Almost at the end here. Been waiting for the brennan interrupting/talking too much stuff everyone spouted off in the comments. Not feeling it. Not hearing it. Not seeing it. Does he talk a lot? Sure. He's excited and knows wtf he's talking about. Those are things that make a good host IMO. He lets jasmine speak. She just gets to the point quicker than he does. [Edit: Lol he did just say he's rambling and lost it tho so hey whateva. Lol] \_😂_/ Just saying its not like jasmine was trying to speak and he was too busy going off to notice/care. Entertaining episode. Got 15 min left and wish there was more
I think it comes off more as a discussion than an interview. Which is absolutely fine for me! It's great hearing two people who are so passionate talk about their interests. But for people expecting an interview it might feel like Brennan is hogging too much of the spotlight. But Jasmine seems to be enjoying it as much as he does, so who are we to tell them how to talk to each other?
Brennan, please invite Jasmine back as a player! I have so many things I want to see after watching this 1.Brennan running a sci fi campaign 2. Jasmine running a sci fi campaign ( I totally forgot she writes for mothership, and now I need to watch it ) 3. Jasmine running or playing in warhammer 40k ( wrath & glory, please hire Jasmine to run and stream warhammer games! ) 4. Jasmine playing an edgelord While I agree that the Q&A section and much of the interview felt one sided, it was still delightful, and I particular enjoyed their conversation about the nuances and differences between fantasy and sci fi.
The first 15 minutes of episode 7 of Fantasy High with Bill Seacaster were such a master class in organically teaching your new players to play to their and their party member’s strengths. How do you fit learning moments into RP without it feeling forced and preachy?
The answer is surprisingly simple. Make it diegetically justified. Things only ever feel forced when there's a diegetic contradiction, because when you think about it, *everything* is forced on some level. Bill Seacaster is someone who it makes sense would both want to and be able to teach the party that, but if you don't have such a character, set up a scenario where the party is essentially shadowing a more experienced party of similar composition for a combat or two (before that party gets in over their heads and it's up to the PCs to rescue them, perhaps?)
Fun story. Me and my friends played the Wild Beyond the Witchlight. We went to the Snail Races at the Witchlight Carnival. One of our players stole a snail. We had a giant snail as our companion for the entire fucking campaign. XD
The reason I don't like jasmine is because she is a pushover DM who lets her players walk all over her. I don't think Brennen did anything wrong. She just doesn't know how to speak up.
@@darthvein3 i think she just does what she thinks would be most fun for the players. She lets them set the pace. Some people are go go go and she def. can DM a fast-paced game, others are more interested in roleplaying and being silly and she lets them do that.
Brennan says he’s intimidated to run a sci-fi/space game. Fast forward to a few months ago when he was a rotating DM for Spelljammer 😊😊 And did a bang-up job of it, I must say.
It's not just incompetent NPCs to put time on the clock, there is also the inverse. If you have more advanced players and a rich world they will continue to want to follow every sidequest and random thread if they feel like there are not people who can take care of the (now) lower level stuff. I have found I need to populate the world with competent guards or NPCs or even new low level adventurers who can take care of that goblin threat to the old town while your players go and do the main side stories. Otherwise they may never leave an area... and end up setting up wanting to spend their time running the coffee shop they set up... (actual example).
Wait, hold on, that sounds awesome! They were having so much fun in that part of the setting that they wanted to stay there and run a coffee shop! That's a frikin success story my dude! It sounds to me like either your players are the type that get super-engaged with the setting, or you build really engaging settings. So why would you want to force them down a different path? It sounds to me like the players were having a great time with your game and enjoyed the idea of running that coffee shop. So why force them to leave when they're clearly having a great time there? That sounds like rail-roading. If the players are having fun, there's nothing to fix; that's literally the point of the game. Don't be afraid to throw out your plans if the players start heading down a different path. If they don't want to leave a given part of the setting, then clearly they're enjoying themselves there, so set the entire game there, until they get bored and want to leave. There's no need to cling to a "main story" or "main side stories" (not sure what those are supposed to be actually), just let go of that stuff and go with the flow. The biggest mistakes I've made as a GM were pretty much all related to me failing to recognize that my players were already enjoying the game, and trying to steer them in the "right" direction so they could have the "proper" kind of fun.
@@RudeAlert It was a oneoff comment "your missing alchemist friend was experimenting with a new plant... he calls it, coffee, and when he was arrested he left you a barrel." And they have made it their mission to save him, and set up coffee franchises as they go. Save a group of druids from the evil empire and escort them to a new safe country? Franchise. Free a bound titan of night and her cursed city of duergar from an evil wizard? Coffee cart. Problem was with the coffee cart. They started to feel a little trapped in a business sim. One of them commented that the problem was they kind of felt they couldn't delegate, and they cared a lot about the outcomes with the city. Giving them a competent cart manager NPC to take over the franchise meant they could move forward with their story.
Best way I have come up with, so far, to interweave scifi and fantasy is by planning the last campaign's last session's epilogue will end with the literal beginning of the first campaign's first session's prologue. Completely explaining how and why the [redacted] and when and where and how and why they showed up and the [redacted]; finally completing the campaign loop. Oh also spelljammer. Edit: So yeah, timey-whymey. And Circles. Because we _all_ know life is just a circle; then once Nothing matters once more. Like a circle...
Brennan I'm an hour in and it's great, but... and I mean this in the most gentle way possible... you gotta let your guests answer the questions first. This was easily 60m of Brennan and 20m of "yeah" from your guest who can't get a word in edgewise.
This right here. I like his views a ton, but I don't think that the place for him to expound on them in length is in an interview with someone else. If he wants to do that he can always make his own Running the Game like series
This is dimension 20's vod with guests, i think brennan is a great host, i dont think at any point in this jasmine felt overshadowed, if you want to hear more from the guest, go do that. The purpose of these is also to cross pollinate fans of d20 to other shows/content and vice versa so literally congrats on it working. Go check her cool shit out. XD
@@ivoryrudolph9677 Dude, she was literally just nodding and saying yeah for huge swaths of the interview. That is bad interview etiquette. You can see that Brennan sees that to be true because those following this he has dialed back his own speaking quite a bit.
Criticism isn't trolling. I greatly enjoy the show, but this had something which could specifically change and he could get more value (for himself and us) out of his interviews. It is constructive because I want him to do better and more. As opposed to what you want, which is for me to shut up.
just be carefull with incompetent npcs. if theyre too incompetent, the players may decide to bring them along for everything. and im not just talking about Galear. the first npc i ever made was a necromancer who was supposed to be in there for just the beginning scene, so i made him easy enough to beat. instead of killing him, they decided to take him with them for the rest of the game. which i did NOT anticipate, but it made for some funny moments
Excellent point! I stopped rolling for my NPCs, to narrating success/failure, and for important stuff, shifted them to situational roles where they could use the help action to provide advantage to PC checks.
I kinda wonder if maybe Brennan's hogging the spotlight in this one because he and his guest are not in the same room? Like, maybe he's trying to fill what feels like dead air to him because there's no one else with him in the room? Brennan, if you ever read this, here's a simple trick: when asking or reading a question, always let the guest give their answer first, THEN add your comments and perspective afterwards. You can also adjust your answer based on the guest's answer, and perhaps come up with further questions and comments based on what they said. Still, good talk anyways.
I do love Brennan and hearing his stories, you can really tell he is just excited to share his views and experiences. I know it is coming from a place of love, but the virtual episodes of AA have been a little weighted to Brennan speaking. Great advice on how to maybe handle that in future episodes.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like the conversation was rather one-sided. I haven't watched that many of these interview videos yet, but the few that I've watched all seemed to have the same issue to some degree. And I'm not saying that Brennan doesn't have good things to say, but I can't help but feel a little bit bad for the guests when they're kind of stuck in one-word response mode.
33:40 Can we talk about this dichotomy either the NPC is a dick or incompetent? Its difficult as a DM because I hear that form players a lot "so and so NPC is a dick" but in my mind I'm trying to provide a challenge for players but the end result I think feels one dimensional to them and not satisfying. IDK how to remedy that
I disagree with some of the assessments of sci-fi vs fantasy. For me sci-fi is more limiting. When world building or story writing, I try to have some logic behind why things occur in my worlds. Sci-fi just requires so much more precision before it makes any sense. Also, thinking that fantasy somehow limits you doesn't make sense. I've sent my players to different planes of existence and pocket dimensions. How is that not a broad scope? Realistically, though, the differences are just cosmetic. I just like the fantasy vibe better.
Brennan is the wisest and funnest DM I have found. He has so much knowledge and experience and makes everyone in the room visibly happier. What a great guy. Also, HOT TAKE: Brennan is better than Matt Mercer
Brennan and Matt are artists - I agree that I like Brennan's work better, but art is subjective. Sorry for being semantic with a person that I basically agree with.
A lot of people are upset at Brennen for talking to much. But I think he did just fine. The problem is that Jasmine is a pushover DM who lets her players walk all over her. So I think Brennen did the right thing by filling in the gaps when your guest can't speak up. And when she does speak she talks in circles and says the same thing over and over. I have watched many episodes of silver and steel, the game she runs, and it just gets worse and worse as time goes on. No story line, dull, boring, and some very annoying NPCs. literally 0 knowledge of monsters and creatures and how they live/function in the world. Terrible at describing rooms and scenery. She is a fine player. Just not a good DM.
Brennan: "I think there's a way to avoid the TPK and still have your players experience the loss"
Me: *flashback to Arthur Aguefort's murder-suicide*
The conversation about 'problem players' and conflict resolution is REALLY important for DMs. A very important skill.
They look like they are on opposite sides of the same room.
Great guest. Super smart and insightful
Heading to binge Jasmine's content, this sounds so cool !
"... having questions about Grendel. And Grendel's mother."
Welp, there it is. I'm in love.
"Grendel" by John Gardner covers exactly this, and is an interesting read. Check it out!
"The vulture is set dressing." Sure, Brennan, sure. /s
Almost at the end here. Been waiting for the brennan interrupting/talking too much stuff everyone spouted off in the comments. Not feeling it. Not hearing it. Not seeing it. Does he talk a lot? Sure. He's excited and knows wtf he's talking about. Those are things that make a good host IMO. He lets jasmine speak. She just gets to the point quicker than he does.
[Edit: Lol he did just say he's rambling and lost it tho so hey whateva. Lol]
\_😂_/
Just saying its not like jasmine was trying to speak and he was too busy going off to notice/care.
Entertaining episode. Got 15 min left and wish there was more
I think it comes off more as a discussion than an interview. Which is absolutely fine for me! It's great hearing two people who are so passionate talk about their interests. But for people expecting an interview it might feel like Brennan is hogging too much of the spotlight. But Jasmine seems to be enjoying it as much as he does, so who are we to tell them how to talk to each other?
AMAZING that Brennan said he was SO SCARED to DM a sci-fi game considering the COSMIC AWESOMENESS that became Starstruck 2 years later. LOVE IT XD
"Everyone is incompetent" made any time spent listening to this worthwhile.
The incompotence bit and the conflict resolution were the best piece of advice I've taken from this episode :D And the guest was great ^_^
I came for Beryl the Brave and got an entirely awesome experience :) much love and lots of hugs
Well done dropping the greenscreen. Nice nerd room, Brennan.
@Rebecca Mason Through technology, we can turn this green blanket into a window!
I love the part on incompetent NPCs. She's a genius! Going to start putting some in when I need a quick stall.
Brennan, please invite Jasmine back as a player!
I have so many things I want to see after watching this
1.Brennan running a sci fi campaign
2. Jasmine running a sci fi campaign ( I totally forgot she writes for mothership, and now I need to watch it )
3. Jasmine running or playing in warhammer 40k ( wrath & glory, please hire Jasmine to run and stream warhammer games! )
4. Jasmine playing an edgelord
While I agree that the Q&A section and much of the interview felt one sided, it was still delightful, and I particular enjoyed their conversation about the nuances and differences between fantasy and sci fi.
Commenting from the future to let you know how uncannily accurate your predictions/wishes were
The first 15 minutes of episode 7 of Fantasy High with Bill Seacaster were such a master class in organically teaching your new players to play to their and their party member’s strengths. How do you fit learning moments into RP without it feeling forced and preachy?
The answer is surprisingly simple. Make it diegetically justified. Things only ever feel forced when there's a diegetic contradiction, because when you think about it, *everything* is forced on some level. Bill Seacaster is someone who it makes sense would both want to and be able to teach the party that, but if you don't have such a character, set up a scenario where the party is essentially shadowing a more experienced party of similar composition for a combat or two (before that party gets in over their heads and it's up to the PCs to rescue them, perhaps?)
Really, the thing to worry about isn't being preachy and forced, it's being patronizing.
Fun story.
Me and my friends played the Wild Beyond the Witchlight.
We went to the Snail Races at the Witchlight Carnival.
One of our players stole a snail.
We had a giant snail as our companion for the entire fucking campaign. XD
Love Brennan but wished he let Jasmine talk more. Great interview all around tho
I agree, while he always likes to talk, this one he was quite chatty...
Still all the love though!
The reason I don't like jasmine is because she is a pushover DM who lets her players walk all over her. I don't think Brennen did anything wrong. She just doesn't know how to speak up.
I agree. He kinda rambled a lot on this episode.
@@darthvein3 i think she just does what she thinks would be most fun for the players. She lets them set the pace. Some people are go go go and she def. can DM a fast-paced game, others are more interested in roleplaying and being silly and she lets them do that.
i love how serious this is. It has a pod cast cbc radio vibe . I really like the way this is done.
Brennan says he’s intimidated to run a sci-fi/space game. Fast forward to a few months ago when he was a rotating DM for Spelljammer 😊😊 And did a bang-up job of it, I must say.
That TPK into the afterlife thing is fucking gold omg 😲
It's not just incompetent NPCs to put time on the clock, there is also the inverse. If you have more advanced players and a rich world they will continue to want to follow every sidequest and random thread if they feel like there are not people who can take care of the (now) lower level stuff. I have found I need to populate the world with competent guards or NPCs or even new low level adventurers who can take care of that goblin threat to the old town while your players go and do the main side stories. Otherwise they may never leave an area... and end up setting up wanting to spend their time running the coffee shop they set up... (actual example).
Wait, hold on, that sounds awesome! They were having so much fun in that part of the setting that they wanted to stay there and run a coffee shop! That's a frikin success story my dude!
It sounds to me like either your players are the type that get super-engaged with the setting, or you build really engaging settings. So why would you want to force them down a different path? It sounds to me like the players were having a great time with your game and enjoyed the idea of running that coffee shop. So why force them to leave when they're clearly having a great time there? That sounds like rail-roading.
If the players are having fun, there's nothing to fix; that's literally the point of the game. Don't be afraid to throw out your plans if the players start heading down a different path. If they don't want to leave a given part of the setting, then clearly they're enjoying themselves there, so set the entire game there, until they get bored and want to leave. There's no need to cling to a "main story" or "main side stories" (not sure what those are supposed to be actually), just let go of that stuff and go with the flow.
The biggest mistakes I've made as a GM were pretty much all related to me failing to recognize that my players were already enjoying the game, and trying to steer them in the "right" direction so they could have the "proper" kind of fun.
@@RudeAlert It was a oneoff comment "your missing alchemist friend was experimenting with a new plant... he calls it, coffee, and when he was arrested he left you a barrel." And they have made it their mission to save him, and set up coffee franchises as they go. Save a group of druids from the evil empire and escort them to a new safe country? Franchise. Free a bound titan of night and her cursed city of duergar from an evil wizard? Coffee cart.
Problem was with the coffee cart. They started to feel a little trapped in a business sim. One of them commented that the problem was they kind of felt they couldn't delegate, and they cared a lot about the outcomes with the city. Giving them a competent cart manager NPC to take over the franchise meant they could move forward with their story.
@@AndrewOplinger Ah, I see. It's still cool that they wanted to start their fantasy version of Starbucks though lol
I love the term "Bitland"
Best way I have come up with, so far, to interweave scifi and fantasy is by planning the last campaign's last session's epilogue will end with the literal beginning of the first campaign's first session's prologue. Completely explaining how and why the [redacted] and when and where and how and why they showed up and the [redacted]; finally completing the campaign loop. Oh also spelljammer.
Edit: So yeah, timey-whymey. And Circles. Because we _all_ know life is just a circle; then once Nothing matters once more. Like a circle...
Great convo, really insightful!
And here he is DMing for Legends of the Multiverse and other sci-fi games! Goal achieved.
Brennan I'm an hour in and it's great, but... and I mean this in the most gentle way possible... you gotta let your guests answer the questions first. This was easily 60m of Brennan and 20m of "yeah" from your guest who can't get a word in edgewise.
This right here. I like his views a ton, but I don't think that the place for him to expound on them in length is in an interview with someone else. If he wants to do that he can always make his own Running the Game like series
This is dimension 20's vod with guests, i think brennan is a great host, i dont think at any point in this jasmine felt overshadowed, if you want to hear more from the guest, go do that. The purpose of these is also to cross pollinate fans of d20 to other shows/content and vice versa so literally congrats on it working. Go check her cool shit out. XD
@@ivoryrudolph9677 Dude, she was literally just nodding and saying yeah for huge swaths of the interview. That is bad interview etiquette.
You can see that Brennan sees that to be true because those following this he has dialed back his own speaking quite a bit.
@Andrew Oplinger Your a troll. Enjoy what you get. Go do your own show and let me do a critique on you.
Criticism isn't trolling. I greatly enjoy the show, but this had something which could specifically change and he could get more value (for himself and us) out of his interviews. It is constructive because I want him to do better and more. As opposed to what you want, which is for me to shut up.
Yes, all of this, yes. 40K FTW!
just be carefull with incompetent npcs. if theyre too incompetent, the players may decide to bring them along for everything. and im not just talking about Galear. the first npc i ever made was a necromancer who was supposed to be in there for just the beginning scene, so i made him easy enough to beat. instead of killing him, they decided to take him with them for the rest of the game. which i did NOT anticipate, but it made for some funny moments
Excellent point! I stopped rolling for my NPCs, to narrating success/failure, and for important stuff, shifted them to situational roles where they could use the help action to provide advantage to PC checks.
I kinda wonder if maybe Brennan's hogging the spotlight in this one because he and his guest are not in the same room? Like, maybe he's trying to fill what feels like dead air to him because there's no one else with him in the room?
Brennan, if you ever read this, here's a simple trick: when asking or reading a question, always let the guest give their answer first, THEN add your comments and perspective afterwards. You can also adjust your answer based on the guest's answer, and perhaps come up with further questions and comments based on what they said.
Still, good talk anyways.
I do love Brennan and hearing his stories, you can really tell he is just excited to share his views and experiences. I know it is coming from a place of love, but the virtual episodes of AA have been a little weighted to Brennan speaking. Great advice on how to maybe handle that in future episodes.
I'm so glad "Daisy" came up by way of letting an NPC suddenly become important to the story through the actions of the players.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like the conversation was rather one-sided. I haven't watched that many of these interview videos yet, but the few that I've watched all seemed to have the same issue to some degree. And I'm not saying that Brennan doesn't have good things to say, but I can't help but feel a little bit bad for the guests when they're kind of stuck in one-word response mode.
And as someone else pointed out in another comment, Brennan, you really gotta let your guests answer questions before jumping into your own answers.
This is my second encounter with Jasmine! Her POV sounds like so many of my friends. :)
Ok but having a main quest storyline and a boring one in a motel is still pretty funny tho
"There's a character who has a shard of crystal in her chest to contain the demon."
That's Tal Rasha from Diablo 2, isn't it? XD
I love her but never knew she did all this other stuff. Just caught her on her twitch occasionally.
I don't understand why people insist on calling Star Wars scifi. It's clearly fantasy.
I feel like I need to know what books are on Brennan's shelf.
Love Brennan and love these interviews but he needs to let the guests talk more in general.
33:40 Can we talk about this dichotomy either the NPC is a dick or incompetent? Its difficult as a DM because I hear that form players a lot "so and so NPC is a dick" but in my mind I'm trying to provide a challenge for players but the end result I think feels one dimensional to them and not satisfying. IDK how to remedy that
I disagree with some of the assessments of sci-fi vs fantasy. For me sci-fi is more limiting. When world building or story writing, I try to have some logic behind why things occur in my worlds. Sci-fi just requires so much more precision before it makes any sense. Also, thinking that fantasy somehow limits you doesn't make sense. I've sent my players to different planes of existence and pocket dimensions. How is that not a broad scope? Realistically, though, the differences are just cosmetic. I just like the fantasy vibe better.
I skipped to somewhere between one and two dozen random positions in the video and it's Brennan talking at literally 100% of them. Huh.
INCOMPETENT NPCS!!!
Awesome as always
Brennan is the wisest and funnest DM I have found. He has so much knowledge and experience and makes everyone in the room visibly happier. What a great guy. Also, HOT TAKE: Brennan is better than Matt Mercer
Brennan and Matt are artists - I agree that I like Brennan's work better, but art is subjective. Sorry for being semantic with a person that I basically agree with.
💐
What an edgelord
Let your guests talk and get to your question faster. You talk too much.
A lot of people are upset at Brennen for talking to much. But I think he did just fine. The problem is that Jasmine is a pushover DM who lets her players walk all over her. So I think Brennen did the right thing by filling in the gaps when your guest can't speak up. And when she does speak she talks in circles and says the same thing over and over. I have watched many episodes of silver and steel, the game she runs, and it just gets worse and worse as time goes on. No story line, dull, boring, and some very annoying NPCs. literally 0 knowledge of monsters and creatures and how they live/function in the world. Terrible at describing rooms and scenery. She is a fine player. Just not a good DM.
I wanna tpk your opinion lol
But he's the interviewer! It's his job to encourage people to speak, not take over the conversation.