Not sure how to get your friends and family into #dnd #rpg? Show 'em this right here ⤵️

ft. the great @TJStorm01 and @ToddKenreck for @DnDBeyond 👍 pic.twitter.com/grxI326m4Q

— It's the Holildays ☃️🎄 🔜 PAXU (@justalilnerd) November 23, 2019

THIS IS A AN AUTOMATIC CAPTION TEXT from YouTube, so it’s not “perfect”.
My advice is to use it just to help people like me that are not english speaking, to understand the Video/Podcast hello everyone welcome to Todd talks I

am here with my friend TJ storm and

we’re gonna be talking about a lot of

things we’re gonna be talking about team

D his dungeon master tips player tips

and we’ll probably get into mythology a

little bit since we had an interesting

free conversation about that so

tzu-yu like dungeon master quite a bit

right

I do we currently have three games

running a week they are all in the

Forgotten Realms they’re all in the same

universe and they are all kind of

affecting each other right now because

they’re they’re dealing with one world

issue and so they’re they’re kind of one

game does one thing and it has an effect

on the others and they kind of hear

about it over time they man I hear about

it right away

but as news travels and as bards carry

that news from place to place they’re

like did you hear this war over here and

they’re like oh no it’s those guys so

it’s really fun you’re running three

games we just had one we have a Tuesday

night game if there’s no night game and

a Sunday night game and wow oh my god I

am so impressed it wasn’t the original

plan but we’re like I just started with

the Sunday night game and those guys had

a catastrophic event a paladin chose to

the player of the paladin chose to grab

an evil sword and he’s like I can’t hold

this sword and I don’t know why but I

know it’s meant for me I’m like go on

and just want to learn how to use this

sword I didn’t tell him why it didn’t

feel good it’s just I just told it’s not

it didn’t feel good in his hands and it

was like a it’s a it’s a unholy Avenger

he didn’t know that I didn’t tell him

it’s not meant for you I just said it

just feels wrong in your hands it’s

wrong long story short he passed a

greater demon in one of the dungeons and

demon he the demon was bound he couldn’t

move and he couldn’t get out he’s like

hey I could teach you how to use that

sword if you want

oh he made the deal and that split the

group into and that broke off into

another night they could not exist

anymore one went to hell well since

there’s one little group yet and then

and then there’s a third group now that

is hunting the other two groups for

crimes against whatever so it’s a longer

story but I’m going to but but it is

[Laughter]

it’s hard I think streaming is hard over

a long cuz you want to play for I don’t

you know when you used to play you

played for four to eight hours and we’re

doing that and we’re talking about

politics and religion and arguments and

we’re we’re ordering food the big the

big difference between live-streaming

D&D and and playing it at home is yeah

definitely the side conversation the

poker conversation that you tend to have

yeah and that’s some of the best

memories that I have from plane for as

long as that I played I’ve learned stuff

from my other players people at my table

come from different backgrounds every

kind of different background so I hear

the religious guys are like this is one

way and my my non-religious guys are

like this is not right this is the one

way and so they all have these arguments

and we all jump in and it’s a blast

listening to everyone I oh man this was

like 20 years ago 15 years ago I was in

a game that’s why I like about D&D

especially in gaming in general is like

actually in a game with a friend who was

studying to be a rabbi and a pastor why

and you know like a theater nerd and I

was a theater like ever like it was just

like the most eclectic group you could

ever have and all by accident because

we’re all we’ve all lived in Spokane so

you know you’re just

just finding your Dean beef friends like

you know is like yeah yeah yeah and so

you get these these fascinatingly like

diverse groups of people who just really

love Dean deep yeah yeah and and then

that gives me fuel for stuff to play

with in game occasionally they went the

characters are characters went to a

place called motika which is another

continent off of torille and it’s

basically South America and Spain um had

just gotten there and they’re starting

to colonize and so there’s this moment

when they can help they can decide to

help the natives who are getting wiped

out by the colonizers because they have

metal and armor and stuff like that

or they can help the colonizers who are

about to unknowingly bump into a god

that the natives have just woke up and

they had this argument that lasted a few

hours they’re like we can’t just let

colonizers crush all the natives we

can’t just let that happen like it’s

happening we just have to step back just

let it happen and it was this great a

great role play all by themselves they

did it and I’m just like so we’re not

gonna get to my adventure tonight okay

no that’s cool you guys go you guys go

but I loved it that’s the best part like

when your players just take over I think

that’s the best I think that’s amazing

when something becomes an argument or a

debate just cannot decide what they’re

going to do next it was like yeah you

get to sit back and watch it happen is

so much fun it’s like a nice breather as

well for a DM and we just had that

heroes in the veil you yeah yes this

great event and we I thought oh man this

is gonna end well this is really nice we

have the heart we’re gonna give them the

heart they’re gonna give us the people

we’ll both go our separate ways no harm

no foul beyond a little bit that

happened and then brif jumps in and

ripped our heart apart I’m like

[Music]

and now your your your epilogue was like

my worst nightmare I’m like oh man we

have irritated these people and now they

will not rest until they have vengeance

it’s uh it’s very much I don’t know if

you ever played well you know yeah I

don’t like it way way too much but yeah

decisions especially if I played what in

where what Mass Effect decisions matter

quite a lot so yeah when you I mean who

you befriend and who you don’t will have

remark effect on any campaign that if

you’re playing in won’t mine yeah it’s

gonna be it’s gonna have an effect every

every trait that’s yeah running my own

setting cuz if I want just like destroy

something also destroy something nice

you don’t feel like you’ve erased water

deep and everybody’s gonna be like I

don’t have to worry about being

consistent with Cannon and I also

believe in not destroying anything that

isn’t mine yeah I’m not gonna burn

Ravenloft down to the ground like an urn

bring it laughs can burn that place is

evil at dark it is so so it’ll just come

back it’ll just hungry you can’t win I

feel like Raven Loft is the Cthulhu of

D&D it’s the place that it’s only a

matter of time before it grind you into

dust unless you can find a way to get

out you were gonna get ground into dust

eventually yes staying is not an option

oh it’s something that the only way I

could possibly play that is if I flashed

forward like ten years and people have

made deals with the you know the the

dark powers you know to like try to you

know keep the good going and so that

they became part of the problem the

for those that have ever seen angel the

series which is a very old show

they actually eventually joined the

enemy there their core people structure

yeah before season they actually join

Wolfram and Hart the evil demon vampire

attorneys and they actually run the show

they’re in charge of like the Los

Angeles branch it’s so fun to see it’s

cool to see good people try to change

evil from within and it’s such a

disaster yeah use the ring for good

[Laughter]

that’s great yeah always goes well

whether some of your I’ve been given

that you just must be on your toes all

the time as a Dungeon Master that must

be great you must just and I also love

the idea of three games are interacting

I think that’s fantastic is do you do

you have a plan to like bring everyone

together and have one giant game like

one night uh eventually yes because of

the the world that it’s partially set in

can we talk about other things and other

places other properties and stuff um so

I don’t know if you’ve ever know I

didn’t know yeah I don’t know if you’ve

ever heard of a game called League of

Legends but I play League of Legends I I

it’s a really tough game really hard and

it’s really challenging I love it but

the characters are fun so all of these

characters are League of Legend

characters and they are all

fighting in my world and it is epic they

are all there’s I don’t know if you know

the characters but they’re kind of like

overwatch characters and imagine all of

those characters fighting against each

other yeah so we have Sivir and a

attracts and Brahm and they’re all in

separate groups and they’re like so Lux

what are we gonna do in and Jennifer

Kretchmer who’s in heroes of the veil

she plays Lux this bright light wizard

dress and she’s like oh we’re going to

do this and the stoic paladin Brom is

like okay

let’s get it done for the good of the

people and so it’s really really fun

it’s really really epic and they’re

constantly bouncing off of each other

and it’s really really it’s really

interesting that is fun I have often one

say I wanted to do that with um see if

thieves originally I wanted to start a

seafaring deem V campaign and was

awesome we wrote you know we roll player

characters in that for people and then

we move on to sea of thieves where we

just keep role-playing on the ship in

sea of thieves and if we encounter any

one we this talk is our characters and

do our characters would do and it’s a

great little bit kind of amusing yeah I

love that we have that in this game

actually because they have to it’s

important in this game that they get

from place to place a little faster than

normal because realms are humongous and

they have to go from here to way over

here so there’s two characters in League

of Legends one is called misfortune

she’s a redheaded pirate and one is

called gangplank they both have ships

and both of those ships are flying ships

so to take a quick break from the main

game I said you guys roll up some

pirates alright you are under misfortune

and you guys roll up some pirates you

guys are under gangplank you’re going to

go steal your flying ship and take it

back to your group so that you can fly

your group so that’s a side game that we

had for a short time and some of those

characters died because they’re pirates

and they they storm the superior tech

ship but it was a blast then

they are now on they’re both on flying

ships going towards the next location

and I do make them work for it so we

have these down periods where it’s

nothing but travel but travel can be

dangerous unless you’re flying you’re

pretty safe but yeah once you start

walking through uncharted territory it

gets a little dangerous and that could

be time-consuming but that’s part of a

fun in itself is the adventure of

getting to the place and then the place

is an adventure in itself

well flying can be dangerous because you

are a giant target for some very badass

but yes but I have it I didn’t want to

say that out loud because they might be

watching I think they’re safe right now

so I’m like fly these guys could

possibly go wrong what whether some your

what are some of your big dungeon master

tips and tricks that you have learned

over the over over time um well for me I

grew up in the martial arts I’ve been

doing martial arts since I was a little

kid and it’s been and I still teach it

and one of my biggest things that I

stick to every time is do it until your

body can do it without your mind and I

want your body to be on autopilot and I

kind of I’ve been fortunate D&D was so

fun I didn’t know that I was studying it

like a med student probably studies

surgery text but after you survived

second edition and third edition your

brain is so inundated with rules and I

mean just to play the most simple game

you had to look up cuz every time so how

does grappling work uh it uh I’m in the

book again oh right oppose this Plus

that – this they go and add calculus but

after you do that over and over it

starts to get Burton to your brain so

you have a after you have a really

strong sense of the rules after they’re

on autopilot

you’re free to be flexible and play some

people jump right in and they’re like

okay let’s get the storytelling and then

they bump into one of the rules and now

they’re back in the books and that’s

great that’s exactly what you should do

don’t hesitate jump right in soon as you

hit a snag look up the rule okay great

because pretty soon the rules have

become second nature and then you’re

gonna be fluid so I do that for the

rules and I do that for the world that’s

why I don’t switch worlds too often I

use the Forgotten Realms because I know

that for that rums

I’ve read all the novels by RA Salvatore

and I and all of the the fun stuff

that’s happened in the rooms

over the years I feel like I know the

characters I know the climates I know

the conditions and other political

situations and that makes it easier to

really play in those worlds so when

characters say uh I heard gentle keep is

a nice place and I’ll have everybody in

the bar go

no it is not you should go west watch it

deep is a nice places and don’t keep is

not a nice place so and they’re like why

and they they have a flavor right away

for all of this stuff and it expands the

world and you can do that just by

preparing and that constant preparation

will get you to the same place

what uh what do you find most helpful

helpful for la like new players but also

like old-school players as well I mean

you’ve been role playing for a very long

time and also you act as well what what

are your best tips when it comes to that

um for new players

you mean how to interact with them and

and DM the new players has helped them

along or just just for the players

themselves like what’s your advice to

people who are new to playing D&D most

of them

I you know it’s the same thing that

stops a lot of people from getting into

the game that gets from getting into the

martial arts they’re first they’re

they’re afraid of the first step

they’re like I’m not ready or I’m

overweight or I’m not in good enough

shape and gamers are like I haven’t read

The Player’s Handbook

I haven’t played before I am intimidated

it’s just like and then I’ll generally

roleplay with him right there I’ll say

and this is how I started every game

when I was a high school so you’re

walking through the woods and I’ll pose

a question for them you hear something

crack behind a tree what would you do

well

I would look behind a tree and then I’ll

tell them what they see and it’s usually

a scary thing and they’re like oh uh

should I run or do I have weapons like

that’s a good question and you’re

role-playing you’re already there and

then they’re just like oh oh that’s it

I’m like yeah that’s the entire thing

and once you’re in there’s always

somebody that’s a little more advanced

than you it’ll help you once we start

playing so they’ll just point at the

thing on D&D beyond they’ll be like look

right there that’s what you need

you roll the 20-sided and have that

number and then you if you if you hit

you just roll those dice right there

which ones are those dice those are the

square ones that’s it and that’s the

hardest part of the game is figuring out

which dice it is everything else is talk

and it’s really easy and it’s really fun

so I just take a quick moment to have

some fun with him and that’s it just

jump in and do that for your life – what

was that movie with Jim Carrey is that

yes man something like that he was like

no no no and just say yes you’ll have

fun if you don’t you don’t have to come

back but I bet you’ll come back almost

everybody who’s tried it is like oh man

this is easy and it’s so fun this is

really cool how long are the campaign’s

that you’re doing right now oh this this

newest one has been going on for a year

and a half almost two years probably the

one before this that left marks on the

world that they’re kind of bumping into

it was called company of the bull and

that one was well over 15 years it’s

probably closer to 20 but 15 years solid

was it was a 15 year campaign

you ran a 15 year campaign oh yeah yeah

yeah the the main characters ended up

kind of being like Moses in Egypt so

they led and oppressed people through

the desert and started a new country the

main character was his name was Mel

Dakar and he was a he was a ranger that

got turned into a Minotaur so we had

massive horns and then you got a sword

named rage and then he became half God

so people worship Him now and they’re

elevating the status and that event is

still happening

Maharani which is the Forgotten Realms

equivalent of Egypt and our players they

don’t know this they’re going to

eventually bump into that situation

that is amazing how do you how did you

handle leveling up like how do you how

do you maintain like even after three

years I did that’s typically with my

characters hit xx sure sure sure sure

and and yeah how do you maintain that

power balance the that’s part of the

issue for me like that that’s part of

why I have a problem with DC for

instance I watched Justice League and

I’m watching all these great characters

some are very competent some are just

learning their their skills because

they’re new like flash some are reticent

to reenter the world and fight Wonder

Woman but they all balance each other

very nicely and they all fight this

incredible bad guy and then this

Superman I don’t even know why I was

watching the movie because when Superman

entered I was like why did i watch

somebody could have called this in they

could have called it in and he finishes

the movie he’s like and he’s smiling

while he does it

he’s smiling with a non fake mustache

and I’m like why because it’s come on

man cuz that’s what overpowering does

once you get to a certain power level

everything you fight is gotta be

Asmodeus right into Trask and go and I’m

like what come on how many times can you

do that before it gets exhausting so for

me I know milestone een is very very

popular and use it because it’s fun

especially if you want to get to the

hero levels of 10 and above I think

that’s really really fun but I still use

experience myself and I still use the

old rules of

leveling isn’t automatic once you get to

a certain level especially like a name

level eight nine ten now you’re part of

the world power structure do your part

of the world economy you’re bringing in

sometimes ten thousands hundreds of

thousands of pieces of gold your

changing power structures you’re killing

dragons you’re offsetting wars you’re

starting Wars you have to answer to

somebody at some point and then even at

higher levels you people will answer to

you but to make those connections you’ve

got to answer to somebody so I have them

go to a place where they have to train

and it starts at start like a knight

he’s got to answer to a higher level

Knight his sergeant his commander or his

King eventually and that Knight will buy

those things eventually become known to

the people as the champion of this

person and then maybe that Knight will

eventually become the king but he it’s

not gonna be hi I’m the new guy that

you’ve never seen and I’ve popped into

this place but people will know you and

they will start to respect you and I do

the exact opposite in the low levels

when they’re low level nobody respects

him and I don’t give them a whole lot of

time to think I’m like oh you’re first

level so the orc is in front of you what

do you do and they start to look at the

paper and I’m like three two and they

can hear me counting and they’re like

what’s that I’m like the orc grabs you

by the hair and ease you in the face

he’s quite whoa don’t we have initiative

I’m like now you do go ahead and roll

and all of a sudden they realize that

they’re kind of out of control because

the world’s not waiting for them at low

levels later at higher levels when

they’re a badass at fifth level they’ve

been through several fights I said ah

same fight the Orcas in front of you

what do you do three

– but now they know what to do it also

trains their mind to get more into

character and wrote end and jump into

the world under like oh no not this time

I’m gonna shove that work back and pull

out my sword and they they become the

hero in person as well as in the game

and it’s a really cool transformation to

see that happen as well I I’m a big fan

of adding complications and

responsibilities and I think a good like

reference for that was even I mean just

vert dis existing as a high level

character is a problem in itself yeah

you you’re not just hiding out and being

20th level like someone has to know that

you’re that powerful at this point and

it’s sound like that line vision has an

int in Captain America Civil War like

you know our very existence invites

challenge in conflict absolutely that

thing’s once Ironman shows up the number

of life like like world ending events

you know increased exponentially

absolutely I do

idea they like it becomes much more

difficult because maybe when the

characters can become a king well that’s

it that’s a full-time job look like

absolute beast you slowed the

progression now quite a bit but flying

him there’s like where where did they

end up like booze and stuff like that to

the characters well again it’s part of

that is traveling they traveled they

walked I can’t remember the name of the

module that we did it was I remember had

to do with the the Horde it was very

like Genghis Khan there’s something

called a black cursor and all of these

and they were walking through deserts

half the time to get to these places and

they were huge they didn’t have flying

ships it wasn’t that kind of campaign it

was it was were regular guys and now

we’re forced to do this thing to stop a

prophecy from happening and they walked

these huge distances and they finally

got to a place and they found out that a

it was on a map that map is 100 years

old and that city has been dead for 200

years and they got there and like what

there’s not even water here fortunately

they had a cleric they’re like okay

great that’s great

we were gonna train here we were gonna

resupply but now we’re in trouble and

that but that’s where the adventure was

and they’re like okay let’s get a date

so it’s stuff like that then made it

really interesting but the payoffs if

you’re not gonna give them experience

you’ve got to give them a good

experience at the end you gotta blow it

up for them and they after a while I

mean if you base your campaign on

leveling up then sure you’re gonna look

forward to leveling up I just leveled up

keen just level up in the Vale I’m like

and I’m so happy to level my character

up but after a while the level ups were

few and far in between and then when

they finally hit it they’re like oh man

I can finally do this thing and by the

way this was 15 years we were in third

edition so leveling up took a day until

itself I mean you had to go into five

different books because of your prestige

classes and you have four books for

Pete’s just four feats itself and

they’re like oh man decisions decisions

and they there’s so much in to it that

it was an entire deal now you jump on

the indie beyond you’re like click oh

yeah click Oh

spelled click cool ability click ok I’m

ready man yeah it’s great the press of a

question someone had who is a new

denture master they were wondering if

you and I let our players if they’re

young we’re using experience and they

reached that level of calf during the

game if we let them level up in the

adventure I I can tell you I don’t

that’s very time consuming and certainly

you can do that quite quickly on D&D

beyond however I feel like that’s such a

jump between levels that there needs to

be like a bit of a pause like you know

even if you you’re saying that you’re

taking a long rest I feel like the I

think you need to become reacquainted

with that new level that your character

is that and also maybe your character

needs to be spending a little bit more

time to themselves figuring things out

as well that’s usually how I play that I

absolutely agree for me levels 1 through

that’s introspection and you grow and

then maybe I might let you level up in

the adventure especially if I want to

hit you a little harder the extra hit

points help the extra abilities help but

that

level 6 it starts to get to a point

where now you need somebody to show you

the next technical level because you’re

about to get into some interesting and

stuff that doesn’t happen organically

somebody’s gotta teach you how to do

this new trick or somebody’s got to show

you this new set of tools or teach you

these new set of spells because they’re

on a whole nother level you’re going to

grad school now you’re going to higher

levels of learning and you need that now

that is true of most characters in my

game at least except for

barbarians and

warlocks and sometimes sorcerers because

you’ve chosen this very organic path or

you have the pact with something out

there then it might come to you in your

sleep

or your dreams or it might just grow if

you’re a sorcerer it grows within you

and you do this thing I’ll let that

happen a little more organically

everybody else they have so much like

fighters have so many weapons to choose

from they’re like yeah I can do all this

they I also make them be part of the

power structure whether they’re part of

the military or they’re part of the

Knights or something like that yeah you

just even do okay even I was gonna say

even thieves rogues they’re usually part

of a structure usually well if rogues

rogues don’t generally survive well on

their own they’re part of a mafia a

family a network and that’s what the

thieves can’t is for so whoever your

thieves canteen with you’re probably

gonna have to fence pawn whatever but

you that’s are you gonna train with

eventually

interesting I can see that your martial

art training has definitely affected how

you let your players progress like happy

you have to you have to earn things

right and you don’t just magically know

certain spells necessarily appreciate

like higher levels that becomes a big

deal and that’s count that I feel like

they actually increases the enjoyment

and especially like books I used to read

like in Dragon Lance every time Raceland

got a new spell book or new scroll that

was like a big deal like he had

opportunity to learn a spell like yes a

new mathematical code that that you know

change the weave and the Dendy

multiverse and that makes it way more

fun like and I think it’s a good thing

to remember because I think it’s

something like especially if you’ve been

Jinjin mastering as long as you and I

have I think that’s something sometimes

I forget is that you need to like okay

it’s so much more fun if you make them

earn it absolute that like real world

setting kind of like okay well you have

to research you have to you find you

have to find the spells if you can’t

find the spells then you know kind of at

camp battlestar galactica like you know

just there’s a whole episode just about

getting water you know okay exactly

everything everything has a reason they

couldn’t mean an episode about like

finding a spoon and that wasn’t okay for

that absolutely absolutely I totally

agree and if you look at most of our

stories and we were talking about this

about Western mythology earlier there’s

always that person your mentor the

mentor and it’s a it’s an archetypal

character Darth Vader talks to somebody

above him Luke Skywalker talks to

somebody above him and now Luke

Skywalker has somebody coming to him to

train and it keep that that story keeps

replicating itself and it’s one that we

recognize and as a result you have

journeys that go from from there and you

also have opportunities as a DM to say

no and you’re like be careful Mike what

what I get to Train now it’s I get to

Train and he’s like

[Music]

No and that could be an adventure in

itself they have to do something for

that you have all these great story

opportunities and those are fun to

perhaps use

dr. strange is like a really fantastic

example of you know you know rooted in

like Tibetan monasteries and like you

know yep you have to try three times

otherwise we’re not letting you in kind

of thing and yeah I love that moment

that they’re like your chick why would

we let you try exactly like

condescending you have no idea what

you’re doing you’re like you’re just not

and that I do I do like that the hero’s

journey and at the opposite kind of

examples is like Miles Morales and into

a spider verse and you had people

putting this pressure on him like you

you you have to like you have to learn

that you learn to use your abilities

absolutely stay behind and it’s that’s

an amazing progression type film and

I’ve very much wanna see my diverse

mercy if you are not watch if you’ve not

seen that than you have you have

definitely you sold sold your life short

good movie like that’s what I love like

like progression learning experience and

yet you’ve got me on board I mean that’s

something I need I definitely will focus

more on in future adventures myself is

like routing every spell slot into a

reason you know absolutely and and I do

play with that with Wizards sometimes to

to drill down even a little bit more one

of our characters Luxor her character’s

name is lux went to the host tower of

the arcane she went to go level up and

finally she’s been waiting in level for

a while and she’s like oh come on let me

level and I’m like well the host tower

the arcane is in this city you’re in

Luskin you could train there if you want

and now she’s got to decide because

they’re there they’re playing against

time or a particular reason so the

longer they spend in a type place the

further ahead other people get to

through the goal and it’s gonna take

ten days for her to train because it

takes time to train – or used to in the

old in the old versions of the game so

for her it was gonna take ten days and

they’re like man do we train or do we

just go on and we with no love and that

that choice the game is all about

choices and they’re like but we’re gonna

need her power we’re gonna need her more

powerful and she’s gonna have more

access to things that can help us it

might help us skip ahead if she trains

but in the meantime the other guys are

starting to jump ahead which in which is

it which is it well she ended up

training and as a result I don’t always

let you choose your spell’s because it

depends what spells are available but

she yes and she but she happened to be

at the host tower they are cane and

she’s like okay what spells can I choose

from I’m like at the host tower open the

book and choose and she’s like really

you mean I can choose I’m like you can

choose as long as they’re within one of

the main books you can choose and

occasionally when they find old old

Scrolls

I’ll find old old spells that exist in

earlier versions of the game that people

have never seen and they’re like whoa

what’s this and their mind goes and they

think it’s the greatest thing ever but

for this you could choose any spell and

she did she chose her own spells which

was the first time she got to do that

and she was like she’s like a kid in a

candy store and that moment is worth

gold for for them to be able to go this

was awesome

I’ll choose this and this I have one of

these and like that’s so it was really

fun and she worked for that level and it

works out well most the time I’m a big

fan of referencing team DS history and

yeah there’s some key spells I have

built an entire

plot point around a former dean be spelt

it does not exist anymore but even my

own character ate you know apron was he

like as I often mention he’s a victim of

every edition of Dean D he remembers it

all and he’s just like not like a

hundred percent he’s got that John

crying from Farscape kind of Loony Tunes

thing going on because he remembers that

oh so cool like everyone got it like

when everyone had four points and I

think times were rougher then you know

before the death saves and everything

else so I’d like playing with that Beck

had dead poolish yes and but yeah like

how did that knowing about history or

Dean D does help me DM quite a bit now

and it’s fun being it becoming

increasingly streamlined but I feel like

it’s definitely helped role-playing a

lot and certainly like apps and programs

and things like the indie Beyond have

have dramatically improved I think

people’s ability to just focus on the

role-playing

I can’t tell you how happy I am about

D&D beyond for just more than anything

for the new players the new players they

look at the book and they’re like you

know how it is I say uh tell me what

your spell does because as a DM most of

the time i DM ninety-eight percent of

the time and because of the game you’re

running and two other games recently

those were the first times that I played

in 30 years plate I deemed a lot but I

haven’t played in thirty years so I

don’t know player stuff so if a player

says I’m going to use whatever it is

thinking cloud and I’m like mm-hmm

well tell me all about that what do I

need to save what do I need to know

about the area go and the longer it

takes you to tell me that means you

haven’t actually looked up the spell

yourself and I am going to you

that against you I’m gonna make your aim

a little off I’m gonna make you roll

four things but if you can just go okay

it’s gonna be at 60 feet away I have 120

foot range it’s 40 by 40 and they’re

gonna have to make a constitution save

I’ll be like very well and boom they’re

on it and they’re everything’s good to

go but because of the nd beyond there

you gotta just click a little poop and

they’re like oh and great I don’t mind

as long as they’re on top of the game

and they’re ready to go it’s wonderful

in D&D beyond really really helps with

that otherwise you’re going into the

index of the book saving throw stinking

cloud when 72

[Music]

uhh

[Music]

um suggestion nope

stinking cloud m-715

okay and I’m like everybody is like oh

come on it really really helps it’s one

of the best things for a new player

especially all the buttons are there

it’s spectacular and it’s a DM thing for

me I like to bring together a party it

has a reason for being

it’s in the old in the old style and I

do this sometimes with my better’n

players you would say you guys make your

characters you make your characters and

then you have to work really hard as the

DM to find a reason to bind them

together I gotta tie them together um

but in this current game because they

don’t all play League of Legends uh I

was like okay here’s a small group of

characters you can choose from pick a

picture I’ll tell you about them in if

you like it I’ll build that character

for you

so I build the early version of the

character they can take over once they

have it but I build the early version

the character and I give them a little

bit of backstory as to why they may care

about the other characters or what their

history is and now the game flows very

nicely because they’ve already have a

little bit of a prehistory and they’re

like oh I grew up with you on the other

side of the city and we were rivals but

now we’re going to the same thing and

it’s easy that way just for this kind of

a game but it’s hard that’s one of the

team’s hardest things is to figure out

why we got to keep the players together

and sometimes they’ll say why am I here

why am I doing this

I don’t care and after years of hearing

that I’m like hmm hmm so that’s one of

the team’s hardest jobs I thinking

you’re doing great by the way that were

responsible we’re responsible for these

freaking people and we’re in a flying

castle which that’s a pretty dope I want

to learn how to drive this thing I think

that’s pretty cool

and I’m having a blast it’s really

really cool

it’s a it’s important for everything to

have a cost like you know okay well I

got this awesome thing but now you have

responsibility and that’s well I think

that’s a very important thing also I I’m

a firm believer in and this is now

foreshadowing anything but like III ran

a group of people who were all rogues

and thieves and pirates and sometimes

they got everything they wanted they got

the big the big score right you know

they got a pig pirate fleet so they got

tons of gold well you know next next

next adventure they lost almost all of

it and and it’s that constant like and

tearing down and growing and tearing it

down because you have chosen in its life

that you will never get ahead in like

you know you it’s it’s like what they

say about crime like most criminals only

make men and wage their entire lives

when you’d like from score to score it

just wasn’t worth I always was like

whenever I’m doing a very roguish

campaign that’s one of those things like

yeah you think you’ve you’re you’re

winning but there’s you know you’re

gonna mess it up or someone else is

gonna want what you have

yeah to everything that happens

I totally off point so someone was

asking in chat

does being a great player make you a

great DM and vice versa

it’s a complex it is I can tell you from

at least from the martial arts world and

from the acting world being a great

actor does not make you a great teacher

or a great director being a great

martial artist certainly does not make

you a great teacher they are and Ana

diem is part teacher they’re part

teacher part storyteller part director

part writer and those are all very

separate jobs and you over time will get

good at all of them hopefully but it

takes time man and being a great player

I think being a DM makes you a great a

better player because you’ve seen the

best and the worst examples at your own

table and you’re like okay I would want

to be more like that guy but being a

player doesn’t necessarily make you DM a

player’s responsible for one mindset and

the DM is responsible for cultural

feeling background storytelling several

characters on any given game any given

game you’re playing two to four

different characters and making up names

and improving all of this stuff and

sometimes making stuff up flat on the

fly because they went left instead of

going right so it you it takes time to

be a DM quite honestly and it’s its own

job I think

yeah I agree I’ve certainly

yeah big and denture master is entirely

different because is very I think it’s

very easy to be it’s not easy it’s

already a challenge to be very good at

one character like Christopher Walken

like you know yes just walking stick for

walking doesn’t mean necessarily that

Christopher Walken should be teaching

other people to like act or he should

direct it doesn’t mean he’s gonna be a

natural all of that because sometimes

the way you approach characters and the

way the reason you’re good at them is

just so organic and natural and it’s not

methodical in any way just kind of like

oh this is the type of character I love

love to play and certainly you want your

players to have like a really healthy

relationship to each other where they

give energy back and forth and everyone

gets there it’s their time but being

Dungeon Master that is your full-time

job is giving making sure everyone has

the opportunity to have their moment yes

so yeah Golf and Dungeon Master’s do

make really great players because they

are not always so invested in their

character and you know quote unquote

winning absolutely they also move I

think tend to sense the direction you

know the adventure is going or if too

much time has been spent on that kind of

thing like you you just can’t have your

your your Dungeon Master cap on all the

time yes absolutely and so when you’re

running or like a bunch of people who

are all have deemed it’s in very

interesting game I find that’s

interesting

everyone’s at their game it’s kind of

like when I was growing up I had all my

friends and I were in theater together

the theater and film constantly we all

racked hers and her and you know

Shakespeare plays and Greek plays all

all the time and so Dini was how we got

better at acting and early it’s the best

and so never really about the rules and

the roles the roles were great because

they were excuses to role play so yeah

the long story short yeah being I think

Dungeon Master’s

very often do tend to be very good

players very funny players and take

sometimes bigger risks but yeah a player

just because you’re a great player

doesn’t necessarily mean you will end up

being into a great dungeon master but

you absolutely can be just takes work it

just it’s a different set of skills yeah

but it has a really good question I

never really thought about it but it’s a

really good question

yeah knows though that was a hard one

and have you ever run an evil campaign I

definitely have you tell me tell me have

you ever run the evil campaign yes yes

we played a couple my players they’re

all saying the same thing right now

wherever they are they’re like yeah we

played pirates and we spend a year

without a ship pirates without a ship

and that’s what they were I started them

out off a shipwreck and they’re like

dammit alright let’s get into let’s get

in London and get fight and find a new

ship and a year later the like but I’ll

never forget one of them was one yes

yeah it was it was awesome it was one of

the most memorable

it’s those failures actually the

failures and the challenges that make

oftentimes the most memorable things and

that’s why I know that they’re saying

this is number one they never got a ship

until the very very end they never got a

ship number two they hid in a brothel

that had I let one of the players play a

character who owned the brothel and I

said go ahead and roll for the general

quality of your your employee your

employees and he rolled a one so he had

the ugliest employees

brothel and one whose name was Fantasia

so Fantasia was like this yeah how can I

help you and it was pure awesome they

were crying every night we’re having a

blast and it ended though with one that

one of the Pirates was at the the ship

chaplain and it was a priest of um burly

it amberleigh’s known as the bitch queen

she is the mean the evil queen of the

Seas and you kind of would worship her

to appease her so she you didn’t get her

attention and that’s what kind of his

job was but

they hid away on a ship and for some

reason I can’t remember but there was

there was a good guy hiding with them

and the good guy for some reason he said

oh I’m hurt can you heal me and he was

and the priest as the ship was floating

away the priest comes out and goes lay

down my child let me have a look and he

laid down and the priest took his staff

and removed the end and it has an iron

spike with Barb’s and he jammed it into

the good guys stomach and he started

churning it slowly and he goes I appease

you humbly we finally have a ship let us

pass in peace and I was like and

everybody in the room was just like

Oh Oh and you can just feel the

heaviness of what evil feels like and

we’re just like

Oh Belle done that was disgusting ROK’s

and at the end of every session

everybody was like okay so we get back

to the other campaign cuz that’s gross

like yep chirp let’s go we’re good but

yeah absolutely they did all kinds of

messed up stuff and it was it was pretty

heavy I I ran a three-year evil campaign

and it worried here’s the evil three

years of evil and it was evil because

again it was a very robe pirates that

sort of thing and you can’t be in that

world without getting dirty and so

everyone was on board with already being

these you know fairly shady characters

with you know they’re all everyone’s a

criminal but things have to go wrong

like if you are attacking another ship

someone who shouldn’t I got you know

shot order killed I mean it’s gonna

happen and you’re gonna have to make

choices and I always made sure the

villains especially gave them a choice

like there was a film they worked with

for a very long time and they knew he

was the villain they hated him but he

never they never got into combat with

him he would assist them their goals

he gave them jobs and they knew he was a

bad guy

and the turning point was when they when

he tried to get them to give up one of

their own characters and one of the

other players so the players themselves

had to debate whether to sell out you

know and basically you know I was

character killed because he can’t fight

everyone in the party and that was like

an entire session of like this debate

the West yeah that’s that’s what you

live for

and so I think evil campaigns bitkha me

fantastic I don’t think being super

mustache twirling evil I think again

when you look at when you look at mafia

movies when you look at something like

black sails or movies about pirates

anything that shows or you know anything

that’s like an undercover cop kind of

situation they show you the cost you

know these these can be very charismatic

people and and a lot of people forget

that people in the real world who are

bad don’t think they’re evil they don’t

answer bad people and they just do they

just think they occasionally and things

need to get done that’s literally how

they think and to introduce that to have

a charming kind-hearted character who is

evil in your campaigns as Lima is the

most interesting so I’m just giving evil

campaign advice but like if you’re going

to do an evil campaign don’t make it

just just just black and white Hammer

horror evil in my opinion I think I

think you need to like you do have to

the buy-in kind of has to be you think

you’re doing your good guy or you’re a

man the greater good

absolutely right I love that we we have

two versions of that in our current game

one is an arm they don’t like it in at

least in my world they don’t like magic

UNAM or whatever reason and so they have

the Inquisition and the Inquisition is

run by lawful good people but if you

know anything about the Inquisition

they grind you into the dirt and they

they as a result employ the Church of

Bane because they need somebody to get

their hands dirty and the church of Bane

is like we will see it done and they do

it and they come kicking your door take

your stuff take your children dip them

in lake water until they either die or

float or whatever and the Inquisition’s

hardcore Salem they thought they were

doing good by killing witches and it’s

the same kind of thing and the campaign

itself the second be Thursday night

campaign that is the paladin who chose

the dark path and he became a character

named a attracts and now everybody in

the other games are is seeing what he

attracts is doing around the world he’s

having effects around the world and he

leaves his his handprints everywhere he

goes demons seem to be popping up

wherever he has gone and in his game

he’s like alright guys we gotta save

next this is gonna be great and he pulls

out this big huge black and red burning

sword this can’t be evil but let’s go

and do some good and everybody’s like

see buddy I’ll see in this cuz this

can’t be good charge for goodness and

that’s like Hina a world of lawful good

that the last people to go to jail are

the neutral good ones yes Mike Merle’s

told me once and I’m like wow they’ll

get you there may be many evils in the

world but eventually you’ll be the last

like you know when you’re we need a

fight is what you’re looking for when

control and lawfulness is desire most

and purity of good that leaves down a

very dark path on rate I love that

Inquisition have you ever done a game

who mixed Dean V and martial arts it was

again one of the most memorable games we

absolutely had a blast we took a break

during our 15-year campaign to in one of

the editions they there there’s another

side of the realms far far on the east

there’s a giant desert and then on the

other side of that it’s called carrot or

if I remember correctly and beyond

character it’s ro Coogan and row Coogan

is Japan and carrot or is China China

horror tours huge and local guns much

smaller and on the edge and Roca ganas I

think it’s its own setting Seven Samurai

or something like that I can’t remember

it’s called uh ring yeah I’m regular

something like yeah yeah and I we we had

that and they all show there’s different

houses of samurai and they all chose to

be a different house and there was a

what was it I got scorpion Samurai and a

Phoenix house samurai and they all have

these different styles and cultures and

it is

really really interesting they were all

badass samurai and there was a couple of

martial artists to like AK in Sai and

there’s all these guys who could do all

this cool martial arts and stuff like

that and they went over the wall it’s

kind of the same wall in Game of Thrones

except on the other side of this wall is

a hell halation sland scape and that’s

where the wall is built to stop

everything from that side and they went

over the wall on a seven samurai mission

to stop this thing from charging and

they all died that was a total party

kill one one guy had a character and

this is actually a good cautionary tale

one guy had a character he loves so much

he built this character you get these

special in my game if you if you’re the

best role player of a night you do

something memorable I’ll give you

something called a bolt and you put a

bolt on your character sheet then later

when you make another character you can

say I want to put a bolt on this

character and it means at some point in

this character’s life you can spin the

bolt to get an automatic natural twenty

done no questions asked and if you save

a lot of bolts

if you send is you save ten you can make

a mega bolt character now you’re making

a Hercules character or a Perseus

character and this guy did that he made

a Phoenix samurai that highest class

house of samurai the coolest he is the

prince of samurai and he was so proud to

have this character and they got into a

fight with the big bad guy and this guy

was kicking their asses and the first

round he tore the head off of one and

slapped the horse across the battlefield

and it’s led into another guy and broke

his arm

they’re like holy crap hit this guy with

everything you got and the guy who had

the character he had too much to lose he

literally panic froze he’s like uh I uh

and everybody looked at him down the

table he was sitting down on the table

that what are you gonna do man I’m like

what are you going to do boy in the

monsters talking to him and he’s like

and he goes I’m going to watch for a

weakness I’m like and he did not enter

the battle until 3/4 of the party were

dead and

they all knew the only thing that could

hurt this thing was Jade it was a

special thing of this world and he had

the only piece of jade literally a piece

of ornamental jade and he goes he

finally found his courage at almost

everybody’s dead and he goes I you they

go use the j-man use it they were

thinking charge in and jam this thing in

this thing’s eye and he stood about half

a football field away he goes okay I

throw my Jade and everybody was like

what and they all died

it was the most silence I heard at a

table of people who came to play at a

game they’re just like oh it hurt it

hurt you have you ever had that thing

will you deeming and you just did this

to everybody and everybody and you’re

just like this is what happens in this

world I don’t want it to happen because

I spend a whole lot of time building the

campaign but you’re not always in

control you can’t you can’t lose players

not to do terrible things I mean you’re

terrible ideas have terrible

consequences don’t we need to do this

again very soon there’s so much talked

about TT storm thank you so much for

being on the show and being one of my

favorite players of all time it you’re

you’re so delightful and you such

amazing did you master tips player tips

today thank you so much Thank You Todd

you can have it beyond that I’ll talk to

you Wednesday I think they will be

watching thanks guys

In one hour @ToddKenreck talks with @TJStorm01 on Todd Talks! Join in the chat at https://t.co/mvfDh3HC5z! pic.twitter.com/YmbY5gJxb9

— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) February 11, 2019