What Alignment is your Dungeon Master?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... We talk about the various different types of Dungeon Master traits, play styles, and personalities, and attribute them to the 9 alignments of D&D.
This video is sponsored by Dungeon of Drakkenheim: Mutagenic Masterpieces! Find the bundle here: ghostfiregaming.com/product-c...
TIME STAMPS
0:00 - Sponsor
1:25 - Intro
2:46 - The Breakdown
5:00 - Lawful Good
8:09 - Neutral Good
10:02 - Chaotic Good
14:11 - Lawful Neutral
16:20 - Neutral
18:03 - Chaotic Neutral
22:39 - Lawful Evil
27:18 - Neutral Evil
31:45 - Chaotic Evil
35:12 - Our Alignments
____________________________
Watch us play live Tuesdays 6-9 PM EDT on Twitch:
/ dungeon_dudes
Join our Patreon community:
/ dungeon_dudes
Get our custom t-shirts:
bit.ly/dungeondudesmerch - Ігри
I like saying “We are the Dungeon Dudes” along with them, as if I too am a Dungeon Dude
Same
There are dozens of us! DOZENS!
@@davidcarnan1270 More than dozens. Tens of thousands!
Thats adorable xD I'll join you all and start to do that
@@Dakarai_Knight We are Legion, for we are many
Chaos is describing a perfectly normal door with a skeptical amount of detail so that your players spend an hour sniffing the door before opening it, giving you a chance to think of the next area in a map they weren’t supposed to even touch for several levels
I love that!
My personal take on chaos is using dice to make DM decisions; that teleportation device you just activated? 70% chance of doing what you expect, 30% chance of derailing the adventure into as of yet nonexistant places!
reminds me of this one shot i did with a group of friends my brother described the scene so interestingly that we spent like an hour in this one single house examining every nook and cranny till eventually he just begged us to leave so we could advance the plot. later he said that house was supposed to be a random throw away house that just gave us aj idea of the problem, but we latched onto his description and spent an hour doing the dumbest things possible to explore it. he only let it go on for so long because the things we were coming up with to avoid his attempts to force us to leave were so dumb, but so creative
Another good one is on a percentile for the day, just have a bird poop on a player so you can listen to the party laugh and joke while you prep the next story beat.
Chaotic DM, meet chaotic player. Barely any detail? Hyper-fixate on the doorknob. Tons of detail? Kick the door down.
A Neutral Evil DM could be 'The Narrator' - They have a story they want to tell, and what the players want to do doesn't matter.
YES! I had a DM like this before! He was an author IRL and did legit tell a decent story. But don’t you DARE try to do something that is counter to how he wanted the story to go or he will find a way to shut you down and then gaslight you as the problem if you didn’t enjoy having your autonomy revoked.
Also, I'm really glad you understand Lawful and Chaotic as consistent vs. inconsistent! I swear that's what 3rd edition taught me, and nobody these days learned that from 5th.
@falsnamae3511 , what you said about 5e Law and Chaos is what I learned back in 3rd, but most people these days think that Lawful=follows the actual written law regardless of what it does for the citizens, and then Chaos is their modern interpretation of Anarchy (which is some happy hippy thing instead of the dog-eat-dog reality).
True Neutral: otherwise known as the DM who's favorite phrase is "Are you sure?"
Or "you can certainly try"
I do think professional DMs are probably going to end up true neutral for the most part, certainly all the actual plays I've seen would fit that description best
Edit: nvm forgot about the oxventures and oxventure in the dark. Luke and Jonny are both chaotic good
Nah, that's neutral good, because the neutral DM doesn't warn you or give you the chance to back out.
"Do you touch it?"... "With your bare living flesh?" a great line
I feel like that's what my therapist says...
“I could probably enjoy a lawful evil DM’s one shot but not a lawful evil DM’s campaign.”
^this, I don’t have warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings about the days of meat grinder dungeons and showing up to the table with half a dozen characters, but I could probably enjoy a session of it.
While it's not my normal style I take on my "Lawful Evil DM" hat every time my players enter a funhouse dungeon in our campaign. To our group that style of adventure has no stakes unless you know the DM (and therefore the dungeon) is actively but fairly working against you as hard as they can.
Hilariously my dm is The Author, and is literally a published author full-time. You nailed it.
the face Kelly makes at 22:15 when Monty says he's not an evil DM is priceless
I went back to see this because I missed it the first time, and it did not disappoint
LG: Thanks to your heroism, Waterdeep is safe once more!
NG: How do you want to do this?
CG: Yes, and…
LN: *sigh* No, there are no jellicle tabaxi in Phandalin.
TN: Are you sure about that?
CN: Out of nowhere, a *roll* Purple Worm attacks!
LE: That’s what the book says.
NE: Because I said so!
CE: Rocks fall, everyone dies!
"Rocks fall, everyone dies!" Word for word this is the joke I use when I'm not feeling up to being the DM that night lol
Ive done that but it wasn't a purple worm it was a dragon turtle. And to be fair he wasn't in a fighting mood at the moment. Till the warrior hit him.
"What if I name my tabaxi Rum-Tum-Tugger and then enter Phandalin?"
*Sigh* "Then there's one jellicle tabaxi..."
Lawful Neutral all the way, baby; with all the pros and cons included - you get to be The Heroes, I will make you feel good and win - even if some of you may die - but the world has to be good, because it's MINE!
Well done
I know this comment is probably gonna get buried but I wanna comment and just say thank you to the dudes. I ran my first game ever this past weekend (and it was all my players' first time ever playing too). The players went completely off the path in a way I was not expecting, and watching the drakkenheim streams and all the rules + tips videos massively helped. My players had a lot of fun and I couldn't have done it without y'all :)
Glad you could join all of us dms
@@dylanpenn3189 Glad to be here! I became the DM because none of my friends wanted to do it, but I'm actually really enjoying it, so it all works out :)
Congrats on running your first game! It makes my day to hear our videos helped you, and I'm thrilled your players had fun. Cheers to your epic adventures in the future!
Welcome to the ranks! Sorry it was under slight duress but I'm glad you're enjoying it. Far too many people just are afraid to try and be a DM but it can be a real blast. I hope things continue to go well for you.
One of us one of us
My friend who still DMs for us to this day (been playing regularly for 5-6 years) is more of a lawful evil DM. Danger is around every corner, make the wrong decision and you will be really working not to die, but he rewards you for getting out of those situations. It’s like D&D on hard mode and we absolutely love it. It’s the most fun we have ever had.
Yeah im a bit LE too with CN, great for a one shot but the players are always on edge because every 2nd combat is a deadly encounter
high risk, high reward
That sounds a bit like Lamentations of the Flame Princess or a DCC Funnel
Do you know where lawful evil DMs thrive? Warhammer 40k. Our Dark Heresy 1st ed. DM outright said that we were going to suffer, and if we get ourselves in a mess, so be it, your fault. Didn't help that we have the most arrogant, smug and stubborn highborn adept (both in and out of character) that constantly puts himself in dangerous situations, especially when it comes to dabbling with sorcery, which I hate as a cleric PC, and annoying everyone, including the antagonists, which everyone hates, but has to put up with. What he didn't know is that we are the luckiest sons of bitches who can turn our greatest misfortunes into successes. Be it perfectly dodging attacks in an ambush, surviving a daemonic incursion on a ship, which resulted in us being sent back in time (warp shenanigans), or killing a rogue inquisitor (which was our adept's fault because he mocked him into personally leading a death squad with a daemonhost for our asses) or A FREAKING EVERSOR ASSASSIN (DM was tired of our luck streak, so he had to come up with an endgame enemy to spice up our campaign even more). And we love it. For every great risk that we endure, we get highly rewarded. And it leads to even greater ones, because reputation and rumours exist, so we have quite the list of adversaries. Welcome to the Inquisition, we don't fuck around here.
Why does this feel pretentious?
You know you've made it when your DnD content is peak quality AND you can sponsor yourself!
"The sponsor for todays video is us losers, we're strong independent women who don't need no man"
I'd like to add that when true neutral leans evil, you end with the Railroader or Narrator. The players are just there to hear the DMs story.
That's more lawful evil.
I'm definitely like that sometimes, yeah. There are moments when I really take my time to describe the world or a certain character without expecting input from my players, and there are also moments where I think to myself "I have no idea what I'll do if the players don't go along with this plot point".
I'd like to think, though, that my descriptions are part of why my players enjoy my games, and that I am able to bounce back and forth at least a little when my monologues are interrupted. As well, I'm at least willing to let the players go against some of my most important plot points, and then to try and follow that path while also salvaging what I can of the intended plot thread.
@@leonmayne797 No, railroading is not really in the spirit of Lawful. A Lawful DM will let you, for example, kill off story-centric characters if you want, unless there's something in the rules that say you can't. How they follow up will vary.
LG and LE will follow that up with consequences, leaning towards rewards or punishment respectively.
Meanwhile LN might be the lawful dm that comes the closest to railroading. They might introduce new npc or story elements who's sole purpose is to offset the damage you did to "their" story.
While you guys were describing the lawful neutral DM (one that allows players to make choices, but isn't afraid to show them the consequences) all I could think of as an example was the Goldfish Keyleth moment from CR lol
I would say that was more chaotic neutral as Matt was still kind of new to DnD and didn't fully understand the fall damage rules. He was doing 1d6 per ten feet of fall, but there is a maximum and I'm pretty sure he went over it.
@@mattmcc7930 It's a pretty common homebrew to ignore the fall damage max, I'm pretty sure that had been mentioned before in that campaign.
@@mattmcc7930 You can be a Lawful DM even if you're wrong about the rules, as long as you _think_ you're doing it right.
Over my few years of DMing, I've totally gone from Lawful Good (brand new to D&D as well as my players) to Neutral Good (starting leaning into causality and deviating from the rules and homebrewing), to where I am now, True Neutral. It's funny because I can even identify the specific campaign moments where the shifts happened as well 😂
Give it time and you'll be at Neutral Evil with me, and you'll run the best games you've ever run. The Dungeon Dudes know not what they say, Evil is great motivation. 😈
Neutral Good, but I pull from Lawful Good, True Neutral, and Chaotic Good depending on scene and how much impact I want it to have. I generally don’t prepare many notes, but when I do, they are very deep and detailed.
Chaotic Good people claim to be NG all the time, just like this 😂; “I’m NG, but I borrow from everything else under the sun (that’s good of course…)”. The difference is in consistency. The How is the same, so the other 5w’s can be defined within its parameters. That takes careful planning
Me: Chaotic Fun.
My Players: He's Lawful Mean.
I pretty much got the same thing. Lol
As a DM I 100% am Chaotic Good, my players will do good things, will fight evils, and try to make the world better but there will be a lot of chaos going on mostly caused by tricking the players into doing it.
Personally I think I am more a true neutral type of DM, possibly leaning lawful evil.
I started my role as the DM after about 1 month exposure to DnD. We did a few sessions with a friend who volunteered to run Mines of Phandelver for us, then started canceling every weekend for like a month. I liked the game enough that I prepared to step in and run it for my friends. I ran the written content and had a great time getting my players to level 5. When we finally beat the boss, I had gotten a lot more comfortable with world building. I started doing the "scrapbooking" that Kelly mentioned. I really believe that as the DM, I build half the world, then let my players write the other half. I feel like I'd fall in Neutral Good for this reason.
My thought during this video is that most long term DM's are probably more neutrally aligned than anything. These DM's had the revelatory moment that they can't prepare for every eventuality, but that's one reason the game is so fun.
I don't prepare for everything, but I prepare a few dozen jumping-off points that I can improvise from. As well as a map and music for the campaign.
Kelly's style has helped me accept a little more fluidity and enjoy it. It's helped a lot seeing it played out and when you have things flowing so well it's basically writing itself in real-time. The people apart of it are on a wild ride of their own making
Played in a Lawful Evil DM's game many years ago when I was a kid and it was a lot of fun despite dying every week. We lost countless characters to that DM's CE master of monsters. Sometimes the challenge of just surviving is fun in a game with your friends.
It can be fun if you know what you're getting into, and are up to the challenge.
The Lawful Evil DM is just the guy you need for a certain style of play, and as long as everyone is cool about the arrangement this can be super rewarding.
And hey... Making new characters to play is pretty fun! 😅
I would say Gary Gygax is the ultimate Lawful Evil GM. After all, he did write the book.
I can fully agree! - Unfair and merciless , actively trying to kill the PCs, as his adversaries, whenever he sees even the slightest chance. But, also the very incorporation of the rules system; seeking for ultimate justice . Imho, in many cases at least better than a "true CG" DM, where the player's actions can have no real consequences, and who potentially even fudges dice rolls in favor of the party. Worst is of course CE, as for those it is all about the fun that the DM himself has.
Facts
Nope. You couldn't be farther away from the truth about Gary.
I would say, I am LN I like applying rules broadly and fairly. I do run NPCs wanting to survive and villians are going for the win.
If i make a rule about swimming underwater avoid arrows, Ill let monsters follow same rules. I like having consequences for actions for both sides npcs and pcs.
He is a Chaotic Alignment...
I'm not surprised to hear Kelly mention Monster of the Week in relation to his CG style. The game book actively encourages that style with "be a fan of the hunters" as a primary tenant and mystery design focusing around characters and locations rather than planned story.
This is a great video! I find myself in the LG category - but because I mostly DM for kids. But what’s interesting is listening to the NG DM (which I think is where I want to be), I’m hearing what I need to change in order to adapt my game. This might have been pitched as a bit of fun - but it’s really valuable from understanding what not to do or things to watch for (in both yourself as a DM or as a player looking at DMs).
I am definitely a neutral/neutral good dm, it's crazy how well you described me. I take a whole bunch of different monsters, rules, feats, subclasses, and make them my own to fit my world. I love watching my players explore my world, interact with my npcs, and fight valiant foes, sometimes dying in the process. Obviously I want my players to fight these crazy monsters and use crazy abilities, but the story, the interactions, and the challenges the PCs overcome or fail make dnd super fun for me.
As a chaotic nuetral dm who always wanted to be a neutral good dm im envious im just not orginized enough. But some of us will have fun. As long as your charavter isn't the one receiving the end of the joke.
I'm definitely in the NG/N area. It depends mostly on the mood of the story and players actions. Stupidity will definitely get you killed.
@@damianwhite7771 yah in reality i do give warnings for stupid behavior. Its like ate you sure upu want to do that?
Yeah, I know there are DM's in all of the above alignment categories, but it seems to me that the longer you DM for, the closer you get to a neutral alignment, or at least understanding neutral. :) I think it has to do with the dichotomy of the DM's role. You fill the roll of the player's mentor and nemesis simultaneously. It's definitely helped expand how I think about character development, story arches, and player bonds.
I think I’m Neutral Good when DMing. I twist the rules in order to have fun character moments but I still work best when given a book, a script and a plan.
At the end I think you hit the nail on the head when you described it as different scenes require different tones. If the party goes to a tavern and hang out the scene is going to be much more heavily improv based than the scene where the lord of the land asks for their help.
I had a Manipulator (neutral evil) DM as my first DM when I was in High School. They would try to pretend to be lawful evil so that we thought there was a chance to get to the end of the story. They would often listen to our ideas and say that it was fine to play a certain character class and then they would have NPCs that would challenge the players with the exact counter to the class we chose. It took me years and having some good friends to realize that not all DMs are trying to kill the players.
On one hand I really wanted to share this with some of my D&D friends who have been or currently are my DM.
On the other hand ... I'm scared to because I've been their DM too
That's part of the fun to me. Lol
I’m somewhere between chaotic good and neutral good I think, probably tending towards chaotic good.I just started running the Lost Mine of Phandelver with my younger brothers and some friends, your videos have been clutch!!
I think the lawful evil DM puts cultists in every encounter just to Silvery Barbs players on every roll because the players took Slivery Barbs
Yes, except that a true lawful evil DM would do it regardless of what spells the players are using, and just expect them to either start using it or roll over and die.
This was a great watch and very well made. Loved the axis and explanation for every alignment!
I play in a group with a DM that I would say flips between chaotic neutral and neutral good. He's really good at making us feel like heroes, but he's not afraid to insert big events when we're hesitating.
I'm a new DM myself, so I'm all over this table. I'm running an Eberron campaign, so I'll strive to be neutral good. Really anything that isn't evil 😅
Evil dms come down to selfishness. So long as you aren't purposefully being a dick head, you wont be an evil dm lol
As a new DM I feel like my approach shifts as the sessions go on. I mainly focus on story, but really emphasize the players preferences from session zero.
Some players really don't want their characters to die and I bend the rules or homebrew safeguards to make sure that happens. I still highlight the story but adapt that emphasis with each player as needed.
It's very refreshing to hear someone say that. As a fellow new DM that is relatable
Back in my early days, I had a good friend who was a CE DM. While there are a few fond memories of ridiculous and epic moments, overall it was terribly frustrating. I love the thought exercise this video inspires. Great job dudes!
This is a very interesting discussion. I really enjoyed you breaking this down into game terms instead of the typical psycho-analysis. I think you guys are pretty spot on with your assessments too. Thanks for putting this out there!
This is amazing. You guys nailed it. Now I'm always going to rate my DM games based on what alignment I played as
I started in AD&D so I am always fluctuating - all things equal I am mostly Neutral. But with PCs that are very experienced and adult, the higher level the play the more LE I become (but I do explain thing and drop hints a lot more the more LE I get). But if the players are newer and younger . I go CG letting them do what they like and sometimes ignoring rules only to “remember” the rules right after they get where they wanted to go and explains the alternatives that also could work to help them try to be as creative as possible.
I think I line up somewhere between Neutral Good and Chaotic Good. I allow most Homebrew, but make my own as well, and find myself enjoying the challenge of running for a wildly OP party.
I'm the same way. Somewhat recently a boss I made had all 500 of his hp deleted in 2 turns. It's a very fun frustration.
Really enjoyed this video. You're always insightful, but this was a deeper look than most of your other videos.
Personally, I like to think I’m a Dramatist. It’s also the kind of games I prefer. I like being a part of a world that feels organic. I like pushing and pulling against it, making choices and dealing with the consequences. Even if those consequences are that my player dies. The best D&D story I have is when my character opened up to another character about his past and poured his heart out in an attempt to get this character to understand them on a deep, personal level, then a few days later he died. It was tragic, dramatic, heartfelt, and so f*****g wonderful.
Same here. We'd get along great at a table. I'm trying to encourage my players to do more pulling against the world/what I believe they consider to be the GM's will in a City of Mist campaign I run. They're playing thieves and there are times when I have to remind them that they don't have to go save the random person from the scythe wielding maniac (an actual ongoing thing in the campaign, not an oddly specific example) just because I've put them there. Even more importantly, continually doing things that are outside of their character will eventually have consequences due to the mechanics of the game. I might not present so many different opportunities in a DnD campaign, but this all takes place in a single city so I think foregoing the opportunity to hint at or full on show the workings of NPCs and operations in the city would be a disservice to story telling. So, long story long, finding that balance of having those things in to be used or ignore has been tough lol
Anyway, if you like the consequences of pulling against things, try City of Mist if you haven't. Forget the world, you're actively making decisions that move toward aspects of your own character while pulling against others. Even better, that all has a tangible/ mechanical impacts, it's not relegated just to RP or consequences thrusts down upon you by the GM, but your character's abilities actively change as a result.
I think it would be better if you changed "evil" from focusing on the DM, to focusing on challenge. Not just because it's less adversarial, but also because it speaks more towards what most people have in mind as a DM.
If you're running a game for people, then you're probably their friends, and you probably want them to have a good time. If you're not, then there's something fundamentally wrong with the entire arrangement from square one. In a way, good vs evil isn't about the actual morality, but rather the method of approach.
If you watch the video, they explain that a Neutral Evil/ Chaotic Evil will likely run a single game before the players quit. While lawful evil can be a good one-shot.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of malicious people out there that find enjoyment in the suffering of others and the power they feel when inflicting that suffering, even on their friends.
Video games are ripe with this sort of thing. Your friend invites you over to play their new fighting game, and then they use a totally broken character to utterly destroy you mercilessly, and you're likely to never play that game with them again. Lol
It's really common. 🤷♂️
Also, if you use Good/Neutral/Evil to measure difficulty then the whole Annalise falls apart. My Dm lies somewhere between Neutral Good and Lawful Good. He's always got the players in mind, but he doesn't hold the difficulty back at all. Every session has intense and difficult Combat, but it's always fair and balanced.
An Evil DM isn't making the Combat too difficult, he's making it unfair.
I find it very silly that ensuring your game challenges the players is a 'evil' dm move.
Personally, I get disillusioned with games that offer zero challenge or where the DM starts fudging rolls as soon as they suspect a TPK. If there is no risk of failiure, there are no stakes. If there is no challenge, there is no reason to engage deeper than a base level.
@@Vallinen92 I didn't get that at all. Being challenging isn't mentioned as evil. Putting your enjoyment over the players is.
Indeed. People enjoy challenging games (it's what all OSR is about), and people enjoy games where failure is determined, like Ten Candles, even though I don't understand why. And the GM who I would call Chaotic Evil in real life (like, he rejected any feedback after the game, claiming that he didn't care if we liked the game) didn't run a challenging game, he just run the game that sucked.
This was so cool, thank you guys for your dedication to D&D!
I'm a choatic good DM. I couldn't decide what setting to go for, so I just chose all of them! The players find keystones that activate portals to other realms and the first encounter gave everyone a small magic carpet. I gave them crazy homebrew mounts that are literally a part of them and it is bery fun when a player tries to bend my rules.
When it comes to the average pad DM, they definitely tend to be more on the chaos side versus the law side, but when it comes to the legendarily bad THAT DM that you read about in stories They mostly seem to be incredibly strict with the rules. There is absolutely no wiggle room with them.
I have had the exact opposite experience. Chaotic DMs for me often feel like they can't be fair and inconsistent, and screw you over. Everything is so on the fly sometimes to the point nothing even makes sense.
This is brilliant! Really like your two axes and how you described the different types. It may be useful to refine the Evil alignment if we want to focus on legitimate playstyles, but as an overview to help people identify playstyles that aren't healthy or positive (NE and CE) it's really useful. Based on this, I'm Lawful Good but wish I could be more Neutral Good. However, since my players are younger and newer, LG works well to help players learn (though I have allowed consequences from the living world from poor choices, like ignoring the BBEG's attacks on cities).
The DM I play with is Lawful good but neutral good leaning. They run modules, which is totally fine, and they value tough encounters but don’t seek to kill the party. They are also very accommodating to story and creative choices the players make and does their best to craft their carefully planned modules with adjustments to suit the players.
I am a Neutral Evil DM, but not in the way that I prioritize my fun over anyone else’s. Rather, I prioritize the challenge that the players must overcome. I love running horror and suspense based campaigns, and messing with the players as much as the actual PCs is what gives me more joy than anything. However, I do this with the intent of making memorable, tense, and exciting DnD moments for everyone, but I accomplish it through prioritizing the threat and then bending or breaking my own rules to make a combat that was a guaranteed loss possible. Either weakening the threat or empowering the party as needed. I will occasionally run a DMPC, but they are strictly there to balance combat and set the pace of the fights. I too seek to have the party survive, but not before the tension in the room is so thick that you could cut it with a pair of scissors. Essentially, False Hydra’s and Bagmen are my bread and butter, but for as much as I enjoy gaslighting and terrifying my players, I always want to make sure that my players are having as much fun being terrified and gaslit as I am having. Maybe this makes me neutral, but I seek to build a campaign where I can get great reactions out of horrifying, unsettling, and traumatizing moments, and my players can enjoy experiencing these impactful moments.
I love the way you laid these out... they actually make sense with the many different groups I've played with over the years. I myself fall into prepared Chaotic Good like Kelly in my style, though I have and can be more Chaotic Neutral if the game needs it.
Just wanted to add my friends and I have been enjoying our Drakkenheim game immensely with our awesome Neutral Good DM. Love the setting and the factions, and I can't wait to see where it all ends up for us!
Try to find DMs that are mono green, mono red, Boros, Selesnya, Golgari, Dimir, Izzet, or even Rakdos or Gruul aligned.
Avoid mono white, mono blue, mono black, Azorius and Orzhov aligned DMs.
Simic DMs can go either way. It's a toss-up.
If a DM says they're aligned to a shard or a wedge just run.
I’m Abzahn, but try to lean Selesnya over Golgari.
I don't know half the words you just said lol
@@Kpub44 These are all names for Magic the Gathering color combinations.
When you realize you were literally a lawful evil, true neutral, and chaotic good at different points throughout the last session, thus making you a Wild Magic Dm 🤣
When you said, 'I'll let it fly this time', my immediate thought was of Matt Colville. It makes me happy that when I then looked at the screen, I saw his two books in the background
You both seem really energized by this conversation. It was fun to watch. Good idea for a topic!
would be nice for DD to make a video on the tweaks made to the Baldur's Gate 3 classes. I'm pretty much a newbie DM and would like to hear from more experienced people if the tweaks made to that game would translate well to tabletop. The BG3 Thief subclass, for example, gets to take 2 bonus actions in a turn instead of being able to do a Sleight of Hand check as a bonus action. I'd love to have some of those tweaks integrated into my table but I'm not sure if they're game-breakng or not.
I am chaotic evil. I can improvise in a moment's notice, but I want my players to struggle a lot so that the sense of accomplishment will be greater for them.
Sounds like you are chaotic neutral by the Dudes’ definition
This video was so good! Like Monty I am intensely drawn to Lawful Evil, because there's nothing I love more than consequences in my roleplaying. I think the party dying to a dragon is one of the most beautiful ways to end a campaign. However, it is so important to make this clear before the campaign starts. The problem is people are so desperate to join a game they will often pretend to be OK with that sort of thing when you ask them, but they change their tune once they start playing.
I thought this would be a less serious and lighthearted video, but it turns out to be thought provoking and well thought out.
I full admit my alignment is chaotic stupid
I'm Chaotic Evil as a DM. I just love torturing my players with wild twists as they try to save Drakkenheim.
Edit: After actually watching the video, I'm probably closer to Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral. But my players still think I'm evil.
I think I am chaotic neutral. My players unanimously think I'm lawful evil. Lol
That explanation from Monty about true neutral DMs being able to pick the right outer square alignments at the right time is a straight up 20.
These alignments really helped me understand what I've enjoyed in games and what I haven't! I could also see using these alignments to see what players align best with which DM.
This was such a good video to watch! Lots of cool stuff and kind of really makes each DM have a personality as was the purpose, but now I kind of wanna play a game ran with each of these styles just to have a feel for them lol.
A very creative and thoughtful one. Keep up the great work fellas!
I have to say this is an amazing video, the title and subject of discussion was very interesting I am gonna ask my players what alignment that believe themselves to be as storytellers this next week!
Best video you guys have done. Forever DM here and I feel this discussion has been needed for a long time.
Same here.
I think a Lawful Evil DM can be a cool "challenge" for a powergamer or min/maxer. As long as the player/DM relationship is that of respectful opponents. Like a pair of friends meeting in the boxing ring, beat the shit out of each other then grab a beer and laugh afterwards. But it probably works best for for one-shots or short campaigns.
Another smart analysis. Thanks guys! While listening I couldn’t help but test fit all the DMs I’ve had and, of course, wonder where I fit in the few times I DM’d.
This was a really fun watch. Thank you.
More and more I tend to play to find out, but I still can't stop myself, from time to time, to plan and create scenes tailored to my players PCs and backstory. I'm currently DMing an heavily personnalised Curse of Strahd game and it is one of the best Dming experience I've had in the 10 years I've played 5e. All my thanks to you, Dudes, for having such a positive influence on the D&D community. As a fellow Canadian, I'm really proud of you!
very well spoken by the both of you, i enjoyed this one!
I was not expecting to get called out so hard in this video. I'm lawful neutral, and that's my exact style.
I'm running Waterdeep Heist soon and I've put a bunch of cameo characters in the Yawning Portal from sources of inspiration for me as a DM and player over the years. Kelly (as the Thumbnail character) and Monty (as Sebastian Crowe) are at a table!
Thank You Dudes for making awsome videos for so many years!
When I started out as a DM I was CG and had no idea what I was doing, so I mostly just leaned into the rule of cool to make sure my players were having fun. I’ve drifted towards NG the longer my campaign has gone on(close to 4 years now and finally coming to a close somewhat soon) and as I’ve gained experience and confidence, which watching you guys was a big help for btw. You guys really hit the nail on the head with the creating homebrew and using modules/ scrapbooking. I don’t run Eberron, even though I do love it. I run Pathfinder, since Golarion is just an absolutely bonkers setting that has everything. I’m LE whenever I run one shots, but my players love it because it’s so different from the normal game and I always let them know exactly what kind of scenarios they’re in for ahead of time as much as I can without spoiling the fun.
I think I lean more towards Chaotic Neutral but also like a backwards L going towards True Neutral and Chaotic Good. I did in a couple campaigns save the players when my dice were rolling crits like crazy, but also have said the ever so classic line "are you sure?", I have played with a Neutral Evil DM before, who did keep me around for a long time cuz he kept giving like the most OP homebrew magic items. I eventually left the table when I saw what he truly was.
Great Job Dudes 👏 this really helped me understand the style of DM I am CG, and that I've had!
Just ordered your book before the promo too bad because what a deal!
Thanks for kicking but with everything you make
There's another facet to Neutral or Lawful Evil DMs that's been missed: The Jealous Novelist. They say it's a game where you can do what you want and go in whatever direction, but in truth, they're going to railroad you as hard as they can because there's a very specific plotted line they wanted followed. I played with a DM who literally told us "I think I'm gonna write a book about this campaign after we're done." And didn't quite appreciate what that meant for a little while. It wasn't as bad as it could've been though (and don't worry, I was able to pull off a cheeky Henderson) .
I came into this video expecting to identify with Lawful Neutral or maybe even Lawful Evil, since I often stick to the rules to a fault, but I'm glad that I identified much more with Lawful Good, with elements of the adjacent 2 alignments. You're absolutely right, I'm terrified of death saves for that exact reason, but I do actually fudge a few rare rolls (specifically to avoid death saves lmao). I also have only ever been successful with modules, I really appreciate the path to follow. Great video, and have a great day!
I sincerely like this thought experiment :) it's an interesting way to discuss different styles of DM'ing without very quickly getting stuck on what's 'best'. Thanks! (I think I'm Neutral Good, but I'll send my players this link to hear what they think :)
I think this has been one of you guys' best segments! I definitely fit what you described as NG, and a good splash of what you said at 38:33 about deviating in that towards key situations too.
What a thoughtful breakdown great work dudes
Thank you!
This video is so goofy and I AM HERE FOR IT! 😂. Keep up the good work guys. Absolutely loving your multi class series as well.
Love this. Based on your definitions, I seem to be riding the line between Neutral Good and Chaotic Good.
I did not go in thinking I was going to be a Neutral Good DM, but your description of one almost perfectly matched me.
Brilliant tongue-in-cheek video! By your metrics, I'm a lawful-good GM and certainly not ashamed to admit it. I like seeing my players succeed and the feedback from them has been very encouraging and allows me to improve as well. In my mind, it's a win-win scenario if everyone leaving the game table is happy at the end of the evening.
Dang you got me figured out exactly XD. Im a lawful good, and do in fact love the Ebberon setting!
Thanks again for another wonderfully interesting video.
That was awesome !! Pretty sure I've switched alignment (except evil) during campaigns, maybe even during the same session ! Would be nice to see a similarvideo but for players !
Awesome video. Although a bit of fun, you managed to accurately categorise many DMs I know. To the point I sent my friends this video, and they independently came to the same conclusions.
I'd really like you to do the same with players.
Great stuff!
I forget who's DM'ing "A Court of Fey and Flowers" but on the Chaotic Good side of things, there's one spot that speaks to this SO hard.
"I know what I'm doing, and I do what I want." in response to a player asking to cast 2 leveled spells in 1 turn, without the use of action surge or the like.
I had a lawful good DM that used our cleric as a means of guiding us through the campaign. It was my kid's first experience with D&D, and now he loves it 😊 lawful good DM's are the best
As you started describing the Neutral Good DM I was like, “yeah no that definitely sounds like me.” You got to scrapbooking and I do that all the time, on almost every game. And then you said Eberron was the favorite and I resent how accurate you hit the nail on the head
It's amusing how accurate the description of a lawful evil dm is to how I run my games, with the exception of using pre-written modules as I despise those and tend to make entire homebrewed worlds and homebrew my own rules (in addition to the base ones or altering the base ones) but they are presented to the players before hand so they know what they are getting themselves in to. I had been running a completely open world campaign for 2 years set in a dying world in the middle of a apocalypse where player death as not uncommon. Hats off to my players, going trough unspeakable horrors from beyond, limb loss, permanent afflictions, being assassinated (and so on) while loving the game and the messed up wold that was presented before them.
I probably run somewhere along the Lawful to Neutral scale. When I run at an AL day at a local shop I love to represent the games rules as best as I can so that new players can come and play a consistent, balanced game so they can learn the rules. I know when to pull a punch or two so that things are not a complete wash. I like to reward creativity in tactics and spell uses but not distort the bounds of spells to allow something above its level or concept. In my home game I have a group of friends that I know are smart, considerate and DANGEROUS as players. So I can get tricky and use the creatures as intended and with this group I almost never pull my punches or fudge a roll. They will roll with a PC death, Roleplay it and pick themselves up. They trust in me and I trust them. We've played together for over 3 years now and i'm very lucky to have them as players. I'm not perfect but they know i'm giving it my all :)
So for me I sit somewhere between LG, LN and NG. Closest to LG I'd say.
I joined a campaign late one time. I knew most of the players/DM but I had no idea what I was getting into. The DM was definitely CG and leaned heavily into the rule of cool. It took me a while to realize that I was trying to view the game in a more realistic setting, while the DM and a lot of the players were playing in an anime.
Would be interesting to talk about these types of DMs again, but talk about what their worlds feel like. I enjoyed that you brought up Game of Thrones, I think it was for NN. CG really does feel like that anime, anything goes as long as its cool vibe. Curious about the rest!
Love the content as always! Keep it up!
I think this is very much a sliding scale that DMs shift on either in response to players, or events, or just the campaign they're running, but they probably have one they TEND to more often than not.
Interesting thoughts on applying the Alignment Chart to DM styles. I think this was a lot of fun! I'm not really sure where I'd fall but probably in the Neutral Good category. I do always think about my players having fun as my first priority and concern and when I cheat, it's almost always in their favor.
Pretty good. I particularly like the orientation breakdown.
The nuances available are probably broader than you describe though.
Great video that puts a good bit of analysis into how alignments can correspond to DMs. It got me to look at my own games, and while I've only DM'd a couple times, from what I've gathered I seem to be somewhere between Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral. I do very little prep work for sessions, down to (and this is a habit I intend to fix if I DM more. I NEED to take notes about what happened prior sessions) doing most things off memory. So, guaranteed Chaotic, and a little too much for my own good. As for Good-Evil spectrum, that's where I say between because I want a good, well-told story, and I don't MIND having consequences for player characters, but I also root for the players, and give them bonuses and loot that will allow them to survive. That being said, if the rolls go poorly for the players, that's just how it is. Same in reverse, though. If the rolls go poorly for the monsters, that just makes an easy fight for the players, and they end up feeling like badasses because the monsters were utterly incompetent.
That NG DM description was a deliberate, one for one, attack on my life!
Damn you guys nailed me somewhere between lawful neutral and true neutral! I run an Eberron based campaign where I plan 1-2 sessions at a time, wherever my characters take the story. I run each faction as an NPC with their own goals and motivations and let the play decisions shape the world and those factions just react.
I saw myself as an Author - back in AD&D 2e - Dark Sun module to reintroduce psonics back into the world via characters and their development - really want to get back into table top (5e) - hence tumbling onto your channel - thanks guys.