Challenge Your Players - How to Dungeon Master Series

This is the fourth episode of the "How to Dungeon Master" series. This video explores the philosophical aspect of creating challenges for players and what to look out for when playing with new Dungeon and Dragons players.
Playlists
Learn How to Play D&D 5E series:
• How to Play Dungeons a...
Link to the D&D 5E Class Guide playlist:
• Dungeons and Dragons 5...
How to Dungeon Master playlist:
• How to Dungeon Master ...
Website: dontstopthinking.com
Facebook: / cjleungdst
Twitter: / cjleung_dst
Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=4787242
Minds: www.minds.com/CJLeung_DST

[@loeym6536]

OMG, reducing a DC for persuasion based on how well they have sussed out their character is genius! It is what I've been looking for in my campaign.

[@ditrixgenesis781]

"or you will miss the story of the bard who dropped his pants" It's... It's a bard. We've ALL heard that story

[@fester5616]

Your vids are so much better than the official rulebooks. I'm DMing for the first time, and this is great, thank you!

[@FlyingDominion]

fes ter make sure you don't completely skip out on the rulebooks. You can find downloadable PDFs online with a quick Google search.

[@fester5616]

Flynn Curtis: of course I won't. But this does tell me stuff I couldn't find in a book.

[@Nico-uy2so]

fes ter like what?

[@taylorheninger5631]

Me as well!

[@bucketking1919]

Agreed fer ter

[@icantthinkofagoodname.3983]

Wait, three halfings in a trenchcoat as a character? T H A T S P E R F E C T

[@GillOfTheNorth]

Vincent Adultman!

[@juniarvidsson7755]

@@GillOfTheNorth He was the only one to ever treat Princess Carolynn right

[@nairocamilo]

My favorite franchises: CJ Quest and Matthew Fantasy

[@matteussilvestre8583]

Now I'm imagining two halflings in a trenchcoat going on an infiltration mission.

[@clementfitoussi2615]

Done that, it was ultra funny

[@eladrio2311]

OPA! My comrade Boris in one of your videos? Is it coincidence? are you a western spy? Boris is not a western spy because of his good squatting position...

[@TheQuyman]

Eladrio RAU IIISSS boris?

[@simcptmike]

I just used the last couple hours watching every video on your playlist to learn to play 5e. I haven't played since ad&d. Lol. I'm really looking forward to my 5e books arriving this weekend to begin playing again after 20 years!

[@spicenick8243]

*he loves interacting with Danny devito* I actually lost it at that line

[@daniels.9740]

>"Nobody is perfect" How can you say that when Matt Mercer is still alive

[@haggisllama2630]

Lord Tachanka Matt mercer is no mortal he is a god in pure form

[@vukodsrbije]

True, HE IS PERFECT

[@Sasquatch-fx6gw]

Lord Tachanka Me- well he cant be that good and wait. What did he really record fhe sound of a pencil *looks up* WHAT THE FUCK. HOW IS HE MAKING THAT SOUND WITH HIS MOUTH

[@reyo0531]

Only Tachanka is a God not matt

[@Manavine]

Actually, Matt did make a mistake or two. But even gods make mistakes. Let's stop and be real for a second. Most religions say their god creates everything. And yet, we humans love to kill other humans. Wouldn't that be a mistake of its own?

[@StarBoundFables]

Chars need a character arc to inspire empathy in the audience, that's 1 reason it helps illicit genuine emotions from their deaths. Another great tutorial, CJ, thanks!

[@juniarvidsson7755]

i love how the wizard is just purely disappointed throughout all of the videos :/

[@KaiserAfini]

This really makes me want to see a stream of you DMing or read an Active Play blog.

[@justinlastname2931]

Yeah

[@Dorian_sapiens]

"Hold on, Boris" is one of my most used phrases while interacting with people on the internet, these days.

[@bludgeonswagons9435]

It must be very hard to animate those characters, but it's definitely worth it. Your videos are great!

[@braedonwatkins967]

Man, wish I saw this video earlier. Ran LMoP and a rogue ran into Klarg's lair when they already spooked the goblin on the bridge, got sent a couple of floods, and presumably Klarg was notified about intruders. Homie was actively frustrated his stealth was at disadvantage when he jumped down inbetween 4 enemies aware he was already in the cavern. We talked afterwards and I had to tell him why Klarg knew he was coming explaining the goblin on the bridge was able to reach his lair and notify him. It was totally logic misalignment!! Because his reply to my explanation was more or less, "Sure but I thought it was like Skyrim stealth" and I was sitting there thinking: I'm so dumb ofc he thinks its like Skyrim stealth if that's the only stealth system he knows he thinks he can walk into a room and crouch and that's stealth. I never communicated that the enemies know what they're doing and that they wanted to win and that he cannot crouch in a room between 4 enemies who might be expecting his visit. Glad he is a chill player though. We got excited rolling his new character, a dragonborn rogue (interesting choice), now and he has flame breathe'd an entire room of enemies to death or near death 3 times now! His new character is the local badass next to our strategist/powergamer warlock and I'd say that's not bad :)

[@satsiretaffer4619]

Matt Mercer is the Bob Ross of DND.

[@queenannsrevenge100]

Satsi Retaffer Does this make Satine Phoenix the Julia Childs of D&D? :-)

[@Nonofyourbussiness15]

I hope he doesn't diebof cancer though

[@emanergza6383]

I wanna see Matthew Mercer's stats

[@drgoo2825]

9001 in each

[@Manavine]

@@drgoo2825 24 in most stats. Probably 22-23 in his dump stat even.

[@beargrills3508]

30 charisma for sure.

[@davegreenlaw5654]

One of the most memorable character deaths I remember was in L5R. We were at the end of an epic campaign, the 7th 'book' as it were that the GM was running...set a few years after the last 'book', so our characters were quite something in the game world. In the final fight against the usurper who was corrupting the empire, the GM allowed my character one final strike as she was about to die. One last chance to succeed, and she made it, dealing with the monstrosity, and putting her twin brother on the throne with her last mortal action.

[@invaderzam]

You are already an amazing animator but your take on theory really elevates your content. Whenever I try looking up how to DM in youtube, all I get are listicles of tips. None of them tackle the science and structure of DMing quite like you. Good on you man.

[@arryxjalaxy2881]

I just finished watching this series so far and I must say I am really excited for my next Campaign. I will be able to put everything I've learned to use and I really can't wait to see how my players will interact with the next game world

[@leonardoayala1167]

I’m soon doing my first session and these videos are helping so much thank you!

[@goncalocarneiro3043]

Good advice, and some subtle jokes, memes and references mixed in, always nice.

[@RottenRogerDM]

I am a "drop another quarter for more lives " dm. Which means raise dead spells are easy to come by. So PCs can die 3 ways. 1. Stupid (jump into lava). 2. Drama (" oh no they killed Kenny" ). And 3. the dice hate you tonight!However death of a PC needs to be covered in the "Session Zero". I do roll in the open so it is hard to fudge a hit back to a miss. But your method is good too.

[@qurantino3624]

Ah yeah! You’re videos are fantastic! I’m now working on my second campaign. I’ve played since February, and my first campaign has been set in Middle Earth (LOTR) my next campaign will be my own fantasy world which I’m really looking forward to!

[@dreddbolt]

Bosses and midbosses with environmental and/or personal tech in addition to phases... delightfully dastardly.

[@Malkor13]

Been subbed since day one as I knew the clarity of your videos was something special. Now your animation and storytelling as well as personal skills are really coming through, it's just fantastic! Congratulations and great video!

[@MrArmedVideos]

These videos have been very useful and easily approachable. You deserve way more subscriptions, man.

[@ray5227]

".....Danny DeVito the bard NPC." This reminds me of how my goal as DM is to always include a character named John Travolta, simply because in my first game I was denied naming rights to a random orc.

[@admiralmac1]

These vids enabled me to run my first game; they are a gift. Thank you for putting in the effort my man.

[@feytertom]

Jesus these videos are pure gold :O so glad I ran into your channel!

[@Furiora]

I'm not even going to lie, when I heard the line "the story of the bard who dropped his pants", my instant response was "sooo, every bard ever?"

[@christiantjiong285]

Love these series! Very useful for a new DM

[@elreydeoros87]

This is pure gold. Insanely helpful

[@aethon0563]

Ha! I just ordered a copy of Tales of Equestria. Seeing it referenced in your video made me giggle like a child.

[@tinkilechat]

You fat loser... players can't die in this piece of crap, you know that, right ?

[@Manavine]

@@tinkilechat 😒 You sure love to keep to yourself

[@FrejthKing]

/)

[@Troommate]

Boris and his Tracksuit XD

[@dfallenb9358]

Thank you so much for these great helpful videos!

[@martinchua9104]

I love this series! I click it the instant I see it lol

[@Mira_Mira_0n_The_Wall]

another great video!

[@ShadowAxon]

I played in a D&D mlp game. It was far more darker then any other D&D game I ever played in and we fought horribly stiched together nochromatic monsters.

[@ShadowAxon]

We also were caniveing and cutthroat and it finally came to blows with the characters infighting.

[@icecreamdrought]

Love that Boris easter egg

[@neonnova1085]

i am a new subscriber and i am thanking god for me finding your Chanel because this is helping me get ready to become a DM in my small town thanks

[@willropa4226]

Yeesh, the Death portion really stirs memories. The death mechanic did screw me over twice in a way that I described later as, "Being treated like a Zelda boss", as in stunned then killed. To start off with, the first session began and I had just created my thief elf and entered the first dungeon. We had a gimmick where we decided which path to take and I was the only to go left. I went that way and was caught in a quicksand trap that I barely managed to avoid dying in but was left incapacitated, and then two skeletons moved in and killed me instantly, no saves. Then later on in the same campaign, I created a new dwarf fighter and was later caught and imprisoned by a corrupt government. Lying in a cell, another inmate began convulsing and my dwarf went to investigate, the inmate suddenly exploded which stunned my dwarf. The explosion then began a zombie apocalypse and my dwarf was killed instantly, no saves. Obviously the first one could be justifiable, but the second, no way. Just a request to any future DMs watching this, don't treat players like this unless they're really asking to die, give them a chance to compete before their demise.

[@2power011]

Cheeki Breeki slav squat references? Your videos are awesome my dude!

[@nerdbow9192]

YESSSS NEW VIDEO

[@Big3Taxi]

YAAAAY!!! Another video by CJ! 😍

[@dudedaniel1127]

My players love to be mentally challenged!

[@DontStopThinking]

I perfectly understand the feeling, lol!

[@justinmatthew8885]

You are my new favorite person

[@Kali-Alpha]

Do mean to say that they love mind games and challenges, or that they play like they have a mental disability? Just curious.

[@mathewsmith2281]

I want to thank you for making a life of Boris reference

[@DontStopThinking]

😆

[@royalred6076]

I feel like when it comes to people who like narrative, or more specifically, actor roles, come with time. In my own personal experience, many players start out coming for the combat and questing, but many of those that joined for those reasons became more invested in building characters and the narrative on a deeper level.

[@MattyDove]

I must be a stick in the mud. Cartoon antics get you a death sentence at my table...

[@justinmatthew8885]

F is for Friends who do stuff together U is you and meeeee N is for ‘nywhere and ‘nytime at all down here in the deep blue sea!

[@marcar9marcar972]

F is for fire that burns down the home town! U is for uranium... BOMBS N is for no survival *WHEN YOU!*-

[@DrakeEpsilon]

Awesome video! I'm currently DMing a group that is exploring the Underdark looking for reports of Mind Flayers, so far they have encounter one who actually gave them a hard time (even when I homebrew a weaker version of Mind Flayer so it would not be so difficult). In the end the Mind Flayer escaped and now they are about to find some Intellect Devourers... I don't know if everyone is gonna make it. But I'm planning that if one get body snathed by an Intellect Devourer they can still play de character (it would just be de ID pretending to be them) but with the hidden mission of lure them into a trap. But maybe I'm worrying for nothing and they manage to get out alive. Still a long campaign ahead....

[@underhaykids6861]

I like your accent, it's cool. Also you help a lot the first time i tryed to be DM i got really stressed out and didn't have fun but the second time i knew what i was doing so it was much better.

[@ihateallmikes1083]

One time my friend's friend was falling down a cliff, he decided to roll to flap his arms violently to fly He rolled 20. Twice

[@besser-nicht]

Fun explained in one word: recognition. i can have fun without narcism.

[@shawnredmon6542]

This is so good.

[@martinmyggestik292]

This is very intelligent. Awesome video :)

[@d-man3589]

I had a guy do something inexplicable and once I asked him what the hell he was thinking all he said was “don’t worry about it, I have a plan” we stopped playing shortly after that point and I never found out what the hell he wanted to do. Moral of the story sometimes the players think themselves so clever they want to surprise everyone with some plan and they refuse to tell anyone because of this great surprise they have in store.

[@Danmarinja]

My last session, my players were told to remove all weapons and to go to a public execution ground. They had, in a previous session, rigged this thing to not kill anyone, and instead to let them go, but they were adamant they wouldn't be sent into this thing. So they took on a group of seventeen guards and a Blackguard, using only a couple of tridents that one player managed to smuggle into the fight. During the fight itself, I had given one player a bracelet from her deity, and not explained what it was. I then proceeded to have most guards attack her, and she, at one point, had literally 1HP, and I was extremely excited to have this bracelet activate when she ran out of health. Unfortunately, I forgot that I was the one rolling for the guards, and from that moment forward, literally every single dice roll failed to hit her.

[@tinim5145]

This episode was fucking amazing. The jokes and references made made my day. Thank you so much

[@anothernik9372]

You are the best man!

[@meganchristensen1068]

we have decided for our group to have each of us to create a section of world and then we agreed that each of us would dm the part we made. I became a lich! its our first campaign/game, but we're working through it!

[@HoshouNeko]

Thank you CJ! Very helpful videos for noobs like me.

[@SolaireOAstora]

LOL been watching the entire series so I can start dming for the first time with my friends who are also new and that slav squat meme made me laugh my ass off

[@jonathannguyen561]

Can't wait for Home-brewing and World-building

[@Monkeyboy-hq6uz]

Are you a Dragon Quest fan

[@blizz3975]

How is it possible to have terrible and terrific accent at the same time?!

[@jennali9800]

Missed opportunity to call this series Dungeon Masterclass

[@angusdrummond4995]

When you get up to the homebrewing and worldbuilding episode, can you make another sample dungeon or part of and adventure to show us? I'm about to DM, but I have a very broad spectrum of different players. What is the best way to design a dungeon without being a pain to everyone by throwing them nothing but monsters and traps??

[@Jpteryx]

Try one or more of these- * Have some social challenges. Monsters that aren't hostile, or can be manipulated, or want something more than just killing the party. * Have interesting environment features that aren't harmful. Maybe old broken traps that can foreshadow what the working traps do. Maybe the nest or home the monsters live in when they're not patrolling the dungeon. * Have challenging environmental features that aren't traps. Maybe a pit they have to climb around, or a pillar they can slide down into another area. * Connect to the players. They can find things in the dungeon related to their backstory, or related to other places in the world. * Put in some rewards. Treasure is nice, but there can also be monsters with useful body parts (if you have crafters or survivalists in the party), helpful dungeon features like a healing fountain, or even useful information.

[@past5484]

"Nobody is perfect." That dude named nobody : You are damn right I am.

[@SpookieVonDookie]

I love your videos

[@abelsampaio389]

The Mattel consultant looks like a middle-age real life Ken and that's not a coincidence

[@sergiobilbaosanz]

Do you run any online games? I've been wanting to try a role playing hang out for some time now, but I have no idea how to do it. Any tutorial about online table top role playing?

[@garythenpc9217]

Actor/Instigator best girl

[@owenlastname.3500]

Aaahhh I've watched 4 videos now. DMing is so complicated I wish I could just hire one so I could play.

[@blagachu1107]

can u make a series teaching about other systems like gumshoe, 7 seas, savage lands or pathfinder?

[@commentatorboy]

HAHAHA the best part is "matthew fantasy". State of the art telling.!!!!! KEEP IT UP

[@dragonafro4462]

My group and I are playing Shadowrun at the moment and I play as a descendant of a thief I established in a D&D campaign. There were some stairs we had to go down and I decide to sneak down the stairs. I ended up failing the check and fell all the way down the stairs instead and acted like Peter Griffin after he tripped lol

[@xezzee]

In my own opinion, when I get to the mood, DM is way easier than being player :) That is if I get to the mood. Had fun experience being hyped being Dm but after a while it started to winder untill I was sitting down just playing other games and could not care less :\ The hardest part is the starting :D onces you get past the 5 minutes of slow start that would like more oil everything starts to move smoothly for me :D

[@lethugnul657]

Yeah... my players were awful the first time i DM my campaign... one player powered creeped the fun out of everyone in the game and when i said that i wanted to change some rules. He said that its not fun and that he didn't like... i didn't care because everybody else had fun. But he still don't want to listen

[@theduelist455]

I played a game with a wizard who cut off people’s ears, a dwarf rouge who couldn’t hide, and a fighter who wanted bread all the time. It was a weird campaign.

[@DontStopThinking]

😆

[@theduelist455]

I should clarify that I was the DM, not only that but it was the first game I hosted. Needless to say it was a wild time.

[@articery]

Yo cj we all know that sqautin on the curb with ya crew is the only true type of fun yo

[@leslieviljoen]

1:20 fun is voting by the curve with your crew? I don't understand. Google's AI can't understand either, maybe someone could fix the captions?

[@Kuiriel]

Logic misalignment over a halfling weenie. Too much lols. XD

[@Kali-Alpha]

11:09 feels like some kind of reference in the image used. Care to say what to? There's a tiefling in a maid outfit with an eyepatch; A dragonborn in fine clothing/armor; And a halfling bard. What was that. It's so specific. Is it an inside joke? Tell me, please!

[@padmanabaraorudrresh4913]

Can't Leraline cast major image @8:39 ? LoL

[@mastermatt1171]

A DM once tried to make me not die. I rolled a 1 four times in a row while tring to save myself and both him and me were like "my fate has been chosen"

[@uppeltje1532]

SO basicly you can ignore charcters health as long as they aren't supid and like jump in lava or you want them to die? You can say like: you are heavily wounded etc.

[@argenthellion]

How do I personally treat PC death in DnD? As a player I run permanent characters, meaning the campaign they die in simply gets wiped like some sort of a failed parallel universe. As a GM I have a similar treatment as mentioned in the video.

[@lordlol77]

I have a question. I've never played and i want to know how in game time works. Does the DM decide that or do some encounters have a set time or what?

[@DontStopThinking]

It is elastic. Time moves depending on how dramatic you think it would be. Just warn the before hand that a day would pass or an hour would pass and ask them if they want to do anything before it ends.

[@lordlol77]

So what does it mean when for example something lasts/takes 1 minute to complete?

[@Jpteryx]

Time is measured in the game... sort of, sometimes. Each round of combat (after everyone has taken a turn) is six seconds long, so 10 rounds is a minute. Taking a short rest requires an hour. Taking a long rest takes eight hours, and can't be done more than once a day. If you go traveling, there are rules to calculate how long that takes based on how far and how fast you go. But if none of these apply, such as if you're setting up camp or having a conversation or going shopping, the DM might decide how much time it will take.

[@saberman121]

at one point in my campaign i had a friend state that they want to stab an enemy with an axe, while i know as a dm I should have fixed it to be slash with an axe this is a group of friends I was DMing for so it was justified to give him a hard time for this and force him to roll to stab with an axe, which he succeeded and thus gave him the name tickles von axe stabber, the 'tickles' part was from a different battle involving this character *Edit* and by succeeded i mean that it was a critical success *Edit*

[@namelessman0445]

5:18 what is that tattoo lol? It's either Call Of Duty 37 or a barcode 😂

[@seanhummerston7331]

i had a question if anyone can help. I'm a lvl 5 barb i just got extra atk when it comes to my turn and i roll to atk with a D20 and it's successful do i get to roll 2 D12's for dmg with a great axe? Or do i roll a D20 to atking 1 time then roll another D20 and atk again? i hope this makes sence

[@DontStopThinking]

"Or do i roll a D20 to atking 1 time then roll another D20 and atk again? i hope this makes sence" This is the right way of doing it.

[@thecantina6029]

i am playing in a campain with my school friends the DM ha never played D&D before so i am helping him do you think there is any other way to do this as it takes away the suprise from me when i know whats happening

[@DontStopThinking]

You can just give him an outline and tell him that he can make last minute changes to surprise you.

[@thecantina6029]

thx

[@bluereptileproductions]

*a halfling's cocktail weeny*

[@RVR121]

Dwarf and the halfing in a nobles trench coat to infiltrate the palace, Halfling on the bottem heavy dwarf on top because he is better with words. The halfing barbarian hiding under the rogues dress while the rogue does all they can with a disguise kit to pass themselves off as a noble woman at a masked ball. If you have a halfling you can throw them over the wall to open the gate point is if you have a halfling they are more a utility item then a player :L

[@neosgx149savagelit6]

RVR121 n

[@Droid15243Z]

Mathew Fantasy, lol! xD

[@malabbarik2570]

Borisssss!!!!

[@FrejthKing]

Cheeki breeki

[@Aetherion223]

An open question here. Me and my friends dont play tabletop because we never have time to actually meet up, instead we either use discord or Facebook messenger for audio amd video chats. I was just wondering if anyone would think this would make it easier or harder for a DM Also every campaign I have taken part in the DM has had their own character within the session and I was just seeing if this is common practice or not

[@DontStopThinking]

DM PCs are usually frowned down upon and are discouraged because DMs are often biased towards their own character. However, as long as the DM PC does not take the fun away from the players it shouldn't be an issue. In fact, it can actually be beneficial for the party if the DM PC takes on a support role in games where there aren't enough players to create a balanced party.

[@Aetherion223]

@@DontStopThinking the dm's I have encounter that have their own PC are always fair and balanced and used more as a sort of simple guide. They dont always fill a support role and no matter their initiative role they never put themselves first and are never the "party leader" letting the group choose what happens for them. So I guess as long as it is kept balanced and not over bearing it can be a good thing?