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Rich the First-Time DM
United States
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 14 เม.ย. 2024
A first-time DM providing tips for other first time DMs and players of the world most popular tabletop roleplaying game. Also discuss all things D&D related!
How to Use NPC Stat Blocks - DM Tips #12
NPC Stat Blocks for Dungeons and Dragons can look daunting, but don't worry, this video will walk you through the stat block and tell you how to use them!
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Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos!
Leave comments about your DM tips or any topics you want to see covered!
Thanks for watching!
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Social Links
Want to drop me an email? Please do! I am always interested in hearing from fans of the channel, other DMs or players needing advice, or anyone wanting to collaborate!
richthefirsttimedm@gmail.com
Follow me on BlueSky: bsky.app/profile/richthefirsttimedm.bsky.social
Follow me on X (formerly Twitter): @RichtheDM
x.com/RichtheDM
Follow me on Facebook: profile.php?id=61558065359740
Join my Discord Channel - discord.gg/DyF3vkMw
Want some merch? Check out my shop! rb.gy/cuzn03
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Artwork and Music
Artwork - thanks to the wonderful Kay Marie @ KayMCreations
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
uppbeat.io/t/aylex/wanderer
License code: PDLVXQSUZQIU3TRE
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Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos!
Leave comments about your DM tips or any topics you want to see covered!
Thanks for watching!
----------
Social Links
Want to drop me an email? Please do! I am always interested in hearing from fans of the channel, other DMs or players needing advice, or anyone wanting to collaborate!
richthefirsttimedm@gmail.com
Follow me on BlueSky: bsky.app/profile/richthefirsttimedm.bsky.social
Follow me on X (formerly Twitter): @RichtheDM
x.com/RichtheDM
Follow me on Facebook: profile.php?id=61558065359740
Join my Discord Channel - discord.gg/DyF3vkMw
Want some merch? Check out my shop! rb.gy/cuzn03
-----------
Artwork and Music
Artwork - thanks to the wonderful Kay Marie @ KayMCreations
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
uppbeat.io/t/aylex/wanderer
License code: PDLVXQSUZQIU3TRE
มุมมอง: 99
วีดีโอ
AJ's Compendium of Expanded Elements - A Review
มุมมอง 8714 วันที่ผ่านมา
There is a new book full of new elements, spells, items, and stat blocks. This is my review of AJ's Compendium of Expanded Elements. AJ has expanded on existing elements such as fire with new spells and items, as well as creating new elements and spells and items for those. What do I think of this video? Should you buy this book? Watch this video to find out! Where to Buy AJ's Compendium of Exp...
Table Roles for Players - Player Tips #3
มุมมอง 66หลายเดือนก่อน
All D&D players at the table fill a role. What are these roles and what can you do as a player to fill those roles better? Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos! Leave comments about your DM tips or any topics you want to see covered! Thanks for watching! Social Links Want to drop me an email? Please do! I am always interested in hearing from fans of the cha...
How to Handle DM Burnout - DM Tips #11
มุมมอง 78หลายเดือนก่อน
Are you getting stressed out as a dungeon master? Have you hit a breaking point and are thinking of stopping DMing all together? Well don't! DM Burnout is a real thing and there are things you can do to prevent it or handle it when it starts to become an issue. This video will provide some ideas for how to handle DM burnout. Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making vi...
To Roll or Not to Roll - DM Tips #10
มุมมอง 130หลายเดือนก่อน
Are your D&D sessions slow? Are your plots never able to be followed? It could be you are asking for too many die rolls! There are dos and don'ts for asking for die rolls from your players and this video hopefully will explain when you should and shouldn't ask for a die roll, and how to handle a die roll you shouldn't have asked for in the first place. Please leave constructive criticism as thi...
How to Create an Adventure - DM Tips #9
มุมมอง 1422 หลายเดือนก่อน
Have you ever thought about creating your own adventure for D&D? Well, this video will give you some basic tips and questions to ask yourself to ensure you create an adventure your players will love! Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos! Leave comments about your DM tips or any topics you want to see covered! Thanks for watching! Social Links Want to drop m...
2024 Dungeons & Dragons Rules - Actual Play Thoughts
มุมมอง 1403 หลายเดือนก่อน
So how do the new rules and options for Dungeons and Dragons 5E actually play at the table? How are the new rules to run from behind the screen as a DM? I have been able to play in a few games and run a few as a DM, so I have some initial thoughts! Watch this video to see my first impressions of the new 2024 Dungeons and Dragons rules! Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first tim...
Using D&D to Help with Grieving - DM Tips #8
มุมมอง 644 หลายเดือนก่อน
As Dungeon Masters we are in the unique position to help ourselves or our players dealing with the grief of a loved one's passing whether it was a person or a beloved pet. Watch this video to learn how and how I used this tip to help myself with the grief of losing my beloved cat. Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos! Leave comments about your DM tips or an...
Top 10 D&D Player Etiquette Rules - Player Tips #2
มุมมอง 1684 หลายเดือนก่อน
How should you behave at a D&D table? What should you do and not do at the D&D table? This video will answer those questions! Follow my advice and you can all but guarantee an invite back to play again instead of being shown the door and asked to never return. Table Etiquette is not just for fancy dinners there are etiquette rules for sitting at a table to play Dungeons and Dragons as well! Top...
Top 10 D&D Player Tips - Player Tips #1
มุมมอง 1225 หลายเดือนก่อน
What are the Top 10 D&D Player tips that you as a new D&D player or even as a veteran player should be using? How can you improve as a player at a D&D table? Watch this video to find out! Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos! Leave comments about your player tips or any topics you want to see covered! Thanks for watching! Social Links Want to drop me an ema...
2024 Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook - Initial Thoughts
มุมมอง 895 หลายเดือนก่อน
The new 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook is only months away from being released. What are the changes and how will this affect how you play D&D? Watch this video to get some initial thoughts on the changes and what I think this means going forward. More information: Ted at Nerd Immersion: www.youtube.com/@UCAS66eKR83Yarfso_Y8kyzA Ginny Di and the College of Dance Bard: th-cam.com/video...
Top 10 DM Tools & Accessories - DM Tips #7
มุมมอง 1346 หลายเดือนก่อน
What tools and accessories should you use or have at your disposal as a DM? This video will give you my top 10 items plus a couple honorable mentions. All of these will help improve how you run your game and will improve the game itself! Links to items mentioned (in order of mention) Level Up by Spidermind Games: www.spidermindgames.com/collections/level-up DnD Beyond: www.dndbeyond.com/ Keith ...
Top 10 DM Mistakes - DM Tips #6
มุมมอง 547 หลายเดือนก่อน
What are the top 10 mistakes DMs make and how to avoid them? Watch this video to find out! What are your top 10 DM mistakes? Which ones have you or another DM made? Please leave comments below! Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos! Leave comments about your DM tips or any topics you want to see covered! Thanks for watching! Social Links Want to drop me an e...
How Much Session Prep is Needed? - DM Tips #5
มุมมอง 957 หลายเดือนก่อน
How much session prep do you need? Watch this video for a discussion about session prep for Dungeons and Dragons! How much prep do you do? Has this changed over time? Leave a comment below! Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos! Leave comments about your DM tips or any topics you want to see covered! Thanks for watching! Social Links Want to drop me an email...
Top 10 House Rules - DM Tips #4
มุมมอง 1237 หลายเดือนก่อน
Top 10 House Rules to use in your D&D game and a tip for creating your own house rules! Please leave constructive criticism as this is my first time making videos! Leave comments about your DM tips or any topics you want to see covered! Thanks for watching! Social Links Want to drop me an email? Please do! I am always interested in hearing from fans of the channel, other DMs or players needing ...
How to Scale Creatures and Encounters - DM Tips #3
มุมมอง 787 หลายเดือนก่อน
How to Scale Creatures and Encounters - DM Tips #3
Initial Dos and Dont's for the First Time DM - DM Tips #2
มุมมอง 1828 หลายเดือนก่อน
Initial Dos and Dont's for the First Time DM - DM Tips #2
Fossil summon oh yeah it's Dino Time
Lol
Neat, I enjoy more magic items so that's pretty cool
There are a ton!
Hello, Player in the campaign Aj runs, I'm unfortunatly playing a non caster at the moment but the Items he comes up with have been very entertaining to interact with. And have playtested some of the spells on one shots that were very fun. I'll probably play a caster with my next character that has him as a DM just to play around with the spells more!
That’s awesome!
Eeeeee this got me so excited and made my damn week
Great to hear!
A good recap of the styles of game prep. I do a little prep, but not too much. I have the NPCs have their own plans. If the players ignore the Big Bad, they go about their evil plans. They will react to what the players do and, depending on how disruptive to their plans they are, will put more or less effort into stopping, distracting, or ignoring them.
All great points! Thanks for the comment!
Great video as a subtle teaching method for ME in how I should lean toward my strengths and pay attention to weaknesses (who doesn't want to be an ALL STAR?). Thanks
Thanks! There’s always room for improvement for everyone. Doing this video showed me some of my flaws too!
I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Dwight Eisenhower: “plans are useless but planning is essential”. You may not use that plan but it helps you think through options / possibilities and that is useful even if the players don’t do what you thought they would.
Absolutely. I have found that the more I prep the better my improv can be. And I may not use that plan today but could be used in the future. Thanks for the comment!
I really enjoyed this ngl
Thank you!
These are some very good tips in my opinion, and I've done most of these before. I got to the point of having to take a long break from D&D altogether after I had finally forced myself to finish a a campaign I was running that lasted over 4 years with at least 2 sessions per week with mostly the same 6+ person group the entire time.
Wow. That sounds like an amazing campaign! 2 sessions a week for 4 years is a lot of dnd! You definitely deserved a break!
@@RichtheFirst-TimeDM Thank you! It certainly was. Ended up with fan art, fanfics, and spinoff campaigns ran by others.... but it honestly just took everything out of me for D&D and tabletop games in general for a very long time. One thing that may be worth mentioning is to not force yourself to continue when neither your heart or mind are in it, even if you think taking a short break/doing something else will disappoint your friends/those playing.
Excellent point! Sometimes you just have to stop but hopefully it is after the campaign and not during it. But fanfic, fan art and spin off campaigns? That means you and your players created a world everyone loved. Well done!
Running my first game as DM after many hours of Dimension 20 and a few false start games. Your advice helped me get over some jitters.
So glad i helped! Hope it went well. And just remember the more you DM the better you will become!
I really love that DM screen. I just have one I cobbled together out of a couple of old notebooks. lol. It looks like junk, but it gets the job done. Maybe one day I'll upgrade to something nice.
Anything works! This was a kickstarter of the red box dragon from dog might games. I love it. Wish the company didn’t go out of business! I have a dice box from them that is great too.
Really informative and really easy to watch! GREAT VIDEO!!
Thank you!
Very cool!
Just curious... how did you solve the issue with the PCs being more powerful than the corresponding CR of the monsters? Did you nerf up the monsters, or did you raise up the encounters to higher CR creatures in combat?
Thanks for the comment and question! I don’t really use CR. I use it as a reference but will choose a creature I want to use and scale the creature up or down depending on the party. I did a video on scaling creatures/encounters - th-cam.com/video/BkbuvWxtTUA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=d9czJUO2B82bv1DA
And usually i end up having to buff the creatures because my party is very powerful (I hand out magic items like candy lol)
@@RichtheFirst-TimeDM Ok, that makes sense. My players b#tched, but ultimately prefered it, because they thought they were going to steamroll my encounters, but were challenged. Until the 2024 MM comes out, IMO, as a DM, I gotta buff-up the monsters, or what's the point of combat?!
@@RichtheFirst-TimeDM Yeah, I just use CR as a guide too. I'm old... been playing since '77
Exactly! If the players get advantage from vex, had pack tactics so the creatures do to. If they use topple for prone make a couple creatures immune to prone (not all of them of course). Adjust to make it better but don’t take away from their choices
My wife's goal is to use d&d and the creative arts involved as a medium for therapy now that she has her degree. Thanks for your video!
Thanks! D&D is great for use in therapy! One of the people I used to play with did her thesis for just that! There are so many ways to use it - to help bring quiet people out of their shell, to encourage collaboration, to just help “outcasts” find a social group and at least for my table everyone is welcome no matter differences in race, neurodiversity status, sexual orientation, gender etc. hopefully your wife succeeds! Would love to hear more!
What a unique coping skill!
Thanks! It definitely helped me with Leia’s passing and I plan to use that technique whenever needed.
It's a fantastic way to honor departed! ❤
Thanks for the watch and comment
Re: 1st vs. 3rd person. It helps to go back and forth. When your character is doing heroic things, I prefer 1st person. (“I slay the dragon and save the princess!”) But when my character does less-than-heroic things, it can feel better to speak in 3rd person. (“Gil the Rogue sneaks in to the kings chambers and poisons his water before stealing the ring of orc command.”)
Excellent point! I do find myself doing the same thing now that you mention it!
If a player has been consistently not paying attention and asks for another recap, my answer is, "No, if you're not paying attention, neither is your character. You spend this round looking around confused. Who's next for initiative?"
That is definitely one way to handle it. I would make exceptions for players that have special needs though but I do like this approach especially of it has been over and over.
If you're disrupting the game and your go-to response is "I'm just role-playing my character" then you need to rethink the character and-or the way you role-play them.
Absolutely! Great comment! That’s what my character would do is nor acceptable if it disrupts the game. One reason I have two house rules - no pvp and all loot is group loot.
For Wild Shape, if we take the wording from the playtest, you should be able to max out your Temp HP every round. When you are in Wild Shape you maintain all of your class features which includes Wild Shape so at the beginning of your turn you use your bonus action to Wild Shape into a different animal (or a different version of that same animal) and that will trigger the granting of temp hp (3 x Druid level). If you are out of uses of Wild Shape you can burn a spell slot to grant you an additional use, no action required, so you still have your bonus action to trigger the Wild Shape and your action to attack. Now enemies will have to burn through your temp HP before they get to your HP pool.
We will have to see how the actual wording is in the new PHB - may have to drop the shape first and I can’t remember off top of my head how that works but you may be 100% right about maxing out temp HP
Thanks for the video. It helped my friends so 10/10 would recommend.
Thanks for the comment! Glad it helped your friend! I plan to have more player tips in the future so consider subscribing if you haven’t already!
Rich, a question / suggestion - have you tried other game systems except 5e? I'm curious about your opinion on Daggerheart and DC20 in particular. The latter is generally praised among other TTRPG bloggers and few mechanics from it seems quite curious (and possibly usable in 5e :) )
I have watched daggerheart but not played it but do love some of the things they do. Have not tried DC20 but if it matches the hype it may be as close to a perfect system there is
If DC20 is up your alley check out D&D 4th edition. With all the hype around DC20 I think 4e was just ahead of its time.
I was not a big fan of 4th ed but have heard good things about dc20
overall, i think that how ppl met the changes was how computer game's players think about mods in games - you either expect the game itself to be 100% ready and fresh and new and stuff (and do not want to use any mods to better your experience) or you use the game as a source for your own inspiration and "mod" it to better suit your preferences. For me it seems that wotc were on a crunch deadline (10y anniversary) and also decided to play it safe. They market the 2024 version as compatible with 2014 version. Basically it's 5.5e, Tascha v2. Because why would they do it otherwise - OneDnd is coming (maybe, someday). I think that ppl will play with 2024v for few months, tweak this and that and the game will be played for most ppl with like at least 50% of its mechanics homebrewed. Honestly, i'm ok with that.
This is one dnd. I think going forward we won’t see versions anymore (wotc has said as much) so we can see new rules with the year as the divider. I don’t think they rushed it and they did take the playtest feedback seriously, just think some things like the Ranger fell through the cracks due to layoff and then it got rushed due to deadlines. By keeping pretty much everything as it was and improving the glaring things this “version” will be better with homebrew to fix the issues (ranger etc) along with fixes in the books to come as they always do. Thanks as always for the comment! Hope all is well!
That is how most people play 5e now. Just look at the number and success of 5e 3rd party content creators. One DnD was the name they gave the playtest for 2024v/ 5.5. Sure, they backed off on some major changes after the OGL scandal but who's to say that was because of that or from the survey results they received.
Based on everything I have read, they took the surveys seriously but who knows. Wotc lost trust sadly after the ogl so who knows for sure
well done sir. keep it up.
Thanks!
great video! I really found that video useful and i love your video style!
Thanks alot! Glad you liked it! Thanks for the comment and for subscribing! Hope you find my other videos as useful!
And thanks as always for the comment!
How did your one shot go? As for VTTs I have only played online a few times and I wasn’t a fan. My dice rolls were bad and RP was tough because we were only doing voice chat not video. We did those games over fantasy grounds. I did like how the DM was able to run the game and how everything was added automatically to dice rolls. Best of luck with the next one shot!
Hi, Rich! Thank you for the video, especially for the book recommendations. Will checkout some of them in future. Do you ever play DnD via VTT? Can you give similar list of useful platforms for online games? I completed the first ever game few months ago and now preeparing for a one-shot with randoms online (as it is the only way i can play, unfortunately). Found an amazing one-shot on arcane library and am going to use roll20 as a platform. But ultimately want to move my games to Talespire (check them out, they are amazing) Seems alright at the moment.
it's a crying shame that the simplest, most basic blunders can just completely turn people off of running games altogether, seen a couple instances of that happening. good job on the breakdowns. also, ive just noticed that peanut doll. love me some dunham.
As always thanks for the comment! And yeah dunham rocks! It is the fear of mistakes i think that stop people From dming in the first place!
These are really good house rules. I'd sit at this table any day!
Thanks! My players seem to enjoy them! The counterspell one has been tweaked several times over this campaign to where everyone is happy with it now!
Rich, thank you for the video. Just exactly what I was looking for :) Will have the very first game today and spent good 10h+ already prepping. Its more of a general idea on what to do than a real scenario, but will work all the same (I hope). Hope in time it will take me less hours to do such a task. My ADHD mind requires to create something HUGE with every big project I'm working on so spending a lot of time on details even though that may not be even be seen or used ^.^ Anyway, thank you for the video and your tips. Helpful as always. Wrote down some of your advices to use in the future. (and thanks for the Dungeon Alchemist!)
Good luck! Let me know how it goes! And hopefully in time prep takes you less and less time. With something like ADHD it can make it difficult at times but you will figure out what works for you!
Solid script over all, I think you forgot to add your tags as well.
Tags are added…a lot of them
The mic help cut alot of the tinny sound. You're still getting significant reverb though.
Thanks! Will see what else I can do
👍
Thanks!
Great content! In the future, consider adding more content relevant tags to the video. It helps.
Thanks for the tip and the comment!
Great video
Thanks!
Hi, Rich! Thank you for great advices as always! Im so thankful that you made a video out of my suggestion and even shout out me <3 I actually found the action counter method very helpful. Will be using it with the XP book method as well to calculate the best version of the encounter. Basically double down it. It kind of not clear on which parts of abilities to focus (like when u spoke about troll) when scaling - what is too much or too little to give to a monster but i guess it will come with experience :) I bought the starter edition with premade chars and adventure. Will give my two players a choice to pick their character and will scale down the amount of enemies. For instance make it not 4 goblins but maybe 3 or even 2. Honeslty speaking, I so much enjoy your videos. Will surely write you after will complete the first game and let you know about my experience 😅
Few suggestions for future videos: 1. Maps. How to create them or what is a nice place to get them and how often should i be using them 2. Music and other immersive experience - what are you using and if using at all 3. Something else - honeslty forgot 😂 Please keep making this content! Ps It would be great if you ll do something about your microphone - it was too quiet this time :(
Will do!
Thanks for watching. Glad it was helpful! Yeah deciding what to scale up or down is dependent on what you want the players to experience so it is case by case. The starter edition is great and going from 4 goblins to 2 is perfect!
What sort of homebrew rules do you have this early in you're DM adventures? What are some guidelines for making homebrew rules fair?
I will be coming out with a video about the houserules I have in my game - they are some of the usual stuff, potions as a bonus etc. as for guidelines i will definitely cover that in the house rules video! Thanks for the comment and the ideas!
The video for my house rules is up! Check it out and thanks again for the suggestion!
Rich, thank you for honestly great advices! I'm loving your content. My wife suggested to play the very first game with her and our relative, so i'm super pumped and excited and nervous too of how this is going to work out. As a suggestion - can you maybe do a video about how to scale the game down or up depending on the number of players / their classes / their experience ? For instance, i want to start with a premade one-shot with premade characters although im not quite sure which to pick. And probably will have only two players for the very first game. Any advice on how to scale the experience for them? Im talking about how many monsters there should be, what items they should be having, should my npc give them free potions of healing at the start etc Both never played dnd and i'm kinda afraid to tpk the very first game 😂 P.s. I'm the guy who's reading the DM guidebook from the comment under previous video :)
Thanks for the great comment and suggestion about scaling (i will do a video on that in the future). As for your first session and scaling what is key to look at is action economy. If your players can make 3 attacks total the closer to three attacks from the enemies the more balanced it may be (depending on magic items etc). Damage output and hp is also something to look at - too high damage output can end in a tpk quickly and too high Hp can result in the encounter lasting too long. With only two players if one drops to 0 it will be too tough for the other (the death spiral). So for your first one try to balance the action economy and remove any extra enemies that could make it tough. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Also giving them a couple extra healing potions definitely helps!
And i would keep it low level at first. Goblins or kobolds work great for that!
@@RichtheFirst-TimeDM right after i posted this, read in the dm book that they suggest to use monsters xp as a guide on the difficulty. Sound like a good system (on paper). Basically, you need to add total party xp points based on their level and preferred difficulty (threshold), then add total monster xp that party can gain and add multiplier to that. Comparing both numbers will give you an understanding of difficulty of the encounter for members
That is a good place to start however it does not take into account magic items, feats, special abilities of the party (this is why CR - challenge rating - is broken in D&D). So once you do what the book suggests you should still look at action economy/damage output etc to further fine tune the encounter otherwise your party may curbstomp the enemies (which can be fun for the party) or worse the enemies curbstomp the party.
good video. another recommendation if i may: modules for first time dms. i noticed your bookshelf, you could review Lost Mine of Phandelver or Waterdeep Dragon Heist. maybe even some older stuff like Murder in Baldur's Gate, i cant praise that one enough.
Thanks again for another great comment and recommendation! As for the books i have never run a module (only done homebrew) but i have played in a few. But i could read the adventures and review them based on how they are for a first time dm compared to a veteran dm!
👍
Thanks Amy
Keep particing youre speaking. Youre doing great!
Thank you! Always a work in progress!
how about a video essay on player cohesion and group boundaries, those are always good insights to spread
Definitely had that on the list for the future! Thanks for the suggestion!
You're a compelling speaker Rich, and I want to DM myself! You've earned a subscriber and a bell ring my friend. Can't wait to learn more.
Wow, thanks for the great comment! If you want to DM, do it! Start with a one shot to see if its something you want to do more of!
That's actually a great advice, thank you. I'm prepping for the first rime ever DMing and currently reading the official DM guide. And what ive gathered ist that it will take me half a year to prep the game at least 😂 My friend though pointed that i should just run a one shot and see how it goes. Anyway, subbed to your channel
Running a one-shot first is a great way to get your feet wet! And I know you were joking but prep time will be different for everyone. Thanks for the sub and let me know how your first game goes! Good luck!
I don’t play, but it’s good to see you, dude!!
You should play!
I have no idea what you're talking about 😂 but I am here to support you!
Thank you so much!
A solid first effort! Can't wait to see how you improve 😊
Thanks! already. have several things I noticed I need to fix!
I'm here for this! 😁 Can't wait to see more!
Thanks! Stay tuned for more