10:30 When Murph says that having super powers in New York is stupid I couldn’t help but laugh knowing he ends up becoming Kugrash in the unsleeping city.
@OFFICIALGPRIME I thought that too! I can’t help but think that hit Brennan’s confidence a little since this is around when he was probably writing Unsleeping City. Thankfully they still made it!
"There are people who have watched critical role for 4 years and they think they dont know how to play D&D" I have never felt so attacked, that was so me when I started.
To be fair, at this point CR is easily 1000 hours or more, taking all the oneshots, 2 campaigns with 100+ episodes each, and even just the third campaign. C3 will have been running for 30-40 hours by next thursday.
Yup, back in the day, I became the de facto DM of my first ever group. Why? Because I owned the books. Nope, nothing else. I didn't have a scrap of DMing experience, and my only game of D&D had been a random game I got pulled into while at Scout camp.
When Murph said, "People think you can't DM if you've never played or something like that. But someone who has watched Dimension 20 for 30 hours has a much better grasp of the game than someone who's played three times." And then Brennan said, "If you've watched Fantasy High, you can DM." I was like OH IT ME Confidence boost!!! (I'm about to start DMing my first campaign and I've only played a one-shot.)
@@okashi10 Despite having a few players quit, it’s still awesome how well it went!! (Not me realizing too late that your comment was from months ago 😬) have you been able to play much more since? I’m still kind of new to D&D world and nervous to start.
"NPCs are there to die and it's up to your players to stop them" has such powerful "Mister police, you could have stopped me; I gave you all the clues" energy.
*looks into Brennan's dead empty eyes when he talks about only ever levelling up a character to level 7* damn bro I'll give DMing a shot for you, you ok man?
one of the things i really liked about Fantasy High is the fucking around in the beginning raised the stakes of the first battle, that the funny things they were doing while roleplaying had huge consequences when they entered a battle already at half health. moreso than the fact that two PCs died and Fig had a connection to the lunch lady and two NCPs with personalities that they'd had full conversations with died, I most felt the stakes when the PCs had the realization of "oh fuck, the stupid shit we were doing when no Big Bad had shown up yet had huge consequences, every part of the game matters"
the look on brennans face when murph mentions a powered adventure in new york doesnt interest him is funny given he then proceeded to give them a powered adventure in new york.. great episode, love these guys
This may be the scene that inspired that setting… It’s very different from superhero New York. There’s still mysticism, permadeath, and secrecy from normal people.
54:00 i think Sophomore Year made everyone notice that Brennan is the type of DM that doesn't say no (for reference see: Hilda Hilda, disguising yourself as him, and all of Kristen's attempts at ribbon dancing)
He does this thing I have noticed when someone does something absolutely wild in front of an NPC, he will go "Well, everything here checks out" because he knows no sane person would accept this out of hand, but Brennan refuses to say no, so sometimes, people gonna be idiots. It really adds to the wackiness of his worlds that you can consistently find people that are stupid enough to fall for this stuff.
Only one minute in, already surprised to hear Brian (and Emily) has only been playing for 3 years. They sound like such naturals when playing Edit: Okay one hour in, with a teacher like Brennan and hearing him give examples in this podcast, I get it ;)
It really doesn’t take a long time to learn D&D… sure, you can go ham on extra books, but overall it’s just “I’m a character, I do stuff and I want different stuff.”
The best way to tell a story with them IS to use them to torture your players. You can do literally any terrible thing you want to an NPC because YOU'RE that character's player. Attacking a beloved NPC is the fastest way to motivate your players to hate a given threat.
One time I played D&D in the back of a van on a multi-hour road trip. No books, no character sheets, no dice. I flipped a penny to determine dice rolls. Either out of 2 if it's something you're good at; each player got to pick two things their character was "good at." We had a great time.
@@DeathnoteBB Good point, that is a different game system entirely. It's just that this was the early 80's, so we didn't really have that frame of reference.
Character creation: Describe your character. What they look like, what their backstory is, what their goals are, etcetera. Next, name 2 things your character is good at, and 1 thing they're bad at. (examples "hitting with a sword," "talking to fancy folk," etc). Being able to cast a spell counts as "something you're good at." Rules: If you try to do something you're good at, you have to win only 1 out of 2 coin flips. If you try to do something you're bad at, you have to win both 2 out of 2 coin flips. For anything else, you only have to win on 1 coin flip. The DM handles all physical coin flips. There, that's a complete role playing game. The one we came up with in the back of a van in 1985.
As a dm I try to be as "Clippy from Word" as I can be: oh, it seems, your are attempting to attack an ennemy that is likely to parry, do you want to add Bardic Inspiration to that roll?" and I think Clippy is the Final Boss of Word.
39:58 what I understand from this is that after binging Dimension20, Critical Role, and/or other DnD shows you have been basically Mister Miyagi'ed into being able to DM a game even without ever playing one.
DM: "You can start out with 1 magic item each." PC1: "A portable hole." PC2: "I want a-" PC1: "Bag of holding, you want a bag of holding." DM: "Stop trying to nuke my villains at lvl 1."
The funny thing is... that doesn't kill villains. It sends them to a random location on the Astral plane. The villain WILL make their way back and they will be pissed.
@@tinkerer3399 By the time that 5th level villain crawls through the multi-verse and find the characters again, it will be level 25 with epic multi-dimensional artefacts of doom!! I like it!!
@@drewcourtney376 yo i want a campaign about the dude travelling through the multiverse just trying to get back to the assholes who flung him into a different plane in their first encounter
When Murph and Brennan said that if you have watched Fantasy High you can DM (40:30) I was filled with a blessing of security I didn't know I wanted. I have been so so nervous about being a DM to my first one-shot having never really played D&D before. Now I'm just super excited, so thank you guys!!
@@Quantumcross2 our barbarism didn’t roll above a 13 to hit the boss with an AC of 21 and the fighter didn’t do that much better. They liked the puzzles but the consensus was fighting sucks when 6 level-13 PCs take over an hour and a half to kill a dragon because the only two people doing damage are the rogue and paladin.
@@DevonD.B I agree that something went wrong. I looked up what monster would be fairly easy and then threw in a low-ish level wizard just to hope it didn’t go too fast. I think part of the problem was the design of the fight and the other problem is that most of the PCs were first time (or newer) players so level 13 gave them cool stuff to do but not all of them knew what to do with it.
People often bring up improv courses for DMing but one thing you can really take from it is that the rule is not just "yes and". It is also "yes, BUT" as in, yes you can surf on your shield but it will take a hell of an acrobatics check or you will take damage and maybe fall right into the enemy. And there is also "no, but" which is "your shield would probably break on those but if you want to do a wild Xena jump off the stars and the wall to land on the enemy and stab them in the neck, you can try!".
I'll throw my hat it, I'd love to DM a game for Brennan. Level 1-20, high fantasy, low fantasy, medium-well fantasy, whatever. Just wrapped Fantasy High a week ago, and am currently getting every D&D player I know into it. Keep making awesome stuff, can't wait for season 2!
My favorite concept has always been to get a player like Liam, who usually plays, but has really shown their skill at DMing to do a Forever DM show, where like a bunch of famous DMs get to play a real ongoing campaign together. Let all these poor bastards really stretch their legs and experience the game from the other side. It would be an absolute nightmare to schedule, since all these shows record and air on different days and times, but I imagine it would be the D&D event of the century if you actually got a bunch of the big DMs together. Of course, now Aabria is DMing for both Brennan and Matt, in separate shows, so the two biggest DMs actually have games to play, but it would still be fun.
Same. This february I had been binging CR for a year, and was desperate to find a game to join. I watched this clip, went to a party and instantly recruited all of my friends nerdy roommates who apparently all harbored secret desires to play d&d as well, and have so far been dm’ing three super fun sessions like I’ve done it for years. 👀✨👌
Brennan talking about playing dnd one on one with his brother really resonated with me. My Dad taught me math by playing DnD with me when I was five years old. He played two of the other characters and I had a human fighter named Roger haha. I cherish the memories of that campaign, going from 1st level peons to 12th level feudal lords, riding hippogriffs etc. I also grew to be able to play the other two characters as the campaign took place over about 3 years. Some incredible memories of that time :)
I had watched College Humor for a long time, and Murph was always my favorite. Now I'm just pissed that I learned his name isn't just Murph. I thought that was his first name.
We've lucked out with our D&D group. "Nobody ever wants to DM." I'm literally the fourth person in our five-person group to start watching these videos and read the DMG because I want to DM.
Someone get Murph a dice tower! I curse every dice I touch and my stats improved once I got one and was able to take myself out of the rolling equation
I'm going to DM my first game ever, I've never played before ever. Planning was honestly incredibly daunting almost until the point where I almost gave up and canceled, but watching this has filled me with determination, and I'm really excited again to do this.
My brother and I started playing only verbally - no dice or character sheets or stats - just storytelling with a character and a DM - like psychos. haha
This is such a fun way to play. I do this sometimes for 30minute one shots with my pals at the bar. We just base everything on raw d20s rolled on the phone.
That's how I got into Roleplaying as well. 8th grade tutorial and lunch, me and two friends, one being the storyteller (dm). Only it was a modern slightly futuristic Scarface esque mobster campaign where the other player and I were friends coming up in a new city building our reknown. Eventually we took down our boss, made it big, and the other PC betrayed me down the line so he could be the Don. Ended with me barely escaping getting tortured in his mansion, making it to my secret hideout to get my mech suit that I'd been secretly dumping all of my profits into and a having it out in a final showdown. Weird how memories of something like that stick around 20 years later.
Speaking on settlement sizes, there is a small place near where I live that is Thorpe sized. It's called Upton, and there are only 18 properties, and some families own multiple of them. All in all I think around 35 people live there, so it's not so unrealistic even today. (Note that I am also in the UK, so this isn't even some remote Alaskan community. It's 35 minutes out from a decently large city, and only an hour or so from Cambridge.
I remember when I started I had a group that had never really played and we all just jumped in. I have been the forever DM ever since and absolutely LOVE IT. When it comes to anything it’s always best to fuck around and find out
The "bullies in town" comment reminds me of a time I had someone be rude to a customer service worker in a game and a player was like. I'm going to threaten this man's life
That circle and slightly larger circle that Murph mentioned is exactly what I'm doing as a DM and I thought that was just me being lazy and inexperienced. Apparently I'm doing great
@@itslexactually Yeah but he said in the episode that his skill hasn't exponentially grown just for time-spent playing. Obviously he was exaggerating a bit, but at the same time his style of DMing seems to be based on innate ability. You can't replicate the way someone's brain works via practice, and the closest thing IRL to that concept would be some brainwashing cult shit.
I did not experience Emily's mentor hanging from a noose. But I have experienced my own moments like that. I can feel that righteous rage. And its one of the reasons I love DnD. Having the power to say no, AND THEN do something about it, is amazing.
As someone whose never played before but has watched season 1 and 2 of Fantasy High two times through, that one bit at 40:00 really calmed my nerves about DMing a campaign in a few weeks. :)
I'n running a game club in my university and a tiktok clip of this interview gave me the courage to finally start DMing (I tried it once like 5 years ago and it was a really bad experience, none of it was enoyable) and realising that watching your games actually gave me more experience and knowledge of this game than playing 3 times a year with my cousins pushed me. Thank you so much, I'm binge watching this podcast while creating a setting to get more ideas and pointers and I can wait to make all of my players have fun!
"Share the inspirations" That's the solid advice there! I tell my players that default inspirations are Immigrant Song, Princess Mononoke, and 13th Warrior, until they choose new ones in Session Zero. Touchstones are essential!
"You are legolass, you are not bugs bunny" must be one of the best advice for dming I have heard. Also Aikido your players into more sensible solutions. Awesome conversation guys. (this was 4 years agio, holymolly, I´m seriously behind on my media consuming habits)
9:46 this whole conversation reminds me of in Neverafter Brennan warned them if they fought against the Stepmother it would end babdly. It would not be good. She was very strong. We all know what happened there. If your DM the person who created the bad guy is like,"hey maybe think about fighting this person, they are very bad news." Maybe think about fighting that person! It worked out in the end but yowza.
Brenan that poor soul of a forever Dm I see and have lived your pain, I hope in this last year you have managed to get a game in (thought with the new seson of D20 that seems to have happend). Just know you would be welcome in any of my games, thought im shure the comment was more a joke XD
Holy crap this interview perfectly captures my current dilemma. Players give me character traits without goals so I'm having a difficult time hooking them narratively. But now I'm working with them to discuss motivations. Very informative interview 10/10.
As a newer dm, a copy of your initiative sheet Brennan would be amazing! If not its cool just I heard about the concept of that and I literally stood up and freaked out at how smart that is.
40:12 this is so true, the first time I ever played D&D I only told the party it was my first time playing after the session was over and none of them believed me because I had such a good understanding of the game already just from Binge watching fantasy high.
43:30 Brennan I will DM you bro... past level 7! Just please, don't look into the camera and convey that sadness again, I wasn't ready for it and it hit me like a truck.
4:30 I introduced my big D&D nerd friend to fantasy high, and she nearly had a conniption over how pretty much none of the casters had offensive cantrips. I can only imagine how Murph feels as they were all laughing about the corn cuties with their little butts.
Honestly I think this is one of my top 10 favourite videos on TH-cam. I've listened to this podcast at least half a dozen times and I'm still finding new nuggets of advice to glean from it. So much of my philosophy on how I play d&d comes from this podcast. Thank you for being willing to share it :)
I actually had a player do that roll three nat 20's in a roll he wanted to tame this custom wolf i created he was a fighter not a ranger too but he rolled 3 nat 20 in a roll and i didnt know what to do after that other than give him the wolf
I had a player roll 6 nat 20s and that got them a very powerful death robot that they were meant to fight. I’ve added mechanics for balancing but it was just so perfect that I couldn’t not give it to them.
As an aspiring dm whose only ran one session I rewatch these all the time. I was in highschool when I ran a module for my friends who couldn’t care less about ttrpgs and my biggest regret is not talking more with them about the world and what they wanted to see and do in it. I was so stressed about the mechanics I wanted a easy introduction to the game for them rather than making sure they we all had fun. Modules are really appealing but don’t leave much room for what you’re passionate about so I think I wouldn’t use them again.
Man this interview/ hangout was so good! First time Dm here, and I've writing notes furiously from both Brennan and Murph. Comparatively I think I'm approaching it correctly by what they're saying, but they added so much to think about. Gonna start doing pre encounters and the tabs with laptop.
Speaking of starting a campaign in a smaller town, something I noticed Fantasy High did was starting with a vague map of areas with only a few established buildings, and the map added important locations gradually and naturally as the PCs discovered them. You could do a similar thing as a DM with a couple prepared buildings for the PCs to discover so that you don’t have to flesh out every building of every city.
I'm hearing this as a dm to a 5 year old toddler, wanting to take the advice but can't. So far, I've only introduced her deaths when she's being reckless with her accumulated pets. But she's very fond of a scaredy cat werewolf sworn to protect her and cleric grandmother who keeps giving her cookies for health points. Glad I found this video tho, been wanting to find ways on how to raise stakes on a story I'm giving to a very rapt 5 year old.
When I saw this I had already seen most of NADDPod and all of Fantasy High, and I was inspired to DM my first game which was so fun, even though I’d never played before!
I love that, as a second time DM, who hadnt been able to play OR DM for ages, I'm watching this video and I do almost all of the tips. I fucking love this. (Im a teacher and also a writer and obsessed with story telling and writing. I am perfectly equipped to DM, so this is not a flex but an appreciation for all the loves of my life that prepared me for this)
If there is one video/podcast/DM advice episode out there that tipped me over from "Man, I am fascinated by the DM's role but I could never do that" to "Hey guys, I know I'm the second-newest D&D player here but if ya'll really _do_ want to play a campaign, I could try running one!", it is this one. Thanks, Murph, for saying you ran your 2nd game ever. We're 5 sessions in and having a blast!
I would LOVE to sit down and talk DMing with Brennan. I have been DMing for 20 years or so and have adapted to myself and to my players so many times, that through every episode I keep nodding in agreement, or having counterpoints, or even changing my own opinions WHILE listening. This is fantastic.
I'm a huge horror enthusiast. My homebrew setting and campaign revolves largely around fiends invading the world. I re-skin them to be soo grotesque that my PCs go out of character and say "dude, wtf?! Fuck this thing!!"
stakes is the issue we're having with my current campaign. the worldbuilding my GM came up with is that we were all born about a month ago, fully grown and formed with level one abilities and weapons we were just apparently also born with. and so far we've just been told that our mission is to transport our town population to a new town (i dont even remember if we were given a reason we left our old town) and then given errands at a town we stopped at on the way there. my character is ending up a True Neutral because i truly don't feel compelled by any goals, only a laid back nihilism that's willing to go along with the group even if that means we'll die. but so far we havent been given any villians or overaching conflict, just "here there be monsters" that pop up like pokemon in a field that we roll for initiative to kill
Not for nothing Brennan, these videos are invaluable. I have lots of idea but haven't DM'd for maybe 20yrs. Thank you very much for a refresher on some of the basics behind the DM screen. It really can feel daunting sometimes. I really appreciate your time.
"The Hobbit's better than The Lord of the Rings." I hit that Like button so hard I nearly cracked my keyboard. I mean, I should've done it a dozen times before that point, but that point was like "They are talking to and for ME." PS, Brennan, HMU, I will DM for you at the drop of a hat. No sets, no minis, no sound effects, just a DM who's willing to set you up so you can deliver devastating punches and/or punch lines.
I would love to DM for you Brennan! However I don't see that realistically happening because I'm just some random fan on the internet. Thank you for being such an inspiration and just a downright good human being :)
Just now watching this in 2021. Brennan and Murph give so much confidence to people trying to DM for the first time. Never DM'd and still in my first adventure but I have started trying to figure out the start of my own for when I do and only because of Brennan and Murph saying YOU CAN DO IT!!!!
“Emily is one of the best D&D players in the world...but she was sent from hell to kill me.” This is the best sentence I’ve ever heard.
54:15
Tory Niemann i love the added layer that brennan is saying this to emily’s husband
@@ageneralnuisance1193 And Brian is agreeing, which is the best part!
@@Spetsnaz121 Without hesitation.
@@ageneralnuisance1193 her husband but also he DMs for her on his podcast and she brings that same chaotic energy so Murph gets it.
10:30 When Murph says that having super powers in New York is stupid I couldn’t help but laugh knowing he ends up becoming Kugrash in the unsleeping city.
@OFFICIALGPRIME I thought that too! I can’t help but think that hit Brennan’s confidence a little since this is around when he was probably writing Unsleeping City. Thankfully they still made it!
@@joe.5103 nah, Brennan loves it. They're both from New York, they hate it and love it. They're down for the dirt and nitty gritty of it all.
I think that’s why he played a non human character
I'm pretty sure when this was filmed they were already filming Unsleeping City, so I'm pretty sure it was an in-joke at the time
I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS COMMENT OMG
"There are people who have watched critical role for 4 years and they think they dont know how to play D&D" I have never felt so attacked, that was so me when I started.
To be fair, at this point CR is easily 1000 hours or more, taking all the oneshots, 2 campaigns with 100+ episodes each, and even just the third campaign. C3 will have been running for 30-40 hours by next thursday.
Yup, back in the day, I became the de facto DM of my first ever group. Why? Because I owned the books. Nope, nothing else. I didn't have a scrap of DMing experience, and my only game of D&D had been a random game I got pulled into while at Scout camp.
When Murph said, "People think you can't DM if you've never played or something like that. But someone who has watched Dimension 20 for 30 hours has a much better grasp of the game than someone who's played three times."
And then Brennan said, "If you've watched Fantasy High, you can DM."
I was like OH IT ME
Confidence boost!!!
(I'm about to start DMing my first campaign and I've only played a one-shot.)
Literally I'm binging all their tutorial videos because of FH
Me too!
@Okashi10 good luck with your first campaign as a DM!! I hope you get a good group of players!
@@crimsoncthulhu7027 Thank you! It went really well and my players were good -- but then 2 out of 4 ended up having to quit. 😓
@@okashi10 Despite having a few players quit, it’s still awesome how well it went!! (Not me realizing too late that your comment was from months ago 😬) have you been able to play much more since? I’m still kind of new to D&D world and nervous to start.
"NPCs are there to die and it's up to your players to stop them" has such powerful "Mister police, you could have stopped me; I gave you all the clues" energy.
What is that mister police quote from?
@@octoson5944 The Snowman; a solid Jo Nesbø book, and an unfortunately crap 2017 crime/psych thriller movie.
I definitely see Murph just in his chair looking like he’s trying not to blurt out “STOP FOOLING AROUND, WE’RE ON A TIGHT SCHEDULE”
You can see him physically struggling in the background of some campaigns, it's super funny
My favorite NADDPOD bit is the PC's being too rowdy and Murph calling them all insane and getting onto them. They make him mad lmao. I love it.
*looks into Brennan's dead empty eyes when he talks about only ever levelling up a character to level 7* damn bro I'll give DMing a shot for you, you ok man?
On behalf of all dms ever I think we want Brennan as a player. I have an open slot in my game man
@@xanter4672 Holy shit the feedback he could give me after a session would improve my DMing so much
@@Pein1233 exactly!!
tine stamp?
It's been 2 years how I'd DMing going?
"I wanna play a video game, where i can die forever. That's why I play D&D" -Murph 2019
I'm like "My mans have you heard of hardcore Minecraft or hardcore Diablo"
Not the same thing but still.
@@Quacksaw they didn't say this for context, just for likes.
Low key more games should make you restart at character creation with chance to find your body not already looted.
one of the things i really liked about Fantasy High is the fucking around in the beginning raised the stakes of the first battle, that the funny things they were doing while roleplaying had huge consequences when they entered a battle already at half health. moreso than the fact that two PCs died and Fig had a connection to the lunch lady and two NCPs with personalities that they'd had full conversations with died, I most felt the stakes when the PCs had the realization of "oh fuck, the stupid shit we were doing when no Big Bad had shown up yet had huge consequences, every part of the game matters"
Props to Murph for being one of the longest involved (onscreen) members of Collegehumor.
The song where he and Streeter make fun of Sam is still one of my favourite CH videos.
I wonder when he'll finally graduate college
the look on brennans face when murph mentions a powered adventure in new york doesnt interest him is funny given he then proceeded to give them a powered adventure in new york.. great episode, love these guys
This may be the scene that inspired that setting…
It’s very different from superhero New York. There’s still mysticism, permadeath, and secrecy from normal people.
59:46 “You’re Legolas not Bugs Bunny.” -Murph
Truer words have been said yet
54:00 i think Sophomore Year made everyone notice that Brennan is the type of DM that doesn't say no
(for reference see: Hilda Hilda, disguising yourself as him, and all of Kristen's attempts at ribbon dancing)
He does this thing I have noticed when someone does something absolutely wild in front of an NPC, he will go "Well, everything here checks out" because he knows no sane person would accept this out of hand, but Brennan refuses to say no, so sometimes, people gonna be idiots.
It really adds to the wackiness of his worlds that you can consistently find people that are stupid enough to fall for this stuff.
Yeah, he mentioned in the episode of Adventuring Academy with Marisha Ray that he never says no because its more fun that way
oh no no no he does something far more evil than just say no he runs with it and makes them deal with the consequences of their actions
It's the "yes, and ..." principle in improv. 🙂
Only one minute in, already surprised to hear Brian (and Emily) has only been playing for 3 years. They sound like such naturals when playing
Edit: Okay one hour in, with a teacher like Brennan and hearing him give examples in this podcast, I get it ;)
It really doesn’t take a long time to learn D&D… sure, you can go ham on extra books, but overall it’s just “I’m a character, I do stuff and I want different stuff.”
- 51:23 “The hobbit is better than LOTR”. I love how you can clearly see brennan having a stroke.
"I think NPCs are there to..."
Me, finishing the sentence: "tell a story"
Murph: "torture your players emotionally".
Well...
Same thing!
They can be both
The best way to tell a story with them IS to use them to torture your players. You can do literally any terrible thing you want to an NPC because YOU'RE that character's player.
Attacking a beloved NPC is the fastest way to motivate your players to hate a given threat.
Murph calling Brennan the dad and himself the older brother is so so accurate
"You have super powers but you live in New York? Give me a break."
Oh Murph.
One time I played D&D in the back of a van on a multi-hour road trip. No books, no character sheets, no dice. I flipped a penny to determine dice rolls. Either out of 2 if it's something you're good at; each player got to pick two things their character was "good at." We had a great time.
At that point it’s just a new game, really
@@DeathnoteBB Good point, that is a different game system entirely. It's just that this was the early 80's, so we didn't really have that frame of reference.
Pennies & Pendragons
Character creation:
Describe your character. What they look like, what their backstory is, what their goals are, etcetera.
Next, name 2 things your character is good at, and 1 thing they're bad at. (examples "hitting with a sword," "talking to fancy folk," etc). Being able to cast a spell counts as "something you're good at."
Rules: If you try to do something you're good at, you have to win only 1 out of 2 coin flips.
If you try to do something you're bad at, you have to win both 2 out of 2 coin flips.
For anything else, you only have to win on 1 coin flip.
The DM handles all physical coin flips.
There, that's a complete role playing game. The one we came up with in the back of a van in 1985.
This has inspired me to finish my own roleplaying game. Thank you so much
As a dm I try to be as "Clippy from Word" as I can be: oh, it seems, your are attempting to attack an ennemy that is likely to parry, do you want to add Bardic Inspiration to that roll?" and I think Clippy is the Final Boss of Word.
This comment is the single greatest clippy joke I have ever seen
how relatable to d20's last campaign too lmao
@@mac_sour I was just laughing to myself about the very same thing
39:58 what I understand from this is that after binging Dimension20, Critical Role, and/or other DnD shows you have been basically Mister Miyagi'ed into being able to DM a game even without ever playing one.
“Sand the floor” = “roll your attack with advantage”
“A fondness for dwarves, at the expense of elves”....yeah I feel that
I like this comment, but don't want to ruin the count
@@jeremiahsaxton8967 same!
I’m sorry I disliked this comment in order to get it to the haha number
DM: "You can start out with 1 magic item each."
PC1: "A portable hole."
PC2: "I want a-"
PC1: "Bag of holding, you want a bag of holding."
DM: "Stop trying to nuke my villains at lvl 1."
but it is fun
Let them, wizards always have an illusion take the first hit.
The funny thing is... that doesn't kill villains. It sends them to a random location on the Astral plane. The villain WILL make their way back and they will be pissed.
@@tinkerer3399 By the time that 5th level villain crawls through the multi-verse and find the characters again, it will be level 25 with epic multi-dimensional artefacts of doom!! I like it!!
@@drewcourtney376 yo i want a campaign about the dude travelling through the multiverse just trying to get back to the assholes who flung him into a different plane in their first encounter
When Murph and Brennan said that if you have watched Fantasy High you can DM (40:30) I was filled with a blessing of security I didn't know I wanted. I have been so so nervous about being a DM to my first one-shot having never really played D&D before. Now I'm just super excited, so thank you guys!!
Howd it go?
@@Quantumcross2 our barbarism didn’t roll above a 13 to hit the boss with an AC of 21 and the fighter didn’t do that much better. They liked the puzzles but the consensus was fighting sucks when 6 level-13 PCs take over an hour and a half to kill a dragon because the only two people doing damage are the rogue and paladin.
@@DevonD.B I agree that something went wrong. I looked up what monster would be fairly easy and then threw in a low-ish level wizard just to hope it didn’t go too fast. I think part of the problem was the design of the fight and the other problem is that most of the PCs were first time (or newer) players so level 13 gave them cool stuff to do but not all of them knew what to do with it.
People often bring up improv courses for DMing but one thing you can really take from it is that the rule is not just "yes and".
It is also "yes, BUT" as in, yes you can surf on your shield but it will take a hell of an acrobatics check or you will take damage and maybe fall right into the enemy.
And there is also "no, but" which is "your shield would probably break on those but if you want to do a wild Xena jump off the stars and the wall to land on the enemy and stab them in the neck, you can try!".
I'll throw my hat it, I'd love to DM a game for Brennan. Level 1-20, high fantasy, low fantasy, medium-well fantasy, whatever.
Just wrapped Fantasy High a week ago, and am currently getting every D&D player I know into it.
Keep making awesome stuff, can't wait for season 2!
if it's just a free-for-all, can I play👀
It would be so fun to DM for Brennan!
I'll join!
Brennan Lee Mulligan Build when Tulok.
My favorite concept has always been to get a player like Liam, who usually plays, but has really shown their skill at DMing to do a Forever DM show, where like a bunch of famous DMs get to play a real ongoing campaign together.
Let all these poor bastards really stretch their legs and experience the game from the other side.
It would be an absolute nightmare to schedule, since all these shows record and air on different days and times, but I imagine it would be the D&D event of the century if you actually got a bunch of the big DMs together. Of course, now Aabria is DMing for both Brennan and Matt, in separate shows, so the two biggest DMs actually have games to play, but it would still be fun.
Watching Murph breakdown why the avengers lost in infinity war so brashly dug up all that pain i thought had been resolved.
When Murph did that fake laugh beat the beginning and was like “come on, focus up gang” all I could hear was Ren from Naddpod 😂
Jesus I heard denny😂😂😂
And those characters are so different
@@hankotron nah both are craven lmao
Seeing a short of "If you watched all of Fantasy High, you can DM" kickstarted my spiral into this hobby. I started DMing because of this show.
Same. This february I had been binging CR for a year, and was desperate to find a game to join. I watched this clip, went to a party and instantly recruited all of my friends nerdy roommates who apparently all harbored secret desires to play d&d as well, and have so far been dm’ing three super fun sessions like I’ve done it for years. 👀✨👌
This is awesome @thaleiagames
I’m starting to realize all of Murph’s characters are short non-human characters.
You haven't watched "A Crown of Candy" then
TheHuggableMrHuggles no, I sadly haven’t
The last two NADDPOD "seasons" murph has played normal people in the context of the story and it's very fun.
@@fairydustcryptid although you gotta admit his dmpc for the first season was amazing, hated him at first, then loved him within some few episodes
@@Guyacrossthestreet Balnor was not a DMPC. An NPC that the party adopts is not a DMPC. That's a specific thing, which Balnor was not.
Brennan talking about playing dnd one on one with his brother really resonated with me. My Dad taught me math by playing DnD with me when I was five years old. He played two of the other characters and I had a human fighter named Roger haha. I cherish the memories of that campaign, going from 1st level peons to 12th level feudal lords, riding hippogriffs etc. I also grew to be able to play the other two characters as the campaign took place over about 3 years. Some incredible memories of that time :)
54:15 for anyone wondering where that Emily callout was
It was also a Tanner callous right before, he tried to mate call bullywogs and failed.
I had watched College Humor for a long time, and Murph was always my favorite. Now I'm just pissed that I learned his name isn't just Murph. I thought that was his first name.
he basically is just Murph Caldwell called him Brian once and Emily got mad because that's her brothers name
I mean even on the tv show version of Adam ruins everything they always just called him Murph, even his tv parents always called him Murph
Murphy Brian.
We've lucked out with our D&D group.
"Nobody ever wants to DM."
I'm literally the fourth person in our five-person group to start watching these videos and read the DMG because I want to DM.
Like, I already knew that Murph was the perfect man, but the line "The Hobbit's better than Lord of the Rings" really made me remember that
Someone get Murph a dice tower! I curse every dice I touch and my stats improved once I got one and was able to take myself out of the rolling equation
I thought Siobhan got them all dice towers for Unsleeping City S1?
@@romxxii ally wont be needing em😂, they are the god of dice
@@romxxii got them dice boxes, not towers ^_^
I'm going to DM my first game ever, I've never played before ever. Planning was honestly incredibly daunting almost until the point where I almost gave up and canceled, but watching this has filled me with determination, and I'm really excited again to do this.
Yeah! That’s awesome, how’d it go?
My brother and I started playing only verbally - no dice or character sheets or stats - just storytelling with a character and a DM - like psychos. haha
Im late to the comment but I love this
My brother did that once with me. I threw a fish at the bad guy mid speech. It was great.
This is such a fun way to play. I do this sometimes for 30minute one shots with my pals at the bar. We just base everything on raw d20s rolled on the phone.
That's how I got into Roleplaying as well. 8th grade tutorial and lunch, me and two friends, one being the storyteller (dm). Only it was a modern slightly futuristic Scarface esque mobster campaign where the other player and I were friends coming up in a new city building our reknown. Eventually we took down our boss, made it big, and the other PC betrayed me down the line so he could be the Don. Ended with me barely escaping getting tortured in his mansion, making it to my secret hideout to get my mech suit that I'd been secretly dumping all of my profits into and a having it out in a final showdown. Weird how memories of something like that stick around 20 years later.
That's just role playing lol, used to do that on warrior cats amino
42:14 Micro parties are great man, I've run a few smaller groups throughout the years including a buddy-cop style campaign with just me and my moms.
Murph is such a great DM.
Speaking on settlement sizes, there is a small place near where I live that is Thorpe sized. It's called Upton, and there are only 18 properties, and some families own multiple of them. All in all I think around 35 people live there, so it's not so unrealistic even today.
(Note that I am also in the UK, so this isn't even some remote Alaskan community. It's 35 minutes out from a decently large city, and only an hour or so from Cambridge.
"unless ally beardsley rolls a nat 20, which happens a LOT." oh k2 how i adore thee
I remember when I started I had a group that had never really played and we all just jumped in. I have been the forever DM ever since and absolutely LOVE IT. When it comes to anything it’s always best to fuck around and find out
this is why i love playing D&D with my theatre crew, because we all have that basic understanding of "character need motivation"
The "bullies in town" comment reminds me of a time I had someone be rude to a customer service worker in a game and a player was like. I'm going to threaten this man's life
That circle and slightly larger circle that Murph mentioned is exactly what I'm doing as a DM and I thought that was just me being lazy and inexperienced. Apparently I'm doing great
Brennan: start in a small village or setting
Also Brennan: so we’re in NYC
Yeah but Brennan’s spent more than half his life doing this
@@itslexactually Yeah but he said in the episode that his skill hasn't exponentially grown just for time-spent playing. Obviously he was exaggerating a bit, but at the same time his style of DMing seems to be based on innate ability.
You can't replicate the way someone's brain works via practice, and the closest thing IRL to that concept would be some brainwashing cult shit.
I did not experience Emily's mentor hanging from a noose.
But I have experienced my own moments like that. I can feel that righteous rage. And its one of the reasons I love DnD.
Having the power to say no, AND THEN do something about it, is amazing.
Riz fits Murph so well. He’s a nice guy who very quickly reveals a morbid fascination with being a gun toting badass.
"FOCUS-UP, GANG!!!"
As someone whose never played before but has watched season 1 and 2 of Fantasy High two times through, that one bit at 40:00 really calmed my nerves about DMing a campaign in a few weeks. :)
“I’m building a tolerance, I need some weirder shit to do it for me” ... a phrase used in every category of life 😉
3:01 Murph internaly considers becoming a competitive gambler
Riz was always the one to finish off the bosses
I'n running a game club in my university and a tiktok clip of this interview gave me the courage to finally start DMing (I tried it once like 5 years ago and it was a really bad experience, none of it was enoyable) and realising that watching your games actually gave me more experience and knowledge of this game than playing 3 times a year with my cousins pushed me. Thank you so much, I'm binge watching this podcast while creating a setting to get more ideas and pointers and I can wait to make all of my players have fun!
"Share the inspirations"
That's the solid advice there! I tell my players that default inspirations are Immigrant Song, Princess Mononoke, and 13th Warrior, until they choose new ones in Session Zero. Touchstones are essential!
"You are legolass, you are not bugs bunny" must be one of the best advice for dming I have heard. Also Aikido your players into more sensible solutions. Awesome conversation guys. (this was 4 years agio, holymolly, I´m seriously behind on my media consuming habits)
Brennan has to get on Naddpod
This is all I want
he is finally on there!!
Deadeye was amazing
The crick’s gunslinger with no skin on his finger
This thread of comments was terrific.
9:46 this whole conversation reminds me of in Neverafter Brennan warned them if they fought against the Stepmother it would end babdly. It would not be good. She was very strong. We all know what happened there.
If your DM the person who created the bad guy is like,"hey maybe think about fighting this person, they are very bad news." Maybe think about fighting that person!
It worked out in the end but yowza.
Brenan that poor soul of a forever Dm I see and have lived your pain, I hope in this last year you have managed to get a game in (thought with the new seson of D20 that seems to have happend). Just know you would be welcome in any of my games, thought im shure the comment was more a joke XD
If I could DM for Brennan just once in my life it would make my life a good one regardless of any future events
Holy crap this interview perfectly captures my current dilemma. Players give me character traits without goals so I'm having a difficult time hooking them narratively. But now I'm working with them to discuss motivations. Very informative interview 10/10.
"You're Legolas not bugs bunny" is one of the most important things a DM can learn for player moderation.
Murphs face when he says "it's great" talking about how much fun it is to DM for emily and her dad is so wholesome. Truly the ideal wife guy
“We all have a favorite Knight of the Round Table, right?”
You have inspired me to not only take an improv class, but also to give d&d another chance (I started with Rifts and Vampire)
As a newer dm, a copy of your initiative sheet Brennan would be amazing! If not its cool just I heard about the concept of that and I literally stood up and freaked out at how smart that is.
40:12 this is so true, the first time I ever played D&D I only told the party it was my first time playing after the session was over and none of them believed me because I had such a good understanding of the game already just from Binge watching fantasy high.
43:30 Brennan I will DM you bro... past level 7! Just please, don't look into the camera and convey that sadness again, I wasn't ready for it and it hit me like a truck.
4:30 I introduced my big D&D nerd friend to fantasy high, and she nearly had a conniption over how pretty much none of the casters had offensive cantrips. I can only imagine how Murph feels as they were all laughing about the corn cuties with their little butts.
Honestly I think this is one of my top 10 favourite videos on TH-cam. I've listened to this podcast at least half a dozen times and I'm still finding new nuggets of advice to glean from it. So much of my philosophy on how I play d&d comes from this podcast. Thank you for being willing to share it :)
I actually had a player do that roll three nat 20's in a roll he wanted to tame this custom wolf i created he was a fighter not a ranger too but he rolled 3 nat 20 in a roll and i didnt know what to do after that other than give him the wolf
I had a player roll 6 nat 20s and that got them a very powerful death robot that they were meant to fight. I’ve added mechanics for balancing but it was just so perfect that I couldn’t not give it to them.
As an aspiring dm whose only ran one session I rewatch these all the time. I was in highschool when I ran a module for my friends who couldn’t care less about ttrpgs and my biggest regret is not talking more with them about the world and what they wanted to see and do in it. I was so stressed about the mechanics I wanted a easy introduction to the game for them rather than making sure they we all had fun. Modules are really appealing but don’t leave much room for what you’re passionate about so I think I wouldn’t use them again.
Man this interview/ hangout was so good! First time Dm here, and I've writing notes furiously from both Brennan and Murph. Comparatively I think I'm approaching it correctly by what they're saying, but they added so much to think about. Gonna start doing pre encounters and the tabs with laptop.
Speaking of starting a campaign in a smaller town, something I noticed Fantasy High did was starting with a vague map of areas with only a few established buildings, and the map added important locations gradually and naturally as the PCs discovered them.
You could do a similar thing as a DM with a couple prepared buildings for the PCs to discover so that you don’t have to flesh out every building of every city.
I'm hearing this as a dm to a 5 year old toddler, wanting to take the advice but can't. So far, I've only introduced her deaths when she's being reckless with her accumulated pets. But she's very fond of a scaredy cat werewolf sworn to protect her and cleric grandmother who keeps giving her cookies for health points. Glad I found this video tho, been wanting to find ways on how to raise stakes on a story I'm giving to a very rapt 5 year old.
When I saw this I had already seen most of NADDPod and all of Fantasy High, and I was inspired to DM my first game which was so fun, even though I’d never played before!
I love that, as a second time DM, who hadnt been able to play OR DM for ages, I'm watching this video and I do almost all of the tips. I fucking love this. (Im a teacher and also a writer and obsessed with story telling and writing. I am perfectly equipped to DM, so this is not a flex but an appreciation for all the loves of my life that prepared me for this)
If there is one video/podcast/DM advice episode out there that tipped me over from "Man, I am fascinated by the DM's role but I could never do that" to "Hey guys, I know I'm the second-newest D&D player here but if ya'll really _do_ want to play a campaign, I could try running one!", it is this one. Thanks, Murph, for saying you ran your 2nd game ever. We're 5 sessions in and having a blast!
I would LOVE to sit down and talk DMing with Brennan. I have been DMing for 20 years or so and have adapted to myself and to my players so many times, that through every episode I keep nodding in agreement, or having counterpoints, or even changing my own opinions WHILE listening. This is fantastic.
I'd DM for Brennan any day, I'd love that, kinda setting up my own community to run games for newbies and forever DMs.
Fantasy high + Naddpod, thank you universe
Me, over four years later, with two young children and a full time job: Brennan Lee Mulligan, I would DM for you any day.
I'm a huge horror enthusiast. My homebrew setting and campaign revolves largely around fiends invading the world. I re-skin them to be soo grotesque that my PCs go out of character and say "dude, wtf?! Fuck this thing!!"
stakes is the issue we're having with my current campaign. the worldbuilding my GM came up with is that we were all born about a month ago, fully grown and formed with level one abilities and weapons we were just apparently also born with. and so far we've just been told that our mission is to transport our town population to a new town (i dont even remember if we were given a reason we left our old town) and then given errands at a town we stopped at on the way there. my character is ending up a True Neutral because i truly don't feel compelled by any goals, only a laid back nihilism that's willing to go along with the group even if that means we'll die. but so far we havent been given any villians or overaching conflict, just "here there be monsters" that pop up like pokemon in a field that we roll for initiative to kill
Sounds boring.
I suggest you suggest to your DM an adventure module to follow
@@EsquilaxM yeah she was trying to reinvent DnD from scratch, idk, it kinda just fell apart
The pieces seem like they’re there for a good campaign tbh. If your DM did a little more fine tuning it could’ve been great.
its funny how murph is like "you have super powers and you live in new york?" and then he goes on to be rat jesus of NYC
53:35 looking at you Caldwell lol
Not for nothing Brennan, these videos are invaluable. I have lots of idea but haven't DM'd for maybe 20yrs. Thank you very much for a refresher on some of the basics behind the DM screen. It really can feel daunting sometimes. I really appreciate your time.
"the characters are Legolas, they are not Bugs Bunny" might be some of the best DM advice I've ever heard.
I will DM for you Brennan! Haha, I can't even imagine how incredibly fun that would be.
Brennan, I'm about 4 years late to this party, but if you're ever in Arizona, I will absolutely DM for you. Snacks included.
"The Hobbit's better than The Lord of the Rings." I hit that Like button so hard I nearly cracked my keyboard. I mean, I should've done it a dozen times before that point, but that point was like "They are talking to and for ME."
PS, Brennan, HMU, I will DM for you at the drop of a hat. No sets, no minis, no sound effects, just a DM who's willing to set you up so you can deliver devastating punches and/or punch lines.
I know I am late to this, but I really get Murph's POV of video games as his inspiration.
Dude, murphy is so cool
Imagine playing d&d with your wife and her father
That's the dream
54:05 I completely respect his bugs bunny rule. LOL
DMing for Brennan would be both a wonderful gift and a horrifying curse
The two rule enforcers. I love them so much
I would love to DM for you Brennan! However I don't see that realistically happening because I'm just some random fan on the internet. Thank you for being such an inspiration and just a downright good human being :)
This is all really good advice, one of the best of the series. Thanks Brennan and Murph!
Just now watching this in 2021. Brennan and Murph give so much confidence to people trying to DM for the first time. Never DM'd and still in my first adventure but I have started trying to figure out the start of my own for when I do and only because of Brennan and Murph saying YOU CAN DO IT!!!!