@@waihstudios8828 Ah, I did alright, but it was a little railroaded and I messed up some important PC details early on. When I revisit the setting I'll be sure to ease off the gas and let players breathe. But I could have done better, hence the comment. A year ago. Oops!
Here's something that I want to try one day - Start the One-Shot/First Session with, "As you stand outside the burning inn you look at your fellow adventurers and ask, 'What just happened?'" And then write furiously in a notebook as the players go around the table creating a narrative, sometimes interjecting with skill checks that exemplify their class/character traits: strength, problem solving, creative use of powers, etc. Have a villain in mind (local fire-bug, goblin/cultist scouts, or even a Rakshasa) in mind, but never describe it - all they see are shadows in the dark or silhouettes against the flames.
Good video and great points. I agree that "The Lazy Dungeon Master" is an awesome resource. But you mention "story"; I prefer to use the word "plot" in this context. A lot of people I see online appear to be under the impression that GMs write stories in the same way an author does. GMs can't actually do this because _they don't control the actions of the protagonists._ You need to set up a situation that the players can affect, then let them affect it. Even if it's "only" a dungeon full of traps, monsters and treasure. As Sly Flourish points out, if you come up with a detailed plan that assumes a specific response from your players then you may drift into railroading if the players do the "wrong" thing in order to save "your" story. As for scenes and conflict, I think of scenes as instances where the players need to make decisions. There is a subset of scenes called "encounters" where the players' decisions run into conflict. If the PCs are walking down a corridor, you don't stop them and ask if they'd like to continue to walk down the corridor every five feet of movement. That's not a scene because deciding to keep doing the thing that you've already decided to do isn't really a decision. But a junction where the corridor intersects with another corridor _is_ a scene. The players have to make a decision whether to continue forward or to turn left or right. Or go home for that matter. A locked door or a trap or a monster is a scene too, but it's the kind of scene that's called an encounter. That is, there is some kind of conflict (ie. a giant spider that has built a nest in a room the PCs must traverse) that prevents the PCs decisions from automatically succeeding. The key here is that bypassing a _combat_ (ie. sneaking past the nest of a giant spider rather than killing it) is not bypassing the _scene._ It's just resolving the conflict in the scene (the PC's path being blocked by the nest of a giant spider) without brute force. As far as adventure "types" go, pretty much any adventure can be plotted as a flowchart. Scene 1 connects to Scene 2, which connects to Scene 3 or 4, which _both_ connect to Scene 5 ... The main difference between "location-based" and "event-based" adventures (IMHO) is that in location-based adventures, the connections between scenes represent corridors, tunnels, streets or trails: physical connections between physical locations. In event-based adventures, the connections are more conceptual (ie. following leads in an investigation) and connect scenes that are more _situations_ (ie. confronting a suspect) than _locations._ And yes, event-based tends to be harder to do than location-based due to the degree to which player decision is constrained. In a location-based adventure, the choices are much more straightforward: the players can take this tunnel or the other, they can't create their own tunnel. Event-based adventures, on the other hand, tend to take place in situations where there is no _physical_ constraint on the PCs just wandering out of the adventure: instead of following your carefully-crafted clues, the PCs _could_ go shopping and take in a show (it's just that they usually don't). Well, that got long. I'll stop now. Keep up the good work.
Good points! I second the upvote for "The Lazy Dungeon Master". Mike Shea (Sly Flourish) has great advice. He recently did an updated version of his book called "Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master." Also, he has a great podcast on Don't Split the Podcast network called "DM's Deep Dive". Now as to types of adventures, you made some excellent points on "location based" vs. "event based", and distinguishing between "scenes" and "encounters". I'd also suggest, for anyone interested, checking out Justin Alexander's great articles on adventure design (at thealexandrian.net/), especially "Node Based Scenario Design" and "The Three Clue Rule". Basically, Alexander postulates that for any conclusion you want the characters to reach, you need to have at least three clues for it. The inverse of that is: For every three clues they find, the PCs will reach at least one conclusion. Nodes are too much to go into in this comment, but it's basically an extension of "don't prep plots, prep situations" (another great article on Alexander's site). You seed clues into each node, and you prepare the node by knowing the location, the NPCs/monsters that are there, and what resources the NPCs/monsters have to use. That way, a) you'll know how the NPC/monster will respond to what the PCs do; and b) the PCs will come to at least one conclusion that will advance the story. It's minimal prep for maximum effect.
This was really useful comment thank you! I have so many ideas just need a good system for them. I have a rough story but want to leave open ended enough work. Now thinking of it a scenes is way easier !
Welp glad to know I'm running a harder session than I thought tomorrow. My 3rd ever session is an investigation leading to the eventual departure from the starting town... hopefully, I have 2 huge plot hooks, one loot based and one backstory based to lead them towards where I want them to go. Shit I still have pre roll initiatives and set up some random tables. Wish me luck.
Although I'm new to GMing (actually, the first Tabletop RPG I played I GMed, and am still GMing) I feel like I'm fairly good at it. But there is always one problem I see myself repeating. Overplanning. I plan each subscene in almost play by play detail and I feel like I might be railroading my players too much. Or maybe not. They seem to still love the story and when I leave them without an NPC to tell them what to do they just do nothing. IDK, I still feel weird about it and just wanted to put it out there. Great video, Nate. These tips will really come in handy for my future campaigns.
A good shorthand is to write down the necessary things you will need on a sheet so you don't have to keep referencing back to a monster manual or such. Notes such as attack bonus, damage, hit points, AC, and special attacks along with what saves they are strong and weak against goes a long way into speeding up combat encounters. remember, the DM doesn't need to know what the creature's ability scores are for every encounter or whether they know common or not.
2:24 totally agree, my players started out as just some lyrium smugglers who took over their carta, and now they're plotting to assassinate an empress just to increase profit. (I'm running Dragon Age published by Green Ronin)
Thanks for the great vid Nate! Not just sucking up for not dying in our game... but you might be my current favorite online tips go-to. Concise, practical, helpful.
So glad you mentioned backstory--for our GM's (five of us, running games for a variety of local events), character motivations and backstory--for is THE cornerstone of adventure-building. It really lights a fire under players.
As for story NPCs I apply 3 simple rules. 1. Who wants what? 2. How are they going to get it? 3 Why should the players care? 1. The inn keeper want his missing daughter back. 2. He is looking to hire a group of adventures to help him find her. 3. If his daughter is brought back, he promises free ale to the players for a year. 1. King Broadbutt want to expand his kingdom and wealth. 2. He plans to invade the country next to his. 3. The players have homes or family in said country so they have to fight him, or the king want to hire them as mercenaries if they are subjects of the king. Those 3 rules are a great tool for me, when having a bit of a writers block.
THANKS! I'm DMing a session in only a few hours and I seriously have been very torn about what to do. It's part of a larger adventure module, but I've veered off into my own territory and have been freaking out about what to do next. Perfect timing for some great advice. Seriously, thanks!
I am 46, new to it all somewhat. Never was an admitter to D&D, i am now and who cares. I absolutely love it! U are the first i have watched and listened to, THANK You, u are awesome!! I would love to see more, more often.
For improvising loot I made a consolidated loot table for average gp per monster by CR. This uses the DMG roll tables and just takes the average expected gold. I find this much more useful for improvising and prepping. CR (Average gp per monster) : 0-4 (3gp), 5-10 (65gp), 11-16 (950gp), 17+ (8500gp) This should be scattered and sometimes replaced with items of equivalent value. For example after 20 goblins you'll have distributed 60gp of loot total. Note that these CR categories are from the DMG, but with this table it is easier to roughly interpolate for a smoother curve.
Thanks this is helpful. I am new to DND. I only played a few sessions so far. I also collected a lot of books. There are so much stuff to explore. It is a sandbox for sure. I definitely want to run modules first, because they are easier and provide good practice. I would like to make my own adventures eventually. I am interested in becoming a DM sometime, because of the creativity. This video is good at getting the ball rolling. I recently got the idea of a horse themed campaign. I love that idea. Horses are so cool. My main fantasy is Lonlarrian. It has all sorts of stuff. Horses are very important, but they are not the main focus. My main character is Luspear, and she has the ability to turn into special kind of horse. There can be all sorts of campaigns with different themes or flavors. So there can be one of many campaigns with a horse theme. Once I came up with the idea, I was able to generate a lot of details quickly using brainstorming. Here is the gist of it. The story is like My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. However in order to make it fit DND, the story is a lot more mature and is a lot more focused on adventure. The adventuring party goes around a fantasy world and find different places for different horses. These horses are tied to elements. Draft horse has earth. Unicorn has fire. Hippocampus has water. Pegasus has air. There is a quintessential horse that is a mix of the four. It is like an alicorn, except with a stocky build and a fish tail. Luspear actually turns into this kind of horse. The world building would be heavily horse based. I have ideas on the details. There is also some Greek mythology stuff too to flesh things out. It fits since both pegasus and hippocampus comes from that. The story is about the threat of wendigos. Wendigos are cruel selfish creatures. They spend hate and discord. I do change thier appearance so they are horse-like instead of deer-like. I also don't want them to look too scary. Full blown horror monsters won't fit the story. Different areas have different wendigos reeking havok. So fighting different ones can flesh out the story with multiple adventures. Special places have special horse magic based on virtues. Using the magic on a defeated wendigo purifies it and breaks the curse. The wendigo turns into a horse, which is its true form. The horse becomes good and starts on its path for redemption. A party has each member possess different a different kind of horse magic. They share all kinds of horse magic. Small parties can have members with two or more types. The final boss is the wendigo leader. That leads to a huge and exciting climatic fight. Once the boss is beaten into submission, the group members combine thier horse magic together using the power of friendship. Then they blast the boss with rainbows. It becomes one of the special quintessential horse. That starts the road to redemption. I don't know if that ending is too corner for DND. Eh I guess as a DM I can make a campaign a bit lighter and softer if I want. I just need to tone down the windego creature a whole lot to prevent tone problems. I do have a piece of advice to DMs. If you have DND books, feel free to use them for inspiration. It is a matter of picking and choosing things, and them putting a personal spin on that. One doesn't solely have to choose between homebrew or module. There is a gray area. There can even be a spectrum of how far one deviates from the modules and other books. I have a few books from my collection that can help with developing a horse campaign. For starters the Monster Manuel has entries for unicorn and pegasus. That is nice cherry picking. The main books are the three ones on dragons. Fitzban Treasury of Dragons has a lot of info on using dragons and dragon themed stuff. Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen has a dragon themed setting. Tyranny of Dragons is a two part adventure moduql about dragons. It has Tiamat as the big bad. Dragons are awesome. They are my favorite creature of fantasy. My second most important character is Soram, and even he turns into a dragon. On top of that, the most recent World of Warcraft expansion is Dragonflight. My characters are low level, so they are not ready for the expansion. However I would like them to get there someday. Then I will feel free to borrow ideas from that. Magic the Gathering has interesting dragon lore. It is particularly in the Dominaria, Tarkir and Arcavios planes. (Arcavios has the Strixhaven school) All the care and attention to dragons is amazing. It gets me so excited. Funny is that horses are prominent in fantasy too. Unicorns are especially famous. I had a whole brony phase when Friendship is Magic aired. That made me invested with horses even more. So I would be cool to use the dragon content and swap out the dragons for horses. That can definitely be a campaign idea. I think of dragons and horses as the two main fantasy creatures. To be honest, a DM can swap out dragons with any fantasy creature or race that tickles thier fancy. They can make it work. There are other good books to draw from. Princess of Apocalypse and Storm King's Thunder are good for developing the elemental nature in different kinds of horses. The Mythic Odesseys of Theros is good for bringing a Greek Mythology influence to the world. There is something intriguing. The hippocampus is an awesome but underrated fantasy creature. The regular Monster Manual doesn't have an entry for it. However the Theros book does have one in the back, where it has all the mythical creatures. Neat.
I would add that an easy way to utilize story without overriding player agency is by starting with the villain (or multiple). What do they want, and what do they need to get it? Then as they move forward with their vile schemes, it just so happens to coincide with time/location/goals of the pc's, and now you have a conflict to explore. Let the players be the ones to solve how the conflict resolves, and it will play itself out. I love how much content you were able to cover in this amount of time. It worked well!
2 years late but all of your videos have been driving forces for teaching myself D&D. Being the DM for the first time in a few days and this helped tremendously
Thanks ! Until now, my best games as a DM was with Pathfinder modules and campaign, but I just got that idea recently of an adventure entirely underwater, and you got pretty good advices. Hope my futur players will like it !
Quick Tip: while there are a ton of resources out there for random encounters, it's also fun to put together a customized random encounter table that is specific to your dungeon or your wilderness location. For a generic table, there may be encounters with things that don't exist in your setting, or don't exist in this particular area of that setting. By making custom tables, you can tie in the random encounters to your overarching story and major antagonists (or allies!) more easily.
Totally agree with the Pathfinder recommendation. The amount of content they include is unparalleled by recent D&D books. Most of my D&D 5E friends buy Pathfinder 1E books for adding depth to their worlds and encounters. I’d suggest Horror Adventures, Ultimate Campaign, and Ultimate Intrigue. Those Pathfinder books will add incredible depth to any RPG.
Can't wait for episode 3 of the tutorial videos! Also....could episode 4 be about npc encounters? I know being a dm is pretty subjective but as a DM in our games I feel I sometimes let the team down when it comes to creating an organic convosation but still staying within a setting. Eg: 3 friends are invited to a posh dinner, they take their seats and start talking to the other guests, we like to roll dice to create that random element of how someone will react or if they know someone else, etc. But it never quite feels right. Like I'm missing a trick. Haha I'd love to see how you would do that sort of situation as a npc interaction video. We are not worthy my friend! Keep up the great work!
Just joined RoleGate thanks to you. Just trying to find a group to play with. been wishing for a solid group for several years now and it's just so much harder in real life. Primary school and university made playing so easy.
If you're using your own self-built world it's usually a good idea to have a few monsters that aren't really found in the default sources materials, you can pull monsters from games or books you've read with a similar sort of setting or you can go through the process of making your own original monster. Making your own monster can be a bit more work but leaves you feeling a bit more satisfied, especially if add in little tidbits making rolls to see if your players can able to have their characters identify the monster with varying successes. It's more interesting when you give the monster strengths and weaknesses that the players discover on their own, in addition to being far more satisfying for the players when they find out how to fight and possibly beat the monster. Sure you can have a dragon, or whatever, but what if the dragon has properties none of the players themselves have ever genuinely encountered or read about in the source materials. A fire or ice breathing dragon is fine, but what if the dragon they're fighting is a forest hunter that can spit a host of goop balls that have various effects? Or they encounter a magical polar bear that consumes ice and ice/cold magic to regain its health? The same can be true with traps, you always want your traps to challenge your characters when possible. But what about traps that give special rewards tailored to each individual characters based on their archetype or class? Another way to add a bit more flavor to the game has some of the loot be set up in a way that can make the players think about how they can do things. What if the teleportation or gate scroll your characters find, which would typically be a good way for a quick exit, is pre-set in a way that can be used as a weapon? Or they find a talking weapon that potentially kicks off a quest in an unusual way? Maybe give them a magic item that is cursed but in a way that one of the characters thinks it's more useful as is so they end up at odds with the rest of the party because they want to undo the curse and the character in question doesn't. Maybe you send your characters on a quest to find a legendary or mythical weapon only to find that the weapon itself is broken into three or more pieces and each piece has a lower but useful magical ability related to the power of the completed weapon but everyone only knew where the one part of the set was because they thought that one piece was the entire weapon, maybe one of your players had been carrying around one or more pieces of the weapon the entire time. Adding in those little twists can players rethink things. Maybe because the cool ice claymore (sword) and amazing sound claymore (sword) fit together to become a legendary weapon that does ice and sound damage the players start chasing down all sorts of minor magical weapons to see if any can be brought together to form more powerful weapon with their combined abilities but amped up. And that could be a hook the players created for themselves because of one or two instances you just threw in to make them rethink what gear can do.
This is why I made my most recent setting extremely fantastical, makes coming up with Hilarious and odd stories easier while I develop the more in depth and serious ones over longer stretches of time.
Personally I enjoy creating the NPCs. I like to give them their own backstories. When players ask off-the-wall questions I have a ready answer. It's better than "You meet....Bob...he's a guy" Or it could be:" Hi! I'm Bob well it's really Robert but everybody calls me Bob. You're adventurers huh? My cousin Steve does that Boy oh boy, the stories *he* could tell. So you want a room for the night?
With the help of your extremely great video, I am creating my very first own sorts of D&D story, as the dungeon master. One of the main NPCs in my story is the Town major. And because you are such a great help for creating maps, dungeons and stories, my major is called NATE! 😂 Thank you do much for bringing this topic closer to me and helping me and all of your subscribers to participate in roll top table games!
I've been waiting for this for so long! Thank you for all the hard work you've put in and you're amazing videos, my friends aren't as passionate for D&D as I am, any ideas to get them more involved?
Well I don't play 5e, but I do play Pathfinder and Starfinder, and I just published a two-shot module yesterday, but it wasn't my first - I'm also a pro game cartographer so my modules are chock ful of maps. Consider the two-shot I just published, it has 11 maps, and 4 multi-deck starship deck plans. Great that you're sharing this, as many of us do that too.
Awesome nate just awesome your videos. I wonder when we can see the another "How to Play D&D part 1 - A Sample Game Session" series videos. This video made me play rpg again after 15 years of hiatus. You can make some kind of adventures using that format, that would be awesome. Like the "esper bard" does in his channel.
after listening to the types of adventures I realized.....my current campaign is kind of a conglomeration of all of these. And yes the campaign is gonna take a long time....long time....
I apologize. I do most of my youtubing on Roku, and I always for get to hit the thumbs up button. Thank you for your videos. They help me as a newish DM.
hey buddy, i'm Brazilian and I really loved your channel, I ever loved everything about RPGs, games in general, sorry if wrote a few wrong words, because my English isn't so good ;P but I'm trying be best, therefore I use your videos to train my hearing. Good luck bro
I'm Dm'ing for the first time ever. I often write books so have no doubt in mind that I'll be able to tell a good story but might slip on some encounters, rule sets, and number stuff other than that I feel pretty confident. Ive played as an adventurer in a couple other campaigns and I just want to tell my own story. Thanks for the guidance
Usually when I dm I just improvise the whole time and maybe have a few things planned. But I'm currently trying to create a campaign that is well planned out. So thank you for your help.
this is hacks not only if you are a dm but also if you are writing a book ( more natrual life( so the plottwist have more meaning)) or if you are a artist (making your oc) also i know i only hold one game before but i like to just have diffriend options for my friends couse i know what they are gonna say... also i did wacthed this so i could make a comic... thank you a lot for taking time to make this video (:
MAPS are really important in my games as it helps me better describe the settings and if the players find a map, I have one to hand to them. As a couple of useful extras that I call the HSF; History, Senses and Feelings. H - The history can be just a sentence or two to put the players in the mindset of the place where they are adventuring; is it a war-torn region, does corruption run rampant, has an age of peace suddenly been shattered, is the region experiencing a surge in growth and prosperity or is in decline after having been a center of pilgrimage to the old gods. S - Involving the senses of the characters is also important to making the game more immersive. Not only what is seen and heard but what does it smell like, is it cold and wet, is there any sense impression that might trigger a memory for the characters; like the sound of crackling burning pine bringing back the horrifying memory of the night a marauding band of orcs killed your family and set your village ablaze. F - A word mentioning the mood hanging in the air, or the possible feelings seen on people's faces, can go a long way to bring the players into a game. Does the character begin to sense danger, or a creeping unknown fear, does something intrigue the character and bid for her attention. The players are free to ignore all of these feelings; just like in real life, we do not usually control our feeling, rather we choose to listen to them or ignore them or even fight against them.
The only thing that i don't like about this Video is that you call yourself "Funny looking Guy". I f**king adore ur videos, they are infomative and helped me get WAY BETTER at DMing and using my imagination and creativity. You are not "Funny looking" - You are beautiful and i love that you share ur ideas and techniques with all of us. Nerdy love from Germany
I have had success using movie plots for adventure ideas. One that worked was based on The Man Who Would be King and another was based on The Seven Samurai. I just modified them a bit to fit my game setting.
SUGGESTION: With intermediate to experienced DnD players... do an ad-lib night. Each PC takes turns and floats a story idea that will take anywhere from 15-60 minutes to complete, depending on number of players. The players act out each story as they are given, then, the next player connects the next mini story arc. Each PC one-by-one sets the adventure path, then lastly the DM ties it all together in a final culminating finally. This way, everyone takes a part in the creative process. A night of creative fun for all. New players to DnD can join in as well, with the more experienced going first. This is a great teaching tool to help in and encourage role-playing and learning all facets of DnD.
Great video. I want to add one more step. I think that is important have written ends. It's normal to think that players have the last word, but it's really helpfull if you cannot improvise something in time. Can be a few words in a list. ^^
A written end and beginning can help make everything in between feel more polished for sure. Personally, I'm never very sure HOW a session will end. :) Players are unpredictable and ti's hard to estimate how long something will take. Still, writing a few words as a best guess for an ending can be helpful.
Hey, thx for the effort and time you spend to make videos for us! So, what's with this buzzword lately ppl use "agency" ? Is that just player control or player freedom of choice?
I’m writing for a game for next week I’m a new dnd player and I love storytelling so I decided to try dming, I would play a 1 on 1 session with one of my friends but now I am playing with 4 people
I enjoyed the video but I would really like to see it developed further. My method for creating a scenario is as follows: I start by just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. (I'm running a Call of Cthulu scenario. The investigators are in southern Germany. This call out for Frankenstein. I was also thinking about the Spiderman villain Lizard Man. So a mad scientist using lizard DNA to regrow lost limbs. Is he the villain or is he just meddling with forces beyond his ken?) Throw more stuff out there: Igor! If you have Frankenstein you have to have Igor. Ah, but THIS Igor has been DNAd into a serpent man. OK.....HE is the bad guy and summons Yig the father of serpents....and that's all I have for now.
When it comes to dungeons, I find I HAVE to put them underground, otherwise the players spend half the session scoping out the silhouette of the dungeon and seeing if they can look into windows, using flying companions to scout, etc, to see as much of the dungeon as humanly possible before they even THINK about stepping through the front door.
Planning a one shot for coworkers in January. I'm gonna set it 2000 years before their previous one shot, during a war that divided the continent. They're gonna be a squad of soldiers seperated from their main force behind enemy lines. So the objective is to get back to their own side without getting caught.
I want to start a new D&D Group (with me as the DM) but I'm really awkward and I'm not good at public speaking... How can I get over it and have a good Game Night..?
Try to start playing with your closest friends and tell them before the campaign starts that you may struggle ,maybe it'll become less hard as time passes
Cacaroteno a little while ago, I did just that..! I made up an adventure, and played it with 3 if my friends. It went pretty okay, buuuut my players were the absolute worst... I don't know if it's just bad dm'ing on my part, but they didn't seem to care at all. There was only 1 player that actually played for real, the other ones were just trying to meme everything I said. That is mostly the reason for why I'm looking for a new, actually interested group...
@@vermaledijd592 I saw a video about types of players, and it explained that it doesn't actually matter that much if they aren't that invested in the game, because it's the very first game they've played. Try play another game and see how they act, maybe they'll take it more seriously, if not, then maybe search another group, or try to get them invested. Another thing that you can try is just being a player, not a DM , but maybe you don't want that. Hope something of that helps.
@Yannick It's not always bad DMing that causes player disinterest. Sometimes it's how you treat them. Try being more assertive and make sure to remind them who is the one running the game. After all, everyone came here to participate in this game, so if the players aren't interested, it usually either means your story isn't engaging enough or you just need to be more in charge of the game. After all, you are the Dungeon *Master* I ran a game with a few friends of mine a while back, and none of them cared about it at all. They made fun of the NPCs, the encounters, and even went so far as to make jokes about it after the two sessions it lasted for ended. And for all of it I just sat there and took it. However, about a month ago I started running a new game with the same players, and in this one I introduced a controversial element: Low magic. This caused outrage with the players, but I simply told them that's how it is, and if you don't like it, don't come to the session. They all came (even though more than half of them are playing spellcasters in disguise) and we've been having a lot of fun with it. One of my players even told me it was their best D&D experience, and another argued in my favor against another player multiclassing into a spellcaster because we had too many already. The biggest thing is to get your players to respect you and what you're doing for them. Obviously don't be too assertive to the point of restricting your players' freedom, though. This is everyone's game! Hope this helps, and good luck in the future!
It's really cool reading the comments section here that a lot of my "shot in the dark" style for GMing in my early days was actually really good for my players. I know that phrase has no meaning without context so, I mean to say I had no freaking clue what I was doing, but I kept throwing situations and monsters that were relevant and logical to the setting, so my players (who were also new to the game) were really into the game I made. And if something really weird came up they assumed it was a huge plot device. Literally they'd be like, "This must be the guy who owns the imp!" And I'd be like, "Hmmm, yes. Seems that way." *Writes down some notes* Or, someone made a comment about how the farm girl just "conveniently" disappears at night once a week, so everyone was convinced she was a werewolf. So, I was like, "Yeah, she's the big bad attacking the delivery drivers. Good job figuring it out." *throws away the random thief npcs I made the night before into the trash and cracks open the monster manual* So, they definitely helped make the story in the early days of the campaign. I didn't invest in making a whole plot cause originally I thought they'd hate me GMing. So a lot of it was a bunch of tropes or cliches that felt right in the moment. Eventually all good things come to an end though and my brother mutinied after a few months into the campaign. Basically arguing about everything I threw at them to the point it wasn't fun to DM anymore cause he wanted the game to play for him. And none of the other players really wanted to play a game with a DM who had a brother with "Protag" syndrome. Buuuut it was fun while it lasted. I'm DMing 5e this weekend with new friends and my husband. So, wish me luck cause I haven't been the DM/GM in a loooong time.
If you like "The Lazy Dungeon master", check out the anuthor's newest book "Return of the Lazy Dungeon master". You don't need to read the original. It is completely independent and more up to date with 5e and new surveys
Thanks! I was a backer and didn't realize it was for sale to the public yet so I wasn't going to mention it. I have the PDF and it's good. I've added a link to the video description.
Can confirm, I once ran a three-session goblin horde invasion last stand. It ended with the raid being cut to an end but the good stuff was the combat and environmental narrative.
i am using my own way to handle this. When i make my own story, i build a whole map with all locations that are avilable in the world that they are in. I do this with inkarnate since its much easier to build. Then i come up with a world story that is the driving point of the player. How they manage things and if they succed or not, is their thing. And because i made a whole world map, the players have an imense amount of option they can do. But at the end they must follow the story. The stories always have multiple endings. 1-5 or more, it depends what the player have done and how, this endigs might even change because of their action. The NPC and the whole world have their own way of thinking, but what they do will change with the playes action. For example if they meet an important person for a kingdom, and they decide to rob him or kill him, that specific kingdom will make their move if they are able to find it out. The players can fight against that force or choose other options, if they are smart they can stop everything without fighting and gain something, or even lose something. it all depends. Then i come up with a story for each location that is told in that specific place. NPC like Boss Monsters in a Dungeon have their own backstory, they arent just mosters that happened to be there. Since i made my own battle system, they are now capible to have such things as "Defense Mode" and "Attack Mode". For example the first boss that the players must confront in my story, has a defense mode where he takes out his shield and guards himself. His Defense drops and cant attack, but his skill "Soul Eater" activates which sucks out a portion of the players soul everytime he changes into defense mode. it makes a certain amount of damage and ignores physical defense. In Attack Mode this Knight has a great sword that grants him 1+ range and a magic spell that lets him shoot fire which has a range of 4 and is 3 rows wide. My stories and worlds are very big, and unique, but that does not mean that there is no end. The map is big, but that doesnt mean that the players must visit those places in order to proceed. There are many ways to proceed in my stories. The characters may have the same driving point which lead to create their group, but they can easily decide to ignore that driving point and do it different. THey do not even have to battle the monsters, and if that happens the story changes once again.
Dude love your channel. Ive learned how to draw maps, tho basic and not as amazing. And have used heroes forge tho havent been able to order. But thankyou for the videos!
Would it be possible to mix D&D with something like "Among Us" by swearing in one of the players beforehand to secretly play against the group and subtly sabotage their actions? I think it would be really exciting to have the main antagonist be one of the players and then have the rest of the group figure it out... :D I'm completely new tp DnD, so this might have adverse effects and implications I'm not yet aware of.
In my campaign (not in DnD but it doesnt matter) heroes have to explore the world in which the campaign is happening, to defeat a final boss. Yes, it can get kinda hard, when players want to go into a place, where they shouldn't be, but is more like... immersive or smth, idk how to name it, but i mean, if they are still in one place, they just feel not free, and like that it is more fun when heros are not like "i shouldnt go anywhere, i have to kill all monsters HERE, and do what i should HERE" or smth, just my opinion (i know im like 3 years too late) Also as for the twist, in my campaign, there is an owner of a tavern, who secretly is helping one of the villains steal the souls of other people, and just betrays the party, using things they brought him in side quests he can give them.
I don't write NPC descriptions. I just write the name of the actor or character that I have cast in my mind to play that NPC. Then I just describe them from memory.
How would you put more importance on travel in a game without bogging it down with constant survival and perception checks? How can I get the epic feel of the journey itself in a lord of the rings kind of way?
I want my first world to be set in the GoblinSlayer universe. My story would be more like a filler episode in the anime where my character goes on a quest with him.
I think the DM should never do random encounters during the actual play session, they should plan each one out before gameplay and be prepared to improvise as gameplay develops. Of course you can still have the players roll dice just to add a sense of randomness. The DM should always know and be in control of what is in front of the players even if they take different paths.
Hahaha. Random encounters. Actually, it never meant to be a table to roll on the fly, but a table the game master uses beforehand to the game. It was an old philosophy of trying to be neutral. I strongly recommend if you plan using a table like this, then do it during preparation. Games like Dungeons and Dragons have a lot of different powers and abilities and tricks. Rolling creatures before the game allows the game master to be prepared about any tactics a creature may have and also allows the gm trying to tie up these creatures in cohesive story.
Everything you said is great, but I'm still thirsty for details. I've got a great post war setting, and I'm collecting backstories from the characters so I can weave their desires, fears and weaknesses into the plot. I'm brainstorming ideas for conflict, and I think my ideas for the opening scenes will work. But I'm just not sure. My brainstorms aren't gelling into anything cohesive. I worry that the game won't be that engaging. If I can't kick it off well, there's no promise anyone will want to come back. It would be helpful if you were more specific. If you had some fun examples. Creative details. Present some characters with depth, and show several ideas of how to weave a story around them. Maybe you can brainstorm better than I can. Don't explain how to do it. Do it. Don't tell me, show me. And then I'll see.
Wow. This is the exact video I needed to see... yesterday.
Noooo! :)
oof. I’m intrigued, what happened?
WAIH studios looks like ur not getting ur answer
@@waihstudios8828 Ah, I did alright, but it was a little railroaded and I messed up some important PC details early on. When I revisit the setting I'll be sure to ease off the gas and let players breathe. But I could have done better, hence the comment. A year ago. Oops!
@@RatherWatchThemSA cough(nobody cares about a comment reply and inquiry 2 years later)cough
Here's something that I want to try one day -
Start the One-Shot/First Session with, "As you stand outside the burning inn you look at your fellow adventurers and ask, 'What just happened?'" And then write furiously in a notebook as the players go around the table creating a narrative, sometimes interjecting with skill checks that exemplify their class/character traits: strength, problem solving, creative use of powers, etc. Have a villain in mind (local fire-bug, goblin/cultist scouts, or even a Rakshasa) in mind, but never describe it - all they see are shadows in the dark or silhouettes against the flames.
I wish I could screenshots this so I could try it
@@aribellatynsky3816 why couldn't you screenshot it?
My phone is out of storage
@@aribellatynsky3816make storage
I'm going to be a dm for the first time tonight and I'm very nervous. This helps a lot, thank you
Omixam how did it go
Daarthus He never made it back lmao 😂
He got shunned for all eternity
Hey buddy how'd it go.
It must be a great session! He's got his players so hooked they've been playing for two years straight!
Good video and great points. I agree that "The Lazy Dungeon Master" is an awesome resource.
But you mention "story"; I prefer to use the word "plot" in this context. A lot of people I see online appear to be under the impression that GMs write stories in the same way an author does. GMs can't actually do this because _they don't control the actions of the protagonists._
You need to set up a situation that the players can affect, then let them affect it. Even if it's "only" a dungeon full of traps, monsters and treasure. As Sly Flourish points out, if you come up with a detailed plan that assumes a specific response from your players then you may drift into railroading if the players do the "wrong" thing in order to save "your" story.
As for scenes and conflict, I think of scenes as instances where the players need to make decisions. There is a subset of scenes called "encounters" where the players' decisions run into conflict.
If the PCs are walking down a corridor, you don't stop them and ask if they'd like to continue to walk down the corridor every five feet of movement. That's not a scene because deciding to keep doing the thing that you've already decided to do isn't really a decision.
But a junction where the corridor intersects with another corridor _is_ a scene. The players have to make a decision whether to continue forward or to turn left or right. Or go home for that matter.
A locked door or a trap or a monster is a scene too, but it's the kind of scene that's called an encounter. That is, there is some kind of conflict (ie. a giant spider that has built a nest in a room the PCs must traverse) that prevents the PCs decisions from automatically succeeding. The key here is that bypassing a _combat_ (ie. sneaking past the nest of a giant spider rather than killing it) is not bypassing the _scene._ It's just resolving the conflict in the scene (the PC's path being blocked by the nest of a giant spider) without brute force.
As far as adventure "types" go, pretty much any adventure can be plotted as a flowchart. Scene 1 connects to Scene 2, which connects to Scene 3 or 4, which _both_ connect to Scene 5 ...
The main difference between "location-based" and "event-based" adventures (IMHO) is that in location-based adventures, the connections between scenes represent corridors, tunnels, streets or trails: physical connections between physical locations. In event-based adventures, the connections are more conceptual (ie. following leads in an investigation) and connect scenes that are more _situations_ (ie. confronting a suspect) than _locations._
And yes, event-based tends to be harder to do than location-based due to the degree to which player decision is constrained. In a location-based adventure, the choices are much more straightforward: the players can take this tunnel or the other, they can't create their own tunnel. Event-based adventures, on the other hand, tend to take place in situations where there is no _physical_ constraint on the PCs just wandering out of the adventure: instead of following your carefully-crafted clues, the PCs _could_ go shopping and take in a show (it's just that they usually don't).
Well, that got long. I'll stop now.
Keep up the good work.
Excellent! All good stuff.
This encapsulates what I've experienced and helps me to understand the "why" and "how".
Thank you, sir!
Good points! I second the upvote for "The Lazy Dungeon Master". Mike Shea (Sly Flourish) has great advice. He recently did an updated version of his book called "Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master." Also, he has a great podcast on Don't Split the Podcast network called "DM's Deep Dive". Now as to types of adventures, you made some excellent points on "location based" vs. "event based", and distinguishing between "scenes" and "encounters". I'd also suggest, for anyone interested, checking out Justin Alexander's great articles on adventure design (at thealexandrian.net/), especially "Node Based Scenario Design" and "The Three Clue Rule". Basically, Alexander postulates that for any conclusion you want the characters to reach, you need to have at least three clues for it. The inverse of that is: For every three clues they find, the PCs will reach at least one conclusion. Nodes are too much to go into in this comment, but it's basically an extension of "don't prep plots, prep situations" (another great article on Alexander's site). You seed clues into each node, and you prepare the node by knowing the location, the NPCs/monsters that are there, and what resources the NPCs/monsters have to use. That way, a) you'll know how the NPC/monster will respond to what the PCs do; and b) the PCs will come to at least one conclusion that will advance the story. It's minimal prep for maximum effect.
This was really useful comment thank you! I have so many ideas just need a good system for them. I have a rough story but want to leave open ended enough work. Now thinking of it a scenes is way easier !
Welp glad to know I'm running a harder session than I thought tomorrow. My 3rd ever session is an investigation leading to the eventual departure from the starting town... hopefully, I
have 2 huge plot hooks, one loot based and one backstory based to lead them towards where I want them to go. Shit I still have pre roll initiatives and set up some random tables.
Wish me luck.
Although I'm new to GMing (actually, the first Tabletop RPG I played I GMed, and am still GMing) I feel like I'm fairly good at it. But there is always one problem I see myself repeating.
Overplanning.
I plan each subscene in almost play by play detail and I feel like I might be railroading my players too much.
Or maybe not. They seem to still love the story and when I leave them without an NPC to tell them what to do they just do nothing.
IDK, I still feel weird about it and just wanted to put it out there.
Great video, Nate. These tips will really come in handy for my future campaigns.
The most useful "funny looking guy on the internet"
:P
If a Grey Alien and a human had a love child WASD20 is what that child would grow up to be :P
I accept that.
heh, i remember when it was fun to make fun of someones appearance....in elementary school. Then i grew up.
A good shorthand is to write down the necessary things you will need on a sheet so you don't have to keep referencing back to a monster manual or such. Notes such as attack bonus, damage, hit points, AC, and special attacks along with what saves they are strong and weak against goes a long way into speeding up combat encounters. remember, the DM doesn't need to know what the creature's ability scores are for every encounter or whether they know common or not.
2:24 totally agree, my players started out as just some lyrium smugglers who took over their carta, and now they're plotting to assassinate an empress just to increase profit. (I'm running Dragon Age published by Green Ronin)
I've been binge watching your videos and made a map and story yesterday. Thanks!
whether or not i can persuade my friends to play it with me is the real challenge though. lol
Well thanks for watching. Good luck!
Wow, just earlier today i decided to create my own adventure and now I see your vid just published :D Great timing, Nate
Maybe make an episode about setting up and paying off consequences, both short and long term?
Thanks for the great vid Nate! Not just sucking up for not dying in our game... but you might be my current favorite online tips go-to. Concise, practical, helpful.
Haha! Thanks Ryan. Go ahead and give your character a point of inspiration. You are definitely going to need it for Friday! :P
So glad you mentioned backstory--for our GM's (five of us, running games for a variety of local events), character motivations and backstory--for is THE cornerstone of adventure-building. It really lights a fire under players.
As for story NPCs I apply 3 simple rules.
1. Who wants what?
2. How are they going to get it?
3 Why should the players care?
1. The inn keeper want his missing daughter back.
2. He is looking to hire a group of adventures to help him find her.
3. If his daughter is brought back, he promises free ale to the players for a year.
1. King Broadbutt want to expand his kingdom and wealth.
2. He plans to invade the country next to his.
3. The players have homes or family in said country so they have to fight him, or the king want to hire them as mercenaries if they are subjects of the king.
Those 3 rules are a great tool for me, when having a bit of a writers block.
THANKS! I'm DMing a session in only a few hours and I seriously have been very torn about what to do. It's part of a larger adventure module, but I've veered off into my own territory and have been freaking out about what to do next. Perfect timing for some great advice. Seriously, thanks!
Cool! Have fun, I hope it goes well!
Everything fell into place, as for the ratio between chance and design, it's hard to say. Thanks again!
Thanks Nate! Timely for me as I am running short little Adventures at my school.
I am 46, new to it all somewhat. Never was an admitter to D&D, i am now and who cares. I absolutely love it! U are the first i have watched and listened to, THANK You, u are awesome!! I would love to see more, more often.
For improvising loot I made a consolidated loot table for average gp per monster by CR. This uses the DMG roll tables and just takes the average expected gold. I find this much more useful for improvising and prepping.
CR (Average gp per monster) : 0-4 (3gp), 5-10 (65gp), 11-16 (950gp), 17+ (8500gp)
This should be scattered and sometimes replaced with items of equivalent value. For example after 20 goblins you'll have distributed 60gp of loot total. Note that these CR categories are from the DMG, but with this table it is easier to roughly interpolate for a smoother curve.
Great! Thanks for this.
Thanks this is helpful. I am new to DND. I only played a few sessions so far. I also collected a lot of books. There are so much stuff to explore. It is a sandbox for sure. I definitely want to run modules first, because they are easier and provide good practice. I would like to make my own adventures eventually. I am interested in becoming a DM sometime, because of the creativity. This video is good at getting the ball rolling. I recently got the idea of a horse themed campaign. I love that idea. Horses are so cool. My main fantasy is Lonlarrian. It has all sorts of stuff. Horses are very important, but they are not the main focus. My main character is Luspear, and she has the ability to turn into special kind of horse. There can be all sorts of campaigns with different themes or flavors. So there can be one of many campaigns with a horse theme. Once I came up with the idea, I was able to generate a lot of details quickly using brainstorming. Here is the gist of it. The story is like My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. However in order to make it fit DND, the story is a lot more mature and is a lot more focused on adventure. The adventuring party goes around a fantasy world and find different places for different horses. These horses are tied to elements. Draft horse has earth. Unicorn has fire. Hippocampus has water. Pegasus has air. There is a quintessential horse that is a mix of the four. It is like an alicorn, except with a stocky build and a fish tail. Luspear actually turns into this kind of horse. The world building would be heavily horse based. I have ideas on the details. There is also some Greek mythology stuff too to flesh things out. It fits since both pegasus and hippocampus comes from that. The story is about the threat of wendigos. Wendigos are cruel selfish creatures. They spend hate and discord. I do change thier appearance so they are horse-like instead of deer-like. I also don't want them to look too scary. Full blown horror monsters won't fit the story. Different areas have different wendigos reeking havok. So fighting different ones can flesh out the story with multiple adventures. Special places have special horse magic based on virtues. Using the magic on a defeated wendigo purifies it and breaks the curse. The wendigo turns into a horse, which is its true form. The horse becomes good and starts on its path for redemption. A party has each member possess different a different kind of horse magic. They share all kinds of horse magic. Small parties can have members with two or more types. The final boss is the wendigo leader. That leads to a huge and exciting climatic fight. Once the boss is beaten into submission, the group members combine thier horse magic together using the power of friendship. Then they blast the boss with rainbows. It becomes one of the special quintessential horse. That starts the road to redemption. I don't know if that ending is too corner for DND. Eh I guess as a DM I can make a campaign a bit lighter and softer if I want. I just need to tone down the windego creature a whole lot to prevent tone problems.
I do have a piece of advice to DMs. If you have DND books, feel free to use them for inspiration. It is a matter of picking and choosing things, and them putting a personal spin on that. One doesn't solely have to choose between homebrew or module. There is a gray area. There can even be a spectrum of how far one deviates from the modules and other books. I have a few books from my collection that can help with developing a horse campaign. For starters the Monster Manuel has entries for unicorn and pegasus. That is nice cherry picking. The main books are the three ones on dragons. Fitzban Treasury of Dragons has a lot of info on using dragons and dragon themed stuff. Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen has a dragon themed setting. Tyranny of Dragons is a two part adventure moduql about dragons. It has Tiamat as the big bad. Dragons are awesome. They are my favorite creature of fantasy. My second most important character is Soram, and even he turns into a dragon. On top of that, the most recent World of Warcraft expansion is Dragonflight. My characters are low level, so they are not ready for the expansion. However I would like them to get there someday. Then I will feel free to borrow ideas from that. Magic the Gathering has interesting dragon lore. It is particularly in the Dominaria, Tarkir and Arcavios planes. (Arcavios has the Strixhaven school) All the care and attention to dragons is amazing. It gets me so excited. Funny is that horses are prominent in fantasy too. Unicorns are especially famous. I had a whole brony phase when Friendship is Magic aired. That made me invested with horses even more. So I would be cool to use the dragon content and swap out the dragons for horses. That can definitely be a campaign idea. I think of dragons and horses as the two main fantasy creatures. To be honest, a DM can swap out dragons with any fantasy creature or race that tickles thier fancy. They can make it work. There are other good books to draw from. Princess of Apocalypse and Storm King's Thunder are good for developing the elemental nature in different kinds of horses. The Mythic Odesseys of Theros is good for bringing a Greek Mythology influence to the world. There is something intriguing. The hippocampus is an awesome but underrated fantasy creature. The regular Monster Manual doesn't have an entry for it. However the Theros book does have one in the back, where it has all the mythical creatures. Neat.
I would add that an easy way to utilize story without overriding player agency is by starting with the villain (or multiple). What do they want, and what do they need to get it? Then as they move forward with their vile schemes, it just so happens to coincide with time/location/goals of the pc's, and now you have a conflict to explore. Let the players be the ones to solve how the conflict resolves, and it will play itself out.
I love how much content you were able to cover in this amount of time. It worked well!
2 years late but all of your videos have been driving forces for teaching myself D&D. Being the DM for the first time in a few days and this helped tremendously
Thanks ! Until now, my best games as a DM was with Pathfinder modules and campaign, but I just got that idea recently of an adventure entirely underwater, and you got pretty good advices. Hope my futur players will like it !
Quick Tip: while there are a ton of resources out there for random encounters, it's also fun to put together a customized random encounter table that is specific to your dungeon or your wilderness location. For a generic table, there may be encounters with things that don't exist in your setting, or don't exist in this particular area of that setting. By making custom tables, you can tie in the random encounters to your overarching story and major antagonists (or allies!) more easily.
Thanks for the Role Gate shout out. Just joined so that I can finally experience the game as a PC. It'll help me as a new DM to be on this side.
Totally agree with the Pathfinder recommendation. The amount of content they include is unparalleled by recent D&D books. Most of my D&D 5E friends buy Pathfinder 1E books for adding depth to their worlds and encounters. I’d suggest Horror Adventures, Ultimate Campaign, and Ultimate Intrigue. Those Pathfinder books will add incredible depth to any RPG.
Can't wait for episode 3 of the tutorial videos! Also....could episode 4 be about npc encounters? I know being a dm is pretty subjective but as a DM in our games I feel I sometimes let the team down when it comes to creating an organic convosation but still staying within a setting.
Eg: 3 friends are invited to a posh dinner, they take their seats and start talking to the other guests, we like to roll dice to create that random element of how someone will react or if they know someone else, etc. But it never quite feels right. Like I'm missing a trick. Haha
I'd love to see how you would do that sort of situation as a npc interaction video. We are not worthy my friend!
Keep up the great work!
I know this video is old but it helped make my first adventure in d&d
Thank you for this! Above and Below (board game) has some super awesome stories in it for inspiration on small encounters!
Just joined RoleGate thanks to you. Just trying to find a group to play with. been wishing for a solid group for several years now and it's just so much harder in real life. Primary school and university made playing so easy.
I love this channel!
Your info is pretty useful
Well thanks!
Why are you so good at explaining all things dnd?? Ahhh I love all your dnd videos!!
I made a adventure ages ago and this has made me pull it out and get back to thinking about dm ing ty nate
That 3-5 scene rule/advice is what I was trying to find for weeks now. Turns out I wasn't underprepared then afterall :)
If you're using your own self-built world it's usually a good idea to have a few monsters that aren't really found in the default sources materials, you can pull monsters from games or books you've read with a similar sort of setting or you can go through the process of making your own original monster. Making your own monster can be a bit more work but leaves you feeling a bit more satisfied, especially if add in little tidbits making rolls to see if your players can able to have their characters identify the monster with varying successes. It's more interesting when you give the monster strengths and weaknesses that the players discover on their own, in addition to being far more satisfying for the players when they find out how to fight and possibly beat the monster. Sure you can have a dragon, or whatever, but what if the dragon has properties none of the players themselves have ever genuinely encountered or read about in the source materials. A fire or ice breathing dragon is fine, but what if the dragon they're fighting is a forest hunter that can spit a host of goop balls that have various effects? Or they encounter a magical polar bear that consumes ice and ice/cold magic to regain its health?
The same can be true with traps, you always want your traps to challenge your characters when possible. But what about traps that give special rewards tailored to each individual characters based on their archetype or class?
Another way to add a bit more flavor to the game has some of the loot be set up in a way that can make the players think about how they can do things. What if the teleportation or gate scroll your characters find, which would typically be a good way for a quick exit, is pre-set in a way that can be used as a weapon? Or they find a talking weapon that potentially kicks off a quest in an unusual way? Maybe give them a magic item that is cursed but in a way that one of the characters thinks it's more useful as is so they end up at odds with the rest of the party because they want to undo the curse and the character in question doesn't. Maybe you send your characters on a quest to find a legendary or mythical weapon only to find that the weapon itself is broken into three or more pieces and each piece has a lower but useful magical ability related to the power of the completed weapon but everyone only knew where the one part of the set was because they thought that one piece was the entire weapon, maybe one of your players had been carrying around one or more pieces of the weapon the entire time. Adding in those little twists can players rethink things. Maybe because the cool ice claymore (sword) and amazing sound claymore (sword) fit together to become a legendary weapon that does ice and sound damage the players start chasing down all sorts of minor magical weapons to see if any can be brought together to form more powerful weapon with their combined abilities but amped up. And that could be a hook the players created for themselves because of one or two instances you just threw in to make them rethink what gear can do.
This is why I made my most recent setting extremely fantastical, makes coming up with Hilarious and odd stories easier while I develop the more in depth and serious ones over longer stretches of time.
Personally I enjoy creating the NPCs. I like to give them their own backstories. When players ask off-the-wall questions I have a ready answer. It's better than "You meet....Bob...he's a guy" Or it could be:" Hi! I'm Bob well it's really Robert but everybody calls me Bob. You're adventurers huh? My cousin Steve does that Boy oh boy, the stories *he* could tell. So you want a room for the night?
I really appreciate all the work you do! Thanks for all the help that you give selflessly. Keep up the killer content bro!
With the help of your extremely great video, I am creating my very first own sorts of D&D story, as the dungeon master. One of the main NPCs in my story is the Town major. And because you are such a great help for creating maps, dungeons and stories, my major is called NATE! 😂
Thank you do much for bringing this topic closer to me and helping me and all of your subscribers to participate in roll top table games!
Haha. Nice! Thanks for the kind words. Happy gaming!
This was great! It gave me a stepped outline to use, Thank you!
I've been waiting for this for so long! Thank you for all the hard work you've put in and you're amazing videos, my friends aren't as passionate for D&D as I am, any ideas to get them more involved?
Haven't DM d in over 20 years...now my son wants to learn to play....Thanks for this, the pressure is on...lol
This was awesome! Thank you
Well I don't play 5e, but I do play Pathfinder and Starfinder, and I just published a two-shot module yesterday, but it wasn't my first - I'm also a pro game cartographer so my modules are chock ful of maps. Consider the two-shot I just published, it has 11 maps, and 4 multi-deck starship deck plans. Great that you're sharing this, as many of us do that too.
Awesome nate just awesome your videos. I wonder when we can see the another "How to Play D&D part 1 - A Sample Game Session" series videos. This video made me play rpg again after 15 years of hiatus. You can make some kind of adventures using that format, that would be awesome. Like the "esper bard" does in his channel.
after listening to the types of adventures I realized.....my current campaign is kind of a conglomeration of all of these. And yes the campaign is gonna take a long time....long time....
False advertising, no funny looking guy on the internet; just a hot stud lmao.
GAYYYYYY!!!
I apologize. I do most of my youtubing on Roku, and I always for get to hit the thumbs up button. Thank you for your videos. They help me as a newish DM.
Dude, you may be my favorite channel and I'm watching you for like 4 ,5 days or smth. Your drawing tutorials, these tips and everything, love ya.
hey buddy, i'm Brazilian and I really loved your channel, I ever loved everything about RPGs, games in general, sorry if wrote a few wrong words, because my English isn't so good ;P but I'm trying be best, therefore I use your videos to train my hearing. Good luck bro
Amazing advice!
A mayer of the town is at heart of corruption?
Yeah i can definetly see that coming
I'm Dm'ing for the first time ever. I often write books so have no doubt in mind that I'll be able to tell a good story but might slip on some encounters, rule sets, and number stuff other than that I feel pretty confident. Ive played as an adventurer in a couple other campaigns and I just want to tell my own story. Thanks for the guidance
Usually when I dm I just improvise the whole time and maybe have a few things planned. But I'm currently trying to create a campaign that is well planned out. So thank you for your help.
Really enjoying your vids
this is hacks not only if you are a dm but also if you are writing a book ( more natrual life( so the plottwist have more meaning)) or if you are a artist (making your oc) also i know i only hold one game before but i like to just have diffriend options for my friends couse i know what they are gonna say... also i did wacthed this so i could make a comic... thank you a lot for taking time to make this video (:
MAPS are really important in my games as it helps me better describe the settings and if the players find a map, I have one to hand to them. As a couple of useful extras that I call the HSF; History, Senses and Feelings.
H - The history can be just a sentence or two to put the players in the mindset of the place where they are adventuring; is it a war-torn region, does corruption run rampant, has an age of peace suddenly been shattered, is the region experiencing a surge in growth and prosperity or is in decline after having been a center of pilgrimage to the old gods.
S - Involving the senses of the characters is also important to making the game more immersive. Not only what is seen and heard but what does it smell like, is it cold and wet, is there any sense impression that might trigger a memory for the characters; like the sound of crackling burning pine bringing back the horrifying memory of the night a marauding band of orcs killed your family and set your village ablaze.
F - A word mentioning the mood hanging in the air, or the possible feelings seen on people's faces, can go a long way to bring the players into a game. Does the character begin to sense danger, or a creeping unknown fear, does something intrigue the character and bid for her attention. The players are free to ignore all of these feelings; just like in real life, we do not usually control our feeling, rather we choose to listen to them or ignore them or even fight against them.
The only thing that i don't like about this Video is that you call yourself "Funny looking Guy".
I f**king adore ur videos, they are infomative and helped me get WAY BETTER at DMing and using my imagination and creativity.
You are not "Funny looking" - You are beautiful and i love that you share ur ideas and techniques with all of us.
Nerdy love from Germany
Aww shucks. ❤️
I have had success using movie plots for adventure ideas. One that worked was based on The Man Who Would be King and another was based on The Seven Samurai. I just modified them a bit to fit my game setting.
SUGGESTION: With intermediate to experienced DnD players... do an ad-lib night. Each PC takes turns and floats a story idea that will take anywhere from 15-60 minutes to complete, depending on number of players. The players act out each story as they are given, then, the next player connects the next mini story arc. Each PC one-by-one sets the adventure path, then lastly the DM ties it all together in a final culminating finally. This way, everyone takes a part in the creative process. A night of creative fun for all. New players to DnD can join in as well, with the more experienced going first. This is a great teaching tool to help in and encourage role-playing and learning all facets of DnD.
Thank you, great video
Thank u. I was wanting to buy this. BUT, before I buy it, I wanna make my own D&D game. NOW! I can make my own game. And then buy it!
Nice videos WASD20! Just found out about you from the Provokers!
Cool! Well thanks for the visit. Those Provokers guys aren't too bad. :)
Great video. I want to add one more step. I think that is important have written ends. It's normal to think that players have the last word, but it's really helpfull if you cannot improvise something in time. Can be a few words in a list.
^^
A written end and beginning can help make everything in between feel more polished for sure. Personally, I'm never very sure HOW a session will end. :) Players are unpredictable and ti's hard to estimate how long something will take. Still, writing a few words as a best guess for an ending can be helpful.
As a GM, I find a puzzle with an answer and it's "The Answer" until the party decides something more entertaining. It plays out to be really fun.
I love your videos Nate thank you
Hey, thx for the effort and time you spend to make videos for us! So, what's with this buzzword lately ppl use "agency" ? Is that just player control or player freedom of choice?
That’s pretty much what it means, yep.
I didnt paid attention till the intro because the chiptune music was so good
I’m writing for a game for next week I’m a new dnd player and I love storytelling so I decided to try dming, I would play a 1 on 1 session with one of my friends but now I am playing with 4 people
I enjoyed the video but I would really like to see it developed further. My method for creating a scenario is as follows: I start by just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. (I'm running a Call of Cthulu scenario. The investigators are in southern Germany. This call out for Frankenstein. I was also thinking about the Spiderman villain Lizard Man. So a mad scientist using lizard DNA to regrow lost limbs. Is he the villain or is he just meddling with forces beyond his ken?) Throw more stuff out there: Igor! If you have Frankenstein you have to have Igor. Ah, but THIS Igor has been DNAd into a serpent man. OK.....HE is the bad guy and summons Yig the father of serpents....and that's all I have for now.
When it comes to dungeons, I find I HAVE to put them underground, otherwise the players spend half the session scoping out the silhouette of the dungeon and seeing if they can look into windows, using flying companions to scout, etc, to see as much of the dungeon as humanly possible before they even THINK about stepping through the front door.
This is really helpfull thank u alot (tryna start a family session)
Love your videos man, this was the one lol. Keep it up 🤙
Thanks! :)
Damb this is an old video but still very usefull, Thanks-!
I like this "funny looking guy on the internet". thanks for the vid. helped a lot.
great video !!! help me a lot !!!
We have a running joke among our friends of calling our DMs GOD: Game Operative Designer.
I'm stealing that.
@@maybemaeb I was wondering if anyone would appreciate that! Ha!
I have a pretty good twist. Introduce a NPC that joins their party. That npc ends up being the bad guy or one of his minions.
it would be nice to if you could make a video about dungeon master cheating in D&D
Planning a one shot for coworkers in January. I'm gonna set it 2000 years before their previous one shot, during a war that divided the continent. They're gonna be a squad of soldiers seperated from their main force behind enemy lines. So the objective is to get back to their own side without getting caught.
I want to start a new D&D Group (with me as the DM) but I'm really awkward and I'm not good at public speaking...
How can I get over it and have a good Game Night..?
Try to start playing with your closest friends and tell them before the campaign starts that you may struggle ,maybe it'll become less hard as time passes
Cacaroteno a little while ago, I did just that..! I made up an adventure, and played it with 3 if my friends. It went pretty okay, buuuut my players were the absolute worst... I don't know if it's just bad dm'ing on my part, but they didn't seem to care at all. There was only 1 player that actually played for real, the other ones were just trying to meme everything I said. That is mostly the reason for why I'm looking for a new, actually interested group...
@@vermaledijd592 I saw a video about types of players, and it explained that it doesn't actually matter that much if they aren't that invested in the game, because it's the very first game they've played.
Try play another game and see how they act, maybe they'll take it more seriously, if not, then maybe search another group, or try to get them invested.
Another thing that you can try is just being a player, not a DM , but maybe you don't want that.
Hope something of that helps.
Rip same ;u;
@Yannick It's not always bad DMing that causes player disinterest. Sometimes it's how you treat them. Try being more assertive and make sure to remind them who is the one running the game. After all, everyone came here to participate in this game, so if the players aren't interested, it usually either means your story isn't engaging enough or you just need to be more in charge of the game. After all, you are the Dungeon *Master*
I ran a game with a few friends of mine a while back, and none of them cared about it at all. They made fun of the NPCs, the encounters, and even went so far as to make jokes about it after the two sessions it lasted for ended. And for all of it I just sat there and took it.
However, about a month ago I started running a new game with the same players, and in this one I introduced a controversial element: Low magic. This caused outrage with the players, but I simply told them that's how it is, and if you don't like it, don't come to the session. They all came (even though more than half of them are playing spellcasters in disguise) and we've been having a lot of fun with it. One of my players even told me it was their best D&D experience, and another argued in my favor against another player multiclassing into a spellcaster because we had too many already.
The biggest thing is to get your players to respect you and what you're doing for them. Obviously don't be too assertive to the point of restricting your players' freedom, though. This is everyone's game!
Hope this helps, and good luck in the future!
It's really cool reading the comments section here that a lot of my "shot in the dark" style for GMing in my early days was actually really good for my players. I know that phrase has no meaning without context so, I mean to say I had no freaking clue what I was doing, but I kept throwing situations and monsters that were relevant and logical to the setting, so my players (who were also new to the game) were really into the game I made. And if something really weird came up they assumed it was a huge plot device. Literally they'd be like, "This must be the guy who owns the imp!" And I'd be like, "Hmmm, yes. Seems that way." *Writes down some notes* Or, someone made a comment about how the farm girl just "conveniently" disappears at night once a week, so everyone was convinced she was a werewolf. So, I was like, "Yeah, she's the big bad attacking the delivery drivers. Good job figuring it out." *throws away the random thief npcs I made the night before into the trash and cracks open the monster manual*
So, they definitely helped make the story in the early days of the campaign. I didn't invest in making a whole plot cause originally I thought they'd hate me GMing. So a lot of it was a bunch of tropes or cliches that felt right in the moment.
Eventually all good things come to an end though and my brother mutinied after a few months into the campaign. Basically arguing about everything I threw at them to the point it wasn't fun to DM anymore cause he wanted the game to play for him. And none of the other players really wanted to play a game with a DM who had a brother with "Protag" syndrome. Buuuut it was fun while it lasted.
I'm DMing 5e this weekend with new friends and my husband. So, wish me luck cause I haven't been the DM/GM in a loooong time.
If you like "The Lazy Dungeon master", check out the anuthor's newest book "Return of the Lazy Dungeon master". You don't need to read the original. It is completely independent and more up to date with 5e and new surveys
Thanks! I was a backer and didn't realize it was for sale to the public yet so I wasn't going to mention it. I have the PDF and it's good. I've added a link to the video description.
A coherent short adventure is better than a long contrived adventure
Can confirm, I once ran a three-session goblin horde invasion last stand.
It ended with the raid being cut to an end but the good stuff was the combat and environmental narrative.
Wow! This is a great video and it really helped me to prepare for my campaign, I have a full page of notes! :D
i am using my own way to handle this.
When i make my own story, i build a whole map with all locations that are avilable in the world that they are in.
I do this with inkarnate since its much easier to build. Then i come up with a world story that is the driving point of the player. How they manage things and if they succed or not, is their thing. And because i made a whole world map, the players have an imense amount of option they can do. But at the end they must follow the story. The stories always have multiple endings. 1-5 or more, it depends what the player have done and how, this endigs might even change because of their action. The NPC and the whole world have their own way of thinking, but what they do will change with the playes action. For example if they meet an important person for a kingdom, and they decide to rob him or kill him, that specific kingdom will make their move if they are able to find it out. The players can fight against that force or choose other options, if they are smart they can stop everything without fighting and gain something, or even lose something. it all depends.
Then i come up with a story for each location that is told in that specific place.
NPC like Boss Monsters in a Dungeon have their own backstory, they arent just mosters that happened to be there.
Since i made my own battle system, they are now capible to have such things as "Defense Mode" and "Attack Mode".
For example the first boss that the players must confront in my story, has a defense mode where he takes out his shield and guards himself. His Defense drops and cant attack, but his skill "Soul Eater" activates which sucks out a portion of the players soul everytime he changes into defense mode. it makes a certain amount of damage and ignores physical defense.
In Attack Mode this Knight has a great sword that grants him 1+ range and a magic spell that lets him shoot fire which has a range of 4 and is 3 rows wide.
My stories and worlds are very big, and unique, but that does not mean that there is no end. The map is big, but that doesnt mean that the players must visit those places in order to proceed. There are many ways to proceed in my stories. The characters may have the same driving point which lead to create their group, but they can easily decide to ignore that driving point and do it different. THey do not even have to battle the monsters, and if that happens the story changes once again.
Dude love your channel. Ive learned how to draw maps, tho basic and not as amazing. And have used heroes forge tho havent been able to order. But thankyou for the videos!
I'm a new dm playing with new players so i like to throw in npcs to travel with them, give ideas, and be meat shields for the pcs
Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is a great ( and I mean great) resource...
Would it be possible to mix D&D with something like "Among Us" by swearing in one of the players beforehand to secretly play against the group and subtly sabotage their actions? I think it would be really exciting to have the main antagonist be one of the players and then have the rest of the group figure it out... :D
I'm completely new tp DnD, so this might have adverse effects and implications I'm not yet aware of.
Could you make a video on how to make prophecies/riddles for oracles
In my campaign (not in DnD but it doesnt matter) heroes have to explore the world in which the campaign is happening, to defeat a final boss. Yes, it can get kinda hard, when players want to go into a place, where they shouldn't be, but is more like... immersive or smth, idk how to name it, but i mean, if they are still in one place, they just feel not free, and like that it is more fun when heros are not like "i shouldnt go anywhere, i have to kill all monsters HERE, and do what i
should HERE" or smth, just my opinion (i know im like 3 years too late)
Also as for the twist, in my campaign, there is an owner of a tavern, who secretly is helping one of the villains steal the souls of other people, and just betrays the party, using things they brought him in side quests he can give them.
I don't write NPC descriptions. I just write the name of the actor or character that I have cast in my mind to play that NPC. Then I just describe them from memory.
Im one of the players of a campaign but I'm here because the dm is new and needs ideas. So i wanna give him ideas
thank you!
“Funny looking guy on the internet” i would kiss tiamat to look as handsome as you!
How would you put more importance on travel in a game without bogging it down with constant survival and perception checks? How can I get the epic feel of the journey itself in a lord of the rings kind of way?
I want my first world to be set in the GoblinSlayer universe. My story would be more like a filler episode in the anime where my character goes on a quest with him.
I'd play that one, if you voice him practice your "Sokka" xD
I think the DM should never do random encounters during the actual play session, they should plan each one out before gameplay and be prepared to improvise as gameplay develops. Of course you can still have the players roll dice just to add a sense of randomness. The DM should always know and be in control of what is in front of the players even if they take different paths.
Hahaha. Random encounters. Actually, it never meant to be a table to roll on the fly, but a table the game master uses beforehand to the game. It was an old philosophy of trying to be neutral. I strongly recommend if you plan using a table like this, then do it during preparation. Games like Dungeons and Dragons have a lot of different powers and abilities and tricks. Rolling creatures before the game allows the game master to be prepared about any tactics a creature may have and also allows the gm trying to tie up these creatures in cohesive story.
Everything you said is great, but I'm still thirsty for details. I've got a great post war setting, and I'm collecting backstories from the characters so I can weave their desires, fears and weaknesses into the plot. I'm brainstorming ideas for conflict, and I think my ideas for the opening scenes will work. But I'm just not sure. My brainstorms aren't gelling into anything cohesive. I worry that the game won't be that engaging. If I can't kick it off well, there's no promise anyone will want to come back. It would be helpful if you were more specific. If you had some fun examples. Creative details. Present some characters with depth, and show several ideas of how to weave a story around them. Maybe you can brainstorm better than I can. Don't explain how to do it. Do it. Don't tell me, show me. And then I'll see.