1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,280 Hello, players who actively try to sabotage their DM at every opportunity. 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,840 And DMs who planned an entire campaign just to have one rogue fuck it all up. 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:13,080 Welcome back to Table Talk. 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:14,960 What's today's theme, Robert? 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:15,960 That's Madison Conway. 6 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:17,640 Oh my god- 7 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:19,680 She did it again! 8 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,160 Today's theme is world building. 9 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:22,160 It sounds like a bit, it's not a bit, 10 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:23,160 It's genuinely not. 11 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:25,160 It's just forgetting to introduce us. 12 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,880 I forgot to take my meds this morning. 13 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,960 Ooh, fun. 14 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:33,320 All about world building. 15 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:34,600 All about world building. 16 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:36,880 All about world building. 17 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:38,000 Starting a game. 18 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,840 So today's going to be a little bit me heavy. 19 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,880 Madison might take a couple of rakes and eat a sandwich. 20 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:49,520 So if she dips out for a second while I go on a tangent, please don't hate me. 21 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,120 Yeah, there's kind of a lot of different places to start. 22 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,800 I think for one, getting the people together is kind of something that we talked about 23 00:00:57,800 --> 00:00:59,920 last time and how difficult that can be. 24 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:02,960 So let's say that you've gotten, you've made it to step one. 25 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:07,000 You found a group of people that are actually willing, committed and have the time to play. 26 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:08,920 Which is already a significance. 27 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,840 Like don't underestimate that. 28 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:12,840 That's impressive. 29 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:14,240 Yeah, no, it truly is. 30 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:17,480 And then we were going to do character creation initially because usually that's kind of 31 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,080 where it starts, but we're waiting for video equipment that hopefully somebody will eventually 32 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:22,360 get or will bring our own. 33 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,280 But we're going to go to the next step then and talk about the world building. 34 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,640 So the DM side of things. 35 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,960 Just starting from point blank is a DM for one. 36 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:34,720 Talk to your players is kind of where I would start. 37 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:39,760 So when I started my, started deeming my first campaign, it was literally just a conversation 38 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,840 with everybody that I knew was interested. 39 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,000 And I did like polls to figure out, okay, are we interested in steampunk? 40 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,280 Are we interested in high fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk? 41 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:52,160 We ended up going with kind of like none of the above. 42 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:53,160 Yeah. 43 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:55,520 And then a little bit of it all, which I guess was kind of on my end. 44 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:56,520 It was fun. 45 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:57,520 Yeah. 46 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:01,360 I think first campaign is somebody who had ADHD and wanted to hit every place, but not 47 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:02,360 be locked down to one. 48 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,280 I just made a campaign where you could literally go wherever you wanted and I could switch 49 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:08,440 it up forcibly if I needed to. 50 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,400 But yeah, like talk to your players, figure out what you want to do. 51 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,160 Also don't be afraid to come in with ideas. 52 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:18,280 Like if you've been writing this setting and this story and this world for years, and this 53 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:22,840 is your first chance to like DM, pitch it to your players. 54 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:24,120 See if they want to do it. 55 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:25,960 Try and convince them to your best. 56 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,760 But if they don't want to do the story or if they don't want to participate in your 57 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:32,360 world, don't force them to because they're not going to like it. 58 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:34,640 That was the point Madison brought up. 59 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:38,760 Not just, not too long ago when we were writing out points for this is like, talk to your 60 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,760 DM about what you're interested in doing and what story you're interested in playing. 61 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,480 Because if you're not invested in, you're not in the world, it's going to be boring 62 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,080 for you and everybody else there. 63 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:49,080 Yeah. 64 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,360 It'll start feeling like a chore and it'll be one of those things where like, there's 65 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,480 moments at the table, if you've ever played at a table where like someone is going through 66 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,600 their own like story beat and stuff and you could see everyone else is like kind of checked 67 00:02:58,600 --> 00:02:59,600 out. 68 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,560 I think if you make a more engaging world that like people are, people want to be in 69 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:08,880 and people like to be involved in, you're going to have more involvement from people 70 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,320 around the table the whole time. 71 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,680 Because it's a story that they want to tell and it's a story they feel involved in. 72 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:20,000 And like if there's something from a player's perspective that you really want to play or 73 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,280 like you've been like dying to play in like a film noir setting. 74 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,520 Because I've been watching Mentopolis. 75 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:28,520 Yeah, so it's not Mentopolis. 76 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,520 On the forefront of my brain. 77 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,960 If you really want to play in that setting, tell your DM. 78 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,320 Because you're never going to get to do the things if you don't like verbalize that you 79 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:39,600 want to do them. 80 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:44,200 And it's such a struggle too because you have DMs that come in with like, I've been writing 81 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,920 this setting forever, I have my own source book, I've made maps, I have NPCs, stat blocks, 82 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:53,280 places like Dune levels of backstory with random shit. 83 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,440 And then your players have zero fucking interest in a setting like that. 84 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:01,440 And you just kind of have to accept that like, it's just not what you're going to do. 85 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,840 But I like the points you made about like, and I see it happen almost every session because 86 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,080 there are some people that just get more checked out than others. 87 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:09,080 It's not their fault. 88 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:10,080 They have disorders. 89 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:11,080 We played it. 90 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,800 We have, it's a table full of people with ADHD and then one normal guy. 91 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:15,800 Yeah. 92 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:17,760 Two people with autism. 93 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:19,200 Three people with ADHD. 94 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,160 One person who's neurotypical but still has OCD. 95 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:23,160 Yeah. 96 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,280 So like, we all get checked out at different points. 97 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:28,160 People will pull out their phones, they'll browse, whatever. 98 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,200 And it's really difficult to do. 99 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:36,560 But like, I guess my pro tip, right as a DM that's done it a few times now. 100 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:41,680 Whenever you're doing individual story points with a particular character, try and make 101 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,960 sure that their story points also overlap or overline or provide information for somebody 102 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:47,800 else's too. 103 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:53,720 You can't just write a story or a world where your four to five players each have their 104 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:55,920 own individual story points. 105 00:04:55,920 --> 00:05:01,600 And then they're just supposed to naturally, because magic, work their way into each other. 106 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:02,600 Yeah. 107 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:03,600 No. 108 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:07,200 Right, if you have one character motivation who's like, they really care about kids or 109 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:12,960 they really care about, I don't know, books or their appearance raised them in this laboratory 110 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:17,280 and they have a special thing in their heart for labs and science. 111 00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:21,480 Then when you're info dumping, because it's what you have to do to get people introduced 112 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,360 to the world for another player, drop some shit in there about how their parents run 113 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:29,800 the best laboratory or the laboratory, or the one you want to call it, in the high fantasy 114 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,640 city and you have the keys to the da-da-da-da-da. 115 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:38,280 Or just mix and match it so that everyone is actively engaged in watching whenever you're 116 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:39,600 just info dumping. 117 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:44,480 Because session one, for a lot of players, is really boring when it's not their turn, 118 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,840 because you very much have to tee them up for them to then continue the rest of the 119 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:50,000 session. 120 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:55,240 But if you do it in a way where everybody is interested and engaged and everyone's story 121 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:59,000 points over lapsed and everyone's ears turned up a little bit just so that they can hear 122 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,000 what you're talking about. 123 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,320 And I'm someone who, I love session one. 124 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:09,080 Session one is always one of my favorites to play because I love world building. 125 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,920 My intro today was almost players who are constantly pestering their DMs for world building 126 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:13,920 information. 127 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:14,920 That's me. 128 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:15,920 100%. 129 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,440 I'm sure it is a bothersome point at times. 130 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,600 But I think that as a player and someone who's interested in world building, and I think 131 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,400 that knowing a bit of the world building and the world you're playing in is so helpful 132 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:34,880 for a player, I cannot overemphasize that enough. 133 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,160 In session one, because you're hearing these tidbits and these worlds from these other 134 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,880 characters, you get to learn more about the world that you're living in. 135 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:42,880 100%. 136 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:44,480 And that makes your character feel more grounded. 137 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:50,520 If you know, okay, maybe I'm not rich and I'm hearing the intro of a character. 138 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:55,280 But then I get to know what the rich people are like and I know how to be like, oh, these 139 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:57,840 motherfuckers with their goddamn flying cars. 140 00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:00,480 I didn't know they were flying cars until 20 seconds ago. 141 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,200 And that's so important when you're playing in a setting where everybody's supposed to 142 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:07,200 be from the same place and they're supposed to have been there for years. 143 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,840 I feel like the traditional fantasy stereotype is that they're all lone adventurers that 144 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:15,800 manage to find themselves cobbled together because of a fetch quest or a destiny. 145 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,320 Which can be fun, found family is great. 146 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,120 But when you have characters that are all supposed to be from the same place and all 147 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,680 from the same world, they need to know what they're talking about or at least be able 148 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,520 to bullshit their way through it enough that you're like, okay, that's Lorena. 149 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:30,440 That's fine with me. 150 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,320 And that's kind of something that I've started doing more now specifically with this new 151 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:39,280 campaign mostly because of Madison, like it really just pays off for your players to know 152 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:41,760 at least a little bit about your world going into it. 153 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:46,440 So that way they can talk to each other like they've actually lived there for a long time. 154 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,440 Like every character in this new setting that I've made has lived there for at least a few 155 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:52,440 years. 156 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:56,120 Either has grown up there or has moved there or was raised there. 157 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:00,240 And so everyone has to know a little bit about the city and like the part of the city that 158 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:01,240 they're from. 159 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:04,280 And we have two characters that for instance that share like kind of residency in the same 160 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,360 neighborhood, but their perspectives are very different. 161 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:11,640 And so the information that I'm giving one character who lives on like the more like 162 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,560 family business, like really knows like the criminal underbelly, but still is trying to 163 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:16,920 like stay out of trouble. 164 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,280 The information I've given him about his neighborhood and the world he lives in is very different 165 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:23,840 from the information I've given to Madison, where she's like a college student staying 166 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,680 in an apartment because it's the cheaper she can find and she's trying to work through 167 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:28,040 college. 168 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:29,720 Like yes, they know the same neighborhood. 169 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,400 They know what my name, but their views on the heroes that live in that neighborhood 170 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:36,440 and the people and the crime, they're very different. 171 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:38,760 But they knew that going into session one. 172 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:44,680 And you get to know also like where do they're, where do those characters paths cross? 173 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:49,200 You know, like there was, there was an NPC who was like, he's kind of like a con man 174 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,600 and he's like everybody in town knows him. 175 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,000 I didn't know that before going into this and then I can listen during another character's 176 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,560 introduction to be like, oh yeah, I'm going to make up that he sold her like a fake 177 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:00,560 Rolex or something. 178 00:09:00,560 --> 00:09:01,560 Yeah, 100%. 179 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:04,000 Because like it's fun to have those little crossovers. 180 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,720 It's fun for your characters to find little ways that they, that they connect and that 181 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:09,200 they cross over. 182 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:10,200 Yeah. 183 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,960 And that's another, I guess another point to that. 184 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,480 Don't please don't please, please, please don't. 185 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,200 If you're an experienced like character creator, right? 186 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:20,640 You're an experienced player. 187 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:24,600 I'm all for you making your character like months in advance. 188 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,800 Like say, I have just all you know is the setting. 189 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:32,800 And like maybe the power system, whether it's 5E, 3 kids on bikes, whatever, if you come 190 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,120 to me with a full character, she'd already done, that's okay. 191 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:42,200 Do not world build in a world that you haven't written or even talk to me about and then 192 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:45,400 like start inserting lore into the universe. 193 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:52,680 If you want to talk to me about your backstory and it's like, okay, I'm from like a rich family. 194 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:53,920 This is their last name. 195 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:56,620 Maybe they're involved in politics. 196 00:09:56,620 --> 00:09:57,920 Maybe this person is here. 197 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,520 Maybe like my family is related to this or there was this big fight. 198 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,640 If you pitch it like that, I'm all for stamping that in place. 199 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:05,960 Like yes, 100%. 200 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:06,960 I love that idea. 201 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:11,640 I love that like you as a character could be connected to like the upper part of society 202 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,040 and then another player at the table is connected to lower because it makes a fun dynamic. 203 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:18,880 But don't just tell me that's what's going to happen because I promise you it's not going 204 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:19,880 to happen. 205 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:20,880 Yeah. 206 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:27,160 I'm someone who like character creation and like making characters is my like strength. 207 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:29,720 That is like what I do pretty much full time. 208 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:33,800 I have lists and lists of like characters that I've made into PCs that I don't think 209 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:37,240 I'm ever going to play in campaigns simply because I've written so much of their backstory 210 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:38,800 and I'm so attached to them now. 211 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,800 But it would be, I don't think it would be fair to come to a demon and be like, hey, 212 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:47,120 here's my really detailed backstory of things that you need to then write into the world. 213 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:48,400 You have to roll them in. 214 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:49,400 It's required. 215 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,000 Like because my character doesn't work otherwise. 216 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:52,400 Why don't you just be the fucking DM then? 217 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:53,400 Right? 218 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:54,400 Why don't you just be the DM? 219 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,960 Why don't you make your own NPC that you role play that like at that point you're not 220 00:10:57,960 --> 00:10:58,960 a player. 221 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:00,720 You're asking to be like a co-DM. 222 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:01,720 Yeah. 223 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,360 Or you're like trying to create a world that is solely for you. 224 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:06,760 And I think that you can still- 225 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:07,760 Yeah, don't be selfish. 226 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:08,760 Tantra, don't be selfish at the table. 227 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:09,760 You're not the main character. 228 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:10,760 And if you can- 229 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:13,560 Which we're going to talk about that more in other like episodes and stuff, but you're 230 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:14,560 not the main character. 231 00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:15,560 Yeah, don't be that guy. 232 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:19,360 And see that's really the struggle I think as a DM and as a player is that as a player 233 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:20,960 you want to feel like the main character. 234 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,520 I like the whole idea is that your role playing this character that you've spent potentially 235 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,880 hours maybe days, some people spend weeks. 236 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:27,880 Years. 237 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:31,040 Months, years creating these characters, growing attached to them. 238 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,560 And so when you finally get to sit down with them at a table you're like you're itching 239 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:36,880 for some interaction, right? 240 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:40,560 Like you want that character to have the spotlight the whole session. 241 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:43,600 But if you're playing with more than just yourself and the DM, which I would hope you 242 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,280 are, that's not the case. 243 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:50,720 Like your attention, the attention at the table has to be split between multiple different 244 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:52,600 people. 245 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,160 But as a DM I think too it's really difficult. 246 00:11:56,160 --> 00:12:00,040 Like I know I've gravitated more towards certain characters as a DM in terms of giving them 247 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,080 story points more than others. 248 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:06,080 Not because I didn't like the players or not because I didn't like the concept of the PCs. 249 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,760 Just because those players put themselves out there more and grabbed more of the story 250 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:13,200 and really like role played and try to bring it in. 251 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,240 And then there are other players that are just kind of like there and they're enjoying 252 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:19,120 being at the table and that's fine too. 253 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,160 But don't play favorites. 254 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,560 Please please please as a DM try and stretch your attention out among multiple characters 255 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:26,360 to give them all their main character moment. 256 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:30,040 I'll say you're not the main character because everyone is the main character. 257 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:31,040 It's like a movie. 258 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,360 It's very much like a movie with multiple protagonists. 259 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,240 So like you could from your perspective when you're like telling your friends or like trying 260 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,640 to ramble on to someone who doesn't play D&D about your D&D campaign you're like no no 261 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:42,640 wait listen. 262 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:47,200 The story is actually so easy to understand and it's actually about this and we've all 263 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,480 had that conversation. 264 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,280 And then you like start telling from your perspective and like as someone who I note 265 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:58,760 take obsessively almost all of my notes follow my character and like follow my thing just 266 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,160 because that is my personal perspective and I also like to take notes on what my character 267 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:06,480 knows versus doesn't know because I don't actually know the name of someone such as 268 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:07,480 grandmother. 269 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,040 And you see those moments happen on real plays all the time where it's like two people two 270 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:15,240 characters two PCs will be in like a completely different conversation removed from another 271 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:20,240 PC and like they're talking to the DM right to ask questions or they're asking an NPC 272 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:24,400 and then like that third PC would just be like yeah so like I say this and then everyone 273 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:26,520 stops and goes you're there. 274 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:27,520 Yeah. 275 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:32,640 Or you know that you know like the taking notes thing is for everybody but also try 276 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:35,480 and pay attention to what your character should and should not know. 277 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:39,160 It makes for a lot more intriguing role play. 278 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:45,600 If you can and it's really hard to not push for that to like if because everyone's in 279 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:49,880 the same room right like if two players share this like really big secret between characters 280 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:55,480 or they know something like super consequential to the world as a whole and you're not one 281 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:56,800 of those players. 282 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,600 You're a median instinct as a person who's curious and as a player who's invested is 283 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:06,880 to start like doing an investigation checks or inside checks or and it's like but you 284 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:08,040 wouldn't do that. 285 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:12,080 You wouldn't do that if you have no reason to suspect that these PCs who in game you 286 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,920 trust like wholeheartedly are harboring this like campaign ending secret. 287 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:21,520 Don't start asking your DM for checks out of fucking nowhere unless they provide you with 288 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:22,760 an opportunity to do so. 289 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:27,200 Also this is kind of an example from that from our last campaign there was a character 290 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:33,440 who was a vampire and never said that he was a vampire and introduced himself by breaking 291 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,760 into a church and dressing up as a priest and lying and saying he was a priest. 292 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:41,960 And all of our characters were immediately suspicious because they're dealing with like 293 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:45,080 shape shifters and people like chasing them and stuff like that. 294 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,440 And my character in particular was very like untrusting of everyone. 295 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:49,440 Traumatized. 296 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:50,440 Deeply. 297 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:51,440 Prominently. 298 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,600 And was just like who the fuck are you what the fuck are you blah blah blah blah blah 299 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:58,320 and all the other players were like we all knew that he was a vampire but none of our 300 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:02,360 players did and everyone else was like oh that's just like a guy. 301 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:06,240 He's just a priest who's like offering to harbor us you know like safety. 302 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,920 And it got to a point where he was doing things and he was like saying he was a human and 303 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,640 then doing things that no human should do like walk underwater for multiple hours. 304 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,240 And my character was like and no one's gonna fucking question that. 305 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:17,240 Nope. 306 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:19,560 We're not gonna like confront him about that and everyone was like I mean nah. 307 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:24,120 Listen in a party of people that can all do extraordinary things who's to say that a 308 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:30,720 human in air quotes can't walk underwater for multiple hours. 309 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:34,520 Yeah and then you have sometimes where players just like completely will not touch your plot 310 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:35,520 hooks. 311 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:37,920 They just leave them the fuck alone. 312 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:41,440 Sometimes it truly feels like you're fishing which is a really shitty analogy. 313 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,400 They're talking about hooks right like you're just you're dangling it for hours. 314 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:47,080 You're like okay they're not taking the bait. 315 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,680 I'm gonna put a worm on you drop it. 316 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,880 Two days later nothing you're like all right fuck it I'm just gonna start throwing food 317 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:54,840 into the water. 318 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:59,120 Every single piece of food has a hook attached to it all going to the same place just shotgun 319 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:01,800 blasting hooks and nobody touches it. 320 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,120 They got their own hooks they're following they got their own story points that they made 321 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,520 and you just sometimes you gotta drop some shit man. 322 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:12,080 There was something really interesting you did in the last campaign where you were giving 323 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,240 other players hooks for other characters. 324 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:19,520 So you were giving other players like or trying to give other players hooks for like very big 325 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,760 information that would answer like some of the questions that the other players really 326 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:26,360 wanted to know and I think that that's a really cool thing to do from a DM because it requires 327 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:31,240 your characters to talk to each other and it also like engages everyone into this story 328 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:36,560 and like characters individual like plots and stuff like that. 329 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,600 But then there were some times that I was sitting there as a player when you were trying 330 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,080 to give one of these characters. 331 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:46,120 It was that throwing food into the water it was every possible sign and I'm sitting across 332 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:50,720 the table knowing that this is like the these are the answers to the questions that I have 333 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:56,160 been rolling shit for for a year at this point and the information was right it was literally 334 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,520 like papers sitting on a desk. 335 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:00,520 No one touched them. 336 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:05,240 There was only one player in the room and he just he had no interest in it and I'm sitting 337 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,680 there across the table like yeah fucking check the papers. 338 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:10,440 But like I'm not there. 339 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:11,840 I can't say that. 340 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:18,080 And oh that was one of the most like internally frustrating experiences of my life. 341 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:19,080 Yeah. 342 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:20,080 Yeah. 343 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:21,520 I guess to back it up a little bit. 344 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,960 So when like really really really back it up. 345 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,920 So talking about writing your world specifically as a DM. 346 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,480 If you want to take a bite of your sandwich that would be the time. 347 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,680 So it's it's OK to play your favorite movie. 348 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,480 It's OK to play your favorite video game. 349 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:45,720 It is OK to like really getting grossed in a fandom or a universe and then bring it to 350 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:47,080 the table. 351 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:51,280 Not hook for hook or like character for character unless you want to do that like if you want 352 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,640 to do a My Hero Academia campaign where all the characters are the same. 353 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:55,640 Go for it. 354 00:17:55,640 --> 00:18:01,640 I'm not in my business but if you like really really really like an arc or story choice or 355 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:06,240 some words that were said do not be afraid to straight rip that shit and put it in your 356 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:08,040 own campaign. 357 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,520 Like I think I said it last time like you're not you're not a Tarantino you're not Christopher 358 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:17,560 Nolan you're not like James Gunn you're not any of these like amazing phenomenal. 359 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:18,560 Yeah like you're not. 360 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,280 Yeah shout out to credit growing in the Barbie movie. 361 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:22,280 We did barb and Hymer. 362 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:23,280 That was an experience. 363 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:29,360 I made them wear Barbie T shirts me and me and L his fiance I decided we were going to 364 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:32,680 wear Barbie shirts and so we had these really cute ones I designed and we were like OK let's 365 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,200 get the boys one so we made them dress up it was very fun. 366 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:39,160 I think we certainly had the proper experience going with two guys and two girls though because 367 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,200 like the guys me and like the other guy walked away like Oppenheimer. 368 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,760 That was a good fucking movie and then they walked away from Barbie being like that was 369 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:50,160 a great fucking movie and then we're like cross talking and it's like Oppenheimer was 370 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:51,160 OK. 371 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:52,440 Yeah Barbie wasn't really for me. 372 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:53,880 My favorite was after Barbie. 373 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:58,280 They were just sitting there like I remember looking over at you in the theater and you 374 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:03,000 were just fucking booze old you had no idea what was going on. 375 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:08,040 It's like having somebody throw like a straight like like a pint of pink paint just on your 376 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:09,040 fucking brain. 377 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:10,440 Yeah that's fucking amazing. 378 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,640 And I'm that was what I'm going to say it's a really cool experience and as somebody that 379 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:21,240 was never as a guy typically right we're not very involved with Barbies or even Ken which 380 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:26,480 Jesus Christ shout out to Ken he was great but we're just not involved in that and so 381 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:30,280 that actually I'm going to tie it back to the episode. 382 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,200 That was a story that was not written for men exclusively. 383 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:34,960 We were not the main characters in the story. 384 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:39,560 We were a side character through Ken and we got a lot of really great messaging and hooks 385 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:43,840 and points and and I mean he was involved right like he was almost I want to say maybe 386 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:48,880 order a third called Barbie and Ken only because of how much he was I would have a show and 387 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,040 he played a huge part in like the whole second half of the movie. 388 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:53,840 Yeah but it wasn't a movie written for us. 389 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:58,120 It was very much a movie written for women and girls that had grown up with Barbie and 390 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:01,920 suffered from all these harmful stereotypes and like the idea of Barbie being the perfect 391 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:07,400 woman and then like coming to the real world and realize wow actually really fucking sucks. 392 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:08,400 Yeah. 393 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:14,680 As a DM I feel I would feel not this is no no criticism on on Greta but like as a DM I 394 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,120 think if I'd walked away having written that story where I had a guy and a girl at the 395 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:22,800 table I would be upset with myself because I didn't give enough story points for the 396 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:23,800 guy. 397 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:28,560 However she she does it she does the story points for Ken in a really great way through 398 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,560 Barbie and Ken still ends up with his own story. 399 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:32,560 Yeah. 400 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,280 Like I think that's a great example of what you said earlier like giving other characters 401 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:37,200 information through a different character. 402 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:38,200 Yeah. 403 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:43,600 Like you can very much world build and info dump and give hooks through the storytelling 404 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,940 of another character that still gives them the spotlight and then also tease up another 405 00:20:46,940 --> 00:20:49,040 hook or another arc for a different character. 406 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:54,080 And this is kind of a little bit of a stretch but when you were saying about like giving 407 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:59,000 characters information through other characters one of the fastest ways that I've seen at 408 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:03,480 the table and this kind of goes into world building of like uniting characters is through 409 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:09,120 hatred it is through mutual hatred and like if you have one motherfucker that everyone 410 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:12,320 in the party hates individually before they know each other. 411 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,880 It's such a great job at making a hateful fucking character. 412 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:21,600 Like even session zero of our of our recent campaign my character who's like a very happy 413 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,440 go lucky very great at playing the asshole character. 414 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,040 There's an asshole character in every campaign. 415 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:28,040 I expect it. 416 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:33,120 And it exists in every culture on in every city in every town in every village in every 417 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:37,880 multiverse you can't get away from the people that think they're self important and grandizing 418 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,680 and some of them make for great villains and some of them just make for like dickish NPCs. 419 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:45,520 I love playing with those characters because it's very cathartic for me to get to like 420 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:50,840 yell at them at the table and it also makes for very fun like banter it's fun to go back 421 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:55,200 and forth and just exchange insult that everyone loves to hate everyone loves to hate it was 422 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,360 no one like and this was one of those things of like it misses no hate to anyone at our 423 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:02,640 table but sometimes they do get a little like tuned out but that's yeah because I also know 424 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:08,120 that a lot of my individual parts of like my introductions are very like our info dumpy 425 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:13,000 are very like lore some characters naturally have more information that you need to give 426 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,160 them on session one than others. 427 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:20,360 And my character was one of those characters but then she ends up talking to this this 428 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:24,080 guy and everyone at the time that was like the most engaged. 429 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:28,000 Everyone was like punch him hit him right now immediately everyone went fucking hit 430 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:33,120 him punch him kill him oh my god he's an asshole oh my god he's such a creep kill him kill 431 00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:37,320 him he hadn't even done anything like that bad at that point he was literally just like 432 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:41,640 douchebag like he's just a college frat guy that's a superhero and that's like that's 433 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:42,880 what makes him so hateable. 434 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:47,520 Yeah and it's so fun to hate him and it's so fun to role play with that character but 435 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,760 the immediate like connect of everyone at the table being like we have a common enemy 436 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:56,080 right now and it's not even the moment that happens that's supposed to be the enemy. 437 00:22:56,080 --> 00:23:00,800 Yeah and then like the secondary moment too everyone also loves like I don't want to say 438 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:05,360 everyone loves to love but everyone loves to care about the same stuff like when it was 439 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:09,920 in session zero it hasn't happened in session one we'll see if it does but our session zero 440 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:14,120 everyone really came together at the end because there was a kid that like snuck into this big 441 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:18,400 fight and then there's this like reveal it aw shit there's a kid here and everyone in 442 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:22,960 the building was there for a different reason but they're all heroes and so like to immediately 443 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:27,680 see like this child in danger everyone immediately switched focus and immediately just started 444 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:29,960 going for the kid like going for the kid. 445 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,640 Everyone started fighting to make sure the kid got out and that was a really fun moment. 446 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,360 Except for one PC who was trying to actively kill the child. 447 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:41,480 Except for one player who almost blew the child up with rockets. 448 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,200 Like not accidentally it was intentional. 449 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:45,200 Yeah yeah yeah. 450 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,160 Don't kill kids in your campaign by the way. 451 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,480 Like as I'm not a DM but as a DM. 452 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:52,000 Don't be afraid to do fucked up things. 453 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,000 Don't be afraid to do fucked up things. 454 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,000 But don't do that. 455 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:55,000 Don't do that. 456 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,000 Don't kill the dog. 457 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:57,000 Don't kill the dog. 458 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:58,000 Don't do that. 459 00:23:58,000 --> 00:23:59,000 Shout out Britain. 460 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:00,000 Don't kill the fucking dog. 461 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:01,600 Yeah don't don't kill the dog. 462 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:03,360 At least in session one. 463 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:04,860 You can do that later. 464 00:24:04,860 --> 00:24:06,560 You can do it way later. 465 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:09,600 Especially if the dog has had a lot of really cool story moments and it's been building 466 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,600 up like they're a really key character. 467 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:17,520 I don't like hearing you go on this tangent as someone who plays at your table. 468 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,480 But I mean really though if you're going to kill a fucking NPC of any kind whether it 469 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,120 is an animal or a companion. 470 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:25,120 Make it important and also make it count. 471 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:26,120 Make it count. 472 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:27,120 Give your characters a chance to help. 473 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:30,160 Game of Thrones is a great show and so is Crown of Candy as an actual play. 474 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:31,160 However, comma. 475 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,280 And I'm not saying Crown of Candy didn't did this. 476 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:34,280 They didn't. 477 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,920 But the game of Thrones I think is more responsible here. 478 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,320 Don't just kill characters for the sake of killing them. 479 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,440 You know if it's like this is a harsh world where nobody survives. 480 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:47,440 There's an NPC made last session is like dead like cool. 481 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:48,440 What does that mean for me? 482 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:49,440 Yeah. 483 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,600 If you want a more impactful death and this is also coming from like someone who like 484 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,040 does a lot of like storytelling and like story analysis and blah blah blah. 485 00:24:56,040 --> 00:25:00,040 You have to let your audience which are your players. 486 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:01,040 Become attached. 487 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:02,040 Get attached to things. 488 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:03,040 Make them important. 489 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:04,040 Make them important. 490 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:05,040 You kill them. 491 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:06,240 Even to the world. 492 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,680 Characters aren't going to want to save a world that they have no attachment to which 493 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,720 is something we kind of like dealt with in the last campaign is we were like okay you 494 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:14,040 guys need to save the world. 495 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:15,040 We were like. 496 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:16,040 Yeah no one cared about the world. 497 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:17,600 And I was like I don't we don't really. 498 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,920 Like they fully just like left a world to die because there were like none of our fucking 499 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:22,240 business more than once. 500 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:23,240 We tried. 501 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:24,240 We failed. 502 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:25,720 I'm not risking my life for that. 503 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:26,720 Yeah. 504 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:27,720 Like I don't know him. 505 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:28,720 See you fucking later. 506 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:29,720 I don't know Tia man. 507 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:30,720 I'm not getting in her business. 508 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:31,720 Like it was very. 509 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,400 Very near who has an invested interest said peace. 510 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:35,920 So we said peace. 511 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:36,920 Like yeah. 512 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,560 Like you have to let people get involved because not every character is going to be good for 513 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:44,000 the sake of being good which also side note for players and I'll probably talk about this 514 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:45,000 more in character creation. 515 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:46,800 Yeah we'll talk a lot about more. 516 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:47,800 A lot more about it. 517 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,160 Don't make an endlessly edgy character for no reason. 518 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,440 You've got to care about something and if you're an edgy character. 519 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:53,440 You have a sexual interrelation. 520 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:54,440 Give yourself a soft spot. 521 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:55,960 Don't be Batman that we'll talk about later. 522 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:56,960 Give yourself a soft spot. 523 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:57,960 Like the kid thing. 524 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:02,640 And like which we're dealing with like we've got a lot of heroes in the group and we've 525 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,080 got some people who fall a little bit more anti hero. 526 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:06,720 But like at the end of the day. 527 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:07,720 Which is unappreciable. 528 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,440 There's going to be at least one person at the table that wants to play an anti hero. 529 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:11,440 You know. 530 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:12,840 Yeah there's always going to be someone who's like. 531 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:14,120 It's an attractive grab. 532 00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:17,240 Like it's somebody that does the right thing for the wrong reason. 533 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:18,240 Red hood. 534 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,680 Or the wrong thing for the right reason I guess. 535 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:26,480 But like give your character a spot to feel soft and something that they want to protect 536 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,520 and it's eventually. 537 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:32,240 Yeah really lean on what you know about their like their morals and their values to get 538 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:33,520 them engaged. 539 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,640 And so yeah you can kill the dog. 540 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,480 But wait until everyone loves the dog. 541 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,600 And the dog means a lot to them. 542 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:41,600 And then when you kill it. 543 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:42,600 Yeah. 544 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:43,600 Give them a chance to save it first. 545 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:44,600 See what I. 546 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,240 Then they'll all come together to avenge the death of the dog. 547 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:48,840 And then it just turns into John Wick. 548 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:49,840 Right. 549 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:56,440 What I will say about not killing characters too quickly or often or without reason. 550 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:57,440 Yeah. 551 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,480 I don't want to say this because it might give somebody like the wrong the wrong idea. 552 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,600 But you can very much kill a character very quickly or soon after they've been introduced 553 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:12,160 if the the PCs morals or backstory is really going to be negatively affected by that. 554 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:18,040 Like there was a moment in my first campaign ever played where I was playing a warlock 555 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:19,600 and I wasn't I wasn't edgy. 556 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:24,800 I very much like somehow I've managed to do it several times but this like good to bad 557 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:29,000 or like hopeful to hopeless kind of character transition. 558 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,520 And I had like a deal with the devil as warlocks do. 559 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,960 And my my things I had worked out to a point where like if I had killed if I killed any 560 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,880 innocent people like truly innocent people that I knew were innocent I would get like 561 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:44,800 a massive power boost in terms of gameplay and I did I ended up incredibly broken by 562 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,760 the end of that campaign. 563 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,520 And there was this character where I had to make like a really key decision. 564 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,840 I had never really met them before they were like or we had never really talked to them 565 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:56,520 as like NPC. 566 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,400 It was a mayor of like the starting town. 567 00:27:58,400 --> 00:27:59,400 We didn't really give a shit about it. 568 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:00,400 We didn't care about it. 569 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,080 We didn't really like them all that much. 570 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:06,520 But I was told that like before I had gotten to this town like if I had killed somebody 571 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:11,000 that was really truly innocent or that I felt was truly innocent or like important that 572 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,720 I would like I have that would be the first step to like gaining like more power in the 573 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,320 NPC didn't have a lot of backstory but I still did it. 574 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:23,480 And it was it like sucked for me as a person to follow what I felt like was the logical 575 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:25,880 decision of the character I was playing. 576 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,160 Like I legitimately walked away from that session and I was talking to my DM who's now 577 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:34,240 a player at the time and I was like that I think was one of the worst decisions I've 578 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:38,000 made both in real life and in like in a game because it hurt. 579 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:43,480 And it the character that I killed was important to an extent but did not have any extensive 580 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:45,040 background or meaning. 581 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,720 So my character's backstory and morals is what gave that death meaning. 582 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:53,200 And so I think even if you don't have a lot writing or a lot of hooks attached to something 583 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:57,880 that you want to write off or kill or like do something negative to as long as it's 584 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:02,360 impactful to the players you can still do it if it pushes the platform. 585 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,360 Like if Batman kills a random person that's going to be a big deal of Batman because he's 586 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:06,360 got no killing rule. 587 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:07,360 The random person doesn't matter. 588 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,200 Like that random person could have been introduced for the first time on that panel and dies 589 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:12,760 at the end of that panel. 590 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:16,520 It doesn't matter it's still going to be really important because like you said Batman doesn't 591 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:17,520 kill people. 592 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:18,520 Yeah. 593 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:19,520 So kill with caution. 594 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:20,520 That's the kill with caution. 595 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:21,520 Kill with caution. 596 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:26,800 But yeah like and we've kind of gone off tangent but I think when you're creating your world 597 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,120 we've already talked about working with your players. 598 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,280 Figure out what setting they want with settings they don't like. 599 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:36,840 Figure out what time period to like the sword coast because it's been a setting that's 600 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,720 been around for so long. 601 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:45,720 Has so much history and things that have happened to it like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, like 602 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,040 all of these locations that have been like destroyed and rebuilt. 603 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,320 There are time periods on the sword coast where some of those cities didn't exist where 604 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:56,480 they did exist where they were like in their height when they were like at their low when 605 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:58,480 they had been erased. 606 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,960 So also figure out what time because time is just as important as setting and sometimes 607 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:07,360 I think people get they're not specific enough and then it leads to kind of some plot issues 608 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,520 because it's like if I'm just on the sword coast like we just started campaign and we're 609 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:15,200 just there and I'm like cool so like what's around us like what's going on what's the 610 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:16,200 history. 611 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:21,280 If you don't have that premade or preset half fun coming up with it on the spot like because 612 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,640 depending on the setting you're playing in whether it's if it's homebrewed you can make 613 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:25,920 some shit up and canonize it. 614 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,840 If it's sword coast if it's stuff that's already there you might then have to walk away from 615 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,320 that session and do a lot of googling before the next one to figure out exactly what time 616 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,040 period you want the setting to be in. 617 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:39,480 Or do a fun little okay so we're going to retcon some of the stuff I said last time. 618 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:40,480 Yeah yeah yeah. 619 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:41,480 Retconning is okay. 620 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:42,480 Retconning is totally okay. 621 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:43,480 From a player to a DM. 622 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:44,480 I retconned the whole session one. 623 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:48,360 I tried to do a session zero because I didn't like the way I role played characters. 624 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,800 And that's okay and as a DM don't stress about being like well fuck I said it now I've got 625 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:53,800 to keep it. 626 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:54,800 You can retcon shit. 627 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,640 We retcon so many things. 628 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:58,640 You're not like. 629 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,520 If you forget that something happened last session as like the DM and you say oh well 630 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,200 this person does this or uses this magical item. 631 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,280 And then all your players look at you like didn't they die? 632 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,720 Didn't we like break the item or like didn't we travel to a different location? 633 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:14,280 You're like oh yeah we did. 634 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:15,280 Surprise. 635 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,640 We first started playing one of our campaigns. 636 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:22,200 We were just using the term grease because we weren't like we were just like whatever 637 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:24,000 we're just going to talk about like ancient grease. 638 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,680 It was a setting that I hadn't fully fleshed out and so I was like I wanted it to be grease 639 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:31,080 like and this is before I knew that Theros was a setting which for those that don't know 640 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:34,920 a whole lot about it Theros is like another I think Wizard of the Coast property. 641 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:36,600 It's Wizard of the Coast ancient grease. 642 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:41,120 It's a spin off directly of the Magic the Gathering Theros set which I play Magic the 643 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:46,480 Gathering Wizard of the Coast owns both and so they ended up turning it into like a full 644 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:52,160 setting with a book and I used the source book and I gave it a name because Theros was 645 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,400 a lot more interesting and fun than just saying grease. 646 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:59,200 That also gave me access to stat blocks to maps to locations to backgrounds to history. 647 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:05,000 It was also fun because at that point we both had Theros as a place and then we also still 648 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,440 had Apollo as a character even though there was an Apollo equivalent in Theros but we 649 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:14,880 had already like spoken directly to Apollo on multiple occasions from like way way way 650 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:15,880 back. 651 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,000 I just had Apollo and straight up ancient grease and there was also a character who 652 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,440 was basically from like ancient magical Japan. 653 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:27,200 For reference two of the people in that particular campaign were archaeologists or archaeology 654 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:28,200 majors. 655 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:34,120 And so they were history nuts and so their back stories in to this day still happens 656 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,880 with one of them that still plays at my table. 657 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:42,360 They like to insert real like real world earth as it is today history and background 658 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:46,400 correcting us on how many rowers our ship would have. 659 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:51,720 I was infuriating by the way as a player I swear to God I'll kill you. 660 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:53,040 I'll kill you so fast. 661 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:54,040 You will drown. 662 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:55,040 I don't care if you know how to swim. 663 00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:56,040 Yeah. 664 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:58,920 I was like oh shit we need to make a boat can we make a boat. 665 00:32:58,920 --> 00:32:59,920 I was like great. 666 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:03,240 Actually this is how many rowers it would take to row a boat of this size. 667 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:04,240 What the fuck up. 668 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:05,400 It's like I didn't ask you. 669 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,080 We just made a boat out of magic. 670 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,880 Do you want to do you want to get to the next place or not. 671 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,160 Like those are your options do or don't. 672 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:16,040 We're not paying attention to how many fucking rows. 673 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:18,040 Playing with archaeologists is a very interesting experience. 674 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:22,440 Playing with anybody that has a vested interest in any like cultural or social aspect that 675 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,760 you have inserted into your campaign can be exhausting because they constantly feel the 676 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:31,840 need to tell you or correct you or insert and that can be fun like with comic books. 677 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,040 Me and Madison both know a lot about comic books. 678 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:38,320 Her character in the current campaign is very comic book forward and I don't it doesn't 679 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,400 bother me when she's like yeah these heroes would have comic book stories and like what 680 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,800 if the villains were like this and what if the heroes were like that and they were portrayed 681 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:47,640 in this way in the comic books. 682 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:48,760 I don't give a shit. 683 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:49,760 That's cool. 684 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:53,920 But when I try to give you a cool moment and you shit on it because it's not realistic 685 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:54,920 enough for you. 686 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:55,920 You fucked. 687 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:56,920 Yeah. 688 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,880 Don't don't shoot your DM down when they're trying like that. 689 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:02,000 And that's also I think goes both ways. 690 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,360 If your players try to do something really cool rule of cool you know a little bit like 691 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:06,360 that. 692 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:07,360 Shout out to Matt Mercer. 693 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,920 He says that all the time on critical role rule of cool. 694 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:14,680 Like there are so many moments that have happened in their real plays where like someone will 695 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:19,960 try to do six actions in one sentence which realistically with the way action economy 696 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:21,920 works in fifth edition. 697 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:25,480 You can do they're like I want to do this I want to jump there I want to grab that I 698 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,000 want to say goodbye and I want to jump out of the window. 699 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:29,560 That's like four actions. 700 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:33,800 Everybody gets the same table as you literally in the fantasy world is setting at the same 701 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:34,800 table as you. 702 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:38,280 They all have now five actions to interact with you and say no you don't. 703 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:39,280 Yeah. 704 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:43,520 But rule of cool right like if it if it's just a cool thing that can happen maybe get 705 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:46,520 me and like have them roll a dexterity check and then ask all the other players like are 706 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:50,840 you guys too in shock to do anything in this moment like realistically would you would 707 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:52,920 you act would you say anything. 708 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:56,760 And then if they do give them the appropriate checks but let those six actions play out as 709 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:02,000 a few really cool like role of the dice moments and then let it go and I'll say as a player 710 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:07,080 you cherish those moments those make you feel like a fucking superhero at the table. 711 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,800 I remember there was like one where I was like trying to like shoot something but it was 712 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:14,480 way up high so I was like can I like my character was like kind of like had a background in 713 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:18,400 like performing so I was like can I throw my daggers and like climb up my daggers and 714 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:19,800 then like try and shoot from the top. 715 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:24,240 He was like yeah go for it give me a can roll for it check and then like see if it works 716 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:28,960 which is a very popular phrase you'll hear at a table or you'll say damn yeah you can 717 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:36,200 dry or you may try or you can roll for it or if you get a natural 20 the phrase if you 718 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:40,360 get a natural 20 that's I won't say it fighting where I refuse to say that because that's 719 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:45,800 just opening myself up to so many possibilities that I I've said it a couple times but I try 720 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:50,280 not to because it's always when you tempt fate and the dice moments where people have 721 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:54,720 rolled that it'll happen that you're like upset about yeah and not to say that like 722 00:35:54,720 --> 00:35:58,600 I don't encourage those moments or that I don't like them they make really they can 723 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:03,440 be exhausting but that's why I think the statement you can roll for it is a lot better than give 724 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:07,240 me a natural 20 because if they do get a natural 20 you don't have anything attached to the 725 00:36:07,240 --> 00:36:10,320 statement you just said they can roll for it you didn't say they can roll for it and 726 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,240 get it you said they can roll for it like because sometimes there are moments where 727 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:19,600 it's like oh that sounds so sick you can roll for it and it's like oh your DC is five I 728 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:24,680 would you physically could not do this you're like five nothing you weigh a hundred pounds 729 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:32,560 soaking wet you have no athletic ability but this sounds cool yeah all the dice DC five 730 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:37,720 if you want to see you do it sick like enjoy the story that you're telling and let it be 731 00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:43,640 fun like it make those main character moments man yeah right now you're not the fucking main 732 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,200 character but you can have those moments and you have your turn to be the main character 733 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:51,520 but you're not the main character and as a player don't be afraid to ask your DM to insert 734 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:55,120 one of those moments as well not like hey man I'd really like next session if I had to 735 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:58,360 make a character you can mean you could always come to your DM and DM's I encourage you all 736 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:02,560 to be open if a player comes to you and says hey like I really feel like my character hasn't 737 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:06,800 really gotten a lot of spotlight or I'm just getting kind of boarded table could we like 738 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:11,360 interact with me a little bit more next session I've is it is a DM cool like you get a whole 739 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:16,440 art for the next the next four hour session we do all about you buddy yeah take it wrong 740 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:22,080 with it but like as a player also please don't be afraid to approach a DM and ask them to 741 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:28,000 do cool things even in the moment like players rule rules both ways yeah yeah bother your 742 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:35,240 DM's I bother Robert constantly about D&D to the point where he's now co-hosting a podcast 743 00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:41,120 with me because we have multiple hour-long conversations about it and I'm like I personally 744 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,880 might as well attempt to get them monetized at some point yeah yeah I mean if we're gonna 745 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:49,040 talk about this in the basement might as well talk about it in the studio yeah yeah yeah 746 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:56,560 um and like you you never like what's the worst that can happen if you ask about something 747 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:00,760 they say no they're not gonna be like no that was a bad idea now I'm gonna kill you with 748 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:07,800 the table yeah that's not gonna happen like if you got a 60 foot gap to cross and Jesus 749 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,920 Christ trying to figure out what your what your jump height jump distances there are 750 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:16,120 literally calculators that are only made for calculating jump height and jump distance 751 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:20,440 but if like your character who has 30 movement speed wants to jump a gap of 100 feet on their 752 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:26,000 own no respectfully no they I mean your player could always be like hey man rule of cool 753 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:30,440 like what if I just got a really big running start and then like lift it off of my staff 754 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,360 and try to do like a helicopter thing with it and it's like if you want to risk your 755 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:39,320 life for this cool moment I'll let you roll for it I've done that when I'm here I know 756 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:42,680 it's not gonna happen and then sometimes it does fucking happen and everybody at the 757 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:47,440 tables mouths are like slack John because holy shit he did it yeah it's like you need to 758 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:53,040 roll like three dice you know 3d20 is every one of them every roll needs to be above a 759 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:59,680 20 and it's like 25 26 29 okay you don't even have a plus in those stats I don't know how 760 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:03,520 you did that and it's like everybody at the tables like here take my party 761 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:08,480 inspiration take my chaos guy take my time and it's like what what the fuck man I love 762 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:14,000 it when that happens at the table is when the DM sets a really high DC for something 763 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:18,600 because it's something stupid and so everyone at the table goes I'm gonna drop everything 764 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:22,640 I'm doing and give so many boosts to this character and it's always something stupid 765 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:28,280 it's always like yeah like this character wants to like try to flirt with a fish or some shit 766 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:35,760 like that all for a milfs yeah like that shit and then everyone just piles on as many dice 767 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:39,720 and up to make it happen because that's a cool moment to watch the life slowly drain 768 00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:46,720 out of your DM's eyes and it's so it's so satisfying it is incredibly satisfying hey 769 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:51,140 this shit sucks do you have something you want to send in to make it better criticisms 770 00:39:51,140 --> 00:39:55,320 topics you'd like to see discussed or an advertisement you'd like to run maybe you even want to sponsor 771 00:39:55,320 --> 00:40:04,120 an episode if so shoot us a message at mc460 at evansville.edu or DM us on instagram at 772 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:10,360 crescent magazine or we'll never get better like these fucking guys okay couple of things 773 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:14,440 I do want to talk about before this gets wrapped up in about 20 or so minutes that I just haven't 774 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:21,680 thought to talk about yet we mentioned it briefly as it as a DM oftentimes like you have those 775 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,360 that will do voices and you have those that will not do voices and then you have those 776 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:30,200 that have like really nailed one one voice and will do it the whole time like I'm one 777 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:37,000 of these people I'm really good at like the the Jersey accent and the Italian accent I 778 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:41,120 don't know where it came from my fiance when I was talking to my fiance it's just like an 779 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:45,880 app and how I normally talk she was like if you pushed it a little more like I would 780 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:49,960 think you were from New Jersey and I'm like okay that's a new voice for me oh and it's 781 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,680 turning to one of my favorite things at the table all of the characters from this like 782 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:57,400 one part of town I'll have the same I'll have the same accent which wasn't an intentional 783 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:01,520 thing it just it ended up being that way but now that's a really cool like world building 784 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:07,000 thing and everyone from this part of town sounds that way yeah yeah yeah but don't I 785 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:12,520 would encourage you I'm bleeding Jesus it's fine I would encourage you as a DM to try 786 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:17,040 a voice but on the flip side I would also tell you that it is okay if you do not feel 787 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:23,040 comfortable doing a voice if you just cannot for the life of you figure out what a particular 788 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:27,880 NPC is going to sound like because this is the first time you've ever had to roleplay 789 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:32,920 as them or you just had to make them on the spot just use your normal voice pitch it up 790 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:39,400 pitch it down and then call it a day there's so many other ways it actor here so many different 791 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:44,920 ways you can change your voice without doing a voice you can change the length of the way 792 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:50,080 you're talking yeah okay it's and you can talk really fast yeah like works like if they 793 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:54,760 say a particular word a whole bunch or like a lot like there were one of the first times 794 00:41:54,760 --> 00:42:00,960 I role played for the players as like the the main I get a term out of the way right 795 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:06,840 BB EG like the big bad guy right one of the first times I role played him and they got 796 00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:10,480 to like really see what his character was like I didn't do a particular voice but I did it 797 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,600 like he was this is gonna sound bad almost like he was getting a friend anchor he was 798 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:18,960 having like a mental lapse and so like my role playing for him wasn't doing a voice 799 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:23,480 it was stuttering and it was switching cadence and it was doing like facial things and like 800 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:27,960 weird things just with his voice in general but not the accent that works just as well 801 00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:33,400 to is like in that moment everybody understood okay this guy is fucking nuts yeah he was 802 00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:38,160 really glitching yeah he was like rolling his glitching his faces are switching and 803 00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:42,880 I didn't have to do an accent I just had to stutter my voice and drag my words out yeah 804 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:48,080 and that was enough so figure out what works for you if you're more like the cadence and 805 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:54,480 speed and the pitch and the tone do that if you're accents all the way find a few that 806 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:58,720 really work for you and throw them in there if you're neither that's okay too you can 807 00:42:58,720 --> 00:43:02,840 also describe the way someone talks you can say that he has like a really he has a higher 808 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:06,240 pitched voice than you would expect and blah blah blah and then a little bit more theater 809 00:43:06,240 --> 00:43:09,560 of the mind for sure but like I mean that's what the whole thing is though right like 810 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:13,800 it's all theater of the mind unless you're playing with like state of the art shit you're 811 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:18,320 never gonna have an NPC unless you like pre-made them pre-printed them whatever that you can 812 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:23,040 like picture perfectly and is on the screen now and is mouthing and talking exactly like 813 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:26,360 you like that's just you you want to play a video game if that's the world you're interested 814 00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:31,720 in yeah as is someone that's playing Dungeons and Dragons or anything that's like tabletop 815 00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:36,200 RPG it's a tall theater of the mind and the more creative that you can be when you're 816 00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:41,040 picturing that shit in your head like that the cooler your experience will be yeah yeah 817 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:45,000 it's just the voices I think are an interesting topic when you're talking about like being 818 00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:49,160 a DM because some people just aren't good at it some people are better than others some 819 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:53,680 people have like that social anxiety like it still takes me a good like 20 30 minutes 820 00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:58,280 to really get into a session before I can start getting into the voices and the characters 821 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:02,400 just because as a non-actor as somebody that's not engaged in role-playing except for the 822 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:06,960 two times I do it a week I just is not something I have a lot of practice doing I have a lot 823 00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:10,760 of practice being myself and that's where some of my best character role-playing has 824 00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:15,600 come from like with my my asshole characters I used to why they're ever that's really 825 00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:19,800 though that's why they're as good as they are because I know how to play that character 826 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:25,360 like my personality is very asshole adjacent and there was a time in my life is adjacent 827 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:29,920 at certain time that's fair but like I have I have I'd like to think I have pretty good 828 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,360 control on like when I'm really overdoing it and what I'm not but I like the very like 829 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:40,120 funny and crude humor like sarcasm like just the full asshole effect and so my two likes 830 00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:45,480 some of my favorite role-playing moments specifically with my with my big villain of my first campaign 831 00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:52,200 it was me but like pushed to the extreme with a lot of external motivation yeah like taunting 832 00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:56,280 the players making fun of the players like specifically bringing up things that like 833 00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:01,760 he would know to say to set them off balance or to get them overly engaged in a combat 834 00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:06,520 cool villain it was such a fun character to like role play with and this was a character 835 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:11,560 that we accidentally killed yeah like me and then brought back to like kill and I was like 836 00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:17,080 I had my character still had questions for this character and it was also yeah really 837 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:21,280 fucking fun bad guy to play with and Robert had put in so much work like into creating 838 00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:25,120 this bad guy and then it was very likely that I don't even have a kill him I don't have 839 00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:29,880 a stat block for him until one of the final encounters like I never had a full stat block 840 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:36,320 for him until the final encounter and that's another topic I guess to hop to stat blocks 841 00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:39,920 if you're world building if you're DMing well it doesn't matter what system you're in you're 842 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:43,220 gonna have to come up with one eventually and this is kind of where you have to choose 843 00:45:43,220 --> 00:45:48,200 between okay how much homebrew am I doing how much content I'm pulling from the internet 844 00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:54,200 am I buying books like what how am I doing it making a stat block is a first time DM truly 845 00:45:54,200 --> 00:46:01,120 personally I do not recommend it is it is hell if you don't know what like if this is 846 00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:05,560 your first time behind the scenes it's so different than making a character like my 847 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:13,880 first instinct when I was trying to come up with MPCs specifically villains I thought 848 00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:18,160 that like the way to do it would be to go to my character creator and just make the characters 849 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:22,920 but then I would get to the combat session and realize this is organized for a player 850 00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:27,760 I have not played as this MPC until this combat encounter I have no idea what any of this 851 00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:32,760 shit means yeah and so I'm just like picking things on like scrolling through the character 852 00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:38,640 the character app that we have and just like trying to pick random things to do so truly 853 00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:43,240 don't just be afraid to find a stat block for a creature or an MPC or a character that 854 00:46:43,240 --> 00:46:46,920 like has already been made that you really like and then give it a new face and a new 855 00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:52,200 name yeah like one of the I just I bought a source book for this new campaign just because 856 00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:56,960 it's helping a lot in terms of the world building of the power system and like reading the stat 857 00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:02,840 block for the current villain that I'm playing in the session it is insane people it looks 858 00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:09,040 like whoever wrote the book just took like abilities and AC and scores from some crazy 859 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:15,680 fucking critters from 5e but like it's good stuff and it all works with his character 860 00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:22,160 like all the abilities and the spells and the AC it all fits his character in the personality 861 00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:25,760 and who he's supposed to be in the world but I can like just reading the spell descriptions 862 00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:31,160 there clearly rips from things that came from like the monster manual yeah and that's okay 863 00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:36,000 pull a stat block look you can literally Google stat blocks for 5e creatures and you will 864 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:42,440 have a list on like a wiki dot 5e you can also just go like this straight up like D&D 865 00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:46,640 beyond with the monster manual and Xanathar's guide to everything like every book you look 866 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:52,000 at is going to have a stat block find one you like give it a new name give it a new face 867 00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:55,000 maybe even mix and match and then call it there 868 00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:59,640 uh... do not try and make a stat block for every creature character pc whatever the fuck 869 00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:02,680 don't do that it's too much time it's not worth it 870 00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:06,000 it's really not like that's just and i think i can have a hard stance on that maybe it's 871 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:09,520 just because i'm not fucking good at it there too many choices 872 00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:10,640 uh... 873 00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:14,280 the yeah like well too many choices to be parallelizing sometimes and i think that's 874 00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:15,720 something that like 875 00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:19,800 and obviously i've never deemed i've that's one of the shit things about 5e though 876 00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:23,240 like there's so much content content 877 00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:25,480 and that's gotta be exhausting 878 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:28,680 because i know it's already daunting to like i consider like i know a lot about 879 00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:29,480 dnb 880 00:48:29,480 --> 00:48:30,980 but i am also scared to 881 00:48:30,980 --> 00:48:33,560 say that i know a lot about the dnb because there's 882 00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:37,040 no so much information and content always more to learn 883 00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:41,640 as a new a new spell that you haven't seen before with a new effect you haven't 884 00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:42,760 used 885 00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:45,840 like i've got severe imposter syndrome saying that like 886 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:49,960 i'm in the vehicle because i'm like i feel like we've used one vehicle yeah 887 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,640 and i didn't even have them use it the way it was supposed to be used now we 888 00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:55,640 just made that shit up 889 00:48:55,640 --> 00:48:57,560 and i feel like am i like fake 890 00:48:57,560 --> 00:48:59,720 and maybe that's also like 891 00:48:59,720 --> 00:49:02,400 being a woman in nerd spaces i feel like i constantly have to prove myself 892 00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:04,440 because i like literally had 893 00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:07,560 in real life be like oh well what do you know about this we know about this 894 00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:10,880 know about dnb like i don't know about the game stores do you 895 00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:13,120 yeah i don't see a next year like 896 00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:16,160 like i don't go to game stores without one of 897 00:49:16,160 --> 00:49:18,160 the guys that i live with with me 898 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:21,600 because i just i feel very intimidated i've had very negative experiences of 899 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:22,600 like being asked 900 00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:25,600 well do you even uh... oh you like harley quinn 901 00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:27,840 of course you do and it's like yeah motherfucker 902 00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:30,560 because i have like a very deep attachment to that character for a 903 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:32,200 litany of other reasons 904 00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:33,680 and that's okay 905 00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:36,840 that's a side note 906 00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:38,840 but like 907 00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:43,080 how do you deal with sifting through that content or because like that's why i've 908 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:46,520 yeah it's looking at it it's difficult like i would take towards homebrew for 909 00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:47,360 that reason 910 00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:48,600 so 911 00:49:48,600 --> 00:49:52,400 i started off very very homebrew because there wasn't a setting 912 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:54,600 that which starting homebrew 913 00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:58,840 can be a lot more difficult than starting out of a book like every 914 00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:02,640 the the two people that have been a dm for me both started out of a book and 915 00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:06,360 then turned into homebrew because it's easier to to leap from something than 916 00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:08,080 into nothing 917 00:50:08,080 --> 00:50:09,280 um... 918 00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,360 so it really just kind of depends like 919 00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:16,280 it depends on the campaign depends on the information i'm looking for 920 00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:17,360 uh... 921 00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:19,800 sometimes that's what makes it difficult playing in a setting that's real 922 00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:21,720 like playing in there was was 923 00:50:21,720 --> 00:50:25,120 somehow more stressful for me than it was playing in any of the other settings 924 00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:26,560 that i had put you all in 925 00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:28,880 because i had full control of the lore of that place 926 00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:29,360 yeah 927 00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:33,320 uh... but in there is and yet i can just make shit up in there is 928 00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:36,840 but if i want to have you fight a minotaur i know there's a stat block out 929 00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:40,480 there for a minute are in there is like i just know in the source book it's 930 00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:41,920 there somewhere 931 00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:45,760 uh... and so it really just i try and play it by the moment i don't try and 932 00:50:45,760 --> 00:50:49,200 prepare a lot of like hard material ahead of time 933 00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:52,520 uh... because i'm just gonna stress myself the fuck out you know 934 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:54,760 and so i think when it comes to that sifting 935 00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:56,320 if you're in homebrew 936 00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:59,280 you have a bit of an easier time because you can make it up on the fly you can 937 00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:01,240 google a stat block and give it a name 938 00:51:01,240 --> 00:51:04,120 if you're playing out of a setting or source book sometimes you feel a little 939 00:51:04,120 --> 00:51:06,120 bit more contained 940 00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:09,920 uh... and like you have to stick to the source material and uh... 941 00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:11,920 i guess kinda that the blurbs 942 00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:15,240 in the blocks in the bits that they give you about that the creatures and the 943 00:51:15,240 --> 00:51:18,520 mythos and the world building and the powers 944 00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:19,680 uh... 945 00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:23,080 and yeah i don't know it kind of areas it's a hard question to answer truly 946 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:27,120 like for this particular campaign just buying a source book 947 00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:31,200 uh... really helped it was only fifteen dollars to love content in the what i 948 00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:35,800 was looking for in that source book were stat blocks anything about a map 949 00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:38,560 uh... which i'll talk about maps after this i forgot to mention it does 950 00:51:38,560 --> 00:51:41,960 usually play a pretty big uh... kind of to do with the table depending on where 951 00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:44,840 you're at in your in your world building in your session 952 00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:49,280 uh... and i just i wanted a lot of that work to be done for me but not to the 953 00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:52,720 extent that sometimes it is in like a thorough source book or is in the first 954 00:51:52,720 --> 00:51:54,320 guy day 955 00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:56,040 uh... or any of the other 956 00:51:56,040 --> 00:52:00,160 ten thousand fucking source books that was as a the coast is put out not to see 957 00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:02,720 anything negative about them but there's so many 958 00:52:02,720 --> 00:52:05,360 and there's a lot of money to be put into that space 959 00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:08,640 there's just also a lot more freedom when you're using something that's not 960 00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:11,960 something that's not official something that's a little more often than that 961 00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:16,200 this to you and that's unless you accidentally said them the whole pdf 962 00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:17,520 yeah 963 00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:18,400 and it's 964 00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:22,000 i don't know it's just it's a little bit of really playing it by ear like that 965 00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:25,880 that would be my i guess my my only really solid piece of advice going into 966 00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:29,240 a session zero or session one or even just a new campaign 967 00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:33,720 only be as prepared as you need to be to answer questions do not 968 00:52:33,720 --> 00:52:36,840 or if for whatever you really need for the next session like 969 00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:40,080 yes intense sessions you might want your players to be at the top of this tower 970 00:52:40,080 --> 00:52:43,520 that's gonna have its own map in its own room with very specific combatants 971 00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:46,760 with super specific stat blocks and a villain you haven't made a style block 972 00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:47,560 four 973 00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:48,960 that's ten sessions 974 00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:51,960 you have depending on how short and longer sessions are how frequently you 975 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:52,640 meet 976 00:52:52,640 --> 00:52:55,080 don't worry about that don't come up with that yet 977 00:52:55,080 --> 00:52:57,720 because you might end up in a completely different place in three sessions and 978 00:52:57,720 --> 00:52:58,720 you did 979 00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:01,360 are then you thought you were going to only come up with what you need for the 980 00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:02,280 next 981 00:53:02,280 --> 00:53:03,840 uh... for the first in 982 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:07,040 i think for a session zero recession one truly the only thing you need to know 983 00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:10,280 is enough information about your world answer the questions that your players 984 00:53:10,280 --> 00:53:12,120 are gonna naturally come up with 985 00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:15,560 like i know somebody at the table is going to ask me 986 00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:17,160 what i know this hero 987 00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:19,000 what do i know about this hero 988 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:23,040 what do i know about this part of town what is how am i perceived 989 00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:26,360 uh... our heroes and a negative or a positive thing 990 00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:30,880 what's the criminal justice system like here is is vigilante a lot like 991 00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:35,240 uh... are there any big companies that like produce heroes like all of those 992 00:53:35,240 --> 00:53:37,360 things are questions that 993 00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:42,040 uh... i i had answers to i can't prepare enough in knowing the world but not 994 00:53:42,040 --> 00:53:45,080 enough to restrict my players from making their own decisions 995 00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:47,600 in in session one or zero 996 00:53:47,600 --> 00:53:50,600 uh... like you don't want to know so much and have so much prepared that they 997 00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:54,040 don't have autonomy at the table that's that's the fun part of role playing as a 998 00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,440 player right you get to make your own decisions create your own story 999 00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:01,600 uh... and as a as a dm truly i think it's just your job to have all of those 1000 00:54:01,600 --> 00:54:04,360 things ready to let them jump into 1001 00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:07,120 you know like if you're hooked is doesn't work for a player may fully 1002 00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:10,040 divulge into something different or take it in it in a direction you weren't 1003 00:54:10,040 --> 00:54:11,360 expecting 1004 00:54:11,360 --> 00:54:14,960 have enough on hand that you can just make it up as you go yeah 1005 00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:18,640 and then if it's something where you're like oh shit no i like really need 1006 00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:22,760 several hard stat blocks for these characters and i just didn't have them 1007 00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:27,160 that's fine like write them out for a second or say okay i know i'm doing a 1008 00:54:27,160 --> 00:54:28,760 combat session 1009 00:54:28,760 --> 00:54:32,480 uh... and i wasn't prepared for today but we'll do it next time and then just 1010 00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:35,560 like pivot to something else you know only prepare as much as you need for 1011 00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:37,200 the session you're going into 1012 00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:40,160 not for the one after it and not for the one after that you never know what's 1013 00:54:40,160 --> 00:54:45,360 gonna change yeah and things will change players will defux it as players do 1014 00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:50,240 and even you as a dm or your opinions of the campaign that you wrote before 1015 00:54:50,240 --> 00:54:54,000 coming into this will change you will want story points to be different 1016 00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:57,480 say you play a u role play a character and you really had this idea in your 1017 00:54:57,480 --> 00:55:00,640 mind that they were going to be like this really key important in pc that was 1018 00:55:00,640 --> 00:55:02,360 gonna come back in a big way 1019 00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:05,480 and then you finally get them at the table in the players and iraq with them 1020 00:55:05,480 --> 00:55:08,720 uh... say your players are interested are you're just not fan of the character 1021 00:55:08,720 --> 00:55:11,800 even the way that you made it don't be afraid to just ditch that fucking 1022 00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:14,840 character or write them off or write that story point off even if you wrote 1023 00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:15,520 it like 1024 00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:18,760 pivot it's okay yeah i mean your players don't know what you already have written 1025 00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:21,600 it's in the same way and this is kind of similar to like 1026 00:55:21,600 --> 00:55:23,440 something that like 1027 00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:26,880 another actor thing of like you're watching a play 1028 00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:30,840 no an actor definitely fucked up line and like fucked it up bad 1029 00:55:30,840 --> 00:55:34,680 i guarantee it but you don't know that because you don't know the play 1030 00:55:34,680 --> 00:55:38,800 and that's one of the things they teach us a lot it's the i think acting and 1031 00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:43,800 dming are so similar to me i mean acting in dnd in general yeah are so fucking 1032 00:55:43,800 --> 00:55:47,640 similar and i could do an entire episode by myself about that but 1033 00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:51,080 no and that's that's what's kind of fun about having these conversations with 1034 00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:55,080 like between somebody that's been a player longer in a dm like longer even 1035 00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:56,760 just talking to your players 1036 00:55:56,760 --> 00:56:00,520 or your dm like post session or post campaign you're like hey like in this 1037 00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:04,120 moment like did you really have that together was that really the plan 1038 00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:07,600 and you just you get some really cool insights by doing that it's like no i 1039 00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:10,680 didn't have that plan i didn't know that that mechanic was going to become a key 1040 00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:11,680 thing 1041 00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:15,440 uh... i did like i didn't really plan for that story point becoming big for you 1042 00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:19,040 to have that moment but like holy shit wasn't it cool that it happened that way 1043 00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:22,280 i can't hide up enough having like little talk backs i mean we do very 1044 00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:25,480 informal talk back yeah we just talk about it like right after the session 1045 00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:29,320 of the day or two after like going upstairs and it's kind of like holy shit 1046 00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:32,640 man that moment was really cool i really liked what you did there 1047 00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:33,680 you know 1048 00:56:33,680 --> 00:56:35,320 and like me as a dm 1049 00:56:35,320 --> 00:56:38,400 cornering a player when they're alone so no one else around here and being like 1050 00:56:38,400 --> 00:56:41,640 hey i really like that point that you laid on last time landed harder 1051 00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:43,280 yeah like do it more 1052 00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:46,480 and it's also fun as a player to have those conversations with other players 1053 00:56:46,480 --> 00:56:49,200 like i was talking to one of our other players and 1054 00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:52,480 we have something like kind of like cute and funny that we're going to do next 1055 00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:55,440 session and there was another uh... moment last campaign 1056 00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:59,280 where well me and another player tried to play it out this really really 1057 00:56:59,280 --> 00:57:01,840 fucking cool thing and it would have been so 1058 00:57:01,840 --> 00:57:06,440 yeah sick and then it didn't happen in game we were so upset we told uh... 1059 00:57:06,440 --> 00:57:08,440 robert about it later 1060 00:57:08,440 --> 00:57:11,880 and i'm still so upset that i never have because it would have been such a cool 1061 00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:13,520 with the ring 1062 00:57:13,520 --> 00:57:16,640 that i don't know god damn cool 1063 00:57:16,640 --> 00:57:18,800 and sometimes things are going to land 1064 00:57:18,800 --> 00:57:21,520 yeah and that's okay 1065 00:57:21,520 --> 00:57:24,920 uh... some materials to have i think is a dm 1066 00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:28,080 a map is sometimes pretty useful you can buy uh... 1067 00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:32,160 like uh... universe specific maps like there are plenty of really like 1068 00:57:32,160 --> 00:57:37,040 high quality really really nice sword coast maps like uh... my coat 1069 00:57:37,040 --> 00:57:38,360 dm 1070 00:57:38,360 --> 00:57:39,040 uh... 1071 00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:43,560 this campaign and right now one of our friends he has a really nice like sword 1072 00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:44,200 coast map and 1073 00:57:44,200 --> 00:57:48,200 it's got all bunch of fancy information on it's not dry erase but like 1074 00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:51,040 it's really cool to have it out on the table and uh... 1075 00:57:51,040 --> 00:57:54,040 like as a party he's like okay well you guys have some downtime or like you have 1076 00:57:54,040 --> 00:57:56,960 a couple locations you gotta travel to and then rolls out the map on the table 1077 00:57:56,960 --> 00:58:00,080 and we get to like literally like point charter journey in it 1078 00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:02,800 feels like it's it's a lot too much more immersive role playing moment i think 1079 00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:05,680 to actually like have the map of the scroll or the 1080 00:58:05,680 --> 00:58:11,400 the location in front of you and i like i love my props paper props 1081 00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:12,840 and so i think dm 1082 00:58:12,840 --> 00:58:16,880 this is just include those do it it's so fine this is just for a this is just a 1083 00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:20,200 table general thing in terms of materials to have uh... 1084 00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:23,880 a dry erase map it's really all you need anything that's dry erase or any kind 1085 00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:27,520 of paper that you can write on for combat sessions for drawing out like 1086 00:58:27,520 --> 00:58:29,120 the five by five gridded 1087 00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:32,000 bullshit that a building looks like if they're trying to do like a heist or 1088 00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:33,200 whatever 1089 00:58:33,200 --> 00:58:34,480 uh... 1090 00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:37,600 and then if you don't have like a specific map for your location that's 1091 00:58:37,600 --> 00:58:40,080 fine like i don't have a map for mine right now i'm still trying to figure 1092 00:58:40,080 --> 00:58:43,040 out what i want to do for that because it's such a 1093 00:58:43,040 --> 00:58:46,560 i can picture it almost perfectly in my head however 1094 00:58:46,560 --> 00:58:50,720 it's a full fucking metropolitan city inside of a dome like and there are a 1095 00:58:50,720 --> 00:58:54,320 lot of maps out there like that that i can just rip because it's a very home 1096 00:58:54,320 --> 00:58:55,840 brewed idea 1097 00:58:55,840 --> 00:58:59,120 uh... and so like i don't i'm not gonna have a map for them probably for at 1098 00:58:59,120 --> 00:59:02,160 least a few more sessions but i know the locations well enough in my head to be 1099 00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:03,760 like yes so this is where you wanna go 1100 00:59:03,760 --> 00:59:05,920 like this is what you want to do is really go 1101 00:59:05,920 --> 00:59:08,800 this is the neighborhood you know the neighborhoods like in there before 1102 00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:09,680 uh... 1103 00:59:09,680 --> 00:59:12,880 and so maps are required right power of your imagination but it always helps 1104 00:59:12,880 --> 00:59:16,360 having seen there are a notebook or laptop just remember things to write down 1105 00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:17,520 your story points 1106 00:59:17,520 --> 00:59:20,880 i'll be watching a movie i i'd literally wrote this on a little google doc 1107 00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:24,360 do not be afraid to play through your favorite media or watch it and take 1108 00:59:24,360 --> 00:59:25,440 fucking notes 1109 00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:29,000 absolutely i like i'll walk away from watching a movie or an episode of an 1110 00:59:29,000 --> 00:59:32,160 anime or playing a little bit more video game and i'll go to my little dm 1111 00:59:32,160 --> 00:59:35,240 notebook and write down a story point that i want to copy like point four 1112 00:59:35,240 --> 00:59:35,960 point 1113 00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:36,600 mm-hmm 1114 00:59:36,600 --> 00:59:38,320 i wish if anybody knows what i'm doing 1115 00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:39,600 it be cool as fuck 1116 00:59:39,600 --> 00:59:43,400 it's fun and i'll say it your notes 1117 00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:46,800 it's also something of as a player if you know something is like 1118 00:59:46,800 --> 00:59:50,120 has inspiration from something it's so tempting to just go to that like 1119 00:59:50,120 --> 00:59:52,360 source material and like 1120 00:59:52,360 --> 00:59:54,920 and i'll have to be scour it 1121 00:59:54,920 --> 00:59:56,520 but don't 1122 00:59:56,520 --> 01:00:00,720 yeah now any minutes mostly message to like myself and other things like me 1123 01:00:00,720 --> 01:00:03,320 out there yeah yeah 1124 01:00:03,320 --> 01:00:07,720 that's totally fair but like it but also most the time your players won't notice 1125 01:00:07,720 --> 01:00:08,840 mm-hmm 1126 01:00:08,840 --> 01:00:12,960 and if they do it'll be like a cool not the bad guy in the campaign that we had 1127 01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:16,000 that went on for like almost two years now 1128 01:00:16,000 --> 01:00:20,760 the name was anagram and we were given the name i literally looked at year one 1129 01:00:20,760 --> 01:00:24,840 i put that name into like a randomizer for anagram specifically that should 1130 01:00:24,840 --> 01:00:26,920 piss me off so much 1131 01:00:26,920 --> 01:00:30,840 the name was low key because i played very heavily on several different 1132 01:00:30,840 --> 01:00:33,600 oligies uh... greek in norse in particular 1133 01:00:33,600 --> 01:00:36,800 and so it was like this different version of variant of low key and like my 1134 01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:40,600 own kind of i guess imagining of like the the the norse mythology universe that 1135 01:00:40,600 --> 01:00:42,200 ended up playing a really big point 1136 01:00:42,200 --> 01:00:44,440 but his name that he would give everybody 1137 01:00:44,440 --> 01:00:47,000 because it was kind of like a fun inside thing to him 1138 01:00:47,000 --> 01:00:49,840 you sounds different enough that you're like okay this like you would make the 1139 01:00:49,840 --> 01:00:51,980 connection it was keloid 1140 01:00:51,980 --> 01:00:54,280 spelled k i l l 1141 01:00:54,280 --> 01:00:57,360 i also was writing it k e y 1142 01:00:57,360 --> 01:01:02,000 hello as a player a year ask your dm for a spelling 1143 01:01:02,000 --> 01:01:05,720 do that wasn't even a time that's important it wasn't even something that 1144 01:01:05,720 --> 01:01:09,840 we fucking figured out at the goddamn table this was a like we were in the 1145 01:01:09,840 --> 01:01:12,640 living room talking and i was redoing my session notes 1146 01:01:12,640 --> 01:01:16,840 i asked him for like specific spelling and he told me and i looked at my 1147 01:01:16,840 --> 01:01:20,720 computer and i looked at him and i got so 1148 01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:24,680 pissed and then a grand baby 1149 01:01:24,680 --> 01:01:28,800 that so yeah don't ever like it's it's the whole joke of like you're never 1150 01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:33,320 gonna give a puzzle that's too easy to your players 1151 01:01:33,320 --> 01:01:36,760 and your players can all be very intelligent people we play at a table 1152 01:01:36,760 --> 01:01:39,960 with some very intelligent people myself excluded 1153 01:01:39,960 --> 01:01:43,160 at the same time 1154 01:01:43,160 --> 01:01:47,280 puzzle like as i say to that point though find kids puzzles and shit like 1155 01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:51,520 you are you can over the other days years ago over thing yet and some people 1156 01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:53,600 are good at different things like 1157 01:01:53,600 --> 01:01:56,760 some players might really really really really love 1158 01:01:56,760 --> 01:02:01,000 like ciphers and puzzles and like lock mechanisms and like 1159 01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:04,520 the ultimate vault which is in like every campaign ever because there's 1160 01:02:04,520 --> 01:02:07,280 always gonna be a heist episode for something and there's always gonna be 1161 01:02:07,280 --> 01:02:09,640 some bullshit locking mechanism 1162 01:02:09,640 --> 01:02:13,120 uh... in some players eat that shit up and then there are other people that are 1163 01:02:13,120 --> 01:02:13,680 like 1164 01:02:13,680 --> 01:02:16,120 barbarian class in real life 1165 01:02:16,120 --> 01:02:18,120 and are just like i wanna hit it 1166 01:02:18,120 --> 01:02:21,960 i don't care that there's a special key or lock needed for it 1167 01:02:21,960 --> 01:02:24,120 i don't even care that it's magically protected 1168 01:02:24,120 --> 01:02:27,720 i say we hit it till it opens and sometimes you'll be surprised at what 1169 01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:29,120 players do that 1170 01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:33,120 i love you'll be surprised how that works in real life 1171 01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:37,400 my first instinct in game constantly whenever i come across like a puzzle or 1172 01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:41,560 a locker anything is like we can just blast this shit and it'll open 1173 01:02:41,560 --> 01:02:43,280 eventually 1174 01:02:43,280 --> 01:02:46,960 uh... be a take uh... take notes on movies on media on video games on 1175 01:02:46,960 --> 01:02:48,400 universes you like 1176 01:02:48,400 --> 01:02:51,960 say i think we're we're almost a time here but i think one thing that did pop 1177 01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:53,760 in my head that i i do wanna say 1178 01:02:53,760 --> 01:02:55,280 when it comes to 1179 01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:56,760 really building your world 1180 01:02:56,760 --> 01:03:00,040 uh... there are often times gonna be a lot of story points that come very 1181 01:03:00,040 --> 01:03:01,720 naturally for you 1182 01:03:01,720 --> 01:03:05,560 like you could be you can say okay like this is the mayor of this city and this 1183 01:03:05,560 --> 01:03:09,080 is this government official and maybe this guy has this power and these people 1184 01:03:09,080 --> 01:03:10,600 don't know about it 1185 01:03:10,600 --> 01:03:14,360 okay these this hero is like the most important and like the most powerful 1186 01:03:14,360 --> 01:03:17,280 but like maybe there's this feeling that has like the ultimate way to stop and 1187 01:03:17,280 --> 01:03:18,040 you're like 1188 01:03:18,040 --> 01:03:21,760 oh my god what if my players like literally fit the key for this puzzle 1189 01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:23,040 and like played it 1190 01:03:23,040 --> 01:03:24,480 perfectly 1191 01:03:24,480 --> 01:03:27,400 you can do that you can try to do that 1192 01:03:27,400 --> 01:03:31,040 just don't like it's not it's gonna fuck it up in your not it's not gonna 1193 01:03:31,040 --> 01:03:34,200 follow along it's not gonna be executed the way you want it to 1194 01:03:34,200 --> 01:03:38,960 uh... right story points big and large as as lord and what what i mean by that 1195 01:03:38,960 --> 01:03:39,800 is 1196 01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:40,800 instead of 1197 01:03:40,800 --> 01:03:45,480 writing the literal connections between things say okay this character has this 1198 01:03:45,480 --> 01:03:49,000 really intense motivation to do this really fucked up thing 1199 01:03:49,000 --> 01:03:51,880 in this character has this really intense motivation 1200 01:03:51,880 --> 01:03:56,120 to to i don't know let this really fucked up thing happen in all it would take 1201 01:03:56,120 --> 01:03:59,600 is a conversation or a player or a choice 1202 01:03:59,600 --> 01:04:01,800 don't write it in as it's going to happen 1203 01:04:01,800 --> 01:04:05,080 just essentially you want to make your whole story all your big story points 1204 01:04:05,080 --> 01:04:06,760 like little powder kegs 1205 01:04:06,760 --> 01:04:10,320 in your players of the matches but they very much choose what to light and what 1206 01:04:10,320 --> 01:04:11,480 not to light 1207 01:04:11,480 --> 01:04:14,560 and when you have the like your powder written out in this very specific way 1208 01:04:14,560 --> 01:04:18,040 we're like one story points can light up and the rest of the red and explode 1209 01:04:18,040 --> 01:04:19,000 it's gonna be this 1210 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:21,400 you got a shit inception moment and 1211 01:04:21,400 --> 01:04:23,100 no 1212 01:04:23,100 --> 01:04:26,800 make them all individual points because then when somebody ignore something 1213 01:04:26,800 --> 01:04:29,680 that was attached to something that you really wanted them to follow 1214 01:04:29,680 --> 01:04:30,760 know it wasn't 1215 01:04:30,760 --> 01:04:34,200 it was a standalone thing it was a piece of the lore it was in the world and i 1216 01:04:34,200 --> 01:04:36,960 you can just throw it at the end of another plot point that they're gonna 1217 01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:38,480 hit later 1218 01:04:38,480 --> 01:04:42,480 be like you be very flexible with your big story points 1219 01:04:42,480 --> 01:04:45,800 uh... you can say that like i want this right to happen i want this war to happen 1220 01:04:45,800 --> 01:04:49,200 i want this this person to make this decision i want this character to die 1221 01:04:49,200 --> 01:04:51,320 i want this reveal to happen in this way 1222 01:04:51,320 --> 01:04:54,240 all of that is great do not write how it's gonna happen you will be 1223 01:04:54,240 --> 01:04:54,960 disappointed 1224 01:04:54,960 --> 01:04:58,240 yeah and also as a dm don't be afraid to like 1225 01:04:58,240 --> 01:05:00,280 talk to your players if you 1226 01:05:00,280 --> 01:05:02,400 want them to do a specific thing 1227 01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:05,480 or if you want them to go a specific direction for a specific reason 1228 01:05:05,480 --> 01:05:08,320 you don't have to like micro manage but you can also just kind of push them in 1229 01:05:08,320 --> 01:05:08,880 that way 1230 01:05:08,880 --> 01:05:11,320 yeah like uh... 1231 01:05:11,320 --> 01:05:15,040 if i want to play or to pick up a really specific set of papers that are like 1232 01:05:15,040 --> 01:05:18,600 buried underneath all these folders on this table and like 1233 01:05:18,600 --> 01:05:22,160 i want to make it hard but i want them to be the character to find it you can 1234 01:05:22,160 --> 01:05:25,400 like say the paper on the very top is something important to them or has a 1235 01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:27,720 picture on it that they would recognize 1236 01:05:27,720 --> 01:05:31,240 uh... or like something falls and they look in just that direction and it 1237 01:05:31,240 --> 01:05:34,120 catches their eye because of this point that you mentioned earlier this little 1238 01:05:34,120 --> 01:05:36,240 fun corky character trait 1239 01:05:36,240 --> 01:05:39,520 uh... you can do things like that where it's just you're not necessarily 1240 01:05:39,520 --> 01:05:43,080 forcing them to do it but they're gonna play the character the way the character 1241 01:05:43,080 --> 01:05:44,480 has been played 1242 01:05:44,480 --> 01:05:47,400 and i'm gonna naturally find it is going to go cool i found that because my 1243 01:05:47,400 --> 01:05:48,640 character is like 1244 01:05:48,640 --> 01:05:51,640 really good at seeing things are hearing things are smelling things are 1245 01:05:51,640 --> 01:05:54,480 they really know the laboratory equipment in this is very much off like 1246 01:05:54,480 --> 01:05:57,880 off-place off-kilter and i think that's also something of a benefit of like 1247 01:05:57,880 --> 01:06:02,240 knowing your players is a dm and knowing your dm as a player which like 1248 01:06:02,240 --> 01:06:03,320 you're not always going to 1249 01:06:03,320 --> 01:06:06,080 know them super well and that's fine but we are a group of people who know 1250 01:06:06,080 --> 01:06:07,120 each other very well 1251 01:06:07,120 --> 01:06:09,200 so there's moments where 1252 01:06:09,200 --> 01:06:10,800 conversation i'm like hey 1253 01:06:10,800 --> 01:06:12,320 maddie to robert 1254 01:06:12,320 --> 01:06:15,480 yeah i have a lot of myself if i do this 1255 01:06:15,480 --> 01:06:19,560 just as moments we just got a pop out and be like this is completely outside 1256 01:06:19,560 --> 01:06:20,280 of 1257 01:06:20,280 --> 01:06:22,860 the what's happening right now if i make this decision 1258 01:06:22,860 --> 01:06:24,840 am i going to regret it 1259 01:06:24,840 --> 01:06:28,800 yes you will cool thank you i'm gonna like make an informed decision out or 1260 01:06:28,800 --> 01:06:30,680 even outside of the table 1261 01:06:30,680 --> 01:06:33,640 uh... dm to player being like hey 1262 01:06:33,640 --> 01:06:36,040 you know this one thing that you keep doing again 1263 01:06:36,040 --> 01:06:39,640 fucking stop it you're getting a good day it's pissing me off 1264 01:06:39,640 --> 01:06:43,640 and i'm gonna kill your character if you don't stop which is a conversation i've 1265 01:06:43,640 --> 01:06:44,440 had with him 1266 01:06:44,440 --> 01:06:48,120 and i think you like respectfully i'm gonna wipe the god damn party or i'm 1267 01:06:48,120 --> 01:06:50,160 gonna kill you forcibly like 1268 01:06:50,160 --> 01:06:53,680 but another and i'm gonna let you struggle i'm not even gonna do it 1269 01:06:53,680 --> 01:06:56,880 now right i'm not gonna like hand of god smite you 1270 01:06:56,880 --> 01:06:59,720 i'm gonna let you make some really fucked up decisions and you're gonna deal 1271 01:06:59,720 --> 01:07:02,360 with the fucked up consequences 1272 01:07:02,360 --> 01:07:05,480 it's also thing of like knowing your players is you know 1273 01:07:05,480 --> 01:07:08,040 you know exactly what they're going to do because i don't know what they're 1274 01:07:08,040 --> 01:07:10,000 going to do is playing the character 1275 01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:12,200 it doesn't matter if they're playing a character they're gonna make certain 1276 01:07:12,200 --> 01:07:15,120 decisions that you know that that person is going to make there are certain 1277 01:07:15,120 --> 01:07:16,220 decisions from 1278 01:07:16,220 --> 01:07:18,920 i think all of the players that are table that you know 1279 01:07:18,920 --> 01:07:20,480 as a dm and like 1280 01:07:20,480 --> 01:07:22,160 who you are 1281 01:07:22,160 --> 01:07:24,000 what this person is gonna 1282 01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:24,840 do 1283 01:07:24,840 --> 01:07:28,160 and there's that's who they are some people are like really like they have a 1284 01:07:28,160 --> 01:07:31,000 really big sauce for people are the really nice and really but they really 1285 01:07:31,000 --> 01:07:34,640 want to play an edgy character they want to be like ruthless and cutthroat 1286 01:07:34,640 --> 01:07:37,680 and they get to like a decision where they have to choose whether not to save a 1287 01:07:37,680 --> 01:07:39,600 character in pc and it's like 1288 01:07:39,600 --> 01:07:43,480 you know that they know that you know that their character should say 1289 01:07:43,480 --> 01:07:46,880 see you later mother fucker and let them die or kill them 1290 01:07:46,880 --> 01:07:49,880 and because as a person there to nice for that 1291 01:07:49,880 --> 01:07:51,840 they end up putting their character 1292 01:07:51,840 --> 01:07:55,080 in a really difficult spot in trying to save that person now that leads to some 1293 01:07:55,080 --> 01:07:57,560 really cool character moments at the table though because it's like 1294 01:07:57,560 --> 01:08:00,360 maybe there's actually like a little a tiny nugget 1295 01:08:00,360 --> 01:08:04,760 of a soul somewhere buried in that batman as character yeah and it's finally 1296 01:08:04,760 --> 01:08:06,360 coming to the surface 1297 01:08:06,360 --> 01:08:08,880 uh... yeah knowing your players and knowing the characters are playing is 1298 01:08:08,880 --> 01:08:12,400 definitely important for sure like a conversation i was trying to play an edgy 1299 01:08:12,400 --> 01:08:15,560 character and who like did it give a shit about people blah blah blah but 1300 01:08:15,560 --> 01:08:18,720 anytime it like actually came to like 1301 01:08:18,720 --> 01:08:21,600 letting someone die or letting someone get hurt 1302 01:08:21,600 --> 01:08:26,080 me as a person felt so shitty it was one of those things of like i know what i 1303 01:08:26,080 --> 01:08:27,360 should do 1304 01:08:27,360 --> 01:08:29,880 and i know the decisions that i should make 1305 01:08:29,880 --> 01:08:31,520 yeah but i don't really want to make it 1306 01:08:31,520 --> 01:08:34,360 but i feel really bad it hurts too bad 1307 01:08:34,360 --> 01:08:35,680 hurt 1308 01:08:35,680 --> 01:08:38,440 yeah there have been several times the dm 1309 01:08:38,440 --> 01:08:42,040 where somebody had to make a decision like that and i was like 1310 01:08:42,040 --> 01:08:46,480 at the table listen you know what your character should do 1311 01:08:46,480 --> 01:08:49,280 i understand you as a person don't want to do it 1312 01:08:49,280 --> 01:08:51,200 but you've committed to this character 1313 01:08:51,200 --> 01:08:53,640 i've written this character into my world 1314 01:08:53,640 --> 01:08:56,720 make the fucking decision yeah especially when it's having that's been 1315 01:08:56,720 --> 01:08:59,920 leading up to it choose the hard one 1316 01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:02,360 commit role play 1317 01:09:02,360 --> 01:09:05,440 yeah i can't wait for our episode about role playing 1318 01:09:05,440 --> 01:09:09,840 i'm i'm so excited about that it's like my favorite thing to like 1319 01:09:09,840 --> 01:09:13,880 trying make everyone at our table do little improv games before we start 1320 01:09:13,880 --> 01:09:17,520 improv games are in there they heard sometimes sometimes useful to 1321 01:09:17,520 --> 01:09:22,800 sometimes listening to our group is very painful yeah yeah 1322 01:09:22,800 --> 01:09:26,400 awesome i do think it is about that time i think this is our longest episode 1323 01:09:26,400 --> 01:09:30,080 we've done so far some i think read an hour and ten 1324 01:09:30,080 --> 01:09:33,760 oh god mm-hmm i'm sorry 1325 01:09:33,760 --> 01:09:39,360 yep so it is about that time um thank you all for joining and listening to 1326 01:09:39,360 --> 01:09:43,440 mostly me talk about trying to be prepared and writing a world which i 1327 01:09:43,440 --> 01:09:46,720 know we had a lot of different points and it wasn't all together but 1328 01:09:46,720 --> 01:09:50,880 like madison said like her question earlier um like how do you 1329 01:09:50,880 --> 01:09:54,480 how do you filter through the information you just you learn as you go 1330 01:09:54,480 --> 01:09:58,320 yeah you figure out what you need it'll be okay watch 1331 01:09:58,320 --> 01:10:02,400 watch critical role watch um what is it is it daddies and dungeons or what are 1332 01:10:02,400 --> 01:10:05,520 the what are the fun is it dungeons and daddies is said the other way 1333 01:10:05,520 --> 01:10:08,560 uh dungeons and daddies you should be like up daddies and dungeons you're gonna 1334 01:10:08,560 --> 01:10:13,600 get a very different result yeah like watch dimension 20 and sometimes 1335 01:10:13,600 --> 01:10:18,560 even like watch like vox mokina on amazon like watch just the animated show 1336 01:10:18,560 --> 01:10:21,840 uh really pay attention to some of the the choices that are made in like the 1337 01:10:21,840 --> 01:10:24,720 animators of the movies you watch and really try and get into the head of 1338 01:10:24,720 --> 01:10:27,920 like the person that made so many ideas out there that just read like d d the 1339 01:10:27,920 --> 01:10:31,760 newest kind of into the galaxy movie that reads so much like a and once you 1340 01:10:31,760 --> 01:10:35,440 once you get that knack for seeing those those choices and writing those 1341 01:10:35,440 --> 01:10:38,800 stories it'll get a lot easier for you to pick those points up and then roll 1342 01:10:38,800 --> 01:10:42,720 them into your own campaign but in a world full of media we can't get away 1343 01:10:42,720 --> 01:10:46,080 from it we can't escape it we're all participating in it just yeah pay 1344 01:10:46,080 --> 01:10:50,000 attention look a little further into it don't just be like an audience member 1345 01:10:50,000 --> 01:10:52,560 try and get into the head of the person that wrote it be like holy shit that 1346 01:10:52,560 --> 01:10:57,120 was such a cool fucking story point yeah that was such a cool choice like 1347 01:10:57,120 --> 01:11:01,360 anime manga oh my god they wrote that character so well and then this character 1348 01:11:01,360 --> 01:11:06,160 out of nowhere was the perfect foil like holy fuck never saw it coming rip that 1349 01:11:06,160 --> 01:11:10,880 shit rip it it's so fun to steal it we're all learning 1350 01:11:10,880 --> 01:11:14,880 it's okay it's your first time we're gonna get there together 1351 01:11:14,880 --> 01:11:17,680 yeah it's like when you're learning how to draw sometimes you trace pictures 1352 01:11:17,680 --> 01:11:21,360 before you draw on your own yep doesn't make you less of an artist sometimes you 1353 01:11:21,360 --> 01:11:25,680 do both yeah you trace and then you draw something yeah you know i really like 1354 01:11:25,680 --> 01:11:29,120 the outline of that dog i'm gonna draw some shit on it you know i'm gonna change 1355 01:11:29,120 --> 01:11:33,200 the color of it and i'm gonna add a color yep well that's art in it right 1356 01:11:33,200 --> 01:11:36,800 creativity yeah what's it's the whole it's also a little bit of stealing which is 1357 01:11:36,800 --> 01:11:39,520 tried to end we tried to end this for almost two minutes now but it's something 1358 01:11:39,520 --> 01:11:43,280 else that it's funny though mentioning the creativity thing right it's like the 1359 01:11:43,280 --> 01:11:47,360 that you could in music either you could never write a melody there is no melody 1360 01:11:47,360 --> 01:11:50,640 you could write today that has not been written by somebody at some point there's 1361 01:11:50,640 --> 01:11:55,520 no story that you can tell that has not already been told nope and that's okay 1362 01:11:55,520 --> 01:11:58,640 there are too many people on this planet for you to think that your choices and 1363 01:11:58,640 --> 01:12:04,880 your story there are no original ideas no and so the fuck being original yeah 1364 01:12:04,880 --> 01:12:08,080 take it your own way that's what i'm sure like looking up the other day there's 1365 01:12:08,080 --> 01:12:11,840 several other podcasts called table talk that talk about d&d 1366 01:12:11,840 --> 01:12:14,400 yeah they're like table talk and this i think we're the only one that's straight 1367 01:12:14,400 --> 01:12:17,520 up table talk yeah and we have a pretty cool emblem 1368 01:12:17,520 --> 01:12:20,320 pretty cool logo shout out to madison thank you just all the back and work 1369 01:12:20,320 --> 01:12:23,920 it myself okay we're gonna try and say goodbye again thank you all 1370 01:12:23,920 --> 01:12:26,560 again for the second time for coming in and listening talking about world 1371 01:12:26,560 --> 01:12:32,240 building um DMing etc we're gonna do hopefully character creation next time 1372 01:12:32,240 --> 01:12:35,600 i think at this point we'll just bring in our own video stuff yeah we'll see you 1373 01:12:35,600 --> 01:12:38,320 next thursday we don't know what it'll be about yet 1374 01:12:38,320 --> 01:12:42,080 no but maybe maybe it'll be character creation maybe it'll be something 1375 01:12:42,080 --> 01:12:45,920 different it'll be for a treat maybe we just go 1376 01:12:45,920 --> 01:12:51,040 a wall and do something completely new that's scary 1377 01:12:51,040 --> 01:13:06,960 see you next thursday goodbye bye