My rule on splitting the party is simple: if I encourage it or do it, you'll be fine, if you do it against my advice, you're basically dead.
@nickwilliams8302
6 жыл бұрын
There are definitely some players who need to learn that the DM isn't asking, "Are you _sure?"_ for no reason.
@chickendragon8526
6 жыл бұрын
@Nick Williams, I disagree. I find that if I as a DM am asking "Are You Sure?" undermines my players decisions. Sometimes I realize that I haven't gone into enough detail and that is why they do that, and so I'm not affraid to clear up misconceptions, but asking "Are you sure you want to do that?" doesn't feel right to me.
@nickwilliams8302
6 жыл бұрын
ChickenDragon "Are you sure you want to do that?" is supposed to highlight to the player that they are not taking something into account, without flat-out telling them what the "solution" is. So, for example, a player who's character is trying to stealthily take out a sentry might get a "AYS?" if their weapon of choice is Thunderwave.
@chickendragon8526
6 жыл бұрын
If their choice is thunderwave, then they can live with the consequences. They need to know the limits of their spell. I'm not going to doubt their choice of spell for them. If however if it is something on my end that might not have been explained well, I'll explain a little bit more and then ask if they want to proceed in spite of that.
@gnarthdarkanen7464
6 жыл бұрын
For my two cents' worth, the classically "Cheap" fix is to pepper in a few "Are you sure"s just to bump up the tension a notch... for no reason what so ever. ;o)
@Grimmlocked
6 жыл бұрын
"Dont let some guy on the internet tell you how you should play" - some guy on the internet telling me how I could play my game
@yanderenejoyer
6 жыл бұрын
The difference between "should" and "could" is very important here, haha.
@milesmatheson1142
6 жыл бұрын
/adjusts glasses ?
@Jon-id7ki
6 жыл бұрын
@@yanderenejoyer exactly. Someone saying "you have options" is always someone to listen to. The person saying "only this way is right" is ridiculous
@docnevyn5814
6 жыл бұрын
cough dawnforgedcast cough
@yanderenejoyer
6 жыл бұрын
@@milesmatheson1142 Oh, I don't really RP the account, but sure, once. *Adjusts glasses*
@dr.crusher772
6 жыл бұрын
Matt, your videos are always very informative and well spoken. Thank you so much for making them and for making me a better DM! Side note: your hair is slick as hell my dude.
@herogibson
5 жыл бұрын
he fusses a bit over the gray hairs, but dammed if he doesn't still have a ton of it! gray or otherwise! wish i still had a head of hair like that =(
@ooccttoo
6 жыл бұрын
For the "switching cameras" technique Matt talks about, I find it's always best to cut just before or as the climax of a particular point of action comes about.
@narutobankai
6 жыл бұрын
I could watch a video on this man just talking about what he had for lunch and I would enjoy it. NEVER STOP
@dropkick79
6 жыл бұрын
Love that shirt Matt! The Thing is one of my all-time favorite movies. Those guys split the party....look where it got them.
@jrbuschief
6 жыл бұрын
Great video; I've had some different experiences than what Matt Colville has had. My newest player was the one most interested in doing what his character would do, even risking his life going alone into a vampire lair, while a different party only split the party when I gave them objective downtime, and even then they cracked jokes. I nipped that a bit by introducing secret information to each character while the party was montage-ing their way through a haunted forest, but still interesting how the newest player had the most "maturity," as Matt put it.
@MabinogiSheep
6 жыл бұрын
Found you through 5E roundtable discussion podcast, love your enthusiasm and glad you made this channel! :D
@bassmanjla
6 жыл бұрын
I ran a party through the sunless citidel and had one player miss two weeks sort of right at the beginning. So I had her character get captured by the goblins and gave her the chance to escape when she came back. the party, while in initiative, the party worked their way through the main goblin force, while she and a few kobold prisoners fought an entirely separate combat on the othee side of the map, and they slowly worked theor way towards each other. it was awesome.
@Izzak_Beck
6 жыл бұрын
Another amazing video man, I am loving this new content, also cannot wait to get my hands on Strongholds and Followers.
@rhynoorhyon5291
5 жыл бұрын
I know I'm a year late, but I've found that if I'm going to run a split party, I'll need some time to re-structure the encounters to be a bit more autonomous, so I can give both parties the attention they deserve. Maybe make a simple board game of a trap-crawl, or something of a card game for a chase sequence. Maybe a battle encounter becomes chess, where players have to follow new rules of movement or incur the wrath of the gods and do short, 1-point duels to determine the winning and losing "pieces" on the board. My players tend to appreciate these types of encounters anyway, as they tend to be fairly unique and memorable, but they also end up being easier for me to personally run. Fewer questions as the rules get set out in advance, and, as they're following new rules, they also want more time to strategize in between their turns (the one time I'm excited about metagaming) and this allows me more time to tend to the other sub-party. As always, homebrew encounters like this are by no means a guaranteed hit, and take some practice to get set up in enjoyable ways, but you may very well find yourself coming back to them for recurring themes (I really like the draw-a-card chase sequence encounter, for instance)
@petermysels9158
2 жыл бұрын
When my players actions end up splitting the party, I make sure it can flow within the storyline. Imagine a secret spy mission - each person is fulfilling a task towards the greater goal. Just a few weeks back, the party split up in an estate to assassinate specific individuals without anyone knowing. We spend 5 minutes on each person and everyone listened and followed along like a movie. Splitting the party, when done for story purposes, I have found to be awesome! Give everyone their turn and make things exciting so everyone is engaged with each other’s story. Then work their storylines back together to continue the story!
@gabrielhersey5546
5 жыл бұрын
I successfully split the party for one session. The majority of the group visited the docks and shipping yards to engage combat with the illegal smugglers. Big combat scenario with all the baddies traps n stage. The other group was two players at the big high fancy party in verbal ‘Combat’ conflict with a super wealthy famous npc who’s fame hides behind the smuggling empire. Both encounters were played out side by side and both engaging due to very different styles or struggle.
@valritz1489
6 жыл бұрын
I feel like I ran into the archetypal Don't Split the Party moment in the last game session we had, but there were a LOT of bad decisions that went into creating it. Step One: We are searching for a vampire. We know we just want to talk, but the vampire does not. Step Two: Let's split up and search two different ends of the city. Step Three: Having found the vampire, let's approach her now rather than regrouping and laying out a solid gameplan. Step Four: Having approached the vampire, let's cut a deal with her to get the information we need, in which we give her some incredibly potent magical blood from our dragonborn paladin. Step Five: Having let her taste his blood, let's ask her where we can room for the night in the palace, since the gates are closed for the night. Step Six: Having been led by this vampire to our room for the night, let's both go to sleep rather than taking watches, and let's forget the existence of the Alarm spell. Even if they had done everything else wrong that did go wrong, if the party had been together, they could absolutely have won the inevitable subsequent fight with the vampire if there had been four of them in the room instead of two. That being said, it was a believable scenario, and while it resulted in that campaign ending and that party breaking up completely, it wound up still being fun.
@kagechaos
5 жыл бұрын
I have successfully run two separate combats simultaneously in a split party situation, but I strongly believe that you have to have an iron-clad group to even attempt it. Both groups enjoyed themselves, but their characters all barely made it out alive.
@Tongyo42
6 жыл бұрын
The thing about splitting the party is you gotta be confident you can do it and your players can bear it. Being a beginner DM with a beginner group of players, splitting the party facilitates disengagement from the table and may lead to the all-consuming party breakdown end of campaign. I basically have PTSD from splitting the party because when I started playing the DM would insist on introducing new players far way from the party and running them separately until we met. This eventually devolved in having three separate simultaneous narratives and long hours of doing nothing, effectively scaring potential players from the game. It's a bad bad practice and absolutely needs a cohesive group to work. If you know what you're doing, go for it(a concept which applies to every single aspect of RPGs by the way), but don't discard the mantra. It's useful in saving wobbling amorphous recently spawned tabletop groups from collapsing under their own crazy narrative ideas.
@aceofspade2120
6 жыл бұрын
I allow my parties to split as much as they like. I just let them know that combat and things like that in the world are easier together, but that's their risk to do
@lucase.crusader1196
3 жыл бұрын
I split the party by making one member be taken hostage. While the others had to decide what to do, the hostage got a escape prison opportunity.
@cristienjohn5065
6 жыл бұрын
If our group splits and they both fight at the same time, the dm usually does one encounter and then switches to the other and then says they happend simultaneously.
@KostasTheDark
6 жыл бұрын
And this came out literally 4 days after my party's rogue decided to split off and promptly got himself killed
@dumnor
6 жыл бұрын
I made it clear to my players that if party splits, we will turn one half into npcs and follow the other. Then at SOME point we introduce new PCs.
@noahtheslowa6915
5 жыл бұрын
New BBEG- Lightning Lizard
@D1LLDozZer135
6 жыл бұрын
Lol split the party lol
@Dolirn
5 жыл бұрын
This is such a strange video. "It's okay to split the party! But in my 30 years of DM-ing, I've never ACTUALLY split the party." I've run simultaneous combats many times. How could that NOT happen if you split the party? Perhaps a qualification: don't split the party for more than a session at a time.
@TheSugarRay
6 жыл бұрын
These are slightly more bitter when my campaign has been put on hold.
@mcolville
6 жыл бұрын
A big part of this channel is me just giving folks permission to try things they might not otherwise try. So folks will watch this and they'll say "Ok, but HOW?" Even though I've done my best to explain how, "the principle of rising action," etc... But really you just need to see it. That's what the stream will let us do!
@calvinrollins4957
6 жыл бұрын
I’ve missed your videos so much
@kyotokitsune
6 жыл бұрын
I've never been against splitting the party. A lot of the time my players do it on their own. I did one where the players split into 3 groups and attacked a siege camps. I ran 3 encounters at once. I did what you were discussing, cutting from scene to scene. Yeah a couple of the players almost died doing this.
@gogogo123454321
6 жыл бұрын
Where can I watch this campaign you're in?
@YooTuberian
6 жыл бұрын
Hi Matt! Unless my ears are broken, the sound is a little clipped. Content, as always, is 11 on a scale of 1 to 10. Love your stuff.
@Barnicalsify
6 жыл бұрын
Love your work Matt. This is the first video of yours I've watched in a while though, because your "running the game" series wound up touching on the Critical Role finale. which I haven't reached yet.
@Roland3ld
5 жыл бұрын
One of my favorite sessions was in Pathfinder. I was playing a bard and my friend was a rogue. We ended up saving a town from a group of zombies that was meant for our full party of five, and surprisingly only lost one villager. Our group still calls it our El Dorado session.
@ryang6865
5 жыл бұрын
My first D&D session: “Okay let’s split up the party” Two minutes later: *sound of us being owned by bandits* Next session: “Okay so we’re starting over with a new plot”
@WeShallLoveOn
6 жыл бұрын
MATT, YOU'RE TEARING THIS FAMILY APART!
@tomasxfranco
6 жыл бұрын
Oh, hi Brandi.
@lucidiosyn3365
5 жыл бұрын
Ha-ha-ha what a funny story Brandi
@farmazonlost
5 жыл бұрын
Anyway, how's your d&d-life?
@MoonLight-zj8iu
5 жыл бұрын
You're tearing me apart Brandi!
@protestthebread1046
5 жыл бұрын
One of my favorite moments in DnD as a DM was when my players decided to split the party. There was a massive orc and goblin encampment defending a small opening in a cave that my players suspected held the item that they were after, and it was in a canyon with an elevator that went down. Only thing is, they all knew that they weren't stealthy enough to all go through the encampment, and that they needed to get the item before it was used by the orc shamans. So they decided to send in the ranger and rogue from the canyon to sneak into the encampment, steal the object before the orc shamans finished their ritual involving it, and the rest of the party, the cleric, barbarian and sorceror, were going to climb up the canyon walls, secure the elevator partially as a distraction, and they were all going to try to escape from there. And you know what? They pulled it off and had a blast doing so. I would spend about 5-10 minutes with each group before switching to the other and we all had a blast. That was 6 years ago and whenever that group in the rare moon is able to get together to socialize for a bit, that session still comes up as we lament in our inability to play as often as we did then. That was my first time splitting up the party and gave me a lot of confidence in my ability to DM afterwards, and I've only done it a handful of times afterward. Everytime it does happen, though, I get a bit of an adrenaline rush as I prepare to improv essentially two DnD sessions.
@keatonhughes7269
6 жыл бұрын
This could just be me but it seems like the noise suppression or something is getting a little aggressive and cutting off words. It's not enough to be unintelligible and I may just be whining but it produces a weird effect that sounds very odd.
@Thaxsar
6 жыл бұрын
You're not alone, I picked up on it as well.
@robertkendzie3
6 жыл бұрын
It's not just you.
@seminarygamer
6 жыл бұрын
Agreed
@Cuix
6 жыл бұрын
At 14:58 it's really, REALLY present. I mostly didn't notice it through the video, so I think it's a minor thing, but that moment jumped out at me.
@eric.is.online
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah, there's some odd compression or gating there that's cutting out the dialogue in places. Or at least chopping off the dynamics of the speech. Makes it seem like an there's odd cadence to the dialogue. Maybe reduce the threshold or the rate of onset? The more I listen it seems like compression really kicking in hard because the dynamics are very 'flat' like the lows are dragged up and the highs are squashed down (eg plosives, 'ck' and 't' sounds, especially at the start of words)? I guess this is just a part of the learning curve/growing pains of the new set up. I'm not so much complaining as giving observations and perspectives...it may be useful to them going forward. I have also just had another thought: I don't know what sort of compression youtube applies to audio but that too could be a compounding factor.
@Akwardave
6 жыл бұрын
Okay. The thing about splitting the party in DnD specifically is that it has the tendency to expose one of the few, true weak points in the system's design. There's this weird incongruence between game mechanics and storytelling, where the latter can reasonably call for or be enhanced by the party to splitting up, while the former punishes them for doing to in almost 100% of combat-based situations. DnD's action economy means that more people is more power-- in often dangerously exponential ways. For proof, look no further than one of the most popular 4th level spells in the game; after all, what is "Banishment" if not "split up the enemy party: the spell?" So. We know this. But, we're DMs-- our games are our own creation. So how do we fix it? One answer-- my answer-- is to adjust the combats I prepare if/when they are encountered by fewer PC's than I anticipated. I know that for some people, this messes with their verisimilitude; they want their world to be as deterministic as possible, a living, breathing place that the PC's simply encounter as it is. And while I respect that style of play, I know my group. I know why we show up to game, and it's for the story. So if, bottom line, I can tell a better story by altering what's behind that door-- AND, if my players either don't know or don't care I did? Then why should I feel bound by decisions I made with less knowledge-- about who's playing, what they can do, and what will make things suitably dramatic for them-- than I have now?
@jordanlincoln2649
6 жыл бұрын
Well said. I think that as a dm it’s always reasonable to make dynamic difficulty adjustments and there are narrative ways to do so. If behind the door opened by a full party of 4 than the 6 guards are sober, alert and sharpening their weapons.If the door is opened by 2 players they are hung over, Distracted and 3 of the 5 are in a side room. The players never need to know until they get there. Also making players aware of their decreased efficacy in terms of number of actions should make them think about which characters go and which tactics they use when they get there. 4 pcs can go in wands blazing, while 2 might need to be much sneaker so maybe let the paladin clank around somewhere else or take off their armor exposing them to danger at a lower ac while enabling some degree of stealth
@sappho114
6 жыл бұрын
Amazingly well put. Many other systems don't have the 'don't split' axiom because their action economy isn't as rigidly tactical.
@PrimordialNightmare
6 жыл бұрын
the thing about action economy in general is: the exponential growth (it usually is a quadratic function until actors can't influence the situation anymore) is very true to a system with comparable physics and mathematics to ours. The strength in numbers is basically what makes civilization worthwhile. I by myself am always happy to see heavy use of of crowd control for that simple matter. The good thing is: Action economy and the like can be regulated very well by the DM. the other problem I see, is how much party splitting can elongate everything to the point where it feels like there is no progress at al after like 3 hours of playing.
@FulcanMal
5 жыл бұрын
I'm not disagreeing or saying there is anything invalid about what you're saying. This is a perfectly fine way of approaching it. Myself I prefer an approach in which we don't always have to assume that the encounters must happen. When the players split up, it makes sense for them to act accordingly. To be more cautious, and less prone to engaging in combats, because they know that they're less effective with fewer numbers. This creates an entirely new type of encounter that's just as, if not more interesting, than your standard combat.
@NatePeal
6 жыл бұрын
I've split my party.. I gave them NPCs that they played as for an encounter or two. They liked having control over their new allies and I didn't have to scale down the baddies.
@ryanrhino2318
6 жыл бұрын
thats a great idea
@Jake007123
5 жыл бұрын
I just let them suffer whatever happens. If the wizard goes away in the dungeon for whatever reason and manages to kill the terrible beast roaming in a place because of Desintegrate or whatever, good. If he gets killed, then he knows who's to blame. The last 3 sessions almost everyone got ambushed because they kept going alone in dangerous places (mainly a forest filled with evil fey), despite they better knowledge. I almost killed 4 PC's, one of them 3 times almost in a row. Plot twist, they had a blast, and it was very cool see the Magus conjure a dire bat to fly away when he got ambushed.
@Juliett-A
6 жыл бұрын
After 3 years of playing D&D, I finally had a roleplaying experience. My character and my friend's character went shopping and talked over frozen yogurt. It was awesome.
@Jasonwolf1495
6 жыл бұрын
Usually I find the issue with a split party is that the DM hasn't designed for a smaller party and thus they end up wiping against previously made encounters.
@RoyalFusilier
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I figure a simple way to 'design around' this, if the DM wants? Just halve the number of enemies or whatever challenges are in their way, for the sake of drama.
@asherandai1000
6 жыл бұрын
Depends on the players and the encounters in my opinion. My friends character split off from his group because of an in game time crunch to achieve all their objectives, so they ended up with him fighting one encounter (the players didn't know there was going to be a problem that required a fight) and the other 4 fighting another encounter. My mate is much more tactically minded then the people he was playing with so he was able to complete his objective and escape (barely and with some good luck), but the other 4 wiped against their encounter due to some bad luck and a couple of bad choices. No one was upset, and the wipe resulted in them asking him and me for some advice on in combat decision making because no one had realised how reliant they had been on him shoring up their weak spots. (side note: I've not had the chance to play D&D yet, I know the rules though RPing a character is something I've not yet tried. We all occasionally play Warhammer together which is why they know/think I'm good with strategy. So if anything I've said seems wrong or out of place in D&D it's probably because of that or because I'm inaccurately repeating what was told to me of what happened.)
@jeremydavis6209
6 жыл бұрын
It just depends on how it's done. I dm for a group that splits up a lot and usually the decision to split up is at the end of the session, then I design the encounters for the next one. The key to a lot of this, is letting the party know what they're up against (in game) through them scouting, or talking to allies or whatever, so they can plan accordingly. Splitting up in the middle of a dungeon is usually a bad idea unless you're going to be stealthy, because that next room might have twenty goblins in it. Splitting up, so one group can infiltrate the evil wizards tower and steal his spell book, and the other group can act as a distraction is a lot cooler, and more likely to work, the difference is planning.
@gerbie42
6 жыл бұрын
It goes both ways really. If a DM is inflexible with their encounters they will have trouble adapting to what the players do - this will result in problems, not just with encounters. On the other hand if the players are being stupid or go into dangerous places unprepared and then make it worse by splitting the party then yeah... it's all on them. If there is some renowned big baddie who's suddenly half as powerfull because only half the party showed up.. well that'd be weird.
@erichall090909
6 жыл бұрын
I don’t think the DM should adjust it
@theDMLair
6 жыл бұрын
Great information as always, Matt. What I really appreciate about your videos and insight is that it makes me think about things more deeply and consider trying things that I previously might not have been open to doing. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and inspiring other DMs! 👊
@DMKen
6 жыл бұрын
I needed an Uncle Matt video tonight. Thank you, kind sir.
@Shrooblord
6 жыл бұрын
I don't know who Matt relates to in my family to become my uncle, but I love the thought.
@DMKen
6 жыл бұрын
@@Shrooblord He's everyone's favorite uncle. I find his approach a refreshing alternative to the elitist Gatekeepers that plague the hobby. Thanks to him I was able to get my parents and nephew to start a home game.
@drmann15
6 жыл бұрын
Haha love the running taboo theme of the latest videos. This one was especially comprehensive with covering the pros and cons of STP. Really appreciated the two sine waves analogy advice. I have a future video topic suggestion. Could you talk about different types of playing groups? Like generic private home groups, beer and pretzels, adventurers league, other game store pick up games, one shots, campaigns, west marches, online groups, streaming, professional groups, etc. There’s so many ways for groups to form and approach playing nowadays. I’d love to hear your experiences, pros, cons, and advice for DMing and playing across this spectrum.
@Ryan_Winter
6 жыл бұрын
Twice as difficult, twice the experience. Much foe, much honor.
@kingcole5977
6 жыл бұрын
Such wow?
@zynthio
Жыл бұрын
@@kingcole5977 many wow
@mickodooku6058
6 жыл бұрын
"Disclaimer: Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for the consequences of *splitting up the party*, sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face, accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears, storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, angering a dragon of any variety, or saying yes when the DM asks, 'Are you really sure?'" - The Player's Handbook
@ortizmissael80
6 жыл бұрын
Man, how I have missed hearing the Colville Voice (tm)
@TabletopBlacksmith
6 жыл бұрын
Same
@Fisher100498
6 жыл бұрын
You said 'mature' players a bunch, but until 6:51 I did not realize you meant 'mature' vs 'newbie' not 'mature' vs 'wangrod'.
@lDanielHolm
6 жыл бұрын
It can be both!
@VSLteen
6 жыл бұрын
Hmm, well, I know several veterans who simply can't handle splitting the party, let alone the idea of it
@saradanhoff6539
5 жыл бұрын
@@VSLteen My players are terrified of splitting the party because I don't softball encounters for a partial party. So when the plot forces them to split, they're more paranoid than a schizophrenic methhead. It's delicious.
@th--hawaat1777
6 жыл бұрын
Is the audio a bit odd for anyone else?
@chagirljayde
6 жыл бұрын
seems some of the consonants are a bit truncated
@braddimond3368
6 жыл бұрын
Yes
@CyberColossus
6 жыл бұрын
Yep. Maybe he's using a different mic?
@sirviz23
6 жыл бұрын
Also audio seems to go in and out of synch
@chagirljayde
6 жыл бұрын
seems like it might be editing side. hopefully it is, because that means it can be fixed
@MadeinHell2
6 жыл бұрын
I've had a situation like this in my recent game and while I'm not particularly happy with how I've managed it (I'll get to why in a moment). I won't get into the very detail. But basically one party split to find their sorcerer friend (a player who was missing the previous session) in a weird freaky tower, while the other two members of the party were saving a city from a siege by weird robots, with the help of a small army of retired (and mostly crippled) adventurers. We ended the previous session at the point where two of the players were just reaching the weird tower. While the other players were quite literally charging on horseback into battle. It was great, I was amazingly happy with how things have unfolded that session and I was super hyped for the next session. We play every 2 weeks online so I had some time to decide if I want to play the games separately or both at once. In the end I've decided on simultaneous action with some switching in between. I've created some battle rules and we started with the siege. It was going alright and I've explained the nature of the various battle rolls to the players. I've also asked one of the players involved to read up on mounted combat rules to act as a helper for me (I totally recommend doing that to interest newer players in the more specific rulesets btw). We did some rounds, I've announced ahead of time that we'll do 3 rounds of combat, and after those 3 rounds we'll roll for "battle" with modifiers depending on how well they've performed in those 3 rounds. They seemed to like the idea and it all went rather alright. The fighter player had a blast being a beast, and the bard player felt useful because HAVING A BARD GIVE A WHOLE ARMY A BOOST IS AMAZING. We cut to the 2 fellas at the tower and quite intentionally the speed changes from high-octane battle action to this slow crawl and exploration of a weird malformed tower. The players were cautious and there were no real combat encounters (as all the units were off sieging a nearby city duh) . I've focused on creating eery atmosphere and the players did a fantastic job of tossing some in-character banther between one another. I ended on them finding their sorcerer friend and him failing (rather spectacularly) a reflex save against a tentacle about to eat his face. I did this back and forth about 2 more times each way and afterwards the players return from their successful rescue of both their friend AND the city to exchange stories of that transpired and decide on what to do next. All in all the session was a success. **HOWEVER** This might be the nature of my play (we play online with maptools and talking over discord) but hearing the other players talk about what they do or watching tokens move around in maptools is not as engaging as being there in person and being fully engaged. For my uses I **Should have** created something for the players to do quietly while I was running the narrative for the other group. The battle group could have been left off with a tactical situation to figure out a resolution to, and the tower party should have been left with some puzzle they could figure out without having to ask me for details. All in all I still l think this was a success. And I frankly recommend any confident DM try it. It teaches you a lot about the players at your (physical or virtual) table, and what is the best way to keep them engaged.
@meraduddcethin2812
6 жыл бұрын
"There is as much to learn from failure as from success." Now, there is some wisdom. :) Good video. Please keep them up.
@Mezzoflation2148
3 жыл бұрын
"When you don't have to worry in town, for instance" I let my party split, somehow half alerted the royal guards in an assassination attempt to the mayor, the other one triggered a shady gang and started fighting. I went insanely crazy
@tiamatveldrin954
6 жыл бұрын
dual combat is not as hard as you think, you already ran combat with a team against multiple enemies, just use a single initiative table and go round in that order, it just has the enemies and friendlies fight same as always, but without the teamtactics they usually ignor... i mean.... utilise
@christopherfloody5555
6 жыл бұрын
This I what I was going to suggest, I've had to do it a couple of times (I ran a party of 7 for a while, they liked to split) a single initiative for 2 combats was fine. I was able to make it more interesing by having the combats affect each other. The best example was in a mimic mansion, where the whole thing was one big mimic. As one group battled its "brain" and the other its "heart", stunning the "brain" had no direct effect on their combat but instead affected the "heart" encouter. It was fanatastic to see the 2 groups interact once they figured it out. Impossibe for every encounter, but really fun when it can be done.
@Jake007123
5 жыл бұрын
I have done dual combat a couple of times, and also combats where most of the party is X turns (generally between 2 and 3) away from one or two characters that have to survive while they wait and it's very fun.
@DeftSolid
6 жыл бұрын
I believe he's mentioned the City of the Glass Pool story in another video before. It sounds oddly familiar
@JLMCGLOTH
6 жыл бұрын
He mentioned it in his metagaming series
@derekfortner4008
6 жыл бұрын
As much as he mentions Ajax, the Invincible Overlord or Kaleral the Vile.
@rokkkrinn2793
6 жыл бұрын
The City of the Glass Pool is the finale of the Night Below campaign boxed set. It's truly a high level area filled with the toughest and strangest creatures.
@DeftSolid
6 жыл бұрын
Okay, I knew I wasn't going crazy. Thanks for informing me
@nerd_mus
6 жыл бұрын
Nice, one of my players always sticks to the "never split the party" rule, even if it can be advantageous, i am eager to know what do you have to say about this
@cobtyrannon2479
6 жыл бұрын
Force him, and give him the lesson that it doesn't backfire. I'm not playing DnD, but Shadowrun. I sometimes require my people to be in two places at the same time. In DnD it could be two Dishes that need to be pressed down at the same moment, to unlock a secret door in a dungeon? Dunno, sth like that. Depending on your Charakters it might even involve fighting on that dish while the 3rd guy needs to cross a bridge. Stepping of the dish lets the bridge crumble. This could mean two people fighting to stay on the dish with an opponent for each dish to press them off of it. While a third Partymember prays to good, the bridge isn't crumbling underneath his feet. I'm quite sure this situation is stressfull and adrenaline inducing for everyone involved ;). This whole mission then teaches them that splitting up might be necessary. First you force them. Then you give them more and more situation that are less forceful than before until they reach the point, in which they are as comfortable with splitting as you want them to be.
@Herosoyyo2
6 жыл бұрын
He has basically talked about it, only not under the "splitting the party" denomination. Players are risk-averse, you can't let that principle rule them completely. It's good to tempt them and/or force them away from the safety they crave. From collapsing doorways to subtly placed bad guys, pick your tools. Split them up, and make sure not to immediately punish them for it.
@poetwarrior7153
6 жыл бұрын
The two responses really disturb me. It's not the DM's job to teach players lessons or decide to punish or not punish players. You built an adventure (hopefully appropriate to the parties level) you know whats down path a and path b. If they split and can handle part a and part b great! If it turns out to be advantageous to split the party even better. If one path leads directly to the big bad and the part of the party that goes that ways dies so be it. The players take their own lessons away from the experience.
@cobtyrannon2479
6 жыл бұрын
I disagree. When you master for Players regularly, then they will gain experiences. They learn from these experiences. But sometimes they might draw bad conclusions, that hurt the game. Sure, you can suffer through it, but i don't enjoy that. On the other hand i don't like complaining about something. So i give them new experiences that contradict the "bad conclusions" so that they can adjust them.
@tarsis6123
6 жыл бұрын
"Players are risk-averse" Some have been trained to be. That is the fault of GMs of their past, if that risk has rarely paid off when successful. I sometimes have characters who behave rather rashly, and take risky actions often. As a player I often support splitting the party, or my risky character will take off into the fray leaving the rest of the party behind. Otherwise the party will stand in some narrow hallway, tank-and-spanking each enemy they can until something smarter than them sends in a cone of acid or something. I'd rather force the issue, make the rest of the party move, create some chaos on the battlefield, surprise the enemy, make the DM scratch his head and think about how our foes would react. I want our fighters to actually use the things inside their helmets and try doing some things other than "I swing, I swing, I swing." I want those mages out there between casts thinking about how they can alter the battlefield to our advantage rather than sitting behind a meatwall. I want those clerics really invested in this battle! I want those rogues to get a chance to do that backstab! Sometimes concentration of force is the answer, sometimes it is not. When it is not, the battles can be way more fun! Splitting the party doesn't always have to be long term, it can start out just with a few rounds in mind, just to get their feet wet.
@deadpoolvp26
6 жыл бұрын
Must have rolled high initiative to be this early
@atjosvold
3 жыл бұрын
Guess I rolled a 1 with a 3 dex because I'm allitle late
@neverknow2474
6 жыл бұрын
It is difficult, but my group has been split for 8 months and our two groups have been playing once a week (Sunday and Monday nights) and I am so excited because this week they are finally going to regroup! It is going to be epic!
@AdorkableDaughterofNyx
6 жыл бұрын
i remember a handful of parties where as the small statured feytouched woman with a high intelligence and high charisma, that i had to separate from the party to speak with the local nobles because noble descent, and often had to buy pretty clean clothes and a special bath and beauty treatment for these things i mean, i was allowed to keep a dagger inside my sleeve as the party rogue for in case of the risk of combat, but i had to do all the diplomacy at the party and make allegiances that helped the group out, because lots of people dumped charisma and had no social skills, in addition to carrying a walking armory. so they usually assumed me the one they were charged with protecting. even though i was a rogue in spidersilk clothes. because spidersilk is amazing.
@StarWindEnergin
5 жыл бұрын
I mean.. it was the basis for Silksteel in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and they managed to make it plausible too. "The highest tensile strength of any substance known to man".
@DarknessvsDawn
6 жыл бұрын
Funny you should mention rising action and it being difficult to run a split combat. Recently had half of my group imprisoned and ran the group inside and outside of the prison simultaneously with a 10 minute timer that had me switching between groups frequently. Eventually both groups got into combat and i had them all roll initiative. I set up two white boards and ran the combats simultaneously like they were in the same room. Technically the timing was off and it would have taken the outside group considerably longer to get into combat if each group was on real world time, but a little handwaving of the world's rules made for a very dramatic night when they both fought guards to eventually meet up in the center and all escape into the night. I was told later that it was the most intense battle I've ever run as the cleric was so focused on rushing to the aid of the other half of the party to heal the paladin who was down to around 5 health.
@itamarbaz9477
6 жыл бұрын
Ahhh, the controversy!
@AgeofTheNorth
6 жыл бұрын
The problem is that many DM:s put out scenarios where you basically instantly roll for initiative. If you have a more realistic approach, the split up adventurers may see advancing enemies long before any potential combat, a lone Rouge could sneak up and scout for dangers. According to my understanding, players are also not so eager to run away from dangers, mostly because the DM is not capable enough to make it interesting. Basically, players are afraid of "getting stuck" with a challenge/monster they cannot fight alone. It is up for the DM to set up a larger framework that is challenging but not instantly lethal.
@Mk3Gaming
6 жыл бұрын
Well, I have to say, I ran a two combat Encounter with the two Groups at the Table at the same Time. Why? ... because the Player decided to split up. Not because they knew what was going to happened, but just to see what would happened. It was interresting, I created some really nice Cliffhanger during the Battle while switching from one Group to the other. And as a Bonus, the small Group saved the bigger Group, by accident. Without my doing they killed the Necromancer just in that Round as the Undead in the Celler were killing the bigger Group. Taxing but Rewarding in the End - Not in D&D btw. ^^
@dynamicworlds1
6 жыл бұрын
I've been in a convention game that had split-party combat and it worked just fine. We weren't running D&D either though, so I can't say it would work with a system that clunky. This might be more of a system problem than an RPG problem.
@tomasxfranco
6 жыл бұрын
Pathfinder?
@dynamicworlds1
6 жыл бұрын
@@tomasxfranco Pathfinder is basically just D&D 3.75. There is a whole world of systems out there and most of them don't even use a d20 for anything but maybe a table or 2. My example was Savage Worlds.
@Mk3Gaming
6 жыл бұрын
Our System was and is Warhammer Fantasy Rpg 2nd Edition.
@LAJackson123
6 жыл бұрын
I think you're wrong about those Twitch videos being "less entertaining" - you have a voracious audience, myself included, who would LOVE to digest any and all of your content. Much love!
@FyreOVision
6 жыл бұрын
54
@tomasxfranco
6 жыл бұрын
53
@frong
6 жыл бұрын
Hey, I love your videos. The content is amazing 11/10. I have a suggestion on how the quality of the video could be improved though. You should EQ the audio, the 's' sound is extremely prominent so maybe tune down the high frequencies :)
@runewalkingshaw6408
6 жыл бұрын
Does he ever breathe
@AndrewHewson
6 жыл бұрын
Yes. But like so many videos on KZitem all the natural pauses have been cut out making the presentation seem a continuous diatribe.
@caerdwyn7467
6 жыл бұрын
He’s a lich. They don’t need to breathe.
@andreidragostin
5 жыл бұрын
He rolled a 20 for breathing before turning the camera on
@chickendragon8526
6 жыл бұрын
MAtt. You are a dirty tease. covering your mouth like that before telling us the book will be available in weeks. Just mean. ;)
@trendane
6 жыл бұрын
I keep apologizing to you every time I have to pause the video. What does that signify, I wonder?
@caerdwyn7467
6 жыл бұрын
Trendane Sparks It means you need to DM for me. Or vice versa.
@trendane
6 жыл бұрын
Hahah. I'm not that good of a DM, I'm afraid. You do far, far better than me, as I recall. And I'd be delighted to play with you again.
@EdChapman
5 жыл бұрын
"I've been doing this... since 1988... " Wait. You mean I started playing D&D *before* Matt Colville? That's disturbing. I started with the Red Box and playing during recess circa 3rd grade.
@boniakarlo
2 ай бұрын
I was born in 1988 and I am considered an old experienced player, so yeah.
@esperthebard
6 жыл бұрын
You echo some points that I've long held, but never really put into words. Actually, thinking about it, many of my adventures have some optional "side area" that gives a chance for the party to split. Is it more dangerous? Yes. But is it also thrilling and high reward for high risk? Yes.
@vexedalgides3091
6 жыл бұрын
My experience with splitting the party goes hand in hand with the current map they're on. They tend to stick together during roleplaying sections, but split when combat nears. I then proceed to manage the different small groups at the same time according to initiative rolls and then they manage to come together by the end for the boss fight. Most of the times. One time one of my players literally was looting at the other side of the dungeon while the party fought.
@xaosbob
6 жыл бұрын
Your lighting seems a little intense (you're a little washed out--maybe the fill lighting is too bright, or perhaps the lights are just generally a little too harsh), but things are looking great. Also, good treatment of what is, to many, probably the scariest scenario to DM.
@dustinpatterson2795
6 жыл бұрын
It kinda looks like he's wearing makeup
@InvaderZed
3 жыл бұрын
Last time the party split it was a Starfinder game. I run 3 people in one location in the city and 2 people on the opposite side of the city. They were finding hidden cell towers all over the city giving off an evil mind control signals. I played an hour with 1 group until they hit a battle. Then 45min with the other group then they hit a battle. At that point with their communicators I allowed them to talk in real time as I set up what I called ( a mega combat) I rolled initiative for everyone in 2 separate battles. But ran it as 1 continous battle scene switching the POV from one group to the next depending on whose turn it was. I guess this would only work if your split party has simultaneous battles but it was pretty great! The one with 2 party members got the objective and ran from the enemies just escaping by jetpack one unconscious brought back to 1hp and the last PC at 3hp ...I almost killed 2 PCs that session. Very epic we all remember
@superkeaton9912
6 жыл бұрын
Don't you know, you never split the party~
@drowemos
6 жыл бұрын
Clerics in the back keep those fighters hale and hearty.
@finnianquail8881
6 жыл бұрын
@@drowemos the wizards in the middle, so he can shed the light
@daltonprather6649
6 жыл бұрын
Another video from this beautiful man!
@roguedeath98
6 жыл бұрын
I feel like there's a market for someone to just Audit other people's games based on the questions you're constantly asked on Twitch, people just restating their very narrow specific game related question over and over really kills the usefulness of the twitch interface. I find Twitch chat breaks down around 1,000 users, doesn't matter the channel. After a threshold it just becomes a useless stream of text.
@jamesorth8231
6 жыл бұрын
Think the whole idea of 'never split the party' is because most encounters are tuned to be against a full party. That in itself is 'meta' gaming, a good dm would balance the fights if they decide to split. This builds trust with the DM won't completely punish the players for trying something different.
@Msoulwing
6 жыл бұрын
It doesn't make sense to me to have monsters just poof into nothing because the party decided to split up. If the party does split up, they have voluntarily halved their combat Strength. Dealing with that problem is *their* job. They'll have to get creative; sneaking around encounters, luring single guards away from patrols, setting traps.
@yanderenejoyer
6 жыл бұрын
@@Msoulwing If your group is there for the storytelling, I agree. If they love combat, that's not a good idea. In the end, we play because it's fun, and if the players love combat, it's a small sacrifice to "nerf " some encounters.
@GeneralFarrar
6 жыл бұрын
@@Msoulwing If the DM is the only one who currently knows some monsters are nearby, do they in fact exist? My party split a few weeks back with the ranger and druid babysitting an npc while the cleric and barbarian went and started a bar fight. I'm quite sure there were originally 'supposed to be' many more villagers is the tavern, but since there were only the two pcs, some were never narrated into existence in our game.
@Msoulwing
6 жыл бұрын
@Shiroe-san Well, if your players are just there for combat, I don't see why they'd split up in the first place. I suppose they might do so thinking they can take the encounter on their own, but then they're actually asking for it. @GeneralFarrar They exist about as much as anything exists in a fictional universe. Granted, I use Roll20 and I have tokens already made and placed for pretty much every encounter, so I think my creatures have a tinge more permanency than ones that are only narrated. Here's the thing about my GMing style: if my players do something, they will face the logical consequences of their actions. Let me elaborate. In a recent game, my players were in a mountain pass. Early on, they found an elevated path they could climb to instead of following the main path. Now, by doing this, they completely bypassed an encounter and several pit traps. In a dungeon later on, there were four separate potential high-challenge encounters. They managed to sidestep *every single one.* Not by chance, mind you, but by not taking foolish risks. These are two examples of the party acting intelligently and being able to achieve their objective without too much trouble as a result.If the party decides to do something stupid (like split up in a dungeon with an unknown monster count) the opposite will naturally happen and they'll have a harder time.
@yanderenejoyer
6 жыл бұрын
@@Msoulwing Well, you see, there's a difference between being there "only" for combat and combat being the "main focus". If these players love combat more than the other pillars, but still RP true to their characters, so they actually care about them, splitting up could happen. Also, there may come a moment where some things have to happen at the same time. In those moments, who knows how they'll split up. I may have a hardcore encounter, only for the party to split the wizard and the cleric from the fighter and the barbarian, in some very interesting development. Now, if you keep the encounters unchanged, and they get destroyed, that might inhibit future interesting split ups, since "we need a melee and a caster together, even if our characters don't really get along or I'm currently very interested in some alone time with X". So I believe it's a little more complex than just "no changes" or "always adjust". There is a time for both, is what I'm getting at.
@robertblank5206
6 жыл бұрын
Wow! I just got back from watching the Twitch stream about running evil characters. It's really great and I think it would probably be worth posting on KZitem for folks. It has a lot of the stories from your gaming history that I've wondered about, and a lot of the insights you share could really help new gamers.
@steveejohnson7932
6 жыл бұрын
I've often found that splitting the party is like dividing by zero. Impossible without first making things complex.
@tunaman5448
3 жыл бұрын
Don’t you know you never split the party got the clerics in the back wizards in the middle where they can shed some light
@Levowitz
6 жыл бұрын
Constructive criticism Matt: I'm not a lighting expert, but the light seems so vibrant that it kind of takes me out of the experience? I don't know how to word it, really.
@reubenfromow4854
6 жыл бұрын
I personally am revelling in the experience of ascended angel Matt
@NordboDK
6 жыл бұрын
The party was level 5 when they ran into the BBEG. She force caged half the party, surprised the strength based fighter with her higher strength, then decided to retreat through a telwport spell. She cast it too close, however, and two party members jumped after her. As they recovered from their jump a fireball hurls towards them, taking them to low hit points, and the BBEG smiles as she closes the door of the jail cell in her stronghold. Their escape was then conducted via text message as more of a sneaky segment, where I would use my dungeon tiles to describe the basics, add on with text. It worked really well and the next session had them rejoining each other quickly.
@johnnybigbones4955
6 жыл бұрын
Wow, it never ceases to amaze me how many people complain about really minor things to do with lighting and sound on these videos.
@ryanfitch750
6 жыл бұрын
You don't think Matt cares about getting his videos to the utmost quality for the audience that gave him over $2,000,000? I certainly hope he cares.
@BimdoeDoll
6 жыл бұрын
They're not complaining, they're giving him advice and help
@johnnybigbones4955
6 жыл бұрын
I pledged for the gaming supplement I am going to recieve, which looks like it is worth what I paid for it and more from the previews. I also paid to support my favourite youtuber who has provided me with hours and hours of up til now free entertainment. The stream is a pleasant bonus, and I think if Matt wants to work to make the audio visual quality high because he feels it is worthwhile that is cool, but I do not expect him to. I do not feel that Matt Colville owes me anything other than Strongholds and Followers.
@deKahedron
5 жыл бұрын
"Don't let people online tell you how to play" -Matt Colville, online
@nickbeutler
3 жыл бұрын
I’m currently playing through Lost Mines of Phandelver, and we recently did Cragmaw Castle, which is a kind of mini-dungeon in the middle of the adventure. We were outside the castle for a while deciding what to do, and eventually we decided to split the party in half, with all the beefy melee fighters going to the front gate to create a distraction while the other characters snuck in a side entrance looking for the dwarf we were there to rescue. This approach actually worked (miraculously), but it had the unintended effect of turning an entire dungeon into one huge encounter, where half the party had a no-holds-barred brawl in the front, and the other half snuck their way through the back. By the time we met in the middle, we had basically cleared the whole dungeon, aside from the Boss’s quarters, which the sneaky half wisely decided not to investigate alone. We were helped by the fact that the sneaky party inadvertently released a caged owl bear, which massacred almost a dozen goblins who the front party had pushed back by setting a door on fire. Eventually the two groups met in the middle, somehow none of us had died and we had cleared the whole dungeon aside from the boss! It was maybe the most memorable dungeon run I’ve ever been a part of, and would never have happened if we hadn’t split the party. I say go for it, as long as you’re willing to accept the consequences, it can be very fun.
@raikirah975
6 жыл бұрын
There's a fairly simple way of running multiple combats simultaneously, when the party is split. When the first group triggers a fight, the scene with them shifts to the other (or next, in the case of multiple splits) and their narrative pauses -- you'll want to make a note regarding roughly how much time it took to get there. You then go backward in narrative time to the moment the split occurred, and roleplay the events that occur with the new group. Repeat this until all groups have triggered a combat. Then simply roll Initiative for all groups and treat it as one giant fight. As each group finishes their respective fracas, they go off-camera. Once all groups are done, resume the normal course of split-party narrative switching until the next fight.
@eloyc4245
6 жыл бұрын
Raikirah I’ve done exactly this as well. It’s worked fine every time. I’ve even done this with minis... draw a line dividing the map into 2 separate areas for each group , but handle everyone in the same initiative order.
@gnarthdarkanen7464
6 жыл бұрын
Okay, I usually do something similar... BUT there's a caveat or two... and it gets a little weird. First, how I generally handle combat is a thing... I don't run initiative every round or turn... I've had real-world observations and experience, so I know that combat (boxing for instance) involves a fair amount of toe-to-toe repetition... and I reflect that by "Role playing Combat narratively" and only rolling/re-rolling initiative with purpose... (so there's that) In general RP, we just kind of follow the "order" of combat's last initiative until there's a reason to change it... It's a little simpler, or maybe unconscious tradition until someone pointed it out... but we do that... SO in split-party situations, out of combat, it's just a matter of "narrative convenience" and occasionally "cliffhangers" because "cliffhangers" (PC-groans) Split-party Combats, I tend to let the ebb and flow of repetitive toe-to-toe (figurative) kind of dictate the precisely when and where(s) of rotation between "sub-groups" of PC's... until any particular group is "officially out of combat" while I wind up the rest... With flexibility of narrative time-references in mind, and just to keep the whole table interested in-game, I've been known to give non-combat Players a choice on turns occasionally even while "winding up" others' if their combats end up drawing out more than expected... It just keeps the rotation as "approximately fair" as I can manage most of the time. AND don't forget to allow yourself to breathe and fudge or monkey it up occasionally. Things get muddled in the midst of trying to run one campaign that's turned into two or three or four... as the case may be... even temporarily. ;o)
@KBash
6 жыл бұрын
Breakneck clicks
@VerumAdPotentia
6 жыл бұрын
Video suggestion/request: Don't be mad at your DM if your party starts raising your voices in the middle of the dungeon/labyrinth/Underdark and arguing, and this attracts one or more "wandering monsters". The DM didn't force you all to argue, and if you all keep stopping the campaign by arguing about anything in dangerous territory, how are you surprised that your actions attracted the attention of a "wandering monster" encounter. Especially if you end up the slaves of the Drow... ...again.
@Bluecho4
6 жыл бұрын
While in principle I disagree - if there's a problem at the table, open communication of concerns should be the first recourse, not passive aggressive gaming - I do also see merit in the approach. If nothing else, there should be a risk to spending too much time in a dungeon doing anything. It's why random encounter tables exist. So if the game gets halted for several minutes due to deliberation or argument, it might be time to shake things up with a monster attack. It's also a good thing to roll for if the characters decide to commit themselves to time-consuming tasks, or ones that could be loud. Like, for instance, using mason's tools to break down a door, or the spellcaster stopping everything to ritual-cast a spell.
@asherandai1000
6 жыл бұрын
discoandherpes You can be emotionally engaged without yelling at each other. If you're in a dungeon and there is a mob nearby and the party starts loudly arguing, they're gonna get heard. Bluecho4 Personally I would think it better to have a rough idea before they enter the dungeon of what monsters are around to hear them. If they've already killed everything then they've more than likely made the area safe (depending on the environmental density of monsters). I think it becomes cheap when there was clearly nothing left in the area and then monsters appear out of no where... Like the ninja zombies in so many horror films/series that are suddenly 20ft away in that open field.
@VerumAdPotentia
6 жыл бұрын
I apologize for not making it more clear in the previous post that this had been an ongoing issue, had been previously repeatedly warned about, and here's the clincher in my mind, the arguing wasn't just loud, and wasn't just in the middle of the dungeon/labyrinth/Underdark (not the end, nor after clearing even the majority of the area, but nearly exactly half-way through, in a fairly heavily trafficked area), but most of all, it was in character. Thanks for the constructive input all.
@asherandai1000
6 жыл бұрын
discoandherpes No I am not assuming the tone of the players is the tone of the characters, your assumption that I am is ridiculous. Notice I used words like "can be" and "party" instead of "are" and "players" respectively. These terms refer to a possibility and to the in game characters, not to a certainty or to the out of game people. If players are yelling at each other out of character that is a different issue entirely.
@asherandai1000
6 жыл бұрын
discoandherpes Roll an insight check. Jokes aside it really is just paying attention and intuiting information. The same way you might realise your mate is depressed about his break up, or that your friends are playing a joke on you. If you're really good at it you can tell even if they are complete strangers, but I imagine most groups that might have things like this occur will be close friends already so should know enough about each other to tell the difference. An old friend of mine (haven't seen him in years) is/was an actor but I still knew him well enough to tell the difference. One obvious giveaway you might get depending on how comfortable your players are with RP is if they are speaking in the manner of their character (and it's different from their normal speech) and they use each others characters names. That's a dead giveaway 9 times out of 10, and you'll learn to spot the 1 time its not pretty quickly if you pay attention. Player's aren't the only ones that need to pay attention (I know DMs have a lot on their plate already but I think paying attention should high priority if not top priority).
@TtheWriter
6 жыл бұрын
I would go out on a limb and say this isn't even REMOTELY possible for most groups, as they only meet once a month, if that, and don't have schedules needed to run two different games at two different times with the same DM shouldering TWICE the normal work load of running said games. You're the wildly different exception Matt, not the wiser ruling.
@InkThinks
6 жыл бұрын
Matt! I have watched all of your Running the Game videos, but I still don't really know how to use magic items, how to sell them, and how to balance them. Is there a Running the Game coming up on Magic Items? Or did I just miss an already existing one?
@ShayneRawls
5 жыл бұрын
Matt I was born in 1988. How the hell have you played this game my entire life. I actually feel a little intimidated by your knowledge and wisdom on this game
@CasparLeones
5 жыл бұрын
I am an 88 creature also, and I echo the sentiment exactly.
@klosnj11
6 жыл бұрын
Dude, I just uploaded a campaign diary I entitled: "So You Split the Party...Again." Weird timing.
@seraaron
6 жыл бұрын
FYI - I think that the audio on this video is a little *too* compressed. I can hear the sharp peaks and toughs in volume every time you vocalise each syllable. It sounds quite unnatural. You might want to turn the settings down a tad for the next videos, even if it means a few milliseconds of light background noise between each spoken word.
@Izacagarath
6 жыл бұрын
A campaign I am playing in split the party in the first adventure for a solid 3 adventures. A girl was kidnapped and we had multiple points we believed she might be. So we split. My brother and I (who both took our characters a different direction from the rest of the party) didn't want to know what was going on. So we went to a different room during the rest of the party's stuff... and we role played our characters talking while keeping watch on something for two hours. Our characters got to grow closer and it was really cool.
@andibadboy1
6 жыл бұрын
This really resonated with me. I had a character who I had already decided hated Devils and Demons. At one point we got captured by them. The rest of the party was very much against fighting the demons who were very clearly outmatching us. But I knew my character would never bow his head to a demon, even if it was just a ruse to plan an escape later. I stood up and attacked the demons. Even after I was defeated, I roll a 20 on death throw and come back with 1HP, he was once again offered to give up or die. Immediately I attacked knowing it meant certain death. He did indeed die but honestly. I'm still happy with how he went, and I'm a lot happier with how it ended up vs if he had broken character to bow his head to the demons.
@johnnybigbones4955
6 жыл бұрын
That is awesome. I love when the "20 on a death save" works out like that.
@Aplesedjr
6 жыл бұрын
I guess the way in which he hated them matters a lot here. I would choose to act submissive so that I could hurt them more later rather than almost certainly failing by fighting, but that’s me.
@andibadboy1
6 жыл бұрын
I didn't see the character submitting to a demon, he was very proud.
@SamHintz
6 жыл бұрын
Great video as always, however, does anyone else feel like the lighting is weirdly yellow and not amazing looking? I wouldn't say anything if I didn't think the presentation was important to you.
@DyrgeAfterDark
6 жыл бұрын
My good friend and burgeoning DM ran his 1st campaign: A traveling circus as a facade, our party was tasked with infiltrating a Nobles house to steal a Magical gem as a group at midnight. We all immediately split up with the intent to get the item solo. We each infiltrated from 5 completely different avenues with interacting actions that resulted in one person getting the Jewel. The New DM by instinct ran this flawlessly. I will never forget the timeline of events he constructed which culminated in a masterpiece of fiction
@gonzoengineering4894
6 жыл бұрын
"Yes gentlemen, I am very rude to those who grossly split the party" -J.I. Stalin
@SpasticEliteStudios
6 жыл бұрын
I feel like that particular piece of common advice should be amended to "Don't split the party AT RANDOM". Splitting the group at a clear point where it would be useful to do so, or at least makes sense for the character makes perfect sense. Running off into the darkness in the middle of a dungeon because "you felt like it" or "you saw a chest on the map" is a bad idea.
@SlowpokeSteve
6 жыл бұрын
Last week my players were in town. They found a fighting pit. I prepared 4 or so guys to fight one on one. One of my characters wanted to fight in the pits and I realized that they all couldn't fight at the same time. Anyway, everyone else began betting on the fights, so despite it being mostly one character playing, everyone else was entertained by who he was fighting and if he'd win. I think this is another good example of splitting the party, kind of.
@bassmanjla
6 жыл бұрын
"dont split the party" is a flawed theory. I let my parties split all the time. and its awesome
@fctimar
6 жыл бұрын
I ran three separate combats for my players once. Two were in jail, not knowing that a Lynch mob had been raised against them. One was magically transported to another city to check on her sister at an Asylum, that had been taken over by vampire spawn, using the inmates as food. And three were at their residence about to be attacked by Assassins sent to silence them. I had three maps out at the same time. One set of initiative roles, a couple NPC helpers for the solo character checking on her sister. As I moved through initiative I switched from scene to scene, playing through the events in all three locations. It was an experiment, and one that I planned to a degree between the previous session and the one that night. I am not sure it is something I would want to do on the fly. But after it all, and to this day, it is an experience we talk about regularly.
@antwan1357
6 жыл бұрын
I have two specific ways I have game managed to specific types of player types . One role players I treat each level more like a chapter in a novel and you gain experience by finishing the chapter not by what you kill. Two is I just put monsters in front of you and you kill them I keep the background story down to one sentence to speed things up for the power players.
@marmotbro4673
6 жыл бұрын
My group never splits the party in dangerous or potentially dangerous situations. We've done it twice, and twice it has resulted in TPK.
@ChiralCentre3366
5 жыл бұрын
The worst experience as a player I've had in d&d was from splitting the party. One group I played in had the tendency to split into 3 or 4 groups at a time. In the middle of a session one time one person went off on their own to negotiate a deal with someone for 2 hours. They had to go on their own because they were a noble and we weren't, or something. So. 2 hours. Of them and the GM talking to each other. I'm sure to them it was very interesting, but I was so tired of waiting I actually fell asleep. In real life. That's not the only time something like that happened with that group, but it's the one that I remember the most! Needless to say, I gave up playing d&d with that group 2 or 3 sessions later. It's also put me off playing any tabletop RPGs since. Maybe I'm just an outlier, but GMs please keep in mind not all of your players' patience will last forever if you can't keep things interesting for the rest of your group (or take longer side stuff off to a separate session!)
@Empolo18
6 жыл бұрын
I think splitting the party isn't in all a bad idea. In terms of party size it could go either way. A larger group (6-9) could benefit with the variation of abilities and skills that can be dispersed between the two. A heavy hitter, a healer, etc. But I'd say like a smaller party of like 4 would be quite difficult. I could see sending one to go ahead and scout like a rogue or assassin. It all depends on the players and the DM. If the DM knows it's gonna be more of boon to split off and gain a bit of intel or treasure they can drop subtle hints about it with the relative difficulty.
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