Time-Saving Game Prep Tips for Busy Dungeon Masters
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarte... Whether you're a meticulous planner or master improviser, any Dungeon Master can improve their game -- and reduce their workload -- by finding ways to streamline your game preparation. We discuss our favourite shortcuts, tips, and tricks for spending less time getting ready for game night -- and making better use of the time we spend!
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A great webcomic that has examples of how people play is called Darths and Droids. Ruining the DM's plans and the reckless shenanigans that are completely irrelevant.
Love you guys, would love if you started doing a kind of summary/recap of the foucs points at the end just to solidify everything in my brain ❤
*Spends hours prepping* Players: (20 minutes into the game) "Let's go the other way."
FUCK I HATE THIS, even when they know where the main enemy is they decide to go and start poking tombs and other things that have nothing in.
Use a campaign guide like ghosts of Saltmarsh. It has a storyline but also details for characters who go off the beaten path. Then I used a connected dream the players had to run a one shot where they fought krampus. I found a one shot guide that I very losely followed.
I always ask my party what they intend to do next game. We have an understanding that, if I know what they're doing I can make a better session
Nicholas Stewart i really like the system of deciding what the PCs goal is in the next session at the end of each session. it really helps with prep and lets you know if Players are lost or not engaged
Or you can give them the illusion of choice in which either path leads to the same location.
I realized this after my first Homebrew campaign. I developed a small world with a set narrative and the characters went the other way. It totally threw me off. But I figured this out later.
Just like Batman, a DM can do anything with prep time.
Also like Batman, the DM doesn't often get that prep time.
Thank you for that reference
Just like Batman, if you use the word "Martha" at the table, the DM will smack you over the head with the DM screen and kick you out of the group.
Most of my npcs are reskinned castaways from Gilligan’s Island. No one has noticed yet.
I spent 3 months of sessions working the party through one giant literature pun using the NPCs names as bits of it.
The groans at the end were so worth it.
@@Gauldame what was the pun?
Gauldame I beg of you, tell us the pun. I must know.
WHAT IS THE PUN!!!
@@grizzlyb9984 he mocks us
"Time that could have been spent working on your PhD." Didn't need the explicit call out, guys. I know I should be writing.
The way he said it too and look in his eyes... Damn.
Literally my situation right now. 😂
Same here. I felt a strong kinship in that instant.
My people.
Yeah I felt that
One of my DMs had note for an in-game festival that was just, "Bears??" Partway through the session, she remembered the note and began describing a carnival game called Beat The Bear, Win An Egg. It was literally an NPC at a booth with a caged brown bear and a ridiculous amount of illegally-owned owlbear eggs. If you could keep the bear pinned down for a given amount of time, he would give you an egg. That vague note turned into one of the most memorable encounters ever.
i read “Beans” at first i was so confused my friend
"see what the players do" is my go to gap filler
I'm doing game prep for my Friday night game while watching a video on game prep.
Same tho
Im doing my prep for my game tonight while watching
So am I.
Same but sunday
I'm not doing game prep while watching a video about game prep
Out of context quote: "There's no harm in stealing things." Thanks Kelly! *packs up her thieves tools and runs to the nearest jewelry store.*
@Natasel wrong. The most harm done by stealing isn't to the thief. It would be ludicrous to think that. At most you risk punition, and you're not even guaranteed to have it. The harm is done to the victim. In the case of IP, it's the work of another human being you're pretending to be your own, reaping him/her from gains from it, for your personal greed or ambition.
Note that's where it doesn't matter in DM context. Copy a novel or a movie without a thought for the author, because they didn't make a DnD adventure, they made a novel or a movie. You're not making them win any less money. If anything some of your players could be interested. And making their themes and major story parts more famous (at least among your players), you're basically making them advertising.
My best advice is to accumulate 'Drop Anywhere' Encounters and Mini Adventures you can literally put anywhere in a campaign if you're in a bind for prepping for the main storyline. They take maybe a typewritten page of bullet points to write out, and I did a bunch before I even started my campaign., and adding more as I went along and had time.
For example, in my most recent campaign, I had a 'Ghost Girl' encounter that I sat on for nearly 13 game sessions before I was stuck and ended up using it. The party's cleric (and only him) kept seeing this crying little girl wherever he went, and it turned out she was the ghost of a little girl of his sect who was murdered. His deity allowed him to see her spirit as a test of his mettle/faith. It turns out she was killed by her mother, who had been turned into a vampire. But her mother had just enough control that she had to make a terrible choice, either succumb and feed on her daughter and turn her, or kill her before it happened. She chose the latter. That led the party to the girl's abandoned home, that the mother still mournfully visited, where they investigate, get the story, and end up fighting the mother. That in turn led them to the head vampire that turned her, and a big battle with him and his minions.
Vampires are easily scalable monsters, so it was an encounter I could keep at the ready until at least they turned 10th level or so. I try to have at least 3-4 Drop Anywhere Encounters ready to go at any one time.
Where could a new DM find some of these Drop Anywhere Encounters? Some players want me to start a spin off campaign from our main one.
I really like your ideas here - but I too haven’t been able to find anything called “Drop Anywhere” encounters. Please post a link if a collection somewhere, if if you’re own idea, please post your template and a couple completed examples. Thanks!
@@TriMarkC Sorry, it was from my personal notes, and RUclips won't let me post links anyway. Just look for sources with one-page adventures or brief adventure outlines (there are a bunch of RPG blogs that have those) that you could just add some details to that could be used as drop-in adventures if needed.
As another example, I found a brief description in an old Traveller supplement '76 patrons' of a young couple, each from feuding noble families who, who pay the party a goodly sum of money to sneak them off-planet. It was easy enough to change that to a fantasy setting, and have them pay the party to sneak them out of whatever the local kingdom is. Of course there's the complication that neither family was told the couple was eloping, so both believe their child was kidnapped with the opposite family responsible, and send out agents to intercept and stop the fleeing couple, with the PCs being presumed by both sides to be mercenaries hired to be the kidnappers. To add even more complications, the couple stole a magic artifact from the girl's family that they planned to sell to fund their future nest egg. But of course the artifact is cursed in some way, and if broken/mishandled/removed from its binding circle or some such, it will eventually unleash some eldritch horror just at the worst possible time. So if things work out, the party will have to deal with first one family's troops catching up and confronting them, then the other arriving in the middle of that, and then the unleashed monster for a big climax.
Again, the NPCs involved are easily scalable up and down according to whatever the party's level happens to be. The couple can be 1st level, the pursuing family agents should be just high enough to give the party some problems (like half the party's level to even with them), and the monster should be strong enough (i chose an angry demon at 2x their level) to challenge the party as a whole.
This is exactly what I do. I try to make sure I have a couple of small dungeons I can use to stand in for the cave complex, ancient tomb, ruined keep, bandit encampment, etc that my players discover when they suddenly decide to plunge off the road and into the hills while enroute to the next chapter of the overarching story. Ditto for shops, merchants, etc. When my players encounter one of these, I lock it down in my notes for that campaign in case they return to it. Scavenging and reskinning content from published adventures absolutely rocks as a time saving measure for this.
Nice, good idea, like the story, and a pretty cool segway.
"...Ireland, Germany, and elsewhere"
Me: Wait, wut? Elsweyr?
An impressively lazy name for a nation.
Same
Same
@John Doe yes Sam 100%
I had the same reaction and figured I couldn't be the only one so went through comments before adding my own.
I've solved this problem by simply not prepping at all.
IF I'M NOT READY THEN NEITHER ARE YALL!!!
Honestly same
Then let me know in advance so I never play in those games.
Random Encounter Tables, here we come
@@TheSwamper good thing is there's no shortage of players.
“I did read the module book, front cover to back cover, five times.”
- spoke like a classically trainer actor/theatre person!
The thing where you just think of a character or actor to copy for each NPC is seriously the most valuable DM advice that exists for improving your RP a lot, really quickly.
Even if it isn't a specific character/actor just using a trope or stereotype makes it super easy to make unique and memorable NPCs. Realistically your PCs aren't going to dig that deep into most of the NPCs so a 1 sentence description is all you need 90% of the time. e.g.
goth girl who sympathizes with freaks
rigidly professional judge with a dry sense of humour
lonely ghost looking for love
gentle, welcoming steward with a short-term memory problem
cocksure pilot with something to prove
loyal and proud servant
cold and bitter veteran cynical about the world
timid gardener who just wants to be left alone with his flowers
frustrated youth taking it out on anyone around them
Agilemind I cast suggestion “ I suggest you tell me of your family’s lineage and your own personal life story”
Agilemind - See? It’s example ideas like yours where I really wish YT allowed us to copy text as text!!
Yeah, I really liked that. Just write "Luna Lovegood", or "Cliche Spoiled Prince" and we're off to the races. A lot of valuable information presented here, but this one stood out to me as well.
I was just creating 2 flirting merchants that move across the map. I wrote down “Barry keoghan from banshees of inisherin”
I watch all the RUclips channels I can find on Dungeons and Dragons. These two guys are consistently the best. I know, there are a few "Running the Game" Matt Colville videos which are epic. But, week after week, useful information upon useful information, clarity and efficiency, these guys rule.
As a meticulus planner dm, I find time management is the most important thing.
1st: take a look at your schedule, and whenever you are doing something that doesnt take brain power, think about the upcoming session. Such as. Your commute or in the shower. Then when you get the chance, make a note of it for later.
2nd: be efficient with your prep time. If you have been working for 20min on a monster that the party may never face, is that 20min something you could have spent on something else? This also involves sometimes going with the quick and dirty solution to a mechanical/narrative problem than the lengthy elegant one.
3rd: split up your prep time, and take breaks. Nothing stifles imagination more than obligation. And when you come back to what you had, you have a fresh mind, and fresh perspective.
4th: sometimes you just dont have it in you to prep/run a session. Thats okay. Just let everyone know ahead of time you wont be running that week. Alternatives are movie night or game night.
5th: Nothing is ever wasted! If you spent 20min on that monster but the party circumvented it, save it for later. Maybe reskin it as something else. As a dm, no work is wasted work.
6th, write lots of list
@@zerobones8989 I mean, I do have more, but I figured those were the most pressing
I have pages and pages of lists of things like this. You never know when something comes up that you might need a little note from beforehand.
@@Kename so long as you keep it organized, thats awesome! Cause if you cant find what you need then you effectively dont have it... I learned that the hard way.
Devan Hayes Very true!! I had jotted down the island continent’s King & Queen, the Duke & Duchess of the country the PCs are in, the 7 districts & each of their Lords & some stats, and even a few key towns that are in my campaign. But when they actually got out of the first town... I couldn’t find those notes. So I winged it for a session or two, and then had to edit my actual notes with the new names I had made up.
One of the players keeping our campaign log actually wrote, “DM TBD info” more than a couple times. :-/
The greatest campaigns have started with a single horrible voice
*Relevant and Supportive Comment*
I am the overthinking DM, I am doing A LOT of prep.. from experience I know I can improvise and probably not that badly as I´ve improvised like 2 hours of session and players didn´t even noticed. But I just can´t help it to write a lot of stuff, which is tedious and takes a lot of time. Thank you for this video, this is incredibly useful to me !
I understand, I have to fight the urge to prep so not all of the big houses are having entire family tree written yet, of course including people already dead for decades or hundred years and people on another continent and so on... But I just love when it all makes sense and you can see the struggle of control over villages and cities using also marriage and so on... Just players almost never notice and if they notice they do not care :-D
I don't go to those lengths, but I've found that having the basic layout(s) gives me reasons to go in one direction or the other when I go into "Improv Mode" and I can generally provide more detail with something that's prepared beforehand than something that's not. But being able to improv stuff on the fly, flying by the seat of your pants is always fun too! 😅
I once ran a one shot for level 11 characters and I wanted the monsters to be zombies but knew that would be too easy so I got the stat block from hill giants and just said it's a big zombie now, the stat block from the flail snail removed the specialist stuff from it and said it's multiple zombies stitched together with lots of limbs that eventually fall off of it takes enough damage, the stat block from the war horse and made it another zombie. This made a lot of unique enemies that were easy to make and difficult enough for the party.
Wow that's Amazing. Stealing!
I did this with a werewolf. It was an undead werewolf, who was also a giant. As if a giant got infected with lycanthropy, died, and was resurrected. (There is a faction responsible for creating this monstrosity as well).
One thing I always try and keep in mind is that your players will (9 times out of 10) react in ways I didn’t predict. As a DM, you’ve got to be open to unexpected possibilities
"You find a room with 3 Kobolds. One is wearing a colander, another a jester hat, and the last what looks like a bowl of tin foil."
I roll a Nat 20 on Insight.
"You instinctively know these are the hats forged by gods. The colander looking hat was crafted by Myrkul to filter the spirit as it passes into the next life. The jester hat is made of whips and spurs as a symbol of Loviatar. The bowl hat is made from Bhaal to collect the blood from sacrifices....roll initiative."
Underrated comment
LMAOOO
How the fuck would insight tell you that, that’d be a religion check most likely
One session at my table last 8-9 hours which is often split in to two days of play. We play once every month. I tend to spend double that, if not more, to prepare for each session. This might including drawing out a maps, writing dialog and making sure questions are answered to keep the parties interest while introducing new challenging for them to face. A large part of this campaign is revolved around time travel and their is a lot to wrap your head around for both prepping the game and avoiding confusing the players during play. I try to keep my notes as detailed as possible so I have plenty to go on to avoid these scenarios. Everything is going well so far, but unfortunate downside is some sessions just take a long time to prep. But its not time wasted because my wife and i are using the detailed notes to make a comic book adaptation of the campaign.
Technically... You dont need detailed notes or good memory.
"This wasnt like that"
"Well you guys are messing with time so..."
"Kolbolds, and hats..... What was I on last night?"
Have you ever been high on weed watching lamas with hats and then binging the whole playlist of Basically D&D or something similar? Because that's what happens
I had playable kobold PCs in my campaign, and one was a wizard, so a kobold in a funny hat wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. Another of the PCs (same player, different party -- the guy just liked kobolds) was at the extreme lower limit of kobold size (2 feet exactly) and wore full plate, so became known as "lizard in a tin can". He was also an exceptionally effective fighter, so he usually made people regret calling him that. We also had a 7'6" lizardfolk character in that party, and they ended up married so that they could benefit from a Ceremony spell. As a couple they were every bit as entertaining as you imagine, and after a check of the erotic fantasy chart of interspecies compatibility (not gonna give you a link, sorry) I decided they actually *could* produce living children, if the player wanted them to. (The erotic fantasy chart was used _only_ to determine what races can interbreed, and how difficult it is, and what the results are -- it was far easier than trying to come up with our own system.)
@@mal2ksc They look alike, they smash. Pretty common houserule
I think this was my favorite segment you've offered so far. Even though I have (and do) used almost all of the tips you offer here, simply listening to your discussion got the creativity moving again in the brain. I 100% agree with all of your tips and observations, ESPECIALLY the part about lots of reading. When somebody calls me creative, 99% of the time it is plagiarized from a great author, with a little reskinning. The fact that I read many different genres, and HISTORY, gives me a lot of source material.
Watching Dungeons of Drakkenheim was the best GM prep ever. I have been running a game for my teenagers and its my first exposure to DnD5e (Vampire Masquerade and Cyberpunk player when i was a teen). Bingeing your campaign gave me such fantastic tips on level appropriate encounters (same party size), aswell as ideas for certain NPCs (we have a goblin named GumGum who is kind of there Rat Prince) aswell as i loved the angle of your church of the sacred fire, the overzealous texan faith healers, and have used that flavor for the church in my world.
So in short, thank you to the Dungeon Dudes (Monty and Kelly, Jill Joe and Kyle!) for being such an effective muse to an old cretin just trying to find a way to game with his kids. Cant wait to see how the campaign wraps up!
Build a collection of NPCs to use whenever needed
I spend so much free time just thinking about my campaign a tiny bit, and spend not as much time as I should throwing things together before the game but oh well. Great tips
My favorite part of every video is when they say "And we are the dungeon dudes". Gets me every damn time
Thank you, I DM mainly for my husband but having tips like these really help me to make the game more fun for him.
Prep tips.
1. I assume my players will see through any well thought out plan.
2. Mind map the plot, to have an overarching idea of generally what's supposed to happen.
3. Have two to three scenes to drop in the game, with the following questions: a)who is there b) what do they want c) what's stopping them and finally *d) how does this interact with the pcs.*
4) map out fanctions simply with a-d of 3, with one sentence descriptors.
5) have a few general ideas on how the answers to 4 will interact with the PC's plans.
6) as the players after the game "so, what does xxy want?"
So when invariably when everything goes tits up they don't realize my entire process is basically juggling a plot, how things are bouncing around it and how the players are mucking everyone's finely laid out plans (including 9 out of 10 of their own).
And when my players are like, "so were you planning on having xyz happen all along?"
The answer is "why yes, you're so clever for figuring it out."
Regarding your notion of using actors for NPCs: I, too, use and love this idea - except for once, when it blew up in my face...
The players encountered a crazy old sage, who I described as being voice-acted by Mako (the actor who voiced Aku in Samurai Jack and Uncle Iroh in avatar, and who played Akiro the wizard in Conan the Barbarian). On the up-side, the players instantly loved him, because Mako was awesome. On the down-side, I spent the next six hours having to do a boisterous sandpaper voice with a ton of inflection. By the end, by vocal chords were hamburger; I was hoarse for the next two days.
The character is still talked about - but choose your NPC voices wisely! XD
16:30 I'm a planner that is working like an imrovisor. XD
In other worlds, I'd like to prepare, but I don't have the time or forget about it. And luckily, I have enough improv skills to do it, but boy, how I'm tired. :)
Tips: know WHO your villains are. Motivations, perhaps a quirk or catch phrase, and how they might react to stuff. Practice them away from game.
Then when it’s game time, you’ll find yourself improvising dialogue during the action, and the players will eat it up.
Pinterest, Donjon, One Page Dungeon By Watabou, and Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator are your friends.
Know your players. I say this because your players react to stimuli regardless of who they’re playing. I have one who’s great at puzzles, one who lives for combat, and one who’s bitchin at RP. Create a moment for each to shine and their agency will fill the time.
Leave puzzles open ended sometimes. Or create an item like a torn up map with pieces missing. Players will obsess over this. If your short on time, drop a few of these gems. The players will fill the time. Now you’ve got future hooks.
Know your world with a passing familiarity like you live there. You don’t have to know every town or road, but a good grasp on cultures or relationships will help. That makes improvising travel easy.
I have actually made a ton of home brew monsters and magic items in any spare time I had. They keep my players guessing. It’s not for everyone, but if you find the time, try it.
Surround yourself with what inspires you. For me it’s music. Prepping is always easier in the right environment
Poker face. Get one. If you’ve nothing ready, don’t let them see you sweat. Matt Colville has a saying: “Orcs Attack”. In other words, create a couple of easy to run combats and drop them in whenever.
Unusual events are also good for this. Sighting a ghost ship, having a Magic Mouth garble out a cryptic or nonsensical message, or discovering the site of an ancient battle will keep players occupied for a long time.
If the players take the reigns in one session, build on that. If they want a certain direction, then all you need to do is feed that hunger the next time.
That’s just a few.
Thanks guys for a great topic. I’m a very busy DM who’s prep often happens 30 minutes before my game.
Mike Gould I definitely need to find better puzzles!! Especially interactive one! And examples or links you can offer??
Less prep time means more time with friends and family?? Who do you think I'm prepping for?
Wait, what’s your PhD thesis on?? I feel like I’d read the heck out of it
Agreed. Congrats, Monty! Care to share about what it is on? Would love to know more. Defended mine 2016. Tough haul. With you bro.
I thought he said PHB thesis, as though he was writing a PhD thesis on the PHB. Doctor DM.
In old school, we had dungeons with 6 levels and we rolled for each room on the random encounter table!
I'm definitely a prep time gm. Something about the fluid orchestration appeals to me.
Almost all of my npcs are reskins of anime characters and my players still haven’t picked up on it
same!! one of the gods is literally just a carbon copy of Egil from SAO
I'm definitely a seat-of-her-pants DM. It worked a bit better for VtM, where I once winged a 14 hour session with zero prep. Theatre of mind doesn't work as well for D&D, but it does save a lot of time, and I've found that a grid and minis aren't as important as they first appeared.
Yep, never used miniatures myself. They're just a revenue-making scheme (though they do look cool 😄). But, being able to mark the player's positions (and their opponent's too) so I can see how an engagement develops is critical to the gameplay imo.
14 hour session?!? How?
@@goldengaruda8935 We started one evening, played all through the night, took a break for breakfast, and continued the next day till noon. My GMing style has always been to more or less wing it, and it was a setting I knew very well. Also there were only 3 of us for that session, and we all had the next day off.
One tip that I'm learning is incredibly useful is having a notepad beside your bed. I come up with crazy ideas, npcs and plot hooks when I'm lay in bed waiting to nod off. A quick note in the pad refreshes those thoughts the following morning instead of just being lost to slumber.
Some of my players favourite moments have come from barely awake note scribbles turned into fleshed out encounters.
Thirty plus years of DM'ing and playing experience have given me the ability to prepare a session on the fly.
Initial preparation for a whole new campaign or model may take me anywhere from an hour to week depending on complexity.
I am well known among my players for 'stealing' and rescinding materials.
My overall multiverse, which I have been running since 1981 started on the basis of an old war game I once played called War of the Ring where I lost and the One Ring was not destroyed. That multiverse is still ongoing, and I have fitted every rpg I have ever run into it. (Rolemaster, Pathfinder, all versions of D&D except 4E which doesn't exist for me, but I do reserve the right to 'steal' from it'.)
As much as I am current pissed of with WotC, I still love most of your videos. They can be useful, like this one, for any RPGs.
Keep up the good work.
When you’ve used a lot of these tips and spend most of your time on world building
My favorite way of prepping is a story flowchart. Beginning, Setting, Action, Rising Action, Climax, resolution, and then end it with a cliff hanger if possible to bring the anticipation for next session.
Everyone should read "Steal Like An Artist"
Great book
I bought a book of 100 maps for one-shots.
That and just randomly grabbing figures out of the storage trays is a campaign.
This is how great campaigns are born.
What is the book and where
What is the book and where!!!
WHAT IS THE BOOK AND WHERE!!!
WHAT IS THE BOOK AND WHERE
Man, if I lived on the Enterprise from Star Trek, I could just imagine programming a holo-deck with as many D&D/D20 books as possible and playing a campaign inside. Id even bring food and have the holodeck serve it to me through taverns and trail rations (cool stuff like candy bars and sub sandwiches, chips and soda LOL). When you take enough damage to die then the deck goes dark and resets. Id def get holo-addiction LOL
Thanks for this, I have been both a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and a let's-just-wing-it-and-see-what-happens DM. I think Kelly's point of reading thru the module is a good one. When I was starting as a DM I wasn't thorough, just feeling since it was written already I could wing it. Not True! Slowly incorporating your ideas into my game and this one makes my life easier when I realize it's Sat morning and my group will be here in 2 hours.
Game Prep is what I am doing at the moment. I have my setting decided and that's all I have to work with XD
I'm really glad I discovered your channel. After 20 years away from the game and coming back straight into the DM's role, you guys have gotten me up to speed and confident in just a couple of days.
I wish I could play in one of your campaigns, I bet it's a blast.
Hey, you guys are the shit. Me and 4 friends are doing our first ever "session zero" this sunday after being curious about this game for a few years. I write as a hobby so I was elected the DM. I've been watching a lot of your stuff over the last couple weeks and its made this very large and intimating role seem very easy to pick up. Thanks a lot! Hopefully I'll be watching your player character videos in the near future.
All but one or two of my very best encounters and most memorable moments have been completely improvised. I plan down to the tiniest degree for every session but players will always go off script or do something that gives an opportunity to do something else. The improvised parts usually mean greater interactivity between me and the players, they respond better to them and it makes it all feel more alive.
That being said I'm definitely stealing the 5 room dungeon idea. When making encounters it's all too easy to slip and miss a fully enriched activity and turn it into a hack and slash which bogs it down and usually requires way more planning than including a few challenges.
The energy Kelly brought this episode made for the best intro yet
i use the "fantasy world creator" i kickstarter, and use Deck of many Dungeons, for more help :)
I had 20 minutes to prep. Now I’ve watched this video and I have 2.
You know what's crazy? I learned how to map from Dyson Logos; we live in the same city and played Labyrinth Lord with him. While I haven't updated in quite some time, you can find some of my maps at the Dais & Column.
Dungeon Dudes, thank you! I am a long time player but brand new DM. I am preparing to start my first campaign with some really close friends. I am finding your videos AMAZINGLY useful. I have subscribed and will be checking in often!!
You guys are amazing! I’ve been binging your videos for the last few weeks and have learned so much. I’m a DM and I always feel overwhelmed. Watching your class videos and DMing guides has helped me better understand what classes can and can’t do and how to be a better DM. Thank you so much for making these!
a lot of these tips are really good, and I am one to say that Improv is a very good skill to have as a DM. I've made memorable characters with a bit of improv and bouncing off another player. Simply listen to your players and you can find something interesting..
I had one NPC, A tailor. Tailor Jack. He was a fairly young guy, in a dusty, old-looking Tailor shop and was grumpy. That's ALL I had planned for the NPC. One player, took a huge interest in the NPC. He was playing a shapeshifter Gunslinger type character (3.5 was weird), but he was interested in why this young guy was doing tailoring, and was upset. So I decided on the spot, he was grumpy because he doesn't want to be a tailor, well why is he a tailor? His mom is sick and needs money. He wants to be an Adventurer and go explore the world, but is stuck having to work as a tailor, in his mother's shop, and saving up for the medicine. The player was so invested in this NPC, that the player actually donated some of his money to Jack so he can get the medicine.
Jack, now feeling like he has a chance to explore, started to work in earnest to prep tough travel clothes. The player, then offered to show him a gun, how it works, how to maintain it, and how to operate it--essentially making Jack able to become a gunner as well. When this player was re-introduced several levels later, Tailor Jack had made a gun or two of his own, but I left one detail in--On his chest holster, was a familiar sight--a small little pistol, Jack's first pistol. Worn, small modifications done to it, but mostly the exact same gun that was given to him. The player, was over-the-moon with how he had a rival that he created.
i am a planner with details, at the moment i am developing a homebrew campaign world, to minimize the whole prepairing since i don´t want to make maps for all hamlets and villages or even side quest dungeons individually i create five different maps of each possible terrain, caverns tombs wildernes even city areas and castles/keeps and about 2 to 3 maps for inns/taverns and shops.
so whenever i create a quest not involving the main quest i pull out one of the 5 random terrain maps, say that´s the thing for the quest and make notes for the quest encounters in that quest, so the quest might be flowergirl asks the party to get her grandfathers treasure from a cave (it is a trap the village has to sacrifice people to a monster and came up with the idea to lure adventurerers there either they get eaten or they kill the monster so win win for the village) but prepping wise i know i have to put cavern map #4 on the table and pull out the monsters to use and i am ready to run this thing within less than 5 minutes
needles to say the main campaign is more individual in the sense of battle maps so this takes more time, for the one time use of those maps,
when creating that world i would start with the main quest and where the party starts, and then put the places of the evil guys on the world map, map those out till the BBEG place is done and then fill the rest of the world with hamlets vilages cities and so on assigning to each of them a random map, then put problems there choosing the appropriate random battlemap assigning it to the problem.
the point of it is, by doing it this way the world is filled fast and if the party is doing these things, i don´t have to prepare it for hours at the time the session is about to start, i can literally just pull out everything on the fly.
i should mention i don´t use 3d printed tiles, just black and white old school maps ;)
I feel like I can mass generate NPCs with the first generation’s personalities dictating the class -> wealth -> location, the wealth and location influences the next generation’s personalities, which influences wealth class and all over again, run the program through a few hundred iterations on computer, and you should have all the cities populated.
Of course, this is because different locations have different advantages in different fields, attracting different people, and different races have different probability distribution of different personalities.
Edit : every one is about 6 pairs of mutual acquaintances away from each other’s social networks.
I've been DMing a very long time and have done it both ways. I'm a good improviser but some prep work always helps. At first I had everything planned out to a tee and then the party decided to go in a totally different direction, blowing all my prep work out the window. I have developed a style that helps in any situation, some prep work needed. But I won't go into all that now, if you want to have a run down just reply. Long story...I guess this is the long, do what works and that makes your players happy and makes you happy. Make one of them DM for awhile so you don't get burned out.
Thanks, guys! I love the idea of casting your NPCs. I've never heard that before but I'm very excited to use it
A lot of these are like "Duh." But like I didnt think of them, I just needed someone to say them first.
Like "You don't need to build everything yourself, use somr small things like maps from a module." Thats obvious but I haven't used it yet
I love Kelly's nods to himself and Monty in reference to improvised and meticulous DM at around 1:14 lmao!!!
OH AND THE POINTS TOO AHAHA
Any urban maps can easily be repurposed by turning them 90°. Draw once, encounter twice.
My prep usually happens when I plan a chapter, which takes my current group 4-6 weeks to complete. For example:
The Gulthias Tree-
I had a Ranger prowling a swamp after being run out of town. He preyed on women exclusively and dumped their bodies in a pit a ways away from the road. Until he picked the wrong target: A Paladin investigating the disappearances. They ended up killing eachother, her greatsword lodged into his chest, pinning him to a massive tree.
Years later his hateful negative aura caused him to become infused into the tree. His victims rose as Vine Blights, bringing women from the road to his tree and re-enacting their own deaths.
I used the sample random encounter table from the DM's Guide, 1d12+1d8, with the d12 as mostly combat and the d8 as mostly non-combat encounters so I could mix things up, then rolled on it until the total number generated by the rolls was 150, then had them spot the tree in the distance.
Dryads from the area had become corrupted by his tree, and were leading his Blights like an army. The table had things like finding a wounded Dryad, encountering an enraged Owlbear, encountering a Dire Wolf and 1d4+2 Wolves fleeing the area, encountering 2d4+4 Sprites, who were fighting eachother, as half of them had been corrupted, and encountering a small group of humans fleeing a town far to the south due to some disappearances(a plot hook for the next chapter). There was also a Ranger who would join the party under some circumstances, but I ended up killing him off instead due to a new player joining and playing a Ranger.(NEVER RECOMMEND YOUR PLAYER'S RANGER BECOME A GLOOMSTALKER)
Overall I improv the in-between and try to take a few queues from the players to make the game interesting for everyone.
One underhanded trick I was particularly proud of in this game was my Zombie Trapdoor Spiders. Use the Wolf Spider from the Monster Manual, DC 12 to spot their hiding place, Undead Fortitude and +10 HP since Zombies seem to have a few more than the base creature. Their door opens up any time a creature passes within 5' of it, they get to attempt a grapple with advantage if they weren't spotted, and pull the victim back into their hole to kill them. Unfortunately I only made 3 and my players didn't even approach that section of the map due to a lot of ranged combat I hadn't accounted for.
I'm the opposite of Kelly. I usually need significantly less prep time for key story points and activities. 75% of my prep time goes to ad hoc things my players *might* do. Even if my players don't use them, I still have them prepared and might find a way to recycle some of it if possible.
Donjon random map generator. Gives you a map and descriptions of each room with suggested encounters
Screw it...Here goes.
So I DM every Friday for a group of friends (7 People.)
I got loooooads planned out...Sound track...D&D themed background on Tv that's up on the wall...Lighting...Minis...(That I've painted poorly) And I PLAN...On my lunch breaks...Before I go to bed...I practice voices for NPC's in the car...Shower...At work.
But LAST Friday...........Something happened.....The players took a turn I wasn't expecting........AND DIDN'T PLAN FOR....So as I was setting up an encounter...And answering questions AND setting the scene...I dropped my tablet....It knocked over my wife's glass of wine...It spilled all over the table...All over the floor....And............I felt...Awful...I cleaned up....Went to the bathroom...Came down and asked everyone to leave...I simply said "Sorry guys...I'm not feeling it...I can't tonight." They were confused as I've done this for nearly 2 years almost EVERY Friday...But they simply agreed, asked if I was ok...To which I said yes...But...Truth is...I wasn't...When they all left I put everything away and I was head in hands in the kitchen...My wife came in with a confused look and asked "Are you alright?" And I broke down.
Honestly...I actually cried...And for the first time in my life...I had an anxiety attack.
D&D is fun...It brings my friends who I love to my house every week where we can all have fun...But now we do D&D every OTHER Friday...Gives me more time to plan...And gives me time to take a break....And that's the advice I give you anyone reading this.
Have fun.
But take care.
❤
I've seen many DMs trying to hide their inspirations to sound somehow new, creative and unique
I have a completely different approach, since I make it clear what my inspirations are. I talk about the books, myths and movies I get my general ideas from, so they can consume them and know something new, if they didn't know already
I literally just put my favorite characters from anime and other videogames in and use their voices and personalities for my important npcs, in my group it only ever helps the player's relate and they find it endearing.
I have found my players have a lot more fun when i wing-it. To me it becomes more fluid when i do that. However, certian sessions i do more prep an example is im running tomb of annihilation and the tomb of the 9 gods takes a little more prep time
In my homebrew campaign, my players went off the beaten path several time and here's what they encountered thus far.
Mining town that had apparently dug into a Vampire's Lair.
Illusionary Forest that had a Haunted Mansion.
Pirates raiding a fishing village.
Tribal Warfare between Druid Clans.
And they're currently stuck in an underground City that was apparently built by Dwarves but is currently playing host to Drow for reasons they've yet to uncover.
I used to be a meticulous planner. Until I ran a one-shot and the party decided to start a fight in the tavern and completely ignore the plot hooks. So I ended up having to improvise basically the entire session and, you know what? Probably the best session I've ever run.
I have several pages of statted out monsters, animals, such as wolves or giant crocs, or opponents, like orcs, hobgoblins,, or ogres, that are ready to just drop as a wandering encounter. I can use them to populate a quick improvised dungeon on the fly. Cuts down on prep time immensely when you have monsters & foes already statted out & ready to just drop into a dungeon or encounter at a moment's notice.
My first D and D campaign as a GM, starts as cross between Suicide Squad and The Dirty Dozen.
@Noah Perez Thanks I hope so
What I like to do is make maps and tokens on Roll20. I have two accounts, one for GMing and one for players. This way, I have a friend bring a laptop, I bring mine and project all the maps on Roll20. This saves me so much time prepping and makes the game move much faster!
Oh I get it. This video is just for me! Thanks, dudes! I was literally just thinking about how I haven't had much time to prep for my next session, and I get a notification. Lol
I make a continuous list of NPCs out of PC character ideas that I will never get to play because I'm the concept given form of a Forever DM.
Also, the first 3 to 5 sessions define a lot about the world that I built. I had campaigns that switched, without the players knowing, from one world to the other because it would fit their playstyle better.
World of Warcraft dungeons work great, it is easy to get the map, there is art / screen shots around for the, used 1/2 the wailing caverns, for a short one shot.
wasn't DnD, another RPG, i used the plot, and monster from a TV show, 10 years later they are still talking about it.
6:52 you went to elsweyr!?!
Imagine using some of the characters from SCHITT’$ CREEK (especially Alexis Rose) in a D&D Campaign! 😂
If you have a monster idea that doesn’t exist in a publication, Re-skinning an existing monster is golden. Pick a monster along the same lines for the basic stats and challenge level, change a few elements or damage types.
For example, I needed some inanimate beats statue guardians, so I grabbed the winter wolf, changed the breath to poison, gave them some immunities to poison, petrified etc. instead of cold, and made them living metallic lion guardians for an abandoned temple.
You can make creative monsters that experienced players won’t already know from past experience that fit your story with minimal work.
Kobold fight club is a site I use because you can instantly adjust player levels, challenge rating and types of monsters, and make encounters of all sorts and difficulties, not to mention they have a random challenge button, and cites where to find the monsters.
I always give my npc’s a celebrity to give my players a visual reference. I’m so glad you mentioned that.
You know I feel like the "fusion speak" line is getting better with every video 😂
Most of these tips refer to gaming at a table, but when you play online, your players usually expect a battlemap or some nice background to look at, and perhaps some music too. That takes way longer to prepare in my experience.
I use a blend of both improv and planning. I essentially just plan the skeleton of the nights encounter (maps, maybe npcs, treasure, story highlights) and then just improv from there. Descriptions, names, dialogue, monsters or number of monsters, and where the players go is pretty much all made up on the spot. I like to let my players pretty much run things outside the bare bones.
Most of my prep goes into painting/readying miniatures, building 3D maps, and any dm crafting that I may want to do for my players enjoyment. I only do this for big encounters but it makes the nights way more fun for me and my players.
Blend improv and prep because you never know what random direction your players are gonna go, what they’ll spend their time on, or what they’ll choose the zero in on that has nothing to do with the story.
*Procrastinating and not working on thesis by watching Dungeon Dudes*
....OK. You caught me.
Lol their tips for saving time are read a book 5 times and write dialogues. Lol that won’t help, just learn to improvise effectively
stealing is a pretty solid plan honestly. my players are coming up to the temple of a blood-themed demigod to defeat the bbeg, and at the door is a lock where they have to drain an enormous amount of blood, putting one member of the party at a disadvantage... i stole the idea from the penumbra podcast.
I spent a weekend working on encounters and dungeons by reskinning pre written encounters, and now I have the next couple weeks prepped
Totally agree! I always print a photo and think of role an actor played in a movie for my npc's.
I've always been convinced that you guys had Canadian accents, but now with the Roots shirt I have no doubt.
Speaking of stealing things, I recreated the movie Alien for an evening of D&D. I still don't know how I pulled it off. My players did a real good job of role-playing too.
Jake Snyder very nice
Hey Dudes! Love the channel, been binge watching it and i have a suggestion..... Can you put time stamps in your video regarding certain topics? In this case, you had several tips with a few idea i had never heard of. It would be fantastic to be able to jump to a certain part for reference later on. Another youtuber Rhyker does it, and works like a charm. Anyway, keep it up! Its growing the community and helping everyone involved. You rock!
"Avoid new NPC's and monsters"
This is the biggest consumption of my time in prepping for sessions. I make NPCs from scratch, using the same rules the players do for creating characters. My players have said they prefer that method, as it makes them feel like they're more or less on the same playing field as the world, despite having different levels and gear.
I'm a first time DM with almost no actual play time. I had one day with the W:DH book before our session 0/1. I thought a module would keep my prep down to a minimum for a weekly game. But I've found myself rewriting every interactive & NPC part to help memorize and highlight. I have been very anxious about not knowing the lore of this bar or that shopkeep and Waterdeep in general and as helpful as the r/waterdeepdragonheist has been it's also overwhelming as I try to make the story better and more intricate for my players.
That said, you two addressing almost all of my constant worries during prep have really made me much calmer after watching this. I love D&D, have listened to so many actual plays for years, and I love improv from great DMs like yourselves, but my actual experience in all of those has felt crippling. I have very grateful and patient players and now I have the ability and room to experiment and learn on the go. Thank you for this and all your videos, your friendly dispositions and encouragement from afar.
We are going into our 4th session and Ch 2 has a lot of room for improv. I'm just going to try it and learn. Thank you thank you thank you for this.
I honestly mostly come up with our adventures on the spot. I come up with the idea of what I want to do a day or two in advance, go through it in my head over and over, and then I write down the stats if the monsters or enemies they run into. That's it. I write down character names too. I don't even write down when and how they'll be attacked, nor do I write down lore tidbits. If I come up with a puzzle its usually on the spot, if not I'll make something really quick and throw it in. So far my campaign (on my first) is going amazingly. My players love it and I do too.
I'm a dm. I'm too busy preparing to watch a 18 minute video to help me be prepared faster.
Best DM I ever had ran his stuff with zero prep and made his stuff up as he went along.