"You can't save scum in DnD" Now I want to give my players a chronomancy device to let them do just that, but each time they do there's a chance the Time Cops will get alerted to them and show up.
I did that once near the end of a multi year campaign with a one use artifact. They knew they were eventually going to fight a battle that was at best a coin flip for survival. They just didn't know exactly when that final fight was starting and they had to use it out of combat as it was a 10 minute activation and they could only rewind an hour
it exists, but like 9th level lol. Wish and Time Stop can do that. You COULD argue that races/items that let a player not take death saves does something like that. CR has Dunamancy. I don't know if I laid it hard on the character too much...because he quit and maybe that IS my fault I was a new DM. But I had a Minotaur with sneak attack because he was a Rogue (no one expects the Minotaur to be sitting in the tavern drinking beers but actually be overhearing your conversation). Minotaur followed them for weeks and they honestly failed to even look if someone was following. Eventually, he found them and did a sneak attack charge gore attack, I rolled a nat 20 and showed them. I felt the flavor there, I have him a con save but he rolled a nat 1 (this was all 3rd). I had hoped he would take that as a death he wanted to avenge, but...did I mess up? or is a nat 20 to a nat 1 response not enough to just go with it?
As a critter, my argument against the Mercer effect and feeling like you need all that jazz is that I know I’m having just as much fun at my table as the CR cast is on theirs and as long as you keep that fun, you are doing DnD right!
Personally I have never witnessed the Mercer Effect in action 😜 but it’s reputation exists and I think it’s important that folks be prepared for the reality of a D&D table when coming from a different format!
@@GinnyDiTo be honest, doesn't every group in the DnD fandom that has preferences for a certain type of media have certain prejudices of said fandom directed against them? Long before the so called Mercer Effect ever was a thing? I'm thinking of... -Gamers -Anime Nerds -Readers and Writers (Cliché of the railroading DM who should have written a novel instead -many more. And while I wouldn't say that your preferred media isn't influencing you (in sometimes more, sometimes less significant ways) in how you are approaching a hobby like DnD/DMing, the vast majority of those people are nothing like their chlichés, or if at all, only very lightly leaning in the direction the cliché is pointing at. Edits: tried to make it a bit more clear what I mean :)
Tbf, not having witnessed it yourself doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I think it's probably exaggerated 'cause people will share their bad experiences online more than their good ones, but still nine good apples doesn't make the tenth apple good. And it doesn't surprise me that out of all the problem players, some of them will be CR fans. Just how the cookie crumbles.
@@kylehahn4410 Thats definitely a fair point. But pretty much any fandom is a spectrum, and while there definitely are some (more) extreme cases that are pretty much 1:1 like their clichés, there are usually many more that aren't this way. Those aren't contradictions, in my opinion :) In that sense, I really like your example with the 10 apples. 9 good apples don't guarantee that the 10th apple will also be good, but 1 rotten apple doesn't mean that all 10 apples will be bad (at least in theory, in real life, please be careful your food doesn't spoil! ^_^)
I really hate that it's called "Mercer Effect". It's not his fault that he's good. For all I've seen he always tries to inspire people to find their own DMing style. I was inspired by him to become DM and i run games totally different. And if someone will say "You're not on Matt Mercer's level" you can reply "You're far from Laura Bailey (or other castmember) yourself "
It’s so great for you to have made this video for BG3 players who haven’t played D&D! This is so cleverly produced and so thoughtfully welcoming to perspective new players. This is fantastic, Ginny!
About interface, I know we DMs have a lot on our plate, but just mentally checking the Action Economy with the players spawns a lot of gratitude from them. At our tables, it is totally normal for me to check like "The monster rolls enough to hit you. Would you like to use your reaction for [Shield] / [Parry] / [Deflect Missiles]?" or "You bring down the greatsword upon the monster. Would you like [Divine Smite] on your order?" It brings a little bit of a 4th-wall fun and helps reminding the players that, despite running creatures against them, I'm playing *with* them, not against them. Also lets them extract as much as possible from their skills, because there's a lot on their sheets to remember too :)
That’s awesome that you have the mental bandwidth for that! Personally, when I’m DMing, I’m not great at holding all my players’ complete character sheets in my head, so I don’t usually remember what everyone’s reactions are, for example. I agree that it’s nice to check in, it’s just not something every DM is capable of.
This sounds like a very, very helpful habit for new players. On the other hand, I think it could become frustrating for more experienced players, or those who prefer a session to be as immersive as possible. Also, this is something anyone can do at the table, not just the DM. For my group, it's more typical for players to remind each other, exactly because it's easier for the 3-6 of us to keep track of the character sheets/abilities than for the DM alone to juggle the NPCs AND the PCs as well. Of course it doesn't help that we tend to pass around the DM seat so we often have inexperienced DMs for camaigns while simultaneously trying out new systems like Cyberpunk or Pathfinder X'D
I witnessed it the first time around in the late 90s with the first Baldur's Gate game (and sequel, and Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment), and it's great to see it happening again to a new generation discovering D&D by way of great CRPGs!
All of which are fantastic games too! Icewind Dale lets you build your whole party and is not as character driven as the BG series and PS:T, but is a very solid dungeon crawler. While Planescape: Torment is a fantastic story where you are playing the unreliable narrator and rediscovering your own history with some really incredible story beats and a cast of really unique characters who join you.
I'm loving how Baldur's Gate 3 brought so many new players to D&D. I think we are going to see a huge surge of people interfacing with online D&D platforms but WE NEED TO FILL THOSE CARD AND HOBBY SHOPS! Find your local taverns!
I watched your BG3 content! I went to 2 one-shot games so far (plan to go to them when I can) at my local game store. They were HOPPING. At least 50-60 people. The second time I almost wasn’t able to play as they were out of table space and no DM. One of the other waiting players volunteered to DM for the first time and they were able to scrounge a table for us. New DM did great for having no prep- the store gave her a module to use but she ended up winging it as some of the other players were…. Not really cooperating with the story. (Two 12yo kids who were wanting to murder hobo everything)
Man, you know I would if I didn't live so far away from everything. I've been really jonesing for D&D lately too... Ps. Always nice to see nice creators appreciating other nice creators.
@@frizzman1991 You can play online, it doesn't need to be local if that's not possible. I'm a member of a D&D group that's mostly US Americans living in different states, three Dutch people, one person living in Spain and one Brit. I don't know about ways of finding groups myself, every member in my group came in through irl friendships, but Ginny herself has a video on that.
I started playing BG3 when it came out (I have 500 hours in it lmao), loved the mechanics so I started watching CR and now I'm the "top" player in an online group. I take notes, help other new players with the experience I got from bg3 and write a 1000 character synopsis of every session we do. The best thing is that now, my group plays BG3 too because of me and they love it.
Don't be afraid to ask someone else to take over some of that work every now and then - as a fellow party secretary, burnout is possible. But that sounds awesome, way to go.
Perhaps the biggest difference between BG3 and D&D: In actual D&D, your adventuring party is not a buffet of sex partners for you to select from. Romance may be a possibility, but must be approached with the 3 C's: Caution, Care, and Consent.
Agreed, but also, don't just talk to the other player. Make sure everyone in the group is ok with it, cause others might not want to see that (also respect boundaries and don't go into detail ((unless you have something REALLY funny!)))
Absolutely agree. I've played role-playing games for years, romances were absolutely not "a must" in our adventures, but a videogame is a different kind of media for different kinds of people.
for anyone wanting a tip one of my players use for concentration on spells: she has a d10 for spells that last a minute, and at the top of each of her turns she turn it to the next lower number as there are 10 round in 1 minute. We rarely have combat last 10 rounds, but it's a good way for her to keep track of it.
I do the opposite - I have a scrap of paper I tick a tally counter every turn. Dice are just a little too much of a risk to get grabbed or turned over for my liking.
I appreciate you so much 😭❤️ this is a video I knew would perform badly with my subscribers just… by nature!! But I truly hope it can find the folks who need it’s contents despite not being well-targeted for the algorithm!
@@GinnyDi it's actually helpful for other players and DM's on bringing in new players. I've always been about bringing more players in, from getting my younger sister's high school friends into it, to recently a bunch of discord people from all over south america (the guy I DMed for his first experience is now my DM and one of my favs ever). It's always good to relearn the basics of how people may come into the game.
I’ve joined some new D&D groups because I loved BG3 so much. I’ve watched people play tables and wanted to play for years but BG gave me the confidence to finally do it!
*Been a GM for almost 30 years* *Watches video* Seriously, this is fantastic content and an awesome way to welcome in potential new players. Hope this becomes a trend for D&D content creators, let's bring in a new wave of fans with open arms.
I've been trying to organize a group in my uni for two years now, and I'm really hoping that bg3 would make more people interested, and that I'm prepared to correct the expectations of those who are new to d&d
Baldur's Gate 3 introduced me to spellcasters, as my years in D&D have been spent playing Ranger, and recently Barbarian and Rogue. But in BG3, I fell in love with Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer and Necromancy/Divination Wizard, so I looked into playing a Necromancer for an upcoming campaign, but man I was not ready for just how much BG3 had watered down spellcasters compared to tabletop. I had no idea that spell components were a thing, that was probably the most jarring (and pretty important for Necromancy in particular). Luckily, I have a DM who knows up until now I've been a martial baby and is ready to hold my hand while I learn the ropes of spellcasting 😬
It was kind of a coincidence that I was invited to a D&D party after I’d been playing Baldur’s Gate 3 for months. I’d expressed interest to my DM a couple of years before, but I still consider myself a new player that started playing because of Baldur’s Gate. 😅 I’m about 3 sessions in and it’s everything I hoped it’d be. I have an awesome party and an even better DM, and the campaign we’re doing is even more interesting than I thought it’d be. I am still getting used to some things that are not what I expected, but it’s been a fantastic experience I plan to continue.
I am one of those people who became very interested in D&D after finishing BG3 a few times. Thankfully, there was somebody at my job that played and brought me into his group. I absolutely love it.
That's wonderful! I was playing a game online and because of life we sometimes have trouble doing it every week, but I brought in a new player who was a friend. Then at work someone really wanted to start a game and I was down, my friend was down and they roped in another from work. So now we have a party of 5! And this is someone I JUST started working with this summer and within the first talk became friends with her. Sometimes, things just connect
I fell in love with Baldur's Gate 1, and that's how I became interested in DnD I loved Baldur's Gate 3, and it brought me back to D&D after decades wow it's changed a LOT
I've been playing D&D since 1985 and one of the biggest issues we've maybe always had is that it's hard to know how to start. There's a lot of information, it's complicated, how can you find other people to play with, etc etc. I absolutely love now that there's such good information around, especially like this video! Thanks for doing it and thanks for welcoming new people in who will no doubt get as much joy from D&D that we all do! ⚔
Hey Ginny, just wanted to express that I think this video will be so helpfull for a lot of people, even if it doesn't really allign with your usual target demographic. Thank you for making it! :) I think its a great service to the community, especially in the mid to long run. If I may suggest something: maybe a tie-in short with a link would help the video to get a greater reach, especially among those that it might be most helpful for?
I played Baldur's Gate 3, talked to a friend was also playing it and a few weeks later we had our first DnD session with 3 other people, all new to DnD. Baldur's Gate is super helpful in understanding the mechanics of DnD. Between that knowledge and DnD Beyond having online character sheet creating resources it was really pretty easy to get started.
This is for new D&D players. It's a bit of a novel, but I think it's important. My character died last session. Everybody was devastated. The other players basically got a rage bonus upgrade to kill the creature that did it (an avatar of a dead god), and next session, they'll be mourning. One of the characters has this evil spirit attached to them who was begging them to let him take over their body to use his considerable power to help fight the abomination. They refused, and a part of the reason why they did was because the player didn't believe the danger was that bad (this is called "trusting your DM", and it should be a safe bet... unless your fellow players are willing to bite the dust). Another character is the party dad who sees it as his duty to protect everyone. He tanked two crits meant for other people and used his Interception fighting style to reduce the damage others took like 6 times, but he couldn't save my character, because she got eaten by the thing - there was nothing he could do to protect her while she was inside of it. The party barbarian went full firestorm and ripped the creature to shreds... but it was too late. My character was an alchemist artificer and the party healer. There are groups of players among which PC death is not allowed. My artificer had a long list of projects, things she wanted to make, and it was a running gag that something always happened to prevent her from getting the time to make them. I have finished one (1) magic item in a whole irl year. She also has a backstory which the DM had worked into the world and the game - typical runaway noble kid stuff, she was supposed to get kidnapped by her parents to force the party to go find her and I was hoping I'd be able to do a bit where she finally found the courage to stand up to her parents. I was enjoying playing her and had big plans for the future. Now, all that potential is lost - and some people just don't want to go through that, to lose all those future plans. Dying can also feel really big in these games, and having the other characters mourn you as well. It can be too heavy for some people. In my group, the DM will fudge as necessary if we really don't want our characters to die. In fact, he has done so once already in this game for someone else, and while it didn't end up being necessary for me before this point, I have asked to not die in previous fights where it looked like I might. On this occasion, I allowed it. Nothing happened that I didn't consent to. And the main reason why I allowed it is this: The thing is, we've gained *so much more* potential in return. Several members of the party are going to be affected in big ways. My character's parents still exist in the world and they will find out what happened at some point - that worldbuilding on the DM's part is not lost, that plot has not been abandoned. In the meantime, in making a new character, I can look at what the party is currently missing and try to give them the thing they need most - which is a better healer. Artificers just don't progress that quickly with spell slots and spell levels and she just couldn't keep up with the healing the party needed. When my character got eaten by the monster this past session and I went down to 0HP, I told the DM in private "It's okay, this party needs a better healer". My new character will have their own backstory which the DM will make relevant to the story, meaning we're getting twice the story for a single player. What I'm trying to say is this: even though you can't savescum in D&D, it's alright. If you lose one battle, that will make the victory all the sweeter when you've leveled up, acquired some more magic items and some allies, and done some real good planning to go after the same villain again (don't be afraid to run away from a fight, by the way, you don't *have* to fight to the death and the DM will generally prefer you survive). Make sure everyone's on the same page about things like character deaths, just so you don't get surprised, but dying isn't the worst thing in this game. If you have a good group, the DM and other players will make it matter, and you'll get the opportunity to be a godsend to your party with your new character. If you've read this all the way to the end, thanks for the patience, welcome to the community, don't trust Wizards of the Coast, and happy games.
@@hypnotwist8943 The Baldur's Gate games are based on D&D and are pretty much the same in most aspects, however, there are a few key differences - mainly social ones (see the video itself). One thing we often get with new players coming off video games in general is 'main character syndrome'. This is not a malicious thing, but if you've been playing Skyrim, you may expect to be a 'Chosen one' or get more power than others, more 'screentime' so to speak, or you start trying to tell others what to do; in Baldur's Gate, as Ginny says, you're technically playing with a party, but you the player are still the only one who decides what each character does. The NPCs may leave if you make them do too many things they don't like, but they will do what you say and won't walk away in the middle of a battle. In D&D, each player wants to play out their own character's story and you can get disagreement on what the party should do next or how a problem should be handled - teamwork is a crucial skill, as well as the understanding that all members of the party want to be able to do cool stuff too and want to be MVP sometimes. In my group, whoever is rolling high during a particular session can expect to get cheers from everyone else, and it happens that two or three players are doing some roleplay between them while everyone else sits around waiting. On the other hand, because in D&D the 'computer' that runs the game for you is a living, creative human brain, anything is possible - not just what the programmers have prepared. Baldur's Gate 3 is amazing, but D&D is better.
"Holy night!" and "What the fruitcake?!" were amazing. Also the use of the BG3 speechbubble icon and dialogue was brilliant, the "Attack." option at the end made me laugh!😆
I played all the DnD games starting in 2000 with BG, NWN, and Icewind Dale, but didn't get into the game until late 2019, and my biggest regret is not having done that despite having played all the PC games for almost 2 decades at that point, and now I'm obsessed, and it's great to see more folks get into it.
While Baldur's Gate 3 does an amazing job at player agency, it's still a video game with a finite amount of code, no matter how much it might be. One of the liberating and amazing things about DnD is that the stuff that happens is literally anything you can imagine. Though, it's definitely a refreshing change to know that the combat is handled by an engine so you can really make use of all of your character's abilities. This is the first time I've ever cared about "flanking" while playing anything DnD-like, because I usually play spellcasters. And *my* character is still a spellcaster, but because I also need, ya'know, someone who's not made of glass to partake in combat, I've also been thinking about who's where. And blasted opportunity attacks. But for anyone here who loves DnD and isn't aware, I found BG3 much more fun and DnD-like with Karmic Dice off.
The thing I love about Dnd is that it is a great creative outlet. You have to use your brain so you get to be creative. You use your imagination, problem-solving and role-playing. So for the people that really like those aspects DND are perfect.
here I am sitting, enjoying a well thought out video that hits so many good notes that it should be classed as a song, waiting for the video to stop, just for Ginny to throw me from my chair. well played!
Fantastic video, thank you! I think with the recently added Honor Mode you get an experience a lot closer to a "real" DnD experience. All dice rolls matter, there is no save scumming, and you need to use your brain to defeat difficult enemies. If you then decide to do a two/three/four player run in multiplayer and commit to your character and role-play a bit outside the path written by the game, you get an experience as close as possible to a classic round of tabletop DnD. I wasn't a real fan of DnD before (I liked Vox Machina and played Dragon Age origins (which isn't even Dnd), that's about it). Now I have sunken almost 400 hours into Baldurs Gate 3 and just finished my first DnD campaign with a couple of guys and gals and I can't wait to play more. It is as if a whole new world has opened up for me (I am 36 years old). Keep up the good work!
Haha I feel so called out by this video 😂 I fell in love with BG3 for the rpg elements, player agency, and even the dice mechanics I thought were fun and instilled an element of random unpredictability. This led me to watching Critical Role and falling in love with that (started with C2 and am about 40% through). Then moved on to watching D&D YT content creators on how to play the game and what to expect. I have since played 2 one-shot games at my local game store and had a blast each time (even if my second group was not great). I was surprised at how busy those nights were! I’m hoping that eventually I’ll find a group to do a campaign with.
my best friend is running several different saves of bg3 right now and it’s so fun to talk with them about the game, being someone who hasn’t gotten the game and only played dnd. i think itd be fun to run a oneshot with them and see if they’re into it! might send them this video and see what theyd think
I started playing D&D just a few months before BG3 came out, inspired by JoCat's streams and my local game store. Playing both has really increased my love and enjoyment of both TTRPGs and RPG video games, and now I'm DMing my first game at home!
The #1 thing ALL people should consider when it comes to DnD is each person and each group is different and don't let your experiences make you shy away from giving it another chance in the future. Examples of what I mean: You may join a group and because they are rules heavy think "DnD is way too much work", you may join a group that is really rules light and think "There is no seriousness to DnD and it's just a bunch of people joking around and doing crazy stuff". You may end up finding a group that has some really bad dynamics because previous games player A attacked player B and player B is still bitter about it years later and even though it's brand new characters their 2 characters for some reason are always arguing still. You will also find those people that make you uncomfortable with their in game actions, like their character flirting with your character, or other people doing "adult themes" which could range from alcohol and drugs to other stuff you don't want to be around. There is a decent chance you will find groups/people you do not mix with and it's ok to walk away but remember that people are not DnD, DnD is just a way the people are hanging out.
I must say, as someone who's been playing TTRPG's for 10 years (I think), you've pretty much nailed it! Your videos also inspire me and help me with my campaign (my players are at level 4 right now I think)
Baldur's Gate 1 Enhanced Edition is what got me into D&D back in 2013, back when D&D 4th Edition was still new. Ever since that year, I have been following and researching everything set in the Forgotten Realms, the lore, and how most of the Forgotten Realms set D&D novels, sourcebooks, comic books and games like the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights games and the movie Honor Among Thieves are chronologically connected in the Forgotten Realms' history.
It's probably a good idea to find some more obscure, and lower budget, online D&D sessions, to get a vibe of how the flow of the game actually goes. There are a lot of pauses as people check their stats, contemplate decisions, clarify descriptions.... Combat can be a test of patience, since you'll be only 1 of 10, 15, 20 participants (including the enemies). So after your turn, you're in for a wait before it comes around again. Also, DMs are very hit and miss. You kind of have to do some matchmaking with players and DMs. Some players want to be on rails. They want to be Frodo, with the story set before them, others want a wide open world for them to explore and influence. So if you have a DM who wants to tell an interactive, but pre-written, story, they need to make sure they want that Frodo type player. Conversely, if you have a DM who goes rails free, they need to be paired with players who are probably more experienced, and who can take initiative on their own. Players who will actively seek out frontiers, mysteries, wrongdoings. Players who will proactively look for gossip, meet with local leaders/government, come up with their own goals....
Omg that last tip is so important. when I played Dnd for the first time I played as a paladin as I wanted to be a tank that could support. We were fighting mindflyers and my character was the first one to be charmed, almost killed half the party. I was looking at my sheet and I saw that I had Aura of Resolve which lets me avoid spells that charm. I asked the DM does that inclued Mindflyers to which he said, Ohhhhhh yeah you are right (he helped me make my character so even he forgot lol). We restarted combate with this new revolations. So people, check your spells and feats XD.
That's one reason why it's usually advisable to start a campaign with a low-level character (typically 1-3). That way aren't too many new character abilities to learn about up front, and the rest you can learn as you go. Starting at a higher level can be quite a challenge, like taking a bite that's too big for your mouth!
@@bigdream_dreambig Yeah true. But I was able to handle it tbh. What's funny is, anytime I wasn't needed for a conversation I was checking and reading my sheet. It was only in this moment I just assumed I knew everything and went for it xD.
for remembering concentration checks, i would reccomend something i got from my time playing mtg. simply have a "box" close to where you hp is on your character sheet, and then lay down a dice whenever you are concentrating, that way, you will see the die when you go to adjust you life total, remining you to do a concentration check
One key difference between reloading in BG3 vs living with your failures at the table is that the opposite is worse for both. Failing something in a computer game often means missing out on something, but that judt doesn’t happen in regular D&D, since you just get different content. ”Reloading” a D&D game just doesn’t happen, with maybe an exception if a misunderstood rule causes a TPK or similar.
I can't believe you made this video. I've been playing BG3 for the last week and in a couple of weeks I'm playing my first DnD since the Gygax years. Talk about a timely video! Thanks!
I completely agree about the biggest strength of ttrpgs. That was a disagreement I had with Esper the Bard. He complained that most of the newer D&D material is not dark and gritty enough. 1. He can play another mod/campaign, perhaps adapt a really dark one from earlier editions. 2. He can homebrew his own setting.
All of these are great points, especially the save scumming one. The one caveat I'll put about it is some DMs *may* choose to retcon actions or sequences with the party's consent that may have been unfair or poorly communicated. I once retconned a boss encounter because the party had incorrectly assumed (through miscommunication) that a ledge was a wall. They lacked information that may have changed their decision due to an unintentional failure on my part. This may not be always the case, but communicating frustrations may lead to getting a second bite at the apple!
As a DM and player, I can confirm the most important thing about D&D is the story. The reason “meta gamers” are frowned on is because they are playing the game in a way that makes them feel that they *should* be victorious. Remember, it’s a story before a combat simulator. The combat is meant to serve the story by giving a means to reasonably work out what would happen in a conflict. Yes understanding your characters action economy and how to build a good character is all fine and dandy but if you don’t enjoy embodying that character and the choices they are making it just feels cheap. If you’re gonna make decisions about your character based on “meta” then have a reason why your character acts that way. If I say “The bartender asks you why you’d resort to a pact with a demon?” It’d be nice for you to not just say “they have eldritch blast” or something on the nose like that.
I have wanted to get into DnD since 2018 and just never found a group and was honestly very intimidated by the game in general (so many rules) but i played BG3 like crazy when it came out and all the rules seemed so easy to understand after so when my wife's sister asked us if we wanted to play DnD we jumped on the opportunity and what started as a beginner campaign has turned into a "oh you guys picked this up quick okay ill make this a full campaign now" and it has been a blast. Also spell slots so much easier to understand after BG3
Another big difference I would mention: In a computer game, the story and the possible endings are programmed and somehow "controlled". This is not so with any table top RPG like D&D. Even the best Dungeon master can not guarantee, that the adventure he planned for the group will end the way he planned. I am not talking about "everybody died" but rather "the group did not play along as anticipated". There are so many ways, that a group might end an adventure unexpectedly or just did not start it at all. The problem here is, that you have X individuals at the table with their own expectations and preferences. When the DM does not meet it with his story or at least manage to catch them, the whole adventure might end in an unexpected way -- like drunk in a tavern and the rest of the story is just about the results of this.
A few minutes in, and I LOVE this video, and it's making me fall in love with D&D even more (I've been playing for years, and I adore the game, lol) This is a great video for new beginners, especially those who played BG3.
For me the greatest charm of playing DnD is that it provides an opportunity to just hang out with your friends. Hanging out with people will always be better the the standard online co-op.
Most definitely. Same reason Commander is the largest format in Magic: The Gathering. The social aspect of it is a huge draw that people don't realize until they actually doing it.
I got into D&D from Baldur's Gate as well... Baldur's Gate 2, that is! When I found out, through visiting a BG2 forum, that tabletop roleplaying was a thing, I bought the 3rd edition player's handbook (that was the current version at the time) and went about seeking people to play it with. This was before Stranger Things made it cool, and D&D was the kind of thing you talk about in hushed tones in case the "normal people" make fun of you and call you a nerd. ;)
I would also add that leveling doesn't usually come along as often as it does in the game! That obviously varies by table, but in one of our games, we've leveled like, twice in the last year? We meet about once a month.
@user-jt1js5mr3f Well it was! Which is 6 months IRL for you but a lot of ppl meet weekly or bi weekly so that time would be a lot shorter in perspective. Just noting that I think your leveling up seems decently fast if you break it down by sessions had rather than IRL time spent ^^
My biggest note for new players: since the possibilities are endless during a D&D game, that also means the DM might not have a set outcome in mind when you try out an idea. I can't count how many times I've had to improvise because one of my players did something completely unexpected. Sometimes that improvising turned out to be the best thing ever and I was able to act as if I'd planned it all along. Other times it was completely obvious to everyone that I was hilariously unprepared for this situation to pop up. There are going to be plot holes. There are going to be inconsistencies. There are going to be NPCs that the DM will straight-up forget about because they made it up on the spot and forgot to jot it down. BG3 took a large team of people to develop the story and characters. With D&D, you only have your DM (and possibly a prewritten campaign module) to do that job.
Y'know, this was a good reminder for me. The desire to run flawless, cinematic sessions is both an asset, and a self-imposed pressure for me as a DM. It's good to hear that you actually don't have to deliver the same level of perfection as a video game that had thousands of people working on it for hundreds of thousands of hours. Players and DMs create stories *together*, and I sure as heck ain't Matt Mercer. And that's perfectly fine. I needed this.
I think BG3 is the most effective teaching tool to understand how the mechanics work. Concepts like saving throws and spell slots, spells, sorcery points, etc is sooo much easier to understand. But DnD doesn't have to necessarily play out like BG3, or a CR game
Not only is it the best way to get new players into it but it's honestly the best way to learn D&D for even experienced players. I've been playing for 3 years and I couldn't even call myself an expert on my own Monk class never mind knowing the ins and outs of what the other players were doing with their classes. Even watching Critical Role I would often not know what powers they were using or have any idea what they might look like. But now after BG3 I have so much more knowledge and experience to pull from and actually understand the mechanics behind many of the classes having had to actually play them. Playing the game has definitely helped me be a better D&D player all around.
As veteran D&D player and part time DM we welcome you new adventurers to the table or VC whichever works best to tell a fantastic story together. So venture forth with a party of strangers that become friends.
Awesome video. Some very important points there. I wanted to make a joke about adopting baby owlbears as a key point of d+d that needed addressing, but couldn't make it work. The ad reminded me of the time I included Frosty the Snowman in a Demon Hunters game. The players, being players, managed to give him PTSD flashbacks.
Hit it out of the park again Ginny ! Great Video. I have been playing since late 80's and the verstitility and variable storytelling can be as immersive or as basic as those at the tables want....I am a forever DM, and I too was worried about the "Baldurs Gate Effect" - I have been fortunate to play with the same group of friends for the last 30 years....that I want all to have that same opportunity to play and escape to adventure and glory beyond our daily grind. Much Love to the DnD community!
I _have_ been wanting to try Baldur's Gate 3 and possibly delve into D&D a little. I watched The Legend of Vox Machina recently, which led me to Critical Role's website and their podcasts, and it's sort of sparked my interest in D&D. I had a guy try to teach me to play in high school, like 20 years ago now, and I wasn't really following him very well. Now feels like a good time to revisit it, though, considering how popular it's starting to get again. I could stand to make some new friends.
I was lucky enough to be invited to my first campaign a month before BG3 released. There are some tricks in BG3 that I had to unlearn for the tabletop, but it's still a great way to learn the mechanics outside of the tabletop sessions. (Also it's The rise of Tiamat campaign which is right before the game and has a few overlapping elements)
My brother introduced me D&D second edition back in the 90's after he seen me playing one of the Final Fantasy video games. It's cool to new players getting introduced.
I finished BG3 about 3 weeks ago and had my first session online a few days ago... It’s the most fun I had in a while! Trying to imagine settings, game mechanics, thinking from my pc perspective. And lastly, being welcome with open arms by experienced players because they love the game so much. All I thought after was, I found my people lol
BG3 got my wife and me interested in D&D. We bought the DM, Player, and Monster books. We're having fun I'm DMing while having a character run with her. I'm a swashbuckler bard and she's an aggressive wizard.
I think the biggest "Baldur's Gate Effect" I've felt when discussing D&D online is that it has dredged up a lot of players that think critical failures/successes on skill checks is RAW when, in reality, it's just a common house rule. There's a brief text in the DMG that mentions "hey you might want to make a 1 or a 20 extra special" in the DMG but it doesn't outright say "a 1 auto fails and a 20 auto succeeds regardless of the DC." While yes, it's a common house rule and tables can do what they like, I think it's important to still recognize that that's not RAW when discussing D&D so that players don't go into tables expecting one thing and getting another if they meet a DM that happens to choose RAW for that portion of the game. Also seen a LOT of sentiments that using the RAW for skill checks is inherently bad / means you're a bad DM which I greatly push back against. A DM choosing to not deviate from the rules doesn't make them bad, they just might not be the DM for you. It also doesn't mean they don't homebrew other portions of the rules, just that that is one specific rule they follow RAW, which is ok. Every DM has lines on what level of RAW vs homebrew they use and that's perfectly fine. Some other mechanical things I'd say someone coming from BG3 should know are - Initiative is a d20, not a d4 like it is in BG3, so your bonuses matter much less. In BG3, even having just a +4 is a great boon that will normally put you ahead of anything that has a +1 or less. A +4 in actual D&D is nice, sure, but you'll have plenty of times where even creatures with like a -2 initiative will go before you if they roll well and you roll low, which is an impossible scenario in BG3 since 1+4 is 5 and 4-2 is 2. - A lot of spells and class features were either nerfed or buffed in BG3. For instance, in D&D you could 100% have your invisible quasit or imp familiar go in and steal the druid idol, but BG3's limitations make it so that find familiar is not as useful. By the same token, however, to compensate, they are much more useful in combat in BG3 than they are in D&D with the exception of the Help action existing in D&D and being a boon for familiars to use to give the player that controls them advantage on their next attack. Won't list all of them here cause there's a lot, but the important thing is go into D&D knowing that you understand things like ability scores, AC, rolling to attack, rolling checks, saving throws, etc. However understand that there were some things that had to be tweaked to make BG3 a more fun video game because D&D can't translate perfectly to the video game medium. Certain things work mostly how they do in D&D in BG3, but there may be small differences and to not protest against those differences just because they aren't like that in BG3 and you liked how they were in BG3. It's ok to prefer how BG3 does it, but that doesn't make the way D&D does it inherently bad.
Really good video! Always wanted to start playing D&D after Neverwinter Nights, but it was not easy to just start at the time: no hobby stores and no friends played the game. I think one thing that should have been mentioned in your video: Baldur's Gate 3 is like a really good game of D&D with a good Dungeon Master. One thing I could advise to add to the player's expection is: DMs can (and will) make mistakes. DMs had a lot less time to prepare a session or a campain. DMs sometimes can not improvise something on the spot. But D&D is not about playing the perfect game possible, but just to have fun with the other players, pretending to be someone else in a fantasy world. Playing tabletop and videogame is like reading a book or watching a movie: they can be about the same story, but the experience will be a lot different. Just go with the flow and have fun!
Ginny, love your content. Not sure why I clicked on this though. I picked up DnD when 3.0 hit the shelves (1999 I think). Remember playing BG2 (it had A DnD rules) when I started playing 3.0. You have amazing points btw. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for this video. I'm a big Baldurs Gate fan since BG1 Day 1, but it was quite difficult to find people wanting to play this system Especially in Europe, even more in Germany most people played DSA (Das schwarze Auge) but since BG3, everything changed. Meeting a lot of people wanting to switch to DnD and I'm starting to DM a session tomorrow. Really looking forward to it. Thank you again and keep up the good work. ❤
A word of warning though - if you go to the table expecting to be able to do absolutely anything and everything, you're going to have a bad time. Be kind to your DM. They have a very hard time to prepare and BE the world that you interact with, so try to get a feeling for when you're going off the prepared content. Your DM will start to get nervous or try to dissuade you gently if they are kind about it 😅 That's not to say you have to stick to rails. It all depends on how your DM can adapt to unforseen situations. If they're running a module, chances are that you can't just go rob a bank or sail the high seas immediately. Talk to your DM, get a feel for what you want out of the game and what they're offering. I have bowed out of a game invite before, simply because the kind of game they wanted to run was absolutely not what I wanted to participate in.
D&D is a nice setting for people to interact and come together which is hard nowadays but finding people of equal interest that want to try this out is also difficult.
"You can't save scum in DnD"
Now I want to give my players a chronomancy device to let them do just that, but each time they do there's a chance the Time Cops will get alerted to them and show up.
The closest we got is chaining short and long rests.
Could be a really fun one shot.
I did that once near the end of a multi year campaign with a one use artifact. They knew they were eventually going to fight a battle that was at best a coin flip for survival. They just didn't know exactly when that final fight was starting and they had to use it out of combat as it was a 10 minute activation and they could only rewind an hour
it exists, but like 9th level lol. Wish and Time Stop can do that. You COULD argue that races/items that let a player not take death saves does something like that. CR has Dunamancy.
I don't know if I laid it hard on the character too much...because he quit and maybe that IS my fault I was a new DM. But I had a Minotaur with sneak attack because he was a Rogue (no one expects the Minotaur to be sitting in the tavern drinking beers but actually be overhearing your conversation). Minotaur followed them for weeks and they honestly failed to even look if someone was following. Eventually, he found them and did a sneak attack charge gore attack, I rolled a nat 20 and showed them. I felt the flavor there, I have him a con save but he rolled a nat 1 (this was all 3rd). I had hoped he would take that as a death he wanted to avenge, but...did I mess up? or is a nat 20 to a nat 1 response not enough to just go with it?
*Bard starts playing Tomorrow Police by Valiant Thor*
As a critter, my argument against the Mercer effect and feeling like you need all that jazz is that I know I’m having just as much fun at my table as the CR cast is on theirs and as long as you keep that fun, you are doing DnD right!
Personally I have never witnessed the Mercer Effect in action 😜 but it’s reputation exists and I think it’s important that folks be prepared for the reality of a D&D table when coming from a different format!
@@GinnyDiTo be honest, doesn't every group in the DnD fandom that has preferences for a certain type of media have certain prejudices of said fandom directed against them? Long before the so called Mercer Effect ever was a thing?
I'm thinking of...
-Gamers
-Anime Nerds
-Readers and Writers (Cliché of the railroading DM who should have written a novel instead
-many more.
And while I wouldn't say that your preferred media isn't influencing you (in sometimes more, sometimes less significant ways) in how you are approaching a hobby like DnD/DMing, the vast majority of those people are nothing like their chlichés, or if at all, only very lightly leaning in the direction the cliché is pointing at.
Edits: tried to make it a bit more clear what I mean :)
Tbf, not having witnessed it yourself doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I think it's probably exaggerated 'cause people will share their bad experiences online more than their good ones, but still nine good apples doesn't make the tenth apple good. And it doesn't surprise me that out of all the problem players, some of them will be CR fans. Just how the cookie crumbles.
@@kylehahn4410 Thats definitely a fair point. But pretty much any fandom is a spectrum, and while there definitely are some (more) extreme cases that are pretty much 1:1 like their clichés, there are usually many more that aren't this way. Those aren't contradictions, in my opinion :) In that sense, I really like your example with the 10 apples. 9 good apples don't guarantee that the 10th apple will also be good, but 1 rotten apple doesn't mean that all 10 apples will be bad (at least in theory, in real life, please be careful your food doesn't spoil! ^_^)
I really hate that it's called "Mercer Effect". It's not his fault that he's good. For all I've seen he always tries to inspire people to find their own DMing style. I was inspired by him to become DM and i run games totally different.
And if someone will say "You're not on Matt Mercer's level" you can reply "You're far from Laura Bailey (or other castmember) yourself "
It’s so great for you to have made this video for BG3 players who haven’t played D&D! This is so cleverly produced and so thoughtfully welcoming to perspective new players. This is fantastic, Ginny!
Very thoughtful video!
👏👏👏
Lmao🤡
About interface, I know we DMs have a lot on our plate, but just mentally checking the Action Economy with the players spawns a lot of gratitude from them. At our tables, it is totally normal for me to check like "The monster rolls enough to hit you. Would you like to use your reaction for [Shield] / [Parry] / [Deflect Missiles]?" or "You bring down the greatsword upon the monster. Would you like [Divine Smite] on your order?"
It brings a little bit of a 4th-wall fun and helps reminding the players that, despite running creatures against them, I'm playing *with* them, not against them. Also lets them extract as much as possible from their skills, because there's a lot on their sheets to remember too :)
That’s awesome that you have the mental bandwidth for that! Personally, when I’m DMing, I’m not great at holding all my players’ complete character sheets in my head, so I don’t usually remember what everyone’s reactions are, for example. I agree that it’s nice to check in, it’s just not something every DM is capable of.
I do this when DMing for new players but if I'm playing with my usual group or more experienced players we dont bother
That's super nice to do! I personally will die if I try to remember all of my character's reactions/abilities :)
This sounds like a very, very helpful habit for new players. On the other hand, I think it could become frustrating for more experienced players, or those who prefer a session to be as immersive as possible.
Also, this is something anyone can do at the table, not just the DM. For my group, it's more typical for players to remind each other, exactly because it's easier for the 3-6 of us to keep track of the character sheets/abilities than for the DM alone to juggle the NPCs AND the PCs as well. Of course it doesn't help that we tend to pass around the DM seat so we often have inexperienced DMs for camaigns while simultaneously trying out new systems like Cyberpunk or Pathfinder X'D
I witnessed it the first time around in the late 90s with the first Baldur's Gate game (and sequel, and Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment), and it's great to see it happening again to a new generation discovering D&D by way of great CRPGs!
All of which are fantastic games too! Icewind Dale lets you build your whole party and is not as character driven as the BG series and PS:T, but is a very solid dungeon crawler. While Planescape: Torment is a fantastic story where you are playing the unreliable narrator and rediscovering your own history with some really incredible story beats and a cast of really unique characters who join you.
I'm loving how Baldur's Gate 3 brought so many new players to D&D. I think we are going to see a huge surge of people interfacing with online D&D platforms but WE NEED TO FILL THOSE CARD AND HOBBY SHOPS! Find your local taverns!
I agree with you. The more people the better in the long run.
I watched your BG3 content! I went to 2 one-shot games so far (plan to go to them when I can) at my local game store. They were HOPPING. At least 50-60 people. The second time I almost wasn’t able to play as they were out of table space and no DM. One of the other waiting players volunteered to DM for the first time and they were able to scrounge a table for us. New DM did great for having no prep- the store gave her a module to use but she ended up winging it as some of the other players were…. Not really cooperating with the story. (Two 12yo kids who were wanting to murder hobo everything)
@@whisper_dvm5157 love it!
Man, you know I would if I didn't live so far away from everything. I've been really jonesing for D&D lately too...
Ps. Always nice to see nice creators appreciating other nice creators.
@@frizzman1991 You can play online, it doesn't need to be local if that's not possible. I'm a member of a D&D group that's mostly US Americans living in different states, three Dutch people, one person living in Spain and one Brit.
I don't know about ways of finding groups myself, every member in my group came in through irl friendships, but Ginny herself has a video on that.
I started playing BG3 when it came out (I have 500 hours in it lmao), loved the mechanics so I started watching CR and now I'm the "top" player in an online group. I take notes, help other new players with the experience I got from bg3 and write a 1000 character synopsis of every session we do. The best thing is that now, my group plays BG3 too because of me and they love it.
Amazing!
Don't be afraid to ask someone else to take over some of that work every now and then - as a fellow party secretary, burnout is possible. But that sounds awesome, way to go.
@@trishapellis I appreciate the advice man.
That's great. Welcome to the hobby. Very cool experience.
Haha nice job with the dialogue choices, glad to see you stick to the narrative principle, Chekhov's Attack option 😂
Perhaps the biggest difference between BG3 and D&D: In actual D&D, your adventuring party is not a buffet of sex partners for you to select from. Romance may be a possibility, but must be approached with the 3 C's: Caution, Care, and Consent.
There are a lots of major differences but we cannot stress enough how important this one is.
Oh yeah, lots of players just don't want any of that. Most of my own D&D group don't even want to be flirted with, let alone more.
I'm surprised she didn't bring this up considering it's one of the aspects of the game that's gotten a lot of attention.
Agreed, but also, don't just talk to the other player. Make sure everyone in the group is ok with it, cause others might not want to see that (also respect boundaries and don't go into detail ((unless you have something REALLY funny!)))
Absolutely agree. I've played role-playing games for years, romances were absolutely not "a must" in our adventures, but a videogame is a different kind of media for different kinds of people.
for anyone wanting a tip one of my players use for concentration on spells: she has a d10 for spells that last a minute, and at the top of each of her turns she turn it to the next lower number as there are 10 round in 1 minute. We rarely have combat last 10 rounds, but it's a good way for her to keep track of it.
Ooo, tyty. Havent really played D&D much but i know i kept breaking concentration in bg3 lolol.
I do the opposite - I have a scrap of paper I tick a tally counter every turn. Dice are just a little too much of a risk to get grabbed or turned over for my liking.
Has been playing dnd for 5 years*
Still watches entire video*
This is the way!
I appreciate you so much 😭❤️ this is a video I knew would perform badly with my subscribers just… by nature!! But I truly hope it can find the folks who need it’s contents despite not being well-targeted for the algorithm!
@@GinnyDi you've given us the perfect video to get more friends hooked on DnD! I hope it does great 😁
@@GinnyDi I've been playing for 2 years and I was just curious if you'd say the things I expected 😛 Which you did, so consider me satisfied.
@@GinnyDi it's actually helpful for other players and DM's on bringing in new players. I've always been about bringing more players in, from getting my younger sister's high school friends into it, to recently a bunch of discord people from all over south america (the guy I DMed for his first experience is now my DM and one of my favs ever). It's always good to relearn the basics of how people may come into the game.
I’ve joined some new D&D groups because I loved BG3 so much. I’ve watched people play tables and wanted to play for years but BG gave me the confidence to finally do it!
Hope it goes well, it's sometimes hard to find the right group but I hope you have.
*Been a GM for almost 30 years*
*Watches video*
Seriously, this is fantastic content and an awesome way to welcome in potential new players. Hope this becomes a trend for D&D content creators, let's bring in a new wave of fans with open arms.
Love this video. The truth is that playing a TTRPG is more fun than any video game, even BG3.
I've been trying to organize a group in my uni for two years now, and I'm really hoping that bg3 would make more people interested, and that I'm prepared to correct the expectations of those who are new to d&d
Same 20 years, various systems, and seriously love Ginny for just how much passion she shows :)
Oh no! Quick, reload the save!
I just wanted to click on the attack option to see what it did! 😉
Baldur's Gate 3 introduced me to spellcasters, as my years in D&D have been spent playing Ranger, and recently Barbarian and Rogue. But in BG3, I fell in love with Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer and Necromancy/Divination Wizard, so I looked into playing a Necromancer for an upcoming campaign, but man I was not ready for just how much BG3 had watered down spellcasters compared to tabletop. I had no idea that spell components were a thing, that was probably the most jarring (and pretty important for Necromancy in particular). Luckily, I have a DM who knows up until now I've been a martial baby and is ready to hold my hand while I learn the ropes of spellcasting 😬
It was kind of a coincidence that I was invited to a D&D party after I’d been playing Baldur’s Gate 3 for months. I’d expressed interest to my DM a couple of years before, but I still consider myself a new player that started playing because of Baldur’s Gate. 😅 I’m about 3 sessions in and it’s everything I hoped it’d be. I have an awesome party and an even better DM, and the campaign we’re doing is even more interesting than I thought it’d be. I am still getting used to some things that are not what I expected, but it’s been a fantastic experience I plan to continue.
I am one of those people who became very interested in D&D after finishing BG3 a few times. Thankfully, there was somebody at my job that played and brought me into his group. I absolutely love it.
That's wonderful! I was playing a game online and because of life we sometimes have trouble doing it every week, but I brought in a new player who was a friend. Then at work someone really wanted to start a game and I was down, my friend was down and they roped in another from work. So now we have a party of 5! And this is someone I JUST started working with this summer and within the first talk became friends with her. Sometimes, things just connect
You are such an AMAZING ambassador for D&D!
Is correct
She definitely seems like someone I wouldn't want to play d&d with...
I fell in love with Baldur's Gate 1, and that's how I became interested in DnD
I loved Baldur's Gate 3, and it brought me back to D&D after decades
wow it's changed a LOT
Which edition was BG made for?
@@llewelynshingler2173I think BG1 was for AD&D 2nd edtition with some options. I don't know this edition well, but some people still play it.
@@vladimiri478 There have also been spin offs that are more action RPG too. Really good too, just very different.
I just LOVE the sponsor skits Ginny does. They are like the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop.
They have gotten better and better.
I have really enjoyed seeing her grow as a creator.
I've been playing D&D since 1985 and one of the biggest issues we've maybe always had is that it's hard to know how to start. There's a lot of information, it's complicated, how can you find other people to play with, etc etc. I absolutely love now that there's such good information around, especially like this video! Thanks for doing it and thanks for welcoming new people in who will no doubt get as much joy from D&D that we all do! ⚔
Haha! Great ending! Loved the format of the video too with all the dialogue option overlays. Very cool editing.
Hey Ginny, just wanted to express that I think this video will be so helpfull for a lot of people, even if it doesn't really allign with your usual target demographic. Thank you for making it! :) I think its a great service to the community, especially in the mid to long run.
If I may suggest something: maybe a tie-in short with a link would help the video to get a greater reach, especially among those that it might be most helpful for?
Unfortunately as a music artist account, I haven’t been given shorts links functionality yet 🥲
@@GinnyDi Oh what a shame! :(
I played Baldur's Gate 3, talked to a friend was also playing it and a few weeks later we had our first DnD session with 3 other people, all new to DnD. Baldur's Gate is super helpful in understanding the mechanics of DnD. Between that knowledge and DnD Beyond having online character sheet creating resources it was really pretty easy to get started.
This is for new D&D players. It's a bit of a novel, but I think it's important.
My character died last session.
Everybody was devastated. The other players basically got a rage bonus upgrade to kill the creature that did it (an avatar of a dead god), and next session, they'll be mourning.
One of the characters has this evil spirit attached to them who was begging them to let him take over their body to use his considerable power to help fight the abomination. They refused, and a part of the reason why they did was because the player didn't believe the danger was that bad (this is called "trusting your DM", and it should be a safe bet... unless your fellow players are willing to bite the dust).
Another character is the party dad who sees it as his duty to protect everyone. He tanked two crits meant for other people and used his Interception fighting style to reduce the damage others took like 6 times, but he couldn't save my character, because she got eaten by the thing - there was nothing he could do to protect her while she was inside of it.
The party barbarian went full firestorm and ripped the creature to shreds... but it was too late.
My character was an alchemist artificer and the party healer.
There are groups of players among which PC death is not allowed. My artificer had a long list of projects, things she wanted to make, and it was a running gag that something always happened to prevent her from getting the time to make them. I have finished one (1) magic item in a whole irl year. She also has a backstory which the DM had worked into the world and the game - typical runaway noble kid stuff, she was supposed to get kidnapped by her parents to force the party to go find her and I was hoping I'd be able to do a bit where she finally found the courage to stand up to her parents. I was enjoying playing her and had big plans for the future. Now, all that potential is lost - and some people just don't want to go through that, to lose all those future plans. Dying can also feel really big in these games, and having the other characters mourn you as well. It can be too heavy for some people.
In my group, the DM will fudge as necessary if we really don't want our characters to die. In fact, he has done so once already in this game for someone else, and while it didn't end up being necessary for me before this point, I have asked to not die in previous fights where it looked like I might. On this occasion, I allowed it. Nothing happened that I didn't consent to. And the main reason why I allowed it is this:
The thing is, we've gained *so much more* potential in return. Several members of the party are going to be affected in big ways. My character's parents still exist in the world and they will find out what happened at some point - that worldbuilding on the DM's part is not lost, that plot has not been abandoned. In the meantime, in making a new character, I can look at what the party is currently missing and try to give them the thing they need most - which is a better healer. Artificers just don't progress that quickly with spell slots and spell levels and she just couldn't keep up with the healing the party needed. When my character got eaten by the monster this past session and I went down to 0HP, I told the DM in private "It's okay, this party needs a better healer". My new character will have their own backstory which the DM will make relevant to the story, meaning we're getting twice the story for a single player.
What I'm trying to say is this: even though you can't savescum in D&D, it's alright. If you lose one battle, that will make the victory all the sweeter when you've leveled up, acquired some more magic items and some allies, and done some real good planning to go after the same villain again (don't be afraid to run away from a fight, by the way, you don't *have* to fight to the death and the DM will generally prefer you survive). Make sure everyone's on the same page about things like character deaths, just so you don't get surprised, but dying isn't the worst thing in this game. If you have a good group, the DM and other players will make it matter, and you'll get the opportunity to be a godsend to your party with your new character.
If you've read this all the way to the end, thanks for the patience, welcome to the community, don't trust Wizards of the Coast, and happy games.
BG3 fans are exactly the type of people who could fall in love with D&D. This is awesome.
isn’t it the same game
@@hypnotwist8943 The Baldur's Gate games are based on D&D and are pretty much the same in most aspects, however, there are a few key differences - mainly social ones (see the video itself). One thing we often get with new players coming off video games in general is 'main character syndrome'. This is not a malicious thing, but if you've been playing Skyrim, you may expect to be a 'Chosen one' or get more power than others, more 'screentime' so to speak, or you start trying to tell others what to do; in Baldur's Gate, as Ginny says, you're technically playing with a party, but you the player are still the only one who decides what each character does. The NPCs may leave if you make them do too many things they don't like, but they will do what you say and won't walk away in the middle of a battle.
In D&D, each player wants to play out their own character's story and you can get disagreement on what the party should do next or how a problem should be handled - teamwork is a crucial skill, as well as the understanding that all members of the party want to be able to do cool stuff too and want to be MVP sometimes. In my group, whoever is rolling high during a particular session can expect to get cheers from everyone else, and it happens that two or three players are doing some roleplay between them while everyone else sits around waiting.
On the other hand, because in D&D the 'computer' that runs the game for you is a living, creative human brain, anything is possible - not just what the programmers have prepared. Baldur's Gate 3 is amazing, but D&D is better.
'If you're not going to help, could you at least be quiet?' . . . 'No, I'm contractually obligated. . .' 🤣
Amazing idea and EXCELLENT execution! The production is max. 🤘🏻
"Holy night!" and "What the fruitcake?!" were amazing.
Also the use of the BG3 speechbubble icon and dialogue was brilliant, the "Attack." option at the end made me laugh!😆
I played all the DnD games starting in 2000 with BG, NWN, and Icewind Dale, but didn't get into the game until late 2019, and my biggest regret is not having done that despite having played all the PC games for almost 2 decades at that point, and now I'm obsessed, and it's great to see more folks get into it.
While Baldur's Gate 3 does an amazing job at player agency, it's still a video game with a finite amount of code, no matter how much it might be. One of the liberating and amazing things about DnD is that the stuff that happens is literally anything you can imagine. Though, it's definitely a refreshing change to know that the combat is handled by an engine so you can really make use of all of your character's abilities. This is the first time I've ever cared about "flanking" while playing anything DnD-like, because I usually play spellcasters. And *my* character is still a spellcaster, but because I also need, ya'know, someone who's not made of glass to partake in combat, I've also been thinking about who's where. And blasted opportunity attacks.
But for anyone here who loves DnD and isn't aware, I found BG3 much more fun and DnD-like with Karmic Dice off.
The thing I love about Dnd is that it is a great creative outlet. You have to use your brain so you get to be creative. You use your imagination, problem-solving and role-playing. So for the people that really like those aspects DND are perfect.
here I am sitting, enjoying a well thought out video that hits so many good notes that it should be classed as a song, waiting for the video to stop, just for Ginny to throw me from my chair. well played!
That ending though! They couldn’t pickpocket you and they wanted your cool new dice Ginny!
Fantastic video, thank you! I think with the recently added Honor Mode you get an experience a lot closer to a "real" DnD experience. All dice rolls matter, there is no save scumming, and you need to use your brain to defeat difficult enemies. If you then decide to do a two/three/four player run in multiplayer and commit to your character and role-play a bit outside the path written by the game, you get an experience as close as possible to a classic round of tabletop DnD. I wasn't a real fan of DnD before (I liked Vox Machina and played Dragon Age origins (which isn't even Dnd), that's about it). Now I have sunken almost 400 hours into Baldurs Gate 3 and just finished my first DnD campaign with a couple of guys and gals and I can't wait to play more. It is as if a whole new world has opened up for me (I am 36 years old).
Keep up the good work!
Haha I feel so called out by this video 😂
I fell in love with BG3 for the rpg elements, player agency, and even the dice mechanics I thought were fun and instilled an element of random unpredictability. This led me to watching Critical Role and falling in love with that (started with C2 and am about 40% through). Then moved on to watching D&D YT content creators on how to play the game and what to expect. I have since played 2 one-shot games at my local game store and had a blast each time (even if my second group was not great). I was surprised at how busy those nights were!
I’m hoping that eventually I’ll find a group to do a campaign with.
That ending? Just perfect.
Good video as always Ginny! Thank you so much!
my best friend is running several different saves of bg3 right now and it’s so fun to talk with them about the game, being someone who hasn’t gotten the game and only played dnd. i think itd be fun to run a oneshot with them and see if they’re into it! might send them this video and see what theyd think
One of my favorite things I’ve ever done in a D&D campaign was picking up a goblin shaman and using it as a meat shield
I started playing D&D just a few months before BG3 came out, inspired by JoCat's streams and my local game store. Playing both has really increased my love and enjoyment of both TTRPGs and RPG video games, and now I'm DMing my first game at home!
The #1 thing ALL people should consider when it comes to DnD is each person and each group is different and don't let your experiences make you shy away from giving it another chance in the future.
Examples of what I mean: You may join a group and because they are rules heavy think "DnD is way too much work", you may join a group that is really rules light and think "There is no seriousness to DnD and it's just a bunch of people joking around and doing crazy stuff". You may end up finding a group that has some really bad dynamics because previous games player A attacked player B and player B is still bitter about it years later and even though it's brand new characters their 2 characters for some reason are always arguing still. You will also find those people that make you uncomfortable with their in game actions, like their character flirting with your character, or other people doing "adult themes" which could range from alcohol and drugs to other stuff you don't want to be around.
There is a decent chance you will find groups/people you do not mix with and it's ok to walk away but remember that people are not DnD, DnD is just a way the people are hanging out.
I must say, as someone who's been playing TTRPG's for 10 years (I think), you've pretty much nailed it!
Your videos also inspire me and help me with my campaign (my players are at level 4 right now I think)
Baldur's Gate 1 Enhanced Edition is what got me into D&D back in 2013, back when D&D 4th Edition was still new. Ever since that year, I have been following and researching everything set in the Forgotten Realms, the lore, and how most of the Forgotten Realms set D&D novels, sourcebooks, comic books and games like the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights games and the movie Honor Among Thieves are chronologically connected in the Forgotten Realms' history.
It's probably a good idea to find some more obscure, and lower budget, online D&D sessions, to get a vibe of how the flow of the game actually goes. There are a lot of pauses as people check their stats, contemplate decisions, clarify descriptions.... Combat can be a test of patience, since you'll be only 1 of 10, 15, 20 participants (including the enemies). So after your turn, you're in for a wait before it comes around again.
Also, DMs are very hit and miss. You kind of have to do some matchmaking with players and DMs. Some players want to be on rails. They want to be Frodo, with the story set before them, others want a wide open world for them to explore and influence. So if you have a DM who wants to tell an interactive, but pre-written, story, they need to make sure they want that Frodo type player.
Conversely, if you have a DM who goes rails free, they need to be paired with players who are probably more experienced, and who can take initiative on their own. Players who will actively seek out frontiers, mysteries, wrongdoings. Players who will proactively look for gossip, meet with local leaders/government, come up with their own goals....
Omg that last tip is so important. when I played Dnd for the first time I played as a paladin as I wanted to be a tank that could support. We were fighting mindflyers and my character was the first one to be charmed, almost killed half the party. I was looking at my sheet and I saw that I had Aura of Resolve which lets me avoid spells that charm. I asked the DM does that inclued Mindflyers to which he said, Ohhhhhh yeah you are right (he helped me make my character so even he forgot lol). We restarted combate with this new revolations. So people, check your spells and feats XD.
That's one reason why it's usually advisable to start a campaign with a low-level character (typically 1-3). That way aren't too many new character abilities to learn about up front, and the rest you can learn as you go. Starting at a higher level can be quite a challenge, like taking a bite that's too big for your mouth!
@@bigdream_dreambig Yeah true. But I was able to handle it tbh. What's funny is, anytime I wasn't needed for a conversation I was checking and reading my sheet. It was only in this moment I just assumed I knew everything and went for it xD.
The editing of this is so fun I love it
for remembering concentration checks, i would reccomend something i got from my time playing mtg. simply have a "box" close to where you hp is on your character sheet, and then lay down a dice whenever you are concentrating, that way, you will see the die when you go to adjust you life total, remining you to do a concentration check
One key difference between reloading in BG3 vs living with your failures at the table is that the opposite is worse for both. Failing something in a computer game often means missing out on something, but that judt doesn’t happen in regular D&D, since you just get different content. ”Reloading” a D&D game just doesn’t happen, with maybe an exception if a misunderstood rule causes a TPK or similar.
Me: Wearing a black hooded robe rubbing my hands together, “Yes, yessss come and learn my children.”
Lmao
I can't believe you made this video. I've been playing BG3 for the last week and in a couple of weeks I'm playing my first DnD since the Gygax years. Talk about a timely video! Thanks!
This was a great video (and likely super-useful). That ending was perfect. Like laughing-through-pain perfect.
Excellent video as always!
“He’s dead, Jim!” That was unexpected and had me absolutely cackling.
I completely agree about the biggest strength of ttrpgs. That was a disagreement I had with Esper the Bard. He complained that most of the newer D&D material is not dark and gritty enough.
1. He can play another mod/campaign, perhaps adapt a really dark one from earlier editions.
2. He can homebrew his own setting.
All of these are great points, especially the save scumming one. The one caveat I'll put about it is some DMs *may* choose to retcon actions or sequences with the party's consent that may have been unfair or poorly communicated. I once retconned a boss encounter because the party had incorrectly assumed (through miscommunication) that a ledge was a wall. They lacked information that may have changed their decision due to an unintentional failure on my part. This may not be always the case, but communicating frustrations may lead to getting a second bite at the apple!
As a DM and player, I can confirm the most important thing about D&D is the story. The reason “meta gamers” are frowned on is because they are playing the game in a way that makes them feel that they *should* be victorious. Remember, it’s a story before a combat simulator. The combat is meant to serve the story by giving a means to reasonably work out what would happen in a conflict. Yes understanding your characters action economy and how to build a good character is all fine and dandy but if you don’t enjoy embodying that character and the choices they are making it just feels cheap. If you’re gonna make decisions about your character based on “meta” then have a reason why your character acts that way. If I say “The bartender asks you why you’d resort to a pact with a demon?” It’d be nice for you to not just say “they have eldritch blast” or something on the nose like that.
I have wanted to get into DnD since 2018 and just never found a group and was honestly very intimidated by the game in general (so many rules) but i played BG3 like crazy when it came out and all the rules seemed so easy to understand after so when my wife's sister asked us if we wanted to play DnD we jumped on the opportunity and what started as a beginner campaign has turned into a "oh you guys picked this up quick okay ill make this a full campaign now" and it has been a blast.
Also spell slots so much easier to understand after BG3
Another big difference I would mention: In a computer game, the story and the possible endings are programmed and somehow "controlled".
This is not so with any table top RPG like D&D. Even the best Dungeon master can not guarantee, that the adventure he planned for the group will end the way he planned. I am not talking about "everybody died" but rather "the group did not play along as anticipated".
There are so many ways, that a group might end an adventure unexpectedly or just did not start it at all. The problem here is, that you have X individuals at the table with their own expectations and preferences. When the DM does not meet it with his story or at least manage to catch them, the whole adventure might end in an unexpected way -- like drunk in a tavern and the rest of the story is just about the results of this.
A few minutes in, and I LOVE this video, and it's making me fall in love with D&D even more (I've been playing for years, and I adore the game, lol)
This is a great video for new beginners, especially those who played BG3.
Sometimes the correct answer to an encounter is to run away. Live to fight another day. -Count Rupert of Hentzau
I love how Tav is already starting to come into common nomenclature.
Thanks for this! I have a group of new players coming from BG3 and this is going to really help me set their expectations :D
For me the greatest charm of playing DnD is that it provides an opportunity to just hang out with your friends. Hanging out with people will always be better the the standard online co-op.
Ok boomer 😂
Most definitely. Same reason Commander is the largest format in Magic: The Gathering. The social aspect of it is a huge draw that people don't realize until they actually doing it.
I got into D&D from Baldur's Gate as well... Baldur's Gate 2, that is! When I found out, through visiting a BG2 forum, that tabletop roleplaying was a thing, I bought the 3rd edition player's handbook (that was the current version at the time) and went about seeking people to play it with. This was before Stranger Things made it cool, and D&D was the kind of thing you talk about in hushed tones in case the "normal people" make fun of you and call you a nerd. ;)
I would also add that leveling doesn't usually come along as often as it does in the game! That obviously varies by table, but in one of our games, we've leveled like, twice in the last year? We meet about once a month.
Leveing up once per 6 sessions is actually pretty fast. Though depends on how long of a campagin it is. But that's a decent amount of time over all!
@@NeonPandaLyrics that's part of what I mean, the fact that leveling every 6 months is fast would be a shock to the rate you experience it in BG3.
@user-jt1js5mr3f
Well it was! Which is 6 months IRL for you but a lot of ppl meet weekly or bi weekly so that time would be a lot shorter in perspective. Just noting that I think your leveling up seems decently fast if you break it down by sessions had rather than IRL time spent ^^
yes...I'm aware. @@NeonPandaLyrics
@@user-jt1js5mr3f How long are your session? The better measurement is how many hours per leveling up. What level did you start at during that year?
My biggest note for new players: since the possibilities are endless during a D&D game, that also means the DM might not have a set outcome in mind when you try out an idea. I can't count how many times I've had to improvise because one of my players did something completely unexpected. Sometimes that improvising turned out to be the best thing ever and I was able to act as if I'd planned it all along. Other times it was completely obvious to everyone that I was hilariously unprepared for this situation to pop up. There are going to be plot holes. There are going to be inconsistencies. There are going to be NPCs that the DM will straight-up forget about because they made it up on the spot and forgot to jot it down. BG3 took a large team of people to develop the story and characters. With D&D, you only have your DM (and possibly a prewritten campaign module) to do that job.
And the names.... I once named a noble Lord Baron. I suspect my players had an inkling that he was improvised on the spot XD
Y'know, this was a good reminder for me. The desire to run flawless, cinematic sessions is both an asset, and a self-imposed pressure for me as a DM. It's good to hear that you actually don't have to deliver the same level of perfection as a video game that had thousands of people working on it for hundreds of thousands of hours. Players and DMs create stories *together*, and I sure as heck ain't Matt Mercer. And that's perfectly fine.
I needed this.
I think BG3 is the most effective teaching tool to understand how the mechanics work. Concepts like saving throws and spell slots, spells, sorcery points, etc is sooo much easier to understand. But DnD doesn't have to necessarily play out like BG3, or a CR game
"short rest" ... Ginny is a Warlock confirmed
Not only is it the best way to get new players into it but it's honestly the best way to learn D&D for even experienced players. I've been playing for 3 years and I couldn't even call myself an expert on my own Monk class never mind knowing the ins and outs of what the other players were doing with their classes. Even watching Critical Role I would often not know what powers they were using or have any idea what they might look like. But now after BG3 I have so much more knowledge and experience to pull from and actually understand the mechanics behind many of the classes having had to actually play them. Playing the game has definitely helped me be a better D&D player all around.
This is an awesome video. I'm glad someone made an easy but clear roadmap for anyone newly interested in the hobby from the game.
As veteran D&D player and part time DM we welcome you new adventurers to the table or VC whichever works best to tell a fantastic story together. So venture forth with a party of strangers that become friends.
Awesome video. Some very important points there.
I wanted to make a joke about adopting baby owlbears as a key point of d+d that needed addressing, but couldn't make it work.
The ad reminded me of the time I included Frosty the Snowman in a Demon Hunters game. The players, being players, managed to give him PTSD flashbacks.
Wow that you started 5 years ago! And amazing content on our channel (from a D&D vet that start in 1979:) Love your channel!
My Gods, there are lots of vets here.
Thank you for this video. I am exactly what you described in the beginning, I got hooked on BG3 and now I’m very curious to try tabletop
OMG, I totally was going to comment about wanting to attack at 10:34 and then YOU GAVE IT TO US!!! HAHAHA! Thank you Ginny!
It's kinda funny how I'm watching this as a person who heard of BG3 through D&D but never actually played it when it released
I remember playing some D&D when I was a kid. The most important part of it was...snacks! Lot's of snacks!
Ah yes, Mountain Dew and Cheetos
Hit it out of the park again Ginny ! Great Video. I have been playing since late 80's and the verstitility and variable storytelling can be as immersive or as basic as those at the tables want....I am a forever DM, and I too was worried about the "Baldurs Gate Effect" - I have been fortunate to play with the same group of friends for the last 30 years....that I want all to have that same opportunity to play and escape to adventure and glory beyond our daily grind. Much Love to the DnD community!
I fucking love the end because in my mind I was thinking, what if they chose to attack Ginny. You did it, you read my mind, lmao!
Hundreds of adventures in the Forgotten Realms?
I think the number is probably in the thousands if you include all editions of D&D!
I _have_ been wanting to try Baldur's Gate 3 and possibly delve into D&D a little. I watched The Legend of Vox Machina recently, which led me to Critical Role's website and their podcasts, and it's sort of sparked my interest in D&D. I had a guy try to teach me to play in high school, like 20 years ago now, and I wasn't really following him very well. Now feels like a good time to revisit it, though, considering how popular it's starting to get again. I could stand to make some new friends.
I was lucky enough to be invited to my first campaign a month before BG3 released. There are some tricks in BG3 that I had to unlearn for the tabletop, but it's still a great way to learn the mechanics outside of the tabletop sessions. (Also it's The rise of Tiamat campaign which is right before the game and has a few overlapping elements)
Ginny. You're a genius. It's incredible to watch.
My brother introduced me D&D second edition back in the 90's after he seen me playing one of the Final Fantasy video games. It's cool to new players getting introduced.
I finished BG3 about 3 weeks ago and had my first session online a few days ago... It’s the most fun I had in a while! Trying to imagine settings, game mechanics, thinking from my pc perspective. And lastly, being welcome with open arms by experienced players because they love the game so much. All I thought after was, I found my people lol
BG3 got my wife and me interested in D&D. We bought the DM, Player, and Monster books. We're having fun I'm DMing while having a character run with her. I'm a swashbuckler bard and she's an aggressive wizard.
I think the biggest "Baldur's Gate Effect" I've felt when discussing D&D online is that it has dredged up a lot of players that think critical failures/successes on skill checks is RAW when, in reality, it's just a common house rule. There's a brief text in the DMG that mentions "hey you might want to make a 1 or a 20 extra special" in the DMG but it doesn't outright say "a 1 auto fails and a 20 auto succeeds regardless of the DC."
While yes, it's a common house rule and tables can do what they like, I think it's important to still recognize that that's not RAW when discussing D&D so that players don't go into tables expecting one thing and getting another if they meet a DM that happens to choose RAW for that portion of the game.
Also seen a LOT of sentiments that using the RAW for skill checks is inherently bad / means you're a bad DM which I greatly push back against. A DM choosing to not deviate from the rules doesn't make them bad, they just might not be the DM for you. It also doesn't mean they don't homebrew other portions of the rules, just that that is one specific rule they follow RAW, which is ok. Every DM has lines on what level of RAW vs homebrew they use and that's perfectly fine.
Some other mechanical things I'd say someone coming from BG3 should know are
- Initiative is a d20, not a d4 like it is in BG3, so your bonuses matter much less. In BG3, even having just a +4 is a great boon that will normally put you ahead of anything that has a +1 or less. A +4 in actual D&D is nice, sure, but you'll have plenty of times where even creatures with like a -2 initiative will go before you if they roll well and you roll low, which is an impossible scenario in BG3 since 1+4 is 5 and 4-2 is 2.
- A lot of spells and class features were either nerfed or buffed in BG3. For instance, in D&D you could 100% have your invisible quasit or imp familiar go in and steal the druid idol, but BG3's limitations make it so that find familiar is not as useful. By the same token, however, to compensate, they are much more useful in combat in BG3 than they are in D&D with the exception of the Help action existing in D&D and being a boon for familiars to use to give the player that controls them advantage on their next attack.
Won't list all of them here cause there's a lot, but the important thing is go into D&D knowing that you understand things like ability scores, AC, rolling to attack, rolling checks, saving throws, etc. However understand that there were some things that had to be tweaked to make BG3 a more fun video game because D&D can't translate perfectly to the video game medium. Certain things work mostly how they do in D&D in BG3, but there may be small differences and to not protest against those differences just because they aren't like that in BG3 and you liked how they were in BG3. It's ok to prefer how BG3 does it, but that doesn't make the way D&D does it inherently bad.
Mad respect for the conversation overlay edit. Love it
Talk about great timing. Just as Penny's "sponsor" cut ended a commercial for "Monarch" started in a snow/glacier area!
8:05 Maybe no save scumming, but your DM might be open to bribery, you never know. 😉
Really good video! Always wanted to start playing D&D after Neverwinter Nights, but it was not easy to just start at the time: no hobby stores and no friends played the game.
I think one thing that should have been mentioned in your video: Baldur's Gate 3 is like a really good game of D&D with a good Dungeon Master. One thing I could advise to add to the player's expection is: DMs can (and will) make mistakes. DMs had a lot less time to prepare a session or a campain. DMs sometimes can not improvise something on the spot. But D&D is not about playing the perfect game possible, but just to have fun with the other players, pretending to be someone else in a fantasy world.
Playing tabletop and videogame is like reading a book or watching a movie: they can be about the same story, but the experience will be a lot different. Just go with the flow and have fun!
Ginny, love your content. Not sure why I clicked on this though. I picked up DnD when 3.0 hit the shelves (1999 I think). Remember playing BG2 (it had A DnD rules) when I started playing 3.0.
You have amazing points btw. Thanks again.
I love that BG3 is bringing more folks into the hobby! :D Great video, I hope it helps some newcomers feel welcome!
Amazing little intro. A quick sfx joke that everyone should get. It's really the small things sometimes.
As a 30+ year vetersn I'm so glad you're making content like this to welcome new people into our beloved hobby.
Thank you so much for this video. I'm a big Baldurs Gate fan since BG1 Day 1, but it was quite difficult to find people wanting to play this system Especially in Europe, even more in Germany most people played DSA (Das schwarze Auge) but since BG3, everything changed. Meeting a lot of people wanting to switch to DnD and I'm starting to DM a session tomorrow. Really looking forward to it. Thank you again and keep up the good work. ❤
nice video!! Thanks Ginny :3
A word of warning though - if you go to the table expecting to be able to do absolutely anything and everything, you're going to have a bad time.
Be kind to your DM. They have a very hard time to prepare and BE the world that you interact with, so try to get a feeling for when you're going off the prepared content. Your DM will start to get nervous or try to dissuade you gently if they are kind about it 😅
That's not to say you have to stick to rails. It all depends on how your DM can adapt to unforseen situations. If they're running a module, chances are that you can't just go rob a bank or sail the high seas immediately. Talk to your DM, get a feel for what you want out of the game and what they're offering.
I have bowed out of a game invite before, simply because the kind of game they wanted to run was absolutely not what I wanted to participate in.
haven't been this early on a Ginny video in a while, this is awesome
D&D is a nice setting for people to interact and come together which is hard nowadays but finding people of equal interest that want to try this out is also difficult.