Matt. I don't pay attention to metrics much, but please don't stop these videos. These are fantastic. I supported the Kickstarter because of your summaries and running the game. I know it's a lot of work, but they are important and very helpful to me. (And entertaining).
When I'm teaching systems of equations, I can tell my students they may someday have to help an angel figure out how many boulders adult and pup hellhounds weigh.
Seriously though, is equation the only solution here? I mean, it popped into my mind the instance I heard the riddle, but isn't there an easier logical solution? Just can't imagine a party of adventurers sitting down and doing math in the dungeon.
Of course there's an easier solution. Just empty the scales completely except for one hellhound, and add boulders until it's level. But it couldn't be that straightforward, so the hellhounds probably resist being removed from the scales or summat.
The campaign diaries are among the best videos for gamemasters. Probably not terrible interesting for players who watch the stream, but for us this is really useful.
I don’t have any plans to GM but I still love these videos. Getting to peek behind the curtain to know what could have happened (or how something happened) is a huge draw for me.
I love watching both. Because the streams are so long I end up working while watching them and sometimes I miss some small plot points. Plus, knowing the difference between what Matt's planned and what happens is incredibly useful as a DM.
These are the least popular videos? I can't believe that. Campaign diaries and Running the Game are the only videos I really care about (I watch the rest of your stuff too though because you're awesome). But I love the behind-the-screen POV of an actual DM running an actual game. Is there another channel on UA-cam that even does that!?
I mean he more or less has two forms of content on THIS channel. Campaign Diary, and Running the Game. One of them is going to be more popular than the other.
I am in complete agreement. @Matt Colville, I love these diaries. I probably won't sit through the play through/stream, but this is perfect for me. Thank you for taking the time. For the record, I like the movie reviews and other game adjacent non-sense as well.
I feel like the running the game videos are the theory behind things, and that these campaign diaries are the real life application. I've always loved the content that Matt puts out, but these diaries have been my favorite so far. I feel like I understand a lot more now that I can see him applying things he has talked about in running the game videos.
I'm way behind on the campaign and don't want to be spoiled with the campaign diaries. Started following way back when he first started Running The Game and stick around for that.
I'll never believe that these videos were unpopular. Every channel that does this type of content, it gets eaten up and people can't get enough of it. 100% there was some other reason.
I paused the VOD to see if I could figure it out, and that's what I did. I noticed there had to be a difference of 4 between adults and pups and just tried a couple combinations til I got there.
I'd be happy to see OD continue in the campaign. For being such a new player he really picked up fast on how to roleplay and be this very unique fellow. I will say though I really want to see OD&D soon so we can see how you run a starter game with him and the other players in the group
I second this...I didn't know that I would enjoy him so much as a player/charater!!! HE adds a certain aspect/hilarity to the champaign. I really enjoy watching them play together!!!!
Fifthed! Not a huge fan of him on Chain Reaction, but he was like a fish in water when tasked to help fill the void Slim left. And talk about a great dynamic between OD and Phil! I've been loving their banter between Leech and Slim so much. I for one would fully encourage the Chain to expand their senior officer staff by an extra man.
Two thoughts I'd like to share: 1. New DMs should beware of puzzles and understand that it is RARE for a group to be able to blow through three of them without getting stuck or frustrated. Puzzles represent an old school tradition and are like a mini-game inside the game. Solving a puzzle makes a player feel smart, not being able to solve them makes them feel dumb (nobody wants that). So the big takeaway if you haven't used puzzles before, is to use EASY puzzles. You can always ramp up the difficulty in another encounter to challenge the players if you have an exceptional group (the Chain). But, if you have to start giving out clues (or worse, give the answer) the damage is already done. Get to know your players and their likes/dislikes and strengths/weaknesses. 2. Matt mentioned that the puzzle solving process wasn't especially entertaining to watch. They didn't use the whiteboard and each worked independently. The players even joked about it at one point. Could you design a puzzle that REQUIRED the players to collaborate and communicate with one another? If there were multiple levers/buttons that needed to be pulled/pressed and several different combinations to try (with minor but interesting consequences for wrong answers) it might make for a more enjoyable viewing experience (as well as being a fun puzzle to solve). You might even want to have a CONTEST where you ask the Colvillians to submit puzzles that meet your criteria that will then be featured on the show.
Surprised UA-cam thinks these are the least popular. I can't speak for everyone else, of course. But these are the videos I can't wait to see. Hearing the story unfold, how the players interacted and enjoyed the content and then the dissection (splitting the videos into recap and then deconstruct was genius) is so helpful to understand and also be entertained. Thanks for doing them.
Matt, the fact you selected 3 different kinds of puzzles (words, shapes, maths) set you up well to engage at least 3 different players and each person can lend their brain power to a puzzle type that suits them better.
Oh man, Matt, as an inexperienced DM, it is so hard to overstate how much I value these Campaign Diary videos. They are pure gold. Thanks for taking the time with them. I'm constantly dissatisfied with how I've run/prepped/improv'd parts of my session, and it is incredibly valuable to hear you dissect your own sessions.
I, for one, actually value the campaign diaries more than the adventure itself. For a couple of reasons: 1 - My poor attention span means i often miss vital things and find it hard to follow (even when i'm a player in my home game) so these videos really help to keep me appraised of what's going on with the story, certain players' thoughts/reactions i've missed, and any other salient points i've obviously missed. 2 - The breakdown and analysis is invaluable for me as a DM. I learn a lot from how to structure an encounter, what works and doesn't, and just general tips and tricks, inspiration, ideas, etc. 3 - They're cool and no other channel/game offers these types of videos (as far as i know), which trumps the other two reasons. So there! Keep up the good work Matt and can't wait for the next one!
Just wanted to say that, while they may not be your "most viewed" videos, I personally find your campaign diaries to be among your most valuable content. I love watching Running the Game and the livestream, but even as an experienced DM (20 years) I benefit immensely from getting insight into your internal process as a DM. You are able to play it so cool at the table that it is really awesome to learn what you were juggling and improvising to accommodate player choices and pacing after the fact. So... if the process of recording/editing your own after action review is not incredibly burdensome, please keep producing them. Thanks for all of the content and for just generally being such a mensch.
Matt I love what you do! The campaign diaries are my favorite videos. Watching the actual game stream is interesting but also tedious and far too time consuming. Your recap is perfect and reminds me of kibbitzing with my friends about their games back in college. Thank you for putting in the work for these. I greatly appreciate it. I do plan on picking up the strong holds and followers book. Cheers
I watch three things on this channel Matt; Running the Game, Campaign Diaries, and recordings of the live stream. And I get different things out of all of them. Running the Game is an absolutely amazing resource for a relatively new DM like myself. The Campaign Diaries, specifically the post summary commentary, provide a wonderful bit of real world context for some of the advice found in Running the Game. And the live stream is just good fun. And I don't have any data to back this up, but I feel like I'm not the only one who loves these three different bits of content. Keep on making these videos. :)
My favorite videos. I find the after-action report to some of the best advice. No one runs a perfect game all the time. So identifying issues and fixing them is incredibly helpful.
Supporting your metrics, one comment at a time. Love the Campaign Diaries; helping me stay up to date while I slowly make my way through watching the episodes (I do enjoy the episodes, just am personally limited on time, so this helps me stay up to date and know my small Kickstarter contribution for the book/pdf/mini is part of something awesome). Keep up the awesome! I have recently have been working on bringing back some old rules and making them functional; just finished up first draft of jousting and melee tournament rules. Working on making some rules for updating 2e AD&D spells to 5e, for a party that will soon find an "spellbook from an ancient era" (old 2e characters spellbook). Do longer comments help metrics? Well, I will try.
I truly love the diaries. You give me awesome ideas and advice each time. I consider myself a gm now because of how much I learnt from watching your videos.
"The 'Campaign Diary' videos seem to be our least popular." But they're easily the most valuable IMO. It's so helpful to see a game being run in real-time, and then hear the GM's perspective on how things went and why they did what they did.
Just adding my voice to the crowd. As a GM who always sits down after a game to think about what I did, I appreciate your point of view on this. I don't even need the videos to be very edited if that's a problem. Even an hour's ramble of you working off points you wrote to yourself will be good. Please keep doing this.
Matt, have them still in the spire! There was only two tests the PC's went through, and they felt it was unrewarding after that last battle. In the next session have some one see a candle in the "real world" and the flame interacts like it did in that one room! PS these are my favorite of what you do. As a DM of 20 years it's always awesome to hear how other DMs run games and how they engage their table! Great video!
This format is just perfect. Seeing tips and hints (“running the game” series) is great, but the fact I can see Matt as DM in action and then hear his planning/ups/downs/thoughts is simply a perfect learning tool.
I can't believe these videos aren't more popular. I love going back and watching your early Campaign diaries. They give me that feeling of playing D&D on nights when plans fall through. Thank you for making them. And Good Luck in everything you do!
I'm sad that metrics is showing it's not viewed as much, because I personally feel, as a DM, that these are the most useful videos you make. These videos aren't just being entertained by how you felt the game went, it's showing me how to be self-critical about the game you run, and since you ALWAYS give reasons why you think something went off and ideas of how to improve for the future, it's giving me the tools to do the same. There's been a few times where you've identified an issue I was struggling with as well, and your proposal on how to deal with that helped me come up with a way to deal with my own problem. I really appreciate everything you're doing here.
KS backer / Livestream watcher / longtime Running the Game fan here: I greatly enjoy these videos. I love getting the summary as a reminder of what happened. I enjoy your commentary, lessons learned, etc. as well as hearing your perspective on how it went. I frequently have something I take away from these for my own game. Especially hearing about using existing adventures and skinning/theming to your campaign. It reinforces newer DMs like myself to not feel pressured to make everything from scratch. It lowers the perceived pedestal of veteran GMs like yourself. THANK YOU As long as it is still fun for you to make them, and you have the time, please keep creating these.
I have UA-cam Red, so I download your Diaries so I can listen while driving, taking my 80 year old Aunt to appointments, and such. My granddaughter also has Blippi videos downloaded, and we just hand my tablet to her while I drive. The last 3 times she has had the tablet, she has clicked on your videos. I told her your name, and now you have a 2 year old fan. So, my 80 year old Aunt, and 2 year old granddaughter, are both fans of Matt...lol!!! Every week, Meme (Aunt) asks if you have a video, and the 2 year old (Millie) just grabs the tablet and asks for Matt!!! Pretty sure she likes the lights!!! Ha!!! Keep it up, Matt!!!
I just went back over all of the campaign diaries to make sure I had liked them all. To my shame I had missed a couple, apologies Matt! Like much of the Vox Populi here I love the Campaign diaries and find them hugely inspirational as a DM. Thank you.
Hey Matt, I like when you mix the diary with the commentary like this, rather than saving the commentary until after. It feels more natural and flows nicely. Anyway, my two cents, spent.
For what it's worth, Matt, I really love these campaign diaries. I'm a newish DM, running my first real campaign (based in Collabris!) and my players have just hit level 5. I love hearing about what you're doing, to steal stuff from it for my game, and it's much easier to do that in 30 to 50 minutes than 3 hours. I'm gonna try to pick up S&F soon, as I think my players would be interested in creating a stronghold once they save the King of Cardus.
Thanks for another diary! As I expected I've started falling behind with the stream and so find these recaps and commentaries really valuable. It's like Advanced Running the Game and I love them - thanks!
I love the campaign diaries because when I watch it live it’s hard for me to keep focus and so I’ll miss or forget things and then I watch these and I’m like “oh cool that happened? That’s really neat”
This UA-cam channel is awesome! Your players are lucky to have you as a GM, and UA-camrs like myself are lucky to listen to your retrospective reports on being a dungeon master. Your channel gets me excited to run the game as a DM and as a player. Love what you do, Matt!
This game stream was so much fun to watch because everyone was having so much fun. You captured all the meta stuff that makes gaming together with good friends so enjoyable. Thanks again, MCDM team.
Keep it up MCDM! Love the content. I really enjoy these updates. I don’t always have time for a four hour video. But I can always squeeze in the campaign diary.
I do hope O'D stays. He originally really grated on me in the first show he was in but he's grown on me really fast. He adds a different kind of quasi-goofy charm that the rest don't quite have.
I love these videos. I’m a new DM who just started his first campaign and knowing that somebody who has this much experience and skill still deals with the same insecurities makes it feel less daunting. An inspiration to new DM’s
The Campaign diaries are my favorite videos of yours; I get so many ideas and lessons that help me be a better GM. This one is especially relevant because the next dungeon my PCs take on (well, maybe, I can never predict them fully) will be a fun house dungeon and you've given me so many things to consider. My players will have more fun because of this video. Thank you for your insight, Matt.
Hey Matthew, I was very surprised to hear you say that the campaign diaries are the least popular videos. I've watched a lot of your running the game videos, and I keep coming back to them (I'm running D&D for the first time this Sunday and it's entirely because of you), but the campaign diaries are the reason I subscribed to your channel. I love them. Please keep them going. I find D&D hard to watch. It's just not engaging to me to watch people play unless I'm in the room with them, but hearing about people's D&D stories, and then hearing how they feel about the events is probably one of my favourite ways to engage. Thank you for being here.
Totally digging these videos. Glad you're committed to making them for the campaign. I've been Dungeon Mastering about as long as you have, and the way you present your design process, and especially the way you recap the session is very helpful for me to continue to improve and refine my own craft. Also, the half-hour ish length is almost perfect for me. As I watch your Diary, I often end up opening my notepads and D&D Beyond and jotting down seeds of encounters and adventures that you are inspiring.
Hey Matt, thank you for doing these videos. As a DM running a game in a big city, I take a lot of inspiration and guidance from your thoughts in these. We're actually using Strongholds and Followers (I was a KS backer) to give the party a stronghold within the city - they've chosen to go with a Keep. I know it's not exactly what it's designed for, but my players and I are very excited to see how it turns out. Again, thank you for everything you put out - I listen to the podcast version of the stream and watch your videos regularly - I couldn't be happier with everything you guys are doing! It's amazing!
Matt, the reason dazed likely isn't a thing due to the existence of spells like Entangle having mechanics that require an action to shake off, which is effectively very similar to "act or move, but not both"
I think using Dazed and introducing it to 5E was a great idea. It is a very cool condition and makes psionics or other mental attacks more interesting.
I'm just now working my way through your backlog of campaign diaries, and they are fantastic! Engaging, insightful, and provide a lot of great information about encounter balance and the mindset of a DM. Your point about puzzles, however, strikes me as a poor argument. (even though I do like solving puzzles as a player, and not just as a character). As a person, I am not trained with a sword, but my DM doesn't penalize me for not knowing the appropriate parries or forms to use with a broadsword when my character attacks, because my Fighter is a very capable swordsman. I'm also not capable of using magic, but that's never caused a DM to tell me that my character can't cast a spell unless I demonstrate knowledge of it ahead of time. In general, I think players solving puzzles is great fun, but it's not unreasonable for a player to want to roll if they just can't figure it out- a character might well have more knowledge or expertise on the subject than their player.
I've been watching (I think) every Running the Game video so far, and I find that these campaign diaries are an excellent way of presenting how many of those lessons apply in practice. Whenever some crazy stuff happens in the campaign I get excited in anticipation for hearing your thoughts and reflections from behind the scenes!
One way to do large numbers of dice is to multiply the value of the dice you roll, but then take the average rolls for at least half the dice. 18d6, for example, can be broken down into declaring 35 from 10d6, and then roll 4d6 multiplying the result by 2. Now you're rolling four dice with some randomness, but without making it wildly more random than something like 18d6 would be. (Also, I know it defeats the purpose of rolling dice to an extent, but you can get free phone apps that roll dice and add them up for you. It's much easier during games to just punch 20d6 onto your phone and get a result automatically tabulated for you.) That said, I'm someone who loves monkeying with dice, and can do a lot of math in my head. (I prefer doing things like getting players to roll skill checks with two advantages by rolling 5d6, drop two lowest - yes, you can't get a 20, but it's VASTLY less likely to get a low number, which is generally the point. I drew up some excel spreadsheets just to calculate the odds on various alternate advantage rolls.)
There's something off about a madness-themed dungeon full of logic puzzles. Not trying to be critical, of course, I just thought it was funny... and also something that has given me an idea for a dungeon of my own. I'll have to think on it, because this is something that could get very frustrating for players, but essentially a world where nothing functions like you expect. You can pass through solid stone, fire has mass and can hold weight, up is down and down is backwards... that sort of stuff. Maybe have the players able to tool with the rules of this reality, in a very "Baba is You" sort of way where they come to a place where they can change the rules of the area to help them progress.
+1 on please continue with campaign diaries, these are a great way to recap before watching the next stream and to catch up if I can’t watch because the wife wants to hog the TV and watch Fairy Tale.
as someone who loves puzzles and mathematics, i really enjoyed this episode of the chain. i find i dont even watch what the players are doing, i listen while trying to figure out the answers for myself. great episode, loved every minute.
as a dm and a lover of stories in general, the campaign diaries are my FAVORITE videos that you make. and i already have a copy of strongholds and followers but im looking forward to the kickstarter
I love the campaign diaries. I don't have time or patience to watch the full sessions each week so this gives me a quick way to just get the interesting bits and while I don't DM, I love the game design discussion of the behind the scenes stuff in the context of a game that's actively running.
31:50 funnily enough, the session which I consider to be the crown jewel of my GM career thus far was actually one that I thought was awesome because of the player cleverness which I did not expect. The fight was against the right-hand man of a tyrant anti-paladin. He was a high-level cleric of Hextor, and it was understood that they had to kill him first or the real bad guy would only stay dead until ten minutes after this cleric next prepared spells. They attacked at night, but his house had several guards, including one pretty high-level fighter, and also notable contained two ghosts which were paladins of Heironeous who had tried to kill this high priest, failed, came back to try again, and then fell under the effects of the cleric's Command Undead ability and were now his slaves. The heroes got a pretty good start, silencing the lookout and then attacking with surprise, but things turned around when the cleric woke up and the ghosts and the guard captain started attacking. And then came the clever bit that made the session awesome. The party wizard realized that the ghosts were not serving the cleric willingly, and he cast Magic Circle Against Evil. In 3.5, one of the effects of Magic Circle Against Evil is that anyone who enters the area is affected by a Protection from Evil spell, which among other things suppresses mind control. And both ghosts were caught in the area and failed their saves, which meant that they were no longer under the effects of Command Undead. And then it got even better. The badass guard captain entered the circle to attack one of the party, and he made his save. That meant that he was not under the effects of the Protection spell. On the next turn, one of the ghosts' form dissolved into the guard captain, his eyes turned solid black, and he turned and cut down one of the other guardsmen. What followed was not only a very difficult battle but also a crazy back-and-forth as the cleric (the only bad guy who understood what was going on) and the heroes struggled to mess with who was affected by the circle and who wasn't. At one point the party cleric cast Holy Smite, and I said that the ghost just basked in the divine radiance as the flesh he was occupying burned away. In the end it turned out way better than I could ever have planned, with the party feeling like not only had they won but that they had won because they were the good guys, which was something the players absolutely loved.
Gotta love a good Mad Wizard lair. It's an excuse to get wacky and meta and put a whole variety of stuff out there that you usually couldn't justify in context. It's also a chance for the players to bond with their own characters by having to put more of their own talents in. I think you chose a great variety of puzzles & combats, with different people shining in each case and giving each other room to shine where they can. It's good group morale building. There's always going to be a a couple times where dice or intuition let the players knock over a particular room or challenge, but don't worry about it. The next group could struggle madly with the same room this party skated through cleanly, just because... factors. Let it run a couple times with different groups before you nitpick your design too harshly. One time I had this great lvl10-12 scenario that a lvl5 party picked apart, because they hit some genius critical tactics and had the right combinations of abilities to pull it off at each of 3 stages, and they dared to push their fate. Rookie home runs can happen, and that's what builds heroes. I thought this was an "A" episode for you guys. People were engaged, interactive, having fun, taking turns, being clever, roleplaying personalities... all that. You gave them enough challenges to need their full depth & range of abilities to make it through the night, and you neither stonewalled them nor gave them a cheap ride. The best you can do is "tough but fair" within a given margin of circumstance, and they rose to the occasion.
Matt I just want to say thank you for being the person you are. Aside from MCDM productions, aside from your internet fame, I just want you to know I appreciate you and all that I’ve learned from you.
Given "the map is not the territory" there is nothing which keeps you from mapping small bits of the city with references to the other parts (this way for X, that way for Y) which don't all combine to a coherent whole. As you said Capital is huge, who knows when they might ever find a map which encompasses all. Ancient mapmakers are known for embellishing on some details which skew dimensions of other details, simply because at the time the exact length from here to there was thought of as less important than the locations themselves. Similar to how "just down the road" can vary hugely in where the thing actually is.
Thank you and the team for all your continuing efforts. Everyone brings something to the game. So much so that I’d watch a one on one session with each one and I think they’d each be really different. But each really interesting and fun!
I'm running an Oblex next week. The way I'm trying to get my second arrow on the first try is by reading up on other people who've run Oblices, and learn from their comments on this monster. For example, the "Monsters Know What They're Doing" blog mentions how the Oblex doesn't really have a mechanical incentive to actually kill anyone - it just has to eat the memories of each person once to be happy. It also mentions that the Oblex lacks a way to retract its simulacra, which can put it in severe danger - something which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, since the rest of this monster's design seems to be all about staying hidden, setting up traps, and teleporting when it gets into trouble. And then, you, as well as many others, mention how the Oblex can get mauled before it gets to do anything, if it happens to roll last on the initiative order. It has low HP, and can only do two things per round. I want an Oblex that feels like fighting an entire crowd of people, so that won't do. So with this newly acquired knowledge, I've made the following tweaks: -The Elder Oblex has three Legendary Actions. It can use one to either use a pseudopod attack (with nerfed damage so the overall damage over one turn is still CR-appropriate according to the DMG's table), or blow up one of its simulacra, causing nearby enemies to become poisoned by the sulfuric gases it releases. This makes it feel like fighting an actual crowd of people, and makes the simulacra a bit scarier. -The Eat Memories ability steals one piece of knowledge: a language, a skill proficiency, a weapon proficiency, a tool proficiency, etc... For one hour. If the target dies while under the effect, the Oblex keeps this proficiency forever. This gives the incentive the Oblex lacked to actually be evil, and a problem the players will want to actually deal with, while also making it more interesting in combat: will it steal a language, making it impossible for the PCs to communicate effectively or cast spells? Will it steal a weapon proficiency, forcing the fighters to switch to another weapon? I also looked at removing armor proficiencies, but losing one is a bit too harsh so I've altered the effect of missing an armor proficiency: your speed is halved, and you make attack rolls with disadvantage. -My Oblex will be a tavern owner in a roadside village. It eats travellers, people no one in the village is going to notice have gone missing. It tries to talk to the tavern's customers, trying to get a good read on them to figure out a way to separate them from the rest of the customers. So for example, if it figures out that a PC is a womanizer, it might have its bard simulacra flirt with him, and try to get him to another room. If it figures out that the party's paladin helps people in danger, it might have a simulacra in the shape of a kid cry in another room. I've made sure to include a few non-simulacrum NPCs in the tavern, and have a few NPCs they're escorting before they get to the tavern, so the PCs would have to question whether or not it's the Oblex whenever they stumble upon someone else in the tavern. The Oblex is also incredibly intelligent, so I had it put its inn next to a source of hot springs, to camouflage the sulfurous smells it emits. This will also give the players an opportunity to take a nice relaxing bath together, which I'm sure will lead to some good rp. And then, I can tweak its max HP like you did, after seeing how the fight plays out. With all of these things in mind, I think my Elder Oblex will be adequately creepy and dangerous, and will leave a lasting impression, despite being fairly separate from my campaign's main plot, and being "just a road encounter".
The campaign diaries are the main reason I backed the kickstarter. Don’t stop now, the campaign is only getting going. These diaries will be essential viewing as the politics of Capital come into play.
Re: tricking the players. The Slime having some additional Insight would have made that a lot more possible. For example, when I was watching it I kept imagining how cool it would be if the visage of Red would start begging them not to attack the slime, suggesting that it would send him back to hell. As if this misery is a reprieve from what's going on there. And Sweet and Nails could have done a similar thing, asking not to be returned to the nothingness of Oblivion. That may have given them pause. Maybe not, it probably would be 50/50 with my players, but it sounded cool
We switched cameras, this one is way better, but I overdid it with the red. Next one won't be so saturated.
Matt, You're BURNING.
I love it!
Red is the new black.
is this a subliminal way of tellins us that *cough* red *cough* makes an appearance in the episode :P
It's ok, I just assumed you were finally able to adopt a basket of lizards.
I don't think it looks terrible, BTW, I just realize that staring into the Red Vortex for 40 minutes is a bit much to ask.
Matt. I don't pay attention to metrics much, but please don't stop these videos. These are fantastic. I supported the Kickstarter because of your summaries and running the game. I know it's a lot of work, but they are important and very helpful to me. (And entertaining).
nebuchadnezzer1
Double agree. I also mostly watch running the game and campaign diary.
Triple agree. That's a thing we're doing right?
I agree. I don't often have the time to watch the full sessions but I can find the time to listen to the summary and they are quite useful.
I can't sit through other peoples D&D games this is essentially THE content produced for me. Basically... agree.
I backed the kick starter for these. I like the book but I can not stand any stream of gaming. I do love these recaps though.
When I'm teaching systems of equations, I can tell my students they may someday have to help an angel figure out how many boulders adult and pup hellhounds weigh.
ahaha i was thinking the same thing!
Seriously though, is equation the only solution here? I mean, it popped into my mind the instance I heard the riddle, but isn't there an easier logical solution?
Just can't imagine a party of adventurers sitting down and doing math in the dungeon.
Of course there's an easier solution. Just empty the scales completely except for one hellhound, and add boulders until it's level.
But it couldn't be that straightforward, so the hellhounds probably resist being removed from the scales or summat.
@@ratglyph when you boil it down, mathematical equations are just shorthand for that kind of logical thinking.
*Fire Giant* Angel was the Roads/Trees
The campaign diaries are among the best videos for gamemasters. Probably not terrible interesting for players who watch the stream, but for us this is really useful.
I don’t have any plans to GM but I still love these videos. Getting to peek behind the curtain to know what could have happened (or how something happened) is a huge draw for me.
I love watching both. Because the streams are so long I end up working while watching them and sometimes I miss some small plot points. Plus, knowing the difference between what Matt's planned and what happens is incredibly useful as a DM.
"I'll never use algebra in real life!"
*Hellhound pups*
I loved that!
These are the least popular videos? I can't believe that. Campaign diaries and Running the Game are the only videos I really care about (I watch the rest of your stuff too though because you're awesome). But I love the behind-the-screen POV of an actual DM running an actual game. Is there another channel on UA-cam that even does that!?
I mean he more or less has two forms of content on THIS channel. Campaign Diary, and Running the Game. One of them is going to be more popular than the other.
I am in complete agreement. @Matt Colville, I love these diaries. I probably won't sit through the play through/stream, but this is perfect for me. Thank you for taking the time.
For the record, I like the movie reviews and other game adjacent non-sense as well.
I feel like the running the game videos are the theory behind things, and that these campaign diaries are the real life application. I've always loved the content that Matt puts out, but these diaries have been my favorite so far. I feel like I understand a lot more now that I can see him applying things he has talked about in running the game videos.
I'm way behind on the campaign and don't want to be spoiled with the campaign diaries. Started following way back when he first started Running The Game and stick around for that.
Right!
Is the spaceship MCDM under alert? =O
RED ALERT! Good game...
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/769/star-trek-red-alert
@@mcolville Hmm.... I thought it was a Reed Alert..
As for the popularity of the Campaign Diaries, I wouldn't be surprised if these turned out to be some of the ones with the most longevity.
50 000 ppl on a very niche video? That is pretty good.
UA-cam is wrong, these are some of my favorite videos you produce
I'll never believe that these videos were unpopular. Every channel that does this type of content, it gets eaten up and people can't get enough of it. 100% there was some other reason.
I laughed out loud when Lars said he brute force algebraed it 😂
I was so happy when Lars explained that! It was exactly how I would have solved.
I was thinking about it while watching and only figured out how to actually do it while watching this ;)
I paused the VOD to see if I could figure it out, and that's what I did. I noticed there had to be a difference of 4 between adults and pups and just tried a couple combinations til I got there.
Sets of linear equations. Come on guys, this is high school maths
Comment for the metrics. Don't let matt down. He is a river to all of us. :)
Really? The campaign diaries are my favorite. They are why I became a fan, and in fact they are the only thing I actually watch nowadays.
I'd be happy to see OD continue in the campaign. For being such a new player he really picked up fast on how to roleplay and be this very unique fellow. I will say though I really want to see OD&D soon so we can see how you run a starter game with him and the other players in the group
I second this...I didn't know that I would enjoy him so much as a player/charater!!! HE adds a certain aspect/hilarity to the champaign. I really enjoy watching them play together!!!!
Fourthed! OD is great as Leech and I would enjoy seeing him grow as a player. I suspect he was born to RP.
Fifthed! Not a huge fan of him on Chain Reaction, but he was like a fish in water when tasked to help fill the void Slim left. And talk about a great dynamic between OD and Phil! I've been loving their banter between Leech and Slim so much.
I for one would fully encourage the Chain to expand their senior officer staff by an extra man.
Two thoughts I'd like to share:
1. New DMs should beware of puzzles and understand that it is RARE for a group to be able to blow through three of them without getting stuck or frustrated. Puzzles represent an old school tradition and are like a mini-game inside the game. Solving a puzzle makes a player feel smart, not being able to solve them makes them feel dumb (nobody wants that). So the big takeaway if you haven't used puzzles before, is to use EASY puzzles. You can always ramp up the difficulty in another encounter to challenge the players if you have an exceptional group (the Chain). But, if you have to start giving out clues (or worse, give the answer) the damage is already done. Get to know your players and their likes/dislikes and strengths/weaknesses.
2. Matt mentioned that the puzzle solving process wasn't especially entertaining to watch. They didn't use the whiteboard and each worked independently. The players even joked about it at one point. Could you design a puzzle that REQUIRED the players to collaborate and communicate with one another? If there were multiple levers/buttons that needed to be pulled/pressed and several different combinations to try (with minor but interesting consequences for wrong answers) it might make for a more enjoyable viewing experience (as well as being a fun puzzle to solve). You might even want to have a CONTEST where you ask the Colvillians to submit puzzles that meet your criteria that will then be featured on the show.
Matt: Halberdiers
Me: HALBERD-EARS?!?
We get all this fan art, but no one draws the derro halberd-ears.
Matthew Colville, already on it
Surprised UA-cam thinks these are the least popular.
I can't speak for everyone else, of course. But these are the videos I can't wait to see. Hearing the story unfold, how the players interacted and enjoyed the content and then the dissection (splitting the videos into recap and then deconstruct was genius) is so helpful to understand and also be entertained.
Thanks for doing them.
I love your Atari Adventure icon. Very well done Sir, and a great Dungeons and Dragon's tabletop RP series to boot! :-)
Matt, the fact you selected 3 different kinds of puzzles (words, shapes, maths) set you up well to engage at least 3 different players and each person can lend their brain power to a puzzle type that suits them better.
Oh man, Matt, as an inexperienced DM, it is so hard to overstate how much I value these Campaign Diary videos. They are pure gold. Thanks for taking the time with them. I'm constantly dissatisfied with how I've run/prepped/improv'd parts of my session, and it is incredibly valuable to hear you dissect your own sessions.
The memory eater ate Matt's memory on how the Memory Eater's abilities worked.
I will probably never watch a live stream or a recording of a live stream, so I really like these!
I, for one, actually value the campaign diaries more than the adventure itself. For a couple of reasons:
1 - My poor attention span means i often miss vital things and find it hard to follow (even when i'm a player in my home game) so these videos really help to keep me appraised of what's going on with the story, certain players' thoughts/reactions i've missed, and any other salient points i've obviously missed.
2 - The breakdown and analysis is invaluable for me as a DM. I learn a lot from how to structure an encounter, what works and doesn't, and just general tips and tricks, inspiration, ideas, etc.
3 - They're cool and no other channel/game offers these types of videos (as far as i know), which trumps the other two reasons. So there!
Keep up the good work Matt and can't wait for the next one!
Just wanted to say that, while they may not be your "most viewed" videos, I personally find your campaign diaries to be among your most valuable content. I love watching Running the Game and the livestream, but even as an experienced DM (20 years) I benefit immensely from getting insight into your internal process as a DM. You are able to play it so cool at the table that it is really awesome to learn what you were juggling and improvising to accommodate player choices and pacing after the fact. So... if the process of recording/editing your own after action review is not incredibly burdensome, please keep producing them.
Thanks for all of the content and for just generally being such a mensch.
Matt I love what you do! The campaign diaries are my favorite videos. Watching the actual game stream is interesting but also tedious and far too time consuming. Your recap is perfect and reminds me of kibbitzing with my friends about their games back in college. Thank you for putting in the work for these. I greatly appreciate it. I do plan on picking up the strong holds and followers book. Cheers
I watch three things on this channel Matt; Running the Game, Campaign Diaries, and recordings of the live stream. And I get different things out of all of them. Running the Game is an absolutely amazing resource for a relatively new DM like myself. The Campaign Diaries, specifically the post summary commentary, provide a wonderful bit of real world context for some of the advice found in Running the Game. And the live stream is just good fun. And I don't have any data to back this up, but I feel like I'm not the only one who loves these three different bits of content. Keep on making these videos. :)
My favorite videos. I find the after-action report to some of the best advice. No one runs a perfect game all the time. So identifying issues and fixing them is incredibly helpful.
Supporting your metrics, one comment at a time. Love the Campaign Diaries; helping me stay up to date while I slowly make my way through watching the episodes (I do enjoy the episodes, just am personally limited on time, so this helps me stay up to date and know my small Kickstarter contribution for the book/pdf/mini is part of something awesome). Keep up the awesome!
I have recently have been working on bringing back some old rules and making them functional; just finished up first draft of jousting and melee tournament rules. Working on making some rules for updating 2e AD&D spells to 5e, for a party that will soon find an "spellbook from an ancient era" (old 2e characters spellbook).
Do longer comments help metrics? Well, I will try.
When I first saw your Diplomacy map of Capital, I thought it was Palanthas from Dragonlance. It's situated in a bay and abuts against a mountain.
I truly love the diaries. You give me awesome ideas and advice each time. I consider myself a gm now because of how much I learnt from watching your videos.
"The 'Campaign Diary' videos seem to be our least popular."
But they're easily the most valuable IMO. It's so helpful to see a game being run in real-time, and then hear the GM's perspective on how things went and why they did what they did.
Just adding my voice to the crowd. As a GM who always sits down after a game to think about what I did, I appreciate your point of view on this. I don't even need the videos to be very edited if that's a problem. Even an hour's ramble of you working off points you wrote to yourself will be good. Please keep doing this.
Im here for the Campaign Diaries! Please keep making them!
Matt, have them still in the spire! There was only two tests the PC's went through, and they felt it was unrewarding after that last battle. In the next session have some one see a candle in the "real world" and the flame interacts like it did in that one room!
PS these are my favorite of what you do. As a DM of 20 years it's always awesome to hear how other DMs run games and how they engage their table! Great video!
Just commenting for your algorithms or whatever it is. Love ya Matt!
This format is just perfect. Seeing tips and hints (“running the game” series) is great, but the fact I can see Matt as DM in action and then hear his planning/ups/downs/thoughts is simply a perfect learning tool.
I can't believe these videos aren't more popular. I love going back and watching your early Campaign diaries. They give me that feeling of playing D&D on nights when plans fall through. Thank you for making them. And Good Luck in everything you do!
Was a great episode and I am glad you are doing the campaign diaries again! I really like soaking up your thoughts on DM'ing
I'm sad that metrics is showing it's not viewed as much, because I personally feel, as a DM, that these are the most useful videos you make. These videos aren't just being entertained by how you felt the game went, it's showing me how to be self-critical about the game you run, and since you ALWAYS give reasons why you think something went off and ideas of how to improve for the future, it's giving me the tools to do the same. There's been a few times where you've identified an issue I was struggling with as well, and your proposal on how to deal with that helped me come up with a way to deal with my own problem.
I really appreciate everything you're doing here.
I am super glad you keep making these videos. They help me make my game better.
This is far and away the content you've done I enjoy the most. I really appreciate you doing these, and I hope you continue with them. Thanks Matt!
KS backer / Livestream watcher / longtime Running the Game fan here: I greatly enjoy these videos. I love getting the summary as a reminder of what happened. I enjoy your commentary, lessons learned, etc. as well as hearing your perspective on how it went. I frequently have something I take away from these for my own game. Especially hearing about using existing adventures and skinning/theming to your campaign. It reinforces newer DMs like myself to not feel pressured to make everything from scratch. It lowers the perceived pedestal of veteran GMs like yourself. THANK YOU
As long as it is still fun for you to make them, and you have the time, please keep creating these.
Late, but when you revealed the trees puzzle I was immediately nerd-sniped and had to pause the VOD and start working it out on paper. :P
I have UA-cam Red, so I download your Diaries so I can listen while driving, taking my 80 year old Aunt to appointments, and such. My granddaughter also has Blippi videos downloaded, and we just hand my tablet to her while I drive. The last 3 times she has had the tablet, she has clicked on your videos. I told her your name, and now you have a 2 year old fan. So, my 80 year old Aunt, and 2 year old granddaughter, are both fans of Matt...lol!!! Every week, Meme (Aunt) asks if you have a video, and the 2 year old (Millie) just grabs the tablet and asks for Matt!!! Pretty sure she likes the lights!!! Ha!!! Keep it up, Matt!!!
I just went back over all of the campaign diaries to make sure I had liked them all. To my shame I had missed a couple, apologies Matt! Like much of the Vox Populi here I love the Campaign diaries and find them hugely inspirational as a DM. Thank you.
Hey Matt, I like when you mix the diary with the commentary like this, rather than saving the commentary until after. It feels more natural and flows nicely. Anyway, my two cents, spent.
For what it's worth, Matt, I really love these campaign diaries. I'm a newish DM, running my first real campaign (based in Collabris!) and my players have just hit level 5. I love hearing about what you're doing, to steal stuff from it for my game, and it's much easier to do that in 30 to 50 minutes than 3 hours. I'm gonna try to pick up S&F soon, as I think my players would be interested in creating a stronghold once they save the King of Cardus.
Thanks for another diary! As I expected I've started falling behind with the stream and so find these recaps and commentaries really valuable. It's like Advanced Running the Game and I love them - thanks!
Love these diary videos! Glad to have them back.
Matt as a dm, I love these running the game and I think they are really helpful for other DMs - don’t give up on them ! :D
I love the campaign diaries because when I watch it live it’s hard for me to keep focus and so I’ll miss or forget things and then I watch these and I’m like “oh cool that happened? That’s really neat”
Greatly appreciate you including puzzles in this Diary. The "new" format is great! Love the recap followed by the commentary.
Unpopular or not I really like listening to these. Thanks for making them!
4a + 3b = 37
3a + 4b = 33
I can work with that. Took me 10 minutes to solve, though.
a=7, b=3? you can solve it pretty easy by graphing it
@@nicklausrhodes oh yeeeee, totally forgot you could do that.
My quick solution:
7a+7b=70
a+b=10
b=3, a=7
@@MsMaeve Welp, I'm the opposite... I had no idea you could graph it!
4a+3b=37
3a+4b=33
12a+9b=111
12a+16b=137
-7b=-21
b=3
4a+3*3=37
4a=28
a=7
I will not lie I was on board for the Copper and Leech rebellion when everyone jumped into the magic pool.
I enjoy both watching the stream and then watching the campaign diaries. I find the diaries really useful for my own DM skills.
11:03 "Alone in the Temple of Anti-Sanity" is a great name for a prog album
These videos are the reason I started running the game and added elements from your game to my own, I’d really miss them if they went away personally!
The Campaign Diaries are like the best part of the channel
This UA-cam channel is awesome! Your players are lucky to have you as a GM, and UA-camrs like myself are lucky to listen to your retrospective reports on being a dungeon master. Your channel gets me excited to run the game as a DM and as a player. Love what you do, Matt!
This game stream was so much fun to watch because everyone was having so much fun. You captured all the meta stuff that makes gaming together with good friends so enjoyable. Thanks again, MCDM team.
I really hope Mr. O'Driscol gets to continue as a regular player. He's a fantastic addition to the energy of the table.
Keep it up MCDM! Love the content. I really enjoy these updates. I don’t always have time for a four hour video. But I can always squeeze in the campaign diary.
I do hope O'D stays. He originally really grated on me in the first show he was in but he's grown on me really fast. He adds a different kind of quasi-goofy charm that the rest don't quite have.
I love these videos. I’m a new DM who just started his first campaign and knowing that somebody who has this much experience and skill still deals with the same insecurities makes it feel less daunting.
An inspiration to new DM’s
The Campaign diaries are my favorite videos of yours; I get so many ideas and lessons that help me be a better GM. This one is especially relevant because the next dungeon my PCs take on (well, maybe, I can never predict them fully) will be a fun house dungeon and you've given me so many things to consider. My players will have more fun because of this video. Thank you for your insight, Matt.
Campaign Diaries are great, please keep them up!
I love these diaries. Keep doing them please! Very informative.
Hey Matthew,
I was very surprised to hear you say that the campaign diaries are the least popular videos. I've watched a lot of your running the game videos, and I keep coming back to them (I'm running D&D for the first time this Sunday and it's entirely because of you), but the campaign diaries are the reason I subscribed to your channel. I love them. Please keep them going.
I find D&D hard to watch. It's just not engaging to me to watch people play unless I'm in the room with them, but hearing about people's D&D stories, and then hearing how they feel about the events is probably one of my favourite ways to engage. Thank you for being here.
Totally digging these videos. Glad you're committed to making them for the campaign. I've been Dungeon Mastering about as long as you have, and the way you present your design process, and especially the way you recap the session is very helpful for me to continue to improve and refine my own craft. Also, the half-hour ish length is almost perfect for me. As I watch your Diary, I often end up opening my notepads and D&D Beyond and jotting down seeds of encounters and adventures that you are inspiring.
Hey Matt, thank you for doing these videos. As a DM running a game in a big city, I take a lot of inspiration and guidance from your thoughts in these. We're actually using Strongholds and Followers (I was a KS backer) to give the party a stronghold within the city - they've chosen to go with a Keep. I know it's not exactly what it's designed for, but my players and I are very excited to see how it turns out. Again, thank you for everything you put out - I listen to the podcast version of the stream and watch your videos regularly - I couldn't be happier with everything you guys are doing! It's amazing!
Matt, the reason dazed likely isn't a thing due to the existence of spells like Entangle having mechanics that require an action to shake off, which is effectively very similar to "act or move, but not both"
I think using Dazed and introducing it to 5E was a great idea. It is a very cool condition and makes psionics or other mental attacks more interesting.
I'm just now working my way through your backlog of campaign diaries, and they are fantastic! Engaging, insightful, and provide a lot of great information about encounter balance and the mindset of a DM.
Your point about puzzles, however, strikes me as a poor argument. (even though I do like solving puzzles as a player, and not just as a character).
As a person, I am not trained with a sword, but my DM doesn't penalize me for not knowing the appropriate parries or forms to use with a broadsword when my character attacks, because my Fighter is a very capable swordsman.
I'm also not capable of using magic, but that's never caused a DM to tell me that my character can't cast a spell unless I demonstrate knowledge of it ahead of time.
In general, I think players solving puzzles is great fun, but it's not unreasonable for a player to want to roll if they just can't figure it out- a character might well have more knowledge or expertise on the subject than their player.
I've been watching (I think) every Running the Game video so far, and I find that these campaign diaries are an excellent way of presenting how many of those lessons apply in practice. Whenever some crazy stuff happens in the campaign I get excited in anticipation for hearing your thoughts and reflections from behind the scenes!
One way to do large numbers of dice is to multiply the value of the dice you roll, but then take the average rolls for at least half the dice. 18d6, for example, can be broken down into declaring 35 from 10d6, and then roll 4d6 multiplying the result by 2. Now you're rolling four dice with some randomness, but without making it wildly more random than something like 18d6 would be. (Also, I know it defeats the purpose of rolling dice to an extent, but you can get free phone apps that roll dice and add them up for you. It's much easier during games to just punch 20d6 onto your phone and get a result automatically tabulated for you.)
That said, I'm someone who loves monkeying with dice, and can do a lot of math in my head. (I prefer doing things like getting players to roll skill checks with two advantages by rolling 5d6, drop two lowest - yes, you can't get a 20, but it's VASTLY less likely to get a low number, which is generally the point. I drew up some excel spreadsheets just to calculate the odds on various alternate advantage rolls.)
There's something off about a madness-themed dungeon full of logic puzzles. Not trying to be critical, of course, I just thought it was funny... and also something that has given me an idea for a dungeon of my own. I'll have to think on it, because this is something that could get very frustrating for players, but essentially a world where nothing functions like you expect. You can pass through solid stone, fire has mass and can hold weight, up is down and down is backwards... that sort of stuff. Maybe have the players able to tool with the rules of this reality, in a very "Baba is You" sort of way where they come to a place where they can change the rules of the area to help them progress.
"...Exploiting minor abilities to game-breaking effect."
Warlock in a Nutshell
+1 on please continue with campaign diaries, these are a great way to recap before watching the next stream and to catch up if I can’t watch because the wife wants to hog the TV and watch Fairy Tale.
as someone who loves puzzles and mathematics, i really enjoyed this episode of the chain. i find i dont even watch what the players are doing, i listen while trying to figure out the answers for myself. great episode, loved every minute.
I love the campaign diaries! I know it’s a ton of work, but thank you so much for doing them!
as a dm and a lover of stories in general, the campaign diaries are my FAVORITE videos that you make. and i already have a copy of strongholds and followers but im looking forward to the kickstarter
I love the campaign diaries! They help me out with some ideas for DMing and how to handle some situations.
I love the campaign diaries. I don't have time or patience to watch the full sessions each week so this gives me a quick way to just get the interesting bits and while I don't DM, I love the game design discussion of the behind the scenes stuff in the context of a game that's actively running.
Definitely Keep OD, but as a jr officer. His submission to the sr officers has been super fun.
31:50 funnily enough, the session which I consider to be the crown jewel of my GM career thus far was actually one that I thought was awesome because of the player cleverness which I did not expect.
The fight was against the right-hand man of a tyrant anti-paladin. He was a high-level cleric of Hextor, and it was understood that they had to kill him first or the real bad guy would only stay dead until ten minutes after this cleric next prepared spells. They attacked at night, but his house had several guards, including one pretty high-level fighter, and also notable contained two ghosts which were paladins of Heironeous who had tried to kill this high priest, failed, came back to try again, and then fell under the effects of the cleric's Command Undead ability and were now his slaves.
The heroes got a pretty good start, silencing the lookout and then attacking with surprise, but things turned around when the cleric woke up and the ghosts and the guard captain started attacking. And then came the clever bit that made the session awesome. The party wizard realized that the ghosts were not serving the cleric willingly, and he cast Magic Circle Against Evil. In 3.5, one of the effects of Magic Circle Against Evil is that anyone who enters the area is affected by a Protection from Evil spell, which among other things suppresses mind control. And both ghosts were caught in the area and failed their saves, which meant that they were no longer under the effects of Command Undead. And then it got even better. The badass guard captain entered the circle to attack one of the party, and he made his save. That meant that he was not under the effects of the Protection spell. On the next turn, one of the ghosts' form dissolved into the guard captain, his eyes turned solid black, and he turned and cut down one of the other guardsmen.
What followed was not only a very difficult battle but also a crazy back-and-forth as the cleric (the only bad guy who understood what was going on) and the heroes struggled to mess with who was affected by the circle and who wasn't. At one point the party cleric cast Holy Smite, and I said that the ghost just basked in the divine radiance as the flesh he was occupying burned away. In the end it turned out way better than I could ever have planned, with the party feeling like not only had they won but that they had won because they were the good guys, which was something the players absolutely loved.
Gotta love a good Mad Wizard lair. It's an excuse to get wacky and meta and put a whole variety of stuff out there that you usually couldn't justify in context. It's also a chance for the players to bond with their own characters by having to put more of their own talents in. I think you chose a great variety of puzzles & combats, with different people shining in each case and giving each other room to shine where they can. It's good group morale building.
There's always going to be a a couple times where dice or intuition let the players knock over a particular room or challenge, but don't worry about it. The next group could struggle madly with the same room this party skated through cleanly, just because... factors. Let it run a couple times with different groups before you nitpick your design too harshly.
One time I had this great lvl10-12 scenario that a lvl5 party picked apart, because they hit some genius critical tactics and had the right combinations of abilities to pull it off at each of 3 stages, and they dared to push their fate. Rookie home runs can happen, and that's what builds heroes.
I thought this was an "A" episode for you guys. People were engaged, interactive, having fun, taking turns, being clever, roleplaying personalities... all that. You gave them enough challenges to need their full depth & range of abilities to make it through the night, and you neither stonewalled them nor gave them a cheap ride. The best you can do is "tough but fair" within a given margin of circumstance, and they rose to the occasion.
I have strongholds & followers and I thoroughly enjoy these recaps! Thank you for all you folks at MCDM dooo
Matt I just want to say thank you for being the person you are. Aside from MCDM productions, aside from your internet fame, I just want you to know I appreciate you and all that I’ve learned from you.
If it wasn't for the campaign diaries, I wouldn't be able to keep up with the campaign, so please don't stop them!
Given "the map is not the territory" there is nothing which keeps you from mapping small bits of the city with references to the other parts (this way for X, that way for Y) which don't all combine to a coherent whole. As you said Capital is huge, who knows when they might ever find a map which encompasses all. Ancient mapmakers are known for embellishing on some details which skew dimensions of other details, simply because at the time the exact length from here to there was thought of as less important than the locations themselves.
Similar to how "just down the road" can vary hugely in where the thing actually is.
these campaign diaries are really helpful to fellow DMs, please continue releasing them
Do you think we could get a video on second drafts?
These diaries are so useful! Thanks Matt
Thank you and the team for all your continuing efforts. Everyone brings something to the game. So much so that I’d watch a one on one session with each one and I think they’d each be really different. But each really interesting and fun!
I'm running an Oblex next week. The way I'm trying to get my second arrow on the first try is by reading up on other people who've run Oblices, and learn from their comments on this monster.
For example, the "Monsters Know What They're Doing" blog mentions how the Oblex doesn't really have a mechanical incentive to actually kill anyone - it just has to eat the memories of each person once to be happy. It also mentions that the Oblex lacks a way to retract its simulacra, which can put it in severe danger - something which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, since the rest of this monster's design seems to be all about staying hidden, setting up traps, and teleporting when it gets into trouble.
And then, you, as well as many others, mention how the Oblex can get mauled before it gets to do anything, if it happens to roll last on the initiative order. It has low HP, and can only do two things per round. I want an Oblex that feels like fighting an entire crowd of people, so that won't do.
So with this newly acquired knowledge, I've made the following tweaks:
-The Elder Oblex has three Legendary Actions. It can use one to either use a pseudopod attack (with nerfed damage so the overall damage over one turn is still CR-appropriate according to the DMG's table), or blow up one of its simulacra, causing nearby enemies to become poisoned by the sulfuric gases it releases. This makes it feel like fighting an actual crowd of people, and makes the simulacra a bit scarier.
-The Eat Memories ability steals one piece of knowledge: a language, a skill proficiency, a weapon proficiency, a tool proficiency, etc... For one hour. If the target dies while under the effect, the Oblex keeps this proficiency forever. This gives the incentive the Oblex lacked to actually be evil, and a problem the players will want to actually deal with, while also making it more interesting in combat: will it steal a language, making it impossible for the PCs to communicate effectively or cast spells? Will it steal a weapon proficiency, forcing the fighters to switch to another weapon? I also looked at removing armor proficiencies, but losing one is a bit too harsh so I've altered the effect of missing an armor proficiency: your speed is halved, and you make attack rolls with disadvantage.
-My Oblex will be a tavern owner in a roadside village. It eats travellers, people no one in the village is going to notice have gone missing. It tries to talk to the tavern's customers, trying to get a good read on them to figure out a way to separate them from the rest of the customers. So for example, if it figures out that a PC is a womanizer, it might have its bard simulacra flirt with him, and try to get him to another room. If it figures out that the party's paladin helps people in danger, it might have a simulacra in the shape of a kid cry in another room. I've made sure to include a few non-simulacrum NPCs in the tavern, and have a few NPCs they're escorting before they get to the tavern, so the PCs would have to question whether or not it's the Oblex whenever they stumble upon someone else in the tavern. The Oblex is also incredibly intelligent, so I had it put its inn next to a source of hot springs, to camouflage the sulfurous smells it emits. This will also give the players an opportunity to take a nice relaxing bath together, which I'm sure will lead to some good rp.
And then, I can tweak its max HP like you did, after seeing how the fight plays out. With all of these things in mind, I think my Elder Oblex will be adequately creepy and dangerous, and will leave a lasting impression, despite being fairly separate from my campaign's main plot, and being "just a road encounter".
Don’t have time to watch the campaign nowadays so these videos are a godsend
The campaign diaries are the main reason I backed the kickstarter. Don’t stop now, the campaign is only getting going.
These diaries will be essential viewing as the politics of Capital come into play.
I read this as "Prawn of the Mad God" and was not at all phased.
Re: tricking the players. The Slime having some additional Insight would have made that a lot more possible. For example, when I was watching it I kept imagining how cool it would be if the visage of Red would start begging them not to attack the slime, suggesting that it would send him back to hell. As if this misery is a reprieve from what's going on there. And Sweet and Nails could have done a similar thing, asking not to be returned to the nothingness of Oblivion. That may have given them pause. Maybe not, it probably would be 50/50 with my players, but it sounded cool
I agree, these videos are really helpful