12 Tips for Running a D&D Module or Pre-Made Adventure
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มิ.ย. 2024
- D&D modules and pre-made adventures are great because they do a lot of the work for the dungeon master--adventures, NPCs, villains, maps, etc. However, how exactly does a dungeon master run a module or pre-made Dungeons & Dragons adventure? What are the steps a DM should take to prepare to run a D&D or RPG module? Surely there are helpful tips, tricks, and just general advice for game masters who just picked up a cool new RPG adventure they want to run. (You know, besides the tried and true "just read the entire module a few times" advice, which, by the way, is generally just BAD advice.)
So, in this video I'm going to discribe how I prepare when I'm going to run a D&D module for my players. These are the twelve pieces of advice that I believe will be most helpful for dungeon masters looking to run a pre-made adventure for their Dungeons & Dragons group.
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What's your top tip for running a D&D module?
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I think my biggest tip for running a Module is dont push your players to fit into a "Meta-team build" just because they think the encounters will be hard because surprisingly aside from stuff like the murder room from ToA they go pretty easy on players in my opinion. Then again my monster rolls happen to be pretty bad
Also perfect timing I'm running my party through Storm King's Thunder although I decided to put them through Phandalin since most of the players have never player a module for their 1-5 and then jumping into SKT in part 2
One thing you left out is to pick the right module for your group. You should know your group and what kind of D&D game they (and of course you also) enjoy. So when you know your group is going for beer and brezels and basically just wants to crawl through dungeons, don't bother buying modules that epaphice diplomacy or interaction with NPC-characters. There is no way to force players to enjoy something they reject because they expect something different from the game.
Definitely view the module as more of a guideline. Make your players feel like it's their adventure. Tailor what happens to the choices they make.
I like to look for filler crap done for flavor like that cottage and fill it out. Maybe the owner is a werewolf with his pack on hand, or it was destroyed by fire on the inside yet pristine on the outside. Sure it can derail the module, but it will make for a far more interesting world and if you're good at improv you can get a better adventure in the long run.
And I am preparing for a module for my players, but to my advantage, it's taking place in the city they're in anyway so everything is just expanding their base of operations.
It made me laugh pretty damn hard that they wanted to go to the "not on the module, just for looks" cottage in the skit! That is EXACTLY what happened to me the first time I ever DMd in my very first session. Was running the LMoP starter module and as I described the party approaching Phandalin, they party decided to go up to the door of the first home they passed. I panicked and I described it as a small kind of ramshackle house with a tomato garden that was in desperate need of some love. They knocked on the door and a little old lady whom we ALL learned was named Tamara answered the door. Some fun, seat of my pants RP ensued, and now everytime the party is traveling near Phandalin, they make it a point to swing in to Tamara the Tomato Lady's house to help her with her garden and other menial house chores while she regails the party with stories of past extraordinary events of the town. She's basically become the defacto barkeep rumor quest hand out type NPC.
That's beautiful. Perfect NPC! 😁
That's so wholesome
No module can cover everything, so no matter how much they prepare, every DM needs to be ready to imaginatively improvise if necessary, when it comes to the world at large.
This impro doesn't have to be extraordinary, just believability consistent and you provided a great example of how to go about it.
I ran a short module called A Day in the Races. Particular character did not survive and I had to make a random little old lady to give the players an item said dead character was supposed to give
So, basically: Don't read the entire module, but... Read the entire module. OK!
Exactly! Or just use your own discretion.
I'd treat it like a rulebook or a textbook. If you have the time and enthusiasm to read it all then do so, but whether or not you read it from cover to cover, you do need to become adept at skim reading to identify the most important/relevant sections and using it as a reference to look things up quickly. These are the skills of a DM.
Read what the adventurers are going to do for that session before you run the session. Make notes so you can summarize the information that the players need to know.
You can get away with reading the full module when they are built to be short. But you still need to plan for things before you run it
Skim the module
Hot take for #13: Reading dramatically from a script is a skill.
On occasion, I tend to slip into Don LaFontaine (Trailer Guy) mode...
"They don't have Darkvision because they're a Variant Human"
*bumps into the wall in Dragonborn*
For anyone who's in a rush and can't watch the whole video:
*Golden rule: Trying to reach a point where you refer to the text in the module as little as possible. You do this by preparing and willingness to deviate from the script. Preparation is key unless you want to wing it.*
*1.* You don't have to read the whole module.
*2.* Print off the map and make notes on it.
*3.* Print off the adventure and use highlighters to mark important parts.
*4.* Prepare to roleplay important NPCs.
*5.* Study monster stat blocks.
*6.* Plan enemy tactics.
*7.* Plan any special terrain for encounters.
*8.* Adjust the encounters for your group.
*9.* Pick out your minis.
*10.* Study lore and locations.
*11.* The module is a guideline.
*12.* Tie it all together.
I relate so hard to how he started to read from the book at the very start of the video...
Like either you've done that before or your dungeon master has done that before. LOL no need to answer. LOL for what it's worth I feel like we all done that before. It's just part of the learning process. And honestly reading from the read aloud text in a book isn't bad. I do it from time to time myself. The trick is trying to make it interesting and not boring as crap.
I feel personally attacked by the opening lol
Same lol
Same
Sorry? 😌
the DM Lair Don’t be! It was a good way to gain perspective on how bad my session zero was lol. It just makes me want to learn to dm better. Thanks for the tips. 👍🏾
You should never read word for word out of a mod, think about it like a book report....if you did that shit you would get an F .... gotta use your own words kids.
Im a fairly new DM and Im running LMoP and have learned a lot of this kind of stuff lol. Im learning my players much prefer combat over interacting with NPCs, and I've even been sprinkling in some possible plot hooks for after they finish the adventure. building off of the Dragon Cultists I've added in mentioning Triboar with Giant attacks happening, strange weather patterns happening every few days with an introduction of the Stone Monks from Princes so they would have a choice of where to go next.
Oh my God, another perfectly timed video.
I'm about to run Waterdeep: Dragon Heist on Thursday (my first full size module), and this is perfect.
I've been following your advice and I've built out so much extra, player character focused story that I'm expecting this it to be two times longer than the module intended.
I'm so excited to dive into all sorts of DnD lore and make this the most complex and intriguing game my players have ever played.
Thank you for all of the advice.
*chef kisses*
I would run parts of Chapter 5 or which every you choose before Chapter 4. One my first run through of heist my players revolted and refused to play in the last chapter. The kids can be introduced early if you want to blend the story better. I did have fun with the laws.
Have a grat time
That's awesome! And you are very welcome. 😀
As someone who’s been playing through WDDH, it’s super fun.
Heads up, your players can get killed in the first encounter. Only my placing a 17 in constitution saved me as I got critter on and was left with one HP. I had a very high starting AC of 19! Sword and Board Paladin with defense as fighting style.
Death is part of DnD, but as a first time player, it would have sucked to have lost a PC I invested so much in.
HAVE A GREAT GAME! You should comeback another day mentioning how it all went! Just be cool, everything will be alright
Long time subscriber here, I just wanted to say that your content is amazing! I seriously binge it 😂
Thanks a lot Jacob. I really appreciate it. :-)
For Curse of Strahd, it helps to know each chapter on a basic lvl, so you can tie stuff together when your players do something unexpected.
The art of being a great game master: even when you make a mistake, roll with it and make it look like it was intentional, fix it after. Case in point: Wednesdays and Wednesdays.
1:56 😜
Don't be afraid to reshape the plot hooks to align with what your players want. If the party is interacting with a farmer, and you establish in the moment that someone has been killing his steer, they may want to look into that. If you had wanted them to investigated the den of dark mages in town, then put the two together. Perhaps the mages have been practices some dark rites on the local livestock because it would be less noticeable than targeting people. This way you get the players back on track, without railroading them
I'm currently running Rise of Tiamat for a group of my friends, and I find that I get really frustrated at myself when it comes to the council meetings with anywhere between 10-13 NPCs all debating with each other about the current state of the land. Any advice about how to make go smoother such that I'm not just talking to myself for half an hour while trying to keep my players engaged?
Yeah totally dude. My tip here is not to talk in character for all the NPC's. I would only talk in character if one of the council members in addressing one of the players characters. But if the council members are all talking among themselves then I would not talk in character. Just give a general summary of what they're talking about. You just summarize that stuff and it'll go with so much smoother.
the DM Lair Thanks so much for the advise, will be super helpful for the rest of the adventure!
@@theDMLair this should be a video.
I had the same problem until one of my players said he was tired and needed the session to end soon. All of sudden I'm summarizing things and it was exciting and fast paced.
I'm also running Rise of Tiamat, continuing on from Hoard of the Dragon Queen, and I warned my group about the council meetings before hand. Then I asked them what they would prefer: rping the entire council, or giving a summary of the events within it since the meetings are almost entirely the representatives talking among themselves. They decide that they would rather have a summary of the meetings, with a bit of rp around any important decisions that the player characters might need to make during a meeting. So that's my recommendation: ask your players what they want you to do for them.
There is INFINITELY more value to the "basic over-view" and a quick-reference style list of approximately who's on which side of what arguments so the Players can ask questions... the huge great majority of Players (myself included) have NO interest what so ever in watching a GM attempt to argue with himself... not for a minute, and surely not for half an hour.
Example:
GM: Basically you've got three factions, and a handful of "hold-outs"... Faction one wants to pack up and haul ass out of town. Faction two wants to send women and children hauling ass out of town to stay a town or two over and get word out while the men stay and fight. Faction three wants to put weapons in the hands of everyone capable of holding them, and stick it out together for better or worse... AND basically, you've got a three way shouting match about who's plan is best...
Done and done... If the Players then ask which members are hold-outs or who wants to do what (fishing for allies) then you've got the quick reference prepped for such an occasion. If they'd prefer (as Players do from time to time) to "kill 'em all and let the gods sort it out"... then you haven't wasted a bunch of time on a big ol' routine for an info' dump nobody listened to anyway...
If you forget to prep' a list, however... DO NOT PANIC, grab up pencil and pad, to take notes on "those important NPC's" as you start "improvising" and make stuff up, jotting down the important points as you go...
As a GM you are GOING to get "caught with your pants down" from time to time. You'll ABSOLUTELY have to yank crap out of thin air, and try to weave an adventure together with it, or shore up whatever wasn't properly prepped beforehand. It can get embarrassing, chaotic, and the continuity goes to hell in a hand-basket without practice, skill, and care... BUT without the courage to dive in and make a mess of things, you can't get the practice to get good at it, either... SO that's the "hell of it". Relax, and remember to have a good time... The weirder stories are often the most fun anyway. ;o)
Did you say most wednesdays and wednesdays? (At about the 2 min mark)
No... I don't think I would ever misspeak in a video... 😁
Well it is Wednesdays.
Here I was thinking I was losing my mind!
Me too, Emily. 😂
My favorite channel for content involving running dnd. I actually really struggle with this. Personally I love the story I buy them to read them and delve into the lore. But it doesnt work so well when trying to run
Yeah I feel like the first module I tried to run didn't work so well for me either. It's something that takes practice. I mean it is different than just running home brew stuff so it'll take some getting used to and learning and improving and stuff.
A great timing for me: Planing to run Curse of Strahd for my party. An quite helpful video and changing a few bits: Strahd in disguise invites the party to a ride and plans to send them after van Richten and is destinied enemy. Also planing to use him as a short time companion, so he has a chance to kidnap his bride to be. Maybe gonna use Rahadin, idk, i'll see. Gonna make notes for both, just to be sure.
You're a great youtuber, and thank you because this really helped me. I'm going to run my first adventure soon, and I've been watching your channel a ton! btw sorry I'm late
I ran Princes of the Apocalypse for my first ever experience as a DM. It has a special place in my heart.
That said, it has some... weird? level distribution for dungeons that were connected by an elevator or pathway.
My fix for that was just blocking off those paths, like the cultists collapsed the tunnels to prevent the PCs from getting to their temples.
I actually changed a bit because I was actually very unimpressed with these four great villains with cool backstories who just.... kind of appear for a fight and then die? So I had the prophets show up outside of their dungeons, to have that bit of buildup.
Yes that was the first module I ever ran for a group 2. And I have similar gripes about it. Actually the exact same gripe about the dungeon design.
Yo I'm 3 years late, but I'm basically running Princes as my first campaign. Well... it's been a year now and I feel like I could actually do better if I wasnt following the book. It's just SOOOOO complicated to remember every goddamn thing that comes up and well, when I wing it I'm then having trouble getting back into whats actually written. Also, the ''hook'' would be poor at best, if it had one.
Perfectly explained! My favorite video of yours so far. Thank you!
As someone who is currently preparing to run Tyranny of Dragons, this was a very welcome video! And I have a bonus tip too!
Seek the advice of those who've already run the module!
For example, plenty of people have written/talked about how to run Tyranny of Dragons, how to improve it, which issues to address, and what worked for them. By reading up on other peoples experiences you can not only avoid making the same mistakes, but also be inspired on how to make your sessions better!
As someone with a bit of experience with that module: pay attention to that first session. The PCs aren't supposed to do _everything that's possible_ in that first scenario. You're just supposed to run them ragged, fly the dragon past, then finish up with the challenge from the half-dragon Champion.
Try to push them through every single possible encounter in Greenest and ... well, you've got a Puffin Forrest video. And those things are funny to watch; less so to play or run.
Great video - and love the Uruz necklace. Keep up the great vids
I'm calling you out, next week's video will be good like all the rest!
Calling me out?!? Very well. Meet me in the Lair next Tuesday at high noon. Be ready to draw... 😂
Duly noted!! We’re aiming to finish our Phandelver adventure this summer (figuring out social distance!) and then Saltmarsh!
Awesome vid, Luke! You’ve got yourself a new supporter on Patreon! Keep up the good work!
Hey thanks a lot! 😁
2A Change the names as necessary so you can pronounce them.3A write/highlight the book because it is yours. And I have lost photocopies at the game table.
I started DMing a couple of months ago with the LMoP module. I created my world based on the PCs background and I added everything else.
I'm preparing another campaign to run with them as soon as the module ends so that they can go somewhere else after they deal with Phandalin and all that crap.
The module is interesting because it gave me info about how to run the basics, but I started changing a lot of things later on
LMoP is actually a pretty cool starting scenario. It's supposedly set in the Forgotten Realms, but it's so generic that you can plonk it down in virtually any setting or just use it as the basis for your own setting.
Loved the first point the most!
I just started DMing in October. My solution to cheap minis was a combination checkers/chest set at Target. It's not pretty but it works for now. If my group continues past the first module (lvls 1-6), I'll look into upgrading to cooler stuff.
Im getting ready to run Curse for my group, I listened to the audiobook for I Strahd, memoirs of a vampire. Its free on youtube right now and was a huge aid for understanding Strahd and all the finer details of the module. Also this video was super helpful. I'm a bit of a newer DM and always looking for input to improve.
Thank you for your advice and videos. They have been a huge help to me as I become a DM and help a friend become a DM
Great video,! It's super helpful for me since I'm a newbie at being a DM.
Happy to help!
Really good advice Luke! keep going with the good work
Thanks dude! 😁
I just ran my first session as a DM of LMoP with basically no time to even read more than a dozen pages. That page flipping problem happened early on, and I started winging it. By the end of the first session I realized this was going off the beaten path and have started making my own adjustments. Between that and your tips, I’m surprised at how comfortable I ended up being as DM, and my players want to do session 2 ASAP. Thank you!
Fantastic video man
Great points!
I just found your channel and I have so much binging to do
This was actually helpful, thanks!
3 things i do is: use a bit of discord for the longwinded descriptions i can copy down the parts i want them to know/have exist then as they enter that section I can paste it and they can read the less important bits while I out loud the big parts 2 is basically ripping apart the module... the map in the back is useless back there the battles can be moved to note cards loot can go on sheets to hand out while I move on with story and the 3rd thing is similar to your highlight thing that is find where the important checkpoints are if they drift in the middle between checkpoints let em but know where to guide them next
Great video. Awesome tips. I also find Mike Shea's The Return of The Lazy Dungeon Master method works extremely well when running modules. Per your advice I absolutely change enemy stat blocks. This works well for high level campaigns.
I homebrew the game I run but I got a buddy who’s not quite ready to jump into that and wants to run a module, sending this to him, thanks man
I agree. I am running Storm King's Thunder and use the book as a bare bones outline but all the filler, especially chapter 3 is my own home brew. I think a DM should basically use the modules as ideas to build upon and make most of the game their own by incorporating their players back stories, motivations, and will to be free as they navigate the basic story line. The module usually has a theme and that is a good place to build upon and new or cool NPC's the DM can play up and give a bigger role and others they want to down play.
Thank you, I needed this. I feel very intimidated about starting the starter kit. At the same time I also know that "How about a random encounter, yeah I can do that just let me find it." is so me!! 😅
Perfect timing since I was about to run DotMM. Thanks for the video
Hey I'm going to give you a tip for that specific module 2. It's a big huge Dungeon Crawl from top to bottom and there's no real motivation for players to do it. So you got two options I think that would work. The first one is to create your own plot Hooks and reasons for the characters to actually go into the dungeon. Like they need a reason to go into each level some objective something that they can do or obtain on each level. You might have a patron be the ones that are asking them to do these various things or there could be several different and PCs giving them these quests and missions. The second option for running dungeon of the Mad mage is to take all of the different levels rip them out and make them separate quests at different places throughout the world. And then you create separate plot hooks for each of those new quests that you just made. In my opinion this last way makes the most sense for Dungeon of the Mad mage. They will feel like a normal module we are traveling to different places across the game world with different quests to go on. But if you loved the idea of a dungeon crawl top-to-bottom in your players are good with that to that rock on.
@@theDMLair Thank you so much for the suggestion, I'm actually transitioning the party from LMoP
I'm planning to take them to the early chapters of the dragon heist up to the trollskull manor to introduce them the Waterdeep city and the intricate politics around it.
I will try to tie their motivation to fix and renovate the manor/tavern with jumping to the dungeon as one of the ways to earn the money to do that.
I'm about to run Dungeon Heist and we agreed not to do Mad Mage since it's all dungeon crawl.
I'm thinking of mixing it with Boulders Gate: Decent Into Avernus. I think combining the two will make for some crazy adventures.
I just got Curse of Strahd too, I am excited to see content from you in the future. I am like 1/4 of reading the book and I am worried that the PCs will be all over the place and something will kill them because of a bad decision haha
Haha I know your skits take a LOT of time... but man are they so worth it! Haha
Thanks dude! 😁
I wish this video was around when I DM'ed my first module: Lost Mines of Phandelver. Almost everything wrong that you described in this video is what happened in our sessions. The one thing I did right from this video was adjust the encounters for my group of 6.
Great video!
Same! The first thing my players decided to do was go to Neverwinter. I hadn't anticipated it, but winged it the best I could lol.
Well at least the next time should go better. 😁
@@theDMLair Yeah, thanks to your help 😊
Played lost mines twice...or I will have soon and I feel like even though our DM in the first game had never played before it benefited from us going off script. The DM in the new game seems to railroad. He’s too focused on clearing out all the dungeons and loot
Flipping to the random encounter part of the module is so real.
I use bookmarks!
And the flavor text is usually trash. I try to shorten it or make it more interesting.
Alternatively for using highlighters - if you don't have access to a printer, the dollare 25 cent store has those little arrow tabs. You can write on them, too.
I am dm'ing for the first time and i appreciate all of this advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to go through all of this.
This was a great help
Im running a dragon heist campaign and these are really handy tips
I've only dm as a duet and that opening skit is exactly how it went down.
It's a case of "I'm so excited to tell this story but I've never read this before"
Current;y running CoS and will say this was a very hard module to plan out. However the module does give great advice on how to start or give player agency. Currently in our fourth session and things are going well.
Thank you for the advice .
Side note .
I'm a cover to cover person .
But I've always been gifted with the ability to read and remember everything ( generally ) & if i can't remember stuff .
I'm able to recall where i read it .
Great channel
I am actually running Princes of The Apocalypse right now as a first-time DM. The module book is very confused and poorly organized, and my players and I got very frustrated last session. I will definitely implement these tips! Thanks!
My players and I were frustrated with that module too. Thank goodness for professional game designers.
When faced with a lot of "back and forth" organization in book-modules, it might be helpful to take sticky-notes and add them as tab/labels around the edges of the book. This gives you a place to put labels for the sections you need more often, and allows a much quicker pace to flip straight to the most important pages for things like "reused charts" or "referenced monsters" and the like... especially when you know you're going to need those a lot...
You have space to run them all the way around the book, so don't be afraid to use that space... AND most varieties of sticky-notes come in different colors, so you can color-code your book by particular subject matter... say yellow notes are charts and tables mostly... purple are loot... red for monsters, evil NPC's and enemies (stat-blocks)... or something like that... Any "dirty tricks" to cut down your time required to figure out where the hell you're at with "scarcely a glance" will help. While the color coding and other techniques take time to get used to, they pay off dividends with dysfunctional organization in reference materials...
In the "old days" we'd get a module in a box full of crap... sometimes with several full "table sized" maps (like anyone has a table that size or shape) and a couple of "pamphlets" with the summarized content of the adventure(s) contained and parted "accordingly"... misplace a pamphlet? Hope you're both lucky and have excellent memory...
...AND we ran into missing buildings, NPC's that were mentioned in one critical spot and NOWHERE else, not even a stat-block or half an idea what the hell they were doing there... Monsters that were well described, but nothing about combat, tactics, weapons, magic... nothing mechanical included.
...ALL this with the cellophane wrapper still binding it straight from the game store.
Modules have improved, believe that or not. ;o)
I will say in terms of reading the entire module, I personally have only benefitted from reading it in terms of foreshadowed knowledge or similar things. I am currently running a Tyranny of Dragons module (currently on Hoard of the Dragon Queen, about halfway through), and it wasn't the beginning of chapter 3 that I would say the story actually felt like their was weight behind it as I had finally finished the whole module, details were given out in Rise of Tiamat and the end of Hoard of the Dragon Queen that I could reference for my party.
They aren't the sneakiest but they love to eavesdrop if they can, so a lot of times I they would hear about the enemy's plans over the next day or two, but the head baddie wouldn't talk about important plot points even when they were behind what they thought to be the most air tight areas to talk about sensitive subjects. After I read it they began to feel more rewarded for actually gleaning some actual information that foreshadows some things coming up later if they can figure it out in time.
Just my two cents, I know you said that it doesn't hurt to read the whole module, but I would say at least read the parts that you can reference ahead of time, is there a castle that the demons plan to sink under the ocean and summon a kraken in chapter 13? Well then in chapter 4 you can have the players find some notes referencing deep sea explosives to blow out the foundation, summoning rituals tied to the Plane of Water? etc. It's fun and I personally love stuff like that and it makes your players think really hard about what the heck could be going on instead of just playing it chapter by chapter, but having all the chapters work together, the current one just having the limelight.
DMing my first Campaign sometime soon so this is helpful
Yes preparation is key.
Even in homebrew campaigns I still prepare.
Yep. Prepare only what you don't want to improvise.
4:10
Yay... Thought listening to your tips would help me figure out how to prepare Curse of Stradh
As I wanted this for my very first campaign as a DM bc I like the setting
now I'm feeling like this was definitely the wrong module to start with xD
(and after browsing through that book I thought every module is like that and I'll struggle with finding out how to prepare what's coming next)
But I got some very interesting advice here, thanks c:
You are very welcome. Not all modules are as complex to prepare as CoS.
My DnD group currently is running through Curse of Strahd and I have to say I'm super thankful for a DM that adds his own flair to the module. He's used different elements from the world to tie in character backstories even though the characters were all from Waterdeep in order to encourage us to think "What about after we take down the BBEG?" -- we have multiple plot hooks to follow at any given time, and he's ensured that, because of CoS' sandboxy nature... ignoring things sometimes means bad things happen behind the scene.
It feels like a living, breathing world, but we've had free reign to decide which paths to follow and when, and he's done a great job scaling experiences and encounters to match our inflated party size (running a 6-man group).
My character is now seeking to conquer Barovia through the power of Capitalism, and our DM has totally let me run with that through sidebars outside of the main group. It's been extremely refreshing.
So you're playing D&D the way it was meant to be played and you're having a good time. Seems like you could have left it at that.
Of course actions have consequences in D&D - even if it's lack of action (like ignoring the vampire for 2 in-game months and now he's killing your friends). If your DM isn't making the world feel alive, you need to find a new DM.
Plus, a good DM would give you gentle reminders that certain events are happening, and are gaining more and more notice/attention and maybe the party should consider addressing them.
I don't have any money for minis, or storage space for them, so I just cut out a bunch of circles/squares in various sizes, from cardboard.
Green are party members.
Yellow and blue are innocent bystanders
Red and orange are enemies (or at least, potential enemies)
I can label them however I want, and I don't worry about losing or damaging them, and they store up really small in a few baggies.
I'm still jealous about actual minis, though. But, oh, well, you do what you gotta do, and I'll spend my precious few funds on source books and modules, instead.
I also use colored twisty ties (like the kind you get on bread bags) to my condition markers. Bottle top rings work well, too, if you drink a lot of sodas from bottles.
your reference on Princes of Apocalypse has got me interested, because it is the next module I want to use after the current introductory (lost mine of phandelver)... Any shortlist of good advice to run this particular module?
First game of DND with the boys and I’m being the DM, wish me luck!
Ooof that intro reminded me of all I service "training" that consisted of someone reading a powerpoint during a presentation.
I'm new DM and I'm running premade adventure for my group. My players are experienced in both playing and DMing so I often ask them for tips. But what happened recently was that I lost myself in the story who knows what, because my logical thinking betrayed me (like I thought that one NPC would know a thing but in the scenario she didn't and after that I was a little lost what to do and how to go back to original storyline). After a really long break (half of year) we went back to playing and when I was preparing I learned how to use premade adventure. Screw everything you don't like/don't feel and correct it in your way even if it would mean changing half of the story xD So now motivation of an enemy is improved, a few NPCs are added and there is a new location outside of the scenario.
Bu your tips, even if they look obvious I think they would help me in the future to prepare premade adventure or to run my own. Because some of the tips are important in both.
Awesome video😈😈
Making dice towers is not necessarily a negative sign for you. In my first and only campaign I’m doing, we have a friend who paces and I’ll make dice towers, we both switch up techniques; however, it is so we can focus better. Check in with your players, see if a behavior is due to boredom or trying to focus.
Woooow... You're a REALLY good actor Luke! That intro was painful to watch. Good work dude. :-) You illicited actual emotion there.
Hey Luke, do you have any vídeo where you give tips for running each module?
Sly Flourish has a a bunch of individual guides with very good advice.
About to run Hoard of The Dragon Queen as my first ever module, and am super nervous, so I decided to literally break down the entire module…until I realized. I hated the story. So I took the stuff the book gave and made my own brand new story about the cult trying to resurrect a dragon lord by any means necessary rather than them gathering gold for Tiamat. The story made so much more sense and I loved how it turned out, and now rather than me playing what can only be described as actual doodoo, I am playing something I will enjoy as much as my players do. Thanks for the epic video my friend!
I'm actually suprised that I without notes (outside names and small thing like a special coin) is able to remeber the entire adventure even some stuff the DM had forgotten.
Think I only take notes for my real life campaign.
I pick Darkvision for my Firbolg Druid so I didn't have to stumble around blind ad night + fit his team of being protective of the forest.
I got Darkvision for my Thylean Bard by multiclasing into Celestial Warlock which also fit her theme of being a messager for a godess.
Now I just have to decided if I go Warlock 3 for Book of Shadow or Chain for Familiar.
For my first campaign ever, we had no minis or maps, and we were playing in a campus classroom. So we repurposed a chalkboard in the room and I drew all the characters little tarot cards to represent them with binder clips for stands, and thats just how we played for 3 months lol
As a new DM (new to DnD in general) it's hard to learn but a lot of fun. Most difficult so far has been roleplaying NPCs. After some time I catch myself falling back into my regular speaking voice for example.
In retrospect, I should have added Weeping Angels to OotA. But I didn't go in numerical order. I jumped around.
Like the way you laughed when you say "planned"!
Is there any more information about #12, how to tie adventures together into a campaign? a video where someone runs through a module and shows how adventures are linked together? I would really appreciate anything. Thank you.
Hey thanks for the video! You said you've been dm-ing since high school. How long ago was that?
3:33 you're right, oh how right you are! But the way modules are written!
Your content is amazing! But just wondering, why did you upload this video at 4:00 AM?
I don’t know where he lives but time changes at bases of the place where he lives
It was 5 a.m. my time. And the reason for that time is that although that's super early in the morning for people in the United States that's the time that people over in Europe are just getting out of work. So that's a perfect time for them to watch the video too. And I've analyzed my metrics and stuff like that and I have it's been proven that 5 a.m. is a pretty good time to post a video.
the DM Lair Okay thanks for hearting and responding!
I feel attacked. LOL
Now why would you feel attacked? 😌
Back under 2nd edition, a friend of mine decided to start DMing with the Birthright setting. He started with a published adventure for it. At one point, one of the players rode off after a group of bandits who fled and after flipping through the book for five minutes, the DM just said " you don't come back!" because the module didn't cover it! lol
Do you add your strength mod or dex mod when using a improvised weapon?
Hey, I like to run pre-made modules, which is why I like reviewing them on my channel. :-)
Hey variant human warlock compensates for the lack of natural darkvison with devils sight.
Which really encapsulates the "contract with loopholes" thing for warlock's, since Devil's Sight doesn't do anything if you're in dim light XD
100% legit, awesome vid
This is perfect. I just ordered curse of strahd.
You're gonna like it. 😁
the DM Lair
I know. Roll 20 is the reason I ordered it and his video where he said it’s his favourite.
I've never been through a module. Never. Since 1982 lol. The very best part of dnd for me is having a dm that can take you where they want you and making you believe you got you there. Homebrew FTW !
Future video suggestion...
Can you go more in depth on your highlighting published text and marking up a map? I do many of the things you recommend but in your short screenshot you seemed to do some things that didn't make sense to me but may be helpful if I understood it more.
I have live streams every Friday. Hit me up and ask me to show more examples and I will. Tell my mods that I asked you to tell them to put your question in the spreadsheet and that the password is Mommy Cat or something.
Lol when I was planning to dm dungeon of the mad mage I read the whole book and I had forgotten almost everything at the end, so I had to re-read the first parts for my session
Tip: I have a dm screen and instead of studying the stat block I right the stats on an index cards and tape them to the screen.
Me: runs first session of curse of strahd, underprepares (frankly the second time I ever have. Man, players, sometimes they'll chew through all the content you expected, then double it again, and sometimes they won't do 1/4 of what you prepare. This first session was the prior), and good portions of this video don't apply. minor early spoilers below.
I mean, they did a lot. They took the plot hook into the module (I did the vistani travellers one), travelled through barovia village (making note of the sobbing), through the gallows at the crossroads (which creeped my players out a lot), and down to the tser pool. Spent a night there, had the reading, drank and chatted with the vistani (gathering information on the land. I'm also running that encampment as NOT aligned with strahd. I don't like how the module says that "some" vistani serve strahd, but reading it, I think literally every vistani in the book is one of his servants.). That's about how far I had prepared, (plus some pre-module leftovers from their last adventure). From there I had to both wing it, and flip through the book. I had them meet strahd at the crossroads the next morning (a table and everything, welcoming his new "playthings" to his realm, and offering them a drink. Usually niceties, with a dark undertone. The players had been thinking that they could take him on soon, so I had him throw a fireball behind them, but not close enough to damage them, as a small means of him to show his power off, without getting dirty.)
Yeah they totally bypassed Barovia and Death House and all the other plots. That's what makes running sandbox open world games so difficult. You have to prep your bitt off or be ready to wing it.
@@theDMLair to be fair, they were being led through by the vistani, who didn't stop. They decided to meet with madam eva as they agreed, and come back. And no death house, they're level 3.
This is my first time running a entire module. Usually ran alot of strung together one shot adventures, and using the module as a guide instead of the law. I am imagining it saves alot of time not having to flip back and forth between pages. Yet i am always worried i am going to mess something up later on in the adventure if i am not following closely enough to the module.
Yay! I love Curse of Strahd! Will you be posting videos of your group playing it? :)
Also, I hope you drop in an owlbear named Chackle. ;)
Yes all sessions of it will be streamed on Twitch and also loaded to my 2nd channel The DM Lair Streams.
@@theDMLair Excellent! Thank you!
You're the best god damn DM there is
Hit the man's music !
Roll a 20 and slap the nurse
F*cking love this channel
I just read the first two chapters and memorize then add flavor or what not
It's worth pointing out that a LOT of "that advice" about reading the WHOLE module first comes from modules that come in "box sets" and usually have a few relatively short pamphlets to actually read... There's usually some maps and building floor plans and the like, and sometimes some "bonus materials" like certain Character "kits" for classes/subclasses that haven't been in the game elsewhere... Like Pit fighters emerging mostly from Dark Sun modules "back in the day"...
It's not meant to include Campaign style modules where there's material enough to run for months or even a year with sessions every week or so...
...AND yes, I'm aware of a fair number of people who are confused about when and where to actually apply the "read ahead" and where to engage the "know and cover the whole" module situations...
In case anyone gets ambitious, and goes after some of "yesteryears' " modules, it's worth a word of warning... A lot of those came "incomplete" if we're honest. It was a LOT of "by the seat of the pants" work, so NPC's, enemies, monsters, loot, and all could seem to materialize out of nothing in some crucial part of your plotline, and with no stat's, no mechanics, and very little outside of the particular encounter... That's not to say everything in "the classical age" was garbage... It wasn't and isn't. It just takes a bit of care to go through it as thoroughly as you can, and KEEP a pad and pen around so the improv' can be noted as you go... and there WILL be improv'. ;o)
Amazing video! I think the only thing I'd like to add/change in it is about the minis, but mainly a note that the advice is about IF you use minis, since not everyone does that, with theater of the mind being very popular too. :) (i do like them minis myself thou, just wanted to mention it :P)
Anyway, I'm planning to take my group through Descent into Avernus eventually, just trying to go through some core stuff in the book to make it fit with the world they're in now since we already started playing a while ago and they are level 2 now but we have a lot of stuff going on so we don't want to just restart, so i'm going to tie it in with the book so it fits my world. Guideline after all. :)
Now, do you have any general great advice about Descent into Avernus? I heard somewhere that the "tutorial level" up to level 5 is skippable, but i haven't started reading it yet so i don't know, but like, anything really, any tips would be great. :3 :D especially roleplay focused since my group do like a mix of combat, puzzles and roleplay, but prefer roleplay most. :P
I haven't read Descent into Avernus as I'm a player in it currently, but I can tell you many of the early emcounters are insanely deadly. I would recalculate them and scale back on their difficulty some.
@@theDMLair oh, now THAT is great to know! I'm not the DM who is out to kill my PC's, so thank you! :)
You are very welcome. 😁
Would you remove difficulty spikes? Like I'm descent into Avernus, there are several difficulty spikes that are impossible:
7 bandits and a bandit captain vs a level 1 party
Or
A dungeon for level 2 players that has a monster that can shoot two fireballs on rounds 1 and two?