The magical/nonmagic disruption is what i used for the final battle of Curse of Strahd. I created "light eating torches" that eliminated the sunlight effect of the sun sword and could be activated to make the room magically dark where the only thing you can see is the purple glowstick type light from the torches. When the players finally broke them and not only restored their vision but brought back the sun to deal sunlight damage to Strahd the rooms mood IMMEDIATELY shifted. It went from "oh God this just keeps getting worse we can't do this" to "i can see?.... I. CAN. FIGHT!!!"
One of the people I have played D&D with (for decades now) surprised me the other day. He mentioned that I had a habit of putting time pressure on everything I ran. I wasn't doing this intentionally, but the DM doesn't feel what the players do. He then mentioned that it was one of his favorite parts of my style. There was a clear goal, there was a communicated pressure, and there was a failure condition. He said that this made his decision-making as a player feel really good and made the choices he had more interesting. He also added that sometimes there was low pressure time for the story arc, and high pressure in the session arc. It surprised me, because I didn't always do it intentionally, but the result was a lot of fun! It's just 1 secondary goal in this video, but one I apparently use all the time.
I recommend a quick look at the XCom series for how to design combat objectives. A bit formulaic, but very good. Especially camp rescue missions where some civilians are actually mimics.
It's been so long since I've played XCom that I totally forgot about it. But you are absolutely right! Especially for some of those longer missions where you're fighting through five or six different combat encounters to get all the way to the end to retrieve an item or rescue an individual is some of the most gripping turn-based combat I've had in a game!
Mass Effect 2: Collectors' Ship mission had you walking inside a bubble shield being projected by one of your psychic party members to move through a swarm of bugs that are instant paralysis if they get you. Escort missions where you guard the NPC that's actually protecting YOU is way better than dragging a weakling 1HKO dumbass around in combat.
One of the greatest moments we had as beginners was in Lost Mines of Phandelver when one of the party picked up a defeated flameskull, not knowing what it was and put it in their backpack. I set a timer for 1 hour real time and when that timer went off, the backpack exploded and it all went crazy. They were trying to sneak past some bugbears at the time.
I have an encounter planned where the players are supposed to save a cheese factory from being burned down while fighting off an organized gang of criminals but what they dont know is that if they take over 7 rounds of combat then the cheese will be melted and the factory owner will be more mad than if it burned down because of insurance.
For those asking about why 7, it's because it's a big factory, they are a melee heavy party, and because theres going to be 10 chaff enemies and 2 bulkier thugs and it's not like I *want* them to not save the factory
also, melted cheese on the floor is slippery, giant blo ks to throw kike napalm, smoke to obscure vision. uys a reallt great setup man 😊brie or Swiss? cuz brie can burn...
I had a time based objective in my last group session ~3 weeks ago (we play ~once a month). Party had previously stopped a summoning ritual of a cult. Later, they thwarted the cult once again. The cult then went quite, and the party simply assumed they'd called it quits; party got distracted by other shiny plot lines they'd ignored previously. Then, they learned that a new summoning ritual was going down and SOON, as in that night when the moon reaches the top of the sky! Long story short, they followed clues to a mine where the ritual was taking place. Then, as they new the time running out, they felt a soft power emanating (similar to the last ceremony) from deeper in the mine, signaling the final stages were being reached! I placed a d12 on the table starting at 12. Every round they felt the power grow stronger as each round the dice counted down. The party still had to solve the labyrinth of mine tunnels, while fighting/running from cultists. They made it to the antichamber of the ceremony with lots of guards and a dark priest, still with 7 turns on the clock! Now, not only did the power grow stronger, they could hear the sounds of deep infernal chanting! Unfortunately, the party spent their time killing/running off all the cultists in the anti-chamber, that they only broke down the door and arrived right as the dice ticked from 1 to 0........ The summoning was complete The look in their eyes when they realized that was awesome! I mean, they looked about to piss themselves, but it was also very exciting. Me, the DM, was also happy I finally got the ceremony through. Now to phase 2!
That is so cool! I can only imagine how happy you must have felt seeing the look on their faces as they didn't win. And I don't mean that in like a "oh the DM drinks player tears" kind of way but in a "this is where the real challenge starts" kind of way. And the best part of all of that is it was because of the players action or I suppose in this case inaction. They can feel the ritual getting stronger, they could see the number ticking down but they just weren't fast enough. That is some real dramatic storytelling there, and I love it.
My players love gladitorial combat. What might otherwise be an incredibly flat encounter becomes a contest of impressing the crowd, describing their flourishes and gaining their cheers and adoration.
I just had an environmental battle the other night actually. They had to destroy a totem hanging from a tree as part of their greater objective, but it was encircled by sharp, animated vines that would lash out against anyone getting within 60 feet of the totem. The vines only did 2d4 dmg (the party was lvl 6) every 5ft, but that added up quick. The light cleric thought to burn the vines away, which worked, but they would heal each round, so the safe areas got smaller and smaller. Poor light cleric almost completely tapped out of spell slots but she got them all in to destroy the totem and out again alive.
WOW! This is awesome! I love this and I can only IMAGINE how your players felt by the end. Battered and badass. EXACTLY what you want in a good combat encounter!
Had my guys encounter enemies who were allies of their faction, so they couldn't rightly kill them. Had to subdue, sneak past, etc. Made it fun and change of pace from their usual murder hobo stuff.
A secondary objective I gave my players in one game was something I called a thanatos game. god of death kept possessing people to kill their families because it amused him to send innocent people to jail. In order to get him to stop, he challenged him to the thanatos game. Their condition for winning. Merely survive till morning.... with everyone who sees them attempting to kill them. He even promised a Wish to anyone who fulfilled a secret objective. The objective was not killing anyone during the event. One player actually managed to do this and it had some very intreesting results. :-) Another game, they had a puzzle to do mid combat, problem was, enemies were unkillable, so their task was to solve a water level puzzle, while managing these invincible fire spewing fish enemies.
Me again, I have another combat idea I wanted to shoot past you. So basically, the players are fighting a pair of powerful foes within this opera theatre. Fighting just those two enemies is considered Hard in the DMG based on their CR and party size. However, the two enemies are guarding a giant necrotic energy crystal. If given enough time, the crystal begins raising every corpse in the city until it spreads across the kingdom. To stop this, a PC has to use their action to touch the crystal. They then make a spellcasting ability roll (they all are spellcasters). Based on their roll determines how many successes they get. Once they get to that number, the crystal is destroyed, the undead and two gaurdians are destroyed. Only one check can be made a round. The crystal emits a 10 ft. Radius antimagic zone. However, one of the two bad guys can also use their action to speed up the process depending how they roll on their spellcasting check.
This is REALLY cool!! One thing you could do to spice things up would be to have the crystal summon low CR undead in the opera house (during the combat encounter) if they dont touch the crystal. Oooo, maybe it just does regardless because it is the epicenter of the necrotic energy. That way there is added pressure in the combat encounter to make sure they make contact with the crystal OR it shows them how powerful the crystal is even when they do make contact! I will say, if you have more questions, we do have a discord where you can join to get quicker responses! :D discord.gg/Yjx3vJzN5Q -Joe
You could also give the escort target character Sidekick levels from Tasha's, achieving the same outcome but not giving them straight up character levels.
I highly recommend looking at Dramatic Tasks in Savage Worlds and thinking about how you could pull them into 5E. They are frequently used as objectives-during-combat: stop the ritual, rescue the captive, grab the artifact. They have easily created some of the most memorable scenes in my games! This video gave me more ideas for Dramatic Tasks.
Honestly, that's a great video idea and of itself, what you should steal from other games to make your game better. Not even necessarily just D&D, but I feel like most TTRPG systems out there have something good about them that you should try and use! Do you mind if I mention your comment in that video?
I had a secondary objective for the monsters in an encounter I ran a couple of weeks ago, separate and kidnap a party member. So don't forget about an adversaries objective either.
YES!!! What do the villain's WANT and how are the gonna get IT? It really helps add some dynamism to battlefield when EVERYONE is acting with their own interests not just "Rock-em, Sock-em Robot" style combat!
Great video! I've personally had a lot of fun at my tables with escort combats. One small critique: your video is too quiet! It is much quieter than most RUclips videos. Just discovered your channel and subbed :)
Good!! A lot of people I talk to HATE them, but I think it's just cuz of poor AI in video games lol also thank you!! I will keep that in mind for the next one!
This was some great advice. Thank you for sharing these ideas. I had been using a few of these but there were some other concepts I hadn't thought of so, thank you! Please keep the videos coming.
😭 I love to hear that!! You have no idea how happy that makes me to hear! We just posted a new video about how to deal 1000 damage in 1 turn as a PC in 5e! Also we have another advice video about 10 underrated monsters coming out this Sunday!
I have non combat encounters all the time and I much them into my combat. I believe that they are key to flavour the game. Good video. More people need to include these. I will absolutely steal some of these ideas. Thanks so much.
Been doing this for a while already. For example a dungeon room is collapsing, or a lighning rod is gathering energy for releasing some monster. Maybe the enemies keep coming until the players manage to stop their spawning (destroy a bridge, fill a hole and so on)
I had an encounter where the party entered the final tomb of a graveyard dungeon; they were searching for a thief who they believe had holed up in the tomb to hide out. When they got there, the thief didn't fight but tried to escape. The party attempted to apprehend him non-lethally for some time but he was too slippery, so they murdered him. They were totally overpowered if it was just a fight between one thief and four PCs, but because the objective wasn't just kill, it ended up being a lengthy and engaging scenario. In our next session they will be assisting the city guard in defending the city's north wall against goblins. From the vantage point of the battlements, they will have advantage on their ranged attacks, and there will even be a cannon for them to use if they want, but the goblins will come in waves and will utilize cover to try to get themselves (and a bomb) to the gate so they can blow it open and invade the city.
I’m reworking 5E for a Wild West/dark fantasy game where combat isn’t just “Run in and fight”, they have to actually plan out a fight and find weaknesses in creatures to take them down, and they have to try harder to outsmart human enemies while investigating the BBEG who is a human who has magic
I love that!! I've been debating doing something similar in my next campaign! Really methodically planning out my monster encounters to give them weakness that need to be planned for otherwise they will be WAY to strong. Very Witcher, if you know what I mean!
The best part is that the party is all human, and magic is new to the human world. This means they can't rely on high level magic as much, because they need special trinkets to use spells and those spells have very limited uses@@RollWithAdvantage5e
Not in DND setting but I came up with interesting encounter. Players needed to get to warehouse. Whole area have been surrounded by scary demons. Demons were blind and could only feel fear and extreme pain. PC needed to get there without looking so demons won't frighten them. Inside were guards. Easy fight for a group. Catch was that every time guard got wounded in their turn demons could feel that and appear in warehouse. Party needed to watch out to not let any wounded alife
@@RollWithAdvantage5e end of the encounter was even better. Only one of player characters got scared of the deamon, so she was a main target. When she passed out there was no source of fear in warehouse so deamon just left cause it didn't see anyone else :D
Two things I'd like to give you my opinion on: I deem most of the Objectives you propose not secondary, but primary. If you don't use exp gain counted by enemies killed and don't let your enemies walk around with their treasure stuffed into their pockets and bellies, there not that much need to kill them anyway. Only by tying a lot of player rewards directly to killing, this becomes an artificial main objective/the primary objective. Sure, if every enemy is highly vengeful, with no sense of selfpreservation, killing or something akin, is the only option. But not by default, if the setting is not tied down by the conventions of 50 year old ideas. The second thought of mine on your video: It would be advantageous, if the music were more subtle, I think its too loud.
I ABSOLUETLY agree! I said something very similar in another comment but I just find that sometimes people need to take incremental steps to get to that point. If I tell someone to change the whole way they think about game, they are less likely to implement those changes BUT if I say "Hey! You know how you run combat now? What if you change it a little bit?" They will try it and then open up a WHOLE new world of possibilities! Maybe its just the educator in me! I am a big believer in scaffolding and priming BIG ideas like that! On the note of the video, thank you for the feedback! It is something we will DEFINITELY address in the next video! 😁😁
I had a combat where the party was traversing the jungle and they were attacked by flying eagles. However, the eagles were going for their horses which carried their food. So the idea was to defend the horses.
Always happy to help! We have a few other videoes we've post since this one. One is about 10 underrated monsters in 5e and the other is about telling better stories using lesson taught by ATLA!
Can you do a video on "failing forward"? When you said that it kind of clicked in my mind of what it meant but more examples would be really great. I know I've had that dilemma before
That's a great idea! It's something that's core to my DMing style so, I didn't elaborate much after I said it, but I see what you mean! My video in February will be about creating stronger narratives and plot structures that's more memorable for players, but I think the video I do in March I could definitely do that!
Hi@@KeithTBaker ! Here is the playlist with all the music! ruclips.net/p/PLul61JiSKZm8kAQZy3VU42grKU-ouuwIB that track is specifically Tavern Fiddle by Monument Studios!
Love the visual and audio quality! Your a captivating speaker Im hyped to watch more. As for my own ideas: Find ways to give the players reigns. Im thinking even as far as Hard mechanics like Savage worlds and using bennies to onfluence the story. That way in combat they'll know they can think outside of the box to create wacky situations
I absolutely agree! If the players feel like they have agency and choice, even if it's the illusion of choice, it increases the stakes and their enjoyment in whatever type of encounter they're going through. Also, thank you for the compliment!!! You have no idea how much that means to me!! 😁 We actually just posted how to deal 1000 damage in 1 turn as a PC in 5e for reaching 1000 subs. Also we have another advice video about 10 underrated monsters coming out this Sunday! (Same guy who did the Point of No Return video last Sunday!) Happy to hear you'll be sticking around! 😁
Great video and ideas! Thanks for this, even thou I already did some of these things in my combat, but it's always great to hear other ideas. However I'm also writing you to let you know, that your 2. timestamp is written wrong, so it doesn't show on the timeline. Nevertheless, you gained another subscriber.
Glad to hear it! I love it when people are ALREADY doing this, it's such a game changer. Also thank you for the advice! I believe I have it fixed now. (At least on my end!)
I just had one of my favorite encounters ever in my GM life during a Curse of Strahd game I'm running. A PC , playing a reborn Frankenstein's monster inspired sentient flesh golem, had two little girls he was honorary brother to he was try to rescue from Barovia. Strahd took them to the Abbot and had him fuse them into one body. That reborn character was getting a massive info dump from the Abbot who he absolutely wanted to murder. The party just tried to keep the reborn PC and Abbot, who was actively antagonizing the PC, from turning into a fight. It never did, and he left with a promise to kill the Abbot after Strahd. After we were done, the player who wanted to kill the Abbot told me he felt emotionally abused (in a good way). I had a physical impact on his heart rate and emotional state. Honestly, I can't imagine a higher honor.
HOLY SHIT. That was a wild ride to read! And I mean that in the best way possible. So wait, you can't just end the story there! Did you go back and kill the Abbott? Or is the campaign still going? And you haven't had a chance to go back yet. I demand updates.
Last session, the PCs extracted the twitchy bully bugbear from the ancient power armor he'd haphazardly hijacked, and ensured the ancient city's defenses brigged them instead of killing anyone. Thanks for asking 😊
@@RollWithAdvantage5e Vibes... Okay. Remember the secret chamber in the temple in Egypt from Fifth Element? Imagine that that opened instead onto a full arcology built into Knowhere, with strong SDF-1 vibes, an explicit Voltron-style mystical purpose, and the basis for it all being the mechs from Armored Core made with processes like Etheria's magic from new She-Ra and aesthetic/dread borrowed from Shadow of the Colossus. And I'm trying to make it feel like Raiders of the Lost Arc meets Metal Gear Solid (meets Dark Souls); this is what happens when you have WAY more nerd references to draw on than your audience. (Edit: the actual armor in question was a Large-sized centaur-looking quad mech with slammy-arms and beholder-like shoulder weapons. It's the analog to an MT in this now-dead outfit; they haven't met an actual ACs/named mech/Metal Gear yet. They wouldn't have got out if the accidental pilot weren't killing hisself on the mech's convultions.)
Thank you for the feedback! We actually just posted 3 more videos recently and I think the audio balance is a lot better :) The topics are, top 10 underrated monsters in DND 5e, how to deal 1000 damage in one turn in DND 5e, and the last one is a build guide for DND 5e!
My most recent one would fall under environmental challenges. I'm running an urban fantasy with PF1e rules, and I gave them a chase scene. The players had a SWAT van stocked with ordinance and were being chased by some bandits on bikes. The leader of the bandits was in an old roadster with both of their mages and a driver. They exchanged gunfire, dodged debris in the road, and dodged a collapsing building or two before the bandits were able to catch them and cut off their escape. Then my rogue who knows mage hand dropped a grenade in the roadster and killed most of the remaining bandits, including their leader.
👁️👄👁️ That is so SICK. I've never played a modern game for it to get that cool. Legit is one of the coolest things I've read. Thank you for commenting!!!
I tried a rescue mission last night for one of my player's NPC partners who was locked up in a dungeon...to save the partner he proceed to kill a guard in the open sight of another guard and got mad that 5 more guards were now alerted to his position
Last session i had an encounter in a losely dnd based jojo's bizzar adventure one shot i designed was basicly a fight that the enemy has tried to escape from after he realized he bit off more then he could cew and the players had to catch up to him only to realize he led them to his office (basicly his home terf he had trapped ahead of time) where he had the upper hand and they both hide and called for back up so the fight became stalling for back up
By the way that was one shot i dmed but my friend (which i consider as a better dm then me) almost never does an encounter that isnt a stright up fight and i like his encounters- they dont feel boring to me and resently he did give me an encounter with an objective- to escape the mouth of a regular sized gold fish (i was a very tiny druid wiled shaped into a crocodile) because i entered the well
I recently had one of my players do a solo quest and they joined some mercs who got a job to wipe out some members of a guild who was opposing the guild the city they were in was ran by.
As a DM I threw an adolescent ice troll at the party. The troll was acting strange. The party killed it and burnt it to ash. A few days later the party encounters an adult ice troll. He asks why they had to kill his son? He was a good boy, gone a little strange in recent days but there was no need to kill him. The father, with mother and daughter nearby, wanted compensation from the party as the troll family couldn't livenmear the evil-doer party and nor could they live near where the troll had been rendered to ash. They wanted money to help them move to a safer place to live. Away from murderous humans. The paladin in the party said no to the compensation. Now, when a cleric casts protection from evil, the party will be affected. The party was now Evil from the local's POV.
Holy MOLEY! I LOVE that. See, I'd love if later on down the line those Yeti come back with a vengeance. ALSO I love the idea of regional perception affected how certain spells work! I feel like that could be really sick a long term campaign!
I was a few sessions ago and my party walked Into a town where everyone had gone missing. Only to find out a Fay had trapped them in playing cards. And now they had to gamble with their lives. In a game of cards.
😳😳😳😳 Woah. That sounds sick. Did the cards move at all? Like the portraits on the cards. You know how like the paintings and Hogwarts move? Or were they just stills of petrified people like when they look at a gorgon? That is such a cool idea and I feel like I'm going to steal it lol
@RollWithAdvantage5e The people in the cards were petrified. And it was a trap set up by a Fey because one of my players had a bounty on their head set on them by a hag. They found a house of cards that was bigger on the inside than out. Where they meet this Fey creature That calmly explained that if they wanted to save the people of the village, they would have to beat him in a game of cards. With their souls on the line
Any tips for an encounter idea i have? The players are trying to halt the spread of fire from the top of the battlemap using these stones that create a magic wall that the fire can't pass. However, while this is happening, there are enemies attacking then and trying to prevent this. Furthermore, there are these extremely slow fire elementals that are marching down the map that are able to cross the magical wall barrier and let fire start spreading on the other side. In this case, they would have to use another stone out of the 6 they have. If the fire gets to the bottom of the map, the town burns and they must try to escape. If they kill the enemies and they stopped the fire, they save the town.
Okay!!! This is cool!! So here is the BIG question, can the walls be destroyed? I think I would try and avoid that so if a player uses their action/bonus action to "summon a wall" their turn isn't wasted! We want to make sure players get value out of their actions. Maybe break one of it one of the elementals sacrifices itself? That'd be kinda cool. Trading one problem for another! It requires them to pivot/ adapt!
@@RollWithAdvantage5e The walls cannot be destroyed. The elemental passes through it and then the fire starts spreading from that elemental on the otherside of the wall. I could try to give a reason why the elemental would die after crossing. Or maybe, after they cross, they have to spend their full turn starting a new fire?
I don't think you need to do that! I think it is a good idea to have them passing through the wall sap some of the elemental energy so then they need to stand still for a turn to regenerate that energy, that gives the players a really good opportunity to attack and get rid of at least one elemental whenever that happens!
That's great advice dude, I need to work more of these in my games. On a second note, do you have a playlist or something like that? Loving the track choice, would really appreciate having the names.
I'm glad you think so! And its okay if it's not ALL the time, prepping for D&D is A LOT of work so somethings slip through the cracks. All that matters is that everyone has fun! :D Yes! Give me like 10-15 minutes and I'll come back with a playlist of songs I use in this video/others! ps love the profile pic lol
IRL time limits on a game goals will frustrate players, especially those that like to plan out, think things through, and tend to ask a lot of questions. There should certainly be means to pause the timer. Yes, use rounds.
I absolutely agree! I think it's largely dependent on the table and the players you have at the table. It's up to the DM to make that call based off of their understanding of the players comfort zones in the dynamic they have. Because, using IRL minutes could seem very adversarial. I know with my players IRL time limits don't frustrate anybody. They inspire action. But my table is not the same as everybody else's! It is definitely a much safer bet to use rounds!
It's funny you say that because everyone I know IRL could stand for me to be a little more soft spoken 😅 But I will keep that in mind for the next one! Thanks!
@@RollWithAdvantage5e I struggle with my volume control due to childhood hearing issues - so I used to fluctuate between shouting and whispering since I couldn't tell the difference 😅 I like what you've got to say, just finding the music distracting
I totally get that! A lot of people have said the same thing and I did a little bit of research and I think for the next video I have an idea on how to help make sure the music doesn't overpower the vocals at all! I do genuinely appreciate the feedback! 😁
Hi! Thank you so much for the feedback! This is an issue we have addressed in our more recent videos and one that will not be an issues in my next advice video coming out on Monday!
I try and avoid "kill the montser because its combat" encounters. I dont enjoy 1 dimensional combat when im playing, or DMing. "Stop the magic ritual while fighting constantly reanimating skeletons" and "defend the newly befriended farmers house and livestock" have been some ive enjoyed a lot. I don't like XP leveling for the same reason. I don't think you should encourage players to just kill everything in the world. Figure out how to get around combat, or talk your way through it.
YES! Milestone leveling is what I use in my campaigns for that very reason. D&D or really any TTRPG isn't an MMO or skyrim, you aren't grinding for levels you are crafting a story and exploring a world (hopefully saving it while you do! lol) I love knowing there are so many people that share my mindset! 😁😁
I like your ideas but in my game the objective(s) may involve combat but the goal is never combat. So I would call these objectives primary objectives rather than secondary objectives. Ideally the PCs accomplish their goal without any combat. No combat. That's no fun! Don't worry, there will be plenty of combat when the PCs are detected and screw up.
Then your table is PERFECT! That is ALWAYS my preference too. I just find that sometimes people need to take incremental steps to get to that point. If I tell someone to change the whole way they think about game, they are less likely to implement those changes BUT if I say "Hey! You know how you run combat now? What if you change it a little bit?" They will try it and then open up a WHOLE new world of possibilities!
The magical/nonmagic disruption is what i used for the final battle of Curse of Strahd. I created "light eating torches" that eliminated the sunlight effect of the sun sword and could be activated to make the room magically dark where the only thing you can see is the purple glowstick type light from the torches. When the players finally broke them and not only restored their vision but brought back the sun to deal sunlight damage to Strahd the rooms mood IMMEDIATELY shifted. It went from "oh God this just keeps getting worse we can't do this" to "i can see?.... I. CAN. FIGHT!!!"
this is so smart! I love this. I might use this in my campaign
HOLY COW. THAT IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA!!!! I'm DEFINITELY stealing that for my next vampire/sunlight sensitive boss!!
Stealing!!
That’s a great idea!
One of the people I have played D&D with (for decades now) surprised me the other day. He mentioned that I had a habit of putting time pressure on everything I ran. I wasn't doing this intentionally, but the DM doesn't feel what the players do. He then mentioned that it was one of his favorite parts of my style. There was a clear goal, there was a communicated pressure, and there was a failure condition. He said that this made his decision-making as a player feel really good and made the choices he had more interesting. He also added that sometimes there was low pressure time for the story arc, and high pressure in the session arc.
It surprised me, because I didn't always do it intentionally, but the result was a lot of fun!
It's just 1 secondary goal in this video, but one I apparently use all the time.
That is how you know you are a FANTASTIC DM! If you are doing this stuff as second nature, you've already got it figured out for the most part :)
I recommend a quick look at the XCom series for how to design combat objectives. A bit formulaic, but very good. Especially camp rescue missions where some civilians are actually mimics.
It's been so long since I've played XCom that I totally forgot about it. But you are absolutely right! Especially for some of those longer missions where you're fighting through five or six different combat encounters to get all the way to the end to retrieve an item or rescue an individual is some of the most gripping turn-based combat I've had in a game!
Mass Effect 2: Collectors' Ship mission had you walking inside a bubble shield being projected by one of your psychic party members to move through a swarm of bugs that are instant paralysis if they get you.
Escort missions where you guard the NPC that's actually protecting YOU is way better than dragging a weakling 1HKO dumbass around in combat.
Oh yes, so much better that way!
That's a really good suggestion!!
One of the greatest moments we had as beginners was in Lost Mines of Phandelver when one of the party picked up a defeated flameskull, not knowing what it was and put it in their backpack.
I set a timer for 1 hour real time and when that timer went off, the backpack exploded and it all went crazy. They were trying to sneak past some bugbears at the time.
omg I love that so much. I can only imagine how excited you were watching the clock click down 😂
I have an encounter planned where the players are supposed to save a cheese factory from being burned down while fighting off an organized gang of criminals
but what they dont know is that if they take over 7 rounds of combat then the cheese will be melted and the factory owner will be more mad than if it burned down because of insurance.
LMAO I legit love this SOOOOO MUCH! But tbh, maybe some peppers fall into the melted cheese and the factory owner discovers queso 👀 just a thought 👀
seven rounds feels like a lot, no?
@@darryngage7 rounds sounds like they're gonna have quite a few secondary tasks
For those asking about why 7, it's because it's a big factory, they are a melee heavy party, and because theres going to be 10 chaff enemies and 2 bulkier thugs and it's not like I *want* them to not save the factory
also, melted cheese on the floor is slippery, giant blo ks to throw kike napalm, smoke to obscure vision. uys a reallt great setup man 😊brie or Swiss? cuz brie can burn...
I had a time based objective in my last group session ~3 weeks ago (we play ~once a month). Party had previously stopped a summoning ritual of a cult. Later, they thwarted the cult once again. The cult then went quite, and the party simply assumed they'd called it quits; party got distracted by other shiny plot lines they'd ignored previously. Then, they learned that a new summoning ritual was going down and SOON, as in that night when the moon reaches the top of the sky! Long story short, they followed clues to a mine where the ritual was taking place. Then, as they new the time running out, they felt a soft power emanating (similar to the last ceremony) from deeper in the mine, signaling the final stages were being reached! I placed a d12 on the table starting at 12. Every round they felt the power grow stronger as each round the dice counted down. The party still had to solve the labyrinth of mine tunnels, while fighting/running from cultists. They made it to the antichamber of the ceremony with lots of guards and a dark priest, still with 7 turns on the clock! Now, not only did the power grow stronger, they could hear the sounds of deep infernal chanting!
Unfortunately, the party spent their time killing/running off all the cultists in the anti-chamber, that they only broke down the door and arrived right as the dice ticked from 1 to 0........ The summoning was complete
The look in their eyes when they realized that was awesome! I mean, they looked about to piss themselves, but it was also very exciting. Me, the DM, was also happy I finally got the ceremony through. Now to phase 2!
That is so cool! I can only imagine how happy you must have felt seeing the look on their faces as they didn't win. And I don't mean that in like a "oh the DM drinks player tears" kind of way but in a "this is where the real challenge starts" kind of way.
And the best part of all of that is it was because of the players action or I suppose in this case inaction. They can feel the ritual getting stronger, they could see the number ticking down but they just weren't fast enough. That is some real dramatic storytelling there, and I love it.
My players love gladitorial combat. What might otherwise be an incredibly flat encounter becomes a contest of impressing the crowd, describing their flourishes and gaining their cheers and adoration.
omg yes! Gladiatorial combat is a fantastic way to SPICE up "just fighting" because it changes the ways players think about the encounter!
I just had an environmental battle the other night actually. They had to destroy a totem hanging from a tree as part of their greater objective, but it was encircled by sharp, animated vines that would lash out against anyone getting within 60 feet of the totem. The vines only did 2d4 dmg (the party was lvl 6) every 5ft, but that added up quick. The light cleric thought to burn the vines away, which worked, but they would heal each round, so the safe areas got smaller and smaller. Poor light cleric almost completely tapped out of spell slots but she got them all in to destroy the totem and out again alive.
WOW! This is awesome! I love this and I can only IMAGINE how your players felt by the end. Battered and badass. EXACTLY what you want in a good combat encounter!
Had my guys encounter enemies who were allies of their faction, so they couldn't rightly kill them. Had to subdue, sneak past, etc. Made it fun and change of pace from their usual murder hobo stuff.
YESSS!!! This is what its all about!
A secondary objective I gave my players in one game was something I called a thanatos game. god of death kept possessing people to kill their families because it amused him to send innocent people to jail. In order to get him to stop, he challenged him to the thanatos game. Their condition for winning. Merely survive till morning.... with everyone who sees them attempting to kill them. He even promised a Wish to anyone who fulfilled a secret objective. The objective was not killing anyone during the event. One player actually managed to do this and it had some very intreesting results. :-) Another game, they had a puzzle to do mid combat, problem was, enemies were unkillable, so their task was to solve a water level puzzle, while managing these invincible fire spewing fish enemies.
WOAH!!! I LOVE both of those idea!!! Honestly SO good! That Thanatos one I might steal 👀
Me again, I have another combat idea I wanted to shoot past you.
So basically, the players are fighting a pair of powerful foes within this opera theatre. Fighting just those two enemies is considered Hard in the DMG based on their CR and party size.
However, the two enemies are guarding a giant necrotic energy crystal. If given enough time, the crystal begins raising every corpse in the city until it spreads across the kingdom.
To stop this, a PC has to use their action to touch the crystal. They then make a spellcasting ability roll (they all are spellcasters). Based on their roll determines how many successes they get. Once they get to that number, the crystal is destroyed, the undead and two gaurdians are destroyed.
Only one check can be made a round. The crystal emits a 10 ft. Radius antimagic zone.
However, one of the two bad guys can also use their action to speed up the process depending how they roll on their spellcasting check.
This is REALLY cool!!
One thing you could do to spice things up would be to have the crystal summon low CR undead in the opera house (during the combat encounter) if they dont touch the crystal. Oooo, maybe it just does regardless because it is the epicenter of the necrotic energy. That way there is added pressure in the combat encounter to make sure they make contact with the crystal OR it shows them how powerful the crystal is even when they do make contact!
I will say, if you have more questions, we do have a discord where you can join to get quicker responses! :D
discord.gg/Yjx3vJzN5Q
-Joe
You could also give the escort target character Sidekick levels from Tasha's, achieving the same outcome but not giving them straight up character levels.
THIS! That is a great idea! There are so many supplemental rules guides, sometimes I forget about SUPER useful things like that!
I highly recommend looking at Dramatic Tasks in Savage Worlds and thinking about how you could pull them into 5E. They are frequently used as objectives-during-combat: stop the ritual, rescue the captive, grab the artifact. They have easily created some of the most memorable scenes in my games! This video gave me more ideas for Dramatic Tasks.
Honestly, that's a great video idea and of itself, what you should steal from other games to make your game better. Not even necessarily just D&D, but I feel like most TTRPG systems out there have something good about them that you should try and use!
Do you mind if I mention your comment in that video?
I had a secondary objective for the monsters in an encounter I ran a couple of weeks ago, separate and kidnap a party member. So don't forget about an adversaries objective either.
YES!!! What do the villain's WANT and how are the gonna get IT? It really helps add some dynamism to battlefield when EVERYONE is acting with their own interests not just "Rock-em, Sock-em Robot" style combat!
Great video! I've personally had a lot of fun at my tables with escort combats.
One small critique: your video is too quiet! It is much quieter than most RUclips videos. Just discovered your channel and subbed :)
Good!! A lot of people I talk to HATE them, but I think it's just cuz of poor AI in video games lol
also thank you!! I will keep that in mind for the next one!
This man advised me to throw siracha on my player 10/10 advise.
Hey, it's worked out for me so far! It's surprisingly effective at getting them to engage! Lmao
I’ve seen this kind of video so many times before, but you had unique ideas. Good stuff.
Hey! Thank you so much. You have NO IDEA how nice of a compliment that is to me!
This was some great advice. Thank you for sharing these ideas. I had been using a few of these but there were some other concepts I hadn't thought of so, thank you! Please keep the videos coming.
😭 I love to hear that!! You have no idea how happy that makes me to hear!
We just posted a new video about how to deal 1000 damage in 1 turn as a PC in 5e! Also we have another advice video about 10 underrated monsters coming out this Sunday!
great video! love the editing, love the advice!
I have non combat encounters all the time and I much them into my combat. I believe that they are key to flavour the game. Good video. More people need to include these. I will absolutely steal some of these ideas. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you agree! 😁
Been doing this for a while already. For example a dungeon room is collapsing, or a lighning rod is gathering energy for releasing some monster. Maybe the enemies keep coming until the players manage to stop their spawning (destroy a bridge, fill a hole and so on)
YES! You get it!! This is how you make combat encounters MEMORABLE!
I had an encounter where the party entered the final tomb of a graveyard dungeon; they were searching for a thief who they believe had holed up in the tomb to hide out. When they got there, the thief didn't fight but tried to escape. The party attempted to apprehend him non-lethally for some time but he was too slippery, so they murdered him. They were totally overpowered if it was just a fight between one thief and four PCs, but because the objective wasn't just kill, it ended up being a lengthy and engaging scenario.
In our next session they will be assisting the city guard in defending the city's north wall against goblins. From the vantage point of the battlements, they will have advantage on their ranged attacks, and there will even be a cannon for them to use if they want, but the goblins will come in waves and will utilize cover to try to get themselves (and a bomb) to the gate so they can blow it open and invade the city.
YESSS!!!! I LOVE THAT SO MUCH!!! "Defend the wall" encounters are my favorite. It gives off Helms Deep and Minas Tirith vibes and I LOVE it.
I’m reworking 5E for a Wild West/dark fantasy game where combat isn’t just “Run in and fight”, they have to actually plan out a fight and find weaknesses in creatures to take them down, and they have to try harder to outsmart human enemies while investigating the BBEG who is a human who has magic
I love that!! I've been debating doing something similar in my next campaign! Really methodically planning out my monster encounters to give them weakness that need to be planned for otherwise they will be WAY to strong. Very Witcher, if you know what I mean!
The best part is that the party is all human, and magic is new to the human world. This means they can't rely on high level magic as much, because they need special trinkets to use spells and those spells have very limited uses@@RollWithAdvantage5e
Not in DND setting but I came up with interesting encounter. Players needed to get to warehouse. Whole area have been surrounded by scary demons. Demons were blind and could only feel fear and extreme pain. PC needed to get there without looking so demons won't frighten them.
Inside were guards. Easy fight for a group. Catch was that every time guard got wounded in their turn demons could feel that and appear in warehouse. Party needed to watch out to not let any wounded alife
OOOOOOO that is a VERY interesting idea! I like how that changes how PCs chose to target monsters/NPCs!
@@RollWithAdvantage5e end of the encounter was even better. Only one of player characters got scared of the deamon, so she was a main target. When she passed out there was no source of fear in warehouse so deamon just left cause it didn't see anyone else :D
Two things I'd like to give you my opinion on:
I deem most of the Objectives you propose not secondary, but primary.
If you don't use exp gain counted by enemies killed and don't let your enemies walk around with their treasure stuffed into their pockets and bellies, there not that much need to kill them anyway.
Only by tying a lot of player rewards directly to killing, this becomes an artificial main objective/the primary objective.
Sure, if every enemy is highly vengeful, with no sense of selfpreservation, killing or something akin, is the only option.
But not by default, if the setting is not tied down by the conventions of 50 year old ideas.
The second thought of mine on your video:
It would be advantageous, if the music were more subtle, I think its too loud.
I ABSOLUETLY agree! I said something very similar in another comment but I just find that sometimes people need to take incremental steps to get to that point. If I tell someone to change the whole way they think about game, they are less likely to implement those changes BUT if I say "Hey! You know how you run combat now? What if you change it a little bit?" They will try it and then open up a WHOLE new world of possibilities!
Maybe its just the educator in me! I am a big believer in scaffolding and priming BIG ideas like that!
On the note of the video, thank you for the feedback! It is something we will DEFINITELY address in the next video! 😁😁
@@RollWithAdvantage5e hm. I get it 👍
Sometimes I just really don't know either patience or temperance 😅
I had a combat where the party was traversing the jungle and they were attacked by flying eagles. However, the eagles were going for their horses which carried their food. So the idea was to defend the horses.
Love this!
Thanks. That gave me some fresh ideas to try out.
Always happy to help! We have a few other videoes we've post since this one. One is about 10 underrated monsters in 5e and the other is about telling better stories using lesson taught by ATLA!
Can you do a video on "failing forward"? When you said that it kind of clicked in my mind of what it meant but more examples would be really great. I know I've had that dilemma before
That's a great idea! It's something that's core to my DMing style so, I didn't elaborate much after I said it, but I see what you mean!
My video in February will be about creating stronger narratives and plot structures that's more memorable for players, but I think the video I do in March I could definitely do that!
Music is a little bit too loud
Thank you for the feedback! We will fix it for the next one! 😁
@@RollWithAdvantage5e I love the track at 1:50. Would really appreciate it if you could share 😄
Tried to use audio recognition but no luck.
Hi@@KeithTBaker ! Here is the playlist with all the music!
ruclips.net/p/PLul61JiSKZm8kAQZy3VU42grKU-ouuwIB
that track is specifically Tavern Fiddle by Monument Studios!
Love the visual and audio quality! Your a captivating speaker Im hyped to watch more.
As for my own ideas:
Find ways to give the players reigns. Im thinking even as far as Hard mechanics like Savage worlds and using bennies to onfluence the story.
That way in combat they'll know they can think outside of the box to create wacky situations
I absolutely agree! If the players feel like they have agency and choice, even if it's the illusion of choice, it increases the stakes and their enjoyment in whatever type of encounter they're going through.
Also, thank you for the compliment!!! You have no idea how much that means to me!! 😁
We actually just posted how to deal 1000 damage in 1 turn as a PC in 5e for reaching 1000 subs. Also we have another advice video about 10 underrated monsters coming out this Sunday! (Same guy who did the Point of No Return video last Sunday!)
Happy to hear you'll be sticking around! 😁
Great video and ideas! Thanks for this, even thou I already did some of these things in my combat, but it's always great to hear other ideas. However I'm also writing you to let you know, that your 2. timestamp is written wrong, so it doesn't show on the timeline. Nevertheless, you gained another subscriber.
Glad to hear it! I love it when people are ALREADY doing this, it's such a game changer. Also thank you for the advice! I believe I have it fixed now. (At least on my end!)
Excellent advice! Thanks for sharing
Thank YOU for commenting! Have a great next session! :D
This was something I really enjoyed and needed. Thanks for the video!
I'm glad to hear that! Let me know how it works out in your next game! :D
I just had one of my favorite encounters ever in my GM life during a Curse of Strahd game I'm running. A PC , playing a reborn Frankenstein's monster inspired sentient flesh golem, had two little girls he was honorary brother to he was try to rescue from Barovia. Strahd took them to the Abbot and had him fuse them into one body. That reborn character was getting a massive info dump from the Abbot who he absolutely wanted to murder. The party just tried to keep the reborn PC and Abbot, who was actively antagonizing the PC, from turning into a fight. It never did, and he left with a promise to kill the Abbot after Strahd. After we were done, the player who wanted to kill the Abbot told me he felt emotionally abused (in a good way). I had a physical impact on his heart rate and emotional state. Honestly, I can't imagine a higher honor.
HOLY SHIT. That was a wild ride to read! And I mean that in the best way possible.
So wait, you can't just end the story there! Did you go back and kill the Abbott? Or is the campaign still going? And you haven't had a chance to go back yet. I demand updates.
Last session, the PCs extracted the twitchy bully bugbear from the ancient power armor he'd haphazardly hijacked, and ensured the ancient city's defenses brigged them instead of killing anyone.
Thanks for asking 😊
Oooooo I love that!! The power armor sounds dope. Was it like fallout power armor or what were the vibes?
@@RollWithAdvantage5e Vibes... Okay. Remember the secret chamber in the temple in Egypt from Fifth Element? Imagine that that opened instead onto a full arcology built into Knowhere, with strong SDF-1 vibes, an explicit Voltron-style mystical purpose, and the basis for it all being the mechs from Armored Core made with processes like Etheria's magic from new She-Ra and aesthetic/dread borrowed from Shadow of the Colossus.
And I'm trying to make it feel like Raiders of the Lost Arc meets Metal Gear Solid (meets Dark Souls); this is what happens when you have WAY more nerd references to draw on than your audience.
(Edit: the actual armor in question was a Large-sized centaur-looking quad mech with slammy-arms and beholder-like shoulder weapons. It's the analog to an MT in this now-dead outfit; they haven't met an actual ACs/named mech/Metal Gear yet. They wouldn't have got out if the accidental pilot weren't killing hisself on the mech's convultions.)
Great video. For the next ones please up the volume a bit tho :)
Thank you for the feedback! We actually just posted 3 more videos recently and I think the audio balance is a lot better :)
The topics are, top 10 underrated monsters in DND 5e, how to deal 1000 damage in one turn in DND 5e, and the last one is a build guide for DND 5e!
My most recent one would fall under environmental challenges. I'm running an urban fantasy with PF1e rules, and I gave them a chase scene. The players had a SWAT van stocked with ordinance and were being chased by some bandits on bikes. The leader of the bandits was in an old roadster with both of their mages and a driver. They exchanged gunfire, dodged debris in the road, and dodged a collapsing building or two before the bandits were able to catch them and cut off their escape.
Then my rogue who knows mage hand dropped a grenade in the roadster and killed most of the remaining bandits, including their leader.
👁️👄👁️
That is so SICK. I've never played a modern game for it to get that cool.
Legit is one of the coolest things I've read. Thank you for commenting!!!
I tried a rescue mission last night for one of my player's NPC partners who was locked up in a dungeon...to save the partner he proceed to kill a guard in the open sight of another guard and got mad that 5 more guards were now alerted to his position
Players be mad at the consequences of the actions? No way💀
it's always good to support small business. autentic creators like you bro.
😭😭😭 Thank you so much!
Last session i had an encounter in a losely dnd based jojo's bizzar adventure one shot i designed was basicly a fight that the enemy has tried to escape from after he realized he bit off more then he could cew and the players had to catch up to him only to realize he led them to his office (basicly his home terf he had trapped ahead of time) where he had the upper hand and they both hide and called for back up so the fight became stalling for back up
By the way that was one shot i dmed but my friend (which i consider as a better dm then me) almost never does an encounter that isnt a stright up fight and i like his encounters- they dont feel boring to me and resently he did give me an encounter with an objective- to escape the mouth of a regular sized gold fish (i was a very tiny druid wiled shaped into a crocodile) because i entered the well
These are all great ideas, thank you!
No problem Syrupchugger! Lmao (love the name lol)
wow im gonna steal all of these thank you!!
Steal anything and everything! It's all yours! 😁
I have a session planned to put my party through a 10 mile labrynth that will be roll based on their arrival
I LOVE Labyrinths! They are so fun to explore, especially when there are combat encounters along the way!
Great suggestions! Music is a touch loud in the background though
Thank you for the compliment and the feedback! We will address that in the next video! 😁
This was great advice! The music was a tad loud though.
Hi there! I appreciate the feedback! It has been addressed for the new video coming out on Sunday! Top 10 underrated 5e monsters! 😁
Yay amazing video thanks for the tips
Thank you so much!! :D
lol the blooper at the end
It's a goodie! lol
I recently had one of my players do a solo quest and they joined some mercs who got a job to wipe out some members of a guild who was opposing the guild the city they were in was ran by.
Hell yeah! That sounds bad ass! Did they make it out?
No cap, I can't recall the last time I ran an encounter to just kill the monster.. It's always a complication, there needs to be an important choice.
Exactly!! Variety is the spice of life And I legit can't go back anyone.
(Sorry for the late reply lol life's been weird haha)
Nah, nah, sister. You're not getting me to any secondary objective. You want it? Go get it. Street Smarts!
I've never been more happy to see a John Mulaney reference 😂
As a DM I threw an adolescent ice troll at the party. The troll was acting strange. The party killed it and burnt it to ash. A few days later the party encounters an adult ice troll. He asks why they had to kill his son? He was a good boy, gone a little strange in recent days but there was no need to kill him. The father, with mother and daughter nearby, wanted compensation from the party as the troll family couldn't livenmear the evil-doer party and nor could they live near where the troll had been rendered to ash. They wanted money to help them move to a safer place to live. Away from murderous humans. The paladin in the party said no to the compensation. Now, when a cleric casts protection from evil, the party will be affected. The party was now Evil from the local's POV.
Holy MOLEY! I LOVE that. See, I'd love if later on down the line those Yeti come back with a vengeance. ALSO I love the idea of regional perception affected how certain spells work! I feel like that could be really sick a long term campaign!
Great video!
I was a few sessions ago and my party walked Into a town where everyone had gone missing. Only to find out a Fay had trapped them in playing cards. And now they had to gamble with their lives. In a game of cards.
😳😳😳😳
Woah. That sounds sick. Did the cards move at all? Like the portraits on the cards. You know how like the paintings and Hogwarts move? Or were they just stills of petrified people like when they look at a gorgon? That is such a cool idea and I feel like I'm going to steal it lol
@RollWithAdvantage5e The people in the cards were petrified. And it was a trap set up by a Fey because one of my players had a bounty on their head set on them by a hag. They found a house of cards that was bigger on the inside than out. Where they meet this Fey creature That calmly explained that if they wanted to save the people of the village, they would have to beat him in a game of cards. With their souls on the line
Lmao you got my sub as soon as you honed in and told me to throw in the towel 😂
LMAO It's never too late! You can grow to be better! 🤣
Any tips for an encounter idea i have?
The players are trying to halt the spread of fire from the top of the battlemap using these stones that create a magic wall that the fire can't pass.
However, while this is happening, there are enemies attacking then and trying to prevent this. Furthermore, there are these extremely slow fire elementals that are marching down the map that are able to cross the magical wall barrier and let fire start spreading on the other side.
In this case, they would have to use another stone out of the 6 they have. If the fire gets to the bottom of the map, the town burns and they must try to escape. If they kill the enemies and they stopped the fire, they save the town.
Okay!!! This is cool!! So here is the BIG question, can the walls be destroyed?
I think I would try and avoid that so if a player uses their action/bonus action to "summon a wall" their turn isn't wasted! We want to make sure players get value out of their actions.
Maybe break one of it one of the elementals sacrifices itself? That'd be kinda cool. Trading one problem for another! It requires them to pivot/ adapt!
@@RollWithAdvantage5e The walls cannot be destroyed. The elemental passes through it and then the fire starts spreading from that elemental on the otherside of the wall.
I could try to give a reason why the elemental would die after crossing. Or maybe, after they cross, they have to spend their full turn starting a new fire?
I don't think you need to do that! I think it is a good idea to have them passing through the wall sap some of the elemental energy so then they need to stand still for a turn to regenerate that energy, that gives the players a really good opportunity to attack and get rid of at least one elemental whenever that happens!
Nice JordantheStallion reference
That's great advice dude, I need to work more of these in my games.
On a second note, do you have a playlist or something like that? Loving the track choice, would really appreciate having the names.
I'm glad you think so! And its okay if it's not ALL the time, prepping for D&D is A LOT of work so somethings slip through the cracks. All that matters is that everyone has fun! :D
Yes! Give me like 10-15 minutes and I'll come back with a playlist of songs I use in this video/others!
ps love the profile pic lol
Here is the playlist link!
ruclips.net/p/PLul61JiSKZm8kAQZy3VU42grKU-ouuwIB
IRL time limits on a game goals will frustrate players, especially those that like to plan out, think things through, and tend to ask a lot of questions. There should certainly be means to pause the timer. Yes, use rounds.
I absolutely agree! I think it's largely dependent on the table and the players you have at the table. It's up to the DM to make that call based off of their understanding of the players comfort zones in the dynamic they have. Because, using IRL minutes could seem very adversarial. I know with my players IRL time limits don't frustrate anybody. They inspire action. But my table is not the same as everybody else's! It is definitely a much safer bet to use rounds!
Love some spice 🔥
that intro though xD
I've got the best editor! lmao
You resume the type of missions on Warframe as encounters
Honestly there is a reason why game designers make the big bucks! They know how to make encounters fun!
You’ve got my Sub!
Well thank you! Welcome aboard! 😁
Great video; take this DM inspiration point... use it to kill your players. Take 4 turns to roll with advantage for everything.
If you're going to speak softly might I advise turning down the background music?
It's funny you say that because everyone I know IRL could stand for me to be a little more soft spoken 😅
But I will keep that in mind for the next one! Thanks!
@@RollWithAdvantage5e I struggle with my volume control due to childhood hearing issues - so I used to fluctuate between shouting and whispering since I couldn't tell the difference 😅 I like what you've got to say, just finding the music distracting
I totally get that! A lot of people have said the same thing and I did a little bit of research and I think for the next video I have an idea on how to help make sure the music doesn't overpower the vocals at all!
I do genuinely appreciate the feedback! 😁
Planning a campaign is like buying a dog toy. You know it's gonna be great fun for your -pets- players, but it will get chewed up in the process.
LMAO yep. Never have I heard a more apt metaphor lol
Constructive meant advice: Good background music, but I have bad hearing and really wish your voice would be much louder compared to it.
Hi! Thank you so much for the feedback! This is an issue we have addressed in our more recent videos and one that will not be an issues in my next advice video coming out on Monday!
@@RollWithAdvantage5e Well, obviously I'm at an age age now, where I start to yell 'speak up son'.
I try and avoid "kill the montser because its combat" encounters. I dont enjoy 1 dimensional combat when im playing, or DMing.
"Stop the magic ritual while fighting constantly reanimating skeletons" and "defend the newly befriended farmers house and livestock" have been some ive enjoyed a lot.
I don't like XP leveling for the same reason. I don't think you should encourage players to just kill everything in the world. Figure out how to get around combat, or talk your way through it.
YES! Milestone leveling is what I use in my campaigns for that very reason. D&D or really any TTRPG isn't an MMO or skyrim, you aren't grinding for levels you are crafting a story and exploring a world (hopefully saving it while you do! lol)
I love knowing there are so many people that share my mindset! 😁😁
I like your ideas but in my game the objective(s) may involve combat but the goal is never combat. So I would call these objectives primary objectives rather than secondary objectives. Ideally the PCs accomplish their goal without any combat. No combat. That's no fun! Don't worry, there will be plenty of combat when the PCs are detected and screw up.
Then your table is PERFECT! That is ALWAYS my preference too. I just find that sometimes people need to take incremental steps to get to that point. If I tell someone to change the whole way they think about game, they are less likely to implement those changes BUT if I say "Hey! You know how you run combat now? What if you change it a little bit?" They will try it and then open up a WHOLE new world of possibilities!
Might I suggest lowering the bg music, it's distracting and that makes it hard to pay attention, especially as someone with ADHD. cheers!
Thank you for the feedback! We just posted a new video yesterday and I think solved the issues :)
Good vifdeo, great enrrgy. I bet this guy would be a lkickass DM
That's what my players tell me! 😁