Our mage Ali`ana was raised by a bard she sucked at singing but excelled at magic. So, what she did to become a bard of renown, she used programed illusion, to create cinematic cubes of their adventures. She would show them in the royal theatre, for a gold. Then show the adventure, a few months delayed at the merchant's hall, for a silver, then eventually to the common halls, for a copper. Because they were programmed illusion anyone could be M.C. in her absence. But the adventuring group became famous, because they were featured in "the programs". As the cinematic cubes were spread from place to place around the world their fame grew and their presence was requested by more and more countries and peoples with problems, until they couldn't find a place to just rest. This is my favorite example of "Yes, But..." Yes, you can make your party movie stars. But, then you have to deal with the fallout of making yourselves famous. Villains would make preemptive strikes against them, taverns wanted you to kill the rats in their basement, you are called to rescue every dragon taken captive by a maiden. Ali`ana's Magical Cinema kind of blew up in their face. Great video, they always bring some story or other to mind, sorry.
Great story! And it perfectly illustrates the "yes, but..." aspect of player creativity and storytelling general. Sometimes success can bring about more problems than failure, or at the least walking away from some opportunity. Sometimes it works out just fine, which keeps your players trying, but the more memorable stories come from when something unexpected happened!
I have a half giant barbarian in my campaign that I am running. The group is investigating this area fighting a race of rat creatures. The party is hurt, barbarian is at one HP so the group is looking for a rest place. The ho into a room and see a large room with a sand arena 4 heavily armed guards and a warlord is. He challenges the barbarian to a one on one fight. The boss is huge with a big weapon and heavy armor. He has no chance, but tells the group "I got this" he rages and five attempts wins a contested shove throwing the boss like a child, demoralizing the guards, humiliating the boss and winning the fight. I gave him 2 inspiration and the group went nuts. Hi ideas and I had not planned for it
Right on the money! I love when my players come up with a creative solution to a problem that I had not even thought of. It makes for such a better experience for all. My favorite conversations are the ones that start "you remember that time when we...".
I created a new Cantrip/Spell that I think all adventuring party members should automatically get. It's called: "Cleanliness" & it only requires verbal and somatic components and starts as a Cantrip with 1 minute casting time. You point either at yourself or any point 10 feet away and say 'May it be Cleansed' then it forms a wave of steamy magical energy that doesn't deal damage/cause harm or damage in a 30 foot radius from point of impact. It genuinely cleans all Dust, Dirt, Grime, Stains, Bad Bacteria, Bad Viruses, Bad Mold, and Mildew in the area of effect leaving a clean area that smells citrusy fresh. It can be upcast up to 9th level as long as you have spell slots, each spell slot level increases the radius by 10 feet (so for example upcast to 9th level it has a 120 foot radius). If you want to include it in your games I think your players might enjoy it. Anyway, keep up the good work.
I absolutely agree. As player, our DM loves it when we pull at the strings he leaves all over the place. I myself an building a shrine for my cleric's religion in a rival faith's territory. Our other player is engaging with a love affair that was flung on them by a failed carousing check. It's a super fun, easy, and rewarding way to add verisimilitude to the setting for sure.
I thought about mentioning how the risks go up, but now you've got an even longer video. But it's great when the players actively raise those risks creatively for a bigger reward.
I had a boss fight from rime frost maiden, his brain was in a jar on top a enchanted suit armor. Players used a knock spell to unscrew the jar. Boss failed his save and his brain rolled out and splat to the ground. Totally cool boss fight ending
Very clever indeed! Though, a GM might say that a knock spell RAW is "A target that is held shut by a mundane lock or that is stuck or barred becomes unlocked, unstuck, or unbarred." Does that open the item, or do you still have to do that yourself?
@@DDHomebrew definitely is, I remember this one and the one with the wizard pointing at the cleric in the single player adventure in the box very well 😂 hell I can draw that dungeon from memory
Good video. I sometimes use the 5e initiative points for creativity but im not in love with the system. More often its not a literal reward but ill have creativity open a new plot thread that i know the player will like
Do you mean hero points? And I tend to keep them low to avoid characters metagaming for them. But when the players open up a story thread from their creativity I'm all for it.
Multiple funny memories over the years, .. a.) DM, well she random rolled an encounter and results came up as a juvie red dragon. She goes into role play mod and trips all over her togue stuttering the whole red dragon thing. Another player stuck a peanut butter cheese cracker to the roof of his mouth and mock the DM with his cheesy ham up red dragon with a stuttering problem of his own. The table roared in laughter, DM gives the angry sister look of " You will suffer and die to pay for that," .. look. Guest who ended up PCing that juvie red dragon for the rest of the campaign ? The peanut butter cheese cracker guy ! b.) Uh, mmm That PC guy .. in Forgotten Realms/ Waterdeep campaign. WotC3e system DM says her game will start out at 5th-level multiclass character level. Or a 3rd-level spellcaster with two caster class level Xp to gp value of self-made magic items worth of trade goods for equipment. I throw out two characters .. Paladin of Fizz Ban the Red Wizard, bard3/sorcerer1/rogue2/fighter2 CR:8 with atk+4 .. That PC guy .. had a very outgoing personality and a complete dim wit iddiot who normal you won't let handle sharp objects without hurting himself. Mentality of a child enacting a satire bard tale of a noble paladin. " Pure Comic Relief." Calls all hin/halfling Kender. He is serious crazy Neutral/chaotic neutral Good. Very easy to lie too. Few players, .. this is Forgotten Realms not Dragonlance. Me, .. it is all Fantasy and this is .. Silly. I need a comic PC to get out of grimdark. Otherwise I just want to violently beat someone bloody with a crowbar. Other player, .. so a crazy left field silly goofy good PC that thinks he is a paladin without any clerical powers to a Lawful Good god. Me, .. Palatium lawful good dragon god of order but as Fizz Ban the Red wizard he acts like an idle minded old senile goof wizard that only cast spell that accidently work. Tax codes and phone books are the top tier of order listings, but they drive you nuts just trying to find anything in there that is meaningful to daily lives. Other player, .. good point. Few players, .. who is the other PC. Me, .. ChAoTiC evil Lolth priestess that is cleric3/rogue2 with a large spider fiendish familiar who is a lying con artist who public states she is hunting for a .. worthy .. elf for Lolth. She is paid to torture murder people during Lolth rituals. Random murder is just soo bland soo soo, come on she does have a given level of class to her. Not much but some. She looks after That PC guy cause she is the evilest person she knows, and he is soo comical Navie she just has to steer him from great harm/ anyone sicker than her. When they tell a criminal that hanging is too good for them, they hire her to send the criminal to Lolth in the Abyss. It is that or get feed to a night hag. After a couple of hours of D&D silliness, we switch to d10 Vampire and it was Gotham City and I was handed the Red Hood/ Jason Todd card to play. My problem is, I can't talk Smack like a pro wrestler Lobo does in the cartoons.
The character creativity is great...so long as it's kept under control. Plus you have to read the room: are the other players enjoying the roleplaying? I'd so, go for it!
Letting your players brainstorm up solutions for a challenge is where the key to player agency lies. What's wrong with video games? I've found them very entertaining. Sandbox games are not a magic wand that make players invested. Being able to brainstorm up solutions is where it's at. Many sandbox games tend to lack direction, and are simply encounter after encounter that are not connected. They tend to lead to GM burnout despite player interest.
I like video games. And the newer AI engines make them adaptive to player creativity. And you're right: a sandbox that's just battle after battle is boring, but in my view is not a true sandbox. If the players seek out non-combat encounters, that's what they should have!
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
Our mage Ali`ana was raised by a bard she sucked at singing but excelled at magic. So, what she did to become a bard of renown, she used programed illusion, to create cinematic cubes of their adventures. She would show them in the royal theatre, for a gold. Then show the adventure, a few months delayed at the merchant's hall, for a silver, then eventually to the common halls, for a copper. Because they were programmed illusion anyone could be M.C. in her absence. But the adventuring group became famous, because they were featured in "the programs". As the cinematic cubes were spread from place to place around the world their fame grew and their presence was requested by more and more countries and peoples with problems, until they couldn't find a place to just rest. This is my favorite example of "Yes, But..." Yes, you can make your party movie stars. But, then you have to deal with the fallout of making yourselves famous. Villains would make preemptive strikes against them, taverns wanted you to kill the rats in their basement, you are called to rescue every dragon taken captive by a maiden. Ali`ana's Magical Cinema kind of blew up in their face. Great video, they always bring some story or other to mind, sorry.
Great story! And it perfectly illustrates the "yes, but..." aspect of player creativity and storytelling general. Sometimes success can bring about more problems than failure, or at the least walking away from some opportunity. Sometimes it works out just fine, which keeps your players trying, but the more memorable stories come from when something unexpected happened!
I have a half giant barbarian in my campaign that I am running. The group is investigating this area fighting a race of rat creatures. The party is hurt, barbarian is at one HP so the group is looking for a rest place. The ho into a room and see a large room with a sand arena 4 heavily armed guards and a warlord is. He challenges the barbarian to a one on one fight. The boss is huge with a big weapon and heavy armor. He has no chance, but tells the group "I got this" he rages and five attempts wins a contested shove throwing the boss like a child, demoralizing the guards, humiliating the boss and winning the fight. I gave him 2 inspiration and the group went nuts. Hi ideas and I had not planned for it
And everyone will talk about it for the rest of the campaign and beyond!
Right on the money! I love when my players come up with a creative solution to a problem that I had not even thought of. It makes for such a better experience for all. My favorite conversations are the ones that start "you remember that time when we...".
Those are the best. And they almost never come from a railroad.
Love, love, love all of this! Some of the absolutely best advice. Player engagement is so important.
Glad you liked it!
I created a new Cantrip/Spell that I think all adventuring party members should automatically get. It's called: "Cleanliness" & it only requires verbal and somatic components and starts as a Cantrip with 1 minute casting time. You point either at yourself or any point 10 feet away and say 'May it be Cleansed' then it forms a wave of steamy magical energy that doesn't deal damage/cause harm or damage in a 30 foot radius from point of impact. It genuinely cleans all Dust, Dirt, Grime, Stains, Bad Bacteria, Bad Viruses, Bad Mold, and Mildew in the area of effect leaving a clean area that smells citrusy fresh. It can be upcast up to 9th level as long as you have spell slots, each spell slot level increases the radius by 10 feet (so for example upcast to 9th level it has a 120 foot radius).
If you want to include it in your games I think your players might enjoy it.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
I will pass this on to my group. They will like the destroy mold effect!
@@DDHomebrew You are welcome, and hope they enjoy it.
I absolutely agree. As player, our DM loves it when we pull at the strings he leaves all over the place. I myself an building a shrine for my cleric's religion in a rival faith's territory. Our other player is engaging with a love affair that was flung on them by a failed carousing check.
It's a super fun, easy, and rewarding way to add verisimilitude to the setting for sure.
All great ideas! I would enjoy these ss a GM.
Creativity in my games often means that the situation gets more risky. The effect goes up but so do the stakes.
I thought about mentioning how the risks go up, but now you've got an even longer video. But it's great when the players actively raise those risks creatively for a bigger reward.
thank you!
Thanks for watching!
I had a boss fight from rime frost maiden, his brain was in a jar on top a enchanted suit armor. Players used a knock spell to unscrew the jar. Boss failed his save and his brain rolled out and splat to the ground. Totally cool boss fight ending
Very clever indeed! Though, a GM might say that a knock spell RAW is "A target that is held shut by a mundane lock or that is stuck or barred becomes unlocked, unstuck, or unbarred." Does that open the item, or do you still have to do that yourself?
That thumb nail takes me WAAAAAY back
Rules Cyclopedia.
@@DDHomebrew was also in the OGred players handbook or DMG
@@johnnnysaint01 You are probably right. I would have to look at my copy.
@@DDHomebrew definitely is, I remember this one and the one with the wizard pointing at the cleric in the single player adventure in the box very well 😂 hell I can draw that dungeon from memory
Great video!
Thanks!
Good video. I sometimes use the 5e initiative points for creativity but im not in love with the system.
More often its not a literal reward but ill have creativity open a new plot thread that i know the player will like
Do you mean hero points? And I tend to keep them low to avoid characters metagaming for them. But when the players open up a story thread from their creativity I'm all for it.
@@DDHomebrew Oh not initiative, inspiration (for D&D), or hero points for PF or luck points for Tales of the Vaiant.
@@shadomain7918 Got it. And notice I'm calling everything hero points now.
Multiple funny memories over the years, ..
a.) DM, well she random rolled an encounter and results came up as a juvie red dragon. She goes into role play mod and trips all over her togue stuttering the whole red dragon thing. Another player stuck a peanut butter cheese cracker to the roof of his mouth and mock the DM with his cheesy ham up red dragon with a stuttering problem of his own.
The table roared in laughter, DM gives the angry sister look of " You will suffer and die to pay for that," .. look.
Guest who ended up PCing that juvie red dragon for the rest of the campaign ?
The peanut butter cheese cracker guy !
b.) Uh, mmm That PC guy .. in Forgotten Realms/ Waterdeep campaign. WotC3e system
DM says her game will start out at 5th-level multiclass character level. Or a 3rd-level spellcaster with two caster class level Xp to gp value of self-made magic items worth of trade goods for equipment.
I throw out two characters ..
Paladin of Fizz Ban the Red Wizard, bard3/sorcerer1/rogue2/fighter2 CR:8 with atk+4
.. That PC guy .. had a very outgoing personality and a complete dim wit iddiot who normal you won't let handle sharp objects without hurting himself. Mentality of a child enacting a satire bard tale of a noble paladin. " Pure Comic Relief."
Calls all hin/halfling Kender.
He is serious crazy Neutral/chaotic neutral Good.
Very easy to lie too.
Few players, .. this is Forgotten Realms not Dragonlance.
Me, .. it is all Fantasy and this is .. Silly. I need a comic PC to get out of grimdark. Otherwise I just want to violently beat someone bloody with a crowbar.
Other player, .. so a crazy left field silly goofy good PC that thinks he is a paladin without any clerical powers to a Lawful Good god.
Me, .. Palatium lawful good dragon god of order but as Fizz Ban the Red wizard he acts like an idle minded old senile goof wizard that only cast spell that accidently work. Tax codes and phone books are the top tier of order listings, but they drive you nuts just trying to find anything in there that is meaningful to daily lives.
Other player, .. good point.
Few players, .. who is the other PC.
Me, .. ChAoTiC evil Lolth priestess that is cleric3/rogue2 with a large spider fiendish familiar who is a lying con artist who public states she is hunting for a .. worthy .. elf for Lolth. She is paid to torture murder people during Lolth rituals. Random murder is just soo bland soo soo, come on she does have a given level of class to her. Not much but some. She looks after That PC guy cause she is the evilest person she knows, and he is soo comical Navie she just has to steer him from great harm/ anyone sicker than her. When they tell a criminal that hanging is too good for them, they hire her to send the criminal to Lolth in the Abyss. It is that or get feed to a night hag.
After a couple of hours of D&D silliness, we switch to d10 Vampire and it was Gotham City and I was handed the Red Hood/ Jason Todd card to play. My problem is, I can't talk Smack like a pro wrestler Lobo does in the cartoons.
The character creativity is great...so long as it's kept under control. Plus you have to read the room: are the other players enjoying the roleplaying? I'd so, go for it!
Letting your players brainstorm up solutions for a challenge is where the key to player agency lies.
What's wrong with video games? I've found them very entertaining.
Sandbox games are not a magic wand that make players invested. Being able to brainstorm up solutions is where it's at. Many sandbox games tend to lack direction, and are simply encounter after encounter that are not connected. They tend to lead to GM burnout despite player interest.
I like video games. And the newer AI engines make them adaptive to player creativity. And you're right: a sandbox that's just battle after battle is boring, but in my view is not a true sandbox. If the players seek out non-combat encounters, that's what they should have!
Great video!
Thanks! 🙏