Prep YOUR Next Adventure in just 14.27 minutes!
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- Опубліковано 8 січ 2022
- How much can you prep in less than a quarter hour? Not much, but it's a good thing you don't need much for an effective dungeons and dragons adventure! Focus on using two or more random encounters to determine what your adventure's central tension will be, and then generate a plethora of quest hooks from that! Throw all the stuff you need into a simple dungeon, and boom, you've got a dungeon, quest hooks, and a D&D adventure written in a quarter hour!
Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/dungeonmaster... - Ігри
For the blessings of the Algorithm, I comment! There are two reasons I think this is great. 1- you immediately start with content, there's no vague ideas like "rescue a princess" 2- you can't write yourself into a corner with this where you need convoluted nonsense to tie your ideas together. By starting with content and only going in directions that make sense, how could this ever fail?
Thank you so much!!
This is actually brilliant. Putting plot hooks first has always felt like it was missing something. But generating two plot hooks/dangers to discover a emergent narrative then building the central conflict of your session or dungeon out from there? THAT'S next level DM advice.
Thank you, I plan to try this and share the idea.
Working backwards is an excellent advice. I too find it easier to figure out "how did we get here" than "where do we go from here."
I was skeptical of the video title, but glad I clicked. Never would've thought to do a session plan this way, but now I'll have to try it out. Thank you for the good advice! :)
The first time I did this it was unintentional, but it worked out really well and created some of the most memorable sessions for my group. I had a city in the north with an un cooperative and distant Jarl, and the players needed to get into his keep to find the McGuffin. I combined this with a Beholder and a neighboring orc tribe.
The result was a secret beholder under the city, pulling the strings and manipulating the power hungry Jarl, meanwhile the orc tribe who worshiped the beholder had a secret entrance in to the tunnels beneath the city, and were getting progressively more brazen in their attacks on the locals.
It created a totally epic and unexpected moment when the players explored the tunnels and finally realized everything was connected. I felt very clever. :)
Your summary of this was very clean and simple, maybe ill be able to use it to re-create some of that magic.
Awesome to hear! Love this story!!!
Random Encounters never really inspired me for adeventure design. Using two random encounters and thinking of it as conflict? Brilliant.
I found your channel, thanks to the algorithm, a week or two ago. I've been gobbling up your videos. Really good advice, I appreciate that. But equally I appreciate that you appear to be family friendly. I have a bunch of kids and a few are aspiring or new DMs. I like that I can share videos with them. You speak clearly at a reasonable pace with few profanities. The video length is short enough to not lose their attention, but long enough to get your ideas out there. Well done and thank you.
Never thought about my content being family friendly, considering my scripts are typically at a 12th grade reading level or higher.
@@DungeonMasterpiece my kids do read a bit above their grade. Playing RPGs do that I think
Exceptionally brilliant advice as usual! Thank you for sharing this process!
You are quite welcome!
I Love ALL Dungeon Masterpiece videos! Especially his back catalog.
This is an idea I have Never heard of. Thank you!
This has finally put words to the difference between hours of frustrating prep and those nights where it won't stop flowing.
That thumbnail is ace!
I'm super proud of it
Quickly becoming one of my favourite D&D channels.
Certainly in my top 3 for solid advice and ideas.
Dungeon Masterpiece = Sophisitcated yet Simplified ways to GM
Play Your Role = Thespian and Character advice
Mathew Colville = Large scale advice for Campaign design
Always awesome content. Keep up the great work!
Man, These are really some great videos. Thank you D.Masterpiece!
This is the best channel that the YT algorithm has ever recommended. I'll apply your this lesson next session for sure!
Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. I'm baffled at how simple this is, and how incredibly powerful of a prep tool it is. You've changed my life haha!
This video is fantastic and incredibly useful! Thank you for the advice! Will be using this in the future!!
Always enjoy your content. Some has been a huge help in building my game.
You truly are a (dungeon) masterpiece, You make great content that gets straight to the point. This has helped me and my friend who DM regularly.
I've been watching so many of your videos ever since I've found you! You give out hands down the best advice for DMing, I feel like prepping and DMing finally makes sense
Spent a while watching through different channels for DMs, and this channel is by far my favorite that I’ve found. Well organized, well thought out, pertinent topics with actual helpful answers, no unnecessary fluff. Thanks for the great channel!
Criminally undersubscribed
I'll get there! Don't worry!
This is such good advice. Thank you!
Having already mauled all of Matt Colville's videos and PDM's. (Which I've seen you reference a couple times.) I think this is my favourite new RPG channel.
Super under appreciated channel! I’ve been binging your stuff and the ideas you share as SO GOOD. I’ve got a story I want to tell as a future first time DM, and I’m storing all your tips for later use. Thank you thank you thank you!
Glad you are finding it all so useful!
Totally agree. Very under appreciated but incredibly informative and entertaining channel
Always appreciate the videos! The sparks of creativity I get from these videos help get me rolling for my sessions 👌
This is solid advice I hope your channel takes off!
this. is . gold. short and concise.
Now this is the quality content I subscribe for
Really good video, very useful I think.
Wow! Perfect!! Thank you!!!
Really like your approach. I wanna try it!
This is such brilliantly simple advice I cannot believe I haven't considered this approach before. What an awesome way to kill two birds with one stone--you have the conflict for a bunch of in game drama, and you have all sorts of ideas for how to interact with that conflict. Invaluable advice!
Simple, actionable advice. Out of the park!
You rock....love your content. Love that I found your channel!
Thanks so much! Hope you subscribed! I'll def be making more!!
I have definitely subscribed and got that Bell icon smashed for all updates. Thank you again for awesome RPG content!!!
Tried it now. Looks like I got something pretty good out of it!
Excellent video, earned sub
This is great! I would love more videos like this. :)
Thank you!
Bro, genius. This is S tier advice, thank you.
Pretty epic ideas. Very useful.
Good stuff. I've always looked at some cool scene in a movie or comic book and thought "what do i have to set up to make this happen for the players?". Start with the central tension, and then develop details and hooks to bring people in. You may end up with something altogether different, but you're training your brain to create.
I was avoiding this video due to the clickbait-y title, but finally gave in and watched. This is great advice for setting up stories for players!
I'm gonna have to use these tips and tricks
The smile after the intro line is so funny, he’s so excited to teach us cool Dm tips
Amazing quality content :)
How quickly did you come up with that story from seeing the generator results? You could literally do more videos like these with that Adventure generator. I guess the key is keep asking good questions to get somewhere with them. I could see doing lots of these like a mental gym work out, so you get better and faster at coming up with something good. This also would be handy for solo rpg players too.
Great advice!
Just discovered your channel. I like your DM advice videos
Awesome! Thank you!
That bloody smile at the start had me weak lmao, cheeky man let's see your wisdom alright
I might just do this actually, great piece of advise
Dude I had this playing in the background. When you said “animated statues” I heard “Adamantium Cashews” and when you said we can work with that I was quite intrigued lmao.
This literally just made me laugh out loud
Im just commenting to please the algorithm. I too enjoyed your cut to the chase style.
Gotta have goblin ears for my constable!
BTW, your last few thumbnails have been hilarious.
You are simply marvellous
Really awesome vid
What a great idea
It's a good idea, especially as I've seen some blog and channels decry the fetch quests and want to avoid those or give them more story background.
I’m going to do this for all the next oneshots i’ll run for sure
I recently had a surprise, “hey could we play today” (asked by players) session. I got so lucky because my players took over in a very docile way. Once I mentioned they were near a lake, they wanted to fish. For over an hour.
I found it incredibly insane at that very long moment.
With all that being said, I’m glad this video exists so that I can be on the ready for a more intricate base.
I have had 3 failed campaigns over the past 5 years because I got writers block at some point where I wrote myself into a corner and didn't find any inspiration to get out.
Currently on my 4th attempt of a weekly campaign and we're about to have our tenth session which is a record. I didn't watch this video before that, but what you said is subconsciously what I did differently to the adventures before. I have pdfs of about 10 monster manuals of different systems and homebrew collections, I read their pages until I found one with enough unique qualities to be interesting and fleshed out everything from the premise "Why would these monsters attack the town and how?"
For those interested. The monster is comparable to a 1m newt with claws, four whiplike tails it can wrap around each other in a drill shape. It senses magic and gets angry when someone casts a spell. It is capable of nature magic and a grown one might start controlling animals and make them his servants.
So the story revolves around an abandoned mage prison by the mage guilds secret service so to speak, where the newt monster served as a guard to detect magic usage by prisoners. They abandoned it, the monster grows big, strong and vengeful. One day the guy from the guild sealing the prison dies of a heart attack (this was my plot hook, i set it up as a murder mystery, and I set that up last), can't seal the prison off anymore and the newts start building an army of animals attacking everyone entering the forest and sometimes the town itself
Got a lot of enjoyment out of it and it all started by using every attribute of a single monster I found cool, which is essentially comparable to your rolling up 2 random encounters and going from there
So I can recommend this, it solved by eternal writers block which i got by writing stories linearly beginning at the actual beginning
Very good tipp ...
Very well done sir I need to make more of these one-shot adventures to try and get people interested in D&D. Do you have a PO Box by any chance?
Hit me up on discord. My handle is "Baron de Ropp🎖️#8427" (yes there is an emoji in it)
@@DungeonMasterpiece went to message you and that tag didn't seem to work.
@@Belemrys do you have two accounts?
@@DungeonMasterpiece nope different person!
My email is daudzegir@gmail.com btw
*_PLOT TWIST!_* This is a great (and time-tested) idea that helps to prevent your quests and/or side quests from becoming mere difficult and onerous lists of errands to be run. You don't have to stop at just two hooks, either.
Rodrick the Ranger Karen. That is a plot hook I can work with
I love it!
I had a dream that there was a D&D DM video that skipped the long preamble and just gave practical tips and methods for DMing, with specific examples for inspiration. Then I never woke up, and I eventually realized this wasn’t a dream
Sly flourish has the best prep system I've seen.
Did you make that sketch of the Erechtheum? If so, JEALOUS!!! Also, great idea to start with the conflict and work back to the hook. I haven't done that on a few occasions without thinking and now suddenly realize that's by far the best way to do this. Thanks for calling that out.
Just came here and my mind hurts cuz of how simple you put everything serouisly remember me when your famous 😂🙏
Hahaha
Funny the next video in your list that came up, explains how random encounter tables suck, but this video says to use them to make your adventure.
So, to sum up:
1. Create Central tension first-pick 2 things to fight the players/eachother. random encounters good for picking sides, figure out why they are conflicting.
2. Create quest hooks by asking questions- can make conflicting quest hooks. Throw hooks at the sea and see who bites. Informed by point 1.
3. Quick dungeons- what it was, what it is, then shove the aspects those imply into one map. This is informed by points 1 and 2. Remember environment effects/changing combats, and trailing npcs or hints.
Very cool
Have you thought about incorporating various visual tools into the process. i.e. mind maps for brainstorming quick ideas?
No, prolly cuz I don't use them lol
Conflict is the basis of all good drama...
Did this and had a fantastically successful session! Now how do I do a follow up 🤔
Great content as always. Is Fate content still on the schedule by the way?
Yes, I've just been super busy so I gotta go for so lower hanging fruit
When I do solo RPG show playtests... I just think about it for a moment and the first envomnet I think about I use as a starting location and then I ask why is the party there and for what? And that is normally good enough for one quick session 30-2 hour session... You can use it to then expand into how ever long of play you want. Oh I do this on camera sometimes live and get to playing an advanture in like 10 minutes or less.
It's like you've been sitting at my table. I may have a lot prepared, but with a randomized game, there is no time to prepare the details. I did find out though, that it is much better to randomize a village out side of the game, rather than at the game table.
I tried this advice and there was no explosions, the thumbnail is very misleading :) Great advice as always.
Every session I ever run ever
"Some kind of Karen" that slayed me 🤣
Could you make a flow chart for this?
Another "backwards" planning/random generating idea:
First history of dungeon, then current use. Then add/roll inhabitants and plot hook based on the first two steps.
Please tell me the Roderick references are tip of the hat to DM Scotty.
They are
@@DungeonMasterpiece Awesome!
I've just ordered a bunch of non-DnD RPGs, which I hope to run as a brand new GM. Does anybody know the best way to distribute large rulesets around the group using these big core books that come with the game? I'm fine learning everything myself, but unsure if players are expected to ingest the whole book as well, or is there a standard that I should be using to induct everybody into how the game works?
More of this, less of the comparisons btw CR and Harmonquest.
0:13 Don't start with quest hooks
Donjon ChaoticShiny
Roll 2 prompts and find how they conflict
1:51 Quest Hooks
Who's involved, What things, Consequence impacts PCs
3:33 Rapid Dungeons
History, Current Usage, Needed features, bullet list
Throw two random encounters into a blender
Derive quest hooks from how this conflict spills into PCs lap
Throw narrative requirements into simple dungeon
Bake at 420 for less than 15 minutes
question: what is a "cariotid?"
Caryatid: a column carved to look like a person, usually a female form.
I just tried this and it took me 17.03 minutes. I would like my money back.
J/K this is good advice.
Engagement!
How amazing can you be?
Despite writing my own book on 5E Encounters for such occasions, I tend to be an improvisational DM. A game with zero prep is actually my norm. Prep for me, when it happens, is a series of scratch notes with point form facts, a couple of names, and idea for a trap and so on. The rest is the players extrapolating from any clues, riffing on these clues, and me reacting to their questions and input.
Knowing your players is key. What key things are they looking for, and what are their play styles? With little prep, and no consultation of wandering monster tables, you can know that "Kevin" loves to mess with bullies and that "Jessica" is an animal lover. Perfect. Now you have a corrupt circus that abuses animals and the players will absolutely bite that hook. Names of circus NPCs can be plausible real-world names mixed with nicknames. You can riff upon this further, make it an owlbear, and then have it rampage because of years of abuse. Now you have a moral dilemma that will create drama within the party - "Jessica" will want to save the creature, but pragmatist "Gregory" will feel the animal is a danger to itself and others and may have already killed/injured an NPC. "Gregory" will want to kill the owlbear for his own reasons. The discussion of that problem will eat at least an hour a game time. This basically writes itself, from a DM's point of view.
Furthermore, I have a practice of having the players take all session notes, and they recount those at the beginning of the next session. This will show you how they perceive the world, what hooks worked, and where their plans might take them. All from improv. The DM set the scene by knowing their players, and the players are engaged because of it.
Also, if the players and anyone's table are the kind of go-getters I have at the table I currently play at, a DM need only drop clues or names of things, and we're off to the races building our own adventure. She (our DM), need only know key names and to be able to answer simple questions that she, too, can improvise answers for. We've affected local politics, negotiated with a dragon, ended the reign of a criminal boss, and are now seeking to help a noble who's in love with someone outside her pre-arranged marriage while solving a murder. All PC driven. I understand not every table is like this, but this DM...well...knows her players.
Knowing your players really is 90% of the battle as a DM. I'm trying something highly experimental in my current campaign. I got a couple of my friends (who don't have the schedules to permit regular gaming) running the large factions of the world -I just ask them a few questions a month. and they are actually generating about 8x the adventures I need.
You seem to be conflating plot hooks with plot twists, can you explain what you mean?
Plot hooks are what gets the players involved in a story, and is based on a central tension. The plot twist comes when the players realize there is more going on than what they initially thought
Dude, how long did take you to "write" 15 minute prep time!?....
Just 0.07 seconds too slow. Sorry.
Somehow, I apparently watched and liked this video already, so since i can't like twice im dropping this comment for the sake of the algorithm
I play 4e so this might not work as well for other editions but, I'll quickly grab one minion, one normal, and one elite monster. I won't even spec them half the time. Basically, I make the specs as needed. If I can, I'll glance to see player specs but mostly do it on the fly.
I basically make it so the elite can take 4 hits so w.e the first hit was, I just now times that damage by 3 and that's the HP left. The defenses are based on players. The worse against Armour having to roll 16 or higher to hit. That kind of stuff.
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