@@NuclearSavety Dude come on man everyone needs to eat. And she mad this video in order to help fellow players & DMs she likes the setting and the Adventure so she decided to help them out by showing there product I'm fine with it...
@@NuclearSavety yeah I understand that and I'm sorry if I came off a little to strong it's just I personally feel that none of use can "throw stones" as the saying go's because in a lot of people's shoes we'd be doing the same thing. And she really does like the setting and adventure she evern says so near the beginning of the video...
@@NuclearSavety true but I've been watching her Channel scenes the first episode she did and Concedering how much cosplaying she's done and how expensive it can get she's not hurting for money so she really believes in it that's my belief anyway...
You have to use that ticking clock sparingly. Using it as a frequent tool will tend to make players feel like they're being pushed or railroaded. Once is great, but diminishing gain from that trick pony. Likewise with the "everyone is relying on you" trope. This works best coming from NPC's that one or more players already have a connection to. Build those connections first and it doesn't feel forced.
Sure, I guess I should've said that - I think pretty much any tactic gets tired if you use it ALL the time. Not every moment of a game needs to have tension, of course.
Managing tension and ramping it up or letting it drop off or cutting it with humor is all part of being a good GM. You definitely don't want a ticking clock all the time.
In my campaign, there is a single mother who lost her only son, believing that he didn't die by accident, and she kept relying on the group of my players because of their reputation. The group kept doing other stuff, although she contacted them again and again. Now, the next time the group is hearing about her, it's when she has already been arrested and locked away because of her obsession with the circumstances of her boy's death. So maybe that twist will make the group investigating.
Things I do to raise the tension : - When running a scenario with 3+ combats in a day, make the first combat almost as hard as the last one, and reduce the difficulty of the middle ones. If your players are aware that there is more in the way, having been forced to use more resources that what they were expecting to will make them scared about their ability to complete the mission. They will be way more on their toes moving forward. - Things must always be on the line. Obviously make your players scared for their characters's lives. My players always joke that I'm out to kill their characters, but they're wrong, the enemies are out to kill them. Alternatively or in conjunction, you can put the lives of NPCs they grew attached to on the line too. I feel like reworking the mechanics of resurections is necessary to achieve all of this. - Give your villains an exit plan. If your players are able to prevent him from fleeing, don't rob them from their victory. If the bad guy manage to flee however, you now have a recurring villain. He might now be aware of the party's usual strategies and will learn to counter them. He could also search to avoid direct conflit, and instead investigate on them, targeting what they love instead. The next time they will face each other, tension will be at its maximum.
@@KaiHung-wv3ul Well... Yes and no. Plan your fights to be beatable without any PC death... but if they choose wrongly and / or get really unlucky with dices, yeah someone might die. In my campaign, I use to do fights that were a cake walk, then I got better at balancing them, and my players almost got TPKed by being over confident. Now they weight their actions quite a lot when playing, and try to avoid fighting as much as possible (except when they REALLY want to kill the bad guy).
Timers are a staple method of building tension - be it real-time, or a turn-based countdown. They also don't always have to be doomsday device. They can instead be special attacks being made by the BBEG that cost one turn to charge and the next turn to execute. Health points are another kind of timer, in a sense. Using variant rules for 5e, like Massive Damage Variant, or using another TTRPG with greater levels of lethality, like Cyberpunk 2020, will build A LOT of tension.
I feel the the responsibility is the biggest one. Players that have a vested interest in the outcome of a campaign will keep them interested even if the stakes are more personal like their favorite tavern is going to go out of business. And even if players manage to fail like say the druids die and the ritual cannot be completed, that responsibility can push the players forward providing new character motivation or goals like trying to save as many people as they can from the onslaught.
Your videos are fantastic and truly helpful. This one on turning on/up the tension is spot on; creating tension is something that is fundamental to all good story telling and for, DND, a great contributor to a fun game but....so easy to not consciously think about. Thanks! And good luck on the Gaeilge!
4:21 creating time pressure is such a good point. i was once in a campaign with a new DM, and because they were unfamiliar with the game, they weren’t afraid to come up with their own gimmicks, including what we called quicktime events lol. nothing caused more tension and PANIC than when the DM started counting down - we had to come up with a plan and roll for it before the clock hit zero or something terrible would happen. we sometimes knew what it was, sometimes didn’t. it was great! it really forced us to pick up the pace and deal with emergencies the way we’d have to in real life (quickly lol)
I added multiple ticking clocks to my Curse of Strahd campaign. They didn't know what they were counting down to, or how long each of the countdowns were, heck, the characters didn't even know some of the timers existed, but the party loved knowing that the world was moving even without their presence. It gave extra urgency to the whole thing.
The last time I ran a module, as written was B-3 "Barrier Peaks" in AD&D sometime in the early 1980's. The last module I ran in an altered form was the Temple of Elemental Evil a couple of years later. - Since then, modules are a source for inspiration and maybe maps.
@@WittyUsername14 Hey, that's a bit judgemental - I mean I know generally we have a certain body type but I try to do my exercise. (/J I know you were just trying to be petty about grammar)
First off, going to look into that Kickstarter right now because that sounds so amazing! Secondly, this video couldn't have come at a better time! In my horror home game I feel like I haven't been good enough as a GM at building tension for the party (or making the BBEG feel like the BBEG). These steps make a lot of sense and are actually exactly what I'm doing at this current section of the game! So not only are they good tips for the future, but they also show that I was doing good already and didn't realize it! Thanks again for a strangely perfectly timed video Ginny!
I guarantee that after a year of consistent duolingo, your Irish would be better than my ~13 years within Ireland's education pipeline 😅😅😅 It's tragic because many of us only begin to appreciate it once we're no longer in school (where it's a mandatory subject, like Maths or P.E.) But aye, happy paddy's day 😄
I've experienced exactly the same in Welsh education. Especially now that speaking Welsh is starting to feel like a good "fuck you" to the English government again.
Yeah, the issue with irish education is that its in our constitution that its our first language and so unfortunately its though as so. Id have appreciated it so much more if it was thought hoe french or an additional language was
•Please tell me they have Léannan Sidhe for a warlock patron option! •My DM is my best friend, so he developed the perfect way to build tension: give my character a love interest. I have highly functioning autism (think of it as "suffering" from clinical levels of nerdity), so as you know doubt figured out from previous comments... I SUCK when it comes to dealing with people. On the other hand, I'm a hopeless romantic and stubborn, so I want to see things work out. Add in my Mother-Hen-Nature, then sit back with some popcorn and watch the comedy of errors unfold! •Holy crap, if you haven't gone already, you need to go to Ireland! Few things are as breathtaking as looking out over the fields as you're starting your descent to Shannon International... unless the girls are still singing at Bunratty Castle. Their voices will take your breath away!
Well done Ginny. You're not only sold in a tangible way that the module is very good without Giving away the entire module. You also made a video that teaches a valuable lesson in DMing at the same time! That is hard to do! Very well done!
You mention leprechauns riding killer geese at the end of the video?!? That should have been first! JK this setting sounds really cool. I'm taking notes on how to ramp up the tension for my next session. Many thanks Ginny/Penny Dragon!
Excellent info----this is very good stuff. First off, just to leapfrog on one point--published modules are the best way for any DM to start out their career. You see how to plan encounters, manage time in a dungeon or in wilderness. You see how NPC encounters are set up. Most of the grunt work of running a game is done for you and all you have to do is tailor the encounters for your party. And always start your party at first level---the fewer options your players have will make your job much easier. First level parties are very resourceful because they have to be, and this is a great way for anyone running a game for the first time to get their feet under them. A few things to add here. The ticking clock is essential and there are several ways of accomplishing this. A rival NPC party who is going after the same thing the party is is one possibility. Another is if the PCs don't act the bad guys will strike again, victimizing someone else. Rooting out a werewolf might be one type of encounter like this. The moons are your clock here. Or perhaps someone else has been infected and now they have two werewolves to contend with---inaction or lack of progress has consequences. Creating running battles also gives players a sense of tension as well---where the party has to retreat, advance, the enemy gets a wave of reinforcements, there's a bubbling caldron sitting in a hearth with an unknown boiling liquid---overwhelm your party--while giving them clear lines of retreat. Another use of a ticking clock is they have only a little time before the enemy comes crashing through that door. Create unbalanced encounters---not everything is a fair fight and the opposition is going to do everything in their power to make it unfair. Really good tactics from an enemy can also create it's own level of tension. Be creative with monster poisons, too. What happens when a poison paralyzes someone instead of just doing damage or killing a character? If they make a save--let it paralyze a certain muscle group--within a certain number of rounds. It's another way of putting a ticking clock on the party.
Lol you threw me off so much when you opened that in Irish. I'm Irish and have a fortnightly meetup night where we speak Irish so it caught me off guard when my mind switched to Irish without expecting it!
One simple thing I like to do in tense scenes is show the players my hand with fingers outstretched and start counting down with the fingers. This way, they don't get to think for a while and hold a council before a decision. Works well with sudden traps, NPCs appearing out of nowhere, stand-offs, or just to shorten combat rounds (as in, "you guys have time to think until I, the GM, get bored").
Ginny makes a really important point about limiting player knowledge. A lot of players know their way around Monster Manuals and the rules of certain game settings; it's difficult to create tension when they know what a threat can do. Sometimes the most tense encounter is when players encounter an Outside Context Problem and have no idea what could happen. Even if it's a balanced encounter, it'll still crank up the tension because they won't be able to be confident even on a meta level.
I've never run a module and maybe if I did it would make me a better DM, but I do read lots of modules for inspiration and they have helped me immensely. I feel like it's important to remember that even if you aren't interested in running a module, you can still learn from them.
One thing we do in my D&D game is that the spell casters write down incantations for their spells in whatever language they're studying--usually it's just the name of the spell. But I also look up translations online whenever I want some foreign-sounding dialogue. I use Icelandic for Dwarvish and Bulgarian for Draconic, and I use a mix of Tolkien's Elvish and Welsh for Elvish in the game.
This was really great advice! I'm definitely going to be using these tips. I've found another good way to increase tension is to invade the party's safe spaces, or the times when they feel certain of what's going to happen. One of my favourite moments when this happened was when the party was Scrying on an enemy wizard. He was doing some work, and then as they watched, they managed to notice he was casting a spell. Scrying right back at them, even looking right into the "camera" and saying the Cleric's name out loud to him. It was a bit 4-th wall breaking but in the best way
Re: 1:30 "And the name, Cú Chulainn, Was sung out loud that night, In a tale of rage and ruin and of might! And the name, Cú Chulainn, So furious and wild, To remain in myth and memory, A legend of the isle!" ~ Miracle of Sound
I noticed the Gaelic right away since I'm running a Changeling the Dreaming campaign & needed to fire up the Duolingo just like you to pronounce any of the names. Well done!
@@elliel.5915 Changeling the Dreaming is a tabletop RPG created by White Wolf Games in the 90s. Along with several other games in the line like Vampire the Masquerade & Werewolf the Apocolypse the player characters take the role of creatures that would normally be considered the monsters in a game like D&D. In this case Changelings are Fairy souls attached to human souls in order for them to act in the real world and focus the powers of their home realm, the Dreaming.
A huge thing I learned from a debate thing that Brennan Lee Mulligan was in (don't remember the other person) over death saving throws being done in private between the DM and the player making the rolls. Having players not know whether or not their buddy is about to be saved, or is one roll away from being stabilized, makes getting to your downed comrades feel much more pressing. You could even have the death itself be a secret, only letting the other players know if their friend has died when they take the time to check for their vitals.
I like to use "ticking clocks" in my adventures to build tension. Thanks for the good examples, it's always good to get a fresh and other perspective. :)
Excellent video, thank you so much! I really like the idea of deafening your players in anticipation for a tension scene. Dunno how it plays in this module, and not familiar with the D&D bestiary, but the idea of having a boss that would be easy to track with hearing, but that asks you to survive the time you’re recovering from that status sounds like an exciting boss fight to me, especially since incantation based spells are void
All great tips, definitely going to use some! I would also give an honourable mention to music; the choice of some high intensity music for a fight can really make the difference between a tough but winnable encounter, and one where players feel a real sense of urgency to act quickly and win fast.
One of your better works. Liked this even more than some of the songs you've done! This is some great GM/Story stuff. Totally going to check out this Kickstarter.
This sounds like a really exciting adventure! Though for me, if there's something I need to get better at DMing, it's pretty much the reverse - taking tension and urgency out so that players can just explore the region at their leisure sometimes!
This sounds pretty cool thanks for sharing my friends and I did "light on details" mission somewhat similar to this once basically an orc army invaded the town and we had to reach the castle while in the city orcs clashed with knights, we made our way to the throne room to find the bbeg had broken into the throne room to get to an artifact to open a vault of weapons and we had a fight on our hands also this scenario sounds awesome because i wanted to make my own mission where "oh no people are trapped in their homes as bad guys cut through the city" and we have to get them either to evacuation (from a port) or to the castle where they've set up shelter. obviously this has much more and I'm new to GM'ing myself so i have a few books with modules so i can find inspiration and this sounds like another good avenue to explore :)
6:35: "Mechanically, [enemies attacking the druids rather than the party] takes pressure off the party, because they're not getting hit, but narratively it turns up the pressure, because it'll make your players feel like they need to defend their allies." That kind of depends on what the consequences are for losing druids. If letting them get killed means you fail the quest, then that's turning the pressure _way_ up in a mechanical sense. Just ask anyone who's ever played an escort quest in a video game: having to keep an NPC from dying is far, far worse than simply keeping yourself from dying.
Start of the combat encounters, my players are level 5 and they’re a pretty big party (5 players). They’re doing pretty well in the combat encounter when their opponents send their shock troop, an umber hulk. It lands right on the warlock and because of how the attack played out it’s a surprise round, warlock down to like 10 hit points. Roll initiative, only the paladin rolled better than the Umber hulk, and they’re 60 feet away, still run and dashes to at least had their aura on the warlock. Umber hulk’s turn, downs the warlock in one hit but it’s got Multi attack! Warlock is now at two failed death saves and they sadly rolled good on the initiative so there’s only a bard before them, which fails it’s charisma saving throw and could do anything because of the umber hulk’s eyes thingie. Never has everyone been so silent focused on a roll, and the relief when the warlock rolled an 11 and the other bard could cast healing word is the reason why I don’t let the players steamroll through my games, that tension of fighting a genuinely difficult foe and being fully aware that if you make big strategical your opponents will utilise them is a big part of dnd for me
I like playing in modules but run original. Spent four years making a Bloodborne sequel story campaign with rules and classes. And I'm relieved that you and I think the same about tension and I didn't just waste my time.
Holy shit, that Irish is actually very good, good job ginny, keep it up, it's amazing to see people actually learning Irish outside of Ireland, beidh an tádh dearg agat.
I am currently writing a campaign for a first time player, where I took inspiration from Persona, so certain things are only accessible on certain days, meaning that the player has to plan ahead. It is also only meant for this one player, and they don't play a combat class, so the campaign is set in a town, where there are laws, so you can't just kill people. If the player gets into a fight and loses, they will end up in jail, and will have to talk or pay their way out, losing time or money, both of which are precious resources. I have also made sure that you can get through the entire campaign without having to fight once, and have even built in a helper NPC, who is a rogue that will enter and exit shadows to help, should the player need it at a critical moment.
Ana mhaith ar fad, tá do Gaeilge go h'íontach! Great video, and the Kickstarter looks great too! I love seeing Celtic lore being used, mainly because a lot of it is bat-shit crazy!!! But Cú Chulainn was no joke!
I almost run Adventure paths (prewritten multi book adventures) for Pathfinder 2e pretty exclusively but I love rewriting NPCs and reskinning stuff for a more personal and customized adventure. Also can make them much longer at that point but I love it
Best part of Curse of Strahd is playing him and terrorizing the players. Building up to the main fight as they level up. Can kill one party member and just leave. Then repeat. Allows a situation to play out depending on if you made a deal with an NPC. Also, may make them play different in the castle and not just charge.
I still steal from modules all the time but I never 'run' them except for Eat The Rich series. Those adventures honestly have it all with a bag of anticapitalist chips.
I started as a DM planning to follow an already made story, but my pcs killed everyone in the town so I just started my own story based on their actions
I adore your content 🥰 you always make me feel so inspired and capable lol I also wanted to say that I’ve noticed the changes to your eyebrow color and I LOVE your brows in this video! They’re perfect 🥰
The undead reminded me of the fact that my players were supposed to go to a hospital to deal with the undead, but instead they decided to rob a train, which led them to a ghost town filled with hiding myconids who come out at night. They came out in hundreds and my players decided to burn the town down, rather than maneuver the rooftops to avoid the spores. Mind you, the town is dry wood, in the desert, full of myconids, which can burn, and are also now connected to them and paralyzing them with spores. So my players can’t move and set a town on fire around them
Excellent advice and kudos to the writers of the adventure for building in tension. However, I worry that 5e mechanics could do an end-run around a lot of it. Flying PCs could avoid much of the trouble just by flying over it. A low-level spell or two could negate temporary deafness effect.
@mcolville has an entertaining video on GMing sandbox vs railroad campaigns that lays out some potential risks to 'pushing the party along' too sternly. For a one- or two-shot, it makes a lot of sense, but use these skills sparingly in long, arcing storylines, else you might fatigue your party.
7:30 hey heads up, they seem to have forgotten to bold "vulnerabilities" under damage vulnerabilities. If that's already the final version, just ignore me. It's not important anyways, just noticed and wanted to point out in case they cared
I highly recommend Lora O'Brian's reading of the Táin Bó Cúailnge as a go-to reference and inspiration for adventures inspired by the old Irish stories, especially if Ulster Cycle figures like Fergus, Maeve or Cú Chulainn are your jam. It reads like the main series of Star Wars, but better. Also, that moment when the dying cameo NPC barbarian keeps punching the doctors dead because none of them can get him back above 0 hp and/or catastrophic ability drain. If you know, you know.
I hope that the Barbarian rage is called "warp spasm". I also REALLY hope that the party meets a Dun Cow at some point. They could do with some good vellum to record their adventures. And, if it leads to a cattle raid, so much the better.
If looking for thematic music to accompany a Celtic themed campaign I highly recommend the Irish bands Dervish, Flook, Lunasa and Danu, and the Scottish bands Breabach, Rura and Kinnaris Quintet.
This sounds rad. Folks into Celtic themed adventures should also check out Castles & Crusades, with their Celtic Codex and a series of Celtic themed adventure modules.
ur pronounciation is a little off but its so wonderful to see people - especially those with little or no experience of irish learning the language!! really fills me with bród to see people learning our great language :)
I am under no illusions of having good pronunciation, especially since there are so few resources (AND so many different dialects!) but I do my best with the resources I have access to!
There is a local brewery here that named one of their beers “Pog Mo Thoin”. Cracked me up, especially since the bartender where I ordered it had no idea what it meant.😅
I have been obsessed with Irish mythology and use it in my campaign. I also use it in my writing! I absolutely love it. Also, Cú Chulainn is underrated!
I have the feeling that a ticking clock a bit too pressing may actually hinder player's sense of responsability. When there is no time for reflection, there is no time for real agency either : you just do what you have to (or rather what you're told to do) without thinking twice. I guess like all things, it's a matter of balance. Nice vid anyway, thx Ginny !
What I think is kinda sad is that we don’t put as much interest in Germanic folklore. A lot of it is lost (or has been actively destroyed by for example the brothers Grimm) but there are so many interesting beings in for example the German speaking regions that seem to be losley based on what the Scandinavians called elfs or dwarfs (which probably were synonymous, although Tolkien changed that in modern fantasy) in “German folklore” which is not really a unified thing but still connected you have so many stuff from “bergmännlein” (mine ghosts) over Druden (nightmare demons, etymological also the reason it’s called nightMARE or ALBtraum) to the famous Klabautermann (ship ghost similar to a house ghost or poltergeist). They also have variant names, so is the traditional name for natureghosts in Swabian, where I’m from Schratt. There are creatures like the Sandmann, the Huzelmännle, Buzelmann and so forth
Apparently all I need to do to make my players tense is just say, "Okay." in a quiet voice when they say what they're going to do. Or if I grin. Just a small grin for no obvious reasons will have the players second-guessing their decisions and plans and trying to think of other ideas that they may have missed. Frankly, they are the best well of ideas for things, twists, and adventure ideas for me to work with sometimes. 😀 And that's only because I often apparently keep them so tense that they're always second-guessing themselves. Which amuses me to no end.
Great video length. I just wanted a little something before hitting the sack, as I was too tired to play or get into something long after a hard day. This was a good short set of advice.
Nice video, as always. I think this would fit nicely in our fantasy earth setting. At the moment my players are in Albion, on their way to Caledonia. I'll check their Kickstarter. Thanks again. Cheers.
Thanks to Penny Dragon Games for sponsoring today's video!
Pledge on Kickstarter for the Vagabond's Guide to Dalriada: bit.ly/3YnDemL
I love your new Hair Style it looks good on you also I'm a huge fan of your channel keep up the Awesome Work 👍😎
@@NuclearSavety Dude come on man everyone needs to eat. And she mad this video in order to help fellow players & DMs she likes the setting and the Adventure so she decided to help them out by showing there product I'm fine with it...
@@NuclearSavety yeah I understand that and I'm sorry if I came off a little to strong it's just I personally feel that none of use can "throw stones" as the saying go's because in a lot of people's shoes we'd be doing the same thing.
And she really does like the setting and adventure she evern says so near the beginning of the video...
@@NuclearSavety true but I've been watching her Channel scenes the first episode she did and Concedering how much cosplaying she's done and how expensive it can get she's not hurting for money so she really believes in it that's my belief anyway...
@@NuclearSavety alright, it's not that big a deal. Find other reviews if you're sceptical.
This channel is not just for dungeon and dragons players, this is for writers!
Thanks!
+1 Right?! I am relooking at some scenes I wrote for a series of novellas and realizing, "I need to redo this NOW".
I love the system agnostic content.
That’s why I subscribe to different artistic channels: animators, DMs, hey all have something to share about storytelling
Happy Irish heritage month! Thanks for the amazing shoutout, Ginny! Hope everyone enjoys the book :)
You have to use that ticking clock sparingly. Using it as a frequent tool will tend to make players feel like they're being pushed or railroaded. Once is great, but diminishing gain from that trick pony.
Likewise with the "everyone is relying on you" trope. This works best coming from NPC's that one or more players already have a connection to. Build those connections first and it doesn't feel forced.
Sure, I guess I should've said that - I think pretty much any tactic gets tired if you use it ALL the time. Not every moment of a game needs to have tension, of course.
Managing tension and ramping it up or letting it drop off or cutting it with humor is all part of being a good GM. You definitely don't want a ticking clock all the time.
In my campaign, there is a single mother who lost her only son, believing that he didn't die by accident, and she kept relying on the group of my players because of their reputation. The group kept doing other stuff, although she contacted them again and again.
Now, the next time the group is hearing about her, it's when she has already been arrested and locked away because of her obsession with the circumstances of her boy's death. So maybe that twist will make the group investigating.
@@NickTheCat_DieGoettlichenZehn
Ohhh, please do tell us how that goes when it happens, I wanna know now :D
One of my GMs never stopped using the ticking clock then got upset at us for trying to go at a faster pace and stopped running the game
Ginny giving good DM advice: I sleep
Ginny speaking Irish out of nowhere: REAL SHIT
You had me at subclass based off Cu Chulainn. Probably my favorite mythological character. Can't wait to see how they put the "warp spasm" into action
Things I do to raise the tension :
- When running a scenario with 3+ combats in a day, make the first combat almost as hard as the last one, and reduce the difficulty of the middle ones. If your players are aware that there is more in the way, having been forced to use more resources that what they were expecting to will make them scared about their ability to complete the mission. They will be way more on their toes moving forward.
- Things must always be on the line. Obviously make your players scared for their characters's lives. My players always joke that I'm out to kill their characters, but they're wrong, the enemies are out to kill them. Alternatively or in conjunction, you can put the lives of NPCs they grew attached to on the line too. I feel like reworking the mechanics of resurections is necessary to achieve all of this.
- Give your villains an exit plan. If your players are able to prevent him from fleeing, don't rob them from their victory. If the bad guy manage to flee however, you now have a recurring villain. He might now be aware of the party's usual strategies and will learn to counter them. He could also search to avoid direct conflit, and instead investigate on them, targeting what they love instead. The next time they will face each other, tension will be at its maximum.
So basically, don't try to kill the PCs, but make them FEEL like you're trying to kill the PCs.
@@KaiHung-wv3ul Well... Yes and no. Plan your fights to be beatable without any PC death... but if they choose wrongly and / or get really unlucky with dices, yeah someone might die.
In my campaign, I use to do fights that were a cake walk, then I got better at balancing them, and my players almost got TPKed by being over confident. Now they weight their actions quite a lot when playing, and try to avoid fighting as much as possible (except when they REALLY want to kill the bad guy).
Timers are a staple method of building tension - be it real-time, or a turn-based countdown. They also don't always have to be doomsday device. They can instead be special attacks being made by the BBEG that cost one turn to charge and the next turn to execute. Health points are another kind of timer, in a sense. Using variant rules for 5e, like Massive Damage Variant, or using another TTRPG with greater levels of lethality, like Cyberpunk 2020, will build A LOT of tension.
I feel the the responsibility is the biggest one. Players that have a vested interest in the outcome of a campaign will keep them interested even if the stakes are more personal like their favorite tavern is going to go out of business. And even if players manage to fail like say the druids die and the ritual cannot be completed, that responsibility can push the players forward providing new character motivation or goals like trying to save as many people as they can from the onslaught.
Your videos are fantastic and truly helpful. This one on turning on/up the tension is spot on; creating tension is something that is fundamental to all good story telling and for, DND, a great contributor to a fun game but....so easy to not consciously think about. Thanks! And good luck on the Gaeilge!
4:21 creating time pressure is such a good point. i was once in a campaign with a new DM, and because they were unfamiliar with the game, they weren’t afraid to come up with their own gimmicks, including what we called quicktime events lol. nothing caused more tension and PANIC than when the DM started counting down - we had to come up with a plan and roll for it before the clock hit zero or something terrible would happen. we sometimes knew what it was, sometimes didn’t. it was great! it really forced us to pick up the pace and deal with emergencies the way we’d have to in real life (quickly lol)
I added multiple ticking clocks to my Curse of Strahd campaign. They didn't know what they were counting down to, or how long each of the countdowns were, heck, the characters didn't even know some of the timers existed, but the party loved knowing that the world was moving even without their presence. It gave extra urgency to the whole thing.
Shout out to us DMs who have never run a single module but have been DMing for years 🙌
The last time I ran a module, as written was B-3 "Barrier Peaks" in AD&D sometime in the early 1980's.
The last module I ran in an altered form was the Temple of Elemental Evil a couple of years later.
-
Since then, modules are a source for inspiration and maybe maps.
Have never ran*
Yup. Helps with meta playing
@@WittyUsername14 Hey, that's a bit judgemental - I mean I know generally we have a certain body type but I try to do my exercise.
(/J I know you were just trying to be petty about grammar)
Wtf is a nodule? Lmao
Keep up the good work with the Irish - and the content in general!
From a Dubliner who enjoys your videos.
God, the moment you pronounced the Sidhe correctly at the beginning I was two thumbs up straight away
First off, going to look into that Kickstarter right now because that sounds so amazing!
Secondly, this video couldn't have come at a better time! In my horror home game I feel like I haven't been good enough as a GM at building tension for the party (or making the BBEG feel like the BBEG). These steps make a lot of sense and are actually exactly what I'm doing at this current section of the game! So not only are they good tips for the future, but they also show that I was doing good already and didn't realize it!
Thanks again for a strangely perfectly timed video Ginny!
I guarantee that after a year of consistent duolingo, your Irish would be better than my ~13 years within Ireland's education pipeline 😅😅😅 It's tragic because many of us only begin to appreciate it once we're no longer in school (where it's a mandatory subject, like Maths or P.E.)
But aye, happy paddy's day 😄
I've experienced exactly the same in Welsh education. Especially now that speaking Welsh is starting to feel like a good "fuck you" to the English government again.
Yeah, the issue with irish education is that its in our constitution that its our first language and so unfortunately its though as so. Id have appreciated it so much more if it was thought hoe french or an additional language was
•Please tell me they have Léannan Sidhe for a warlock patron option!
•My DM is my best friend, so he developed the perfect way to build tension: give my character a love interest. I have highly functioning autism (think of it as "suffering" from clinical levels of nerdity), so as you know doubt figured out from previous comments... I SUCK when it comes to dealing with people. On the other hand, I'm a hopeless romantic and stubborn, so I want to see things work out. Add in my Mother-Hen-Nature, then sit back with some popcorn and watch the comedy of errors unfold!
•Holy crap, if you haven't gone already, you need to go to Ireland! Few things are as breathtaking as looking out over the fields as you're starting your descent to Shannon International... unless the girls are still singing at Bunratty Castle. Their voices will take your breath away!
A wizardly P.I. might disagree with you about your choice of patron.
@@hoosieryank6731 true
Léannan Sidhe as a warlock patron option? Yes please, I want to play a Harry Dresden Character so bad 😂😂😂
Well done Ginny. You're not only sold in a tangible way that the module is very good without Giving away the entire module. You also made a video that teaches a valuable lesson in DMing at the same time! That is hard to do! Very well done!
This is the 1st Sponsored module spotlight I have wanted to buy in a while.
You mention leprechauns riding killer geese at the end of the video?!? That should have been first! JK this setting sounds really cool. I'm taking notes on how to ramp up the tension for my next session. Many thanks Ginny/Penny Dragon!
Killer FIRE-BREATHING geese
Excellent info----this is very good stuff.
First off, just to leapfrog on one point--published modules are the best way for any DM to start out their career. You see how to plan encounters, manage time in a dungeon or in wilderness. You see how NPC encounters are set up. Most of the grunt work of running a game is done for you and all you have to do is tailor the encounters for your party.
And always start your party at first level---the fewer options your players have will make your job much easier. First level parties are very resourceful because they have to be, and this is a great way for anyone running a game for the first time to get their feet under them.
A few things to add here. The ticking clock is essential and there are several ways of accomplishing this. A rival NPC party who is going after the same thing the party is is one possibility. Another is if the PCs don't act the bad guys will strike again, victimizing someone else. Rooting out a werewolf might be one type of encounter like this. The moons are your clock here. Or perhaps someone else has been infected and now they have two werewolves to contend with---inaction or lack of progress has consequences.
Creating running battles also gives players a sense of tension as well---where the party has to retreat, advance, the enemy gets a wave of reinforcements, there's a bubbling caldron sitting in a hearth with an unknown boiling liquid---overwhelm your party--while giving them clear lines of retreat. Another use of a ticking clock is they have only a little time before the enemy comes crashing through that door. Create unbalanced encounters---not everything is a fair fight and the opposition is going to do everything in their power to make it unfair. Really good tactics from an enemy can also create it's own level of tension.
Be creative with monster poisons, too. What happens when a poison paralyzes someone instead of just doing damage or killing a character? If they make a save--let it paralyze a certain muscle group--within a certain number of rounds. It's another way of putting a ticking clock on the party.
Lol you threw me off so much when you opened that in Irish. I'm Irish and have a fortnightly meetup night where we speak Irish so it caught me off guard when my mind switched to Irish without expecting it!
One simple thing I like to do in tense scenes is show the players my hand with fingers outstretched and start counting down with the fingers. This way, they don't get to think for a while and hold a council before a decision. Works well with sudden traps, NPCs appearing out of nowhere, stand-offs, or just to shorten combat rounds (as in, "you guys have time to think until I, the GM, get bored").
Ginny makes a really important point about limiting player knowledge. A lot of players know their way around Monster Manuals and the rules of certain game settings; it's difficult to create tension when they know what a threat can do.
Sometimes the most tense encounter is when players encounter an Outside Context Problem and have no idea what could happen. Even if it's a balanced encounter, it'll still crank up the tension because they won't be able to be confident even on a meta level.
I've never run a module and maybe if I did it would make me a better DM, but I do read lots of modules for inspiration and they have helped me immensely. I feel like it's important to remember that even if you aren't interested in running a module, you can still learn from them.
One thing we do in my D&D game is that the spell casters write down incantations for their spells in whatever language they're studying--usually it's just the name of the spell. But I also look up translations online whenever I want some foreign-sounding dialogue. I use Icelandic for Dwarvish and Bulgarian for Draconic, and I use a mix of Tolkien's Elvish and Welsh for Elvish in the game.
Comhghairdeas! I’ve been learning Irish Gaelic for a few years now on Duolingo. Keep going agus go n-éirí an t-ádh leat!
This was really great advice! I'm definitely going to be using these tips. I've found another good way to increase tension is to invade the party's safe spaces, or the times when they feel certain of what's going to happen. One of my favourite moments when this happened was when the party was Scrying on an enemy wizard. He was doing some work, and then as they watched, they managed to notice he was casting a spell. Scrying right back at them, even looking right into the "camera" and saying the Cleric's name out loud to him. It was a bit 4-th wall breaking but in the best way
Re: 1:30
"And the name, Cú Chulainn,
Was sung out loud that night,
In a tale of rage and ruin and of might!
And the name, Cú Chulainn,
So furious and wild,
To remain in myth and memory,
A legend of the isle!"
~ Miracle of Sound
I noticed the Gaelic right away since I'm running a Changeling the Dreaming campaign & needed to fire up the Duolingo just like you to pronounce any of the names. Well done!
May I ask what Changeling the Dreaming is? I haven't heard of it before
@@elliel.5915 Changeling the Dreaming is a tabletop RPG created by White Wolf Games in the 90s. Along with several other games in the line like Vampire the Masquerade & Werewolf the Apocolypse the player characters take the role of creatures that would normally be considered the monsters in a game like D&D. In this case Changelings are Fairy souls attached to human souls in order for them to act in the real world and focus the powers of their home realm, the Dreaming.
A huge thing I learned from a debate thing that Brennan Lee Mulligan was in (don't remember the other person) over death saving throws being done in private between the DM and the player making the rolls. Having players not know whether or not their buddy is about to be saved, or is one roll away from being stabilized, makes getting to your downed comrades feel much more pressing. You could even have the death itself be a secret, only letting the other players know if their friend has died when they take the time to check for their vitals.
I like to use "ticking clocks" in my adventures to build tension. Thanks for the good examples, it's always good to get a fresh and other perspective. :)
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you too Ginny! As an Irishman myself I'm impressed with your Gaeilge - keep up the good work! :)
Excellent video, thank you so much! I really like the idea of deafening your players in anticipation for a tension scene. Dunno how it plays in this module, and not familiar with the D&D bestiary, but the idea of having a boss that would be easy to track with hearing, but that asks you to survive the time you’re recovering from that status sounds like an exciting boss fight to me, especially since incantation based spells are void
All great tips, definitely going to use some! I would also give an honourable mention to music; the choice of some high intensity music for a fight can really make the difference between a tough but winnable encounter, and one where players feel a real sense of urgency to act quickly and win fast.
One of your better works. Liked this even more than some of the songs you've done! This is some great GM/Story stuff. Totally going to check out this Kickstarter.
This sounds like a really exciting adventure! Though for me, if there's something I need to get better at DMing, it's pretty much the reverse - taking tension and urgency out so that players can just explore the region at their leisure sometimes!
I’ve already bookmarked the Kickstarter, this is the 3rd creator review I’ve seen this week. I can’t wait!
This setting sounds extremely cool.
This sounds pretty cool thanks for sharing
my friends and I did "light on details" mission somewhat similar to this once
basically an orc army invaded the town and we had to reach the castle while in the city orcs clashed with knights, we made our way to the throne room to find the bbeg had broken into the throne room to get to an artifact to open a vault of weapons and we had a fight on our hands
also this scenario sounds awesome because i wanted to make my own mission where "oh no people are trapped in their homes as bad guys cut through the city" and we have to get them either to evacuation (from a port) or to the castle where they've set up shelter.
obviously this has much more and I'm new to GM'ing myself so i have a few books with modules so i can find inspiration and this sounds like another good avenue to explore :)
6:35: "Mechanically, [enemies attacking the druids rather than the party] takes pressure off the party, because they're not getting hit, but narratively it turns up the pressure, because it'll make your players feel like they need to defend their allies."
That kind of depends on what the consequences are for losing druids. If letting them get killed means you fail the quest, then that's turning the pressure _way_ up in a mechanical sense. Just ask anyone who's ever played an escort quest in a video game: having to keep an NPC from dying is far, far worse than simply keeping yourself from dying.
Start of the combat encounters, my players are level 5 and they’re a pretty big party (5 players). They’re doing pretty well in the combat encounter when their opponents send their shock troop, an umber hulk. It lands right on the warlock and because of how the attack played out it’s a surprise round, warlock down to like 10 hit points. Roll initiative, only the paladin rolled better than the Umber hulk, and they’re 60 feet away, still run and dashes to at least had their aura on the warlock. Umber hulk’s turn, downs the warlock in one hit but it’s got Multi attack! Warlock is now at two failed death saves and they sadly rolled good on the initiative so there’s only a bard before them, which fails it’s charisma saving throw and could do anything because of the umber hulk’s eyes thingie. Never has everyone been so silent focused on a roll, and the relief when the warlock rolled an 11 and the other bard could cast healing word is the reason why I don’t let the players steamroll through my games, that tension of fighting a genuinely difficult foe and being fully aware that if you make big strategical your opponents will utilise them is a big part of dnd for me
Awesome video! (And love the new eyebrow colors)
I like playing in modules but run original. Spent four years making a Bloodborne sequel story campaign with rules and classes. And I'm relieved that you and I think the same about tension and I didn't just waste my time.
Great video as always! A good example of this is also the adventure "The killing Game" by De Genesis. Ok, complet other system, but realy great mood.
Holy shit, that Irish is actually very good, good job ginny, keep it up, it's amazing to see people actually learning Irish outside of Ireland, beidh an tádh dearg agat.
I am currently writing a campaign for a first time player, where I took inspiration from Persona, so certain things are only accessible on certain days, meaning that the player has to plan ahead.
It is also only meant for this one player, and they don't play a combat class, so the campaign is set in a town, where there are laws, so you can't just kill people.
If the player gets into a fight and loses, they will end up in jail, and will have to talk or pay their way out, losing time or money, both of which are precious resources.
I have also made sure that you can get through the entire campaign without having to fight once, and have even built in a helper NPC, who is a rogue that will enter and exit shadows to help, should the player need it at a critical moment.
Ana mhaith ar fad, tá do Gaeilge go h'íontach! Great video, and the Kickstarter looks great too! I love seeing Celtic lore being used, mainly because a lot of it is bat-shit crazy!!! But Cú Chulainn was no joke!
EXCELLENT Video, omg
Putting this in my Always Review when you're in need of Session Muse
Awesome video for GMs! Also.. LOVE THE HAIR!
I almost run Adventure paths (prewritten multi book adventures) for Pathfinder 2e pretty exclusively but I love rewriting NPCs and reskinning stuff for a more personal and customized adventure. Also can make them much longer at that point but I love it
This is so cool! Your advice is great, and the module and the campaign setting sound awesome!
My wife and I are also using Duolingo. :). We’re learning Norwegian. Vi elsker videoene dine!
Shout out to the Scottish Gaelic speakers in the comments, love seeing the cousins ❤
Best part of Curse of Strahd is playing him and terrorizing the players. Building up to the main fight as they level up.
Can kill one party member and just leave. Then repeat. Allows a situation to play out depending on if you made a deal with an NPC. Also, may make them play different in the castle and not just charge.
You had me at leprechauns riding geese. Fine I’ll back the damn Kickstarter.
I still steal from modules all the time but I never 'run' them except for Eat The Rich series. Those adventures honestly have it all with a bag of anticapitalist chips.
Love this style of module, I used modules a bit too much but really would love to take one and then use it in my own campaign
I struggle so hard to tip that fine line between making an encounter difficult without being overwhelming
I started as a DM planning to follow an already made story, but my pcs killed everyone in the town so I just started my own story based on their actions
I adore your content 🥰 you always make me feel so inspired and capable lol
I also wanted to say that I’ve noticed the changes to your eyebrow color and I LOVE your brows in this video! They’re perfect 🥰
The undead reminded me of the fact that my players were supposed to go to a hospital to deal with the undead, but instead they decided to rob a train, which led them to a ghost town filled with hiding myconids who come out at night. They came out in hundreds and my players decided to burn the town down, rather than maneuver the rooftops to avoid the spores. Mind you, the town is dry wood, in the desert, full of myconids, which can burn, and are also now connected to them and paralyzing them with spores. So my players can’t move and set a town on fire around them
As far as learning Gaeilge, as well as running the Dalriada campaign, I will just say: Adh mor. This all sounds really cool.
"Nobody likes watching a friendly NPC get murdered." Please tell this to my group.
Excellent advice and kudos to the writers of the adventure for building in tension. However, I worry that 5e mechanics could do an end-run around a lot of it. Flying PCs could avoid much of the trouble just by flying over it. A low-level spell or two could negate temporary deafness effect.
I have a character based on Cú Chulainn! I made them a rune knight fighter that dual wields two light spears, super fun to play
from an Irish man, your pronunciation is excellent! go maith
Ooooo I love Celtic stuff!! Will def have to check this out!!!
A shamrock shake for all my full blooded kin across the pond
~me, a mutt 💚
Even tho i'm moving away from running 5e, these ideas are great no matter the game. Thank you so muc for making this!
not a gm (yet, i've only been a player 6 months) but i watch these anyway bc it helps me understand what goes into being a gm 😊
A Dungeon Master is a powerful god-like being that watches over adventurers and ushers them to riches or death. The game master plays a game!
very much lookig forward to the Vagabond's Guide to Dalriada, I'm just lucky preorders are still open
I play a coastal Druid who chants his spell names in Gaelic ✌🏾💕 that intro got me.
@mcolville has an entertaining video on GMing sandbox vs railroad campaigns that lays out some potential risks to 'pushing the party along' too sternly. For a one- or two-shot, it makes a lot of sense, but use these skills sparingly in long, arcing storylines, else you might fatigue your party.
7:30 hey heads up, they seem to have forgotten to bold "vulnerabilities" under damage vulnerabilities.
If that's already the final version, just ignore me. It's not important anyways, just noticed and wanted to point out in case they cared
They are indeed still finalizing layouts, good catch though!
I highly recommend Lora O'Brian's reading of the Táin Bó Cúailnge as a go-to reference and inspiration for adventures inspired by the old Irish stories, especially if Ulster Cycle figures like Fergus, Maeve or Cú Chulainn are your jam. It reads like the main series of Star Wars, but better.
Also, that moment when the dying cameo NPC barbarian keeps punching the doctors dead because none of them can get him back above 0 hp and/or catastrophic ability drain. If you know, you know.
I hope that the Barbarian rage is called "warp spasm".
I also REALLY hope that the party meets a Dun Cow at some point. They could do with some good vellum to record their adventures. And, if it leads to a cattle raid, so much the better.
YOUR IRISH IS SO GOOD. I don't know if it's just my local dialect but that's not how we pronounce Gaeilge
If looking for thematic music to accompany a Celtic themed campaign I highly recommend the Irish bands Dervish, Flook, Lunasa and Danu, and the Scottish bands Breabach, Rura and Kinnaris Quintet.
Oh cool, I wasn’t expecting Irish! It’s nice to hear it outside of school lol.
This sounds rad. Folks into Celtic themed adventures should also check out Castles & Crusades, with their Celtic Codex and a series of Celtic themed adventure modules.
Great ideas to keep the pressure. Thanks for the video!
Pre-video prediction: Having the Big Bad kidnap the party's favorite NPC, who was improved by the DM when the party first met them.
Damn, I gotta get myself this irish inspired setting!
Also learning gaeilge on duolingo, it is challenging but fun.
ur pronounciation is a little off but its so wonderful to see people - especially those with little or no experience of irish learning the language!! really fills me with bród to see people learning our great language :)
Ah it was great for an American. Better than most Irish people
I am under no illusions of having good pronunciation, especially since there are so few resources (AND so many different dialects!) but I do my best with the resources I have access to!
There is a local brewery here that named one of their beers “Pog Mo Thoin”. Cracked me up, especially since the bartender where I ordered it had no idea what it meant.😅
Hi from Ireland-solid pronunciation, well done!
I have been obsessed with Irish mythology and use it in my campaign. I also use it in my writing! I absolutely love it. Also, Cú Chulainn is underrated!
This is the type of ad I appreciate
Here's a video idea i need:
tips on running a mini campaign over the course of a couple of days, like a long weekend or something.
I recommend running/playing call of Cthulhu at least once. Everything I’ve learned from building mysteries and tension I’ve learned from CoC.
Don't worry, Ginny. Your pronunciation is great :)
I don't know what it's actually supposed to sound like, but it sounded great regardless :P
I have the feeling that a ticking clock a bit too pressing may actually hinder player's sense of responsability. When there is no time for reflection, there is no time for real agency either : you just do what you have to (or rather what you're told to do) without thinking twice. I guess like all things, it's a matter of balance.
Nice vid anyway, thx Ginny !
What I think is kinda sad is that we don’t put as much interest in Germanic folklore. A lot of it is lost (or has been actively destroyed by for example the brothers Grimm) but there are so many interesting beings in for example the German speaking regions that seem to be losley based on what the Scandinavians called elfs or dwarfs (which probably were synonymous, although Tolkien changed that in modern fantasy) in “German folklore” which is not really a unified thing but still connected you have so many stuff from “bergmännlein” (mine ghosts) over Druden (nightmare demons, etymological also the reason it’s called nightMARE or ALBtraum) to the famous Klabautermann (ship ghost similar to a house ghost or poltergeist). They also have variant names, so is the traditional name for natureghosts in Swabian, where I’m from Schratt. There are creatures like the Sandmann, the Huzelmännle, Buzelmann and so forth
Apparently all I need to do to make my players tense is just say, "Okay." in a quiet voice when they say what they're going to do. Or if I grin. Just a small grin for no obvious reasons will have the players second-guessing their decisions and plans and trying to think of other ideas that they may have missed. Frankly, they are the best well of ideas for things, twists, and adventure ideas for me to work with sometimes. 😀 And that's only because I often apparently keep them so tense that they're always second-guessing themselves. Which amuses me to no end.
Saying "killer geese" is redundant. ALL geese are killers.
I was going to say! I know adventuring parties that have faced down monsters but feel tension at even the notion of facing geese.
Great video length. I just wanted a little something before hitting the sack, as I was too tired to play or get into something long after a hard day. This was a good short set of advice.
0:04 ya might want to be carefull there...
Nice video, as always. I think this would fit nicely in our fantasy earth setting. At the moment my players are in Albion, on their way to Caledonia. I'll check their Kickstarter. Thanks again. Cheers.