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What is the program / specific tileset seen at 6:36? I really dig the style and was hoping to use it

Well, I would point a few things out: 1. The original creators of tabletop RPGs were collegiate war game players who used to re-fight historical battles and such, and it derived from them wanting to scale it down. The idea was the challenge of being able to represent what amounted to personal encounters, statistically, and of course as they got into this more and more fantasy was added. Originally things were very bare bones because the thrill was simply in being able to do it. It's so close to history in many cases, because the people doing it were history geeks, not just fantasy geeks, and the idea of sort of blending time periods was because they liked the idea of being able to throw stuff that didn't co-exist at the same time against each other. In drawing from fantasy novels, mythology, and other sources, a lot of what you see in D&D was chosen based on what was gamable, and to really understand a lot of it you have to look at the old war gaming rules which in many cases makes the evolution more obvious. It should also be noted that while the most popular, D&D was not the first game of this time, guys like Professor MAR Barker actually pre-dated them, and I think there were a few others. As copyrights started out being a lot less strict, you can also see some of what was going on with D&D, even as far back as the pamphlets, being a direct response to some of the earlier attempts to do this. Basically it should be no surprise how well it can stand up, given the types of people who made it, and what their parameters were. 2. One thing you need to also understand is that the ideas of modern RPG gamers and the people who created this, were very different. While these things always had a lot of story and world building behind them, I mean Gygax and Barker both put crazy amounts of work into their worlds, the idea was that it was a game and clearly there was winning and losing, and that goes back to wargaming. The idea of characters existing pretty much forever was a foreign idea, as in many respects it was a question of how far you could get, rather than the idea that a character would go on until the player, the group, or the GM got tired of them, and then they would just close it out. This is why there were draconian rolls for attributes, and those would dictate what classes you could even make in many cases, you couldn't just play what you want, and there was no guarantee any party was going to be balanced. Hence why there were comments about say parties made up of all fighters and rogues, as those were two of the easiest classes to roll and do well at from early on. This is also why adventures had level ranges as opposed to a set level, and there were ideas like say giving exps for accumulating gold, as magical items were relatively rare, this was part of the design intent that someone who say got "stuck with the money" would wind up being higher level than those with magical items. Magical items also had exps values, to attempt to keep a certain parity, but basically someone with a lot of magical gear within a given peer group would likely have a lower level character. This is also why the idea of say buying magical items was an anathema for so long, because allowing that would mean a player would get the exps, and then an item on top of it, making always taking the material wealth the far better option if such sales options existed. This is also why there were issues with what some called "Monty Hall" gaming. A foreign concept now, as the idea was that some character who succeeded at an improbable feat and got an incredible reward, could unbalance a peer group where people took turns GMing. See, that disproportionate reward, that someone would get just by being lucky... guessing right, having good die rolls, etc... still represents a level of power everyone else now has to deal with, and also makes that character harder to kill and remove the problem, where other characters will fall. It's a problem that can rapidly compound as improbable power can lead to more incredible feats, and then even more power, leading to a circle jerk that might make for a great story, but can be an utter headache for people playing as intended back then where it was assumed all characters would die, which is why getting stuck with a crappy one didn't mean much... a crappy character would die, and then it would be on to the next one.. and while each one might have some story behind them, the point was that only the exceptional would live on in the legends of D&D as being more than a transient fallen adventurer... you can even see some references to this logic in RPG inspired material with the dead adventurers everywhere. It's all part of a gag, a lot of entirely story based gamers don't even get anymore. I point this out because realize, it wasn't until like probably the mid-1990s that you started hearing arguments like "If I'm playing in character, I shouldn't get killed or have bad things happen to me, as that discourages role-playing" we've all seen that one play out now, but I remember when that was new (I'm 49 by the way, but do know a lot of OG gamers, as I was one of the obnoxious red-box kids that came in with the cartoon-fed 'second wave' of the hobby ). Nowadays GMing has even transformed from a framework where the PCs were expected to likely die somewhere in the mix, to a series of plot points to shuffle people between, with planning for their success happening before things even start. It's kind of funny. I showed some Gen Z gamers stuff like the original "Isle Of Dread", "Tegel Manor", and reprinted Arduin Grimoire stuff. Some of them assumed that had to be fake because the attitude was so anti-thetical to everything they believe about how this was supposed to be. I had someone lecture me about how Gygax believed someone should GM, going off about modern principles, and then showed them some of the adventures he actually wrote like "Isle Of The Ape". The dude could be a flat out sadist, even before looking at "Tomb Of Horrors"... I suspect that beyond the politics enough of us middle aged folks making this point might have something to do with why a lot of younger gamers hate the guy. They miss the point that while gaming has changed, and many things are better, other things, like challenge and the same kind of exploration and experimentation are missing. They can't for example understand why someone might actually want a 10' pole or 5' steel rod nowadays.

You make some great points.

Me watching the opening bit: "oh no, this is going to be about how DnD is about colonialism, isn't it?"

D&D 5e Persuasion blows chunks because players treat it as a mind-control check. D&D 3e, however, had the Diplomacy skill, not the Persuasion skill. Diplomacy was used to improve an NPC's disposition, not to get them to do stuff for you. An NPC's disposition is what determines what is possible within the scope of transaction that didn't rely on deception or intimidation. Unless that NPC's disposition was considered Helpful or Fanatical (from the Epic Level Handbook), you'd most likely need to offer something in exchange, which would only require a die roll if the GM was on the fence. As for social skill checks in general, this is definitely one area where degrees of success/failure would make much more sense than a binary pass/fail response if you wanted to represent a PC's social proficiency to take the player's intention and filter it accordngly. What the player says as their PC absolutely still matters, as that lets the GM know which social skill check to call for. If they build their PC with high persuasion, it'd behoove them to speak persuasively (as opposed to threateningly) in order to employ their Persuasion skill. What the PC does in the game world is what determines which game mechanics get used in the session.

I delve into the Salvation Army when I want a +2 wool sweater, furniture of sturdiness, or Vinyl's Discs...artifacts that the modern world has forgotten how to produce.

setting up a decent hexmap really feels like the first step to running exciting roguelike solo campaigns.

I love having old empires inspire different ruins - for example, inspired by Rome, Egypt, the Aztec/Mayan/Incan Empires. You can imagine a Roman Empire style empire collapsing due to internal strife, a plague, and barbarian plundering. The sudden vanishing of the Eternal Court, the Egypt inspired-empire's ruling gods and demi-gods, led to chaos, rebellion, and fragmentation. While the Mesoamerican Empire fragments after a celestial event caused by a miscalculation of their famed star-charts shattered their magical stability, leading to apocalyptic event such as volcanic eruptions and a civil war and the populace abandoning their cursed cities for the wilds.

You seem like a cool guy and your content is some of my favorite. Keep it up.

Can I ask where you got the Dolmenwood campaign book from? I thought it had not yet been released....

Awesome walkthru of a helpful mechanic not often detailed!!! Thanks a lot!

The 3 Alignment System, which I started with, is infinitely more elegant than what followed.

Are there rules in Dolmenwood covering how the size of the party influences random encounters? Larger parties will attract more attention, which can be bad. At the same time, having more PCs in battle is good - is there an "optimal" party size? If the players have hired a bunch of NPCs, random monsters will likely clear out of the way. Unless we're talking Orc hordes or large creatures like dragons!

I can imagine the conversation between the ghouls and the magician. "We retrieved the item for you. Where is the warm meat you promised us? Deliver now or we feast on your flesh." Magician (very nervous): "Uhh, yes I did make that promise.... and... here comes your reward right now!" points to the party walking down the road & then runs the other way.

Yes, it is the influence of Jack Vance and the Dying Earth books.

You simply just need to use the random tables in the back of the AD&D dmg and it will naturally create a mysterious, post-post apocalypse world

i always felt that the term dungeon, outside of the clear marketing benefits of an alliterative title, is a bit of a misnomer, and ruins is what you mostly explore.

One of my favorite things to do in world building for DND is to make a world, a fully fleshed out one with countries and governments, then hit it with magic nukes, apocalypse, wipe it off the map and raise a new world in its place out of the ashes. That’s how the elden ring world was made, George RR build an entire world then the Japanese writers destroyed it and made a new one, hinting at what used to be there

Why are the treasures just lying there in a ruin for anyone to pick them up at anytime?

this was actually one of the best rpg videos ive ever seen

Hex Crawl campaigns need to include a calendar, either real or fantasy, to mark the passage of time, as they travel around exploring. Great video!

Well done dude! This is a very well presented and explained methodology behind hex crawls. Hexcrawling and overland travels in general have been sadly sidelined as the editions have gone on in my opinion. Reflecting on real world history and myths the journey is usually a harrowing experience. Using hex crawl methods to let the dice guide how events unfold in a less scripted way is a fun experience for all and can take some of the brain drain off dungeon mastering.

I use d4+d6+d8, because a standard dice set now has 7 dice, only one of which is a d6. This also is very similar to 3d6.

Thanks for the video- great information! Keep up the awesome work! Love from TEXAS!!!

I think the "why" is critical in hex crawling. Is this just in-between time. Or like in forbidden lands are you exploring a new region and discovering new towns and dungeons

I think the most fun about these sorts of things is the juxtaposition of elements... it makes improvisation easier. Like when you talked about a wizard negotiating with ghouls, I thought of it more of a parley after a battle, with the wizard trying to make peace with them as long as they get to keep control of an abandoned graveyard, and the ghouls are hostile when they see the party thinking the wizard has betrayed them, while the wizard might want to de-escalate somehow. Lot more interpretations I'm sure, before it was a wizard I thought it might be a gravekeeper trying to get the ghouls agree to only robbing certain graves for food or something :)

Dude, Dolmenwood is the best. I've been playing it for a while, had a blast yesterday running it to my players, so many unpredicted things happend because of the exploration aspect, nerd chiils here.

4e had Points of Light, and had mutluple dead empires.

You speak of some sort of... Forgotten Realms

I sort of ended up doing the opposite of this, the players kept complaining so the best magic items were in exorbitantly expensive shops while ruins had ones they’d collect to sell to afford the better ones. They basically just wanted to be able to customize the enchantments and there wasn’t really an argument for why they couldn’t based on the reputation we’d established for the capital city by that point.

I dunno. I think a lot of this more comes down to practicality. Magic Item Shops are rare because the amount of practice and training and learning a magic user needs to be capable of even basic enchantments is immense. Thus, a simple +1 Longsword is, monetarily, worth an incredible amount more than a plain old Master work Longsword. And there may well be a good few folks capable of creating new Legendady items. The Gods of any given DnD setting are also prone to creating new artifacts if the needs arise. But where are you, humble adventurer, more likely to be able to get your hands on one of these? With your poultry sum of 20 gold, can you buy a magic sword from the shop? Or is it easier, cheaper, less morally grey, and unlikely to attract the ire of the entire City Guard if you just wander into an abandoned temple and kill the Ogre guarding his little hoard of weapons? I mean, if the hoard doesn't contain that +1 sword you wanted, at least you might get paid for killing the ogre and his hoard should at least contain enough loot to fund your delve into the next dungeon. Spin the wheel and hope maybe the nest of Ankhegs you're here to clear out maybe contains the bodies of better equipped and less fortunate adventurers.

I'm not a fan of hex crawls. It takes too long for a group that only meets once every other week, and it's a nightmare to prep for.

Whenever i built a world there has to be a reason WHY there are ruins as a key at the base of it.

This video is great

Yes! You can look at implied worlds with Appendix D. The original games were inspired by sword and sorcery + Dying Earth. It changed over time.

10:01 i mention this in my other commenr, but first players should never ask for checks. Theh paint a picture and the DM calls for a roll. If you don't want to do first person dialogue, then tell me the approach of the argument. "Well he seems really well dressed. I'll flatter him and appeal to his sense of style before i try to ask him for [insert pc goal]". You can still call for a Persuasion roll there. The DC is based on the case they make and the NPC's personality matrix

7:02 Well, you can still achieve this with skill rolls. You just need to approach what they're for correctly. If my players don't make a good case at all, they may not even get a chance to roll and it will just be a no. If they correctly play to the bonds, ideals, and/or flaws, of the NPC, make a good case, and think about what they are saying, they may just auto-succeed or get advantage and a much lower dc. They definitely know not to be flippant 😁

it would be nice if the dilapidated state of the world was in a larger part of the gameplay and the story that is told at the same time. why is the world so full of abandoned structures and buildings? etc. Great Video !

That's the premise of Pathfinder's setting. There are thousands of ruins everywhere, many disasters destroyed past civilizations and the world is basically a graveyard full of ancient wonders and super advanced space tech.

My world’s sort of like this, except in reverse. In ages past, the world was ruled by the balance of good and evil, and was much like the typical DnD setting. However, over the course of millennia and a series of divine shenanigans, all of the old gods are either dead or cyborgs, and the forces of light and darkness fight in an eternal war that burns on for its own sake. Consequently, some of the strongest artifacts, and some of the thickest-blooded celestial- or infernal-born warriors are running around doing their high-fantasy thing. But all of that is because of the war. The country of Evyscara isn’t in power because it’s a source of radiance and virtue (the last quality being dubious in its veracity), it’s in power because they and their Lawful ‘Neutral’ war god are the only things stopping the Condassans from taking everything and burning it in the fires of glory, rape and literal nuclear fallout. This is an age of great power, of gods directly empowering men and grand mages penning new spellbooks and forging legendary, enchanted blades. It is also the most dismal and terrifying age in recorded history.

For the Q&A If you could get a official rpg for anything (show, movie, video game, etc)what would it be?

My worlds have few ruins as donguons only 2 dungeons I can think of were ruined buildings and one they walked threw a portal to another plane to get to the castle and the other was because a recent devastating was left a keep abandoned to be taken over by the bandit and his mage wife

I think a nice balance does the trick. The DM can ask for social checks to keep themselves unbiased, but it should not be overused, and the DM can give advantage or disadvantage depending on how good the argument was presented. Additionally, this is yet another reason why I like the new DC20 system by The Dungeon Coach. The Influence and Intimidation skills are directly used for combat purposes such as taunting and inflicting the intimidated condition, so players can still fill rewarded for buffing those skills even if the DM doesn't use so much in actual social encounters. To summarize, I don't mind social skills, but I don't necessarily like the way modern DnD editions uses them. But I think there's an underlying problem of newer DMs just not understanding how to use the skill system correctly. I certainly didn't when I first started DMing.

For the Q&A: Have your sandbox campaigns included traveling to other planes of existence? Would you have any tips for running planar travel & letting your players loose on a reality independent of their own? Love the channel!