Brennan Lee Mulligan on Possible Missed Clues in Exandria Unlimited: Calamity  

Don't forget to pin your heads-up comments :]

@@InigoPhentoya Thanks! For some reason, I thought I did! XD

You won when you said "Brenna is eternally prepared."

He was so set for PvP in escape from Blood keep as well

@@Caiphex yup!

As they should

That reminds me of the infamous episode 2 of campaign 2 for Critical Role: The Mighty Nein investigating the Carnival. The players pulled so many theories out of thin air and felt the need to examine ALL of them that they kept missing all the hints that Matt was trying to tell them, the Carnival was the only new thing in town, go there! The players just wouldn't pick up on that because once they had the idea that someone was pinning something on the Carnival being in town they ran with it and kept going nowhere. Sometimes, no matter how many hints a DM tries to give the players, the players get an idea and stick with it stubbornly until they exhaust all other options.

@@Dragon_Lair Also many a time, I've totally switched stuff around so the crazed ideas of players just happen to be the secret they were looking for instead of the one I had planned beforehand. This has led to way more smoother play and really enthused players who are super stoked about finding "the" solution.

I listened to it multiple times, as far as I can tell he says "That could've gotten figured out sooner" not "I could've got it figured out sooner".

@@MasterChiefDavid yeah I mean he's a king of storytelling and he's clearly able to learn from his mistakes and always grow to be better.... but he definitely says "that" lmao.

(This comment is way longer than I intended it to be and feels a bit mansplainy and no one asked for the info in it. I'm sorry and hated to just delete it. I hope it helps someone in some way so I didn't completely waste my time. Thank you for coming to my TED talk on how I DM, write NPCS, signpost, and fill up RU-vid comments.) I always like to think of it as a path on games like Slay the Spire. A bunch of paths that all start from, maybe one or a handful of locations, and then branch out in multiple directions, but then reconvene as you get closer to the end. Do you give them the info from the thug they are interrogating? What about a note in the pocket? What about an orphan who is scared and just wants to talk to the people who saved her? What about the merchant who was asked to do something against his moral code and your party is the first people who might be able to help? All of the answers lead to "The Barron is smuggling slaves!" or whatever, which then signposts them to go to the castle where he lives. Then it, once again, becomes a splitting of the path that all leads to the same singular location. Sure, absolutely plan for things that have nothing to do with anything in particular. Not as filler but to hide the obvious a bit more and to give your party a sense that they're not heading in the right direction when nothing comes of their time doing something unrelated to the overall quest. That path can absolutely involve "get stronger" on it so that the end fights feel more impactful and less certain. Even giving them a good "Enemy that's way out of your league right now stomps your ass but you don't die and are now aware of what you're really up against." moment on the way to the final BBEG fight. It connects them to the plot in a way that makes it personal to the group if done right, though could scare them off the hunt for a little while, so be prepared to give them an option or make their escape at the end of that night's play session so you can plan more before next time. Though you can always readdress the main story later by having something random happen. Like your old NPC friend died and sent a relative to find you so they would be safe but they really want you to help them get revenge. It's always a good idea to have a handful of colorful NPCs ready and just reuse them later, maybe with a few detail changes, if the players interact with them in a way that burns them but not completely. Also something as simple as character traits on note cards for when they randomly choose this-fucking-maid-for-fuck-all-reason-to-spend-1.5-fucking-hours-talking-to. That way you have some minor backstory for an economic tiered character ready but not specific to an individual character. (That's if you're not good at on the fly improv.) A way that helps me write NPCs is to write down a name or find one somewhere. Then start injecting that name into situations a normal person would encounter. "Bob... hmm, Bob goes to get in his car and someone parked so close they can't open their door." and then just start making decisions for them. "Bob wouldn't call the cops... no, Bob is grissled, and would ignore his whole trip to sit and wait for this asshole, fuck the melting icecream in his trunk..." and after a little bit it gets easier to make a decision you hadn't already thought about it. That's a good place to be in usually. Since you have a foundation for the character to work from and aren't just turning a blank page into something as long as this comment out of no where. I like the problem-solving aspect of DMing and enjoy the feeling of trying to tether the group to my plans without making it a pure railroaded adventure and they feel the fun they want to feel. It matters that everyone is having fun but no one's fun should come at the cost of someone else's. At least no overall. Sure, each player is going to lose a little and be bummed about it but you should have the bard enjoying themselves because they keep beating the wizard who is now miserable. I'm rambling and fully off topic now. TLDR. Plan for pieces to be presented in both tangible and intangible ways that make sense. Signpost but don't railroad. Have fun in your own way and make sure the players are too.

I’m pretty sure Brennan and Oren r friends, cause Oren has interviewed Brennan for some Dimension 20 seasons too

Almond bribe

My first interview with Brennan was in July 2019 after an article I wrote about D20 got to Medium's homepage and someone from CH saw it and reached out. From there we kept in touch :)

@@david7522 👏👏👏👏

Comments for the comments throne

Dis your house?

:)