Shattered Teeth: which map is cannon?

November 8, 2022Zoltar Leave a comment

I am starting a campaign for an island hopping band of brigands hopefully set in the Shattered Teeth. But which map is cannon! HELP! There is no canon map of the Shattered Teeth available as of yet, so it’s whatever you’d like! 🙂

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 30, 2018

If you were going to adapt Dragon Heist in a Tal’dorei setting, what city would you set it in?

November 8, 2022Zoltar Leave a comment

random thought/question: if you were going to adapt dragon heist in a tal’dorei setting, what city would you set it in? Probably Emon! Tweak a few district names, and voila!

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 26, 2018

Can a Blood Hunter use a longbow as their weapon and use it as a crimson rite?

November 7, 2022Zoltar Leave a comment

So can a Blood Hunter use a longbow as their weapon and use it as a crimson rite? Would the arrow have the 1d4 damage or would it fade out? @matthewmercer I’m just curious because of the wording and I’m a blood hunter in my father-in-law’s game. It is intended to be cast on bows/crossbows to carry the rite to the ammunition fired (though the rite damage fades after the hit/miss).

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) June 3, 2022

Wait sorry just to clarify, it fades after you make an attack? As in if I were to hit with a longbow with the crimson rite applied, I’d have to use my crimson rite again and reapply the damage? Meaning the ammunition fades. The rite on the weapon remains. (This is to prevent someone handing “rite enhanced” ammunition to another to fire).

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) June 3, 2022

Matt Mercer DM Tips: Preparing for the Unexpected!

November 7, 2022Zoltar Leave a comment

THIS IS A AN AUTOMATIC CAPTION TEXT from YouTube, so it’s not “perfect”. My advice is to use it just to help people like me that are not english speaking, to understand the Video/Podcast MATT: Hey guys! My name is Matthew Mercer. I’m a voice actor and dungeon master for Geek & Sundry’s Critical Role, and welcome to my video series about tips and tricks for burgeoning and/or classic GMs and DMs. Today’s topic is going to be preparing for the unexpected, which is a large part of the actual GMing experience. [trumpet fanfare] Preparation is the key to not being prepared. I know that sounds crazy, but you can definitely be comfortable pulling stuff out of your ass. You’ll be doing that a lot. The best that you can think of alternative scenarios, or give loose notes as to other possibilities that your players might dive into, does help you be a little more prepared for the crazy. Especially if you’ve had some time with the party and with those players, you kind of get a feel for their game style and the type of questions they ask, the type of off the cuff actions they take and the type of directions they tend to veer towards. Once you get a feel for that you can start preparing a little bit some alternate paths from the main story that you’ve been developing. Even so, the players will always, always surprise you. You’ll be caught off guard, they’ll do things that make you go (bewildered) “okay!” and you’ve got to roll with it. You don’t want to deny the players their actions, unless they’re completely ridiculous, and over the top, and don’t fit within the world or the setting. For the most part you want to let them go along with their choices, as cockamaimy and weird as they may be. Because those will make for some of the best stories, for one, and will take you in some of the best places as a GM that are hilarious and fun. I get most of my fun when I’m thrown off the mark as a dungeon master. I like the mental gymnastics that are part of it, and the kind of back and forth with the players, creating this unknown future path. It’s a really exhilarating experience for me and it’s scary at first, trust me, I understand, but it’s really exhilarating. On that note too, you don’t want to try and railroad the players too much. I know you’ve built this wonderful story that you’re working so hard to get them through, and you will be able to keep them on that story path for the most part. Unless they’re completely insane. If they veer a little bit left and right let them steer out of the way. Let them find some weird side elements and you can always guide them back in slowly. Don’t try and force them on that particular path or get frustrated if they begin to veer from your set plan. Because that’s kind of what really makes RPGs its own special genre of gaming aside from other formats is you can do that it all is fluid and it’s wonderful. Don’t be afraid to roll with some of the stranger player choices, because it can be interesting. Make sure you can help justify in the moment how it would work in that world. If the player comes to a locked door and they’re like, “I want to unlock it” that makes sense. If instead they’re like “I want to see if I can get this vial of acid to slowly dissolve parts of the wood, then set up a barricade that can push and focus all the energy–” and you’re like “Sure, go for it. Give it a shot.” Let them build their strange idea and give that– especially if it’s very unwieldy, that very mildly slight chance it could function. And if it succeeds, fantastic, and explain the awesome, fantastic success that it was. If it fails, which is more often than not, explain the awesome, fantastic, epic failure that it was. These are the stories that you’ll continue to tell for a very long time. Just to reiterate on your preparation for the session, parallel avenues are a really good focus, and try and have those side pocket aspects at your disposal just in case they veer off to the sides. Ways to help with that, I find, keeping a list of fantasy names nearby. That you can find online, you can find– or sci-fi names if you’re using a sci-fi genre game, or if you’re using a modern game. Just having a list of names that would fit in your world or your setting near your session setup allows you to pull quickly if you have to spontaneously create someone that doesn’t exist. “Oh, you’re going to the hospital? Okay.. uh.. You run into a nurse. The nurse is named David. Can I help you? I’m David.” It makes it feel and gives the illusion that you know exactly what you’re doing. And that’s part of the fun. It’s the whole kind of Wizard of Oz element. “Don’t look behind the curtain!” You want to stay in control and having those resources near you really helps with that. Having a list of player names is really good. You can also create a small cache of unused random NPCs that you can flesh out a little. You can create bartenders, you can create policemen, you can create space bounty hunters. You can create all sorts of characters that aren’t really part of the story, and they’re just kind of in your box, waiting to be pulled out in case something like that happens. That’s a really cool thing to have at your disposal. You’ll be very thankful you kind of did that preparation for yourself. Also, you can make a list of small, minor story hooks. There’s a lot of great resources online that you can search, or look in your resource books for your various RPGs to find good story hook elements. There’s lists and tables you can roll up. Those are really cool if you have to create an NPC to try and decide what their story is. Dave, the nurse. You talk to him for a bit and you find out that he’s missing his left arm, and you ask him why, and he says, “Because it was taken by demons!” That would be a terrible story, but it’s a story that came out of nowhere, and now the players are like, “We’ve gotta find Dave’s arm!” It’s cool to have that resource at your disposal because it makes you more comfortable with the environment, more comfortable with the improvisation, and makes the storytelling more fluid. Also a cool little cache of rewards is also good to have in case they do some weird stuff on the side and succeed in an unplanned way. You can have a couple of magical items, or cool laser weapons, or some sort of bit of information about the story that is sitting in this amorphous pile for use in case the opportunity arises for you to gift it to the players. It’s cool to have those in your pocket as well. So overall, the key of improvisation for your games is comfort. That can come from taking improv classes, if you have the opportunity. Those are very helpful, even if you don’t plan to go into performance art. The improvisational skill is useful in all facets of life, I’ve found, and this is very much so. As you get more comfortable with it all these little notes, all these little things you can do to prepare for the unexpected are tremendously helpful in building your fast storytelling skills and to maintain a consistent narrative. Regardless of what the players throw at you, which is kind of fun. Thank you for watching, we’ll have other episodes of this you can watch of this up on geekandsundry.com and I’ll see you next time!

Some amazing art from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount!

November 7, 2022Zoltar Leave a comment

One final tease from me regarding the Wildemount guide, w/ some amazing art by @AnnaZee_S & Anna Veltkamp (https://t.co/s5NU1nhJTM).

It feels strange that the release of this labor of love coincides w/ such a stressful time. I can only hope this serves as a good read & escape. pic.twitter.com/nnDml1puD2

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) March 16, 2020

with Explorer's Guide to Wildemount released, I think it's alright to share my contributions! a selection of guards from various regions, and a curious gnomish dunamancer. drawn for Wizards of the Coast, with many thanks to AD Kate Irwin #CriticalRole pic.twitter.com/arH7yVy4ma

— anna v. (@ruushes) March 17, 2020

Merrow Shallowpriest
AD: Kate Irwin#dnd #CriticalRole #ExplorersGuideToWildemount pic.twitter.com/89CgFx0ZGf

— Andrew Mar (@andrewkmar) March 17, 2020

"Library Meeting".
Made for Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.
AD: Kate Irwin

Who knows about the story that is being told?#dungeonsanddragons #CriticalRole #digitalart pic.twitter.com/ZpoIldDjdE

— Robson Michel (@robmichel_art) March 17, 2020

Here’s my contribution to #ExplorersGuideToWildemount

AD: Kate Irwin#CriticalRole #wotc pic.twitter.com/9cARFgnCwR

— Nikki Dawes (@nikkidawesdraws) March 17, 2020

Here's the two pieces I was able to create for the #ExplorersGuideToWildemount.
This project was the most literal dream come true. Thank you to fantastic AD Kate Irwin & always inspiring @matthewmercer! And of course all my friends who keep inspiring me #CriticalRole pic.twitter.com/H2LT3zz86i

— ️‍ (@GalacticJonah) March 17, 2020

Matt Mercer DM Tips: Improv and the Unexpected

November 7, 2022Zoltar Leave a comment

THIS IS A AN AUTOMATIC CAPTION TEXT from YouTube, so it’s not “perfect”. My advice is to use it just to help people like me that are not english speaking, to understand the Video/Podcast MATT: Hello! My name is Matthew Mercer. I am a voice actor and the Dungeon Master for Critical Role here at Geek and Sundry, and today’s episode is going to go a little deeper in the idea that running a game is about improv and the unexpected. Now, running any form of roleplaying game puts you in a position where you become the ringmaster of possibilities! You prepared a solid central story, a cast of characters, a handful of possible challenges, and some juicy rewards for your clever players. It isn’t until you start that adventure that you realize how much of that plan gets jumbled, wind-tossed, and sculpted into something crazier and often cooler than you initially expected. The key to providing such atmosphere is being open to let the players take hold of their own agency and guide the story themselves. While it may seem kind of scary to follow the unknown, you can find a level of comfort in allowing this to happen while figuring out how to get back on track– or just following where the rabbit hole goes! (pained laugh) After you’ve worked on and knocked out your main story thread and throughline, I would recommend taking a little time to loosely develop some side plots that may lead back to the main story, possibly. Here’s an example: your main plot involves being hired to investigate a local lodge of strange activities, leading the party to a shore-side wreck-site where the lodge turns out to be a cult plotting a dark ritual. Now, to the side of the story, you could develop a brief element of a drunken fisherman who’s trying to prove he’s not crazy for seeing weird things at night by the ocean! Or you could beat out a plot regarding a private collector who’s seeking obscure things for his collection that are actually for this same dark ritual (chuckles). Maybe a dancer whose lover was recently replaced with a doppelganger who is currently working for that same cult. Now, these are all threads you don’t need to fully flesh out, and they may never even come to fruition, but even just having them at the ready will help you tie them in should the party deviate too far from the main story. Any that happen to get unused thankfully can always be altered or recycled for future sessions. I would also recommend developing a number of stand-alone NPCs that you can just have at the ready. While they may not be important to the story, per se, it’s always helpful to have a cache of colorful characters that you can just pluck out of the aether. Maybe keep some sheets or note cards with basic NPC information on them like their name, their race, their sex and occupation, any special skills they may have, their disposition to the world at large, their personality traits, voice type, goals, fears– even equipment if you wish. No need to put all these on there, but what things you think may be interesting and helpful to your story to pull out. Now, even if none of these NPCs come into play during your session, they will still be there ready for use for most future sessions as well, so no time is wasted, and you’ll honestly be thankful that you have the comfort of these options at your disposal. You can even keep a few stat cards with various combat templates for all types of common folk, just in case a battle goes down and the party needs help, or things go terribly, terribly wrong and they end up killing a bunch of people that you wrote… Because that’s what happens sometimes in the game and you’re just like, “All right, guys, kill them. It’s fine, they were important at some point… But now I know, at least, what they’ll do in combat…” You can also create a few traps and encounters that can be pulled and plugged into your game at any given point in time. Now, the traps can range from mundane shop owners deterring burglars with falling barrels and sleep glass to wall-mounted flamethrowers and bladed pillars spinning through, protecting some sort of underground vault! That works too. Encounters that you have prepared can be ravaging goblin packs, a trained protector chimera of a certain location, or even just a group of bandits that are eliminating witnesses that happen to stumble upon their work. Also, it helps to have a list of rewards or items tuned to the party’s current power level that you can quickly access. Following unexpected story threads and directions can lead to unexpected rewards, and you don’t want to stiff your PCs because you didn’t really plan any loot. You can quickly come up with an appropriate monetary award, and equipment find, or some sort of a social boon to accompany an improvised PC success. This might be a little scary, but for the moments you really aren’t prepared for, begin by just painting a scene. When they enter a location you hadn’t really considered, let your instincts inform you of what you’d expect to find there and describe the impact to your senses as you figure them out. This includes sight and lighting, the smells and sounds you would experience, the temperature of the very air itself are easy gateways to an immersive location, and you can just let those details emerge naturally as you come up with it. Even if you aren’t sure where it’s going, trust that, once the party beings to talk amongst themselves, you can probably scramble through your previous notes and prepare to tie it to something you already have. Please, you need to take notes! Like, seriously, take notes– you’re going to be so thankful you take notes. Get a scratchpad, take notes, always notes. Because as you make up elements of the story and characters and spontaneous plot hooks, you want to write it down to remind you of the things you just made up, or you’ll forget them in the next ten minutes. They’ll just be gone, and the party will call you back and be like, “That guy we talked to 30 minutes ago, let’s go talk to him!” and you’ll be like, “What– I… Oh, yeah, I think his name is… Steve?” You’ll see Steve come up a lot in my games… It might not play out within the session right now, but you can always flesh out those aspects between the games and try to incorporate them into the main plot down the road. You’ll be very thankful that you took notes. Anyway, I hope some of these notes and tips have been helpful for you as a GM. You can find more episodes of GM Tips here at geekandsundry.com. My name is Matthew Mercer, thank you for watching, and I’ll see you on the Internet.

@vonbeanikus @GeekandSundry I’ve run a handful of fun Evil campaigns, but you need the right minded folk!

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) October 27, 2016

@vonbeanikus @GeekandSundry Not against it, just generally find that a lot of players lack the maturity to make it fun for others.

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) October 27, 2016

“Welcome to Tal’Dorei” the official Critical Role soundtrack!

November 6, 2022Zoltar Leave a comment

Many talented musicians collaborated with us to put this together, and it’s FANTASTIC. All the love to @fadel_omar, @HexanyAudio, @MatthewCarlEarl, @NiceViolinBoy, @SterlingMaffe and everyone else who helped! https://t.co/BrHuNizGQt

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) June 21, 2022

What Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount brings to the table?

November 6, 2022Zoltar Leave a comment

I’m DM, but I’ve watched only two episodes of CR (don’t have time to watch truly) – what new it brings to the table? Classes? Races? Or is it just a world lore / module like Ebberon is? Subclasses, spells, race variants, magical items, adventures, and creatures! 🙂

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) January 13, 2020

D&D Sage Advice

Questions on Dungeons & Dragons answered by game designers

Widgets

Critical Role

Shattered Teeth: which map is cannon?

If you were going to adapt Dragon Heist in a Tal’dorei setting, what city would you set it in?

Can a Blood Hunter use a longbow as their weapon and use it as a crimson rite?

Matt Mercer DM Tips: Preparing for the Unexpected!

Some amazing art from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount!

Matt Mercer DM Tips: Improv and the Unexpected

“Welcome to Tal’Dorei” the official Critical Role soundtrack!

What Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount brings to the table?

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: