VIDEO
twitch land welcome to twitch.tv slash
dandy
is it morning it feels like morning feel
like I’ve it’s like eight o’clock in the
morning but it’s not it’s about noon
because that is when this show happens
you have reached Dungeon Master’s guide
you’re on twitch.tv slash D&D I’m your
host Satine Phoenix and we were supposed
to have our very first episode with
imagine if you will be amazing water
deep backdrop yeah but we don’t have all
of our sets in it takes a little bit
longer to do things and I do believe
half of our production team is out sick
so just like a true dungeon master we
are done to mastering this whole thing
and we’re gonna bring you a Q&A I will
let you know who the guests are after I
go back and Reva revisit something that
we missed last episode there was a
really funny little thing that happened
with everybody because it was the sound
went out right when I was introducing
the new correspondents for this show for
the future so I’m gonna do that right
now are you ready are you ready ready we
have Lauren urban Lisa Chen Allen
Patrick Lauren urban is a community
manager for a D and E beyond if you
haven’t gone there yet go to Dean DB on
comm it is pretty fantastic
and what a lot of us use now for a
characters in campaign building um we
have Lisa Chen who is a dungeon master
for DMS guild check that out Dan’s guilt
calm you can make adventures and share
it and sell it and then get feedback
from people in the community it’s really
good for I really enjoy it for that not
only do you have PDFs of all the things
but you get to get feedback which is
important to know one is an island I’m
gonna get a shirt that says that no
one’s an island Allen Patrick is the
community manager for adventurous league
organized play if you don’t know about
it go find out about it in ventures
League comm I do believe next up we have
so those are those are kind of obvious
other community managers involved with
Dungeons & Dragons well we’re taking it
outside of the box we also have a
and be from cognitive merchant in
Manchester as our European
correspondence out in the field
Manchester has an incredible incredible
D&D community I mean we were walking
around and there’s boom beholder
graffiti’d on the wall so that’s pretty
awesome we also have Fenway Jones 15
year old Dungeon Master and she actually
created Jasper’s game day and that is a
charity event
I do believe they’re just raising money
all over the place at conventions at
different game stores but the big event
is next year
check out Jasper’s game date online I do
believe I don’t know exactly the address
I’m a jerk face but you have Google you
have whatever you search on go do that
check it out
also don’t forget please send us your
1-minute DM tips or not DM tips that’s a
different thing
one minute maximum House Rules Dungeon
Master House Rules you have one minute
that goes over one minute we’re not
going to show it but that’s how you can
participate in the show you send us your
video one minute max – D&D fan art at
wizards calm so those are the things now
we’re going to get to these very
amazingly patient people who are sitting
right next to me on some of my favorite
people on the planet Kelly Lin DeAngelo
and Rudy Ruttenberg thank you guys for
coming insert applause button thank you
guys for being here on such short notice
like true Dungeon Master’s yeah I mean
you were gonna be here anyway yes well
thanks for having me having me anyway
that’s awesome yeah excited to be here
yay why don’t you tell everyone both of
you who you are exactly what you do in
the real world and how they might know
you all right should I start do I lucky
I like here when I look here my general
direction I should look in this
direction hello hi I’m Kelly Lindy
Angela hi I am the dungeon master for
girls gets glory which is gonna be on
after this emphasis the stage
um I also play on sirens of the realm
with Satine which has been awesome
I’ve gmt– a couple games over at geek
and sundry which I had been involved
with for the last couple years and
actually I write musicals and television
and film that’s kind of my bread and
butter which I do here in LA I’ve
written for like a couple of television
shows My Little Pony LITTLEST PET SHOP
and then got off season two final space
this year so I do a loss but I’m really
happy to be here because the D I mean is
myself oh yes and I haven’t be difficult
yes I mean musical called starry I’ve
written a couple of musicals but we’ve
been running this one since summer and
it’s about once a month and we have two
more shows allowed coming up called
starry which is about Vincent and Theo
van Gogh out here in Los Angeles so if
you’re in town I would absolutely love
to share that with you because it’s the
the distilled essence of everything I am
essentially so my soul is up there on
the canvas you get to make tear it apart
you get to be the critic that sounds
like fun
and I’m you can find me on all the
social thingies at Rudy woot you can
also find me and Satine at maser comma
which we are the co-creators for we put
on a lot of productions even as a
production company if it is not our show
that is under the Major Arcana banner
beyond that I am also a foam television
writer and I am an RPG game designer you
are yeah so you were talking about Lisa
earlier being the community manager of
the DMS go where we were able to debut
the everone supplement wayfinders guy to
ever on and I am the co-author of that
along with Keith Baker and we are also
going to be putting out a follow-up to
that very soon called more graves
miscellany which will essentially give
you the university guide to different
subclasses
on as well as some of the new updated
things that you need to know to really
make ever on a very immersive place for
not only your players but for your
imagination to kind of grow and expand
and to play Dungeons and Dragons and a
little bit different like than you might
be used to awesome
yeah thank you so much for being a part
of one of my bringing back one of my
favorite settings I mean you you are
actually who introduced me to ever on
Andy kitty and I fell in love with it
instantly and I started basically
designing stuff for you for our game for
fishin and that’s how that like that is
really where the beginning of my design
started so for everybody that thinks
that like you can’t you know I need all
this background and experience and all
that other stuff I’ve only been doing
game design for about two years and I’ve
gotten to this place and it’s but satine
can also tell you that I’ve spent yeah
it’s been a lot of like four to six
nights which when writing film
television you only have to do when your
shows and crunch yeah but for the most
part that’s that’s probably been what
obviously having a live stream didn’t
hurt with the awareness of like oh this
kid can design stuff but yeah oh man
really has a great segue well we’re here
to talk about today is dungeon mastering
hence the Dungeon Master’s guide title
but it’s about dungeon mastering
comparing livestream dungeon mastering
to home game dungeon master before we
even get into the rest of the year of
conversations it’s really important that
you guys know that what we do isn’t just
it’s not the same it’s different and we
have reasons why it’s different you
can’t compare yourself to what you see
on TV because there’s a so much prep and
so many reasons for all the things so
you guys what is your background on
dungeon mastering before you started
streaming well it’s funny because I I
was always a player
for a long time I was a player and then
finally about four years ago um I
finally there was a discussion happening
and suddenly D&D was coming kind of back
on vogue and I just we couldn’t find a
DM so I just started to pick up the book
I read through it like 18 times maybe I
actually created index cards without the
spells on them to try to memorize them
hmm
and I was like yeah like flashcards like
this is what a DM does right like you
have to like know everything in the book
I’ve seen 16 actually do the flash yeah
yeah yeah I mean this is what I thought
it was so I did that I just DM at home
games for about two years until it
suddenly became a professional
opportunity maybe two and a half and
that was that’s pretty awesome so that’s
kind of my background at the I mean just
some small home games with a lot of new
players you had a lot of people at your
games so cuz that’s actually how I heard
of you cuz everyone is like oh my god
you guys are so cool yeah it was the
first game I played I did again I was
really nervous about D I mean the first
time and it was just that this
rinky-dink apartment I had and I had 13
people in my first game who were all new
to the D&D except for maybe one person
and maybe two and so we’re all just
sitting around with 13 people I’m like
this this is what a dungeon master does
right you can invite as many people as
you want so I slowly started to learn
the tricks of the trades of DME and also
I think that I invited a bunch of people
in because I wanted to eventually learn
about all these different people who had
different classes and I thought it would
be like almost grinding myself like
taking an advanced course in high school
but I learned too quickly like it was
one of course round scores but yeah and
then I ran that game that started from
there for about a year and a half too
and then eventually had to move on to
some other things but they’re still
playing to this day those people I
initially played with um it’s a good
good group of humans nice cool and then
my gaming experience started with with
the group that we had kind of in fourth
did or started in fifth edition that
group was they got the play test for DMD
next when they were kind of in between
transformer movies and the x-men movies
so they they needed extra people like a
man I started playing with them and then
when we had to go off because they had
to go do production stuff I did
production stuff on some other stuff I
kind of like lost it for a little bit
and but still had the itch and ended up
going in a meet up which ended up being
the meet up the Stettin initially
already had unbeknownst to me as any
matter she was and then I had already
started to through that meet up I
started to meet some of the other people
in the community who introduced me into
adventures League which I didn’t know
about previously in any of my experience
and from their adventures they always
need to do an EMS we always need more
people to come in and run games so if
you want to run and you’re afraid you
can’t fill out a table don’t worry about
it we will give you a table of wakes so
I started there almost by accident
because I was at a convention I was
playing and they had a DM they just
couldn’t show up and they I’d already
been play testing some of the new
modules with them not that same group
the link with the adventures League
group that I’d made friends with I got
to play test some of those modules
because some of them were actually
getting to write song and they knew me
well enough to go hey we trust you
enough with the table would you please
run something like would you please run
this and I’m like oh I guess what slot
do you need me running I’m the one in
ten minutes
oh sure I guess well I know the game
really well I know although I know
ins and outs of the phb dungeon
mastering I’ve seen enough different
play Dungeon Master’s I think I can wing
this and essentially I did it went
pretty well
and then from there I just started
thinking about craft and and writing and
how similar those two story telling
mechanisms can be but also as a writer
one of the things that we enjoy most is
the problem solving of how does this
affect this down the road and one thing
that is almost parallel from design work
is that you have to look at design and
storytelling as it’s as if it’s a carpet
and so when you move something you can
bunch up in other places and become just
an eyesore or just not work entirely
costs people the trip fall bus they face
open stuff like that so what we wanted
to what I what I wanted to learn out of
that was how to start making it feel
seamless and especially for adventures
League how to make it feel as though
you’re not being railroaded we’ve been
doing a lot of online shopping so when
we’re doing so so then that kind of got
me into the mode of doing it and I
eventually and by invention I knew like
probably the next con or the one after
that was running four slots a day over
40 weekends so I was running anywhere
between 12 and 16 games over a weekend
which was hardcore there are some dm’s
that are out there that still are doing
that yeah fruits a nothing but the love
street respect so write about them
appreciating everyone else that’s coming
in wanting to make sure that that
nobody’s let down wrestle out of like
the best part of a person’s heart it’s
and our community is awesome we are very
fortunate that this is one of the
strongest RPG and gaming communities
that is accepting and welcoming of the
people that we’ve we’ve been fortunate
enough to kind of find this this unity
with this is neelima
so that’s how we started the aiming and
then at some point too
16 June 2016 I met Satine at the release
for a for the Cerrone Kings Thunder and
forced Gracie’s into a tank and we were
sitting down at a table with our friend
Chris Lindsey who is not our friend yet
and we kind of like instantly clicked in
our role-playing and then she and I went
on hikes and talked about things
dungeons dragons related and essentially
it was like hey you want to do this
thing yeah sure let’s do that okay do
you wanna do yeah I can do that and then
that’s how maze our content essentially
get started yeah
look hey and now it was like six days
after we met would you need to do all
the things yeah essentially I mean we’ve
been created a slack that was you all
buddies like doing doing all the things
when you both transferred over you were
invited into a new group that it already
been started yeah
you have we built that one from scratch
with the show what was that like okay so
there’s a couple e different things what
is it like jumping in on someone else’s
game on streaming with their own
expectations what is it like building
from scratch not knowing if everyone’s
gonna get along like those are two
really important things especially on
stream which is harder than at a home
camp game you’re just like okay guys not
working versus oh my god it has to work
yeah I definitely am in many ways a
perfectionist I was really nervous I
mean like really really nervous I’m not
gonna lie like I had been running games
at tables with people who started at
first level who you know we were
building up the levels together and the
story together and I was actually I at
that time I was already playing up my
weekly Wednesday game that I still play
I was playing pickup games every other
Sunday like I was playing four to five
campaigns a month and then suddenly I
got invited to this amazing group of
women who had this amazing opportunity
who needed a dungeon master and I was
like well yes like first of all and all
woman’s gay
that sounds incredible never done that
before but then ii like secondly like
these are all people who are actors too
so like how upsetting would that be as a
television writer to sit at a table full
of people who are actors very talented
actors and be able to play in that world
with them so i was beyond the honored
first that they even considered me and
then to honored that they accepted me
into the family because they’re just
like the nicest sweetest group of people
i think i’ve ever met truly like now
literally i’m living with one of them
actually they’re great and they’re
fantastic players too but i while i was
trying to figure out what that was like
it was hard for me because i I was
coming in definitely with a lot of
personal fears and anxieties I was like
I don’t we deemed for two years like am
I even good at this like I get that
people like you know enjoyed the games
but I look at someone like Matt Mercer
and I’m like her no matter sir like he’s
amazing like how do I become like him
and it’s it was one of those things
where like I and I was listening to the
Avengers own at the time and like all
these amazing DMS and I just it the
world was starting to craft itself and I
didn’t see myself anywhere near as good
as anybody else so I was trying to get
over that like we I’m gonna be on a
stream but those people are on a stream
around a podcast like how do I feel how
do I work through whatever this is and I
had to actually just keep the thing that
really helps me with drive that home and
get a get over that fear was the fact
that I have been writing my whole life
and storytelling and narrative
storytelling is something inherently
within me so I just had to kind of lean
on lean on the things that made me who I
was and say okay I’m gonna put faith
that these people have faith in me even
if I haven’t been playing with that mess
on this they’ve been playing even if
they there’s expectations or needs or
wants or desires I’m perfectionist
it’s really just about being
authentically yourself so I’ve said –
like reaffirm that
to myself for like three months well I
think izaya T was you know as all the
girls ready where we bonded are you cool
and Kim is such a fantastic DeYoung cuz
she’s so um she was just so into her
character play and so into her world
building to that I just wanted to I
wanted to be myself but then also pay
aha I like homage to everything she
created so I’m hope I’m hopefully doing
a version of that so there’s a bit of
pressure on your side jumping into a
group but they were very welcoming yes
exactly I mean it I think that in any
situation where our new diems needed or
or anyone needs to come into a femme
like a familial like situation like that
as long as you are surrounded by good
people it doesn’t matter it doesn’t
matter if you’re dreaming the game
that’s ten years old it doesn’t matter
if you’re training a brand new game I in
my personal opinion is it’s really it
really boils down to we just want to
have a good time we want to plot this
comes down to being considerate yeah
because if they’re good people they can
be considerate to the fact that you are
new you need to be come acclimated to
what is is going on and then they also
need to acclimate to you because one of
the things that Satine and I preach is
that not every table is for every player
yeah or every DM and DM styles are very
much a reflection of your personality so
Tina I have drastically different styles
if it is like our choice I’m what we’re
gonna play yeah but we can code DM and
not many not many duo’s can do that
because when you like I know Satine well
enough to know when she needs to have
the wings to open up and and to do that
and I can kind of pull back a little bit
and she knows that if there’s something
that needs to make a turn or something
like that she can basically just trust
that I’m going to be right there because
I’ve been listening to her the whole
time and I know the worlds and the games
and everything like that so the word
worlds are the rules so that if she
needs me I’m there and our like theories
reach we co-wrote that entire thing and
every week
to change the story to work for two
different groups and that’s that shows
you that like there is a style and she
maintained her style during it and I
maintain my style during it and we came
together for the launch of Furies reach
and ran a game in front of everybody in
a 90 minute block with a ton of players
like well we have nine players Eliot
geek and sundry at one point before she
so to me like what we really have to be
mindful of is that our future like where
we’re going and where we’re gonna be is
is it has to be open we have to be open
to it like Satine would you have ever
thought two years ago and you met me
that you would be the community manager
for Dungeons & Dragons because of Mazar
because of what we built and it’s that
kind of a thing I never would have
thought that I actually would get to
write ever on with Keith it’s just one
of those things where we have the the
world is going to kind of shift and
change and we need to be ready to change
with it just like when our players shift
and change we need to be ready to shift
and change with them and if we you’re
courteous we’re keeping in mind the
goals that they have for their
characters and what they want out of a
story just like they’re being courteous
about the story that you were trying to
facilitate now your story you’re trying
to tell because it’s not your story
you are one Fayette there six there
eighth or whatever one fourteenth of
whatever kind of story that you or
whatever amount of people are there yeah
yeah so let’s go back you jumped into a
group and you created a group we I would
be remiss if I were to say that I did
anything simple as a dungeon master
there is a crafting that has to happen
and in orphanet go I’m a player man you
know so why don’t you talk about what
was like for you to get a bunch of
people who some you play with some you
haven’t played with what was it like
what were the challenges of doing that
for stream versus hopping into a normal
game well things that we you know that
you don’t know are things you again have
to be able to roll with and learn as
you’re going and be thoughtful about
because one thing that all humans are in
it to a degree is resistant to change
and we want to be creatures of habit we
want to do things the way we want to do
them and the way we think we got to do
them and sometimes we don’t consider how
other people that other people are the
same as us in that way and that we need
to make sure that if we want to play
something that is cooperative we have to
be cooperative we have to try and them
and so for our orphan echo game one of
the things that we had to learn along
the way was that we need to be
communicative with people not just while
we’re at the table but around it we need
to be able to set expectations because
you can’t you can’t be disappointed in
somebody if you haven’t set their
expectation appropriately or if you
haven’t helped them to set a healthy
expectation so coming together learning
new people that I haven’t played with
and then how they’re gonna gel with
people that I have played with that was
all and then making sure that the tone
of the game that we were trying to play
match the world in the setting and stuff
like that and that that was accurately
communicated to other people so while at
the same time letting them know that
they are part of the storytelling thing
it was a lot a lot of time in our
initial early things where Cetina be
like well you’re telling the story I’m
like no I’m not I’m not
that’s the you have to appreciate that
your players are part of that story
telling process and in the moment we get
at this and writing a lot and Hollywood
especially but the moment an idea leaves
your mouth it is no longer your idea
it is number one been put out in the
zeitgeist of the inner of the universe
so it’s gonna happen to sooner or later
and it may not be that you yeah but once
you set that stage that’s that’s your
input on the story now players are going
to start putting their input in there
and how that world reacts to them is
going to inform their decisions and the
consequences that come from those
decisions you can’t be mad at somebody
for treating the world as if it is
inconsequential if you don’t give them
the expectation that they’re the things
they’re doing yeah so for those of you
who are just jumping in and what is this
this isn’t a game it’s not it’s a
Dungeon Master’s guide and we’re talking
today about dungeon mastering on screen
versus dungeon mastering at a home
campaign so why don’t we talk a little
bit about Oh before that there is a
raffle exclamation mark raffle in the
chat Lauren yeah put exclamation mark in
the chat when Lauren opens up the raffle
and you could win a beautiful brand-new
shiny smells like new not new paper
Dungeon Master’s guide yeah so do that
in the thing and if you have any
questions on dungeon mastering for
screen we’re going to take three of them
Lauren is in chat and is going to is
organizing that so I keep looking at my
phone because because information lives
here
so why don’t we go ahead and talk about
how do you prep what what are the
difference in prepping really of a half
hour left
what’s the difference in prepping for
screen versus prepping for for your home
game on this one okay so in your prep
for home I think the big difference is
between being on stream and being at
home one time limits right so you have
you have a clock you have to be mindful
of for your stream there may be are
people that are willing to sit and watch
you kind of fumble through settings for
eight hours
there are unlikely but there are players
that will certainly sit there and fumble
through it with you for eight hours you
can have all day game of thones and
whatnot but is that necessarily
entertaining so one of the things again
as a writer that we learn is that you
really only want to share the things
that are most pertinent
two things that are going on either
whether that’s character building her
story building and in streaming you have
to be able to keep those those margins
pretty tight and know when to move on
from something we had an incident in
inkwell Society in the premiere this
last Sunday or sorry last Wednesday
where you got hammered on this gold
bottle of I feel like that’s not it like
you did yeah you dumb yeah you were
super sad and it’s oh and this is it
worked as a very good character building
or character reveal for you but it was a
little crazier than what we would
normally do an inkwell but again it was
all in your head you failed the wisdom
saying oh yeah and then you got like a
three on it you failed the wisdom save
and then you were in the you were in the
bathroom and the toilet started talking
to you and then the sofa started talking
to you and like this but these are all
things but both important thing I would
know it was his its emotionally
destroyed cash it was like I have roses
on my upholstery now anyway but the
important thing was that as as Dungeon
Master’s whether you’re at home or on
stream you need to be gauging your
players reactions and things you need to
be constantly pulling the room watching
for their towels and I know when sateen
was over it because I know her well
enough I’ve played with her enough I
know and her her attention for that
thing is starting to wane and likewise
we had another player who wasn’t in the
scene who wasn’t a part of it and that
players sometimes really enjoys the
hard-boiled nature of things but
sometimes doesn’t enjoy the zanier
parts or the the things that that you
can feel it is not inconsequential right
so it’s in it’s about managing all not
only when Satine is done with it but
when that player is done with it too and
when the rest of this table is ready to
move on because it has to stay
interesting and then you do that at home
but on stream I have to be mindful of
how much
time allotting for that sort of madam
continue to move yeah yeah so the prep
for that which Satine I think all three
of us can know like your chant your prep
for an online stream can change like
that because somebody can’t show up
because there’s traffic on the 101
because whatever yeah so you’re rolling
Satine both Satine and I in our last
couple of games had to essentially drop
out entire acts or more of our prep and
almost roll with whatever the players
we’re gonna get why didn’t prep it all
out silence there was nothing yeah
nothing it was just you and we had
master thing because in that particular
case I front loaded all my prep so
basically I designed the room and
relationships in the city so that you
guys could treat the stream like a home
campaign where you just pick where you
want to go sandbox
and the thing is to is like I like I
definitely my home games are
exponentially different than the stream
games because dreaming I mean for me
personally I have a table that I play
with that we hand-built my friends
Averell and Richard helped me design it
and then the whole group of people that
I play with on Wednesdays legitimately
we built a table in one of our looks so
but when I am at the table I feel like I
might have I’m home so I have my
television and I do projected maps
because as much yeah cuz it’s I’m not
I’m not gonna lie I’m a dungeon master
who is not good with their hands I can’t
draw I wish I had that ability since
healing I cannot draw if I practice a
bunch of no doubt I could but my time is
finit so I’d have to pick and choose
what I spend my time on and I really
don’t I’m merely not good at like Matt
construction and I don’t like spending
tons and tons of money and money and
already painted minis so it’s like how
do you for my style at home my digital
maps help cut down that time in half and
I can just play on those and change it
off quickly show images of the different
characters it’s just there’s a there’s a
there’s an accessibility that is quick
and easy and because these people are
all my friends you know well we will let
a joke went on for an exponentially a
long time we will swear a lot more
there’s alcohol involved usually or like
there’s meals we’ll have or sometimes
I’ll do like I’ll do very experimental
stuff with them things by candlelight
like we’ll put things on candlelight
will juice dream sequences we’ll do like
interesting flashbacks we’ll do usually
story art sometimes built within the
world of previous games that have been
published like we we there’s a lot more
room to play but also because there’s so
much play the sacrifice of like deep
emotional intent is kind of there for us
because it’s just so light-hearted
sometimes right that I love the fact
that stream gives us a place to really
dive more into character which is which
is for me the dip the biggest difference
in games I tried to meld those worlds as
best as like I can but I do feel like
levels of comfortability change cuz
there is no camera on we actually on my
Wednesday game started to record like
just for fun we were like let’s do let’s
try to do a podcast or something because
we’ve been playing for years together
and you’re all amazing in the moment
that the podcast started everyone
changed it was it was great but it was
like oh listen to the pacing listen to
the feckless crosstalk is happening like
there’s things you sacrifice that
comfortability and and comedy or
self-editing yeah people will stop that
it for sure yeah and as a storyteller I
work in either facet but for my live
streams I definitely feel that my prep
is a bit more intentional and I actually
pretty much run pre-built modules at
home because I like to sandbox from
pre-established world so I’ll put
something in Princes or in horde or in
tyranny or all take some sort of like
small published journey an adventure and
then build out from where I’m gonna
train you though and I love to learn
so at home I can like exercise lor and
then here I am able to implement
everything that I actually play at home
that informs this tool right so it’s
it’s it’s interesting it’s almost like
taking classes on my own with all these
amazing people and then coming here and
being professional it’s really have to
be thoughtful of is the feeling of not
closure per se but of completion of like
having some sort of compartmentalize
ending your thing whereas in the home
games you can kind of go until you hit
that or you can cut it off and you know
people are going to come back but like
sometimes you get that feeling if you’re
at a home game and things are moving
slowly that you’re just not completing
anything the things the story isn’t
moving and to me I actually I actually
really enjoy streaming because to me
everybody is on it like everybody’s
thoughtful and they’re thinking at each
other everybody’s paying attention
nobody shoot magic missiles and Adichie
toes
nobody’s you know pouring Mountain Dew
all over the news and and usually we’re
mindful enough because we’re censoring
ourselves you’re not gonna have somebody
necessarily tableflip on you but that
also means that you have to be you have
to be very thoughtful with the aftercare
that happens after a session and about
prep the zero before it yeah because
everybody needs to feel like all that
stuff they couldn’t say on stream they
can talk to you about they can be open
with it still needs to feel like that is
your there everyone is your friend yeah
because you’re going through the
gauntlet together yeah you want it like
that the biggest thing is like in either
option like genuineness and like honesty
or by far the most important like that
doesn’t change right like the fact that
we’re all trying to tell a good story
together no matter what doesn’t change
it’s just sound levels can really change
too yeah yeah I mean like good see big
easy thing for you to do to make you
extreme a lot better is no eating on
string no gum things like that it was
super easy that’s like the opposite of
what I spent the last twenty years
thirty years doing at my table one of
the things I’ve noticed is how
when you’re playing a game at home it’s
so casual everyone at the table tracks a
story by their own way in their own way
right they take what they want out of it
but you put a camera in there everyone
has to be mindful of what story of
they’re projecting right and I think
that’s the biggest difference is being
concise and clear because you know at
home you’re playing a game but on stream
you’re telling a story right and you’re
right you’re not telling the story we’re
all telling this exactly and we’re
involved and when people talk over each
other you can’t get the story when
somebody is over here talking and
whispering in the camera or the
microphone gets it and you’re the
dungeon master and you’re trying to give
that they miss out and suddenly the
story is chaos when it goes out through
that camera and then nobody can follow
along at home cuz essentially what we’re
making is some hybrid between a campaign
and television right yeah and I I come
from you know eight plus years of improv
experience and so actually I think
that’s probably been the most
informative thing that I’ve ever had
because the seamlessness that you get in
on camera gameplay is improv experience
that’s two things that’s a scene that’s
self-evident yep that’s it’s being
mindful not to go for the joke what’s a
nice way the game you play the game and
like that’s the thing is that I think
really the reason why home games can
feel so astronomically different than a
streamed game is because of that element
of like everyone’s improvising yeah
everyone’s participating and that’s it
that’s a really interesting point
because coming from voice acting which I
forgot to mention that we do I’m dirty
yeah and we do them in the game right
from the acting that we’ve done and the
voice acting is that the reason voice
actors make such good players and DMS is
because number one you’ve got a script
you go through you know you have to get
these certain lines but then we get the
opportunity to go through and and meddle
with those and to try different feelings
and thoughts which is what actors do
when they’re doing
prep for a scene or even just for an
audition but in voice acting you get to
go through and play with that
with the mindset of a different
character and then under and then go
through the character’s backstory and
start thinking about how are different
ways that we can change that and as a
dungeon master that helps us
significantly because we have a script
that we’ve kind of got right
like like Satine and like you like what
we’re saying is that like for for
inkwell there’s like eight storylines
going on so wherever the players go
we’ve got something for it yeah it may
not be something we’ve thought about
this week but it is something that we we
have a loose idea of and so we can
improv and pull and draw what we need to
in a scene in a game in that moment to
get the reaction and make sure that it’s
meaningful because when I’m playing when
I’m done to mastering even if it’s at
home or on stream the thing that stays
consistent is that I want you to have
some sort of emotional connection with
what’s going on and that’s a
storytelling trick yeah is that a scene
should always have an emotional anger
and so I always try to make sure that
wherever you guys go there’s an
emotional anchor even if that emotional
anchor is the player that’s sitting next
to the other player because satine’s
character might feel for your character
going through whatever it is you’re
going through we were talking earlier
with off-camera about passive versus
active not only role playing the
Casimir’s active storyteller actor and
the way that somebody remains active in
a passive environment is by choosing to
care about the either the other people
that are there or the situation and that
takes them out of being passive because
they are actively listening actively
involved and engaged and you can see it
happening so how do we relate all of
this to the differences of streaming
versus playing at home because you know
everyone’s there at home to just spend
their day off with their friends right
like how do you do you bring anything
from streaming back into your home play
and how does that affect your players or
do you just kind of keep them separate I
think there’s an
awareness kind of situation going on
here because I think that what streaming
gives us is it is the refined almost
advanced version of what we do at home
at home we can lag it’s very it’s very
heightened and it’s also like what why
are you doing this like what’s the
intention of it is it to hang out with
friends and be casual then don’t feel
the pressure or the need to make it a
stream you know or if something you are
streaming in order to get people you
know like workshop actors or get people
you know into characters and roles that
they would never get the chance to play
like I know that Ali who plays Lilith on
girls gets glory loves the fact that she
gets to play somebody who’s kind of like
evil and it does these like crazy things
that like a lot of the time woman are
not associated with so so so what is the
exercise and the purpose alright you’re
doing and and I can take that home I
mean I take anything home I will take a
free coffee home I will take it for you
because I am take notes yeah I’m
somebody who’s about who thinks they can
learn in any area of life anyway or
collaborative in any essence of being
collaborative I feel like I’m learning
whether it be in television writing
whether it be in D&D and improv all of
these things inform one another and to
not say that my live streaming hasn’t
affected my home play would be a
disservice to that if I said no then
that would not be I would have to look a
little bit inside and say why why is
that why am I not learning something or
taking something away from streaming
right I’m definitely learning about the
professionalism the the timing is a big
thing you can and an intent that I’m
learning pacing and I learned that I
used to smile a too much here’s one so I
watch so here’s an interesting thing
that streaming taught oh as a kid as a
tell I yeah yeah I was we watching me
plain as a dungeon master in the first
couple episodes and I was like I smile
too much and it gives no it doesn’t give
anything away cuz you never know if it
is good or bad with me you never know
with this model um but like I was like I
want to start to learn how to do a
better still face and so these are
things I would have never seen in my
home game oh there are things is when I
go back into my notes on the screen
I will crack up on that I was completely
straight face for while we were playing
that was just like I was stone-cold
whatever we were doing this thing but
then when I go back and watch it I’m
like how did I make it through that I
know I think that ain’t no platitude for
what you were talking about for the
learning thing is that like when we stop
learning
we’re like sharks in a way when we stop
learning we start dying and so like the
best way for us to continue evolving and
again we’re comfortable we don’t change
but the best way is to continually seek
out that that information gain and that
change and then apply it intelligence
versus wisdom wisdom is the ability to
apply what you can learn through your
intelligence yeah so this has been a
very fast hour we have questions from
the audience
huh it is 1:45 is it I got like 5 a.m.
so for those of you out there I say to
these questions after these questions
we’re going to choose the raffle so
exclamation mark raffle get in there but
we already have the questions so if you
want to ask more questions just hashtag
Dungeon Master’s guide a hashtag asks
that team and then ask me in Twitter
first question we’re gonna do these the
first to fast the last ones a long one
this one is from Geoffrey Kane thank you
what is your feeling on props handouts
at your table do you prefer them to be
Dan made or player made on stream i have
started incorporating more props on
stream and they’re usually made by me
but i love when the characters bring in
i actually have been talking some of the
girls about bringing in little elements
of their character because i feel like
sometimes when you can visualize it it
just gets you even more immersed into
the world and i’m and i’m an immersion
astiz that a thing let’s coin it I’m an
immersion astir of that one to me we
were talking about meta and stuff again
we
just took you to watch it all Saturday
but we were having this great
conversation about meta verses and also
codec which but meta is at the end ha ha
um nobody got great joke yes right so
with with the meta thing it’s like yeah
immersion is important and but also
especially if you’re on stream making
sure that it is something that actually
fits the setting and fits what’s going
on and so that means that you have to be
on the same page as your player or if
the player is going to be bringing
something in they need to know that
that’s like if they come up with some
profits it’s weird for where you are at
then then you kind of like throw it’s
gonna be a big question mark for people
and I try to incorporate weird props but
sirens is weird because it is
situational but then it also becomes an
exercise and improv like okay so then
how does this work how do you do and you
have to almost a blue sky right there
before the game so that you’re not
caught off guard with it speaking of
caught off guard last night at the Extra
Life game Chris Lindsay’s game was
awesome yeah I watched I played he
Dungeon Master 2 game by Lisa Chan and
well Doyle would lose hilarious and
super gross but there were these awesome
awesome puzzles and there was like all
these handouts and I’m like wow at home
I would be like okay let’s do this let’s
go into these puzzles and but you know
having done so many streams now I’m like
wow this is a beautiful puzzle not doing
it on stream yeah to the king who who
wasn’t talking anyway which was great so
it was really interesting
the kinds of prop set you use at home
are not always the kinds are good for a
stream yeah I did appreciate those
puzzles because it was a puzzle
introduced it was like a newspaper
introduced and then another piece of
paper of advertisements introduced and
then as other thing that led back to all
of those right it was this beautiful
weave of Clue relationships oh cool
so that is really interesting okay
question two as a DM how strictly do you
enforce rules on the stream let’s start
with reading so it to me it’s
situational dependent and being the
dungeon master you get to
kind of decide in the moment how you’re
going to play that but to me the
communication like all rules are is the
baseline for communication so what that
means is that it needs to be consistent
because if you start letting one player
ignore the rule then you’re kind of
playing a favoritism or at least that’s
how it’s gonna be seen if you’re playing
and you change the rule constantly well
then your players don’t have the
touchstone of what does this mean to my
character then I I could do this or I
don’t plus they also don’t know how to
explain it to you in order to get what
they want out of it or to even get close
so to me I’m more of a tell me what
you’re trying to do and then let me see
which rules are actually the ones that
need to be implied as opposed to it’s
the best way because you don’t want a
player to go well I’m doing this and
this and this and this but you as the
dungeon master need to be knowledgeable
to know okay but for this situation that
the rule you’re trying to put into
effect isn’t actually the rule that we
would use and so and I don’t like it
when players tell me which rules they’re
gonna do unless I ask for the
clarification
ahead of time I can’t stand that because
it’s like oh you don’t know what I think
by the way that role doesn’t count I’m
glad you got a crit and everything like
that but you also just robbed the
audience from getting to experience that
with you because you did it ahead yeah
right
it’s just weird if you’re in the middle
of the other thing isn’t it yeah I
definitely think that rules create
stakes because if you didn’t have rules
then it would just be a bunch of people
without any stakes doing anything they
want and that’s just like a messy improv
session i I think that rules it there
the thing that make it worthwhile yeah
it’s without them there’s no game and
I’m not somebody who who hinges on rules
by any means like I I will not stick to
certain rules I’d like to break certain
ones I like house I have certain house
rules that I like to have but I do think
that when you play within the world of
something by paying respect to what
that’s been created and what that’s
giving you it gives people it gives
certain people who need that opportunity
to explore things and areas of their of
themselves and their characters they
never would
had without rules a very dominant
character or player personality could
totally take over but by being able to
have rules it then becomes a game it
becomes a shared experience a
collaborative storytelling you really
can’t do dandy with one person in the DM
you know it’s about six or seven people
the rules provide that opportunity so I
like rules as long as they help advance
the story as long as they’re informative
character choices and I often at times
will break the rules for stronger
storytelling points like two things that
I do things that I would say really
quickly to kind of like put that into a
thing is that rules are important
because they give new players the
baseline for the thing if they’re not
veteran players they might not know how
to bend things certain ways or how to
reskin something so it actually makes
the people who would be more timid more
open to to jumping in and to diving in
because they can oh this is what that
means okay I got that but the thing that
I do for every single game whether it is
at home whether it’s at a convention or
whether it’s livestream is our session
zeroes has somewhere in there my
favorite quote that I live by that is a
world with no consequence is a world of
no consequence and you can say that the
same way with games and with rules if it
doesn’t matter then why are we doing
yeah um thank you limited sea horses for
that question I really enjoy having the
rules but having having my players push
them and then ending it but not like
kind of bending it like really bending
it but one of the things to go back to
streaming versus not streaming games I
have noticed we have a lot of new
players on the streams one of the things
that we have been doing if we forget
rules or whatever and this is something
that you know I think I did last week or
the week before where okay you can’t
actually confront your player at the
table when you’re streaming you know
it’s like okay well that wasn’t really a
thing so writing notes after the fact
having a review is really good but when
you’re gaming at the table at home
you’re like okay well let’s take some
time
you have 15 minutes to look something
that you talked about at the time
anymore on the street well you can’t
take the time on stream because it
doesn’t make for good television right
so one of the things that we’ve been
doing to kind of bypass that every once
in a while actually sin I think we’re
only been doing this with sin sin and
Kenley been playing with them off camera
yeah and we play such a casual game like
either it’ll be a half hour or it’ll be
two hours and it’s them exploring their
characters and actually like training
them so that when they go on stream they
know it a little bit better okay last
question we only have a couple minutes
and I want to wrap this up with your
house rules so that’s gonna be next hold
on this question is by only play wizards
question
oh it’s death is it no wait no that’s a
different tag for everything so one of
the worries about streaming games is
that it is expelled this is why this is
the question of why I wanted to do this
in the first place okay good job it is
exposed a lot of players to D&D however
I’ve encountered new players that expect
home games to be like stream games in
terms of game style and production how
do you balance that and taper
expectations that’s it there’s
expectations yeah I mean the thing is is
that I think that in a world in a world
built on self-satisfaction and
expectation that can be the antithesis
of some of the best creative exploration
so telling people right away like I know
you might have expectations but this is
let me explain to you what I am doing
this for and just communicate like I’m
doing this to create new friends to be
social I’m doing this because I really
enjoy battles and I love running through
panel sessions I am doing this because I
want something to do in my free time I
want a new activity to take on like if
you’re just honest about that then I
think then it becomes more fun for
everybody involved because when and it
whenever somebody might place
expectation on some
that’s where the that’s where things
will falter because nobody can meet
anyone’s expectations unless you I mean
I actually believe that fervently like
what you can’t meet if you don’t know
what they are and if you don’t know what
they are especially if you’ve never
played with them before so it’s about
journeying through that and like finding
common ground it’s about working on that
together and if people aren’t coming in
and they’re disappointed because it’s
not crisp and refined there’s not
Lacroix in the fridge and it look wise
then then I think that they rather they
need to re-evaluate what they want to
get out of the game or they might need
to take some time away and process all
of that because because like I started
playing D&D just because I loved the
game and I started Dee I mean simply
because I wanted to try to learn like I
was a rough DL and certain people didn’t
play with me and we’re like ooh I don’t
know if this is the game style for me
and I’m like you know what that’s fine
and communicating that with me I won’t
take it off it I will not be offended by
it something that yeah something that
Stettin and I I think that is a little
bit different about the way that we’ve
kind of come up as opposed to like see
ours the CR as they’re there they played
with those people for a long time they
know each other very well but Matt and
that plays every now and then was like
you know force gray or like with other
people grabbing in there and he has his
style but everybody knows it because
they’ve watched enough what’s the T and
I have kind of had to champion and is
the idea of when we bring new people in
sometimes they don’t know how to play
with the other people that are there
sometimes they’re they play a different
style of RPG there’s like you’re saying
there’s always that need to facilitate
what the expectations are supposed to be
and we put a lot of effort into
championing champion minging nomini
session zero and that is a session zero
at the beginning of your campaign and
then add a check in about probably every
three to four sessions but also I do
session zero every single game five
minutes at the beginning of a game
whether I played with those players or
not I remind them
what the world’s like about what they’re
doing and I take the time to go and find
out what they want out of the game what
they expect out of the thing because
that way we can blend what our
expectations are together and if they
start to move back and forth we we can
work with that together like the same
thing with having with everybody knowing
that this is a game of consent yeah you
have to be ready for somebody to go hey
I’m not comfortable with what’s going on
and say yes okay let’s put a button on
that or let’s come back to that or let’s
just could you know cut that off of the
route and that shouldn’t just be on you
as a DM that is on every single person
at the table because it is a shared
cooperative experience where you recall
storytellers so players out there
communicate we do Dungeon Master’s wait
you want and set expectations so that
they understand Dungeon Master’s if you
have groups that you like on stream talk
to the dungeon master find out what’s
important to them because we all learn
from each other and that’s the point of
this entire show Lauren Rubin is going
to draw the raffle or has already and
real quick what is your what are your
house rules I only have the ones that I
can only think about the top of my head
or a couple and the power of positivity
I do not round down for anything I round
up everything like damage everything
like that all rounded up so I went
somethings have to I like to think it’s
like it better for the villains and
better for it they’re also the players
and the only other thing is I do BAMF
invisibility spell I usually like give
people advantage as well as the plus
tense and things like that there’s
certain spells that I like to tweak for
flavor text because I think they should
be more powerful um so those are the two
hospitals off the top of my head that I
can think of otherwise like everyone be
kind and be courteous and also always
speak as your character if you can yep I
would say that one of mine is active
role playing and that’s not like there
that’s not to pull somebody out of their
comfort zone necessarily but it’s to
help with preventing metagaming because
if you’re if everybody knows that what
they’re saying is to be taken in
character then that means that when
somebody says something you don’t have
to go are you saying that and care about
a character you just have the world
react to it because it should be obvious
when a player is addressing you as a
dungeon master creating that bolsa teens
very good by going
master so that we know that what she’s
saying is completely out of character
that in school they do but that was but
I mean like the things that we get that
entire escapade with the drinking thing
that happened in inkwell was because you
said something meta that we didn’t let
roll meta we ran with it and that
created an incredible game that created
an incredible moment that people loved
like and made clips and clips and clips
about so for me my home rules are be
considerate to everyone else it’s at the
table make sure that if you are doing
something that makes another player as a
player uncomfortable or the DM
uncomfortable that you are mindful of
that and you are ready to draw up like
pull back and be thoughtful and then you
must stay afterwards you must stay for a
minimum of 15 minutes because we all
need to hug it out and we need to talk
about the crap that happened and if
anybody if somebody leaves and they’re
upset you’re letting somebody drive
upset you’re letting somebody go out
into the world with a bad situation that
they got from this game that was
supposed to be fun and supposed to be
taking care of people yeah
or you just need a hug because it was so
fun yeah don’t miss those moments to
like to gush about your game so thank
you guys for being on our show this is
like the first not official official
episode of the Dungeon Master’s guide
straight the road to you thank you for
having us yeah big congratulations to
glue crow who just wanted Dungeon
Master’s guide brand-spanking-new
not even used real quick I’m gonna over
the next episodes I will give you little
tidbits of my own house rules and one of
them is don’t tell other players what
they need to do don’t met a game right
let the person make their own our
choices and let them feel because fail
is fun for story feel for story well
first story we’re gonna wrap up thank
you guys for spending your Sunday with
us but don’t go away cuz in an hour
girls cos Gloria’s gonna be back with
this one and her friends so thank you
all for watching this don’t forget to
send your one-minute videos of your
house rules to DV
fan art at Wizards comm have a lovely
afternoon
you