"I feel a sudden urge to go to a local tavern and meet two strangers to go on a grand quest with!" "What!? So soon after our two comrades have perished?"
Since I started DMing, I have been checking these again and again to pick up new stuff that I missed the first few times. In the previous video about "oops", I realized I was heading in the same direction. So as caveat emptor, announced to the players that, should anyone perish, they can create a new character at the same Lvl. Communicating such detail never popped in my mind before, guess the 9999 jobs a DM gotta do, but this very piece of advise was easy to distinguish from the whole video now that I-m running it and getting a feel. 2020 here, and still learning from the BugBear bearded bear, the Matt himself.
All I can think of graves is: *Shuffle shuffle, thump!* "Ou, god damn pits." *shuffle, shuffle thump!* "Dammit, another pit" *Shuffle, shuffle thump!* "What the hell is in this pit?" *Wet stabbing noise ensues*
man, so many good DM points on introducing Phil's character Graves, and getting the other players to chill or enhance the dramatic moment. this is helpful to me as the age ranges at my table are so varied -- 8, 12, 45, 47, 49, i think. something like that.
Wow. Know this is an old post but got any tips for running a game with kids and adults. I can do one or the other pretty well but struggling with my current mix of 10, 12 and 48!
I love how you walk everyone through your mistakes. It's very useful to me (as a GM that makes lots of mistakes) and I haven't seen this offered on any other channel. Good stuff.
Absolutely love this channel, thank you for it Matt. Ever since Ep.4 a group of friends and myself have been playing a 5 person all monk game and it wouldn't have happened if not for you. I brought the idea of an "all the same class game" up to our now DM and I think he went a little mental from excitement. the 6 of us got together to discuss what we wanted to be for the game. Everyone thought being a fighter, thief, or wizard guild/order would feel to much like being in the elder scrolls world (which isn't a bad thing, just not what we wanted). The idea of being the leaders of an advanced raiding barbarian hoard ( much like the vikings) was tossed around and is actually planned for our next game. Anyways 4 of us (the DM 2 players and myself) have all played D&D many times so we have a decent grasp of things. While the other 2 players were totally new to it, and they were going through the players handbook reading up on races and classes. When one of them mentioned being a monk seemed like a lot of fun, and that's when I mentioned this whole idea came from your video where you talked a party of monks sounding like it would being an amazing campaign. Well that was around 2 months ago and we are still going strong. Our group is even building a new monastery hidden in the mountains. I owe you a huge thanks, you provided me and my friends countless hours of fun and Illaria Goddess of Light (lol) only knows how many future hours of fun.
It's been the greatest game I have had the pleasure of playing ( So there is another stigma about D&D proved wrong, playing with new players can be one of the best things) I seriously can't thank you enough, Until this game started it had been about a year since I last played, and to have it be such an amazing time it's borderline euphoric lol. Though we do pay our homage and have an NPC dedicated to you. Brother Mathias of Colville. He is a senior member of our order, hailing from the humble town of Colville. know for it's fine ales. He is fully trained as a monk, but has dedicated his life to recording the history of the order as well as anything we have a part it presently. He also likes to write stories, songs and of course brew/invent Ales in his spare time. I am sure if you could play him it would be an amazing party of 6 and the shenanigans would be just awesome.
thank you, i have learned more in my 10+ years of DMing from you saying what you did wrong than any amount of people giving examples of things they did right
3:30. Ah, the good ole ten foot pole, gimme a ten foot pole and a towel and I'll go anywhere and do anything! Back in the day one of THE ways to tell if someone was actually a truly experienced player was if they insisted the party have: a ten foot pole, a ten foot rope WITH grappling hook, a LARGE backpack, provisions, and remember to exchange your gold pieces for platinum whenever you can.
It's 2020, I'm planning on running my first D&D game and I'm watching these and the Running the Game videos. I was nervous, but after getting your advice, I'm more just giddy
Thank you so much for using your mistakes as learning points, I'm starting to DM my first campaign this week and it is so comforting to know that you still make mistakes and have regrets despite having so much experience. Thanks for all the inspiration. :)
Its 2023. You're still the main person I come back to constantly for that genius because sometimes I feel like some of the other DMs talk to everyone like theyre dummies haha. I appreciate your free ramble style!
As a brand new DM and new player, these are so immensely helpful. Thank you so much and please continue them! I would also love to see you running campaigns. Looking forward to see you build a campaign with us. BTW, LOL at those murderhobos trying to kill the owl.
Great video. I absolutely love the mapping ideas of just showing a piece of graph paper as you fill it in as well as having a player fill it out when they do recon. Your videos have been really bloody helpful in bettering my own games. Can't wait to start DMing again in a few weeks.
Your vids are great sources of information about dm'ing. Having said that, I'd definitely still watch videos of yours that just explain what happened in the story. I have no opportunity to play, and you retelling really brings everything to life!
Another great episode! I'm very curious to hear the next bit because my players are also facing an overwhelming number of enemies in the next session and I want to see how Matt handles that.
Love coming back every week to hear from you. It gets my DM fires boiling. I'm very excited to hear about how to introduce BBEGs because I have one planned, and I want to test it against the fires of your experience.
Matt, hopefully you still read comments on old videos. You got me into DM'ing and you've been my biggest help. More than any of the other web resources for doing such a thing. Finally at this point I feel I'm hitting my stride. I want to say, I hope that you do in fact go back to campaign diaries when you resume DM'ing. Your last entry about avoiding taking away player agency? Brilliant. I think that was exactly the right lesson to take from that situation, and it wasn't obvious. I ended up killing a PC two sessions ago, and just parlayed it into a unique experience through the plane of limbo while their companions took them to be resurrected at a temple. They went from being pissed about being killed to being like "oh, this is actually pretty cool". I don't think I get there without your abundance of wisdom since I started watching you 2 years ago. My point is; keep on keepin on man, looking forward to when you and the crew get vaccinated and you can bust out your villainous faction in Capital! Also stoked to see The Chain under judge, I feel like Anna is going to be quite proactive in the political scene, and we all like action. It was actually a great place to break, and Chain 2.0 is going to be sweet, because everything is about to come to a head :D
These videos are helping me so much while im starting my first ever campaign. Im using the Mines of Phandelver story and everyone loved it the first day! Im gonna keep watching you for more tips and tricks, keep up the awesome work!
Awesome episode. I loved the moment where the player realized he could have said something better. We have a player who casts suggestion a lot and it never goes as planned because he suggests the target do something that never goes the way we plan. I also really enjoyed the lesson of how to introduce players and actually telling the party to just play along. D&D is meant to tell a story after all and you need to use your suspension of disbelief to make the story better. Looking forward to more videos!
Yeah, found this channel a couple days ago looking up videos for 2nd edition and coming across the "History of D&D, One Duncan at a Time" videos and I haven't left. It's always fascinating listening to other DM's talk about their quirks, tricks, and games.
I love this stuff Matt so cool. This reminds me of my current situation in my Princes of the Apocalypse campaign. The PCs, after fighting their way into the Temple of Black Earth and killing most of the guards decided to take a LONG rest in one of the guard rooms. This is one of those DM moments where you say, "Are you SURE you want to do that?" So, anyway, while THEY were resting in Leomund's Tiny Hut, the Gorgon leader of the place, marlos urnrayle, has the 'mud' wizard Miraj 'Wall them in" using stone shape and move earth, leaving them no avenue of escape except the main corridor through the place. He marshels his forces and when the PCs emerged from the guard room, he directed his shadow demon minion to have their three Bullette mounts attack the pcs from below to 'soften them up'. And that's basically where we left off, the bullettes emerging from the floor to attack, the exits have been sealed, and Marlos's forces converging down the hallway towards them. I have no idea what's going to happen next. In a conversation with one of my players, he said, "I've literally been on the edge of my seat thinking about the next session!" I love it!
Matt. I feel you. I once tried to introduce a new character to a party: His name was Cyric, he was a changeling rogue, and he was super cunning and cool (or at least I thought so). He infiltrated the party posing as a happy-go-lucky monk and as the story went he was currently spying on them for the sake of the big baddie of our current quest. His way into the party was that he had a change of heart and since he was only a paid hireling for Big Baddie, he decided he would much rather side with the awesome adventuring group. Enter drama. Upon revealing his true nature as a changeling and announcing his intentions to betray Big Baddie and join the band of friends, they immediately bound him, broke both of his arms, and then mistrusted him for the next, ooooh, ten sessions? On top of that, the party had fallen in love with the monk character he was posing as and held that over his head. It ended up in the death of multiple PCs, a very difficult RP experience, and a huge headache. xD My next character was the simplest, most likable, most trustworthy person who just wanted friends. Lesson learned.
I just ordered the paper back version of priest and I'm really excited to get into it. I really enjoy the way you describe situations and your thoughts on character motivation.
Fifty percent chance%? That is a lot of darn digging! What'd they do with all that good good fill dirt? Did they make a dirt pyramid with it? Use it to fill in a gorge? That could be a story onto itself. Me, I like the dirt pyramid or maybe a really big moat and bailey castle. Sorry, I tend to fixate on certain things and it seems the party's got much bigger problems than "Hey where did all that dirt go?". I once drove a DM to distraction by attempting to retrieve string from a trap. My position was you don't just magically jam a bunch of gold into a hole in the wall and presto you have a trap. His position was that's exactly how it works.
Historically that's not much at all, most fortifications have pits around 75%+ of their perimeter and the excavated dirt is used to built up the walls on the inner side of the pits.
I've been watching these videos and it's great! Also, let your friend Zach know that the wildshape power in 5E lasts for a number of hours equal to 1/2 your druid level (rounded down) 5E PHB 66.
Matt on villains, remember the "Red Cap" idea of starting the little villain that if he gets away, grows with and hates the characters so he looks for ways to foil their plans and thus becomes the "big bad". Keep it up!, KOVE IT
Really enjoyed the video, as usual. Am going to have to introduce a new player character in a week or so, so this video was really neat! I do hope you keep making videos like this indefinately. They're really good and you bring up a lot of pointers and tips for GMs that help out a lot. I also picked up your books for the kindle. Haven't started reading them yet, it is the Overwatch beta after all, but I'm excited to do so whenever I make the time! :D
If one of your player's characters dies during an adventure and they want to make a new character to join the party, do you start the new character at level 1, or do you allow the character to begin at a level to match the rest of the PCs?
I'd say it's completely up to you, however I would strongly recommend against starting the new character at lvl 1. I'd also recommend just starting the new character at the same level as the party. I'll elaborate on these points in the rest of my comment, but if you've gotten all the information you want feel free to stop reading. A quick reference sheet for myself I've been playing D&D for about 10 years (which has included many player deaths) with a small amount of GM experience (with has also included many unintentional player deaths). Starting at new level one character with a group of adventures that're level 4 or above basically means that character is going to be horribly underleveled, which'll probably make combat for that player not fun due to being super weak. This can also start a chain effect. Because a character is weaker, they have a higher chance of dieing, and if they do die it means they have to start at level one again, making them weaker, rinse and repeat. I say just start the new character at the same level, it's quick, simple and takes a little of the sting away from losing a character. Now if this idea poses a problem because your players get a sense of inconsequence to dieing, Simply running into combat with no regard for loss of life: then I'd recommend imposing some small level loss every time they die. If you die lose a level, simple. A warning about implementing this system: TELL THE PLAYERS ABOUT LOSING A LEVEL WHEN YOU DIE BEFORE YOU IMPLEMENT IT. Sorry this comment was longer that I intended. If you have any questions or want more detail, feel free to ask.
Several years ago, WotC published the final instalment of the DM Experience, a weekly column written by Chris Perkins. Since then, I have tried to find a regularly updated series of articles or videos that gives great gaming advice based on things that actually happened in the DM's campaign. I think I've finally found my new 'DMXP'. I only discovered your channel a few days ago, but I'm slowly catching up with all of your episodes. Your advice is great, your stories are very inspiring and your enthousiasm is very contagious. Also, you're able to explain abstract rpg concepts in such a way that I suspect people new to the hobby will have no problem understanding what you mean. tl;dr 10/10, going to buy your books when my next paycheck hits.
Wow, this is a great video - and super timely, I've just had the same issue with a newly joined character last week! My players are also new, and this is some great advice to a new DM who just wanted to say "FOLKS, for real, this is Kraig's character! Let him into your adventuring clique!"
Man I'm loving these vids! Currently my favorite UA-cam Channel. Definitely my favorite D&D based channel. Teasing the Villain episode is killing me. Villains villains villains. Bring on dem villains! Lol
Matt I will buy both your books next month when I have more money. I have been looking for a new fantasy series to read and I am looking foreward to it.
The illustration at 17:25 broke me. Top notch Orc and Dragonborn voices. I originally came for your running the game series, but am staying for this campaign diary.
We love you, Matt! Can't wait to hear what happens next. Could you do an episode about how to handle problem players? The players who might end up ruining the game for everyone by behaving erratically for no good reason or by sulking about something that happened in the game that they didn't care for? Do I just need better players?
My DMing style is pretty similar where I will just throw stuff at a party without any clear idea of how they "should" get out of it. I like to encourage creativity and problem solving in that way. Great videos. I look forward to them every time I open UA-cam
really enjoyed this video! subbing & binge watching anything that will help me DM better. Also looking forward to revealing the main antagonist episode seeing as how I'm running CoS.
That moment when you can slow down the video to .75x speed and it still sounds mostly normal because he's speaking so fast lol. Not a bad thing - I love the energy of the videos.
I think plugging your own work is okay in general, and especially in your format. I spent 25 minutes listening to you talk about DnD from a DM and storyteller's perspective, it's reasonable to assume I'd be interested in more of your dibbliy-doos. At the very least it is better then adds. No questions yet which is a good thing, I'll pipe up if I have something I feel needs to be said or clarified. thanks Matt Colville!
It's 2023 and I'm returning to this videos. They're helping me reignite that DMing spark. "That's right, D&D can be this epic! I can make it this epic too. Lets go!"
Your stories have been both interesting and well executed in terms of teaching us things you have learned. I'd love it if you had a mini-series on the side of just story-telling if you had the time and felt that it would be fun for you to do so. Regardless, please let us know how the next session goes, regardless of a lesson or not! Personal Dm Question: How would you handle your players being "too strong" to lose? My players rolled fairly and ended up playing DEX-centric classes; equipping themselves to get ACs of 18 or higher when certain spells pop out (2 Monks, a Cleric, a Fighter, and a Bladesinger). I have done the very occasional DM-Roll-Fudging to keep them invested in a fight, but I hesitate to buff enemies to the point that the party's efforts to better defend themselves become nullified (sure you have a high AC, but these common mobs went from +4 to +6 to hit!). When running a fair boss fight of a CR 5 against their party of five level 3's, they rarely got hit by him due to their high ACs mixed with my bad rolls, and their high stats allowed them to hit very frequently. They had fun, but I fear that by-the-book monsters, despite their rating will fail to challenge them when I have bad luck, making their fights too easy, unmemorable, and eventually boring. Recent Story: In CoS, at level 5 they killed a lone Hag by casting Hold Person (she failed with advantage; my wonderful luck), and proceeded to beat her up close, gaining advantage + crits (paralysis); the fighter dealing 84 damage with a Great-Weapon Master Multi-Attack. She died before getting a chance to roll again to free herself. They remember the fight proudly due to their setup and coordination, but future fights bode similarly as a certain BBEG vampire only has an AC of 15... they often gets 20+ on hit due to their near-max DEX stats and supreme luck compared to mine. Legendary Actions are neat,/available for the final BBEG and will work well to keep the party from feeling invincible, but other bosses in the campaign will seem like chumps since they cannot "choose to succeed failed Saving Throws". So in length, what to do? Fudge more often for the sake of story, beef up monsters entirely (making their +AC buffs basically equal to if they weren't high ACs), or keep it by the book? So far they've been satisfied with the roleplay portion, so that I'm set with; it is simply that enemy combatants stand little chance against their +4/+5 DEX with +3 weapon proficiencies...
The idea of the druid sneaking in as a spider is clever...however, he'd best steer clear of the hell hounds. A hungry hell hound could see a spider as a quick snack.
Hey Matt, thanks for a great channel! Kind of weird; your newest video (Alignment Examples) is blocked here in Sweden due to a copyright claim by Studiocanal. Any idea why?
I love your videos! You do such a great job explaining things we all struggle with in ways that make it seem so simplistic and elegant!I was wondering what your solution is if a player were to die in a dungeon crawl? When do you introduce their new character?
I find the question of how characters fit in to the party very interesting. As a DM, I always try to motivate the players to stick together for in-game reasons, asking the players what their characters' goals and desires are and using those in the early plot hooks of the campaign. But I also tell them they need to meet me halfway and come up with their own reasons and motivations to adventure together. In your campaign I think it's ok for the players to be initially mistrustful of the creepy warlock dude they meet in a dangerous forrest. It actually sounds like a fun moment! (also, versimilitude! just telling him "you seem trustworthy! join us!" would be silly). But they need to bear in mind that he will join their party in the end so they need to meet you halfway and come up with a kinda plausible way for this to happen. So, they will be keeping an eye on him, but he knows where the tower is and how to avoid the traps, and he has his friends to save so they decide he may come with them for now. In general, relationships between players is one of the rare cases when some meta-game thinking should be encouraged!
Hey Matthew I find it hilariously funny that you DM so much like me, although you might be more benevolent than I am in reminding and perhaps identifying what you roll. I find it awesome to hear how you engage und deal with your players keep it going! Without wanting to sound like a rules lawyer, if you play 5e DnD and didnt house rule anything Warlocks work a bit different then mages. They JUST got a number of spells (2-3) but they always cast them on max level and regain them after a short and not a long rest.
Damn. Had I known you make more for the Kindle versions, I wouldn't have ordered the paperbacks. Still amazing reads, though! If you're ever in Austin, I owe you a couple of beers then ;)
easiest way to intro a new member to a party is to tack on a small prison to whatever the party is trying to clean out and they "rescue" the new guy. You can have them do this darn near anywhere outside town. In town intro generally turns out "this new guy shows up in the bar"
Hi, I am totally inspired by your videos. They helped a lot. I decided to become a GM myself. So I am new to this and my players are new to this. Hopefully it will work out. I will be playing by the pathfinder rulebook. but I won t use campaings or so but one shots. I dont now, if my players will be into this kind of stuff. So I gathered locations and will use them to build a small one-shot. Sooooo many ideas. there s one of Atlantis, one of the battle of Tronjheim (Eragon books), one of Avalon and one of the pyramids of Gizah. For some ideas I will have to transform some races. but I m far from beeing ready. Have still to read a lot and prepare. Thank you very much for helping with your videos.
Just as a word of advice, while it isn't necessary to create your own setting, your players may feel more immersed if you set it in the underwater kingdom of 'Zarcadis' rather than just saying 'it's Atlantis'.
I had introduced 2 new characters by saying the level 3 wizard stupidly attempted the teleport spell and he brought along his friend who also stupidly allowed him to attempt it. Maybe they were running away, or trying a new trick, going on vacation,ECT.
Can't wait for the next episode! DM'ing Lost Mines of Phandelver at the moment and my players were just in the Redbrand hideout where they saved the woman and her children in the cells there. Well.. Saved is a strong word. They found the keys for the cells but the Sorcerer blew the cell door off its hinges with a Fire Bolt and because it was sort of rash I figured I'd break the daughter's arm with the flying cell door, hoping to slow their pace. But no. The Warlock proceeded to intimidate the son and because they escalated this so much I had the son faint and the mother trying to hit them with a dead guards sword. At no point did they try to feed them or take care of them. They just hauled them over their shoulders and went back to town. Really nice in-group drama because the paladin stepped in and they had a great group discussion. Now I'm thinking the son will die or be in a coma and have the mother return later as a villain, so looking forward to some good tips next episode! :D
How to you recommend handling a PC using an ability wrong, learning about it later (in my case right after our first session)? Would you just recommend talking to the PC and explaining the situation and talking it out?
I have a question, when a character dies and the person makes a new one, starts he again on level 1 even if the other players all have higher level. Or does he start at the same level as the lowest player, or on the level of his previous character or a level lower than the lowest player? What do you use of have you heard of DM's using? Btw I have seen the whole serie "running the game" in about 3 or 4 days (some vids even on 1,5, that was quite quick) and pushed my friends a bit to finally start and hopefully this is finally happening this weekend.
The moment they line up the owl, they see an orc patrol with hellhound beyond the branch where the owl sits. Let the archer take a free shot. Quick way to turn that situation around... but yeah, after sitting back listening. i was no there in the moment ;) BTW. I love the actual play analysis videos. Looking forward to more when new game starts.
@Matthew Colville I was wondering if you've done a video about loot yet? I'm about to start DMing my first campaign (in no small part thanks to you XD) and I realized that I'm not really sure about loot timing. When do I give them random loot, when do I give them good loot (that I know some character in the party will want), when do I give them bad loot that they'll probably end up selling to the first merchant?
I've found its good practice to throw a bit of gold or bits and baubles on every bad guy the party kills so they find a little something after every battle. As for items, it really depends on how you want your players to scale power wise. The faster you hand them out, the faster your players get stronger, which isnt a bad thing, you just need to keep it in mind when designing challenges for them 👍
In regards to Phil's Warlock, I've been playing a Great Old One Tome Warlock from level 1 and am now level 15, and have found it useful and powerful throughout. He also is an ex-librarian with white pupiless eyes, so I'm seeing a lot of similarities to Graves, Haha. Here's some ways I've found my character uniquely useful: - Telepathy. We're also interpreting it as two way. Don't underestimate the value of having someone who can secretly relay messages amongst the party. I love using it to coordinate secretly in front of an unsuspsecting villain. It's to the point that my party will covertly signal for me to use telepathy to get said conversations going. You can also trick or intimidate enemies with it if you're clever, or interrogate a gagged captive spellcaster. Not having to worry about language barriers is icing on the cake.- Eldritch Blast! Endless reliable damage, especially when combined with Hex and Agonizing Blast. With repelling blast you have 10 feet of push per blast with no weight limit, so fighting near ledges is a pleasure. You can also protect squishier allies with it by pushing enemies away from them so they can get away without an oppportunity attack. We also have this house rule: a character can opportunity attack an enemy that's being forcibly shoved from their threat range if they make an acrobatics check greater than the creature's AC.- Spell Renewal. Your spells are powerful since they always cast at max level, and you don't have to be as cautious about blowing them as other classes since they come back on a short rest. And even if you do blow them all, you could do worse than having to rely on your Eldritch Blast or creative use of your invocations.- Rituals, Rituals, Rituals. His familiar is an incredible scout! And there's plenty of other rituals that give you nice utility without spending your spell slots. Who doesn't love sleeping in a cozy Alarmed Leomund's Tiny Hut? Or having their stuff Identified? I also enjoy Commune and Contact Other Plane for when I feel like my character's mind has been entirely too intact lately.- Trickery. You can take Misty Visions for endless free illusions, or Mask of Many Faces for constant Disguise Self. You also can take spells like Suggestions and Charm Person. Warlocks have lots of ways to take advantage of these abilities with their high Charisma scores.
When adding new characters, do you put everyone on equal footing level wise? If everyone is 5th level, do you start new characters at 1st or a different level?
Sorry to go off-topic, but an hour ago you uploaded a video, 'alignment examples'. This video is blocked in some countries, mine included so presumably the UK too, due to copyright stuff from 'Studiocanal' (so chances are it's blocked in most of Europe). Would you be okay with uploading a version that the rest of us can see?
Since the early '80s, thanks to a buddy of mine and his rather bizarre DragonQuest campaign (SPI Games), hell hounds in my circle of gamers always sound like a nasally, high-pitched voice crying out, "Minerva!" Recently, while running Red Hand of Doom, I made a sound file of me, in various pitches and reverb settings and multiple voices, shouting "Minerva!" slowly approaching, like a hunting party of hounds. I just quietly turned on the file on my iPhone, and as the players were planning their next move, I hit Play. Some -- not all -- of my players had encountered hell hounds before, so they were suitably terrified as the sounds got closer and closer... The sound file ends with me saying, "Roll initiative." You should hear my gibbering mouther file... Yes, I know this is a three-year-old video, but I'm only now getting around to watching it.
Love your channel, just discovered it. My only complaint is that these aren't a podcast so I can't listen to them at work or in my truck without running UA-cam. When you mention following the campaign are your game broadcast or are you just referring to the previous episodes in the diaries.
If you're on iOS, try ProTube. You can set it to only download and play the audio part, and it'll keep playing while the phone is locked or you're using other apps.
This might seem kind of odd but I feel slightly compelled to complement your super-great enunciation right now, because youtube's auto-generated captions are super good at transcribing you. Like also you're an interesting and useful insight on tabletop GMing and storyweaving and party integration but like, mostly enunciation.
Huh, Graves' backstory has a bit of parallel to my Tiefling Warlock's backstory. He, too, found an incomprehensible tome in a library he was studying in that slowly became legible to him and broke his mind. He's still quite mad, though, which is very entertaining. I play him as the relatively harmless, Luna Lovegood-style insane.
Are you using variant warlock casting rules? Otherwise, he doesn't have any spells left at all after 2 casts as all of the warlock slots are the same level. Not sure if that's what you meant or if there was some confusion.
Been going through these videos and whenever I get to the plug I'm wondering: Why not have the books on Google Play Books as well? (it would make it way easier for me to buy and enjoy them as I prefer google's book service)
Hi Matt, I don't know if you will see this, but the link for Grave's backstory appears to be down! Is there anywhere else to access his backstory? Thank you!
The joke at our table with new character introduction is, "You seems a trustworthy fellow; fall in line!"
I usually draw my sword and point it at the new feller and holler "Friend, or Foe?"
And depending on how they answer I let them live.
"You're a good looking chap, wanna join the guards?"
"I feel a sudden urge to go to a local tavern and meet two strangers to go on a grand quest with!"
"What!? So soon after our two comrades have perished?"
"And we'll kill them too and split all the loot 50/50 instead of 25 all around!"
Instablaster...
Its 2018 and i still listen to these all the time. That just proves how good a vid this and all matts vids are
tail end of 2019 and I'm watching em again
Beginning of 2020. 𝐒 𝐀 𝐌 𝐄
Covid-19 quarantine and I'm listening now!
Since I started DMing, I have been checking these again and again to pick up new stuff that I missed the first few times. In the previous video about "oops", I realized I was heading in the same direction. So as caveat emptor, announced to the players that, should anyone perish, they can create a new character at the same Lvl. Communicating such detail never popped in my mind before, guess the 9999 jobs a DM gotta do, but this very piece of advise was easy to distinguish from the whole video now that I-m running it and getting a feel. 2020 here, and still learning from the BugBear bearded bear, the Matt himself.
Fool im in 2020 lol
You should REALLY make more of those story-telling videos. Amazingly nice to listen to.
no kidding :D more more MORE DAMMIT SKIP WORK PLAY MORE!!!
It's 2021 and I'm still listening to this. A good lesson is timeless.
I wish my boss would take me into the conference room and play D&D...
All I can think of graves is:
*Shuffle shuffle, thump!* "Ou, god damn pits." *shuffle, shuffle thump!* "Dammit, another pit" *Shuffle, shuffle thump!* "What the hell is in this pit?" *Wet stabbing noise ensues*
man, so many good DM points on introducing Phil's character Graves, and getting the other players to chill or enhance the dramatic moment. this is helpful to me as the age ranges at my table are so varied -- 8, 12, 45, 47, 49, i think. something like that.
Rp Sketchbooks wow it’s really nice of you to include the 2 children you and your friends kidnapped in your game!
Wow. Know this is an old post but got any tips for running a game with kids and adults. I can do one or the other pretty well but struggling with my current mix of 10, 12 and 48!
I love how you walk everyone through your mistakes. It's very useful to me (as a GM that makes lots of mistakes) and I haven't seen this offered on any other channel. Good stuff.
Absolutely love this channel, thank you for it Matt. Ever since Ep.4 a
group of friends and myself have been playing a 5 person all monk game
and it wouldn't have happened if not for you. I brought the idea of an
"all the same class game" up to our now DM and I think he went a little
mental from excitement. the 6 of us got together to discuss what we
wanted to be for the game. Everyone thought being a fighter, thief, or
wizard guild/order would feel to much like being in the elder scrolls
world (which isn't a bad thing, just not what we wanted).
The idea of being the leaders of an advanced raiding barbarian hoard (
much like the vikings) was tossed around and is actually planned for
our next game. Anyways 4 of us (the DM 2 players and myself) have all
played D&D many times so we have a decent grasp of things. While the
other 2 players were totally new to it, and they were going through the
players handbook reading up on races and classes. When one of them
mentioned being a monk seemed like a lot of fun, and that's when I
mentioned this whole idea came from your video where you talked a
party of monks sounding like it would being an amazing campaign. Well that
was around 2 months ago and we are still going strong. Our group is
even building a new monastery hidden in the mountains.
I owe you a huge thanks, you provided me and my friends countless hours
of fun and Illaria Goddess of Light (lol) only knows how many future
hours of fun.
+Mike Allen Dude that's AWESOME! Man I'm jealous. :D
It's been the greatest game I have had the pleasure of playing ( So there is another stigma about D&D proved wrong, playing with new players can be one of the best things)
I seriously can't thank you enough, Until this game started it had been about a year since I last played, and to have it be such an amazing time it's borderline euphoric lol.
Though we do pay our homage and have an NPC dedicated to you. Brother Mathias of Colville. He is a senior member of our order, hailing from the humble town of Colville. know for it's fine ales. He is fully trained as a monk, but has dedicated his life to recording the history of the order as well as anything we have a part it presently. He also likes to write stories, songs and of course brew/invent Ales in his spare time.
I am sure if you could play him it would be an amazing party of 6 and the shenanigans would be just awesome.
+Mike Allen I once had an all ranger and druids party, and a smaller demon cultist party. Those were the most fun groups we ever had.
That sounds like so much fun. Living in the boonies and how expensive internet is out here really sucks.
@@Hawk199031 i want more info
please
this seems too cool to be true
Marathoning your videos again 🙌😊 2020 and it’s pure gold still.
thank you, i have learned more in my 10+ years of DMing from you saying what you did wrong than any amount of people giving examples of things they did right
What if there wasn't actually a hidden door and the halfling just happened to be wearing a certain magical ring?
You'd be surprised how little that narrows it down!
Another great video. Glad to see your channel growing so much!
3:30. Ah, the good ole ten foot pole, gimme a ten foot pole and a towel and I'll go anywhere and do anything! Back in the day one of THE ways to tell if someone was actually a truly experienced player was if they insisted the party have: a ten foot pole, a ten foot rope WITH grappling hook, a LARGE backpack, provisions, and remember to exchange your gold pieces for platinum whenever you can.
It's 2020, I'm planning on running my first D&D game and I'm watching these and the Running the Game videos.
I was nervous, but after getting your advice, I'm more just giddy
Thank you so much for using your mistakes as learning points, I'm starting to DM my first campaign this week and it is so comforting to know that you still make mistakes and have regrets despite having so much experience. Thanks for all the inspiration. :)
Its 2023. You're still the main person I come back to constantly for that genius because sometimes I feel like some of the other DMs talk to everyone like theyre dummies haha. I appreciate your free ramble style!
Why's no one talking about how incredibly accurate the guys map was?
Right!? I don't know if I should be impressed with Matt for his descriptions or the guy for drawing it
Matt it’s 2024 and I’m watching this whole series; so great to learn from someone else’s experience, with practical examples!
As a brand new DM and new player, these are so immensely helpful. Thank you so much and please continue them! I would also love to see you running campaigns. Looking forward to see you build a campaign with us. BTW, LOL at those murderhobos trying to kill the owl.
Great video. I absolutely love the mapping ideas of just showing a piece of graph paper as you fill it in as well as having a player fill it out when they do recon. Your videos have been really bloody helpful in bettering my own games. Can't wait to start DMing again in a few weeks.
Your vids are great sources of information about dm'ing.
Having said that, I'd definitely still watch videos of yours that just explain what happened in the story.
I have no opportunity to play, and you retelling really brings everything to life!
I always love hearing about the group's adventures! Makes me super excited to play D&D again. And there were a bunch of cool points in here too.
18:38 for GRUUMSH COMMANDS, I MUST OBEEEEY.
Another great episode! I'm very curious to hear the next bit because my players are also facing an overwhelming number of enemies in the next session and I want to see how Matt handles that.
Love coming back every week to hear from you. It gets my DM fires boiling. I'm very excited to hear about how to introduce BBEGs because I have one planned, and I want to test it against the fires of your experience.
Same here man.
Matt, hopefully you still read comments on old videos. You got me into DM'ing and you've been my biggest help. More than any of the other web resources for doing such a thing. Finally at this point I feel I'm hitting my stride. I want to say, I hope that you do in fact go back to campaign diaries when you resume DM'ing. Your last entry about avoiding taking away player agency? Brilliant. I think that was exactly the right lesson to take from that situation, and it wasn't obvious. I ended up killing a PC two sessions ago, and just parlayed it into a unique experience through the plane of limbo while their companions took them to be resurrected at a temple.
They went from being pissed about being killed to being like "oh, this is actually pretty cool". I don't think I get there without your abundance of wisdom since I started watching you 2 years ago. My point is; keep on keepin on man, looking forward to when you and the crew get vaccinated and you can bust out your villainous faction in Capital! Also stoked to see The Chain under judge, I feel like Anna is going to be quite proactive in the political scene, and we all like action. It was actually a great place to break, and Chain 2.0 is going to be sweet, because everything is about to come to a head :D
These videos are helping me so much while im starting my first ever campaign. Im using the Mines of Phandelver story and everyone loved it the first day! Im gonna keep watching you for more tips and tricks, keep up the awesome work!
Just got done with exams and really wanted to dig into this channel again, Great stuff it really keeps one engaged!
Awesome episode. I loved the moment where the player realized he could have said something better. We have a player who casts suggestion a lot and it never goes as planned because he suggests the target do something that never goes the way we plan. I also really enjoyed the lesson of how to introduce players and actually telling the party to just play along. D&D is meant to tell a story after all and you need to use your suspension of disbelief to make the story better. Looking forward to more videos!
So happy you're back, Matt. Definitely gonna follow this series and save the playlist... which needs updating, actually.
Yeah, found this channel a couple days ago looking up videos for 2nd edition and coming across the "History of D&D, One Duncan at a Time" videos and I haven't left. It's always fascinating listening to other DM's talk about their quirks, tricks, and games.
I love this stuff Matt so cool. This reminds me of my current situation in my Princes of the Apocalypse campaign. The PCs, after fighting their way into the Temple of Black Earth and killing most of the guards decided to take a LONG rest in one of the guard rooms. This is one of those DM moments where you say, "Are you SURE you want to do that?"
So, anyway, while THEY were resting in Leomund's Tiny Hut, the Gorgon leader of the place, marlos urnrayle, has the 'mud' wizard Miraj 'Wall them in" using stone shape and move earth, leaving them no avenue of escape except the main corridor through the place. He marshels his forces and when the PCs emerged from the guard room, he directed his shadow demon minion to have their three Bullette mounts attack the pcs from below to 'soften them up'.
And that's basically where we left off, the bullettes emerging from the floor to attack, the exits have been sealed, and Marlos's forces converging down the hallway towards them.
I have no idea what's going to happen next. In a conversation with one of my players, he said, "I've literally been on the edge of my seat thinking about the next session!"
I love it!
Matt. I feel you. I once tried to introduce a new character to a party: His name was Cyric, he was a changeling rogue, and he was super cunning and cool (or at least I thought so). He infiltrated the party posing as a happy-go-lucky monk and as the story went he was currently spying on them for the sake of the big baddie of our current quest. His way into the party was that he had a change of heart and since he was only a paid hireling for Big Baddie, he decided he would much rather side with the awesome adventuring group. Enter drama. Upon revealing his true nature as a changeling and announcing his intentions to betray Big Baddie and join the band of friends, they immediately bound him, broke both of his arms, and then mistrusted him for the next, ooooh, ten sessions? On top of that, the party had fallen in love with the monk character he was posing as and held that over his head. It ended up in the death of multiple PCs, a very difficult RP experience, and a huge headache. xD My next character was the simplest, most likable, most trustworthy person who just wanted friends. Lesson learned.
I just ordered the paper back version of priest and I'm really excited to get into it. I really enjoy the way you describe situations and your thoughts on character motivation.
Fifty percent chance%? That is a lot of darn digging! What'd they do with all that good good fill dirt? Did they make a dirt pyramid with it? Use it to fill in a gorge? That could be a story onto itself. Me, I like the dirt pyramid or maybe a really big moat and bailey castle. Sorry, I tend to fixate on certain things and it seems the party's got much bigger problems than "Hey where did all that dirt go?". I once drove a DM to distraction by attempting to retrieve string from a trap. My position was you don't just magically jam a bunch of gold into a hole in the wall and presto you have a trap. His position was that's exactly how it works.
+Harald Eigerson It went to the same place all the dirt they excavated to make the underground level went.
Into a big hole they dug for the purpose.
Historically that's not much at all, most fortifications have pits around 75%+ of their perimeter and the excavated dirt is used to built up the walls on the inner side of the pits.
I'm into this adventure. Can't wait for the next video.
I really like these videos, he's showing us how things go with Show and tell.
I've been watching these videos and it's great! Also, let your friend Zach know that the wildshape power in 5E lasts for a number of hours equal to 1/2 your druid level (rounded down) 5E PHB 66.
I bought the d&d starter set mines of philander and am planning to start my first session in a few weeks time! I'm pretty excited
Matt on villains, remember the "Red Cap" idea of starting the little villain that if he gets away, grows with and hates the characters so he looks for ways to foil their plans and thus becomes the "big bad". Keep it up!, KOVE IT
I feel like you're the Tony Stark of dungeons and dragons...
do we need to start a gofundme for his heart surgery?
Really enjoyed the video, as usual. Am going to have to introduce a new player character in a week or so, so this video was really neat! I do hope you keep making videos like this indefinately. They're really good and you bring up a lot of pointers and tips for GMs that help out a lot.
I also picked up your books for the kindle. Haven't started reading them yet, it is the Overwatch beta after all, but I'm excited to do so whenever I make the time! :D
If one of your player's characters dies during an adventure and they want to make a new character to join the party, do you start the new character at level 1, or do you allow the character to begin at a level to match the rest of the PCs?
I'd say it's completely up to you, however I would strongly recommend against starting the new character at lvl 1. I'd also recommend just starting the new character at the same level as the party. I'll elaborate on these points in the rest of my comment, but if you've gotten all the information you want feel free to stop reading.
A quick reference sheet for myself I've been playing D&D for about 10 years (which has included many player deaths) with a small amount of GM experience (with has also included many unintentional player deaths).
Starting at new level one character with a group of adventures that're level 4 or above basically means that character is going to be horribly underleveled, which'll probably make combat for that player not fun due to being super weak. This can also start a chain effect. Because a character is weaker, they have a higher chance of dieing, and if they do die it means they have to start at level one again, making them weaker, rinse and repeat.
I say just start the new character at the same level, it's quick, simple and takes a little of the sting away from losing a character. Now if this idea poses a problem because your players get a sense of inconsequence to dieing, Simply running into combat with no regard for loss of life: then I'd recommend imposing some small level loss every time they die. If you die lose a level, simple. A warning about implementing this system: TELL THE PLAYERS ABOUT LOSING A LEVEL WHEN YOU DIE BEFORE YOU IMPLEMENT IT.
Sorry this comment was longer that I intended. If you have any questions or want more detail, feel free to ask.
Several years ago, WotC published the final instalment of the DM Experience, a weekly column written by Chris Perkins. Since then, I have tried to find a regularly updated series of articles or videos that gives great gaming advice based on things that actually happened in the DM's campaign. I think I've finally found my new 'DMXP'.
I only discovered your channel a few days ago, but I'm slowly catching up with all of your episodes. Your advice is great, your stories are very inspiring and your enthousiasm is very contagious. Also, you're able to explain abstract rpg concepts in such a way that I suspect people new to the hobby will have no problem understanding what you mean.
tl;dr 10/10, going to buy your books when my next paycheck hits.
Wow, this is a great video - and super timely, I've just had the same issue with a newly joined character last week! My players are also new, and this is some great advice to a new DM who just wanted to say "FOLKS, for real, this is Kraig's character! Let him into your adventuring clique!"
i love the channel so far, but i do have to say, I really enjoy hearing your campaign recaps!
Man I'm loving these vids! Currently my favorite UA-cam Channel. Definitely my favorite D&D based channel.
Teasing the Villain episode is killing me.
Villains villains villains. Bring on dem villains! Lol
Matt I will buy both your books next month when I have more money. I have been looking for a new fantasy series to read and I am looking foreward to it.
What is great about you talking about this is you show that even you as an experienced DM are still learning
as much as i enjoy learning more about DMing and how to do that, i REALLY enjoy your recaps of the game you are running with your coworkers!
The illustration at 17:25 broke me. Top notch Orc and Dragonborn voices. I originally came for your running the game series, but am staying for this campaign diary.
We love you, Matt! Can't wait to hear what happens next. Could you do an episode about how to handle problem players? The players who might end up ruining the game for everyone by behaving erratically for no good reason or by sulking about something that happened in the game that they didn't care for?
Do I just need better players?
My DMing style is pretty similar where I will just throw stuff at a party without any clear idea of how they "should" get out of it. I like to encourage creativity and problem solving in that way. Great videos. I look forward to them every time I open UA-cam
Matt I love this channel, tons of great content and useful info, thanks for what your doing, Ill definitely have to give your books a read.
really enjoyed this video! subbing & binge watching anything that will help me DM better. Also looking forward to revealing the main antagonist episode seeing as how I'm running CoS.
That moment when you can slow down the video to .75x speed and it still sounds mostly normal because he's speaking so fast lol. Not a bad thing - I love the energy of the videos.
Man, that Elric of Melnibone picture brings back so many great memories!
These videos are great and inspiring. So much so that I need to find people with kindles and convince them.
I think plugging your own work is okay in general, and especially in your format. I spent 25 minutes listening to you talk about DnD from a DM and storyteller's perspective, it's reasonable to assume I'd be interested in more of your dibbliy-doos. At the very least it is better then adds.
No questions yet which is a good thing, I'll pipe up if I have something I feel needs to be said or clarified. thanks Matt Colville!
Bonebreaker Dorokor at the end there be like "game recognizes game" when he realized that the PC's were up to player shenanigans.
It's 2023 and I'm returning to this videos. They're helping me reignite that DMing spark.
"That's right, D&D can be this epic! I can make it this epic too. Lets go!"
Your stories have been both interesting and well executed in terms of teaching us things you have learned. I'd love it if you had a mini-series on the side of just story-telling if you had the time and felt that it would be fun for you to do so. Regardless, please let us know how the next session goes, regardless of a lesson or not!
Personal Dm Question: How would you handle your players being "too strong" to lose? My players rolled fairly and ended up playing DEX-centric classes; equipping themselves to get ACs of 18 or higher when certain spells pop out (2 Monks, a Cleric, a Fighter, and a Bladesinger). I have done the very occasional DM-Roll-Fudging to keep them invested in a fight, but I hesitate to buff enemies to the point that the party's efforts to better defend themselves become nullified (sure you have a high AC, but these common mobs went from +4 to +6 to hit!). When running a fair boss fight of a CR 5 against their party of five level 3's, they rarely got hit by him due to their high ACs mixed with my bad rolls, and their high stats allowed them to hit very frequently. They had fun, but I fear that by-the-book monsters, despite their rating will fail to challenge them when I have bad luck, making their fights too easy, unmemorable, and eventually boring.
Recent Story: In CoS, at level 5 they killed a lone Hag by casting Hold Person (she failed with advantage; my wonderful luck), and proceeded to beat her up close, gaining advantage + crits (paralysis); the fighter dealing 84 damage with a Great-Weapon Master Multi-Attack. She died before getting a chance to roll again to free herself. They remember the fight proudly due to their setup and coordination, but future fights bode similarly as a certain BBEG vampire only has an AC of 15... they often gets 20+ on hit due to their near-max DEX stats and supreme luck compared to mine. Legendary Actions are neat,/available for the final BBEG and will work well to keep the party from feeling invincible, but other bosses in the campaign will seem like chumps since they cannot "choose to succeed failed Saving Throws".
So in length, what to do? Fudge more often for the sake of story, beef up monsters entirely (making their +AC buffs basically equal to if they weren't high ACs), or keep it by the book? So far they've been satisfied with the roleplay portion, so that I'm set with; it is simply that enemy combatants stand little chance against their +4/+5 DEX with +3 weapon proficiencies...
The idea of the druid sneaking in as a spider is clever...however, he'd best steer clear of the hell hounds. A hungry hell hound could see a spider as a quick snack.
Hey Matt, thanks for a great channel! Kind of weird; your newest video (Alignment Examples) is blocked here in Sweden due to a copyright claim by Studiocanal. Any idea why?
This was great! Hope you will share how they will get out of the situation :)
This is good advice. As a DM its often hard to remember to take those time outs and be do the non-gaming person to person conversation.
I love your videos! You do such a great job explaining things we all struggle with in ways that make it seem so simplistic and elegant!I was wondering what your solution is if a player were to die in a dungeon crawl? When do you introduce their new character?
Critical role actually did the owl and spider scouting but in reverse. Druid was the owl and familiar changed to a spider.
I find the question of how characters fit in to the party very interesting. As a DM, I always try to motivate the players to stick together for in-game reasons, asking the players what their characters' goals and desires are and using those in the early plot hooks of the campaign. But I also tell them they need to meet me halfway and come up with their own reasons and motivations to adventure together.
In your campaign I think it's ok for the players to be initially mistrustful of the creepy warlock dude they meet in a dangerous forrest. It actually sounds like a fun moment! (also, versimilitude! just telling him "you seem trustworthy! join us!" would be silly). But they need to bear in mind that he will join their party in the end so they need to meet you halfway and come up with a kinda plausible way for this to happen. So, they will be keeping an eye on him, but he knows where the tower is and how to avoid the traps, and he has his friends to save so they decide he may come with them for now.
In general, relationships between players is one of the rare cases when some meta-game thinking should be encouraged!
Hey Matthew I find it hilariously funny that you DM so much like me, although you might be more benevolent than I am in reminding and perhaps identifying what you roll. I find it awesome to hear how you engage und deal with your players keep it going!
Without wanting to sound like a rules lawyer, if you play 5e DnD and didnt house rule anything Warlocks work a bit different then mages. They JUST got a number of spells (2-3) but they always cast them on max level and regain them after a short and not a long rest.
Damn. Had I known you make more for the Kindle versions, I wouldn't have ordered the paperbacks. Still amazing reads, though! If you're ever in Austin, I owe you a couple of beers then ;)
Congrats on hitting 10k subscribers, I love your videos!
Really enjoy your rule discussion and how to DM.
easiest way to intro a new member to a party is to tack on a small prison to whatever the party is trying to clean out and they "rescue" the new guy. You can have them do this darn near anywhere outside town.
In town intro generally turns out "this new guy shows up in the bar"
Hi, I am totally inspired by your videos. They helped a lot. I decided to become a GM myself. So I am new to this and my players are new to this. Hopefully it will work out. I will be playing by the pathfinder rulebook. but I won t use campaings or so but one shots. I dont now, if my players will be into this kind of stuff. So I gathered locations and will use them to build a small one-shot. Sooooo many ideas. there s one of Atlantis, one of the battle of Tronjheim (Eragon books), one of Avalon and one of the pyramids of Gizah. For some ideas I will have to transform some races. but I m far from beeing ready. Have still to read a lot and prepare. Thank you very much for helping with your videos.
Just as a word of advice, while it isn't necessary to create your own setting, your players may feel more immersed if you set it in the underwater kingdom of 'Zarcadis' rather than just saying 'it's Atlantis'.
Great video Matt! Your stuff has been making me a much better DM!
I like your peace out thing that you do. It's a fun and unique way to end videos.
+Lucas Landry It's just the way I would sign off when my friends and I were on Skype playing LoL or Rocket League or Starcraft! :D
+Matthew Colville Rocket league and Starcraft, two of my favorite games!
8:52 How did you get that sound affect? I wanted to use something similar for the noise a particular beholder ray has.
I love the updates and the lessons, keep 'em coming!
I had introduced 2 new characters by saying the level 3 wizard stupidly attempted the teleport spell and he brought along his friend who also stupidly allowed him to attempt it. Maybe they were running away, or trying a new trick, going on vacation,ECT.
the mapping technique was awesome, thanks for the tip! :D
Can't wait for the next episode! DM'ing Lost Mines of Phandelver at the moment and my players were just in the Redbrand hideout where they saved the woman and her children in the cells there. Well.. Saved is a strong word.
They found the keys for the cells but the Sorcerer blew the cell door off its hinges with a Fire Bolt and because it was sort of rash I figured I'd break the daughter's arm with the flying cell door, hoping to slow their pace. But no. The Warlock proceeded to intimidate the son and because they escalated this so much I had the son faint and the mother trying to hit them with a dead guards sword. At no point did they try to feed them or take care of them. They just hauled them over their shoulders and went back to town.
Really nice in-group drama because the paladin stepped in and they had a great group discussion. Now I'm thinking the son will die or be in a coma and have the mother return later as a villain, so looking forward to some good tips next episode! :D
How to you recommend handling a PC using an ability wrong, learning about it later (in my case right after our first session)? Would you just recommend talking to the PC and explaining the situation and talking it out?
I have a question, when a character dies and the person makes a new one, starts he again on level 1 even if the other players all have higher level. Or does he start at the same level as the lowest player, or on the level of his previous character or a level lower than the lowest player? What do you use of have you heard of DM's using?
Btw I have seen the whole serie "running the game" in about 3 or 4 days (some vids even on 1,5, that was quite quick) and pushed my friends a bit to finally start and hopefully this is finally happening this weekend.
They should never start on level 1 unless that's where the pc's are at. It depends on the situation tbh.
even watching this after the fact with the videos after at my finger tips IM STILL SO ON EDGE FOR THIS!!!!
The moment they line up the owl, they see an orc patrol with hellhound beyond the branch where the owl sits. Let the archer take a free shot. Quick way to turn that situation around... but yeah, after sitting back listening. i was no there in the moment ;) BTW. I love the actual play analysis videos. Looking forward to more when new game starts.
@Matthew Colville I was wondering if you've done a video about loot yet? I'm about to start DMing my first campaign (in no small part thanks to you XD) and I realized that I'm not really sure about loot timing. When do I give them random loot, when do I give them good loot (that I know some character in the party will want), when do I give them bad loot that they'll probably end up selling to the first merchant?
I've found its good practice to throw a bit of gold or bits and baubles on every bad guy the party kills so they find a little something after every battle. As for items, it really depends on how you want your players to scale power wise. The faster you hand them out, the faster your players get stronger, which isnt a bad thing, you just need to keep it in mind when designing challenges for them 👍
I love your framed "Elric" art!
In regards to Phil's Warlock, I've been playing a Great Old One Tome Warlock from level 1 and am now level 15, and have found it useful and powerful throughout. He also is an ex-librarian with white pupiless eyes, so I'm seeing a lot of similarities to Graves, Haha. Here's some ways I've found my character uniquely useful:
- Telepathy. We're also interpreting it as two way. Don't underestimate the value of having someone who can secretly relay messages amongst the party. I love using it to coordinate secretly in front of an unsuspsecting villain. It's to the point that my party will covertly signal for me to use telepathy to get said conversations going. You can also trick or intimidate enemies with it if you're clever, or interrogate a gagged captive spellcaster. Not having to worry about language barriers is icing on the cake.- Eldritch Blast! Endless reliable damage, especially when combined with Hex and Agonizing Blast. With repelling blast you have 10 feet of push per blast with no weight limit, so fighting near ledges is a pleasure. You can also protect squishier allies with it by pushing enemies away from them so they can get away without an oppportunity attack. We also have this house rule: a character can opportunity attack an enemy that's being forcibly shoved from their threat range if they make an acrobatics check greater than the creature's AC.- Spell Renewal. Your spells are powerful since they always cast at max level, and you don't have to be as cautious about blowing them as other classes since they come back on a short rest. And even if you do blow them all, you could do worse than having to rely on your Eldritch Blast or creative use of your invocations.- Rituals, Rituals, Rituals. His familiar is an incredible scout! And there's plenty of other rituals that give you nice utility without spending your spell slots. Who doesn't love sleeping in a cozy Alarmed Leomund's Tiny Hut? Or having their stuff Identified? I also enjoy Commune and Contact Other Plane for when I feel like my character's mind has been entirely too intact lately.- Trickery. You can take Misty Visions for endless free illusions, or Mask of Many Faces for constant Disguise Self. You also can take spells like Suggestions and Charm Person. Warlocks have lots of ways to take advantage of these abilities with their high Charisma scores.
When adding new characters, do you put everyone on equal footing level wise? If everyone is 5th level, do you start new characters at 1st or a different level?
Sorry to go off-topic, but an hour ago you uploaded a video, 'alignment examples'. This video is blocked in some countries, mine included so presumably the UK too, due to copyright stuff from 'Studiocanal' (so chances are it's blocked in most of Europe). Would you be okay with uploading a version that the rest of us can see?
Since the early '80s, thanks to a buddy of mine and his rather bizarre DragonQuest campaign (SPI Games), hell hounds in my circle of gamers always sound like a nasally, high-pitched voice crying out, "Minerva!"
Recently, while running Red Hand of Doom, I made a sound file of me, in various pitches and reverb settings and multiple voices, shouting "Minerva!" slowly approaching, like a hunting party of hounds. I just quietly turned on the file on my iPhone, and as the players were planning their next move, I hit Play. Some -- not all -- of my players had encountered hell hounds before, so they were suitably terrified as the sounds got closer and closer... The sound file ends with me saying, "Roll initiative."
You should hear my gibbering mouther file...
Yes, I know this is a three-year-old video, but I'm only now getting around to watching it.
Love your channel, just discovered it. My only complaint is that these aren't a podcast so I can't listen to them at work or in my truck without running UA-cam.
When you mention following the campaign are your game broadcast or are you just referring to the previous episodes in the diaries.
If you're on iOS, try ProTube. You can set it to only download and play the audio part, and it'll keep playing while the phone is locked or you're using other apps.
This might seem kind of odd but I feel slightly compelled to complement your super-great enunciation right now, because youtube's auto-generated captions are super good at transcribing you.
Like also you're an interesting and useful insight on tabletop GMing and storyweaving and party integration but like, mostly enunciation.
Huh, Graves' backstory has a bit of parallel to my Tiefling Warlock's backstory. He, too, found an incomprehensible tome in a library he was studying in that slowly became legible to him and broke his mind. He's still quite mad, though, which is very entertaining. I play him as the relatively harmless, Luna Lovegood-style insane.
These videos really make me want to play in your game, Matt.
Are you using variant warlock casting rules? Otherwise, he doesn't have any spells left at all after 2 casts as all of the warlock slots are the same level. Not sure if that's what you meant or if there was some confusion.
Been going through these videos and whenever I get to the plug I'm wondering: Why not have the books on Google Play Books as well? (it would make it way easier for me to buy and enjoy them as I prefer google's book service)
Hi Matt, I don't know if you will see this, but the link for Grave's backstory appears to be down! Is there anywhere else to access his backstory?
Thank you!