I was a dungeon master back in the 80's, but the one complaint both my players (one was my mother) and myself had was how complicated it all was, when all we wanted to do was have an epic game. Here we are, 30 years later and my mom now lives with me and my 14 year old twin girls. My girls want to get into D&D as well as my neighbor's kids (14 and 16), and Mom would like to revive her barbarian character. I found your channel by accident when I was looking for simplifying combat. I was hooked. I am now watching and re-watching the series while taking furious notes. I absolutely love the basic difficulty system as opposed to all those "proficiencies". I also love the idea of using a timer to move combat decisions along. I am now in the process of adapting the Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords campaign with your ideas and look forward to providing an epic experience with a minimum of algebra.
Equipment list for those who don't want to pause and write it down. *Wizard* Clothing (AC 10) SpellBook Staff Backpack Wineskin Tinderbox Lamp & Oil Tools (which for a wizard includes parchment, ink and quill) 3d6 Gold *Fighter* Scale Mail & Shield (AC 16) Hand Weapon Ranged Weapon Backpack Wineskin Tinderbox Torches x3 Tools (which include oil, a whetstone and a hammer) 2d6 gold *Cleric* Scale Mail & Shield (AC 16) Hand Weapon Ranged Weapon Wineskin Tinderbox Torches x2 Tools (which include Holy symbol, holy water, holy oil and a holy book) 3d6 gold *Rogue* Light Armor (AC 11 or 12) Hand weapon Ranged Weapon Backpack Wineskin Tinderbox Candles Tools (which include lock picks, a skeleton key, a pry bar, a silk rope and a grappling hook) 1d6 Gold
@@missa2855 Hi, sorry I don't know how to PM here. I had totally forgotten about this great video and your reply and edit got me to watch it again so, Thanks! One more typo, though... under Cleric... Holy Book. Thanks, again.
So simple, so obvious and so much common sense creativity - and yet so few people seem to do this kind of stuff. Brilliant, thank you for these videos they're thoroughly inspiring.
I have been Playing D&D since the late 70s and find that many of the simple things in your videos are informative and make the game simple to play. I just recently found your blogs and love them. I hope if you are still making them to continue. If you are a new DM or an old fart like me who is getting burned out from playing. These simple tips can make a new DM look like an experienced one or an old one like me seem to be the expert DM you should be. Thanks
Did youtube adjust the algorithm? This beautiful work of art just came into my TH-cam feed this morning. Approximately a year to a year and a half after I first started watching Dungeoncraft. Good video and good suggestions (as usual).
This is gold! I have new player joining my group and this is very helpful. New player's backstory will be more deep with these guidelines than the rest of the group compined. I love the fast pacing in these videos!!
I once made a d&d variant where there were no ability scores. Instead, you rolled for the modifiers directly with 1d6-1d6. That creates a number between -5 and +5.
I've been thinking about running a quick session with my family next time we get together. This will be soooo much faster than the normal D&D character set up.
This simplifies things...and it only took 40 years of D&D to nail down the obvious! ...now to apply what I have learned to a Steam-Era/Clockwork/Gaslight/Horror game of my own devising. Cheers!
Want to save time? Consider using a tool like TOS FIVE.. it will handle the math so you can focus on the fun part! (and you'll avoid some errors like that 12 ability score being noted at a -1 bonus at 1:51! hehe)
I'm sure you have heard this dozens of times, but I would love a PDF of your D&D Rulebook. Maybe call it Dungeon Craft and put it on DriveTruRPG. As it stands I plan on copying all the information from you that I really like and mesh it with my play style and creating my own rulebook for my players. You have some of the most amazing ideas and homebrew stuff. I am currently running Curse of Strad on Roll20. Any advice on running this campaign?
His rules are on his patreon. He just released a full version. I played it last night with my group of players from 5e and they loved it and were actually taking it seriously and role-playing
I like to use the Ability Score itself as the DC for rolls against that character. For example, a PC trying to convince a guard to let them in would roll Charisma (or Persuasion using 5e) against the guard's Wisdom Ability Score as the DC.
Yeah, I live in a REALLY DIFFERENT D&D world. We roll for gps and that is your allowance to spend on gear. If you're lucky then you can buy some nifty stuff. If you're not then.. bargain hunting time. I rolled up a fighter who was pretty "meh" (straight 3d6 but we could allocate numbers). She basically had stats between 9 and 13 with no real bonuses (I play AD&D). She rolled really badly for money too, so here's what she got: A spear A short sword (Her main and most expensive weapon) A dagger A sling Leather armor and a small wooden shield Plus some odds and ends (her iron rations were her next most expensive purchase!). Looking at that I decided that she was a poor shepherd (she has a sling which is a shepherd's favorite weapon to chase off those who want to eat your flock) who was drafted as a militiaman. She was from a semi-barbaric hill tribe and was armed with her tribal weapons (spear, leather armor, a small shield, and a dagger). She earned her sword as a skirmish fighter (it is her prized possession) and she served her local lord (more like a chieftain) until she was released from service. She enjoyed the military life and became an adventurer. Is she optimal? Nope, but she was, and is, a lot of fun to play. Even "boring" stuff like purchasing equipment (and rolling for gps) can inspire you as a player and can give your character depth. Here's my Breca ap Cei as she is now- a mighty adventurer! www.oathswornminiatures.co.uk/p/9218240/28mm-human-barbarian.html
You do need the actual ability score numbers though, because you need to know whether you need 1 or 2 more points to get a better modifier. Also, if there's skills that are never use, that's a problem on the DM's or player's part.
Not really, though. Castles and Crusades doesn't have skills. Instead you use your stat modifier and assign primary and secondary attribvutes. For instance, a rogue who is wanting to fast talk his way out of a situation would simply use his charisma modifier and roll a D20. You also get to assign one or two of your asttributes as "primes" depending on your race and class. If it's prime you add a bonus to the stat roll. With no actual skills, there's no flipping through a book to see what skill does what, and lets the players and DMs do some creative things. It's a fast and simple.
I utilize the ability scores as passive score, and modifiers are more active scores . the score as a passive score , wisdom is passive perception score. , I have agility as a extra ability this is the defense, armor deducts 1-3 points of damage . intelligence is passive for learning spell. if thier passive score is not high enough , then they can get active and makes a Active modifier plus 1d20 to over come thier passive score.
I couldn't limit it to only those twice scenarios, but otherwise a great video. Mine don't really fit in the list. Dragon had it's egged crushed, but the soul possessed someone. He leads them to find his murderer and why they did it. Tabaxia daughter of the queen's guard, mother doesn't think shes ready to fight for the crown - shes becomes an adventure to prove her wrong. This also means the queen's guard is seeking her daughter. __ I'd be interested to hear some of your exceptions to his list of 12?
These seem very similar to one of the old 'quick' game rules sets, for people who had to fudge a character sheets and sometimes even dice. (I know I have horribly dated myself as playing since the 70s, guilty Blue Box 1978). Because we had to write out everything by hand on lined paper, everyone's character sheet had nothing but what was absolutely needed. This also meant that no ones character sheet looked alike.
I do something similar in that I have players roll 1d4 -1, 6x's...rerolling if you don't get at least one roll of a 4. This generates ability bonuses from 0 to +3, essentially ability scores of 10-16. You cant get an 8, but you also cant get an 18. It speeds up character creation because you're rolling 6 dice instead of 24 with less "math". It makes for much more heroic stats and no one gets a crappy character. Besides by 5th or 6th level is a +1 or +2 to an ability score bonus that big a deal? Fighters are like +10 to hit/damage by then...who cares if they're +11. Especially since 5th edition caps abilities out at 20.
I’ve done that before infrequently. 5d4 capped at 18. Usually you get lots of 10-13 and occasional 15+. It works good for players who can’t stand having lower scores. Me personally I like the old 3d6 straight method with a zero level funnel to get rid of the chum and keep the best characters that survive. Playing imperfect characters and being the DM for them is the most fun IMO. Plus it gives a reason to quest for “fountains of strength, constitution, wisdom....”
Hello professor dungeon master, just a quick question regarding clerics... how do you handle domain spells at 1st level? Also when levelling up in your system do your players add spells as per the PHB? I really like the simplicity of your system and I'm trying to adopt something similar when playing with my kids but the whole spell slots, domain spells etc can be confusing for them. Anyway, keep up the great work! Regards Danny in Yorkshire, England
Hello, England! I don't play with domains. Any cleric can cast ANY spell for that level as many times as they wish--until they roll a "1". At that point the God is tired of listening to the cleric's prayers until the next day.
Thanks professor. Love the channel! I am an not so Old Grognard and your approach makes 5e quite maneagable (in the old school spirit). Question: with the 4d6 eliminate the worst method but with a bonus range of 3=-2, 4-6=-1, 7-14=0, 15-17=+1, 18=+2, what would be the bonus average?
Hey there...I really love this idea! It would make things alot easier when playing with my kids too...just wondering how you handle leveling up regarding hp, spells etc? Love your channel, keep up the great work and stay safe 👍 Danny in England
Hey, any link to that Character sheet of yours? Love it. Specially the Morality Meter. Am a new DM and playing with fellow newbies, and the morality meter might be a way to prevent my PCs to slaughter every single NPC.
Sorry. Not yet. Eventually there will be a DungeonCraft website with downloads. For now, you'll just have to copy it. But it's simple enough. Personally, I think it looks cool when each player draws their own character sheet and puts their own little doodles on it.
I don't get a few things. First hit points how do you how which character has now many hit points. Second how do professions relate to stats and items. Third, spells , you say that wizards need to be apprentices first to be able to cast spells, how does your wizard have all those spells at level 1 now? And they get to cast them all the time?
Is there a problem with allowing players to assign a net +7 attribute array as long as no attribute is lower than -2 and no attribute higher than +3? Rather than choosing from the list?
98% of what I play is Dungeon World! But recently I found The Hero's Journey Fantasy Role-playing game and it's sort of calling to me. I love your channel, sir!
Thanks for watching. I want my channel to be virtually system-neutral. Glad you have you aboard. Hero's Journey and "Last Girl" are on my reading list.
*Just watching to support the channel .* *Interesting homebrew system .* *Not perfect but works fine .* *Slight issues with having to do extra explaining to cover the corner cutting .*
Thanks Rodrigo! Check out my campaign updates--LOTS of minis in those. I can't remember all the numbers, but I know #68 is one. ALso "The Tell Tale Heart." Cheers!
i allways roll my stats, and very rarely get a overly powered character, like my gnome wizzar with 3x9 stats, and i am totally okay with it, tho i can see your sistem being helpfull. Also how do you do deal with lvl ups without the required number for each stats?
since the normal setup is either +2 to one stat or +1 to two stats, he probably scraps the latter and just says every 4 levels you get a +1 modifier to a stat of your choice
If I get a player who is completely new to the game, their stats are: 15,14,13,12,10,8 as per the Player’s Handbook 5 ed p.13. If they are not new to the game, they get a 27 point buy character as per p.13 paragraph 7. This ensures that no character can dominate the game at level 1 with beaucoup stats. Your method is excellent. I came up with a homebrewed game years ago that did away with rolling stats and just had the pluses and minuses (and zeroes). If I wasn’t so addicted to the current ruleset I would adopt you streamlined methods of play. Perhaps when Hazards Of The Bro decides to scrap the current edition and release a new, improved edition I will just say to Hell with it and run Labyrinth Lord or some earlier, simpler version of the game (I’m looking at you Index Card RPG).
Generally a backpack, wineskin, flint & steel, torches, a hand weapon, and whatever tool they need. For example, a bard would have a lute or lyre and a ranger would have outdoor survival gear.
And when you said you don't need the 3-18 score, I'm assuming you said that because when a character in your game gets an ability score improvement it's just a +1 to one stat and when they want to multiclass they need a +1 or more in the appropriate stats. - Correct me if I'm wrong. Also, with your spell system, how do you prevent classes with unlimited spells known from being absolute power houses?
@@jubes1300 To your first point, this also complicates feats that add +1, although with the dumbing down that's done on this channel I assume he doesn't use feats. To your second point, I doubt he cares if Wizards are absolute powerhouses.
@@kdolo1887 I dont think he uses any of that stuff. This is more akin to a lightweight OSR game. I wouldnt call it dumbing down. Personally I never allowed feats in my 5e game since they are (a) optional and (b) badly designed.
Why does your morality tracker (which I love, by the way) go up to negative and down to positive? Seems counter-intuitive to have negative numbers on the right. Curious whether there's a reason.
How would a PC properly upgrade their ability scores when they reach a particular level if they don't have it marked down anywhere? "I get +2 to any AS I want at xLvl and I want to add it to dex but was my dex a 15? Or a 16?" See the problem? Could screw yourself out of extra bonuses
If you add +2 to a stat it will always give you a +1 bonus no matter your stat... a 15 is a +2 and a 16 is a +3 to begin with so adding 2 to either will bump it up by +1... 15 + 2 = 17 and a 17 is +3; 16 + 2 = 18 and an 18 is +4... This only ever becomes an issue if you are only adding +1 to a stat...
I'm pretty late to the party, but is there something you do in place of ASI? I feel like otherwise my players might feel cheated. Do you just cut out every fourth level?
I watched your “get rid of initiative” video and disliked it. Now that I’ve seen this as well, I like it much more! This is basically a new addition of the game because you’ve retconned so much This much simpler version of d&d is good for new players and those who are looking for a heavy role play game, I feel like the system alienated the combat focused players though.
Yes, this is a great Training-Wheels style of play for people completely unfamiliar with tabletop gaming. Sort of like starting off playing board games like Sorry! and moving up to Dead of Winter.
I think you would have to play a few sessions of initiative-less play. It is a bit of a learning curve but it works great in other systems I have played. I have a cleric with -1 initiative. Declairing my Cleric casts bless will usually give my entire party the 1D4 reguardless. Then the next turn I get to pump heals into the fighter first thing. If we were rolling for initiave my median score would be 9. Which probably means I need to heal for the first turn. And if I can get a bless off the Rouge and Ranger pronably are not getting it first round. Going initiative-less saves time, makes combat more cenimatic, and you have to think on your feet.
For anyone wanting a copy of this character sheet, including a space for insanity, Here you go, just made it this morning. drive.google.com/open?id=1JnfbfueCc2PbBuh-VrNJeJO9_GLNlrEL
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I was trying to be funny, not literal, it was a misspelling on your white board of power. Instead of devestated. Of absolutely no consequence, and I never thought your crack staff would respond to anything written in comments. FYI I am also a horrible speller. As well as grammatically challenged, as I sit in my domicile of abundant SiO2. Love the series, which was recommended by one of my players, in our VERY old school, AD&D campaign.
But character attribute scores are useful to record...what if you increase an attribute score as a result of leveling up. Also noting skills is characterful so good to record to. Love hate background stuff is good.
I roll 3D6 straight down the line. The stats tell me what I am making. Rerolling 1s, maybe 2s. Use to do 4D6 drop one but I find I am "too good" at stuff.
Totally disagree with this system. I use ability scores all the time for player checks to accomplish tasks. Roll your score or under to succeed plus or minus any modifiers for difficulty.
That's a great idea. Never thought about it. Erik--I am now reconsidering the character sheet design. Look for the NEW character sheet to appear in February campaign update, on the first Thursday in that month. I shall credit you with changing my mind. Look for it!
Erik Martin Hi Erik. I’m a new DM and am a little confused by your comment (pretty much the whole thing regarding accomplishing tasks). Could you elaborate? I don’t want to miss anything. Thanks.
A Hero’s Quest I’m an old guy so I started playing long before there were “skills” within the game. When we wanted to do something that wasn’t specifically “in the rules” we would just assign whatever ability attribute was most specific to the task we wanted to accomplish and use that attribute to roll against. Example A character sees some writing on the wall of the dungeon and wants to figure out what it says. He has elvish as one of his languages but this is an ancient dialect no longer used. Depending on how hard the DM decides it would be for the character to decipher he assigns a difficulty modifier to it, I always just simply used -6 to +2 depending on difficulty (-6 being really hard tasks, -4 hard, -2 moderate, 0 neutral, +2 easy) For me as the DM I would combine Int and Wis scores for the player to decipher the writing. If the players scores were 13 and 17 and you assigned a value of a really hard task they would have to roll 24 or less on 2d20(one d20) per attribute used. Does that make sense? Another example In my current campaign my players had the ford a river with no bridge to get across. I play 1E so there’s no real rule covering that. So I combined Strength(to control the horse), Wis( to pick the right path along an unfamiliar river bottom), and Dex(to make adjustments to the horse as needed). Since it was the party’s first adventure and the river was high I assigned it a value of -6 per attribute, for a total of -18 on 3d20. Once the first character successfully forded the river subsequent players dropped the -6 for Wis since they had seen someone cross safely and now saw the best path to take along the river bottom. In this second example you could use Int just as well as Wis it’s up to you. In using something like this to determine outcomes you are using the differences between characters to determine the game. To me simply assigning a DC of “X” to leaping a pit and applying attribute modifiers isn’t really looking at the individual difficulties each character would face in accomplishing the task. It kind of negates the point of each character having their own specific attribute scores. Hope this helps.
I would absolutely fucking hate to be dictated spells when playing a wizard. What if I want to play a mastermind illusionist or heavy control mage? What am I gonna do with your stupid burning hands and magic missile?
i get the point, but there's like no customization here. where's the feats that give +1 asi? do you disregard feats and ruin more costumization? where's the ability to costumize spells? where's the ability to start with gold only and build your inventory yourself? people play d&d to escape and be creative. you're basically telling them "play this basic, archetypal character you've seen a thousand times in movies, so you're probably going to like it kinda because it'll remind you of something subconsciously, and maybe if you survive boring zombies or skeletons or goblins then you'll get, possibly, maybe, not really, something unique, and by unique i mean whatever I make up"
So, let me see if I understood what this video ACTUALLY is. It's not a video on how to create a character for D&D in 10 minutes. It's a video about how to skip most of the stats and stuff in an already vastly simplified form of D&D and then create a somewhat cookie-cutter character within this childishly simple framework... In 10 minutes. Honestly, the reason characters take time is because people like to personalize them and they like that personalization to reflect in their stats. You can do it in under 5 minutes if you just cut all those confusing ability scores and that overly complicated background stuff too. I don't mean to be insulting but I have a hard enough time with 5e and it's simplified characters, then this... I bet you can tell that I come from 3.5/Pathfinder. Haha. 😅
From what I gather, it seems like he is playing on the trope that rogues aren't financially conservative. They make a lot, but they tend to blow it all away as soon as they get a lot of money.
@@kdolo1887 I feel ya. I don't think anyone does. I think it's a bit of a stretch to assume he takes away player decisions in his games just because he has a unique approach to character creation. I think you're referring to actual gameplay decisions, which happens 'after' the DM laid out all the homebrew stuff up front and the players have agreed to it. If players don't agree, then the DM and players compromise or leave.
@@chrisandlizsizemore8172 "these are the things you get if you're a rogue. Climbing tools and stealthy clothes." "Yeah but my guy is more of a charlatan..." "THESE ARE THE THINGS YOU GET AS A ROGUE!"
@@kdolo1887 If the thief already has all the money, the adventure is over and there's no reason to play. I'm more interested in playing the adventure the thief went through to earn (ill-gotten) wealth.
What's the point in making a video about how to make a dungeons and dragons character and then skipping half the rules! You didn't even talk about race! And animal handling is very important if you're a druid and you want to handle that centipede. I have nothing against all your homebrews, some of them very clever, but it's not helpful to new players if their DM is going by the book.
Second half is totally helpful, no matter what book the DM is going by. Unless they're only going by the book and skipping all that "stuff about the player characters."
You really don't play 5e do you? Just write up your own homebrew and publish your own content. All of your videos are barely disguised attempts to advertise your homebrew content.
I was a dungeon master back in the 80's, but the one complaint both my players (one was my mother) and myself had was how complicated it all was, when all we wanted to do was have an epic game. Here we are, 30 years later and my mom now lives with me and my 14 year old twin girls. My girls want to get into D&D as well as my neighbor's kids (14 and 16), and Mom would like to revive her barbarian character. I found your channel by accident when I was looking for simplifying combat. I was hooked. I am now watching and re-watching the series while taking furious notes. I absolutely love the basic difficulty system as opposed to all those "proficiencies". I also love the idea of using a timer to move combat decisions along. I am now in the process of adapting the Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords campaign with your ideas and look forward to providing an epic experience with a minimum of algebra.
You have a kick ass mom
I love that your mom plays. And plays a barbarian.
I find myself comimg back to the classics more and more lately.
Equipment list for those who don't want to pause and write it down.
*Wizard*
Clothing (AC 10)
SpellBook
Staff
Backpack
Wineskin
Tinderbox
Lamp & Oil
Tools (which for a wizard includes parchment, ink and quill)
3d6 Gold
*Fighter*
Scale Mail & Shield (AC 16)
Hand Weapon
Ranged Weapon
Backpack
Wineskin
Tinderbox
Torches x3
Tools (which include oil, a whetstone and a hammer)
2d6 gold
*Cleric*
Scale Mail & Shield (AC 16)
Hand Weapon
Ranged Weapon
Wineskin
Tinderbox
Torches x2
Tools (which include Holy symbol, holy water, holy oil and a holy book)
3d6 gold
*Rogue*
Light Armor (AC 11 or 12)
Hand weapon
Ranged Weapon
Backpack
Wineskin
Tinderbox
Candles
Tools (which include lock picks, a skeleton key, a pry bar, a silk rope and a grappling hook)
1d6 Gold
+
Thanks! Caught a typo, though. Rouge is French for red. You meant Rogue.
@@angelsegarra1135 thanks for the info. It should be fixed now ^-^
@@missa2855 Hi, sorry I don't know how to PM here. I had totally forgotten about this great video and your reply and edit got me to watch it again so, Thanks!
One more typo, though... under Cleric... Holy Book. Thanks, again.
@@angelsegarra1908 Thanks. should be fixed now
You sir are one of the best dungeon masters I've heard in ages!
Thanks, Alexandre. Pass it on so we can keep growing the channel.
As a fellow DM I am giving you the slow golf clap. Great video and looking forward to watching the rest.
You had me at "looks like my tax return."
This is the best DM channel out there, hands down! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and insight!
Thanks for your support. You should check out my campaign update The Reviled Society. I think you'll like it. th-cam.com/video/95zr1mmx4vM/w-d-xo.html
I saw a lot (not all) of your videos. And I learned every time something helpful. Thank you PDM for sharing your Knowledge with us.
Glad it was helpful!
So simple, so obvious and so much common sense creativity - and yet so few people seem to do this kind of stuff. Brilliant, thank you for these videos they're thoroughly inspiring.
I have been Playing D&D since the late 70s and find that many of the simple things in your videos are informative and make the game simple to play. I just recently found your blogs and love them. I hope if you are still making them to continue. If you are a new DM or an old fart like me who is getting burned out from playing. These simple tips can make a new DM look like an experienced one or an old one like me seem to be the expert DM you should be. Thanks
Thanks. Keep sharing the videos. There are nearly 100 on this channel.
Did youtube adjust the algorithm? This beautiful work of art just came into my TH-cam feed this morning. Approximately a year to a year and a half after I first started watching Dungeoncraft.
Good video and good suggestions (as usual).
This is gold! I have new player joining my group and this is very helpful. New player's backstory will be more deep with these guidelines than the rest of the group compined. I love the fast pacing in these videos!!
"...a box called 'stuff." That's actually pretty spot-on.
Lol. I do the same. A player said "stuff!?" couldn't you call it anything better. So I took their sheet, crossed it out and wrote..... 'Things'
I once made a d&d variant where there were no ability scores. Instead, you rolled for the modifiers directly with 1d6-1d6. That creates a number between -5 and +5.
2:17 The twelve has a minus 1, that should be a +1 so net +9 Stats. Pretty good.
Love your vids . You make D&D so much simpler and easier to play.
Thanks, Russ!
Best starter video for D&D I've seen! Keep up the great work. I love your ideas for simplifying the game.
I've been thinking about running a quick session with my family next time we get together. This will be soooo much faster than the normal D&D character set up.
I use Roll20 for my needs but I love your videos. Keep em coming professor!
This simplifies things...and it only took 40 years of D&D to nail down the obvious! ...now to apply what I have learned to a Steam-Era/Clockwork/Gaslight/Horror game of my own devising. Cheers!
Thank you for this, I've recently taken up DMing and I am so glad I found your videos, I'm learning a lot and loving the humour!
Thanks!
Love the starting equipment and mortality tracker. Finally a way to deal with murder hobos! Thank you
You're welcome! Thanks for watching and sharing!
This changes everything... So good, thank you!
Have been looking so long for someone who looks at the big picture!!!
Amazing amazing !!! Video series. Absolutely eye opening. So many great tips. Keep up the amazing videos
Glad you found this older vid--there will be a sequel of sorts airing in March.
Want to save time? Consider using a tool like TOS FIVE.. it will handle the math so you can focus on the fun part! (and you'll avoid some errors like that 12 ability score being noted at a -1 bonus at 1:51! hehe)
Another great old video to add to my DM Playlist.
I'm sure you have heard this dozens of times, but I would love a PDF of your D&D Rulebook. Maybe call it Dungeon Craft and put it on DriveTruRPG. As it stands I plan on copying all the information from you that I really like and mesh it with my play style and creating my own rulebook for my players. You have some of the most amazing ideas and homebrew stuff. I am currently running Curse of Strad on Roll20. Any advice on running this campaign?
His rules are on his patreon. He just released a full version. I played it last night with my group of players from 5e and they loved it and were actually taking it seriously and role-playing
It's up on drive through RPG. It's called deathbringer. I run it with the 1974 single volume edition. Beyond epic lol
This is the best thing I ever saw.
Best video on character creation (and I’ve been around)!
Wonderful sir! I think I will implement this character creation system into my campaign.
5:13 The rogue is an old Ral Partha figure now produced at Iron Wind Metals 03-141 Female Thief in Leather Armour
I like to use the Ability Score itself as the DC for rolls against that character. For example, a PC trying to convince a guard to let them in would roll Charisma (or Persuasion using 5e) against the guard's Wisdom Ability Score as the DC.
We need a link for that simplified character sheet ;). Dropbox-link?
Hey if anyone is looking for this still checkout his patreon which now includes this character sheet and some really good narrative ideas.
"May your future rolls" have an abundance "of twenties."
Yes , love the Star Trek adventuring party analysis
Yeah, I live in a REALLY DIFFERENT D&D world. We roll for gps and that is your allowance to spend on gear. If you're lucky then you can buy some nifty stuff. If you're not then.. bargain hunting time.
I rolled up a fighter who was pretty "meh" (straight 3d6 but we could allocate numbers). She basically had stats between 9 and 13 with no real bonuses (I play AD&D). She rolled really badly for money too, so here's what she got:
A spear
A short sword (Her main and most expensive weapon)
A dagger
A sling
Leather armor and a small wooden shield
Plus some odds and ends (her iron rations were her next most expensive purchase!).
Looking at that I decided that she was a poor shepherd (she has a sling which is a shepherd's favorite weapon to chase off those who want to eat your flock) who was drafted as a militiaman. She was from a semi-barbaric hill tribe and was armed with her tribal weapons (spear, leather armor, a small shield, and a dagger). She earned her sword as a skirmish fighter (it is her prized possession) and she served her local lord (more like a chieftain) until she was released from service. She enjoyed the military life and became an adventurer. Is she optimal? Nope, but she was, and is, a lot of fun to play. Even "boring" stuff like purchasing equipment (and rolling for gps) can inspire you as a player and can give your character depth. Here's my Breca ap Cei as she is now- a mighty adventurer!
www.oathswornminiatures.co.uk/p/9218240/28mm-human-barbarian.html
You do need the actual ability score numbers though, because you need to know whether you need 1 or 2 more points to get a better modifier.
Also, if there's skills that are never use, that's a problem on the DM's or player's part.
Not really, though. Castles and Crusades doesn't have skills. Instead you use your stat modifier and assign primary and secondary attribvutes. For instance, a rogue who is wanting to fast talk his way out of a situation would simply use his charisma modifier and roll a D20. You also get to assign one or two of your asttributes as "primes" depending on your race and class. If it's prime you add a bonus to the stat roll. With no actual skills, there's no flipping through a book to see what skill does what, and lets the players and DMs do some creative things. It's a fast and simple.
Yes its great when your character is a superhero, even before their first adventure. Sorta like playing and video game on easy or using cheat codes.
I love it! Very nice for just about any D20 system.
I utilize the ability scores as passive score, and modifiers are more active scores . the score as a passive score , wisdom is passive perception score. , I have agility as a extra ability this is the defense, armor deducts 1-3 points of damage . intelligence is passive for learning spell. if thier passive score is not high enough , then they can get active and makes a Active modifier plus 1d20 to over come thier passive score.
That's better than the current rules. I don't even play with passive perception, which I will talk about in a future video.
Wonderful tutorial
I couldn't limit it to only those twice scenarios, but otherwise a great video.
Mine don't really fit in the list.
Dragon had it's egged crushed, but the soul possessed someone. He leads them to find his murderer and why they did it.
Tabaxia daughter of the queen's guard, mother doesn't think shes ready to fight for the crown - shes becomes an adventure to prove her wrong. This also means the queen's guard is seeking her daughter.
__
I'd be interested to hear some of your exceptions to his list of 12?
Great ideas here!
These seem very similar to one of the old 'quick' game rules sets, for people who had to fudge a character sheets and sometimes even dice. (I know I have horribly dated myself as playing since the 70s, guilty Blue Box 1978). Because we had to write out everything by hand on lined paper, everyone's character sheet had nothing but what was absolutely needed. This also meant that no ones character sheet looked alike.
thanks all your vids are good
Thanks!
I do something similar in that I have players roll 1d4 -1, 6x's...rerolling if you don't get at least one roll of a 4. This generates ability bonuses from 0 to +3, essentially ability scores of 10-16. You cant get an 8, but you also cant get an 18. It speeds up character creation because you're rolling 6 dice instead of 24 with less "math". It makes for much more heroic stats and no one gets a crappy character. Besides by 5th or 6th level is a +1 or +2 to an ability score bonus that big a deal? Fighters are like +10 to hit/damage by then...who cares if they're +11. Especially since 5th edition caps abilities out at 20.
I’ve done that before infrequently. 5d4 capped at 18. Usually you get lots of 10-13 and occasional 15+. It works good for players who can’t stand having lower scores.
Me personally I like the old 3d6 straight method with a zero level funnel to get rid of the chum and keep the best characters that survive. Playing imperfect characters and being the DM for them is the most fun IMO. Plus it gives a reason to quest for “fountains of strength, constitution, wisdom....”
This is excellent.
Hello professor dungeon master, just a quick question regarding clerics... how do you handle domain spells at 1st level? Also when levelling up in your system do your players add spells as per the PHB? I really like the simplicity of your system and I'm trying to adopt something similar when playing with my kids but the whole spell slots, domain spells etc can be confusing for them. Anyway, keep up the great work! Regards Danny in Yorkshire, England
Hello, England! I don't play with domains. Any cleric can cast ANY spell for that level as many times as they wish--until they roll a "1". At that point the God is tired of listening to the cleric's prayers until the next day.
Thanks professor. Love the channel! I am an not so Old Grognard and your approach makes 5e quite maneagable (in the old school spirit). Question: with the 4d6 eliminate the worst method but with a bonus range of 3=-2, 4-6=-1, 7-14=0, 15-17=+1, 18=+2, what would be the bonus average?
It would be be "0." You'd get an average of 13.5 per roll--not enough to give you a bonus.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Thanks! Is that number how did WOTC came with the +7 or is it inflated?
@@rolanejo8512 That's how the basic set pre-gens are made.
Hey there...I really love this idea! It would make things alot easier when playing with my kids too...just wondering how you handle leveling up regarding hp, spells etc? Love your channel, keep up the great work and stay safe 👍 Danny in England
Check this out. Then spread the word. I need more U.K. fans! m.th-cam.com/video/YtfZYHuyzrE/w-d-xo.html
Will do...thanks
Hey, any link to that Character sheet of yours? Love it. Specially the Morality Meter. Am a new DM and playing with fellow newbies, and the morality meter might be a way to prevent my PCs to slaughter every single NPC.
Sorry. Not yet. Eventually there will be a DungeonCraft website with downloads. For now, you'll just have to copy it. But it's simple enough. Personally, I think it looks cool when each player draws their own character sheet and puts their own little doodles on it.
Hey Danny check out the reply given to @dnl1987
there's a link that @Sezrekahn Eldar posted
static.secure.website/wscfus/8850379/10315841/5esimple.pdf
Here is one that I made this morning. drive.google.com/open?id=1JnfbfueCc2PbBuh-VrNJeJO9_GLNlrEL
What music did you use for the background ?
I don't get a few things. First hit points how do you how which character has now many hit points. Second how do professions relate to stats and items. Third, spells , you say that wizards need to be apprentices first to be able to cast spells, how does your wizard have all those spells at level 1 now? And they get to cast them all the time?
Check the PHB or the basic rules pdf
Is there a problem with allowing players to assign a net +7 attribute array as long as no attribute is lower than -2 and no attribute higher than +3?
Rather than choosing from the list?
I don't see why not. That's what DungeonWorld does.
98% of what I play is Dungeon World! But recently I found The Hero's Journey Fantasy Role-playing game and it's sort of calling to me.
I love your channel, sir!
Thanks for watching. I want my channel to be virtually system-neutral. Glad you have you aboard. Hero's Journey and "Last Girl" are on my reading list.
Make sure you get Hero's Journey Fantasy by James Spahn. That's the one I'm referring to. It's an offshoot of White Box Fantasy RPG.
*Just watching to support the channel .*
*Interesting homebrew system .*
*Not perfect but works fine .*
*Slight issues with having to do extra explaining to cover the corner cutting .*
In love with those minis s2
Thanks Rodrigo! Check out my campaign updates--LOTS of minis in those. I can't remember all the numbers, but I know #68 is one. ALso
"The Tell Tale Heart." Cheers!
i allways roll my stats, and very rarely get a overly powered character, like my gnome wizzar with 3x9 stats, and i am totally okay with it, tho i can see your sistem being helpfull. Also how do you do deal with lvl ups without the required number for each stats?
since the normal setup is either +2 to one stat or +1 to two stats, he probably scraps the latter and just says every 4 levels you get a +1 modifier to a stat of your choice
Once you have done a few... it takes longer to think of the backstory than to do the rest.
If I get a player who is completely new to the game, their stats are: 15,14,13,12,10,8 as per the Player’s Handbook 5 ed p.13. If they are not new to the game, they get a 27 point buy character as per p.13 paragraph 7. This ensures that no character can dominate the game at level 1 with beaucoup stats.
Your method is excellent. I came up with a homebrewed game years ago that did away with rolling stats and just had the pluses and minuses (and zeroes). If I wasn’t so addicted to the current ruleset I would adopt you streamlined methods of play. Perhaps when Hazards Of The Bro decides to scrap the current edition and release a new, improved edition I will just say to Hell with it and run Labyrinth Lord or some earlier, simpler version of the game (I’m looking at you Index Card RPG).
If you want to use the racial bonuses and advancement rules as is the original numbers are required, not just the bonuses.
That's one upside to OD&D. You weren't expected to care about your character :P
True!
Life in OD&D was cheap and character sheets are even cheaper. Don't get too attached to your characters!
What about the other classes?
What equipment do other classes get in your games?
Generally a backpack, wineskin, flint & steel, torches, a hand weapon, and whatever tool they need. For example, a bard would have a lute or lyre and a ranger would have outdoor survival gear.
And when you said you don't need the 3-18 score, I'm assuming you said that because when a character in your game gets an ability score improvement it's just a +1 to one stat and when they want to multiclass they need a +1 or more in the appropriate stats. - Correct me if I'm wrong.
Also, with your spell system, how do you prevent classes with unlimited spells known from being absolute power houses?
@@jubes1300 To your first point, this also complicates feats that add +1, although with the dumbing down that's done on this channel I assume he doesn't use feats.
To your second point, I doubt he cares if Wizards are absolute powerhouses.
@@kdolo1887 I dont think he uses any of that stuff. This is more akin to a lightweight OSR game. I wouldnt call it dumbing down. Personally I never allowed feats in my 5e game since they are (a) optional and (b) badly designed.
Actually you do need Int score for stuff like Linguist since your Cipher is based on your int score not Modifier
Why does your morality tracker (which I love, by the way) go up to negative and down to positive? Seems counter-intuitive to have negative numbers on the right. Curious whether there's a reason.
how do u deal with stat increases via level or gear?
i like the sheet but im not seeing how that would work
Working on that video right now. Look for it to air in 2 weeks.
This will give you some idea of where I'm going. th-cam.com/video/D6S2vhY6iPk/w-d-xo.html
That's a sound list of adventurer origins. When was the last time you added to it?
Love it
did you ever have a chance to talk to gary gygax or dave arneson
Jaime Lannister loves his sister, heh heh, inappropriate giggle :P Neutral = Amoral?
I would love a link to the charts.
Don't have one. Sorry for the inconvenience but I'm glad you liked the video.
How would a PC properly upgrade their ability scores when they reach a particular level if they don't have it marked down anywhere? "I get +2 to any AS I want at xLvl and I want to add it to dex but was my dex a 15? Or a 16?" See the problem? Could screw yourself out of extra bonuses
If you add +2 to a stat it will always give you a +1 bonus no matter your stat... a 15 is a +2 and a 16 is a +3 to begin with so adding 2 to either will bump it up by +1... 15 + 2 = 17 and a 17 is +3; 16 + 2 = 18 and an 18 is +4... This only ever becomes an issue if you are only adding +1 to a stat...
Why is the 12 a '-1'?
He wrote for Dungeon Magazines 32, 54, 61 for anyone who wants to know. Maybe more
The overall ability scores change when you level up
I don't use that rule in my game. I should have explained that.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 im sorry, i know my comment came across as rude and mean and you didnt deserve that
@@snowman9631 I didn't think it was rude. No offense taken.
I'm pretty late to the party, but is there something you do in place of ASI? I feel like otherwise my players might feel cheated. Do you just cut out every fourth level?
Gotta get me that level of tweed one day
I watched your “get rid of initiative” video and disliked it. Now that I’ve seen this as well, I like it much more! This is basically a new addition of the game because you’ve retconned so much This much simpler version of d&d is good for new players and those who are looking for a heavy role play game, I feel like the system alienated the combat focused players though.
Yes, this is a great Training-Wheels style of play for people completely unfamiliar with tabletop gaming. Sort of like starting off playing board games like Sorry! and moving up to Dead of Winter.
I think you would have to play a few sessions of initiative-less play. It is a bit of a learning curve but it works great in other systems I have played.
I have a cleric with -1 initiative.
Declairing my Cleric casts bless will usually give my entire party the 1D4 reguardless.
Then the next turn I get to pump heals into the fighter first thing.
If we were rolling for initiave my median score would be 9. Which probably means I need to heal for the first turn. And if I can get a bless off the Rouge and Ranger pronably are not getting it first round.
Going initiative-less saves time, makes combat more cenimatic, and you have to think on your feet.
@@Giganfan2k1 I tried it. Its super easy. Not hard at all.
@@kdolo1887 Interesting perspective. I feel like rulebooks are training wheels. Prof's style of play takes experience and mastery of concepts.
So, do you play dungeon world or DND? Thanks for all this great advice!
Once again, the druids are left out in the forest. Et tu prof?
looks almost like a First Edition character sheet
Naw, you need the stats so you can make ability checks/rolls
For anyone wanting a copy of this character sheet, including a space for insanity, Here you go, just made it this morning. drive.google.com/open?id=1JnfbfueCc2PbBuh-VrNJeJO9_GLNlrEL
Devastated
Why so?
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I was trying to be funny, not literal, it was a misspelling on your white board of power. Instead of devestated. Of absolutely no consequence, and I never thought your crack staff would respond to anything written in comments. FYI I am also a horrible speller. As well as grammatically challenged, as I sit in my domicile of abundant SiO2. Love the series, which was recommended by one of my players, in our VERY old school, AD&D campaign.
6:10
But character attribute scores are useful to record...what if you increase an attribute score as a result of leveling up. Also noting skills is characterful so good to record to. Love hate background stuff is good.
I roll 3D6 straight down the line. The stats tell me what I am making. Rerolling 1s, maybe 2s.
Use to do 4D6 drop one but I find I am "too good" at stuff.
The game you seem to want to play would be one where you declare an action, flip a coin and if you guess right, that's what happens.
You spelled "Devastated," wrong.
So no proficiency?
Use it if you like. It's just +2 on levels 1-5 and +3 after that.
Totally disagree with this system. I use ability scores all the time for player checks to accomplish tasks. Roll your score or under to succeed plus or minus any modifiers for difficulty.
That's a great idea. Never thought about it. Erik--I am now reconsidering the character sheet design. Look for the NEW character sheet to appear in February campaign update, on the first Thursday in that month. I shall credit you with changing my mind. Look for it!
I will I’m already hooked on this channel. Best D&D channel I’ve found yet. I’m spreading the good word too
@@erikmartin4996 Many, many thanks Erik!
Erik Martin Hi Erik. I’m a new DM and am a little confused by your comment (pretty much the whole thing regarding accomplishing tasks). Could you elaborate? I don’t want to miss anything. Thanks.
A Hero’s Quest I’m an old guy so I started playing long before there were “skills” within the game.
When we wanted to do something that wasn’t specifically “in the rules” we would just assign whatever ability attribute was most specific to the task we wanted to accomplish and use that attribute to roll against.
Example
A character sees some writing on the wall of the dungeon and wants to figure out what it says. He has elvish as one of his languages but this is an ancient dialect no longer used. Depending on how hard the DM decides it would be for the character to decipher he assigns a difficulty modifier to it, I always just simply used -6 to +2 depending on difficulty (-6 being really hard tasks, -4 hard, -2 moderate, 0 neutral, +2 easy)
For me as the DM I would combine Int and Wis scores for the player to decipher the writing. If the players scores were 13 and 17 and you assigned a value of a really hard task they would have to roll 24 or less on 2d20(one d20) per attribute used.
Does that make sense?
Another example
In my current campaign my players had the ford a river with no bridge to get across. I play 1E so there’s no real rule covering that. So I combined Strength(to control the horse), Wis( to pick the right path along an unfamiliar river bottom), and Dex(to make adjustments to the horse as needed).
Since it was the party’s first adventure and the river was high I assigned it a value of -6 per attribute, for a total of -18 on 3d20. Once the first character successfully forded the river subsequent players dropped the -6 for Wis since they had seen someone cross safely and now saw the best path to take along the river bottom.
In this second example you could use Int just as well as Wis it’s up to you.
In using something like this to determine outcomes you are using the differences between characters to determine the game. To me simply assigning a DC of “X” to leaping a pit and applying attribute modifiers isn’t really looking at the individual difficulties each character would face in accomplishing the task. It kind of negates the point of each character having their own specific attribute scores.
Hope this helps.
I would absolutely fucking hate to be dictated spells when playing a wizard. What if I want to play a mastermind illusionist or heavy control mage? What am I gonna do with your stupid burning hands and magic missile?
i get the point, but there's like no customization here. where's the feats that give +1 asi? do you disregard feats and ruin more costumization? where's the ability to costumize spells? where's the ability to start with gold only and build your inventory yourself? people play d&d to escape and be creative.
you're basically telling them "play this basic, archetypal character you've seen a thousand times in movies, so you're probably going to like it kinda because it'll remind you of something subconsciously, and maybe if you survive boring zombies or skeletons or goblins then you'll get, possibly, maybe, not really, something unique, and by unique i mean whatever I make up"
So, let me see if I understood what this video ACTUALLY is. It's not a video on how to create a character for D&D in 10 minutes. It's a video about how to skip most of the stats and stuff in an already vastly simplified form of D&D and then create a somewhat cookie-cutter character within this childishly simple framework... In 10 minutes. Honestly, the reason characters take time is because people like to personalize them and they like that personalization to reflect in their stats. You can do it in under 5 minutes if you just cut all those confusing ability scores and that overly complicated background stuff too. I don't mean to be insulting but I have a hard enough time with 5e and it's simplified characters, then this... I bet you can tell that I come from 3.5/Pathfinder. Haha. 😅
Then disregard his methods and do it your way. No gatekeeping needed, have a nice day.
No.
"Let's face it, if you're a rogue, you don't have a lot of money"
Smugglers don't make a lot of money? Boy you insane.
From what I gather, it seems like he is playing on the trope that rogues aren't financially conservative. They make a lot, but they tend to blow it all away as soon as they get a lot of money.
@@chrisandlizsizemore8172 I love it when my DM makes decisions for me.
@@kdolo1887 I feel ya. I don't think anyone does. I think it's a bit of a stretch to assume he takes away player decisions in his games just because he has a unique approach to character creation.
I think you're referring to actual gameplay decisions, which happens 'after' the DM laid out all the homebrew stuff up front and the players have agreed to it. If players don't agree, then the DM and players compromise or leave.
@@chrisandlizsizemore8172 "these are the things you get if you're a rogue. Climbing tools and stealthy clothes."
"Yeah but my guy is more of a charlatan..."
"THESE ARE THE THINGS YOU GET AS A ROGUE!"
@@kdolo1887 If the thief already has all the money, the adventure is over and there's no reason to play. I'm more interested in playing the adventure the thief went through to earn (ill-gotten) wealth.
I can do it in less than 20 seconds with the dnd 5e app
Out of curiosity, which one?
Yeah, apps are stupid
Seriously? ALL wizards start with the same spells? Always? What if we have 2 wizards on the group?
What's the point in making a video about how to make a dungeons and dragons character and then skipping half the rules! You didn't even talk about race! And animal handling is very important if you're a druid and you want to handle that centipede.
I have nothing against all your homebrews, some of them very clever, but it's not helpful to new players if their DM is going by the book.
Second half is totally helpful, no matter what book the DM is going by. Unless they're only going by the book and skipping all that "stuff about the player characters."
...this doesn't seem very imaginative...shrug
You really don't play 5e do you? Just write up your own homebrew and publish your own content. All of your videos are barely disguised attempts to advertise your homebrew content.