Pro of Homebrew... as a new DM you will learn far more. Trial and error by practice. Running a module doesn’t teach you how to balance encounters or how to take into account the players ability combination.
ive done that several times. I just sit back and see what the players do and some up with something based on their actions. quite a few really good adventures have come out of that
Another pro for homebrew: More rewarding for everyone if the players guess the plot. It's rewarding for the DM because it shows that they're doing a good job with the story. It's rewarding for the players because A) they don't know for sure if they're right, and B) when they find out they are right, they're extra excited.
I somehow managed to persuade a teacher to supervise us while we play D&D in school so now im a dungeon master and we play every other monday :) this series should come in handy
Personally, Homebrew ends up being easier for me. I immediately become the expert of my own world. It's actually fairly difficult to absorb everything in a campaign setting or campaign module for me at times.... I feel like I am always trying to remember something correctly. I sometimes do both... and Frankenstein version of homebrew/campaign setting/ and module...
Yeah, I initially thought modules would be less work, but in practice it's so much to read and remember, and I'm afraid to just make things up in case it ends up contradicting anything important.. It feels like I'm cramming for an exam except if I fail a question the punishment is that my friends don't get to have fun ;_;
Hi just stumbled onto your DM series. Very well done. Been playing since '79, DMing since '81. Thanks for giving new folks solid, simple advice. I remember being overwhelmed when I started. Your comment about adding module info to your world or adding your own touches to modules is spot on. I keep notes of buildings, castles, anything I see and it helps when stuck in creating something new. Pieces of modules, castles from my sketches in Europe, dungeons I designed years ago, it's all there to help me. For example, I needed a road fort for a long lost Elven kingdom. I used the design of an old toll building in Frankfurt, Germany, and a small fort from Dungeon magazine.
I use forgotten realms for about 12 years now, and a major pro is the familiarity the players have. Every city they enter, every major location, they remember of previous adventures, characters, moments of glory and despair. To me, remembering and making new stories with your friends is the best part of gaming
I'm starting a homebrew campaign, and came to the problem of a map Solution: I now have a massive map on my wall that i can use like a war map to set out my campaign (i.e Put sticky note reminders on places like they might be wanted criminals in this town, if a town gets destroyed, i can just erase alot of it to show it's in ruins, I can use sticky notes to write general notes about every town and city to expand upon when my players go there etc)
Wikipédia is a infinite source of ideas, most notably everything that as to do with history or notable historical figures. You can create a never ending amount of very detailled characters and places with it.
I feel that what would be good for first time DMs would be to do what Adventure Zone did. They played through Mine of Phandelver in a pretty vanilla fashion, but when they reached the end of it, they started their own story and expanded on the world that they wanted.
As someone who has ideas for homebrew worlds but I have no idea where to start with developing those into a setting so I'm looking forward to seeing more of these videos.
I am a self-taught DM. Have played a game where I'm the player maybe twice as one-shots and haven't had anyone to walk me through how things work besides what I can find online. I am, however, a writer, and therefore very much wanted to homebrew a massive game for my friends. There's been a lot of stumbling, learning, and going back to fix things, but we're all having fun! These videos are VERY helpful! It did not even cross my mind that I could just re-skin some encounters that other people have made to fit it in for flavor. I will also say, I've gotten a massive amount of help using generative AI. Artwork for characters so the players have a face to a name and can connect with NPCs better, creating scenes for encounters for flavor, creating simple battle maps, etc. With all the time I take creating the story and dialogue, it's a huge help in the areas I don't have much talent in, such as map-making, artwork, and even generating ideas for one-off encounters while they're traveling from one destination to another. I hope that by the time they defeat the big bad in this campaign I can be a true master of Dungeon Mastering
With homebrew content, you can tailor the game to the players, session by session. If a few of your players like dungeon crawling, you can give them a couple of sessions on that, then smatter in a few talky roleplay sessions for the actors around the table. Also, I often find that players are far more willing to experiment in a homebrew world as they know that ANYTHING is possible.
As a new DM, in fact new to RPG overall, I am really enjoying this series. Thank you! Option 3 is in line with what i am doing, and I had a question regarding reward items & loot; I am concerned about giving exciting rewards that might be OP. Any advice in future episodes would be greatly appreciated!
- jeez my tomb of annihilation imploded into a wild run from area to area desperately trying to find a way to survive a death curse without going into the main dungeon- What is funnier- they all have the knowledge they have to go to the tomb of the nine gods- they just wont tho
The biggest problem I have with modules is the way its laid out. Wwhen you read information for a location its generally a lot of useless information with the useful stuff hidden somewhere in these paragraphs. Eg "this room was used by Xandar for torturing anyone he wanted to get information out of. He would send a group of thugs out to collect the person then spend hours or days torturing them here until he got what he wanted at which point he would kill them. If the players touch on of the torture devices they must succeed a DC14 dexterity saving throw or take 2d4 piercing damage." yeah that extra information has some cool lore, but most of the time there is no way to give the players this information. Just saying its a torture room will do unless theres a way to give that lore to the players, i wouldnt mind if Jeralt 2 rooms away could be role played with and knows this information and may tell the players if they can convince him, but most of the time its just, heres 3 paragraphs of text, lol no way to give it to the player though, now find the traps and encounters hidden amongst all this text. I cant change how modules are written but if you are home brewing, keep this information separate, kind of how Mark does in the next section. Have the location name, some short lore, then separately the useful information, traps, encounters, npcs etc. And keep it all short, 3 paragraphs of text usually isnt helpful when the players ask an npc a question and you have to read through it to find the answer.
Great topic! I tend to go with option 3. I was running 50 Fathoms for Savage Worlds which has a plot point campaign. I used the overlying story as the big thing but made my own encounters and session stories leading to it. Made it more personal for my players and more fun for me.
Option 3 was the one i tended to gravitate towards, I started out with full homebrew content and by the time my PCs were level 5 I found myself just taking a dungeon from the Yawning Portal Keep up this series Mark I absolutely love it, it is by far the most useful and professionally done series I have come across
This was utterly fantastic, I’ve been DMing for a few years now with a mix of home brew and modules but I’ve never heard it put so fantastically! Thank you Mr Hulmes!
I'd just like to say that I love the amount of effort you put into this series, it really shows and is greatly appreciated. And even this video alone makes making a homebrew campaign seem less daunting. Thanks Mark!
Homework done and done, been running own world now for over two years. I most often get the inspiration from different modules (Especially the maps/dungeons) but then tweak it a bit here and there. Working fine so far! Like the series, keep up the good work!
Nice video, Mark. The one time I've gone with a prewritten module instead of one of my own creation, my major gripe was the fact that I so often had to return to the material, and quickly skim it for details about the location, the character, what info it was possible to get out of them and so on. With homebrew it's something you've created yourself, and your more ready to answer what questions the players might have for you. For me there's just a better flow with something you know so well, because it's of your own making :)
Hi Mark, I've been really enjoying your content and I think this channel is a great (relatively new) addition to the Yogscast. As a new DM, some of your videos have been a big help for me, as well as being very entertaining. Keep up the great work!
I do use option 3 when it comes to running stuff with my kids. I combine pre-made adventures for one system (Hero Kids or My Little Pony) and then use the system/equipment and classes from Adventure Maximus. Usually I end up just improving everything between the encounters and/or puzzles/riddles that I throw at them and we always have a blast. As for D&D, I'm a brand new DM for that system so I'll be sticking with everything pre-written.
I personally love playing homebrew. My first campaign I am playing with a group of 8 is a full modern day homebrew. Basically I took the base rules of D&D and added a whole new ruleset including Superpowers instead of magic. It's quite a lot to do, especially the balancing, but everybody so far loves it. I hope someday to be able to release the module, but right now it's a fun thing to do. I always say if you have the time and determination to do something Homebrew, definitely do it, cause it feels so much better when the players fall in love with the world.
Modern day superpowers TTRPG based on DnD rules … I've heard this somewhere before … Mutants and Masterminds second edition! (Though I heard it's based on the older 3.5 system) The rules are available here for free here www.d20herosrd.com/ though I'm not certain which version it is.
Chris I looked into it a bit, but I was much more knowledgeable in 5e rules. That was what I got into D&D with. Plus like I said, it's time consuming, but I love to do it.
Writing your own games system is far more work than creating a setting as you (probably should) have to worry about consistency and getting the mechanics right. There are plenty of superhero games. Champions is good and it can also be used for fantasy; as Fantasy Hero.
SO Im a bit of a D&D noob,.. I played a short lived campaign with a few friends years ago. Recently, a group of friends wanted to learn to play and start a Campaign. I being the only one that has played before, was chosen to be the DM(my first time ever). Your vids have been very helpful.thanks!
This third option is what I'm definitely going to use myself. I really love Faerûn, so I like to delve deep into the lore. This makes it easy to just read about the lore that's currently relevant to the players in Phandelver, so when they're done, I have prepped enough to improvise and homebrew my own version.
I've got a session coming up (it's Sunday, sorry Highrollers) where I'll be DMing. It's incorporating a module I made previously into the current campaign I'm running. I'm super excited about it and glad that you've started this series. I've been DMing for less than a year and hearing some of the things I've considered coming from a more experienced DM is really reassuring. Thanks Mark.
Currently playing through my first campaign. Going to be sharing the responsibility and ill be doing the next. Hope your videos sort me out for my first DM experience
This is so helpful, thank you for making this series. I'm hoping to start a homebrew (which I'm only doing because I already made a world/town just for fun that I can convert to a Monster of the Week game) so knowing the pros and cons is helpful as all hell. Thankfully I'm ok with the extra work cause my town is my child and I want to grow and develop it so mich. My ADHD is actually helpful for once!
Great video Mark! I started writing about my current homebrew campaign world, but I quickly realized I was writing too much since my mind kept wanting to add all the details lol
I ended up home brewing a lot of my stuff mostly because I got a ton of inspiration when I was building a character. I pretty much started with some artwork of the mercenary from dark souls 3 and a female fighter that just steadily turned into an entire noble house. From there I imagined up opposing and allied houses until I realized I had more than I needed for a simple character. So I ended up writing up a one shot based on these. However as I went on it developed into a prologue for a campaign. I made it a prologue to allow for changes to be made since all I really had was humans developed initially and I primarily focused on those for what was originally a one-shot. It's extra work but the motivation was there and I've been borrowing from what's in the monster manuals and things from Reddit. I threw in someone's "Actual Cannibal Shia Labeouf" home brew for a little side quest.
DMing my first campaign tomorrow. Ostensibly I'm running The Lost Mine of Phandelver (we're all new) but I'm adding a whole bit about a missing, drunk Monk who must be saved and brought back to the pub. Good to hear I can mash some of my own story into an existing story. Also, this series of videos is great. Thanks for making them 👍
I tend to do a lot of mixing homebrew and modules in my campaigns. With my previous Pathfinder group that I DMed for, the second campaign arc was literally the plot of _Star Wars: A New Hope_ with key points altered to fit our game, and nobody realized until almost the end. Later in that same campaign I ran them through the _Ashes of Middenheim_ module from Warhammer Fantasy RolePlay. Also, the campaign map was just central Europe turned upside-down, the campaign ran for nearly a year and a half before anybody noticed.
Mark! The master of the Dungeon Masters. I (we) appreciate the tips and trick. Bringing happiness to DMer's across the world. (U.S. Boik here). By the way, your "FUCK YOU ROCK" *Double barrel blast* when playing with HatFilms the other day way amazing. Thank you for the entertainment.
Mixed Homebrew is my favorite way to go. We use all the official DND content (so players aren't locked out of a (sub)class or race that they want. Right now we are doing a campaign based on Final Fantasy's Ivalice setting and we are having a blast! I use the official monster manual (which helps minimize the homebrew needed) but the races, classes, and a few flavorful monster choices really helps make DND work for the setting with minimal extra prepwork!
Thanks for the advice! I really wanted to do homebrew everything but had a friend caution me against it being new. Ended up doing DoIP with npcs giving quests instead of a job board and hints to other things going on in the world/ character backstories that will link into homebrew content after the module ends.
I'm about to be a first time Dm, and gonna be doing Lost Mines. I was already thinking about creating a tutorial of sorts as a prologue style thing and adding it to the start of the campaign to give my players (Who are first time also) and more importantly myself, practice for combat and things. Will flesh it out more than I had planned after watching this. The last part about homework actually made me want to do this and I hope to be set more tasks in the future by Prof. Hulmes!
When I first started DMing (1980s-90s) I would use modules for inspiration and link them (or just parts of each) together. After seeing so many examples of adventures, I was able to write my own, draw maps, etc.
I can report that my homework was successful!! I’m actually running a campaign (as a new DM) based off of your Lightfall Campaign, and I’m using it to loosely start my own semi-homebrew adventure - I had to do a lot of improv for Gulthia as the players didn’t meet her first and the players have kinda made plot hooks for themselves. Anyways thanks Mark, can’t wait for the next episode :)
Great video Mark! I tend to find myself being in the third category and I believe it's mostly because of the "how cool would it be if..." mentality, the PC background integration as well as that I find it difficult to remember everything from the modules so tend to improvise to fill the gaps - which then leads to further plots down the road. I do think it's understated that the modules (especially the early 5e books) are not really that easy to read and digest. I'm running (modified versions of) both POTA and OOTA and even with internet resources, I still find it relatively hard to remember what's down the road and the specifics. Also fun little story regarding mixing modules and homebrew: In my POTA game, very early on in the module there is a simple bandit encounter for the PCs. Few days before our group's session I had opened a minis box and found a centaur mini that I really wanted to use, so I created a leader for the bandits, this rogue/shady centaur character. It was meant to spice up the combat encounter a bit (and show off a cool mini), but my PCs ended up dealing with the encounter socially and making a deal with them instead. Many months down the track the PCs realise they got the short end of that deal, the centaur's (now comprehensive) backstory slowly being revealed, he is now an integral part of the story, tied with the elemental cults, that the PCs are hunting down even more fiercely than trying to figure out what the cults are actually doing.
My creativity Pros: great stories and ideas Cons: It gets messed up I can’t choose one I can’t find the best idea I’m too lazy to have it in order sometimes Oh shit so many cons
I think you should get something like a google doc and just put down things in order, and if the campaign gets derailed just roll with it and move around an encounter they were meant to have to a different town/city that they’re at.
Nice video Mark! I think you have a very nice setup and I look forward to your next videos. I have done a few one-shot and I'm currently running Storm King's Thunder. I have found myself using your third options a lot, especially in cities, since the module dosen't offer enough content for whatever crazy idears my players and I like to be better safe than sorry.
Neat video, thanks Mark! I've come to feel, personally, that pre-made modules are, in essence, skeletons; you can run them as is and they'll work fine, but if you just run them straight out of the book, they risk coming up a bit soulless. Rather, I've found myself viewing them as skeletal structures for the DM to then build the adventure on, with their own customising and fleshing material, for their players. I'm very much on the creative side of things for myself, and I'm always interested and fascinated by world lore and details, and I generally want to see and explore everything, but I can't ever effectively DM for my friends, myself. So I always find myself writing up extras and sending our DM bits and pieces of surrounding information and details, or customising little things for my characters, or her spells/equipment/home town/home region, and spreading out from that to build as much external world lore for regions and their social/political structures etc., that my character may have come from or had previous contact with, as the DM has room open to allow, and it's something I really appreciate their flexibility on ^.^ I had one question, if you're able to answer it; if you can't for the sake of your own players, that's fine, but... our group is currently running Strahd, we're still relatively early on in it, I think... so I wanted to ask how closely do you think the inspired material will follow the core book, for the High-Rollers crew? The question is mainly because we as a group of players want to avoid any and all possible spoiler-type material for our own first play, and if it's going to be particularly close to core elements, maybe we should pause watching on HR and let ourselves get behind a bit, just in case? Good video at any rate, very informative and clear in delivery! -Erica
I homebrew a lot of campaigns and always loved how you run your games. This series is awesome!! Really good tips and a bit of a better insight. Also - nice editing/set up!
I want to do a Homebrew campaign as my first simply because it would be pretty easy fot me. For about a year and a half, I've had a notebook and a digital folder for any bit of inspiration I've had or encountered regarding world building that I started when I really got into writing fiction. This includes a unique pantheon with my own visual design, a few dimensions, some maps, ect.
Never be afraid to alter details of the setting if something better comes along. I spent about a year writing abysmal crap for my setting. I wasn't in a group and could spare the time. It looked good when I wrote it but I've chucked out and re-written about 80%. Some of the revamp came about because of 4th-edition; some of it was the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. I've run four campaigns in that setting since 2nd-edition days and the players, just by participating, have helped with the definition. Leave space in your world to be defined when you need it. The chances are, it'll be all the better for the wait.
Great vid. I do the hybrid 'thang' allllll the time. I find that modules very rarely are played as read. My players took 26 sessions to complete LMoP when their own personal backgrounds, needs and wants came into play. It was ace, and I recommend the 3rd 'hybrid-way' over the rest. Saves time, you still get to create... and players feel apart of something bigger than them.
This was a great video, the last portion really spoke to how I run my games now. I took a homebrew world idea and plot, and simply used different modules to supplement the rest of the actual gameplay material. I started by running them through an old TSR AD&D module called Ghost Tower of Inverness or something like that, then they delved in the Sunless Citadel from the TotYP book, followed by White Plume Mountain where 75% of the party promptly died, struck down by Blackrazor. The fourth act of the campaign would have had them running through Dead in Thay and to the culmination of the homebrew story thread that connected all these disparate puzzle pieces. Somewhere along the way I learned to stop trying to reinvent the wheel and save myself a lot of time and energy maintaining a homebrew world. It was easier when I was a teenager...at thirty-one with two kids it is damn near impossible XD
Mark, well done. Keep up the great job. In few weeks time i will be running my 3rd session. Watching videos / streams like High Rollers makes me want to DM even more, but it is pretty stressful.
I'm a new DM running 5e DnD, I went for my own campaign set in Tal'Dorei (yay campaign guide for Christmas!). So far it's been great, Tal'Dorei is such a rich backdrop, a great framework that I can hang my own ideas on. So rather than 'some random town' it's 'a small town a day's ride from Emon' etc.
Weirdly enough, I was just about to start looking into some old modules and stuff I have laying around as my current party I've learned is very dungeon crawlery, not my preferred style of game but it still leaves fun to be had! Since I'm teeeerrrrible with maps and such I figure that's probably the best way to get some ideas. Now I've got homework asking me to? Damn, Good day sir!
I'm currently running 3 campaigns alternating between them as we go along. Its a mess and hard to work around my job, but its definitely fun for every one and it keeps things interesting giving my players different things to come back to each time, all while progressing stories, and getting to play different characters. - One of them, and the most complicated, is a Game in Faerun with a custom story using main characters from the modules who already exist in the world along with other things that already exist in the world. (Factions, City's, Etc.) Doing this gives the entire world a new threat to work against, not only that but its a shared world, meaning that one of my players every other game Gets to DM his story along side mine within the world of Faerun. That of corse gives me a chance to play, instead of DM, and it gives the world along with the hero's a second threat to deal with along with. To keep things even more interesting we of corse add in new towns, dungeons, enemies, etc. making the world of Faerun, that we call home, all the more gripping for our players to go threw. Just figured Id share that little bit of my DMing Life from my side of the world. - USA, AL
I used Against The Cult Of The Reptile God from AD&D to start my CriticalRole campaign. Mixing and matching is my favorite part of DMing, it gives me enough wiggle room to create while taking some of the challenges of making everything up out of the equation
So I've recently started getting into d&d and soon I'll actually be playing my very first campaign which I'm looking forward to I'm not the DM in this campaign but I would really like to DM my own campaign some time in the future and while prewriten modules might be easier to pull of for me as a new and inexperienced player I still would love it to be a homebrew The act of creating things yourself and putting thought into my character was a huge drive for me getting into ttrpg's in the first place so being able to create not just my own character but an entire world for a group of 4-5 people to wreak havoc on might be the more fun and more rewarding experience for me even if I still need to learn quite a bit about the rules
Pro for modules: you can swap stories with thousands of people around the world who have played that same adventure. All fandoms are based on fans experiencing the same content, creating "shared memories" that they can discuss, argue, reminisce, and create memes about. Pro for homebrew: you're more likely to surprise your players with new content as they've never played that adventure before.
I’m completely new, and I have a group of friends I want to try to dm for. I can handle all the info gathering and stuff, but I think I want to go home brew lol. I have a million stories in my head, and so long as I study and watch these great videos, I think we can still manage to have fun with it lol
I chose custom because I wanted my campaign to be a little unpredictable for my more experienced players. Both of them are also DMs both in and outside of our group. And I swear they have some of the D&D material (especially the monster manuals) completely memorized. So I created a setting where literally anything could be an encounter if I wanted it to be even gene splicing my own creations at times. The feeling I get when even my experienced players are panicking and don't know what to do is so satisfying. >:D
This video made me want to try out DMing for once. I've never done it before so I'm a little nervous to do so. But I'll defiantly think about it :) Great video as always Mark
Great video again Mark1 one thing i would like to suggest as a benefit or maybe something for a future video is the overall dnd community. there are so many people that work on Custom monsters/races/items. that can help you with a plot hook or what might happen if your first time player dies at level 2 from instigating a fight with animated armor XP. I think a video on tools themselves would be amazing. How to do campaign notes/what program. things like that.
Even though I run a homebrew campaign, I buy the adventure modules to get ideas. I bookmark every map in them in case I need a good map, or even just an idea for one. And any other thing that piques my interest, I bookmark for later.
A great and wise DM I once played with (aka my physics prof) said that a DM doesn't create a story, he creates a world and lets the adventurers interact. That he's not the "story teller" but he's just the interface through which the adventurer interacts with the world. Thoughts from any other experienced DMs?
Mark. Sherlock. Hulmes. Lookin' good! Glaad you're feeling better :D As always very helpful, will definitely do my homework for my upcoming first session based on a module called War-lock :D Cheers
Only criticism would be:adding pregen to homebrew isn't cheating in my opinion, its using what you know already to speed up your creation process. If it does what you want and will be fun for the group, all to the better 😊 I'll tweak the homework a little, I have an idea for a campaign setting so ill start on a couple of the encounters for that, I need a kick up the bum to start!
You should've, for the intro, the part where you put your dice on the table, made a lot of takes to get a take where there are just 1s and maybe a few 2s rolled by the dice
That sounds pretty good. But there's also the "old fashioned way": Have a session 0, sit down, create characters, and talk about what you and the players want to see in the campaign. Create based on what you talked about in session 0.
5/10 No whiteboard used
Pro of Homebrew... as a new DM you will learn far more. Trial and error by practice. Running a module doesn’t teach you how to balance encounters or how to take into account the players ability combination.
I'm DMing for our three kids and am kind of learning as I go, so I'm enjoying your DM 101 videos. Very well done - thank you!
Snap. I’m doing the same
I'm about to do the same after a 30+ year hiatus from the game. This should be good....lol
@@oliver5911same. I was a 14 year old DM in 1987. Now learning all over again for my two boys.
Is the secret third option having no prepared content at all and blagging an entire game on the fly?
ive done that several times. I just sit back and see what the players do and some up with something based on their actions. quite a few really good adventures have come out of that
its fun to do but if you know your party you can better predict what they will do
I do this way too much. And for some reason, no one has noticed so far >.>
I liked your comment but then I had to dislike so you would stay at 69 likes, sorry
Risky. I love it.
Another pro for homebrew: More rewarding for everyone if the players guess the plot. It's rewarding for the DM because it shows that they're doing a good job with the story. It's rewarding for the players because A) they don't know for sure if they're right, and B) when they find out they are right, they're extra excited.
I somehow managed to persuade a teacher to supervise us while we play D&D in school so now im a dungeon master and we play every other monday :) this series should come in handy
You just rolled a nat 20 on your persuasion check.
Personally, Homebrew ends up being easier for me. I immediately become the expert of my own world. It's actually fairly difficult to absorb everything in a campaign setting or campaign module for me at times.... I feel like I am always trying to remember something correctly. I sometimes do both... and Frankenstein version of homebrew/campaign setting/ and module...
Yeah, I initially thought modules would be less work, but in practice it's so much to read and remember, and I'm afraid to just make things up in case it ends up contradicting anything important.. It feels like I'm cramming for an exam except if I fail a question the punishment is that my friends don't get to have fun ;_;
Hi just stumbled onto your DM series. Very well done. Been playing since '79, DMing since '81. Thanks for giving new folks solid, simple advice. I remember being overwhelmed when I started. Your comment about adding module info to your world or adding your own touches to modules is spot on. I keep notes of buildings, castles, anything I see and it helps when stuck in creating something new. Pieces of modules, castles from my sketches in Europe, dungeons I designed years ago, it's all there to help me. For example, I needed a road fort for a long lost Elven kingdom. I used the design of an old toll building in Frankfurt, Germany, and a small fort from Dungeon magazine.
I use forgotten realms for about 12 years now, and a major pro is the familiarity the players have. Every city they enter, every major location, they remember of previous adventures, characters, moments of glory and despair. To me, remembering and making new stories with your friends is the best part of gaming
Yep! One of the wonderful things about the existing settings is that familiarity!
I'm starting a homebrew campaign, and came to the problem of a map
Solution: I now have a massive map on my wall that i can use like a war map to set out my campaign (i.e Put sticky note reminders on places like they might be wanted criminals in this town, if a town gets destroyed, i can just erase alot of it to show it's in ruins, I can use sticky notes to write general notes about every town and city to expand upon when my players go there etc)
Luke D'Ettorre where did you get the map from?
Wikipédia is a infinite source of ideas, most notably everything that as to do with history or notable historical figures. You can create a never ending amount of very detailled characters and places with it.
I feel that what would be good for first time DMs would be to do what Adventure Zone did. They played through Mine of Phandelver in a pretty vanilla fashion, but when they reached the end of it, they started their own story and expanded on the world that they wanted.
As someone who has ideas for homebrew worlds but I have no idea where to start with developing those into a setting so I'm looking forward to seeing more of these videos.
its the intro to drama teacher mark, i love it
I am a self-taught DM. Have played a game where I'm the player maybe twice as one-shots and haven't had anyone to walk me through how things work besides what I can find online.
I am, however, a writer, and therefore very much wanted to homebrew a massive game for my friends.
There's been a lot of stumbling, learning, and going back to fix things, but we're all having fun!
These videos are VERY helpful! It did not even cross my mind that I could just re-skin some encounters that other people have made to fit it in for flavor.
I will also say, I've gotten a massive amount of help using generative AI. Artwork for characters so the players have a face to a name and can connect with NPCs better, creating scenes for encounters for flavor, creating simple battle maps, etc. With all the time I take creating the story and dialogue, it's a huge help in the areas I don't have much talent in, such as map-making, artwork, and even generating ideas for one-off encounters while they're traveling from one destination to another.
I hope that by the time they defeat the big bad in this campaign I can be a true master of Dungeon Mastering
With homebrew content, you can tailor the game to the players, session by session.
If a few of your players like dungeon crawling, you can give them a couple of sessions on that, then smatter in a few talky roleplay sessions for the actors around the table.
Also, I often find that players are far more willing to experiment in a homebrew world as they know that ANYTHING is possible.
As a new DM, in fact new to RPG overall, I am really enjoying this series. Thank you!
Option 3 is in line with what i am doing, and I had a question regarding reward items & loot; I am concerned about giving exciting rewards that might be OP. Any advice in future episodes would be greatly appreciated!
Often a campaign starts in a module and then devolves into something fucking odd
Very true. XD
- jeez my tomb of annihilation imploded into a wild run from area to area desperately trying to find a way to survive a death curse without going into the main dungeon- What is funnier- they all have the knowledge they have to go to the tomb of the nine gods- they just wont tho
this is suprisingly pleasing to watch not even mentioning the great tips! the camerawork, talking style, and concept is just great keep on mark!
This series is awesome Mark, in my opinion it's on par with Running The Game, keep up the good work!
The biggest problem I have with modules is the way its laid out. Wwhen you read information for a location its generally a lot of useless information with the useful stuff hidden somewhere in these paragraphs. Eg "this room was used by Xandar for torturing anyone he wanted to get information out of. He would send a group of thugs out to collect the person then spend hours or days torturing them here until he got what he wanted at which point he would kill them. If the players touch on of the torture devices they must succeed a DC14 dexterity saving throw or take 2d4 piercing damage." yeah that extra information has some cool lore, but most of the time there is no way to give the players this information. Just saying its a torture room will do unless theres a way to give that lore to the players, i wouldnt mind if Jeralt 2 rooms away could be role played with and knows this information and may tell the players if they can convince him, but most of the time its just, heres 3 paragraphs of text, lol no way to give it to the player though, now find the traps and encounters hidden amongst all this text. I cant change how modules are written but if you are home brewing, keep this information separate, kind of how Mark does in the next section. Have the location name, some short lore, then separately the useful information, traps, encounters, npcs etc. And keep it all short, 3 paragraphs of text usually isnt helpful when the players ask an npc a question and you have to read through it to find the answer.
Great topic! I tend to go with option 3. I was running 50 Fathoms for Savage Worlds which has a plot point campaign. I used the overlying story as the big thing but made my own encounters and session stories leading to it. Made it more personal for my players and more fun for me.
Option 3 was the one i tended to gravitate towards, I started out with full homebrew content and by the time my PCs were level 5 I found myself just taking a dungeon from the Yawning Portal
Keep up this series Mark I absolutely love it, it is by far the most useful and professionally done series I have come across
Got my first session of a new campaign tomorrow. Been working on it for about four months and your videos have helped a lot so ty
Glad I could help!
Ik it’s been 3 years lol but how’d that campaign go?
This was utterly fantastic, I’ve been DMing for a few years now with a mix of home brew and modules but I’ve never heard it put so fantastically! Thank you Mr Hulmes!
I'd just like to say that I love the amount of effort you put into this series, it really shows and is greatly appreciated. And even this video alone makes making a homebrew campaign seem less daunting. Thanks Mark!
Homework done and done, been running own world now for over two years. I most often get the inspiration from different modules (Especially the maps/dungeons) but then tweak it a bit here and there. Working fine so far! Like the series, keep up the good work!
Nice video, Mark. The one time I've gone with a prewritten module instead of one of my own creation, my major gripe was the fact that I so often had to return to the material, and quickly skim it for details about the location, the character, what info it was possible to get out of them and so on. With homebrew it's something you've created yourself, and your more ready to answer what questions the players might have for you. For me there's just a better flow with something you know so well, because it's of your own making :)
Hi Mark, I've been really enjoying your content and I think this channel is a great (relatively new) addition to the Yogscast. As a new DM, some of your videos have been a big help for me, as well as being very entertaining. Keep up the great work!
I'm getting ready to play my first session now and this really helped. I decided on choosing home brew. It's really fun.
I do use option 3 when it comes to running stuff with my kids. I combine pre-made adventures for one system (Hero Kids or My Little Pony) and then use the system/equipment and classes from Adventure Maximus. Usually I end up just improving everything between the encounters and/or puzzles/riddles that I throw at them and we always have a blast.
As for D&D, I'm a brand new DM for that system so I'll be sticking with everything pre-written.
I personally love playing homebrew. My first campaign I am playing with a group of 8 is a full modern day homebrew. Basically I took the base rules of D&D and added a whole new ruleset including Superpowers instead of magic. It's quite a lot to do, especially the balancing, but everybody so far loves it. I hope someday to be able to release the module, but right now it's a fun thing to do. I always say if you have the time and determination to do something Homebrew, definitely do it, cause it feels so much better when the players fall in love with the world.
Modern day superpowers TTRPG based on DnD rules … I've heard this somewhere before … Mutants and Masterminds second edition! (Though I heard it's based on the older 3.5 system)
The rules are available here for free here www.d20herosrd.com/ though I'm not certain which version it is.
Chris I looked into it a bit, but I was much more knowledgeable in 5e rules. That was what I got into D&D with. Plus like I said, it's time consuming, but I love to do it.
Writing your own games system is far more work than creating a setting as you (probably should) have to worry about consistency and getting the mechanics right. There are plenty of superhero games. Champions is good and it can also be used for fantasy; as Fantasy Hero.
SO Im a bit of a D&D noob,.. I played a short lived campaign with a few friends years ago. Recently, a group of friends wanted to learn to play and start a Campaign. I being the only one that has played before, was chosen to be the DM(my first time ever). Your vids have been very helpful.thanks!
This is perfect im making my own campaign and DM 101 is making everything so much easier as im a new DM. enjoying the videos and thanks for the help.
Great as always mark! So useful. Great ideas and the homework section is a great shout!
This third option is what I'm definitely going to use myself. I really love Faerûn, so I like to delve deep into the lore. This makes it easy to just read about the lore that's currently relevant to the players in Phandelver, so when they're done, I have prepped enough to improvise and homebrew my own version.
i'm enjoying these videos a lot, friend. looking forward to you digging into some deeper stuff.
Cheers! Next episodes will dig into actually making stuff.
I've got a session coming up (it's Sunday, sorry Highrollers) where I'll be DMing. It's incorporating a module I made previously into the current campaign I'm running. I'm super excited about it and glad that you've started this series. I've been DMing for less than a year and hearing some of the things I've considered coming from a more experienced DM is really reassuring. Thanks Mark.
Currently playing through my first campaign. Going to be sharing the responsibility and ill be doing the next. Hope your videos sort me out for my first DM experience
These videos are awesome! I am going to be DM for the first time soon so wanna get as much information as I can. Thanks!
This is so helpful, thank you for making this series. I'm hoping to start a homebrew (which I'm only doing because I already made a world/town just for fun that I can convert to a Monster of the Week game) so knowing the pros and cons is helpful as all hell. Thankfully I'm ok with the extra work cause my town is my child and I want to grow and develop it so mich. My ADHD is actually helpful for once!
Thanks, Mark loving this series! Keep them up!
I was literally debating this very issue this morning. Lol! Thanks for another great episode with perfect timing.
Great video Mark!
I started writing about my current homebrew campaign world, but I quickly realized I was writing too much since my mind kept wanting to add all the details lol
I ended up home brewing a lot of my stuff mostly because I got a ton of inspiration when I was building a character. I pretty much started with some artwork of the mercenary from dark souls 3 and a female fighter that just steadily turned into an entire noble house. From there I imagined up opposing and allied houses until I realized I had more than I needed for a simple character. So I ended up writing up a one shot based on these. However as I went on it developed into a prologue for a campaign. I made it a prologue to allow for changes to be made since all I really had was humans developed initially and I primarily focused on those for what was originally a one-shot.
It's extra work but the motivation was there and I've been borrowing from what's in the monster manuals and things from Reddit. I threw in someone's "Actual Cannibal Shia Labeouf" home brew for a little side quest.
DMing my first campaign tomorrow. Ostensibly I'm running The Lost Mine of Phandelver (we're all new) but I'm adding a whole bit about a missing, drunk Monk who must be saved and brought back to the pub. Good to hear I can mash some of my own story into an existing story.
Also, this series of videos is great. Thanks for making them 👍
the third option is what i'm considering because of Ghosts of Saltmarsh
I tend to do a lot of mixing homebrew and modules in my campaigns. With my previous Pathfinder group that I DMed for, the second campaign arc was literally the plot of _Star Wars: A New Hope_ with key points altered to fit our game, and nobody realized until almost the end. Later in that same campaign I ran them through the _Ashes of Middenheim_ module from Warhammer Fantasy RolePlay. Also, the campaign map was just central Europe turned upside-down, the campaign ran for nearly a year and a half before anybody noticed.
Mark! The master of the Dungeon Masters. I (we) appreciate the tips and trick. Bringing happiness to DMer's across the world. (U.S. Boik here).
By the way, your "FUCK YOU ROCK" *Double barrel blast* when playing with HatFilms the other day way amazing. Thank you for the entertainment.
Mixed Homebrew is my favorite way to go. We use all the official DND content (so players aren't locked out of a (sub)class or race that they want. Right now we are doing a campaign based on Final Fantasy's Ivalice setting and we are having a blast! I use the official monster manual (which helps minimize the homebrew needed) but the races, classes, and a few flavorful monster choices really helps make DND work for the setting with minimal extra prepwork!
Loving this new series.
Thanks for the advice! I really wanted to do homebrew everything but had a friend caution me against it being new. Ended up doing DoIP with npcs giving quests instead of a job board and hints to other things going on in the world/ character backstories that will link into homebrew content after the module ends.
I'm about to be a first time Dm, and gonna be doing Lost Mines. I was already thinking about creating a tutorial of sorts as a prologue style thing and adding it to the start of the campaign to give my players (Who are first time also) and more importantly myself, practice for combat and things. Will flesh it out more than I had planned after watching this.
The last part about homework actually made me want to do this and I hope to be set more tasks in the future by Prof. Hulmes!
Love all your videos mark!!! I'm about to hopefully get a game going
When I first started DMing (1980s-90s) I would use modules for inspiration and link them (or just parts of each) together.
After seeing so many examples of adventures, I was able to write my own, draw maps, etc.
Hey man, your video's are very helpful and really well made. Thank you so much! :)
I can report that my homework was successful!! I’m actually running a campaign (as a new DM) based off of your Lightfall Campaign, and I’m using it to loosely start my own semi-homebrew adventure - I had to do a lot of improv for Gulthia as the players didn’t meet her first and the players have kinda made plot hooks for themselves. Anyways thanks Mark, can’t wait for the next episode :)
Thank you Mark, this helped me a lot
Great video Mark! I tend to find myself being in the third category and I believe it's mostly because of the "how cool would it be if..." mentality, the PC background integration as well as that I find it difficult to remember everything from the modules so tend to improvise to fill the gaps - which then leads to further plots down the road. I do think it's understated that the modules (especially the early 5e books) are not really that easy to read and digest. I'm running (modified versions of) both POTA and OOTA and even with internet resources, I still find it relatively hard to remember what's down the road and the specifics.
Also fun little story regarding mixing modules and homebrew:
In my POTA game, very early on in the module there is a simple bandit encounter for the PCs. Few days before our group's session I had opened a minis box and found a centaur mini that I really wanted to use, so I created a leader for the bandits, this rogue/shady centaur character. It was meant to spice up the combat encounter a bit (and show off a cool mini), but my PCs ended up dealing with the encounter socially and making a deal with them instead. Many months down the track the PCs realise they got the short end of that deal, the centaur's (now comprehensive) backstory slowly being revealed, he is now an integral part of the story, tied with the elemental cults, that the PCs are hunting down even more fiercely than trying to figure out what the cults are actually doing.
My creativity
Pros: great stories and ideas
Cons:
It gets messed up
I can’t choose one
I can’t find the best idea
I’m too lazy to have it in order sometimes
Oh shit so many cons
I think you should get something like a google doc and just put down things in order, and if the campaign gets derailed just roll with it and move around an encounter they were meant to have to a different town/city that they’re at.
Nice video Mark! I think you have a very nice setup and I look forward to your next videos. I have done a few one-shot and I'm currently running Storm King's Thunder. I have found myself using your third options a lot, especially in cities, since the module dosen't offer enough content for whatever crazy idears my players and I like to be better safe than sorry.
Neat video, thanks Mark!
I've come to feel, personally, that pre-made modules are, in essence, skeletons; you can run them as is and they'll work fine, but if you just run them straight out of the book, they risk coming up a bit soulless. Rather, I've found myself viewing them as skeletal structures for the DM to then build the adventure on, with their own customising and fleshing material, for their players.
I'm very much on the creative side of things for myself, and I'm always interested and fascinated by world lore and details, and I generally want to see and explore everything, but I can't ever effectively DM for my friends, myself. So I always find myself writing up extras and sending our DM bits and pieces of surrounding information and details, or customising little things for my characters, or her spells/equipment/home town/home region, and spreading out from that to build as much external world lore for regions and their social/political structures etc., that my character may have come from or had previous contact with, as the DM has room open to allow, and it's something I really appreciate their flexibility on ^.^
I had one question, if you're able to answer it; if you can't for the sake of your own players, that's fine, but... our group is currently running Strahd, we're still relatively early on in it, I think... so I wanted to ask how closely do you think the inspired material will follow the core book, for the High-Rollers crew? The question is mainly because we as a group of players want to avoid any and all possible spoiler-type material for our own first play, and if it's going to be particularly close to core elements, maybe we should pause watching on HR and let ourselves get behind a bit, just in case?
Good video at any rate, very informative and clear in delivery!
-Erica
I homebrew a lot of campaigns and always loved how you run your games. This series is awesome!! Really good tips and a bit of a better insight. Also - nice editing/set up!
Also digging the Blazer
Thank you! Hopefully we'll get into some more full-on tutorial stuff next week, just want to build up slowly!
I want to do a Homebrew campaign as my first simply because it would be pretty easy fot me. For about a year and a half, I've had a notebook and a digital folder for any bit of inspiration I've had or encountered regarding world building that I started when I really got into writing fiction. This includes a unique pantheon with my own visual design, a few dimensions, some maps, ect.
Never be afraid to alter details of the setting if something better comes along. I spent about a year writing abysmal crap for my setting. I wasn't in a group and could spare the time. It looked good when I wrote it but I've chucked out and re-written about 80%. Some of the revamp came about because of 4th-edition; some of it was the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. I've run four campaigns in that setting since 2nd-edition days and the players, just by participating, have helped with the definition. Leave space in your world to be defined when you need it. The chances are, it'll be all the better for the wait.
Great vid. I do the hybrid 'thang' allllll the time. I find that modules very rarely are played as read. My players took 26 sessions to complete LMoP when their own personal backgrounds, needs and wants came into play. It was ace, and I recommend the 3rd 'hybrid-way' over the rest. Saves time, you still get to create... and players feel apart of something bigger than them.
This was a great video, the last portion really spoke to how I run my games now. I took a homebrew world idea and plot, and simply used different modules to supplement the rest of the actual gameplay material. I started by running them through an old TSR AD&D module called Ghost Tower of Inverness or something like that, then they delved in the Sunless Citadel from the TotYP book, followed by White Plume Mountain where 75% of the party promptly died, struck down by Blackrazor. The fourth act of the campaign would have had them running through Dead in Thay and to the culmination of the homebrew story thread that connected all these disparate puzzle pieces. Somewhere along the way I learned to stop trying to reinvent the wheel and save myself a lot of time and energy maintaining a homebrew world. It was easier when I was a teenager...at thirty-one with two kids it is damn near impossible XD
Brilliant, again! Thank you!
One of the nicer pros to running a homebrew campaign is that you can personalize and even shift the focus based on what the players would like.
Only recently found this series, but I think it's great 👍
Mark, well done. Keep up the great job. In few weeks time i will be running my 3rd session. Watching videos / streams like High Rollers makes me want to DM even more, but it is pretty stressful.
Love your video! Can you do a laser focused video on how to run combat as the GM? With all new players? And maybe deep dive for each class
I'm a new DM running 5e DnD, I went for my own campaign set in Tal'Dorei (yay campaign guide for Christmas!). So far it's been great, Tal'Dorei is such a rich backdrop, a great framework that I can hang my own ideas on. So rather than 'some random town' it's 'a small town a day's ride from Emon' etc.
Also, my story beats are coming from a book series I read as a teenager, and modifying it heavily to fit as a campaign.
Thanks Mark, you're awesome!
Doing the 3rd option inverted: starting my new campaign with Curse of Strahd as a basis before tying them into my new world!
Weirdly enough, I was just about to start looking into some old modules and stuff I have laying around as my current party I've learned is very dungeon crawlery, not my preferred style of game but it still leaves fun to be had! Since I'm teeeerrrrible with maps and such I figure that's probably the best way to get some ideas. Now I've got homework asking me to?
Damn, Good day sir!
I'm currently running 3 campaigns alternating between them as we go along. Its a mess and hard to work around my job, but its definitely fun for every one and it keeps things interesting giving my players different things to come back to each time, all while progressing stories, and getting to play different characters. - One of them, and the most complicated, is a Game in Faerun with a custom story using main characters from the modules who already exist in the world along with other things that already exist in the world. (Factions, City's, Etc.) Doing this gives the entire world a new threat to work against, not only that but its a shared world, meaning that one of my players every other game Gets to DM his story along side mine within the world of Faerun. That of corse gives me a chance to play, instead of DM, and it gives the world along with the hero's a second threat to deal with along with. To keep things even more interesting we of corse add in new towns, dungeons, enemies, etc. making the world of Faerun, that we call home, all the more gripping for our players to go threw. Just figured Id share that little bit of my DMing Life from my side of the world. - USA, AL
I'm writing my own and using quests and encounters from prewrittens when I'm stuck
Thank you you’re awesome!
Also Hope you are feeling better markboi.
I used Against The Cult Of The Reptile God from AD&D to start my CriticalRole campaign. Mixing and matching is my favorite part of DMing, it gives me enough wiggle room to create while taking some of the challenges of making everything up out of the equation
this vid was great! it taught me something that I didn't know about in dnd
Bs your my DM professor
Thank you for ideas I may try them in my stuff
So I've recently started getting into d&d and soon I'll actually be playing my very first campaign which I'm looking forward to
I'm not the DM in this campaign but I would really like to DM my own campaign some time in the future and while prewriten modules might be easier to pull of for me as a new and inexperienced player I still would love it to be a homebrew
The act of creating things yourself and putting thought into my character was a huge drive for me getting into ttrpg's in the first place so being able to create not just my own character but an entire world for a group of 4-5 people to wreak havoc on might be the more fun and more rewarding experience for me even if I still need to learn quite a bit about the rules
I'm about to start my first game, I need to prep
Pro for modules: you can swap stories with thousands of people around the world who have played that same adventure. All fandoms are based on fans experiencing the same content, creating "shared memories" that they can discuss, argue, reminisce, and create memes about.
Pro for homebrew: you're more likely to surprise your players with new content as they've never played that adventure before.
I’m completely new, and I have a group of friends I want to try to dm for. I can handle all the info gathering and stuff, but I think I want to go home brew lol. I have a million stories in my head, and so long as I study and watch these great videos, I think we can still manage to have fun with it lol
I needed this! i had been wondering about if i should start doing a module or keep homebrewing.
Hope this helped you figure out what to do!
This is soooo useful!! Thanks Mark!!
I chose custom because I wanted my campaign to be a little unpredictable for my more experienced players. Both of them are also DMs both in and outside of our group. And I swear they have some of the D&D material (especially the monster manuals) completely memorized. So I created a setting where literally anything could be an encounter if I wanted it to be even gene splicing my own creations at times. The feeling I get when even my experienced players are panicking and don't know what to do is so satisfying. >:D
This video made me want to try out DMing for once. I've never done it before so I'm a little nervous to do so. But I'll defiantly think about it :) Great video as always Mark
Great video again Mark1 one thing i would like to suggest as a benefit or maybe something for a future video is the overall dnd community. there are so many people that work on Custom monsters/races/items. that can help you with a plot hook or what might happen if your first time player dies at level 2 from instigating a fight with animated armor XP. I think a video on tools themselves would be amazing. How to do campaign notes/what program. things like that.
Great video, again! Thanks, Mark!
Even though I run a homebrew campaign, I buy the adventure modules to get ideas. I bookmark every map in them in case I need a good map, or even just an idea for one. And any other thing that piques my interest, I bookmark for later.
A great and wise DM I once played with (aka my physics prof) said that a DM doesn't create a story, he creates a world and lets the adventurers interact. That he's not the "story teller" but he's just the interface through which the adventurer interacts with the world. Thoughts from any other experienced DMs?
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
Mark. Sherlock. Hulmes. Lookin' good! Glaad you're feeling better :D As always very helpful, will definitely do my homework for my upcoming first session based on a module called War-lock :D Cheers
Only criticism would be:adding pregen to homebrew isn't cheating in my opinion, its using what you know already to speed up your creation process. If it does what you want and will be fun for the group, all to the better 😊
I'll tweak the homework a little, I have an idea for a campaign setting so ill start on a couple of the encounters for that, I need a kick up the bum to start!
You should've, for the intro, the part where you put your dice on the table, made a lot of takes to get a take where there are just 1s and maybe a few 2s rolled by the dice
I would love some sort of questionnaire I could give my players so I can tailor a world / session to them.
Interesting, this sounds like the sort of thing I'd probably write up for Patreons. :)
That sounds pretty good.
But there's also the "old fashioned way":
Have a session 0, sit down, create characters, and talk about what you and the players want to see in the campaign. Create based on what you talked about in session 0.
Yeah, session 0 is absolutely the best thing. And if you have the time for it sit down with every player individually :)