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As a player I don't mind every once in a while there's a game session that's all talky talky and not one die is rolled if any. This usually happens after the end of a story arc or the game session after a major or boss BBEG combat. It could be shopping, attending a party, attending a festival, anything just to relax and be our character doing non-adventuring stuff in downtime. If there is a combat it's not serious - it's the drunken tavern brawl, a tournament, the pit fight, whatever for bragging rights.
Honestly, this is something that kinda grinds my gears on this line of advice - "dont do too much talky talky!" and "dont attack immediatly since sometimes combat can be avoided with talky talky" are both advice luke contantly repeats, which, to me, seem to contradict.
I agree. I had a necromancer destroy a village and mentioned it was from one of the characters home town, so instead of killing him, they captured him. The next session when the party visited the players home village to hold a trial for the necromancer, that whole session was just talky talky as they chatted with various npcs. The trial wasn't much rolling because a zone of truth spell was used, and the players willingly failed the save to tell the truth.
@@Matanlimer you seem to be missing the point. Give players free agency. Don't just attack them removing the choice of talkie talkie... And nothing in that statement says that talking should take up the entire session
I played an adventure that was all rats…but it was awesome because the dm made each rat swarm another wild version of rats: barbarian rats, rude rats, poison rats, beholder rats with laser eyes, Homer Simpson rats that yelled “doh” and tried to strangle you. As a player we wanted to go find the next rat swarm to see what wild idea they had next for us If you have all the same monster, making a twist on the variety is a fun surprise.
Time Stamps 1. Don’t Strive for Perfection (0:18) 2. Don’t Write out Word-for-word Scripts for NPCs (0:52) 3. Do Not Write an Adventure Without a Central Conflict (1:37) 4. Don’t Go Crazy With the Read-Aloud Text (2:35) 5. Don’t Write Things in Stone that Must Happen as a Result of Character Actions (3:33) 6. Don’t Loot Bomb Your Players at the End of the Adventure (5:23) 7. Do Not Fill Your Adventure With Irrelevant Information or Lore that Doesn’t Tie into the Adventure or Campaign (6:09) 8. Don’t Use the Same Monster Over and Over Again (7:22) 9. Don’t Overcomplicate Mechanics that are Only Used Briefly in the Game (7:56) 10. Don’t Fall in Love With Your Adventure (9:13) 11. Don’t Design Encounters Where Monsters Always Attack First (9:58) 12. Don’t Pad Out Your Adventure With Combat Just to Increase its Length (10:47) 13. Don’t Fill Your Game Sessions With Too Much Talky Talky (12:15) 14. Don’t Assume Player Choices (13:04) 15. Don’t Build Linear Adventure Maps (13:57) Super Secret Bonus Tip! Do not Decide in Advance How the Adventure is Going to End (14:28)
#3 reminded me of something. A few people on Reddit or Twitter or whatever some weeks back tried to claim that "having a goal in mind is railroading." That apparently if you do any prep at all, it's the same as forcing your players to do only what you want and that you might as well write a book. Those people were rightfully ridiculed, and I didn't see that opinion again, but people were talking about it for weeks. I think such an opinion may have ended up in a CritCrab or AllThingsDnD video once.
At the end of the day, if the players won't go to the dungeon and play the game you made, they don't want to make choices. They want a West Marches game where they get to decide everything. Requiring that players actually go on the quest you made is not railroading. Telling them how they have to go on it is.
Always appreciate these videos. Adventurers are the personification of "that guy" in real life. That guy that crap just seems to happen to at odd times. Those random encounters, in real life, are rarely combat but usually keep everyone on their toes.
Related to #16-Don't build the climax of the scenario around the players standing around watching NPCs save the day. There was a Call of Cthulhu adventure collection in which two of the scenarios ended with either the players watching an NPC beat the villain or the players protecting an NPC from various attackers until they could beat the villain. Then there was the original Aberrant RPG, where just about every NPC Nova was far more powerful than any PC Nova could ever be, making watching about all you could do in major events unless you wanted to get squashed like a grape.
New subscriber here! I've been watching your videos for a little bit now, and the info you give is (imo) spot on! I started back when it was AD&D, and 2nd Ed. was just coming out, and the biggest thing that I remember coming away from the DM's guide book was the fact that it was just that: a GUIDE book, not a rule book! I didn't even realize that what I was doing back then is what is now called homebrew, but what you've been saying in many of your videos resonates with my experiences, so you've definitely earned my subscription!
Good points. I'm in the process of planning a campaign for our group once our current campaign ends and then it's my turn to DM. It's been over 30 years since I've last been a DM, which is nerve-wracking! I've been coming to the DM Lair for all the great advice to help me during the process!
I jumped straight into DMing after literally playing just 1 session as a player. I didn't think the DM was that great, so I decided to create my own epic homebrew campaign. We have been playing for 2 years now, we had our 101st session this Sunday. We have 6 main players and 2-4 cameo players that play when some of the main players can’t. Some of the players have played for a while, some played only in a few short campaigns, and a couple were new to DND as well as myself. Due to my inexperience as a DM, I have to admit that I may have allowed certain homebrew items and character stats to become a bit too powerful, making it challenging to balance encounters effectively. Combat is my least favorite part of the game. That's not to say it isn't important or fun, in fact, some of our most memorable moments have come from epic battles in the past when they were more balanced. It is difficult most times to create combat which is cinematic, exciting, dramatic, theatrical, challenging, fun, and not have it drag on, but give every player enough turns. I use Roll 20, discord, and dnd beyond, I play remotely with my friends since we all live far away from each other. I have maps for literally every scene, I really put a lot of work in to the campaign. It has become one of my biggest passions. I really love the immersive, roleplaying, story telling, and world building aspects of D&D. My players said that I do that well. Our campaign is a really epic story. However, during combat I often feel like the immersion is broken due to so many things I have to manage behind the screen as a DM. I like describing the action during combat, it makes it more immersive. However, describing every detail can slow things down. At the same time, I don't want to be just a referee or calculator during these moments. I want to enjoy the excitement of combat alongside my players. While I may not always adhere strictly to the rules (since I don't know all of them) my goal is to create a thrilling and cinematic experience during combat. It is nice to hear from the cameo players who had played in many campaigns say that this is the best campaign they played in.
Hell yeah, you sound like an awesome DM! Love hearing stories of other DMs and how they started. My story is basically the same, though I’ve been DMing for a fair bit longer. Seems it’s a time honored tradition for new DMs to screw up the game balance for cool shiny things 😂 wouldn’t have it any other way. There are tons of resources out there to help with that and all of the little rules, I’ve accumulated a dozen or so documents over the years, I’d be happy to share if you think you want or need the inspiration.
You really don't need to stick to the rules all the times. They are meant to be broken sometimes. The rules are there to have a system you can play with. And if nobody cares that the beautiful friendly witch in the woods can charm your whole party once it appears, instead of charming only one at a time, who cares? That's those moments when Roleplay really gets fun.
@@kilersocke Exactly, my players are great and pretty easy going. A couple care more about the rules than the rest. A couple of the veteran players care more about the rules. Some really enjoy combat, while others not as much, same thing for exploring, the story, and roleplaying. I love the fact that my players roleplay very well and stay immersed. Most of the rules are for combat, having so many rules sometimes restricts creativity though.
All right. Ready to give more comments as promised. (I still really want that shirt.) I agree with darn near everything you said. But, regarding planning adventures, especially if your game is meant to have an overarching story, sometimes it IS good to plan out what you think characters will do and prep to that--but be willing to throw all that out of the window. It's like the saying that the best plans only last until you actually confront the enemy. The reason to plan, though, isn't to have something to railroad your players through, but to help you be prepared for whatever it is the players do. You still prepare options of course, to the best of your ability, but the players will still throw curveballs...and having prepared SOMETHING helps you roll with the punches AS LONG AS you aren't tied to whatever you prepped. So I say, go ahead and prep the path (and some options just in case) you hope and think the players might do but then drop all of it when the actual session happens. I've always found sessions go better with prep than sessions without, even when the players (as mine did recently) don't do A SINGLE THING that I prepped for. (That turned out to be a really fun session.) On a different note, I've found that having two sessions in a row that are primarily social, like shopping in a market and then dealing with contractors that are building your manor, are sometimes the most fun for the players. But then, my players will often have a couple sessions of just combat after combat or just exploration. I'm not sure if you're using the word "adventure" synonymously with "session" or "quest" or "campaign," but I'm assuming you mean what I call a game session. As long as the players are engaged and enjoying themselves, there aren't too many sessions in a row with any one pillar, and they balance out over time, it's all good. Now tell me where to find that damn shirt. I must haves it! My precious.
On numbers 2/4, this is a great thing to keep in mind and to implement when handling DnD and 3rd party adventures - bullet points for scenes and scripts rather than reading out the little textbook.
I have a story arc, setup within a sandbox module setting, and I’m letting the story be built with my players encountering a rival group that works opposite them. Idk if it will work out the way I envisioned it, but that’s part of the fun.
Something of an addendum to point 16; plot out what would happen if the players don't get involved. If you know what would happen if the villain's plan goes off without a hitch, you should hopefully be able to identify the points of failure in the plan so as to know "okay, the players just did this, that disrupts this part of the plan. What does the villain do in response to salvage the plan if it is in fact still salvageable?" Or, if the players grab hold of a different plothook and go on a different adventure entirely, you know what happens at the conclusion of the uninterrupted plot, which could then serve as the groundwork of another potential adventure, one with now clear implications to the adventurers that what they're seeing now is because they didn't get involved earlier.
After 40+ years of being a DM, I've learned that even if you prepare for any imaginable direction that your players will go, your players will inevitably go in a direction that you didn't imagine. Also, if your players are the types that tend to pick up on every side quest that you offer them - as well as some that they for some reason imagine that you've giving them - remember to remind them about the main quest once in a while.
"Esrablish a central conflict" Well that's ignoring entire play styles people have been doing for years... Sandbox emergent adventures are still very popular for OSR games. He'll mutant year zero is just about charting the map.
From an advice/pedagogy perspective, I prefer to give advice in a positive statements. Consider the difference between “don’t give loot bombs” vs. “always spread loot through the adventure.” @dmlair
FWIW - I think the reason most online games focus on "Talky Talky" is that it's much more interesting for the viewer than combat is. Having a good camera setup, with terrain, and mini's plus on screen graphics for the rolls and character sheets make combat something that can be more engaging for the viewers, but they take a lot of production value/time/money. But just having a couple cameras that go back and forth between people talking is pretty low effort and can be like listening to a podcast or audiobook. Of course CR doing the voice acting and focusing on that is certainly an influence as well.
The one thing I'd add to this is don't plan what your characters will do, should do, or could do. Design the scenario, e.g. design the bandit organization, their plans, there lair and its protections, the people they're either in bed with or in conflict with, and their future plans (next Tuesday they will hit the caravan just before the dragon-bridge) -- and then let the players loose. That leaves how the players proceed totally up to them. Do they try to infiltrate the gang, attack their lair, suss out who in a position of power is supporting them, do they hire on to protect the caravan (as it's a likely target), etc. Yes this is much closer to a open world system and there is a chance that party will ignore the bandit problem, but for the vast majority of players, they're going to latch onto the plot hooks you dangle in front of them and if you haven't decided (or even thought about) how they are supposed to proceed, they can't "do it wrong". As the DM, you're responsible for everything in the world except the PCs. So don't worry about the PCs, let the players worry about them, that's their role. Your world will appear much more organic and the players will have a much greater feeling of autonomy.
In Castles and Crusades I don't have to worry about the silly 5e adventuring day combat/XP allotment either. When healing isn't so easy to obtain it makes playing a lot more risky, fun, and easier on the GM.
If it turns out that your plot hooks aren't as obvious to the players as they are to you, be prepared to give them some hints. Gossip from NPC's, a town crier, a "Wanted" poster that contains what's known about the bad guys... there must be some way to get the players moving in the right direction if they don't have a clue.
Dont make your final boss encounter only winnable if the PCs find a given item/clue during the exploration up to that point in the adventure unless they know in advance that they need to find it before facing the boss.
Disagree with not writing some scripts for npc. I can't talk very well off the top of my head. But thinking about what I want to get across and words to use, looking up synonyms for words and such is so helpful
10:30 "Perhaps both, if the players talk first and then decide aggressive negotiations are needed". Or the opposite as well! Not all combats need to be to the last blood. Scared enemies will flee, smart enemies might surrender. Or the two parties might decide to cease hostilities, once they find that both their mothers are called Martha.
Haven't played in a long time, but I would add.... #17: Don't assume your players want to play the hero. Talk to then in session 0 and find out what they want to do and their goals. Example; Maybe you have this whole campaign in mind that the players will take down some great evil and save the world, but you find out your players want to be murder hobos. With a bit a tweeking it can become a party of evil PC's working together to create strongholds and demand tribute from the towns and villages within their controlled domain. Killing NPC's who don't tremble and give into their demands. The party finds themselves having to deal with pesty adventurers trying to defeat them and cleanse the land of their evil. The evil party must also contend with rival evil lords who want to add what the party controls into their own web of influence. The party wanting to keep what they have and expand their own power must face off against the great evil. Unintentionally saving the world for their own selfish desires. Same quest that one had in mind, but different path and motivations to get there.
Most of the rooms my players enter, there are potential enemies. But I filled this huge dungeon using a random encounter table, so a lot of the time the potential enemies are actually not really that aggressive, outright friendly, or just goofy bois. They've had hostile conversations that never escalated into combat. They've made new friends. They've made girlfriends. In fact, every Druid encountered so far has become a romantic interest. The Ranger likes everything but elementals, so every demon, lizardman, and less than 25% rotten undead has resulted in a conversation at least before a fight, often instead of a fight. We have not fought a wild animal practically ever, but that might be my fault for introducing wild animals into the players' minds with a crab rave. However, most recently they walked into a room with a Clay Golem and a Ring Servant, both of which are immediately hostile. There's no way to communicate with these, and honestly the party should probably just run
Our party who has had a dm who adjusted intrest based on party intrest. we have no central conflict but we have been running for 2 years. Its like if you decided to spend 15 million gold somewhere, you mess up the economy, and the mercantile empire comes after you. you try to deal with them but the more chaos you sew, you attract the attention of enemies, like the head of a nation state, then you go to war with them, but if you have a necromancer in your party, then soldiers of pharasma might join, so you have to ally yourself with individuals who might be able to aid you/ hide you, etc. Our story has naturally evolved itself and it has been the greatest campeign Ive ever experienced. Not a single railroad and its driven by player intrests and approaches. granted our dm is a master and a literal walking textbook when it comes to lore and mechanics,, but he still plays by the rule of cool. I dont disagree with the central conflict idea, but my whole 2 year playthrough conflicts drastically. there was a whole section of the game where we spent an actual 6 months purley RP ing with no combat. Idk, we love it
This comment section is so funny. I'll just say its very clear who has actually played in long term, successful games verses the people who only watch actual plays or "would play if they could find a group "
NPC scripts should only be the saying, proverbs, and colloquialisms that the NPC uses often to help create thier character. Example, at the bottom of a stat block you will see this... "Well I say..." "Rootin tootin..." "By Tarnation..." And in ten words you have created a personality.
I usually avoid most of those, though with some I could respectfully argue, not so much if the advice is wrong, rather if there's a middle ground. For example if a DM can assume for their advenure would end. I think it's reasonable to predict that the players would face against the Big Bad, rather than just use Plain Shift to move to another realm and open a day spa. Then again I had a situation that between 2 high level games, an evil deity put each character into a limbo plain of solitude and desolation. I planned it totally open where they just had to show strong will and/or defiance to gain help, byt 3/4 of them went into *Puzzle solving* mode while there was no puzzle to solve. Was it too much of a reach to think that a cleric would pray or otherwise call to their deity? I did let them out with the help of the one player that showed hope, but I imagine there is probably a world where the 3 players are forever in limbo X3>
Hey DM Lair here is some feedback on your videos - they would be easier to reference and scroll back and forth in if you add chapters - they even have natural chapters already
One of my favorite sessions was meant to be the 1st session but a player wasn't able to make it so the rest of us met at a tavern (give me a moment) in the wee hours of the night. So we all had an uneasy tension between us till my character (and myself) pulled out some cards and we played Black Jack in character. Each of us asking questions to each other a getting to know each other and knowing some skills we each have
Some good tips. Some personal preferences masquerading as advice. Some tables just don't feel the three pillars. Some tables just want to fight. Other tables just want to talk. Like, if you find that the monsters ALWAYS go first, you probably aren't scrying or listening at doors, keep blundering into rooms without any prep and then acting shocked when people who live in a place don't want to talk to a guy who kicked the door down.
Damn I make a lot of these mistakes and I’ve been dming for a few years. I have been trying to get better with the loot by sprinkling stuff in the dungeon. I sometimes have sessions with to much talky talky but I have 8 players but that’s bound to happen from time to time. I sometimes have events around characters choices but normally I’m able to plan something around the new choices quickly unless it’s things like the party one shoting a boss. I thing my biggest fault that I need to improve on is giving to much lore. I’m running a Spelljammer campaign and so the party is returning to older settings but not everyone knows about them so sometimes I have to explain things to the newer party members. I am really good with the monster and map variety how ever. Which to be honest I’m surprised because those are the parts I practice the least.
WotC's campaigns are inferior to just stringing along old TSR or third-party modules. Not even cherry-picking. Just pick random, level-appropriate modules and you'll get something better than all but the top 2-3 WotC campaign. Given their firings and recent releases, they seem to have realized this a few years ago.
do you really get combat, social, and exploring in every session? I've found that in a few hours its somewhat hard to promise all three every session, my players really dont mind a session that doesn't feel like its own one shot every week.
1. Is it Good enough for my cookie crunchers. 2. Monologues are for BBEG. 3. Harrumph. 4. Read aloud are only 3 short sentences. 5.SAND IS A TYPE OF STONE. (raspberry sound). 6. Share the wealth with the monsters. They need to pay for Jr. college fund. 7. Lore is boring. Lore should be under a page at most. 8. But the monsters work for scale. And I got a discount at the monster are us. 9. Harrumph. This a team game. Not generals and grunts! 10. But. But. I sweated over it. Okay I need to get the ac fixed. 11. harrumph. 12. Harrumph. Looks at Adventure League modules. 13. Live stream problem only problem. 14. Wait a minute this is an ocean adventure. Why are you singing “welcome to the jungle”? 15. Multichoice is not just a Scranton. 16. It ends when the DM says it ends. Unless mumble mumble.
“Why we even have fest adventure at all” not exactly soulslike are a bunch of boss battles with less imorotant steps between you can easily make a adventure thats boss heavy with many bosses hell ive pulled a boss hunt adventure off before hunting down several criminals who were ones great heroes each one having a boss fight
For number 8 I like to take other monsters and re-skin them as goblins or something else. Let me just borrow this stat block and throw it on a roided out kobold.
@TheDMLair Might I ask how you’d view me as a DM? Story time Heard about dnd and eventually got into it, never been a PC only run one game so far, Decent understanding of the rules. Before Dnd was a thought I’d wanted to do wargaming but between costs and restrictions I’d found dnd would be much more suited to me. Fast Forward to today I’m 90% done with the overarching plot for session one and it’s mainly homebrew, (the previously mentioned game was a proof of concept oneshot), and I’ve gone all out, adding new mechanics such as new conditions like “Broken Bone” among others, as well as new dinosaurs as 5e’s dinosaurs are horrible representations of dinosaurs. The Story Almost 125 years ago dinosaurs were resurrected as well as other prehistoric creatures, all the governments blamed each other, not wanting bad press for such a controversial action. Corrupt officials eventually took office and ~50 years ago global tensions hit a boiling point. Nuclear War. This was a major blow and panic spread widely. Now to keep it short Speedrun time, just after the last nuke ~48 years ago strange robots appeared, out of nowhere, whispers of a shadow government, raised suspicions in the few remaining humanoids, ~30 semi-sentient plants started eating surviving humanoids, disregarding animals, with city’s now being taken back by nature, all is well, except the nuclear power and dinosaurs aren’t mixing, Kaijus start raising at ~15 years ago, being seen as devils or worshipped as gods the power behind them is immense. ~2 years ago a seemingly unnatural plague takes over, turning its victims into essentially sugar craving zombies. TLDR Dinosaurs Nukes Illuminati Robots Plants Kaiju Zombies, all in the same time. Setting: the setting is a gritty post, 5 apocalypses survival centered campaign. The technology is roughly analogous to 2134’s would be. If you have time to read this, first thank you, second what do you think? You seem like a knowledgeable DM who I can learn from. I feel you deserve a sub for your quality content and if you have any criticisms, let me know, as I could use the critique.
As an addendum to number 6: It's ok to have massive loot bombs on very rare occasions as rewards for difficult tasks, such as a dragon's horde. It should be the exception, not the rule, and only done when it makes sense.
Good content, for the most part. I would just dodge the insults- makes this channel seems like an elitist type. Saying a journey is dumb without a central point, meh, let people play. As a new DM, I’ll try to find another channel. Any suggestions?
Just hit 1,000 subs on my channel and I aspire to reach your level of content some day! As a DM myself, i GREATLY appreciate the topics you cover in your videos, and your advice is always spot on! Keep on keepin' on 😊
14:44: Insert me having an alchemist artificer 5 with -1 con and less health than the average wizard(most likely missed 5 technically 4 HP sue to how the sit frequently does this with multiple level ups) and a samurai fighter 5 fight A SINGLE Choker(CR1) and they both die... yep that is a thing the artificer walked in first only tried to escape the grapple before KOing themself with ray of sickness as they were hungover and a fighter who never tried to attack the tentacle nor action surge dash to get away after they finally broke free from the grapple... after their police contact gathered up their bodies and judged them for dying to a single choker they are now about to be a college of whispers bard 5 and Oath of conquest Paladin 3 The great machine warlock 2 respectively at least the Hunter ranger 3 rogue 2 was spared for not being there just if I had to take them dying to a choker or a Phantom rogue 10 which I figured out was too powerful once I had them face it yeah I would have rather they died to the rogue and learn about the phantom subclass(I also changed how the actual showdown was as I realized the two helpers, who took 46 and 17 opposed to the 38 and 21 taking it, actually would have suspected the enemy would try to leave and so they split to cover the exits or chase down)
I love your channel. Thanks for posting. However, don't try to be perfect like the professional game makers? lolol... wizbros hasn't put out anything but absolute garbage in YEARS.
🔥 LAIRS & LEGENDS 2 - The Definitive 5e Resource Anthology | Embark on 30+ new 5e adventures. Battle over 100 new epic monsters. Overcome mind-bending challenges. Discover hidden treasures. www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedmlair/lairs-and-legends-2?ref=49iyqw
As a player I don't mind every once in a while there's a game session that's all talky talky and not one die is rolled if any. This usually happens after the end of a story arc or the game session after a major or boss BBEG combat. It could be shopping, attending a party, attending a festival, anything just to relax and be our character doing non-adventuring stuff in downtime. If there is a combat it's not serious - it's the drunken tavern brawl, a tournament, the pit fight, whatever for bragging rights.
ive always felt, the good cpmbat starts with a compelling story, .. wHY AMI FIGHTING, one feeds the other :D
Honestly, this is something that kinda grinds my gears on this line of advice - "dont do too much talky talky!" and "dont attack immediatly since sometimes combat can be avoided with talky talky" are both advice luke contantly repeats, which, to me, seem to contradict.
I agree. I had a necromancer destroy a village and mentioned it was from one of the characters home town, so instead of killing him, they captured him.
The next session when the party visited the players home village to hold a trial for the necromancer, that whole session was just talky talky as they chatted with various npcs. The trial wasn't much rolling because a zone of truth spell was used, and the players willingly failed the save to tell the truth.
@@Matanlimer you seem to be missing the point. Give players free agency. Don't just attack them removing the choice of talkie talkie... And nothing in that statement says that talking should take up the entire session
I played an adventure that was all rats…but it was awesome because the dm made each rat swarm another wild version of rats: barbarian rats, rude rats, poison rats, beholder rats with laser eyes, Homer Simpson rats that yelled “doh” and tried to strangle you. As a player we wanted to go find the next rat swarm to see what wild idea they had next for us
If you have all the same monster, making a twist on the variety is a fun surprise.
Rats of unusual size?
@@cgathunder2there ls no such thing as rats of unusual size. You would'nt want me to contact an inquisitor right?
I’ve probably made all of these mistakes at one point, but the players in my campaign are awesome, and we’ve all learned along the way.
Time Stamps
1. Don’t Strive for Perfection (0:18)
2. Don’t Write out Word-for-word Scripts for NPCs (0:52)
3. Do Not Write an Adventure Without a Central Conflict (1:37)
4. Don’t Go Crazy With the Read-Aloud Text (2:35)
5. Don’t Write Things in Stone that Must Happen as a Result of Character Actions (3:33)
6. Don’t Loot Bomb Your Players at the End of the Adventure (5:23)
7. Do Not Fill Your Adventure With Irrelevant Information or Lore that Doesn’t Tie into the Adventure or Campaign (6:09)
8. Don’t Use the Same Monster Over and Over Again (7:22)
9. Don’t Overcomplicate Mechanics that are Only Used Briefly in the Game (7:56)
10. Don’t Fall in Love With Your Adventure (9:13)
11. Don’t Design Encounters Where Monsters Always Attack First (9:58)
12. Don’t Pad Out Your Adventure With Combat Just to Increase its Length (10:47)
13. Don’t Fill Your Game Sessions With Too Much Talky Talky (12:15)
14. Don’t Assume Player Choices (13:04)
15. Don’t Build Linear Adventure Maps (13:57)
Super Secret Bonus Tip! Do not Decide in Advance How the Adventure is Going to End (14:28)
#3 reminded me of something. A few people on Reddit or Twitter or whatever some weeks back tried to claim that "having a goal in mind is railroading." That apparently if you do any prep at all, it's the same as forcing your players to do only what you want and that you might as well write a book.
Those people were rightfully ridiculed, and I didn't see that opinion again, but people were talking about it for weeks. I think such an opinion may have ended up in a CritCrab or AllThingsDnD video once.
At the end of the day, if the players won't go to the dungeon and play the game you made, they don't want to make choices. They want a West Marches game where they get to decide everything. Requiring that players actually go on the quest you made is not railroading. Telling them how they have to go on it is.
Sorry dude, I'm a PF2e player. My 3 pillars are Encounter Mode, Exploration Mode, and Downtime Mode ;p
Always appreciate these videos.
Adventurers are the personification of "that guy" in real life. That guy that crap just seems to happen to at odd times. Those random encounters, in real life, are rarely combat but usually keep everyone on their toes.
Related to #16-Don't build the climax of the scenario around the players standing around watching NPCs save the day. There was a Call of Cthulhu adventure collection in which two of the scenarios ended with either the players watching an NPC beat the villain or the players protecting an NPC from various attackers until they could beat the villain. Then there was the original Aberrant RPG, where just about every NPC Nova was far more powerful than any PC Nova could ever be, making watching about all you could do in major events unless you wanted to get squashed like a grape.
New subscriber here! I've been watching your videos for a little bit now, and the info you give is (imo) spot on! I started back when it was AD&D, and 2nd Ed. was just coming out, and the biggest thing that I remember coming away from the DM's guide book was the fact that it was just that: a GUIDE book, not a rule book! I didn't even realize that what I was doing back then is what is now called homebrew, but what you've been saying in many of your videos resonates with my experiences, so you've definitely earned my subscription!
Awesome, happy to hear you're enjoying the content!!! :D
Good points. I'm in the process of planning a campaign for our group once our current campaign ends and then it's my turn to DM. It's been over 30 years since I've last been a DM, which is nerve-wracking! I've been coming to the DM Lair for all the great advice to help me during the process!
ive never been to a post this early, just in time for my morning ritual of coffee and dnd videos!!
The exact same thing for me too!
I cast ritual: BINGE D&D VIDEOS :D
@@theDMLair lmaooo, the curse of the DM
same
@@theDMLair Power Word: BINGE
I jumped straight into DMing after literally playing just 1 session as a player. I didn't think the DM was that great, so I decided to create my own epic homebrew campaign. We have been playing for 2 years now, we had our 101st session this Sunday. We have 6 main players and 2-4 cameo players that play when some of the main players can’t. Some of the players have played for a while, some played only in a few short campaigns, and a couple were new to DND as well as myself. Due to my inexperience as a DM, I have to admit that I may have allowed certain homebrew items and character stats to become a bit too powerful, making it challenging to balance encounters effectively. Combat is my least favorite part of the game. That's not to say it isn't important or fun, in fact, some of our most memorable moments have come from epic battles in the past when they were more balanced. It is difficult most times to create combat which is cinematic, exciting, dramatic, theatrical, challenging, fun, and not have it drag on, but give every player enough turns. I use Roll 20, discord, and dnd beyond, I play remotely with my friends since we all live far away from each other. I have maps for literally every scene, I really put a lot of work in to the campaign. It has become one of my biggest passions. I really love the immersive, roleplaying, story telling, and world building aspects of D&D. My players said that I do that well. Our campaign is a really epic story. However, during combat I often feel like the immersion is broken due to so many things I have to manage behind the screen as a DM. I like describing the action during combat, it makes it more immersive. However, describing every detail can slow things down. At the same time, I don't want to be just a referee or calculator during these moments. I want to enjoy the excitement of combat alongside my players. While I may not always adhere strictly to the rules (since I don't know all of them) my goal is to create a thrilling and cinematic experience during combat. It is nice to hear from the cameo players who had played in many campaigns say that this is the best campaign they played in.
Hell yeah, you sound like an awesome DM! Love hearing stories of other DMs and how they started. My story is basically the same, though I’ve been DMing for a fair bit longer. Seems it’s a time honored tradition for new DMs to screw up the game balance for cool shiny things 😂 wouldn’t have it any other way.
There are tons of resources out there to help with that and all of the little rules, I’ve accumulated a dozen or so documents over the years, I’d be happy to share if you think you want or need the inspiration.
You really don't need to stick to the rules all the times. They are meant to be broken sometimes. The rules are there to have a system you can play with. And if nobody cares that the beautiful friendly witch in the woods can charm your whole party once it appears, instead of charming only one at a time, who cares? That's those moments when Roleplay really gets fun.
@@kilersocke Exactly, my players are great and pretty easy going. A couple care more about the rules than the rest. A couple of the veteran players care more about the rules. Some really enjoy combat, while others not as much, same thing for exploring, the story, and roleplaying. I love the fact that my players roleplay very well and stay immersed. Most of the rules are for combat, having so many rules sometimes restricts creativity though.
All right. Ready to give more comments as promised. (I still really want that shirt.)
I agree with darn near everything you said. But, regarding planning adventures, especially if your game is meant to have an overarching story, sometimes it IS good to plan out what you think characters will do and prep to that--but be willing to throw all that out of the window. It's like the saying that the best plans only last until you actually confront the enemy. The reason to plan, though, isn't to have something to railroad your players through, but to help you be prepared for whatever it is the players do. You still prepare options of course, to the best of your ability, but the players will still throw curveballs...and having prepared SOMETHING helps you roll with the punches AS LONG AS you aren't tied to whatever you prepped.
So I say, go ahead and prep the path (and some options just in case) you hope and think the players might do but then drop all of it when the actual session happens.
I've always found sessions go better with prep than sessions without, even when the players (as mine did recently) don't do A SINGLE THING that I prepped for. (That turned out to be a really fun session.)
On a different note, I've found that having two sessions in a row that are primarily social, like shopping in a market and then dealing with contractors that are building your manor, are sometimes the most fun for the players. But then, my players will often have a couple sessions of just combat after combat or just exploration. I'm not sure if you're using the word "adventure" synonymously with "session" or "quest" or "campaign," but I'm assuming you mean what I call a game session. As long as the players are engaged and enjoying themselves, there aren't too many sessions in a row with any one pillar, and they balance out over time, it's all good.
Now tell me where to find that damn shirt. I must haves it! My precious.
Plans are useless; planning is essential.
@@mbg4681 may I quote that as a blog post title? I love it.
@@TheVTTDM By all means! I didn't come up with it; Eisenhower did.
@@mbg4681 Eisenhower. Gotta get the attribution right! 🙂
@TheVTTDM I’m sure I’ve seen that shirt on Redbubble
Good timing on this release. I am in the process of building a homebrew campaign right now.
Looking forward to Lairs & Legends 2.
On numbers 2/4, this is a great thing to keep in mind and to implement when handling DnD and 3rd party adventures - bullet points for scenes and scripts rather than reading out the little textbook.
I have a story arc, setup within a sandbox module setting, and I’m letting the story be built with my players encountering a rival group that works opposite them.
Idk if it will work out the way I envisioned it, but that’s part of the fun.
Something of an addendum to point 16; plot out what would happen if the players don't get involved. If you know what would happen if the villain's plan goes off without a hitch, you should hopefully be able to identify the points of failure in the plan so as to know "okay, the players just did this, that disrupts this part of the plan. What does the villain do in response to salvage the plan if it is in fact still salvageable?" Or, if the players grab hold of a different plothook and go on a different adventure entirely, you know what happens at the conclusion of the uninterrupted plot, which could then serve as the groundwork of another potential adventure, one with now clear implications to the adventurers that what they're seeing now is because they didn't get involved earlier.
After 40+ years of being a DM, I've learned that even if you prepare for any imaginable direction that your players will go, your players will inevitably go in a direction that you didn't imagine.
Also, if your players are the types that tend to pick up on every side quest that you offer them - as well as some that they for some reason imagine that you've giving them - remember to remind them about the main quest once in a while.
Good tips
I know I try to do most of these.
The monsters talking to the party is interesting for a change of pace
Someday, you should do a book shelf tour. I find myself trying to figure out what those books are behind you.
A great use of the word 'thus'. Thanks for the vid.
I love ALL the DM Lair videos!
Thank you so much!!! :D
"Esrablish a central conflict" Well that's ignoring entire play styles people have been doing for years...
Sandbox emergent adventures are still very popular for OSR games.
He'll mutant year zero is just about charting the map.
From an advice/pedagogy perspective, I prefer to give advice in a positive statements. Consider the difference between “don’t give loot bombs” vs. “always spread loot through the adventure.” @dmlair
I just spent 14 weeks in the doomvault. Im looking forward to 3 or 4 sessions of talking and shopping. No combat for a while lol.
FWIW - I think the reason most online games focus on "Talky Talky" is that it's much more interesting for the viewer than combat is. Having a good camera setup, with terrain, and mini's plus on screen graphics for the rolls and character sheets make combat something that can be more engaging for the viewers, but they take a lot of production value/time/money. But just having a couple cameras that go back and forth between people talking is pretty low effort and can be like listening to a podcast or audiobook.
Of course CR doing the voice acting and focusing on that is certainly an influence as well.
Thanks for the video! I agree with you and have done many of these myself.
There isn't enough bacon in this video...WHERE IS THE BACON LUKE? WHERE IS IT?!
Besides of that: great video!
The one thing I'd add to this is don't plan what your characters will do, should do, or could do. Design the scenario, e.g. design the bandit organization, their plans, there lair and its protections, the people they're either in bed with or in conflict with, and their future plans (next Tuesday they will hit the caravan just before the dragon-bridge) -- and then let the players loose. That leaves how the players proceed totally up to them. Do they try to infiltrate the gang, attack their lair, suss out who in a position of power is supporting them, do they hire on to protect the caravan (as it's a likely target), etc.
Yes this is much closer to a open world system and there is a chance that party will ignore the bandit problem, but for the vast majority of players, they're going to latch onto the plot hooks you dangle in front of them and if you haven't decided (or even thought about) how they are supposed to proceed, they can't "do it wrong".
As the DM, you're responsible for everything in the world except the PCs. So don't worry about the PCs, let the players worry about them, that's their role. Your world will appear much more organic and the players will have a much greater feeling of autonomy.
I love all DM Lair videos!
Doo do is exactly what my players to my plans and adventures
In Castles and Crusades I don't have to worry about the silly 5e adventuring day combat/XP allotment either. When healing isn't so easy to obtain it makes playing a lot more risky, fun, and easier on the GM.
did my first session, went decently, definitely need to work on stuff though
I was running Lost Mines of Phandelver, and my players decided to join the Redbrands. That was quite the monkey wrench.
If it turns out that your plot hooks aren't as obvious to the players as they are to you, be prepared to give them some hints. Gossip from NPC's, a town crier, a "Wanted" poster that contains what's known about the bad guys... there must be some way to get the players moving in the right direction if they don't have a clue.
Ooo I rarely have any central conflict.
On the last session I made a loot bomb AT THE BEGINNING of the dungeon. No need to say thatbit worked out really well)
Love all your stuff!
Dont make your final boss encounter only winnable if the PCs find a given item/clue during the exploration up to that point in the adventure unless they know in advance that they need to find it before facing the boss.
Very good and helpful video!
Where do I get that shirt? I need that shirt!!!
I'm still watching the vid so probably more comments later...😊
Disagree with not writing some scripts for npc. I can't talk very well off the top of my head. But thinking about what I want to get across and words to use, looking up synonyms for words and such is so helpful
What one can do, another may not be able to; too often, advice across the spectrum and in all things fails to take this into consideration.
😅 great video as always Luke!
10:30 "Perhaps both, if the players talk first and then decide aggressive negotiations are needed".
Or the opposite as well! Not all combats need to be to the last blood. Scared enemies will flee, smart enemies might surrender. Or the two parties might decide to cease hostilities, once they find that both their mothers are called Martha.
I remember when my players went off the map, I made the map map as they went. It was funny... Where did this lake come from?
Haven't played in a long time, but I would add....
#17: Don't assume your players want to play the hero. Talk to then in session 0 and find out what they want to do and their goals. Example; Maybe you have this whole campaign in mind that the players will take down some great evil and save the world, but you find out your players want to be murder hobos. With a bit a tweeking it can become a party of evil PC's working together to create strongholds and demand tribute from the towns and villages within their controlled domain. Killing NPC's who don't tremble and give into their demands. The party finds themselves having to deal with pesty adventurers trying to defeat them and cleanse the land of their evil. The evil party must also contend with rival evil lords who want to add what the party controls into their own web of influence. The party wanting to keep what they have and expand their own power must face off against the great evil. Unintentionally saving the world for their own selfish desires.
Same quest that one had in mind, but different path and motivations to get there.
Most of the rooms my players enter, there are potential enemies. But I filled this huge dungeon using a random encounter table, so a lot of the time the potential enemies are actually not really that aggressive, outright friendly, or just goofy bois. They've had hostile conversations that never escalated into combat. They've made new friends. They've made girlfriends. In fact, every Druid encountered so far has become a romantic interest. The Ranger likes everything but elementals, so every demon, lizardman, and less than 25% rotten undead has resulted in a conversation at least before a fight, often instead of a fight. We have not fought a wild animal practically ever, but that might be my fault for introducing wild animals into the players' minds with a crab rave.
However, most recently they walked into a room with a Clay Golem and a Ring Servant, both of which are immediately hostile. There's no way to communicate with these, and honestly the party should probably just run
Our party who has had a dm who adjusted intrest based on party intrest. we have no central conflict but we have been running for 2 years. Its like if you decided to spend 15 million gold somewhere, you mess up the economy, and the mercantile empire comes after you. you try to deal with them but the more chaos you sew, you attract the attention of enemies, like the head of a nation state, then you go to war with them, but if you have a necromancer in your party, then soldiers of pharasma might join, so you have to ally yourself with individuals who might be able to aid you/ hide you, etc. Our story has naturally evolved itself and it has been the greatest campeign Ive ever experienced. Not a single railroad and its driven by player intrests and approaches. granted our dm is a master and a literal walking textbook when it comes to lore and mechanics,, but he still plays by the rule of cool. I dont disagree with the central conflict idea, but my whole 2 year playthrough conflicts drastically. there was a whole section of the game where we spent an actual 6 months purley RP ing with no combat. Idk, we love it
hehe, you said do do...hehehe :) great video!
This comment section is so funny. I'll just say its very clear who has actually played in long term, successful games verses the people who only watch actual plays or "would play if they could find a group "
NPC scripts should only be the saying, proverbs, and colloquialisms that the NPC uses often to help create thier character.
Example, at the bottom of a stat block you will see this...
"Well I say..."
"Rootin tootin..."
"By Tarnation..."
And in ten words you have created a personality.
I HAVE THAT SAME SHIRT!!
I usually avoid most of those, though with some I could respectfully argue, not so much if the advice is wrong, rather if there's a middle ground. For example if a DM can assume for their advenure would end. I think it's reasonable to predict that the players would face against the Big Bad, rather than just use Plain Shift to move to another realm and open a day spa.
Then again I had a situation that between 2 high level games, an evil deity put each character into a limbo plain of solitude and desolation. I planned it totally open where they just had to show strong will and/or defiance to gain help, byt 3/4 of them went into *Puzzle solving* mode while there was no puzzle to solve. Was it too much of a reach to think that a cleric would pray or otherwise call to their deity?
I did let them out with the help of the one player that showed hope, but I imagine there is probably a world where the 3 players are forever in limbo X3>
You can assume player choises ONLY when someone waiting for simple answer: Yes or No and Npc said that he want answer yes or no.
The villain wants to do X, using the power of Y but is having trouble doing so because of Z
15 styles of bacon. Always needed. (I didn't have an actual comment to make 😅)
Hey DM Lair here is some feedback on your videos - they would be easier to reference and scroll back and forth in if you add chapters - they even have natural chapters already
One of my favorite sessions was meant to be the 1st session but a player wasn't able to make it so the rest of us met at a tavern (give me a moment) in the wee hours of the night. So we all had an uneasy tension between us till my character (and myself) pulled out some cards and we played Black Jack in character. Each of us asking questions to each other a getting to know each other and knowing some skills we each have
thank you!
I’m currently getting a nautical sandbox game pieced together and this is valuable advice 😌 any recommendations for ship to ship combat
good tips ty
Some good tips. Some personal preferences masquerading as advice. Some tables just don't feel the three pillars. Some tables just want to fight. Other tables just want to talk. Like, if you find that the monsters ALWAYS go first, you probably aren't scrying or listening at doors, keep blundering into rooms without any prep and then acting shocked when people who live in a place don't want to talk to a guy who kicked the door down.
I love ALL the DM Lair videos!!!! ❤
Damn I make a lot of these mistakes and I’ve been dming for a few years.
I have been trying to get better with the loot by sprinkling stuff in the dungeon.
I sometimes have sessions with to much talky talky but I have 8 players but that’s bound to happen from time to time.
I sometimes have events around characters choices but normally I’m able to plan something around the new choices quickly unless it’s things like the party one shoting a boss.
I thing my biggest fault that I need to improve on is giving to much lore. I’m running a Spelljammer campaign and so the party is returning to older settings but not everyone knows about them so sometimes I have to explain things to the newer party members.
I am really good with the monster and map variety how ever. Which to be honest I’m surprised because those are the parts I practice the least.
WotC's campaigns are inferior to just stringing along old TSR or third-party modules. Not even cherry-picking. Just pick random, level-appropriate modules and you'll get something better than all but the top 2-3 WotC campaign. Given their firings and recent releases, they seem to have realized this a few years ago.
do you really get combat, social, and exploring in every session? I've found that in a few hours its somewhat hard to promise all three every session, my players really dont mind a session that doesn't feel like its own one shot every week.
I understand the point 16, but if you do not plan ending well you will end up with „GoT” ending
1. Is it Good enough for my cookie crunchers.
2. Monologues are for BBEG.
3. Harrumph.
4. Read aloud are only 3 short sentences.
5.SAND IS A TYPE OF STONE. (raspberry sound).
6. Share the wealth with the monsters. They need to pay for Jr. college fund.
7. Lore is boring. Lore should be under a page at most.
8. But the monsters work for scale. And I got a discount at the monster are us.
9. Harrumph. This a team game. Not generals and grunts!
10. But. But. I sweated over it. Okay I need to get the ac fixed.
11. harrumph.
12. Harrumph. Looks at Adventure League modules.
13. Live stream problem only problem.
14. Wait a minute this is an ocean adventure. Why are you singing “welcome to the jungle”?
15. Multichoice is not just a Scranton.
16. It ends when the DM says it ends. Unless mumble mumble.
Can we have bookmarks?
“Why we even have fest adventure at all” not exactly soulslike are a bunch of boss battles with less imorotant steps between you can easily make a adventure thats boss heavy with many bosses hell ive pulled a boss hunt adventure off before hunting down several criminals who were ones great heroes each one having a boss fight
Scripted conversations okay for poetry, prophecy, pronouncements, and procedures.
For number 8 I like to take other monsters and re-skin them as goblins or something else. Let me just borrow this stat block and throw it on a roided out kobold.
@TheDMLair
Might I ask how you’d view me as a DM? Story time
Heard about dnd and eventually got into it, never been a PC only run one game so far,
Decent understanding of the rules.
Before Dnd was a thought I’d wanted to do wargaming but between costs and restrictions I’d found dnd would be much more suited to me.
Fast Forward to today I’m 90% done with the overarching plot for session one and it’s mainly homebrew, (the previously mentioned game was a proof of concept oneshot), and I’ve gone all out, adding new mechanics such as new conditions like “Broken Bone” among others, as well as new dinosaurs as 5e’s dinosaurs are horrible representations of dinosaurs.
The Story
Almost 125 years ago dinosaurs were resurrected as well as other prehistoric creatures, all the governments blamed each other, not wanting bad press for such a controversial action. Corrupt officials eventually took office and ~50 years ago global tensions hit a boiling point. Nuclear War. This was a major blow and panic spread widely. Now to keep it short Speedrun time, just after the last nuke ~48 years ago strange robots appeared, out of nowhere, whispers of a shadow government, raised suspicions in the few remaining humanoids, ~30 semi-sentient plants started eating surviving humanoids, disregarding animals, with city’s now being taken back by nature, all is well, except the nuclear power and dinosaurs aren’t mixing, Kaijus start raising at ~15 years ago, being seen as devils or worshipped as gods the power behind them is immense. ~2 years ago a seemingly unnatural plague takes over, turning its victims into essentially sugar craving zombies.
TLDR
Dinosaurs Nukes Illuminati Robots Plants Kaiju Zombies, all in the same time.
Setting: the setting is a gritty post, 5 apocalypses survival centered campaign. The technology is roughly analogous to 2134’s would be.
If you have time to read this, first thank you, second what do you think? You seem like a knowledgeable DM who I can learn from. I feel you deserve a sub for your quality content and if you have any criticisms, let me know, as I could use the critique.
time stamps would have been really helpful
A barbarian can help fix too much talky talky!
As an addendum to number 6: It's ok to have massive loot bombs on very rare occasions as rewards for difficult tasks, such as a dragon's horde. It should be the exception, not the rule, and only done when it makes sense.
Good content, for the most part. I would just dodge the insults- makes this channel seems like an elitist type.
Saying a journey is dumb without a central point, meh, let people play.
As a new DM, I’ll try to find another channel. Any suggestions?
Everything in moderation
Just hit 1,000 subs on my channel and I aspire to reach your level of content some day! As a DM myself, i GREATLY appreciate the topics you cover in your videos, and your advice is always spot on! Keep on keepin' on 😊
The 5E "Adventuring Day" design is trash, hate it.
14:44: Insert me having an alchemist artificer 5 with -1 con and less health than the average wizard(most likely missed 5 technically 4 HP sue to how the sit frequently does this with multiple level ups) and a samurai fighter 5 fight A SINGLE Choker(CR1) and they both die... yep that is a thing the artificer walked in first only tried to escape the grapple before KOing themself with ray of sickness as they were hungover and a fighter who never tried to attack the tentacle nor action surge dash to get away after they finally broke free from the grapple... after their police contact gathered up their bodies and judged them for dying to a single choker they are now about to be a college of whispers bard 5 and Oath of conquest Paladin 3 The great machine warlock 2 respectively at least the Hunter ranger 3 rogue 2 was spared for not being there just if I had to take them dying to a choker or a Phantom rogue 10 which I figured out was too powerful once I had them face it yeah I would have rather they died to the rogue and learn about the phantom subclass(I also changed how the actual showdown was as I realized the two helpers, who took 46 and 17 opposed to the 38 and 21 taking it, actually would have suspected the enemy would try to leave and so they split to cover the exits or chase down)
First ✌️
I love your channel. Thanks for posting. However, don't try to be perfect like the professional game makers? lolol... wizbros hasn't put out anything but absolute garbage in YEARS.
44th :D