📣Next LIVE STREAM is planned for this Friday, January 4, at 8 PM Eastern US time. LOTS of folks wanted to do another adventure creation stream, and I promise we'll get back to that. However, many of you also wanted to do a trap building stream, and since we haven't done one of those yet, I decided to do trap building. So, I'll talk about the basic components of a good trap and then we'll create a bunch of traps together! There will also be time for Q&A. Hope you can make it! 😃 🔴 Also, let me know in the comments what the most challenging part of encounter building is for you.

@HowtoRPG

5 жыл бұрын

Use the community tab to advertise your live streams about 12 hours before the event.

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Why 12 hours?

@HowtoRPG

5 жыл бұрын

@@theDMLair Long enough time to inform subscribers without them forgetting you will be live.

@Boredmonkey04

3 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate your tips and walkthroughs! DMing my first game next week. Getting more excited the closer it gets, all PCs are friends so it's going to be great! Thanks again, love the skits

One campaign I had, my players decided to kill all but one goblin. They decided to persuade him to show them where his gold was kept and got much better loot than just killing. Plus I feel they enjoyed talking to the goblin rather than outright killing him. Love your videos.

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Yes, talking to enemies often results in more fun than just killing them. 😁

"It's probably going to turn into a surround & pound, with that creature going down in like 1 or 2 rounds" BARS

The first encounter of this campaign unexpectedly ended with the party, specifically my ranger, getting a devoted goblin follower. We basically slaughtered his entire group, and with him being the last one alive, we asked him to lead us to the other camps. He gladly betrayed them as they were horrible bullies and he is the runt of the litter, and now he is eternally grateful and follows me everywhere like a loyal puppy. The DM still laughs her ass off about it, because now she can threaten us by threatening this tiny goblin with like 6 hitpoints and everyone will freak the fuck out because wwe love him. In the following sessions, I also avoided most of the fights the DM threw at us by using Primeval Awareness and talking the animals of the forest out of attacking us, noticing that they were in fact simply terrified of the bigger threat lurking in the north. I think the fighter is getting antsy because he hasn't gotten to kill anything in a while, lol.

@Foolz147Rpg

2 жыл бұрын

😂

thumbs up for pixie XD

I dont know if anyone has mentioned this, but a strategy for solo encounters that I've been using is having the monster act on 20, 15, 10 and 5 instead of rolling initiative. Meaning first turn they move, second attack, third move again, fourth attack. Makes it more dynamic and reactive. This combined with legendary actions makes the single boss feel alive and deadly.

You are my first video of the year

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Awesome!!! A good way to kick of the new year. 😃👊

A tip I found for single creature encounters, try using monsters with the ability to summon, create or call on allies. This will divert players attention from the single monster and keep them on their toes.

I've JUST started DMing a campaign and these videos are incredibly helpful, so thank you so much :)

@theDMLair

3 жыл бұрын

You are very welcome! Happy to help. 😀

From my perspective I think more creatures = more boredom. Not only is it harder on me as a DM but it slows combat down to a crawl. Since most parties consist of 4-5 players going through initiative order can be a real chore. I think having 3 strong enemies at one time is the sweet spot, any more just becomes a clusterfuck.

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

The trick I've found is to move quickly through the monsters when it's their turn. I often run lots of monsters at the same time and often take less time than just ONE of my players on his turn. It's a matter of prep so I know the monsters stats but also just making quick decisions.

@twilightgardenspresentatio6384

4 жыл бұрын

I think parties should be either two or three people role playing not four or five players war gaming

Very well spoken. I try to avoid simple fighting encounters. I like to make things more interesting. For example, last night I had a traveling salesman try to sell the Bag of Holding to my group. They were being complicated so I had the salesman just get up and walk outside. When they followed, he ran. When they chased, all they found was a leather satchel in the alleyway. Long story short he ended up popping out of the satchel and selling it to the party, demonstrations are better than descriptions in this case. MAKE EVERYTHING UNIQUE. Cookie cutter encounters get old very fast.

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

LOL that's awesome. How were they overcomplicating buying the Bag?

@joshuasolt8416

5 жыл бұрын

@@theDMLair The bag of holding is a Wondrous Item, so for him to be selling it, I felt he needed to be shady. So he used Message to quietly talk to a member of the party. First the group refused to meet him, then they refused listen to him without threatening, then they tried to apprehend him. I was like... "Not EVERY encounter is going to be an evil fight...."

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

LOL That sounds like what a typical D&D group would do. Totally agree that variety and not always fighting makes things SOOOO much more interesting and fun.

Your content just keeps getting better.

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot! 😁👊

Loving these videos. I have recently started Dm'ing for the family and these really help. Thank you

I have two very memorable campaigns from my earlier D&D days. I.E. when I was bad at DMing. The first was when one of my players tried to extort a town by threatening to blow up a warehouse and total chaos broke loose. One character got blown up by the warehouse, another got hit by a piece of burning rubble, one was one-shot by a guard, and another just fought his way out single handedly. In another, I had them face off against a single level-3 NPC when they were at level 2. They all had terrible dice roles and somehow almost lost, but managed to survive

I feel the solo monster encounter is boring. One of the groups I play with killed a deadly rated encounter using ranged tactics before the mob before it even got close enough to show how deadly it is.

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it takes good preparation on the part of the DM to make a solo monster encounter fun for players. What was the deadly monster they killed?

@grimnekropolis8500

5 жыл бұрын

I think it was a devourer. Party is only level 8 and this was a random encounter the DM rolled for.

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Just looked the Devourer up. It has no ranged attacks whatsoever. So yeah, a party of level 8s will make quick work of it if they engage it from afar. For monsters like these, the DM really has to think creatively for them to be in melee range when they are noticed. Otherwise they get ranged to Death. Or the DM can give them a ranged attack to use while they close the distance. But even then, one monster suffers so badly in the action economy department...

@robopope7584

Жыл бұрын

I had a similar situation as a player at level 8, though it was probably just an easy encounter, as we were going through multiple back-to-back encounters. A CR 4 enemy was rushing the half strength party, but the ranger (me) and rogue were able to kill it before it even reached us, meaning we didn’t even roll initiative (the rogue getting a nat 20 and dealing over half its health in one shot helped).

The best thing about HeroQuest is this tiny furniture!

I've started rewatching this series and I didn't know it, but I miss the special DM bonus tip at the end of your videos

Wow your daughter is really good at drawing. I haven't gotten through the whole video yet but so far it's good and the rest of the videos in this series I've watched have been really helpful, but I just wanted to comment on that drawing because... wow.

@theDMLair

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, she is. Thank you!

Just letting you know, you have some really good tips, better than some other channels with way higher subscribe amounts. Keep uo the good work! I know these tips help me visualize encounters

Thanks for the tips Luke! Your daughter is talented! Future wizards artist!! 👍

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Yes she is! 😁

So cool to see the old Hero Quest stuff used.. I have 3 copies of that game

Undercity adventure. I've used the hedge maze from The Shining, with manholes to the surface at some points.

Dude what is your accent? I just love the way you say "monsters" as "muan-sters".

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

I'm from Michigan, but I definitely have some odd pronunciation of things and am not necessarily representative of my regional dialect. 😂

Love, love, love, love, love, LOVE the Hero's Quest minis. I WISH my parents still had the copy that my older brother got for his birthday. I priced them on E-bay and Amazon.... wowsa :D

@theDMLair

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I love those minis too! Vintage! 😁

A little story that happened very recently is that my PCs went to Roque Island (Pronounced Rock Island) to try to discover what happened to two archaeologists that went missing on the island. It all started With the discovery of a journal, which ominously lent to the fate of these two researchers. During the night, they discovered quite abruptly what happened to them, when a monstrosity of magma-cracked, stone skin and one, large red eye. This creature had a very powerful melee, and was resistant to almost all forms of non-magical damage, causing the PCs to try and stay away at all costs, and upon death, it exploded, almost killing two of the PCs. The players said they had fun, and that it was their cup of tea.

I ran an encounter that involved a wyvern that kept attacking from the air

Late to the party! But love the Hero Quest furniture!

Is that hero quest furniture? That game was my gateway drug to d&d

Hero Quest stuff!!!!!! (Wow, it's like 300 dollars on ebay now... I think I tossed my in a yard sale after high school ROFL!)

When you notice he plundered Hero Quest.... and then smile to yourself thinking: "Just like me."

Some of us still play the best d&d, 3.5. give us some Info in that and I'll sign up for your Patreon that day

I Spend many hours building dioramas to enrich my adventurers experience. I spend more time building the props then they spend in the encounter...but I use it for other adventures. Want to borrow some? Home-made is cheap!

Do u own HeroQuest? I noticed in ur videos you have the minis and terrain from heroquest. The stuff you get in that game is literally a toolbox for D&D

one time i had a large dirt room in one of my dungeons that contained a single skeleton upon entering the room(likely to kill said skeleton) two umber hulks pop out of the floor. it has caused tpk's before

adding creature variety. pending on whats involved, in case of humanoids i usually have 1(-2) bruiser and/or 1(-2) caster, 1(-5) melee henchmen /prior and 1(-3) ranged henchmen /prior. at a bare minimum thats 3 at max...action economy is fucked unless i make the henchmen easy(er) to kill. Addendum i usually have 3-4 players so putting 2 bruisers (1LT) 2 casters, 32 henchmen would be hella bad.

Love the *pixie artwork, how old was she when she drew it?

Awesome! You use Hero Quest furniture too!

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Yep! And the minis, too. I had them all from high school. Just recently painted the minis. 😁

@travishostetter8468

5 жыл бұрын

the DM Lair love the game and using it for D&D

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Oh yeah, my brother and I played lots of Hero Quest back in high school. It was like my gateway drug to D&D. 😁

@travishostetter8468

5 жыл бұрын

the DM Lair my gateway too!! I played it as a kid with my older cousin in the 90s

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Awesome! 😁

Awesome, but how would you advise to make a boss battle, would you put in NPCs?

@alexmcenroe203

5 жыл бұрын

Also how would you advise to make it intresting

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

I have a future video planned to talk about that...but since you asked, you get an outline of the script. :) 1. Whenever it makes sense, don't deploy the boss solo. Give him cronies that help him in the fight. 2. But #1 isn't enough. Your PCs will lock the boss down with hold person or banishment, clean up the minions, and then beat down the boss afterwards... So, all bosses need legendary resistances. Even if the stat block doesn't give it to them, just give him 2-3 legendary resistances. 3. Bosses suffer from horrible action economy. Give them 3 legendary actions, and possibly a lair action. This is especially true if there are no cronies (#1 above). Again, doesn't matter what the stat block in the MM says, just give them to him. 4. Design special terrain to enhance the fight. Cliffs, winding paths, a room with various levels, pits, etc. Fighting a boss while contenting with terrain makes things more engaging and interesting for players. 5. Have the boss fight SMART. If he uses bad tactics, he'll get surrounded, locked down, and then pounded into paste. Movement is key. Pick off dangerous casters first. STAY OUT OF RANGE OF MELEE TYPES. Make them use inferior ranged attacks. Bosses didn't become bosses by being stupid. There you go. Cliff notes. Hope this helps! 😃

Well... my class is a Paladin... so... if the creature is evil? Fighting is the only solution. :D

Fun

How about making an encounter table

If you can't out muscle your party, out smart them lol

Hah love all the hero quest stuff

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah! Hero Quest was my favorite game growing up! Played hours of that with my brother! 😀

@SithLordBishop

5 жыл бұрын

@@theDMLair Same I played it as a kid with my dad. I still have it and I got a copy of advanced heroquest that I have not played.

@theDMLair

5 жыл бұрын

Advanced Hero Quest? What is this sweet temptation that you speak of?!? 😯

What single unit can take on a party reasonably

@theophrastusbombastus1359

2 жыл бұрын

*Which

Whoa your daughter is really good at drawing

Creating my own dramatic question I can use for every encounter: "Who?". Very open ended, and it presumes no solutions.

Unfortunately my group has to do theatre of the mind cuz ima broke bitch lol...but hey we still have fun.

Funny enough. In the 3 campaigns that I'm DMing for. The a b s o l u t e most challenging encounters according to my players tend to be my solo encounters. The answer is entirely based around the action economy. With multiattack, a bonus action, reaction, 3 legendary actions and a villainous action (an action taken at the end of each round that adds additional pressure to the situation) My parties of 4~7 have been struggling to keep up. Matt Colvilles the obvious inspiration to that approach =u=

@theDMLair

4 жыл бұрын

Cool! Glad it's working well! 😀

Goblin Slayer teaches us that goblins should be feared!