INSANE South Park Writer's D&D Hack
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
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Deathbringer doing Shakespeare and Poe is what the world needs
agree, is great...but i preffer the d&d jokes
Deathbringer does Literature!
After hearing Deathbringer recite those lines, made me wanna get up and avenge his death
"You haven't read Hamlet until you've read it in the original Deathbringer."
As a D&D and Shakespeare nerd, this is freaking amazing
The DM's job gets a whole lot easier when he learns that he's a glorified playground designer.
Here are the fences, here are the monkey bars, here's the spinning tic-tac-toe thing, here's that one tower with the wasp nest on the underside of it, here's the swingset -- we'll break for a snack and go home when it gets dark.
Good analogy.
They have breached the fence, oh crap.
This times 100
@@williamthomas4125 Instead of building fences to keep players in, be mindful of empty space, like a Zen master. E.g., "You can see a whole lot of nothing in that direction. Are you sure you want to just walk away?"
If the players really want to leave, why not just let them? You can queue up another encounter, or have monsters left over from the first encounter pursue and chase the players down.
i say something very similar but as a glorified party host.
The football game is on in the living room. Drinks over there in the cooler. pizzas on the way. There's an air hockey table and PlayStation in the basement. The pool water is clean and there's some extra towels are on the patio. Bathroom's over there. Lock don't work so use the wedge on the floor unless you like flashing people. You can queue songs on the iPad if you feel like DJing just don't be weird about it. Please use coasters. Don't let the dog out of the utility room. and please don't bring up or sign up for my wife's multi level marketing scam. It's not with the complimentary d10 cantrip. Make yourself at home.
It's not my job to make you have fun, but it's my privleage to make sure you are welcome to have fun if you want to.
At least Kenny gets a free _Revivify_ each season.
Those bastards.
Lol
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I agree with emergent story telling but I still think players benefit from structure, sometimes I try to let my players do what ever they want and they muddle around kind of confused without any clear objective. It helps to give them prompts, but when they get really focused on an idea or excited by something I try my best to incorperate it. The other thing though is that conflict is important to a story to move it forward, so often times I will use my players objective in the story and but up small roadblocks for them to overcome. I find my way balances players making bad decisions that will just make a game boring vs player empourment. This also allows me to do better writting and prep because I have more time to plan things out, I don't find my material gets used up too quickly because they meander and do the things players do, so its really not that much work to prep for 4 or 5 games cause my players take forever to get there, often on prep I thought would last for 1 session. If they change their mind its not all that much work to incorperate stuff they do.
But also I believe that you can guide players through logical consequences of their own actions. I let them do what they want but there are consequences for behaving stupidly or risky. Not to punish them just to make the world feel alive. Depending on the setting this can be dialed up or down if its more of a power fantasy vs grim and gritty.
In my group, I'm the Kenny of the party. I've died 5 times in 2 campaigns, though I don't have the luxury of revivify as I'm usually the one doing the healing, lol.
Revivify will definitely keep a campaign going on.......foreverrrrrr
“What is a ‘Beavis’?” Will never not be funny to me.
Makes me laugh every time, too.
I laughed way too hard at "What is a Beavis?"
PDM once said something along the lines of, I’m a conflict designer. The conflict is the door. How will the PCs get through it. I don’t know that’s their job.
Best advice ever. It has solved a lot of headaches for my brain.
Da da dum. Huh huh
I'm glad you said that because I am literally writing the GM section for Deathbringer and I don't know what my best advice is. Thank you.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 "Put the 'Master' back in 'Dungeon Master" actually changed my life. Even professionally. LOL. .....wait a second.. I'm here to facilitate and help, I'm also in charge.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Best advice would most likely be „If in doubt, ask yourself, what would Deathbringer do“ 😅
@@hashtagzemathis same advice is what I have a friend when they DMed the first time
Whenever my players haul stuff from one room in the dungeon to solve a problem in another room, I think that I'm not really doing anything but making a huge playground full of things for them to mess with. Pretty good feeling.
Yup
Emergent storytelling philosophy is the most unpredictable and fun, and yes 70% less prep sounds right to me. 70% less DM burnout too.
When even the promos are entertaining you know you're doing something right. "What is a beavis," is never getting old.
He knows what a butt head is. 😂
One other thing I sometimes do in emergent story telling is to have a fixed timeline of unalterable events. You determine a big problem will arrive in six days, not six sessions, six days. The players might spend five game sessions preparing, do this or that thing that needs to be done before the problem, making alleys and uniting factions, or we might jump right to the problem. Game time moves at -- well -- game time. They might have a lot they want to do, or next to nothing. With really thoughtful groups, they might see several problems coming, all arriving at different times that can be played off each other.
VERY good idea.
This reminds me of some of the suggestions in 3rd Edition's _Elder Evils._
What Im doing in my zombie campaign is; Whenever a session ends, I ask THEM where they want to head next (were using a real life map) and once they pick a location, I write down everything they would want to get. If they need to find a bus for a quest, Ill put it there. If one of the players is a samurai, Ill put a katana in the corner. If theyre low on food, Ill conjure an unlooted fridge. But all of the things they want are locked behind a combat encounter, an npc, or another obstacle, so they get to either accept the challenge or ignore it if they dont feel like it.
this is pretty much how i do it too
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the shout out, that was very kind of you! 😊 Also - a game of noir-inspired Dread sounds like a blast!
Try an all-rogue campaign. You can get that film noir style if the players are all rogues or multiclass rogues. We did it back in AD&D and that campaign was a blast. Granted, we were more inspired by Fritz Lang’s M, but that campaign was more like a film noir detective story after the first adventure.
Still love that Deathbringer Talespire ad
Yes, good ad.
I love the music.
Look at you with a heart from Professor DM. 😀
Too bad talespire fell off
@elgatochurro The ad still rocks, mainly because of Deathbringer.
@@Tullowit I'm living the dream!
Wait... did Deathbringer just confess to having a level of... GASP... BARD?!
NO! He trained for a few weeks and realized he needed to KILL THE BARDS FIRST!!!
@@NemoDtwenty Know your enemy.
Algorithmic first hour engagement... Online.
I don't write stories, I write scenarios. How they deal with the scenario is entirely up to the party.
Stories are for backstories. The way forward is the scenario.
This comment deserves a lot more upvotes. You hit in right on the head.
@chancerusso one scenario I wrote was a music and alcohol festival called "Bards n Brews".
Do with that what you will.
Indeed! It's the DM's job to create problems. The Players are the ones who have to come up with solutions. (I stole that from one of Matt Colville's videos)
@@dukejaywalker5858 Yes, and MCDM and PDM have influenced a lot of how I run sessions.
(Slowly turns to face the camera) For Deathbringer... (runs toward the Black Gate)
As Aristotle taught about wonder, the true pleasure of a game master is being surprised by their players.
YES!
Now I feel like watching that D&D episode of South Park
It's fantastic. Tom Vassel of Dice Tower gets name-checked.
"I run towards the bugbear, and I yell 'For Waterdeep!' and I kick'im on the balls". Man, I love Butters
Don't trust that your players will make good decisions; trust in yourself that you can roll with it when they inevitably make bad ones.
Great point.
That picture of the table with you, Bob, Kelsey and Baron is like ... the pantheon of DMs !!!! 😮😊
Looks like he's celebrating a paper being published with his grad students
I saw that clip and it's super insightful, but the way you expound on it is making me put this straight into my DMing playlist. Thanks, Prof!
One of the best pieces of advices I think is letting both GMs and players know that everything they do in a session IS the main plot of the campaign. I think both GMs and Players can often self sabotage when they start categorizing and treating their game sessions as main quest/side quest stuff like in a video game. And sometimes published adventures can often encourage/condition us into this way of thinking.
Hi Professor DM, I have been a subscriber for several years but this is the first video I'm commenting on. First, I wanted to let you know that I enjoy listening to all your videos (even the 'clickbait' ones). Secondly, I'm a first time DM (for a group of friends who are all veteran players). I've DM'ed 13 sessions now and for each one, I've only prepped for the next session. I considered running a module, because that would take some of the prep time off the plate, but prepping for the next session has been easy and fun for everyone. It's great having friends who are veteran players, making it easy on me by pretty much going and sticking to what they say they want to do from the previous session. And it allows for the emergent storytelling that they enjoy the most. Thank you for everything you do for TTRPGs.
Sounds like a great group. Thanks for watching.
I've always enjoyed mapping out a rough outline of NPCs, important encounters, places and things along with where I want to start and where I'd like to end up. Gives a flexible framework to work within without being tied down to Step A to Step B to Step C and disallowing any deviation.
At 6:06 you give out what I think is the MOST important advice to DMs, and it feels like it didn't get the emphasis it deserves...
So I'll repeat it. At the end of your session, ask your players what they plan to do next session. I've seen many DMs worry about either having to plan out an entire world or worry about every contingency. But if you ask what they're going to do, you really just mostly need to come prepared for that.
Thanks. That helped me. I'm writing the GM section for the full version of DB and I need to give good advice.
I've heard Prof DM say this before and it's great to have a direction to aim for the next session that leaves them excited and looking forward to the next session because they also have a plan and hypotheses on how it'll end up.
This is something I've always thought was a no-brainer. Even when running pre-packaged adventures you need to know where the players are going to get one step ahead of the curve.
And sometimes,.they'll do something entirely different; and that's okay.
To Roll or not to Roll; perchance to win: ay there’s the rub: for in that roll of chance... what dreams may come?
This is a GREAT video, Prof. I think the issue with emergent gameplay for a lot of people is that it just seems too good to be true. You don't think beyond what's right in front of you, so the hard part is NOT letting yourself plot it out. This is great advice, though. Thanks!
I open RUclips just to check if the Professor has uploaded a new video.
This is a great Dungeon Craft video. It focuses on emergent story telling. Player autonomy drives the story. The DM needs a conclusion and an exciting incident. The players need to know the mission right away. Embrace the chaos of player decisions! I agree. Thank you Professor DM!
I used to wonder how DMs can manage to plan so much stuff but focusing on 1 area per session and letting the players do whatever they want and reacting to that makes it all makes sense. Thanks, I've been binge watching all your videos on DMing. I bought all my dnd 5e stuff 8 years ago and only now started running it.
In high school I had friends who would tell me about their character's exploits over the weekend and most of these stories were horrendously boring. Not so with PDM, I could listen to this guy tell me stories of games he's GMed all day long. Great video sir, thank you!
Thank you kindly! Thanks for your support!
This goes straight to my beliefs on creativity. Creativity is not coming up with new ideas but putting together old ideas in new ways. We can do this by putting together two ideas and generating the logical outcome from how the ideas are similar (therefore) and different (but).
This sounds like a cool, creative idea. I like the concept of letting the players shaping the narrative.
As much detail as you can know will let you improvise. I like to have lots of set pieces, the bandits and their lair, a hobo jungle by the tracks, a back alley to a warehouse, hundreds of set pieces waiting for a call into action or reaction to events as they move. Some are fully fleshed, some just a sketch, but since I know the world it is manageable to crystalize them. I believe that was the old random encounter method and I still think it works. But I agree, the true essentials are a beginning and an end, unlike a novel, the middle just has to evolve but one can poke and lure it along.
Great points on emergent storytelling and slim outlines! Of all the games I've played and ran (mostly the second one, forever DM here), the things I tend to actually remember afterwards were the times where there was no plan (or the plan was broken) and players took the story in weird directions.
Can also say that it's saved me tons of prep time. What used to take hours or days now only takes me about an hour, if I'm planning on being thorough. Amazing how things improve for everyone when you do away with meticulous planning and just let the players play :)
Desthbringer needs more worlds to conquer
Holy crap I didn't know that I needed Deathbringer saying Hamlet lines. I have not yet lived!
Shakespeare is best in the original Deathbringer.
So true, I can't help but repeat it: The sooner you get comfortable with improvisation during play, the better. It's unavoidable, so have fun with it.
I concur.
PC: "If I cut loose the bridge behind us, will it reduce the chance of reinforcements in the final conflict?"
DM: "Yes. I'll roll a d100 percentile with a high chance of failure to see if reinforcements can navigate around the broken bridge in time to help. But keep in mind, any treasure you could’ve hauled out of here on your wagon in a day would now take weeks to carry back to your camp."
(I hadn’t planned to send reinforcements during the fight, but because the player wanted to make their decision impactful, I created a 10% chance for reinforcements. This gives the player a sense of foresight and agency. Likewise, I hadn’t intended for a massive treasure hoard, but now that escaping quickly is less feasible, I’ll include enough loot to set up a potential “Triple Frontier”-style plot.)
GREAT VID DAN! Thanks for the shout-out, tho it gives me that feeling of surprise guests walking in my dirty bedroom before i had a chance to clean! lol One of these days... i'm gonna be a big youtube star! lol... for now... move those pizza boxes over and find yourself a place to sit.
Thanks for that!
My players often look to me (GM) to help steer them forward. I could never do a sandbox campaign with them because they need clear direction.
This is the best D&D / TTRPG based RUclips channel out there.
Thanks you. Very grateful. Please share the video with others who might enjoy it.
Love that Reviled Society supercut thumbnail too. I bet that video gets new hits!
I hope so!
Nice video. And you didn’t mention click bait and people not watching non click bait videos. Amazing
Of course, this video is pulling in much smaller numbers.
Great DM advice. I love the collab with other channels and would love to see you partner with other channels to riff on a theme again.
We'll see.....
Funny thing is I already have this video saved as gm advice. Great vid, great tip
The players never do what is planned for
If DM Preps A + B = C. The PCs will do A + C =🗑🔥
We just have a player consortium and no fixed DM. Whoever shows to the meeting rolls a D20, lowest score has to DM. Send said DM to the kitchen to read new module for a few minutes while we players eat popcorn and talk strategy. Then we re-meet and the game begins.
THAT is nuts. I'd try it!
That seems like it sets a very negative tone from the get go, rolling low, that's saying that the GM is the loser. I doubt anyone would feel very inspired when it's done that way, makes it seem a chore.
I cannot agree harder with this! Decades ago I did all the planning and work for encounters that never happened unless I railroaded my players. I learned that just improving each session is fun for everyone, and allows the DM to enjoy seeing where the story goes. Open-ended FTW
Players never seem to go where you expect!
Having watched most of your videos, PDM, I belive your philosophy for DMing is pretty similar to mine.
To use writer's parlance, there are plotters and there are pantsers, people who start writing with a vague idea of a story and find the magic in seeing where it goes. Having DM/GMed for nearly 40 years, I’ve found the most exciting sessions for both my players and myself are the ones where I make most of it up on the fly. The few times I’ve run pre-made adventures, it’s always the “off book” moments and tangents my players remember and enjoy the most.
To plan and run an adventure, I've found all you need is a good S.H.I.P. on which to set sail:
STORY: a basic idea for the session.
HOOK: Something that immediately grabs the players' attention.
INTERACTION: Locations, NPCs, villains, and other obstacles with which the players can interact.
PACING: Keeping the game flowing, knowing when to let the players indulge in roleplaying and when to have that guy barge into the room with the gun.
Based on your advice, I have started incorporating more and more time-based elements in my games, and it has sped things u. However, I am still struggling to find a good balance as some of my players love RP more than combat or puzzles, so I'm learning how to utilize timers in ways that don't scare off my players who want a slower game. Thanks for another great video, professor!
Excellent video. Thank you. Absolutely correct that Emergent Storytelling is where it is. I forget that not everyone has been doing this for a decade.
Lol. Me too.
Only doing some basic prep before sessions these days, like having some printed maps ready and of course music, but that’s about it. With games like Crown and Skull and its rulebook chock full of ideas or Dragobane that lets me just drop any enemy into the unfolding narrative without worrying about balancing and having a set of random enemy actions, it’s easy and I as a forever GM also get to be surprised, too.
For me this is the setting, a world on its own background beats, things moving and interacting, the villians pursuing ends regardless of PC or in reaction should it be. The PCs control what they do but not what the world is doing, not fully, and inaction has an impact too.
Crown and Skull is great.
I rarely prepare anything ahead of time. I had a beginning for everyone to meet in various ways, I have an ending, and I have two or three stops in the middle. Everything else just flowing with it.
Running a D&D 3.5 session tonight, in fact. The group (Half-Orc Barbarian that makes all the plans, Druid that relies on his big cat companion, Elf Wizard that's become an Eldritch Knight, and a Human Cleric of WeeJas that is nearly unstoppable when he wants to be) is now level 10, and hasn't done a single thing that's been laid before them.
Planning many sessions ahead is counterproductive. But it's useful to have a general layout of what a villain (and a few major NPCs) want to do. Basically what they'd do if the PCs weren't there. Nothing detailed. More like 3-4 bullet points. Top quarter of a page at most. It helps, not only in the general planning of the campaign, but it's also good for conversation or bargaining if that happens. Or if an NPC has to be made up on the fly, he can be inserted in those plans. Basically it has use in the next session and is easy to change if the PCs do something unexpected (like kill the villain waaaay too early).
Thanks for sharing that.
Hey this was a pretty cool shout out and link vid, thank you! This is a great way to avoid feeling pressure to railroad. To not be afraid to do some DM improv of the consequences and reactions right along with players, just know the rough outline of the objective, then give the inciting incident. Then let the players stumble around at will. If there IS a "time sensitive" thing you want to add to create stakes, make it clear, and make the players understand ignoring the hook will have consequences. Then let the players ignore the warning if they choose.
Thanks for sharing that.
Hope you're feeling well, Prof. DM. Great video as usual!
Exactly what I do and exactly what DMs with whom I don't play don't do. Great advice as always, Professor!
Thank you!
Therefore... but ... Conclusion... Inciting Event... Sandbox... Good stuff! Thank you!!!
Great advice, I wish more DM's would realize how much over prepping specific story beats just steals their fun. There are 3-5 other people who get a vote in what's about to happen, you probably aren't going to get your way. I have taken to "fate rolls" when my players are stuck, they haven't figured it out yet but flat D20, over 10 I give good advice, under 10 I give bad advice. Either way something fun is about to happen.
I guess I didn't realize, but I write all of my homebrews that way. Linear adventures have no appeal.
Good advice as always. I think I have heard something similar from you earlier, but a good advice is always good to hear.
As a HS teacher, I recognize a fellow teacher. You can't teach by planning an exact path and commanding students follow it. At best, you can suggest productive routes... and then impose bad consequences for the wrong ones. It's the same for DMing.
Yup.
I think planning for future sessions is not like sequential planning but here are a bunch of cool ideas that I don't know where they are going to go right now but can become part of session planning or it can be a reaction to what the players decide to do. Having a general idea of where things can go is good but should always take into account of what if the players fail or choose to do something different than what seems like the obvious choice. Improvising can be fun but it is helpful to know what the motivations of the NPCs are and having multiple solutions to a problem in mind so the players have options even if they do choose something unexpected.
This sounds great in theory. And I know other groups have gotten good results with it. But any time I've been in a game where the DM tried to be all "sandbox-y" and "let the players lead the story", it just ends up with the players sort of dithering and wandering in circles, unable to figure out how to proceed. Maybe we could get a follow-up video with more concrete examples, and tips on how to get over that initial hump of "I dunno, what do YOU want to do...?"
The scenario needs 1) a clear objective and 2) a time limit.
Listening to the players, anticipating the villains' actions and planning only one session ahead takes some courage, but it is a skill that you develop slowly. It's essential, I believe, and will make you a confident DM.
Excellent video!
We, as GM's, make too much work for ourselves. Thanks for showing us a better way!
As always, thank you for your time and effort!
Emergent storytelling is so good! I started playing and running RPGs before I watched critical role.
When I started watching how to be a great GM, Seth Skorkowsky, and Matthew Mercer in late high school, and discovered true emergent storytelling, it changed everything.
I don't want to go back.
One of the first and best lessons I ever learned as a GM: Our Story will always be more fun and interesting than My Story. I had a plan for my players to fight various monsters in an arena, some basic grid based monster slaying, then my rogue surprised me, when she asked to join the bad guy's army (after proving their worth and defeating some of his deadliest creatures of course.) It wasn't what I expected but it taught me to plan less because my players will help me craft an even better story than the best narrative I can write on my own
I concur.
For me this is the most interesting and best in roleplaying games. The way my players steer through and alter the story I prepared, and then preparing the next session including all their input, thinking about what my npcs will do next. Often the story evolves almost exclusively by what the players do with it and I'm just reacting with a living, breathing (or undead) world.
It's the best thing about tabletop RPGs and storytelling.
"This, therefore that," is the bedrock of good adventure design. There have to be tangible connections from event to event, including what happens if people fail.
Great stuff! Loved Deathbringer doing Shakespeare!
Be careful, it could go to his head!
Great advice! I've rarely played a session were the players did what the DM planned.
I think you raise a very valid point about the linearity of WotC's published adventures. Interestingly, Lost Mines of Phandelver (the adventure that came with the 5E starter set) doesn't have this issue; it's much more open ended. I'm curious what you think is behind their change to more linear adventure design.
I'm guessing the high levels. It's hard to keep levels 10+ on a track.
The only planning I do for my weekly session is read modules and watch videos for adventure ideas. My PC are never the same each week, (walkin youth group) but as long as someone shows up they get an adventure they dictate and hopefully enjoy.
There's a reason why those guys have been so successful for so long. They kind of get written off because of the content style they create, but their storytelling is very effective. I'm the same as you in prepping only what is needed because my players will most definitely throw a wrench in any plans I make.
Therefore is the "Yes, and!" of Improv 101, never take away from a scene always find a way to add.
My wife says she's done this in her theater class!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Thespians are my favorite players. Its so easy to generate the game and player cooperation off of them.
Excellent storytelling advice that translates perfectly into RPG planning. Thank you, PDM!
Thanks you kindly!
I'm here for that sweet click bait, but damn that Talespire ad is a banger. And now I'm listening to Peter Crowley on Spotify
1:00 Man! I've been wondering my whole life what a Beavis is 😂
Oooooh Beavis, and you used to be so *rugged*
I love the advice in this video. I'm going to watch it a few more times so I can properly use the advice for the next game session I play with my friends! 😃
Thanks!
Back in early 90's my group called it 'zen gaming' because you throw away the expectation of other people's stuff, and things would go other places. The only 'and' that was in there is when they teamed up
One thing I find hardest to GM is race against a competing group of adventurers. I just feel I constantly have to track their progress too...
Its not easy, but you could just make up a scene that suits. Where the other party is, is totally abstract (within a ballpark) - make up wherever the other party is to suit your adventure and the pressure you are putting your players. Could be fun!
@@silo_fx3182 Problem is that I have strange impulse that I have to somehow "simulate" the world. And so the other party must also be simulated, to give fair and realistic chance to players, and not just a story beat. I realize its wrong and stupid.
This is why I prefer sandbox settings or the old TSR modules. So much easier to find what I need and adapt to the players' decisions.
Also, stealing plots, locations, and characters from plays, poems, TV shows, etc. that I know none of my players have seen. It was so much fun running Hadley's Hope when none of my players had seen Aliens :)
I love how "Hamlet" is based on an Icelandic Saga, but few people realize it. Come to think of it, many Icelandic Sagas would probably be able to be retooled into more generically-themed adventures.
Yes!!! Absolutely!
I am absolutely on your side. In my group I have fortunately one player who has a real goal and is pro-active in this sense. A second player, limitied by his role is also very pro-active. The other two though... Well I simple don't bring it over my heart to kick them out. Stil if everything goes as I planned the big storyarc, chosen and triggered by the one guiding player, will come to an end - after eight years of playing!
Thanks for sharing that.
OK, you got me with the Hamlet description. Nailed it. Might also be why I usually get bored with the "planning" part of the game if it take more than 10 minutes, and why I hated Hamlet (the character, not the play).
Lol. Hamlet is frustrating. He's a man of non-action.
I have faith that my players are NOT going to make good decisions, in fact I count on it.
Lol
I agree, make the game more fun. When I plan something for my sessions, I create some scenes, and then I let my player decide how they arrived in the scene, and this makes a lot of memorable moments. Thanks for the tips.
Did someone say embrace the chaos?!?
The next session follows from the last session. this makes it player driven. That might scare a DM, but it's actually way easier.
Yup
Professor, I’d like to offer a counterpoint. If you’ve prepped your sessions the same way for 30 years and never prepped more than 1 session ahead, you don’t have a control group to test if it’s actually more efficient.
@@taylorcampbell4204 good point.
I love this video- a great summation and re-statement of very critical and core concepts of your philosophy, which has been *instrumental* in making my own games great fun. Thanks prof!
Thank you.
Great advice. So many times planned campaign beats go awry because those pesky players do the unfathomable.
Great advice PDM! I try to not over-plan but I do try to “over-familiarize”… nothing is worse than the dead air while you’re trying to frantically read the contents of a room you didn’t expect the PCs to get to.
Fun video. I agree that branching outcomes/plot paths are ideal. If you put a little planning into the game timeline, you can also help the world feel alive by having other events get triggered later dependent on what the party did or did not complete.
Stumbled into emergent story telling on my own 20 years ago and have never looked back. Great episode PDM.
I love all Dungeon Craft videos. Especially ones where Death Bringer does acting.
"What is a Beavis?" -- sooooooo glad I wasn't mid-sip there!
Great video - always love your "how-to"s. I agree with your idea about only planning a session ahead, but for some bigger "plot" elements I think you can plan ahead, using a progressive approach which I think of as outline sketching the big picture, detail sketching nearby elements, and "colouring in" the immediate surroundings. For example, I have a lot of politics in my games and I know what the significant NPCs have planned, so I can predict the likely "branches" of the decision tree. I had the king's brother approach the party claiming he was the rightful monarch and offer to give the party property, titles and treasure if they would get close to the king and assassinate him. I had broad "outline sketch" concepts for what would happen if they (a) refused (b) agreed and made the attempt (with sub-branches for success or failure) and (c) agreed but became double agents. As decisions were made, I added detail to that branch and stopped developing the others. I always have a have a "detail sketch" of what exists in each likely direction so I can ad lib if they make faster progress than expected, or if they do something completely unexpected.
P.S. The party agreed to the prince's bargain but then surprised me by becoming double agents. They got some valuable intel from the prince for a broader plot before he became suspicious, eventually leading to a showdown.
Cool
Excellent video, Professor. Old school play, random tables, and driven players have been an exciting change for me as a GM.