I recommend going on history museum tours. You get to hear how someone explains something they know well and often are passionate about.

@teathomas

4 ай бұрын

That’s a really cool idea

With my randomized campaign still going strong, this type of improvisational world building is very important.

Something you said reminded me of the "Time Team" KZread videos. In one case they found a lost nunnery because a couple of little girls went to bury their dead kitty and ran into stonework. Turned out that the house they lived in had one wall that was all that remained above ground of the complex. The house had one wall of the small church/chapel. You advocate historic research--I could not agree more--and I suggest that the old Time Team videos could be a great way to pick up ideas.

Halfling Empire sounds like the biggest oxymoron

@timhaldane7588

4 ай бұрын

Or the smallest

@mikesarno7973

4 ай бұрын

No one expects the Halfling Empire!

@NemoOhd20

4 ай бұрын

Ahhh... but these Halflings planted gardens and vineyards that were so fruitful. Some say it was the magical blood of the wood elves spilled in ancient wars that made it so. It's them wood elves that probably carved those leaves you asked about. I dont know nuthin aboat that though. Anywho, the food and wines are so spectacular that other nations sent ship after ship to trade for the bounty. And nearby big folk of Brie....errrr.... Brayland were being raided by goblins from the mountains. This forced the Halflings, stout ones especially but even tall folk mercenaries and dwarves who were run out of the mountains by the goblins, to form a militia and guard the borders. And those strange sea elves visited often too, seeking wine of course. They eventually became the defacto coast guard for the Halflings, ensuring pirates were kept at bay. It was no empire by big folks standards, as the shirelings had no interest in invading others and the like. The displaced dwarves found no gold in the shire hills but tried to be content forging metal and building watch towers and small keeps for the halflings. There were rumors that some dwarves were employed to build underground siege bunkers and escape tunnels for the halfling mayors council in case the goblins flooded west. Who knows what might be in those old tunnels. Now what were ya saying again?

I'm perplexed and amused by your squares of unusual shape. I think you just gave me a new mcguffin there.

A mural of depicting a dog being fed grapes also being the tomb of said dog would be darkly ironic, as grapes are toxic for dogs and can cause kidney failure.

as a historian and a world builder I love embedding stuff and having cultures, religions, politics, and all kinds of other stuff. I usually have the important things set in stone around the party and then I have several things that are more vague and I'll have this was Kulnar the cruel he was a king of Lunimar and if I need to go there maybe there will be a festival where the common folk burn a wooden version of the former king and celebrate his death and so on. ps I made that up while typing I just have a love and great knowledge of history so it's something I do all the time

The church in our village, atop the hill was built sometime I think in the 19th century. But there is old walls - and the west-side of the church is the westernmost part - the chapel - of the castle that stood there once - torn down and replaced by another castle (also reduced to foundation blocks by the people living and building their houses over the centuries). The story behind is interesting and told via clues. There was once a knight, tasked with guarding the river and the bridge that crossed it. (the first stone bridge in the whole area). But then there was some conflict between the duke and the bishop - both having stakes in the area. Well the knight sided with the bishop... the bishop lost and all traces of said knights family vanished from records. Just for those chronicles mention another knight (loyal to the duke) now in charge.

Arg! When you said it's not a book, i thought it was gonna open to be a mimic.

Excellent advise. Thanks. And I fuse this advise with Lazy DM/ Sly Flourish to prep clues, not events or characters that are tied to them, so that you can adapt on the fly. I don't tie them to one location or NPC. The leaf carvings are the clue that may just keep appearing until the players determine to investigate. Or an elf party arrives inquiring about elven lore, and are willing to trade something (magic item?) or knowledge of some cave w treasure or something else elves dont care about in exchange for locations of leaf carvings etc. Or whatever else I brainstorm that fits where the players take the adventure.

I am going to use them .I am working on our next adventure. Thank you for the great tips.

This video made me realize something about the gigantic tree grown by the druidic government, where my players will become protectors of the nation next session: Below are the lost dungeons of the former wizard-government, containing dangerous things and beings

@adamgrey268

4 ай бұрын

Note to self: always have a government and always have a bad guy to defeat.

Wow! Love your videos Guy, but this really got my imagination pumping!

Love this guy and the turtle neck!

Having ideas on the fly as the players ask is a very important tool in your GM-toolbox. But if you have a good idea - even just a fragment - anytime... you might write it down. Either have a notebook for your ongoing campaign... or even just a notebook for general good ideas to use sometime. There's moments where your mind wanders - awakening and still dreaming, showering or randomly just so. You won't remember those brilliant ideas - write them down. They might come in handy some day. Especially if your players show an interest in the lore of your world - have a few thoughts ready never goes amiss.

Good advice!

The general shape of your world's history is what really matters. In most D&D-style worlds, this is probably going to boil down to, "There was at least one great empire in the past that united the lands, but it fell and the campaign is set in an era where civilisations is rebuilding itself." And the reason most setting's history takes this "shape" is that most settings are pseudo-Medieval in flavour. If you want a setting that resembles Medieval Europe, then the history of that setting needs to resemble medieval Europe.

Historic fantasy is also a great source

I do improvisational character backstories in a similar way

The dog is buried here because all he was fed was grapes, LOL.

IF YOU ARE NOT READING AND GETTING TO KNOW HISTORY, YOU ARE SHORTCHANGING YOURSELF!!! 1. Need an idea for a campaign? Have you looked at the Western Roman Empire or the War of the Roses? 2. Need to know what your settings are like? Have you checked out France around the medieval periods? Like how they were being constantly raided by the Vikings until they set up a Viking to head up Brussels? How about that succession war that gave birth to Joan of Arc? 3. Need NPC Templates? How about The Ceasars? Martin Luthor? Nahmanides? The problem is that most of us were never taught to appreciate and enjoy History, and yet there is SO MUCH we can mine from it. History is very interesting, as the Overly Sarcastic Production can testify, once you get past that "Names, Numbers, and Dates" way of teaching history. We were robbed and need to demand a refund from our schools.

@Zeithri

4 ай бұрын

Some of us love History but instead of getting to learn history we wanted to learn, we kept being taught the same stuff we'd heard for 10 years about the Nazis. It's a failure of school and trying to find what's actually interesting or what's good sources for history to read is the problem to find. You need to spend many hours researching that. But there's a bad part of using history as well iny our story. It can become too telling.

@emmakane6848

4 ай бұрын

Yeah, we had to review the revolutionary war every few years in history. It always felt like they should’ve just waited and taught us something else.

Lords of the Isles is a very, very boring book about rulers in Scotland, sounds very similar to the Kings and Queens of England. Apparently, I can actually highly recommend it!

I filled in as DM since our DM wasn available for a month. I used Guys improv tipps and tricks to get my players to pick up a new playercharacter from a battlefield and along the mcguffin. All i wanted was em to go to the next village and bring it the tomb so the families spirits could rest. BUT my players followed EVERY hint and EVERY hook and wanted to know EVERYTHING their character knew about EVERYTHING a Just described for flavor. I just could not, by the admost of my ability, get the pacing up and keep up the mood. Even fights were incredible slow! Then when i said 'you did it! You solved this adventure!' they we realy pissed. Since i dropped so many things around my players and there was so much world going in (BUT leading em to the plot), that they thought the adventure was far bigger! And when i got a little pushy at the end of my little planned adventure, they followed my pushy DMing only cause they thought that this couldnt be the end and now feel robbed of a satisfying ending... I just wanted to pick up the pace to make it more interesting and give the feeling of higher stakes... Hiw would you handle so INCREDIBLE SLOW players?

@Zeithri

4 ай бұрын

Guide the players. If they don't pick the bait and instead start to carpet bomb the nearby village from a flying carpet, either embrace the chaos or declare the point lost beyond recovery. The best way is to guide players without them even knowing it, but that's not a guarantee still. Manipulation, to get them to do what they need to do, without telling them to do it.

I just went back and started watching your oldest videos. Hearing this topic today is serendipitous! Is that still the table you made in the background?

Would you mind sharing a link to where I can buy that book, my good man. [The Kings and Queens of England].

3:26 - what brand of book is that? looks nice!

you swore tut tut hahaha

✌️✌️

Very interesting, but won't it slow down the pace of the game because the players may be inclined to investigate something totally unrelated to the current plot ? It may be fine to use during travel or between adventures, or when first arriving somewhere to flesh out a new town. Probably won't use it somewhere the plot needs to move forward to

Vague history can create too many inconsistencies in the storyline.. And can be harder work to fix when those odd situations occur.

Also, zilch 😊

1702? Our country was founded in 1776.

Somebody's got to tell him that the United States didn't exist in 1702...

No. You make a world with a backbone and some consistency. Then you write it down and make it available to the players who are interested. And you don't make a new world for every campaign. And you don't tie the plot to the world.

That’s so 20 years ago man. Just use a VTT. You can write handouts the players can read at will. Get with the times. VR D&D is upon us.

@HLR4th

4 ай бұрын

There’s a place for all types of play, for different types of players. I love VTT (love that they do the math for me! I can also play with my group spread all over the country). But for a quick game, or introducing someone to the game, magnetic tiles like that would be awesome, compared to a vinyl map and some dry erase markers (yes, that is so 40 years ago). It’s all about what tools help us be happy (GM and Players).

@avalon8310

4 ай бұрын

This is exactly the wrong attitude to have.

@abettermind

4 ай бұрын

"Hurr durr play like me."

@laughingpanda4395

4 ай бұрын

The group I dm for has a tv table for our games. I build 3d terrain to place atop it and my collection of minis is freaking rediculous. Well over 2000 at this point. But even with all of that, I've played in games with nothing more than a dry erase map with a grid and had tons of fun. There is no right way to play. So long as everyone is having a good time, who cares what the set up is? The toys are nice but they arent neccessary. Back when I started playing (95 or 96) we used nothing but theater of the mind and had a blast.

@Marcus-ki1en

4 ай бұрын

@@HLR4th Exactly! So when the power goes down, or a network connection, oh well, I guess we can't play (?!). My best sessions have always been sitting on the floor or at a folding table, gathered around a vinyl mat, with real dice, and real miniatures. And yes that IS so 40 years ago.