster brains.
Do you ever specifically target Baltair(sp?), knowing that he is the main damage dealer? Or do you try to roleplay it based on whether or not the monsters know (or would be able to deduce) that Baltair is the most dangerous? On the one hand putting the same guy unconscious more often isn't fun for that player, but certain enemies might be familiar with the party's tendencies, or might be able to figure it out based on the fact that that one guy is destroying them. What's your protocol here?
How would you handle it if the party decided to go back to town? Would you repopulate parts of the dungeon? Or just roll a few times on a random encounter table as they make their way down? What exactly is happening on the other side of the door? What would the Duergar accomplish with the lens in the meantime? Would you enforce those consequences or, have it kind of default to a "they begin the ritual as you walk through the door" sort of thing?
Thanks for the vid, look forward to hearing what happens next time.
About the mouther: if you want to be wrong, that's 100% your prerogative. But let's not falsely portray what happened. I let you know you were mistaken; I didn't lord it over you or taunt you or point it out and then push up my glasses and snort and condescend to you. I didn't act like it was important, I just threw the info out there. I just let you know as a favor. How you react to that is up to you. And so far that reaction has been fairly childish.
If you feel your time is best spent dickering over pronunciation, by all means continue. This is not a past-time enjoyed much by creative people who love language, I've noticed. ruclips.net/video/J7E-aoXLZGY/видео.html
I don't believe Fry's point is really relevant here. He is arguing for the free evolution of words, and against, say, Samuel Johnson's desire to standardize language. That's all well and good, and I agree with his sentiment to a large degree (although I can see the value in a standard, as well), but it has nothing to do with pronunciation. You aren't creating anything new when you say gibbering with a hard G. You aren't really exploring new and fun ways to use words, such as turning nouns into verbs. You're not using a common saying for ease of use (e.g. less vs fewer) even though it's technically incorrect. You're just using the wrong pronunciation of the G.
The only part of Fry's argument that could bolster your position is his argument against claims of wanting to protect clarity--that since people know what you mean, it's irrelevant what you actually said. Perhaps, perhaps. But I think word choice is different than pronunciation. Word choice allows for shades of meaning to be injected into your message. It can signify the level of seriousness in the situation, it can signify the level of respect you have for the person you're talking to, it can signify the way you feel that day. Mispronouncing a word doesn't signify anything except that you're mistaken about how the word is actually pronounced. Word choice presents a tradeoff for the loss of clarity--you alter the meaning of the sentence and achieve a new connotation, if ever so slight. Mispronunciation is all downside, no upside.
I am perplexed by your insinuation that I don't love language or that I am not creative, purely based on the fact that I told you that you mispronounced a word(similarly, I think it's strange you would imply that you *are* creative or a lover or language because you mispronounced a word). I have an English literature degree--I do love language! It's part of the reason I'm embarrassed to mispronounce words, and am thankful to people when they point out my errors. I want to get it right, and understand why the correct pronunciation is correct. Because when I make a change in the standard in order to achieve a certain effect, I want to be doing it on purpose. I don't want to be misinterpreted or mis-judged because I said gibbering with a hard G. It's sort of like Fry was saying about the way you tend to heighten your language during a job interview. But hard-G gibbering isn't like the way I drop my g's from gerunds when I'm relaxin' at home--hard-G gibbering implies just a base-level misreading of the word. The kind of misreading I would think most people would be happy to have cleared up.
And, as with every other person in these comment sections, Fry's distaste for "correctors" stems largely from assigning them an attitude. The attitude you joked about a few weeks ago, that of the supreme pedant, relishing in being correct and superior to others. But that's not what I did at all. That is how I've been mischaracterized, certainly. But that's not the spirit of what I actually typed.
Stephen Fry is always fun to listen to, though, so thanks for the link. I just don't think it really defends you very well in this instance. Always a pleasure to discuss language with you, though I really think at this point you should admit to yourself that you also enjoy dickering over it--otherwise you wouldn't include little nods to youtube comment discussions in your vids. I do have a question though, if you don't mind answering. When you sat back down with your party, did you say gibbering or jibbering? Sheer curiosity.
Gibbering mouthers are awesome.
When I played this adventure the moving through stone was a rock elf thing
The Patented Colville Screw sounds a lot like what my players call the "Typical Mike Dick Move" ;)
It is Episode 7.
Matt, just wanted to say that I think a disagreement on the pronunciation of gibbering mouther is perfect for the flavor of the monster itself.
XD
if you are having trouble keeping track of NPCs, how about you designate a player (or invite someone) to play half your NPCs? like a second DM, or something? if you have a lot of people it seems like the logical thing to do. you may have to go out of the room to explain the situation or talk strategy but you could have epic battles like that. you might give them some NPCs to roll play too
Wow, forest greens really suit you Matt
Nice to see you back!
Isn't 30 feet a bit short to scout? Dark vision is 60 (sometimes 120) feet and if they are using a torch it can give their position away much farther. I'm struggling with this in my game as well, I've been using 120 during the day for scouting. Hexbox (on the DMs Guild) has an interesting view on it for wilderness, I believe it was half a mile ahead and it slowed their pace significantly with the rogue going back and forth between the group and a scouting position.
I don't get too worked up over the light source thing. I've never found tracking that stuff made the game feel more fun.
+Matthew Colville good reasoning.
"Oh"; that's the Element of Surprise.
That reminds me of a Pathfinder game where I fought miconids. My Fighter-Archer got caught in a sporecloud and failed his wisdom save. My dm said that it made it so that I find the miconids as friends and so I played it as if I was high and not understanding why the party was fighting our (my) new "friends".
So instead of attacking my party in defense of the myconids friends I would just get in the way and then just grapple the myconid (most of them were small) in an attempt to keep them away from the party.
So the dm played it like the myconids didn't expect what I was doing so they struggled rather than let me run away with them. Granting the party bonuses to attack the myconids.
Great video Matthew, I love the story and how the players deal with it.
Btw, what level is the party?
5th/6th.
2:55 I like the cut of his gibber.
On a slightly more serious note, I think I've found one thing that I actually disagree with Matt's GMing style on. I have a personal rule that I award XP for problems solved, not battles won or even battles fought. If the bad guys aren't the rabid-dog sort of villains who need to be put down for everyone's good, I'll sometimes even award more XP for bypassing them or finding a way to convince them to back down. Obviously, I'll still award XP for a fight that needed to be fought or for a fight that I threw at the players too abruptly to avoid, but I'll reward the players for non-combat solutions and I might not reward them for getting into a completely unnecessary fight.
hmm... old ones... cthuluesque... I'm guessing Aboleth
aboleth ???
Thats what im guessing
You might think that. I couldn't possibly say.
hint hint hint
Congratulations - a thumbs up in 2 seconds!
can't wait to hear about the final epic battle!
Your knights got a MTG card in conspiracy 2. Literally called Knights of the black rose.
With super cool art!
I don't think "The Knights of the Black Rose" is particularly original on my part.
Or on WOTC's part for that matter.
I mat have missed something in some of the (longer?) videos. What happened to the Baron of Bedegar, and that noble to the north and so forth?
That was Campaign Diary #7. The Baron of Bedegar is currently a guest of the Baron of Dalrath.
The rock seer elves is what I think you are remembering
Please Share the Cards you use for your encounters
As someone else in the comments pointed out, you might have borrowed Relg's ability from the Belgariad for the Svirfneblin. Which you have pointed to as a good fantasy to steal ideas from since it's old enough to not be something everyone at the table has read. (Last time I DM'd I couldn't used anything from it without being called a lazy plagiarist :/ )
I like the cut of Matt's gibbering mouther :-O
They Syst you speak of May be referred to as a:(( oubliette ))
Origin and Etymology of oublietteFrench, from Medieval French, from oublier to forget, from Old French oblier, from Vulgar Latin *oblitare, frequentative of Latin oblivisci to forget - more at oblivion
First Known Use: 1777
I do miss the stream, but I get it. Just glad to hear how the game is going. Also... GNOMES!!
@12:37 Svirfneblin pronunciation
When you had them bypass most of the dungeon using gaseous form did you consider redoing the layout of the dungeon to move the location of some of the content on to their path?
Well...no, that would defeat the point of them bypassing the content.
They KNEW they were "taking a shortcut." Why punish them for being creative?
+Matthew Colville they wouldn't know you'd reorganized the dungeon unless you told them. They would get the benefit of at least some of the content + they'd feel awesome cause their gaseous form plan had "worked."
I mean it is sneaky DMing but I think it can be considered tricking players for their benefit, which is allowed.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"-Silk
Hearing the phrase Kobayashi Maru made me immediately think, "SHUT UP WESLEY"
Has anyone found his rules on strongholds I would like to have a look at them.
I wish as a DM I could bite my tongue as well as you can when the players bypass plot points. It takes all my effort not to tell them all the interesting parts of the story they missed.
Just remember that when they bypass it, that just means they didn't run into it there. A plot device does not always exist in one location.
Takes discipline! I find it gets easier because when you fail to do it and force things to happen, the players have much less fun and you regret it.
GNOMES!
Thanks again for the videos.
Hey, is the Genesis song "Snowbound" really about human sacrifice?
Could you do a video about your Genesis appreciation?
I'd watch it!
Yay! Missed your face
The Old Ones are aboleth, right?
aboleths have no connection to the old ones as far as i know. The old ones being derived from HP lovecrafts Mythos: Aboleths being a dnd monster whose race predates Most gods
+Gabe Parada Aboleth and Mind Flayer are heavily inspired by H.P. Lovecraft mythos, I think.
A really powerful Aboleth or Illithid might be a warlock's patron.
+ThePomoAa. inspired most likely but they resemble no known servant or lesser priests of the old gods. as such are purely d&d originals
does Matt have a good big city mapping video? I've bitten off more than I can chew in setting my campaign in a city the size of new york
Question, that under dark map that you've shown in this video, and a previous video before. Is that from Night Below or from another supplement?
It's from THE GATES TO FIRESTORM PEAK. Night Below has an Orc fortress down here, but they've been fighting orcs for a while already and I wanted to switch it up. So I just grabbed this Duergar Stronghold from Firestorm Peak and shoved it in there.
I think I covered this in an earlier video. I hope people don't buy Night Below off eBay hoping to get this Duergar fortress!
+Matthew Colville Awesome, been watching your videos for a while now. Would really love to start getting my hands on some of these old modules to use in my games to keep things interesting. Hoping that your adventure lookup idea can pull through. Would love to help you out, but alas, I am a man of medicine.
Can't wait to hear the next campaign diary. I follow you on twitter Matt, if I wanted to see the other players and what they may post how would I get their twitter names?
I think Anna is the only other player who routinely posts D&D pics. twitter.com/LilTrashPanda
I wonder if the old ones are a form of creature that have a super powerful memory and begin with an A?
Spoiler: Matt was asking what to call the Aboleths on Reddit
Oh, I had no idea. I'm guessing that was one of the suggestions?
yes because they are older than the gods
I am curious though after so long doubt i will get an answer. U mention around 19-20 min mark that while most of the party is overburdened with magic items vorrakus has nothing. While i get those items are theirs how do u feel about this? Like would loaning the guy some stuff until he finds some of his own really be out of the question? I get why he doesn't bring it up but noone else has either; just seems a bit selfish particularly when one cannot possibly use all the items at once...
17:46 ...
OLD ONES ARE GONNA TAKE OUR WOMEN?!...
...oh you mean...oh nevermind...
... *starts writing new campaign ideas*
These videos are great. Is your alienist patterned on Madreus? (Couldn't help but notice that you're using the map from the Gates of Firestorm Peak.)
Yeah I just axed him and replaced him with my own Evil Wizard.
I'm not really using the plot of Firestorm Peak so I'm not beholden to the content therein. I use it mostly as a springboard.
Hey matt I have a off topic question but I hope you'll still answer it. How do you manage your time between prepping/working on D&D and writing your books? Do they ever come into conflict with each other?
Basically, I can't work full-time, run D&D every week, make these videos, and write fantasy novels. I don't have time. So right now I'm not doing much work on FIGHTER. I would like this to change, but I can't figure out how....
So no gnomes but as soon as they are dark and broody... -_-