Building RPG Encounters! (Game Master Tips)

[@jonaspoffyn]

I've been GM-ing for about a year now, and the best tip I can give on this topic: DON'T BE AFRAID TO NERF (or buff but probably nerf :p) YOUR ENEMIES ON THE FLY. Really, don't be ashamed if you do, you shouldn't do it every time but it's ok. You can also let some enemies flee or call in reinforcements for a more natural solution of course.

[@kingzut]

+saiae another thing like he mentioned is having enemies flee.. an example is an orc raider crits a player knocking them prone, he sands over them raising his maul poised to drop the death blow. Suddenly the elven ranger lets his arrow fly. (roll good enough to hit but well short of lethal or even meaningful damage) The arrow glances the side of the massive orcs face cutting thru his left eye. The orc drops his maul staggering back. He presses his hand to his face as the blood seeps thru his fingers. Taking one look at the elf who is knocking another arrow he decides this fight isnt worth it an ducks behind the burning barn disappearing from the battlefield. ...

[@anadice9489]

"You encounter an ogre [whose health I rolled 7 times until I got the lowest result I could expect]."

[@anadice9489]

+MrPhantomShade the idea of having enemies flee/leave is incredibly valuable to a new DM. Once had a group encounter a revenant (hoping they wouldn't murderhobo her), they decided to murderhobo her, thinking she was just some peasant, then a fight ensued. Realizing they couldn't get past her regeneration enough to do anything meaningful, I hinted that all she really wanted to do was get vengeance on her husband (who killed her), so once they just stopped attacking (she would only attack PCs who attacked her; a few PCs decided to stay out of it), she left and went on her way. Straight up evil characters, especially wizards, it's easy enough to pull the whole "you're beneath me" thing and have them vanish off, or have them consider battling the PCs be more like playing with toys, and once they're battered, they leave, not wanting to destroy their valuable playthings.

[@ancapftw9113]

Jonas Poffyn I was thinking of giving my villain a magical item (a pocket watch that gives them a free round at the expensive of 5 points of taking necro damage.) After they use it to almost wipe the party out, the necro damage rekills them (they are a zombie). I've never played before, just watched people play, so I'm not sure if that could work.

[@kylestroup3077]

Yup. Ive canceled out a crit or two before due to not wanting to outright murder the player by mere chance. Dont worry, Ill kill players anytime ;) but i've also falsed a crit. as in I have claimed a critical hit just because I know they'll win the encounter but I want a huge amount of damage to put the players on their toes. In the end, its the story telling and the feel of the battle and if they feel epic that they got crit, ran to heal the ally, defeat the super badass monster (because I was fluffing his abilities to make things interesting) ends up letting my friends have more fun.

[@hagintora]

Another way I've found of balancing encounters is to treat the party as if it's a single creature. Take the average number of Attacks, the average Attack Bonus, the average AC, the average Initiative Modifier, the average Saving Throw bonus, the average Damage, and the average Hit Points. Once you have these numbers you can build the encounter by doing the same thing with your monsters (treating all of the enemies as a single entity). Compare the two lists. If the values of these two lists are equal then you know that the party has a 50% chance of winning the fight (or losing with a TPK). That's a hard fight. If the values seem to favor the enemy, that's probably going to be a fight that the PC's want to avoid. Adjust as necessary to fit the type of encounter you want. The more the values favor the PC's the easier the fight will be. This may be a little bit more work than some might want (and hey, if your way is working don't let me stop you), but it does take into account party composition, magic items, etc., where I feel the current challenge rating system does not.

[@adventureisouttheregamingc4307]

hagintora that’s an interesting idea

[@AxDeath]

Why is this comment so buried? Had to wade through 12 terrible comments to find one real piece of advice

[@columbo908]

Leaving a comment here so I can come back to this.

[@brett9721]

Crazy. Lobe it

[@lilMidz]

I don't understand how this works. If I have 4 pcs that produce an average AC of 15, average damage of 15 and average hp of 35, how could they possibly win vs a group of 40 enemies with an average AC of 12, damage of 10 and hp of 20. Your system doesn't take being outnumbered into account, or am i missing something here?

[@Unahim]

Always add a few features to your combat that make things "different". For instance, I had one encounter where a harpy could lure players off of a low cliff, and the players were accompanying a cart full of goods pulled by a horse. Whenever something happened close to the horse, I would increase its panic level and roll on a small horse reaction table, with the panic as a modifier. If it got too high, the horse would start to run off in a random direction, potentially trampling people, damaging the cart, even stumbling off a cliff, etc... This meant that the players didn't only have to deal with enemies and dealing damage to them, they also had to consider preventing allies from stumbling over the cliff towards the harpy, -and- had to keep the horse calm. The druid was rewarded greatly for having prepared the animal friendship spell in this situation, and it makes more players shine than just "do big damage" guys, and keeps things fresh. In another encounter, I used quicksand that you sink in if you don't move on your turn. Suddenly getting tripped or grappled by the darkmantales in that cave was a much bigger deal. Keep it fresh!

[@AxDeath]

This 100 times. Do not just put some more human bandits on the road again. A monster is not an encounter on its own. Preplan 3+ interesting encounters pregame JIC JFC

[@ittyandpocky]

Talking about diplomatic solutions reminded me of my current campaign. I play a rogue that is essentially a spy, he talks his way into and out of situations by being able to bluff and come up with alternate identities on the fly. My party and I were going through this dungeon that housed a white dragon. Through the whole dungeon we kept finding evidence of him, such as backtracking to a previously cleared room to find the door ripped off the hinges and the corpses of our fallen foes now covered in ice, or hearing a roar echo through the halls. It built up this really tense expectation that, oh man, when we finally confront this dragon we might not all survive. So when we finally walk into a room that turns out to be his lair and we have absolutely no real plan of attack my character, Til'Adell, decides to go hardcore on the bluffing and diplomacy and, through a really tense 30 minutes of real time gameplay, talk his way into the dragon's good graces to the point that he and my party formed an uneasy alliance against a potentially bigger threat. He gave us weapons he didn't want, and my DM gave us the xp as if we had defeated him in combat as well as awarding me bonus xp for good roleplaying. One of the moments I'm more proud of in my D&D history haha

[@bjornseine2342]

+ittyandpocky That sounds GLORIOUS! I would love to have seen that :D

[@ittyandpocky]

Yeah they were nonmagical. He said he had no use for "pointies" and since we were going to be fighting Mistress Vance for him we might as well take them. Of course we got all of our shit stolen from us almost immediately when we got ambushed and robbed...

[@g0lddenpanda828]

Nice.

[@leeramer171]

Muck006 You obviously failed to get the point of what playing D&D is all about. Role playing. You fit the rules to the party so they can have a good memorable time. To say the dragon would never relinquish weapons because he is evil is just plain dumb. Obviously in this campaign it doesn’t apply

[@mehashevra4804]

Lee Ramer #NotAllDragons

[@JohnPetritis1]

Wow a video I don't have to speed up! This guy talks at an excellent rate.

[@BiggySn1p3r]

If you like fast talkers and D&D tips, go watch Matthew Colville's youtube D&D videos.

[@fmalch1209]

Imagine that. The guy that talks for a living is good at talking.

[@ondras5241]

@@fmalch1209 There are a lot of GMs that talk slowly. It's not how fast you talk, but what you say

[@thedreamer6930]

I mean, it is Matt Mercer lol. The guy has a high unknown level of charisma.

[@AnastasyaKallisto]

Exactly, I need to speed it down, because I'm not very strong in English))

[@bobbylawrence1259]

"victory not assured" In my campaign I have a easy showing of power, simply give the players a challenge and watch the enemy blast through it. In my case, the players just defeated A wight, with scary glowing green eyes and sharp bone protrusions. After that combat is over I opened up to a hallway with a iron door blocking the path, where masked men with the equivalent of flamethrowers scorched 11 wights instantly, before pulling a lever and having the iron door slowly open... with the party on the other side. It was awesome and the chase was epic.

[@TheOnlyTony03]

Yeah I also do the enemy escalation thing

[@japaroads]

Thank you! This is helpful!

[@victoriajaburek2568]

I just want to thank you for making this series. I am a new DM and this has really made this a less frightening challenge and help me, who loves to be highly organized, be a bit better prepared for pc randomness. I have been a player for decades but it is a whole new world on the other side of the DM screen.

[@voiceofgosh]

i have been role playing for about 25 years and GMing for about twenty. the info Matt gives may be very basic and when you hear it its obvious but you either get stuck in bad habits as a crusty old gamer like me or don't know because you are new to the hobby, thank you Matt you have inspired me and many others.

[@cryptidtwink7952]

"Feel free to tailor your game for fun." God, I wish I could just shove that quote into everyone's face who says CR doesn't know the rules.

[@eliontheinternet3298]

We were (cheap and broke) college kids when I started playing. We had a large whiteboard, and we used nail polish to make 1-inch marks around the frame. Each inch was 5 feet (which was the scale of our minis) and it made it easy to draw the terrain’s outline. It wasn’t very pretty, but it was very useful for spatial awareness!

[@FuerstHardos]

This is like that series Bob Ross did to teach people how to art

[@SpammerRapist]

No. Bob Ross is actually a quite talented painter. This shitmuffin' is reading his stuff from a t-shirt.

[@magicalawnmower4764]

@@SpammerRapist if you don't like it, don't watch

[@SpammerRapist]

@@magicalawnmower4764 I don't.

[@magiv4205]

@@SpammerRapist wow, need a hug dude? No need to insult this great creator without stating any reason, just because you're having a bad day.

[@SpammerRapist]

@@magiv4205 True. Can I have that hug now? 🤐

[@RPG_Angie]

I've got an idea. I've noticed that many of us Critters are more or less experienced DMs, so we already know the basics, but we still love to watch Matt talk about DMing, so we'll definitely watch this series. But we would love to hear something a little more advanced and in-depth. So how about mentioning examples of difficult/complex DM decisions during the Vox Machina campaign? I'm sure the newbies would love it, too. For example in this episode, you could bring up an encounter from Critical Role and show us how you put the monsters together.

[@pandemoniumeris]

key word is many. not all and mostly likely not most. I've never DM'd in my life, but I hope to do so. watching Critical Role as given me the confidence to try, but this latest rips video has helped tremendously. also, it's quite possible he will get to the more advanced stuff. when teaching or giving tips, it's always best to start at the beginning or basic level. that way everyone is on the same page.

[@RPG_Angie]

Erica Tackett My point still stands.

[@highlandus]

Your point is shit like your games you DM

[@RPG_Angie]

highlandus Someone needs a hug

[@CaptainJellyBS]

Ankoku, that was the perfect reply man

[@idleeidolon]

It's.... *rolls dice* ...high noon...

[@editsbyshock]

Its.... *rolls 2*... about six in the evening...

[@AbsolXGuardian]

Rolls 20: Fandom thinks you're an amazing signer, but you've never sung before.

[@MidnightMarrow]

Rolls a 1, sun implodes.

[@Yatsura2]

Its never high noon. If anything, its *HIIIGGGH NOOOOOOOOOONNNNN*

[@MorriganJade]

*rolls 12* yup... 12 PM. That's about right.

[@insidethemachine]

I just wanted to say to Matthew Mercer that you are the greatest Dungeon Master that I have ever come across. I have been playing for nearly twenty years, and DMing for 15.I have have some very good DMs and some horrible ones, but I have never seen one with such a talent as yours. If you're ever in Big Rapids (Michigan), you have an honorary standing invitation to my table. Thank you for your contributions, and never give up.

[@xDruidz]

I'm literally just staring to DM and create a campaign for a bunch of mates, none of which including myself have played DnD before. I'm a huge fan of critical role and having Matt teach me the ways of DMing via his vast well of wisdom will be a great help to me! Please carry on this series!

[@oQuindo1]

6:20 If you do that make sure you have a plan for the party somehow killing it. I have been in a few games where the party somehow found a way to kill something that should have TPKed them.

[@anadice9489]

I'm curious about what these examples would look like.

[@oQuindo1]

Anadice Brown a 5 to 6 fireball encounter, dragons, quadruple challenge rating fight... ect.

[@anadice9489]

Oh I was meaning examples of how they managed to kill it. Only idea coming to mind is "dropping a crumbling temple on top of the bad guy."

[@athenabrown3117]

A party I was in managed to do that with an undead CR 8 dragon by making a big bomb full of silver and alchemist's fire and salt, blowing the shit out of it after the rogue spent 5 rounds making it and I, the Paladin, and the Bard tried to fight it. Also we were level 1.

[@oddluck4180]

Brings me back to when I derailed a campaign by gassing the big bad.

[@timothywhitney6307]

Matt, you rock! The tips are great! I have been DMing for 1 year now and love it! I appreciate your wisdom and stories of experience to help us newer DMs. Thanks man! I am gonna try and run an evil 1-shot sessions soon!!!

[@ThevampireKiller1000]

"Fight on my murder hobos."

[@coffeebreakhero3743]

I will take his advice in real life. I was frustrated I on my accomplishments as a hobo serial killer but he gave me faith

[@japaroads]

Me, out loud: “Thank you, Matt Mercer.”

[@CaptainFlintthePirate]

Matt where were your videos when I was 12 and running my first games. These videos are a treat.

[@BoneHeadPlaysGames]

I started watching these videos to aid me in video game design and now I am watching these for general life tips. These lessons can be applied to all relationships outside of games. Good work Geek & Sundry!

[@tristonmccoy7739]

Matt Mercer, you are one heck of a talented DM! I'm very glad that you posted these tips and tricks, I use them pretty consistently whenever I'm about to run a campaign. Keep up the good work!

[@lonegear]

Fight on my Murderhobos!

[@chaseblauvelt7008]

Idiot, He meant what he said and said what he meant.

[@Mediados]

@@idiot5637 the answer never came...

[@Earth_angel_abigail]

Saw this comment as he said it 😂

[@Damnationization]

As a player,I like to murder the murder hobos. :)

[@shardliveactionroleplaying1113]

Thumbs up for "murder hobos" @ 6:47! Considering your antagonists' motivation during an encounter makes it much more dynamic. A greedy opponent may be swayed by diplomacy and coins. A hungry monster might be tempted by food. An enemy with a vendetta against a particular character might ignore other combatants to take a swing at their nemesis!

[@TPBurrow]

Awesome work Matt. Your a good presenter and GM, you have nothing to worry about this will be your legacy to other GM's and we cannot wait to sample some of your brains and ideas. Please tell us more and as others have suggested give examples of Vox Machina GM moments that did not go to plan or were changed by the players input. As a GM i love to see these alternate realities, it helps me improve my skills. Thanks:)

[@obamachan2173]

McCree is teaching me to be a better gm, what a time to be alive...

[@General12th]

This is some GREAT advice! I'll definitely be watching these videos as I work on my creative projects. On the topic of new and interesting encounters, one of my favorite monster ideas was a dire elephant with the fire elemental template rampaging through a town. When you can describe a monster to the players and they have no idea what it is, except that they're terribly scared of it, that's awesome.

[@rageracing6435]

Nice series of videos. I started gaming as a young boy in 1983. Played all types of systems until about 2005 when life got busy and ran out of gaming friends. I’ve recently started again (2024) and find my GM skills have gotten rusty. Watching Matt DM on KZbin and getting these tips from these videos really helps this old man try to put together epic campaigns again. Wish me luck, and my players good dice rolls.

[@zek62482]

Some excellent points from Matt Mercer! Got a lot of respect for the dude. I will say that while I like most of CR's fights, they're all so long (and kill at least one hero)! My party is happier without spending an evening per fight. Balancing a fight to be tough without slogging or being too easy is tough. We still have some tough fights, but also occasionally throwing monsters at the party that used to be challenging lets them see how far they've come. Matt also pointed out that not every encounter has to become(or remain) a fight, which is an important thing for DMs and players to keep in mind. Having a baddie flee could lead to a chase scene, for example.

[@harrytattersall86]

Haven't DMed in a while and doing a one-shot this weekend, finding your vids really helpful.

[@FrankyDCrafter]

I love coming back to your videos whenever I feel like I’m stuck in my story. I feel recharged again. Thank you.

[@jacoboswald5731]

I made a Demi-Lich with a crystal in the bottom of his skull that made him invincible until the party ran up and ripped it out! It was awesome! Made the battle crazy!

[@Rocky6122]

I've wanted Matt Mercer's DM knowledge for so long. Your the best DM out there Matt, thanks for sharing the tips!

[@chrisfenn7245]

I recently started being a DM and Im looking for as many tips and tricks to make my campaign better and more fun. Matt Mercer is the reason I wanted to create my own world so please keep these videos coming :-)

[@jakeleegamerlife]

As someone who's writing his first campaign this is very helpful

[@noobyoverlord]

So my friend has been running a small campaign for us for a little while. He had us fight a watered down revenant in the first few sessions. The revenant was guarding Golden Lions totems. Ever since I took them the revenant has been chasing me down to get them back. But he makes it a lot of fun by flavoring it pretty heavily. We could be anywhere in the world, locked in a jail cell, fighting a boss, walking in town, or even competing in a tournament, but if you hear him start playing "Big Iron" by Marty Robins you know the revenant will be there. Hes an Arizona ranger with a colt 45. It has to be the highlight of the campaign. Anyone reading this, if you DM, make your enemies memorable.

[@WoodDoge]

Got pushed into DMing via roll20 two weeks ago. I have like a month or two to learn how to use roll20 and how to DM. Great to have Matt's advice!

[@MrSJPowell]

Thank you Matt Mercer and Geek and Sundry for posting these. I'm currently planning out my first campaign, so good tips and tricks are most appreciated.

[@johnewolfenbarger]

I believe this was the first, just came out. I'm thrilled to see him do this series though. He's an awesome DM and I'm always looking for tips myself. Keep them coming Matt.

[@IceColdGrotto]

Thanks to G&S and to Matt Mercer for this! I'm part of a 4e D&D campaign, and this is really helpful for when I'm taking my turn of DMing for my group.

[@wiseassokaythen]

Matt: Hi, I'm Matthew Mercer. Me, Immediately: *sobbing* I loVe You. You're so Cool.

[@Crow-ig4py]

Samee

[@feazeldagamer2247]

Me IRL all day.

[@wiseassokaythen]

@SILENT HAND deal with your toxic masculinity and exit

[@ZaneTheSaber]

so i have been elected dm by my friends seeing as we are all new. Searching for tips i found some that i just personally didn't like the person. however here is Matt giving great tips in a calm environment and i can understand and take in whats going on and not feel haggled to be the best of the best. HOWEVER, i lost all concentration at " fight on my murder hobos"! This is wonderful and i am full glad this exists.

[@Muck006]

A rather important "lecture" needs to be the "phase of your gaming style". In my decades of playing D&D I encountered several styles of playing and there is a kind of "progression" in it. It might help to understand people that there is more than one way to do it ... and none of them is "right" (except the last one, which is BAD). It all depends upon your own expectation and way to experience fun, but defining the phases might help in striving for a different style or explaining different expectations. 1. Monty Haul: This is the way teenagers usually start and it comes from the amount of treasure listed in modules. It also usually uses the simple "Munchkin style" of kicking down doors and then eliminating the monsters in the next room without any danger of monsters from other rooms interfering. Ignoring rules is also frequent ... My personal memory is of a character which had a full sheet of paper just for magic items owned by him. Encumbrance? Nahhh ... 2. Ruleslawyering: This phase is entered when a DM tries to "play faithfully to the rules" and is assisted by a few players in that effort. The point of "sticking to the rules" is that they can allow for bad things to happen to the PCs ... and this knowledge makes players afraid for the lives of their character ... which is a good thing, because it forces them to become more involved than simply rolling a few dice. They have to be CAREFUL with what they do and say. The downside is that looking up rules can waste lots of time and ruin the flow of the game. My personal memory is that a Wizard with Strength 10-11 can hardly carry more than his spellbook and bedroll and some small bits of equipment. Wayyy too overpowered class, yeah ... rrrriggght. 3. Roleplaying: In this phase you are actually playing out the character as if you were acting. You try to speak in first person but switching between that and "technical game talk" might disrupt the flow. This phase is rather dangerous, because you might be starting to overlook the rules and include the "verbal advantages" of certain players to improve their chances of success ... which would give them an advantage over people who arent as fluid/willing to talk. In a mostly talk-driven campaign it might become possible for certain players to smooth-talk the DM into ridiculous things. A certain over-the-top performance of a certain Wil Wheaton (but not only him) on Acquisitions Inc. comes to mind. 4. Manipulating: This is something I havent seen in a D&D campaign, BUT experienced in my years in WoW. Some people are VERY good at manipulating other people to get an advantage for themselves. A typical D&D group is small enough to not have a big risk of this, but it might still happen ... and I don't think it would be a good development. My personal favorite of a style is somewhere between #2 and #3 ... realistic with roleplaying and a chance of dead PCs. These are just my 2ct. and I think you should start with the beginning and not the middle when giving DM tips.

[@bennidesparqure4165]

Very worth while info. I use all these things in my games and they are very universal. Also to note, don't be afraid to change up the battlefield with events that can disrupt play and make it dynamic. Exploding barrels, falling snow, slippery floors etc are great fun.

[@magnusanderson6681]

He talked about NPCs running and I remembered a recent story. The PCs are raiding a thieves guild and the leader can dimensional door at will because he is a grey elf and reasons. He was at 1/4 or 1/5 hp and decided to escape, made a tiny hole in the wall and DD outside. The ranger uses their own fey step and gets a critical, shooting his arrow through the hole and killing him.I was so excited to make the guy be a recurring enemy, too :(

[@Nikelaos_Khristianos]

Going back to these videos is so cool. Reminds me how much I've genuinely learned and how much I've improved.

[@SassyWaifu]

Great! Loved it, please make more. I do not have the free time (unfortunately) to sit and watch all the critical role RPG show but as a GM I found this short video trully inspiring and extremely useful, even after playing a few years. I really hope further down the line these tutorial-like videos get more into the advanced GM/DM part. Thank you, really!

[@matthewpotvin8447]

i love this guy, im a DM for my group and i just jumped in as a DM i never played a as a character before i only wanted to DM and this guy has been a great help.

[@SamundraDarion]

Those Side Angle Shots though.

[@petewest3122]

+Gerbrand Steyn Glad others noticed this. The damn thing gave me a headache

[@SamundraDarion]

+Pete West I'm not a professional camera man, but maybe a shift every time a new point is discussed? Or have examples of the content discussed like the DMG? OR those XP calculations tables?

[@AuntyAlexG]

+Gerbrand Steyn They may not be able to show the content due to copyright and Hasbro (I believe they are the parent company of Wizards of the Coast, who hold the license to D&D) are pretty nasty about their copyright.

[@SamundraDarion]

I sometimes feel they can be so petty, what harm would holding the DMG, and a close up corner of the table do... So petty corporate.

[@gnomeyMTG]

+Gerbrand Steyn because that's how copyright law works. if a company knowingly allows use of their TM it sets precedent for others to claim fair use. they're not just being dicks. by law they have to protect copyrights or they forfeit them.

[@craigkramer2603]

i have been watching your videos recently in any attempt to help me be better at running games. I just wanted to say thank you for all the amazing tips

[@chrisbrown7523]

i been just starting with my friend and this video has been helping me think you for the help

[@Selim009]

Very good video. I really enjoy Critical Roll. I'm a starting DM/GM and the best way I'm learning is through videos like this. Please make more! You are awesome!

[@walteringle2258]

cf. 2nd edition AD&D "Dragon Mountain" regarding lvl 10 players fighting Kobolds. Traps, overrun grappling (some of those rules entered into 3 and 3.5ed). Handful of Kobolds had a class. And that boxed set was just CHOCK FULL of wonderful maps and goodies.

[@cvernon5256]

I just had a major struggle along these lines. A group of 8 that were scattered about, they hadn't formed a group yet, and they were placed into the city center with the rest of the populace. Hundreds of guards, a giant execution platform in the middle with 50 falsely accused individuals awaiting death and powerful opponents up top. Apparently I did a bad job of indicating where they should be going (to save the innocents atop the dias) and one of the Fighters in the group decided to go off by himself scaling one of the five story buildings. This ended up generating two points of conflict - the city center and building roof top - and I decided not to have the crowd interact to keep my sanity. The plan was for them to be captured and then dropped down a hidden shaft from the central platform. Without the crowd, this took FOREVER and I just figured out that crowd assistance would have made this go significantly faster. Get enough people on top and even a Barbarian dwarf isn't moving anywhere.

[@RoddDalek]

I'm running a Shadowrun modified campaign with friends of mine, and this video went perfectly, it gave me an idea for the epic finale of the campaign!

[@Jazzbot_3000]

Though I'm not new to DnD, I am new to DMing! I've played DnD in 3 different groups, and I was able to get a really cool gist of A) How every party is different, and B) How the DM responds and works on the world! I write a lot anyway in my free time, and since now each of the groups I played in have now disbanded, I thought it was time for me to try it out! I'm doing my first one-shot on Dec 10th (2021 for anyone in the future reading this!) and in all honesty I've had to do a lot of creating my own enemies/NPCs (Granted that's what I get for wanting to make a Jazz Demon)! However I've planned it around the players, and I (hopefully!) evened out the encounter and role-play aspects of this one-shot, so that I can get to know how the players want to play, and let the players get an understanding of how I DM! Hope it goes well, everyone is hyped for it! Now I'm gonna binge watch all of these vids to make sure that when I go for the full campaign (I've created the world and everything, just need to create a good storyline for the players!) I've done all I need!

[@phobiawitch835]

I’ve favorites the entire playlist of these videos because I’m definitely looking for all the advice I can get! I’m working on my world for my players right now, and have some ideas, but I’m excited for everything that can be held for this.

[@crispychris8399]

This was super helpful! I'm DM-ing a campaign for the first time on Sunday, and I'm so excited aaa

[@Tigerman1211]

As someone who has never played D&D in their life, but has been roped into being a DM for a group of fellow noobs, I'm finding this series to be a very helpful supplement to the source books I have. I plan on treating this series like an online class and take notes and such so I'm not totally incompetent when we start the campaign. wish me luck lol

[@vonnwolfe2333]

I was wondering how I missed this... then realized it just came out

[@gordonjackson4040]

I'm about to DM my first real DnD campaign tomorrow, but only after watching a lot of these videos and Critical Role. Thanks for all the tips and content that increased my confidence to just go for it. +1 to Charisma .

[@GamerNxUSN]

what a great series from one of the bests

[@lunargamer5261]

I can't wait for more of these. They seem like elementary tips, but it's very easy to forget them when creating encounters. I'm currently in a campaign where every fight is a knockdown, dragout, life-or-death struggle and it's getting old.

[@flaviolepri5539]

Great DM tricks. Also one of the coolest ways to give a lot of personality to combat is the baddies! Undead are usually wretched beings and some of them (like ghosts) don't reality they passed. Demons are capricious and . Devils can be rule lawyers try and over-smart one (or at least let them think they did)! Angels always need to have proof of ones purity. Whatever lurk in the dark is probably sneaky and has a trap set nearby for slowing/slaying foes. Drow master the art of shape-changing their victims into aberration, to bad for the character that got caught in the last combat. Better hurry up before they change his hands into scissors. The party should get the XP any way they find to overcome the difficulty, this makes them come up with fun ideas. Fight is only one of an infinity of options! One awesome encounter I created is one where they had to basically dance all the way to the other side of an illusory ball room with blood tearing vampire courtesans that basically didn't know they died and kept repeating the same experience. I promise, my group was astonished, they are usually a bunch of power playing hack-and-slashing assholes but they where just amazed they could just dance their way out of an encounter. They decided to talk the vampires into reality and got a very nice BG story i made on the fly and now they respect that moment and understand the undead for what they are!

[@patchyproductsink4693]

my friends and I are still new to D&D I'm still learning and then taking on the task of teaching them, watching critical role and your tips makes learning much easier and more interesting ^^

[@trashcan_boogaloo6584]

My first time DMing was a few days ago, with a group of 6. I was overwhelmed like hell but we all had fun and I think I did alright. These tips seem super helpful, ill be sure to use them in my next session.

[@snailslime2139]

THANK YOU for these videos. I want to propose to my girlfriend when we do our favorite thing, D&D together. It's my first time DMing, but I'm not exactly new to D&D....Your videos will help me become less nervous on a level I can't even fathom. Thank you.

[@eggsnham.]

Tell us how it goes :p

[@lazerboi6607]

How did the engagement go? We gotta know now

[@snailslime2139]

@@lazerboi6607 it went amazing!!!! I put the ring in a treasure chest, and she cried so much, she really did not expect it! I'm so happy! ❤️

[@eggsnham.]

@@snailslime2139 That's great!

[@gnomeyMTG]

An encounter not meant to be possible to win you say? Like four ancient Dragons?

[@nathanielranney9163]

+Andrew Mertes Or a very pissed of Tiamat.

[@NothingKingKN]

could also be a simple beholder if the party has low level, or a swarm of pissed off rampaging goblins

[@Yatsura2]

Well, they attacked at *HIIIGGGHH NOOOOOOONNN*

[@professorstarzomski]

Tiamat, then Zombie Tiamat, then Zombie Zombie Tiamat

[@awesomepocalypse3203]

Ten tarrasques blessed by evil gods

[@Davx_87]

Matt. You may no clue how much this helps us DMs

[@YourRedDog]

Tips from the Dungeon Mercer! This was great and I can't wait for more in the series.

[@TheLeK00]

Hi Mary and everyone! First of all (as it is due) let me thank Matthew for the amazing experience that is Critical Role, and for starting these DM Tips videos! Really great stuff! I only wanted to add one thing, in regards to encounters building: there is also a very neat little app available, Dungeon8! It is really well made and fully offline, so you can even note down possible encounters on the fly while commuting underground or the like. :) Matt, thank you so much again, can't wait for the next videos :D

[@TheLeK00]

Damn phone autocorrected the first "Matt" to "Mary" -.-"

[@starcxtcher]

i’ve been a dm for one day and let’s just say,,, i’m really bad at it, i needed to see this series sooner

[@bakerhi7753]

Is there a list for the rest of these tip videos/are there more? I would love to see all of them and take some sweet notes.

[@cmckee42]

+bakerhi This is the first one unless you count episode 12 of critical role

[@GeekandSundry]

+bakerhi This was the first tip! Check back next Tuesday for more!

[@frederik7338]

+thearnulf8 In the Critical role series, where Mercer (the guy in this video) is DM there is a special episode which is part DM tips and part one-time scenario .its episode 12

[@Espinozaize]

+bakerhi This is the first one. From now on they will be uploaded on Geek and Sundry every tuesday

[@frederik7338]

all right :)

[@nimbusbuster]

Thanks so much for these. I've been playing D&D for a while, but only just recently started being DM for my group and this video was great for me.

[@notoriousectotherm]

This was four years ago, and it still seems like sound advice. Good job, Matt.

[@patrickaquilone]

With starting an RPG this weekend where I am the GM, this video is AWESOME.

[@SeraphOfTheNine]

I was about to run the playlist in the background, but these tips are really amping my creative mind and I had to stop playing games. I need to have a pen and paper while I watch these :)

[@silkyz68]

Damn, I am so happy you are making these. I am starting to DM a campaign on Sunday and i'm sure these will be extremely helpful

[@ruebenaugustin3493]

Great series. I agree some fights are not meant to be fought or at least won if the PCs do so. Had a TPK once when the party ignored the odds and walked into an enemy encampment with bows and crossbows singing. I did warn them three times on the disparity of the odds but the PCs were blind with hatred for the enemies in the camp. Fun times!

[@Skyscraper125]

I love some of this advice, and I kind of have already used a lot of it in my Tyranny of Dragons campaign. . . mind you, the book offers a lot of insight into all of the characters. Still, having made up my own stuff in the past, one of the biggest issues everyone has had is not having a satisfying villain. In Hoard of the Dragon Queen, you're met with a duel with a super powerful Half Blue Dragon, Cyanwrath, who is basically meant to kill a player character should they decide to duel him. Otherwise, he duels the captain there and is very likely to win. Later on in the same campaign, when they had finally killed Cyanwrath, there was literally a roar of cheer around the table. NOTHING has ever been more satisfying for me as a DM than to hear that from my players. So, yes. TPKs are nasty and bad...but I feel like one of the issues a lot of the classic made up stuff runs into is that it never challenges the players enough with the encounters that are made that it will produce lasting villains in the future. For example, the Glabrezu that killed pike, imagine if that demon came back in the future? It'd make SUCH a satisfying villain having nearly eliminating Pike from the party entirely. :P

[@Elfandspartan]

Been running a game for a few years now where we started by creating all the classes, settings, villains etc. from scratch. We had to since the entire setting is extremely unique. Sort of FF meets DMC meets Mad Max.

[@BrianWilkersontheAuthor]

Lots of useful stuff. I try to keep environmental stuff in mind, like the weather or topography (that is, when I write; I don't play as often as I'd like) but it slips my mind. Thanks Dungeon Master Mercer.

[@uhlan1035]

I'm so glad you created these. Matt you're an inspiration!

[@rodney1120]

Matt Mercer is the kind of DM I aspire to be!!!

[@Owl_Knight98]

Start my first selfmade campaign in October and this tips are very good. Especially if you have 4 newbies

[@jotero-colon526]

your gm tips videos have inspired me to make my own game. thanks.

[@1sinbad1]

Last week I tried to DM and it kinda went well, but these tips help tons! Keep up the good work!

[@SugawaraKoshiSuga]

I'm gonna be running my first campaign soon and I was like: God I would love tips from Matt. Oh it's my lucky day!

[@crowdedinmysky]

Really love that you guys are doing this! I've learned so much from Critical Role, but these tips are continuing to build my skills. Thanks!

[@stormcry0]

last night, first time being DM. PCs went through a lot of mental distress from fighting a witch in the woods. (I added mental distress as a characteristic 'cause PCs can go insane in this world). A PC decide she don't have time to use matches to start the fire in their camp. Cast burning hands, critical fail. Cast burning hands right after wards, critical fail again. The woods start to burn. Out of frustration she decides to take a piece of wood, put it close to a burning tree and use it to lit the campfire. >everyone goes to sleep and the night ends while half the freaking woods burnt into charred dust. Some times being DM is funnier than being a player xD You mr. Mercer are the best, thank you so much for your work in G&S. Last night was one of the funniest we had ever and it was only because of looking at critical role and listening to your tips :P

[@Aureolelegends]

+will palach Quick heads up if you run into any problems with the mental distress characteristic: if you weren't already aware of it of course, in with case I offer my humble apologies for assuming your ignorance. There is a Sanity stat that can be added that is highlighted in the DMG. Page 258 for a list of Madness effects, and page 264 for Sanity stat.

[@stormcry0]

Aureolelegends thanks man, I'm pretty new at DM and I let many things pass over my head :P I already checked it out but it feels a bit narrow for my intentions but I'll use some of it. I'm translating the darkest dungeon stress system, when it hits 0 from losing checks too many times the mental stability of the PC is tested, if failed it gets an affliction, if it passes it gains a virtous state :) Last time around I made the party's rogue to run around in the woods for 2 nights straight from being "paranoid" xD

[@dancook6114]

this topic is really appropriate for the game i am currently running for a group of uni friends. the current quest they are on has a powerful gnoll pack lord as the end boss. the party has encountered him twice already but both times due to a combination of unfortunate dice rolls and the beast's heightened intelligence he has managed to get away. they are still chasing him down across the wilderness and finally have him cornered with no escape but what i initially intended as a one-off boss fight has turned into a popular recurring villain in the campaign

[@sassyviking6003]

One thing I love to do to tweak emcounters is give humanoids mounts. It is such a simple thing but can completely change the dynamic of a fight. A few goblin ambushers in a hidey hole is very different from a few goblin ambushers kiting you from the backs of giant wolf spiders or crawling on the ceiling pelting you with arrows poisoned with the spider's venom. This works well for beefier enemies too, orc or hobgoblins are one thing, but a regimented lance formation of hobgoblins on top of massive shaggy dire wolves or a thungerous charge of orcs astride huge wicked tusked boars is a whole other animal to tackle. So my two cents start small, then tune up with specialists tk make it feel mire unique, and mounts are a super easy way to do this as it adds not only another creature but a bunch of new tactics the party must account for.

[@procrastinatinggamer]

One thing I've noticed with systems like D&D's challenge rating is that there can be some creatures who are much more powerful than their CR would suggest. I think some systems have gotten better with this, but it is something to keep in mind. EDIT: Regarding the battlefields, there's an encounter in the second part of "Immortality", a published campaign for the Iron Kingdoms RPG, where the party has to pursue that part's Big Bad through a rail warehouse as he tries to reach a train to escape. I don't know how well the encounter plays but they tried for a very cinematic running fight with all sorts of environmental hazards and things both sides of the fight can do to use the environment to their advantage. Could be a good source of inspiration.

[@ArgonMatrix]

I was literally about to go start DMing my first game today and was worried about building encounters. This video couldn't have come along at a better time! Thank you!

[@KhaoticPhoenix]

Matt, (if you read this), could you do a how to plot? or how to create a good story if you don't want to go with a pre-set one?

[@noobertk]

Thank you Thank you! I am planning a campaign and the planning was bringing me down a bit. This helped me immensely!

[@sirhamalot8651]

One of the BIGGEST takeaways: Create custom enemies! You PC's have access to the "monster manuals" and can know every aspect of the enemies you use. (AC, hp, weapons, protections, weaknesses, etc.) Strive to make something different in EVERY encounter, even random ones. 6 Kobolds attack with short swords. have 6 hp, ac: 13ish.. change to: 3 Kobolds attack with swords, 2 with ranged weapons, one Kobold captain/champion with more hp, ac, resistances, etc. Make the encounter always differ in some way from the base stats so that your PC don't know what to expect.

[@LauralOfLove]

me and a friend started a D&D club, and this will be really helpful! Thank You!

[@emeliaosktomasdottir5988]

i am prparing a one shot for the first time. critical role and GM/DM tips have really been helpful with ideas! :D

[@noelvillanueva9375]

i just did my first homebrewed fallout and my players actually liked it very much :^) these tips helped me alot for my first game