The Hardest Part of D&D with ADHD
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- Опубліковано 24 бер 2024
- In which I talk about what has been, for me, the most difficult part of running long campaigns with this ol' ADHD goblin brain o' mine.
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UA-cam hitting different recommending this in the middle of me procrastinating on working my campaign. Unbelievably helpful, I WILL go try this now.
Yes! Good luck!
Never thought I’d praise the cinematography on a D&D video, but here we are! Hope you keep making innovative videos!
That's so kind! Thank you for watching, see you for the next one
Not so much a "D&D" or even a TTRPG video... but rather one that can really be applied to creative people in general. I think even those of us without ADHD have a lot of moments where we get inspired by something new and then suddenly go "WAIT! I have a BETTER IDEA!" that inevitably revolves around that new thing that inspired us and kinda just grabs our imaginations. Your process here could be super useful for when that feeling strikes.
Putting this one in the "Mental Health" folder as well as the "Roleplaying Games" folder, I think. A rare split. Thank you.
That split is where my brain sits most of the time lol
Thank you for watching! I'm glad this could resonate with your experience of wanting to channel those new inspirations without ditching the old ones
Wow, imagine bumping into an old Colony Craft friend in the wild all these years later! I hope your doing good bud. Tree.
@@datfilmco.3819 Hey Tree Root! Been an age dude! I hope you're doing well.
@@AlvoriaGPM life is good man. Awesome to see your still kicking about. I need to start up a new Minecraft server sometime.
Hope your keeping well dude.
@@datfilmco.3819 I've really gotten away from Minecraft. I started feeling like big, open-ended games like MC have been eating my time and preventing me from having a lot of great experiences with more finite games. I've been happier since I made the switch.
Plus, as the video you found me on implies, I've now got TTRPGs as a larger-scale time sink. Ha ha.
But I am glad to hear that you're doing well. Take it easy out there my dude!
My partner is ADHD and your videos and insights have been wonderful for helping me to understand how their hyper fixations affect their life and how I can help accommodate them.
Yes!!! Thank you for seeking out that kind of knowledge, on behalf of ADHDemons everywhere
@@TheADHDM and thank you. I hope you continue to make wonderful content that we can all learn from.
As someone with ADHD, it does feel like a blessing and a curse when it comes to running games. Your videos touch on that really well. Keep it up!
Thanks for watching!! It definitely has two modes: "I am a creative god and this is my masterwork!" and "I am a ghoul and I will bury myself in grave dirt"
Every time I watch one of your videos I always think: "When"... "When will this creative and passionate man get his own show"
And then I remember we're watching it right now.
That's very kind, thank you!
Like when you approaching the end of a fixation, escalating to the limits of your passion and skills. You can use this technique to sort of pause and broaden / deepen it, rather than getting either distracted or frustrated with limits and abandoning it for the next shiny.
Absolutely! I know I didn't cover burning out on a special interest because you hit the obstacle-free skill ceiling, but that's a huge factor in jumping ship on a project
This view called to my soul. ive started plotting out campaigns to be about 3 months maximum, and its done wonders for my AuDHD brain, theres a feasible end in sight at all times to make the whole scope easier to grasp
I absolutely love planning finite campaigns! It helps the players too I think, when they know it's twelve weeks instead of every Wednesday night for the rest of their lives. Thanks for watching!
ttrpgs becoming my new hyperfixation and coming across your channel is a godsend. keep up the great work!
thanks for watching 🙏
Great video and tips. A thing I have noticed is that the hyper-fixation shift often happens at that 90-120 day mark because the old fixation is often 'running out of gas'. You've indulged in it for long enough that it's losing 'steam', by which I mean, it's no longer able to stave off the boredom. And that last bit is the key. Boredom for ADHD/Spectrum folks is death. It's our kryptonite. It's directly linked to depression for us too. Our brains are basically need constant stimulation or we get depressed, listless and purposeless. Your tip about finding overlap between the old and new fixations is really clever. Thanks for sharing.
Very well said! Thank you for watching
As a recently diagnosed Audhd GM who has been struggling to start my second game up after hefty burnout, this video is profoundly helpful. I'm glad I watched this video before inevitably having the same problem with ttrpgs as I've had elsewhere in my life and didn't understand well until now. Thank you for helping me figure out how to be creative.
I appreciate the kind words, good luck with the second campaign!
Your videos get so deeply into my brain and cut past the shame and loneliness I've struggled with my entire life so much it brings me to tears. Thank you not just for this video, but for your channel, and for your raw honesty.
I'm glad it resonates with you, it's nice when I know my experiences aren't just unique in a bad way lol
Thank you for watching!!!
Bro just discovered you, but damn you are relatable. I think of the GREAAAATEST concepts of campaigns, grinding grinding grinding getting inspired everyday with the latest anime..... Ends up never ever playing the campaign or go in 3 sessions to be burned out and cancel it.... Players: dissapointment all over after managed to hype them up as high as the stars..... *Insert* more dissapointment burn out.
The solution? Become the permanent player. ❤
@@bierbuikje1604 Hey thanks for watching, glad/sorry you can relate LMAO
I hope you find your rhythm as a GM and/or your satisfaction as a player
What kind of anime-inspired ideas are you brewing?
Your Crucible concept - I remember it from the earlier days of this channel! - gave me such an incredible understanding of ADHD and why it's so difficult to create something "big." So glad that it's still around and being talked about! Can't wait to see this in action in my own stuff, I haven't utilized it in a while!
YES!!! Go forth and CRUCIBLE
I have ADHD and I figured out in my opinion a good way to explain the feeling of not being able to do something that you want. It's like seeing your favorite food on the table and you really want to eat it but you are just not hungry. No matter how much you want to eat you just lack the feeling in you body that normaly lets humans know its time to eat. And yeah technically you can force yourself to eat when you are not hungry but its hard and extremely unpleasant and you are going to feel like shit aftrerwards
Definitely! Like the instinct to DO THE THING is just not there
Thank you for watching!
Another great video, Skyler! A good reminder that we can find ways to channel our current passions (be they big or small).
Thanks for watching, Kelsey! Reminder to any bystanders reading this comment to play Shadowdark RPG!!
As a DM with ADHD I dont know why im just now finding this channel. An absolute gold mine, sir. Thank you
Glad you're here!
Thanks for watching the video
This is absolute gold! The editing, the pacing... the actual advice! It's all perfect!
Thank you so much!!
this video was, for me, an unbelievable combination of:
a) wow, this is really high quality work!
b) wow, this is super relatable and is probably the confirmation i was looking for that i've *absolutely* got ADHD, no questions asked
c) wow, this is something i should try for my future campaigns!
d) wow, i am completely not working on my dnd campaign at all right now!
and e) wow, i need to subscribe right now! ✨
down to the *letter* i need to use the crucible, holy shit
this was a delightful video to click onto out of nowhere and i'm so glad i did, now excuse me while i go binge previous uploads 💙
a) Thank you so much!
b) Good luck on your journey!
c,d) I hope this stuff helps! My cinematic dnd video is a kind of breakthrough I had in prep that made stuff click for me
e) you're awesome
@@TheADHDM 💙💙💙💙💙
I want to get back to the table so badly, and have for years. I’ve bought and read the books, funded the kickstarters, bought the dice, and so, so, so much more. The only thing I haven’t done is actually get to the table. I’m not sure if this video alone will get me there, but I’m turning on all notifications for your channel after this one.
Nice! Well thanks for watching and I will be sending you psychic waves of motivation
I genuinely have no words to describe how helpful channel is to me - and for context I'm Weird about linguistics
And yet your lack of words made me feel appreciated nonetheless.
Thank you for watching!
GR8 video!! The editing is amazing and engaging! I haven’t been a DM but I still learned so much to apply to other aspect of my life!
I'm glad you liked it!
(if you're looking for a sign to start DMing, this is it)
Thank you for watching
Wonderful analysis, amazing techniques for disectioning themes and troupes into new things to add to a campaign it could have become still. You have improved yourself at the same rhytm you develop your art for what i see, and I can only say im proud to be part of this community and to know this channel where the constant concientization, evolution and growth feels real and resonant with all of us with neurodivergence. Just amazing to me.
I appreciate the encouragement!!
It took me starting my third concurrent campaign and watching this video to realize that my ADHD struck yet another hobby 😂 Apparently acquiring another group of players each time I have an exciting idea probably isn’t a super feasible long term idea, who knew!
If my math works out you can do it like 2 billion times before you run out of players!!
Thank you for watching
Skyler, you were sent to us by some higher power of empathy and dopamine. thank you.
I don't know about that, I just woke up here with a pencil and zero executive function
Thank you for your kind words
I don't think I ever felt so understood until I found your channel
That makes me happy! I'm glad this stuff can speak to you, sometimes it feels like I'm just ranting to the void lmao
This is the exact problem I have had for like 2-3 years of being a dm and I ended up abandoning campaigns halfway through a lot which I’m sure my players honestly hate me for but this video is very much a breath of fresh air and been very helpful so thank you so very much
I'm glad it could help! Good luck, and thanks for watching!
I am not diagnosed with ADHD but I do share many of the symptoms, especially short-term hyperfixations and cyclical interests, and I am also my group's DM. Before I talked to them about it, I was caught in this loop of getting extremely excited about a new campaign, losing interest in the current campaign until we just abruptly stopped it, getting ready for the new campaign only to move on to a new idea right as the new campaign started. It was extremely exhausting to me because I felt trapped in a campaign I didn't care about anymore until I just had to stop, and it was so unfair to my players to just drop the story and characters they had become invested in. Thankfully, my players are very nice and understanding of how my brain works, but eventually we had to all sit down and talk about an effective way of moving forward. I still wanted to DM, it's probably my favorite thing to do, so we decided that moving forward, we would run campaigns in short bursts. Each campaign would be 12-20 sessions long, with room to continue if I was still interested, and often having sequel campaigns when I cycle back to being interested in an old idea. We'd often also have filler one or two-shots in between campaigns to give me some rest and time to prep the new campaign. It's by no means a perfect solution as our group will probably never have the same emotional high as finishing a 100-session campaign after 2 years of playing, but it's a solution that my more casual-leaning players enjoy and that gives me a clear goal of when I'm finished so if I do start a lose interest, I know I just need to push a little further. Obviously this won't work for every player, but I got lucky in finding players that love the TV-season-esque campaigns, and I think it's worth a shot bringing up the idea to your players
Thank you for sharing your experience, I definitely have an easier time with campaigns that I, and the players, know is going to end at some point.
Your videos are consistently both insightful and fun to watch. It's clear that you put a lot of thought into each one, and we appreciate it! Your content is so high quality I'm honestly shocked you don't have a subscriber count in the millions.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying them, and I appreciate the encouragement
Holly shit. Get out of my head...
It's a bit scary how accurate this is😅
Didn't know I would feel so seen in a dnd video.
Glad/sorry that you could relate lmao
thanks for watching
this was a wonderfully shot and worded video. bravo!
Thank you! That's so nice!
First part: totally relatable! Second part: needs to be watched again (and again). I may have gotten a little distracted but also there was a lot of actionable advice!
What has worked so far for me is a) playing sandbox style where I get to discover new things alongside my players or at least there's no attempt to have several sessions planned ahead. b) Running multiple games to a handful of groups. Somehow I manage to enjoy the variety when I also get to bask in the light of that one thing I'm really really into atm. c) I'm beginning to shove different elements into different parts of my campaign world. No! I'm not mapping the whole world but rather parts of it with a vague idea of where the areas are in relation to each other. Also it might be a universe or multiverse of stuff. I get to reserve the right to push my PCs through a portal of it comes to that (I haven't yet).
I'm at another crossroads like this right now. Luckily we're actually wrapping up our current campaign and just before we get geared to start the new campaign I got the new thing. Not the new thing I was planning the last couple of months while finishing the current campaign 😅
Thanks for sharing your strategies so other travelers in the comments can benefit. And thanks for watching!
@@TheADHDM Thank you! I hope it could also be somewhat helpful if someone has the fortitude to read that far 😅
my solution for dming with adhd is to plan only about one or two sessions ahead, with a flexible enough campaign conceit that I could plug in a new thing every few weeks (like how they used to publish modules). Good advice on the crucible! I feel like I do something similar with picking only the part most interesting to me when I plop it into my campaigns
Sounds like you're pretty in tune with what you like!
Thanks for watching
A few of my players have ADHD and the points you make here are sooooo perfect and I can feep their brains tingling from here haha
"Step 1: Sharpen your pencil"
And the rating of points you make with stars :3 so good!
Thank you for watching! I just watched your JJK skill tree video, I have that caught-up-on-a-current-manga brainrot and the vid soothed it a bit lmao
@@TheADHDM oh fantastic xD haha have another kne there on Domain expansions if more soothing is needed xD
I find this very interesting as i have developed a similar method of "THE CRUCIBLE" myself. Its like seeing a more developed, and a bit more thought out version of mine.
In summary, I approve. As a random person on the Internet that is very important.
I count on random people on the internet constantly LMAO
Thank you for watching
Love the cinematography and sweet 70's color grade or luts. Looks great I am commenting before I finish the video, which is why my comment isn't on the content as much as the presentation.
Thank you!!! Definitely played with the color grade a lot this video, it was fun! The LUT I used was just a gamut conversion for slog2, and then I did some fiddling around in Davinci Resolve! It's nice when people notice the presentation stuff I don't really get to talk about in the video lol
@@TheADHDMI noticed too, looks great! excellent stylistic choice
Love this! Great video!! ❤
I think it's a little funny that during this video I had to rewind a few times because I kept gettjng distracted before coming back to the video and needing to pay attention
but also this is neat and I'm saving it
That's the nature of the brain goblin
Thank you for watching!
I kind of ended up naturally doing this, with new games I seek out things I like and make specifically tell friends and myself for example "I like how movement flows in this game" or "how attacks have a certain impact to them" the problem with this sort of thing though is its hard to implement into pre existing ttrpg systems so to let off that steam I've ended up attempting to develop my own based on ideas I think will be interesting if adapted into their own system
So having a side project that catches all of those things for you?
great video production and aesthetic! and as someone who got interested in learning everything dnd because of my adhd, extremely relatable.
Thank you for the kind words! Always happy to see another ADHDM in the wild
Oh thank the gods, I needes this advice. So, 1) I didn't know that these are adhd-type symptoms (obsessing about 1 thing at expense of old commitments) so this is highly validating. And 2) Ive never DM'ed yet, but I intend to apply this approach to starting an entirely new CAREER....yes you heard me. I have a plan laid out but with the intense hesitation you just outlined regarding committing to something that could lose its motivation. I can easily envision what you describe here. Good work on this.
Thank you for watching!!
I'm glad some of this was able to help, good luck
Finally, my UA-cam algorithm delivered me to my people!
Welcome to the adhdungeon
Thank you for watching!
My DnD world has a lot of different settings, so I can bounce between the parts and still be working on 'the same game'.
Nice! Do they occupy different genres?
Yes. Epic fantasy, science fantasy, and urban fantasy are kind of the core. But, there is space for more. I have about half a dozen settings that roll around in my brain.
I totally feel this. I started running a Waterdeep Dragon Heist campaign, and because of various IRL things we've done 3 sessions in 3 month and just got through chapter 1. I am like SO just done with this, im running a Lancer Oneshot next week. I kinda want to drop the game, but my players went and got commissioned art of their PCs and just ughhhhhhhhhhh
+1000 points for running Lancer!
Wait so this isnt just me, im not special? XD its great to know im not alone, thanks for this video
Thanks for watching, glad you could relate!
For me its trying to hold onto the ideas long enough to write them down. I work at a place where I can’t really keep my phone or a notepad on me, so trying to make my working memory actually work is a quick way to pushing myself too hard
oh god yeah I definitely have a pocket notebook all the time for that reason. "I'll remember to write this down later" is a lie lmao
I have recently discovered that I am ADHD and finding out the traits and things I should know/look out for just gave me so much clarity on so many things in my life up to this point. Sometimes I just struggle with not procrastinating and just actually getting things done - ironic that this is mostly for myself and NOT for when I’m doing client work (maybe money is a good incentive, ha). Thanks for the video and I love your editing style too! How long do these take to put together?
>ironic that this is mostly for myself
ADHd20 podcast talked about this in the notion episode too in the Notion episode, how if someone needs EXACTLY what you need it's easier to do it for them than for yourself, it's insane
And thanks for watching! For this video it took me about 30ish hours of scripting, boarding, shooting, grading, and editing, spread out over 11 days of grabbing an hour or two after my 9-5 and really committing time on Saturday and Sunday. The Ghibli video took longer because there was an ADHD meds shortage in the middle of it and I had to rework a ton of it just to get it done, that was like 50 hours over 14 days
My eternal ADHD hyperfixation is One Piece due to incredible story telling, trauma so heartbreaking you cry, and a resolution so bombastic and satisfying you cry again.
Also, 10/10 video
I think the next time I'm sick in bed for a while it will be time to immerse myself in One Piece. Or I could try to read a little at a time like a normal person
Thank you for watching!
It's so obvious and yet, it's never occurred to me. My players thank you :)
I appreciate that you're going to try it out! Thank you for watching!
good tips and good editing!
Thankya! I appreciate you watching
That's so true!
i am way too envious of your hair
I was self conscious of some at-home bangs trimming so thank you lmao
Thank you for watching!
Wait yes wait this is good advice for using inspiration in your creative pursuits even beyond DnD. Also a lifesaver if you’re autistic bc you can do this exact same thing with special interests- which I have been doing smth very much like this for years, and is the only reason I get anything done XD
Yes! You have uncovered the secret of this channel lmao I just use D&D as an object of focus but this stuff is applicable everywhere in my life, and hopefully that's true for others
very useful
Glad it could help!
It's not the real Matt Damon, it's a T-800 that _looks_ like Matt Damon!
Jesus Christ it's Jason Bou- wait never mind. Jesus Christ it's a T-800!
Thank you for watching
this video is very good
This comment is very good
Maybe your idea is worth trying but I will share what work for me after some years of failure to concentrate in one campaign. I came back to my origins and started just running modified pre-written modules, this takes the pressure out to invent something if I'm not feeling like it with all the freedom of inventing shit. So I know kinda what will happen in the next few sessions and the ending but I just prepare one session at a time (with some exceptions obviously) and only after the newest session already got completed.
It sounds like you've got a nice routine in place, thank you for sharing it, it could help others with similar needs
Ok so, i dont know if i have ever seen a UA-cam channel that speaks to me nore then this one rn
That's very kind and encouraging, I appreciate it
This is why I only run oneshots lol
I think mostly one-shots throughout the year, while also squeezing in an 8-10 session adventure, is the sweet spot for me. I want that space where we can all just expand into the game without the constraints of a one and done game night
@@TheADHDM Smart! I just get overwhelmed easily lol
I know exactly what you mean dude. Don't feel alone with it.I do the same thing. Don't worry, you do get use to it. It's not weird. I've lived with it a long time. BW 🐉🐉🐉🐉
Solidarity
Thank you for watching!
I had to do a double-take. I thought I was looking at Peter Dinklage.
Wish dot com version
Thanks for watching!
One. Shots.
One shots are great! For my money nothing beats getting to know the player characters and telling a story together over several sessions.
@@TheADHDM Agreed, but I have over and over done what you describe... Start a campaign, get a few sessions in, new shiny, repeat. When I discovered how much fun I could have running one-shots without all that guilt, it was a revelation. Maybe I can risk a 2 or 3-shot?
@@ogreboy8843 really if one shots give you what you need from running TTRPGs, that's pretty rad
@@TheADHDM Thanks for being so cool and making such great content!
I'm not the DM though. I'm a player who literally just wants to crank out shallow PCs 🤣
If you get bored of a character they can always get a haircut, that's what I do with my character irl
Thank you for watching
I think you mean that metaphorically, but I'm not sure what exactly to make of it 🤔
Damnit, I'm trying to zone in on the video but helping myself is boring.
the tl;dr:
boil down the thing you like to its simplest form, take notes and simplify those notes, integrate those notes into the boring stuff
godspeed
first?
I was this close
NEW RECORD
Train, grow stronger @bryancooper3973