Your First Session | Running the Game 

"Hello. I uh, I mean.. my character Gork says.. hello" amazing.

All the advice I receive from DM's , Plagiarize, Compromise and Improvise

"its complex but there is pizza involved in there somewhere" laughed so hard my co workers thought I was crazy.

I had been trying to run games for years I've read and read materials ran a few lackluster games and then gave up thinking I sucked at it . I stumbled upon this series on RU-vid and it got me excited , these videos reinvented me as a game master and now I've written and ran my first successful FUN game that everyone has enjoyed .I came back to the first episode I ever saw to thank you for helping me I can't wait to continue my adventure with all I learned .

When the blacksmith burst through the door I immediately imagined Beth being his prized dairy cow.

Gotta say, I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to hear that a veteran DM still gets nervous to start a campaign. Lots of good advice! :)

I gotta say it. His hair is mesmerizing. I've been watching it flop around for half an hour now. I have a Dnd session tomorrow. I'm okay.

20 odd years ago, I use to DM all the time. In fact, I don't think I've ever played a module all the way through as a player. Two decades later, I'm teaching my wife and 3 kids how to play. You've been a great help knocking the dust off of my brain. Thanks for all your work.

"Let's wait and watch the goblin hideout to see what's up" Said no new player ever

dear dude, thank you - a first time dungeon master.

D&D....It's complex but pizza is in there somewhere! That needs to be shirt.

I just found you and am embarking on being a DM as I’m the only one in my group brave enough and curious enough. Just so you know, 5 years later, this is still helping people. Thank you.

Brilliant, loved "most of your job is asking players, what do you do" If i had 1gp for everytime I have said what do you do, I would be rich.

"They've seen the movie, but they haven't played it." So good.

Last Saturday I hung out with my brother-in-law (both early 40s), and started talking about D&D. He had "played" one game with his sons (14 & 11) a year or so ago where he made everything up on the fly.. I mean everything. He couldn't get into reading the rules or the adventure (LMoP) from the starter set so they spent some time basically playing pretend with the cool minatures they had painted. I had never played before, but was interested in it for my son (10) to spark and challenge his creativity. So I said, ~let's play next Sunday after mother's day brunch. I'll read the rules and adventure and be the Dungeon Master.~ So this past week I have basically been cramming for this, and I've probably watched about a dozen of your videos in this series. Your joy and approach is just excellent, and I'm so glad I happened to watch the fudging die rolls video. That combined with a lot of your other videos gave me permission to just try and tell a good story for my first session without spending (more time than I did) flipping through the rulebook to figure out exactly how to resolve every last action. So yesterday my four players (45, 14, 11, & 10) got handed their character sheets at a mothers day brunch, and a few hours later my characters introduced themselves to each other and were ambling along with the cart of goods bound for Gundren Rockseer in Phandalin. I had heard this first Goblin Ambush sometimes led to TPK, and I tried to prepare myself for how it would go. And my players had fun! And I had fun being surprised by them! Some highlights from the first battle: 1) The two ranged goblins won their stealth roll and each shot arrows at the two characters visible on the top of the cart. The elf wizard barely dodged the arrow with a saving throw, but the dwarf cleric took 5 damage before he knew what was happening. ONLY THEN did I have the players roll initiative. And the Dwarf and Elf were the first two to act. They both used spells (Guiding Bolt & Magic Missile), and both rolled incredibly well. Everyone laughing at my graphic descriptions of the first two goblins exploding into a million pieces, and feeling good for immediately extracting revenge for the 5 damage. 2) My ranged fighter (14yo) who had been leading the cart and examined the horses was surrounded (but not surprised) by the two melee goblins. He launched into a great plan of action where he climbed up on the cart to get a great vantage point and took his time to aim. I decided it would be fun to introduce advantage/disadvantage, and told him because he had such great line of sight he had advantage on his attack roll. The two 20-sided die were rolled perfectly into the middle of the table for everyone to see.. both 1s. 1/400 chance. I tell him that just as he's notching the arrow, his bow string snaps and he pulls a muscle in his shoulder, suffering 1hp of damage. Everyone at the table is laughing. I'll add that I had decided not to mess with opportunity attacks for this first battle (for both sides), and as the battle went on, it was probably the only thing that saved my ranged fighter from dying. 3) Lots of missed attacks by both sides, but a few more hits from the goblins that put my ranged fighter at 1hp and forced my dwarven cleric to use his last spell slot to heal himself. Meanwhile my rogue (my own son) surprised me with a great description of a sneak attack (a halfling, he had dropped low and rolled under the cart at the first sign of danger to prepare), but he rolled a 3. I described how he stabbed the goblin in the back as hard as he could, but clanged against a metal plate under the leather. We joked how the goblin was almost vibrating from the hit, but it didn't do any damage. But it suddenly gave me a reason for that goblin to disengage from the ranged fighter (remember no opportunity attacks for either side) and go after the rogue who had surprised and angered him with his (failed) sneak attack. 4) Everyone got appropriately excited when the last goblin disengaged and started making a break for it down the goblin trail. My rogue misses with his bow, but the dwarf happened to be close enough to get within range and throw an axe into his back. I was thinking I might have a goblin fall unconscious at 1hp to give the players a chance to interrogate one, but while their attack rolls varied a ton they always rolled insane damage so no goblins remained to talk. 5) The players seemed wary of detailing too much of their personal backgrounds with each other so earlier they had all sort of said, "yeah, we're here for the money." And they convinced themselves they wouldn't get paid in Phandalin unless they went down the goblin trail to look for Rockseer and Hallwinter (even though the adventure has them getting paid by someone else at the trading post, and a lot of this past week was preparing for them to skip straight to Phandalin). But I went around the table and asked people to say their piece. When it got to my 14-yo nephew, the ranged fighter at 1hp, he flops on the table, and starts gasping "heeeellllp meeeee." My rogue son says we should leave him in the cart of goods to die while the rest of them go get their gold from these dang goblins. But everyone's in agreement to go down the goblin trail before heading to Phandalin, so I wrap the story there, promising them I'll explain about resting/healing/spell recovery in the next session. A ton of improvisation behind and in-front of the screen (and maybe a fudged damage die to keep my nephew from going unconscious), and everyone is hooked and looking forward to playing more. As they (and I) learn the rules better the battles will get harder and more strategic.

I used the goblin dungeon in my first ever campaign, my friends loved it. Thanks Matt

I used this dungeon for my friends with some tweeks for my d&d world, it worked very well

It would be much easier to DM having that silky movie trailer voice XD

I love your D&D history lessons. And your obvious familiarity with DMing. And your golden, golden voice.

Hahaha...I keep coming back to this just for the "Gork says hello" moment. Gold 😂😂😂

-watching this while frantically finishing up everything for my first campaign-

6 years later this video is still helping first timers! Thank you!

My first game night as a DM. Players meet in an inn, then some dudes start a fight. What I had in mind was that the players were eager to start killing people or at the very least have a brawl, then the guards would show up and imprison them to start the storyline. Nope. Two ran away and stole some horses, and the last one, a hippie paladin, stood his ground, convinced the bad guys that friendship and love is more powerful than hate, cried together, then got shitfaced on ale, paladin got a tattoo and he's now in a bandit gang turned hippie cult.

DnD: It's complex but I'm sure there is pizza somewhere in there. Well isn't that the best selling point ever.

Stumbled upon this and realised that I'd had this adventure run by the DM for a party I'm in at 1st level :P Small world...

Matt, I've been DM'ing for over 30 years, and I still learned from this. Really great job of unpacking not just WHAT we do, but WHY.

Thank you so much for these video, you won't even know how much I needed to hear them. I'm about to start my very first campaign. Excited but nervous. Earlier this evening I read an article about running your first game. The points all made a ridiculous amount of sense, except every single thing the article said to NOT do was something I was doing in my campaign, (don't write your own campaign, don't let people make their own characters, and on and on) and it made it pretty clear why your campaign would be a total failure if you did. The article was very acerbic, which I don't usually mind (and actually find funny), but this particular one sent me into a bit of a tailspin. My excited nervousness turned into horrible, pit in my stomach, don't-know-if-I-even-want-to-do-this-anymore nervousness. I started wondering if I should throw out the hours of work I (and my players) had put into this, and just go get a pre-made starter kit with pre-generated characters. Long, weird, rambling story short, I couldn't sleep, was making myself sick, and hopped on twitter, randomly found a link to your first video. I feel much better now, much calmer, and I'm ready to be excited about this campaign again. ("I don't have to be an amazing DM right off the bat, it's a learning curve that the new players will experience with me." I actually already knew this, had told myself before, but I needed to hear it from someone else.)

Starting my first game as a DM tonight with my gf. You've helped me out a ton. Wish us luck! Thanks again

Hilariously, I was nominated as DM for a first playing group. I commend you on giving me all of the tools to use, and I actually tried to use this same jumping off point. Surprisingly, they let the blacksmith AND the old man walk out of the tavern to fight the goblins by themselves. Then, I, as the tavern owner, tried to kick them out and say there weren't any open rooms in the inn. They were able to talk him into staying. Needless to say, I had to improv the entire session. And it went gloriously. Any first-timers checking out these videos: don't feel like you have to prepare everything. Just roll with the punches with a few guidelines here and there, and you'll do fine.

I have just finished my first session as a DM ever, with a group of players new to DnD (and in a few cases, to roleplaying in general). It was hard to determine if they were more nervous than me. But thanks to the tips and pointers in your videos, I managed to ensure everybody had a great time and create some very memorable moments for the party, right of the bat. They were begging me to immediately set up a date for the next session. So I would like to say a most profound thank you for making this channel. Keep up the good work!

Coming back to these after starting to DM 6 years ago and linking this playlist to a few of my would-be-DM players. I'm proud to say I've adapted much of this series but also learned a bunch on my own. Thanks for kicking off my dnd experience.

I've been STRUGGLING so hard about how to get my campaign off its feet, my group is doing its second session with me as the DM and your videos are SO SO SO helpful, PLEASE keep doing them. I'm binge watching them, rewinding them, watching and rewatching, these are going to be my new bible, and as you say, I'm going to be stealing A LOT of stuff from you. Thank you SO MUCH.

I keep coming back to your videos, even after many years as a DM. Nice t-shirt, btw :D

Hey Matt, just wanted to say that you explain incredibly well and you are very easy to listen to. Great job on the Videos and thank you!

The Inn can even work for experienced players. I had an Experienced group starting a new game in the Yawning Portal. They looked around the Inn, and noticed in the corner a Drow elf, and a human Barbarian. In short I had Drizzt, and Wulfgar passing through Waterdeep. The players jumped on this, and had drinks with classic forgotten realms characters before their adventure started. They very much enjoyed this, and it gave them an interesting way to RP what their characters where like at the beginning of the adventure.

We had a great moment a few sessions into my first real home game where the bad guys asked the PCs "what are you even doing here?" because it was their secret hideout on the edge of town and the barbarian (that had been leading the conversation so far because he's pretty charismatic) stumbled a bit and responded "Uh, I live here." We pretty much all died laughing at the absurdity of that idea, since this gang had lived in this hideout for several months at this point, but fast forward a year and they actually have claimed this location as their home and do legitimately live there. Sometimes, players fumbling on the conversations with NPCs can lead to some of the best and most memorable things about the entire game.

I've watched maybe five videos of yours and you've already become one of my favorite TTRPG youtuber, since a lot of your advice applies to other TTRPGs as well, even though you usually only reference DnD.

I'm so glad I discovered these tutorials through the Geek & Sundry website. I'm a prospective DM, hopefully starting pretty soon. My partner's uncle has 2 kids (9 and 11) who really want to play D&D and something like this would be perfect. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience :) You have earned a subscriber today

I’ve been dming for around 5 years and this is the BEST way to learn dming. This taught me how to play, how to prep games, everything. It’s a long series but I just watched what I felt fit in whatever order and it has helped tremendously.

ive been DMing for years and i wish i had these to watch back then.. Have learnt everything first hand. The Do's and Dont's but have loved doing it all. Thanks for these, going to pass them onto friends who want to DM in the future

I always loved the tavern trope and constantly use it when i am running a game.

I recently started running a 'tropey' game of 5E, celebrating all of the old cliches and tropes, starting in a tavern and a clear quest of good vs evil. It's refreshing and fun for the players to just be heroes!

These videos are older and it's been said a billion times but amazing work and thank you so much.

I basically went in blind with Dming And also Never playing Dnd, I watched Maybe 2 Videos and Read the Handbook. They Loved Our first Session I feel Like I learned alot and As you said the more you DM the better your gonna get!

Wow, in 24 minutes, I already understand everything better.

I am re watching this entire series after it got me to start playing D&D 3 years ago, quarantine has done one thing for me. Thanks Matt for these amazing videos

As someone who was just asked to DM a game for a group of women who have never played DnD (I also have never played) this series is a life saver. Thank you!

Bruuuuhhhh.... you've just opened my eyes... my 13-year-old hyperactive brother goes bonkers when we're trying to play and it drives this newb (le me) DM crazy... but you just convinced me to embrace his energy both in and out of character during our D&D nights and let this be an outlet rather than another oppressive activity where he's asked to tone it down. Thank you so much! :D

I like this going around the table with character descriptions. We use it even in established campaigns every now and then if it has been a good while since the last session. It is a nice way to get into the mood. Loving these videos!

The green dragon inn? My players would always roll their eyes at me when I did that because all my inns were . It's simple, but it sometimes gets hackneyed.

I'm the one who will introduce my friends to D&D and i'm really nervous, i don't want to overwhelm them with rules, i want them to have fun, and learn as they play. I would like them to understand how to make their own characters without my help eventually, and to develop some kind of background. The worst thing is that i'm not that experienced in roleplaying games myself, not even as a player. We are playing D&D the fifth edition, wich my brother said it's the most newbie friendly one. And hell, the amount of rules it has still messes with me, you even have rules for calculating time when traveling, if it's on foot, if it's with horses, etc. I suppose you can ignore plenty of those not so important rules, but if i seen them i feel like i have to know and aply them, that's how i am. But the thing i'm most worried about is they having fun, because if i can get them hooked, then my job is done, and they will be willing to learn more, and even alone (even if some of they don't speak a lot of english, since the manual doesn't have official translations). Anyway, i find these videos very helpfull, i will try my best creating the adventure.

"If you don't get in the robot, Rei will have to do it"

I've silently enjoyed your videos for a while now among a couple others and my first campaign is going phenomenal So thanks man!

I knew it. I knew you'd be a fellow Rush fan. Hello from Toronto. (Rush Mecca) ;)

This series is magnificent. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

When you're talking here about not giving a map, not only do you make a lot of sense to me, but you also solved the biggest riddle in my life so far: why do I like Morrowind so much. It is there, you get directions and descriptions that make you wonder about the world! This is the biggest revelation I've had in a long history of playing (and devellopping) rpg's. thank's a lot!!

Running the first session of my first homebrew session tomorrow. So nervous!

I'm a brand spankin new DM with a bunch of brand new players. Most of us have never played before and we're trying now because of quarantine. These are some of the most helpful videos I've found so far, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!

I'm learning to be a DM next week, and i'm so glad I found this channel. I'm very ADHD and the way he talks really grabs my interest. It's easy to follow.

I've been watching video after video as I get ready to DM my first game in two weeks. This is hands-down the most useful I've seen. 🙏🏻

I'm so happy I was never that guy who did the whole ''Mysterious man in the dark corner ignores you'' thing.

Wow, this video was released 7 years ago. I binged this series and 7 years later I have DMed several games which were the most fun I’ve had. Thanks Matt, you are a river to your people

Just had my first session and I was so nervous at the start so it's really comforting to see even more experienced DMs still get anxious. Amazing playlist, this is so helpful, thanks!

"Dire Boars. They're like regular boars, only dire."

Started watching this series 5 years ago wanting to dm. Finally got around to actually getting a group together, so I'm watching it through again. Thanks for making this, it's a really motivational and helpful series :)

I ran my first game with only one player. My player played out his players backstory to an extent, and with just me it was easier for him to get into character. From there I ran the game until he came to a point where he would meet the other players. I did the same for the other members of the group. I had them all already have an adventure set forth before they came together, and I threw them together under pressure to make sure it made sense as to why they would pair up. Made my game a little more cohesive and interesting, and that way everyone can tune their backstory to a degree based on things *they* chose to do. My wife's cousin entered a ruin in the desert and found a pair or cursed artifact gauntlets. My wife's character watched her family get killed, but escaped with the Wood Elf Queen's crown, The Crown of The Forest Queen. It was a lot of fun. Had she managed to save one of her family I would have worked them into the story as well.

DM rolling something and not care about the result just to divert from the fact that he planned to (not) force an encounter all along. Sneaky SOB!

Tried DMing two and a half years ago, and got burned by a few problem players who would deliberately go out of their way to avoid, if not entirely derail the plot. It made me not want to DM again, but I recently got the motivation again and decided to check out this series. Thank you for making this.

"It's complex, but I think there's pizza in there". I literally laughed out loud

This series is better than therapy for dealing with anxiety for first time DMs. Thank you Matt Colville have a great day.

Even after being a DM and a player for a few years, watching these videos have given me several new things to look at. Thank you

I am late to the party - but THANK YOU for keeping these around! I've been playing for just about a year now... I don't consider myself too deep in the D&D world, however I decided I wanted to start my own campaign. Keep up the hard work!

My adventurers adventure because they live in terribly brutal worlds. More Dark Sun and less Forgotten Realms.

I know this is like 6 years old, but thank you for making this. I'm just about to introduce a bunch of classmates to DnD and this helps a lot. Since I'm the most experienced player I offered to DM, this series helps a lot.

I would love to see this guy put this sort of energy towards a campaign that is completely within a city, never venturing beyond. And the fun part is that a lot of the stuff said here can still be used.

I've been playing D&D for over 10 years and have DMd and played. I say this because these videos are the most succinct and entertaining videos to teach D&D and I'm loving watching them all despite my experience. Well done and thank you :D

My DM sent me this series to help me put together a few shadowrun adventures and it's helping a lot, thank you!

Matthew, thank you so much for all of these videos. New DM as of a few months ago and I watched all your videos before starting (or at least the ones that were applicable for our game). Thank you so much. You made a fan out of me and D&D pulled together a group of friends and reunited me with a childhood best friend I hadn't seen in years. Thanks for all the advice and help!

Found this 8 yrs after you posted it the first time. Thx for not taking it off. Need to start a campaign with my teenagers. Wife is still a no go but we’ll see. Thx for the tips and yes, you should Narrate a book…

This video is structured EXACTLY how I learn best. THANK YOU!!!

I'll be DMing my first game in about a week. I am making my own adventure and have almost everything prepared. Planning is the easy part for me, the execution is so much harder, especially the first steps. So thanks for doing this. Although I am not doing the tavern start, one of the players hate that trope; so caravan ambush it will be. I am going to binge most of this playlist in the next few days. I already watched a few here and there and I really love the presentation and the delivery.

If I wasn't sold on the content of these videos, the fact that MC is a RUSH fan sealed the deal! ;-)

Just want to say a year+ after this was posted you're helping new players! I appreciate your content greatly. Thank you.

I DMed a one-shot for my group's very first session (it was most of the group's first time ever playing D&D). Everyone started in a tavern, then the floor dropped out and they all fell into a pit, leading into the rest of the adventure. Now there's a running joke where every tavern worth going to has a sign guaranteeing that the floor won't fall out beneath the patrons.

Matt, I ran this adventure for my family tonight. We used your pre-made characters too! None of us had ever played before, and it was a blast. Thank you very much!!

My first session is in a few days. Thank you!

The way the characters in Silverado meet is a fantastic, fun and unique way to meet, and I think I'm gonna use that for my easter campaign.

At the beginning of the video you mentioned that it is sometimes very hard for you to start the game. I feel that so hard, once I spent an hour talking to my players casually because I was feeling too anxious to start!

Wow you are excellent All the knowledge I tried to gain in half a year you daughter me arranged in 15 hours keep doing what you are doing!!!

Hey Matthew, just ran my first ever D&D game with my kids using your kidnap/goblin/secret room game..... we all LOVED IT! Thank you!!! It was the first D&D experience for all of us. I am loving your videos, thank you so much for being awesome!! My kids (And my son's girlfriend) killed all the goblins and Bugbear found the riddle but couldn't solve it. But they loved the fact I didn't tell them anyway!!!! we are all hooked. Thanks again!!!!

You are going to be one of the gods in my D&D world

I'm running my very first D&D game in less than a week. Thank you thank you thank you for posting! 😅

Epic videos full off really practical tips! Awesome!

Rewatching. Can't help but wish there was this thing called the internet and RU-vid and this channel back in 1980-ish when I first started. You really nailed it Matt.

thanks, Matt! this is awesome! I have been DMing for a little while, but I'm still pretty new. The insight you have is really refreshing!

I've been playing D&D for a while (about 10 years I guess, with very long interruptions, though). I came to find your channel trying to learn how to use Fantasy Grounds. Then I found all this series of "running your first adventure" and I love it. You're super fun to hear and even as an experienced player, I'm learning stuff. Keep up the good work and thank you very much!

Great stuff! I have never played DND, but have always had an interest. Now my adult sons have shown an interest and so I am gearing up to learn how to play and how to run a dungeon, Our circumstance is such that the pandemic keeps us from joining other persons, so your videos have been a tremendous help. Thank you.

I really enjoy your sense of humor.

You have an outstanding and enchanting voice. You have a broad knowledge of the psychology of storytelling. I am going to guess that you order the most amazing pizza also.

I have been GM'ing Vampire: The Masquerade for many years and now I'm diving into DW to introduce my blind dad to TTRPGs, and these videos are so useful, when trying to get into the mindset needed to introduce someone completely new to high fantasy adventures the right way.