player to make them feel like we are
encountering the bad guys on their turf
and on their terms
I don’t use CR that way you can’t help
remember when I said I rolled a 20 I
lied well this gets back to the CR thing
about how like I just don’t I
fundamentally don’t believe in balanced
encounters I don’t know what the what is
the fun of that right and that gets down
to that thing about how the gobble
you’re gonna beat the goblins it’s not a
balanced encounter yeah right and then
when you get to the end by the time
you’re fighting the boss monster I’m a
big believer in like stacking the deck
hugely against the players and making
them feel overwhelmed because every
player wants to be John McClane and die
hard right they want to get their ass
kicked but they want to win all the way
through that feeling of victory being
permanent and that means that the bad
guys has to be overwhelming it has to be
like this feeling of despair we can
never do it because when then when they
do do it they feel like heroes and so I
think you can get away with a lot I
think I want to always encourage teens
this is a this is something you learn
it’s a muscle you develop over time you
can throw a lich at a third little party
that just being a bad sport what are you
doing
right but the notion that the Goblin
Shanon the goblin chieftain is way high
level and has access to spells the
players don’t get and that’s another
great by the way having really high
level bad guys is a great opportunity to
show the players the kind of cool spells
they’re going to get later yeah right
like this is how they learn that there
is such a spell as greater invisibility
whether you would be scared yes and the
faculties not only did these guys have
you guys have access to abilities that
you guys haven’t seen yet so that puts
the fear of God into the players but
there’s a lot of a lot of bad guys and
some of them are really powerful and
they come in different shapes and sizes
because I want to make sure the players
I feel like that’s okay that’s legal
even if it’s full yes
well because it feels like well this is
their lair this is their this is a bot
this is their dungeon this is their ship
this is their castle whatever the thing
is that you’re exploring or fighting the
notion that it’s bears and they
deliberately stat bait they you’re not
the first people to try this they want
to win it and they don’t think in terms
of balance the bad guys and also I want
to make sure the players always this
gets back to something we talked earlier
I think is I want to make sure the
players know that like it’s up to you
guys to get intelligence on what’s going
on yeah it’s up to you guys so I’m not
going to tell you what’s what’s down
there and if you walk into the next room
you know sight unseen without having
done any work you’re going to get smoked
yeah but you won’t think
that’s stupid that’s why did Matt that’s
not fair that’s that encounter is too
tough you think why didn’t we Scout this
why are there ways to approach the
encounter not just running and kicking
the door down correct I mean there is a
place with that there’s always a place
for wrong right every life loves garage
yeah but there is also like my players
learned very early on that like if they
don’t scout if they don’t talk to people
if they don’t question prisoners which
means taking prisoners right if you
don’t do those things then you don’t get
good Intel and at that point now now it
really is an unfair encounter now it
really is a deadly encounter and you’re
screwed and it’s a thing if there were
an encounter builder right I put all
these things into it it wasn’t said no
it was that do not do this right but I
feel like it’s ok to do that because it
the players know what’s on the other
side that dork if they know what they’re
facing if they know what they’re working
about to fight then they start thinking
and then you’ve hooked them then they’re
on your soon as I start thinking how do
we deal with this let’s lure some of
these guys out let’s let’s let’s trick
the bad guys let’s do the prisoner thing
where you know there’s a million
different ways to do it and that’s what
they should be doing they should be
thinking in terms of how do I take what
Matt has put in front of me and I’m not
going to accept that I’m going to do
we’re going to do it our way we’re to
change the conditions of the test which
is something that’s interesting because
if they feel like they change the
conditions you the bad guy also will
respond to that well and there’ll be
repercussions about that yeah I mean the
bad guy should be reactive right and if
the and and the notion of the players if
the players start challenging the stuff
you put in front of them and saying I
know that this is a room with a like I’m
we’re going to continue using the
example to college and I know there’s a
goblin chieftain in here he’s got their
shamness all those bad guys in there but
we’re not just going to walk in there
we’re going to try and that that if it
doesn’t really even matter if it works
or doesn’t work the fact that they’re
now thinking and planning and scheming
that’s like I think about like 80% of
the fun of D&D right is that notion of
we’ve got an idea we’ve got a plan we
worked it out and now we’re going to see
what happens and the bad guys should
also have a plan I think that’s another
big part of it is always knowing this
kind gets to what you were talking about
they always knowing what would the bad
guys have done if the heroes never
showed up
yeah right and if you know that if you
know I know what they can do and I know
what their plan was then when the heroes
do crazy stuff you’ve got some kind of
foundation for ok how the bad guys going
to respond well they actually don’t
really care about you they’re trying to
sacramental yeah exactly they don’t care
about this character just something
crazy they are more interested in
completing
rituals to try and do more sacrificing
this victim right and so they’re going
to ignore you and keep doing this and
when the players feel it’s like all God
we have to stop them right that notion
that the bad guys have a plan that they
they have their their own wants I think
and should informally encounter it
should be part of what you’re thinking
about when you’re thinking which bad
guys am i picking not just were you
picking what do they want yeah exactly
so we talked about the big bad guys and
I’m balancing the encounters using the
big bad guys but we also talked about
low-level encounters and the purpose of
those well that’s that thing about
draining the party’s resources and stuff
like that that’s why I always try to
make sure that if I’m doing that there
is some it’s not it shouldn’t ever just
feel like this is something that put in
front of us to drain our resources there
should be some like I said you’ve that
it what is it about this encounter that
makes it a little of encountering these
guys are just Scouts for instance that
makes sense or these guys another thing
I’ve noticed is that you can players
responded they’re not used to this they
don’t expect this you walk into a room
and there are there we’re going to
continue the example jobless there’s a
bunch of goblins in here but they’re
goblin infants they’re children right
and they’ll fight but they don’t wanna
right and now is this even a combat
encounter in some games this is a combat
encounter some games players like I
don’t care right there’s no baby exactly
it doesn’t matter you can be
non-combatants right to be this is where
they’re preparing their food these guys
just cooks right and that feeling of
like yeah
by the book this is a low-level
encounter but is it even a combat
encounter and the players stop and
they’re like all we wanted to do was
roll dice and kill stuff but now you put
this it’s the simplest possible ethical
quandary right this is not that
sophisticated right but it stops the
players in the tracks that makes them
think wait are we good guys are bad guys
do we care about this stuff and they
tend the answer to no matter how how
cool they thought it was going to be to
be like the Punisher or whatever when
you put these things in front of them
suddenly they discover that hearts and
souls and they don’t want to just murder
these these the the cook director
building yeah exactly
now we’re building air – yeah yeah so
that’s why I think when I think of
low-level encounters I think of like
what is what is this in the world what
are these what are these goblins or orcs
or whatever what are you guys doing here
and make it so the players question
whether or not it’s a good idea to fight
these guys cool all right I’m going to
say the words are you ready for the
words
Breena Kobayashi Maru that’s a that’s
every encounter I always I always I
never I never think about how the play
is going to go I’m always like man I
don’t know why this is gonna be really
interesting to see how the players
I often L design an encounter and I’ll
sit there and I’ll just be like this is
crazy
they’re going to get their ass kicked I
don’t know I think they’re all gonna die
right and and the funny thing is I
thought that especially my last campaign
I thought that week after week after
week I literally there’s not an
exaggeration I genuinely thought they
are going to die and and they always
come up with crazy ways to subvert my
expectations because that’s how I
thought I’ve shown them do not just take
what I say for granted right you have to
change the conditions of the test and
and that’s where stuff starts to get fun
and exciting for me that notion I think
there are some people that think like
when you’re designing encounter it has
to be obvious to you that there is an
out that the players do this they will
succeed I often have no idea you know I
gave like a lich the hand of that I gave
another list I gave a mine player the
hand of Vecna and people are like you’re
crazy right but the players again this
is a situation where the players knew
that ahead of time this wasn’t something
they were surprised about they had good
Intel now that I didn’t tell them that
it was up to them to figure it out but
they did figure it out and having
discovered having done the work having
quite they questioned a bad guy having
questioned a bad guy and discovering
that there is a mine player out there
with the hand effected they’re like
right and it completely changed it meant
that instead of fighting him next they
found him like two or three weeks later
they went and they did a whole bunch of
work and that’s that’s how it should be
right again they didn’t take what I put
in front of them for granted they
decided to change the conditions of the
test and that’s how it should be I think
I think I mean every day everybody’s
game is different but part of me thinks
that all of D&D should be that should be
that notion of like if we don’t start
thinking for ourselves we’re screwed
yeah if we just take this encounter face
value we are gonna die yeah so that’s
what that means to me is that notion of
I’m gonna die if you don’t figure it out
that’s pretty good pregame House Rules
so there are a couple things I do one of
the things that I’ve talked about this
before is that I make sure it’s the
players who are doing the recap like I
don’t say here’s what happened last week
I say it’s up to you guys to tell me
what happened live because and I just
often how I begin the session is I say
okay who wants to recap what happened
last week because me
me hearing them recap it is like a huge
like a stethoscope on the campaign like
I am now listening to what they thought
happened last week because often that’s
not I thought happened and it’s like oh
good I’m glad I’m glad that I know this
now because I was counting on them
having remembered this thing and now I
realized I don’t remember it and also I
think it helps just make them part of
the narrative experience of them
recapping and telling the story what
happened last week makes it less about
this one person sitting at the head of
the table doing all the storytelling and
more about them owning the story but
another thing I do especially for new
players is I tell them it is up to you
to know your [ __ ]
is you to know how your [ __ ] works do
not ask me how channel divinity works
because I’ve never played a cleric I’m
the DM on this side of the thing I run
the bad guys it’s up to you to know
don’t ask me because I’m literally going
to say I don’t know what I’m not joking
it’s up to you to look it up and it is
so annoying to everybody the table by
the way when it’s your character’s turn
and not only this is another thing know
what you’re out of players will disable
so make sure when it’s your turn you
know what you’re going to do ahead of
time don’t wait for me to say it’s your
turn to go start figuring out but I’m
glad you admitted that because I got I
got hell for that because I didn’t know
I was like oh I don’t play that I’m not
I don’t have never people how does how
what kind of look at my animal companion
to him like I have never played a Ranger
in this game and you have a phone
exactly look it up yeah we live in a
time now where like having the phone of
the table like there are so many tools
online we can just look it up and it’s
super fast so look up how your stuff
works before you don’t ask me because I
have been running the in D now D and E 5
for a year and a half but I’ve only been
think I’ve played twice now literally
two sessions right and and in those two
sessions I’m like oh my god I have no
idea how this game works I’m learning
that I really don’t know a lot about how
D&D works is I’m always relying on my
players and I tell them at a time is
you’re it is up to you guys to know how
does the short rest work and what do you
get out of it not because my guys don’t
need rest my bad guys don’t need to
don’t have those rules I’m running all
the bad guys and as a result by the way
I run really complex encounters recently
with lots of bad guys I can do crazy
stuff and I drove home that night proud
of myself but I didn’t forget any of it
I remember all of their abilities there
because I’m not also worrying about
knowing how all the players stuff works
so yeah so just I tell my players it is
your job to know how your stuff works
your favorite GM moment so I mean is
there as um I’ve got two one is because
I think a lot of DM moments their
favorite moment is a player moment and
you know I like random treasure because
I like that moment where it’s a it’s a
setup payoff I like the set up where the
players are like what are we supposed to
do with this this is not I’m a long
sorter what am I supposed to with a
halberd right or it does happen that
could be any number of things where they
read it and my friend Lars my best
friend right now
my friend Lars read the scroll of spells
that they got as a reward he’s like
these sounds stupid and he put it away
and he didn’t look at it again for weeks
until they were fighting a dragon and
they’re fighting a dragon and they’re
desperate they are going to die unless
they pull something out of their butt
and so literally large like I haven’t
looked he goes alright what does this do
what is this stupid spell do phantasmal
forest that sounds dumb and he looked it
up he’s like oh [ __ ] oh [ __ ] this is
gonna do it this is gonna wait I have an
idea right and he uses Fantasma force
against the dragon and tricks the dragon
a spell does tricks the flying beasty
into thinking that there’s a net wrapped
around it and if he fails to save what
she did
now he acts as though it were real and
that pulls the dragon to the ground and
other places could find it and they won
and that wasn’t a thing I did that was
the thing that was my favorite DM moment
right now that’s the thing I thought of
is it was something that Lars did in
that moment where I gave him tools they
didn’t know what am I supposed to do
with this and that moment when they
start desperately trying to find crazy
uses for stuff that they thought was
useless was pretty it was a lot of fun
it made me really happy that’s my
favorite stuff as a DM just seeing the
players do that there was another moment
in that same campaign where they were in
a dungeon and there was a trap and they
missed the trap and as a result as
they’re walking down a thing a
portcullis slams down between them cuts
the group in two so then how many people
overhear something and then a bunch of
Knowles ran up and started attacking
these characters but these are the
frontline fighters so it wasn’t that big
a deal until a bunch of Knowles came
from this direction and now the Wizards
and the cleric in the back are fighting
and they’re trapped on both sides and
they can’t coordinate and I thought I’m
a genius that is the best that is the
best this is the best encounter I’ve
ever designed the players are now
everything they every tool they had was
now kind of useless and they thought
we’re going to die and then my friend
Anna took out the portable hole that
they had and threw it against the wall
the players got into the portal
and then someone reached into the
portcullis and pulled the portal portal
hole out and shook the hero’s out so use
the portable hole to get through the
portcullis and join me I’m like that is
genius they would never have thought of
that
if I hadn’t forced this crazy situation
when they were all going to die so those
are my two favorite moments thank you
for letting me have – I appreciate ya
you’re always going quick tip for the
audience could be anything a quick tip
for the audience why am I suddenly
blanking uh-oh here’s here’s something
like this one’s maybe my favorite piece
of advice and something I have not yet
talked about on my channel is before the
game just get a little three by five
card or post-it note and write down a
bunch of names a bunch of names that you
think are appropriate to your setting
and stick it on your damn screen male
names and female names they could call
them MS and that way when the players
ask a question like hey I asked this
card what their name is you don’t sit
around going up oh no the name is its
guard right and then the player is like
oh now I’m not now and this is in a
world anymore it’s just a game we’re
playing right well his name’s Alaric ah
they’re like you know like oh [ __ ] he
knows that this is a real thing there’s
a real person right and just having that
list of names means kind of wherever the
players go in your world whoever they
talk to if they talk to somebody you
didn’t expect you’ve got that name
written down or you just pick the next
one and they feel like this is real it
helps with verisimilitude if they’ll
stop feeling of it being a real world so
that’s a super simple thing you can do
that I guarantee you will pay off that’s
for you that was incredible thank you so
much drama yeah you’re you’re fun I like
her friend Matt yes where can we find
you on the Internet
I’m on I’m not really on the Internet I
don’t know I’m on Twitter I’m on Twitter
a lot at Matt Colville and I’ve got a
YouTube channel /m Colville or if you
just look up running the game I think
Google will direct you to me and which
we just talked about how to be a better
deal I’m a huge fan of his you should
totally check it out as always I’m
Satine Phoenix on Twitter as at setting
Phoenix every Sunday on twitch.tv slash
mais Arcana and Tuesday’s all summer on
furious reach on twitch.tv slash D&D
thank you for hanging out with us here
at geek and sundry Matt please gianna
said I’d be happy to you reach the final
room of
the dungeon but it’s empty the insane
wizard that you had been questing after
appears to be missing as you investigate
the room and search around you hear a
rumbling noise and crashing through the
wall comes this giant crap this huge
massive crab creature with large claws
and legs and as it moves toward the
party the clacking noise that it makes
it doesn’t sound like the normal like a
crab like a carapace it doesn’t sound
like something organic
it sounds like like something metal like
metal clacking against stone and we
realize you see rivets and you see wires
and tubes and the thing is a machine of
some sort and inside it piloting it is
the wizard that you’ve been questing
after the entire time while the rest of
the players are baffled and wondering
what this is the team’s character
recognizes it and says is the infernal
machine a belong to man roll initiative
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you
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