Everything you Need to Know to Run a D&D Campaign

Everyone wants to run or play a DnD Campaign, but what do you need to know before you are ready to do actually run D&D? We're gonna look into it in this new episode of Tip of the Hat!
Video Editing by the amazing Bia: / bnazf
Writing, Illustration, and Narration by me: / antodemico
Additional sketches by the amazing Fey: / feymilde

[@pointyhatstudios]

Welcome to Session 0, everyone tell me your lines and veils real quick

[@Dangerous_DM]

Yes

[@libbyschupbach6241]

Brain hamburger

[@malcolmbrown2741]

Me name barb me hit stuff to save thing.

[@berryNtoast32]

Line: capitalism & everything associated with it 😂 Tired of living in it and don’t want to pretend about it!

[@jotunr]

Just hit me with everything fam, I'm playing a zealot masochist for this one.

[@GinnyDi]

when you said that you hate the D&D advice of "don't overprepare," I was like.... this is why we're friends 😤

[@pointyhatstudios]

Of course you would be correct about this too 😌👌🏼

[@peterbillings3276]

[looking back and forth between you both like a happy golden retriever]

[@Xuphilo_CHSM]

ALWAYS OVERPREPARE!

[@kinderoovobarbaroelegante2854]

My friend took 8 months preparing a campaign, is that wrong?

​​@@kinderoovobarbaroelegante2854 it isn't "wrong" per se, but maybe it's a lot of work even before knowing how players will respond to their world. My best advice would be to prepare the @PointyHatStudios 's points explained in this video and then have one or two sessions above the current one at play, so you could change whatever you want based on players' decisions. Being 8 months working on something to see your players ignoring that (or maybe getting bad rolls discovering it) could be frustrating, so it's good to take it easy and build it while you're playing.

[@ryansullivan5854]

For a guy who doesn't like the "don't over prepare" advice, you did an excellent job of explaining what that advice encapsulates!

[@benjaminmckay6983]

Don’t over prepare is good advice IMO, its meaning just gets lost in translation the more people pass it on. It’s not that you shouldn’t create locations, NPC’s, situations, etc. Those are all essential bits of preparation. The “over prepare” part is when the GM starts plotting too far ahead, creating contingencies for actions they predict will happen, and prepping for these various different outcomes. In moderation this can be fine, but many GM’s get carried away prepping futures that will never occur.

[@themightymash1]

​@@benjaminmckay6983 I also think it means to expect to improvise at times and if a better idea comes along it's okay to change to that

[@AshaCrone]

@@benjaminmckay6983 You really do need to prepare- but it is so hard to know exactly what to prepare when you start out. I blame the DMG. It goes big, and pitches DMing as something huge and abstract. It doesn't go into the stuff like how to run a session or the types of players. None of this seemed to be mentioned until Wild Beyond the Witchlight. It was kinda nuts.

[@benjaminmckay6983]

@@AshaCronethe 5e DMG is genuinely terrible. It’s basically inspirational reading, not anything useful in play. The few good tidbits of information are buried in walls of texts of mostly irrelevant rambling.

[@AshaCrone]

@@benjaminmckay6983 I wound up reading stuff by sly flourish to work out a system for myself and tons of stuff about session 0 to figure out the people managing. Honestly more helpful than anything in the dmg even after reading it a few times

[@mitchellpatterson3044]

4:07 as a forever DM By choice (i just REALLY like DMing) my favorite tone is: "Serious Nonsense" where 90% of the time it's what you expect. But every now and then...there's the rediculous. Like when the barbarian rolls a natural 20 on an Intelligence Check they suddenly have glasses on and know EXACTLY what the party needs. 5:50 not sure where mine lands. Likely on higher concept. Mine is "World Divded into 8 elemental Provinces and the people therein have adapted to their elementa while becoming vulnerable to another."

[@Internet_Wizard]

One punch man let’s go

[@metakarukenshi]

Agreed. if the majority of the story isnt serious, then the weight of the conflict is lost. having those small moments that allow for sillyness makes the story feel more real cause, people even in hard times will still make jokes.

[@sinner933]

I think shitshow can be like 30% if your world don’t have contrast of good and bad thing it becomes monotone. And monotone is bad, if you have dark campaign then light places should give hope and light, so you can gather strength to fight darkness for even glimmering hope for good. You see what light is, it gives you hope. Even in bandit/mafia no law territory there should be full size scum and honor bound people(or they can be both).

[@thekaxmax]

I run a dead serious universe with loonies in it. Similar to Discworld: the inhabitants are dead serious at almost all times, and so are their lives, but from outside....

[@TheRallycore]

I personally like using the Yakuza series as an example of a good tone for DnD.

[@LOBricksAndSecrets]

Everyone seems to forget that Tolkien started off only worldbuilding enough to write some silly poems and give his kids bedtime stories

[@jans6271]

And started with the language

[@destructionindustries1987]

Great artist

[@wired7654]

I have never felt more seen than when Pointy Hat described all those unfinished campaigns...like tears...in the rain...lost to time Lmao

[@VanDavis]

Them damned C-Beams sure were pretty, tho. 🥹

[@minedark597]

About to run a Oneshot to some players I've been playing with, with 2 of the players being previous DMs. This came just in time. Notes are ready, let's learn

[@Kitsune_Enjoyer]

Same im about to run a oneshot for my group in wich two of them are either the current DM or where the DM for a past campaign so i totally understand how you feel😅

[@fogdance]

Can i just say that aside from the great info and tonality of your work, I'm literally always floored by the clever, seemless transitions in the cinematography. Just. Magnificent. Give your familiar a treat or something

[@artemiswolf4508]

My favorite tone for DND campaigns is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. A wacky strange world fill with irreverent stuff with either extremely bizarre or non existent explanations, but the people inhabiting said world are very real and so are the consequences of their actions. I think it comfortably fits all the funny nonsense players bring to the table AND a storytelling that can be just as moving as anything in lord of the rings. Like yes, the personification of death is a stereotypical cartoon skeleton with a black cloak and scythe, he once had to step in for fantasy Santa Claus who’s real as well. Also he had a daughter that died very young right after having a baby of her own and HE had to personally reap his daughter’s soul (after trying to bring her back and failing), he’s still deeply mentally fucked up about that and having to raise his granddaughter alone. Those two things coexist perfectly in the world and are the epitome of the ttrpg vibes.

[@Sara_Ryan_007]

I have created a character in my campaign taken from CMOT Dibbler. Not only does he peddle sausage in a bun the sausage is a possessed spicy salami serpent who can do fire breath damage as well as make a character have watering eyes.

[@Feanor6450]

always nice to meet a fellow pratchett fan, I tend to borrow pratchett things for traits and personalities and whatnot, my current character has small but notable influences from pretty much every main character, from Vimes, to mistress Weatherwax, to even Tiffany a bit, probably more vimes in terms of personality but with a sprinkle of other stuff.

[@foxylovelace2679]

I really like the idea that people just sort of accept the weird and wild but still have very grounded realistic interactions and feelings. People are people no matter what their status quo is.

[@jaceg810]

Early Mistborn, you know, light, fun, concentrating on adventure. To be fair, you specified early, however it still does the cold open with something along the lines of "under a bloodred sun where ash rains, a small crew plots to kill god"

[@Nonzerotonin]

The first line is "Ash fell from the sky."

[@wittfloyd533]

A true sando fan in the comments, I was just about to say that lol

[@sTribak99]

As a long time DM of 7 years having been blessed by a consistent group of players, this is still a VERY useful video. Sometimes, one forgets even the smallest of things, and I thank you for making this, it's very nice to be able to come back to and just remember what is needed for a successful campaign.

[@blasecube]

Damn, being a long time DM at 7yo is actually quite impressive.

[@sTribak99]

@@blasecube Hah, I should've worded it differently it seems! That's another added to the bucket list of things to remember when writing. :^)

[@blarzz148]

Please, bring back "But Make it DnD!". The first episode on Pokémon inspired me to run a Pokémon themed campaign. Plus, I'd love to see things like Monster Hunter or some kind of anime to "Become DnD"

[@stwbmc98]

I would highly recommend you Heliana’s Guide to Monster Hunting. It adds a lot of new rules that cater to a Monster Hunter style game

[@dvklaveren]

I'm currently making campaigns for both Pokémon and Monster Hunter, but with my own wild take on the core conceit. For Monster Hunter, I recommend looking at Spheres of Power-a 3rd party supplement with a free wiki that's a full overhaul of Pathfinder, in which abilities from classes and feats are broken down into smaller parts and can be combined in an incredibly diverse number of ways. This is useful, since you can have monsters drop those parts. It's not 5E anymore, but if you want to have a core gameloop about hunting monsters to get better at hunting monsters, it's a good shout, I think!

[@MatildatheMoonwolf]

Yes on this! Also would be cool to see a 'Become DnD' on Digimon as the classic partner set up is not too far of from playing Beastmaster Ranger except the partner can talk like real people. The only issue is how do you do with the human character without being useless in combat or going against the source marital. I'm on a Digimon roleplay that has a TTRPG system made by fans and we went with one inspired by Season 4 (Frontier) as it solves the issue of humans being dead weight in combat by making everyone more or less Circle of the Moon Druid.

[@TheArtificer_]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but there are probably plenty of special RPGs out there, and if not, you can make one (or make a Homebrew for D&D if you really want to keep it).

[@boomerkobold3943]

There are better systems for this than DnD. Everything doesn’t need to use WOTCs bullshit.

[@EduardoHernandez-el6it]

THIS IS A GODSEND! I am a newbie to DND and I am the group dm!

[@macoppy6571]

Screaming and yelling is supposed to get us more content? Edit: I also consider this video evidence of God. 🙏

[@SingularityOrbit]

Whereas I have been running RPGs for 40 years or so, and I still find it useful to be reminded of this kind of advice. Like an electrician found electrocuted, it's easy to get so used to the way you've always done things that you forget why they worked in the first place. Like here: tone and concept are separate from the setting, but they all need to be considered to really get how the campaign's going to feel. Antonio's hat-master is great at making mindfulness work for DMs.

[@pedrostormrage]

7:19 The cyberpunk anime is called Psycho-Pass, btw

[@Sedr1s]

The hero we needed, but not the one we deserved.

[@market4457]

THANK YOU KIND SIR!

[@Hall003]

Thank you, I was going crazy

[@A.B.H_da-goat]

Some heros don't wear capes 🫡

[@nyxtesla8323]

Literally scoured the comments for this - thank you!!

[@Nosidda]

Including your players is definitely the most important lesson in this video, because there's a shocking amount of DMs who don't do this. Admittedly I am still new to DMing, I am running my first campaign next month, which will be Curse of Strahd, and I found the idea of making sure my players are a major part of everything that's going on to be of huge importance, and have prepared things as such. The best part about CoS to me was how open this module is to just adding things in and making adjustments to fit the stories of your players, and I have taken full advantage of that. I'll give an example, and let me say this before I give my example that if my players happen to see this post, everything below this point is MAJOR SPOILER territory. I doubt my players will see this, but just in case, if any of my players see this, do not read past this point. PLEASE! . . . . . . So my example is this. CoS provides an excellent vehicle to tie your players stories to the module that I absolutely love. And that vehicle is the Vistani. They act as the primary connection between what happens in the material plane, and what happens in Barovia. I love this, because in addition to hooking them with the idea that they are now trapped in this demiplane and need to find a way out, this connection means major events that happened in the material plane can translate to character arcs in Barovia. My favorite example is one of my players is playing a satyr who was told of a gemstone of untold riches on the Sword Coast. The satyrs lover warned her that the place the gemstone is said to lay is dangerous, and asks her not to go, but because she is so obsessed with pretty gems, she does it anyway. When she ultimately finds the gemstone and marvels at its beauty, the man who told her about it appears and tries to kill her and take the stone. Her lover arrives to protect her and sacrifices himself to ensure she gets away. Grieving her loss, she later makes a deal with a devil to erase the memory of her lovers death in exchange for a pact (She's playing a warlock, so pact backstory there). She now doesn't remember his death, but believes him to be missing, and that the gemstone she has may be a key to finding him. Going into the stuff this player doesn't know about now, I'm sure anyone who is familiar with CoS already knows where I am going with the gemstone. Yes, it is the third gemstone of the Wizard of Wines. It ended up on the Sword Coast because it was stolen by a vistana who fled Barovia to sell it for personal riches. He was never seen again. Additionally, the man who told her of the gemstone and tried to kill her was Arrigal. I am setting him up as a minor villain in league with Strahd as opposed to an ally, and he wants to get close to Strahd for the sake of having influence, and finding an opening to kill Strahd and seize control from him. By getting the gemstone and returning it, he would gain praise from many, making him more of a favorite amongst his people to have influence over many things. Essentially, people will see him as a light in the darkness, but in reality he's only doing it to gain power and influence, as well to get Strahd to notice him and get closer. Even more tragically though is the lover was not killed, he was still alive. Arrigal strapped his unconscious body to a pile of other bodies to present to Strahd, and brought him to Barovia. There, Strahd bit him and drank enough of his blood to kill him. He was later and buried and, yup you guessed it, he is now a spawn under Strahds control. And the best part about this is I can insert him in place of any spawn where I feel its appropriate. He can appear at the feast, or he can show up in Castle Ravenloft. I can put him anywhere I want, and thus I can decide when the best time is to reveal him to the players and let that arc begin. And this has so many interesting outcomes that I really can't wait to see what the players decide to do! This is one of the things I am doing to make the threat of Strahd feel more personal. I want my players to grow to truly hate him, I want them to get intense satisfaction from the idea of destroying Strahd. I want Strahd to be a villain that my players love to hate, and making the stakes feel that personal to the characters is going to really increase the tension, and I love that!

[@tanamutown7764]

Whoa this is long

[@fruity4820]

This is really cool, I hope you and your players will have a great time running this! Also, I didn't quite understand what your warlock player knows, does she know her character's lover sacrificed himself and it's only her character that doesn't remember it, or does the player only knows that she has a missing lover as part of her character's background and you plan to reveal the truth to her throughout the campaign?

[@metakarukenshi]

I agree with you that it isnt used as much as it should, the issue is it's not just the DM isnt doing it, it can be a few different things - 1 - The player has written a back story so elaborate that there is very little room to move in involving their backstory without also shattering the overarching Narrative. or players making their character backstory with secret knowledge they dont share with even the DM (like a player I had who their character secretly was a member of a guild that was looking for the same mcguffin as the party. but never informed me, completely derailing the story cause it was something I couldnt account for not to mention they at no point roleplayed their character like he was a double agent, their was no signs at all he was just always helpful. and their only response when confronted with how this broke the story was "I thought you could improv") 2 - The player says they want their backstory involved but either dont realise what that means and that it could take a while or they cannot communicate what they want with their backstory beyond just "I want it involved". (I had a player who wanted their character to find their runaway father, I wrote a thing to say he ran to join a rebellion in a distant country. but they hated this, they wanted their backstory run through and complete in 5 sessions.) 3 - and this is a two parter and why I hate saying DM you arent telling a story. The DM is telling a story, the DM shouldnt rail road but should have train stations. the party decides their direction to the station but they HAVE to get to the station or the narrative breaks, kinda like laying the tracks as the train goes, following the party's direction and subtly laying in a turn now and then to direct the players attention to something important that leads to the next Station. many players take the whole its the party story to an extreme sometimes, get so attached to their character they refuse to bite plot hooks, leading to the party sometimes just wandering around and avoiding conflict to an excessive level that the story never moves forward - I have had 2 campaigns that after the first arc of the story the players got so attached to their characters, one character died and that player just couldnt move on from their character, and suddenly the remaining character were too passive to do anything. met with any conflict even if it was backstory conflict their first choice was to avoid it. - TLDR many players make a character, then get attached and change the characters personality to keep the character safe rather than continuing the story)

[@Nosidda]

@@fruity4820 All the stuff I told about her character before going into the gemstone being the third gemstone, is stuff that the player knows. The memory erasing pact is something the player themselves put together, and wants her patron to give her character flashes of her old memory as she journeys. So the player knows about the lovers death, but the character doesn't. The player does NOT know, however, that her lover is in Barovia as a vampire spawn under Strahd's control. That is a special surprise that I have in store for my player, and want to keep it a surprise to see how they decide to roleplay that scenario. My plan is to have her patron plant her memories of her lovers death back into her head when she encounters her lover as a vampire spawn, with the logic of that devil being "You asked me to remove that memory. You never said I can't put it back, and our pact reserves me the right to do exactly that." and uses it as a way to torture her. This sets the stage for conflict with her patron, as well as Arrigal as a minor antagonist.

[@SAlcocer12]

OMG, I am playing a character in a CoS campaign rn with this backstory but instead of a lover it's her twin brother! 😅 So far it's been a lot of fun!

[@matthewholevas5039]

I'm feeling validated that I accidentally did all of these! And all it took was making a questionnaire the first thing I give my players. Sew your pertinent lore inside the questions and it will inform the tone, concept, setting, and conflict. Additionally, the characters they make with that will give you ample ways to integrate into your plot. I couldn't figure out who the BBEG was until I had a player answer the questionnaire with a tie-in In the spirit of "Pointy Hat free" I've provided a sample below from my current film-noir game set in a bubble city in Hell: Player Character Questionnaire: Provide your DM with answers to the following questions. If there is anything you feel is important to know about your character that is not addressed in these questions, please provide that as well. Motivations, Backstory relationships, Ideas for their character arc, etc. Q1: The city is a sanctuary city built in Avernus (Hell with Mad Max cars,) and has taken many precautions to keep threats out. Why are you in [My cool bubble city]? Ex: Are you a citizen? Are you here on a temporary basis like a diplomatic, engineering, or refugee permit? Q2: The city has become a trade hub for its proprietary technology called "Glasswork" that has created many inventions that resemble 1920's America. Namely radio, electricity/lightbulbs, and cable cars. What is your profession? Ex: Inventor/Engineer? Actor/Singer? Reporter? Guardsman/Outrider/Law Enforcement? Municipal Worker? Small time Criminal or involved in Organized Crime? Q3: The first session will begin with a Guardsman (Cop,) asking you to take a meeting with him about a job he has for you. Why do you take this meeting? Ex: Is he blackmailing you? Are your friends with him? Are you an upstanding citizen who is volunteering? Are you trying to get in good with the Guardsmen? Did someone tell you to come and give you no further details? Q4) The campaign begins with an election. The previous mayor served an unusually long-term (5 years instead of 2,) but has officially stepped down the morning of the first session. All citizens are eligible to run for mayor. Is your character running for mayor? Are you planning to get involved in politics or endorse a candidate? No one is obligated to run. Multiple players may also run against each other

[@claudiolentini5067]

This one is very cool, stealing this

[@matthewholevas5039]

Thanks! I just finished up this campaign last week and man we were able to kick off session one so much farther than I expected because people weren't asking so much for proper nouns. Less "what's this place called" and more "where are we meeting him? Can I get there early?" @@claudiolentini5067

[@foxylovelace2679]

Could you give an example of the questions?

[@matthewholevas5039]

They are in there above, but right after one or two tidbits of pertinent context each. Here are JUST the questions: 1) Why are you in [Name of my cool bubble city]? 2) What is your profession? 3) Why do you take this meeting? 4) Is your character running for mayor? Are you planning to get involved in politics or endorse a candidate? Note, the questions by themselves leave you asking more questions. Which is by design. They are meant to have one or two paired down lead-ins so that you drop feed pertinent lore, leave them room to feel it out for themselves, and also give them the opportunity to ask you for more info/context. They'll get your lore when they care about it. But these questions need you to care Hope that helps!

[@dabo77777]

TIP FROM A NEW DM TO OTHER NEW DMS: Consider running a session 0.5 for individual/smaller detachments of your players. It helped me branch backstories into the main plot and gave me a chance to practice DMing. And funny enough, it resulted in session 1 starting in a tavern, but the players liked it as they chose independently to go there.

[@User-unknown231]

"fruits and snacks are not bribes, they are tributes. "

[@riverplasmahero2508]

One of the best pieces of advice was 3-6 players. Started my first time DMing with 13 because I didn't want to tell any of my friends no. Would definitely not recommend. We made it work but it was very rough.

[@conscripthornet4430]

Honestly the worst part for me with large groups is the fact players very often get bored because someone who's first on initiation will have to wait more than an hour to get their SECOND turn in, which becomes even more longer if you have inexperienced players.

[@MurriciTerceiro]

13!!!??? for the first time DMing???? and IT WORKED?????? holy shit, get this man a prize, you're the only person who actually deserves the eternal DM position

[@isaacsurbey772]

I wish so badly I’d listened to this. My first campaign suffered from the combo of sandbox with a story and I just fluffed my way through the first month of play. Finally got a story down and if I ever ran for new players I would basically start with exactly what you’d advised, more direct conflict to initiate and build the world around their decisions. Great video, sad I missed you at Gencon

[@prettiestdunce]

this comment is a sacrifice to the algorithm god

[@TotallyMagolor123]

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕘𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕞 𝕘𝕠𝕕𝕤 𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕒𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕖...

[@Dndoverpasta]

Besides friends 😭😭😭

[@marcelb1888]

Find random people online with the same issue, I'd bet you ll be great friends afther a year of playing. Cause guess what plenty of other people have the same issue and 98% arent just horrible people. I did this to when I moved.

[@Turtle20305]

I feel this in my bones

[@I_Stole_Your_Toast]

Well yeah. If you keep calling your friends "things."

[@ConallDWhite]

@@I_Stole_Your_Toastbro shut up

[@justinpicard9292]

Skill issue

[@Felrohan]

I just started running my first campaign about 6 months ago, and this video naps all the lessons I've had to learn since starting this journey. Two more things I'd like to add is that you can't make everyone happy all the time, and "no plan survives contact with the enemy," so be willing to be flexible with both your story and your players.

[@sweking20]

I had my first oneshot ( turned into two sessions) a couple of months ago and since it was my first time DMing and the first time playing for 4 of the 5 players, What helped me was giving them some specific instructons like they are part of an adventurer guild and they got a job and made personal letters for each character that sent them to a tavern to meet the rest of the party. And just with that little help once they met in the tavern they quite quickly started roleplaying that they met on previous jobs and helping each other build their backstory

[@milkenobi]

I spent a good chunk of time during a mid-campaign break for a few months, planning out some meaty character arcs for the second half of the campaign. Last night, one of the characters, from an unknown race, searching for the origin of his heritage and who his people are, finally found his place in the world and got to meet his people and find out who he is. Several people at the table were in tears, it was pretty magical. I adapted a section of a purchased campaign to be about this particular character. I’ve similar weaved the other character’s arcs into either the story or various locations and they are beyond invested at this point.

[@saltenzy449]

I'm loving the current campaign I'm in as we basically (players and DM) all went into character creation with the goal of "Telenovela level drama" and its gone amazing. We have massive drama threads on every characters family and personal connections. Polyamorous love debacles, Messy divorces, Familial betrayals, Mafia style family crafting and management, its so engaging. We just got to the first major choice on the horizon, one of our PC's must choose between saving his mother from continued life as a songbird in a gilded cage after learning her husband is alive and was almost taken out by the grandmother OR get the Maguffin to the Crime Gang Boss and if it turns out to not be a Maguffin, make him one of the most powerful men in the entire setting, and the party becomes under his direct employ in said organization. I haven't been this engaged in a campaign in ages and it all came down to communicating well with eachother about what we wanted out of the campaign!

[@deep_freezer0707]

I told my friends i would dm a large scale campaign for us about 5 months ago, and since then i havent made much progress because i didnt really know how to start everything off. I want you to know that this video has genuinely been a game changer. I have so many ideas that are just clicking now, and i feel like starting the campaign is closer to being a reality than ever. Thank you for giving me probably some of the best advice i have ever received as a dm (as of now, considering im new to dnd and newer yet to dming). I very much appreciate this Mr. Hat, and i cant wait to see how my adventures as a dungeon master play out

[@shadowfox9490]

I love your wit and meme/image usage. I laugh every time. Your videos are always a hilight for my day/week. I would love to see a continuation of this series (the rest of that long script you alluded to) and am looking forward to them! I have faith in you! You're amazing and thank you for all your hard work and countless hours you put into these videos. 💜

[@suddenstrike]

Omg this was perfectly timed, here I was fretting about how to share my concept with my players and get the ball rolling in the beginning. Thank you Antonio, for this and all the amazing ideas you share!

[@Carlosmgcosta]

I started my campaign with “Word has been sent far and wide of a Dragon terrorizing a small town. As you approach, anticipations high over the fame the dragons head will bring, you see a series of broken trees. Roll perception”

[@KonkGibbon]

Including your players in your campaign is by far the most important part of preparing a campaign, so much so that i think it should come directly after finding a concept. Don't start building your setting before you tell your players about your campaign concept and plot basis because having the other players participating in the worldbuilding alongside you rather than trying to find a spot in your setting that their characters can fit in. It also makes your world far more diverse and fun to explore, and the players will for sure be invested in what y'all have created together!!

[@FiveTen007]

My players and I want 4 things in a campaign, epic anime fights, depression and trauma, comedy. Basically The Stormlight Archive

[@GOOFofaDOG7]

I had session one of a homebrew campaign yesterday. And similar to what Pointy Hat was saying, when my players were building their characters, I asked them "what is your character's goal?" It made them think deeply about what they wanted to happen with their character, and helped them develop more about their character that they couldn't decide on prior.

[@frodrickfronkenstien582]

I agree with everything you said pointy hat, but I believe there are a few exceptions. For instance I did not have a plot for my campaign at the beginning. My players had generated rogues not the class but the characteristics, so I threw them into a gladiatorial arena and started with a fight. While I didn't have a plot I did give them an objective, and I think that is what is key to start out with. For a plot I just took whatever the players were fixating on combined with backstory and crafted something loose, and (agreeing with you) reinforced it every session, every decision. And it is light a jovial and turns out everyone's a bad guy.

[@almightyllamaqueen4284]

Absolutely the most PERFECT timing- just recently got the go-ahead from the rest of my dnd group to work on a campaign idea, but beyond knowing I wanted to base it off of this 3ds game I know none of them has played, I needed more to go off of. So, thank you!

[@iamatwork4856]

Why the heck do your videos always feel so great? They always leave me with a good warm feeling and just relax me. Perfect, now I need more...

[@lucasgiraudeau3423]

Pointy Hat how did you know this was exactly what I needed ? The urge to create campaigns has come back but I have no experience in D&D or DMing and it gets super stressful, especially when you don't have players backing you up and rather waiting for you to do all the work. This really helps !! Thank you ! And I'd love to see the mechanics side as well :D

[@LittleCrowYT]

I really hope you start developing your own campaign setting. I understand that's a huge undertaking, especially for somebody as creative and thorough as you, but I know it would already be a brilliant setting

[@_grumpytoad]

LOOONG time DM here and I just have to say, Pointy, I LOVED this video! ❤ So much good advice that I, as an experienced DM, found very useful. You bring up stuff that I had forgotten, didn't know, or I did not but had never thought about until you pointed it out. So thank you! This is not a video exclusively for new DMs; ALL DMs should watch this! (Also, pleeeaaase release that how to find and keep players video soon because it is my eternal nemesis! 😅)

[@breadtoast1176]

I mostly play campaigns, but this video really helps me getting started on being a DM for the first time since my mom wanted me to teach her how to play!

[@woogle7382]

As a person who's running 2 campaigns as a first time dm, these videos have been extremely helpful. I would've been way overworked if I went the way I was going previously; keep it up man

[@numbskullsncrossbones]

Got one I'm looking forward to running. It starts off, instead of in a tavern, the players are residents in a small poor fishing village. I haven't fleshed out the whole world but I know I don't need to just yet, just have the capital of the city-state the village resides in and the surrounding areas around the village and some of the villagers. Although there's no defining story arc at the start, there are things that are set up to happen depending on where they chose to explore and which villagers they pick to have ties with that can evolve into bigger story beats.

[@joriandevries1564]

I've been very stressed out since our group finally found a date for our first session (i'm the DM), but after watching this video I feel a lot more confident in this endig up well! Thanks :D

[@janeisenbeton9030]

Good luck and have fun!

[@annalisemeder8894]

Thanks to some collaborative worldbuilding, I actually would really love to delve deeper into this kind of thing, and I know I'm late to the party here, but I'd love to share what the DM in my most recent campaign did. It was seriouly SO MUCH FUN and I can't reccomend this enough. pre- session 0, we talked about boundaries, what we are looking for, previous TTRPG experince, do we want the traditional fantasy setting, etc. Then for session 0, our DM presented us with a choice of blank fantasy maps. We picked our favorite, then collaboratively started just naming places and making observations, and asking questions. "Ohh, that big land mass looks like a tardigrade! Tardigradia it is!" We saw a lake in a valley; weird, it's red. Maybe it's lava. Or acid/poison like in the swamp in Eldin Ring! What's that, there's a single floating island off in the east?! And it looks like there's red drips coming off of it... and there's sort of reddish hues splotchy and all over the map.. maybe the island is dripping some sort of corruption! maybe it came to be by being ripped out of that mountainous area somehow, and the "lake" is what was left behind! this red area over here was destroyed by it! When we were done naming places, we started asking questions, like what caused this drip? Who lives in Tardigradia? What do the trading and polictical relationships of these lands look like. How did the drip impact that, and the history of this world? This was 1) super fun 2) gave us a plot hook 3) gave us ideas of places our characters could be from 4) made us all feel very invested in this world, and curious to answer the questions. I knew I wanted to play a divination wizard, and oh hey, we named a city that was definitely a magic city where wizards live. My character saw a portent of the drip coming back and destorying her city, giving her a reason to want to investigate it. I did some worldbuilding of my own, fleshing out what this city is like; it runs like a giant university, and academic acheivment is how one becomes "noble"... as a child of noble parents, it's very important to her that she continue in this and not let them down, and what could earn more respect than saving her city by using her magic? giving her motivation to see the campaign through.

[@dukeraindrop3056]

Freaking love this! I would love to see some more videos on the tips you can share! Always wanting to grow and learn from the community

[@crinjaninja1957]

About to start our group's first full campaign that we will actually finish tomorrow (literally doing session 1 prep rn) so this is perfect timing for my favourite D&D youtuber to give some advice.

[@bangie128]

I want to be a DM and this has been the best, well communicated video I've seen on the topic. I love me them lists, so commenting for more content like this. We, your party hats, appreciate you ❤

[@theturtlegoat1827]

Im just about to start writing my own homebrew campaign for the first time. This video is a great thought provoker for how i want to go about writing it. The ideas of Tone, Concepts, Settings, Conflicts, and Including your players is really great advice, and im gald you made this video in my time of need before i made another LOTR ripoff lol

[@empatheticrambo4890]

I’m adding this to my playlist of beginner stuff for when I try and get my players to become the DM!

[@plainpablo6227]

Are you a DM yet? 5 Month check on you friend 😁 (im a beginner DM)

[@sethl3878]

It made me so happy to see a clip from the Court Jester at 1:56. I've never met someone who has seen it if me or my family have not shown it to them. I highly recommend it. Probably the funniest movie I've ever seen.

[@OdinAUT]

The Hat is back and my day starts pretty good. Can't wait for that next video.

[@daneroberts1996]

I want 10 more of these videos so I an rewatch them all constantly

[@JamesFraser-pu8du]

I really like your use of the clip from The Court Jester (1955) at 1:56. You do exceptional work-- your videos are well written, well edited, and have content that always expands my perspective on what a TTRPG could be like. Your stuff is imaginative and fun while being easy to understand and drag-and-drop functional in my own games. This is a gem of a channel and you should feel proud.

[@Luna_Everywhere]

A few thoughts: "You are not writing a novel": good news, this advice also applies to a novel, you gotta write your story eventually too. "tell your players what theyll be": I feel like this is needed for any good campaign pitch. At the very least, where the players will start and the main verbs. "you are all students in a college class", "you are a band of mercenaries", "you are all employees of the same mansion", whatever the starting conditions are and a vague idea what they'll be doing. "i dont know how to do conflict for a sandbox setting": 1. Write a bunch of forces that have reasons to oppose each other, including things they care about in the world, be those material "the king's daughter", immaterial "the economic forces of the area" or somewhere in the middle "having party majority in the sennate", and then what theyll do if players dont do anything, highlighting results that might directly concern or inconvenience the players. Include overlap in the things they care about and suddenly the players can get one faction mad at them by doing something another faction likes

[@PsyTricks99]

Keep up the great job Antonio! I miss the livestreams, but your videos are always amazing :D

[@LDtheGreatandPowerfulYoutubing]

Gotta be honest, I've been wanting to DM for a small group of friends for a long time now and have found myself trying too hard to have a lot that I end up having nothing. This is such an actually helpful video and I've definitely kept in mind a lot of the homebrewed stuff you've come up with

[@painappledad1352]

You are the kind of content creator that even gets a like for me, even if sometimes I don't completely agree with your point. BUT I love almost 90% or your views, and I have "taken" a lot of your ideas and talk to my players about them, and send them your videos (20 years DMing here, but in Spanish) Thanks for your great effort, and work. ♿🙇🏻‍♂️💛

[@EhhhhWassup]

Building my own campaign right now, and this video hits literally all the things that I've found work for me to tell a story and get players into roleplaying at the table. Having a conflict early on, some sort of trauma or attack to bind the cast together, reeeeaaaally helps players feel they NEED to work together. Dragging them all to the crown prince's funeral as various parts of a Lord's noble retinue and then having them ambushed and the lord assassinated on the way back to their specific fiefdom, for instance. Players loved it, had no idea it was coming, and got to run around a very fancy castle for the first session's majority. Another HUGE part is communication, you really can't overstate that enough and I'm glad Pointy harped on it. I usually think of a concept: A world where Dragon nobility as heads of kingdoms is the standard, Dragonborns are the lower nobility under them, and there's an undead threat rising in the southern wastes. Then, pitch that brief world to potential players. They say theyre in, and I let them build whatever race/class they want (within some reason). I want them to play a combo thats genuinely fun for them, after all. Then, after they make their character sheet, i send them a list of questions; Who taught you your proficiency in medicine? "How did you learn to be a cleric in this setting? Are you still in touch with your mentor?" Basically pulling any skill or tool theyre proficient in, or notably high stats, subclass specifics, and even digging deeper into their chosen background and traits. This part i ask them to think of in the context of a draconic world, and if they are friends, sworn enemies, or have declared undying allegiance to a dragon lord or dragonborn noble. Basically, give your allies and enemies some flavor in the setting, and a reason for the PC to know other NPC's in the world. Then, i can go in behind the scenes and give these NPC's more motive and have them be part of secret groups, call the party back to a city thats been devastated, etc. Even after all that is done, session 0's have been played, and session 1 is over, i STILL communicate. After every session, i message each player asking them how their character feels regarding the events of the session. Does the character plan to do anything next time? Did the player have fun? All that communication will help you get an idea of Player and Character desires and fulfillment needs, and help the campaign write itself. TL,DR: Talk with players before, during, and after every session about their characters and what that character wants, and give those characters a need to protect and help each other early.

[@spectre054]

As someone just getting into DND, this has opened my eyes. Thank you for making this informative video! I understand this video is for WRITING a campaign, but it is also helping me grasp the general flow of the game, too :)

[@jansila6005]

I feel like even though this is not intended for writing in other mediums, it is *still* very useful advice; especially the parts about tone and concept at the beginning. Very good video as always!

[@jaythewolf7216]

yeah I would probably just step up lists of a bunch of ideas and read over everyone's backstory and try to sprinkle in some of the stuff in their backstories into the lists and just leave it up to dice rolls. its not gonna be full random but planned random. I would be rolling dice a lot so people wont know if its for the story or the situation at hand lol. then its just up to me to take notes and keep track of what's happening that's easy enough. I want to be a DM I think it would be fun. I have too many ideas

[@novice703]

id love to see more tip videos on how to set up/ run a campaign and possibly tips on role playing as a dm if you have any:0

[@skeletonstick]

The high concept vs low concept stuff is actually really helpful! I’ve only ever seen these kinds of videos describing high-concept ideas, so I’ve felt obligated to add those to my games… but honestly, I’ve got one game that’s low-concept and everyone likes it better that way, and my trying to shoehorn in some high-concept stuff has never felt right for the vibe. So glad to realize low-concept is a legit alternative.

[@Frickity_]

Every time a Tip of the Hat comes out for making your own game, I take notes to check back on later whenever I'm writing a game. I won't be a baby DM forever. Thank you Pointy

[@dhawkin4]

I need to spend more time listening to this great advice and less time being like "that clip was from the end of the first scary movie" love that I've found this channel.

[@johnmobley9369]

You went off with the clips on this one. I mean you usually do but it your personality and interests always shows through the clips. They either have a humor to them or intrigue or nostalgia when you recognize them along with you base hunoe

[@hollowichigo56778]

By how the thumbnail looked, I though this would be a guide to all the equipment or software needed to run a physical or digital campaign. But this was great too! Fine work, as always!

[@JamesLockerby]

Ah yes, Mistborn, light funtime adventures like overthrowing the immortal emperor of the world, saving the world from one of sixteen shards of the one original god of the universe and defending the world from a foreign god who has blinded the only god your world has. Just a little low stakes adventure.

[@0That_Guy0]

This came at a good time. We're a little group of guys who just got through our two first sessions on a pre-made campaign. Last session saw our first two PCs get killed; they got crushed by Ogres. So that was intense.

[@Lani-e8p]

Our group is currently playing a West Marches style game with me and my partner both DMing. We have quite a few people playing (like 15 in total but not all of them play regularly) but it should still work with a consistent group. Might be something for your group as well

[@chazzerine7650]

In terms of conflict, I like starting in a tavern, but then having the plot come to me. For instance, we all come to this tavern, where we can introduce and roleplay our characters in a safe environment. Then once everyone's comfortable, drink in hand, bed in reserve, something happens, completely outside the players' control. Town gets invaded for instance, they walk outside and all they see is bad guys to take out. Once that's settled, the DM has these minor bad guys hint at an overarching plot. Whether it be interrogation or a local NPC telling you what's going on/where they can go to help the town out. Boom, a goal, a plot, and hence, an adventure. All within 30 minutes, starting in a tavern.

[@christophermartin240]

Pointy Hat is single handedly my favorite dnd channel! keep it up!

[@Ghostly_scarf]

as a person who wnats to DM this year, this geniunley calms me down a bit making the worlding build part more clear

[@gawanoh3799]

I hope every time you upload something that it is a new lich (rouge or monk maybe) but every damn video you post is pure gold!

[@Cruzing_Snoozing]

This video is going to help me a lot with making my campaign and when I have a session zero with my players! I really hope you make more videos like this because they really do help people who want to start playing D&D, but may look at people like Matt Mercer and think that's what they have to do, I know your videos helped me.

[@ericsmith1508]

I will NEVER get tired of a PitchMeeting reference! 😂

[@protohunters]

I recently did my first session 0 ever despite being a dm for close to a decade now. Starting a campaign next week about being in an apocalyptic world with killer piñatas. Here’s hoping it goes well!

[@sublimefanaticsf8616]

This is great, for my first campaing, icasually coincide with a lot of this tips. Al the campign was around kill a list of hags tormenting a region, solo al the world building was only about one city and all the interesting places around (The hags territory). In the sesion zero, the players were sked to creat characters who want find the hags for some reason, especially if they want bargain with them, so can incorporate the characters into the plot. And the story starts in the city, with al the players arriving in the middle of their journey in the search of hags.

[@intergalactic92]

I think the advice for worldbuilding can apply for novel writing too. Whilst you will need more than for a D&D session, you really don’t want to get bogged down on every little detail, because you will never get round to writing the damn thing if you do that. Trust me, I know.

[@fredericmorin-bordeleau4828]

We will need more of this Pointy Hat. I offer my praise to the gods of the Algo rhythm and wish upon your greatness to produce more of this important content

[@anajuliavieira7228]

adding a comment to the pile to feed the algorithmic gods that puppeteer our favorite hat so it can produce more masterful videos soon

[@gabriela.santos2832]

“Don’t over-prepare” MY FRIEND I HAVE ANXIETY DISORDERS , great tips from this specific hat as always Pointy keep it up

[@Username-tr7io]

To be honest When I watch videos about how to dm a campaign I usually struggle with like fully taking in the information but I think all of the points you put in this videos were very clear with examples and were all explained extremely well 👍

[@zzlord4309]

Gygax's 75 world building challenge is the best advice any player can ever get.

[@jeremymurdock1285]

The spindown on the thumbnail made me watch to see if there are any other things that would make my eye twitch out of discomfort. You did not let me down.

[@Qball0019]

Too true, I have a complete map of my DND world. And literally have fleshed out only 1 corner, of one continent, with other features having cool names- but literally nothing else to them.

[@pokemanpeter7129]

Just convinced 3 friends and my brother to play dnd with me😂 Perfect timing on this video for me

[@colelahmann7091]

Would love to see a video concerning player play style / campaign / mood / DM'ing style dynamics and some advice on that. Specific advice beyond "don't ask your jokester friend to play a grimdark campaign with serious tone, unless you want them to bring the levity". Like, how do I select players that match the mood... when I want my players to have a say in the mood? How do I pitch a game type and see which of my players want in, when I'd like to hear what game types they are all interested in beforehand? (Although that leads the people who chose a game type that I don't want to focus on to maybe feel left out...)

[@ChestersonJack]

As someone running a sandbox, I bake conflict into two parts: overarching conflict in the setting, and conflicts arising from character backstories. That leaves for story which will be present no matter where they go though it mostly just hangs in the background as ambient pressures, and a bunch of latent stories that can (and usually will) activate with player choices.

[@ThyTrueNightmare]

9:25 I perpared the country of the world my players where going into, I needed there backstory and told them that they can give me any name or place that they want, all they needed to know is that the new country is the the east of everything else and they are arriving sleathly. got some great ideas from them, entire counties and containers from some players wills others were only able to give me a few towns. it was create for world building entirely and added reason for people to be at this new country

[@DannehBoi90]

I'd found similar advice when I started planning out my campaign, and man did it make a world of difference. My setting has 3 continents, 4 major conflicts. Each continent has their own major conflict, then there's a core conflict that's spread out across the entire world. The first continent I planned has a never ending conflict of Giants vs Civilization. As a result, small towns are incredibly rare and primarily are tucked away in spots that Giants can't really invade. 90% of the population live in big cities and the immediately surrounding areas. There's fairly frequent walled outposts along the main routes, spaced roughly a day apart. Still, people tend to travel in big groups and with a band of adventurers as a way to help ensure safety. Ships are also common for trading along coastal cities. All figured out because I took time to figure out the major conflicts, then thinking about how it impacts living on the continent as a whole.

[@user-cq1cw8xz7f]

I'm a forever DM but don't mind it much, I do love roleplaying and doing voices and stuff Next week I'm running a one shot for newbies, more of a railroaded one and I'm quite excited about it! Your tips help me a lot

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

Honestly, even with the sandbox, it's usually best for the players to have like a 'tutorial plot' to get the feet wet and give a little structure. When I get my setup started I plan to offer three smaller adventure hooks to basically get them going: One of these is to try and worm into the local townships and such in an area and see if they can get information for a neighboring kingdom who is pondering annexing them, one is acting as messenger for a (potentially) doomed voyage, and the third is acting as almost broke mercenaries called for one last job that could finally be the big payday which will simultaneously set them up with major rivals in a centralized location of the continent. These mainplots act as a thin veneer of glue to hold the party to a main task for at least the first few levels, but aren't usually strict enough to force them into being major players quite yet.

[@baconbagels5475]

My players are awesome and super supportive/appreciative of me as their DM. Couldn't ask for a better group

[@aniviod2904]

Nothing like a good refresher on the basics and reminders of what and what not to do...

[@Wrathura]

What I did was start a sandbox with multiple modules in the world they could find. Their main start was as adventurers earning coin while working on their own personal backstory reasons of adventuring. Now, they have done 4 modules and found that they all share an overarching big bad, and they're in the process of going after them. The main story they werent exactly aware of from the start. We're like 2 years in now. They love it.

[@GingerGM01]

This was EXACTLY the video I needed to see today. Incredible! Edit: I foresee a giant influx of subs. This needs to be seen.

[@awild93]

It took me a few years before I realized I was often playing with a lot of DM's that where bad at communicating and just wanted to railroad us into a story that none of us agreed upon.

[@Lunar_Wombat]

this video was perfect timing for me omg!! i’m starting a new campaign tomorrow and even after DMing for several years it always makes me nervous. wish me luck :) (p.s. if anyone has any ideas for cool pirate/ocean-themed encounters, drop em here! I have their first arc prepped but I always love hearing new ideas!)

[@metakarukenshi]

Always loved Ocean dungeons. party's ship sails into a wirlpool or gets sucked in, but instead of destroying their ship, they instead are flipped and are now sailing upside down in the water. leading to an ocean cave.

[@krisman97]

Our DM sent a zombie shark at us while we were travelling at sea. Damaged the ship so we started sinking, so we had to defeat the the shark as soon as possible and prevent too much water from getting in.

[@metakarukenshi]

@@krisman97 wouldve split the party between those that can hit the shark and those throwing out water from the ship right?

[@krisman97]

@@metakarukenshi The bard casted a tiny hut at the damaged part of the ship, so no more water came in, the crew of the ship took care of the water inside, Everyone else dealt with the shark, some crewmembers were eaten alive, but we survived, had to take a stop at a small island to get the ship fixed at the local town.

[@wren_.]

how about: - the party gets stranded on a tiny island full of people, but something’s wrong. The coconuts that live on this island have hallucinogenic properties, and any PC who eats them suffers the effects. The hallucinations could range from believing they’re being attacked by an enemy to forgetting the adventure entirely, i’ll leave that decision up to you. - The party encounters an abandoned merchant ship (or what they think is a merchant ship) run entirely by a homebrew race of creatures that look like tropical fruit. if the party gets close to the ship, they discover the fruit creatures are actually pirates. - sirens. just sirens. - The party enters a port made four and by pirates, and must pretend they are pirates (if they’re not already pirates) to access it. - The party finds a magical ancient artifact hidden in the water, and if they drive the boat over it, it shoots the boat really high into the air before gently floating back down. this can be used to let players reach unreachable areas or to just give them the ability to see really far - and lastly, a group of goblins hires, the party to kill a different group of goblins, except the other group of goblins already hired the party to kill the first group of goblins. both sets of goblins are exactly identical, although you could add slight changes to each group if you want. those enough ?

[@VicenteGomesPinto]

Oh boy! Can't wait to see a video about how to introduce new players to RPG like it was a video game. It would be awesome to see some advice on how to explain mechanics.

[@Totally_Baked]

"A campaign is a commitment" Poly me in a minimum of 3 campaigns at time. They are all commitments but depending on the other people the expectations are drastically different from campaign to campaign. Everyone has different preferences in how to balance RP and Combat/ tactical gameplay . Also everyone has different opinions on how to handle missing players, what subjects are ok/Not ok, and if we use house rules or RAW. In one of my campaigns it's 90% RP in another its the reverse 90% combat and the third group is very much a balance of both. All have both funny/ serious tones, but each in their own way. I love how each table is shaped by everyone in it, making it its own unique flavor.