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Is critical role scripted - no. Is critical role storylined and the players told in advance damn well they are. Take a look at the set up for each fight, the DM and Players know exactly what's coming their way with the fully set up area. Their lines are mostly adlib.
These things are also good reminders for veteran DMs. Especially knowing that your players aren’t judging you as much as you think, and knowing that you’ll have a bad session every once in a while… very important to keep in mind
"No plan survives contact with the [players]." This is true. But this is also true: "Plans are useless. Planning is essential." Like Luke points out, the more you plan, the better you'll be at coming up with a new plan at a moment's notice. Improv uses the same "muscles" as planning. And if you have planned for every possibility that you can think of, when your players inevitably come up with something you didn't, you'll be better equipped to come up with the response.
Also, planning gets you in the villain's mindset or more familiar with the situation at hand so, when things go awry, you have a better idea of the pieces/pawns/etc in play that are available to respond with.
@@nilsjonsson4446 You obviously don't have MY group of players. I LOVE how unexpected they are. They are patient with me, as I sit there, holding my head, moaning, "Whaaaaa? How the heck do I DM THIS?!" And then, I respond, and wind up changing canon. For instance, in our world, carrion crawlers are now allergic to and terrified of chocolate. Also, chocolate makes "chocolate noises" that are very loud and frightening. Because why the heck not?! It was hilarious, so I ran with it. It all started with a critical failure, while one player was trying to tame the carrion crawler, by offering it chocolate. The animal handling check was not likely to succeed, but that Nat 1 clinched it. I always come up with some sort of more-than-mere-failure for a Nat 1, so I said that "It gets a rash, and does 1d4 of damage. It's shocked and surprised." The next thing I know, they're throwing chocolate, and smearing it on their weapons, and casting minor illusion of 5-foot-cubes of chocolate behind the carrion crawlers. 5-foot-cubes of chocolate that "make chocolate noises" thanks to another minor illusion spell. And carrion crawlers have an Int score of 1, so they were terrified of it. And now, it is part of our world lore. Carrion crawlers are allergic to, and terrified of, chocolate. They kept four carrion crawlers contained DURING A COMBAT, simply by drawing a circle of chocolate around them. Now they're almost out of chocolate, and have to get back to town, and try to place a special order for more, though the Lionshield Coster, because they used seven pounds of chocolate in one encounter. Seriously, there was no way to PLAN for that sort of stuff. My niece doesn't just think outside of the box. To her, the box doesn't even exist. Put her with her father (who taught her about ignoring boxes), and no plan I make for them is going to go exactly to plan. I have to spend SO MUCH of my time thinking on the fly. But prep is key, so that I can respond with some sort of confidence, and know how things WORK in this world, and what is likely to happen, due to their actions, and "Well, I know that not 50 feet away, around the corner and behind a door, are X monsters, who hear this commotion, and respond by..." We've been playing for a while now, and NOT ONE of our encounters have gone according to my plan. This is the group that used a rope to pick a lock. "You do whatnow? HOW? Well, when you explain it that way, it actually makes sense. OK, I guess you can try that. Give me a Dexterity check. Wow. You rolled REALLY well."
I played dnd 5yrs when younger. I just learning 5e. Not played in longtime. Ppl want me to dm but im green. I feel not ready .. what do you recommend..? Im poor with combat etc
@@joeharvey5556 my best advice for this is aside from running something premade is to give your players upfront honesty that you’re new and learning. Then run a time loop based game. Then you can get messy and make potentially fatal mistakes but it’ll all be okay.
@@joeharvey5556 Late reply, but honestly? Jump right in, don’t let failure get to you. You’ll make mistakes regardless of how much you prepare, we all do (I especially still do.) Treat any mistakes as learning experiences, always err in encounter setups on the side of too hard, (especially this edition, PCs are very resilient,) and never let them know what you’re thinking. The number one thing you’ll need to learn is to think on your feet, which no amount of world building, planning or record keeping will train you to do. You really just have to get that one “trial by fire” and it takes time. Above all act like what they are doing was always your plan, no matter how many notes you have to rip up.
"If you see your players laughing and smiling, if they come back week after week, then you're probably doing just fine." This made me genuinely cry in relief. I'm judging myself too harshly! Thank you for making me realize it, Luke!
@@jonsimpson6240 yeah, acererak is kinda an asshole And really creepy Not in an undead way, as much in a "erase someone's memory and keep them trapped in a lagoon in your dungeon as a personal joke"/"trans your gender and send you outside naked" kinda creepy
My previous DM actually quit half way because he wasn't having fun. We were not doing literally anything he planned for... and that was both of our faults. He would make everything seem optional or not important, and besides me, my group was very indecisive, so it turned out badly for all of us. For example, my character's brother was going into a dungeon. So I asked if his life was at risk if I didn't go with him. DM said he'd be fine. So I didn't go with him and got back to the main quest. The DM had the whole dungeon planned out and he was very disappointed. However, so was I because I wanted to go down there too, but i thought I'd be helping my DM more by going back to the main quest since I figured if thr DM wanted me to go with my brother, then he'd have told me he was in danger or about some reward. I say all of this to new DMs from a player perspective... if a player asks you "I'm not sure what to do" don't be afraid to break the 4th wall and just say "well I planned for you guys to go into the dungeon." In my limited experience, if you tell players you have a direction planned, then they will be more than happy to go that way and come up with a realistic character reason to do so. And another note- be careful saying "the room SEEMS empty" when it's actually empty... cause players will spend far too long trying to solve a puzzle that isn't there.
Thank you such for the explanation and example. As a long time DM, it's hard to tell when it is appropriate to railroad and especially how. But being upfront was overlooked by me. Thank you again for the Insight and Inspiration 😉
@@tylerwellman8252 im hosting my first DnD with my friend group and i never did any DnD or DMing before, we are playing stromwreck isle and i noticed my group didnt go the way where i had stuff ready and there are many kobold as friendly npcs, i just created a kobold named flip that put them to the right direction without breaking the game and it worked wonders, had to do that a second time when the party spend way to long in a tavern, drinking...
So since you asked for the "Nein Flavours of Aspargus", here is my explanation: 1) The Cobalt Aspargus - It somehow tastes blue in a kind, not to confuse with the smurf variant 2) The wild grown Aspargus - It tastes a clay. Clay. That's it. 3) The Aspargus of the Sea - It tastes a lot like fish, yet it is vegan. Delicious. 4) The Colorspray Aspargus - Having his name from a wild sprinkle of color, its taste really reminds me of tealeafs. 5) The Two-Faced Aspargus - The taste of this one really depends, on some days its really beautiful and delicious, on other days is smells and looks like a rotten green cucumber. 6) The electrified Aspargus - This one is a special. Unlike most other Aspargus, this one gets fried via electricity and gets really crispy and tender that way. 7) The Rainbow Aspargus - Probably my favorite one, it tastes like sprinkled with the dust of deliciousness. 8) The Hot Boi Aspargus - Well this one is more for the eye, than for the taste. It has a dark, purple look, and it kinda tastes like regular aspargus, but with a twist. 9) The Reborn Aspargus - It tastes like a mixture of the Sea and Colorspray variant, but in the end, it still creates his own flavour. Delicious. You are welcome!
protip to new aspiring DMs: forget trying to play with friends that you want to get interested in the game, find new friends that are already want to play
Of course, ask your friends, if you have them. Lots of people want to play and don't have the balls to speak up unless asked. Now I'm running 2 games at once for 11 people.
I think a good balance between people who have played and people that haven't is best. Otherwise, no one ever joins the hobby, but having a few people you know already enjoy the game help hold the game together while the other players learn the rules and figure out if they like it or not. Some people just aren't going to enjoy it. I had friends who just didn't like that they couldn't control the narrative like a video game.
Yeah, just gotta start. Put a date on the calendar with your players and just do it, rain or shine, terrified or excited. It's not nearly as bad as one's mind might make it seem.
Common misconception: the primary purpose of corn fields is for pilots-in-training to crash into. Harvesting only happens as a byproduct and corn prices are as low as they are because of a lack of interest in piloting 😁👍
I was always overprepared and found so much of my planning went to waste (though I've since recycled some things that were not used initially). Now, I only really plan for the current trajectory of the party and have a loose-but-adaptable plotline for the overarching story.
I always end my sessions with asking what the players intend on doing ( where they are going to go next with the intent of doing what ever ) so that I can prepare only those things with a few extra bits that can be rotated infront of the players if I need to try and hook them in certain directions .
@Soul Firez that's what I've learned to start doing as well. Makes things so much easier. Especially now the druid is level 11 and has access to Transport Via Plants 😂
Your job as the GM: set up a string of situations, hold a coherent, fantastical world, force the players to act. How to be a player: ask yourself what you would do as your character because he is defined by his actions, aslways state intent and approach. The GM decides when the players roll the dice: when there's a chance of success, a chance of failure, and a consequence for that failure, the dice are rolled to determine the rest of the story. Be fair, telegraph most everything, and tell your players why they are rolling the dice. Your GM lexicon: conflict, opportunity, danger, call to action, fellowship, motivation, arbitration, and tags. Your best tools: Maze Rats random tables, Godbound random tables, and ICRPG. GM reading list: Trap Theory video by Runehammer, the AngryGM's book or his articles about GMing, Basically, SlyFlourish's Lazy Dungeon Master book, and The Monsters Know What They're Doing by Keith Ammann. DM Lair as well, obviously! ;P *And know this: you're NEVER going to be perfect, we simply can't and we keep learning forever, so stop worrying and get into the fray because you'll have a hell of a lot of fun. And Luke (Lucas? I don't hear it well.) is right, your players aren't judging you as much as you think they would, they'rej ust busy having a good time. Oh, and steal. Steal, steal, steal good and interesting ideas, you're now part of the coolest club ever: all that advice above? I stole it from the sources I've shared, it's a pleasure for us GMs to have our ideas, adventures, traps, and even advice stolen for somebody else's table. GLHF!* :D
Thought I'd see Angry in your list of resources after you brought up "intent and approach" (which I agree is key). If I could give a new GM only one piece of advice, it would be to read the Angry GM blog. There's just no one else who breaks down the fundamentals quite as well. And a hell of a lot of people (Luke's a notable exception) who don't even try.
You just had to say it... Here ya go: The 9 flavors of asparagus (yes, these are just ways of cooking it): 1) Grilled 2) Sauteed 3) Roasted 4) Creamed 5) Puree 6) As part of a gross "nutrient shake" 7) Steamed 8) Raw 9) Broiled
I have a safe phrase for my players when they're about to do something silly. When they hear, "Are you sure you want to do that?" they know the choice they're contemplating has a high chance of very unpleasant consequences. Sometimes, however, they do it anyway. =)
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 "You can try" is fine if you only use it to warn players about bad ideas. Just don't do that to poor innocent players when they ask if they can attempt _anything at all ever._ I've had that DM! Twice! It's not fun! It results in a game where as a player I feel too intimidated to take much action at all, nevermind play the seemingly-reckless, semi-calculated-risks swashbuckling types I want to play. Don't try to fake players out with that _or_ with asking "Are you sure" for reasonable tasks. Remember that the players don't always have all the same information on the world or even their immediate surroundings that you do as a DM. They're not in that environment, they don't have the luxuries of sight and hearing and touch that their characters do, and they're not familiar with their characters' bodies the way their characters would be. And they're not familiar with the world itself the way the characters would be, having lived in it all their lives! So don't fake the players out unless it makes sense to (such as illusions or a foreign civilization being involved so the characters are just as out of their depth as the players, for example).
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 No, I did, I just wanted to put that out there anyway, heh. I just feel fairly passionately about that particular phrase because, yeah.
@@FlameUser64 I always tell the players they can try anything ever. The dice will decide if its possible. and in some cases the negative modifiers will simply make it impossible. Theres always the chance of rolling two nat criticals in a row though.
I'm currently writing a new campaign, and one of my players (a DM of a couple of our other games) decided to send me this video. I'm feeling called out but it was extremely helpful in putting a couple things into perspective. Cheers!
Relax and enjoy , I would remind you to shine the spot light on each of the players to give them all there moment to do something cool or just important to the story ,as its there story , its your plot but its your characters story .
Long time player finally running my first game with a coworker and his young sons. We rolled character sheets as a separate event and plan to play our first Golden Vault game next week. I’m really excited to get to help them build the world they want to live in, and this video really helped me seat my confidence in my readiness and ability to make this game fun for them.
One of my players is a 6yo that decided on Warlock and it threw me for a loop initially. After this video, I’m realizing I can “gift” him his patron with loot during the opening session of our campaign instead of expecting him to be able to choose one.
Not sure about flavors but the 12 types of asparagus are Green, White, Purple, Wild, Apollo, Atlas, Jersey series, Mary Washington, Precoce D’Argenteuil, Purple Passion, UC 157 and Viking KB3.
I still struggle with number five. I have thought all of those things after about half of my sessions. But they do keep coming back, they do seem like they're having a good time, so I try not to worry as much. It's been helpful that some players will stay after a bit and we talk about the session, what we thought went right and what went wrong, so that's been good.
I've been playing and DM'ing for almost 40 years now and I really like the format of your videos. I've got some friends or family that are thinking about trying their hand "behind the screen" and I think your videos will help me, help them. I don't want to teach them how I run a game, I want them to find their own style. I play a wide variety of pen and paper RPG's and I really enjoy see different styles of story telling. Much appreciate the work you've put into these.
I agree on almost everything. Except the rules-as-written point. I've played with some house rules since day 1 - for instance ignoring XP and using a milestone system for levelling up instead (which I haven't regretted even once). Of course it does come down to how well you do know the more common rules when you start. I've played a few adventures in my group as a player before I became our de-facto DM (The others enjoyed my style best, I guess, plus I go all out with printing minis, making terrain and props and the like and they love that haha), so I already had a decent understanding of what worked well in our group and what didn't. So I'd say it depends. For someome completely out of their depth initially, it's probably a good idea to stick to the rules exactly, but if you feel comfortable with it, having house rules from the get-go can totally work.
Also depends on if you prefer some things from earlier rulesets. There's a lot in 5e I don't like compared to 3.5e and a lot that felt missing, so house rules to the rescue.
I'm a beginner Brazilian master and day after day I fall more in love with your content Thank you very much for these pearls of learning Forgive me for my bad English :D
"DnD is not DM vs Players", yeah, tell that to our table lol. We have a running gag that we are always scoring points against the DM and he on us when any makes a question or statement where the other stumbles to or can't answer. DM: "you're standing in your tavern..." Player: "What's the name of the keeper?" DM: "..." Players: "OH YEAH, WE'RE WINNING DND"
Any important characters i prepare names and even thier sheets beforehand.A tavern keeper? yeah id just make something up on the spot. your inkeeper is Vasylyj, an immigrant from the east who came here as a child and started his own business. And i just stole his personality from a rat exterminator in a tv show The Strain.
I’m doing a heavily home brew campaign and it’s been really fun. My players enjoy the combat and the characters. I’m a first time DM, but my friend who has been DMing us for almost 10 years who is one of the players said I’m doing really well. And honestly I’m mostly winging it. I go in with a plan, they do something funny and dumb, it changes the course, and we have more fun by changing the plan based on their actions. It’s fun for them and myself
For those interested, here is my way to long experience of the past 4 months. As a little bit of background, I started playing about 2 years ago and haven't played as much as I would have liked (something about a pandemic, idk?) and decided a couple months ago I wanted to try DM'ing as my previous DM was strapped for time and cut his campaign short. Decided to start with Lost Mines of Phandelver to get a feel for the trade while making my own entire world from scratch (I have a pantheon I'm decently happy with but might scratch and redo the world map, it's a long-term thing hence the module). TLDR: trust your players with a bit of freedom, roll with their decisions, don't pull your punches with monsters that 'seem' too strong out of fear one of the players may go down, let them. Make mistakes, it's the fastest way to learn. I got a 3D printer for mini's, then a second one (first was filament, second is resin for better quality). Only do this if you want an extra hobby, it takes up a lot of time and especially resin printing has a bit of a learning curve, but wow do they look good on the table. Having your own means of producing mini's also allows for a lot of flexibility in what monsters and other things to throw at your players. I gave my players quite a bit of freedom with their characters, one is a dragonborn with wings and a tail, he doesn't use them functionally, though I might allow him to eventually. This was justified in his backstory as being experimented upon by the Cult of the Dragon. I also have a fairy barbarian, by one of my experienced players, this was before fairies were offically released. I gave the wizard a ram with the stats of a Nyx fleece Ram, which is utterly to strong as a familiar, but the ram is the husband of the fairy and the roleplay between me as the ram, the fairy and the wizard is absolutely hillarious. Lastly, I have two nobles, one paladin/warlock and one draconic sorceror. The freedom I gave my players has turned out fantastic as all of them are more interested in playing an interesting character rather than metagaming. Funny things that happened so far in the campaign: both the fairy barbarian and the dragonborn barbarian absolutely fail at opening doors, they have become the bane of my player's exsistance. They convinced the Redbrands to clear out of the cellars of Tressendar Manor, to avoid being utterly obliderated, aided by the scene of the dragonborn kicking in a door (the only one that would be kicked in) holding a Redbrand up by the throat and the warlock slicing their neck as a statement (great rollplaying ensued). They are now potential allies and the party hired one of them, named Cole, to be a guide to Thundertree. Cole has never really done much adventuring, and roling incredibly low several times he now officially has PTSD from all the monsters he's seen these insane people fight against. He's become the guide/cook/nanny to the fairy's 4 baby mimics, found during a session 0.5 to give my players a 'prologue' to their story and why/how they know eachother. Some things I learned: I have been to nice to my players. i had them start at lvl 3 because I personally dislike lvl 1 and 2 and I have been pulling punches when it comes to monsters with multi attack. I have now decided to stop that, underscored by a spontaneous 'gauntlet' we decided to do as we reached a plot point for an absent player and cut the session short. The monsters i threw at them they had already fought before, but now with multi attack and such. They did fine. During one session we had a guest player. One of my players decided they wanted to go back a bit to try open 'The Door' again. I should have cut this off before it started or after his first failed attempt and not gone on for 1.5 hours, it wasn't fun for the guest and we could have done this some other time. One of my players is an 'audience memeber', he made the sorcerer because the other player made a warlock and they would play off each other as the characters are brothers, the idea being they could help each other with certain skill checks. The player unfortunately doesn't know what to do with this character and during a great oppurtunity for some character development and roleplaying he completely shut down. When I or the warlock player brought this up, things didn't go so well, this player also copes with some mental problems which, I admit, I have no idea how to deal with. For the forseable future i will leave him to be an audience member, maybe prod him again in a few months if he's feeling better. Thanks for reading, hope you found it useful or at least entertaining!
This is a fantastic video man. I needed something like this to send my players who want to start their own games but are getting over that initial first hump of anxiety/fear to get started.
This is huge, thank you so much for the tips. Starting my first campaign in a few weeks and I’m super nervous and a bit overwhelmed. Thankfully I know my players well and we should have a good time regardless
One thing that really helped me as a new DM with players who are new to the game is starting out on an island. I don’t have to do too much prep work for things like that and they don’t have too much decision paralysis when it comes to what direction they need to go to. Also I’d recommend watching yters play first since even watching one campaign can really set you up strong on how to play.
The Dice touching thing is on page 235 of the DMG. "Don't touch others' dice if they're sensitive about it." That is, if we are thinking of the same quote.
It never even occurred to me that anyone WOULDN'T be sensitive about it... Why would you want someone else touching your dice without asking? Not grabbing and touching other people's things without permission is just common courtesy isn't it? It's just polite. It's not even about dice.
@@MannonMartin I mean... it IS very sus behaviour haha. I just think that including it in the DMG is like swatting houseflies with cricket bats. A bit over the top imo.
@@MannonMartin Agreed, it's just like anything.... It's rude to touch other peoples stuff without permission... Dice included... or trading cards... or pawns...
I played D&D at uni a looong time ago and ever since i wanted to play again but no one wants to be a DM. I have finally gathered the courage to become a DM and in september i have my first session, needless to say im scared AF but hey now i discover this amazing channel and vid, ill take all the advice i can. Thank you!
For planning. We always plan 3 sessions ahead, we aim to do a session every month. We have found out that planning 3 months ahead is the sweat spot for us to make sure we can have a monthly session in a group of 6 players and a DM.
I started a D&D group 6 months ago. Im DMing the Lost Mine Of Phandelver. Its been an awesome experience. I make a lot of mistakes, but i get a tad better every time, and my group is merciful. I just try to prep, and be as consistsnt as i can. The advice in the book that says "when in doubt, make up the rules" has been a major help...If i make a mistake, they are none the wiser and i fix it the next time around.
Man as a new DM binging your videos is a life saver. Luckily my players are all super chill and just in it for some fun escapism and know full well I only even played part of one campaign before jumping in to DMing but still. Wanna do well for them and all these tips help.
As of now, I feel personally attacked and called out by tips 1, 3, and 5. Lol! I used to write novels **for fun**; granted, I'd never tried to have any of them published, but making sure that what I'm creating is fleshed out with no plot holes, and is something that everyone will enjoy AND be able to critique is one of my biggest "perfectionist" moments. I struggle with enjoying having fun myself in positions of authority because I'm too busy trying so hard to be perfect. Edit: On the dice touching debate; I'd say it depends on the dice. A $10 set of dice you can get at your local game store? Sure no problem. A $100 tempered glass set that my best friend got me on my birthday to also commemorate our year long friendship? No, absolutely not. Hands off. 2nd Edit: "There are no winners or losers in D&D." This is blatantly incorrect. You see, when everyone gets together and has a good time, then everyone is a winner! :3
Every one of these points is a gold nugget of timeless advice. You shared many of these points with me a couple years ago and I've been running a game and having fun ever since.
Just come across this video as me and a small group are looking in to starting a campaign for the first time. I'm going to be giving DM a shot and this video has been incredibly helpful!
As a new/very inexperienced DM, you have given me a lot of things to consider. My last group fell apart due to holidays and schedule changes. Hopefully we'll get to start back up soon.
This is just a fantastic reassuring video. I started DMing again after forty, count them, forty years and it’s been all kinds of challenging. I’m enjoying it but I need advice and uploads like these are making it so much easier.
@@theDMLair Sadly I'm in the wrong timezone but what I've taken to doing is replaying them while I paint my minis for the next session. They are very good too, lots of excellent DM tips.
My tips A book of dry erase battle maps( like 20 maps) is the best thing I've ever bought. Have ideas for a plot line but don't push it forward, prepare locations, npc and there goals. Don't railroad let the players decide what to do and think how the world reacts. Try to prompt close to the end of the session the players plan for next session Create combat shortcuts for yourself you could use average damage, roll all attack rolls at one, don't keep track of all hit points on some make them die after so many hits or just decide when.
I’ve played in WD: Dragon Heist and one home brewed campaign. Then I raised my hand to run the next campaign. I’m now 84hrs into prep for Curse of Strahd. Using tons of resources from the books, RUclips content creators, discord, etc. I know my party will inevitably find a way to throw me curve balls. But I’ve flushed out the sandbox pretty well, to be ready for ‘most’ things. Asparagus with season all, baked in the oven is actually pretty good : )
I prefer green asparagus to white, but like both. I'd rather have it steamed, but I'm not opposed to grilled or even boiled, if there's no other option. All it really needs is a little salt and pepper to bring out the flavor of the asparagus. Adding too many spices just overwhelms the natural taste.
I think I really only ever had boiled or grilled asparagus. And then we just put salt I think on it. I like the flavor though. Don't need to add anything to it to
To your third point, about starting small, I definitely agree for the most part, but there is something that does bug me about that technique. Mind you this is more of a pet peeve of mine, so maybe take it with a grain of salt. The issue I have with only developing the starting area is your players' characters. For the most part, they've all probably grown up in this world you're creating, and even if they're the lowest of peasants, they'll probably still have a vague sense of the world's geography. To that end, it might be helpful to come up with a general layout for a world map (online map generators can help with that), place a few dots around the world, pick one to be your capital, and another to be your starting area. You probably wouldn't need more than that to start off. A bit of a bonus to this is that as your map evolves and develops, you can sometimes get some kind of quest idea or world building detail from certain features on it.
I just started with my friends as the DM. NONE of us have ever played before (besides me with one single session when I was 10% awake). We are all having so much fun and I’m investing money into random props for the game. We’re learning the game as we go along and having a phenomenal time doing so. I wouldn’t be shocked if an experience DnD player saw us and went wtf are you doing it’s all wrong! We’re having fun and that’s the end goal
You don't suck, Grilled with Garlic Salt and Olive Oil, thank you for asking. Great points. A famous shoe company once said, "Just do it". As a DM since 1980 doing it only makes you better. The thing I love about this game is that it rewards player cooperation as a group.
Ran a game last night for the first time, one was a new player that never played before, the other 4 were DM's that have been running the game for 10+ years each. No pressure, it was a great time. I am also happy that I know if I did suck... they would definitely tell me. We are running Lost Mine of Phandelver.
So I had an idea for a campaign a while back, and I decided to go ahead and craft it. I put lots of work in crafting a functional world, designing each country the the finest detail, creating fun taverns a good story and making it so the players could have an enriched world to explore. I worked on this story for several years i found it relaxing. and when I finally got over my nerves, I asked to host the next campaign with my regular group. One of my players and our on again off again dm (we’ll call him Carl) recommended I do a simple one off or small pathfinder. But I really wanted to go with my plan, the majority of my group was very thrilled that I was stepping forward to run a game and they knew I had been toiling with this world for some time. But Carl didnt like having someone new run a long campaign and not take his advice about how hard doing is. When everyone agreed we all took a week or two to make characters and I had wrote Pages upon pages of notes. Carl decided to make the most munchkin min max character ever but it didn’t bother me. The story was simple treasure hunt. The party finds a map with clues and the party solves them and travels on an epic journey. Simple. The first session came and the party received the golden map to the treasure. Carls character a halfling rogue decided that they’re trait is burning things. Carls character then took the map… AND ATTEMPTED TO LIGHT IT ON FIRE. Stating that that’s what his character would do. He then went on saying “as a dm I should be aware that the party won’t always do what’s expected”. He proceeded to do random chaotic things to try and mess with me. When I became noticeably upset he would remind me that I should’ve taken his advice and done a smaller game. “It would pave been easier”. The rest of the players were upset with him but I was devasted. I refused to play with him and left the group shortly after.
I have a world I made myself and I have so far built 2 cities and a couple loosely named, but not visited nations. The first campaign was at the great magic academy in Sirtland, the New game starting in a week is taking place is a sovereign city of adventurers (think Vatican City, but founded and paid for by legendary adventurers) that is also in Sirtland. They have not seen more than mentions to the Horde Lands or the Verdland Woods. Maybe next campaign will happen in one of those, but right now I know nothing about them except "tree hippies and mongol horseman". My advice is to always start with a single city or region and force the players to stay there. If your brave like I am you let your players have some creative freedom. That's how I got a dragon orn mafia in my new city this player built one and it's spread this far and will be a permanent part of my lore.
I'm just so happy I stumbled upon this channel! Gonna run my second game for my friends soon, and I ran some as DM but they were just small one-shots, and I loooove your advices and the way you put all the info :D Also made me to sit back and work through all the notes for second game a bit more :)
There has been I DMed a couple of seasons wasn't good or dull. But afterward my players had fun and then talked about which parts they liked, so then even though I didn't have fun made me glad that they did
I started DMing for my friends about 2 months ago now, I've run maybe 8-10 sessions total because its hard to figure out my groups schedule and the world I created was supposed to be an experiment to better prepare for session 1. But we stuck with it, as well as the group/self imposed challenge to mostly improv the game other than ideas I've had so we have some direction. So far every session has actually gone incredible and my players all love it, and I absolutely love the world thats being created by whatever I come up to try and fit the puzzle properly
@@theDMLair I definitely can tell by each session that the planning era is coming to eclipse my improv style, but the improv definitely gave me the experience I needed (and especially building the world with no experience) to get the ball rolling. Thanks for helping fill in the holes that improv doesn't!
I've seen many videos regarding " universal" rules for DMing. This is by far the best. All 15 are good "rules" backed by sound reasoning. EXCELLENT VIDEO!!! Thank you. - DM of 30 years , Player of 38 years.
I played dnd 5yrs when younger. New to 5e cimbat spells etc .. have 7 ppl want me to dm.. i still feel green. What do you recommend? More reading? Play abit? Just go at it? I have made a homebrew with module and map...plot etc Want to try new ideas. Im weak with combat technicals . Just womdering when i should start I think im gojng to reduce the people to 6 maybe 5 This group is very skilled but they like my creativity and enthusiasm. Any warnings or ideas . Thanks
@@joeharvey5556 I'm not a big fan of 5e, but to each their own. My best advice is to become very familiar with the rules of the game and play with those rules before attempting to homebrew your own. If you understand how the rules work and why they are written the way they are , you are more equipped to change rules without disrupting the balance of play. Ex. I run a 3.5e homebrew variant. In this homebrew I have changed armor to provide a lesser AC bonus but added damage reduction , ablation and repair rules. This change required me to make changes to the 2nd level spell Make Whole. My familiarity with 3.5 alerted me to this necessity prior to it becoming a game balance issue. My other reason for suggestion a greater understanding of the rules system is to prevent to " more experienced" players from attempting to "game the system" or " rules lawyer" into a game imbalance situation. Imagine a player intentionally misinterpreting the way a feat or skill operates and insisting that it works in such a way that grants that character a game breaking advantage. If you aren't familiar with how the rules work you might be inclined to agree for the sake of game expediency. Later , when you discover how the feat or skill actually operates , restoring the balance could lead to an argument or a salty player who believes you were " nerfing " their character. So my advice is to play more, then world build , then DM. I believe following this system will lead to a more professional DMing experience.
@@RealWorldGames i think i meant homebrew adventure not rules etc.. im not manipulating rules or stuff until my players would allow it..for example small sample When we played 2.0, way back we would allow unlimited levels for all races and classes. No restrictions. All levels could climb to 30th level and beyond. This was awesime because many never went past level 14 in our other groups. We had fun in gamma world, fighting minor gods etc etc.. Even our other friends who had level 60th characters would pick on us and we would win with rare amazing stories.. Lol.. it was rare amazing My 22 24 approx cleric magic user, killed a level 60th thief with his invisible 4th level pseudo drsgon. Poisioned him... the thief fell into coma after a horrible saving throw.. The group who still plays to this day from 1984 still probsbly says it was the funniest encounter ever. That thief did well over 400 damage per attack That even retired me.. i was given 32 million platinum to raise the thief plus some sweet artifacts. I retired him on an island with baba yogas hut? Spelling! Lol... thanks for ur help!! If u ever play on r20 or twitch i would love to join u guys fir a 3month tour.. Talk soon! The game can be so fun if the dm and players allow it
U know 5e is really just dnd .. u could add any tables charts you want.. i couldmt stand it but it does help in many ways.dms d8ntnhave to memorize ac , charts etc math...
I randomly picked it up one day just to see if I could do it. Turns out I can. Now I'm a forever dm and it's a blast. You really do just got to jump into it.
The (combat) rules are there for all the stuff you can’t just roleplay… Lesson 16? Whatever you make up on the spot… write it down. So next time they return to that spot ot will contain what you made up. Continuity is one of the few true tasks of the GM. Whether it’s your rulings or your world(s), make them consistent. (Thanks for the advice. 35 plus years of experience here… but it’s still welcome!)
Your game will get derailed immediately. I just ran a first session of Curse of Strahd. All the players had to do was go to sleep at the end of a long day guarding a caravan, so they would wake up in Barovia. They decided they no longer trusted the caravan crew they had been traveling with for over a week, waited for most of the people to fall asleep, rolled sneak rolls to sneak away from camp, crit failed one of them and came up with a story about leaving to relieve themselves, hiked a few miles away, huddled for warmth without a fire so no one could find them, and then woke up in Barovia anyway. It was about half an hour of our game session when all they had to do was literally go to sleep. They had fun though.
This is a fantastic example of the difference between linear and railroading. You never forced their characters to trust the caravan or sleep in the camp; you never compromised their agency. The goodness or evilness of the caravan is undecided. If they turn up in Barovia, there might be consequences (good OR bad) for the players' paranoia... or healthy and well-placed suspicion.
Yes that is a beautiful way of rolling with the punches. Barovia was coming for them regardless but they were still allowed to do what they decided to do.
I'm a new DM and I'm in the middle of working on a couple towns. When you said I was a good DM because my players are coming back every week it made me cry. I'm always worried if I'm a good Dm
I print character tokens onto heavy-weight cardstock, cut them out with the various circle punches I have (1" for medium size creatures, of course), and then we can just slide those around on the paper map. All it costs me is paper and printer ink, and as a graphic designer, I'm always buying those anyway...
In my first game I went through something very similar to a few of the tips. The game bombed. Hard. I had planned for very mechanically complex things to happen, but I didn't have the ability/experience to handle them in-game. It ended up being confunsing and tiring for me and the players. As soon as the game ended I declared to myself that I would never be on the GM seat again out of fear and anxiety - and I actually didn't for over two years. Anyway, cut to today and I have GM'd three campaigns in two different systems (D&D x2 and Kids on Bikes), am starting my fourth in a new one (Call of Cthulhu) and my players are almost always satisfied with the sessions. What I mean is just to reinforce Luke's point of not letting a bad game put you down, it's really a learning process!
I’m running a oneshot tomorrow. It’s my first time DMing. Luckily, I’m pretty familiar with the rules and mechanics, so I feel fairly comfortable about that part. I really felt what you said about not feeling ready though. I have spent so many hours preparing, and I’m still worried I’m gonna mess it up. I’m also excited though!
For minis I draw the PC portraits and stick them into bottle caps. It's effective and cheap :) I also find very useful these videos as new DM. I apply many tips by using common sense, but it's comforting to hear it, like "well, I'm in the right path".
Regarding dice touching: Back in 2002 I had a few Wiccan players in my group. They would put spells on their dice that would be "ruined" if anyone else touched them. This was the first an only time I ran into that. Of course, I probably don't want to touch someone else's dice after they spend four hours eating Cheetos and touching them.
I have so much trouble with the planning a date for the next session. We have a few people with a changing work schedule. So at first we would play a session and afterwards pick a date trough discord. Today I tried giving them multiple dates and said "let's plan a few of them instead of 1"... I hope it works
Lemon. Y ou cut up the asparagus into bite-sized chunks, so about a quarter stalk per bite. Put them in the skillet with some olive oil, turn up the heat, and stir around. After a minute or so, add some lemon juice, and continue stirring, and cook until they are the level of tender you prefer. Add more lemon juice, if desired. In my family, my sister POURS on the lemon juice, and my mother is content with the lemon juice used in cooking, while my other sister and I add a medium amount of extra juice. Basically, use a splash to cook with, and serve alongside lemon juice and salt, for the people eating it to season to taste. It is DELICIOUS and makes me love spring.
Bro you cracked me up with how straight you are with your feelings on subjects and then cracking up like "sooooorrrry xD" but good tips, funnily enough gonna be making a Sandbox Campaign, with...a lot of ambition, thankfully know the rules enough from playing and watching my DM's still need to brush up on the finer details though, but definitely need to take that start small part into consideration and build over time... "Hey DM we want to go to the next region" "As you leave the region of Antel you enter into a white background and fall through the map into pure emptiness and the game crashes" - "Re-roll characters please"
I like your laugh and your channel. You give a lot of great advice! I liked asparagus as a kid, but I only know about ways of eating them, which is raw, cooked or fried :D I've been DMing for over a year now, mainly because my friends wanted to play, but no one else wanted to DM. We play online using Fantasy Grounds and Discord. And it's not fun anymore for me. I host two weekly scheduled games and the thing that gets me is that my players do not put in any effort. We only reschedule if only two players can make it, the rest of the time you the player allow another player to take over your character for that session. It's something we discussed as a group. We took a break over December and I literally had to beg some of them to level their characters. At this point in time, I am trying to speed up my homebrew game, so that can finish and I can tell my friends one of them will have to DM. My homebrew game uses RAW, but contains some homebrew monsters and a homebrew setting.
Tip for grim dark games: elude to dark events such as R and torture. Dont describe the girl being R-ed, describe how broken she is as she pulls the blanket closer to her chest studying every movement quick to be startled. Dont describe a person being tortured, describe how great the gashes and cuts are with his eyes empty, not broken but empty, uncooperative he just stands in a single location only moving by the rising of his chest. I dont doubt others can do better than me here, especially considering I came up with these on the fly, but the point is grim dark is a great theme but the horror of it is always in the unseen. It's no longer scary when you know the BBEG only stabbed the man repeatedly, but when you see a once strong hearted man no longer have any hope it makes the players who are paying attention a little nervous and curious- if you keep with the theme of the BBEG leaving only broken people in his wake the players may start to feel some kind of fear.
As someone who decided to run a fully randomized sand box, I have never done so much prep, and improve in my games. And, my favorite flavor of asparagus is lost memory flavor.
Fear of being a bad DM is real. But once you get complimented and marked as "A Fun DM". Its very heartwarming and lets you know that DnD in the end is about the fun you make.
Grilled asparagus: coat in olive oil and lightly season with garlic salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper grill on the top rack and lightly sear right before serving
On the subject of dice: we gamers tend to be a superstitious lot. If your dice are going cold, you might decide you need some fresh options to break your bad streak. The dude whose dice you're taking, however, might not want your bad luck infesting their dice.
![FendiDa Rappa - Clock Dat ft. Shamar Marco [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3NBU8KHdxYY/mqdefault.jpg)
Get Lairs & Legends! Over 700 pages of D&D 5e GM resources: adventures spanning levels 1 to 15, 100+ new monsters, encounters, puzzles, traps, villains, NPCs, maps, and more! - the-dm-lair.myshopify.com/collections/lairs-legends
The DM Lair Discord! discord.gg/thedmlair
your discord server has more rules than D&D
White with hollandaise
Thank you. That is a feature not a bug.
Is critical role scripted - no. Is critical role storylined and the players told in advance damn well they are. Take a look at the set up for each fight, the DM and Players know exactly what's coming their way with the fully set up area. Their lines are mostly adlib.
As a improv prefered dm, I still plan. owo And am relatively new, too.
These things are also good reminders for veteran DMs. Especially knowing that your players aren’t judging you as much as you think, and knowing that you’ll have a bad session every once in a while… very important to keep in mind
He mentions these things, so why say ‘also’
"No plan survives contact with the [players]."
This is true. But this is also true:
"Plans are useless. Planning is essential."
Like Luke points out, the more you plan, the better you'll be at coming up with a new plan at a moment's notice.
Improv uses the same "muscles" as planning. And if you have planned for every possibility that you can think of, when your players inevitably come up with something you didn't, you'll be better equipped to come up with the response.
Good points. Still in my experience at least 90 % of plans survive the players
Plans are still needed so someone knows what to change when different stuff starts happening.
@@NegatveSpace exactly.
Also, planning gets you in the villain's mindset or more familiar with the situation at hand so, when things go awry, you have a better idea of the pieces/pawns/etc in play that are available to respond with.
@@nilsjonsson4446 You obviously don't have MY group of players.
I LOVE how unexpected they are. They are patient with me, as I sit there, holding my head, moaning, "Whaaaaa? How the heck do I DM THIS?!" And then, I respond, and wind up changing canon.
For instance, in our world, carrion crawlers are now allergic to and terrified of chocolate. Also, chocolate makes "chocolate noises" that are very loud and frightening.
Because why the heck not?! It was hilarious, so I ran with it. It all started with a critical failure, while one player was trying to tame the carrion crawler, by offering it chocolate. The animal handling check was not likely to succeed, but that Nat 1 clinched it. I always come up with some sort of more-than-mere-failure for a Nat 1, so I said that "It gets a rash, and does 1d4 of damage. It's shocked and surprised." The next thing I know, they're throwing chocolate, and smearing it on their weapons, and casting minor illusion of 5-foot-cubes of chocolate behind the carrion crawlers. 5-foot-cubes of chocolate that "make chocolate noises" thanks to another minor illusion spell. And carrion crawlers have an Int score of 1, so they were terrified of it. And now, it is part of our world lore. Carrion crawlers are allergic to, and terrified of, chocolate.
They kept four carrion crawlers contained DURING A COMBAT, simply by drawing a circle of chocolate around them.
Now they're almost out of chocolate, and have to get back to town, and try to place a special order for more, though the Lionshield Coster, because they used seven pounds of chocolate in one encounter.
Seriously, there was no way to PLAN for that sort of stuff. My niece doesn't just think outside of the box. To her, the box doesn't even exist. Put her with her father (who taught her about ignoring boxes), and no plan I make for them is going to go exactly to plan. I have to spend SO MUCH of my time thinking on the fly.
But prep is key, so that I can respond with some sort of confidence, and know how things WORK in this world, and what is likely to happen, due to their actions, and "Well, I know that not 50 feet away, around the corner and behind a door, are X monsters, who hear this commotion, and respond by..."
We've been playing for a while now, and NOT ONE of our encounters have gone according to my plan.
This is the group that used a rope to pick a lock. "You do whatnow? HOW? Well, when you explain it that way, it actually makes sense. OK, I guess you can try that. Give me a Dexterity check. Wow. You rolled REALLY well."
20 year DM here. This vid is spot on. It took me years to learn some of these lessons. New DMs take this to heart.
20 years. That's awesome.
I played dnd 5yrs when younger. I just learning 5e. Not played in longtime. Ppl want me to dm but im green. I feel not ready .. what do you recommend..?
Im poor with combat etc
@@joeharvey5556 my best advice for this is aside from running something premade is to give your players upfront honesty that you’re new and learning. Then run a time loop based game. Then you can get messy and make potentially fatal mistakes but it’ll all be okay.
I will run some one timers then after 3 months when they say im good we get into module etc
@@joeharvey5556 Late reply, but honestly? Jump right in, don’t let failure get to you. You’ll make mistakes regardless of how much you prepare, we all do (I especially still do.) Treat any mistakes as learning experiences, always err in encounter setups on the side of too hard, (especially this edition, PCs are very resilient,) and never let them know what you’re thinking.
The number one thing you’ll need to learn is to think on your feet, which no amount of world building, planning or record keeping will train you to do. You really just have to get that one “trial by fire” and it takes time.
Above all act like what they are doing was always your plan, no matter how many notes you have to rip up.
"If you see your players laughing and smiling, if they come back week after week, then you're probably doing just fine." This made me genuinely cry in relief. I'm judging myself too harshly! Thank you for making me realize it, Luke!
"The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group cooperative experience."
~ Gary Gygax
👍
Proceeds to invent the tomb of horrors and tomb of annihilation...
Rip Gary. Thanks for the games.
@@jonsimpson6240 yeah, acererak is kinda an asshole
And really creepy
Not in an undead way, as much in a "erase someone's memory and keep them trapped in a lagoon in your dungeon as a personal joke"/"trans your gender and send you outside naked" kinda creepy
Right on Gary
My previous DM actually quit half way because he wasn't having fun. We were not doing literally anything he planned for... and that was both of our faults. He would make everything seem optional or not important, and besides me, my group was very indecisive, so it turned out badly for all of us.
For example, my character's brother was going into a dungeon. So I asked if his life was at risk if I didn't go with him. DM said he'd be fine. So I didn't go with him and got back to the main quest. The DM had the whole dungeon planned out and he was very disappointed. However, so was I because I wanted to go down there too, but i thought I'd be helping my DM more by going back to the main quest since I figured if thr DM wanted me to go with my brother, then he'd have told me he was in danger or about some reward.
I say all of this to new DMs from a player perspective... if a player asks you "I'm not sure what to do" don't be afraid to break the 4th wall and just say "well I planned for you guys to go into the dungeon." In my limited experience, if you tell players you have a direction planned, then they will be more than happy to go that way and come up with a realistic character reason to do so.
And another note- be careful saying "the room SEEMS empty" when it's actually empty... cause players will spend far too long trying to solve a puzzle that isn't there.
It is perfectly OK to lead the party in these moments. You gave a solid example when a little railroading is a good thing.
Thank you such for the explanation and example. As a long time DM, it's hard to tell when it is appropriate to railroad and especially how. But being upfront was overlooked by me. Thank you again for the Insight and Inspiration 😉
you're better off. keep moving.
But it is Dungeons and Dragons. If there is a dungeon or dragon, you must. It's in the title, after all.
@@tylerwellman8252 im hosting my first DnD with my friend group and i never did any DnD or DMing before, we are playing stromwreck isle and i noticed my group didnt go the way where i had stuff ready and there are many kobold as friendly npcs, i just created a kobold named flip that put them to the right direction without breaking the game and it worked wonders, had to do that a second time when the party spend way to long in a tavern, drinking...
It seems like your party just isn't very smart
So since you asked for the "Nein Flavours of Aspargus", here is my explanation:
1) The Cobalt Aspargus - It somehow tastes blue in a kind, not to confuse with the smurf variant
2) The wild grown Aspargus - It tastes a clay. Clay. That's it.
3) The Aspargus of the Sea - It tastes a lot like fish, yet it is vegan. Delicious.
4) The Colorspray Aspargus - Having his name from a wild sprinkle of color, its taste really reminds me of tealeafs.
5) The Two-Faced Aspargus - The taste of this one really depends, on some days its really beautiful and delicious, on other days is smells and looks like a rotten green cucumber.
6) The electrified Aspargus - This one is a special. Unlike most other Aspargus, this one gets fried via electricity and gets really crispy and tender that way.
7) The Rainbow Aspargus - Probably my favorite one, it tastes like sprinkled with the dust of deliciousness.
8) The Hot Boi Aspargus - Well this one is more for the eye, than for the taste. It has a dark, purple look, and it kinda tastes like regular aspargus, but with a twist.
9) The Reborn Aspargus - It tastes like a mixture of the Sea and Colorspray variant, but in the end, it still creates his own flavour. Delicious.
You are welcome!
Came here looking for you
LUKE GIVE THIS MAN A PRIZE
I have to disagree with you. There is one, and ONLY one flavor of Asparagus. It is called "Inedible" ( or as some say ... Sh*t) LOL
Can I roll to romance the Hot Boi
@@AFmedic nah, when its a soup its mawh
protip to new aspiring DMs: forget trying to play with friends that you want to get interested in the game, find new friends that are already want to play
This tip is gold, am still going to keep trying to get my baby cousins to play though. While I keep playing with my other groups, obviously.
Of course, ask your friends, if you have them. Lots of people want to play and don't have the balls to speak up unless asked. Now I'm running 2 games at once for 11 people.
I think a good balance between people who have played and people that haven't is best. Otherwise, no one ever joins the hobby, but having a few people you know already enjoy the game help hold the game together while the other players learn the rules and figure out if they like it or not. Some people just aren't going to enjoy it. I had friends who just didn't like that they couldn't control the narrative like a video game.
I’m currently making this mistake.
*cries in middle school me trying to run AD&D*
These tips are exactly what I learned over 40+ years playing DND, it’s good to see that they’re being passed on to the younger players.
Since I've literally just started putting together my first campaign I really appreciate this. Thank you.
@@ork44 Ill have to check it out, thank you.
same.
I really appreciate this video, I've been "planning" my first DMing session and secretly been avoiding it because I was so worried about how I'd do
Yeah, just gotta start. Put a date on the calendar with your players and just do it, rain or shine, terrified or excited. It's not nearly as bad as one's mind might make it seem.
Common misconception: the primary purpose of corn fields is for pilots-in-training to crash into. Harvesting only happens as a byproduct and corn prices are as low as they are because of a lack of interest in piloting 😁👍
That’s why popcorn pops. It is genetically engineered for cushioning the fall of planes.
Yes, we should encourage more pilots to get trained so we could avoid tthe liquid poison that is corn syrup.
@@calvinjohnson6242 the fire helps activate the cushions, it all makes sense
I was always overprepared and found so much of my planning went to waste (though I've since recycled some things that were not used initially). Now, I only really plan for the current trajectory of the party and have a loose-but-adaptable plotline for the overarching story.
I'm making my game world and initial campaign concepts into an RPG, so anything I plan that goes to waste is still getting use
I always end my sessions with asking what the players intend on doing ( where they are going to go next with the intent of doing what ever ) so that I can prepare only those things with a few extra bits that can be rotated infront of the players if I need to try and hook them in certain directions .
@Soul Firez that's what I've learned to start doing as well. Makes things so much easier. Especially now the druid is level 11 and has access to Transport Via Plants 😂
Fantastic
They're all level 17 now so now more than ever my plans are incredible loose, because they can just "nope" their way through most things 😂😭
Your job as the GM: set up a string of situations, hold a coherent, fantastical world, force the players to act.
How to be a player: ask yourself what you would do as your character because he is defined by his actions, aslways state intent and approach.
The GM decides when the players roll the dice: when there's a chance of success, a chance of failure, and a consequence for that failure, the dice are rolled to determine the rest of the story. Be fair, telegraph most everything, and tell your players why they are rolling the dice.
Your GM lexicon: conflict, opportunity, danger, call to action, fellowship, motivation, arbitration, and tags.
Your best tools: Maze Rats random tables, Godbound random tables, and ICRPG.
GM reading list: Trap Theory video by Runehammer, the AngryGM's book or his articles about GMing, Basically, SlyFlourish's Lazy Dungeon Master book, and The Monsters Know What They're Doing by Keith Ammann. DM Lair as well, obviously! ;P
*And know this: you're NEVER going to be perfect, we simply can't and we keep learning forever, so stop worrying and get into the fray because you'll have a hell of a lot of fun. And Luke (Lucas? I don't hear it well.) is right, your players aren't judging you as much as you think they would, they'rej ust busy having a good time. Oh, and steal. Steal, steal, steal good and interesting ideas, you're now part of the coolest club ever: all that advice above? I stole it from the sources I've shared, it's a pleasure for us GMs to have our ideas, adventures, traps, and even advice stolen for somebody else's table. GLHF!* :D
Thought I'd see Angry in your list of resources after you brought up "intent and approach" (which I agree is key).
If I could give a new GM only one piece of advice, it would be to read the Angry GM blog. There's just no one else who breaks down the fundamentals quite as well. And a hell of a lot of people (Luke's a notable exception) who don't even try.
You just had to say it... Here ya go:
The 9 flavors of asparagus (yes, these are just ways of cooking it):
1) Grilled
2) Sauteed
3) Roasted
4) Creamed
5) Puree
6) As part of a gross "nutrient shake"
7) Steamed
8) Raw
9) Broiled
My grandmother used to boil it too, so the list of ways of cooking it is even incomplete.
10. Uneaten. The best flavor.
@@goliathcleric I was thinking:
1. Slashing
2. Bludgeoning
3. Poison
4. Fire
5. Cold
6. Psychic
7. Force
8. Radiant
9. Necrotic
I have a safe phrase for my players when they're about to do something silly. When they hear, "Are you sure you want to do that?" they know the choice they're contemplating has a high chance of very unpleasant consequences. Sometimes, however, they do it anyway. =)
The most terrifying things I ever utter to my players are: "Are you sure...?"
And: "You can certainly _try._ "
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 "You can try" is fine if you only use it to warn players about bad ideas. Just don't do that to poor innocent players when they ask if they can attempt _anything at all ever._ I've had that DM! Twice! It's not fun! It results in a game where as a player I feel too intimidated to take much action at all, nevermind play the seemingly-reckless, semi-calculated-risks swashbuckling types I want to play.
Don't try to fake players out with that _or_ with asking "Are you sure" for reasonable tasks. Remember that the players don't always have all the same information on the world or even their immediate surroundings that you do as a DM. They're not in that environment, they don't have the luxuries of sight and hearing and touch that their characters do, and they're not familiar with their characters' bodies the way their characters would be. And they're not familiar with the world itself the way the characters would be, having lived in it all their lives! So don't fake the players out unless it makes sense to (such as illusions or a foreign civilization being involved so the characters are just as out of their depth as the players, for example).
@@FlameUser64 You maybe didn't read the original comment, but certainly sound advice nonetheless 😎
Thank you for taking the time to share your story.
@@theophrastusbombastus1359 No, I did, I just wanted to put that out there anyway, heh. I just feel fairly passionately about that particular phrase because, yeah.
@@FlameUser64 I always tell the players they can try anything ever. The dice will decide if its possible. and in some cases the negative modifiers will simply make it impossible. Theres always the chance of rolling two nat criticals in a row though.
I'm currently writing a new campaign, and one of my players (a DM of a couple of our other games) decided to send me this video.
I'm feeling called out but it was extremely helpful in putting a couple things into perspective. Cheers!
This helped a lot, it's actually my second time but you cleared up ALOT of my errors and anxieties! Thanks :)
Relax and enjoy , I would remind you to shine the spot light on each of the players to give them all there moment to do something cool or just important to the story ,as its there story , its your plot but its your characters story .
Long time player finally running my first game with a coworker and his young sons. We rolled character sheets as a separate event and plan to play our first Golden Vault game next week. I’m really excited to get to help them build the world they want to live in, and this video really helped me seat my confidence in my readiness and ability to make this game fun for them.
One of my players is a 6yo that decided on Warlock and it threw me for a loop initially. After this video, I’m realizing I can “gift” him his patron with loot during the opening session of our campaign instead of expecting him to be able to choose one.
Not sure about flavors but the 12 types of asparagus are Green, White, Purple, Wild, Apollo, Atlas, Jersey series, Mary Washington, Precoce D’Argenteuil, Purple Passion, UC 157 and Viking KB3.
Also the head tastes different, so that is 24 flavours.
I still struggle with number five. I have thought all of those things after about half of my sessions. But they do keep coming back, they do seem like they're having a good time, so I try not to worry as much. It's been helpful that some players will stay after a bit and we talk about the session, what we thought went right and what went wrong, so that's been good.
I've been playing and DM'ing for almost 40 years now and I really like the format of your videos. I've got some friends or family that are thinking about trying their hand "behind the screen" and I think your videos will help me, help them. I don't want to teach them how I run a game, I want them to find their own style. I play a wide variety of pen and paper RPG's and I really enjoy see different styles of story telling. Much appreciate the work you've put into these.
I agree on almost everything. Except the rules-as-written point. I've played with some house rules since day 1 - for instance ignoring XP and using a milestone system for levelling up instead (which I haven't regretted even once).
Of course it does come down to how well you do know the more common rules when you start. I've played a few adventures in my group as a player before I became our de-facto DM (The others enjoyed my style best, I guess, plus I go all out with printing minis, making terrain and props and the like and they love that haha), so I already had a decent understanding of what worked well in our group and what didn't.
So I'd say it depends. For someome completely out of their depth initially, it's probably a good idea to stick to the rules exactly, but if you feel comfortable with it, having house rules from the get-go can totally work.
Also depends on if you prefer some things from earlier rulesets. There's a lot in 5e I don't like compared to 3.5e and a lot that felt missing, so house rules to the rescue.
I'm a beginner Brazilian master and day after day I fall more in love with your content
Thank you very much for these pearls of learning
Forgive me for my bad English :D
"DnD is not DM vs Players", yeah, tell that to our table lol. We have a running gag that we are always scoring points against the DM and he on us when any makes a question or statement where the other stumbles to or can't answer.
DM: "you're standing in your tavern..."
Player: "What's the name of the keeper?"
DM: "..."
Players: "OH YEAH, WE'RE WINNING DND"
Any important characters i prepare names and even thier sheets beforehand.A tavern keeper? yeah id just make something up on the spot. your inkeeper is Vasylyj, an immigrant from the east who came here as a child and started his own business. And i just stole his personality from a rat exterminator in a tv show The Strain.
I’m doing a heavily home brew campaign and it’s been really fun. My players enjoy the combat and the characters. I’m a first time DM, but my friend who has been DMing us for almost 10 years who is one of the players said I’m doing really well. And honestly I’m mostly winging it. I go in with a plan, they do something funny and dumb, it changes the course, and we have more fun by changing the plan based on their actions. It’s fun for them and myself
I've been a GM for a few years and always good to hear tips, and your first tip is already fantastic!
For those interested, here is my way to long experience of the past 4 months. As a little bit of background, I started playing about 2 years ago and haven't played as much as I would have liked (something about a pandemic, idk?) and decided a couple months ago I wanted to try DM'ing as my previous DM was strapped for time and cut his campaign short. Decided to start with Lost Mines of Phandelver to get a feel for the trade while making my own entire world from scratch (I have a pantheon I'm decently happy with but might scratch and redo the world map, it's a long-term thing hence the module).
TLDR: trust your players with a bit of freedom, roll with their decisions, don't pull your punches with monsters that 'seem' too strong out of fear one of the players may go down, let them. Make mistakes, it's the fastest way to learn.
I got a 3D printer for mini's, then a second one (first was filament, second is resin for better quality). Only do this if you want an extra hobby, it takes up a lot of time and especially resin printing has a bit of a learning curve, but wow do they look good on the table. Having your own means of producing mini's also allows for a lot of flexibility in what monsters and other things to throw at your players.
I gave my players quite a bit of freedom with their characters, one is a dragonborn with wings and a tail, he doesn't use them functionally, though I might allow him to eventually. This was justified in his backstory as being experimented upon by the Cult of the Dragon. I also have a fairy barbarian, by one of my experienced players, this was before fairies were offically released. I gave the wizard a ram with the stats of a Nyx fleece Ram, which is utterly to strong as a familiar, but the ram is the husband of the fairy and the roleplay between me as the ram, the fairy and the wizard is absolutely hillarious. Lastly, I have two nobles, one paladin/warlock and one draconic sorceror. The freedom I gave my players has turned out fantastic as all of them are more interested in playing an interesting character rather than metagaming.
Funny things that happened so far in the campaign: both the fairy barbarian and the dragonborn barbarian absolutely fail at opening doors, they have become the bane of my player's exsistance. They convinced the Redbrands to clear out of the cellars of Tressendar Manor, to avoid being utterly obliderated, aided by the scene of the dragonborn kicking in a door (the only one that would be kicked in) holding a Redbrand up by the throat and the warlock slicing their neck as a statement (great rollplaying ensued). They are now potential allies and the party hired one of them, named Cole, to be a guide to Thundertree. Cole has never really done much adventuring, and roling incredibly low several times he now officially has PTSD from all the monsters he's seen these insane people fight against. He's become the guide/cook/nanny to the fairy's 4 baby mimics, found during a session 0.5 to give my players a 'prologue' to their story and why/how they know eachother.
Some things I learned: I have been to nice to my players. i had them start at lvl 3 because I personally dislike lvl 1 and 2 and I have been pulling punches when it comes to monsters with multi attack. I have now decided to stop that, underscored by a spontaneous 'gauntlet' we decided to do as we reached a plot point for an absent player and cut the session short. The monsters i threw at them they had already fought before, but now with multi attack and such. They did fine.
During one session we had a guest player. One of my players decided they wanted to go back a bit to try open 'The Door' again. I should have cut this off before it started or after his first failed attempt and not gone on for 1.5 hours, it wasn't fun for the guest and we could have done this some other time.
One of my players is an 'audience memeber', he made the sorcerer because the other player made a warlock and they would play off each other as the characters are brothers, the idea being they could help each other with certain skill checks. The player unfortunately doesn't know what to do with this character and during a great oppurtunity for some character development and roleplaying he completely shut down. When I or the warlock player brought this up, things didn't go so well, this player also copes with some mental problems which, I admit, I have no idea how to deal with. For the forseable future i will leave him to be an audience member, maybe prod him again in a few months if he's feeling better.
Thanks for reading, hope you found it useful or at least entertaining!
This is a fantastic video man. I needed something like this to send my players who want to start their own games but are getting over that initial first hump of anxiety/fear to get started.
Awesome! Happy to be able to help.
This is huge, thank you so much for the tips. Starting my first campaign in a few weeks and I’m super nervous and a bit overwhelmed. Thankfully I know my players well and we should have a good time regardless
One thing that really helped me as a new DM with players who are new to the game is starting out on an island. I don’t have to do too much prep work for things like that and they don’t have too much decision paralysis when it comes to what direction they need to go to. Also I’d recommend watching yters play first since even watching one campaign can really set you up strong on how to play.
The Dice touching thing is on page 235 of the DMG. "Don't touch others' dice if they're sensitive about it." That is, if we are thinking of the same quote.
It never even occurred to me that anyone WOULDN'T be sensitive about it... Why would you want someone else touching your dice without asking? Not grabbing and touching other people's things without permission is just common courtesy isn't it? It's just polite. It's not even about dice.
@@MannonMartin I mean... it IS very sus behaviour haha.
I just think that including it in the DMG is like swatting houseflies with cricket bats. A bit over the top imo.
@@MannonMartin Agreed, it's just like anything.... It's rude to touch other peoples stuff without permission... Dice included... or trading cards... or pawns...
Solution: just use virtual dice. No touching involved.
I played D&D at uni a looong time ago and ever since i wanted to play again but no one wants to be a DM. I have finally gathered the courage to become a DM and in september i have my first session, needless to say im scared AF but hey now i discover this amazing channel and vid, ill take all the advice i can.
Thank you!
For planning. We always plan 3 sessions ahead, we aim to do a session every month.
We have found out that planning 3 months ahead is the sweat spot for us to make sure we can have a monthly session in a group of 6 players and a DM.
I started a D&D group 6 months ago. Im DMing the Lost Mine Of Phandelver. Its been an awesome experience. I make a lot of mistakes, but i get a tad better every time, and my group is merciful. I just try to prep, and be as consistsnt as i can. The advice in the book that says "when in doubt, make up the rules" has been a major help...If i make a mistake, they are none the wiser and i fix it the next time around.
1: Roasted Red Pepper
2: Himalayan Salt & Cracked Pepper
3: Korean BBQ
4: Sweet Mango Habanero
5: Bacon
6: Lemon Pepper
7: Garlic Parmesan
8: Jalapeno & Cheddar
9: Wasabi
Bonus: Dill Pickle
Man as a new DM binging your videos is a life saver. Luckily my players are all super chill and just in it for some fun escapism and know full well I only even played part of one campaign before jumping in to DMing but still. Wanna do well for them and all these tips help.
As of now, I feel personally attacked and called out by tips 1, 3, and 5. Lol! I used to write novels **for fun**; granted, I'd never tried to have any of them published, but making sure that what I'm creating is fleshed out with no plot holes, and is something that everyone will enjoy AND be able to critique is one of my biggest "perfectionist" moments. I struggle with enjoying having fun myself in positions of authority because I'm too busy trying so hard to be perfect.
Edit: On the dice touching debate; I'd say it depends on the dice. A $10 set of dice you can get at your local game store? Sure no problem. A $100 tempered glass set that my best friend got me on my birthday to also commemorate our year long friendship? No, absolutely not. Hands off.
2nd Edit: "There are no winners or losers in D&D." This is blatantly incorrect. You see, when everyone gets together and has a good time, then everyone is a winner! :3
Every one of these points is a gold nugget of timeless advice. You shared many of these points with me a couple years ago and I've been running a game and having fun ever since.
Awesome tips. Don’t be afraid to DM, the DM’s standards for the experience they generate are always higher than the players’.
Just come across this video as me and a small group are looking in to starting a campaign for the first time. I'm going to be giving DM a shot and this video has been incredibly helpful!
As a new/very inexperienced DM, you have given me a lot of things to consider. My last group fell apart due to holidays and schedule changes. Hopefully we'll get to start back up soon.
This is just a fantastic reassuring video. I started DMing again after forty, count them, forty years and it’s been all kinds of challenging. I’m enjoying it but I need advice and uploads like these are making it so much easier.
Awesome so very happy to help! Swing by our live streams to if you have any questions. We have q&a in a live streams almost every week
@@theDMLair Sadly I'm in the wrong timezone but what I've taken to doing is replaying them while I paint my minis for the next session. They are very good too, lots of excellent DM tips.
My tips
A book of dry erase battle maps( like 20 maps) is the best thing I've ever bought.
Have ideas for a plot line but don't push it forward, prepare locations, npc and there goals. Don't railroad let the players decide what to do and think how the world reacts.
Try to prompt close to the end of the session the players plan for next session
Create combat shortcuts for yourself you could use average damage, roll all attack rolls at one, don't keep track of all hit points on some make them die after so many hits or just decide when.
What is a book of dry erase battle maps?
I love it so much I'm getting the creators volume 2 map set. Easily the best accessory I've ever bought for dnd
@@nimric3348 okay, but what is it?
It's a collection of themed dry erase battle grids, you can draw maps on them or use the base themes. Like beach, forest, city ect.
@@nimric3348 That sounds convenient. I probably would have used some PVC tablecloth.
I’ve played in WD: Dragon Heist and one home brewed campaign. Then I raised my hand to run the next campaign. I’m now 84hrs into prep for Curse of Strahd. Using tons of resources from the books, RUclips content creators, discord, etc.
I know my party will inevitably find a way to throw me curve balls. But I’ve flushed out the sandbox pretty well, to be ready for ‘most’ things.
Asparagus with season all, baked in the oven is actually pretty good : )
I prefer green asparagus to white, but like both. I'd rather have it steamed, but I'm not opposed to grilled or even boiled, if there's no other option. All it really needs is a little salt and pepper to bring out the flavor of the asparagus. Adding too many spices just overwhelms the natural taste.
Everything important has been said by this man! But try lemon on your asparagus... it´s a completely new level.
I think I really only ever had boiled or grilled asparagus. And then we just put salt I think on it. I like the flavor though. Don't need to add anything to it to
@@theDMLair
Nothing more heartlifting than having a conversation about asparagus with a great DnD-content creator 😄
Ok, but hear me out: bacon-wrapped asparagus.
To your third point, about starting small, I definitely agree for the most part, but there is something that does bug me about that technique. Mind you this is more of a pet peeve of mine, so maybe take it with a grain of salt.
The issue I have with only developing the starting area is your players' characters. For the most part, they've all probably grown up in this world you're creating, and even if they're the lowest of peasants, they'll probably still have a vague sense of the world's geography. To that end, it might be helpful to come up with a general layout for a world map (online map generators can help with that), place a few dots around the world, pick one to be your capital, and another to be your starting area. You probably wouldn't need more than that to start off.
A bit of a bonus to this is that as your map evolves and develops, you can sometimes get some kind of quest idea or world building detail from certain features on it.
13:47 I don’t care if people touch my dice unless it was Wil Wheaton
I'm only six sessions into my first campaign and these suggestions are already quite useful.
Actually good advice that will save you days and days of trial and error to figure this out on your own. Good video!
I just started with my friends as the DM. NONE of us have ever played before (besides me with one single session when I was 10% awake). We are all having so much fun and I’m investing money into random props for the game. We’re learning the game as we go along and having a phenomenal time doing so. I wouldn’t be shocked if an experience DnD player saw us and went wtf are you doing it’s all wrong! We’re having fun and that’s the end goal
Definitely good tips to remember 👌 even for experienced DMs
You don't suck, Grilled with Garlic Salt and Olive Oil, thank you for asking. Great points. A famous shoe company once said, "Just do it". As a DM since 1980 doing it only makes you better. The thing I love about this game is that it rewards player cooperation as a group.
Hahaha!!! The plane part. LOL! LOVE IT!
Best D&D DM channel on RUclips. Can't wait for my books I ordered from his site to arrive! Luke is a stud. Bacon is delicious. Huzzah!
Ran a game last night for the first time, one was a new player that never played before, the other 4 were DM's that have been running the game for 10+ years each. No pressure, it was a great time. I am also happy that I know if I did suck... they would definitely tell me. We are running Lost Mine of Phandelver.
running my first one-shot today, first time DMing. found this super helpful!!
So I had an idea for a campaign a while back, and I decided to go ahead and craft it. I put lots of work in crafting a functional world, designing each country the the finest detail, creating fun taverns a good story and making it so the players could have an enriched world to explore. I worked on this story for several years i found it relaxing. and when I finally got over my nerves, I asked to host the next campaign with my regular group. One of my players and our on again off again dm (we’ll call him Carl) recommended I do a simple one off or small pathfinder. But I really wanted to go with my plan, the majority of my group was very thrilled that I was stepping forward to run a game and they knew I had been toiling with this world for some time. But Carl didnt like having someone new run a long campaign and not take his advice about how hard doing is. When everyone agreed we all took a week or two to make characters and I had wrote Pages upon pages of notes. Carl decided to make the most munchkin min max character ever but it didn’t bother me. The story was simple treasure hunt. The party finds a map with clues and the party solves them and travels on an epic journey. Simple. The first session came and the party received the golden map to the treasure. Carls character a halfling rogue decided that they’re trait is burning things. Carls character then took the map… AND ATTEMPTED TO LIGHT IT ON FIRE. Stating that that’s what his character would do. He then went on saying “as a dm I should be aware that the party won’t always do what’s expected”. He proceeded to do random chaotic things to try and mess with me. When I became noticeably upset he would remind me that I should’ve taken his advice and done a smaller game. “It would pave been easier”. The rest of the players were upset with him but I was devasted. I refused to play with him and left the group shortly after.
I have a world I made myself and I have so far built 2 cities and a couple loosely named, but not visited nations.
The first campaign was at the great magic academy in Sirtland, the New game starting in a week is taking place is a sovereign city of adventurers (think Vatican City, but founded and paid for by legendary adventurers) that is also in Sirtland. They have not seen more than mentions to the Horde Lands or the Verdland Woods. Maybe next campaign will happen in one of those, but right now I know nothing about them except "tree hippies and mongol horseman".
My advice is to always start with a single city or region and force the players to stay there. If your brave like I am you let your players have some creative freedom. That's how I got a dragon orn mafia in my new city this player built one and it's spread this far and will be a permanent part of my lore.
I'm just so happy I stumbled upon this channel! Gonna run my second game for my friends soon, and I ran some as DM but they were just small one-shots, and I loooove your advices and the way you put all the info :D Also made me to sit back and work through all the notes for second game a bit more :)
Awesome, happy to hear you're finding the content helpful!!! :D
There has been I DMed a couple of seasons wasn't good or dull. But afterward my players had fun and then talked about which parts they liked, so then even though I didn't have fun made me glad that they did
I started DMing for my friends about 2 months ago now, I've run maybe 8-10 sessions total because its hard to figure out my groups schedule and the world I created was supposed to be an experiment to better prepare for session 1. But we stuck with it, as well as the group/self imposed challenge to mostly improv the game other than ideas I've had so we have some direction. So far every session has actually gone incredible and my players all love it, and I absolutely love the world thats being created by whatever I come up to try and fit the puzzle properly
That's beautiful dude. If you're all having fun then that is a solid win in everyone's book.
@@theDMLair I definitely can tell by each session that the planning era is coming to eclipse my improv style, but the improv definitely gave me the experience I needed (and especially building the world with no experience) to get the ball rolling. Thanks for helping fill in the holes that improv doesn't!
I've seen many videos regarding " universal" rules for DMing. This is by far the best. All 15 are good "rules" backed by sound reasoning. EXCELLENT VIDEO!!! Thank you. - DM of 30 years , Player of 38 years.
I played dnd 5yrs when younger. New to 5e cimbat spells etc .. have 7 ppl want me to dm.. i still feel green.
What do you recommend? More reading? Play abit?
Just go at it?
I have made a homebrew with module and map...plot etc
Want to try new ideas.
Im weak with combat technicals .
Just womdering when i should start
I think im gojng to reduce the people to 6 maybe 5
This group is very skilled but they like my creativity and enthusiasm.
Any warnings or ideas . Thanks
@@joeharvey5556 I'm not a big fan of 5e, but to each their own. My best advice is to become very familiar with the rules of the game and play with those rules before attempting to homebrew your own. If you understand how the rules work and why they are written the way they are , you are more equipped to change rules without disrupting the balance of play. Ex. I run a 3.5e homebrew variant. In this homebrew I have changed armor to provide a lesser AC bonus but added damage reduction , ablation and repair rules. This change required me to make changes to the 2nd level spell Make Whole. My familiarity with 3.5 alerted me to this necessity prior to it becoming a game balance issue. My other reason for suggestion a greater understanding of the rules system is to prevent to " more experienced" players from attempting to "game the system" or " rules lawyer" into a game imbalance situation. Imagine a player intentionally misinterpreting the way a feat or skill operates and insisting that it works in such a way that grants that character a game breaking advantage. If you aren't familiar with how the rules work you might be inclined to agree for the sake of game expediency. Later , when you discover how the feat or skill actually operates , restoring the balance could lead to an argument or a salty player who believes you were " nerfing " their character. So my advice is to play more, then world build , then DM. I believe following this system will lead to a more professional DMing experience.
@@RealWorldGames i think i meant homebrew adventure not rules etc.. im not manipulating rules or stuff until my players would allow it..for example small sample
When we played 2.0, way back we would allow unlimited levels for all races and classes. No restrictions. All levels could climb to 30th level and beyond. This was awesime because many never went past level 14 in our other groups. We had fun in gamma world, fighting minor gods etc etc..
Even our other friends who had level 60th characters would pick on us and we would win with rare amazing stories..
Lol.. it was rare amazing
My 22 24 approx cleric magic user, killed a level 60th thief with his invisible 4th level pseudo drsgon. Poisioned him... the thief fell into coma after a horrible saving throw..
The group who still plays to this day from 1984 still probsbly says it was the funniest encounter ever.
That thief did well over 400 damage per attack
That even retired me.. i was given 32 million platinum to raise the thief plus some sweet artifacts. I retired him on an island with baba yogas hut? Spelling!
Lol... thanks for ur help!! If u ever play on r20 or twitch i would love to join u guys fir a 3month tour..
Talk soon!
The game can be so fun if the dm and players allow it
U know 5e is really just dnd .. u could add any tables charts you want.. i couldmt stand it but it does help in many ways.dms d8ntnhave to memorize ac , charts etc math...
I randomly picked it up one day just to see if I could do it. Turns out I can. Now I'm a forever dm and it's a blast. You really do just got to jump into it.
The (combat) rules are there for all the stuff you can’t just roleplay…
Lesson 16?
Whatever you make up on the spot… write it down. So next time they return to that spot ot will contain what you made up.
Continuity is one of the few true tasks of the GM. Whether it’s your rulings or your world(s), make them consistent.
(Thanks for the advice. 35 plus years of experience here… but it’s still welcome!)
Your game will get derailed immediately. I just ran a first session of Curse of Strahd. All the players had to do was go to sleep at the end of a long day guarding a caravan, so they would wake up in Barovia. They decided they no longer trusted the caravan crew they had been traveling with for over a week, waited for most of the people to fall asleep, rolled sneak rolls to sneak away from camp, crit failed one of them and came up with a story about leaving to relieve themselves, hiked a few miles away, huddled for warmth without a fire so no one could find them, and then woke up in Barovia anyway. It was about half an hour of our game session when all they had to do was literally go to sleep. They had fun though.
This is a fantastic example of the difference between linear and railroading. You never forced their characters to trust the caravan or sleep in the camp; you never compromised their agency. The goodness or evilness of the caravan is undecided. If they turn up in Barovia, there might be consequences (good OR bad) for the players' paranoia... or healthy and well-placed suspicion.
Yes that is a beautiful way of rolling with the punches. Barovia was coming for them regardless but they were still allowed to do what they decided to do.
I'm a new DM and I'm in the middle of working on a couple towns. When you said I was a good DM because my players are coming back every week it made me cry. I'm always worried if I'm a good Dm
Thanks Luke! Great tips and reinforcement for those of us fairly new to DMing.
That first tip was the sucker punch to the gut that I needed. Thank you.
I print character tokens onto heavy-weight cardstock, cut them out with the various circle punches I have (1" for medium size creatures, of course), and then we can just slide those around on the paper map. All it costs me is paper and printer ink, and as a graphic designer, I'm always buying those anyway...
Running my first game today. It's pathfinder but the videos have helped.
This makes me feel better, i just wanna do a one shot, have most of it ready but dont know all the rules. This helps
Yep, I've been DMing for 35 years and I'm still nervous at the beginning of each session
In my first game I went through something very similar to a few of the tips. The game bombed. Hard. I had planned for very mechanically complex things to happen, but I didn't have the ability/experience to handle them in-game. It ended up being confunsing and tiring for me and the players. As soon as the game ended I declared to myself that I would never be on the GM seat again out of fear and anxiety - and I actually didn't for over two years. Anyway, cut to today and I have GM'd three campaigns in two different systems (D&D x2 and Kids on Bikes), am starting my fourth in a new one (Call of Cthulhu) and my players are almost always satisfied with the sessions. What I mean is just to reinforce Luke's point of not letting a bad game put you down, it's really a learning process!
Thank you for this video, as a new DM. It helped to hear some of these.
Great video, all great advices!
Very, *very* important stuff, every DM should keep these things in mind.
I’m running a oneshot tomorrow. It’s my first time DMing. Luckily, I’m pretty familiar with the rules and mechanics, so I feel fairly comfortable about that part. I really felt what you said about not feeling ready though. I have spent so many hours preparing, and I’m still worried I’m gonna mess it up. I’m also excited though!
The Best flavor of asparagus has to be the forbidden 10th flavor simply known as “forest green” *chefs kiss*
Lemon parm asparagus.
Don’t know if it’s in the original 9 asparagui but it’s still my favorite
DMs judge themselves so harshly (myself included) but that is great advice, "the players and the dice write the story, not the DM" perfect advice.
This video honestly took the fear away from my attempt at first time being DM! You rock!
Thank you, happy to help!!!
For minis I draw the PC portraits and stick them into bottle caps. It's effective and cheap :)
I also find very useful these videos as new DM. I apply many tips by using common sense, but it's comforting to hear it, like "well, I'm in the right path".
Looking forward to the channel showdown! :)
Regarding dice touching: Back in 2002 I had a few Wiccan players in my group. They would put spells on their dice that would be "ruined" if anyone else touched them. This was the first an only time I ran into that.
Of course, I probably don't want to touch someone else's dice after they spend four hours eating Cheetos and touching them.
As Roland Deschain says, I prefer to plan loosely. Vague ideas, with general concepts, but I'm also really good at thinking on my feet.
I have so much trouble with the planning a date for the next session. We have a few people with a changing work schedule. So at first we would play a session and afterwards pick a date trough discord. Today I tried giving them multiple dates and said "let's plan a few of them instead of 1"... I hope it works
Lemon. Y ou cut up the asparagus into bite-sized chunks, so about a quarter stalk per bite. Put them in the skillet with some olive oil, turn up the heat, and stir around. After a minute or so, add some lemon juice, and continue stirring, and cook until they are the level of tender you prefer.
Add more lemon juice, if desired. In my family, my sister POURS on the lemon juice, and my mother is content with the lemon juice used in cooking, while my other sister and I add a medium amount of extra juice.
Basically, use a splash to cook with, and serve alongside lemon juice and salt, for the people eating it to season to taste.
It is DELICIOUS and makes me love spring.
Bro you cracked me up with how straight you are with your feelings on subjects and then cracking up like "sooooorrrry xD" but good tips, funnily enough gonna be making a Sandbox Campaign, with...a lot of ambition, thankfully know the rules enough from playing and watching my DM's still need to brush up on the finer details though, but definitely need to take that start small part into consideration and build over time...
"Hey DM we want to go to the next region"
"As you leave the region of Antel you enter into a white background and fall through the map into pure emptiness and the game crashes" - "Re-roll characters please"
I like your laugh and your channel. You give a lot of great advice! I liked asparagus as a kid, but I only know about ways of eating them, which is raw, cooked or fried :D
I've been DMing for over a year now, mainly because my friends wanted to play, but no one else wanted to DM. We play online using Fantasy Grounds and Discord. And it's not fun anymore for me. I host two weekly scheduled games and the thing that gets me is that my players do not put in any effort. We only reschedule if only two players can make it, the rest of the time you the player allow another player to take over your character for that session. It's something we discussed as a group. We took a break over December and I literally had to beg some of them to level their characters. At this point in time, I am trying to speed up my homebrew game, so that can finish and I can tell my friends one of them will have to DM.
My homebrew game uses RAW, but contains some homebrew monsters and a homebrew setting.
Thank you so much! I'm happy to be able to help.
Brilliant ty Luke. Rule 5 really important
DM Lair: pull that trigger
Me: haha I’m doing a murder mystery *gunshots*
Tip for grim dark games: elude to dark events such as R and torture. Dont describe the girl being R-ed, describe how broken she is as she pulls the blanket closer to her chest studying every movement quick to be startled.
Dont describe a person being tortured, describe how great the gashes and cuts are with his eyes empty, not broken but empty, uncooperative he just stands in a single location only moving by the rising of his chest.
I dont doubt others can do better than me here, especially considering I came up with these on the fly, but the point is grim dark is a great theme but the horror of it is always in the unseen. It's no longer scary when you know the BBEG only stabbed the man repeatedly, but when you see a once strong hearted man no longer have any hope it makes the players who are paying attention a little nervous and curious- if you keep with the theme of the BBEG leaving only broken people in his wake the players may start to feel some kind of fear.
As someone who decided to run a fully randomized sand box, I have never done so much prep, and improve in my games.
And, my favorite flavor of asparagus is lost memory flavor.
Great info for new DMs. Glad I found your channel.
Fear of being a bad DM is real. But once you get complimented and marked as "A Fun DM". Its very heartwarming and lets you know that DnD in the end is about the fun you make.
Grilled asparagus: coat in olive oil and lightly season with garlic salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper grill on the top rack and lightly sear right before serving
A good tip is also to keep rules you think you'll need tabbed on your book or even printed or written out on notes on your dm screen
Great vid, Luke! Thank you for this one.
On the subject of dice: we gamers tend to be a superstitious lot. If your dice are going cold, you might decide you need some fresh options to break your bad streak. The dude whose dice you're taking, however, might not want your bad luck infesting their dice.