Great GM: Making Maps on the Fly - Game Master Tips for your Tabletop RPG

[@liminalheadspace5624]

Usefulness of map : Great quality Value of information : Excellent quality Face he makes when the room starts filling with acid : priceless

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Hahahha. Glad you liked the video!

[@PilesGaming]

Mary Lucretia _1

[@peridoodle2644]

Player: "Can we go down a level?" GM: "This is why we cant have nice things." *EXPLOSIONS*

[@Renato99873]

Peridoodle LMAO hahaha

[@eKalb33]

That's when you say "Of course you can, you are now back to being a Level 5 paladin."

[@professorpandemic7295]

You sound like a documentary narrator. I dig it. I love documentaries, I love role-playing games, I love maps. This sounds like a role-playing game map documentary. Much appreciated.

[@pooface1041]

"delay until you figure it out" sagacious advice

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Nothing like a little random encounter to keep them busy whilst you figure it out :)

[@Sabamonster]

"someone playing lets find narnia, that didn't win" Roflmao. You're a class act mate.

[@mayt7192]

Ah, yes. The blood pool. A must-have in your dungeon for all your minions to enjoy.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

It's not technically a dungeon without one... it's just a ... garden shed. :)

[@stormtoober2355]

excellent video! I had never considered the fact that it takes years, possibly decades to complete a dungeon. The different building styles used in newer sections is brilliant. this will also help throw the players off and make them paranoid that there are traps, monsters, magic, or just plain 'ol "something's not right".

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Ah the many ways we attempt to make Players loose their collective little minds ... :) Let me know how it goes!

[@bryandwyer2204]

On thing I would add is, have the building serve a more mundane function I the past. No one goes out a says "I will build a dungeon, and I will partition the orges from the kobolds, and I will put in this trap...." no, no, no.... people don't build dungeons, they build schoolhouses, fortifications, prisons. The orges and kobolds occupied the building after it had sat abandoned, and the architect did not build an arrow trap into the wall, that was rigged by a ranger who spent the night in the structure previously and your player was the unlucky sob the finally triggered it.

[@darkmansigma4541]

Exactly, if every 'dungeon' is a madman's deathtrap, it says something as far as the overarching mental stability of people in your setting.

[@oz_jones]

@@darkmansigma4541 i mean, if you want to run a setting where everybody is Jigsaw, why not

[@popmcpop9676]

A Minotaur enters and performs extensive renovations on the dungeon

[@NickTheCat_DieGoettlichenZehn]

To create a tea room, for sure.

[@Onyxolotl]

"this guy looks especially nerdy" *British Accent* "I pledge my service to you my liege.:

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Now rise Nyxternal, and serve with honour - run your games with cunning, deception, and a little twist of bacon and avocado dip with sprinkles. :)

[@natedunn51]

I just ate, and now I'm hungry again.

[@SpielKnights]

I love the idea of the gnome that demands the players get dungeon tickets.

[@blythe-runicgram]

I LOVE how system-agnostic you make all of your videos! For some reason, it just rubs me the wrong way when every other video of GM advice on the platform is marked as "For DM's" and "For DnD"

[@abonynge]

I feel like politicians would make great gms, because so far your great gm series feels like "how to bullshit your way through convincing people you planned more than you did" And honestly I think being flexible as a GM and reacting to the player's actions and choices instead of pushing them towards my narrative has made it a better experience for everyone.

[@1simo93521]

Funny how corridors are a modern invention but we put them in ancient settings anyway. I've been to some of the grand old houses in the UK were I live and the rooms open directly in to each other. So I build buildings in my fantasy world without corridors also.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Some corridors are modern yes. Packing room to room is as you say correct too. Most often older structures were large halls with columns and precious little else.

[@myownmusic8182]

Yeah, but it's an RPG. Practically half of the game is suspension of disbelief, and let's face it, long, dark corridors are fucking terrifying.

[@teaartist6455]

The thing that bothered me personally more is that the space was used very inefficiently. If you build something from the ground up you probably want to live in most of it and not have huge chunks of just building material which you or rather your servants have to carry there and build.

[@mateusz3844]

@@teaartist6455 yea, but then again: those corridors are fuckin scary 😨😃

[@affsteak3530]

Really its about finding the balance between realism and dungeon function. Always err on the side of dungeon function because players do not care about the details of ancient fictional architecture.

[@EnergyCuddles]

You are an absolute delight to listen to! Very sound advice, too; one can tell you are a well-versed GM and player.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

I am flattered, thank you.

[@SointexJambis]

You're so genius at improving ideas and both knowing and modifying expectations, that you make this look so easy. It's amazing.

[@Akravator12]

Recently I've been spending a lot of time just working on, and making my maps ahead of time. Watching you do this though...it actually looks like a ton of fun. I think I would enjoy just drawing out the map as we play. I'm cautious about this though because I have two players who seem to want precise numbers for everything. They actually used math to triangulate their position in a "theater of the mind" encounter with a Hag and her moving house chasing them through the woods...I just...I can't even...

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Don't be forced to do things you are not comfortable with. If the players want that info - ask for intelligence checks, or math rolls or whatever and say - right you don't know. If they do - well then you need to be a little more specific. However if they want exactly measurements of rooms... then give them exact measurements of rooms and make them pace it out, ask if they have paper to write it all down on... but be sure your other players are not falling asleep and slitting wrists out of boredom!

[@Akravator12]

I have one other player besides them, and he and I will likely be slitting our wrists together, but that intelligence check is a good idea. Generally I have to make battle-maps if there is more than one enemy as they can't seem to handle not knowing exact positioning. I think rather than trying to imagine themselves in the battle, they imagine their tokens on a battle-map. Anyway, my solution was to create a large wilderness map for random encounters and I'll plunk them down in random positions on the map, so they don't know that it's the same map every time.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Not a bad solution at all!

[@marcog.verbruggen674]

wait did they actually use math to do that, or did they roll for intelligence or something? because if they actually *did* that, they are fucking legends

[@davidmorgan6896]

So a bronze-age shaman and a tribal warrior know about triangulation and can do so, without surveying instruments or accurate cartography? On the fly while being chased by a witch? No, they are meta-gaming. I'd stop playing with these people if they persisted.

[@Nibilli]

Really great video ! Great tips ! I would add few thing. First, I have a context before you arrive. You are in a swamp or on an island? perhaps it is partially flooded. You are in a ghost town? It should look structured and perhaps like a manoir or castle. You are in the plains? Perhaps it's a cave or a watchtower. This gives a general architecture to the building. Then, i ask this question : Who lives here? Certainly the place is not empty. Just choose a random group like a Great Dragon, a Lone Necromancer, a group of goblins or Yuan-Ti cultists, and drop them and their followers anywhere i want. With those two things, you can improvise any dungeon while keeping a guideline. Ideally, the inhabitants did not build the place, that gives me more freedom. I don't like buildings on the fly, because it creates empty space and it's often a bad thing, many players have problems immersing in a dungeon with walls not fitting together. If i have to, i always have my rooms against each other. My advice is to always try to fill empty space so that the outer lines of the map look believable. And most of the time... i make a cave. In my opinion, caves are the best way to build a dungeon on the fly. You can go wherever you want, in any direction, have it go up go down, and you can really focus on the story and the npc or enemies you want to encounter. And even a building can have a cellar leading in a tunnel, or whole in the ground, perhaps done by a spell or a giant worm. It's easy to draw and super fast to come up with. And you can even add an ancient drow outpost or dwarf temple if you need to add unusual rooms. Really, caves are the easy and fast way to make a good map. I like your symbols, never thought of adding to the walls or things like that ! A video on symbols and how to have codes with your players would really be helpful. I often get "oh that's a altar? i thoughts it was a carpet". Another thing that really would help is building city maps ! But I'm getting greedy ^^".

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Great advice here! Putting it in context and geography is of course a great starting point! Like I said I think those symbols came from ADnD. But it could be a fun tutorial in it's own. And as for city maps... wow yes. But I gotta do a space map first :)

[@Nibilli]

Yeah like i said take your time ! For me maps and diagrams are worth way more than words. But this "on the fly" content is really helpful !

[@jordananderson2728]

The accents are spectacular, my liege. I watch your channel regularly to expand my already capacious imagination and bring with me massive amounts of knowledge to my own games! Thank you for the wonderful channel which grows my abilities!

[@BraxtonSharkboy]

"Can we go down a level?" Nah the ship just blew up lol

[@Jeffk1]

These are really neato poteato. You seem honest and humble, which makes it much easier to watch.

[@kekimusmaximus7309]

That rant about empty dungeons just made my day/nigth. :D

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Glad you liked it!

[@sethkeown5965]

this really does help. I spent a few hours last night building a world map and just before going to bed I started stressing about specific building/encounter maps that I hadn't made...but now it's just a matter of remember the basics then build the fluff.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Exactly! Glad to be of help!

[@alejandrogangotena9033]

If you truly made all of that in the fly, then I know for a fact your creativity has been artificially augmented. or perhaphs.... SUPERNATURALLY D:

[@jacobfike3697]

13:50 perfect villain chuckle. Reminded me of TIm Curry playing an evil sorcerer or something

[@bridgeburner92]

looking fly bro.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

:)

[@abstractbybrian]

@15:12 - great idea! Love that one.

[@kidskylark245]

Tried this method for my very first campaign and it worked like a charm. Thank you so much for the video!

[@ndowroccus4168]

This is my FAAAAAAVORITE way to do it, I don’t fully do it improv style, I start with four-ten rooms/areas...then add things as the players bring out of me. Their excitement, makes it easier. I can’t always do it, sometimes if I just don’t have the brain power to read my players & improv encounters/rooms (say after a 10hour work day of craziness). One trick I use is a few or more old Ad&d modules, hidden within a folder. While playing I will peruse them and pull ideas from them...you can’t sit there reading while the characters wait, you have to pick and choose your perusing time, or just ask them a question you already know the answer, and pretend to be looking through players handbook (they like to know the players handbook rules, over a DM...you can use that). Perusing a module means flip pages from the middle to the end or middle to beginning, and quickly scan for a room that might fit into the next encounter. Eventually you may see a boss idea, and slowly work the encounters towards that.

[@beverleybee1309]

I have a really old ad&d dungeon master's guide that contains a random dungeon "generator" section. I take inspiration from there. It even has descriptions of potions and smells the players can find there.

[@kevinbenn1400]

Fun drinking game: take a shot whenever he says "Zarghuul." It gets fun when he starts chanting.

[@pragmat1k]

When I do my map designs I look at the map that I have for my table and outline that many spaces on my graph paper. I then make sure any of my floors or sections cleanly fit in that area. In my case it's a 17x23 area. And then I make sure all of my connections line up with where they are on the previous page and things fit logically. Can usually fit 2 floors on a page.

[@GRex7777]

This video was crazy helpful. Especially since I'm in a 4E group, maps are especially important, so it's nice to have this to look at for ways to make them make sense.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Glad to be of help! 4th Ed. does require serious mapping.

[@GRex7777]

Very much so. I often hear debates about if D&D is a board game or not, and while it's debatable on other editions, 4E is basically a tactical miniatures game. lol

[@PuppetSquid]

Oh, man, that lever idea! I now have to put an un-pulled lever at the start of a series of traps, possibly with a secret door next to it. The traps start inactive, and if the players pull it they hear the rattling of chains and mechanisms falling into place - the door stays closed but the traps are now active! Later on they may find a secret passage that comes back through the secret door.

[@gtkall]

Thank you very much for this video! As always, very proffessionaly made and extremely usefull! I love how you always seem to be ready for what comes next, but in reality, you use your imagination and knowledge to fill it up. It comes with practice, I suppose... I will go practice then!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

It absolutely comes with practice. All those faces I was making during the video were literally my brain ticking over - OK you said this... now smartass how do you like it? But you do, and you learn to let it flow rather then try to figure it out.

[@gtkall]

That's what I try to do! Our brain's computing power is massive, so we have to take advantage of that ;)

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Sometimes I feel like I'm running a 486... lol

[@Aggrosaur]

Have a session tonight thank the KZbin lords for this video!!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Indeed! We thank the KZbin lords!

[@WhiteKitsuneKnight]

13:46 the expression of an all-powerful being

[@rashkavar]

I can see using the descriptive process to help with designing dungeons beforehand as well - just imagine the players the way you were here.

[@candiedginger8729]

You are delightfully sinister sir. I like your style.

[@RylanBones1]

How dare you. I was not prepared to laugh as loud as I did at midnight over a joke about somebody suffocating in a closet. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. additionally, the whole, "I WOULDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO REMEMBER TO COUNT THREE STEPS, HOP ONE, COUNT THREE, HOP ONE, COUNT TWO, HOP ONE, COUNT ONE, HOP ONE EVERY SINGLE TIME I WANTED TO GO TO THE SACRIFICIAL BLOOD POOL. NO!" made me chuckle harder than it should as well.

[@aerodylluk2543]

Cracking use of voices, great stuff.

[@galenapex7235]

This is the advice that I have always needed.

[@anothersmoke9513]

For dnd on a super small budget I bought a big pack of alcohol markers off Amazon like 23$ a mix media sketch pad for like 12$ and then a ruler and box cutter, I sketch 1inch square grids then use the colors to pixel art the terrain and dungeon, then cut paper squares for player "minis" and enemy "minis" with whatever primary color they are, been able to almost map out all of LMoP and paper minis for every encounter with just that supplies and could probably make half another campaign worth of maps and stuff just a idea for anyone on a super budget and player who have issues with theater of the mind

[@Team_Orchid]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! Oh I am so favoring this video to remember this advice!

[@tyrvaldfenrischain7967]

18:30 "Zarghuul was eaten by Syphilis..." Heheh

[@dramspringfeald]

An easy rout when making dungeons is first asking its original purpose Was it meant for keeping things in, things out, storage, magical practice and so on. A storage based dungeon would for the most part be fairly well organized, a prison would be super easy to get into but hard to get out of, while a stronghold would be almost impossible get into but easier to navigate once you get into and so on. Older dungeons will be adjusted but still hold its original reason for being made.

[@Tovec8]

I would love to hear more on running Star Wars. In several of your videos you mention "starships" but in this one you actually said "imperial star destroyer". I would love to see what you mapped out for the inside of a ship like that.

[@youshimimi]

Holy hell, that Zargul voice freaked me out! Nice!

[@sirderik]

i really enjoy your DMing style and also you attitude.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Why thank you. I just try to have fun :)

[@dart1609]

One of the best videos. Thank you.

[@Lazy_Titan]

Hey! You make me wanna be a great GM😀

[@oinkleberry]

How to make a map on the fly: wing it... and do a barrel roll!

[@paulcoy9060]

don't you mean an aileron roll ?

[@robertabarnhart6240]

@@paulcoy9060 Are you a pilot, or just an Air Disasters junkie like me?

[@paulcoy9060]

@@robertabarnhart6240 I'm a fan of MatPat's "Game Theory" channel, including the Star Fox episode from way back.

[@fhuber7507]

I like a room that when you open the door appears pretty much normal except a haze of smke or fog is noticeable. Wait a few seconds, smell of zone, not smoke. So its apparently a fog. First party member enters and... disappears. (tell that player to hush up and we'll get to him in a moment. Other party members have the choice to follow, or not... The doorway is a dimension door, one way. Teleports those who go through to the lowest level of the dungeon. Hopefully now the whole party is down there, trying to figure out how to get out and... roll initiative, Piercers.

[@Author_Antonio]

Must say mate your helping out a fair bit! keep up the good work :)

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

My thanks! I hope they are helpful!

[@gebatron604]

that was amazing to watch, your best video yet

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

My thanks. And welcome to the table! Glad you could join us. You can never have enough Guys. I've only met two others.

[@za91848]

Great video, as always!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

My gratitude! As long as it was helpful!

[@mateusz3844]

You have lovely hands, but next time place your camera on the right if you are left handed 😆😆😆But on a serious note: great video and you must be an amazing GM!

[@frankrobinsjr.1719]

I can't draw a decent stick person. I was a total cheater. I do like history. Encyclopedias held maps of pangea. I outlined them for my world, expanded them for use and had my world. I used military layouts for dungeons, linking the buildings together with tunnels, some going down, up, or staying on the same level. The more bases I went to, the more dungeons I had available.

[@gtkall]

That's a way to do it!

[@frankrobinsjr.1719]

Play to your strengths. Drawing isn't my strength. And, considering that we didn't have "Google" back then, I used what I had.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

I do wonder though about National security... Um sir.. somehow they got the layout for the base... did someone leave the blue-prints at the local gaming hall :p. I love old maps personally!

[@frankrobinsjr.1719]

Have you seen a Marine base? Anyone can see the layout. I ran a lot as a Marine. Even without the rest of my platoon, I was working out a lot. I always knew every inch of every base I was on. I also knew everything within 14 miles surrounding the base so I could make a good running course. Maps were available on base from Special Services so all new Marines could find everything. I just added distance.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Well now I know. Gosh we keep the layout of our TV studios secret from paying clients let along anyone else... Different strokes I guess!

[@mr.makepeace3465]

"I wouldn't want to have to remember to step three, hop one, step three, hop one, step two, hop one, every time I wanted to go to the sacrificial blood pool room!" 😂😂😂😂😂

[@philippereeves9241]

Another great video! You make it look so easy; maybe you could help me get answers on the dungeon-drawing topic? How do you feel about strictly describing what they see and let the player draw themselves? How do you deal with transportation spells (as Passwall, Stoneshape or Dimension Door in D&D) that do not care about wall? Do you simply play with low-ceiling dungeons - or rather - is the height of a room is a relevant factor? And if it is, how do you map it?

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Unless that's part of the game - drawing the dungeon themselves it just slows down the pace. Most teleportation spells require line of sight or previous knowledge. If they randomly bounce to the other side of the wall roll 1d12. On a 1-3 they enter a wall and die. Otherwise random room time! As for room height - let your imagination run wild. I've had rooms that are five stories high, with magnificent columns stretching upwards. Or downwards. I use a dotted jagged line to indicate a space like that! Hope these help! :)

[@philippereeves9241]

Thanks for the quick answer, I'm not use to improvise a map on the spot but I'll definitely try it, it seems to much fun!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

:) Anytime!

[@ad-mc]

I'm definitely going to start calling our living room The Mustering Area

[@89taklung]

At the moment I'm more of the 'pre written adventure' kind of GM (really not the time to make up an adventure) but this also helps in these cases, hofw often do you have some lame ass dongeon in these and feel like it's a waste but this would make it much easier, also you don't always have to look up what is in room 1 or 2 or soemthing. Just note the main goal of the heroes in that dongeon (eg. in a dventure I am going to master soon they have to collect a godly sword from somehwere, where a shaman had hidden it years ago) in the adventure it's just said that it is somewhere i nthe swamp, it might be guarded by some goblin or there are some undead roaming around. How much cooler if that sword was broad into this from ghosts haunted dungeon (after all the shamen would have had a way with the ghosts, them being his profession more or less) amd maybe have them have a small adventure, maybe a treassure of old to be discovered in that smaller dongeon etc. I always felt dongeons are soooooo hard I always tried to make everything up before hand and it felt so clunky... but if you tailor it while playing you can always react to the players and see what is suited to come next which makes ist way more dynamic XD Another big adventure I plan to play will have a gigantic old Ice tower where the highelves used to live until it was taken over by a traitor who belives herself to be a goddess. she still resides there with her self created race of dark elves, building enormous underwater cities under the Ice. A big crtique I often read was the missing of a map for said tower but I guess as long as you know a few rooms that are important for the story you can just make up the rest as the group goes along, I mean, why not right? I'm getting really exited about this ^^

[@davidradon7240]

13:47 made my day!

[@johnathanblackwell9960]

Nice sugar-loaf great helm, been meaning to say it for a while

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Thank you! One of my prized possessions even if it is a replica :)

[@garagavia]

Not watched this yet, but what fly are we drawing it on? Because I tried with a normal fruit fly, but that shit was impossible to read, and the fly died half way through... 🤔

[@CallenExile]

If you do another one of these, keep in mind your camera placement would have been ideal if you were right handed. Great advice though.

[@QFGlenn]

Keep making more!

[@m.ferashida7422]

hey Guy, how should you handle Wilderness maps? I'm always wondering and having trouble making the area of a confrontation in the wolderness fun or interesting.

[@Sodomizer]

Damn, after watching all these, I want to play a game with you as GM.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

You can - join me on patreon. I run a weekly game for the crew! Or better yet - run your own game and share in the awesome that is our RPG world!

[@hotknux]

this was a great help ty

[@johndoe2805]

Another excellent video, HTBAGGM! I'm not sure if you've mentioned this in previous videos, but have you ever offered players rewards from NPCs for gathering map data of a dungeon? If so, how would you go about implementing it while still retaining the fun factor? My pc's are on their way to explore a nearby cavern system to complete a bounty hunt for a pack of ghouls. The cavern system is fairly unexplored, and I'm considering whether or not the mayor will offer an extra reward for providing map data. Though I'm not entirely sure if it'll add to the fun, or just make the dungeon tedious.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

If the caverns keep changing shape that could be fun. If the cavern asks the party not to that could be fun. When asking yourself a question - will it be fun, it means you are not seeing what could be fun. Which is absolutely fine sometimes we don't see the 'fun'. However all you need to do is then ask - what would I expect. From a mapping mission - I'd expect difficulty in mapping the dungeon. Why because difficulty makes it fun. But what makes it difficult to map an inanimate object? Is it the monsters? Nah... monsters are expected. What isn't expected? A dungeon that doesn't want to mapped. That is unmappable because it keeps moving depending on the emotional state of the characters? That's what makes it fun. So ask yourself - what do you expect and how do you add in the unexpected!

[@johndoe2805]

That's absolutely brilliant! I'll definitely be using that, thank you. :)

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Only a pleasure!

[@PilgrimofMatter]

LOL! Must be a Norman Bishop who wants the library.

[@gerythionargarys7848]

I was always taught that doors (when drawing schematics/layouts to rooms etc) should be / shaped. So, say you have a room with a wall like ----------- you have then have a door like -----/------ (except shorter, but limited by what the keyboard has...) Uh, either way, it probably doesn't matter. Just something I had thought of when I saw that part in the video.

[@VoltisArt]

There's no one convention, but the only thing like that I've seen is showing how wide a door opens, including the outside arc. Most doors and windows are shown as some sort of box or an actual gap in the wall, or a combination thereof. (Like thick black walls and the doors are white space framed with lines.) Unfortunately, most sources will say, "This is how this is done," leaving out that there are other styles for different purposes, (roleplaying, furniture layout, building construction, etc.,) different countries and languages, and personal preferences of the local architecture teachers, lol. I've even seen remote feuds between a high school teacher and community college teacher. "Yeah, I get that nonsense every year...now I know what school you came from. For my class, you're going to do it this way."

[@denolaj]

No stairs in the towers? Weird. Are the acolites of Zarg'ull perhaps actually Daleks?

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Ha! Well spotted! And if you asked that question as a player I'd say ... it is indeed mysterious that there are no stairs... or at least none that you've found. Then when drawing the final space I'd add in a gigantic grand staircase. Or a teleportation portal to the next level... ;)

[@RatzahHarvex]

That voice in the end though

[@detectivebob2187]

Was that bit about tickets a starfox reference?

[@myownmusic8182]

What is the type of grid paper you use? Just regular grid paper, or some special D&D grid paper?

[@lukecaruana8871]

Not strictly related to this video. (Cannot find the right video). I remember the video where it was recommended to have characters of players who are totally new to the setting start naked and in a box with possible amnesia. I'll try that tonight for a new player who is not that knowledgeable on lore and see how it goes. Having him naked in a box is very easy in game mechanics. (Vampire Masquerade).

[@robertabarnhart6240]

If you've got food prep areas, you should probably have a few toilets too. What goes in, must come out.

[@The1Goby]

Do you always draw rooms as squares and rectangles?

[@Atze.Tatze69]

he is soo damn good in makeing things up^^ this is soo great, i wana know mor about zargul and the dead lovers and the gnome-gardnerer -I named samwell and teh beast hidden in the room of darkness and the and the ..' how shall they destroy the Dead undead Deathlord Zargul ??

[@aledthomas9403]

Hey, this question is wholly unrelated to the video but I was wondering if you could offer me some advice as I couldn't already see a video on the matter. I'm thinking of running a game based heavily off the works of Andrzej Sapkowski and the Witcher series of games for my group. After scouring the internet I couldn't really find anything so I was wondering if you could give me some tips on homebrewing or a good roleplaying system that I could use or adapt that would fit thematically with the universe. It's a dark fantasy setting in an unforgiving world, with elements of Grimm's fairy tales and polish folklore. While it's a fantasy, it's more medieval and realistic, similar to A Game Of Thrones as opposed to The Lord Of The Rings. I've thought of GURPS but no one in the group particularly likes that system. I was suggested the latest edition of D&D and modifying it to fit with the setting, but I'm not as familiar with the latest edition. If push does come to shove I'll probably use that but I'd like to see my other options. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

That's a tricky one, especially since my knowledge of systems is sadly limited. I would point you in the direction of Warhammer Fantasy system without the winds of magic (just tell the players they can't have magic). I remember that being a fairly bleak system and it fits with dark fantasy and dirty horrid conditions of medieval Europe. 5th Edition might work but a lot of it's balance comes from magic - and lots of it. I'm gonna ask fellows here - PLEASE HELP WITH SYSTEM ADVICE

[@aledthomas9403]

Hmm, fortunately there is magic involved, just not a great deal of it. Magic isn't as widespread as it is in say D&D, with only mages and sorcerers (who are few in number), Witchers (Various clans of warrior-monk monster hunters, who are also few and far between) who use a very simplified form of magic, sages and witches (again, simple forms of magic and curses that you would associate with folklore and fairy tales) being able to use it. Another issue that's cropped up is what they can play is. Witchers tend to be associated with the books and games, with them being very powerful monster hunters who are great at investigation, tracking and many forms of combat. I'm cautious however on allowing the players to play as them, as by nature they inherently powerful with suppressed emotions and as a result would make roleplaying uninteresting. There are dwarves, elves and gnomes and such, but with those I fear they'd rather play as a witcher who are incredibly capable in many situations from a game play perspective. I don't know, maybe I'm over thinking things. It'll be my first time running a game that I've created from scratch, so it's all a bit of a shambles at the moment. Also, thanks for the advice! I remember years ago briefly playing the warhammer fantasy system (being a fan of the tabletop battle game) and rather enjoying it, it was something I'd totally forgotten about until you mentioned it so I'll be sure to check it out again! I have yet to play the latest edition of D&D proper, so I'll have to see how that plays too.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

You are over thinking it a little bit... :) My world - Braxia - has been evolving and growing since around 2006. It started with me being home sick with a bizarrely horrid bronchitis that let me think, but made me weak. So a drew out a map on white printing paper. It was huge - six pages across by four pages down. It took me a whole week. I wrote down names of places and - if you watch my map building tutorial you'll see how I do it - started building a few notions. The rest of I let the players do. Over the past 10 years that world has only been redrawn once - last year and into an even bigger map - and there are still parts of it no one has been to. They remain vague and open. So don't worry about too much detail or planning.

[@F-Rank]

This might be too late, but if I recall correctly, Ars Magica also has a great setting based on medieval Europe and it's folklore. It might fit in with the Witcher setting if you disregard the way Ars Magica builds the player party and if you limit the Magic system. I don't know much about the Witcher setting, so I'm not sure it would make sense for them to do so, but maybe the players could be working for one of the Witchers? Sort of like in Dark Heresy, where the players are working for an Inquisitor.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Thanks for the suggestion! I've not tried Ars Magica... maybe I should!

[@oz_jones]

Best part about this was the fact that while you said that you created this on the fly, but it might as well been scripted - I would never know

[@erixon2012]

As I don't play DnD but other systems, maps are not as useful to me or players. I always keep maps for myself until players complete a dungeon (aka they have explored it and have only last room left) and explain player positions verbally. My players are smart enough to always comprehend where they are going without even drawing the rooms they've been in! Usually it's because they just have to know where their PC is and not others. I remember one battle in a dungeon against a werewolf that I foreshadowed. Players were wary but didn't know if they were alone in the dungeon. They got legit scared enough that they were speculating leaving the place and returning the next day. When the beast attacked one of the players, it was because they strayed away from the group to check suspicious sounds. They were a sorcerer and attacked the beast with a gayser spell flooding the rooms with dense myst and shortening the visibility. Other players came to rescue. The fight was thrilling and this whole time not a single player was confused to where they were. My advice for playing like this is KEEP IT SIMPLE - When you're a GM trying to host battles without tactical maps, you have to make sure players are either: A) In a fairly enclosed space B) In a fully open space with simple prop placement In an enclosed dungeon keep rooms square or circular, avoid concave shapes and complicated room layouts. Also every room has to be obvious and distinguishable. For example room with lightup candles, room with bunch of bones and corpses and a very tight corridor. You can make a room with a weird shape to make it distinguishable too, but also avoid vertical diversity, it becomes confusing to players very fast! Use simple ledges and floors :) Props are the things that shape open spaces so keeping track of them is hard, make maybe 1 or 2 big props that will serve as position reference. Use bushes etc as boundaries and use ground types effectively to affect the space and make the battle interesting. USUALLY the best open space battlegrounds are over a river, beach, cliff or a stonehenge-like structure :D I once had a GM who NEVER drew maps, maybe except one time he had to visually explain where enemies are in a forest due to confusion amongst the players. We were playing WH2K classic fantasy so almost always battles happened in a single room or so.

[@chascuk]

Your cathedral building schedule is an order of magnitude too optimistic. They mostly took centuries not decades.

[@benjijones4909]

Drawing on isometric graph paper lets you put multiple levels on one page

[@lysander1]

i often just steal maps from elsewhere. for example last week my lot had to rob a bank and instead of drawing the whole thing out and planning it i took a map for wow (the stockade) and told them that was the bank. Helps to have a few there pointed off incase a fight breaks out somewhere random an i can just toss over a map and say "hey this is where you are okay?"

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

I used to do that - well I drew a ton of stock standard maps - and used them everywhere and in different settings. What I realized was that most of the parties I ran didn't care about the map or the specifics, just the quest or the escape of whatever it was. But pulling maps from else-where is not a bad way to go at all!

[@lysander1]

it suited us well for that encounter, yes. But we shall see as the campaign unfolds. I have a question, boss, how do i fluidly move form one campaign into another without it seeming hamfisted or clunky?

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

By campaign you mean adventure series? IE. we had 31 adventures around slaying the dragon and now we are done killing it there is a new major story gonna kick off? Or as in we played DnD for a year, and now we're gonna play Modern d20 kinda fluidly shifting?

[@lysander1]

I mean the former, thanks. As in, 31 adventures to kill the dragon, dragon now dead, new story kicks off. I am worried I might make it seem clunky or too obvious and therefore bore my party of players.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

If you've thrown out enough seeds and planted enough side quests that were left unanswered now is the time to draw o them. What I find really useful to do though is have at least three sessions where it's about the characters. The celebration, the home-coming, the family matters. During those sessions you start to introduce your next big story - subtle and never obvious. That to me is the simplest way. It does rely on you having dropped hints of other stuff happening or going down during the previous campaign. If you haven't, then it's time to resort to the old tried and trust - You've been summoned due to your fame - please report to castle Y to get given your next quest. Use fame, notoriety, or character history as an excuse. But of course it's a red herring isn't it. The task they're sent on because of their famous battle prowess is a ruse to keep them away from a more dangerous plot, or to send them to the other side of the world to be forgotten. That's my quick answer :)

[@tworivers3518]

A room full of cultists and there are bones littering the floor from all the human sacrifice? Can the GM give me constitution check for every cultist in this room... And wouldn't the cultist have some kind of cleaning rota? I mean, they can't be cultists every hour of the day.

[@666wurm]

This method though lacks the planning that is surely going into planned buildings...

[@OlDirtySam]

Thats exactly what i thought. Storming a werewolf infested hospital or sneaking through modern museum where you suspect that the mummys are more alive then they should feels pretty off with maps drawn like this.

[@harpymaslow]

That's impressive... So you actually manage to draw your dungeon as you describe it to your players ? But they see you drawing, so they know you're making everything up, right ? Is that a problem ? I don't know. Anyway, that's impressive. I'm not there yet :)

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

No no no... my dear sir - I have some random map in my DM book, that - if I need to think or pause I will 'refer' too. Remember they should only be seeing the parts of the dungeon they have explored. So the map I am making for them is their 'area of vision' or the 'explored map' section. But yes I do do it on the fly, and my players know that I make up 90% of everything so for them it's just another piece. There is no rule that says - YOU MUST PREPARE :)

[@harpymaslow]

As a developer, I feel like I should code a Dungeon generator to make up for my lack of improvisation skills. But that wouldn't help me get better at improvising I guess...

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Nope... it's Imagine Sharp, not C sharp... ok bad joke. Ok very bad joke...

[@harpymaslow]

Your improvisation skills are better than your jokes ! Haha xD

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

:) Hence me being a GM and not a stand-up sit down shut-up Comedian.

[@michelefornovotapia2600]

"The star destroyer blew up" aka, I got mad and burned the whole map because I didn't want to recreate another 400 meters of map.

[@patrickroelant5171]

Only 80 years. I mean some cathedrals take 500+

[@gonecoastal4]

You just need to think of the last room you went into. It's probably the room you're in right now.

[@padalan2504]

Yesss. Move closer to the camera :D

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

LOL - I had to use my cellphone to record me, and my usual camera to record the map... tripod broke for camera... le sigh. And the cellphone doesn't like all the bright lights I've installed. lol.

[@Cannonbo]

this is cool, but i think it takes lots of practice. your imagination is impressive.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

I hate to say it but you are correct. Practice and building imagination techniques. There is a video on building your imagination and taking it from being a 'latent' ability into a weapon of mass communication.

[@OchibaKid]

Quick question for everybody do you always show the map to yours players?

[@OlDirtySam]

Most of the time i do not and they spend a lot of time drawing it wrong instead. I am thinking about having a second map cut to pieces i can give out whenever they enter a new room.

[@mateusz3844]

How does that 'on the fly' method go hand in hand with the rule 'adapt, don't invent' from this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYGknoifl8ySapo ?

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

It's all about having all the skill sets and then using ones which you need at the time.

[@mateusz3844]

@@HowtobeaGreatGM True. It's like music improvisation which is never playing notes out of thin air but rather putting together smaller and larger structures that were know/practiced beforehand

[@SparkB0x]

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

:)

[@BluScoutBonk]

A serpentine deity named Cialis? Seems a bit Freudian to me.

[@BluScoutBonk]

Or was it Syphilis.

[@shandyswapp689]

His voice reminds me of Tim Curry's

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Poor Mr. Curry! I haven't ever tried to impersonate him. John Cleese, David Attenborough yes, but Tim Curry... I don't think I'm sultry enough :)

[@davemarx7856]

No fly with a map on it... you lose sir.