“My character holds the blowgun carefully and inspects the stitched mouth of this assassin. With a curious look, he sniffs the end of the blowgun and wrinkles his brows in disgust as the truth is revealed...”
I just ran this scenario for my 13 YO daughter and her friends last night. We've been playing since around October 2020, but only roughly once a month with a few hiatus periods around the holidays, so it was only our 16th session. They've been going through the Caves of Chaos using the "Caverns of Carnage" as a template but modifying some of the more gory parts for a younger crowd. I set-up Scabs way back around Session 3, and the Thief in the party runs into him almost every time they are at the Greased Goat tavern. She kept saying Scabs were her "bestie" so when she heard he was in trouble and needed her to come see him at the Dripping Dagger tavern, she didn't hesitate. After he was "killed" by the Green Scorpion Assassin, the party chased the Assassin briefly but all of them failed their Dex jumps while jumping across the roof, so the Assassin got away. They returned to Scabs' "body" and investigated, but then the Thief wanted to "give him a proper burial" because she felt bad he was just lying there in the tavern. They eventually decided there was no way to do that unnoticed, so they dumped his body into a wagon full of rotting vegetables (one that they had fallen into after falling during the rooftop chase) because they figured the rotting vegetables would cover the smell of his decaying body. When he showed up later to steal the Demon's Skull from the leader of the Swine Gang, they were really upset and now for the next session, they have decided to forgo going back to the Caves and instead spend the whole session searching for Scabs to take their revenge!
Well in Palladium books, they use I.Q. for Initiave. I believe the skill was called "Combat Initiative". Its a good skill and how its described makes perfect sense.
I think pathfinder has switched over to Perception/Stealth for initiative. Genesys/Star Wars uses vigilance (perception) and cool (will save). PDM is the first person I've seen it for "skill initiative"
@@FelipeBudinich Yep. You can get pretty wild with it if you like. Intimidation for a tense stand-off situation where the first one who flinches is at a disadvantage. Arcana/magic skill if the first warning of an impending fight is a spell being prepped or some dreadful Thing From Beyond that leaks evil magic as it starts to manifest. Nature/animal handling/monster lore to be ready when that wary-looking beastie suddenly attacks. That sort of thing.
I use a flow chart to map out where the story is going, but a lot of the details are fluid and sometime spontaneous. I also have a list of previous NPCs and future plot hooks I tend to sprinkle in when it makes sense. The end result looks like intricate planned out story. I tend to plan stories in broad strokes and let the details manifest during play. Great advice as always PDM!
Bravo. I know it sounds strange, but I would love to see you do this a couple more times applying the concept to a variety of adventure types. It seemed like this was a hunt and recover mission, but what about A political intrigue? A mystery? A dungeon? Thank you for the awesome content. Already excited to see next week.
I'm in the middle of a political intrigue type adventure currently. My players were hired by the prince to investigate some shady dealings of another house. The PCs found out about some vampires in the area as well and a vigilante vampire slayer. They decided to find out more about these vampires instead of engaging the political rival. Little do the PCs know that they are connected. There were two very different paths and many subplots, but they all lead to the same discovery.
either the necromancer collects a new corpse or the paladin pays for his burrial and sends him away into the afterlife, 6feed under or with a fure burrial, depending on the region
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 C'mon, what band of murder hobos isn't going to at least loot the body? 😁 I mean, it CAN happen I suppose. That's when you improvise something like … a member of the Watch happened to see this go down and takes the players into custody for questioning. He'll be politely insistent since he saw that the players didn't actually kill Scabs, but the tavern is full of dangerous-looking men who turn menacing at this turn of events. The menace is directed at YOU, the players. The sooner YOU go with him, the sooner this lawman will be gone.
@@MixMastaShiz Strangely reviving doesn't work in this case. :) Interesting question of revivify and poison generally since it doesn't cure the poison would you just die again assuming a large enough dose?
DungeonWorld's Fronts are amazing for this. Every session, you'll have to update the Fronts in response to what the characters do. It allows you to minimize planning of paths not taken. Return of the lazy dungeon master has advice on how to use Fronts that I found effective.
This is the best channel on RUclips for DMs looking to up their game IMHO. I made the mistake once of the fully open-ended sandbox game, nearly gave myself a nervous breakdown trying to account for the endless options. Matrix is where it's at. Thanks Professor, and props for keeping that OSE boxed set front and center...well kind of off-center, but you get it.
I have to say, I DMed for the last 6-7 years and this channel really made me step up my games and improve. I even helped a few friends that want to dm with hints taken here.
What a great idea. I love how this channel is all about keeping your head our of the book/manual as much as possible so you can get on with more roleplaying Thanks for another great vid!
I really enjoyed this video. The professor wraps up many ideas previously theorized and presents them in a practical way. As always the rationale for his decisions and the sources for the inspiration are revealed. Let’s hope the professor makes a series of videos in the coming weeks, like he did for the Caves of Carnage. They provide a good example on how to build a campaign. To this day, I still watch them.
This is great! Thank you. I've been DMing for 30 years and I learn something new every time I watch a video. I usually use an outline, but I think the flow chart is better in terms of conceptualizing the adventure and where it is going.
I actually have so many encounters made that they are labeled A-Z. I have their bullet points on 5x7 index cards and "subroutine" flows as A-1, A-2, etc on each card as necessary. This was all built up over several years, so it's not like I sat down and wrote out all 26 cards before even starting the campaign.
Now that we're forced to play via VTT this advice is even better. It took me 2 sessions searching details in PDFs to realize how necessary having quick-access notes really is
Glad to have another great adventure to potentially add to my own games. I hope we can expect more of these in the future. I've been missing adventures written by the professor since the campaign diaries ended.
First off, AWESOME video. It was off the charts..pun intended. What sets you apart PDM, is your videos have such great value to them when helping inexperienced DM's like me that want to learn. I bought XDM on your recommendation and have never regretted it, in fact...thank you for that. I know you've mentioned this topic before in videos, but to give us a valuable lesson of one of Hickman's lessons and a great one shot to see how you applied the lesson is so cool. Speaking of cool, I love the idea of using the lemon juice for the note, I will be doing my extra credit, be assured. Between shooting, the time to think of the one shot and all your efforts of making this video, a sincere THANK YOU PDM. I'm gonna be a good DM yet. Cheers!!
the funnest thing about open sandbox games is that between games i get to roll dice for events in the realm. it's so much fun to have a real fictional world unraveling. i roll up NPCs (very vague ones not much detail aside from "evil necromancer" or "entitled noble" or "rebellious prince" things like that. and they have decision graphs that are filled up with the basic needs and more interesting ones too. i roll to see what they did the last span of time during the adventurers adventuring so that when they go back into a town they can hear new rumors etc. it's a lot of work. but i find SO much joy in it personally. and i find that putting very vague motivators into roll charts like "get laid" and "earn a promotion" etc. to make the world feel like the NPC's are so much richer. meanwhile there's the main plot, some side plots, and all that fun-ness. but i think you hit the nail on the head. we're 1 in a million. (i'll toot my own horn and think i'm that 1. why not!) hahaha
also for those DM's looking to get into sandboxing. READ FICTION! read all the books. Wheel of Time, LOTR, Farseer books by Robin Hobb, GOT (pending for me), prince of thorns and those other books. do yourself a favor and just immerse yourself in AS MUCH FICTION AS POSSIBLE! you'll have SO much material you can rip out of those stories! mix it up with your own Flavor. It's great!
I highly recommend SCAPPLE for this. It is a program from the makers of Scrivener. I made a flow chart like this for Curse of Strahd, I could import the maps from DnDbeyond, pictures for NPCs (speeds up descriptions), I set the flow chart in the same shape as the Borovian map and could link information gained at one location to another location with arrows. Flow charts for the win. Of course, converting an entire module into a Scapple flowchart took HOURS but it makes it so that a book never be opened after that. Also, you can do it in pieces. Obviously, you don't have to have the final scene mapped out or every location if there isn't a chance for the PCs to jump directly there. Much of a flow chart can and should be done between sessions. 1. this increases player agency and 2. keeps you from making a bunch of details that the PCs will never see. Another great video PDM!
Twist of Events ! If the a PC makes a high enough roll Diplomacy skill check or Charisma roll. And tell the guards the " truth " as to what is happening or what they think is happening, they can make allies with the Butcher thieves guild and have side jobs or later contacts with " favors," for later campaign use. It is good to have " friends " in low places.
I listened to Tracy at a school fantasy and Sci-Fi symposium where he discussed this concept - it wasn;t this flushed out (it was 1991) but lead from point a through choices 1,2,3 ... then funneled back down to the endpoint - boss fight. It's ctually a concept I'm investigation for some Choose Your Own Adventure style assessments for by EDD.
That is the most helpful thing! Thx Professor! :) I'm currently rewriting the entire Caves of Chaos for a D&D5e campaign and I've been wracking my brain on how to make it far more engaging, with a real story, real personalities both in the Keep on the Borderlands and the creatures I've populated the caves with. I've added a secret, evil, plot to provide motive to the goings on. Lots of ways the players might figure out details about those plots, and just how it's all affecting the Keep and it's people and what they're actions would be and reactions to what the players do. But it was all in my head! lol!
You always come up with something cool Prof. I do like to improv sometimes, i fime it keeps my mind sharp. Glad to see the tie back. Love the Demon Skull!!-
Excellent advice. I will add this to my arsenal. BTW, as a side note, you don't have a connection from the blow gun being dropped back to search the body. I'm a software developer and the dead end jumped out at me. Love your channel.
Hey Prof, what would you think about giving the Green Scorpion Death Cult different colored rings to indicate their rank? Copper for low level, then Bronze, Silver, Gold and finally Platinum for the Cult master. I like to run E6 (Epic level 6) games, so with that the Cultist rank levels would line up pretty well. From a basic level 1 thug with no ring, up to Level 6 with a platinum ring. As to the PC's not knowing how to contact the Assassin Cult, in my most recent campaign (currently on a 'beer break') my group's PCs are working for the Mayor of a small growing town. He's a bit shady but seems on the up and up. One day one of the Players seemed to be in a bit of a mood and was giving off a lot of attitude and I thought she might kill the mayor. This lead me to realize that the mayor is a minor noble with connections to what is basically the mafia. So, if he's killed they would authorize a hit on his killer, and there would be a string of assassination attempts on that player's character (with the party in general getting caught up in the crossfire). Eventually the Assassins Guild would send out their 2 highest ranking assassins and it'd be a make it or break it attempt. Now, on the other hand, if the PC's are in good standing with the "Shady Mayor" and I ran this for them, if they talked to him about the Green Scorpions, I wouldn't have him let on that he knows how to get in contact with them, but would have him secretly arrange a meet-up with the PC's. Maybe he could provide them with the password if they haven't figured it out, and point them in the right direction. He could be the same Scorpion that shows up at the end. Anyhow, as always, love your ideas, keep 'em coming sir!
Is like designing a video game, all the scenarios are already planed and designed, they have freedom of choice but their choice you tweak the results to lead to one of the possible next resulting scenarios. Just don't tell your players that the scenarios are written, and don't write them on stone, you can edit them on the run, even recycle or combine some outcomes.
I've been a long time fan of the channel, subscribed years ago, member of the Patreon and yet somehow I had never seen this video! It's great! How did I miss it? Thanks for all the resources you put out.
Dropping the content on Wednesday! Wow, I did not pick that flowchart option. Thanks for the great content, my pack of cookies for the metric is almost empty, need to pick up another.
Excellent insights! One more valuable entry for my PDM Bible! A quick observation: I wasn't able to read the story you made "Gallows Dance", the link you have given us does not have this story anymore for some reason. :(
This mini-story idea is fun! And so is the one you told about the daughter who gets kidnapped but is actually just running away with her bandit-lover! I know you are using these quests as examples to illustrate a point you're trying to make, but please give us more! Please start a series of your most interesting side quests. This is the best part of RPGs, and even these two ideas are more fun than most published adventures. BONUS: Please launch a Kickstarter project that lays out your top 13 quests in hardcover. I'm a definite backer.
Nice of you to give Deathbringer a week off. I have an old TSR mod that uses a similar system to link unrelated B modules into a more comprehensive group. As usual your class has been helpful and I'm looking forward to next weeks lesson.
Huh, didn't realize I already kinda did this with the prewritten encounters I've got in the bag. Not quite as fancy as yours. I'm very old school and don't like to fight with Word trying to force me to do things it's way. I put each area on a sep page in a quad notebook with bullets points and monsters listed, leaving room to make notes on what happens there.
LOL by anticipate where they may go , he mean make a small map of every house the rogue might burglarize, and which dressers have something worth stealing , even if only some candles.... ;)
Player party loot Scabs and find the scroll. One of PCs decides they should take the body and dispose of it elsewhere and slit the throat so no one else can pick up the same breadcrumb trail as they did. DMs master plan foiled. Commence paniced DM improv session. Just the kind of luck I would have if I ran something like this I bet. As to the actual structure, this sounds just like most Video game RPGs are structured. Illusion of choice with a handfull of paths to take leeding to a fixed set of possible endings. When that NPC in Baldurs Gate/Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other Game seems to respond in the same or almost the same when you click on 2-3 different dialogure choices, this is the method the game designers used.
Easy enough. Just do the same thing, but now it's just the assassins that show up at the end instead of Scabs. Now it was a plot by the assassins to get the demon skull. Maybe they set Scabs up to give the players info and then betrayed him. Maybe they planned to take it on their own and the players weren't meant to get involved. Either way, the story doesn't need to change much.
Bonus Tip: For everyone doing the password hand out, if you can have a few more cool passwords on the slip all crossed out or stricken through, not too many mind you, this is just for flavor to imply this same slip has been used multiple times for previous passwords. Suggesting that the only reason this assassin has the slip, is due their faulty memory.
I wing it 90% of the time, even if I use a published adventure. I dont usually use published adventures because Im a cheap a**. Love your channel PDM!!
Flow charts are especially valuable for mysteries and investigation adventures. You can better visualize how clues will lead the PCs from the start of the adventure towards its climax.
So, how do you handle a choice of three options? One room (choice) contains an NPC that has information about another choice (room). Do you move the NPC to whichever room they pick first or do they overcome the challenge and then meet the NPC that now offers "yesterday's news" about the room they just left?
What program or method did you use to make your flow chart look so clean and organized? I've been looking into using smart art in Microsoft word to mimic it... but it's overly colorful and stylized and just not working for me. Did you just use straight text boxes? While this video did an excellent job of demonstrating the benefits of using a flow chart in adventure design and presented an engaging adventure, it did not go into detail on the process of making one yourself. Personally, I found your other older videos, especially 'DungeonCraft #45: Campaign Session 1', more helpful for that. Watching you physically draw the flowchart of the firstadventure on a white board helped it click for me and I'd love to see more of that. Cheers, thanks for all the effort you put into these videos!
I'm a bit slow (again) to the party, but this was a great idea. Thank you for the video; I should start using this flow chart suggestion. Question for PDM: any thoughts (or fond memoires, I hope) of the original World of Greyhawk D&D setting? It's a sort of "old friend" for me in the games I've run for years.
Been DM since 1984, I run 95% improv. I have the elusive ability (gained through experience, not god given) to sand box everything within a cohesive world. Just a side effect of doing something forever. Nothing special really. Love the videos PDM!
Same. I know my game world inside and out. The PCs could go anywhere, and I'll have something prepared. However, it has also been my experience that players don't truly enjoy a sandbox once they have it. They need at least a little directing on where the most interesting places to go are.
Just stumbled on to your site. Nice presentation! Are you doing D&D5e, Pathfinders, other, or all? I'm in the process of constructing a homebrew that uses the old Hommlett module as a springboard, and appreciated the tips on how to avoid making this a railroad. You earned yourself another subscribe!
Ted Oplinger I’m doing Village of Hommlet right now too!!! I run a Frankenstein combo of 5E, Index Card RPG, 5E Hardcore Mode, & Warhammer FRP. Thanks for the sub!
"Matrix" method really is the best of all worlds. You don't have to spend time killing yourself trying to think of every stupid thing your players could possibly contrive of doing, and your players feel brilliant when the plot thread they decided to pursue inevitably leads them to the climactic finish. A lot of video games have employed this method of false free will such as Mass effects choice system to great success. The only thing that I would warn new dungeon masters or people playing with a new group is to make sure to never tell your players what's going on. I've run entire sessions where I was simply using a bullet point list of every room they were going to encounter in the dungeon and just making small notes as to which way they turned to get there. My players told me post session how it was a really good time and I could tell at the table that they never felt like they were floundering or struggling to figure out what to do next because no matter what they chose they always seem to be right. I know that if I had told them that none of their choices mattered it would have robbed them of the experience completely and they probably would have never trusted me again.
@@benvoliothefirst I'm going to write those down. I love the Bloody Trout. The names of the taverns I put up are where Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser hang out. The Gray Mouser was one of the inspirations for the Thief/Rogue class being able to read scrolls and use some magic items.
So I have a question. I like the idea of giving the players the illusion of making choices, so in your example, when they can search the body or chase the assassin, do you actually say that? "So what would you like to do, search the body or chase the assassin?" Technically giving them two choices, but making them feel like they are choosing their own fate by picking one of them? I think the mistake I make is simply asking them "What would you like to do?" which leaves it super open-ended and then I'm scrambling to put story together. Kinda like laying track down while riding the front of a train. Thoughts?
Now I'm just imagining the players doing something insane, like decapitating Scabs' body to reap a reward from the town guard, or from a rival gang. Or they want to cast "Speak with Dead" on his corpse.
They walked up to two separate dungeons, decided they were “too scary looking” and just went on their way. At one I had taken the generous action of giving them their magical treasures first so they could test them out as they played the mission. Right at the boss room they decided “we came here to get rich, not killed” and they just left. Open ended play can be surprising but it is my favorite.
This is totally awesome since the possibilities of actually running an RPG seem overwhelming. I have yet to run a game and find myself mired with indecision. Do I home brew? House rules? Eliminate initiative (probably)? Streamline hit points during combat (maybe)? I also appreciate Hickman’s reductive philosophy in XDM but am still worried the game won’t be fun for my players. Any advice?
One of my favorite video so far! (note: I might have said that already in an earlier video lol). Reasons : nice visuals with terrain and minis, usable content at the table and teaches a GM lesson! Constructive crictism: Prof, dunno if you had a though week, but you sounded a bit like you were lacking energy? Usually, you are a bit more dynamic in your vids (voice and body language. Anyway, thanks again for the vid!
Hi, I just wanted to say I love your videos. They have transformed my game sessions, and I think my players are enjoying our games a lot more nowadays. Are you planning on any further campaign videos, or has Covid put the metaphorical arrow in that metaphorical knee?
“My character holds the blowgun carefully and inspects the stitched mouth of this assassin. With a curious look, he sniffs the end of the blowgun and wrinkles his brows in disgust as the truth is revealed...”
Hoisted by the assassin's petard
@@chadsmith8966 Perfect.
THANK YOU
Oh Jesus.... 😂😂😂
That’s how he used the blowgun with his lips stitched shut 😂😂
I just ran this scenario for my 13 YO daughter and her friends last night. We've been playing since around October 2020, but only roughly once a month with a few hiatus periods around the holidays, so it was only our 16th session. They've been going through the Caves of Chaos using the "Caverns of Carnage" as a template but modifying some of the more gory parts for a younger crowd.
I set-up Scabs way back around Session 3, and the Thief in the party runs into him almost every time they are at the Greased Goat tavern. She kept saying Scabs were her "bestie" so when she heard he was in trouble and needed her to come see him at the Dripping Dagger tavern, she didn't hesitate. After he was "killed" by the Green Scorpion Assassin, the party chased the Assassin briefly but all of them failed their Dex jumps while jumping across the roof, so the Assassin got away. They returned to Scabs' "body" and investigated, but then the Thief wanted to "give him a proper burial" because she felt bad he was just lying there in the tavern. They eventually decided there was no way to do that unnoticed, so they dumped his body into a wagon full of rotting vegetables (one that they had fallen into after falling during the rooftop chase) because they figured the rotting vegetables would cover the smell of his decaying body.
When he showed up later to steal the Demon's Skull from the leader of the Swine Gang, they were really upset and now for the next session, they have decided to forgo going back to the Caves and instead spend the whole session searching for Scabs to take their revenge!
Cool! This made my day.
Broadcasting to my office tv. I have never heard of using perception as initiative - love this idea.
Well in Palladium books, they use I.Q. for Initiave.
I believe the skill was called "Combat Initiative". Its a good skill and how its described makes perfect sense.
thanks for commenting!
I think pathfinder has switched over to Perception/Stealth for initiative. Genesys/Star Wars uses vigilance (perception) and cool (will save).
PDM is the first person I've seen it for "skill initiative"
The idea has interesting ramifications;
When designing encounters use different skills to decide initiative.
@@FelipeBudinich Yep. You can get pretty wild with it if you like. Intimidation for a tense stand-off situation where the first one who flinches is at a disadvantage. Arcana/magic skill if the first warning of an impending fight is a spell being prepped or some dreadful Thing From Beyond that leaks evil magic as it starts to manifest. Nature/animal handling/monster lore to be ready when that wary-looking beastie suddenly attacks. That sort of thing.
I use a flow chart to map out where the story is going, but a lot of the details are fluid and sometime spontaneous. I also have a list of previous NPCs and future plot hooks I tend to sprinkle in when it makes sense. The end result looks like intricate planned out story. I tend to plan stories in broad strokes and let the details manifest during play. Great advice as always PDM!
Wow, Grizzled Geek listens to my favorite Dungeon Master! Great video Prof, I just found your channel recently.
@@jonathanvaldez6273 Absolutely, love me some Dungeon Craft!
Very, very good advice.
Bravo. I know it sounds strange, but I would love to see you do this a couple more times applying the concept to a variety of adventure types. It seemed like this was a hunt and recover mission, but what about A political intrigue? A mystery? A dungeon? Thank you for the awesome content. Already excited to see next week.
I'm in the middle of a political intrigue type adventure currently. My players were hired by the prince to investigate some shady dealings of another house. The PCs found out about some vampires in the area as well and a vigilante vampire slayer. They decided to find out more about these vampires instead of engaging the political rival. Little do the PCs know that they are connected.
There were two very different paths and many subplots, but they all lead to the same discovery.
Yes
I WILL do it. Thanks for the great ideas.
@@linus4d1 A big yes.
PCS: "Oh damn, Scab is dead! Let's have a drink and pretend nothing happened"
DM: *sigh*
Richard LaBrie That can happen. I described a similar situation last week.
Or the cleric casts revivify on Scab and he tells them everything!
either the necromancer collects a new corpse
or the paladin pays for his burrial and sends him away into the afterlife, 6feed under or with a fure burrial, depending on the region
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 C'mon, what band of murder hobos isn't going to at least loot the body? 😁 I mean, it CAN happen I suppose.
That's when you improvise something like … a member of the Watch happened to see this go down and takes the players into custody for questioning. He'll be politely insistent since he saw that the players didn't actually kill Scabs, but the tavern is full of dangerous-looking men who turn menacing at this turn of events. The menace is directed at YOU, the players. The sooner YOU go with him, the sooner this lawman will be gone.
@@MixMastaShiz Strangely reviving doesn't work in this case. :)
Interesting question of revivify and poison generally since it doesn't cure the poison would you just die again assuming a large enough dose?
DungeonWorld's Fronts are amazing for this. Every session, you'll have to update the Fronts in response to what the characters do. It allows you to minimize planning of paths not taken. Return of the lazy dungeon master has advice on how to use Fronts that I found effective.
Love Retruns of the Lazy DungeonMaster & Dungeonworld!
Great video! A quick one shot game with structure, interesting characters and a plot!
Thanks! If you want them, I will make more.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 we want more! ( Or I do). Very excellent
This is the best channel on RUclips for DMs looking to up their game IMHO.
I made the mistake once of the fully open-ended sandbox game, nearly gave myself a nervous breakdown trying to account for the endless options. Matrix is where it's at.
Thanks Professor, and props for keeping that OSE boxed set front and center...well kind of off-center, but you get it.
I have to say, I DMed for the last 6-7 years and this channel really made me step up my games and improve. I even helped a few friends that want to dm with hints taken here.
Thank you for taking the time to say so.
Excellent! And best of all USABLE at the table!
Agreed, I love these sorts of vids!
What a great idea.
I love how this channel is all about keeping your head our of the book/manual as much as possible so you can get on with more roleplaying
Thanks for another great vid!
You never disappoint. Excellent video and many thanks for your continued efforts to help aspiring DM’s like myself.
Flowcharts are the best charts!
Freaking brilliant. I wish more people taught this stuff to new GMs. Thank you!
I really enjoyed this video. The professor wraps up many ideas previously theorized and presents them in a practical way. As always the rationale for his decisions and the sources for the inspiration are revealed. Let’s hope the professor makes a series of videos in the coming weeks, like he did for the Caves of Carnage. They provide a good example on how to build a campaign. To this day, I still watch them.
I found this video super informative! Thank you for sharing. Quality tips and content.
You have the coolest ideas! I use flowcharts too but I tend to over prepare and sometimes I realize that less is more. Great video!
This is great! Thank you. I've been DMing for 30 years and I learn something new every time I watch a video. I usually use an outline, but I think the flow chart is better in terms of conceptualizing the adventure and where it is going.
I love the scenes recreated in miniature through the videos. They make your videos a joy to watch.
I actually have so many encounters made that they are labeled A-Z. I have their bullet points on 5x7 index cards and "subroutine" flows as A-1, A-2, etc on each card as necessary.
This was all built up over several years, so it's not like I sat down and wrote out all 26 cards before even starting the campaign.
Now that we're forced to play via VTT this advice is even better. It took me 2 sessions searching details in PDFs to realize how necessary having quick-access notes really is
Excellent adventure. Even more useful are the techniques you used to create it. Thanks.
Glad to have another great adventure to potentially add to my own games. I hope we can expect more of these in the future. I've been missing adventures written by the professor since the campaign diaries ended.
incredible, love the +1 vest of perception
Really would like to see more content like this from you.
Erik Martin Thanks. Making content as fast as I can.
First off, AWESOME video. It was off the charts..pun intended. What sets you apart PDM, is your videos have such great value to them when helping inexperienced DM's like me that want to learn. I bought XDM on your recommendation and have never regretted it, in fact...thank you for that. I know you've mentioned this topic before in videos, but to give us a valuable lesson of one of Hickman's lessons and a great one shot to see how you applied the lesson is so cool. Speaking of cool, I love the idea of using the lemon juice for the note, I will be doing my extra credit, be assured. Between shooting, the time to think of the one shot and all your efforts of making this video, a sincere THANK YOU PDM. I'm gonna be a good DM yet. Cheers!!
Very cool tutorial Professor. I'm not a DM, but I can see this technique working wonderfully.
Great video
That book adds a ton to a GM's toolbox
This is fantastic, flow charts are definitely commonplace for DMing but your example was top-notch, structured verisimilitude. Cheers.
the funnest thing about open sandbox games is that between games i get to roll dice for events in the realm.
it's so much fun to have a real fictional world unraveling. i roll up NPCs (very vague ones not much detail aside from "evil necromancer" or "entitled noble" or "rebellious prince" things like that. and they have decision graphs that are filled up with the basic needs and more interesting ones too. i roll to see what they did the last span of time during the adventurers adventuring so that when they go back into a town they can hear new rumors etc.
it's a lot of work. but i find SO much joy in it personally. and i find that putting very vague motivators into roll charts like "get laid" and "earn a promotion" etc. to make the world feel like the NPC's are so much richer.
meanwhile there's the main plot, some side plots, and all that fun-ness. but i think you hit the nail on the head. we're 1 in a million. (i'll toot my own horn and think i'm that 1. why not!) hahaha
also for those DM's looking to get into sandboxing. READ FICTION! read all the books. Wheel of Time, LOTR, Farseer books by Robin Hobb, GOT (pending for me), prince of thorns and those other books.
do yourself a favor and just immerse yourself in AS MUCH FICTION AS POSSIBLE! you'll have SO much material you can rip out of those stories! mix it up with your own Flavor. It's great!
I highly recommend SCAPPLE for this. It is a program from the makers of Scrivener. I made a flow chart like this for Curse of Strahd, I could import the maps from DnDbeyond, pictures for NPCs (speeds up descriptions), I set the flow chart in the same shape as the Borovian map and could link information gained at one location to another location with arrows. Flow charts for the win. Of course, converting an entire module into a Scapple flowchart took HOURS but it makes it so that a book never be opened after that. Also, you can do it in pieces. Obviously, you don't have to have the final scene mapped out or every location if there isn't a chance for the PCs to jump directly there. Much of a flow chart can and should be done between sessions. 1. this increases player agency and 2. keeps you from making a bunch of details that the PCs will never see. Another great video PDM!
Twist of Events !
If the a PC makes a high enough roll Diplomacy skill check or Charisma roll. And tell the guards the
" truth " as to what is happening or what they think is happening, they can make allies with the Butcher thieves guild and have side jobs or later contacts with " favors," for later campaign use.
It is good to have " friends " in low places.
“If” I enjoyed this video. LOL. ... Once again great work! XDM is a lifesaver for DMing!
I listened to Tracy at a school fantasy and Sci-Fi symposium where he discussed this concept - it wasn;t this flushed out (it was 1991) but lead from point a through choices 1,2,3 ... then funneled back down to the endpoint - boss fight. It's ctually a concept I'm investigation for some Choose Your Own Adventure style assessments for by EDD.
I love when advice comes with a practical example. Not only is it two for one but helps keep the concepts from being so generic as to be meaningless.
That is the most helpful thing! Thx Professor! :)
I'm currently rewriting the entire Caves of Chaos for a D&D5e campaign and I've been wracking my brain on how to make it far more engaging, with a real story, real personalities both in the Keep on the Borderlands and the creatures I've populated the caves with. I've added a secret, evil, plot to provide motive to the goings on. Lots of ways the players might figure out details about those plots, and just how it's all affecting the Keep and it's people and what they're actions would be and reactions to what the players do. But it was all in my head! lol!
Look for PDM's own vids on his adaptation of B2 for suggestions
Deathbringer for President 2020
Let's have him In 2024. But he can get started in as the Secretary of Defense 2020.
Trump, let this man in!!!!!
I hope everyone on all sides can enjoy that video. Not sure jokes are a thing in 2020.
Kevyn Hansyn ... ... ...
Awesome as always, been using this since the stop flipping through rulebooks episode and its works great! keep up the good work Prof! :)
WOOPWOOP, the Prof is BACK.
You always come up with something cool Prof. I do like to improv sometimes, i fime it keeps my mind sharp. Glad to see the tie back. Love the Demon Skull!!-
Awesome ready made adventure! Already pencilled in for my next session....
Excellent advice. I will add this to my arsenal. BTW, as a side note, you don't have a connection from the blow gun being dropped back to search the body. I'm a software developer and the dead end jumped out at me.
Love your channel.
Wednesday totally works for me!!
Great way to organize your notes!
This is a cool scenario. It reminds me of the Oldenhaller Contract in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
just commenting to help the channel
Thank you!
Used these for my first module Phandelver, SO MUCH HELP!!! That and Monster Cards.
I love how easily all of this DM’s concepts transfer to 1e
Great content as always! Hope to see more of these in the future. Perhaps a continuation?
Keep up the amazing work PDM.
Ah, man. Another informative and entertaining video. Thanks, Professor.
Hey Prof, what would you think about giving the Green Scorpion Death Cult different colored rings to indicate their rank?
Copper for low level, then Bronze, Silver, Gold and finally Platinum for the Cult master.
I like to run E6 (Epic level 6) games, so with that the Cultist rank levels would line up pretty well. From a basic level 1 thug with no ring, up to Level 6 with a platinum ring.
As to the PC's not knowing how to contact the Assassin Cult, in my most recent campaign (currently on a 'beer break') my group's PCs are working for the Mayor of a small growing town. He's a bit shady but seems on the up and up.
One day one of the Players seemed to be in a bit of a mood and was giving off a lot of attitude and I thought she might kill the mayor.
This lead me to realize that the mayor is a minor noble with connections to what is basically the mafia. So, if he's killed they would authorize a hit on his killer, and there would be a string of assassination attempts on that player's character (with the party in general getting caught up in the crossfire).
Eventually the Assassins Guild would send out their 2 highest ranking assassins and it'd be a make it or break it attempt.
Now, on the other hand, if the PC's are in good standing with the "Shady Mayor" and I ran this for them, if they talked to him about the Green Scorpions, I wouldn't have him let on that he knows how to get in contact with them, but would have him secretly arrange a meet-up with the PC's. Maybe he could provide them with the password if they haven't figured it out, and point them in the right direction.
He could be the same Scorpion that shows up at the end.
Anyhow, as always, love your ideas, keep 'em coming sir!
I think it's awesome. Make the Scorpion cult yours!
The fact that DCC, OSE et Mork Borg are on display instead of 5e makes me really, really happy.
Awesome idea, PDM, but you already know that! I'm sharing this! Thank you!
Is like designing a video game, all the scenarios are already planed and designed, they have freedom of choice but their choice you tweak the results to lead to one of the possible next resulting scenarios.
Just don't tell your players that the scenarios are written, and don't write them on stone, you can edit them on the run, even recycle or combine some outcomes.
I've been a long time fan of the channel, subscribed years ago, member of the Patreon and yet somehow I had never seen this video! It's great! How did I miss it? Thanks for all the resources you put out.
Awesome help! As a new dm myself, this is super useful 👍👍👍
I'm going to be running Curse of Strahd soon, so I will need this to be highly specific.
Thanks Prof you ARE the man.
Lol... This adventure rings a bell... WHFRP intro adventure anyone! Great work, really enjoying it
Love watching your videos. Carry on
And stolen, thanks professor! The adventure will fit nicely in my one shot.
Dropping the content on Wednesday! Wow, I did not pick that flowchart option. Thanks for the great content, my pack of cookies for the metric is almost empty, need to pick up another.
Never thought of this, so I'm stealing it . THANKS!!!
I want more of this.
This is gold. Thank you.
Excellent insights! One more valuable entry for my PDM Bible!
A quick observation: I wasn't able to read the story you made "Gallows Dance", the link you have given us does not have this story anymore for some reason. :(
This mini-story idea is fun! And so is the one you told about the daughter who gets kidnapped but is actually just running away with her bandit-lover! I know you are using these quests as examples to illustrate a point you're trying to make, but please give us more! Please start a series of your most interesting side quests. This is the best part of RPGs, and even these two ideas are more fun than most published adventures.
BONUS: Please launch a Kickstarter project that lays out your top 13 quests in hardcover. I'm a definite backer.
Prof DM's videos are always good, but all I ever take away is "I hope I have hair as thick and lush as his when I am his age"
Yeah but he’s only 32. All that DMing takes its toll!
@@kev_whatev oh. Bad news for me then, lol, I'm 32 and my hair is already on the way out
Never used a flow chart but I like it!!!
Game changer for me. Thanks!
Nice of you to give Deathbringer a week off. I have an old TSR mod that uses a similar system to link unrelated B modules into a more comprehensive group. As usual your class has been helpful and I'm looking forward to next weeks lesson.
B1-9 :)
This was a damn cool storyline
Huh, didn't realize I already kinda did this with the prewritten encounters I've got in the bag. Not quite as fancy as yours. I'm very old school and don't like to fight with Word trying to force me to do things it's way. I put each area on a sep page in a quad notebook with bullets points and monsters listed, leaving room to make notes on what happens there.
Excellent video! I have been an open ended scenario writer in my games. I gotta try the Matrix. 😁
LOL by anticipate where they may go , he mean make a small map of every house the rogue might burglarize, and which dressers have something worth stealing , even if only some candles.... ;)
Player party loot Scabs and find the scroll. One of PCs decides they should take the body and dispose of it elsewhere and slit the throat so no one else can pick up the same breadcrumb trail as they did. DMs master plan foiled. Commence paniced DM improv session. Just the kind of luck I would have if I ran something like this I bet.
As to the actual structure, this sounds just like most Video game RPGs are structured. Illusion of choice with a handfull of paths to take leeding to a fixed set of possible endings. When that NPC in Baldurs Gate/Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other Game seems to respond in the same or almost the same when you click on 2-3 different dialogure choices, this is the method the game designers used.
Easy enough. Just do the same thing, but now it's just the assassins that show up at the end instead of Scabs. Now it was a plot by the assassins to get the demon skull. Maybe they set Scabs up to give the players info and then betrayed him. Maybe they planned to take it on their own and the players weren't meant to get involved. Either way, the story doesn't need to change much.
Bonus Tip: For everyone doing the password hand out, if you can have a few more cool passwords on the slip all crossed out or stricken through, not too many mind you, this is just for flavor to imply this same slip has been used multiple times for previous passwords. Suggesting that the only reason this assassin has the slip, is due their faulty memory.
Great video, more like this!
Great idea, PDM!
I wing it 90% of the time, even if I use a published adventure. I dont usually use published adventures because Im a cheap a**. Love your channel PDM!!
Great stuff!
Flow charts are especially valuable for mysteries and investigation adventures. You can better visualize how clues will lead the PCs from the start of the adventure towards its climax.
Great video.
So, how do you handle a choice of three options? One room (choice) contains an NPC that has information about another choice (room). Do you move the NPC to whichever room they pick first or do they overcome the challenge and then meet the NPC that now offers "yesterday's news" about the room they just left?
What program or method did you use to make your flow chart look so clean and organized? I've been looking into using smart art in Microsoft word to mimic it... but it's overly colorful and stylized and just not working for me. Did you just use straight text boxes?
While this video did an excellent job of demonstrating the benefits of using a flow chart in adventure design and presented an engaging adventure, it did not go into detail on the process of making one yourself. Personally, I found your other older videos, especially 'DungeonCraft #45: Campaign Session 1', more helpful for that. Watching you physically draw the flowchart of the firstadventure on a white board helped it click for me and I'd love to see more of that.
Cheers, thanks for all the effort you put into these videos!
I'm a bit slow (again) to the party, but this was a great idea. Thank you for the video; I should start using this flow chart suggestion. Question for PDM: any thoughts (or fond memoires, I hope) of the original World of Greyhawk D&D setting? It's a sort of "old friend" for me in the games I've run for years.
Been DM since 1984, I run 95% improv. I have the elusive ability (gained through experience, not god given) to sand box everything within a cohesive world. Just a side effect of doing something forever. Nothing special really.
Love the videos PDM!
Same. I know my game world inside and out. The PCs could go anywhere, and I'll have something prepared.
However, it has also been my experience that players don't truly enjoy a sandbox once they have it. They need at least a little directing on where the most interesting places to go are.
Just stumbled on to your site. Nice presentation! Are you doing D&D5e, Pathfinders, other, or all?
I'm in the process of constructing a homebrew that uses the old Hommlett module as a springboard, and appreciated the tips on how to avoid making this a railroad. You earned yourself another subscribe!
Ted Oplinger I’m doing Village of Hommlet right now too!!! I run a Frankenstein combo of 5E, Index Card RPG, 5E Hardcore Mode, & Warhammer FRP. Thanks for the sub!
"Matrix" method really is the best of all worlds. You don't have to spend time killing yourself trying to think of every stupid thing your players could possibly contrive of doing, and your players feel brilliant when the plot thread they decided to pursue inevitably leads them to the climactic finish. A lot of video games have employed this method of false free will such as Mass effects choice system to great success. The only thing that I would warn new dungeon masters or people playing with a new group is to make sure to never tell your players what's going on. I've run entire sessions where I was simply using a bullet point list of every room they were going to encounter in the dungeon and just making small notes as to which way they turned to get there. My players told me post session how it was a really good time and I could tell at the table that they never felt like they were floundering or struggling to figure out what to do next because no matter what they chose they always seem to be right. I know that if I had told them that none of their choices mattered it would have robbed them of the experience completely and they probably would have never trusted me again.
The starting pub should have the name: The Silver Eel, or The Golden Lamprey.
This has Lanhkmar written all over it.
The Crimson Herring, The Bloody Trout, The Ruby Sardine, The Ruddy Bass...
@@benvoliothefirst I'm going to write those down. I love the Bloody Trout.
The names of the taverns I put up are where Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser hang out.
The Gray Mouser was one of the inspirations for the Thief/Rogue class being able to read scrolls and use some magic items.
So I have a question. I like the idea of giving the players the illusion of making choices, so in your example, when they can search the body or chase the assassin, do you actually say that? "So what would you like to do, search the body or chase the assassin?" Technically giving them two choices, but making them feel like they are choosing their own fate by picking one of them?
I think the mistake I make is simply asking them "What would you like to do?" which leaves it super open-ended and then I'm scrambling to put story together. Kinda like laying track down while riding the front of a train.
Thoughts?
Now I'm just imagining the players doing something insane, like decapitating Scabs' body to reap a reward from the town guard, or from a rival gang. Or they want to cast "Speak with Dead" on his corpse.
Excellent!
They walked up to two separate dungeons, decided they were “too scary looking” and just went on their way. At one I had taken the generous action of giving them their magical treasures first so they could test them out as they played the mission.
Right at the boss room they decided “we came here to get rich, not killed” and they just left.
Open ended play can be surprising but it is my favorite.
Great video, speaking of skulls, where did you get the skull statue with the outstretched arm and hands holding the D20?
Wes Maass Walgreens. On sale after Halloween. The d20 I had.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Great, thank you.
This is totally awesome since the possibilities of actually running an RPG seem overwhelming. I have yet to run a game and find myself mired with indecision. Do I home brew? House rules? Eliminate initiative (probably)? Streamline hit points during combat (maybe)? I also appreciate Hickman’s reductive philosophy in XDM but am still worried the game won’t be fun for my players. Any advice?
I’m just worried that, as the DM, I’m going to get stuck or tripped up and the game is going to fall flat and stall out.
One of my favorite video so far! (note: I might have said that already in an earlier video lol).
Reasons : nice visuals with terrain and minis, usable content at the table and teaches a GM lesson!
Constructive crictism: Prof, dunno if you had a though week, but you sounded a bit like you were lacking energy? Usually, you are a bit more dynamic in your vids (voice and body language.
Anyway, thanks again for the vid!
Have you... have you watched the news lately?
@@benvoliothefirst no? Nie toi worry me 😔
Great video and concept I'll have to explore. Would the concept be any different for starting a campaign?
Hi, I just wanted to say I love your videos. They have transformed my game sessions, and I think my players are enjoying our games a lot more nowadays.
Are you planning on any further campaign videos, or has Covid put the metaphorical arrow in that metaphorical knee?