6 Skills you learn as a Dungeon Master

Go to BuyRaycon.com/runesmith to get an amazing Black Friday deal on Raycons!
Also this video is just life lessons marketed as D&D content because that's what I do every now and then.
Oh yeah I wrote a book:

[@gabrielrussell5531]

3:00 What you're describing is commonly known as the "Quantum ogre". You have planned an ogre encounter. The party has two paths they can take. The ogre will be on whichever path the party takes.

[@jimmystyles670]

Damn, this is a perfect way to put it, I've also seen this as explained as having two doors that lock when they go through them, but turns out they both go to the same place. It's called the illusion of choice, and it can make it seem like your world is vast and infinite and are you prepared everything, yet you've only done the basics.

[@SharowbladyeGaymerPorate]

@@jimmystyles670 a bit of dmimg is deception

[@selenagamya1612]

Schrodinger's ogre?

[@bordenfleetwood5773]

So... You're implementing the Shrek Uncertainty Principle?

[@geoffreysherman609]

Gabriel Russell the ogre would be in a state of super position.

[@LordChevonlier]

How to get into character: 1. What is your name? 2. What is your quest? 3. What is your favorite color?

[@CurlyHairedRogue]

DumbShork optional 4. What is your favorite food?

[@jessecapra2350]

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen Swallow?

[@bakpfeife2224]

@@jessecapra2350 fast but fluffy

[@LibertyLocalizer]

Yellow. No, blue!

[@taxfrog99]

@@LibertyLocalizer you beat me to it well done

[@GioTheVax]

My two most important phrases as a DM are "Yes, and..." and "No, but..." Third after that is "You can certainly try..."

[@the11382]

I think that "you can certainly try" is not good if you have Nat 20 rules. It doesn't sound fair for players to try something and roll a nat 20 for it if you don't want them to derail the plot too much.

[@drizzt102]

If i say 'you can certainly try' i mean it. If you nat 20....well whatever insanity will ensue will ensue.

[@drizzt102]

And sometimes it is.. .impressive the insanity that ensues.

[@TentenchiAMVs]

My DM's most important phrase is "what are you LITERALLY doing?" So much miscommunication and derailing are avoided with that one simple question. ^_^

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

And arw you sure?

[@bordenfleetwood5773]

One thing I've learned as a GM: It's okay to feel like a TOTAL FRAUD, as long as the table is laughing/smiling and they ask you to come back at the end.

[@traviskegerreis5704]

This for sure. I'm a relatively new DM and both myself and my group like a challenge, but one that is not obviously insurmountable. I have thrown 3 major bosses at them in major encounters and they, through both their own inventiveness, circumstances, or RNGesus-blessed rolls, trivialized all of them. After the third boss that they completely wrecked I actually asked them after the session how they were feeling challenge wise, since they didn't take many hits and didn't seem to be in much danger from my perspective. They basically said they were loving it and that they were terrified of the thing the entire time and I could not for the life of me figure out why. But that was about where I learned to start trusting myself a bit more and that really all that matters is if the players are having fun and FEEL challenged, stats be damned.

[@2MeterLP]

@@traviskegerreis5704 Im playing my groups encounters at deadly +20% and they still eat them for breakfast. So instead of challenge I try to focus on doing unusual stuff that makes the encounter memorable.

[@ronben-ezer8373]

@@2MeterLP unusual stuff? Like what?

[@gam9837]

This advice actually works for jobs too.

[@ronben-ezer8373]

@@chillyavian7718 the elusive and legendary owlsbear

[@fademir8478]

Im sure that angel said: "KING DRAGON SENDS HIS REGARDS"

[@exomancer3632]

The Dungeon Master's machinations lay undetected for decades, for he is a master of deception.

[@mikusheep]

ARCHIBALD NO

[@stanard_bearer]

I LEVEL GRINDED YOU FOR HOURS

[@IrvingIV]

"games where your choices actually don't matter" kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqalqoCQr7Grpq8

[@jamesburks2796]

@@IrvingIV Actually King Dragon is a character in that whole channel

[@toriray6126]

Skill 7: Don't start with 8 fricking players like I did first time DMing It hard

[@andrewpowers2249]

My first time DMing, the group I'm running now, we had ten players, one left, so we only have nine now. It hard.

[@somescrub8960]

I know your pain dude I'm still doing it

[@Dimitrishuter]

Do as I did: split them into two separate parties existing in the same universe. Leaves open opportunity for players switching spots sometimes but makes them manageable. Only works if you have the time to DM two groups though.

[@andrewpowers2249]

@@Dimitrishuter I would love to do this, and honestly, because of timing (we play online, and we have timezone issues, so I could see how this would work out for longer sessions), it would be great. But doing this once a week was a compromise with my wife as is, twice a week would have been too much.

[@bordenfleetwood5773]

It's fun, but with 7-9 players my mind melts at every session. It doesn't help that they've all been playing for like fifteen years and I've been doing it for two.

[@CL30]

"We're all slowly levelling up as people." The unspoken truth of life.

[@jamesburks2796]

But what gives us EXP? if we know then we can EXP grind in real life!

[@shandaniel2999]

Skill #1 realize that you have no notes but don’t want to fix that.

[@ginoclaves]

It's great to improvise, but if you don't even have bullet points (even if just mental notes) of what you want the narrative to entail, you'll get lost quite quickly and end up reducing your session to 3hr slogs of meaningless roadside combat.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Shan Daniel notes are messy in the sandbox

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Jay Well I like that phrase, “roadside combat”. Aptly describes way too much rpg time.

[@filipevasconcelos4409]

Also a note, have a list of handy names that you can choose on a moment's notice. So you will be ready when they ask the footless goblin what's his name

[@kylerhansen253]

I'm running a quest on basic plot ideas, no ideas or plans or notes at all. Just go with the flow

[@FluffeeSMASH]

The last time I was this early, the Mind Flayer empire may or may not have existed.

[@bradymcelroy1627]

Do you mean Aboleth?

[@FluffeeSMASH]

@@bradymcelroy1627 Nah, I meant the Mindflayers, but fucked up and forgot their "proper" name is Ilithid, not Yugoloth. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@callmet711]

@@bradymcelroy1627 now it looks like your crazy

[@callmet711]

After four months I just realized that I said your and not you're

[@joethefish6039]

Last time I was this late, the Mind Flayer empire may or may not have existed.

[@TapdotWater]

Thought you were aboot to cast fireball with that outfit

[@sirkaeru]

Oh no there’s a fireball coming straight at the wizard! He can’t hear us he’s wearing Raycons!

[@alexburnett4954]

umm akchualy fire ball doesnt travel through the air, but instead explodes from a point

[@Drekromancer]

oh God oh f*ck

[@2MeterLP]

@@alexburnett4954 counter-actually: "A bright streak flashes from your pointing finger to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with a low roar into an explosion of flame." It does travel through the air before exploding

[@esmnation8605]

For the having authority, I think of it like this. "Its their story, I'm just here to tell it."

[@nerd_mus]

Last time I was this early it was Jacob's turn to use the fake beard

[@jesterssketchbook]

lol i was like: wait, did i press on that Jacob video?

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

José Rospigliosi ha!

[@QuestionQuestionMark]

How to get into character: 1. Put yourself in their shoes. Take their personality quirks into true consideration when making a decision of what they’d most realistically could or would do. Separate your player brain from your character brain (this also helps with passive meta gaming.) 2. Ask yourself obtuse questions like “What drives your characters will to live?” Or “What is something your character wishes to improve about themselves.” 3. Think of your character with the same complexity as you would a person. Like you they should have a somewhat traceable train of thought that governs their day to day life. A human nature or a soul in essence. 4. Treat your character as if they are a person and not a name on a sheet of paper, to bring them to life to make them something more than just a character sheet or half baked throwaway concept. 5. When your character has a goal ask yourself how and why, they have the goal alongside how they’ll even achieve it. If you can master doing those five things subconsciously, congrats you’ve become a pretty solid actor!And you’ll be able to play any type of character you want to. *Hidden #6. Play characters that naturally align with your personality or ones you can relate to! Nine times out of ten the other players or dm will too. Creating a character in this way makes you yourself care about them and by proxy the people around you may begin to do the same. Increasing the overall quality of your game.*

[@BaeCat872]

Another aspect of authority is learning how to command attention at the table. It can be hard to balance memeing with friends at the table and cultivating enough respect to keep people off their phones and engaged in what’s happening.

[@ForgeofAule]

My first session ever is tomorrow, I'm the DM. I am going to have a designated area where the phones are stored. I told all my friends that since we are all learning and just doing LMOP, we could meme a little. But after this first premade campaign, I want most jokes thrown out the window. The occasional joke or reference is fine, but play a cleric named Yuri Tarded whose god is Joe Mama ruins the game.

[@clonetf141]

My inasnity keeps people of their phones and a combination of a loud voice and a good smack on the table silences 6 loud teenagers

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

@@ForgeofAule After several minutes of hushed voices and a lot of narrative tricks for creeping, sneaking around, shadows and the like... When I'm suddenly towering over the table and slamming both hands down to intro' "the Huge Great F*** You DRAGON!" I can promise you I have the undivided attention of the entire room... In fact, the last time I did that, I had the undivided attention of half the neighborhood. Now, admittedly, online play has it's shortcomings in this... AND the Players individually have the controls for sound (both quality and volume) BUT a compelling reason for their attention is just going to have to take up the slack there... At the real life table, in my experience it's about being able to project your presence... to take over the spotlight whether someone wants to give it up or not... NOT that you should always be dominant on that matter, but that you should work on the skill to be able to... on those occasions when it's necessary. AND yes, I'm completely unafraid to ROAR when it seems appropriate. There's nothing wrong with a few jokes along the way, either... What you're referring to is more akin to reducing an otherwise well thought out scenario into a Looney Tunes fiasco... THAT is different. For instance, I played Character named Jubel... Role played this Bard for most of a year (around 9 and change or 10 months) before anyone even looked into (or I mentioned) his WHOLE name, "Jubel Lee Danzer". When the joke was called for (and I didn't rush into it...) it hit SOLID... AND even the GM was completely off his guard for it. I played it legit'... just as embarrassing as I would if it WAS really my name... "...and no wonder he didn't talk much about that." It just about broke the session, and I (of course) took a fair amount of ribbing later on through the Campaign... "Man... You're parents were either comic geniuses, or they HATED you!" AND similar... ;o)

[@eli_pilant7009]

Oh no the cleric while not paying attention triped on a stick and landed hitting his head on a sharp rock giving him brain damage therefore losing all intelligence.

[@hyperbannana9262]

@@ForgeofAule how did it go

[@onionkingu362]

It really was a great segway, runesmith. I am, yet again, amazed at your overwhelming intellect

[@arandomzoomer4837]

It's a lot of intellect in a small package. The package being his brain.

[@Zirkalaritz]

6:56 I choose to believe you didn't have a tongue-slip there and you totally meant the spacebar. Those lines and paragraphs are just hundreds of spacebar presses apart from each other.

[@ddis29]

you should see it with word wrap off

[@MarschelArts]

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

[@williamwontiam3166]

No plan survives period. Then again I might be said enemy.

[@Biodeamon]

basically babysitting unpredictable children who vary from uncomprehendingly stupid to evil geniuses, who you have to constantly find ways to appease and entertain and resolve conflicts

[@arandomzoomer4837]

Hey I'm trying to get into that.

[@lapaba1236]

YouNeedHealing This is sad, but true.

[@jeffreysian-salas1689]

@@lapaba1236 I got into an in-character why game with one of my players, who I then had to reward with a luck blade. Picture an ancient vampire, who is incredibly prideful, trying to explain for the last time that he is not afraid of the sun. The player played the vampire into summoning it's army to it, collapsing the building, starting combat with the sun roasting everything, and kept insulting the vampire to keep its attention on her while the others focused on AOE for the army. It was the most organic thing I have ever seen. She wished to gain another level with the luck blade, and failed the roll. We all discussed it and agreed she should get some kind of weakness; now she has only one arm, causing her to have disadvantage on all actions that require two arms. She is somehow still the most reliable character in the party XD

[@lapaba1236]

Jeff Sian Fricking nice

[@spacesatan5840]

Or just summon a black dragon on em

[@Wisper200]

One of my favorite things about your content is that you have a perfect balance of education/lore and comedy. I love it so much how I lose my mind with laughter but learn something at the same time.

[@jackielinde7568]

4:10 - Turn on the automated closed captions KZbin generates for videos. TRUST ME, YOU WANT TO DO THIS! (I love when KZbin gets things wrong.)

[@tantan4997]

Omg XD

[@reverie5760]

@@tantan4997 its probably how, tho, tbh

[@lordfelidae4505]

BIG ASS DICK! 🤣

[@seansimonalle8896]

Big orc chieftain + subtitles = 😍

[@commiecomrade2644]

lmao perfect. Glad I listened to you

[@evanstefancin968]

3:49 true story, our DM actually did get a concussion and his acting actually improved so yeah this is solid advice

[@jamesburks2796]

Im not a good actor but im not personality shifting just to be better..

[@sarahmellinger3335]

@@jamesburks2796 simply be someone cooler nerd

[@fiveyearflan]

that wizard outfit got some use it seems ahaha

[@secretsociety1636]

You also learn the ability to completely forget to take notes and to write and completely loosly go off what you remember what you wrote like a month ago.

[@Vonkunken]

Sadly I'm the DM but I'm terrible at acting, but I manage to make the session enjoyable through the encounters I make and putting my players who are incredibly good actors and roleplayers in situations where they can shine.

[@brandonmolcyk3085]

As for acting, and I think I’ve seen a similar comment on a previous video, I am a theater major/actor and one of the most basic but useful things you learn is about needs and conflicts. I had a teacher call it the VOTE system, which I think is easiest to explain so I’ll stick to that terminology for now. Basically , it’s an acronym that stands for Victory, Obstacles, Tactics, and Expectations. Victory- what does my character want/need to accomplish in a scene? What is their “win?” Obstacles- What forces/actions from the world and other characters prevent me from obtaining this victory? Tactics- This one is really simple. How do you go about trying to achieve your goal? Expectations- How does your character expect the other characters will respond to the tactics he/she uses? After considering those things it becomes much easier to live in the imaginary world of the character, and you simply need to update your tactics as a scene progresses to respond to the other characters. The last piece of simple acting advice I can offer is to LISTEN and RESPOND to whoever you are interacting with. This just makes everything feel much more believable. Sorry for the long comment TLDR: Acting can be drastically improved by thinking about what you’re doing

[@lava2istrue]

6:15 *me; currently searching up the intricacies of different organic iron compounds and biomineralization of iron for my aliens with an iron rich physiology* “What?”

[@celestialtree8602]

I'm in this comment and I don't like it

[@seanmcgcostumes]

Deltora Quest! That series was one of my absolute favorites growing up. I’m going on 28 and I *still* have all three of the Deltora Quest series’: Deltora Quest, Deltora Shadowlands, and Dragons of Deltora. They’re so underrated!

[@MayHugger]

Oh wow, I never thought I'd see mention of that series, I loved it growing up!

[@seanmcgcostumes]

@@MayHugger I always hoped it'd be adapted as a movie series or something when I was growing up. I know a lot of people's main fantasy series was Lord of the Rings, but mine was Deltora Quest haha. (Since I loved that series so much, I guess it makes sense why I eventually ended up playing D&D 🤣)

[@MayHugger]

@@seanmcgcostumes Huh, y'know now that I think about it, Deltora Quest was probably the first series that introduced me to the concept of medieval fantasy, so it's probably a big reason why I love it so much as well. Such a shame it wasn't more popular, but I still treasure it.

[@john98765333]

Hey, The Deltora Quest series and The Inkheart trilogy are some of my favorite books as well!

[@samreddig8819]

Deltora has a sequel series called Deltora Shadowlands. Most people don't know about it. Also try Mistborn.

[@Drekromancer]

@@samreddig8819 Don't forget the sequel sequel, Dragons of Deltora. It's awesome and totally worth it.

[@ZOEgirl567]

Thank you for adding your humor to D&D info. It makes it so much easier for my newbies to digest the giant info dumps they need in order to actually understand how to play/helps me be able to translate between the more dry stuff in a fun way. I love your videos. Please keep churning them out like an Texan ice cream truck in the middle of summer.

[@samstassi5238]

Glad to see Inkheart! It’s such a great story love the whole series

[@ThorsShadow]

6:07 That beautiful Terry Pratchet Discworld reference. ❤️

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Man you are getting friggin good at this. Thanks for the training exercises!

[@eggmcmuffin6067]

Seeing Deltora quest at 5:41 brought back memories I didn’t know I had.

[@jeremychristiansen4582]

Runesmith, I owe you a huge thanks. I have been watching your content for about a month, and aside from some laughs, you have prepared me. Tomorrow is my very first session as a DM. I'm running a homebrew campaign in the Pathfinder RPG. Your advice is going to make it possible for me and some good friends to have a really great time. Thank you.

[@perryborn2777]

Bro, Beyonders and Deltora Quest are so fucking good, I never met anyone else who actually read them! I loved the scene in one of the Deltora books where they're in a desert and every time they drop something on the sand it disappears, leaving a weird "footprint".

[@Roak199]

I love this video so much for showing Deltora Quest. You have no idea how much shit I got for reading those, and it's great to see you did too!

[@Roak199]

Not... getting shit but reading it.

[@itisALWAYSR.A.]

This is a great video, I always love to see different videos of different people's experiences of GMing.

[@hobbes2555]

Ha! Deltora quest! I remember reading those, they were great books.

[@CarterDeLeo]

5:46 Answer Prayers by Seb McKinnon! You have excellent taste. I got here from a home page recommendation and this video is really useful and concise. Nice job!

[@fancyb.p.6122]

Huh, who would have thought I would find really good advice on acting in dnd. Thanks for the help with my play.

[@jaxstacks1253]

The three books you included around 5:30 are some of my favorite books. I have them on my bookshelf and ive read them at least 5 times a piece. The Beyonders is actually my favorite book series and, at one point, I wanted to run a dnd campaign based off of Lyrian. I even went through and created race blocks for the Amar Kabal, Drinlings, and Displacers I love that one of my favorite KZbinrs enjoys the same books as me

[@austinator1387]

While I agree with quite a few of these adjusting the plot hooks like moving important locations into more convenient places is something I disagree with. If they look in the wrong place than have them look in the wrong place. If they ever step off the trail rather than adjust the trail I’d found it’s best to just be adding a singular npc within the sewer that they could just talk to and find they’ve gone the wrong way. Having the party make wrong choices makes them feel like the open world is set and that there choices matter along with adding more realism. Not every party should be successful at everything. Also I’m not saying that the person writing this video is wrong I’m simply stating that within my studies I’ve formed a very different outlook.

[@ryzysledziuch9457]

I think that while showing characters that they got lost or went the wrong path its still better to fake a little than mąkę them walk aroubd nothingness or introduce Deus ex machina npc's to guide them the right way. When everything is set in strone its easy to easy to miss a lot od good things

[@srphtygr]

everyone else: makes sure the videos flow together, spending tons of time clarifying instead of just getting to the point. Runesmith: haha segway go vroom vroom.

[@DrunkPopTart4]

*Deltora's quest* Man you shook me there! I read that when i was a kid and tought i was the only one who read it!

[@jallen7867]

Ah, a shout-out to Deltora Quest! Love those books.

[@kulik7403]

This piece of advice is valuable. Thank you a lot.

[@Dubs22005]

I want a dnd session with Runesmith now

[@greatstoryteller9459]

You guys so love that wizard beared. Also fireball.

[@pauldecker4630]

1. I'm so happy to finally see someone else who read Beyonders. 2. Inkheart is a doubly apropriate as an example here.

[@Zalamancer]

I would like to recommend Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series, it's a great example of world building and gives a ton if inspiration for homebrew and descriptions.

[@papersamurai00]

I remember when I was reading the core book to "Ironclaw" it said with every NPC establish 3 priorities to help determine their actions. 1 is almost always "Survive". Very few put things over living to see tomorrow, and those few are really, really intense. Otherwise, consider loyalties and selfish desires. For example, a knight might have 2 be "My family's honour" and 3 "Loyalty to my lord". Those COULD be inverted by the character. A thief, however, may have 2 be "Make my life easier" and 3 "Take care of my own friends". Again, invertable depending on flavour. With that you have a lot of room but have guidelines to important actions the players will take seriously.

[@erez87xp]

That was an amazing Segway

[@jackielinde7568]

Eh, I've seen better. (The handles don't have little, glittery strips of plastic hanging out of the ends. And where is the bell and/or horn? Plus, one of the wheels needs a baseball card wedged into the spokes.

[@SiftingAce1]

love me that Deltora Quest image!!!

[@spankey1288]

love your video's man, keep it up!

[@n0etic_f0x]

One thing I just naturally have done is not thinking I am the other team, your opponent is not the PCs your opponent is being boring. If someone wants to kill your main antagonist in a way that makes everyone laugh then it should happen, just have a backup guy take over and lie about how he was always in charge. Things like this are awesome.

[@josiahhoffman5104]

I literally just wrote an essay about this at school, thanks for some more ideas!

[@premiersportingkc3443]

"What a segway. That's a great segway.:

[@GuitarrAssassin]

One skill I learned is that it's best to keep the vaguest of vague outlines for your sessions. Last session I ran, I wrote out the start, drew a map of the mansion they were in, wrote down the items they could find and the encounters I wanted/hoped to run, and let the players make their own story. I view the role of DM as being yet another player. I just happen to know what's going on behind the scenes unlike the others. This led to some fun moments during that session.

[@wizzzard999]

*sees Beyonders and Deltora Quest* You are officially my favourite person rn XD

[@cacklefrendly3736]

More helpful tips from one DM to another: Even if you play online, have physical notes. When the players ask something you haven't thought about (a random npc name, the name of the only inn in town, name of a book, ect), AUDIBLY flip through your pages while you think something up. Players will think that you're SO well-prepared. If you're feeling writer's block, look through various resources for fun. If (when) you find cool monsters or neat settings, take note of them. Soon, you'll find you you have a huge pool to draw inspiration from. If you worry about your world feeling too accommodating to your players' demands, have an npc tell them 'no'. Seriously. You'd be surprised by how much it adds. Make the innkeeper racist, a guard lazy, a shopkeeper impatient. Little things to keep your players from becoming too confident. Keep worldbuilding! Even if it's not related to the immediate situation, you'll often find yourself with plot threads you wouldn't have thought about otherwise!! Do i NEED to come up with an entire sign language for the drow in my setting?? No, but the party now has a disguised mute drow woman traveling with them! Do i NEED to learn about the dangers of keeping chickens safe from predators by keeping them with pigs, which will also eat them? No, but now my party has four dire chickens as pets!! The possibilities are endless!! Final tip: your players WILL try to form a homebase of some kind and they WILL pack-bond with any slightly sharp animal you allow them to buy. Embrace it. Make your chickens special. Make one dumb as a brick. When they love their pets, you always have a way to make them fear - put the animals at risk. Do it. Don't do it too often though or they'll buy leashes.

[@westcoastgeeks7294]

Great video, just found channel and I have been enjoying your content.

[@waapfu]

the bit at the end about hitting spacebar is a mood. reading is a lot easier when it's in short chunks so you dont get lost or have your eyes drift to the wrong line.

[@alcamize]

Been watching your videos the last few weeks. Seen you put inkheart in this video and I just love you now

[@l_galand942]

Holy shit Deltora quest! I haven't seen that in so long! Great series, surprisingly spooky

[@severedpighead4141]

That diskworld image made my lungs slightly more filled with air

[@babypuncher123]

I'm a new DM, this has been a great video that I come back to frequently.

[@Ramperdos]

I see an Eldrazi, I like the video. I've used them in D&D because I just love the designs and how crazy their ability to just annihilate stuff is. Do you play MTG or just find suitable art from it all the time?

[@johnstarinieri7360]

I have so much MTG inspired stuff in my games, I’m pretty much in love with the Ravnica book

[@kyle21843]

this is my first time watching one of your videos but your commentary alone earned you a subscriber lmfao

[@flower4000]

oh hell ya, I'm writing my first campaign rn, and my notes look like yours! every thought is broken up my random enter key jumps

[@josephp5909]

I love your videos so much.

[@thetreeboy.]

Holy crap my cat just looked down at my phone on the table and pressed subscribe, I think ill stay subbed.

[@microphone_styxosaurus7078]

I was running a game, and the BBEG was walking past in a huge procession, and one of my players yelled that they challenged him to a game of chess. And got a high charisma roll.

[@Rouvicath]

Inkheart and Deltora Quest brought back memories i forgot i had

[@csPOthr33cs]

DELTORA QUEST!!!! I haven't been able to find those books in years. I was beginning to think they never existed

[@esppupsnkits4560]

Caleb Sweet i remember the tv show

[@csPOthr33cs]

@@esppupsnkits4560 THE WHAT!!!

[@esppupsnkits4560]

Caleb Sweet yeah, there was an anime! I read some of the books, but my school’s library didn’t have them all. The show was pretty decent

[@Matoro-wp9hy]

What I ended up doing for my most recent session was keeping them on the path I wanted by telling the group that if they followed, they'd get a really good reward. Seems to have worked.

[@AgentMurphy286]

Aw yeah, Deltora Quest! Those books were fun!

[@ethanlocke3604]

All of the fantasy book examples are ones I love

[@freddykingofturtles]

I once had to invent a secret dungeon at the bottom of a well inside the Shadowfell that I had tried my best to describe as bottom-less and dark because my players decided that the sorcerer had a spell for waterbreathing. It was super fun to invent and run though, although the fact that the Goliath Sorcerer, Gnome Rogue, and Human Cleric decided to dive into the well while the human ranger and halfling (also rogue) decided to get lost in my terrible silent hill knock off made it a bit more challenging. Still hilarious, but sometimes you've just gotta run with what your players bring you, even if you were really excited to see them encounter the dungeon you actually made.

[@devin76392]

I like how literally 80% of the comments so far is just saying first or how quick they were

[@emilygordbort7300]

Welcome to early videos on KZbin

[@arandomzoomer4837]

@@emilygordbort7300 Well even worse is really late videos. I swear a video that is more than 2 years old is just full of "Am I the only one who is watching in 20XX" And then more idiots reply "Oh my god me too!"

[@emilygordbort7300]

@@arandomzoomer4837 k lol

[@Fattts]

I know this is probably an accidental public putout but I'm watching it anyway!

[@Runesmith]

yeah oops, had a mini heart attack... I just left the wrong title on it for half a minute

[@Fattts]

@@Runesmith Shit happens, we're all human.

[@SamuelDancingGallew]

@@Fattts but wait, you are a goose... what does that say about turkey dinner?

[@andrewdavis200]

#1 is such a good point. As a DM you learn that session planning is mainly building a world for the players to interact with. Trying to build a story detailed in anything more than brief bullet points is a futile effort. Same with not filling your world with bloat for your players to get through. The players want their PCs to interact with the world and tell a story, not listen to encyclopedia entries of nonessential information.

[@brandonstewart2832]

DELTORA QUESTTTTT!!!! Love the videos :)

[@brandonginkel7323]

Alright that was a pretty slick ad slot I ain’t even mad

[@Deathkyun]

My recommendation for an author who's amazing at describing scenes is John Flanagan. Check out his Ranger's Apprentice series and just feel how easy it is for him to immerse you in a scene by his writing.

[@jeremyvanauken5011]

Death-kyun Yooooo that takes me so far back. The first Ranger’s Apprentice books still influence my writing style today.

[@samreddig8819]

Brotherband Chronicles are good too.

[@corbinbarron8772]

He called out two of my favorite authors

[@shikomizue7498]

Yo, mad respect for Brandon Mull as a favorite author. He's one of my favorites too.

[@nothinmulch]

Use Dan Harmon's story circle to plan out the big narrative beats. That shit is extremely flexible, and you can use it to break down each beat into smaller 8 sections; all the way down to a single session of play. Keep it loose, and dont start writing details for an upcoming session until you're close to it.

[@plooply]

Ayyyy deltora quest! That's my current home campaign

[@plooply]

@@hmc5208 it's pretty fire, my players just got the emerald

[@Zand0r]

the beginning is pretty true to how it is to use raycons; just literally never hearing anyone trying to talk to you and them not really seeing that you have headphones in if u have long enough hair

[@SchoolDeskInk]

This is all so relatable. I prefer DMing to playing, and it's been a rough and exhilirating three years. Also, it helps that I'm actually an Acting major, and I knew all of those character-building steps 😂

[@KeeperofMolgera]

*references the Deltora series* MAD fuckin respect bro, those books were amazing

[@tabithaalphess2115]

I haven't been a DM long, but I quickly discovered five ways to secretly railroad my players while also making it clear their choices matter: 1. Get to know them and their characters very well. You'll start to notice patterns and be able to predict how they'll act. 2. Set up certain expectations within the world and follow through. If you tell them they will encounter fights they can't win, so they must either be sneaky or clever if they wish to survive. This will condition them to behave in certain ways while playing. 3. Study storytelling and its tropes. The savvier you are, the more ways you can predict player arcs and surprise your party. 4. Have basic notes for common encounters like shops, NPC names, etc. But you will have to get better at improv, because players will still do things that surprise you. 5. Whenever a player makes a choice, whether it be to help an old lady travel through a dangerous patch of forest or to kill an owlbear, have it come back to help/haunt them, even if in some minor way. Bring it back up when they least expect it. Apply this to character backstories as well. If you warn them not to travel at night because it's dangerous, sic a young green dragon on them. Actions have consequences; make them count.

[@Sandul666]

I like you. You have quality content. Thank you

[@andrewpowers2249]

I'm DMing my first long-running campaign. First I had a whole story planned out, which ran too much on rails, and I quickly learned my players were never going to go where I thought they were going to go. Completely messed up the the ending I was expecting. Why didn't they trust the quest givers and then turned on them? I don't know. So, second "story arc," I'm going way more open ended, I don't even know what's going to happen, I just sort of have cities, environments, the kinds of people that live there (races, an idea of what kind of politics and events), let the players go in, see what they do, then between sessions look up ideas for how to play off of what they did and build immediate plots from that. The characters they react best to, leave them to come back later for something more important. I'm hoping to learn from these two methods on how to write an overarching plot idea, but leave it open to adapt as we go. Players be crazy.

[@codymorgan2791]

I finally found someone who read both deltora quest and beyonders

[@Winter_RainVT]

While Runesmith's videos are entertaining and informative, I sometimes replay video because I find his voice relaxing to listen to.

[@Necrocide1336]

Man you are a fuck.. a in.. big brain and 8 love your narrative videos like this! It's almost like 80% original content. I mean it's great

[@pedroscoponi4905]

I think this might be the most serious I've ever seen you be in a video And hey, it's a real good video

[@arandomzoomer4837]

The lore videos are more serious.

[@Coatschii]

I am currently running my first campaign in Call of Cthulhu. My goal for each session is to help my players play their character. In my opinion there is a special feeling, when they are into it and this is what i love about dming. This feeling when obviously everybody on the table is into what i created. Thats my main goal for every session. So far... I made it, but with some practice i will get better.. Hopefully. ^^