I play DND with children in grade school. And their characters have died. The first time it happened the girl cried. But after some explanation of the way the game works she created a second character who was the sister of her fallen character. She joined the group and ensured her character got resurrected.
One of my first sessions with my group actually involved me having them go through a dungeon to find a large diamond, worth 500 gp, and after a successful religion check, I gave a note to one of the characters, "As an acolyte, you have seen the clerics perform Raise Dead, and know that it requires a single diamond, worth at least 500 gp," so that they know 1) raising dead is quite do-able, and 2) how to go about it, and 3) save all the diamonds they find. Basically, I am setting them up to be able to Raise Dead, so that they can plan for it, and then if/when one of them dies, they won't freak out about it. Since we recently dealt with a real life death, I thought that in-game deaths would not be very good for us, especially my mother, right now. Also, I am planning on taking these characters into a secondary campaign where death is... different. So, I am planning in advance to groom them to have the response I want. Hehehe. Don't tell them (they don't read these), but I am also going to spring a situation on them where they will likely wind up using their resources to Raise Dead on some innocent bystanders. Hehehe. Sure, they're prepared for themselves, now, but if they spend that on civilians, they'll still feel the need to continue adventuring, with a specific goal of getting the supplies to raise themselves, if necessary, because I don't really pull punches, and have been known to add extra monsters during a fight, if they are crushing it too easily. I really like how you handled this, with the child. Not only could she create a new character, and try something new, but she had a built-in backstory, with real meaning in-game, and a real goal, and then she could choose which character to play as the game continued. Excellent for role-playing, and a great way to soothe a rattled player.
As a mid-twenties man, I cried when one of my characters died too...it was an emotionally intense campaign, though, and a character I had played for a few years. No shame in tears!
Hey Luke, great video. I've DM'd for 44 years, since I was 10, through all editions and run game companies that published D&D content. I've run home games, con games at GenCon, I've played in games with high profile players, and I can tell you this: the best DMs prep. Period. One of the confusions, though, is creation versus prep. Some "no prep" types are not counting creation time in prep time. For instance, if I spend four hours on an evening creating a town but not really prepping for a session, then the PCs go to that town, I can say "I didn't prep" but really I did through the process of creation. I no prep sometimes but only on low-level content in my lifelong home campaign world I created that I know inside and out or if I run my own published adventures since I wrote them. But even then, I prep. I'm running two online campaigns right now. Even with 44 years DM experience, I still prep AT LEAST hour for hour (4 hours of prep for a 4 hour game session), often more if I'm creating the adventure too. Why? Because like anything else in life the more you prepare the better it is. I write out session notes. Like you guys discussed, I plan scenes and beats and NPC interactions and things my antagonists are doing. I don't necessarily script their order, I let that happen naturally, but I have the beats/scenes planned so when they happen I'm ready for it. I also like set-piece situations and I like to think through and write great dialogue options. The no-prep posers on reddit who act like they are better because they don't prep are just the DM version of the people who pretend that intentionally playing unoptimized PCs makes them better roleplayers. Nonsense. If something is important, you take it seriously and put work into it. Matt Mercer preps. I prep. Monte Cook preps. Steve Wieck preps. Matt Colville preps. Gary Gygax prepped. You prep. Cheers and keep up the good work for our new DMs!
The over-prepared thing was my big issue when I started. I was so worried about being unprepared that I'd spend days on end prepping things that never came up... I remember for one session I prepared 5 different dungeons, and the group didn't go in any of them. Took me some time to learn WHAT to prep.
In addition to experience, "less prep" is doable only with vast culture. With knowing a thousands of movies and books and ... Also "prep" is not always drawing maps or writing but also a lot of time thinking about options and stuff.
Yeah, a lot of the "no prep" DMs don't write anything down, but do spend a great deal of time thinking about their game and how the session might go. They just don't think of that as being prep.
hope it went well man! I'm also the DM for my friend group - And I've never really even played, just watched a ton. We have had small sessions that really never counted, but we just had our first real one and it went extremely well!
This is exactly my situation! I'm an author and take very intricate notes so I wasn't the worst choice, but I've hardly played DND before! Sources like these are so helpful
That reminds me of trying to get a job or actual "useful" advice in Linux 😂 "You should know all the commands and what they do." The help command doesnt exist abd you got to word it a weird way. 😂
"No one cares about your game world." Hard pill to swallow but very true. I'm dispensing with that in the games I make, it has actually been holding me back in the past.
My brother and I alternate DMing. He's doing Starter Set and I'm doing Essentials Kit, so we are both running modules set in Phandalin. I told the group, "Technically, my game is set in Phandalin before my brother's game, but it's a completely different Phandalin, because I am making some serious changes, because I AM GOD, and I can." They just shrug, and accept it, because "Hey! We're playing D&D!" Really, they don't care about the world. They just care about the game. Someday, five or six years from now, when we finally get through the printed modules, I MIGHT home-brew a campaign, but frankly, as much as I like adding my own stuff to printed modules, the idea of creating a whole world is overwhelming. I much prefer to take what's written and add my own twist to it, to "make it my own," and just tell my players "This is the module. Please don't read it." And I take my own advice. I bought my brother two books for him to run, after Starter Set, and I said, "OK, I looked up exactly ONE paragraph, and ONE picture, because I heard about them online, and then I put it down. Please take these books away now, so I won't be tempted to read more." If you're interested, the one paragraph I read was confirmation of what I had heard, that the module is designed to be played several different ways, so that you choose the BBEG from amongst a handful of NPCs, and the others can be allies or competitors. SO COOL! I rather like that even if I goof up and see a spoiler about it, I have no guarantee that the spoiler will be remotely accurate. Also, the picture I looked up was a sort of "Where's Waldo" style "cast of characters" that actually involved all the people who were part of the creation, including Matt Mercer (which is where I heard about it). I didn't tell my brother, but he told me later, "Hey! You should see this picture! It has Matt Mercer in it!" Hahaha. Great minds think alike.
Yeah it's hard to accept because dungeon Master's care so much about the worlds they create. And they feel that since they care about them so much their players should too. But it's just usually not the case.
I'm with the Dungeon Coach on this one, involve your players backstories into your world building they will care. I guess build your world around your players.
@@StormyQ I am still thinking up ways to get some stuff from the backstories into my game. With one player, I got it right in the beginning: "The white dragon ate your husband." Within two sessions, she had heard that the dragon was hungry, and was hunting to survive, and she just... forgave him. Just like that. Wow. She also suggested talking to the manticore in the first encounter, rather than going for combat. I love her. With all of them, I said, "Tell me your alignments, and which god would claim you, if you were to die right now. If your actions change from that alignment, or that ethos, you might wind up with a different god claiming you, but let's go with what you have right now." Why? Because whenever one of them dies, I mean to have them encounter their god, either in a "Welcome! You can stay in my version of paradise forever, or... Yep. Your friends are raising you. Tata!" or, if they've been naughty, "Who are you? I don't recognize you as one of my followers. Oh, I get it. You followed someone else, but didn't follow their ethos, and now I'm stuck with you?" I want them to understand that actions have consequences, but I also want them to understand that the gods welcome their followers to a good afterlife. Then, CURSE OF STRAHD. Spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler Ready? OK. In Curse of Strahd, when the PCs die, their souls are stuck on that Demi-plane, and their gods CANNOT claim them. So, they get to have their souls fly toward their welcoming god, and then hit an invisible barrier, see their god try to break it, and get all frustrated, and then have the being who created the Demi-plane of dread explain that NO souls leave Barovia, and the PC has a choice: Be reincarnated into a newborn Barovian, like all the other souls, or go back into their own body, but with... consequences. Heeheeeheeeeee! Curse of Strahd will take them to mid-level. I plan to home-brew a continuing adventure after that, for them to strive to finally get OUT of Barovia and back to a plane, any plane, where they can go to their proper heaven, when they do pass on (and stay dead). My players don't know any of that. All they know is that I am trying very hard to work their backstories, or at least their faith, into the game. I have had one PC be greeted by a mysterious lady, who welcomed the party into a mysterious door, where they had to fight some skeletons, solve a puzzle, pass through a trapped hallway (which was HILARIOUS!!! Instead of having the person with the highest perception check for traps, the dwarf checked the first trap, noticed it was at about his head-level, so he just held his shield in front of him and duck-walked through the hallway, letting the traps go right over his head. I laughed so hard!), then another puzzle, and another one, and then, they were welcomed into Tymora's Sanctuary, where they could gamble hit points to win cool prizes. Yes, I enjoyed playing Monty Hall, and it will never happen again, or they'll be too over powered, but it was fun, and they KNOW I will do cool stuff with their backstories, so it adds to the anticipation of "What will our DM do next?" They actually rolled on the magic item tables, so got random stuff, plenty of which won't actually be useful for them, and they won't be able to sell it. But one of them won a portable hole, so they can store anything they won't use, and have trade goods for later. I actually am planning on getting them an ally in the big fight coming up, if they give the right trade good to the right person.
Have you seen Dungeons of Drakkenheim? The world the game takes place in is EVERYTHING. A city struck by an Eldritch meteor, mutating everything within its field of foul Haze. A civil war. A kingdom shattered. Fifteen years later, rivaling factions fighting to take control of the lost city, sweeping the players up in shenanigans. Rather, it should be said, your players won't care about your game world *if you don't make them a significant part of it and give them the power to heavily and readily influence its fate*. Don't bring your players along for the ride, *they are the ride*.
One of my pet peeves with DMs is (and I’ve found this happens with a lot of DMs) when they consistently/always punish a nat 1 roll but don’t always look for ways to reward the rare nat 20s that aren’t in combat. For example if you roll a nat one on a perception check for standing watch at night, the DM will say you fell asleep and a raccoon comes into camp and steals some of your party’s stuff, but if you nat 20 on a perception check for standing watch, they say you go through the night and nothing happens but you can really hear the individual crickets chirping well…that’s nonsense and you will lose players trust when you do that. Even if you didn’t have anything planned, maybe make something up like throw in an unplanned small encounter that the nat 20 just saved the party from a surprise attack or even that you saw it coming early enough that your party now has an opportunity for a surprise round on the bandits, or maybe say that the player notices a little bit of glittering in the nearby stream and find a little bit of gold or even that a player notices that a deer has unwittingly bedded down right next to the party and they can shoot it with their bow so the party has some fresh meat and a hide to sell in the next town….something…anything…the player feels like they got a win and you get a win by looking like you had something prepared and it encourages your players to be more engaged even in the mundane stuff
Maybe the nat20 saved you from a fight after all? There would have been a fight when yoj fall asleepnor render uncaucious but the threat decided not to attack due to your rigorous rounds around the camp.
To all newer DMs.. I've started DMing exactly a year ago this month, been running with the same group since. I have learned a lot about DMing.. specifically prep. You will never... I repeat... NEVER be fully prepared as a DM. Your job isn't to know every single piece of outcome, because it is impossible to know what ur players will truly do, trust me. What u CAN do however, is thinking about what COULD go down. For example... I had a boss, a druid elf doing some fucked up things. Long story short, she was going against druidism and breaking the natural laws of life. My players however didnt have all the knowledge of what she was doing since they didnt know truly when they found her and never managed to get it out of her after neutralizing her. And to my biggest surprise.. they let her go. This would've baffled me if I had only prepped for them killing her, however my prep for this session was following: First, figure out what would happen should they kill her. How will the world react and how will her associates react to her death. Then you at least have something to build off there. Second, what if she gets away, what will THEN happen. This meant that I didn't have a prep for them letting her go, HOWEVER I did know what would happen if she got AWAY. So basically, I just had to take a bit from both scenarios and tweak it a little big and I already had the cause and reaction. Might've explained it horribly but basically fleshing out options and reactions rather than the exact scenario down to the tee is a FAR better way of saving ur sanity
Being a new dungeon master, (started on saturday) I can completely vouch for the first tip. The prep I actually remembered to do saved me a massive amount of hassle. The stuff I forgot, while I was still able to do it, was a headache to deal with.
As a new DM it really hit home when you said world building is not game prep. And I realize my games might be slow because I'm not prepping properly. Have you ever considered doing a live stream of you actually prepping a game? Just you spending 2 hours prepping a game in real time? I'm sure I would not be the only DM glued to the screen
Totally agree with the prep point. today's unused table is next week's improv moment. Last Sunday the party decided to skydive to the bottom of the mountain instead of going over the mountain. Fortunately i had a deadly pack of wendigo with banjos i didn't get to use.
On the first note about prep, I do believe experience is key here...I do a lazy man's prep for my game, but also have been a DM for around 19 years...so it's a little more fluid. Most of my prep is in NPC names, or locals that were unexpectedly asked of. But for new DM's, like this video is aimed towards...PREP, PREP, PREP!
Hey, no reason you can't watch the pretty kitties while still gaining some useful information! If anything, I'd say that the feline presence makes it all the better!
Honestly on roll20 I prep maps the other way around. I first look for a map that very roughly resembles what I have in mind then describe the world details based on this... made prepping a lot easier...
I gotta admit, I love prepping, that is as much a hobby as actual gaming. My players are working through a dungeon and I haven't finished building it yet but I know the pace of my games and I don't rush my players. I've got at least a week to finish the dungeon.
I completely agree on the whole "try to say yes" and your regret on just saying "no" and moving soon. I killed of an NPC for story reasons, despite my players' efforts and I just felt bad about it afterward
I’ve been running my first campaign for the past few months. I’m confident with my improv skills so my game prep includes, outlining the beginning of the session, writing out some descriptions for places the party can go, and if there’s combat find the stat block and write out how the party will encounter the enemy. My game is a fairly sandbox style game although there is still a loose narrative that the party is slowly working towards. My players have been having lots of fun so I’m happy that I’ve been doing well with my first time dming
I'm a new DM setting up an adventure, and I feel a good tip is to do some mock battles. Get or make some characters at the same level as your players, and run the battle with the monsters before you make your players fight these monsters, it helps you understand how to run your monsters, speeds up combat on the Dm's part, and gives the DM better control on how the combat goes to keep from targeting or not targeting a player while still making it make sense with how the monsters react. Like, you could flood the paladin with zombies because the paladin is the closest, but maybe some zombies go around the paladin because the paladin is already swarmed and they are looking for new brains, not just scraps, in case the paladin is having a hard time and you don't wanna overwhelm them and instead let other characters have some level of threat, add tension, and give others a chance to shine in the shared danger.
Part of my prep right now is writing down what’s happening in the background in my session notes. I also started writing notes for each session finally. Partially as a way to remember fun moments and partially as a way to keep track of how many sessions we’ve had and also to keep up with what’s going on.
I know this is an "older" video, but having just recently discovered your content I wanted to share a little story. I've been and D&D player and DM for almost 40 years now. Quite some time back, I had joined a game that a friend of mine was part of, ran by a guy he went to college with. The DM was going to bring me in at some point during their adventure, since it was already in progress. So, after creating my character I realized that I would be alone in the world until I was connected with the others. I asked the DM if I could have a dog, just a regular dog to have been traveling with me. I had some funds left over from the starting money he allocated me and a regular dog was pretty cheap right out of the handbook. He said yes and then made me fully stat out the dog, which took another hour of time. When he decided to get the party caught up to me, he had me and my dog chained to a pole, next to a large black pool. He then had a black dragon raise from the pool and immediately spit acid on my dog, melting it away. I've no idea why he made me waste all that time on the dog, just to do that. Unfortunately for him, I spent the remainder of my time gaming with them, doing all I could to derail his champaign (I was young and angry). I had much more experience than he had in playing and DM'ing and the other players were on my side for all that work he had me do, just to invalidate it after I sat there waiting, almost an hour, before being introduced to the party. That specific game didn't last long. The very end of this video, when you guys were talking about when to say "no", made me think of this. 😋
As a newer DM, I find that having a medium group helps a lot. 3-4 people can keep each other entertained while I prep a fight. Otherwise I also love making flowchart notes; it keeps me organized on task, while not expecting to have every dialogue written out.
One thing that I always try to keep in mind, that sort of ties into "try to say yes" is "try to make failure fun" its often not easy, but I find it better to try to explore a little bit of what happens when they roll badly. Its easy to say "you didn't do the thing" much harder to describe the consequences of not doing the thing.
Omg, Number 3 reminds me so hard of my own beginnings. Created a world way too big to fill and handle for my own good and, noticing that mistake later, struggled hard to reel back from it. >< Eventually, I sat down with my players and explained to them that I bit off more than I can chew and found a solution. From then on, I created the world as I go with only vague plans in the back of my head. I noticed, that if I only revealed to them, what was of importance for the situations and adventures at hand, I was more flexible and could adjust places/lore/whatever as needed. And I learned, that the exact opposite of the player, who doesn't care for your world, can be even worse. Had a guy who was an enthusiastic world builder down to the littlest detail and he always wanted to know everything! And I mean everything! Exact politics, living standards of the people, ecology of the cities, where they got their food from and what, exact system how the military of the different countries worked... It was exhausting, but made me realize my mistake faster, I guess. ^^'
I haven't played AD&D in nearly 30 years. I got my first D&D boxset for Christmas of 1976. Christmas of 1980 I got 4 AD&D hardcovers books, one of which was a very rear 1980 print of the Fiend Folio, not the 1981 print. I also played Boot Hill and Gamma World, getting both boxsets all because the AD&D's DM's guide had the conversion guide, I think on pages 112 to 114/115. Wow, It's been so long since I have played AD&D that It would be like learning it all over again. I'm just amazed that I remembered those pages.
probably the best advice i can give: Sometimes, you know where your Players will go to next session. Sometimes you don't. And when you don't know: ask them then and there, where they want to go next. and after that end the session... Otherwise you spend 50-75% preparing stuff you will not need at all.
Hey, I prep in bursts all week! Luckily, my players use 80% of it. I give them branched paths (usually 2-3), and let them go where it seems most interesting to them. And the stuff they don't use immediately gets dressed up to fit the direction they chose, so they get ALL the adventure!
For digital maps, I don't do anything fancy. I just use Roll20's basic drawing feature to make some squares. If there's more prep time, I'll color the floors to be grey or green or whatever, but that's about it. It's exactly the same experience as if I was drawing something with a marker, and it means I can create stuff really fast if need be. (Or recycle things - there's one apartment that I reused as two other apartments and a police station because it was just two rooms and a hallway.)
I'm only at the first point in the video, but I feel like I should call you out... The difference with prep v. no prep, it's all about improv ability. It's not necessarily experience, or anything like that. Some people are just naturally good at improv. Those people can follow stories without prep, even if they've never done it before
I think prepping can look very different for different people. Some people spend extensive time building a world and delving into lore about the setting, then they let the players loose one a journey of discovery. Others prep sessions meticulously and read up on entire settings very little. I view these two as extremes on a spectrum of preparation, and I do actually view worldbuiling as a form of prep. I tend toward the former, personally, though I'm not on the full extreme. Total lack of prep feels best for groups of close friends, experienced players, one shots, or some combination of those. Also, I feel the frustration about lack of maps, though moreso when I am a player. I love easy map makers like Inkarnate for that. Great video! Love watching collabs!
Fantastic advice, guys. My son is just getting into gaming, and he has expressed some interest in running his own adventure. We watched this together and he loved it.
Seeing a lot of comments mentioning a lot of prep and players went other places. Would recommend prepping scenarios, events, or instances and on the motivations of actors in your world (NPC's, factions, etc) Then when the players react to a scenario in an unexpected way you know how the actors in the world would react and are ready to continue the game.
*I'm loving the party beating on the Dungeon coach & calling him a newbie .* *Homebrew when done well is nice when things get stale .* *But learning new system is way better .*
28:36 - I'd suggest a psuedodragon familiar to the player wanting a dragon, which would require that they get Find Familiar or a similar spell/ability to it, but if they're really motivated from a roleplay perspective, they'll figure that out.
I tend to prepare 25-35 minutes for each hour of play, this system has worked really well for me and I rarely find myself in a pinch where I have to improvise something big. Of course, up to 50% of my games are usually improvised.
My brother Brad had so much of his world's prepped with history for the races all writing out, its crazy! The world's drawn out and most area's blown up! everything hand drawn! My point! That allowed him to let you do whatever whenever and not miss a beat! I was a lucky player growing up. I love this channel great work.
I recommend your channel to my DM. He’s new to all this and it seems he hasn’t really watched anything like your videos. I’m gonna start running one shots my self and your videos are awesome! Thank you sooo much!
I love playing in homebrew worlds. Me, being the creative type, really enjoys learning about the lore. Info dumps are tough to deal with, but when it's done right, it's so satisfying.
As a new dm about to run my second game/one shot. I really appreciate this. I can't grow a beard, though, gonna have to get a fake one 😝 Also yay! Dungeon Coach is here too! You both are awesome! Have helped me feel more confident in being a dm. Keep up the great work.
@@davidguthrie3895 Really well! Thank you! I was a bit worried about certain things in the module I was using and things I changed. But the player and I both had fun! And he's excited to use that pc again in the future or something else I may run.
Learning to be efficient with your prep is probably the most important DM skill in my book, too many people say that improve is the most important skill but if you know what to prep then it makes DMing alot less stressful
My friends decided to randomly start a D&D group, so I joined in. Some of them have experience with the game. We all agreed we would share dungeon master responsibilities and swap between different campaigns so each DM gets a break. I was preparing my own plot when I got really excited and created about seven pages of notes. Bad idea as I was elected to be the first dungeon master even though I've never been a PC...
Hi guys, I've been playing and DM D&D and other various RPGs since 1978. I have recently joined a gaming group where everyone other than I have not played before. This is also the first time the DM has run a game. I have been coaching a bit, but am attempting to keep my hands off and let him develop his own style. That being said, I done some Google foo to try and find some other advice for him. I had only gotten 3 minutes into the stream, and I had already sent him the link fo this stream. I must say gentlemen, that this is one of the best DM advise videos for a newby I have seen. It was thoughtful for both Dm and player viewpoints, logical with a bit of humor. I appreciate what you do. Please contunue the excellent work
I haven't DMed yet but I plan on it at some point but I had a new dm running a session today and they clearly hadn't prepared as the entire session ended up being us fighting a bunch of humanoids to the point where even the fighter was sick of fighting things
The most undervalued point in this incredibly good video is using premade worlds/settings. Even if you do homebrew there is rarely value in making things like pantheons (unless you the DM enjoy this). The reason is that most players do not interact with the gods in any meaningful way and players are even less likely to do so if the gods are completely new and require lore dumps to understand. Whenever you can use established content, it will increase the chances of the players engaging with that thing, and then you can put your own spin on it. Use the Roman, Greek, Egyptian, or Norse pantheons, as most players will have some basis for understanding these. This applies to worlds like Forgotten Realms as well. The fact that the players have meta knowledge can and should be used to your favor. Its great when the players get excited about visiting Icewind Dale because of the videogames or Drizzt novels, that meta knowledge is getting the players invested and letting the DM focus on the session instead of the setting.
Beards rule. While I consider myself a pretty good on-the-fly DM, even after 40 years playing with players I've DMed for over 20 years, I still prep. It's usually not nitty gritty, as players can be like cats, but I prep the basics and wing it if they go somewhere unexpected. As an author - a skill I feel is closely related to DMing - I'm more of a pantser than an outliner, but I learned to use a basic outline. Pantsing my first book is how it turned into a trilogy.
My prep checklist: 3 encounters (recycle things unused later) List of names for NPCs Map of the area and surrounding areas within one day of travel List of monsters that believably exist in the biome Notes of important things my players have done that affect the world (including ignored hooks) BBEG’s own progress (if there is one) List of names for towns/outposts/villages I do very limited world building; I’ll build on whatever my players ask about though. All the lore and fluff I do on the side is mainly for myself and I do it for fun. I have so many notes about hooks, side quests, big campaign ideas on my phone, notebook, and computer that I can bring in when they ask. Almost none of it get’s used. Prep is fun when it isn't a chore.
Same, they befriended one, released the others :-) He died literaly in the next room but it gave them a good reason to ragekill the rest of the cave. Good RP there xD
I'm a new DM and I'm going into my first session with a group of new players here in a few weeks (the starter set: lost mines of Phandelver). I have 1 player who has some experience (but not much), and the rest have zero. While we're still getting our stuff together, I'm prepping like hell to get everything together they may want or need. Theater of the mind? cool, don't need this. more visual? I've got that ready. Our expectations are low, since we're all brand new to this, but I fully expect everyone will enjoy the game i've prepped for them. Thank you for these videos, as they have been immensely helpful.
I appreciate this! Running CoS in a month or two for my current party, after we finish our fight with the BBEG in my buddies campaign. Also, Dungeon Coach just got a new subscriber.
Excellent advice here and a big fan of both channels, so that was a nice bonus! One thing to remember too is that even though this was titled for "New DMs", the advice is still a good refresher for experienced DMs. The "Nobody cares about your world" part is especially good advice. Not to say "don't make your own" but rather, just keep that in mind when you do. You might have a beautiful pantheon origin story for your world, but your players probably won't read that 26 page handout that recounts the story.
Re-watching this and the bit about digital maps making it more difficult to make a map on the fly reminded me: if you've not already, give Shmeppy a go. It's specifically designed to be fast and flexible, especially for when you need to do things on the fly.
Established settings are a great resource and theres tones to pick from especially if you are willing to look at stuff from past editions or from 3rd party sources
With the game I've started as a first time DM, I have actually found doing some world building super useful for the role play. Specifically, figuring out a bit more about NPCs and at a high level who they are means it's much easier to then play those NPCs off my PCs and make those interactions more interesting. And not just from a set dressing perspective, but also by giving role play decisions to the PCs as they try to make friends and influence people! It also can lead to figuring out plot hooks to get characters to engage with certain plot threads. For example, I spent _waaaaaay_ too long yesterday trying to figure out what monster could have destroyed the nearby town that would give the tragic backstory to certain NPCs, a backstory which explains why they're motivated to join the adventurers as part of a rescue party in a few sessions time, and which had to still be able to work in with the later chapters of this module. If the PCs follow the plot threads to hear about that city, now a new part of the map has been unlocked if they want to go explore it! I'd also been struggling to think of how exactly certain elements of my PCs' backstories would integrate with the main plot (which I intend to stray from the module on when I get more comfortable DMing) and I think this tragedy in the town is going to be linked in some way. And being able to seed that event early will give the players even more drive when they find out how it all links together! But yes, all in moderation! And world building on a small scale is significantly more useful in the short term than world building on the large scale!
Watching this video, I agree with number #1... after long break, went to reddit to seek advice - and of course of those was "dude, don't prep too much". Im my mind I was 'wat'? Luckily for me, I know better now. The more stuff I invest in (can use it for this session or some other occasion) I'm giving my players a better experience and less time wasted. Lots of good tips in this video, good job!
I was running a game in Forgotten Realms. There are a lot of pre-written adventures. I had some players that didn't like how I ran the pre-written adventures. They felt like it was more of a railroad than player choice. I stopped running the Forgotten Realms campaign and started running a campaign in Eberron. I'm loving the how it's all coming together.
This was such an interesting and helpful conversation to listen to. I've wanted to get into D&D for years now but since I'm such a perfectionist and wanted to do ALL the perfect prepping before really starting, I got scarred off multiple times. Now that I really want to learn it and have the time and motivation to do so, this was a very helpful video. Learn with the group, feel the vibe, take feedback, learn from stressful situations, see how much you individually need to prep and don't shame yourself for taking inspiration from different things. I'm a huge LOTR fan and I have friends who love it too, so why not start there? No one can do it perfectly from the beginning so prepping it the right way and learning and adapting as you go is the key here, I guess. So thank you! Great video!
Small criticism. It's not a bad video, but this isn't a "Tip" video. This is a discussion about new DM by Experienced DMs. There's too much opinion surrounding/burying any helpful suggestions for your intended audience, New DMs. It would be cool have the discussion and present the tips separately. I do like this channel which is why I'm leaving an honest comment.
16:17 I’m going to be a first time DM soon. My idea for the “no one cares about your world” dilemma is to have it be extremely simple, good guy king, bad guy wizards, but pepper in a lot of local color and flavor. Hobbits singing about the old wars. Characters they meet who have memories of the bad old days. Im trying to create a feeling of depth without having to write a history book. Hope it works.
I prep and set up adventure in Owlbear Rodeo ... Think of a Story, Insert a Map into Owlbear, Sprink in Monsters and traps, then Add Owlbear post-it notes for Monster or trap stats, Key events, Add my party tokens at entrances ready, and then Fog of War the map ready to do and I love I can do this from my Big PC at home and its in the web and on my Laptop when I play. I go to friends or a Game store to DM all I need is my Backpack with Dice, my Laptop with Mouse and I have a Portable LCD touchscreen Monitor I lay out on the table for players. I even have a Notice Board on Owlbear that I add Wanted posters, Jobs, etc the party can choose to do. I make up 1-2 Maps/Adventures a week, and currently have around 6 things the Adventures can do, Not counting stuff off the top of their heads I improvise like going to the tavern for rumors, I have lists of Rumors for Current and Future Adventures. (I DM a Sunfdays 7 players and I am a Player in a Thursday 10 Player group as well)
Prep time for me is setting up maps online (online DM here), and reading the module and changing some stuff to fit my group better. In the beginning of the campaign, my prep is normally 4-8 hours because I am trying to find good maps for them. But spend maybe 30 minutes to an hour just glancing over my notes. I am planning on running a homebrew and am working on the towns and NPCs. Some basic history of the land and the rest, let my players discover and make up that world. I remember seeing in a video about making your own world's for DND that sometimes your players will come up with things that you would have never thought of and it can make them feel like they are a part of it
When it comes to different element spells, I let them do it for free when they choose the spell, but after they choose it they can’t change it without research
"...are you paying attention to what's going on in the background or...?" Yes, in fact, I was busy watching the cat grooming itself while under dramatic red lighting.
@@theDMLair thanks mate! It all went well. I’d just like to say, you’ve made learning to run DnD so much easier. We were all fresh to DnD this time last year, and it was quite daunting jumping into the dm chair not having played myself. Since then we finished the Lost Mines of Phandelver, and are into five sessions of Curse of Strahd. I’m learning each game and getting more confident. Thanks again for all your help.
The problem with prep is that it requires having something ready. With adapting the adventure can head from one lair in a forest to some dungeon in a ruin, which can connect to a village, which is then near another cave. Which in turn is near a riverbed. All because a player got abandoned from their home environment. Work it in after some starting plot. Better to adapt. Always. Having an idea at the start helps. Once things are rolling though that's when I adapt on the fly. To be fair I been playing D&D computer games since the year 2000 and roleplay online every day (it's basically being a DM with someone else). With online resources it's also easier to prep things as well. And do it from the comfort of ones own home. This in turn can mean more daily D&D games. It's also important that people have an idea about what they're getting into. X could happen. Y danger. This applies in real life too. I tell people I can destroy them and they love me for it. People just want to know the situation they're in and what their options are. Choice is important. As are consequences. Remind people of their own actions and choices. Present the options. Doesn't have to be hard combat. In fact the game Undertale is a good example of being too bloodthristy. Basically, subvert expectations. Just make sure it makes immersive sense somehow. I prefer to homebrew magic a bit. Magic has to come from somewhere. Staff with glowing orb? Ok, sure. Pulling it out of your butt? Well, where does it come from? Does a character consume souls for power? etc. D&D is designed to be changed and tailored to fit the DM and players. Not be set in stone. People tend to stick with "Default" because they play it safe. But then those people don't stand out. Because if you're just doing the normal thing then what seperates you from the others?
On that world building topic. I think it’s still important for the players because if you have a decent bit of world building about a city for example you can use that to improvise when the players try to do something you didn’t expect. When I say world building I don’t mean some grand history or long gone person, I mean who is the current leader, what races live there, how do different groups feel about each other and what kind of establishments the city has, etc, etc. base level stuff
Speaking of significance of PC dying : In Icewind Dale campaign, where I play goblin ranger, we were ambushed by the servants of the frostmaiden. Both our paladin and our wizard fell down. My ranger reached a decision, rushes towards paladin and feeds him goodberry. Then he rushed over to the dying wizard to be ready on his next turn to save him. Unfortunatelly, just before rangers turn, the wizard goes and rolls 1 in death save, with one failure already. As much as it sucked, since the player did leave for personal reasons, for my ranger it was the second time he lost a friend, this time explicitly because he made a choice not to save him now, but turn later. His goal was to get stronger and learn what it really means to be a ranger in Icewind Dale. Now he hates frostmaiden, his goblin unsightly part screams in rage to avenge his friends. He did want to help people. Now he's fully motivated for the big finale. So yes : D&D death can be pretty meaningful if your players take it in interesting direction.
I love you guys. I've been dming since high school as well what I find is a fun idea is when a character wants to do something almost impossible is they would pray or ask for assistance for my God and then depending on how much they revered that God would constitute a percentage role of winning that outcome
i am a brand new player/ DM. im going to be running "Dragon of ice spire peak" with my wife and kids ( also new). i booted up youtube and your videos came up first. ill be getting all my tips from you from now on 😁
this could not have come at a better time! I am on a... u could call it "guide race" rn hopping from one guide for DnD & DM'ing to the next and hording the good ones in a playlist to later re-watch so I can internalize the good stuff or refresh on that info when I'm getting into DM'ing myself, and this will shure end up in that playlist (writing this before even watching the video lmao but I'll most likely add it to my playlist after I finished watching)
A week of prepping ? How about a year. Lol. No joke, i wanted to play some DnD so bad. Talked some friends into it. And the ? Covid. That game didnt start for a year. And i spent the entire time litaerally building terrain and devouring books and vids like yours, luke (helped me immensly, btw) and finally.... we began. My players verdict? Awesomeness. Two years later, we are still playing,. My party has grown to 7 to 8 regulars, and one has even been inspired to DM his own game. Thanks man. Not sure it wouldve happened without your advice.
I play DND with children in grade school. And their characters have died. The first time it happened the girl cried. But after some explanation of the way the game works she created a second character who was the sister of her fallen character. She joined the group and ensured her character got resurrected.
Because that’s what heroes do haha
Awww
One of my first sessions with my group actually involved me having them go through a dungeon to find a large diamond, worth 500 gp, and after a successful religion check, I gave a note to one of the characters, "As an acolyte, you have seen the clerics perform Raise Dead, and know that it requires a single diamond, worth at least 500 gp," so that they know 1) raising dead is quite do-able, and 2) how to go about it, and 3) save all the diamonds they find.
Basically, I am setting them up to be able to Raise Dead, so that they can plan for it, and then if/when one of them dies, they won't freak out about it. Since we recently dealt with a real life death, I thought that in-game deaths would not be very good for us, especially my mother, right now. Also, I am planning on taking these characters into a secondary campaign where death is... different. So, I am planning in advance to groom them to have the response I want.
Hehehe. Don't tell them (they don't read these), but I am also going to spring a situation on them where they will likely wind up using their resources to Raise Dead on some innocent bystanders. Hehehe. Sure, they're prepared for themselves, now, but if they spend that on civilians, they'll still feel the need to continue adventuring, with a specific goal of getting the supplies to raise themselves, if necessary, because I don't really pull punches, and have been known to add extra monsters during a fight, if they are crushing it too easily.
I really like how you handled this, with the child. Not only could she create a new character, and try something new, but she had a built-in backstory, with real meaning in-game, and a real goal, and then she could choose which character to play as the game continued. Excellent for role-playing, and a great way to soothe a rattled player.
As a mid-twenties man, I cried when one of my characters died too...it was an emotionally intense campaign, though, and a character I had played for a few years. No shame in tears!
@@johnathanrhoades7751 none at all, it means it was a good group
I was blown away when my players ask if I had list of the kings in their area. Made my game year.
Hey Luke, great video. I've DM'd for 44 years, since I was 10, through all editions and run game companies that published D&D content. I've run home games, con games at GenCon, I've played in games with high profile players, and I can tell you this: the best DMs prep. Period. One of the confusions, though, is creation versus prep. Some "no prep" types are not counting creation time in prep time. For instance, if I spend four hours on an evening creating a town but not really prepping for a session, then the PCs go to that town, I can say "I didn't prep" but really I did through the process of creation. I no prep sometimes but only on low-level content in my lifelong home campaign world I created that I know inside and out or if I run my own published adventures since I wrote them. But even then, I prep. I'm running two online campaigns right now. Even with 44 years DM experience, I still prep AT LEAST hour for hour (4 hours of prep for a 4 hour game session), often more if I'm creating the adventure too. Why? Because like anything else in life the more you prepare the better it is. I write out session notes. Like you guys discussed, I plan scenes and beats and NPC interactions and things my antagonists are doing. I don't necessarily script their order, I let that happen naturally, but I have the beats/scenes planned so when they happen I'm ready for it. I also like set-piece situations and I like to think through and write great dialogue options. The no-prep posers on reddit who act like they are better because they don't prep are just the DM version of the people who pretend that intentionally playing unoptimized PCs makes them better roleplayers. Nonsense. If something is important, you take it seriously and put work into it. Matt Mercer preps. I prep. Monte Cook preps. Steve Wieck preps. Matt Colville preps. Gary Gygax prepped. You prep. Cheers and keep up the good work for our new DMs!
Yeah telling people 30 min of prep per hour of play for an experienced DM is wildly misleading. Even if you omit general world building time.
The over-prepared thing was my big issue when I started. I was so worried about being unprepared that I'd spend days on end prepping things that never came up... I remember for one session I prepared 5 different dungeons, and the group didn't go in any of them.
Took me some time to learn WHAT to prep.
Things that can come up later. Never waste my friend HHhHah
In addition to experience, "less prep" is doable only with vast culture. With knowing a thousands of movies and books and ... Also "prep" is not always drawing maps or writing but also a lot of time thinking about options and stuff.
Yeah, a lot of the "no prep" DMs don't write anything down, but do spend a great deal of time thinking about their game and how the session might go. They just don't think of that as being prep.
I have alot of prep but I'm a shower thought dm and then I turn the stuff into concrete
@@dovahchicken935 So... a lot of heavy lifting then... ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 very heavy ;)
@@dovahchicken935 BUT I tried just turning the stuff into styrofoam once... AND my laziness did NOT pay off. ;o)
I’m a high schooler who was voted DM with my freinds and this has been super helpful as I’ve been given 2 days before our first game ever.
hope it went well man! I'm also the DM for my friend group - And I've never really even played, just watched a ton.
We have had small sessions that really never counted, but we just had our first real one and it went extremely well!
Hope it went well.
This is exactly my situation! I'm an author and take very intricate notes so I wasn't the worst choice, but I've hardly played DND before! Sources like these are so helpful
How did it go?
@@caster8605 been going amazing! Me and a freind host dnd club for over 10 players! I also run an online campaign!
I thought I was clicking on a dmlair video, but was greeted by the dungeon coach.
That's the new dungeon master. Try to stay on his good side. He has no compunctions about killing PCS.
@@theDMLair oh please!? I have *pulls out 400 sheets* other characters Id love to play!
It took me a few moments to realize i in fact DID NOT click on the wrong video
@@theDMLair a good dungeon master indeed
Haha I was also strange for myself to click on a DM lair video and see ME lol hope you liked it!
"So where can I find a group like that?"
The entire internet: *gesturing in every general direction*
LOL! Practically tripping over them!
That reminds me of trying to get a job or actual "useful" advice in Linux 😂
"You should know all the commands and what they do."
The help command doesnt exist abd you got to word it a weird way. 😂
"No one cares about your game world." Hard pill to swallow but very true. I'm dispensing with that in the games I make, it has actually been holding me back in the past.
My brother and I alternate DMing. He's doing Starter Set and I'm doing Essentials Kit, so we are both running modules set in Phandalin.
I told the group, "Technically, my game is set in Phandalin before my brother's game, but it's a completely different Phandalin, because I am making some serious changes, because I AM GOD, and I can." They just shrug, and accept it, because "Hey! We're playing D&D!"
Really, they don't care about the world. They just care about the game.
Someday, five or six years from now, when we finally get through the printed modules, I MIGHT home-brew a campaign, but frankly, as much as I like adding my own stuff to printed modules, the idea of creating a whole world is overwhelming. I much prefer to take what's written and add my own twist to it, to "make it my own," and just tell my players "This is the module. Please don't read it."
And I take my own advice. I bought my brother two books for him to run, after Starter Set, and I said, "OK, I looked up exactly ONE paragraph, and ONE picture, because I heard about them online, and then I put it down. Please take these books away now, so I won't be tempted to read more." If you're interested, the one paragraph I read was confirmation of what I had heard, that the module is designed to be played several different ways, so that you choose the BBEG from amongst a handful of NPCs, and the others can be allies or competitors. SO COOL! I rather like that even if I goof up and see a spoiler about it, I have no guarantee that the spoiler will be remotely accurate.
Also, the picture I looked up was a sort of "Where's Waldo" style "cast of characters" that actually involved all the people who were part of the creation, including Matt Mercer (which is where I heard about it). I didn't tell my brother, but he told me later, "Hey! You should see this picture! It has Matt Mercer in it!" Hahaha. Great minds think alike.
Yeah it's hard to accept because dungeon Master's care so much about the worlds they create. And they feel that since they care about them so much their players should too. But it's just usually not the case.
I'm with the Dungeon Coach on this one, involve your players backstories into your world building they will care. I guess build your world around your players.
@@StormyQ I am still thinking up ways to get some stuff from the backstories into my game.
With one player, I got it right in the beginning: "The white dragon ate your husband." Within two sessions, she had heard that the dragon was hungry, and was hunting to survive, and she just... forgave him. Just like that. Wow. She also suggested talking to the manticore in the first encounter, rather than going for combat. I love her.
With all of them, I said, "Tell me your alignments, and which god would claim you, if you were to die right now. If your actions change from that alignment, or that ethos, you might wind up with a different god claiming you, but let's go with what you have right now."
Why? Because whenever one of them dies, I mean to have them encounter their god, either in a "Welcome! You can stay in my version of paradise forever, or... Yep. Your friends are raising you. Tata!" or, if they've been naughty, "Who are you? I don't recognize you as one of my followers. Oh, I get it. You followed someone else, but didn't follow their ethos, and now I'm stuck with you?"
I want them to understand that actions have consequences, but I also want them to understand that the gods welcome their followers to a good afterlife. Then, CURSE OF STRAHD. Spoiler
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Ready? OK. In Curse of Strahd, when the PCs die, their souls are stuck on that Demi-plane, and their gods CANNOT claim them. So, they get to have their souls fly toward their welcoming god, and then hit an invisible barrier, see their god try to break it, and get all frustrated, and then have the being who created the Demi-plane of dread explain that NO souls leave Barovia, and the PC has a choice: Be reincarnated into a newborn Barovian, like all the other souls, or go back into their own body, but with... consequences.
Heeheeeheeeeee!
Curse of Strahd will take them to mid-level. I plan to home-brew a continuing adventure after that, for them to strive to finally get OUT of Barovia and back to a plane, any plane, where they can go to their proper heaven, when they do pass on (and stay dead).
My players don't know any of that. All they know is that I am trying very hard to work their backstories, or at least their faith, into the game. I have had one PC be greeted by a mysterious lady, who welcomed the party into a mysterious door, where they had to fight some skeletons, solve a puzzle, pass through a trapped hallway (which was HILARIOUS!!! Instead of having the person with the highest perception check for traps, the dwarf checked the first trap, noticed it was at about his head-level, so he just held his shield in front of him and duck-walked through the hallway, letting the traps go right over his head. I laughed so hard!), then another puzzle, and another one, and then, they were welcomed into Tymora's Sanctuary, where they could gamble hit points to win cool prizes.
Yes, I enjoyed playing Monty Hall, and it will never happen again, or they'll be too over powered, but it was fun, and they KNOW I will do cool stuff with their backstories, so it adds to the anticipation of "What will our DM do next?"
They actually rolled on the magic item tables, so got random stuff, plenty of which won't actually be useful for them, and they won't be able to sell it. But one of them won a portable hole, so they can store anything they won't use, and have trade goods for later. I actually am planning on getting them an ally in the big fight coming up, if they give the right trade good to the right person.
Have you seen Dungeons of Drakkenheim? The world the game takes place in is EVERYTHING. A city struck by an Eldritch meteor, mutating everything within its field of foul Haze. A civil war. A kingdom shattered. Fifteen years later, rivaling factions fighting to take control of the lost city, sweeping the players up in shenanigans.
Rather, it should be said, your players won't care about your game world *if you don't make them a significant part of it and give them the power to heavily and readily influence its fate*.
Don't bring your players along for the ride, *they are the ride*.
One of my pet peeves with DMs is (and I’ve found this happens with a lot of DMs) when they consistently/always punish a nat 1 roll but don’t always look for ways to reward the rare nat 20s that aren’t in combat. For example if you roll a nat one on a perception check for standing watch at night, the DM will say you fell asleep and a raccoon comes into camp and steals some of your party’s stuff, but if you nat 20 on a perception check for standing watch, they say you go through the night and nothing happens but you can really hear the individual crickets chirping well…that’s nonsense and you will lose players trust when you do that. Even if you didn’t have anything planned, maybe make something up like throw in an unplanned small encounter that the nat 20 just saved the party from a surprise attack or even that you saw it coming early enough that your party now has an opportunity for a surprise round on the bandits, or maybe say that the player notices a little bit of glittering in the nearby stream and find a little bit of gold or even that a player notices that a deer has unwittingly bedded down right next to the party and they can shoot it with their bow so the party has some fresh meat and a hide to sell in the next town….something…anything…the player feels like they got a win and you get a win by looking like you had something prepared and it encourages your players to be more engaged even in the mundane stuff
This is good advice. Thanks.
Thanks Cyrus. I may have been overlooking the natural 20's. I should add something to the game to reward the roll =)
Maybe the nat20 saved you from a fight after all?
There would have been a fight when yoj fall asleepnor render uncaucious but the threat decided not to attack due to your rigorous rounds around the camp.
Nat 20 reward = damage die + damage die rolled + modifier.
To all newer DMs.. I've started DMing exactly a year ago this month, been running with the same group since. I have learned a lot about DMing.. specifically prep. You will never... I repeat... NEVER be fully prepared as a DM. Your job isn't to know every single piece of outcome, because it is impossible to know what ur players will truly do, trust me. What u CAN do however, is thinking about what COULD go down.
For example... I had a boss, a druid elf doing some fucked up things. Long story short, she was going against druidism and breaking the natural laws of life. My players however didnt have all the knowledge of what she was doing since they didnt know truly when they found her and never managed to get it out of her after neutralizing her. And to my biggest surprise.. they let her go.
This would've baffled me if I had only prepped for them killing her, however my prep for this session was following:
First, figure out what would happen should they kill her. How will the world react and how will her associates react to her death. Then you at least have something to build off there.
Second, what if she gets away, what will THEN happen.
This meant that I didn't have a prep for them letting her go, HOWEVER I did know what would happen if she got AWAY. So basically, I just had to take a bit from both scenarios and tweak it a little big and I already had the cause and reaction.
Might've explained it horribly but basically fleshing out options and reactions rather than the exact scenario down to the tee is a FAR better way of saving ur sanity
Being a new dungeon master, (started on saturday) I can completely vouch for the first tip. The prep I actually remembered to do saved me a massive amount of hassle. The stuff I forgot, while I was still able to do it, was a headache to deal with.
As a new DM it really hit home when you said world building is not game prep. And I realize my games might be slow because I'm not prepping properly. Have you ever considered doing a live stream of you actually prepping a game? Just you spending 2 hours prepping a game in real time? I'm sure I would not be the only DM glued to the screen
As a night shift worker, I appreciate the 4am content
It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one
An excellent end to a quiet night.
@@josiaht9227 May all your nightshifts be quiet, and your rolls be 20's
A fellow night owl!
Totally agree with the prep point. today's unused table is next week's improv moment. Last Sunday the party decided to skydive to the bottom of the mountain instead of going over the mountain.
Fortunately i had a deadly pack of wendigo with banjos i didn't get to use.
On the first note about prep, I do believe experience is key here...I do a lazy man's prep for my game, but also have been a DM for around 19 years...so it's a little more fluid. Most of my prep is in NPC names, or locals that were unexpectedly asked of. But for new DM's, like this video is aimed towards...PREP, PREP, PREP!
18:00 when I was actually watching his cats the whole time
Hey, no reason you can't watch the pretty kitties while still gaining some useful information! If anything, I'd say that the feline presence makes it all the better!
Same, I was close to writing a similar comment myself *G*
Honestly on roll20 I prep maps the other way around. I first look for a map that very roughly resembles what I have in mind then describe the world details based on this... made prepping a lot easier...
Yeah, if you can rip off a map and not have to draw it, that's a big advantage.
Im a beardless DM and now i feel myself bad and miserable.
You do not need chin hair to be great. The beard is within you, rustam isan! The beard is within you!
@@derekstein6193 I used to my favourite spell: Spiritual beard.
@@rustamisan1283 the best thing about that spell is the action economy
Just buy the officially licensed dm costume, your players won't respect you until you do.
*laughs in being a female*
As someone who played an ice mage, I appreciate DMs who allow for mild & reasonable alterations to spells for RP and flavor reasons
Luke: "Are you watching what's behind me or my face when we're talking?"
Me, who was watching Luke's cat play a minute prior.
Lmao I came here to comment the same thing!
I was about to coment this too 😂😂😂
Me: who’s listening to the video and sketching a map
I gotta admit, I love prepping, that is as much a hobby as actual gaming. My players are working through a dungeon and I haven't finished building it yet but I know the pace of my games and I don't rush my players. I've got at least a week to finish the dungeon.
I completely agree on the whole "try to say yes" and your regret on just saying "no" and moving soon. I killed of an NPC for story reasons, despite my players' efforts and I just felt bad about it afterward
The barbarian has never been so terrifying! Not the beard 😭
beautiful beard!
I’ve been running my first campaign for the past few months. I’m confident with my improv skills so my game prep includes, outlining the beginning of the session, writing out some descriptions for places the party can go, and if there’s combat find the stat block and write out how the party will encounter the enemy. My game is a fairly sandbox style game although there is still a loose narrative that the party is slowly working towards. My players have been having lots of fun so I’m happy that I’ve been doing well with my first time dming
I'm a new DM setting up an adventure, and I feel a good tip is to do some mock battles. Get or make some characters at the same level as your players, and run the battle with the monsters before you make your players fight these monsters, it helps you understand how to run your monsters, speeds up combat on the Dm's part, and gives the DM better control on how the combat goes to keep from targeting or not targeting a player while still making it make sense with how the monsters react.
Like, you could flood the paladin with zombies because the paladin is the closest, but maybe some zombies go around the paladin because the paladin is already swarmed and they are looking for new brains, not just scraps, in case the paladin is having a hard time and you don't wanna overwhelm them and instead let other characters have some level of threat, add tension, and give others a chance to shine in the shared danger.
Part of my prep right now is writing down what’s happening in the background in my session notes. I also started writing notes for each session finally. Partially as a way to remember fun moments and partially as a way to keep track of how many sessions we’ve had and also to keep up with what’s going on.
I know this is an "older" video, but having just recently discovered your content I wanted to share a little story. I've been and D&D player and DM for almost 40 years now. Quite some time back, I had joined a game that a friend of mine was part of, ran by a guy he went to college with. The DM was going to bring me in at some point during their adventure, since it was already in progress. So, after creating my character I realized that I would be alone in the world until I was connected with the others. I asked the DM if I could have a dog, just a regular dog to have been traveling with me. I had some funds left over from the starting money he allocated me and a regular dog was pretty cheap right out of the handbook. He said yes and then made me fully stat out the dog, which took another hour of time. When he decided to get the party caught up to me, he had me and my dog chained to a pole, next to a large black pool. He then had a black dragon raise from the pool and immediately spit acid on my dog, melting it away. I've no idea why he made me waste all that time on the dog, just to do that. Unfortunately for him, I spent the remainder of my time gaming with them, doing all I could to derail his champaign (I was young and angry). I had much more experience than he had in playing and DM'ing and the other players were on my side for all that work he had me do, just to invalidate it after I sat there waiting, almost an hour, before being introduced to the party. That specific game didn't last long. The very end of this video, when you guys were talking about when to say "no", made me think of this. 😋
The timing on this is video is hilarious. I am DMing my first campaign tonight. Wish me luck fellows.
We actually knew that you did, so both made this video for you! YOU GOT THIS!!
As a newer DM, I find that having a medium group helps a lot. 3-4 people can keep each other entertained while I prep a fight. Otherwise I also love making flowchart notes; it keeps me organized on task, while not expecting to have every dialogue written out.
Great advice. Also enjoyed watching the cat play with the light and throwing awesome shadows on the wall.
I'm prepping for my first campaign as DM. Thanks for the good advice. Loving watching your kitty in the background too. Lol
I have such a fun time preping battle maps. I dm online and I do all my prep while making the map for the encounter.
One thing that I always try to keep in mind, that sort of ties into "try to say yes" is "try to make failure fun" its often not easy, but I find it better to try to explore a little bit of what happens when they roll badly. Its easy to say "you didn't do the thing" much harder to describe the consequences of not doing the thing.
Omg, Number 3 reminds me so hard of my own beginnings. Created a world way too big to fill and handle for my own good and, noticing that mistake later, struggled hard to reel back from it. ><
Eventually, I sat down with my players and explained to them that I bit off more than I can chew and found a solution.
From then on, I created the world as I go with only vague plans in the back of my head. I noticed, that if I only revealed to them, what was of importance for the situations and adventures at hand, I was more flexible and could adjust places/lore/whatever as needed.
And I learned, that the exact opposite of the player, who doesn't care for your world, can be even worse. Had a guy who was an enthusiastic world builder down to the littlest detail and he always wanted to know everything! And I mean everything! Exact politics, living standards of the people, ecology of the cities, where they got their food from and what, exact system how the military of the different countries worked...
It was exhausting, but made me realize my mistake faster, I guess. ^^'
I haven't played AD&D in nearly 30 years. I got my first D&D boxset for Christmas of 1976. Christmas of 1980 I got 4 AD&D hardcovers books, one of which was a very rear 1980 print of the Fiend Folio, not the 1981 print. I also played Boot Hill and Gamma World, getting both boxsets all because the AD&D's DM's guide had the conversion guide, I think on pages 112 to 114/115. Wow, It's been so long since I have played AD&D that It would be like learning it all over again. I'm just amazed that I remembered those pages.
probably the best advice i can give:
Sometimes, you know where your Players will go to next session.
Sometimes you don't. And when you don't know: ask them then and there, where they want to go next. and after that end the session...
Otherwise you spend 50-75% preparing stuff you will not need at all.
Hey, I prep in bursts all week! Luckily, my players use 80% of it. I give them branched paths (usually 2-3), and let them go where it seems most interesting to them.
And the stuff they don't use immediately gets dressed up to fit the direction they chose, so they get ALL the adventure!
"Are you watching what's going on behind me in the video?"
Depends on if there's a cat on screen, really.
I always prep for many possible outcomes, I write a bunch and change it to fit the game if I need to.
For digital maps, I don't do anything fancy. I just use Roll20's basic drawing feature to make some squares. If there's more prep time, I'll color the floors to be grey or green or whatever, but that's about it. It's exactly the same experience as if I was drawing something with a marker, and it means I can create stuff really fast if need be. (Or recycle things - there's one apartment that I reused as two other apartments and a police station because it was just two rooms and a hallway.)
I'm only at the first point in the video, but I feel like I should call you out...
The difference with prep v. no prep, it's all about improv ability. It's not necessarily experience, or anything like that. Some people are just naturally good at improv. Those people can follow stories without prep, even if they've never done it before
I think prepping can look very different for different people. Some people spend extensive time building a world and delving into lore about the setting, then they let the players loose one a journey of discovery. Others prep sessions meticulously and read up on entire settings very little.
I view these two as extremes on a spectrum of preparation, and I do actually view worldbuiling as a form of prep. I tend toward the former, personally, though I'm not on the full extreme.
Total lack of prep feels best for groups of close friends, experienced players, one shots, or some combination of those.
Also, I feel the frustration about lack of maps, though moreso when I am a player. I love easy map makers like Inkarnate for that.
Great video! Love watching collabs!
Fantastic advice, guys. My son is just getting into gaming, and he has expressed some interest in running his own adventure. We watched this together and he loved it.
Seeing a lot of comments mentioning a lot of prep and players went other places. Would recommend prepping scenarios, events, or instances and on the motivations of actors in your world (NPC's, factions, etc) Then when the players react to a scenario in an unexpected way you know how the actors in the world would react and are ready to continue the game.
*I'm loving the party beating on the Dungeon coach & calling him a newbie .*
*Homebrew when done well is nice when things get stale .*
*But learning new system is way better .*
28:36 - I'd suggest a psuedodragon familiar to the player wanting a dragon, which would require that they get Find Familiar or a similar spell/ability to it, but if they're really motivated from a roleplay perspective, they'll figure that out.
Ok now I feel better knowing that all the world building isn't part of the prep. I was thinking how on earth can I do all this on a couple hours.
I tend to prepare 25-35 minutes for each hour of play, this system has worked really well for me and I rarely find myself in a pinch where I have to improvise something big. Of course, up to 50% of my games are usually improvised.
Sad to say that pg233 of the DMG doesn't say anything on the effect of having a beard in our D&D games...
You have to read between the lines... and use a dark-light 🤣
You're looking at the wrong edition
😃
👍
Unforgivable
It's in there somewhere....
It does now
My brother Brad had so much of his world's prepped with history for the races all writing out, its crazy! The world's drawn out and most area's blown up! everything hand drawn!
My point! That allowed him to let you do whatever whenever and not miss a beat! I was a lucky player growing up. I love this channel great work.
I recommend your channel to my DM. He’s new to all this and it seems he hasn’t really watched anything like your videos. I’m gonna start running one shots my self and your videos are awesome! Thank you sooo much!
I love playing in homebrew worlds. Me, being the creative type, really enjoys learning about the lore. Info dumps are tough to deal with, but when it's done right, it's so satisfying.
As a new dm about to run my second game/one shot. I really appreciate this. I can't grow a beard, though, gonna have to get a fake one 😝
Also yay! Dungeon Coach is here too! You both are awesome! Have helped me feel more confident in being a dm. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Kritari! this was super fun to do, good luck with that beard tho!
So how did it go?
@@davidguthrie3895 Really well! Thank you! I was a bit worried about certain things in the module I was using and things I changed. But the player and I both had fun! And he's excited to use that pc again in the future or something else I may run.
Learning to be efficient with your prep is probably the most important DM skill in my book, too many people say that improve is the most important skill but if you know what to prep then it makes DMing alot less stressful
My friends decided to randomly start a D&D group, so I joined in. Some of them have experience with the game. We all agreed we would share dungeon master responsibilities and swap between different campaigns so each DM gets a break. I was preparing my own plot when I got really excited and created about seven pages of notes. Bad idea as I was elected to be the first dungeon master even though I've never been a PC...
Im always relegated to forever DM, didn't play PC ever xD
I’m 14 and I’m gonna start being dm for my group and this is really helpful.
I'm more of a world-builder DM--Luke said it perfectly when he called it a creative outlet.
Hi guys, I've been playing and DM D&D and other various RPGs since 1978. I have recently joined a gaming group where everyone other than I have not played before. This is also the first time the DM has run a game. I have been coaching a bit, but am attempting to keep my hands off and let him develop his own style. That being said, I done some Google foo to try and find some other advice for him. I had only gotten 3 minutes into the stream, and I had already sent him the link fo this stream. I must say gentlemen, that this is one of the best DM advise videos for a newby I have seen. It was thoughtful for both Dm and player viewpoints, logical with a bit of humor. I appreciate what you do. Please contunue the excellent work
I haven't DMed yet but I plan on it at some point but I had a new dm running a session today and they clearly hadn't prepared as the entire session ended up being us fighting a bunch of humanoids to the point where even the fighter was sick of fighting things
The most undervalued point in this incredibly good video is using premade worlds/settings. Even if you do homebrew there is rarely value in making things like pantheons (unless you the DM enjoy this). The reason is that most players do not interact with the gods in any meaningful way and players are even less likely to do so if the gods are completely new and require lore dumps to understand. Whenever you can use established content, it will increase the chances of the players engaging with that thing, and then you can put your own spin on it. Use the Roman, Greek, Egyptian, or Norse pantheons, as most players will have some basis for understanding these. This applies to worlds like Forgotten Realms as well. The fact that the players have meta knowledge can and should be used to your favor. Its great when the players get excited about visiting Icewind Dale because of the videogames or Drizzt novels, that meta knowledge is getting the players invested and letting the DM focus on the session instead of the setting.
Beards rule. While I consider myself a pretty good on-the-fly DM, even after 40 years playing with players I've DMed for over 20 years, I still prep. It's usually not nitty gritty, as players can be like cats, but I prep the basics and wing it if they go somewhere unexpected.
As an author - a skill I feel is closely related to DMing - I'm more of a pantser than an outliner, but I learned to use a basic outline. Pantsing my first book is how it turned into a trilogy.
My prep checklist:
3 encounters (recycle things unused later)
List of names for NPCs
Map of the area and surrounding areas within one day of travel
List of monsters that believably exist in the biome
Notes of important things my players have done that affect the world (including ignored hooks)
BBEG’s own progress (if there is one)
List of names for towns/outposts/villages
I do very limited world building; I’ll build on whatever my players ask about though. All the lore and fluff I do on the side is mainly for myself and I do it for fun. I have so many notes about hooks, side quests, big campaign ideas on my phone, notebook, and computer that I can bring in when they ask. Almost none of it get’s used. Prep is fun when it isn't a chore.
I am so excited that I got to see two of my favorite RPG TH-cam help DM help channels collaborating together on the same video.
In our LMOP game, the Druid befriended one of the wolves in the goblin cave. He now has an animal companion, her name is Stella.
Same, they befriended one, released the others :-) He died literaly in the next room but it gave them a good reason to ragekill the rest of the cave. Good RP there xD
We had the exact same thing happen!
I'm a new DM and I'm going into my first session with a group of new players here in a few weeks (the starter set: lost mines of Phandelver). I have 1 player who has some experience (but not much), and the rest have zero. While we're still getting our stuff together, I'm prepping like hell to get everything together they may want or need. Theater of the mind? cool, don't need this. more visual? I've got that ready. Our expectations are low, since we're all brand new to this, but I fully expect everyone will enjoy the game i've prepped for them. Thank you for these videos, as they have been immensely helpful.
Go around the table for sess 0, with each character saying what they like about each other. (TCOE) "Hi I'm Gary."
All: "Hi Gary."
I appreciate this! Running CoS in a month or two for my current party, after we finish our fight with the BBEG in my buddies campaign. Also, Dungeon Coach just got a new subscriber.
Why thank you Tristan!
When he said “are you looking at my face and what I’m saying or the background” I was looking at his cat
Excellent advice here and a big fan of both channels, so that was a nice bonus! One thing to remember too is that even though this was titled for "New DMs", the advice is still a good refresher for experienced DMs. The "Nobody cares about your world" part is especially good advice. Not to say "don't make your own" but rather, just keep that in mind when you do. You might have a beautiful pantheon origin story for your world, but your players probably won't read that 26 page handout that recounts the story.
40+ years... game prep is a must. can I adventure on the fly? yes!, but prep makes a good session - great!
33+ years. Listen to Bruce D.
Re-watching this and the bit about digital maps making it more difficult to make a map on the fly reminded me: if you've not already, give Shmeppy a go. It's specifically designed to be fast and flexible, especially for when you need to do things on the fly.
Established settings are a great resource and theres tones to pick from especially if you are willing to look at stuff from past editions or from 3rd party sources
Hey Luke. Thank you for supporting Stack Up - we greatly appreciate you! And great video, the intro had me rolling!
Y'all's color coordination is awesome! Like Dungeon Coach's side of the screen is all purple and DM Lair's is all red and it's just beautiful!
With the game I've started as a first time DM, I have actually found doing some world building super useful for the role play. Specifically, figuring out a bit more about NPCs and at a high level who they are means it's much easier to then play those NPCs off my PCs and make those interactions more interesting. And not just from a set dressing perspective, but also by giving role play decisions to the PCs as they try to make friends and influence people!
It also can lead to figuring out plot hooks to get characters to engage with certain plot threads. For example, I spent _waaaaaay_ too long yesterday trying to figure out what monster could have destroyed the nearby town that would give the tragic backstory to certain NPCs, a backstory which explains why they're motivated to join the adventurers as part of a rescue party in a few sessions time, and which had to still be able to work in with the later chapters of this module. If the PCs follow the plot threads to hear about that city, now a new part of the map has been unlocked if they want to go explore it! I'd also been struggling to think of how exactly certain elements of my PCs' backstories would integrate with the main plot (which I intend to stray from the module on when I get more comfortable DMing) and I think this tragedy in the town is going to be linked in some way. And being able to seed that event early will give the players even more drive when they find out how it all links together!
But yes, all in moderation! And world building on a small scale is significantly more useful in the short term than world building on the large scale!
Funny, "are U watching what's going on in the background of this video? " 2 minutes earlier Little Guys shadow was playing with your lightbox! Lol.
I was looking at the background too, and when I'm a player I like the dms world
Watching this video, I agree with number #1... after long break, went to reddit to seek advice - and of course of those was "dude, don't prep too much". Im my mind I was 'wat'?
Luckily for me, I know better now. The more stuff I invest in (can use it for this session or some other occasion) I'm giving my players a better experience and less time wasted.
Lots of good tips in this video, good job!
I was running a game in Forgotten Realms. There are a lot of pre-written adventures. I had some players that didn't like how I ran the pre-written adventures. They felt like it was more of a railroad than player choice. I stopped running the Forgotten Realms campaign and started running a campaign in Eberron. I'm loving the how it's all coming together.
This was such an interesting and helpful conversation to listen to. I've wanted to get into D&D for years now but since I'm such a perfectionist and wanted to do ALL the perfect prepping before really starting, I got scarred off multiple times. Now that I really want to learn it and have the time and motivation to do so, this was a very helpful video. Learn with the group, feel the vibe, take feedback, learn from stressful situations, see how much you individually need to prep and don't shame yourself for taking inspiration from different things. I'm a huge LOTR fan and I have friends who love it too, so why not start there? No one can do it perfectly from the beginning so prepping it the right way and learning and adapting as you go is the key here, I guess. So thank you! Great video!
Brilliant crossover! OMG, I love how are your colors synced. I hope for more similar videos, great to see you both discussing the same things
This is awesome. Two of my favorite D&D channels doing a collab.
Awesome! thanks John!
Small criticism. It's not a bad video, but this isn't a "Tip" video. This is a discussion about new DM by Experienced DMs. There's too much opinion surrounding/burying any helpful suggestions for your intended audience, New DMs. It would be cool have the discussion and present the tips separately. I do like this channel which is why I'm leaving an honest comment.
16:17 I’m going to be a first time DM soon. My idea for the “no one cares about your world” dilemma is to have it be extremely simple, good guy king, bad guy wizards, but pepper in a lot of local color and flavor. Hobbits singing about the old wars. Characters they meet who have memories of the bad old days. Im trying to create a feeling of depth without having to write a history book. Hope it works.
I prep and set up adventure in Owlbear Rodeo ... Think of a Story, Insert a Map into Owlbear, Sprink in Monsters and traps, then Add Owlbear post-it notes for Monster or trap stats, Key events, Add my party tokens at entrances ready, and then Fog of War the map ready to do and I love I can do this from my Big PC at home and its in the web and on my Laptop when I play. I go to friends or a Game store to DM all I need is my Backpack with Dice, my Laptop with Mouse and I have a Portable LCD touchscreen Monitor I lay out on the table for players. I even have a Notice Board on Owlbear that I add Wanted posters, Jobs, etc the party can choose to do. I make up 1-2 Maps/Adventures a week, and currently have around 6 things the Adventures can do, Not counting stuff off the top of their heads I improvise like going to the tavern for rumors, I have lists of Rumors for Current and Future Adventures. (I DM a Sunfdays 7 players and I am a Player in a Thursday 10 Player group as well)
“Are you looking at me or what’s going on behind me?”….I was watching your cat at the red light :)
Prep time for me is setting up maps online (online DM here), and reading the module and changing some stuff to fit my group better. In the beginning of the campaign, my prep is normally 4-8 hours because I am trying to find good maps for them. But spend maybe 30 minutes to an hour just glancing over my notes.
I am planning on running a homebrew and am working on the towns and NPCs. Some basic history of the land and the rest, let my players discover and make up that world. I remember seeing in a video about making your own world's for DND that sometimes your players will come up with things that you would have never thought of and it can make them feel like they are a part of it
When it comes to different element spells, I let them do it for free when they choose the spell, but after they choose it they can’t change it without research
"...are you paying attention to what's going on in the background or...?"
Yes, in fact, I was busy watching the cat grooming itself while under dramatic red lighting.
I'm a newish DM and I still over prepare every time. I'm bad at improv so it really helps to know the details inside and out.
You should look at Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master book. Seriously helpful.
Amazing! Thanks. Session 5 of Curse of Strahd tomorrow. I’ll make sure to add in some of the techniques I learn here. 30 mins to go of the video!
Sweet good luck with your game session dude!
@@theDMLair thanks mate! It all went well. I’d just like to say, you’ve made learning to run DnD so much easier. We were all fresh to DnD this time last year, and it was quite daunting jumping into the dm chair not having played myself. Since then we finished the Lost Mines of Phandelver, and are into five sessions of Curse of Strahd. I’m learning each game and getting more confident. Thanks again for all your help.
The problem with prep is that it requires having something ready. With adapting the adventure can head from one lair in a forest to some dungeon in a ruin, which can connect to a village, which is then near another cave. Which in turn is near a riverbed. All because a player got abandoned from their home environment. Work it in after some starting plot.
Better to adapt. Always. Having an idea at the start helps. Once things are rolling though that's when I adapt on the fly.
To be fair I been playing D&D computer games since the year 2000 and roleplay online every day (it's basically being a DM with someone else).
With online resources it's also easier to prep things as well. And do it from the comfort of ones own home. This in turn can mean more daily D&D games.
It's also important that people have an idea about what they're getting into. X could happen. Y danger. This applies in real life too. I tell people I can destroy them and they love me for it. People just want to know the situation they're in and what their options are. Choice is important. As are consequences. Remind people of their own actions and choices. Present the options. Doesn't have to be hard combat. In fact the game Undertale is a good example of being too bloodthristy.
Basically, subvert expectations. Just make sure it makes immersive sense somehow. I prefer to homebrew magic a bit. Magic has to come from somewhere. Staff with glowing orb? Ok, sure. Pulling it out of your butt? Well, where does it come from? Does a character consume souls for power? etc. D&D is designed to be changed and tailored to fit the DM and players. Not be set in stone. People tend to stick with "Default" because they play it safe. But then those people don't stand out. Because if you're just doing the normal thing then what seperates you from the others?
On that world building topic. I think it’s still important for the players because if you have a decent bit of world building about a city for example you can use that to improvise when the players try to do something you didn’t expect. When I say world building I don’t mean some grand history or long gone person, I mean who is the current leader, what races live there, how do different groups feel about each other and what kind of establishments the city has, etc, etc. base level stuff
First advice, grow a nice beard, noted !!
And to think I just shaved mine.
Does a desperado gunslinger beard work ?
Yeah a beard always helps! :-)
Check
25 years old and still no beard. Guess I'm effed
Speaking of significance of PC dying :
In Icewind Dale campaign, where I play goblin ranger, we were ambushed by the servants of the frostmaiden. Both our paladin and our wizard fell down. My ranger reached a decision, rushes towards paladin and feeds him goodberry. Then he rushed over to the dying wizard to be ready on his next turn to save him. Unfortunatelly, just before rangers turn, the wizard goes and rolls 1 in death save, with one failure already.
As much as it sucked, since the player did leave for personal reasons, for my ranger it was the second time he lost a friend, this time explicitly because he made a choice not to save him now, but turn later. His goal was to get stronger and learn what it really means to be a ranger in Icewind Dale. Now he hates frostmaiden, his goblin unsightly part screams in rage to avenge his friends. He did want to help people. Now he's fully motivated for the big finale. So yes : D&D death can be pretty meaningful if your players take it in interesting direction.
I love you guys. I've been dming since high school as well what I find is a fun idea is when a character wants to do something almost impossible is they would pray or ask for assistance for my God and then depending on how much they revered that God would constitute a percentage role of winning that outcome
i am a brand new player/ DM. im going to be running "Dragon of ice spire peak" with my wife and kids ( also new). i booted up youtube and your videos came up first. ill be getting all my tips from you from now on 😁
this could not have come at a better time! I am on a... u could call it "guide race" rn hopping from one guide for DnD & DM'ing to the next and hording the good ones in a playlist to later re-watch so I can internalize the good stuff or refresh on that info when I'm getting into DM'ing myself, and this will shure end up in that playlist (writing this before even watching the video lmao but I'll most likely add it to my playlist after I finished watching)
A week of prepping ? How about a year. Lol. No joke, i wanted to play some DnD so bad. Talked some friends into it. And the ? Covid. That game didnt start for a year. And i spent the entire time litaerally building terrain and devouring books and vids like yours, luke (helped me immensly, btw) and finally.... we began. My players verdict? Awesomeness. Two years later, we are still playing,. My party has grown to 7 to 8 regulars, and one has even been inspired to DM his own game. Thanks man. Not sure it wouldve happened without your advice.
I once had a player tell me they had a rainbow dragon, and a fully staffed warship. Needless to say that got a " negative not happening "