Your Town | Running the Game

[@ScyLancer]

My 6 year old is watching this video with wide wonder filled eyes. I asked him if he knew what Matt was talking about and he said "No, but he looks like he's having fun whatever he's talking about."

[@angelalewis3645]

AWESOME.

[@zandernewson9933]

So cute ! That’s me 27!

[@irontemplar6222]

😊

[@lamegamertime]

I spent half a minute wondering whether you meant he didn't understand DnD, or he couldn't understand language. I might be stupid.

[@NotReallyChefGregggo]

This is what happens when the Bugbear has expertise in Preform

[@WASD20]

I've heard a lot about you over the last few months, but didn't watch much. Now 5 episodes deep in the series, I'm loving it! Thanks for sharing your insights.

[@lucase.crusader1196]

It's incredible to me that your channel got me into D&D. And now i'm here seeing the same video that you saw 4 years ago

[@insertjokehere212]

@@lucase.crusader1196 Pretty cool to see that.

[@lucase.crusader1196]

@Zayn Dominick lol so random. Why did you do it? Just curious tbh.

[@TheSazarus]

My cat woke up and went nuts when she heard your cat in the background XD Also, these videos are amazing and easing my nerves into excitement for my upcoming first DM experience!

[@BaysideCord]

I’ve been trying to flesh out the background for my messenger/courier monk character for a while then watching this video again and hearing ( 11:01 ) “That’s just how the mail works” suddenly made her entire driving motivation clear, a simple rejection of that idea there is nothing to be done. A throwaway line in an 8 year old video.

[@Yora21]

Wohoo! AtCotRG! It is indeed one of the really great starting adventures. Unlike most old modules, this one has a kind of inbuild story with villains and goals for the players, but is still very much unscripted and lets the players do what they want, where they want, and in whatever order they want.

[@427Arbok]

So, I'm watching this, and I've already got a very well-constructed world before I've even held session zero yet. Which is probably next on my list, but... I've got a semi-complete pantheon, a fully-built world and ecology, several nations (complete with preferences and design conventions), numerous smaller islands, and a planned geographical structure. I think I've gone a little overboard.

[@PURPLE_SHADE_SMOOTHIE]

I love your content. Cool-ville :-)

[@ShadySal_]

1:35 what the hell is wrong with that beholder! 😂

[@Eldagusto]

I want to buy Squirrels from a Wizard! Man Fantasyland sounds swell.

[@lukes2006]

The current world I'm using is our earth but magic came and really messed stuff up. Now it's 150 years later and the PCs are running around. Most of the maps I use are already available because they are "real world" places.

[@NerdicusGoblinski]

Have you ever heard of the game Dawn Of Worlds? It's a free world building game that lets the players and DM play a mini game that let's them create the world where the campaign(s) take place. It includes designing the map of the world, the races, the history and more. My local group had fun designing our campaign world and setting. clanwebsite.org/games/rpg/Dawn_of_Worlds_game_1_0Final.pdf

[@grantcooper948]

Shout out to DF!

[@drgonwrrr]

i'm making a new island 50 miles off the coast of neverwinter to extend lost mine of phandelver

[@unchartedexe]

I like how you talk and present. Not a lot of jump cuts, and you don't ramble. You say what you need to say, and then you move on. I appreciate that.

[@godardkooijman]

Only after every sentence. But sometimes it seems that the cut wasn't even needed. En because it's consistent, it doesn't bother... clever.

[@chloepechlaner7806]

Its very good jump cuts :p

[@sambews5679]

I agree, but I do think he talks a little fast. I watch these video's at 80% speed.

[@lucase.crusader1196]

They are long videos but full of continuous information. It never feels like you're wasting time.

[@rocknmeat]

And he talks so fast as well

[@EdwardHowton]

It took me about six months to design my world, and it isn't done yet because as my players move through the place I fill in the details, but I'd like to share the method I used. I based it a little bit off the DM Guide's instructions, but I've found this method very useful. Pick a word. That's your town/city. For instance, Widow's Point. To design this entire city, I used the word: gritty. I wanted a dirty city. Dirty and poor. Poor and corrupt. From one word, I now had a series of word-association decisions about the place that told me what the city was like. From that single word, I turned this city, which on my map was on the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean (hence the name) into a town that had fallen on its luck in the past 160 years due to the players' beginning backwater town taking merchants from Widow's Point's trade route by sea. The dockside area became the poor quarter, called the Must because of the smell of rotting wood and the city sewers dumping into the bay. The other half of the city, the commercial and land trade district became the Front, because of the criminal organisation terminology and also because it was geographically the front of the city. The rich area, a tiny walled area taking the East side, became the Gold quarter, where all the still-rich people lived, what few of them were left, as well as being the lair of the city's one remaining criminal gang, the Black Widows (see if you can figure out where that name came from). All that from a single word: gritty. It might seem daunting, but as long as you start with that one word and then think about the implications of what it'd mean for an entire city, you can build on top of every idea until you have a fully-formed settlement. I've done the same thing with 'culture' and 'industry' for two other cities. It's a trick I'm very fond of now.

[@jarnalyrkar]

This is a great tip :)

[@kofola9145]

Your world is never going to be done. There is always more.

[@crunchydragontreats6692]

I really like this “one word” method. I’ll be putting it to good use, and without knowing it, already have. “Prosperous”. At the confluence of two rivers on the border of two previously warring nations. Where there should only be two bridges, one crossing the river running N/Sish in one nation and one crossing the border river running E/W, there are actually three bridges with two crossing the border river. One up river and the other down river of the confluence. Hence, the name of the town, Three Bridges. A prosperous, rapidly growing town at the very epicenter of new trade between two previously warring nations. Fast forward 15 years and add to this an ambitious Baroness who wants to expand her territory East beyond the World’s End Mountains and what could possibly go wrong? Time to hire some brave/naive adventurers.

[@catdragon1313]

This is a great tip! Thanks!

[@razrboy20]

Getting board? have a cat intermission. 2:29 "Mewh.." "Meooooow-" "Shoo"

[@Europa_Forever]

Bored*

[@YeetSpace]

No he meant board

[@KanuckStreams]

Me and my kitten sprawled on my shoulders loved that part.

[@kyles4264]

“I include everything in the players handbook” -except Gnomes, those are silly.

[@fukcingweeabos3167]

3.5 foot manlets btfo

[@primeministerofgreenteam1983]

"Just powerful enough to identify items and make scrolls." Deckard Cain, you mean?

[@leons.kennedy2747]

Was thinking exactly this lol. Actually Tristram from D1 is a great starting town. You have the healer who provides potions, Griswald who sells weapons, plot hooks galore... an entrance to hell. A kid that works as a black market. It's great.

[@kostas010908]

"Stay a while and listen."

[@oz_jones]

@@leons.kennedy2747 and the town drunk to give some lore

[@zanphuis]

Also really love your idea with the Dragonborn. I might steal it ^ - ^

[@Horkslair]

My dragonborn are the sterile offspring of shapechanged dragons and the other races. So when you see a gold dragonborn, or red dragonborn, you know one of their parents was an actual dragon of at least adult age that could shapechange. Better find out if their dragon parent is still alive, or dead.

[@kaleidoslug7777]

@@Horkslair Mine originated as like, Dark-Souls-like devouts who worshippped elder dragons as gods and got transformed into purer, more perfect draconic beings (Also Dragonborn live like 200 years because come on, dragons) through the power of their faith and determination. The ones alive now are the descendants of those worshippers , and live in a single, very organized citadel full to the brim with Paladins and Sorcerers

[@dot620]

@@kaleidoslug7777 I have a lot of humanoid races just being humans who were touched by a powerful entity before they were born (like genasi), so half elves are elven souls reincarnated into human bodies or human souls touched by the elven god, dragonborn are the same and in my setting humanity was saved by an ancient dragon so dragonborn are ruling class by default (and very rare). This was my solution to explaining why all half elves, genasi, tiefling and asimar are always part human (and not part dwarf, gnome, halfling, elf ect), it also made human society more interesting and saved my world from having so many species with distinct cultures that those cultures had to become similar. This leads to humans being more susceptible to external powers which led me to conclude it was because they were one of the only races capable that was not created by a specific god for a specific purpose, humanity can create gods and use their divine magic. I am totally just doing this because im excited about my world, but also because it goes to show how a simple, usually inconvenient question like "what are dragonborn?" or "why are there no elf-gnome hybrids?" can become the basic for an entire setting.

[@jakeand9020]

You can tell he's an old school player. Hate to spoil it, but he didn't invent the idea of Dragonborn being created by wizards. Dragonborn themselves are a rip-off of something called draconian form dragonlance, an old AD&D world setting. They were literally made by evil wizards from the eggs of good dragons.

[@superbeast8938]

I would love to see sessions with you as a dm

[@nomukun1138]

Living in the future, your dream is our reality! Matt runs a campaign called The Chain. Searching for "MCDM the chain" should find it.

[@dylanknight1237]

@@nomukun1138 as someone living in your future, buy toilet paper.

[@general-cromwell6639]

I know this comment is late, but, I'm a AD&D 1st edition guy....when you mentioned Homlet....Must admit that was the thing. when I started.

[@williamozier918]

We;ve all done Hommlett.

[@moredetonation3755]

"what's this hamlet called?" "...Hommlett."

[@williamozier918]

@@moredetonation3755 A hamlet named Hommlett is almost as ridiculous as a town named Towne.

[@reflectionist]

Hey, Matthew! As a first-time DM introducing D&D to first-time players, would it be a good idea to play out levels 1 and 2 as a kind of 'training' (for story purposes, but could also help introduce basics of D&D) before 'returning home' for the adventure proper at level 3?

[@Bluecho4]

One of my favorite DnD streams is the one done by the Yogscast crew, High Rollers. And the first High Rollers game (the "Lightfall" campaign) began with the party waking up in an ancient elf tomb, captured by an evil Dryad and her army of blights and vine-zombies. By the time they destroyed her and thwarted her evil plan, they leveled up to 2. So it's certainly possible - perhaps even preferable - to start a campaign in a closed environment, where the players aren't overwhelmed with choice, and where they can get used to the systems they'll be using throughout their "careers". So long as they are made to believe the completing of the starting adventure is important unto itself (that Dryad's plan was a danger to everyone), it should be fine.

[@ettinakitten5047]

That sister's letters idea is really cool. I have a campaign I'm working on where that would be an awesome plot hook!

[@lwnasidh]

I've been playing since 1977 and DMing since 1979, and I love these videos! My 12 year old is learning to DM, and since I've found these videos, we are watching them together and talking about them after we're done. Your videos help to springboard our conversations and help her tie in the things that I'm teaching her. Thank you!

[@RowcarGellert]

UPDATE: It is now possible to get PDFs of the contents of the box-set module "NIght Below" from both DM's Guild and DriveThruRPG. I'm listening to this series again because I'm running games for a mix of old & new players again, & I wanted to switch up the features of the town I start with. I've never used the town of Milborne before. I figured it might be a welcome change for the old players. It prompted me to go looking for the module.

[@Wrathful2000]

@Matthew Colville: have you ever played Dark Sun? Do you like it? I've always wanted to play it. I like the idea of a Mad Max style desert apocalyptic wasteland survival type campaign. :)

[@ryanhouk3560]

Wasn't the OG tabletop rpg setting was just a weird combination of middle earth, authorian legend, and Greek myth?

[@dainslatton9877]

Arthurian*

[@iain-duncan]

I find it interesting how I followed the same method you said to use automatically. I started with a little town based off one of my favorite games to get a preset ( i find it is most difficult to start, but everything is easier once you have a theme). I then added more towns, some forests, rivers, and mountains, and eventually, a city. Soon enough, I had an empire, and then several more. Before my very eyes I watched my small town transform into an entire world. One thing I did, was ask my players what they would find interesting. I made sure to add these elements to my world somewhere.

[@mcolville]

+Iain Duncan That sounds awesome! Something I haven't talked much about is just communicating to your players. Not only stuff like. . .did you have fun? But what kind of game would you enjoy playing in. Oh you're from a swamp, what's the name of the swamp? Let the characters help build the world. Sometimes this doesn't work, some players don't like 'knowing' parts of the setting were made up by other players, but a lot of players love it. Makes them feel like authors rather than just players.

[@iain-duncan]

Thanks :). I find the best way to make your players happy is to make it clear their voice and wishes are heard

[@calvinkrist5672]

Iain Duncan I

[@StilvurBee]

"Blink blink... Campaign setting?"

[@frostworlddk]

Great videos, Matt. I'm back in the saddle of DM'ing and your videos are helping out a lot. Also, what's with the :o popping up for a short second when you say Priest at 6:28? :D

[@mcolville]

Wow, I hope the videos are helping! Any requests? The :o is because I originally said 'wizard' there and had to overdub my own voice. Maybe it wasn't as jarringly obvious as I thought!

[@frostworlddk]

They are indeed. Hmmm..if I can come with a request, then what I find most interesting is examples of adventures that went well and the reason behind it. The more personal point of view and what you as DM enjoyed about it and how you facilitated that adventure. And nope, not as obvious. :D

[@ahame94]

+Grim reaper it definitely can be fun. its full of cliches, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[@felixscully2476]

night below is around 200$ on ebay and can be found in thrive thru rpg

[@Alresu]

@@mcolville Yeah, those kind of edits are more obvious, if you are the one who made them.^^ Also i think your talking speed helps hiding it.

[@punkseth1]

I agree with another comment: you're a great speaker! Even though most of these videos are just you talking they're still super engaging! Great job on that

[@paulcoy9060]

surprise cat intruder! worth a thumbs up!

[@sarastis8854]

Wow, great job with the letters! I really liked how they started off as normal and lighthearted and then slowly turned creepy. It sounds like a very fun campaign!

[@GrantREllis]

And naturally I shell out ten bones for The Village of Hommlet and Against the Cult of the Reptile God... takes me back to some of my earliest RPG Adventure reading experiences in the early 90s... Wizards is going to owe you a commission...

[@zanphuis]

Making a campaign setting as I go. Trying to incorporate my player's background stuff in my world. I agree that making one it fun. I love the control over the world ^ - ^

[@garnold6214]

+Adam L. I also find that allowing my player backgrounds to influence the campaign setting is really awesome. It let's the players feel like they're a part of creating the bigger picture and meanwhile establishes a more diverse creativity to the setting

[@wyrdness1]

The original Greyhawk (1976) supliment for D&D (1974) was more a rules supliment than a setting book. The most setting material it contained was a pantheon of deities. It did contain the thief class, and rules for advancing demihumans beyond level 14, but those couldn't be considered setting speciffic. The Blackmoor supliment was the first time even a rudimentary adventure was published (The Temple of the Frog, which was later expanded into a fully formed module of the same name) but still not a world map or anything. In fact the Castles and Crusades society was using an upside down fill-in map of the United States as their world map, known as the Great Kingdom with castle Greyhawk in Wisconsin and Blackmoor in Minisota as those were the two long-running campaigns by the authors of D&D, and the intertwined settings in which it was playtested. It wasn't until the 1983 Greyhawk box set that an actual developed campaign setting was presented to the public.

[@TheWondergnome]

Loving this series Matt. This is really helping me out with the adventures and world I am busy creating and I've also been sharing around with other DMs that might need help.

[@rob5541]

This is such good advice. The different species/Races in game should have certain aspects that differentiate them from each other. You see an orc up north, that's odd Orcs are from the south and usually enemies of the state. Goblins are slaves or mistreated workers. Many Dragonborn are illegitimate children of the king who's actually a dragon imposter in disguise. Elves are in position as of power and authority, etc etc. It adds more flavor rather than just scattering different Races around without thought.

[@trolleymouse]

> Some people like building alphabets Not me. I make abjads.

[@wolfkillerq9363]

I prefer syllabaries myself

[@alalalala57]

Letters man. Letters.

[@jnbaker7422]

abugidas for life

[@Ryan_Winter]

The one appeal a pre-made campaign setting offers a homebrew can't provide is that it allows others to relate, to connect, to what your group once experienced. You can ask someone you know to have played D&D for a long time, but never participated in a session you were present:" Have you ever been to the Tomb of Horrors?" And that person can tell you:" Yea, I died at this or that corner. I was killed by a certain trap, in a certain place." And we all understand that she or he actually is saying that her/his character died there and everyone who played that module can relate to the experience. "Last Saturday we were summoned by Lady Laeral Silverhand when we entered the City of Waterdeep." Everyone who knows the Forgotten Realms understands what that means and can relate to the event. "Our employer apparently was an agent of one of the Lords of Dust. Had you ever to face a Daelkyr?" If you happen to know Eberron a little you immediately have an impression what the adventure was like, someone else participated in, when she or he is telling you stuff like that. These imaginary places, allies, villains, draw quite some "tangability" from shared knowledge. And the funny part is everyone can imagine them differently and it's still a "shared" experience.

[@mrpeach32]

Rylan Joran I love faerun. I've mostly just experienced DND through the RPGs until recently. I like the history, I like the gods. I like messing around in other people's playgrounds. Players can understand the basic rules and you can make reveals that are meaningful, "oh shit it was helm the whole time!"

[@joelrichardson5139]

I also see the flip side. If someone experienced a story that they think is theirs, then they will be dissatisfied when they find other people experience the same story.

[@danielpryde7548]

I love that he calls the comments and description sections the DooblyDo

[@z0mbyz624]

For me, it was immensively more difficult running "Princes of the Apocalypse" than improvising my way through. SO much stuff to think about because its been layed out before hand

[@jh1859]

Ya, Hommlet. They don't make them like that anymore. The age of innocence is lost.

[@KBash]

This series is awesome. Thanks from Canada bro

[@brionoliver6234]

Great series! Thanks for doing it. Some excellent resources for a DM wanting to 'world build': Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures has great rules for creating a starting village collaboratively with your players. Its supplement Further Afield expands beyond the village to collaboratively creating a sandbox world. Beyond the Wall also has free Scenario Packs that help you design and run a full night's scenario on-the-fly at the table. Great stuff! Sine Nomine Publishing's Red Tide and An Echo, Resounding are excellent sandbox resources from the sandbox tools master, Kevin Crawford.

[@teucer915]

My favorite trick for making a pantheon: any time you need a religious character who doesn't fit a god you already made, make up a god that's more quintessentially their alignment than they are.

[@patpad2599]

Hommlet and Orlane! T1 and N1 baby!! Good to see some 1st ed AD&Ders out there! Huge props to you. Those two are my main starter towns for my campaigns.Oerth #1 *thumbs up*

[@patpad2599]

+Pat Pad Saltmarsh U1 is my 3rd starter town.

[@onlyfeatures9834]

Sean Nittner ran the moathouse adventure for some folks and myself once using Torchbearer. It went about as well as you'd expect. (Spoiler alert: It went terribly)

[@TimTamSlam7]

I asked my friend what his advice for being a DM for the first time would be and he linked me this series. I recognised you from Critical Role and instantly loved your in-depth guides, the way you engage your players and go through these levels of immersion that I find myself wrapped up in. It’s an art. I purchased the Essentials Kit with Dragon of Icespire Peak and am writing my story based around my players really. It was interesting to know you don’t start in Phandalin! I’ve basically made up my own backstories to the inhabitants of Phandalin but I like the idea of having a base resource (the maps for example) to expand on. You’ve taught me a lot about world-building and being a DM, Matt. Thank you 🥰

[@hughgeorgechannel]

Am I railroading my players too much if I start Phandelver (And everyone's first campaign) by saying "Gundren hired you to escort this wagon and now you are bringing it down to Phandalin" ?

[@ottovonbismarck4577]

drops sloth in my opinion no he said in his 2nd running the game that just jumping them right into the situation is the simplest and arguably the best way of doing it

[@wolvesleather]

Whether you're railroading them too much will depend on the players. Some will be fine cause they're running the altruistic paladin that is just helping out. But another player may be playing the less altruistic warlock that would've preferred to start in the bar being approached by Gundren so he could get the most coin possible through negotiation.

[@Bluecho4]

I don't think so. It's not like the players are signing up for a huge quest. There is only a single encounter with goblins standing between the party and completing the escort quest. After that, the party isn't obliged to do anything. They'll only get involved with the goblins and the kidnapped people and the gang of ruffians if they feel like doing so. Granted, if they actively avoid such things, there's not a lot they can do in the starting town, but they can do it. There's a difference between starting the game with a path in front of them, and railroading. And the concept of "railroading" gets overblown as a concern often times. Giving the players a plot thread to follow is not the same as forcing them to play a certain game. Especially if you leave the plot thread open, so the players can figure out their own way to resolve it.

[@kensommerville]

I found the Night Below PDF here - www.dmsguild.com/product/17087/Night-Below-An-Underdark-Campaign-2e

[@ChaosDragon-pw7xd]

Someone just asked me this earlier today and I thought "If I can't BS my way through this with all the info i've learned + creativity how will I make it being a dm..." I sold it pretty well. Thank goodness theres an actual answer for this out there though.

[@weeeee162]

I have never played D&D let alone DM'd but these videos are shockingly entertaining to listen to as a podcast... you should podcast

[@smileyvr4438]

This, but I start with three things. A city, a dungeon, and a wilderness.

[@pugpug4430]

Fist off thank you. This all slowly but surely making me feel like I can do this. Secondly thanks for leaving the cat in. Mine does that kind of stuff to me all the time

[@hellofromlaura6095]

(i'm a girl!) thank you for talking about the rape thing, also i really wanna play! I am hopefully gonna set something up when i know more people :)

[@jarnalyrkar]

The sociology video is very good, it's too bad the comments are blocked off, but i can see why he did it. I've luckily somehow never played with those kinds of players, but I know they exist. It's good that Matt spoke of those subjects. Good luck playing D&D, it's loads of fun :)

[@bearhall4919]

I was listening to a podcast where they were talking about using an X card so that players can show the dm the X card to let him/her know that they are legitimately uncomfortable with the subject, then the DM can quietly move past it without making a scene out of the players discomfort.

[@maximef1]

This. I've fallen in love with your videos and took quite a bit of note (on Evernote, first video I saw from you

[@coltonfoster6739]

"Creating an entire pantheon from scratch can take a lot of time"

[@is-be6725]

Arterrstic Come on, how hard could it be?! Aliens did it with humanity, and it only took a couple hundred thousand years. 😄

[@coltonfoster6739]

IS - BE I'll be sure to keep that in mind

[@bjornseine2342]

I love this series... Keep up the good work!

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

Something I did was make Drows be a cross between elves and tieflings. They were highly uncommon until about eight hundred years before the current adventure when eleves almost went extinct, so they had to breed with tieflings to survive. The thing is that most elves did (and many still do) see themselves as far above tieflings, so a Drow is an abomination to.

[@nstrisower]

That grin at 4:42 is how I knew he was a legit DM.

[@nathanrodic6294]

I wonder how many times I've heard Matt bring up that fact about old premade adventures including the villages gold location/amounts

[@steakmcc]

Awesome video, Matt! A random Reddit thread sent me here, and you do something that many DM vidoes lack: multiple examples! This is the best way for me to learn, besides practice of course :).

[@brunosouza3326]

I have to set the speed to .75 to be able to follow what Matts saying :v

[@mourningsword98]

God Birthright is so sweet glad to see it getting some love! I am currently running a 5e converstion game of Birthright.

[@calvinballaka8905]

Absolutely one of my favorite videos in the series so far! While my Orlane and your Orlane certainly look quite different because of our campaigns' different aesthetics, the techniques you've talked about - annotated maps, skimming, limited prep, etc. - are definitely going to help me next time I run this adventure. Like you said, this video has helped me to think more about how I prep and figure out what the best way for me is. Though I'm TOTALLY nabbing that annotated map idea; that's just genius, and I can't believe official D&D adventures don't do that and instead make you flip back and forth from a page to the map.

[@TheAlCapwner]

It doesn't matter in the slightest, but the nearby city is Neverwinter, not Waterdeep.

[@Pixxeria]

I hoping you would comment on the DMG. In my opinion it doed a great job on helping thr DM figure out how to do all that world building. Btw, I love it. In my campaign I wanted to be a little less generic, but I also didn't want ro limit any player choice. So one of the changes I made to the base assumptions is that in my world, elves are close to being extinct because the big bads possessed their bodies due to their longrvity. The other races knew the bid bads targeted elves so they massacred all elves they could find to prevent the enemy from having their bodies. A player can still be an elf, but he will be among the few that remain. I don't really like how orcs are commonly used in D&D, so I made them inspired by how the Klingons work in Star Trek. Sometimes they are terrible enemies, sometimes allies, depending on the political climate. And no gods in this world, only an animistic religiosity like in Avatar and their spirits.

[@kazzysenpai5906]

I'm running a 24 hour marathon campaign for Extra Life, do you have any advice?

[@TtheWriter]

When my players ask me "what campaign setting" I usually just say something sweeping like "uhhhh.... medieval western europe" so I cover all my bases. It names a time period, a culture type, a certain aesthetic of architecture and clothing, and certainly set out the expectation of active magic users. That way I tell them a lot but don't give anything away.

[@ofanichan]

You should be a rapper

[@Abelhawk]

If anyone's interested, I have a Warcraft campaign setting I adapted for 5e.

[@jesternario]

I have Against The Cult of the Reptile God. Great town, bad dungeon, especially the boss, and the old guy. Not going into specifics to avoid spoilers, but for those who know, they might understand why I make it a 4th-6th level adventure instead of 1st-2nd level.

[@KamiRecca]

So when i make my own Settings (or campaigns worlds), i ask myself these following questions: 1. Am i building a Big or a Small world? 2. What will i be inspired of when designing the world? 3. What role does Gods, Fiends and Magic play in the world? 4. What and Why is Good and Evil in the world? 5. Does the PCs stand out and why? 6. Who is the villain, and does he/she care about the PCs? 7. What makes the world stand out compared to other worlds?

[@jamiepandaman]

I just started a campaign, and independently of each other my players wanted to be a Paladin of Aphrodite, a Druid that worships Ursa Major (also a figure from Greek mythology), and two Warlocks of Titania (Shakespearian, but "The Bard" got the name from Greek Myth)... well, that makes the gods pretty easy to figure out.

[@johnhannas3959]

What you do, I call "Filing off the Serial Numbers" and it can be some work if you are running older Mod's. I had a 3.5 game where I eventually took them through G1,. It was work to update from 1st to 3.5, but I also got to add my own additions, like giving a Giantess levels in Sorc.

[@Draenal]

I don't know how long DMs guild has been around, and it may not have existed when this video was made, but you can get a PDF of From Below on dmsguild for $10 or a physical copy for 16-22 (soft vs hardcover)

[@jasonrhome710]

Your letters from the sister idea reminds me of the letters the main character in Crime and Punishment would get from his mom. Very recently started playing/running D&D sessions again and stumbled into your channel while doing research for the next adventure hook. I haven't scrolled through your entire "Running The Game" list yet, but do you have a dedicated video about using non-D&D media sources for inspiration in crafting encounters, worlds, etc.? If my players survive long enough, I'm already planning on riffing on the bounty hunter from a Korean comic called Priest as a semi-regular NPC.

[@Aarongorn]

I used to spend my study halls in high school working on my world--creating towns and countries, making 3x5 NPC cards, etc. I don't have that kind of time anymore, so I do what you're talking about. My campaign is set in Greyhawk, and my party's main town of operation right now is Saltmarsh. We started with the U-Series. I have them all originating from Longspear, up the Javan River. But I'm going to introduce Hommlet at some point. They're currently traveling north to figure out what the heck is going on the little town of Orlane (a resident of Saltmarsh has a brother who lives there, but she hasn't heard from him in a long time), so I might use that too. A little small, though. I'd like to find a fleshed-out Hochoch or Hookhill. At some point, I'll have to map out Longspear too. For now, it's just a waypoint, so I don't have a lot of pressure. They only recently left there seeking adventure, so they're more interested in other parts of the world. Thanks for another great video! "Silence shrouds the forest, as the birds announce the dawn..."

[@A007991]

Matt, i just went to buy "Against the Cult Of the Reptile God", and funnily enough, the Red Hand Of Doom + the Village of Hommlett are under "Customers Also Bought" lol

[@dovesk1]

Great Vid as always Matt but I disagree about Phandalin. It is a TERRIBLY designed town from the point of view of verisimilitude. It is surrounded by monsters and like most D&D towns, has NO walls. Hommlet is just the same. It makes zero sense, since human towns in history had walls if there was even a tiny chance of attack.

[@DogandaTopHat]

#supernoodley

[@davidtauriainen9116]

"Why are we going on these adventures instead of her?" This is why you don't start your first level characters on a world saving adventure arc. Let them explore stuff on their own, fight goblins, run from powerful enemies, etc. Only once they've proved themselves should they be tasked with responsibility. I go so far as to have a dragon attack a nearby village, and the PCs hear about other powerful NPCs who successfully slay the dragon. The PCs aren't special until they're high level... when the higher level NPCs die fighting the Were-Dracolich Titan.

[@trevorjenkins2012]

Harmlet??? What happened to saying Ham- let, i.e Shakespeare's Hamlet shud have been a hint lmao, STOP NOW, Please God stop now!!!lol

[@seandarbe2521]

Hey DUNGEON SAGE I feel you left out how people think of cities, towns, villages, hamlets. You forgot neighborhoods real places have those. In tows and villages center them around taverns are other locations guess. Can you consider doing a video on types of neighborhood's in a fantasy settlement.

[@jakeand9020]

Just throwing this out there for those who don't know, "fantasy land" literally evolved into the Forgotten Realms. That's why Forgotten Realms is the, how to say, "generic" fantasy setting. No special rules specific to the Realms, like other settings like Dark Sun or pretty much any other official campaign world. Just the straight up D&D full set govern them, there are some special occurrence things, like in the Baulders Gate, but no special rules sets. I may be wrong, the Realms may have evolved beyond just the basic ruleset by now, but traditionally the basic rules of the newer D&D editions are based on the Forgotten Realms, and that's because it was the "fantasy land" that pretty much all D&D took place in back in he day.

[@samu-l4608]

Funny because most of the time I'm doing exactly the opposite: I buy a setting (my favorite being Scarred Lands, and Ravenloft but i do like Darksun, and Middle-Earth too) and make it my own and "write" my own adventures within it. Now contrary to when I was younger and wrote pages and pages for an adventure, most of my adventures are two to three A4 pages and it tells ten times more things than my previous oversized ones (with a lot of parts absolutely useless) . Not saying here that my approch is better than yours of course, but it works better for me that way.

[@613aristocrat]

If you want to know more about Fantasyland, check out the book by Dianne Wynne Jones called The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. www.amazon.com/Tough-Guide-Fantasyland-Essential-Fantasy/dp/0142407224 www.goodreads.com/book/show/47510.The_Tough_Guide_to_Fantasyland

[@euansmith3699]

"Night Below" is currently available on Drive Thru RPG in both physical and pdf formats.

[@FlatOnHisFace]

Birthright is the absolute best campaign setting ever made for D&D. Unfortunately, it will never come back, since its debut right before 2nd edition ended, because to have the right feel, Birthright is self-contained and WotC wants all their worlds to be accessible in a shared multiverse, placing the campaign setting that is just the city Sigil as more important than the world of Aebrynis.

[@amherstwarehouse3382]

Very new here and just wondering... Could you have a setting with the classic characters, spells, swords, dragons and all the other amazing things, but set up on a derelict space ship? Or, is D&D only classic settings?

[@willinnewhaven3285]

I very much favor home-made settings. Mine has been around since the early Eighties. It started with a stretch of road with a town called Bad Ankle at one end with an area called "The Lake Country" at the other. It had to be remade when I switched from AD&D1 to my own Glory Road Roleplay rules. The Black Mountain District is the setting I am using now. The old Lake Country is just to the south but it has gotten rather tame after all these years. sites.google.com/site/grreference/home/05-the-black-mountain

[@klauswigsmith]

I've always featured a town called Skara Brae in all my campaign settings. It's the oldest known neolithic ruined settlement in Europe, plus (more importantly it's in the Ultima series and The Bard's Tale.

[@insertjokehere212]

Hey Matt! It's been 4 years, but I found a pdf of Night Below! It's on TheTrove. Just look it up in their search bar.

[@maxholke]

I still remember that in Temple of elementral evil and Hommlet in the questbook stated the exp player would get of killing the chickens in some house in Hommlet. Exp for killing chickens...

[@laurablanco9323]

I'm totally guilty of asking about the campaign setting and having the DM get squirrelly...

[@ChantingDruid]

"we didnt play minecraft or league of legends or rocket league" brother i play all three and feel attacked. even though i also love worldbuilding, no one ever talks about rocket league and now i'm hurt.

[@thor30013]

So, basically those old-school designers expected thief/rogue characters to act exactly like the thief in this clip from Dead Gentlemen's The Gamers (as seen here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4XGlKmgZcyWa5o).

[@Kbaker0407]

Not sure if anyone has linked this already, but here is a DriveThruRPG link for Night Below the 2e adventure. May help those who are looking for a copy of such and want to add it to their resources. www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17087/Night-Below-An-Underdark-Campaign-2e?it=1

[@Babawze]

the village of Hammlet, from the country of Reggion which also include the town of Villagge, the city of Towne and the metropolis of Citty