@@patrickbuckley7259 oh it did, it also encouraged being monsters because we didnt even spare the fleeing ones who weren't fighting from our ravenous sweet tooths
Subverting the stereotypical image of the eye tyrant and creating a good-aligned beholder would actually be quite interesting. Just imagine a civilization centered around the benevolent rule of such a being. The gullible PCs could even be enlisted by the beholder's enemies to assassinate it, not knowing that the creature was actually Lawful Good.
+Goya Solidar In one campaign, my friend made mindflayers slaves to the drow, who had the elder brain under their thumb. They did evil things only under their masters' direction. I was a good-aligned elrich knight of Bahamut, and I took a level of warlock when I allied myself with the elder brain. The party thought my character turned evil. But the mindflayers just wanted to go home.
Sorry for the late reply but this has just popped back into attention. Characterization of certain races in DnD and monster types is in generally useful because it portrays the behavior of creatures. Given the appears of beholders and their creation it becomes easily apparent why they are the way they are meaning creatures of a nightmare by their appears, to begin with but also by their actions. If there were to be benevolent beholders, they would come from pleasant dreams and actions and not be monstrous thus not be beholders at all. Thus the dichotomy of having a good beholder.
I think the maps' purpose are the same as the tables: to serve as inspiration. It's not "use this Kobold Lair", it's more like "this is what a race that digs tunnels and lays eggs and hoards treasure would build for that purpose". At least that's how I took it, as a template to build your own considering the stuff in it. Like how the Beholder lair uses vertical shafts, because it can fly etc.
"The two places you can find DnD is college and the Army." Confirmed. In almost a decade of enlistment I had no idea of this fact, but after getting interested in the hobby I was gobsmacked by how prevalent it actually is.
Honestly you need 0 experience to be a DM. I started D&D at my school because I was curious about it, and so I just purchased the Starter Set and jumped in as the DM. Never even seen the game before but was able to understand it through the instructions. We had a fantastic time. I still DM for those guys too.
I got quite attached to my kobold character a while back! He was a golden kobold, the results of experiments conducted by a dragon. Born Lawful Good, with draconic blood in his veins! He was tons of fun to play, especially on the occasion when he stopped seeming like an extremely powerful child, and the other players were reminded that he was a lizard with lizard thoughts. His name was Yuvon.
I love the Silmarillion, Matt...I love lore, learning more and more about the world is amazing, LotR and Silmarillion can both be great in their own right.
Random thing to say, but thank you for your "Running the Game" series. They inspired me to run my own game. I've wanted to DM for a long time, because all the DM's I've played with didn't put work or really care about the campaign, and I always wanted more. It seemed too daunting but your series helped me to understand being the DM. I also stole and tried out your Kalaral The Veil character and it's a big hit in my campaign, thanks again.
1:30:21 *Dungeon Magazine* "Tears for Twilight Hollow". That Module he mentions 1:39:45 *Dungeon Module S2* "White Plume Mountain" Great fun, Set in the Greyhawk world. Loved the intelligent weapons. Black Razor was soooo nasty.
Your videos have basically saved our D&D campaigns. I was wondering if you would consider making a video about combat, specifically how to make it more fluid and fun. When I run it, it always seems to drag on and involve too much math. Thanks again!
Yo man, its been almost a year. But if you still have combat problems maybe the "new" initiative system could work with your group. It sounds that it is working with about 30% of the people :)
The trick is to do quality over quantity. Either enemy swarms of one hit dead creatures or a combat puzzle where his immunities and weaknesses make for interesting fights. Brittle bones but missile immunity.
Messy campaign diary is better than no campaign diary. We'll still get the main plot points and examples of how you do thinks like tweak creatures, or use skill challenges, or do Diplomacy challenges, or see how you handle players lateral thinking throwing you off balance.
Jeremy Davis i was thinking of his Politics series. Since then his NPCs 2 video seems to also touch on rewards that your heroes might get for aiding certain factions.
Jeremy Davis also, I could see you doing a lot of social thinks as a series of short skill challenges, requiring only 2 or 3 successes. you could allow Knowledge Local if they already had some info on the case to say, catch whoever they are interviewing in a lie,
Oh man, you said "The City of Beholders" and my brain took that and ran for the fences. Imagine, the entire party has to infiltrate this all-beholder city disguised as a single beholder... the beholder equivalent of 5 raccoons in a trench coat trying to pass for a human. Divide the eyes among the different players, but they all speak for it and decide their movement democratically. For a one-shot session, that sounds like a blast!
That Barghest entry makes me want to write an adventure where a disguised devil hires the PCs to clear out a tribe of goblins who failed to live up to a bargain they struck. Probably under the guise of "Oh please, these evil goblins are terrorizing our village. Brave heroes, go and slay them!" The Devil will lend the players two "hunting hounds" which are Barghests under illusion there to devour the corpses of the goblins and claim their souls for their infernal master. The devil fully plans to keep whatever deal it makes with the PCs (gold, information, whatever in exchange for killing every goblin in the tribe) but if they try back out of their deal or fail to satisfy the conditions (wanting to spare the goblin children, or trying to just talk the goblins into going somewhere else) then the Barghests reveal their true form and attack both groups. Regardless of whether the players side with the goblins, or carry out their task successfully, they gain the attention and interest of the Devil which could lead to further stories. Siding with the goblins might lead to the PCs earning their friendship and aid in dealing with the Devil later on.
I got Volo's guide yesterday and already love it. I immediately designed a kobold barbarian because I couldn't think of anything funnier than Cower, grovel, beg... RAGE AND ATTACK! :D
This is the best channel to come to if you want to start playing d&d! When I found your channel I started designing my own adventures and started my journey in d&d! You’re amazing! Keep up the good work and keep inspiring, Matt!
Hey Matthew, Thanks for the walkthrough of Volo's - might have to pick it up now. All in all, you've been a major asset now that I've found a group to develop an ongoing campaign with. Keep doing what you're doing! It's great!
Thanks for putting this up on YT! I always have issues watching twitch broadcasts on my second monitor while doing other things on my main monitor. Appreciated, Matt :)
I'm so excited you posted this video on RU-vid, because I just found your channel and was kinda sad when this video wasn't still up on Twitch. This will have to tide me over until I get my own copy, because one can never have too many sources for monster and bad guy ideas!
I love the lore and ecology sections of D&D. Especially 2e. Before an encounter i reskim the monster entry. That way i can add a little to the encounter.
I've recently stumbled upon your channel and have been watching your videos non stop. I started playing dnd only a year ago and quickly fell in love. I started dming only a few weeks after starting as a player. I couldn't get enough (and still can't). Your videos have offered great insight, not just for games but for life. I've recently moved to a new place and I've been trying to get a group of players to dm for. Your sociology video has inspired me to invite people to my table regardless of whether they've played or I think by my assumptions of them that they would enjoy it (alas, comments on that video are disabled, for good reason I fear). Thank you for your videos, they have inspired me.
I wont lie, kind of disappointed by your thoughts on the book. I love how in detail they go. I dont use it verbatum but it also helps me come with ideas or quests or events. I once had a campaign where for a good while the main enemy was a gnoll warband attempting to cross the planes and join their god in order to help him rise to the top. While I didn't have the Volos guide at that time, I am sure it would have made it not only easier but also more fun and give me a few ideas on societal aspects. Granted, to each their own, and while I make my own lore for things I do love the book as a whole for not just information but inspiration.
Watching you on a live stream is so much fun. Don't get me wrong, your usual videos are informative and helpful but I do like seeing you have fun and being quirky. Great stuff man!
This video made me REALLY want this book. Adds a ton of flavor text and ideas for DM and players alike. I might even try running a monster only PC campaign from this... Also, Mind Flayer Wizard that only speaks in Pink Floyd lyrics. That's hella creative lol.
Would love to hear you talk about running evil characters. Ran a campaign where every player made characters of different alignments. One of my favorites was a Lawful Evil Orc who was a bodyguard of a mob boss who was betrayed and lost his tongue before he joined the party. The true neutral witch in the group ended up gaining his respect and service. He would only protect the witch and had many hilarious moments of selfishness. He was given a wish by a genie for helping in a major story arc and while the others asked for resurrections or boons, he wished for his old boss to be trapped in the Abyss and to live his natural lifetime out there. We all lost our minds when he did that and it was one of the most unique role playing experiences we had.
Absolutely love your content! Just thought id chime in and say the sounds of someone subscribing sounds just like the shooting sound effect from the Atari 2600 game Bezerk haha
That bloop sound, whatever they use it for, I am almost certain is the "blaster" sound from Arcade Classic "Berserk". You know..."Must destroy all humanoids!!"
One of the things I did with my players was that Tieflings and Aasimar were traits in a family that appeared at random. At some point the ancestor of the character married or made a deal or was cursed by a devil or demon or angel and that is how you get the two races. Or a magic item actively turns the players into those races.
12:30 I had never played D&D when i started DM'ing , none of us had any experience We're 4 weeks in and it's been pretty well so far. If i haven't known a rule, i made up something and would eventually refer back to it in a later session when i have had time to research it . lol
Cranium Rats were my favorite monster in Planescape: Torment, the more of them there are - the smarter they are. They can get so smart they get magic powers and become evil masterminds, it's pretty cool.
Saying that writing lore isn't real writing is like telling someone they're enjoying the game wrong. It still takes thought and creativity to do world building and lore building. And a well written encyclopedia can be just as fun, interesting, and deeply compelling as the stories. Lore can also inspire more creativity, especially for new GMs and new writers.
When he was reading some of the monster descriptions there was a lot of lore (when this happens and this happens and this happens) before there was an actual description of what the monster was. In another monster entry it was spelled out immediately : "a zabag is a Xxx Yyy", and he liked that.
He's said more than once that the 'lore' is up to the DM to create, it's his job to do it, thats why (i think) he doesn't like the prewritten lore for specific monsters.
I know from my experience writing, Lore is better used as a tool for the writer than something for the reader to enjoy. In my current project I have a small, abridged history of the world since the beginning of the Roman Empire (when the organization that stars the piece started) to modern times, there is nothing in there that a reader would find interesting without the main piece to explain the context and the effects of it. I use this Lore as a backbone, when ever I need to reference the history of the organization (Which I will call the Core from here on out) I pull up the Abridged History doc and read through it to make sure I'm making it consistent. Matt is right from the stance that a person who solely writes lore but doesn't write the effect of said lore is doing it wrong, but writing down Lore to make sure it is cited properly and consistently in the larger work is more then valid, or at least to me. I'm not saying that the end-reader shouldn't *ever* read the written Lore, going back to my example if I feel I haven't explained finer details to the reader (Which is likely, as there is things on the written Lore that is only referenced but never quite explained in an attempt to enlarge the world and its history) I would most likely release the Note, which explains in greater detail the history of the Core, and how it went from Legio VIII Augusta to an International, Magic-wielding police force that is both feared and respected among the nations of the world. For the main story these details are unnecessary, as the important points are explained multiple times in varying levels of detail. But I know that the readers who think, "Wait, how did the world come to this, what's the difference between our world and this one that an organization such as the Core is around here, but not our world. (I should say that this piece does take place on Earth, and the only real difference between our and theirs is the presence of the Core in theirs but not ours)" who would enjoy reading the lore and would get inspired by the lore, but this is most likely a slim portion of the total reader population. To conclude, Your partially right, and Matt is partially right. While you are right in saying Lore can inspire reader/GMs/whomever the work in intended for, Matt is also write that Lore is better left as a backdrop and a tool rather then the forefront of something (there are exceptions, I can probably think of a few). IMO saying Lore isn't *real* writing is a bit of a... vicious way of putting it, it gets to the core of what he means, that the forefront of what the monster is, is more important then the fancy-smancy details that will have little to no impact on the greater work. All be it that is just an extension of my belief that if something has absolutely no impact on the story it simply doesn't belong. But then, I'm more then willing to admit I may be wrong and that this wasn't worth the time to type out. But something tells me that the idea that if something has an impact, its fine, and if it doesn't, its not fine, isn't too far off from the truth.
I was surprised you said that the two places to find DnD were college, and the Army. I never heard anyone else say that, but technically the Army was the first place I actually played DnD. It was also the first time I hosted my own campaign (while in Afghanistan). It is crazy how good a campaign you can have when you have little to no access to electronic entertainment haha.
Never post on videos. Just came on here because I wasn't sure how to message you my compliments. Either way, just wanted to say I've been into world building for the past two decades or so, since I was a child. I never played DND, but I always have been involved in RP in some way or another - never had friends that I could play with, and was always afraid of getting into the tabletop for some reason! I went through a program for game design, and wound up getting into painting and got a degree after that. Creativity rules my life, and I love that other people have that passion. Regardless, have always been a world-builder. Watching your videos has been wonderful and highly encouraging - I want to show my world one day, but I think it's baby steps. Perhaps DMing could be a way to express the creativity of world building to begin with! Also, every time you talk about the physical aspects of designing books and boards, models, etc, I think of how much I'd love to cast all my own pieces and whatnot. Makes me glad I'm in the arts so that I can make it even more immersive once I get into it, since now I'd have the know-how to do so, haha. I'm prattling - just wanted to say keep it up and I'll be following what you do in the future. I'll have to buy one of your books soon, though I do tend not to read high-fantasy, (another classic avoidance of mine from DND, I think), but who knows maybe I'll get into that too!
Love your channel. Found it after I listened to you on the D&D podcast and as I was getting ready to start my first campaign as a DM or player. Needless to say, your videos have been a huge help and definitely a motivational tool for me. Also, I made a new year's resolution to read a book each week so priest and thief are in my kindle cart now. But I have a question, do you get paid if I read them using unlimited kindle? Or should I purchase them using an account that doesn't have unlimited?
Thanks for the recommendation on Bitches Brew! It's nice to get some real Jazz in me. My parents are Smooth "Jazz" lovers, which my brother's Jazz history professor once referred to as "Processed Jazz Product". Eugh.
I don't think I've ever listened to a Matt Colville reactionary episode (as opposed to an instructional one) and boy, is it punchy! Made me laugh out loud several times with the silliness, particularly the section about the interest in reading the thoughts of cranial rats. X-D
Vegepygmies were originally introduced in the adventure S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. They were subsequently reprinted in Monster Manual 2, not the Fiend Folio.
Oh, live campaign diarys would be awesome! I really enjoyed watching this stream on RU-vid. I watched it in 3 parts, but that is absolutely fine for me! :-)
I personally am a fan of the art-filled lairs. It makes the game feel immersive when using them, but also makes the reading of the book more immersive within its own story while skimming through it.
I think the main purpose of this is for players like me and the people i play with - this gave us SO many more options for player characters now that we had access to this kind of thing, it's allowed monster themed evil campaigns or NCP's who - despite being monsters - can have a bigger purpose. one use we found in this book was creating a Beholder who was in fact the leader of a crime syndicate, we didn't end up fighting the beholder, but we managed to talk to it and complete our mission
Also, you could probably take Pathfinder books and make quick conversions to 5E. They have a Monster Codex, NPC Codex, Villain Codex, and others that sound like what you're looking for as far as grabbing specialized creatures/characters to throw in your game.
Matt, you have to remember with the maps that dnd 5e is designed to work without a battlemap. so those maps are for the dm to look at while describing it to the players.
HishUnderscore Good luck dude. Starting GM'ING is like driving a sports car full throttle with your eyes shut, terrifying and exhilarating at the same time! ;^)
You should do an episode on mutants and masterminds, I've been running it for quite sometime and I wanted your experienced input on how to better run a superhero campaign
The 3E Psionics book was seriously one of the coolest things ever. Those classes were very much so their own thing diverse from the magic casters, and the dynamics everything in there could bring to the table were great (as long as you wouldn't mind accounting for the power scale and how they compare and contrast to the base content). Too bad I never got to use it for an actual game after I got my hands on it.
for someone who's been a dm as long as you, i'd expect you to recognize more of these monsters, since almost all of the ones you mentioned have been around since 1st ed ad&d. then again, i spent an inordinate amount of time in my youth reading every book they made, and i never got to play much. i'd gladly have traded all those hours of reading for just one small campaign of lasting depth. keep calm and roll for initiative
As a game-dev who prefers paper books, i just ordered kindle so i can buy your books :). Thank you for having such an interesting channel.. keep it real{in the realm :D}
So the comments were turned off of your star wars video. So I came here to tell you that your perspective is a breath of fresh air, man. An unapologetic nerd who is good to people. I love that you like what you like and you want to share it. I love how you look at storytelling and games. My ultimate hope though, is that you are not a rare person. I have to believe, for my son's sake, that even though, yes the world is dark and there is plenty of messed up injustice, there are more rivers to their people than puddles for themselves.
"Suddenly, a toilet will happen." That sounds like some sort of bizarre random event, where a random toilet falls out of the sky in the middle of a field, crushing and killing the PC who has been making too many terrible puns.
