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@isaacgraff8288

4 жыл бұрын

A great webcomic that has examples of how people play is called Darths and Droids. Ruining the DM's plans and the reckless shenanigans that are completely irrelevant.

@n.christiancollins2981

8 ай бұрын

Love you guys, would love if you started doing a kind of summary/recap of the foucs points at the end just to solidify everything in my brain ❤

"Time that could have been spent working on your PhD." Didn't need the explicit call out, guys. I know I should be writing.

@sirderpsalot

3 жыл бұрын

The way he said it too and look in his eyes... Damn.

@jorgesantana8386

2 жыл бұрын

Literally my situation right now. 😂

@elifdurmus8243

2 жыл бұрын

Same here. I felt a strong kinship in that instant.

@nyarparablepsis872

Жыл бұрын

My people.

@HeHasGiven

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I felt that

*Spends hours prepping* Players: (20 minutes into the game) "Let's go the other way."

@TheIkitosen

4 жыл бұрын

FUCK I HATE THIS, even when they know where the main enemy is they decide to go and start poking tombs and other things that have nothing in.

@brandonejem8620

4 жыл бұрын

Use a campaign guide like ghosts of Saltmarsh. It has a storyline but also details for characters who go off the beaten path. Then I used a connected dream the players had to run a one shot where they fought krampus. I found a one shot guide that I very losely followed.

@nicholasstewart1482

4 жыл бұрын

I always ask my party what they intend to do next game. We have an understanding that, if I know what they're doing I can make a better session

@piemaniac9410

4 жыл бұрын

Nicholas Stewart i really like the system of deciding what the PCs goal is in the next session at the end of each session. it really helps with prep and lets you know if Players are lost or not engaged

@brandonejem8620

4 жыл бұрын

Or you can give them the illusion of choice in which either path leads to the same location. I realized this after my first Homebrew campaign. I developed a small world with a set narrative and the characters went the other way. It totally threw me off. But I figured this out later.

One of my DMs had note for an in-game festival that was just, "Bears??" Partway through the session, she remembered the note and began describing a carnival game called Beat The Bear, Win An Egg. It was literally an NPC at a booth with a caged brown bear and a ridiculous amount of illegally-owned owlbear eggs. If you could keep the bear pinned down for a given amount of time, he would give you an egg. That vague note turned into one of the most memorable encounters ever.

@4204799

3 жыл бұрын

i read “Beans” at first i was so confused my friend

@Fozz-e

2 жыл бұрын

"see what the players do" is my go to gap filler

Just like Batman, a DM can do anything with prep time. Also like Batman, the DM doesn't often get that prep time.

@emapocubayova4763

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for that reference

@TheSmart-CasualGamer

2 жыл бұрын

Just like Batman, if you use the word "Martha" at the table, the DM will smack you over the head with the DM screen and kick you out of the group.

Most of my npcs are reskinned castaways from Gilligan’s Island. No one has noticed yet.

@Gauldame

4 жыл бұрын

I spent 3 months of sessions working the party through one giant literature pun using the NPCs names as bits of it. The groans at the end were so worth it.

@brycerichardson3687

4 жыл бұрын

@@Gauldame what was the pun?

@Loony16

4 жыл бұрын

Gauldame I beg of you, tell us the pun. I must know.

@hannahh.

4 жыл бұрын

@@Gauldame I also request to know what this pun was.

@grizzlyb9984

4 жыл бұрын

WHAT IS THE PUN!!!

Out of context quote: "There's no harm in stealing things." Thanks Kelly! *packs up her thieves tools and runs to the nearest jewelry store.*

@Minimoimaximus

4 жыл бұрын

@Natasel wrong. The most harm done by stealing isn't to the thief. It would be ludicrous to think that. At most you risk punition, and you're not even guaranteed to have it. The harm is done to the victim. In the case of IP, it's the work of another human being you're pretending to be your own, reaping him/her from gains from it, for your personal greed or ambition. Note that's where it doesn't matter in DM context. Copy a novel or a movie without a thought for the author, because they didn't make a DnD adventure, they made a novel or a movie. You're not making them win any less money. If anything some of your players could be interested. And making their themes and major story parts more famous (at least among your players), you're basically making them advertising.

The thing where you just think of a character or actor to copy for each NPC is seriously the most valuable DM advice that exists for improving your RP a lot, really quickly.

@agilemind6241

4 жыл бұрын

Even if it isn't a specific character/actor just using a trope or stereotype makes it super easy to make unique and memorable NPCs. Realistically your PCs aren't going to dig that deep into most of the NPCs so a 1 sentence description is all you need 90% of the time. e.g. goth girl who sympathizes with freaks rigidly professional judge with a dry sense of humour lonely ghost looking for love gentle, welcoming steward with a short-term memory problem cocksure pilot with something to prove loyal and proud servant cold and bitter veteran cynical about the world timid gardener who just wants to be left alone with his flowers frustrated youth taking it out on anyone around them

@obsolete18

4 жыл бұрын

Agilemind I cast suggestion “ I suggest you tell me of your family’s lineage and your own personal life story”

@TriMarkC

4 жыл бұрын

Agilemind - See? It’s example ideas like yours where I really wish YT allowed us to copy text as text!!

@joeseatat

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I really liked that. Just write "Luna Lovegood", or "Cliche Spoiled Prince" and we're off to the races. A lot of valuable information presented here, but this one stood out to me as well.

@chrissilver9302

3 ай бұрын

I was just creating 2 flirting merchants that move across the map. I wrote down “Barry keoghan from banshees of inisherin”

My best advice is to accumulate 'Drop Anywhere' Encounters and Mini Adventures you can literally put anywhere in a campaign if you're in a bind for prepping for the main storyline. They take maybe a typewritten page of bullet points to write out, and I did a bunch before I even started my campaign., and adding more as I went along and had time. For example, in my most recent campaign, I had a 'Ghost Girl' encounter that I sat on for nearly 13 game sessions before I was stuck and ended up using it. The party's cleric (and only him) kept seeing this crying little girl wherever he went, and it turned out she was the ghost of a little girl of his sect who was murdered. His deity allowed him to see her spirit as a test of his mettle/faith. It turns out she was killed by her mother, who had been turned into a vampire. But her mother had just enough control that she had to make a terrible choice, either succumb and feed on her daughter and turn her, or kill her before it happened. She chose the latter. That led the party to the girl's abandoned home, that the mother still mournfully visited, where they investigate, get the story, and end up fighting the mother. That in turn led them to the head vampire that turned her, and a big battle with him and his minions. Vampires are easily scalable monsters, so it was an encounter I could keep at the ready until at least they turned 10th level or so. I try to have at least 3-4 Drop Anywhere Encounters ready to go at any one time.

@krynny

4 жыл бұрын

Where could a new DM find some of these Drop Anywhere Encounters? Some players want me to start a spin off campaign from our main one.

@TriMarkC

4 жыл бұрын

I really like your ideas here - but I too haven’t been able to find anything called “Drop Anywhere” encounters. Please post a link if a collection somewhere, if if you’re own idea, please post your template and a couple completed examples. Thanks!

@plucas1

4 жыл бұрын

@@TriMarkC Sorry, it was from my personal notes, and KZread won't let me post links anyway. Just look for sources with one-page adventures or brief adventure outlines (there are a bunch of RPG blogs that have those) that you could just add some details to that could be used as drop-in adventures if needed. As another example, I found a brief description in an old Traveller supplement '76 patrons' of a young couple, each from feuding noble families who, who pay the party a goodly sum of money to sneak them off-planet. It was easy enough to change that to a fantasy setting, and have them pay the party to sneak them out of whatever the local kingdom is. Of course there's the complication that neither family was told the couple was eloping, so both believe their child was kidnapped with the opposite family responsible, and send out agents to intercept and stop the fleeing couple, with the PCs being presumed by both sides to be mercenaries hired to be the kidnappers. To add even more complications, the couple stole a magic artifact from the girl's family that they planned to sell to fund their future nest egg. But of course the artifact is cursed in some way, and if broken/mishandled/removed from its binding circle or some such, it will eventually unleash some eldritch horror just at the worst possible time. So if things work out, the party will have to deal with first one family's troops catching up and confronting them, then the other arriving in the middle of that, and then the unleashed monster for a big climax. Again, the NPCs involved are easily scalable up and down according to whatever the party's level happens to be. The couple can be 1st level, the pursuing family agents should be just high enough to give the party some problems (like half the party's level to even with them), and the monster should be strong enough (i chose an angry demon at 2x their level) to challenge the party as a whole.

@madaxe606

4 жыл бұрын

This is exactly what I do. I try to make sure I have a couple of small dungeons I can use to stand in for the cave complex, ancient tomb, ruined keep, bandit encampment, etc that my players discover when they suddenly decide to plunge off the road and into the hills while enroute to the next chapter of the overarching story. Ditto for shops, merchants, etc. When my players encounter one of these, I lock it down in my notes for that campaign in case they return to it. Scavenging and reskinning content from published adventures absolutely rocks as a time saving measure for this.

@guitarninjarick8179

4 жыл бұрын

Nice, good idea, like the story, and a pretty cool segway.

I'm doing game prep for my Friday night game while watching a video on game prep.

@BramLastname

4 жыл бұрын

Same tho

@jenniferdubeau8851

4 жыл бұрын

Im doing my prep for my game tonight while watching

@patrickhoying9070

3 жыл бұрын

So am I.

@greywarden9939

3 жыл бұрын

Same but sunday

@LeePearson90

3 жыл бұрын

I'm not doing game prep while watching a video about game prep

“I did read the module book, front cover to back cover, five times.” - spoke like a classically trainer actor/theatre person!

I've solved this problem by simply not prepping at all.

@andrewthemaroon8608

4 жыл бұрын

IF I'M NOT READY THEN NEITHER ARE YALL!!!

@gogozipray

4 жыл бұрын

Honestly same

@TheSwamper

4 жыл бұрын

Then let me know in advance so I never play in those games.

@thomaswillard6267

4 жыл бұрын

Random Encounter Tables, here we come

@Oldentide

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheSwamper good thing is there's no shortage of players.

As a meticulus planner dm, I find time management is the most important thing. 1st: take a look at your schedule, and whenever you are doing something that doesnt take brain power, think about the upcoming session. Such as. Your commute or in the shower. Then when you get the chance, make a note of it for later. 2nd: be efficient with your prep time. If you have been working for 20min on a monster that the party may never face, is that 20min something you could have spent on something else? This also involves sometimes going with the quick and dirty solution to a mechanical/narrative problem than the lengthy elegant one. 3rd: split up your prep time, and take breaks. Nothing stifles imagination more than obligation. And when you come back to what you had, you have a fresh mind, and fresh perspective. 4th: sometimes you just dont have it in you to prep/run a session. Thats okay. Just let everyone know ahead of time you wont be running that week. Alternatives are movie night or game night. 5th: Nothing is ever wasted! If you spent 20min on that monster but the party circumvented it, save it for later. Maybe reskin it as something else. As a dm, no work is wasted work.

@zerobones8989

4 жыл бұрын

6th, write lots of list

@vadaritis

4 жыл бұрын

@@zerobones8989 I mean, I do have more, but I figured those were the most pressing

@Kename

4 жыл бұрын

I have pages and pages of lists of things like this. You never know when something comes up that you might need a little note from beforehand.

@vadaritis

4 жыл бұрын

@@Kename so long as you keep it organized, thats awesome! Cause if you cant find what you need then you effectively dont have it... I learned that the hard way.

@TriMarkC

4 жыл бұрын

Devan Hayes Very true!! I had jotted down the island continent’s King & Queen, the Duke & Duchess of the country the PCs are in, the 7 districts & each of their Lords & some stats, and even a few key towns that are in my campaign. But when they actually got out of the first town... I couldn’t find those notes. So I winged it for a session or two, and then had to edit my actual notes with the new names I had made up. One of the players keeping our campaign log actually wrote, “DM TBD info” more than a couple times. :-/

One thing I always try and keep in mind is that your players will (9 times out of 10) react in ways I didn’t predict. As a DM, you’ve got to be open to unexpected possibilities

I watch all the KZread channels I can find on Dungeons and Dragons. These two guys are consistently the best. I know, there are a few "Running the Game" Matt Colville videos which are epic. But, week after week, useful information upon useful information, clarity and efficiency, these guys rule.

*Relevant and Supportive Comment*

I once ran a one shot for level 11 characters and I wanted the monsters to be zombies but knew that would be too easy so I got the stat block from hill giants and just said it's a big zombie now, the stat block from the flail snail removed the specialist stuff from it and said it's multiple zombies stitched together with lots of limbs that eventually fall off of it takes enough damage, the stat block from the war horse and made it another zombie. This made a lot of unique enemies that were easy to make and difficult enough for the party.

@trilogyeffect4509

3 жыл бұрын

Wow that's Amazing. Stealing!

@eclipset.9683

Жыл бұрын

I did this with a werewolf. It was an undead werewolf, who was also a giant. As if a giant got infected with lycanthropy, died, and was resurrected. (There is a faction responsible for creating this monstrosity as well).

"You find a room with 3 Kobolds. One is wearing a colander, another a jester hat, and the last what looks like a bowl of tin foil." I roll a Nat 20 on Insight. "You instinctively know these are the hats forged by gods. The colander looking hat was crafted by Myrkul to filter the spirit as it passes into the next life. The jester hat is made of whips and spurs as a symbol of Loviatar. The bowl hat is made from Bhaal to collect the blood from sacrifices....roll initiative."

@brandonmichaud8047

3 жыл бұрын

Underrated comment

@wavetech_

3 жыл бұрын

LMAOOO

@Genghis_Sean

3 жыл бұрын

How the fuck would insight tell you that, that’d be a religion check most likely

My favorite part of every video is when they say "And we are the dungeon dudes". Gets me every damn time

I am the overthinking DM, I am doing A LOT of prep.. from experience I know I can improvise and probably not that badly as I´ve improvised like 2 hours of session and players didn´t even noticed. But I just can´t help it to write a lot of stuff, which is tedious and takes a lot of time. Thank you for this video, this is incredibly useful to me !

@MontyBeda

4 жыл бұрын

I understand, I have to fight the urge to prep so not all of the big houses are having entire family tree written yet, of course including people already dead for decades or hundred years and people on another continent and so on... But I just love when it all makes sense and you can see the struggle of control over villages and cities using also marriage and so on... Just players almost never notice and if they notice they do not care :-D

@tyree9055

3 жыл бұрын

I don't go to those lengths, but I've found that having the basic layout(s) gives me reasons to go in one direction or the other when I go into "Improv Mode" and I can generally provide more detail with something that's prepared beforehand than something that's not. But being able to improv stuff on the fly, flying by the seat of your pants is always fun too! 😅

"...Ireland, Germany, and elsewhere" Me: Wait, wut? Elsweyr?

@Lorkisen

4 жыл бұрын

An impressively lazy name for a nation.

@cultofnatethemagnificent5879

4 жыл бұрын

Same

@Ferrin55

4 жыл бұрын

Same

@cultofnatethemagnificent5879

4 жыл бұрын

@John Doe yes Sam 100%

@gilbertbarnett8225

3 жыл бұрын

I had the same reaction and figured I couldn't be the only one so went through comments before adding my own.

Prep tips. 1. I assume my players will see through any well thought out plan. 2. Mind map the plot, to have an overarching idea of generally what's supposed to happen. 3. Have two to three scenes to drop in the game, with the following questions: a)who is there b) what do they want c) what's stopping them and finally *d) how does this interact with the pcs.* 4) map out fanctions simply with a-d of 3, with one sentence descriptors. 5) have a few general ideas on how the answers to 4 will interact with the PC's plans. 6) as the players after the game "so, what does xxy want?" So when invariably when everything goes tits up they don't realize my entire process is basically juggling a plot, how things are bouncing around it and how the players are mucking everyone's finely laid out plans (including 9 out of 10 of their own). And when my players are like, "so were you planning on having xyz happen all along?" The answer is "why yes, you're so clever for figuring it out."

One session at my table last 8-9 hours which is often split in to two days of play. We play once every month. I tend to spend double that, if not more, to prepare for each session. This might including drawing out a maps, writing dialog and making sure questions are answered to keep the parties interest while introducing new challenging for them to face. A large part of this campaign is revolved around time travel and their is a lot to wrap your head around for both prepping the game and avoiding confusing the players during play. I try to keep my notes as detailed as possible so I have plenty to go on to avoid these scenarios. Everything is going well so far, but unfortunate downside is some sessions just take a long time to prep. But its not time wasted because my wife and i are using the detailed notes to make a comic book adaptation of the campaign.

@imSephirot89

2 жыл бұрын

Technically... You dont need detailed notes or good memory. "This wasnt like that" "Well you guys are messing with time so..."

Regarding your notion of using actors for NPCs: I, too, use and love this idea - except for once, when it blew up in my face... The players encountered a crazy old sage, who I described as being voice-acted by Mako (the actor who voiced Aku in Samurai Jack and Uncle Iroh in avatar, and who played Akiro the wizard in Conan the Barbarian). On the up-side, the players instantly loved him, because Mako was awesome. On the down-side, I spent the next six hours having to do a boisterous sandpaper voice with a ton of inflection. By the end, by vocal chords were hamburger; I was hoarse for the next two days. The character is still talked about - but choose your NPC voices wisely! XD

I think this was my favorite segment you've offered so far. Even though I have (and do) used almost all of the tips you offer here, simply listening to your discussion got the creativity moving again in the brain. I 100% agree with all of your tips and observations, ESPECIALLY the part about lots of reading. When somebody calls me creative, 99% of the time it is plagiarized from a great author, with a little reskinning. The fact that I read many different genres, and HISTORY, gives me a lot of source material.

Watching Dungeons of Drakkenheim was the best GM prep ever. I have been running a game for my teenagers and its my first exposure to DnD5e (Vampire Masquerade and Cyberpunk player when i was a teen). Bingeing your campaign gave me such fantastic tips on level appropriate encounters (same party size), aswell as ideas for certain NPCs (we have a goblin named GumGum who is kind of there Rat Prince) aswell as i loved the angle of your church of the sacred fire, the overzealous texan faith healers, and have used that flavor for the church in my world. So in short, thank you to the Dungeon Dudes (Monty and Kelly, Jill Joe and Kyle!) for being such an effective muse to an old cretin just trying to find a way to game with his kids. Cant wait to see how the campaign wraps up!

I spend so much free time just thinking about my campaign a tiny bit, and spend not as much time as I should throwing things together before the game but oh well. Great tips

Thank you, I DM mainly for my husband but having tips like these really help me to make the game more fun for him.

My favorite way of prepping is a story flowchart. Beginning, Setting, Action, Rising Action, Climax, resolution, and then end it with a cliff hanger if possible to bring the anticipation for next session.

In old school, we had dungeons with 6 levels and we rolled for each room on the random encounter table!

Build a collection of NPCs to use whenever needed

Tips: know WHO your villains are. Motivations, perhaps a quirk or catch phrase, and how they might react to stuff. Practice them away from game. Then when it’s game time, you’ll find yourself improvising dialogue during the action, and the players will eat it up. Pinterest, Donjon, One Page Dungeon By Watabou, and Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator are your friends. Know your players. I say this because your players react to stimuli regardless of who they’re playing. I have one who’s great at puzzles, one who lives for combat, and one who’s bitchin at RP. Create a moment for each to shine and their agency will fill the time. Leave puzzles open ended sometimes. Or create an item like a torn up map with pieces missing. Players will obsess over this. If your short on time, drop a few of these gems. The players will fill the time. Now you’ve got future hooks. Know your world with a passing familiarity like you live there. You don’t have to know every town or road, but a good grasp on cultures or relationships will help. That makes improvising travel easy. I have actually made a ton of home brew monsters and magic items in any spare time I had. They keep my players guessing. It’s not for everyone, but if you find the time, try it. Surround yourself with what inspires you. For me it’s music. Prepping is always easier in the right environment Poker face. Get one. If you’ve nothing ready, don’t let them see you sweat. Matt Colville has a saying: “Orcs Attack”. In other words, create a couple of easy to run combats and drop them in whenever. Unusual events are also good for this. Sighting a ghost ship, having a Magic Mouth garble out a cryptic or nonsensical message, or discovering the site of an ancient battle will keep players occupied for a long time. If the players take the reigns in one session, build on that. If they want a certain direction, then all you need to do is feed that hunger the next time. That’s just a few. Thanks guys for a great topic. I’m a very busy DM who’s prep often happens 30 minutes before my game.

@TriMarkC

4 жыл бұрын

Mike Gould I definitely need to find better puzzles!! Especially interactive one! And examples or links you can offer??

One tip that I'm learning is incredibly useful is having a notepad beside your bed. I come up with crazy ideas, npcs and plot hooks when I'm lay in bed waiting to nod off. A quick note in the pad refreshes those thoughts the following morning instead of just being lost to slumber. Some of my players favourite moments have come from barely awake note scribbles turned into fleshed out encounters.

I love Kelly's nods to himself and Monty in reference to improvised and meticulous DM at around 1:14 lmao!!!

@Llamadangles

4 жыл бұрын

OH AND THE POINTS TOO AHAHA

The energy Kelly brought this episode made for the best intro yet

Hey, you guys are the shit. Me and 4 friends are doing our first ever "session zero" this sunday after being curious about this game for a few years. I write as a hobby so I was elected the DM. I've been watching a lot of your stuff over the last couple weeks and its made this very large and intimating role seem very easy to pick up. Thanks a lot! Hopefully I'll be watching your player character videos in the near future.

16:30 I'm a planner that is working like an imrovisor. XD In other worlds, I'd like to prepare, but I don't have the time or forget about it. And luckily, I have enough improv skills to do it, but boy, how I'm tired. :)

Thirty plus years of DM'ing and playing experience have given me the ability to prepare a session on the fly. Initial preparation for a whole new campaign or model may take me anywhere from an hour to week depending on complexity. I am well known among my players for 'stealing' and rescinding materials. My overall multiverse, which I have been running since 1981 started on the basis of an old war game I once played called War of the Ring where I lost and the One Ring was not destroyed. That multiverse is still ongoing, and I have fitted every rpg I have ever run into it. (Rolemaster, Pathfinder, all versions of D&D except 4E which doesn't exist for me, but I do reserve the right to 'steal' from it'.) As much as I am current pissed of with WotC, I still love most of your videos. They can be useful, like this one, for any RPGs. Keep up the good work.

"Kolbolds, and hats..... What was I on last night?"

@ratman505

4 жыл бұрын

Have you ever been high on weed watching lamas with hats and then binging the whole playlist of Basically D&D or something similar? Because that's what happens

@mal2ksc

4 жыл бұрын

I had playable kobold PCs in my campaign, and one was a wizard, so a kobold in a funny hat wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. Another of the PCs (same player, different party -- the guy just liked kobolds) was at the extreme lower limit of kobold size (2 feet exactly) and wore full plate, so became known as "lizard in a tin can". He was also an exceptionally effective fighter, so he usually made people regret calling him that. We also had a 7'6" lizardfolk character in that party, and they ended up married so that they could benefit from a Ceremony spell. As a couple they were every bit as entertaining as you imagine, and after a check of the erotic fantasy chart of interspecies compatibility (not gonna give you a link, sorry) I decided they actually *could* produce living children, if the player wanted them to. (The erotic fantasy chart was used _only_ to determine what races can interbreed, and how difficult it is, and what the results are -- it was far easier than trying to come up with our own system.)

@ratman505

4 жыл бұрын

@@mal2ksc They look alike, they smash. Pretty common houserule

I'm a first time DM with almost no actual play time. I had one day with the W:DH book before our session 0/1. I thought a module would keep my prep down to a minimum for a weekly game. But I've found myself rewriting every interactive & NPC part to help memorize and highlight. I have been very anxious about not knowing the lore of this bar or that shopkeep and Waterdeep in general and as helpful as the r/waterdeepdragonheist has been it's also overwhelming as I try to make the story better and more intricate for my players. That said, you two addressing almost all of my constant worries during prep have really made me much calmer after watching this. I love D&D, have listened to so many actual plays for years, and I love improv from great DMs like yourselves, but my actual experience in all of those has felt crippling. I have very grateful and patient players and now I have the ability and room to experiment and learn on the go. Thank you for this and all your videos, your friendly dispositions and encouragement from afar. We are going into our 4th session and Ch 2 has a lot of room for improv. I'm just going to try it and learn. Thank you thank you thank you for this.

I'm definitely a prep time gm. Something about the fluid orchestration appeals to me.

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. The issue I struggle with, after around 3 and a half years of DM-ing is that running the game from published sources takes way longer. I ran two homebrew campaigns first and then jumped into Storm King's Thunder. Since then, my prep time has increased horribly, north of 15 hours, because I don't have time to read the book 5 times and I also need to go through SCAG for additional info. All the prep advice we find online, however, advertises ratios that don't include a lot of the pre-campaign prep that you have to do when you don't know the setting, in this case, Forgotten Realms. It's easy for a seasoned DM to just say "wing it" or "take what you need" but you don't know what you need cause you don't know the setting by heart, like a majority of DMs seem to do. Sure, we can talk about prep-ing a one shot that's just a bit of RP and a lot of exploration with some encounters there, but this advice really doesn't apply to actual campaigns, where people wanna invest and immerse themselves in the world and story and feel like they are part of it. That doesn't happen without the player knowing the broad context (setting) and without planning their future individual paths that work well with the main storyline, don't interfere with it in a way that breaks the entire narrative but ALSO leaves a lot of room for player agency. Basically, the whole 1h of prep / 1h of play really comes down to 1h of prep / 1h of play + 2 weeks of reading books multiple times and taking a lot of notes while trying to remember everything.... + minis + encounters + maps + handouts + dialogue + professions + personal journeys etc.

Write out a few key point, like: 1: They get this clue 2: Following that clue, they end up at X where they get a quest 3: Quest content (can be mostly improvised if dungeon crawl) 4: What is their reward? All the flavor, descriptions and RP can be improvised as long as you have the setting somewhat fleshed out in your head. Also, never be afraid to throw in risky unique stuff. Me and my group once laughed for about an hour about a very dumb though well-meaning guardsman with a very funny British accent. I hadn't practised the accent that much yet but I went for it and it turned out to be one of the most fun experiences in the entire campaign, which lasted for more than a year.

I'm definitely a seat-of-her-pants DM. It worked a bit better for VtM, where I once winged a 14 hour session with zero prep. Theatre of mind doesn't work as well for D&D, but it does save a lot of time, and I've found that a grid and minis aren't as important as they first appeared.

@tyree9055

3 жыл бұрын

Yep, never used miniatures myself. They're just a revenue-making scheme (though they do look cool 😄). But, being able to mark the player's positions (and their opponent's too) so I can see how an engagement develops is critical to the gameplay imo.

@goldengaruda8935

Жыл бұрын

14 hour session?!? How?

@rowdy35967

Жыл бұрын

@@goldengaruda8935 We started one evening, played all through the night, took a break for breakfast, and continued the next day till noon. My GMing style has always been to more or less wing it, and it was a setting I knew very well. Also there were only 3 of us for that session, and we all had the next day off.

I spent a weekend working on encounters and dungeons by reskinning pre written encounters, and now I have the next couple weeks prepped

You know I feel like the "fusion speak" line is getting better with every video 😂

Best DM I ever had ran his stuff with zero prep and made his stuff up as he went along.

I'm really glad I discovered your channel. After 20 years away from the game and coming back straight into the DM's role, you guys have gotten me up to speed and confident in just a couple of days. I wish I could play in one of your campaigns, I bet it's a blast.

I've been DMing a very long time and have done it both ways. I'm a good improviser but some prep work always helps. At first I had everything planned out to a tee and then the party decided to go in a totally different direction, blowing all my prep work out the window. I have developed a style that helps in any situation, some prep work needed. But I won't go into all that now, if you want to have a run down just reply. Long story...I guess this is the long, do what works and that makes your players happy and makes you happy. Make one of them DM for awhile so you don't get burned out.

I honestly mostly come up with our adventures on the spot. I come up with the idea of what I want to do a day or two in advance, go through it in my head over and over, and then I write down the stats if the monsters or enemies they run into. That's it. I write down character names too. I don't even write down when and how they'll be attacked, nor do I write down lore tidbits. If I come up with a puzzle its usually on the spot, if not I'll make something really quick and throw it in. So far my campaign (on my first) is going amazingly. My players love it and I do too.

You know what's crazy? I learned how to map from Dyson Logos; we live in the same city and played Labyrinth Lord with him. While I haven't updated in quite some time, you can find some of my maps at the Dais & Column.

Thanks for this, I have been both a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and a let's-just-wing-it-and-see-what-happens DM. I think Kelly's point of reading thru the module is a good one. When I was starting as a DM I wasn't thorough, just feeling since it was written already I could wing it. Not True! Slowly incorporating your ideas into my game and this one makes my life easier when I realize it's Sat morning and my group will be here in 2 hours.

Dungeon Dudes, thank you! I am a long time player but brand new DM. I am preparing to start my first campaign with some really close friends. I am finding your videos AMAZINGLY useful. I have subscribed and will be checking in often!!

Fantastic tips gents, I'm a newish DM and these tips are GOLD. Some other tips I could suggest is have a list of 10-15 names for each of the main races on a sheet of paper. On another one, have about 20 class features, and character questions asking "What do they want?" "what do they fear?" and "what can they offer?" for each. The great part of this, is you can mix and match on the fly, and have some really unique characters formed from that too. Personally, If I'm writing a character I also put beside the type of accent or way they speak beside a character (i.e. "texan, german, rough and gutteral, talk like you have cheeks full of rocks and an underbite, or mysterious and whispy). I love the tips for associating it with an actor/actress you mentioned too, that's fantastic! Cheers!🎮🍹

In my homebrew campaign, my players went off the beaten path several time and here's what they encountered thus far. Mining town that had apparently dug into a Vampire's Lair. Illusionary Forest that had a Haunted Mansion. Pirates raiding a fishing village. Tribal Warfare between Druid Clans. And they're currently stuck in an underground City that was apparently built by Dwarves but is currently playing host to Drow for reasons they've yet to uncover.

Game Prep is what I am doing at the moment. I have my setting decided and that's all I have to work with XD

Thanks, guys! I love the idea of casting your NPCs. I've never heard that before but I'm very excited to use it

I always give my npc’s a celebrity to give my players a visual reference. I’m so glad you mentioned that.

omg, the actor who plays the npc tip is just pure unmitigated genius, thanks!!

Totally agree! I always print a photo and think of role an actor played in a movie for my npc's.

I’m a new DM(noob). I’m doing my first run tomorrow. I’ve watched many videos, read parts of dm guide and prep today. Wish me luck. By the way i think DM is the real mvp out there!

I use a blend of both improv and planning. I essentially just plan the skeleton of the nights encounter (maps, maybe npcs, treasure, story highlights) and then just improv from there. Descriptions, names, dialogue, monsters or number of monsters, and where the players go is pretty much all made up on the spot. I like to let my players pretty much run things outside the bare bones. Most of my prep goes into painting/readying miniatures, building 3D maps, and any dm crafting that I may want to do for my players enjoyment. I only do this for big encounters but it makes the nights way more fun for me and my players. Blend improv and prep because you never know what random direction your players are gonna go, what they’ll spend their time on, or what they’ll choose the zero in on that has nothing to do with the story.

Solid advice! In a time crunch I find simply writing a few words about an npc, place, or encounter makes it easier to improvise and remember your choices next session. That said, always go with your gut! Sometimes the table needs a light hearted npc/encounter and sometimes it needs to be rocked with an encounter or npc that gets the players out of there heads and into the game.

a lot of these tips are really good, and I am one to say that Improv is a very good skill to have as a DM. I've made memorable characters with a bit of improv and bouncing off another player. Simply listen to your players and you can find something interesting.. I had one NPC, A tailor. Tailor Jack. He was a fairly young guy, in a dusty, old-looking Tailor shop and was grumpy. That's ALL I had planned for the NPC. One player, took a huge interest in the NPC. He was playing a shapeshifter Gunslinger type character (3.5 was weird), but he was interested in why this young guy was doing tailoring, and was upset. So I decided on the spot, he was grumpy because he doesn't want to be a tailor, well why is he a tailor? His mom is sick and needs money. He wants to be an Adventurer and go explore the world, but is stuck having to work as a tailor, in his mother's shop, and saving up for the medicine. The player was so invested in this NPC, that the player actually donated some of his money to Jack so he can get the medicine. Jack, now feeling like he has a chance to explore, started to work in earnest to prep tough travel clothes. The player, then offered to show him a gun, how it works, how to maintain it, and how to operate it--essentially making Jack able to become a gunner as well. When this player was re-introduced several levels later, Tailor Jack had made a gun or two of his own, but I left one detail in--On his chest holster, was a familiar sight--a small little pistol, Jack's first pistol. Worn, small modifications done to it, but mostly the exact same gun that was given to him. The player, was over-the-moon with how he had a rival that he created.

I've seen many DMs trying to hide their inspirations to sound somehow new, creative and unique I have a completely different approach, since I make it clear what my inspirations are. I talk about the books, myths and movies I get my general ideas from, so they can consume them and know something new, if they didn't know already

@ssgoko88

3 жыл бұрын

I literally just put my favorite characters from anime and other videogames in and use their voices and personalities for my important npcs, in my group it only ever helps the player's relate and they find it endearing.

thank you dungeon dudes you never make me regret spending my time on your videos a great portion of my good and well spent preparation times i owe to you as you've always inspired me and now you've made a video i needed as im running 2 back to back campaigns on saturdays and sundays morning and get to work right after and barely have any time to prepare them and mostly i just get some npc and monsters and on my way to work (i run my D&D sessions at work b4 work) i manage to put some logic and relevance for them to the story (i might also add i love homebrewing monsters and npc and it takes quite some times 15-60 minutes or more at times but this gets well appriciated by my players)

My DM is absolutely a prepper. Ultimately it really depends on how far we get in each previous session. If our sessions are mostly RP and little combat he won't prep a lot. But, if we're coming up on a major decision point that affects the plot and/or our characters he will prep a lot. He may also ask that we arrive as close to the scheduled start time as possible so we can get through most if not everything in the major part. As far as taking things from other modules my DM does that all the time!! Our first major campaign was Tyranny of Dragons and he was really unimpressed with the lack of substance for the Trip to Thay chapter in RoT. So he brought in the Red Wizard Doomvault from Tales of the Yawning Portal to earn the Red Wizard's allegiance a little more entertaining.

I found this really insightful guys, thanks for the tips. I'm a first time DM, running a campaign at work with a group of colleagues, so my prep for that is a little interesting in that we play for 1 hour over lunch, 3 times a week, rather than having one longer session to get through a specific set amount of content. It's been an interesting way to try and run things, but there's definitely a lot of stuff mentioned in this video that's helping me out.

The best prep I use for any kind of session is Random Roll Tables, they take a little while to make if you want to do ones tailored to your setting, but you only need to do them Once. I have monster tables for specific types of geography and climate, also plot device table with things like natural disater or monster invasion. And of course a simple but effective "library" of monster charts (for the roll table ones) and internet found maps for random places like towns, castles and dungeons. With these one time prep tools I don't need to prep any session if I don't want to (unless I'm in a specific story line of course)

One of my absolute favorite tricks that few DMs do: its perfectly okay to reuse the same dungeon location! Did your PCs clean out a goblin warren? A few sessions later have a new level appropriate monster move in. Its best to make some changes so the group doesn't know EXACTLY what to expect. You can also make use of sections they didn't explore or add a secret door they didn't find. Besides saving you time on map making they adds a sense of reality to your world. You can even evoke some nostalgia...have the group find burn marks from mage's first casting of fireball, or have a PC get a dread feeling at the spot he dropped down to 0hp, just before sending them down the secret passage they discovered.

when they were talking about how people don't appreciate how much effort goes into prep all I could think was "I DM myself, and I don't even appreciate it" then I realized the reason is I always improv. with everything i do XD

You guys are amazing! I’ve been binging your videos for the last few weeks and have learned so much. I’m a DM and I always feel overwhelmed. Watching your class videos and DMing guides has helped me better understand what classes can and can’t do and how to be a better DM. Thank you so much for making these!

on the subject of planning vs improv, what tends to work for me is to have deep worldbuilding and plan things about the world and the people and factions in it, have a basic skeleton of specific locations and people which develop naturally over the game, and fly by the seat of my pants with most descriptions and dialogue. focus on the important parts, the little things will come naturally.

I used to be a meticulous planner. Until I ran a one-shot and the party decided to start a fight in the tavern and completely ignore the plot hooks. So I ended up having to improvise basically the entire session and, you know what? Probably the best session I've ever run.

I have several pages of statted out monsters, animals, such as wolves or giant crocs, or opponents, like orcs, hobgoblins,, or ogres, that are ready to just drop as a wandering encounter. I can use them to populate a quick improvised dungeon on the fly. Cuts down on prep time immensely when you have monsters & foes already statted out & ready to just drop into a dungeon or encounter at a moment's notice.

In the DMG, there’s a couple of tables for dungeon rooms. You can use theatre of the mind instead of drawing a complete map containing each room, and roll for a new room every time the group goes somewhere else, and then just draw that room. Roll for random encounters, room description, and maybe some loot all at once, and run that room until they go somewhere else, rinse, repeat. Essentially, build the dungeon as you go through it.

Man, if I lived on the Enterprise from Star Trek, I could just imagine programming a holo-deck with as many D&D/D20 books as possible and playing a campaign inside. Id even bring food and have the holodeck serve it to me through taverns and trail rations (cool stuff like candy bars and sub sandwiches, chips and soda LOL). When you take enough damage to die then the deck goes dark and resets. Id def get holo-addiction LOL

I bought a book of 100 maps for one-shots. That and just randomly grabbing figures out of the storage trays is a campaign.

@DungeonDudes

4 жыл бұрын

This is how great campaigns are born.

@kevinnoorman4815

4 жыл бұрын

What is the book and where

@jevry4307

4 жыл бұрын

What is the book and where!!!

@bizzy5439

4 жыл бұрын

WHAT IS THE BOOK AND WHERE!!!

@treecuttertam

4 жыл бұрын

WHAT IS THE BOOK AND WHERE

Oh I get it. This video is just for me! Thanks, dudes! I was literally just thinking about how I haven't had much time to prep for my next session, and I get a notification. Lol

I've always been convinced that you guys had Canadian accents, but now with the Roots shirt I have no doubt.

My groups first session was escaping the prison from the opening of ES Oblivion, all I had to do was figure out how many goblins there should be and adapt the loot, great time saver

Thanks for the great tips, Dudes. I like re-flavoring typical fairytales and short stories. Ventures in the woods and you can adapt the three bears and Goldilocks to be some kind of she is a Ranger or druid and the Bears are her pants and they’re up to no good. The big bad wolf and the 3 pigs, a wolf with a breath weapon. I did a game where Santa was a life force stealing kidnapper plaguing a town once a year and there was a Grinch that was once a parent trying to fight and warn… it was epic.

Thank you for putting out such great content guys, I really enjoy listening to your talks about D&D, I look forward to it every week.

For me, the best prep tools are roll tables, roll tables, roll tables! I have roll tables for almost everything. With a little improv to glue the rolls together, I’ve been able to completely generate thrilling adventures on the spot. Complete with unique npc’s with their own personalities and motivations.

Thank you. I find these tips very encouraging. I'm learning and getting better at DM'ing. So, I do appreciate videos like this one.

Thank you guys so much for this video. This is exactly what I needed to hear right before running my game tonight

Thanks for the encouraging tips guys, running my first homebrew game for some friends at school tomorrow! This will totally help!

Great advice. This will help cobble something together for family games.

The pointing and knowing smirks gave me a good chuckle. Thanks for another video, Dudes.

Love you guys!! I prep general story concepts and pre-stage the maps and scenery, but improv NPCs and environmental conditions.... a perfect mix imo

You guys are fabulous! You have given me so much help to make my games better and more enjoyable. Thanks so much!

I once spent an entire week prepping for a new campaign. I built a pantheon, kingdoms, continents, politics, history, economy, everything. I could write I book in it, I just needed a main story. In 5 minutes I had to throw away almost everything. With each passing session, I'd slowly grab things and put it inside this new world I was building on improv. We, together, built an amazing story that I vividly remember to this day. I learned my lesson and now I'm improvise 80% of the time 😂😂😂

One of your best DM guide videos! Thanks! On my way to bring a couple players into my world.bthisbwas very fortuitous timing

My prep usually happens when I plan a chapter, which takes my current group 4-6 weeks to complete. For example: The Gulthias Tree- I had a Ranger prowling a swamp after being run out of town. He preyed on women exclusively and dumped their bodies in a pit a ways away from the road. Until he picked the wrong target: A Paladin investigating the disappearances. They ended up killing eachother, her greatsword lodged into his chest, pinning him to a massive tree. Years later his hateful negative aura caused him to become infused into the tree. His victims rose as Vine Blights, bringing women from the road to his tree and re-enacting their own deaths. I used the sample random encounter table from the DM's Guide, 1d12+1d8, with the d12 as mostly combat and the d8 as mostly non-combat encounters so I could mix things up, then rolled on it until the total number generated by the rolls was 150, then had them spot the tree in the distance. Dryads from the area had become corrupted by his tree, and were leading his Blights like an army. The table had things like finding a wounded Dryad, encountering an enraged Owlbear, encountering a Dire Wolf and 1d4+2 Wolves fleeing the area, encountering 2d4+4 Sprites, who were fighting eachother, as half of them had been corrupted, and encountering a small group of humans fleeing a town far to the south due to some disappearances(a plot hook for the next chapter). There was also a Ranger who would join the party under some circumstances, but I ended up killing him off instead due to a new player joining and playing a Ranger.(NEVER RECOMMEND YOUR PLAYER'S RANGER BECOME A GLOOMSTALKER) Overall I improv the in-between and try to take a few queues from the players to make the game interesting for everyone. One underhanded trick I was particularly proud of in this game was my Zombie Trapdoor Spiders. Use the Wolf Spider from the Monster Manual, DC 12 to spot their hiding place, Undead Fortitude and +10 HP since Zombies seem to have a few more than the base creature. Their door opens up any time a creature passes within 5' of it, they get to attempt a grapple with advantage if they weren't spotted, and pull the victim back into their hole to kill them. Unfortunately I only made 3 and my players didn't even approach that section of the map due to a lot of ranged combat I hadn't accounted for.

If you have a monster idea that doesn’t exist in a publication, Re-skinning an existing monster is golden. Pick a monster along the same lines for the basic stats and challenge level, change a few elements or damage types. For example, I needed some inanimate beats statue guardians, so I grabbed the winter wolf, changed the breath to poison, gave them some immunities to poison, petrified etc. instead of cold, and made them living metallic lion guardians for an abandoned temple. You can make creative monsters that experienced players won’t already know from past experience that fit your story with minimal work.

Kobold fight club is a site I use because you can instantly adjust player levels, challenge rating and types of monsters, and make encounters of all sorts and difficulties, not to mention they have a random challenge button, and cites where to find the monsters.

Your gritty rules variant video was my favorite freaking DnD advice video on the net, that I have seen so far! You guys rock!

you guys are awesome, been watching you for hours and my first two sessions dm-ing went really well and its so much fun!

I think Jim Murphy gave me this idea, but I've used it alot. Small note cards. I cut up some card into playing card sized notes, then I prep areas on the cards. Area on the top, location (pub name for example) and NPC notes below. If it's a trader or something I'll put stuff for sale with prices on the back. I then file them away in my panic folder in card sleeves for card collecting, and can pull out the cards I need based on where the players are at to make a deck each session, file them away at the end of the game, add to an area as needed (either with Prep, or made up NPCs on the fly) but critically if they ever go back somewhere, I've notes in a ready to hand format rather then digging back through a note book, flipping back and forth and losing things, I just pull the cards as needed. I also use the same cards for magic items, time lines, history lore, I fold up graph paper to the same size for city outline maps, everything. It's really flexible, I dont worry about losing stuff, its infinitely expandable, and for improv, means I can also keep verisimilitude if they go back somewhere 18 months later, I use the same names, descriptions, etc I made up on the fly! Also it's really space efficient behind the DM screen! So much better then losing postit notes!

I love these. A lot of great work and mainstays here. Everything is a skill. Be it improv, long prep, outlines, and much more. Swing into the tools you enjoy and work for you. I do 8-10 bullet points to accomplish in the two hour session and then have random generation needs on browser tabs. The rest is improv and swinging into the paths the players choose to focus on.