Not sure how to get your friends and family into #dnd #rpg? Show 'em this right here ⤵️
ft. the great @TJStorm01 and @ToddKenreck for @DnDBeyond 👍 pic.twitter.com/grxI326m4Q
— It's the Holildays ☃️🎄 🔜 PAXU (@justalilnerd) November 23, 2019
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 hello everyone welcome to Todd talks Iam here with my friend TJ storm and
we’re gonna be talking about a lot of
things we’re gonna be talking about team
D his dungeon master tips player tips
and we’ll probably get into mythology a
little bit since we had an interesting
free conversation about that so
tzu-yu like dungeon master quite a bit
right
I do we currently have three games
running a week they are all in the
Forgotten Realms they’re all in the same
universe and they are all kind of
affecting each other right now because
they’re they’re dealing with one world
issue and so they’re they’re kind of one
game does one thing and it has an effect
on the others and they kind of hear
about it over time they man I hear about
it right away
but as news travels and as bards carry
that news from place to place they’re
like did you hear this war over here and
they’re like oh no it’s those guys so
it’s really fun you’re running three
games we just had one we have a Tuesday
night game if there’s no night game and
a Sunday night game and wow oh my god I
am so impressed it wasn’t the original
plan but we’re like I just started with
the Sunday night game and those guys had
a catastrophic event a paladin chose to
the player of the paladin chose to grab
an evil sword and he’s like I can’t hold
this sword and I don’t know why but I
know it’s meant for me I’m like go on
and just want to learn how to use this
sword I didn’t tell him why it didn’t
feel good it’s just I just told it’s not
it didn’t feel good in his hands and it
was like a it’s a it’s a unholy Avenger
he didn’t know that I didn’t tell him
it’s not meant for you I just said it
just feels wrong in your hands it’s
wrong long story short he passed a
greater demon in one of the dungeons and
demon he the demon was bound he couldn’t
move and he couldn’t get out he’s like
hey I could teach you how to use that
sword if you want
oh he made the deal and that split the
group into and that broke off into
another night they could not exist
anymore one went to hell well since
there’s one little group yet and then
and then there’s a third group now that
is hunting the other two groups for
crimes against whatever so it’s a longer
story but I’m going to but but it is
[Laughter]
it’s hard I think streaming is hard over
a long cuz you want to play for I don’t
you know when you used to play you
played for four to eight hours and we’re
doing that and we’re talking about
politics and religion and arguments and
we’re we’re ordering food the big the
big difference between live-streaming
D&D and and playing it at home is yeah
definitely the side conversation the
poker conversation that you tend to have
yeah and that’s some of the best
memories that I have from plane for as
long as that I played I’ve learned stuff
from my other players people at my table
come from different backgrounds every
kind of different background so I hear
the religious guys are like this is one
way and my my non-religious guys are
like this is not right this is the one
way and so they all have these arguments
and we all jump in and it’s a blast
listening to everyone I oh man this was
like 20 years ago 15 years ago I was in
a game that’s why I like about D&D
especially in gaming in general is like
actually in a game with a friend who was
studying to be a rabbi and a pastor why
and you know like a theater nerd and I
was a theater like ever like it was just
like the most eclectic group you could
ever have and all by accident because
we’re all we’ve all lived in Spokane so
you know you’re just
just finding your Dean beef friends like
you know is like yeah yeah yeah and so
you get these these fascinatingly like
diverse groups of people who just really
love Dean deep yeah yeah and and then
that gives me fuel for stuff to play
with in game occasionally they went the
characters are characters went to a
place called motika which is another
continent off of torille and it’s
basically South America and Spain um had
just gotten there and they’re starting
to colonize and so there’s this moment
when they can help they can decide to
help the natives who are getting wiped
out by the colonizers because they have
metal and armor and stuff like that
or they can help the colonizers who are
about to unknowingly bump into a god
that the natives have just woke up and
they had this argument that lasted a few
hours they’re like we can’t just let
colonizers crush all the natives we
can’t just let that happen like it’s
happening we just have to step back just
let it happen and it was this great a
great role play all by themselves they
did it and I’m just like so we’re not
gonna get to my adventure tonight okay
no that’s cool you guys go you guys go
but I loved it that’s the best part like
when your players just take over I think
that’s the best I think that’s amazing
when something becomes an argument or a
debate just cannot decide what they’re
going to do next it was like yeah you
get to sit back and watch it happen is
so much fun it’s like a nice breather as
well for a DM and we just had that
heroes in the veil you yeah yes this
great event and we I thought oh man this
is gonna end well this is really nice we
have the heart we’re gonna give them the
heart they’re gonna give us the people
we’ll both go our separate ways no harm
no foul beyond a little bit that
happened and then brif jumps in and
ripped our heart apart I’m like
[Music]
and now your your your epilogue was like
my worst nightmare I’m like oh man we
have irritated these people and now they
will not rest until they have vengeance
it’s uh it’s very much I don’t know if
you ever played well you know yeah I
don’t like it way way too much but yeah
decisions especially if I played what in
where what Mass Effect decisions matter
quite a lot so yeah when you I mean who
you befriend and who you don’t will have
remark effect on any campaign that if
you’re playing in won’t mine yeah it’s
gonna be it’s gonna have an effect every
every trait that’s yeah running my own
setting cuz if I want just like destroy
something also destroy something nice
you don’t feel like you’ve erased water
deep and everybody’s gonna be like I
don’t have to worry about being
consistent with Cannon and I also
believe in not destroying anything that
isn’t mine yeah I’m not gonna burn
Ravenloft down to the ground like an urn
bring it laughs can burn that place is
evil at dark it is so so it’ll just come
back it’ll just hungry you can’t win I
feel like Raven Loft is the Cthulhu of
D&D it’s the place that it’s only a
matter of time before it grind you into
dust unless you can find a way to get
out you were gonna get ground into dust
eventually yes staying is not an option
oh it’s something that the only way I
could possibly play that is if I flashed
forward like ten years and people have
made deals with the you know the the
dark powers you know to like try to you
know keep the good going and so that
they became part of the problem the
for those that have ever seen angel the
series which is a very old show
they actually eventually joined the
enemy there their core people structure
yeah before season they actually join
Wolfram and Hart the evil demon vampire
attorneys and they actually run the show
they’re in charge of like the Los
Angeles branch it’s so fun to see it’s
cool to see good people try to change
evil from within and it’s such a
disaster yeah use the ring for good
[Laughter]
that’s great yeah always goes well
whether some of your I’ve been given
that you just must be on your toes all
the time as a Dungeon Master that must
be great you must just and I also love
the idea of three games are interacting
I think that’s fantastic is do you do
you have a plan to like bring everyone
together and have one giant game like
one night uh eventually yes because of
the the world that it’s partially set in
can we talk about other things and other
places other properties and stuff um so
I don’t know if you’ve ever know I
didn’t know yeah I don’t know if you’ve
ever heard of a game called League of
Legends but I play League of Legends I I
it’s a really tough game really hard and
it’s really challenging I love it but
the characters are fun so all of these
characters are League of Legend
characters and they are all
fighting in my world and it is epic they
are all there’s I don’t know if you know
the characters but they’re kind of like
overwatch characters and imagine all of
those characters fighting against each
other yeah so we have Sivir and a
attracts and Brahm and they’re all in
separate groups and they’re like so Lux
what are we gonna do in and Jennifer
Kretchmer who’s in heroes of the veil
she plays Lux this bright light wizard
dress and she’s like oh we’re going to
do this and the stoic paladin Brom is
like okay
let’s get it done for the good of the
people and so it’s really really fun
it’s really really epic and they’re
constantly bouncing off of each other
and it’s really really it’s really
interesting that is fun I have often one
say I wanted to do that with um see if
thieves originally I wanted to start a
seafaring deem V campaign and was
awesome we wrote you know we roll player
characters in that for people and then
we move on to sea of thieves where we
just keep role-playing on the ship in
sea of thieves and if we encounter any
one we this talk is our characters and
do our characters would do and it’s a
great little bit kind of amusing yeah I
love that we have that in this game
actually because they have to it’s
important in this game that they get
from place to place a little faster than
normal because realms are humongous and
they have to go from here to way over
here so there’s two characters in League
of Legends one is called misfortune
she’s a redheaded pirate and one is
called gangplank they both have ships
and both of those ships are flying ships
so to take a quick break from the main
game I said you guys roll up some
pirates alright you are under misfortune
and you guys roll up some pirates you
guys are under gangplank you’re going to
go steal your flying ship and take it
back to your group so that you can fly
your group so that’s a side game that we
had for a short time and some of those
characters died because they’re pirates
and they they storm the superior tech
ship but it was a blast then
they are now on they’re both on flying
ships going towards the next location
and I do make them work for it so we
have these down periods where it’s
nothing but travel but travel can be
dangerous unless you’re flying you’re
pretty safe but yeah once you start
walking through uncharted territory it
gets a little dangerous and that could
be time-consuming but that’s part of a
fun in itself is the adventure of
getting to the place and then the place
is an adventure in itself
well flying can be dangerous because you
are a giant target for some very badass
but yes but I have it I didn’t want to
say that out loud because they might be
watching I think they’re safe right now
so I’m like fly these guys could
possibly go wrong what whether some your
what are some of your big dungeon master
tips and tricks that you have learned
over the over over time um well for me I
grew up in the martial arts I’ve been
doing martial arts since I was a little
kid and it’s been and I still teach it
and one of my biggest things that I
stick to every time is do it until your
body can do it without your mind and I
want your body to be on autopilot and I
kind of I’ve been fortunate D&D was so
fun I didn’t know that I was studying it
like a med student probably studies
surgery text but after you survived
second edition and third edition your
brain is so inundated with rules and I
mean just to play the most simple game
you had to look up cuz every time so how
does grappling work uh it uh I’m in the
book again oh right oppose this Plus
that – this they go and add calculus but
after you do that over and over it
starts to get Burton to your brain so
you have a after you have a really
strong sense of the rules after they’re
on autopilot
you’re free to be flexible and play some
people jump right in and they’re like
okay let’s get the storytelling and then
they bump into one of the rules and now
they’re back in the books and that’s
great that’s exactly what you should do
don’t hesitate jump right in soon as you
hit a snag look up the rule okay great
because pretty soon the rules have
become second nature and then you’re
gonna be fluid so I do that for the
rules and I do that for the world that’s
why I don’t switch worlds too often I
use the Forgotten Realms because I know
that for that rums
I’ve read all the novels by RA Salvatore
and I and all of the the fun stuff
that’s happened in the rooms
over the years I feel like I know the
characters I know the climates I know
the conditions and other political
situations and that makes it easier to
really play in those worlds so when
characters say uh I heard gentle keep is
a nice place and I’ll have everybody in
the bar go
no it is not you should go west watch it
deep is a nice places and don’t keep is
not a nice place so and they’re like why
and they they have a flavor right away
for all of this stuff and it expands the
world and you can do that just by
preparing and that constant preparation
will get you to the same place
what uh what do you find most helpful
helpful for la like new players but also
like old-school players as well I mean
you’ve been role playing for a very long
time and also you act as well what what
are your best tips when it comes to that
um for new players
you mean how to interact with them and
and DM the new players has helped them
along or just just for the players
themselves like what’s your advice to
people who are new to playing D&D most
of them
I you know it’s the same thing that
stops a lot of people from getting into
the game that gets from getting into the
martial arts they’re first they’re
they’re afraid of the first step
they’re like I’m not ready or I’m
overweight or I’m not in good enough
shape and gamers are like I haven’t read
The Player’s Handbook
I haven’t played before I am intimidated
it’s just like and then I’ll generally
roleplay with him right there I’ll say
and this is how I started every game
when I was a high school so you’re
walking through the woods and I’ll pose
a question for them you hear something
crack behind a tree what would you do
well
I would look behind a tree and then I’ll
tell them what they see and it’s usually
a scary thing and they’re like oh uh
should I run or do I have weapons like
that’s a good question and you’re
role-playing you’re already there and
then they’re just like oh oh that’s it
I’m like yeah that’s the entire thing
and once you’re in there’s always
somebody that’s a little more advanced
than you it’ll help you once we start
playing so they’ll just point at the
thing on D&D beyond they’ll be like look
right there that’s what you need
you roll the 20-sided and have that
number and then you if you if you hit
you just roll those dice right there
which ones are those dice those are the
square ones that’s it and that’s the
hardest part of the game is figuring out
which dice it is everything else is talk
and it’s really easy and it’s really fun
so I just take a quick moment to have
some fun with him and that’s it just
jump in and do that for your life – what
was that movie with Jim Carrey is that
yes man something like that he was like
no no no and just say yes you’ll have
fun if you don’t you don’t have to come
back but I bet you’ll come back almost
everybody who’s tried it is like oh man
this is easy and it’s so fun this is
really cool how long are the campaign’s
that you’re doing right now oh this this
newest one has been going on for a year
and a half almost two years probably the
one before this that left marks on the
world that they’re kind of bumping into
it was called company of the bull and
that one was well over 15 years it’s
probably closer to 20 but 15 years solid
was it was a 15 year campaign
you ran a 15 year campaign oh yeah yeah
yeah the the main characters ended up
kind of being like Moses in Egypt so
they led and oppressed people through
the desert and started a new country the
main character was his name was Mel
Dakar and he was a he was a ranger that
got turned into a Minotaur so we had
massive horns and then you got a sword
named rage and then he became half God
so people worship Him now and they’re
elevating the status and that event is
still happening
Maharani which is the Forgotten Realms
equivalent of Egypt and our players they
don’t know this they’re going to
eventually bump into that situation
that is amazing how do you how did you
handle leveling up like how do you how
do you maintain like even after three
years I did that’s typically with my
characters hit xx sure sure sure sure
and and yeah how do you maintain that
power balance the that’s part of the
issue for me like that that’s part of
why I have a problem with DC for
instance I watched Justice League and
I’m watching all these great characters
some are very competent some are just
learning their their skills because
they’re new like flash some are reticent
to reenter the world and fight Wonder
Woman but they all balance each other
very nicely and they all fight this
incredible bad guy and then this
Superman I don’t even know why I was
watching the movie because when Superman
entered I was like why did i watch
somebody could have called this in they
could have called it in and he finishes
the movie he’s like and he’s smiling
while he does it
he’s smiling with a non fake mustache
and I’m like why because it’s come on
man cuz that’s what overpowering does
once you get to a certain power level
everything you fight is gotta be
Asmodeus right into Trask and go and I’m
like what come on how many times can you
do that before it gets exhausting so for
me I know milestone een is very very
popular and use it because it’s fun
especially if you want to get to the
hero levels of 10 and above I think
that’s really really fun but I still use
experience myself and I still use the
old rules of
leveling isn’t automatic once you get to
a certain level especially like a name
level eight nine ten now you’re part of
the world power structure do your part
of the world economy you’re bringing in
sometimes ten thousands hundreds of
thousands of pieces of gold your
changing power structures you’re killing
dragons you’re offsetting wars you’re
starting Wars you have to answer to
somebody at some point and then even at
higher levels you people will answer to
you but to make those connections you’ve
got to answer to somebody so I have them
go to a place where they have to train
and it starts at start like a knight
he’s got to answer to a higher level
Knight his sergeant his commander or his
King eventually and that Knight will buy
those things eventually become known to
the people as the champion of this
person and then maybe that Knight will
eventually become the king but he it’s
not gonna be hi I’m the new guy that
you’ve never seen and I’ve popped into
this place but people will know you and
they will start to respect you and I do
the exact opposite in the low levels
when they’re low level nobody respects
him and I don’t give them a whole lot of
time to think I’m like oh you’re first
level so the orc is in front of you what
do you do and they start to look at the
paper and I’m like three two and they
can hear me counting and they’re like
what’s that I’m like the orc grabs you
by the hair and ease you in the face
he’s quite whoa don’t we have initiative
I’m like now you do go ahead and roll
and all of a sudden they realize that
they’re kind of out of control because
the world’s not waiting for them at low
levels later at higher levels when
they’re a badass at fifth level they’ve
been through several fights I said ah
same fight the Orcas in front of you
what do you do three
– but now they know what to do it also
trains their mind to get more into
character and wrote end and jump into
the world under like oh no not this time
I’m gonna shove that work back and pull
out my sword and they they become the
hero in person as well as in the game
and it’s a really cool transformation to
see that happen as well I I’m a big fan
of adding complications and
responsibilities and I think a good like
reference for that was even I mean just
vert dis existing as a high level
character is a problem in itself yeah
you you’re not just hiding out and being
20th level like someone has to know that
you’re that powerful at this point and
it’s sound like that line vision has an
int in Captain America Civil War like
you know our very existence invites
challenge in conflict absolutely that
thing’s once Ironman shows up the number
of life like like world ending events
you know increased exponentially
absolutely I do
idea they like it becomes much more
difficult because maybe when the
characters can become a king well that’s
it that’s a full-time job look like
absolute beast you slowed the
progression now quite a bit but flying
him there’s like where where did they
end up like booze and stuff like that to
the characters well again it’s part of
that is traveling they traveled they
walked I can’t remember the name of the
module that we did it was I remember had
to do with the the Horde it was very
like Genghis Khan there’s something
called a black cursor and all of these
and they were walking through deserts
half the time to get to these places and
they were huge they didn’t have flying
ships it wasn’t that kind of campaign it
was it was were regular guys and now
we’re forced to do this thing to stop a
prophecy from happening and they walked
these huge distances and they finally
got to a place and they found out that a
it was on a map that map is 100 years
old and that city has been dead for 200
years and they got there and like what
there’s not even water here fortunately
they had a cleric they’re like okay
great that’s great
we were gonna train here we were gonna
resupply but now we’re in trouble and
that but that’s where the adventure was
and they’re like okay let’s get a date
so it’s stuff like that then made it
really interesting but the payoffs if
you’re not gonna give them experience
you’ve got to give them a good
experience at the end you gotta blow it
up for them and they after a while I
mean if you base your campaign on
leveling up then sure you’re gonna look
forward to leveling up I just leveled up
keen just level up in the Vale I’m like
and I’m so happy to level my character
up but after a while the level ups were
few and far in between and then when
they finally hit it they’re like oh man
I can finally do this thing and by the
way this was 15 years we were in third
edition so leveling up took a day until
itself I mean you had to go into five
different books because of your prestige
classes and you have four books for
Pete’s just four feats itself and
they’re like oh man decisions decisions
and they there’s so much in to it that
it was an entire deal now you jump on
the indie beyond you’re like click oh
yeah click Oh
spelled click cool ability click ok I’m
ready man yeah it’s great the press of a
question someone had who is a new
denture master they were wondering if
you and I let our players if they’re
young we’re using experience and they
reached that level of calf during the
game if we let them level up in the
adventure I I can tell you I don’t
that’s very time consuming and certainly
you can do that quite quickly on D&D
beyond however I feel like that’s such a
jump between levels that there needs to
be like a bit of a pause like you know
even if you you’re saying that you’re
taking a long rest I feel like the I
think you need to become reacquainted
with that new level that your character
is that and also maybe your character
needs to be spending a little bit more
time to themselves figuring things out
as well that’s usually how I play that I
absolutely agree for me levels 1 through
that’s introspection and you grow and
then maybe I might let you level up in
the adventure especially if I want to
hit you a little harder the extra hit
points help the extra abilities help but
that
level 6 it starts to get to a point
where now you need somebody to show you
the next technical level because you’re
about to get into some interesting and
stuff that doesn’t happen organically
somebody’s gotta teach you how to do
this new trick or somebody’s got to show
you this new set of tools or teach you
these new set of spells because they’re
on a whole nother level you’re going to
grad school now you’re going to higher
levels of learning and you need that now
that is true of most characters in my
game at least except for
barbarians and
warlocks and sometimes sorcerers because
you’ve chosen this very organic path or
you have the pact with something out
there then it might come to you in your
sleep
or your dreams or it might just grow if
you’re a sorcerer it grows within you
and you do this thing I’ll let that
happen a little more organically
everybody else they have so much like
fighters have so many weapons to choose
from they’re like yeah I can do all this
they I also make them be part of the
power structure whether they’re part of
the military or they’re part of the
Knights or something like that yeah you
just even do okay even I was gonna say
even thieves rogues they’re usually part
of a structure usually well if rogues
rogues don’t generally survive well on
their own they’re part of a mafia a
family a network and that’s what the
thieves can’t is for so whoever your
thieves canteen with you’re probably
gonna have to fence pawn whatever but
you that’s are you gonna train with
eventually
interesting I can see that your martial
art training has definitely affected how
you let your players progress like happy
you have to you have to earn things
right and you don’t just magically know
certain spells necessarily appreciate
like higher levels that becomes a big
deal and that’s count that I feel like
they actually increases the enjoyment
and especially like books I used to read
like in Dragon Lance every time Raceland
got a new spell book or new scroll that
was like a big deal like he had
opportunity to learn a spell like yes a
new mathematical code that that you know
change the weave and the Dendy
multiverse and that makes it way more
fun like and I think it’s a good thing
to remember because I think it’s
something like especially if you’ve been
Jinjin mastering as long as you and I
have I think that’s something sometimes
I forget is that you need to like okay
it’s so much more fun if you make them
earn it absolute that like real world
setting kind of like okay well you have
to research you have to you find you
have to find the spells if you can’t
find the spells then you know kind of at
camp battlestar galactica like you know
just there’s a whole episode just about
getting water you know okay exactly
everything everything has a reason they
couldn’t mean an episode about like
finding a spoon and that wasn’t okay for
that absolutely absolutely I totally
agree and if you look at most of our
stories and we were talking about this
about Western mythology earlier there’s
always that person your mentor the
mentor and it’s a it’s an archetypal
character Darth Vader talks to somebody
above him Luke Skywalker talks to
somebody above him and now Luke
Skywalker has somebody coming to him to
train and it keep that that story keeps
replicating itself and it’s one that we
recognize and as a result you have
journeys that go from from there and you
also have opportunities as a DM to say
no and you’re like be careful Mike what
what I get to Train now it’s I get to
Train and he’s like
[Music]
No and that could be an adventure in
itself they have to do something for
that you have all these great story
opportunities and those are fun to
perhaps use
dr. strange is like a really fantastic
example of you know you know rooted in
like Tibetan monasteries and like you
know yep you have to try three times
otherwise we’re not letting you in kind
of thing and yeah I love that moment
that they’re like your chick why would
we let you try exactly like
condescending you have no idea what
you’re doing you’re like you’re just not
and that I do I do like that the hero’s
journey and at the opposite kind of
examples is like Miles Morales and into
a spider verse and you had people
putting this pressure on him like you
you you have to like you have to learn
that you learn to use your abilities
absolutely stay behind and it’s that’s
an amazing progression type film and
I’ve very much wanna see my diverse
mercy if you are not watch if you’ve not
seen that than you have you have
definitely you sold sold your life short
good movie like that’s what I love like
like progression learning experience and
yet you’ve got me on board I mean that’s
something I need I definitely will focus
more on in future adventures myself is
like routing every spell slot into a
reason you know absolutely and and I do
play with that with Wizards sometimes to
to drill down even a little bit more one
of our characters Luxor her character’s
name is lux went to the host tower of
the arcane she went to go level up and
finally she’s been waiting in level for
a while and she’s like oh come on let me
level and I’m like well the host tower
the arcane is in this city you’re in
Luskin you could train there if you want
and now she’s got to decide because
they’re there they’re playing against
time or a particular reason so the
longer they spend in a type place the
further ahead other people get to
through the goal and it’s gonna take
ten days for her to train because it
takes time to train – or used to in the
old in the old versions of the game so
for her it was gonna take ten days and
they’re like man do we train or do we
just go on and we with no love and that
that choice the game is all about
choices and they’re like but we’re gonna
need her power we’re gonna need her more
powerful and she’s gonna have more
access to things that can help us it
might help us skip ahead if she trains
but in the meantime the other guys are
starting to jump ahead which in which is
it which is it well she ended up
training and as a result I don’t always
let you choose your spell’s because it
depends what spells are available but
she yes and she but she happened to be
at the host tower they are cane and
she’s like okay what spells can I choose
from I’m like at the host tower open the
book and choose and she’s like really
you mean I can choose I’m like you can
choose as long as they’re within one of
the main books you can choose and
occasionally when they find old old
Scrolls
I’ll find old old spells that exist in
earlier versions of the game that people
have never seen and they’re like whoa
what’s this and their mind goes and they
think it’s the greatest thing ever but
for this you could choose any spell and
she did she chose her own spells which
was the first time she got to do that
and she was like she’s like a kid in a
candy store and that moment is worth
gold for for them to be able to go this
was awesome
I’ll choose this and this I have one of
these and like that’s so it was really
fun and she worked for that level and it
works out well most the time I’m a big
fan of referencing team DS history and
yeah there’s some key spells I have
built an entire
plot point around a former dean be spelt
it does not exist anymore but even my
own character ate you know apron was he
like as I often mention he’s a victim of
every edition of Dean D he remembers it
all and he’s just like not like a
hundred percent he’s got that John
crying from Farscape kind of Loony Tunes
thing going on because he remembers that
oh so cool like everyone got it like
when everyone had four points and I
think times were rougher then you know
before the death saves and everything
else so I’d like playing with that Beck
had dead poolish yes and but yeah like
how did that knowing about history or
Dean D does help me DM quite a bit now
and it’s fun being it becoming
increasingly streamlined but I feel like
it’s definitely helped role-playing a
lot and certainly like apps and programs
and things like the indie Beyond have
have dramatically improved I think
people’s ability to just focus on the
role-playing
I can’t tell you how happy I am about
D&D beyond for just more than anything
for the new players the new players they
look at the book and they’re like you
know how it is I say uh tell me what
your spell does because as a DM most of
the time i DM ninety-eight percent of
the time and because of the game you’re
running and two other games recently
those were the first times that I played
in 30 years plate I deemed a lot but I
haven’t played in thirty years so I
don’t know player stuff so if a player
says I’m going to use whatever it is
thinking cloud and I’m like mm-hmm
well tell me all about that what do I
need to save what do I need to know
about the area go and the longer it
takes you to tell me that means you
haven’t actually looked up the spell
yourself and I am going to you
that against you I’m gonna make your aim
a little off I’m gonna make you roll
four things but if you can just go okay
it’s gonna be at 60 feet away I have 120
foot range it’s 40 by 40 and they’re
gonna have to make a constitution save
I’ll be like very well and boom they’re
on it and they’re everything’s good to
go but because of the nd beyond there
you gotta just click a little poop and
they’re like oh and great I don’t mind
as long as they’re on top of the game
and they’re ready to go it’s wonderful
in D&D beyond really really helps with
that otherwise you’re going into the
index of the book saving throw stinking
cloud when 72
[Music]
uhh
[Music]
um suggestion nope
stinking cloud m-715
okay and I’m like everybody is like oh
come on it really really helps it’s one
of the best things for a new player
especially all the buttons are there
it’s spectacular and it’s a DM thing for
me I like to bring together a party it
has a reason for being
it’s in the old in the old style and I
do this sometimes with my better’n
players you would say you guys make your
characters you make your characters and
then you have to work really hard as the
DM to find a reason to bind them
together I gotta tie them together um
but in this current game because they
don’t all play League of Legends uh I
was like okay here’s a small group of
characters you can choose from pick a
picture I’ll tell you about them in if
you like it I’ll build that character
for you
so I build the early version of the
character they can take over once they
have it but I build the early version
the character and I give them a little
bit of backstory as to why they may care
about the other characters or what their
history is and now the game flows very
nicely because they’ve already have a
little bit of a prehistory and they’re
like oh I grew up with you on the other
side of the city and we were rivals but
now we’re going to the same thing and
it’s easy that way just for this kind of
a game but it’s hard that’s one of the
team’s hardest things is to figure out
why we got to keep the players together
and sometimes they’ll say why am I here
why am I doing this
I don’t care and after years of hearing
that I’m like hmm hmm so that’s one of
the team’s hardest jobs I thinking
you’re doing great by the way that were
responsible we’re responsible for these
freaking people and we’re in a flying
castle which that’s a pretty dope I want
to learn how to drive this thing I think
that’s pretty cool
and I’m having a blast it’s really
really cool
it’s a it’s important for everything to
have a cost like you know okay well I
got this awesome thing but now you have
responsibility and that’s well I think
that’s a very important thing also I I’m
a firm believer in and this is now
foreshadowing anything but like III ran
a group of people who were all rogues
and thieves and pirates and sometimes
they got everything they wanted they got
the big the big score right you know
they got a pig pirate fleet so they got
tons of gold well you know next next
next adventure they lost almost all of
it and and it’s that constant like and
tearing down and growing and tearing it
down because you have chosen in its life
that you will never get ahead in like
you know you it’s it’s like what they
say about crime like most criminals only
make men and wage their entire lives
when you’d like from score to score it
just wasn’t worth I always was like
whenever I’m doing a very roguish
campaign that’s one of those things like
yeah you think you’ve you’re you’re
winning but there’s you know you’re
gonna mess it up or someone else is
gonna want what you have
yeah to everything that happens
I totally off point so someone was
asking in chat
does being a great player make you a
great DM and vice versa
it’s a complex it is I can tell you from
at least from the martial arts world and
from the acting world being a great
actor does not make you a great teacher
or a great director being a great
martial artist certainly does not make
you a great teacher they are and Ana
diem is part teacher they’re part
teacher part storyteller part director
part writer and those are all very
separate jobs and you over time will get
good at all of them hopefully but it
takes time man and being a great player
I think being a DM makes you a great a
better player because you’ve seen the
best and the worst examples at your own
table and you’re like okay I would want
to be more like that guy but being a
player doesn’t necessarily make you DM a
player’s responsible for one mindset and
the DM is responsible for cultural
feeling background storytelling several
characters on any given game any given
game you’re playing two to four
different characters and making up names
and improving all of this stuff and
sometimes making stuff up flat on the
fly because they went left instead of
going right so it you it takes time to
be a DM quite honestly and it’s its own
job I think
yeah I agree I’ve certainly
yeah big and denture master is entirely
different because is very I think it’s
very easy to be it’s not easy it’s
already a challenge to be very good at
one character like Christopher Walken
like you know yes just walking stick for
walking doesn’t mean necessarily that
Christopher Walken should be teaching
other people to like act or he should
direct it doesn’t mean he’s gonna be a
natural all of that because sometimes
the way you approach characters and the
way the reason you’re good at them is
just so organic and natural and it’s not
methodical in any way just kind of like
oh this is the type of character I love
love to play and certainly you want your
players to have like a really healthy
relationship to each other where they
give energy back and forth and everyone
gets there it’s their time but being
Dungeon Master that is your full-time
job is giving making sure everyone has
the opportunity to have their moment yes
so yeah Golf and Dungeon Master’s do
make really great players because they
are not always so invested in their
character and you know quote unquote
winning absolutely they also move I
think tend to sense the direction you
know the adventure is going or if too
much time has been spent on that kind of
thing like you you just can’t have your
your your Dungeon Master cap on all the
time yes absolutely and so when you’re
running or like a bunch of people who
are all have deemed it’s in very
interesting game I find that’s
interesting
everyone’s at their game it’s kind of
like when I was growing up I had all my
friends and I were in theater together
the theater and film constantly we all
racked hers and her and you know
Shakespeare plays and Greek plays all
all the time and so Dini was how we got
better at acting and early it’s the best
and so never really about the rules and
the roles the roles were great because
they were excuses to role play so yeah
the long story short yeah being I think
Dungeon Master’s
very often do tend to be very good
players very funny players and take
sometimes bigger risks but yeah a player
just because you’re a great player
doesn’t necessarily mean you will end up
being into a great dungeon master but
you absolutely can be just takes work it
just it’s a different set of skills yeah
but it has a really good question I
never really thought about it but it’s a
really good question
yeah knows though that was a hard one
and have you ever run an evil campaign I
definitely have you tell me tell me have
you ever run the evil campaign yes yes
we played a couple my players they’re
all saying the same thing right now
wherever they are they’re like yeah we
played pirates and we spend a year
without a ship pirates without a ship
and that’s what they were I started them
out off a shipwreck and they’re like
dammit alright let’s get into let’s get
in London and get fight and find a new
ship and a year later the like but I’ll
never forget one of them was one yes
yeah it was it was awesome it was one of
the most memorable
it’s those failures actually the
failures and the challenges that make
oftentimes the most memorable things and
that’s why I know that they’re saying
this is number one they never got a ship
until the very very end they never got a
ship number two they hid in a brothel
that had I let one of the players play a
character who owned the brothel and I
said go ahead and roll for the general
quality of your your employee your
employees and he rolled a one so he had
the ugliest employees
brothel and one whose name was Fantasia
so Fantasia was like this yeah how can I
help you and it was pure awesome they
were crying every night we’re having a
blast and it ended though with one that
one of the Pirates was at the the ship
chaplain and it was a priest of um burly
it amberleigh’s known as the bitch queen
she is the mean the evil queen of the
Seas and you kind of would worship her
to appease her so she you didn’t get her
attention and that’s what kind of his
job was but
they hid away on a ship and for some
reason I can’t remember but there was
there was a good guy hiding with them
and the good guy for some reason he said
oh I’m hurt can you heal me and he was
and the priest as the ship was floating
away the priest comes out and goes lay
down my child let me have a look and he
laid down and the priest took his staff
and removed the end and it has an iron
spike with Barb’s and he jammed it into
the good guys stomach and he started
churning it slowly and he goes I appease
you humbly we finally have a ship let us
pass in peace and I was like and
everybody in the room was just like
Oh Oh and you can just feel the
heaviness of what evil feels like and
we’re just like
Oh Belle done that was disgusting ROK’s
and at the end of every session
everybody was like okay so we get back
to the other campaign cuz that’s gross
like yep chirp let’s go we’re good but
yeah absolutely they did all kinds of
messed up stuff and it was it was pretty
heavy I I ran a three-year evil campaign
and it worried here’s the evil three
years of evil and it was evil because
again it was a very robe pirates that
sort of thing and you can’t be in that
world without getting dirty and so
everyone was on board with already being
these you know fairly shady characters
with you know they’re all everyone’s a
criminal but things have to go wrong
like if you are attacking another ship
someone who shouldn’t I got you know
shot order killed I mean it’s gonna
happen and you’re gonna have to make
choices and I always made sure the
villains especially gave them a choice
like there was a film they worked with
for a very long time and they knew he
was the villain they hated him but he
never they never got into combat with
him he would assist them their goals
he gave them jobs and they knew he was a
bad guy
and the turning point was when they when
he tried to get them to give up one of
their own characters and one of the
other players so the players themselves
had to debate whether to sell out you
know and basically you know I was
character killed because he can’t fight
everyone in the party and that was like
an entire session of like this debate
the West yeah that’s that’s what you
live for
and so I think evil campaigns bitkha me
fantastic I don’t think being super
mustache twirling evil I think again
when you look at when you look at mafia
movies when you look at something like
black sails or movies about pirates
anything that shows or you know anything
that’s like an undercover cop kind of
situation they show you the cost you
know these these can be very charismatic
people and and a lot of people forget
that people in the real world who are
bad don’t think they’re evil they don’t
answer bad people and they just do they
just think they occasionally and things
need to get done that’s literally how
they think and to introduce that to have
a charming kind-hearted character who is
evil in your campaigns as Lima is the
most interesting so I’m just giving evil
campaign advice but like if you’re going
to do an evil campaign don’t make it
just just just black and white Hammer
horror evil in my opinion I think I
think you need to like you do have to
the buy-in kind of has to be you think
you’re doing your good guy or you’re a
man the greater good
absolutely right I love that we we have
two versions of that in our current game
one is an arm they don’t like it in at
least in my world they don’t like magic
UNAM or whatever reason and so they have
the Inquisition and the Inquisition is
run by lawful good people but if you
know anything about the Inquisition
they grind you into the dirt and they
they as a result employ the Church of
Bane because they need somebody to get
their hands dirty and the church of Bane
is like we will see it done and they do
it and they come kicking your door take
your stuff take your children dip them
in lake water until they either die or
float or whatever and the Inquisition’s
hardcore Salem they thought they were
doing good by killing witches and it’s
the same kind of thing and the campaign
itself the second be Thursday night
campaign that is the paladin who chose
the dark path and he became a character
named a attracts and now everybody in
the other games are is seeing what he
attracts is doing around the world he’s
having effects around the world and he
leaves his his handprints everywhere he
goes demons seem to be popping up
wherever he has gone and in his game
he’s like alright guys we gotta save
next this is gonna be great and he pulls
out this big huge black and red burning
sword this can’t be evil but let’s go
and do some good and everybody’s like
see buddy I’ll see in this cuz this
can’t be good charge for goodness and
that’s like Hina a world of lawful good
that the last people to go to jail are
the neutral good ones yes Mike Merle’s
told me once and I’m like wow they’ll
get you there may be many evils in the
world but eventually you’ll be the last
like you know when you’re we need a
fight is what you’re looking for when
control and lawfulness is desire most
and purity of good that leaves down a
very dark path on rate I love that
Inquisition have you ever done a game
who mixed Dean V and martial arts it was
again one of the most memorable games we
absolutely had a blast we took a break
during our 15-year campaign to in one of
the editions they there there’s another
side of the realms far far on the east
there’s a giant desert and then on the
other side of that it’s called carrot or
if I remember correctly and beyond
character it’s ro Coogan and row Coogan
is Japan and carrot or is China China
horror tours huge and local guns much
smaller and on the edge and Roca ganas I
think it’s its own setting Seven Samurai
or something like that I can’t remember
it’s called uh ring yeah I’m regular
something like yeah yeah and I we we had
that and they all show there’s different
houses of samurai and they all chose to
be a different house and there was a
what was it I got scorpion Samurai and a
Phoenix house samurai and they all have
these different styles and cultures and
it is
really really interesting they were all
badass samurai and there was a couple of
martial artists to like AK in Sai and
there’s all these guys who could do all
this cool martial arts and stuff like
that and they went over the wall it’s
kind of the same wall in Game of Thrones
except on the other side of this wall is
a hell halation sland scape and that’s
where the wall is built to stop
everything from that side and they went
over the wall on a seven samurai mission
to stop this thing from charging and
they all died that was a total party
kill one one guy had a character and
this is actually a good cautionary tale
one guy had a character he loves so much
he built this character you get these
special in my game if you if you’re the
best role player of a night you do
something memorable I’ll give you
something called a bolt and you put a
bolt on your character sheet then later
when you make another character you can
say I want to put a bolt on this
character and it means at some point in
this character’s life you can spin the
bolt to get an automatic natural twenty
done no questions asked and if you save
a lot of bolts
if you send is you save ten you can make
a mega bolt character now you’re making
a Hercules character or a Perseus
character and this guy did that he made
a Phoenix samurai that highest class
house of samurai the coolest he is the
prince of samurai and he was so proud to
have this character and they got into a
fight with the big bad guy and this guy
was kicking their asses and the first
round he tore the head off of one and
slapped the horse across the battlefield
and it’s led into another guy and broke
his arm
they’re like holy crap hit this guy with
everything you got and the guy who had
the character he had too much to lose he
literally panic froze he’s like uh I uh
and everybody looked at him down the
table he was sitting down on the table
that what are you gonna do man I’m like
what are you going to do boy in the
monsters talking to him and he’s like
and he goes I’m going to watch for a
weakness I’m like and he did not enter
the battle until 3/4 of the party were
dead and
they all knew the only thing that could
hurt this thing was Jade it was a
special thing of this world and he had
the only piece of jade literally a piece
of ornamental jade and he goes he
finally found his courage at almost
everybody’s dead and he goes I you they
go use the j-man use it they were
thinking charge in and jam this thing in
this thing’s eye and he stood about half
a football field away he goes okay I
throw my Jade and everybody was like
what and they all died
it was the most silence I heard at a
table of people who came to play at a
game they’re just like oh it hurt it
hurt you have you ever had that thing
will you deeming and you just did this
to everybody and everybody and you’re
just like this is what happens in this
world I don’t want it to happen because
I spend a whole lot of time building the
campaign but you’re not always in
control you can’t you can’t lose players
not to do terrible things I mean you’re
terrible ideas have terrible
consequences don’t we need to do this
again very soon there’s so much talked
about TT storm thank you so much for
being on the show and being one of my
favorite players of all time it you’re
you’re so delightful and you such
amazing did you master tips player tips
today thank you so much Thank You Todd
you can have it beyond that I’ll talk to
you Wednesday I think they will be
watching thanks guys
In one hour @ToddKenreck talks with @TJStorm01 on Todd Talks! Join in the chat at https://t.co/mvfDh3HC5z! pic.twitter.com/YmbY5gJxb9
— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) February 11, 2019