Dragons new show the Dungeon Master’s
guide today we’re going to excrete an
adventure with both an experienced
Dungeon Master and a novice dungeon
master who are these Dungeon Master’s
you asked
we have Travis Oates and Rachel Seeley
today and before we get to them
I want to thank Dungeons & Dragons and
thank you for this opportunity it is
wonderful I would like to thank
earthbreaker goon for this brand-new mug
this is tea fling I don’t know if you
guys can see it but it’s a tea and they
flank flung it so it’s a fling but
there’s also a tea playing it’s funny if
you play the MV so we are going to be
done raffling off a Dungeon Master’s
guide so I believe the raffle has
already turned on in check TK is our
lead moderator today
so yeah make sure you pay attention
throughout the entire show because TK is
going to hit that raffle button at the
end of the show when it’s up to TK and
the TK is gonna let me know who it is
there are no location limitations we
will send it to anywhere in the world
you have to be in check and you have to
connect with TK in order to win
otherwise we’ll redraw the raffle at the
end of the show we will be asking our
game or Dungeon Master’s three questions
so if you want to ask a question go
ahead and type it in chat but in all
capital letters put question please it
just helps be able to find it so today’s
theme I’m gonna kind of give you this
before we go into a bunch of stuff
today’s theme is we’re gonna kind of
surprise the dungeon masters level one
through four inspired by dragon heist is
urban mystery so urban mystery how would
you create an urban mystery for beginner
players one through four
before we go to that embarr and all of
that mm-hmm
we are going to talk a little bit about
players at the table just because you’re
a dungeon master doesn’t mean that you
can just play the way you want to you
have to remember that dungeon mastering
evolved Dungeons & Dragons is about
cooperative gameplay and you have to
hear your your players what their wants
are what their needs are they you want
to make sure that your vision is aligned
with their vision so that everyone can
play in a very happy way you got to find
out whether your players like mechanic
like heavy mechanics or heavy roleplay
do the characters I keep saying
characters and players I don’t know why
I keep getting them all mixed up
I do the players want to rule for their
decisions or do they want to rely on the
dungeon master – referee their decisions
are they wanting to do playful PvP we do
that a lot on sirens of the realms where
the girls end up in food fights and they
have to roll against each other or are
they really or do your players really
want non-confrontational on gaming those
are all things that you need to think
about also think about boundaries you
have boundaries there are things that
you don’t want to broach as a Dungeon
Master so it’s really good to talk with
your players and find out if your
boundaries align because some people
really want to push boundaries and other
people don’t so have these conversations
before you start your game we have
Lauren urban our correspondent from D&D
be honest she and she’s going to tell
you about ways you can actually find
players in the first place Lauren
[Music]
so your friend has convinced you to
watch this amazing new stream where
people play Dungeons and Dragons live in
front of an audience or maybe you’ve
started listening to some of your
friends podcasts and their D&D podcasts
are kind of awesome
or maybe you’re helping out with a live
stream for charity and they’re all
playing Dungeons & Dragons whatever it
took you suddenly started watching a lot
of D&D online and it’s awesome
but now you’ve started to realize hey I
want to play D&D too but where do I find
people to play with hi everyone I’m
Loren Urban you might know me as evoke
crazy I’m the community manager for D&D
Beyond and I hear this question every
single day because let’s face it finding
other people to play with can be the
hardest part of our hobby fortunately
there are lots of options for finding
others to play with out there first
start local start with your friends and
family ask them chances are if you’re
interested in playing they’re just as
interested in playing – and they’re just
waiting for you to ask if not them
he might know someone who wants to play
co-workers friends or friends there’s a
good chance if you ask them then they’re
probably gonna say oh yeah I’ve always
wanted to try playing D&D now if you’re
still looking for some people or if
you’re having trouble finding space to
play the game
check your local game stores many stores
have spaces dedicated to running games
and many are also running adventures
League which is the ongoing official D&D
campaign you can usually just join in on
a game or sign up for a future one also
ask the people running the store often
they know other people like you who are
looking to start or run a game now if
none of that works it’s time to widen
your net with the Internet
yeah
that joke was funnier in my head there
are a ton of ways to play D&D online and
suddenly you have the whole world
available to you to play with so where
do you start well remember that stream
or podcast or charity game that you are
a fan of chances are a lot of other
people were fans of that too and a lot
of them are probably looking for games
to start with those streams search for
forums or dis chords or Facebook’s or
reddit pages dedicated to fans of some
of your favorite streams or podcasts
chances are they’ve kind of looking for
group section they like D&D they
probably want to play D&D to you’ve
already got a shared interest so jump in
and make some new gaming friends you can
also come by the D&D be on forums where
we’ve got a hole looking for a group
area people who are playing with play by
post you can just join on in finally if
you’re still having problems finding
people to play with I have one last
suggestion for you go be a DM and start
your own game now I know what you’re
gonna say but Lauren I’ve never played
before I can’t be the DM yes yes you can
you can absolutely be the dungeon master
the only requirement to being a DM is
that you want to play and you want to
share this game with other people
everything else is easy now if you still
feel like you need a little bit of help
running the game there are dozens of
excellent videos online with advice tips
and suggestions for new DMS but honestly
you’re gonna be great
go pick up the starter set which has
everything you and your players need and
then just go run a game go back to those
friends and convince them to come over
for an evening and just run a game for
them go to that store an offer to run
games for the person behind the counter
or anyone else who’s showing up jump
into that discord start signing people
up because when you’re the DM you don’t
have to find people to play with people
will come to you trust me
now go run that game and go have fun
playing D&D thanks everyone
[Music]
Thank You Lauren and our family at Danby
beyond I go check out DD beyond calm
it’s super awesome
I use it at least five times a day I am
actually not exaggerating and they do
not pay me to say that before we set up
your ear while we set up our special
guests we are gonna cut to are not so
live band sirens of the realms
[Music]
[Music]
far below the Sun where life is
splitting only hard
[Music]
many miles to go on the Kings Highway
you could try your own design my way on
take you there
[Music]
dog TV parts and the only thing you know
it’s hard
[Music]
you will drive you
[Music]
look around you every
moving very grounded your feet feels
quite confusing
[Music]
face up chair
I get you will drive you
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
hi guys welcome back to Dungeon Master’s
guide takes a lot of fuel to be a
dungeon master I can’t tell what I want
today do I want coffee
do we want tea there’s a lot happening
in my brain because dungeon master
but yes welcome back and we have two
wonderful wonderful guests today we have
Rachel Seeley and Travis Oates thank you
so much for coming man I’m so happy to
have you guys here I don’t ever get to
spend a lot of time with these this is
actually really special for me I want to
get into your brains and then also we’re
gonna share that with everyone else why
don’t you guys tell everyone where like
what you’re up to where they can find
you sure about I’m Rachel Seeley I’m
looking at that camera I’m on girls cuz
glory which happens right after this
show on the DD twitch channel I have
been DMing just for about a year and a
half maybe two years now but I’ve been
doing text-based role play since the
dawn of time because I’m a thousand and
one years old I’m Travis Oates
I’m a voice-over artist and a writer and
director I have been a DM since the days
the dinosaurs roamed the earth I’m
probably the oldest person in this room
right now I’m working on a new TV show
called above board which is a secret
because first time we’ve like formally
announced it it’s I it’s a new TV show
all about board games and role-playing
games and CCGs and that’s gonna come out
sometime in the next half of the year
so our first half of next year I should
say one thing that everyone should know
you were one of the Dungeon Master’s for
the very first celebrity charity 20 I
was I was I was I that was a lot of fun
2010 yeah and you rolled up and I’ve
been playing for about 30 years but I
have never seen anybody travel with a
horde of minis before I did came in with
what looked like a tackle box yeah it
was like a multi-level tackle box yeah
and I had like a steamer trunk of stuff
basically I really did because I didn’t
know what to expect so I just I just
kind of
if you ever see my house it is like I
have an entire library in my house and
an entire section library is just you
know I I have probably every D&D book
ever published past 1978 yeah I mean
literally everything every module every
yeah it’s crazy
do you know the special edition gift set
they just came out with oh the big just
came out with yeah no and I’ll tell you
why I have been I have been mostly
buying my books on D&D beyond ah that’s
nice I find them so convenient I still
have the core books and I usually buy
about four players hand books every time
there’s a new system so that people who
are playing they have them available to
them but all like the source books I’ve
been getting all of those something new
I just find it’s so convenient oh yeah
it has a dungeon master so I ran a game
of Dungeons man made yesterday and I had
not read it yet because there’s a lot of
New Year to do and a lot of work to do
and I read it on my phone Swatt swip
switched swap did to my computer then I
pulled up all the NPC’s all the monsters
you can scroll through things and I
tabbed everything out in Google dogs so
I hyperlinked everything so it was
completely easy access you really have a
bad guy you just kind of hover over and
all of a sudden you have all the stats
what’s frightened here’s exactly what’s
frightened yeah I am a big advocate for
that yeah I also do collect yeah I’m old
school and like audio books and I like
you know getting it on a Kindle or
something but I still there’s nothing
that compares to the feel of you know
getting to the end of a book and going
oh my god I’ve read all of this program
with me is just room yeah I have a very
pretty big house and yet I’m still
running out of room I really am it’s
it’s yeah yeah yeah I like special
ladders of it but yeah I like collecting
the book yeah especially when I didn’t
like the board games and stuff too
yeah I am about even before starting to
the show I’m doing I had about 300 board
games so I mean it’s just that’s when
you build a basement
we have two or three rooms in the house
that are like specialty rooms yeah it’s
pretty crazy game day I really need to
go you need to come over yeah yeah you
wouldn’t believe it well I’ll take that
as an invitation absolutely they don’t
get upon your house one day but today
you’re in or mais Arcana house and what
we’re doing here it’s gonna make an
adventure we’re gonna make an adventure
for beginner players levels one through
four that’s not to say levels one
through four are for beginner players
anyone can play that our theme is thank
you water deep dragon highs for your
ideas where we’re gonna make our own
urban mystery so a couple different
things each dungeon master starts their
adventurous differently how do you guys
go about that I I pick some if I have
you know something that’s been really
inspiring me lately I’ll go deep dive
into that I use a lot of I consume a lot
of media a lot of fantasy so I get a lot
of inspiration from a lot of different
places when I’m starting out I just kind
of pick a theme and run with it like
urban mystery something that’s a little
bit vague so I don’t have to stick to
one particular thing but just to paint a
color and I do like collages I make
playlists say I do everything I possibly
can to get into that world and stay in
that world as I’m making it well I’m a
writer by trade that’s that’s my primary
job and so I think a little bit more I
guess top level in that how are the
logistics of how I’m putting this
together and you really hit the nail on
the head when you’re dealing with
beginner players how can I have them
introduce the story to them and have
them start to be comfortable at being
part of the storytellers of the story
well the great things about D&D is it’s
a storytelling but we’re all
storytellers so every character is
telling their part of the story and
you’re kind of guiding that as the DM so
how can I give them an environment where
they have freedom to tell their own
story but if with beginner players have
a
narrower path that they can tell that
story and so with with a beginning thing
like this I would try and narrow the
path as much as possible so that they
don’t feel overwhelmed you know by the
possibilities of what they’re going to
do and that’s not railroading that is
just kind of showing them a route so
that they can start learning how to
explore I said of offering them ten
choices okay
blank canvas where do we begin we begin
a villains do we begin with the kind of
city do we begin with what a problem
it’s a mystery so I suggest we begin
with a mystery yeah
and what I would do is I would take your
adventuring party and I would have them
individually having been captured by
some organization and start the game
with the characters captured and knowing
that they are going to be killed by this
organization they don’t know each other
so they will get to introduce each other
to them like within the game and they
don’t know why they’ve been captured and
why they’re about to be killed
whoo that’s heavy and awesome okay oh my
god all right okay cool so we’ll start
with notes so we’re going to put
captured
yeah sorry audience thank you is there
anyone captured and then the mystery is
who what when where and why those
individual people are being kept and one
thing they have to be killed in the end
they could have any weakness they could
have completely different backgrounds
but obviously there’s something that the
characters don’t know that connects them
within the story I did something really
similar to this in I took a bunch of
newbies from my workplace and I started
to sort of get them into the story and I
did something very similar to this but I
all got them into it because they
weren’t sitting in a tavern and they
were all somehow around this table and
someone had something and they were
talking to someone across the table very
shady business and they got bumped their
chair got bumped because someone was
attempting to steal what was in their
hand and it went flying and all of these
people instinctively for whatever reason
because their paladin they don’t
I dropped something because there Rogen
they want to shake it they thought they
all grabbed for this Pamela at the same
time and they were transported to this
other realm very and into a location
where because they had the amulet they
were captured and the nice thing about
beginning players and this is what I
mean by giving it a narrower path
because they’ve been captured they don’t
have all their stuff they don’t have to
look down at their character sheet and
have an overwhelming amount of things
that are there they have just the tools
that they would normally have in front
of them so they start out with without
their weapons they start out without
their items and as the story progresses
you know as the adventure progresses
from the beginning they will get those
things back obviously but they can look
at just what’s ahead of them and that
also forces them to interact with one
another and start role-playing from the
beginning there’s with newer players one
of the most difficult things is to get
them comfortable with roleplay because
it can feel very awkward if you’re not
used to doing that and they relies so
much on the character sheets and on the
tools that they have in their pockets
that they don’t really remember to look
around or up a great excuse for even you
know none a mature very experienced
players to as you are locked in this
cell together get to know each other get
to know what your skills are if someone
can pick the lock or whatever I think
the difference between a beginner and
advanced group would be how hard do you
make it to do it out is that situation
if it’s an advanced group you make it
much more difficult to get out of that
situation if it’s if it’s a beginner
group you don’t make it so difficult to
get out of that trap like getting out of
a castle exactly right primary are exact
answers good yeah so we know what we
want them to figure out how do we go
about actually what like do we start at
the end like this is the it’s this these
people this is why they captured it or
how do house would we go about that well
here’s what I would do if I was
constructing this adventure I would have
a list of things that I want the
eventual bad guy to be like let’s say I
know I want the eventual bad guy to
be a a head of state let’s say I want I
want them to be maybe maybe the mayor of
the city if it’s a city or somebody
right below the mayor somebody in high
political power and I would list a few
traits of what I would want him to be
but then as the characters develop and
start going into their own backstory I
would fill in some of these blanks from
what the characters are discovering
about themselves and each other so that
it feels like the characters are coming
up with some of that themselves you know
you don’t want to necessarily lock the
bad guy in completely because it’s a
mystery and if you want them to discover
that mystery you’ve kind of got to take
some of the things that they would
discover in their own improvising
yeah I like to I like to create a
villain after I know as much about their
characters as they figured out and then
tweak it along the way but I also like
to have like my first thought was why
are they being killed well there could
be some hyper powerful heretical
religious leader who is trying to make
an example of someone because of
something in one of their backstories
like maybe they’re a paladin of home and
this guy does not like helm so he’s
taking someone young and inexperienced
in green and he’s going to use them as
some kind of like sacrifice or even just
you know string him up in the town
square to show that we are have the
power here and each one though can be a
different piece to the puzzle what we
should what you should do is have the
bad guy have a specific thing that he’s
trying to do so let’s say he’s a
religious leader I like that because
it’s political power so he’s a religious
leader
maybe that religious leader is trying to
not just be the the head of the religion
for that city but the head of the
government yeah so he’s trying to maybe
have the the the religious you know he’s
building forces up and you know the the
guards that were thin when the religious
stuff are gaining power so that they’re
going to take over yeah the political
machinations of the city and so each one
may have a different reason maybe one of
them was a paladin that he felt was too
noble to go along with his cause maybe
another one was a thief that somehow
stumbled onto
stole from from a house of somebody who
had the the plans now the thief never
looked at those plans but he doesn’t
know it because he knows she was there
so that’s why he’s gonna off him maybe
another one was you know all these
different things can be pieces of this
puzzle maybe one of them is a relative
yeah you can you know like a brother or
a son or something and and they feel
that you know that because that will
often you know you have throw in some
myths and mysteries we need some red
herrings yeah so you want them to go
well of course you know it’s my brother
so couldn’t possibly be my brother then
yeah what would kill me
no actually your brother would do that
because he doesn’t want you to challenge
his authority you know so those are the
kind of things I would fill in yeah and
it’s really cool you can actually
front-load that so one of the things I
like to do is have a set of questions
and sometimes I’ll give it to just one
player sure well all the players but
individually and sometimes they’ll do a
group roleplay where they kind of create
their own backstories with each other
yeah that might be a really cool thing
is how do you relate to your city or to
this religion and kind of have them tell
you yeah so front-load I did something
interesting and I don’t know if I do
this with beginner characters but I’ve
done this with an advanced characters
and a mystery kind of thing and what I
told people and they had to do it
through roleplay but I said you’re not
allowed to give your own backstory
however the other characters are allowed
to give your backstory and what I mean
by that is is you can’t tell me anything
about your past but I can go I know you
you know you weren’t you you know the
person who is he was thrown in jail
because that rebellion and so you can
then acknowledge that yes I was but it’s
other people giving you backstories and
it was very interesting to watch people
because then they don’t fall into those
familiar patterns if you’ve been doing
this for a while like you know people
like have their comfort zone so it was
neat to have people being given
backstories that were not in the comfort
zone yeah it was an interesting thing
there was something I was doing I had a
little podcast crew where I had no idea
what was gonna happen I I really like to
make stuff up on the spot so I had they
all started off having this shared dream
where they all died and then one of them
was you know stuck up in front of this
giant God who was laughing at him
based on his role he rolled on at 20 on
a history check afterwards and I said
yes this is something that you know
because you’re a part of this
organization
so then having whatever happens in their
role sort of inform more of their
backstory so that you can you have your
basis and then you flush it out even
further you unpeel whatever else is out
there
cool so are we happens the bad guy
religious leader who wants political
power that’s his drive why they want to
make this this group as an example oh
they want to sacrifice them for a thing
we have here keep it vague so players
can help create the person red herrings
to throw people off and because this is
one through four I would have this be
the kernel of I think the next step of
this adventure would be maybe this guy
this is his clothes taking over the city
it’s his first step to maybe like a holy
war so even when you defeat this guy you
find out he’s not the big bad that
really the big bad is this guy who is
outside there who is higher you know
he’s told him to trigger this now it
isn’t next and your characters are
already so invested because they’ve got
that really the smaller portion of it
and it’s only gonna get worse so we have
the city we have temples we have
political institutions we have places
these people might hang out or locations
that’s kind of it’s a city we can kind
of quiet glance over that but let’s talk
about the different minions let’s talk
about the different encounters people
might go through we’ll start all the way
back to their captured and where would
they be captured like where would they
be and then have to escape out of well I
think since you said religion I think
they could be in a catacombs of some
kind
underneath the temple yes maybe like
maybe under like an abandoned yes yeah
so that’s out of the city if they do
escape they have you know miles of hills
to roam it could be a temple that was
underused but maybe there was an
earthquake so that you know you can have
it having these catacombs be much larger
but proportions of an element
we actually did that in the last days
yeah yeah so
I want to keep it in the city it depends
on your villains you could have I mean
who is who is this religious leaders
minions I think you could still have the
temple within the city I think it’s just
been condemned for somebody it’s not
being used for whatever reason if we
don’t want to do an earthquake we can
say that maybe maybe it was a house
plague mm-hmm you know so it was used as
a plague house and it’s still under
quarantine and maybe that’s even their
cover story maybe the cover story is
they take you know dissidents there that
have the plague yeah so so you have an
underground temple environment you can
even end up finding out that perhaps
this religious leaders created or
started this plague or introduced it
into the population to sort of maybe
this was a temple that belonged to a
Warren not worrying but a faction that
didn’t drive with with his faction even
day that the plague is not a real play
that the plague is something that makes
it look like you know the play yeah so
some day the curse or something yes it
does he doesn’t want to take over he
doesn’t want to take her a town that’s
full of the plague
yeah but he does want people to look
like they have the plague so this plus
that fearless fearless you know you to
do things you can ignore you can
powerful weapon for the villain
okay so we have will say this is a three
to four hour adventure sure let’s talk
about encounters let’s talk about what
what things these people might
experience in this one adventure one
before that if we’re gonna contain the
ideas now we’ve got our general idea
we’re gonna take all of it all four
levels happen in four hours
it is adventures player levels yeah
oh I see what you’re saying yes ah so
well then I would start out obviously
you have to escape so you’re in some
kind of a locked room I and I think you
hear sounds either of torture or death
somewhere elsewhere so you know what’s
coming you know you said the fire under
your players yes well you have to
you give them a situation where there is
either things there like broken glass or
or something along those lines that they
can get out of whatever bonds they’re in
and then I think you simply enter you
know enter in with the dumb minions who
think they’re going to come there with
some people who are knocked out and you
know you can jump them put things in the
room that can be used as improvised
weapons so you know a metal bar you know
that has come off of something you know
a table leg anything that could be used
as an improvised weapon and you just
make sure you know that whoever’s coming
in isn’t to be v I had to use these for
a very low level group cultists are
relatively low level they fit the theme
um they can’t do a whole lot but they
are still a little bit intimidating they
don’t have big armor yeah you know so
the AC is is manageable mm-hmm with with
improvised weapons they’re like sports
where they they don’t have a whole lot
of AC but they have a decent amount of
health so it does feel like a battle
it’s not just a backhand and they’re
down Plus this is where the monks in the
party can really show yeah cool so our
first area has minions who come in try
to do whatever it is that they’re going
to do what is their purpose so the whole
thing you know about story is everyone
has it me and everyone has a purpose for
why they’re there what is the purpose
for this specific one why would they be
in this room the player characters are
the colors well I think the cultists are
probably don’t know a ton about the
overarching story but they know that
these are these are either plague plague
victims or heretics that need to be
destroyed so they need to be put down
maybe a Patrol they’re there to kill
them yeah okay yeah they’re here to kill
the player characters all right we’ll
say patrol if they’re an execution party
that does put the players I think in a
bit of a disadvantage because they might
have an executioner with them or someone
like that so I think I thought keeping
mean they think that the player
characters are gonna be unconscious
true so I don’t think they’re they’re
coming in to like drag them out
somewhere and often they don’t expect
the characters to be awake yeah I think
that’s the element of surprise yeah so
they wouldn’t have I think I think at
the end of the dungeon like you say you
might have talking about minions
something like an executioner or
somebody who is the tougher thing once
they’ve gone and got their weapons and
armor and stuff back so perhaps well if
they were going to kill them they
probably need to take them somewhere
yeah so they’re so do they’re to take
them to another room where where they
will well here’s a question if they do
that the players could just go with it
and I think sure you know the way they
could do it yeah all right but what I
think is that we keep them in this room
and have them escape here and have that
be like their first bit of experience
and using their environment sure
containing the environments so they’re
not just immediately running out and
doing stuff elsewhere they actually have
a chance to look around and kind of work
their ways so what’s another idea for
having the plate the minions stay there
and having them have to do their battle
with in this one room why I see what
you’re saying I mean they could be
coming to this room to do their business
in this room then and then in that case
it could also just be a patrol that’s
coming through to make sure that you
know no one has told a lockpick out of
nowhere or because then they’re just
passing by and at that point you could
have given your players enough time to
manage to unlock the door or you know
they can be bringing in one more
prisoner yes also that’s a good way to
involve an NPCs well it’s a little bit
more information about why they’re there
where they’re at and who they’re up
against good way to do old switcheroo at
the end yeah I thought you were a friend
I’m working for this guy the whole time
yes maybe maybe maybe the whole escape
the reason why they were able to escape
is they bad guys wanted into this game
but you want to find out how much they
actually know yeah maybe the entire
adventure is really a very creative the
whole thing is around here but it’s a
very creative interrogation
you know the NPC basically being the
interrogator who’s finding out all the
things about how much these guys
actually know you think the players will
think the whole time the NPC is with
them trying to figure out the mystery as
well but really he’s the interrogator
cool so we have a very short amount of
time to finish this trip that is our
first one will say there it’s a mystery
in three parts
what is our second part that leads to
the ending of this well I think our
second act would be in them trying to
figure out the core of the mystery yeah
if the first act is our introduction and
and and that’s the start of it our
second act would be what’s the part of
the mystery and our third act would be
the well the the confront confrontation
of the the Big Bad which actually in the
way that she’s doing maybe that NPC NPC
made to be turned out being your big bad
at the end that’s really and in the the
religious leader maybe like I said the
kernel to the next part of the adventure
their mystery could be if they have if
the NPC is a magic user if they have a
magic user in the party they can
identify that this is not a plague this
is not what it seems let’s go find out
what it is because we’re now and I like
that so I think I think that the the
finding out of the mystery is is is
maybe have four different roads that
they could give one what’s going on with
this plague is this a real plague – why
have how have they been hiding all these
missing people because I think as they
escape from this from this this prison
they’ll find other victims they’re after
trying and trying to figure out who are
these victims where are they and and why
are they why are they doing this the
three who who would be the person who
would gain from this so that would be
the the other question of of who in the
city would gain from there being a
plague would gain from these people
being dead from with who it was going to
lead that
right it’ll point to the related yeah
this also gives you a great moment at
the very beginning of the game to
mention that there are like a thousand
missing persons flyers right yeah so
some people could be here to gain a
reward your your Paula Deen’s and your
good guys could be here to you know help
figure out what’s going on so that pulls
your characters in even further for why
they’re here and you can even have one
of the the player characters have not
been from this city yeah you know so so
why were they taken from this other city
and again that may lead to a kernel of
something that ends at the family that
was yeah yeah yeah it could either be
they were coming here because of family
or it could be that something’s
happening in there sooner yeah like
unfolding all of these cities yeah I’ll
get them okay
core the mystery is the plague real who
gained from it the religious guy this
religious leader for political reasons
how are they hiding all the missing
people and the flyer yeah when they find
out how are they how are they
implementing this plague are they doing
it through food is it being brought in
by boats is it is it in the water what
are the mechanics behind how this plague
is being done and then how do you dispel
it yeah yeah how do you stop and how do
you get the word out yeah that’s fake
yeah right and I think once they have
once they have uncovered all these
things that’s when you’re you’re NPC
that you introduced them that’s been
with them all along says that’s great
you know I think we finally figured this
out and now that I know it everything
that you know guys come in here lets off
these guys you know I know everything
I’ve does the interrogator I tricked you
into telling you everything you know I’m
never going to off you good you know
that you have that wonderful villain
speech of like did you really think that
would be not easy to get out of our
clutches yeah and you just walked out do
you think that would really be how it
made you know you know like this whole
kind of Bilitis thing of like every step
of the way we were protecting you
that’s why you’ve lived this long now
because the only real encounters in the
beginning at the end everything else is
making your way through and not getting
caught and you know I think some the
second act can have
depending on the length can have one or
two combat encounters you know you can
have something at the docks maybe or say
yeah you can have one or two combat
encounters mostly you do with cultists
maybe some rats you gotta throw some
rats in it but but I think at the end of
the day because it’s a mystery it’s less
combat oriented and more invest
investigate yeah this is also in player
interaction this could give you a great
moment of like they have to go to this
specific temple to see if they can you
know do some medicine checks or top two
some clerics or people that would maybe
further understand hexes or whatever and
then you get some encounters with
cultists there so your players will
subconsciously go oh we’re on the right
track and then you’ll go yes because the
villain brought you there so um we’re
going to wrap this up we’ve got a very
solid middle chunk that pretty much is
this game could go a good four hours
easily there’s the kind of things they
might encounter so that we can so people
watching can just start writing this and
we encourage you to write this on your
own and make it your own
we got rats we have cultists what are
there’s bars
anybody anybody who would normally be
part of the city mechanism that would
then be corrupt so guards like you said
cultists anybody who would work for the
church you know I’m missing the
executioner yes
okay all right
something you can have the NPC killed
yeah the executioner comes back at the
end you know for the big for the big
fight at the end okay um let’s talk
about the big fight at the end you only
have a couple minutes what are the what
does this look like where is it at what
is on its side that’s going to be kind
of work defending it’s all or root what
else does it have as minions I actually
have an idea of choice one so the whole
reason that the NPC is going through
this with you is because they have
created or commissioned this foe hex the
solution to this hex or the
the cure lies in this temple that they
cannot go in on on their own so they
need pawns to go in figure out how to
cure it so that they can leave knowing
about that cure and figure out a way to
safeguard whatever it is that’s causing
this hex against that cure to make it
even harder to have the big battle
happen as they exit yes because it is an
urban adventure so having something that
happens in the streets uh-huh you know
and then you know I don’t miss you know
so it’s the time of day
Oh night-night absolutely the fact I
would have this whole game take place
yeah yeah yeah everything is in one
night steps a temple quick question what
is the name of the religious leader real
quick let’s say Duncan sure or Malcolm
Malcolm Duncan about Duncan there you go
okay what is the name of the NPC Jessup
yeah
dresser Jessa Jessa jess85 our way yeah
what is it with the race of Malcolm I
was like making the humans the bad guys
the MPC
I think elvish because I think that
maybe the one that they feel might be
the least likely here a bad guy so here
we have our murder or urban mystery what
is it called this is the last bit of our
of our adventure because they don’t
actually get to dawn by the end of the
game congratulation we’re gonna wrap
that up and package it in the New Year
and we’ll give it to you on the Dungeon
Master’s guild I always get those killed
and died nation
very slowly so what is this photon do we
all consent yeah vote is thank you guys
that was awesome we have a few minutes
we have ten minutes
ish five minutes we have some kind of
very thank you okay so first question
Thank You TK IDM for players of mixed
ages and my younger players have
difficulty sitting still for three hours
and following along with roleplay or
exploration encounters we’ll see they
just want to whack stuff its frustrate
some of my older players how do ice
incentivize combat focus players to skew
towards the other pillars it’s tough
with younger players I’ve I’ve I’ve
actually run a game with a group of
seven year-olds for a friend of mine
it’s tough
I would I would tailor your game to make
sure that that the younger players have
their moment and the older players have
their moment
pick a a setting that you can very
easily go to a combat in or you can do
some speaking for the older folks you
might even have the first hour of the
game be just with your older players and
bring the younger players in up to the
first hour so they don’t have to sit
through what they might consider to be a
bunch of boring stuff yeah depends on
how young those younger players are I
could I could end up seeing myself
incentivizing them some way with loot or
gold or whatever because you know kids
they’re always there fully adult always
there for the lead everyone’s there for
the lunar um having them go get
experience points through reading a book
in a library going to find something
specific about the story and then
there’s so many other ways to roll the
dice in these games that doesn’t involve
combat something like a sled race or
gambling on horses or any any kind of
sport in game the racism
yeah chases really yeah at that point
people just it might be that people just
want to roll and they know that they
have a lot of modifiers or modifiers are
higher when they do combat therefore
they feel like they’re succeeding and
this like of the psychological reason of
why we play D&D because we want to
attempt to be the best and do the best
we can also with younger players comedy
mm-hmm have some comedic things happen
like and that’s great for a chase you
get a chase and the bad guys you know
the whole thing of pies falls on them
and stuff like that younger players are
drawn to that comedy and it doesn’t have
to be combat as long as there’s some
stuff that’s fun for them yeah all right
um we have two more questions we’re
gonna keep them short the answers short
question number two world building and
the adventures background is important
to provide gravitas to the actions of
the party how do you approach providing
clues and insight for new players to
your game without doing a in session
lore info don’t they have to figure it
out a long way I build out so much Lord
for my worlds but you know it’s it’s the
trick of being a DM and sitting on all
your lore and going you’re gonna find it
eventually or even if you don’t it’s
still there it makes it feel more
fleshed out allowing them to find it
I love having them find it in libraries
through books through experiences in
towns in temples wherever they would
normally be like in a Thieves Guild
finding out stuff around their area I
often give them situations where they
need to know that information to do the
next step so they seek out that
information like if there’s an
historical thing that I want them to
know they need to know that for some
reason for some either magical reason
and I do a lot of like letters and
different things you know props props
yeah tons of tons of props for them to
read and stuff and this actually the
third question kind of goes back into
those how do you consider XP in terms of
RP and social encounters other in combat
we have one minute left to answer this I
do milestone
I love milestone
I weighed them the same as I do combats
actually I not some so much like a
milestone thing but in that as long as
it drives the story forward that’s a big
as big of a chunk as the combat cool so
we are going to jump to your house rules
please share with the audience your
house rules that makes you a game so
very you had a bunch of them before when
I was thinking of expression 9 for
decimal um I I am very particular with
the way I have my ones or my 20s I had a
character who was running up a crumbling
staircase and they rolled a 1 and they
said oh I’m dead and they went no let me
tell you what happens this is what
happens but when they were only 20 I
want them to tell me what happens
because I don’t want I want them to have
more agency over what happens when they
roll a 20 because it’s it’s based on
their finesse and their expertise but
when they roll a 1 I want to tell them
the consequences I feel like I should be
in charge of consequences they should be
in charge of their successes and telling
me how they do that and you know one of
my other house rules is you have to give
me as much backstory as you can give me
like songs that fit your character and I
love to tailor a whole campaign so that
each character gets their own big moment
so it’s not just I’ll like you get a
little piece here and here and here and
here and here it’s one big arc for you
one bigger for them and then tying them
all together so that your party is
cohesive they care about each other
because they are all deeply entrenched
in each other’s stories I have to
because we have very little time I will
say that with my ones in my 20s I
usually have them roll a second time to
see what the severity of the critical
success or fail is so somebody rolls a 1
and then they roll again and they roll
like a 10 or higher it’s not as bad as
that they were given their loan and that
does mean that if you and if you roll
another one or 20 again you roll a third
time I actually had somebody kill a
dragon with one blow one time because
they rolled three 20s in a row and so I
I was like well then you went up there
you’ve got that right under but you got
your sword right under a scale and you
just shoved it right in the right place
and you killed that dragon because it
just seemed appropriate yes
yeah exactly
the other thing that I used is a really
old-school thing for you guys out there
playing a long time I use comeliness in
my game which is a it becomes seventh
seventh stat and it is comeliness is
your physical attractiveness it divides
it takes charisma and and takes the
physical attractiveness out of charisma
because really Christmas not supposed to
be how you look it’s supposed to be you
know how magnetic your personality is
and how well you are with people so by
taking that comeliness and putting it in
a different place it allows people plus
you have some people who like I always
feel that people should have a couple
low stats because it makes them more
interesting so you always have people in
that game this like I want to be
beautiful I want to be the best-looking
person in the world that’s fine I use
some of these important skills for your
dump stat throw that up to 18 I have no
problem with that
you know let’s drive that up and man
you’re the most attractive person ever
yeah yeah exactly yeah yeah you Chris
that could be yeah I call it we call it
roll first story yeah yeah lo having
flaws and all that yeah yeah yeah my
favorite characters I’ve got had had
stats that was below seven mm-hmm okay I
can admit I don’t usually go that low
for you guys out there watching if you
have ideas we’ll send them to us because
we want to hear your ideas but make a
video of your dungeon master House Rules
one minute maximum whatever format
landscape portrait doesn’t matter send
it to us at dandy fan art at Wizards
comm and we will package you and we will
play it at the end of these shows in the
new year so do that and yeah thank you
guys for watching thank you my lovely
guest Rachel Seeley and Travis oats you
guys are amazing and this was really fun
I mean it was gonna be fun but I’m
really excited to actually start
wrapping it up if you guys do it before
we get to it send it to us I want to
see it and we will promote each other
because that would be really fun let’s
see
thank you Dungeons and Dragons thank you
to a wonderful maser Connor production
team to make us look so good
Thank You TK for moderating and again
Thank You audience why don’t you guys
tell everyone where they can find you
one more time we do have your twitter
handles at the bottom I’m Rita Sealy you
can find me on girls gets glory right
after this on the dandy twitch channel
you can also find me for a couple more
Friday’s over at geek and sundry on
overnight a lot of fun Fridays
look out for above board you can see
that on Instagram above board television
and on Twitter and above board TV cool
and I am the dungeon master host Satine
Phoenix she can find me at Satine
Phoenix on all the things Tuesday’s on
twitch.tv slash D and you live her
sirens of the realms were a dungeon
master a bunch of bards it was an
all-girl part fan but you know what well
inclusive and I just like playing on the
friends so that’s the thing we have an
ever on show amaze Arcana ever on show
called inkwell Society on Wednesdays at
7:00 p.m.
also on Twitch and you can get R apples
and stuff like that on the maser comment
which and then again here I’m sure
there’s other things but I’ll talk to
you about them later thank you all and
we adore you and we will see you
actually very shortly for girls v
fluorine
you