I love how Brennan approaches railroading/linear narratives. Especially the way he put it in EXU Calamity: the best rails are a well-built character. It always amazes me how implicitly expansive the session zeros are, even if D20 doesn't film them, you can feel how much work they put into character creation once the cameras start rolling.
In my experience, D&D games work best when the party is working towards a goal they care about, and It seems Brennan puts a lot of work into making that happen, as represented by everything you just said!
This! Characters like Zerxes and Laeryn needed no persuading to further the plot. All Brennan had to do was understand at a fundamental level: who are these characters and what do they want? With that understanding, and with the players fully bought in to their characters' flaws, Brennan was able to weave his usual incredible tapestry. No railroads necessary, the characters are building the roads with him.
I've watched the majority of the Dimension20 seasons and never really noticed/thought about it. I'm not sure if it's because I watched some videos on the topic recently, but there is one scene in particular I remember from their current season that made me realize how good Brennan can be at smoothly steering things where he wants them. Spoiler below on ep8 Brennan in that scene plays a kinda cursed NPC who they just bested in combat and helped return to her original form, a young girl. She asked to touch a magic book that might be helpful/interesting to her, and Ally, playing a caring old man who doesn't want to put her in danger, denies her/Brennan for the moment, saying that they should put it off for later. After a bit, they were somewhat at an impasse with noone in the party really advocating for the NPC, so Brennan in character turns to Emily, who plays a young girl wanting to make similar age friends (and who had bonded a bit with the NPC during and after the fight), and says sth about being sad/disappointed about not getting to touch it (and his frickin' sad face! 😭😂). And immediately Emily is like "no! Let her touch the book!", which considering the protective and close bond Ally's character has with Emily's, makes Ally pretty much instantly go "alright" and offer the girl the book to touch xD that was super effective hahaha
The most fun my group ever had at the table was when I offered to DM a game as a collaborative creative writing exercise where I wrote a short story (3-4 pages) for the background of each of the 4 characters, and I let my players decide who they wanted to be from the character options at session 0, and then I ran the game sort of like a choose your own adventure book, where I had a system of outlines based on 1 or 2 key decision tree moments in each session, and then navigated through encounters from there. It was probably the most railroady mini campaign that we ever played, but my friends loved it because the plots were deeply character driven because each player was effectively participating in an individual story that I wanted to tell, where they got to make the in character decisions to reach the outcome of their story. Good character/player pairing and personal investment in the story is what makes railroading seem like the way the game is meant to be played, instead of an overbearing DM stifling player creativity.
Brennan and Dimension 20 are what go me into DnD. I saw a compilation on TH-cam of Gorgug asking people if they're his dad, gave the first couple episodes a shot and got hooked. After years of watching, I got to play my first proper game, which is about to turn one year old tomorrow :)
TH-cam shorts of D20 are also what got me into dnd lol. I kept watching them cause they were always funny and I’d been a college humour fan for a while. Now I’m playing in two campaigns, I’ve watched every episode of D20 and I’m halfway into CR C1
That seems to have been a very impactful compilation. I see a lot of folks saying that was the reason they started watching D20 and it's why I started watching as well.
Tried playing once when I was 12 back in the 90s and couldn't. Um Actually and a friend of mine got me into D20, and I played my first campaign this year. Right now I'm figuring out how to DM.
I think the biggest thing about Brennan is that he knows how his characters want to grow, he never fully hands them what they want but he gives them the opportunities to take them
The panic I felt in my heart when I expected Brennan to fall victim to the Mercer Effect in the sense that he also set the bar way too high for every other DM in 5th Edition
He definitely set the bar high! One of my other videos makes the point that DMs shouldn't try to be the famous DMs they watch, and to find a style that's true to them. That said, we can still learn a lot from folks like Mulligan and Mercer!
@@TheKillaShowup. Him and Aabria. I know she wasn’t the first, but I know a lot of people probably first saw a DM make “camera” references after she did the EXANDRIA UNLIMITED series. Others have done it (notably DICE SHAME) but I think she brought it to a lot of people’s attention. I’ve heard it a butt-tonne since. Hers is a style that may be jarring after watching BLM or MM, but it is a refreshing take on DMing that feels wonderfully divorced from the other two.
@@user-jt1js5mr3f essentially, telling the players things there characters don’t know, but describing it in character. I’ll link an example, give me like 30 minutes
Brennan is exactly what I strive to be as a DM. I discovered him after I did Mercer so, for the longest time, I looked up to Matt. But even then, there were things that I thought I could do differently. But, watching Brennan DM made me realize- he is EXACTLY how I want to be as a DM. Clever, knowledgeable, witty, quick to adapt, and, above all else, entertaining. I still respect Matt and his top tier skill as a DM, but Brennan is just such a diverse person that it bleeds over into his ability to DM and that really is the bar that I want to reach
There's one major difference between Brennan and Matt's DMing that stands out to me. Brennan's game feels more like a game. Matt's focuses a lot more on the story, sometimes at the expense of the game.
I've seen Brennan around the internet for years but I only started watching Dimension 20 recently and I have to say he is really charming. Not only is he a great emphatic DM and story teller but because of his improv background he's a master of jokes, instant world building and a fantastic generous scene partner. I've noticed that sometimes one of the players will make a little off hand joke and Brennan still follow it through, sometimes minutes or weeks after the joke has left the air, all without losing the rhythm. The best way I can describe him that makes him so special in my opinion is that he seems to understand that everything that goes on to the table is an opportunity. Whether that's for a joke, a characters arc or for the main plot and he does it all without ever letting the players know so they don't just get railroaded. I'm really enjoying dimension 20 at the moment. I instantly like all the intrepid adventurers. I wish it wasn't behind a paywall because I think a lot of people don't know what they're missing but having said that, the paywall must be a huge help because the maps and sets Dimension 20 make are unbelievable. I don't know who the team is, I think the person who built the dome is Rick Perry but whoever they are, they're really doing a great job.
I honestly wished they posted session zero after the season is over cause it would be so cool to see how some of the characters we watch slowly come to life
The legendary BEARDSLEY NAT 20s!!! I don't think anyone can handle - and properly celebrate! - those kinds of moments as effectively as Brennan can. Another great example is Rekha Shankar's roll for if ghosts are real in Of Mice and Murder - if you haven't watched that campaign GET ON IT! Its a great example of how amazing he is at supporting new players without just telling them what to do.
I've never played DnD, and while I have watched a little bit of DnD content it was still very hard to properly enjoy online DnD content like Critical Role. Brennan's DMing is so beginner friendly while also being incredibly intriguing that despite my issues of lacking experience, I was able to enjoy Fantasy High so much that it's become infinitely easier putting myself in the right mindset to enjoy these online campaigns, and I can actually watch others now too without feeling like I have to multitask to keep myself from being bored. Brennan Lee Mulligan singlehandedly opened the floodgates for me. I was just feeling like I was out of stuff to play/watch, and now this whole new world is open to me, and it genuinely feels like I could spend my entire 2023 on it and still not have run out of content.
BLM creates such fantastic well rounded characters and plays off his players so well, watching him craft a lived in world the way he does is so satisfying!
Ally Beardsley sure does roll a lot of miraculous nat 20s and honestly? I love that for them. Brennan always does such a good job of drastically changing the world when something miraculous happens once he gets over the initial consternation.
I haven’t heard many DMs yet, but it seems to me that Brennan plays heavy on the NPCs and uses them to bring the world to life as opposed to making the narration super engaging. I’m glad I’ve listened to D20 because it has given me an idea of what a narrative style of campaign looks like. The DnD guide books seem to lean more towards the misfits doing random stuff for treasure, so I’m glad I’ve got Brennan’s example of story telling. Gonna start running my first campaign later this week!
i agree, for the longest matt was mine. But after watching a bunch of dimension 20 and tbh Calamity series solidified Brennan as my favorite. I look at the two (matt and brennan) Matt: Tells a damn awesome story and it sucks you in his detail is second to none. Brennan: This man can flip the switch so fast, its amazing to watch. i like most of characters he acts out.
For me, the thing that really makes Brennan special is that he's the kind of DM who isn't afraid to throw the first punch. In fact, he practically encourages his players to get into an outright brawl with him, then refuses to pull back his punches. And you know what I've realized, from both watching Dimension 20 and my own experiences with playing TTRPGs? A DM who brandishes a knife during the fight in the Denny's parking lot actually increases player agency, and this increase cannot be overstated. Of course, the DM has to have love in their heart, even while they're trying their damndest to make Julius Caesar's assassination look like a mere flesh wound in comparison. By this, I mean that the DM has to always be coming from a place of wanting to make the game fun for their players, and not be an adversarial dickwad trying to beat them. But if a DM has this intent and the awareness to do things in a way that won't make their players actually upset, then players quickly realize the crucial thing that makes this all work: they shouldn't pull back their punches either. And once players bring their own knives to the aforementioned parking lot, that's when things get really exciting. Ultimately, DMs are the ones who set the precedent for the mindset players have during the game. If I only have reason to believe that pushing the big red button would only create environmental catastrophe and soul crushing guilt, then why would I ever do that? But if I have reason to believe that the explosion would be glorious, and then the party would galavant through the nuclear wasteland doing Mad Max-esque hijinks, then why wouldn't I push that button? This example is pretty extreme, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that if a DM establishes that the consequences for failure and shenanigans will be fun by having the world and NPCs be dramatic and proactive, and also being dramatic and proactive themselves, then players are much more willing to take risks and try crazy ideas. And to me at least, player agency is only meaningful if I have the freedom to make choices that could very well result in disaster-and make the experience that much cooler for everyone involved.
This is easily the best way I've seen it described. What Brennan really REALLY excels at is creating stakes. He can be a brutal DM, especially in Crown of Candy and Calamity. He pulls zero punches and actively makes the game scary and stressful. But even though he's brutal, it's never with malicious intent. He wants his players to win, but he will make them work for it, which makes their successes all the more poignant. Of course, it has to be said that both of those campaigns he had very clear communication with hia players that he was going to actively try to kill them and they were ok with it. It's almost disorienting to see him at his peak devastation as DM and then switch to him on the talks episodes where he's so sweet and lovely. But that's also why it works. You know deep down he is not being mean because he's actually mean, but because he's delivering what they agreed on and asked for. It's kind of beautiful to watch. I've been craving the kind of tragedy he gave us in Calamity, and I sincerely hope he does more games like that in the future cuz it gutted everyone in the best way.
Brennan is also a master of playing into the “players against the GM” dynamic-which is usually a *very* toxic way to play D&D-because he *only* does it at the right times and in the right ways. He never loses sight of how D&D (at least in his campaigns) is a *cooperative* storytelling game, first and foremost. And he’s never trying to “win” by tricking his *players.* Any “tricks” are generally by his *characters* against the *players’ characters,* and he’s always fair to the players from an out-of-character perspective. But when he’s time for combat, he *absolutely* leans into the player/GM divide in the most friendly, playful ways possible. “I’m gonna kill that dog!” And I obviously can’t read his mind (or Detect Thoughts), but I get the impression he does that *specifically* so his players feel an even stronger sense of victory and accomplishment when they prevail.
Love seeing the different ways to DM a game. Running my first completely self made campaign. I'm aiming to co-create the world with the players and hopefully engage the players in a good way. Loving the DM styles from Brennan and Anthony Burch from dungeons and daddies.
Brennan and Anthony (from dungeons and daddies) will always have special places in my heart because those two got me into DND I like them both too because they show 2 very different styles where Anthony doesn't have the pure technical skills and what not that Brennan might but the main thing I get from both is they all have so much fun playing and that's really the most important part. I want to start playing and start DMing my own stories one of these days when I'm not so busy with other life stuff and other tabletop games. (I'm trying really hard to learn battletech and holy jeepers there's a lot of information there.)
Hi, hello what's up. Out of all the videos I have seen on DM/GMs not once have they talked about the importance of laughter in games. So hats off to a awesome video
Dude just commented on your video first time the other day, and now you're putting out a video gushing about BLM the way I would if I had a channel. Officially convinced that dark patron gave you telepathy as well.
One of my favorite Brennan encounters that I never hear people talking about is the hot exit early in *A Starstruck Odyssey.* He threw SO many different obstacles from so many directions at a pretty low-level party who were literally just trying to get the hell back to their ship, and it was so fun and engaging.
THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING THAT SYSTEMS OUTSIDE OF DND EXIST! I've seen it too many times when people try using mechanics that clash with narrative and then they get annoyed by the game not working out. Like if you want to make a 80s/90s slasher film, don't use a system with things like HP, in depth combat mechanics, or heroic PCs. Use something like Dread where you have a Jenga tower and the GM declares how hard something would be to accomplish is tied to how many blocks you need to pull. Then if/when the tower falls the character dies.
Yo, this video was amazing! Really professional and informative but fun and very interesting. You're very aware and that shows, always putting the players fun and emotions first in ways that really boost the potential of a campaign. You seem like a great DM also: Thank you for putting my thoughts about BLM into a video!
I got my dropout subscription just so I can watch D20, my personal favorite season was the first season of unsleeping city. The reason was that Brennan just did so at playing npc’s, it also helps that Brennan is actually from New York so he knows how New Yorkers are. I’m a first DM at my school club and I took heavy inspiration from Brennan in how I DM, still working on voices but I play through my npc’s in a way that my group enjoy and I especially love acting out the characters. I’m also still working on the whole ability to go unhinged that Brennan has but I’m getting there
For the little amount of time you have been uploading the videos have been amazing. They seem well thought out and have very useful and fun information. I can't wait for the many more videos in the future.
Spoilers for NADDPOD Brennan is my favorite DM too but Brian Murphy is a very close second for me. NADDPOD was my first big experience with D&D so there might be a hint of bias but I truly think that Murph is one of the greatest DMs of all time. Murph created such a tonally rich world in that of Bahumia. It manages to be both very silly and tongue and cheek will still taking itself seriously and having a dramatic edge. Similarly to Brennan he uses comedy as a backdrop to serious moments, take a look at the final battle with Thiala for example. It is huge in scale and has so much gravity to it but it also has magic elephants and the revival and subsequent verbal abuse of Galad Rosell. Murph is the master of establishing a fair yet fun dynamic with his players. He'll allow Fulkery but he'll still deal out consequences for dumb decisions. Fi ally, it's my opinion that NADDPOD has the best combat of any actual play. It using being completely theater oof the mind to its advantage and al.ows the combats to be more free flowing and sometimes even scattered like when the people of Gladehome got possessed. Season 1 of NADDPOD is pure magic and seasons 2 and 3, while not quite as amazing, are still really good.
Murph does a great job of being the straight man on the show. And as a consequence makes the whole podcast that much more entertaining. IRL it’s 3 funny men to one straight man, but in the story it 3 funny to an entire world of straight men and that makes the party all the more entertaining
I'm already sucked into the Bahumia full fledged sequel. Honestly anything Emily Axford is in proximity to becomes instantly cooler. What a power couple between the two of them.
I've never played D&D and discovered Dimension 20 like 2 weeks ago. I'm now on my 3rd campaign. His improve is 2nd to none. I also love how engaged he is. He basks in the victories without handing them out. I recently watched a few other DM's campaigns and although socially engaging, the victories felt hollow because the circumstances kept bending into the groups favor. It felt like they were protected by plot armor. I wouldn't go as far as to say the victories felt scripted, but it felt like every time the group started to fail the difficulty was lowered.
Really enjoyed this video! Your way of approaching the topic feels super inclusive and well-explained for players of all ages and experience levels, I really appreciate it
I was still here so here is my comment! Thank you for the video. I fully agree in the sense that Brennan is my favourite DM. I only recently found his campaigns after fully catching up on the cr 3 story. Theatre students slay :D
The most interesting part of Brennan's style vs say Critical Role to me is the way Brennan really carefully designs everything around fitting a lot into a little, because it needs to fit into a season of a limited number of sessions.
I like the comedy advice, As long as it's not overused, like in some bad movies that mix comedy and dark without letting either shine in their own moments. You have some comedy and let it shine, and have dark moments and let it sink
I love your comment about not invalidating the group. For my first ever campaign, the ground zero meeting we already diverted expectations and our DM was not expecting us to join the leader of the cult, but we decided to befriend him. And now that character is our favorite.
I'd love to see one of these videos about Johnny Chiodini of Oxventure. Mostly because he has the complete opposite approach of Matt Mercer but is still an excellent top teir DM.
as a German, the sign in the background saying "Inspireren" messes with my brain. once I read it, I couldn't look away. the German word for inspire is inspirieren. Inspireren is so damn close to that but so slightly off that it's like a itch.
your content reminds me a lot of some DnD shorts and XP to lvl3 videos, i like how you are calm though and explaining in detail slow and steady. Overall amazing. Keep going :)
I'd really like to hear you talk about the dungeons and daddies podcast - not only is it amazingly funny, but they also show a surprising amount of heart and care The DM there also loves creating small mini rule systems for dumb things and i love it so much
Brennan's campaigns make me want to get back into d&d so badly. He just has so much range for both comedic and emotional storylines and I wish I could jump into a game with him. Have you listened to The Film Reroll podcast? Their main DM (Paulo) is also a really incredible storyteller and has run some amazing campaigns (and shorter games) on their show and all the other players are improv comedians and/or actors in real life and there's some really fun games they've run by taking movies and running them like a RPG campaign.
When nerds are charismatic af, that scares me. Makes me feel inadequate. They are simply the best of both worlds, outliers but in their element. Brennan is like the character Eddie from Stranger Things. It's hard not to crack a smile man.
I'm a massive fan of high fantasy and was drawn in first by Critical Role, especially because campaign one has so much bittersweet tragedy laced throughout, aka catnip for my Shakespeare loving ass. Calamity was my first exposure to Brennan, and I was IMMEDIATELY hooked. His ability to guide the narrative in a tight storyline while still allowing his players to make bold choices and break things blew my mind. It was such a change from Matt's more open map Oblivion style of play. Both are amazing for different reasons. I've subscribed to Dropout to watch more, and I'm really enjoying Crown of Candy. Brennan is definitely a titan in the ttrpg world and I am likely going to binge his work to see what else he can do. Not going to lie though, I'm craving more Calamity style tragedy from him. He was absolutely brilliant.
If you haven’t reached it already I 110% recommend A Crown of Candy if you’re after that tragedy. Fastest description I can give is “Candyland but it’s Game of Thrones”
I've been relistening to the first episode or two of every D20 and making notes to study the art of GM-ing and story telling (so, I'm a nerd among nerds) Brennan is clearly a very skilled improvisor, but until i did this i didn't appreciate what a tight reign he keeps on the openings. They are clearly very well planned and so much is woven into them - establishing the player characters, establishing important NPCs, establishing themes, setting into motion narrative threads including the main plot arc, creating a motive for action for every character, bringing the characters together, setting up the first battle/crisis. In the episode ones in particular, although it feels like there players are having fun she doing what they want, there is surprisingly little space for player agency. The unsleeping city is a great example of how forward momentum and plot threads are dropped right in the character introductions. Neverafter does the same but with a more complicated structure. With Abriya on the other hand, what amazed me was the opposite. I ended up watching the whole of kids on brooms, because she is happy to just create the world and reward the players choices and never give them specific plot threads to cling to. More than half way through the series, there is no big bad guy, not plot to foil or mystery to solve, just an organically growing unease about the social structure of the magical world in general. I know that with Brennan, they have a session zero where they roleplay their characters to get used to them. This isn't a character creation session. Character creation happens in advance. Studying the session ones, it seems like for some campaigns session zero was done as a party, while for others maybe it was done individually or in smaller groups. I'd be fascinated to get a peek at those. Anyone want too leek a video?
I'd love to see Dimension 20 do a campaign based around the concept of the movie Office Space. The idea of such everyday people like office workers, but in the world of magic, sounds hilarious
I think my top DMs are Aabria/Brennan and then Matt Mercer, but I think it’s because they’re able to be a bit funnier seeing as their campaigns are usually pretty limited. Gonna watch your Matt Mercer video now. You have great content.
A really solid set of advice I do have one nitpick however with goal setting and railroading. I think there is a distinction between the giving the players a goal and offering the players a goal, one of the worst ways you can railroad your players is by telling them what to care about. If your players don't accept your first offering, let the story advance and give them other offers. There are two things you can do to improve the chances that the player will take your offer that I know Brendan does. The first is get everybody on the same page about what the game is going to be about before the first session (I do believe you did touch on this in the video) the second is to mine players backstories to figure out the motivations their characters will be starting the game with and designing the offer with what you know that the players want to do. Once your players have committed to a goal, you should be able to set intermediate objectives and let your players figure it out as you described.
YES. THIS IS A GREAT POINT. I am the DM for my group. All three of them are darkly whimsical. The darkest and most whimsical is my wife. Her last two characters were as follows: 1. A half-ogre (half elf, half ogre) whose backstory was "no one must find out I am part elf" and "I am going to find my mother's ghost so I can kill her. Again." 2. A Yuan-Ti Paladin with a book on human culture and species traits. Her Paladin's take on human slaves under Yuan-Ti: they're pets. Bad slave owners are really bad pet owners. (Yes, I know. It's better than it sounds, which is good, because it... sounds awful.) If I tell them what they should care about, they totally lose interest. I can use modules and stuff, but I can rarely tell what they're going to do next. It's just about impossible to railroad a train that's already off the tracks. Best to just enjoy the chaos with some groups.
The nat 20 bit reminds me of when I introduced a character to my players as a hooded figure and someone said “can I roll to see if he’s black” and they got a nat 20 😟
Thank you! If you're interested I do DM on a podcast called Thunder and Dragons. I don't promote it here very often because I've learned a lot since its first episode and the release schedule is all over the place (which is entirely on me haha)
Steady putting out thoughtful, high quality content. I dont kniw what makes me say this but you and Dael should get together on a video. You, bricks and mortor; her, fine lumber. Together youd make a great dnd house
Love Dael's content! I think she's a little out of reach in terms of our audience sizes, but I certainly wouldn't turn down the opportunity to work with her!
D20 was what truly got me into D&D. And even more specifically got me into DM'ing. Brennan actually makes being a DM seem like fun. If not even the most fun part of the game. I'm still a beginner DM only having played a few games as one (Who knew finding the time to actually play was gonna be the most difficult part 😂), but so far I genuinely enjoy it more than being a player.
When I watch Mercer I say “wow, that was really cool how he did that. I can’t wait to use that.” When I watch Mulligan I just stare, muting “how the fuck did he do that…?”
Slightly off-topic question: The books on the shelf just above and to the right of you on the screen - they look really familiar, but I can’t quite make them out. What are they? Who is the author? James B A Corby? The first one looks like _something_ WAR (I know that’s not right, but they’re not in focus so I can’t quite tell). This is one of those random things that’s just gonna bug me until I can figure out what they are. If anyone recognizes them, please let me know!
Hey man! I like you, good vibes. Liked, subscribed, shared and commented. Don't want your Patron to get Mad xD. Don't we all need Eldritch Blasts in our lives :D
Very interesting observations, but I must disagree with you on one point: players trying to figure out what to do, what goals to pursue and where their characters should go IS playing DND. It's just one of the things that is often lost in actual play because of the playing for the crowd aspect.
Hey, I found myself getting distracted and threw your video on 1.25x and found it way easier to stay on this video. Not sure if it needs to be quite that fast, but 1.1x could make a big difference for collecting viewers? Anyway, great video! I’m gonna go watch another when it’s done.
the only thing that i dont like so much about brennan as a dm is the fact that he did'n make gilear a recurent character in the others campaing, really a waste opportunity😔 but man what a cool video, really hope it gets reccomended for more people!
There's an Adventuring Party episode (I think it was for Mentopolis?) where Brennan expressed that the reason he's so good at this is because it's his primary skill, so it BETTER be the thing he makes a career out of because he has no other marketable skills (improv comedy doesn't pay particularly well). He's put his whole life into refining this, so don't feel bad if you're nowhere near his level, unless you're willing to dedicate your entire life to becoming an expert in that one thing. Most actors can't be at Meryl Streep's level, most basketball players can't be at Kobe's level. But you can learn from them and study their techniques to make yours better.
Re: using the right system. I follow a game designer and he talks a LOT about how each system has inherent assumptions about both rules and goals, and how dnd\ d20 being so popular limits a lot of players looking for the right system and instead just trying to cram their game into this system. Makes me think
I don't disagree. It can be limiting when you're stuck using one system with all its assumptions and baggage. That said, I think D&D 5e is pretty flexible, so long as your story involves a lot of combat haha
This summer I rekindled my longtime love of GURPS for superhero campaigns. It just has a flexibility for creating characters with unique abilities that D20’s class system can never match. Which is not to say I don’t love D&D when it plays to its strengths.
If you walk into a big scary cavern with ancient carvings along the walls and floor that lead to a set of stairs leading into the earth with carvings in a pattern along the floor and two visible skeletons covered in cobwebs and dust and obvious dried blood in the center leading down? Where are you going? Are you going to be careful or whistle a tune? Are you examining the carvings? How are you stepping? You don't need people to tell you there is danger there. You know.
I have to believe that Brennan now plans every campaign with a "and what if Ally roles one of their signature nat 20's" plan.
I love how Brennan approaches railroading/linear narratives. Especially the way he put it in EXU Calamity: the best rails are a well-built character. It always amazes me how implicitly expansive the session zeros are, even if D20 doesn't film them, you can feel how much work they put into character creation once the cameras start rolling.
In my experience, D&D games work best when the party is working towards a goal they care about, and It seems Brennan puts a lot of work into making that happen, as represented by everything you just said!
This! Characters like Zerxes and Laeryn needed no persuading to further the plot. All Brennan had to do was understand at a fundamental level: who are these characters and what do they want? With that understanding, and with the players fully bought in to their characters' flaws, Brennan was able to weave his usual incredible tapestry. No railroads necessary, the characters are building the roads with him.
Agreed, just bumping
I've watched the majority of the Dimension20 seasons and never really noticed/thought about it. I'm not sure if it's because I watched some videos on the topic recently, but there is one scene in particular I remember from their current season that made me realize how good Brennan can be at smoothly steering things where he wants them.
Spoiler below on ep8
Brennan in that scene plays a kinda cursed NPC who they just bested in combat and helped return to her original form, a young girl. She asked to touch a magic book that might be helpful/interesting to her, and Ally, playing a caring old man who doesn't want to put her in danger, denies her/Brennan for the moment, saying that they should put it off for later. After a bit, they were somewhat at an impasse with noone in the party really advocating for the NPC, so Brennan in character turns to Emily, who plays a young girl wanting to make similar age friends (and who had bonded a bit with the NPC during and after the fight), and says sth about being sad/disappointed about not getting to touch it (and his frickin' sad face! 😭😂). And immediately Emily is like "no! Let her touch the book!", which considering the protective and close bond Ally's character has with Emily's, makes Ally pretty much instantly go "alright" and offer the girl the book to touch xD that was super effective hahaha
The most fun my group ever had at the table was when I offered to DM a game as a collaborative creative writing exercise where I wrote a short story (3-4 pages) for the background of each of the 4 characters, and I let my players decide who they wanted to be from the character options at session 0, and then I ran the game sort of like a choose your own adventure book, where I had a system of outlines based on 1 or 2 key decision tree moments in each session, and then navigated through encounters from there. It was probably the most railroady mini campaign that we ever played, but my friends loved it because the plots were deeply character driven because each player was effectively participating in an individual story that I wanted to tell, where they got to make the in character decisions to reach the outcome of their story. Good character/player pairing and personal investment in the story is what makes railroading seem like the way the game is meant to be played, instead of an overbearing DM stifling player creativity.
Brennan and Dimension 20 are what go me into DnD. I saw a compilation on TH-cam of Gorgug asking people if they're his dad, gave the first couple episodes a shot and got hooked. After years of watching, I got to play my first proper game, which is about to turn one year old tomorrow :)
I think I saw the same video! Its what got me into Dimension 20! And congrats on your year old game!
TH-cam shorts of D20 are also what got me into dnd lol. I kept watching them cause they were always funny and I’d been a college humour fan for a while. Now I’m playing in two campaigns, I’ve watched every episode of D20 and I’m halfway into CR C1
That seems to have been a very impactful compilation. I see a lot of folks saying that was the reason they started watching D20 and it's why I started watching as well.
Tried playing once when I was 12 back in the 90s and couldn't. Um Actually and a friend of mine got me into D20, and I played my first campaign this year. Right now I'm figuring out how to DM.
That video re-affirmed by everlasting love for Zac Oyama
I think the biggest thing about Brennan is that he knows how his characters want to grow, he never fully hands them what they want but he gives them the opportunities to take them
The panic I felt in my heart when I expected Brennan to fall victim to the Mercer Effect in the sense that he also set the bar way too high for every other DM in 5th Edition
He definitely set the bar high! One of my other videos makes the point that DMs shouldn't try to be the famous DMs they watch, and to find a style that's true to them. That said, we can still learn a lot from folks like Mulligan and Mercer!
He just opened peoples eyes to a different style of DMing that is just as great to watch.
@@TheKillaShowup. Him and Aabria. I know she wasn’t the first, but I know a lot of people probably first saw a DM make “camera” references after she did the EXANDRIA UNLIMITED series. Others have done it (notably DICE SHAME) but I think she brought it to a lot of people’s attention. I’ve heard it a butt-tonne since.
Hers is a style that may be jarring after watching BLM or MM, but it is a refreshing take on DMing that feels wonderfully divorced from the other two.
@@BrandonPatrk317 camera references?
@@user-jt1js5mr3f essentially, telling the players things there characters don’t know, but describing it in character.
I’ll link an example, give me like 30 minutes
Brennan is exactly what I strive to be as a DM. I discovered him after I did Mercer so, for the longest time, I looked up to Matt. But even then, there were things that I thought I could do differently. But, watching Brennan DM made me realize- he is EXACTLY how I want to be as a DM. Clever, knowledgeable, witty, quick to adapt, and, above all else, entertaining. I still respect Matt and his top tier skill as a DM, but Brennan is just such a diverse person that it bleeds over into his ability to DM and that really is the bar that I want to reach
There's one major difference between Brennan and Matt's DMing that stands out to me. Brennan's game feels more like a game. Matt's focuses a lot more on the story, sometimes at the expense of the game.
I've seen Brennan around the internet for years but I only started watching Dimension 20 recently and I have to say he is really charming. Not only is he a great emphatic DM and story teller but because of his improv background he's a master of jokes, instant world building and a fantastic generous scene partner.
I've noticed that sometimes one of the players will make a little off hand joke and Brennan still follow it through, sometimes minutes or weeks after the joke has left the air, all without losing the rhythm. The best way I can describe him that makes him so special in my opinion is that he seems to understand that everything that goes on to the table is an opportunity. Whether that's for a joke, a characters arc or for the main plot and he does it all without ever letting the players know so they don't just get railroaded.
I'm really enjoying dimension 20 at the moment. I instantly like all the intrepid adventurers. I wish it wasn't behind a paywall because I think a lot of people don't know what they're missing but having said that, the paywall must be a huge help because the maps and sets Dimension 20 make are unbelievable. I don't know who the team is, I think the person who built the dome is Rick Perry but whoever they are, they're really doing a great job.
I honestly wished they posted session zero after the season is over cause it would be so cool to see how some of the characters we watch slowly come to life
The legendary BEARDSLEY NAT 20s!!! I don't think anyone can handle - and properly celebrate! - those kinds of moments as effectively as Brennan can. Another great example is Rekha Shankar's roll for if ghosts are real in Of Mice and Murder - if you haven't watched that campaign GET ON IT! Its a great example of how amazing he is at supporting new players without just telling them what to do.
The look on his face for… oh crud, ghosts are real… what do I do?! is so good!
I've never played DnD, and while I have watched a little bit of DnD content it was still very hard to properly enjoy online DnD content like Critical Role. Brennan's DMing is so beginner friendly while also being incredibly intriguing that despite my issues of lacking experience, I was able to enjoy Fantasy High so much that it's become infinitely easier putting myself in the right mindset to enjoy these online campaigns, and I can actually watch others now too without feeling like I have to multitask to keep myself from being bored.
Brennan Lee Mulligan singlehandedly opened the floodgates for me. I was just feeling like I was out of stuff to play/watch, and now this whole new world is open to me, and it genuinely feels like I could spend my entire 2023 on it and still not have run out of content.
My favorite thing about Brennan is how he makes character skill checks feel real, both in success and failure.
BLM creates such fantastic well rounded characters and plays off his players so well, watching him craft a lived in world the way he does is so satisfying!
I love how he manages to bring all his character's backgrounds into his stories!
Black lives matter?
@@joseguillermoregaladocasti8619 Brennan Lee Mulligan
Ally Beardsley sure does roll a lot of miraculous nat 20s and honestly? I love that for them. Brennan always does such a good job of drastically changing the world when something miraculous happens once he gets over the initial consternation.
Brennan Lee Mulligan is a national treasure
I haven’t heard many DMs yet, but it seems to me that Brennan plays heavy on the NPCs and uses them to bring the world to life as opposed to making the narration super engaging.
I’m glad I’ve listened to D20 because it has given me an idea of what a narrative style of campaign looks like. The DnD guide books seem to lean more towards the misfits doing random stuff for treasure, so I’m glad I’ve got Brennan’s example of story telling.
Gonna start running my first campaign later this week!
i agree, for the longest matt was mine. But after watching a bunch of dimension 20 and tbh Calamity series solidified Brennan as my favorite.
I look at the two (matt and brennan)
Matt: Tells a damn awesome story and it sucks you in his detail is second to none.
Brennan: This man can flip the switch so fast, its amazing to watch. i like most of characters he acts out.
For me, the thing that really makes Brennan special is that he's the kind of DM who isn't afraid to throw the first punch. In fact, he practically encourages his players to get into an outright brawl with him, then refuses to pull back his punches. And you know what I've realized, from both watching Dimension 20 and my own experiences with playing TTRPGs? A DM who brandishes a knife during the fight in the Denny's parking lot actually increases player agency, and this increase cannot be overstated.
Of course, the DM has to have love in their heart, even while they're trying their damndest to make Julius Caesar's assassination look like a mere flesh wound in comparison. By this, I mean that the DM has to always be coming from a place of wanting to make the game fun for their players, and not be an adversarial dickwad trying to beat them. But if a DM has this intent and the awareness to do things in a way that won't make their players actually upset, then players quickly realize the crucial thing that makes this all work: they shouldn't pull back their punches either. And once players bring their own knives to the aforementioned parking lot, that's when things get really exciting.
Ultimately, DMs are the ones who set the precedent for the mindset players have during the game. If I only have reason to believe that pushing the big red button would only create environmental catastrophe and soul crushing guilt, then why would I ever do that? But if I have reason to believe that the explosion would be glorious, and then the party would galavant through the nuclear wasteland doing Mad Max-esque hijinks, then why wouldn't I push that button? This example is pretty extreme, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that if a DM establishes that the consequences for failure and shenanigans will be fun by having the world and NPCs be dramatic and proactive, and also being dramatic and proactive themselves, then players are much more willing to take risks and try crazy ideas. And to me at least, player agency is only meaningful if I have the freedom to make choices that could very well result in disaster-and make the experience that much cooler for everyone involved.
This is easily the best way I've seen it described. What Brennan really REALLY excels at is creating stakes. He can be a brutal DM, especially in Crown of Candy and Calamity. He pulls zero punches and actively makes the game scary and stressful. But even though he's brutal, it's never with malicious intent. He wants his players to win, but he will make them work for it, which makes their successes all the more poignant. Of course, it has to be said that both of those campaigns he had very clear communication with hia players that he was going to actively try to kill them and they were ok with it. It's almost disorienting to see him at his peak devastation as DM and then switch to him on the talks episodes where he's so sweet and lovely. But that's also why it works. You know deep down he is not being mean because he's actually mean, but because he's delivering what they agreed on and asked for. It's kind of beautiful to watch. I've been craving the kind of tragedy he gave us in Calamity, and I sincerely hope he does more games like that in the future cuz it gutted everyone in the best way.
Brennan is also a master of playing into the “players against the GM” dynamic-which is usually a *very* toxic way to play D&D-because he *only* does it at the right times and in the right ways.
He never loses sight of how D&D (at least in his campaigns) is a *cooperative* storytelling game, first and foremost. And he’s never trying to “win” by tricking his *players.* Any “tricks” are generally by his *characters* against the *players’ characters,* and he’s always fair to the players from an out-of-character perspective.
But when he’s time for combat, he *absolutely* leans into the player/GM divide in the most friendly, playful ways possible. “I’m gonna kill that dog!” And I obviously can’t read his mind (or Detect Thoughts), but I get the impression he does that *specifically* so his players feel an even stronger sense of victory and accomplishment when they prevail.
It’s trueee. He’s so thoughtful and he’s so dedicated to implementing elements for every character and really playing into that. It’s awesome.
What an amazing video - you articulated PERFECTLY why he seems like such a compelling GM and super worth emulating.
Love seeing the different ways to DM a game. Running my first completely self made campaign. I'm aiming to co-create the world with the players and hopefully engage the players in a good way. Loving the DM styles from Brennan and Anthony Burch from dungeons and daddies.
Brennan and Anthony (from dungeons and daddies) will always have special places in my heart because those two got me into DND
I like them both too because they show 2 very different styles where Anthony doesn't have the pure technical skills and what not that Brennan might but the main thing I get from both is they all have so much fun playing and that's really the most important part. I want to start playing and start DMing my own stories one of these days when I'm not so busy with other life stuff and other tabletop games. (I'm trying really hard to learn battletech and holy jeepers there's a lot of information there.)
Hi, hello what's up. Out of all the videos I have seen on DM/GMs not once have they talked about the importance of laughter in games. So hats off to a awesome video
Thank you so much! I felt like it was missing from the conversation so I talked about it here and in my video about EXU: Calamity.
Gonna watch that now then
Dude just commented on your video first time the other day, and now you're putting out a video gushing about BLM the way I would if I had a channel. Officially convinced that dark patron gave you telepathy as well.
Turns out the Algorithm is a Great Old One lol. Thank you so much!
You are absolutely correct about improv working best with good preparation to bounce around in.
One of my favorite Brennan encounters that I never hear people talking about is the hot exit early in *A Starstruck Odyssey.* He threw SO many different obstacles from so many directions at a pretty low-level party who were literally just trying to get the hell back to their ship, and it was so fun and engaging.
I LOVE Brennan, he’s so amazing and talented with all this it’s crazy, love his stuff
THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING THAT SYSTEMS OUTSIDE OF DND EXIST! I've seen it too many times when people try using mechanics that clash with narrative and then they get annoyed by the game not working out. Like if you want to make a 80s/90s slasher film, don't use a system with things like HP, in depth combat mechanics, or heroic PCs. Use something like Dread where you have a Jenga tower and the GM declares how hard something would be to accomplish is tied to how many blocks you need to pull. Then if/when the tower falls the character dies.
I *love* Dread! Its one of my favourite RPGs. Perfect for horror and suspense
Yo, this video was amazing! Really professional and informative but fun and very interesting. You're very aware and that shows, always putting the players fun and emotions first in ways that really boost the potential of a campaign. You seem like a great DM
also: Thank you for putting my thoughts about BLM into a video!
Thank you so much! Careful now, you'll inflate my ego lol
I got my dropout subscription just so I can watch D20, my personal favorite season was the first season of unsleeping city.
The reason was that Brennan just did so at playing npc’s, it also helps that Brennan is actually from New York so he knows how New Yorkers are.
I’m a first DM at my school club and I took heavy inspiration from Brennan in how I DM, still working on voices but I play through my npc’s in a way that my group enjoy and I especially love acting out the characters. I’m also still working on the whole ability to go unhinged that Brennan has but I’m getting there
For the little amount of time you have been uploading the videos have been amazing. They seem well thought out and have very useful and fun information. I can't wait for the many more videos in the future.
Thank you! I really appreciate that!
Brenan was the only one who could have done EXU calamity. His ruthlessness was perfect for an apocalyptic Campaign
I think Murph said it best It doesn't matter to him as a DM which way the party goes, behind the next door will be the battle.
Spoilers for NADDPOD
Brennan is my favorite DM too but Brian Murphy is a very close second for me. NADDPOD was my first big experience with D&D so there might be a hint of bias but I truly think that Murph is one of the greatest DMs of all time. Murph created such a tonally rich world in that of Bahumia. It manages to be both very silly and tongue and cheek will still taking itself seriously and having a dramatic edge. Similarly to Brennan he uses comedy as a backdrop to serious moments, take a look at the final battle with Thiala for example. It is huge in scale and has so much gravity to it but it also has magic elephants and the revival and subsequent verbal abuse of Galad Rosell. Murph is the master of establishing a fair yet fun dynamic with his players. He'll allow Fulkery but he'll still deal out consequences for dumb decisions. Fi ally, it's my opinion that NADDPOD has the best combat of any actual play. It using being completely theater oof the mind to its advantage and al.ows the combats to be more free flowing and sometimes even scattered like when the people of Gladehome got possessed. Season 1 of NADDPOD is pure magic and seasons 2 and 3, while not quite as amazing, are still really good.
Murph is a fantastic DM!
Murph does a great job of being the straight man on the show. And as a consequence makes the whole podcast that much more entertaining. IRL it’s 3 funny men to one straight man, but in the story it 3 funny to an entire world of straight men and that makes the party all the more entertaining
Murphy I feel like is a much more unfettered DM. He lets what's fun at the table be the most important thing over adherence to rules.
I'm already sucked into the Bahumia full fledged sequel. Honestly anything Emily Axford is in proximity to becomes instantly cooler. What a power couple between the two of them.
I've never played D&D and discovered Dimension 20 like 2 weeks ago. I'm now on my 3rd campaign.
His improve is 2nd to none. I also love how engaged he is. He basks in the victories without handing them out.
I recently watched a few other DM's campaigns and although socially engaging, the victories felt hollow because the circumstances kept bending into the groups favor. It felt like they were protected by plot armor. I wouldn't go as far as to say the victories felt scripted, but it felt like every time the group started to fail the difficulty was lowered.
I am so happy I found your channel. Deserving of everyone of those 13k subs and each one obtained afterwards.
Really enjoyed this video! Your way of approaching the topic feels super inclusive and well-explained for players of all ages and experience levels, I really appreciate it
Thank you!
I was still here so here is my comment! Thank you for the video. I fully agree in the sense that Brennan is my favourite DM. I only recently found his campaigns after fully catching up on the cr 3 story. Theatre students slay :D
Theatre kids gotta stick together lol
The most interesting part of Brennan's style vs say Critical Role to me is the way Brennan really carefully designs everything around fitting a lot into a little, because it needs to fit into a season of a limited number of sessions.
I like the comedy advice,
As long as it's not overused, like in some bad movies that mix comedy and dark without letting either shine in their own moments.
You have some comedy and let it shine, and have dark moments and let it sink
What makes you the best is how well you can highlight the best parts of people, genuinely and honestly.
I just started watching Dimension 20 because Brennan's dming in EXU: Calamity was so great
I love your comment about not invalidating the group. For my first ever campaign, the ground zero meeting we already diverted expectations and our DM was not expecting us to join the leader of the cult, but we decided to befriend him. And now that character is our favorite.
I'd love to see one of these videos about Johnny Chiodini of Oxventure. Mostly because he has the complete opposite approach of Matt Mercer but is still an excellent top teir DM.
I'm not faniliar with that show, I'll have to look them up!
The fact that I fully agree with you helps Lolol, but your writing and presentation is great, looking forward to following this channel.
Thank you so much!
as a German, the sign in the background saying "Inspireren" messes with my brain. once I read it, I couldn't look away.
the German word for inspire is inspirieren. Inspireren is so damn close to that but so slightly off that it's like a itch.
Lol! Its because its the Dutch word for inspire. My grandparents were all from the Netherlands
Your videos are funny, informative, concise, entertaining, awesome, well produced and deep. Keep going! ^^
Appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed!
your content reminds me a lot of some DnD shorts and XP to lvl3 videos, i like how you are calm though and explaining in detail slow and steady. Overall amazing. Keep going :)
I'd really like to hear you talk about the dungeons and daddies podcast - not only is it amazingly funny, but they also show a surprising amount of heart and care
The DM there also loves creating small mini rule systems for dumb things and i love it so much
my favorite Dungeon Master was the guy that I play with that took on the role as DM for Tomb of Annihilation as his first time DM and he rocked.
I was literally having this discussion this past Saturday at Dagorhir practice. He has absolute dynamic control of the full situation.
Mercer is my go-to DM. Yet, you've convinced me to give Brenan a chance. 😊
Brennan's campaigns make me want to get back into d&d so badly. He just has so much range for both comedic and emotional storylines and I wish I could jump into a game with him.
Have you listened to The Film Reroll podcast? Their main DM (Paulo) is also a really incredible storyteller and has run some amazing campaigns (and shorter games) on their show and all the other players are improv comedians and/or actors in real life and there's some really fun games they've run by taking movies and running them like a RPG campaign.
When nerds are charismatic af, that scares me. Makes me feel inadequate. They are simply the best of both worlds, outliers but in their element. Brennan is like the character Eddie from Stranger Things. It's hard not to crack a smile man.
As a first time DM running 5e for 1st-time players, I really enjoyed the insight share here. Thanks so much for all the valuable insights!
I'm a massive fan of high fantasy and was drawn in first by Critical Role, especially because campaign one has so much bittersweet tragedy laced throughout, aka catnip for my Shakespeare loving ass. Calamity was my first exposure to Brennan, and I was IMMEDIATELY hooked. His ability to guide the narrative in a tight storyline while still allowing his players to make bold choices and break things blew my mind. It was such a change from Matt's more open map Oblivion style of play. Both are amazing for different reasons.
I've subscribed to Dropout to watch more, and I'm really enjoying Crown of Candy. Brennan is definitely a titan in the ttrpg world and I am likely going to binge his work to see what else he can do.
Not going to lie though, I'm craving more Calamity style tragedy from him. He was absolutely brilliant.
If you haven’t reached it already I 110% recommend A Crown of Candy if you’re after that tragedy. Fastest description I can give is “Candyland but it’s Game of Thrones”
A comment to appease the almighty algorithm. Excellent video! I love Brennan so much and I'm so grateful for his influence on D&D.
Thank you!
Honestly been wanting to try dming and brennan is an amazing dm, and I am happy that you explained what I couldn't put into thought
If you can find a group I highly reccomend giving DMing a shot! Its a ton of fun and creatively satisfying
Cool video! About to start my own D&D campaign with a few mates, not done any DM'ing before though, so this has been very helpful :)
Dude I didn’t even realize that planned improv was a thing, but now I realize that’s what I’ve been doing throughout most of my dming.
I've been relistening to the first episode or two of every D20 and making notes to study the art of GM-ing and story telling (so, I'm a nerd among nerds)
Brennan is clearly a very skilled improvisor, but until i did this i didn't appreciate what a tight reign he keeps on the openings. They are clearly very well planned and so much is woven into them - establishing the player characters, establishing important NPCs, establishing themes, setting into motion narrative threads including the main plot arc, creating a motive for action for every character, bringing the characters together, setting up the first battle/crisis. In the episode ones in particular, although it feels like there players are having fun she doing what they want, there is surprisingly little space for player agency. The unsleeping city is a great example of how forward momentum and plot threads are dropped right in the character introductions. Neverafter does the same but with a more complicated structure.
With Abriya on the other hand, what amazed me was the opposite. I ended up watching the whole of kids on brooms, because she is happy to just create the world and reward the players choices and never give them specific plot threads to cling to. More than half way through the series, there is no big bad guy, not plot to foil or mystery to solve, just an organically growing unease about the social structure of the magical world in general.
I know that with Brennan, they have a session zero where they roleplay their characters to get used to them. This isn't a character creation session. Character creation happens in advance. Studying the session ones, it seems like for some campaigns session zero was done as a party, while for others maybe it was done individually or in smaller groups. I'd be fascinated to get a peek at those. Anyone want too leek a video?
I'd love to see Dimension 20 do a campaign based around the concept of the movie Office Space. The idea of such everyday people like office workers, but in the world of magic, sounds hilarious
I think my top DMs are Aabria/Brennan and then Matt Mercer, but I think it’s because they’re able to be a bit funnier seeing as their campaigns are usually pretty limited. Gonna watch your Matt Mercer video now. You have great content.
Love the breakdowns! Only recently found your content, but boy is it good :)
Thank you!
thanks for making this. It's interesting to hear about great DMs and and what can be learned from them.
When I think of railroads in ttrpgs it usually is in the sense that the players choices being undermined by the the GM or something similar
He’s a legend unto the community and unto himself 👏👏👏👏 completely agree
A really solid set of advice I do have one nitpick however with goal setting and railroading. I think there is a distinction between the giving the players a goal and offering the players a goal, one of the worst ways you can railroad your players is by telling them what to care about. If your players don't accept your first offering, let the story advance and give them other offers. There are two things you can do to improve the chances that the player will take your offer that I know Brendan does. The first is get everybody on the same page about what the game is going to be about before the first session (I do believe you did touch on this in the video) the second is to mine players backstories to figure out the motivations their characters will be starting the game with and designing the offer with what you know that the players want to do.
Once your players have committed to a goal, you should be able to set intermediate objectives and let your players figure it out as you described.
Fair points! I actually talk about mining character backstories in my suspense video
YES. THIS IS A GREAT POINT. I am the DM for my group. All three of them are darkly whimsical. The darkest and most whimsical is my wife. Her last two characters were as follows:
1. A half-ogre (half elf, half ogre) whose backstory was "no one must find out I am part elf" and "I am going to find my mother's ghost so I can kill her. Again."
2. A Yuan-Ti Paladin with a book on human culture and species traits. Her Paladin's take on human slaves under Yuan-Ti: they're pets. Bad slave owners are really bad pet owners. (Yes, I know. It's better than it sounds, which is good, because it... sounds awful.)
If I tell them what they should care about, they totally lose interest. I can use modules and stuff, but I can rarely tell what they're going to do next. It's just about impossible to railroad a train that's already off the tracks. Best to just enjoy the chaos with some groups.
I think the moment that best illustrates his skill was the first battle of fantasy high. Iykyk
The nat 20 bit reminds me of when I introduced a character to my players as a hooded figure and someone said “can I roll to see if he’s black” and they got a nat 20 😟
I’d like to see you dming. You seem really inciteful and willing to put what you learn into your games.
Thank you! If you're interested I do DM on a podcast called Thunder and Dragons. I don't promote it here very often because I've learned a lot since its first episode and the release schedule is all over the place (which is entirely on me haha)
I'm starting with Brennan, so it's really hard for me to watch other dnd campaigns. I try one or two episodes of other campaigns and I couldn't do it
As brennan once said. "He smart, he burp"
Steady putting out thoughtful, high quality content. I dont kniw what makes me say this but you and Dael should get together on a video. You, bricks and mortor; her, fine lumber. Together youd make a great dnd house
Love Dael's content! I think she's a little out of reach in terms of our audience sizes, but I certainly wouldn't turn down the opportunity to work with her!
@@castlecaster Just a matter of time, I'm sure, until you're in the same ballpark. You make great stuff!
I'll not abide a soul as good as you to be without their Eldritch Blast. Subscribed.
I get to blast another day. Thank you!
This channel be underRATED
Thank you!! TBF its only existed for about 3 weeks lol
Thats 3 weeks of quality content people should know about
I need to know what the background music is called. I've heard it so much and I don't know where.
A Crown of Candy wrecked me more than once on an emotional level!
"...please..."
AAAHHH!!!!!
SAME
“Here’s to a future you can’t ruin.”
your audio is slightly misaligned with the video and i cant un see it lmao
D20 was what truly got me into D&D. And even more specifically got me into DM'ing. Brennan actually makes being a DM seem like fun. If not even the most fun part of the game.
I'm still a beginner DM only having played a few games as one (Who knew finding the time to actually play was gonna be the most difficult part 😂), but so far I genuinely enjoy it more than being a player.
You should be a voice actor! I hear the limitless villain potential in those pipes :)
I enjoyed your calm presentation.
Did him dirty in that thumbnail ngl 💀
When I watch Mercer I say “wow, that was really cool how he did that. I can’t wait to use that.”
When I watch Mulligan I just stare, muting “how the fuck did he do that…?”
"My dark patron, the algorithm, will take away my Eldritch Blast. I wanna blast." Best "pls sub & like" plug.
I have to design a oneshot for 6 friends. But I'm kind of at a loss for how to start. Does anyone have any advice?
Slightly off-topic question: The books on the shelf just above and to the right of you on the screen - they look really familiar, but I can’t quite make them out. What are they? Who is the author? James B A Corby? The first one looks like _something_ WAR (I know that’s not right, but they’re not in focus so I can’t quite tell).
This is one of those random things that’s just gonna bug me until I can figure out what they are. If anyone recognizes them, please let me know!
The colourful ones? That's The Expanse series by James SA Corey. They're great!
@@castlecaster Awesome! I knew I'd seen them before! Thank you.
This is great! Now to Aabria and Mark “Sherlock” Hulmes
Definitely going to do a video on Aabria soon! Mark will take a while since I've only watched like 3 episodes of High Rollers so far
Great vid! Very well considered 😊
Thank you! 😁
Hey man! I like you, good vibes. Liked, subscribed, shared and commented. Don't want your Patron to get Mad xD. Don't we all need Eldritch Blasts in our lives :D
Very interesting observations, but I must disagree with you on one point: players trying to figure out what to do, what goals to pursue and where their characters should go IS playing DND. It's just one of the things that is often lost in actual play because of the playing for the crowd aspect.
Fair point! I don't know that I fully agree, but I can see where you're coming from!
Hey, I found myself getting distracted and threw your video on 1.25x and found it way easier to stay on this video. Not sure if it needs to be quite that fast, but 1.1x could make a big difference for collecting viewers?
Anyway, great video! I’m gonna go watch another when it’s done.
the only thing that i dont like so much about brennan as a dm is the fact that he did'n make gilear a recurent character in the others campaing, really a waste opportunity😔
but man what a cool video, really hope it gets reccomended for more people!
I feel like Gilear deserves a break lol
You'd think Brennand would have learned by now to never ask Ally for a roll unless he's fully prepared for them to roll a nat 20 lmao
There's an Adventuring Party episode (I think it was for Mentopolis?) where Brennan expressed that the reason he's so good at this is because it's his primary skill, so it BETTER be the thing he makes a career out of because he has no other marketable skills (improv comedy doesn't pay particularly well). He's put his whole life into refining this, so don't feel bad if you're nowhere near his level, unless you're willing to dedicate your entire life to becoming an expert in that one thing. Most actors can't be at Meryl Streep's level, most basketball players can't be at Kobe's level. But you can learn from them and study their techniques to make yours better.
Re: using the right system. I follow a game designer and he talks a LOT about how each system has inherent assumptions about both rules and goals, and how dnd\ d20 being so popular limits a lot of players looking for the right system and instead just trying to cram their game into this system. Makes me think
I don't disagree. It can be limiting when you're stuck using one system with all its assumptions and baggage. That said, I think D&D 5e is pretty flexible, so long as your story involves a lot of combat haha
This summer I rekindled my longtime love of GURPS for superhero campaigns. It just has a flexibility for creating characters with unique abilities that D20’s class system can never match. Which is not to say I don’t love D&D when it plays to its strengths.
Happy blasting
All I can say is baron from the baronies
Oh my god I simultaneously love and hate Baron lol
I believe Brennan should’ve planned to improv around Ally’s Nat 20s by now
If you walk into a big scary cavern with ancient carvings along the walls and floor that lead to a set of stairs leading into the earth with carvings in a pattern along the floor and two visible skeletons covered in cobwebs and dust and obvious dried blood in the center leading down?
Where are you going? Are you going to be careful or whistle a tune? Are you examining the carvings? How are you stepping?
You don't need people to tell you there is danger there. You know.
You have a fantastic voice for broadcasting
Thank you!