Відео

Ngl, this is the kinda video that would benefit hugely from showing how you start with a small region of a few biomes and how you make each area interesting using this method.

Can anyone tell me where the big dungeon map at 1:35 is from. Thanks in advance.

I’ve been DMing for 37 years. The story and plot has always been determined by the characters actions and interactions. I can’t imagine trying to run a predetermined “play” without the actors getting a script. It certainly explains many of the struggles I hear UA-cam folks complain about. I guess everyone does it differently. Have fun out there. BECMI Forever! Long Live King Elmore!!

Hey Randall I've been loving your videos, they have answered almost all questions I've been having about the game I'm preparing to run. All, but one: I am very stuck on how to start the first session. Is it still a good idea to start with an inciting incident like a tavern+combat type of start? do you do anything in particular that gives your players a chance to drive the plot from the very start?

Noble work.

Earthmote, I got a kinda dumb question to ask. Was there any Monster, Boss or big Encounter that the sandbox nature of your campaign made special? I havent made a campaign yet but I found out probably the best dumb way to kill certian bad guys. Put Holy purified water in a super soaker and soak the battlefield in it. 😂 Especially when you do that but with a thunderstorm you created like 2 hours ago and arrive to the "Bathing" 😂

For that boardgame of mine it simple. The traintracks got to run through the area and if there isnt a Point of Interest, you cant go there as Thaumcraft Taint is something you dont muck around with. Each Region slops into each other IE The mountains with death magic all over them lead to bloody plains.

5:38 or at least let's stop off at Ace Hardware to pick up six or seven fire extinguishers and a bucket of sand 😀.

5:34 Fire Salamanders 😕😳😀? When I was little my dad used to joke about eating fried salamanders during the war in Southeast Asia 🙂.

Great video. Giving tips to players new to open sandbox play gives them a greater chance to make this their main mode of gameplay. I truly believe the sandbox play style is the best way to play not just D&D, but all TTRPGs, outside of those specifically designed for storytelling. Even 5E groups would benefit greatly. Once the group gets acclimated to sandbox play a whole new world of possibilities will be unlocked to them. This is really one of the best newer advice channels for TTRPGs. 👍👍👍

🥳🫂👍🏿

I am currently running two sandbox campaigns set inspired on the sort of untamed American south in the late 19th century past the civil war. Im using a hex map to govern overland travel, and divided regions by biome, and faction control (biome using drawing of symbols for the biomes and faction control using sharpies for color coding often centred around a keyed hex with a type of home base)

Gnomes yes. Half-devil robot cat people no.

Welcome back to roleplaying instead of scouring a character sheet to see what you're allowed to do.

This is awesome. Been running the game for 20 years and have seen hundreds of hours of dungeon tip videos and read countless books… this was such a useful overview of something that designers like myself so often neglect.

I kinda like this video, because I do constantly use them on my dungeons, but I haven't ever heard of the concept.

Every hex is surrounded by 6 hexes. Just roll a d8. The NPC’s rumor is about whatever point of interest is in the corresponding hex, with 7 & 8 being the hex the heroes are in.

Points of interest and hints of what kind of treasure can be had there. Write up a hundred of them & scatter some around the heroes' stating locale & hold some back for random travel. “What's Hag's Crag?” “A local merchant tells you it's a rocky fortress now occupied by a band of ogres who waylay travelers for their goods then retreat up to the fortress. Imagine what riches must be held there!”

5e is NOT great at heroic fantasy. It is great and satisfying people that like wargames and weenies that rule lawyer and think rigidly. Yeah, I said that.

I made a sandbox where there was a Hall of Heads. It was a hunting colony and there was a board. Killing an animal would grant one point, once per day.If you could get the "animal of the week" it would be a +3 point for the week. There was a scoreboard so players wanted to compete! And across these hunts they would encounter ruins, caves, etc. Two players told me that was the greatest DnD game they ever played!!!

played it last wk! its really good. im a teamster. my stat rolls were sad but taking the teamster class really smoothed them out. highly recommended game.

How do you end this style of campaign? My example may not be the best: Typically, I reach the limit of how many more sessions I can do, bring in the bbg, and force a final showdown. It feels tacked on, but it’s not as bad as leaving it unfinished.

Me the DM; preps 3 paths for the group to choose and go, with different quests. And if they choose A B or C its a railroad from there. One path is literally a railroad journey from town A to city B :D And then things on the paths happens, sometimes random enocunters with things which ideas are pulled ouf of a box with player ideas, and some are scripted from the worldbuilding, whith factions and people living there in this area or part of the map, and competing with eachother. And then sometimes when they go away from the railroad, i'm inprovising/doing something on the fly or throw scenes in i allready prepped. Its only a question of modules or scenes following each other. Dont think to much about strings, think about modules. And then after the actions have been taken, think about the consequences.

I like how you don't go fully into changing the game's fundamental mechanics in order to evoke a game's feel. Like you could've talked about healing in elden ring vs healing in dnd (two very different things) but the fact that you stuck with how Elden Ring gives its players information and how that can be replicated in a tabletop setting was incredibly helpful. Definitely earned a sub and a reader for your newsletter from this vid.

Once again, thank you for the education 🙏

so much great information here!!!!

I love the idea of a mutualistic relationship between "hoard" and a magical "guardian". Since some beings collect people, I am inspired to make something like a Psyonic Lord, where the ruler gains power from being around so many intelligent minds, but the people are blessed with psychic or magical abilities that make their lives easy. The Lord is doing evil with their abilities, but those powering him don't care because the existence of the Lord makes their lives easy... Might be a fun campaign arc.

This is definitely a rewatch video. I have been DM'ing for over 40yrs, it's amazing how much has changed, I use Pathfinder 1e now. Tricks, Traps and Illusions have never been a problem on a real table top with players next to you. That being said, I have been dabbling in VTT's for the last 3 yrs and find it much harder to describe these things than I have in the past. It takes a lot more work it seems than it used to. While using Chatgpt I have found it is better to make the trap and then have chatgpt describe it. It's still a bit tricky because there is a fine balance between to much and to little information given to the players. This was definitely a very good video thanks for sharing.

I enjoy all the Earthmote videos! Another great video!

Damn Good DnD is an amazing video on the same subject! I used to make a french version of it on my channel! Your is excellent too! If only I knew it when I did my version! hehehe

Why do you say almost every sentence as if you’ve already it & you’re annoyed that I’ve asked you to repeat yourself?

ICRPG has a similar concept named, as it happens, TREATS. Little things, details or devices that provide answers beyond brute force and teach players to examine their environment. Examples: elite weapons stashed out of view, a little shrub growing healing berries, unstable rafters overhead.

I do use the 2D10 fate question from the GM emulator 2 for unexpected/improv questions during the game. Sometimes I also use the D100 rows during play. I also have printed A4 with tables from different sources like: Solo Adventurers Toolbox, lazy DM's companion, DMG, Forge of Foes, Flee Mortals, building a baddy PDF from DC20 etc. The tables aren't on the DM screen. Thanks for the refreshing content. Enjoying the videos!

I literally joined a writing club and showed up to weekly weekend meetups IRL for a year to become a better writer so I could be a better DM. I did become a better writer and my games did improve but I don’t play D&D currently, my group burned out, and I’m burned out. The stuff you said at the beginning: I wholeheartedly can relate. I have been reading “proactive roleplaying” by J. Fischel. I think it’ll alleviate the issues I’ve encountered which you also describe.

I love The Tome of Adventure Design!

I listened to the whole thing and I still don't get it. It still hasn't clicked what a trick even IS, much less how to use them.

Your videos feel like a clean distillation of all the blog posts I’ve read (but never absorbed). Thank you!

I like your videos as they actually say stuff to think about over thing or that. Feels weird that the BG gamers were a hardy bunch that would pull, prod and tweak it so much they get places. Now it like weak smol people who care if the Warcraft 3 Death Knight.. gets his Undead Steed.

Silly rabbit... Trix are for kids !😅

8:22 you pull the lever and hear a clang 🙂... But you don't see anything.

The forgotten element is not house ruling the game into a new one.

First!

Hm. I feel like the end message of this video is basically just saying; "Don't prep plots for your PC's, instead just prep a shitload of worldbuilding and tables to roll on". This doesn't really ease the burden on GM's at all. You're just shifting what the focus of the prep is. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good idea to remind GM's that they don't have to tailor make an overarching narrative and you can just let a story unfold naturally at the table from what just happens in game. But I think the implication that this method wouldn't be creatively exhausting is a bit of a falsehood. In some ways, this seems like more work.

thanks very much my friends wanted do do a campaign set in the lands between and i havent known how to do it

Okay, I am writing a campaign based on WW2. I have the basic mechanics down, and a general idea of the story based on the movies "Dirty Dozen" and "Suicide Squad", plus a few other war movies. The biggest problem I have is that I have to railroad my players for at least the first few "missions", plus being drafted and going through basic training. How would you make this less railroady? edit: I guess I should add that I personally don't see how I can run a campaign based on a war, when the characters are in the military and have to follow orders, without railroading them... If you have any ideas, you would be my hero! All I need are options that I can use to make this less of a "YOU HAVE TO DO THIS!", and give my players a bit more freedom. Any ideas?

For the longest time I've been meaning to use some of these but I think I have thus far forgotten. Also I've thought of it for my new campaign and finally thanks to your encouraging reminder I made copies for use from the Monster Haul front inside cover and Dolmenwood Campaign Book. Thanks!

I've written treasure that tells a story, but also comes with a liability. Such as specific ritual coins found in a barrow that can not be spent locally, because the citizens will recognize that the party has been raiding local tombs.

Oh man! I learned long ago that treasure is NEVER just "500gp and a +1 sword". It's typically going to be a handful of various coins with the balance being mundane items relevant to the creatures and location of the treasure ~ a band of Goblins would have a different treasure "style" than, say, a band of Lizardfolk, or a nest of Giant Spiders. And the +1 sword is never "just" a +1 sword: it was crafted by someone for someone, or for some purpose. Even my minor magic items will typically have a secondary power that mimics a cantrip of some sort, and possibly a number of runes on the item that represent the charges that it has before that extra magic power is depleted. Bards and scholars might be able to determine the origin and partial history of the item as well. Your comment about folks recognizing an item ~ my party recently found a sword that gave the party sorcerer a very uneasy feeling just looking at it. The sorcerer has a draconic background, and the sword is a Serpent Slaying weapon (but they don't know that quite yet) >:-]

Late comment xox But one genre? Thing? I like is "Normal Mudane Building for the setting but twisted and warped" Like imagine your team gets express job to reclaim a Dam so you can let it flow into Rivers so a Town can drink, so you go in there expecting bandits or what not and bam! Doomsday Cultist who are claiming they need the water to cleanse this soon to be infected world! The Boardgame is focused on Holding land and I want to leave actions so you get to the end and you got stuff to do that will matter. Treasure and Powerful Weapons are nice, but unleashing a flood to destroy a entire infected City... or transmute the water into purifying water and unleash it as it cleanses entire swaths of land! 😂

Awesomeness!