First time DM: "I'm worried my first campaign will suck!" Veteran DMs: *puts a reassuring hand on their shoulder* "Don't worry... it WILL suck. And you'll have a blast."
First DMing session I did was with the D&D starter kit stormwreck isle. It sucked and neither I nor my players had much fun with it. On reflection, I realise it's because I was too concerned with staying true to the starter kit book. My rogue sneaks into the temple at the top of the mountain and finds nothing because in the book it's just a room with a statue of a dragon and basically nothing interesting in there. I should have instead foreshadowed about the conspicuous absence of the elder, their discarded belongings like clothes and jewelry, etc, etc. I think it's fine to have some plot beats, but really for me pretty much everything should be improv. Instead of writing "if this then that" type events, just pretty much: "this is a run down village in a deep forest, it's a bit creepy, if you're really perceptive you might notice it's even too dark even for the tree coverage. Folk are aggressively suspicious of outsiders. There is a murdered adventurer in one of the locked tavern rooms if the players find it."
absolutely. I hate railroading, because i always feel like giving my players diapers. But at the same time my players wish for them right NOW. Maybe you can add this as a bad example and how to do better. My playgroup went with some strange celestial actions into another world with a hard to understand political situation to solve and unite the land against an unknown unexplainable void menace. They found all the information around the world, made a name for themself got pieces about all the political fractions but what now? They dont know how to wrap it up and i dont want to present them a solotion where i am 100% sure they could find a better one because they are creative players.
I don't think he means actual railroading. Because like, I drop my players on a town and they are going to THE npc and do THE thing in the town, but that's not railroading. I give them a goal and that's relevant to the overall narrative, and let them figure out how to get to that goal by their own means. If it was railroading there would have to be a single way to achieve that goal, I think.
Pro tip: wherever the PCs go to, the good and interesting stuff is happening, trick is for them to not notice. That's good railroading. Bad railroading is when the outcome of players actions and decisions doesn't impact the world. If it doesn't matter if the PCs are there or what they do, the result is always the same, than this is usually bad railroading.
"All I knew about DnD was what I knew from NADDPOD and Dimension 20." My brother, we were raised by Bahumia and the Unsleeping City - we could only be great.
@@personwhohasyoutube That's perfect man Here is my unironic advice: Steal ideas Become a rampaging warlord of ideas watch shows and media and write down or remember anything you think is good, even a minor character interaction you found was funny, take it and put it in your own game! Become such a rampant concept thief you end up with something wholly original, a frankenstein of things you thought were cool Being original is overrated and doesn't exist, this is supposed to be fun for you and your friends! it doesn't need to be a perfect show!
I'm trying to run a Unsleeping City-inspired West Marches style campaign set in a magic version of my hometown. It is slowly turning into a magic communist manifesto lmao, since some of my players are trying to make magic available to everyone, so no one is cut off from the magical world.
I personally would love to see your new prep style! All the big DMs (Brennan, Murph, etc) talk about their process briefly and in broad terms but i've always been curious quite literally what other DMs write down and how they prep
If you're looking for more DMs that show how they prep, Matt Colville has some wonderful videos that might be up your alley. "The Delian Tomb" is one that comes to mind, but there's a lot more!
The best prep advice I give any DM is to ask your players what they want to do next session. Do this at the end of your session and this one question will save hours of needless prep time. Shameless plug, I just posted a video today with pro tips for new DMs.
I think Matt Colville and Mike Shea (Sly Flourish) are the DMs that put the most specific stuff on youtube on how they prepare their games, which has helped me tons.
This is every first time homebrew GM ever. Halfway thru Abomination Vaults my players were lost in the jungle and someone (reasonably)complained about not being able to go to town for months. So, I had Venca’s black dragon swallow them all, no save, and teleport them all to Barovia because I was reading Curse of Stradh at the time. Priceless.
I had just recently wrapped up my campaign. It had everything: a final boss fight, intense role-playing, and dramatic storytelling. I had my DM notebook with me. At the end, one of my players and best friends decided to sneak a peek at what I must have written down. He was baffled by the fact that it was blank, aside from a combat initiative tracker.😅
I've spent the last TWO YEARS writing a campaign and my first session is on the 29th. I'm so scared it's going to be awful😂😂 Edit: This is the first session of *this* campaign. Not my first in general. For context, I changed a lot of the structure of dnd. So it's like, dnd based but there's a toooon of homebrew. I also wrote a lot of setting and lore. It's mostly lore lol I just like really detailed and thought out religions. And there's a lot of dystopian elements. Lots of mystery. I basically wrote two campaigns, the real one and the fictitious one. The players will be discovering what's real as they go. I've been a player for a long time and have written a lot of homebrew already. I just have never DMed this big of a campaign before!
Were you writing a setting and setpiece and encounter ideas, or a series of events that are going to happen like a novel? If it's the latter, actually that can still be fun as long as you have player buy-in. Session zeros and setting expectations is important!
This is so fun to listen to. As a first time DM I am constantly terrified of if I am writing too much and if my homebrew is not balanced correctly. Sometimes it is so much better to hear what doesn't work instead of what does. If this ended up becoming a regular thing I would be sure to watch every episode.
The dragon reveal caught me so off guard 😂 i love that other DMs started with the same kind of notes. Now prep is one page with names, motivations, and what happens if the PCs do nothing.
Hearing the whole “you don’t need this” moments is very helpful as my entire friend group similarly has not played DnD. So me getting put into the DM position with no one having experience has been a little difficult trying to prep even the prebuilt campaigns because I don’t want to be flipping through the book every 2 seconds.. 😅
The few times when I write out dialogue, is for helping myself to not forget to mention important details or very specific character interactions or idle conversation starters to help direct them to something. I like doing mysteries and having little details in my conversations that my players can over hear from important npcs that can Foreshadow events and the like.
Dude you are an absolutely amazing content creator I genuinely believe that if you continue with this and work on videos like this for your main channel you could be one of the largest creators on TH-cam who do dnd content!
I've been DMing for a while now and I still struggle with writing way too much in prep but literally every time life gets too busy to properly prepare and I just enter a session with a half baked idea about what I'm gonna do, those are my favorite sessions
I love the energy you have, please make more of this. I love this casual style of d&d content, it's a good reminder that d&d prep and just playing in general doesn't have to be so... thorough? It's a funny improv dice game. The intense and cool moments will come naturally, you can't force it
Bro your shorts are SO good. I was REALLY surprised the other day when I hopped onto your actual videos page and saw there was nothing. Glad you decided to change that.
This was honestly so relatable! I've been a long time DM, going over 17 years now and I started in grade 7. I still have some of my earlier maps and 'plots' and god, the world was scattered with "Kobold City" and "Outpost of Fire" and also such masterpieces as "Tribal Village 1* And now? I've been running my own professional GM business as my full time job now for over 6 years. I've come a long way but it just goes to show that even the ones who look like experts have to start somewhere. Never be ashamed to learn something new. Great video man!
I recently discovered your DnD shorts and they are soo good! Your humor is on point, the twists are amazing and I honestly love to hear what you came up with for every short. When I saw that you posted your first video I had to check it out! I'm relatively new to DnD myself and you explaining what didn't work or isnt a good mechanic in your old campaign and why is really helpful. You also got me hooked the way you speak, it's really entertaining! If you do decide to make more videos I'll love to watch them ⭐️
You really were that one meme where the person goes “I want to write a DnD campaign but just play it by myself and DM myself” “I have been informed that this is called writing a book”. You just had people to play with but the vibe is the same
I’d love to see a follow up of how’d you’d write/prep the session nowadays. You touched on a few things you’d do different but it’d be cool to see the full side by side
Does this mean I should probably abandon what I have so far 😂? I went in assuming creating my own world with DnD elements would be far more creative for the session, but seeing some things now I'm starting to believe should've chosen something a bit easier. I'm very new to DnD as a whole (as is my group with a few playing a game or two before) and I was chosen fo DM because I'm pretty good at writing. I'm sort of stuck now and don't want this thing to end early and a waste for everyone.
@@Gerald-of-Riviera Eh, I wouldnt abandon it. I started a homebrew setting as my first campaign and its still going. But yeah, its really hard (atleast for me) as a first time DM and running a module could lead you in the right direction, as far as prep goes anyway. Honestly, Id recommend two things: Make sure YOU have fun - with the setting and the creation process (and you arent taking it as a chore) Make sure your PLAYERS have fun - cuz as far as dnd goes, thats mostly the end goal If that isnt the case, taking a break and playing a few oneshots or a short module with experimentation and heavy feedback from your players could be very eye opening.
I have been a player of D&D for years. About four before last year I started my first session. I am about detail and voices. My players were new also and luckily friends. Before long after my fourth session with them, I had run out of ideas to keep the story entertaining And Fresh. (All Homebrew aside from several items and weapons). So I had a veteran player I knew at work help. These guys were new but very intuitive and creative I told him. Fast forward to a point where they got a cube of force that he let them purchase and not once…but twice they escaped danger. Blew a hole in a wall to a castle and used the cube of force to keep a Grisgol and two Helmed Horrors at bay as they escaped. And… Survived a tidal wave they created killing Goblins and Lizardmen by the dozens… Me a Rookie DM frustrated feeling I was failing… My veteran friend awestruck and Also annoyed… But enjoyed every moment despite having to scrap several days of work… As I did with the Castle and loot and such… It was great… I’ve learned a lot about pacing the story and have more fun making up some things as I go as the veteran DM informed me. I still write notes. And any Magic Items I create I have him screen and keep to a note card to ensure it’s not overpowered. Sorry this is long. LSS I learned a lot from previous mistakes. Had fun with it. Helped me out of a dark place and still play with my friends and the veteran DM and halfway through our second Campaign.
Hey Zach, watching this made me feel so much better about how my first campaign has gone so far. I wrote pages and pages about the starting town and first couple of quests, people, loot , etc. but the players haven't played even remotely the way I thought they would so they've missed out on so much of the stuff I had written. In hindsight, I don't know what I was thinking and now I'm 6 sessions in, 7 this Saturday. The level of prep that I had done for the first session was insane compared to what I'm doing now and I just want to say that this is so reassuring and has really helped me realize it's never as serious as I have been taking it. Still trying to find a balance between how much I think I should prepare to how much actually makes since. Love your content, keep it up.
This was absolute gold! All of it! I want to see and hear more, yes please! 😂 I think we all start off this bad of DMs and realise, we're not writing a novel as we go along
I think writing dialogue for sessions isn't a bad thing, as long as it is done properly. That is to say, writing dialogue pieces that are important for a proper flow of the story (especially for newer GMs) can be a lifesaver, details that need to be remembered to make things flow is important. And once you've used this kind of narrative tool you can try and incorporate more of that into your improv instead, writing less and less as you go.
It’s both reassuring and hilarious that you mentioned not needing to write out dialogue. for my first one shot- ONE SHOT- I have about 40 pages of notes and believe me when I tell you that most of it is varying preset responses to questions I think the players might ask. Would love to get more insight on how you actually set up your notes now as a more experienced DM
Im also currently writing my first long-term campaign, and honestly this video was really insightful into what you should do and what you shouldnt; I'd love to see a series on this that maybe could give some points of reference to people without experience!
Thank you for doing this because you just should everyone, "Just Do It!". Good, Bad, and/ or Ugly just do it and DM. At the worst you will learn what not to do. And at the best you will gain experience.
I do write out my plans in deeper detail, if anything, to keep track of all my info, but I enjoy it. I tried improvising the first time I ran a campaign (to level 12ish) and didn't enjoy the on-the-fly coming up with character names and motivation and adventures. It worked for a while but after a year or two in the world things started to get confusing when I couldn't remember what a character's motivation was or what had happened. With my more recent campaign, I've taken my players from level 1-20 over 2+ years now, and I have SO much written, but I really really enjoy having a book's worth of info behind the improvised sessions, so that 1. The plot and world stay consistent, 2. even random npcs and shopkeeps have a line or two of info on their motivation or history so they feel more real, even just to me, during interactions. By all means, not every dm is going to enjoy that, and if you have murderhobo or beer and pretzel style games that are less serious, it might just feel thankless to put in that much work. But if you love writing and your players enjoy roleplay and story, don't feel like you CAN'T go ham with the writing. It's however you thrive.
I have not played D&D and I’m in the process of trying to drum up and run a spelljammer campaign I’m writing. I have a feeling it’ll be kinda bad when I get better and look back on it, but if me and my players have fun it’ll be worth it.
I'm also taking my first foray into DMing. I've been a fan of DnD related media for a long time but am officially DMing a party now. I think well on the spot and aside from major points I just ad-lib everything. First session was an absolute blast
I've been gettin your DnD shorts and stuff recommended to me for a while, and they're all fantastic but PLEASE do more of this! i love hearing any DM (honestly any storyteller in general) talk about their process. this is so funny and also genuinely informative, you've def got a knack for this sort of video 🔥
I DEFINITELY need to hear the rest. It's so comforting lol like we all know everyone goes through this, but seeing and hearing the concrete proof that someone else started out the same way I did is just a nice feeling. It's also hilarious, and super interesting to see how well you're able to identify the issues with your old prep. I think it'll be super valuable for veterans and newbies alike.
After hearing your inpirations were from nadpod and d20, the tone of your shorts makes so much more sense. From a fellow d20 enjoyer and DM enthusiastic I understand where your creative inspiration comes from. Brennan just brings that next level urgency to the table that no one else can seem to match.
I appreciate you reading your typos because I do the same thing when I go over my old writing. Going from $100 gold to $50 dollars and "noticec" are great lol
This was fantastic. Every DM has been there, thinking it's gold, and realizing later it was trash. But! What matters are those real moments of victory and laughter. I'd love to hear more! This cracked me up.
Im about to run my first homebrew campaign coming up soon here, and I’m definitely an over prepper. I’ve spent months looking at videos and advice for writing and word building, but THIS has been some of the most helpful information I’ve seen that not a lot of other content creators are really sharing.
I'd love to hear more from you! Your shorts are THE BEST and you mentioned something about film school which I can definitely feel with the great acting and pacing of the shots. Seeing the real you like this is really good too!
I would love to hear more, I'm about to start DMing my first DnD campaign for some friend and stuff like this really helps understand some things to do and not to do haha. Besides, it was a good laugh lol
I’ve been running home brew one offs and “campaigns” for about 2 years since my friend who had been our dm since freshman year of high school decided he wanted to be a player. I have been just creating massive amounts of worlds, lands and maps alongside random creatures from media and video games. We definitely are not playing by the book but it’s honestly the most fun we’ve had since we were in high school. To all scared dms it’s the most fun you will have until your players start to break everything!
I do have to say I have tried making up a session as I go with minimal notes and man I haven't been able to find a way in which that works haha. Maybe if I were to spend a couple months making and familiarizing myself with the world, and then making villains and plot points in cities but at that point I'm not making things up on the spot
Your acting ability and creativity is absolutely amazing. Mostly judging from your shorts. I love your shorts and I'm excited about your long form vids too.
The first one shot I wrote, I wrote WAY TOO MUCH too, and halfway through just looked up and engaged my players an it was so much better! Love the long form, allows us to get to know you better. Your shorts are top level too!
First campaign was definitely closer to a novel than anything resembling prep for me as well lmao. Good times. Can’t wait for a follow up or whatever else you got in store for us.
I really do like this and I would be down to hear more of them as someone who's pretty new to dming it's been pretty helpful to hear how others have done it!
I watched all of your shorts multiple times and I just wanted to say thank you! Your content is so relatable and just genuinely funny. I hope you will continue putting out long form videos. Keep up the good work - can't wait for more videos.
Adding on to my last comment, as you continue to grow your channel, don't put too much pressure on yourself. The reason people watch your channel is you! Whatever you do is gonna make us laugh and inspire us to be better DMs.
I would love to hear the rest of this story, it's so fun to revisit where we started. Also id be super interested in you reading your notes for a much more recent session youve run
I have been binging all your shorts and wondered "wow this guy makes awesome videos, I sure hope he makes longer- ah man :(" but now you did! Well awaited
Nice insight in the evolution of a GM. I found a lot of my old map drawings from the 90s when I cleaned my parents basement. Insane stuff - supreme fantasy with inspired dungeons, but no notes at all ... XD Great long form video, loved your short form content as well.
Sounds like fun going through these. I have to say I do sometimes write dialogue for important moments. If I want them to say specific. But usually it's opening dialogue or somewhere in the middle 80 percent of the time it's just improv. Additionally I still do descriptions for locations or people at times, I feel like if I 100% improv that I will miss some important detail.
Hearing the Heartbound Soundtrack from PirateSoftware while watching this was fantastic! As Thor always says, it doesn't matter if what you made was bad or good, it matters that you made something!
Loved this video. Am currently attempting at writing my first campaign and this video while entertaining was lowkey very helpful. Please continue this story!!!!
First time DM: "I'm worried my first campaign will suck!"
Veteran DMs: *puts a reassuring hand on their shoulder* "Don't worry... it WILL suck. And you'll have a blast."
If you have the right players, they'll have a blast playing it with you.
Thanks, that somehow makes my inexperience feel better
First DMing session I did was with the D&D starter kit stormwreck isle. It sucked and neither I nor my players had much fun with it.
On reflection, I realise it's because I was too concerned with staying true to the starter kit book.
My rogue sneaks into the temple at the top of the mountain and finds nothing because in the book it's just a room with a statue of a dragon and basically nothing interesting in there. I should have instead foreshadowed about the conspicuous absence of the elder, their discarded belongings like clothes and jewelry, etc, etc.
I think it's fine to have some plot beats, but really for me pretty much everything should be improv.
Instead of writing "if this then that" type events, just pretty much: "this is a run down village in a deep forest, it's a bit creepy, if you're really perceptive you might notice it's even too dark even for the tree coverage. Folk are aggressively suspicious of outsiders. There is a murdered adventurer in one of the locked tavern rooms if the players find it."
@@Zuriki09 Honestly this is a really good set of tips thanks!
I mean... it's true
Hahah "because I believe in railroading". Would love a video on this!
True
Yes absolutely
absolutely. I hate railroading, because i always feel like giving my players diapers. But at the same time my players wish for them right NOW. Maybe you can add this as a bad example and how to do better. My playgroup went with some strange celestial actions into another world with a hard to understand political situation to solve and unite the land against an unknown unexplainable void menace. They found all the information around the world, made a name for themself got pieces about all the political fractions but what now? They dont know how to wrap it up and i dont want to present them a solotion where i am 100% sure they could find a better one because they are creative players.
I don't think he means actual railroading. Because like, I drop my players on a town and they are going to THE npc and do THE thing in the town, but that's not railroading. I give them a goal and that's relevant to the overall narrative, and let them figure out how to get to that goal by their own means. If it was railroading there would have to be a single way to achieve that goal, I think.
Pro tip: wherever the PCs go to, the good and interesting stuff is happening, trick is for them to not notice. That's good railroading. Bad railroading is when the outcome of players actions and decisions doesn't impact the world. If it doesn't matter if the PCs are there or what they do, the result is always the same, than this is usually bad railroading.
"All I knew about DnD was what I knew from NADDPOD and Dimension 20."
My brother, we were raised by Bahumia and the Unsleeping City - we could only be great.
Honestly really good material to know, I feel like Critical Role gives unrealistic expectations for what a REAL dnd game often ends up being lol
Fr tho
@@personwhohasyoutube That's perfect man
Here is my unironic advice: Steal ideas
Become a rampaging warlord of ideas watch shows and media and write down or remember anything you think is good, even a minor character interaction you found was funny, take it and put it in your own game!
Become such a rampant concept thief you end up with something wholly original, a frankenstein of things you thought were cool
Being original is overrated and doesn't exist, this is supposed to be fun for you and your friends! it doesn't need to be a perfect show!
Probably be a good idea to throw The Adventure Zone in there, too.
I'm trying to run a Unsleeping City-inspired West Marches style campaign set in a magic version of my hometown. It is slowly turning into a magic communist manifesto lmao, since some of my players are trying to make magic available to everyone, so no one is cut off from the magical world.
I personally would love to see your new prep style! All the big DMs (Brennan, Murph, etc) talk about their process briefly and in broad terms but i've always been curious quite literally what other DMs write down and how they prep
I second this!!!
If you're looking for more DMs that show how they prep, Matt Colville has some wonderful videos that might be up your alley. "The Delian Tomb" is one that comes to mind, but there's a lot more!
Highly recommend the deficient master's youtube channel. He talks about prep and is really insightful
The best prep advice I give any DM is to ask your players what they want to do next session. Do this at the end of your session and this one question will save hours of needless prep time.
Shameless plug, I just posted a video today with pro tips for new DMs.
I think Matt Colville and Mike Shea (Sly Flourish) are the DMs that put the most specific stuff on youtube on how they prepare their games, which has helped me tons.
This is every first time homebrew GM ever. Halfway thru Abomination Vaults my players were lost in the jungle and someone (reasonably)complained about not being able to go to town for months. So, I had Venca’s black dragon swallow them all, no save, and teleport them all to Barovia because I was reading Curse of Stradh at the time. Priceless.
I read this as sending your players from PF2E to D&D before realizing you probably meant Tomb of Annihilation
@@cloverless3968 Abomination Vaults was just released for 5e so maybe this is a time traveler
The shock at the Perception 22 is . . . priceless
Great job on your first long form video! Hope you do more!
Is this now a world where 15 minutes is long form, I believe we are truly lost.
@@ItsMeCiaranhe just means sense this guy doesn’t normally post non short videos, this is a long form video for his channel.
I had just recently wrapped up my campaign. It had everything: a final boss fight, intense role-playing, and dramatic storytelling. I had my DM notebook with me. At the end, one of my players and best friends decided to sneak a peek at what I must have written down. He was baffled by the fact that it was blank, aside from a combat initiative tracker.😅
I've spent the last TWO YEARS writing a campaign and my first session is on the 29th. I'm so scared it's going to be awful😂😂
Edit: This is the first session of *this* campaign. Not my first in general.
For context, I changed a lot of the structure of dnd. So it's like, dnd based but there's a toooon of homebrew. I also wrote a lot of setting and lore. It's mostly lore lol I just like really detailed and thought out religions. And there's a lot of dystopian elements. Lots of mystery. I basically wrote two campaigns, the real one and the fictitious one. The players will be discovering what's real as they go.
I've been a player for a long time and have written a lot of homebrew already. I just have never DMed this big of a campaign before!
you'll do great, don't worry about it
It's all a leaning experience as long as the group had fun it doesint much matter.
Let us know how it goes!
That’s a really long time to be writing lol. Hopefully the players stay on track.
Were you writing a setting and setpiece and encounter ideas, or a series of events that are going to happen like a novel? If it's the latter, actually that can still be fun as long as you have player buy-in. Session zeros and setting expectations is important!
This is so fun to listen to. As a first time DM I am constantly terrified of if I am writing too much and if my homebrew is not balanced correctly. Sometimes it is so much better to hear what doesn't work instead of what does. If this ended up becoming a regular thing I would be sure to watch every episode.
The dragon reveal caught me so off guard 😂 i love that other DMs started with the same kind of notes. Now prep is one page with names, motivations, and what happens if the PCs do nothing.
Hearing the whole “you don’t need this” moments is very helpful as my entire friend group similarly has not played DnD. So me getting put into the DM position with no one having experience has been a little difficult trying to prep even the prebuilt campaigns because I don’t want to be flipping through the book every 2 seconds.. 😅
The few times when I write out dialogue, is for helping myself to not forget to mention important details or very specific character interactions or idle conversation starters to help direct them to something. I like doing mysteries and having little details in my conversations that my players can over hear from important npcs that can Foreshadow events and the like.
PLEASE DUDE! WE NEED MORE OF THIS! I HAVE BEEN CRAVING LONG-FORM CONTENT FROM YOU
You are AMAZING man, seriously reignited my love for the game; keep doing what you do.
Dude you are an absolutely amazing content creator I genuinely believe that if you continue with this and work on videos like this for your main channel you could be one of the largest creators on TH-cam who do dnd content!
I've been DMing for a while now and I still struggle with writing way too much in prep but literally every time life gets too busy to properly prepare and I just enter a session with a half baked idea about what I'm gonna do, those are my favorite sessions
Maybe you should do that more regularly then
I love the energy you have, please make more of this. I love this casual style of d&d content, it's a good reminder that d&d prep and just playing in general doesn't have to be so... thorough? It's a funny improv dice game. The intense and cool moments will come naturally, you can't force it
Bro your shorts are SO good. I was REALLY surprised the other day when I hopped onto your actual videos page and saw there was nothing. Glad you decided to change that.
Excited to see more from you! Love your shorts and loved that you embraced the struggle of new DMs. Definitely related at several points.
Id love to hear the rest, it sounds hilarious!
This was honestly so relatable!
I've been a long time DM, going over 17 years now and I started in grade 7.
I still have some of my earlier maps and 'plots' and god, the world was scattered with "Kobold City" and "Outpost of Fire" and also such masterpieces as "Tribal Village 1*
And now? I've been running my own professional GM business as my full time job now for over 6 years.
I've come a long way but it just goes to show that even the ones who look like experts have to start somewhere.
Never be ashamed to learn something new.
Great video man!
The simplistic editing and music choice is really nice. Hoping for more long-form videos!
Also, yes, please show us more. That outro was perfect too 😂
I recently discovered your DnD shorts and they are soo good! Your humor is on point, the twists are amazing and I honestly love to hear what you came up with for every short. When I saw that you posted your first video I had to check it out! I'm relatively new to DnD myself and you explaining what didn't work or isnt a good mechanic in your old campaign and why is really helpful. You also got me hooked the way you speak, it's really entertaining! If you do decide to make more videos I'll love to watch them ⭐️
You really were that one meme where the person goes “I want to write a DnD campaign but just play it by myself and DM myself” “I have been informed that this is called writing a book”. You just had people to play with but the vibe is the same
I’d love to see a follow up of how’d you’d write/prep the session nowadays. You touched on a few things you’d do different but it’d be cool to see the full side by side
Every good DM tries to homebrew their first setting before trying a module, it's a cannon event that we must learn from
Does this mean I should probably abandon what I have so far 😂? I went in assuming creating my own world with DnD elements would be far more creative for the session, but seeing some things now I'm starting to believe should've chosen something a bit easier. I'm very new to DnD as a whole (as is my group with a few playing a game or two before) and I was chosen fo DM because I'm pretty good at writing. I'm sort of stuck now and don't want this thing to end early and a waste for everyone.
@@Gerald-of-Riviera Eh, I wouldnt abandon it. I started a homebrew setting as my first campaign and its still going. But yeah, its really hard (atleast for me) as a first time DM and running a module could lead you in the right direction, as far as prep goes anyway. Honestly, Id recommend two things:
Make sure YOU have fun - with the setting and the creation process (and you arent taking it as a chore)
Make sure your PLAYERS have fun - cuz as far as dnd goes, thats mostly the end goal
If that isnt the case, taking a break and playing a few oneshots or a short module with experimentation and heavy feedback from your players could be very eye opening.
I have been a player of D&D for years. About four before last year I started my first session. I am about detail and voices. My players were new also and luckily friends. Before long after my fourth session with them, I had run out of ideas to keep the story entertaining And Fresh. (All Homebrew aside from several items and weapons). So I had a veteran player I knew at work help. These guys were new but very intuitive and creative I told him. Fast forward to a point where they got a cube of force that he let them purchase and not once…but twice they escaped danger. Blew a hole in a wall to a castle and used the cube of force to keep a Grisgol and two Helmed Horrors at bay as they escaped.
And…
Survived a tidal wave they created killing Goblins and Lizardmen by the dozens…
Me a Rookie DM frustrated feeling I was failing…
My veteran friend awestruck and Also annoyed…
But enjoyed every moment despite having to scrap several days of work…
As I did with the Castle and loot and such…
It was great…
I’ve learned a lot about pacing the story and have more fun making up some things as I go as the veteran DM informed me. I still write notes. And any Magic Items I create I have him screen and keep to a note card to ensure it’s not overpowered. Sorry this is long. LSS I learned a lot from previous mistakes. Had fun with it. Helped me out of a dark place and still play with my friends and the veteran DM and halfway through our second Campaign.
Hey Zach, watching this made me feel so much better about how my first campaign has gone so far. I wrote pages and pages about the starting town and first couple of quests, people, loot , etc. but the players haven't played even remotely the way I thought they would so they've missed out on so much of the stuff I had written. In hindsight, I don't know what I was thinking and now I'm 6 sessions in, 7 this Saturday. The level of prep that I had done for the first session was insane compared to what I'm doing now and I just want to say that this is so reassuring and has really helped me realize it's never as serious as I have been taking it. Still trying to find a balance between how much I think I should prepare to how much actually makes since. Love your content, keep it up.
This was absolute gold! All of it! I want to see and hear more, yes please! 😂
I think we all start off this bad of DMs and realise, we're not writing a novel as we go along
writing out all of the dialogue as a first time dm is so real lmaoooo
I think writing dialogue for sessions isn't a bad thing, as long as it is done properly.
That is to say, writing dialogue pieces that are important for a proper flow of the story (especially for newer GMs) can be a lifesaver, details that need to be remembered to make things flow is important.
And once you've used this kind of narrative tool you can try and incorporate more of that into your improv instead, writing less and less as you go.
It’s both reassuring and hilarious that you mentioned not needing to write out dialogue. for my first one shot- ONE SHOT- I have about 40 pages of notes and believe me when I tell you that most of it is varying preset responses to questions I think the players might ask.
Would love to get more insight on how you actually set up your notes now as a more experienced DM
This is iconic! We all start somewhere, and it's good to look back on where you've been to see how far you've come. A great reminder to us all!
Im also currently writing my first long-term campaign, and honestly this video was really insightful into what you should do and what you shouldnt; I'd love to see a series on this that maybe could give some points of reference to people without experience!
Yo, NADDPOD and Dimension 20! What an awesome way to pick up D&D!
This is beautiful content, I need to see more old campaign notes. I love hearing the DMs story.
Incredible ending, perfect closing, so natural, not jarring. Keep it up!
Thank you for doing this because you just should everyone, "Just Do It!". Good, Bad, and/ or Ugly just do it and DM. At the worst you will learn what not to do. And at the best you will gain experience.
I do write out my plans in deeper detail, if anything, to keep track of all my info, but I enjoy it. I tried improvising the first time I ran a campaign (to level 12ish) and didn't enjoy the on-the-fly coming up with character names and motivation and adventures. It worked for a while but after a year or two in the world things started to get confusing when I couldn't remember what a character's motivation was or what had happened.
With my more recent campaign, I've taken my players from level 1-20 over 2+ years now, and I have SO much written, but I really really enjoy having a book's worth of info behind the improvised sessions, so that 1. The plot and world stay consistent, 2. even random npcs and shopkeeps have a line or two of info on their motivation or history so they feel more real, even just to me, during interactions.
By all means, not every dm is going to enjoy that, and if you have murderhobo or beer and pretzel style games that are less serious, it might just feel thankless to put in that much work. But if you love writing and your players enjoy roleplay and story, don't feel like you CAN'T go ham with the writing. It's however you thrive.
I have not played D&D and I’m in the process of trying to drum up and run a spelljammer campaign I’m writing. I have a feeling it’ll be kinda bad when I get better and look back on it, but if me and my players have fun it’ll be worth it.
Great video, love the shorts, looking forward to more long form!
I'm also taking my first foray into DMing. I've been a fan of DnD related media for a long time but am officially DMing a party now. I think well on the spot and aside from major points I just ad-lib everything. First session was an absolute blast
I've been gettin your DnD shorts and stuff recommended to me for a while, and they're all fantastic but PLEASE do more of this! i love hearing any DM (honestly any storyteller in general) talk about their process. this is so funny and also genuinely informative, you've def got a knack for this sort of video 🔥
Hearing the rest of the campaign would be a blessing
I DEFINITELY need to hear the rest. It's so comforting lol like we all know everyone goes through this, but seeing and hearing the concrete proof that someone else started out the same way I did is just a nice feeling. It's also hilarious, and super interesting to see how well you're able to identify the issues with your old prep. I think it'll be super valuable for veterans and newbies alike.
Please keep posting stuff like this! It’s such a joy seeing your actual DM work (albeit silly, in this instance) after watching your sketches!
After hearing your inpirations were from nadpod and d20, the tone of your shorts makes so much more sense. From a fellow d20 enjoyer and DM enthusiastic I understand where your creative inspiration comes from.
Brennan just brings that next level urgency to the table that no one else can seem to match.
I appreciate you reading your typos because I do the same thing when I go over my old writing. Going from $100 gold to $50 dollars and "noticec" are great lol
This was fantastic. Every DM has been there, thinking it's gold, and realizing later it was trash. But! What matters are those real moments of victory and laughter.
I'd love to hear more! This cracked me up.
Im about to run my first homebrew campaign coming up soon here, and I’m definitely an over prepper. I’ve spent months looking at videos and advice for writing and word building, but THIS has been some of the most helpful information I’ve seen that not a lot of other content creators are really sharing.
So happy you’re making extra content! I’m in my first campaign, so I love hearing the successes and failures
10:05 That "whats his name" line for the artificer skit truly hit xd
That's the beauty. It was so fun, you didn't even realize it sucked. Because the fun is what makes it great.
I'd love to hear more from you! Your shorts are THE BEST and you mentioned something about film school which I can definitely feel with the great acting and pacing of the shots. Seeing the real you like this is really good too!
Using Heartbound Mr Piratesoftware music ey? I see you man, I see you 😎
We need more of this series.
I like this educational format. You're explaining what is wrong and how you'd do it now. A great tool for others to learn from your past mistakes!
would love to hear the rest of it, also using your old mistakes as lessons is really useful.
I would love to hear more, I'm about to start DMing my first DnD campaign for some friend and stuff like this really helps understand some things to do and not to do haha. Besides, it was a good laugh lol
For your first piece of long form content, this is really good, Zach
Love your short form content, was so excited to see the long form content announcement. Can't wait to see more brother, awesome work my man!
This made me feel a lot better about my dm notes. Look forward to continued content
Please!! Make this a series!! This was amazing
I’ve been running home brew one offs and “campaigns” for about 2 years since my friend who had been our dm since freshman year of high school decided he wanted to be a player. I have been just creating massive amounts of worlds, lands and maps alongside random creatures from media and video games. We definitely are not playing by the book but it’s honestly the most fun we’ve had since we were in high school. To all scared dms it’s the most fun you will have until your players start to break everything!
I knew I recognized that music!
It's always fun to see how much you've learned since starting at something.
I do have to say I have tried making up a session as I go with minimal notes and man I haven't been able to find a way in which that works haha. Maybe if I were to spend a couple months making and familiarizing myself with the world, and then making villains and plot points in cities but at that point I'm not making things up on the spot
Your acting ability and creativity is absolutely amazing. Mostly judging from your shorts. I love your shorts and I'm excited about your long form vids too.
I like the idea of new tips and you explaining railroading and why you like it
please do more long form content - this was great!!
The first one shot I wrote, I wrote WAY TOO MUCH too, and halfway through just looked up and engaged my players an it was so much better! Love the long form, allows us to get to know you better. Your shorts are top level too!
First campaign was definitely closer to a novel than anything resembling prep for me as well lmao. Good times.
Can’t wait for a follow up or whatever else you got in store for us.
I really do like this and I would be down to hear more of them as someone who's pretty new to dming it's been pretty helpful to hear how others have done it!
I watched all of your shorts multiple times and I just wanted to say thank you! Your content is so relatable and just genuinely funny. I hope you will continue putting out long form videos. Keep up the good work - can't wait for more videos.
Probably the best video about the nature of DMing I’ve seen
I would love hour long readings/judgements like this as a series ngl
Adding on to my last comment, as you continue to grow your channel, don't put too much pressure on yourself. The reason people watch your channel is you! Whatever you do is gonna make us laugh and inspire us to be better DMs.
Definitely keeping all these points in mind when I finally get to DM my first campaign. Great video!
I'd love more stories from your first campaign!
I would love to hear the rest of this story, it's so fun to revisit where we started.
Also id be super interested in you reading your notes for a much more recent session youve run
I have been binging all your shorts and wondered "wow this guy makes awesome videos, I sure hope he makes longer- ah man :(" but now you did! Well awaited
Nice insight in the evolution of a GM. I found a lot of my old map drawings from the 90s when I cleaned my parents basement. Insane stuff - supreme fantasy with inspired dungeons, but no notes at all ... XD
Great long form video, loved your short form content as well.
WE WANT MOREEEE!!!!! This is so cool to see as a new dm and the insight on regrets and such is just *mwah* manifiqe
SUPER excited when I saw something long form from you pop up. You're killing it dude!
Please do more longform content I loved this! (I haven't watched it yet)
All of the weird things in your adventure sound so similar to my early experience DMing. Still sounds like a fun time, thanks for sharing.
Can’t wait for the rail roading video. Also would love to hear the rest of the notes!!
Love your content, man! You really capture what it's like to play D&D vs the other D&D content out there.
I’m here for it!
That was hilarious. Can’t wait to hear about one of your better campaigns!
I do wanna know more of this!!! This made me laugh so hard and actually helped to remind me "Dont prep too much for your session"! Thanks bro
One minut in and allready again in love with the hearbound soundtrack
This is great! I love your shorts, but this type of long form content is really good. I’d love more of these types of videos.
You're my favorite D&D content creator atm and I just wanna say I'm so happy to see you thriving and can't wait for more of these long form videos
Sounds like fun going through these. I have to say I do sometimes write dialogue for important moments. If I want them to say specific. But usually it's opening dialogue or somewhere in the middle 80 percent of the time it's just improv. Additionally I still do descriptions for locations or people at times, I feel like if I 100% improv that I will miss some important detail.
I love watching your content!! Please continue to have fun and show us your fun dnd ideas and past trinkets!! 🫶❤️
This is pure gold. Please never stop.
Loved this long form stuff. You are a great presenter!
Hearing the Heartbound Soundtrack from PirateSoftware while watching this was fantastic! As Thor always says, it doesn't matter if what you made was bad or good, it matters that you made something!
Loved this video. Am currently attempting at writing my first campaign and this video while entertaining was lowkey very helpful. Please continue this story!!!!
love you so much thanks for posting this