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Wandering monsters: Recall that bit in LoTR where Frodo & Sam are in Shelob's lair and the two orcs go wandering by talking office politics?* That's what I think of when I think "wandering monsters." *That's how I remember it, anyway, but it's been a good 30 years since I read it.
I really like the idea of Monster Evidence, gives the PC’s a sense of environment rather; than just hopping from one Initiative Check to another. Using this at junctions is really cool. My part always goes left because there usually isn’t any differentiation. Great Ideas!
Ive been absolutely loving the videos youve been making lately. Theyre packed with stuff that really takes a dungeon from a map with monsters to a living place
another perfect video! i'm finally running my first OSR game, Tomb of the Serpent Kings using Knave, in a couple of weeks and i'm super excited to introduce my players to this style of game. thank you for all the great content!
this is the juice. when making a low level sandbox, a really well-designed dungeon is a must. just one dungeon with at least 5 rooms/detailed areas will get you through session one
These are the kind of videos I was looking for months ago when I, unfortunately, stumbled on advice to structure campaigns as one big adventure (which didn't sit well with me) -- I'm glad I found this now.
Fantastic ideas - love the pull the leaver guy - ECHOING - MY IDEA • PC’s are shadowed by themselves - and ‘echo’ of themselves • Just out of reach but can see and hear them • Everything in the dungeon has an ‘echo’
One topic which I was waiting to hear more about which wasn't really discussed was changed to the dungeon over the longer term. i.e. things which happen in multi-session dungeons when the players aren't there. Things like rooms or tunnels collapsing; new rooms or tunnels being excavated; areas changing hands between factions; monsters re-populating areas which were previously cleared; intelligent monsters setting guards and traps as a consequence of prior encounters, etc., etc.
Even though I am a fairly experienced GM, I always learn something from these videos. Finding evidence of monsters or other adventurers if you roll one higher than what you would normally need for a random encounter sounds like a great idea and definitely makes the dungeon feel more lived in. You could even make a small sub-table detailing the type of evidence the PCs might find for each faction in the dungeon. Rival adventuring parties are also something which I feel does not get used enough. You don't want to use them every adventure, but they can definitely add a lot of flavor to a campaign and remind the players their characters aren't the only ones affecting change on the world around them. You could even make it a GM mini game in between sessions to determine what these other parties are doing when several weeks or months have passed in game time. Have talk in town about how that other adventuring party dealt with the undead menace in the swamps and are now the heroes of the town and came back with great treasure and magical items--you know, those undead the PCs heard about 3 months ago but decided not to mess with. A few months later maybe that friendly adventuring party they teamed up with in the past to defeat the orc king never returned from that giant lair they set off to deal with a month ago. I also like to occasionally have NPC captives which the PCs can potentially rescue and add as henchmen or have them gain another reward for doing so. Rescuing someone from a dungeon is a great side quest. I also like the idea of escalating things in the dungeon as monsters discover adventurers are about and then marshalling their forces to lay traps, attack in greater numbers, form temporary alliances between factions to deal with this greater adventurer threat, and set up defensive positions or plan a pincer attack to make things more difficult for the PCs. Here is a post detailing 12 rival adventuring parties of various alignments and backgrounds (I am not the author, but I found them recently and think they are quite useful): elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2020/07/d12-rival-adventuring-companies.html Here are a couple more lists of adventuring parties which are much less detailed: elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2014/06/d100-rival-parties.html elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2013/12/d100-rival-dungeon-parties.html
I'm currently working on an adventure based on the R.E. Howard poem "The King and the Oak" and this video was a tremendous help. Thank you so much for the excellent content you provide for the community.
Excellent video! Currently running a Caverns of Thracia game and the reaction rolls and factions make it much more interesting than a room slog. I think I'll throw in some side quests too now, I like the suggestions you mentioned.
Your last two videos have given me so many ideas. I've been thinking of making a kobold quest arc that know how to make complex traps and things because they've been being taught by a dragon. And your speaking tube idea is an awesome idea. Perhaps there is a room with one or a few enemies with a bunch of speaking tubes in it and next to it is a barracks. Anywhere in the dungeon the ones in the room can tell the ones in the barracks to go to where a threat is or the players can come on this room and take out their alert system and listen in the tubes to get information. Thanks for the videos!
The faction piece with the large scale conflict is interesting. I recently had a campaign get to a high level and the players were key to the defense of Baldurs gate in a city fight game. They took command of the city guard and various allies. It was a challenge making it work in 5e without abstracting some elements. It would be great to understand your thoughts on larger faction fights and how you mix the macro/micro elements of being involved in a fight like that. It is rare that I see a DM deliver a large scale fight because by its nature 3.x/5e is focused on balancing the individual fight and to me it does not handle small actions within a larger battle very well.
Hey man i like what youve been doing, I wish i could be reading or playing all the books you've been reviewing, all your content is good to listen to and you got me into listening Tim Kask Keep on Keeping
The ceasefire is a cool idea but my players never realize there is a ceasefire and keep pushing and get upset with me when i hit them with more and more stronger enemies idk what i can do about this
.... this all sounds like excellent advice how to make a dungeon more interesting at the cost of making it less believable as something that might exist for a different reason than this party exploring it at this time
Check out our sponsor, the Acheron RPG, on Kickstarter: bit.ly/AcheronRPG
Patrons vote on what books to review and get to watch videos first: bit.ly/QBPatreon
Keep up with the Old-School RPG scene with the Questing Beast newsletter: bit.ly/Glatisant
Download my RPGs and adventures: bit.ly/QBDTRPG
Wandering monsters: Recall that bit in LoTR where Frodo & Sam are in Shelob's lair and the two orcs go wandering by talking office politics?* That's what I think of when I think "wandering monsters."
*That's how I remember it, anyway, but it's been a good 30 years since I read it.
I read it almost every year and you are spot on! Treat your self to a reread!
I really like the idea of Monster Evidence, gives the PC’s a sense of environment rather; than just hopping from one Initiative Check to another. Using this at junctions is really cool. My part always goes left because there usually isn’t any differentiation. Great Ideas!
Ive been absolutely loving the videos youve been making lately. Theyre packed with stuff that really takes a dungeon from a map with monsters to a living place
Yep, It is good to see the move away from Funhouse Dungeons and Monster Condos, and into worlds & dungeons that make more ecological sense.
I love fun house dungeon but so few are done right
@@OGMikeonthemike My favorite Funhouse Dungeon is S2 White Plume Mountain. :-)
@@RPGmodsFan goes with out saying. iv done a few vlogs on it
another perfect video! i'm finally running my first OSR game, Tomb of the Serpent Kings using Knave, in a couple of weeks and i'm super excited to introduce my players to this style of game. thank you for all the great content!
this is the juice. when making a low level sandbox, a really well-designed dungeon is a must. just one dungeon with at least 5 rooms/detailed areas will get you through session one
These are the kind of videos I was looking for months ago when I, unfortunately, stumbled on advice to structure campaigns as one big adventure (which didn't sit well with me) -- I'm glad I found this now.
This series is fantastic! Helping a ton with my Undermountain game.
Fantastic ideas - love the pull the leaver guy - ECHOING - MY IDEA
• PC’s are shadowed by themselves - and ‘echo’ of themselves
• Just out of reach but can see and hear them
• Everything in the dungeon has an ‘echo’
Love this series! This vid reminded me a lot of Temple of Elemental Evil. That adventure has all of
The elements you talked about.
Not to mention air, earth, fire, and water!
One topic which I was waiting to hear more about which wasn't really discussed was changed to the dungeon over the longer term. i.e. things which happen in multi-session dungeons when the players aren't there. Things like rooms or tunnels collapsing; new rooms or tunnels being excavated; areas changing hands between factions; monsters re-populating areas which were previously cleared; intelligent monsters setting guards and traps as a consequence of prior encounters, etc., etc.
Even though I am a fairly experienced GM, I always learn something from these videos. Finding evidence of monsters or other adventurers if you roll one higher than what you would normally need for a random encounter sounds like a great idea and definitely makes the dungeon feel more lived in. You could even make a small sub-table detailing the type of evidence the PCs might find for each faction in the dungeon.
Rival adventuring parties are also something which I feel does not get used enough. You don't want to use them every adventure, but they can definitely add a lot of flavor to a campaign and remind the players their characters aren't the only ones affecting change on the world around them. You could even make it a GM mini game in between sessions to determine what these other parties are doing when several weeks or months have passed in game time. Have talk in town about how that other adventuring party dealt with the undead menace in the swamps and are now the heroes of the town and came back with great treasure and magical items--you know, those undead the PCs heard about 3 months ago but decided not to mess with. A few months later maybe that friendly adventuring party they teamed up with in the past to defeat the orc king never returned from that giant lair they set off to deal with a month ago.
I also like to occasionally have NPC captives which the PCs can potentially rescue and add as henchmen or have them gain another reward for doing so. Rescuing someone from a dungeon is a great side quest. I also like the idea of escalating things in the dungeon as monsters discover adventurers are about and then marshalling their forces to lay traps, attack in greater numbers, form temporary alliances between factions to deal with this greater adventurer threat, and set up defensive positions or plan a pincer attack to make things more difficult for the PCs.
Here is a post detailing 12 rival adventuring parties of various alignments and backgrounds (I am not the author, but I found them recently and think they are quite useful):
elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2020/07/d12-rival-adventuring-companies.html
Here are a couple more lists of adventuring parties which are much less detailed:
elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2014/06/d100-rival-parties.html
elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2013/12/d100-rival-dungeon-parties.html
I'm currently working on an adventure based on the R.E. Howard poem "The King and the Oak" and this video was a tremendous help. Thank you so much for the excellent content you provide for the community.
Good ideas here. I've always liked the idea of having a competing party
Excellent video! Currently running a Caverns of Thracia game and the reaction rolls and factions make it much more interesting than a room slog. I think I'll throw in some side quests too now, I like the suggestions you mentioned.
Your last two videos have given me so many ideas. I've been thinking of making a kobold quest arc that know how to make complex traps and things because they've been being taught by a dragon. And your speaking tube idea is an awesome idea. Perhaps there is a room with one or a few enemies with a bunch of speaking tubes in it and next to it is a barracks. Anywhere in the dungeon the ones in the room can tell the ones in the barracks to go to where a threat is or the players can come on this room and take out their alert system and listen in the tubes to get information. Thanks for the videos!
OMG, too many good ideas -- I need a book about this.
awesome advice! I haven't tried rival adventure parties before, I really like the idea!
Congratulations Questing Beast. You made so many good Videos so far, that I can give you a thumbs up even Video before watching this Video.
Long live the OSR!
I just wanted to say I really love these 'tips' videos!
Awesome video, I can't express enough how much I look forward to these.
The faction piece with the large scale conflict is interesting. I recently had a campaign get to a high level and the players were key to the defense of Baldurs gate in a city fight game. They took command of the city guard and various allies. It was a challenge making it work in 5e without abstracting some elements. It would be great to understand your thoughts on larger faction fights and how you mix the macro/micro elements of being involved in a fight like that. It is rare that I see a DM deliver a large scale fight because by its nature 3.x/5e is focused on balancing the individual fight and to me it does not handle small actions within a larger battle very well.
But don't have sounds coming from One Direction. It's too hard to explain how they got into the dungeon.
Underrated pun.
Clever, kudos
Maybe it’s fine in a game dedicated to imagining dragons.
Hey man i like what youve been doing, I wish i could be reading or playing all the books you've been reviewing, all your content is good to listen to and you got me into listening Tim Kask
Keep on Keeping
Inspirational. Thanks!
Loving these videos! Great advice! Any chance we could get a review of Stonehell dungeon, I’d love to hear your take on it!
Even better than Nine Secrets and an excellent compliment to it. Keep it up! :D
very good tips thanks a lot
Love your stuff.
I didn't know where to ask you this, but what do you think about Rappan Athuk?
I played through the first level with the Frog God guys and enjoyed it. Haven't really read the whole thing yet.
Great video
The ceasefire is a cool idea but my players never realize there is a ceasefire and keep pushing and get upset with me when i hit them with more and more stronger enemies idk what i can do about this
.... this all sounds like excellent advice how to make a dungeon more interesting at the cost of making it less believable as something that might exist for a different reason than this party exploring it at this time