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@cccampbell
6 жыл бұрын
It sounds so familiar! I'm glad I can finally listen to people talk about gaming without my brain leaking out my ear! (Thanks so much for the twitter shoutout!)
@jimdavis141
6 жыл бұрын
My pleasure, Courtney! You've been a huge influence on my thinking about GMing.
@Nionivek
6 жыл бұрын
Tried to find that Warhammer game, but alas...
@quonomonna8126
3 жыл бұрын
well i mean if they don't take care of the bandits harassing travelers on the road, they're going to run into them from time to time on the road until they find their hideout and take care of the problem...various regions have problems and until they're taken care of they are problems unless they travel out of that region, doesn't mean its a 100% chance they're going to get ambushed or anything but the chance of an encounter is increased and the chance that it will be bandits is increased
@Therivyn
6 жыл бұрын
I've fudged dice. I do have to admit that. I had a giant scorpion. Should have been a hard encounter but their monk with a -1con wanted to tank it. the third session in. new to d&d player but has a few months of RP experience from some sci-fi rp. I rolled a tail attack. crit. rolled like a 2 below max damage would have been an instant death for the char no death saves. so i told him he got hit by 3 points less than he did to allow the death saves he was so excited about the character and all.... I don't regret it.
@rcnrbn
6 жыл бұрын
I feel ya, I have a bad habit of overestimating the capabilities of my characters. Once I threw two gladiators and two druids against a party of level 3/4 players before realizing that "OH HEY, CR 8 IS ACTUALLY REALLY FUCKING TOUGH. MAYBE I SHOULDA THROWN JUST ONE AT THEM", and instead of letting the monsters steamroll my people, I fudged die rolls, turned crits into hits and made it a very close, tense, exciting fight that ended in a TPK and mutual destruction with the last PC getting KOd just as he took out the final guy. I let the party roll through their death saves to see who survived and let them all escape the dungeon with one hitpoint.
@Bluecho4
6 жыл бұрын
Yeah, fudging dice is not a binary thing. It's not either all good or all bad. Most of the time you _should_ let the dice fall where they may...but sometimes you should fudge. At the end of the day, we're not playing a game to be perfect simulationists. Where here to have fun. If a dice result would just ruin the session for everyone...well, do what you gotta do to keep the session from being ruined. I might have the DM impose a limit on themselves. They get a small number of "Fiat Rerolls" per sessions. No more than three, and even that is pushing it. Just to keep themselves from running wild with the power of fudge. Because fudge is a dangerous force, not to be trifled with. Delicious, but fraught with peril.
@JesperBisgaard
6 жыл бұрын
I completely agree, for the most part i let the dice fall as they may but sometimes i adjust dice to break a lucky streak on my behalf or prevent death. This is often something which I see happen at lower levels and almost never at higher levels. I don't agree that fudging dice is just bad, it's a tool which can be used occasionally but it should be carefully considered.
@danielpayne1597
6 жыл бұрын
I haven't fudged dice, but I have fudged enemy data, in that I sometimes design enemies (potential reoccurring villains) without giving them stats and just make up how much hurt they put out and can take on the fly. Every roll went exactly as it should, but I didn't have to worry about the villain not getting to show up again because his HP was "infinite," in a sense. He would have fled after a reasonable amount of damage through a legitimate, pre-established power. Instead, my players fled after clashing for awhile and realizing with two massive monsters and a slew of soldiers on the way, this is not a battle they could win. (It actually was winnable. Difficult, but doable. I was surprised to see them value self-preservation so much.)
@thefracturedbutwhole5475
6 жыл бұрын
Stupid monk, what kind of melee character has a negative con mod . . . and then tries to tank . . . . . well, anything
@blakebailey22
6 жыл бұрын
I don't think there's anything wrong with the "big damn quest" so long as it isn't railroaded. There may be a threat that the good guys need help from the players in order to stop, but if the players go off and do something else that's fine, so long as the villain is slowly winning. Eventually, when half of the continent is taken, the players are then going to feel and organic sense of urgency.
@ThePasty
6 жыл бұрын
I see what you're saying. But generally if the players are having a problem with "the big damn quest", then there was probably a miss communication between the Players and GM about what to expect out of the campaign. Though I also understand "burn out" to be expected, that is a good time to use what you just said, as long as the players are warned about the impending doom taking place though. I can see where something big happened that the players were supposed to intervene, like, "The Lich Krocera took over [Insert Important City]!" Could be fine, but taking over half of the Sword Coast cause the players decide to do a few dungeons and weren't warned once about it, could kinda come off as "Huh huh, should have payed attention what I originally set out for you." I exaggerate of course, as you may have, I just feel it's fair to warn players of big events they could have stopped. Like a favored NPC is running after them to tell them grave news. But it could makes sense if they accidentally took part in a short Underdark/Planar adventure and no one knew where they went. (Much like Avatar XD)
@yellowbeard1
4 жыл бұрын
TLDR: If there’s a big evil then other adventurers can do the parts your party doesn’t want to do. If your party wants to ambush cult leaders instead of negotiate with other factions let someone else negotiate while the party decapitates the enemy leadership and gathers intel for friendly forces. Or maybe your group wants to focus on diplomacy and running a large business on making weapons and armor for friendly forces. While someone else kicks doors and kills monsters. Something I did was asked the party what they want to do with Rise if Tiamat and they didn’t want to do political shenanigans or even dungeon crawls. They wanted to RP with the NPCs they like and use magic to make complex IED ambushes of cult members. So that’s what we did. Another party did the politics and even the infiltration to stop the summoning ritual, the group wanted to kill dragons with the armies of the Sword Coast in front of the temple, scream insults to Tiamat and put as much enemy attention as possible to the outside of the temple. All of this was because of player input.
@Menzobarrenza
3 жыл бұрын
@@yellowbeard1 Beautiful.
@katsilva4277
6 жыл бұрын
"The most important things that were going to happen to that character had already happened, the most adventure they were ever gonna have had been written into that background" Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssss. And that's why exactly like Jim I stopped accepting backgrounds and switched to questionnaires.
@Thunder_Snug
6 жыл бұрын
What kind of questions do you include?
@DongerDayz
6 жыл бұрын
This was suuuuuch a good point
@Licjr
6 жыл бұрын
The background stuff in Xanathar's was great for this, it's enough to color your character with interesting experiences but nothing that's gonna overshadow the events of the campaign
@Jorelsin
6 жыл бұрын
So never thougth of using a questionare! So gonna do that with my next campaign 😀😀😀❤
@joeleek9976
6 жыл бұрын
I used bacon battalian's questions as a guide for players to make back grounds.
@benjaminmeyer2139
6 жыл бұрын
21:20 Just this last Monday we had a huge set-piece inside a tower in our weekly game that involved a bunch of orc casters, guards, ogre shamans, and an evil empirical human wizard. Right before we burst in through the windows S.W.A.T. style, my character used the party's Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals and summoned the elemental beside the wizard. Elemental had higher initiative and the wizard failed his strength save against its Whelm and spent the entire encounter grappled, restrained, and drowning (read: silenced) inside the elemental. After the huge battle, our DM just laughed and smiled, saying "That wizard was going to fuck y'all up. You have no idea how great a plan it was to trap him inside that water elemental. He was going to be casting some messed up stuff but if he couldn't breathe, he couldn't cast." Sometimes you have to let your players' great plan follow through. I think a DM who gets annoyed or frustrated that his uber epic encounter gets steam-rolled should be proud of his players for thinking up a viable means of getting through it. If it happens frequently, particularly through cheesy means, that's something you should be planning for or addressing the party or offending member that's doing it. Otherwise, sometimes your players just come up with a great plan and you should let it play out. Another great video. So glad I found this channel.
@ethanvernatter5920
6 жыл бұрын
Pruitt: maybe your fighters master was killed Me: Hello my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
@cloudsRniceC0M3
6 жыл бұрын
Shh don't let them know they hold the power That illusion is all we've got
@WallyDM
6 жыл бұрын
My favorite thing, as a DM, is to secretly incorporate many aspects of the characters backstories into the story and the fantasy world. It' fun to find opportune times for a big reveal of a major plotline that includes their backgrounds is a fantastic way for dramatic storytelling or cliffhangers to end gaming sessions.
@andrewwestfall65
6 жыл бұрын
I was playing a game a couple years ago where I put a former friend in my backstory that happened to fit the description of a villain he had made, and that's how my local informant and trusted friend became possessed by a demon.
@joeleek9976
6 жыл бұрын
It's also a way to flesh out the game world. The players do it with their backgrounds.
@gnarlestongnu637
6 жыл бұрын
Every player already expects this. This isn't so much a good move as it is a necessary move. Doing it doesn't automatically make your campaign good - but not doing it will almost certainly make it boring to be a player in.
@joeleek9976
6 жыл бұрын
@@gnarlestongnu637 -nah. I have played in many games where characters backgrounds weren't used in this way. The dm had a strong story to tell and it was great.
@RedFeatherG
5 жыл бұрын
I've been DMing a campaign for two years now. 80% of current events are based on stuff that has happened over that period of time. We'll be starting a new campaign in the near future, and some of the events that take part of the lore involve previous characters in some way. Watching their "wait a minute what" faces is entertaining, especially when they come across NPCs they've dealt with in the past and didn't think much of them.
@iv0rysh0es39
6 жыл бұрын
Cannot stress enough: a successful party and tabletop sesh, relies heavily on COMMUNICATION & RESPECT. If everyone is open minded, patient, and constructive, the machine maintains its well oiled state. If there's something you hate or really like, make sure you relay that to the DM. It'll only help for future development and aim. And the same vice versa for the GM to discuss with their players. The GM is only as strong as their players. Similar to a God, they have no power if they have no disciples/followers. D&D is a very symbiotic relationship. And hopefully it revolves around fun, because if not, what are you working towards. *edit: The Sword?! Epic underrated band. Even more inspiration points to you gents.
@JPruinc
6 жыл бұрын
THE SWORD!!!!!
@iv0rysh0es39
6 жыл бұрын
JPruInc favorite song/album? Warp Riders, for me. That's where I was introduced to them.
@JPruinc
6 жыл бұрын
The Big LeBoschski I’d say Age of Winters or Acocryphon.
@stevesmith4600
6 жыл бұрын
I love your shows, but this one seemed to not hit the mark and fizzled out. It seems like a big missed opportunity to discuss Player driven campaigns, and not discuss West Marches style. Also, there really wasn't much discussed about how to manage a player driven champaign, when Player A wants to do X, and Player B wants to do Y ... Anyways, I hope that this doesn't come off as too harsh ... It's just my point of view. Love your shows!
@Zoltri
6 жыл бұрын
Something I'll say as a DM who really loves using the sort of idea's you're describing as illusionist Dming, I feel like you've ran into a lot of vary lazy and short sighted ways of using this system. First off, using this idea for dungeons is ridiculous, and I in no way support it. I think dungeons should be fully flushed out, structured systems in which careful positioning of traps/encounters is vital to making everything flow properly. If you're building a dungeon well, then you shouldn't need to worry about if the players go down the left or right path, if you really like the idea of the encounter down one of the paths, then make sure that there's some kind of tangible reward to try and nudge the players down that way. Maybe an item to help get past a section of the dungeon, or information, consumables, resources etc. Make it the players choice to risk taking the dangerous option in order to gain some kind of upper hand later on. With that said, the kind of Illusionist Dming I really support and I think makes a world feel absolutely amazing for the players to adventure through is a style in which rather then building towns, cities, etc with countless flushed out and specifically placed NPC's, you simply write down ideas for npcs that are more... Flexible, lets say. What do I mean by this? Lets say you have a int resting idea for a blacksmith Npc, someone who would have some kind of side quest, and it's a character you really want to show your players. Rather then throwing him in a specific town and doing everything in your power to try and push your players towards visiting the blacksmith for one reason or another..Simply tuck him in your pocket, don't assign him to any city and when the players finally decide they want to come to a blacksmith for one reason or another, you have this character already built up and ready to be slotted into the roll. Does this take a little bit of creativity to make the character fit into the setting? Sure. If you built him as a small town blacksmith,when your players ask around for a blacksmith, maybe say that the npc they ask mentions an up and coming smith who might not have the biggest shop, but they believe has a bright future. Setting the world up like this, where you use Npcs, or even randomly encountered small dungeons, quests out in the world, etc like cards in your hand to be played when and if the players reach a point where it feels appropriate to encounter to me helps you really manipulate the smoke and mirrors of the world, and make it feel like your world is brimming with interesting, lovable characters rather then you having that "Oh crap.. I forgot to make a cobbler for this town!" moment, when you could of had an Npc already planned out who could fit that roll from weeks back ready to be slotted into play.
@christianmichaels5162
6 жыл бұрын
True. There's nothing wrong with "quantum DMing," and in fact it's a very useful tool to ensure that events follow a narrative flow and saves the DM a ton of work. What Jim is describing isn't a flaw with quantum DMing but rather a DM creating inconsistencies within their campaign. When something like foreshadowing in a dungeon or the habits of highway bandits have already been established to the players, you no longer have room to be quantum: it's already been established. You only break that establishment when surprise is more valuable than consistency, and even then you should have a good explanation for your players to justify it.
@mikegould6590
6 жыл бұрын
Exactly. Well met, good sir.
@hideshiseyes2804
6 жыл бұрын
Yes, I do this sort of thing too. I actually view a lot of my prep as creating a toolkit or a sort of roster, which I can deploy as needed during a session - rather than creating a game environment the way a video game level designer would. What stops it from being the kind of bs cheaty situation Jim and Pruitt mention here is that I deploy the tools that I make in a way that allows players to circumvent challenges and steamroll encounters if they earn it. And then certain things really are fixed solidly in place because they have to be to make sense. I’m actually running Dungeon World at the moment, and it’s built for this style of GMing - but I think you could do the same with D&D.
@rf5526
6 жыл бұрын
I also tend to change things for the sake of player enjoyment, based on their responses to a given scenario and out of game feedback. If they aren't having fun, and especially if I can clearly see them not having fun, I say fuck it and change whatever I need to to make the game interesting again. It's just most important to me that the players are enjoying themselves.
@tuomasronnberg5244
6 жыл бұрын
The style of GMing you're describing is absolutely NOT illusionist, but just being clever with your assets. Illusionism would be when the GM has an encounter in mind that the players will face no matter what they do or say.
@emophobe
6 жыл бұрын
ITS FINALLY WEDNESDAY
@nicolassagrillo1442
6 жыл бұрын
"Is it wednesday yet?"
@WebDM
6 жыл бұрын
Computer problems guys!
@Troglodytarum
6 жыл бұрын
@@WebDM Just say you are a time Lord, it is much more believable.
@Gokuderakun
6 жыл бұрын
I can't say I completely agree with you when it comes to tweaking encounters. Especially in the player's favor. Ultimately you are constantly beta-testing your players with your encounters and if something is too difficult I agree with some great GMs like Matt Colville that you may need to tweak to avoid punishing the players for being your beta testers. Now that doesn't mean you should tweak all the time, but there are situations I think would warrant it.
@hideshiseyes2804
6 жыл бұрын
Really good advice here. I have to say, it’s all sounding very Powered By The Apocalypse. A lot of this stuff is very much codified in the text for games like Apocalypse World and Dungeon World. About the question of player freedom: for me, the absolute most crucial thing is that the players tell me in advance of a session what they intend to do in that session. That way, I can prep for each session as needed, in a self-contained way, so each session is satisfying. I also have my more “zoomed out” notes for the whole campaign world, but they only need to be very lightly detailed.
@deltaphant_
6 жыл бұрын
I'm planning to make a campaign after my party finishes the printed adventure we're doing, thanks for the tips!
@JPruinc
6 жыл бұрын
Glad to help! Good luck!
@Satchmojones
4 жыл бұрын
I fudge dice, but as i grow and become a more experienced DM i find i have to do it less and less
@Draeckon
6 жыл бұрын
So my current campaign, which I intended to be somewhat open-ended for my newer players (plus one veteran), has pretty much become a player-driven campaign thanks to two of the PCs’ backstories. One is the primary reason the party is in the starting region, and has a particular long-term goal to find his family. The other has a long-term goal of taking over an empire that’s one of the major players in the setting. The other players are perfectly fine with helping them, so the party has an established set of major goals they’re aiming for. Now I’m just seeing how to mix the two major goals together, and it’s not that hard. It’s nice that I’m getting such an interesting game from a group of mostly new players. :D
@CaseyKassien
6 жыл бұрын
That sounds like an awesome plan! I hope your characters enjoy it!
@tannerlebel5167
6 жыл бұрын
Any word on the next Hex episode?
@WebDM
6 жыл бұрын
Closer to the end of the year, but we have one coming up a bit sooner that also relates.
@radelc
6 жыл бұрын
Is that a patreon thing, what's a hex episode? Enlighten me! =)
@tannerlebel5167
6 жыл бұрын
@@radelc Look up Web DM What the Hex and you should be able to find it
@tannerlebel5167
6 жыл бұрын
@@WebDM Thank you very much for the reply. Looking forward to it!
@radelc
6 жыл бұрын
Oh I didn't even pay attention to that "Part 1" on Hex Crawl Ep. Looking forward to it, we've been running a West Marches style hex crawl with a group of 8 depending on which guys and gals are available each week. Hardest part for us is trying to keep characters in similar locations for starting each session. I need to get better at managing bringing a session to close and getting them back to a town.
@Venomousse
6 жыл бұрын
I think the important aspect of "illusionist" style DMing is that the players don't ever find out. Which means it has to be pretty subtle, unlike the examples in this video. If you suggest that a manticore encounter is at the end of one tunnel, you can't just swap it out without justification or your players will immediately realise you're messing with them.
@Bloodthirstier
6 жыл бұрын
Can I just come play with you guys?
@masonknight6194
6 жыл бұрын
Ditto. Every time I hear Jim ramble on I want to create a character and go on an adventure.
@DongerDayz
6 жыл бұрын
My players get better and better sessions every week because of you guys!
@JPruinc
6 жыл бұрын
Happy we can help. Thanks for the feedback!
@GageTakesTheCake
6 жыл бұрын
This kind of method works REALLY well for Curse of Strahd- let the player characters dictate what's important. One of my characters is a Raven Queen warlock? Well now, Mother Night is the Raven Queen! One of my characters wants to be an American soldier from World War 2 who gets whisked away to Barovia? Maybe his destiny is more than meets the eye!
@Licjr
6 жыл бұрын
Gage Smith The WW2 soldier thing is badass. Did they get a gun and/or grenades? Did you throw in a Nazi vampire spawn as a personal enemy?
@GageTakesTheCake
6 жыл бұрын
I did not. Guns were the big no-no, they faded away as his surroundings did when the mist came in.
@johnfrerichmann651
6 жыл бұрын
Could you guys maybe do a video on how to write one shots? I have a group that wants to do a couple of one shots while i finish writing a campaign, but i dont know how to write one shots that arent just a dungeon dive.
@Daredhnu
6 жыл бұрын
well it's not WebDM episode but i'll give you my 2 cents. keep the adventures simple and contained an example would be a murder mystery, close the doors nobody leaves. a one shot doesn't necessarily have to be completed in a single session, it could be a 2 or 3 session adventure, it's more important that it's a self-contained story and that that is clear from the outset. (i know that traditionally it's a single game session but that's only really important for games run at conventions with strangers) if the adventure culminates in an epic final battle not all PCs or even any have to survive it, make it hard, it's better to have it be too powerful than it being a cake walk. stick with a theme if possible and don't be afraid to experiment with themes or getting silly, it's just a one-shot after all so you can go crazy with it. one shots are a great place to let people play with power, have them make high level characters (or give them pre-made characters) and let them fight through hell (sometimes literally) to face some cosmic terror. those are some tips, i hope it helps you run some cool one-shots for your party before your campaign.
@paulcoy9060
6 жыл бұрын
How about one session being Horror, another being Comedy, another being Soap Opera? Put the characters in a ghost town as they travel to the campaign destination, like an episode of X-Files. Then the next town has a bumbling Monk like Jar Jar Binks who needs help. The next town has two noble families about to go to war, but they have two kids who love each other, and want to stop the war. Steal from your favorite TV or movies, so that you will have a good idea of how the scenes will play out, how the dialog of the NPC's will sound in your head. Does the Paladin sound like Adam West? Then use that. Now, your players might have watched those episodes, so you might have to fiddle with the final boss of that session.
@Barnicalsify
6 жыл бұрын
You finish writing your campaign before letting the pc's start? Wow.
@johnfrerichmann651
6 жыл бұрын
Barney Atkinson-Saul my group decided we wanted to do a mega dungeon, so I am prepping the dungeon for the first few sessions rather than just making it up.
@TRAdamTM
6 жыл бұрын
I feel like this approach needs a very specific/experienced group. I've really never had a group that wanted any real choice. First session they stood on a boat and scratched their heads where the adventure is. And I'm talking 5 year experienced players here with DM experience. Not really feeling the need to give my players the reigns, they don't know what to do with them anyways. Most players I know want a linear PC RPG like Baldur's Gate with some fluff "choices" (i.e. paragon or renegade, but still stop the BBEG)
@henrymarsden4143
6 жыл бұрын
I'm currently running a Shadowrun 5e campaign In which the players are revolutionaries, but starting at the stage of where its just them in a basement starting the whole thing. What they do is completely player driven, I've even gone to the extent that someone else is playing the government and I feed information to him after each session much of it just other events happening in the country and he makes government level decisions which effect the players plans. It was sort of an experiment into what I felt would be true player driven game and its taught me a lot. In particular;1)Given total freedom my player become overwhelmed with choice.2)Allow players to choice there targets involves a lot of "discussion" and they often over plan3)Generally the pace feels very slow because of a lack of direction.4)Preped Improv is key to keeping the game moving.5)The level of ruthlessness required to effectively start a revolution is absolutely terrifying.I would be interested to know if anyone else has tried something similar and what they found?
@Daredhnu
6 жыл бұрын
to answer your last question, no i have not attempted to start a revolution yet, i will give my government a few more years before i go that far. :P on a more serious note however that seems like a really cool idea and definitely something i would like to try out one day, if i can find a group willing to play that.
@henrymarsden4143
6 жыл бұрын
Most of the players are very politically aware which is essential (by which I mean they are know a lot of political and world history) and those that weren't very quickly did some background reading.
@loxodonwizard9867
6 жыл бұрын
I do not see how ruthlessness is required to start a revolution. Although we may disagree on whether or not killing tyrants and their jackboots is considered ruthless. Also I love having a third party control an element in campaigns.
@robpaul7544
5 жыл бұрын
As revolutionaries you want to mess with the Powers that Be, and in Shadowrun for sure the beings in power are ruthless. Even if you don't want to use lethal force in your revolution you bring fatal danger to yourself and everyone around you and helping you. So you have to be or become ruthless if you want to keep moving forward. I can see players getting overwhelmed by choices in such a campaign, especially in Shadowrun. What the players need is something of a general plan and something of a timeline. Then they can attach individual actions and missions to that and progress. That's usually what the npc questgivers, mr Johnsons and benefactors are for.. without it the players will flounder.
@williamozier918
6 жыл бұрын
22:2. What do you do when the players curb stomp an encounter you had meticulously put together so fast they don't even learn the cool backstory OR get the next clue? Here is my personal number one trick: Revenge Plot! The Curbstomped NPCs bigger, badder cousin shows up seeking revenge for their disgraced cousin. It also turns out the bigger, badder cousin ALSO has a cool backstory and knows a clue.
@Armaggedon185
6 жыл бұрын
I'm so grateful this exists, I've been looking for advice like this for a long time.
@infamousgrosso
6 жыл бұрын
It's Wednesday my dudes
@hernemithras
6 жыл бұрын
been Thursday now for 18 hours and 15 minutes as I write this.
@seraaron
6 жыл бұрын
If you want to bring some mechanical incentive into running a player-driven campaign, then I highly recommend lifting the Beliefs and Artha system from *The Burning Wheel*. The short version is that each player character gets to write three beliefs or goals which it is the GMs job to challenge through game-play. If their beliefs drive the story each session then they are rewarded with Artha. For a DnD translation, Artha could either be interpreted as 'experience points', or as a spendable 'inspiration' resource that grants advantage. This creates a positive feedback loop where the PCs spend their Artha on rolls to drive the story with their beliefs and then get rewarded for doing so.
@chrisandlizsizemore8172
5 жыл бұрын
I don't agree with them here. Tweaking the encounters on the fly is not a bad thing. DMs and players are collaborating together on a game to have fun, and sometimes that might mean breaking the rules . Unless you're DMing at a convention or an adventure league game, fudging a roll to increase tension or upping the damage output of a monster mid combat - if those things make the game more fun for the players, go for it! Sometimes sticking to the rolls can be a depressing thing for everyone at the table - and if you're not having fun playing a certain way, stop playing it that way. Adapt the rules to your group's preferences. I know there are some players who enjoy watching the rolls go bad or good for the group. And that's okay, too! If your group finds that fun, then adapt play that way. Neither way is more right or more wrong. The point is to play the way that's most fun for you and your group. And only you and your group are privvy to that information.
@FulcanMal
6 жыл бұрын
When a player hands me a multi-page character background, it feels like freaking Christmas. Finally, someone willing to put in a fraction of the amount of effort into their story as I do into mine. And you better believe I incorporate their story heavily into the campaign. I recently finished a six month long arc centered on my Bard and the evil green dragon her long lost father had been forced to serve. She discovered (both the player and the character) that her roomate's character was actually her biological mother (a secret that player kept from her for those six months). It was epic. At the end of this arc the Bard player got a tattoo based on my campaign. Proudest moment of my DMing life.
@Davedalus
5 жыл бұрын
Anyone else feel like this episode was a personal attack on them as a DM? Haha! It's really hard coming up with captivating narrative on the fly, but it's a great goal to aim for.
@ijimedia
6 жыл бұрын
I'm running my first campaign right now and this is really helpful advice, thank you dungeon daddies
@JPruinc
6 жыл бұрын
Good Luck! Come back and tell us how it went.
@stephanierivers3334
4 жыл бұрын
How did it go?
@OkamiG15
6 жыл бұрын
Oooh, player agency talk! Perfect! I was already gonna do a presentation on Player Questionnaires for my D&D Club, so this’ll help to make a whole meeting about helping DM’s make games more Player-Centered! (To an extent, nobody wants to read your 18-page backstory Josh!)
@Nionivek
6 жыл бұрын
Funny thing is most of my players actually prefer to play "My" story. It is very interesting to go from players who are like "The DM cannot offer ANYTHING! it is entirely player based" to going to another group who is like "We want to dive into your head and see what sort of story you want to tell DM".
@D.C._Nowak
6 жыл бұрын
So a neat thing I started doing some years back, after a long dming gap. I would have my players much like Jim Davis's wives approach to character building. Build characters with no background to start. My players would get a thumbnail about the world we would play our first game maybe 2 and then I would give them homework. No more than a page asking who is this at my table and then again why does your character have this fighting style and so on. Small questions that let me know is this paladins sword more than just a long sword to them or why does our wizard like to swing sword and staff versus damaging spells. Pathfinder had so many options that this continued dialogue acted like a whet stone for my players and me. Which let me add to my worlds depth. So my story would evolve while my players learned more about there characters.
@ChristnThms
6 жыл бұрын
I've been putting together a campaign for a while, that I'm pretty proud of how I'm doing it. The genesis was a map, of a real city, but redrawn so that none of the names or recognizable elements would be identified. I labeled a couple major features on the map, and laid out some "territories" for different power factions, and then left most of the map alone. The next step, I created 3 lists, 20 items each, for random encounter rumors. So when the PCs run into townspeople and talk to them, there are a list of rumors that they'll run into. Each of these could generate a session or two. The reason for 3 lists is so that commoners, nobles, and merchant/soldier type people have different rumors. This is where the PCs first enter as level 1s, but not to play. The players give me the rough features of their characters as level 1, and I provide the rough details of how their character exists in the city. At that point, they're tasked with leveling him up to 3, and bringing the details of those early adventures back to me. Those adventures become the current events and recent past that brings the city to life. This also ensures that each character is invested in the city's goings on. I have created several sort of generic adventures for whoever shows up, if the situation arises that things aren't progressing. But my hope is that by being part of the legend of the city, each player continues to be motivated to add to it. Part of the intention also is that there be players that aren't always present, so that when they return they find out the new changes in the city, and in turn add events that other players will discover...
@chummer2060
6 жыл бұрын
There is a huge difference between a plot that you are dropped into and a plot that has a lot of places for a player's back story to fit in.
@isaacaronson1572
6 жыл бұрын
Great Video as always! I would love to see a video on how to run a pre-written adventure, but make it feel more like an open campaign. For those of us that like to DM for friends but are quite short on available prep time.
@dirkbaldorad3634
6 жыл бұрын
I'd say: Read the adventure beforehand and be ready to improvise ☺
@isaacaronson1572
6 жыл бұрын
For sure. I think one of the hard parts for me has always how to let them wander off the rails. But then you ultimately need to bring it back around onto the rails. Unless you are prepared to go completely away from the module. Techniques for bringing it back around to kind of pick up where they left off and how to make that feel organic.
@Jason_Hayward
6 жыл бұрын
In general you should have a like half page character background. It lets you pull forth important people and things in the past briefly. Lets you get into it more if you want to or let the DM use or ignore what ever they want. Helps if you have a bullet point thing with it that has important names and roles for people you mention.
@gregoryfloriolli9031
6 жыл бұрын
My philosophy on Backstories is to create a short history that tells me where the character learned his abilities and why he’s out adventuring, something that will give that character a voice and let me know how that character reacts to situations. I try to avoid tragic backstories because it’s a bit cliche. It’s funny when you sit down to a table and there are more characters with tragic backstories than an episode of Naruto. I also try to keep the backstories short. The character shouldn’t have experienced more before he is first level than most characters experience by the time they are 20th level.
@chestersnap
5 жыл бұрын
I'm trying to plan out my first campaign as a DM and just moving an encounter you want the players to have sounds so much more boring than what you could potentially do. The players have now left an enemy alive. That enemy can now go on to fuck shit up in the world. You don't want to fight the bandits? Well then you may just end up encountering them later on at a higher CR rating. They've gathered more members and leveled up. Or maybe they go raid the town you were in and ransack the store. Or kill an NPC you might know. It would all depend on the hints the players ignored. Were the bandits gathering power or were they attacking NPCs?
@kylemendoza8860
6 жыл бұрын
I don't see why the group just takes turns being the game master
@chrisward4999
6 жыл бұрын
Can you maybe do some videos on settings? Like a Dark Sun vid, Another Spelljammer and/or Planescape vid, or even maybe something like Eberron?
@WebDM
6 жыл бұрын
We have covered a lot of those on our podcast! Patreon.com/webdm
@valasafantastic1055
6 жыл бұрын
All my campaigns are player driven campaigns. I even pick or create the world based on the players. I think it most often allows maximum fun for everyone. I enjoy making many worlds and styles so adapting to the players and their characters makes the most sense to me. I still add in things I want but only when it seems to gel with the players. If they want heavy combat I’m not going to force too much intrigue, mystery and non violence. I will however often leave non violent options so they are not JUST murder hobos all the time.... I also think the way you grant exp effects the attitude and I encourage some exp for solving problems without killing and also exp for puzzles, solving mysteries and playing the RP of their character well. I like to have a logically consistent living bra]eating world so it would exist without the characters, but also allow the characters to change and impact the world. If playing in a previously established world the time you play The campaign in, Can also be adjusted and making sure to link backstories to locations. Good points about using the backstories well! I disagree on the illusionist talks to me the great encounters should be ‘quantum’ I do a mix of three versions; 1) improved random stuff from tables 2) preplanned out encounters that can’t be moved due to logic 3) quantum encounters that will be in any town or any room (don’t let the players figure out you are doing this). I am a DM who establishes at the beginning of a campaign in session 0 if there will be fudging and adaptable encounters or set and brutal. I think it’s a campaign playstyle thing. I tend to always allow for adaptable encounters not for the dice but for the monsters HP, some powers, tactics, and if they flee or if backup arrives or not. Great video thanks!
@jospehjack
6 жыл бұрын
good one where the "players" are interactive in a movie is The Princess Bride.
@jordanb7304
6 жыл бұрын
I have shifted my style to allow for this more and even did a session 0 to try to get everybody on the same page. I’m allowing them to connect with the world however they see fit. The problem that arises is no one really has their own goals and if they do they’re in conflict with someone who does have a goal. I’ve tried to talk to them about it and they just don’t seem to want to spend time on figuring out those questions outside of the game. Since this air of vagueness and less goal oriented play has started, I’ve tried to get more into establishing a story for them to follow again. I feel like there are negative to both sides depending on who you players are.
@hexelis7366
6 жыл бұрын
It always come down to who your players are.
@Keldorl
5 жыл бұрын
Great video. Thanks Were are those troll articulated figures on the background from?
@yipyipyipi
6 жыл бұрын
Eh... Sorry, but you got the illusion wrong. What you described is just bad GMing, taking away player agency. Illusion GMing is more like this: I prepare an encounter with a woman being burned at the stake. She's young, maybe 15-17, and crying. Her mother is screaming "she's not a witch!" and the townsfolk won't have it. This is a moral encounter as well as combat, if they choose. If they let it ensue, it ensues, she dies. I let that shape the world. If they save her, they probably have to fight many of the townsfolk, and that's what happens. They may also only have x rounds before she burns up, putting an interesting timer on the situation. Now I don't really care WHAT town the group does this in. I will simply run it in the next town they go to. Their choice of town doesn't matter, the next unnamed hamlet or village will do just fine. They still have agency, but the encounter will happen. As for what you described, if I want the players to fight something in a dungeon, why put up two halls? Why put clues as to which way leads to what? That's bad GMing. If you want them to have to fight a manticore (or at least get by it, if not foght) just put one hallway and a manticore at the end.
@yipyipyipi
6 жыл бұрын
@@flamboyantwarlock7101 it's not quite the same, though a quantum ogre is no different than a random encounter when you think about it. If I want you to fight an ogre then you will, a good DM will only do that if it is relavent. Why is that ogre so close to town? What's scaring the ogres so they move so far south? Etc. However if you roll on a random encounter and they fight an ogre, what's REALLY the difference? Their choice of town doesn't matter to begin with. If they choose to go to a town five minutes south, ther isn't one. Just let that soak in - that town doesn't exist. It doesn't exist in the game, or in your head, or in real life. Not until you MAKE it exist. So now that it exists, what is in it? You decide, because it's made up. You made it. So now they want to go to a small hamlet five minutes north. Okay... Again, doesn't exist. Changing these things after the fact is dofferent. If you already said "town ABC has a love for all things magical" then putting a mob burning a witch is a huge 180 for that town. That's different then them stumbling across the witch-burning in a new town (regardless of which direction they traveled to get there). Unless, of course, a GM makes the entire fantasy world, has a detailed calendar, and tracks the movements and actions of every npc and monster at all times of all days and factors in where the pcs are and what they're doing to make sure that if they decided to go five minutes north instead of south they will never see that mob or burning girl, never have the choice to save her or not, and you did all that work planning and all the work calculating times and days and look how clever you are and how they have no idea how real this world is. Or. Or... Bear with me... Or you put that encounter in front of them because what does it matter where it happens at? If a PC says "hey, you would have had this happen no matter where we went!" I would reply with "sure, you got me, no matter what you choose you're still going to be playing the game. Unless you choose to go THAT way." And would proceed to point to the door, because the only real choice we have in fantasy games is to have fun or not, because it's ALL made up. The best thing a GM can do is not go back on what they say, but if it hasn't been proven, it also hasn't been disproven, hence "next UNNAMED town".
@whitecrowcodoom
6 жыл бұрын
So if they go to the town on the left they'll find a woman being burned on the stake and if they go to the town on the right they'll find a woman being burned on the stake I mean sounds the same to me the only difference is that they described it with clues, which really is the same thingt but the clues are the only way to know it's happening
@yipyipyipi
6 жыл бұрын
@@whitecrowcodoom i never said to leave clues. In fact, you can re-read and see I advocated against clues for this style for the reason that it is an adversarial GMing style to leave cluse then intentionally "trick" the pcs.
@huruey
6 жыл бұрын
Yes, these are very different cases. In one case the players have no expectation of what they'll find, whereas in the other they do. The ogre example breaks the player's expectation without good reason. The village example involves an arbitrary decision . Another example from my campaign is I decided whichever blacksmith the party took a magic sword to to try to get it reforged would recognise the sword having known it's previous owner. You can have a whole bunch of ideas prepared and throw them in when they seem most appropriate, or if the right moment doesn't come up, then don't use them and save them for another time.
@yipyipyipi
6 жыл бұрын
@@huruey exactly, you are better with words than I am. It's not about "my game I say this happens" it's about recycled material and giving better play experience with less prep
@TheAngryTrapezoid
6 жыл бұрын
I think you're misrepresenting Illusionism. In both of your examples, the players had information about what was down either path. At that point it's too late to swap things about, and moving the encounters at that point wouldn't be Illusionism, because there's no illusion of it having always been there.
@CitanulsPumpkin
6 жыл бұрын
Had this idea for a campaign where something like two thirds of the party are "students" at an Academy for adventurers. For those who remember Final Fantasy VIII the Academy works just like the SeeD Gardens. Every few sessions the party looks at the notice board and picks a mission/adventure they want to spend the next few sessions on. Some are straight forward dungeon delves, and some are political power moves the headmaster wants done to shape the 500 miles of campaign world around the Academy. Successful missions reward the party with gold. Outstanding individual performance, or choosing/winning missions that tie into your character's backstory, and the headmaster's mysterious goals can grant access to tutors of advanced techniques, spells, or feats beyond their normal class advancement. Or in some cases the player gets to walk into the Academy's magic item vault and walk out with one item. The kicker is the players choose at first level if they are already a student or if they're an adventurer the students in the party meet in the middle of their first mission. The difference is simple. There is no variant human in the game but students start the game with all the benefits of variant human tacked onto whatever race they are. Non students start the game with a single +1 magic weapon of their choice that they got from their previous solo adventuring, and once they enroll in the Academy after joining the party they can audit classes until they "catch up" with the students. Everyone should get a magic weapon and the benefits of variant human by level 4.
@Konpekikaminari
6 жыл бұрын
That sounds awesome
@mikegould6590
6 жыл бұрын
There's a lot going on here, so this may or may not be long. I will start by saying that I agree with your view on the absurdity of WoTC adventures. The FR should be a smoking wasteland by this point. It's ridiculous. I will also so that I roll all my dice openly and do not fudge. Backstories: Mining backstories is hard when you have players who either refuse to give one or try to throw thirty pages at you. I have one player that does both. If he can't give you 20+ pages, he'll give you nothing. I refuse to accept backstories at this point and instead use a ten minute interview to find a few facts. "Illusion of control" vs "sandbox" vs "prep time" vs "player driven"....there was a lot going on here, and it gave me the impression that there's an impossible standard to hold up to to make you happy. If one over prepares, it's a railroad. If one prepares a few encounters and puts them in the way, it's an illusion. If one improvises too much then one isn't prepared enough and apparently taking away agency from the players. You want player backstories to mine for information but refuse to read them. You don't wanna bore players but won't alter an encounter if it looks like they're just walking through it, risking boredom. I'll tell you that I like a player driven game, but if all the players want do is drink and whore, that's not D&D. That's university. Go hang out in a club. If I ask a player how they feel about something or if they might have a loved one in a particular area...and they shrug... that's not helpful either. So to achieve this perfect maelstrom of player driven action with the EXACT amount of involvement seems nigh impossible to attain given the standards presented. I will agree that a conversation or session zero is imperative to success...despite Colville's assertion that "there is no such thing as session zero" How about this... Do a give and take with the players. Prepare a little and be willing to be flexible. Improv what you don't have. Present clues, not campaigns, and let the players decide how they want to proceed. I'm a big fan of "nothing is simple or as it seems" too. If they want to boot down doors...fine. It's a mega dungeon crawl and there's a plague of door mimics that needs a-fixin'. I'll use villains in combination or waves. I'll give them class levels or weird magic items. I'll plane shift the whole party if that's what it takes to keep them on their toes. How they solve problems is their business. I'll make traps or puzzles with no known solution and accept any great input from the players as "the right way".
@RetroTaylor94
6 жыл бұрын
Thank you guys so much for this channel! I'm a long-time player, first-time DM and I love the advice!
@JPruinc
6 жыл бұрын
You are welcome! DMing is just like playing, except you just play more characters.
@oliviabean8264
5 жыл бұрын
Part of the reason that I like to start with a backstory is that it makes it easier for me to figure out what their personality and capabilities should be, your not there to play out the backstory... most of the time at least, your there to play out the results of that backstory.
@graventhered
6 жыл бұрын
running a BDQ right now, but I was evil and tied the short term threats into backstories, the ranger's tribe was attacked, for example also made sure to put lots of room in the timeline for them going off the rails
@TheNerdySimulation
6 жыл бұрын
Another great thing GMs can do is ask the players for something related to their PC, such as an item, location, event, or NPC which can be tied into the preexisting pieces of the setting. And it doesn't have to be some pre-written backstory of your character, it could be something done at the table, in the moment! Not only does it ease the burden of the GM to come up with adventure hooks that incorporate your Character better, but also allows you to feel like the game is partly yours (because that is how the game should be). Bonus points if you come up with something that has no direct benefit or link to your character! :D Also, couldn't agree with you more about The Sword, Pruitt. I've probably listened to their whole discography multiple times now, sometimes forgetting that I have been listening to the same band for the last few days purely due to them being so open to try and experiment with new sounds and genres.
@jeffstormer2547
5 жыл бұрын
Character backstory as a "knife". Ha! Et tu, Brute?
@quintmarcelis2691
6 жыл бұрын
Where's the WebDM D&D Discord?
@C2daORRUPT
6 жыл бұрын
Quint Marcelis what is this Discord thing I have been hearing about with every hobby I have?
@JPruinc
6 жыл бұрын
We have a discord as part of our Patreon. Check it out!
@ralanbek95
6 жыл бұрын
Blockwatcher it's like Skype. Only it works
@TheHarlequinProphet
6 жыл бұрын
JPruInc What a great patreon perk!!
@findmestudios
5 жыл бұрын
It's the rule of improv: yes, and...
@StepBackHistory
6 жыл бұрын
This is exactly how I run
@ryanrhino2318
6 жыл бұрын
I'm surprised you guys didn't talk about Plot Points on pg. 267 of the dmg. This give player agency
@DeGreyChristensen
6 жыл бұрын
I swear you guys can read my thoughts. Every episode for the past 3 or 4 weeks have been on topics I’ve been thinking a lot about leading up to the week the episode is released. Great video guys!
@dirkbaldorad3634
6 жыл бұрын
He found out! Neutralize him! Neutralize him!!!
@gopro_audio
2 жыл бұрын
Leave your tiny villages and travel the multiverse. Make the Campaign reflect the opposite alignment as the party. A Good Party? Then the DM prep's all the bad guy plans. A Bad Party? Then the DM preps all the good guy plans. Then if the players screw around drunk in a bar... well then things go wrong lol...
@nathangreenberg3683
6 жыл бұрын
Has anyone else noticed that Jim and Pruitt's salt and pepper beard combo has switched since the dome episodes?
@laurelhill3505
6 жыл бұрын
The game driven by players, I think, is better suited to a Conan or Fafhrd and Grey Mouser type pulp games. Not the BDQ, Lord of the Rings type games. And also, player driven games are dependent on the players being open and honest with the DM. Don't say "Next week we go to the Tower of the Elephant God" and then Friday comes and you say "You know what, let's go to the Elemental Plane of Air this week, instead!"
@aethon0563
6 жыл бұрын
Man... This made me feel like a bad DM.
@darthremy1802
6 жыл бұрын
Aethon056 as long as ur players are having fun ur not a bad DM, this video made me feel bout the same
@davek1107
6 жыл бұрын
Aethon056 You shouldn't, there is quite a bit of personal opinions from Jim in this video about the type of games he likes to run and play in. It's perfectly possible to do things differently and have successful games as long as everyone at the table is up for it.
@fhuber7507
5 жыл бұрын
The "DM fudge" is there for the illusion of randomness when its not really random. You are rolling a die to seem to be giving a random result, but you know the answer before the die leaves your hand. If over-used it becomes obvious and loses its flavor. **************** Perception checks are a problem. Passive perception... DM rolls the difficulty and checks if a passive perception sees it. If yes, DM doesn't even ask fr a roll frm the player. He tells what is seen. If no, DM asks for a roll... NOW THE PLAYERS KNOW THERE WAS SOMETHING TO SEE THAT THEY MISSED when the player rolls poorly... You told them something is there... Now EVERYONE wants to roll to see if they can find it. They will stay there until they find it. Instead, start of game session. Have every one roll 5 perception checks in order. Write them down, out them on note cards. Now they know if they have good or bad rolls.. and they never know WHEN or where they missed something with that 1... ****** DM can fudge however is appropriate for game continuity. That's why the DM has a screen.
@RaymondRich
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for articulating some things that I hold to be sacred truths about DMing. I never, ever fudge, and have cultivated a bit of a reputation amongst my peer group behind that. I think two of the keys many DMs miss is making failure fun (don't gatekeep the fun parts behind successful die rolls) and giving your NPCs in a combat encounter something to do other than kill the PCs. You know you're doing it right when the players contemplate "I know we have to stop them and we'd all probably die, but I kind of really want to know what happens when the Goblins get that valve open."
@oxybe
6 жыл бұрын
I think the problem with the Big Damn Quest is that it unleashes it's payload far too early.: the old man in the tavern gives them the endgame quest FAR too early. Think of it this way: You don't have Spiderman face off against Thanos on issue 2 of a reboot. Spiderman needs some time to get used to his powers and have them develop a bit while he gets used to the whole superhero thing before he can get onto Thanos' level. or near it. or something. No, you start Spidey with some street thugs he's punching out while wearing a hoodie with a bad spider cutout sewn on. The Thanos subplot CAN be in the works from the start. You can have some people working for Thanos pulling the strings in the background to get stuff ready for Thanos' arrival from day 1, but you don't start off with "Hi I'm Peter Parker. Yesterday I got bit by a radioactive spider, this morning i'm climbing on the walls an just now a grape with a square jaw just threatened to conquor earth". You give it a slow boil, let it sit and thicken and THAT's when the big reveal occurs later on and the PCs go OH SHIT THIS IS WHAT THAT THING WAS ALL ABOUT?! If it's foreshadowed, You don't tell the PCs that the Evil Vorpal Von Hackenslash is on the march from day 1. You have a war go on on the borders, away from the PCs, and they hear stories of the noble Marquis Von Hackenslash fighting tooth and nail to protect the realm from invaders. Heck, you might have them go run a few errands over there to see the horrors of war. then, when you're ready and the PCs are at a level where they can influence things (either due to personal power like character levels, or just able to levy their own armies or resources), they realize that the Marquis has been working to weaken the central territories by requesting excessive resources that he funnels into his private army, now backed by the neighboring invading country as he turns traitor and marches inwards towards the capital of the kingdom. Then they get to have their Big Damn Hero moment repelling the legitimately badass turncoat and becoming saviours of the realm.
@diego_segura
4 жыл бұрын
I totally support this point of view. In my opinion, the problem with quest based RPGs, is that the PCs are solving the problems and reaching the goals of other NPCs, not their own wants and needs. That's why I believe RPGs are a poor medium for telling coherent stories in the traditional way. According to Robert Mackee's screenplay book "Story", you need a proactive character seeking to fulfill their own goals for a proper story to emerge. In RPGs, without the players and GM setting that goal beforehand, it's very difficult. That's not to say that you can't try to tell a "story"; iIt just gonna be a very superficial one.
@williamozier918
4 жыл бұрын
The way I approach it is that the DM creates the setting, but NOT the story. In the meantime though there are in this setting powerful NPCs with dreadful plans. I run the game as, the character's don't HAVE to stop the powerful NPC; if they don't though then the NPCs dastardly plan will work. I've handled this before by first having the players realize their characters have gotten a reputation as cowards who never finish a quest so no one will hire them. Next people start blaming them for the disasters they could have stopped. Finally they are scapegoated for everything wrong in the kingdom. Then finally the NPCs villanios plans begin to fruit, unstoppable zombies rise, cthulhu rises, the apocalypse comes, cats and dogs live together,, rocks fall everybody dies.
@jeffstormer2547
5 жыл бұрын
Usually the only time I've allowed myself a fudge factor has been for a couple of brand new players where the focus was on making sure they enjoyed themselves. I was a newish gm and really hadn't bought into the one shot game. It is the very random "OMG what just happened!" fzcot the dice can bring that can really make the game sing. My very fav bit was what ended up being a cursed sword "Lindur's Bane". It wasn't planned as a cursed sword. Wasn't even magical as I recall (granted, it's been 40 years). Every. Single. Character that used the sword in battle died within a game week. PC, NPC. Didn't matter. It was actually one of the pcs who had been carrying it around but not using it that got us all thinking about where he'd obtained it. We started working our way through all the previous owners and let's just say none of them died of old age in their beds. As the GM, I set them up with an opportunity to purchase/work for a remove curse. The Dice Gods had other plans. After the 3rd or 4th attempt to remove the curse, the group tried selling it. But by that time, it had been named and taken on a life of it's own, in the story arc. And the random rolls stopped them from selling it. Nearly caused 2 of the players to quit the game because it was getting seriously too freaky for them. I had been making all the rolls in public, so they all knew it wasn't ridged in any way. Or had the Bearer of the Bane roll. This was over about a 8-9 month campaign back when I was I college as a freshman and we'd play about an hour neay every night and from the last class Friday to the first class Monday. On a side note, it *may* have been a factor in flunking out later...but that's another tale for another time. I appreciate the opportunity to tell this story. Haven't thought of Lindur's Bane in decades. Thanks for strolling down Memory lane with me for a bit!
@danielfisher898
2 жыл бұрын
I recently had my party of level 3s fight a lone Ettin. I liked the roleplay opportunities of the Ettin, so I put it in my game, and my players thought the thing was hilarious. I expected them to barrel through it, and they did. They got a surprise round on it, though, so they went through its hit points much faster than I expected. They would’ve killed the thing before it had even had a turn, so I decided mid-combat that it had around 45 more hp, just enough that it would take my players 3 rounds to kill the thing, instead of two. Did it make a huge difference? No. It my players got to interact with that ettin a little longer, which they enjoyed. They still totally wiped the floor with it. Giving the Ettin effectively 1 more round pf HP gave it a turn in combat, which gave it some agency, which allowed it to express itself one more time. I think my players enjoyed that turn.
@sosrope3420
6 жыл бұрын
Isn't railroading just the consequence of pre-written modules? As soon as you go away from DM-created campaigns you end up with railroading, unless the DM realizes (probably through having played with a confident DM before) that you don't need a script.
@UnionJackstones
6 жыл бұрын
Another killer show. I both as a DM and a player do not mind at all the "Quantum Encounter". Why? Because as a DM I have put a lot of thought into designing fun challenging encounters that I (The DM is a player too) would like to see how my players deal with it. That is one of the most fun parts about being a DM. Being surprised by your clever players. As a DM, knowing what lies a head means you probably have a really good idea as to what will bring the most enjoyment to the session. And as a player I enjoy being challenged and will never know whether or not the encounter was, or was not a DM Quantum Encounter. As George Costanza once said, "It's not a lie...if you believe it"
@Nionivek
6 жыл бұрын
All DMs are illusion DMs. This is because the players cannot look past your dungeon master screen and tell exactly what your plans were. As well being flexible with encounters, even ones you have written yourself, can be a far better strategy... Sure you written that Kobolds are in this cave, and they already got a whiff of kobolds, but the player's don't trust it... Kobolds are too easy. So you change the encounter so that it is actually, say, a Mindflayer mind controlling Kobolds. Now being arbitrary, that is bad... but ultimately as a DM, like all forms of entertainment, your putting on a magic act.
@karlsma7245
3 жыл бұрын
I will fudge when it's a boss monster. There's nothing worse than when the players take down a campaign ending monster quickly. I had this happen in OotA. The characters crushed the Demogorgon. I ended up giving him more HP and bringing in a bunch more demons. Otherwise the evening would've been over in 20 min. Part of the issue is 5E is so pro player that it's hard to challenge them at 10th level.
@rpgquestboard
3 жыл бұрын
During the talk about fudging dice rolls Jim says, "Would you accept it from a player?" I think this could become a great DM mantra for many elements of the game. It's a game and we're all players. Yes, the DM is a ref and is coordinating but the players have agreed to follow a set of rules. The DM is a player and should abide by the same social contract and play by the rules. That makes them a truly unbiased ref.
@sciverzero8197
5 жыл бұрын
House Rule: When players finish an encounter in X rounds or fewer (to be playtested) roll a D20. When the die falls on 5 or lower, a second wave ambushes the party and a new initiative is rolled. Optional correlary: the new encounter's difficulty may be increased in relation to the previous encounter the closer to 1 the roll is. Basically, if they smash an encounter with a large group of goblins in one round, there's a 75% chance they can just revel in it, and a 25% chance a second wave of enemies will show up. On a 5 it might be just one more goblin that was late to the human flaying party, on a 1 it could actually be the goblin chieftan with a group of lackies in tow. As it is a house rule, it is something the players will be aware of as a possibility. Given the low threshold of it happening, it will also not deter them from fighting optimally just to avoid it happening, and when it does happen, there's a die roll as proof, and when they probably still win anyway because they're on their A game, they get to feel that much more proud. (Its probably against the spirit of the rule as written here, to continually roll for new encounters. One ambush second wave is probably enough. Twice maximum, and only if they _really_ stomp the fight twice in a row).
@TarsonTalon
6 жыл бұрын
I think I'd prefer a campaign where the bad guys won. That way, there is no urgency to stop the big bad(s), they just have to plan a way to somehow get rid of them despite overwhelming odds. However, there is still constant tension, because if the players get found it's only a matter of time before they get overwhelmed, so they have to stay on the move, or find someplace REALLY secret to hide. It'd be funny, because normally characters become heroes to gain fame, fortune, seek revenge or justice, But in a campaign like this, these characters are literally fighting so that one day they can just be normal townsfolk, and not worry about an evil army coming in the night to kidnap them to make them into slaves, kill them, steal their loot, or anything worse. They've simply had enough worrying about possible terrible consequences for doing what should be mundane things like eating, sleeping, working, or taking a dump. They've had enough paying tribute to the local armored bandits and dragons, when they simply have no more to give. And of course, when you have nothing left to lose...you have everything to gain.
@nishaatropa
6 жыл бұрын
I have sort of a weird question but I'd like to preface it by saying I haven't played d&d at all yet, only read some of the manuals as well as watched several different campaigns. Anyway, starting to ramble. I've been interested in DMing for a while now and am in the process of building a campaign around an old character I designed who would be the main "quest giver," if you will, but her morality would seem pretty vague given the background of the world along with who, or what rather, she is though she keeps it tightly under wraps. Long story short, the upper and lower planes go to war, destroying all in the fray. Gods are dead as well as devils and such. Roughly a century later, creatures begin trying to revive the lower planes. My character, however, would be trying to revive both sides in secret as reviving only one would create more havoc than good to either side. Still working on the story, fine tuning and such. Anyway, rambling again. I have talked to a few friends who might be interested in playing even just a one-shot and told them to start thinking of a character they would want to play at say..9th or 10th level. So, all this being said, would I be above my position if session 0 were to lead to a planned TPK of their characters, then in session 1, I'd give them new character sheets of the main character's children who are same as the parents but lower stats? My character would attempt to pull the fabled heroes of past (the parents) through time to save them from the prior TPK but instead she would summon the children. I'm leaving out a lot of details, but that's simply because I have so little down there's not much to tell Sorry for such a long comment. I appreciate the help, anyone who stayed long enough to read this
@kirose
4 жыл бұрын
As I listened to this video I was getting more and more frustrated. It took me a few minutes of reflection to figure out why, but... 1. Advise and 'rules' shouldn't be based on personal preferences. You like one style of play, that's natural, but that mean you should recommend others play in that style nor insinuate that other styles are lesser. 2. I was absolutely baffled by the insinuation that a big bad at the end, an "Avengers" style campaign is any form of bad, let alone that it closes out any player agency or choice. You can build a campaign on an idea like tiamat escaping without ignoring player backstory and agency. You can have both. It's easy. Why did it seem they were implying otherwise??
@rendalconstantineau1680
3 жыл бұрын
To me "fudging" the dice can be legitimate in certain circumstances, like say a combat where things have gotten to a place where the outcome is obvious, but it's now a "kill that zombie, now kill that zombie, now..." and it's getting to where it's now boring, when you can just go "Oh, good hit, you killed it" period, and keep things fun.
@zorkwhouse8125
4 жыл бұрын
I think when it comes to fudging dice rolls or what have you, I think its not acceptable to do so in a way that affects a player's actions. You should never alter things to weaken the affect of a player's actions, or you are sabotaging the agency of the players. But when it comes to fudging a dice roll that alters the amount of damage your monster inflicts on a character, or you lower the number of HP a monster has mid-combat in order to prevent the players from getting stomped - I think as long as it is done solidly without the players knowledge (and there's no reason the players should be privy to that information anyway) then there's nothing wrong with it. Fudging dice rolls to make up for DM misjudgments *against* players - again, like doing so to save players from being killed etc is fine. It's part of the DMs job to try and make the experience as fun for the players as possible. If that means that you declare a player's roll hits your monster even if it might have technically been too low - as long as they don't know it's fine. You don't want players to feel that you're making things too easy on them and nor is ok to make them feel like you're taking away or handicapping their decisions. Which is why you don't fudge your own rolls or adjust-down monster HP unless it is to avert disaster that you instigated. A player death that feels pointless or railroaded/unfair is not fun for anyone. And if a DM stands by and allows a player or even worse an entire party to be killed off because the DM happened to wildly misjudge the difficulty of an encounter (and that happens to everyone, even the most experienced DMs) then I think that's a major failure on the part of the DM not to step in and intervene in some fashion. Even if it means the enemies choose to retreat once a number of the PCs are incapacitated rather than choosing to finish them off - as long as you can justify it in the context of the story then the players won't feel cheated, they will feel lucky. Lastly - one other situation. allowing a player to perform the killing blow upon hitting an enemy that perhaps wasn't quite on the verge of death, if its adds heroism or dramatic flair to the story (and again, the player is none the wiser) should be within the DMs purview as well. Maybe one player has been having terrible luck with their rolls and the player is getting discouraged b/c they feel their character isn't pulling their weight in combat, and so on a lucky hit they make on an enemy that the DM has already described as significantly wounded, if not exactly on death's door, can be poetic justice or a needed triumph for a frustrated player. I think knowing when situations can benefit from this - as long as it isn't over-utilized - can save a session that might otherwise be a downer for an individual player, and can even uplift an entire party if they are genuinely team oriented and not overly in-party competitive. So I think timely interventions on the part of the DM shouldn't be looked on as cheating, weakening the story or taking away player agency as long as you respect the players' decisions and don't try and bend things to save yourself. If you miscalculate and the party slaughters your enemy/monster without a scratch - then suck it up and write it off as a learning experience - don't try and interfere with that. But something like surreptitiously lowering the DC on a skill/ability check so that a player's roll that *almost* would have succeeded, does in fact succeed - is fine here and there if it forwards the story along. Punishing players for failing checks like this by making advancement either impossible or too difficult just demonstrates that you either set the DC too high when you created the situation or you've made the check too critical to the advancement of the plot. Either misjudgment can be easily and invisibly corrected by "fudging" and lowering the difficulty after the player rolls, or simply just declaring the player succeeded without referring to the rolls' DC at all. Okie doke - enough on my part lol Great video topic again. And yes, I've been watching a bunch of these lately, but my current life circumstances dictate that I need some decompressing time to take my mind off of some things for a bit each day. And you guys' content - as well as the others I watch does the trick excellently - by getting my imagination running and focused on more enjoyable things. Thank you.
@roundtuit2587
6 жыл бұрын
Any advice or recommendations for letting players fill in details? For instance, "The waiter comes out from the kitchens, arms laden with trays of food. What do they look like?" or "The AI interface comes online. What is it's designation and what does it sound like?" or "You catch a glimpse through the portal. What do you see?"
@kylestark1800
2 жыл бұрын
I must have missed the outro talking about The Sword when I first saw this video. Everything about them you guys said I agree with completely. Check out Spidergawd if you want to add in a level of sonic/psychedelia to that kind of music.
@jakeand9020
4 жыл бұрын
What I got from this is they think the best way to play is a stagnant world where only the players have game changing effects. No big bad because it would make it seem that the players are the only ones who can stop it and no one else can deal with it. Ok, BUT what your saying is there are no threats UNLESS the players are there to deal with it. You may as well play Skyrim. A world that grows and evolves outside of the players influence, but maybe subtly altered by the players actions is what separates table top from open world computer RPGs. It doesn't make sense to take that away.
@Langtw
4 жыл бұрын
Just started a BDQ type campaign in which the PCs, diplomats sent to negotiate with the king of a rival country, witness the King's merging with the King In Yellow from the Cthulhu Mythos. They're trying to make it across a hostile country, back to their home, and warn everyone of the threat approaching. I'm giving the players freedom in how they go about getting home, but the threat gives a good sense of urgency and a reason to not fuck around for too long
@Jhakaro
5 жыл бұрын
I think if you're against the illusion and die fudging entirely, then you might not like video games either. They all lie and cheat in your favour. Many games have you lose hp super fast so that it looks like you only have 5 or 10 percent left but really that 5 or 10 percent represents half your health. But the game makes you feel like, "oh shit, I'm nearly dead" so that you can fight your way out and feel like a superhero as if you were massively skilled to have gotten out of such a bad situation with so little health when it's actually just a misleading health bar. In Arkham games, enemies will never do a 180 degree turn because otherwise they'd see Batman creeping up behind them all so you can feel like a master of stealth and so on. Illusion is in all games. It's all to make the experience better for you as a player. As long as you don't realise or know, it doesn't matter. That's what illusion dm'ing and the rare, occasional fudged die is for. Many people will have a problem with even that but the truth is they think they know what they want, when they don't. Most games would be far worse, less exciting or fun and entirely unforgiving if they didn't do these type things.
@EricScheid
6 жыл бұрын
Is the Quantum Encounter, by definition, singular in nature? And forced to be the "next" encounter? Jim seems to imply that the Quantum Encounter is simply a railroaded encounter with the illusion of choice, which certainly does bad. As a counterpoint, having a small stack of pre-prepped encounters that are suitable for the region and pulling out a random one when needed, or selecting from a subset according to sub-region, or dropping clues and hooks that leads to or warns of another encounter ... that wouldn't be a Quantum Encounter, right?
@jakeand9020
4 жыл бұрын
Fudging rolls/stats is not a black and white issue and needs to be adapted to each group of players. Some players WANT to be little more than a protagonist of a story, some players want realism over storytelling. To say one is superior to the other no matter what is not just foolish it's incredibly arrogant and self absorbed, "it's better because that's how I like to play" is NOT a statement of fact and saying there is no place for other forms of play goes against everything that table top RPGs are. Play a damn video game.
@applejuicefool69
6 жыл бұрын
What I think of when I hear "player driven campaign" takes place when the players get to the point of familiarity with a campaign world and culture that they can do their own thing...instead of going down to the tavern to wait for a Quest Giver to come along and send them off on an adventure, they decide to rob the local castle's treasury, or form their own mercenary company and hire a bunch of mercs and join a war two countries over, or buy a ship and go off exploring the Great Western Ocean *of their own accord*, not because that's the campaign the DM has in mind.
@Rokkiteer
3 жыл бұрын
I hate when dungeon masters fudge their dice. My character is always teetering on the brink of losing that last death save and it's usually not the other players that save him. Why are we fighting enemies when the outcome is determined before initative? I want to be surprised, even feel bad, but there's too much "meh". Dungeon masters are too scared of letting the players feel bad, so we never get to enjoy victory. I tried to put a deadly trap in a game and someone sprang it. There was a 12 hour timer, but they didn't make any attempts to save the character and he died. Then I got blamed. I'm not even into gritty, dark fantasy. I just want to embrace the moments as they happen, good or bad. Maybe I need a new hobby, because it's been going on for so long, this common fear of feeling bad for a moment.
@drachenmagus1604
4 жыл бұрын
I disagree on the no fudgeing the dice rule. I have also fudged monsters health. They are both tools that when used appropriately enhance the game. If the campaign is a DM vs Player dungeon crawl/meat grinder, than yes it is cheating and shouldn't be used. But in a story driven game, it is a tool. Their are already so many things the DM does that if the player does it would be considered cheating. We already fudge other rules for the "rule of cool" so why not this as well, but only if it enhances the story. Two example that I have used it. First, I had a party of new players and one returning player from 2e. We were playing 5e. They were following a trail of gnolls and had just finished a short rest. They encounter a hunting party that was protecting the rear of the gnoll army. At the start of the encounter, the players split up allowing the gnolls to flank the group and gain advantage (a rule I have since modified.) My rolls kept coming up crits while the players were rolling bad. One player rolled a 1 on their death saving throw. So I stop counting the crits I was rolling. The encounter ended with one player escaped and the other three captured. Second, in a different game, the party arrived in hidden basement were a mage had capture some villagers. It was supposed to be a boss battle. At the start the a fireball was dropped killing the mage and his minions. As the party went to open the cages, they ran into a flesh golem and they were beating the crap out of it. So I extended the life of the golem from the average in the book to the max to prolong the fight and make it seem tougher. In the end they defeated the golem and rescue the villagers. In both cases, the end result didn't change. In the first case the players were defeat and in the later case the players won. My fudging the dice and health didn't change it. So why did I do it. Because it enhanced the story. In the first case I didn't have a TPK and allowed the players to perform a prison escape. If I didn't fudge half the party would have died and the other half unconscious. So then I would either have to recant the deaths or have them roll up a new character which would interfere with their investment in their characters and their story, In the second case, I wanted this boss fight to seem tougher and more serious. Yes they killed the mage but they had to deal with the mage's creation. A new creature never before seen. I wanted it to be a serious threat. In that same campaign I had a lucky crit on a 2nd level inflict wounds that rolled close to max damage. It one shotted the character. No unconcious, no death saving throw. He was dead. We let the dice lay on that one because it presented the seriousness of the cult they were tracking down. I had another mini-boss fight where the players casted hold person on an NPC that was supossed to get away and escape and the NPC rolls prevented him from breaking free. Once again the dice were left where they lay. One again, its a tool that the DM can chose to use or not. And as long as it is use appropriately and with the players experience in mind, than it isn't bad. Nor is it bad to let the dice lay as they are rolled.
@benm5913
4 жыл бұрын
I find your position on this and the sharpshooter feat to be in conflict. Maybe even hypocritical. You say here that you are attempting to include the agency and play style of each player, but, completely negate the player or players who want to power game by redoing that fear in your games. I'm a long term player and gm and have always been comfortable playing any style the players wanted. The zeitgeist of this new generation seems to be talking about inclusivity and not actually being inclusive. Power gaming is a valid play style, so is murder hoboing, so is rules lawyering or even confrontational with the dm. Everyone shits on these styles and then talks about session zero as if it's not hypocritical to shut down these styles prior to session zero. It's very frustrating.
@aloofguy9365
6 жыл бұрын
If you guys like The Sword you should check out the Zeal and Ardor album stranger fruit. Its a mix of indie southern rock and black metal with some slave spiritual undertones.
@jackhume1525
5 жыл бұрын
I think dm fiat is fine sparingly, I have definitely had to dial something back or dial something up for a round. One session I ran the first session at first level was a near tpk because of five kobolds and every single one rolled a natural 20. Had I let things play out this way they would have died before they even got single turn in the turn order. Because the kobolds rolled perfect initiative and then proceeded to roll a nat 20 each and drop them all. Except the 1 I allowed to miss and then that character was able to heroically save his party members rather then well everyone is dead it sucks we spent four hours rolling these new characters up and I know this is literally your first session of actually playing D&d but thems the breaks. I'm not about to let some dice rolls ruin an entire night in that way. Losing a couple characters okay sure. But to go out like that on the first session to five kobolds? Fuck the kobolds aught to be the new adventurers at that point Jesus.
@tylerdurden639
2 жыл бұрын
If you have players that can accept character death and not bail out of the campaign, those players are DM GOLD. You can let the dice determine survival and make the story be the focus. Let the players know that the world is harsh, let them see how the story can survive a players death and see how the new character can be integral to the story as well. One campaign I ran had three players and they realized they needed another person to add resilience to the party. Having a character go down almost turned into a total party wipe several times. So, they added a 4th character and through no fault of their own, the 4th character became a "Star Trek red shirt" who died when the main characters survived. It was as if the dice did not want them to survive. On their fourth "4th" the character became a focus of the party to "Keep her alive for a change" because, as a DM NPC I worked hard to find a character with a story that the party got attached to. After several months, the party had gelled completely and the four of them worked so well together that the party as a whole had been reinforced and could handle much more epic encounters.
@TaylorRussell_TheAnimator
5 жыл бұрын
I love their work, truly, but the arguement "You wouldn't let a player fudge a roll, so why should a DM be allowed to do it?" is pretty fuckin' weak. Its more complicated than that and you know it.
@Damalon01
4 жыл бұрын
Personally I dont get why other players are so offended by being 'rail roaded'. Personally I see it as a story that's being told so i either roll with it or get the F out of the game. Since I want to play (assuming the game is good) I will just go with it and hope the GM has something interesting in mind. Personally I think too many players are selfish, putting themselves before the game.
@SkittleBombs
Жыл бұрын
As a completely new player, isn't just easier to look at the 6 stats and character backgrounds, make challenges that you know each character will be good at and ther background ads flavour for the narrative
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