How To Prep For DMing a Campaign Session (Adventuring Academy: Office Hours)
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- Опубліковано 18 чер 2024
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D20 is a series from CollegeHumor and DROPOUT.TV, created and DM'd by Brennan Lee Mulligan. It includes includes Fantasy High, Escape from the Bloodkeep and The Unsleeping City.
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"LET them get drunk at the tavern, LET them ignore your plot hook,"
"And then two days later when the ritual goes off, let the goblins come back with an 18th level wizard and smoke the town"
*A man after my own heart,* this is diabolically humbling and I WILL be doing this to my players.
I think an example of something like that in an actual play show would be in Die of Laughter where they spend the first episodes doing everything they can do while refusing to leave the starting tavern.
can totally imagine Brennan as a bartender in the closing hours, polishing away... “wanna hear a story?”
That could be a cool framing device for a whole campaign, just a bartender telling the story of a group of adventurers to a drunk dwarf sitting at the bar, maybe not even listening.
Completely can see Brennan being the bar’s version of Marcus from Borderlands
Tales from the LARP Camp: A D&D adventure for the worlds greatest roll playing game
He was literally a generic DND npc, lmao
I used to be an adventurer like you...
"So glad to be here!"...aaand he's one "Hey, bud!" away from fully becoming Digby Thistlespring.
I want more Thistlesprings
It's the genuine thoughtfulness and kindness.
I love you used he's name because saying "Gorgugs' dad" wouldn't narrow it down an inch
Digby is definitely his aspirational dad persona he uses to practice before he has his own kids
@@mikelator96 that could be anyone.
Adventuring Academy: Office Hours, also known as "That show where Brennan sits talking to himself for half an hour".
Would watch again.
IMAGINE having Brennan as your camp counselor?!
that would be great
@@JimmyBoi-ew7sn If i'm not mistaken, he volunteers for some summer program each year. It's brought up on an episode of "game-changer".
He definitely has some strong camp counselor vibes, not surprised at all when he said that. haha
You could grow up to be a Druid!
Brennan: no spoilers hahah
Also Brennan: you could have a gritty setting with no healers... you know... hypothetically
Hehe
also his whole speech about human villains who betray the characters being the best to watch hahaha
I love when he said “you have the railroad and the players decide to travel down it” it so perfectly encapsulates, to me at least, a perfect campaign. You have a clear story, and quests, but if the players don’t want to do it then that’s fine! And you allow them to go stop the train on the tracks and hope off.
-Prepare one session at a time
-Use bullet points, don't write a novel
-Don't write a story, imagine a _setting_ with some _situations_ going on, and let the players drive the rest.
In reality, if you practice giving control to dice rolls and player choices, and with a little improv creativity at the table, your prep could be an hour or less.
For the most part I agree except for descriptions. Once you play with enough different dms you can tell the difference between a prepared description and an improvised one. It can heavily effect immersion and I totally used to be a 'wing it' dnd with lots of improv experience saying this.
90% of the rooms are bland squares while the dm hits maybe two of the senses.
Try to hit at least 4-5 senses in each description and to keep this from being generic requires preparation and any that don't get used can be used later. Modules obviously throw the one session at a time rule away too to great effect.
At my best I could prep entire sessions in 30 minutes but it only got better the more I poured into it. Just don't be afraid to kill your baby if the players interests shift elsewhere. I've probably written enough sessions and campaigns that were never seen by a player to fill dozens of campaigns lol. You can also recycle that work later in different ways so it's not wasted and just like other skills it gets better the more you practice it.
Not only will it be less, but your story will be more organic and funny for you as the dm as well
I don't do prep unless the players are over level 5. By lv 5, the game requires me to keep track of important events.
@@josephmatthews7698 huh? Npcs exist, rooms exist. Everything has a story, just you do not know it. The bucket by the fire? That was hand crafted by the windows first lover when she was a maid before her arranged marriage. You do not know that, but the GM does, and if you throw it in the fire she will hex you.
Autocorrect does not like npcs.
@@davidbeppler3032 not sure what that has to do with what I said but cool man.
No matter how long you've done this or how good you are the more work you put into it the better the experience for the players will be is a good rule of thumb.
This is especially true in online games.
After 25 years of dming I've definitely had great sessions where the guys just rolled me out of bed and said 'play.'
But like all creative efforts the more effort put into it the better the end product. That doesn't always mean hammering sheet after sheet of backstory either, some of my best ideas came during showers.
In my experience, the difference between guiding the players and railroading them is when you have a specific solution for the scenario's conflict in mind, and therefore start rejecting your PC's ideas as "wrong". That's why more often than not I don't even know how my PC will solve the problem I throw at them, but as soon as they figure out a plan that makes sense and makes for a cool resolution, I let them implement it (while throwing a few wrenches in it for drama's sake of course!)
Some of the best advice I've inadvertently given on the railroading issue is "It's okay to see the rails so long as you don't feel them."
I'm like 2 years late, but this 23 minute video has already given me a HECK bunch of things to think about. I only found dimension20 fantasy high a couple weeks ago and you're fast becoming my favourite show to watch!
Absolutely. I'm in the same boat as you right now.
7 months behind the last commenter, but hot dayum am I bias against any crew besides Lou, Zac, and Brennan 😅
Sup yall! Im here in 2022 livin like shit never happened!
Me rn 😂
I'm like 2 years late after your 2 years
A list of time stamps for the questions, in case you want to reference stuff:
1:40 How in-depth do you go making notes for session? How much is too much or too little?
6:40 What jobs did you have before College Humor?
7:15 Will Season 5 take place in a more realistic setting, like unsleeping city, or a more fantastical setting, like Fantasy High?
8:00 How do you punish or give cost to rough battles that aren't just limb loss? (Advice on deciding grittiness levels for campaigns)
13:10 What is your favorite type of monster? (Advice on creating horrifying Villains/drama)
16:20 How do you balance and an open world with railroading? (Balance Freedom and Direction)
20:50 How do you riff off of yourself when two NPC's are talking to each other?
big fan of your work
THANK YOU SO MUCH I'm a new DM looking for advice and didn't expect the question to go off from D&D this has helped a lot in trying to find the right places to look.
Thank you!
Brennan just seems like the most chill guy
I just wanna hang out with him, cuddle sometimes, listen to his stories and laugh at his jokes
On the other hand, I see Brennan as one of the people with the LEAST chill... (because he's so anxious/passionate about so many things)
Chill like Murph?
In real life he seems like a male Lisa Simpson wracked with anxiety
please make a perception check
i am president and co-founder of the D&D club at my school and whenever someone asks me on advice on how to DM, i point to you.
keep up the amazing work
"Ally Beardsley" sounds like the name of a DnD character already. Lol they're great though! Always brings a wonderful element to the campaigns. Tbh one of my fav cast members too 👀
Note to self: Flesh out the Beardsley clan, including Ally Beardsley, Enemy Beardsley, and Turncoat Beardsley.
what race though? Beardsley sounds Dwarvish.
"Here come the Oakenshields, Ironfoots and Beardsleys."
I’m also thinking about Emily Axford.. I mean AXFORD? That’s totally a fantasy name
@@Tyrantlizardking105 Haha yeah, and Aabria Iyengar too
As for “permanent damage” I think a better thing to punish for huge damage would be semi-permanent where you get stabbed through the arm and have disadvantage on all attacks requiring shoulder mobility for 5 long rests. Or you take a huge blow to the head and suffer a debuff to intelligence checks for a while.
I will consume and love any D20 content you put out but put me down as a vote for more AA podcast episodes
So, the old format of AA will be moved to Wisdom Check, is that right? I’m eagerly looking forward to it.
I love love love the fact that a friend’s improv puppet show is one of Brennan’s most treasured memories ^_^
Hey Brennan, doubt you'll see this. I just wanted to say thanks for being an awesome guy and a great DM! You encouraged me to get into the game, and to be a DM, and now I have two different games sessions going weekly at my law school. Everyone is having an amazing time and it's just such a good atmosphere. I've learned a ton from your videos and you gave me the courage and encouragement to start. If I hadn't found Dimension 20 or you I don't think I would have ever considered the game and I would have missed out on so much, so just wanted to say thanks!
EDIT: I misspelled two as to and had to fix it.
highly agreed though it convinced me to walk downtown and go into the games shop I haven't been in since I was like under 10. in 27 now and fell back in love with the game. brennans ability to do voices and on the spot come up with descriptions is so enthralling I love it. thank you
CH employee here - I passed along your kind words and he was touched. Have fun on your adventures!
I played a Shadowrun game a few years ago, all we did was walk into a room, shoot the room with a rocket launcher, then leave because our GM gave us absolutely no direction
A D&D game at law school? It must be rough to have a game where all your players are rules lawyers
My father played "Diplomacy" with a laywer once, he was completely outclassed
I agree so much with your comment on humanoids being the best villains. I had a Dragonborn preacher called Father Huxable Kraw who was the dad of one of my PCs. He was secretly running a cult to Tiamat, and had the whole town under his thumb. Even the party found him really hard to fight because "he's just so damn charismatic and likeable!" amazing roleplay and a great final battle. It's great when the players can argue with their villains and call out their awful behaviour, only for the villain to crack a smile and say "well it took you long enough to notice!"
I've always been ruined for all DND after watching dimension 20 campaigns, and it is definitely because of Brennan. I've tried watching other campaigns and he's right, the moods that he creates for these campaigns are just unbeatable!
Seriously. Been trying to find good stuff on youtube and twitch and.. aside from the Yogsquest sessions I get bored watching people tabletop.
You guys should check out Not Another D&D Podcast! Murph from Collegehumor & Dimension 20 is the DM, and Emily + other CH alumni are the main characters. It's maybe more comedic than D20, but is still fantastic, and Murph really creates a good balance of lighthearted goofs with a serious campaign.
@@mcpenso285 Unfortunately, like the song goes, video killed the radio star. Call me a millennial snowflake, but I'm a visceral kind of fellow and I need to see people roleplay. So far the only folks who come close is yogsquest. After 2 seasons I laughed my ass off harder than in life.
@@gmork1090 Yogsquest was great!
Truly, though. Christ.
Fantasy high is my absolute favorite online dnd campaign of all time!
Try Yogsquest. Yogsquest is pretty amazing as well. Other than that I'm still hunting for entertaining content. Fantasy High is easily still number one.
@@gmork1090 Critical Role Perhaps?
Season 2 is the best series! Even beats Leviathan!
Re: railroading. I love his take on CritRole 4 sided dive where he describes that as a player playing a character he wants to be able to play that character by simply following the shortest possible path to whatever goals his character has, but as a player, to watch how the story unfolds in twists and turns and adventure and surprises not because there's some rollercoaster design, but because at each moment the set of choices available to a party inevitably and simultaneously lead them in interesting directions but directions that seem like the shortest route to the best outcome.
If there's any DM's out there that are new or feel that they need some guidance with how to run things I recommend the book, "Return of The Lazy Dungeon Master". It literally brings up the point that Brennan did about preparing the minimum amount you need in order to feel comfortable when improvising. I still do a few mistakes here and there when prepping, but using some guidelines and resources really helps in honing your style.
Spoilers for season 5: Is it a more realistic or more fantastical Setting?
Brennan: yes.
I've seen enough Dimension 20 videos to be genuinely terrified of this man. But at the same time become addicted to this humour and wit
I’ve been watching DM tips videos and other content as background noise for several years now and this was the most practical and useful explanation of how much preparation to do. Only started watching collegehumor and D20 stuff after EXU Calamity (best thing I’ve ever seen) and have since been blown away by how thoughtful, insightful, and well spoken Brennan is. Just fantastic stuff.
Hugely helpful. I love keeping things open-ended with infinite options - but my players are highly passive. So it sounds like a good response is: don't be afraid to railroad a little; make fun things happen and hopefully they'll spot something shiny and try jumping off the railroad track themselves
This is where I am in my campaign as a new DM with new players (who are also my kids).
Yeah, I like to present the railroad, but let them figure out how to operate the train. And when they want to hop off the train, you let them go and wander off.. but always make sure that there's regular train stops available for them to hop back on when they're ready.
A tip I got from Matt Colville that I really like is considering what will happen if the PC's *don't* stay on the tracks. What will the Big Bad Evil Guys, and the factions opposed to them, do if the PC's aren't involved in the chain of events? How can you make the bad guy's plans progress successfully if the party doesn't do anything about it, that doesn't feel like you're directly punishing them. Best done by getting into the heads of those in the different factions and prime movers and thinking what they would /actually/ do based on what they know and what they want, and then letting that play out it's course logically.
Brennan is honestly the best thing to happen to D&D for me since i started playing nearly 16 years ago. His show alone got me to sign up for dropout (Although now that i have it i have also fallen in love with WTF 101) and i cant wait to see what amazing creative ideas come next. Also hope to tune into the next one live!
Brennan has a beard?
BRENNAN HAS A BEARD!!!!
So late on watching this but loved the comment on plot and railroading. The concept that you as a DM create the train car and move it down the tracks is really cool. The PCs can get on that train (plot) at any station (story beat) they choose, but the train will still move to the next station whether they get on or not. In other words, inaction also breeds consequence, which encourages players to act from the get go. What a great analogy!
That was actually very helpful. Looking forward to future instalments of this format :)
Old, grizzled master warrior- "There is a reason I am old in a profession where most die young."
We did that injury system thing in one of my old games, and it was like a test for everything that you went through. My character was at first rogue(died), and then a super naïve Good Pali basically kind of a gray paladin now, Who literally has so much scar tissue and abrasion over most of his body, he scares most of the PCs he’s around. When he was disavowed by the church, not the deity, he changed his name to Dust and anytime he comes into a campaign, everyone knows that the difficulty level is about to ratchet up significantly lol
It would be really cool if y’all got to interview Alexander J. Newall, the GM for Rusty Quill Gaming!!
great stuff, keep it up Brendad!
This is a very nice surprise to come home from, thank you Dimension 20!
Thanks for the answer Brennan! Totally agree with you that feeling heroic and cool as players is a design choice of DnD and as a group you have to actively choose a grittier tone to get that feeling of "die hard". I personally think I'll save any major injuries and such on players for moments of narrative peaks where it feels the most badass to overcome them, but really insightful comments. Thanks again!
P.S. Humanoids are the best enemy type
I like aberration is my favorite (I just like the idea of mindflayers)
Brennan in full lumberjack mode
Just found this series and it's absurdly helpful. This guy resonates with me.
I recently watched Calamity and I'm in love with Brennan's DMing style, he is amazing!!!
Love this series!!! Hope to catch the next one live!!
"As a dungeon master, I prefer the submissive role." 17:45 Hmm...
you heard it here first, folks
the fact that he called it sexy for the pcs to control the game lol we see you brennan
Coming back here after the “A Dom DM” bit
love both...BUT, remember there is a big difference prepping/playing a game for a local DnD session, and the alternative, making a entertaining to watch/listen DnD session for the masses. Just a thought to keep in mind!
I’m going to be DM’ing for the first time and just binged all of Dimension 20 that’s on UA-cam. I will now be binging all of this for advice
Please revive this fantastic show. Would love to see more behind the scenes about how you plan out your campaigns =)
Once was so overprepared I had a slideshow of the city map with every single npc placed in it to show where they would be at varying times. So basically their schedule over the the course of a month.
Maybe just a morning day night would be okay, but I gave each NPC a “motivation” that they advanced on each day. I had 30 days of planned npc story at the start of the game.
I’d recommend not doing anything more than 3 days. I typically have not played longer than this at a time and I’ve played for 12 hours before.
Love the way you explain, it's really close to the way I think, albeit at a far higher level I'm sure lol, and that makes it extremely easy to digest.
I don't ever try to hide railroads. If my players don't want a train ride, they don't have to get on.
But they know, there are fun sights on that train and I only have to show them the road. They will gladly hop on. It does not hinder immersion as much as it woud, even though we all say "Chuuuuchuuu" after they hopped on. It's part of the fun and I feel blessed with players who see through parts of my narration and gladly fold to it or tell me what they want to experience in the future.
As a GM I don't want to write a novel, but I want to bring a wold to life together.
you're so good at explaining things such that the listener can get a concrete grasp of what you're conveying. you have such a way with words daddy
"what makes a player character face the dark side of humanity? what is it that the resolution, between two thinking feeling people, is to take up arms? some people call it drah-ma"
to the hit points: i believe the player's handbook describes your hit points as your will to keep fighting, essentially. so dnd pc's just have adrenaline pumping till the very end
Hey Brennan not sure if you still read these old vid comments, but I am constantly impressed with your DM style. I started DMing a year ago, never playing as a character in any campaign. I love your style and teaching approach! Often I second guess myself as not doing a good enough job because it's hard to have an end campaign goal that doesn't railroad the PCs. Thanks for the tips!
this might be the best advice I've heard in a long time
It really blows that there are only three of these. I absolutely love these
The railroading question is the anchor of this knowledge nugget. Immense rewatch value just off that.
Thanks for this, Brennan! :)
This guy is quite literally a legend. No more. No less.
I don't know how I've been a CH fan all this while and never heard about dimension 20. Brennan, you're just amazing, man.
You my sir are a gentleman and a scholar!!!
such a superb video and commentary
I'm sitting here watching this because my local school asked me to teach the students D&D, but my conure is going absolutely ballistic. I think she likes your voice, Brennan
For me I always had mixed feelings about traditional monsters getting killed in books and movies because more often they come across as animals and I am a big animal lover, the Rancor scene from Return of the Jedi for instance I feel it was a nice touch to have the jailer crying over the dead rancor because it fit this idea that there was a cost to Luke having to defend himself from it and it fits that Jabba was the one that put them on the collision course to have to fight each other
Would you guys consider creating a show about creating miniatures, landscapes, and other items related to dnd? Your shows have astonishing landscapes and miniatures.
That final point about using summaries and paraphrasing when having to describe dialogue between multiple NPCs is huge, it’s definitely helped with my campaign.
Pricless info from one of the greats. thanks for shairing.
My preparation is typically, names of some towns, some NPC's, a few monsters stat blocks either printed out or placeholders in the monster manual.
Once I feel the setting feels real, to the point where the players aren't asking me permission to do things in it. They know the names of the places they are going, they know the NPC they want to talk to. I can go completely hands off.
Some of my most memorable sessions were ones where I did literally zero prep, it was as if I woke them up and let them run around the open world. And I was comfortable enough to let them find the monsters.
I know this is late but i just want to let you know your one the the greats. I want to adapt your playstyle into mine. I straight up admire your skills as a story teller . Story telling is a big part of my culture and i want to use that to tech people and help create awareness of mental health in my games. what did you do to get where your at? school programs , afterschool , collage, work experience . We need a how to be like Brenden Lee Mulligan
*Streamed live 4 hrs ago* NOOO!!!!! I will manage to find one of these live QnA's as they are happening one of these days.
17:46 "As a dungeon master I prefer to be in that submissive role."
UHHUH
Anyone else fearful of what was going to happen when the first commercial popped up as you cranked your volume for this video?
Really good tips here, even for veteran DMs
I've been building a campaign for over a year now and my players keep telling me that my style reminds them of Brennan, so imagine the surprised pikachu on my face when this pops up in my recommended feed
Loving the 90s phone in the background just sitting there. Just modern enough with its screen and silver keyboard to not look anachronistic. Like someone glued a landline to a Nokia. 😂 Classic Brennan!
yes i am late to these vids, i am also just returning to dnd after over 20 years...lovin the info
Thanks for the answer!
For real though, the sock puppet thing is low key genius. I might have to try that the next time I have to talk to myself in front of my players.
Making enough touchstones?! That’s such a beautiful way to look at it!
This is great. I was surprised this came out in 2019 because it feels like an early covid video ahaha
I love the beard! Very flattering on you, Mr. Mulligan!
just a nice visit with my school counsellor right here
One thing to note about the permanent damage effects and filing in the world, a solution is to involve side adventures to heal those more permanent debuffs. Long rests may get you back to not rolling disadvantage but combat movement may be limited until you find a specific magic healer. Now you guarantee some sense of urgency, decision making, world building, and getting to flesh out an npc that is likely to get the spotlight and not be a waste of prep time. The weight of powering through something vs going off the path to remove the debuff can just be another invisible DM choice that can adapt to the mood.
Welp, I know it's been a while since the last video of this series dropped, but I have small hope this will be picked up, in some shape or form :P
I can probably listen to Brennan talking about DMing stuff, D&D or roleplaying in general for hours :D
i love rp'ing an element as sorcerer because all the chances of having amazing build workarounds that can be so good and surprising for new players to see a new light in the rp world.
applies to any class, but sorcerer did it for myself personally.
We need more of these.......it's me...I'm "we" 🤣 A new, very overwhelmed DM
I agree that at least for me it's better for the DM to be more reactive. I worked my ass off to build you a word what you do with it is on you haha i can always move a planned encounter to another city or anything like that my job is to make sure everyone is having fun
I also feel doing away with encounter balance helps in the deadliness. 1d12 Trolls show up. Yeah, I'd think twice about going in that room.
this actually perfectly captures the feel and tone of going to a professor's office hours...
need more of this
This is such a good series man. BLM and Matt Colville are must-see tip-givers for new DMs.
Thinking on railroading, the best is like the subway. There's stops. There's multiple directions that it runs in. But there's a way from a to b at a given time.
As an actor who mainly plays characters but getting into DMing I feel like my improv classes are gonna help a lot. Take improv if you aren't feeling strong about your DMing. Also play multiple characters in one campaign if your GM will allow it. Cause that feels like its helping a lot too. Now I just need to find people to play with.
That's a great take.
I actually started as a DM.
I need advice on how to get other people to DM so i can play the characters I make instead of making them villains.
Thanks Brennan.
This man is my DM guru
Brennan, you're the most wonderful
I love what Brennan said about railroading. I always find those stories of DM trying to pitch his amazing dungeon with a lich raising undead and the PCs just ignore him and go start a business. Just have the lich raise his army and then come and burn down the village with their major supplier - now they realize that if they want to protect the business they need to go to the dungeon.
Thanks Brennan
Wow, lots of info to take in.
Curse the fates for making me miss this!
Woah…this is great advice…I see the Matt Coleville inspiration
I love listening to good dms
Honestly brennan seems like the kind of guy you could chat to for hours on a bench somewhere with a cider in hand.
I don't DM because I just get anxious to such a degree that it's not fun anymore because I am an overpreparer so I spent... hours over 2 weeks trying to make a basic one shot. (also top tip: don't GM for 4GMs your first time, they'll be lovely, you'll feel time slow in nervousness) Usually people assume it's a control thing/ 'my way or the high way' thing but it's a safety net right? the 'minimum that you feel comfortable improving from' approach and accompanying advice was helpful so cheers.
I guess my questions are more of when you need to shift stuff around it also becomes this knock on effect so how do you put the puzzle pieces together? like i agree in every way but practically do you... move a shop from the other town you planned or just make stuff up and then note that down for future visits...etc? i guess it's the method to adapting the practicalities of a setting that I think I just don't know and because of that I then can't do it on the fly despite having that...theatrical flair and creativity and all that. Thoughts from any DMs out there?
It really can be simple. You gave two examples of how to do it already. If you wanted them to go into a certain shop, just move the shop again to wherever they end up next. Maybe you can have them overhear people talking about something valuable in the shop or they find a tattered poster advertising it on their way to the next town. Remember if they didn't know the shop was there in the first place, it wouldn't break their immersion if it popped up somewhere else.
This is what Brandon was talking about though with calcification of the world. If it feels like you can't make changes like that on the fly then you've gone too far into world-building and you won't be able to adapt when the game needs you to. Hopefully this has helped you in some way lol.
As for injuries i tend to give non player characters more injuries, in battle a good hit may chop of a zombies arm and give it disadvantage, or cut off a leg and knock it prone... i typically only do that if my players need a hand, if it works in a narrative sense, or if the roll is really good.