Rule #1 - Make the players feel like they have total freedom Rule #2 - Don't give them space and time to go rogue unless you want them to Never write scripts as it's pointless. Write encounters or personalities/characters (not conversations, they need to be completely tailored to the situation) that may or may not depend on certain events. These encounters may have an original progress route but should also be considered as individual encounters if necessary. I usually have about a single page worth of notes, some print outs and maps in addition to a few specific and unique character stats and descriptions and that alone can last me several sessions worth of playing. That is if you plan for campaigns, which is, in my opinion, by far the easiest to create since you're never completely dependent on having those key encounters any particular session. The players will get there at one point or another... let them feel free even if they're really not. Most often the players will catch on to your (my) involuntary red herrings which turns out to be a much better idea than my original plan, and a single page worth of notes turns into a decade long struggle between a random character I never really fleshed out at first and the players. Add the original adventures on top and the whole thing feels really alive and intricate for the players, they feel free and are in fact directing the events more than they'd ever know.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

ZeroTheHero All great advice, small plans for big actions is a more condensed version. Nerdarchist Ted

A trick for creating populating dungeons I like is to use the ecology method of dungeon design. This means you basically populate the dungeon, or adventure, by thinking in terms of ecological science. Here's how: 1) The lynchpin species; this is the big bad monster that is the most powerful in the dungeon/adventure and everything revolves around this creature. The dungeon as a whole is the creatures lair and is littered with clues to the creatures history. 2) servitors; if the creature is intelligent, or even if it isn't, there may be other creatures which do the lynchpins bidding. These could be creatures like hobgoblins, kobolds, drow, etc. 3) the remoras: these are the smaller creatures that live in and around the lynchpin. Otyughs, rust monsters, and carrion crawlers are good classic examples of this. 4) 2nd tier predators; these are the predators that don't challenge the lynchpin monster, no, they go after the servitors and remoras...and of course any characters that may stumble across their path. Some classic examples are trappers, ropers, and such. 5) bottom feeders; the lowest of the ecology, these are the vermin and things like molds, slimes and fungi. 6) competing predators; no matter how big the lynchpin creature is there are still other things that challenge them for territory. However, what ever these competitors are they are obviously not as powerful as the lynchpin or they would have already won. These should not be allies for the characters. These could be other intelligent monsters like orks, umber hulks or a lich that want to kill the lynchpin. These could also be larger monsters, like maybe a few purple worms trying to move in on a dragons cave, or some such. 7) competing adventurers; whatever the adventure hook, some other adventurers want to get the treasure themselves and may attack and/or ambush the party.

I started playing d&d in 1980,stopped play in 1994, started again in2012 with Pathfinder, and now I'm back with d&d5th ed.The one thing I have learned is to use "thumb nail"storyline along with the notecards.This combination allows the main theme of story to be played out,while the PC'sstill have the freedom to do their own charactor building.PS. Your videos have helped this old man get his DM'ing creative juices flowing again.MY 1st storyline is a fiend pact warlock tied to Yougoloth's,that is seeking the 'books of Keeping

Omfg X-Men Alert in the background there. Awesome!

I love winging it as a DM, my advice is to get some kind of randomizer app. My personal favorite is GM's Toolkit having a starting point is great. It can give you the who, what, where, you must answer the why. If done right the players will think it was all planned.

Every new GM's should be told that! Thanks for this video!

@Nerdarchy

10 жыл бұрын

Thanks for checking us out and I love the D30 in your name. I'm also glad you find the information useful. Let us know if there is anything else you'd like us to do a video on. -Nerdarchist Dave

When I create an adventure it's usually part of a larger campaign that has one or more major threads. Its usually not difficult for me to tie things together in the individual campaigns to the overarching thread. For example the campaign thread might be "Save the Kingdom from the Fey Invasion". There might be 20 adventures under this Campaign, each of which might be 10 or more sessions. An Adventure in this Campaign might be something like "Follow the Goblins to their Secret Lair and Discover that they are constructing an underground fortress". So, lets say the Players don't take the bait. They head north instead of south. That's ok. Because in the context of the Campaign there is plenty to do. South? Ok yup. There's the Palace of the Witch Queen and her Battalion of Werewolves down South. No problem. They may go and find out about that, and then on their return, should they be so fortunate, they might run back into the Goblin Fortress ... except by now it's 3/4 finished and they have imported a band of Hobgoblins to dwell in it. It still bears discovering, and is still part of the larger Campaign. In other words the way I play my World is that it's alive with or without the player characters, and the major forces at work go on with their plans regardless of what the PCs may or may not do. For me, it's a matter of immersing myself into my world and understanding who is doing what and why, and what kind of obstacles they may run into, and what kinds of stuff they might do to get around them. This especially includes the PCs, who tend to be the trouble makers for the movers and shakers, villains and monsters. Another trick of the trade is my use of the Spiral Method, which basically says create scenarios that are not too loosely tied to a time or specific place. They float. So this is the equivalent of running into wandering monsters, except it's a whole scenario. The Lord of Palamir is transporting his shipment of magical grain to The Hidden Vale where it is to be grown into an army of Ents, for example. Between these two methods I feel pretty well covered when the Players go off in an unexpected direction. But lastly, and most importantly, be ready and able to improv. Very important skill for GMs.

Ted and I sharing some of our 40+ years of gaming experience. #DMTips #GMTips #GameMaster #DungeonMaster #RPG #DungeonsandDragons #PathFinder #Gaming #Gamers

That's an easy one - the barmaid has a cousin that comes to town to check up on her "new job". This cousin is a bit of an adventurer himself...and guess what...he hates that his little cousin was charmed by a old-fart wizard that's whoring her around now. LOL The only way he doesn't get whacked by the cousin is to convince the group to kill the goblins...oh...and the farmer turns out to be the uncle.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

LOL, I have know Idea what comments pertains to because we've shot this video so long ago, but I'm finding it entertain all the same. Thanks for jumping into the conversation. -Nerdarchist Dave

@chrishinson1915

9 жыл бұрын

It's when Dave's enchanter turned the barmaids into his personal sluts. LOL

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

Chris Hinson LOL I prefer unwilling business partners. -Nerdarchist Dave

I checked out the Lazy DM Guide that you recommended and even that may be too much work. All you really need is an opening incident and go from there. Here's how author, Matthew Hughes (who writes in a style similar to Jack Vance) describes it: 4. Every story begins with an initiating incident. Something happens that is out of the ordinary for the character’s normal situation, no matter how extraordinary that situation might seem to us. From then on, the story is about how the character deals with the conflict that started with that plot point. Smart writers, especially those trying to interest agents and editors in their first saleable work, put that incident on page one and work in the setting and the backstory as the action continually moves forward. In other words, start your story where the story starts. Or in the words of Louis Lamour: have your hero in trouble on page one. So to show an example of how this could work, to use your last video on Giants, maybe a couple of giants show up and demand the town give them a bunch of food because they're Giants and they're lazy and they don't grow food. If the players decide to fight the Giants, maybe afterwards the mayor comes up and says, "You guys are crazy. The last time someone did that the Giants came back in force and destroyed the town." Or maybe the players say, "It's not our problem" and do nothing but the next day when there is no food and the townsfolk start to turn on each other, it becomes their problem.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

Good stuff Gregory thanks for contributing to the conversation. -Nerdarchist Dave

@tjcofer7517

4 жыл бұрын

I like to have a few different incidents... if my players are unphased by the incident I can have some other pretty normal encounters for a little before another I throw incident I have prepared down

Thank you guys so much for this video, it has given me some great ideas on how to deal with my unruly group. We have actually only been playing for about 30 hours total and we had to split from a larger group. I was elected dm and got all of the "creative" people in mine. Its been a mental slaughter house and your videos help me with the people whose first instinct is to rob a bank and skin the cashiers for a disguise.

My players are so random I could just run the game completely on the fly. I basically keep my notes very loose so I can make the adjustments on the fly, and make sure that I have at least two combat encounters on hand for the session. To be honest the crazy random shit that they do is highly entertaining and I dont mind so much. That is when I really start to pay attention because it gives me all sorts of ideas. Ill let them go on about a crazy idea and just sit back and listen. Oh the golden info they through at me. What ends up happening is they create their own segment of the game, and in the end it ends up being more enjoyable/memorable, and feels more natural to the players.

I'm DMing a game currently, my sister and my friends are the characters, and I've planned out this epic story line that will eventually have them, basically, deciding who wins a massive war, although they may have no idea they are doing it. But I do fully expect them to just wander off and do their random shit. So, I put a bit of a deadline on the story, if they don't get involved in the story within a year of game time, the story will just on without them. I'll have myself some battles with myself and see who wins without them interfering. So, even if they walk off and do their own thing, the story will catch up with them... Unless they just completely leaves the entire continent and go somewhere else.... But I have planned for my characters to completely ruin all of my plans. And i'm fine with it, I like making up plans.

I've winged entire adventures, and after the session the players told me it was the greatest adventure ever. Of course, I've also winged entire adventures that was meh. This was when we played once a week, and I was starting out as a pro photographer. I just didn't have the time to create anything, so everything got winged - in my homegrown campaign. It's not something you should do though, as the second variant happened way more often than the first.

I always have fun with a free for all campaign

This is a tough one - with experience you can create a story line that most if not all of the players will naturally gravitate towards. I think the problem is that a lot of DM's try to put their own personal play style "into" the game and expect the players to react the same as they would. If the DM can listen to the players, take in what they feel is interesting, and add that to the adventure, then most any pre-built or purchased or home-brew written adventure can be used. Personally, I feel that if a DM is totally winging it...then I have no way to "win". It seems like the evening drolls on as the DM just sits and spouts off stuff off the top of his head. However..if there is a clear puzzle or challenge that's created...then I feel as if I can "win" at some point.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

I always try to draw from my players own back stories for plots and find these rarely ever get ignored. But even if I do wing it there is a clear objective usually. -Nerdarchist Dave

RPG's are the great sandbox. I don't think we should prepare really at all. I mean sure you might have some sort of an outline but you need to be ready to throw that out too. I have planned adventures and had my entire player group say "Hell no, Mr. NPC we will not do that for you." and literally leave. But... as a GM I love when the players decide to do what they want and not what I plan.

This Area is better than your full, messy basement. Just a suggestion. Thanks.

That skull in the background is really cool looking.

@Nerdarchy

10 жыл бұрын

Yea Ted is a collector O stuff and he's been to acquire cool things from time to time. -Nerdarchist Dave

I often build up my campaigns just by building some villains and then making a schedule of all the stuff they are gonna do for the next month. For example ''Evil Emil'' the necromancer whos gonna do a number of evil events that leads to various encounters in or arround a certain village. Sort of: day 4: raise a couple undeads in the cemetary and send them on a rampage through town. day 7: curse the orphanage causing d3 kids to sleepwalk/kill hobos. and so on. Shit is gonna hit the fan and the whole village is going byebye in about a months time unless the PC's deal with the situation. Obviously if ''Evil Emil'' dies then the village survives and the PC's may or may not know who he was. The campaign as a whole may include 6-7 villages and say 12-15 main villains. If the PC's do nothing then the whole region is going down but even with the best efforts they cant effectively shut down all the villains. But the better the PC's handled the situation the fewer villains are going to take part of the climax and their efforts is rewarded by still having NPC's around the region instead of a collection of ghost towns carrying over into the next campaign.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

Sorry dude I couldn't stop laughing thinking about Evil Emil sitting at his desk with his day planner hatching out his evil schedule. Good stuff. - Nerdarchist Dave

@Irtehdar

9 жыл бұрын

Nerdarchy Glad you liked it. Also theres no reason to set all villains in motion straight away. Evil Emil might be a bad guy trying to build ''Undead Utopia'' and market it as a vacation destination for necromancers. However besides that he was also a family man and a loving father. His daugther Evil Emily is after revenge. And her scheme revolves around the PC's and causing them pain.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

Irtehdar I find if you micro manage your bad guys they will always be able to do more than the players trying to stop them so over thinking the bad guys plans, in my opinion is a bad way to go, unless as you said he takes down time to cover tracks, spend time with the family and do non evil things. Nerdarchist Ted

I get pretty bored both as a player and DM if things stay too scripted. I like to have as DM some NPCs detailed, and a solid setting to work with, along with several areas detailed, and the outline of a story. PCs have a lot of wiggle room to play with all those elements, and then even if they manage to go well outside that "wiggle room" I can still usually wing it quite fine.

@Nerdarchy

10 жыл бұрын

Awesome Emerald Toucanet. I learned early on the pitfalls of writing to much material. Generally I just right a couple sentences for any give thing and ad lib from there. - Nerdarchist Dave

Cool, thanks. I am going to be running my second ever game, it is Star wars Edge of the Empire(my first time being a gm was 9 years ago). How do you control your story when the choice the players have is the "GALAXY"?

@Nerdarchy

10 жыл бұрын

Great question Andrew. I've recently been running a super hero game where you have the same kind of problems. The 1st thing I'd do is have my players make their characters including back story and some goals. Build your campaign around what it is their characters want to accomplish. This way when you put a hook out there it's specific to the group or at least one or more of your players. Also if you haven't, you might want to check-out our video- Nerdarchy Role-Playing Games Discussion Panel: Great Game Masters Say Yes! Nerdarchy Role-Playing Games Discussion Panel: Great Game Masters Say Yes! Don't be afraid of winging it and letting your players do things you hadn't planned on. At the end the day it's just a game and everyone is there to have fun. Thanks for checking us out and feel free to ask more questions or let us know what video you'd like to see. We may just do that Star Wars one for you.

Hey guys, Great video - good thoughts there for me to take on... however I have quick questions. I'm not a DnD guys. I've only ever played 3:16, only played a few games, I was the GM and have NO idea what I'm doing. Wanna get into BattleStations and Traveller as well. Any good guides/videos/tips for a total GM beginner? Thanks!

@Nerdarchy

10 жыл бұрын

All of our tips are geared towards anyone playing a RPG Michael. A lot of the tips we give are relevant to most games. We have just happened to play a lot of D&D over the years so we speak from that experience. When I run a Mutants and Mastermind game I use the same methodology I would for a fantasy game (D&D). The very best thing I can say to a new GM is go play the game and have fun. Also you could check out our game master tips playlist- kzread.info/head/PLYSecr3PvKGLeuHf0Y3zBsIkmGfIAhkSG

@TsetTsyung

10 жыл бұрын

Thanks dude, looking at it now! XD

I have the problem of getting my players to actually explore the world, I spend hours upon hours of designing content. I have cards for every possible npc they could interact with in their "homebase" of Tel-furak as well as drawings of the world and most buildings. I have a complete history to the world (Kryllis) from the creation of the world itself to present time. But when I give them the hook to get them going they ask me whats next instead of actually taking action themselves. I can get them going after a while but I want them to be able to get into the world and do things without me pushing them the whole way.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

I feel your pain. That is why I don't build a bunch of stuff in advanced. have tried making your hooks more personal. Example: Hey fighter Bob your dad's old war buddy Stan the ranger is at your door covered in blood and muttering incoherently. In your face hooks that are personal to the players character might work better if you haven't tried them. Instead of building around the characters trying building for them. Just some ideas. hope they help. -Nerdarchist Dave

@anonymousmausmann8850

9 жыл бұрын

Nerdarchy We had our weekly session last night and played from 4pm yesterday to 6 in the morning today. I was able to get them interested. If you don't want to be bothered by details you should stop reading now. Last session they burned down the gang "headquarters" of their antagonist Zahrmen blacktooth to drive him from the city (Tel-Furak) Zahrmen crossed paths with a traveling slaver named Titon the Warmonger son of Titon the lamentor (he's a half giant). In desperation for revenge and to keep his own freedom Zahrmen makes a deal with titon to trick the players into killing a dragon, who is guarding a large adamantium prison holding a warhost of demons loyal to Asmodeus (who is Titon's patron god) So Zahrmen sets off back to Tel-Furak in guise of a ranger. He gets the players to come with him for the promise of 1000 gp for each of them (they were only level 6 going to face a youngling) They travel south into the mountains and find the dragon bathing in his oasis just outside of the cave where the prison is. So they slay the dragon by blinding it with arrows and cuttings its wings off. So they slay the dragon and the ward on the prison wears off allowing Zahrmen to open it. A balor that leads the warhost comes out and as the rest of the demons spread out into the world. Anyway the balor uses his demonic magic to transform Zahrmen into a blood thirsty Mezzodemon like creature. So the players kill demon zahrmen and head out of the mountains. But once on the ridge where the mountains end and the desert begins they are captured by Titon and his slave army which have set up camp a mile or two outside of Tel-Furak They're put into cages and stripped of their armor (temporarily) And sadistically forced to watch as the demons raise the city to the ground, driving the people out in an exodus like fashion where they are ambushed by Titons underlings (slavers) and put into chains. Later that night Titon comes to the players to get them branded at the forge where they see that the cities blacksmith is being forced to forge the chains and shackles for the new slaves. Y'mata (the smith) tells them about the attack and how most of the players in game friends were killed by demons or taken prisoner. The players get branded over their right eye with the symbol of asmodeus and are forced to be the gladiatorial entertainment of the camp. Now they plot to avenge their fallen friends and their home that was burned to the ground.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

Anonymous Maus mann Sounds like an epic game. I guess your players aren't to found of devils now. -Nerdarchist Dave

@anonymousmausmann8850

9 жыл бұрын

thanks and so far it is. The PC cleric of avandra is particularly enraged, and thanks again for the advice.

I've found the Mythic GM Emulator and their Location Crafter on RPGNow.com to be a great help in gaming on the fly... I think what you guys said with the quick scenario cards though too is spot on... once you play enough as a DM, if you just have a quick scene in mind and a few monsters ready you can keep the good times rolling easily enough with the players feeling like they've run into a dead end in your world.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

They sound like handy tools. And little cheats on hand will always make you seem like the most prepared DM ever. -Nerdarchist Dave

I like the content and topic of this video but the volume is low and I prefer your at the table point of view that you guys do now. You should re-touch this type of topic.

@Nerdarchy

9 жыл бұрын

Great idea Juce. We'll have to go back and do some of the old videos in the new format at some point I'm sure. -Nerdarchist Dave

@MastertheGamerpg

9 жыл бұрын

Nerdarchy You know I will be watching it.

I could imaging your PLAYER may want to to TAKE you QUEST EVETUALLY, BUT want to SOCIALIZE in the tavern FISRT.

I am sick unto death of defaulting to the players. This is TERRIBLE advice, especially for new DMs. Rather than telling new DMs, "Work your ass off to provide tempting morsels for your cats to eat," why can't the players stop being selfish pricks? Where's the videos that say, "Hey, players, before you bitch about what your DM is trying to give you, stop and think about all the hard work she put in to give you an evening's entertainment!" Where are those videos? Where are the videos that remind players that TTRPGs are a social activity? That there's an expectation that they rise to the bait the GM drops into the water? Too many players treat the GM like she's a fuckin' TV. If they don't like what's on, they try to change the channel, and if they don't get what they want they whine about it. I've had it up to here with that.