Satine Phoenix DM Tips: Epic Home Brews w/ Chris Lindsay December 21, 2020Zoltar hello and welcome to GM tips the show</p> <p>are my friends and I share with you our</p> <p>thoughts and suggestions on how to game</p> <p>master your role-playing game I’m your</p> <p>host Satine Phoenix co-creator of mais</p> <p>Arcana and a guild a depth for D&D on</p> <p>today’s show we have Chris Lindsay from</p> <p>Wizards of the coast I got a chance to</p> <p>play in the epic game he wrote for Gary</p> <p>Khan there were 17 tables separated into</p> <p>three groups playing three parts of the</p> <p>battle all of the gems coordinated with</p> <p>each other through Chris the event</p> <p>leader major moments are timed and GM’s</p> <p>are brought in to play the major villain</p> <p>NBC’s this was so much fun I got to play</p> <p>a faerie blade singer named ma Gwen</p> <p>flashin I went to each table three</p> <p>separate times during the last leg of</p> <p>the game and they got to try to break</p> <p>the spell before I broke them after</p> <p>playing I figured out why people like</p> <p>these kind of games the players suddenly</p> <p>became a part of something important to</p> <p>the world they exist in so today’s theme</p> <p>is how to make your homebrew game feel</p> <p>epic</p> <p>tip number one part of something bigger</p> <p>in most games you can look forward to</p> <p>fighting small groups with your players</p> <p>if you want to make your encounter feel</p> <p>epic have the group be part of an army</p> <p>or organization they have people to</p> <p>report to and perhaps we’ll be able to</p> <p>call for reinforcements</p> <p>suddenly the group isn’t alone in the</p> <p>world and has a reason to feel</p> <p>responsible for the outcome of the</p> <p>events tip number two give them a choice</p> <p>prepare a few different choices for the</p> <p>players to pick from to be a part of the</p> <p>larger battle in the epic I experienced</p> <p>the table’s chose whether to be a part</p> <p>of the infantry at the frontline in the</p> <p>air fighting the Goblin airships or</p> <p>underground fighting in the ritual</p> <p>chamber each of these choices are</p> <p>important to the story and will make the</p> <p>party feel like they’re a major reason</p> <p>for the success of the overall battle</p> <p>you can use how they succeed or fail to</p> <p>gauge how the rest of the battle unfolds</p> <p>failure doesn’t mean death it could just</p> <p>mean they didn’t accomplish their goal</p> <p>on time but all choices have</p> <p>consequences there are always various</p> <p>levels of successes and failures play</p> <p>with these tip number three time to pre</p> <p>strategize tactics and many encounters</p> <p>most of our choices are reactionary to</p> <p>protect ourselves and something</p> <p>surprises us here you can give your</p> <p>group time to talk about how they can</p> <p>work together during the anticipated</p> <p>battle much like they would do in a war</p> <p>room let them ask the other NPCs about</p> <p>their tactics and use skills to find</p> <p>what their enemies or terrain is like</p> <p>what advantages they can use and other</p> <p>bits of information that will encourage</p> <p>them to think about ways around a</p> <p>situation this is where I encourage them</p> <p>by granting triple advantage to two or</p> <p>more players that go at the same time</p> <p>and can explain clearly how their moves</p> <p>would work together the GM is final say</p> <p>on whether that would work or not you</p> <p>can get them this time for planning and</p> <p>remind them they have a much shorter</p> <p>time to make decisions during the actual</p> <p>encounter tip number four and counter</p> <p>pacing timing is everything and timing</p> <p>in battle is another way to make things</p> <p>feel epic keep your game moving fast</p> <p>your players can roll their attacks and</p> <p>damage at the same time and they should</p> <p>have their choices ready to go I like to</p> <p>do a three-two</p> <p>one countdown for indecisive players I</p> <p>could roll on but instead let’s jump</p> <p>into conversation with the architect of</p> <p>diem skilled head of dandy Adventures</p> <p>League and the product manager of</p> <p>Dungeons & Dragons Chris Lindsay hey</p> <p>thank you for coming I’m so happy I’m</p> <p>through you are amazing at creating</p> <p>epics I love your writing your</p> <p>adventures are so much fun they’re</p> <p>really wild how how would you recommend</p> <p>for people to take that epicness and</p> <p>bring it to their table so the main</p> <p>thing about an epic adventure is that</p> <p>there’s a lot more going on than just</p> <p>what’s happening with the players</p> <p>themselves right there’s a lot of motion</p> <p>there’s a lot and you know moving parts</p> <p>and so forth it’s like the Battle of</p> <p>Helm’s Deep and so it’s it’s important</p> <p>to remember as the encounter progresses</p> <p>are as the adventure progresses to</p> <p>remind the PCs that there are these</p> <p>outside elements inside the scope of the</p> <p>adventure they’re playing and that they</p> <p>come into play and that they interact</p> <p>directly with the characters so that</p> <p>when they have those moments in the game</p> <p>where they might stumble something might</p> <p>be there to like pick them up pick them</p> <p>up yeah give them hope help them out</p> <p>remind them that that they are part of a</p> <p>larger squad or larger unit or larger</p> <p>organization something that that</p> <p>basically puts them in perspective that</p> <p>they’re just a very small part of a</p> <p>larger larger world yeah it’s really</p> <p>interesting so you don’t think about</p> <p>that when you’re writing adventures</p> <p>usually in one shots or even like small</p> <p>campaigns it’s like alright you’re going</p> <p>in you’re gonna go and fight a thing but</p> <p>taking that microcosm that little that</p> <p>little thing that you do and then having</p> <p>that effect you know like another group</p> <p>which affects another group which</p> <p>affects another group what made you</p> <p>start developing epics really it all</p> <p>comes down to movies right you see like</p> <p>these big big</p> <p>movies like all way backs like Ben Hur</p> <p>we had these massive battles and and the</p> <p>heroes are doing something and then</p> <p>something huge and unstoppable gets in</p> <p>their way but from the outside you got</p> <p>somebody who jumps in and does something</p> <p>to help them out all of a sudden you’re</p> <p>past it and you move on and you keep on</p> <p>going after you’re you know whatever it</p> <p>is your objective is right but the point</p> <p>is is that you have that feeling of</p> <p>scope and scale of being a part of</p> <p>something so grand and and that you know</p> <p>you can’t conquer it by yourself but if</p> <p>you could just do your one little thing</p> <p>that you need to do that everything will</p> <p>be okay that’s awesome so you have your</p> <p>group and they are connected with other</p> <p>groups yes in the big battle yeah how do</p> <p>you get them to actually remember that</p> <p>they’re a part of something bigger for</p> <p>example if you are playing in the</p> <p>adventure that we ran at Gary Cohn as</p> <p>they’re moving along the players might</p> <p>come up against like a horde of demons</p> <p>heading their direction and they’re</p> <p>thinking oh no this is it we’re done</p> <p>we’re all dead this we can’t we can’t</p> <p>possibly manage to deal with these</p> <p>demons right but then all of a sudden</p> <p>like from out of nowhere a massive wall</p> <p>of thorns comes up as the druid who’s</p> <p>like a hundred yards behind them cast</p> <p>this epic spell and like stops the</p> <p>demons off just enough so that the</p> <p>players have to deal with just these</p> <p>three demons and then they can continue</p> <p>moving right and then they reminded oh</p> <p>yeah there’s this guy back there you</p> <p>said to help us and they know that</p> <p>they’re a part of this much bigger force</p> <p>and that other people are actually</p> <p>looking out for them too at the same</p> <p>time yeah I mean if I were going to do</p> <p>an epic I might have the players the way</p> <p>they interact with the NPC’s would be</p> <p>how much they help them oh yeah oh yeah</p> <p>to the NPC’s like well I have these</p> <p>reinforcements but you’re not very nice</p> <p>so we’re gonna focus our energies over</p> <p>here and in a home game that’s totally</p> <p>possible then a home game I mean even in</p> <p>Nam Nam Mian is totally possible but</p> <p>it’s more like we have an alum game</p> <p>where the dungeon master can really</p> <p>focus on how the players have interacted</p> <p>in the past with other characters and I</p> <p>would be a liar if I didn’t say that a</p> <p>couple of parties haven’t died</p> <p>at my hands because they made poor</p> <p>choices in the past and an npc said and</p> <p>this is the point where I save you but</p> <p>time to take a water break</p> <p>[Laughter]</p> <p>other ways would be mmm maybe like a</p> <p>scrying stone to see how the other like</p> <p>the other side of the battles absolutely</p> <p>sending stones are also very valuable as</p> <p>you have like your own mini one-shot</p> <p>walkie-talkies medieval cell phones</p> <p>that’s pretty cool that’s where things</p> <p>like animal messenger also come into</p> <p>play right you’re there you catch me a</p> <p>little messenger spell and then like</p> <p>five rounds later somebody does</p> <p>something to help you out because they</p> <p>got the message yeah so you’ve got your</p> <p>group and they are there fighting and</p> <p>they’re fighting people are going down</p> <p>and people are going down as a game</p> <p>master do you are you the one that says</p> <p>okay there’s too many people going down</p> <p>right now I have to send in somebody to</p> <p>save them I don’t necessarily think of</p> <p>it as saving them I think of it as using</p> <p>those elements that are already present</p> <p>in the game nobody wants to feel like oh</p> <p>there’s no way I could have possibly</p> <p>done this without you know this other</p> <p>NPCs help the players still want to be</p> <p>even in an epic battle the players still</p> <p>want to be the focus they want to be the</p> <p>heroes of the day so it’s again this is</p> <p>important to remember which NPCs and</p> <p>which other characters outside of</p> <p>themselves that they’ve interacted with</p> <p>and the ones that they’ve had positive</p> <p>interactions with right are the ones</p> <p>they’re gonna help them then you can</p> <p>point back to this person came out to</p> <p>help you but they would not have done</p> <p>that if you wouldn’t have been such a</p> <p>cool person helped them out previously</p> <p>it’s important to set up those</p> <p>milestones ahead of time before you get</p> <p>to the epic like encounter itself so the</p> <p>Angels swooping in you know guardian</p> <p>Davis swooping in to like cast healing</p> <p>over like the entire party just not</p> <p>enough to bring them all the way up but</p> <p>enough to like give them two seconds of</p> <p>hope that they can continue moving on so</p> <p>mechanically if you’re designing a game</p> <p>and you want to make the players feel</p> <p>like the one</p> <p>thing that they’re doing is the most</p> <p>important in the epic there were three</p> <p>different paths that they could take</p> <p>yeah how do you make each one of those</p> <p>paths feel like this is this is the</p> <p>moment that you are saving the day you</p> <p>have to be really clear that if they</p> <p>don’t succeed that there are</p> <p>consequences and you have to make sure</p> <p>that they understand what those</p> <p>consequences are ahead of time you I</p> <p>mean epic scale battles don’t just</p> <p>happen out of the blue right they didn’t</p> <p>just go attack the Death Star out of you</p> <p>know nothing right they all knew what</p> <p>they were doing they all had a plan and</p> <p>they all knew what the consequences were</p> <p>if their part didn’t work so when there</p> <p>happen when they have that war table</p> <p>there that one more time but before they</p> <p>go into this big epic thing you have to</p> <p>have your NPC generals or whoever it is</p> <p>that’s in charge from their perspective</p> <p>explaining very carefully through the</p> <p>player characters what happens if they</p> <p>screw up and what happens if they don’t</p> <p>do that part and it’s gonna be different</p> <p>for each table for each group if whether</p> <p>you’re in the air or whether you’re on</p> <p>the land or whether you’re underground</p> <p>the consequences will affect what</p> <p>happens to the other groups dramatically</p> <p>so you’ve got your group you’re in this</p> <p>battle and they’re you’ve designed the</p> <p>adventure to feel really epic how do you</p> <p>use the environment in each encounter</p> <p>the environment is actually really</p> <p>really important because it’s in an epic</p> <p>encounter everything happens on a grand</p> <p>scale so in you know in your underground</p> <p>epic encounter as an example you would</p> <p>be going through the tunnels and you’re</p> <p>in tight spaces and then all of a sudden</p> <p>the telev will open up into this massive</p> <p>cavern and that’s like thousands of</p> <p>yards around and you get this feeling</p> <p>that you have to possibly be deep deep</p> <p>deep underground because nothing else</p> <p>would support this in there slag might</p> <p>syslog mites and there’s a huge lake and</p> <p>there’s like several like dotted islands</p> <p>through the lake is you’re looking out</p> <p>across the thing and then there’s a</p> <p>buzzing sound and you see the canoes and</p> <p>you have to get in the canoes but the</p> <p>whole thing feels so massive and as</p> <p>you’re rolling across the lake in the</p> <p>canoes you can see water turning in</p> <p>various places in the distance as things</p> <p>are starting to move and</p> <p>react to your presence and and really</p> <p>the scope of the environment is is</p> <p>vastly important if you’re outside like</p> <p>letting them know that weather exists is</p> <p>while be important in weather in epic</p> <p>encounters is never fun it’s never a</p> <p>sunny bright day you got pour down rain</p> <p>snow and hail they have to run across</p> <p>lakes of ice they have to worry about</p> <p>things breaking underneath them they’re</p> <p>crawling across like chasms and there’s</p> <p>big rope bridges that are gonna break</p> <p>you in second and there’s all these</p> <p>things swarming around them you just</p> <p>have to like it’s never gonna be it can</p> <p>never be fun so that’s interesting</p> <p>because usually not usually nowadays</p> <p>people are so into minis and so I feel</p> <p>like the minis actually keep the battles</p> <p>very small because you only have a</p> <p>certain amount of space to move the</p> <p>figures in but keeping it theater of the</p> <p>mind gives it that grander scale exactly</p> <p>because if you get into your</p> <p>descriptions and by the way for Dungeon</p> <p>Master’s out there it’s important that</p> <p>you you write up maybe a handful of</p> <p>descriptions ahead of time so you know</p> <p>kind of where the direction you’re going</p> <p>and it’s perfectly okay to ad-lib off to</p> <p>the descriptions and go off script and</p> <p>so forth but just to have something kind</p> <p>of to base yourself off of is really</p> <p>kind of key so you you know have that</p> <p>something to anchor you but but these</p> <p>are the theme of the mind is perfectly</p> <p>the best way to go in this case because</p> <p>nothing evokes the feelings that you’re</p> <p>gonna have as a player or as a dungeon</p> <p>master like what’s in your head putting</p> <p>everything out on to a battle man</p> <p>totally puts it into a confining space</p> <p>that has limitations and in epic there’s</p> <p>no limitations so if you were in battle</p> <p>and you’re fighting in that immediate</p> <p>moment then the minis make sense but if</p> <p>you’re going to the destination or just</p> <p>just in the description it’s better to</p> <p>have everyone be present and listening</p> <p>yeah pay attention</p> <p>ops pay attention it’s very important</p> <p>yes yeah and Trust is also very</p> <p>important that this this idea of I’m</p> <p>gonna give you all the information that</p> <p>you have at your disposal at any given</p> <p>moment I’m not leaving stuff out really</p> <p>I’m not necessarily always trying to</p> <p>kill you so I’m going to ask you three</p> <p>questions sure are you ready I’m totally</p> <p>ready I have to read this once I can</p> <p>never remember it okay what is your</p> <p>pregame house rule look like I don’t</p> <p>really have a pregame house rule list</p> <p>it’s more like abandon hope all ye who</p> <p>enter here</p> <p>[Laughter]</p> <p>okay that’s good it’s okay not to have</p> <p>one absolutely because a lot of people</p> <p>do yeah but um it’s I feel it’s really</p> <p>good to know that not everybody does</p> <p>nope second question what is your</p> <p>favorite jam moment my favorite jam</p> <p>moment actually happened very recently</p> <p>and it was at the stream of annihilation</p> <p>when we were playing and we’re playing</p> <p>in the groin game and I had prepared all</p> <p>of the grown characters ahead of time</p> <p>and I prepared the adventure but I knew</p> <p>that our I hoped I should say that it</p> <p>would kind of take on a life of its own</p> <p>and I handed the player characters out</p> <p>to everybody ahead of time and give them</p> <p>an opportunity to read them and so they</p> <p>could get their own feel for what it is</p> <p>that they were gonna do and it happened</p> <p>it was so magical as we kind of sat</p> <p>there and I think I almost did nothing</p> <p>during that game except for I sit back</p> <p>and watch this had come like before me</p> <p>as all the growing and I party started</p> <p>to interact with each other and it was</p> <p>in every once in a while I would jump in</p> <p>and it was kind of like being in a band</p> <p>and having that ultimate jam session</p> <p>yeah right as it just kind of jumped off</p> <p>each other that was really fun thank you</p> <p>and it’s funny because that was Rudy’s</p> <p>favorite Gio moment mm-hmm last question</p> <p>oh yeah quick tip for the audience</p> <p>my first investing only tip to the</p> <p>audience is remember if you’re a player</p> <p>out there that it’s just as important</p> <p>that you are focused on the fun of the</p> <p>entire group as a dental master is it’s</p> <p>not just about you the individual player</p> <p>you want to make it fun for everybody at</p> <p>the table that’s how you get invited</p> <p>back my job</p> <p>that’s our show for today Chris thank</p> <p>you so much for coming all the way to</p> <p>Burbank from Seattle just to be on our</p> <p>show please tell us where we can find</p> <p>you on the Internet and if there are any</p> <p>fun little things that you can share</p> <p>absolutely you can find me on the</p> <p>internet on twitter my twitter handle is</p> <p>at on attrex onn a TR YX and otherwise</p> <p>you can find me if you look very closely</p> <p>hunting through the jungles of cults</p> <p>looking for all the undead in the tomb</p> <p>of annihilation</p> <p>anything new coming up maybe there’s</p> <p>Zanna Thoris and Zanna thar’s has all</p> <p>the character options that you’re going</p> <p>to play that is awesome</p> <p>yes thank you so much new builds for</p> <p>everybody oh my gosh thank you for</p> <p>watching as always I’m Satine Phoenix at</p> <p>Satine Phoenix you can ask me gm2</p> <p>questions at hashtag ask Satine and find</p> <p>me every Sunday at noon on may cerk</p> <p>honest or if an echo on twitch.tv slash</p> <p>means Akana</p> <p>and every Tuesday night dungeon</p> <p>mastering on twitch.tv slash dandy thank</p> <p>you for watching us here on geek &</p> <p>sundry and see you next time Chris</p> <p>there’s one more thing for you to do oh</p> <p>yes</p> <p>would you please GM us out of here</p> <p>absolutely you merge from the jungle</p> <p>into a vast marshland and in the marsh</p> <p>you stand amidst the ruins and wreckage</p> <p>of armies come pass and a mists a mist</p> <p>drifts over the entire land and through</p> <p>the mist you spy a vast army of undead</p> <p>one so insurmountable you can’t possibly</p> <p>imagine to feeding it but behind you you</p> <p>hear the armor if ik squeal of a million</p> <p>giant miniature space hampshire’s</p> <p>as the charge of the new multi-year</p> <p>assistance</p> <p>[Music]</p> <p>[Music]</p> <p>[Applause]</p> <p>[Music]</p> <p>[Applause]</p> <p>[Music]</p> <p>you</p> <p>[Music]</p> <p> Share this:TweetWhatsApp
