Write One-Shot RPG Campaigns! (GM Tips w/ Matt Mercer)

[@evaos12]

"Or hell, letting someone else GM for once so the usual GM can actually play" *silently walks away*

[@OzixiThrill]

I mean... you could just create a recurring character the GM plays on occasion; Can give the players a leg-up and allow for somewhat harder combat segments.

[@bluedwarf1699]

OzixiThrill plus, doing that can inhibit the fun of the actual players, if your "character" ends up killing alot of things.

[@toprak3479]

And that's why you play a goblin or a dog or an intelligent bird. Speaking of intelligent birds, I should use intelligent looking animals that lure the party into traps or railroad them back to where they need to be... that's a good idea.

[@OzixiThrill]

Last I checked, being creative was a requirement, not a bonus for GMs. Make it so that the GM character spends a lot of time in combat twirling his mustache or talking big about how noone can defeat him, sometimes spending round upon round doing that. Or make the character focus on being the tactical overseer initially and only enter the fray if the fight isn't going well for the poor sods. Also, letting some random factors in, even if it's you who designs them, can keep the whole "surprise" aspect of the fights around.

[@Micromanic]

Recently GM'd a sesh which allowed our usual GM to be a player character which was fun

[@marcush4741]

My favorite two-shot was a story about a warlock that was enslaving/torturing elves. We did it on halloween and it was gonna be a horror themed story. Somebody got a call and had to leave, so we agreed to finish the oneshot JUST before they discovered the evil warlock's lair. Next time we all got together was Christmas Eve. So I was like "f--- it, this evil warlock enslaving elves is gonna be santa". It worked out SO well. Had we gotten togther any time other than halloween, it wouldnt have been horror themed. Had we gotten together AGAIN any time other than Christmas, it wouldnt have been christmas themed. But everything worked out JUST right that it looked like a planned horror santa campaign. We still talk about it today.

[@werewolftapus7630]

Marcus H with the pact of festiveness

[@electricbluetiramisu3713]

Amazing lol

[@SteveBonario]

List of the tips: #1 - Assemble the Player Characters #2 - Define the Style #3 - Create a Plot Hook #4 - Develop a Climax #5 - Flesh out Key NPCs #6 - Prepare Social Encounters #7 - Player-tailored Challenges #8 - Loot Rewards #9 - Outline Key Locations #10 - Avoid a Wandering Intro #11 - Keep the Pace Moving #12 - Character Epilogues

[@DEATHCHICKEN1337]

I'm not sure what you mean by player-tailored challenges.

[@LaFlairdom]

​@@DEATHCHICKEN1337 Give each player a chance for them to shine and have meaningful impacts in the story and (doubly important) also make sure everyone is appreciative of the qualities of the other PCs in the same breath. A tiny Sprite? Allow them to slip through a crack in the wall to open the door from the other side. A Dwarf? Inscribe dwarvish writing on the wall allowing them to read it to help solve the riddle. An Orc? Allow them to knock over the cracked stone door. Or story/class wise A rogue who stole something from their hometown gets the party stopped by bandits looking to collect a bounty (Collect the half gold they were given to hunt you down) A wizard who transcribes an ancient and powerful tome (learn a powerful and/or game-changing new spell) A druid who can use their understanding of the terrain to find a clear, safe, and new passage through. (allow the party to sneak up on their unsuspecting targets.) etc. etc.

[@halarkin]

Thank you!

[@BooserBoi]

@@DEATHCHICKEN1337 You do know he explains literally every single point in the video???

[@valiroime]

#13 - Throw the whole carefully crafted campaign out the window as the player proceed to wreak havoc and burn the mother down just for the lulz.

[@HEAVYISPY]

I have played D&D (and similar systems) for a few years now, and my friends who have never played before wanted to play. So I created a one shot, that has turned into a regular game, and I decided the way around the awkward "how they all met" scenario was that they were all students under a long time adventurer. It made sense being that it was their first time, and it allowed them to get a feel for the game. I created an NPC to guide them as their teacher on simple raid on a goblin encampment. Once it seemed like they had an idea of what they were doing, I had the teacher get blind sided and kidnapped by some stronger goblins and the party had to rescue him. Just an idea, for new DM's.

[@rarazalproductions519]

That's great! In my first proper campaign (a homebrew setting in a "Dark Fairytale"-world) I had the players, who all decided to play misfits of some sorts be blackmailed by a government agency who send them on missions as some kind of "Suicide Squad". It was really fun and allowed very different characters to grow into a group over time.

[@SpeedOfDarknesss]

That's a pretty creative way to do it, I like it!

[@JMSginoclave]

Will Smith will forever ring saying 'Are we some kinda Suicide Squaaad?' in my head when I read such a phrase down.

[@BlueEchoe5]

That's a very simple, yet incredibly effective/creative plot hook, and twist! Really sounds fun to DM and play. I just completed DM-ing my first one-shot (Metroid-ish Space Bounty Hunters/Mercenaries; was a success!). My way around the "you all meet at a bar" scenario was to simply have them rapid-hired individually for the mission, already orbiting above their drop point, and allowing them brief time to roleplay/introduce themselves before the drop. Everyone in the chat was a stranger to each other, so it added a nice unknown, maybe "Cowboy Bebop," vibe of reservation and character unfolding. "Cut to the chase; we're here for credits and whatever else we feel like getting."

[@jackmulcahy5046]

....I'm stealing this

[@zackymas2000]

"Do they each prefer a different style?" I completely, wholeheartedly, felt that.

[@Dlnew3]

I really want to see Matt Mercer playing instead of DM'ing. He's already one of the best DM's I've seen, I want to see if just how he plays a PC too. Maybe for a Liam campaign.

[@oOPPHOo]

He has been in a few games that you can check out. Try for example and search for "RollPlay matt mercer" and you should find some stuff.

[@Dlnew3]

Ooooohh I had no idea this existed, thank you! Still wanting that Critical Role spinoff featuring Matt as a player though.

[@stephanieturner5231]

Dennis Newman Have you seen when he played in the Paranoia game? I think it is on the GnS website/KZbin.

[@Dlnew3]

No honestly I'm a pretty recent fan/watcher of Critical Role and D&D stuff, I'll have to check that out too

[@mousehatescheese]

Omg the Paranoia game was great, as was the one off To the Poop! Ivan and Matt at the same table is good times, I hope they do more. Matt did mention on a stream he was toying with a To the Poop 2

[@Ashley-of6ro]

Okay just watching matt getting 'angry'/being passive aggressive at things is extremely funny..

[@Nerdarchy]

I'm paused when he's making this sneering face and with the reddish light, he looks downright demonic! -Nerdarchist Ryan

[@toprak3479]

Heyy it's Nerdarchy.

[@Jonesir1996]

Milo Yiannopoulos thought it was actual milo for a second, never understood why people pretend to be celebs on social media

[@toprak3479]

It's fun, man.

[@Nerdarchy]

+Milo Yiannopoulos Hey, what's good? Hah, though given the discussion, it might be more appropriate to put your name in quotation marks.

[@someonekul6391]

I love how the chest on the table shakes for no reason... *MIMIC!*

[@shane907lol]

When

[@FeliceJaganshi]

About a minute in.

[@mateusfolletto6142]

Wanna a strong plot hook and getting players together? Make some of them hate the villain. Once a player of mine was seeking this antagonist for vengeance and met the other player while he was hanging on a cage by the road, left to die of starvation by the same antagonist. They both had reasons the hate the dude and bonded through the story progression.

[@Nerdarchy]

One shots are also a great place for DMs to test-out game ideas, monster capabilities, items, and story telling techniques without worrying about future ramifications in your main campaign game. -Nerdarchist Ryan

[@AlexCureske]

Nerdarchy this is why I do them. as I've toiled with the creation of a new system one shot have been my alfa play ground.

[@lanxreedalenlum3706]

Very late but I run some oneshots we call dreams. Everyone know tat in dreams stuff might nott work like standard ( the players know that dreams are where I test and try stuff)

[@HalfElfHalfling]

'so the GM can play for once!' YES. WHERE MY GM s AT

[@StraboSE]

A bit late.

[@hsmacaraig]

My current GM for all my RPGs (because there is barely anyone in my school who plays) made a character named Cheese. He’s a small mouse and the pet of my character. GM translates all of what Cheese does so she can play, and GM, at the same time.

[@michaelmatejka1294]

Yessir

[@kayleehennig7011]

My players would never put in the work to make a campaign I have come to terms with it I’m never playing😂

[@EcthelionOTF]

Always present...DM’s unite 😂

[@Hammeh]

Hah! Loving the Matt M venting - let it all out sir....:D These vids are gold, learning so much :)

[@shannononeill482]

When he's describing different things players want and "or maybe they all like different things" I'm like...that's this one...and this one...and this one...every CR player likes something different. LOL

[@OrangeyChocolate]

I've been DMing a series of single-player adventures to teach my girlfriend how to play D&D, and I've had to make use of some of the methods suggested here. For example, my girlfriend was supposed to spot and subdue a pair of kobolds hiding in a bush in order to find out where their lair was, but she failed her Perception check and started meandering, so I had to improvise a situation where she caught the kobolds in the process of raiding an upstairs room in a tavern. It was messy, but it got the story back on track. I'm as new to DMing as she is to playing, so it's been a learning experience for both of us.

[@dizzytitan8481]

my favorite introduction of players coming together is the story that they were all walking the same path, at different points during the day, and each were captured by a fanatical religious village that was going to sacrifice all of them after sundown. Restrained together, they must work together to escape!

[@oOPPHOo]

Another tip I've received is to make the encounters modular. If you suddenly find yourself low on time, skip or switch out an encounter to get yourself closer to the finale. You simply describe how they managed to track the information they needed or how they fought their way through the guards at the gate instead of having it actually be played out.

[@thegamesforreal1673]

I had to do this a couple times, most notably one particular: My players were in a one-shot, that i had designed for very high level characters (17+). Without going too much into the story, I had the the whole thing climax with a relatively youngly risen Death Tyrant unleashing all of its (mostly trash mob) undead forces on the players as they were trying to cleanse a holy well. Needless to say, i didn't have them slay 400+ trash undead mobs, they could one-hit most of them anyway, I just put up some heroic music and explained how they stood their ground valiantly, slashing through undead after undead, tiring more after every hit, then letting each player go into a bit of detail how they handled the fighting (my players have all dm'd themselves, so I allow them to describe their own actions in as much detail as i can fit into the playtime). I had them detract some hp by a flat roll, the 2 casters in the party lost some spell-slots, etc, and then we moved on to the boss fight.

[@kjzsbtby]

I've once did that And my Players got mad, they all like the fights... For them, fighting are the most important thing on a campain... Now we're mostly playing "gladiators" d&d setup...

[@jessicalee333]

The good old "In the interest of time..." segue.

[@grnteabug]

One of my favorite things to do for one shots is genre swapping classic D&D into film noir. Imagine. A city has mysteriously been surrounded by a dense fog. All color within the city now has been sucked away and people within it are slowly beginning to lose their memories. This mysterious apparition has drawn all sorts of characters out of the woodwork from curious mages to curse lifting paladins to thieves who want to take advantage of the trouble. It is up to the players to find out what's going on and restore the city. This gives the DM a chance to really use some of the their more interesting social encounters and gives if combat does break out, characters can vanish into the shadows if they are too important to be killed.

[@samd4800]

I love this so much I'm definetly stealing this

[@BarokaiRein]

Our DM did the whole ''you're strangers in a bar'' thing once. It actually turned out to be the best damned intro we've ever had. The way it worked was that we were all in the same town doing various different things but we eventually ended up in the same tarvern. A lot of awkward things happened between our characters,for example my dragonborn paladin accidentally spilled stew over my friends dwarf since he bumped into me and I was simply too tall to even notice him in this really packed tavern full of mercenaries etc. He tried to push me in anger but ended up flying against the wall since,well I just rolled better and was overall A LOT stronger. I recruited the half-orc barbarian played by one of the players into my mercenary group and our next job was to escort a caravan of dwarfs to a city up in the mountains. Needless to say the dwarf that tried to fight me after I spilled stew on him was a part of that caravan. It didn't take long for us to end up as friends thou and the beginning was pretty damn unique to anything we had done before. Usually 2 of the players were already travelling together and then met the third player in a city or a town. I had the tendency to be the third player since I can make shit up on the fly and cause some sort of scene to get the attention of the others so they'd approach my character without breaking RP.

[@archarteus]

instructions unclear, my one shot became a 2 year campaign

[@st4ne4rmthevill63]

Congratulations

[@badgerdoesstufff]

This is too real 😭

[@aaronschrader6491]

Mine has been going for almost a year 🤣😅

[@JemstoneGames]

Ah yes the good ol’ 5 part 1 shot. Gotta love when everything u planned is in the woods and they wander into the mountains... I LITERALLY HAD 3 NPC’s SAY “IF I WERE YOU I WOULD LOOK IN THE WOODS”. Bruh!

[@zauberholz8357]

In such a situation, perhaps an avalanche is called for… get ‘em into the woods by force

[@aa-oy9il]

I've been DMing for six years now, but everytime I sit down to prep a new game I watch this. It just helps me

[@hans.m.j]

my parents want to see what this D&D thing is about i will try to make a one-shot for them

[@rarazalproductions519]

That's awesome! I played a oneshot with my parents before and it was incredibly funny, with my mother playing the naive, clichéed elf ranger girl who wanted to hug every single tree and my stepdad, who is a finance guy making his halfling rogue an absolutely greedy bastard. Just don't make it too complicated or too insider-y - it's better to "go slow" with people who are completely new to the subject.

[@danielwilson348]

Cool :)

[@CBSmith-js9yl]

One of the most sobering moments in life is finding out your blue collar, Carpenter, beer drinking, Jesus fan, western movie loving father...smoked pot and played d&d back in college.

[@matthewboyea3860]

My father doesn't love me

[@EHyde-ir9gb]

@@CBSmith-js9yl Whenever he drinks, he tries to forget. All those he has slain, whilst munching on copious amounts of doritos...oh the horror...

[@LamirLakantry]

For a one-shot, I first had separate mini sessions earlier on with each player to introduce them to the quest. One was hired by the owner of the mine to find out why the gems had stopped coming. Another was an assassin hired to kill the previous PC in a discrete location, like for example an abandoned mine. Another was local priest who'd been away, returning to find the villagers living near the mine gone. Another was a monster hunter who overheard that something had killed everyone in a mine. One by one, they head to the mine, meeting each other on the road or by the entrance. They each got a quick session before reaching the mine, where they could try to find clues from the empty village, or hagle for rewards or research their target, etc. Each got a unique motivation to enter the same mine, knowing different clues, and having different equipment depending on what they found, bought or haggled for before the quest.

[@calvinballaka8905]

I'd say this is definitely the best GM Tips so far; absolutely excellent advice that can help with planning any campaign. In fact, as I watched, I thought, "man, this sounds like it'd be good for any campaign," and then Matt Mercer said that this advice was good for any campaign! Keeping it moving is definitely good advice; the last one shot I ran went about five hours longer than expected because I didn't design it tightly enough. My advice is to recognize that this isn't going to be as epic or in-depth as your main campaign. Keep it short and punchy; villains with clear motivations and straightforward plots are easier, and there will probably only be time for a *small* handful of encounters, depending on how long your sessions are.

[@sennarosity132]

*Matt:* "Avoid the 'You are all strangers and you meet in a bar...' intro. It's awkward." *Critical Role Campaign 2:* _MOST OF THEM ARE STRANGERS AND MEET IN A BAR._

[@C0C0L0QUIN]

Avoid it in a one-shot, as the player will barely have time to establish their relationship. In a long campaign is OK, because you can take the first session slowly. They dont need to force themselves to work together, they can just end up doing it naturally

[@VinceValentine]

Yeah, a one-shot should be finished in one session, so 4-8 hours. Given that players will ALWAYS waste time with unnecessary crap like a long shopping session in town or following the wrong clues after a failed investigation roll, keep anything that is not part of the plot to a minimum.

[@whade62000]

It’s honestly better to go with the cliché on most occassions. Trying to be clever and original can leave the players confused and hesitant - they almost never reward your originality as you expect them to. It’s actually a lot better to leave the original tweaks to the players, and just make sure that they feel comfortable and in control enough to start experimenting and, well, roleplaying.

[@chaosxenkon]

always my favorite way to end a shorter campaign or one shot. especially if they get stronger during the game.

[@awkwardturtlefish]

lol i was thinking the same thing it was pretty funny they met in such a typical way but it worked so well

[@FantomTangents]

I'm planning the second day of what was supposed to be a ONE-shot, so Matt's advice and experience with one shots running long was a nice reminder for my second (and hopefully last) session :P

[@LarlemMagic]

I envy the level of experience and talent this man has.

[@CritCrab]

Oh, Matt. In my group we have one rule: The coach don't play.

[@agilitykissa]

It's the critical crustacean! With only 12 likes?!

[@Ashley-of6ro]

0:32 haha yeah that is probably the worst part about being a DM/GM...

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodDM]

Word! I feel like being a DM is like being a bridesmaid...always a DM, never a player.

[@tyberostheredwake8098]

Forever dms unite!

[@Raptorrize]

I never in my life played a P&P adventure. I was always the game master :D

[@Naomiwave]

Matt’s inner DM rage flares out

[@12neef]

I’m super interested in these one shots. Seems like a great way to get noobs into it and a good exercise for new DMs. Thanks for the ideas.

[@albidalbi2000]

I feel like this advice can be used for writing short stories as well.

[@puppets1979]

except you dont have some person taking your well crafted story, setting it on fire, trying to steal it, or god forbid, trying to sleep with it.

[@ehukai2003]

I needed this, so thanks @Steve Bonario for doing this! This is your list w/timestamps: List of the tips: #1 - Assemble the Player Characters - 0:43 #2 - Define the Style - 1:05 #3 - Create a Plot Hook - 1:36 #4 - Develop a Climax - 2:37 #5 - Flesh out Key NPCs - 3:17 #6 - Prepare Social Encounters - 3:47 #7 - Player-tailored Challenges - 4:05 #8 - Loot Rewards - 4:32 #9 - Outline Key Locations - 4:41 #10 - Avoid a Wandering Intro - 5:00 #11 - Keep the Pace Moving - 5:28 #12 - Character Epilogues - 5:59

[@mequambluespark8686]

me and my freinds all co-Gm a game together, we take turns Gming different parts no one Gms when their charicter is involved, no one has all the answers, and no one has the complete adventure in mind, its really cool to see how the adventure and world unfolds with three seperate gms (and I actualy get to play, which is nice)

[@CommadoreGothnogDragonheart]

My favorite way to start a one-shot is to drop the PCs into the action immediately. For example instead of starting in a tavern, have the game start with the characters on the ground following a sudden and vicious attack on the caravan they were supposed to be guarding. As they regain consciousness in the middle of the carnage, they realize that the baron's nephew has been taken by a band of cultists who intend to sacrifice him to a dark god and the PCs have just a short time to stop them. :)

[@spilledcoffeeandbeans]

0:45 #1 - Assemble the Player Characters 1:08 #2 - Define the Style 1:40 #3 - Create a Plot Hook 2:38 #4 - Develop a Climax 3:20 #5 - Flesh out Key NPCs 3:49 #6 - Prepare Social Encounters 4:07 #7 - Player-tailored Challenges 4:34 #8 - Loot Rewards 4:43 #9 - Outline Key Locations 5:03 #10 - Avoid a Wandering Intro 5:30 #11 - Keep the Pace Moving 6:00 #12 - Character Epilogues

[@ClaudiaDCD]

Editing is the best I've seen for GM tips so far. everything's been getting better for this series and I think we've hit the best of the best finally. love the table and background, love Matt's voices that break up the info. love the info of course!! But the hardest was editing thru all these one shots to a single face but I think this is pure success finally!! great job!

[@akorean8455]

GM don't get to play. It's a curse that comes with control.

[@josephhahl1152]

lex phillips a good group will consist of two or three DMs/GMs, all who have knowledge of different systems, so you can rotate in case a game starts to stagnate, or a Storey Teller is running out of material (for frequently played games). My group had three regular narrorators. I was running D&D, one of the others ran a Star Wars game, and the third ran a Vampire: The Masquerade game. We'd run in three month periods, allowing each to get some distance in their storey, but allowing the players a change, to keep things fresh.

[@caelquinn4210]

I DM one campaign and play in another. Both biweekly for over a year now. It's not impossible!

[@hypnos2041]

:(

[@EHyde-ir9gb]

Freedom is the price for power.

[@AnimatorsatWork]

My bro it’s true :,(

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

Cant get over how good his presentation is

[@knotadoctor1455]

I'm about to play my first ever game of d&d and my friends I'm playing with want me to dm it so I decided to run a one shot so videos like this really help so thank you

[@andrewjohnson6716]

I love how he punctuates his points with humor. It really keep your attention engaged.

[@Alter0X]

Lighting and editing is on point guys, great job. Matt's performance is great as always, nice and concise tips, thanks :D

[@Peter-xs2mu]

Thank you very much! Four years in and the tips are absolutely as helpful as they were when you recorded this!

[@Daltygaming2]

I did this one one shot where we had 2 campaigns running at the same time so we got all the participating memebers of the party to have a civil war in the story and each character from both campaigns fought. One side was have restrictions on adventures adventuring and the other side was allowing the adventures to still able to do what they do without restrictions

[@BELillicious]

I’m going to be DMing for my first time in a one-shot (to help give the usual DM a much needed break). This is honestly the best advice I’ve seen and I feel waaayyyy less intimidated now. Whew 😅

[@SirMethos]

One thing I felt was missing, speaking from experience, is not to be too attached to you pre-planned 'climax'. Remember that you're not nudging your players along a pre-set path, and that players are unpredictable, they may just veer off in a direction that you hadn't anticipated at all. They may kill an important NPC, who had some vital information. The murder leading to them being wanted by the authorities, and suddenly the party are on the run, the supposed story/plot now suddenly taking second place to their survival. Etc.(I've been a player in that exact scenario...) So even with a one-shot, be prepared to improvise. Speaking as a player, there's nothing to drain the fun out of a game, like feeling as if your GM has already pre-written the entire story, and you're just being pulled along for the ride. Preferably, even with a one-shot, the GM and the players are developing the story together.

[@adlibby6448]

SirMethos uu

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

As a DM, I know this reality all too well. As a player, I actually prefer a more linear plot and taking part in a big story. Whenever I'm a PC in someone else's game, I try to figure out what story the DM wants to tell, and then try to help tell that same story. The way I figure it, if the DM has gone to any trouble at all to design an adventure with a particular plot in mind, then I want to make that time and effort worthwhile for him or her. Also, following the preset plot hooks is more likely to lead to more exciting adventure, since the DM likely has more details planned for that path. Experienced DMs and PCs know this never works, of course. There will always be at least one player who has to make the game all about him and deliberately take the game off-course to do some random improvised encounters.

[@agilemind6241]

IMO you should always have a couple of possible climaxes/endings at least loosely prepared. A one-shot I'm planning has the PCs hunting a dragon that turns out to be a shapechanged druid boy, and the climaxes I've planned for is them killing the boy and being chased down by the tribe of druids he was from, them helping him try to rescue his girlfriend from prison and escape the city, or they turn a blind eye and the king finds out they let him go and arrests them puts them on trial when they return to town.

[@AgentGGaming]

This has been the most helpful GM tips ever! Great job Matt + G&S team.

[@StickgeneralArmy]

my absolute favorite introduction for the players is to have them meet in a bar...fight. a bar fight. you have never, and i mean never, played dnd to its fullest until you see a soon-to-be party busting each other over the heads with tables and using random npcs as weapons

[@chazzitz-wh4ly]

Player: “I pick up the nearest gnome and use him as a battering ram to clear my way to the door.”

[@alecchristiaen4856]

primarily, these videos are to inform us. as a secondary purpose, Matthew uses these to vent DM frustration

[@fhuber7507]

a campaign is a long series of one-shots that connect in some way.

[@drakusedge]

Doing my first dm session ever in 2 weeks with a one shot and this helped so much, once again geek and sundry / Mr Mercer saving the day!

[@duxwontobey4887]

I personally think that memory loss or mind wipe spells can be useful for starting a campaign, the heroes have a past together but can't remember it or at least can't remember many details, that way you can write the story as they go and based on how they act, or have them write what they think their character may have been in relation to the world, since you can show them part of the world without them having to be involved in it deeply already. It gives a lot of room for fiddling about behind the scenes, without it seeming unreal or made up on the fly :D

[@TrueMaskGames]

I did that in my current campaign. The characters woke up in a weird ruin high up in the mountains without knowing who they were. They have been discovering their pasts ever since! And we have been playing the campaign for over four years.

[@duxwontobey4887]

Awesome! I've only run for one day so far and it was great! Hopefully I can keep my campaign running as long as that :D

[@TrueMaskGames]

Don't plan too far ahead. But do some planning ahead. Usually I find the more worldbuilding and the less "plotbuilding" you do, the longer a campaign will run. That's the best advice I can think of right now.

[@natanoj16]

One of my favorite systemless pnp for improvized randomness always starts with "YOU WAKE UP IN A/AN ______" And then based on the players reactions in the first couple of rooms, they get different abilities items. ^^

[@duxwontobey4887]

Cheers! I've been trying to do that tbh, having places with things happening in them is better than trying to just write a book or story :p

[@MarkyMillion]

Perfect summary Matthew! You have long been the greatest inspiration and motivation for me to dm! Especially in those times when the group struggles and you have to get them back on track. Our game really hit a totally different level thanks to your unique style of play! Truly - the way the game is meant to be played! Wanted to say thank you for that! Best regards from Germany

[@LelouchVee]

"Having someone else DM for once so you can actually play" Literally me right now. After half a year of weekly dming I'm so burnt out. One of my regulars will be making a dungeon crawler one shot and finally I can play a halfling monk of my dreams.

[@RicktaScale89x]

Man, this short video helped out so much! I’m a new DM and finally convinced my friends to play. I was struggling to complete my one shot campaign. But now I know exactly how to get things to unfold!

[@shenn.annagins7176]

Matt, honey, are you okay? 😂 You’re being saltier than the Dead Sea.

[@mrmaster9801]

It's an helpful list of tips ^^. Recently, I've read a manual (Return of the Lazy DM) that shortens it to 8 points instead of the 12 mentioned by Matthew (review the characters, create a strong start, outline potential scenes, define secrets and clues, develop fantastic locations, outline important NPCs, choose relevant monsters, select magic item rewards). It's really reassuring that they are more or less the same, it means that there's an underlying logic that can be understood and used to the DM advantage.

[@seanhillman1016]

Starting the game In Media Rez is a great way to get the one shot moving

[@catweed360]

Matt Mercer I love you so much. You always inspirer me to be the best DM/GM I can be.

[@Ookler]

I would love to sit in front of that background and just do the evil laugh for hours...

[@bathth3ory]

I know I'm over 18 months late to this video, but OMG, Matt Mercer, you are so fun to watch, listen to and learn from! 😆 I'm wanting to write my first RPG and this has helped a lot. Many thanks from a new Aussie fan. 🇦🇺

[@victorbatista609]

I made a Christmas themed oneshot campaign where children were being kidnapped and the bbeg was krampus... The adventurers located an NPC bard called Chris that aided them in their fight against the demon... No one in the party knew that Chris was actually santa clause (Kris Kringle) and during the climax, Kris fused with krampus and accended to godhood after the final strike and monologue made by the rogue welding the mighty dagger Odin's Beard at the bewilderment to my players (biggest and successful twist in any campaign I've ran because of how oblivious the players were to the fact that I wrote freaking santa clause into the campaign) where one of the NPCs (teifling paladin that was the scapegoat because of his demonic appearance) the party encountered in the prison slated for execution became a paladin to the everwinter God Nicholas. After the oneshot we expanded upon the story and another friend joined the table and took over the teifling paladin and we've been running ever since... It helps that they've never watched critical role though because I kinda plagiarized Viktor into my campaign

[@elsie8757]

Lucky for you, your players missed the fundamental rule of any Christmas-themed story, which is that if there's a character whose name is _any_ variation on "Nick" or "Chris", there's a 90% chance they're secretly Santa Claus

[@victorbatista609]

@@elsie8757 I heavily implied he was a fey creature and made them work REALLY hard for his name (since they knew that names have power to fey) and by the end they assumed it was a fake name

[@elsie8757]

@@victorbatista609 Welp, that'll do it I guess!

[@CasMullac]

Good timing. Our DM has just mentioned that after out initial 5thish level campaign she would like to do a one shot or two. It will be my first time DMing for a group and this has really helped.

[@benediktgeierhofer4146]

One shot: Percy on a natural 20

[@lemonadespider]

Gonna be running a one-shot this weekend for a bunch of new players and one long-standing one from another campaign I GM. Thanks for the tips - I'm glad I went back to this video!

[@siriuslyorion2975]

"...Or host a character creation meet up." Not in 2020 I won't!

[@Carbadonia]

Thank you Matt, this will really help me out with running a test game preqeul for my group before the actual campaign

[@iglikagencheva593]

"so the usual gm can actually play" :D :D

[@cubeofcheese5574]

This was a lot of great info in a short amount of time. Thanks!

[@vinsmokesaku4900]

Matt Mercer could say a sentence and turn it into something of a story

[@WolfLover21213]

Unless Neverwinter on my ps4 counts, I've never played D&D (yet) but I've decided I want to try DMing a one-shot/campaign eventually. I was thinking about how to do a one-shot as I found this video. Thank you KZbin algorithm and God for finding the video and thank you Matt for doing this video!

[@Senmetsu]

Question: For why is Matt Mercer so hot?

[@ZakMeow]

Yes. He is ridiculously handsome.

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

Genetics?

[@Daves_Not_Here_Man_76]

Daddy rolled a crit with mama while making a baby. Natural 18 charisma was the result

[@VinceValentine]

Mom & Dad used the "4d6, eliminate the lowest" character creation rules. They rolled high and put everything in mental and social attributes first. Though he looks pretty strong, agile and tough as well.

[@justanotherrandomontheyout4791]

Because the gods have willed him to be so

[@TheCthultist]

Really wish I had seen this sooner. I’ve been writing/running a one-shot (which has actually dragged on to a 3-shot now) to give our DM a chance to not be in the hot seat. This has been a little guide to help sort out a few of the bits I wasn’t 100% on.

[@phydoux86]

That is weird. I can hear the first 30 seconds of a video where Matt Mercer starts talking.

[@Wolf21973]

This guy and the way he performs at being a DM is one of the reasons I want to try and learn

[@noahrettig7363]

If the one shot is anything like me, the climax will be in 37 seconds.

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

*rim shot*

[@Endlessvoidsutidos]

try introducing some new characters to the setting and maybe give them all epilogues to make it more satisfying

[@faehana1638]

Believe me, PC will spend hours in tavers fist fighting, shopping or staying at whorehouses

[@flutenos2103]

@@faehana1638 or Searching for anything u really dont habe prepared and u habe to improvise

[@werewolftapus7630]

Flutenos it’s uh have dipshit

[@pranakhan]

I come back to this whenever I'm designing a One Shot. This structure & technique saves me when I'm feeling lost. It's as if I'm one inch punching-up through the thought coffin I've been buried alive in sometimes. "I'm coming, Pai Mei."

[@xale8702]

Princess Mononke 2:05

[@renee6411]

I'm working on my first dming experience, im making a oneshot for some friends and this was super helpful thanks matt!

[@lil_foot_lettuce]

idk why I'm watching D&D videos. I've never played it or really plan to but I guess I just find it kinda interesting in a weird way. Idk lol

[@aangitano]

Raiden-_-304 because he's so magnetic. He's probably ruined me for whatever DM I finally get enough courage to play with. 😅

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

I don't know why this type of comment is so common. Are there really that many people who have never played the game, and don't really intend to, who watch videos like these?

[@thomashewitt8104]

mdiem Absolutely, I was one of those people until very recently, I’ve never had the opportunity to play DnD with a group of friends but I’m currently writing a one-shot which I’ll DM for my family who are also interested in playing :)

[@eddiemate]

mdiem Yep, even on campaigns there will be some people who have no interest in playing the game but are interested in watching the campaign.

[@DarrylLaCroixRealEstate]

@@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself Yes. It's incredibly overwhelming for someone like me with ZERO experience or knowledge to start out. It's hard enough to get 4 of my lads in a room together for an evening, and the amount of prep work alone is daunting. Oh well, I could always just boot up another Divinity Original Sin II campaign.

[@ryanm6004]

Gonna try to dm a one shot for a few of my friends who haven't ever played before. I've never DMed before, so ive been binging all of these and taking mental notes for when i get around to fleshing out the one shot when i finally have time. Super helpful!

[@Kuraisilverwind]

Thanks Matt, really usefull tips.

[@darthpotatoechipclip]

This was a really good, dense set of tips for running basically any session and has given me more than a couple ideas! Thanks, Matt and team! :)

[@DARKFlREMOOCOW]

LET LIAM DM AND LET MATT PLAY 2K17

[@HrokiKroki]

im sad the geek and sundry era ended. all the celbrity guests to the CR campaign. fun one shots. they are doing well solo but its the nostalgia for me

And I'm over here casually preparing for session 4 of my halloween "one"-shot, wondering what the heck went wrong. It was supposed to be a quick 1 session break from the already nigh-50 session campaign.

[@Twigggggy]

I love how Matt illustrates scenarios/ examples that are inclusive to the entire party. In general I love Mat.

[@plastictouch6796]

Letting someone else GM so the GM can actually play. That is me 😭. I run a system that nobody uses so finding a player that enjoys the system enough to play enough to feel comfortable GMing is difficult.

[@dottiecartervo2766]

I keep coming back to this one because It's SOOOO HELPFUL!!!

[@Ghirahim3]

Is it just me that felt like everyone shot I've GMed has followed the deppresed, longrunning GM tone. So many random Inveestigation rolls, sometimes an urn is just an urn.

[@sanityismadness]

CrossBow Ray There doesn't need to be a roll unless you say so. Player wants to inspect the urn? Just tell them: "You inspect the urn from every angle... it's just an urn."

[@thegamesforreal1673]

Especially in one-shots its crucial to just deny rolls, y'know, keep that story pace going... It's actually incredibly fun having the players try to check every nook and cranny, only to be met with mild disappointment and/or relief. They get used to it, then start missing things that you HAVE actually hidden, because they're thinking "It's probably just a crack in the wall again...", when a few seconds later that crack in the wall turned out to house a hornets nest, and the players gotta think fast!

[@jimbobjones9330]

@@thegamesforreal1673 This is an old post, but I actually find this idea terrible. It's dishonest to the players. Basically, you're punishing the players for doing what you tell them to do. It's tacky, and bad GM'ing "Don't search every single mundane object. They aren't going to contain anything" Then two minutes later "Why didn't you search that mundane object?" Like I said. Dishonest with your players. Don't tell them not to do something just to punish them for doing what you say. A better ploy would be to punish them if they KEEP searching mundane items. "You search many urns, but find nothing. Clearly, this is just an urn storage room. You STILL want to search them? OK. You search urn after urn. After a half hour of this, you find one with a wrapped package in the bottom. Pulling it out and opening it, you see a small metal disk. Immediately, you feel a sharp pain in your hand. When you pull the disk away, you see a needle-like spike protruding from the bottom of the disk covered in your blood and some black fluid. The cloth wrapping it has a note scrawled on the inside in what looks to be dried blood. It says: 'Velani won't be sending you any more notes, you wife-stealing scum'" Roll to save vs poison"

[@sixsmithgames475]

Thanks Matt! I wrote a mystery one-shot and played it with my regular group. It was a blast!

[@flipflopzthreeonethree1873]

Lmao I'm trying to get a group together with my friends by doing a one shot to teach them the rules and I asked them what they wanted to be (alongside my cleric NPC to accompany them) and one said "can I be an albino cat" so I was like "um you can be a Druid and turn into a cat at level 2", one wanted to be a memer so I said "bard. Just bard. You have a recorder." Another didn't care so I was like THANK GOD I CAN BALANCE THIS DUMBASS PARTY so she's a fighter. And they have the best names.

[@devolo5947]

tabaxis are cats and can have white fur so technically being an albino cat is possible... but yeah druid also can just turn into a crag cat later on so... ^^

[@isaacrobson8406]

These videos make my day, I started d&d for the first time yesterday as a dm. These videos really help

[@feildpres]

Not that i want matt to stop DMing crit role but i would like to see him play a character, just to see what he's like as a player

[@Stafarns]

Trinket's Honey heist is one

[@xstarsystemsx]

as a first time GM currently trying to build a game for a bunch of first time players, these videos are pretty encouraging and inspiring. :D

[@teamcyeborg]

I personally prefer the "holy crap we're all imprisoned, hey who's this guy in our cell" way of introducing a new player character

[@geoffreylewis5435]

came over as soon as I got the notice! Love this series! I had an intro once where they all gathered at Ye Olde Unemployment Office because they were all between adventures, lol. It helped explain how they all randomly gathered, pointed them to their first objective quickly, and gave everyone a cheap laugh as I described a crotchety old lady running basically a bounty hunting office for adventuring, lol

[@teh_reel_nb5632]

Sweet Jesus do my players hate dungeons... it's actually funny how much they hate them

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

Please tell me more XD

[@syratsukiano5913]

this is exactly what I needed to know! I'm a new dm and I am making a Halloween One-shot for when my friend is visiting. I needed to know how to go about it. This did exactly what I needed I'm tempted to rewatch and write notes too which is great! Matt is very good at what he does and it really helped me figure out what I needed to make the one shot good! Thank you so much! :D

[@shapooopiefour7173]

Jesse McCree teaches me how to make killer one shots I’m sorry, but is it noon?

[@gstaff1234]

Great point about moving the Story Beats.

[@simplyspenser887]

I am not gay, but i love him so much. Man, you are such are great person.