Even with the basic enemy variety, they can do different things depending on the personality they are given. One encounter I enjoyed watching my players beat was one involving five goblins and two basilisks. The rogue and danger took care of two goblins with stealth attacks while the paladin and wizard took the main group head on. I had two goblins with spiked shields charge the wizard and the basilisks rushed to the paladin. Watching the players use their wits and abilities to beat that fight was awesome and even the paladin walked away happy after being petrified because of how tough the fight was looking and with some scouting, ingenuity, and wit they pulled it off. On the topic of giant monster fights: theater of the mind works great. I’d throw in skill checks for mobs and players, no different than in any environment. I love giving my players epic scale fights and threats. It really sells the heroic fantasy when afterwards they look back at everything and see how far they have come.
One of my favorite resources for a last min puzzles is the professor Layton game wiki. Each puzzle on the wiki (300+) has follow up puzzles, bespoke hints, and the answer. Really good for the lazy DM
I am running a campaign with no gods currently. It's simple to set up. I do two different things. 1st for the application of the magic rules. Think Xman mutants. They can just do it. Whatever the rule says mechanically stays. And since flavor is free, if you and the DM are on the same page it's no problem. (I've made a starwars battle Droid out of a warlock...the rule set works fine without a patron) 2. Lore is the issue. You can come up with any reason magic works but doesn't require God's. I've done this a couple of different ways. But the one I'm having fun with now is Mythics. At session zero I had each PC create a Mythic character from the past. Some real (as real as the PCs) character that lived in the past and has done something so amazing that people want to emulate them, like saints almost. Give reason for temples and shrines without the divine feel and more of a cemetery or museum feel. Flavor is free. Have fun with what works for your world and players. My players want to avoid demons and Devils and angels and gods... but loves fighting monsters and beasts and all manner of magic. No problem. DND has room for that too.
Kinda doing this with one of the DM’s I play with. I’m actually well versed when it comes to the subject, even outside dnd, so this is hardly the first time I’ve helped world-build a pantheon with friends. I give them a few huge things though. If they intend to have a pantheon instead of a single god or things that are more like Kami (which is it’s own thing), I tell them to have, at the very least certain portfolios that must have a god presiding over it. These are - birth - love - death - household - water - nature/growth/fertility - medicine - seasons - weather - day/night - creation - trickery Now, of course, these can all be smushed together and mixed and matched but you will always have gods like this in any culture that has a pantheon. Especially the love, birth, death, and any god related to food and protection of the home. That is because these are all shared experiences across any culture and throughout time. From there, well, because it’s dnd, figure out which of the listed domains in the official stuff fits with which god. You don’t have to make a large pantheon. 3-5 is a good small size. Sometimes even 2 though you might want to still do 3. Depends on the story you create between the gods. I would not suggest making more than 20 gods. In fact, I suggest stopping at 15. If you want to go beyond that, make them lesser enough that they are more demigods than true gods. This is more to not overwhelm players or yourself. A culture can have a ton of gods but the more specialized the god, the less likely they would have been widely worshipped. That’s why it’s best to start with the gods whose portfolios include what amounts to shared experiences all people go through. Life, love, grief, death, family, food, seasons, etc. All of these factor into people’s lives no matter what they do or where they place in the structure of a society. People use gods and their stories to not just explain how something exists but also teach the lessons and values a society has. You can think of a god as a time capsule of the society of that time frame and that location. Gods also can evolve and do. Their stories are fairly fluid because, for the majority of irl history, their stories were passed down by oral tradition rather than written down. Storytellers were the ones who shared these and we then repeated them and changed them. Like the old telephone game but through space and time. Anyway, enough of my nerding out over pantheons and storytelling. Basically this is my advice when crafting a pantheon that you want to make feel like it is more than a “planet of hats” (that’s a trope) addition to your world building. Also it will probably make lore drops awesome for the players to learn about the stories from various npc locals and how that might change location to location. I hope my own advice here helps someone too. The advice from the video is definitely good to keep in mind too.
The average viewer: "You philosophers sure are a contentious people." The average philosopher: "You just made an enemy for life!" Seriously, Philosophy of Dnd might be too niche to algorithm, but I'd happily watch a whole series on it if you made it.
one of my favorite GM911's to date, this one had so many great questions
you are the best DND RUclipsr for DMs; like sage advice but a cool dude
Even with the basic enemy variety, they can do different things depending on the personality they are given. One encounter I enjoyed watching my players beat was one involving five goblins and two basilisks. The rogue and danger took care of two goblins with stealth attacks while the paladin and wizard took the main group head on. I had two goblins with spiked shields charge the wizard and the basilisks rushed to the paladin. Watching the players use their wits and abilities to beat that fight was awesome and even the paladin walked away happy after being petrified because of how tough the fight was looking and with some scouting, ingenuity, and wit they pulled it off.
On the topic of giant monster fights: theater of the mind works great. I’d throw in skill checks for mobs and players, no different than in any environment. I love giving my players epic scale fights and threats. It really sells the heroic fantasy when afterwards they look back at everything and see how far they have come.
One of my favorite resources for a last min puzzles is the professor Layton game wiki. Each puzzle on the wiki (300+) has follow up puzzles, bespoke hints, and the answer. Really good for the lazy DM
I loved your ranger class guide. I think it's the best one on the internet.
It made me sad that you don't want to do more.
I'd love to hear an update on your Solandis campaign, sorry to see you had to cut that part of the video!
Thanks for the kaiju talk! I wish I could be a fly on the wall with one of your fights. I'll be sure to keep those tips in mind 👍
OH HEY ITS MEEEEE thanks man its really appreciated ^^
I am running a campaign with no gods currently. It's simple to set up. I do two different things.
1st for the application of the magic rules. Think Xman mutants. They can just do it. Whatever the rule says mechanically stays. And since flavor is free, if you and the DM are on the same page it's no problem. (I've made a starwars battle Droid out of a warlock...the rule set works fine without a patron)
2. Lore is the issue. You can come up with any reason magic works but doesn't require God's. I've done this a couple of different ways. But the one I'm having fun with now is Mythics. At session zero I had each PC create a Mythic character from the past. Some real (as real as the PCs) character that lived in the past and has done something so amazing that people want to emulate them, like saints almost. Give reason for temples and shrines without the divine feel and more of a cemetery or museum feel. Flavor is free. Have fun with what works for your world and players.
My players want to avoid demons and Devils and angels and gods... but loves fighting monsters and beasts and all manner of magic. No problem. DND has room for that too.
Kinda doing this with one of the DM’s I play with. I’m actually well versed when it comes to the subject, even outside dnd, so this is hardly the first time I’ve helped world-build a pantheon with friends. I give them a few huge things though. If they intend to have a pantheon instead of a single god or things that are more like Kami (which is it’s own thing), I tell them to have, at the very least certain portfolios that must have a god presiding over it. These are
- birth
- love
- death
- household
- water
- nature/growth/fertility
- medicine
- seasons
- weather
- day/night
- creation
- trickery
Now, of course, these can all be smushed together and mixed and matched but you will always have gods like this in any culture that has a pantheon. Especially the love, birth, death, and any god related to food and protection of the home. That is because these are all shared experiences across any culture and throughout time. From there, well, because it’s dnd, figure out which of the listed domains in the official stuff fits with which god. You don’t have to make a large pantheon. 3-5 is a good small size. Sometimes even 2 though you might want to still do 3. Depends on the story you create between the gods. I would not suggest making more than 20 gods. In fact, I suggest stopping at 15. If you want to go beyond that, make them lesser enough that they are more demigods than true gods. This is more to not overwhelm players or yourself. A culture can have a ton of gods but the more specialized the god, the less likely they would have been widely worshipped. That’s why it’s best to start with the gods whose portfolios include what amounts to shared experiences all people go through. Life, love, grief, death, family, food, seasons, etc. All of these factor into people’s lives no matter what they do or where they place in the structure of a society. People use gods and their stories to not just explain how something exists but also teach the lessons and values a society has. You can think of a god as a time capsule of the society of that time frame and that location. Gods also can evolve and do. Their stories are fairly fluid because, for the majority of irl history, their stories were passed down by oral tradition rather than written down. Storytellers were the ones who shared these and we then repeated them and changed them. Like the old telephone game but through space and time.
Anyway, enough of my nerding out over pantheons and storytelling. Basically this is my advice when crafting a pantheon that you want to make feel like it is more than a “planet of hats” (that’s a trope) addition to your world building. Also it will probably make lore drops awesome for the players to learn about the stories from various npc locals and how that might change location to location. I hope my own advice here helps someone too. The advice from the video is definitely good to keep in mind too.
Amazing content, thank you so much
I would also like to see more class videos. I know you are late to the game but they are very good.
"tour-AH-sk" lol
I would love to create a campaign that had a lot of influence from different dimensions.Any tips?
Include at least three dimensions: width, height, and depth.
Rpg philosophy.
Could be really fun
Where else on RUclips have i seen that 🤔
The average viewer: "You philosophers sure are a contentious people."
The average philosopher: "You just made an enemy for life!"
Seriously, Philosophy of Dnd might be too niche to algorithm, but I'd happily watch a whole series on it if you made it.