I always tie the description to the next player's action, "Mir, your ears ring as the blast from Dario's pistol echos through the hall. The bullet pierces the mummy. It's still standing. What is your move."
This is very interesting, but you also have to be careful with it in case anyone has bonus actions. In this case, the Gunslinger might want to use his Second Wind (or action surge) and transitioning to the next player in the description would imply that you're ending the Gunslinger's turn for them. If you want to use this style, I'd recommend letting a player take their entire turn, and then describe everything that happens followed by the transition.
Doesn't the air inside a bag of holding run out really quick? I seem to remember someone telling a tale of rescuing a hostage using a bag of holding, only to pull a corpse out after returning to the person who hired them.
I've been dealing with the "XP to Level 3" effect. Having players expecting me to play my games like you drives me fucking crazy. You have entered the halls of Matt Mercer. Good job.
@@phelps6205 the reason I said sorcerers and no other classes is because they usually don't need to do anything for their magic. All the other classes need to at least do something for it.
Thats why I like the fact that my players didn't have prior knowledge of the game except maybe one or two games so they can have realistic expectations
"You are making the power of GODS into a SPOON!" Spoon of ice cream. The spoon automatically refills with ice cream, the taste is chosen by the bearer of the spoon. The calories for the ice cream are 0.
11:04 my dm usually does little "filler episodes" when it comes to our downtimes like when we're exploring cities where we go off and do stupid things together, most of which end up being retconned, but we do them because they're fun to roleplay. i remember in one filler session i was the only person that turned up, and i ended up killing my partymate's husband. i never told anyone. another thing we do is come up with oneshots on the fly that are unrelated to the actual campaign, typically backstory elements and whatnot with our characters. it sharpens my dm's skills at improv and is super duper fun for the rest of us
one time my DM had us do a dream sequence with the end goal of a boss fight but with really compelling atmosphere design because that was her improv strength. all of the characters we had were totally out of their depth and didn't match the setting, but it was fun to roleplay that
One thing with magic item crafting: while XGE's rules can work for a lot of em, if there's something super special to a character that they want, making it into a quest to get or make can feel super special to that player and give them some added attachment to it. If going by that route, then "making" a magic item is kinda just a reflavor of "finding" it, just crafting may fit that player a bit more. Sometimes though I do feel like XGE, while it works for most cases, it isn't nuanced enough for magic item crafting in specific cases, like if a player REALLY wants to be able to make something powerful and make that part of his story, but I haven't seen any houserules that I like so far.
I have a spellforge and mobile space station with minor shipyard, 4 R&D labs, and 2 of the biggest interstellar artillery guns ever made, which is currently the linchpin in holding the frontline of a war are losing. Granted, I didn't build any of that by hand, but it does let me order things to be built that are also important. Like a new type of FTL drive that circumvents all conventional FTL inhibitors at the cost of being slower (actual FTL compared to conventional space folding which is nearly instant and hyperspace/the warp which is still really fast, but are both restricted to certain paths). I'm so excited to get to use it in a while. The prototype finished completion two in game weeks ago, but I deemed it to be unsafe for manned testing until it goes through revisions and improvements (please no minimum 5% chance [nat 1] to have the ship destroyed whenever I use the FTL drive). The Fed navy wants to use it in a special operation, and I hope to get funding to finally fill that fourth laboratory. Space D&D is weird, but cool. I don't know if my GM uses anything like XGP though, since it's mostly homebrew stuff. I also need to clarify the scale of "Space D&D," for context. The players don't play just as single heroes on a shared ship, but each is a spec ops commander in a special task force who is in command of *multiple* capital starships, each crewed by hundreds or thousands of people. The scale of the setting is an entire galaxy and eventually the universe (module 2, if we win module 1), though things from other galaxies are entering ours. Also, HI ZEDRIN!
I instantly fell in love with it, paused the video, imagined me explaining the encounter and my own different version of him, came back to watching the video 7 minutes after
Yeah! When I was watching that part, I immediately realized that I have a character just like that. I called him SWAOS always spelled with all caps, and yeah, he is kinda like that: Interdimensional being who’s super OP and is untouchable and can time travel and teleport. Also I used to kind of baby my party and still do to an extent so when I accidentally TPK my who party I’ll be like, “SWAOS doesn’t like this development so as he snaps his fingers he goes full BITES ZA DUSTO on the universe and your all outside the cave again.
If you’re having problems with a bag of holding being too “powerful”, remember it’s limits. The item uses a larger number to describe its capacity, which unintentionally deceiving. It has 64 cubic feet of space, which is a 4 foot tall cube. That’s not a tiny amount of space but a body would take up most of it (you could probably get 2 or 3 halflings in there, but not a Goliath) Add in whatever odds and ends are being stored in there and it’s unlikely that the party will be able to put anything they want in there. I’m definitely not a stickler about carrying capacity, but I don’t let my players put everything they ever find in the bag.
That guy's totally right. I was here saying "nooo, nooo, you're wrong", but he's right, lol. I always thought the bag of holding was bigger because you can get inside of it, and have 10 minutes of air, and you can "store" multiple creatures that, but they'll have a minimum of 1 minute of air; so my brain goes "ok, I can store AT LEAST 10 people inside of it", but no, it's more like, 10 dogs, or 20 cats, which will get 1 min of air each.
You might be able to get a goliath in. One goliath. Humans can crouch down to less than half their height. Samus (Metroid) is an athletic 6,3 woman who can squeeze into a ball that's got a diameter of 2-3 feet.
@@matthewcox69 goliaths are on average much taller and of larger build than most races. 6’6 to 7’ is the average for their race, with some getting to 8’ or more. You could probably get a smaller than average Goliath in there, but not one that’s much above 7’.
@@AplesedjrI'm suggesting an 8 foot goliath can crouch themselves into 4 feet of space. It wouldnt be comfortable but bag of holding travel isnt supposed to be
about the "story hogging" section - i DM'd a campaign with five players where two players was basically taking turns derailing challenges (but not the whole campaign) with some stupid bullshit - but it was hilarious. Everyone enjoyed it so I leaned into it and those things tended to become the things that was most memorable. I tried to design challenges for all players, but these two tended to find unconventional - and hilarious - ways to solve problems that were not made for them to solve. But everyone had fun, so there was no issue. (Altough I do suspect some of the comedic value was me being flabbergasted by their shenanigans) One highlight is when one of the casters realized a flaw in the homebrew magic system that meant that instead of actually fighting the boss, he could just conjure a 1x1x2 meter block of solid granite 5 meters above its head, resulting in a very crushed boss. I allowed it that time and never again xD
We had a short mystery campaign. Our rogue investigator left the party on two seperate occasions to tail someone across town, avoid guards, hide as a trash bag, break into an estate, befriend and steal the guard dog, break I to the house, convince the butler he was the Lady's special company that evening, and escape back home and sleep on the lawn with nothing happening with a couple handfuls of nat 20s and 5-1(basically crits) percentile rolls for luck. It was amazing and really kept the plot moving while everyone else did other stuff to help uncover clues and set up the next mission.
Ah yes, a DM Eternal. The ones that make the D&D community exist, but they get beaten into the ground every time someone doesn’t respect their rules. I am sorry.
"you don't need to do an Australian accent to be a really good dungeon master" but does that mean if you can do a really good Australian accent you ARE a good dungeon master? I mean... I can do a really good Australian accent... like really REALLY good... So good it's like I was born and raised there *cough* *cough*
26:58 totally agree with Jacob. Each DM has a different style and you’ll have to learn the best way for you to do it. I, personally, do an Alfred Hitchcock style; I’ll prepare a sandbox that the story is set in for several sessions or a particular arc and spend months planning out every detail of that area. But luckily I’m in a group with several DM’s so we all get to take breaks to do this
I cant stress enough how important player character communication with the DM is. If you want to do something cool or have an idea to progress your characters plot then just ask. The worst you can get back is a no.
I saw that and was wondering if that was trying to guide people to Colville's Running D&D series without just saying "HEY! This guy has a bunch of good videos that you will likely also find helpful!"
But there is a difference between "humble backstory" (like being the son of a farmer, or the daughter of a boat captain) and "I have no backstory other than...I'm here".
Tbf I'm a DM who makes characters I never get to play, but one concept I got to play in a one-shot was a Scourge Aasimar Divine Sorcerer Acolyte who was literally raised to believe he was a messianic figure whole used Prestidigitation and Thaumaturgy to make a bunch of supernatural effects happen around him all the time and all the rest of his spells were like absolutely destructive (Lightning Bolt, Shatter, etc.). Whether or not he was literally the son of a god was tbd
People need to understand that 1 GOLD PEICE IS NOT THE DND EQUIVILANT OF 1 DOLLAR. Considering the players handbook descriptions of currency, it could be around $300, give or take a $100.
This is very true. Most characrers at the mid levels should have enough money to jump-start a town's economy, or even build one of their own. A regular person measures their wages in silvers.
@@Amikas117 I'm watching campaign 1 in critical role and every time Vex asks for more money all i can think is "they are already paying you more than the average person can hope to see in their lifetime" or when she bargains against a fair price "you're party has enough money to create a small city, the least you can do is give this man his moneys worth and stimulate the economy"
I think it also has to do with video games making currency "gold/gold looking" by default. Like Elder Scrolls or Fantasy Rogue-likes. Or heck, even Mario. So to many people they are very desensitized to gold coins in fiction.
I've only DMed and never played. We were all newbies in my player group so we all learned together. You and others like Matter served as inspiration to me
Man, I wish the DM of the first D&D campaign I was in had listened to the part at 22:10. I remember the first-ever D&D group I joined (online). We had to write a 2,000-word backstory about our character. I had one, which I thought was pretty cool, and when I sent it to the DM, he messaged me back within 1-2 minutes, saying I need you to rewrite it. And I was like, "wtf" since you know it's a 2,000-word backstory, and I had put a lot of time into it. Basically, the reasoning he gave was that in the first couple of sentences, I described how my character had killed his father or something when he was younger (like 16). And he said that would be impossible since a "kid" wouldn't be strong enough to do something like that (like physically strong enough, not mentally). And yea, that was basically how my first D&D group went.
Personally, that would've been my signal to piss off and never play with that person again. It's a huge red flag and I have neither the time nor the patience deal with such shenanigans. I'm sorry that was your introduction to this game...
I had to deal with this. Once a month or every three weeks or so we all pick a day that we refuse to schedule anything else for. If people's work schedules are predictable that's easy, if they're unpredictable then everybody has to agree to specifically call off work or get someone else to cover their shift. It's hard to have everybody be able to commit to dnd once a week, but it's a lot more viable if the time-span is monthly. So it's not as unbearable to have to wait you can ask folks to play for a lot longer on that day. I now have a weekly game and we play for on average 3 hours, but back when we used to play monthly the games would be for like 6 hours.
Ask if they can have a game in "insert date here". They'll probably say no (at least some of them). See what players you want in your table. Ask what date is better for them. Reschedule. (if needed, redo that 'till you have that perfect date) PS: it may take months before you have that "perfect day" to play, so you could try to ask them if they really want to play, or if they "have" to do some other thing (maybe 5/6 players could play in that day, and the only guy that can't, will watch a movie, or something like that that can wait). PPS: srry for bad english :(
What I have done is schedule the best I can around my availability. This may seem selfish, but the reality of it is as the DM, the game literally can not go on without you (unless you run a shared campaign). Typically working around work schedules first, who has what common day off, and if a day off can not be found, maybe a time during the day. After that, it's all about process of elimination as to actual dates and times. Sometimes you have to compromise or run a session without someone present.
One of my long term players who has played in all of my campaigns never rights a back story and comes up with it as we go along through solidifying his characters personality. its one of the things i love about DMing for that player.
"How much do you deviate from prewritten campaigns" I have crippling ADD, I couldn't follow a module to the letter if I tried. I will keep 50-75% of the original module. The worst I ever butchered was Curse of Strahd, and I feel garbage about that. The campaign quickly spiraled into a time travel campaign, where Rictavio fabricated a rapier that could literally cut through time and space once a day. The party got to see Barovia before it went to shit, Rictavio popped in and out of existence whenever it was convenient, an players who couldn't show up just "vanished in a cloud of purple mist, as they fell into a tear in time and space", only to reappear when the player did, right next to the party. Oh yeah, and there was little girl with a "Baby Beholder" (domesticated spectator). Anytime I did something completely incoherent, I just said it was a mystery for them to solve. I then accepted the first explanation, and made it cannon. They thought I was mastermind, but really I was just too ADD to make sense. I'm much better now, I swear. If only a little.
@Xenodorian damn now I don't feel so bad about replacing Ireena with a different character I made lol (Thought it would be more interesting if souls don't have gender so this reincarnation is a man, and also a cleric to give tie back to Sergi and the good/evil motifs of the npcs)
My favorite way that I included a "Gilmore's Glorious Goods" magic item shop in a campaign, was by having a wandering Arcanaloth trader. Rather than letting the players straight up buy magic items with gold, he instead asked them for unique secrets/knowledge/stories that they had, for which he would give them store credit depending on how interesting/unique their knowledge is. They could also trade in their own magic items (again, interesting/unique ones are more valuable) for items of equal value.
Could he know if your party was lying? like saying if they said about this cosmic power existed? Would he know or would they still roll deception checks?
6:55 I like the idea of having a "Wally's Wondrous and Not-So-Wondrous Items" shop (like the TikToks) where this weirdo artificer/wizard Dwarf sells his handmade magical items, but with a catch; he doesn't actually know or remember what the item DOES, so it's all up to chance (or DM rolling for Wally's memory). I like the idea of a player being sold a rather expensive "Toothbrush of Frost" with the selling point being having the ability to cast Ray of Frost or something x amount of times per long rest, but it actually just produces infinite minty toothpaste and ends up being a huge waste of money, lmao.
25:09 is a great response. I'm the most extroverted guy in my Sunday group, and I felt like I was doing this so I first tried to pull back and basically shove them into the spotlight instead. When that... went less than fantastic, mostly because we stopped getting shit done because nobody else seemed to want to take the reigns, I asked them about it and they said that while yeah I was the chattiest in character they didn't mind that and were glad that someone was doing it. I still have trained myself to clam up when they want to talk and read the room when the GM is trying to push for them to get a moment and clam up then as well. As long as everyone's okay with it, there's nothing wrong with being a strong party face - some people just don't want to be the center of attention, and that's okay. Just talk to your group and make sure, and if they're okay with it when they DO want to have the spotlight, freely give it to them.
I absolutely love when the 5 senses are used to describe scenes, as you were describing the same room I could instantly visualize and legitimately had a cold chill run over my arms as you said it. And this is just an example not even actually playing. When you can invoke senses, reactions, or emotions that a person can relate to and have experienced before makes for a great emersion tool.
I really like that The Keeper npc concept and I think I am going to be needing to use it soon. I always can come up with a good excuse for when a player is missing but when they come back not so much, tho it hasn't been a huge problem yet.
My best tip for making travel seem interesting comes from The One Ring system, one character is taking point doing perception or something, another could be doing survival to find food/water passively, one could do history or something similar and all 3 of these rolls could lead to some time of encounter/scenario. Combat, exploration, a weird occruence, a traveling circus, whatever.
This young guy is a genius. Looking forward to seeing you come up. Really should think about creating new types of media that connects movies and active storytelling
When ever my players finish off an enemy i always say right after "how do you do it?" to make them use more of there imagination and feel a small taste of being the DM. Also it lets them know after a big battle that they finally emerge ontop
31:30 Adventures in Middle Earth has a great system for travelling. Considering Tolkien's epic tales of journeying are the inspiration of the game system, I think it's really nice mechanic that they incorporated into the game.
I appreciate this video! As a semi-new DM of only a few months this was extremely helpful! THANK YOU SO MUCH JACOB!!!Much love have fun, roll them DICE!
My dad actually gave me the greatest DM advice I've ever received. "Instead of trying to be a DM like someone else, just be the DM you want to be. Don't compare yourself to someone like Matt Mercer for example cause you'll stress yourself out trying to be perfect. Just be the best DM you can be for yourself and your players."
"Flying is dumb and for losers." I currently have an Aarakocra in my campaign, it is rather interesting as a DM to try and make it so they aren't absolutely dominating everything. If any other DMs are having trouble with flying characters but really don't want to make them change races - here's what I do. Whenever they get hit in the air, they need to make a DEX saving throw equal to the damage dealt. On a success, they drop 10 feet. On a failure, they plummet. Xanathar's guide states that a creature falls 500 feet in a round, if that ends up as being relevant. Also, they're a land druid, so their DPR isn't very high as it is, and they haven't unlocked flying Wild Shapes yet. I would be much more worried about fighters, rogues, rangers, sorcerers, warlocks, or wizards as they will be much more of a threat in combat. Hopefully that was helpful.
My simple fix for flying characters is to make the ability have a tradeoff that thematically fits. Like forcing them to remove armour, or not allowing them to use heavy weapons or carry a backpack. If the character dosnt immediately decide to pick their moments and use the ability at crucial moments, the limitations of the system at least make it so that combat isn't unbalanced.
Just knock them prone. They don't have magic hovering so they fall. Taking that 1d6 per 10 foot fall damage. There's a bird in the sky? Seems like an easy target for bow wielders. There's literally nothing to hide behind
The Michelin Spoon: A spoon that, when attuned makes everything eaten with it at the perfect freshness, temperature, and seasoning for the dish and your preferences.
Dumb and random fact: I played in a game where we were mercenarys for a powerful lich, (who's wasn't evil) but if a new player showed up, or someone had to leave, he just opened a portal and threw the new character through or pulled the absent character through
My group had the literal joke of, "Oh no, they fell through a plot hole!" and then when they would rejoin on a later session the characters would ask them what they saw in their time in the hole. It became a kind of shared storytelling joke of exactly what the plot hole was.
Gregor-Alright guys, let's go knock this dungeon out. *Portal opens up, Lich grabs Gregor* Lich-Come with me, there's petunias EVERYWHERE. Gregor-what? *Portal closes after Gregor is pulled through*
Classifications of magic: High fantasy, Fantasy, Low Fantasy, No Magic. Depending upon which of these classifications you are running your game should dictate the prices, time of creation, and availability of your magic items (since 5e apparently doesn't have a gold to level ratio, an ultimate equipment guide, or Decent rules explanation for item creation like pathfinder does). I appreciate the fact that you have taken the time to make these videos, even more so the fact that you don't act like you know everything. It is encouraging to see such a person advocating the playing of RPG's. I would recommend to people out there to try the PathFinder Role Playing system, which is basically a revised version of D&D 3.5, that grouped some of the skills together, made players a little more powerful, and they have in depth rules and guides on pretty much everything. It is not as main streamed as 5e, but having that extra complexity is what makes it fun in my opinion.
At 18:00 make sure you also punish players. A lot of times players at the beginning of the campaign will push the envelope as far as they can see what their dm will put up with. Don’t be afraid to punish them for screwing around too much. Don’t railroad or over punish them but them know if they don’t take a serious situation seriously, they’ll be punished for it
If there are a lot of cancelations, that's when the players who show up get the coolest stuff. Sometimes i'll do flashbacks of their backstories. They tend to like that
When in doubt ask your player what happen in the flash back or look below for inspiration. Flash back are probably the best thing to do if anyone is still down to play without other. To add onto the flashback, if you have one player, you can do an in-depth session of the motivation to why they join the adventure. Play as the abusive father that brooding dark elf have. Stuff that build on the character If you have two player, you could revisit an important event in the campaign making them play as a different NPC and how their reaction to it. This might not seem a major deal but it allow other to have a collaborative story telling experience. With two players, you can also do a side mission that tied with their backstory. Seeing the brooding elf and the cleric having to work together to take down their competitors is fun, or maybe they have a point in their life before where they interact and influence one another. Maybe this dark elf might be the one of the factor that influence the cleric past hatred for a certain type of enemy. Edit: Slightly better format
19:13 So I play as a book-nerdy Pact of the Tome Celestial Warlock in one of my games who kinda acts like the party wizard, specifically regarding her usage of the Identify spell for the party. Earlier in the campaign, one of our players had found this rusty/bronze crown that was giving off illusion magic and nobody could figure out why, but regardless of this nobody in the party trusted it and was convinced it was cursed. After using Identify on it, my character discovered the crown was using illusion magic to conceal the existence of other magic within the crown, and that blew me away. I'd love to see more cases of magic being used to supplement other magic in a meta way like this, and I think it's a good way to create some intrigue specifically surrounding magic items.
When initially making my campaign, I thought of several different generic motivations for the characters, as to why they ended up in that part of the setting. Then when I gathered all my players for session 0, I listened to all their characters, tweaked the generic motivations and gave them to the respective characters. Since I had a few new players as well, because I got a general feel of who they wanted to play, it allowed me to hand them something suitable as a base to build their backstory off of
Re: Backstory - THANK YOU! As someone who doesn't really like to create an entire history of my characters, and simply want to play AS MYSELF, this is a refreshing response to hear. I am fine with letting the story itself progress my character through the choices both I and friends/DM make.
27:49 The most important thing in character creation is giving your character's bond imo. And you should honestly have several of them. The more you give the DM to work with the easier it will be to participate personally in the story. If all one character cares about is "I protect my hometown" it will quickly become repetitive to threaten the town every time a new villain rolls around.
Mr. Xp sir, I doubt you'll see this, but you've helped me and my friends start playing and we have some of the best times ever when we play. Your videos really are an inspiration, even to a player
As a new dm myself, I really appreciated this video. Though, on the descriptions section, I was laughing my butt off remembering when one of my players cast shatter on a group of automata and I simply said "They explode." XD That was the first session and I've since gotten better.
This is super helpful, I’m a new DM and this helped me so much! What I’ve seen of it so far! This is also the first XP to Level 3 vid where you rolled a nat 20 on persuasion and now I want to buy the Grim Hollow book!
5:04 I can attest to this. Due to some circumstances I have a home brew character, a frog named Jeremy. Jeremy has Inflict Wounds. Jeremy used it on a wolf by using his tongue as the means of contact. The DM described the scene as the wolf imploding, collapsing in on itself at the point of of contact; after condensing into a small enough sphere on Jeremy’s tongue he retracted his tongue, eating the entire wolf in one go. (Granted the wolf was already super low, but this description had the table both ecstatic and horrified at the same time)
As a new dm I found this really helpful! I’ve been running a few oneshots but I am currently planing a longer campaign after lockdown so is was a nice video to find ☺️
3:00 Matt Mercer got made fun of by Travis and/or Liam, maybe some of the others too, because of how often he used "TOOTHY MAW"! So even the "GOD TEIR" DMs have issues with this sometimes! 18:43 What do you do if all you get is "My father was an important figure (insert relevant campaign thing here) and died in a mysterious explosion. I am suspicious of everyone and take care in what I say to people." The sad part is that's better than what I got out of a couple of my other players! I know the answer probably is that I need to find better players but the issue there is finding the time that those better players can make sessions. Maybe I just need to play with fewer but better people and stop worrying about having a balanced party. Oh, it's kind of a later question, nevermind!!!
26:56 It takes me so long to prep. I have really bad ADHD and executive dysfunction, I will literally wait till before midnight on the night before dnd and then get started and i usually end up pretty tired the next day cause of it. I write scripts, endlessly pour through soundtracks, character images, making tokens, making maps on dungeon painter or otherwise finding a good map online...but all of this really feels good to me even though it literally puts me into PANIC MUST BE DONE NOW because its the only thing I work towards in my life T^T
I completely relate, I do the same exact thing. The way I've tried helping myself be better about prepping so I don't exert myself is to pick a time to do all the prep. I'll go into my schedule, carve out 4 to 5 hours, and clear that time. That is now my "DM prep time" It can be very relaxing and rewarding if you pull it off.
I also have an issue with ADHD, and after DMing for a little over a year now and I do alot of similar things. I always want to 3D print (and paint) minis for the game, cards for magic items, and I constantly draw maps after looking online for inspiration. Although I've learned it's easier to try and just write descriptions for areas and NPCs in the game, and exclusively write dialogue for important information (such as clues to a mystery a character would have, a monologue about how an NPC feels about an issue, exactly how a NPC reacts to drop hints to players about events going on, etc) and leave the rest to improvisation. As far as music goes, I am busy with school a lot and D&D will often times take up what it is I'm thinking about and I can't focus on school work without doing it first; so I will often have D&D music from youtube in the background and I will decide if that is what I want to use as background music.
I hope this doesn't come across condescending Try not to compare your games, and their level of complexity, t games you hear about or see on UA-cam. All of these UA-camrs with D&D channels are living their lives this way. If your job is to make D&D content, you're going to focus most of your time around D&D, you'll have more time to focus on D&D related stuff. But most of us have jobs that have nothing to do being create or content creation in general like a UA-camr does Therefore, we are not going to have these huge extravagant games and stories that D&D UA-camrs will. At least not every game. I would even bet that most D&D Tubers don't play a huge extravagant mega prepped game everytime they sit down and play. You can absolutely still plan a massive game with a lot of prep. But please don't overexert yourself trying to keep up with people who play this game/talk about it for a living. Don't be afraid to simplify stuff, and cut out a lot of things that you had Big Dreams for. Because you have to prioritize time for yourself as well. Your mental health is important, you need to know when you're stretching yourself thin. You are not a D&D youtuber, that is not how you pay the bills, please dont destroy your mental health trying to play table tops games as if you were one.
The part about characters with no backstories reminds me of a game that I was going to run with some of my friends, and after one of them found out about sentient magic items, they decided that they wanted to be a sentient magic sling that weighs 3,000 pounds and can levitate.
If you have more than half your players cancel, but the ones that do show up really want to play, you COULD run a one shot flashback. You'd be adding flavor to the characters and could make the campaign plot more meaningful.
In combat, I usually just say "something something ribcage something something" and that usually works. Sometimes if I'm feeling extra spicy, I replace ribcage with heart or some shit like that.
I made a rule for bag of holding, magical items and all sorts of objects can fit in. Anything that is living, sentient, or hasn't been dead for more than 3 months can not entered. If a player attempts it by forcing said restricted items, the bag creates a force wave of 10 feet radius dealing x damage to the player forcing it and half for those around it. Stipe them cheesing crazy schemes
This is so much more useful than just watching Matt Mercer. He never explains how he's such a great DM. This actually breaks it all down, piece by piece. Thank you!
If a player doesn't have a backstory: Try facilitating moments *in game* where the player can discover their own backstory. While the party is travelling, ask what they're talking about. When they're taking a rest, what is everyone eating? (not just "rations", what is that character's ration. Is it a ham sandwhich? A soup? A loaf of bread and some nuts?). Ask what things remind their characters of. This is a way lower pressure way of teasing out backstory from people and worked well for the first bit. Later I send out a questionnaire with some easy questions (what's your home town, what was your profession before adventuring, who are your parents, are they alive, etc.) that I only looking for brief answers on. Really helps people develop their characters on the fly in an easy, judgement free way. The questionnaire gives you enough to plant PC-specific backstory quests without being overbearing on the people that just aren't into it. Context: I started DM'ing for a group about 3 months ago. Originally it was going to be a short adventure (3-4 sessions of 2-3 hours each tops), but the group was super into it. No one prepared backstories, because it was basically a big one-shot. When we decided to hook it into a bigger campaign I made, suddenly backstory was really useful. I had been incorporating the "what do you all talk about" things, but leaned into it more. When that first adventure wrapped up (after being expanded to 8 sessions), I sent out the questionnaire. Honestly, I think I'll use this model going forward, I'll definitely take backstories in the beginning, but I won't require them.
I just say, the head of the party is paid and shares evenly. Uneven shares like, 43g between 4 characters, everyone gets 10 but the head takes 13, why? He sponsors the party using HIS wagon for travel.
@@8-bitsarda747 Forged by Karlius Marximillion in the what could only be remembered as the "Red Mountains," where he used only two simple tools to forge an artefact that would finally bring about true equality among the greedy races of man.
@@spiceyicey sadly though, it's power was tainted by a man named Josephstine Stalinius. Also corrupting the Hammer of Fellowship and Sickle of Plenty, which were used to make the amulet, turning them into the Hammer of Servitude and Sickle of Famine. Wielding these three artifacts, Josephstine Stalinius brought entire empires under his thumb, ruling with an iron fist, and making sure everyone was equally poor. Since his fall, the Hammer, Sickle, and Amulet have been lost to time. One can only hope that they can one day shed their tainted and evil powers, and be restored to their former glory
23:43 it’s not always that simple. I’ve had players come to the table with nothing, realize that everyone else is playing the game differently than them, try stuff to give their character personality, and ultimately quit the game because of it. “Just let them do it.” Is not always a good answer. My advice would be threefold: - Ask 2-3 character-building questions before they join the game. “What is your character known for?” “What person is your character most attached to?” Then give them a few moments in their first session to get a feel for their character. A 1 on 1 scene with you. A bit like Brennan Lee Mulligan does during first episodes. - IF they start to feel out of place, give them some options! Help them understand what their character’s good at and play into it. Help them find some group utility outside of roleplay (like posting session recaps, or starting a meme chat). Maybe even help them to create a new character, or retcon some things. Just communicate before things get frustrating for them. - D&D is not for everybody. Some people don’t want to play. Ask them if they’re enjoying the game. How you can help. BUT, if they don’t see it as a problem, and nobody else sees it as a problem-drop it, and adjust your style of play. (Just like you said, XP)
As a person who literally started like 4 months ago and was semi-forced into being the forever dm (its really fun), watching your vids have helped me along a lot as a dm and helped inspire me to make homebrew changes of my own. And my players even say they have fun so thanks for making these awesome vids Jacob!
KENKUS: Oh wow, this gave me flashbacks of Davvy Chappy's Kenku video! I wrote a full page of text for my games ruling how kenku work, addressing all of the questions in that video. (Not posted due to me trying to keep my comments down to a single paragraph.) Anyway, I'm eager to introduce my players to my new NPC: Barron Spatula, Lord of Boghollow Dump. He owns a battered old phonograph and an extensive collection of scratched records. He doesn't talk but expresses himself by opening his mouth, sticking his head up like a phonograph horn, and playing scratchy music that fits his current mood.
Basically, I come up with a world or use one that exists already. Create a world shaking event, maybe combine two of them Create a plot hook to have the players solve this new problem. Pick a monster, powerful being, or group to act as a villain find out what the players need to do to solve it then make a bunch of encounters, like fight bad guys here, get McGuffin here, find an NPC here, etc. Put it all together, add stuff from the players backstories into the mix, make some maps and boom campaign.
@@XPtoLevel3 Ooooo, let me try it out. PS: I promise I came up with this on the fly to showcase your steps. _"Basically, I come up with a world or use one that exists already."_ Okay, um, Harry Potter, so schools of magic. Let's twist it around, make the main story centered in a single country filled to the brim with these schools, everyone is constantly trying to fuck with this country for obvious political reasons given the power of magic. _"Create a world shaking event, maybe combine two of them"_ Let's try magic entropy from shows like Little Witch Academia with a splash of Dungeons of Drakenheim (or whatever the source for that idea was, I heard it was from Warhammer) and the tree thing from Naruto. A meteor crashes into the not-Earth, not in a city but in a remote and dangerous part of magic-country, and it begins to drain the leylines from the planet, collecting it into strange crystal fruit that grows around and inside the roots of this living meteor. Maybe picture the devil fruit things from DMC5, that'd be cool. _"Create a plot hook to have the players solve this new problem."_ Magic-country enlists your help, either because of your renown as students in the country or as political figures from allied nations, to investigate the source of depleting magic, speculated to be connected to this meteor. _"Pick a monster, powerful being, or group to act as a villain"_ Let's say it's a sentient hive mind that lives in the meteor, generic BBEG, consume all magic in the multiverse, blah blah blah. Its roots can extend into weird places and when popping out, can spawn horrific magical creatures, or maybe do some False Hydra shenanigans. _"find out what the players need to do to solve it“_ The obvious one is "kill the BBEG", but let's side track it a bit. Wrath of the Lich King would have been boring if it was just a march into Icecrown Citadel to kill Arthas and that was it. Maybe a cult that worships this meteor-God had summoned it, so they're the key to learning how to stop a being that can just eat magic. Maybe this cult was tied to a political faction that wanted to bring down the magic-country, but didn't know what they were getting into with this cult, false promises and deception and all that. It starts with investigating the lost magic, followed by some scrying, a failed attempt to march on the meteor, a hint to explore the political landscape, discoveries of treachery, a decimation of the cult, the preparation to fight against the boss mechanics, and killing the BBEG. _"then make a bunch of encounters, like fight bad guys here, get McGuffin here, find an NPC here, etc. Put it all together, add stuff from the players backstories into the mix, make some maps and boom campaign."_ Throw in some mini bosses, generals, commanders, some world building related objectives and the impacts of the lost magic on this society... Maybe spells are limited to third level, so they need to craft awesome legendary gear to use stronger spells. It'd be done as level locking that is lifted once they wear the armor, so it'd affect physical classes too. Thanks for the wonderful flow chart :D
@@AnaseSkyrider Let's make this a chain: • Basically, I come up with a world or use one that exists already. I think I'll use Gaia from Final Fantasy VII. But let's mix things up and throw a bit of xmen in the setting by having people have genetic potentials for dangerous sorcery caused by the Planet's death throws. Let's set it in a midgar analogue but we'll mix it up by having the city float over a massive tunnel carved into the earth drilling for magic with multiple platforms that go deeper and deeper beneath the planet. • Create a world shaking event or combine two of them. A Genome(our mutant analogue) gang reportedly blew up a reactor in the platform the players live on, setting Anti-Genome sentiments to an all time high, while the power surge has eliminated the defenses that protect the city from the dangers that lurk beneath the ground. • Create a plot hook to have the players solve this new problem. While on a train between sectors the power goes out and and a man in a nice suit accidentally picks up the wrong bag by mistake. A player checks their bag and discovers files that suggest the power company might be guilty of foul play. • Pick a monster, powerful being, or group to act as a villain Buddy Synds, a powerful Artificer who has a childhood grudge against Genomes and has made it his life's mission to make the world a place where they are unneeded. If the players draw the wrong conclusions then they can find themselves set against the Genome gangs. (Thanks for the Syndrome reference) • find out what the players need to do to solve it The players probably need to gather evidence to discredit the power company or find a way to leave the city. Throw in lots of street level encounters and magitek because why not
Wow the difference between you describing the room the first time to the second time was amazing. I hope everyone else really caught how subtle-not-subtle the improvement there was.
16:00 one time I joined a random group, had no idea they were playing an evilish campaign. So my lawful good cleric did not fit. So during the first break I told the DM to kill my character and next week I would show back up with someone who fit better. Shit happens
23:38 my uncle has a solution for that in the form of an encounter, the players trigger a warding glyph that teleports them directly to a spectator's lair, the spectator is tasked to protect a piece of treasure entrusted to it by a powerful archmage who is now dead. The spectator throughout the many millennia it has spent there has become insane and really wants to leave but cannot due to the deal, when it sees the players it excitedly comes over and uses its paralyzing ray to paralyze them form the neck down, the spectator will agree to let them free in exchange to have a normal conversation with each other, asking about whats their motives, their ideals and ambitions, and most importantly their backstory. If they do these they will be set free by the spectator (bonus points if they persuade the spectator to give up protecting the treasure), if in the case of the "My character has amnesia and doesn't remember who he is" then the spectator will just keep asking questions until they form some kind of cohesive backstory with what they have.
Best. Description. Ever. Btw, just to have to say, I'm very happy to see your success, your views, sponsorships, etc. all steadily growing. Along with Colville and WebDM, your channel is always on my shortlist of recommendations for people that ask for advice on DMing. Your love for the game really shines through in all your videos and even the most cynical of us ETERNAL DMs get a second hand high from your enthusiasm. Keep up the great work!!
Thank you for sharing all of this! As a fairly new DM I have devoured hours of YT videos learning about styles, content, and tips. Your videos are almost always very informative AND funny, which I appreciate.
10:12 "If you're an artificer maybe you can do it in double the time" Reason number 137 why I don't play an artificer: it takes them twice as long to make magic items. Wait, whut? lol
“Having a Gilmore’s glorious goods shop that sells any and all magic items is a fantastic way to destroy your campaign” Ya know as someone who makes a lot of magic item shops because I like cool stuff for my players, I *feel* that
You just gotta know what they do and how your players will use them. Being a lil bit of a shithead occasionally when you play helps, you can figure out unique uses for items in-game and plan for if your players pull the same shenanigans. I had a character with a Ring of Cold Resistance who could grapple, guess who dragged a couple pirates under the freezing cold waves to kill with hypothermic shock? This half-elf motherfucker.
To be honest, the description of the wooden room with wind outside was good enough that I could perfectly picture myself in that setting. In fact, I mentally heard the sound of the creaking wooden floors just as you were starting to describe it!
I liked this simply for the "Matt Colville at home" description - I use both of yours, and Runesmith's videos as inspiration for how I run D&D as the DM, and I'll be starting my first fully fledged campaign soon
5 senses for describing things is such concrete and useful advice!! Smell in particular i find helps emersion: "You're in a swamp, its hot and wet and theres bugs." Vs "You're in a swamp, the humidity makes your sweat cling to you, the ground smells like moss and rotting wood. You hear an incessesant buzzing from the bugs as you row your boat through murky still waters."
You're own homebrew world can be a daunting task, but it's also super fun to write out. My only tip to to remember the players and their impact they will have on your world. Minute details are fun to explore, but the players may not learn all of them. Keep it simple and be prepared for heroes.
@@hishamaziz764 Also, I run a homebrew campaign, and I was having a lot of trouble, and something I found is that it's helpful to come up with about 5 encounters, 5 locations, and 10-15 NPCs (the NPCs mostly can have commoner stats). Come up with a starting point, then a way to introduce the important locations (often introducing them slowly works the best; your players will probably want to spend a lot of time in the places if you write them well). I did this and had a session that was super-fun for me and my party.
When I was helping to write a new LARP system, I told the other people that everything we were making had to be "theater of the mind" playtested at first level, mid-level, and top level, and to look at the rules and setting from as many viewpoints and ways to break things as possible. We shorthanded it as the "What would Nate (a player who was really good at puzzles, riddles and min-maxing game systems) do?" rule.
"No flying tho, flying is dumb and for losers" Is it tho? I really don't get why the hell most people think flying is so op in D&D, it really fuckin isn't Sure you're player who can fly is harder to hit, so what??? They're having fun, *the entire point of the damn game* I've played a couple of flying characters and my DM always made intresting challenges for me Mainly in combat as he always makes sure the enemies have some form of ranged attack Cuz let's face it, if you implement *"Yeah you can fly, but you have to have no armor, can't use a bow, can't use a 2 handed weapon, and have to make Dex saves at the start of your turn"* is really stupid and not fun Just let your players have fun My DM has a little saying in our group "Fun first, logic later"
Flight in general isn't a problem, what level it is gained at is the issue (as well as the type) Realistic wings? Not so much of a issue. The spell flight on the other hand is a bigger issue. Now if you have one player that can fly and no other player can then the spotlight can easily be hogged by the singular player. I had issues similar to this back in 3.5 with pscions in a mixed group.
@@johnspencer7838 Eh, I'm just glad my DM doesn't give a crap if someone can fly even at level 1 as a Feral Tiefling, Aasimar, or Aaracokra I've been playing a Feral Tiefling Rogue with deul hand crossbows in my new campaign since level 1 and nobody in the party is jealous or anything, hell they love that they have someone who can provide air support lol
John Spencer the spell isn’t even that big of an issue. Did one of the bad guys see the guy in the back wearing fancy looking robes wave his hands around and suddenly his allies are flitting around the battlefield? Time to target the wizard, because fly requires concentration. If the bad guy that saw it is a caster it’s time for some dispel magic. And those are just off the top of my head. Flight can be dealt with in dozens of different ways if it ever becomes a problem.
I fully agree. If you want to play a flying race go for it. I've helped one of my P.Cs do a slight rewrite of an Aasimar race and we made a type of Angel for them. I allow for some homebrews. As long as my players are having a blast and love the characters they are playing. The other GM in my group is the same way.
Crazy backstory idea: you were a legendary adventure who had slain dragons and gods in a far away land, but you were crippled and imprisoned in one of your battles where you were then shipped off to where you are now. You go though your game regaining your strength and even past memories that don’t seem to be your own. Over time you slowly realize that it seems you lived two lives, one of an epic adventurer and another of a simple tavern owner from a small town. Eventually you find out that you never were a hero, but instead a simple man who had their memories replaced by someone (probably the BBEG), and now you must seek the truth and figure out why this was done to you. This develops across an entire campaign and should be done with both the dm and player being informed of what direction this is going. Does this have anything to do with the video? Not at all, but I wanted to write it down so thanks for reading :)
GRIM HOLLOW, THE PLAYERS GUIDE: bit.ly/35RlYPr
Check it out if you want a dark fantasy guide to characters. I'm even writing some subclasses!
What Pre written do you recommend for a new dm? Ps I’m running the simplified Tomb of Horrors on Monday and that will be my first game.
Doctor Whos Kara with a tavern-tardis is interesting... I stealing her. Thank you! =)
hey wizard! i chalenge you to a wizards duel. meet your match here 2 days from now if you dare
@@guyvingelli9046 He did a video ranking the modules so you might wanna check that out
“You’re forging the power of gods into a spoon”
The spoon: +2 acid damage -_-
I always tie the description to the next player's action, "Mir, your ears ring as the blast from Dario's pistol echos through the hall. The bullet pierces the mummy. It's still standing. What is your move."
Thats interesting, I might try that.
This works very well. My DM does it and it moves the turns well
Okay that's genious.
This is excellent advice, and can really help people get into the moment. I like hearing what my PC would be seeing as my turn comes up.
This is very interesting, but you also have to be careful with it in case anyone has bonus actions. In this case, the Gunslinger might want to use his Second Wind (or action surge) and transitioning to the next player in the description would imply that you're ending the Gunslinger's turn for them. If you want to use this style, I'd recommend letting a player take their entire turn, and then describe everything that happens followed by the transition.
“i’m not a voice actor, i was just a theater kid”
truer words have never been spoken
“Forging the power of Gods into a spoon.”
Never before has there been a more legendary line.
Only a spoonful
@@gamingmaster6377 *pulls out godly large spoon*
I once workshopped an item called 'The Spoon That Is Everything'
It is all weapons at once, and infinitely powerful
@@notoriousectotherm How did your DM allow THAT? 🤣
Forkgiveme
you forgot about the wizard who shrinks himself, gets in the bag of holding, and has his familiar fly them around
Doesn't the air inside a bag of holding run out really quick? I seem to remember someone telling a tale of rescuing a hostage using a bag of holding, only to pull a corpse out after returning to the person who hired them.
@@WildBluntHickok furthermore the wizard could get the "Bagman Experience" :)
@@WildBluntHickok The problem with your logic is smol so don't need as much air plus HES A FUCKING WIZARD HE CAN MAKE AIR
Late response or he can be a warforged and not need to breathe
Sit at the opening looking out as it moves. lol
I've been dealing with the "XP to Level 3" effect. Having players expecting me to play my games like you drives me fucking crazy.
You have entered the halls of Matt Mercer. Good job.
"Magic shouldn't be an easily attainable resource"
Sorcerers: O_O
Gods,dragons,immortals,elves: o.o
Kuo-Toa: °-°
Tieflings, Gnomes, Ghostwise Halfings, Dragonborn, Wizards, Cleircs, Bards, Warlocks: :/
@@phelps6205 the reason I said sorcerers and no other classes is because they usually don't need to do anything for their magic. All the other classes need to at least do something for it.
Also why did this comment get any traction
My players tell me to DM like Matt Mercer. I tell them: Play like his party. Simple as that.
Thats why I like the fact that my players didn't have prior knowledge of the game except maybe one or two games so they can have realistic expectations
His party is 90% of that game, not him
@@punishedwhispers1218 100% agree. I don't know why a lot of players have trouble understanding this
i am just happy if i find a game lol
id rather play with hardcore gygaxian people that started playin in the 70s or 80s than people that learned about D&D through critical role
I like the Keeper idea. It's the idea of "they disappear for this session", but explained in-universe, which is really clever.
"You are making the power of GODS into a SPOON!"
Spoon of ice cream. The spoon automatically refills with ice cream, the taste is chosen by the bearer of the spoon. The calories for the ice cream are 0.
Too much power
@@matthewletexier Entropy is nothing but a poor comedian's joke for this spoon. BEHOLD! THE SPOON!
THAT'S the spoon The Tick was talking about
BBEG is using the spoon to terraform the entire world into a frozen pistachioed wasteland
You can filing the icecream in succesion as a fighter for 1 hp each hit. That can kill eventually. For too powerful.
11:04
my dm usually does little "filler episodes" when it comes to our downtimes like when we're exploring cities where we go off and do stupid things together, most of which end up being retconned, but we do them because they're fun to roleplay. i remember in one filler session i was the only person that turned up, and i ended up killing my partymate's husband. i never told anyone.
another thing we do is come up with oneshots on the fly that are unrelated to the actual campaign, typically backstory elements and whatnot with our characters. it sharpens my dm's skills at improv and is super duper fun for the rest of us
one time my DM had us do a dream sequence with the end goal of a boss fight but with really compelling atmosphere design because that was her improv strength. all of the characters we had were totally out of their depth and didn't match the setting, but it was fun to roleplay that
One thing with magic item crafting: while XGE's rules can work for a lot of em, if there's something super special to a character that they want, making it into a quest to get or make can feel super special to that player and give them some added attachment to it.
If going by that route, then "making" a magic item is kinda just a reflavor of "finding" it, just crafting may fit that player a bit more.
Sometimes though I do feel like XGE, while it works for most cases, it isn't nuanced enough for magic item crafting in specific cases, like if a player REALLY wants to be able to make something powerful and make that part of his story, but I haven't seen any houserules that I like so far.
dungeons and dragons BECMI has really excellent magic item creation rules I definitely recommend looking it up it even has a great pricing model
Honestly surprised to see Zedrin of all people here
The XGE does say special magic items should have attached quests but I get your meaning
Well if you have the components for crafting something require parts of creatures you will have to fight or farm.
I have a spellforge and mobile space station with minor shipyard, 4 R&D labs, and 2 of the biggest interstellar artillery guns ever made, which is currently the linchpin in holding the frontline of a war are losing. Granted, I didn't build any of that by hand, but it does let me order things to be built that are also important. Like a new type of FTL drive that circumvents all conventional FTL inhibitors at the cost of being slower (actual FTL compared to conventional space folding which is nearly instant and hyperspace/the warp which is still really fast, but are both restricted to certain paths). I'm so excited to get to use it in a while. The prototype finished completion two in game weeks ago, but I deemed it to be unsafe for manned testing until it goes through revisions and improvements (please no minimum 5% chance [nat 1] to have the ship destroyed whenever I use the FTL drive). The Fed navy wants to use it in a special operation, and I hope to get funding to finally fill that fourth laboratory.
Space D&D is weird, but cool.
I don't know if my GM uses anything like XGP though, since it's mostly homebrew stuff.
I also need to clarify the scale of "Space D&D," for context. The players don't play just as single heroes on a shared ship, but each is a spec ops commander in a special task force who is in command of *multiple* capital starships, each crewed by hundreds or thousands of people. The scale of the setting is an entire galaxy and eventually the universe (module 2, if we win module 1), though things from other galaxies are entering ours.
Also, HI ZEDRIN!
"I'm going to blow up the earth!"
"BUT I LIVE THERE!"
NOT THE SOFA! I JUST BOUGHT THAT!
Even a chaotic-evil character should want to stop that!
I have a self loathing cleric with somewhat of a deathwish. Might not be applicable.
Havoc 13 "I'm going to blow up the after life!"
Your cleric: "But I want to go there!"
F I N A L F L A S H
"The Keeper" is an amazing way to handle that, i absolutely love it. Might just have to incorporate something similar to it for my own games 🤔
I instantly fell in love with it, paused the video, imagined me explaining the encounter and my own different version of him, came back to watching the video 7 minutes after
Yeah! When I was watching that part, I immediately realized that I have a character just like that. I called him SWAOS always spelled with all caps, and yeah, he is kinda like that: Interdimensional being who’s super OP and is untouchable and can time travel and teleport. Also I used to kind of baby my party and still do to an extent so when I accidentally TPK my who party I’ll be like, “SWAOS doesn’t like this development so as he snaps his fingers he goes full BITES ZA DUSTO on the universe and your all outside the cave again.
Wow that was a bit long
If you’re having problems with a bag of holding being too “powerful”, remember it’s limits. The item uses a larger number to describe its capacity, which unintentionally deceiving. It has 64 cubic feet of space, which is a 4 foot tall cube. That’s not a tiny amount of space but a body would take up most of it (you could probably get 2 or 3 halflings in there, but not a Goliath) Add in whatever odds and ends are being stored in there and it’s unlikely that the party will be able to put anything they want in there. I’m definitely not a stickler about carrying capacity, but I don’t let my players put everything they ever find in the bag.
That guy's totally right.
I was here saying "nooo, nooo, you're wrong", but he's right, lol.
I always thought the bag of holding was bigger because you can get inside of it, and have 10 minutes of air, and you can "store" multiple creatures that, but they'll have a minimum of 1 minute of air; so my brain goes "ok, I can store AT LEAST 10 people inside of it", but no, it's more like, 10 dogs, or 20 cats, which will get 1 min of air each.
You might be able to get a goliath in. One goliath. Humans can crouch down to less than half their height. Samus (Metroid) is an athletic 6,3 woman who can squeeze into a ball that's got a diameter of 2-3 feet.
@@matthewcox69 goliaths are on average much taller and of larger build than most races. 6’6 to 7’ is the average for their race, with some getting to 8’ or more. You could probably get a smaller than average Goliath in there, but not one that’s much above 7’.
@@AplesedjrI'm suggesting an 8 foot goliath can crouch themselves into 4 feet of space. It wouldnt be comfortable but bag of holding travel isnt supposed to be
You can fit about 1.8 average humans in a 4 foot cube. Don't ask me how I know.
about the "story hogging" section - i DM'd a campaign with five players where two players was basically taking turns derailing challenges (but not the whole campaign) with some stupid bullshit - but it was hilarious. Everyone enjoyed it so I leaned into it and those things tended to become the things that was most memorable. I tried to design challenges for all players, but these two tended to find unconventional - and hilarious - ways to solve problems that were not made for them to solve. But everyone had fun, so there was no issue. (Altough I do suspect some of the comedic value was me being flabbergasted by their shenanigans)
One highlight is when one of the casters realized a flaw in the homebrew magic system that meant that instead of actually fighting the boss, he could just conjure a 1x1x2 meter block of solid granite 5 meters above its head, resulting in a very crushed boss. I allowed it that time and never again xD
We had a short mystery campaign. Our rogue investigator left the party on two seperate occasions to tail someone across town, avoid guards, hide as a trash bag, break into an estate, befriend and steal the guard dog, break I to the house, convince the butler he was the Lady's special company that evening, and escape back home and sleep on the lawn with nothing happening with a couple handfuls of nat 20s and 5-1(basically crits) percentile rolls for luck. It was amazing and really kept the plot moving while everyone else did other stuff to help uncover clues and set up the next mission.
I have a minor case of the Forever DM (Trademark pending) and I'm gonna send this to everyone who wants to try DMing in my group so I can finally play
Ah yes, a DM Eternal. The ones that make the D&D community exist, but they get beaten into the ground every time someone doesn’t respect their rules. I am sorry.
I feel you brother fellow forever dm
Infinity DM GANG RISE UP
@@Blackgold185 Lol yes
Maybe one day we will get to play *holds back manly tears*
God I've barely even gotten past the first part but just seeing the "KENKUS" section gets me every time
"you don't need to do an Australian accent to be a really good dungeon master"
but does that mean if you can do a really good Australian accent you ARE a good dungeon master?
I mean... I can do a really good Australian accent... like really REALLY good...
So good it's like I was born and raised there *cough* *cough*
Its actually really hard to make an Aussie accent when you live there isn't it its hard to realise that you HAVE an Aussie accent
Oi mate
Shout out to the Aussie DM's in here!
@@yzbyname cheers mate
Oi, a dire dingo eeez coming to eat yur baby. Wat do you do?
26:58 totally agree with Jacob. Each DM has a different style and you’ll have to learn the best way for you to do it. I, personally, do an Alfred Hitchcock style; I’ll prepare a sandbox that the story is set in for several sessions or a particular arc and spend months planning out every detail of that area. But luckily I’m in a group with several DM’s so we all get to take breaks to do this
I cant stress enough how important player character communication with the DM is. If you want to do something cool or have an idea to progress your characters plot then just ask. The worst you can get back is a no.
The description: "can I have matt colville? we have matt colville at home. matt colville at home: " lmao we all want to be matt colville
yeah lol, something about being named "Matt" must make you a good dungeon master
I saw that and was wondering if that was trying to guide people to Colville's Running D&D series without just saying "HEY! This guy has a bunch of good videos that you will likely also find helpful!"
@@JacksonOwex I think he assumes that most new dms watch Matt Colville but I don't believe that to be the case
Braincain007 this isn’t only for new dms. Every dm has weak points they can improve upon
Oh I'm really not sure about this.
I rather do it my own way.
Ngl I like playing humble people FAR, FAR more than something like "I'm the son of a god"
But there is a difference between "humble backstory" (like being the son of a farmer, or the daughter of a boat captain) and "I have no backstory other than...I'm here".
What if you're a humble son of a god that wants nothing to do with that drama?
@@Shalakor been there, tried that. My DM (this was a oneshot btw) decided to make my brother the bbeg
I played sorcerer that time
“Hi I’m a sailor that does magic sometimes”
Tbf I'm a DM who makes characters I never get to play, but one concept I got to play in a one-shot was a Scourge Aasimar Divine Sorcerer Acolyte who was literally raised to believe he was a messianic figure whole used Prestidigitation and Thaumaturgy to make a bunch of supernatural effects happen around him all the time and all the rest of his spells were like absolutely destructive (Lightning Bolt, Shatter, etc.). Whether or not he was literally the son of a god was tbd
People need to understand that 1 GOLD PEICE IS NOT THE DND EQUIVILANT OF 1 DOLLAR. Considering the players handbook descriptions of currency, it could be around $300, give or take a $100.
i just like to make everything gold standard. it's not as realistic, but it's easier on our math impared monkey brains. especially mine.
This is very true. Most characrers at the mid levels should have enough money to jump-start a town's economy, or even build one of their own.
A regular person measures their wages in silvers.
@@Amikas117 I'm watching campaign 1 in critical role and every time Vex asks for more money all i can think is "they are already paying you more than the average person can hope to see in their lifetime" or when she bargains against a fair price "you're party has enough money to create a small city, the least you can do is give this man his moneys worth and stimulate the economy"
@@brooksfaucette296 That bothered me a LOT when I first started watching too!
I think it also has to do with video games making currency "gold/gold looking" by default. Like Elder Scrolls or Fantasy Rogue-likes. Or heck, even Mario. So to many people they are very desensitized to gold coins in fiction.
I've only DMed and never played. We were all newbies in my player group so we all learned together. You and others like Matter served as inspiration to me
My first game on Wednesday and I’m a DM. Any tips?
Man, I wish the DM of the first D&D campaign I was in had listened to the part at 22:10. I remember the first-ever D&D group I joined (online). We had to write a 2,000-word backstory about our character. I had one, which I thought was pretty cool, and when I sent it to the DM, he messaged me back within 1-2 minutes, saying I need you to rewrite it. And I was like, "wtf" since you know it's a 2,000-word backstory, and I had put a lot of time into it. Basically, the reasoning he gave was that in the first couple of sentences, I described how my character had killed his father or something when he was younger (like 16). And he said that would be impossible since a "kid" wouldn't be strong enough to do something like that (like physically strong enough, not mentally). And yea, that was basically how my first D&D group went.
Personally, that would've been my signal to piss off and never play with that person again.
It's a huge red flag and I have neither the time nor the patience deal with such shenanigans.
I'm sorry that was your introduction to this game...
Question: how do you get friends to synchronize their schedules so that you can all play D&D?
😭
necromancy or conjuring. That or the "Discord" spell
I had to deal with this. Once a month or every three weeks or so we all pick a day that we refuse to schedule anything else for. If people's work schedules are predictable that's easy, if they're unpredictable then everybody has to agree to specifically call off work or get someone else to cover their shift.
It's hard to have everybody be able to commit to dnd once a week, but it's a lot more viable if the time-span is monthly. So it's not as unbearable to have to wait you can ask folks to play for a lot longer on that day.
I now have a weekly game and we play for on average 3 hours, but back when we used to play monthly the games would be for like 6 hours.
Ask if they can have a game in "insert date here". They'll probably say no (at least some of them).
See what players you want in your table.
Ask what date is better for them.
Reschedule.
(if needed, redo that 'till you have that perfect date)
PS: it may take months before you have that "perfect day" to play, so you could try to ask them if they really want to play, or if they "have" to do some other thing (maybe 5/6 players could play in that day, and the only guy that can't, will watch a movie, or something like that that can wait).
PPS: srry for bad english :(
I use the holidays but then again, I am a DM who takes ages to come up with sessions.
What I have done is schedule the best I can around my availability. This may seem selfish, but the reality of it is as the DM, the game literally can not go on without you (unless you run a shared campaign). Typically working around work schedules first, who has what common day off, and if a day off can not be found, maybe a time during the day. After that, it's all about process of elimination as to actual dates and times. Sometimes you have to compromise or run a session without someone present.
Being in theatre is literally the whole reason I got the confidence to finally try and learn and play D&D so I can relate
One of my long term players who has played in all of my campaigns never rights a back story and comes up with it as we go along through solidifying his characters personality. its one of the things i love about DMing for that player.
"How much do you deviate from prewritten campaigns" I have crippling ADD, I couldn't follow a module to the letter if I tried. I will keep 50-75% of the original module. The worst I ever butchered was Curse of Strahd, and I feel garbage about that.
The campaign quickly spiraled into a time travel campaign, where Rictavio fabricated a rapier that could literally cut through time and space once a day. The party got to see Barovia before it went to shit, Rictavio popped in and out of existence whenever it was convenient, an players who couldn't show up just "vanished in a cloud of purple mist, as they fell into a tear in time and space", only to reappear when the player did, right next to the party.
Oh yeah, and there was little girl with a "Baby Beholder" (domesticated spectator). Anytime I did something completely incoherent, I just said it was a mystery for them to solve. I then accepted the first explanation, and made it cannon. They thought I was mastermind, but really I was just too ADD to make sense. I'm much better now, I swear. If only a little.
@Xenodorian damn now I don't feel so bad about replacing Ireena with a different character I made lol
(Thought it would be more interesting if souls don't have gender so this reincarnation is a man, and also a cleric to give tie back to Sergi and the good/evil motifs of the npcs)
I’m ngl the space-time rapier sounds awesome. Totally doesn’t fit Curse of Strahd. But it sounds awesome and I may steal it lol
My favorite way that I included a "Gilmore's Glorious Goods" magic item shop in a campaign, was by having a wandering Arcanaloth trader.
Rather than letting the players straight up buy magic items with gold, he instead asked them for unique secrets/knowledge/stories that they had, for which he would give them store credit depending on how interesting/unique their knowledge is.
They could also trade in their own magic items (again, interesting/unique ones are more valuable) for items of equal value.
Very cool!
Could he know if your party was lying? like saying if they said about this cosmic power existed? Would he know or would they still roll deception checks?
Oh I'm so stealing that the next time I DM a longform campaign
I love this
Could I use this for my campaign and are there any tips on how to properly give credit for different types of stories?
He played for 526 years, most of which is the most recent version?
Time traveler confirmed!
he's not sure. hes playing e^5 to e^7 yrs
*GASP* HE is The Keeper
6:55 I like the idea of having a "Wally's Wondrous and Not-So-Wondrous Items" shop (like the TikToks) where this weirdo artificer/wizard Dwarf sells his handmade magical items, but with a catch; he doesn't actually know or remember what the item DOES, so it's all up to chance (or DM rolling for Wally's memory). I like the idea of a player being sold a rather expensive "Toothbrush of Frost" with the selling point being having the ability to cast Ray of Frost or something x amount of times per long rest, but it actually just produces infinite minty toothpaste and ends up being a huge waste of money, lmao.
25:09 is a great response. I'm the most extroverted guy in my Sunday group, and I felt like I was doing this so I first tried to pull back and basically shove them into the spotlight instead. When that... went less than fantastic, mostly because we stopped getting shit done because nobody else seemed to want to take the reigns, I asked them about it and they said that while yeah I was the chattiest in character they didn't mind that and were glad that someone was doing it. I still have trained myself to clam up when they want to talk and read the room when the GM is trying to push for them to get a moment and clam up then as well. As long as everyone's okay with it, there's nothing wrong with being a strong party face - some people just don't want to be the center of attention, and that's okay. Just talk to your group and make sure, and if they're okay with it when they DO want to have the spotlight, freely give it to them.
I absolutely love when the 5 senses are used to describe scenes, as you were describing the same room I could instantly visualize and legitimately had a cold chill run over my arms as you said it. And this is just an example not even actually playing. When you can invoke senses, reactions, or emotions that a person can relate to and have experienced before makes for a great emersion tool.
I really like that The Keeper npc concept and I think I am going to be needing to use it soon. I always can come up with a good excuse for when a player is missing but when they come back not so much, tho it hasn't been a huge problem yet.
This video is incredible. Thank you so much. Also my question was included so I feel slightly famous.
you're welcome, thanks!
Is that THE Jack Bellinger from the video???
@@justabiscuit1794 Lol. Yes, I am him.
@@jackbellinger1216 finally
omg omg it’s jack bellinger
The show “Pushing Daisies” is a wonderful way to still develop great mysteries even when the detective casts Speak With Dead every episode.
"How to handle Detect spells?' a box lined with lead, simple.
Oh yeah, that’s right, there’s a reason that that’s a thing
My best tip for making travel seem interesting comes from The One Ring system, one character is taking point doing perception or something, another could be doing survival to find food/water passively, one could do history or something similar and all 3 of these rolls could lead to some time of encounter/scenario. Combat, exploration, a weird occruence, a traveling circus, whatever.
This young guy is a genius. Looking forward to seeing you come up. Really should think about creating new types of media that connects movies and active storytelling
When ever my players finish off an enemy i always say right after "how do you do it?" to make them use more of there imagination and feel a small taste of being the DM. Also it lets them know after a big battle that they finally emerge ontop
Long story short for the intro.
Jacob: oh hey I have experience dming
Also Jacob: oo free content
31:30 Adventures in Middle Earth has a great system for travelling. Considering Tolkien's epic tales of journeying are the inspiration of the game system, I think it's really nice mechanic that they incorporated into the game.
I appreciate this video! As a semi-new DM of only a few months this was extremely helpful! THANK YOU SO MUCH JACOB!!!Much love have fun, roll them DICE!
My dad actually gave me the greatest DM advice I've ever received. "Instead of trying to be a DM like someone else, just be the DM you want to be. Don't compare yourself to someone like Matt Mercer for example cause you'll stress yourself out trying to be perfect. Just be the best DM you can be for yourself and your players."
"Flying is dumb and for losers." I currently have an Aarakocra in my campaign, it is rather interesting as a DM to try and make it so they aren't absolutely dominating everything. If any other DMs are having trouble with flying characters but really don't want to make them change races - here's what I do.
Whenever they get hit in the air, they need to make a DEX saving throw equal to the damage dealt. On a success, they drop 10 feet. On a failure, they plummet. Xanathar's guide states that a creature falls 500 feet in a round, if that ends up as being relevant.
Also, they're a land druid, so their DPR isn't very high as it is, and they haven't unlocked flying Wild Shapes yet. I would be much more worried about fighters, rogues, rangers, sorcerers, warlocks, or wizards as they will be much more of a threat in combat.
Hopefully that was helpful.
My simple fix for flying characters is to make the ability have a tradeoff that thematically fits. Like forcing them to remove armour, or not allowing them to use heavy weapons or carry a backpack. If the character dosnt immediately decide to pick their moments and use the ability at crucial moments, the limitations of the system at least make it so that combat isn't unbalanced.
Hadhod I mean the flyers aka ultimate monks, rangers, fighters really dont care about that limitation
Just knock them prone. They don't have magic hovering so they fall. Taking that 1d6 per 10 foot fall damage.
There's a bird in the sky? Seems like an easy target for bow wielders. There's literally nothing to hide behind
@@hadhod5274 All fun and games until you've got a monk aarakockra
"Your forging the power of GOD into a SPOON!"
Brb writing up a magic item
The Michelin Spoon: A spoon that, when attuned makes everything eaten with it at the perfect freshness, temperature, and seasoning for the dish and your preferences.
Simply you jest, clearly the power of god would only be imbued to the almighty spork
Ah yes, the superior consumption utensil
My Paladin actually has a god-spoon, it only deals 1d4 but he can smite with it by throwing it.
This is actually a reference to Solomon putting spells inside spoons in one of their earlier games
Dumb and random fact:
I played in a game where we were mercenarys for a powerful lich, (who's wasn't evil) but if a new player showed up, or someone had to leave, he just opened a portal and threw the new character through or pulled the absent character through
My group had the literal joke of, "Oh no, they fell through a plot hole!" and then when they would rejoin on a later session the characters would ask them what they saw in their time in the hole. It became a kind of shared storytelling joke of exactly what the plot hole was.
Gregor-Alright guys, let's go knock this dungeon out.
*Portal opens up, Lich grabs Gregor*
Lich-Come with me, there's petunias EVERYWHERE.
Gregor-what?
*Portal closes after Gregor is pulled through*
Classifications of magic: High fantasy, Fantasy, Low Fantasy, No Magic. Depending upon which of these classifications you are running your game should dictate the prices, time of creation, and availability of your magic items (since 5e apparently doesn't have a gold to level ratio, an ultimate equipment guide, or Decent rules explanation for item creation like pathfinder does).
I appreciate the fact that you have taken the time to make these videos, even more so the fact that you don't act like you know everything. It is encouraging to see such a person advocating the playing of RPG's.
I would recommend to people out there to try the PathFinder Role Playing system, which is basically a revised version of D&D 3.5, that grouped some of the skills together, made players a little more powerful, and they have in depth rules and guides on pretty much everything. It is not as main streamed as 5e, but having that extra complexity is what makes it fun in my opinion.
At 18:00 make sure you also punish players. A lot of times players at the beginning of the campaign will push the envelope as far as they can see what their dm will put up with. Don’t be afraid to punish them for screwing around too much. Don’t railroad or over punish them but them know if they don’t take a serious situation seriously, they’ll be punished for it
If there are a lot of cancelations, that's when the players who show up get the coolest stuff. Sometimes i'll do flashbacks of their backstories. They tend to like that
Love that idea! I will see about flashbacks in my campaign... Yes.. Gotta get them to see what happened.
I use milestone exp. So you won't be behind in levels. But only the participants get magic items and gold and loot
When in doubt ask your player what happen in the flash back or look below for inspiration.
Flash back are probably the best thing to do if anyone is still down to play without other. To add onto the flashback, if you have one player, you can do an in-depth session of the motivation to why they join the adventure. Play as the abusive father that brooding dark elf have. Stuff that build on the character
If you have two player, you could revisit an important event in the campaign making them play as a different NPC and how their reaction to it. This might not seem a major deal but it allow other to have a collaborative story telling experience. With two players, you can also do a side mission that tied with their backstory. Seeing the brooding elf and the cleric having to work together to take down their competitors is fun, or maybe they have a point in their life before where they interact and influence one another. Maybe this dark elf might be the one of the factor that influence the cleric past hatred for a certain type of enemy.
Edit: Slightly better format
Hippity hoppity your idea is now my property
19:13
So I play as a book-nerdy Pact of the Tome Celestial Warlock in one of my games who kinda acts like the party wizard, specifically regarding her usage of the Identify spell for the party. Earlier in the campaign, one of our players had found this rusty/bronze crown that was giving off illusion magic and nobody could figure out why, but regardless of this nobody in the party trusted it and was convinced it was cursed. After using Identify on it, my character discovered the crown was using illusion magic to conceal the existence of other magic within the crown, and that blew me away. I'd love to see more cases of magic being used to supplement other magic in a meta way like this, and I think it's a good way to create some intrigue specifically surrounding magic items.
When initially making my campaign, I thought of several different generic motivations for the characters, as to why they ended up in that part of the setting. Then when I gathered all my players for session 0, I listened to all their characters, tweaked the generic motivations and gave them to the respective characters. Since I had a few new players as well, because I got a general feel of who they wanted to play, it allowed me to hand them something suitable as a base to build their backstory off of
Re: Backstory - THANK YOU! As someone who doesn't really like to create an entire history of my characters, and simply want to play AS MYSELF, this is a refreshing response to hear. I am fine with letting the story itself progress my character through the choices both I and friends/DM make.
27:49
The most important thing in character creation is giving your character's bond imo. And you should honestly have several of them. The more you give the DM to work with the easier it will be to participate personally in the story. If all one character cares about is "I protect my hometown" it will quickly become repetitive to threaten the town every time a new villain rolls around.
Mr. Xp sir, I doubt you'll see this, but you've helped me and my friends start playing and we have some of the best times ever when we play. Your videos really are an inspiration, even to a player
you and your friends are a lucky bunch
welcome to the d&d world
As a new dm myself, I really appreciated this video. Though, on the descriptions section, I was laughing my butt off remembering when one of my players cast shatter on a group of automata and I simply said "They explode." XD That was the first session and I've since gotten better.
This is super helpful, I’m a new DM and this helped me so much!
What I’ve seen of it so far!
This is also the first XP to Level 3 vid where you rolled a nat 20 on persuasion and now I want to buy the Grim Hollow book!
He just used glibness with his charisma of 20
If you ae a new DM I really really recommend looking at Matt Colville on youtube. His running the game series made me 100x better at dming.
Braincain007 Thanks I will
5:04 I can attest to this. Due to some circumstances I have a home brew character, a frog named Jeremy. Jeremy has Inflict Wounds. Jeremy used it on a wolf by using his tongue as the means of contact. The DM described the scene as the wolf imploding, collapsing in on itself at the point of of contact; after condensing into a small enough sphere on Jeremy’s tongue he retracted his tongue, eating the entire wolf in one go. (Granted the wolf was already super low, but this description had the table both ecstatic and horrified at the same time)
As a new dm I found this really helpful! I’ve been running a few oneshots but I am currently planing a longer campaign after lockdown so is was a nice video to find ☺️
if you're gonna hate this video later, and give diff advice as well... why not make it an annual thing?
3:00 Matt Mercer got made fun of by Travis and/or Liam, maybe some of the others too, because of how often he used "TOOTHY MAW"! So even the "GOD TEIR" DMs have issues with this sometimes!
18:43 What do you do if all you get is "My father was an important figure (insert relevant campaign thing here) and died in a mysterious explosion. I am suspicious of everyone and take care in what I say to people." The sad part is that's better than what I got out of a couple of my other players! I know the answer probably is that I need to find better players but the issue there is finding the time that those better players can make sessions. Maybe I just need to play with fewer but better people and stop worrying about having a balanced party.
Oh, it's kind of a later question, nevermind!!!
Not to mention how frequently Mercer's monsters get hit in the shoulder, it's his go to place for a bad but not really bad hit.
Maybe try to make that backstory awesome? The more open, the more room you have to turn and twist it and surprise the player
26:56 It takes me so long to prep. I have really bad ADHD and executive dysfunction, I will literally wait till before midnight on the night before dnd and then get started and i usually end up pretty tired the next day cause of it. I write scripts, endlessly pour through soundtracks, character images, making tokens, making maps on dungeon painter or otherwise finding a good map online...but all of this really feels good to me even though it literally puts me into PANIC MUST BE DONE NOW because its the only thing I work towards in my life T^T
I completely relate, I do the same exact thing. The way I've tried helping myself be better about prepping so I don't exert myself is to pick a time to do all the prep.
I'll go into my schedule, carve out 4 to 5 hours, and clear that time. That is now my "DM prep time"
It can be very relaxing and rewarding if you pull it off.
I also have an issue with ADHD, and after DMing for a little over a year now and I do alot of similar things. I always want to 3D print (and paint) minis for the game, cards for magic items, and I constantly draw maps after looking online for inspiration. Although I've learned it's easier to try and just write descriptions for areas and NPCs in the game, and exclusively write dialogue for important information (such as clues to a mystery a character would have, a monologue about how an NPC feels about an issue, exactly how a NPC reacts to drop hints to players about events going on, etc) and leave the rest to improvisation. As far as music goes, I am busy with school a lot and D&D will often times take up what it is I'm thinking about and I can't focus on school work without doing it first; so I will often have D&D music from youtube in the background and I will decide if that is what I want to use as background music.
I hope this doesn't come across condescending
Try not to compare your games, and their level of complexity, t games you hear about or see on UA-cam.
All of these UA-camrs with D&D channels are living their lives this way.
If your job is to make D&D content, you're going to focus most of your time around D&D, you'll have more time to focus on D&D related stuff.
But most of us have jobs that have nothing to do being create or content creation in general like a UA-camr does
Therefore, we are not going to have these huge extravagant games and stories that D&D UA-camrs will. At least not every game. I would even bet that most D&D Tubers don't play a huge extravagant mega prepped game everytime they sit down and play.
You can absolutely still plan a massive game with a lot of prep. But please don't overexert yourself trying to keep up with people who play this game/talk about it for a living.
Don't be afraid to simplify stuff, and cut out a lot of things that you had Big Dreams for. Because you have to prioritize time for yourself as well. Your mental health is important, you need to know when you're stretching yourself thin.
You are not a D&D youtuber, that is not how you pay the bills, please dont destroy your mental health trying to play table tops games as if you were one.
The part about characters with no backstories reminds me of a game that I was going to run with some of my friends, and after one of them found out about sentient magic items, they decided that they wanted to be a sentient magic sling that weighs 3,000 pounds and can levitate.
"You see wooden walls, floors, tables and chairs, but nothing else. The room is empty and it smells... _flammable."_
If you have more than half your players cancel, but the ones that do show up really want to play, you COULD run a one shot flashback. You'd be adding flavor to the characters and could make the campaign plot more meaningful.
I have been playing D&D since 1986! I am also the “most of the time DungeonMaster”! ❤️😷👍🏽
In combat, I usually just say "something something ribcage something something" and that usually works. Sometimes if I'm feeling extra spicy, I replace ribcage with heart or some shit like that.
I made a rule for bag of holding, magical items and all sorts of objects can fit in. Anything that is living, sentient, or hasn't been dead for more than 3 months can not entered. If a player attempts it by forcing said restricted items, the bag creates a force wave of 10 feet radius dealing x damage to the player forcing it and half for those around it. Stipe them cheesing crazy schemes
This is so much more useful than just watching Matt Mercer. He never explains how he's such a great DM. This actually breaks it all down, piece by piece. Thank you!
Jacob: "The bag of holding can actually be really powerful"
My party: "The shardmind made himself into dust so we put him inside the bad :D"
If a player doesn't have a backstory: Try facilitating moments *in game* where the player can discover their own backstory. While the party is travelling, ask what they're talking about. When they're taking a rest, what is everyone eating? (not just "rations", what is that character's ration. Is it a ham sandwhich? A soup? A loaf of bread and some nuts?). Ask what things remind their characters of. This is a way lower pressure way of teasing out backstory from people and worked well for the first bit. Later I send out a questionnaire with some easy questions (what's your home town, what was your profession before adventuring, who are your parents, are they alive, etc.) that I only looking for brief answers on. Really helps people develop their characters on the fly in an easy, judgement free way. The questionnaire gives you enough to plant PC-specific backstory quests without being overbearing on the people that just aren't into it.
Context: I started DM'ing for a group about 3 months ago. Originally it was going to be a short adventure (3-4 sessions of 2-3 hours each tops), but the group was super into it. No one prepared backstories, because it was basically a big one-shot. When we decided to hook it into a bigger campaign I made, suddenly backstory was really useful. I had been incorporating the "what do you all talk about" things, but leaned into it more. When that first adventure wrapped up (after being expanded to 8 sessions), I sent out the questionnaire. Honestly, I think I'll use this model going forward, I'll definitely take backstories in the beginning, but I won't require them.
"Some magic item that they had on them that evenly split the gold" Amulet of Socialism confirmed.
I just say, the head of the party is paid and shares evenly.
Uneven shares like, 43g between 4 characters, everyone gets 10 but the head takes 13, why? He sponsors the party using HIS wagon for travel.
@@jonumine6250 great idea, but I prefer the Amulet of Communism
@@8-bitsarda747 Forged by Karlius Marximillion in the what could only be remembered as the "Red Mountains," where he used only two simple tools to forge an artefact that would finally bring about true equality among the greedy races of man.
@@spiceyicey sadly though, it's power was tainted by a man named Josephstine Stalinius. Also corrupting the Hammer of Fellowship and Sickle of Plenty, which were used to make the amulet, turning them into the Hammer of Servitude and Sickle of Famine. Wielding these three artifacts, Josephstine Stalinius brought entire empires under his thumb, ruling with an iron fist, and making sure everyone was equally poor. Since his fall, the Hammer, Sickle, and Amulet have been lost to time. One can only hope that they can one day shed their tainted and evil powers, and be restored to their former glory
I play a comrade class
23:43 it’s not always that simple. I’ve had players come to the table with nothing, realize that everyone else is playing the game differently than them, try stuff to give their character personality, and ultimately quit the game because of it. “Just let them do it.” Is not always a good answer.
My advice would be threefold:
- Ask 2-3 character-building questions before they join the game. “What is your character known for?” “What person is your character most attached to?” Then give them a few moments in their first session to get a feel for their character. A 1 on 1 scene with you. A bit like Brennan Lee Mulligan does during first episodes.
- IF they start to feel out of place, give them some options! Help them understand what their character’s good at and play into it. Help them find some group utility outside of roleplay (like posting session recaps, or starting a meme chat). Maybe even help them to create a new character, or retcon some things. Just communicate before things get frustrating for them.
- D&D is not for everybody. Some people don’t want to play. Ask them if they’re enjoying the game. How you can help. BUT, if they don’t see it as a problem, and nobody else sees it as a problem-drop it, and adjust your style of play. (Just like you said, XP)
As a person who literally started like 4 months ago and was semi-forced into being the forever dm (its really fun), watching your vids have helped me along a lot as a dm and helped inspire me to make homebrew changes of my own. And my players even say they have fun so thanks for making these awesome vids Jacob!
KENKUS: Oh wow, this gave me flashbacks of Davvy Chappy's Kenku video! I wrote a full page of text for my games ruling how kenku work, addressing all of the questions in that video. (Not posted due to me trying to keep my comments down to a single paragraph.) Anyway, I'm eager to introduce my players to my new NPC: Barron Spatula, Lord of Boghollow Dump. He owns a battered old phonograph and an extensive collection of scratched records. He doesn't talk but expresses himself by opening his mouth, sticking his head up like a phonograph horn, and playing scratchy music that fits his current mood.
Baron Spatula sounds amazing
Why is the “how to write your games” section ten seconds long?
Oh, that’s why
Basically, I come up with a world or use one that exists already.
Create a world shaking event, maybe combine two of them
Create a plot hook to have the players solve this new problem.
Pick a monster, powerful being, or group to act as a villain
find out what the players need to do to solve it
then make a bunch of encounters, like fight bad guys here, get McGuffin here, find an NPC here, etc.
Put it all together, add stuff from the players backstories into the mix, make some maps and boom campaign.
This was originally in the video but I rambled for far too long and decided to refer you to the place where I explain it well.
@@XPtoLevel3 Ooooo, let me try it out.
PS: I promise I came up with this on the fly to showcase your steps.
_"Basically, I come up with a world or use one that exists already."_
Okay, um, Harry Potter, so schools of magic. Let's twist it around, make the main story centered in a single country filled to the brim with these schools, everyone is constantly trying to fuck with this country for obvious political reasons given the power of magic.
_"Create a world shaking event, maybe combine two of them"_
Let's try magic entropy from shows like Little Witch Academia with a splash of Dungeons of Drakenheim (or whatever the source for that idea was, I heard it was from Warhammer) and the tree thing from Naruto.
A meteor crashes into the not-Earth, not in a city but in a remote and dangerous part of magic-country, and it begins to drain the leylines from the planet, collecting it into strange crystal fruit that grows around and inside the roots of this living meteor.
Maybe picture the devil fruit things from DMC5, that'd be cool.
_"Create a plot hook to have the players solve this new problem."_
Magic-country enlists your help, either because of your renown as students in the country or as political figures from allied nations, to investigate the source of depleting magic, speculated to be connected to this meteor.
_"Pick a monster, powerful being, or group to act as a villain"_
Let's say it's a sentient hive mind that lives in the meteor, generic BBEG, consume all magic in the multiverse, blah blah blah. Its roots can extend into weird places and when popping out, can spawn horrific magical creatures, or maybe do some False Hydra shenanigans.
_"find out what the players need to do to solve it“_
The obvious one is "kill the BBEG", but let's side track it a bit. Wrath of the Lich King would have been boring if it was just a march into Icecrown Citadel to kill Arthas and that was it.
Maybe a cult that worships this meteor-God had summoned it, so they're the key to learning how to stop a being that can just eat magic. Maybe this cult was tied to a political faction that wanted to bring down the magic-country, but didn't know what they were getting into with this cult, false promises and deception and all that.
It starts with investigating the lost magic, followed by some scrying, a failed attempt to march on the meteor, a hint to explore the political landscape, discoveries of treachery, a decimation of the cult, the preparation to fight against the boss mechanics, and killing the BBEG.
_"then make a bunch of encounters, like fight bad guys here, get McGuffin here, find an NPC here, etc. Put it all together, add stuff from the players backstories into the mix, make some maps and boom campaign."_
Throw in some mini bosses, generals, commanders, some world building related objectives and the impacts of the lost magic on this society...
Maybe spells are limited to third level, so they need to craft awesome legendary gear to use stronger spells. It'd be done as level locking that is lifted once they wear the armor, so it'd affect physical classes too.
Thanks for the wonderful flow chart :D
@@AnaseSkyrider
Let's make this a chain:
• Basically, I come up with a world or use one that exists already.
I think I'll use Gaia from Final Fantasy VII. But let's mix things up and throw a bit of xmen in the setting by having people have genetic potentials for dangerous sorcery caused by the Planet's death throws. Let's set it in a midgar analogue but we'll mix it up by having the city float over a massive tunnel carved into the earth drilling for magic with multiple platforms that go deeper and deeper beneath the planet.
• Create a world shaking event or combine two of them.
A Genome(our mutant analogue) gang reportedly blew up a reactor in the platform the players live on, setting Anti-Genome sentiments to an all time high, while the power surge has eliminated the defenses that protect the city from the dangers that lurk beneath the ground.
• Create a plot hook to have the players solve this new problem.
While on a train between sectors the power goes out and and a man in a nice suit accidentally picks up the wrong bag by mistake. A player checks their bag and discovers files that suggest the power company might be guilty of foul play.
• Pick a monster, powerful being, or group to act as a villain
Buddy Synds, a powerful Artificer who has a childhood grudge against Genomes and has made it his life's mission to make the world a place where they are unneeded. If the players draw the wrong conclusions then they can find themselves set against the Genome gangs. (Thanks for the Syndrome reference)
• find out what the players need to do to solve it
The players probably need to gather evidence to discredit the power company or find a way to leave the city.
Throw in lots of street level encounters and magitek because why not
OMG IS THE BACKGROUND MUSIC DIVINITY ORGINAL SIN 2!!!!! IF IT IS THATS SO FRIGGEN COOOOOL MY UA-camR OVERLORD
Wow the difference between you describing the room the first time to the second time was amazing. I hope everyone else really caught how subtle-not-subtle the improvement there was.
So ive been following this channel for a while and 2 DAYS before my second campaign I will be DMing this video shows up. Thanks UA-cam, very cool
16:00 one time I joined a random group, had no idea they were playing an evilish campaign. So my lawful good cleric did not fit. So during the first break I told the DM to kill my character and next week I would show back up with someone who fit better. Shit happens
Now I want to craft, "The Spoon of the Gods!" It's a +3 spoon.
23:38 my uncle has a solution for that in the form of an encounter, the players trigger a warding glyph that teleports them directly to a spectator's lair, the spectator is tasked to protect a piece of treasure entrusted to it by a powerful archmage who is now dead. The spectator throughout the many millennia it has spent there has become insane and really wants to leave but cannot due to the deal, when it sees the players it excitedly comes over and uses its paralyzing ray to paralyze them form the neck down, the spectator will agree to let them free in exchange to have a normal conversation with each other, asking about whats their motives, their ideals and ambitions, and most importantly their backstory. If they do these they will be set free by the spectator (bonus points if they persuade the spectator to give up protecting the treasure), if in the case of the "My character has amnesia and doesn't remember who he is" then the spectator will just keep asking questions until they form some kind of cohesive backstory with what they have.
your uncle is ruthlessly efficient, and also creative.
Best. Description. Ever. Btw, just to have to say, I'm very happy to see your success, your views, sponsorships, etc. all steadily growing. Along with Colville and WebDM, your channel is always on my shortlist of recommendations for people that ask for advice on DMing. Your love for the game really shines through in all your videos and even the most cynical of us ETERNAL DMs get a second hand high from your enthusiasm. Keep up the great work!!
Thank you for sharing all of this! As a fairly new DM I have devoured hours of YT videos learning about styles, content, and tips. Your videos are almost always very informative AND funny, which I appreciate.
10:12 "If you're an artificer maybe you can do it in double the time"
Reason number 137 why I don't play an artificer: it takes them twice as long to make magic items.
Wait, whut?
lol
“Having a Gilmore’s glorious goods shop that sells any and all magic items is a fantastic way to destroy your campaign”
Ya know as someone who makes a lot of magic item shops because I like cool stuff for my players, I *feel* that
You just gotta know what they do and how your players will use them. Being a lil bit of a shithead occasionally when you play helps, you can figure out unique uses for items in-game and plan for if your players pull the same shenanigans.
I had a character with a Ring of Cold Resistance who could grapple, guess who dragged a couple pirates under the freezing cold waves to kill with hypothermic shock? This half-elf motherfucker.
Pregen Character incl. Backstory: John Smith Human Fighter, bough a sword and some armor and hung out in a bar until an adventuring party formed.
I'll take that over drug addicted, socially awkward half-donkey bard/warlock who finishes every sentence with a heehaw.
I once had a dm who did initiative outside of combat for specific rp encounters and I loved it. Was perfect for getting everyone equally involved
To be honest, the description of the wooden room with wind outside was good enough that I could perfectly picture myself in that setting. In fact, I mentally heard the sound of the creaking wooden floors just as you were starting to describe it!
"I'm just some dude who looks like me."
"Oh, so low charisma then."
you.. you.. you murdered him dude
What I learned from this video: Don't play Kenku as written or you're gonna have a bad time.
players be like: 'i don't trust everyone else enough to have a backstory'
me: that's not even- aaaaaa....
I liked this simply for the "Matt Colville at home" description - I use both of yours, and Runesmith's videos as inspiration for how I run D&D as the DM, and I'll be starting my first fully fledged campaign soon
5 senses for describing things is such concrete and useful advice!!
Smell in particular i find helps emersion:
"You're in a swamp, its hot and wet and theres bugs."
Vs
"You're in a swamp, the humidity makes your sweat cling to you, the ground smells like moss and rotting wood. You hear an incessesant buzzing from the bugs as you row your boat through murky still waters."
Hey Jacob, I am making my homebrew world, and I was wondering if you have any tips for making homebrew stuff.
You're own homebrew world can be a daunting task, but it's also super fun to write out.
My only tip to to remember the players and their impact they will have on your world. Minute details are fun to explore, but the players may not learn all of them.
Keep it simple and be prepared for heroes.
@@XPtoLevel3 Thanks!
@@hishamaziz764 Also, I run a homebrew campaign, and I was having a lot of trouble, and something I found is that it's helpful to come up with about 5 encounters, 5 locations, and 10-15 NPCs (the NPCs mostly can have commoner stats). Come up with a starting point, then a way to introduce the important locations (often introducing them slowly works the best; your players will probably want to spend a lot of time in the places if you write them well). I did this and had a session that was super-fun for me and my party.
@@twopoles11 Ah, this helps a lot, thanks!
When I was helping to write a new LARP system, I told the other people that everything we were making had to be "theater of the mind" playtested at first level, mid-level, and top level, and to look at the rules and setting from as many viewpoints and ways to break things as possible. We shorthanded it as the "What would Nate (a player who was really good at puzzles, riddles and min-maxing game systems) do?" rule.
"No flying tho, flying is dumb and for losers"
Is it tho? I really don't get why the hell most people think flying is so op in D&D, it really fuckin isn't
Sure you're player who can fly is harder to hit, so what??? They're having fun, *the entire point of the damn game*
I've played a couple of flying characters and my DM always made intresting challenges for me
Mainly in combat as he always makes sure the enemies have some form of ranged attack
Cuz let's face it, if you implement *"Yeah you can fly, but you have to have no armor, can't use a bow, can't use a 2 handed weapon, and have to make Dex saves at the start of your turn"* is really stupid and not fun
Just let your players have fun
My DM has a little saying in our group
"Fun first, logic later"
Flight in general isn't a problem, what level it is gained at is the issue (as well as the type)
Realistic wings? Not so much of a issue.
The spell flight on the other hand is a bigger issue.
Now if you have one player that can fly and no other player can then the spotlight can easily be hogged by the singular player.
I had issues similar to this back in 3.5 with pscions in a mixed group.
@@johnspencer7838 Eh, I'm just glad my DM doesn't give a crap if someone can fly even at level 1 as a Feral Tiefling, Aasimar, or Aaracokra
I've been playing a Feral Tiefling Rogue with deul hand crossbows in my new campaign since level 1 and nobody in the party is jealous or anything, hell they love that they have someone who can provide air support lol
John Spencer the spell isn’t even that big of an issue. Did one of the bad guys see the guy in the back wearing fancy looking robes wave his hands around and suddenly his allies are flitting around the battlefield? Time to target the wizard, because fly requires concentration. If the bad guy that saw it is a caster it’s time for some dispel magic.
And those are just off the top of my head. Flight can be dealt with in dozens of different ways if it ever becomes a problem.
Well, that and if flight is common so is anti flight methods. Like bows/most spells. Not ceilings or giant net guns.
I fully agree. If you want to play a flying race go for it. I've helped one of my P.Cs do a slight rewrite of an Aasimar race and we made a type of Angel for them. I allow for some homebrews. As long as my players are having a blast and love the characters they are playing. The other GM in my group is the same way.
Crazy backstory idea: you were a legendary adventure who had slain dragons and gods in a far away land, but you were crippled and imprisoned in one of your battles where you were then shipped off to where you are now. You go though your game regaining your strength and even past memories that don’t seem to be your own. Over time you slowly realize that it seems you lived two lives, one of an epic adventurer and another of a simple tavern owner from a small town. Eventually you find out that you never were a hero, but instead a simple man who had their memories replaced by someone (probably the BBEG), and now you must seek the truth and figure out why this was done to you. This develops across an entire campaign and should be done with both the dm and player being informed of what direction this is going. Does this have anything to do with the video? Not at all, but I wanted to write it down so thanks for reading :)
Bags of holding sound like they'd be items made in large quantities in universe, so it would make sense that they're just uncommon