Reading My Good(ish) DM Notes (AKA, How I write my games)

This ended up being super long, hoped you guys got something out of this!
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[@magnusdallas4447]

We're still waiting for *Slams DMG on table* "So you wanna be a Dungeon Master"

[@omlo9093]

Yes please! Or "how to kill your party"

[@hopelessly.lavenderly]

At level three, choose your Last Strand of Sanity! Improv! Proficiency in any and all Charisma checks. Planned! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[@tfrenchiestfry3673]

@Om Lo whats the difference

[@takdudung]

@@hopelessly.lavenderly I personally think that 'Planned' is the most useless ability in the entire game. I mean, come on. You forego like what, seven long rests for nothing other than just a +1 bonus for readiness? Pfft.

[@hopelessly.lavenderly]

@@takdudung And Improv is like, so op?? Wizards what

[@shandaniel2999]

Wait are you supposed to have notes as a DM?!

[@andresalvarado2019]

Shan Daniel HAHAHAHAH yeah just ideas😂

[@sack1501]

Yes, maybe, kinda, not really? Do what works 👍

[@mhDarkWolf]

What's "notes" eh?

[@jd21000]

same

[@jensb3946]

Andres Alvarado He’s joking, you idiot

[@ponilo99]

Like Matt Mercer once said:"You're right, I did not make this up on the spot. At ALL"

[@janelantestaverde2018]

I mean, you can replace "Matt Mercer" with "every DM" in this case.

[@fiontathomas1574]

Jan Elan Testaverde what? That literally makes no sense.

[@janelantestaverde2018]

@@fiontathomas1574 It means that literally every dm gets into that situation where they are ironically like "oh, yeah, that was totally planned and not spontaneously made up."

[@fiontathomas1574]

Jan Elan Testaverde yea, but he is quoting someone so you're not disproving anything he said with your response. In fact, your response is incredible in the way it responded to someone and simultaneously didn't address anything that person said at the same time. Just because another dm has said that doesn't mean that matt hasn't said so I don't know why you're trying to argue with the op, or even what you're trying to argue with him about, the fact that Matt Mercer did indeed say that or that other DMS have said that?

[@janelantestaverde2018]

@@fiontathomas1574 I think you're taking this a bit too serious. I wasn't disproving anything, I was extending it. Making my own kind of joke out of it. "Every DM" does, in the end, include Mathew. He's a DM as well, after all.

[@sloesty]

Yhe hidden railroad: u prepared a bunch of events but not where or when they occur. Your players make a choice and you make it lead to the event. They feel like they made a choice and you dont have to have crazy improv

[@dylank2428]

I call that the Osbourne, since it's truly a crazy train

[@Jebu911]

Good old bethesda way. They can say hell no to your quest but you take it as a sarcastic no.

[@HelloThere.....]

@@dylank2428 What? Doesn't really make sense or match with what we're talking about imo

[@KillerBot5100]

I call it “quantum ogre.” You want the party to fight an ogre. The party has two paths to take. The ogre will be down whichever path the party takes

[@xuan.1611]

And to improve the feel of making a choice, everytime your players do something they think is crazy. Just go uhhhh ummmm and pause for 1 or 2 min. My DM use to do that (still do)in our session and we always think we have caught him off guard

[@john-137]

My players: Do you have a game ready? Me: Yeah. What my DM notes say: Me again: So there is a war about to start between the lizardfolk and the goblins.

[@Yental]

I have the problem, My campaign is in the early game but I can only think of planning out the late game

[@garrettwade1294]

@@Yental Then you can try to set it up and just think of some good early game encounters. Like, finding some lower level creatures and planning things around them. Displacer beasts are like cr 2 I think and are really cool. They can guard things like mansions.

[@Yental]

@@garrettwade1294 Well we play a diffrent system but I now got some early game encounters ready, main problem I have with them is that they all cant take damage, they had a tank but because he wanted to kill the cat of the healer because he was allergic to it he now is wellllllllllllllll... dead

[@ROYBGP]

Yental this sounds ridiculous. Don't worry about the end. Fuck all that. Just have something fun for your players to do *now*

[@venrisulven]

"when they go to sleep the guards will arrest them" Sounds like the skyrim quest of getting into the dark brotherhood where you needed to fall asleep, but no one sleeps in that game so everyone has to look it up online to find out how to get into the dark brotherhood.

[@thepharoah277]

I didn't want to use a potion to heal so I just slept and got lucky.

[@thepopulargirl1784]

I got really confused when it happened to me. I was using a bed in a dungeon while doing another questline, and then next thing you know I've been transported to a cabin in a swamp and have to make way through the whole dungeon again.

[@oz_jones]

@@thepopulargirl1784 THANKS, SITHIS

[@salvadorelastname9095]

I sleep in skyrim :(

[@jacquelineking5783]

I mean obviously an inn.

[@zana820]

I'm so glad I found another 'Improv DM' my other DM friends tend to look at me like I'm crazy when I run games without anything prepared.

[@holyordersol2668]

NomadicPanda More power to you. Improv is usually much more difficult a skill to master than preparing a load of notes, especially for beginner DMs.

[@TheCinderfang]

I use to over prepare, my players think I'm so prepared, but my notes these days are just me reacting to players and writing stuff as it happens.

[@astolenusername7675]

NomadicPanda I do the same, I improved a story with a pack of goblins & a secret room which put I a random demon trapped inside in a crystal

[@natanoj16]

I am also an improve GM and have been for 8 years :) The details I have found really helps me is floorplans and names of characters ^^

[@bulbafett5001]

I sit somewhere in the middle. I have scenes planned out. But they're set up for whatever the PCs have done, rather modular. Like I have a "Betrayed at the Inn" Scene, it's just a setup where the Players are betrayed by an NPC, surrounded by an angry mob allied with said NPC. But depends What NPCs have been interacted with by that point. Now I do detail the hell out of Locations and keep time tables going.

[@healbro1115]

By God we need a sequel to the cringy notes

[@adamwelch4336]

Indeed

[@jacob-zo7hn]

Yas

[@crungler]

2 years later this holds up

[@mr.preston1632]

@Chase Alizzi If those craziest nat 20 videos have taught me anything, its that rolling a nat 20 gives you Mary Sue levels of luck

[@metalicbat1284]

A good DM tip for writing notes: KNOW YOUR PLAYERS! Knowing your players lets you understand how they think, make up options related to what they might do, and then they feel like they picked that option, not you. If you do not know your players, make things vague, letting things go in a way that you nor the players know.

[@seasnek7024]

My group is mainly a bunch of random chaos bringers who love to do absolutely anything stupid or funny. Kinda difficult if i’d ever want to DM...great tip tho to improve the game. Just depends on the people as you say

[@Elkator955]

Let's see... If I have a cook out in this event, I should be ready for one of them chopping this guy's arm off and grilling it to check the taste.

[@metalicbat1284]

@@Elkator955 Yes. Make sure you season it right, or you'll get the weird rodent taste.

[@metalicbat1284]

@@seasnek7024 I pity DMs like you all over the world. Also, for those kinds of Dms, just do what Jacob does: absolutely nothing.

[@seasnek7024]

@@metalicbat1284 Thanks but I don't DM. However I am interested in the role because of the likes of Jacob and Matthew Mercer

[@phivosschran2493]

THERE'S NO DEFENSES AT THE ALCHEMY SHOP

[@1Maklak]

The obvious response is "OK, in that case let's wrap up this session for today". Then make detailed floor plans and everything for the next session.

[@CeruleanMirage]

@@1Maklak The only problem is what if they try to steal from the potion shop in the first 10 minutes of the session

[@1Maklak]

@@CeruleanMirage Even IF they succeed, the owner knows what he had and who was at his shop. They may get banned and WILL get suspicious reputation and eventually be considered criminals.

[@fiendlyghost]

*dies inside* ...everything’s color-coded

[@teutonieth]

I'm kinda jealous. I'm the storywriter type of DM, so i basically write a plot idea and a story around it. after that's done, i chop the story into events and locations allowing for greater flexibility.

[@tfrenchiestfry3673]

Same.

[@oanavasut1234]

heyyyy that's a great idea! i just started playing and they made me the dm but i know very little as well. and nothing about notes, so thank you :) mind if i try?

[@tfrenchiestfry3673]

This is a good channel to help you learn how to play. Writing notes is a very important part. If you are using a computer to help write notes, I suggest world anvil. It's a great tool for Dms and authors alike. Unless you are running a pre-made campaign, like the lost mine of phandelver.

[@AJSKY-ot4dy]

Same

[@ragnarvolarus1098]

@@tfrenchiestfry3673 This comment was sponsored by World Anvil

[@superultragamer8245]

This dude wrote the Tyranny of Dragons campaign before WotC did

[@kupc4ke]

You could say he was d&deprived...

[@andrewseverance1615]

Badum tsst

[@1983SpringBonnie]

Same

[@SunSun-sk4si]

0:53 "And that's tendo how I kinda run my games anyway."

[@snormax7691]

Jacob I frickin love your channel just wanted to let you know :D

[@XPtoLevel3]

❤️ thanks!

[@cricocadazzle4439]

I liked the comment. Now you only have 29 more likes to go.

[@jacob-zo7hn]

My name's Jacob. Just putting that out there

[@nanners6548]

@@jacob-zo7hn Me to...

[@tfrenchiestfry3673]

Yes. It's a good channel. For to learn with and things

[@pheonix288]

Personally I write down the percentage of a certain race/ races of a city or area in general, this helps me with determining what race npc's should be.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

matt colville figured out (live, on stream, after toying with percentages for an hour) that it's better to describe the city makeup in qualitative terms. like, humans are the dominate, there's a minority of dwarves, an enclave of tieflings, etc. our brains are really bad at understanding percentages, and they can often be misleading anyways.

[@KoiBoiRoi]

1:00 can confirm. Most of my ideas happen whilst in the shower.

[@dantedrowson2511]

Mine always happen when Im doing dishes or (tmi?) Im going to the bathroom😂😂 Whyyy??? IDK!!

[@noahlee3113]

THAT IS EXACTLY TO A T MY DM STYLE I'VE NEVER FELT CLOSER TO SOMEONE

[@concernedcommenter8258]

Says the man with a profile picture like that...

[@keyanblyler04]

"So I'll get into the shower and drive somewhere." 🛀🚗

[@jgr7487]

"you have to make them easy" like the "please open" door?

[@dvldgz6306]

does everyone do this?

[@ArcturusDrake]

"if you want people to care about lore write a book" fortunately my D&D setting is set in the world of the novel i've been writing off and on again for the last 5 years. But also agree with the mostly improve thing, i go into sessions with one dot point and wing 95% of it. Side note: my players care about the Lore

[@magentanide5984]

I thought the "go write a book" point was shallow, honestly. The point of an RPG (or any game) is to experience the world yourself interactively. Rich lore can make that interesting for players that engage with it, and a good DM will make it interesting for the players that don't.

[@Gevaudan1471]

@@magentanide5984 It's unbelievably shallow. Without lore, there are no stakes.

[@The__Thunder__]

@@magentanide5984 i would say its not too shallow, i think he means that you shouldnt just dump lore on your party, you shouldnt read your book of backstory to them, but let the party explore the world and find little treasures and bits of lore on their own, its about the players more than your world

[@joshuawright4198]

​@@Gevaudan1471 He's not saying you can't write lore but that writing lore isn't the same as being a good DM and that the players will always Prioritise how the lore affects them above how interesting it is.

[@grey8288]

I like to have good detail because I have a mix of note takers. My quiet player has almost everything in notes but rarely speaks. Both know it all PC's players take awful notes. But then they meet an NPC they haven't seen for a while and I misspeak their eye color and the player has in their notes the original eye color and decides it must be a disguise or something. While it's fun to pretend like that was intentional, I want to be reliable when repeating previously given information.

[@d.riddle2965]

Oh thank god. Another DM who has a lot of players who are really, really into details. If I make up that there was a battle on this land 500 years ago that's absolutely irrelevant to the plot, well, I better remember I mentioned it because I'm going to be asked about its political ramifications 10 sessions later....

[@showalk]

@@d.riddle2965 - THANK YOU. I haven't even DMed yet but this happens in so many campaigns my friends run.

[@williamfederoff297]

I would say, personally, i like having a rough outline of what's important for that session and then just improvise in between. Usually, this includes the general idea of the session, any important descriptions for important characters (like say a gang boss) or places (like arriving in a new city or town), and any planned encounters (again, perhaps a leader or a monster encounter i've been leading up to). Improve is the best way to go, but having a general idea of a plan is great.

[@robertmoorhead2406]

Improv DMing works for me in D&D, because I know the system pretty well. When I'm doing something I'm less familiar with like WFRP or whatever, then I do more prep. But like... smart prep. Character names and backstories. Random encounter tables (hint: 11 entries that your roll on with 2d6 lets you weigh results towards the middle). The facts of a mystery game, giving players the choice to fly or flop.

[@jameshession6561]

Robert Moorhead I thought ur last name was Motörhead for a second. I was about to flip my shit

[@ashenwuss1651]

Dm advice never gets old. Even if it's the same advice as before. I tend to get overwhelmed by brainstorming in it's self. Playing would be whack, it feels. Thanks for snapping me back into reality.

[@elianisthebrave6988]

"I am an improve GM". MY MAN!

[@concernedcommenter8258]

'improve' yes... Not improv.

[@voultbioy5261]

TWO UPLOADS IN ONE DAY THANK YOU JACOB (also can do more dnd tips, i miss them)

[@yoitsjonmac188]

After a very short time of consuming dnd youtube your channel is easily my favorite. Thank you so much for the advice.

[@P4rz1va1]

This is actually one of the most useful videos I've found on how to be a better DM and I've watched a lot of videos on how to be a better DM

[@jayspencer9396]

You just helped me so much! Thank you. Currently, I am preparing the 2nd session of a Pathfinder game and I know I prefer to improve but I held myself to an impossible standard. You gave me permission to play the game how I like to. And how I knew I should have been. Thank you.

[@blinkfilms1]

Me, writing a city campaign: "this'll be good advice" "CITY INTRIGUE IS HARD AS FUCK TO WRITE" me:... Uh

[@giraffedragon6110]

The best way I’ve ever explained D&D to someone who doesn’t have any clue what it’s all about was “it’s a play without a script, you have your characters so embody them in mind”

[@emilycatalano9396]

I feel so much better about DMing after hearing you say you are an improve DM. Cause I am as well but I build a lot of my world like you do. I go through the same process of basic ideas and such. I thought I was doing it wrong. Thank you for this video.

[@notreallyalec]

Currently prepping for a Second Edition D&D campaign! Yes, I'm going back to the old ways and looking on how to professionally prep for it! Thank you for uploading this amazing video! :)

[@ravensilverclaw]

Your videos are awesome! You help me get into the mood to write more on my campiagn. Sometimes as dungeon masters we lose sight of what makes a game fun. I've done exactly what you did with a city once or twice and I only had 1 character out of 6 be: like I take a tour! and followed my guide NPC around while everyone else bought magical items. I've since revised my notes, and now he just has a bit more of a leg up because of the tour so when they needed to get somewhere he could be like I know where that is! Once they returned to the city and I had revised things the players seemed so much more interested. It even became a split the group up and the two groups both had their own mysteries to solve. They even commisioned a house to be built there for themselves as it became their favirote city.

[@joshpham7017]

I really like these notes videos. It's cool to see how other people do their notes.

[@literalruleslawyer]

What are these 'notes' you speak of?

[@TheCinderfang]

Keeping track of your parties actions, nothing more.

[@SladePate]

Thank you Jacob, very cool!

[@jellybean_91]

I DMed for the very first time last weekend, and watching your videos first really helped. My friends are all more experienced players (and DMs) than me, so I thought I should be super prepared: I found a fun one-shot and adapted it a bit. I knew how EVERY POSSIBLE OUTCOME should go. My friends then proceeded to go down the ONE pathway of action I HADN'T prepared for. Cue four-and-a-half hours of me pulling encounters, monsters, NPCs and plot points out of the air. The supposedly "main" combat was done in two rounds, while the "easy" combat took forever. But we all had a great time, and apparently, they didn't notice any of my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants improv. I was very proud of myself!

[@codyrhodes2473]

I'm so glad there's another DM who does this, I spent a LOT of time trying to run well-planned campaigns and eventually it became SO easy for me to just assemble pieces on the fly based on world lore. I couldn't prep for ANYTHING my players would do. The kind NPCs got murdered and the very stereotypically evil NPCs were trusted until the party were backstabbed. I still can't plan for what they might do! I've spent three weeks trying to figure out how the starting dialogue of our next session will go, and I've planned about two sentiments that the character can try to convey.

[@KarmicKnight97]

I like the idea of improving as I go along. Like I've never DM'ed before and about 6 months ago I started doing it for my housemates. I'm not particularly good at it but I get the point across and can make a hell of a set piece. The thing is its set in my own homebrew world and while I have a good strong image of it as well as my style, I like to think that the world and my style of play will evolve with each other as the campaign goes on. I love doing this.

[@stellasilverstone]

Tbh, everytime i watch your videos, I get inspired, and i just want to have a really wholesome time, with each of us playing twin garlic bread clerics. We can discover new eldritch horrors, sole the mystery of the missing towns people, and dismantle a cult of secret vampires together.

[@thetokenwon506]

I feel so much better after watching this video. I’m a new DM running my second homebrew campaign and this is exactly how I do it. Just write down random scenarios and then go off of what the players decide to do. Lol

[@josh-cz3ey]

The misty step is an awesome name for a travelling magic shop... I really like the disappearing shop idea I'm gonna borrow that, thanks.

[@additionalsky]

Can I just say... I'm preparing for my first homebrew campaign and this video - though old - has been a breath of fresh air. Make the NPC's, have loose goals, make up shit but speak it with confidence. I actually feel much better about this now.

[@jeremiahpohl3596]

I know this is late but if you haven't watched "How to be a great gm" I like his content and find it enlightening

[@zyclonex1338]

meanwhile my notes are just "The goblin sells SHOES! Initiate combat wizard plan 9" scribbled down on a used mcdonalds napkin...

[@corbiculacc6079]

Lore brings the world to life and makes the game more immersive.. its the best part

[@mrsirty3019]

Improv dm here. I tend to have info on lore with me. Players can't derail a story if there's nothing to derail.

[@cinnabunz1532]

Oh my God I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who does this, I thought I was a terrible DM for the longest time

[@shannonirion5234]

The Avernus thing sounds a lot like the first session I tried to run... that didn't go well either. Thanks for making this video!

[@MonodelBuilder]

Your world-building and session planning is the exact issue I have. Added on that I both write out way to much and improv on the spot. All of that lovely whirl-storm combined is the reason why I'm gonna reboot my campaign just a little bit. As in: telling the players that 'no, the Abyss isn't opening again. You guys don't have to take care of that, not that you have been so far. Just, don't worry about it anymore.' And a few more things like that.

[@angiemartin197]

Preach it about lore! Great video, Jacob!

[@TheForgotten35]

I come up with most sessions on the car ride to where we play. Puts on some theme music and the music influences my decisions greatly.

[@APTwist13]

I am so glad but you're an improv DM. It really makes me feel better about myself as one. Not because I'm a good DM, but because at least I have a chance to get better without punishing all of my time in to Prep work

[@themagescorner]

This is great advice! I used to do world building, but a lot of it really doesn’t matter right. Most players didn’t care about details anyways.

[@carumsarene]

"Players don't care about lore" My players, meanwhile, get so invested I can literally hire them as co-writers.

[@natelay7244]

Great video. Your wisdom is large... Thanks Jacob

[@foxokon94]

I am a sort of experienced Call of Cuthulu GM(or keeper, as it is called) and got some experience writing mysteries. A good rule of thumb is to treat it like a dungeon, except the rooms are places the players can get clues and the corridors are the clues. Start off at the entrance (something happens the player need to investigate) they get 2-3 clues leading to 2-3 different places, there they can find clues that bring them to the next place. From there the players can move from scene to scene as they wish based on the clues they find. Make sure to move around vital clues if the player miss them and they will hopefully feel really smart by the end.

[@bemefull]

I'm am the furthest thing from a improv DM. I have about 7 pages worth of MLA format notes for one mission.

[@Blood-Lord]

Same, i wrote a dungeon with 15 pages of notes. It included traps, puzzles, treasure, etc. I believe the PCs loved it.

[@superultragamer8245]

Do you have a works cited page? If it’s MLA it needs a works cited

[@bemefull]

@@superultragamer8245 Oh, of course. How else am I gonna be able to find the websites I steal ideas from again.

[@desentintodarkness7254]

I have a friend who can run a 8 hour session with no preperation. All of his game amazing. He remeber everything that happens in his world.

[@Duskblade295]

The whole mystery sounds dope as the hells

[@4jayco]

I love to hear someone who does dming exactly the way I do

[@paulpierce1001]

One thing I found interesting that a DM said before is (loosely paraphrased); "Your plot remains in tact but your plot structure is disposable". For example, Your party members didnt go to sleep so the guards dont encounter them... but maybe theyre out on the road after leaving town and a group of bounty hunters encounter them and take them for capture. In essence, your characters/places of interest can be changed on the fly. They are all essentially "x find the player party". The person, place, or thing is irrelavent to the overall plot. So, if your characters ignore a mystery in one town you can have it pop back up in the next town, keep the plot and exchange the characters. So, if it was John who they had to talk to in city 1 and they didnt, then John is now the guy they need to talk to in city 2. If they never met John then they never know the difference. I personally found this information extremely useful for improv.

[@caddja2155]

This was a really good video! i really feel like I learned something

[@lhoravn2481]

first session i dm'd i was pretty much reading from the script (i had written) for the first 2 hours. then i realized that was stressful, so i started winging it and just LOOSLEY FOLLOWING the notes. you just need the base characters and some emergency NPCs and it's infinitely more fun.

[@MyFunnyVids888]

You're my spirit animal when it comes to dming. I had a little intro scene to sort of set the story because it was a one shot and I had to make up 3 extra npcs because I only wrote 1 down so the players could play out the scene in which the only npcs that survived the intro were ones that I had made up then and there and I was well ok guess that npc I put work into is dead XD guess we'll continue as if everything is normal

[@OscarGreenworth]

I think that a beholder with a kenku for sfx would be a good DM. He'd be prepared for literally anything the players could come up with and keep the game going.

[@marsparty8229]

Valuable advice for new DM's especially about the improv. I was guilty of over world building too.

[@musicalsystem927]

I, too, am an improv DM. When people I know ask what they should do as their first ever session of being a DM, I tell them to experiment. It took a while for me to find what type of DMing suited me. I tried notes, and... I lost sleep. So it really depends on how good you are with improv. Some theater people could be great at improv DMing, and I am an example, but some could not be as good... Find what suits you.

[@TheGameVerse]

Wow.. so you're me. You literally went through the same evolution. From having massive notes, to, a paragraph or less haha. Its so funny going back to look at notes for sessions I remember as being among the best, and the page is empty :P I spend most of my time world building, but the actual session, nah. Unless it's a dungeon, then I do need to a lot of work, on things like puzzles (I do not have a head for puzzles at all)

[@becasaurusbex8204]

This is actually a hidden gem of advice

[@dionmager1068]

Nice, knowing that you run it like this makes me feel better about that I run it just like this

[@dumpsterfire6992]

Here's a big brain tactic,make them think you wrote it all down

[@sagesaria]

My DM's first murder mystery, he didn't even decide on the culprit until he rolled randomly from the list of NPCs he literally just created that minute. It didn't end well. In fact, it ended with all of us BEGGING him to give us a clue because he wouldn't hear us saying "WE HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA, YOU KEEP SAYING TO KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS BUT WE'RE TAPPED OUT AND YOUR NPCS ARE STONEWALLING US." He made up for it with another one later at least, that was much better.

[@EvanFarshadow]

Glad to know i'm not the only improv DM. I have a hard time planning it out beforehand and overprep and my best games have ALWAYS been improv made with only a basic theme.

[@aegisofficial3819]

The shopkeep thing is exactly why no matter what, my blacksmith is the exact same NPC in every town. No one but I know why this is, but they love it because he's a stereotypical surfer bro

[@gavinclark6891]

This note taking style is OP

[@Canadian_Ry]

I really enjoyed this video! Well done :D

[@kramerfortuna7228]

Great video (as always!) I usually come up with a general story line, break it up into individual sessions, then write down key plot points and encounters on some note cards. (I USED to write about 8 pages of story for a 3 hour session, but I eventually learned that you can't ever assume what your players will do...) Even though extra prep work makes me feel better and more confident, most of my players prefer the more improv-heavy games. BASICALLY, a lot of prep work might be good for YOUR story, but it can limit YOUR PLAYERS story. Sometimes it's better to not write out solutions and just see what your players come up with!

[@dancer_to_a_discrodant_system]

12:24 That sounds really like Hoard of the Dragon Queen. And by the way: "If you don't do it on the flight, you got some DM notes to write".

[@tkgaming2385]

I’m an improv dm too, mainly I only create notes for world building and important moments that I need to read word for word (visions and divination - whenever I make an important item or person I make a legend lore phrase because they love using divination -_-)

[@Richard-zs1bm]

One of your best videos

[@tselis]

DUDE! You should have given them a note at the end with a hand print and the words: "We know". They would've gone to sleep like immediately!

[@tfrenchiestfry3673]

Maybe you should try world anvil, a great tool for dungeon masters and authors alike!

[@Izzak_Beck]

You sound like one of the videos they sponsored, haha.

[@HyenaFox]

One thing around worldbuilding is definitely whenever you have the chance: BUILD AND PREPARE FOR MEMORABLE AND/OR FUNNY ENCOUNTERS OR ACTIVITIES! For those who watch or have watched Critical Role, remember that episode where they went into the smutt shop? It will make your players more invested, and it will make your campaign and locations a million times more memorable. I mean seriously, "You enter the capital city. You see... A city. There are shops here, there's an armory shop, a potion shop, a restaurant, and a blacksmith. There is also some architecture. What do you want to do?" versus "You walk into this city, which is the capital city of this empire. You see beautiful architecture, and some shops, but what strikes your attention the most is a fairly poorly written sign that says "BURGERS AND COLORS: THE ONLY PAINTBALL AND HAMBURGER SHOP IN TOWN" in all capital letters."

[@singingReaper]

I'll always say that GMing Call of Cthulhu will truly set forth whether you're cut out for ultimate intrigue like campaigns

[@oz_jones]

If you lose your sanity over planning some adventures in Innsmouth, it's just par for the course.

[@captaingunther5026]

Hey thanks, man for the guide. I was curious could you do a how to play gunslinger video in the near future. I think you would be great for explaining it.

[@Waitwhat469]

I always keep intrigue as optional stuff. More so people have secrets, ulterior motives, and hidden agendas, but can't be perfect about hiding it, well not if they want to do anything with those things. So if players pick up on something, they can try to figure it out, but maybe they don't, or even better they come to the wrong conclusions.

[@LordofChairs]

I'm preping for my first time DMing and have, the BBEG, what they're doing, and some secret plot twists, and two NPCs, both of them having to do with the plot twist, so, I'm ready, as I plan on improvising most of this stuff!

[@danielleb6125]

Those are really good notes! No wonder Sunder is so good!

[@cosmoreverb3977]

For population, what I do is a system I learnt from Matt Colville. Basically, you don't write down a number or percentage of elves, but you write down whether or not they're a majority, minority, enclave, group, individuals, or a singular figure. The way this is more helpful is that you know what the players see around the town, what kind of people are walking around, and what kind of architecture and the like they'll see, which gives the place some flavour. If they're a majority you see them wherever you go in a settlement; if they're a minority you'll only see them in certain parts of town; if they're an enclave it's usually something like an embassy or a few dozen interconnected people; a group is just that, a group; individuals are bunch of disconnected people; and finally there's a singular figure, and you probably already know what I mean by that.

[@princeblue1045]

your note format is a lot better than mine. mine is just an extremely long word document; like I'm writing a book report

[@5oundOfVictory]

I like to make super fleshed-out settings and areas, and then create some plot hooks and stuff and introduce NPCs that give the players a reason to do stuff, and I let the players run around in that sandbox. If they choose one thing, other things will happen off-screen, I love the idea of a living world beyond the session. This gives players a sense of urgency and once they get caught on one plot hook, other things will happen and the ball just starts rolling and it only stops to take a break when a major thing comes to a close.

[@pixocrayon7766]

I'm also an improv DM, and my notes are basically directions for improvisation. Nowadays it's basically a Dungeon World Adventure Front, some handouts like maps, puzzles, character drawings and some accessible random generators of S T U F F (character sheets, maps, dungeons, monsters, names, etc.) I have made the mistake of going with my hands absolutely empty to a game, and it was a disaster, so I decided to develop some strategies to create content and free my mind for the plot. Usually, most of my games are generated on the fly, but with the certainty that I don't fail because of a bad day.

[@nevinwissner1971]

Love the intro lmao, spot on

[@kristopherterry1778]

When I do a ton of prep the players either don't touch it or exhaust it within an hour I had a party once use their connections with a mages college to bypass a multi session dungeon and steal an airship that they weren't supposed to have for several sessions

[@ckillgore]

The thing I write down more than anything is questions that I want to ask my players. I like to hand off the narrative reins to my players quite frequently, especially at the beginning of a session, so I come up with promts for them to fill in the blanks so to speak.

[@jacobwright536]

I ran a rather short campaign with two people, I spent an excessive amount of time world building the continent that they were on, but I put very minimal effort into the actual adventures. I literally had a journal completely filled out with the towns, gods, ecosystems, and the pocket watch artifacts powered through the tarot. But for their first adventure all I wrote was: blacksmiths daughter gets kidnapped by goblins, he begs you to save her. it was actually an epic raid on a goblin king's "castle" one of the players challenged him to a duel for the right to rule, won and became goblin king for this small kingdom. A year later the other player messaged me asking for advice on how to run dnd as she was going to be starting her own campaign. I let her borrow my journals and she messaged me later asking how I came up with all of the story lines and plot hooks they went on when I had no actual story notes. As I tried to explain I realized that's just how I run as the DM, insane world building allows me to naturally figure out how the players actions would affect the world and the overarching narrative. Sure the players will never ever need to know exactly how much gold is in the vault of the kingdom they are in, but if that treasury is running out that might prompt the king to incite war on another kingdom to claim more land and resources. Stuff like that just really helps me decide a course for the narrative, but the player I lent my journals too basically couldn't use the world building journal as it was simply too much information for her to deal with

[@scie7329]

Hey Jacob! I love your content and I know it takes alotta effort to make a howto play (blank) but I would love it if you made a fighter version, I think it would be really funny