"One day I'll introduce them to you... and an axe." Priceless

@bastiaanmoes3344

3 жыл бұрын

He’s the true villain here

Agnostic Dracula almost made me spit out the tea I was drinking. Need a warning before the GM tips suddenly turn hilarious.

@angorianka

6 жыл бұрын

Ditto hahaha xD

"The villain wants something and has difficulty getting it" Probably the most accounted Topic in your videos and it is SO IMPORTANT. I never thought about that and all my adventures were built around "The players want something and have difficulty getting it" and those rounds were not too bad, but they never reached a point where my players said "Man, that round was awesome!". After i heard that sentence for the first time in your videos i designed my adventures around that and it hasnt been a session since then that didnt end with "I cant wait for the next session, this is such an exciting story". When you think about it the reason for that is easy. when the pcs want something it's always the same old story. they go after the villain, get or dont get what they want, the session ends. Next session they try it again or want something different. When the villain wants something it brings much more dynamic to the table amd the story, because the villains start acting by themselves and the pcs will start thinking about why thwy want what they want, what they'll do next to get it, if they should approach the villain to put an end to the fiasco, oh it is so great. You get the point i assume. Again: thank you so much for your awesome videos about gming!

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+Rock Heiland This is awesome feedback! Thank you sir! It was a mindshift for me when I first tried it out and have never looked back since! And you are totally on point!

2:20 "one day I'll introduce them to you" said in a calm, foreshadowing way of the villain...

Wow. I just stumbled upon this channel by chance. I've yet to run into anyone who makes videos this professional and educational. Happily subscribing and shall be watching this series from the start.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much! As long as you found some benefit from the videos, then I am happy ;)

@maciejpawe3700

7 жыл бұрын

I, personally, recommend the Geek&Sundry, especially with Matt Mercer. If you haven't seen it yet, then go there immediately :)

@leobiggs8653

5 жыл бұрын

Guy is great. You can also check out Matt Colville.

@jackkelley3217

5 жыл бұрын

@@HowtobeaGreatGM You're amazing, Wish i could sit in on a session with you, keep up the good work!!

The PC's, last session, accidently created a new villain for the world. They saved a guy from a thing known as 'The Coachman', by using the only magical artefact in the world that can kill something that can normally never be killed. But, the next session, the one that killed the Coachman, got a visit from a god, saying the man was supposed to die, and will damage the world around him because he's not supposed to be alive, the character, who's a very 'For the Greater Good' Paladin, agrees, and kills the guy the next day... The guy, is, understandably, angry at them. From his perspective, they save him, then show back up a day later and kill him. He makes a deal with the god of Death, and becomes a Revenant. Who's going to be popping up to kill them for the next year (with friends when they reach higher levels), and the God of Death made him immune to the artefact so they can't just kill him (Removing every mention of your name from your mind makes it so it can't harm you as much). So, a fun little re-occurring villain, created from what was originally going to be a random guy, to show them that their actions have consequences. He just wants revenge for killing him, but won't kill 1 member of the party, who warned him the other one was coming.

This channel is really helping me out as a new GM. Thanks for the amazing tips and keep it up.

Your Count Dracula accent sounds a lot like Gru from Despicable Me... So, perfect villain. ;)

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

I think both Gru and I draw our inspiration from Leslie Nielsen in that awesome film "Dracula, dead and loving it" by Mel Brooks. But thank you anyway ;)

Love the video series. I am the guy who had the game with my 3 year old and 5 year old, and I wanted to give you an update. The game has evolved from a standard fantasy role-player to a collectible card game utilizing animal powers to solve problems. I am using my kids' favorite cartoon "Wild Kratts" as inspiration for many of the quests. The players pick three cards from their deck to use in each quest, quests last around 15 minutes, 1d6 checks on actions, and you get new cards by interacting with NPC animals. My 5 year old is the "main" player and he calls in my 3 year old from time to time to "assist" when he gets a bad roll, has bad cards, uses all his cards, etc. Lots of fun, and I am going to use your advice to start introducing some recurring antagonists into the story. Thank you for the series!

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+Andy Baxter Wow Andy I think you should consider developing this into a full fledged product. I'm being series here. My school wanted DnD 2nd Ed to be added as an after school activity because it taught so many things. Your game sounds wonderful for an even lower age group. Seriously - kick-starter that thing! I am really glad that it's working well for you and that you have a chance to practice a few things from the show. Thank you for sharing!

@nicolascarbone9390

4 жыл бұрын

I know I am awfully late, but great parenting, mate!!!!

@andybaxter4442

4 жыл бұрын

@@nicolascarbone9390 Thanks, but it is funny that your comment came up now. Now my oldest has three little brothers and he is the game master. I can't keep up with what he is doing, its a whole civilization management war strategy thing with maps, resources, anthropomorphic animal races, castle building, etc. Anytime me or mom are forced to play, it's just a setup to slaughter us. He apparently does games for his friends at school, I'd like to see if I can help him gm with his friends online now that there is no school, but i also don't want him getting too distracted from the home schooling.

I paused the video right here: 18:07 so I come back and Guy is just like 'surprise'

The Dracula walkthrough was really, really helpful. The setup was properly exciting and mysterious. The lieutenant was creepy and powerful, but surprise she’s not the villain. Finally, Dracula was crafty and powerful and hard to defeat but not impossible.

"And an axe"!?! I would like to meet this axe 😆

@jtaylor4817

6 жыл бұрын

Clay More He's saying that he'll introduce the dogs to an axe

The best RPG tips listing on youtube I know of! Thank you, I will watch all of your videos.

"and an axe..." I got all I need for my villain right there :)

have been gearing up for my first DM sessions that will span the next three days and i'm glad that even though the story i wrote had all the things needed that you've described in your videos that at least i had you to clarify for me! My morale should receive a comfy +1 from watching these

Just discovered your channel, incredible resource, thank you so much!

Excellent!! Thank you!!

I don't even play these sort of games yet i just like these videos.

Love your videos! Thanks for the tips you gave, they are awesome!

I love these :) always more!

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+Alchemical Games Thank you :) Plenty more coming!

Your videos are great. Thanks. I like how you respond to us in the comments section too.

Your videos are great man! Very helpful.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

7 жыл бұрын

Happy you find them so!

Man.... I run a group where each month we change systems, and you just gave me an idea on what my next 121 is going to be >.< ty

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+robert goodwin AWESOME!! Can't wait to hear what is it!!

Excellent video. Nice to see you've developed the Dracula idea further. I spent a fair while thinking about running the game but then found myself thinking about H.G. Wells' War of The Worlds and running that as a campaign. I'm looking forward to future videos. As for the web stuff, I'm very rusty but email me if I can be of help.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+Andy Simmons Awesome. Thanks man. How could I not develop the Dracula stuff? It was a really cool idea!

I hope that Mutants and Masterminds name drop wasn't just a passing mention :) I've wanted to run a session in 2nd Edition with my friends for some time but we're all pretty busy. I've been world building in the meantime and checking out these videos, of course. :D

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+21cracer21 Perhaps it was... was it wasn't... :p Wait and see... and isn't it on 3rd edition now? Glad to hear it, and once your game is up and running, keep us posted!

@21cracer21

8 жыл бұрын

+How to be a Great Game Master They are, but I prefer 2nd. 3rd is simpler from what I've heard but 2nd is closer to Pathfinder, which I'm more familiar with. Plus I already have a physical copy of the book. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes :D

I can't help but thinking of those retro cartoons like He-man or captain planet where the villians always ended up saying "you'll pay for this so and so..."

first of all, I love your videos and often watch them more than once to review and remind me of things. I am thinking about my current "campaign" and I realized that I don't really have a main nemesis but rather multiple villains with unrelated plots. these villains are coming from player backgrounds and in game choices. what are your thoughts on running a game this way?

@leobiggs8653

5 жыл бұрын

As long as your players are engaged, it works. Maybe develop one of the in-game choices to become a recurring villain and eventual Big-Bad.

So i am in this Situation where im the GM of our group and we're playing this really small Campaign that gets us out of Aventuria (Yes, we're playing the Dark Eye, or Das Schwarze Auge since were in germany) and onto that new continent of Uthuria. Its basically a jungle continent with a immense desert in the middle of it. About 70% of said Campaign is said on the Ships but the last 30% on Uthuria. These tips are gonna be a real pain for my Players once we reach Uthuria.... :)

Do you always recommend that there be an arch-villain? What if you want to run more of an episodic campaign? How would you write villains in a story that is more self-contained as opposed to only part of a larger overarching plot?

"Introduce my dogs..." *mumbles "along with an axe"" Great Scott, what??!?

I will say that while the first half of this video was dull, for me, I found the second half rather compelling. This may be a personal issue, but I find that properly structuring the campaign is a far trickier proposition than creating a villain. This may be because, as George RR Martin put it, I am more of a gardener story teller than an architect. I personally think that going into this in more depth would be very interesting and helpful. I also think it would be truly interesting setting is how you incorporate it into your campaign's narrative. Too often myself, and other GMs, simply have their setting sit onto of the game without actually being integral to it. Overall, I would like to request an episode or two regarding the "narrative structure" of a campaign. You did cover this somewhat in your Pace video, but maybe a little more specifics or even a more in depth explanation would be great! Ether way good video and i look forward to more. ps. i'm not a web goblin

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+CrazyCajun777 Awesome feedback thank you. I'm glad there was something in this video that grabbed your attention! You will see in next weeks video how pacing and timing is part of the setting - in my opinion - and I think this may partly answer some of you question. But I have added it to the list as I agree - it's a tricky subject! and deserves more!

@CrazyCajun777

8 жыл бұрын

+How to be a Great Game Master I would say my "criticism" this episode is probably more to do with personal taste than anything. If i did have any actual complaint it would be that perhaps you go too broad at times, but I'm assuming/hoping that you're just covering the basics before getting into the more nitty gritty stuff. I like the series and will be very curious to see how you consider pace part of the setting, sounds very interesting.

God I love your voice... Don't be surprised if I reach out with 2-3 years for voice acting work if you'd consider it :)

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+maximumwangchung Why 2 - 3 years? I do professional VO and VA work here in SA. Mainly VO for technical or medical or historical documentaries and training videos, and VA work for my own animation stuff. But thank you - I'd be honoured to help out :)

@maximumwangchung

8 жыл бұрын

+How to be a Great Game Master It will probably be that long before I can take the comic I am working on and start animating parts of it. Doesn't surprise me that you already do VO and VA work! Your video series and the bacon RPG series are fantastic!

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

Awesome! Love hearing about people and their projects! Happy to help in any way I can! And glad you like the series!

dang it, i should of watched bacon before i watched this

I just want to get back my pet Dire Wolf, that the PCs killed.

Is power hungry and a want for control a good aim

How to be a Great Game Master I'm Running a home brew vampire campaign so far The Party Is having a Great Time And Thinks They're About To Reach The Nemesis Not Even Close Do you have any tips regarding A vampire campaign? I Already have established motives and Captains Along With The Nemesis.

I would like to see that axe

Not sure this is the right video to ask but..here goes: Im planning a campaign to GM. IM a very very new GM so i want some opinions. My plan for the first session is to have their palyers on their way to a city by boat, as they approach the harbor their ship is attacked and forced to dock at a near by iceflow/island, where a great big tower is sitting. To progress to their destination they must enter the tower and vanquish what ever is in there. At the end of that dungeon they end up freeing an exlover of my main villians (who lets say is not happy with him). As the sessions go they keep unknowingly either freeing allies/destroy servants and so on untill he is finally met, a vampire. This vampires goal is to accend to godhood in order to control the sun and letting his people raign free. The players face him but cannot seam to even scratch him and he eventually grows bored of them and just, idk teleports them to some random location out of annoyance. Humilliating the players. They meet a group that has tried to destroy this clan of vampires for a very long time who informs them of an artifact rumored of being able to kill their leader. so they find this artifact and confront him again. They defeat him but unfortunatly all their hatred and determination/fear and such has granted him enough power to actually accend to godhood, raising the stakes even further. So they must rush to finally defeat this seamingly impossible challenge and destroy the vampiric god. This would of course be over many many many sessions....but i wanted to know if this outline seams...ok?

@ImsexyNiknowit1

5 жыл бұрын

Perhaps you already played your campaign, its been 8 months since your comment. However I strongly advise against expecting where and what your players would do. You say the will be forced to dock the boat because they are attacked. What if they decide to fight back and swim to the attackers. What if upon reaching the tower they dont want to go inside. What if they kill this ex-lover of your main villain. You are expecting too much of your players. It will be best if you planned something like: ok, they are sailing in this boat and they get attacked. Whatever way they choose to deal with the attack it leads them to this epic location (a tower, a cave, a dungeon, a castle, a town, etc) and there they meet this NPC (the ex-lover). I think that way would work waaay better and dont be so dependent of your prepared script

@leobiggs8653

5 жыл бұрын

@@ImsexyNiknowit1 I agree. The meeting with the NPC is your big plot hook, so adapt the meeting to go with player choices to avoid putting your campaign on rails.

@ImsexyNiknowit1

5 жыл бұрын

@@leobiggs8653 basically you should make a sandbox where things are happening and your pc's can interact with. Thats the trick

@leobiggs8653

5 жыл бұрын

@@ImsexyNiknowit1 Like you said in your previous comment, the epic location where the PCs choose to go is where they encounter the NPC. You can have a sandbox and still throw in your plot hooks by adapting with your players' choices. I completely overprepped for my first campaign. I made sure that the loot they needed for a later encounter could be found in multiple places. Later I started structuring my worlds a little more loosely. I know where they should be going and I've implemented a kinda "all roads lead to Rome" approach. So if they need certain info and they don't speak to the specific NPC I thought they would, another NPC will give them the information they need. Maybe from a different perspective, but the basic gist will come across. You can have a sandbox and still get the information across that you need to. It's then up to the players to decide what to do with the information.

When you say setting, do you mean the stetting details or the atmosphere and themes at the table? I would like to hear about both of them.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+James Conroy Because I keep my videos non-system specific it is details and expectations and how to create atmosphere so I think it's both? You'll have to watch the first one and let me know

Why is villain misspelled in the thumbnail? Same in the Creating the Ultimate "Villan" video.

Hmm I really want to get involved but I'm really besiged by work atm. I'll try to hook you up with some fanart eventually thought.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+Timothy Myers Fanart?! That would be awesome! And hey life is busy, hence the plea. So we understand bud! But Fanart is awesome!

Does anyone know if he has introduced the pupperinos yet?

What sort of webmastering are you looking for? Just general maintenance? Leaving this note as a reminder to PM you further details.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+Mike Kellett Thank you for responding. Yes please send me a PM. I'm looking for someone who has experience with forms and submitting them and data base management I think... I'm not sure exactly. PM me and lets talk!

Is that shelf crooked?

No comments on the misspelled thumbnail?

Pcs go after the lich early and their mage, wizard, and druid are turned into ginie by the lich placing their souls in filactories to command them with so now half of the party is enslaved and will execute the others if they do not swear loyalty to her (yep, female lich, not that hard to tell people).

DOG! The OTHER white meat! Now on sale at your local grocery.

Do you you have any tips on how to keep a mega villain AWAY from the PCs? For instance, playing in Star Wars there's the threat that the PCs will become known to the Empire and therefore known to Darth Vader who will murderlize them. Also: Are you of the belief that if a character (like Vader) is in the game then anything happens or that the movie/tv show/etc events still happen and the players can't change those events.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

7 жыл бұрын

The PC's should be on the radar but not as important as other bigger things. After a couple months of play let Vader arrive, with a battalion of men. But still send his apprentice or some Major with an ATST to capture the PC's. If you look at the films, Vader only got involved in battles between himself and Luke. Otherwise he let all his admirals worry about the rebels. If Luke hadn't been a Jedi Vader would not have been involved as much as he was. As to your other point that's up to you as the GM. Personally I like that idea that things carry on as per the 'script' of the movie. So I'll always guide my players to doing cool stuff that allows the movies to carry on.

@RobotsPajamas

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your advice. I really like the battalion idea. They'll be inspired to run rather than fight (or fight as they run) What I'm currently planning on doing is having them level a bit and at a certain point the destruction of the first Death Star will happen (they'll hear about it through Rebel channels) and that would be the explanation for why Vader won't really chase them, he becomes obsessed with finding Luke.

@austbot

7 жыл бұрын

RobotsPajamas Another thing regarding Vader: Check out the Rebels cartoon. If you don't want to, I'll spoil it for you down below so you can know without watching a season. Vader came to a small sector of Rebels in order to stop them ONLY after: They bombed a Galactic Holiday, stole dozens or hundreds of expensive crates of goods, killed one of the Grand Inquisitors (Jedi Hunters), revealed that a "rebel" spokesperson was actually a spy for the empire ambushing rebel cells and having a Jedi and Padawan combo. It took a lot to even get his attention. That's just the abridged version, not the full thing.

Lol" one day I'll introduce them to you and a axe "to funny

I saw the message asking for help. I have some skills with computer programming. What exactly do you need? I am willing to help if I can.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+Matanga Boots Awesome can you PM me and I'll explain what I'm looking for and we can see if that is something you can do?

And an ax! :D

@HowtobeaGreatGM

7 жыл бұрын

:P

Hasn't the Dracula ship been a canon story though? With the exclusion of the wolves?

@HowtobeaGreatGM

7 жыл бұрын

I'm confused - canon story?

@RobotsPajamas

7 жыл бұрын

I think he means that the ship shows up empty in the original Dracula story.

Sadly, I am NOT a Web Goblin.

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+James Wilson Sadly I was once... when the web was young and virginal and we coded in notepad... now she is a master assassin and needs skilled goblins to make her work... sigh.

What if the villain isn't having difficulty for a large portion of the game?

@HowtobeaGreatGM

8 жыл бұрын

+OCoptimusconvoy From a narrative point of view then the villain isn't part of the episode/session. Unless there is some kind of interaction between the villain and the PC's then there is no plot. If the PC's don't cause the villain any trouble at all, the villain shouldn't interact them them at all then, and his plans should unfold and succeed. If useless PC's wander into the villains plot but don't upset it, she will ignore them and carry on. So unless there is another reason for the villain and the PC's to interact if it's not confrontational then the PC's are working for the villain. In which case it all goes smoothly. Not sure if this is the correct answer to your question though?

@OCoptimusconvoy

8 жыл бұрын

+How to be a Great Game Master I see what you mean. I meant like, let's say the PCs have been doing quests then run into the villain as he's doing part of his master plan, and he totally defeats them with ease, to be confronted again later.

@RobotsPajamas

7 жыл бұрын

I'd temporarily weaken the villain somehow so the players can at least put a dent in his/her plan.

Mmmm... I don't agree with MUST win. I do think you shouldn't fudge or forge any rolls in a final battle though.

@maciejpawe3700

7 жыл бұрын

I think that it's not about fudging rolls, but about balance,. At least one player character must stay alive and beat the villain so GM should make the villain obviously hard to defeat, but also possible to be killed

introduce the dogs!

@cyclone8974

6 жыл бұрын

and don't spare the ax

Uhhh... I know it's been 2 years, but, still need a part-timer?

SHOW US THE DOGS!