How to Create a Dungeons and Dragons Campaign for Improvisation - D&D 5e 

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You need to be prepared for "so, what will it be, door one or door two?" Players "Cantaloupe"

It would be cool to watch video of a session you GMed and then have a "director's commentary" recorded afterwards, where you show the moments where player input affects what happens next.

Quick question : my players caught me off-guard when they decided to make the campaign about one of the players, basically they want to save the warlock from his patron. They didn't discuss it with me before, trying me best to make it work but I'm struggling w/ it. Don't wanna force something upon them since they're happy w/ their choice.

I've been running my first campaign since January and aside from a basic outline of what to do each week and a few premade maps, I have improvised the entire campaign, . I make a page of key things I want to happen, then wing it. I've been using the taldorei campaign setting as my guide, having one of the critical role characters send the party off to recover ancient, powerful weapons, they've recovered 2 so far and just encountered one of the main villains who wields one of the weapons ( he may have killed half the party) so the remaining members and a few new faces have decided to try for another one instead. It really works well for me as the journey to, and obtaining of each item works as it's own individual season averaging at 4/5sessions per weapon. I have a list of items and their rough locations, they simply decide what they want to get next and when, then I get to focus on making a series of things that I may throw at them on the way. It helps to have a sandbox style world already made for you, to do this. But if you're up to the challenge, you can make one yourself

"I sometimes throw CR's out the window because let's face it, it's 5th edition." Lol.

ONLY focus on next session... Speckling in the over all campaign arc... thats exactly what i needed to hear, and exactly what i was looking for.

in the campaign, I'm currently running, I wrote out a brief outline looked up some CR 5 monsters in the monster manual that I thought looked cool found some CR 6-8 and skimmed through for things I might want to use later. I then wrote out three different options the players could take, each involving the main quest I gave the players to start with, go through portal roll for diplomacy. the three paths basically were, they figure out how to use the fast travel I hid in the game, get there in three days in-game. and the other two options were for them walking there. then I wrote out possible encounters I might want to use while they're side questing along the way. I basically took my favourite monsters and sprinkled them about between the players and their current end goal. the plot of the story is that there's a travelling store owned and operated by a wizards guild that's been travelling around and using the store for components they'll be using for experimentation. the current quest is to go through a portal, discovered in a different campaign, and look for intelligent life to trade with. instead of writing for the next session I wrote the arc and made some notes of what I want to put in along the way... unfortunately when I went to stream it there was no audio and now the streams are going to have to start from episode two to make sense.

Wow! Just found this in a youtube hole. I needed this with the 5e N3 conversion I am running. I was trying to put them on the straight path to success. You gave me great ideas to have them meet NPCs that move the story forward without them having to follow the railroad that the module gives. Thanks so much from a Newbie DM.

I think a smart thing to do when you plan on running a long term campaign is that when the players create their characters you ask them where their characters are from. Then you write down general "rumors" of things the characters would have known about from chatter in taverns or people met along the road as the character worked its way to the point you are now ready to gather everyone together and form a party. If the players come from the same region you can still give 2 players or more the same "rumors" but 1 or 2 players might have a couple differing versions of the same story/rumor. Or maybe they have similar rumors but some have a new piece of information. Then hand out these rumors to the players and inform them they are not to share their information unless its related to their characters back story or the party comes across information related to the rumors. At that time the party can sit down if they like and compare stories they have heard. This can lead to interesting ways of watching the group deciding what they want to do. Where they want to go and then you just adjust fire and create the campaigns narrative based on where the party decides to go. Some of the rumors may actually be completely false. But you still want there to be a reason for the party to be there even if the information that brought them to this location might have been completely false. Or even mis-interpreted MUHAHAHAHAHAHA......errr sorry about that.

I like the "heres a world, here's some rumors you've heard, go do your thing" approach. The key is to place all the adventure far enough away that they can't reach it in a single session.

I am not a DM but have been playing for a couple of years as a player, looking into DMing my first ever homebrew off the bat. I personally like improvisation coming from Both the players and DM, it makes the campaign so much more fulfilling for Both ends.

Now that was a good informative video! Thanks, You seem to run the same lines as me. I am also a fan of The Lazy Dungeon Master and here's how I do it. I call mine the Cattle Drive Framework (named after a Swords and Wizardry campaign where the PCs were advanced scouts and troubleshooters for...a cattle drive). I figured out the villain's plan, and looked at my world and where (roughly) the PCs would be in each session. I then plugged in mini-adventures, some modules and some things of my own. I keep in mind what the villain's endgame is and weave some threads into each mini-encounter. I love this format because I can plug in anything, change them around, delete stuff all to may heart's content (and easy to switch/delete stuff depending what the PCs do).

When I prepare a campaign from scratch I do the following: * Create the Big Bad and their ambition. * A list of names of places, cities, taverns etc that I just randomly come up with during the day. * A list of names. * A list of organisation's and the roles therein. (All the lists can be used in other campaigns if I don't get the opportunity to use them in this one.) * A rough idea of events/conflicts going on in the players area and which of those are connected to the Big Bad and which aren't. * I start the campaign with introducing the current conflicts in the area, but also a hook in my players face which is hard to ignore to get them started but at the same time opening up options for them to pursue other conflicts if they should choose. * After that I mainly focus on the next session, but I as the campaign progresses I always keep in mind of the wheels the players has set in motion which aren't stopping just because the players aren't focusing on them at the moment. 😉

Doing my daily stretches, was between this video and continuing rewatching Supernatural season 1. Was shocked and delighted by this video hahaha. This is basically how I have been running my games since I started DMing. It has always worked so so so well. Thanks for reaffirming my methods and adding to it. I use a lot of character backstory and ideas they give to help with improving -thankfully I have players that are very willing to contribute and create with the freedom I have learned to afford them. Also just influence from various media - animes, fantasy, novels, shows (like Supernatural haha) once in awhile it just feels right to mix and match a character from something and drop it into a DND game as an NPC. Or take a power or ability from something and try to adapt it for your game. Thanks Cody!

When he starts talking about choice and freedom at the end of the video, my mind starts thinking of BRAVE HART. “FREEDOM”!

One thing I have always done is create a list of 50 or so special NPC encounters, where each entry is either a solo NPC or a group of npcs (e.g. a noble and her retinue). Effectively, these are recurring characters in the campaign. I roll to pick an entry from this list at random when, for example, the PCs are traveling along a main road or they enter a tavern. Some of these npcs may be directly related to the campaign, but most are just side characters. They tend to stand out from the crowd so that when I tell the players they see someone ahead it is obvious why I singled out this particular person. Since they are meant to be recurring most of these npcs will not fight the PCs, at least not to the death, and many of them are higher level anyway. I tend to use these npcs when the players seem a bit unsure about what to do, or they need a break from their current activity. I know the PCs are at the center of the story, but I find they like the recurring npcs and the randomness of it makes the world seem more real. Plus it usually takes the campaign in a unexpected direction. The other thing I do with campaigns is actually have random encounter lists and lists of random antagonist actions. In general, everything that happens is semi-random. This keeps the campaign feeling fresh even to me - since I don’t know what is going to happen next. My players also appreciate that not everything is stage directed and the world does not revolve around them (until higher levels at least).

I'm running my first campaing as DM, even tho i'm relatively new to D&D. I've been taking a similar approach to this technique but hearing a more grounded idea has really cleared up a lot for me. Great video!

Supernatural is my favorite show too. Yeah the leviathan season sucked 😂

I've been running an episodic campaign for the last 2 years, you are bang on the money foe the best/easiest way to run a good game

I love the emphasis on themes in the first session. A lot of my games involved some level of organized crime, and I 110% support letting players know that before the end of the session. The only caveat is being open to discussion. Games are a collaborative effort between players AND DMs. It's important to remember that.

For random npc I use what were once blank d6, that I drew simple faces on each side. (Like the pain chart at the er.) Then I roll those 2d6 one is the npc personality and one is what the players see. I included a winking eye face for the trickster or liar. And one with a hand over mouth, which means the npc has a secret. If I roll a double secret as a for instance, it could mean he has a secret and does not hide that he has one or he has a secret and may not be able to hide the secret. Remember, one IS the npc and one is what THE PLAYERS see, and I can decide on the fly how that manifest.

I do this! You can still build a really good story, too. 5e especially, is set up with the adventuring tiers from 1-20th level, divided into about 5-level "chapters". They already give you themes for each chapter, too; 1-5 Local Heroes 6-10 - Regional Heroes 11-15 - Heroes of the Realm 16-20 - Heroes of the World So that's how I plan my campaigns. I have an idea for each "chapter," so that I know how to foreshadow each upcoming chapter as part of the current one. For example, in the Arthurian campaign I'm running, level 1-5 the players were mostly just working for one minor lord, with a feud on the horizon with a rival fiefdom. In the second chapter, they're getting roped into some of the larger politics for the campaign during this feud, culminating in them largely choosing sides between supporting the established king or a group of rebels. In the third chapter, the party and their chosen allies face down Mordred, a threat to the entire kingdom, who's arrival has been foreshadowed throughout the entire game. It is unlikely that we will reach 20th level play, so I haven't considered much in terms of a "chapter 4." So I've created a living, breathing world with tons of NPCs who are sort of going along their own stories whether the party is there or not. And the party can choose how they weave in and out of it and steer the course of events. But there are big, 99% unavoidable events, which open and close each chapter; usually something "kingdom wide" which the party will definitely see no matter where their adventures have taken them. This is how I keep them "on track" - they're not on track at all, but they can't keep ignoring these grim tidings of Mordred's return, and if they still do, when he does show up and suddenly start wrecking the place, they can't say that it was out of nowhere or without warning.

Improv is a must I once improved half a session because the players went a totally different direction

A really easy fix is to tell your players that one or more of their characters had a dream about a pending event, and let them talk. Their reaction should help you pivot to what they want to do. You can have the same event, but with a different purpose, different mindset, and maybe a different place setting.

i too use the vague overall story arc. i also use random tables. these tables will always forward my campaign design and arc, but it does allow for those "ah-hah!" moments that my players contribute by way of their decisions and choices...

I typically take what my players say and/or player actions and surprise them with it. An example is that one player said something about another sounding like Daffy Duck, so later down the road they encountered a town of anthropomorphic ducks.

You know, I was thinking of almost the same TV analogy just this afternoon, as it pertained to how old school D&D campaigns evolved, but with one addition: Many shows that end up like that -- X-Files, Supernatural, Charmed, Sliders, etc. -- start off with single episode one-offs, the "random" weirdness/monster/demon/timeline/whatever, and that's basically season one. Then it transitions in future seasons to longer arcs. Similarly, we started with one-off dungeon crawls before moving to the wider world and longer story arcs with larger consequences were introduced. Early on players get a feel for their characters, party dynamics develop, the world is introduced, and the tone evolves -- and the DM comes up with the longer arcs, to fit the party, after everyone has a feel for that. I wonder if anyone would run a campaign like that now, with all the talk of planning and story arcs and such, but it really worked well for us then and was a lot of fun.

Okay. So like I super-unprepared for a D&D session that was originally a one-shot, and the only thing I felt I could do is write down all the details as I was giving them to my players... From that one session, I was able to add SO MUCH disposition to my game that actually allowed me to build the world around them as we were going, and it all culminated with a boss fight that I was building DURING THE BOSS FIGHT... I then dropped a bombshell on them all (AND MYSELF Lol) that this wasn't a one-shot, this was a "Session Zero" where the players have the option of keeping their characters. After the session, everyone complimented the RP aspect of it (inexperienced in building combat, but I do some writing on my off time) One even going as far as to saying they were expecting only combat and were so pleasantly surprised by just how much RP was involved. I'm glad to know my focus on the villain lately has been the right place to put my attention towards.

I am a totally reactionary DM. I have a general idea of what's going on in the world and I let the players guide the story and react to what they do.

This was really helpful! Thank you!

It's very strange but I've been the exact opposite I have a general idea or "world" then let the players decide what's important to them while slowly giving tidbits of info and let the world tick away.

This is how I run my campaigns for sure. I make a skeleton for the campaign and they fill in the meat and muscles.

I do something similar, but write big set pieces that give fixed points to keep the players going towards the overall goals I've written. Having these fixed points just gives waypoints for the story, allowing you to improv twards them. Less chance of going way off plan.

I had a recent campaign arc finish where the party went to liberate a town from an Ancient Mithril Dragon which if I'm being honest was rather two dimensional but I had the dragon act almost as a red herring for the true villain I had planned for the campaign which was a servant of Kyuss. I had the dragon take over the town in order to prevent this servant from escaping out a mine which discovered the underdark where the servant of Kyuss originates from so when they kill the dragon it removes the magical wards guarding the mine. Now I knew that it was possible that the party which is at 13th level could entirely miss the hook after defeating the dragon should they immediately leave and then it would become a greater threat in the future and I would just continue on with the session as planned as I never revolved the sessions around that specific hook since it was set about 5-6 session in and I think you can pull of a hook later in the campaign as long as you prepare for it to be missed or ignored and then have world events continue on without the party, maybe another group solves the problem or it becomes so large its hard to ignore. Another example of this in my games would be I had a campaign revolving around Orcus attempting to return to the material plane by using the demons, undead and cultist who follow him to handle the preparations and the party (by which i mean the characters not the players) ended up splitting up because of characters clashing so Orcus succeeded in his plan and ended up taking over an entire country which is a looming threat on a world scale that despite being essentially abandoned, is now this problem the new characters are working towards solving (at least they're planning to). It's a long message but I just wanted to chime in with how I deal with players not taking adventure hooks and bringing in the hook at a later point and I fully agree with the method of plan a week by week basis with notes on the themes of the campaign and what to throw at the party.

Cody, would you be able to do a similar video on running pre-made campaigns? I ran Death House as the first session of CoS and the feedback I got from my players was that they enjoyed everything except what came from the books. So I'm curious, without memorizing the entire book ahead of time, how to I improvise or make the "read aloud" text my own, and make it all flow seamlessly?

It all depends on who are my players when I'm the DM. If they are new I try to do as much as I can with miniatures and terrain till they get used to how the game works. When I run games with more experienced players that like TotM style I rarely use miniatures and terrain. Some of my newer players to D&D come from playing other TotM games so they can jump in with little visual aids while I have older players that come from tabletop war games the prefer using miniatures and terrain. If they are people that are new to one another or only one or two know each other I try to get them to move to the other style so there's not a couple that want miniatures and terrain with a group that are mostly TotM and vice versa. Most of the time they are more then willing to change to the other group. This is not the norm for me as I don't have a lot of time between 10 hours of work a day Monday through Friday and have three small children, so I normally have time for only one game a week, but there are times where I will run two a week, if I can only do one game a week I will make use of miniatures and terrain for more important things like battles. But I don't do a lot of stuff that can easily be done with TotM.

For me I just improve half my sessions I have a few things you need. And boom fun. (I am also a complete riot apparantly)

I just put together a new d&d group and one of the guys asked when we could start so I naturally replied "we'll need to wait for the DM to give us the go ahead once he's ready". Then the DM replied, "well we can start when you like cos I prefer to use the advanced DM technique of wing it lol". This doesn't exactly fill me with confidence😕 any advice?

Around 12 minutes in, "We're not gonna be tied down to any of that, but its gotta happen."...

I can't think of any real techniques I use. I just do my best to understand the area, villain(s), and NPCs as much as humanly possible. I only roll on random tables if I want/need a thing but don't know what the thing should be.

One thing to remember is that Villains are not the only ones who will be proactive in a setting. Nobles, merchants, guild leaders and basically any other major NPC will also have things they want to achieve and thus make moves that will affect the PCs and others. Sometimes these moves will require PC intervention as well because as they say 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions', not all NPC actions will have the desired effects. This is why i'm a World Builder first and Dungeon Master second. A well built and detailed world allows you to improvise and react to player choices no matter what they choose to do. If you have already established who all the major players are in a setting then you can decide much easier how and when they will act and how that will affect the PCs. I find that the more detailed a setting I have to work with the easier it is to make improv decisions that come together and form a story. It also helps that I rarely tend to push my PCs in any one direction, what they want is what we do. With that play style having a set story is just too hard to deal with but having location based stories that the PCs can discover at their leisure works well.

I have a lot of difficulty saying fluent descriptions on the fly and tend to stumble a lot as in "You walk in and see uh, a glimmering... Icy uh... Wall of vapid smoke that uh... Billows out like a uh... Gust of furious wind as you approach" and it ends up just sounding really unimpressive and takes my players out of the game. Any advice for this?

I had a group that used to play every day. EVERY DAY. So I had to write story every day. There is no long term planning when you're writing every day. Work, game, write, sleep, repeat. What I found is best is to do very similar to what you do. I pick a theme for the day, say, a dungeon, or a casino, or it's going to be a week until the thing they're waiting for is ready, so we do skill challenges, one per day, for a small reward of some sort (On the first night you're leaving the tavern when this ruffian is slapping around a lady. What do you do? I am going to stop him by talking him down. Great, roll persuasion. Success, [describe][grant xp] the lady gives you a kiss and her room number, calls you her hero. etc...). This gives opportunity for rp and encounters without having to go through an hour and a half combat session. Once I have my theme, I do enough to get us through the session, about 2 hours. Most common, if its a dungeon, 4-6 rooms. That's enough. There were no mega-dungeons. They got bored too easily (ran white plume mountain... hated it). I put together an encounter, an rp, a puzzle, and treasure. I use my theme to word paint a nice environment for them. I jot notes about what information they can find to get them to wherever they're going, and i use a list of random names for NPCs, locations, and data nodes to get the information from, make them roll, and then pick one that will move them towards their goal. It works brilliantly. Now that we play about every 2-3 weeks, i procrastinate writing until the day before, because i don't have to write every day so i don't. and i do the same thing. One of each of those things, and if we don't use them in that session, they're available for an upcoming one. works great.

I once had a GM who was so set in his story that he literally had our characters get randomly knocked out for no reason for EVERY plot point he wanted to do. GM: “Roll perception” Me: Rolls* “18” GM: “You miss the rock heading for your head. Me: ...ok GM: “you wake up chained to the floor in a dark room. Me: “so did you just want to like...tell me a story or let me play?” Needless to say, I don’t play with him anymore.

sorry, love your videos, but I gotta disagree with some of this. all fully realized characters, are both Actionary, and Reactionary. this very trope, is one of the reasons why I feel most villains in current media, to feel flat and contrived, and why I find many stories revolving around such, to be incredibly unengaging. you should not use comic books, especially super hero comics, or television as a guide to good writing. both of these genre's are rife with overused formulaic techniques, which causes your plot to be predictable. the very best villains, are a protagonist from their own perspective, and are only a villain, because their goals, or beliefs, conflict with those of the main character. a villain, is a contrived plot device, and your players will know it. an antagonist, is a character who happens to oppose the protagonist/s, and will create a more dynamic, and layered plot. here's an idea. your villain shouldn't necessarily be a character, but any problem in your world, which keeps your protagonists from easily achieving their goals, and they must make sense in your world. falls barriers are not engaging. if you have a group playing anti hero's, you create a hero who disagree's with their methods, to oppose them. if your group plays hero's, create an anti-hero who opposes them, with a valid point, but misguided methods. basically, the easiest way to improv, is to just see where your players are going, and respond as any realistic world does. life is already hard, there's no need for contrived antagonism, because for any goal players make, or action they take, there will naturally be some entity who is naturally opposed. Example: (off the top of my head) your players need money, so they take a quest to go kill a local tribe of goblins, who have been stealing crops. along the way, your party encounters a old woman, and her crying child, being attacked by a mutated creature. they save the women, and child, only to find that the two are in fact, the shaman and granddaughter, of the very same goblins you've been hired to hunt. they beg you to hear them out. listen? the goblins are actually fairly peaceful, if somewhat primitive. the recent mining operation started by the a human mine near their home, is causing run off to pollute the goblins only water source, and the mushroom farms they use to feed themselves. most of them are going mad, or are horribly sick. in desperation or madness, those males have begun to raid the human settlements of the area. help her? or kill her? the easy path is easy to see. and is a valid that they can make. but will your heroes be able to continue thinking of themselves as such, if they kill this intelligent, and defenseless old crone? if they do, will they regret it later? what about the child? if they don't kill it, it will grow up, and remember the so called heroes that killed her kin, for their profit. setting up a true antagonist, instead of a contrived villain or they could take the hard route, of trying to mediate. in which case they would either find a way to negotiate and create a good end, for both parties. (perhaps the goblins would agree to help work the mines, and build a new waist runoff channel, in return for medicine, food, water and other supplies, and help rebuilding.) or if they cannot negotiate peacefully, perhaps it's time to decide that it's the greedy human company that is the true villain. in which case they will become known for siding with non-humans, and will make bitter enemies of the mines noble investors. the point is, there's a difference between a fun story, and an impactfull story. when creating a story, you are playing with peoples expectations, and using their own world view, and assumptions, to create a meaningful experience. if you only go by the common formula's of modern media, you may make a fun story, but you will often fail to create a truly meaningful one. the plot should play on the expectations, that your players bring to the table, or set for themselves. once you understand the direction they are heading, and see that they are getting a little comfortable, and maybe leaning towards bored, surprise them, by subverting their previous expectations, via unexpected but highly believable twists, or reveals. problems in any fully realized world, are never as simple as they are typically represented in modern media. look at things from multiple perspectives, and bringing complexity into this world, breathing life into the world, is the job of the DM. don't allow your characters to be cardboard cutouts. force them to face the confliction of having to make tough decisions, in all sorts of complicated situations, with incomplete information, then follow that up with a plot down the line, stemming from those decisions they made previously. it's a chain of karma, action, and reaction. you would like to see your players, play their characters realistically yes? as DM, you are essentially playing, all the other characters in the story, including organizations, governments, and other groups, it's your job to play them, as realistically, as you expect your players, to play their characters. I look at D&D as a form of collaborative storytelling, rather than a simple game, for simple amusement. (though you're free to disagree) If you play your role with genuine human complexity, and forethought, your players will respond in kind, and together you can create a story, beyond what any one of you could have written alone. I also feel that even the already loose rules that most DMs use, is still too restrictive, placing far too much focus on combat, quests, etc, and leads to hackneyed fantasy tropes throughout. frankly I'd like to see the whole system evolve, to a more flexible one. with rules being mere tools, that the GM, can implement or not.

Hey I know this is late, but how do I introduce the main hook early on if my campaign revolves around a secret group of demon cultist who want to summon them and I want the party to not even know they are helping them at first?

So is making a story bad? Cause im building an entire world from scratch im a beginner DM and my friends are all beginners as well I already made a shit ton of writing and have a lot of ideas. When i first truly tried and used improv it crashed and burned. Please reply cause im trying to get them to enjoy my game

Also much like supernatural you kill of characters not cuz you need to not to advance the story but just for needless angst for the sake of angst (still mad they killed Charlie for no reason)

I once read that there are two kinds of DMs: ones who can improvise, and ones who are perpetually frustrated.

I've had a player, bring a mid ranked villain back from the dead after the party killed him because he was an honorable person.

"The best laid plans never survive first contact with the player." Murphy's Law of Dming

Also fun story. I have a player who played a mage who dabbled in Necromancy. He created these gems that he could command to glow very brightly if he was within 200 ft. But instead of using them to light up tunnels and dark rooms. He would implant them under the skin just above a victims heart. And then get his ranger buddy to heal up the wound and save the victim from death. Then once the victim was awake he would inform them that they were now his slave and unless they wanted their hearts to explode and kill them instantly "At wich time he would command the gem to glow very brightly and freak the shit out of the victim". And any attempts to remove the "bomb" would set off the bomb and instantly destroy the victims heart. There are ALLOT of NPC's running around scared shitless by this guy lol.

Our DM’s prepared material: PCs band together to topple a theocracy What we actually did: overtake a small port town and spend the next three years establishing a bustling commerce center.

Our DM was excellent at improv, to the point we would intentionally go off the beaten path to see what he would do. It was _awesome_ and felt like a real world because of it Once, completely on accident, we went to a different town than we were supposed to and this absolute LEGEND came up with a whole new campaign. It was a super cool campaign, too.

I learned a lot in this video ! For my first campain as a DM, I was planning the group to work for the king and defeat a criminal organization... And they decided to join them after a while to free themselves from the king's power and started ambushing royal guards and assassinate important warleaders to get closer and closer to the king, then killed him to end his reign. It was the best campain I ever had!

I steal cool moments and encounters from other DMs. The rest is improvised.

I tend to start the game off with the players in a location with a lot of things going on. The player can choose what leads they want to follow, but I keep track of what is going on with all the leads they don't follow. While some quests will sit there and wait, others are time sensitive. For instance, if the players want to explore the old ruins looking for treasure, the necromancer that escaped from the dungeon that they didn't track down makes his way to the Swamp of Ulith ad begins constructing a lair.

Prepare for improvisation. Sounds contradictory, I know, but it's the best advice available.

I ran my first game this past weekend, and boy, you aren't lying about not knowing what your own game is gonna be like. One of my players is about to STEAL A NOBLE TITLE. My rogue is literally about accidentally steal a duchy 😂😂😂

I’m running a slow boil right now and I had a really fun boss fight for first level. For some context the game was meant to be a solo with a Druid but I decided to give him a greedy rogue sidekick just in case the plot needed a quick pick me up “We need to run! No time to explain!” (he’s a new player he doesn’t always have an idea what he can or should do). Well starting off the campaign he began in a major desert city where he met his rogue and he ended up spending about 1 in game week as a level 1 adventurer where he used his Druidic powers to complete various odd jobs and talk to a variety of colorful npcs to help him figure out where exactly he was, during one of these odd jobs his sidekick noticed one of the street performers and over the course of the week started spending less time with the player so when the rogue decided not to help him find missing pets one afternoon he wasn’t too surprised. After completing another low XP sidequest the player decided to look for his sidekick, a search check (dc 1) later and he sees the rogue with the street performer from before and a man (her husband) arguing about something. As he approaches the man hits the performer knocking her to the ground and in an instant the rogue draws his dagger and lunges at him. “As your friend attacks this stranger the world slows to a stop, what do you do?” As a new player he seemed afraid of combat so I put him in a situation where he’d be forced to either learn how to fight or watch his favorite npc die. It wasn’t subtle in the least bit but it made a statement and it opened the doors for a lot of role playing in the aftermath of that bombshell he still defaults to talking to villains to see if they can be reasoned with but now he freely engages in combat when it’s appropriate rather than being dragged into it so I’d say I did my job.

Good stuff, just started my first campaign so this is good timing for me lol thanks for the info!

This thumbnail grabbed me as soon as I came on RU-vid. This is a great video and completely true. Great topic especially for newer DMs.

"This is my favourite meme" How do you do, fellow kids?

Cody I have to say you have really improved as a content creator.

Hey! I don't feel like such a weirdo DM anymore! Nice! All the DM's I know are big game preppers, but I do nearly nothing each week and my players love it. My campaign is a homebrew, the Prophecy of Returning, in which all the possible BBEG's in the setting are vying to be the one who fulfills the Prophecy and Returns to conquer the land All I prep is the overall layout of the countries, cities, deities, geography, cultures, and the BBEG's. And the conflict between those entities. Oh, and a list of fantasy names in case I need to make it sound like I already prepared Duedard Fulgrove, Okki Topbottom, or Vendeli Jarnash (random NPCs) Then it's a sandbox, where my players get to do whatever they want. They know that things are happening in the world, so whenever they mess around, they are missing things they could have changed. Thus they tend to stay on track pretty well, and keep themselves in position to be impactful.

Dungeons and villains drive the campaign. They have to be detailed. Towns, friendly NPCs, and just about everything else can be mostly improv. Especially if you have a book that's got premade NPCs. I have, like 4. Then, during the time between sessions you can add events and places (like holidays or interesting shops or landmarks or whatever) that you want to foreshadow and include. Think about random encounters if they are right for your story. If so, make some tables. Then, during the session, take good notes and build on whatever your players do. It's the only way I run a game. I can't run a module.

I love your approach, it's pretty much how I prepare my games, except for one thing: Encounters. I'm sure that you, as a Roll20 user, can identify, but there's a lot of map prepping going on o roll20 that isn't required for presencial games. I've already improvised maps with the drawing tool, but I prefer to use some more elaborate maps and dynamic light them, and in order to do this, I need to plan encounters to specific places. At least I think so. Also, I like to plan my encounters through. Monster tactics, terrain, twists in the combat, making every combat more interesting. Do you not plan your encounters for your online games as well?

I love your content Cody. Keep the videos coming. Thanks for what you do!

"I ignore CR, because: 5th Edition."

My fav dnd meme is rocks fall everyone dies.

This helped a lot! About to DM for the first time and this gave me a lot of insight

This writing style is saving my hide. I had the concept to bring forth the eventuality of war for profit, and along the way, a few masks of the 8 Demon Lords were picked up, and I'm slowly tying that core theme back in. I love this writing style.

Everyone is so concerned with their game being this living breathing sandbox world with free choice at every turn and all that stuff. Idk where people are getting this idea. If you look at any module there is only so much free will because the plot is clear, what you're doing is clear. Sometimes a the beginning you're told "you've been hired to investigate this place" or something. Tbh session 1 of my game i told my players outright "hey, i might railroad you guys a little bit just to get the main plot out there." and the answer unanimously was "Ok, no problem." I thought they were gonna hate me for that. Like, How dare i in this day an age create a story i wanted to tell and then have my friends play through it in creative ways. But they clearly didn't. They wanted to go on that journey with me. Session 1 went off great, they loved it, and now they've started their journey. They know the main plot, but i'm not giving them any strict time tables yet so they can do as they please along the way. Just, like, don't force people to do stuff too hard or too often and you're fine. Tbh one of the things i think a good DM can do is take a party that goes off the rails and is able to keep laying track in front that leads back to the main track without it feeling like a rail road.

As much as I want to agree with this video, I can't. Not entirely. This is a mind set of "my players aren't completely dicks". The thought of giving players freedom is a double-edged sword. While it might be important, it's dangerous. Because they have the "freedom" to flip you the bird and do whatever they want. I've actually ran a campaign where all the players called bullshit on me because suddenly they're 15th level and the villain has arrived with, in their words, no fanfare, no build up, no plot hooks, no nothing. Yet for 15 straight levels, they have literally done everything to circumvent and ignore every plot hook, adventure hook, NPC story, etc. Just a bunch of "That's rough, buddy." and then moving on to explore the world. Why? Because that's how video games work and so should your campaign. Just because they leave the main story to do all the side quests so they can power through all the "boring stuff" later in video games, that's not how that works in an actual campaign. The best was when I told all four players the exact same background to the world, and I literally got the most bizarre and polar opposite builds imaginable. At no point would anyone believe these four purposely joined a group. Especially the introvert pacifist who ran just out for groceries when things went badly, and he just wanted to run home and hide. But, I could just be cursed with bad players. I think about all these things when you mentioned talking with other DMs who have issues with players not taking a bite of the hook they laid out. Sometimes the players just aren't interested. Even if you started in the port city, get ready to do a land campaign because that undersea one is going to be happening all on its own and perhaps by the time the PCs are level 10, the undersea world has already taken over the lands and enslaved the PCs. Which, they'll then call you names for being a terrible DM. Because they can't possibly be to blame for this. >_> Players and DMs alike have trouble checking their ego at the door. Overall, good video. A little long and long-winded. A few good tips that I'll keep, but likely won't ever have the chance to properly implement.

I wrote a an encounter outside the city, and invited players to shop on the way. 30 minute bargaining session with an ad-hoc credit/reputation system. Zombies attacked some villagers. Short combat followed by 30 minute debate on how bad a wound has to be to need amputation (via Eldritch Blast)

I literally only made this comment so I could take the 400th comment. Also I had a "oneshot" coming up tomorrow and when I explained the setting and story so I could work with my players to make their characters fit they decided it would be better as a full campaign... It doesn't help that this is my second ever game.. I'm usually a player..

This is exactly how I run my games. Like, terrifyingly accurate lol. Great content as always!

Could my theme be the setting itself? So I’m working on running a campaign within this mega city I’ve created known as Skyhold, the players are starting off within the city and because it’s magically floating 3 miles off the ground there’s no natural way for the campaign to leave it, past that I’m just going to try to sandbox it as much as I can. There’s around 150,000 residents in this 20 square mile city but I’ve subdivided it into these walled off wards to contain certain areas to make life easier for me. I’ve got numerous gangs, monsters and villains somewhat lined out but I’m leaving them vague until players show interest. The only specific plot I have planned is towards the end of the campaign a massive gold/silver dragon will attack the city in an attempt to kill the 9 wizards that keep it floating (the players realize that the skyfall this would cause would kill not only everyone in the city but likely destroy the world age of ultranationalist style as an extinction meteor) with the twist being that the 9 wizards are actually liches trapped in time and the dragon attacked because the spell trapping them in time has finally worn off and the dragon being a very ends justify the means creature decided a drestroyed world is better than one dominated by the undead (as he saw in the future that if they lived their power woulf be too great to stop)

This is my exact DMing style. I love how my players creat the story themselves. It makes my job very easy and I get to play off what they did last game session. It's a win win for everyone!

Very good advice, thanks! In fact, I just saved a link to this video in my "Links"-document, I'm going to have to come back a few times. I think this is going to re-align my current campaign prep-work. Awesome! Much of what you said here is echoed in Johnn Four's advice on "Loopy" Session Planning, as well as Shannon Applecline's old musings on Storytelling in RPGs over on RPG.net - sometimes you need to have a thing presented to you in multiple ways before you 'get' it. I think it's starting to gel for me ;)

I just create the world and have basics for every area the players could go and play that out the players may or may not hit a set piece but they still progress. Living world is my DM style. My players can take unconventional paths but this way there is always something going on. Yes they could trigger multiple threads and maybe not.

Great advice, especially the one about starting by focusing on the villain! The way you explained it made so much sense, it felt like a bit of an epiphany. I think this would be great advice as well for anybody trying to write a novel or any other type of story. Thank you for sharing that priceless tip!

When i was a young DM I used to do WAY to many notes, that campaign failed. I had no ability to go away from my notes and improvise. SO, for my next campaign, I quite notes all together. The only things I wrote down were monster stats saves and stuff for them to fight. Campaign notes were all in my head. And, according to my group, I've become one of the best improvers in the group.

Improvise? You mean that thing that you do when the evil personality of your bard with a multiple personality disorder in your planescape campaign makes a pact with the lady of pain and is tasked with something that is going to happen on a 1 out if 500? I am going to get a burn-out.

One of the things I like to do to get an off the cuff campaign started is to use the Rumors at the Inn or tavern, Adventurer's Guild job board, Town crier, Info at the Thieves Guild or Temple or Wizard's Guild, etc, etc. I generate about half a dozen things to engage the party. As the campaign goes on I try to add one or more each session where it makes sense to do so. Adding and subtracting plot hooks keeps the campaign alive. For example, there have been some graves disturbed in a cemetery or cemeteries and the guards haven't been able to stop it. Rats are eating more of the city's food stocks than normal. The temple of XXX needs guards for the annual transport of the holy item for the reconsecration of a local church. I'm sure that any DM who is used to improvisation can come up with a bunch of these quickly. If not, think about various plot hooks and write them down. Don't worry about the party being able to handle all of these; you are building a campaign world. A first level party will not be able to kill the ancient red dragon that is terrorizing the western dukedom. That is okay because that might be available for them to take on when they have grown in power; for now it is background. Likewise, there will eventually be plot hooks that appear to be beneath them, and may in fact be. More history, although some of them could grow to become threats that could challenge the party. Some plot hooks will be one shots, if the party doesn't select that plot hook to check out, it will resolve itself and disappear - someone else handled it. Some of these will grow in importance if they don't do anything about them and at least provide a background story to the world they live in. Some of these could lead to a campaign that I have some ideas about how I want them to go. Depending on what the party does will determine the direction the campaign takes. In every case, they choose the direction and there are some "might have beens" in the background, things that may engage them after they have been allowed to fester when not properly handled; once they have grown into something that the party can take up after the first arc is finished, with their more capable characters. This can allow preparatory magic items and information to be given if I want them to take this arc on as their next quest, but it will still be their choice.

I'm a random dice table DM with improv.

I used to try and plan out each session or quest a lot but eventually found it was easier, more fun, and just better in general when most was improvised. I definitely do an episode kinda thing. Practically each session in my current campaign has its own objective, while the overarching plot is going on. And especially recently each session has been related to the overarching plot while still being its own objective. Currently my pcs are trying to get together all their friend npcs to help them go on an excursion that will help them get a powerful artifact

Love it, that's how I run my campaigns! The only suggestion I could make is that player action have consequences in the game world. When I sketch out the BigBad's plan or plot, it includes a list of things the BigBad will do to win. Let's say the BigBad wants to invade the player's kingdom, and first wants to destabilize the kingdom and get them off guard before the main strike. As the BigBad's plans launch and the players get involved, the players should start build a picture that something is happening. Each episode will continue on the main story arc, but if the players decide to go in a different direction -- the BigBad's plans still go forward. Here's a for instance. The players encounter Orc Scouts someplace unexpected, maybe near a "safe" village, some of the scouts escape. The players decide not to follow-up on where the scouts came from because they get distracted by another plot or self directed idea. That doesn't mean the BigBad stops, they go ahead with the plan and the players hear the village was attacked and burned by Orcs. Consequences.

I have a question. I am about to run my second game on Roll20. I have plotted out a few adventures that can link in any direction they take. They can choose from 3 starting points, then the other adventures can link in some way. It appears they are having control but it is actually more of a flexible railroad. My question is what if they just don't bite and go way off the rails. They love the maps and I am not sure I can hold them with the theater of the mind. Do you have a trick you use for maps or should I just go for the theater of the mind and hope for the best? Thanks for anyone who has some advice!

I'm surprised how close this is to my own style. I started my campaign with intimate knowledge of my villain and a general idea of where his plot was going. I had a large supporting cast of characters I've built up over the years ready to go with issues and problems. In session 1, I introduced the party to the theme of the campaign, which has started to really echo as of late. For my planning, I normally jot down a few important details that I need to communicate with the players, laid a out the specifics of a few encounters, but little more. I never make details for more than 2 sessions in advance, since most of the time it is wasted. Overall, it works great. I highly recommend this to any DM out there.

This goes double if you have a D&D group in which people, due to scheduling or otherwise, are going to be flaky on when they show up or not. If you know that's going to be the case, don't make large plot hooks that _require_ certain characters to be around.

Thats just a funny picture. A meme has many evolutions of it and has spread to some extent.

I don't want to say how they meet that NPC. But I do need a note on how many houses. NPCs and all that thing is there.

Dude I was thinking (just like supernatural) and then you said it😖👌

Hey from the UK! It's going to be my first time DM-ing soon and I'm not brill at improvising, so this has helped a load. My story that I have created plays like a Fighting Fantasy book, but with several options that all link up to my main scenario and room for improv. All side quests affect the main quest in ways of item drops and info on the bosses and their weaknesses. Also have mini-games in taverns like Liar's Dice or a drinking contest that my players are able to do in reality. Is this a good starter in your opinion?

some techniques: 1: having a list of 10 names per race, 5 male names and 5 female names in case of needeing it will appear to be preparated npc without being it so, also a table made by my own with 100 unique characteristic for a random npc (it may be a physical or a personality characteristic) 2: have the big bad final boss in mind, he is doing something everytime, i dont always know what is doing, but he or she is certanly doing something, so the players may find out what is the main villain doing 3: listen player's conclusions and pick the most intresting one if i got caught out of guard, they even may make the whole campaing for me and say "it was a great campaing we liked everything about it" and belive me, it was a real story

As a challenge for myslef, and taking advantage of roll20 for creating cool maps, I choose to base a campaign (or at least a series of one shots) totally on random encounters. In the town "Notofinterest" people have been finding creatures in the weirdest of places. So far, nothing to be worried about: bunnies swimming in the middle of lakes, tiny feys materializing on mountain tops, but lately more dangerous stuff has been showing up. Some people blame it on a Sorcerer that has moved recently in a nearby falls, other talks about a deep hole that takes to the very center that separate the planes, other claim it is a ancient dragon spirit causing illusions to scare the people. The only certain thing, is that you can't be certain what will cross your path...

It's interesting that a DM wouldn't introduce the hook right out of the gate. It just seems so natural after prepping a campaign and adventure to let the players know what the game is all about. 😂 FWIW, I prefer to do more rather than less prep work for my games (my notes resemble the draft of a published module). However, there is great freedom -- and less work! -- involved in the super low prep method discussed here, for sure. 😀