I like this analysis of Brennan's clever improvisations, but I feel like this advice is difficult to actually apply without writing out the topic in advance. Perhaps that's something to actually take away from this; don't pre-write whole-ass monologues but rather pre-write ideas and bigger-picture elements like puzzle pieces, and then allow the conversation and its context cues to put them together.

haven't played it or read it, but you make a compelling case. i tend to side usually with wizards really doesn't know what it's doing and will half ass anything as long as it makes them money. i dont ever feel they've really released a complete product so i'm partial to ideas that are logically structurally sound, from a literate 'realistic' point of view. i want the characters to be who they are and not conveniently do something so wizards can tack on a goofy idea or we can run characters through something. there's just way too much of that in popular media, and in games too. it needs to make narrative/characteristic sense

Also, Enoch could just be a reflavored/reskinned giant octopus or roper or something. Boost their Intelligence and Charisma and bam. All good to go.

The lantern as the phylactery is SUCH a good idea. Lich Beast works perfectly.

i just want to understate, you're a professional, you don't need so many reasons. You have the right to leave. It's not up to anyone else but you to make that decision and NO ONE should try to make you feel guilty. It is THE ADMINISTRATION that would be leaving the kids in a lurch, not you. They don't do their jobs so you can't do yours. Please don't ever go forward thinking like this. You are a professional and you have to make a professional decision. If they don't support their teachers, the teachers can't do the job. Acting like everything is on the teachers' shoulders is a trash way to run a school.

A lot of people had come forward as educators during the 2016 political election, and i remember this because i was active with the Sanders campaign for President. Nurses, Auto workers, Steel workers and TEACHERS really schooled us on what their industries were like. It was then I truly learned what a racket the whole 'charter school' thing was. Good teachers kept telling us that we needed to reform public schools, make them work and fund them... they all had horror stories about charter schools. Not that there aren't some good private/charters out there, but woah. It sounds like most of them work more or less like factory farms and they have ZERO interest in educating those kids. So sad. I believe in education and i really believe in teachers. But i'll never trust anyone who is in teh charter school business or is promoting charter schools again. I really wish I'd met you before you got sucked into that world, I could have advised you - even if you didn't listen, you would have at least had an idea going in what might happen. I see you on the rpg things, so I hope everything is working out for you better now.

Did you teach in high school?

I came here to have time and I have HOMEWORK now????????

Just started the video but I recently heard there is other sources mentioning the different courts such as seelie and unseelie and the seasonal courts. Mostly I’ve been trying to research the season courts for a character I’m working on.

I loved this dissection of the techniques used by Brendan I think it really made it click compared to other videos out there on the topic of his style

One of my favorite examples of good villain monologue is Wilson Fisk's "Good Samaritan" speech from the end of the first season of Netflix's Daredevil, he exhibits multiple of these tenets of a good monologue, but most especially control. He's at the lowest point he's ever been in the series, he's been caught, in chains, being hauled off to prison, but he still has 100% control of the situation and he knows this and uses it to his advantage during his speech. Phenomenal work

I love that one of the villain monologues is just Brennan yelling about not having gotten any points on Game Changer

"Do you want know why I have CHOSEN to bring about the destruction of this farcical, fetid mass of an empire? It's not my upbringing, I had two parents who loved me with everything they had. It's not some religious crusade. I could care less what pitiful, facsimile of a deity in whom you have mistakenly placed your faith. It's not even because the squabbling bureaucrats whom you allow to govern your neighbors razed my home and slaughtered my people in their quest to provide you with the ILLUSION of safety. No, it's because as they sent hero after hero, bankrupting themselves for the vain hope of putting a simple shepherd back in his PLACE, as I wept for each heart beating its last along the edge of my blade, a strange, perverted, darkness began to take root in my own. I will purge the rot of your existence, not simply because you deserve it, but because I will feel a deep and abiding satisfaction when I see the light leave your eyes."

Great video! One that has prompted thoughts... No prewritten speech will ever match the fire of an improv monologue, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't try. The power of improv is the instinctive connections you make when thinking with your body (gesturing, shifting your weight, expanding your diaphragm, facial expressions). They can drive the pace of your speech. Eye contact is essential too. The word "You!", no matter how loud you shout it, has half the impact when it isn't coupled with eye contact. For D&D purposes, the most dangerous place for a monologue is a VTT. So much of what's being communicated will be lost, no matter how good your words.

Lol amazing. That villain monologue at the end

I started writing up a character that I think is pretty interesting and unique; a Warforged Ancients Paladin. I know it sounds odd but rather than this Warforged being like the Warforged that we know, I wanted it to be more of like a prototype or precursor to what modern Warforged are. Maybe as civilization was forming there was a druid who enchanted a seed or tree to grow into a sentient being with the sole purpose of protecting all things light and natural after the druid passes away. I haven't had the chance to play this character but I imagine it would be really fun to roleplay and would obviously be strong (which honestly isn't super important to me in all honesty).

I've had the biggest most shameless crush on Brennan in the privacy of my tiny mind for years

He's a genius level talent and improvisation. Seriously. Dont feel bad if you cant pull off this caliber of GMing

Do you know the ghibli movie neko no okaeshi (the cat returns)? Cause a lot of inspiration can be drawn from it for this concept

Your party finally breaks through the last line of defense, the final obstacle in your way before you route the evil individual who has been plaguing the region for months. Adrenaline pumping, your blood churns with an alarming speed, expecting an immediate conflict you burst into the room. Your hot blood suddenly runs cold, you see him there.. waiting, and seemingly happy? You each take a moment to condemn this man, to verbally strike him down before you can end him with a blade, questioning what could drive him to such lengths what he could possibly cherish or covet to do such things - in response he steps forth "Well, of course it's because I cherish you, as foolish as your lot may be! You live life as I do in this world! For the world only stops existing when you die - so make the world yours, make everything yours. *clenching both fists in front of him and to the party* Don't die until you have conquered your own world, SO I DEPLORE OF YOU, PLEASE! Struggle valiantly as I do. Will I conquer the world today, or shall you? Show me what I have been searching for." The man spins a wretched smile in your direction with fervent anticipation for the struggle you shall go through together. He does not wait for you to come to him, for this is his domain and like any good host - is most attentive towards his guests. Just a bit of rough draft dialog for a possible boss fight in my setting the fellas might get into in the future. Villains are pretty fun to work on ngl.

I am so glad I found your KZbin channel. Thank you for existing :))

This is less a villain monologue and more an anti-hero monologue. Character is Henry Blackwood, a Bloodhunter (and cop) who made a deal with an eldritch deity to find his father’s killer, later broke that deal, finding out that basically all of his ancestors have made the same deal. *You want to know why I’m here? Why a coward like me is bothering to try and stop the apocalypse? I am not a good man. My father, despite how I revered him was not a good man, nor his father before him. I come from a long line of bad men, but we were all trying to bring justice to the world. Generations of Prometheus’s, chained to the cliff of the deals we forged in dark alleys; paying for the power we steal from the gods by having our souls ripped from our bodies each day. All so we could light the world just once with a torch that previously only the gods could wield. How could we have known that the fire we stole would be the thing to burn us? I have no interest in glory. I’m not here for the greater good. I’m not even here because I was shown kindness and mercy by the very people whom I tried to destroy in order to save my own spineless back. I’m here because I will be the last bad man in this line. Whether I die tonight, or fifty years from now, no other descendants of the Blackwood progeny will rot at the many hands of Shialogoath, nor any other extra-planar tyrant. The cycle ends with me. I have no sons to seek my killer. I will use this torch I stole from the gods to burn the necks of the hydra my forefathers have created in their pursuit of justice. The Blackwoods will no longer seek justice, retribution, revenge. We seek peace and healing, knowing that some things are simply out of our control. My sisters understand this, I suppose they take after our mother. I wish I did too. There is one thing I learned from her though: Finish what you start. I intend to do exactly that.*

I love that man

Woah. This is a pretty good idea. I just started this adventure. Made them start in Mordent (Ravenloft Domain!). So, looping in the Dark Carnival to finish kind of where they started sounds really good. I need to think about this!

the most buckwild part of all these is that most of them are improvised. this man goes on rants like Coltrane takes a solo

Missed opportunity to monologue at the end about parent emails and student discipline

The seating chart got me 🤣🤣 OK you're brilliant! I absolutely LOVE your delivery! You're quick, you're witty, you're knowledgeable, and you've got panache! (Is it weird that I'm just a little, uh, shall we say, intrigued, by the grammar threat at the end?)

"SHUT UP. SHUT UP. I SAID SHUT UP. You bugs are truly fucking nothing. Running across my kingdom 'saving' those who would stand in my way. I am a god and you are a gnat flying in my face trying to stop my conquest towards you. A bumblebee trying desperately to shoo me away from your hive. But the honey you protect is worth so much more than any insignificant sting on my arm or bite on the wrist. Every single mortal needs to be sealed beneath my heel and stay there. I will kick down your hive and gnash my teeth into it. I don't care how many of you I have to go through, as again. You are flies, and I am the exterminator." An attempt at a monologue from the King in my campaign. He's technically a dragon and hates mortals so so much. I don't think I did a very good job but this was one attempt with no backspacing so it'll be better once my players finally get to him :]

Absolutely stellar breakdown of this. I have some new, excellent ideas for my villain's monologue in my upcoming campaign (right before she shoots and kills one of my PCs (she's a co-DM, she's aware of the plan) for drama) Subscribed!

to borrow from the field of musical narrative "Repetition legitimises Repetition legitimises ..."

My friend ran a Wild West-inspired campaign, and I played a satyr archfey warlock. I described my character as half man and half coyote, guiding lost souls to the bright lights of the fey casino run by my patron while avoiding a fire-and-brimstone preacher who blamed me for her son running away (she wasn't wrong).

Wereswans are just Weregeese with privilege. They do all the same stuff, but they know how to get away with it.

❤ so evocative ❤

My problem with this analytical approach is that Brennan isn't thinking of any of these in the moment, he's riffing. So why is he so great at riffing? Like everyone else on Dropout he's got extensive improv training, but it's his passion for the subject(s) - D&D, RPGs as collective form, birds, politics, etc - and he's gifted at being able to expound on these passions on the fly. Practice for years, his instincts for humor and good storytelling - twists, turns, creating and relieving tension - create who he is as an orator and comedian. Practice improv, be passionate, tell stories for so long you drill the structure down out of your analytical brain and into your instincts. Otherwise following the list of components in this video will just result in a badly/awkwardly done monologue that follows the list of components done in this video.

I love these tips makes me excited for when the party finally confronts the BBEG, someone they know and will continue to interact with until the reveal. “Do you know why I had to lie to you all? I quickly came to the conclusion that your dull bladed attempts at heroism would never allow you to work with me. I have to reconcile the fact that you all, my friends, the only people that have seen past the royal act and have seen even a shadow of the real me, will hate me after I make the hard choice. ***I*** have to live with the fact that past today the only thing left of my memory will be as a monster. ((Snaps finger freeing a monster.)) I do hope one day, you can find it in your hearts to forgive me even with your antiquated sense of morality meaning we will have to fight and likely kill each other. I forgive you for getting in my way and goodbye.”

That was such a great analysis, thank you for this <3

We will see how it goes, my villain is about to drop his big monologue on why he’s actually the good guy, despite all the terrible things he’s done.

I don't play 5th. I look at videos like this for ideas though. The beauty hag having a stun ability is interesting. But how about this instead, Can't look away. All characters must save or be forced to look at the hag. Ranged attacks must target the hag or adjacent squares. All characters within 30' that failed are considered threatened by the hag. Also, the notion of a hag that absorbs beauty from things around it to stay beautiful is an interesting concept. Thanks for the nice video.

You highlighted the things that made Handsome Jack the best Borderlands villain, a feat that Gearbox can't seem to top ever since. Even now, after so many years, Jack's monologues linger in my mind.

Or the version where he accepts her for who she is and doesn’t have to coerce her because they’re actually in love

It's so rare to find a single video that i can feel has improved my skills, thank you!

Hello dear brother ( he said after having pierced him with his rapier while the masked swordsmen could do nothing but pray and while his beloved companions watch in horror from their place of concealment beneath the destroyed stage on which the Sheriff and the Swordsmen Coronado have finally come to blows). So. It has come to this. I have often wondered what I would say to you. How could I express myself? What might get through your thick, empty, cro- magnon like skull? (He twists the sword drawing a pained groan from our hero) How could I tell you the joy I felt when you mistook the captain as the killer of Esmeralda, who should have been mine, when it was I that took her life? How could I convey the grim satisfaction I felt when you were captured by those pirates instead of I, and oh how I savored your tears as you wept at my 'death'! How could I convey to you just how much I hate you? But then, at once a revelation! For I saw you come here my dear brother. I know your companions lie there under the staircase. When I have killed you, they will join you in death. Eventually.... (Twists mustache evilly)

Love the ending monologue! Hope that you'll get that mail to act on it! ;)

Thanks for the tips! While it's obviously not my work, I now can't stop hearing Hannibal Lecter's Rube Monologue in the voice of Brennan Lee Mulligan... (kzbin.info/www/bejne/e365onx_iN6jbJI)

Another aspect of the way those monologue-punctuating questions works is - they are scary. Firstly they put the players (in the state of their PCs) on the spot. Like a teacher asking you a direct question in class. Secondly, they make the player aware that they don't know something important. In the first example they don't understand the motivation of this dangerous being. In the second case they apparently don't even understand their own motivations, but the bad guy understands, and it's somehow important to what is happening now. Now you feel disoriented, if you don't understand the situation you can't predict how this dangerous person might behave, they might even be in the right. Now, you are not just *interested*, you are *gripped* by the answer to the question.

Very helpful

Great video

If you want to have a short monolgue, tell your players/group - please let me have a quick monologue without interruption, and then go for it. After all, they aren't trained for tv.

Great video, I actually took down this advice as notes for later!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BREAKING THIS PATTERN DOWN! It's such an effective act and having you explain it and then even had an example you acted out in the end!! So good!!! I'm so inspired, I'll be back w my homework omfg