Accidentally ruining the entire D&D campaign

When the players accidentally ruin the entire D&D campaign
Follow our D&D channel! / vivaladirtleaguednd
SUPPORT US ON PATREON - bit.ly/36Hg7ZY
ALL SOCIALS - linktr.ee/vldl
TWITCH - / vldl
MERCH - vldl.shop
SONGS - bit.ly/2OBeB4O
SERIES PLAYLISTS
Epic NPC Man: bit.ly/NPCman
Bored: bit.ly/VLDLbored
PUBG Logic: bit.ly/PUBGlogic
FPS Logic: bit.ly/FPSlogic
Souls Logic: bit.ly/Soulslogic
Music Videos: bit.ly/VLDLmusicvids
Wildcards: bit.ly/VLDLwildcard

[@VivaLaDirtLeague]

Follow our D&D channel! kzbin.info

[@cameodamaneo]

oh boy this comment doing numbers

[@Jannik.47]

ah.

[@ariaveilleux8166]

I can't get enough of this

[@Supremax67]

The DC to cut the rope that is strong enough to hold an army of goblins was set to 25, since this was with disadvantage, the lower of the 2 dices was indeed 21. Cutting the rope failed. You're welcome.

[@gwydionlaubach6902]

@@Supremax67She had +8 from bardic inspiration on one of the rolls of "nat 20," so: 32 - 8 = 24 - 20 = 4. The lower of the two rolls would have to be 24 (nat 20 + 4). Still too low for a DC of 25, but not as low as a 21. When she said "Plus 8, uh, so that's 32" I was very surprised at the maths... She would have to have a +4 to her attack, which is plausable.

[@BurntToast44242]

I just watched the DM go through all the stages of grief in less than 10 seconds.

[@VivaLaDirtLeague]

Its painful to see isn't it :(

[@lexington_005]

What stage is "fuck it... you are fighting a dragon"?

[@AngloExecutive]

His crew is the 13 reasons why

[@davidh5020]

@@lexington_005 Acceptance.

[@mr.truffles9294]

Condolence ROB

[@HorizonOfHope]

As a DM I am extremely jealous that it took that long for the party to ruin the entire story arc.

[@davidpearson5349]

Hahahahaha

[@neah9060]

Wil never happen to me because since 3 years, I play full impro while my players are sure I have everything planned for month xD

[@HorizonOfHope]

@@neah9060 That is a god-tier skill.

[@neah9060]

@@HorizonOfHope I have around 300 token and map in store, so whatever they may pull, I can react to it. Why bother planning 20h of Investigation when they can decide to open a tavern at any moment?

[@blissseeker4719]

@@neah9060 I thought D&D was full impovisation? So, one guy is the DM or dungeon master, and he improvises the layout of the story and is it's overseer, so to speak. Then, everyone else play improvised characters of their own choice, contained within the DM's narrative, and they improvise strategies to overcome whatever they face. Are you saying it's common for DM's to instead plan their story beforehand?

[@dtczyk8976]

“Not today’s session no” I love that. Implying that nope you didn’t just ruin this sessions, but several future ones yes.

[@lavalhiggins3377]

I died 😂 low key he was bothered

[@DBfan106]

and this is why, as a DM, I always say things like 'for a moment you have a flash of inspiration and realize that, should you cut that rope, the oracle who you have spent the last 3 sessions tracking to save will certainly die, and the staff you've been hunting for will be destroyed by the fall.'

[@Lucario-tb6io]

Right

[@andyventures6574]

*noiseless BoB shrugging*

[@Dead8Head]

I'm stubborn so I'll just cast fire

[@MrRedstoner]

Good thing this world has resurrection spells amirite

[@X-SPONGED]

"I cast feather falling on the oracle and myself in turn. I then jump into the chasm and use dimension door/teleport to get myself and the oracle back to the top"

[@TheThunderinghammer]

To be fair to Brit, an entire army of the scale he was describing crossing one of those rickety ass rope bridges was probably doomed to fall into the chasm.

[@WillyShankspeare]

Yeah even well built stable bridges had to be crossed carefully by armies so they wouldn't collapse.

[@rphb5870]

yea that was totally his fault. He should have gone out of his way to describe the giant solid stone bridge strong enogh on its own to hold an entire army but reinforced with blood magic so not even a dragon attack could disrupt it

[@Thalliet]

To be fair, Vivian was right in the front on the Army, you usually would think twice before just killing an entire Army still in possession of a hostage.

[@MajorCoolD]

Not only that... on part of the Hobgoblins that DID seem VERY foolish. Also he forgot the 'are you sure you want to do that?' question that is obligatory for any DM if their players are about to do something REALLY important, foolish, stupid, risky, amazing... or story derailing XD A brief reminder about Vivian being there and also probably falling to her demise might have also been important. Still, smart thinking on the player and the Nat 20 would've meant that rather than cutting through the rope slowly that it'd been cut with just one fell swoop. However... there's two sides/two ropes... a tenacious enemy might have been able to hold onto the bridge as it didnt TECHNICALLY collapse... though in all liklihood the vast majority of enemies, including the bigger ones and animals probably would have tumbled to their doom.

[@rphb5870]

@@MajorCoolD yes, but they defeated the entire hobgoblin army

[@ElectrocutedAir]

Plot twist: Vivian's an Oracle and probably a magic user. She casts feather fall on herself to survive the fall into the canyon. Trapped and alone she's forced to survive on the only meat available, the remains of the hobgoblin army. Vivian's sanity degrades and she vows revenge on those that trapped her down there when she escapes. Vivian becomes the BBEG.

[@lostbutfreesoul]

Seconded! Let us boost this answer up people, I like it a lot.

[@OmniscientWarrior]

I didn't think one that is bound in chains could cast magic, otherwise she would not be still encaptured.

[@satansbarman]

​@@OmniscientWarrioryou are correct, if she was wearing something like a ring of feather fall then she might be able to activate it, but any spells with somatic components would be out the question

[@FalconWindblader]

@@OmniscientWarrior Depends. luck would have it that as she descended into the chasm with the entire horde of hobgoblins, her chains loosened & broke, allowing her the freedom to cast Feather Fall on herself at the very least.

[@ElectrocutedAir]

@@OmniscientWarrior That depends on the spell. If your hands are bound then you could assume you can't uses the somatic components of spells (the hand gestures). Feather fall has no somatic component, so as long as Vivian wasn't gagged and had a feather on her, it'd be possible. It's also only a bit of fan fiction on my part anyways 😅

[@silverseer573]

One of my players once firebombed a bar that was also a hideout for the local criminals. He knew that, of course. He wanted to "show them who's boss", in his words. Mind you, he played a scrawny non-combat scholar type, the criminals weren't their enemies, and their own boss had told them before sending them off that the literal most important thing was to NOT draw attention to themselves.

[@Amaranthyne]

I DM for my brother. I set up a whole mystery for him to solve. The antique dealer was using a bunch of common magical items to terrify the townsfolk and steal from them. My brother decided to wait for the “monster” by the antique dealer’s place. He did not clue in to my heavy suggestion of attempting to hide. So the antique dealer asked him what he was doing. He told the antique dealer, so of course the monster didn’t appear. Since he is my brother, his response was f this! I’m leaving! 😅 He was very unhappy when I told him what happened.

[@ZurlHammerdoom]

In all fairness, if everyone is dead no one can notice them.

[@prophetzarquon1922]

I had a player put off a side-quest for so long, that when they came back to it, their character was so buffed I just rolled an entire gauntlet sequentially & they passed every check on the first try. I described it as their character doing a Super Mario speed-run of the whole castle.

[@fat1fared]

Got to love that the one time Rowan does something helpful, it basically enables the team to ruin the whole game!

[@AdrianColley]

"I can't make that miss." The sound of the last straw slipping out of the DM's grasp.

[@Milamberinx]

The thing is... the DM can make that miss... if the DM doesn't want something to happen no dice roll can contradict him. Would you walk your entire army over a bridge that anyone with a knife could destroy in seconds? You've just got to invent some fantasy superhard ropes.

[@Serena-or7sl]

"OK, so you cut the first rope. The bridge rolls and moves creepily. And order was given for the troops to retreat." "The prisoner shouts to you to stop, lest the precious artifact goes destroyed". Do you have any more actions? Btw, I would have rolled initiative the moment the horns were played.

[@kopicat2429]

@@Serena-or7sl Or simply have a mage among the goblins stabilize the bridge. But it's funnier this way since it's a sketch, and it does highlight how easily players tend to derail a carefully planned campaign.

[@gavinglenn3510]

Me when he says they’re on the bridge I fireball the bridge

[@mcfixer9503]

could easily just say "there are 4 ropes on the bridge, youd need at least a 40 to cut enough of them for the bridge to collapse

[@JorTanos]

"I thought Vivian was going to be my mother." "She was. Your party just murdered her."

[@OmegaGamer1989]

Seriously. It's good to not railroad your players, but don't protect them from the obvious consequences of their own incredibly stupid actions either.

[@JorTanos]

@@OmegaGamer1989 let's be honest, the VLDL D&D parties never need to be railroaded.

[@briondalion3696]

Bardiccc inspirrrattttiooooonnnnn!!!

[@DrakeWurrum]

What kills me about this is that the whole thing happens because he's like "Oh the bridge? Yeah it's made of... ropes and planks of wood, I guess." The WHOLE PLAN is ruined, that plan he spent 4 weeks preparing, because of that one "minor detail" that he for some reason never thought about in those 4 weeks.

[@AflacMan13]

The devil is in the details. 😂

[@chrisrudolf9839]

They showed very realistically how things like that can happen. The DM probably never thought about what the bridge was made of because according to his plan, the combat was meant to happen inside the fortress or worst case at the gate of the fortress if the party did really badly at trying to sneak in or tried a full frontal assault. The bridge wasn't meant to be relevant, because the players should have gotten over that bridge without problems. (Which certainly wasn't stellar plotting on the DM's side, because when people build a big fortress on a lone cliff that can only be reached by crossing a narrow bridge or a doing a difficult climb, that bridge is usually guarded. But he clearly shows he meant them to just walk across and didn't plan to have them roll stealth checks until they were on the other side, he starts to tell them just that when the wizard interrupts him). Then the party did something unforeseen (and in this case: something incredibly stupid, but it doesn't ave to be a stupid action for the DM just not anticipating it) and suddenly the bridge BECAME relevant and he couldn't take the casual improvised description back.

[@eightchickens]

2:53 DM could have said "Ah ha! The bridge was actually magically enhanced and cannot be damaged."

[@burgernthemomrailer]

Unfortunately not. Rules on magic items state that just handling one is enough for a character to know that something is extraordinary about it. He would’ve had to say it was magical initially when they examined it.

[@lloidffxi]

@@burgernthemomrailer Fuck the rules as written, the Dungeon Master has the final ruling.

[@burgernthemomrailer]

@@lloidffxi Unless established otherwise before game sessions, rules are rules. Wanna change them? Establish that fact beforehand. Wanna make nonsensical rulings? The rest of the players and I bid you adieu.

[@medafan53]

@@burgernthemomrailer What if he said the hobgoblins attatched some kind of relic to the rope just before they cross it to prevent the rope from being cut, that wasn't attached before so that if an enemy force was attempting to attack by the bridge _they_ could cut the line themselves? Would that work?

[@burgernthemomrailer]

@@medafan53 For a martial, yes. I cast Mold Earth and excavate the dirt around the poles, thereby causing everything to fall.

[@DH-xw6jp]

Man, you guy's special effects budget must be through the roof. I could hardly tell that dragon was CGI.

[@mr.morelock]

Wait... the Dragon was CGI?!?

[@SMTRodent]

@@mr.morelock It was a real dragon. You can hire them. It's a lot cheaper than you would think.

[@DH-xw6jp]

@@mr.morelock yeah, if you slow it down to about 25% speed you can see one of the dragon's knees revert back to rough textured polygons for a few frames. Really easy to miss though.

[@jocosesonata]

@@SMTRodent It is actually more ethical to get a real dragon than a fake one. Support your local dragon tamers, guys. That work ain't easy.

[@pietbourke3209]

It was Rowan that was CGI. The real Rowan is busy starring in the next Avatar sequel (because they don't use any CGI in the Avatar movies)

[@kuroyuki6254]

Well, the oracle is dead, so.... now you need to travel down into the chasm and fight an army of undead hobgoblis : )

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

And only after you've defeated the undead hobgoblin army and reached the Oracle, do you find out she's the one who raised them! Out of her rage at you for dropping the bridge out from under her!

[@ciaheadmechanic0809]

@@ryadinstormblessed8308and further, the oracle IS your mother and she is not pleased.

[@rcslyman8929]

@@ciaheadmechanic0809 "Oh, how I wish your father had used a Protection spell that night. You little ingrate."

[@Joi_to_da_World]

​@@rcslyman8929I see this and I can. Only think of the father being a fighter or something and saying "I was wearing my armor!"

[@pietbourke3209]

Got to recover that staff, after all...

[@brednbudr2406]

Hands down the best DnD skit I've EVER seen from any channel. I was cackling. My wife is a DM and I'm just giddy sending this to her.

[@ramirezthesilvite]

I love the instant goldfish brain where the DM says he can't fire a spell down the bridge line because the NPC they want to save is at the front, then they immediately decide to destroy the entire bridge. Side note, Shatter has a range of 60 feet, and could potentially hit a target 70 feet away (ten foot radius). If the entire army was on that bridge when it fell and they weren't even close to reaching the party yet, then that is either a very small army, or the bridge is well beyond 70 feet long.

[@RobertHartleyGM]

Or the wizard has spell sniper and the DM rules it works on AoE spells too.

[@nathanielbass771]

Wizards use "intelligence" stat XD Rogues tend to favor dexterity and charisma with "some" intelligence and strength.

[@stevefilms1997]

Or the wizard leaned really far over the edge.

[@nagavamsip]

"The 'well established' dragon lands in front of you." "What does it say?" "It says ROLL INITIATIVE!"

[@orangee_blox]

There’s nothing more funny than a D&D DM trying to improvise “I AM SKYGROUNDTREE, THE WELL-ESTABLISHED DRAGON!”

[@eddyrichards8474]

Almost Trumpian - "Man Woman Camera TV" the three headed giant tripodal robot

[@QualityPen]

@@eddyrichards8474I’ll take it over Bidenian: “I AM SKYGRUUNFUEE, THE WELL, YOU KNOW, THE THING.”

[@N3gativeR3FLUX]

The worst part is all the prep setting up the dragon arc from so many sessions ago that they forgot about it. Sad...

[@raphaellapointe9143]

@@N3gativeR3FLUX If it was ever set up at all...The way he says it seems more like he's lying to save face.

[@Vladivostokification]

3:12 For someone that fail perception check and the ladder he was carring before, Rowan did notice something quite revelant there.

[@niace3423]

интересный у тебя ник (я из Владивостока)

[@davidedwards1705]

This has happened to me directly. Planned a whole weekend event with one very powerful villian, and 1 player had a bright idea to use a Time Travel Spell and go back to kill the villian during child birth. Upturning 30 years of game history that had directly affected the hero party's childhood causing a temporal paradox where no member of the party became heroes.

[@demonzabrak]

Yeah fam you did that to yourself, don’t blame the player. There’s a reason the only time magic spell is “time stop” and it only gives you a few seconds.

[@rodjjt7742]

I've never played D&D but can't you just make that not possible to do?

[@davidedwards1705]

Absolutely the problem was I didn't consider that a player might try it. Now my games don't have it. There was a 3.5 book that had a new class: Chronomancy and I allowed it.

[@unknownman5090]

@@davidedwards1705 So technically game over?

[@davidedwards1705]

@@unknownman5090 Yes I had them make new characters based on the altered history. Which turned out the old villian's presence was preventing another from rising to power.

[@RomeoMcFlourish2782]

I remember the look on DM's faces when I rolled 2 natural 20's to kill some boss in a battle that should've required the whole party, in one hit. The stunned silenece. The staring down at her notes/books. They very resigned and quiet "you killed him in one hit". Classic.

[@stephenolder4552]

The way you described it makes me feel bad for her

[@saraloking5993]

Note to self: never one boss at a time.

[@vynashe4442]

The violent screaming and crying and curses on your name coming from the bathroom.

[@smalltime0]

I killed a dragon that was retreating (at half health) using a ballista (nat 20s on disadvantage). It was suppose to appear later in the plot...

[@roar3364]

Classic Rob, setting up an intricate well thought up arc with incredible plot, obstacles, and reveals...all just as a red herring for the totally REAL plan all along!!!

[@saraloking5993]

Yes, that dragon costume was suspiciously on hand.

[@mastervision5902]

@@saraloking5993 Not surprising: on their D&D campaigns, he always has a dragon on hand to drop in the middle of the board whenever they get out of hand.

[@bobwilson679]

There’s really a simple fix to this: DM: “Okay you go to cut the bridge. However, the hobgoblin sees you do this, and shouts ‘EVERYONE HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!!!’ This is a very well-made bridge, designed to hold their whole army, so the other end and the rest of the bridge stays intact as the bridge collapses at one end and swings like a pendulum back towards the other end of the chasm. The hobgoblins on the bridge all have to make their choice of athletics or acrobatics checks to hold on to the now swinging rope bridge and not fall into the chasm. The captain and second in command have advantage on this check because they were prepared to hold on as they saw you cutting the bridge” *Proceeds to roll for all the hobgoblins* “Okay, around 40% of them fail their checks, and you watch as a decent portion of their army falls into the chasm. However, the rest of the army takes their turns and dash, climbing back up onto solid land and going back into their fortress, snarling at you and carrying the oracle. What do you do?”

Moreover, even if all of them fall, it would be just enough fun to deal with the guards and traps remaining in the castle even if it is almost empty. Hobgoblins are pretty solitary and good at strategy, they probably left a decent garrison in the castle. Now they know the party is here, and they have a pretty good reason to be mad and eager for revenge. You have five rounds for the first burning catapult missiles to strike and their chivalry already left the main gate (which is not a rope bridge) on the other side to flank you. Good luck!

[@garydemonic]

LOL, I've experienced this very thing. Except the game ended right there. I had a Game Master (not DM because it wasn't D&D) that was hosting a Star Wars roll playing game session based on the 3.5 edition. Most of us were classes other than Jedi, but we had a force adept character in our group that was trying to become one. The GM at the time had planned out weeks worth of information based around an arching story featuring a low end female Sith lord that wanted to frighten our force adept character into joining the dark side. Upon introducing her to the party the GM had us roll initiative. He was going to let us fight her long enough to show how powerful she was, and set the tone for the rest of the campaign. However, our force adept character rolled extremely high on his initiative, and was able to go first. When he rolled to attack her he rolled a "20", followed by a "20", which at the time meant that if you rolled another dice and hit again it would be an instant kill according to the rules. He rolled a "19"... which was high enough to kill her instantly. The GM sat there looking dumbfounded for a few seconds, closed his game notebook, and said "So what do you guys want to do tonight? board games, video games, watch a movie."

[@saraloking5993]

I guess it wouldn't be cool to re-play turns that end a game prematurely?

[@Banana_boat]

And what did you do that night?

[@garydemonic]

@Banana_boat We talked about what he had planned for the game. And then we played Star Wars Dance Revolution.

[@CombatMagic]

Lame, just reuse the plot points and instead of a single sith, it’s a cult of them, all trying to be the first to make him their apprentice…

[@Charity322]

Vivian was supposed to be in the other castle, but Rowan forgot about his ladder lol. I love the lack of CGI dragon, because presumably Rob did not bring his dragon miniature today. XD

[@PainRack]

It was replaced with zylbina

[@lonestar2078]

"sorry party, but your oracle is in another castle"

[@Pumpkin525]

@@lonestar2078 "Oh! Vivian..." *Vivian turns into a monster*

[@memoowo]

LOL I love this

[@jzekaron]

"Just as you're about to cut the rope, you hear a divine voice echoing from above saying: Please don't do that..."

[@AdaireKrickets]

A rock fell from the sky, hitting you for 1D4 it has a note on it: "Please use your brain cells, and stop being stupid, Im on this bridge.-mum"😅

[@Voidi-Void]

​@@AdaireKricketsactually, it says: "Hello, This is Your Muther. Please come over to my house for Meatloaf Leave your front door open and your lawn unguarded. Sincerely, Mom (not the Zombies)"

[@phyose4793]

As I always say, "Never make plans, make NPC's with plans." It's made situations like these more enjoyable since I'm not as attached.

[@nick2253]

Exactly! Storytelling is strongest when you have well formed characters with their own motivations and goals, and allow that to organically advance the plot. Instead, if you prescribe the plot, and create characters to fit in that particular story, you end up with dead ends. Creating robust NPCs also creates consequences for players when they don't take action to counter their plans. Futz around a cave looking for loot? Fine, the big bad has things to do, and will get them done while you're fooling around.

[@goldenhermit]

I would have just said, “You win! Campaign over!”

[@fumomofumosarum5893]

Zero loot, Zero honour points.

[@Astromechy]

Brit: "Did I just ruin today's entire game session?" Rob: "Not today's session, no." ... only just the next few weeks of adventures, meticulously crafted and planned. I feel your pain, Rob. 😧

[@supernova582]

Always go with a stone bridge in DND 😂 they can burn a wooden bridge,cut down a rope support bridge but they can't destroy a stone bridge unless the wood has a magic spell on it where it's fire proof and cut proof casted by the towns mage

[@PerfectAlibi1]

@@supernova582 Stone bridges CAN also be destroyed. Always have multiple ways of access is better ^^

[@orsolyafekete7485]

Remember babes, you can always say "No, that didn't happen" if everyone at the table agrees it's better that way. The Bad Faith Media Criticism Police won't show up to whine about retcons

[@melmac15]

I rob your feel, pain

[@Maximilian_Romus]

​​@@supernova582Shatter exists to tear down stone bridges

[@SirvivorYT]

“32…… we’ll i can’t make that miss” *dies inside*

[@scottread2979]

*well

[@maciek5917]

You cut through the ropes outer layer only to find out that it has a metal core that cannot be destroyed befor the army reaches you.

[@razgriz821]

@@maciek5917so what was the point of making them roll if you were gonna railroad them?

[@AdaireKrickets]

​@razgriz821 Why would a bridge made purely out of rope and be easily cut by a knife, be able to hold an entire army that is RUNNING at the party?

[@scottread2979]

@@AdaireKrickets did you not watch the video?!?!

[@paradoxpaladin]

Adding the RPG play & on site GM has been the perfect way to expand on your fantasy based skits. Love the D&D channel as well.

[@elfinpurple219]

A friend ran an awesome Farscape game, years ago now. We (the PCs) had arrived in a city, and needed to track down a certain NPC. The GM had prepped a whole investigation, and trail across the city, meeting interesting folks... But then the Delvian Mystic buffed the Vorkarian Bloodtracker's sense of smell, and we tracked him to his door, with an amazing tracking roll! xD The GM did the same as in the skit, tossing pages out of his folder.

[@andyventures6574]

Props for it being a farscape based campaign , though *John's voice * Vulcan bloodtracker things

[@Catastropheshe]

1:50 I was expecting Ben throwing fireball at the bridge and burn it down but that could work too 😂😂😂

[@dakivii5076]

Me too 😂

[@noiJadisCailleach]

OUTRAGEOUS!

[@eleethtahgra7802]

Not his turn....

[@mr.truffles9294]

They could do counterspell

[@h4tch3tt74]

That would have actually been better since the oracle wasn't even on the bridge yet.

[@AngloExecutive]

For once rowan wasn't the actual instigator this time

[@jenjenhocho3188]

He was just the enabler. 🎼🎶Bardic Inspiration 🎵😂

[@AngloExecutive]

@@jenjenhocho3188 he hit a good vocal tune though so we cannot blame him

[@teknonaught]

​@@jenjenhocho3188 With trills! Don't forget the trills!

[@evilbob840]

Who casts attack spells at the walls of a castle, filled with a hostile army, while they are in a small group? That's outrageous!

[@jarrodbright5231]

In case anyone is wondering, this is why DMs enjoy inflicting TPKs on their playing groups And as a veteran DM tip, always prepare at least 5 "the party f***ed up my plan" events in advance. I recommend ones that involve putting on a funny voice and acting out an insanely powerful NPC who insults the party and gives them a hard time for whatver they just did, as these are particularly cathartic.

[@nathanielbass771]

pfft, if I wanted to be spiteful, I'd have the fall damage the staff that they were recovering and somehow conjure a dimensional rift due to its unique runes and magic configurations. Loki then appears from the rift and decides to have some "fun" with the players (The stats of gods tend to be pretty high in DnD, though funnily enough, they're surpassed by two not-so-normal monsters XD )

[@ethribin4188]

DMs who arent able to adapt to this are salty whiners. Use this to adapt to new things! Also, you can always bulshit your way to save the bad guy, or have the survive. Just hide it well. Like, dont just say "they are dead". Say something like "chancs they survived the fall are near zero." And then later, suprise, the bbg survived by a stroke of luck. And while recovering, his hate for the party grew. Its realy not hard. Expect your party to be stupid, focus the wrong thing, and derail your sessions. Adapt.

[@nimz8521]

Someone pointed out that your players can never really break anything. That hobgoblin fort will be called something else in a different adventure. That NPC they ignored in this one will show up in the next and feel like a new character. It's all good.

[@DieyaJeah1]

Rob is such a great actor. I love seeing him be in more skits now.

[@souldancersbyjennifer]

Oh... Have you watched their actual DND campaign? Rob is an amazing DM managing all their shenanigans and a phenomenal actor on top of that!

[@8lackz]

If i remember correctly at the very first episode, they introduce rob as the same Theatre club as Rowan.

[@n1cemaiden879]

His bit about 'not today's session, no' was so perfectly done! Chef's Kissss

[@DieyaJeah1]

@@souldancersbyjennifer I've watched the whole D&D campaign twice now. I can't get enough of it. Wish they were an hour long instead of a half hour.

[@Lolzbeastie]

This is giving me DM PTSD, hours and days of prep, all gone with a simple roll... *Cries*

[@Seelenschmiede]

Bad planing I call this. If one single roll can disrail / destroy your whole campain, this is your fault alone 🤷‍♂️ In the best case it was because of lack of experience. In the worst case because underestimating your players. So we adapt and grow, don't we?

[@user-qx7gh6ff1e]

@@Seelenschmiede blah blah blah

[@ville6211]

That's exactly why you don't prep entire archs before hand.

[@radekwroblewski6641]

Yep, my mate has planned our party to lose a fight to the boss, get captured and go through escaping the dungeons. And one natural 20 later the boss was dead.

[@GreylanderTV]

Stop trying to write stories, arcs, narratives. Create situations not stories. Create conflicts, not plots. Create problems, not solutions (that's your players' job). Give your players choices & consequences, not arcs. Nothing your players choose to do can possibly "derail" or "ruin" a well-run sandbox. It takes a lot less prep, and any prep you do can always be repurposed if need be.

[@mydogcanmath]

as my group pushed us further into the dungeon that was 4 to 5 lvls above us, i could see the emotions going through my dm's eyes. the strained smile that says "this was not supposed to happen so soon"

[@WillShackAttack]

If I were that DM I would have said "Oh, but it was all a shared premonition dream you had sleeping in the Inn, but the real Hob Goblin fortress has sturdy wooden bridges you can't just cut down! I know it sounds like a load of BS, but that's because it is."

[@thaddaeusrobinson4239]

As soon as I heard rope bridge I thought the same thing

[@HolyNatanil]

I was for burning the bridge but same effect

[@Dogbehu]

Thought sunbeam will burn it for sure

[@travisking9895]

Rob went through all the stages of grief, just to land on "fuck it. TPK".

[@reinathefox6600]

“For today’s adventure I got my entire party killed and we were reborn in an isekai adventure.” When in doubt, next life 😂

[@Archangel144]

Kudos to Rob for adapting seamlessly-ish through his tears.

[@leonestello8519]

I really Feel for Rob on this. Honestly the Whole "Adventures of Azerim" campaign has me seeing Rob's stellar performances vastly under appreciated over and over again. Bravo Rob, the Real Star Of The Show ✨⭐✨

[@gabesarti7184]

Didn’t expect the most logical thing to do would ruin the entire campaign….

[@immapotato1]

well unless you remember u also kill the oracle by doing this.....

[@davitto01]

Plus her staff could still be in the stronghold. Why march her out with that?

[@Zapnl]

@@immapotato1 You ever heard of Feather Fall?

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

Britt cutting the rope bridge to avert being trampled by a rampaging horde? Perfectly logical. Ben casting ineffective but very loud spells from across the bridge, alerting the entire enemy army to their presence? Definitely ruined the entire campaign. If Britt hadn't cut the bridge, the result would have been a definite TPK within a short time, so either way you look at it, campaign down the drain.

[@GreylanderTV]

@@immapotato1 Why should the oracle dying ruin the campaign?

[@JoelReid]

The more interesting one is where you absently mention a city somewhere... and then the group decides to go to the city... a city you have not prepared for because it was 10 sessions away.

[@B4R7H0L0M3W]

"If you don't know what to do spawn them a dragon" is something that probably is more common that expected

[@Gag1800]

I'll never forget my first DnD campaign, where we almost all got completely wiped on our first quest because we had the brilliant idea of attempting to talk to the enemy. Our speech skills left a lot to be desired to say the least.

[@facu2505]

For some reason Rob can roleplay frustration so very well

[@zyffyr]

Drawing on memories of past campaigns...

[@souldancersbyjennifer]

It was personal...

[@samuel5591]

..yes... roleplay....

[@VivaLaDirtLeague]

‘Acting’

[@facu2505]

@@VivaLaDirtLeague i think he inspired on the guys party on Azrerim

[@hilossrt4]

Time to introduce a hermit necromancer who has just been supplied with an entire army of bodies. As well as a powerful staff.

[@robertmccormick3100]

You know what I like the most about this? He didn't hold it against the party he could have just as easily said Vivian was definitely still your mother. But he didn't lol.

[@calebowens693]

Honestly, when I have a player come up with an easy way to bypass a huge portion of what I've made and it works in character (not the boy scout hero using an innocent as bait or methods like saturation bombing where that would be horrific overkill), I'm more impressed than anything else. Now, I mentally kick myself for not seeing it, but I respect it when players have a good strategy. This seemed like it should have been obvious for the GM to avoid, but in hindsight most mistakes running games are obvious.

[@Neceros]

To any DMs that have had this happen: stop planning ahead. Read *Apocalypse World game mastering notes* and learn from it. Do not plan. It is extra work that likely won't pay off. You can DM impromptu and it will turn out way better. Build Fronts, which are obstacles and ideas that make up a world. Give these fronts specific goals in mind, and assign them an NPC or two and a few ideas. Outlines, not books, guys.

[@kentho7093]

I have never been a DM before, but I feel like the most difficult thing about being a DM is that, sometimes you are sad that the campaigns you planned have been ruined, and yet you have to comfort the players so that they are not affected by your emotion.

[@random_dragon]

I started a new campaign and told my players "for the first session, follow my lead and go with the plot" because I had a setup for them to start their adventure One of my players wants to build a bomb, and keeps ignoring half the stuff I tell her. It's been a pain..

[@Grunt10010]

As a long time dungeon master. YES. A skill that needs to be learned if you’re a DM

[@xman7695]

Yeah, our DM only writes out like 3 points for a story because we're like this... The start, the hopeful, goal and the reward. He tried to do otherwise but it didn't work with 2-3 people doing their own stuff.​@@random_dragon

[@DiggetyDank]

The number of times I've had to create some bs and then look up a d100 random encounter table and wing the hell out if it is more than I'd like to admit 😅

[@ethanwilliams1880]

@@random_dragon My advice. Don't make an adventure, make a world. That world can have things going on, and the players start in a place where they are part of that world, together. Then let them loose. Some players will follow plot hooks like its a lifeline, and others will always chomp at the bit. Oh, and take your world seriously, and so will they.

[@TrevorTheNinja36]

DM: The king of the Nation of solace says to yo- What do you mean you cast fireball.

[@4RILDIGITAL]

A chaotic but engaging game session. Those unexpected player actions can really throw a wrench in the DM's plans. Better luck with Skygroutree, hope that gives a fun twist to the adventure!

[@M.Datura]

Utter sidenote, Ben's staff is such a nerdy thing and I love it. The metallic portions are very aesthetic.

[@Traceback-zu2bl]

As a DM I know this feeling. In one of my campaigns, my players created a cult about a well and kept throwing citizens in. 😂 Edit: Didn’t know that this was going to blow up so much 😅 Anyways for some clarity, the players were mostly chaotic/neutral evils and as a joke were making sacrifices to the town well even thou it had no content built around it. A lot of improv.

[@shadowraven137]

To be fair, did the well have water in it and did they let them out? The cult may have been a kingdoms sanitation and weekly enforced bathtime ritual? feed the unclean to the evil gods, or purge them of their filth and have them reborn in glory. Surely not the strangest thing thats been done

[@Kaito57]

"GET IN THE F*CKING WELL, SHINJI !!!"

[@brianjones4972]

My group did this made a cult about anothers players wizard that had their memories stolen the cult worshiped the wizards previous identity it went on for months of in game time every new town we went to we convinced the local populace to make a church and worship him DM just incorporated the new god into the game

[@jed0247]

To be fair, that happened to my campaign to, as DM I couldn't believe how a cult can be easily made with just a bard and a warlock

[@regretfulpixel7737]

What about creating a fake demon lord to hide all the warcrimes committed by the party?

[@justinn8541]

What a great dm. I could never come up with that.

[@VivaLaDirtLeague]

And it was planned the WHOLE TIME

[@SevernSSO]

This is excellent on so many levels. The acting, production value, vibes & the punchline. Everything is Adorable about this. :)

[@Dug88]

Reminds me of a campaign I played a long time ago. Our dm had setup this town with a bunch of adventures in it. He put a lot of work into it. His wife even drew and painted a really cool picture of it and we burned the whole town down shortly after arriving. He was really upset and didn't want to play with us any more. I still feel bad about it, but it was pretty funny while we were burning the town down.

[@VivaLaDirtLeague]

This made me laugh with schadenfreude 😂

[@melanp4698]

I like the "Oh no, cant blast the entire bridge because of the Oracle," and then "i'll just cut the entire bridge down." 🤣

[@LukeLavablade]

The comment about "I thought she was going to be my mother" suggests that the druid was uniquely sympathetic to Vivian, and the rogue didn't have any such worries about letting her die.

[@raqusyavorion8139]

Leave it for Ben to try the impossible and Rowan to follow it up instantly 😂

[@GregerMoek]

The fab bardic inspirations

[@slashkeyAI]

Perfect video. I especially enjoyed the Bardic Inspiration. Absolutely nailed the feel of DnD. Great work!

[@childelee2569]

I like how within 10 seconds they don’t shoot the sun ray because they don’t want to kill Vivian. Only to cut the rope that holds the bridge. Holding the army. Holding Vivian.

[@cynewulf1]

I was a player in a Call of Cthulhu Now campaign once that went awry right from the start. Some guy on a computer turned into a tentacled monster that we were supposed to run away from in the 1st encounter. With some incredible rolls, another player killed it, with a sword cane of all things. The monster was the crux of the whole campaign. He turned back into a guy and we got arrested for murder and thrown in jail 😅

[@frantisekvrana3902]

That's still a win. From what I hear, the usual end for Call of Cthulhu characters is insanity and death, not necessarily in that order. Imprisonment is tame in comparison.

[@vaultraider1]

Well...at least in jail you will have time to work on your character sheets... 😅

[@Luredreier]

​@@frantisekvrana3902 Maybe, but if the world is about to end and you're stuck in jail unable to do anything about it...

[@demonzabrak]

@@Luredreier ... why is it about to end if the reason you're in jail is saving the world before anyone realized it was in danger?

[@LarsBerntropBos]

A party I was in did that once. The wizard stronghold had a thatched roof, and my character had fire arrows, which promptly ignited the roof and burnt it down with lots of wonderful firework effects. A stack of papers describing the stronghold was ripped up leaving a very sad DM. Shortly thereafter, the party met an unfortunate end due to a surpringly strong encounter.

[@evilsharkey8954]

Silly wizards didn’t have fire resistance wards on their thatched roof?

[@EmpressLeana]

Well maintained thatched roofs don't really catch fire that easy anyway.

[@ikuma8291]

Just curious. why would the DM rip /destroy the whole thing if the players where unaware? Just use it another time with some changes

[@BayWa4eva]

bad worldbuilding. first a stronghold wouldn't have a simple thatched roof. second a world with fireball (and working fire arrows) easily available wouldn't have ANY important structure highly flammable.

[@delta_glider4362]

@@BayWa4eva >a world with fireball (and working fire arrows) easily available wouldn't have ANY important structure highly flammable. You live in one of such worlds, pal 😆

[@jonathanstern5537]

Simple solution: There are a bunch of Shamans and other people in the army with Feather Fall. They all float harmlessly to the ground, including the oracle, who is being held by several bruisers who are affected by Feather Fall. You give your party a chance to escape as the army makes their way up the cliff to either return to their fortress or pursue your party. This gives a great chance for debate, role play, maybe even tactical combat.

[@Drakoni23]

You know you're in trouble as a DM when you have to say "I DID say that..."

[@rdh288]

As soon as they get done with the dragon, they could probably work their way down into the ravine, find the oracle's body, then raise dead. Might need some water breathing potions or whatever, but it can definitely be done.

[@AgentFire0]

Not "water breathing", but "lungs filling with oxygen" potions.

[@patchbunny]

I really like the throwing knife sheaths on her armor. Looks slick.

[@Anubirai]

I swear you can see this happen from time to time during the campaign in Rob’s facial expressions. I worry about this every time I’m DMing.

[@fisouz]

Here's an idea for a vid - just make it around DM bring grumpy and punishing everyone. Kudos to whoever came up with the idea of having the DM walk the scene with the adventures. You guys pull it off greatly.

[@cordingdesert9566]

Once, one of my players casted wall of fire on the boat their 2 friends were captured on. And was shocked it caught on fire. So they ended up watching as the boat sank with all the loot and important documents for one of the players' backstory on it. The captain of the guard was not happy.

[@christianstachl]

At the campfire before resting, near the woods, the ranger wanted to test his new fire arrow. He rolled a 1. I gave him two chances to not cause any disaster (one was direction and the other i guess wind or so), but he failed. So he burned down the woods with the friendly fairies in them which they wanted to visit the next day...

[@notfeedynotlazy]

My most hilarious "players botched the full campaign" was in a Star Wars game (good old D6 Star Wars) when the players started planning their assault on the Imperial base.... over open radio channels.

[@cordingdesert9566]

​@notfeedynotlazy stormtrooper: "No no, let them cook."

[@jeffzimmer2433]

I mean as soon as the army was alerted and began crossing the rope bridge, who wouldn't go for such a high kill count with a single toss of the dice? She's a damn legend. Shame about losing the loot and failing the quest to rescue the oracle. Guess the oracle didn't forsee that happening.

[@tylerboyce4081]

I love Rob suddenly morphing into a dragon out of nowhere. 🤣

[@d.t.m8393]

4:14 "The well established threat of these parts!" had me lmaoing, not going to lie. Been there Rob, been there! 😂

[@CynicalDriver]

To be fair... I instantly thought "cut the bridge down" before he said the oracle was with the army. 😂

[@sekishudai]

3:21 the sadness here really hit me :'(

[@remylove39]

This was amazing yet soul wretching at the same time. Props on all the wasted hard work with 'what I can only assume was an awesome story line with much character growth from the now avoided challenges they could have faced.

[@iangametion]

Rob's acting was done with full experience behind his voice😅, that grief is potent!

[@yuyaplays9311]

Been there done that. My poor gm's hate when I completely derail a campaign. Had a session where my team was supposed to sneak into this big cooperate headquarters building in Shadowrun and assassinate a target inside. My character had a day job as a construction worker and was a mage with some shape element spells. To make a long story short my team and I just took out all the structural supports and brought down the whole building.

[@lostbutfreesoul]

So many questions, the biggest being: What City? Something like that can get a team on a list, a very short list, in the wrong town.

[@neodigremo]

This may be why as a DM I tend to either a) have a couple of scenarios running in the background that the players haven’t interacted with just so I can pull it out of nowhere Or b) improv the hell out of the actual plot and spend all my time building a mahoosive world we can play in. Because the one time I don’t the party ruins everything by blowing up the Vatican and getting a turtle addicted to coffee beans.

[@celestel7237]

😂😂😂

[@elanorglf]

​@@neodigremo😂😂😂

[@taragnor]

@@lostbutfreesoul Probably in almost every city. Doing a basic assassination is generally an accepted consequence of the Shadowrun world but destroying an entire corporate HQ would be considered a huge act of terrorism and get all kinds of bad things coming the PC's way.

[@macharius3983]

No D&D campaign survives first contact with the players.

[@Hello67740]

3:39 adam's scream is so funny!

[@MicahoIic]

We have to see more of Rob, he's such a good actor.

[@RobertHartleyGM]

Thanks!

[@michael_pilot]

Fortunately there is a spare bridge below the first one, Viviane is saved \o/

[@VivaLaDirtLeague]

She rolled a 20 on her athletics and managed to hold on!

[@Kreubs]

@@VivaLaDirtLeague she was in chains, so disadvantage?

[@michael_pilot]

Shush 🤫

[@roddan0038]

No see the chains were spiritually connected to the rope that was cut so everythingis fine she *totally* didn't to death with the rest of the army thus causing Adam to by proxy commit matricide@@Kreubs

[@philroberts1069]

@@Kreubs It was the chains that they used to hook onto the bridge below

[@jetfowl]

That's not how it goes at all! You just say that by cutting the rope, you dispelled the illusion surrounding the fort, revealing that the bridges are actually made of *STONE*! (Haha!) And that you can now see an open portcullis leading to a staircase to the underbridge. 😁

[@SolNacht]

Vivian was indeed your mother. and you just killed her. next quest ressurect her, and you still need to get into the citidel to get the staff...

[@Darkian95403]

Yeah, now its less a rescue mission and more of a retrieval. Rename a buncha NPCs in the notes and the game continues with a new side quest.

[@Daioblis]

Starting to think this season of D&D logic is just Rob's experiences of D&D.

[@neodigremo]

This is the best episode of the season so far. I have been both the DM and the player in this scenario. And yeah, at what level of the party ruining your plans do you just go “screw it, here’s a dragon!”

[@PainRack]

Dungeon traps/monsters avoided ,end boss defeated in one round of combat. Skygroundtree!!! Save me!!!!!

[@VivaLaDnDLogs]

Sometimes you spend so much time anticipating the crazy things players might pull that you miss the obvious one.

[@adrianodrika]

As both a dm and a player,I say: never plan a single path. The bard will have a kid with the barman (don't ask, long story), the Ventrue will decide to betray the allies so he can be the prince and throw the whole Sabbath plot out of the window, the Extatic will have extraordinary successes and spoil the whole plot. Always have at least three plots on your sleeve

[@Ozraptor4]

Warhammer fantasy campaign back in the 1990s = hooded figures surround us in a dark alleyway and draw their blades. Without letting them get a word in, we immediately start stabbing, slashing and firing off spells. We congratulate each other as we repeatedly land critical hands and roll massive damage numbers on our targets. Our ranger drops the final stranger square in the back with an arrow as tries running away (loud applause). Increasingly panicked DM starts frantically flicking through the module = the thugs were loyal servants of a well-respected philanthropist who was supposed to lead us to him so he could hire us and start the whole adventure... We decided to play Battletech instead.

[@Whalewraith]

About 3 decades ago this actualy happened more or less to a campaign I was in, Temple of elemental Evil or some such thing. Basically a packed multi level dungeon but covering a relatively small ground area. My dufus mate 'The Dark One' had found a horn that attracted all enemies within 200 metres which he couldn't resist blowing at every opportunity, 200 up down and sideways, every monster in the module came running to the entrance hall. We all died horribly. Game over man, Game over.

[@Bubbles99718]

I'm sure some little girl survived all of that

[@evilsharkey8954]

That’s the guy you don’t invite to the next game

[@Whalewraith]

@@evilsharkey8954 actually it was fun at 1st, epic battle and all. For months we had been coasting and the name of the game was simply how many resources we would consume. We dispensed with the first few waves of Canon fodder fairly easily, but then it started to get tough as the bigger less humanoid types started lumbering up from the third level. I think we only really realised we were actually in trouble when the Gnome Wizard died. He tried to make a break for it on his magic carpet and was promptly shot down with a fireball.

[@nigeldepledge3790]

Oh, god, I've done this. It was in a team tournament at European GenCon about thirty years ago. We were playing goblins fleeing the destruction of our village. As we fled, we happened upon our village's shaman in the woods at a campfire. He was making some strange sounds, and I decided to put him out of his misery. The DM blinked and paused for a second, then asked me to roll my attack. It was a nat 20. He asked me to roll damage (which was d6 plus a couple of modest bonuses), and I rolled a 6. The DM described the shaman's head being cleft from his body, and bouncing in the fire as it rolled away. He then said something along the lines of "Right. Erm . . ." and started leafing through the pages of the adventure module. It looked like I had forced him to skip four whole pages of role-play, plot and exposition before he found a page from which we could pick up. Our team . . . did not win that tournament.

[@allanlarsen3261]

This is why my sessions are 20% planning and 80% improv. Have known my players for too long, they WILL mess up anything I try to plan in advance 🙂 I usually just have maybe an A4 of notes to myself. The rest of the story will be made up as we go along.

[@yolodapro6505]

I gave my party a quest to travel into an underwater abyssal chasm to fight an elemental monstrosity that summons storms. The first thing my warlock asks "Can the fly spell bring me above cloud level?"

[@demonzabrak]

What’s the joke/funny-bit here? It seems like it’s “my warlock doesn’t understand where “underwater” is.

[@MurMurYoutube_Astra]

I felt all of Rob's pain when the campaign was ruined by one cutting of the rope bridge. And I'm not even a DM.

[@IcicleFerret]

It was his own lack of planning that did him in, sadly. He should have known a singular rope bridge was a huge liability to a stronghold. The hobgoblins should have built a drawbridge with controls only accessible from their side of the chasm. But that's a lesson in castle building he'll not soon forget!

[@Jenuin]

2:17 let the oracle make it across fight the rest while you cute the rope 😅 I don’t think a single thing that could go wrong 😑 😂

[@rolfauner4623]

As a Goblin King (with caps) you know how goblins pair against other races in combat, especially the dreaded race known as "Adventuruh". Being a gob-politician you also know about the goblin population pyramid and that it's in your own interest to maintain a stable gobciety. Long story short: send out waves after waves of expendable goblins. Bonus: load 'em gobshooters and catapult some goblins across the chasm as ballistic projectiles ...just for style points.