I keep going back to the well, for it is a sweet nectar! Years later, I still come back to these early vids, for they contain such treasures as this. In my most recent dungeon, I had a guardian that respawns every 1d4 hours, allowing for some short rests, but never a long rest before he comes crashing down. Even more interesting, he is an intelligent foe with RP opportunity, and he is studying and learning the player's tactics with every fight, becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. It was a HUGE success.
We just did an entire session exploring and visiting a town, and there was adventure and laughter from minute one until four hours later - I think I cried laughed three times - my face hurt! Not one drop of blood was dropped. Very strange session but a. Blast.
Absolutely agree. A long rest before a big fight is a definitely a reward. I'm a player in one group and our DM lets us rest constantly so the encounters never really have that sense of danger since we can turn it to 11 every encounter and not worry about reserving anything for later. Of course the problem this has created is that the DM makes tougher and tougher encounters where we need to blow our entire wad or die.
In my campaigns I generally run rests as real as you can. I had a wizard in my campaign who was rather used to well made beds, and regular hours of sleep. When the party made their way deep into the dungeon, Captain Hoity Toity Wizard found his first few rests rather uncomfortable. Completely out of his element, and encased in a poorly made sleeping bag, I had him roll up some Will saves to see if his character could actually ACHIEVE a state of REM, and actually get rest. There were some punitive temporary Wisdom damage that was done (which lead to hilarious role playing) until eventually on the third night with only 4 hours rest and being spell-spent, the characters holed themselves up in a secure location, and the Dwarf sounded knocked the wizard unconscious for an exceptionally long time. Sometimes environmental effects are sociological, and habit based. It was a neat twist which the player had actually come up with, so I went with it, and it turned out to be one of the most well played character quirks for generations of his characters. Loved your vids man!
I DM a campaign for my kids...and I felt your pain...just like when my kids TPK my monsters in no time flat...They were supposed to be dragging each other on gurneys from the fight!
We use 2e rules basically - didn’t know it but I only let players give me the name of spell/skill and I determine what they can do with it no matter what the book says. I balance the game for everyone. We usually do rest as a reward like you said, didn’t even see it that way...my group goes into encounters with less than half hp a lot of times... I’m so proud of them... I didn’t even know I give them rest as a reward, but that’s how it happens - they usually ask if this is a safe place, they ask ho quiet and cozy it is... I’ll let them know with an encounter if not. They are brave souls (I don’t kill them often enough, that’s for sure...but they do die).
Another great video! Thanks HF. One of the ways you can use the game mechanics to mess with rest is to use the players high perception score against them. My players were traversing a tortured and scarred land and when they tried to rest at night I would give perception DCs for how restful each hour would be and have them roll to perceive the disturbance - wind, howls, footsteps, creatures moving just out of sight. High DCs would allow most players fail the roll so they would continue to rest, lower DCs would allow the most perceptive players be awoken by the noise thereby ruining their sleep. It turned the high perception into a liability. Do you stuff cloth in your hears to sleep? That became the challenge for the players. The imperceptive player slept like a baby.
Even though your energy bounces you around a lot, you sure know how to keep a topic going :D Never a dull (or sober) moment in these vids, well done and keep 'm coming.
This is very similar to my philosophy on resting and gaming brother. Sometimes 2-3, maybe 4 sessions between full rest, and then a raging battle. Still running mostly 2nd ed Ad&d based game with my group of 3 brothers and 3 other best buddies since the 80's. Now all in our late 40's early 50, retired martial artists, bouncers, ex fighters, vets, and an EMT combat medic. Right now it's a 1993 edition Gamma World based game mixed with The Mutant Epoch
Wow! I just found your channel here in December of 2018. It's amazing! The combination of silliness and extreme insightfulness and great enthusiasm is almost too much to handle. I hope you keep making videos! Thank you so much for all your great advice and help!
Some of my best experiences as a DM about this topic was when i traped them inside a dungeon and they had a imortal nemesis after them, that respaws a few hours after defeated. So they had no other choice but to be very wise about fights and using spells. Resting was the reward
loved this video man. Once one of my players (A Barbarian) had used all his rages (one against a swwarm of bats, mind you) and he refused to move on until they rested. So I had to put my foot down. This doesnt make any sense, you are in the middle of enemy territory (wave echo cave) with wondering monsters, you wont be able to rest properly, least of all 8 hs. They tried and they were visited by 10 skelletons.
Coming back to this vid after like two years. I knew that I would need to hear this even more now than the first time I heard it. I was right, time to plan an early rest arc for the next part of my campaign :)
I found this really interesting! I think I was cognizant of how resting affects the game, i.e. D&D as a game of resources and to the extent I make the players use their resources on giant rats, I make the eventual Night Hags and Frogues more dangerous. I hadn't really thought about systematizing rest periods in the way you described, though. Solid, useful. Solidly useful.
Awesome ideas with the sleep another thing I do is for a bit of realism is dreams and nightmares. One time I had them fighting in a nightmare as a group with no chances of winning only to awaken to realize it wasn't real that messed with their sleep for remembering spells and healing and it was a lot of fun for me and them
you are awesome man... been wanting to learn to properly DM and youve got the best info, the best edited videos, aaand THE MOST ENTERTAINING videos! keep it up man! i cant get enough....
Great advice on using Rest to amp up the intensity! I am totally digging this idea. I ran my first session of a new campaign a few weeks ago - I was trying to figure out why it did not feel right. And I know that I dropped opportunities to take the action to the next level. I let the boss fight fizzle - being afraid to kill off PC's in the first session - B.S. to my self. Thx!
I consider myself to be a good DM... but YOU, brother, continue to bust out insight after insight. Your videos are typically boss, and in this video (and along with the Perception video) your mastery of the game REALLY shine. Your players are blessed. Keep up the great videos. BTW: I have noticed you have softened your catch phrase in a bunch of your vids. Please. I already play D&D the best I can... I wanna play like a badass! Own your moniker... you deliver...
Damn this is a great video. Thanks brother, can already imagine the sweet sickly fear crawling into their faces as I take them into a boss fight crippled and broken.
I appreciate the point on early vs late rest, but don't forget tying consequences from player choices into rest options, such as if the party decides to rest inside the enemies lair as opposed to an area outside which is more defendable. I've had good luck with making the PC's use up consumable items (healing potions, etc.) and in game time pressures (the portal closes in 2 hours) as fodder for rest or no rest. Thanks for the video!
Love this idea, and I want to try it with the 2 Duke Herald scenarios that I have implemented in my next session. Game opens and the party has finished a rest. Then some role playing/clue finding encounters, then a battle, then the witch fire encounter and quickly follow it up with Duke Heralds Manor.
Thanks, this was very usefull. I managed to capture my party at the Feywild, and they know, that if they will resting and have a good time all their time - they will skip months or maybe years in the Real World™, and Evil Necromancer™ is gonna Conquer The World™!
I come back to this video every so often just to hear "THE KNUCKLES OF FREEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
In order to keep the story going, I usually hand wave rests telling my players to make sure they reprepare spells, gain back hit dice, etc. Unless I have an encounter planned during the night. Another instance I do worry about resting is during some expedition in dangerous territory like any wilderness or enemy territory. If they don't plan how to stay safe as they rest, something will definitely happen so that the next time they are better prepared.
I believe not letting them rest too much is really important. Two weeks ago our DM threw some wolves at us as an encounter (Curse of Ravenloft). There was 5 of us, all fresh, and there was about 16-20 wolves. Which looked scary at first, but we were dropping lightning bolts, sleep spells, monk stunning. We slaughtered the wolves. And then we got to town and had a rest. Afterwards I talked to the DM who is my best friend and was like, D&D is about attrition and if you want us to be scared, after the first wolves attack, make us fight two more groups of them. As a player, being on 10 or less hit points gets me in the 'zone' and makes me go, ok every move counts now. Danger = fun.
I also am trying out consequences from ill timed rest. Recently I was running my PCs through a cave and I had an npc (they were helping become an adventurer..I know escort mission what was I thinking?!?! lol) save one of their asses from a short range teleport spell by shoving them out of the way and taking their place. They made the check and they know he was taken somewhere close by. So instead of trying to rescue him they look for a place to take a long rest. Their hp was ok but the cleric was out of spells..I was like WTF?...So next morning when they woke up and decided to go looking for him after screwing around for a little bit they moved on to encounter my boss "the Black Claw"...which I then gave them the visual of him cutting the guys throat and saying they took too long and he was bored soooo.....snip. What are we going to say to his father? What about our gold? I guess you shouldn't have dicked around when someone is in peril I told them. Man did they rage at me. lol.
Great vid along with the other were you talked about rest. From now on when my players decide to rest in a dungeon I am either going to screw with them and make it so they can't get a full nights rest (creepy noises and such) or I am going to nail them with a big enemy right after they wake up. I am getting a little tired with their cockiness actually when it comes to rest.
This summer I am going to GM in Roll20 a mini-campaign which is going to be a tribute to A Nigthmare of Elm Street, so resting rules are going to play an important part in it. Your advice is very useful.
If you haven't done one yet, would love to see your ideas on player level advancement, i.e. automatically level after appropriate XP and a rest? or players have to go train somewhere? or takes a certain amount of time? etc.....
I told my girlfriend whos been playing dnd for 15 years about the whole not starting at level 5 comment. She told me "I bite my thumb at him then." take it as you will, but i agree with you.
My party of 5 level 8s in a caravan with 12 guards in 4 wagons just had a tribe of 8 hill giants hold them up, not letting them pass unless the caravan gave them everything. The party ended up coaxing the tribe to let them pass with only "half" the stuff the party hid everything they could the gold and as many of the valuables from the caravan they could jam into a bag of holding then hid the bag in the clerics armor. Then two of the giants got greedy and decided to chase the party, they also are very upset that the large hammer made of stone that the cleric made isn't magic (the party convinced them it was magic and summoned fire on thing it hit.) The hammer was thrown at the two carts about an hour late and made one useless fortunately without kill guards. they ditched the other wagon hoping that the wagon of goods would lure them off (it lured one for now) the remaining one is now chasing after the group all the while chucking boulders at them. This is where we left off. The cleric has only 1 lvl 4 slot left and all her level 1 and 2 spells left none have the range to hit the giant the only one who can hit the giant at this range "regularly" is the ranger who will become the target if he starts shooting the giant. the cleric is attempting to get close enough to cast command on it the idea is to get the two giants fighting but alas by the time the cleric will be in range to cast it the giant will be to far away to hit the other.
new subscriber here, ive got another idea to spice things up, which i did as an assistant DM for the last campign me and someone did, i ran the encounters and i noticed usually encounters happen as a line of badies clashing into the line of heroes with the healer and magic user and important characters in the back protected by the frontline. screw that!! have the bad guys, pop up on the front and side of the heroes or surround them, the key is switching it up all the time keep your players always questioning and thinking what to expect and then have maybe one or two other bad guys pop onto the board Xnumber of turns after the encounter starts. its my..... "VietCong" method i call it. it gets everyone involved and thinking during the battle, so its not all "lets hide our healers and magic users in the back so they dont die... nope!!! that might be the frontline baby!.... keep in mind, your players might end up hating you as a DM but it gets rid of the linear feel of battle and makes things more difficult and exciting.
Have you used rests in this way alongside the Xanathar's Guide rules on skipping a night of sleep? How much more unforgiving are these fights under one or two levels of exhaustion?
Thanks Hankerin' for helping me to understand how to utilize Rest as a slider adjusting how comfortable the players are. I haven't been using it very well with my players and im pumped for running my next session. Do you think allowing to players to attempt rest and then removing it (an encounter disrupts the rest) be too punishing/demoralizing?
I absolutely adore your approach to resting. Somehow it seems to me, the whole thing simmers down to a balance between "kicking ass vs. suspense". While the first one is a nice dopamine kick for the players, the second one is fundamental for good storytelling. Just imagine how much more boring the Die Hard movie would have been, if John McClain (Bruce Willis) would have taken a long rest to let his slashed feet heal up, before taking action against Hans Gruber and his goons. Although letting the adventurers catch their breath in a cut-scene once in a while is a nice change of pace, allowing them stay in "the safe place" for too long, or too frequently, is outright boring and stagnates the flow of the story.
+Brendan Bretecher Give 'em that gold coin when they do cool stuff, especially character-legendary stuff. Then let the PLAYERS decide how to make it cool.
I'd say inform your players they are about to rest in a dangerous spot. If they chose to do it anyways: start an encounter at some point or roll a die to determine what happens. If the danger prevents some from resting at all then making them do a Con. save to avoid exhaustion might be a good idea.
Been trying this out but my players get really cranky about the rules. One of my friends loves to pull out the PHB and yell “DM UR BEING MEAN, CUZ THE RULEBOOK SAYS WE CAN REST ONCE A DAY AND UR A SHIT DM”... any advice on how to deal with guys who obsess over Rules As Written?
Thanks so much for this video! Here I was letting the group get multiple proper long rests in an adventure... I do have to ask though, how do you place everything out so much? You said three encounters + the boss was a weeks worth of adventuring. Is it all about how you track time?
It is possible at lower levels, but once the PCs get to 4th level spells, Rope Trick effectively puts an end to this kind of GM fuckery. This is a very stressful way to play and personally I would do what I can to avoid it. If I was in a group like that, I would insist on securing hidden camps (and fortifying them incrementally over time), rest in villages as often as possible and so on. On top of that, use hit and run tactics and retreat when down to 75% of spells, HP or whatever. After all "we engaged enemy patrol and killed it, but now our wizard needs to rest" is enough of a justification to return to the quest giver and spend a night there. I also think that "two encounters, then rest, then four encounters and boss" is a very backwards way of thinking. Instead, I would think in terms of "This leader has theses resources and minions, divided in such and such way", then continue to think in those terms. What will happen if a patrol doesn't return? What will happen if someone from patrol manages to return and tell what happened to one of the commanders? At what point will the boss learn where the PCs are and decide to gather all his remaining forces and just go kill them at all costs?
I love your videos. I subscribed within two episodes. I agree with most of your thoughts, have thrown the rest into play, and adapted accordingly (translation: you're a _really_ good DM and teacher). That being said, I have learned to skip the first 30 sec. or so. Stop singing. Please. I say this with as much love and respect as one of your players at a round-robin in a Con hotel room... Owwwww. Stop. Please stop. I'll buy you a shot of Glenlivet, just... just stop.
When you rest do you end the session for the night then on the next session pick up where you left off, roll the hit dice for HP regain then continue it or can you use a timer dice eg. roll a d4 incase only 2 of the players need a rest so they just miss a few Turns? Also one last thing Is it ok to play solo as in DM and one player. the player controls more than one character and maybe I might play as one of them but let the player make all the main calls? Any other suggestions to solo play?
One question though. How do you keep your players from actually resting? Just throwing monsters at em everytime they rest starts to feel artificial and almost cheaty and takes too much game time and divert from the actual fun story climatic moments.
+Addramyr Palinor once an adventure is joined, its actually MORE artificial to allow rest... like lets sleep in this dungeon! even the DMG mentions 5 encounters per day..or imagine being in war...you rest like once a freekin week! It isn't monsters that prevent rest, its the unfolding SITUATION
Yeah...REST is my biggest problem as a GM. The chars are in the middle of a quick re-capturing the Underdark castle from Nez the Paladin of Slaughter only to find out she brought in the BIG GUNS (Vulvira the Voracious - the Drow Vampire Sorceress + Gorthror, her handy pet Deathknight) to help her open a road to the Abyss. TWO Encounters only! Encounter 1(DONE last week): the Big Guns sent Nez + a few nasssty Hezrou to take out the Players. The players won but Nez escaped. Encounter 2 (tomorrow night): the SHOWDOWN! BIG DM mistake...they managed to get REST despite me flooding the place with Dretches. Just hurts my head.
what does "managed" mean.... if we have a rest dispute..because I never let them rest in ANY peril... we roll a 50/50 chance to resolve the dispute. Resting is the #1 area of player bullying!
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass "managed" = they found an unforseen place to rest safely. Like I said...a mistake on my part in not spotting it up front.
I wanted to have survivors so I left them a hidey hole away from the 1hp/10min heat from lava in the main cavern...so when I say "unforseen", I mean I handed it to them not thinking about Rest at the time. Your point about planning rest consciously is well taken!
Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass Yeah, I bet so. I've watched Critical Role and really like that but I bet it's not your typical D&D. I mean, none of my friends are voice actors so yeah. I really wish you would make one because I bet it would be closer to how my friends would experience D&D. Anyway, I understand why you protect your tribe. If you have a change of heart I think this RUclips community would LOVE to see your team do a full, raw, playthrough session. All in all thanks so much for the content you give to us. It's really great stuff. Blessings!
I keep going back to the well, for it is a sweet nectar! Years later, I still come back to these early vids, for they contain such treasures as this. In my most recent dungeon, I had a guardian that respawns every 1d4 hours, allowing for some short rests, but never a long rest before he comes crashing down. Even more interesting, he is an intelligent foe with RP opportunity, and he is studying and learning the player's tactics with every fight, becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. It was a HUGE success.
Kicking ass... if you ever wonder why this video (at the time of this comment) hasn't had a dislike, it because he's speaking truth!
We just did an entire session exploring and visiting a town, and there was adventure and laughter from minute one until four hours later - I think I cried laughed three times - my face hurt!
Not one drop of blood was dropped.
Very strange session but a. Blast.
This channel is gonna be real big one day.
indeed
Well you were right, good job.
I love it. Great insights as always, man. AND you crack me up. :D
WASD20!
+WASD20 Shout out to the Map Maker General!
I was actually mid-sentence typing a comment asking how you deal with rest spells like Leomund’s Tiny Hut. I'm glad you mentioned it.
Absolutely agree. A long rest before a big fight is a definitely a reward. I'm a player in one group and our DM lets us rest constantly so the encounters never really have that sense of danger since we can turn it to 11 every encounter and not worry about reserving anything for later.
Of course the problem this has created is that the DM makes tougher and tougher encounters where we need to blow our entire wad or die.
In my campaigns I generally run rests as real as you can. I had a wizard in my campaign who was rather used to well made beds, and regular hours of sleep. When the party made their way deep into the dungeon, Captain Hoity Toity Wizard found his first few rests rather uncomfortable. Completely out of his element, and encased in a poorly made sleeping bag, I had him roll up some Will saves to see if his character could actually ACHIEVE a state of REM, and actually get rest. There were some punitive temporary Wisdom damage that was done (which lead to hilarious role playing) until eventually on the third night with only 4 hours rest and being spell-spent, the characters holed themselves up in a secure location, and the Dwarf sounded knocked the wizard unconscious for an exceptionally long time.
Sometimes environmental effects are sociological, and habit based. It was a neat twist which the player had actually come up with, so I went with it, and it turned out to be one of the most well played character quirks for generations of his characters.
Loved your vids man!
I DM a campaign for my kids...and I felt your pain...just like when my kids TPK my monsters in no time flat...They were supposed to be dragging each other on gurneys from the fight!
I laughed out loud when you said "Orb of Nighthagging" and the hand movements!
We use 2e rules basically - didn’t know it but I only let players give me the name of spell/skill and I determine what they can do with it no matter what the book says. I balance the game for everyone.
We usually do rest as a reward like you said, didn’t even see it that way...my group goes into encounters with less than half hp a lot of times...
I’m so proud of them...
I didn’t even know I give them rest as a reward, but that’s how it happens - they usually ask if this is a safe place, they ask ho quiet and cozy it is... I’ll let them know with an encounter if not.
They are brave souls (I don’t kill them often enough, that’s for sure...but they do die).
Another great video! Thanks HF.
One of the ways you can use the game mechanics to mess with rest is to use the players high perception score against them. My players were traversing a tortured and scarred land and when they tried to rest at night I would give perception DCs for how restful each hour would be and have them roll to perceive the disturbance - wind, howls, footsteps, creatures moving just out of sight. High DCs would allow most players fail the roll so they would continue to rest, lower DCs would allow the most perceptive players be awoken by the noise thereby ruining their sleep. It turned the high perception into a liability. Do you stuff cloth in your hears to sleep? That became the challenge for the players. The imperceptive player slept like a baby.
+James Wagner devious shit
Watching Drunken & Dragons with a cold beer as become my new favorite thing to do.
I don't know if drinking every night is a good thing though...
Found the Non-dwarf!
Er Ho might even have found the elf. I've known many humans who could almost drink toe to toe with a Dwarven child. elves... well...
i've started doing this too. its the best. imma get a belly though.
Even though your energy bounces you around a lot, you sure know how to keep a topic going :D
Never a dull (or sober) moment in these vids, well done and keep 'm coming.
Orcie McSheilderson and his master, Small White Goat are now the campaign bosses in my adventure. Thank you runehammer.
This is very similar to my philosophy on resting and gaming brother. Sometimes 2-3, maybe 4 sessions between full rest, and then a raging battle. Still running mostly 2nd ed Ad&d based game with my group of 3 brothers and 3 other best buddies since the 80's. Now all in our late 40's early 50, retired martial artists, bouncers, ex fighters, vets, and an EMT combat medic. Right now it's a 1993 edition Gamma World based game mixed with The Mutant Epoch
Wow! I just found your channel here in December of 2018. It's amazing! The combination of silliness and extreme insightfulness and great enthusiasm is almost too much to handle. I hope you keep making videos! Thank you so much for all your great advice and help!
Some of my best experiences as a DM about this topic was when i traped them inside a dungeon and they had a imortal nemesis after them, that respaws a few hours after defeated. So they had no other choice but to be very wise about fights and using spells. Resting was the reward
loved this video man. Once one of my players (A Barbarian) had used all his rages (one against a swwarm of bats, mind you) and he refused to move on until they rested. So I had to put my foot down. This doesnt make any sense, you are in the middle of enemy territory (wave echo cave) with wondering monsters, you wont be able to rest properly, least of all 8 hs. They tried and they were visited by 10 skelletons.
Coming back to this vid after like two years. I knew that I would need to hear this even more now than the first time I heard it. I was right, time to plan an early rest arc for the next part of my campaign :)
I found this really interesting! I think I was cognizant of how resting affects the game, i.e. D&D as a game of resources and to the extent I make the players use their resources on giant rats, I make the eventual Night Hags and Frogues more dangerous. I hadn't really thought about systematizing rest periods in the way you described, though. Solid, useful. Solidly useful.
+Kotszu usefully solid!
DM "The worms are no longer spawning out of the earth to devour your face, so you can sleep now. Isn't that nice of me" Laughed hard.
Awesome ideas with the sleep another thing I do is for a bit of realism is dreams and nightmares. One time I had them fighting in a nightmare as a group with no chances of winning only to awaken to realize it wasn't real that messed with their sleep for remembering spells and healing and it was a lot of fun for me and them
Yes, "A little bit of help always helps" Brilliant!
you are awesome man... been wanting to learn to properly DM and youve got the best info, the best edited videos, aaand THE MOST ENTERTAINING videos! keep it up man! i cant get enough....
+Vagabond Lobster huzzah! thanks for watching!
Great advice on using Rest to amp up the intensity! I am totally digging this idea. I ran my first session of a new campaign a few weeks ago - I was trying to figure out why it did not feel right. And I know that I dropped opportunities to take the action to the next level. I let the boss fight fizzle - being afraid to kill off PC's in the first session - B.S. to my self. Thx!
I consider myself to be a good DM... but YOU, brother, continue to bust out insight after insight. Your videos are typically boss, and in this video (and along with the Perception video) your mastery of the game REALLY shine. Your players are blessed. Keep up the great videos. BTW: I have noticed you have softened your catch phrase in a bunch of your vids. Please. I already play D&D the best I can... I wanna play like a badass! Own your moniker... you deliver...
+Roger Farley To strength, then, Spartan...play like a GROWN ASS MAN!
Excellent tips. Sure I do this stuff without thinking, but you really ferment the wisdom into a smooth brew.
"Y'all got bags. Y'all look baggard *grimace*" Fucking dead LMFAO
Damn this is a great video. Thanks brother, can already imagine the sweet sickly fear crawling into their faces as I take them into a boss fight crippled and broken.
Your advice is amazing, I can only hope that your channel explodes in popularity . Dude, you deserve it !
dude, this video was so damn informative. awesome vid man. your hard work and analysis is appreciative.
I appreciate the point on early vs late rest, but don't forget tying consequences from player choices into rest options, such as if the party decides to rest inside the enemies lair as opposed to an area outside which is more defendable. I've had good luck with making the PC's use up consumable items (healing potions, etc.) and in game time pressures (the portal closes in 2 hours) as fodder for rest or no rest. Thanks for the video!
+The Vulture GM amen...terrain is 1/3 of all battles, as Sun Tzu say!
Love this idea, and I want to try it with the 2 Duke Herald scenarios that I have implemented in my next session. Game opens and the party has finished a rest. Then some role playing/clue finding encounters, then a battle, then the witch fire encounter and quickly follow it up with Duke Heralds Manor.
This key mechanics series is frigging great! Best of your all your stuff dude!
Kicking ass is the best thing in D&D. Oh my brother TESTIFY! 😁
I guess I watched this video at least 4 times and I always laugh at the beginning. heuhheuuh I love your videos.
Good stuff! Just as powerful for the DM is the use of rations...or lack thereof!
This coolest thing in D&D is kicking ass. 😎
Thanks, this was very usefull. I managed to capture my party at the Feywild, and they know, that if they will resting and have a good time all their time - they will skip months or maybe years in the Real World™, and Evil Necromancer™ is gonna Conquer The World™!
Awesome vid. Recently we had to deal with a player that insisted on resting after every encounter. He is no longer among us.
Found your channel randomly. Damn your entertaining to watch! 😁 kudos and gj!
Oh and forget to tell that this theory makes so much sense! I'll try it in my games!
I come back to this video every so often just to hear "THE KNUCKLES OF FREEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
Big Fight after the rest! What a great idea, will be sure to use this!
In order to keep the story going, I usually hand wave rests telling my players to make sure they reprepare spells, gain back hit dice, etc. Unless I have an encounter planned during the night. Another instance I do worry about resting is during some expedition in dangerous territory like any wilderness or enemy territory. If they don't plan how to stay safe as they rest, something will definitely happen so that the next time they are better prepared.
I believe not letting them rest too much is really important. Two weeks ago our DM threw some wolves at us as an encounter (Curse of Ravenloft). There was 5 of us, all fresh, and there was about 16-20 wolves. Which looked scary at first, but we were dropping lightning bolts, sleep spells, monk stunning. We slaughtered the wolves. And then we got to town and had a rest. Afterwards I talked to the DM who is my best friend and was like, D&D is about attrition and if you want us to be scared, after the first wolves attack, make us fight two more groups of them. As a player, being on 10 or less hit points gets me in the 'zone' and makes me go, ok every move counts now. Danger = fun.
Love this- using it in the next sesh- they've got a slugfest thru the froge castle
I love the early rest model. Put the fear back into the players. 😈💀👹
10:51 excellent DJ analogy, props.
Another great video that I am truly enjoying...well done good sir!
I also am trying out consequences from ill timed rest. Recently I was running my PCs through a cave and I had an npc (they were helping become an adventurer..I know escort mission what was I thinking?!?! lol) save one of their asses from a short range teleport spell by shoving them out of the way and taking their place. They made the check and they know he was taken somewhere close by. So instead of trying to rescue him they look for a place to take a long rest. Their hp was ok but the cleric was out of spells..I was like WTF?...So next morning when they woke up and decided to go looking for him after screwing around for a little bit they moved on to encounter my boss "the Black Claw"...which I then gave them the visual of him cutting the guys throat and saying they took too long and he was bored soooo.....snip. What are we going to say to his father? What about our gold? I guess you shouldn't have dicked around when someone is in peril I told them. Man did they rage at me. lol.
+logan holmberg love it
i respect the sunabozu profile pic
Great vid along with the other were you talked about rest. From now on when my players decide to rest in a dungeon I am either going to screw with them and make it so they can't get a full nights rest (creepy noises and such) or I am going to nail them with a big enemy right after they wake up. I am getting a little tired with their cockiness actually when it comes to rest.
You’re videos are awesome, super helpful
This summer I am going to GM in Roll20 a mini-campaign which is going to be a tribute to A Nigthmare of Elm Street, so resting rules are going to play an important part in it. Your advice is very useful.
Cool = Stressful. Still, not complaining. did it on my players tonight, boy, they freaked out.
Extremely good advice and video!
D&D should be like Finals Week? That maybe the best game advice I've ever heard.
Oh man you're freaking amazing ! HUGE THKS!
If you haven't done one yet, would love to see your ideas on player level advancement, i.e. automatically level after appropriate XP and a rest? or players have to go train somewhere? or takes a certain amount of time? etc.....
I told my girlfriend whos been playing dnd for 15 years about the whole not starting at level 5 comment. She told me "I bite my thumb at him then." take it as you will, but i agree with you.
if u start at lvl 5 u miss the best part of the game!
Thats what I say but my group is full of panzies, and sadly I have to deal with it.
never surrender
i just sang out loud your comment!! as Corey Hart. lol
Make sure everyone has a dorito!
I love you!
Great work. And thanks!
Harvest that "grain of terror"!
8:00 Love that goat!!!!! But i want to give him a name: Polka Dot the Boss Goat Beasty, yo.
Wow. I never even thought about how rest affected game-play. I guess i know why my players were always super strong then...
wow...i have to sub...."it's to kickass!!!" exactly!!!
You rock, man!
awesome...key mechanics baby..
miss hank so much
"You have a parasite in your ear and you cannit see" - Gotta use that one...
The Orb of Nighthagging. *slow clap*
My party of 5 level 8s in a caravan with 12 guards in 4 wagons just had a tribe of 8 hill giants hold them up, not letting them pass unless the caravan gave them everything. The party ended up coaxing the tribe to let them pass with only "half" the stuff the party hid everything they could the gold and as many of the valuables from the caravan they could jam into a bag of holding then hid the bag in the clerics armor. Then two of the giants got greedy and decided to chase the party, they also are very upset that the large hammer made of stone that the cleric made isn't magic (the party convinced them it was magic and summoned fire on thing it hit.) The hammer was thrown at the two carts about an hour late and made one useless fortunately without kill guards. they ditched the other wagon hoping that the wagon of goods would lure them off (it lured one for now) the remaining one is now chasing after the group all the while chucking boulders at them. This is where we left off. The cleric has only 1 lvl 4 slot left and all her level 1 and 2 spells left none have the range to hit the giant the only one who can hit the giant at this range "regularly" is the ranger who will become the target if he starts shooting the giant. the cleric is attempting to get close enough to cast command on it the idea is to get the two giants fighting but alas by the time the cleric will be in range to cast it the giant will be to far away to hit the other.
new subscriber here, ive got another idea to spice things up, which i did as an assistant DM for the last campign me and someone did, i ran the encounters and i noticed usually encounters happen as a line of badies clashing into the line of heroes with the healer and magic user and important characters in the back protected by the frontline. screw that!! have the bad guys, pop up on the front and side of the heroes or surround them, the key is switching it up all the time keep your players always questioning and thinking what to expect and then have maybe one or two other bad guys pop onto the board Xnumber of turns after the encounter starts. its my..... "VietCong" method i call it. it gets everyone involved and thinking during the battle, so its not all "lets hide our healers and magic users in the back so they dont die... nope!!! that might be the frontline baby!.... keep in mind, your players might end up hating you as a DM but it gets rid of the linear feel of battle and makes things more difficult and exciting.
+Seth Lippa amen to that! good fights are omnidirectional, 3d, changing over time, and always involve lots of movement. welcome and thnx for posting!
Have you used rests in this way alongside the Xanathar's Guide rules on skipping a night of sleep? How much more unforgiving are these fights under one or two levels of exhaustion?
I dont use exhaustion.. never needed to as we only use rest to conclude story chunks...
Frogues!
I am sad that I can only give this one thumbs up :(
Note to self: Never play a warlock at Hankeren's table.
I think he wouldn't let you anyway... he'd ask you to play a wizard instead, because there is only one kind of magic user in his version of D&D.
wat
He's also said that he doesn't want cantrips to exist in his games, so Warlocks are out anyway.
Thanks Hankerin' for helping me to understand how to utilize Rest as a slider adjusting how comfortable the players are. I haven't been using it very well with my players and im pumped for running my next session.
Do you think allowing to players to attempt rest and then removing it (an encounter disrupts the rest) be too punishing/demoralizing?
+Brian Chamberlin YEp...it's also an ancient, tired trope. Unless you have a tight night watch mechanic...just keep pounding.
Yes! Start at level one and EARN it! :)
I absolutely adore your approach to resting. Somehow it seems to me, the whole thing simmers down to a balance between "kicking ass vs. suspense". While the first one is a nice dopamine kick for the players, the second one is fundamental for good storytelling. Just imagine how much more boring the Die Hard movie would have been, if John McClain (Bruce Willis) would have taken a long rest to let his slashed feet heal up, before taking action against Hans Gruber and his goons. Although letting the adventurers catch their breath in a cut-scene once in a while is a nice change of pace, allowing them stay in "the safe place" for too long, or too frequently, is outright boring and stagnates the flow of the story.
Orb of night hagging!
Hey Hankerin', what are some good ways to use inspiration and Advantage/Disadvantage? I'm having trouble finding creative ways to use it.
+Brendan Bretecher Give 'em that gold coin when they do cool stuff, especially character-legendary stuff. Then let the PLAYERS decide how to make it cool.
Do any of you guys have some practical tips on how to control and manipulate when your players get to rest?
simpel rule: swap "rest" for "safety" ONLY rest in total safety
I'd say inform your players they are about to rest in a dangerous spot. If they chose to do it anyways: start an encounter at some point or roll a die to determine what happens.
If the danger prevents some from resting at all then making them do a Con. save to avoid exhaustion might be a good idea.
I need your exact same poisonous green d6-s!
What are some ways to get the PC's rest after 1 encounter?
Hey man loving the style... oldschool as yer like! Any chance you can remember what the background track was on this one?
Dom, Yorkshire, England.
they're all on teh session mix!
Of everything said on this channel the idea that college is a breeze is pretty much the only thing I disagree with
a better way to say it might be 'more challenging would be fun'
Been trying this out but my players get really cranky about the rules. One of my friends loves to pull out the PHB and yell “DM UR BEING MEAN, CUZ THE RULEBOOK SAYS WE CAN REST ONCE A DAY AND UR A SHIT DM”... any advice on how to deal with guys who obsess over Rules As Written?
avoid
Thanks so much for this video! Here I was letting the group get multiple proper long rests in an adventure...
I do have to ask though, how do you place everything out so much? You said three encounters + the boss was a weeks worth of adventuring. Is it all about how you track time?
+tomacze44 weeks irl!
Legit I need to apply this, my players are great together ,,, fucking warforged and a Deva... Makes the game interesting
It is possible at lower levels, but once the PCs get to 4th level spells, Rope Trick effectively puts an end to this kind of GM fuckery. This is a very stressful way to play and personally I would do what I can to avoid it. If I was in a group like that, I would insist on securing hidden camps (and fortifying them incrementally over time), rest in villages as often as possible and so on. On top of that, use hit and run tactics and retreat when down to 75% of spells, HP or whatever. After all "we engaged enemy patrol and killed it, but now our wizard needs to rest" is enough of a justification to return to the quest giver and spend a night there.
I also think that "two encounters, then rest, then four encounters and boss" is a very backwards way of thinking. Instead, I would think in terms of "This leader has theses resources and minions, divided in such and such way", then continue to think in those terms. What will happen if a patrol doesn't return? What will happen if someone from patrol manages to return and tell what happened to one of the commanders? At what point will the boss learn where the PCs are and decide to gather all his remaining forces and just go kill them at all costs?
I really don’t think lv 1 is the only place to start. My players have jobs. Aragorn didn’t come into the story at first level
I love your videos. I subscribed within two episodes. I agree with most of your thoughts, have thrown the rest into play, and adapted accordingly (translation: you're a _really_ good DM and teacher). That being said, I have learned to skip the first 30 sec. or so. Stop singing. Please. I say this with as much love and respect as one of your players at a round-robin in a Con hotel room... Owwwww. Stop. Please stop. I'll buy you a shot of Glenlivet, just... just stop.
That, I cannot do.
When you rest do you end the session for the night then on the next session pick up where you left off, roll the hit dice for HP regain then continue it or can you use a timer dice eg. roll a d4 incase only 2 of the players need a rest so they just miss a few Turns?
Also one last thing
Is it ok to play solo as in DM and one player.
the player controls more than one character and maybe I might play as one of them but let the player make all the main calls?
Any other suggestions to solo play?
solo can be tough to make dynamic... at least 2 players and dm for me. as for end session...so many different possibilities....
One question though. How do you keep your players from actually resting? Just throwing monsters at em everytime they rest starts to feel artificial and almost cheaty and takes too much game time and divert from the actual fun story climatic moments.
+Addramyr Palinor once an adventure is joined, its actually MORE artificial to allow rest... like lets sleep in this dungeon! even the DMG mentions 5 encounters per day..or imagine being in war...you rest like once a freekin week! It isn't monsters that prevent rest, its the unfolding SITUATION
For the 'Early rest model' how do you force the players to rest that early to set that in motion?
it isn't forcing, its allowing. my players rest every single chance they get
I got a 3 year old campaign, they are level 16 :)
Still at it?
Yeah...REST is my biggest problem as a GM. The chars are in the middle of a quick re-capturing the Underdark castle from Nez the Paladin of Slaughter only to find out she brought in the BIG GUNS (Vulvira the Voracious - the Drow Vampire Sorceress + Gorthror, her handy pet Deathknight) to help her open a road to the Abyss.
TWO Encounters only!
Encounter 1(DONE last week): the Big Guns sent Nez + a few nasssty Hezrou to take out the Players. The players won but Nez escaped.
Encounter 2 (tomorrow night): the SHOWDOWN!
BIG DM mistake...they managed to get REST despite me flooding the place with Dretches. Just hurts my head.
what does "managed" mean.... if we have a rest dispute..because I never let them rest in ANY peril... we roll a 50/50 chance to resolve the dispute. Resting is the #1 area of player bullying!
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass "managed" = they found an unforseen place to rest safely. Like I said...a mistake on my part in not spotting it up front.
mustve been terribly compelling...
I wanted to have survivors so I left them a hidey hole away from the 1hp/10min heat from lava in the main cavern...so when I say "unforseen", I mean I handed it to them not thinking about Rest at the time. Your point about planning rest consciously is well taken!
the hidey hole is a great idea..but how could you sleep there?
Do you have a live playthrough video?
Matthew Hart nope cameras really change the table
Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass Yeah, I bet so. I've watched Critical Role and really like that but I bet it's not your typical D&D. I mean, none of my friends are voice actors so yeah. I really wish you would make one because I bet it would be closer to how my friends would experience D&D. Anyway, I understand why you protect your tribe. If you have a change of heart I think this RUclips community would LOVE to see your team do a full, raw, playthrough session. All in all thanks so much for the content you give to us. It's really great stuff. Blessings!