Best GM plotting tip I learned is from Monster of the Week which is: Plot out what will happen if your PCs do NOTHING. That will be all you really need to know, so when your PCs do anything to change that outcome it will be much clearer to you what has changed and what happens now
@Quinns_Quest
2 жыл бұрын
Wow, that's actually super good
@theosoler6624
2 жыл бұрын
* writing down *
@thelyghter7927
2 жыл бұрын
Best advice to follow Quinn's advice
@blandalbloot1138
2 жыл бұрын
"The dragon will stay curled up on its pile of gold, presumably until the end of time, and the other monsters will just hang out in the dungeon, picking their noses or playing cards." Is that it, or is there more to it than that?
@notgeoff799
2 жыл бұрын
@@blandalbloot1138 I've not played M0tW, but it might be more like "If the players fail to investigate and stop the Beast of Blarg, it will foray deeper into town each night, eating Farmer Mose on his farm on the outskirts on Wednesday, killing the entire Jones family on Maple street on Thursday, and nearly killing Stinky Pete the vagabond currently residing on Main street. If the players fail to stop the beast before Saturday evening, the beast will open the portal under the main street library, unleashing the horde on the unsuspecting townsfolk of Townsburg"
@WatchItPlayed
2 жыл бұрын
As someone who has always wanted to play RPG's, but has also been intimated by them, this was packed full of things I needed to hear. Thank you for sharing your insights Quinns. This was an incredible video and I have no doubt it will have a meaningful impact on many people who have been RPG-curious, but also hesitant to dive in.
@christopherwintersvahn6087
Жыл бұрын
Can’t wait to watch tabletop RPG rules, GM tips and tricks on Watch It Played. 🤩
@thinusconradie4297
Жыл бұрын
I can actually hear Rodney Smith's voice when I read this. Guess I might watched a TON of his videos.
@WatchItPlayed
Жыл бұрын
Just reporting back to say: I did it! Last month I ran two separate RPG sessions, and they were great learning experiences (and fun!)
@christopherwintersvahn6087
Жыл бұрын
@@WatchItPlayed out of curiosity; what game did you manage to get to the table?
@WatchItPlayed
Жыл бұрын
@@christopherwintersvahn6087 Critical Foundation and Labyrinth
@adriannaoshea
2 жыл бұрын
I've tried D&D with 5 different groups and didn't have a good time with any of them. Then I played Call of Cthulhu and fell in love. If you feel like you want to get into RPGs and something just isn't clicking, don't be afraid to try a different game. Quinn's advice of choosing something that gets you excited is so spot on and your options feel endless. Paranoia is next on my list to try.
@katecritt
2 жыл бұрын
Paranoia is a tricky game for long-form campaigns but an absolute blast for one-shots and short adventures. Drive your character like you stole it, life is more fun when you push the red button, you're going to die a couple of times anyway, and that's on a good day.
@mpureka
2 жыл бұрын
This is excellent advice. I feel like a lot of people try D&D because it's the game everyone has heard about and go "Well crap, these games are full of numbers and charts and fighting, I'm out." which is a huge shame. So yeah. While I totally agree with the advice in the video that it's impossible to really guess what kind of game you want when you've never played ANY, I think after you've played one or two, you should be able to say "I'd like something where my character's personality matters more than their loot" or "I'd like something where position on the battlefield is more important" or "Could I get something with less math please?" or whathaveyou.
@adamwhitehead7289
2 жыл бұрын
@@mpureka The #1 reason I find people give for not playing RPGs other than D&D is the perceived mechanical complexity of other systems. They seem surprised when they realise that D&D is one of the most complicated contemporary RPGs out there (obviously historically there were much crazier systems around in the 1980s or whatever) and if you can play D&D, you can sure as hell play Deadlands/Savage Worlds or a Modiphius game or Blades in the Dark or WEG Star Wars or almost anything else (maybe not Shadowrun, but almost).
@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop
Жыл бұрын
Great advice. Paranoia is the greatest RPG experience I've ever had. It's perfect if your friends are assholes - it gives them a chance to shine.
@danidm5820
2 жыл бұрын
GM tip I learned over 4 years and I wish I was told about on day 1: You don't *need* to say yes to any thing your players ask (sometimes it actually is something that could screw up the whole game or ruin other people's fun), but whenever you can't say yes you should LISTEN and figure out why the player asked. The example that helped me figure this out: Is your player asking to play as an Antipaladin (AKA a murderous dark knight who lives to spread Evil and death) in your Good campaign? You should probably say no, especially if you are not experienced enough to deal with that kind of scenario; that would require you to basically delete 90% of your campaign and start over. BUT, whenever you have to say no, you MUST ask yourself why that player asked that thing. Maybe they like to fight a lot and your game has been dealing with a lot of intrigue and roleplaying, but not enough stabbing; find a way to fix THAT, give the party more things to fight, and the problem may solve itself without needing to rewrite your whole cast of side characters and completely restructure the game. Your players are both your audience and your co-stars. You must focus on giving them what they want just as much as what you want (and actually more).
@krinkrin5982
2 жыл бұрын
Matt Colville had a great advice here: if a player asks you if they can do something crazy and/or innovative, your answer should usually be: maybe, let's find out together. This usually leads to a skill roll or even a whole mini-adventure and is the perfect invitation to create the best memories from the game. My answer to the player asking 'can I play something unusual' would be: Could you elaborate why you want to do that? As you said, perhaps they want something that the campaign is not providing, or perhaps they feel like they want to emulate a character they like... or perhaps they just want to screw with the other players.
@edosanTV
2 жыл бұрын
This is an important point: when a player asks a seemingly oddball question, they’re saying this is how they think they want to play and you need to give that some consideration.
@razorboy251
2 жыл бұрын
Hey, been a roleplaying and a long-time DM (25 years and counting) plus I've been running paid games for new and veteran players alike during the pandemic. This video is really solid and really good advice. Just start, pick an RPG that gets you and your friends excited in some way, muddle your way through first session, don't sweat the rules, then ask your players how it went and what they did and did not like. Then do more of what they liked and less of what they didn't like in the next session. Keep going until the game inevitably ends due to scheduling conflicts!
@faxmachine1162
6 ай бұрын
Advice for my fellow GMs, since this video has genuinely been one of the best I've seen in a long time, learn to love your setting and run wild within it, embrace the bulleted list method of writing adventures, scenarios, and descriptions, and when in doubt, learn to throw out the actual rules and make up your own stuff. No game is perfect so feel free to write your own monsters, magic items, and abilities for your players. No one can stop you except you.
@alwaysardent1125
2 жыл бұрын
Honestly, the enthusiasm and content, makes this one of your guys's best videos in my opinion
@twoflower9239
2 жыл бұрын
Just wanted to come back and say that I thoroughly appreciate this video. What a service it is to the boardgaming and roleplaying community and to those looking to get their feet wet.
@lukaliker1392
8 ай бұрын
this video is the reason why i decided to start playing ttrpg. thank you for that.
8 ай бұрын
are you enjoying it?
@eswift8318
2 жыл бұрын
I've played RPGs for about 40 years. The comparison of modern day D&D to video game RPGs is very important to understand. Its like 80% tactics and 20% roleplaying. There's a little room for improvisation by the players, but almost no room for improvisation by the Dungeon Master. For example, if you suddenly think it would be a great twist for a demon to show up, and the players decide to attack it, you've got to look up all the stats for the demon, what spells and special abilities it has, etc.. I'm actually moving away from D&D to more softcover stuff like the Powered by Apocalypse styles (Fate Core is also good). If you like rules-heavy but want to have a little more freedom while playing, the classic GURPS is your friend. It takes a lot of fiddling on session 1 (or zero, depending on how you count) to make a character. But once you have the character, game play is smooth. One category he didn't mention is absolutely free and completely simple RPGs. Look up Lasers and Feelings. The "rules" fit on one side of a sheet of paper, and the character fits on the other. That's it. The original is scifi based, but people have made about every genre you could possibly think of.
@kenamelio4596
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I find I prefer to play "crunchy", and run "rules lite". If the players want to follow and self-impose a lot of rules, that's cool. But I don't want to have to referee it all. If one of my players wants to cheat and give me really high numbers on their rolls, I will adjust the world to accommodate. Like Quinton said, if as a GM you are saying NO to a player, I tend to feel you are making a mistake at some level. This is only really a problem when you have players looking for different kinds of experiences (one wants a tactical challenge, the other just wants to do cool stunts), but even there I think a good GM can figure out a way. (your character is in the parkour room tearing up a dozen enemies, while your character needs to sneak in and do the tricky part of the encounter.) It makes things harder though.
@picton101
2 жыл бұрын
After putting off Roleplaying for about 15 years, Seth Skorkowsky's youtube channel finally convinced me to just start. 2 years later my friends and I are having a blast. Ran a few Call of Cthulhu sessions, and we're about to start a Conan campaign soon. Can't wait to see what my players come up with. Our first 3 hour "one shot" ended up being a two part, 10 hour historical-horror epic! Can't recommend Seth's YT stuff enough, the man's a font of knowledge.
@gamerlin9738
2 жыл бұрын
I love being a player in games and that's how I started entirely till finally I made the jump to DMing with ideas of stories and in the beginning as a DM I felt like I failed a lot from not knowing the rules of the game from front to back to missing great story opportunities or basically not nailing it like DM's you see in big shows. But now that I have nearly 10 years under my belt I currently run games on and off for when DM's need breaks to stories I Homebrew!!! Greatest advice I think I can give is play the games and genres you love and be inspired to try new things and see what works and doesn't and when you have enough confidence give DMing a try to see how you like that as your already have a good idea what makes a great game from being a player so use that knowledge in your DMing.
@davidwillems9904
2 жыл бұрын
Nicely done! I suppose my only thing to add would be that there is a comfort for some players having an adventure that is more "on rails" or playing through a story. I've had players who love collaboratively coming up with a cool spontaneous narrative, and I've also had players who after a long week just want to be told there are goblins in a dungeon nearby that need-a-killin' and it makes them very happy. It's always a bit sloppy at first, but when you can hit that special combination of players and style of game, it's incredible.
@rjauquet
2 жыл бұрын
The gateway for a lot of my friends getting into TTRPGs was Fiasco -- no need for a game master, gets the improv skills going, and it's almost always a hit
@Septulum
2 жыл бұрын
The Star Wars RPG (Originally by Fantasy Flight Games) is a great narrative system. It eschews the maps and miniatures of D&D for descriptions of situations and the dice rolls produce main pass/fail results but also side effects and occasional disasters and epic moments. I really need to run another game of this.
@Monkeyzforever
2 жыл бұрын
I'm the friend who was the obvious choice to GM when we wanted to play ttrpgs, and it took me a while to find one that clicked. I tried D&D first, then Blades in the Dark, and for both I was just stressed trying to make sure people had a good time while remembering the rules. Then I decided to try out Monster of the Week and it's the first one we're actually going to finish the campaign for because it's sooo much nicer not having to worry about which rule fits which situation and instead I can just go 0-6 fail 7-9 complication 10+ success. I love actual plays of dnd and blades, but actually running something with a bunch of rules is not for me, I'm all about the role playing and the naturally emerging story so pbta is my jam ^_^
@danielprivett6155
2 жыл бұрын
One fun thing I've started to do as a GM who loves providing sandboxes to players but not over-prepping an building a whole world is to create a faction-based campaign. The idea is to create your world's factions first and then their agendas second. The factions will be what make your world feel alive and also inspire you to start drawing out interactions between agendas, potential encounters and in-fighting and even just an overworld map layout. If the kobolds worship a dragon and do his bidding, well now you know they need to live near a dragon, that they will defend that dragon with their lives and that odds are there are some ruined towns nearby from their activities. Some other factions may fear, hate and/or leverage the stupidity of those kobolds for their own agendas. But no reason to detail all of that out unless the players actually show interest in those factions. It's just one or two lines of high level agendas until the players begin to walk in that direction or bite some story hook. I set up a simple chart with factions on one axis and time on the other. What will the factions accomplish if left alone, or when will another faction team up with or kill them, etc. The players can then play in the sandbox, every few sessions when it feels enough time has passed, you advance faction agendas and write new encounters to tell the stories of what those factions may be up to. Your world is alive with a ton of interaction, canon overarching plots and very little prep work. At the end of a campaign you have a chart that shows the history of your world and can explain why certain things happened the way they did like a deep historical re-telling that you all developed together.
@ka5141
2 жыл бұрын
I see what you did there. you've basically made a 30 minute subliminal advert for Mork Borg. Yeah you didn't mention it but... that little yellow book with the werid name and dodgy cover is in nearly every scene. Well played!
@TyroKitsune
2 жыл бұрын
DMs! You are functionally becoming Game Designers, so take a leaf out of their book. Literally, kinda! I would advise you to have some method of jotting down notes and ideas whenever you have them. If not an actual book, then some form of note taking app on your phone is an excellent idea and a great way to capture nuggets of inspiration as they form. Doesn't have to be big, just enough to peck out a rough sketch of your idea or some bits and pieces to remind you of the grander idea. It's only an aid to memory or even to just see how it takes shape as you put pen to paper/thumbs to on-screen keyboard. You can neaten it up and smooth it all out when you present it to your players.
@wduncani
Жыл бұрын
Oh my God that professional wrestling npc trick may be the best GM advice I have ever heard.
@thomaspig7684
2 жыл бұрын
Shut up and Sit Down talking about RPGs?!?!?!?! I’m literally so exited.
@victorgonzalez9605
2 жыл бұрын
This was brilliant. Mad props for using the best friends (Trent and Chuck)
@bevisbeardman9492
2 жыл бұрын
I would 100% advise new players to give Goblin Quest a go. It's rules light, it's got just enough lore to get your juices flowing and it builds your improv skills so well. The silly nature of it probably means you don't have the same degree of roleplay anxiety you might have with something more serious. PLUS the book has so many different versions. A Princess Bride like game, a kobold inventors game and even one where you are all playing different versions of Sean Bean trying to break his curse of dying in every movie.
11:27 Vampire: the Masquerade is not rules heavy, it’s actually pretty rules light and especially so for 5th edition.
@jonydude
2 жыл бұрын
That was amazingly good. I almost never agree with every single word spoken on a video of this topic, but this time, I do.
@Dracopol
Жыл бұрын
To avoid light-reflections in your glasses, tilt them down (i.e. raise the back-stems of your glasses up your hair a bit). Actual TV studio trick.
@CandiceLikes
2 жыл бұрын
I would LOVE to find a few people to start a RPG! Seems like the hardest bit is finding them!
@gordongul6962
2 жыл бұрын
The last time I played an RPG I was the Keeper in a game of Call of Cthulhu (7th ed). I hadn't had the time to create an elaborate campaign, so I just set the first scene. The opening scene took place in a bank and my players decided to rob it. They botched the robbery and ended up in a police chase. I had a Lovecraft inspired story in mind, but the game we ended up playing had nothing to do with Cthulhu or even horror... and yet I don't remember ever leading or playing an RPG where the players had had that much fun.
@jonedvinz
Жыл бұрын
I keep coming back to this video just to hear Qunnis say "You can do this"
@triangulan
2 жыл бұрын
General things I have found useful as a GM: 1) I think knowing what an NPC is going to do is less important than knowing *why* they are going to do it. Knowing an NPC's motivations makes it easier to react to the players' actions. 2) This may be a personal taste thing, but in my experience, try to make sure the players know what their objective is. Some of the most annoying sessions I have been in (GMing or playing) are the *aimless* ones. This doesn't mean to be proscriptive. The objective may come from the players, or the players may deliberately work against or around the objective, but if it is there at least it gives something for them to engage with.
@graham8443
2 жыл бұрын
So many good tips, so many hilarious moments in this video
@meghanlarson3807
2 жыл бұрын
For adults I highly recommend discord to find games if you can’t find one locally! BUT for those who do decide to look online I HIGHLY recommend you look for or run your own game that uses TTRPG content safety tools. In a game where anything can happen, setting ground rules for allowed content will help you avoid games that might literally give you trauma. I recommend searching “dnd safety tools” to find different systems and tools to use for trigger warnings.
@lrsmnlsn
2 жыл бұрын
Oh Quinns, you're so informative and reasonable
@randommember5829
8 ай бұрын
This was so soo brilliantly done, the GM 'off'd' themselves under a No.74 bus in a moment of excitement... They'd also rolled a 14 as opposed to the 19 they needed on a 20 sided dice 🙄👍
@DottorVinz
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this wonderful love letter to the best hobby in the World!
@jfox0603
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks, Quinns. I've always wanted to GM and kept getting scared off by the thought of having to build a whole world. Hadn't thought of it from the perspective of the players and the "role" they "play" in creating the world. My question is, as a socially awkward person, is there any online possibilities for RPG play that might help ease me into the world. Also don't really have the pool of friends I once had in college that were eager to play an RPG.
@Red-ut6nn
8 ай бұрын
Great advice - thanks
@KabukiKid
2 жыл бұрын
I remember when we first started playing D&D back when we were 10, we didn't know half the rules... and we still had a blast! :-D Obviously, we learned the rules and stuck to them better, but it truly didn't help the fun-factor, in the end. :-) I think that early lesson taught me that I prefer rules-light systems. Definitely my favorite way to play. :-)
@mynameisiden797
Ай бұрын
you said something very profound here that extends well beyond running a good game. paraphrasing, players just want to be cool people doing interesting things. i am not really a gamer but i am a trans woman who didnt start transition until i was in my 40s. at the very beginning of that journey i realized that this was more than gender A to gender B. this was a chance for me to be the cool person doing the interesting things that i had always wished that i was. i hope anyone who reads this realizes that they have the freedom to be who they want. the world is full of bossy GMs who think they know what the plot of your story is. dont let them push you into an arc that isnt yours. if you want to go to paramedic school do it. if you want to draw skulls and puff on you hello kitty bong do it. you want to go be cool and do interesting shit and
@alestorcrowley
2 жыл бұрын
I am so here for more Shut Up and Sit down doing more rpg content. As an experienced gm I'd suggest just prepare. Lots of prep makes your job easier. And expect thst a high pct of what you prepare won't be used as players are a mercurial bunch
@ItWasSaucerShaped
4 ай бұрын
a thing i would add: it is perfectly okay if you start an RPG session and nobody gets into it so you just do something else. that happens all of the time even with experienced RPG aficionados it doesn't mean you don't get it or its not for you or even that the game you wanted to try isn't for you - sometimes for any number of reasons the magic just doesn't appear, and that's fine. just do a different thing and try again later agreeing to come together to try an RPG is not a pact to have a miserable evening if things go wrong, and in my experience the fear of that being the commitment is part of what keeps people from trying it. no! if things go wrong just do something else, it's fine!
@Netherborngames
2 жыл бұрын
This is great. Some excellent advice. My advice to new GMs would be to create your own setting rather than running an established campaign. That way, you have more freedom. It will be uniquely yours and therefore more memorable.
@zaclunawoodward
2 жыл бұрын
If you’re going to university, see if your students union has an RPG society. These societies tend to have large members bases so it’ll be easy to find a group. If your uni doesn’t, consider starting a society. Not only will running a society improve your cv, you’ll be improving others uni lives as well!
@TheMaghorn
2 жыл бұрын
Vampire: The Requiem fixes a lot of the problems with Masquerade in terms of rules and lore. If VtM interests you, Requiem 2E might be a better way to get into it. There's also the game systems made by Kevin Crawford, like Other Dust and Wolves of God, which are relatively rules light, very forgiving, but also brutally difficult, that are incredibly fun.
@shutupandsitdown
2 жыл бұрын
Ooh, I'll look into exactly that! - Quinns
@LordJazzly
2 жыл бұрын
Those are great GM tips, but I'd say they're rolling into the territory of 'intermediate' game-mastering, for once you can actually reliably perform the role. For a beginner, I'd say the most important thing? Is just to understand the game; not perfectly, just enough to have an idea of what it is you functionally _do_ as game-master/referee/dungeon-lord/monster-masher/etc. It's different (if only slightly, sometimes) in every game, and usually there's just the one of you at the table, so if you stop, the whole game stops. Also, and as an addition to this - don't be afraid to ask the other players for help if you're having trouble. Having the game-master side of things get a bit wonky because it's being informed by the player-character side of things is (probably) preferable to not having a game run at all. [Edited to remove 'the rules', because that sounds like you need to read the whole rule-book, which you don't]
@genuwine21
2 жыл бұрын
RPGs are improv. Yes and will take you far.
@secondengineer9814
2 жыл бұрын
I'd recommend Matt Coleville's running the game series.
@RestlessFisherman
2 жыл бұрын
Object with Cannabis leaf at 3:30 (and beyond)...vape battery or hemp lip balm??? I'm really curious so I know how much cooler I should think SUSD is now!
@FMD-FullMetalDragon
2 жыл бұрын
Good PbtA RPGs are some of the best intro rpgs that do a good job in helping new players to learn good roleplaying habits. Dungeon World is a good PbtA game not mentioned here.
@Wesley_Youre_a_Rabbit
2 жыл бұрын
If you like vampires, try “Blood Dark Thirst”. Yes, I know that it was created by a relatively controversial character in the RPG scene, BUT it captures the dark grit of being a vampire in a modern setting without all of the baggage of VtM.
@pm71241
2 жыл бұрын
Not having played RPGs for decades... but looking back, I guess I mostly played Call of Cthulhu for the solving-the-mystery part. Not so much for the role playing.
@platosfootnote3210
2 жыл бұрын
I watch videos like this to roleplay playing roleplay games.
@deusex3124
2 жыл бұрын
Can we take a moment to acknowledge Quinn's impressive plant collection, anyone know what the one with white dotted leaves is?
@rusty4496
2 жыл бұрын
There is a saying: "No D&D" is better than "bad D&D"... if you arent having fun, tell them why. If they dont care, move on.
@bengamingames5002
2 жыл бұрын
Find a character sheet you understand lol. Take an hour and learn a basic RPG system like Deathbringer, ICRPG (free core rules on drivethrurpg), or EZD6. (My favorites). Once you understand the basics, have fun and make up whay you don't know. No consulting the rulebook during gameplay, you are the DM.
@davidcomsay827
7 ай бұрын
Randal disappoints me
@DumbMuscle
2 жыл бұрын
I'm going to come in with a couple alternative versions of Quinns' tips. His approach is fine - but think of these as alternative techniques to give you a few more tools to steer the game. Not rails, but a couple tools to trim the sails on an ocean voyage. 1) If you want a specific story, don't set up a story, but know what your story is about - and tell the players up front, when recruiting them. Do you want to tell a big story about slowly escalating conflicts which ends up bringing in giants and ties in prophecies about the fate of the world? Great! When you're asking for folks for your campaign, say "This campaign is going to be about Giants, Prophecy, and steadily escalating trouble". Your players will then be encouraged to make characters that play into those themes, and naturally the stories they tell will mesh better with your original ideas - steering them in new directions. 1b) Know what the story is not about. That campaign pitch above? I'm running it. It's not about what happens in the cities (and the players have been told this), so when the party travels through a city, it's very much "cool, quick shopping episode and then lets get back out to the stuff About Giants". I've run games without this rule, and they were fun while they were running... but impossible to end in a satisfying way, because there were dozens of plot threads so when my life got too busy to keep it up for much longer I realised it would have taken a full year to come to any kind of good ending for it and just had to go for a hard stop which SUCKED. 1bb) Know roughly where you're going, and where you can rest. You don't need to plan out right to an end point - but know roughly what kind of things that end point might look like - which BBEGs need dealing with, which are the main problems to solve. Also have some story arcs that can have bits of downtime between them - both for general pacing, and becuase sometimes life will happen and you'll need a break and doing that at a point that feels like the end of a series of your favorite TV drama is better than feeling like you just had to stop watching a movie because of a power outage. 2) "What are you hoping to achieve with that?" is a very powerful question. Do you have a player asking about wierd chemical stuff? Ask them up front what they're trying to do - and you'll get to figure out how to handle their attempt to make gunpowder before they suddenly spring it on you. Got a player asking some wierdly specific feature of a monster? Check why - it might be that saying yes will let them use a particular cool ability, it might be that they're hoping for a no for some other ability. And if you do have to say no to the player who's trying to build a nuclear reactor in the gritty survival game set in caveman times, at least you're doing it before they've invested too much effort into the specifics of their plan - or you can offer an alternative which hits similar enough tropes to let them feel cool while staying broadly on theme for the story. 3) Sometimes, just shut up. If your players are having a bunch of neat roleplay between themselves, just sit back, watch the drama, catch up on some other prep while keeping half an ear out, and realise that it's their game and you're fine to just spectate for now. And then as that starts to calm down, go to a scene change (they finally get some sleep and you start on the new day) or present them with a problem (a man stumbles into camp, bleeding and gasping, a green-fletched arrow through his chest).
@bigwi7613
2 жыл бұрын
Wow this looked difficult task 👍
@evieoverride
2 жыл бұрын
"Actual Play is to roleplaying as pornography is to sex" is maybe the best & most concise explanation *of* and reassurance *against* the "Mercer Effect" I think I've ever heard.
@Xion0fCha0s
2 жыл бұрын
The best advice I got out of this video is the highlighted line. Make your NPC's at the level of Wrestlers. I think this is the best advice I've ever received.
@austinbekken7315
2 жыл бұрын
Even better doing it without naming it too.
@evieoverride
2 жыл бұрын
@@austinbekken7315 For sure. Matt seems like a good guy with an obvious passion for gaming, so I always felt sad his name is attached to something with such negative connotations.
@MangyForestCat
2 жыл бұрын
I have described it as “Actual Play is about as real as professional wrestling” and I love Pro Wrestling.
@OGNoNameNobody
2 жыл бұрын
This comment is 100% correct.
@GazzyW007
2 жыл бұрын
My personal favourite GMing trick: when players ask about worldbuilding and lore and you haven't got anything in mind or any strong ideas for what to have the answer be, point the question to the person at the table that seems most appropriate to answer it (which might be that player themselves). For example, you're in an elf village or something and someone asks "oh what do the elves eat here?" - point that at the player(s) who're playing elves, as it then becomes a way for them to put their input into the world. I do this because its 1) way more fun to use 5 or 6 brains at the table to come up with good worldbuilding rather than my own, and 2) the more you do this the more players have a stake in the world as a whole because of that personal connection. Wholesale stolen from Vel Mini's "Fellowship" game and it's Spout Lore move.
@Gamer2k4
Жыл бұрын
That's a good thought in general, but I've definitely had GMs use the "It's your world, so it's whatever you make of it" as a way to excuse their own lack of creativity. It's great to have players be involved like that, but you still should be prepared with a fallback if they're not able to contribute.
@nyanates
Жыл бұрын
Brilliant.
@scribl1
Жыл бұрын
This is built into most Powered by the Apocalypse RPGs. They're designed with collaborative worldbuilding in mind and frequently advise the GM to do as little prep as possible. :)
@micahnightwolf
Жыл бұрын
"Oh, well, we have an elf in our party. Why don't we ask her about her culture, and what her people like to eat?" The girl playing the elf, currently chowing down on a pack of gummy worms irl: "Worms!"
@robsonclark9678
11 ай бұрын
@@micahnightwolfhell ya worms!
@TheJoshDM
2 жыл бұрын
My 2 GM TIPS: 1 - Don't get hung up on the rules, just wing it and let the story flow unless it's something that will make your players feel they are being treated unfairly. 2- paraphrased from Palladium's "Beyond the Supernatural", if you need a few minutes of time-out and wish to create angst and dread, when a player reaches to open a door, simply ask them which hand they are going to use.
@stevejakab274
2 жыл бұрын
The difficulty is if one of the players is a rules lawyer. They can bring the entire game down if they're always arguing with the GM.
@Tabletop_Turtles
Жыл бұрын
That is genius
@andrewduitsman3918
2 жыл бұрын
As a long time DM, the most beautiful thing in this world is watching someone skeptical about TTRPGs say well can I do this? You say yes. Well then can I do this? That moment where they become a believer in the hobby and are not looking for the programed response or option like in a video game but feel they can do anything, it is special.
@Shavinderyt
2 жыл бұрын
Just experienced this as a new DM, and with new players. It made me realize why i love this hobby and how unique it is
@JarLoz
2 жыл бұрын
I will forever remember the little oneshot Knave game I ran for four people, one of whom was a seasoned player, and the other three newbies. It was the end of the dungeon, the horrid creature controlling this vile place was in front of the characters, a man partially fused into a wall of fleshy growths, immobile yet magically powerful. One of the newbies looked at their character sheet and said "I got a bear trap. Can I just shove it into his face? He can't move, right?". For a moment I floundered, and then said "YES you do that and SNAP his head comes off!". They were converted right there and then.
@shta2
2 жыл бұрын
M
@andrewduitsman3918
2 жыл бұрын
@@JarLoz I love that.
@felixfruhauf4940
2 жыл бұрын
Exactly! That one moment a new player realises that they can do anything. The look in their eyes when they realise what this potentially means. A joy to behold!!!
@harrisond8
2 жыл бұрын
I died when you said RPG rulebooks “Look like an Excel spreadsheet had sex with a Bible.”
@Andrew-ci6nw
2 жыл бұрын
It's why Monster Manuals are the best. All the spreadsheets you could ever want combined with reams of Bible nonsense.
@clymarnold4092
2 жыл бұрын
It cracked me up too! Probably the most accurate description of a RPG rule book ever uttered!!!
@colbyboucher6391
2 жыл бұрын
My favorite system is Mythras and the print is hilariously small to save on ink and paper. Love the game but damn.
@sojou.RN.
2 жыл бұрын
I just wanted to let you know that this video took a massive amount of pressure off me. I ran a few RPG sessions about a year ago for some people and they didn't really seem to go well. I am in the process of preparing to GM my first adventure of Call of Cthulhu next week for a few friends and was starting to stress that I may not be cut out for this, as much as I enjoy it. Thinking about creating a toybox of characters, places, and sources of conflict rather then mapping out an elaborate story is such a breath of fresh air. For the first time, this video caused me to stop and ask, "what will my players think is fun to do?" rather than "I really hope I can entertain them with the story I am preparing." Thank you, Quinns.
@dimazum
Жыл бұрын
And how was it???
@sojou.RN.
Жыл бұрын
@@dimazum It went well! I ran three one-player sessions to roll characters and introduce the players to the mechanics and themes of CoC. Then we came together and played a three player session of The Haunting with the same characters and had a great time!
@dimazum
Жыл бұрын
@@sojou.RN. Good one! I have played RPGs in the past, mostly D&D, and now I'm about to be a GM for the first time, playing Mutants & Masterminds! Hope it plays out nice aswell :D
@chefrude
5 ай бұрын
Same, Ive been on the wrong end of Bad GMing (total Railroading, where when I tried to talk to an NPC as my character, the GM ran the entire conversation by themselves), so I tried to make sure not to do that in my own attempts at doing it, but some of the things Quinns mentioned, while sage, also were hard for me to nail down what I wanted to do or how I wanted my games to go.
@Morchunkis
2 жыл бұрын
As a 5-year subscriber Quinn’s spontaneous new beard is distractingly attractive
@aluminiumsandworm
2 жыл бұрын
ikr it's like "oh no quinn's hot"
@lkjkhfggd
2 жыл бұрын
lol thought you wrote 5 year old subscriber and was weirded out
@perry6762
2 жыл бұрын
Plus the tan
@mikesmyth8330
2 жыл бұрын
Also he's absolutely jacked.
@kapazoglu
2 жыл бұрын
hard agree
@ceetee2001
2 жыл бұрын
One great tip i got when i started as a DM was in the same line as Quinns "It is not your story" The one thing i focused on before we started playing was to tell the players the following: "I am not here to tell you a story. You are all here to together figure out what story we are creating. I am here to represent the world reacting to that story. The dice are here to represent the chaos in that story."
@Thorkwin70
2 жыл бұрын
Great introduction!
@jamesthelimey1738
2 жыл бұрын
That’s a great way to explain it! I’m so using that for my group. Thanks!
@ceetee2001
2 жыл бұрын
@@jamesthelimey1738 Do it! No problem!
@BigSpud
2 жыл бұрын
Fantastic description 👌🏻
@captainnolan5062
2 жыл бұрын
You are there to play a game, not to tell a story. The "story" is what happens AFTER you are finished playing (it is the recounting of the deeds that happened during the game at the table).
@katecritt
2 жыл бұрын
I cannot stress enough how right Quinns is about just getting started instead of overthinking. Fling yourself joyously into the deep end. I started roleplaying with a group of much more experienced roleplayers, which was a great way to start because they could mentor me, but it meant that when I decided to run my own game for my group, I was running it for those same much more experienced roleplayers. Oh god. And I chose Exalted, which is my favourite game, but not one I'd recommend for newbies. Oh, and I homebrewed a new setting with a bunch of optional rules from supplements. Basically, I did everything I possibly could have done to sabotage myself at the outset, overcomplicating the process for myself massively, aaaand ... the game is still going strong almost EIGHT YEARS LATER. Because as long as you are having fun telling a story with your friends, you are winning at roleplaying.
@sokakoma
2 жыл бұрын
What I love about SUSD is that they have some videos that really feel important. Like they had to be made, and they are THE videos about that topic, because they are not just information, they really give you the feeling of that thing. And I think this is one of them. Other example is the how to teach board games.
@RichardMaassen
2 жыл бұрын
I totally agree with you. Those are m favorite videos also among the regular reviews. When I can get a feeling for what it is like to play that game - instead of just knowing the rules. In other videos this gets a bit lost between the wacky sketches and jokes. 😉
@thelyghter7927
2 жыл бұрын
Or the Twilight Imperium Documentary. Well, even the Review of TI got me into their entire channel.
@JoannaPiancastelli
2 жыл бұрын
As a player, GM and game designer of many years, my top tip for anyone getting into the hobby is always *communicate openly with your fellow players*. Especially as the GM it's easy to feel like you need to be some kind of narrative wizard who can spin a dozen story threads into one cohesive narrative without anyone seeing the seams, or coerce your players into making a particular choice without them realising you're doing it, but you'll have a better time, tell a better story, and learn more about playing/GMing if you just ask for help, get your fellow players to make stuff up, or straight up tell them there's a really cool enemy if they go to the haunted fairground tonight.
@garthantash
2 жыл бұрын
Great advice. It is such a wild revelation to some players when they learn their GM is just making shit up off the top of their head but it can equally be a terrifying reveal for a GM to admit they are just making stuff up in response to what the players are saying. Everybody is there to have fun and tell a cooperative story. When GM and players understand that everyone at the table is responsible for both of those things together, it is just the absolute best.
@Quinns_Quest
2 жыл бұрын
Really great point. Every time I've said to my players "You know what? Can you give me 5 minutes to figure this out?" or "What do we think is a fair ruling on this?" or even "What's weird about this pub, do you think?" it's immediately made the session better.
@kenamelio4596
2 жыл бұрын
@@Quinns_Quest The thing I love most about FATE is that is encourages players to create truths about the setting. But you don't need FATE to do that. In a town the players keep visiting just ask each player to establish one location that their character likes to go there. Have them mention one (new) NPC that their character likes or dislikes. Within a few sessions, those will be the players FAVORITE locations and characters to interact with. And when your goblin hoard attacks, they will suddenly worry that wally the woodcutter made it into the keep before the doors are closed, and be willing to go look for him if he didn't. Now if I make up wally and try to make them care, well they will just let wally get eaten so they can play a card game! :)
@dovejoy5183
2 жыл бұрын
This is so important, and so hard to break the habit. There's this mystique around GMing that can really hinder you as a storyteller just because you don't want to let your players peak behind the curtain. One of the best things I discovered is how much better my games get when I ask my players "what do you want to do next session?" Cuts down on prep, focuses my narratives, and makes my players feel very seen and heard.
@gorsh7870
2 жыл бұрын
Yessssss
@Myst031
2 жыл бұрын
Tip: SESSION ZERO!!!! Literally will get everyone on the same page if you all create your characters together, you can form bonds during the process come up with crazy ideas how you met etc. That way when you go into your first session of actual play everyone is excited to get on with the story and not get bogged down with "well who are you?". Also as a GM you can see what direction the players are leaning towards and design a story that fits them instead of them trying to fit into your story.
@TheNerdySimulation
2 жыл бұрын
In addition to this I want to add how damn important Safety Tools are! I personally recommend Script Change by Beau Jágr Sheldon but others out there use tools like Lines & Veils, the Traffic Light system, & the X-Card. These are extremely helpful not only in getting everyone on the same page, but making sure everyone involved can openly express themselves without worry of making others uncomfortable or having their comfort suddenly yanked out from under them. Even when I have nobody add much of anything to the "Do not include this" list, we often all come away knowing what collective tone to aim for and have a better starting point for building characters together!
@littlekong7685
2 жыл бұрын
Agree. I had one friend complaining that the others players at a DnD game were ruining it, he was trying to play a silly critical role celebrity spot style game, and they were wanting a gritty lord of the rings drama fest. His character had 0 skills or roleplay aspects to support this. Session 0 saying this is a gritty LOTR style serious game would have changed his character and his mindset from the get go.
@Quinns_Quest
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, this is great advice. Even today, my campaigns often start with my players treating one another like strangers. That's no good! Way more fun to start a campaign with some of the characters being exes or colleagues or siblings, at the least.
@bbugl
2 жыл бұрын
YES! SO MUCH YES!
@danimelb83
2 жыл бұрын
God yes! I played a Cthulhu game without a session zero. I chose a female character and the GM neglected to inform me everyone I interacted with would have ‘era appropriate’ attitudes toward women. Meaning I had to work twice as hard to do anything. I REALLY wish there’d been a session zero. I deal with sexism enough in the real world I don’t want it in my made up world. I’d have chosen a male character or noped out of the game if I knew in advance.
@CivilianZero
2 жыл бұрын
I'm so glad you're showing off your collection of "not D&D" stuff. I was really worried this would just be "play TRPGs, go pick up D&D and do these things", but anytime someone encourages people to play different stuff I'm happy.
@leonardpimentel5865
2 жыл бұрын
Yesssssssssss!!!!
@sumotode
2 жыл бұрын
While D&D is iconic and it is wonderful that it is now popular culture and getting new people interested; the flip side to it is, as a TTRPG system, I would rate it on a lower tier of quality. There are so many better systems available. Both for new players and as total coherent focused systems. D&D in it's current iteration is very wishy-washy, contradicts itself, and it is very vague in many of its aspects, and it only gets more so with every new book that Wizards of the Coast puts out. I find this makes it harder for both new players and particularly new GMs to know how to navigate it.
@noobsaure3497
2 жыл бұрын
@DerGrantelbart I think that's being unfair for the explicit list of hard moves a GM can do (and is only allowed to do when PCs fail a roll, except when players look to them for answers) in PbtA systems. And FATE is not telling GMs to improvise any more than D&D does. And DCC is old school D&D so...
@jonnyramsden1161
Жыл бұрын
Yeah I tried a bit of d&d about a year ago and just didn't really feel like the story in the basic box had anything to recommend it - it really relied on the players wanting to go around and kill stuff to get loot which just wasn't what mine wanted to do. I also didn't find the combat very satisfying or tactical even though it was so heavily emphasised. We gave up after 2 sessions with no one really having a good time and ended up selling the box... I'd say at least part of that was my fault in that as GM I didn't really know how to deal with the players not wanting to follow the plot hooks (we ended up in a town I hadn't actually prepared for in any detail and skipped the first dungeon) and then somewhat tried to force them to go to the place they were expected to go... So I think the approach in that box is somewhat contrary to Quinn's advice here - it very much felt like a highly scripted plot on rails and when the players didn't want to do that the emphasis on needing to know all the detail of the dungeons and monsters meant it was hard to improvise
@nickfarmiloe5993
2 жыл бұрын
I have a new player joining our DnD game who's never played RP games before and I immediately sent this to them. It is absolutely brilliant and you have eloquently, and hilariously, cleared all the murky air around what makes such a game fun.
@hawkeyepearce1066
2 жыл бұрын
I've been playing and GMing for 40+ years, and this is, by some margin, the best practical advice I've ever seen being given to prospective players. Shame YT and SUSD weren't around in '81!
@drdrake17
2 жыл бұрын
I *love* the advice of "Don't write a story," because it's exactly the hole I fell down for the first few years I GM'd. And I really like writing these huge, complex settings and plots and characters - so I just write them for myself! It's really useful to have an idea of a background and history of a place, and have a wealth of ideas to bounce off the players - but it's also too easy for me to think that the NPCs are the main characters, when really it's the players. Advice for GMs: Don't be attached to anything in your story. Your super cool sword? Ignored. Your neat NPC? Accidentally killed. Your badass villain? Ignored, then accidentally killed. Advice for players: Share the table, share the spotlight, and work off of one another. You are not the only cool character. Imagine if Game of Thrones or The Simpsons just focused solely on one character - how simple and boring that would be? Enjoy your fellow players! Make them better by engaging.
@littlekong7685
2 жыл бұрын
Good advice, I learned the same lessons from the same mistakes. Now I take joy in setting up scenarios just to see what happens, I make cool stuff and let it go into the void for the fun of making the thing. And I have learned I am an awful writer, I couldn't story my way out of a Kobold lair. But my players are amazing by sheer virtue of collective story telling, the best story lines get filtered to the top and the bad ones get left behind really efficiently. Together we have had some amazing adventures and all I did was say the mayor was kidnapped by an Owlbear, and the Gnomes are on strike.
@Quinns_Quest
2 жыл бұрын
Last session I had a location where I was expecting the players to spend a month. They spent probably about 60 minutes in there before escaping out of a window. But you know what? The knowledge that they'd "broken" my expectations was more entertaining to them than my original plan was! They all left going "Great session!"
@Xion0fCha0s
2 жыл бұрын
Some of my first personally written adventures were quite linear and I've totally made this mistake. I think D&D in particular was never very good at explaining what makes a good GM/DM. This has come much later since Chris Perkins hosted the PAX games and have come out on what makes a good DM.
@aglyph
2 жыл бұрын
Exactly! I remember in one of my first (too tightly designed) dungeon, my players broke through a wall and found a route around an orc ambush on a ledge I prepared. I went with it, improvised and let them come up the ledge behind the orcs - which were facing the other direction. Same fight in the end, but the players where the ones surprising the orcs and were super excited they apparently outsmarted the baddies.
@SamClemensRIGL
2 жыл бұрын
I write little story hooks that the players can follow or not, and then procedural generate maps for the areas they seem interested in. Because we're doing it over Roll20, there is some focus as to where they expect to go, and since we really only have about two hours a week to play--if that--most recently they've been cleaning out a Goblin Warren that's a culmination of several months of tracking the goblin whereabouts and dealing with their various attacks.
@TheGajbarnes
2 жыл бұрын
This is exactly the nudge I needed to jump in and try some d&d. Thanks!
@jonathoncampbell6813
2 жыл бұрын
Welcome to the hobby!
@Jorn2u
2 жыл бұрын
Get the 'Starter Set' or the 'Essentials Kit'. Either one is all you need to get started, and get you playing for weeks / months.
@dahobdahob
Жыл бұрын
Do the thing!
@Anondod
2 жыл бұрын
My minor addition to the list of excellent advice is to keep character secrets public to the players. For example, if your character is secretly living a double life, the fun part of that is probably the threat of having that exposed. Getting to share that fun with the rest of the table makes it so much better! That way the other players can also play into your secret instead of maybe stumbling into it purely by chance. To some extent, and somewhat depending on the game, this works for the GM as well. Don't be afraid to cut away to a (brief!) scene showing what the bad guys are planning, or to tell the players something their characters don't know. Aabreya Iyengar describing a scene and then telling the players "what you don't see..." was a real eye opener for me.
@natbarmore
2 жыл бұрын
Absolutely on “public” secrets. There’s no wrong way to play, if you’re having fun-but with the exception of a few games where keeping secrets from the other players is a core part of the gameplay, if you’re not sharing your secrets, you’re doing it wrong. 😉 I kinda feel like keeping your character’s secrets from the other players is kinda the player version of adversarial play, because it’s treating the other players as your competition or your enemies, rather than as your collaborators. If somebody ruins your fun when they know your secrets, the problem isn’t them knowing your secrets, the problem is them. Maybe they’re a jerk. Maybe they misunderstood what you wanted and thought they were helping. Maybe they didn’t understand that this was a secret that their character didn’t know. (Ok, this last one could be you-make sure you’re really clear that what you’re sharing is something the other characters don’t know.) You can have so much more fun if the other players can play into your secrets, rather than you having to try to work them into the story while nobody else knows what you’re doing, so they can’t help except by accident.
@natbarmore
2 жыл бұрын
And a secret that _never_ gets revealed isn’t really doing anything for the bigger story. Imagine a novel where the main character has a secret, but it never comes up in the story. What’s the point? And imagine the difference between knowing from the start that they have a secret, but only find out the details much later, vs a secret just being dropped with no foreshadowing in chapter 17. Letting the other players (and the GM) In on the secret makes it possible for them to help you with that foreshadowing, so that it can be that much cooler when the secret finally comes into play and is revealed.
@TheCyberSpidey
2 жыл бұрын
1. Perfect Timing 2. Quinns, that beard's giving you +5 Charisma points 3. Can we get a Solo RPG special?
@timbirk4044
2 жыл бұрын
I think i remember Tom doing an episode on solo RPG's around the time of the first wave of the pandemic🤔
@Genghis-Pawn
2 жыл бұрын
"The Dungeon Dive" just posted a run-down of some Solo RPGs on their KZitem Channel, if anyone is interested.
@TheCyberSpidey
2 жыл бұрын
@@timbirk4044 yes, they've covered them on the channel before too. Tom covered A thousand year old vampire, and I think they also mentioned Artifact and A Quiet year too. I found 'A mending' through SUSD podcast too, another feature would be comfy I guess.
@TheCyberSpidey
2 жыл бұрын
@@Genghis-Pawn oh wow, I just went through that video. Amazing recommendation, I hope the algorithm picks it up. I am intimidated by oracles and other simulators that can convert regular RPGs into solo experiences but their presentation was so clear, I might give it a closer look with some of the tools mentioned especially in the end segment.
@Genghis-Pawn
2 жыл бұрын
@@TheCyberSpidey Dope -- The Dungeon Dive as a channel is in a way different niche than SU&SD, but he's putting out great content. Glad to point you to it.
@jimboroni6520
2 жыл бұрын
I’ve been scouring KZitem for videos to send to the people that ask me about ttrpgs/people that I am trying to get into playing. Thank you for a single comprehensive piece that I can refer friends to in the future!
@keithkrummel9344
2 жыл бұрын
Matt Colville's got a great one as well. kzitem.info/news/bejne/pqWV1YZtkoFedaw
@Telmdal
2 жыл бұрын
That simile comparing shows like Critical Role to regular roleplaying as Porn is to sex is so good. I never thought of it that way. I'm gonna store that away for the future.
@jamesthelimey1738
2 жыл бұрын
That was my favorite quote of the year so far. 😀
@yuvalgabay1023
2 жыл бұрын
It's quit a common anolegy. Like it's had been sayed for years now
@jasonnewell7036
2 жыл бұрын
Mutant: Year Zero is an excellent starting point. The whole settlement building mechanic is great for player investment as they have a direct hand in how it develops. However, you should probably point out that Mutant: Year Zero and playing as animal people is actually two separate things. Mutant: Year Zero has you playing human mutants, in the vein of X-Men or Fallout, basically human shaped with weird powers. The animal mutants are from its sister game Mutant: Genelab Alpha. If you get both, then it is all fine, but it might be problematic if on your recommendation they bought it expecting one thing but getting something else.
@adamwhitehead7289
2 жыл бұрын
Yup, and the confusion is probably caused by the Mutant: Year Zero video game (Road to Eden) which defaults you to playing the animal-people mutants.
@Mortdale666
2 жыл бұрын
My number 1 tip as a GM: Schedule the next session. You can do all the planning in the world as a GM (which can be fun) but it doesn't crystalise into anything unless you are actually sharing it all with your players at the table. And the first step is to schedule the next session. Once something is in the calendar, this will create urgency for yourself. You will find the creative juices flow more freely and your planning is also more productive.
@gqsnowman
2 жыл бұрын
"Ooo-oooooooh, doyouwannaknow the rules for halberds..." is gonna be stuck in my head FOREVER.
@dahobdahob
Жыл бұрын
... there aren't enough rules about halberds.
@gqsnowman
Жыл бұрын
@@dahobdahob Eh, I think it has enough. 5e is not trying to be THAT tactical about your weaponry. Reach and Brace are a thing, I think that’s about all you’d need in 5e.
@gqsnowman
Жыл бұрын
15:20 For me when I come back and wanna hear this again
@LOTRDanTube
2 жыл бұрын
Small tip, but one I needed to learn. Don't make your group too big. If you have a bunch of excited friends, you may all want to play. But more that like 5 at a table and things can often get really tricky! It's hard for everyone to shine in that case.
@stevejakab274
2 жыл бұрын
Not just that, but it can make game sessions very long. On the other hand, if you've got people who can't always make it, a larger group can be useful to balance too many people not being able to play any particular day.
@urbaneblobfish
Жыл бұрын
If you have a huge group of friends who want to play, something I've seen is dividing everyone into 2 groups and have them all play different games, but in the same world and different parts of the world. Then you can plan some kind of fun crossover later on, or have characters cross-over from time to time, etc
@swedneck
Жыл бұрын
"I'M THE BIGGEST MAN IN THE VILLAGE AND I'VE RUN OUT OF EGGS" is my new favourite character
@TrojanManSCP
2 жыл бұрын
30 minutes, and not one mention of gruesome PC death? You've missed a huge part of DMing. You cannot be afraid to absolutely murder your players (' characters). This doesn't apply to every game system, but those systems that have strong combat mechanics, you absolutely need to throw your players potentially lethal fights every now and then. It's a huge part of making villains and stories believable, and the tension it sets up at the table cannot be attained any other way. It's not your job to pull punches, fudge rolls, and try to save your players. Your job is to present challenges, and sometimes those challenges need to be lethal. And your dice must be as honest as everyone else's. And again, some game systems are different than others. D&D, for example, 5e is so forgiving that you can play it suboptimally and still overcome challenges of double the "lethal" rating from the DMG. Part of that is because the CR system doesn't work great, but it's mostly because player options are now so extensive and so powerful that it's tough to build a character that isn't an absolute superhero. Many high-level fights are literally one "save or suck" dice roll away from getting completely broken in half by a single spell or ability. But your players won't feel rewarded for that if they didn't NEED to do it and if there wasn't danger in failure. If you ever feel that your players are saving their limited use abilities "just in case" for later, like a video game player carrying 99 health potions, then you need to make your combat WAY more difficult. More than that. Little more. More still. Now add a dragon. Yeah, and have the assassin ride the dragon and do drive-bys with that DC 20 poison dart. Cool. Oh, and make the door explode and chunk the entire party for 20% of their HP right off the bat. Now you've got an encounter. They'll probably still win, but they'll have a lot more fun doing it. And you'll have more fun running it. No DM wants to roleplay a punching bag. #1 piece of advice: Never be afraid to kill your players. You probably won't succeed anyhow.
@LordJazzly
2 жыл бұрын
Thumbs-up, but _only_ for the inclusion of the _+1 Exploding Dungeon Door of Pointlessness,_ a treasured and timeless classic. Right up there with the _Spectacles of Poisoning_ and the _Cheese That Is Actually A Slime_ in terms of how your players will cherish it; though perhaps not quite on the level of the _Endlessly Screaming Magical Book Of Orcish Swear Words_ or the _Potion of Knight Division_ (which must be pronounced almost exactly like 'nightvision', otherwise its _magic_ doesn't work as well)
@Tarryk
2 жыл бұрын
16:09 absolutely lost myself laughing at how perfect an impression you just did of my GMing style. Thank you for that (and the rest of the vid too)
@DemonBlanka
Жыл бұрын
Inappropriate swearing and forgetting the name of a major character hits way too close to home
@maxmustermann9036
2 жыл бұрын
The most important thing I learnt recently: just walk away from a group if you realize it doesn't work. I spent way too much time playing a Campaign that I did not enjoy at all with a group of people I love as friends but hated as fellow players. I was so close to losing interest in the hobby due to that prolonged experience. Just be respectful about turning them down but by all means, turn them down if it just does not work out at all. RPGs is such a massive investment of time, be respectful to yourself and others. Well and about this video, first of all it's great! So much to learn from it. I was in the process of realizing some of it already but this really sped up the process to becoming the player I'd like to have as a GM and the GM I'd like to have as a player. As pretty much everybody I overdid it with the preperation of the story as a GM the first few times I GMed. It went okayish but boi did I not enjoy to GM these sessions. Personally I think it's a good starting point to just dive headfirst into a very light RPG like the ones you mentioned. Or my personal favorite: Ten Candles. You can do the character creation + rules explanation in 30 minutes or less, no preperation required from the players. Narration isn't too heavy on one specific participant. Atmosphere and table presence: 10/10, it doesn't get any better imo. Also it always ends with a bang which makes it such an easy system to introduce to people. Like we all know these sessions that don't end in a meaningful way or the group might never come together again to finish the story and it's an opportunity missed, right? Shouldn't happen with Ten Candles.
@stevejakab274
2 жыл бұрын
Finding a good group to play with is actually the hardest part of RPGs. People can have very different expectations of what they want from a game.
@Buckey033
2 жыл бұрын
There’s a local dnd night at a cafe near me and I’ve never felt I could go before! But you have inspired me to go!
@Ozblu3y
2 жыл бұрын
yes lad do it
@slergo9773
2 жыл бұрын
Something I wish I had known when I started GMing: don't be too proud to use modules. As long as you remember that the module's story is malleable and can be changed at any time by you or the players they can be a great help for people starting out and to experienced GMs.
@scimmytag
2 жыл бұрын
and pick up Curse of Strahd ^^
@GoodRogue
2 жыл бұрын
This here is good advice. Using somebody else's module doesn't make you less of an artist, because RPGs are not art. And there's a lot of cool tricks to learn from somebody else's book which you can shamelessly steal and put into your own games!
@jonathoncampbell6813
2 жыл бұрын
@@scimmytag Curse of Strahd is great. I hear the updated version has fixed some of the more problematic elements of the original.
@Gauntlet9001
2 жыл бұрын
One thing to keep in mind about them though is that they are written for everyone and for a particular story, so they can be a bit prescriptive or not written in a way that helps you gm in the way you like. You can totally raid them though for cool ideas and ways to start scenarios the way Quinns talked about
@Fate2071
2 жыл бұрын
I whould refrace this into: If you see a cool idea that fits into your game, take it, steal it, make it your own. This is how inspiration works.
@randomthing42
2 жыл бұрын
One of the more important things you can do when your group is just getting started on a game is to have a Session 0. That is, a chunk of time devoted solely to talking through everyone's expectations, desires, influences, and safety (e.g. setting up hard lines and soft veils around content that people in your group don't want to experience in their game). This doesn't have to take a ton of time-I've gone through all these things in as short as ten minutes-but even a little bit can help clarify everyone's expectations, keep everyone safe and happy, and bring to the forefront the elements of the impending collective story that will be the most fun. Talking through character creation in person can be really helpful for all of the above reasons. A lot of modern games do this already, but if you work on character sheets together, your group can develop shared points of interest or conflict that can make inter-party interactions easier and more fun. Plus it gives the GM hints (sometimes called "flags" in the TTRPG scene) about what each player wants, thematically or gameplay-wise, from their character. Basically, in a rule: Communicate with your group! Tell them what interests you, what you like and don't like, how you feel about the experience as a whole, and ask them the same. Open communication always leads to a better time.
@natbarmore
2 жыл бұрын
Since people reading this might be completely new to RPGs: “Lines and veils” are ways of excluding certain story elements. • a line is something that you agree as a group not to cross. So maybe you decide “there’s not going to be rape in our game-it won’t happen during play, it won’t be part of character backgrounds, and it won’t be referred to by characters”. Usually, but there’s no requirement, these are things that would ruin one or more player’s fun, or derail the game. They could be things that reflect past traumas or touch on a phobia, or they could be things that you just don’t want in _this_ game, but might be fine with in a different game or with a different group. You can decide whether the things that are “over the line” literally don’t exist in your fantasy world, or you’re just not going to talk about them, or you don’t care which it is, so long as they don’t show up in the game. By their nature, it’s good etiquette not to demand explanations or try to negotiate the limit-if somebody says “no clowns”, you don’t say “what if it’s just a few clowns?” But clarifying where the line is, respectfully, is perfectly reasonable. If somebody says “no jump scares”, you might need to clarify whether they’re talking about things that might make their character jump, or things that make the player jump? Are they wanting to avoid creepy villains getting the drop on their characters? Or the GM yelling “ATTAAACK!!” when the enemy gets the drop on them? • a veil is an agreement that something might be part of the story, but it’s going to happen “off screen” or be vague and without details. So your group might say, “yeah, sure, we’re vampires so obviously we sometimes kill people to feed, but we don’t need to play through them.” And then when it comes up, instead of either the player or the GM talking about exactly how the character seduces their victim, or narrating the sounds and smells of killing then, they’d just say “ok, you’re able to find someone to feed on tonight, and nothing special happens” or “…but they managed to scream, and you had to flee before you were finished” or “…but they managed to scream, and now you’re on the run with a posse of villagers and their dogs after you”. Lots of people veil gore and/or sex. It’s like a fade-to-black to keep a movie PG-13, but we all know what happened. In addition to using these as safety tools-to keep content that would harm players out of the game, as well as content that would ruin the game for them-these are also very useful tools for crafting the sort of game you want to play. Maybe you’re playing a Goonies-inspired game, so you agree that kissing will be veiled and anything more sexual than that is over the line. Or you’re playing a serious fantasy-military game, so you’re all fine with violence and gore and crude language, but you draw a line at bringing in real-world racial/ethnic/sexual slurs, and another line at “silly” humor that might undermine the emotional weight you’re going for.
@busybard
2 жыл бұрын
"For something ... surprisingly sad, [play] the Warren, where everybody plays a rabbit" **has flashbacks to watching Watership Down as a 5 year old, getting traumatized to no end**
@AyyyyyyyyyLmao
2 жыл бұрын
Having a rather shoddy day, so 30 minutes of quins is very warmly welcomed. Thanks guys
@haughtygarbage5848
2 жыл бұрын
This combined with the polygon vid on fighting games recently are such nice supportive videos to get into intimidating hobbies
@gqsnowman
2 жыл бұрын
As a big fan of both ttrpgs and fighting games, I can say that the initial intimidation factor is high but the rewards are so worth it for both. If anyone wants to get into either, I'd be happy to act as a guide/mentor/cheerleader for your endeavor.
@dadtier564
2 жыл бұрын
What the what you just read my mind!! 2 communities absolutely worth getting into
@tychoclavius4818
2 жыл бұрын
Unsolicited advice warning If you get into ttrpgs you get a creative output, you delevelop skills like storytelling, acting, improvising, and balancing a groups needs. You get great stories of drama and comedy that you crafted together. All in a game system that is enforced socially, so all the rewards are social. You become a more empathetic, social, cooperative person. If you get into fighting games, you get better at fighting games. It's better than no hobby but you're not developing yourself in any other way than specifically fighting games. If it's a steep learning curve you want, or a competitive community, just pick almost any other sport and you'll become a healthier, more well rounded person.
@tychoclavius4818
2 жыл бұрын
I didn't mean it as an attack on people who are into it already, but in response to the idea of picking fighting games to start investing your time and energy in. Also there are lots of things nice about fighting games and the community around it I didn't touch on but my point still stands.
@gqsnowman
2 жыл бұрын
@@tychoclavius4818 I’m going to try and separate myself from the implication of your first comment, whether intended by you or not, which is that pursuing fighting games as a hobby is a waste of time. The competitive drive, analytical thinking, adaptive reactions, and social graces (admittedly not as well enforced by some) that I’ve learned in fighting games are the same you would learn in chess, or go, or any card game you can think of. And while I would never put down the benefit of ttrpgs, I’ve seen some truly shy and closed off people bloom within a game, I think there are some that get some very similar benefits from fighting games specifically. The one-on-one nature of the competition along with random chance being a rarity within those games teaches you to accept that you won’t always win, and finding someone better than you is a gift because that’s someone you can learn from. It teaches you to accept that you make mistakes and the drive needed to correct them. I could go on, but I value the lessons I’ve learned over the years from fighting games and I think they actually make an excellent complement to the lessons learned in ttrpgs. Especially for those of us who are less physically inclined or are not able to participate in sports for one reason or another.
@999slawter
2 жыл бұрын
I own 3 different RPG, but I never played a single one (no group etc.)... But now you pushed me hard enough... I am gonna force my GF to paly wit hme :D (JK, she would like to try it :D) Thank you!
@phillipjustman
2 жыл бұрын
I love this video and Quinn's advice! I spent a few years "studying" to be a GM and watching every video there is on the topic. I am also wrapping up a year and a half campaign. I have finally reached the same conclusion as Quinns. This is not my story to tell! I need to get out of the way as much as possible and let the players tell their own stories in the world we create together. That is where the real unexpected magic is. BIG fan of this video!
@marloncardoso1976
2 жыл бұрын
As someone who's been playing tabletop rpgs for little over a decade now, i had so many endearing laughs watching his. Fantastic video as always guys, and thank you Quinns for trying to inspire new DMs in a way thats ACTUALLY gonna help them have more FUN playing instead of endlessly gushing over the little details and overcritizing themselves for not being professional entertainers.
@zacharye1643
2 жыл бұрын
As someone who's been trying to "crack the code" so to speak on getting himself and his friends into tabletop roleplaying games (tried a number of systems), this was an invaluable watch.
@LordJazzly
2 жыл бұрын
Have you tried pre-written adventures/scenarios? They can be a good way to bridge the gap between reading a lot of largely-abstract rules and disjointed example scenarios, and actually playing a full session of a game with other people, if that's what you're having issues with; a lot of modern games now offer them, thanks to the wild success of D&D 5's actually-good box-sets. Some games have similar boxes to D&D, but others might still have a beginner's 'example adventure' available online or something. Check around, check out the designers' websites, check your role-playing game distributors of choice; if all else fails, you can always web search for '[your preferred system] introductory scenario' or 'beginner adventure [your preferred system]', and such.
@roberthermosillo5727
Жыл бұрын
"As if the story was a spirit you summoned during a seance and, for 1 breathless hour, you all get to exist within it." Such a magnificent collection of words! Goosebumps!
@piticarrara
2 жыл бұрын
Quinn's tip on not writing a script but instead providing a playground is golden, but can be a bit intimidating since it requires lots of improvisation during play, and inexperienced GMs might not feel confident. You can try to mix the two approaches: I GMd a campaign where the players were investigating a crime, but the focus was them infiltrating various buildings to get clues. The story was super linear and each clue led from scene "2" to scene "3". But I designed each building like Quinn's suggested: many things to interact with, a goal where the clue is located, and let the players figure out how to get to it. It worked really well: I get to reveal a bit of the crime each time they complete a heist without having to add/remove elements from the story on the fly, and the players get a cool sandbox to interact with and surprise me!
@jonathoncampbell6813
2 жыл бұрын
Tip for getting people into RPG's: Don't skip character creation. This might seem kind of weird, but I tried it with a bunch of friends. I asked them for a basic idea for their characters and made archetypes for them. RPG mechanics to the uninitiated can already be a lot and I didn't want to overload them with rules, but at the end of they day they weren't their characters, they were mine. We still had fun, but looking back I would have done it different. Making characters can be half the fun of an RPG, especially if there's a heavier emphasis on mechanics.
@mccallosone4903
2 жыл бұрын
i completely agree. if you make your own character, you care about that character. premades suck
@littlekong7685
2 жыл бұрын
We have an ongoing houserule I think EVERY RPG needs to implement (Sorry traveller fans): Create your character at level 1, when it is time to level up, you can FULLY redo any aspect/feat/race/class/profession/age/etc of your character for free for level 2 one time. This eliminates the classic paralysis or intimidation of choosing wrong at level 1 and ruining your character forever (or having to let them die and come back with some kind of penalty for it later). Even in higher start games, start at level 10? Before completing level 11 level up, you can redo your character.
@jonathoncampbell6813
2 жыл бұрын
@@mccallosone4903 I think premades are fine in the right scenario. Trying out a new game at a convention? Just want to dip your toe into a game system? Absolutely go Pre-made, but in everything else, I would prefer to make my character.
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