The Bad Guys Want to Win (feat. Keith Ammann)

[@SupergeekMike]

Do you plan to pick up this book for your own games? Thanks so much to WorldAnvil for sponsoring this video! Visit www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike and use the promo code SUPERGEEK to get 51% off any annual membership! www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike

[@gatonegroloco]

“Lesbian weretiger polycule” is now my band name.

[@RS3isRealscape]

trademarked

[@BradK4444]

"I'd ask you to make me an offer; but at this point, I don't think you have anything left that I can't simply take from you." Powerful quote. I want to find a way to use that.

[@jonash3406]

I love "The Monsters Know what They're Doing", it really helped me as a new GM to rethink and actually strategise encounters, and make it more thant just "ohh this monster is cool Ill throw them in a fight somehow!". I highly reccomend anyone interested by this video to take a closer look at it, you will not be disappointed!

[@Out_Beyond_The_Heliopause]

Brilliant book! I arranged it as a Christmas gift for a my friend/DM a few years ago and its probably his most used game book at this point!

[@tonysladky8925]

"A vampire just talks and tries to take someone's measure and charm them." What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets. But enough talk. Have at you! I've been through my Chaotic-Stupid phase, but I came out in love with the Alignment of Stupid-Good instead. The character who will always take a turn offering the bad guys a chance to surrender, always give way too much gold to every beggar who asks without even trying to determine if they're a conman instead, who burns up their spell slots healing NPCs. Classic Stupid-Good and so much fun to play.

[@samsampier7147]

This is awesome. My second favorite character in Critical Role Calamity is Zerxes. Luis is a great actor so it’s more nuanced than stupid Good. Of course the man myth and legend is Cerrit.

[@RS3isRealscape]

another seemless transition to an ad that was so smooth damn son

[@justinsinke2088]

Falling into a videogame mindset can be a deceptively easy trap to fall into as both player and DM, but for different reasons. For a DM, that videogame mindset will often manifest in enemies and encounters just being there for combat and XP gain. It's extremely easy to just view "enemies" as "obstacles" and little else, because in a videogame, anything that's not a named NPC is just a fight to the death for XP and loot. Treating enemies in a combat with as much of a mental state as NPCs are RPed out of combat can take some getting used to; that RP doesn't stop when initiative is rolled. That can be a pitfall in and of itself, that combat and roleplaying can be treated like two independent facets of a TTRPG.

[@RachelRStarr]

I got this book as a first time GM for my campaign and it has helped so much! Handling hags and mages (or really any monster with spells) were really daunting and the book broke them down so well that when we were done my players literally said "great job! That was a challenging fight!" I love that you got Keith to explain it first hand ❤

[@garrettlaturski6703]

It might seem weird, but I would argue Kobolds may also choose to not retreat in many circumstances. They have a Valhalla-like way to get to their afterlife, so if it would help their tribe, they would eagerly throw their lives away.

[@Jathom]

My wife got me the book as a Christmas gift last year. Between it and Flee, Mortals! the way I plan encounters have completely changed!

[@boxxie]

Love these books! Got them all on Audible and re-listen to the sections before I run those types of monsters. Currently listening to How to Defend your Liar and can’t get enough. An entertaining history lecture on siege tactics but with magic!!

[@pippastrelle]

This reflects a trap writers/roleplayers/designers always slide into: doing something only because you need to. It's like copying the design of the machine without the mechanics inside. When you pause to think of the underlayer/the intention, you're suddenly doing something a lot more compelling.

[@joshuawalsh3255]

HOLY SHIT YOU GOT KEITH AMMANN ON ON MY BIRTHDAY NO LESS MIKE YOU'RE A FUCKIN' CHAMPION

[@dolphin64575]

Happy birthday 🎉

[@samsampier7147]

Happy Birthday!

[@CooperAATE]

Mike's heavy breathing made me think it was *ME* breathing heavily lol

[@lukerabon7925]

Hey, the Flumphs in OOTS provide a vital service to the story! They're extremely safe to land on

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

I definitely hand-waved and gave the Mindflayer extra ways to create thralls and influence minds and such. I figured the stat block is just the stuff it can do in combat. The mechanics for what it gets done off screen can be more fuzzy

[@GreaticusIRL]

Loved the book and can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it. Stay awesome.

[@UnkillableMrStake]

I think a core part of every role-playing scene from an improv to D&D game to screen/stage acting that's so often forgotten is motive. The first question with any character should always be What do they want, what do they need? Doesn't matter if it's an animal or a person everything that acts does so with reason. The fact that somebody took the time to go into detail and write out their process and thinking about this with every D&D monster is awesome and I'll be sure to check out the book.

[@evinoge5834]

I remember reading these posts back in college, was really instructive. Was incredible, and will need to buy this

[@Satori2046]

One of your best video, will definetely buy the book.

[@Gibbons3457]

Interestingly enough, “The Monsters Know What They’re Doing,” is the reason I homebrewed every monster I ever used when I ran 5e. Just the amount of work Keith had to put in to make sense of these 5e Monsters just soured my to monster design in 5e as a whole. Especially casters, god, casters in 5e are a chore to run. In the words of Matt Colville "a Guardian Naga has 15 spells, and ain't nobody got time for that." That aside Keith's work is fantastic and I highly reccomend it for anyone not interested in homebrewing every monster they ever run. If you are interested in doing that, I used Giffyglyph's monster maker, it's free and fantastic, especially when combined with MCDMs minion rules.

[@Psymonkee]

I already have 2 of his books and have wishlisted more of them! Great video! :)

[@BrokeAFDM]

Order of the Stick name dropped! Good times.

[@johnwilson121283]

Ammann's books are great, I grabbed this on Summer 2023 and the others shortly thereafter. Thank you for shining a spotlight on this thoughtful work. They really will change the way your think, or at least they did so for me.

[@garryame4008]

Great interview! I really hope that WotC took inspiration from the success of TMKWTD while writing the new monster manual.

[@silversugar2140]

I unironically have a character whose alignment is chaotic stupid. Thank you for that call-out haha.

[@CodedLockFilms]

No joke, at EXACTLY 43:04, I got an ad break for Domino’s that began with the phrase, “Life doesn’t always go as planned…” I about busted my head open laughing.

[@masterofastra]

I think the most damning condemnation of the Mind Flayer stat block is the opening to Baldur's Gate 3. I won't post any spoilers but watching the futility of that one encounter genuinely upset me because of how accurate it is to tabletop.

[@PalleRasmussen]

I come from wargaming, I have a past in the armed forces, and I am a military historian. My adversaries want to win in as much as their intelligence allows them. Goblins are not smart, but they know enough to use Caltrops, Caesar's Lilies, and camouflaged pits with stakes, around their positions. Sometimes some of the various Viet Minh boobytraps with swinging logs, etc. I never got this book, but I have known of it for a long time, and I recommend you get it if you do not have a similar background to mine.

[@risperdude]

Great video, I think I need to get a copy of that book.

[@MajorHickE]

Keith's books are fantastic resources. I've used a lot of what he's written to make combat more dynamic and get monsters that might otherwise be overlooked to become lethal.

[@jacobwillis7596]

I love this book and wish there were equivalents for more monsters. Like this with flee mortals would go so hard

[@GAdmThrawn]

I like creating and playing intelligent villains. Thanks for the book recommendations. I hope that I can find them!

[@damienolsen8637]

First one, wow! Second, I’m glad you brought this up:) keep up the great work!

[@Stephen-Fox]

...The D&D character I made for a campaign that never happened was a 3.5e Kobold Rogue, so... I also have an affinity for the lil guys.

[@PanickedPike]

I refuse to buy Keith Ammann's "Monster's know what they're doing"... Because I already have 1 & 2 ;3

[@tawnyclawx]

Right now I'm running a game where the majority of creatures they will fight are chaos beings that simply seek destruction and harm to humanity/society as a whole. So sometimes for them, there's not a whole lot of tactics to use. But i still try to figure out where the creatures most excel at causing damage, either bringing down fortifications, chasing civilians, or hammering down on players.

[@Casual_Andy_26]

just recently bought that book

[@peetamontrose7954]

Don't have time to watch it at the moment, but i saw the Keith Amman surname, so i came here to give some support!

[@hawkname1234]

Great video Mike.

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

20:55 just don't forget to use the aura on the bodak

[@bristowski]

This is a good channel. I like Mike.

[@fitnessavarice8065]

I had hoped you would read the behir piece out loud. I have one that I am reflavoring to be a giant jack in the box like the one from the 2015 Krampus movie in my rise of the guardians style one shot in a couple of weeks. A good fun video, I look forward to when I am able to get that book for myself

[@artloveranimation]

I've seen that book in the D&D section at Barnes&Noble. Very cool. Speaking of books, I am working on a little D&D inspired book of my own, a comedy adventure novel set in the high fantasy world of D&D and it would be a dream to see it in that same section of the book store or paired with other cozy fantasy books.

[@junderlandgames1186]

I feel like the monster roles in 4e and in Flee mortals did half or more of figuring out what a monster was good for

[@chrisg8989]

Man your content is so good when you're not talking about Critial Roll. I'm definitely picking up this book because of this Video. More of this please. Less of the others.

[@SupergeekMike]

What do you not like about my Critical Role videos?

[@chrisg8989]

@SupergeekMike nothing. I just don't like critical roll, their over rated. So it's more of a me problem. 🙃

[@SupergeekMike]

Fair enough!

[@turningintoacrazydolphin1211]

Baby Yoda 💚

[@DavidAmmann]

Ammann rhymes with salmon

[@savnana3605]

I've gotten most of my tactics practice from playing way too many fire emblem style games.

[@RS3isRealscape]

as keith described it i thought wack a xorn

[@DavidCookeZ80]

I've always thought the flumph was a "joke" monster as they are also a kind of marshmallow sweet (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flumps_(sweet)) in .uk that appeared at roughly the same time as the Fiend Folio. I'd go further and say the creature is a combination of the marshmallow twist (the tentacles) and a flying saucer (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_saucer_(confectionery)), the body, and may have been inteded to be eaten during play.