To address something in the video, "Yes and" is a useful tool, but overuse of it can compromise the verisimilitude of the world and decrease immersion. You see people talking about how their games always devolve into Monty Python, and one of the reasons that happens is because of overextending rule of cool and unconditional "yes and" that makes the world no longer feel its a real thing with a set of constants that govern it, but rather just a mishmash of whatever sounds cool. It's fun in the short term, but in the long term, you'll find players become less engaged. So, instead of "yes and," it's sometimes appropriate to use "no, but"; "No, you can't invent a supercomputer in this medieval setting, but you can go to the ancient library and consult the tomes of arcane knowledge." That keeps things rolling without creating long-term issues.
Those little shiny things that you throw in to redirect the party's attention back on topic could be divine manifestations. Research the lore on the various faiths of your PCs, and you may find some great visual manifestation ideas to show characters a direction, or to scare them away from others.
I’ve made a ‘1 to 7’ response scale survey that asks for people to rate their feelings on a given prompt for how they’d score based on their experiences so far, vs what score they wish things were instead. Its quick and simple to see what peoples thoughts are on what you’ve done, vs how they’d like stuff to change.
I "punish" the actions by First, letting the players know that the action will lead to repercussions which I decide the severity of said result based on the roll they made - High means its not as bad, Low means they be fucked. Of course, I like to switch it up from time to time to keep them guessing and on alert
Don’t know yet if someone put this into your chat but the description of the feathered prehistoric chicken-like creature might be a Diatryma. They are big flightless birds that kinda sound like what you’re talking about. Fun Fact: the RA Salvatore character, Jarlaxle Baenre (you may also recognize him from Waterdeep Dragon Heist or Out of the Abyss), has in his cap a feather from one such bird. He can also throw the feather to summon a real life Diatryma he can use as a mount.
When I ran my last game it started off with a simple premise. A pack of pygmy Manticores led by a full sized adult ran amok ending up killing the Paladin's mentor after the full sized Manticore killed his wife and dozens of others. The mentor's mother took their bodies to the Dawnfather Cathedral to get raised, however the bodies were cremated shortly after being raised as the Cult of the Strife Emperor revealed itself and so began a full scale riot as the Cultists ended up fighting the populace and those guards who didn't join their ranks. Facing possible defeat the Cultists tried to swap the city with its double in the Shadowfell that was narrowly thwarted when the Mentor's mother got the Acolyte PCs help to open a portal to the Feywild. The BBEG noticed the effort and promptly banished the Mentor's mother but in so doing shorted out the ritual giving the PCs limited time to locate and thwart another attempt. This involved getting across the bridge in the middle of a full on battle forcing them to descend beneath the streets to locate a dwarven submariner able to carry them across underwater so they can sneak into the Royal Palace. Yes you can yell Stingray!
I feel like creating random npcs for your players to talk to if they want to is one of the easiest things you could do. I've had to come up with random npcs before and I found that it wasn't that hard to do. The others are something that I feel like I need more help on.
I would be really careful with kidnapping your players' level 18 characters. If you don't let them fight back, that might make them feel cheated. Maybe that's a good option instead of a TPK if they lose a battle, but if I wanted to do it narratively, I would make sure everyone is on board before doing it.
To address something in the video, "Yes and" is a useful tool, but overuse of it can compromise the verisimilitude of the world and decrease immersion. You see people talking about how their games always devolve into Monty Python, and one of the reasons that happens is because of overextending rule of cool and unconditional "yes and" that makes the world no longer feel its a real thing with a set of constants that govern it, but rather just a mishmash of whatever sounds cool. It's fun in the short term, but in the long term, you'll find players become less engaged. So, instead of "yes and," it's sometimes appropriate to use "no, but"; "No, you can't invent a supercomputer in this medieval setting, but you can go to the ancient library and consult the tomes of arcane knowledge." That keeps things rolling without creating long-term issues.
Those little shiny things that you throw in to redirect the party's attention back on topic could be divine manifestations. Research the lore on the various faiths of your PCs, and you may find some great visual manifestation ideas to show characters a direction, or to scare them away from others.
I’ve made a ‘1 to 7’ response scale survey that asks for people to rate their feelings on a given prompt for how they’d score based on their experiences so far, vs what score they wish things were instead. Its quick and simple to see what peoples thoughts are on what you’ve done, vs how they’d like stuff to change.
I "punish" the actions by First, letting the players know that the action will lead to repercussions which I decide the severity of said result based on the roll they made - High means its not as bad, Low means they be fucked. Of course, I like to switch it up from time to time to keep them guessing and on alert
Don’t know yet if someone put this into your chat but the description of the feathered prehistoric chicken-like creature might be a Diatryma. They are big flightless birds that kinda sound like what you’re talking about.
Fun Fact: the RA Salvatore character, Jarlaxle Baenre (you may also recognize him from Waterdeep Dragon Heist or Out of the Abyss), has in his cap a feather from one such bird. He can also throw the feather to summon a real life Diatryma he can use as a mount.
This or Deinonychus (what Jurassic Park called a 'raptor'), also generally assumed to have had feathers.
Weird NPC characters. Don’t be afraid to go full anime with those shop keepers.
When I ran my last game it started off with a simple premise.
A pack of pygmy Manticores led by a full sized adult ran amok ending up killing the Paladin's mentor after the full sized Manticore killed his wife and dozens of others.
The mentor's mother took their bodies to the Dawnfather Cathedral to get raised, however the bodies were cremated shortly after being raised as the Cult of the Strife Emperor revealed itself and so began a full scale riot as the Cultists ended up fighting the populace and those guards who didn't join their ranks.
Facing possible defeat the Cultists tried to swap the city with its double in the Shadowfell that was narrowly thwarted when the Mentor's mother got the Acolyte PCs help to open a portal to the Feywild.
The BBEG noticed the effort and promptly banished the Mentor's mother but in so doing shorted out the ritual giving the PCs limited time to locate and thwart another attempt.
This involved getting across the bridge in the middle of a full on battle forcing them to descend beneath the streets to locate a dwarven submariner able to carry them across underwater so they can sneak into the Royal Palace.
Yes you can yell Stingray!
Want to get more into dwarven forge...need bigger checks first 😂
3d printer perhaps!
How many people have EVER been in a writers room? 🤔
I feel like creating random npcs for your players to talk to if they want to is one of the easiest things you could do. I've had to come up with random npcs before and I found that it wasn't that hard to do. The others are something that I feel like I need more help on.
I would be really careful with kidnapping your players' level 18 characters. If you don't let them fight back, that might make them feel cheated. Maybe that's a good option instead of a TPK if they lose a battle, but if I wanted to do it narratively, I would make sure everyone is on board before doing it.