By sheer coincidence I did also just send out an Investment Questionnaire for a murder mystery adventure set in my homebrew world's version of Waterdeep. Here's what I sent out. - What's your name? - What's your job, and why do you do it? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it? - What was your part in the Last War? In particular, on the Last Day, when the whole city was under attack? - How do you feel about the city's ancient laws and customs? Are they outdated? Do they need to be changed? Or are these customs all that separate us from the likes of the Enemy? - Do you have a side hustle? What do you do in your free time? Are you a member of a guild? - They say Waterdeep is governed by a compromise of three factions: Guilds, Nobles, and Law (represented by the Lords of Waterdeep). Through which faction do you consider yourself most aligned?
- Finch, the timid war centaur - Fletcher (makes arrows), because adoptive father was one. Likes that it reminds him of the old man. Doesn't like that it makes weapons. - Was busy passing out from blood loss, left arm went MIA. Got taken in by a druid in a far away forest and stayed there for ~20 years. / Wondered into an old man's hut, deep into some other forest. Became their companion and apprentice, until the man died from old age. / If neither of those fit the time frame, let's just say wandering. In short, I wasn't there. - Just arrived (or almost arrived), only know what I've heard from travelers on the road. - Yesn't. Carving wooden toys and figurines. No. - Would like to get to know the crafting guilds and learn more skills. PS: My job is also my class, a non-magical Atificer specialized in woodwork; expertise in arrow making. The little secret is that my late adoptive dad left me a special prosthetic arm as a parting gift. There is a folding longbow in it. May or may not start the game, still looking for someone to attach it. May or may not have a free cast of goodberry (from the ~20 years spent with a druid part of the backstory), if the DM oks it. TL;DR: We playin Sekiro, but as a centaur attempting a lawful good pacifist run, with many contradictions trying to stop him.
This channel popped up out of nowhere. I can really see the effort going in, from the release strategy of launching with 5 videos to the production value and considered, concise writing! Looking forward to where this channel is headed : )
Bonus points if you also run a mini-session for each individual player covering some or all of their backstory. That way they get to work out the kinks of how their character acts in conversation or otherwise, but without the pressure of potentially screwing up the party's first impression of their character. This worked especially well for me in a campaign I've been running in the Destiny setting, where each of the player characters have been resurrected as Guardians - super-powered beings without their memories. We've seen the past lives of a few Guardians in the game, enough to understand that they still act pretty much the same post-resurrection even if they don't remember anything. Thus; having my players play out a few moments before and including their deaths allowed them to feel that history, meaning they immediately relate to the empty feeling their characters have because they don't remember anything.
I love running those sorts of games! My long-term on-going campaign started with 38 individual sessions with players either alone, or paired up, playing through whole adventures before meeting the full crew at Session 39. - Daði
YO, man you are a godsend. to answer your question, I think RUclips shorts are the worst. They suck you in, and you lose hours of time endlessly scrolling through mostly crap, to find a funny or interesting clip. They are like cursed loot boxes of, mostly, nonsense. I decided to stop watching them all together.
@@Custos43 Just to hop in here, it has quite some downsides, but disabling watch history disables the Shorts and the Home. Took a small while to get used to, but man it saves me so much times and provides the essential 'does watching this help me/is it actually useful' moment.
Also, I feel like shorts wouldn't be very effective for this kind of channel, anyway. I love how he goes into depth with every topic and thoroughly explains them. With shorts, you just don't get the same type of content.
The life saver for me on this was installing uBlock and selecting the Shorts frames on the pages and having it block them from showing them to me haha!
I do both talking and session 0. Most of my campaigns, i talk with my players and have them come up with 3 high level concepts. Then with session 0 (sometimes done over discord) it is spent between the players deciding which archtypes they think would have interesting dynamics with, if anyone wants to have joint back stories. This gives the session 0 the feel as if they played a bit. This also means that they will have time to build secrets before the start of the campaign. I think this is primarily a difference in dming style as well
I love session zero! With friends, it's a good excuse to bring them over, grab some drinks, talk about the setting, and steal their ideas. Plus, if you get a new person, you can check if they mesh well with your group and their sense of humor.
@@Jeffery_USBP I'm an adult and I value session 0 MORE than I did as a kid. Time is a premium once you grow up; why drag out the pre-game setup when you could knock it out in one fell swoop?
As the man says....it's 2024. You can talk and get drinks with friends while playing. You can talk on the internet about everything you just mentioned, saving you a game session of doing nothing. And it's better to evaluate new players online...if they're weird there, they are probably going to be weird in your home.
I watch a lot of DM's advice on yt, and after a while i keep seeing different people talk about the same things and I feel like i don't learn a lot of new stuff nor do I challenge my way of thinking the game very often, but your channel is a breath of fresh air in this! I really like the way you guys choose rather original subjects or bring a new approach to some already talked about in length, as it is the case here! Well done and thank you!!! (Also kinda unrelated but I love Nordic culture and i'm using Icelandic as the draconic-substitute in my homebrew setting haha)
honestly, the most effective RUclips Shorts Ive seen are those that clip a single thought from a larger video and then has a link to that video in the description, like a teaser for the video. A few creators I subscribe to use that method: - Matt Colville does it to recycle old videos that are still relevant - Welch Labs uses it to build hype before releasing the video proper - 3 Blue 1 Brown uses it to pose a question to the audience that is explored and answered in the video proper, etc
Caught you by the gods on your first set of vids, You're making an absolute lord level of content! And to answer your final question- I think shorts would be a terrible way to fully appreciate the wonderful amount of stuff that your teaching here on this platform
I want to first start off by saying I love your videos! And that their format and topics are awesome and can get creative juices flowing as a long time DM. So my response is just my perspective on this. This idea works well for running one-shots or mini-campaigns, but I’ve found it less effective stand alone for long-term campaigns. The main issue? People don’t read. No matter how detailed or concise my messages are, it often doesn’t matter if players don’t take the time to read them. For long-term games, I also need to ensure that my players can build good relationships with one another, since we’ll be spending a lot of time together. So, it's helpful to observe how they interact in voice as well as treat each other Additionally, text posts can feel intimidating for new players. They might not be familiar with the established lingo of the game, which can make it harder for them to engage. Sitting down with everyone in person (or virtually) helps me assess where everyone stands in terms of experience, playstyle, and character interests. I don’t require them to fully create their characters in a Session 0, but we use that time to establish their ideas and roll stats. It also helps me if I have a new player to the game helping them build their character and help give suggestions on classes and races that fulfill their idea of a character. If a player needs help creating a character or wants lore for their backstory, I find that talking through it is much more efficient than relying on text. Written messages can get buried in a group chat or misinterpreted, especially when there’s a lot of context to absorb. Plus, many people simply don’t have spare time to prep on their own. Setting aside dedicated time to work on characters ensures they can sit down, focus, and get it done. Once again thank you for taking the time to make an awesome video! I will get off my soap box now 😆.
First off, just want to say I'm loving this channel. The videos you guys make are fun and informative, and I really enjoy your perspective on running the game. As much as I enjoy what you're pitching here, it unfortinately doesn't work all that well for my group. We do have a shared Discord server to discuss the game between sessions, but participation is very hit-or-miss. I have one player who is willing to interact with me through Discord just about anytime, but we're all adults with varying levels of free time between sessions due to other obligations. For some members of my group, it can take several days to get a response to a simple question, and they may outright forget until the start of the next session. A formal Session 0 is helpful for us because it's the only time I know for sure I have my players' full attention and commitment. We've carved out time specifically to sit down and discuss the game. Definitely going to still keep some of these tips in mind moving forward though. I may find a use for them someday. Thanks for everything you do, and keep up the good work! P.S.: My summer shirt isn't doing anything to ward off winter either.
Awesome video, loving your guys' stuff. The two of you came out of nowhere and started making the best DND advice videos I've seen. Keep it up! I don't watch shorts personally but understand they have become cornerstone of building a channel on RUclips. I would say make shorts that are clips from the long video but never make short exclusive content 😊
I was planning to comment to say just about the same thing. I know I am likely an odd one out, but I exclusively use desktop RUclips. Shorts just aren't optimized for it, and tend to get lost in the rest of the space. They also don't show up in the subscriptions, which makes it hard to interact with certain content creators.
My country mentioned 🇳🇱! All jokes aside: great video again. Good to hear we both have the same take on this subject. I like to give them some information on regional organizations, so they can already hook their characters to those. I also like to play a text-based mini session with every willing player that they can respond to at will. This mini plot leads them to the start of session 1 and gives them a chance to get a feel for their character. Definitely recommend it
I respectfully disagree. Before session zeroes, my campaigns (and the ones I was in without them) were more likely to have things come up that someone had issue with that would end up with the party making characters that other people at the table didn’t like/clashed inherently against. I don’t treat session zero just as setting expectations but for the whole party to have an idea, not everything, but an idea of everyone’s character concept. I also tend to add elements from each character to weave into the campaign, making their history the world’s history and like having at least a week to plan that stuff before the first session.
These vids are getting better and better, you two. This one is fab advice (clickbaity title aside, but hey it's youtube), and having recently followed the same process, I concur! In my current campaign we covered a few session-0 things around the table in the first session, but most of that was just finalising agreements we had started making in the group-chat. I also made some house-rule calls as DM and played through examples of them in that opening game, then immediately asked for feedback and agreement that we could use that rule or play-style. Hyping things up beforehand meant that everyone came in ready to roleplay in the very first scene, and we absolutely hit the ground running.
This is the channel, I was waiting for. There is so much info on DnD rules and technical understanding but so little on the immersive storytelling, player guidance and writing. I would really love to know how you prepare a new adventure. Do you write a rough story? Are there milestones? Do you prepare where player can find clues or improvise? How do you prepare the NPCs?
Love this radical idea. In one group we created a Discord channel called “Fireside Chat”. As when we are together we want to play the game and often times this doesn’t involve heavy role play because it’s the least of our favourite game style. So we came up with this fireside chat, where we have conversations as our characters in the channel. Worked great!
Shorts are the cheap entertainment stuff, but your channel has been providing such useful, crunchy note-worthy info that every time I find myself writing summaries. PLEASE don't let shorts come at the expense of the material; you guys are seriously producing banger after banger 🔥🔥🔥🔥
I 100% agree, I get session zero being super necessary for certain groups but you can just as effectively communicate what you need to over text! Also I have often forgotten to mention very important details or parts of sessions zeroes so this process is just more pragmatic.
I agree with getting things started away from the table, but also think that a short session zero time that takes 1-2 hours of the first session so you get everyone talking together is also important for collaborative ideas. So maybe a mix of these ideas. Loving your videos! Keep them coming!
I play over Discord, as I'm sure MANY of you do. When we start to get towards the end of our current game, whoever is DMing the next game creates posts for lore, character creation, tone, proposed homebrew, etc. This is usually a month or two ahead of time so we can adjust as we go. Writing this comment before watching to see how close we are.
@@nightdweller2902 my group also plays over discord. We've been having lots of issues transitioning between DMs so I can only imagine that increasing the tension vs having a definite start time for a new game setting. Having someone trying to wind down their game and the next up DM already openly prepping their game would be distracting I think.
@secretlyaslug2325 My group has been playing together for a long time. We're on our 3rd campaign, and the current DM has already stated that we'd finish before Christmas. We had decided earlier on that I would run the next game. We haven't even gotten to our yearly Christmas oneshot. We also have someone who runs oneshots whenever we are down players as to not progress major story threads without them. Hasn't ever been a problem for us.
Here we go, yet another thought-provoking video! For my current 8 player in-person campaign that just hit the one year milestone we approached the introduction similarly. Most of the announcements, teasers, polls and character creation happened asynchronously on Discord. In addition to that, I held an in-person presentation about the prompt, character creation guidelines, scheduling concept, house rules and a few quirks of the Star Wars themed 5e offshoot we are using. While that presentation could have happened online, it was a convenient opportunity to gather the full group for the first time, since we hadn't played in that constellation before. Oh and grabbing some snacks and drinks is always a plus. According to the feedback from my players, this was the right approach for them. Regarding RUclips shorts: I like short-form teasers that lead up to a linked long form video. Thank you for the awesome content, appreciate it
All of your videos have been consistently high quality and I’ve really enjoyed them! With that said, doing what an audience wants you to do rather than what you want to do is a dangerous path that often leads to burn out or loss of the soul of the channel. If you want to make YT shorts, if the idea makes you excited, then do it! If you do it only because the audience asks or because you believe it is the “right way” to have a RUclips channel, I’d counsel against it. People come for your passion and quality, so focus on doing what makes you excited!
Another video I just HAVE to watch, keep uploading Mystic Arts, I love your videos. Having watched the video: Very insightful video, for my session 0 I never thought to ask radical questions about topics I'm gonna use, so for future "session 0"s this is going to be useful. On shorts: I don't really watch a lot of shorts, I really love long form content, but if you can sum up topics and keep the content as useful and insightful as in normal videos, I think it would be a great idea.
Greetings from Germany and a big big shoutout to your (plural) videos! They are a great inspiration to me and make me think in different ways i used to. So thank you both, you and your girlfriend so much. According to your question: I prefer long vids with deeper thinking…especially on the RPG topic.
Love the tips. Getting ready to run my first Fate campaign and this is really solid advice. Fate already incorporates a session zero-esque process of group character creation, but this seems like it’ll really streamline the process (no players um-er ing while in character creation). Would’ve loved to see some examples of your PDFs; even just flashed up on the screen while you’re talking. You’re definitely one of my favorite new channels.
Hi Daði! I much prefer the long form videos. I think you guys are doing a great job packing these videos with useful and entertaining information and wish that you have a long and prosperous path ahead of you!
Hi, your videos are awesome. It’s really good to hear advice from someone who has actually studied game design and writing. I always look forward to your videos. Your channels gonna be big I can tell, keep up the good work!!
That's exactly what my group does! Glad to see other people do this too! We get really into character creation, even making full art of the characters before the campaign even starts sometimes! Our DM will have a private discord chat we call the "Whispers chats" where we 'whisper' to the DM about our character and that the DM can send us private things during games as well. We have extensive conversations about what our characters have done prior to campaign start and who they know and where they are. We do have something we call session 0 but it's usually a private session with 1 or 2 characters for us to get settled in the world and have a bit more context of what is happening and roleplay out some kinks before the real game starts. And these usually bring out some questions that we might have not thought to ask beforehand which is great!
I happened upon your channel last week while searching for 5 Room Dungeon inspiration. I had soon watched all of your videos. Great stuff so far. Your delivery definitely reminds me of Matt C which is a complement.
That’s how I’ve been doing it too. Most recently for Imperium Maledictum. I actually sat down with every player individually, giving them context, relevant lore nuggets and spoiler-free advice on what design choices probably wouldn’t be paying out short term, as they are going for a longer warp travel to begin with. As our real session zero we had an actual game night, which aimed to provide a video-game-like tutorial that got the newer players up to speed on the setting, the tone and the mechanics, while already playing at low stakes and with a reasonably clear path forward. Can’t wait to release them into the chaotic sandbox I have prepared for them.
Another great video. Thanks, Dadi and girlfriend (you should really introduce her too!). It's funny to think about session zero, being someone who's been playing DND since 1981. Our session zero was always, "I'll be a cleric; I'll be a fighter; I'll be the M-U". Everything is so produced nowadays. But I guess that's what happens when a game has evolved over 50 years. I think the one thing that I would add to this conversation is that S0 seems to be so loaded with expectations. How will my character fit in with the "theme"? How will my character gel with the other players' characters? What is my character's motivation? (Oh Lordy, we've all become actors now!) What I find is that the character I THINK I'm going to play, going into a campaign, ends up changing in pretty significant ways after I have a few sessions to get to know him. It's almost like the character's voice emerges through play, and this is something I think might get lost in S0 preparation.
First of all, I absolutely love you channel, it has been a great new finding! Thanks for all the great work you guys are doing! Regarding RUclips Shorts, I kinda like them and I will give you an example of a Spanish RUclips Channel that profited from them in a great way. Basically they only did Shorts with a very short (heh) topic like: "This right here is this type of armor", he explains a bit of that and then links the Short to a bigger video like "Interesting facts about Medieval armor that you probably didn't know". That RUclipsr showed up from nowhere like a year ago and now is sitting a bit over 800k subscribers.
One of the things I love about your vids is that it’s all stuff that long time, normal DMs -actually- do. Not fancy voice acting public session streamed DMs, but actual day to day DMs that have figured out the best ways to run. Session Zero as a session seems like it’s for Twitch. Character creation takes days, they’re a conversation, not a contractual event
In the process of preparing for a new campaign right now, new players and all! Your videos have been a delight to watch and have helped me to refocus my energy, even as I consider myself a veteran DM. Your advice is NOT just for the uninitiated, it's salient and well delivered. Thank you for sharing your passion, I only have notifications turned on for 2 channels and you're one of them
Man, I'm so lucky youtube recommended one of your vids to me like 2 weeks ago. Every day since you've been putting out quality content and I'm just so happy seeing your subscriber count rise by 1k every time I see something new from you. Keep going my friend, you'll make it far :) PS: Maybe a video about your home DnD setup could be nice? :D
Just ran session 1 of a campaign I've been planning for months, I used a few of your tips about scene rendering and it worked very well! Keep the good content coming, love you guys
Hey Dadi, thanks for the awesome video! I really appreciate the way your tips, tricks, and theory are immediately applicable to my own games. To answer your question, I personally don’t like RUclips Shorts for two reasons. First, they trick you into scrolling forever (instead of doing game prep😁), but more importantly, they only scratch the surface of the topic without any time for nuance or explanation, which I find lacking in a lot of discussions, but which you do really well. It would be a shame to lose that in the shorts. Again, thank you so much for creating these awesome videos!
First off, your videos are amazing. I found you like a week or two ago and realized your content is new!!! Amazing job with the videos and keeping up the great work. Second, I'd love to see a video on prepping NPCs. What information would you have written down to be able to rp an NPC well. I struggle with keeping in mind what information an NPC would know and tend to divulge too much if my players pressure them. As for shorts, I try to stay away, but I'd happily watch yours!
Just hit my 1-year of DM'ing. Mostly Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green, but we started our D&D campaign last weekend, and I just wanted to let you know that I've really enjoyed your content. Keep up the great work.
I knew you were icelandic. I’m Icelandic too, but in the US. I’m about to start running therapeutic DnD campaigns and your videos are so helpful for getting organized. Be well and thanks!
I think your videos are fantastic. I would say it would depend on what kind of shorts you do. I think short tidbits of advice or information would be great. Especially if its about a topic that doesn't need a full video. Maybe an adventure hook or plot point, a type of battle or event.
I think if you really want to grow this channel, RUclips shorts are a great idea. You guys are amazing and great and I’ve given me so many ideas on how to improve my dm style. Can’t wait to see what you guys make next.
The lightsaber arm at the end had me rewind and chuckle quite a few times. I am loving the videos you guys have put up so far. They have inspired many ideas for my campaign. For shorts I would think giving examples about an idea from a video would be great. It would invite people to watch the longer video. I think the examples shouldn't be directly from the video but in addition to it so it would give people like me a reason to watch your shorts.
It's always the "simplest" solutions you don't even consider, huh :D Session zero also tends to be stressful for me as the GM 'cause it's *one day* where you have to go through *everything*
Thanks for your great videos! I hate youtube shorts as a format but they do unfortunately help youtubers gain greater exposure, so I'd never begrudge you guys if you wanted to make some in addition to your longer videos.
YES to RUclips shorts. Bite-sized re-enacting of some wild or funny moments in D&D. Or re-enacting moments when you learned something tremendously useful as either a player or dungeon master.
Well, as someone who runs via VTT exclusively these days (hoping to get back to running IRL, eventually), I find it really useful to get my players into a VC to get to know each other before the first session. It's usually not too difficult to simply message people about the other things you mentioned, but I really like see how people are going to interact before the first session starts. As someone quite extraverted and pretty socially skilled relative to many in the PF1 community, I've found that many of them tend to have various issues with interpersonal communication, so managing personalities and identifying potential problems ahead of time is really useful. Probably not nearly as applicable for people like yourself who are successful, squared away professionals, but this hobby is full of...interesting characters. Testing their social skills and making sure they gel with one another in advance, at a minimum, is highly advised in most contexts.
Firstly, want to say your channel is fantastic and I've enjoyed every video, including this one! That said, maybe a nitpicky critique is that I'd argue this is still a session zero - you're just presenting it as a longer group chat conversation rather than a single evening hangout. Which, I agree, is great advice! It just smacks a bit of a clickbait title when I've heard you say you want to avoid that. Just my unsolicited thoughts, in the hopes they prove helpful to your future videos. Really excited for what's to come! As for RUclips Shorts, I think they're a great idea, as long as you're having fun and bringing your same authenticity! If they don't sound fun to you, then don't bother. A creator's passion (or lack thereof) will always shine through.
Hand-outs are essential to give to every player before a session zero, it does not mean you skip a session zero, it also does not mean you don't play at session zero. I like to get their characters background, discuss them with the players before session zero, and then at Session Zero take each player through a simultaneous one on one mini adventure to get them where they meet at the start of the adventure. This is also where I make sure to include any home brew content, so they can see how it works. It gives them some fun in actually playing plus seeing their styles and yours while providing them with any new rules. Remember this is a introduction you don't want to kill them before they get to the start of the adventure. Example: Player 1 is a wizard works at the library of mystical arts in the grand capital of the northern region. Player 2 is a paladin that is on shaky ground with the order of the blessed ones in a secluded monastery in the southern region. Player 3 is a rogue who works for a thieves guild called the open sky in a major trade port off the coast of the eastern region, (they have just scored a huge heist and the player character is wanting to lay low and avoid any questions or fall out.< < as per their background) I need them to get to the isle of tranquility off the shore of the north eastern most part of the main continent. Start: I could start with the wizard and have them be involved in a joint spell casting ritual with others, and have them make a series of arcane rolls (perhaps a new mechanic I am introducing for ritual casting), it does not matter if they succeed or fail either way, that leads them to being called into the grand Wizards office. Skip: To the paladin and have them training in the courtyard perhaps some new recruits as a punishment for their recent misguided deeds, another series of rolls (to introduce maybe positional damage during combat) the success or failure again doesn't matter and a messenger is yelling outside the gates demanding to speak with someone. being the highest ranking member in the courtyard their duty requires them to respond to anyone at the front gate. Skip: To the rogue, you are all gathered in the abandoned warehouse in the old dockyard, that has been abandoned and replaced with a bigger and more grand port set-up during the great war that ended 20 years earlier. The guild master is there and hands everyone a slip of paper to be read and then disposed of immediately after they leave. Perhaps they discuss their shares and I have them roll some dice (for a new negotiation mechanic) after all is said and done they leave, and open the note, it reads "The Valkyrie, leaving dock 6 in 30 minutes, meet contact there wearing a red feather and say the phrase, "the moon doesn't shine as bright as it used to". Make sure you know what the rogue does with the note. Skip: Back to the wizard when you enter the grand wizards office. Maybe here you introduce some oddities in the orders given and open another (home brew negotiation mechanic) Either way the rolls go they are being sent to deliver an urgent sealed message to the arcane studies professor of a library on the isle of tranquility nicknamed "The Light House". Skip: To Paladin the messenger that is making all the racket, demands the paladin takes the package from him, and says it is a rare reliquary that must be protected at all costs, they take it up stairs to the head of the order, and you guessed it, volunteers the paladin and a handful of others to escort the package to the isle of tranquility for fear of others coming to take it, he states that those on the isle are far more equipped to protect it, than they can Skip; The Rogue shortly after leaving the warehouse notices he is being shadowed, (this is where you maybe introduce a new chase mechanic) it does not matter if they make the rolls and evade their pursuers, or fail the rolls and get captured or knocked out. Irregardless they wind up on a ship heading north. It would be similar for all of them some may know ahead of time where they are going and others may not, a few hiccups and maybe a fight along the way, but this will all get them where the adventure starts while hyping the mood far more than any typing back and forth ever will.
Good to see that I'm not the only one thinking session zero is a "bad" solution to the problem haha, I do my prep exactly like that, talk to my players individually in the weeks leading to the campaign. I have found this helps build anticipation as well, dropping some sporadic bits of info here and there as the campaign dawns closer is better than dropping a massive chunk of info players will likely just skim over because it's 30 pages long, and then forget all about it during the time leading up to the start of the campaign To answer the outro question: Shorts are amazing for channel growth, but I personally don't like consuming them. I much rather a well-structured 10-20 minutes video
Your buddy Ívar should make his own campaign one shot where everyone has to play awakened cows with a desperate quest to cure their magical cow insomnia
Brilliantly put. As it happens, I ended up doing all this kind of by accident with my latest group before we started. I wanted to do a session zero, but I had been so efficient about getting all this information out to the players early to help them build their characters before we started, backstories and all. We were all ready to go before the first session, and session 0 became session 1!
Honestly, I agreed recently with Angry GM on safety tools. Using lists of requirements from players to GM 1. Radically expands type of stuff players are about to mark off just because they aren't sure about if they are ok with that 2. Puts unrealistic expectations on DM due to the list vastness. Approaching in person and in one-on-one conversation saying that you have a strong reaction to something is much more human and shows explicitly that you are asking for a favor from a DM. Because that is what it is: a favor. Just saying to my players "In terms of descriptions I run games like Game of Thrones minus all stuff related to intercourse" kinda solved all the problems and I think with lists my games would be just worse.
RUclips shorts are great way to gain more views. I personally like longer videos, but a lot of times I have found channels via shorts, so I think you should definately do it!
@@Mystic-Arts-DMbest application of short ive seen in blockyboxguy's sonic shorts. They take a snippit of the video, edit it to be made for shorts and then change the ending to say "more stuff like this in the full video click link in description". Something about it made him the only channel where i stopped watching shorts to go to the full videos.
RUclips shorts are a definite plus in building an audience as it gets your channel out there. Shorts are like the buffet table. They let you sample to see if you like something at minimal investment.
I did a "prequel". We had festival games and a minor encounter to get newer players accustomed to the format while doling out minor prizes to winners. It gave them a reason to be together and got them playing.
I’m a session zero guy, and I always will be. This is a fascinating take, and I honestly think only someone with your background as a writer/director could fully explore. It’s akin to the table read or the rehearsal, a concept whose importance a director would most definitely have an opinion on. And it’s a breath of fresh air for someone hoping to step into those shoes to know that there are options to fit your style or individual needs.
Insane take, can't believe you said all that aloud. Genuinely had no idea where you were gonna go with this but I once I watched, I gotta say, I think you are completely correct. Nice opinion piece, loved the practical tips, great video as always
Regarding RUclips Shorts, I don't really watch them. I'm trying to cut out screen time of mindlessly scrolling, so RUclips videos I watch are intentional and longform (not like, 4 hours, but usually from 5 minutes to an hour at most). Other than that, I love the channel! Talking about teasing out a game while you're preparing it instead of scheduling a session 0 has got me really excited to plan out my next campaign ❤ And I very much agree with what you said about safety tools. It's hard to just talk about your triggers in front of a group, especially if its with new people. Privately messaging your DM is a much better solution, especially if the DM shares with the the group anonymous list of what should be avoided.
The problem with RUclips Shorts is that I always want to hear more from you. A Short could be a standalone tease or BTS or annotation to a longer video, but there aren't many RPG topics I can think of that could be solidly addressed in a minute or less. I may absolutely be wrong, I mainly want you to know that you have immediately become one of the few channels I really look forward to. And for what it's worth, I'm a GenX forever-DM who lives in the the Northwoods of the American Midwest...so happy winter, and please wear more sensible shirts. ;) Edit: Also, your girlfriend's inclusions always make me smile. Gold.
I do this! It's an amazing way to hype the campaign and make a worldbuilding info dump in a digestible and fun way. I also run a session 0, but that's just because we use it to build the characters together and have a lighthearted gathering to ease ourselves into the routine of the campaign.
RUclips shorts are good for getting people to check out your channel - they might not watch a ten-minute video from someone they’ve never heard of, but can probably spare one minute. It’s definitely worth trying. Our game group doesn’t use Session Zero. During the final session of our last campaign, we discussed character creation for our new campaign, and our DM communicated some ground rules and followed up in our group chat. After that, each of us communicated via private Facebook messages to refine the character to fit into the DM’s world. He occasionally vetoed things, but mostly let us do what we wanted. It worked quite well.
I sort of did this with my new group. I started with an open ended questionnaire to get a sense of what kind of game everybody was interested in and get people thinking about game ideas. Things like "What is your favorite thing to do in a role playing game?" and "What do you hate doing in game?" as well as questions about setting and what level to start at. Through this I got the sense that most people were pretty new or hadn't played in a long time. Given this feedback, I decided to do a session 0 since I knew there would need to be a lot of guidance for character building.
Interesting timing on this topic. A month back I did a session zero with a group that I've been playing with for a few years. We're kicking off a new campaign using a new game, so I figured a session zero was the thing to do, so I did it. The experience felt a little flat. I think I'll take your advice next time around!
Thank you! For years that was my only way to prepare for the campaigns. Starting back in jabber times moving to skype and eventually to Telegram. But some ideas about marketing materials, handouts and the leading questions is a good one, I never thought about this!
I've done both in the same campaign, but I definitely feel the digital stuff is way more helpful than the actual session itself. I've also learned to keep my handouts down to a page.
This is exactly how I handled session zero before my newest campaign. I also had them do a short encounter with their characters to see if they actually wanted to play with their characters before committing.
Excellent ideas. We use Discord during a collaborative character creation process, but I will still use a short session 0 (or a couple of them to make scheduling easy). It gives my tables the opportunity to tell me not just what their lines and veils are but what each of them enjoys in a campaign. A player might decide the interests at the table are not really what they wanted and decide to leave, but that hasn't happened to date. Instead, they tend to adjust their expectations to give everyone, including the GM, some part of their personal joy. We roll a stat set that all players will use during their character creation. It also gives them an opportunity to run character ideas past the whole group if they want. If they are a strategic group, they often try to balance their coverage of capabilities across their characters. And it gives the players a chance to ask more detailed questions that are important to them about the campaign pitch, including a setting description, I give them initially when we connect about playing a campaign. Mostly a similar approach, I suspect. And you've convinced me to try to make the session 0 a remote meeting, so that there isn't travel time to get together just for a preamble. When we get together to play, we should play!
So I‘m about to run a one shot with 4/5 completely new to the game players. I basically plan on doing a session zero helping them to create their characters. In our group chat we already discussed the type of genre they would enjoy and I gave them a bit of inspiration in terms of what classes exist or what races to pick. So I think this will be a combination of both. The character creation will be way faster so we actually get to play the game on this session zero. Texting with your players beforehand definitely enhances the experience for everyone involved. For my experienced player campaign I would only text them individually talking about their character and how they would fit into my world and it worked splendidly, no session 0 needed. Communication is definitely key. A party will always be better when you now the occasion beforehand and what to expect. Good video 👍🏼
I love session zero, although the pre-campaign forum is a great alternative. I think session zero really shines in campaigns where the GM invites the players to help develop the setting. At the outset of a Chill campaign (modern investigative horror) I asked what mysteries and urban legends are known in the town where the PCs live. They came up with great stuff and I made sure to put a twist on each idea or connect them in unexpected ways. That kind of idea riffing is easier for me when everyone is together and can talk and share real time. I can see how for a story that’s more defined from the outset, an online hub for the pregame development would work really well.
I like to simply use E-Mail for a first campaign announcement. I think it's the best medium to convey a great amount of fundamental information to all my players, and the easiest to attach further documents to, like maps, charts, house rule lists etc. Of course, the E-Mail closes with an invitation to a direct conversation on Discord or Teamspeak to discuss details and individual questions. But in fact, in some way I always considered this to effectively be a Session Zero 😄
By sheer coincidence I did also just send out an Investment Questionnaire for a murder mystery adventure set in my homebrew world's version of Waterdeep. Here's what I sent out.
- What's your name?
- What's your job, and why do you do it? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it?
- What was your part in the Last War? In particular, on the Last Day, when the whole city was under attack?
- How do you feel about the city's ancient laws and customs? Are they outdated? Do they need to be changed? Or are these customs all that separate us from the likes of the Enemy?
- Do you have a side hustle? What do you do in your free time? Are you a member of a guild?
- They say Waterdeep is governed by a compromise of three factions: Guilds, Nobles, and Law (represented by the Lords of Waterdeep). Through which faction do you consider yourself most aligned?
Don't mind me, kindly stealing this
- Finch, the timid war centaur
- Fletcher (makes arrows), because adoptive father was one. Likes that it reminds him of the old man. Doesn't like that it makes weapons.
- Was busy passing out from blood loss, left arm went MIA. Got taken in by a druid in a far away forest and stayed there for ~20 years. / Wondered into an old man's hut, deep into some other forest. Became their companion and apprentice, until the man died from old age. / If neither of those fit the time frame, let's just say wandering. In short, I wasn't there.
- Just arrived (or almost arrived), only know what I've heard from travelers on the road.
- Yesn't. Carving wooden toys and figurines. No.
- Would like to get to know the crafting guilds and learn more skills.
PS: My job is also my class, a non-magical Atificer specialized in woodwork; expertise in arrow making.
The little secret is that my late adoptive dad left me a special prosthetic arm as a parting gift. There is a folding longbow in it. May or may not start the game, still looking for someone to attach it. May or may not have a free cast of goodberry (from the ~20 years spent with a druid part of the backstory), if the DM oks it.
TL;DR: We playin Sekiro, but as a centaur attempting a lawful good pacifist run, with many contradictions trying to stop him.
@@Alpha.Phenix Oh my god, they lost an ARM!
@@Mystic-Arts-DM At least they still have four hooves!
@@Alpha.Phenix omg I've never heard of a non-magical artificer before. That sounds amazing!
This channel popped up out of nowhere. I can really see the effort going in, from the release strategy of launching with 5 videos to the production value and considered, concise writing! Looking forward to where this channel is headed : )
Yeah he absolutely figured out the algorithm, and Im excited to see his channel grow!
Bonus points if you also run a mini-session for each individual player covering some or all of their backstory. That way they get to work out the kinks of how their character acts in conversation or otherwise, but without the pressure of potentially screwing up the party's first impression of their character.
This worked especially well for me in a campaign I've been running in the Destiny setting, where each of the player characters have been resurrected as Guardians - super-powered beings without their memories. We've seen the past lives of a few Guardians in the game, enough to understand that they still act pretty much the same post-resurrection even if they don't remember anything. Thus; having my players play out a few moments before and including their deaths allowed them to feel that history, meaning they immediately relate to the empty feeling their characters have because they don't remember anything.
I love running those sorts of games! My long-term on-going campaign started with 38 individual sessions with players either alone, or paired up, playing through whole adventures before meeting the full crew at Session 39. - Daði
It is sometimes very difficult to get people to agree to do this but it is an idea I like.
One of my GMs ran smaller sessions in pairs for us to hook us in and they were awesome. Pre-session 1 mini sessions are great
That is one of the things I've seen done okay but ultimately have never found it worth all the time it takes.
YO, man you are a godsend. to answer your question, I think RUclips shorts are the worst. They suck you in, and you lose hours of time endlessly scrolling through mostly crap, to find a funny or interesting clip. They are like cursed loot boxes of, mostly, nonsense. I decided to stop watching them all together.
@@Custos43 Just to hop in here, it has quite some downsides, but disabling watch history disables the Shorts and the Home. Took a small while to get used to, but man it saves me so much times and provides the essential 'does watching this help me/is it actually useful' moment.
Also, I feel like shorts wouldn't be very effective for this kind of channel, anyway. I love how he goes into depth with every topic and thoroughly explains them. With shorts, you just don't get the same type of content.
The life saver for me on this was installing uBlock and selecting the Shorts frames on the pages and having it block them from showing them to me haha!
@@Shampoo2024 It does? hang on I gotta go shut that off ASAP!
Agreed
As for the Shorts, I generally don't watch them, unless it's a topic that really interests me. I'd rather watch a complete detailed video.
I do both talking and session 0. Most of my campaigns, i talk with my players and have them come up with 3 high level concepts. Then with session 0 (sometimes done over discord) it is spent between the players deciding which archtypes they think would have interesting dynamics with, if anyone wants to have joint back stories. This gives the session 0 the feel as if they played a bit. This also means that they will have time to build secrets before the start of the campaign.
I think this is primarily a difference in dming style as well
I love session zero! With friends, it's a good excuse to bring them over, grab some drinks, talk about the setting, and steal their ideas. Plus, if you get a new person, you can check if they mesh well with your group and their sense of humor.
Yeah...but for the adults in us, we just want to play D n D. Time is premium once you grow up.
@@Jeffery_USBP I'm an adult and I value session 0 MORE than I did as a kid. Time is a premium once you grow up; why drag out the pre-game setup when you could knock it out in one fell swoop?
@@mbg4681 I do session 0 and Session 1 at same time. Hour for character creation, then we get right into the campaign.
As the man says....it's 2024. You can talk and get drinks with friends while playing. You can talk on the internet about everything you just mentioned, saving you a game session of doing nothing. And it's better to evaluate new players online...if they're weird there, they are probably going to be weird in your home.
I watch a lot of DM's advice on yt, and after a while i keep seeing different people talk about the same things and I feel like i don't learn a lot of new stuff nor do I challenge my way of thinking the game very often, but your channel is a breath of fresh air in this! I really like the way you guys choose rather original subjects or bring a new approach to some already talked about in length, as it is the case here! Well done and thank you!!!
(Also kinda unrelated but I love Nordic culture and i'm using Icelandic as the draconic-substitute in my homebrew setting haha)
I'm running my first campaign that is starting in February 2025 and these videos have been AWESOME.
Ey! Great job and good luck! - Daði
honestly, the most effective RUclips Shorts Ive seen are those that clip a single thought from a larger video and then has a link to that video in the description, like a teaser for the video. A few creators I subscribe to use that method:
- Matt Colville does it to recycle old videos that are still relevant
- Welch Labs uses it to build hype before releasing the video proper
- 3 Blue 1 Brown uses it to pose a question to the audience that is explored and answered in the video proper, etc
@@kadmii they are effective, but they're the worst when I'm already following the channel. They're hard to get rid of.
Caught you by the gods on your first set of vids, You're making an absolute lord level of content! And to answer your final question- I think shorts would be a terrible way to fully appreciate the wonderful amount of stuff that your teaching here on this platform
"When I put on this summer shirt to convince myself winter hasn't started yet" my god, same man hahaha. Video is great, really like your content
As long as I don't leave the house and never look outside a window, it'll work right? Right!? - Daði
@@Mystic-Arts-DM Haha true, though it is still warm enough here to go outside once in a while :) Hope your channel takes off, greetings from Belgium !
Thanks! That is not the case here, it's a blizzard outside at the moment! - Daði
5:03 I like putting simple syphers into artwork and posting that into the group chat as my only form of communiaction about new campaigns.
I want to first start off by saying I love your videos! And that their format and topics are awesome and can get creative juices flowing as a long time DM. So my response is just my perspective on this.
This idea works well for running one-shots or mini-campaigns, but I’ve found it less effective stand alone for long-term campaigns. The main issue? People don’t read.
No matter how detailed or concise my messages are, it often doesn’t matter if players don’t take the time to read them. For long-term games, I also need to ensure that my players can build good relationships with one another, since we’ll be spending a lot of time together. So, it's helpful to observe how they interact in voice as well as treat each other
Additionally, text posts can feel intimidating for new players. They might not be familiar with the established lingo of the game, which can make it harder for them to engage. Sitting down with everyone in person (or virtually) helps me assess where everyone stands in terms of experience, playstyle, and character interests. I don’t require them to fully create their characters in a Session 0, but we use that time to establish their ideas and roll stats. It also helps me if I have a new player to the game helping them build their character and help give suggestions on classes and races that fulfill their idea of a character.
If a player needs help creating a character or wants lore for their backstory, I find that talking through it is much more efficient than relying on text. Written messages can get buried in a group chat or misinterpreted, especially when there’s a lot of context to absorb. Plus, many people simply don’t have spare time to prep on their own. Setting aside dedicated time to work on characters ensures they can sit down, focus, and get it done.
Once again thank you for taking the time to make an awesome video! I will get off my soap box now 😆.
First off, just want to say I'm loving this channel. The videos you guys make are fun and informative, and I really enjoy your perspective on running the game.
As much as I enjoy what you're pitching here, it unfortinately doesn't work all that well for my group. We do have a shared Discord server to discuss the game between sessions, but participation is very hit-or-miss. I have one player who is willing to interact with me through Discord just about anytime, but we're all adults with varying levels of free time between sessions due to other obligations. For some members of my group, it can take several days to get a response to a simple question, and they may outright forget until the start of the next session.
A formal Session 0 is helpful for us because it's the only time I know for sure I have my players' full attention and commitment. We've carved out time specifically to sit down and discuss the game.
Definitely going to still keep some of these tips in mind moving forward though. I may find a use for them someday.
Thanks for everything you do, and keep up the good work!
P.S.: My summer shirt isn't doing anything to ward off winter either.
It really is a matter of doing what works for your group, specifically.
Awesome video, loving your guys' stuff. The two of you came out of nowhere and started making the best DND advice videos I've seen. Keep it up!
I don't watch shorts personally but understand they have become cornerstone of building a channel on RUclips. I would say make shorts that are clips from the long video but never make short exclusive content 😊
From our perspective it's you folks who came outta nowhere!
I was planning to comment to say just about the same thing. I know I am likely an odd one out, but I exclusively use desktop RUclips. Shorts just aren't optimized for it, and tend to get lost in the rest of the space. They also don't show up in the subscriptions, which makes it hard to interact with certain content creators.
My country mentioned 🇳🇱! All jokes aside: great video again. Good to hear we both have the same take on this subject. I like to give them some information on regional organizations, so they can already hook their characters to those.
I also like to play a text-based mini session with every willing player that they can respond to at will. This mini plot leads them to the start of session 1 and gives them a chance to get a feel for their character. Definitely recommend it
Sounds fun, I really love that sort of build-up and lead up. - Daði
You guys need a patreon! My friend and I love your content and want to support it
I respectfully disagree. Before session zeroes, my campaigns (and the ones I was in without them) were more likely to have things come up that someone had issue with that would end up with the party making characters that other people at the table didn’t like/clashed inherently against. I don’t treat session zero just as setting expectations but for the whole party to have an idea, not everything, but an idea of everyone’s character concept. I also tend to add elements from each character to weave into the campaign, making their history the world’s history and like having at least a week to plan that stuff before the first session.
These vids are getting better and better, you two. This one is fab advice (clickbaity title aside, but hey it's youtube), and having recently followed the same process, I concur! In my current campaign we covered a few session-0 things around the table in the first session, but most of that was just finalising agreements we had started making in the group-chat. I also made some house-rule calls as DM and played through examples of them in that opening game, then immediately asked for feedback and agreement that we could use that rule or play-style. Hyping things up beforehand meant that everyone came in ready to roleplay in the very first scene, and we absolutely hit the ground running.
This is the channel, I was waiting for. There is so much info on DnD rules and technical understanding but so little on the immersive storytelling, player guidance and writing. I would really love to know how you prepare a new adventure. Do you write a rough story? Are there milestones? Do you prepare where player can find clues or improvise? How do you prepare the NPCs?
Hahaha, that arm wave in the outro. 😆
Love this radical idea. In one group we created a Discord channel called “Fireside Chat”. As when we are together we want to play the game and often times this doesn’t involve heavy role play because it’s the least of our favourite game style. So we came up with this fireside chat, where we have conversations as our characters in the channel. Worked great!
The two of you do remarkable work.
Not a fan of Shorts. Rather hear solid content.
Love to see work on tying in Backstories.
Keep it up.
Shorts are the cheap entertainment stuff, but your channel has been providing such useful, crunchy note-worthy info that every time I find myself writing summaries. PLEASE don't let shorts come at the expense of the material; you guys are seriously producing banger after banger 🔥🔥🔥🔥
I 100% agree, I get session zero being super necessary for certain groups but you can just as effectively communicate what you need to over text! Also I have often forgotten to mention very important details or parts of sessions zeroes so this process is just more pragmatic.
7:52 lmao that SF
I agree with getting things started away from the table, but also think that a short session zero time that takes 1-2 hours of the first session so you get everyone talking together is also important for collaborative ideas. So maybe a mix of these ideas.
Loving your videos! Keep them coming!
I play over Discord, as I'm sure MANY of you do. When we start to get towards the end of our current game, whoever is DMing the next game creates posts for lore, character creation, tone, proposed homebrew, etc. This is usually a month or two ahead of time so we can adjust as we go. Writing this comment before watching to see how close we are.
Right on the money!
@@nightdweller2902 my group also plays over discord. We've been having lots of issues transitioning between DMs so I can only imagine that increasing the tension vs having a definite start time for a new game setting. Having someone trying to wind down their game and the next up DM already openly prepping their game would be distracting I think.
@secretlyaslug2325 My group has been playing together for a long time. We're on our 3rd campaign, and the current DM has already stated that we'd finish before Christmas. We had decided earlier on that I would run the next game. We haven't even gotten to our yearly Christmas oneshot. We also have someone who runs oneshots whenever we are down players as to not progress major story threads without them. Hasn't ever been a problem for us.
Exactly, we do the same. Being able to post images for the lore / background is a big plus.
2:27 "It's current year" lol
Here we go, yet another thought-provoking video! For my current 8 player in-person campaign that just hit the one year milestone we approached the introduction similarly. Most of the announcements, teasers, polls and character creation happened asynchronously on Discord. In addition to that, I held an in-person presentation about the prompt, character creation guidelines, scheduling concept, house rules and a few quirks of the Star Wars themed 5e offshoot we are using. While that presentation could have happened online, it was a convenient opportunity to gather the full group for the first time, since we hadn't played in that constellation before. Oh and grabbing some snacks and drinks is always a plus. According to the feedback from my players, this was the right approach for them. Regarding RUclips shorts: I like short-form teasers that lead up to a linked long form video. Thank you for the awesome content, appreciate it
Got on a random video that looked interesting and got surprised by very new channel with only absolute great videos!!! loving the content man
All of your videos have been consistently high quality and I’ve really enjoyed them! With that said, doing what an audience wants you to do rather than what you want to do is a dangerous path that often leads to burn out or loss of the soul of the channel. If you want to make YT shorts, if the idea makes you excited, then do it! If you do it only because the audience asks or because you believe it is the “right way” to have a RUclips channel, I’d counsel against it. People come for your passion and quality, so focus on doing what makes you excited!
Another video I just HAVE to watch, keep uploading Mystic Arts, I love your videos.
Having watched the video: Very insightful video, for my session 0 I never thought to ask radical questions about topics I'm gonna use, so for future "session 0"s this is going to be useful.
On shorts: I don't really watch a lot of shorts, I really love long form content, but if you can sum up topics and keep the content as useful and insightful as in normal videos, I think it would be a great idea.
Greetings from Germany and a big big shoutout to your (plural) videos! They are a great inspiration to me and make me think in different ways i used to. So thank you both, you and your girlfriend so much. According to your question: I prefer long vids with deeper thinking…especially on the RPG topic.
Love the tips. Getting ready to run my first Fate campaign and this is really solid advice. Fate already incorporates a session zero-esque process of group character creation, but this seems like it’ll really streamline the process (no players um-er ing while in character creation).
Would’ve loved to see some examples of your PDFs; even just flashed up on the screen while you’re talking.
You’re definitely one of my favorite new channels.
I've been a DM for 5 year but god your tips just revolutionazed my way of thinking about rpg, thanks a lot and please continue the good work
Hi Daði! I much prefer the long form videos. I think you guys are doing a great job packing these videos with useful and entertaining information and wish that you have a long and prosperous path ahead of you!
Love the longer format videos. Thanks for the great content!
THIS!
Exactly how I made (and am working thru) my first campaign! I keep asking ppl...why..not...just...talk to your players??
My new favorite channel. Love your content!!!
Hi, your videos are awesome. It’s really good to hear advice from someone who has actually studied game design and writing. I always look forward to your videos. Your channels gonna be big I can tell, keep up the good work!!
That's exactly what my group does! Glad to see other people do this too! We get really into character creation, even making full art of the characters before the campaign even starts sometimes! Our DM will have a private discord chat we call the "Whispers chats" where we 'whisper' to the DM about our character and that the DM can send us private things during games as well. We have extensive conversations about what our characters have done prior to campaign start and who they know and where they are.
We do have something we call session 0 but it's usually a private session with 1 or 2 characters for us to get settled in the world and have a bit more context of what is happening and roleplay out some kinks before the real game starts. And these usually bring out some questions that we might have not thought to ask beforehand which is great!
I happened upon your channel last week while searching for 5 Room Dungeon inspiration. I had soon watched all of your videos. Great stuff so far. Your delivery definitely reminds me of Matt C which is a complement.
That’s how I’ve been doing it too.
Most recently for Imperium Maledictum.
I actually sat down with every player individually, giving them context, relevant lore nuggets and spoiler-free advice on what design choices probably wouldn’t be paying out short term, as they are going for a longer warp travel to begin with.
As our real session zero we had an actual game night, which aimed to provide a video-game-like tutorial that got the newer players up to speed on the setting, the tone and the mechanics, while already playing at low stakes and with a reasonably clear path forward.
Can’t wait to release them into the chaotic sandbox I have prepared for them.
Another great video. Thanks, Dadi and girlfriend (you should really introduce her too!). It's funny to think about session zero, being someone who's been playing DND since 1981. Our session zero was always, "I'll be a cleric; I'll be a fighter; I'll be the M-U". Everything is so produced nowadays. But I guess that's what happens when a game has evolved over 50 years.
I think the one thing that I would add to this conversation is that S0 seems to be so loaded with expectations. How will my character fit in with the "theme"? How will my character gel with the other players' characters? What is my character's motivation? (Oh Lordy, we've all become actors now!) What I find is that the character I THINK I'm going to play, going into a campaign, ends up changing in pretty significant ways after I have a few sessions to get to know him. It's almost like the character's voice emerges through play, and this is something I think might get lost in S0 preparation.
We totally should introduce her too! Next video: girlfriend name reveal!
First of all, I absolutely love you channel, it has been a great new finding! Thanks for all the great work you guys are doing!
Regarding RUclips Shorts, I kinda like them and I will give you an example of a Spanish RUclips Channel that profited from them in a great way. Basically they only did Shorts with a very short (heh) topic like: "This right here is this type of armor", he explains a bit of that and then links the Short to a bigger video like "Interesting facts about Medieval armor that you probably didn't know".
That RUclipsr showed up from nowhere like a year ago and now is sitting a bit over 800k subscribers.
Your videos have been insightful and helpful!
One of the things I love about your vids is that it’s all stuff that long time, normal DMs -actually- do. Not fancy voice acting public session streamed DMs, but actual day to day DMs that have figured out the best ways to run.
Session Zero as a session seems like it’s for Twitch. Character creation takes days, they’re a conversation, not a contractual event
In the process of preparing for a new campaign right now, new players and all! Your videos have been a delight to watch and have helped me to refocus my energy, even as I consider myself a veteran DM. Your advice is NOT just for the uninitiated, it's salient and well delivered. Thank you for sharing your passion, I only have notifications turned on for 2 channels and you're one of them
Man, I'm so lucky youtube recommended one of your vids to me like 2 weeks ago. Every day since you've been putting out quality content and I'm just so happy seeing your subscriber count rise by 1k every time I see something new from you. Keep going my friend, you'll make it far :)
PS: Maybe a video about your home DnD setup could be nice? :D
We just filmed a video about the set-up we have, coming soon!
Just ran session 1 of a campaign I've been planning for months, I used a few of your tips about scene rendering and it worked very well! Keep the good content coming, love you guys
Hey Dadi, thanks for the awesome video! I really appreciate the way your tips, tricks, and theory are immediately applicable to my own games.
To answer your question, I personally don’t like RUclips Shorts for two reasons. First, they trick you into scrolling forever (instead of doing game prep😁), but more importantly, they only scratch the surface of the topic without any time for nuance or explanation, which I find lacking in a lot of discussions, but which you do really well. It would be a shame to lose that in the shorts.
Again, thank you so much for creating these awesome videos!
First off, your videos are amazing. I found you like a week or two ago and realized your content is new!!! Amazing job with the videos and keeping up the great work. Second, I'd love to see a video on prepping NPCs. What information would you have written down to be able to rp an NPC well. I struggle with keeping in mind what information an NPC would know and tend to divulge too much if my players pressure them. As for shorts, I try to stay away, but I'd happily watch yours!
I'm enjoying your content. I'm glad to have found your channel. Keep up the great work!
Just hit my 1-year of DM'ing. Mostly Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green, but we started our D&D campaign last weekend, and I just wanted to let you know that I've really enjoyed your content. Keep up the great work.
I knew you were icelandic. I’m Icelandic too, but in the US. I’m about to start running therapeutic DnD campaigns and your videos are so helpful for getting organized. Be well and thanks!
Takk fyrir!
I think your videos are fantastic. I would say it would depend on what kind of shorts you do. I think short tidbits of advice or information would be great. Especially if its about a topic that doesn't need a full video. Maybe an adventure hook or plot point, a type of battle or event.
*smacks table* THANK YOU!!
I saw your video on 5 room dungeons and immediately subscribed. I really like the way you present your content. Keep it up mate
I think if you really want to grow this channel, RUclips shorts are a great idea. You guys are amazing and great and I’ve given me so many ideas on how to improve my dm style. Can’t wait to see what you guys make next.
The lightsaber arm at the end had me rewind and chuckle quite a few times. I am loving the videos you guys have put up so far. They have inspired many ideas for my campaign. For shorts I would think giving examples about an idea from a video would be great. It would invite people to watch the longer video. I think the examples shouldn't be directly from the video but in addition to it so it would give people like me a reason to watch your shorts.
It's always the "simplest" solutions you don't even consider, huh :D
Session zero also tends to be stressful for me as the GM 'cause it's *one day* where you have to go through *everything*
Thanks for your great videos! I hate youtube shorts as a format but they do unfortunately help youtubers gain greater exposure, so I'd never begrudge you guys if you wanted to make some in addition to your longer videos.
YES to RUclips shorts.
Bite-sized re-enacting of some wild or funny moments in D&D. Or re-enacting moments when you learned something tremendously useful as either a player or dungeon master.
You really do quality stuff, I enjoy watching your videos!
Great channel. Looking forward to more.
Exactly how I prefer to run my beginning campaigns!
Well, as someone who runs via VTT exclusively these days (hoping to get back to running IRL, eventually), I find it really useful to get my players into a VC to get to know each other before the first session. It's usually not too difficult to simply message people about the other things you mentioned, but I really like see how people are going to interact before the first session starts. As someone quite extraverted and pretty socially skilled relative to many in the PF1 community, I've found that many of them tend to have various issues with interpersonal communication, so managing personalities and identifying potential problems ahead of time is really useful. Probably not nearly as applicable for people like yourself who are successful, squared away professionals, but this hobby is full of...interesting characters. Testing their social skills and making sure they gel with one another in advance, at a minimum, is highly advised in most contexts.
Firstly, want to say your channel is fantastic and I've enjoyed every video, including this one! That said, maybe a nitpicky critique is that I'd argue this is still a session zero - you're just presenting it as a longer group chat conversation rather than a single evening hangout. Which, I agree, is great advice! It just smacks a bit of a clickbait title when I've heard you say you want to avoid that. Just my unsolicited thoughts, in the hopes they prove helpful to your future videos. Really excited for what's to come!
As for RUclips Shorts, I think they're a great idea, as long as you're having fun and bringing your same authenticity! If they don't sound fun to you, then don't bother. A creator's passion (or lack thereof) will always shine through.
Hand-outs are essential to give to every player before a session zero, it does not mean you skip a session zero, it also does not mean you don't play at session zero.
I like to get their characters background, discuss them with the players before session zero, and then at Session Zero take each player through a simultaneous one on one mini adventure to get them where they meet at the start of the adventure.
This is also where I make sure to include any home brew content, so they can see how it works. It gives them some fun in actually playing plus seeing their styles and yours while providing them with any new rules.
Remember this is a introduction you don't want to kill them before they get to the start of the adventure.
Example:
Player 1 is a wizard works at the library of mystical arts in the grand capital of the northern region.
Player 2 is a paladin that is on shaky ground with the order of the blessed ones in a secluded monastery in the southern region.
Player 3 is a rogue who works for a thieves guild called the open sky in a major trade port off the coast of the eastern region, (they have just scored a huge heist and the player character is wanting to lay low and avoid any questions or fall out.< < as per their background)
I need them to get to the isle of tranquility off the shore of the north eastern most part of the main continent.
Start:
I could start with the wizard and have them be involved in a joint spell casting ritual with others, and have them make a series of arcane rolls (perhaps a new mechanic I am introducing for ritual casting), it does not matter if they succeed or fail either way, that leads them to being called into the grand Wizards office.
Skip:
To the paladin and have them training in the courtyard perhaps some new recruits as a punishment for their recent misguided deeds, another series of rolls (to introduce maybe positional damage during combat) the success or failure again doesn't matter and a messenger is yelling outside the gates demanding to speak with someone. being the highest ranking member in the courtyard their duty requires them to respond to anyone at the front gate.
Skip:
To the rogue, you are all gathered in the abandoned warehouse in the old dockyard, that has been abandoned and replaced with a bigger and more grand port set-up during the great war that ended 20 years earlier. The guild master is there and hands everyone a slip of paper to be read and then disposed of immediately after they leave.
Perhaps they discuss their shares and I have them roll some dice (for a new negotiation mechanic) after all is said and done they leave, and open the note, it reads "The Valkyrie, leaving dock 6 in 30 minutes, meet contact there wearing a red feather and say the phrase, "the moon doesn't shine as bright as it used to". Make sure you know what the rogue does with the note.
Skip:
Back to the wizard when you enter the grand wizards office. Maybe here you introduce some oddities in the orders given and open another (home brew negotiation mechanic)
Either way the rolls go they are being sent to deliver an urgent sealed message to the arcane studies professor of a library on the isle of tranquility nicknamed "The Light House".
Skip:
To Paladin the messenger that is making all the racket, demands the paladin takes the package from him, and says it is a rare reliquary that must be protected at all costs, they take it up stairs to the head of the order, and you guessed it, volunteers the paladin and a handful of others to escort the package to the isle of tranquility for fear of others coming to take it, he states that those on the isle are far more equipped to protect it, than they can
Skip;
The Rogue shortly after leaving the warehouse notices he is being shadowed, (this is where you maybe introduce a new chase mechanic) it does not matter if they make the rolls and evade their pursuers, or fail the rolls and get captured or knocked out. Irregardless they wind up on a ship heading north.
It would be similar for all of them some may know ahead of time where they are going and others may not, a few hiccups and maybe a fight along the way, but this will all get them where the adventure starts while hyping the mood far more than any typing back and forth ever will.
Good to see that I'm not the only one thinking session zero is a "bad" solution to the problem haha, I do my prep exactly like that, talk to my players individually in the weeks leading to the campaign. I have found this helps build anticipation as well, dropping some sporadic bits of info here and there as the campaign dawns closer is better than dropping a massive chunk of info players will likely just skim over because it's 30 pages long, and then forget all about it during the time leading up to the start of the campaign
To answer the outro question: Shorts are amazing for channel growth, but I personally don't like consuming them. I much rather a well-structured 10-20 minutes video
I think if you know your players already that this is 100% the way to do this.
Your buddy Ívar should make his own campaign one shot where everyone has to play awakened cows with a desperate quest to cure their magical cow insomnia
I'll forward that to him. Make sure he gets started on that Delilah adventure!
I appreciate so much this format of videos that i both:
- think that i prefer your long videos
- I'm curios how good shorts made by you two might be
Brilliantly put. As it happens, I ended up doing all this kind of by accident with my latest group before we started. I wanted to do a session zero, but I had been so efficient about getting all this information out to the players early to help them build their characters before we started, backstories and all. We were all ready to go before the first session, and session 0 became session 1!
iceland represent!
Also, ran a semi-random 5 room dungeon on a whim for a visiting college buddy and it was awesome!
That's awesome!
Honestly, I agreed recently with Angry GM on safety tools.
Using lists of requirements from players to GM
1. Radically expands type of stuff players are about to mark off just because they aren't sure about if they are ok with that
2. Puts unrealistic expectations on DM due to the list vastness.
Approaching in person and in one-on-one conversation saying that you have a strong reaction to something is much more human and shows explicitly that you are asking for a favor from a DM. Because that is what it is: a favor.
Just saying to my players "In terms of descriptions I run games like Game of Thrones minus all stuff related to intercourse" kinda solved all the problems and I think with lists my games would be just worse.
I agree with Angry on most stuff ttrpg stuff, though.
RUclips shorts are great way to gain more views. I personally like longer videos, but a lot of times I have found channels via shorts, so I think you should definately do it!
Yeah, I'm the exact same. Wondering how to strike that balance. - Daði
@@Mystic-Arts-DMbest application of short ive seen in blockyboxguy's sonic shorts. They take a snippit of the video, edit it to be made for shorts and then change the ending to say "more stuff like this in the full video click link in description". Something about it made him the only channel where i stopped watching shorts to go to the full videos.
RUclips shorts are a definite plus in building an audience as it gets your channel out there. Shorts are like the buffet table. They let you sample to see if you like something at minimal investment.
I did a "prequel". We had festival games and a minor encounter to get newer players accustomed to the format while doling out minor prizes to winners. It gave them a reason to be together and got them playing.
Just realized I don't remember the last time I did a session zero because having a continuous conversation throughout the week is just so much better.
I’m a session zero guy, and I always will be. This is a fascinating take, and I honestly think only someone with your background as a writer/director could fully explore. It’s akin to the table read or the rehearsal, a concept whose importance a director would most definitely have an opinion on. And it’s a breath of fresh air for someone hoping to step into those shoes to know that there are options to fit your style or individual needs.
Insane take, can't believe you said all that aloud. Genuinely had no idea where you were gonna go with this but I once I watched, I gotta say, I think you are completely correct. Nice opinion piece, loved the practical tips, great video as always
I think of this as async session 0. Its very similar to the good parts of session 0, but without actually needing to all get together
Regarding RUclips Shorts, I don't really watch them. I'm trying to cut out screen time of mindlessly scrolling, so RUclips videos I watch are intentional and longform (not like, 4 hours, but usually from 5 minutes to an hour at most).
Other than that, I love the channel! Talking about teasing out a game while you're preparing it instead of scheduling a session 0 has got me really excited to plan out my next campaign ❤
And I very much agree with what you said about safety tools. It's hard to just talk about your triggers in front of a group, especially if its with new people. Privately messaging your DM is a much better solution, especially if the DM shares with the the group anonymous list of what should be avoided.
PLZ no shorts keep up the long and high quality content structure…❤
Amazing advice as always!
The problem with RUclips Shorts is that I always want to hear more from you. A Short could be a standalone tease or BTS or annotation to a longer video, but there aren't many RPG topics I can think of that could be solidly addressed in a minute or less. I may absolutely be wrong, I mainly want you to know that you have immediately become one of the few channels I really look forward to.
And for what it's worth, I'm a GenX forever-DM who lives in the the Northwoods of the American Midwest...so happy winter, and please wear more sensible shirts. ;)
Edit: Also, your girlfriend's inclusions always make me smile. Gold.
I do this! It's an amazing way to hype the campaign and make a worldbuilding info dump in a digestible and fun way.
I also run a session 0, but that's just because we use it to build the characters together and have a lighthearted gathering to ease ourselves into the routine of the campaign.
RUclips shorts are good for getting people to check out your channel - they might not watch a ten-minute video from someone they’ve never heard of, but can probably spare one minute. It’s definitely worth trying.
Our game group doesn’t use Session Zero. During the final session of our last campaign, we discussed character creation for our new campaign, and our DM communicated some ground rules and followed up in our group chat. After that, each of us communicated via private Facebook messages to refine the character to fit into the DM’s world. He occasionally vetoed things, but mostly let us do what we wanted. It worked quite well.
I sort of did this with my new group. I started with an open ended questionnaire to get a sense of what kind of game everybody was interested in and get people thinking about game ideas. Things like "What is your favorite thing to do in a role playing game?" and "What do you hate doing in game?" as well as questions about setting and what level to start at. Through this I got the sense that most people were pretty new or hadn't played in a long time. Given this feedback, I decided to do a session 0 since I knew there would need to be a lot of guidance for character building.
Interesting timing on this topic. A month back I did a session zero with a group that I've been playing with for a few years. We're kicking off a new campaign using a new game, so I figured a session zero was the thing to do, so I did it. The experience felt a little flat. I think I'll take your advice next time around!
Thank you! For years that was my only way to prepare for the campaigns. Starting back in jabber times moving to skype and eventually to Telegram. But some ideas about marketing materials, handouts and the leading questions is a good one, I never thought about this!
I've done both in the same campaign, but I definitely feel the digital stuff is way more helpful than the actual session itself. I've also learned to keep my handouts down to a page.
This is exactly how I handled session zero before my newest campaign. I also had them do a short encounter with their characters to see if they actually wanted to play with their characters before committing.
Excellent ideas. We use Discord during a collaborative character creation process, but I will still use a short session 0 (or a couple of them to make scheduling easy). It gives my tables the opportunity to tell me not just what their lines and veils are but what each of them enjoys in a campaign. A player might decide the interests at the table are not really what they wanted and decide to leave, but that hasn't happened to date. Instead, they tend to adjust their expectations to give everyone, including the GM, some part of their personal joy.
We roll a stat set that all players will use during their character creation. It also gives them an opportunity to run character ideas past the whole group if they want. If they are a strategic group, they often try to balance their coverage of capabilities across their characters. And it gives the players a chance to ask more detailed questions that are important to them about the campaign pitch, including a setting description, I give them initially when we connect about playing a campaign.
Mostly a similar approach, I suspect. And you've convinced me to try to make the session 0 a remote meeting, so that there isn't travel time to get together just for a preamble. When we get together to play, we should play!
So I‘m about to run a one shot with 4/5 completely new to the game players. I basically plan on doing a session zero helping them to create their characters. In our group chat we already discussed the type of genre they would enjoy and I gave them a bit of inspiration in terms of what classes exist or what races to pick. So I think this will be a combination of both. The character creation will be way faster so we actually get to play the game on this session zero. Texting with your players beforehand definitely enhances the experience for everyone involved. For my experienced player campaign I would only text them individually talking about their character and how they would fit into my world and it worked splendidly, no session 0 needed. Communication is definitely key. A party will always be better when you now the occasion beforehand and what to expect. Good video 👍🏼
I love session zero, although the pre-campaign forum is a great alternative. I think session zero really shines in campaigns where the GM invites the players to help develop the setting. At the outset of a Chill campaign (modern investigative horror) I asked what mysteries and urban legends are known in the town where the PCs live. They came up with great stuff and I made sure to put a twist on each idea or connect them in unexpected ways. That kind of idea riffing is easier for me when everyone is together and can talk and share real time. I can see how for a story that’s more defined from the outset, an online hub for the pregame development would work really well.
This is pretty much all the stuff I'd expect from a session zero, without the effort of wrangling the dice goblins. I prefer it.
I like to simply use E-Mail for a first campaign announcement. I think it's the best medium to convey a great amount of fundamental information to all my players, and the easiest to attach further documents to, like maps, charts, house rule lists etc. Of course, the E-Mail closes with an invitation to a direct conversation on Discord or Teamspeak to discuss details and individual questions.
But in fact, in some way I always considered this to effectively be a Session Zero 😄