RUMORS | TTRPG | Dungeons and Dragons | Web DM
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2020
- Psst! Wanna know a secret? Rumors are an amazing way to give out lore and plot hooks in your D&D or TTRPG campaign, but there's a right way to do it. We're gonna tell you how we get the word out!
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Keep it secret. Keep it save.
This is the absolute best thumbnail you've ever made. Well done
Best thumbnail of 2020
It's one of or favorites too. Producer Trav is a wonder.
I was going to come here to say the same thing. Just hang it up because this still killed me. Was a pretty priceless notification to get.
Truly
God tier
Jim has power over his facial hair, unlike Matt Colville who struggles to ensure his facial hair doesn't become sentient and take control
Vegas242 I thought I was the only one who noticed how insane his beard and hair are 😂
@@wrightjustin23 That and I swear there was a bit in one of his videos where he says he needs to cut his hair so it doesn't take control
Vegas242 I hope I can find that video one of these days lol
Jim's beard was possessed by a poltergeist, and he had to shave it off as part of the exorcism ritual. Hs old beard is now locked in a lead box that was buried in the desert. Watch out when you're traveling in west Texas.
Hey, let's consider ourselves lucky for now. Sideburns can come back into style any day now. What are we going to do when Pruitt goes full mutton chops, huh? We got to look at this stuff so just... .Just don't encourage them.
Big fan of the Fleetwood mac reference in the thumbnail
We think it's pretty off The Chain
@@WebDM Youuuuuu, you making watching DnD youtube videos fun. (That's all I want to do)
@@WebDM *BASs LIiNe IntENsiFiEs*
@@WebDM you'll never break it
Well if they do let me down, I may never DM again 🎶🎵 (I tried)
WebDM officially wins the "Video Thumbnail to Rule All Thumbnails" award.
I 2nd this!!
I thought the won it with the Feats thumbnail
Getting rumors from talking animals reminds me of a particular bit of mythology: drinking dragon's blood confers the ability to understand the language of birds.
What if any character who has ingested dragon blood gains access to a special bird rumor table? This can also include Draconic Sorcerers, who often have dragon blood flowing through their veins (and may or may not have gained their powers by drinking dragon blood themselves). The same can be said of Dragonborn, or for Warlocks that have pseudodragon familiars (who can relay bird speech through their telepathic bond).
Most of the time, what they hear from birds out in the world is bird-business. Where seeds are, greetings to their mates, rumors about owl or falcon sightings, etc. But sometimes, the character will pick up something interesting, like the presence of a enormous beast flying over the mountains, or rumors of a huge number of humanoid carcasses in the forest.
Stealing this.
**I’m glad we’re finally addressing the beard, it’s about time**
Pruitt as Stevie Nicks is a mood I didn't know I needed.
@Bill Simmons You bet!
@Bill Simmons Have a blessed day.
@Bill Simmons no need to be an asshole
One of my DMs would give us a newspaper type handout with 5 or 6 “articles” in it when ever we would have a month or more of down time in game.
@21:40 I once ran a game where I had a rival party of NPC competing against the PCs every step of the way. I would play the "Rival's theme" from "Pokémon Red & Blue'' every time they entered a scene. The PCs eventually out grew them and they found it really satisfying. Our bard actually said was more excited about forcing their rivals into retirement than she was about beating the BBEG
"The first person to hear a parrot speak probably wasn't ok for days."
Walked away with tons of ideas from this episode. Well done.
Glad to hear it!
Pruitt's lack of whispering, "Tid bits" at 1:17 upset me more than it should have.
Every time this video comes up on youtube I realize this is the absolute best thumbnail ever made.
My solo campaign accidentally stumbled into a big damn Quest. when improvising a rumor about a warring Nation capturing towns folk, my dm decided then that these were actually cultists.
This in turn added to the natural paranoia of the world, and gave a mystery to solve. Very useful in Game
best wilderness adventure rumour source: Mad Mardigan caged up at the crossroads.
Legend says there is a city of gold deep beneath the town, but turns out its just a portal to the City of Brass.
I just hope Jim was actually okay with regrowing his beard, and it wasn't the community that pressured him in to it with contant pestering... Yes, him without a beard was strange... but still, it's his choice, his beard, let the man do what he wants.
The complaint about a coaching inn being anachronistic to the medieval era gave me a chuckle. Tech level wise, your fantasy settings tend to be very late medieval anyway. Second, coaching houses were a pre medieval development. They were present along trade routes and major travel corridors of empires. Europe lacking them in the early middle ages had more to do with Europe's particular circumstances than the general conditions of medieval societies. (And smaller inns and taverns were always around, although sometimes they were more official venues such as the town's meeting hall. In fact the word ”meet” came from ”meeting” which was ”meading” which was to have a drink with someone. Because people would meet to do business and small talk in the same place where they went to get some mead. And if the town doesn't have a tavern you don't even have a town. But just because all the infrastructure wasn't in place doesn't mean the landscape is just a bunch of scattered farms with the occasional thug in a fort. (We called that period the dark ages and they only lasted a century or two.)
20:31 The problem a lot of DMs have with sandbox style games imho is they ignore the wilderness and only think of destinations. Discovering a random beast lair while traveling, tracking it down, maybe encountering a few surprises along the way - all of that can be cooked up on the fly, and give you a session to lay out a plot for a location your players are traveling towards. That way you don't create whole extended plot lines that they never think to go down and which end up "wasted".
I heard that you heard that sally heard from WebDM that rumors don't get used enough in D&D.
Wow, Pruitt Nicks and Jim Fleetwood. Don't Stop, Hold On and Go On Your Way guys. You Always Make Lovin D&D Fun.
When u need to add stuff to ur resume and u remember when u helped some friends with their essays in highschool*
4:34
Watching this video made me want to flip through my old Final Fantasy Tactics strategy guide, read all the descriptions of rumors in the tavern rumors sidequest appendix, and then translate them into rough outlines for sidequests.
13:14 This is such awesome advice for session zero that I don't usually see on people's checklists. Even if you're a DM who hyermanages their world without much player input, having players just come up with rumors for you that you're open to use (or not!) is such an excellent way to immediately start engaging the players with the setting and game.
A+ on that thumbnail producer Trav.
Great work guys! I love using rumors, and have tried to make them an integral part of every campaign, and even one-shots. They do occasionally backfire, as my ridiculous players hear a rumor that is more interesting than the intended plot-hook and immediately derail my plans. The other side of that gold piece is that those derailments have led to some amazing and fun impromptu adventures.
See 11:32 - "...there is adventure to be had."
Have dead ends resolve quickly,or you can have the bad leads move to a secondary route that leads to the same place.
“Meanwhile in the Far Realm...” - love it
One often overlooked use for rumours in a campaign is for NPCs to spread rumours about the PCs, suggesting that they are nasty, evil and not to be trusted.
PCs to bartender: Hey Mac, three ales and have you heard any rumours today?
Bartender: Well, this Bard was in last night and he told everyone about this group of horrible adventurers who murdered their henchmen so they didn't have to give them a share of the treasure.....
I think an interesting way to use rumors is to have rumors about the players spread. False rumors can serve as an adventure hook where they have to figure out who is lying about them and stop the lies.
That thumbnail though!
As always, love the intro!
I have never physically reacted to a thumbnail... Until today. Well done web DM.
As a new DM, your advice is a lifesaver for building a campaign. Learning from all of your expertise is always a wonderful inspiration for creating content. Thank you guys so much!
Revisiting this video in preparation for my new campaign. Super helpful! Thanks guys!
I've used rumor tables to great success with one shots. I have each player roll on the table and the result is a rumor their character starts the game with. It give the players a little piece of info they can RP with, find clues about, and reveal to each other.
Needed a great WebDM video today. Thanks gang! Great thumbnail!
This information is going to be so useful. I'm building a couple of adventurers that (hopefully) leads to a campaign. In the initial adventures, the party is going to be one of those "behind the scenes" groups tasked with trying to befriend and ally nobles, functionaries, and important people in a kingdom to their "patron" (Or replace those people with others who are receptive to working for their patron.) I want the group to identify who they should target, figure out how they're going to influence the target, do the required deeds, and then either use it to incur favor or just straight out blackmail them. (Think of The Vorlons and The Shadow from Babylon 5 and how they interacted with other groups..)
Rumor of a love cleric
That is the best thumbnail you have ever used. I love this channel!
Love that thumbnail. Can't wait to listen to this episode!
That is legitimately the funniest thumbnail I have ever been to blessed to see.
The thumbnail for this video is life!
your best thumbnail of all time, good job
Best thumbnail ever. You guys make some really amazing videos. This is great advice for spicing up your campaign.
I like the "Mad Lib" style of random rumor/secrets table: Write 6 (or more) true rumors all in the same format, such as --
Someone/Something
Did Something
To/With Someone/Something
In/At Some Place
(Optional) For Some Purpose / To Some Consequence
Roll a d6 for each of those parts (adjust grammar as necessary) to come up with a random rumor that has true pieces, but not necessarily in a true order.
If you have more rumors, use bigger dice.
Depending what comes out, the players might easily recognize it as absurd, or it will sound plausible enough to be actionable. And once in a while, the players will hear a true or mostly true rumor.
After hearing enough mixed up rumors from this table, the players can probably piece together what the truth is.
LOVE the 2d6 use - very inspiring! Thank you :-)
I haven't even watched the video, I just wanted to say that the thumbnail is the best one I've ever seen.
Possibly my fave Web DM thumbnail. Also dope episode as always
Love how Pruitt pulls Jim in when he gets too vague and forces examples and stuff
omg your intro had me in stitches, love you guys!
"Bee Yark" means we surrender in Goblin
or so they say
This thumbnail is amazing. Love what you guys do!
Thank you Gareth!
Very inspirational. Thanks guys!
On your brief comment about comprehend languages, the spell says 'litteral meaning'. So, thieves cant, for example, might seem completely ridiculous. "Two birds fly over, one bird lands".
Or, pull from Star Trek TNG, "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" it's something players might need to infer through investigation of a culture, make history checks, or simply go through other rooms to understand the cultural significance of what it means.
If you read "The next room is pulling teeth," and didn't know that turn of phrase, they may believe something very, very wrong.
You had me with that opening!
thumbNAILED IT
I'm stealing this one. Lol
25:00 ish is where the 2d6 table review comes in - good stuff!
Love the Fleetwood Mac thumbnail!!!! I am putting together my rumor tables now.
Thank you for your sacrifice, Pruitt.
Cool video and great thumbnail! I wrote down that chart for resolving old rumours and plot hooks. Then made my own d20 version. Great stuff!
Cool
There it is. You’ve made the best thumb nail. You win TH-cam.
Finally the truth we have all waited for!!!
I think it's great, just how good Jim's face looks on Mic Fleetwood's body... And Pruitt looks fab too😜
Nice vid you guys are always spot on.
That is the best tittle card you guys have ever done
Saved the thumbnail to a folder labelled homework
Please keep the videos and discussion coming. Love everything you guys cover. One of the few things I look forward to is a new upload every Wednesday.
Thank you Kevan! Hang in there
Web DM the only other thing is Friday night game nights!
That thumbnail is awesome.
Rumors are HUGE for me - they allow a nice balance between the Big Damn Railroad and a completely player-directed campaign. Helps to avoid choice paralysis without placing too much pressure on them to do something which may or may not interest them
That is such a great thumbnail.
I want an MtG playmat of that thumbnail. So help me lard, it's a thing of beauty.
The thumbnail is beautiful
This is such a useful video! I run a sandbox game and am never sure how to update my rumors, if I just keep throwing the same ones in there until someone does something with them, etc. Thanks for the tips!
Rumors used well are a great way to railroad a sandbox, and get murder hobos on track. As a DM you can even drop rumors like, 'the local noble wizard run a strict law and order, too many sword fights and they'll curse you. I know a guy it happened to named NPC Jones who runs the Tavern." That way you keep a murder hobo under control, and give characters something to go after. Low and behold turns out NPC Jones has a rumor that undead have been rising in the old swamp. If your players say screw that then and go another way, then they hear a rumor that a lich is raising an undead army in the swamp that will bring a zombie apocalypse if left unchecked. etc.
My very first RPG experience was a super simplified game I created for my 9 year old daughter and her friend. I placed an Inn at the entrance to the city, with an upstairs floor where a ghost boy would give them a warning not to trust the “priest” in the church. They went into the inn, talked to some dwarves and the barkeep, then proceeded to leave. I went “uhhh you know these stairs lead to a second floor, dont you wanna see whats up there?”, they just went “Nah, lets go check out the church”, where I then chose to play the priest with the most shady behavior ever. Didn’t work, not even a little. They did everything he asked, including killing two holy warriors and taking the holy water out behind the church and tossing it. The holy water which were suppose to be the only way to take out the main boss... We all learned a lot that day!
as soon as you started talking about giving coins to the beggars i heard a parody of toss a coin to your witcher coming on
I like this just for the ancient oriental dragon, I was planning on buying that one soon for my game!
How dare you two sully one of the greatest albums of all time, also thank you
39:50 Cool idea! The Rogue needs to pick a lock, but the trick is that this lock integrated into a door must be submerged in water to actually move the tumblers to pick it. It opens easily when the priest of Evil Elemental Water wants to enter that part of the complex, but how can this halfling accomplish the deed?
Thank you for the thumbnail lol
Best vid pic so far! Lol
Watched entirely because of the thumbnail
I ran a pretty open ended witcher style game and the rumors and folk tales were great "what do we want to do today?" sidequest introductions. It makes the world feel more than 1 dimensional
It's the Return of the Beard!!!
Lets get it, WebDM
Good timing. Attempting a sandbox style game where the players haven't told anyone else their backstories.
Beware Of Travis = ironically classic dungeon graffiti from module B3 Palace of the Silver Princess
Popped hard hearing heels xD
In the military we called it RUMINT, poking fun at HUMINT (human intelligence) and SIGINT (signals intelligence). All were widely regarding with suspicion.
I love sandbox hexcrawls... I'm gonna start running a darksun game like next month.
My party just arrived in town and csused so much of a ruckus, we became a rumor table.
Best cover is the one that changes.
I tried using rumors as plothooks in my campaign once but unfortunately my players are still shy with the whole roleplaying thing so they never try to pursue anything. they still prefer that I tell them whats going on straight up and then they tackle on the problem how they want.
Maybe you guys can do a show about tool proficiencies, and how to flesh them out more? Maybe even ideas for new tool kits
Whenever a beard is shaved a flumph loses a tentacle.
That cover image
I love this thumbnail. Did you get it secondhand, like your rumors?
your thumbnails elevate your videos lol
The secret to a good sandbox is to give the players multiple options that all have the same conclusion. This is especially true when doing rumors. A lot of times, rumors that seem like obvious plot hooks to the DM will be completely missed by the players. For instance, you tell the players that their is a Troll in the hills outside town. If conflicting rumors come from multiple sources, all talking about the troll, the players may decide the troll problem isn't very interesting or beneath them, and pass on it. Alternatively, you can present a troll problem, a woman being accused of being a witch, a demon circle found in the woods, and a constable of questionable character. The players can follow any of these leads. What they don't know is all 4 of these options leads to the same conclusion. A troll is abducting children for a witch coven that is sacrificing children to summon a demon and the constable has falsely accused an innocent woman. This keeps the players guessing with multiple options, without providing any false leads. Sand boxing isn't letting the players do whatever, its providing multiple options to the same adventure.
When designing an adventure, the DM only needs to come up with one adventure, but provide multiple hooks, or entry points. All rumors should be true. They don't need to be accurate, but they should be true and strictly from the perspective of the person perceiving them. You can lie to the players, just don't blatantly lie. For instance, there is a powerful artifact in a cave. Instead of making this a false rumor, leading to disappointment when the players find nothing of value, make it true, but subvert their expectations. The artifact is powerful, but was placed their by a fey that relishes torturing and tormenting would be adventurers. Even worse, the villagers who spread the rumor are in league with the fey, or are fey themselves. This makes the problem a lot bigger than discovering a non-existent artifact.
Regardless, the DM should be having fun first. If the DM is enjoying themselves, the quality of the game is higher, and the players will have more fun.
For example, when i was running Dragon Heist, i went off script twice. One of my players was an Orphan Child, so I had a whole thing where Waterdeep children were being sucked into the sewers and eaten by a monster, IT style. Then I had Presto, from the 1980s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon show, now a powerful lich, show up at the player's tavern, mourning the tragic deaths of his friends. Presto and Bobby, now a middle-aged drunk enlists the heroes to recover their friends weapons and bodies in a section of Under Mountain. What they didn't know was that Presto had some evil intentions beyond resurrecting his friends.
Neither of these were part of the Dragon Heist adventure, but something i came up with while running it. Sure, I could have waited until the adventure was done, but injecting them in the middle made the adventure more dynamic and interesting to the players, made the game funner for me, and gave my players more personal goals with their own sense of urgency. (on a side note, the problem with that adventure seemed to be that it focused on other people's problems with very little player investment.)
Thumbnail totally freaked me out. Thank you for the morning sanity check.