Prep Can Be Literally Easy and Actually Fun

Prep Now! Play Tonight! Easy & Fun!
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[@mcolville]

Here's some other Cartographers on Patreon I use! www.patreon.com/LostAcumen www.patreon.com/tehox www.patreon.com/EightfoldPaper www.patreon.com/bbsproductions www.patreon.com/themadcartographer

[@scottturner3831]

Also a fan of patreons for goadventuremaps, neutral party, dungeonmapster, and miskas sci-fi maps. If you are up for map making yourself two minute tabletop has lots of stuff and much of it is free or pay what you want.

[@idlemindedmage6925]

Matt! Did you know that a sequel to Marathon was just announced? Just the week before I had listened to your story on Marathon and Cortana and found it fascinating.

[@veran8770]

I’m a cartographer, and I’ll gladly make maps for your games for free (hand drawn ofc)

[@williamwalton9154]

I think a note of how to get inspiration from reading and watching as much as possible is important. The more you have in your mental rolodex, the easier your mind will connect on the fly.

[@Keovar]

12:55 - Yeah, it would also be way easier if there were PDF books for visually impaired folks who need screen reader software or at least strong magnification. WotC gives not a fig for the disabled, which is why you should switch to a similar game by a company which actually lives up to their inclusivity goals. There are some on the way from Kobold Press and Cubicle7, but _Level Up: Advanced 5e_ from EN Publishing is already available. Compatibility with WotC will vary, but they're at least as compatible as the OneD&D playtest stuff. But for monsters and the other modular game bits which DMs need, there's also the Open5e database site. Their monsters section has the SRD entries, as well as some from Level Up and Kobold Press. It could use some improvements in the search area and an editor to make sure people are creating consistent entries (you might find "Beast" and "Beasts" tags, for example), but the stuff is there and if nothing else, it acts as an index to entries to a variety of different publishers' books.

[@MsMoniqueWilson]

I'm a 61 yr old woman who will be DMing her first session in a week. Started playing at the beginning of Covid with our bubble. Your videos are always so helpful and this one was what I needed right now. I was way over thinking things :)

[@peterlaws444]

I bet you'll do fantastically and have lots of giggles with your friends!

[@isaacb4229]

Awesome! Go get it! Have fun! You're going to be amazing.

[@MsGinahidesout]

That's fantastic!!

[@joshuarivard2355]

Welcome to the DM club! We love having you and look forward to hearing your player stories!!

[@abcrasshadow9341]

I like that you call your group a bubble!

[@koticneutralftw7016]

Also, love the no-chill in this video. "We do not hate our customers. No one's gonna show up at your door to break your legs." I can't stop laughing.

[@lagg1e]

I didn't know Matt could be so savage.

[@jspace3423]

Also “your mom has a coherent hole” lol

[@Omronekoro]

Seriously, I love it! I hate people sitting on the fence when there is a clear reason to speak out and highlight issues. It's also so within context it's not breaking the flow.

[@lallen1395]

I came down here searching for this comment XD laughed my ass off when Matt said that.

[@bryan__m]

@@Omronekoro just a happy coincidence that it helps him sell more books too. Oh look and the next video is talking about our own competing RPG product...

[@thebanditoking]

"You can't fight in here, this is the war room". Gets me everytime.

[@Yora21]

"He'll see everything! He'll see the big board!"

[@chastermief839]

One of the only times i've ever seen the joke from the machine coming. He brought up the 'war room' map and I was like "any second now..."

[@angelalewis3645]

@@chastermief839 Haha!

[@Calebgoblin]

Dreading prep is ACTUALLY the number one nemesis of me running more DnD so whatever secrets this video will reveal to me, You are a River to Your People

[@M4TCH3SM4L0N3]

I am a people to Matt's river, too!

[@Keovar]

I used to be intimidated by prep, but after a bit, I've found that scheduling is the true bane of us all.

[@stephensayers4998]

I started dming watching matts videos 3 years ago. I now run 3 weekly games for different groups. 1 homebrew and 2 pre written. He really has opened d&d to more people. If you are struggling with prep, i also highly recommend Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Sly flourish also has a KZbin channel that assists with game prep. I use his notion templates, and it really helps speed up the prep time in the games I run.

[@ppppppqqqppp]

you should also try a less prep heavy game I used to hate prep, then when I tried a few different pbta games I realised that I can just play low prep games instead of trying to force myself to prep

[@foldionepapyrus3441]

While I think Matt's advice here is good I've run many games with no prep - there are many sources to grab a quick battle map from if it comes up and often enough theatre of the mind is sufficient for this encounter - though I use a VTT as my games are all remote. Fantasy Grounds in my case, and would use it a bit for a in person game aid as well. Don't need to clip the monster info out of the book when its trivial to search for and drag it into the combat tracker, bring up its stats (etc) - the hybrid play concept where you can take some of the really helpful and good bits of the VTT but still gain the benefits of actually being there in person. The important thing for me in running a 'no prep' game session is to have a few powerful/Important NPC that have their own goals and network of information sources and an idea of the current state of the world. Then all the players actions are reactions to world events and cause reactions from these NPC's as they hear about it - Neither side necessarily knows the other exists at all, but the world moves on around them and in doing so provides a few clues to all sides. Because you have a feel for WHO is making stuff happen you can keep the game flow up, invent a suitable clue and let the players do almost all the work of preparing the session for you as they debate what to do about it. Set up that expected encounter or subvert expectations based on the players ideas while they debate keeping in mind all the NPC who could be part of it.

[@BluDragon-lt4og]

matt shotgunned me with that coherent hole bit

[@raegan_1018]

Lmaoa seriously 😂

[@oldcowboy1222]

he got me too. I was wondering who else would catch that.

[@DimaJeydar]

The quick “shut up” with a smile afterwards is what got me

[@ChilledRedCentral]

i wasnt ready and he didnt care

[@psi0nics956]

This video is thirty minutes long. I was scrolling through while listening, and when I read this comment, he said it.

[@DefinitivNichtSascha]

"The DM always overprepares" and "The players never make it as far as you think" rings double true for me, not just as a DM but as a teacher as well. Never do my lessons encompass all that I've prepped.

[@bonzwah1]

As a teacher myself, I'm always struck by the similarities in gm'ing and teaching

[@joshuatrueblood4547]

That pause after "..coherent whole." and "--your mom has a coherent whole." had me weak 🤣

[@thetravelingbard9178]

Your mom’s coherent whole had me weak

[@thoughtbom]

The real reason why Bombadil exists is such a good story that relates to D&D so well: Tolkien put Bombadil in LOTR because he wrote him for another set of stories and he just... liked him so much that he decided to stick him in LOTR. There is no explanation for him other than that. Put stuff in your game you like. You don't need a reason other than that.

[@combatraven]

I stuck Rosie Cotton in a room full of people who'd been kidnapped from other planes a while back and that really help set the tone for the scene. Just seeing Sam's wife held captive made my players realize, "Oh dang, these people are EVIL" in a way I don't think they would've realized so quickly otherwise.

[@lluewhyn]

One of the earliest examples of cameos. Personally, I agree that Bombadil wouldn't work in a film adaptation which is why they excised him, but understand why he worked in the book as just an extra detail for world-building.

[@andrewtomlinson5237]

How DARE you??? Tolkien "Scholars" and KZbin neckbeards forge entire careers on debating the existence of Tom Bombadil!!! It's very important to them that people take it VERY seriously, and rub their chins over the various theories surrounding his importance to the plot/world/internet. Seriously though... I hate those guys. Anyone who tells you that what you take away from reading a book is wrong and that you must take away THEIR ideas instead make me want to punch them in the back of the head. My notion of prep comes as a DM of over 40 years who spends months preping a new campaign. I have so many articles of "weird Shit" that made no sense at the time. All my D&D games exist in the same world, so stuff I'm running for (largely the same players as when we were kids in the early 80s) is still calling back to those ideas. The whole reason for the current campaign is simply to answer one of those ideas from 1982 that has bugged a few players for all those years.

[@NevTheDeranged]

It's the reason the Ring had no effect on him- he's literally from another reality with different rules.

[@mayapplesauce1396]

@@NevTheDeranged when i was 11 i read lotr and at this scene i was like "oooh so he doesn't go invisible with the ring on? that's a CLUE! he must be SAURON IN DISGUISE! aha! i cracked it! i'm so smart!" ... and then i realized this book wasn't Harry Potter 😂

[@valritz1489]

As someone who also always forgets the stairs, my safety blanket is "a lot of old-ass taverns started as only one floor, and nobody's got the money to rip out the kitchen or whatever to put in stairs. Slap those puppies on the exterior and stack the second story on top."

[@dittrich04]

"...because we do not hate our customers. We will not show up at your doorstep and threaten to break your legs." Long live MCDM!

[@wirelesstkd]

I laughed out loud, oh my god...

[@Rasnadov]

I paused and searched comments. I knew i wasnt alone laughing at this part. MC you genious bastard! I see what you did here! 😂

[@Zionswasd]

calling Hasbro out for literally sending LITERAL mercenaries to intimidate ppl.

[@AndrewKolb101]

@@Zionswasd you misspelled Private Investigators

[@xellosmtlm]

@@Rasnadov I just totally did the same thing!

[@seandremel337]

Did anyone else notice the MCDM screen has inspirational quotes at the top of each panel? “Your ideas are neat” and “They’re already having a good time” is awesome stuff to remember in the middle of a session, and I need to get this now.

[@PurpleSidewalk1]

That's great!

[@BudoteamBaerenkeller]

Dang; now I want one :D

[@MadoxXXV]

Yea 😢 I found them when I needed them most, I use the screen all the time along with my standard screen

[@dr3dg352]

I have the screen and can confirm it's awesome! 😄

[@melnat]

There are no forgotten drawn stairs mistakes only happy secret passage stairs accidents 😊 Thank you for the video!

[@stewi009]

"The stairs are on the outside. Shut up."

[@Bluecho4]

"Where are the stairs? That's a good question. You tell me."

[@claudcampbell2431]

It seems we have another student of the Bob Ross school of mapping, hello friend.

[@Keovar]

@@stewi009- The tavern used to be a motel, and there were budget limitations in the renovation.

[@Shalakor]

@@stewi009 Oh Trollskull, you quirky little devil, how I love you. Though, the real answer can be different if you didn't describe the building as being two or more stories yet, and especially if you never explicitly mentioned it also being an inn. Standalone taverns are a thing that can work out quite well in D&D (and were more common historically than the combo hotel with eatery setups). Might even be mechanically preferable, since a rowdy party could get into a bar fight and still maybe not lose out on a place to sleep when seeking it out separately.

[@cookechris28]

Never before have I looked at a Running the Game title and felt IMMENSE relief. I've struggled with prep for so long! Thanks for the vid. Edit: Oh my god, he even predicted I'd say this exact thing. Matt's a warlock. LMAO

[@solsystem1342]

Relatable

[@monsterinhead214]

He's a Time Lord. If you don't know that already, don't worry, it will all be explained when episode 3,920 is relased several years from now.

[@Schpooon]

"you'd be surprised at how little progress the players make." This right here is the truth, and a good takeaway. Prep literally anything and they'll make it into a fun time!

[@emhooaryou698]

19:30 "Maybe they *can* convince the cottage to get up and walk around! That is some proper D&D *bullshit.* " As a DM with about 5 real sessions under his belt now, this has proven much more relatable than I originally suspected it might

[@EradWir]

Baba jagas hut has featured many times in my campain and its always hillarius when you describe huge chicken feet tracks

[@coruscanta]

Somehow I happened to be scrolling through the comments and read this at the *exact* same time Matt said it out loud. 😂

[@waynedollery9946]

oh my. This is a call back to Matt's first video. Much more complex idea and yet all about "you are going to be a DM Tonight".

[@darthdadt]

8:07 - Sick burn 11:08 - what are we doing for dinner? 25:56 - How do I know I'm a real DM? 27:49 - What's for dinner?

[@silver_tongue_studio]

The comment I came looking for. You are a hero.

[@jj_the_ent]

@@silver_tongue_studio agreed

[@jj_the_ent]

thank you for the joke comp

[@darlhiatt8136]

Inevitable pedantry: there is a vine monster in 5e, the Vine Blight in the MM. It does grapple people. I do recognize that showing people how to reflavor monsters is a more valuable skill than telling them there's gonna be something that suits their ideas if they look long enough every time though.

[@dwil0311]

Or the assassin vine.

[@Franiac32]

Not even pedantic. He's just wrong, there are at least two grasping vine monsters, including the vine blight and assassin vine.

[@armando7682]

In which book do you find the assassin vine? I don't think it's in the monster manual.

[@darlhiatt8136]

@@armando7682 The module Tomb of Annihilation.

[@caleb8659]

@@darlhiatt8136 and that is terrible. Monsters from the modules should be added into later monster manuals. I shouldn't have to buy EVERY MODULE to get access to all the monsters.

[@Slipfish]

"Throwing a bunch of 'this sounds cool' at a wall and then taking my players coolest sounding explanation" is my entire DMing style. It sounds dumb described this way but my players love it more than anything I ever meticulously wrote. It ends up sounding cool, and they get a bonus of feeling smart for 'figuring it out'. Collaborative storytelling at its finest.

[@hendersonrichards4394]

The editing on your videos is always fantastic. Really accentuates the humor without distracting too much from whatever is being talked about.

[@mcolville]

That's Jerry! He killed it on this video!

[@hendersonrichards4394]

@@mcolville tell jerry he impressed hendersonrichards4394

[@NickGreyden]

Hail Jerry!

[@murilotrigo8578]

Hit the nail on the head with “the point is to get inspired”. I use music tracks instead of battle maps for inspiration, but the point is that what gets *you* inspired and excited will make prep fun

[@turnipslop3822]

Monster art works really well for me, I just discovered the Monster Garden here on KZbin and my brain loves everything about that channel. Maybe the real formula is: Music + monsters + maps = win

[@dreadpirate907]

The entire first arc of my first DND campaign took place in and around the seaside town of Nancy's Harbor, a location inspired by Alestorm's Nancy the Tavern Wench. It wrapped up with an in-game proxy of Alestorm playing it during the celebrations of the party's successful heroics.

[@brickmaster199691]

In the face of evil by Magic Sword turned a half way rushed Oni encounter into an 80's slasher movie, making the ambush the PCs set about 10x more intense

[@MrLegrooveth]

​@@dreadpirate907 I've used Alestorm as D&D inspiration too, I'm also a big fan of Gloryhammer for it

[@fang_xianfu]

I have previously printed gorgeous online maps off on several sheets of A4 paper and then sellotaped them together. I've also used print shops and used an A0 plotter that we had in the office. You can definitely make those gorgeous online maps work in person!

[@fang_xianfu]

I should also add that Adobe Acrobat has a feature called tiling that helps with this, including getting the scaling right, printing overlap on each sheet, and cutting marks to help you trim it!

[@MrTombombodil]

I enjoy prepping for my D&D session so much, that I literally have a drawer full of campaigns and scenarios that I might never even play because when I run out of things to prep for my next current game I just go off the rails and start prepping other stuff. It's like this wonderful creative sandbox full of pure thought experiments and creativity

[@karlheilmann9172]

My son decided to start DMing and he has been spending time world building and says how enjoyable it is. I played an adventure he made and it rocked!

[@karlheilmann9172]

An update to this post. He just ran a first ever D&D adventure for his fiancee and friend on this same world and it was a hit! He started watching us play when he was 3 though and began making games of his own when he was 7. They needed work, but they weren't bad. Ok, yes, I'm a proud dad, but it isn't all bias. Lol

[@barneyatkinson-saul9881]

@@karlheilmann9172That’s neat. Glad you get to play games with your son.

[@RogueJin]

The transposing stat blocks to other creatures is really a godsend. Ran my first session where the party had to fight a huge rat problem in the tavern’s basement, only to find it was just one big rat. Scrolled through the monster manual and found gnolls had a bite, were CR1/2 and seemed fine for a first encounter. All I did was remove the weapon attacks it did and went with it. The party demolished it and survived with two of the members losing half their health. Overall, a great strategy and the players were non the wiser!

[@CoreyHolzer]

I've DMed for 30 years, and that minion rule is AWESOME. I'll be incorporating it in my campaign this weekend.

[@coruscanta]

“Encounter design doesn’t stop just because you rolled initiative.” Such great advice! You don’t need to be trying to be an “improv only” dm to be willing to adjust and bend on the fly.

[@arandom6871]

Dear Matt, (tldr: thank you so much) at the point i'm writing, this video is already seven days out but i'm hoping this still reaches you. Today i ran DnD for my group. I had to adjust because a player couldn't make it for personal reasons and in just about an hour i managed to create an interlude as you called it, that was still somewhat relevant to the story and gave my players some great opportunites to get more comfortable for roleplay and trying out things. I'm still a young DM and very certain I couldn't have done it without all the mental preparation that your videos provided for me. Many times my players saw me hesitating, thinking about what is the right answer for a question or the right answer in character from a kobold today, i was mostly thinking about what i learned from you. The game i'm running wouldn't be already as smooth as if i ran it without your guidance. Thank you.

[@GEONEgaming]

I was not expecting matt colville to get me with a 'your mom' joke

[@Oldkingcole1125]

Sometimes you can get your players to answer the questions for you. Example: 3 days ago, someone went missing on x road. Who is it, and why does your character want to find them? Or: you’re walking down the road looking for signs of your missing friend when you see something that tells you he left the road and went into the forest. What did you see? Obviously, this won’t work every time for every group, but sometimes it will, and sometimes it helps you get started.

[@voland6846]

Some more modern RPG systems explicitly imbed this technique into the rules. As you say, different players will feel differently about this, but I personally love the "writers room" atmosphere it can create!

[@Emarella]

@@voland6846 FATE encourages this when it comes to things significant to the player characters, and I'd never heard that advice before! I love to employ it for elements related to my players' hometowns. It allows the players to create a foundation of the kind of culture they want their character to be from and even fill it in with some fun, quirky details if they so choose. It lets them feel like a vital part of the creative process while taking a lot of the pressure off all of us. It also creates really fun set-up and payoff moments when I reference an element a player designed.

[@tspawn35]

Vine Blights are a low level grappling plant that is already in the 5e monster manual.

[@dryued6874]

I _did not_ see that "your mom" joke coming, but I'm glad it's there.

[@tristancotton7222]

Vine Blight crying in the corner right now

[@davidwatches]

PC druid: "We need information." Piranha school: "EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT!" 🤣

[@1fanoforange]

One thing I’ve really loved about the Flee, Mortals! preview packets isn’t just how easy they are to snip, but also how printer-friendly they are. I’ve got a binder-full of basically all the monsters that have been released so far, in order of when I used them in my campaign. It’s really neat!

[@chastermief839]

I remember Matt saying a while back that the old video that started the Running the Game series had a lot of views and that there was "probably a better version of that video" that could exist. Seems like this is that video, it really drills down into the core of what the message of that video was. Anyone can DM, you just need to create a few encounters and the prep for those encounters doesn't take very long.

[@Ozai75]

Absolute quality, Matt. The best quick start guide for GMs on KZbin.

[@pauligrossinoz]

*The best video I've seen yet for Mastering Role-playing Games!* _Thank you!_ There is a real gem in this video: _Using the NPCs to auto-re-balance the encounter._ Let's say that the DM's plan is that the players are always going to encounter the Paladin and Witch as they flee the lair of the BBEG, carrying-off "the McGuffin" with them. Under no circumstances can the party survive the BBEG on their tail, so them _must_ flee as a group. Now, if the players are rockin' their encounters so-far (they keep rolling really lucky rolls), then they encounter the Paladin and the Witch fleeing in dire-straits. Perhaps the wounded Paladin is running away while carrying the unconscious witch, or the other way around. But if the players are getting their arses handed to them (they keep rolling really _un_ -lucky rolls), they then encounter the Paladin and the Witch fleeing at full strength. Or anything in-between the two extremes, as required to still allow the party to survive the desperate flight from the BBEG. In all cases they players still have to flee with the Paladin and the Witch, but their combined forces just needs to get everyone into the walking house, and the house does the rest of the fleeing for the party. Or perhaps it even flies away? The point being that the NPCs are adjusted _on-arrival_ to auto-complement the player-characters as the DM's ultimate method of adjusting the final encounter difficulty. And the final encounter is for this ssession always fleeing from the BBEG to save everyone's life.

[@jakodar]

“… some proper D&D bullshit.” I had to get off the floor and remember how to breathe again! I have a new T-shirt idea!! Also, those are the moments I live for as a player and a DM! I am running my own game and I always feel overwhelmed and out of control - regardless of prep - I just learn to live with it and enjoy the ride! Thanks for a great video. Now I want to just make a bunch of encounters just to have ready and stick them in a folder on my laptop!

[@jchunick]

Now, I am the DM for many groups, but I will say that what Matt suggests here is very good advice. Recently, I began a semi-one shot - or maybe more accurately a mini-campaign - for my two sons and their friend; the wife joined in so it would be a party of four instead of just three. Anyway, I finally set the date for the first session after our session 0 but quickly began running out of time to plan it as the week sped by with regular life getting in the way. So with a day or two left, I decided to build a sort of training arena to test the PCs. Since the players' characters were from a guild and going to be sent on a mission that would see their success result in admission into the guild as full-fledged members or their failure result in not becoming members, then it made sense that their guild would first want to test how well the group worked together. The thing was that I had some vague ideas of what I wanted. I knew I'd have three objectives; items they had to retrieve. I also compiled a list of creatures to potentially use and decided that I would want them to have to cross a bridge from the side where they entered and eventually have to make their way to a tower on the other side. Also, I wanted a crumbled wall on their end to be able to use as cover if needed. On the day of the game, I gave the basic speech that they were to retrieve three items and bring them back to their side, and the test was about teamwork, blah blah. I also have dwarven forge terrain so I had a lot of fun building the arena. The best part happened right at the beginning. As the players emerged from the giant double doors on one end, one of my sons quickly became interested in the rubble scattered around the half-round wall on their end and chose to pick up a brick. My wife and their friend both scoff at it, "Why are you wasting your time grabbing a brick? You have better weapons." Up to this point, I had put the rubble piles down to indicate the wall wasn't pristine and had seen better days, but the inkling of an idea began to percolate to the surface. As the players moved forward, it's discovered, by the friend whose PC reaches the archway onto the bridge first, that there was an invisible magical barrier separating their side from the other, crossing the entire width of the arena; this was made up on the spot as my idea is further refined by the players' actions. The other players take their turns and when it comes back around, my son comes up to the archway as well and declares that he's going to investigate it. He rolls high. PERFECT! He should really get this as he deserves it; I describe the results of his investigation, "As you investigate the archway for some mechanism by which to disable the magical barrier you realize that the craftsmanship of this archway is pristine; there's not a brick out of place or mortar missing between them... except for one spot where it seems a single brick is missing, and as you look at the brick in your hand you realize that it looks like the perfect fit!" And everyone goes nuts! Absolutely nuts with disbelief, but most of all, my now-vindicated son is over the moon saying, "I knew it! I knew there was something sus about the pile of bricks!" And none of that nor some of the stuff that happened after were explicitly planned but came about from player interaction driving the game. This was all last week.

[@jayobdamen8693]

Thank god for the notification bell

[@sergiocerina7876]

All hail the bell

[@hangriat9376]

Is this a full metal jacket joke?

[@hive_indicator318]

I got the discord notification first

[@jamesdoyle6914]

This is the only channel it actually works for, I swear.

[@razorboy251]

Tons of grasping vine monsters for 5e actually: assassin vine, yellow musk creeper, gulthias tree, and more. The problem is that most of these are not in the core MM, but rather in various published adventures. Otherwise it's a great video and that's how I've been doing prep for a while now. :)

[@emilymitchell6823]

Vine blight in the monster manual!

[@razorboy251]

@@emilymitchell6823 yeah, forgot that one was in the MM. Assassin Vine is in thr MM too (but would absolutely TPK a first level party).

[@TriMarkC]

I love how this technique is exactly how I scramble-created a quick scenario I needed when the players went left instead of right, so to speak.

[@samjones1990]

no the whole sitting back and watching your players argue and debate is my favorite part of being a dm. seeing them try to figure out whats going on and seeing all the things they think of.

[@jeffborders2956]

Ah, just reminded of my early days of GMing and my players driving their hummer across the tundra towards the witch's hut at the edge of the forest and it getting up and running off. Best car chase ever.

[@fardareismai4495]

This is exactly the topic for me. I love being a DM, but the prep always gets pushed to the last second, and it's stressful. I love the actual running of the game though, it's really not that hard but the prep is a bit of a hurdle sometimes. I will be taking notes during this video

[@gercey3314]

Hearing piranhas yell "eat" on two times speed caught me way off guard. Love it.

[@punishedwhispers1218]

This is literally how Ive been doing it for half a decade, map or enemy first, build an encounter around it, contextualize it after I learn about the party and what would work well for them

[@ecfbem]

I love the idea of adding something obvious and wild to the map that could be obscured as dangerous like giant chicken footprints and telling them to ignore that feature of the map, this activates the players to imagine their own version of the map in their head

[@boywithgirlsname]

I just finished running a "Dungeon Masterclass" at my local game shop. We did a collaborative world building exercise to give us inspiration and create our adventure hook. I also gave some very general advice (like how to build encounters and find maps... seems like familiar advice that I just heard somewhere...). Anyways, I ran the first session with no screen so everyone could see what I did, ask questions, and I explained some of my thinking regarding design and in game decisions. I shared my adventure notes afterward... and then each person in the group organized, scheduled, created, and ran a session to advance the story. I ran the capstone boss fight this week... and this is a perfectly timed video to send to everyone as an epilogue! Thanks Uncle Matt. The "secret" to becoming a confident and practiced GM/DM truly is: run a game and then run another and then another and another... but to answer the call, you do need to summon some courage and audacity. And that leap is always made less nerve-wracking with some friendly encouragement. So, as always, thanks for the pep talk and all you do for the community! (But please, dear jeebus, keep your dry erase markers away from my vinyl battle map 😂)

[@bradley2718]

I knew I wanted to dm for months after learning to play with a few online groups. I never thought I was ready until I joined a group one Saturday morning. The dm put up a video of themself and theyre were, like 9 years old. The session was rough. The kid used an adventure book and just read stuff out loud that we shouldn't hear and the descriptions of the suroundings were poor... but we had a blast. I was 32 years old watching a child just jump into it and I realized that's all I needed to do. So just jump in. Eat the elephant 1 bite at a time.

[@evinoshea5215]

Just the sound of Matt's voice (and the quality of his mic) reminds me that prep is fun. It brings me back to when I was first DMing and binging all of the videos on this channel.

[@citan108]

I really love that you said (paraphrased) to tell players if there are irrelevant details on the map. Something I’ve struggled with is trying to find the perfect map, and you just stating the obvious is gonna take some stress off my shoulders. Thanks!

[@DurdleDers]

I'm literally preparing for my session this afternoon and this pops up. I love you Matt🎉

[@alasdairhall5906]

@9:20 I also do this in my sessions but I usually ask "what's everyone's passive perceptions?" and then tell the person with the highest number the information for free. Its silly, but because I asked for their stats somehow it feels more earned.

[@francescopassero8369]

There are so many lessons here that also appeared in other RTG videos: it's like a process of slow sedimentation throughout the years, a condensation of many great pearls of DM knowledge pressed together in this wonderfully complete video, a milestone of Matt's mastery on imparting knowledge effectively AND of the production value of the video with its perfect editing. Congrats, MCDM! Looking forward to the new TTRPG!

[@rich63113]

" it fails to cover some basic scenarios" This isn't really true. These sorts of scenarios are supposed to be handled by ability checks. For a lot of us, it's a whole lot easier to just call for a (strength/dex/whatever) check at disadvantage than to remember what the specific rule is for riding a horse during a thunderstorm. It's not "make it up" - there's a specific resolution mechanic.

[@keithbrown4850]

I fucking love this video. It is such a great compliment to one of the very first videos about making the five room dungeon and I will recommend this video to any new DMs alongside that one. It is so validating to hear the mental walkthrough of how you come to your decisions on what we need to worry about, especially with that is something that I've done my entire time DMing. Easily one of my favorite videos from you!

[@Sofspot1]

Your guidance has given me the confidence to start DMing. I’ve run three games so far, and while there are hiccups, everyone is having fun! I know it’s late but I’ve been watching Chain of Acheron and it’s so awesome! Thanks for everything!

[@BubblegumTrollKing]

This is the best 'get started dming' video I have ever seen. I immediately sent this to every new DM and potential DM I know. I know a good handful who thought about DMing but were overwhelmed with the thought of it or doubting their abilities even with me there to guide them and answer questions. I hope this gives them the mindset to give it a shot.

[@clintmcmahan3792]

I have scoured the internet for tips and how to’s about DM’ing over the years. I can confidently say I’ve learned the most from Matt. So when I talk to potential new DM’s about getting started, you can guess where I direct them. All these years later and you are still a river to your people. Thank you Matt!!!

[@chrisgk7494]

"We love our costumers, none going to show up in your door to break your legs." I love you Matt, never change!

[@Arthas30000]

Wow. This is fitting my style of game I'm setting up perfectly. Time to steal a bunch of ideas :) Ty Matt!!! Edit 1: EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT XD That killed me. Amazing. I feel so inspired!!!! 🤩 Edit 2: Love the Pinkerton reference Matt xD

[@jacktough]

"A River to his people" finally arrives to quench our parched palates!

[@stevenneiman1554]

8:20 Not only is this easier, but I would argue that if possible it's actually BETTER than a thoughtful plan on your part. If it's just speculation based on the evidence you provided, then the players can feel clever for figuring it out (even if there was nothing to figure out until you overheard), and if it ties into their backstories or it's something they suggested, then they get to feel heard and important.

[@Gamer_Dylan_6]

HOW DO YOU ALWAYS KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I NEED?!?!?!? It's like magic. Every time you upload its advice for the exact situation I'm in. Preparing a 1 shot for next week and really needed a video on prep.

[@hectorvivis3651]

8:07 I had to come back to be sure of what I just heard. You're a gem, Mr Colville

[@billthecanuck]

reminds me how i actually started a campaign of mine a while back, a campaign that ended up going on for nearly 3 years. I started with the group was a group of adventurers at a base camp on a newly discovered continent, i had basically a table of a dozen or so random encounters in the jungle and 3 crypts pre made, with some traps/puzzles depending which direction they went and what they did..... on the 3rd session they randomly saw a green dragon flying over head, which they followed. .. i didnt think much of it i generated a small lair for it quickly and threw some kobolds in and voila.... then the players did something i didnt expect. the two dragonborn in the party approached the dragon and started talking to it rolling very well on persuasion and not being provocative, asking about the continent and surrounding area. I had expected them to go in guns blazing. So on the spot i decided that they were in a penninsula that had just be seized by this dragon from a black dragon to the east and he was setitng up a lair there. i said there was a desert to the northwest and they were on the border of a vast blue dragon empire. Point is, you don't need to do a lot of prep ahead of time, i took that session and over the next week i fleshed the world out more based on what my players asked in the previous session. i had no idea what was there until the players started asking questions lol... i was content to just let them kill the green dragon and get some loot.,,, instead i got inspiration for an entire continent.

[@alecchristiaen4856]

An interesting game to prep for IMO is Vampire: the Masquerade. If you can get your players into a proactive mindset, they'll basically churn out plot-hooks themselves. The game even has mechanics that encourage this, with characters having a colorful roster of options for friends, enemies, frenemies, and contacts, so they'll always know at least somewhere to go to get the ball rolling. On top of that, each player usually has to select an ambition, which is generally some large scale goal they can work towards and is theoretically plausible, but achieving it is a whole story of itself. If you have the right players for it, a chronicle can reach critical mass, where the GM doesn't have to introduce any plot themselves anymore, simply reacting to the players' actions.

[@danger_design]

I love streamlining the content creation process for myself. I build myself tools that I can use to easily generate details on the fly, like shops and services when the party enters a new town - building those tools is fun as hell and makes prepping for actual play a breeze.

[@1n20DnD]

Your comment just helped me realize this is something I need for the game I just started running. I've got all the big items in place (it's Waterdeep: Dragon Heist), but I really want to fill in the details. Shops with NPCs ready to go will be a huge help! 👍

[@danger_design]

@@1n20DnD I like to make a chart of pre-approved magic items for players to purchase in shop. Usually 8-12 options per category (some weapons, some armor, some potions, etc.) Then, when they get to a new town, roll once or twice on a few of the tables to generate some random merchant stalls. More selective or extensive rolls to populate specialised shops.

[@1n20DnD]

@danger_design nice! I've been doing my prep in a combination of spreadsheets and Google Doc format. I'll most likely make a spreadsheet page with Shop Name, NPC name, race, and how I want to voice them (personality and what they sound like). That would save me a lot of stress rather than trying to come up with them on the fly! And it will be fun even if we never use them! 😅

[@Mephiidross]

@@1n20DnD Good luck with your game! I actually started my DM journey with that adventure, too. It's a lot of fun, but be wary of being sidetracked by all the places and people the players can interact with.

[@1n20DnD]

@Mephiidross yes, totally! Which season did you run? I'm starting it in spring, but I might flavor it with details from the other seasons. Mostly because we've been playing together for years, so I've got a good feel for the group. One of them is a noble whose house is enemies with the Cassalanter house. And he picked that without knowing anything about the story! Are there any good tips from when you ran it?

[@harwinkle1440]

Dr. Strangelove is such a classic, Matt truly is a man of taste

[@Swordsman300]

watching this and re-watching this lead me to message some of my people the age-old message: "Hey, wanna play D&D tonight?" Made a oneshot in one night, turned into a twoshot and now I'm DM'ing a full campaign. Thanks, Matthew, for the encouragement

[@emhooaryou698]

That's awesome! Congratulations, I hope you folks have fun.

[@LibertyMonk]

Tavern Staircase: It's outside, so anyone beefing with you won't ruin our lobby to get to you.

[@kopmon0]

Been struggling with motivation for planning. Can’t wait to see the tips. Cze and Peku are amazing for maps.

[@SystemOfFantasy]

you are so inspiring man, i was sitting hear with so much stuff to do, and you really motivated me

[@You-is9tw]

It doesn’t need to be maps. I have a list of monsters I'd love to use that fit the tone the campaign and pick one that sounds cool, then same process. Figure out how the monster is encountered, use the excitement for the monster to spark questions and inform answers.

[@jules3484]

When you snipped it all into your google doc, I feel so validated that's exactly how I bring my monster blocks with me too ! Scribble the heck out of those printed blocks! Love it! Thanks for all you do Matt, Flee Mortals! is so damn cool !

[@forensic_freak]

Yes, just in time for Summer and a DM vacation. Sending this to my players now!

[@loki3173]

I got way too into the small details of my campaigns after years, and this video was a nice refresher of keeping it simple. Thanks Matt!

[@fvb7]

My table either manages to ignore 3 entire kingdoms and their long lost love interest all in one session or fail to escape their tavern room. There is no in between.

[@Shield_OW]

recently i was browsing /r/battlemaps and came across this great map that simply had a green field with a ravine and some rocks, with a GIANT sword stuck in the ravine, it inspired me, not to make a battle around a giant sword, but to shrink my players down so that giant sword would be a regular sword seen in their "honey i shrunk the kids" perspective, i agree with mat, looking at beautiful maps is a great way of thinking about cool stuff to throw at your players

[@rontalkstabletop]

24:43 is an underrated piece of GM advice! Become a friend to ambiguity.

[@jamesjoy7547]

It really is! Although it took me (seems like) forever to get this through my thick head. Even though I love it when the players surprise me, and love improvising during encounters. Players turn down a helpful NPC? Okay, a later combat encounter unfolds exactly as the NPC had warned. Players exploit an environmental hazard against their foes? Cool! Now the structure creaks, revealing similar weak points they can use. Players want to stock up on rations instead of upgrading weapons? Right on! The cranky dwarven smith is now a cranky halfling provisioner Yes indeed, being friends with ambiguity does have it's benefits! 😜 (edited for typos & clarity)

[@luketfer]

This is probably one of the most useful piece of advice Spoony (oh how far he's fallen) ever gave. Whilst he was a 2e/3.5e Grognard to the max, the one piece of advice I'll always remember is that if a player points out an inconsistency within the game, go with it, point out that there IS ambiguity there and that maybe there's something to it. For example if you screwed up and had an NPC where they shouldn't be and the players ask, "Wait, how did they get ahead of us, they were still back at town when we left" the response should be "Yeah that's interesting isn't it..." and leave it a that for now, solve the problem later, let the players feel like they've had a 'gotcha' moment where they've uncovered a secret in your plan and then actually build into it. Maybe the NPC is now working for the BBEG and they got teleported here, maybe they are actually a spellcaster and had a scroll of teleportation, maybe they're not the original NPC at all, they're still back in town and this is a doppelganger who has just realized their disguise has been rumbled and is now plotting something....

[@terrencemiltner1005]

"You just have to feel it." Great. Now I want to watch Oceans 13

[@abelsampaio389]

Just past session our table was coming back from a 6 month pause (10 years in game world) at a jousting tourney. They decided to play in the tourney, and one of the knights competing was a mystery knight, the mustard knight (cause of the color of his cape). He always keep his helmet down, and when he speaks, you can't really tell if it's a man or woman, because the voice gets caged in the helmet. When I prepped this, I had no real idea who he/she was. I was counting on my players's guesses. Sure enough, they guessed, and it sounded like a great idea. They'll feel amazing when they figure out they were right.

[@Umbrellacorporationmt]

I’m not going to lie. I will likely steal this entire set up for a session. This is fantastic.

[@lockstock5963]

Your Running The Game videos have inspired me A LOT to get into the GM's seat with my group of 4 years. We're about to finish up Rime of the Frostmaiden, and I'm going to be running a game in my homebrew setting (also definitely set on putting Red Hand of Doom in there eventually). Thanks for all your work and advice!

[@Zero_Shift]

8:50 One thing to add - It feels bad for the players to just hear that theres tracks. But theres a mechanic for that in 5e, called passive perception. The player with the highest bonus to perception would be the ones character that would notice said tracks in the dirt. Immediately more engaging for the group and prompts said player to start the roleplay of explaining it to the party. It doesn't *feel* like a freebie

[@Adamantium93]

I started DM'ing over my Christmas Break. I used a nerfed Delian Tomb as a one-on-one adventure with my 70 yr old dad (an oldschool lotr fan who I knew would love it--he has made a human fighter called "Araborn") and then just had a second session running this adventure where my 60 yr old mom joined (along with a sidekick to act as a meatshield). She has never had any interest in video games and hates, as she calls it "medieval shit". My dad was nervous she would not have fun. She rolled a bard because she wanted "to be good at gathering information and talking to people" and made it a Brass Dragonborn because she "wants to be a fire breathing dragon" (she repeated "I'm a fire breathing dragon" at least three times in the session with great pride). The first combat encounter went beautifully sideways: she put the vines to sleep and then used Speak with Animals (aided by some very good persuasion checks) to convince the SPIDERS to help them find the missing paladin in exchange for the party's rations. She then turned to us and said, with glee, "This is great!" After their first actual combat encounter (some cultists guarding the entrance to the chapel in the woods which I added mid session), she immediately said "I want to check the bodies for valuables". I told her she found just some simple swords and medallions with a mysterious symbol, but nothing of value. She said "I'm going to take as much as I can carry and sell it later". She also has a pretty good stealth but has only used it to get close to the enemies and start a conversation (think "Hi, Zuko here!"). I eventually had to warn her that just because she has a high persuasion doesn't mean she can convince the enemies to do things they would not reasonably do (like believe that she, a Dragonborn, is the sister to their human cult leader/messianic figure stopping by the aftermath of a bloody raid on a rival monestary for a cup of tea with her dear old sis). She tried it again with the actual Big Bad of the adventure and got an ice ray to the face for her trouble from the miniboss henchman. She rebuttled with Vicious Mockery, making implications about his masculinity and how his...anatomy...must be reacting to all the cold spells he uses. Needless to say, she loved it and is now talking about setting up more sessions. Thank you for everything you've done to demistify DM'ing and convince people like me to give it a try.

[@syrusterrigan9366]

absolutely +1 for the Strangelove clip!! and a few more +1s for the semi-subtle digs at WotC. as always, thanks, Matt & Co.!

[@JoeySoul]

Been running games for 3 and a half years now. Prepping is quite often easy and almost always a blast. I'm actually sad that I will just be a player again after my next 2 sessions, but life comes first and I won't have the time anymore for a bit.

[@Mathmagician94]

Getting inspired by maps is what lead to the last arc of my campaign, where my players explored a huge dwarven City, because i saw it on the dndmaps subreddit (great subreddit btw, where people post free maps to use) So yes. Agree so much about using maps as inspiration

[@theredbeardbard]

I just love how practical all your advice is. I've been running D&D for ... well, a very long time. I can still learn new things, so I love these videos.

[@TheDestroya88]

Thanks Matt. This is the hardest thing I do in a sandbox setting, Filling the tables with content. Once I’ve put this into practice and my neurons do magic then I’ll be having fun prepping too.

[@lycanthrose]

Love this idea. It's a small step into a larger world. No need to create the world just yet, just take a walk through a haunted wood. As a returning Storyteller, my players gave me some great advice with maps. If there is a defense bonus for cover and such, mark it on the map. It makes it easier to remember all those numbers rather than get frustrated looking at a list constantly.

[@Lyzan00]

normally my prep includes - read the notes from last session - browse a lots of pictures and come up with the ones that inspire me. In many cases I will save the pictures and instead of having to imagine the description of the place. I literally look at the picture and describe what I see. Players love if you give small details like the color of the candles or the shape of the markings on the doors, etc.. If you have pictures to copy is always easier to come up with them.

[@nickshaw3619]

I have been sitting behind the DM screen for years, and I still learn something valuable every time one of these videos comes out. What did I learn this time out? That there's a reason I have so much trouble finding the right maps: I write all the encounters first, and then hope some map artist has perfectly anticipated my needs. I'm usually not that lucky.

[@terrifyingtyrannosaurusturtle]

Honestly inkarnate is pretty easy to use, and the free version isn't bad. It's definitely good enough to get the point across, but the biggest issue for me is just getting lost in the little details lol

[@nickshaw3619]

@Terrifying Tyrannosaurus Turtle my personal experience with Inkarnate is that it's a time vampire. Yeah, the tools are pretty easy to pick up, and the free version is extremely powerful for being free, but every time I fire it up, ten hours of my life disappear... and then I get to figure out how to print my weird aspect ratio masterpiece. I have no doubt it's a fantastic tool for a lot of people, but the approach I'm excited about is taking preexisting maps, preferably preprinted ones, and tailoring my encounters to fit them. Words are a tool I am SIGNIFICANTLY more comfortable with. I'll leave visual design to those with the talent for it.

[@craigrussell7542]

I love, "You have to be a friend of ambiguity." Definitely describes my style. 🙂

[@therpginger5886]

You know Matt you were one of the first DM I Came across youtube when I was first learning to dm I watched a lot of videos learned even more but inevitably life got a little busy and I've had about almlst a two year Hiatus and recently I've been looking to get back in and here's one of your videos again. But I've realized something else. You are the reason I watch all my KZbin videos (except yours) on x1.5. You and you're perfectly delivered tempo has corrupted me to from being able to listen to lessee regular tempo speaking ppl and for this I'm not sad. Thank you for all you do. 😂😂

[@PossiblyNic]

This is helpful. Classic running the game style and exactly the kind of video to put me in the prep headspace. Thank you

[@felix34ever1]

I have a friend who is DMing a campaign for his first time and I think this would be awesome for him, thanks Matt