Get yer pirate on with Down Among the Dead! www.kickstarter.com/projects/limithron/downamongthedead?ref=1gg9n5 Secret 11th Commandment: Thy fun is valid. Thou shalt play however thou want.
0:17 (1)Thou shalt keep thy game moving 1:19 (2) Thou shalt make thy players feel important 2:15 (3) Thou shalt learn from other game systems (fortheloveof cheese sauce) 3:44 (4) Thou shalt steal EVERYTHING 4:19 (5) Thou shalt be fair and impartial 5:09 (6) Thou shalt honor thy dice and thy prep 6:03 (7) Thou shalt let the players' action change thy world 7:06 (8) Thou shalt not remove thy players' agency 7:32 (9) Thou shalt use thy best ideas now 8:07 (10) Thou shalt remember to have fun Thanks for the tips
I feel like 2 has contradiction with 5 and 6 to some degree. It's hard to make your players "feel important" if you're playing a fair, realistic world that wants them dead and doesn't fudge in their favor.
@@aetherkid I cannot speak for deficient, but I think making the players feel important is more so meant to make the players the focus. In the sense of “don’t make the NPCs the focus”. Actively engage with their players about their characters. Even if the players fail due to a die roll, it can still leave a lasting impact on the immediate world around them. At least that’s how I interpret it and see it working together.
@aetherkid In video DM elaborated on 2 to focus on things your players focus on, which to me doesn't contradict with 5 and 6, but just from the rules names i definitely felt some tension and would probably just follow the solution making everyone the happiest (I presume you play with good friends not taking crazy advantage of that..., otherwise make appropriate changes...)
@@syzore2 yes! This! I also love preparing lots of stuff. Physical documents my PCs can find, self-made battle maps (I bought sets of thousands of battle maps online and I like none of them), cool and fun encounters that break the mold, it all takes time. Much more than three hours. If I wanna prep quickly, I'd run a prewritten adventure
I seriously need to start making the “Deficinomicon”, because despite how useful every piece of advice you give is, I simply can’t remember it all. I need a record of it I can read study while I wait for my players to show up “on time”. Of course, I can’t remember everything to put in it…so time re-enjoy some deficient content!
Know when to admit when you're wrong. Know when to keep quiet. Know when to hold your ground. and most of all of these, know how to tell the difference.
I'll add just one to your excellent list: Thou shalt not turn your game into an audio novel. I've been at sessions where I spent 25% of the my time listening to narration, box text, and other worldbuilding elements that I simply will never be able to recall and can't keep notes fast enough. It's okay to love your homebrew world, but don't trick your players into reading your microfiction!
I am beginning to try out the "Let your players be stupid" trick. If you want to pet the very defensive venemous snake guarding her clutch you can attempt to do so. But if she lands her attack that venom will kill you considering it is potent enough to kill an elephant with a single drop.
Mhm. In one game,my players are all about 5th level and they are actively seeking out an adult red dragon to talk it out of being evil. All I have to do to be responsible now is leave marks of just how dangerous this dragon and watch some chaos unfold
@archersfriend5900 and therein lies the problem exactly. Also if it was lawful evil, that would have been much better for them, but red dragons are chaotic evil so.
@@MossyMoht I normally run Red Dragons like Ron Swanson. They hate any government and are very much into personal property rights. They are always into flame grilling meat (love that sizzle) and think everyone's property is theirs. My dragons also never land unless forced.
@@MossyMoht An interesting scenario would be the players encountering the dragon flying to a simple village and burning it without reason or provocation. When the players manage to make it there, the dragon allows them into hearing range simply out of amusement of someone not trying to run away, and laugh hysterically when the players propose of it to stop being evil, using the carbonized body of its victims to wipe its tears, before telling the players it will kill them last since they are so funny, and flying away. If by this points the party is still hellbent on the original peace-and-love plan, then you pull no punches and straight up start the fight against a mature red dragon when they encounter it again. Whether or not any of them survives, it will serve as an important lesson that the world doesn't revolve around them and their ideals.
I: The DMPC always wins. II: If the cat knocks the figurine over, it's dead. III: Pay $1 for a reroll of any die. IV: No, you can't one shot the boss, and he casts power word kill on you. V: Never finish a campaign. VI: Pay $5 for a random magic item. VII: Have an invisible dragon eat players that annoy you. VIII: Honesty is the best policy, so don't roll dice and choose the number you want to "roll" instead. IX: Pay $10 to revive your character. ($15 if the cat kills you with rule II) X: Player misery is the DM's fun.
Player sweat is the indicator for the proper challenge rating. The moment they don't have the feeling that being stupid will get them killed, that's the moment they break immersion. Also: Allow players to have secrets. Even if they group is 90% sure what's going on, it makes them feel special.
Put in a 2min combat timer. But don't end their turn, when it's over. Instead just tell them, that this how long a turn normally take and then give them as much time as they need.
@@NeuralNotes5 They like it. Though, make sure that being cinematic doesn't go into the timer. It is only for them deciding what to do. Most of the time a turn doesn't take longer than 30s because they go: "I hit that guy." I also use foundryvtt so all the math is done automatically, so you might want to increase the time in paper.
I have only been in one DnD group, but is this turn timing thing from the player characters common? I have no idea, just wondering how common it really is. I’m going to secretly time the player characters in my group and see what how bad/good it is now lol
have yet to get a chance to run things while doing it, but the "use your good ideas now" has made prepping things much easier, good easy introduction to our new system? no! crumbling hyperbolic tower of the owl wizard coming right up
My five commandments to playing Chaotic Evil 1- Your actions must not ruin the fun for others 2- Consent before regret (Ask a player if it’s ok you do something like steal an item from them before you do it) 3- Remember your actions will ALWAYS have consequences (And be prepared to deal with what comes of them) 4- Always be open to conversation (Just because your wicked evil doesn’t mean you can’t have honest or heartfelt conversations or small talk with the party every now and then) 5- NO MURDERHOBOING (The most important one)
when I started being a dm for my group I had worldbuilders dissease but I wanted to make the world for a verry specific reason, to see how much my players could tear the world I build to shreds, only than would I consider the world to be alive and complete. some struggels for everybody learning to play dnd and me learning to dm later I completely fell flat with a mistery quest that took a couple sessions but because it was so open to getting destroyed a player decided that to find evidence (which I didn't know how to dose out propperly) by commiting a coup déttait on the small village so they can enter every house and allthough the mistery part was beyond repair the players had a lot of fun and had the most creativity. I call it my most succesfull session to date
Exactly, I'm willing the bend the laws of everything to fullfill this one thing and let everyone be happy (sometimes that means homebrew, sometimes that means parting ways with some people and often times just a good mood and some food on top of it)
The only time I personally choose to fudge dice are to honor the first and last commandments you mentioned. If players are losing interest in a 5 round fight and the baddie is on
meh, too much of a convoluted irrational mess, you'd need some serious editing to make it plausible. Plus the known themes would probably cause a serious uncany valey effect.
You should check out the game Testament by Green Ronin. It's essentially playing a campaign in the old testament using 3rd/3.5 rule set Its pretty awesome!
the BBEG of my campaign is Cain from the biblical story who became an immortal cannibalistic vampire who ate his brother and was doomed to die a thousand times. Abel, meanwhile, was resurrected by God (The Sun) and became the first vampire hunter, bearing crucifix-stake (think a wooden cross but with a sharp end) as his main weapon and establishing the 11 Apostles (Judas betrayed them) who are fire-breathing monks hellbent on destroying Cain and all his creations. Abel and his apostles originally won the war, but millions of years later Cain is back and he's a tree-f*cking drug-addicted twink who wants to take over the world because of course he does.
-Thou shalt use the security tools and the social contract to make sure everyone is confortable at the table (as a general rule "Players before Gamers", the people matter more than the game) -Thou shalt portrait a reliastic world, but not forget the rule of cool -Thou shalt prepare challanges, not solutions. Those are upon the players. Also, not really a commandment, but I find useful to portray the "ideal" session cointaing: -Interesting places to visit -Someone to interact with by talking, not only fighting -Face a memorable obstacle (can include fighting) -Get rewarded for their efforts
Perfect Commandments. I agree with all and basically use/try to use them exactly as you said, or at most with some little changes to what i need/my game need/my players expect. And i learned this over the last couple years from content creators like you and some others. And currently you are probably the one i consider to have the most useful tips and content in general for DMs. Thanks!
Don't exactly have a "Ten Commandments" for my TTRPG games, but I do have this general rule of thumb: This is a roleplay game, I roleplay the world, you roleplay your characters, what happens around you will be affected by what you do, but I will not force you to go any direction, and the rules just give structure to all of this.
I love all of these! They are simple things that I am always actively striving to do, but a numbered and named list is always nice help break it down. My only commandment that I have currently is "Always try new things to learn what works where." This is definitely from the standpoint of a newer GM, but trying a module out to learn how a Hex-crawl feels to run vs a Point-crawl, were valuable experiences. In our last game session we even tried a new "active initiative" system that I think is really gonna be our go to moving forward!
Now we need the Ten Commandments for Players: 1. Do not ruin other people's fun 2. Ask questions. 3. Ask more questions 4. Know what your character does, and how they do it 5. Abide by Session 0. If your DM says encumbrance and limited resources is a thing, YOU track your gear or YOU leave the game 6. Remember you are not your character 7. Are you having fun? If not, why not? Speak up 8. There is no rule 8 9. Be present - no phones, tablets, mini-games, side conversations 10. Don't be a douche (see also Rule 1)
1. Something that makes my players start paying attention AND gets things rolling the game has slowed down is the Chaos Roll. I ask for a volunteer to roll d%. This roll sets the target. Then a second d%; the closer to the target, the more shit gets flipped on its head. Real life is unpredictable. A world filled with magic and monsters should be even more so.
2) is my favorite rule because it manifests in so many different creative ways. As a filter to poor ideas through, it honestly does work distilling vague inspiration into concrete plans. To address 1), honestly some of my players really love can't be stuff and sometimes I'll set aside extra time just for them when it doesn't bog down the other,nmore antsy players. When it comes to 6) and dice fudging and/or being lenient and changing your own rulings, I think this can sometimes come into conflict with rules#2/8. This is controversial, but it's just true sometimes. When in doubt, always defer to 2 and 8 rather than 6. I think the rest of the rules are great! Thanks for the video, it's a lot of value and each rule is fertile for much discussion
Can't have fun as a GM no matter what I seem to try to do. Even my favorite game system of all time with an absolute dream team of a player group - mix of tabletop veterans and newbies who were not only invested in their characters and the settings, but also self-motivated to go explore and do what they wanted while also remaining in character at all times - and a chest filled to bursting with amazing game moments and stories that I still tell people, with said players WANTING more to the point I directly inspired a new player to become a GM... Nope. I never feel accomplished or satisfied or proud or whatever it is a GM is supposed to feel after these games. I was just glad that that session was *done* and that I didn't have to keep running anymore (until the next time). At no point, not once, have I ever wanted a session to continue longer. At no point have I ever said "I had fun tonight, I enjoyed that". And I especially have never said "I can't wait to do it again." It's not the amount of prep or anything - from a session plot that was conjured 5 minutes *after* the game started to one that was weeks in advance. I've tried other groups, great people all, and other systems from fantasy to sci fi to western to custom weirdness. I've tried 8+ players to literal 1-on-1, in person and online text only. All have been the same; they have an amazing time, seemingly, and I just feel relieved it's over. Hence why I consider myself a "bad GM", and one that should only ever be called on if nobody else is available to run.
Sounds like you've tried all the flavors of GMing. There is always a layer of stress no matter what the experience. For some, it's just enough to provide that thrill of uncertainty & "danger" that you have the Player's evening in your hands. For others, it might be too much pressure to provide the players a good time. I believe ANYONE can GM, but that doesn't mean Forever GM. But I'd be lying if I said I don't feel any sort of pressure or that I leave every game feeling like I'm God's gift to my players. That's why I'm the DEFICIENT Master.
Random internet person here. Something in your writing style and word choice gives me the feeling you don't perceive yourself as more than adequate. I can only address what you've written, but not many GMs have tried as many approaches as you have listed. Your players seem happy and the fact they want more from you indicates you are a "good GM" in their eyes. At least in terms of ttrpgs, you are far more than adequate. Your players call on YOU to run, not just because you're available. That doesn't change how you feel though. Do other activities in your life bring you feelings of accomplishment, excitement, or fun? If not, that might be something you should look into.
Only thing i disagree on is the "using the thing youre excited for straight away". Ive had plenty of times where ive been excited to bust out the main antagonists abilities that the players had to wait and see, rather than it just happening when i think about it. They lost to a cult captain and had to flee, so the next time they encountered him, he was leveled up naturally alongside the party and had gained more powerful abilities. If I had busted him out the next session it wouldn't have been such a great reveal when the players encountered him again 4 levels later.
Commandment Number... whatever: If the players are confused, only you can clear it up. When I started DMing, I tried to describe situations quickly, but maybe not clearly. Now I try to remember that no one sees what is in my head and think about what they need to know so that we are all in the same gaming space. Clear language is more important than being quick or economical with your words. As I write this, I think this may be just a "me" problem, but it's a commandment I live by now.
As a dm, I don’t roll in front of the players, at least in combat. I have an entire combat theory I could probably make my own video about. I never use challenge ratings and I generally go off of what makes sense for what they are fighting. It’d be a lot to go into in this comment.
Great advices! Subbed. Also.. Advice since I just started myself. For fresh new game masters/ world builders. Well. Look out your window, where do you live? YES! Exactly! Make a fantasy version of the place where you live! Begin with some local smaller place. The " world map " can be for now, most at municipality to county scale. Remove ALL modern stuff. Make it medieval f.ex. Did your say, municipality have a past name? Use that gor the fantasy version of it!
Please do a deficient review of the new Pirate Borg book when it comes out! I got into the game system because of your video, and would love to see your take on it
Honestly, it sounds like a mix of Principa Apocrypha and common sense.. On second thought, he literally grabbed OSE and Pirate Borg books in this video, so yeah, of course he uses some principles from OSR. AND THAT'S GOOD!
Secret checks exists for a reason. You SHALL hide rolls from players to make the game more immersive. You don't need to use your ideias now. Make a good prep, make a good writing and insert in appropiate time. Do not throw curve balls at the players with new plots and mechanics based on what you want, let them think, create in interact with the plot. If you throw your new mirabolous ideias in the players all the time, your campain gonna be a mess (unless you want to be a mess).
Fudging rolls can also lead to more fun and player satisfaction. I personally like Brennan's tower of doom or whatever he calls it, where high-stakes rolls are made in the open with an announced DC. I used this in a recent session where a clutch polymorph was gonna let the party escape from what most likely otherwise would have been a TPK. It was a risk I took, b/c I'm also a believer that a TPK shouldn't be allowed to happen based solely on a very unlucky series of dice rolls (which is what happened in this particular fight). I reserve TPKs for when players ignore warnings and/or make multiple very bad or reckless decisions in a fight.
Learn from other systems. I was looking up the Deeds rules from DCC to figure out how to indulge a 5e fighter's tendency to RP how they hit things when you said that. 😅
As a new DM I find myself fudging dice sometimes or health of enemies because only mid encounter I realize that I basically made it impossible as I am still getting to know the real difficuly level up monsters
@@dragonflight2468That's just moving to a new system. It doesn't have anything to do with _actually fixing_ aspects of d&d that people find annoying or tedious. It's like telling someone who's playing a buggy yet fun video game (Fallout 3 & New Vegas) that because they're frustrated with the bugs they should just play another game rather than downloading a mod for stability.
I really wish that Down Among the Dead would just go ahead and launch so I can back it and now have to worry about it. I've been getting a lot of advertisements about it. It's not as bad as say, the Our Golden Age Kickstarter from Exalted Funeral. I literally had to block that one I was seeing it so much.
Give yourself over to the Lady and you will never have to Fudge a dice again. Doing so would just upset the Lady, or it might not, because you know... she is fickle! The worse results to have occurred in my game came because I fudged something. It might not have been a dice roll, there are a lot of other things you can fudge, but the end result is often the same... something compiles strangely, the ripple it creates causes problems, and then your game can eventually break. If you are allowing the Lady her due with your dice rolls, and Fate his with your Rule calls, your game will play out a lot better. Trust in your dice, for they can do wonderful things. For those curious, I changed the attack priority of one of my creatures to go after the *player* most likely to be a threat... instead of the most capable Character. The Lady instantly taught me what a mistake that was, by having a dice roll by the player give a result that... polymorphed them out of the game. The Fate and the Lady had lined up something nice that would have been grand against the correct target, if I had not fudged it. Needless to say, the player felt justifiably targeted and it soured the whole campaign for them from that point forward.... Seriously though, who rolls a 100 on a D100?! It was meant to be a joke fight, but that was the one thing to make it a threat. (For those extra curious) Pathfinder has templates and one of them is 'agent of Chaos,' go take a look at it. Now imagine that template on a... dodo. Surrounded by 29 other Dodo.... Ever played three card Monty with 30 birds? And, like 3 card Monty, The Queen isn't on the Table at all. The agent of Chaos polymorphs into a bug to fly over the battle, to 'tag your it' one of the back line Just be aware that the dreaded 100 is... polymorph into X (this case I choose another dodo) Added notes: Look over all the magic resistances and how it triggers 'chaos magic' effects. The correct target is whichever character is throwing out battle magics like crazy...!
as a fledgling gm I really struggle to make meaningful stuff for my players to do. if we just did the cool stuff they'd level every session and we'd be done in a couple months. The problem is that anything that isn't the main narrative line feels like I'm making filler, even if they are having fun. Meanwhile I can't figure out how to thread my main story beats together so it's all panic, all the time.
For the love of god, just try out other systems. D&D can be everything, like every other TRPG can be everything but BitD will help you run thrilling heists, while Mörk Borg will show you how to do player-disempowernment right. And Cthulu' horror. Sweet comsmic horror...
I change my prep all the time. I'll throw two giants at my players when I only prepped one, if I think they can handle it. Prep me only gives loose suggestions.
Cool vid except for the sudden 30-second ad in the middle! Very few things entice me to click off a video more. Hate that we've normalized this kind of thing.
@@this_epic_name My viewership is my support. It's the thing the creator earns from me by creating videos that I like. I clicked this video because the title appealed to me. I wouldn't have clicked and watched a video that was just a 30-second ad, so why would I want it in here? Why should I have to "suffer" through anything? I don't owe RUclips creators anything.
Get yer pirate on with Down Among the Dead! www.kickstarter.com/projects/limithron/downamongthedead?ref=1gg9n5
Secret 11th Commandment: Thy fun is valid. Thou shalt play however thou want.
Can we all agree that this guy is more expressive as a pair of hands than lost of facecam RUclipsrs are
Yes
0:17 (1)Thou shalt keep thy game moving
1:19 (2) Thou shalt make thy players feel important
2:15 (3) Thou shalt learn from other game systems (fortheloveof cheese sauce)
3:44 (4) Thou shalt steal EVERYTHING
4:19 (5) Thou shalt be fair and impartial
5:09 (6) Thou shalt honor thy dice and thy prep
6:03 (7) Thou shalt let the players' action change thy world
7:06 (8) Thou shalt not remove thy players' agency
7:32 (9) Thou shalt use thy best ideas now
8:07 (10) Thou shalt remember to have fun
Thanks for the tips
Thank you! This will be helpful when I check back in with this video.
I feel like 2 has contradiction with 5 and 6 to some degree. It's hard to make your players "feel important" if you're playing a fair, realistic world that wants them dead and doesn't fudge in their favor.
@@aetherkid I cannot speak for deficient, but I think making the players feel important is more so meant to make the players the focus.
In the sense of “don’t make the NPCs the focus”. Actively engage with their players about their characters. Even if the players fail due to a die roll, it can still leave a lasting impact on the immediate world around them.
At least that’s how I interpret it and see it working together.
@aetherkid In video DM elaborated on 2 to focus on things your players focus on, which to me doesn't contradict with 5 and 6, but just from the rules names i definitely felt some tension and would probably just follow the solution making everyone the happiest (I presume you play with good friends not taking crazy advantage of that..., otherwise make appropriate changes...)
May the Silver Flame forever light your way. And may the Creator forever keep you. Your service is worthy of recognition.
Babe, wake up! A new video of Deficient Master
Are you Ginny Di's husband?
If so, both you and potential future collab are very welcome, enjoy 😃🥰😇
@@Troynl66 what xD no
@@yukikosan5468 Deficient is still waiting for ginny to recognize him as a fellow dnd tuber ruclips.net/video/8iWh5KEM2H8/видео.html
11th Commandment: Thou shall not forgive Larry
The you-know-who…
Who's that?
@@alextrill1746 Deficient made enough video on the types of D&D players that was very entertaining
"Thou shalt not prep longer than you actually play"
Is one that I personally should adhere to more lol
Unless you're like me and you enjoy prepping
@@syzore2 yes! This! I also love preparing lots of stuff. Physical documents my PCs can find, self-made battle maps (I bought sets of thousands of battle maps online and I like none of them), cool and fun encounters that break the mold, it all takes time. Much more than three hours. If I wanna prep quickly, I'd run a prewritten adventure
I seriously need to start making the “Deficinomicon”, because despite how useful every piece of advice you give is, I simply can’t remember it all. I need a record of it I can read study while I wait for my players to show up “on time”. Of course, I can’t remember everything to put in it…so time re-enjoy some deficient content!
DM needs to write a book
When you've written it, please send me a copy
I started taking notes in my commplace book exactly bc of this!
The outro including "maybe you have to change some commandments too" is a super important point
Know when to admit when you're wrong.
Know when to keep quiet.
Know when to hold your ground.
and most of all of these, know how to tell the difference.
what difference?
@@haysing2.025Probably knowing which one and when to use it
I'll add just one to your excellent list: Thou shalt not turn your game into an audio novel.
I've been at sessions where I spent 25% of the my time listening to narration, box text, and other worldbuilding elements that I simply will never be able to recall and can't keep notes fast enough. It's okay to love your homebrew world, but don't trick your players into reading your microfiction!
I am beginning to try out the "Let your players be stupid" trick. If you want to pet the very defensive venemous snake guarding her clutch you can attempt to do so. But if she lands her attack that venom will kill you considering it is potent enough to kill an elephant with a single drop.
Mhm. In one game,my players are all about 5th level and they are actively seeking out an adult red dragon to talk it out of being evil. All I have to do to be responsible now is leave marks of just how dangerous this dragon and watch some chaos unfold
@@MossyMohtred dragons are evil, you can't talk them out of being non evil.
@archersfriend5900 and therein lies the problem exactly. Also if it was lawful evil, that would have been much better for them, but red dragons are chaotic evil so.
@@MossyMoht I normally run Red Dragons like Ron Swanson. They hate any government and are very much into personal property rights. They are always into flame grilling meat (love that sizzle) and think everyone's property is theirs. My dragons also never land unless forced.
@@MossyMoht An interesting scenario would be the players encountering the dragon flying to a simple village and burning it without reason or provocation.
When the players manage to make it there, the dragon allows them into hearing range simply out of amusement of someone not trying to run away, and laugh hysterically when the players propose of it to stop being evil, using the carbonized body of its victims to wipe its tears, before telling the players it will kill them last since they are so funny, and flying away.
If by this points the party is still hellbent on the original peace-and-love plan, then you pull no punches and straight up start the fight against a mature red dragon when they encounter it again. Whether or not any of them survives, it will serve as an important lesson that the world doesn't revolve around them and their ideals.
Dishonored Mentioned, I am happy.
I: The DMPC always wins.
II: If the cat knocks the figurine over, it's dead.
III: Pay $1 for a reroll of any die.
IV: No, you can't one shot the boss, and he casts power word kill on you.
V: Never finish a campaign.
VI: Pay $5 for a random magic item.
VII: Have an invisible dragon eat players that annoy you.
VIII: Honesty is the best policy, so don't roll dice and choose the number you want to "roll" instead.
IX: Pay $10 to revive your character. ($15 if the cat kills you with rule II)
X: Player misery is the DM's fun.
Commandment II unclear, killed my cat for knocking over a figurine
No thanks.
Noting these down real quick
"Have an invisible dragon eat players that annoy you."
Eating characters is one thing - eating players is probably illegal in most states.
@@michaelnurse9089 if there is no snacks at the table I think the court would understand
Player sweat is the indicator for the proper challenge rating. The moment they don't have the feeling that being stupid will get them killed, that's the moment they break immersion.
Also: Allow players to have secrets. Even if they group is 90% sure what's going on, it makes them feel special.
Put in a 2min combat timer. But don't end their turn, when it's over. Instead just tell them, that this how long a turn normally take and then give them as much time as they need.
This is so gigachad
Was thinking about doing that... Was the response good or not?
@@NeuralNotes5 They like it. Though, make sure that being cinematic doesn't go into the timer. It is only for them deciding what to do. Most of the time a turn doesn't take longer than 30s because they go: "I hit that guy." I also use foundryvtt so all the math is done automatically, so you might want to increase the time in paper.
I have only been in one DnD group, but is this turn timing thing from the player characters common? I have no idea, just wondering how common it really is. I’m going to secretly time the player characters in my group and see what how bad/good it is now lol
Always a good day when I get to see more content from Deficient.
have yet to get a chance to run things while doing it, but the "use your good ideas now" has made prepping things much easier, good easy introduction to our new system? no! crumbling hyperbolic tower of the owl wizard coming right up
I was prone to saving my best ideas.
Another great video with plenty of food for thought, plus I loved the trolling in the thumbnail.
My five commandments to playing Chaotic Evil
1- Your actions must not ruin the fun for others
2- Consent before regret (Ask a player if it’s ok you do something like steal an item from them before you do it)
3- Remember your actions will ALWAYS have consequences (And be prepared to deal with what comes of them)
4- Always be open to conversation (Just because your wicked evil doesn’t mean you can’t have honest or heartfelt conversations or small talk with the party every now and then)
5- NO MURDERHOBOING (The most important one)
Never thought of ten rules, but I have a couple as a rookie master:
1.
when I started being a dm for my group I had worldbuilders dissease but I wanted to make the world for a verry specific reason, to see how much my players could tear the world I build to shreds, only than would I consider the world to be alive and complete. some struggels for everybody learning to play dnd and me learning to dm later I completely fell flat with a mistery quest that took a couple sessions but because it was so open to getting destroyed a player decided that to find evidence (which I didn't know how to dose out propperly) by commiting a coup déttait on the small village so they can enter every house and allthough the mistery part was beyond repair the players had a lot of fun and had the most creativity. I call it my most succesfull session to date
I actually follow the 3rd by introducing mortars in 5e. Stole it from Recon Revised. (Sending works as a wonderful radio to call in artillery.)
My only commandment is to everyone have fun. I'm ready to throw everything else out the window in order to fulfill this.
Exactly, I'm willing the bend the laws of everything to fullfill this one thing and let everyone be happy (sometimes that means homebrew, sometimes that means parting ways with some people and often times just a good mood and some food on top of it)
The only time I personally choose to fudge dice are to honor the first and last commandments you mentioned. If players are losing interest in a 5 round fight and the baddie is on
A DnD Campaign built with Biblical inspiration would be pretty cool actually
meh, too much of a convoluted irrational mess, you'd need some serious editing to make it plausible. Plus the known themes would probably cause a serious uncany valey effect.
You should check out the game Testament by Green Ronin. It's essentially playing a campaign in the old testament using 3rd/3.5 rule set
Its pretty awesome!
the BBEG of my campaign is Cain from the biblical story who became an immortal cannibalistic vampire who ate his brother and was doomed to die a thousand times. Abel, meanwhile, was resurrected by God (The Sun) and became the first vampire hunter, bearing crucifix-stake (think a wooden cross but with a sharp end) as his main weapon and establishing the 11 Apostles (Judas betrayed them) who are fire-breathing monks hellbent on destroying Cain and all his creations.
Abel and his apostles originally won the war, but millions of years later Cain is back and he's a tree-f*cking drug-addicted twink who wants to take over the world because of course he does.
@@patrickmiller4229 thank you!
@@shorgoth implying dnd lore isn’t a convoluted mess lol
-Thou shalt use the security tools and the social contract to make sure everyone is confortable at the table (as a general rule "Players before Gamers", the people matter more than the game)
-Thou shalt portrait a reliastic world, but not forget the rule of cool
-Thou shalt prepare challanges, not solutions. Those are upon the players.
Also, not really a commandment, but I find useful to portray the "ideal" session cointaing:
-Interesting places to visit
-Someone to interact with by talking, not only fighting
-Face a memorable obstacle (can include fighting)
-Get rewarded for their efforts
I was half expecting to see a "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure" reference with that time stop effect. Well done!
Gonna step on early and say i predict you hitting 100k by the end of the year. Your content is perfect for people who play dnd. Keep it up man
Thou shalt bring the DM a packet of Tunnock's Teacakes just for them alone, and no-one else.
Perfect Commandments. I agree with all and basically use/try to use them exactly as you said, or at most with some little changes to what i need/my game need/my players expect.
And i learned this over the last couple years from content creators like you and some others. And currently you are probably the one i consider to have the most useful tips and content in general for DMs. Thanks!
Don't exactly have a "Ten Commandments" for my TTRPG games, but I do have this general rule of thumb:
This is a roleplay game, I roleplay the world, you roleplay your characters, what happens around you will be affected by what you do, but I will not force you to go any direction, and the rules just give structure to all of this.
I love all of these! They are simple things that I am always actively striving to do, but a numbered and named list is always nice help break it down. My only commandment that I have currently is "Always try new things to learn what works where." This is definitely from the standpoint of a newer GM, but trying a module out to learn how a Hex-crawl feels to run vs a Point-crawl, were valuable experiences. In our last game session we even tried a new "active initiative" system that I think is really gonna be our go to moving forward!
Now we need the Ten Commandments for Players:
1. Do not ruin other people's fun
2. Ask questions.
3. Ask more questions
4. Know what your character does, and how they do it
5. Abide by Session 0. If your DM says encumbrance and limited resources is a thing, YOU track your gear or YOU leave the game
6. Remember you are not your character
7. Are you having fun? If not, why not? Speak up
8. There is no rule 8
9. Be present - no phones, tablets, mini-games, side conversations
10. Don't be a douche (see also Rule 1)
I scream for joy everytime i see a new deficient master video
I now have my new go-to video suggestion for new DMs/GMs. My go-to guide is Mothership's Warden's Operation Manual. My go-to video is this.
1. bring caffeine not booze
2. Snacks
3. lunch break
4. dont invite that one guy
5...
Commandment #11: If a player is a Larry, it is okay to ask them to leave the campaign.
10 commandments under 10 minutes, including a sponsor 👌
New video from my fav creator
excellent tips, always entertaining presentation, thank you for your contributions!
Who also likes a video before even watching it?
For Deficient Master? Always!
Wait a minute... I JUST SAAAAW THAT POST 4:00
4:10 NO, DEFICIENT, SAY IT LOUD! DISHONORED WAS SICK!!! AND THAT IS A SICK ENCOUNTER
3:45 Ooh I love this one, I tell people to do it all the time😂
Clean and clear! I'd buy the t shirt!
1. Something that makes my players start paying attention AND gets things rolling the game has slowed down is the Chaos Roll. I ask for a volunteer to roll d%. This roll sets the target. Then a second d%; the closer to the target, the more shit gets flipped on its head. Real life is unpredictable. A world filled with magic and monsters should be even more so.
Thanks for the excellent video bro. Your hard work is appreciated. God bless 🙏 ✝️
Mothership 1e has extremly good advice for GMs.
HAIL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE DEFICIENT MASTER!!
2) is my favorite rule because it manifests in so many different creative ways. As a filter to poor ideas through, it honestly does work distilling vague inspiration into concrete plans.
To address 1), honestly some of my players really love can't be stuff and sometimes I'll set aside extra time just for them when it doesn't bog down the other,nmore antsy players.
When it comes to 6) and dice fudging and/or being lenient and changing your own rulings, I think this can sometimes come into conflict with rules#2/8. This is controversial, but it's just true sometimes. When in doubt, always defer to 2 and 8 rather than 6.
I think the rest of the rules are great! Thanks for the video, it's a lot of value and each rule is fertile for much discussion
Can't have fun as a GM no matter what I seem to try to do. Even my favorite game system of all time with an absolute dream team of a player group - mix of tabletop veterans and newbies who were not only invested in their characters and the settings, but also self-motivated to go explore and do what they wanted while also remaining in character at all times - and a chest filled to bursting with amazing game moments and stories that I still tell people, with said players WANTING more to the point I directly inspired a new player to become a GM...
Nope. I never feel accomplished or satisfied or proud or whatever it is a GM is supposed to feel after these games. I was just glad that that session was *done* and that I didn't have to keep running anymore (until the next time). At no point, not once, have I ever wanted a session to continue longer. At no point have I ever said "I had fun tonight, I enjoyed that". And I especially have never said "I can't wait to do it again."
It's not the amount of prep or anything - from a session plot that was conjured 5 minutes *after* the game started to one that was weeks in advance. I've tried other groups, great people all, and other systems from fantasy to sci fi to western to custom weirdness. I've tried 8+ players to literal 1-on-1, in person and online text only. All have been the same; they have an amazing time, seemingly, and I just feel relieved it's over.
Hence why I consider myself a "bad GM", and one that should only ever be called on if nobody else is available to run.
Sounds like you've tried all the flavors of GMing.
There is always a layer of stress no matter what the experience. For some, it's just enough to provide that thrill of uncertainty & "danger" that you have the Player's evening in your hands.
For others, it might be too much pressure to provide the players a good time.
I believe ANYONE can GM, but that doesn't mean Forever GM.
But I'd be lying if I said I don't feel any sort of pressure or that I leave every game feeling like I'm God's gift to my players.
That's why I'm the DEFICIENT Master.
Random internet person here. Something in your writing style and word choice gives me the feeling you don't perceive yourself as more than adequate. I can only address what you've written, but not many GMs have tried as many approaches as you have listed. Your players seem happy and the fact they want more from you indicates you are a "good GM" in their eyes. At least in terms of ttrpgs, you are far more than adequate. Your players call on YOU to run, not just because you're available. That doesn't change how you feel though. Do other activities in your life bring you feelings of accomplishment, excitement, or fun? If not, that might be something you should look into.
That JoJo ref. Love ya.
Only thing i disagree on is the "using the thing youre excited for straight away".
Ive had plenty of times where ive been excited to bust out the main antagonists abilities that the players had to wait and see, rather than it just happening when i think about it.
They lost to a cult captain and had to flee, so the next time they encountered him, he was leveled up naturally alongside the party and had gained more powerful abilities. If I had busted him out the next session it wouldn't have been such a great reveal when the players encountered him again 4 levels later.
Commandment Number... whatever: If the players are confused, only you can clear it up. When I started DMing, I tried to describe situations quickly, but maybe not clearly. Now I try to remember that no one sees what is in my head and think about what they need to know so that we are all in the same gaming space. Clear language is more important than being quick or economical with your words. As I write this, I think this may be just a "me" problem, but it's a commandment I live by now.
New deficient video
The best part of waking uupppppp
Is Deficient in your cuuuppppppp!
These are the tamest hot takes I've ever heard XD
Number 9 was needed for me, to be honest.
One of mine would be: though shall not invite your new (or soon to be) girlfriend to the table until your brain drugs calm down.
As a dm, I don’t roll in front of the players, at least in combat. I have an entire combat theory I could probably make my own video about. I never use challenge ratings and I generally go off of what makes sense for what they are fighting. It’d be a lot to go into in this comment.
I find the topic of “rolling in the open” a very spicy 🌶️
Great advices! Subbed. Also.. Advice since I just started myself. For fresh new game masters/ world builders. Well. Look out your window, where do you live? YES! Exactly! Make a fantasy version of the place where you live! Begin with some local smaller place. The " world map " can be for now, most at municipality to county scale. Remove ALL modern stuff. Make it medieval f.ex. Did your say, municipality have a past name? Use that gor the fantasy version of it!
I love how you managed to toss in a reddit post from 3h before your vid went live :D
yeeeaaaaaah editing may have been really down to the wire for this one
Always has great ideas.
Please do a deficient review of the new Pirate Borg book when it comes out! I got into the game system because of your video, and would love to see your take on it
Commandment 11 - Have a random JoJo reference at hand.
Honestly, it sounds like a mix of Principa Apocrypha and common sense..
On second thought, he literally grabbed OSE and Pirate Borg books in this video, so yeah, of course he uses some principles from OSR.
AND THAT'S GOOD!
Secret checks exists for a reason. You SHALL hide rolls from players to make the game more immersive.
You don't need to use your ideias now. Make a good prep, make a good writing and insert in appropiate time. Do not throw curve balls at the players with new plots and mechanics based on what you want, let them think, create in interact with the plot. If you throw your new mirabolous ideias in the players all the time, your campain gonna be a mess (unless you want to be a mess).
Fudging rolls can also lead to more fun and player satisfaction. I personally like Brennan's tower of doom or whatever he calls it, where high-stakes rolls are made in the open with an announced DC. I used this in a recent session where a clutch polymorph was gonna let the party escape from what most likely otherwise would have been a TPK. It was a risk I took, b/c I'm also a believer that a TPK shouldn't be allowed to happen based solely on a very unlucky series of dice rolls (which is what happened in this particular fight). I reserve TPKs for when players ignore warnings and/or make multiple very bad or reckless decisions in a fight.
Learn from other systems. I was looking up the Deeds rules from DCC to figure out how to indulge a 5e fighter's tendency to RP how they hit things when you said that. 😅
As a new DM I find myself fudging dice sometimes or health of enemies because only mid encounter I realize that I basically made it impossible as I am still getting to know the real difficuly level up monsters
I approve!! 👏 hi Deficient ❤
pathfinder really is the game that every dnd player (that I know) wants to play but doesn't know it yet
Pf1e yes. Pf2e no
Every compliant r/dnd has can be fixed if they just switch to pathfinder already
@@dragonflight2468That's just moving to a new system. It doesn't have anything to do with _actually fixing_ aspects of d&d that people find annoying or tedious. It's like telling someone who's playing a buggy yet fun video game (Fallout 3 & New Vegas) that because they're frustrated with the bugs they should just play another game rather than downloading a mod for stability.
I really wish that Down Among the Dead would just go ahead and launch so I can back it and now have to worry about it. I've been getting a lot of advertisements about it. It's not as bad as say, the Our Golden Age Kickstarter from Exalted Funeral. I literally had to block that one I was seeing it so much.
The Kickstarter fires up tomorrow (9/17)
hi new dm here i love this video and the only thing that i would change is the time this video came out i wish i had this like a year ago
If you will not LIVE by the law. YOU SHALL DIE BY THE LAW!!!
Give yourself over to the Lady and you will never have to Fudge a dice again.
Doing so would just upset the Lady, or it might not, because you know... she is fickle!
The worse results to have occurred in my game came because I fudged something. It might not have been a dice roll, there are a lot of other things you can fudge, but the end result is often the same... something compiles strangely, the ripple it creates causes problems, and then your game can eventually break. If you are allowing the Lady her due with your dice rolls, and Fate his with your Rule calls, your game will play out a lot better.
Trust in your dice, for they can do wonderful things.
For those curious, I changed the attack priority of one of my creatures to go after the *player* most likely to be a threat... instead of the most capable Character. The Lady instantly taught me what a mistake that was, by having a dice roll by the player give a result that... polymorphed them out of the game. The Fate and the Lady had lined up something nice that would have been grand against the correct target, if I had not fudged it. Needless to say, the player felt justifiably targeted and it soured the whole campaign for them from that point forward....
Seriously though, who rolls a 100 on a D100?!
It was meant to be a joke fight, but that was the one thing to make it a threat.
(For those extra curious)
Pathfinder has templates and one of them is 'agent of Chaos,' go take a look at it.
Now imagine that template on a... dodo.
Surrounded by 29 other Dodo....
Ever played three card Monty with 30 birds?
And, like 3 card Monty, The Queen isn't on the Table at all.
The agent of Chaos polymorphs into a bug to fly over the battle, to 'tag your it' one of the back line
Just be aware that the dreaded 100 is... polymorph into X (this case I choose another dodo)
Added notes:
Look over all the magic resistances and how it triggers 'chaos magic' effects.
The correct target is whichever character is throwing out battle magics like crazy...!
I feel the same about the pirate films
I LOVE DISHONORED
as a fledgling gm I really struggle to make meaningful stuff for my players to do. if we just did the cool stuff they'd level every session and we'd be done in a couple months. The problem is that anything that isn't the main narrative line feels like I'm making filler, even if they are having fun. Meanwhile I can't figure out how to thread my main story beats together so it's all panic, all the time.
For the love of god, just try out other systems. D&D can be everything, like every other TRPG can be everything but BitD will help you run thrilling heists, while Mörk Borg will show you how to do player-disempowernment right. And Cthulu' horror. Sweet comsmic horror...
I change my prep all the time. I'll throw two giants at my players when I only prepped one, if I think they can handle it. Prep me only gives loose suggestions.
Smashed the like button
Omg!!! he has the power of the world!!!!
lol jojo references
Great!
Wooo new video
Are we a cult already?
i feel like my dude is repeating himself a bit
Amazing
Where did you get those game pieces with the hats??? they are amazing
Also very true for all 10 sadly there are sinners amongst us
This video had 666 likes and 6 dislikes just a moment ago. It now has 667 likes.
yippie!
ooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh
Hi!
Was that just a Jojo reference?! :O
I am WAY too early
Same
@DeficientMaster have you heard of Dolmenwood? What are your thoughts?
I eagerly await my copy to arrive
@@DeficientMaster can't wait to see your review
Dms who dont fudge are lame
Mi mi mi mi
Cool vid except for the sudden 30-second ad in the middle! Very few things entice me to click off a video more. Hate that we've normalized this kind of thing.
It helps support the creator. If you like their content, "suffer" through an ad as the lowest-effort way to show it.
@@this_epic_name My viewership is my support. It's the thing the creator earns from me by creating videos that I like. I clicked this video because the title appealed to me. I wouldn't have clicked and watched a video that was just a 30-second ad, so why would I want it in here? Why should I have to "suffer" through anything? I don't owe RUclips creators anything.
hi
What are those pawns?