When I said that in my very first game, the DM decided to throw in exploding crows because he could. I lost an arm and the rest of that campaign had us all developing a phobia of birds. When we had others join us later on, they were really confused as to why we refused to walk on a path full of pigeons. The DM just laughed the entire time.
the half-elf barbarian (don't ask) in our party contracted rabies from the one rabid wolf in the pack that attacked us. -2 to int wis and cha, but +2 str and can start raging one additional time a day.
i lost at "yo guys, stahp, hold up, i hear something" "you see Yuri Longsword stop, holding his bow and his arrow; you see him looking towards the south and saying 'hey, stop, i hear something'"
For real though, I love how Cooper thought he was the beast of the group but Heather is slingin damage like a monster. Druids are no joke, even at 1st level. Wait till she gets to 3 and can turn into a bear or something.
He sucks at being a druid then. Our druid, in a Curse of Strahd campaign, saved our asses many times. We would have died during our first encounter with Strahd without the druid.
@@wldnrkls I have a level 17 moon druid, and while they definitely have peaks and valleys of power as they level, they are never useless. Literally the most versatile class in the game.
I had my nat 20 but only on my first roll..... and I got so stealthy that the party I'm suppose to meet up with didn't notice me at all lol That was a fun first session for me (It's my first not theirs)
[Yeah I know I am late] That was awesome. Especially considering everyone in the class is getting experience doing something while in the TV Club(?). [I remember running the projector back in 4th grade.] [Nice to be entrusted with a task(at that age) and being able to pull it off; while learning it.]
Since the wip has "spines" (she is a druid); I can see how if she "channels the nature" it can ~somehow~ either/both puncture veins and/or slashing the skin/hide; besides the "blunt" on bones/flesh from pulling only a part the creature with great acceleration [double damage, dual/triple "type" right there!].
I'ev always loved the arts and crafts part of DnD i love creating them. in the end the ones i make just collect dust and rot in a shelf lol because i've never played a single game with anyone!
Episode 1: Bill wears T-Shirt, everyone but Rory has a hoodie. Episode 2: Bill wears hoodie, everyone else ditches it. It's a struggle keeping up with the trends, eh?
I wish I had a teacher like you when I was still in highschool. Somebody who teaches you how to play DnD for your final project? I'm sorry but you are the living image of Lathander
True Kenar, but they do help with immersion. In fact, many people are visual learners, so the map and mini's help. Plus, if you enjoy tactical gameplay, the ability to know you can get to a flanking position, pull creatures 10ft with vinewhip, etc make those effects much more meaningful.
we've been playing for months and we are now just finally getting a map. I can't tell you how many times the DM has forgotten how many damn skeletons we're fighting. "Ok so you go over to Wilhelm who still has two skeletons on him," "Hey wait I thought I just killed one of them," "Oh shit yeah okay yes Wilhelm only has ONE on him right now," or alternatively, "Shoot I forgot there was actually ten of them okay so the other two start making their way toward Cal..."
I don't wanna be harsh, but you're missing a lot of key points to letting them understand how great d&d is... like the moment they were speechless and wondered "what if we said no", that was PERFECT! but you did nothing about it... you should've told them "you could 100% do that if you want to, the story will shift with you", this is an important part of getting into d&d because this is the definitive line between videogames and d&d.
There is simple, and there is scripted, as I've said I didn't mean to sound harsh, so sorry if it came that way. And hey! by any means, it's his and their's game... I'm no one but a dumbass viewer... I was just pointing out a lil bit of constructive criticism, that was not meant to sound like "you shouldn't touch d&d ever again in your life!!! *rage + madness*" 😂 Just personally think that new players, especially young who game a lot, would find something fresh in multiple tiny plot hooks and the absolute freedom of choice to roam a city for example... and from these tiny plot hooks perhaps start a travel to somewhere else, now suddenly they're not following a scripted path, they are heading specifically where they chose to go, and suddenly facing the dangers of the wild and setting camp becomes very immersive and personal. That being said, I do understand his approach of scripting it, in order to teach them the mechanics of d&d, which they learned... but, did they really play d&d? I don't know, maybe I'm an ass for pointing that out, I'm sorry, I apologies, feel free to ignore me if you'd like! haha.. I'm not trying to be an asshole, just this is not at all the way I would explain d&d to people, then again I play a lot of videogames and so are the people I interact with, so my perspective could be very different than his.
"Heather that's you you're the healer" Heather "I don't really want to use the spell" DM: "You rush over to the man, and you begin to clean his wounds...." I think you need to error more on the side of letting the players deciding what to do. Go back and watch this part and you'll see that Heather never even said they were getting up or doing anything, you just played the game for her. It would really help strengthen their ability to improvise and roleplay, just say to them "What do you want to do?" then determine if they need to roll.
Bill Allan I ended up getting to the end of the series and really enjoyed the boss fight and the interview and I'm really glad they'll be doing it again
I thought the same thing when I watched this. Also, when the kid playing the ranger ignored the guy playing the rogue who said he didn't want to cluster with the group in the forest because he would be all sneaky staying back in the shadows. But instead he was forced to stand there and wait for the wolves to show up. I get that they are learning how the mechanics of D&D work, but that rogue kid should have been praised immediately for roleplaying his character well. And it kind of sucked that the only girl in the group got labeled "the healer" from the get go, even though she picked a druid, not a cleric. The ranger would probably know herbalism and basic medicine as much as a druid would, maybe even more so.
I would say, think of this as a Telltale Games sort of thing. He makes just about everything happen for them, but leaves somewhat big decisions up to them. I think it's perfect for introducing anyone into a game like this where the only limit is your imagination and the imagination of those playing with you so that you can expand upon each others ideas, words, thoughts, actions, etc. Later when you have a lot more experience and you challenge your own imagination enough to come up with crazy ideas that may or may not work, that's when you can really get into a good game. I myself have never played D&D before (learning from videos here and there), but from what I *have* seen in plenty of videos, this seems to be the case. If you don't have a great imagination, you can't really get all that immersed in a published world or one created by the DM/GM because you just can't *see* things the way everyone else that is playing can. The way to change that is by starting small and, again, expanding and challenging your imagination. Which is what is going on here in this campaign that he designed for them.
I completely agree with you. He may be the expert at this table but this DM still has much to learn himself! Also labels such as "healer" should avoided at all costs as they reduce potentially complicated character choices to one dimensional behaviour. (i.e. She heals stuff, he kills stuff, he sneaks around, he casts spells...etc)
Cooper is clearly the tactician style player.. Play like this, do this, do that... The teacher should have been more stren with him... Let the other players PLAY HOW THEY WANT.
Many people have said similar things, and I would agree about his style. But season 1 was very short and very fast paced due to actual deadlines (the end of the semester). Check out season 2 - the players have a lot more room to grow.
Exactly and let them be maltie class caz an all human game play is boring.in my game 👁️ have players that are maltie class in race and class like elfs, dwarfs,half links which R hobbits, half orcs, kolbals, werbear 👁️ Also have Centors.& in those races there's magic users,bards thiefs, rangers,palidans
@@Evravon "Exactly, and let them be multiple classes (let them multiclass?) cause all-human game play is boring. In my game I (?) have players that are multiclasses and races and classes like elves, dwarves, half links which are hobbits, (I assume they are either half hobbit, half humans or just a renamed hobbit?), half orcs, kobolds, werebears. I also have centaurs and in those races there are magic users, bards, thieves, rangers, paladins." Now, the races were restriced because of the restrictions behind the first season as was explained under the first video. It is the campaign setting, and it makes it easier for the players to get into a game quickly. Some of those races are quite common already and supported in the official rules. Hobbits already exist, they are renamed halflings because of LotR having the copyright to the word hobbit (same with ents being renamed treants btw), half orcs, dwarves and elves are supported and kobolds are supported in one of the extensions. Centaurs and werebears I don't believe are currently supported, but it could easily be done with some simple homebrew. I disagree with the sentiment that all-human is boring though. Races are basically just cosmetic changes in the average RPG. They have some mechanical differences, but I don't think that really removes any potential boredom as much as good RP could. An all-human party could still be loads of fun if the RP is good. Multiclass can only happen after they level up, unless you homebrew something, so they can't do that quite yet, but it is very possible they'd be allowed to do that. I assume they don't know about the possibility, so Bill would have to introduce the concept to them first.
It really depends on you, the group, and the DM in my opinion. If you want to see an example of a group of people that still hold on to that wonder and keep the game amazing you should watch some of Vox Machina. The page is Geek & Sundry, the series is called Critical Role RPG Show. I am in love with watching/listening to them and they are what helped reinstate my need to delve back into the fantasy worlds. And I am so very thankful! Hope this helps and you enjoy the direction I pointed you in as well :D
I've been watching CR since the beginning, and DMing for more than 30 years. Play is more fun and fantastic when players try to stay "in character", including using each other's character names in game.
In the game rules, it says the thorn whip comes out of the ground at your feet, but for some reason I always picture it coming out of my wrist. And apparently other people do too!
It's actually super nice to see the kids go from totally clueless what to say or do as they were in the first episode to totally empowered in this episode.
I'm obsessed with Heather. Carl the female Druid? Literally dead 😂 And she was so enthusiastic at the games physical modules, rolling them 20s, and I may also be SLIGHTLY biased b/c of Heathers the Musical 😂 (Also, Heathers but it's Monsterhearts? Anyone, else think that's a great idea??)
I've been really wanting to learn how to play this game but I don't have anyone who can teach me nor do I have friends that would actually play. But I've learned a lot from your videos man thank you so much I really love them!
An awesome learning resource is Don’t stop thinking’s dnd tutorial series! He also has a dungeon master series and was the one who started me on dnd! Another awesome website is dnd beyond, (great for character building without the books) and wizards of the the coast! Here’s the link ======> ruclips.net/video/OoW2CDgztKY/видео.html Tutorial series^ Dndbeyond.com Character builder and resource^ dnd.wizards.com/ Wizards of the coast^
This is such a cool idea, I'm not sure if this is an implemented class at this school or not, but I think more schools should offer some sort of Tabletop RPG as a art option. Students who aren't good at art or writing could express themselves through D&D. I wish I had a class like this in Highschool, because I was never good at art I enjoyed writing stories but nothing cohesive enough or solid enough to be published. Then me and my friends learned how to play D&D, I DMed and found this awesome outlet to tell these stories.
@@pomonoli while that may be true, that's also saying specifically if you wanted a 7 and then a 13, the thing is that they got specifically 2 20s, which is exactly what you would want
As much as i love this guy teaching these kids the greatest board game of all time. I can only imagine when these kids find a group of other people to play with, that doesn't have the production that this man has. My first campaign had nothing but a battlemap a Sharpie, a miniature figure that we brought ourselves. All other characters was either paper cutouts or chess pieces. Anyways one of my favorite things about this game is watching others learn the game. Great job you guys
Ive been looking for ages for DND channels and after RollD20 and the forever talking, and college humour expecting me to pay them money to finish the seires, this has actually been some of thes best there is! Loving it!
Heather and Brian are great. Heather showed real enthusiasim for the craft side of the hobby and is coming out of her shell more and more since the first episode. Those insane rolls are nice too lmao. Brian still seems a little nervous but I loved the fact that he asked about Malcom over everything else. What a good heart and a great kid. As a total noob to DnD, but not TTRPGS, this series is really helping me learn some of the rules.
I'm studying to be a dm. I'm brand new working with a roughly drawn maps on 8x11 graph paper and using tiny stones as the PCs, but watching how excited the kids become when they see Bill explain and set up his probs makes me really want to invest in some. It's too soon now, and out of my budget, but now something I really want to invest in in the future.
nickey g you can always buy a battle mat. It’s just a large graphing paper esc. mat that you can use marker on. Honestly if you just describe the scene well enough the miniatures aren’t needed. If you need help with setting the scene I suggest you try reading some fantasy and see how they set up scenes because that’s basically what you are doing. You are a narrator. It doesn’t come easy, I myself have been playing for 3-4 years and I’m not even close to being fantastic. you just gotta trust in your vision. The miniatures will accumulate through time
Our group has made a bunch of props out of card board boxes left over from pizzas and amazon orders. paint + cardboard = stone keep... also use water bottle paint them to look like tower turrets. you can also find free 3d paper craft buildings on the internet ink for the printer is the most expensive part. i also suggest printing on card stock for the 3d paper craft. you can pick up an 80 pack of card stock for 5$ or less at walmart
Either plan a multitude of possibilities so that they eventually find something that they want to do, or force something on them without directly controlling their characters. If you plan 20 different possible quests for them to go on and they just say no to everything, perhaps they just don't want to play? Talk with them about why they are refusing everything. Either they are just deliberately ruining the game, at which point playing is pretty pointless, or maybe they don't think your hooks are good enough, which could be an opportunity for you to improve and to find out what kind of game it is the players actually want to play. Maybe they are looking for political intrigue and you're giving them monsters to slay, or maybe they just want to crush monsters and you're giving them moral dilemas they don't want to deal with. If you just want to throw them into a fight, you could have the town be attacked, forcing them to either escape or fight for their lives. You could then block any attempts at fleeing to force them to fight, or maybe make the very act of trying to escape into a badass moment, thus turning their deliberate attempts at ruining the game into a fun game itself. You should only really railroad players if they are being deliberate assholes though. There are ways to make it work in other situations (see Dimension 20), but that often requires the players being fine with it, which would require talking to them about it first. And you can do it every once in a while without risking the players feeling like they have no freedom. This episode was a bit railroaded, but it's also acceptable with completely new players that are just trying to learn the mechanics. You should let them have choices, but you don't need to leave everything up to the players all the time after all.
12:20 *The DM fiddles with his hands and it seems as if he's praying they don't die from what is to come.* He does the: _I have power here, I am dangerous_ posture, and says: "Roll perception." The players here are like "sure man, its not like something bad's gonna happen"
Thanks! Hope you'll subscribe and check out all of the other shows. Seasons 2-5 of "D&D with High School Students" all take place in different part of my original world of Kikapulan, with interconnected plots, storylines, and NPCs.
This is an awesome series. I've been playing D&D for 40 years and I remember when games like this fell by the wayside and young people gravitated towards video game RPGs for that instant gratification feeling. It's wonderful to see role playing games coming back in a big way, but even more importantly is that young people are taking an interest as well. This game has came around full circle. With the advent of the internet, a person no longer has to seek out the rare gaming shop ... they can order literally anything D&D related online. 👍
I cracked a 20 open and the inside looked pretty fucked. Different materials all bunched together. I bought a gamescience 20 and when it gets here i hope it's good
I've just started watching your content with D&D with Highschoolers. I love it. It reminds me of myself when I played with my much older brother and his friends when I was in high school and they were in college. I never had anybody to play D&D for years since then. I'm really glad that your teaching these children D&D. Hearing there excitement reminds me of how much I used to and still love it. I may not still have time or friends to play D&D, but I gonna finish watching these videos and feel nostalgic. Thank you for making these videos. Keep it up:)
Pretty good, i like how you guided them along, as beginners its was probably hard for them to come up with decisions on their own. My only nit pick though is one of the kids seemed to try and tell the others what to do, i wouldve at least told him to dial that back a little. Other than that youre doing a great job with these kids.
Stumbled upon this video with excitement and wonder! My high school had a math/programming teacher that did D&D during lunch with students through out the year. Fast forward, I have been retelling stories of sessions with my girlfriend. She is now interested in playing and I will definitely show her this video series. Thank you for doing this and opening that door for your students!
my first session i rolled also twice a 20 on the die...it was a trail session for me in a campain that was already on the roll.....(i was a gast) everyone just wide mouth....WTF.......that was amasing.
I played, back in the day, in the mid-80s 1st edition AD&D, a now accepted convention (a "house rule"), which was that a "natural 1" always missed, and a "natural 20" always hit. A second 20 was (another house rule) was double damage. (A VERY common house rule until 2nd ed., when it adapted to "Roll again", and if you get further 20s in a row, the multiplier increased. Stupid rare, but happened.) One session I had, in 1986, actually mimicked the 3.5 version, but the DM (who had played with Gygax in GenCon sessions, and he [according to reports and some of the artifacts in the old DM's guides] tended towards lots of magic items/artifacts in order to have very High Fantasy encounters where he would totally screw over characters: think Celtic mythic fantasy and Old Testement regarding the fall out ) had a table from a different game for crits. I nailed 2 nat 20s, in a game when my 3rd level fighter should never have had a chance to hit the Type IV demon with a magical longbow. Normally 3x damage, but again there was this crit table he had longed to use the third tier of. "Roll again". I got an 18. DM Steve stated, "Never used this tier, so... Close enough... Roll percentile dice." I rolled. Something that paralyzed the demon by slicing through its spine. It had, with 3-4 of its buddies, risen up from a "bottomless pit". He ruled the bugger was one-shoted by a 3rd level human fighter. Her name was Amious SImmerblade. She retired after that adventure, though by the end of it she had a keep, thanks to a Deck of Many Things, a magical set of full plate mail, and was level 7.
You're an excellent teacher. Such a fun project and you had a great group of students / players. I'm new to D&D and I enjoyed this tons. Learned a lot.
Thank you! Glad you found our channel, and hope you'll subscribe. Plenty more games and gaming content videos, tips for DMs and players, monster lore, and more.
Oh man. This is great. I play warhammer and make my terrain and stuff too. I'm an English teacher, and im looking to get something like this going for my students, to help them with thier confidence and decision making. You're a hero mate. Absolute hero. From one teacher to another, you're doing it right. Participation, debate, collaboration. Im hooked. Thankyou so much.
You're quite welcome! If you need documentation on how I proposed the D&D Club at our high school, shoot me an email - thebillallan {at} gmail {dot} com
I wish I got to play D&D in school with permission! We used to play up the back of the class with our character sheets stuffed into our workbooks, sneakily rolling dice inside our pencil cases to muffle the sound. It passed the day when we had boring classes like religion or 'social studies' (see: marxist indoctrination).
14:17 the subliminal training of our youth to know military tactics and weapons that kill each other is shown right here. Without thinking he makes hand gestures as if he had a pistol searching his surroundings he quickly stops and brushes it off completely. All the call of duty and virtual combat games we and our children play is effecting them and us.
yuri longsword, the great archer...
great deceptive name,
they'll never see that arrow coming
I think he wanted to play a melee ranger xD
yuri loantholl
Maybe yuri longbow
I just laughed out loud at this
They’ll never see it comiiiiiiiinnnnggggg
You’’ll see it’s just somebody’s last surprise
"Wolves are nothing, we're eventually going to fight dragons in this game" aw said every dead lvl 1 character :P
When I said that in my very first game, the DM decided to throw in exploding crows because he could. I lost an arm and the rest of that campaign had us all developing a phobia of birds. When we had others join us later on, they were really confused as to why we refused to walk on a path full of pigeons. The DM just laughed the entire time.
the half-elf barbarian (don't ask) in our party contracted rabies from the one rabid wolf in the pack that attacked us. -2 to int wis and cha, but +2 str and can start raging one additional time a day.
An angry AF gnome. Interesting.
no kneecap is safe
I was really surprised by how quickly a level one can die when I first played.
"Wolves are nothing, we're gonna fight dragons!" Famous words from new players at level 1.
Reinoud van Reekum you Know I was just thinking something like this
me: O_O don't fight dragons
Famous last words
and then they met tiamat and shat their pants.
copycaaaaaaat!
"Good sir, my name is Malcolm, my wife is Marissa, and my son, I'm not sure"
Yeah, I forget my kid's name too sometimes.
His sons name is emnott schure obviously
I think his wifes name is not Marissa. It might be Left, and his son is Right. Because he's Malcolm in the middle.
the Gary Oak Phenomenon
Thats cruel lmao
I scrolled down to type this, but then this was at, like, the top of the comments, soo...
Long ass description by the poor guy attacked by wolves
Party answer: "Yeah"
That's 90% of the time for a dungeon master
It's like responding to a text paragraph with "k"
It sounds so weird, yet I did the exact same thing when I started playing. I was just like: ...
Couldn't think of anything to say, idk why lol
"Yeah, we got you. We're gonna find your wife and son, dude."
"Thank you, good sir!"
ah yes oblivion
The real IRL Paladin.
i lost at
"yo guys, stahp, hold up, i hear something"
"you see Yuri Longsword stop, holding his bow and his arrow; you see him looking towards the south and saying 'hey, stop, i hear something'"
Adventure time vibes
"Wolves are nothing"
I came into the game fighting rat swarms and somebody almost died..
No one like this comment it's perfect how it is
@@adamcheung60 oof
I almost died getting honey... 2 failed death saves
You've seen some dark shit
Now this... this is... relatable!
For real though, I love how Cooper thought he was the beast of the group but Heather is slingin damage like a monster. Druids are no joke, even at 1st level. Wait till she gets to 3 and can turn into a bear or something.
James Eversole druids suck m8 we have one in our campaign and he doesn't do shit...
Andrew Lim maybe because he sucks at being a druid
Arctic yeah maybe
He sucks at being a druid then. Our druid, in a Curse of Strahd campaign, saved our asses many times. We would have died during our first encounter with Strahd without the druid.
@@wldnrkls I have a level 17 moon druid, and while they definitely have peaks and valleys of power as they level, they are never useless. Literally the most versatile class in the game.
Probably her first 2 rolls with a D20 in her life and she crits both times. Thats an epic way to start plaing pen'n paper...
She rolled a Perception check before the battle though.
But if you look at it, it can only go downhill from there.
That's literally a 1 in 400 chance to crit 2 times in a row...And they were her first attack rolls in D&D ever.....That's insane lol.
I had my nat 20 but only on my first roll..... and I got so stealthy that the party I'm suppose to meet up with didn't notice me at all lol That was a fun first session for me (It's my first not theirs)
First roll I made was a nat 1 IIRC. Equally epic
Like I'm trying to focus on the npc's story about getting attacked but my brain is like "his head is SO shiny"
Buffed and shined for your viewing pleasure.
ME
Shiny no dont look shiny
“YOU BETTER BE RECORDING! I WILL FAIL THIS WHOLE CLASS!!” 😂😂😂
[Yeah I know I am late] That was awesome. Especially considering everyone in the class is getting experience doing something while in the TV Club(?). [I remember running the projector back in 4th grade.] [Nice to be entrusted with a task(at that age) and being able to pull it off; while learning it.]
@@noahberger8760 tv club i love it😂😂 sounds like an american equivalent of media studies
"I will kill you" the DM said calmly
"I'm gonna let you double the damage anyways because i think thats dope." LMAO
Since the wip has "spines" (she is a druid); I can see how if she "channels the nature" it can ~somehow~ either/both puncture veins and/or slashing the skin/hide; besides the "blunt" on bones/flesh from pulling only a part the creature with great acceleration [double damage, dual/triple "type" right there!].
how nice of him to let her do what the rules explicitly state she can do. so generous and cool
"What if we just say no" She is a quick learner...
"i'm gonna let you double the damage because that's dope"
Ahhh, man, rule of cool is best rule, maybe after letting kensei use heavy weapons.
Kensei with a maul skinned as a Kanabo, ohh yes it is freaking shugoki time
For honor?
Kensei with glaive for a dao
@@ShengFink no... for frodo
I love how into all the terrain Heather was. A lot of people don't hype the crafts that much. Great to see a new player show that enthusiasm!
Wynaro you could say she is “loving it”
Honestly that hyped me up. Lol I was like "oohhhh shit!" I didn't expect mini scaled buildings and hills
@@oombagoomba246 Lmfao good one
She's gonna make a great player if she continues her DnD career.
I'ev always loved the arts and crafts part of DnD i love creating them. in the end the ones i make just collect dust and rot in a shelf lol because i've never played a single game with anyone!
10:23 "that's me right there."
" *this is a girl, I don't know if you saw the boobs, that's Heather* "
😂😂
High school boys learned an important lesson. Buwahahaha...
"I'll take 'a statement that could end my career if HR heard it', Bob!"
Omfg 😂😂😂😂😂
Episode 1: Bill wears T-Shirt, everyone but Rory has a hoodie.
Episode 2: Bill wears hoodie, everyone else ditches it.
It's a struggle keeping up with the trends, eh?
except he wasn't
I think the students were trying to copy their new mentor.
NPC :help my sun is missing can you help me ?
players : no
*roll end credits*
XD
Son
Me: let me guess a beholder kiddnaped him
you mean son. not sun. spelling is very important.
*son
lol the sun is missing , Rip Life on Earth ... how did noone notice the sun's vanishing ?
I wish I had a teacher like you when I was still in highschool. Somebody who teaches you how to play DnD for your final project? I'm sorry but you are the living image of Lathander
TheHenriGame real talk
Same ! No one in my entire school is interested in d&d and stuff like that
tbh our reading and writing teacher plays dnd and boi i wished he was our communication teacher so that we would have this kind of finals
@@MK.DANABNORMAL we have a D and D club
@@michaelmichael3903 ın my school no one knows about d&d
That girl has it! Two natural 20's in a row! Daaaaamn!
Definitely some No Mercy Percy blood there.
I've done that. Once.
@@jpumbaa1 assflap dangling in his longjohns. 😂
@@sleepinghermit7778 yes
I tried running this one-shot with my dad and sister.
My dad lent his handaxe to the guy and then paid the bartender to go after the guy.
Wonderful.
These kids are getting the hook up, I wish my first session had these badass miniatures.
colin kuykendall minis and a map make ALL the difference!
I honestly think they are overrated. Every RPG is an imaginative game. If you use "things" you lose every chance to actually describe things.
True Kenar, but they do help with immersion. In fact, many people are visual learners, so the map and mini's help. Plus, if you enjoy tactical gameplay, the ability to know you can get to a flanking position, pull creatures 10ft with vinewhip, etc make those effects much more meaningful.
As great as the visual aids are, if they make all the difference for you, you're playing the wrong game.
we've been playing for months and we are now just finally getting a map. I can't tell you how many times the DM has forgotten how many damn skeletons we're fighting. "Ok so you go over to Wilhelm who still has two skeletons on him," "Hey wait I thought I just killed one of them," "Oh shit yeah okay yes Wilhelm only has ONE on him right now," or alternatively, "Shoot I forgot there was actually ten of them okay so the other two start making their way toward Cal..."
I don't wanna be harsh, but you're missing a lot of key points to letting them understand how great d&d is... like the moment they were speechless and wondered "what if we said no", that was PERFECT! but you did nothing about it... you should've told them "you could 100% do that if you want to, the story will shift with you", this is an important part of getting into d&d because this is the definitive line between videogames and d&d.
Yes..This is a very important point.Good catch.But I imagine he was very involved in getting them hooked.and was focused on the basic idea of DnD.
Correct.
Yeah, he wants to keep it simple, i mean it's their first game.
There is simple, and there is scripted, as I've said I didn't mean to sound harsh, so sorry if it came that way.
And hey! by any means, it's his and their's game... I'm no one but a dumbass viewer... I was just pointing out a lil bit of constructive criticism, that was not meant to sound like "you shouldn't touch d&d ever again in your life!!! *rage + madness*" 😂
Just personally think that new players, especially young who game a lot, would find something fresh in multiple tiny plot hooks and the absolute freedom of choice to roam a city for example... and from these tiny plot hooks perhaps start a travel to somewhere else, now suddenly they're not following a scripted path, they are heading specifically where they chose to go, and suddenly facing the dangers of the wild and setting camp becomes very immersive and personal.
That being said, I do understand his approach of scripting it, in order to teach them the mechanics of d&d, which they learned... but, did they really play d&d?
I don't know, maybe I'm an ass for pointing that out, I'm sorry, I apologies, feel free to ignore me if you'd like! haha.. I'm not trying to be an asshole, just this is not at all the way I would explain d&d to people, then again I play a lot of videogames and so are the people I interact with, so my perspective could be very different than his.
No worries - it's all good.
I find this funny because you’re actually doing this during school
Pros: We know all the rules and tactics, we good.
Noobs: We don't know how to play but we keep getting a natural 20.
valid
Every first gamer ever:"Wolves so easy, it's ok We'll be fighting dragons"
*gets to the first ancient dragon*
"Where are the dire wolves"
"Heather that's you you're the healer"
Heather "I don't really want to use the spell"
DM: "You rush over to the man, and you begin to clean his wounds...."
I think you need to error more on the side of letting the players deciding what to do. Go back and watch this part and you'll see that Heather never even said they were getting up or doing anything, you just played the game for her.
It would really help strengthen their ability to improvise and roleplay, just say to them "What do you want to do?" then determine if they need to roll.
Your feedback rings true. Hopefully you'll see a lot more player freedom in Season 2, because we've changed the format a bit.
Bill Allan I ended up getting to the end of the series and really enjoyed the boss fight and the interview and I'm really glad they'll be doing it again
I thought the same thing when I watched this. Also, when the kid playing the ranger ignored the guy playing the rogue who said he didn't want to cluster with the group in the forest because he would be all sneaky staying back in the shadows. But instead he was forced to stand there and wait for the wolves to show up. I get that they are learning how the mechanics of D&D work, but that rogue kid should have been praised immediately for roleplaying his character well. And it kind of sucked that the only girl in the group got labeled "the healer" from the get go, even though she picked a druid, not a cleric. The ranger would probably know herbalism and basic medicine as much as a druid would, maybe even more so.
I would say, think of this as a Telltale Games sort of thing. He makes just about everything happen for them, but leaves somewhat big decisions up to them. I think it's perfect for introducing anyone into a game like this where the only limit is your imagination and the imagination of those playing with you so that you can expand upon each others ideas, words, thoughts, actions, etc. Later when you have a lot more experience and you challenge your own imagination enough to come up with crazy ideas that may or may not work, that's when you can really get into a good game. I myself have never played D&D before (learning from videos here and there), but from what I *have* seen in plenty of videos, this seems to be the case. If you don't have a great imagination, you can't really get all that immersed in a published world or one created by the DM/GM because you just can't *see* things the way everyone else that is playing can. The way to change that is by starting small and, again, expanding and challenging your imagination. Which is what is going on here in this campaign that he designed for them.
I completely agree with you. He may be the expert at this table but this DM still has much to learn himself!
Also labels such as "healer" should avoided at all costs as they reduce potentially complicated character choices to one dimensional behaviour. (i.e. She heals stuff, he kills stuff, he sneaks around, he casts spells...etc)
"this one's closer to Malcom, we don't need Malcom." I'M CRYING, TRAITOROUS!
BADASS! Bill Allan Damage Alternative Scoring System. I loved this!
I do like the name, though my DM's been using it for ages
I thought at first he said Phill instead of Bill, I was like "Fatass???"
I like this concept, nothing more disappointing than a low critical hit damage roll.
Nein herman wouldn't that be patass?
outlier 07 yeah but it would sound like fatass ;)
It's so cute to see him show off with his minis and the students are like "Woah!"
"My son, I'm Not Sure." Aha, so that's his name!
“Aiymnot Shuur”
"Why come you don't have a tattoo?"
@@benjamingeiger "I like sex and money too!"
It is amazing how it only takes an hour for them to start working together. D&D clubs used to be a thing in school maybe we should bring them back.
tryingnot my school has one
we really should
A teacher letting students use materials to express creativity!?! Truly exceptional from all of you!
Cooper is clearly the tactician style player.. Play like this, do this, do that... The teacher should have been more stren with him... Let the other players PLAY HOW THEY WANT.
Many people have said similar things, and I would agree about his style. But season 1 was very short and very fast paced due to actual deadlines (the end of the semester). Check out season 2 - the players have a lot more room to grow.
Exactly and let them be maltie class caz an all human game play is boring.in my game 👁️ have players that are maltie class in race and class like elfs, dwarfs,half links which R hobbits, half orcs, kolbals, werbear 👁️ Also have Centors.& in those races there's magic users,bards thiefs, rangers,palidans
@@erniecorella7676 Can you say that again, but this time in English? From what I gathered it seemed really interesting.
@@Evravon "Exactly, and let them be multiple classes (let them multiclass?) cause all-human game play is boring. In my game I (?) have players that are multiclasses and races and classes like elves, dwarves, half links which are hobbits, (I assume they are either half hobbit, half humans or just a renamed hobbit?), half orcs, kobolds, werebears. I also have centaurs and in those races there are magic users, bards, thieves, rangers, paladins."
Now, the races were restriced because of the restrictions behind the first season as was explained under the first video. It is the campaign setting, and it makes it easier for the players to get into a game quickly. Some of those races are quite common already and supported in the official rules. Hobbits already exist, they are renamed halflings because of LotR having the copyright to the word hobbit (same with ents being renamed treants btw), half orcs, dwarves and elves are supported and kobolds are supported in one of the extensions. Centaurs and werebears I don't believe are currently supported, but it could easily be done with some simple homebrew.
I disagree with the sentiment that all-human is boring though. Races are basically just cosmetic changes in the average RPG. They have some mechanical differences, but I don't think that really removes any potential boredom as much as good RP could. An all-human party could still be loads of fun if the RP is good.
Multiclass can only happen after they level up, unless you homebrew something, so they can't do that quite yet, but it is very possible they'd be allowed to do that. I assume they don't know about the possibility, so Bill would have to introduce the concept to them first.
I’ve been thinking exactly the same. So bossy lol.
It's great to see these little nerdlings getting into the game. The world needs more Adventurers to take up the game.
Haha! Those two natural 20s were great
two 20's and a 19, daaaayum
Yeah, right? Craziest rolls for a newbie I ever saw!
@@BillAllanWorld In my first session I got 2 Nat 1's straight...
@@brandondesoto1017 lmao
Daaamn, Heather is the anti-Wheaton
Percy, the next generation
This vid reminds me of when I was a newb. The sense of wonderment and discovery. Niiiiice.
Dungeons & Coffee Tabletop RPG Show What about now? Is this feeling gone?
I am wondering, because I am newb and I want this feeling keeps forever.
I feel like it lasted about a month for me.
The feeling fades, but, with the right player and DM attitudes, and new characters, it never dies.
It really depends on you, the group, and the DM in my opinion. If you want to see an example of a group of people that still hold on to that wonder and keep the game amazing you should watch some of Vox Machina. The page is Geek & Sundry, the series is called Critical Role RPG Show. I am in love with watching/listening to them and they are what helped reinstate my need to delve back into the fantasy worlds. And I am so very thankful! Hope this helps and you enjoy the direction I pointed you in as well :D
I've been watching CR since the beginning, and DMing for more than 30 years. Play is more fun and fantastic when players try to stay "in character", including using each other's character names in game.
I love how the kids, especially Heather, were interested in the models. Some very crafty miniature making.
"wolves are nothing" - In my first session, I got downed by a feral infected deer. A. DEER.
In the game rules, it says the thorn whip comes out of the ground at your feet, but for some reason I always picture it coming out of my wrist. And apparently other people do too!
Global Gamer Probaly because of Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho.
It cooler that way.
I always Image coming out from the wrist or long hair?
I mean a whip is indeed normally held.
i cant stop laughing at the fact that Yuri Longsword uses a bow
It's actually super nice to see the kids go from totally clueless what to say or do as they were in the first episode to totally empowered in this episode.
I wish I had this guy for a teacher
I'm obsessed with Heather. Carl the female Druid? Literally dead 😂 And she was so enthusiastic at the games physical modules, rolling them 20s, and I may also be SLIGHTLY biased b/c of Heathers the Musical 😂
(Also, Heathers but it's Monsterhearts? Anyone, else think that's a great idea??)
*gasp* you like Heathers too?!
"I will kill you, I will fail this whole class" lol, happy DM to unleashing the Tarrasque and back in 5 seconds.
I've been really wanting to learn how to play this game but I don't have anyone who can teach me nor do I have friends that would actually play. But I've learned a lot from your videos man thank you so much I really love them!
turtleHead970 in your same situation my man.
An awesome learning resource is Don’t stop thinking’s dnd tutorial series! He also has a dungeon master series and was the one who started me on dnd! Another awesome website is dnd beyond, (great for character building without the books) and wizards of the the coast!
Here’s the link ======>
ruclips.net/video/OoW2CDgztKY/видео.html
Tutorial series^
Dndbeyond.com
Character builder and resource^
dnd.wizards.com/
Wizards of the coast^
Dont sleep on using Roll20. I found a great group there and have been playing regularly for maybe 6 months now. No materials needed.
if you are interested in playing but cant find a group check out roll20.net and play from home with people over the net
@@williamarndt9440 Any requirements? Like gear?
"That's dryer lint that I painted over." Oh so relatable.
This is such a cool idea, I'm not sure if this is an implemented class at this school or not, but I think more schools should offer some sort of Tabletop RPG as a art option. Students who aren't good at art or writing could express themselves through D&D. I wish I had a class like this in Highschool, because I was never good at art I enjoyed writing stories but nothing cohesive enough or solid enough to be published. Then me and my friends learned how to play D&D, I DMed and found this awesome outlet to tell these stories.
I will fail this whole class lol
Because you probably won't show up with a shirt on.
Exactly
You could say Heather is... a natural 8)
BunniBuu Very punny mate
BunniBuu eeeeeeehhhhh
Did you call her a natural because she rolled two nat 20s in a row, or because she's a druid?
These students are the definition of eager noobs. They actually want to learn the game and are getting excited to play. This series is awesome!
I really like the maximizing the first damage die on a crit hit, then the second is just a bonus roll.
Getting two 20s in a row is a one in 400 chance
Kieran Yeet one time i got four nat 1’s and got nat 20’d on in a row, and that’s how you lose your favorite character
The thing is, if I roll 2 d20's and I roll a 7 and a 13, I could also say: woah, the chance that I rolled a 7 and then a 13 is 1 in 400.
@@pomonoli while that may be true, that's also saying specifically if you wanted a 7 and then a 13, the thing is that they got specifically 2 20s, which is exactly what you would want
Watching these kids play for the first time is priceless. Thank you and your students. I can not wait for Ep 3.
I ran a fantasy and mecha game with the students of my manga class.
Fun times!
Swordsquire you have a manga class? I'm jealous.
As much as i love this guy teaching these kids the greatest board game of all time. I can only imagine when these kids find a group of other people to play with, that doesn't have the production that this man has. My first campaign had nothing but a battlemap a Sharpie, a miniature figure that we brought ourselves. All other characters was either paper cutouts or chess pieces. Anyways one of my favorite things about this game is watching others learn the game. Great job you guys
LuL the classic DM line "What do you do?"
"That's a girl. I don't know if you saw the boobs" I love the serious but also dad vibes that the dm is having xD
Dryer lint with four coats of paint friggin migiver status dm up in here
You are, by far, the coolest person who wears a bunch of keys on his belt.
Heather’s reaction to to the terrain was awesome. Such wonder! 😃👍🏽
"I'll kill you all." XD
Ive been looking for ages for DND channels and after RollD20 and the forever talking, and college humour expecting me to pay them money to finish the seires, this has actually been some of thes best there is! Loving it!
Welcome! Hope you check out seasons 2 and 3. Lots of fun!
Heather and Brian are great. Heather showed real enthusiasim for the craft side of the hobby and is coming out of her shell more and more since the first episode. Those insane rolls are nice too lmao. Brian still seems a little nervous but I loved the fact that he asked about Malcom over everything else. What a good heart and a great kid. As a total noob to DnD, but not TTRPGS, this series is really helping me learn some of the rules.
Glad you are here. Hope you'll subscribe and check out seasons 2 and 3!
a natural 20, is also called a critical hit...
Me: a Critical Role, if you will.... :P
Some also refer to the act as "No Mercy Percy"
Shhhhh..... Vex is counting her gold.
Let's hope they don't hit a nine, if you get my fort.
The may kill their entire family and throw them under a bridge
I'm studying to be a dm. I'm brand new working with a roughly drawn maps on 8x11 graph paper and using tiny stones as the PCs, but watching how excited the kids become when they see Bill explain and set up his probs makes me really want to invest in some. It's too soon now, and out of my budget, but now something I really want to invest in in the future.
nickey g you can always buy a battle mat. It’s just a large graphing paper esc. mat that you can use marker on. Honestly if you just describe the scene well enough the miniatures aren’t needed. If you need help with setting the scene I suggest you try reading some fantasy and see how they set up scenes because that’s basically what you are doing. You are a narrator. It doesn’t come easy, I myself have been playing for 3-4 years and I’m not even close to being fantastic. you just gotta trust in your vision. The miniatures will accumulate through time
Our group has made a bunch of props out of card board boxes left over from pizzas and amazon orders. paint + cardboard = stone keep... also use water bottle paint them to look like tower turrets. you can also find free 3d paper craft buildings on the internet ink for the printer is the most expensive part. i also suggest printing on card stock for the 3d paper craft. you can pick up an 80 pack of card stock for 5$ or less at walmart
nickey g members of the group can donate a few bucks now and then and you guys can buy some really cool stuff before you know it
2 casters, rogue and bow rangers... this party is absolutely cannon fodder
Man would I have loved a class like that in high school
7:09 “if we say no the game just ends.” (I usually have this problem when I’m the DM in my games)
Either plan a multitude of possibilities so that they eventually find something that they want to do, or force something on them without directly controlling their characters.
If you plan 20 different possible quests for them to go on and they just say no to everything, perhaps they just don't want to play? Talk with them about why they are refusing everything. Either they are just deliberately ruining the game, at which point playing is pretty pointless, or maybe they don't think your hooks are good enough, which could be an opportunity for you to improve and to find out what kind of game it is the players actually want to play. Maybe they are looking for political intrigue and you're giving them monsters to slay, or maybe they just want to crush monsters and you're giving them moral dilemas they don't want to deal with.
If you just want to throw them into a fight, you could have the town be attacked, forcing them to either escape or fight for their lives. You could then block any attempts at fleeing to force them to fight, or maybe make the very act of trying to escape into a badass moment, thus turning their deliberate attempts at ruining the game into a fun game itself.
You should only really railroad players if they are being deliberate assholes though. There are ways to make it work in other situations (see Dimension 20), but that often requires the players being fine with it, which would require talking to them about it first. And you can do it every once in a while without risking the players feeling like they have no freedom.
This episode was a bit railroaded, but it's also acceptable with completely new players that are just trying to learn the mechanics. You should let them have choices, but you don't need to leave everything up to the players all the time after all.
the game wouldn't have just ended...
'Wolves are nothing!' -Famous last words xD
12:20 *The DM fiddles with his hands and it seems as if he's praying they don't die from what is to come.* He does the: _I have power here, I am dangerous_ posture, and says:
"Roll perception."
The players here are like "sure man, its not like something bad's gonna happen"
LoL
This is probably going to become my favourite show possibly I'm only in 2 episodes in great job man keep going
Thanks! Hope you'll subscribe and check out all of the other shows. Seasons 2-5 of "D&D with High School Students" all take place in different part of my original world of Kikapulan, with interconnected plots, storylines, and NPCs.
SPONSORED BY DWARVENFORGE LOL great vid
This is an awesome series. I've been playing D&D for 40 years and I remember when games like this fell by the wayside and young people gravitated towards video game RPGs for that instant gratification feeling. It's wonderful to see role playing games coming back in a big way, but even more importantly is that young people are taking an interest as well. This game has came around full circle. With the advent of the internet, a person no longer has to seek out the rare gaming shop ... they can order literally anything D&D related online. 👍
CCCAAAAARRRRLLLL
LOCKDOWN GAMING
_Llamas With Hats_ is cool.
Surprising how quick they got into the game, took me a lot longer to get a feel for roleplaying
2 natural 20s in a row, but I always struggle to get something other natural ones... -_-
The Drangler you need some new dice boi
Cesar Gonzalez True
I cracked a 20 open and the inside looked pretty fucked. Different materials all bunched together. I bought a gamescience 20 and when it gets here i hope it's good
The dice gods are with him
Try playing a halfling, if they ever roll a one they can reroll one time and take the next result.
I've just started watching your content with D&D with Highschoolers. I love it. It reminds me of myself when I played with my much older brother and his friends when I was in high school and they were in college. I never had anybody to play D&D for years since then. I'm really glad that your teaching these children D&D. Hearing there excitement reminds me of how much I used to and still love it.
I may not still have time or friends to play D&D, but I gonna finish watching these videos and feel nostalgic. Thank you for making these videos. Keep it up:)
Thanks my friend. Glad you are enjoying it!
"Can you help me?", "Yeah, dude, we got you". Are you sure he is an archer and not a surfer?
Pretty good, i like how you guided them along, as beginners its was probably hard for them to come up with decisions on their own. My only nit pick though is one of the kids seemed to try and tell the others what to do, i wouldve at least told him to dial that back a little. Other than that youre doing a great job with these kids.
Youuuuu must thornwhip it, into shape
Stumbled upon this video with excitement and wonder!
My high school had a math/programming teacher that did D&D during lunch with students through out the year.
Fast forward, I have been retelling stories of sessions with my girlfriend. She is now interested in playing and I will definitely show her this video series. Thank you for doing this and opening that door for your students!
Sudden realization that he does'nt read the book when playing DM.
*DM LEVELS SHOULD BE A THING.
Keep watching...
I love how Heather was so into the scenery and terrain
"Wolves are nothing, eventually we're going to be fighting dragons!"
Then...
"Attack the one closest to me! What!? Do you want me to die?"
lol --
When he was like "what do you do" and everyone was quietly looking at each other... damn that took me back :)
my first session i rolled also twice a 20 on the die...it was a trail session for me in a campain that was already on the roll.....(i was a gast) everyone just wide mouth....WTF.......that was amasing.
I played, back in the day, in the mid-80s 1st edition AD&D, a now accepted convention (a "house rule"), which was that a "natural 1" always missed, and a "natural 20" always hit. A second 20 was (another house rule) was double damage. (A VERY common house rule until 2nd ed., when it adapted to "Roll again", and if you get further 20s in a row, the multiplier increased. Stupid rare, but happened.) One session I had, in 1986, actually mimicked the 3.5 version, but the DM (who had played with Gygax in GenCon sessions, and he [according to reports and some of the artifacts in the old DM's guides] tended towards lots of magic items/artifacts in order to have very High Fantasy encounters where he would totally screw over characters: think Celtic mythic fantasy and Old Testement regarding the fall out ) had a table from a different game for crits. I nailed 2 nat 20s, in a game when my 3rd level fighter should never have had a chance to hit the Type IV demon with a magical longbow. Normally 3x damage, but again there was this crit table he had longed to use the third tier of. "Roll again". I got an 18. DM Steve stated, "Never used this tier, so... Close enough... Roll percentile dice." I rolled. Something that paralyzed the demon by slicing through its spine. It had, with 3-4 of its buddies, risen up from a "bottomless pit". He ruled the bugger was one-shoted by a 3rd level human fighter. Her name was Amious SImmerblade. She retired after that adventure, though by the end of it she had a keep, thanks to a Deck of Many Things, a magical set of full plate mail, and was level 7.
You're an excellent teacher. Such a fun project and you had a great group of students / players. I'm new to D&D and I enjoyed this tons. Learned a lot.
Thank you! Glad you found our channel, and hope you'll subscribe. Plenty more games and gaming content videos, tips for DMs and players, monster lore, and more.
Where were awesome teachers like this when I was in high school? Lol SUBSCRIBED
Oh man. This is great. I play warhammer and make my terrain and stuff too. I'm an English teacher, and im looking to get something like this going for my students, to help them with thier confidence and decision making.
You're a hero mate. Absolute hero. From one teacher to another, you're doing it right. Participation, debate, collaboration.
Im hooked. Thankyou so much.
You're quite welcome! If you need documentation on how I proposed the D&D Club at our high school, shoot me an email -
thebillallan {at} gmail {dot} com
@@BillAllanWorld oh, thanks so much mate! Ill whip one over tonight.
@@BillAllanWorld sent. Sorry for the delay.
I wish I got to play D&D in school with permission! We used to play up the back of the class with our character sheets stuffed into our workbooks, sneakily rolling dice inside our pencil cases to muffle the sound. It passed the day when we had boring classes like religion or 'social studies' (see: marxist indoctrination).
bashpr0mpt you had a religion class? Private school?
I was gonna say the same thing cade
Or maybe just from another country. In Denmark we have religion in primary school as well. :p
>Marxist indoctrination, what
This series is really helping me understand how D&D works! Thanks Bill!
I wish I had found these sooner lol! They are really fun to watch since I can’t really play dnd irl
I love it when people apreciate and are interested with your props/models.
my first game, i'm gonna be a dm. this vid is making me excited for that.
This show is awesome! Definitely a must binge. I can't wait to see how your players open up, and get better at the game over time.
Awesome! Check out Season 2 - it goes a lot longer and really shows the growth from newbie players.
Heather "Thorn Whip" The Druid
14:17 the subliminal training of our youth to know military tactics and weapons that kill each other is shown right here.
Without thinking he makes hand gestures as if he had a pistol searching his surroundings he quickly stops and brushes it off completely. All the call of duty and virtual combat games we and our children play is effecting them and us.