Bro when I started your videos I thought you were a huge channel with like 500k subs just because of how you spoke. Props to you. Very entertaining and informative videos. Keep it up!
Now that Wizards owns D&D Beyond, there’s a chance we’ll get something like that, but I wouldn’t expect to see it right away. (Honestly I’m not getting my hopes up, because capitalism could still dash those hopes.)
@@SupergeekMike Honestly that was my hope as well when I heard the announcement, it makes 100% sense for the players; for the corporate side i understand the capitalism part as well. But just think how happy it would make the player fan base to be able to use both now without paying for the same thing twice!
This has never bothered me, because I knew dnd beyond was basically an online version of your local game store in terms of the boring legal stuff, but now that wizards acquired them I’m really hoping they’re going to streamline the process for those of us who want both physical books and ddb
Or at least, for the players who have already invested in physical copies of the books, offer the digital copy at a STEEP discount. I'd be much more willing to pay an extra 5 or 10 bucks for a digital copy of a book I already own(and I own several) than to pay full price or close to full price all over again.
When you mentioned the snacks thing at the start, I wanted to chime in here. IF YOU'RE GOING TO BRING SNACKS, PLEASE ASK YOUR PARTY ABOUT ALLERGIES. I had an in person group where the DM specifically requested he provide the snacks due to him having a laundry list of food allergies. He did ask us to bring soda which we all did along with some cups and plates and whatnot. Respect goes a long way and the last thing you want is to be the reason a player OR your DM gets sick.
Something that I've found super helpful is having a binder/folder for my previous character sheets. Over the course of a campaign I'll print out my character sheet multiple times to reflect updated stats. Having the older sheets handy means that I can reference little notes I put in that maybe didn't carry over. One thing that I have used a *ton* while running and playing games online is a shared google doc of party inventory. Making it a shared doc means everyone can access it, and everyone can double check to remember "Hey, who picked up that mushroom that acts as an antitoxin?" or "How many potions do we still have?" or "Am I carrying this or is it in the bag of holding?" I have introduced this to three consecutive campaigns with mostly all the same players. I set it up and then they use it. I make ZERO edits to it. It's theirs. But it gives me great insight into what the players are thinking, because every time the group ends up with a bullet pointed to-do list and a mysteries list. As a DM, it's good to know what they think is important. And when they get to a point where they're floundering, they go back and say "What on this list can we address?".
For those in the US, Dollar tree has dice. Also don't spend $50 on one book, wait for Target to have their B2G1 sale, books go for half when that happens and you'll get one free. So that way, it's $50 for 3 books.
Playing online changed a lot for me. I still use physical dice and a notebook, but I have my character sheet as a pdf and use a Google Drive map with documents for my spells, backstory, inventory and so on because it's easier to share and keep updated. Even if/when we go back to playing in person, I'll probably bring my ipad.
The title & thumbnail made this look like it was going to be an XPtoLevel3 skit. I want to add that as much as online options are great, even if you're playing online, you can get these things down at your local game store. They deserve our support, and also serve as places where you can meet other D&D players in person. Plus it lets you physically browse stuff.
I agree 100 percent. I've been playing for about 4 years and have been a DM several times. I still thought to myself "ya I should watch this" when I saw the title.
As a new player I have a lot of trouble with attention, not because I get sucked into my phone or anything but just because I never really get consistently good sleep, especially the night before game day (I get excited). I do my best to stay present, but my brain just wants to turn off. I find I can usually play video games competently in that "10% asleep" state, because I've been playing video games since I was like 4, but TTRPGs aren't second-nature yet and it's quite easy to just lose 3-5 minutes and have no idea what's going on or (if we're in combat) whose turn it is. Maybe I need to start making tea on game days. idk where I'm going with this, just something that this video made me think about.
I have to gently countermand a point here. Pens are not good here. They're better than nothing, but pens speak of permanency, and character sheets are living documents. If the writing is in pencil, the contents of the character sheet can be changed according to the needs of the game. If all you've got is a pen... well, that's fine for notes, but one has to be mindful not to make a permanent notation of temporary conditions on the character sheet. If at all possible, a mechanical pencil with a good eraser is ideal. This is not to say that pens are a disaster and should never be used, only that there's a fair risk in using them that you'll end up creating more work for yourself down the road, and the risk of that rises the less experience you have to help you judge what writing belongs on the sheet and what writing belongs on the notepad. For a new player, you're doing yourself a favor if you stick to pencil.
I thought the pen was for the notes, not the character sheet. Also, as a new Player myself, I was wondering if there is a reason people dont simply laminate their character sheets? That way one can write on it with a permenant marker and just remove it with a little bit of rubbing alcohol.
I've played with people who don't laminate their sheets, but put them in sleeves and used wet-erase markers. I haven't tried laminated, that seems like it would be fun too!
I have found that it's better for me to use pen, because when I make frequent pencil changes, I end up with ghosts of previous information, smudged sheets and it ends up illegible. I keep my inventory and other frequently changing information on a separate page. Same with my spell list if I'm playing a caster that learns spells frequently outside of level ups (I like wizards). Otherwise, I just make an updated character sheet each time I level up, and keep them all in a binder/folder. I also like the feel of writing in pen more than pencil - pencil lead scratching over paper feels weird to me in a tactile sense.
Pens are great for PC sheets. Since blank pc sheets are what now under 3 cents to print a colored ink one, just grab another set of blanks when you level up.
I'm a planning a one-shot for a party of first-time players, I'll be providing everything but attention and snacks. And the library has a vending machine, and I'm debating bringing fidget toys 😂
So cool to see your channel growing so much already! When I subscribed literally 5 days ago, you had 1k subscribers and now it's up at 5. All of this to say, you're providing great and interesting content with a welcoming and kind atmosphere! I'm relatively new to the hobby so it's really cool to find a dnd channel that I can support from its beginning!! 😊❤
Something I'd like to add to the topic on books: Especially if you are not sure if you are going you stay in the hobby there are tons of free online references for all books (I know that's technically pirating content, it's still a good way to try out the hobby without spending lots of money). And even now after playing for a few years I still use things like 5etools all the time. Mostly because they are really easy to use and I don't want to buy a whole book for one spell or one feat from that source. And features like a digital DM-screen or an encounter-builder are also really helpful, especially when playing online
As a DM I prefer to keep the character sheets so I can look over what the players can do and what treasure I can place that might suit their needs. That said, if a player wants to keep their sheet I'll just take extensive notes on everything so it accomplishes the same thing.
*hides pile of dice* yes yes of course only one set of dice P.S. im glad i stumbled upon this channel cuz its really nice and chill , keep up the good content
I'm propping to dm a vmbe for a group of kids and purchased each child a set of dice in their favorite color as a gift to get them excited for the game.
Do you have any recommendations for dice makers that are known for having more unique or varied (i.e. tactile) styles? I’m legally blind so I’ve been looking for dice that have numbers that are raised or engraved enough to read. With how much variety and specializing there are for dice, I figure there’ve gotta be more options already in the mainstream that would unintentionally work.
There are definitely! I would mainly recommend metal dice - they tend to have really good engraving. Sometimes they get a little too funky with detail that makes them unreadable by anyone ("I rolled a 6... wait, no, it's a 14? I can't read these, they're way too intricate"), I've found that Die Hard Dice makes really clean and clear metal dice: www.dieharddice.com/collections/metal-dice-1 I don't know if you're interested in dice in braille, but there are some of those available as well: www.shapeways.com/marketplace/games/dice?tag=braille
@@SupergeekMike Oh awesome! Yeah I knew there were some braille dice out there, it just seems like there are so few of them that there’s not much individuality to it and most of the designs seemed plain. But hey, at least they exist if needed. I’ll check out diehard dice. Thanks a lot!
If you really want to go cheap you can actually get RPG dice at Dollar tree for a dollar. They're not the prettiest but if you're just looking for a full set of dice that will work this set of dice will work.
Have you thought about doing videos regarding campaigns from other languages. eg. Ordem Paranormal (Paranormal Order)? This one specifically got a lot of Brazilians into tabletop rpgs
Lol, I have a pack filled with books and it depends on the game system as to how much of a library I bring with me. I do like dice trays/arenas/corrals to prevent runaway dice rolls. Wyrmwood makes absolutely amazing gaming supplies but can be pricy, it's oh so pretty one day if I can ever find an in person game again I'd like to get some of their gear.
When I started my latest game, before investing in a custom mini, I raided my son's Lego minifigs and built one. Not perfect, but it fits wherever a standard mini would. And depending on how extensive your lego collection is, you can get pretty creative. And they definitely stand out on a battle map. I'm a big fan of writing by hand, but I've found that I can't keep up with my DM (he's a bit of a fast talker) so I've started taking notes in OneNote and it's worked well. I have a different page for each session, and a section for overall notes (like key NPCs, etc...) I started keeping track of our look in a OneNote page, but then we recently switched to Discord for voice (some players are remote) and so now I record all loot in a specific text stream. That way everyone can see what we gathered. I already have my computer open for Discord and my DnD Beyond character sheet, so a quick Alt+Tab and I'm over to OneNote for a quick note then back to my sheet and the game. Good content, clearly presented. Keep it up.
Do you have any advice on how to plan a session as a DM? When I've tried DMing I discovered that I did not really know when my session was ready to be played and often started sessions thinking I was ready only to realise I was wholly unprepared. If you have any good guidelines or even a checklist for DMs to go through in order to ensure that they have the essentials ready to run a one-shot to a satisfying conclusion I would love to hear it. So far I've come to the conclusion that your game should begin with a clear enough prelude or premise that informs the players of the setting and most importantly the objective of the current session. This could be a rescue, a treasure hunt, a defence of a key location or what have you. Previously I would spend a long time describing the world without explaining what it is that the characters have gathered there to do. Another thing I've realised is that players _all_ the need to be introduced within the first 5 to 10 minutes. I often had a tendency to introduce characters like you would in a book where every introduction was staggered. This meant that everyone had their moment of introduction separate or possibly in pairs that would give them a unique flair to the story. However, if any introduction were to drag on too long it would leave the other players waiting for their turn without a way to interject themselves into the moment because their character had not been introduced yet. The main problem I've yet to solve is how to reach a satisfying conclusion or even decide what that conclusion should be. A lot of it comes down to time constraints. Sessions would often fizzle out because we reached the end of our allotted time and while that's fine during bigger campaigns it often resulted in abandoned storylines and wasted preparation. I want to run a one-shot where a complete story is told from start to finish.
This is gonna be relatively unrelated, but Im so glad i found your channel amigo. Love your advice and im looking forward to seeing your channel take off!
I'm gonna counter and say the only thing you need to bring to your first session is a pencil and a sheet of paper. A lot of groups have at least one player carrying enough dice to supply a small army. I know. I am that player. Anything else you need you can acquire over time once you decide this hobby is for you, and you really want to make the economic investment.
I've been watching (and rewatching) your videos for the past week. Not thru all of them just yet, but I'm really enjoying them! Specifically, wanted to thank you for the time and effort to get accurate transcripts up for the subtitles. It's a (seemingly) little thing what makes a big difference a lot of the time. I'm also enjoying working to take in your information and work it to apply to my PbtA table. Ran 5e for years, without the spark catching heavily. Now run PbtA based systems in a very rules-optional, rp heavy fashion for my table who are finally excited about combat encounters - to the point of starting them themselves. I think it's related to a lower crunch/less to remember happening to run an encounter, but I'm unsure. Again, really enjoying your videos and have sent a link to your channel on to my table
Dice are definitely not needed if you're playing with experienced players. They will always have a spare set, and most will let you borrow a set. My recommendation for a new player would be pencil, paper, and your character sheet if you have created one. That's it. You kind of discourage a player if they need to spend cash to start playing. You only spend money when you know you want to continue. Some dice to start with, and then the books. Only get the books you are going to use.
Heya! I just found your channel today and would first like to say that the content you're putting out is stellar! I just have one question, and that's on your opinions of Dimension 20? I never got into CR heavily, but I fell in love with Dimension 20 and their crew, so I can see myself getting into CR over the summer.
Although I am not new to D&D I find this video introduction the best and most helpful of any new player advice vid I have seen. You score a direct hit! New subscriber. I find your delivery style is friendly, informative and succinct. Wishing you much success with the channel!
Always support local businesses but... If you are strapped for cash, Amazon regularly discounts their D&D books by 30% to 50% off, sometimes even more. Right now, you can get the PHB for just 23 bucks. Wal*Mart and Target are also good options, often selling their books for 10 bucks below MSRP, but their stock is limited. But as always, support your FLGSs. Sure it costs more but that extra cost is a down payment on having a place to play, meet people and buy niche products IRL.
I'd assume for a DM it'd by bare minimum be a DM screen, notes for the planned events and planned monster stat blocks, with monster manual, DMG and any other source book such as a pre written if needed for more desperate improv if the party goes far off course.
Great channel Mike. Been TTRPGing since the '70s, and this kind of resource would have been really useful back in the early days, I remember having no clue for a few years until finding a good group of players to guide me :) A decent less expensive alternative to miniatures is also paper minis like at the Precis Intermedia site, as well as others. I use them all the time. There's an awesome series of paper minis that were put out by Giant in the Playground for Order of the Stick in that style and they rock as well. Keep up the excellent work brother.
I still have the d20 the DM gave out at the first game I ever played in. It was a one shot in a book shop designed to introduce people to D&D and it was family friendly. We had four adults and three seven year olds and it was chaotic fun.
One does not simply have one set of dice. *cough, cough* My biggest caveat for the PHB, I'd argue that make sure the group has at least 2 copies of the book. This will make finding a particular rule much faster if everyone is analog. Dice Rollers can be extremely inconsistent, so I'd still argue to have least 1 physical set of dice. The standard amount of d6's that come with dice sets is never enough, so be prepared to get more.
To be honest, I'm not sure telling new players they absolutely need to have their own set of dices from the start is a good idea. They don't know yet if they will actually like the hobbie, so even though you can find dices for cheap it's still an investment that they may not be willing to make right away for something they may not go back to later. I've often had in my groups (at least the physical ones...) someone with enough dices that some of them could be borrowed by new players. Usually, those dices were dedicated to this function, as dice hoarders don't want someone else to touch a dice that they so carefully trained themselves.
So...D&D Beyond, another thing I would warn people about is a phenomenon that is seen all the time on the show they sponsor the most: Critical Role. Anytime someone rolls a die in a tense situation or combat and the game grinds to a halt for 30 seconds as they scroll back and forth on a tablet it really shows why maybe that service is not really great for in game usage, in addition to the points you make.
Having used D&D Beyond in a few games and DM'd a few games with it I can say it doesn't take any longer to use than a paper character sheet. It would take them just as long to find the modifiers on a regular sheet as its laid out the same way.
@@PixelSageYT so at least in regards to my DM experience and what we see in the show that's just not the case. My player who have used dnd beyond consistently take longer than my sheet users on skill checks, attack rolls and saving throws, and on the show the scrolling sort of directly counters your point. I have no doubt some players show absolutely no difference, but in terms of consistent ease of reading a single sheet with the numbers in front of you is just going to turn out better outcomes. Now in terms of character building ease I get dnd beyond, but then the paywall becomes the issue.
@@thefollowingisatest4579 No argument on the paywall, but two things to consider are that they are on tablets, which are significantly smaller than most PC or laptop screens, and while still easier to use than the phone app would provide some difficulty. The other thing is that they are not using the dice rolling feature of D&D Beyond, physical dice are fun but they are a hindrance when talking about speed.
Follow up from last video about the new players, We made characters together and then later that afternoon i get a text from 2 of them with a screenshot of minis they ordered off hero forge. The party: Atlas the elven monk Daella the half tabaxi druid Flora the faun wizard Kyle the human fighter And Nech Nech the ratfolk rogue.
My recommendation to start is NPC names, location names, your party’s quests/goals, and two or three things from each session that you want to remember, either because you think they might be important later, or just because they were cool. From there you can figure out what your style of notetaking focuses on/what is most fun to you, and focus on those. I might also make a video in the future about taking notes, nothing planned but stay tuned for that :)
@SupergeekMike thanks! I actually just found a local group who I'm going to try with next week. I'm hoping I'll enjoy the game. And will go for a few sessions before giving up, even if I don't like it at first!
"Attention" should have been number one (IMO, of course); I don't know if you would file this under attention, but not being familiar with your character's capabilities is also important (to me). In fact, it's my biggest frustration with some of the CR cast; and Matt, as much as I adore and respect him, enables it. EDIT: a big *THANK YOU* for leaving your requests to "like and subscribe" until the end; it's a major turn off for me when creators mention it within the first 60 seconds or so.
In his case, he very much knows that his cast is still paying attention to the story, even though they don’t all know the rules as well. Every DM has their own expectations for that, of course, but in his case he knows a player who forgets a mechanic or doesn’t fully read the spell is still invested in the game.
I tell new people not to spend more than $20 the first six months. That includes 2 sets of dice. The SRD is free online. Beyond is free. And if you ask nicely, I will link you to my Adventure League (AL) campaign. Through the years and lots of different hobbies I have seen (And done it myself) drop hundreds of dollars into a hobby but just drop out of hobby either give their stuff away or sell at a great lost.
Bro when I started your videos I thought you were a huge channel with like 500k subs just because of how you spoke. Props to you. Very entertaining and informative videos. Keep it up!
Thank you so much!!
I’m only just catching up, but mike absolutely has a talent for public speaking, and a pretty good editing skill.
"All you need, is one set of dice."
Me: * makes offended dice goblin noises*
We need all dice muhahahahahahaha
Thats the one thing I don't like about D&D Beyond, I wish the physical books came with a Beyond code to use and sync with my online profile.
Now that Wizards owns D&D Beyond, there’s a chance we’ll get something like that, but I wouldn’t expect to see it right away. (Honestly I’m not getting my hopes up, because capitalism could still dash those hopes.)
@@SupergeekMike Honestly that was my hope as well when I heard the announcement, it makes 100% sense for the players; for the corporate side i understand the capitalism part as well. But just think how happy it would make the player fan base to be able to use both now without paying for the same thing twice!
@@gmailbatman given how they've ran MTGA/MTGO vs paper magic, don't get your hopes up.
This has never bothered me, because I knew dnd beyond was basically an online version of your local game store in terms of the boring legal stuff, but now that wizards acquired them I’m really hoping they’re going to streamline the process for those of us who want both physical books and ddb
Or at least, for the players who have already invested in physical copies of the books, offer the digital copy at a STEEP discount. I'd be much more willing to pay an extra 5 or 10 bucks for a digital copy of a book I already own(and I own several) than to pay full price or close to full price all over again.
When you mentioned the snacks thing at the start, I wanted to chime in here. IF YOU'RE GOING TO BRING SNACKS, PLEASE ASK YOUR PARTY ABOUT ALLERGIES.
I had an in person group where the DM specifically requested he provide the snacks due to him having a laundry list of food allergies. He did ask us to bring soda which we all did along with some cups and plates and whatnot. Respect goes a long way and the last thing you want is to be the reason a player OR your DM gets sick.
Something that I've found super helpful is having a binder/folder for my previous character sheets. Over the course of a campaign I'll print out my character sheet multiple times to reflect updated stats. Having the older sheets handy means that I can reference little notes I put in that maybe didn't carry over.
One thing that I have used a *ton* while running and playing games online is a shared google doc of party inventory. Making it a shared doc means everyone can access it, and everyone can double check to remember "Hey, who picked up that mushroom that acts as an antitoxin?" or "How many potions do we still have?" or "Am I carrying this or is it in the bag of holding?"
I have introduced this to three consecutive campaigns with mostly all the same players. I set it up and then they use it. I make ZERO edits to it. It's theirs. But it gives me great insight into what the players are thinking, because every time the group ends up with a bullet pointed to-do list and a mysteries list. As a DM, it's good to know what they think is important. And when they get to a point where they're floundering, they go back and say "What on this list can we address?".
The shared google doc is a GREAT idea.
That's brilliant! I'll start using that!
For those in the US, Dollar tree has dice. Also don't spend $50 on one book, wait for Target to have their B2G1 sale, books go for half when that happens and you'll get one free. So that way, it's $50 for 3 books.
Playing online changed a lot for me. I still use physical dice and a notebook, but I have my character sheet as a pdf and use a Google Drive map with documents for my spells, backstory, inventory and so on because it's easier to share and keep updated. Even if/when we go back to playing in person, I'll probably bring my ipad.
The title & thumbnail made this look like it was going to be an XPtoLevel3 skit.
I want to add that as much as online options are great, even if you're playing online, you can get these things down at your local game store. They deserve our support, and also serve as places where you can meet other D&D players in person. Plus it lets you physically browse stuff.
I'm not even a new player, I just like watching this kinda content
I agree 100 percent. I've been playing for about 4 years and have been a DM several times. I still thought to myself "ya I should watch this" when I saw the title.
As a new player I have a lot of trouble with attention, not because I get sucked into my phone or anything but just because I never really get consistently good sleep, especially the night before game day (I get excited). I do my best to stay present, but my brain just wants to turn off. I find I can usually play video games competently in that "10% asleep" state, because I've been playing video games since I was like 4, but TTRPGs aren't second-nature yet and it's quite easy to just lose 3-5 minutes and have no idea what's going on or (if we're in combat) whose turn it is. Maybe I need to start making tea on game days. idk where I'm going with this, just something that this video made me think about.
I have to gently countermand a point here.
Pens are not good here. They're better than nothing, but pens speak of permanency, and character sheets are living documents. If the writing is in pencil, the contents of the character sheet can be changed according to the needs of the game. If all you've got is a pen... well, that's fine for notes, but one has to be mindful not to make a permanent notation of temporary conditions on the character sheet. If at all possible, a mechanical pencil with a good eraser is ideal.
This is not to say that pens are a disaster and should never be used, only that there's a fair risk in using them that you'll end up creating more work for yourself down the road, and the risk of that rises the less experience you have to help you judge what writing belongs on the sheet and what writing belongs on the notepad. For a new player, you're doing yourself a favor if you stick to pencil.
I thought the pen was for the notes, not the character sheet. Also, as a new Player myself, I was wondering if there is a reason people dont simply laminate their character sheets?
That way one can write on it with a permenant marker and just remove it with a little bit of rubbing alcohol.
I've played with people who don't laminate their sheets, but put them in sleeves and used wet-erase markers. I haven't tried laminated, that seems like it would be fun too!
@@elev8398 Because a character isn't truly alive until the sheet representing them has food stains on it.
I have found that it's better for me to use pen, because when I make frequent pencil changes, I end up with ghosts of previous information, smudged sheets and it ends up illegible. I keep my inventory and other frequently changing information on a separate page. Same with my spell list if I'm playing a caster that learns spells frequently outside of level ups (I like wizards). Otherwise, I just make an updated character sheet each time I level up, and keep them all in a binder/folder.
I also like the feel of writing in pen more than pencil - pencil lead scratching over paper feels weird to me in a tactile sense.
Pens are great for PC sheets. Since blank pc sheets are what now under 3 cents to print a colored ink one, just grab another set of blanks when you level up.
I'm a planning a one-shot for a party of first-time players, I'll be providing everything but attention and snacks. And the library has a vending machine, and I'm debating bringing fidget toys 😂
So cool to see your channel growing so much already! When I subscribed literally 5 days ago, you had 1k subscribers and now it's up at 5. All of this to say, you're providing great and interesting content with a welcoming and kind atmosphere! I'm relatively new to the hobby so it's really cool to find a dnd channel that I can support from its beginning!! 😊❤
Thank you so much!!
Me with my dice I don't even know what my first set of dice was. Just my handy bag of dice all thrown together
Something I'd like to add to the topic on books: Especially if you are not sure if you are going you stay in the hobby there are tons of free online references for all books (I know that's technically pirating content, it's still a good way to try out the hobby without spending lots of money). And even now after playing for a few years I still use things like 5etools all the time. Mostly because they are really easy to use and I don't want to buy a whole book for one spell or one feat from that source. And features like a digital DM-screen or an encounter-builder are also really helpful, especially when playing online
Dude your channel is like a week old, how did you become one of my favorite dnd you tubers?
Thank you!!
As a DM I prefer to keep the character sheets so I can look over what the players can do and what treasure I can place that might suit their needs. That said, if a player wants to keep their sheet I'll just take extensive notes on everything so it accomplishes the same thing.
*hides pile of dice* yes yes of course only one set of dice
P.S. im glad i stumbled upon this channel cuz its really nice and chill , keep up the good content
Thank you so much!
So glad you said attention. Yes. Please.
I'm propping to dm a vmbe for a group of kids and purchased each child a set of dice in their favorite color as a gift to get them excited for the game.
Snacks your phone with dndbeyond or something similar and a notebook thats it even the notebook isn't mandatory just snacks and a phone
Do you have any recommendations for dice makers that are known for having more unique or varied (i.e. tactile) styles? I’m legally blind so I’ve been looking for dice that have numbers that are raised or engraved enough to read. With how much variety and specializing there are for dice, I figure there’ve gotta be more options already in the mainstream that would unintentionally work.
There are definitely! I would mainly recommend metal dice - they tend to have really good engraving. Sometimes they get a little too funky with detail that makes them unreadable by anyone ("I rolled a 6... wait, no, it's a 14? I can't read these, they're way too intricate"), I've found that Die Hard Dice makes really clean and clear metal dice: www.dieharddice.com/collections/metal-dice-1
I don't know if you're interested in dice in braille, but there are some of those available as well: www.shapeways.com/marketplace/games/dice?tag=braille
@@SupergeekMike Oh awesome! Yeah I knew there were some braille dice out there, it just seems like there are so few of them that there’s not much individuality to it and most of the designs seemed plain. But hey, at least they exist if needed. I’ll check out diehard dice. Thanks a lot!
Starting a new in person campaign tonight (first one since before COVID lol) and this was a nice refresher to remember what to bring!
If you really want to go cheap you can actually get RPG dice at Dollar tree for a dollar. They're not the prettiest but if you're just looking for a full set of dice that will work this set of dice will work.
Have you thought about doing videos regarding campaigns from other languages. eg. Ordem Paranormal (Paranormal Order)? This one specifically got a lot of Brazilians into tabletop rpgs
"All you need is one set of dice."
And then the laughing started...
Lol, I have a pack filled with books and it depends on the game system as to how much of a library I bring with me. I do like dice trays/arenas/corrals to prevent runaway dice rolls.
Wyrmwood makes absolutely amazing gaming supplies but can be pricy, it's oh so pretty one day if I can ever find an in person game again I'd like to get some of their gear.
When I started my latest game, before investing in a custom mini, I raided my son's Lego minifigs and built one. Not perfect, but it fits wherever a standard mini would. And depending on how extensive your lego collection is, you can get pretty creative. And they definitely stand out on a battle map.
I'm a big fan of writing by hand, but I've found that I can't keep up with my DM (he's a bit of a fast talker) so I've started taking notes in OneNote and it's worked well. I have a different page for each session, and a section for overall notes (like key NPCs, etc...) I started keeping track of our look in a OneNote page, but then we recently switched to Discord for voice (some players are remote) and so now I record all loot in a specific text stream. That way everyone can see what we gathered. I already have my computer open for Discord and my DnD Beyond character sheet, so a quick Alt+Tab and I'm over to OneNote for a quick note then back to my sheet and the game.
Good content, clearly presented. Keep it up.
Do you have any advice on how to plan a session as a DM?
When I've tried DMing I discovered that I did not really know when my session was ready to be played and often started sessions thinking I was ready only to realise I was wholly unprepared. If you have any good guidelines or even a checklist for DMs to go through in order to ensure that they have the essentials ready to run a one-shot to a satisfying conclusion I would love to hear it.
So far I've come to the conclusion that your game should begin with a clear enough prelude or premise that informs the players of the setting and most importantly the objective of the current session. This could be a rescue, a treasure hunt, a defence of a key location or what have you. Previously I would spend a long time describing the world without explaining what it is that the characters have gathered there to do.
Another thing I've realised is that players _all_ the need to be introduced within the first 5 to 10 minutes. I often had a tendency to introduce characters like you would in a book where every introduction was staggered. This meant that everyone had their moment of introduction separate or possibly in pairs that would give them a unique flair to the story. However, if any introduction were to drag on too long it would leave the other players waiting for their turn without a way to interject themselves into the moment because their character had not been introduced yet.
The main problem I've yet to solve is how to reach a satisfying conclusion or even decide what that conclusion should be. A lot of it comes down to time constraints. Sessions would often fizzle out because we reached the end of our allotted time and while that's fine during bigger campaigns it often resulted in abandoned storylines and wasted preparation. I want to run a one-shot where a complete story is told from start to finish.
This is gonna be relatively unrelated, but Im so glad i found your channel amigo. Love your advice and im looking forward to seeing your channel take off!
Thank you!
I'm gonna counter and say the only thing you need to bring to your first session is a pencil and a sheet of paper. A lot of groups have at least one player carrying enough dice to supply a small army. I know. I am that player. Anything else you need you can acquire over time once you decide this hobby is for you, and you really want to make the economic investment.
I've been watching (and rewatching) your videos for the past week. Not thru all of them just yet, but I'm really enjoying them! Specifically, wanted to thank you for the time and effort to get accurate transcripts up for the subtitles. It's a (seemingly) little thing what makes a big difference a lot of the time. I'm also enjoying working to take in your information and work it to apply to my PbtA table. Ran 5e for years, without the spark catching heavily. Now run PbtA based systems in a very rules-optional, rp heavy fashion for my table who are finally excited about combat encounters - to the point of starting them themselves. I think it's related to a lower crunch/less to remember happening to run an encounter, but I'm unsure. Again, really enjoying your videos and have sent a link to your channel on to my table
Thank you so much!! ♥️
Dice are definitely not needed if you're playing with experienced players. They will always have a spare set, and most will let you borrow a set.
My recommendation for a new player would be pencil, paper, and your character sheet if you have created one. That's it.
You kind of discourage a player if they need to spend cash to start playing.
You only spend money when you know you want to continue. Some dice to start with, and then the books. Only get the books you are going to use.
you can also just roll online.
I do recommend groups/ or the Dm buy cheap give away dice and minis. You will have to dice how much your budget can afford.
Heya! I just found your channel today and would first like to say that the content you're putting out is stellar! I just have one question, and that's on your opinions of Dimension 20? I never got into CR heavily, but I fell in love with Dimension 20 and their crew, so I can see myself getting into CR over the summer.
I love Dimension 20! I need to catch up, I’ve only seen up through 1/2 of Unsleeping City, but that’s a show I really REALLY like what I’ve seen of.
Although I am not new to D&D I find this video introduction the best and most helpful of any new player advice vid I have seen. You score a direct hit!
New subscriber. I find your delivery style is friendly, informative and succinct. Wishing you much success with the channel!
Thank you for the info, Mike. I'm about to start my first DnD experience next week. 🤝
Best of luck! I believe in you 👍
Always support local businesses but... If you are strapped for cash, Amazon regularly discounts their D&D books by 30% to 50% off, sometimes even more. Right now, you can get the PHB for just 23 bucks. Wal*Mart and Target are also good options, often selling their books for 10 bucks below MSRP, but their stock is limited. But as always, support your FLGSs. Sure it costs more but that extra cost is a down payment on having a place to play, meet people and buy niche products IRL.
I'd assume for a DM it'd by bare minimum be a DM screen, notes for the planned events and planned monster stat blocks, with monster manual, DMG and any other source book such as a pre written if needed for more desperate improv if the party goes far off course.
Great channel Mike. Been TTRPGing since the '70s, and this kind of resource would have been really useful back in the early days, I remember having no clue for a few years until finding a good group of players to guide me :)
A decent less expensive alternative to miniatures is also paper minis like at the Precis Intermedia site, as well as others. I use them all the time. There's an awesome series of paper minis that were put out by Giant in the Playground for Order of the Stick in that style and they rock as well.
Keep up the excellent work brother.
I still have the d20 the DM gave out at the first game I ever played in. It was a one shot in a book shop designed to introduce people to D&D and it was family friendly. We had four adults and three seven year olds and it was chaotic fun.
You only one set of dice, meanwhile I buy a new set of dice everytime I play a character with a matching notebook
Oh I’m definitely gonna do that too the next time I play in an in-person campaign lol. This is about what people need, not what I WANT.
I…. Like pencils… too. 🤣
Great stuff! These are exactly the points I came up with then I thought of this question (I'm a DM). Loving this channel!
Top notch content mashallah
Thank you for posting on RUclips. I feel so validated. I can’t put it into words well enough… but thank you
I'm so glad I could help!
One does not simply have one set of dice.
*cough, cough* My biggest caveat for the PHB, I'd argue that make sure the group has at least 2 copies of the book. This will make finding a particular rule much faster if everyone is analog. Dice Rollers can be extremely inconsistent, so I'd still argue to have least 1 physical set of dice. The standard amount of d6's that come with dice sets is never enough, so be prepared to get more.
"you only need one set of dice"
blasphemy! BLASPHEMY I SAY!
To be honest, I'm not sure telling new players they absolutely need to have their own set of dices from the start is a good idea. They don't know yet if they will actually like the hobbie, so even though you can find dices for cheap it's still an investment that they may not be willing to make right away for something they may not go back to later. I've often had in my groups (at least the physical ones...) someone with enough dices that some of them could be borrowed by new players. Usually, those dices were dedicated to this function, as dice hoarders don't want someone else to touch a dice that they so carefully trained themselves.
So...D&D Beyond, another thing I would warn people about is a phenomenon that is seen all the time on the show they sponsor the most: Critical Role. Anytime someone rolls a die in a tense situation or combat and the game grinds to a halt for 30 seconds as they scroll back and forth on a tablet it really shows why maybe that service is not really great for in game usage, in addition to the points you make.
Having used D&D Beyond in a few games and DM'd a few games with it I can say it doesn't take any longer to use than a paper character sheet. It would take them just as long to find the modifiers on a regular sheet as its laid out the same way.
@@PixelSageYT so at least in regards to my DM experience and what we see in the show that's just not the case. My player who have used dnd beyond consistently take longer than my sheet users on skill checks, attack rolls and saving throws, and on the show the scrolling sort of directly counters your point. I have no doubt some players show absolutely no difference, but in terms of consistent ease of reading a single sheet with the numbers in front of you is just going to turn out better outcomes. Now in terms of character building ease I get dnd beyond, but then the paywall becomes the issue.
@@thefollowingisatest4579 No argument on the paywall, but two things to consider are that they are on tablets, which are significantly smaller than most PC or laptop screens, and while still easier to use than the phone app would provide some difficulty. The other thing is that they are not using the dice rolling feature of D&D Beyond, physical dice are fun but they are a hindrance when talking about speed.
Follow up from last video about the new players, We made characters together and then later that afternoon i get a text from 2 of them with a screenshot of minis they ordered off hero forge.
The party:
Atlas the elven monk
Daella the half tabaxi druid
Flora the faun wizard
Kyle the human fighter
And Nech Nech the ratfolk rogue.
When taking notes, what should I be writing?
My recommendation to start is NPC names, location names, your party’s quests/goals, and two or three things from each session that you want to remember, either because you think they might be important later, or just because they were cool. From there you can figure out what your style of notetaking focuses on/what is most fun to you, and focus on those. I might also make a video in the future about taking notes, nothing planned but stay tuned for that :)
@SupergeekMike thank you! I have yet to find a group to start playing with but am trying to learn what I need to know before I play :)
@@coralhughes1920 Good luck! Have fun :)
@SupergeekMike thanks! I actually just found a local group who I'm going to try with next week. I'm hoping I'll enjoy the game. And will go for a few sessions before giving up, even if I don't like it at first!
"Attention" should have been number one (IMO, of course); I don't know if you would file this under attention, but not being familiar with your character's capabilities is also important (to me). In fact, it's my biggest frustration with some of the CR cast; and Matt, as much as I adore and respect him, enables it.
EDIT: a big *THANK YOU* for leaving your requests to "like and subscribe" until the end; it's a major turn off for me when creators mention it within the first 60 seconds or so.
In his case, he very much knows that his cast is still paying attention to the story, even though they don’t all know the rules as well. Every DM has their own expectations for that, of course, but in his case he knows a player who forgets a mechanic or doesn’t fully read the spell is still invested in the game.
I tell new people not to spend more than $20 the first six months. That includes 2 sets of dice. The SRD is free online. Beyond is free. And if you ask nicely, I will link you to my Adventure League (AL) campaign. Through the years and lots of different hobbies I have seen (And done it myself) drop hundreds of dollars into a hobby but just drop out of hobby either give their stuff away or sell at a great lost.