21:42..."Illocent vilnagers"....one verbal stumble, and a name is born: "Illocent". What a great name for a Warlock. Thanks for that, Matt. Let's call it a happy mistake. :)
The tricky part about limiting or stopping the gain of magical weapons until a certain level is that it means you can't hit them with non-corporeal undead enemies until at least a couple in the group have those kinds of weapons. Or they will die without a cleric or a mage with a lot of damage spells at hand.
Another note. It looks like your players have custody of their character sheet(s). I keep custody of my players' character sheets, because once, a LONG time ago, I had a session break mid-fight, and the next session one of the key players was not able to show up, and they did not know early enough to get me their sheet before the game. I let my players know that I will send them scans of their sheets any time they want, and I use the custody of the sheets to keep myself familiar with the characters and their skills, spells and items. I feel it helps me run a better campaign.
I think you hit on the head why I like watching these videos of yours, you get a real sense of this deeper and wider world. I know you said in a recent video that writing characters is the way to write good stories... but I'm a sucker for lore, for mythology, for a shared history and the almost infinite possibilities that can come from planning out a whole world, what it's ever been and what it will be.
Love watching your content. As for Chris Perkins, to be fair, he is one of the people involved in the "creation" of 5E D&D, his name is on the core books. He works at WotC if I remember correctly...seems like he would have insight into the game that you couldn't find elsewhere. Haven't watched him yet but I plan to.
Thanks Matt for a enjoyable DnD session. as a DM waiting for my group to actually get rolling: your shows has been very helpful to scratch the itch while I wait
I had to press pause at 13:56 and say Kudos! You got it exactly right! We each do what we do best . . . so if you run a game like a writer does. . . how would a musician like me run one - guess we'll find out.
In the player archetypes that you offer in your videos, I am an Actor. I just wish I had been in the circumstance of the Lord of Rend when he was faced with the thieving boy. I *IMMEDIATELY* thought of a speech to the masses and a punishment. I just have to commend you on such a small thing also being such a defining moment and evoking such a response from me, who wasn't even part of the campaign.
1:01:20 My first time playing an RPG was beta testing a friend's system he was working on. It had some imbalances that favored my archer character. I had a +5 to attack _before_ adding spell bonuses. And I was new to combat. So yeah, I took the most time. My friend adjusted the way feats worked after that. You couldn't have more than one feat bonus in a specific skill. [It did lead to the highest roll in that combat session, and I got to narrate how the gorilla shaped mental lentil elemental died. (It was in a legume farm. (And "mental lentil elemental" is fun to say.)) "I fire my arrow straight at the beast's head, my ice magic freezing a shell around it. The creature falls back from the force of the shot and lands on a rock. Its head shatters open and it dies."]
I deal with the problem of waiting too much for a +1 sword by making sure that a +1 sword is NOT a real magic item, it's more like a very well made item. I do that up until +2/3 usually, after that it's definetely magic. Also I make sure magic items actually do something magical, a flaming sword for example, or an armor that gives advantage on Con saves. I think this way you can kinda give the players the feel of powerful gear by keeping the "magic" part as special as it should be.
I brought back Masterwork items for my campaign but I changed the stats b/c to hit > damage bonus. Weapon cost +300 for masterwork. Masterwork weapons are +1 to damage. They can be enchanted by a Wizard or Artificer to be a magic weapon. This way it also does not diminish the Magic Weapon spell.
Oh Matt, I hope you never reach that high bar you're aiming for. Only so that the content never stops coming. I Love what you're doing her keep it up :D
I wish I had better questions for you, but I find the best bits of wisdom I get from watching... are the things I would never think to ask. I hope you are still having fun with all this.
I can't get into critical role, for some reason. I start it, then find my attention wandering. I watched the stream for this game all the way through, though, so I would say that I prefer to watch M. Colville run a game.
I love this Matt and I repeat, I love this AND what you do. BUT- I miss your more focused talking head videos. I would lie down and close my eyes with you telling me about your latest D&D campaign and your summary of the events and the way you deal with your choices as a DM. The way you tell a story is great, so much info in such a succinct and economical fashion. I can't get that listening to the 3 hour stream, is there any chance you could summarize the events? Am I rude for asking?
+Jafar the Barmecide they're a lot of work, is the thing. And all that work is predicated on running five hours of D&D a week. Whereas the stream *is* that five hours of DND.
Fair enough, I totally understand and am still totally into it, I'm a busy guy too & it will just take a bit more time to hear the story that I am totally invested in now. Love your work.
I get that, but I don't have five hours of focused time to watch someone else play instead of spending that time on running my own game. I'd rather see the recap with some Q&A integrated into it or something like that, but I understand having limited time.
Hey Matt, when you decide the future of the stream, keep in mind that some of us are not able to watch the stream live because of timezone differences; we have to watch it on RUclips. The stream audience is more than the number you see on Twitch.
I've been a ghost here for a while, love the channel. Wanted to comment and say how relatable it is that you're not a big TV watcher, you'd rather write or watch a movie or play DnD. Everyone I know is all about TV, and I'm trying to keep up, but whew.... PS Jennifer Kretchmer sent me your way, I play in her Sunday night group. Cheers!
I am kind of ashamed about the "CUT OFF HIS HANDS!" comment, because the first campaign I ever played in, I wasn't just the "cut off his hands!" guy, I was the "This is taking too long, I'm going to use this Lawful Good-aligned magic sword to cut off his hands!" guy.
I really liked the end of this stream where you were responding to people asking you about subscribing to twitch and stuff. I just wanna say thank you you are so right what do you get if you subscribe how is it worth it, and its good that you care more about supplying content that is worth it rather than just making money because you can
47:39 I like that it seems like Matt just half-assed that question, but it was actually a great answer. 1. Just rip-off other magic items, your players won't mind. 2. How would you modify a magic item? How do these boots work specifically? A. Can you take someone with you? B. What defines "home?" Some magic items that teleport will only teleport the user, others affect anyone touching them. ("Woah dude, like, what if we each wore one of the boots?" [Okay, nevermind, unless the two characters thought of "home" as the same place (brothers) the boots would be confused as to where they were to go, and so the characters get split and combined, with half of each being in one home, and the other half in the other.]) Moving on to "home," how many nights does someone have to sleep at an inn before it overrides their childhood bedroom? Something to think about.
Giving money to streamers isn't a charity, it's payment for entertainment. It's incredibly pro-consumer, because the consumers are the ones that decide what the content is worth. It's fine if it isn't worth anything to you, but calling it a charity is insulting to those who put a lot of work into making sure that their stream or videos (read: their product) are of good quality.
To be clear, Twitch isn't that great for this consumption model. Patreon is far superior, since each individual consumer can set their own price, and the content creator can modulate rewards to suit what they think would be worthwhile.
You have some good points here. I was very wary of twitch subscriptions when they were first announced, but now I have multiple subs going to help support people in making content. RUclips Red has also helped longer-form content producers to make a larger chunk of money. Was a bit disappointed to hear Matt views the subscription as charity, when Red is doing basically the same thing, although a bit more passively. Also, the comment at the end that the streams would end if viewership shrunk is a bit worrying. Streams fluctuate in viewer count all the time. Looking at the viewer metrics afterwards is better than checking on the live viewer count, which is not updated frequently. There are obviously many factors impacting viewership (time zones, quality settings, length of stream), but the vods are obviously getting great viewership. I hope the streams continue, there is a lot of space on twitch for all the shows (Critical Role, Rollplay, Koibu's various series)
How to make specialty magic items: Think of what the player would like. Give them that. But make it limited in some way: limited use, a cost, etc. Think about how they might overcome that limitation. Either fix it so they can't or embrace that and make that possibility explicit for the player to pursue.
I played D&D for several years with the same group and really enjoyed it. We evolved as players and all tried our hands at being the DM (but Russ Woodbury was the best at it). None of us ever got to the level of roleplaying demonstrated by Critical Role. Our games looked a lot closer to Colville's, perhaps that's part of what makes CR so special and watchable (large audience).
You just sort of opened my eyes to something, I'm not sure if it's what you said or meant or it's my own interpretation of what was said or meant by basically the difference between Clerics and Paladins: Clerics stand between Good and Evil. Paladins stand between Lawful and Chaotic. Which is a very interesting take.
Artists post art on deviantart and tumblr, twitter and instagram, live steam draw on picarto and twitch and youtube and facebook live. They literally are giving art away for free by doing that. I T I S N O T charity to then pay those artists for what they give out for free. If we were to give you money in exchange for you making these streams and videos, it would not be giving you something for nothing. We would indeed be getting something out of it. Your content. Better, more often, whatever. Just because you are giving it away D O E S N O T mean it isn't worth getting paid for.
On the subject of "Why would elves and humans be able to make babies" if they're not the same species, I would like to point out there are mammals that are similar enough to be able to mate and produce offspring. For example Horses and Donkeys can mate and produce Mules. They are probably about as similar as humans are to elves. However Mules are sterile and cannot produce further offspring. There are probably more that can produce similar results. It's up to interpretation I guess but it's not too farfetched.
Yeah sure, I mean I think that's basically what D&D assumes. But I am aware that the folks at TSR who stole Half-elf and Half-orc from Tolkien did not understand what Tolkien meant by those terms. I do, and I prefer the Professor's viewpoint.
It just comes down to what the Gods in your campaign world have decreed is possible or easy, or rather what kind of style of game your DM wants. How do Elves and Orcs have kids? Magic, just not necessarily the kind that has to come from an evil wizard or sorcerer or that you have to undertake a quest to make happen.
To be clear, you as a DM is almost exactly what I expected, but I have been running games for many years and have been appropriately stripped of my illusions. That said, your game table looks fun.
Hey Matt! I know you said that the Twitch chanel isn't generating revenue. During your RUclips shows, you always mention your books, might I suggest you do the same with Twitch? Haven't noticed any mentions during twitch, thus the suggestion. Love the content, looking forward to Tuesday's stream!
So, I'm 28, and most of my friends call meth 'dope', because a lot of their friends have been on it, are on it, or they've been clean for over 2 years (with one specific friend). So it took me a second to realize that you are not from my generation and to you, 'dope' is marijuana. Okay. Rock on, man. I approve. :D
Easy way to deal with low level PCs getting magic -- they gain the item, but must activate it by a specific means. A sword must kill an Orc to become a +1 sword. A cloak must be covered in the ashes of an Ent to become a Cloak of Treestride. Boots must be dipped in the blood of a giant spider to become Boots of Spider Climb. Ask your players what they want, find something comparable in the DMG, and add some weird activating catalyst to make it work. Boom, easy.
As I stated in my last comment on the prior video, I, personally, do not like CR, because of the acting. Ugh, it's annoying to me. I'm glad that they are good people, and you all are friends, I just don't like them. As for you, and your group...all of you are STELLAR!!!! I have watched 15+ hours at this point, of your game play, and I'm hooked on watching. Love your NPCs, the way you navigate situations, all of the players are likeable, entertaining, and you feel for them as a spectator. I would pay you monthly, just to watch!!!! I haven't looked to see if there's more, except the recommended showed me one, but I hope I get to finish the adventure with you all!!!!
Players love to get magic items. I hate to end up with a party that is ovverpowered due to excess magic items, since its a vicious circle. The more magic the PCs have, the more you have to buff the NPCs and creatures (often with magic items) and thus the higher you are n the treasure tables, indicating they should get more magic items. So, I create strange and nearly useless magic items. Pot of boiling... causes water that is put in the pot to boil in 1 minute. Add your meat, veggie and such and you can make soup fast without a fire. (pretty useful when traveling and not wanting your campfire to be seen) Everfull flask of... whatever you want other than a potion. Milk, Ale, Water, oil... +0 sword of .... any non-combat cantrip. It a magic sword for things that require a magic weapon for you do do full damage. You can give it early.
Can you please apply to Twitch partnership if not for you but for the viewers. Most (well not most but some) of us can not watch livestreams because of high quality restriction. Partnership allows us to select low, medium or high quality so we can watch it with our crappy and needlessly expensive internet connection.
I would love to play in your game. I am mostly devoted to play clerics and I haven't been able to play a single campaign. The longest story I have played was 6 sessions short. I've tried DMing in the past, but only once and while I was in prep. Now but I'm an outcast of society whit no friends. Even tried through PbP on the accessible Facebook, but it went to oblivion after the players started to not assist.
I don't feel like D&D is a place where too much magic swag/high level gear is necessarily a problem myself. It's worse in games like say, Only War, the 40k Tabletop RPG. In there, I noticed for the first time the real power disparity where you have most of the players having say, Lasguns. Maxing out at 1d10+5 Pen 2 damage. But then you'd have the Weapon Specialists and Heavy Weapon guys who'd bring out stuff like Meltaguns for way over triple damage and 12 pen. It lead to these encounter designs where it was hard to balance, because the guys with the heavy weapons would use them against EVERYTHING, and usually not the targets you meant to give them by priority. And similarly things meant to challenge them usually were immune to the other players (Due to high damage soak). So you'd have things like say, a Space marine leading a cultist squad attacking the players. In your mind... oh the guy who has the weapon that can actually hurt a Space Marine will take them on while the rest clean up the cultists. In reality it was "The guys with the heavy weapons annihilate cultists one by one while the guys with lasguns panic trying to lucky crit the space marine down". But in D&D? ... it's not much of a problem I find. If you have say a Level 1 fighter who has something like a +2 Magic Longsword of Orcsbane... the difference isn't that high. Sure they'll outpace the raw damage say the Thief is doing to an orc. But you almost assuredly won't run into an enemy the Thief can't damage at all, but only the fighter can. Particularly 4th and 5th edition design the numbers are leveled off enough that even without the magic swag the other party members are still close to effective by comparison.
Hey Matt. Matt here :P You're not quite right about the 5e magic item rules. +1 weapons are uncommon, you can hand those out to players at first level. It's "rare" level magic items that are recommended for level 5 or higher.
Hey Matt, love your videos. Would only kindly ask that you do not put your DM notes go behind a paywall. They are (at least to me) essential to the basic idea of the videos. We see the plans written down and then we see how it's played out and then get insight into how you solved it. Would love to hear what your shitting your pants moments was in a session :)
For what it's worth, I sub to G&S just to see CR on Friday, not Monday. Plus I like all the silly things that they can do because it generates revenue and G&S believe in it.
I am a huge fan of your game and Q&As, but I now realize that I find it hard to listen to the game sessions because your voice isn't clear compared to the Q&As. I find myself needing to rewind or intuit what you said during games whereas during Q&As , your voice is very clear. Is it possible for you to get your own mic for the game sessions or to put you and the communal mic closer ?
I like the Nathan Fillion question. I’ve been watching a lot of your videos and for some reason I went out and bought the firefly rpg core rule book..... may be your fault
I'd subscribe to Patreon. You must have collated a heck of a lot of information over the years. Are you not able to tap into that and produce documents as part of that? Either that, or would it be possible to compile information on Ordun and put it on Dm's Guild? Take characters you know from your setting and put them together as a one page, like a NPC version of a Monster Manual? Allow people to drop templates into their game, so to speak?
I agree with magic items being a draw, but disagree with giving out +X bonus items much earlier. The reason is the math itself gets distorted more significantly the higher the bonuses you give the earlier. However, the vestiges of CR? Similar items that grow? THAT is the best way to handle a signature item without replacing it. Ever. Instead, the hammer your player's character has? It could have been handed out earlier as a +1 item, and grown into both +2 and +3 item, while also giving more powers unique to it that gives it a feel that fits the character using it to a T. I think handing out tons of common items is also a good way to handle it. Even those could be a vestige item. Like, the common weapon that can't be destroyed? Or the common magic armor that can be taken off with a single action, or the one that can change how it looks of the same kind of armor? Those are GREAT to give a character an item that starts off as something so simple, but becomes an epic signature item the character is known for throughout the realm. But I don't think the +X bonuses were, contrary to what is said by Mearls and the like, primarily about players wanting items to feel special. It's about the math. The stronger non-magic-bonus abilities, like being a lightsaber? Those, I think, are to make magic items truly feel special.
All the big items I gave out grew with their players. You're creating a dichotomy where there is none. If you sit down to play D&D with your friends and you're only going to play for 4 sessions and then be done, feel free to hand out unbalancing items. Your players will have more fun and there will be no game for them to unbalance in a month anyway.
Very fair. I didn't really think of it as a dichotomy when making my comment, so it probably came off a bit more hardline than intended; either playstyle--and many others besides--is totally fine, and I've done both, on both sides of the screen. I certainly don't stick to any of it as hard rules. It was more along the lines of thinking the reining in of the bonuses was tied to bounded accuracy, since all the numbers were similarly reeled in. The math seems like something that was carefully pored over, to make sure nothing made content too easy too readily. Enjoyment is the primary purpose of most games. Hell, I certainly throw my own ideas and suggestions out all the time on a whim if I think it's more fun for the group. Probably just the part of my DMing that has had to run Encounters, living games, and similar, more formal sessions at our FLGS for years. Sometimes with very large groups. So the instinct to have items given out in a manner that helps everyone feel good in a more controlled setting kicked in a bit. And yet, in home games, it's true. Much of the time it's just thrown out the window, and if it's fun, who cares?
He's been on vacation/taking time off work, so that helps. I'm guessing there will be less content in the next couple weeks (probably going back to 2 videos a week)
I'm a couple months late here... This is just an opinion so don't tear me apart please... anyone else who is showing up late. I'm not a huge fan of the pay wall to get access to content. People want to come here to be a good DM or for you're entertaining content, it sucks to have stuff withheld unless you give $$. I do however, like the idea of a great service provided (like you currently are) then we, the viewer can gauge what that is worth to us in the form of a donation. This might seem like charity or what have you, but it's kind of us just buying the product for the price that it is either worth to us, or what we're able to give. Some may be substantially more than others, while others will be the minimum, or a standard subscribe on twitch. I can understand why you're not a huge fan of the donations and what you receive for doing it, but I'm not a fan of you pulling away existing content because of it. I'm still catching up in this series, hence why I'm 2 months back, but I hope you keep an open mind to this... if you're still doing it. Hope you get to read this, Matt! You've sparked a pretty big ... thing inside me to start DnD and I love what you're doing here. I'll probably end up being my groups main DM at some point, so I'm loving it here.
I feel like half-elves in normal DnD should be infertile, like mules and ligers, but humanoids seem close enough that getting a half sounds possible, just like mules are possible.
I approach the issue of certain "humanoid" races differently then Matt. Not to say that his way is wrong, its just his opinion on it. My approach is that humans/elves/dwarves/halflings are sort of in the same space as different races in our world. To an outside observer, someone who is japanese may appear as different to an american as an elf would be to a human. If you look at the physical differences of an elf you have ears. Is that any different than the slant of someone's eye or their average height or skin color? So I guess at least in my homebrew setting, Half Elf is not much different than "asian american". If you drill down on this too far the argument falls apart, but I really really hate restricting my players in any way. I think they are much more likely to enjoy themselves if they are invested in the character. So if someone wants to play a half elf, my reaction is pretty much "ok". But half elves usually are subject to racial prejudice because they are part of two different cultures. How does that play in to their backstory? So thats the important thing for me, not the physiology of elf vs human.
We have to remember that the worlds of D&D are worlds of magic and the rules of our world aren't necessarily the rules in theirs. I remember reading a series years ago where they said something similar. Creatures such as griffons had been created by two different animals mating together. There was something about a magical pond of love they would drink from.......Anyway maybe in this world ligers and tigons could be their own race or a subrace.
Well like crazy. I wasn't really selling any before, now I'm selling lots! And it clear a lot of people are actually reading them and that makes me really happy. Makes me want to write more books!
Storytelled Vampire the Masquerade for people who never played before. They played exactly how we played DnD when we were teenagers. Awkward, impulsive and... Kind of thoughtless. Lacking immersion. Sooo... Here is a nail into the coffin for the illusion of Vampire being a "mature" game. Rpg is a mature game. Period. It all depends how and who plays with whom and how. Funniest thing is, I hate storytelling or dming for murder hobos. But mature players can pull that off very righteous. It all depends on the who-s and how-s.
"You guys- you folks. I always try to say, 'you folks.'" As a nonbinary lady, thanks for that. It's a lot more inclusive and affirming than even "guys and gals." There are very likely around 750,000 other nonbinary people throughout the U.S., and we are pretty much entirely left out of discussions and even "inclusive" places that try to accommodate "both" genders. Spreading "you folks" is good and important.
Wisdom is just a really bad stat to put in a game, considering how hard it is to define in real life. And if philosophers can't pinpoint it, how are a bunch of weekend gamers to roleplay it. Same goes for Charisma. It literally means "blessed by the gods" but for some reason people keep thinking it means good looks, which is absolute nonsense. How are good looks making you a better spellcaster ... *heavy sigh* (Sure 'good looks' can be a facet of 'being blessed by the gods' but so can 'lots a magical power'. You can have a charisma of 20 and be ugly. Same goes for real life, by the way. How many top politicians are former top models? None.)
Yes. Chris Perkins. f**k that guy. But really, he's pretty good. If you get a chunk of time here's my list of DMs to watch among which Mat Mercer is not personally one of my favorites. Chris Perkins, Mark Humes of the Yogscast (really good) and Griffin Mcelroy of My Brother, My Brother and Me (sort of light and high fantasy but still fun).
21:42..."Illocent vilnagers"....one verbal stumble, and a name is born: "Illocent". What a great name for a Warlock. Thanks for that, Matt. Let's call it a happy mistake. :)
24:49 I'll see your "Illocent", and raise you a "Gorillapuss".
Illocent... the illicit innocent Warlock. Are they to blame? Or just a bystander?
Who's to say... it isn't a little bit of both.
Hey Matt, thanks for doing these Q&A / recaps, I really like the insight behind the screen and overall workings of your game.
lol "who is going to arrest her? the D&D police?" Perfect answer. :D
The tricky part about limiting or stopping the gain of magical weapons until a certain level is that it means you can't hit them with non-corporeal undead enemies until at least a couple in the group have those kinds of weapons. Or they will die without a cleric or a mage with a lot of damage spells at hand.
Another note. It looks like your players have custody of their character sheet(s). I keep custody of my players' character sheets, because once, a LONG time ago, I had a session break mid-fight, and the next session one of the key players was not able to show up, and they did not know early enough to get me their sheet before the game. I let my players know that I will send them scans of their sheets any time they want, and I use the custody of the sheets to keep myself familiar with the characters and their skills, spells and items. I feel it helps me run a better campaign.
I think you hit on the head why I like watching these videos of yours, you get a real sense of this deeper and wider world. I know you said in a recent video that writing characters is the way to write good stories... but I'm a sucker for lore, for mythology, for a shared history and the almost infinite possibilities that can come from planning out a whole world, what it's ever been and what it will be.
Love watching your content. As for Chris Perkins, to be fair, he is one of the people involved in the "creation" of 5E D&D, his name is on the core books. He works at WotC if I remember correctly...seems like he would have insight into the game that you couldn't find elsewhere. Haven't watched him yet but I plan to.
Thanks Matt for a enjoyable DnD session. as a DM waiting for my group to actually get rolling: your shows has been very helpful to scratch the itch while I wait
I had to press pause at 13:56 and say Kudos! You got it exactly right! We each do what we do best . . . so if you run a game like a writer does. . . how would a musician like me run one - guess we'll find out.
In the player archetypes that you offer in your videos, I am an Actor. I just wish I had been in the circumstance of the Lord of Rend when he was faced with the thieving boy. I *IMMEDIATELY* thought of a speech to the masses and a punishment. I just have to commend you on such a small thing also being such a defining moment and evoking such a response from me, who wasn't even part of the campaign.
1:01:20 My first time playing an RPG was beta testing a friend's system he was working on. It had some imbalances that favored my archer character. I had a +5 to attack _before_ adding spell bonuses. And I was new to combat. So yeah, I took the most time. My friend adjusted the way feats worked after that. You couldn't have more than one feat bonus in a specific skill.
[It did lead to the highest roll in that combat session, and I got to narrate how the gorilla shaped mental lentil elemental died. (It was in a legume farm. (And "mental lentil elemental" is fun to say.)) "I fire my arrow straight at the beast's head, my ice magic freezing a shell around it. The creature falls back from the force of the shot and lands on a rock. Its head shatters open and it dies."]
I had to laugh at Matt saying Frodo was played by Elijah Baley. Elijah Baley is the main character in Asimov's robot novels.
I deal with the problem of waiting too much for a +1 sword by making sure that a +1 sword is NOT a real magic item, it's more like a very well made item. I do that up until +2/3 usually, after that it's definetely magic. Also I make sure magic items actually do something magical, a flaming sword for example, or an armor that gives advantage on Con saves. I think this way you can kinda give the players the feel of powerful gear by keeping the "magic" part as special as it should be.
That's an awesome idea. I think I will start doing that in my games.
I brought back Masterwork items for my campaign but I changed the stats b/c to hit > damage bonus. Weapon cost +300 for masterwork. Masterwork weapons are +1 to damage. They can be enchanted by a Wizard or Artificer to be a magic weapon. This way it also does not diminish the Magic Weapon spell.
Oh Matt, I hope you never reach that high bar you're aiming for. Only so that the content never stops coming. I Love what you're doing her keep it up :D
I wish I had better questions for you, but I find the best bits of wisdom I get from watching... are the things I would never think to ask. I hope you are still having fun with all this.
I can't get into critical role, for some reason. I start it, then find my attention wandering. I watched the stream for this game all the way through, though, so I would say that I prefer to watch M. Colville run a game.
I love this Matt and I repeat, I love this AND what you do. BUT- I miss your more focused talking head videos. I would lie down and close my eyes with you telling me about your latest D&D campaign and your summary of the events and the way you deal with your choices as a DM. The way you tell a story is great, so much info in such a succinct and economical fashion. I can't get that listening to the 3 hour stream, is there any chance you could summarize the events? Am I rude for asking?
+Jafar the Barmecide they're a lot of work, is the thing. And all that work is predicated on running five hours of D&D a week. Whereas the stream *is* that five hours of DND.
Fair enough, I totally understand and am still totally into it, I'm a busy guy too & it will just take a bit more time to hear the story that I am totally invested in now. Love your work.
I get that, but I don't have five hours of focused time to watch someone else play instead of spending that time on running my own game. I'd rather see the recap with some Q&A integrated into it or something like that, but I understand having limited time.
Hey Matt, when you decide the future of the stream, keep in mind that some of us are not able to watch the stream live because of timezone differences; we have to watch it on RUclips. The stream audience is more than the number you see on Twitch.
I've been a ghost here for a while, love the channel. Wanted to comment and say how relatable it is that you're not a big TV watcher, you'd rather write or watch a movie or play DnD. Everyone I know is all about TV, and I'm trying to keep up, but whew.... PS Jennifer Kretchmer sent me your way, I play in her Sunday night group. Cheers!
Count me as another person that discovered your books through your RUclips page. I am reading Thief now and like it. I hope you keep writing them.
I am kind of ashamed about the "CUT OFF HIS HANDS!" comment, because the first campaign I ever played in, I wasn't just the "cut off his hands!" guy, I was the "This is taking too long, I'm going to use this Lawful Good-aligned magic sword to cut off his hands!" guy.
I really liked the end of this stream where you were responding to people asking you about subscribing to twitch and stuff. I just wanna say thank you you are so right what do you get if you subscribe how is it worth it, and its good that you care more about supplying content that is worth it rather than just making money because you can
47:39 I like that it seems like Matt just half-assed that question, but it was actually a great answer. 1. Just rip-off other magic items, your players won't mind.
2. How would you modify a magic item?
How do these boots work specifically?
A. Can you take someone with you?
B. What defines "home?"
Some magic items that teleport will only teleport the user, others affect anyone touching them. ("Woah dude, like, what if we each wore one of the boots?" [Okay, nevermind, unless the two characters thought of "home" as the same place (brothers) the boots would be confused as to where they were to go, and so the characters get split and combined, with half of each being in one home, and the other half in the other.])
Moving on to "home," how many nights does someone have to sleep at an inn before it overrides their childhood bedroom?
Something to think about.
Giving money to streamers isn't a charity, it's payment for entertainment. It's incredibly pro-consumer, because the consumers are the ones that decide what the content is worth. It's fine if it isn't worth anything to you, but calling it a charity is insulting to those who put a lot of work into making sure that their stream or videos (read: their product) are of good quality.
To be clear, Twitch isn't that great for this consumption model. Patreon is far superior, since each individual consumer can set their own price, and the content creator can modulate rewards to suit what they think would be worthwhile.
You have some good points here. I was very wary of twitch subscriptions when they were first announced, but now I have multiple subs going to help support people in making content. RUclips Red has also helped longer-form content producers to make a larger chunk of money. Was a bit disappointed to hear Matt views the subscription as charity, when Red is doing basically the same thing, although a bit more passively.
Also, the comment at the end that the streams would end if viewership shrunk is a bit worrying. Streams fluctuate in viewer count all the time. Looking at the viewer metrics afterwards is better than checking on the live viewer count, which is not updated frequently. There are obviously many factors impacting viewership (time zones, quality settings, length of stream), but the vods are obviously getting great viewership. I hope the streams continue, there is a lot of space on twitch for all the shows (Critical Role, Rollplay, Koibu's various series)
36:05 4 1/2 years later, but the man delivered! Love all the vids Matt, popular or not, plenty of us watch them all 🙂
"Ok fuck you!" is a very cathartic reaction to have, but only sometimes to vocalize.
How to make specialty magic items:
Think of what the player would like.
Give them that.
But make it limited in some way: limited use, a cost, etc.
Think about how they might overcome that limitation.
Either fix it so they can't or embrace that and make that possibility explicit for the player to pursue.
I played D&D for several years with the same group and really enjoyed it. We evolved as players and all tried our hands at being the DM (but Russ Woodbury was the best at it). None of us ever got to the level of roleplaying demonstrated by Critical Role. Our games looked a lot closer to Colville's, perhaps that's part of what makes CR so special and watchable (large audience).
You just sort of opened my eyes to something, I'm not sure if it's what you said or meant or it's my own interpretation of what was said or meant by basically the difference between Clerics and Paladins:
Clerics stand between Good and Evil.
Paladins stand between Lawful and Chaotic.
Which is a very interesting take.
Artists post art on deviantart and tumblr, twitter and instagram, live steam draw on picarto and twitch and youtube and facebook live. They literally are giving art away for free by doing that. I T I S N O T charity to then pay those artists for what they give out for free.
If we were to give you money in exchange for you making these streams and videos, it would not be giving you something for nothing. We would indeed be getting something out of it. Your content. Better, more often, whatever. Just because you are giving it away D O E S N O T mean it isn't worth getting paid for.
On the subject of "Why would elves and humans be able to make babies" if they're not the same species, I would like to point out there are mammals that are similar enough to be able to mate and produce offspring. For example Horses and Donkeys can mate and produce Mules. They are probably about as similar as humans are to elves. However Mules are sterile and cannot produce further offspring. There are probably more that can produce similar results. It's up to interpretation I guess but it's not too farfetched.
Yeah sure, I mean I think that's basically what D&D assumes.
But I am aware that the folks at TSR who stole Half-elf and Half-orc from Tolkien did not understand what Tolkien meant by those terms. I do, and I prefer the Professor's viewpoint.
It's definitely a more interesting way of thinking about them! Makes them seem a lot more important
It just comes down to what the Gods in your campaign world have decreed is possible or easy, or rather what kind of style of game your DM wants. How do Elves and Orcs have kids? Magic, just not necessarily the kind that has to come from an evil wizard or sorcerer or that you have to undertake a quest to make happen.
You're probably the only person I watch and have to slow down the youtube video from 1.5 to 1.25 ... it's a nice change
Future video topic idea: tips for "translating" an adventure of one edition to another edition.
I love your cat co-stars. :D
To be clear, you as a DM is almost exactly what I expected, but I have been running games for many years and have been appropriately stripped of my illusions. That said, your game table looks fun.
Hey Matt! I know you said that the Twitch chanel isn't generating revenue. During your RUclips shows, you always mention your books, might I suggest you do the same with Twitch? Haven't noticed any mentions during twitch, thus the suggestion. Love the content, looking forward to Tuesday's stream!
So, I'm 28, and most of my friends call meth 'dope', because a lot of their friends have been on it, are on it, or they've been clean for over 2 years (with one specific friend). So it took me a second to realize that you are not from my generation and to you, 'dope' is marijuana. Okay. Rock on, man. I approve. :D
Easy way to deal with low level PCs getting magic -- they gain the item, but must activate it by a specific means. A sword must kill an Orc to become a +1 sword. A cloak must be covered in the ashes of an Ent to become a Cloak of Treestride. Boots must be dipped in the blood of a giant spider to become Boots of Spider Climb. Ask your players what they want, find something comparable in the DMG, and add some weird activating catalyst to make it work. Boom, easy.
I love players with characters with amnesia. It lets me create incredible plot hooks.
Wait so this guy is into D&D, Homestarrunner, and now Mighty Boosh? I think I'm in love
As I stated in my last comment on the prior video, I, personally, do not like CR, because of the acting. Ugh, it's annoying to me. I'm glad that they are good people, and you all are friends, I just don't like them. As for you, and your group...all of you are STELLAR!!!! I have watched 15+ hours at this point, of your game play, and I'm hooked on watching. Love your NPCs, the way you navigate situations, all of the players are likeable, entertaining, and you feel for them as a spectator. I would pay you monthly, just to watch!!!! I haven't looked to see if there's more, except the recommended showed me one, but I hope I get to finish the adventure with you all!!!!
Players love to get magic items.
I hate to end up with a party that is ovverpowered due to excess magic items, since its a vicious circle. The more magic the PCs have, the more you have to buff the NPCs and creatures (often with magic items) and thus the higher you are n the treasure tables, indicating they should get more magic items.
So, I create strange and nearly useless magic items.
Pot of boiling... causes water that is put in the pot to boil in 1 minute. Add your meat, veggie and such and you can make soup fast without a fire. (pretty useful when traveling and not wanting your campfire to be seen)
Everfull flask of... whatever you want other than a potion. Milk, Ale, Water, oil...
+0 sword of .... any non-combat cantrip. It a magic sword for things that require a magic weapon for you do do full damage. You can give it early.
I love the idea of a +0 Sword of Mending...
Octoporilla, coming to a nearby monster homebrew near you.
Have you seen any of the new acquisitions inc show on youtube? Since you mention wanting to see Chris Perkins in action.
Thumbs-up for the Adam Ant reference.
I fucking cracked up at the wife joke at about the 1 hour'ish mark
Can you please apply to Twitch partnership if not for you but for the viewers. Most (well not most but some) of us can not watch livestreams because of high quality restriction. Partnership allows us to select low, medium or high quality so we can watch it with our crappy and needlessly expensive internet connection.
I would love to play in your game. I am mostly devoted to play clerics and I haven't been able to play a single campaign. The longest story I have played was 6 sessions short. I've tried DMing in the past, but only once and while I was in prep. Now but I'm an outcast of society whit no friends. Even tried through PbP on the accessible Facebook, but it went to oblivion after the players started to not assist.
I don't feel like D&D is a place where too much magic swag/high level gear is necessarily a problem myself. It's worse in games like say, Only War, the 40k Tabletop RPG. In there, I noticed for the first time the real power disparity where you have most of the players having say, Lasguns. Maxing out at 1d10+5 Pen 2 damage. But then you'd have the Weapon Specialists and Heavy Weapon guys who'd bring out stuff like Meltaguns for way over triple damage and 12 pen.
It lead to these encounter designs where it was hard to balance, because the guys with the heavy weapons would use them against EVERYTHING, and usually not the targets you meant to give them by priority. And similarly things meant to challenge them usually were immune to the other players (Due to high damage soak).
So you'd have things like say, a Space marine leading a cultist squad attacking the players. In your mind... oh the guy who has the weapon that can actually hurt a Space Marine will take them on while the rest clean up the cultists.
In reality it was "The guys with the heavy weapons annihilate cultists one by one while the guys with lasguns panic trying to lucky crit the space marine down".
But in D&D? ... it's not much of a problem I find. If you have say a Level 1 fighter who has something like a +2 Magic Longsword of Orcsbane... the difference isn't that high. Sure they'll outpace the raw damage say the Thief is doing to an orc. But you almost assuredly won't run into an enemy the Thief can't damage at all, but only the fighter can. Particularly 4th and 5th edition design the numbers are leveled off enough that even without the magic swag the other party members are still close to effective by comparison.
Elves + Humans = Half-Elves because.... Donkey + Horse = Mule.
Hey Matt.
Matt here :P
You're not quite right about the 5e magic item rules. +1 weapons are uncommon, you can hand those out to players at first level. It's "rare" level magic items that are recommended for level 5 or higher.
sorry for bad English but your friends and you are awesome when you play one can feel the fun you guys are hawing. witch is the same reason i watch CR
Warmachine was made into a 3.0/3.5 setting. Pick up the book & either run an earlier edition of D&D or convert the rules to 5e.
Hey Matt, love your videos.
Would only kindly ask that you do not put your DM notes go behind a paywall. They are (at least to me) essential to the basic idea of the videos. We see the plans written down and then we see how it's played out and then get insight into how you solved it.
Would love to hear what your shitting your pants moments was in a session :)
For what it's worth, I sub to G&S just to see CR on Friday, not Monday. Plus I like all the silly things that they can do because it generates revenue and G&S believe in it.
I am a huge fan of your game and Q&As, but I now realize that I find it hard to listen to the game sessions because your voice isn't clear compared to the Q&As. I find myself needing to rewind or intuit what you said during games whereas during Q&As , your voice is very clear.
Is it possible for you to get your own mic for the game sessions or to put you and the communal mic closer ?
I like the Nathan Fillion question. I’ve been watching a lot of your videos and for some reason I went out and bought the firefly rpg core rule book..... may be your fault
Instead of one campaign page, what about a website for players to explore? Each of my settings have a site (or place on a site ;)).
I'd subscribe to Patreon.
You must have collated a heck of a lot of information over the years. Are you not able to tap into that and produce documents as part of that?
Either that, or would it be possible to compile information on Ordun and put it on Dm's Guild? Take characters you know from your setting and put them together as a one page, like a NPC version of a Monster Manual? Allow people to drop templates into their game, so to speak?
I agree with magic items being a draw, but disagree with giving out +X bonus items much earlier. The reason is the math itself gets distorted more significantly the higher the bonuses you give the earlier.
However, the vestiges of CR? Similar items that grow? THAT is the best way to handle a signature item without replacing it. Ever. Instead, the hammer your player's character has? It could have been handed out earlier as a +1 item, and grown into both +2 and +3 item, while also giving more powers unique to it that gives it a feel that fits the character using it to a T.
I think handing out tons of common items is also a good way to handle it. Even those could be a vestige item. Like, the common weapon that can't be destroyed? Or the common magic armor that can be taken off with a single action, or the one that can change how it looks of the same kind of armor? Those are GREAT to give a character an item that starts off as something so simple, but becomes an epic signature item the character is known for throughout the realm.
But I don't think the +X bonuses were, contrary to what is said by Mearls and the like, primarily about players wanting items to feel special. It's about the math. The stronger non-magic-bonus abilities, like being a lightsaber? Those, I think, are to make magic items truly feel special.
All the big items I gave out grew with their players. You're creating a dichotomy where there is none. If you sit down to play D&D with your friends and you're only going to play for 4 sessions and then be done, feel free to hand out unbalancing items. Your players will have more fun and there will be no game for them to unbalance in a month anyway.
Very fair.
I didn't really think of it as a dichotomy when making my comment, so it probably came off a bit more hardline than intended; either playstyle--and many others besides--is totally fine, and I've done both, on both sides of the screen. I certainly don't stick to any of it as hard rules.
It was more along the lines of thinking the reining in of the bonuses was tied to bounded accuracy, since all the numbers were similarly reeled in. The math seems like something that was carefully pored over, to make sure nothing made content too easy too readily.
Enjoyment is the primary purpose of most games. Hell, I certainly throw my own ideas and suggestions out all the time on a whim if I think it's more fun for the group.
Probably just the part of my DMing that has had to run Encounters, living games, and similar, more formal sessions at our FLGS for years. Sometimes with very large groups. So the instinct to have items given out in a manner that helps everyone feel good in a more controlled setting kicked in a bit.
And yet, in home games, it's true. Much of the time it's just thrown out the window, and if it's fun, who cares?
Oh man 5 hours of d&d. Worst part of roleplaying is trying to schedule everyone together.
Love all the videos, but where do you get the time to do all this? you must be held busy
He's been on vacation/taking time off work, so that helps. I'm guessing there will be less content in the next couple weeks (probably going back to 2 videos a week)
Shadar Kai were around in 3rd edition, they aren't 4e originals
You watch Venture Brothers? What do you think of the show?
Hi Matt, FWIW, the lighting looks a little blue.
I'm a couple months late here... This is just an opinion so don't tear me apart please... anyone else who is showing up late. I'm not a huge fan of the pay wall to get access to content. People want to come here to be a good DM or for you're entertaining content, it sucks to have stuff withheld unless you give $$. I do however, like the idea of a great service provided (like you currently are) then we, the viewer can gauge what that is worth to us in the form of a donation. This might seem like charity or what have you, but it's kind of us just buying the product for the price that it is either worth to us, or what we're able to give. Some may be substantially more than others, while others will be the minimum, or a standard subscribe on twitch.
I can understand why you're not a huge fan of the donations and what you receive for doing it, but I'm not a fan of you pulling away existing content because of it.
I'm still catching up in this series, hence why I'm 2 months back, but I hope you keep an open mind to this... if you're still doing it. Hope you get to read this, Matt! You've sparked a pretty big ... thing inside me to start DnD and I love what you're doing here. I'll probably end up being my groups main DM at some point, so I'm loving it here.
I feel like half-elves in normal DnD should be infertile, like mules and ligers, but humanoids seem close enough that getting a half sounds possible, just like mules are possible.
I approach the issue of certain "humanoid" races differently then Matt. Not to say that his way is wrong, its just his opinion on it. My approach is that humans/elves/dwarves/halflings are sort of in the same space as different races in our world. To an outside observer, someone who is japanese may appear as different to an american as an elf would be to a human. If you look at the physical differences of an elf you have ears. Is that any different than the slant of someone's eye or their average height or skin color? So I guess at least in my homebrew setting, Half Elf is not much different than "asian american". If you drill down on this too far the argument falls apart, but I really really hate restricting my players in any way. I think they are much more likely to enjoy themselves if they are invested in the character. So if someone wants to play a half elf, my reaction is pretty much "ok". But half elves usually are subject to racial prejudice because they are part of two different cultures. How does that play in to their backstory? So thats the important thing for me, not the physiology of elf vs human.
We have to remember that the worlds of D&D are worlds of magic and the rules of our world aren't necessarily the rules in theirs. I remember reading a series years ago where they said something similar. Creatures such as griffons had been created by two different animals mating together. There was something about a magical pond of love they would drink from.......Anyway maybe in this world ligers and tigons could be their own race or a subrace.
Illicit Vinegar?
how have your books sales improved?
Well like crazy. I wasn't really selling any before, now I'm selling lots! And it clear a lot of people are actually reading them and that makes me really happy. Makes me want to write more books!
Well get to it! I just finished Thief and I CRAVE more!
Just started running a game based on your books(world). The guys are loving it. Thanks so much for your awesome imagination. :)
Storytelled Vampire the Masquerade for people who never played before.
They played exactly how we played DnD when we were teenagers. Awkward, impulsive and... Kind of thoughtless. Lacking immersion.
Sooo... Here is a nail into the coffin for the illusion of Vampire being a "mature" game. Rpg is a mature game. Period. It all depends how and who plays with whom and how.
Funniest thing is, I hate storytelling or dming for murder hobos. But mature players can pull that off very righteous.
It all depends on the who-s and how-s.
"You guys- you folks. I always try to say, 'you folks.'"
As a nonbinary lady, thanks for that. It's a lot more inclusive and affirming than even "guys and gals." There are very likely around 750,000 other nonbinary people throughout the U.S., and we are pretty much entirely left out of discussions and even "inclusive" places that try to accommodate "both" genders. Spreading "you folks" is good and important.
As an Apache Helicopter I feel exactly the same way. Thank you!
You started D&D in 85? You're such a newbie!!
I do like this better then critical roll . But it is my personal opinion.
Chris Perkins is god
Modern Kevin Costner ---> Tom Cruise
Which is somewhat silly since Tom Cruise was around at the same time
Wisdom is just a really bad stat to put in a game, considering how hard it is to define in real life. And if philosophers can't pinpoint it, how are a bunch of weekend gamers to roleplay it. Same goes for Charisma. It literally means "blessed by the gods" but for some reason people keep thinking it means good looks, which is absolute nonsense. How are good looks making you a better spellcaster ... *heavy sigh* (Sure 'good looks' can be a facet of 'being blessed by the gods' but so can 'lots a magical power'. You can have a charisma of 20 and be ugly. Same goes for real life, by the way. How many top politicians are former top models? None.)
Yes. Chris Perkins. f**k that guy. But really, he's pretty good. If you get a chunk of time here's my list of DMs to watch among which Mat Mercer is not personally one of my favorites. Chris Perkins, Mark Humes of the Yogscast (really good) and Griffin Mcelroy of My Brother, My Brother and Me (sort of light and high fantasy but still fun).