(animated) D&D How I DM.

[@zeebashew]

Hey the old discord link was messed up so check this one out instead if you wanna jump in: discord.gg/Sp2efEK

[@chewee517]

2 Things: 1: Holy crap I liked your previous artstyle of your wizard dude way more; but that doesn't mean this one is horrible, it just isn't amazing and fun. 2: How would you best recommend a guy who has no friends with any available time to even hang out in person would go about doing D&D with anyone successfully?

[@ApprenticeNick]

@@chewee517 Hey, I'm just some guy, but my recommendation (as somebody who also struggles with this) is to either give up on playing IRL and start using services like roll20 or Fantasy Realms or to search Reddit to see if there are any nearby groups.

[@wobblysauce]

Or stop with 5e and use fate :P

[@adamwitt7788]

I have an idea for a playable character build pixie wizard riding a tiny servant would that be feasible?

[@ApprenticeNick]

@@adamwitt7788 As somebody who frequently DMs, I think it'd be tricky. 5e especially has almost no rules for playing as non-medium races. Obviously anything is possible with enough homebrew, but you would need the right DM and the right group.

[@OneRadicalDreamer]

Good to know that John Wick took to DMing after exacting revenge for his dog.

[@tristandreemurr8755]

Lol. I bet everyone who kills a dog in his champain gets the "rocks fall, you die."

[@wolfjack5802]

Went off to run a Cyberpunk Pugmire game

[@fenixmeaney6170]

woah

[@silentrobot7014]

@@tristandreemurr8755 I use mold earth to shatter the rocks

[@jeroen1989]

There's nothing like TPK'ing the entire party using only a pencil...

[@TheInfiniteAmo]

"Players tend to forget loose ends and remember closed circles." Probably the best advice for new DMs, period.

[@BrutusTheOwl]

I feel like this is a method best used with Veteran players who might get bored of a traditional campaign format. Otherwise it might be too immersion breaking for players who are newer and require a bit more to get drawn in to story and captivated in the mindset of the world.

[@DTDdeathmas]

Erin Tuncan what do you mean?

[@VashdaCrash]

I think he's refering to the part where you need to ask for feedback from the players.

[@IguitarVreakI]

@@DTDdeathmas if the Players decide to walk down a Road and you(the DM) tell them that they find X (classical style) then they have just acted as their characters, which makes it easier to stay immersed. If the Players give suggestions like "we find Y", " we get attacked by bandits" or " we see a rare animal" Then they have acted as Players, Not as characters. And are co-writing the story as Players. If you are used to tabletop rpgs it might be easy to swap back and forth between the roles of Player and character, but newer Players can have a hard time to immerse themselves in the world and pulling them put for five minutes can make it hard to go back in.

[@DTDdeathmas]

IguitarVreakI ok I can see where your coming from, I don’t 100% agree but you raise a valid concern.

[@lokian1174]

Couple years ago found this video days after being wrangled into helping a first time DM set up an adventure. Rewrote the whole mess after watching this into the first module of a campaign that lasted 2 years and ran 1-20. That DM started off in over his head, now gets paid to DM games twice a month and still uses this style. Strong option here with LOTS of flexibility built right in.

[@JoelMcCary]

That's awsome

[@AB-cw2qt]

In between shooting guns and stabbing people, John Wick uses his spare time to make DnD videos.

[@ChewieLuke]

I once saw him kill a tarrasque with a #$%&ing pencil!

[@Csrumk]

15 minute time-out is such a well-kept secret. New DMs always have their mind blown when someone explains to them that it's socially acceptable to ask for some time to re-plan mid-game. Great advice.

[@Jonny_R]

Oh yeah, I've done that many times when my players go 90 degrees in another direction. It's 80% awesome, and the other 20% is still awesome, but sometimes weird. =)

[@RobinBaggett]

The threats and boons idea is GOLD! I had been running a version of this for wilderness travel where the players roll a d12 each traveling day (1 is a hard encounter, 2-3 normal, 4-11 no encounter, and 12 was a beneficial encounter). But letting the players partake in the creativity is such a great idea.

[@d73w80]

The tip about adding seeding random mysterious elements is so immensely useful. It gives the players the impression everything is connected in some cool grand plot while giving the freedom to adapt to their actions and choices

[@jkcazy1692]

Yep! The DM I grew up playing with and who taught me how to DM had this exact style. He was my bestfriend's dad, Jon. He has played just about any tabletop game you can think of over his RPG carreer (Gamma World, Vampire Masquerade, Scion, DnD, A D&D, and a litany of others including many homebrew systems he created for Elderscrolls, Fallout, and other fantasy worlds he wanted to have a tabletop system to play with friends). He'd have maybe ever have one or two solid points planned out but the entire campaign would be driven by the players' desires and what they CHOSE to do- basically it was the DM's job to be the cosmic force of Karma in the dnd world they made together. The players have so much more fun feeling like the world is reacting to them and their choices rather than feeling like they are being prodded with a stick over and over again being forced into whatever was carefully planned out.

[@maycontainnuts3127]

I wish I saw this before I wrote a 4-page spread on the general diets and exports of a small mining village before my PCs spent 20 minutes of that session trying to kill themselves and everyone around them

[@kaboomluong9373]

RIP

[@laserlights9684]

"People tend to forget loose ends but remember closed circles" fucking massive brain philosophical moment

[@miniyodadude6604]

this explains why my grand plans turn out terribly, but my on the fly changes to the story turn out to be the best adventures

[@magicflameofgold8198]

i know this is an old video but the fact that players forget loose ends and remember closed ones is so true and it makes it really easy to add fun random elements into the game

[@drakon6878]

Personally Im not a fan of trying this technique, but asking the players what they want you the dm to know is genius, im gonna do that from now on.

[@lonodel]

One thing I have done in the past that is a blast is what I call 'Improved inspiration' A player typically gets one per session, and it has a few mundane uses. You can burn it to automatically succeed on any roll which your character has proficiency. More interestingly, it can be used to alter the world and steer the plot. The players arrive in a small town after a long journey and are short on supplies. Unfortunately there is no alchemist here to supply potions and important reagents. One member of the party however is 'inspired' and mentions that she has heard word of a witch in the nearby wood that could get them what they need. The use case of these have varied greatly. One time the players felt the reward for a certain task was lackluster so they used it to find some extra loot. Another time the rogue remembered that he just so happened to have a silver dagger on hand when stumbling upon a trio of were rats in some sewers. And yet another time the party couldn't decide whether to break for camp of push through the night so the bard pointed out a hamlet in the distance that 'wasn't on the map.' Giving the players a little bit of power in shaping the game is a great way of keeping them involved in the process of storytelling and world building. When I started doing it I kind of expected many of my players to just try to us it to get stuff or make things easier for themselves. Surprisingly enough that has not been the case.

[@carbonmonteroy]

I actually experimented with something like this on a couple of groups, where in certain situations (say you completed the requirements of an gem enchanted to eventually become a Crystal Truth, it was just laying around as loot, it's being given as a quest reward) one could obtain a Crystal Truth that gave them the power to alter themselves, the world, whatever. One of my players used their crystal truth to say that in a fight between them and , they would always win. It was a little climax-breaking but that's fine, I was running "haha that guy was a puppet here's the real big bad" anyway. One of them generated a whole ass desert culture with one. There's a group I'm experimenting with it on now that hasn't yet had the opportunity to use one but knows they exist. Crystal Truth puts a hard limit on how much they can pull off without being a meta-limit like one per session, is basically a free plot device AND a free quest reward when you want to give them something special but don't know what, and lets you go more lax on worldbuilding because your players have a mechanism to add their ideas to the game anyway. That said, I like your improvised inspiration idea. Can I use it in a future campaign?

[@lonodel]

@@carbonmonteroy Yeah man, knock yourself out. I recommend giving it a trial run in a one shot or other short campaign before giving your players free reign of it in a long standing game.

[@jonathancummins6234]

This is basically the "create a plot point" feature in FATE TRPG. Good stuff and really relieves the work load on the DM

[@PowahSlapEntertainmint]

Here's how I DM: "Ay girl, you like dungeons?"

[@mehmettas2624]

I somehow read that with an italian accent XD

[@azoth2335]

Sorry, I only date tavern basement cultists

[@canphan1375]

Im trying to get my female friend to play dnd. Imma go say this to her

[@Elemental-Phoenix]

I've always liked the idea that the players can always go do their own thing, and I'll happily accommodate them. But in the background, the main plot is still going and their decision to turn away from it may have consequences on the world. I can use those consequences to make the world more alive and interesting. I *love* this idea for campaigns in already established settings

[@ColonelTacki]

I really like the player generated content regarding boons and banes. Thanks for the idea!

[@neco5740]

I like to build something akin to a mindmap with everything being more or less connected back to the main plot. That means the players can venture freely through the setting and follow different story strands that still may give some clue about the overarching story.

[@dramaexterminatus]

It's cool how much of this I did naturally because it feels right, but also how to improve on what I do to better make it work.

[@wilfchapman-gandy8120]

Ah yes, i too learned to GM from retired hitmen played by Keanu Reeves.

[@crepmoun7027]

I never understood the sentiment of it's the players fault for derailing my campaign. Maybe because I always wing my campaigns, but it never made sense to me when consistent dm's would be upset because they didn't plan on a character's decision. As a dm, you are supposed to build your world and story with your players. Then again, I can understand how having to throw out months of work can be frustrating.

[@StarboyXL9]

It's because they over-prepped. People like that should stick to writing novels (like me). DMing requires a much more flexible view on narratives.

[@zeebashew]

@ Joel Gawne Yes! this is precisely it. If you overprep and the group goes where you hope they will go it is magical but 9 times out of 10 they will sense the cage.

[@LaoshRa]

ideally you can repurpose most of your smaller ideas/concepts and bring them up regardless of how the main story is developing. you sometimes need to be a bit patient and flexible, waiting for suitable situations to bring them in.

[@oOPPHOo]

Especially new DMs like to have some training wheels which is entirely fair. I do actually believe the players have some responsibility to at least not ignore 3 hooks thrown at them in a row. The problem is when players feel like "but why should we do what _you_ want us to do? Your hooks are boring anyway". The solution is to have an open conversation before the campaign and between sessions about goals the party have so that you can better anticipate what hooks they want. The parts you are then expected to improvise are how the world reacts to how the party approaches your hooks, but at least you don't have to improvise the hooks themselves or the context around them. I also think it's fair for new DMs to go. "Alright, this first NPC you meet is going to be your prime contact throughout the start of the campaign. Please don't murder hobo him. Talk to me between sessions if you don't like working for him and I'll see what I can do".

[@jamu8060]

It's a newbie mistake that I did. I had this grand campaign idea on my first time as DM. I did fairly well I was told but I always went way over the top about things. Which led to me playing like 10 different enemies and the fights getting overly long. Or conversations getting too long and etc.

[@claytonsmith3749]

so one of the best things my favorite DM did was to not have a central quest with good/bad guys planned. anywhere we went, he had set up a minimum of 3 factions with conflicting interests, none of which had the clear moral high ground. This let us interact with the environment in a very open-ended way, deciding who we would support and who oppose, or even try to seek to mediate between them. he usually had one "shit hits the fan" moment planned that would push everything into heightened conflict, and some combat encounters with twists set up so they could be flexibly reskinned for either setting. i found this style really rewarding, as it felt more lake collaborative storytelling than questing-on-rails, but still allowed for a ton of detail and rich backstory for each of the groups involved. it's a formula that could be repeated endlessly with different flavors and never really got old.

[@silentiusman8174]

The tips in this video are immensely helpful. I come back every so often to re-watch and figure out new ways to use these ideas.

[@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj]

I first watched this video when I was still living in Belgium. I was very excited to see the town of Wetter Dorp as that is Flemish for "the fatter village".

[@michaelhuit]

For getting players to know each other's characters in the beginning, giving players that question for each other is a really genius way of getting people to roleplay with each other much faster! The way I've been doing it is, in general, starting people off in the same location (thus, ask people to write into their backstories why they might be there) and then start everyone off with what I call the goblin sequence - have an encounter with minimal repercussions should they fail, but shows their character traits well. My first one was a short hooded figure stealing a purse from a richer elven lady, a crowd forming to see the commotion. Players can gain an understanding of each other through how they react to this; when the goblin takes off down a back alley, what do they do? A noble warrior might try to chase him down to return the purse, a rogue might follow at a distance to pick up what's left, a neutral wizard may follow at a distance and observe, while the bard could stay behind and play to the crowd that's formed. That's what happened with mine, and people picked up on each other's quirks, strengths and weaknesses through an encounter, had a lot of fun adding twists and turns to the chase 🤗

[@matthewdancz9152]

This is basically how I run a Dnd campaigns. It is way more interesting for everybody involved. I like the idea of getting the players involved with the story and developing connections with each other. I've never thought about doing that, so I've never used that idea, and since I typically play at the local game shop, or did until Covid-19, this is a great way to get everyone involved quickly.

[@madhippy3]

I come back to this video every couple of months or so because this all sounds so cool and useful, but my small brain cannot wrap my head around it. Still cannot and I as I am working on an Eberron campaign I really wish it did!!!

[@madhippy3]

@@chrisstoltz3648 You may, but I don't understand it on the practical level. It isn't about misunderstanding the intent, I could us a longer video with some examples.

[@bumblebot2458]

@@madhippy3 okay so to add after what Chris Stoltz says, this works really well with a homebrew setting that you're making or one you're winging in general, as you're not the only person in charge of bookwork. It really helps with skimming your player's brains and picking out things that they prefer during play (like with the encounter stuff, if one player keeps putting weapon/combat based encounters, they probably like combat, but another may put RP and political intrigue encounters, showing their inquisitive nature). It's been a fun way to gauge my player's interests, and reward them for creative thinking. Although to summarize (and provide my own personal changes), try this. - Planning is important, but keep it loose. Get important details out, like bosses and whatnot, and keep them handy. You may even after a while just do all of this mentally, but try and get used to the book keeping side of it or it'll bite you in the ass later. - Make or find RNG tables. More specifically, for NPCs. Keep races and expected traits handy, and roll/test whatever you want to. With practice you can come up with this stuff on the fly, but tables help. - Back on planning, plan vaguely ahead but focused forward. What I mean is have a vague cookie-cutter idea of the future, *but* make sure there's options for paths later. If you have an idea, know it's okay to remold incase players go off the beaten path. - Finally, the encounters. I would actually recommend *not* starting with any encounters. Instead have your players generate all of them. Offer them the ability to make one of three encounter types: good, bad, and neutral. For every good, they must make one bad, but they can make as many neutral as they like. The encounters should be vague enough for you to flesh out, but still make sense in the area (a triton *probably* shouldn't be roaming the desert). I hope that helps! Sorry if it's rambly.

[@TheJmart94]

I'm a big fan of your stuff Zee, but this was definitely a next-level commentary. I appreciate how you incorporate the players' desires, I also try to do so and I think that there's no better way to get them to buy in. The questions/setup bit, love it, never thought of that! But overall this video's a great exemplifier of your clear intuitive understanding of the game, and how it really comes down to the people involved, whether the story stays on the table or moves to their heads. Very well done.

[@Hero99100]

I REALLY like the threats and boons system

[@Bakamoichigei]

Wow, a lot of really amazing tips in there. My favorite though... Far too often I've seen campaigns either start with the PCs all meeting by happenstance, and becoming united by circumstances/a common goal, or the DM basically just goes "So, you've been adventuring together for a while now..." and that's it. Coming up with those questions, prompting players to create that little bit of backstory, and giving them a chance to really think about how they want to relate to the other PCs, would definitely make for a richer roleplaying experience! 👍👍👍👍

[@hatchbackhound]

I feel that this may be the most helpful 3 minutes of DM information period. Full stop, no take backs. This could be its own class and it would be worth its weight in dragon babies. I would pay double for this to be included in every campaign book. Imagine how much more you could get out of a session if this was implemented. Zee, I once more sing your praise. Thank you

[@_fedmar_]

Idea: prep a lot about the setting, but next to nothing for the plot. This will give you much more room to improv without leaving you unprepared.

[@Xsomono]

I think the very improve heavy style can work well but it depends on the GM. Personally I'm somewhat bad at coming up with good ideas on the fly (or any ideas). Every GM has to discover whether they're better of doing more planning or more improvising and find a balance between the two. In my experience mostly preping a setting and little plot can backfire. I ran a campaign like that and it ended up being a very disoriented game where nobody really knew where they wanted the story to go. For me it works better to make some sort of semi detailed timeline for a main plot, it also generally makes the payoff that much sweeter. I just wrote this in case newish DMs look here for advice. My suggestion to new DMs is finding out how much improve you can get away with. Some people are just the type that have to prep a lot.

[@Darasilverdragon]

This is basically what I do I go over my setting with a fine toothed comb, setting up every last little tavern and temple along with all the people that inhabit them, their relationships with each other, the state of the world, and so on Then I just loosely decide what the rough future plot points will be and where they take place, make a much more detailed initial hook to get things started, and it's off to the races

[@alpal4245]

I was a dm for a one shot and went completely for the improvise everything method. Not for a full campaign, but worked amazing for a one shot

[@9HPRuneScape]

2024 and this video is still beyond genius for both changing up gameplay during your personal campaign & game designers alike! 🙌

[@Alex-tx7ih]

"Players tend to forget loose ends and remember closed circles" I think it was the Pretending to be People podcast which did a review of their story after like 2yr (at a season break, I think). Zach pretty much admitted he tossed out tons of hooks, and it was only by listening to the recap episode that the players realized that they had forgotten half of them.

[@mofire5674]

Having players come up with ideas of what they'll find along the path WHILE you set up said location is such a genius way to keep the players engaged while you figure things out on the DM side!

[@MemphiStig]

Zee got this idea from watching Whose Line is it Anyway! "Campaigns from a Hat"

[@ricardomayerle]

I'm running a campaign very close to this, thanks to this video, for 1 year now and it is working wonders :D Thank you so much for all of your great tips and keep up the great work you doing out there!

[@TwistedMecha]

My general style for DMing is I build a World Map with a huge variety of Towns and other locations, then write a quick blurb for what generally goes on in that place, the general inhabitants and one potential event in that area. When the party arrive, I know what I should be at least prepared for and what could potentially happen there. For example, the next town over from where my party are is a Town where Wizards are king and worship of any Deity is frowned upon. There is potential for a Paladin uprising in the town. If and when the party get to that Town, I will know roughly, based on the Party, how things will play out, as my party are mostly melee characters, with a single caster. As for random encounters, I know what kind of areas I've layed out on the map, so if I need a quick random encounter, I can pull out one of the Monster Books and select something that fits. They stumble into a deep cave and decide to look for some buried Treasure? Maybe they'll run into a small clan of Mycanids or a Troll.

[@AndrusPr8]

My advice, after launching a sandbox is this: 1) Ask more. Players can come up with interesting ideas. 2) Use online tools to build encounters. It won't take more than 5 minutes. 3) There are no bad random encounter, only unexplained ones: Roll a random encounter and pulled the adult balck dragon in the middle of a small town of fishermen... What's a black dragon doing in the middle of a portown? . It's an illusion, a transmuter pulled off a wrong spell, it's a black lizard with wings and commoners confuse them with dragons, it's a black dragon for real and you better run for your life. Ask the players what they think could've happened (advice 1).

[@Cheforeno]

Werry helpful, Thank you.

[@Vinemaple]

Yeah. This. You spend a moment thinking up how your freaky random result COULD make sense, without turning into a headache for you, and often that ends up being more interesting, anyway. Bend, add, or subtract until you have something your heroes have a chance at or a handle into, something that has story potential.

[@DetectiveMekova]

What I love to do is after everyone creates their characters, I have everyone roll for a random trinket. Trinkets are EXTREMELY underutilized. It's a great tool to give characters a sort of mini-purpose. Why does my character have a wood carving of a disfigured man? Why would a fighter have a glass orb filled with water, in which swims a clockwork goldfish? It also give the DM something to work worth in terms of story. In the campaign I played in, the disfigured man was the leader of the group who killed my friends wife! Another person has a dead scarab beetle whose essence carried the cure for almost any ailment (but she didn't know that until later). Trinkets are wonderful.

[@Starfloofle]

This is such a clever little idea, I love it

[@cadunkus]

I rolled a silver-tipped cane as a trinket in the Curse of Strahd. It didn't have any story relevance, but the DM allowed for it to hide a rapier and be used as a spell focus for my warlock so that was cool and added a bit of flair to my PC.

[@Starfloofle]

The sneaky ol' sword-in-a-cane trick. I dig it.

[@saladslugger]

Oh, that Boons & Threats is something I've never thought of before. And it sounds like it could be REALLY fun if you have people playing "Not-so-moral" characters or people who have only their best interests in mind.

[@djbreal87]

I have never played DnD. I have always wanted to and thankfully with my brother moving to live with me I have found a group. I mentioned my want to play to my brother, he got character sheets and we built our characters. Then he contacted a DM who ran the very first campaign he was ever a part of 5 years ago. Basically a hail marry, saying "Hey, remember me? You were an awesome DM and my brother and I would like to play, its his first time, help?" and sure enough they responded with "Hell Yes". Turns out, this DM has been building and adding onto a world for the past 5 years of his own making. The area is massive, everything entirely unique, its his baby. And this is the world we are playing in, im 2 5 hour sessions in at this point and am absolutely loving it. I cannot believe I did not try and get into this sooner.

[@PenitentChaplain]

I love how concise this is. I often struggle to prepare adventures in reasonable amounts of time and I really think this will help.

[@brenorocha6687]

This sounds like the best concise piece of advice about GMing that I ever had! Can't wait to try it!

[@UchihaKat]

Oooh that, submitted threat/gain mechanic is SO good, I'm stealing that for my survival campaign.

[@gaoth88]

"Don't be afraid of big expanded settings" -Laughs in WH40K

[@gaoth88]

Or World of darkness :'(

[@Chaosdaniel]

WH40K: Save the world... so you can Exterminatus anyway.

[@oz_jones]

@@Chaosdaniel save the world from Xenos filth

[@psychronia]

I love it when both players and DMs give up a little bit of their control over the characters and world to tell a collaborative story. Make a PC's background on the vague side so the DM can drop hooks consistent with a character's history that's a surprise even for the player. Inversely, let characters go off on their insane thing and use the ripple effects from that to change the world in small or large ways.

[@thespianman193]

I greatly enjoy the path aspect of this DM style. It makes traveling between each major location WAY more engaging, and it helps to improvise and yet plan everything with the players instead of playing against them. Thanks! Love your videos!

[@eruantien9932]

Your comment about players remembering closed circles and forgetting loose ends is pretty on point. Even now, 6 months after the "conclusion", my players still reference my passing comment (through the medium of an NPC "seer") to "look for smoke", which only one player wrote down. Basically, "look for smoke" was a non-combat way into the main adventuring area of their next quest, which at the time they hadn't even set out on. When they went down that way, none of them even remembered it; it was only the following evening when one player was organising his notes that he saw what he'd written down weeks before. Now my players hang onto every odd utterance that any NPC that might have foreknowledge comes out with. Which is nice.

[@mitigatedrisk4264]

I know this is old, but I just today spotted my favorite piece of advice in the video. At 1:08, we briefly see the list of four things a quest hook needs. Two is the perceived problem. Three is the actual problem. That is such a good piece of advice, put very succinctly.

[@ElSnail]

I think starting a campaign off with small problems and building it from there is much better. Starting the players off in a little skirmish in a town seems a lot more fun and free than starting them off with the idea that they are the hero’s of the land and it all relies on them. That idea can be established later when the group grows closer and has had the freedom to just explore and have some fun getting to know the setting

[@33nihilus]

I start with a map, i throw beans on paper and trace the shapes, then add water, terraforming, nature, then settlememts based on adjacent resources. Then i determine how a settlement survives, income, primary resource, and start designing characters to act as representatives of those trades to the players. After that i begin connecting them with bonds to each other and letthe stories between them unfold while the players do what they do. It gives the players the feeling that the world is more alive since it sometimes changes without them seeing how but they know if they pay attention theyll pick up on certain situations unfolding. After i design all that then i add a villian, someone who really wants something that other people wouldnt want them to have. A way of getting that thing, and a final conclusion act. I sync it up with the written quests that the players choose to either do or not do and they effect the end result. For example. Theres a side quest with a bearded devil. If they players choose not to do the quest or choose to not get rid of the devil the main enemy will make a pact with the devil and gain demons in his undead army.

[@catchyalata777]

Absolutely LOVED the segment about "The Path." The boons and threats concept is one I'll definitely be stealing for my own game. Thanks Zee!

[@stevenkurple]

Thanks for the idea. It helped me come up with an idea for a homebrew item called the Bloody Fork. The bloody fork tunes to rare ores so my players can find it. I have one player who's interested in building stuff in game so I thought this might be motivating for him to use. But the catch is this: It holds 3 charges, recharges on 4(1d4) every long rest while in hand. Or the player can charge 1 by spending 1 hit die. He worries about lack of HP in the party so it should be interesting to see how he manages risk reward.

[@Cyrribrae]

Woah, this animation style is cool! And great tips and ideas for making this manageable. Love the idea of letting your players get involved in what they want to see, though I can see how that may break immersion in some groups or settings.

[@malcolmpayne3598]

Ah, yes, my favorite search engine, Gondor.

[@N7Toman]

Where where the Rohan search engine when Gondor was overwhelmed with search queries?!

[@cameronyeetiboi21]

The second you said John Wick I knew this person was going to be hard to find. Lol

[@2chrono2]

This is a fun idea, but personally most of the fun of being the DM(for me anyway) comes from creating a really elaborate world all on my own and creating a deep, intriguing plotline, and then setting my players loose and watching them set everything on fire and unravel all my hard work. I know it sounds weird, but seeing crazy, out-of-the-box solutions I never considered to things I planned out so far in advance and seeing my big epic plotline get shredded is really part of the fun for me! I mean it's not to say I don't care about what my players feel they want to see/do/avoid or whatever, in fact I encourage them to explore to their hearts' content, but I've always felt that a big part of the enjoyment of DMing for me comes from crafting the worlds and encounters myself, and I've gotten really good at freestyling them when things go way off the rails. If they're really hellbent on helping I'll usually let them, but honestly I feel like this is the best part of DMing and it's something that I selfishly guard all for myself most of the time :P

[@scotthuff271]

I really like the bowl of boom & doom. I'm absolutely doing that next time

[@hive_indicator318]

Dude! The boon/bane thing will even be great for my West Marches(ish) campaign. Good way to help inexperienced players figure out what makes their dude click.

[@DrgoFx]

I do something similar to this, I refer to it as "Laying the Tracks" which is basically to say I railroad my party, but I don't set down the railroad tracks too far ahead of the current session. I create towns, NPCs, storylines AS the party is playing. I usually only plan 1 - 2 sessions ahead, my notes are often just general ideas such as Names, personality traits and motives. A lot of my notes are things like "This should happen between point A and point B" and I let events play out naturally and what feels more thematically fitting at the time. This gives me the direction I need to let the players feel like all of this is planned, while giving me the freedom to invent parts of the world on the spot and not be attached to any ideas to begin with. Then if the players change course, I've only plotted the next session or two anyways. I can ditch that course, salvage whatever material isn't bound to a particular lore/story bit that only makes sense in that direction, and then just reconstruction a new series of notes. Most of my prep material is a page long, my in session notes are always longer to keep track of what actually happened to build new ideas from.

[@ChristopherBiasbas]

I like the sowing of history between the pcs. No more awkward first meeting where you want the pcs to just get together already but their characters just don't like or trust each other.

[@superquantumunitintelproce5222]

At the NPC generator: *A 70 years old tall and muscular man with purple hair and green eyes who worships god of fire burns down his house*

[@MrSteveK1138]

"I'm an ordinary guy. Burning down the house!"

[@superquantumunitintelproce5222]

@@MrSteveK1138 "hail fire god"

[@DeathlyDrained]

Then there's my players who sometimes act like sims just waiting around for something to happen even though they have many plot hooks to go onto.

[@CorboWill]

If they are waiting for something to happen then your plot hooks need to give them something to react to. The hook has to directly affect the player for them to want to get involved.

[@VirtualMarmalade]

Some of my friends try this sometimes too. I think the secret is to just let the world move on without them - if bandits are raiding supply lines and the pcs don't care, follow that to it's natural conclusion without them. Either someone else takes care of them or there's a food shortage in town. Maybe all the prices of goods goes up, maybe the town starts paying the bandits "protection money." Your choices in this situation are basically 1) escalate the problem until it directly affects them, 2) let some npc resolve it and move on to something else, or 3) escalate the problem and make that part of the status quo, then move on to something else. The pcs choice to act or not should have consequences, otherwise they won't have a stake in doing much of anything y'know? At the same time, you can't force them to care about something that doesn't interest them. Talk to them about what kinds of adventures they want to have. They might surprise you.

[@blucky7798]

I've run into this before, in all likelihood your plot hooks are simply going over the heads of your players. This isn't your fault or theirs, sometimes it just happens and some players are just not great at noticing what is and isn't a plot hook (and as much as I want this to be constructive, some GMs have a habit of making very difficult to detect plot hooks that aren't intuitive for any player to notice). I would recommend simply making your plot hooks slightly more noticeable, an easy way to do this is to play out a scene in front of your players where some NPCs do or say something that outlines the plot hook in question. This can even integrate a PC if you wish by having an NPC say start arguing with them about something plot related or start gossiping about the plot hook or if your players are still not picking it up have an NPC literally run straight into them asking for help with a seemingly unrelated problem that you can retroactively tangentially relate to your desired plot hook (eg. "Help me find my lost son, he went missing in this area of town please/I'll pay you/whatever you think will motivate your players" and what do you know the area the son is lost in just so happens to be where the plot is happening too). The last one is slightly contrived so save it for a last resort as the others are still easily noticeable enough for most players since if you're actively playing out this scene in front of them detailing events that are NOT directly related to them it should be obvious that it is a plot hook to anyone paying attention. If you see players not really picking up on this fact just give them a hint in a short break in your game by saying in a supportive and friendly tone (no playful sarcasm or condescension allowed) "Just a hint everyone but if I'm talking about something in detail, it's probably important or plot related" (because let's face it, that's just a fact about any GM, if they've taken the time to explain an event in detail it should be important or relevant).

[@layeredchip3220]

This is one of the greatest quick DM’s guide I’ve seen.

[@Milkaholic76]

The way I took to DMing my new campaign is basically setting the players on a railroad, but in-between missions they can leave the railroad and do whatever they want. Basically a videogame where they can just dip and do side quests forever.

[@marcmagliari1688]

Did that end up working? Normally rail roading is a big nono in terms of player agency

[@IrrationalBees]

I DM using the Semi-Sandbox style. Create a world with rich lore, or find one Create an over-arcing plot of apocalyptic proportions And let your players try to prevent the end of the world, or city They usually start out small, dealing with the side-effects of whatever scenario, before getting tipped off on the larger plot. My style is to not notify them of impending doom early on unless their party has problems with infighting or staying on task. At first, it just seems like business as usual. But the longer you wait, the more prevalent the threat becomes. Otherwise, it's all improvised, and since nothing is really written in stone, the players will run into the plot eventually, even if they try to avoid it, I won't let them avoid it. I'll stick the plot in front of them with a sword drawn if I have to.

[@chesterstevens8870]

My usual style of DM'ing involved building a setting and filling it with potential plothooks, but not forcing the party to settle on just one. Feel like a little dungeon crawling? The ancient ruins of a lost hobgoblin empire are half-sunken in the marshes to the north, just be careful about tipping the balance in the local power struggle between matriarch black dragon and the lichen fighting for control there. Up for a little intrigue? You could look into the nation-spanning criminal syndicate headed by a powerful merchant family, or investigate rumors of vampires infiltrating the noble court. Just want to hunt bounties? That's fine, there's a bounty board in almost every major city. And along the way, maybe you'll discover clues as to the origins of the great Sundering centuries ago, and why pockets of wild magic are suddenly appearing across the land.

[@celesdiamon8421]

I am about to DM a campaign in a self build world and was really unsure about some things... This actually helped me a lot right now, cause i never thought off that "Threats and Boons" thingy and it is actually pretty amazing! Thanks a lot!

[@Targe0]

good thing also to remember is your job is to give the players a goal and to step in when the story they are telling needs a little help such as places to go, people to talk to and stuff to deal with. DMs real job is to if it where a book write the core plot and let the players full the gaps in the rest of the chapters.

[@celesdiamon8421]

i am really glad i have the campaign area pat down, i was just unsure on how to... make travel more interesting and this video just gave me the Epiphany i needed for that :D And yeah, Dming is basically writing a book and thanks to an old habit of writing stories, i am already proficient with that! *rolls D20 and gets a nat. 1* well, not even the Proficiency mod can help me now :(

[@dannym2359]

the best session I've run to date was literally a road, an npc, and a mansion with monsters already placed. I had almost nothing to go on story wise, but the group actually started trying to piece things together, and when they said something that more or less fit, I would just agree or embellish what they came up with. I didn't even think about the captured astral diva being the NPC from the beginning, but they thought he had created a materialized person to bring adventurers to his rescue, so that's what happened lol

[@MoaxLycan]

I like the threats and boons system

[@Sleepy12ftPanda]

So this is essentially a metagame around the central storytelling mechanics of D&D. Definitely going to try this next time I DM.

[@evanmonroe8578]

Hey man, this sounds like love and peace man. A flexible style of dming that leaves the players autonomy aswell as their story intact. I'm running a vampire the masquerade campaign this Thursday and now I'm figuring out my plot hooks and travel inconveniences

[@jonathanheld8152]

I have been watching your videos for a few weeks now and LOVE the simplicity and the depth of your hints, suggestions, commentary and animation.

[@Ozarka0]

sadly I doubt I'll be getting a response considering how old this video is, but I'll put this down just in case; I had a simple idea to add atop of your lotto drawing thing. Simply put, allow the players a way to notice that there are several "interesting locations" in their vicinity, and represent it by tokens. Tokens each marked to be specifically linked to a consequence card. So the players can actually continue along the road, or investigate if they wish to risk hardship for reward. And then have a few of the hardships in line that the players *will* run into, just so that things aren't entirely smooth sailing for them. What do you guys think?

[@pubjubz]

that's a cool idea! I'm definitely stealing this!

[@itzaleaf405]

@@pubjubz I'm with pub on this one, might just steal this away for myself as well...

[@Ozarka0]

@@itzaleaf405 Hey, you guys goa head and use all you like! If you really like the idea so much, tell me how it went! I just started up my own campaign finally, and have been considering ideas to make things more exciting during long travel times.

[@ShiftyMcGoggles]

The idea of having a bunch of plot hooks works well for me, I have a whole barrel of them scattered throughout the set, most of them generic enough that I can throw them in now and again. I have a few of them linked together, though most of the time, I angle to make them seem linked so that the players start making connections that were never there. It lets me offload some of the burden of creating story. An example is, A landlord is asking if someone's seen his bar. It's weird, and I can even have a few other NPCs mention that it's odd to hear an entire bar go missing. (NPC missing something improbable) Meanwhile, the town guard has wanted posters up for a rogue wizard seen around the place. (Generic 'Wanted criminal' posters) Meanwhile, a local shop owner is needing the party's help finding a few arcane items for a client who's looking to buy them. (Mysterious patron is asking for mysterious things) Meanwhile... So, they pick one, find the location of the missing bar, and a few of the local NPCs mention they saw a wizard walk into the bar the night before it vanished. 'huh, he looks a bit like the wanted posters' 'Hold on, isn't that shopkeep looking for arcane and magical things for a client? Balthazar or something?' And thus, they began hunting the rogue wizard Balthazar, by gathering those items and setting a trap. At that point, I roll a D6, odds, and this becomes a plot twist. They catch the wizard, who quickly pleads that they hand over the items. He's been trying to gather the ingredients to bring the Bar back, having wild-magic'd the building away by accident.

[@joshuaolewnik1940]

I gotta say man your videos are beautiful. They're always a good length, straight to the point, and your voice is perfect. I'm happy your channel is succeeding enough that you can regularly put out new content

[@Henry-ep6qy]

The editing of this video made me think of Ocean’s Eleven when they explain the plan.I have no idea why, but it was pretty slick.

[@n.s.mcmahon6180]

That's a fun idea, and I may try it next time I'm running the show. When I DM, I make a modular campaign, creating a lot of small scenarios in advance that all contribute to a grander story, I then slot them in to appropriate places and times as my players move about and explore. That way, they have their freedom and I have (most of) my meticulously planned story I want to share. I've also found that creating a list of objectives to work on toward a greater goal, for players to achieve in no particular order, gives them their sense of freedom and allows you better control over events.

[@RainenAvernathy]

The Threats and Boons bowl is surely gonna make an appearance in my next session. Fantastic concept having the players submit to the pool.

[@ThetrueRiokan]

mind telling us how it went afterwards?

[@RainenAvernathy]

@@ThetrueRiokan Sure will. We meet this Sunday for some 3.5e.

[@Redfire1210]

Totally going to give the boons & threats hat/bowl a shot in the future. That sounds brilliant!

[@blakecandin1140]

Damn dude, those are some interesting concepts and good tips for games. Really liked this one. Been winging the crap out of my sea campaign. I really do need more player input, and this is an excellent way to do it without getting too detailed.

[@Rocketboy1313]

"Tend to forget loose ends and remember full circles." This is excellent advice regardless. An easy way to make your game seem more plotted out is to just go back to your earlier adventure, look at something that was left hanging, and start having it show up again. I recommend giving the bad guys an easy symbol to wear, be it a Celtic cross, spiral, or just the image of a fire breathing chicken on their shields (the Flaming Game Cocks are going to be a thing in my campaign coming up). Don't over explain what the symbol is during the first adventure and then just throw it in at a later date. I also take elements from my players and extrapolate. Our Orc Bard-Barian was known from bragging of all his great accomplishments and dressing garishly... So I decided to extrapolate that into his home Orc culture... Which I based off of professional wrestlers and had them all dressed in garish clothing and yelling boasts at each other trying to win various championships. Let me tell you, roll playing a bunch of professional wrestlers for two weeks while the party adventured in their homeland was a lot of fun for me as the DM.

[@zeebashew]

Yes! That sounds like a fun game!

[@Trauson]

I tought i was one of the fews who risked himselft to do this kind of complicated way to DM .... i love that and i do exacly this. Thank you for showing the world that this is an amazing way to engage in FR and D&D

[@davezenz]

Threats and boons was absolutely wonderful! Totally using this!

[@hollysadler-evans5406]

This is the most helpful DMing video. Most are vague and the tips can be kinda involved, but these tips are great and practical!! I hope you do a few more in the future :D

[@AdamBucceri]

Fuckin' nailed it Zee. Animation is on point, this is outstanding advice, and the collaborative random encounters is GENIUS. Extremely good shit.

[@Charoy612]

This is really good advice, I wouldn't have thought of the boon/danger bowl. ... Knowing my players, they'll probably make a habit of singing "Danger zone" but... "Danger Bowl". Maybe I'll have them draw it out of something with more syllables in it.

[@Nyaaani]

you could get a plastic box or something and call it the danger container

[@zeebashew]

Step in too my DANGER BOWL

[@ISoulreaverI]

Preparing just enough for the next adventure and improvising the rest on the fly is how I've been DMing homebrew Pen and Paper games for the past year and let me tell you: it's absolutely amazing. It all does hinge on the players trusting the DM to be able to improvise complex ideas on the spot, but I've never had any problems with it and got into some amazing situations within the game this way that could have never even been possible if I tried to write down something ahead of time. For example, a story that I told on my channel, was about how basically my characters once almost got accidentally disintegrated by a past version of themselves during a timeloop. How it happened was so unlikely and ridiculous, that it required an improvisation style of DMing to even get there, and I will never DM any other way.

[@Suqua]

Watching this today I feel like this style would work very well in the Genesys system. Given its propensity for having the players work with the DM to build the narrative in their own way outside of just what their character can do. Neat. THanks.

[@siphra]

This is literally how I've been DMing for decades. It was how one of the best DMs I ever sat at a table for did it, and I picked it up from him.

[@DreamingBouvardia]

I'm still a new DM. I think the best advice I've been given is "Just have fun with it." Even if it derails your story a little, let your PCs explore and play how they want to play. They want to fight everything? Talk it out? Sneak by? Let them try and mold it into your story. Every one of my players that I talked too for advice before my campaign started, all said their worst experiences playing were when the DM set them on rails and even if they tried to do something that their character would obviously do, the DM would shut them down because it didn't fit the narrative of the story.

[@nyahay15]

I've been experimenting with different DM styles and game types and for the current game I've made a homebrew world, set the players on a continent, gave them all a quest to hunt down an assassin as their prologue then as they're doing that I've been seeding the world and coming up with large scale events for them to hear about. I don't have a set main plot as I feel the players should figure out what they like best so I can make the story revolve around them. Basically in this version I am more a guide than someone actively pushing them in any one direction. So far it's been going pretty swell but we haven't gotten past the prologue yet so we'll see how it works. I'd say it'll take two more sessions to get to the actual assassin fight(they like roleplaying a lot which I'm fine with, gives me more time to build the world around them) then the world will open up. Everyone's been enjoying it so far and having a good time. I hope it continues and I finally have a game run for a long while.

[@vincentmuyo]

Ah, background questions. First I heard of that concept was in the horror RPG Dread. The one using the Jenga tower. Good idea, really.

[@evanhoffman7995]

I really like the idea, do you know where i could find a good list of them? Or have any advice for coming up with some?

[@hm09235nd]

Evan Hoffman I think anything that can give the world a unique meaning from the character pov. The example where 2 PCs exchange secrets is really good. It helps the player to make a meaningful decision by defining it as secrets, (cause secrets be juicy) but still leave it very open to their own choice. Secrets engender or rely on trust, and now there is a certain impetus or tension point in their relationship. The severity of the secret chosen by the PC themselves determines the implications of related Pc decisions: arachnophobia? Potentially embarrassing or tactically compromising. Professed love for another char? Now a third pc is hooked in, with endless possibilities for RP, trust or deceit... Of a certain bloodline, undercover perhaps in exile? Could tie into the politics of the setting, and maybe throw a spanner in the works as the threat level of that goes up and the PCs must work out how they deal with the secrecy, individually...

[@AFutureDarkly]

These are great tips that encourage everyone to contribute to the storytelling. I'd definitely watch more videos like this Zee (but the spell ones, or previous campaign stories are absolutely great too)

[@Heartlesscube7]

I like the idea of using the bowl method, it would make intresting encounters and rewards

[@ganaham9144]

I like the random encounters thing, gives you a good impression of what your players want and makes random encounters interesting for the players as well as the DM