Thank you for watching! Check out 'A Complete Guide To Nautical Campaigns' here: www.greatgamemaster.com/dm/a-complete-guide-to-nautical-campaigns-launch/ to create great sea and undersea adventures.
My trigger: ignorant and incompetent officials. "We have no idea where all these zombies are coming from" "Ok, are there any cemeteries or mausoleums nearby?" "Of course, but we can't get close enough to investigate it" "Why not?" "There's too many zombies coming out of it" That mayor was extremely lucky that I rolled a Nat 20 on my wisdom save otherwise he would've had to deal with a very angry weretiger
Lv1 Human Fighter: "A 30 ft Metal Chain plus my Two Handed Great Sword with Great Weapon Master... How far and how wide do you want me to hit, GM?" GM: "What?" Lv1 Human Fighter: "IT'S TIME!!!" Undead: "Grandfather, that Knight is being Kratos again."
@@Malodious199 No worries. Turns out that mayor was actually a cultist that wanted the undead to overrun the town. In hindsight the fact that he seemed more interested in who sent us there than dealing with the threat should've been a clue
I've always had a tendency to sort GM into 2 distinct categories which I call the "passive GM" and the "proactive GM". The passive ones are those who describes whats before the players with meticulous details and then waits on the player to do something and they (the GM) are the one reacting to the player. On the other side, the proactive GM is the kind that will describe the general aspects and will immediately point out an interesting detail to the player to intrigue them into looking for more. When the player becomes unable to decide, the proactive GM steps in with another intrigue, while the passive one might not until there is little to no interest left in the players to continue searching. (Of course, I'm talking in absolutes here: a GM is generally not 100% of either, but a mix of both). I think the way the GM makes use of triggers, as you explained them, is what differenciates a "passive GM" to a "proactive GM", in my words.
What is called "PC triggers" here is a subset of what we've always called "levers". Levers are predisposed, consistent reactions to certain stimuli that may be baked into a character or discovered during play . The DM pulls one of these levers when he wants the player to do something specific (you always rescue damsels? Well, there's one hanging off that balcony! What will you do? That's right, the same thing as always!). I've always liked the "lever" description, since it takes intentional action by the DM both to turn it on and to turn it off. Experienced players and players with DM time almost always build characters bristling with levers (whether intentional or not), so look for them! Then pull them mercilessly and tactically to have better games :)
I call the triggers events. Nowdays, because of Corona, we only play online. And I learned that events/triggers are much more important during online play. Usually, my players are well immerced into the campaign and the world (which is always a good thing while sandboxing). But I noticed, that they need more input from my side to really get going. It is different from playing at the table all together.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM Having lpayed an online camaign text-based for YEARS...definitely. art of the other issue is that it's naturally slower...which means that banter and such takes up more time, so I often 'delay' triggers to allow banter. (Or, conversely, have banter in side-chats between sessions, especially in text-based)
@@MitchellTF I'm finding we have even MORE in character banter... because as combat is happening via our discord voice channel, the players not *immediately* involved are bantering in character in text chat!
Invited into a cabin decorated ornately with dragon motifs and 5 bright colors of stained glass, door has an oroborous on it, and are introduced to an older lady, who seems to have quite the temper and is named Tia, and who explains you are trying to take down her granddaughter who is an ancient blue dragon..... R/woooosh
I assassinated a NPC in front of them mid-confession then had the assassin dive out the window expecting them to give chase over the rooftops. Half the party did (leaving through the front door) the other half stayed put. The first half gave up five minutes later and went to the pub. RIP the skills challenge I had planned to chase down the assassin and win the favour of several big name NPCs in the City to be rescued in perilous set-pieces which would kick open the doors on the conspiracy heretofore only hinted at. Nevermind then eh?
The dinosaur in the catapult is something I will never be able to unsee. Well done, Guy, I'll remember this trigger forever due to that image. I also laughed and almost choked on my noodles.
I remember subscribing to this channel when I was tangentially interested in learning more about D&D as I started watching more campaigns online. Ever since last week, when my friends decided they wanted to play a game and have me (someone who has watched hours up hours but only ever played a 3 hour one-off) I've been binge-ing all these videos along with related channels to make sure I'm up to snuff. So thanks for providing a good guide to make sure that my first time DM-ing goes well!
If you haven't found Seth Skorkowsky in your channel binge he does some pretty good list-type things as well, though he's more geared towards the philosophy and identification of situations between players and between the GM (tackling the mindsets) rather than the nuts and bolts of plot and campaign like GGM here.
I had this channel recommended by a friend but never got to it till this video. I can already tell it going to be great because of one thing: everything in this video was self-evident, but nothing was obvious. These are the perfect lessons, where the premise is easily seen through experience and the conclusion is masterfully reached without skipping steps.
As a more improv story runner. I call it cause and effect. I have what you would call "timed triggers" would be about it. Essentially the npc are my gm pcs. They are going to do something, so players actions, I have clues and responses. So players going to look for centaurs? Timed trigger. Some event happens so players go looking for it. Centaur king has a plan of their own, so it is reactionary for good or ill, but it always advances plot. It keeps me from being restricted or dead ended. I say something like birds are quiet so they go searching? Well those centaurs were looking for them. I did not restrict it to being a day trigger, so a night encounter? So be it.
I also like using the clock system from The Sprawl, where certain player actions can escalate certain clocks that can trigger events. For example a messy job can make them more recognizable and trigger hits from corporations while messing up surveillance can increase security on a site. They help to make the world reactive instead of static.
I could literally listen to you talk all day. Wait. I do listen to you talking all day some days - usually in the background while I paint miniatures or make up terrain. Thanks so much for hosting this channel, I've been a long time fan. Appreciate your contribution to the hobby, commitment and your sharing your great talent as a GM. So much useful information in this channel.
Quick guide to PC triggers. Bard Trigger = Something breathes Result = "I want to seduce it" Barbarian Trigger = anything. Literally anything. Result = They rage Wizard Trigger = ANY damage. Result = They die. LG Paladin Trigger = DM "You see a beggar on the side of the road." Result = PC "I'd like to kill the beggar and everyone else in a 10 mile radius."
@@HowtobeaGreatGM To be fair, the paladin killed the beggar as a mercy killing, and killed the rest of the town as punishment for their crimes of no caring for the beggar.
It's amazing how you and a few other GM savant youtubers manage to give me solutions to problems I'm having just as I'm about to run my next session. I've been struggling with conceptualizing how to get the players to do stuff in a campaign just getting off the ground, and here you are to tell me exactly why I'm having that issue. Cheers.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM .... I'd be down for this, I started playing in 2005. I've both Played and DM'd on an off in that time... I could use some new ideas to freshen up my gaming... I'm sure you could find plenty of volunteers for this....
This series is a blast to watch, great way to be able to see how other GM's might run their games and a lot of cool ideas and tricks to keep in mind when improvising or planning a session. Top notch
Thanks for going over this important concept 🤔 I know I've personally had problems with pacing my games so now I have a better understanding of how to move things along I think
Guy at 7.36: "... if you really wanted to have combat if you feel that's what you need for your pacing..." Me: Just have a random combat encounter a couple minutes later on the way to see the centaur king! Guy, less than a minute later: "I might have some orcs attack..." Me: Yes! Called it!! I guess I'm retaining something from these videos after all!
My favorite way of creating events (as I call them) is to listen to the party talking in our out of character, and hear what they want. If someone wants gold, I'll have them find a wanted poster. If someone wants armor, I'll have them hear of a quest for some legendary forging material. And when you do this it's important not to mention to them that you've acknowledged that. I then take these points, but them down on paper, and save them for later. Then, when I feel the campaign is a little too dry, or slow, I'll throw one of these. It's a sure way to keep your players involved and excited, while also making the world seem more fluid and dynamic.
Great video I'm a fairly new DM. I only have a few one shots and 1ongoing campaign under my belt and I honestly didn't give much thoughts to triggers. I subconsciously use them but I never put much structured or thought to them. Thanks alot!!!
Triggers are a simple concept, but this was still a well made collection of tips around them. Well done sir. I personally call them "flags" and when a "flag" is tripped/triggered/activated it causes an effect to happen.
Thank you for your videos. Focus on Triggers are an element of prep I think a lot of GMs (myself included) don't actively consider. This video has helped me today with my prep! Thank you again for your awesome content!
I have been structuring my adventures with what I call "decision nodes" but after my party went in completely unplanned directions, I think im gonna give triggers a try. sounds more like a more recoverable way of structuring the adventure. Thanks!
Thank you for your video's, it has really helped me gm my first game that I am completely homebrewing. My players love the game and your tips have helped me a lot.
Dude your content is amazing, and since watching your videos I've had a lot more positive feedback from my players. They're more engaged, combat is more interesting and the demeanor of the table has changed. Starting Storm King's Thunder sunday, Cheers.
Great GM, you are positively wonderful. You clearly understand what it truly means to be a good GM and how to create a wonderful experience for people to enjoy. Thank you for sharing your understanding with others in hopes of enriching peoples' games.
Appreciate your videos a great deal. I enjoy the Dungeon Dudes for their step by step D&D 5e, but for just a general overview of GMing and specifically helping any game you run be better is the way to go.
I've been around long enough to see the visual style of your videos evolve - I think I'm a fan of this one the most. Green Screen Guy is great, too. Top tier content as always.
That's great feedback thank you. I'm trying to find the right balance between: Visuals, text, content duration, content, and production time :) So this is very useful.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM I think you've struck an equilibrium, or at the very least are getting much closer. Would love to hear your thoughts on the newly released Soulbound system! Cheers
I'm thinking to have a few triggers prepared. If one trigger doesn't work, another trigger involving a different story plot (in the same overall campaign) might work. So, then the story unfolds in a different way than originally intended, yet the over all story is served.
I posted this as tongue-and-cheek. Sorry if that did not come across in the post. My players are enjoying my crazy game so I think I'm winning as a GM.
I like this definition of triggers, it's a very systematic way of DMing. Thanks for explaining! Since you asked, I view an adventure as a narrative split by a number of checks, each one determining which path the story will take next. Checks initiated by the DM call for saving throws or passive checks (passive perception, etc). Checks initiated by players call for ability checks or attacks. Minor checks, like a single attack in a combat, may not have much of an impact on the plot. But a major check, like a crucial charisma check to persuade an NPC, could alter the rest of the campaign. I try to anticipate these events by planning multiple checks for any key outcome, and preparing for the eventuality that a check could go one of two ways. That way I don't get stuck by a surprising outcome and try to force it.
As a DM I use the same tools a writer uses in a story. First, Chekhov's gun. You know, if you say there's a 'thing' there, like a gun, the players will definitely check it out. Second, the plot wrench. Players going off the rails? Throw a 'wrench' into their crap (as in, throwing a wrench into the cogs of a machine. Yea, it's an old writers thing) to steer them back on track. Yes, I know in writing these tools are used very differently but that's just my tool set. :)
I usually don't think it terms of plots, but in events, and thus I wold call that more of an event catalyst. Regarding time I don't think of that as anything triggering in itself, but the time skip as a framing device, thus it is just used to get to an event catalyst or a kicker. Finally, scenes the players cause is what I refer to as kickers, since the kick the scene themselves into action.
Loose verbal triggers are key with me. My players like to talk to NPCs (which I am so thankful for) and that's usually all I need to drop some trigger in that an NPC says with indifference or mild curiosity, but the players know personally- that's what's up. And then they grill the NPC and go do the thing.
New to your videos, gonna watch a few today. This Saturday I start my Rifts game with two players and some NPCs. The players are an REF Alpha Pilot from Robotech, and a Pastafarian Priest of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's gonna be one those weird games.
Late comment, but I'm just stumbling upon your channel, and I'm loving your tips etc. My favorite trigger for my group which is notorious for very social engagements and avoiding fights nearly at all costs is to create NPCs that my PC get emotionally invested in. There's a warlord in an area that is causing mayhem etc. and they don't want to get involved when meeting with resistance groups, etc. Maybe they come across a small family in the area that are great people who treat the PCs wonderfully and are mistreated by guards/thugs while also hiding the presence of the PC etc. I had one small aside in my campaign where my group's unofficial leader (Who is a dragonborn) had a little girl get fascinated by his 'beautiful blue scales' and try coloring her doll similarly. She, out of character, says, "Well crap, now I'm gonna have to save these people aren't I?" lol.
I call them Events, but Triggers are also a good term for them. I have 4 Event types that can occur: Random Encounter, Random Trap, Time Skip, and Intervention. Encounters can be combat, npcs, items they discover, clues or puzzles, etc. It's something they encounter. Traps are typically set up to give them a sense of urgency, raise the stakes a little, and motivate them to make decisions as a group. Time Skips are narrative moments where I explain that the group has done some basic downtime activity, time moves forward by some amount, and now they can decide if there's something they want to do or if they'd like to call it for the session. (This is usually reserved for stall points, when I can sense the players are getting a bit bored/tired for that session. I give them a narrative "out" so that they don't feel as if the game just stalled out and died.) Interventions are my PR term for Railroading. I want the players to get to X location/encounter/etc. So I simply move them along to a new point of action where they must begin making choices and engaging with the game again. I reserve it for moments when the party simply isn't picking up on clues or agreeing to go left or right as a group. When I can tell they're approaching a stall condition, I typically perform an "Intervention" to get the game rolling. How do I decide? Well, the first two Event types are based on quiet moments or in-character discussions. I use a 1 minute egg timer, then roll a d6 and on a 1 or a 2, there is an Event. I pick based on what's going on in the game. If no event happens, I reset the timer and try again unless the party comes up with a course of action before I can. The latter 2 Event types are used based on my personal judgement of the players with respect to the amount of time spent on playing that specific session. 2 hours in, that could just be me not getting them engaged so perhaps Intervention is needed to move the game along. 4 hours in, well the players might be fatigued and perhaps just waiting for the game to end so a Time Skip might be best.
Personally, being someone who comes from a theatre and writing background, I call my triggers "Ques/Cues/Q's". It is the event, phrase, or otherwise important thing that is meant to precede action.
I am currently the Gamemaster for a home brew Dungeons and Dragons style role-play. It is a Zombie Apocalypse scenario where one player and myself keep track of experience, items, statistics etc. in a notepad. The role-play started out good. We had a session 0 which ended in me killing off the player by summoning a Grim Reaper in a movie theater. In session 1, the player progressed through the city killing zombies. I mentioned there was a dangerous group of zombies on one street. Casually suggesting they avoid that encounter. The player fought the zombies resulting in me having to allow the player to continuously hit and run versus the zombies in order to survive. This resulted in their experience raising higher than I had intended. After several days of sessions the player arrived at the final dungeon of the city. I had planned out a challenging encounter which I had scaled based on their statistics. They decided to explore a nearby church which I ended up deciding to fill with zombies. In addition to a massive amount of experience for the player I gave them some game breaking items not realizing they would ruin the upcoming boss fight at the time. When the player finally finished off the basic encounters in this dungeon to fight the boss. It was an extremely easy encounter for them. The epic boss fight I had written was ruined because I developed the boss encounters statistics too far ahead of time. After this the player was completely invincible because of their statistics. Twenty zombies could literally jump them at once and they would not lose a single hit-point. They ran around gaining more experience in one or two days than in the last five. I spent hours writing a new town with different encounters partially in my mind and partially in a notebook. This new town would be slightly difficult in order to correct the game balance. After being overpowered and gaining massive experience previously the player started whining at me about the encounter being unfair. I felt like I had wasted my time writing a balanced encounter. The role-play has gone on for a few days after that with occasional whining from this player. Do any experienced Gamemaster have any advice for me?
I had an ambush on the road. The PCs dealt with it in the coolest way. The ambusher knocked a rider PC horse prone. They were able to dodge and weave attacks get the horse up and bravely run away away. Was the greatest non combat combat. They were like "narratively we dont have time for delays" it made perfect sense for their characters to do that in game and it felt so great that they got away unscathed.
LoL!! I had a trigger, that was meant to dissuade the player from going forward with his action, after he didn't find what he left behind earlier in a marked location. He decided to attempt tracking the one who took what he stashed away, and found himself faced off with a semi-aquatic monster. He fought it, taking damage, as well as dealing some. I had the thing dive deep into the water, where he basically should not have followed ..... but he did. He had made up his mind that the creature had eaten those things he was looking to retrieve, and was now determined to kill it, gut it, and take back possession of said items ---- He ended up getting caught in an undertow current, and with a lucky roll, pinned himself against a channel wall beneath the town, directly below the Town Square Well, where he was able to draw nearby folk's attention, to hull him up.
I'd add a 4th type of trigger: An environmental trigger. Basically placing anything in the enviroment the PCs could react to. These would probably be the things the PCs are looking for when trying to escape or break into a place, or when they want to cause a distraction. - So this can be things like traps, rickety bridges, locked doors, conveniently placed gunpowder storage buildings, the hidden ambush of centaurs, or even something like the tree the gloomy loner ranger of the party was sleeping in before he "dissapeared" (i.e. wandered off from without informing anybody but the DM)
I use plot hooks sparingly myself, the only campaigns I've ever DM'ed the players were more experienced than I was and often times the plot hooks were weak enough to garner responses like: nitpicking or otherwise dissecting the triggers to outright ignoring them. Which has me now only using triggers/plot hooks as a last ditch effort to stop a game from stagnating. If the players are having fun building a castle or wooing some mistress or pursuing some other activity that holds no relevance to the plot then I say let them. It's only once the world itself has started to become a little too comfortable do I shake things up with triggers or what I call 'incentive to perform'.
hey man i been watching allot of you videos, and gotta say im impressed, they are all well thought out and well done, you should think about narrating some stories i think you would be great for it. also imsure you are super busy, but if you ever want to play dnd 5e we have a small communitythats growing and would love to have you stop by and play or run games with us, we have a couple of dms and a few players, we use a homebrewed world that will be evolving as the different GMs host games and create new lore, its drop in and out so your progress carries over to other games. any ways keep up the great work and cant wait for the next vid.
I know a good trigger. You can call it PC trigger but I specifically refer to it as Curiosity Trigger. All players are curious, therefore telling them their character noticed something usually results in action. Also you can predict players reaction if you kmow them well enough. Greedy player -> something material Info player -> potential information Fighter player -> interesting fight Etc For example you can tell players they find weird things in the dungeon like out of place bricks. Then when they investigate, yoi can tell them they found a brick protruding off the wall farther than other bricks. This way player thinks THEY found a trigger and not that you just told them. Adding the curiosity makes players think that they cause events to happen. Usually adding curiosity doesnt affect anything and leads players like funnel into triggers. I remember one example with river that Guy once used. What you can do is suggest a bridge to be built by spawning a purposeless beaver, beavers build dams and players will imagine that. Beaver can run away or start gnawing on a piece of wood. This way you can also explain why old bridge collapsed, perhaps a beaver cut a tree in an unfortunate direction.
In the games I run I tend to give details a and things that may spark palyers activity to specific players. If a PC is knowlegable in some field - I might handle the field-speciffic info to that PC's player (even in private), and have it share with the rest, as she would in a normal life. Other times if a player for example is couting ahead or asking specific questions about the situatuon (i.e. being proactive about the information) - I may give it to them. This is my way of appreciating the eway they play. Also this probably means I reward people with thinga that ARE LIKELY to trigger them in this very moment (since they kinda hint ot it with their actions).
For that night being uneventful, maybe just a hint? For centaurs id be like "you find hoof prints pointing away from your camp" and let them guess if its just a wild mare or something more, and of course I wont tell them much more even with a successful survival check, just be "you follow the hooves prints to a denser part of the forest where there are a bunch more animal type tracks such as rats, deer, rabbits, snake tracks"
And i use Trigger and Events i use Triggers for things that i prepare to happen when a certain condition is meet ( like a reaction) normally not depending on the characters, like some time after something happened. or when this 2 object are in the same room... etc Events are what i prepare for when the players DO something. like: what happens if the character ask for something or attacks someone ...
I think I've got it now. Triggers are something you do when you want to murder the party with centaurs. You can do plot triggers whereby the party stumbles upon plots of land with centaurs roaming around, time triggers where you make it night and murder the party in their sleep with centaurs, or PC triggers where the party is so busy debating whether a reverse centaur counts as a centaur that centaurs casually walk up to them and score a tpk. The one lingering question I have is: Where are the centaurs getting their guns from?
Not really related to triggers, but more on the topic of trying to take things back. I had an NPC who was playing riddle games with the PCs but I forgot to have him introduce himself before the riddle game started. And his name was the answer to one of the riddles. I felt like such an idiot, obviously I couldn't give them the riddle and then have him say "oh btw, my name is Vorenclex."
I'll try out these new trigger ideas of yours. I'm not sure if my players will accept a T Rex in a catapult as part of the game, but it is a compelling visual.
Next week we'll be covering breathing for beginners (incorporating granular facets such as, inhalation and exhalation.) Followed by the a short, yet informative introductory seminar; " Stepping Into Perambulation*." *Not to be confused with the recent popular article; "Walking Back The Preamble- A DM's guide to the seamless retcon."
All my friends I DM for share the same pc trigger. Give them a questgiver. They will immediately assume he/she/it is trying to trick them and start poking around getting into trouble "I send my detachable hand to climb under that needlessly large dress to check if she's hiding something beneath" "... You what the effective ruler if the city..?" Me after describing the questgiver courtlady with one of those medival, giant dresses and watching my players discuss the fact this lady benefits most from the actual rulers disappearance.
What about event-based triggers tied to some specific action by the PC? Like for example, the encounter pops off with the centaurs attacking the PCs on sight. But you the DM have determined that the centaurs are instinctively terrified of fire, so you've set a trigger that the centaurs will immediately break ranks and flee if any of the combatants employ fire magic. Or perhaps one of the PCs has had previous dealings with a related herd of centaurs, who had gifted her with a distinctive friendship bracelet woven from centaur tail hair. So in that case the trigger is that the centaurs will immediately break off the fight if one of the PC reveals the special bracelet indicating that party are in fact friends of centaurs. These kinds of player event triggers are usually very clear-cut and easy to script, and for that reason they're quite often used in video game programming.
Because Guy tends to like odd numbers like 3 and 5 instead of even numbers such as 4, I'll mention another type of trigger that DMs can use to add complexity to combat encounters. 3rd edition and 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons have a condition called "Bloodied." That condition contains an array of adverse effects that occur whenever a combatant has dropped below half its hit point maximum. That is effectively a type of trigger, tied to the amount of damage the creature has taken. Whenever a given monster or NPC drops to half its original HP, some kind of change occurs in the battle mechanic. Sometimes it triggers the creature to flee if it is not defending its own lair or offspring. Sometimes the creature gets a morale check or Wisdom save to avoid fleeing the battle. Other creatures may double down and fight even harder. Some dragons might get a recharge on their breath weapon. You get the idea. 5e D&D eliminated the Bloodied condition, but that doesn't stop you from using it as a trigger from behind the screen. ;) This is another kind of event-based trigger you can use in your game to achieve balance or effect a tonal shift in combat situations.
I've had a busy couple of months and haven't followed the channel too closely for a while. Dipping back in, I can tell the advice and content is as solid as ever, but christ if the art style in this video didn't make me feel like I was tripping balls. Did I miss something!? :')
Great video. I had an odd circumstance tied to this last night. Prior to the game, the cleric in the party, who had been rather quiet about his background, told me that he wanted to tell the party about his past. I went to work setting up an easy drinking and dining intimate affair after a successful mission, had the party gathered, and was met with resounding silence. I prodded as I discussed plates being cleared, desert, more drinks, late into the night, and continuously met with nothing from the cleric. I finally called it a night if nobody had anything to discuss and everyone went to bed, waking up the next morning and moving on without mention of anything. I must have burnt five minutes trying to extract the situation I had been asked to provide. What's the right move?
In my last session my players chase down a dragon which they were way under level four and accidentally triggered a manticore encounter at the same time
Players will, except in the rarest of cases or the heaviest of DM hands, never be taken alive. This sits among the cardinal sins next to "steal my stuff"
Thank you for watching! Check out 'A Complete Guide To Nautical Campaigns' here: www.greatgamemaster.com/dm/a-complete-guide-to-nautical-campaigns-launch/ to create great sea and undersea adventures.
Sometimes it's really fun to just go back and watch old videos and see how much the channel has grown
I recently did a complete archive dive of all of his stuff from the beginning to where I watched back to. Lots of fun
My trigger: ignorant and incompetent officials.
"We have no idea where all these zombies are coming from"
"Ok, are there any cemeteries or mausoleums nearby?"
"Of course, but we can't get close enough to investigate it"
"Why not?"
"There's too many zombies coming out of it"
That mayor was extremely lucky that I rolled a Nat 20 on my wisdom save otherwise he would've had to deal with a very angry weretiger
Lv1 Human Fighter: "A 30 ft Metal Chain plus my Two Handed Great Sword with Great Weapon Master... How far and how wide do you want me to hit, GM?"
GM: "What?"
Lv1 Human Fighter: "IT'S TIME!!!"
Undead: "Grandfather, that Knight is being Kratos again."
Sorry for replying to a months old comment but that had me in a fit of giggles xD
@@Malodious199 No worries. Turns out that mayor was actually a cultist that wanted the undead to overrun the town. In hindsight the fact that he seemed more interested in who sent us there than dealing with the threat should've been a clue
@@firestorm165 Woah I think my dm ran the same campaign
I've always had a tendency to sort GM into 2 distinct categories which I call the "passive GM" and the "proactive GM". The passive ones are those who describes whats before the players with meticulous details and then waits on the player to do something and they (the GM) are the one reacting to the player. On the other side, the proactive GM is the kind that will describe the general aspects and will immediately point out an interesting detail to the player to intrigue them into looking for more. When the player becomes unable to decide, the proactive GM steps in with another intrigue, while the passive one might not until there is little to no interest left in the players to continue searching. (Of course, I'm talking in absolutes here: a GM is generally not 100% of either, but a mix of both).
I think the way the GM makes use of triggers, as you explained them, is what differenciates a "passive GM" to a "proactive GM", in my words.
What is called "PC triggers" here is a subset of what we've always called "levers". Levers are predisposed, consistent reactions to certain stimuli that may be baked into a character or discovered during play . The DM pulls one of these levers when he wants the player to do something specific (you always rescue damsels? Well, there's one hanging off that balcony! What will you do? That's right, the same thing as always!).
I've always liked the "lever" description, since it takes intentional action by the DM both to turn it on and to turn it off.
Experienced players and players with DM time almost always build characters bristling with levers (whether intentional or not), so look for them! Then pull them mercilessly and tactically to have better games :)
I call the triggers events. Nowdays, because of Corona, we only play online. And I learned that events/triggers are much more important during online play. Usually, my players are well immerced into the campaign and the world (which is always a good thing while sandboxing). But I noticed, that they need more input from my side to really get going. It is different from playing at the table all together.
I think this is really true. We can't really have 'asides' or out of game chat (about the game) when online. I totally agree with you!
@@HowtobeaGreatGM Having lpayed an online camaign text-based for YEARS...definitely. art of the other issue is that it's naturally slower...which means that banter and such takes up more time, so I often 'delay' triggers to allow banter. (Or, conversely, have banter in side-chats between sessions, especially in text-based)
@@MitchellTF I'm finding we have even MORE in character banter... because as combat is happening via our discord voice channel, the players not *immediately* involved are bantering in character in text chat!
Same.
"Just because you triggered it, doesn't mean the players are going to react to it."
TELL ME ABOUT IT! 😂
Invited into a cabin decorated ornately with dragon motifs and 5 bright colors of stained glass, door has an oroborous on it, and are introduced to an older lady, who seems to have quite the temper and is named Tia, and who explains you are trying to take down her granddaughter who is an ancient blue dragon..... R/woooosh
I assassinated a NPC in front of them mid-confession then had the assassin dive out the window expecting them to give chase over the rooftops. Half the party did (leaving through the front door) the other half stayed put. The first half gave up five minutes later and went to the pub.
RIP the skills challenge I had planned to chase down the assassin and win the favour of several big name NPCs in the City to be rescued in perilous set-pieces which would kick open the doors on the conspiracy heretofore only hinted at.
Nevermind then eh?
this actually happened to me once.
There are 5 imps in the centre of the room
"I'll walk around them"
I spent days making a dungeon the party failed to discover.
The dinosaur in the catapult is something I will never be able to unsee. Well done, Guy, I'll remember this trigger forever due to that image. I also laughed and almost choked on my noodles.
I remember subscribing to this channel when I was tangentially interested in learning more about D&D as I started watching more campaigns online. Ever since last week, when my friends decided they wanted to play a game and have me (someone who has watched hours up hours but only ever played a 3 hour one-off) I've been binge-ing all these videos along with related channels to make sure I'm up to snuff. So thanks for providing a good guide to make sure that my first time DM-ing goes well!
If you haven't found Seth Skorkowsky in your channel binge he does some pretty good list-type things as well, though he's more geared towards the philosophy and identification of situations between players and between the GM (tackling the mindsets) rather than the nuts and bolts of plot and campaign like GGM here.
I had this channel recommended by a friend but never got to it till this video. I can already tell it going to be great because of one thing: everything in this video was self-evident, but nothing was obvious. These are the perfect lessons, where the premise is easily seen through experience and the conclusion is masterfully reached without skipping steps.
As a more improv story runner. I call it cause and effect. I have what you would call "timed triggers" would be about it. Essentially the npc are my gm pcs. They are going to do something, so players actions, I have clues and responses.
So players going to look for centaurs? Timed trigger. Some event happens so players go looking for it. Centaur king has a plan of their own, so it is reactionary for good or ill, but it always advances plot. It keeps me from being restricted or dead ended.
I say something like birds are quiet so they go searching? Well those centaurs were looking for them. I did not restrict it to being a day trigger, so a night encounter? So be it.
I also like using the clock system from The Sprawl, where certain player actions can escalate certain clocks that can trigger events. For example a messy job can make them more recognizable and trigger hits from corporations while messing up surveillance can increase security on a site. They help to make the world reactive instead of static.
Use it. Smile as they freak out.
I got clocks for days in my games. I have to use blades clocks like a pie though, those sprawl digital clocks really annoy me with the times on.
I could literally listen to you talk all day. Wait. I do listen to you talking all day some days - usually in the background while I paint miniatures or make up terrain.
Thanks so much for hosting this channel, I've been a long time fan. Appreciate your contribution to the hobby, commitment and your sharing your great talent as a GM. So much useful information in this channel.
You are very kind. You should join our discord and share pics of your terrain! I used to love making terrain and painting mini's.
Quick guide to PC triggers.
Bard
Trigger = Something breathes
Result = "I want to seduce it"
Barbarian
Trigger =
anything. Literally anything.
Result = They rage
Wizard
Trigger =
ANY damage.
Result = They die.
LG Paladin
Trigger = DM "You see a beggar on the side of the road."
Result = PC "I'd like to kill the beggar and everyone else in a 10 mile radius."
This is amazing. I laughed out loud. Brilliant!
@@HowtobeaGreatGM
To be fair, the paladin killed the beggar as a mercy killing, and killed the rest of the town as punishment for their crimes of no caring for the beggar.
You didn't need to kill all the beggars
@@KixTrids you're clearly a cleric and not a paladin
Nah, the beggar comes up as evil. 😈
It's amazing how you and a few other GM savant youtubers manage to give me solutions to problems I'm having just as I'm about to run my next session. I've been struggling with conceptualizing how to get the players to do stuff in a campaign just getting off the ground, and here you are to tell me exactly why I'm having that issue. Cheers.
You should do a series where you take a mediocre DM and turn them into a pro.
Like the old MTV show, Made. Lol
That's a really cool idea, except I'm not sure anyone would want to do that. And who says I could turn them into a pro.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM .... I'd be down for this, I started playing in 2005. I've both Played and DM'd on an off in that time... I could use some new ideas to freshen up my gaming... I'm sure you could find plenty of volunteers for this....
@@HowtobeaGreatGM MANY people would love to do that, including me
@@settheshallow8913 ...... same here....
@@settheshallow8913 You're ignoring the second part of what he said. lol.
Your channel has been such a great resource for me as a GM and a player
Guy's nautical campaign book IS absolutely brilliant and everyone should buy it!
I have been watching your videos for years, and I think this is the single most helpful that I have seen. Thanks for all the great work you do.
This series is a blast to watch, great way to be able to see how other GM's might run their games and a lot of cool ideas and tricks to keep in mind when improvising or planning a session. Top notch
Thanks for going over this important concept 🤔 I know I've personally had problems with pacing my games so now I have a better understanding of how to move things along I think
You meet in a largely empty tavern. The tavern is mostly empty, except for your party and a large button on the wall that says, “Push for Plot.”
Guy at 7.36: "... if you really wanted to have combat if you feel that's what you need for your pacing..."
Me: Just have a random combat encounter a couple minutes later on the way to see the centaur king!
Guy, less than a minute later: "I might have some orcs attack..."
Me: Yes! Called it!!
I guess I'm retaining something from these videos after all!
That's awesome! Even if one piece helps make your games better - I'm happy :)
My favorite way of creating events (as I call them) is to listen to the party talking in our out of character, and hear what they want. If someone wants gold, I'll have them find a wanted poster. If someone wants armor, I'll have them hear of a quest for some legendary forging material. And when you do this it's important not to mention to them that you've acknowledged that. I then take these points, but them down on paper, and save them for later. Then, when I feel the campaign is a little too dry, or slow, I'll throw one of these. It's a sure way to keep your players involved and excited, while also making the world seem more fluid and dynamic.
The Orc attack to get back into combat is a great example of give and take between the DM and the PCs. Awesome even in a short video!
Great video I'm a fairly new DM. I only have a few one shots and 1ongoing campaign under my belt and I honestly didn't give much thoughts to triggers. I subconsciously use them but I never put much structured or thought to them. Thanks alot!!!
I haven't Been DMing for long and had a couple stale sessions and these videos have really helped me see why. Thankyou
Triggers are a simple concept, but this was still a well made collection of tips around them. Well done sir.
I personally call them "flags" and when a "flag" is tripped/triggered/activated it causes an effect to happen.
Thank you for your videos. Focus on Triggers are an element of prep I think a lot of GMs (myself included) don't actively consider. This video has helped me today with my prep! Thank you again for your awesome content!
Well done Guy! You are incredibly consistent and there is always something to learn from your videos... Thank you!
I have been structuring my adventures with what I call "decision nodes" but after my party went in completely unplanned directions, I think im gonna give triggers a try. sounds more like a more recoverable way of structuring the adventure. Thanks!
Thank you for your video's, it has really helped me gm my first game that I am completely homebrewing. My players love the game and your tips have helped me a lot.
Thank you for this video Guy, this one is very clear and important for every Gm. Fully agree with all your points. And I like your humor!
Dude your content is amazing, and since watching your videos I've had a lot more positive feedback from my players. They're more engaged, combat is more interesting and the demeanor of the table has changed. Starting Storm King's Thunder sunday, Cheers.
Great GM, you are positively wonderful. You clearly understand what it truly means to be a good GM and how to create a wonderful experience for people to enjoy. Thank you for sharing your understanding with others in hopes of enriching peoples' games.
Appreciate your videos a great deal. I enjoy the Dungeon Dudes for their step by step D&D 5e, but for just a general overview of GMing and specifically helping any game you run be better is the way to go.
It's been a while since I haven't watch one of your videos Guy. But I'm glad I'm back because this one was really worth it! Thanks Guy !!
Another informative video, thank you!
I've been around long enough to see the visual style of your videos evolve - I think I'm a fan of this one the most. Green Screen Guy is great, too. Top tier content as always.
That's great feedback thank you. I'm trying to find the right balance between: Visuals, text, content duration, content, and production time :) So this is very useful.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM I think you've struck an equilibrium, or at the very least are getting much closer. Would love to hear your thoughts on the newly released Soulbound system! Cheers
I'm thinking to have a few triggers prepared. If one trigger doesn't work, another trigger involving a different story plot (in the same overall campaign) might work. So, then the story unfolds in a different way than originally intended, yet the over all story is served.
weather can always serve as a plausible trigger too , rain could make plains/forest into difficult terrain etc...
Wait... a GM is supposed to know what happens next? I've been doing this wrong for awhile.
No. No you haven't. As one who has been doing exactly the same thing, I tell you you have not.
The “wrong” way doesn’t exist in DnD.
I posted this as tongue-and-cheek. Sorry if that did not come across in the post. My players are enjoying my crazy game so I think I'm winning as a GM.
@@linus4d1 Precisely. Game on.
@@linus4d1 I don't know, do they? Roll a dice...
Triggers is actually an excellent word for these things... :O Thanks you Guys for making this video. Planning a new campaign so this will help alot.
Another great video. Very good info, very clearly explained. Thank you and keep up the good work
Nice video. I had been aware of these triggers but not by any name. So it's good to have them set out like that
I like this definition of triggers, it's a very systematic way of DMing. Thanks for explaining!
Since you asked, I view an adventure as a narrative split by a number of checks, each one determining which path the story will take next. Checks initiated by the DM call for saving throws or passive checks (passive perception, etc). Checks initiated by players call for ability checks or attacks.
Minor checks, like a single attack in a combat, may not have much of an impact on the plot. But a major check, like a crucial charisma check to persuade an NPC, could alter the rest of the campaign. I try to anticipate these events by planning multiple checks for any key outcome, and preparing for the eventuality that a check could go one of two ways. That way I don't get stuck by a surprising outcome and try to force it.
As a DM I use the same tools a writer uses in a story. First, Chekhov's gun. You know, if you say there's a 'thing' there, like a gun, the players will definitely check it out. Second, the plot wrench. Players going off the rails? Throw a 'wrench' into their crap (as in, throwing a wrench into the cogs of a machine. Yea, it's an old writers thing) to steer them back on track. Yes, I know in writing these tools are used very differently but that's just my tool set. :)
I usually don't think it terms of plots, but in events, and thus I wold call that more of an event catalyst. Regarding time I don't think of that as anything triggering in itself, but the time skip as a framing device, thus it is just used to get to an event catalyst or a kicker. Finally, scenes the players cause is what I refer to as kickers, since the kick the scene themselves into action.
Loose verbal triggers are key with me. My players like to talk to NPCs (which I am so thankful for) and that's usually all I need to drop some trigger in that an NPC says with indifference or mild curiosity, but the players know personally- that's what's up. And then they grill the NPC and go do the thing.
I'm just here to build a receptacle of knowledge for when I finally DM. Just found ya, so I'm gonna starting digging through the channel.
when it comes to D&D my favourite and most used trigger is "Roll for initiative"
Fu##%ing thank you guy you’ve been a fu*#%ing great help to keep our game day as unvanilla as possible.
Another great piece of advice my dude!
New to your videos, gonna watch a few today. This Saturday I start my Rifts game with two players and some NPCs. The players are an REF Alpha Pilot from Robotech, and a Pastafarian Priest of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's gonna be one those weird games.
Late comment, but I'm just stumbling upon your channel, and I'm loving your tips etc. My favorite trigger for my group which is notorious for very social engagements and avoiding fights nearly at all costs is to create NPCs that my PC get emotionally invested in. There's a warlord in an area that is causing mayhem etc. and they don't want to get involved when meeting with resistance groups, etc. Maybe they come across a small family in the area that are great people who treat the PCs wonderfully and are mistreated by guards/thugs while also hiding the presence of the PC etc.
I had one small aside in my campaign where my group's unofficial leader (Who is a dragonborn) had a little girl get fascinated by his 'beautiful blue scales' and try coloring her doll similarly. She, out of character, says, "Well crap, now I'm gonna have to save these people aren't I?" lol.
I call them Events, but Triggers are also a good term for them. I have 4 Event types that can occur: Random Encounter, Random Trap, Time Skip, and Intervention. Encounters can be combat, npcs, items they discover, clues or puzzles, etc. It's something they encounter.
Traps are typically set up to give them a sense of urgency, raise the stakes a little, and motivate them to make decisions as a group.
Time Skips are narrative moments where I explain that the group has done some basic downtime activity, time moves forward by some amount, and now they can decide if there's something they want to do or if they'd like to call it for the session. (This is usually reserved for stall points, when I can sense the players are getting a bit bored/tired for that session. I give them a narrative "out" so that they don't feel as if the game just stalled out and died.)
Interventions are my PR term for Railroading. I want the players to get to X location/encounter/etc. So I simply move them along to a new point of action where they must begin making choices and engaging with the game again. I reserve it for moments when the party simply isn't picking up on clues or agreeing to go left or right as a group. When I can tell they're approaching a stall condition, I typically perform an "Intervention" to get the game rolling.
How do I decide? Well, the first two Event types are based on quiet moments or in-character discussions. I use a 1 minute egg timer, then roll a d6 and on a 1 or a 2, there is an Event. I pick based on what's going on in the game. If no event happens, I reset the timer and try again unless the party comes up with a course of action before I can. The latter 2 Event types are used based on my personal judgement of the players with respect to the amount of time spent on playing that specific session. 2 hours in, that could just be me not getting them engaged so perhaps Intervention is needed to move the game along. 4 hours in, well the players might be fatigued and perhaps just waiting for the game to end so a Time Skip might be best.
Personally, being someone who comes from a theatre and writing background, I call my triggers "Ques/Cues/Q's". It is the event, phrase, or otherwise important thing that is meant to precede action.
I am currently the Gamemaster for a home brew Dungeons and Dragons style role-play. It is a Zombie Apocalypse scenario where one player and myself keep track of experience, items, statistics etc. in a notepad. The role-play started out good. We had a session 0 which ended in me killing off the player by summoning a Grim Reaper in a movie theater. In session 1, the player progressed through the city killing zombies. I mentioned there was a dangerous group of zombies on one street. Casually suggesting they avoid that encounter. The player fought the zombies resulting in me having to allow the player to continuously hit and run versus the zombies in order to survive. This resulted in their experience raising higher than I had intended. After several days of sessions the player arrived at the final dungeon of the city. I had planned out a challenging encounter which I had scaled based on their statistics. They decided to explore a nearby church which I ended up deciding to fill with zombies. In addition to a massive amount of experience for the player I gave them some game breaking items not realizing they would ruin the upcoming boss fight at the time. When the player finally finished off the basic encounters in this dungeon to fight the boss. It was an extremely easy encounter for them. The epic boss fight I had written was ruined because I developed the boss encounters statistics too far ahead of time. After this the player was completely invincible because of their statistics. Twenty zombies could literally jump them at once and they would not lose a single hit-point. They ran around gaining more experience in one or two days than in the last five. I spent hours writing a new town with different encounters partially in my mind and partially in a notebook. This new town would be slightly difficult in order to correct the game balance. After being overpowered and gaining massive experience previously the player started whining at me about the encounter being unfair. I felt like I had wasted my time writing a balanced encounter. The role-play has gone on for a few days after that with occasional whining from this player. Do any experienced Gamemaster have any advice for me?
Hey guy, just found your channel...love the info and presentation!
Wonderful, wonderful stuff. And that is the absolute truth 😁
I don’t know how you pulled this off but you look 10 years younger in this video. Good content brother keep it up!
I had an ambush on the road. The PCs dealt with it in the coolest way. The ambusher knocked a rider PC horse prone. They were able to dodge and weave attacks get the horse up and bravely run away away. Was the greatest non combat combat. They were like "narratively we dont have time for delays" it made perfect sense for their characters to do that in game and it felt so great that they got away unscathed.
LoL!! I had a trigger, that was meant to dissuade the player from going forward with
his action, after he didn't find what he left behind earlier in a marked location. He
decided to attempt tracking the one who took what he stashed away, and found
himself faced off with a semi-aquatic monster. He fought it, taking damage, as well
as dealing some. I had the thing dive deep into the water, where he basically should
not have followed ..... but he did. He had made up his mind that the creature had
eaten those things he was looking to retrieve, and was now determined to kill it, gut
it, and take back possession of said items ---- He ended up getting caught in an
undertow current, and with a lucky roll, pinned himself against a channel wall
beneath the town, directly below the Town Square Well, where he was able to draw
nearby folk's attention, to hull him up.
Wow. I feel like I've been looking for this explanation for a long time
I'd add a 4th type of trigger: An environmental trigger. Basically placing anything in the enviroment the PCs could react to. These would probably be the things the PCs are looking for when trying to escape or break into a place, or when they want to cause a distraction. - So this can be things like traps, rickety bridges, locked doors, conveniently placed gunpowder storage buildings, the hidden ambush of centaurs, or even something like the tree the gloomy loner ranger of the party was sleeping in before he "dissapeared" (i.e. wandered off from without informing anybody but the DM)
I use plot hooks sparingly myself, the only campaigns I've ever DM'ed the players were more experienced than I was and often times the plot hooks were weak enough to garner responses like: nitpicking or otherwise dissecting the triggers to outright ignoring them. Which has me now only using triggers/plot hooks as a last ditch effort to stop a game from stagnating. If the players are having fun building a castle or wooing some mistress or pursuing some other activity that holds no relevance to the plot then I say let them. It's only once the world itself has started to become a little too comfortable do I shake things up with triggers or what I call 'incentive to perform'.
Absolutely love your work! Keep it up!
hey man i been watching allot of you videos, and gotta say im impressed, they are all well thought out and well done, you should think about narrating some stories i think you would be great for it. also imsure you are super busy, but if you ever want to play dnd 5e we have a small communitythats growing and would love to have you stop by and play or run games with us, we have a couple of dms and a few players, we use a homebrewed world that will be evolving as the different GMs host games and create new lore, its drop in and out so your progress carries over to other games. any ways keep up the great work and cant wait for the next vid.
I know a good trigger.
You can call it PC trigger but I specifically refer to it as Curiosity Trigger.
All players are curious, therefore telling them their character noticed something usually results in action.
Also you can predict players reaction if you kmow them well enough.
Greedy player -> something material
Info player -> potential information
Fighter player -> interesting fight
Etc
For example you can tell players they find weird things in the dungeon like out of place bricks. Then when they investigate, yoi can tell them they found a brick protruding off the wall farther than other bricks.
This way player thinks THEY found a trigger and not that you just told them. Adding the curiosity makes players think that they cause events to happen. Usually adding curiosity doesnt affect anything and leads players like funnel into triggers.
I remember one example with river that Guy once used.
What you can do is suggest a bridge to be built by spawning a purposeless beaver, beavers build dams and players will imagine that. Beaver can run away or start gnawing on a piece of wood. This way you can also explain why old bridge collapsed, perhaps a beaver cut a tree in an unfortunate direction.
In the games I run I tend to give details a and things that may spark palyers activity to specific players. If a PC is knowlegable in some field - I might handle the field-speciffic info to that PC's player (even in private), and have it share with the rest, as she would in a normal life. Other times if a player for example is couting ahead or asking specific questions about the situatuon (i.e. being proactive about the information) - I may give it to them. This is my way of appreciating the eway they play. Also this probably means I reward people with thinga that ARE LIKELY to trigger them in this very moment (since they kinda hint ot it with their actions).
1:00 game master dabbing, love it!
For that night being uneventful, maybe just a hint? For centaurs id be like "you find hoof prints pointing away from your camp" and let them guess if its just a wild mare or something more, and of course I wont tell them much more even with a successful survival check, just be "you follow the hooves prints to a denser part of the forest where there are a bunch more animal type tracks such as rats, deer, rabbits, snake tracks"
4:34 Plot, plot, plot, plot
Plot, plot, plot, plot
Beautiful Plot, Lovely Plot...!
Players:
::nodding and following along:: Plot, plot, plot, plot
Plot, pl --- SQUIRREL!!!
Or that ONE player:
Plot, plot, plot, ::sigh:: plot
Plot ::yawn:: "Whatever. I attack the guards."
And i use Trigger and Events
i use Triggers for things that i prepare to happen when a certain condition is meet ( like a reaction) normally not depending on the characters, like some time after something happened. or when this 2 object are in the same room... etc
Events are what i prepare for when the players DO something. like: what happens if the character ask for something or attacks someone ...
I think I've got it now. Triggers are something you do when you want to murder the party with centaurs. You can do plot triggers whereby the party stumbles upon plots of land with centaurs roaming around, time triggers where you make it night and murder the party in their sleep with centaurs, or PC triggers where the party is so busy debating whether a reverse centaur counts as a centaur that centaurs casually walk up to them and score a tpk. The one lingering question I have is: Where are the centaurs getting their guns from?
Love your content!!!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!!
Guy I volunteer if you go this route
Not really related to triggers, but more on the topic of trying to take things back. I had an NPC who was playing riddle games with the PCs but I forgot to have him introduce himself before the riddle game started. And his name was the answer to one of the riddles. I felt like such an idiot, obviously I couldn't give them the riddle and then have him say "oh btw, my name is Vorenclex."
PC: “I surrender”
Centaur: “Take no prisoners!”
I absolutely love these new graphics! xD Yay for DAZ!
I could summarize, a good GM needs to be psychologist.
Ideally. And an improv master, voice actor, philosophy/literature major, historian, and alchemist =D
I'll try out these new trigger ideas of yours. I'm not sure if my players will accept a T Rex in a catapult as part of the game, but it is a compelling visual.
Did you get why the T Rex is used for the Time Trigger? But yes. NO ONE expects T-Rex by air!
@@HowtobeaGreatGM because T is short for time, thus making it a Time Rex (time wrecks).
Next week we'll be covering breathing for beginners (incorporating granular facets such as, inhalation and exhalation.) Followed by the a short, yet informative introductory seminar; " Stepping Into Perambulation*."
*Not to be confused with the recent popular article; "Walking Back The Preamble- A DM's guide to the seamless retcon."
All my friends I DM for share the same pc trigger. Give them a questgiver. They will immediately assume he/she/it is trying to trick them and start poking around getting into trouble
"I send my detachable hand to climb under that needlessly large dress to check if she's hiding something beneath"
"... You what the effective ruler if the city..?"
Me after describing the questgiver courtlady with one of those medival, giant dresses and watching my players discuss the fact this lady benefits most from the actual rulers disappearance.
What about event-based triggers tied to some specific action by the PC?
Like for example, the encounter pops off with the centaurs attacking the PCs on sight.
But you the DM have determined that the centaurs are instinctively terrified of fire, so you've set a trigger that the centaurs will immediately break ranks and flee if any of the combatants employ fire magic.
Or perhaps one of the PCs has had previous dealings with a related herd of centaurs, who had gifted her with a distinctive friendship bracelet woven from centaur tail hair. So in that case the trigger is that the centaurs will immediately break off the fight if one of the PC reveals the special bracelet indicating that party are in fact friends of centaurs.
These kinds of player event triggers are usually very clear-cut and easy to script, and for that reason they're quite often used in video game programming.
Because Guy tends to like odd numbers like 3 and 5 instead of even numbers such as 4, I'll mention another type of trigger that DMs can use to add complexity to combat encounters.
3rd edition and 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons have a condition called "Bloodied." That condition contains an array of adverse effects that occur whenever a combatant has dropped below half its hit point maximum. That is effectively a type of trigger, tied to the amount of damage the creature has taken.
Whenever a given monster or NPC drops to half its original HP, some kind of change occurs in the battle mechanic. Sometimes it triggers the creature to flee if it is not defending its own lair or offspring. Sometimes the creature gets a morale check or Wisdom save to avoid fleeing the battle. Other creatures may double down and fight even harder. Some dragons might get a recharge on their breath weapon. You get the idea.
5e D&D eliminated the Bloodied condition, but that doesn't stop you from using it as a trigger from behind the screen. ;)
This is another kind of event-based trigger you can use in your game to achieve balance or effect a tonal shift in combat situations.
Great video
"If your PCs don't want to fight" - yeah, that has never happened in my games lol. My players really love rolling those attack dice.
"The Complete Guide To Naughty-Call Campaigns". I'll take two.
This video triggered me....I'll be in my safe space...writing plotlines.
Haven't watched your channel in awhile and just had to come back!
I've always had player controlled actions as triggers and my actions as moments.
I've had a busy couple of months and haven't followed the channel too closely for a while.
Dipping back in, I can tell the advice and content is as solid as ever, but christ if the art style in this video didn't make me feel like I was tripping balls. Did I miss something!? :')
Great video. I had an odd circumstance tied to this last night. Prior to the game, the cleric in the party, who had been rather quiet about his background, told me that he wanted to tell the party about his past. I went to work setting up an easy drinking and dining intimate affair after a successful mission, had the party gathered, and was met with resounding silence. I prodded as I discussed plates being cleared, desert, more drinks, late into the night, and continuously met with nothing from the cleric. I finally called it a night if nobody had anything to discuss and everyone went to bed, waking up the next morning and moving on without mention of anything.
I must have burnt five minutes trying to extract the situation I had been asked to provide. What's the right move?
3:36 The steaks have never been so high.
Wow OK that was useful, big thanks. Alas, I can't press "like" to this video twice.
I'm gonna need you to role for Charasma after that end card.
super useful info, so happy i subed your channle
if we could find as many players as videos , every game would be a Con unto itself... ;)
In my last session my players chase down a dragon which they were way under level four and accidentally triggered a manticore encounter at the same time
Thanks
Thank you shadivetsity
Players will, except in the rarest of cases or the heaviest of DM hands, never be taken alive. This sits among the cardinal sins next to "steal my stuff"