3 Ways on How to Avoid Boring Adventures - GM Tips
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- We take a look at how you can avoid boring adventurers, we take a look at three ways you can achieve this irrespective of the role-playing system you are using!
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I surprised my player,
Because he asked if his horse would be able to go inside a building,
And I had already shown his character the magic veil that devided the room into two,
So in a stroke of inspiration, I said yes, it's a grande entrance at least a few meters tall,
With a hall that is even taller.
Then the first two players passed through the veil,
1 got a foot taller, the other one shrunk 1 foot.
The player saw this happen to his fellow party members
And thought he'd become even bigger if he was on his horse,
So he road on his horse through the veil,
Or should I say as his horse, since he was now a full blown centaur.
The entire table started laughing at his surprise
Near the end of the session I allowed him to reverse it with a role play encounter,
But I'm pretty sure he'll never pass through another one of those veils again,
Which means I'm gonna add a few more in there.
PS: the veil was supposed to be completely harmless,
It didn't have much plot relevance, but now it does.
Why do you keep starting off your videos with impressions of me?!
Cuz you suck
😂 I thought he was starting off as me!
@@UniverseAres Roll 1d6 fire damage for that sick burn.
Clearly you are all wrong, as this is a spot on impression of myself.
@@codypatton2859 Thank you, I'm stealing that line now XD
Definitely one of the best DM tips videos I've watched. Well made.
A lot of this is that simple stuff that is way too easy to forget. great video.
That intro was tough watch... point taken... jeesh. :) Love your videos BTW!
zombie church ... 2nd ed had undead walls. shouldnt take much to update them
Welp, I know what I'm googling later 😶
ok... this is late to the discussion... I had pretty much no plans for a session for a campaign I am currently doing... so I threw a dungeon at them since they wanted to make a base of operations and I figured that if they cleared it, that it would be a nice place to renovate... now, the setting is a bunch of sky islands with flying airship traveling to get between them, and this dungeon was on one of them... the group went to the island and saw a tower, about 10 stories tall... they go up to the tower and see there is an upstairs and a downstairs, it is here I make mention that there was only enough room for one underground floor, as they would have seen when flying to the island... the group splits into 2, and it's here that's interesting... the group that goes downstairs has a small encounter with goblins that each die in one hit, but were running away... and it's there that I decide to make a second underground floor they were running to... the artificer decides to cast Detect Magic, and that's where a genius idea comes to mind... I have them make a Wisdom save, everything around them glows violently as the entire underground is just magic, they then make an arcana check to realize that the area was a supersized bag of holding, which I named the chamber of holding... I explained how there was potentially infinite space down there and it was great to see their reaction to that
I run games on Roll20 without video. Just audio. I leave ample room for adaptation in my stories and one thing I'll do is pretend I've gone to the other room for some reason or another and I'll just sit there listening to my players talk. During the session and right after we finish they'll almost always be discussing what they think is going on in the story, how their characters view the situation and their general feelings about the story and the direction it's going. Armed with that information I can take the story in whatever direction seems to be where they want it to go. This has actually resulted in me throwing out the entire story in the middle of a session, turning that antagonist into a plot device to push them towards a different antagonist and different story altogether. At the end of the day, it's their story. I'm just the narrator.
I'm stealing that church is actually the zombie idea. That is one of the coolest things I've ever heard
Quickly stats up a zombie construct church .... you know, just in case.
I agree. I was running a monster hunting group and my PCs said that a pet shop owner looked suspicious so they decided to break into his basement while distracting them. As a reward for excellent RP I decided "screw it, this guy is into the occult and turns people into shop animals" They felt smart, I felt satisfied and was also able to world build from that point
wow that's awesome
The Retcon Rule. Nothing is set in stone until it is. Until your players encounter it, it's "all in your mind"... i habitually change things up just to be perverse, but once it's been instantiated, it stays the same without some good reason why it wouldn't
This is how the Horrible Episode of the Billyburger Franchise happened.
Haha, things like that are awesome. One of my players went through the city just looking around and rolled a 29 on Perception. I said she found a suspicious door on an old building. They went in later and found out that this seems like a bandit hideout inside the city. A barkeeper, an Ogre Bodyguard and some suspicious looking people. Later the Dragon attacked and destroyed the building. They found the Barkeep and made that Barkeep their own in their mansion they got the papers for, because he was unemployed now. They also stole something very important from him and convinced him to never look into the box where it was in. They got a barkeep now, know there was a contact to the Bandit King inside the city and found a Spell Scroll. None of that was planned. Loved it. :D
I fucking love when my PCs give me amazing ideas on the fly!
I still remember one time where I had a few monsters teleport in near the town that was about to be sieged.
One of them went "Shit what if someone went inside the walls as well?!?!" Now...I had planned on this and they already knew that in order to place these circles to begin with they had to actually use several hours to do this (It was still a few miles off the town and it had taken them months to prepar)
But one of them was certain that someone would have sneaked in and placed at least one circle somewhere.
In order to throw him a carrot (Plus it seemed like a fun idea) I choose to make that reality.
2 people had infiltrated the town a few months prior and placed 1 cirkle each at two noble mens houses.
It turned into a mystery of figuring out where the hell everyone had went and actually became a really interesting part of the adventure where the PC got to use a lot of spells he hadn't used that much.
Brilliant. I’ve gone with my players suspicions a few times and it ended up better than my original plan. I don’t always do that, but remaining open is wise.
The skit in the beginning hurts oh god
I'm pretty sure I've been in one of those games. I think we also all know why one of the players had her character dive off the bridge.
@@raphaelperry8159 Yeah, same here. It's my biggest D&D fear to become one of those DMs
Ok, I will get you into a campaign then drive you insane the entire time.
It would be fine if one of games I've been playing wasn't literally just that. And guy really tried but he's just not a good DM. Which is sad - as a player he's totally cool and a bro.
@@OmegaEnvych It probably stems from some sub fear of forgetting the rules or doing something wrong. That's kind of what I'm thinking when I get hung up on rolls, that or trying to get new people in the habit of doing stuff so they can pick up mechanics faster. If you carpool or talk outside of session, you could talk about hang ups or suggesting that less important rolls get smushed together into 1, or tell them to consider you using the "Take a 10" or 20 mechanic on all observational checks or something. Lack of DM experience is a curve.
"What's that, Katherine? You throw yourself off the bridge?" As someone named Katherine who was staring at this video like 'oh god. I'd love to jump off that bridge right now' I feel psychically called out right now.
Good thing he didn't make her roll to jump: "No, sorry... your character doesn't feel suicide is the answered..."
My name is Ryan...
I knew a place called Katherine Bridge. Ironic... 😏
what the frick :D
At least you were saved by the angel lol
Now my campaign has a:
-Stoner shopekeeper
- Caravan of dogs
-god of chaos as a bartender
-mimic airship
-slimes that make good pets
- cocky rival team
and also the sky is crying.
Ha. This totally isn't one of my biggest anxieties when planning. I'll watch anyway.
It'll be ok. Just push forward and you'll get better. 🖒🖒
@Tel Contar "make it explode" is a tried and true storytelling device. That burning barn should have exploded, and now even more things are on fire, and the players are trapped in a roaring inferno.
Listen, and understand. The PCs are out there. They can't be bargained, the can't be reasoned with. They feel no remorse, pity, fear, nor empathy. Above all else, they absolutely will never stop until everything and everyone in the dungeon is DEAD
@@Malidala On the same note you can also say: There is no rule that states, that there can't show up a guy with a gun at every moment. If a situation grinds to a halt, if the players have no clue, if there's a boring situation - throw in a guy with a gun (or warhammer or magic missile) in the mix.
Players search for the cult but can't find clues? Hitman sent by the cult
Players have investigated in the shady dealings of the mayor? Hitman sent by the mayor.
Players are searching for the fairy rings in the wood but can't find it? Hitman sent by the fae. (Don't be persuaded by their cute appearance - those are nasty little buggers with many a skeleton in their closets).
Video? Watched.
Undead Church Construct? Stolen for my adventure.
Hotel? Trivago
if you're ever running a world of darkness game, there's a statpage for a (beautiful) flesh cathedral made out of a tzimisce vampire who melted a lot of bodies into his own to create it
@@rateater1857 Vampire... We meet one another once again
The gravestones rise as an army of constructs ...
The zombies the party has been encountering are restless dead wanting their grave markers returned. - that's right, the zombies are the innocent victims.
@@Midrealm_DM The Clergy are the bad guys!
What a twist!
@@rateater1857 I fucking LOVE WoD, what edition and supplement is that flesh cathedral in?
This reminds me of that facebook post:
DM: You see a warehouse in the distance
Player: Is it like a werewolf, like man turning into a wolf but instead turning into a house?
DM: *frantically writing down stats* ... it is now!
:D :D :D
I'd love to see that irl. LOL
Ciaran Little you might’ve already
A were-house? Ha, I think I'm going to use that!
Oh god that makes me think of a plothook we had at a larp. We were told about doppelgängers which could also turn into objects. One of the players asked: so, if a doppelgänger turns himself into a house, will he then earn his money by renting himself?
Plot Twist: Optimus Prime found his way into your universe.
I was running a pre gen medieval fantasy game with, my friends, but they were getting bored of it, so aliens invaded the planet in the middle of their quest and blasted the planet completely out of orbit. After some nonsense about how the atmosphere and conditions were preserved by the planetary guardian angels, and after the halfling bard stole the keys to the “Overlord’s” long lost mother ship and became “The Chosen One”(much to the comedic ire of the other characters), we have spent the last two years thoroughly enjoying this campaign that is both sci-fi and fantasy. It is set to draw to a close this summer, and everyone is still on the edge of their seat. I watch your videos on a regular basis, and your tips have been the basis for my growth As a GM. Thank you
One surefire way to surprise your players in almost any location: Mimics. Tables, chairs, doors, statues, rocks, cave entrances, treasure chests, gazebos, facades on the front of an existing structure, and the list goes on. There's almost no situation in which a mimic would be out of place. Use them sparingly though. Too many mimic encounters leads to parties of characters that stab every piece of furniture they come across before using it or passing on.
Every time i hear or read the word gazebo now i can't help but think about a story of a player not knowing what a gazebo is, assuming it's a demon and whacking it until it collapses onto him. Sometimes the best thing a dm can do is stay silent.
So in my Pathfinder game I haven't used mimics yet. Yet our bard, after the party had successfully transversed the DC 27 and DC 30 traps, snuck past the CCTV monsters and found the secret treasure room, proceeded to fire a crossbow at the metal chest. @could be a mimic'. Totally didn't alert the Hag on the top floor and increase the overall encounter difficulty. I've now decided to put tons of furniture everywhere just for giggles
@@bonogiamboni4830 Oh man this made me laugh so hard.
Mimics are pretty boring if 'everything could be a mimic'. What are you supposed to do about it? Unless it's crafted with a LOT of care, players get to choose between 'I guess I get paranoid and won't touch anything, ever' and 'can't do anything about it anyway, eventually a random mimic will appear'.
Mimics become interesting when there are ways to spot them that don't rely on rolling perception on every piece of furniture. Silly examples: A square table with five chairs. An empty bookshelf next to a filled one. A cosy bed next to a tattered one.
Thank you. My players shall walk into a rumoured cursed abounded ghost town, where everything was left as if people suddenly disappeared without a struggle or trace while going on their daily lives. Some claim it's village that got transported from from another plain of existants without it's residents.
It's all mimics. Mimics how decided to just come together make a town and people started making up legends stories and curses about it.
I love taking ideas that my players inadvertently give me. I have a character that i once played as years ago and she is my favourite character i've ever created, we'll call her "May". I drop her into my campaigns as an easter egg for myself and she helps/annoys the party members, before leaving again. In the last campaign I played, I only planned to use her once, but one of my players developed a bit of a rivalry with her. May then left to go on other adventures. Anyway, about 10 sessions go by and my players have been working for this monster hunting branch, with an unseen benefactor and leader. Originally it was just supposed to be this old man who was once a great warrior blah blah, but then the player with the rivalry very loudly went "oh GOD NO it's gonna be MAY ISN'T IT? It had BETTER NOT BE! I will not work for her!". No, player, it WASN'T May...but you better believe it is now. "Hello again, friends!" exclaims May as the doors swing open...
Oml immediate character swaps are like half my character designs lmao
I can totally imagine a church bending it's steeple over and almost assuming the posture of a dragon before shaking it's head and jangling the bell in it's bell-tower so loudly that the soundwaves shake the players to their bones. It clearly wants those bones for itself.
And every creature it consumed they become part of the interior, the strongest become part of the cross.
"500 orcs, all running away from the PC's, why are they doing that?"
Duh, they're murder hobos. XD
Murder hobos that all just got personal fireball necklaces.
@@tylerian4648 I feel personally attacked. LOL
"There is a Paladin 5 XP from level up! Run for your lives!"
Party members: Wouldn't it be funny if an owlbear fell from the ceiling?
DM: :D
Bard and barbarian in pit trap: D:
And again the one big truth is revealed: The players are their own worst enemies...
Love the video! Technique addition here :)
Surprise is based on establishing, then subverting, an expectation. Something I learned a long time ago, learning counterpoint, was the rule of 2+ 1/2. Because we are all pattern-finding machines, set up your surprises....
1) do something once. instance is noted
2) do it the same way again. instance repeated. pattern recognition kicks in.
2.5) Begin a third time. Pattern noticed, this is totally going to///////WAIT it changed halfway into something completely different at the end.
Then meta this up one level. Your first surprise follow the 2+1/2 method, your second does too, and your third abruptly departs at stage 2. works super well for single long sessions, or for players who take extremely thorough notes (those rare unicorns).
your comment is gold
"The church... IS THE ZOMBIE!!"
It needs to be a shirt.
I'd buy that one.
I am going to use this as a sidequest.
Evil cleric raised an undead mimic to be his church so he can travel and set up near towns, draw in some followers for sacrifice to his evil deity or something.
Players come to investigate, maybe they figure it out and get the jump on him, maybe they don't, either way, at some point, they will be fighting an undead mimic church.
Horus Heresy "Signus Daemonicus" feeling intensifies... Brothers, lock and load. Kill that church!
Sounds more like a gazebo to me.
My favorite surprise was when a GM took a turn of phrase said near an alien. "I'll be back in a Jiffy" > to whats jiffy? > you dont want any jiffy > I need the jiffy whats the jiffy > look here is some jiffy but I only sell jiffy to those worthy of jiffy > I am worthy of jiffy > I don't think your worthy of jiffy > I have a shiny gun is it worthy of Jiffy > hmm barely but I guess it's worth jiffy > hands over a bag of salt > alien leaves happy with his jiffy.
A jiffy is 0.01 seconds. Gotem, stupid alien
I thoroughly enjoyed reading that.
A(daptability)
S(tructure)
S(urprises)
W(eight of decisions)
E(motions)
C(uriousity)
A(rrow traps)
N(ecromants who use undead to bring them a cup of tea early in the morning)
It's so fuckin deep.
2 years later and here I stumble with pure genius stuff.
So fucking deep.
Shadowrun game. My players found a suitcase nuke because it literally fell from the sky and landed on their car. One of them said, "I bet the combination is something like '666.'" So that's what it was.
I can relate.
One time i tried to open a suitcase that had 20 dice to defend herself. There was an "agent smith" inside the eletronic lock mechanism
My Players sought the audience of the Elder Druid. They’ve spent the last session gathering as much info about her as possible and knew they had to face the Elder Druids champion! Weapons were out, spells were prepared, and actions readied! Finally the Champion stepped out from behind a towering tree! ... a pixie. He’s a 15th Level Monk with a +4 STR Ring around his waist.
That sounds more dumb than cool
That sounds very amusing. I might steal that
Describe its attacks Ant Man Style.
You hear a buzzing around your head, suddenly the pixie is in front of you and punches you. You fly back 15 feet.
@@lordilluminati5836 In DnD there isn't always a difference.
@@bibbobella yes, the difference is subjective since "cool" and "dumb" are subjective terms, but it exists.
13:58 "isn't it supposed to be holy"
My mind: "there are many gods."
"It's a church of [insert God]"
*Laughs behind screen*
"don't give Guy any ideas. No one is to think about what they think is coming up..."
That made me think of "Choose and perish. Choose the form of the Destructor"
Gozer summoning Stay Puft the destructor in the original Ghostbusters 😂
"I couldn't help it! It just sort of happened!"
I once ran a Pathfinder one shot out of necessity (for once, nobody else had an idea after our current GM took a break). The PCs had discovered that the undead forces they were supposed to be facing were actually orcs that had been covered with sophisticated illusion and mind-control spells so that they looked and acted like skeletons.
Since they could now see through the illusion, they also noticed that one of the "skeletons" was actually a human woman. Upon dispelling the enchantment on her, she told them that the Big Bad (tm) was performing a terrible ritual and they had to hurry to stop it, whereupon she raced down the corridor with the PCs in hot pursuit. They entered a huge ceremonial chamber where the floor was about 30 feet down. Instead of stopping and using the stairs, though, the woman ran and leaped over the banister, hurtling toward the floor below.
...and in midair, she transformed into a huge Silver Dragon, dive bombing the BB in a blind fury.
Sadly, she dive bombed straight into the middle of the ceremonial area, which immediately activated as a trap-like effect, completely restraining her and beginning to charge up to cast an epic-level permanent Dominate Monster ritual. The PCs (level 4) now had 10 rounds to defeat the BB (he was gloating, so he told them directly they had a single minute = 10 rounds) and/or stop the ritual or else they would be facing a permanently mind-controlled CR 12 Silver Dragon.
I won't reveal what happened, but let's just say the PCs were inspired to be JUST as creative in resolving the situation as I had been in coming up with it. Also, half of what I wrote up there was stuff I pulled out of my ass just 'cause I thought it would be neat.
And may I just say that your rectal-inspired plot was not only unique, but quite in-depth.
Personally, I love a story where the protagonists incidentally further the plot whilst trying to thwart it.
Tödliche Verwüste that move is called “pulling a Metal Gear” xD
@@SerDerpish It's been a couple of months, and I haven't had the luxury of playing any of the Metal Gear games, so I am at a loss. Are you referencing the "oops! I kickstarted the apocalypse while trying to be the good guy and now i gotta do something about it!" trope?
That is eerily similar to something I came up with for my game. The players have yet to reach it
"I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something that I loved from my childhood. Something that would never ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay-Puft."
Hey blue spirit have you played the homebrew "Incarnate: last of the lacers"? Its a rule set for atla in 5e
I had the same thought in my mind the instant Guy said it :D
Yes... truly I shall listen to my players tonight. May their undoing be by their own decission....
You open the supply room door. In the darkness you see four martial arts masters. "SUPPLIES!!!!!"
UHF!
Lol!
Lmfao
Read this whilst taking a dump and struggling to get it out with all this laughing
Why is this so fucking funny
That's one of my favorite things, when my players tell each other don't give the DM any ideas.
I fucking love all do those ideas they can be throwing around.
One of my players are still ohh so proud about having figured out a plotpoint in my campaing at one point thanks to the forshadowing and small hints I had done!....when in reality he just kinda mentioned it a few weeks prior and I found the idea absolutely amazing and fitting for what I had been building up so I stole the shit out of it.
My players don't tend to say I bet It's this,....infact I am thr only one who says 'on no it's a ...' but they do give me ideas when talking out of session for stuff that I save for later in the campaign or future ones 😈
Surprises:
Local gladiator champion is actually a halfling barbarian named "Turo Heavenlyhair". He likes good food and fancies himself as a talented singer and song writer in his past time and he likes smashing heads at work. He has his own fanclub, and indeed, very gorgeus locks.
Players like him.
I'll be taking this NPC concept.
@@Shadeogray1113 Go for it! x'D
During a campaign I had, there were 2 npcs that accompanied the party
Once they got to the dungeon entrance, it was decided everyone should rest up first. When Players awoke the npcs were gone
Once the Players got to the lowest level they encounteted a nightwalker who was casring spells hokding the 2 npcs ripped out hearts
Next episode was a flashback episode where my 2 players played the 2 npcs and the events that lead up to their deaths they actually got to plat through
the general consensus was, that it was a neat idea
necro post i know but this is a fantastic way to handle a missing party member for larger groups
Im love the church golem idea - it very much makes me think of the golden rule of "yes, and?"
No. It's too late. you have AWAKENED the gazebo!"
"Oh my goodness, there's a lich around the corner, right?"
"Well, there is now..."
I thought of one a while ago when I watched the Death March anime.
The MC goes into the tavern and meets the barmaid and she looks him up and down like a piece of meat and goes back to work, and that's all that happens.
But in my mind the dialogue should have been:
MC: Wow, wait.. is this tavern also a brothel?
Barmaid: Well it is now...
ROFL
Regarding Giving players what they guess....its also a great way to have fun yourself as a DM. It's amazing the number of diferent things that they will come up with, so sometimes Im just like "Oh, yeah that is a much better idea!!".
"We need to get holy water from the church and there's probably gonna be zombies"
*You come across a church that is being tended to by intelligent, fully sentient zombies. They greet you kindly as you arrive and ask if you are in need of assistance.*
Yess
12:06 "Does it affect your plot? Nah, they're going to kill him anyway."
This sums up adventure design so well.
Loved the video. My favorite situation reversal/surprise I ever did involved a cabal of necromancers. They were threatening mass destruction of a town and the death of the citizens so they could then raise a small band of undead wage war with. PCs successfully did what they had to do to sneakily evacuate the citizens through a underground tunnels that were part of a mineshaft. PCs then have final climactic battle with necromancer cabal who in the throes of defeat evil laugh and say "behold my zombie army" and do a mass raise dead and look very proud of themselves. Necromancers successfully a raise a tiny zombie kitten that a little girl had buried a few days ago. Players look smug and laugh, while BBEG looks sad. Then Necromancer leader on death's door says "screw it" and enlarges the kitten and now we have a giant zombie leopard/panther that wants to eat the party. Now I as DM get to laugh while players look sad (but secretly happy).
"The duke is now a vampire. Does it affect your plot? Nah, they are just going to kill them anyways." Greater truths have never been spoken.
"i stabb myself in the face, because i dont know what to do." "you wanna know how i got these scars?"....
So.... what kind of moves and stat blocks should I use for this church-zombie? >.>"
Golem.
I know this is a year old but I would say
Evil Construct or Undead || Weakness to Fire & Radiant || 10d10 hit dice + HP equal to the amount of people who have died in it
Has three attacks-
- Slam deals 5d10 dmg and target must make a Dex check if they want to dodge
- Deals the same kind of damage as Thunderclap (or whatever the spell is)
-Pew Pew: Literally launches the pews from inside itself as projectiles. I'm sure there's furniture based damage in the book somewhere
You know you are doing things right as a GM when your player are so paranoid they whisper to each other about their plans in secret. I really love these advice. It's the downfall of a newly starting GM that they are not used to things and they make boring predictable stories. People hate it and they quit being GM.
I think one of the keys to keeping games moving is to actually understand the basic structure of RPGs:
1. GM sets the scene.
2. GM calls for action (explicit or implied).
3. Players declare actions (an intention and an approach) or ask further questions about the scene (answer and goto #2).
4. GM adjudicates actions, describing consequences.
5. Goto #1.
To make an analogy with riding a bike, this is the "keep turning the pedals and don't fall over" bit of GMing. You can take a bike on a cross-country trip, ride it to work, compete in BMX, whatever you like. Just keep those pedals turning and don't fall over.
Same deal with running an RPG. Just keep running through the cycle. You're not going to be able to employ any of the tips in this video (which are all good, BTW) if you don't run through the cycle and keep the game _moving._
I would insert a 5b in there. Gm assesses the situation and adjusts, improvises or outright cheats as needed.
@@TheSingerbear
That's part of adjudication. Deciding if the action needs a roll at all; if so, what roll is needed etc.
And stop cheating.
I love subverting situations. Like imagine you come across an Egyptian style skeleton, slinking and slithering around. He announced himself as a the "Bone Pharaoh. He easily towers over the party. When the players come near, he holds up his hands and says "Don't hurt me! I just want you to know that you're all beautiful, and you cannot argue with me because I'm the Bone Pharaoh!"
Alabaster Laserblaster stolen instantly. Its mine now. Thank you.
I had the party meet an Ogre who curled into a ball and pleaded "No hurt Fluum". They all stopped, mildly baffled. But they liked Fluum the cowardly Ogre. So much so that they brought him with until they found a home for him.
That's strange, "The Bone Pharaoh" was my nickname in college. :D ROFL
I was doing a one shot for my now group. The goal was to teach the rule and then let the PCs make their own characters. They loved the characters they kept them.
I didnt have a master mind for this campaign. The PCs rolled a huge success and forged documents based on an actual NPC who was a high level figure.
Surprise! They pissed him off for doing this and he is now the master mind.
PCs are truly the gift that keeps on giving.
I can confirm. "DON'T GIVE HIM ANY IDEAS!" is indeed frequently uttered when we play with Guy. XD
Hi Jorek!
@@Hirosjimma Hello! Sorry I totally missed your message the first time around. xD
Mimic Church, job done.
People have been going missing for years and the town people think its a Ghost.
Let them stock up on silver and give em magic items that are great at capturing and containing ghosts so when they're done they can show the captured soul to collect the reward. Once waiting for the ghost to show its self the inside of the church sprouts tentacles and slim leaving them totally unprepared for the encounter of a giant mimic they are already inside.
When they kill it and try and claim their prize they get run out of town by the locals for destroying the church without capturing/killing the ghost.
The above it good for 4x 3hr sessions depending on how big the town is and the minor quests to go and retrieve the soul stone that can capture the ghost and silver weapons for injuring it enough to be captured.
I've allowed my players to creativity kill the main villain. They followed the rules, used the tools they had and made a plan on the fly. I was in awe and had to let them do it.
There were bigger forces at play, but I didn't know that back then
A campaign I was in, our DM made the mistake of giving our druid an "unbreakable box".
During the fight with what was intended to be the main villain, we turned him into bunny with polymorph, and shoved him into the box, quickly locking it. Having lost sight of the target the spell wore off and the bbeg returned to his natural form via the keyhole.
The sheer pressure of the stream of expanding blood, flesh and bone was enough to kill one of his henchmen.
So the dm had to come up with another bbeg that had a counterspell to block our polymorphs.
So I cast banish instead :)
To clarify, he was a demon Prince (and then later his father, a demon Lord) from another realm so my banishment worked a treat and he couldn't come back unless he was summoned again which couldn't happen because we killed all the cultists that knew how :)
Biggest way to surprise the PCs: you enter the cave and see...a giant banana
Oddly, my players would expect that. Though, they would be cautious of said banana because, knowing me, it may explode or peel itself and reveal a monster.
There are things called cohesion and plausibility. In most cases a giant banana is just random. And silly. And not very plausible. And, depending on the setting, breaks cohesion. Yes, it is a surprise nobody saw comming, but it doesn't add any real value imo.
@@olafmeiner4496
I've made the strangest things cohesive.
@@olafmeiner4496 if the DM adapts it well enough, the party could be hunting a legendary monster with gargantuan teeth and it comes from the skies leading them to a cave thinking "Well, it's probably a bat" no, it's a giant gorilla who is defending his jungle.
@@olafmeiner4496 There's ways to cohesively incorporate a giant banana, just not many where the banana isn't key to the plot.
I've just started GMing and you're honestly keeping me going. Before today's session my nerves were really getting to me (because first session went really well and sequels are stressful), and I watched your video on not giving up being a GM. So that, later on, when my very anxious (new to D&D) friends had a lot of silent patches (made worse by playing on Discord so I couldn't even see them), I reminded myself that it's not my story, I'm doing my best, and my delivery of NPC lines doesn't have to be Oscar winning, and I need to just keep at it. I love your delivery on these videos, and I see I have a whole lot more to learn from!
You do surprises like I do dumb attacks in Smash Bros: Repeat it because it's so stupid that no one would ever try it twice in a row, let alone three times.
Also, these are good ideas. Thanks. :)
I once made my players go to an island filled with lazy Jamaican goblins and bugbears in a tropical paradise.
But did they fight a mage who modified chickens to make monsters or ninja chicken ?
I set up a boss room under a mansion that was slowly spawning elementals and my party managed to leave the room before the enemies could fully spawn (I forgot to close the door behind them oops) and exit the mansion and convince the mansion owner that they completed their quest. So I made the owner go into a shed to give them their payment and then the shed fell into the boss room. They wanted the money.
I was running a game of Weapon of the Gods (Wuxia kungfu game, loads of fun) and the party was after the second leader of the Three Colors Gang Red Sparrow (they defeated the first leader White Crow a few games prior). They met with the governor of the city, who was a sickly man that housed them for a night. After discussing the situation with him he pointed them to the Peony Pavilion, a brothel further in town where Red Sparrow was known to frequent.
They go to the brothel and challenge him to a fight as the honorable Wuxia Warriors they were. But during the fight an arrow came flying out and hit one of them with unerring accuracy, a black arrow with black fletchings, that came from the direction of the Governor's home. Turns out the Governor was the third leader of the gang Black Swan.
Subtle flex at the end "I'd respond if I can, but there is simply too many comments to do that." Funny Guy, funny Guy.
Just Remember ASS!
Adaptability
Structure
Surprises
Jokes aside great video.
You can never forget a good ASS! :P
I use random charts. One example is my d% roll for random events. A crazy huge or amazing thing occurs on a natural 100, other not so huge things occur on other numbers. I love random charts! Anyways I have a second chart if I get the nat 100. One time a random encounter at a watering hole was a gem dragon (topaz) a big one, way to OP for the party. But it was lucky because this happened after they were captured and enslaved. The dragon helped destroy their slavers so they could escape! Because logic in the situation had them the farthest back in the cart as their captors went to get water and water the mounts first! And that was the interesting unplanned escape from enslavement the party had! Then they just you know ran away through the woods for a long time and then they had many directions and possibilities ahead! And were so scared the dragon was pursuing them... and what ever else was in the woods. and getting out of the evil country they were in.... Ah good times!
Random charts? Did you make them or are they available somewhere?
@@LtRee96se Many i made. Other random charts I got online. Look for many awesome free dice charts on r/dnd random charts. It will say a massive growing resource for Dms... The one I'm referring to here is my own chart. I have several and often do custom ones for each campaign and can also change charts by location and level of play. Random charts are amazing and really help me DM/GM I recommend them with the highest rating.
Our first play session this campaign, I had several scenes:Two characters were on a ship, and we had a fairly quick scene of their ship being caught in a storm that seemed to come from nowhere, nearly drowning them, then wash up on a beach, where they ended up in a life and death struggle with scavenging goblins. As I was about to introduce the next character, I described what she saw: rain and tidepools- washed up crabs and her prize: small fish trapped in the tidepools. I described how delicious they looked, and how delighted she was, and how much she LOVED the rain... on ... her... _fur_ . Then I dropped her token on the map- it was of course, an otter. Nobody saw it coming. I had not warned her that she was in fact, an otter. She also turned out to be tougher in otter form than anyone else in the party, and saved them all from the goblins just before, in a sudden flash, being transformed into a slightly bloodied, naked, and very wet girl. I told her she'd been an otter for 7 years now, and had no idea how it happened, nor how she got changed back. The party wrapped her up, and dressed her wounds, and she's been rolling with it brilliantly ever since. She's the girl who thinks like an otter.
I've actually had the zombie in the church scenario, the players guessed it, but I decided to screw with the group a bit more. Zombie clerics of Wee Jas, the area was so toxic that the living couldn't stay so these priest stayed and allowed themselves to slip into undeath allowing them to ceaselessly assist those in the area trying to rid it of the corrupting magic. One of the many ways I have enjoyed screwing with paladins for being a stick in the mud.
I laughed and laughed at Zombie Church - may your imagination never fail!!!
i did the "living church" trick in vampire the masquerade. my players were invited to a tzimisce haven, and upon them rolling successful intelligence checks, i warned them that tzimisce are 1. known for the art of fleshcraft and 2. very touchy about hospitality and guest conduct laws, and that the player characters probably should take the shoes off as they go in.
They didn't take their shoes off, because "the floor was weird". Well, surprise, the floor was a part of their host and he didn't appreciate being treaded upon by a toreador's high heels. Next time when a slavic person tells them to take their shoes off, I know they will ;)
One of my players said, "how do you make up quests and characters on the fly? How do you just go with what we do, give us choices and keep making new events on and on?"
Inner monologue: *I'm trying not to be boring* 😰
6:24 "my wrist doesn't rotate that way"
*SURPRISE!!*
The church is the zombie.....
Gods I need to get better at this ><
Twisted mind indeed
Doesn't sound bad actually. an awakened building that is undead.
@@LazyVideosGAME I mean maybe they built the church out of the bones of a dead giant.
This is great advice! My early days of of GMing were burdened by these issues? Everyone is having more fun now, even me!
If my players are predicting what I'm going to throw at them (and being bored by the obviousness of it), I don't change it radically. If they need holy water from a church, I'm not making a Dread Church thing, because I have been a player who could figure things out in advance before, and it looks as bad as being super predictable, aka "You only did that because we figured it out."
What would I suggest? Something "subtle"... like the holy water is oozing out of an ancient priest in the undercroft, and the zombies can't get close enough to hurt him but will attempt to snack on anyone who goes down there. I think subtler moves do better than sudden, over the top stuff.
I think subversion of expectations might be a better way to describe this than surprise. Things don't necessarily need to be strange or shocking, just interesting and different to help hold attention.
And honestly, if "don't give the GM ideas" isn't a regular phrase at the table, you might be doing something wrong.
Thanks so much for the content! I’m not a GM but I use some of these tips as an RP!
I ❤️Guy
I've never clicked on one of your vids so fast
God I dread being this as a DM, I have been occasionally, but I manage to avoid it most of the time. Just sometimes I get worried I am straying from the rules to far thanks to a bad old friend of mine who was a rule lawyer and burrowed such things into me my first campaign :/ Been getting better at avoiding this as I go on and gain confidence in myself, and with a bit of help from the good ol' GreatGM!
I’m lucky. My players are so gullible and trusting with NPCs. It’s fun to mess with them. Although sometimes I wish they were more suspicious. I have to be SUPER obvious with my clues cause they’re all idiots. I love them all, but they’re idiots.
I guess I'm a big time "give them what they guess" DM. I've always thought of it as the "Schrödinger's Dungeon" approach.
Personally I try to include a "Chain of Consequence" portion to the mix, every so often you'll have something they did either to themselves or to others coming back around either as a subtle nod that their actions actually did something in the world, sometimes it knocks them on the head though if they happen to let a mid-boss get away or if they caused significant collateral damage in a kingdom or business.
Sometimes it's as subtle as a headline in a newspaper, sometimes it's a street urchin who used to be a noble jadedly glaring in their direction, sometimes it's a two tonne mech suit with an AI core that they were too slow in dealing with and had to abandon the city to it's thralls.
"Dont give the DM ideas!" is a constant thing said at my table as well.
Haha I want to see a session of level 1 characters say "I bet the lord is a vampire let's attack it today after prep".
DM activates CR 13 foe.
It might actually be fun to have a villain that is known but you are unable to do anything about it. Think of the tension when they have to have an audience with him and not give away the fact that they are on to him.
Then later he can be a final boss.
"Once the church dies" statements that literally no sense even in context
Also if all else fails, rocks fall nobodys hurt
Where did the rocks come from? Idk a stone dragon, earth elemental falling its death, a God trying to smite you, it's your game figure it out.
Theres no such thing a stone dragon? There is now. How did an earth elemental fall to its death? Good question, ask your players. God tried to smite you? Well what did they do to piss of a God?
Players confused as to why something happened is better than players confused as to what happened
Adaptability: There was a situation where the players had defeated a huge demon that attacked them first, but instead of trying to kill it off, they started talking to it and convincing it that "eat humans is bad; only eat if they attack you first" and so I ran with that, and they had a demon companion for a while.
Surprise!!
i had a troll under the bridge... it was without the billy goats until a player mentioned them..... but they were zombie goats.... lol
I'm taking that idea! The church of the mechanical god is becoming a battle mech.
Transformers: Medieval style
I think there's one more thing that should be considered. Don't wait for the players to take action. For example, if they are in the middle of town and don't know what to do next, have a random pick pocket grab something, but make it obvious. Use the pick pocket to lead the players where you need to. I actually have a pick pocket rolled up and ready just in case for my games.
As for surprises, there's many. Though, my favorite comes from an ongoing game of Heroes Unlimited. The short of it, the players are locked in a basement by a mutant St Bernard. While investigating, my players found a mutant talking dog that they thought they can trust. Initially, I thought of using the dog for combat. Basically, a talking Kujo with human like hands and above average IQ. One player decided to talk to it, so I made the dog smug and condescending for role play. No combat this time. The dog "agreed" to help them with their investigation. He lead them into a basement they previously examined. When they were in the far corner away from the door, the dog retreated to the door and locked the players in the basement. I figured that they would expect the dog to be loyal to the smugglers and cultists in my game. Instead, they thought it was a wild mutant roaming the property. In a sense, I was more surprised by their decisions then they were of being locked in a basement.
Surprises are fun.
The intros are like looking up netdoctor. I become a total hypochondriac when I see them. Going "Oh that's me... No that's me... I do that, I also do that... I don't do that... Why don't I do that... A totally wants to do that... But I don't dare."
Your character throws themself off the bridge.
LOL SUBBED
They were fighting a giant 50 story elemental monster by using a dam as a barricade while the either fired at it with magic and artillery or mounted on its back and directly attacked its weakpoints. When its turn came around they told me "Ok so it just breaks through the thing i assume, whats next." While that was my original plan, i thought 'nah, lemme do something else' so i decided to let it fail at breaking through. They had one more turn at excitedly and frantically attacking it thinking they actually had a chance to defeat it. Next turn comes up, theyre on their toes wondering what its doing, so i cant just leave it at "it charges a second time and finally breaks through" so i decide... "Ok, so for a second it looks down and arches its back, then roars a mighty deafening roar. Then, all of a sudden, giant flaming wings sprout out of its back". The looks on their faces made the whole mental gymnastics of coming up with SOMETHING so worth it
We were running the old Dragonlance modules (but it's more like a reboot because I've changed so much). In the second adventure, the heroes are on a mission to save a group of children being held captive in an enemy stronghold. Along the way, they walk into this enormous room with a red dragon. She's old, her teeth are chipped, her scales are tarnished. She greets them warmly (no pun intended) and asks what they're doing. They say they're taking the children out for a walk. She seems okay with it until it becomes obvious the heroes are removing all of the children. The dragon starts screaming, "My children! Why are you taking my children?!" (She's delusional and thinks the human children are her children.)
My group LOVED the encounter. They ended up nicknaming her Grandma Dragon and it became the highlight of the adventure. Meanwhile, I always thought it was the cheesiest part of the story. Eh, just go with it, as long as the players are having fun.
One of my favorite things to do in combat, is make a trick out of pre-combat
"You see a suit of armor on the floor" as my party assumed it was animated armor but THEN they meet a wall of ooze! Took them like 15 minutes trying to get the edge on this thing, but they later found out they never needed it
the intro hurt me spiritually and emotionally 😭
Never make your Adventures TOO serious. They can be dark and gritty, but you need a little bit of fun. For example, the best session of D&D I've ever played was when the DM created the Campaign to literally be Monster House, the plot and setting from the movie! It got even better when my other friend's escape plan was to yeet himself out of the window. He was on the 2nd floor, and was knocked unconscious.
Are you looooocaaal? This is a local shop, for local people. ;)
I love the undead church idea I haven't done anything quite that epic. But I have done a gay goblin that is super vain about his appearance. He always uses these little favors. He hands out like candy and in return go grab him this item from here stop this place from burning down. Suprise reveal he is a lich that is using the party to gather legendary items to make himself a God and uses magic items to keep himself from rotting away.
I had a mission in my game that was basically a filler combat mission while I tried to come up with more plot, they PC's had to clear a city graveyard of undead, a bunch of skeletons and zombies, you know, the usual. there was a massive crack in the ground from which came an UNDEAD HYDRA. (Which was promptly destroyed because most of the PC's were level 8 by now). But since it was rather obvious something would be coming out of the massive hole nobody was surprised..
When they moved on and just about finished clearing the graveyard there was just a run down crypt/chapel/tomb building thing, when the players finally got around to opening it up they were faced with a full strength Litch. Which again they utterly destroyed (I think I'm too soft on my players) and found the phylactory but rather than destroying it, they kept it.... Sadly the campaign has died before they've had a chance to unleash their pet litch on their enemies.
Couple of sessions later the first time I did any real damage to the party was again another filler combat mission while one of the payers was away where they faught 2 balors.... (originally was planning to send 4 at them but just sent 2 to see how they held up) and all but 1 of the players DIED. (As in failed saving throws level of dead) thankfully the one remaining PC had a couple of casts of revivify left. (and one granted from their goddess for a favour they would have to repay at some point)
I'm glad Katherine made it in the end. Rock on, man! Great content.
I gotta say thanks man, your videos helped me a lot. I just dm'd my first game last night, with my Wife and her cousin playing. It was an awesome time! I'm pretty sure I fudged a few of the rules by accident, but we had a blast which is what it's really all about so I consider it a roaring success,! Thanks for all the tips man!
I'm running a group with new players. One of the players was getting horrible roles all night until he did an arcana check on the Capt. of the Guards cat who the group spent nearly 45 minutes playing with, petting, etc.. He got a nat20. So the Capt.'s cat is now Commander Paws, a chimera pup who was bespelled into a cat form which the other players helped reverse. They don't know why Paws was that way (nor do I) but we'll figure it out. XD
I try to adapt based on what the party says/does. One particular adaptation I've made, which I'm very happy with how it turned out, is on one part of the adventure, the party ventured to a farm to retrieve something. They found the farm abandoned, but after some searching, found a girl hidden in a closet. She was there to shed some light on the danger the party was in, but some of the members didn't trust her at all. She wasn't designed to be part of the story beyond the current situation, but my players were hell-bent on proving she was evil. They failed due to bad rolls and poorly chosen spells (most of the group is relatively new to d&d), and reluctantly gave up on the idea.
Two sessions later, they are hunting her down after she revealed her true nature, stole the object they retrieved and murdered a city guard that was bringing her and the object to the magister, whom they worked for, while the party was indisposed (actually, imprisoned for horse theft ... One of their many questionable decisions along the way and their first lesson in "Actions Have Consequences"). I had responses such as "You $#@$!! I effing knew it!" and "I told you guys we couldn't trust her!". She makes a wonderful villain that the party loves to hate.
It didn't change the overall story, it just added a shift in focus, for the time being. The general plot and story are still roughly the same, but it organically grew to be more than I originally came up with. And I hope they ignore their fellow players when they say "Don't give any ideas" and keep their visions of doom coming :D
Few of my players are somewhat... too active, they interrogate all the goblins they encounter. It's fun and leads to some possible adventure hooks, but after 20th goblin in the same area, of the same tribe and with similar orders, it's a bit annoying to come up with something more interesting. That said, they stay away from other sources of lore - I did introducing adventure session for each of them, tailored to their backgrounds and classes - none of them are interested in looking into politics, libraries, exploration of the Underdark and what not, they just want to interrogate goblins. I don't want to force feed them lore or yelling - 'go there, save your hamster, he might be dead already!', 'don't you see the chief medic is an opportunistic deviant who makes profit from suffering of other people?! You're a cleric, a lawful good one, why don't you do something?!'. I throw a handout - a map, some torn page from arcane tome, forged receipt here and there, but they... prefer those damned goblins. Am I too subtle or should I just accept it's a hack and slash for them? Or maybe they just interrogate them because they established they are amazing source of adventures?
I think I'll drag them to Underdark as prisoners.