GM'ing for the first time. Only a few sessions in. Matt Mercer inspired me to try, but your videos are teaching me how to try. Thank you for your videos and wisdom. :D
One of my first DMs literally had a thing called the "squishy thumb of death." If you're character didn't go the way the DM wanted, you'd run into a giant spectral thumb that tried to squash your character. He was a friend and the only DM I knew at the time, so I kept playing for months until I just couldn't take it any more.
I small caveat to this is the degree in which this applies is governed by two factors: theme of game and proactive level of players. The first one is are we playing "Take the Ring of Power to Mordor to be destroyed" or are we "walking through Middle Earth and going North while hearing about things that's happening in the South." The Second part is how proactive are your players. Highly passive players and looking for the next NPC with a question mark floating over their head while highly proactive players are constantly forging their own path and feel stifled by all of these floating question marks!
I definitely agree here. It very much depends on the kind of players you're working with. Some people don't give a fuck about the DM's storyline, they want to have their own adventure and will sometimes even avoid anything that looks like it might be a railroad. Other people just want to be the star in the DM's story. For my group, we tend to work with a middle ground. I alternate DMing with my friend, but both of us have the same approach. We don't have railroads, as much as we have breadcrumbs. We generally assume the players want to follow the plot the DM has set up (I do when I play) and we leave guidance on how to follow that plot, but leave it up to the players on how to follow it. We always include a default option if the players don't have any idea, but we don't get in the way if the players come up with their own idea for how to approach a situation, nor do we shoot down ideas for arbitrary reasons. I once had an entire dungeon prepared, that the players circumvented through diplomacy, which I didn't anticipate, but I didn't get in the way, either. Sometimes, the players even develop their own stories while also following the ones we've prepared. A good example would be my friend who played a fast talking rogue. I ran a campaign which included a small political aspect that was optional, and my friend utilized it to make himself king by the end of the campaign.
The problem I face most with my longtime group is that they don't talk to me about whatever plans they might have despite any amount of nudging I try to give. They play their cards close to their chests (not all of them, and not all the time) and expect me to come up with some epic scene or reaction. I'm already a rather sandbox DM who comes up with a general framework of a story and allow things to unfold as the players choose. We had a long discussion in the beginning of the year about what everyone wants out of our games, and I brought up that the whole Player vs DM mentality in the group needed to stop since it's supposed to be a collaborative effort.
As a side note, they complained that they want some railroading because they sometimes feel at a loss as to what to do (something that largely stemmed from long gaps between sessions and the fact that I'm the only one who takes detailed notes, and I'm the DM most of the time). However, even when I used to provide session synopses for them to review before the next session (since no one else bothered to write things down), maybe half of them would bother reading it and one person might have skimmed it (and misremember certain facts or events).Sigh...
Do you play in person? I've heard some DMs (I think Matt actually said this) give XP for taking notes. Perhaps a section of your framework that needs work is initiative or setting up dramatic moments? Right now, I have a main-ish story line that the players can pursue, but most of the encounters, I'm drawing from their back stories or beliefs and personalities. I don't know if that helps, but I hope it does! ^_^
Encourage them to watch this video. Who knows, if they like it maybe they will watch others. These videos have not only given me the courage to run my 1st games (I cheated & started with Dread XD I am working on getting a group together to run in Collabris when it's done), they have made me a better player. I started playing when I was 17... 21 years later & married to a DM (also named Matt lol) & they are teaching me new tricks & perspective! If you think they will not watch on their own, maybe do what we did, START a session with one. We have a quite a few new players, so we used the Why Do We Play D&D video. They loved it! Half of them now sub & often bring up the latest video before we start play. (^_-) Good Luck!
+thewanderer41 We used to play in person before this year. Now we play on Roll20 since it's become difficult trying to get everyone together as we're all over the East Coast now. I've never liked giving in-game XP for out-of-game actions, especially if it's something players should be doing anyway. I reward players who go above and beyond out-of-game (like helping write some NPC stat blocks or otherwise making the DM's job easier) with minor temporary benefits (like session-long blessings or such; D&D 5E "Charms" come close to what I mean) or, more often, a high chance for some loot or encounter they want or, if I can justifiably write it in without ruining the flow of events, a spotlight event.
+Raisin_Girl13 it's a good idea (especially starting the session with a relevant video), but they won't follow up on it (at least half of them, anyway). I know my group too well. The ones that would bother to watch these vids aren't the ones who really need to. One player who is the most practical of them is also the busiest (especially since his wife just had their first child in Feb), and while he does try to keep notes at times, he's not the best at it nor does he like doing it. Some of the other players with less responsibilities and better writing ability are just lazy or don't want to bother, almost as though the game only exists on the day of the session: that there is no need to retain information for next session even though continuity is quite important for story. I've been playing/DMing for these guys since high school in the mid 90s (the practical one joined us in college in the early 2000s), but I feel like years of D&D 3.0/3.5 ripped out enthusiasm for effort from them.
Oh my god I didn't even realize I was writing a story and basically planning to push my players along in a little cart until I watched this video. Maybe because this is my first time DMing and I don't want to be caught with my pants down not knowing something so it's tempting to keep them on rails. But even I don't really like games like that. How do you guys plan without over planning?
Listen, rollercoasters are carts pushed along on rails, and people seem to enjoy them! I think a great exercise as a DM is to run something, even if it's just part of one session, deliberately not preparing anything. Just make some shit up on the spot. That feeling of NEEDING to know everything that's in front of the players is a demon that serves you poorly. Getting to a place where you realize you can make stuff up and it'll be cool is a huge part of DMing and there's nothing to it but to do it.
I'm terrified but that sounds like what I need to do. I've thrown out my scripts (yes I had scripts... like with spaces guessing what the players would say, am I making a video game or a d&d campaign?) and I think for the game at large I'm going to focus on just knowing the npcs and important aspects of my world so improvising won't be hard. I'll know the npcs and motivations so coming up with how they would react in any given situation should be fun. Thank you so much for these videos by the way. I was starting to feel discouraged but watching you talk about DMing really reminded me about why I wanted to do it in the first place!
+Matthew Colville Some of my best moment, as my players have told me, was when I was coming up with content on the fly. I felt as though I was failing, but the players loved it.
I just came from my first session as a dm... And I have to say, I'm so relieved i watched this video today... I had that same problem, I had a story written that was waaaaay too linear and scripted. Luckily, i forgot my laptop's battery charger and one of my players found out in the first 20 minutes of session that one of the quest givers was a member of the party of our previous campaign, a revelation I wanted to present when they returned from the adventure, showing the whole party as counselors of the King... Long story short, I pulled almost the entire session out of my ass, and had a lot of fun doing it... A couple of hours ago, I was having a panic attack, now I can't wait for the next session
I know this comes 5 months late but...here's my grain of sand! From my experience you can over plan all you want as long as you're completely and honestly fine with all that work going unexplored. But that doesn't mean it goes to waste. I plan like a maniac, world building is your best friend. So when the players inevitably go off the rails I don't destroy the rollercoaster, I keep it going in the background. I always have several groups and individuals (generally at least another adventurer group they might encounter from time to time, several groups of antagonists and allies with their own agendas local bosses etc) doing things in the back and they all work on the clock on some way or another. You don't even need to roll for their actions because their stories are a controlled experiment. They will always work the way you think they will unless the players, who are the disruptive factor, mess with it and make the magic happen. I always start having fun when they interact with my world both the story I had and the overworld I'd created. If the players go on the oposite direction of where the action is, I don't try to have them feel how everything is going wrong because they're not helping or intervening, unless it'll be cool one way or another or they're already in posesion of some truth or artifact that'll clearly change the conflic on a radical way. One time a party of mine went south, close to the dessert for a recruit mission. The usual "oh, go ask this southern warlord if he would help us" so they get there and the warlord there was on the bad guys payroll. At this point these guys are just lvl 4 but they managed to deal with them without the NPC's I was planing on them to meet and use to enforce their plan. They killed the warlord and the bad guy's necromancer who was there to make sure everything was acording to plan, but one of the baddies escaped through a portal claiming they'd "had revenge on them". At this point I'm planing on the characters to get out and have those NPC's they didn't know present themselves as some kind of resistance and tell them they'd help with whatever they could once all oficial affairs where done. But the players didn't know they even existed, and they took pitty on the city, thinking the bad guys would seek vengeance on it and not the party. So they claimed themselves champions and new rulers of the land and I rolled with it. The mage and druid managed to help imprive the city and get themselves some underlings and they managed it sim city style for a couple sessions. They were having a lot of fun and I love that kind of city management games and social rp more than dungeon crawler. Then things started going worse over in the world. And instead of a normal adventuring campaign they faced an evil empire who were getting stronger defeating the realms they'd otherwise saved. At this point we stopped playing right after the bad guys showed at their doors. The other adventurer party were doing their work, if with worse luck that they'd probably had, and had a last minute suicide plan, but they never got to find out. That was a shame but most campaigns die out early.
Matt, I know these videos take a long time to film/produce, but I thought I'd take a second to say thanks for the hard work. These are the videos I like the most (I like the others too), and I appreciate you posting another. Best of luck!
"Plot coupons... the players must collect them, and redeem them to the DM to get the finale of the campaign." You, sir, are a bit witty. Anyhow, I'm a big fan of this whole series, but this one stands out as one of the best yet.
Alas, I did not come up with the idea of Plot Coupons. :D Lots of great novels and campaigns use them! You need some throughline for the players to hang their hat on.
It's common advice but it always bears restating: the "Plot" as in, the series of events that happen to the protagonists and how those events are resolved, is not a thing a DM should think about. "Plot" as in the wicked and evil plans the bad guys concoct and try to enact is. There should never be a moment where the DM has to think "And then the players do this" to make the game proceed. When you get to that point in preparing your game, you've failed, because you've made an assumption about the players and their intentions. And when the players go against that, you either have to accept that everything you had prepped from that point on is broken and wing the rest of it, or try to wrangle the players back onto your rails, at which point you've eroded the players' ability to choose. You might get away with it once in a while, but your players will soon find out that they've been had if you do this often.
What if we playing official campaign, Hoard of the Dragon queen for example, where players go from point A to point B doing very specific thing at every location?
Great advice! A DM can build and populate a world. Give certain folks and criters plans and motivations and certain regions their natural hazards and benefits. Give the players a little historical background and a reasonable starting point. Once they are on their way, they are on "their" way, not the DM's way. Let them know about local issues, the tower nobody goes near, the swamp from which only evil comes... and let them say, "So, how many days walk to the next town on the nice safely guarded and well-traveled trade route if we hitch a ride on the turnip wagon?" Lesson Learned: Be prepared to improvise reasonably within a week's travel (by horse) from the starting point in any direction. A lot of that can be empty, but at least something along each route should be reasonably interesting. Thereafter, expand as they go, feeding off of their deeds and their feedback as well as the logical results of their actions upon the plans of the NPCs. All of the story should happen before the first player rolls the first dice. Some programmed responses to certain events may be triggered... but never forced. I once had a beautifully laid out bit of drama thwarted by a group that straight up killed the bad guy before he got a word out... or could make his planned escape at the end of round one. Lesson learned. This is not my game, not in the choice of path or the actions beyond the last die roll. It is a sandbox I have neatly arranged and given with colorful buckets and shovels to some kids. I just get to watch them shaping the sand to their hearts' desires and having a great time ... and that's what it's all about. :)
As you say, Matt, this is the juice. I have been a player/DM for over 30 years and I still get something from every video you do on running the game. Now I must got and refocus on my players and their character goals. Thanks!
"D&D is not the story you want to tell. It's the thing that happens at the table. If you already know all the good bits, then you don't need players" really well put :D
Great video, Matt. This sort of encapsulates how my first DMing experience ended. Initially, I gave too little direction to my players and they resented the fact that I so often responded, "I can't tell you that." Upon reflection, I should have been craftier in my responses and used it as an opportunity to encourage role-playing. What I did do, however, was start to "give away the store," by allowing players to read the Monster Manuel or refer to the Player's Handbook, which slowed the game down and made it less fun. It's tough to achieve that happy medium of doling out info to your players but not overloading them or giving away too much.
Thank you so much I’ve been binging “running the game” and most of it is stuff I basically already know, but I’ve realized that the whole story vs adventure thing is something I really struggle with as a dm and I didn’t even know it yet. This video was really helpful.
This really helped, my friends and I have taken a break from the campaign for about 2 months now and we will resume soon, but during that 2 months I've had some pretty good ideas on how the story will develop. Notice how I said "will". I planned out a lot, thinking "one way or another they will come across this happening". But I just now scrapped it down to the bad guy, the good guys, the treasure, and of course essentials like where everything is. Thanks for all the hard work you put into your videos!
Thank you, I'm a first time DM and this helped a lot. My campaign is very roleplay-centered and my players are great about it and super into their characters. I was really struggling with how to create a grand, epic story for them without railroading. I'll just try to remind myself now: build the world and the conflict within it, not the story.
All i can say is thank you I have been re watching your videos for some tips for the new campaign i have been writing and sad to say but i am one of those "bad DM's" i just never knew that i was my players have fun but sometimes they get bored and now after watching this video i understand why things are happening to them but they are not really playing the game they are just going through the motions while i lead them down a path i made to an ending i already know so thank you for showing me the right way to lead me flock
I love that your content isn’t just mechanical rules stating, but about the mindset of playing the game itself; both as DM and PC. I really enjoy your videos and think you deserve more viewers. Maybe some day I’ll pick up your books just to thank you.
First time commenting on your videos, but I have watched the serious on 'running the game' numerous times and I just have one thing to say- THANK YOU. I started DM'ing for my buddies a few months ago and it all began here, with this series. I watched it all the way through in a day and was immediately inspired. I found that among my group of friends were already a few who had played DnD and a few more who really wanted to, so off we were. I have come back to this series time and time again when I needed a little guidance or a quick reminder of how to handle a certain type of player. I do not think my game would be even 50% as good if I didn't have the heaping mounds of perspective I have gained from you Matt. My friends are loving the adventure we are on together and I love watching them talk about it all week. I am still amazed at how every piece of advice you give in a video comes into play at the table, I find myself going "wow that is EXACTLY what Matt said would happen" and "I am SO GLAD I know how to handle this situation thanks to that video". I just felt compelled to compliment and thank you for the work you have put into these videos, and I am definitely buying your books!
I just ran my first game as a DM recently, and I was talking to one of my players about how I want to provide them a world and framework to do with what they please. Glad to know I'm operating ahead of your advice! Makes me feel like I'm much more prepared than I thought. Thanks Matt!
I'm glad you're doing these videos. I am almost EXACTLY like you in age, experience, and play style and find these videos awesome, informative, and useful.
This is a very informative video and very well explained. I always use a simple mantra when i come up with adventures that helps me ensure that the players have agency: "Come up with a problem. Make the problem complex. Do not come up with a solution." I can always improvise a solution on the fly if the players draw a blank, but it's always shocking to see just how creative your players can get, and being surprised as a DM is just as fun (if not more so) as being surprised as a player!
You have exponentially expanded my horizons as a DM, never heard a person put the process into words quite like you have while constantly supplying examples and personal experiences to make it easily understandable and grasped!
I recently started my first campaign, and felt that i just had to start the world and see what it grew into. I was stressed that i didn't have any grand plans just some general ideas, but as the first few sessions went by i realized that not planning in to much detail made it all the more real. Getting to know your story gradually and as the players start poking things in the sand box is a lot of fun. Thank you for this video, it makes me even less stressed that i don't have any "complete story arcs" ready, but just some driving forces and factions with different interests in play reacting to the things the players poke their heads into. :) I think focusing on world simulation instead of "telling a story" is definately the way to go, at least for me. For me improvisation is more fun and less stressful then having to sit down and make these grandiose plans, but i understand some players feel they need more control. But for me, letting the world just grow and react as the players explore it makes it more interesting for me as well, it means that i get to discover the world along with the players - its just that i usually discover what is around the next corner a week, (or a few days) ahead of the players. (And some times i get surprised during the session too, about what is around that corner I didn't think they would go to.... :P)
Matt, the quality of this video is absolutely amazing. Your videos are not only educational, but inspiring. I'm a fairly new DM, and you've been instrumental in helping me flesh out my world and encounters.
I've just recently found this channel/series/you and i've been watching in order each video as i try to refine and learn to be as good as a DM as i can for my players. And i couldn't agree more with this video. I started the group i'm DM'ing around July of this year with very little knowledge of where to lead them and what to do. Soon enough, in our first sessions, one of my player's character had a goat who he loved more than anything - and that in their first battle disappeared. What followed was that the entire second session was them trudging through a forest in search for it, with literally all their focus (even the other player's who didn't care much for the goat) on this search. After a lot of succesfull roll of them, they did find something, but not what they were expecting: While they were searching for him, i decided to make the goat into a God. Simple as that, it became a deity. And what they found was this plane of existence where goats lived in peace while my player's goat "reigned" atop a pyramid of gold. We ended that session with everyone standing, clapping and laughing at everything that had happened. Never in my wildest dreams would i have made or guessed that, and to this day it's still one of the greatest sessions i've ever had.
I have missed these videos but glad you're going to keep them around! They've been perfect to show to my co-workers and friends when explaining just how easy and fun DnD can be. I'm using most of the material to help new DMs improve. Thank you!
"Let me tell you about my campaign . . . " Something I tried when I built my latest campaign from scratch that I never have before is essentially write a "story" (more "world events") that would happen in the vacuum of no player-characters interacting with the setting at all. After that basic flowchart was set up, I gave a very short writeup of the setting written out like a story an old wandering gnome was telling the young PCs in their little pastoral hometown. This was the only exposure the PCs would have with the setting as it was more or less stated that "You've grown up here but never wandered more than a mile from the village." This let me do two things: 1) was to establish that this campaign would be as much about exploration and discovery as it was about the "story" of the world and 2) it left me a ton of empty space that I would later fill as the players interacted with the world--unwittingly shaping the entire campaign around their actions. I went and plucked the PCs character backgrounds and figured out how those backgrounds would intertwine with the events in the world which I would use as hooks for what essentially would be a sandbox. Like a good sandbox, they could interact or ignore the events in the world as they saw fit. In fact, they ignored some serious Big Event flags in lieu of pursuing stuff more personal to their characters, which meant some world events triggered due to their non-intervention. I think this strikes a pretty good balance for both the players and the DM who both get to "write their story" and see where they overlap and where they don't converge at all. My framework is loose enough that it lacks the railroadiness that could happen if the DM kept trying to wedge the PCs into the story and there is enough stuff out there for the PCs to bite into if the mood strikes. On top of that, the PCs feel like the world is going to continue on without them, so it feels like a living, breathing setting as opposed to just being stuff that happens only in relation to their actions.
Matt, thank you for this series, and specially for this video. I'm a new DM with only 5 sessions in my backpack, and this "Story Vs Adventure" video of yours has helped me to find the answer to the biggest problem I've encountered so far... I'm tired of my group of players. They are a group of people who had played more D&D than me, so I was very nervous about DMing them. Now that we have played 5 sessions I'm so much confident, but as I said, I'm getting tired of them. Not only they see D&D as another rpg video-game where everything it's meant to be solved by straitforward combat, but also they don't care about they characters apart from being richer or more powerful. Now that I've watched this video, I realized how little room I've given them to expand on what they want. So now, I'm planning on making a complete turn of events on the campaign to allow them to decide how they want the story to continue. Thank you so much.
You have such brilliant and useful videos! I've been playing D&D for the 1st time 5 months ago in a West Marches community and I'm learning how to DM for the community. Such an important lesson about ensuring any story ideas I develop allow player choice and participation at the table. Really looking forward to catching up with your videos. You're the first person/channel to talk with/to me rather than at me. Keep up all the hard/fun work xx
Good content to chew on. Without discrediting anything in the video, here is my experience: I'm a GM at a game shop that hosts games in "seasons": 4 times a year, GMs recruit players for 10-12 week adventures. Thus, from Session 0, both I and my players know there's a time limit. Having done this for a couple years, I have learned that establishing a narrative framework is key for both me and my players to stay focused and feel productive within that time limit. But it means I've learned how to keep the momentum of the players going, even if I have to go against Matt's advice at some moments. I have made many great friends through these games, and some of these friends always join my games when the new season begins. My friends have described my games like Hollywood blockbusters. Whatever I'm doing, they love it. It's an uncommon situation for a GM, and definitely not something you would see on Critical Role or another serialized program. But by establishing cooperation between both players and GM, we have had some awesome games and I've been able to give them some great stories.
"I have this great story I've developed!" "That's great! Send it to your agent, and use the money you got from your first novel to take enough time off to prep a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons!"
This is some of the best advice I’ve ever heard. I knew I had a problem, but wasn’t sure exactly what. I was warring between trying to tell a story and guiding my players along their adventure. I get it now. Thanks! 🙏🏻
Matt. Enjoy these videos. It amazes me that you can talk for so long without saying umm. Thank you for your time and sharing your knowledge & enthusiasm!
The way I've avoided shafting my players when starting a new campaign is that I only come to the table with the first adventure in mind. Where they start, some key places/points that i can move around and replace, and an end to the adventure. The players fill in this skeleton of an adventure and i leave every session with more stuff to prep for them.
Only 8 minutes long?! nooooooooooooooooooooooooo no but seriously I love these videos so keep 'em up. The webcam games and the world building is fun, but these videos are why I love this channel.
One of the reasons it's shorter, and I think you can sorta tell this, is that I wrote a script and a teleprompter. That actually severely reduced stuff like recording time and editing time.
+Matthew Colville OMG OMG he's talking to me, play it cool cameron you can do this "oh hey Matt you're so handsome, I mean your face is so handsome, I mean your content is so handsome..." Dammit
This was a real eye-opener. I am writing my own campaign while I'm setting up a published one in the meantime. I can easy see myself going down the story route instead of the adventure route. So, this has really helped me take a step back and make sure I make an ADVENTURE instead of a story. Like you said, if I have a story, I don't need any players! Great series Matt!
I like to have "both". You can have campaign watermark moments (well thought out DM storytelling), bracketed by large chunks of sandboxing which evolves along the players' plans. I think of a campaign as maybe half a dozen DM detailed storytelling highlights, surrounded by an open world of sandbox+improv which is "likely" to intersect with most of the campaign highlights (but maybe not). How the players get from lvl 1 to 3 can be anything the players want, so long as they exit the apprentice levels onto the doorstep of the big set piece for the meat of the campaign, and after dealing with that, they could wander off wherever, and in fact i hope they do create some story of their own, since there's only so much detailed content I care to pre-write.
I almost NEVER know what the party is going to do next in my adventures. In fact, they sometimes come up with amazing, unique, or off-the-wall (but still workable) solutions to problems and I LOVE it.
This video couldn't have come at a better time. Ran my first adventure last weekend and it went great, but immediately afterward I started outlining huge sweeping story arcs and getting way ahead of myself. Thanks for the reminder to keep it player-focused!
It is such a relief to hear this. I have a villain who's wants I know and still need to roll stats for. The players have met him, but now I have no idea how I'm supposed to get to him and beat him. After this video, I feel like I know what I need to do. I also had a mafia boss give a player an ultimatum and some days to think about it. The player told me how he plans to respond and so I was already only planning to just set up a dramatic moment and see how he and the party reacts to it. After this video, I'm glad I did not push for too much more. Thanks Matt!
Hi Matt! I watched a few of your videos before getting the courage to run the game myself a few years ago. All my players have put me on this pedestal for being a great DM, so I feel a lot of pressure to make memorable sessions for them- to live up to some of the great experiences they have lived through. This was a humbling video that I needed to re-watch before session one of my next campaign. I have been spending hours mapping out possibilities- but I needed to remember that the game is not about my story, it's about their adventure.
Thank you so much for this video! I’m a new DM and I’ve been so stressed about trying to come up with a plot for a campaign but I am really not good at coming up with story plots. I’m going to try to focus more on world building and coming up with a few more key characters so I’ll know how everything will react to my player’s choices.
Matt, I recently read what I think is the best analogy for D&D I've ever heard: It's like Madlibs. The DM sets up the framework, but the Players fill in all the fun stuff. I think you really hit home on that point here, I think this is a critical lesson for any DM to learn/re-learn. It definitely changed my perspective on how i run my game.
This is exactly how I try it run my game, I'm very loose on actual story points. The vast majority of my prep is knowing what npcs are thinking, feeling and doing. The rest is entirely based on the players and where their motivations lie - I'm lucky to have a group with players who can make characters with their own goals and motivation
Thank you so much for this! I’m a new DM starting my first campaign on Sunday and this is exactly what I needed to hear. We had a practice session last weekend so everyone could get a little more acquainted with the game first and something felt a little off and this was exactly it.
Thank you for your excellent content. Your numbered episodes ooze with experience and are well thought out. I play Edge of the Empire but I find the material you present so universal I am always eager to see a new one posted. Great thanks and appreciation! You rock buddy!
This is such an inspiring video! I'm starting my very first proper campaign with my friends in a few days and I've been worrying about crafting this epic adventure from scratch. How will I make this memorable and fun and interesting and exciting when I've never played before? But now I feel way better about the world I've created. These videos are all so focussed and understandable (plus you have such a cool voice for narrating!) and these are really helping me understand how to DM in a way that makes my players happy. Thank you for putting these videos out!
That was mind opening ! I always prepared for what the players where going to do or think while I whould have concentrated on the reaction the envoroment would have to the player's arrival and also the mind set of the bad (or good) NPCs would have ! That was a great advise thanks !
Man oh man, I've been binge watching all your Running the Game videos. I've played for years (uh, like 20.. >.>) and about 9 months ago took the leap to GM'ing. This video has been the best, most needed one for me so far! I think I was mistaking my 'prep work'; making sure I had ideas of what might come up, where monsters might or might not be, what are likely outcomes with various NPCs as just being ready, but in fact was hard-cementing the story. I'm not quite sure how to find the happy balance yet, but I am definitely going to be working on this. Thanks for delivering all your info in such awesome ways. You are a staple in my 'keep learning this DM stuff' diet! :D
I needed to watch this video, I plan on running a game for my friends soon and after watching this i looked at my work and threw out half of it. I had just written a story. Thank you so much for helping me see this. My eyes were opened.
Thank you Matt! I love the videos, thank you for being willing to keep them coming even though you have different audiences. I've been a DM for 18 years and I love the approach you have, I'm always adding your ideas to my DM toolbox :)
This is gorgeous.\ 7:09 "D&D is not the story you want to tell. It's the story that happens at the table... If you already know all the good bits, then you don't need players." I only played in 2 one-shots and I barely remember them... I know their theme and setting. The most memorable part I remember is where we got ambushed on rocky/forest terrain and my enraged barb just went and climbed up to one ranger grappled them and then next turn shoved them down and followed up with a people's elbow drop. I'd love to know how this philosophy applies to running pre written stuff like Lost mines of Phandelver etc. does the book just have a bunch of context the adventure sits in an I have to make up encounters that make sense from the villain's standpoint, but isn't in the book?
Thank you so much for this video series. As an first time RP admin with plenty of new players, a lot of what happens in DMing can transcribe to RPing. Especially with giving players agency and opportunities for development.
I love listening to your videos man, I can sit there for hours with one earbud in listening to some cool d&d stuff while I do anything else (I've even practiced french horn music while listening and made a ton of progress because I was enjoying the time) It's really interesting and cool to experience
FINALLY bought your books on kindle. I can't wait to read them. You are seriously talented and a big inspiration. Between you and Mr. Mercer and his friends I've been inspired enough to start playing and writining again. Thank you!
Keep doing these episodes - they are awesome. And I also love your ongoing campaign story - what will happen with the duchy and newly sprung lord of the keep. :)
Just recently started watching your videos and I have to say, I'm really digging them! I really needed to hear this one as I'm currently DMing Hoard of the Dragon Queen and listening to this made me realize I as a DM have been focused too much on keeping things on the rails in this regard. The players are my wife, two very close friend and their daughter and so we've had a blast nonetheless, but I want to give them and even more memorable experience by making the adventure, even though it's a pre-packaged one, more about them. So thanks! Time to noodle through just how to do that.
Nail on the head, good sir. This is the background reason for all those DM tales about players ruining their plans. It took me a few years,when I started running games, to get the idea that it wasn't my job to write the story (because that's what the players do) I was the stage manager NOT the playwright.
I just want to say that I found this video very helpful I found that I was the kind of DM that didn’t give my players enough choices and now that I do my campaigns have become much more enjoyable for my players thanks mat
Thank you for helping me getting over my fear to DM. I dmed before but I kept having the feeling that I bored them even though they said they had fun. After watching a few of your running the game videos, I decided to pick up where we last left off and they are very excited. I'm still preparing for our next game, but I'm sure that with the help of your videos it's going to work out! Thank you for that!
This is my entire adventure. Fabricate a world, put stuff and things in places, give the PCs a little nudge in the right direction (usually 1st thru 3rd level is 'railroady' (I also have a LOT of new players this time around)) then they're on their own. For example: Our cleric made a very high investigation check while looting a poacher who was about to kill a phoenix. Normally this poacher only had some gold, but since he rolled so high (24 (19+5)) I wanted to give him something. So on the fly, I made up a 'bounty' for this phoenix signed by . Now I have an entire story that can unfold from this. The party could uncover an elaborate poaching ring, or a corrupt political figure. Who knows? But I for one am excited to find out! Thank you Matt for advising me to become a DM w/ some friends. Took a while to get everything in place but even my wife - who HATES strategy - had a great time.
This is I think one of the highest value RtG videos for DM'ing. Mostly because everything we see -- streams, movies, the layout of 1st part published adventures, etc -- seems to suggest the opposite, that the story is everything and it must be meticulous. This video is worth rewatching and rewatching and rewatching
This video inspired me. I attempted a run at a DnD campaign several years ago as DM. I had an AWESOME plot-those whom I shared the whole story with said I should actually write a book about it-but at the end of it required lots of railroading, and it fell apart before we even got a third of the way through. I am about to DM my second campaign. I watched this video several months back before our group knew it was going to be needing a new DM-current campaign ending soon, DM wants a break. I've developed multiple factions in a Ravenloft-style setting, each with its own goals and motivations. One faction, lead by a Vampire, has captured several players, and session 1 will show the brutal acts he is capable of. The hook is set for them to go after him. Aside from that and a few twists about his background, I have no idea what all is going to happen after they break out. And it feels great knowing it-I have a feeling this campaign will go smoothly, thanks to this video.
I always have 2 pieces of advice for every new DM. 1) Always have a plan for your game. It is always a good thing to have an idea of where you want to take the story, and what the pieces you need to get that story going. 2) No plan survives contact with players. That critical NPC that had the perfect bit of information for the story? Dead. That puzzle you put so much time into? Ignored. That political nuance that felt so important to you for your story? Actively hated by the players. And that is fine.
I know this is an old vid, but I'm DMing for the first time in 1 month, I have an adventure full of mostly original content, and oh man, I think you just saved my game with this one. Most of the time I wanted to give player agency by thinking up multiple choices they can go about doing something, and you just made me realize, I'm doing what the players should do. I almost "took that away" from them - I mean I was going to let them make their plans, but I just wanted to figure out ALL the ways they could do it.
6 years later, ive run thousands of hours of games, and sometimes the night before I just need to watch one of these episodes to keep me going. Thanks again Matt.
Thank you for this talk, Matt. I think for too long I've been treating my content as the end and using the players as the means to that end. I didn't really realize I was running games that way either until tonight thanks to both this video and a conversation I had prior to watching. I'm just about to start up another campaign too. So, I'll definitely start incorporating these lessons very soon.
I had a huge accomplishment as a DM this past weekend along these lines. With help from advice like this, I think my players have always felt like they have had as much choice in my game as they have wanted, but last weekend we had the first of what I think will be many plot points that are directly related to several of the characters personal stories. I think it is going to drive the entire adventure. There was good drama and each player had to decide how much their character trusts these relatively new companions. It was so great!
All of your videos have been greatly helpful. But. This video, so far, is the most helpful being that I am a new dm and working on my own campaign followup to LMoP. I have been racking my brain to sort out so many details. But I do not need to. I need the main points, who the bad guy is, what his goals are, and let the players do the rest. Thank you very much for such an insightful video on learning to be viewer as a dm, rather than a director.
This is an amazing episode. I constantly challenge my players to take the narrative over after I have set a scenefor them. My groups all love it when I give them the freedom to describe parts of the world around them. Lets face it, when players begin to become collectively involved in the over-all narrative and not just their PC's personal investment the game just gets better. Let go of the reigns and put away that 12 page word document of contingencies you wrote to keep the players on track in your story because it's not your story, its your players story and you are there to tell that story and bring it to life. Lastly when you free up space in the story for your players it, in turn, frees you up to focus on interpersonal conflict and role-playing your npc's.
Yet again I am thankful I've watched another of your videos, Matthew. I have a cool story planned, but need to make sure I don't undermine player choice. Brilliant!
Fresh GM here, this was excellent for helping me distinguish the difference between a railroad and avenues...having options to turn off the highway and explore!
This might be the most important information I’ve received as a new GM. I’m working on my 2nd campaign right now and I was writing a story for my players to be in and now I understand the problem with that and why I’ve been stressing out
I'm glad I saw this video before I started falling down the Story path. I had ideas for setpieces, things that I want my players to do when we get to playing and why they're happening, alongside a growing roster of people to fight against, but there's a lot of ambiguity of how these chains of events are going to play out with each other. I'm thinking now it might be a good idea to leave those spaces blank
I have recently started binge watching your videos. I have been a GM (I play pathfinder, please forgive me lol) for around 4 years and I always knew that I was not enganging my players correctly. This video was the answer I have been searching for and for that I thank you! I love all of your videos thus far and look forward to using these tips in my newest campaign.
Thank you. You've just explained why I have such difficulty pre-writing complex adventures, as I feel something was always missing. Player agency! I needed them to interact with the scenairos, situations, and characters I've created.
This was really helpful, I've always struggled one how to prepare a game. But now that I think about simply providing a goal to the players, the story fills itself out from there
Great distinction between these two concepts. And very helpful. I'm currently using modules set in Greyhawk, and providing my own transitions between them. But it's linear. In that sense, the party is just part of my story. They do the module I have prepared. After watching this, I plan to provide them with options--whisperings and rumors, or maybe even two or three desperate appeals from townspeople, causing THEM to choose between two or three important quests--and just let them decide what happens next. Thanks for this. "There are those who think that life has nothing left to chance, a host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance..."
I heard somewhere that a good D&D story structure is one where the elements are well defined. It's a style I'm trying to work on (I'm still new). I started with heavily linear stories (I was doing trial and error to find my style) and I like the idea of making your adventure behind the scenes as solid as you possibly can. You don't need every detail, but if you have a good command over your world, improvising becomes easier since you can rely on prompts you set for yourself.
"I almost titled this video, 'Story vs Adventure'"
--Matt Colville, in a video titled "Story vs Adventure"
He almost did, and then he did
Now I want to know what other title we might have had.
@@fedos Purple nerple fun time gang. . . It wasn't a great title.
I used to do a lot of drugs.
I still do, but I used to, too.
- Hedberd
What a legend honestly we stan
GM'ing for the first time. Only a few sessions in. Matt Mercer inspired me to try, but your videos are teaching me how to try. Thank you for your videos and wisdom. :D
You are very welcome! I predict you will be awesome!
I am doing the same thing. I even tried to get my last GM to take some tips from the Matt's, but he didn't want to listen.
Jarrett Moore Two years later...SAME!
@@uncledungeonmaster1617 Three years later and still Same!!
@@MrDmitriRavenoff Are you "the DM" by now?
6:13 "Matt Mercer, tell me if I'm wrong"
Top comment is not Matt saying he's wrong.
Yeah he's right!
"I almost titled this episode Story vs Adventure" *looks at video of title, and chuckles*
Yes, came here to say that!
Looks at "looks at video of title" and chuckles
chuckles
Out of all the DM's I watch named Matthew, you're in my top 2.
CrackedEgg nah......
"You're my third favorite Matthew."
666 likes nice
Tabletopnotch is a great a show i stumbled upon recently, its DM is GREAT, and also named Matthew.
He’s up there with Colville and Mercer for me!
One of my first DMs literally had a thing called the "squishy thumb of death." If you're character didn't go the way the DM wanted, you'd run into a giant spectral thumb that tried to squash your character. He was a friend and the only DM I knew at the time, so I kept playing for months until I just couldn't take it any more.
Chris Collins wow :o
wow. sad first endeavor. too bad it never ran in to the blessed cuticle trimmer of Annam
I small caveat to this is the degree in which this applies is governed by two factors: theme of game and proactive level of players.
The first one is are we playing "Take the Ring of Power to Mordor to be destroyed" or are we "walking through Middle Earth and going North while hearing about things that's happening in the South."
The Second part is how proactive are your players. Highly passive players and looking for the next NPC with a question mark floating over their head while highly proactive players are constantly forging their own path and feel stifled by all of these floating question marks!
I definitely agree here. It very much depends on the kind of players you're working with. Some people don't give a fuck about the DM's storyline, they want to have their own adventure and will sometimes even avoid anything that looks like it might be a railroad. Other people just want to be the star in the DM's story.
For my group, we tend to work with a middle ground. I alternate DMing with my friend, but both of us have the same approach. We don't have railroads, as much as we have breadcrumbs. We generally assume the players want to follow the plot the DM has set up (I do when I play) and we leave guidance on how to follow that plot, but leave it up to the players on how to follow it. We always include a default option if the players don't have any idea, but we don't get in the way if the players come up with their own idea for how to approach a situation, nor do we shoot down ideas for arbitrary reasons.
I once had an entire dungeon prepared, that the players circumvented through diplomacy, which I didn't anticipate, but I didn't get in the way, either.
Sometimes, the players even develop their own stories while also following the ones we've prepared. A good example would be my friend who played a fast talking rogue. I ran a campaign which included a small political aspect that was optional, and my friend utilized it to make himself king by the end of the campaign.
The problem I face most with my longtime group is that they don't talk to me about whatever plans they might have despite any amount of nudging I try to give. They play their cards close to their chests (not all of them, and not all the time) and expect me to come up with some epic scene or reaction. I'm already a rather sandbox DM who comes up with a general framework of a story and allow things to unfold as the players choose. We had a long discussion in the beginning of the year about what everyone wants out of our games, and I brought up that the whole Player vs DM mentality in the group needed to stop since it's supposed to be a collaborative effort.
As a side note, they complained that they want some railroading because they sometimes feel at a loss as to what to do (something that largely stemmed from long gaps between sessions and the fact that I'm the only one who takes detailed notes, and I'm the DM most of the time). However, even when I used to provide session synopses for them to review before the next session (since no one else bothered to write things down), maybe half of them would bother reading it and one person might have skimmed it (and misremember certain facts or events).Sigh...
Do you play in person? I've heard some DMs (I think Matt actually said this) give XP for taking notes. Perhaps a section of your framework that needs work is initiative or setting up dramatic moments? Right now, I have a main-ish story line that the players can pursue, but most of the encounters, I'm drawing from their back stories or beliefs and personalities. I don't know if that helps, but I hope it does! ^_^
Encourage them to watch this video. Who knows, if they like it maybe they will watch others. These videos have not only given me the courage to run my 1st games (I cheated & started with Dread XD I am working on getting a group together to run in Collabris when it's done), they have made me a better player. I started playing when I was 17... 21 years later & married to a DM (also named Matt lol) & they are teaching me new tricks & perspective!
If you think they will not watch on their own, maybe do what we did, START a session with one. We have a quite a few new players, so we used the Why Do We Play D&D video. They loved it! Half of them now sub & often bring up the latest video before we start play. (^_-) Good Luck!
+thewanderer41 We used to play in person before this year. Now we play on Roll20 since it's become difficult trying to get everyone together as we're all over the East Coast now. I've never liked giving in-game XP for out-of-game actions, especially if it's something players should be doing anyway. I reward players who go above and beyond out-of-game (like helping write some NPC stat blocks or otherwise making the DM's job easier) with minor temporary benefits (like session-long blessings or such; D&D 5E "Charms" come close to what I mean) or, more often, a high chance for some loot or encounter they want or, if I can justifiably write it in without ruining the flow of events, a spotlight event.
+Raisin_Girl13 it's a good idea (especially starting the session with a relevant video), but they won't follow up on it (at least half of them, anyway). I know my group too well. The ones that would bother to watch these vids aren't the ones who really need to. One player who is the most practical of them is also the busiest (especially since his wife just had their first child in Feb), and while he does try to keep notes at times, he's not the best at it nor does he like doing it. Some of the other players with less responsibilities and better writing ability are just lazy or don't want to bother, almost as though the game only exists on the day of the session: that there is no need to retain information for next session even though continuity is quite important for story. I've been playing/DMing for these guys since high school in the mid 90s (the practical one joined us in college in the early 2000s), but I feel like years of D&D 3.0/3.5 ripped out enthusiasm for effort from them.
Oh my god I didn't even realize I was writing a story and basically planning to push my players along in a little cart until I watched this video. Maybe because this is my first time DMing and I don't want to be caught with my pants down not knowing something so it's tempting to keep them on rails. But even I don't really like games like that. How do you guys plan without over planning?
Listen, rollercoasters are carts pushed along on rails, and people seem to enjoy them!
I think a great exercise as a DM is to run something, even if it's just part of one session, deliberately not preparing anything. Just make some shit up on the spot. That feeling of NEEDING to know everything that's in front of the players is a demon that serves you poorly.
Getting to a place where you realize you can make stuff up and it'll be cool is a huge part of DMing and there's nothing to it but to do it.
I'm terrified but that sounds like what I need to do. I've thrown out my scripts (yes I had scripts... like with spaces guessing what the players would say, am I making a video game or a d&d campaign?) and I think for the game at large I'm going to focus on just knowing the npcs and important aspects of my world so improvising won't be hard. I'll know the npcs and motivations so coming up with how they would react in any given situation should be fun.
Thank you so much for these videos by the way. I was starting to feel discouraged but watching you talk about DMing really reminded me about why I wanted to do it in the first place!
+Matthew Colville Some of my best moment, as my players have told me, was when I was coming up with content on the fly. I felt as though I was failing, but the players loved it.
I just came from my first session as a dm... And I have to say, I'm so relieved i watched this video today... I had that same problem, I had a story written that was waaaaay too linear and scripted. Luckily, i forgot my laptop's battery charger and one of my players found out in the first 20 minutes of session that one of the quest givers was a member of the party of our previous campaign, a revelation I wanted to present when they returned from the adventure, showing the whole party as counselors of the King... Long story short, I pulled almost the entire session out of my ass, and had a lot of fun doing it... A couple of hours ago, I was having a panic attack, now I can't wait for the next session
I know this comes 5 months late but...here's my grain of sand!
From my experience you can over plan all you want as long as you're completely and honestly fine with all that work going unexplored. But that doesn't mean it goes to waste. I plan like a maniac, world building is your best friend. So when the players inevitably go off the rails I don't destroy the rollercoaster, I keep it going in the background. I always have several groups and individuals (generally at least another adventurer group they might encounter from time to time, several groups of antagonists and allies with their own agendas local bosses etc) doing things in the back and they all work on the clock on some way or another. You don't even need to roll for their actions because their stories are a controlled experiment. They will always work the way you think they will unless the players, who are the disruptive factor, mess with it and make the magic happen. I always start having fun when they interact with my world both the story I had and the overworld I'd created. If the players go on the oposite direction of where the action is, I don't try to have them feel how everything is going wrong because they're not helping or intervening, unless it'll be cool one way or another or they're already in posesion of some truth or artifact that'll clearly change the conflic on a radical way.
One time a party of mine went south, close to the dessert for a recruit mission. The usual "oh, go ask this southern warlord if he would help us" so they get there and the warlord there was on the bad guys payroll. At this point these guys are just lvl 4 but they managed to deal with them without the NPC's I was planing on them to meet and use to enforce their plan. They killed the warlord and the bad guy's necromancer who was there to make sure everything was acording to plan, but one of the baddies escaped through a portal claiming they'd "had revenge on them". At this point I'm planing on the characters to get out and have those NPC's they didn't know present themselves as some kind of resistance and tell them they'd help with whatever they could once all oficial affairs where done. But the players didn't know they even existed, and they took pitty on the city, thinking the bad guys would seek vengeance on it and not the party. So they claimed themselves champions and new rulers of the land and I rolled with it. The mage and druid managed to help imprive the city and get themselves some underlings and they managed it sim city style for a couple sessions. They were having a lot of fun and I love that kind of city management games and social rp more than dungeon crawler. Then things started going worse over in the world. And instead of a normal adventuring campaign they faced an evil empire who were getting stronger defeating the realms they'd otherwise saved. At this point we stopped playing right after the bad guys showed at their doors. The other adventurer party were doing their work, if with worse luck that they'd probably had, and had a last minute suicide plan, but they never got to find out. That was a shame but most campaigns die out early.
Short video! Yay!
Not yay. =(
YAY!
no no you dont get it ...no yay...
Matt, I know these videos take a long time to film/produce, but I thought I'd take a second to say thanks for the hard work. These are the videos I like the most (I like the others too), and I appreciate you posting another. Best of luck!
The fact that you were a fellow Hoosier just...ROCKS!
"Plot coupons... the players must collect them, and redeem them to the DM to get the finale of the campaign."
You, sir, are a bit witty.
Anyhow, I'm a big fan of this whole series, but this one stands out as one of the best yet.
Alas, I did not come up with the idea of Plot Coupons. :D Lots of great novels and campaigns use them! You need some throughline for the players to hang their hat on.
It's common advice but it always bears restating: the "Plot" as in, the series of events that happen to the protagonists and how those events are resolved, is not a thing a DM should think about. "Plot" as in the wicked and evil plans the bad guys concoct and try to enact is. There should never be a moment where the DM has to think "And then the players do this" to make the game proceed.
When you get to that point in preparing your game, you've failed, because you've made an assumption about the players and their intentions. And when the players go against that, you either have to accept that everything you had prepped from that point on is broken and wing the rest of it, or try to wrangle the players back onto your rails, at which point you've eroded the players' ability to choose. You might get away with it once in a while, but your players will soon find out that they've been had if you do this often.
This is possibly the best advice I've found in this comment section. Thank you
What if we playing official campaign, Hoard of the Dragon queen for example, where players go from point A to point B doing very specific thing at every location?
Isn´t there another video like this? With a DM called John and how he ruined the game for Elijah by forcing him to play a prewritten story?
Davos you mean lard of the rengs?
Lord of the rings...3 years later
Great advice! A DM can build and populate a world. Give certain folks and criters plans and motivations and certain regions their natural hazards and benefits. Give the players a little historical background and a reasonable starting point. Once they are on their way, they are on "their" way, not the DM's way. Let them know about local issues, the tower nobody goes near, the swamp from which only evil comes... and let them say, "So, how many days walk to the next town on the nice safely guarded and well-traveled trade route if we hitch a ride on the turnip wagon?"
Lesson Learned: Be prepared to improvise reasonably within a week's travel (by horse) from the starting point in any direction. A lot of that can be empty, but at least something along each route should be reasonably interesting. Thereafter, expand as they go, feeding off of their deeds and their feedback as well as the logical results of their actions upon the plans of the NPCs.
All of the story should happen before the first player rolls the first dice. Some programmed responses to certain events may be triggered... but never forced. I once had a beautifully laid out bit of drama thwarted by a group that straight up killed the bad guy before he got a word out... or could make his planned escape at the end of round one.
Lesson learned. This is not my game, not in the choice of path or the actions beyond the last die roll. It is a sandbox I have neatly arranged and given with colorful buckets and shovels to some kids. I just get to watch them shaping the sand to their hearts' desires and having a great time ... and that's what it's all about. :)
This is so true! Even as a DM, all my best DnD stories are "Then one of the players did this..." Keep up the videos!
This is the most important episode of this series thus far. THANK you for making this.
As you say, Matt, this is the juice. I have been a player/DM for over 30 years and I still get something from every video you do on running the game. Now I must got and refocus on my players and their character goals. Thanks!
Man, I can’t express how much I love this series! I learn something great and get ideas from every video!
"D&D is not the story you want to tell. It's the thing that happens at the table. If you already know all the good bits, then you don't need players" really well put :D
Great video, Matt. This sort of encapsulates how my first DMing experience ended. Initially, I gave too little direction to my players and they resented the fact that I so often responded, "I can't tell you that." Upon reflection, I should have been craftier in my responses and used it as an opportunity to encourage role-playing. What I did do, however, was start to "give away the store," by allowing players to read the Monster Manuel or refer to the Player's Handbook, which slowed the game down and made it less fun. It's tough to achieve that happy medium of doling out info to your players but not overloading them or giving away too much.
Thank you so much I’ve been binging “running the game” and most of it is stuff I basically already know, but I’ve realized that the whole story vs adventure thing is something I really struggle with as a dm and I didn’t even know it yet. This video was really helpful.
This really helped, my friends and I have taken a break from the campaign for about 2 months now and we will resume soon, but during that 2 months I've had some pretty good ideas on how the story will develop. Notice how I said "will". I planned out a lot, thinking "one way or another they will come across this happening". But I just now scrapped it down to the bad guy, the good guys, the treasure, and of course essentials like where everything is. Thanks for all the hard work you put into your videos!
Thank you, I'm a first time DM and this helped a lot. My campaign is very roleplay-centered and my players are great about it and super into their characters. I was really struggling with how to create a grand, epic story for them without railroading. I'll just try to remind myself now: build the world and the conflict within it, not the story.
All i can say is thank you I have been re watching your videos for some tips for the new campaign i have been writing and sad to say but i am one of those "bad DM's" i just never knew that i was my players have fun but sometimes they get bored and now after watching this video i understand why things are happening to them but they are not really playing the game they are just going through the motions while i lead them down a path i made to an ending i already know so thank you for showing me the right way to lead me flock
I love that your content isn’t just mechanical rules stating, but about the mindset of playing the game itself; both as DM and PC. I really enjoy your videos and think you deserve more viewers. Maybe some day I’ll pick up your books just to thank you.
First time commenting on your videos, but I have watched the serious on 'running the game' numerous times and I just have one thing to say- THANK YOU. I started DM'ing for my buddies a few months ago and it all began here, with this series. I watched it all the way through in a day and was immediately inspired. I found that among my group of friends were already a few who had played DnD and a few more who really wanted to, so off we were. I have come back to this series time and time again when I needed a little guidance or a quick reminder of how to handle a certain type of player. I do not think my game would be even 50% as good if I didn't have the heaping mounds of perspective I have gained from you Matt. My friends are loving the adventure we are on together and I love watching them talk about it all week. I am still amazed at how every piece of advice you give in a video comes into play at the table, I find myself going "wow that is EXACTLY what Matt said would happen" and "I am SO GLAD I know how to handle this situation thanks to that video". I just felt compelled to compliment and thank you for the work you have put into these videos, and I am definitely buying your books!
I almost named this video "Story vs Adventure" *looks at title*
Huh...
I just ran my first game as a DM recently, and I was talking to one of my players about how I want to provide them a world and framework to do with what they please. Glad to know I'm operating ahead of your advice! Makes me feel like I'm much more prepared than I thought. Thanks Matt!
I'm glad you're doing these videos. I am almost EXACTLY like you in age, experience, and play style and find these videos awesome, informative, and useful.
"Most DMs don't even know they are doing it." Now I'm paranoid! 😕
This is a very informative video and very well explained. I always use a simple mantra when i come up with adventures that helps me ensure that the players have agency: "Come up with a problem. Make the problem complex. Do not come up with a solution."
I can always improvise a solution on the fly if the players draw a blank, but it's always shocking to see just how creative your players can get, and being surprised as a DM is just as fun (if not more so) as being surprised as a player!
You have exponentially expanded my horizons as a DM, never heard a person put the process into words quite like you have while constantly supplying examples and personal experiences to make it easily understandable and grasped!
I recently started my first campaign, and felt that i just had to start the world and see what it grew into. I was stressed that i didn't have any grand plans just some general ideas, but as the first few sessions went by i realized that not planning in to much detail made it all the more real.
Getting to know your story gradually and as the players start poking things in the sand box is a lot of fun.
Thank you for this video, it makes me even less stressed that i don't have any "complete story arcs" ready, but just some driving forces and factions with different interests in play reacting to the things the players poke their heads into. :)
I think focusing on world simulation instead of "telling a story" is definately the way to go, at least for me. For me improvisation is more fun and less stressful then having to sit down and make these grandiose plans, but i understand some players feel they need more control.
But for me, letting the world just grow and react as the players explore it makes it more interesting for me as well, it means that i get to discover the world along with the players - its just that i usually discover what is around the next corner a week, (or a few days) ahead of the players.
(And some times i get surprised during the session too, about what is around that corner I didn't think they would go to.... :P)
Matt, the quality of this video is absolutely amazing. Your videos are not only educational, but inspiring. I'm a fairly new DM, and you've been instrumental in helping me flesh out my world and encounters.
I've just recently found this channel/series/you and i've been watching in order each video as i try to refine and learn to be as good as a DM as i can for my players. And i couldn't agree more with this video. I started the group i'm DM'ing around July of this year with very little knowledge of where to lead them and what to do. Soon enough, in our first sessions, one of my player's character had a goat who he loved more than anything - and that in their first battle disappeared.
What followed was that the entire second session was them trudging through a forest in search for it, with literally all their focus (even the other player's who didn't care much for the goat) on this search. After a lot of succesfull roll of them, they did find something, but not what they were expecting: While they were searching for him, i decided to make the goat into a God. Simple as that, it became a deity. And what they found was this plane of existence where goats lived in peace while my player's goat "reigned" atop a pyramid of gold.
We ended that session with everyone standing, clapping and laughing at everything that had happened. Never in my wildest dreams would i have made or guessed that, and to this day it's still one of the greatest sessions i've ever had.
I have missed these videos but glad you're going to keep them around! They've been perfect to show to my co-workers and friends when explaining just how easy and fun DnD can be. I'm using most of the material to help new DMs improve. Thank you!
"Let me tell you about my campaign . . . "
Something I tried when I built my latest campaign from scratch that I never have before is essentially write a "story" (more "world events") that would happen in the vacuum of no player-characters interacting with the setting at all. After that basic flowchart was set up, I gave a very short writeup of the setting written out like a story an old wandering gnome was telling the young PCs in their little pastoral hometown.
This was the only exposure the PCs would have with the setting as it was more or less stated that "You've grown up here but never wandered more than a mile from the village." This let me do two things: 1) was to establish that this campaign would be as much about exploration and discovery as it was about the "story" of the world and 2) it left me a ton of empty space that I would later fill as the players interacted with the world--unwittingly shaping the entire campaign around their actions.
I went and plucked the PCs character backgrounds and figured out how those backgrounds would intertwine with the events in the world which I would use as hooks for what essentially would be a sandbox. Like a good sandbox, they could interact or ignore the events in the world as they saw fit. In fact, they ignored some serious Big Event flags in lieu of pursuing stuff more personal to their characters, which meant some world events triggered due to their non-intervention.
I think this strikes a pretty good balance for both the players and the DM who both get to "write their story" and see where they overlap and where they don't converge at all. My framework is loose enough that it lacks the railroadiness that could happen if the DM kept trying to wedge the PCs into the story and there is enough stuff out there for the PCs to bite into if the mood strikes. On top of that, the PCs feel like the world is going to continue on without them, so it feels like a living, breathing setting as opposed to just being stuff that happens only in relation to their actions.
I just wanted to say I've begun "Priest" and I'm digging it thus far. It's very fluid. I hope you keep it up.
Matt, thank you for this series, and specially for this video. I'm a new DM with only 5 sessions in my backpack, and this "Story Vs Adventure" video of yours has helped me to find the answer to the biggest problem I've encountered so far... I'm tired of my group of players.
They are a group of people who had played more D&D than me, so I was very nervous about DMing them. Now that we have played 5 sessions I'm so much confident, but as I said, I'm getting tired of them. Not only they see D&D as another rpg video-game where everything it's meant to be solved by straitforward combat, but also they don't care about they characters apart from being richer or more powerful.
Now that I've watched this video, I realized how little room I've given them to expand on what they want. So now, I'm planning on making a complete turn of events on the campaign to allow them to decide how they want the story to continue.
Thank you so much.
You have such brilliant and useful videos! I've been playing D&D for the 1st time 5 months ago in a West Marches community and I'm learning how to DM for the community. Such an important lesson about ensuring any story ideas I develop allow player choice and participation at the table. Really looking forward to catching up with your videos. You're the first person/channel to talk with/to me rather than at me. Keep up all the hard/fun work xx
Good content to chew on. Without discrediting anything in the video, here is my experience:
I'm a GM at a game shop that hosts games in "seasons": 4 times a year, GMs recruit players for 10-12 week adventures. Thus, from Session 0, both I and my players know there's a time limit.
Having done this for a couple years, I have learned that establishing a narrative framework is key for both me and my players to stay focused and feel productive within that time limit. But it means I've learned how to keep the momentum of the players going, even if I have to go against Matt's advice at some moments.
I have made many great friends through these games, and some of these friends always join my games when the new season begins. My friends have described my games like Hollywood blockbusters. Whatever I'm doing, they love it.
It's an uncommon situation for a GM, and definitely not something you would see on Critical Role or another serialized program. But by establishing cooperation between both players and GM, we have had some awesome games and I've been able to give them some great stories.
"Evilling in a holding pattern!" 😂😂😂
"I have this great story I've developed!"
"That's great! Send it to your agent, and use the money you got from your first novel to take enough time off to prep a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons!"
This is some of the best advice I’ve ever heard. I knew I had a problem, but wasn’t sure exactly what. I was warring between trying to tell a story and guiding my players along their adventure. I get it now. Thanks! 🙏🏻
Every now and then I come back to watch some of these videos and remind myself of these tips. Very helpful.
He has left us a book of timeless wisdom.
Matt. Enjoy these videos. It amazes me that you can talk for so long without saying umm. Thank you for your time and sharing your knowledge & enthusiasm!
The way I've avoided shafting my players when starting a new campaign is that I only come to the table with the first adventure in mind. Where they start, some key places/points that i can move around and replace, and an end to the adventure. The players fill in this skeleton of an adventure and i leave every session with more stuff to prep for them.
Only 8 minutes long?! nooooooooooooooooooooooooo
no but seriously I love these videos so keep 'em up. The webcam games and the world building is fun, but these videos are why I love this channel.
Gets camera designed to record more than 10 mins.
Shortens videos to less than 10 mins.
One of the reasons it's shorter, and I think you can sorta tell this, is that I wrote a script and a teleprompter. That actually severely reduced stuff like recording time and editing time.
+Matthew Colville OMG OMG he's talking to me, play it cool cameron you can do this "oh hey Matt you're so handsome, I mean your face is so handsome, I mean your content is so handsome..." Dammit
This was a real eye-opener. I am writing my own campaign while I'm setting up a published one in the meantime. I can easy see myself going down the story route instead of the adventure route. So, this has really helped me take a step back and make sure I make an ADVENTURE instead of a story. Like you said, if I have a story, I don't need any players!
Great series Matt!
I like to have "both". You can have campaign watermark moments (well thought out DM storytelling), bracketed by large chunks of sandboxing which evolves along the players' plans. I think of a campaign as maybe half a dozen DM detailed storytelling highlights, surrounded by an open world of sandbox+improv which is "likely" to intersect with most of the campaign highlights (but maybe not). How the players get from lvl 1 to 3 can be anything the players want, so long as they exit the apprentice levels onto the doorstep of the big set piece for the meat of the campaign, and after dealing with that, they could wander off wherever, and in fact i hope they do create some story of their own, since there's only so much detailed content I care to pre-write.
I almost NEVER know what the party is going to do next in my adventures. In fact, they sometimes come up with amazing, unique, or off-the-wall (but still workable) solutions to problems and I LOVE it.
This video couldn't have come at a better time. Ran my first adventure last weekend and it went great, but immediately afterward I started outlining huge sweeping story arcs and getting way ahead of myself. Thanks for the reminder to keep it player-focused!
It is such a relief to hear this. I have a villain who's wants I know and still need to roll stats for. The players have met him, but now I have no idea how I'm supposed to get to him and beat him. After this video, I feel like I know what I need to do.
I also had a mafia boss give a player an ultimatum and some days to think about it. The player told me how he plans to respond and so I was already only planning to just set up a dramatic moment and see how he and the party reacts to it. After this video, I'm glad I did not push for too much more. Thanks Matt!
Hi Matt!
I watched a few of your videos before getting the courage to run the game myself a few years ago. All my players have put me on this pedestal for being a great DM, so I feel a lot of pressure to make memorable sessions for them- to live up to some of the great experiences they have lived through.
This was a humbling video that I needed to re-watch before session one of my next campaign. I have been spending hours mapping out possibilities- but I needed to remember that the game is not about my story, it's about their adventure.
Thank you so much for this video! I’m a new DM and I’ve been so stressed about trying to come up with a plot for a campaign but I am really not good at coming up with story plots. I’m going to try to focus more on world building and coming up with a few more key characters so I’ll know how everything will react to my player’s choices.
Matt, I recently read what I think is the best analogy for D&D I've ever heard: It's like Madlibs. The DM sets up the framework, but the Players fill in all the fun stuff. I think you really hit home on that point here, I think this is a critical lesson for any DM to learn/re-learn. It definitely changed my perspective on how i run my game.
This is exactly how I try it run my game, I'm very loose on actual story points. The vast majority of my prep is knowing what npcs are thinking, feeling and doing. The rest is entirely based on the players and where their motivations lie - I'm lucky to have a group with players who can make characters with their own goals and motivation
Thank you so much for this! I’m a new DM starting my first campaign on Sunday and this is exactly what I needed to hear. We had a practice session last weekend so everyone could get a little more acquainted with the game first and something felt a little off and this was exactly it.
Thank you for your excellent content. Your numbered episodes ooze with experience and are well thought out. I play Edge of the Empire but I find the material you present so universal I am always eager to see a new one posted. Great thanks and appreciation! You rock buddy!
This is such an inspiring video! I'm starting my very first proper campaign with my friends in a few days and I've been worrying about crafting this epic adventure from scratch. How will I make this memorable and fun and interesting and exciting when I've never played before? But now I feel way better about the world I've created. These videos are all so focussed and understandable (plus you have such a cool voice for narrating!) and these are really helping me understand how to DM in a way that makes my players happy. Thank you for putting these videos out!
Damn, that channel is golden! Lazy DM Guide was good, but you are giving some new perspective to running the game overall. That's whole new mindset!
That was mind opening ! I always prepared for what the players where going to do or think while I whould have concentrated on the reaction the envoroment would have to the player's arrival and also the mind set of the bad (or good) NPCs would have ! That was a great advise thanks !
Man oh man, I've been binge watching all your Running the Game videos. I've played for years (uh, like 20.. >.>) and about 9 months ago took the leap to GM'ing. This video has been the best, most needed one for me so far! I think I was mistaking my 'prep work'; making sure I had ideas of what might come up, where monsters might or might not be, what are likely outcomes with various NPCs as just being ready, but in fact was hard-cementing the story. I'm not quite sure how to find the happy balance yet, but I am definitely going to be working on this. Thanks for delivering all your info in such awesome ways. You are a staple in my 'keep learning this DM stuff' diet! :D
I needed to watch this video, I plan on running a game for my friends soon and after watching this i looked at my work and threw out half of it. I had just written a story. Thank you so much for helping me see this. My eyes were opened.
Thank you Matt! I love the videos, thank you for being willing to keep them coming even though you have different audiences. I've been a DM for 18 years and I love the approach you have, I'm always adding your ideas to my DM toolbox :)
This is gorgeous.\
7:09 "D&D is not the story you want to tell. It's the story that happens at the table... If you already know all the good bits, then you don't need players."
I only played in 2 one-shots and I barely remember them... I know their theme and setting.
The most memorable part I remember is where we got ambushed on rocky/forest terrain and my enraged barb just went and climbed up to one ranger grappled them and then next turn shoved them down and followed up with a people's elbow drop.
I'd love to know how this philosophy applies to running pre written stuff like Lost mines of Phandelver etc. does the book just have a bunch of context the adventure sits in an I have to make up encounters that make sense from the villain's standpoint, but isn't in the book?
Thank you so much for this video series. As an first time RP admin with plenty of new players, a lot of what happens in DMing can transcribe to RPing. Especially with giving players agency and opportunities for development.
I love listening to your videos man, I can sit there for hours with one earbud in listening to some cool d&d stuff while I do anything else (I've even practiced french horn music while listening and made a ton of progress because I was enjoying the time)
It's really interesting and cool to experience
FINALLY bought your books on kindle. I can't wait to read them. You are seriously talented and a big inspiration. Between you and Mr. Mercer and his friends I've been inspired enough to start playing and writining again. Thank you!
Keep doing these episodes - they are awesome.
And I also love your ongoing campaign story - what will happen with the duchy and newly sprung lord of the keep. :)
Just recently started watching your videos and I have to say, I'm really digging them!
I really needed to hear this one as I'm currently DMing Hoard of the Dragon Queen and listening to this made me realize I as a DM have been focused too much on keeping things on the rails in this regard. The players are my wife, two very close friend and their daughter and so we've had a blast nonetheless, but I want to give them and even more memorable experience by making the adventure, even though it's a pre-packaged one, more about them.
So thanks! Time to noodle through just how to do that.
Nail on the head, good sir. This is the background reason for all those DM tales about players ruining their plans. It took me a few years,when I started running games, to get the idea that it wasn't my job to write the story (because that's what the players do) I was the stage manager NOT the playwright.
One of the most valuable lessons in GMing, short and concise.
I just want to say that I found this video very helpful I found that I was the kind of DM that didn’t give my players enough choices and now that I do my campaigns have become much more enjoyable for my players thanks mat
Thank you for helping me getting over my fear to DM. I dmed before but I kept having the feeling that I bored them even though they said they had fun. After watching a few of your running the game videos, I decided to pick up where we last left off and they are very excited. I'm still preparing for our next game, but I'm sure that with the help of your videos it's going to work out! Thank you for that!
This is my entire adventure. Fabricate a world, put stuff and things in places, give the PCs a little nudge in the right direction (usually 1st thru 3rd level is 'railroady' (I also have a LOT of new players this time around)) then they're on their own.
For example: Our cleric made a very high investigation check while looting a poacher who was about to kill a phoenix. Normally this poacher only had some gold, but since he rolled so high (24 (19+5)) I wanted to give him something. So on the fly, I made up a 'bounty' for this phoenix signed by . Now I have an entire story that can unfold from this. The party could uncover an elaborate poaching ring, or a corrupt political figure. Who knows? But I for one am excited to find out!
Thank you Matt for advising me to become a DM w/ some friends. Took a while to get everything in place but even my wife - who HATES strategy - had a great time.
This is I think one of the highest value RtG videos for DM'ing. Mostly because everything we see -- streams, movies, the layout of 1st part published adventures, etc -- seems to suggest the opposite, that the story is everything and it must be meticulous. This video is worth rewatching and rewatching and rewatching
That is, as they say in the bible a "Dick Move" XD
This video inspired me. I attempted a run at a DnD campaign several years ago as DM. I had an AWESOME plot-those whom I shared the whole story with said I should actually write a book about it-but at the end of it required lots of railroading, and it fell apart before we even got a third of the way through.
I am about to DM my second campaign. I watched this video several months back before our group knew it was going to be needing a new DM-current campaign ending soon, DM wants a break. I've developed multiple factions in a Ravenloft-style setting, each with its own goals and motivations. One faction, lead by a Vampire, has captured several players, and session 1 will show the brutal acts he is capable of. The hook is set for them to go after him.
Aside from that and a few twists about his background, I have no idea what all is going to happen after they break out. And it feels great knowing it-I have a feeling this campaign will go smoothly, thanks to this video.
I think this video is literally what I needed to hear. Something just clicked. Thank you sooooo much Matt, you're awesome.
I always have 2 pieces of advice for every new DM. 1) Always have a plan for your game. It is always a good thing to have an idea of where you want to take the story, and what the pieces you need to get that story going. 2) No plan survives contact with players. That critical NPC that had the perfect bit of information for the story? Dead. That puzzle you put so much time into? Ignored. That political nuance that felt so important to you for your story? Actively hated by the players. And that is fine.
I know this is an old vid, but I'm DMing for the first time in 1 month, I have an adventure full of mostly original content, and oh man, I think you just saved my game with this one. Most of the time I wanted to give player agency by thinking up multiple choices they can go about doing something, and you just made me realize, I'm doing what the players should do. I almost "took that away" from them - I mean I was going to let them make their plans, but I just wanted to figure out ALL the ways they could do it.
I agree with every point in your videos you've made so far. I have watched them all, rewatching this one as I can use a reminder now and again.
6 years later, ive run thousands of hours of games, and sometimes the night before I just need to watch one of these episodes to keep me going. Thanks again Matt.
Thank you for this talk, Matt. I think for too long I've been treating my content as the end and using the players as the means to that end. I didn't really realize I was running games that way either until tonight thanks to both this video and a conversation I had prior to watching. I'm just about to start up another campaign too. So, I'll definitely start incorporating these lessons very soon.
I had a huge accomplishment as a DM this past weekend along these lines. With help from advice like this, I think my players have always felt like they have had as much choice in my game as they have wanted, but last weekend we had the first of what I think will be many plot points that are directly related to several of the characters personal stories. I think it is going to drive the entire adventure.
There was good drama and each player had to decide how much their character trusts these relatively new companions. It was so great!
All of your videos have been greatly helpful. But. This video, so far, is the most helpful being that I am a new dm and working on my own campaign followup to LMoP. I have been racking my brain to sort out so many details. But I do not need to. I need the main points, who the bad guy is, what his goals are, and let the players do the rest. Thank you very much for such an insightful video on learning to be viewer as a dm, rather than a director.
Hey Matt
Thanks for the video, this was really helpful. Can't wait for more and also can't wait to hear what happens in Bedegar. Great story telling.
This is an amazing episode. I constantly challenge my players to take the narrative over after I have set a scenefor them. My groups all love it when I give them the freedom to describe parts of the world around them. Lets face it, when players begin to become collectively involved in the over-all narrative and not just their PC's personal investment the game just gets better. Let go of the reigns and put away that 12 page word document of contingencies you wrote to keep the players on track in your story because it's not your story, its your players story and you are there to tell that story and bring it to life. Lastly when you free up space in the story for your players it, in turn, frees you up to focus on interpersonal conflict and role-playing your npc's.
Yet again I am thankful I've watched another of your videos, Matthew. I have a cool story planned, but need to make sure I don't undermine player choice. Brilliant!
Fresh GM here, this was excellent for helping me distinguish the difference between a railroad and avenues...having options to turn off the highway and explore!
This might be the most important information I’ve received as a new GM. I’m working on my 2nd campaign right now and I was writing a story for my players to be in and now I understand the problem with that and why I’ve been stressing out
I'm glad I saw this video before I started falling down the Story path. I had ideas for setpieces, things that I want my players to do when we get to playing and why they're happening, alongside a growing roster of people to fight against, but there's a lot of ambiguity of how these chains of events are going to play out with each other. I'm thinking now it might be a good idea to leave those spaces blank
I have recently started binge watching your videos. I have been a GM (I play pathfinder, please forgive me lol) for around 4 years and I always knew that I was not enganging my players correctly. This video was the answer I have been searching for and for that I thank you! I love all of your videos thus far and look forward to using these tips in my newest campaign.
This is by far the best video I've ever seen. The best advice a DM can give. Almost two years late though.
Thank you. You've just explained why I have such difficulty pre-writing complex adventures, as I feel something was always missing. Player agency! I needed them to interact with the scenairos, situations, and characters I've created.
This was really helpful, I've always struggled one how to prepare a game. But now that I think about simply providing a goal to the players, the story fills itself out from there
I have tried to explain this concept so often and often fail. Great video. Adventure vs Story is a great way to put it.
Great distinction between these two concepts. And very helpful. I'm currently using modules set in Greyhawk, and providing my own transitions between them. But it's linear. In that sense, the party is just part of my story. They do the module I have prepared. After watching this, I plan to provide them with options--whisperings and rumors, or maybe even two or three desperate appeals from townspeople, causing THEM to choose between two or three important quests--and just let them decide what happens next. Thanks for this. "There are those who think that life has nothing left to chance, a host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance..."
I heard somewhere that a good D&D story structure is one where the elements are well defined. It's a style I'm trying to work on (I'm still new). I started with heavily linear stories (I was doing trial and error to find my style) and I like the idea of making your adventure behind the scenes as solid as you possibly can. You don't need every detail, but if you have a good command over your world, improvising becomes easier since you can rely on prompts you set for yourself.