Timestamps: @4:58 What is Roleplaying? @7:36 Character @7:54 0-Dimensional Characters @10:18 1-Dimensional Characters @13:37 3-Dimensional Characters @17:44 Motivation @26:37 Being a better Roleplayer @33:58 The Audience @44:43 Ending

@alejodavies

4 жыл бұрын

Nice, thanks

@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you

@whynaut1

4 жыл бұрын

Could you comment on every video like this?

@CathrineMacNiel

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Flando.... oh you aren't flando. Good job anyway :D

@davidstanco

4 жыл бұрын

you are a river to your people

"I want to get out of this backwater village and save a beautiful dragon from a ravening princess" Truer words have never been spoken

@Arcanyum

3 жыл бұрын

hey, you're here, my king

@nathanfriedman7367

3 жыл бұрын

Crab king

@Jack-kn1mr

3 жыл бұрын

Typical bard motivatons

@aqualust5016

3 жыл бұрын

My thoughts were literally "wait...what?"

@mitchellbutterfield3505

2 жыл бұрын

Princess gon’ get the click clack

The star wars campaign stalls when Luke won't accept the quest... Now what? Orcs... I mean storm troopers, attack!

@primalturtwig2032

10 ай бұрын

XD

@Luke-jo4to

2 ай бұрын

You just described Eye of the World

"I'm Matt Colville, and this is my Master Class."

@johncameron1935

4 жыл бұрын

I might actually put money on that if Colville gets one. I was sorely tempted by the Penn & Tellar one, but... That would tip it over the edge for me. Problem is, if his master class is already online like this I won't need an official one! Hah!

@Necro7155

4 жыл бұрын

His masterclass is just the entire running the game playlist edited into one weeklong video.

@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself

3 жыл бұрын

All of his videos are.

@sauron7839

3 жыл бұрын

"I'm Matt Colville, and this is my Game Master Class."

@anonym3

3 жыл бұрын

pretty much yes.

Roleplaying is like cake, with the cake itself being having a three-dimensional character, and "doing the voice" is frosting. It's weird to eat JUST frosting, even if it tastes Amazing. Eating JUST frosting is also waaayyy easier and quicker than baking the cake. But if you do take the time to bake the cake, even the frosting itself will taste so much better.

@solsystem1342

Жыл бұрын

Idk, looking at frosting is most of the reason I do it but, then again I'm synesthestetic so I don't think that's normal. (Color bleeds into taste for me) I'd say it's like a winter morning without the snow. The browns and oranges are nice but, without the white flavor to add richness to the scene the whole thing ends up tasting a bit hollow. Just kind of dull, like unseasoned popcorn.

@undeniablySomeGuy

5 ай бұрын

@@solsystem1342 I love unseasoned popcorn lmao

"[Roleplaying] gives you empathy, cures baldness, and leads to democracy." - Matthew Colville, 2019 This will be a great quote to take out of context.

@andrewh6188

4 жыл бұрын

26:07 “Save a beautiful dragon from a ravenous princess”

@kevinsullivan3448

4 жыл бұрын

Not Democracy, Republic.

@TJHughes1

4 жыл бұрын

@@kevinsullivan3448 No, he said Democracy.

@FlyingDominion

4 жыл бұрын

Well, except for the baldness (unless there's something I haven't been told), RPGs CAN promote those things, particularly when groups need to make a decision between things like saving the princess and looting the dragon's hoard.

@mhDarkWolf

4 жыл бұрын

@@FlyingDominion Why not loot the princess's hoard? Then save her, then say the dragon did it, then kill the dragon and take that hoard too...🤔

"I'm here to play DnD with you. My friend. Because I like you. You are fun to hang out with I want to play DnD with you." that was oddly comforting to hear you say.

@Zetesofos

4 жыл бұрын

I especially like the little zoom in effect.

@NicDude583

4 жыл бұрын

Matt Colville is officially the Fred Rogers of Dungeons and Dragons

@jimfite1684

Жыл бұрын

@@NicDude583 Would you be mine, could you be mine? Oh, won't you be one of my players?

22:03 I'm an avid Tolkien buff and I've... never before put Frodo's passing into the west into this context. I had to pause the video, and I cried. That's quite powerful.

@chalor182

4 жыл бұрын

So. Literally just paused the video at your *exact* timestamp in order to come here and say almost the same thing. I've always loved the story and read the books ad nauseam and I've never thought of it that way, with passing into the West as an analogue to suicide, or as an homage to those Tolkien himself knew who were in that situation. It adds such a new level of depth to the damage. It hurts and is wonderful.

@sabamonstergaming

4 жыл бұрын

+1. I'm a veteran myself and I can honestly say I never even began to look at it this way, even having felt much the same. Powerful isn't the word.

@ArthurRex131

4 жыл бұрын

@@chalor182 It's more an analogue for PTSD as suffered by World War I veterans (before we called it that, of course.) than it is an analogue to suicide.

@dddmemaybe

4 жыл бұрын

@@ArthurRex131 my little child brain when I was like 8 or so just said no to the idea and I didn't believe it lol, thank you selective interpretation. Creating monstrous paladin-types and saving children and brains from things they aren't ready for! yay!

@TheSmart-CasualGamer

2 жыл бұрын

As much as Tolkien said that LOTR wasn't an allegory, and would get annoyed if anyone suggested it, I agree with you. That MUST have been in his mind.

That genuine smile at the end. Matt has been trying to build this exact content for years, and is proud of the outcome. Let that piece of your mind relax, Matt.

I think this was masterwork of the Running the Game series to date. It is going to both help me communicate to my players of what the hobby is capable, and make me better at recognizing that my players are both role-playing and having fun, with or without the capital R. Thanks again , Matt.

@bismuth2966

4 жыл бұрын

Totally agreed I'll be rewatching this video for months

@RedtapeEnt

4 жыл бұрын

All throughout watching I was recontextuslising my characters reactions to things and coming up with motivations that informed convictions and beliefs. So good!

@NoNameBoi9987

4 жыл бұрын

I couldnt agree more.

@jumpman83

4 жыл бұрын

100%

@dorn49

4 жыл бұрын

Completely agree! Thank you Matt!

26:05 "I wanna get out if this dead end, backwater village and save a beautiful dragon from a ravening princess." Stay amazing Mr Colville

@seraphinhesse9834

4 жыл бұрын

facttttts

@EFsuffolks

4 жыл бұрын

God bless I want to dm that one shot

@RyanKassel

4 жыл бұрын

I heard that as well

@1n20DnD

4 жыл бұрын

Best line of an amazing video!

@unclefestersworld3180

4 жыл бұрын

Intentional? Maaaaybe.

I always try to make my characters three dimensional. However, I think the most fun I've had - and one of the most complex characters I've made - was with an NPC I made for my players, named Alan Porter. Alan started off as just a one-bit NPC. He was supposed to just go up and be impressed by this party of 1st level adventurers. His job was simply to be an ordinary person, a stable boy, who could express the idea that just _being_ an adventurer, even at 1st level, is an impressive accomplishment. Someone who could remind the players through context alone that having levels in a PC class is a meaningful thing - that they are inherently more impressive (powerful) than an ordinary person. He didn't originally even have a last name, until I needed his guardian to yell for him. The players noticed that I had given him a sling - just something for detail, that a stable boy might carry - and decided that they wanted him with them. Well, in particular two players did, but they pushed him into doing it. Now I needed to give him enough to not just die in the first encounter. Most of that is fine, just things that anyone could gather, but he needs armour. Well, I needed a reason for his uncle the innkeeper to dislike adventurers (to contrast Alan himself), and I settled on adventuring being the death of Alan's mother. So, I decided to build on that more. His mother _was_ an adventurer, and she died on an adventure, leaving her son with her brother. Alan comes back in a distinctive, ill-fitting armour he found in an old trunk that once belonged to his mother, and I decided that he never knew before that moment that she was an adventurer. Now he has three whole reasons to adventure; He wants to get out of the small village and see the world, he wants to live up to the expectations of these amazing adventurers that have put their faith in them, and he wants to learn more about who his mother is and what kind of life she lived. On top of that, one of the female characters was especially encouraging, and slightly flirtatious. So that gave me another motivator - he was quite smitten with Robyn. On the other hand, I also knew that he had some flaws. He was a superstitious peasant, who viewed adventurers and the things they face as larger than life. He feared magic and supernatural things. On top of which, I saw that he had good physical scores, and pretty lousy mental ones. So I decided that he had a lot of self doubt. He was _aware_ of his own deficiencies, and consistently thought of the "real" adventurers as more important than him. So he had a dichotomy, not really wanting to step up, but also wanting to help his new friends. It also created interesting situations where his feelings for Robyn were concerned. On one occasion, the party got into a fight with a dragon and almost all of them ran, including Alan. Robyn decided not to run. Alan _saw_ that Robyn decided not to run. He doubled back, grabbed a fallen enemy's bow and arrows, and stood his ground against an enemy that moments before he had been willing, even eager, to flee from. He went from running in fear to standing and being willing to die for the sake of unrequited love. On another occasion, Robyn was complaining about how much of a dullard Alan was while he wasn't there. I rolled a percent chance, and he walked in just in time to hear the woman he had been pining for - the person who had been most supportive and encouraging to him - badmouthing him when he wasn't around. If you've been picking up on Alan's motivations, you can imagine how he reacted to this. He became very cold to Robyn. Borderline hostile. There was confrontation, a devil attacked Alan in his dreams (long story), and then the two reconciled. Robyn's player decided that seeing how strongly Alan had reacted, and having him treat her with that coldness, pushed Robyn to admit her feelings for Alan to herself, even if he wasn't the type of person she'd always dreamed of, and be the one to not only repair their relationship, but solidify it. Which, in turn, changed Alan's motivations, since he was no longer just pining for someone that he deep down felt certain he had no chance with, but instead fighting alongside the woman he loved, and who loved him back. ...but you know what? I _did_ do the voice for Alan. I gave him my best "Warcraft Peasant" drawl, just to help emphasise that he was a bit dim, and it honestly made him even more fun to play.

@jawamaster

Жыл бұрын

This is great.

@fck8614

Жыл бұрын

awesome.

@andrewleach1667

Жыл бұрын

Job's done. Love it.

@15PaperSpearsProtectTheWise

Жыл бұрын

This is the best "NPC adoption" story I've ever read; it's honestly incredibly inspiring as a DM

@Xplora213

Жыл бұрын

That was a hell of a story. 🎉

Matt, I never comment on vids. This was an amazing lecture. One of your best so far.

*Looks at Matt's awesome hair.* Maybe it does cure baldness.

@Chibi_changa

4 жыл бұрын

Seriously, what is it about being a DM on the internet named Matt that just gives you fabulous hair?

@beemoney19

4 жыл бұрын

Sadly it hasn't yet for ME...

@raesjunkaccount

4 жыл бұрын

God I hope. I'm slowly reverse-werewolfing into Vsauce Michael.

@MonkeyJedi99

4 жыл бұрын

I've been playing roleplaying games for over 30 years, and I have good hair coverage. Even on my head!

@jackielinde7568

4 жыл бұрын

Chris, You'd need Matt to bite you to have his cool hair. I'm almost positive he's a lycanthrope. You don't get hair like that from non-magical means.

Thousands of shy nerds are going to be empowered to get into dnd because of this video. Its importance to the hobby cannot be overstated.

@cxfxcdude

4 жыл бұрын

Tom Fenney we need to get it out there to them. Share it with the world Friend :D

@Hedgehobbit

4 жыл бұрын

This is the worst possible video to show a new player. Let them have aome fun before telling them they are playing wrong.

@tomfenney6660

4 жыл бұрын

Hedgehobbit, In this age of streaming, and especially with the popularity of critical role, think of all the quiet introverts who would LOVE dnd, but feel it's not for them because of all the acting and funny voices. I myself have not enjoyed sessions (both as player and dm) because I felt a pressure (self-inflicted) to do a funny voice and always do everything in character. It was exhausting. Since Matt's videos I have relaxed. I still do the voices sometimes, but now my focus is having fun, both for myself, and everyone else at the table. Few who genuinely enjoy doing a voice and playing a more simple character will feel like they're being told their fun is wrong. And even if they read it that way, they'll go back to enjoying it because it IS fun for them. The good this video can do massively outweighs any supposed 'harm'. If you're one who felt called out in some way, then I'm so sorry, it's crystal clear that isn't Matt's intention, and if you're enjoying how you play, keep going! I encourage you to rewatch the video and make sure you haven't misheard anything. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who hasn't played dnd before. And feel free to spread the message that doing voices and catchphrases is fun!

@Hedgehobbit

4 жыл бұрын

@@tomfenney6660 Very little of the video, and none of my objections to it, involve speaking in voices. What I'm referring to is Matt's insistence that unless a character has a motivations and subtext worthy of Tolkien, that character isn't "meaningful". Let new players play themselves and have fun before filling their heads with this nonsense. Telling a new player that they need to invent and consistently play an entire different person is just too much pressure. (Plus, it doesn't actually help the game as the other players couldn't care less).

Anyone: Posts a 15 minute video Me: “Yeesh, who’s got that kinda time?” Matt Colville: Posts 45 minute video Me: *click*

@sirfishslayer5100

3 жыл бұрын

Ya...second time watching it. DM Homework.

@voxnewman

3 жыл бұрын

@@sirfishslayer5100 My third time. Podcast homework ;)

My own reason for doing "the voice" (ie: a terribly butchered version of some accent) is simply that I find it easier to get into character. I find the voice just helps add some separation between myself and my character, and then it's easier to make decisions on their behalf. I agree with everything Matt is saying, I'd just like to add this two cents on the utility of the voice.

@aquestunending7210

4 жыл бұрын

Exactly. That's why I do voices for my characters

@tinyybiceps

3 жыл бұрын

right! my terrible old irishman voice really gets me in the mindset to gnome around.

@tinyybiceps

3 жыл бұрын

update: now i am doing a russian/ undetermined deep voice accent because my gnome died. it's firbolg time baybeee

@crunchydragontreats6692

3 жыл бұрын

Knowing the character creates the voice for me. I often have no idea what a particular NPC or even some of my PCs will sound like until they (I) start to speak. Often I simply slide into the voice or sometimes break into it from the first word.

@a.morphous66

2 жыл бұрын

I create the character before I create the voice, and I always tailor the voice specifically for them. It genuinely helps me get into the groove because I so associate that voice with the character I made it for.

"I want to save the dragon from the Princess" that's a fun subversion

@brennanruiz1803

4 жыл бұрын

Then there's the female dragonborn character with the Noble background who earned a peerage. Through a series of misunderstandings, she, the knight, gets hired to save herself, the princess, from herself, the dragon.

@lordsidius99

4 жыл бұрын

@@brennanruiz1803 Brennan, you are the best! Would you consider guest starring at my D&D table?

@MrSilvUr

4 жыл бұрын

I had a dragon being held captive by a treasure golem once.

@NoahTopper

4 жыл бұрын

@@brennanruiz1803 Step 4: Profit!

@andrewmcmillan229

4 жыл бұрын

@@brennanruiz1803 Sounds like easy money!

3:10 "Empathy is WEAKNESS!" You back away from that person very slowly until you are far enough to sprint.

@nihilis3288

4 жыл бұрын

Empathy is weakness, now is weakness a bad thing.

@osmium6832

4 жыл бұрын

@@nihilis3288 A valid point, but the inflection that Matt used on the word "weakness" when quoting these people gave off a real serial-killer vibe. I could also picture a Buddhist monk saying the exact same words but with the opposite meaning, i.e. that self-imposed weakness for the sake of empathy is a virtue.

@blackbeard00

4 жыл бұрын

Weakness is by definition a "bad thing" that just English. But if you think understanding other people is a weakness then you probably have bigger problems...

@osmium6832

4 жыл бұрын

@@blackbeard00 I disagree with that first part. Trusting someone is a weakness that could potentially lead to betrayal. By your definition, that would imply that trust is inherently a bad thing because it is a source of weakness, but it is essential for solid relationships and friendships, which are good things. Conversely, power, the opposite of weakness, isn't by definition a "good thing". There's more nuance than just "weakness is bad".

@blackbeard00

4 жыл бұрын

@@osmium6832 weakness is the opposite of strength. Hence it has a negative meaning, just as dirty is the opposite of clean and hence has a negative meaning, this is not a value judgement it is simply an adjective. But what you see as weakness is up to interpretation ofcourse. So if trusting other people is to you a "weakness," then as I said there is clearly personal experience which affects this, but that is certainly not an objective statement. And that was what I meant.

I love how much of your D&D advice doubles as great writing advice. I've been struggling to write a protagonist for a short story I'm working on, and after a few other character writing videos that didn't help very much I came back here.

"Your characters have to communicate somehow, they're not telepathic"... Unless they are... unless they are telepathic.

@Gray963

4 жыл бұрын

Ahh Psions... Simultaneously the best and worst characters.

@quinnwilder6990

4 жыл бұрын

They would still have to communicate what they are saying to each other out loud unless the players are also telepathic in real life and that's just cheating.

@Alresu

4 жыл бұрын

@@quinnwilder6990 Only the players would have to say it out loud in this scenario. And since the relevant question is "Would a NPC be able to react to that?", the GM would have to start seriously meta-gaming to do that with a bunch of telepaths.^^

@infidelheretic923

3 жыл бұрын

Even if they were the DM has to know their in character thoughts.

This video is f**king gold. Love the subtitle, love the topic. Sending this to all my DnD friends because I took so much from this. I might re-work characters just to expand their roleplay potential because of this video.

"Players want to have fun. Audiences want to be entertained" I have been saying this.

Yay! Matthew Colville says he wants to play with me! Yay! Grabbins the Unwanted is now Grabbins the Wanted! Grabbins no longer needs to take food off table from other people!

@johncameron1935

4 жыл бұрын

Don't take food from other peoples' tables after midnight, Grabbins.

@jackielinde7568

4 жыл бұрын

@@johncameron1935 Food not being eaten is fair game.

@jackielinde7568

4 жыл бұрын

@@johncameron1935 I did that in an adventure my brother was running. I got two rations after raiding people's tables. All the people saw (if they cared to look) were green ears and hands.

I love that Matt took until #83 to get to "roleplaying" in a series about role-playing games! 😂😂

This is a UNI quality lecture/thesis on Role-playing. This should get in textbooks.

"Matt, the writer, wants us to stop being actors, and be writers!" - Matt 2019

I was just telling my friend how it was interesting to note the difference between The Chain and Vox Machina. Both have taught me what D&D can be but the two games are very different.

46m Running the Game vid? Just like old times...

12:00 I was just gonna mention how much Indiana Jones did change during the third movie, and then he mentioned it himself. Smooth.

@GeneralNerd

4 жыл бұрын

Marty McFly, too.

"Save a beautiful dragon from a ravening princess.." Okay. Gonna go write that arc now.

@derekschmidt5705

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for forging that into a prompt.

A man of my own heart, I also want to play with you, no just with the character of that one particular campaign... you Play with friends and family, you snack with them, you eat with them, you spend a night playing that is more than just a session to retrieve the enchanted helm, it is having fun together and bonding

Dude I like the small addition of the "chapter titles" and the little animations they have. Makes it easier to follow through a long video like this. Maybe add timestamps for these in the comments to easily sift through topics when rewatching?

Matthew Colville is one of those channels that always gets a "like" before I press play, because I just know that this is gonna be 46 minutes featuring one of the smoothest storytellers I know. Love this channel. Thanks Matt.

Running the Game is a fine series, and full of good advice, jokes, and memorable quotes. But the one thing that always makes me reflect the most is this one moment in this one video. 'I've played with people, adults, who talk about how they don't like to read fiction because they don't like the experience of thinking someone else's thoughts, or feeling their feelings. They don't like empathy, in other words. They consider it weakness. That is a real thing, real people have told me; in person.' I'm a pretty cold person at times, and I can not for the life of me imagine someone who holds this opinion. In the Discworld novel 'Jingo' there's a character who is so pompous that he can't imagine someone insulting him, and so when he is insulted he doesn't acknowledge it the same way one wouldn't acknowledge a dog talking, or a bowling ball floating; it just doesn't happen, so it is implausible to be happening, so it is probably not actually happening and thus safe to ignore. I feel like that with this quote. I can intellectually accept that there are people out there who get icky experiencing fiction and fictional emotion, but I can't internalise it. People don't think that way, it's absurd to even suggest it. But I've met people like that too, and I have no idea how they even exist. They're as alien to me as a single cell organism or someone made entirely out of clouds; I only understand them for the sake of argument. Luckily, if you are the kind of person that do enjoy things like fiction, and being curious, and learning; they don't stick around so you're quite safe from them. But that they're still out there downright scares me.

@eerielamp

6 ай бұрын

Hard agree. I'm listening to this series to get a hang at DMing, but I absolutely don't think that there are people who don't feel empathy and *thats* why they don't want to roleplay or watch fiction. I think it's more of a matter of what genres, themes, and conflicts they are willing to handle. My sisters LOVE chick flicks and soap operas. They know they're fiction. They don't see themselves in any particular character. In fact, they love watching both 1 dimensional Hallmark Christmas movie characters, and 3 dimensional drama characters grow develop better habits. The same sorts of character building I always note in action films, RPGs, and DnD. But I don't care about what they watch. I think it's all brain numbing when it's purely about romance, affection, who's cheating on who and why, the comically absurd lengths some people would go when something minor happens. Plot holes, inconsistencies. You get it. Yet, when I ask or talk to them about dungeons and dragons- the same thing happens in reverse to me. They check out, they ignore. They throw a "You only *ever* talk about your weird role playing game!" when they can't handle my umpteenth comment about it. There's compromise and compatibility questions ALWAYS when it comes to these things. And ones trash is another's treasure. You don't want to gather an incompatible group of players. If they're checking out, they're losing D&D lol

"Save the beautiful dragon from a ravenous princess..." - solid gold at 26:06

@dicorockhimself

4 жыл бұрын

It's a great call back

What a great teardown of the "Good role-playing" myth. I would love a video exploring D&D as a Role Playing game vs. a role-playing Game

@JacksonOwex

4 жыл бұрын

A game itself is not one or the other, each different group will be one or the other.

@Aleph-Noll

4 жыл бұрын

vs roll-playing lol

@TheMightyFraser

4 жыл бұрын

Definitely. I've worked for years to get people to realize that talking in character and crying at the table isn't automatically "better" roleplaying. It's acting. If your players are making decisions based on the character they are playing then that is most important.

@EvanSnowWolf

4 жыл бұрын

@@pasp9866 ALL roleplaying is a childish version of make believe. Adding dice doesn't make it sophisticated. Stop trying to add a pejorative to this.

@sillyking1991

4 жыл бұрын

​@@seanmurphy7011 it sounds like you're projecting. he goes out of his way several times to explain that when he is talking about rollplaying, roleplaying and Roleplaying, that the distinction he's drawing is not one of quality. he's not saying that Roleplaying is better than rollplaying. in fact he said the opposite. the terms he used were 'simpler' and 'more sophisticated'. but was very careful to not assign worth to either term. let me put it another way: a game like Civilizations V (turn based strategy game) is significantly more complex than a game like halo:combat evolved (first person shooter). that is a fact. however, that doesn't make Civilizations V a BETTER game than Halo. both are equally capable of being high quality games. both equally capable of being fun under the right circumstances. however, if you assume that both games are S-tier, the absolute best game that could possibly exist in their genre. and you're looking for an action packed high energy experience....you're not gonna play Civ V (or at least, you'd be foolish to). because its not going to be what you want. now if we apply that logic to this video's subject: just because playing a 1 dimensional character is simpler, that doesn't make it *worse*. but it does make it different than playing a 3 dimensional character. similarly, its simpler to play a character that thinks like you, compared to one that thinks differently than you. that doesn't make it worse. so, ultimately this video was about 2 things. first: it was a video specifically for people that already WANT to get into more complex roleplay, and his suggestions for how to do it. he's not saying that EVERYONE *should* want to. in fact he said the opposite. he said that its perfectly fine if people don't want to. and actively encouraged DM's to not try to force people to. second: its an indictment of the exact attitude that you accuse him of having.

Matt. EASILY your best video. Ever. Understanding players v characters as well as how some can’t or won’t RP... brilliant. Understanding conversations WITHOUT accents is VALID RP because of context and subtext... BRILLIANT. Thank you. I have given you grief in the past. I’ll own that. THIS was EPIC DMing. Thank you.

@sillyking1991

4 жыл бұрын

im SOOOO happy that i've found a dM that isn't super tied to accents. my current characters voice is inspired pretty heavily on Master Oogway's (kung fu panda) and for a while i was having fun doing it, but more and more i found myself running out of patience trying to talk that slowly so i basically just completely dropped the accent. and rather than ridiculing me everyone laughed along with my frustration. to give more context, this is significant because just prior i had a DM get upset at me for NOT doing an accent....in fact he got annoyed when i tried to take the Actor feat, even though i didn't do a heavy accent on the character...

@rudewalrus5636

4 жыл бұрын

@@sillyking1991 Your DM is an idiot. YOU can't cast magical spells like your wizard character can, you can't shapechange like your druid character can, you can't channel divine power like your cleric character can, you can't deal four deadly strikes with a longsword in six seconds like your fighter character can, etc... etc... Why should he expect you to act in order for your character to be an actor???

@sillyking1991

4 жыл бұрын

@@rudewalrus5636 yeah man, thats what i was saying. like...i don't get general enjoyment out of it, why should i be expected to do it? and the answer of course is that that DM confused acting with roleplaying. but still. it was irksome.

I started watching your videos with this one in particular, when a friend of mine was helping me better create a character for our campaign. This video was super helpful. As an aside, when you referenced Frodo for character motivation I actually started crying. I'd never read the books, and I'd forgotten that Tolkien survived WWI. The subtext of Frodo's motivations and his character floored me, and made me rethink so much in the ways of storytelling and building a character. Thank you

Matt Colville: “It’s possible to save Ellie without killing anyone.” *Abby hits the Dislike button*

This is the climax of the running the game series. For well over a year Matt has been trying to make the rtg videos shorter, often verbally confirming this desire. When I saw this video was 45 min long, my only thought was extreme excitement and being so proud of this amazing channel. I was so happy to see matt make a decision to make a long rtg video. Now that I've watched it, I am beyond words amazed at how it feels like RTG has been leading up to this video, and I hope it changes the RPG community, the matt colville community, and the D&D community forever (kind of how his critical role video link was the number one comment on most other videos about the campaign 1 finale; it changed everything for everyone who watched it) TLDR: Well done Matt. This video is important, and should be recognized as so.

I've gotten used to the old format, and I liked the way it was more conversational and casual, but I definitely appreciate the structured and professional-looking form of this one and will get used to it soon enough.

Now looking at all my OCs and thinking...dang, are they just a voice? WHAT IS MY SUBTEXT?! Great video Matt!

Watching this video for about the 30th time, and I just wanted to say that the opening has made me think differently about the choices I make in games, and it has been extremely rewarding - recently having played through Farcry 6 (I know, I know - vapid, shallow, and devoid of meaning - but a lot of fun!), I found myself making choices based on what *Dani* would do, not on what I would do, and it only enriched the experience and story. All this to say, keep doing what you do Matt!

This is a masterclass. Thank you, Matt!

One of your best videos and you've put out a lot of good content over the years. You've done a great job of condensing down a lot of views and ideas you've expressed over the years and providing context for your views.

I've noticed your players have gotten in character enough that when you interject in their deliberations as a GM without an NPC, they go "what's that noise?"

I had my first Roleplaying experience last night. I was included in a campaign different than mine as a guest character, but the same DM, for 3 sessions. At the the end I had to betray the group during a heist and leave them behind / get them killed. By the time we got that far I was genuinely so nervous but equally excited to play out that part. That's what I love about this game and roleplaying. It broadens my perspective AND I get to have fun and make new friends. Awesome.

The entire bit about LOTR hit me different. I'm grateful for having found and subbed Matt. He gets what I think but can't express.

This is what makes you an Icon Matt, in the first seven minutes of the video, with the upper case and lower case roleplaying, you basically defined or created terminology that people are going to be using as the default hobby jargon for years and years to come. So needed, so useful.

Thank you for articulating this. I feel like there are a lot of KZread channels with D&D content aimed at new players. However, a lot of them seem to be more interested in running down the monster manual or talking about which spell is the most “OP”. This is a lot more substantial than that. The trend of stream watchers getting into the game only to be disappointed that their game isn’t like the game they see online is something that I like being addressed.

I've watched this video a million times by now, and every time I come to this video I come back with a new or greater understanding of the hobby. While it's far from the most quotable, I found myself absolutely struck by the simple line: "What does a character want?(Motivation), and why do they want it?(Subtext). Truly an incredibly beautiful synopsis of how to write characters compacted into one short line. This forever changed my view on every character I now make, and I found myself pausing the video going over literally almost every character I have created or past PC's I've now come to NPC and asking this simple question to myself. Never will I deploy another character again without first asking myself this question. Incredible lecture Matt.

I love the editing in this! It added a lot of cool touches and I think improved the comprehensibility.

As usual, Matt very eloquently expresses what I and my gaming group feel about a topic. This is Master Class level stuff here!

"save a beautiful dragon from a ravening princess" now THAT'S a strong start for an adventure! :D

Matt Colville Quote of the day: "I want to save a beautiful Dragon from a ravening Princess" this is why Matt is awesome

When you were talking about people not picking up on how Lars was playing the Commander, I was instantly reminded of how much people disliked how Marisha played Keyleth on the first season of Critical Role. One of the big problems was that Keyleth's character was built upon trying to be a leader but not having confidence in herself. This meant that whenever she was giving a speech it either felt weak because she was intentionally making it that way or because improvising grand speeches off the top of your head is super hard to do. This made her _seem_ like a poorer character compared to everyone else, because she had fewer one-liners than someone like Grog or Scanlan. It was less entertaining on the surface, but her character was much more developed than most of the rest of the cast and I very much enjoyed it because of that.

@ShayneRawls

4 жыл бұрын

Could be a mix of both KeyKey and Marsha. I notice Beau is definitely her speed and seems more natural for her. But one of the issues I encounter is when I complain about a character folks automatically say I'm complaining about the Player. That couldn't be farther from the truth its quite annoying cause I like to say my opinion but...those kind of fans always try to make it into something else

@TheMan83554

4 жыл бұрын

@@ShayneRawls Absolutely. I'm in a bit of the same situation with M9. Jester is the kind of personality that I cannot stand. I literally stopped watching M9 because of it. But I love that Laura is able to pull off that character to the degree that it grated on me.

@EpherosAldor

4 жыл бұрын

@@ShayneRawls It might be how you are saying it that is the problem. As an example, if you are in chat saying "Beau is the shittiest, horrible character", or "Shut up Marisha and let the one with charisma talk to the NPC", then those are just blah, garbage comments that are meant to incite arguments and negative reactions (even if you did not intend to), they'll get deleted pretty quickly. If, instead, you said, "I don't like Beau because she keeps thinking she knows more in this situation than she actually does and is interfering with Fjord's ability to do something." This opens a dialog in which others might offer suggestions or different perspectives, or agreement and can expound a little on that particular moment or scene. It's essentially saying 'hey, can we talk about this moment because I have some thoughts and would greatly like some insight from others'. Phrasing really matters... Personally, I just watch the episode and leave chat out of it, why do I want to miss something about the episode because I was too busy yammering to others and not paying attention. I'd rather go back into Discord or on TeamNoStream and have discussions after the fact.

@Ghonosyphlaids

4 жыл бұрын

@@ShayneRawls I think there was a 'tone' problem, where the format the other characters were playing in didn't support a dramatic actor attempting to monologue internal conflict. That being said, the way the community responded to the jarring change in tone when she attempted it was sickening af

@ShayneRawls

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheMan83554 exactly! I stayed in cause I started at the beginning but I don't watch live lot now cause I like to fast forward to get to the bits I enjoy

I think this is one of the best videos Matt has ever done.

Those Beautiful Dragons often need to be saved from the Ravening Princess. It's a tough life for a beautiful dragon...

This was an amazing and wonderful piece without ever saying, "the Matt Mercer Effect." Not fair to him, not fair to anyone else. You addressed the main issues by letting everyone know, it's all ok.

Excellent episode, Matt. I always thought role-playing was "doing the voice" and never really played knowing my character's motivation. This is one of those videos that I will be directing my nephew to (he just started getting into the hobby) so that he can immerse himself in the game, but also so that he won't forget to have fun with his friends. (P.S. Finally got my hardcover book, t-shirt, sticker, and mini from the Kickstarter delivered to me on the Canadian Prairie. Thanks Matt. It did NOT disappoint. Good job, all.)

@sillyking1991

4 жыл бұрын

im glad you were able to get it sorted out! i had the exact opposite problem, i had a DM that got upset at me because i didn't do a voice. and in fact didn't even want me to give my character the Actor feat because i didn't really do voices. even though all (probably an exaggeration. obviously im not perfect. im sure i slipped up more than i'd care to realize) of my character actions were consistent and in character. it was rather shocking for me to learn how prevelant that attitude was.

25:39 This one hit home. Hard. I'm that kid. That kid who was born in the middle of nowhere, lucky to have a good education but not lucky enough to have a good country, a good opportunity if I stay. I want to go, I want to escape and I never even realized... I want to matter. I want to make a difference and when you said that, I just felt like crying. I didn't even notice, almost every choice I've made, or thought I've had about the future is because I want to be someone. And I just can't do that at home. I can't stay in the only place I know and love because I have to become somebody, I want to do something meaningful. My whole life, all my academical efforts I make are just because I want to escape. And DnD is just another way of doing that, while I work on getting out of here. And I just can't believe a video about roleplaying in a tabletop game almost has me to tears.

@Frank-ju8qr

Жыл бұрын

I hope you have or will reach your goal, whatever form it takes, I believe in you

Fantastic commentary on the Audience role that is new to roleplaying in this era of streaming.

This might be your best Running the Game video ever, Matt. It was helpful to me for sure. I think this video will be helpful to the rpg community as a whole and that people will be talking about it for a long time, or at least they should be. Thanks to all of you at MCDM for your contribution to making it.

I have watched them all and this is one of my favorites

As a DM, I try my hardest to both encourage my players to escape their comfort zone when roleplaying, but also be sure not to push them into a situation they are not comfortable in. The best thing to do at your table if you have players hesitant to engage in roleplay, you can cultivate an interest in that element of the game through gentle encouragement, asking more questions like "how would your character react to this?" In my experience, players are more likely than not to want to extrapolate on their character's thoughts and motivations when given the opportunity (mileage may vary given your group dynamic). They may not even really understand what roleplaying 'is' per se, but decently empathetic people, I feel, can more easily than not immerse themselves into characters when given the right circumstance and encouragement. Also, love the new title cards Matt!

@fredfreddy8684

4 жыл бұрын

We just finished the Thay wizard sleep interrogation chapter of Rise of Tiamat. Two elf players were chosen to play Thay NPC interrogators. It was brutal and the players were all sad and disgruntled afterward. I think this was a fun thing for the DM and a sacrifice for the players. I played one of the interrogators and followed the DM's lead. I feel like something from the Stanford Experiment now. Not sure if everyone are friends like before. Yeah

@metalman895

4 жыл бұрын

@@fredfreddy8684 Yikes!

@fredfreddy8684

4 жыл бұрын

@@metalman895 I know. And, I was an interrogator too. ! I have all manner of baggage to sort through now. All I did was unsuccessfully try to tone down the other interrogators when the lone player would get up and go get the next one. Now, we're all headed to fight Tiamat under-powered. I have a +1 bow! But all our potions and scolls turned to water and went blank. Charge! lol

@metalman895

4 жыл бұрын

@@fredfreddy8684 I totally derailed my brother's campaign by just offing a goblin prisoner when they wouldn't cough up the info. I was always the DM and did not read the room as a player at all. I still feel bad 10 years later. Sorry Toma!

@GrimmerPl

4 жыл бұрын

@@fredfreddy8684 On the other hand - you will remember that memory. It will stay with you, maybe it changed you a little bit. Maybe it touched you very being. It is a power of TTRPG too.

This is so freeing! I have been playing and DMing for about 3 years now, and I'm still bad at the voice when I'm playing. I have a deep web of thoughts and ideals for my character, but I still felt like I was failing because I couldn't keep up my Scottish accent. Thank you for your sage advice and encouragement.

The "he couldn´t really say it out to himself" explainer on motivation reminds me of the return scene in Dunkirk after the British soldiers worry about them being labeled as cowards by the home country. Then on the pier there´s an old blind man passing out blankets(?) to them, saying "Welcome back". He´s a WW1 vet who was blinded by mustard gas and he understands where they come from. That's very powerful and brilliant imho. Capturing great things in the small is an impressive narrative skill.

"I want to save a beautiful dragon from a ravening princess..." that needs to be a book, if it is, someone needs to tell me what it's called!

@nonchip

4 жыл бұрын

Shrek?

@Gray963

4 жыл бұрын

@@nonchip God damnit...

@korg20000bc

4 жыл бұрын

Great Circling Poets of Arium:

@TheWackojacko950

4 жыл бұрын

The Bard's Tale had the ravening princess part covered

"When we start out in the hobby, especially as teenagers... We overwhelmingly tend to play idealized versions of ourselves." Should I be worried that my first d&d character I played (when I was 15) was a psychopath? 😅

@freeinformation9869

4 жыл бұрын

lol My experience is that this is another stage (or path) of roleplaying, wanting to do outrageous, crazy and extreme things. Usually happens before or after the idealized stage in no particular order.

@taylorpeppers5012

3 жыл бұрын

Nah, you just started with the 'push every boundary I can think of' phase. See it all the time in new players

@patrickbateman3146

10 ай бұрын

Yes

Matt, wow. This is one of the most insightful and effectively communicated breakdowns of role playing that i think has ever been recorded or written. I haven't read much about this topic specifically aside from popular bloggers like angry DM or game designers themselves, but I would challenge any previously written text to do what you just did as concisely and in as few words. Bravo, this is why we love you - this is a masterpiece of DM advice.

I have been running games online for several years and have found 3rd person roleplay to be extremely helpful. The player says "Carl runs forward....Carl says...or carl would sneak forward", and this helps the players learn each others characters, and helps me as I cant always remember whose voice is for which character. When players say "I run forward and attack", I'm usually like...."and who was that?" lol. This has helped my in person games as well, as I can say "what does Carl do", rather than "your turn or what do you do" and point. By calling out players by their character name or having them do the same, it seems to put them in the characters mindset and is an easy entry to additional roleplay.

Your magnum opus, sir. I got a chill when you clued me in to Tolkien's message to his war vet friends. Lots of revelations of my own game playing and the rping at my table. I see Lars differently now as well. I think I read somebody further in the comments typed "masterclass" and I agree. Game Nerd Series Master Class by Matthew Colville. Seriously, fantastic, shareable, rewatchable vid. Thank you.

Matt, thanks for putting the effort in to making such a good video. I really had fun thinking about the topics and questions you discussed. One thing I greatly appreciate about this series is that the development of ideas has progressed in way that has paralleled my own thinking. I've watched all your videos from Running the Game and back then when I just discovered your channel, I needed those quick tips and tutorials to get me going. But as I have progressed and started playing more and more with my friends, I found myself revisiting videos that came from later and later in the series. Your series could almost serve as a guided inquiry of how to play DnD. In the past 2 months, I've been thinking more about characters and what it means to have a character progress in story. The channel Think Story has a good playlist on writing good characters and while it certainly helped with thinking about characters I create as a DM, it doesn't capture what it means to play DnD and Roleplay in an active way. Thanks for all the good advice over the years. I will need some time to digest and put this into practice, but I'll be looking forward to wherever you decide to go next!

Still one of my favorite pieces of D&D media over two years later. I come back to this every so often to take a look at my characters and decide what they are and what I want to do with them. Thanks so much for this entire series, and in particular a nuanced view on storytelling.

As a person that isn't cozy doing voices, this is really helpful, I appreciate it.

YOU CAN'T JUST. END VIDEOS LIKE THAT. 10/10. This is incredibly well made and I wanna show it to my friends all across the roleplaying spectrum.

I saw the lower third, I was frightened by change. But the content and topic shifting felt the same. I see the lower third, and I think I like it. It gives Running the Game more of a visual component without demanding the video to be the "correct" way to consume it

@chastermief839

4 жыл бұрын

makes it really easy for jumping around the video to find specific advice, too.

This was incredibly well-thought-out. I suggest, if you don't have the time to watch the whole video, that you just wait, and come back at a time when you do. I am definitely someone who has the books engages with D&D as an audience member and not a player (though I am always looking to play). I really enjoyed seeing these methods of play given definitions and I also liked that "doing the voice" isn't the "correct" way.

that zoom in on the 'why' was the most satisfying thing EVER

God dude this was great. I'm prepping a Pendragon Campaign and that three dimensional conflict is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for the video and inspiration

@cindywomack1113

4 жыл бұрын

Woohoo for a Pendragon campaign. I supported the KS but have yet to play.

My voice thanks you. I love my Dragonborn PC but I couldn't keep doing that to my voice.

I love "I want to save a beautiful dragon from a ravening princess" lol 26:09

I think I've watched this video 4 times now and it still isn't boring. It is just jam packed with so much thought provoking advice that it doesn't get old. Bravo!

Yes! This is one of the topics I've had the most trouble with, so I am definitely looking forward to this.

This looks like a professional tutorial format for video which is a engaging video essay. It did weird me out but im not against it.

I will try and commit this to memory. This is mostly stuff I already know rephrased, but its stuff thats extremely easy to forget while playing. When roleplaying, the urge is to get *into* character. But you aren't your character. You often can't do what they would do by pretending you're them. It can counterintuitively be better to acknowledge that separation. Don't think "I'm my character, what do I do?", think, "I'm not my character, what does my character do?".

D&D 5th ed (as well as other rpgs) sometimes bake-in motivations to the system. In chapter four of the PHB, they have the Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws as a part of the assorted backgrounds. I think it was the Burning Wheel that popularized the concept, and their starter adventure "the Sword" is a great example of it. This can be a great first step to getting a one or three dimensional character. All of this can be great for role-playing. But... What about when your character would do something that wouldn't be fun for the party? We were running a very well known module in the sword coast north near the sword mountains. And my character was given the opportunity to get the answer to a question... and my bond was that I searching my whole life for the answer to a question! We were in the middle of a mystery and we needed a clue! The party needed me to ask a different question, and that's what I did. I 'broke character' and we all had a great time. But I don't know if I did the right thing. I play it over in my head over and over again (actually I just think about it sometimes when I'm taking a poo, but you get the idea). As a player, should I value other player's enjoyment over "what my character would do?"

I love the reference at the bottom of the screen. I can't tell how many times I've gotten hardstuck doing something as a new DM and thinking "Oh wait Matt talked about this didn't he? I wanna see what he said again" and go mining through videos. Super helpful stuff and great content as always Matt :)

Matt, I love you! And all the other players of the Chain too! Watching your videos and stream truly inspired me to elevate my own game to a new level. And this video is the pinnacle of it. It's been about time. Continue the great work!

I just wanted to say as a veteran who served overseas this really hits home.

Thank you so much for making this. I've been wanting to get back into playing for years, both as a player and a GM, but one of the biggest things that's intimidated me has been [what I perceive as] pressure to be a voice actor.

That was an impressive and very important video. Thank you very much matt.

This is a focused RtG vid. I love it. Lots of thought went on behind the screen I’m sure. Ty Matt Colville.

When you said that about Frodo, I realized for the first time what I've always thought about that scene and why it's so hard to take. Boy, that really enlightened me. Thanks for that.

I am and always will be a "Do the voice" GM, an Improv Theater nerd, Screenwiter and a Ravenous Princess and I think this video was absolutely amazing! Never felt "attacked". It, as plenty of others have said is a Masterclass. Thank you Matt.

Matt, thank You So much. Thanks to Your videos i Now run a campaign as a DM (with help of Matthew Mercer's and) Yours advice. Fantastic job

It's so odd to me that people are bringing up and blaming Critical Role for the audience expecting certain things, when Critical Role itself is yelled at for meta-gaming and roleplaying wrong literally just as often. Critical Role will have episodes where all they do is shop or talk and THAT isn't entertaining for people so they get tons of negative comments about how slow and boring it's going. The Audience Matt's talking about wasn't born from Critical Role. The Audience has always been there, wanting to be entertained above all else. And the cast of Critical Role, the people so many of you seem to think are the reason people have these expectations, are criticized for poor roleplay, character choices, and meta-gaming just as often.

@sillyking1991

4 жыл бұрын

i agree with you. sort of. the audience has always wanted to be entertained, this is true. however, streamed DnD games are what allowed audience expectations to shift mainstream expectations of everyone elses DnD games. and critical role pioneered that field. so from that perceptive critical role is to blame. but its not like they deserve any hate for it in any meaningful way. thats just how it worked out. but i also acknowledge that when people blame critical role, this perceptive isn't what they mean, and the perspective they do mean IS stupid.

@DimT670

4 жыл бұрын

You can blame critical role from a certain perspective, as some might say that it creates unrealistic expectations of what DND is or should be. People who because of it think that what happens there is the only way to play, or even achievable, since cr isn't actually something the majority of DND players can aspire to or even should aspire to. Does critical role come out and say that explicitly? No. Is that the message many receive? Yes. And it is important to address that. Your point about people complaining about Cr doesn't stand to scrutiny. Cr is criticised against the expectations it has created itself. Why wouldn't it. People criticising it doesn't mean it's not responsible for the creation of many of those expectations. While the audience and it's want and need for entertainment will always exist, how you cater to it is up to you, not them. You cannot and should not remove blame from a creator, even when that creator didn't intend for what happened to happen. The writter of jaws didn't want people to go around killing sharks. But that's the result his book had, and we cannot and should not remove the blame from the book for causing that. Did the prerequisites for this to happen exist? Yes. Would this have happened in the way it happened had the work not existed? No. This is simply the price of creating art. You send a message out to the world, and you should accept blame for it. If you don't want to go through that, do not publish your art

@stevenclark1662

4 жыл бұрын

I've never understood this. At the beginning of nearly every critical role video, Mercer says, "welcome to critical role, where a bunch of us nerdy VOICE ACTORS play D&D." How can someone watch that, know that they are all voice actors, but still decide that only someone who can 'do voices' is playing correctly. So, since Gygax first dropped D&D, all the way to the first CR cideo, no one played it correctly? What is that...at least 30 years? Looking at any edition, I'm not seeing the part where you have to voice your character. I see parts explaining that role playing is playing as someone who is not you. My books must be wrong, they aren't including the voice rules. Thankfully, these VOICE ACTORS started playing, and showed all of us how wrong we are???

@stevenclark1662

4 жыл бұрын

My point is, that CR didn't start the phenomenon of streaming games, If they didn't start streaming d&d first, some other group would have. Maybe this hypothetical other group wouldn't have been comprised of VOICE ACTORS. I dread that hypothetical reality. The players at CR took something they loved (voice acting) and put it in their game, and were cool enough to record it so we could watch. Any group that has decided that this is the only correct way to play has missed the point entirely.

@kaseigunsou

3 жыл бұрын

Thats perfectly on point, especially with what Matt has been saying on audience entertainment/player fun. Been rewatching the whole 1st campaign of CR again and during the Briarwoods arc, Marisha got so much hate from the audience because she was killing all the fun by basically not wanting to kill everything in sight... in other words she wouldnt entertain the audience. She actually was playing her character perfectly by doing what Keyleth would do. Turns out ironically, they made the chat subscribers only right around that time... Moreover, I find personally that CR biggest strenght isnt the voice casting at all, its the creativity they have and how they interact with the world around them, making it real. On a side note, and because Matt mentionned it in the intro, its the exact same thing with what happened with The Last of Us Part 2. Audience bashed it to an extent because they couldnt stand what a specific character did as it went directly against how they were expected to be entertained, even though it was perfectly in character.

A point you raised that I think I can put a finger on: "You need to be an actor to DM. You need improv classes to roleplay properly". Its a horrible connection to make, because I love the show and I know you (Matt Colville) are friends with the group: Critical Role. The assumption that because Matt Mercer (who is a great DM through practice and a love of gaming as much as anything else) is an actor, that is why he is a great DM. The same assumption is applied to the players, all people who earn their living through acting. They are great to watch because they display mannerisms and do funny voices but they are also, if I understand your video correctly (I may be misinterpreting) showing 3 dimensions - traits, motivations (surface and sub-text) and changes in these things as they experience things. My slightly more than 2 cents, drizzled with a light rant. Sorry.

"They're just going to let the situation resolve itself." Oh christ, I remember my first RPG session. Game of Dark Ages: Vampire... or Vampire the Dark Ages, I forget exactly which game we were doing. My roommate had a character with the flaw "Repelled by crosses," and we were being interrogated by inquisitors. They brought out the holy symbols and he reacted because he failed his willpower roll. That was a big nasty fight. Got us in trouble with the Prince. On the way home, though, we were talking about what a cluster that was and I said "Yeah, I thought about maybe shouting "demon!" and running you through but I figured that wasn't how..." "DUDE! You should've done it! That would've fixed the whole thing!" Oops :D