I'm fairly new to dnd, and newer as a dm, but I would like to add a... better for some?/different explanation for a dms job. It's their job to challenge and "lose" to their players, as long as the challenge is fun.
Just ask them! Asking for feedback is the best thing to do if you're worrying. And also, the fact that you worry about this means you're being a good DM.
The question to ask yourself is: Am I creating an environment where fun can be had by all my players? Sometimes people will just be having an off night, or they’ll have things going on that are out of your control, so whether or not they’re having fun isn’t ultimately up to you. That being said, you can definitely do things like asking players at the end of a session for things they liked (Stars) and things they’d like to see (or see more of) in future sessions (Wishes) at the end of each session. Additionally, use those backstories, families, friends, and other NPCs that character backstories give you, and look at the spells, skills, equipment, and abilities that the players choose at level up and try and tailor bits of your adventures to let those aspects of their characters shine! Also look for weaknesses in their characters to occasionally exploit and challenge them! You’re in control, so you can make those moments happen. And it’s fun!
I'm a new GM and yes, I worry about this constantly. My last session one of my players actually said, "I wasn't having fun," this is like the 15th-20th session, so 1 out of 15-20, that's not bad right? Him and his wife checked out early, I was devastated, but we were all having off days. Both our wives were having bad days (mine didn't even join) one of the players had food-poisoning, and one player was just talking over everybody. It was just a bad day for all haha, you're going to have bad games, or bad sessions.
Yup everyone is a human with their own unique emotions day to day. Not all bad moods are the gms fault, but the gm should do due diligence and at least ask if everyone is feeling good, and having fun! If not, maybe its time to play something else for that day, or just take a ten minute break and talk to whoever isnt having a good day and see if theres anything you can do
I homebrew specifically when players ask for it. For instance, a player wanted to be able to haggle with npcs instead of paying a static price, so I created a whole system that he loved. But that was an add on to the game, not a replacement for a rule. I think homebrew that adds onto the game makes it way better, like a DLC for that player
Ref the Armor Class, I've always thought "Meets It, Beats It." was easy enough to remember. I can see a place for "Glancing Blows", but that sounds *more* complicated, not *less* to me! :) Loved this video - Both parts! :)
I love that mnemonic, too! I'm taking it, if you don't mind. I kind of like the "glancing blows," bit, but I think that should be more narrative, for when the PC rolls just below the AC. AC is 17, and PC rolls 16? "You strike a glancing blow, but his armor is strong enough that he notices it, but does not actually feel any pain." Or, for unarmored people, "You slice a ribbon off her wizard's robe, but make no contact with actual flesh," followed by, "HEY! Do you know how expensive this robe was?! It's not off-the-rack, you know!"
@@AuntLoopy123, writes of a wizard that just had their robe damaged by a glancing blow _"followed by, "HEY! Do you know how expensive this robe was?! It's not off-the-rack, you know!""_ Followed by "What kind of lame-assed wizard are you that you don't know _Mend?"_
I've played as a player, but never DM'd before. I've put together a tutorial-esque one shot for a few friends who've never touched a d20 before and am pretty nervous to run it, but both of these videos have helped ease that TREMENDOUSLY, especially seeing that I'm already on the right mindset. Thank you both so much for doing this 💚
Loved the point about homebrewing for simplicity, and Luke’s point about getting 20% of the way their for 80% of the return! But Luke, I gotta know what made you so afraid of homebrew! 😆 I find it is much easier to learn by homebrewing, failing, and correcting, than reading hundreds of pages of core rules before you get going!
Please bring out them Intermediate and advanced DM collaborations/videos! I feel like Luke really got a lot of insight and new perspective from this collaboration. Huge fan of both channels, thank you so much, you beautiful home-brew wizard!
In my current game our DM doesn't do any voices at all. He is fantastic at everything else. We have had great fun for the last 3yr and haven't noticed the lack of voices a bit.
I really like the idea of having a DM that's all about HB and one that is not in favor of such. It really made an interesting conversation I even believe they found that middle ground when it came to the uses of HB. Which is nice.
Dude, and they said Avengers Infinity War was the best cross over. Amazing Video, and Dungeon Coach, I saw your eyes shine when you was talking about seeing Luke's videos back than and don't pretend you didn't because I know, I felt it with you...
Almost every session of D&D involves players performing actions which are not well defined in the handbook. A good DM should take a creative and reasonable sounding action like this and try to provide a mini-system that gives the player's action a chance to work. For example: what if the enemy is trying to break down a door and your druid asks to cast Entangle on the door, to reinforce it with thick, tough vines. The spell doesn't say anything about what would happen. What do you do as the DM? You probably let them cast the spell, and on the fly you come up with some number to raise the DC of the Strength check to break through the door. Maybe it involves an Arcana or Nature check to see how well your player "bends" the spell beyond its typical use. That is homebrew! Right there! Maybe it is a homebrew system that only ever gets used once in the whole campaign, but it is still homebrew that you came up with!
First time I've watched your content, and I love it! I especially love the rule about deliberate practice DURING a session. That one really got me thinking. Can't wait to watch more!
You may have issues so judgementally dismissing the commonly given advice that the DM is another player, especially when you follow up by supporting the "Players win, DMs lose" dynamic that is so often treated as a detrimental mindset these days. Many go through great lengths to try to impart the lesson that nobody should be playing to "win DnD" on either side of table. Win encounters, sure. Win DnD? Not so much. The idea the DM is a player is most often paired with the idea that the game is collaborative storytelling where characters might win and lose but the humans pulling the strings don't. It's all in service of the unpredictable drama inherent to role-playing games. Additionally, the framing of the DM as a player is to affirm to DMs that their needs and their fun is just as valid as the needs and fun of the players running PCs. It's not intended to undermine the responsibility of the asymmetrical gameplay involved in playing the role of the entire World and it's inhabitants.
I feel like I agree with everything you said, but I dont think Luke has a toxic mind set about it. I think everyone describes what they think of the dynamic in their own way. I see where you are saying some parts could lead to a bad dynamic though if it gets out of hand
@@TheDungeonCoach Yes, very fair. The challenge is avoiding accidentally creating soundbites that appear dismissive or seem to support toxicity on a surface level. Professionals like yourself do very well to practice diligence and care when framing your messaging but of course nobodies perfect. That said, it's not like the points that were made aren't legit, sound advice and your content is quality as always so I'm looking forward to more collabs in the future!
Agreed. I think this could have been worded much better. Like the title of the video says “new” gms so i get where theyre coming from… but just no. Their mentality would fit something like dnd 4e but not an actual story based game. It might just be too advanced of a concept for this video
Yay. I need this. Im only 2 sessions into my first campaign and I definitely want to get better for my own satisfaction and more so for the benefit of my players
Improv classes is great of making you a better DM. Not only do you getter better at improvisation but I also makes you better at telling a story togeather with other people.
A great way of training between sessions is to get the Solo Adventurers Handbook and run games for yourself, allowing you to practice improvisation, thinking in character, roleplay, running combats, and getting a sense for how strong different player characters and monsters actually are.
I use 3 homebrew rules at my table, we have a system for crafting literally anything players can think of. This way they can make armour out of defeated monsters and can build their own home. The second homebrew rule is your travel system. And the third rule is a system conversion so we can run 100 vs 100 battles without spending 12 hours on a single battle. This is done by using OnePageRules Age of Fantasy for the battle with simplified statsheets. We only used the system once in our current level 1 - 5 campaign.
I am watching both channels.I found a lot of videos with tips .I realky appreciate them.It empowers my confidence to try it.I haven't had a lit of experience being a dm yet.
I totally disagree about the dm not being a player, they are. Yes they have a different goal but they are still there to roll dice and have fun with their mates. And the leadership of the group, the attitude to the group, the social responsibility is the groups.
I've been watching Luke for a good minute, this video introduced me to you, love your content I do alot of home brew in my campaign. You gained a new sub today.
As of December 14, 2021, I've played 9,400 hours of video games online (sims, strategy, RPG games). I also read alot of DM, watch alot of yours and other dungeon masters content. I watch movies and tv shows that would be great inspirations for Dnd content.
Whatching YT-videos on GM-ing tipps helpt me out a lot. Even after 25 years of GM-ing there is always more to learn. And isnt that part of the fun? What only frustrates me is that my players (most of the time) dont think about the hobby until they are sitting at the table and the game starts. There are some "how to be a better player"-videos. For example on the "how to be a great GM"-Channel, but there is not much the internet offers on the topic. On Lukes comment "a DM is not a player": that may be right for D&D but for many other TTRPGs its possibble to view it that way that the GM is playing the game, so he (or she) is a player too.
My home-brew rules (so far): I'm not fussed about inventory and weight allowances/limits. If you start carrying corpses around (you know, those "bring the body to the temple so they can be resurrected" quests) then you'd better have a bag of holding, and THOSE hold only 500 pounds, so you can't carry more than three dead bodies in one bag, but for general stuff, I'm not too fussed about it. No living beings in a bag of holding, though. We have enough to track, anyway. Also, there's a party inventory, that one person is in charge of tracking, and they can dole out stuff, as they wish, but if they want to take a potion in the middle of battle, they'll have to have it in their own personal inventory at the beginning of battle. Basically, I am playing fast and loose with inventory because I Can't Be Bothered. That will probably change in my next campaign, once we've had a full campaign to get used to playing, but for the first game, I'm focusing on all the other play rules. One of the players is assigned to keep the official journal for the adventure. Not the person in charge of keeping track of the loot and party inventory. One person per job. Due to physical needs of multiple players, anyone may call a pause at any time, including in the middle of battle (although I like to at least get to the end of the round), and no time limits on turns. Nobody gets rushed. However, if I want to add some tension to a battle, with a time limit, then I will limit the number of rounds before The Thing happens. This rule means that it's Family Only (because no way would I inflict that on Adventure League players). And yes, we have ended a session in the middle of battle, due to someone having to go home right then. That is why God invented sticky stuff to put the markers on the maps. Natural 20 is a critical success, and succeeds, regardless of DC. If it's supposed to be impossible, I just won't let them roll, in the first place. Likewise, Natural 1 is a critical failure (never deadly, but as funny as I can make it in the moment, like a face-plant in some mud, or some such), and if I don't want them to even be able to fail, I don't have them roll. A critical success on an attack doubles the damage dice, meaning you roll for damage, double the amount on the dice that you rolled, and then add modifiers. Level up gives you your full amount of possible hit points. But I do roll HP for the monsters, for variety. I like the rule for taking a potion as a bonus action, but pouring it down another character's throat is a full action. And it hasn't come up in one of our sessions, yet, but my brother pulled it on me in his D&D game: If you can't see the attack coming, you can't block it. Yeah, I was so proud that I had Shield prepared, for when his wizard cast Magic Missile, but according to the battle map, I was looking the wrong way, and the angle was all wrong, and I didn't see it coming, so how could I react in time? Makes sense. My wizard was all kinds of ticked off, but I got a chuckle out of it, as the player. The biggest house rule is: If it makes sense, the answer is Yes.
I use two homebrew full time: Critical Hits are max weapon DMG + 1 weapon DMG roll. This way you don't end up with a crit that rolls for less damage than a normal hit. Makes crits feel so much more exciting to roll. Potions on self as a bonus action. I wrestled with this one because of the time each round/turn is meant take verse imagining this person slamming a potion AND swinging an axe a bunch of times. Ultimately, though, I sided with the improved 'feel good' of not having your whole potion use wasted because you get bopped.
This is great thanks! I was wondering if you would do a video with respect to the 80/20 rule … for example what would be 20% of rules that come up 80% of the time because the DM guide can feel very overwhelming
The maximum amount of individual monster types I've managed to run on my own was four: a Skull Lord, necromancers, blackguards and flameskulls. I think it went pretty well. Didn't forget anything, kept ontop of the legendary actions/resistances, and overall had a good fight. (Had to bump up the hitpoints for the Skull Lord tho, because the paladin almost took it down in one round.)
For death saving throws, my group didn't have a healer but we had a paladin with lay hands. During a fight with a monster that had an AOE attack that could incap a failed throw, the entire group walked over the downed sorcerer with a failed death save to engage the monster with everyone instead of picking up the sorc. As a player I was like....but why. My wannabe DM mind was like, this has to go. They aren't feeling the urgency of someone being downed.
Had a similair experience to Luke. I replaced Roc in Curse of Strahd with a Silver Dragon Dracolich, he had stats of official Dracolich but with breath weapons changed. Which was a msitake because terrifying presence + paralyzing breath + tail attack equals most of the party paralyzed, on the ground. They had Mad Mage, Kasimir, Victor and Geoffrey with them and it was still a near TPK with all NPC throwing death saves, two PCs finishing the dragon while having each single digit HP and their main DPS just standing there, paralyzed the whole fight. It would be a TPK if I didn't forget dracoliches have an advantage on saving throws against spells.
I enjoyed this very much! I've been watching you both for some time. How do I keep chatter down at the table? I've spoken with this individual who usually instigates this, but they're just excited to be there with friends and hang out. It's distracting for me and for the other players. It also happens sitting intense or narratively critical scenes and takes us out of the moment. The chatty player was absent last session and someone made the comment that "wow, we've gotten a lot done this session, how is it only been an hour?" and it was because that player was gone. They have a good heart, they're just distracting and slowing progress.
The ninth tip just remembered me that one of my players recently announced that he’s willing to try dming a short campaign he homebrewed... too bad he changed like EVERY SINGLE rule that he laid his hands on. He basically created a complete new (not-so-well-functioning) game system. Like, not even the ability checks works the same as before... I really don’t know how to tell him how much he’s disturbing the fragile ecosystem that the rules are trying to keep in balance (that’s actually not true, I am more worried about the fact that nobody really wants to play that kind of game system... He messed up, but at the same time I know he’ll feel sorry for not receiving the enthusiasm that he expects)
Had to stop watching part way through because the value in this video is so much that I really need to take notes, not be trying to clean while I listen. I love this and speaking from my personal growth journey (books, mentors, presentations, etc.) A whole lot of what's talked about here are principles and thought processes that are applicable to nearly all facets of life. This is top notch content and I think Dungeon Coach is going to go far in his endeavors with a heart (and mind)like this.
My favorite Encounter was an encounter that my DM ran in his first ever campaign with 23 individuals...6 of them harpies and everyone making saves. it took about an hour a round. He never did that again 😄 With #9, it is so so true. I spent a lot of time studying monster design and combat design and internalizing action economy and bounded accuracy and concentration and attunement and...all of that before I started improving my own monsters and items. Now. I started DM'ing by adapting 2e monsters to 5e and improving my own monsters, but I put in the time studying the system and playing as a player for a while before doing so.
Really liked the video and the format. One thing you didn't talk about is talking to the players in / outside of game. I think that is another whole area of DMing that one could improve a lot. Like what should be talked about in game or outside of game. When should one stay in game and give information as a NPC and when should one drop out of game to settle stuff. How much should one talk about the game / session outside of game like after a session or when meeting at school or at the job.
I like to play 3.5, and absolutely love homebrewing. The core ruleset of 3.5 is so horribly broken that despite being more complex its almost more forgiving for homebrewing than 5e. It's hard to accidentally make something overpowered (plus you have the benefit of the SRD-based Pathfinder system for a huge library of pulling in improvements to existing mechanics as needed, brining pathfinder poisons into 3.5 e is a very good tweak for the system).
To be honest i started DMing for a westmarch sever a few months ago, part of the reason was to get better at DMing, it has definitely improved my dungeon building skills and ability to run DM procedures, though to be honest i learn alot fron doing
Just a funny question. When do people consider a dm no longer "new" and when would you consider a dm a "veteran"? Only curious since my first dnd experience was a year ago to this month, and I've been DMing the same group since that first day. I still feel veeeery new, but luckily I'm a sponge for lore and lore is my forte
Having to know the rules in order to break (home brew) the rules is analogous to Poker, where you have to know the "proper" way to play a hand to effectively bluff with it.
My current DM's two homebrews: 1) Drinking a single potion is a bonus action (but feeding it to someone else is a full action still) 2) Drawing a single weapon is a free action but putting it away properly is an action OR bonus action (which helps some spell casters). This one has us switching from bow to blades by dropping the bow (and hopefully picking it up later) and drawing a melee weapon. My rogue ends up drawing his off-hand weapon in the second round.
'Great discussion - people should watch both videos! I've GM'd since about 1979, and I didn't do any conscious training .. I just made mistakes and bumped into some great games, and tried to remember the lessons .. usually the third or fourth time around. Anyway, taken broadly, homebrewing can be fun and not too dangerous, as long an existing mechanic are followed - I discovered re-trapping spells and powers in another system, and it changed my gaming dramatically. In a ravenloft game, I played a sorcerer with some nature background (he tried to be a druid but was lacking something, probably a span of attention). So, his innate magic was fey-like wild magic. The DM let me change scorching ray to having him produce a jalepeno and pop it to produce searing gouts of juice. All the mechanics applied: damage, range, level, etc,, and it was just acid-ish, instead of flame (no lingering damage, unlike an actual jalepeno). It only took me thirty years to learn that trick! I've also switched to a much less fiddly system than 5E, but that's another discussion.
I think for 7 in a lot of ways it's like you're the designer of a video game, you're putting the quests they need to beat, you're making the enemies they need to overcome in some way or another. It can be difficult for them, but that's the whole thing really, you're in a lot of ways making this expansive RPG game in a lot of ways from a basic outlook.
I equate to being a DJ (one of my many jobs). To some extent I will dance around and have fun like the crowd. But I am at work and have to constantly focus on what is coming up next. I take requests and try and build that into my set. Sometimes what I'm playing isn't working and a requests will kick start the dance floor. So I will forget the set I had planned and do more songs like the request. If the floor is pumping and everyone is having a good time, I'm having a great gig.
I only use three of DC's homebrew rules : 1. Inspiration once a session. 2. Critical hit : Put one of your two dices to max score. 3: Short rest , long rest , full rest rules. I think that covers the exploration, combat, and encounter aspects of the game and gives you 1 advantage in each category without breaking the game.
Took me like 6 months to implement concentration. But not because i wanted to break the rules, but because there are so many rules it just flew under the radar until i started watching critical role.
I think it's not emphasized enough that dms should leave their egos at the door and while it is your game, it is the players story. People think the dm has the most control (and while they *techincially* do) when in reality it is the players who have control over the direction of the game.
On homebrew rules and going back: Unearthed Arcana. You're new to 5e. It just came out. You recognize "Unearthed Arcana" from your days of 1e. Never mind that word "playtest", it's official material, right? So you start your table of perfect strangers at the FLGS and allow some UA stuff. And then......the world falls apart. As it stands now, I still have one Lore Master wizard who thankfully doesn't run roughshod over the table...which would be disastrous for a player who memorized the Monster Manual.
@The Dungeon Coach With your glancing blow homebrew, where hitting the AC is half damage, do you apply the same rules to monsters, so they also take half damage??
So, I'm a bit terrified myself. I've never played a TTRPG but somehow I'm being thrusted into the position of GM. While I'm excited, and have a lot of ideas, I'm worried. I'm worried about getting my players from point A to point B without losing track of things. I also have a learning disability, language isn't easy for me especially when talking I stumble, and repeat myself, and also constantly contradict myself. Lastly I'm scared about planning, I've always been great at improv so I'm not too worried, I have story points and encounters prepared but I still don't know if it's enough or if I do any more if it'll be too much and constrict the players freedoms
Based on the rough math, I may have 10,000 hours, plus or minus a couple of percent, running TTRPG games. I can't believe how much of a chunk of my life is in that one activity. The math: 32-35 years, 40-45 sessions per year, each averaging 7-8 hours.
10 monsters , we where playing on fantasy grounds and my players ran all around the sea caves in sleetping dragons wake and I had 44 sahuagin in the combat tracker , it almost broke me
What New Dungeon Master Tips do YOU have? Or what questions for us?
💜 The Dungeon Coach Patreon: www.patreon.com/thedungeoncoach
I'm fairly new to dnd, and newer as a dm, but I would like to add a... better for some?/different explanation for a dms job. It's their job to challenge and "lose" to their players, as long as the challenge is fun.
My #1 biggest worry of being a DM: are my players having fun?
Just ask them! Asking for feedback is the best thing to do if you're worrying. And also, the fact that you worry about this means you're being a good DM.
remember if there are not having fun they wont come back
The question to ask yourself is: Am I creating an environment where fun can be had by all my players?
Sometimes people will just be having an off night, or they’ll have things going on that are out of your control, so whether or not they’re having fun isn’t ultimately up to you.
That being said, you can definitely do things like asking players at the end of a session for things they liked (Stars) and things they’d like to see (or see more of) in future sessions (Wishes) at the end of each session. Additionally, use those backstories, families, friends, and other NPCs that character backstories give you, and look at the spells, skills, equipment, and abilities that the players choose at level up and try and tailor bits of your adventures to let those aspects of their characters shine! Also look for weaknesses in their characters to occasionally exploit and challenge them! You’re in control, so you can make those moments happen. And it’s fun!
I'm a new GM and yes, I worry about this constantly. My last session one of my players actually said, "I wasn't having fun," this is like the 15th-20th session, so 1 out of 15-20, that's not bad right? Him and his wife checked out early, I was devastated, but we were all having off days. Both our wives were having bad days (mine didn't even join) one of the players had food-poisoning, and one player was just talking over everybody. It was just a bad day for all haha, you're going to have bad games, or bad sessions.
Yup everyone is a human with their own unique emotions day to day. Not all bad moods are the gms fault, but the gm should do due diligence and at least ask if everyone is feeling good, and having fun! If not, maybe its time to play something else for that day, or just take a ten minute break and talk to whoever isnt having a good day and see if theres anything you can do
This is a great interview. It sounds like a veteran podcast or morning show on the radio. You nailed it!
Ooooo maybe that becomes a thing!? lol
@@TheDungeonCoach I'd listen/watch
I homebrew specifically when players ask for it. For instance, a player wanted to be able to haggle with npcs instead of paying a static price, so I created a whole system that he loved. But that was an add on to the game, not a replacement for a rule. I think homebrew that adds onto the game makes it way better, like a DLC for that player
That's a good thing, though you should factor in certain details at least for arms and armor: design (make) for example.
Luke sent me here and now I have a whole new source of great D&D information, thanks guys
Ref the Armor Class, I've always thought "Meets It, Beats It." was easy enough to remember.
I can see a place for "Glancing Blows", but that sounds *more* complicated, not *less* to me! :)
Loved this video - Both parts! :)
This is a good mnemonic!
I love that mnemonic, too! I'm taking it, if you don't mind.
I kind of like the "glancing blows," bit, but I think that should be more narrative, for when the PC rolls just below the AC.
AC is 17, and PC rolls 16? "You strike a glancing blow, but his armor is strong enough that he notices it, but does not actually feel any pain." Or, for unarmored people, "You slice a ribbon off her wizard's robe, but make no contact with actual flesh," followed by, "HEY! Do you know how expensive this robe was?! It's not off-the-rack, you know!"
@@AuntLoopy123, writes of a wizard that just had their robe damaged by a glancing blow _"followed by, "HEY! Do you know how expensive this robe was?! It's not off-the-rack, you know!""_
Followed by "What kind of lame-assed wizard are you that you don't know _Mend?"_
Your job is to lose - but make it close.
To quote the Incredibles "go for second! But make it close...close second!"
*sometimes*
To quote wizards: they don't buy pizza for the cleric... It's good to be DM.
I've played as a player, but never DM'd before. I've put together a tutorial-esque one shot for a few friends who've never touched a d20 before and am pretty nervous to run it, but both of these videos have helped ease that TREMENDOUSLY, especially seeing that I'm already on the right mindset.
Thank you both so much for doing this 💚
Just do it 8>D It's not as hard as you think.
Loved the point about homebrewing for simplicity, and Luke’s point about getting 20% of the way their for 80% of the return! But Luke, I gotta know what made you so afraid of homebrew! 😆 I find it is much easier to learn by homebrewing, failing, and correcting, than reading hundreds of pages of core rules before you get going!
Boom! Homebrew FTW!!! Thanks Bob!
Please bring out them Intermediate and advanced DM collaborations/videos! I feel like Luke really got a lot of insight and new perspective from this collaboration. Huge fan of both channels, thank you so much, you beautiful home-brew wizard!
In my current game our DM doesn't do any voices at all. He is fantastic at everything else. We have had great fun for the last 3yr and haven't noticed the lack of voices a bit.
My two favorite dnd RUclips channels together in one! Love this.
Here from DMLair and I’m so glad you guys collabed!
My longest session was 16 hour. I was so tired, but so happy in the same time
I'm stealing the glancing blows idea that's Epic
Cool! Found from DMLair. Added one of your videos to watch later.
This is the team up that I didn't know that I wanted, but I'm glad that we got it.
Great job!
I really like the idea of having a DM that's all about HB and one that is not in favor of such. It really made an interesting conversation I even believe they found that middle ground when it came to the uses of HB. Which is nice.
O thats awesome! I know Luke very well so I purposefully asked that question for us to go at it lol
Great collab, great idea! Came from the DM Lair and you successfully caught a new sub!
Not sure how I feel about that red dot in your profile picture...it really pops out on the mobile.
@@Battleguild a subtle focal point is all it is.
Thanks for the sub! Welcome to the Crew! Its like the Lair... but less damp
Love both your channels, it’s so good to see you both in one video!
Dude, and they said Avengers Infinity War was the best cross over.
Amazing Video, and Dungeon Coach, I saw your eyes shine when you was talking about seeing Luke's videos back than and don't pretend you didn't because I know, I felt it with you...
Almost every session of D&D involves players performing actions which are not well defined in the handbook. A good DM should take a creative and reasonable sounding action like this and try to provide a mini-system that gives the player's action a chance to work.
For example: what if the enemy is trying to break down a door and your druid asks to cast Entangle on the door, to reinforce it with thick, tough vines. The spell doesn't say anything about what would happen. What do you do as the DM? You probably let them cast the spell, and on the fly you come up with some number to raise the DC of the Strength check to break through the door. Maybe it involves an Arcana or Nature check to see how well your player "bends" the spell beyond its typical use.
That is homebrew! Right there! Maybe it is a homebrew system that only ever gets used once in the whole campaign, but it is still homebrew that you came up with!
Pro Level Tips from two awesome guys!!
I love this team up!
Oooooo the DM Lair?!? Ayyyye nice 😎 love both channels!
First time I've watched your content, and I love it! I especially love the rule about deliberate practice DURING a session. That one really got me thinking. Can't wait to watch more!
Just because you two failed your shaving throw, doesn't mean I need to grow a beard!!!
Ha! Shaving roll! Good one.
these 2 always crush it when they collab
Thanks for the advice! I'm looking forward to putting it into practice.
You may have issues so judgementally dismissing the commonly given advice that the DM is another player, especially when you follow up by supporting the "Players win, DMs lose" dynamic that is so often treated as a detrimental mindset these days. Many go through great lengths to try to impart the lesson that nobody should be playing to "win DnD" on either side of table. Win encounters, sure. Win DnD? Not so much.
The idea the DM is a player is most often paired with the idea that the game is collaborative storytelling where characters might win and lose but the humans pulling the strings don't. It's all in service of the unpredictable drama inherent to role-playing games.
Additionally, the framing of the DM as a player is to affirm to DMs that their needs and their fun is just as valid as the needs and fun of the players running PCs. It's not intended to undermine the responsibility of the asymmetrical gameplay involved in playing the role of the entire World and it's inhabitants.
I feel like I agree with everything you said, but I dont think Luke has a toxic mind set about it. I think everyone describes what they think of the dynamic in their own way. I see where you are saying some parts could lead to a bad dynamic though if it gets out of hand
@@TheDungeonCoach Yes, very fair. The challenge is avoiding accidentally creating soundbites that appear dismissive or seem to support toxicity on a surface level. Professionals like yourself do very well to practice diligence and care when framing your messaging but of course nobodies perfect.
That said, it's not like the points that were made aren't legit, sound advice and your content is quality as always so I'm looking forward to more collabs in the future!
Agreed. I think this could have been worded much better. Like the title of the video says “new” gms so i get where theyre coming from… but just no. Their mentality would fit something like dnd 4e but not an actual story based game. It might just be too advanced of a concept for this video
Love this Collab your guys rif of each other very well haha its intense! Friendly competition!
Hahah yea we talk all the time so it felt very natural lol, thanks!
two of my favorite RUclips DMs in one video... this is awesome.
I've been waiting for this mash up!
Yay. I need this. Im only 2 sessions into my first campaign and I definitely want to get better for my own satisfaction and more so for the benefit of my players
Improv classes is great of making you a better DM. Not only do you getter better at improvisation but I also makes you better at telling a story togeather with other people.
Great collaboration!
A great way of training between sessions is to get the Solo Adventurers Handbook and run games for yourself, allowing you to practice improvisation, thinking in character, roleplay, running combats, and getting a sense for how strong different player characters and monsters actually are.
Coming over from TheDMLair’s channel. You have a new subscriber! Excellent video gentlemen.
Same here
I use 3 homebrew rules at my table, we have a system for crafting literally anything players can think of. This way they can make armour out of defeated monsters and can build their own home.
The second homebrew rule is your travel system.
And the third rule is a system conversion so we can run 100 vs 100 battles without spending 12 hours on a single battle. This is done by using OnePageRules Age of Fantasy for the battle with simplified statsheets. We only used the system once in our current level 1 - 5 campaign.
I am watching both channels.I found a lot of videos with tips .I realky appreciate them.It empowers my confidence to try it.I haven't had a lit of experience being a dm yet.
Some good tips and nice collaboration
Glad you enjoyed! I had a blast doing it!
I totally disagree about the dm not being a player, they are. Yes they have a different goal but they are still there to roll dice and have fun with their mates. And the leadership of the group, the attitude to the group, the social responsibility is the groups.
I've been watching Luke for a good minute, this video introduced me to you, love your content I do alot of home brew in my campaign. You gained a new sub today.
2:35 yea all those times I was talkin in weird voices in my car were just dm training….
As of December 14, 2021, I've played 9,400 hours of video games online (sims, strategy, RPG games).
I also read alot of DM, watch alot of yours and other dungeon masters content.
I watch movies and tv shows that would be great inspirations for Dnd content.
ordered the monster tactic book, thanks for the tip!
Whatching YT-videos on GM-ing tipps helpt me out a lot. Even after 25 years of GM-ing there is always more to learn. And isnt that part of the fun?
What only frustrates me is that my players (most of the time) dont think about the hobby until they are sitting at the table and the game starts.
There are some "how to be a better player"-videos. For example on the "how to be a great GM"-Channel, but there is not much the internet offers on the topic.
On Lukes comment "a DM is not a player": that may be right for D&D but for many other TTRPGs its possibble to view it that way that the GM is playing the game, so he (or she) is a player too.
I've gmd for what, 7 years now? And I got quite a few things from these two videos. Lot of what you said has inspired ideas for my games
My home-brew rules (so far):
I'm not fussed about inventory and weight allowances/limits. If you start carrying corpses around (you know, those "bring the body to the temple so they can be resurrected" quests) then you'd better have a bag of holding, and THOSE hold only 500 pounds, so you can't carry more than three dead bodies in one bag, but for general stuff, I'm not too fussed about it. No living beings in a bag of holding, though. We have enough to track, anyway. Also, there's a party inventory, that one person is in charge of tracking, and they can dole out stuff, as they wish, but if they want to take a potion in the middle of battle, they'll have to have it in their own personal inventory at the beginning of battle. Basically, I am playing fast and loose with inventory because I Can't Be Bothered. That will probably change in my next campaign, once we've had a full campaign to get used to playing, but for the first game, I'm focusing on all the other play rules.
One of the players is assigned to keep the official journal for the adventure. Not the person in charge of keeping track of the loot and party inventory. One person per job.
Due to physical needs of multiple players, anyone may call a pause at any time, including in the middle of battle (although I like to at least get to the end of the round), and no time limits on turns. Nobody gets rushed. However, if I want to add some tension to a battle, with a time limit, then I will limit the number of rounds before The Thing happens. This rule means that it's Family Only (because no way would I inflict that on Adventure League players). And yes, we have ended a session in the middle of battle, due to someone having to go home right then. That is why God invented sticky stuff to put the markers on the maps.
Natural 20 is a critical success, and succeeds, regardless of DC. If it's supposed to be impossible, I just won't let them roll, in the first place. Likewise, Natural 1 is a critical failure (never deadly, but as funny as I can make it in the moment, like a face-plant in some mud, or some such), and if I don't want them to even be able to fail, I don't have them roll. A critical success on an attack doubles the damage dice, meaning you roll for damage, double the amount on the dice that you rolled, and then add modifiers.
Level up gives you your full amount of possible hit points. But I do roll HP for the monsters, for variety.
I like the rule for taking a potion as a bonus action, but pouring it down another character's throat is a full action.
And it hasn't come up in one of our sessions, yet, but my brother pulled it on me in his D&D game: If you can't see the attack coming, you can't block it. Yeah, I was so proud that I had Shield prepared, for when his wizard cast Magic Missile, but according to the battle map, I was looking the wrong way, and the angle was all wrong, and I didn't see it coming, so how could I react in time? Makes sense. My wizard was all kinds of ticked off, but I got a chuckle out of it, as the player.
The biggest house rule is: If it makes sense, the answer is Yes.
I use two homebrew full time:
Critical Hits are max weapon DMG + 1 weapon DMG roll. This way you don't end up with a crit that rolls for less damage than a normal hit. Makes crits feel so much more exciting to roll.
Potions on self as a bonus action. I wrestled with this one because of the time each round/turn is meant take verse imagining this person slamming a potion AND swinging an axe a bunch of times. Ultimately, though, I sided with the improved 'feel good' of not having your whole potion use wasted because you get bopped.
I'm stealing your rules on death saves, they sound really good
edit: oooo and the glancing blow thing
This is great thanks! I was wondering if you would do a video with respect to the 80/20 rule … for example what would be 20% of rules that come up 80% of the time because the DM guide can feel very overwhelming
The maximum amount of individual monster types I've managed to run on my own was four: a Skull Lord, necromancers, blackguards and flameskulls. I think it went pretty well. Didn't forget anything, kept ontop of the legendary actions/resistances, and overall had a good fight. (Had to bump up the hitpoints for the Skull Lord tho, because the paladin almost took it down in one round.)
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
For death saving throws, my group didn't have a healer but we had a paladin with lay hands. During a fight with a monster that had an AOE attack that could incap a failed throw, the entire group walked over the downed sorcerer with a failed death save to engage the monster with everyone instead of picking up the sorc.
As a player I was like....but why. My wannabe DM mind was like, this has to go. They aren't feeling the urgency of someone being downed.
It can be a sound tactical decision: take out the threat before even more PCs are downed
Excellent collaboration with two of my favorite RUclipsrs. Great advice in here for both new and experienced DMs alike.
The team video was great
Nice doubles match. Luke's a good dude. Well done on the intro skit for the first five.
Hahaha coaching reference and been a DM since high school? Y'all are getting in all the hits!
Flashbacks to the high school days lol!
Had a similair experience to Luke. I replaced Roc in Curse of Strahd with a Silver Dragon Dracolich, he had stats of official Dracolich but with breath weapons changed. Which was a msitake because terrifying presence + paralyzing breath + tail attack equals most of the party paralyzed, on the ground. They had Mad Mage, Kasimir, Victor and Geoffrey with them and it was still a near TPK with all NPC throwing death saves, two PCs finishing the dragon while having each single digit HP and their main DPS just standing there, paralyzed the whole fight. It would be a TPK if I didn't forget dracoliches have an advantage on saving throws against spells.
I enjoyed this very much! I've been watching you both for some time. How do I keep chatter down at the table? I've spoken with this individual who usually instigates this, but they're just excited to be there with friends and hang out. It's distracting for me and for the other players. It also happens sitting intense or narratively critical scenes and takes us out of the moment. The chatty player was absent last session and someone made the comment that "wow, we've gotten a lot done this session, how is it only been an hour?" and it was because that player was gone. They have a good heart, they're just distracting and slowing progress.
Two great content creators!
The ninth tip just remembered me that one of my players recently announced that he’s willing to try dming a short campaign he homebrewed... too bad he changed like EVERY SINGLE rule that he laid his hands on. He basically created a complete new (not-so-well-functioning) game system. Like, not even the ability checks works the same as before... I really don’t know how to tell him how much he’s disturbing the fragile ecosystem that the rules are trying to keep in balance (that’s actually not true, I am more worried about the fact that nobody really wants to play that kind of game system... He messed up, but at the same time I know he’ll feel sorry for not receiving the enthusiasm that he expects)
This video was great. I say the more collabs the better
Exactly. Don't want to like or subscribe yet but i will check out more. Thank you both
Had to stop watching part way through because the value in this video is so much that I really need to take notes, not be trying to clean while I listen.
I love this and speaking from my personal growth journey (books, mentors, presentations, etc.) A whole lot of what's talked about here are principles and thought processes that are applicable to nearly all facets of life. This is top notch content and I think Dungeon Coach is going to go far in his endeavors with a heart (and mind)like this.
Awesome video
My favorite Encounter was an encounter that my DM ran in his first ever campaign with 23 individuals...6 of them harpies and everyone making saves. it took about an hour a round. He never did that again 😄
With #9, it is so so true. I spent a lot of time studying monster design and combat design and internalizing action economy and bounded accuracy and concentration and attunement and...all of that before I started improving my own monsters and items. Now. I started DM'ing by adapting 2e monsters to 5e and improving my own monsters, but I put in the time studying the system and playing as a player for a while before doing so.
Really liked the video and the format. One thing you didn't talk about is talking to the players in / outside of game. I think that is another whole area of DMing that one could improve a lot. Like what should be talked about in game or outside of game. When should one stay in game and give information as a NPC and when should one drop out of game to settle stuff. How much should one talk about the game / session outside of game like after a session or when meeting at school or at the job.
I am stealing your "death saving throw permanency" home rule. That's mine now. Thank you!!!!
Huzzah!
I like to play 3.5, and absolutely love homebrewing. The core ruleset of 3.5 is so horribly broken that despite being more complex its almost more forgiving for homebrewing than 5e. It's hard to accidentally make something overpowered (plus you have the benefit of the SRD-based Pathfinder system for a huge library of pulling in improvements to existing mechanics as needed, brining pathfinder poisons into 3.5 e is a very good tweak for the system).
Love to see the collab! Great content and advice as always!
To be honest i started DMing for a westmarch sever a few months ago, part of the reason was to get better at DMing, it has definitely improved my dungeon building skills and ability to run DM procedures, though to be honest i learn alot fron doing
+1 to the RUclips algorithm
Just a funny question. When do people consider a dm no longer "new" and when would you consider a dm a "veteran"? Only curious since my first dnd experience was a year ago to this month, and I've been DMing the same group since that first day. I still feel veeeery new, but luckily I'm a sponge for lore and lore is my forte
Practice by playing Baulders Gate 3
Came from "the dm lair" video.
Welcome to the Crew! Thanks for that!
@@TheDungeonCoach thanks dude.
Having to know the rules in order to break (home brew) the rules is analogous to Poker, where you have to know the "proper" way to play a hand to effectively bluff with it.
My current DM's two homebrews:
1) Drinking a single potion is a bonus action (but feeding it to someone else is a full action still)
2) Drawing a single weapon is a free action but putting it away properly is an action OR bonus action (which helps some spell casters). This one has us switching from bow to blades by dropping the bow (and hopefully picking it up later) and drawing a melee weapon. My rogue ends up drawing his off-hand weapon in the second round.
'Great discussion - people should watch both videos! I've GM'd since about 1979, and I didn't do any conscious training .. I just made mistakes and bumped into some great games, and tried to remember the lessons .. usually the third or fourth time around. Anyway, taken broadly, homebrewing can be fun and not too dangerous, as long an existing mechanic are followed - I discovered re-trapping spells and powers in another system, and it changed my gaming dramatically. In a ravenloft game, I played a sorcerer with some nature background (he tried to be a druid but was lacking something, probably a span of attention). So, his innate magic was fey-like wild magic. The DM let me change scorching ray to having him produce a jalepeno and pop it to produce searing gouts of juice. All the mechanics applied: damage, range, level, etc,, and it was just acid-ish, instead of flame (no lingering damage, unlike an actual jalepeno). It only took me thirty years to learn that trick! I've also switched to a much less fiddly system than 5E, but that's another discussion.
I think for 7 in a lot of ways it's like you're the designer of a video game, you're putting the quests they need to beat, you're making the enemies they need to overcome in some way or another. It can be difficult for them, but that's the whole thing really, you're in a lot of ways making this expansive RPG game in a lot of ways from a basic outlook.
A weird observation popped into my mind on the DM not being a player.It is similar to my job at work minus the monsters .
I equate to being a DJ (one of my many jobs). To some extent I will dance around and have fun like the crowd. But I am at work and have to constantly focus on what is coming up next. I take requests and try and build that into my set.
Sometimes what I'm playing isn't working and a requests will kick start the dance floor. So I will forget the set I had planned and do more songs like the request.
If the floor is pumping and everyone is having a good time, I'm having a great gig.
Early release everyone!
4:00am WOOOO
I only use three of DC's homebrew rules : 1. Inspiration once a session. 2. Critical hit : Put one of your two dices to max score. 3: Short rest , long rest , full rest rules. I think that covers the exploration, combat, and encounter aspects of the game and gives you 1 advantage in each category without breaking the game.
Luke:”Are we still playing Dungeons and Dragons anymore?”
DC:”No, this is DC20 baby”
20:08
Took me like 6 months to implement concentration. But not because i wanted to break the rules, but because there are so many rules it just flew under the radar until i started watching critical role.
I think it's not emphasized enough that dms should leave their egos at the door and while it is your game, it is the players story. People think the dm has the most control (and while they *techincially* do) when in reality it is the players who have control over the direction of the game.
I was Unfortunate enough to have a DM who played a Player Character while Running a game.
On homebrew rules and going back: Unearthed Arcana. You're new to 5e. It just came out. You recognize "Unearthed Arcana" from your days of 1e. Never mind that word "playtest", it's official material, right? So you start your table of perfect strangers at the FLGS and allow some UA stuff. And then......the world falls apart. As it stands now, I still have one Lore Master wizard who thankfully doesn't run roughshod over the table...which would be disastrous for a player who memorized the Monster Manual.
Do you have to have purple and blue lighting to be a dungeon master?
Get it coach!
Great video! DC where did you get your T-Shirt?
Is there any measureable metrics you can suggest for training during a session?
#LEGENDS
@The Dungeon Coach With your glancing blow homebrew, where hitting the AC is half damage, do you apply the same rules to monsters, so they also take half damage??
So, I'm a bit terrified myself.
I've never played a TTRPG but somehow I'm being thrusted into the position of GM. While I'm excited, and have a lot of ideas, I'm worried. I'm worried about getting my players from point A to point B without losing track of things.
I also have a learning disability, language isn't easy for me especially when talking I stumble, and repeat myself, and also constantly contradict myself.
Lastly I'm scared about planning, I've always been great at improv so I'm not too worried, I have story points and encounters prepared but I still don't know if it's enough or if I do any more if it'll be too much and constrict the players freedoms
One way of getting them from point A to point B is to say "well, you're at point B now, what do you do?" :) It's okay to skip over the boring parts.
Based on the rough math, I may have 10,000 hours, plus or minus a couple of percent, running TTRPG games. I can't believe how much of a chunk of my life is in that one activity.
The math: 32-35 years, 40-45 sessions per year, each averaging 7-8 hours.
10 monsters , we where playing on fantasy grounds and my players ran all around the sea caves in sleetping dragons wake
and I had 44 sahuagin in the combat tracker , it almost broke me