are my friends and I share with you our
thoughts and suggestions on how to game
master your role-playing game I’m your
host Satine Phoenix co-creator of mais
Arcana and a guild a depth for D&D on
today’s show we have Chris Lindsay from
Wizards of the coast I got a chance to
play in the epic game he wrote for Gary
Khan there were 17 tables separated into
three groups playing three parts of the
battle all of the gems coordinated with
each other through Chris the event
leader major moments are timed and GM’s
are brought in to play the major villain
NBC’s this was so much fun I got to play
a faerie blade singer named ma Gwen
flashin I went to each table three
separate times during the last leg of
the game and they got to try to break
the spell before I broke them after
playing I figured out why people like
these kind of games the players suddenly
became a part of something important to
the world they exist in so today’s theme
is how to make your homebrew game feel
epic
tip number one part of something bigger
in most games you can look forward to
fighting small groups with your players
if you want to make your encounter feel
epic have the group be part of an army
or organization they have people to
report to and perhaps we’ll be able to
call for reinforcements
suddenly the group isn’t alone in the
world and has a reason to feel
responsible for the outcome of the
events tip number two give them a choice
prepare a few different choices for the
players to pick from to be a part of the
larger battle in the epic I experienced
the table’s chose whether to be a part
of the infantry at the frontline in the
air fighting the Goblin airships or
underground fighting in the ritual
chamber each of these choices are
important to the story and will make the
party feel like they’re a major reason
for the success of the overall battle
you can use how they succeed or fail to
gauge how the rest of the battle unfolds
failure doesn’t mean death it could just
mean they didn’t accomplish their goal
on time but all choices have
consequences there are always various
levels of successes and failures play
with these tip number three time to pre
strategize tactics and many encounters
most of our choices are reactionary to
protect ourselves and something
surprises us here you can give your
group time to talk about how they can
work together during the anticipated
battle much like they would do in a war
room let them ask the other NPCs about
their tactics and use skills to find
what their enemies or terrain is like
what advantages they can use and other
bits of information that will encourage
them to think about ways around a
situation this is where I encourage them
by granting triple advantage to two or
more players that go at the same time
and can explain clearly how their moves
would work together the GM is final say
on whether that would work or not you
can get them this time for planning and
remind them they have a much shorter
time to make decisions during the actual
encounter tip number four and counter
pacing timing is everything and timing
in battle is another way to make things
feel epic keep your game moving fast
your players can roll their attacks and
damage at the same time and they should
have their choices ready to go I like to
do a three-two
one countdown for indecisive players I
could roll on but instead let’s jump
into conversation with the architect of
diem skilled head of dandy Adventures
League and the product manager of
Dungeons & Dragons Chris Lindsay hey
thank you for coming I’m so happy I’m
through you are amazing at creating
epics I love your writing your
adventures are so much fun they’re
really wild how how would you recommend
for people to take that epicness and
bring it to their table so the main
thing about an epic adventure is that
there’s a lot more going on than just
what’s happening with the players
themselves right there’s a lot of motion
there’s a lot and you know moving parts
and so forth it’s like the Battle of
Helm’s Deep and so it’s it’s important
to remember as the encounter progresses
are as the adventure progresses to
remind the PCs that there are these
outside elements inside the scope of the
adventure they’re playing and that they
come into play and that they interact
directly with the characters so that
when they have those moments in the game
where they might stumble something might
be there to like pick them up pick them
up yeah give them hope help them out
remind them that that they are part of a
larger squad or larger unit or larger
organization something that that
basically puts them in perspective that
they’re just a very small part of a
larger larger world yeah it’s really
interesting so you don’t think about
that when you’re writing adventures
usually in one shots or even like small
campaigns it’s like alright you’re going
in you’re gonna go and fight a thing but
taking that microcosm that little that
little thing that you do and then having
that effect you know like another group
which affects another group which
affects another group what made you
start developing epics really it all
comes down to movies right you see like
these big big
movies like all way backs like Ben Hur
we had these massive battles and and the
heroes are doing something and then
something huge and unstoppable gets in
their way but from the outside you got
somebody who jumps in and does something
to help them out all of a sudden you’re
past it and you move on and you keep on
going after you’re you know whatever it
is your objective is right but the point
is is that you have that feeling of
scope and scale of being a part of
something so grand and and that you know
you can’t conquer it by yourself but if
you could just do your one little thing
that you need to do that everything will
be okay that’s awesome so you have your
group and they are connected with other
groups yes in the big battle yeah how do
you get them to actually remember that
they’re a part of something bigger for
example if you are playing in the
adventure that we ran at Gary Cohn as
they’re moving along the players might
come up against like a horde of demons
heading their direction and they’re
thinking oh no this is it we’re done
we’re all dead this we can’t we can’t
possibly manage to deal with these
demons right but then all of a sudden
like from out of nowhere a massive wall
of thorns comes up as the druid who’s
like a hundred yards behind them cast
this epic spell and like stops the
demons off just enough so that the
players have to deal with just these
three demons and then they can continue
moving right and then they reminded oh
yeah there’s this guy back there you
said to help us and they know that
they’re a part of this much bigger force
and that other people are actually
looking out for them too at the same
time yeah I mean if I were going to do
an epic I might have the players the way
they interact with the NPC’s would be
how much they help them oh yeah oh yeah
to the NPC’s like well I have these
reinforcements but you’re not very nice
so we’re gonna focus our energies over
here and in a home game that’s totally
possible then a home game I mean even in
Nam Nam Mian is totally possible but
it’s more like we have an alum game
where the dungeon master can really
focus on how the players have interacted
in the past with other characters and I
would be a liar if I didn’t say that a
couple of parties haven’t died
at my hands because they made poor
choices in the past and an npc said and
this is the point where I save you but
time to take a water break
[Laughter]
other ways would be mmm maybe like a
scrying stone to see how the other like
the other side of the battles absolutely
sending stones are also very valuable as
you have like your own mini one-shot
walkie-talkies medieval cell phones
that’s pretty cool that’s where things
like animal messenger also come into
play right you’re there you catch me a
little messenger spell and then like
five rounds later somebody does
something to help you out because they
got the message yeah so you’ve got your
group and they are there fighting and
they’re fighting people are going down
and people are going down as a game
master do you are you the one that says
okay there’s too many people going down
right now I have to send in somebody to
save them I don’t necessarily think of
it as saving them I think of it as using
those elements that are already present
in the game nobody wants to feel like oh
there’s no way I could have possibly
done this without you know this other
NPCs help the players still want to be
even in an epic battle the players still
want to be the focus they want to be the
heroes of the day so it’s again this is
important to remember which NPCs and
which other characters outside of
themselves that they’ve interacted with
and the ones that they’ve had positive
interactions with right are the ones
they’re gonna help them then you can
point back to this person came out to
help you but they would not have done
that if you wouldn’t have been such a
cool person helped them out previously
it’s important to set up those
milestones ahead of time before you get
to the epic like encounter itself so the
Angels swooping in you know guardian
Davis swooping in to like cast healing
over like the entire party just not
enough to bring them all the way up but
enough to like give them two seconds of
hope that they can continue moving on so
mechanically if you’re designing a game
and you want to make the players feel
like the one
thing that they’re doing is the most
important in the epic there were three
different paths that they could take
yeah how do you make each one of those
paths feel like this is this is the
moment that you are saving the day you
have to be really clear that if they
don’t succeed that there are
consequences and you have to make sure
that they understand what those
consequences are ahead of time you I
mean epic scale battles don’t just
happen out of the blue right they didn’t
just go attack the Death Star out of you
know nothing right they all knew what
they were doing they all had a plan and
they all knew what the consequences were
if their part didn’t work so when there
happen when they have that war table
there that one more time but before they
go into this big epic thing you have to
have your NPC generals or whoever it is
that’s in charge from their perspective
explaining very carefully through the
player characters what happens if they
screw up and what happens if they don’t
do that part and it’s gonna be different
for each table for each group if whether
you’re in the air or whether you’re on
the land or whether you’re underground
the consequences will affect what
happens to the other groups dramatically
so you’ve got your group you’re in this
battle and they’re you’ve designed the
adventure to feel really epic how do you
use the environment in each encounter
the environment is actually really
really important because it’s in an epic
encounter everything happens on a grand
scale so in you know in your underground
epic encounter as an example you would
be going through the tunnels and you’re
in tight spaces and then all of a sudden
the telev will open up into this massive
cavern and that’s like thousands of
yards around and you get this feeling
that you have to possibly be deep deep
deep underground because nothing else
would support this in there slag might
syslog mites and there’s a huge lake and
there’s like several like dotted islands
through the lake is you’re looking out
across the thing and then there’s a
buzzing sound and you see the canoes and
you have to get in the canoes but the
whole thing feels so massive and as
you’re rolling across the lake in the
canoes you can see water turning in
various places in the distance as things
are starting to move and
react to your presence and and really
the scope of the environment is is
vastly important if you’re outside like
letting them know that weather exists is
while be important in weather in epic
encounters is never fun it’s never a
sunny bright day you got pour down rain
snow and hail they have to run across
lakes of ice they have to worry about
things breaking underneath them they’re
crawling across like chasms and there’s
big rope bridges that are gonna break
you in second and there’s all these
things swarming around them you just
have to like it’s never gonna be it can
never be fun so that’s interesting
because usually not usually nowadays
people are so into minis and so I feel
like the minis actually keep the battles
very small because you only have a
certain amount of space to move the
figures in but keeping it theater of the
mind gives it that grander scale exactly
because if you get into your
descriptions and by the way for Dungeon
Master’s out there it’s important that
you you write up maybe a handful of
descriptions ahead of time so you know
kind of where the direction you’re going
and it’s perfectly okay to ad-lib off to
the descriptions and go off script and
so forth but just to have something kind
of to base yourself off of is really
kind of key so you you know have that
something to anchor you but but these
are the theme of the mind is perfectly
the best way to go in this case because
nothing evokes the feelings that you’re
gonna have as a player or as a dungeon
master like what’s in your head putting
everything out on to a battle man
totally puts it into a confining space
that has limitations and in epic there’s
no limitations so if you were in battle
and you’re fighting in that immediate
moment then the minis make sense but if
you’re going to the destination or just
just in the description it’s better to
have everyone be present and listening
yeah pay attention
ops pay attention it’s very important
yes yeah and Trust is also very
important that this this idea of I’m
gonna give you all the information that
you have at your disposal at any given
moment I’m not leaving stuff out really
I’m not necessarily always trying to
kill you so I’m going to ask you three
questions sure are you ready I’m totally
ready I have to read this once I can
never remember it okay what is your
pregame house rule look like I don’t
really have a pregame house rule list
it’s more like abandon hope all ye who
enter here
[Laughter]
okay that’s good it’s okay not to have
one absolutely because a lot of people
do yeah but um it’s I feel it’s really
good to know that not everybody does
nope second question what is your
favorite jam moment my favorite jam
moment actually happened very recently
and it was at the stream of annihilation
when we were playing and we’re playing
in the groin game and I had prepared all
of the grown characters ahead of time
and I prepared the adventure but I knew
that our I hoped I should say that it
would kind of take on a life of its own
and I handed the player characters out
to everybody ahead of time and give them
an opportunity to read them and so they
could get their own feel for what it is
that they were gonna do and it happened
it was so magical as we kind of sat
there and I think I almost did nothing
during that game except for I sit back
and watch this had come like before me
as all the growing and I party started
to interact with each other and it was
in every once in a while I would jump in
and it was kind of like being in a band
and having that ultimate jam session
yeah right as it just kind of jumped off
each other that was really fun thank you
and it’s funny because that was Rudy’s
favorite Gio moment mm-hmm last question
oh yeah quick tip for the audience
my first investing only tip to the
audience is remember if you’re a player
out there that it’s just as important
that you are focused on the fun of the
entire group as a dental master is it’s
not just about you the individual player
you want to make it fun for everybody at
the table that’s how you get invited
back my job
that’s our show for today Chris thank
you so much for coming all the way to
Burbank from Seattle just to be on our
show please tell us where we can find
you on the Internet and if there are any
fun little things that you can share
absolutely you can find me on the
internet on twitter my twitter handle is
at on attrex onn a TR YX and otherwise
you can find me if you look very closely
hunting through the jungles of cults
looking for all the undead in the tomb
of annihilation
anything new coming up maybe there’s
Zanna Thoris and Zanna thar’s has all
the character options that you’re going
to play that is awesome
yes thank you so much new builds for
everybody oh my gosh thank you for
watching as always I’m Satine Phoenix at
Satine Phoenix you can ask me gm2
questions at hashtag ask Satine and find
me every Sunday at noon on may cerk
honest or if an echo on twitch.tv slash
means Akana
and every Tuesday night dungeon
mastering on twitch.tv slash dandy thank
you for watching us here on geek &
sundry and see you next time Chris
there’s one more thing for you to do oh
yes
would you please GM us out of here
absolutely you merge from the jungle
into a vast marshland and in the marsh
you stand amidst the ruins and wreckage
of armies come pass and a mists a mist
drifts over the entire land and through
the mist you spy a vast army of undead
one so insurmountable you can’t possibly
imagine to feeding it but behind you you
hear the armor if ik squeal of a million
giant miniature space hampshire’s
as the charge of the new multi-year
assistance
[Music]
[Music]
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[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
you
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