I love creating my own adventures! Been doing it since high school. Recently I've been running some modules, though, and I defintely feel it's been beneficial. I see different ways of doing things, and it improves how I create my own adventures. At the end of the day though, I will always love creating and running my own adventures.
Jim Murphy you're great Jim, the chest burster joke made me smile. 'Um' is a super common thing, especially when you're speaking extemporaneously- a visual reminder might be helpful, an index card for example. Still, you're doing an awesome job and inspiring me to expand from the podcast we do onto TH-cam if I finally stop procrastinating. Enough about me, keep up the content!!!
Love the videos Jim Murphy ! Keep it up ! I do what you say ( use source books/ campaign settings ) and take it one step further by taking the modules and "re-skin" them for my campaign. Like you stated to " make more personal for my PC's" . Got a question for you ....Here goes ...Have you ever played BECMI D&D ( Mystara ( "known world" ) ? Great source books /gazetteers that you can "re-skin". Unlimted amount of fan stuff as well.Anyways keep up the vid's looking forward to seeing the next ones. Slainte~
To be honest, after the very first campaign that I played in fell apart (1979), I ended up having to DM (because no one else would or could). That was the norm until I met up with a new group of friends and joined their group in 1988. That campaign ran for five years and it was epic. However, when I DMed, it was always hombrew. I tried running from modules, but I do not retain content that I read as well as content that I write. I'm also what you would call an improv DM. I'm also one of those "stand-up" DMs as well. All of this combined means that it's easier for me to create my own content, and for those questions that have no written answer, I can improv on the fly and no one knows the wiser. 1993 marked the end of D&D for me with that group have a major social breakdown. That's long since been resolved, but D&D never happened again. Then 5E came along. When I discovered it, I immediately tried out the AL, which started out as a real shitshow. Long story. However, it also meant that I got back into DMing again. All homebrew. I've been running my world of *Thöll* now since November 2014, and it's seeing it's third campaign now. The DM I play under has bought everything that WoTC has written, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't run any of that. So when I run, it's all mine. And my 6 players seem to enjoy it - including my 15 year old daughter, whom I've been DMing since she was 12. 5E not only got me into homebrewing again, but it also got me back into sketching, writing, painting minis, making maps, and crafting what I need. I've been writing a series of articles for Nerdarchy.com now for 2+ years (Out of the Box Encounters), so DM has fed into a lot. And it all feeds back into DMing too. So I hear you. I get where you're coming from.
Hello Jim, Just recently found your TH-cam videos and have been enjoying them. I started DMing back in the mid-80s with my own adventure creation. Then life interrupted my gaming and just recently, at 56 got back in with 5e, again running my own adventure creation. I love the creating of the my own versus modules. However, I will acquire modules and even use parts of them for ideas or maps and such. But I make the adventure to fit the level PLUS player experience PLUS how the players play. For example: I created an adventure called The Hands of Ilmater where they have to recover an artifact of Ilmater that I created in order to save Two Rivers (a small town) that has been infected with the Bleeding Eyes Disease (a deadly disease I created that not even the local clerics have been able to cure...only delay death for a bit. There are other ways to cure it outside of the artifact, just not the traditional ways of cure disease spells and such). At first, they think the Black Wolf Goblin clan has it. They will later find out that they delivered it to the Crimson Shield Orc tribe who also controls that clan of goblins. I have a mix group of 6 players consisting of beginners and experienced starting at 2nd level. The experience are very strategic in their thinking. But all are new with 5e. I started them out with a night ambush and then a scene where they come upon some goblins just after they ambushed some NPCs. I wanted to learn how they think, RPG, and how their particular characters work together in regards to melee, range, and spell-casting battles. I soon learned that they needed a greater challenge. So, I adjusted the adventure to become more challenging . . . traps along the goblin path, added more goblin archer ambushes along the way, and a lot more goblins within their hideout. I also made the goblins more strategic in their fighting and had the goblin boss with the ability to shift into a werewolf (a special ability he was blessed with for them worshipping Malar instead of traditional goblin gods). His armor was shredded when he shifted, but then he became more powerful also and increased in XP. They ended up killing him. I also added the threat of stirges that were being controlled by the goblin shaman until he was killed which allowed the stirges to do what they want. In essence, I kept them wondering, "What next!". When it seemed that they were going to be overpowered, I didn't use the full aspect of the goblin abilities or the werewolf's resistances and I had a 4th level druid NPC show up in the midst of the battle. But it was still very challenging and fun for them from their comments. They finally defeated the goblin horde and are now exploring the hideout which has a few more surprises in store for them (a Blight Wyrm which the goblins have raised and feeds prisoners too, several traps that have not been sprung, and possibly a small group of goblins coming back from a hunt to discover their hideout has been invaded. Then you never know when the stirges will regain their senses and attack at random). The druid NPC took some prisoners that were found back to Two Rivers so, he is out of the picture for now. So, I love creating my own adventures. Easier to run because I know what will happen next, I know the descriptions since I created them, and it is easier to adjust the challenge of the adventure to the party on a whim. I don't want it to be easy, but I don't want it to be a TPK either. Of course, a near death experience for a few adventurers is good for the party and keeps them on their toes in the future. Thanks for sharing your wisdom from over the years. If ever going to be in Houston, TX area, be cool to meet you in person.
Great advice. Had to learn a few of these points the hard way. So much time flipping through a book looking for the answer to a question. I like using the purchased books for ideas and locations with a homemade story.
I agree. I really enjoy creating my own adventures and tailoring them towards my players. I consider adventure creation to be part of play for the DM. When I try to run a published adventure it feels more like I am studying and I do not get the same enjoyment that I get when I create my own adventures.
I really like your point about how adventures don't know how good the players are. I never even considered that but it reminds me of what was apparently the famously hard 4e starting adventure (which I never played so can't speak of personally) where you fought like a dragon at the end and needed to be very tactical.
You're so right Jim, I find running my own adventures so much easier. I was steered clear of published adventures for a while until I decided I could just Frankenstein them into something that fit my world and preference. Awesome advice!
Hi Mr. Murphy. Thank you for this wonderful advice. I've wondered how to create my own modules. As a new DM, I plan to introduce the Lost Mine of Phandelver to my friends and to myself :) Now, I understand how to make it more interesting and more personal - and a bit less of a "railroad", by putting my own stamp on it. Wow! Plus, I'm excited about creating my own modules, because - given what you said - I know how and why to do it. Thank you. I hope you feel better soon. I'm happy you and Matt are sharing this advice.
Very excellent point about the value of making the adventures more your own. The more invested you are in the story you're telling will come through to your players. On the flip side for the players the closer to "home" the story comes the more tied into it they will feel. I've seen it several times with new players where I'll be describing some offhanded thing and suddenly something will click and they'll realize its a reference to something in their backstory they submitted weeks or months prior. Nothing quite like a player hearing their characters history become part of a wider world. Best of all is even they don't know how that story thread might end since you as the DM are in charge of fleshing it out.
ICE did a nice job with the "Middle Earth Roleplaying" supplements. It was a shame that they did not get a bigger following. I would have loved to play more games in this setting.
Totally agree, i have a lot of suplements and adventures, the companions where really nice with all the added sets but recently put all of that in a box and learned D&D (5e) which was something i wanted to do for ages. There are Middle Earth supplements for 5e though
I completely agree, so of course I'm not really doing it right now. In my defense, I decided to set up a large sandbox West Marches style game, and I plunked down a number of modules and adventures to populate the areas. None of them will run as written and I will be adapting them on the fly as things go along, but I do like the safety net of the maps and NPCs and stuff to riff on. The world, at least, is my own. Also, I did try something new when I included a random dungeon (my own charts plus drawing tiles from the various D&D Adventure System games) under a tower from a pre-made adventure. It worked pretty well and definitely was fun. So, I definitely agree, but the reality of time constraints have me filling in gaps rather than making out of whole cloth. Keep at it Jim, I love hearing your perspective and learning from your experiences!
Always make the campaign setting yours. You can write that Waterdeep was destroyed by the Chroma Conclave. Maybe Lankhmar has Elves after all. Perhaps one of the rulers in Dark Sun managed to conquer all the other cities. The purists will be upset but they don't have to play in your campaign. I've started three campaigns simply by taking the Haunted House from U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. For the latest, I used the map of the Redbrands hideout from Lost Mines of Phandelver. Another campaign I'm running was the combination of an adventure which I wrote to take advantage of 4e rules plus the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh with Hags as the prime movers. Yet another campaign started with first part of Lost Mines, changed Phandelver to Hommlet, and used the rivalry between Goblins and Kobolds as a means of getting the PCs into a re-write of the Sunless Citadel. Published adventures can be very useful to the new DM. But it's sometimes better to take the map from one adventure, the plot from another, and change the villain. If the villain was a Yuan Ti, then maybe it's a Hag or a Lamia or an insane, renegade Mindflayer.
Sounds like some great games. I plugged the alchemist’s manor from Saltmarsh into Phandelver when my party decided to head back to the coast before going to Wave Echo Cave.
Great video, Jim! I'm sure it will delight you to hear that I actually started doing some mini painting today and in order to try out your ruff and buff technique, I decided to make a Golden skeleton! And it looks great! :D
I simply love it when my players say something like 'They are going to get help' because more often than not the players give great ideas. And because players shouldn't 'know' what is coming next, it is really easy to change what those goblins were actually doing.
I love your counterpoint to Matt's general philosophy of primarily using modules and modify. Not that either (Homebrew vs. modding a module) is superior to the other in my opinion, but it's nice to see "both sides" represented. Or you can do like me and many others I'm sure and mix the two to taste.
Matt and I have played a lot of games together. He is a great player and DM, and a really good sport, which is always important. But the difference in style is always welcome. Craig is coming on in our group and I think he will be a great GM. Mark does well, Zack is DMing for another group. I now need to just get Dave and my work will be done. Just need Djordi back. Still have Steve in spirit
When I started as a teenager with no money, I always ran my own adventures, though I loved setting books (the 3rd edition Ravenloft stuff was a favourite of mine). I also ran without minis and used theatre of the mind. Roleplaying was an incredibly cheap hobby for me back then. As I've gotten older and have less time but more money, I've found myself using pre-written stuff more often. But because I've played for so long with my own stuff, now I can just play the "greatest hits" and avoid poorly written pre-writtens. I also have switched to using miniatures (I have long been a wargamer but did not connect the two hobbies at first) and it's fun for me to plan for an adventure by checking that I have all the minis I need against the adventure pdf. However, I am now swinging back toward a mix of pre-written "adventure locations" and my own generated content in a pretty detail light setting (eg. I am running Barrowmaze in Wilderlands of High Fantasy in Valon, but I'm writing up the Ruined City of Sotur myself.) One of the great things about RPGs is there's a spectrum of cost and complexity running from pen and paper and completely free to elaborate set ups and pre-written adventures, and the game is fun at all levels.
I find myself doing the exact opposite: I make use of adventure modules (usually late 70s, early 80s dungeon only modules), maybe 25% of the time, but always set them in my own campaign setting.
Also want to agree with you about keeping it simple. There are 3 legs of adventuring - interaction, exploration, and combat, so I just keep the circle moving with one leg leading to another. I like the 5-room dungeon concept - even if I use more than 5 rooms, the others are just for flavor and pacing. I don't want to draw a big dungeon, I like using my tiles (I have 2d and 3d ones). I also have flip-mats, but then doing fog of war is kind of sloppy (I use pieces of paper and tape), but its okay. The flip-mats are beautiful though. If the dungeon is going to be big, its going to have multiple floors and we're only doing one or two floors in a session so I can take my tiles apart when its over and make new rooms for the next session. Using 3d tiles, I make rooms and hallways separately and lay them down as the party explores, simulating fog of war. The players love them. I know D&D is supposed to be a game of imagination, but I typically play with a large group and we sort of need miniatures and a grid to clear up headspace and avoid confusion. Some people use the grid, draw on it, and use tokens or dice for monsters and that's fine too. I guess I'm kind of spoiled now. I don't have as many miniatures as you do, but I'm getting close to 1,000 now. They are all pre-painted. I guess I just don't have the confidence for drawing and painting, but probably could have saved a lot of money if I did.
I like a little bit of both words. Use one thing out of a module, then take my own twist on it or the next thing that comes off that. Mix it up a bit. “Fight me devils fight, for I FEAR peace!” Painting up a miniature cleric/paladin now to put in a campaign with that catch phrase. Lol.
Boy, you're going all over the place with your topics! I was under the impression that you wanted to speak briefly about 1 or 2 things. I think you might be liking this, hope it continues.
It’s always great to hear the opinions and ideas of veteran gamers. Experience trumps all. Thanks for taking time to share with us, Jim. P.S: Bards like you should know Healing Word. It helps. Trust me.
Yeah, good vid. The supers game I play in uses the M&M setting of Freedom city for our main city. Our GM has modified it somewhat for our universe. Starting tonight another player will GM us through a 4 part time arc, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. This is to help flesh out some of the history of our Freedom city and some of the heroes of the past. Tonight all our characters are in Bands ( or music adjacent ) that are playing in a festival a month after Woodstock. GoodStock Festival will feature bands with people with powers in them.
I've only been into roleplaying games for about three years now, always as the GM. I come from a fiction writing background, and have found that my own content gets a MUCH better reception. My advice: find a local creative writing workshop and sit in on it. It will show how to lay out a bare-bones plotline (ignore the character development bits) and show you what the climax and ending should look like. Then, buy a campaign setting, flip through it, and watch where the muse takes you.
Love the Living Greyhawk shout out. Ended up being a great experience, so much so I ended up as a member of the Mid Atlantic Triad,. I like grabbing an iconic module (Isle of Dread is a favorite) and splice it into the campaign. It gives the players a nice blend of my work and a classic module. One bonus to making your own, in my experience, is when I have to go off book. Going off the rails I made is easier, IMO, than going off the rails someone else created.
Great video Jim! I just started running a module for the first time, I never used them before now. I did so much writing and rewriting I should have just created something myself! I would love you to do a series on adventure creation: building dungeons, storylines, encounters, etc... I would also love to see you go more in-depth about running games. You certainly convey loads of information in your stories and it would be great to hear you expound more specifically on the art of DMing.
Great info. Im new to D&D, DMing, to you and Mr. Coville - but I never intend on running a pre-written module. For me that's not where the real magic is - and its not what enticed me into this whole world of D&D. There are just too many pros to coming up with your own one shots / campaigns, with the only con being fear of failure. Take the training wheels off, you'll have more fun!
Feeling nostalgic for death? Do you miss it Methuselah? = ) It felt so good killing death, it was all in the reflexes = ) The Eternal Transmutation. = )
Hey Jim, I have a video suggestion that might be challenging, but I think would be incredibly useful to gamers of all kinds. It's been said that you're a tactical mastermind, could create a video or series of videos teaching tactics, when and in what circumstances they are useful? I know that your friend Matt Coleville recently made a video on altitude that used a grid system, maybe you could ask him to run the software, while you told him what moves to make and explained why they were effective? Feel free to disparage this comment if it sounds like a bad idea.
Daniel Elsom I think my skills are highly overrated. But it is a good idea to talk about enemies tactics. That might make a good video, or a good streaming. Thanks for suggestion.
On the subject of world building/adventure building do you have any tips on how to store all the information in a sensible preferably searchable manner
OMG. you know I'm old and not very tech savvy. But here is mine(don't laugh) 3 ring binders and 3X5 card boxes. then all in a record storage box. Matt always sends me stuff for dropbox, so I can have it on the IPad he gave me. I think there are much better people than me to ask on this.
true but part of it is how you actually layout the information. like in a city contains people kinda way or like people have a folder and so do citys or... i think its one of the biggest areas i have seen that is lacking a good solution. and was wondering what the paper version looks like so you are in fact one of the better people to ask ;). i have seen a few different ways of doing an electronic version but none of them solve the structure problem as this is normally left to whoever is doing the content creation. also the other problem i have is referencing other things in the world is never as intuitive as i want.
best part, in my game at least ill get back to you is rarely good for the player asking the question. normally it means i have just had a evil plan pop into my head i need to flesh out.
For what it's worth... Been at it since... er... 1985-ish... AND I was among those who bothered with computer-based classes in high school (class of 94) so I do have a couple basic suggestions, principle-wise... First, low-tech' (it's my mainstay)... Each "world-setting" gets assigned a "tupperware"... In my terms, that's a shoebox sized plastic tray container to hold the binders... (I'm pretty prolific at the developments)... A binder should be a category of broad stroke nature, so you know by binder (even color-code) what you can look up there... THEN you can use "sticky tabs" or some other marker for keeping places like chapters or sections to minimize the search times when you go creating out of any particular thing... In the bottom of the tupperware is where I usually stick the "world map" whether it's a single HUGE contrivance of butcher-paper and cardboard folded as neatly as possible to preserve it, or a series of smaller panels that I can easily assemble. I don't really have a preference yet, but the panels seem to keep longer on less maintenance (if you even go world map)... I don't always, myself... it's clunky. A single binder might govern a particular area, a whole continent, or just a category of monster, like mammalian, reptilian, fish/aquatic, amphibian, or any combination... THIS really depends on YOU and your philosophy for organizing your understanding of the world/setting... Now, the high-tech version... DATA BASE IT... Now, you don't particularly need (or want?) the published and polished doo-dah that you find so easily online. A simple direct version (like Microsoft Access) is functional enough for you to elaborate your own databasing needs for the purposes of world building... You'll want to categorize things in a comprehensive manner, and I still recommend at least one binder or notebook (even a spiral type thing) for putting together the "exemplar" types of data for each categorized feature or function... This lets you practice a bit by hand, getting thoughts and details organized YOUR WAY before you go attempting to log into a whole litany of stuff that you plan to cross-reference... It's that "Cross Reference" detail that makes the database probably the MOST under-rated tool in the GM's high tech bag of tricks. While you construct your entries for creatures, treasures, magic items, social orders, cities towns and villages, monsters and aberrations, demons devils angels and mystical BS, and so on... Keep a clever method of TAGGING these things so you can search them quickly later. Key words and cross reference searches WILL allow you to plug a few terms into the database and produce "THE short list" of exactly what you wanted to add to this particular adventure when you get to that stage. Don't want to subscribe to MS Access (or office?)... Well, there's a site called alternativeto.net where you can run a site search for ANY software that you don't want to afford (for whatever reason) and it will provide a list of links and RATINGS for FREE alternatives to that software... including office and databasing works... animation, games, anything. In any case, it doesn't sound entirely intuitive, but as you piddle and fiddle with your own organizational systems, you can make it more and more streamlined... especially as you find your "narrative style" and figure out what kinds of details you can drop from (especially the low tech) your various descriptives and expositions... I hope this is helpful... as I wish someone had taught me about databasing basics a LOT sooner than I figured them out on my own... (lolz) ;o)
published adventures seem like twice the work, you typically have to read a whole book then write notes for the first session, versus just writing an outline for a first session...once you figure out how to describe rooms and NPCs and get used to that, it just seems so much easier...plus if I write my own, I can use my miniatures, my dungeon tiles, my flip-mats, and all my accessories that I already have as opposed to using a published adventure where I'd probably have to draw and when I look at the DM's map in the published adventure that is beautiful and full of detail that the players will never see, it kind of discourages me from even trying to convey that with descriptiveness and drawing.... I have all the published adventures and I don't feel its a waste because there is a lot of material to use, especially if I want to run my campaign in the forgotten realms....I don't just have waterdeep dragon heist, I have waterdeep...I don't just have dungeon of the mad mage, I have undermountain...I don't just have Rime of the Frostmaiden, I have Icewind Dale....I don't just have Curse of Strahd, I have Ravenloft...I don' t just have Tomb of Annihilation, I have Chult...and so on and so on
I love creating my own adventures! Been doing it since high school.
Recently I've been running some modules, though, and I defintely feel it's been beneficial. I see different ways of doing things, and it improves how I create my own adventures.
At the end of the day though, I will always love creating and running my own adventures.
I think the sickness was an Ummm curse
remove curse
Jim Murphy you're great Jim, the chest burster joke made me smile.
'Um' is a super common thing, especially when you're speaking extemporaneously- a visual reminder might be helpful, an index card for example.
Still, you're doing an awesome job and inspiring me to expand from the podcast we do onto TH-cam if I finally stop procrastinating.
Enough about me, keep up the content!!!
vision is not what it use to be. I have a cheat sheet, but sometimes hard to read when I am in the flow. but will keep working on it
Love the videos Jim Murphy ! Keep it up ! I do what you say ( use source books/ campaign settings ) and take it one step further by taking the modules and "re-skin" them for my campaign. Like you stated to " make more personal for my PC's" . Got a question for you ....Here goes ...Have you ever played BECMI D&D ( Mystara ( "known world" ) ? Great source books /gazetteers that you can "re-skin". Unlimted amount of fan stuff as well.Anyways keep up the vid's looking forward to seeing the next ones. Slainte~
To be honest, after the very first campaign that I played in fell apart (1979), I ended up having to DM (because no one else would or could). That was the norm until I met up with a new group of friends and joined their group in 1988. That campaign ran for five years and it was epic.
However, when I DMed, it was always hombrew. I tried running from modules, but I do not retain content that I read as well as content that I write. I'm also what you would call an improv DM. I'm also one of those "stand-up" DMs as well. All of this combined means that it's easier for me to create my own content, and for those questions that have no written answer, I can improv on the fly and no one knows the wiser.
1993 marked the end of D&D for me with that group have a major social breakdown. That's long since been resolved, but D&D never happened again.
Then 5E came along. When I discovered it, I immediately tried out the AL, which started out as a real shitshow. Long story.
However, it also meant that I got back into DMing again. All homebrew. I've been running my world of *Thöll* now since November 2014, and it's seeing it's third campaign now. The DM I play under has bought everything that WoTC has written, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't run any of that. So when I run, it's all mine. And my 6 players seem to enjoy it - including my 15 year old daughter, whom I've been DMing since she was 12.
5E not only got me into homebrewing again, but it also got me back into sketching, writing, painting minis, making maps, and crafting what I need. I've been writing a series of articles for Nerdarchy.com now for 2+ years (Out of the Box Encounters), so DM has fed into a lot. And it all feeds back into DMing too.
So I hear you. I get where you're coming from.
Mike Gould I love it, maybe we’ll get to game some day
When I first read the title of the video I thought it said "Ruin your own adventures"
WalkeroftheWaste I have done that before
"The Monsters know what they’re doing!" :)
Hello Jim,
Just recently found your TH-cam videos and have been enjoying them. I started DMing back in the mid-80s with my own adventure creation. Then life interrupted my gaming and just recently, at 56 got back in with 5e, again running my own adventure creation. I love the creating of the my own versus modules. However, I will acquire modules and even use parts of them for ideas or maps and such. But I make the adventure to fit the level PLUS player experience PLUS how the players play.
For example: I created an adventure called The Hands of Ilmater where they have to recover an artifact of Ilmater that I created in order to save Two Rivers (a small town) that has been infected with the Bleeding Eyes Disease (a deadly disease I created that not even the local clerics have been able to cure...only delay death for a bit. There are other ways to cure it outside of the artifact, just not the traditional ways of cure disease spells and such). At first, they think the Black Wolf Goblin clan has it. They will later find out that they delivered it to the Crimson Shield Orc tribe who also controls that clan of goblins.
I have a mix group of 6 players consisting of beginners and experienced starting at 2nd level. The experience are very strategic in their thinking. But all are new with 5e. I started them out with a night ambush and then a scene where they come upon some goblins just after they ambushed some NPCs. I wanted to learn how they think, RPG, and how their particular characters work together in regards to melee, range, and spell-casting battles.
I soon learned that they needed a greater challenge. So, I adjusted the adventure to become more challenging . . . traps along the goblin path, added more goblin archer ambushes along the way, and a lot more goblins within their hideout. I also made the goblins more strategic in their fighting and had the goblin boss with the ability to shift into a werewolf (a special ability he was blessed with for them worshipping Malar instead of traditional goblin gods). His armor was shredded when he shifted, but then he became more powerful also and increased in XP. They ended up killing him. I also added the threat of stirges that were being controlled by the goblin shaman until he was killed which allowed the stirges to do what they want. In essence, I kept them wondering, "What next!".
When it seemed that they were going to be overpowered, I didn't use the full aspect of the goblin abilities or the werewolf's resistances and I had a 4th level druid NPC show up in the midst of the battle. But it was still very challenging and fun for them from their comments. They finally defeated the goblin horde and are now exploring the hideout which has a few more surprises in store for them (a Blight Wyrm which the goblins have raised and feeds prisoners too, several traps that have not been sprung, and possibly a small group of goblins coming back from a hunt to discover their hideout has been invaded. Then you never know when the stirges will regain their senses and attack at random). The druid NPC took some prisoners that were found back to Two Rivers so, he is out of the picture for now.
So, I love creating my own adventures. Easier to run because I know what will happen next, I know the descriptions since I created them, and it is easier to adjust the challenge of the adventure to the party on a whim. I don't want it to be easy, but I don't want it to be a TPK either. Of course, a near death experience for a few adventurers is good for the party and keeps them on their toes in the future.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom from over the years. If ever going to be in Houston, TX area, be cool to meet you in person.
Lynn Skelton sounds great, Game On and see you in the future
Great advice. Had to learn a few of these points the hard way. So much time flipping through a book looking for the answer to a question. I like using the purchased books for ideas and locations with a homemade story.
I agree. I really enjoy creating my own adventures and tailoring them towards my players. I consider adventure creation to be part of play for the DM. When I try to run a published adventure it feels more like I am studying and I do not get the same enjoyment that I get when I create my own adventures.
I really like your point about how adventures don't know how good the players are. I never even considered that but it reminds me of what was apparently the famously hard 4e starting adventure (which I never played so can't speak of personally) where you fought like a dragon at the end and needed to be very tactical.
GameNub Quin yes that white dragon adventure could kill many partys
You're so right Jim, I find running my own adventures so much easier. I was steered clear of published adventures for a while until I decided I could just Frankenstein them into something that fit my world and preference. Awesome advice!
Gambent thank you
Great hints n t-shirt.
Hi Mr. Murphy. Thank you for this wonderful advice. I've wondered how to create my own modules. As a new DM, I plan to introduce the Lost Mine of Phandelver to my friends and to myself :)
Now, I understand how to make it more interesting and more personal - and a bit less of a "railroad", by putting my own stamp on it. Wow!
Plus, I'm excited about creating my own modules, because - given what you said - I know how and why to do it. Thank you.
I hope you feel better soon. I'm happy you and Matt are sharing this advice.
Creating my own setting is what got me hooked on game mastering.
Very excellent point about the value of making the adventures more your own. The more invested you are in the story you're telling will come through to your players. On the flip side for the players the closer to "home" the story comes the more tied into it they will feel. I've seen it several times with new players where I'll be describing some offhanded thing and suddenly something will click and they'll realize its a reference to something in their backstory they submitted weeks or months prior. Nothing quite like a player hearing their characters history become part of a wider world. Best of all is even they don't know how that story thread might end since you as the DM are in charge of fleshing it out.
I have the Moria Manual, its amazing, it even has stats for gandlaf's grey robe
ICE did a nice job with the "Middle Earth Roleplaying" supplements. It was a shame that they did not get a bigger following. I would have loved to play more games in this setting.
Totally agree, i have a lot of suplements and adventures, the companions where really nice with all the added sets but recently put all of that in a box and learned D&D (5e) which was something i wanted to do for ages. There are Middle Earth supplements for 5e though
I completely agree, so of course I'm not really doing it right now. In my defense, I decided to set up a large sandbox West Marches style game, and I plunked down a number of modules and adventures to populate the areas. None of them will run as written and I will be adapting them on the fly as things go along, but I do like the safety net of the maps and NPCs and stuff to riff on. The world, at least, is my own. Also, I did try something new when I included a random dungeon (my own charts plus drawing tiles from the various D&D Adventure System games) under a tower from a pre-made adventure. It worked pretty well and definitely was fun. So, I definitely agree, but the reality of time constraints have me filling in gaps rather than making out of whole cloth. Keep at it Jim, I love hearing your perspective and learning from your experiences!
Evan Franke that sounds good
Always make the campaign setting yours. You can write that Waterdeep was destroyed by the Chroma Conclave. Maybe Lankhmar has Elves after all. Perhaps one of the rulers in Dark Sun managed to conquer all the other cities. The purists will be upset but they don't have to play in your campaign.
I've started three campaigns simply by taking the Haunted House from U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. For the latest, I used the map of the Redbrands hideout from Lost Mines of Phandelver. Another campaign I'm running was the combination of an adventure which I wrote to take advantage of 4e rules plus the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh with Hags as the prime movers.
Yet another campaign started with first part of Lost Mines, changed Phandelver to Hommlet, and used the rivalry between Goblins and Kobolds as a means of getting the PCs into a re-write of the Sunless Citadel.
Published adventures can be very useful to the new DM. But it's sometimes better to take the map from one adventure, the plot from another, and change the villain. If the villain was a Yuan Ti, then maybe it's a Hag or a Lamia or an insane, renegade Mindflayer.
Southron_d13 you are spot on.
Sounds like some great games. I plugged the alchemist’s manor from Saltmarsh into Phandelver when my party decided to head back to the coast before going to Wave Echo Cave.
Great video, Jim! I'm sure it will delight you to hear that I actually started doing some mini painting today and in order to try out your ruff and buff technique, I decided to make a Golden skeleton! And it looks great! :D
I simply love it when my players say something like 'They are going to get help' because more often than not the players give great ideas. And because players shouldn't 'know' what is coming next, it is really easy to change what those goblins were actually doing.
I love your counterpoint to Matt's general philosophy of primarily using modules and modify. Not that either (Homebrew vs. modding a module) is superior to the other in my opinion, but it's nice to see "both sides" represented. Or you can do like me and many others I'm sure and mix the two to taste.
Matt and I have played a lot of games together. He is a great player and DM, and a really good sport, which is always important. But the difference in style is always welcome. Craig is coming on in our group and I think he will be a great GM. Mark does well, Zack is DMing for another group. I now need to just get Dave and my work will be done. Just need Djordi back. Still have Steve in spirit
When I started as a teenager with no money, I always ran my own adventures, though I loved setting books (the 3rd edition Ravenloft stuff was a favourite of mine). I also ran without minis and used theatre of the mind. Roleplaying was an incredibly cheap hobby for me back then. As I've gotten older and have less time but more money, I've found myself using pre-written stuff more often. But because I've played for so long with my own stuff, now I can just play the "greatest hits" and avoid poorly written pre-writtens. I also have switched to using miniatures (I have long been a wargamer but did not connect the two hobbies at first) and it's fun for me to plan for an adventure by checking that I have all the minis I need against the adventure pdf. However, I am now swinging back toward a mix of pre-written "adventure locations" and my own generated content in a pretty detail light setting (eg. I am running Barrowmaze in Wilderlands of High Fantasy in Valon, but I'm writing up the Ruined City of Sotur myself.)
One of the great things about RPGs is there's a spectrum of cost and complexity running from pen and paper and completely free to elaborate set ups and pre-written adventures, and the game is fun at all levels.
I agree with you on everything. Game ON
I find myself doing the exact opposite: I make use of adventure modules (usually late 70s, early 80s dungeon only modules), maybe 25% of the time, but always set them in my own campaign setting.
Hang on, that is a different skull shirt. You have multiple skull shirts.
My man crush grows stronger.
of course, doesn't everyone?
for we hate peace!
Also want to agree with you about keeping it simple. There are 3 legs of adventuring - interaction, exploration, and combat, so I just keep the circle moving with one leg leading to another. I like the 5-room dungeon concept - even if I use more than 5 rooms, the others are just for flavor and pacing. I don't want to draw a big dungeon, I like using my tiles (I have 2d and 3d ones). I also have flip-mats, but then doing fog of war is kind of sloppy (I use pieces of paper and tape), but its okay. The flip-mats are beautiful though. If the dungeon is going to be big, its going to have multiple floors and we're only doing one or two floors in a session so I can take my tiles apart when its over and make new rooms for the next session. Using 3d tiles, I make rooms and hallways separately and lay them down as the party explores, simulating fog of war. The players love them. I know D&D is supposed to be a game of imagination, but I typically play with a large group and we sort of need miniatures and a grid to clear up headspace and avoid confusion. Some people use the grid, draw on it, and use tokens or dice for monsters and that's fine too. I guess I'm kind of spoiled now. I don't have as many miniatures as you do, but I'm getting close to 1,000 now. They are all pre-painted. I guess I just don't have the confidence for drawing and painting, but probably could have saved a lot of money if I did.
Just touch up the pre painted ones and they rock
I like a little bit of both words. Use one thing out of a module, then take my own twist on it or the next thing that comes off that. Mix it up a bit.
“Fight me devils fight, for I FEAR peace!” Painting up a miniature cleric/paladin now to put in a campaign with that catch phrase. Lol.
Boy, you're going all over the place with your topics! I was under the impression that you wanted to speak briefly about 1 or 2 things. I think you might be liking this, hope it continues.
Blindeyes1431 ya, I do drone on and have an opinion on almost everything, at least in gaming
It’s always great to hear the opinions and ideas of veteran gamers. Experience trumps all. Thanks for taking time to share with us, Jim. P.S: Bards like you should know Healing Word. It helps. Trust me.
Cody Sondergaard my wife made a magic potion, maybe that will help
Yeah, good vid. The supers game I play in uses the M&M setting of Freedom city for our main city. Our GM has modified it somewhat for our universe. Starting tonight another player will GM us through a 4 part time arc, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. This is to help flesh out some of the history of our Freedom city and some of the heroes of the past. Tonight all our characters are in Bands ( or music adjacent ) that are playing in a festival a month after Woodstock. GoodStock Festival will feature bands with people with powers in them.
You are wise my friend. Wise indeed.
Wow. There is a lot of gaming knowledge in your video. Congrats.
I've only been into roleplaying games for about three years now, always as the GM. I come from a fiction writing background, and have found that my own content gets a MUCH better reception.
My advice: find a local creative writing workshop and sit in on it. It will show how to lay out a bare-bones plotline (ignore the character development bits) and show you what the climax and ending should look like. Then, buy a campaign setting, flip through it, and watch where the muse takes you.
Borden Fleetwood very good advise and be beneficial outside of gaming
Love the Living Greyhawk shout out. Ended up being a great experience, so much so I ended up as a member of the Mid Atlantic Triad,.
I like grabbing an iconic module (Isle of Dread is a favorite) and splice it into the campaign. It gives the players a nice blend of my work and a classic module. One bonus to making your own, in my experience, is when I have to go off book. Going off the rails I made is easier, IMO, than going off the rails someone else created.
Sean Hillman it was a great experience for Steve & I as well
Great video Jim! I just started running a module for the first time, I never used them before now. I did so much writing and rewriting I should have just created something myself! I would love you to do a series on adventure creation: building dungeons, storylines, encounters, etc... I would also love to see you go more in-depth about running games. You certainly convey loads of information in your stories and it would be great to hear you expound more specifically on the art of DMing.
Sleepy Hendrickson I’ll get to it. Lots to cover
Very good content, very interesting, and exactly what I needed to hear to improve my dm'ing
I prefer my own adventure as well...
Great info. Im new to D&D, DMing, to you and Mr. Coville - but I never intend on running a pre-written module. For me that's not where the real magic is - and its not what enticed me into this whole world of D&D. There are just too many pros to coming up with your own one shots / campaigns, with the only con being fear of failure. Take the training wheels off, you'll have more fun!
Kugo the Mighty modules are good, source books are great. But, if you make your own, it’s awesome and all yours
Maybe it's that curse from Tomb of Annihilation :O
He didn't read it , so has no idea what yr joking about :)
Every monster fighting to the death was always absurd to me. Didn't, however, stop it from being the standard. I just groaned alot.
Adam Fairbairn we grow
I’m working on my own 1e campaign, though I’m focusing on low DM prep by using random hex generation along with and numerous encounter tables.
hangarflying there is also a random dungeon generator.
Fight me devils, fight, for I [have or hate?] peace.
Socialdogma good catch
Cool talk!
mummy rot has killed so many pcs and pets, that its feared even at 18th level. Be careful Jim !
Feeling nostalgic for death? Do you miss it Methuselah? = ) It felt so good killing death, it was all in the reflexes = ) The Eternal Transmutation. = )
Fernando Cue you found me out. 👻👻👻
Saludos Jim. = ) The void is not empty and infinity has boundaries. = )
"For I have peace."?
Morgan Smith keeps them on their toes and tells me who’s awake
Jim Murphy I hope you don't think I was trying to be nit-picky, I am really enjoying all of your videos! Keep up the awesome content!
Hey Jim, I have a video suggestion that might be challenging, but I think would be incredibly useful to gamers of all kinds. It's been said that you're a tactical mastermind, could create a video or series of videos teaching tactics, when and in what circumstances they are useful? I know that your friend Matt Coleville recently made a video on altitude that used a grid system, maybe you could ask him to run the software, while you told him what moves to make and explained why they were effective? Feel free to disparage this comment if it sounds like a bad idea.
Daniel Elsom I think my skills are highly overrated. But it is a good idea to talk about enemies tactics. That might make a good video, or a good streaming. Thanks for suggestion.
fight me devils fight, for I "have" piece??
I was wondering if anyone would notice. guess my heath potions have a side effect.
I mean, potions are very useful, but still nothing in comparison to having a cleric by your side!
On the subject of world building/adventure building do you have any tips on how to store all the information in a sensible preferably searchable manner
OMG. you know I'm old and not very tech savvy. But here is mine(don't laugh) 3 ring binders and 3X5 card boxes. then all in a record storage box. Matt always sends me stuff for dropbox, so I can have it on the IPad he gave me. I think there are much better people than me to ask on this.
true but part of it is how you actually layout the information. like in a city contains people kinda way or like people have a folder and so do citys or... i think its one of the biggest areas i have seen that is lacking a good solution. and was wondering what the paper version looks like so you are in fact one of the better people to ask ;).
i have seen a few different ways of doing an electronic version but none of them solve the structure problem as this is normally left to whoever is doing the content creation.
also the other problem i have is referencing other things in the world is never as intuitive as i want.
let me gather this together and get back to you
best part, in my game at least ill get back to you is rarely good for the player asking the question. normally it means i have just had a evil plan pop into my head i need to flesh out.
For what it's worth...
Been at it since... er... 1985-ish... AND I was among those who bothered with computer-based classes in high school (class of 94) so I do have a couple basic suggestions, principle-wise...
First, low-tech' (it's my mainstay)... Each "world-setting" gets assigned a "tupperware"... In my terms, that's a shoebox sized plastic tray container to hold the binders... (I'm pretty prolific at the developments)... A binder should be a category of broad stroke nature, so you know by binder (even color-code) what you can look up there... THEN you can use "sticky tabs" or some other marker for keeping places like chapters or sections to minimize the search times when you go creating out of any particular thing...
In the bottom of the tupperware is where I usually stick the "world map" whether it's a single HUGE contrivance of butcher-paper and cardboard folded as neatly as possible to preserve it, or a series of smaller panels that I can easily assemble. I don't really have a preference yet, but the panels seem to keep longer on less maintenance (if you even go world map)... I don't always, myself... it's clunky.
A single binder might govern a particular area, a whole continent, or just a category of monster, like mammalian, reptilian, fish/aquatic, amphibian, or any combination... THIS really depends on YOU and your philosophy for organizing your understanding of the world/setting...
Now, the high-tech version... DATA BASE IT... Now, you don't particularly need (or want?) the published and polished doo-dah that you find so easily online. A simple direct version (like Microsoft Access) is functional enough for you to elaborate your own databasing needs for the purposes of world building...
You'll want to categorize things in a comprehensive manner, and I still recommend at least one binder or notebook (even a spiral type thing) for putting together the "exemplar" types of data for each categorized feature or function... This lets you practice a bit by hand, getting thoughts and details organized YOUR WAY before you go attempting to log into a whole litany of stuff that you plan to cross-reference...
It's that "Cross Reference" detail that makes the database probably the MOST under-rated tool in the GM's high tech bag of tricks. While you construct your entries for creatures, treasures, magic items, social orders, cities towns and villages, monsters and aberrations, demons devils angels and mystical BS, and so on... Keep a clever method of TAGGING these things so you can search them quickly later. Key words and cross reference searches WILL allow you to plug a few terms into the database and produce "THE short list" of exactly what you wanted to add to this particular adventure when you get to that stage.
Don't want to subscribe to MS Access (or office?)... Well, there's a site called alternativeto.net where you can run a site search for ANY software that you don't want to afford (for whatever reason) and it will provide a list of links and RATINGS for FREE alternatives to that software... including office and databasing works... animation, games, anything.
In any case, it doesn't sound entirely intuitive, but as you piddle and fiddle with your own organizational systems, you can make it more and more streamlined... especially as you find your "narrative style" and figure out what kinds of details you can drop from (especially the low tech) your various descriptives and expositions... I hope this is helpful... as I wish someone had taught me about databasing basics a LOT sooner than I figured them out on my own... (lolz) ;o)
published adventures seem like twice the work, you typically have to read a whole book then write notes for the first session, versus just writing an outline for a first session...once you figure out how to describe rooms and NPCs and get used to that, it just seems so much easier...plus if I write my own, I can use my miniatures, my dungeon tiles, my flip-mats, and all my accessories that I already have as opposed to using a published adventure where I'd probably have to draw and when I look at the DM's map in the published adventure that is beautiful and full of detail that the players will never see, it kind of discourages me from even trying to convey that with descriptiveness and drawing.... I have all the published adventures and I don't feel its a waste because there is a lot of material to use, especially if I want to run my campaign in the forgotten realms....I don't just have waterdeep dragon heist, I have waterdeep...I don't just have dungeon of the mad mage, I have undermountain...I don't just have Rime of the Frostmaiden, I have Icewind Dale....I don't just have Curse of Strahd, I have Ravenloft...I don' t just have Tomb of Annihilation, I have Chult...and so on and so on
I agree
666 views. Perfect.
not another bulette :O
The Bearded Goblin 😮😼😈