This ended up being super long, hoped you guys got something out of this! HUMBLEWOOD: www.kickstarte... PATREON: / xptolevel3 TWITTER: / xptolevel3 DISCORD: / discord
@@hopelessly.lavenderly I personally think that 'Planned' is the most useless ability in the entire game. I mean, come on. You forego like what, seven long rests for nothing other than just a +1 bonus for readiness? Pfft.
My players: Do you have a game ready? Me: Yeah. What my DM notes say: Me again: So there is a war about to start between the lizardfolk and the goblins.
@@Yental Then you can try to set it up and just think of some good early game encounters. Like, finding some lower level creatures and planning things around them. Displacer beasts are like cr 2 I think and are really cool. They can guard things like mansions.
@@garrettwade1294 Well we play a diffrent system but I now got some early game encounters ready, main problem I have with them is that they all cant take damage, they had a tank but because he wanted to kill the cat of the healer because he was allergic to it he now is wellllllllllllllll... dead
Yhe hidden railroad: u prepared a bunch of events but not where or when they occur. Your players make a choice and you make it lead to the event. They feel like they made a choice and you dont have to have crazy improv
And to improve the feel of making a choice, everytime your players do something they think is crazy. Just go uhhhh ummmm and pause for 1 or 2 min. My DM use to do that (still do)in our session and we always think we have caught him off guard
I like to make super fleshed-out settings and areas, and then create some plot hooks and stuff and introduce NPCs that give the players a reason to do stuff, and I let the players run around in that sandbox. If they choose one thing, other things will happen off-screen, I love the idea of a living world beyond the session. This gives players a sense of urgency and once they get caught on one plot hook, other things will happen and the ball just starts rolling and it only stops to take a break when a major thing comes to a close.
@@fiontathomas1574 It means that literally every dm gets into that situation where they are ironically like "oh, yeah, that was totally planned and not spontaneously made up."
Jan Elan Testaverde yea, but he is quoting someone so you're not disproving anything he said with your response. In fact, your response is incredible in the way it responded to someone and simultaneously didn't address anything that person said at the same time. Just because another dm has said that doesn't mean that matt hasn't said so I don't know why you're trying to argue with the op, or even what you're trying to argue with him about, the fact that Matt Mercer did indeed say that or that other DMS have said that?
@@fiontathomas1574 I think you're taking this a bit too serious. I wasn't disproving anything, I was extending it. Making my own kind of joke out of it. "Every DM" does, in the end, include Mathew. He's a DM as well, after all.
I sit somewhere in the middle. I have scenes planned out. But they're set up for whatever the PCs have done, rather modular. Like I have a "Betrayed at the Inn" Scene, it's just a setup where the Players are betrayed by an NPC, surrounded by an angry mob allied with said NPC. But depends What NPCs have been interacted with by that point. Now I do detail the hell out of Locations and keep time tables going.
A good DM tip for writing notes: KNOW YOUR PLAYERS! Knowing your players lets you understand how they think, make up options related to what they might do, and then they feel like they picked that option, not you. If you do not know your players, make things vague, letting things go in a way that you nor the players know.
My group is mainly a bunch of random chaos bringers who love to do absolutely anything stupid or funny. Kinda difficult if i’d ever want to DM...great tip tho to improve the game. Just depends on the people as you say
"when they go to sleep the guards will arrest them" Sounds like the skyrim quest of getting into the dark brotherhood where you needed to fall asleep, but no one sleeps in that game so everyone has to look it up online to find out how to get into the dark brotherhood.
I got really confused when it happened to me. I was using a bed in a dungeon while doing another questline, and then next thing you know I've been transported to a cabin in a swamp and have to make way through the whole dungeon again.
@@CeruleanMirage Even IF they succeed, the owner knows what he had and who was at his shop. They may get banned and WILL get suspicious reputation and eventually be considered criminals.
I'm kinda jealous. I'm the storywriter type of DM, so i basically write a plot idea and a story around it. after that's done, i chop the story into events and locations allowing for greater flexibility.
heyyyy that's a great idea! i just started playing and they made me the dm but i know very little as well. and nothing about notes, so thank you :) mind if i try?
This is a good channel to help you learn how to play. Writing notes is a very important part. If you are using a computer to help write notes, I suggest world anvil. It's a great tool for Dms and authors alike. Unless you are running a pre-made campaign, like the lost mine of phandelver.
Personally I write down the percentage of a certain race/ races of a city or area in general, this helps me with determining what race npc's should be.
matt colville figured out (live, on stream, after toying with percentages for an hour) that it's better to describe the city makeup in qualitative terms. like, humans are the dominate, there's a minority of dwarves, an enclave of tieflings, etc. our brains are really bad at understanding percentages, and they can often be misleading anyways.
"if you want people to care about lore write a book" fortunately my D&D setting is set in the world of the novel i've been writing off and on again for the last 5 years. But also agree with the mostly improve thing, i go into sessions with one dot point and wing 95% of it. Side note: my players care about the Lore
I thought the "go write a book" point was shallow, honestly. The point of an RPG (or any game) is to experience the world yourself interactively. Rich lore can make that interesting for players that engage with it, and a good DM will make it interesting for the players that don't.
@@magentanide5984 i would say its not too shallow, i think he means that you shouldnt just dump lore on your party, you shouldnt read your book of backstory to them, but let the party explore the world and find little treasures and bits of lore on their own, its about the players more than your world
@@Gevaudan1471 He's not saying you can't write lore but that writing lore isn't the same as being a good DM and that the players will always Prioritise how the lore affects them above how interesting it is.
I like to have good detail because I have a mix of note takers. My quiet player has almost everything in notes but rarely speaks. Both know it all PC's players take awful notes. But then they meet an NPC they haven't seen for a while and I misspeak their eye color and the player has in their notes the original eye color and decides it must be a disguise or something. While it's fun to pretend like that was intentional, I want to be reliable when repeating previously given information.
Oh thank god. Another DM who has a lot of players who are really, really into details. If I make up that there was a battle on this land 500 years ago that's absolutely irrelevant to the plot, well, I better remember I mentioned it because I'm going to be asked about its political ramifications 10 sessions later....
I would say, personally, i like having a rough outline of what's important for that session and then just improvise in between. Usually, this includes the general idea of the session, any important descriptions for important characters (like say a gang boss) or places (like arriving in a new city or town), and any planned encounters (again, perhaps a leader or a monster encounter i've been leading up to). Improve is the best way to go, but having a general idea of a plan is great.
Dm advice never gets old. Even if it's the same advice as before. I tend to get overwhelmed by brainstorming in it's self. Playing would be whack, it feels. Thanks for snapping me back into reality.
Improv DMing works for me in D&D, because I know the system pretty well. When I'm doing something I'm less familiar with like WFRP or whatever, then I do more prep. But like... smart prep. Character names and backstories. Random encounter tables (hint: 11 entries that your roll on with 2d6 lets you weigh results towards the middle). The facts of a mystery game, giving players the choice to fly or flop.
I want to run Waterdeep dragon heist but i have a hard time deciding what villian to use. Any help would be great :). Oh yeah, dont look in the comments to this. players: F,K,S,W You know who you are Bare lad vær pls.
My DM's first murder mystery, he didn't even decide on the culprit until he rolled randomly from the list of NPCs he literally just created that minute. It didn't end well. In fact, it ended with all of us BEGGING him to give us a clue because he wouldn't hear us saying "WE HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA, YOU KEEP SAYING TO KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS BUT WE'RE TAPPED OUT AND YOUR NPCS ARE STONEWALLING US." He made up for it with another one later at least, that was much better.
You can write lore and a story just be opened and accept the fact that the players are there to shape it. DO NOT PUNISH YOUR PLAYERS FOR CHANGING HOW THE STORY GOES BECAUSE IS PART OF IT!. Had 2 DMs that punished their players because they didn't follow the story one of them ruined my PC because of it and I was so sad because of it. EDIT: Just clarifying since I do both and everything in this video xD
Yeah and realize at the table that you aren't sure about what stats the goblins have, or what they should loot... I am an improv DM and my first game of tabletop RPG I ever played I was improving as a dm...
I write down a timeline of events of things that WILL happen up to two sessions in advance. Things that are a direct result of the players' actions. This way, primarily I won't forget them, but I also remember what things are to come regardless of what happens in the session I am currently running. Usually I only write something down because unless the players derail literally the entire story, they will not change and will come to pass. Not because I'm railroading them, but because NPC #186, AKA: "John the Woodsman" had a specific hag he was hunting and the party killed said hag, so he WILL go to her hut and take back his wife's locket, but if it isn't there, he'll track the party till he gets it back. He probably wouldn't try violence unless it's absolutely necessary.
Hey thanks, man for the guide. I was curious could you do a how to play gunslinger video in the near future. I think you would be great for explaining it.
on the note of demographics, one trick i learned from watching Matt Colville's stuff is that instead of doing specific numbers (there are 600 humans, there are 34 elves, etc.) that you should instead break them different races into categories. Which are majorities, which are minorities, which are individuals, etc. It's also good to write down like if there's a neighborhood that's all tieflings or something. But you never really need exact numbers unless you just personally like exact numbers.
Yeah, his suggestion of categories for amounts or likelihoods is just so damn effective for what a GM needs out of that kind of info. So much more human readable and thus translatable to your players.
First (and only) time I DM'd I was going off a pre-written campaign. My players were investigating the disappearance of some children from an orphanage. They couldn't figure out how to get into the orphanage because the caretakers were on high alert not letting strangers in and stupid nooby DM me forgot to tell the players that an item they received from the quest giver had their faction crest which would've given the players free access. Players decide to spend money at shop instead. Luckily, when working on backstories together, one player decided that he wanted his character to live in the area, that he frequently shops at the store they were heading to, and that he knows the shopkeeper well. Said player asks the shopkeeper about the missing children. I had to improvise and give them directions under the guise of rumors. Players were able to get to where they needed to go without needing to investigate the orphanage for clues. I was a shitty DM, and that campaign only lasted 2 sessions, but I was very proud of that shopkeeper moment. I also learned that if I'm ever going to DM another pre-made campaign, I probably shouldn't try to follow it to a T and have vague notes rather than an entire novel to read from.
I should make notes, my problem is that every element i come up on the spot i always see 2-3 diferent ways it could go, i end up indecise and try to do all at the same time wich only leads to more confusion
What I do is I write down the inciting incident and mark it (1) then write down where they go (2) and when I splits of I go (2.5). I do that because then I get a loose idea of what they might do and then during the game I write what they do and if they achieve a point I put a check. So it would look like this. -Bruenor seduces the bar maiden -Marghere talks to Foruntard and takes the quest(2) -skeet talks about salt This way I has noice graph of what they does and do a done mark that says s2 ep3
I’m an improv dm too, mainly I only create notes for world building and important moments that I need to read word for word (visions and divination - whenever I make an important item or person I make a legend lore phrase because they love using divination -_-)
Fuck man. I write my notes in shorthand now and sometimes I look back at them 3 months later when I need a new idea and I don't even fucking understand them anymore :D
My biggest problem often is "Okay... so I have two factions against one another... and I don't fucking trust me PCs to choose the one I wrote a questline for, so I need another, on the other side !"
You just helped me so much! Thank you. Currently, I am preparing the 2nd session of a Pathfinder game and I know I prefer to improve but I held myself to an impossible standard. You gave me permission to play the game how I like to. And how I knew I should have been. Thank you.
"You wanted me to show you my good GM notes. Initially, I wasn't going to do this, because-" [I pause the video, knowing the reveal will be good. I get a glass of water, take a bathroom break, read a novel, munch some sun chips, laugh at a crazy squirrel on my porch as the sunset's last rays stream into the house, and return to the video, pressing play] "- I don't have any." And lo, all the buildup, and some of your time, was wasted.
When I do a ton of prep the players either don't touch it or exhaust it within an hour I had a party once use their connections with a mages college to bypass a multi session dungeon and steal an airship that they weren't supposed to have for several sessions
“The players will take whatever you say as law, so there's no reason to write down all this shit.” Actually, that's exactly *why* I like to write down so much. I can improvise small things that fit within a larger framework, but if I don't have that framework, I might end up doing more damage to the structure of my campaign than any player ever has.
And writing them down makes them consistent. But some things not being consistent could be a thing too. Like, it could be a sign of someone mind controlling the NPC sometimes, that's why they are acting... weird sometimes. But yes.
I once made a "ripoff campaign" I had a gnomish artificer who had a flying ship that used a control rod to control the ship. It was capable of traveling the mulitverse. He recruits a bunch of heroes from all the different worlds and makes a team that handles threats that at first seem minor in individual worlds but collectively through out the worlds had the potential to be world destroying plots by sinister bad guys. It was totally DnD DR.WHO. I am not ashamed of it. The players loved it. They especially loved when the gnome died to reveal he was actually a Githyanki scholar that broke free of his people and had cast true polymorph on him self to hide his heritage. He then recasts it on himself to become a random species. This time... Dwarf!
Hey Jacob! I love your content and I know it takes alotta effort to make a howto play (blank) but I would love it if you made a fighter version, I think it would be really funny
I wrote 30 pages for just one part of my adventure Over 60 side quests over 80 npcs detailed city and districts They were in it for a Session Did the Main quest part and just fucked off ignoring everything else
Hey, what about making a dnd run with two gm's? maybe a man and a woman, so one plays as male characters and the other one as female characters, they could build the story together and even make npc to npc conversations look way more real Maybe there's some reason I've never seen such thing, I've never played dnd in my life even though I would really love to
Did you know that a lot of mysterious start from the ending and work backwards? That way, the writer will know what they want the answers to be, then can go spread that info out, making sure it’s not easily solved, but well-planned enough to not seem plausible. Might’ve explained it a little weirdly, but that’s how I would handle a mystery session. Hopefully that helps some peeps out, too!
You should have said when they left town, "Suddenly you hear a thunderous roar behind you as a five headed dragon goddess is now terrorizing the city." Then Yell out, "When will you learn, when will you learn that your actions have consequences!!!!!!"
For population, what I do is a system I learnt from Matt Colville. Basically, you don't write down a number or percentage of elves, but you write down whether or not they're a majority, minority, enclave, group, individuals, or a singular figure. The way this is more helpful is that you know what the players see around the town, what kind of people are walking around, and what kind of architecture and the like they'll see, which gives the place some flavour. If they're a majority you see them wherever you go in a settlement; if they're a minority you'll only see them in certain parts of town; if they're an enclave it's usually something like an embassy or a few dozen interconnected people; a group is just that, a group; individuals are bunch of disconnected people; and finally there's a singular figure, and you probably already know what I mean by that.
So I kinda follow the same dungeon mastering style but I have 1 problem which I'm currently really struggling with, stats. The thing is sometimes i get an idea like owh yeah this would be a great moment to fight set monster/monster like this and I sort of end up freestyling the stats or very clumsily tryna figure out what to use from the monster manual or where set monster is anddd well it annoys me. Do any of you maybe have any tips for this problem? I tend to already roll up and prep random encounters beforehand but I'm talkin pure freestyle here
Your world-building and session planning is the exact issue I have. Added on that I both write out way to much and improv on the spot. All of that lovely whirl-storm combined is the reason why I'm gonna reboot my campaign just a little bit. As in: telling the players that 'no, the Abyss isn't opening again. You guys don't have to take care of that, not that you have been so far. Just, don't worry about it anymore.' And a few more things like that.
I'm so glad there's another DM who does this, I spent a LOT of time trying to run well-planned campaigns and eventually it became SO easy for me to just assemble pieces on the fly based on world lore. I couldn't prep for ANYTHING my players would do. The kind NPCs got murdered and the very stereotypically evil NPCs were trusted until the party were backstabbed. I still can't plan for what they might do! I've spent three weeks trying to figure out how the starting dialogue of our next session will go, and I've planned about two sentiments that the character can try to convey.
I had an idea for "divination" campaign, where players get their fortune tellings, and then they must figure out what that means. The thing: I don't know what it means either. But I wait for them to make assumptions, and then be like "yeah, this is true"
I love my players, they will break the glass on a light house thinking it is a portal to a different destination (Maybe that was because the first boss was a figit spinner ninja, the second boss was a rogue enslaver, and the third boss was a bloodthirsty fly trap demon with humanoid vine blood magic cultists)
The way I like to DM, I like to understand the world. That doesn't mean have a population or whatever, but rather try to understand what is going on, and what are the potential consequences if the party ignores it. How are the people in the city/village affected? Then if they do it they are the heroes, if they ignore it then the next time they come back or hear about that city/village the consequences of their lack of actions kick in. Maybe they never planned to go back to that village, but that one thing they ignored turned into a full on invasion and the next city over are talking about "How tragic that event was" only for the tragic event to be the BBEG's responsibility. That's usually how I DM, and it seems to work sor far.
Currently prepping for a Second Edition D&D campaign! Yes, I'm going back to the old ways and looking on how to professionally prep for it! Thank you for uploading this amazing video! :)
One thing around worldbuilding is definitely whenever you have the chance: BUILD AND PREPARE FOR MEMORABLE AND/OR FUNNY ENCOUNTERS OR ACTIVITIES! For those who watch or have watched Critical Role, remember that episode where they went into the smutt shop? It will make your players more invested, and it will make your campaign and locations a million times more memorable. I mean seriously, "You enter the capital city. You see... A city. There are shops here, there's an armory shop, a potion shop, a restaurant, and a blacksmith. There is also some architecture. What do you want to do?" versus "You walk into this city, which is the capital city of this empire. You see beautiful architecture, and some shops, but what strikes your attention the most is a fairly poorly written sign that says "BURGERS AND COLORS: THE ONLY PAINTBALL AND HAMBURGER SHOP IN TOWN" in all capital letters."
I DMed for the very first time last weekend, and watching your videos first really helped. My friends are all more experienced players (and DMs) than me, so I thought I should be super prepared: I found a fun one-shot and adapted it a bit. I knew how EVERY POSSIBLE OUTCOME should go. My friends then proceeded to go down the ONE pathway of action I HADN'T prepared for. Cue four-and-a-half hours of me pulling encounters, monsters, NPCs and plot points out of the air. The supposedly "main" combat was done in two rounds, while the "easy" combat took forever. But we all had a great time, and apparently, they didn't notice any of my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants improv. I was very proud of myself!
I’m DMing for my friends and they successfully rob a treasury. Then they buy a sailing ship and want to know HOW MANY HALF ORCS THERE ARE IN THE CITY TO MAN THEIR SHIP!!!!!!!! Anybody got tips to fix this? Also don’t give your players what they want. It’s not good for them or the DM.
DUUUUUUUUDE OMG DEJAVUUUU(? im just creating my very first (serious) campaign and its exactly like yours, in japan, with yokais, starting in a shipwreck,and im making everything very detailed hahahaha omg. Greetings from Paraguay!!!
