Inspiration | Running the Game
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 พ.ย. 2019
- Episode 85. Maybe there are other things we could be doing with Inspiration?
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Inspiration starts at 3:20.
Congratulations on the success of MCDM so far! I'm pleased for you and your team. All your hard work is showing.
for me inspiration started at th-cam.com/video/zTD2RZz6mlo/w-d-xo.html
Thanks Matt! Great ideas in here. I think in one of the streams you talked about uses for hit dice as well (which was an amazing discussion) but the video was later removed. Any plans to make a video on that? Thanks!
Silly Matt, Inspiration starts at 0:00
As always a great video! My friends and I are playing together for over a year but only find time for a session once a month at best. That makes it really hard for everyone to get into charakter and develope that charakter, tension in the storie gets lost between sessions and so on.
Could you maybe adress such problems of "casual DMs" in a video? Best regards!
I'll never forget my first session of 5e. My friend did something really cool, and so the DM gave him inspiration.
Later, the leader of the kobold army we'd been fighting challenged my friend to a 1v1 duel. The fight was tough, and my friend got knocked to 1 HP. He made his attack and bonus attack, and both missed.
He asked if he could spend his inspiration to throw his shield at the dragonborn, and the DM decided it was suitably badass and that any imbalance of getting another attack was definitely made up for by losing 2 AC. He threw the shield, crit, dealt max damage, and knocked out the dragonborn. It was epic, and a great end to a first session.
That is just beutiful!
I like how Matt does the things. "I haven't tested this idea, it may not work. You guys test it and tell me if it works or it doesn't." Lol
Inspiration is kinda like the universe reluctantly going: "Yeh okay: you got swagger"
Han Solo points
@@Alex-fn2hl LOL that's exactly where my mind went
I would award it to any player that can make me laugh
HA
DM thinks, "Darn it, I've come up completely blank on what to do next..." DM says, "Remember, my players, that, if you pool three points of Inspiration, you can take over the narrative."
Players, "Cool! Let's do that! This is what happens..!"
DM, "Phew."
Hi Matt! I used the Action Oriented monster design for a spellcasting boss monster and it worked really well. The feedback from my party was it was a challenging and memorable combat and they had lots of fun. I will definately be using that method again! Thanks loads for this fresh angle. Well done on the K&W kickstarter, you guys continue to smash it out of the park!
I'm having some good success with it as well, though I've started a little slower - just adding legendary and lair actions to a boss encounter's monster, and including minions that appear over time, rather than all at once.
Long story short, one of my players told me she felt genuinely afraid for the whole party! Very dramatic. I'm planning on using more of that video's style, especially a more linear track of villainous actions rather than generic ones like how he plotted out the Ankheg's, the next time they come up against a legendary creature. Experiment successful!
Thanks, Matt! I'm excited to try out more of your sage wisdom in the future.
We use cards that have different things on them. One week I got one where when ever you would be below o hp u get back up at 1 hp but you'll get a level of exhaustion.
That sounds awesome!
Are they drama cards? The ones I saw for 4th edition had 4 tiers (copper, silver, gold and platinum) and were categorized by how they effect the game. Always love giving them out instead of standard inspiration and if there are any that you think would be problematic to how your game runs you could just remove them from the deck. Haven’t seen any for 5e but the 4e cards basically work anyways for 5e. It’s kinda like all the ideas from the vid and more rolled into a set of decks.
So I'm 100% sure where the DM got them, but we all seem to love them. One card is the party get the effects of a short rest. Theres normal advantage ones or they let u impose disadvantagedis. So if that sounds like the cards I'll say yes.
I run a fairly gritty campaign so usually my players gain a level of exhaustion if they ever get back up from 0 health. This is to represent the lasting damage of an attack that almost killed the character. 1st level of exhaustion isn't bad during combat, but once the players are in a situation when they need to use their skills, and especially if it is the rogue who has the level of exhaustion, it can get kinda sticky.
what other effects did you get, besides getting back from zero and the party immediately gets a short rest?
@@dnlee8206
This one battle we were in was against the living suit of armor. It got me up to five levels of exhaustion. I was completely immobile by the time we manage to retreat.
so there's one that lets you get advantage or give disadvantage.
The short rest card.
The one that gives you exhaustion and exchange for letting you get back up.
Draw two and pick one.
Ones that have multiple options like gaining a spell slot back. Or relolls.
I haven't seen every card available yet.
Here's my interesting take on inspiration. I don't award it. My players do. At the end of every session we have a poll where everyone can vote which player they liked the most that session (and yes you can vote for yourself). The player with the most votes gets one point of inspiration. So far it's led to my more roleplay heavy players feeling rewarded for their actions by everyone at the table, and that feels cool! Looking at who votes for who and reasons as to why also gives me as a DM knowledge about what stuck out in each player's mind that session. It's been a good system so far, even though my players always forget they have inspiration and it keeps piling up.
2:25 Couldn't help but hear that as "Eye'm super excited"
The "Hero Point" system from Mutants and Masterminds reminded me a lot of 5E inspiration, and there's one use of it that I have ported into my game.
You can Edit the Scene. Add some kind of detail to the scene that makes sense. I've had players use this ability to say the sun is starting to rise while they were chasing a vampire, or that there was a sprinkler system that the fire-based bad guy had conveniently just walked under.
Super neat, opportunity for a lot of creative problem solving.
Doesn't the DMG suggest something like this
GengarWarrior yeah plot points
Hero point system in pathfinder is decent referance for this as well
I don't really like the "edit the scene" use of hero/inspiration/whatever points. Generally, I tend to accommodate players for no cost if they ask whether something is present that shows they are thinking of the game world as a real world. The sprinkler example that OP gave is a good one. If the PCs are in a space that _should_ have a sprinkler system (but I just didn't think of it), then sure, there's a sprinkler system, what's the plan? Likewise, if a player needs some rafters or whatever for their character to throw a grappling hook over, something's probably there unless there's a damn good reason why it wouldn't be.
But the vampire example is a case where I'd be more likely to go, "Look, I know five rounds of combat can seem like a long time at the table, but it's only thirty seconds of time in the game world, and we already established it was midnight when the fight started. Sunrise is over 3000 combat rounds away people, and I think things are going to be resolved one way or another somewhat before then."
fate points in a nuteshell
Another running the game. Love this series.
I love these ideas! I've never really liked inspiration unless it's specifically used for a dramatic moment. This gives me a lot to think about!
whoa a wild niswander
I haven't noticed this comment and I always enjoy to see when creators whose content I love interact with each other.
Our DM always gives exactly one inspiration after every session, but the players have to decide who it goes to! We love it, it's like an "MVP of the session" award.
what do you mean, there aren't lives at stake? There's the village and rest of the whole world that Jorgenn, Garok, Ashlynn, Eruviel, Cynebald and Bob have to protect. Plenty of lives, if you ask me!
Loved the video, btw. I think I might try the inspiration as an extra reaction, sounds pretty cool.
Also, I tend to use Inspiration completely differently at my table: since most of the players are new/shy, I reward whenever I see great roleplay emerge at the table. Best example, in the last session, this drow has seen a beach (illuminated by moonlight) for the first time in his life. He just fell to his knees and enjoyed the beauty as I described the orc village behind them receiving a messager, then a party of armed orcs comming out, at which point the characters were trying to almost carry the drow away. He then got up and ran as fast as he could (he's a monk, so...) away from the fight, along with all his friends, earning inspiration and information about where the orcs actually come from
Woohoo
Great vid as usual.
Inspiration is an interesting feature, it reminds me of something my first DM used to do. He would award bonuses for exceptional roleplaying, particularly heroic feats, etc. One in particular was given to the Transmuter in the group when he recovered a particular magical artifact and returned it to Mage Island. He was recognized by the god of magic and given a token, the DM explained "You can use this to cast more than one spell in a single round. But you can only use it once." He ended up using it in a clutch moment to stop the big bad evil guy and his wizard apprentice from opening a magical gateway. He stopped both of them from and we were able to finish the job.
I love the enthusiasm and joy you have for the Kickstarter it’s very infectious.
I’d have a lot of enthusiasm for another million dollars too
@@drmann15 I know, right?
10:20 that is why I play. As the DM it's not my story it's our story. That sounds amazing and will clearly show you where the players want the story to go. Good idea Matt I am going to us this in my home game. And that is why I watch your content, you always have something I can steal and make my own. Thank you for being a river!
7:29 - "Gaining Extra attacks is the purview of certain class abilities and spells, and if there are other, easier ways to do it, those classes are going to feel less useful."
Inspiration... Easier? I can't get my DMs to acknowledge Inspiration's existence, much less award it!
I actually offered my group a while back to use inspiration to turn a miss into a hit, or a hit into a crit... and they didn't like it! I thought it was perfectly reasonable, and they thought it might break the game. That's all well and good, just goes to show that we all have different ideas of how the game should be played and thus, we all have a responsibility to agree on a solution that works well enough for everyone!
I do like some other suggestions Matt made here and I am certain to present them at my new table!
At our table, inspiration us a reroll with advanyage. As the DM, I enjoying describing how the player was just about to fail but through their determination provided by inspiration, they just manage to pull a success from the brink.
Ideally a DM should reward Inspiration for what they want to see at the table: it is a token for the players to choose the way in which they are rewarded.
Some other suggestions for uses:
-Remember when...?
The player recounts a moment when their character bought/begged/borrowed/stole an item or information. Can help with having the tools to execute a plan, bypass an obstacle or advise against bad courses of action. If you feel the boon is too opportunistic or easy maybe there are strings attached; someone saw the theft, the character agreed to do something in return for the boon, etc, etc.
-Wait! I know someone!
The player describes an associate/family member/friend whatever(someone they have a relationship with) who can act as some kind of gateway to 'break the ice' in a new location or who can be a key to a particular social circle or area. Attaching this to some kind of roll to pin down the availability or willingness of this NPC can help with particularly 'well that's useful(!)' requests. Something along the lines of 'The Burning Wheel's' buying Circles(relationships): In essence the DC is lower depending on the complexity of the relationship between character and NPC and higher based on the status of the NPC. A glassblower colleague is not a particularly unlikely person to know but is not a complex relationship so those aspects counteract each other somewhat. However a married character who is in a tryst with a glassblower who is of a shunned race who is also the PC's cousin? Well... quite frankly 'Oh my!' If that isn't character development I don't know what is. Of course as a DM feel free to 'NOPE' any description that is tasteless or too gamey, someone an only have so many grandfathers after all.
Hoe these spark ideas ~W
Very excited for the next video you teased at the end!
The wife and I bought a house since the last Kickstarter so I can't afford it this time. Ah well - good luck to all at MCDM!
Love the Torg reference! They rebooted it a couple years ago and it is by far my favorite system. I always watch your videos and figure out how to implement your advice for Torg.
Wow, I actually caught up to the playlist! NEver thought I would, for some reason. Thanks for all the advice and inspiration!
I was already a huge fan but this video pushes it over the top for me. Inspiration is given and used a ton in my games and I've house ruled using it to impose disadvantage for the DM for years. The idea of using it to firmly put control in players' hands especially as a group is phenomenal! Been echoing the notion of a DM's role as helping players tell the story of their characters for a long long time and this is an amazing way to punch it up further!
I'm a classicist who read the Iliad and the Aeneid and thought 'I want inspiration to be more epic and significant - kind of like a hero's aristeia'. I think just getting 'advantage on a roll' is a terrible reward for what's usually a spectacular act. If I felt that an act was 'pretty cool' then I'd give a modifier or advantage on THAT action - but I wouldn't think it deserving of 'a random advantage roll for something else you fancy doing'. And as a player, I always feel underwhelmed when awarded inspiration: like, I could just get advantage one of the other thousands of ways...
Therefore, I ensure inspiration is only awarded very occasionally, for particularly special acts of outstanding character roleplay, or for resolving a major personal character arc in a fitting and dramatic way etc., and it activates immediately rather than at a time of the player's choosing - but on the other hand it yields a lot more benefits:
• The next time you have to roll a d20 (for an attack, skill check, saving throw, etc.), instead of having to beat an enemy creature’s AC or task/save DC, treat the roll as a skill check (no modifiers applied) with a DC of 1 (i.e. it is an automatic success).
• The next time after that that you have to roll a d20, treat the roll as a skill check (no modifiers applied) with a DC of 2 (i.e. you have a 95% chance of success). The next d20 roll has a DC of 3 (i.e. 90% of success) and so on and so on.
• If you fail one of these rolls, or you take a long rest (provided you have rolled at least once), then your character’s period of inspiration ends and they begin rolling as normal again.
If you were wondering about how this plays out in practice, it basically translates to a chain of 4-6 consecutive successes on d20 rolls, on average. Your character is 'inspired', after all…
Other rules
• If one of the d20 rolls is rolling for initiative, then your score is 20+ whatever you roll.
• Other die rolls (e.g. damage) are rolled normally.
• Natural 20s on attack rolls still count as critical hits, and (dis)advantage rules still apply.
• You do not choose when to use your inspiration like you do in the handbook rules: it activates automatically when the DM gives it to you and continues until you fail a roll.
Obviously this is not suitable for a game aspiring for a gritty, down-to-earth feel. What I think it captures is exactly what I wanted it to: the epic sense of a hero reaching the apex of their heroism and becoming near unstoppable for a short period of time, just like Achilles or Diomedes or Patroclus in the Iliad.
I've been starting back at the beginning of this video series, and I've gotta say....they've been a great way of 'inspiring' me. I'm a new (bit over half a year so far) dm, and these videos have given me so much great advice I've been able to incorporate into my games. Genuinely look forward to every new episode.
12:58 "This is a game, there are no lives at stake." Zortarg the Orc Barbarian disagrees.
Yes! This is just what I needed!
At one con a player bluffed me when I was a new dm. Inspiration can make the dm reroll. I now do this at cons when I give out Inspiration and have a foam "I" prop which I give to the player.
Can never get enough rtg videos Matt, keep this amazing series... well... amazing! 😀
This is one my favorite running-the-game vids. I'm learning to DM so my gf and I can just play 1-on-1 together, we're hermits.
I've been in a few DnD groups and none of them cared about inspiration. I always felt it to be a missed opportunity for role play and character building, so I love that you made a video about it. These are some cool ideas to help her out since she'll be playing solo!
This video was great, and I am SUPER looking forward to the next one!
Thx Matt. Loving this latest Kickstarter!
I'm always excited when I see a Matt Colville video, especially one in the Running the Game series. You always bring such enthusiasm to your subject matter. Their so structured and tight, too. You must map out the subject in bullet points first. Before you really get into it and toss the plan. Love it.
Matthew I just wanted you to know that you have been tremendously helpful to my game that I run for my friends. I won't pretend to have seen absolutely all of your videos, but I can honestly say that every one I have watched has got me thinking, and impacted my game for the better. Thank you for continually putting out such wonderful content.
It's always so good to get a new running the game video. Love love love the idea of pooling inspiration to tell the DM "NO!"
Reminds me of The Good Society which is basically a Jane Austen RPG that lets you use tokens to have a monologue or completely take control of a scene! Gonna see if my players wanna try any of these. :)
Give players the power to overrule the DM... hell yeah! As both a player and a DM, this makes the game more exciting and entertaining for everyone. Very creative new mechanic, Matt : )
Matt your videos are always the most helpful and amazing. You're my favourite DM
Always some great ideas to pick up. I like to "taking the reins" type of use, where all the players must agree to pool their inspiration and twist the story for a moment. They would need to agree on using it and would need to agree on what they want... but this could turn into an "in medias res" where the evil villain would not attack but sing two verses from Don Giovanni and ride off into the sunset. Would need to phrase it somehow that it would make sense for me, for the players as well; would allow freedom, but would not go totally Monty Python :) (Still love the idea though, but need to word it carefully).
This is a really interesting idea. Sort of akin to the "Fates" card in the DOMT. I have to think this idea through a bit. I mean, I wouldn't want to give my players the ability to instantly defeat a boss monster or use it as a wish spell. But I like the idea that while the players couldn't use it to alter the course of the mighty river of Time, they could use this Collective Inspiration to bend the river a bit.
@@scottkpetersen Yep. Maybe there has to be a safety mechanism built-in... at the very least if they decide that the arch-villain slashes their own throat, they will definitely not get any XP for that of course, but I know that is not a real deterrent. Need to further think about this problem... Giving the players absolute freedom on any one decision may break the game, yet it sounds too good to just pass up. I am sure there is a middleground somewhere :D
It's nice to see another video on your channel.
OMG!!! Thank you so much for another D&D video. I've been sooooo thirsty. Your videos have been fueling my thesis project and have been crazy helpful in my game supporting it.
THANK YOU for another great running the game video. I can't wait for your upcoming video on what it really means to be a DM and the act of leading a creative life... Both of which are things I do, but never completely understood.
My gosh I love your videos, and such a good and free resource!! Really awesome.
Woo! Congrats on successful second kick-starter! Excited to get my Relg!
Hey Matt, I just watched all 90 running the game vids in a week! I’m sad that I’ve made it to the end already, but I want to say that your advice is really valuable to me and has inspired (no pun intended) in many ways as a DM. Thank you for all the help!
Long time no see. Keep it up and hope it won't be that long before we get another one. Btw. congrats on your Kickstarter.
I've started a D&D club for 60+ middle school students, and most of them are reluctant to DM. This series is essentially the textbook for the DM class I'm giving the students brave enough to run D&D for their peers. thanks Matt!
We usually play with the rule that each player starts the session with one inspiration, but they can't use it themselves, they have to give it to a teammate. It's great for fostering good sportsmanship among kids who might normally only think of themselves.
There are so many great tips for so many things out there, I would love for someone to put it all together in a book or something like that
Once we started a new game with 1 levels characters and there was a bard and there were a small battle with group of bandits. And this bard didn't get a chance to help others, finally the battle was over and the group decided to spend the night. When campfire was set the bard told us «I’m taking a lute» , and the player took a real guitar and sang us a song about the battle just finished. That was really impressive, nobody expected this. That was definitely an inspiration :)
It's good to see you happy and joyful :)
great advice as always matt
This is perfect to reward the players of my westmarches game to write the summary!
Players in EVERY group I have ever run 5e for (talking about 100+ different people here) always forget about inspiration until after they've made their rolls. In the past I would sometimes make an exception to the rule to let them roll anyways, but I was doing it so much I just decided to start allowing players to roll inspiration after their roll. It's still limited by advantage so you can't stack it if you already had advantage on the roll. However you can use it to essentially reroll when you missed with your attack, skill check, saving throw, etc.
Ever since I started doing this the game has been allot more fun for everyone, and the players have been engaging with the inspiration mechanic allot more. It's also made inspiration feel much more rewarding for the players when they use it. I think I'm going to steal your idea about letting them give disadvantage to an enemy as well. That seems extremely fun, and dramatic! Especially because there will be situations where I say "the orc succeeds his saving throw," and one of the players response "No! I use inspiration!"
One last thing I wanted to add was that I've also started giving powerful enemies inspiration of their own!
Very inspiring.
The next video is something I want to hear right now! If only this was the future already and I discovered this video long after the following episode was already released...
Recent subscriber and binger..... but it’s MY FIRST TIME WATCHING A VIDEO OF YOURS ON THE DAY IT CAME OUT
Love this. In my game I give three different rewards: "Drama" for cool dramatic stuff PCs do (gives reroll, must take second roll), "Inspire" for creative solutions to problems (advantage roll), and "Heroic" for pure badassery (full extra action).
Nick Siegrist I was thinking about adding a Karma counter into the mix. Not sure if I’m doing it yet but with real gods moving things it kind of makes sense.
Can't wait for Relg!
Dude I'm super glad for you guys, so proud be to be a part of it. And you look GREAT
Being a Dungeon Master and The act of leading a creative life. Sounds like a cool video or series of videos.
Short story: ran my first game of D&D today and it was great! Thanks to your video's Matt! Thank you!
Long story: Played a lot of Baldur's Gate on the pc back in the day. Getting into D&D but never having anyone to sit and play with because my friends thought it was lame. Spent the last 2 years watching your video's.
Now about 19 years after playing Baldur's Gate 2. Found out a coworker dm's for his kid. Got him to run a game for me and some co-workers, was great. I tell a friend, he says D&D sounds really cool would you like to run a game for me? Figured might as well follow Matt's advice and just do it. I did it today. And it was awesome :)
Thanks Matt!
This sounds like Modiphius’ momentum dice, a mechanic I really love. Everybody in Modiphius games uses 2d20s to roll for attacks and you have to roll UNDER a certain number to succeed. Very different from DnD. But you can add d20s from other players’ pools of “momentum” dice, granting you more likelihood of success. The DM, however, ALSO gains a momentum die when this happens, so players helping each other too much leads to overpowered encounters. Nevertheless, at the end of the fight when we need one last big hit to kill the boss, we can pool all our momentum into one player’s attack to make sure it’s a big one. Great system, worth a look!
An inspiring video!
We have an inspiration table. We’ve made it random. Roll a D8 and you get a Dm created boost between now and next long rest. I love love love you’re advocating for this. We felt that Advantage once wasn’t enough to drive inspired thinking.
Love it!
I ran a campaign where I awarded the party inspiration at the end of every completed plot point. It was up to the party to decide who had done that most in that particular story beat, you just couldn't vote for yourself. It really encouraged the players to appreciate their fellow PCs. Lots of excited discussions with "It was awesome when you did..." or "I can't believe ____ worked!"
skip Kickstarter, jump to: 3:25
Congrats on hitting your goals!! :)
I'd just like to thank you for your content. I gmed a one shot last night using stuff I've learned from you and a few other D&D TH-camrs. And it went fairly well
I have started using the action oriented monster idea it has been a great addition to how I run my game.
I love the idea that players can overrule decisions - collaborative storytelling at its best!
Not gonna lie, Matt, I was going to skip to point 2 first and you just did it for me. That's good fan service right there. Keep up the great work and best of luck with the next book!
I like the idea of awarding Inspiration when the players make their character taken action that is sub optimal but that moves the story forward or sticks to their character in a meaningful way. Essentially, they are rewarded for doing something less than ideal now by getting a token that allows them to act more ideally later
Exalted-style stunt bonuses are a lot of fun :) ascending bonuses to rolls for doing something dramatic and/or awesome
The 2 most memorable moments of my campaign were when I set up puzzles and my players didn’t know how to solve them. The first when I was starting to DM was just bad but we always remember the time they spent 15 minutes trying to open a wooden door. The second ended up being the most amazing series of events, rolls and role playing in the campaign. It was just after I had given a home brew item to my rogue player and he had figured out how to use it. He convinced one enemy to kill the 3 others, it was fantastic and we talk about it every time we see eachother
I award inspiration frequently. I even tell my players if they like what another player is doing, to recommend to me when they think someone deserves inspiration. It then promotes a positive environment, players would show others what they like, and hopefully the player awarded picks up on it to be more aware of what others like at the table.
I am totally going to take some of the inspiration other uses.
I ran a avengers in 5e game last weekend and I let them use inspiration to do something their avengers could in theory do, that doesn't fit into the rules of 5e. Hulk used it to break a chunk on a tower, and Iron Man invented a machine that used detect magic to narrow down where they were building the Cosmic cube.
Hey Matt, semantics man here: doing #2 first makes semantic sense in that, from a procedural point of view: #1 (giving inspiration) is what is done first while #2 (using inspiration) is what is done second. So from a logical point of view, yes you were doing #2 first, even if it literally didn't make sense
In Pathfinder there’s an optional rule called Hero Points that does everything you’re describing here and kinda stands in for inspiration, but with the additional crunchy numerical nonsense you’d expect of the edition. Having started to use it in the last year, I love it.
A box product of capital would be super cool! It reminds me of the ravenloft and night below boxes and I love that
I love this concept. I would take it a step further though, and I think I'd give players multiple Inspiration (maybe up to 3?) and I'd make a chart that says what they can do with the inspiration and how much it costs. (I say this as someone who's only rarely used inspiration to begin with, so for me, it'd have to be a change on my part, to give it out more often.)
I could watch you talk about D&D for a long time
Love it! My problem is I always forget to award inspiration in the heat of the moment. Next session, I plan to ask the players to nominate each other for inspiration. Also plays nicely into the collaborative aspect of the game, and keeps players more focused when others have the spotlight
What I already use in game (and have for three years, so it’s game tested). I run a challenging table (organic world, monsters want to win, creatures act according to their nature/design/best interests) so this system gets used a lot. This system is, essentially, Inspiration, but can be banked.
In general - Player characters will level when a set series of goals are achieved. Per milestone.
However, to recognize individual efforts: Excellence in Heroism, Roleplay, Great ideas, Etc....
Players may be awarded up to one token for each session for efforts in these regards. These tokens are awarded by the DM.
Players will also be elegable for another single token. Players will then vote at the end of a session for whom they feel is the “MVP”. A player may not vote for themselves. Awarded tokens may be spent in the following manners:
-Spend 1 to give yourself Advantage on an Attack, Ability check or Saving Throw.
-Spend 1 to give another player Advantage on an Attack, Ability check or Saving Throw.
-Spend 1 when a die roll fails to allow yourself to “Succeed at cost”.*
-Spend 1 in an appropriate role playing or story moment to “know a guy” who might have helpful information.
-Spend 2 to succeed all Death Saving Throws and awaking from Unconsciousness with 1 hit point.
-Spend 10 to gain a level. (This has only happened once in three years. People tend to spend tokens a lot)
-Give the DM 1 token at no cost to a player’s tokens to succeed an ability check, attack or saving throw, but at the cost of something bad happening in the future. This token must be at the consent of the majority of the table
I have posted this previously on Facebook with good reviews.
This are actually some very nice ideas, that make the gameplay (and, especially, the roleplay) more rewarding, without needlessly increasing complexity.
Especially since I don't like giving the players a plethora of items.
And also considering the limited action economy.
Btw, isn't the last bullet-point an explanation of the third bullet-point?
I guess you wanted to put a star at the start...
I have an imp in my game who offers information to the players in exchange for items or RP things (their life, soul, name, etc.) I was thinking that he might be willing to take some of their fortune/luck, so at a certain point of time which was critical i would invoke their "de-inspiration" and force them to roll with disadvantage at one of the worst times for it to happen (which reminds me of your last situation for inspiration).
the problem i had with it is that I'm worried it might create and adversarial environment of the players vs the DM, as in they might feel that I choose that situation specifically to screw them, and would try to get into competition with me to "win".
obviously, i'm not a fan of that concept, so how did your players deal with the fall-out of working on "borrowed luck"? who does your table generally function?
I've been toying with the idea of granting one use of inspiration to my group after they successfully narrate to me what happened last session.
My group is great and I love them, but sometimes they forget some details. With this, not only they'll also get more epic moments but might start having better memory (lol)
Thing is, just advantage won't be enough. This video gave me lots of ideas for more used of inspiration. Thanks Matt! :D
As always an really inspiring video
...
I'll see myself out
3:24 might be my favorite moment in any running the game videos ever.
Turn a hit into a crit is pretty dangerous for a rogue.
or a paladin. but he did say that what you do is predicated on the idea that your players won't abuse whatever rules you add in on their side.
I like to award inspiration at the end of the session and talk about some of my favorite moments from the game that way they have it going into the next session and it doesn't influence them in the moment
I like the idea of using inspiration to get a clue, to help solving a puzzle or mystery or tricky social situation. Not succeed in the situation, just get a clue from the DM.
Already used inspiration to get a flash insight or make a small edit to a scene in my game. Players seemed to like it and I enjoyed it.
I had a player who was running a Lawful Good Fighter who was really interested in protecting his fellow party members. When it came time to choose Archetypes he was considering choosing Banneret. I suggested that he might like Battlemaster for some of its commanding maneuvers and such. He did, and I suggested that he could use Inspiration to use Banneret features, and that worked well. Banneret is, in my opinion, weak enough that it wasn't a problem for balance, but it offered a nice little somethin' somethin' that he could spend Inspiration on.
I tend to use Inspiration for a lot of stuff, and I'm glad to see it getting more attention in videos like this.
I've played around with using hero points instead of inspiration.
A hero point lets a player turn a dice roll they make, or a roll made against them into either a 1 or a 20.
Alternatively, a hero point can be spent at the end of another creatures turn to let you immediately take an additional turn.
Very powerful tools for the players, and they create some very memorable and dramatic moments.
You could use this in so many interesting ways. Trigger a healing surge, refill a spell slot, take a "legendary" action, etc. In addition to all the things you mentioned. It just depends on how realistic vs cinematic you like your game to be
I subbed out Inspiration for the variant rule for Hero Points. I love Hero Points in place of Inspiration personally. My players have been big fans of it as well. I did homebrew it that it can't be used to auto succeed on Death Saving throws though. I found it made death a very trivial matter (well more so than it already is in 5e). I love how Hero Points can be used to add in that movieesque daring moment.
My inspiration? Matt's majestic hair...Glorious.
Reminds me of pathfinders optional rules. Called "hero points". I use a custom version of them for my group. Alot of fun. I highly recommend
I like inspiration, but I use it different than the DMG. Inspiration is given to my players as "effort points" meaning, if a player has put forth effort (as a player, not just his character) by preparing something, or noticed something about the world mentioned several sessions ago or done something on their part that requires actual effort I award it. Much like the DM wants players to notice their effort, players want the same. A gamers version of "I see you bro". It is my way of saying thank you for going above and beyond. I use it as a recognition or their effort and it is always well received. Respect for respect. This is much better than, you are a hero doing hero things here's inspiration. Kind of meta game-ish but the tables always respond well to this tool.