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Lich Please! podcast: Episode 27 - The Welsh Dm
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🎲 Welcome to Lich Please! the ultimate destination for Dungeon Masters and adventurers alike! 🐉 Join Iwan and Alex as they delve into the art of DMing, explore the intricacies of homebrewing content, and embark on a journey through the realms of world-building. With regular special guests, we bring you insightful discussions, tips, and inspiration for your Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Setup
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello across and all in a Lich Please podcast and I'm a heavy ever Alex. My friends network isn't heavy. My DM come right. Did you get any of that Alex? No.
00:00:15
Speaker
ah for Alex's sake. I guess I'll repeat myself. Welcome back to the Lich Please podcast. And obviously you can see Alex is here, but we do given the intro today have the Welsh DM joining us. How are you? I'm all right. I feel like I should have worn like one of my Wales rugby jerseys or something with that in there. It's very good. I'll give you credit. I've got one somewhere. yeah Well done. I mean, my my Duolingo is not going the best, but you know, I'm trying. ah I had the slight advantage of being my first language, so... Yeah, I had the pain of being brought up in England because my parents worked over there, so I got back here as soon as I could. Obviously, we never liked the label.
00:01:00
Speaker
yeah Cool. So, straight into it, yeah. Yeah, yeah yeah of course, always. Straight into it. Yeah, first segment. so ah For the viewers, again, what it is, is it's the monster guessing game. It's for free to guess versus Yuan. And ah all I'm going to do is read out stats, and then you guys just guess. If you're taking too long, I'll just read out the next stats. So, yeah, um we've done a lot of common monsters. We've done like a Skeleton, and Zombie, ah Mimic, Albert, Tarask.
Monster Guessing Game
00:01:39
Speaker
Common. right right in yeah yeah um Cool, right. So, I will do AC hit points and speed.
00:01:49
Speaker
The AC's 11 is natural armour. The hit points is 58, it's 9d8 plus 18 and the speed is 20 feet. Based on the d8 it's a medium creature.
00:02:05
Speaker
20 feet movement speed is slow though. I've lost. I can already hear you. I'm immediately To be clear, classically, it's not hard and fast at all. Because I mean, I think some wizards have like D10s these days or something like that. I've got... That could be anything. Yeah. Yeah. right I've got an idea, but i want I want to hear some more information. I have a theory, but I don't know.
00:02:37
Speaker
In that case, we will go strength, dex, and con. 16 strength, 8 dexterity, and 15 constitution.
00:02:49
Speaker
Is it some kind of ooze? No, it's not an ooze. Okay. Okay. Because the movement speed was where I was going with that.
00:03:06
Speaker
know on a so So it's not something like okra, okra jelly or whatever it's called. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Yeah. Um, flail snail. No. That's a fun one. Yeah. 25th movement, who knows? Cool. I will go intelligent wisdom and charisma. 6 intelligence, 10 wisdom, 12 charisma. Oh, it's a dumb boy, but not a beast.
00:03:39
Speaker
Is it some kind of undead? Is it a zombie ogre? No, no.
00:03:48
Speaker
20 foot movement speed's what's tripping me up on this. I can see your hands perplexed right now, I can't think of anything.
D&D Beginnings and Preferences
00:03:57
Speaker
Wait, hang on, hang on. The only base of the conversation we had before about you saying, I hate plant monsters, it's not like a tree ant or something. No, no. Oh, because it would be smart, wouldn't it? Yeah. Could be an awakened shrub. Okay, that's not nice.
00:04:17
Speaker
Okay, I will go to the whole saving froze through to languages. Saving froze it has plus to almost done. It's vulnerable to fire. It's resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, slashing from non-magical attacks. It's immune to necrotic and poison for damage and it's condition immunities. Oh, oh, oh it's a mummy. it is a mummy but yeah nice my brain finally put zombie and fire together uh yeah so that is five three to uh to guess first yeah nice nice i bathe in the uh the losing of yuan one day i'll do it and get absolutely wrecked and i'll just never want to do it again but yeah
00:05:12
Speaker
I mean, I wrote an entire like mummy subclass and mummy BBG, so I should have known mummy quite well. me tell Well, here's my point to share an embarrassing story. Um, we, I did a run a session for Alex and his group on Monday. We recorded on the Wednesday heavily. Cobalt's heavily featured in my camp on the session on Monday. And then he was reading this out. like I have no idea what this is. Yeah.
00:05:42
Speaker
yeah Nice. So, um, yeah, straight on to some questions. So how did you get into D and D and when did you start? Oh, a lot of people have been asking me that recently, weirdly. I don't know why. um I got into it when I was about 12 or 13, kind of first year of senior school. um English teacher by the name of Mr. Wormsley, who I've fallen out of contact with since, but you know, he's out there. um Yeah, he introduced me to the game. um First character was a Ranger Druid multi-class. Basically a multi-class Inter Druid to get a wolf as quickly as possible because this was 3.5.
00:06:21
Speaker
Um, and I'm still in love with 3.5 as much as I would never run it for any of my friends or hate them. Um, but no, then kind of. Got into GMing quite early on and off, picked it back up heavily in uni during fourth edition and all of that. And then yeah, fifth edition rolled around and pandemic kit. And then here I am. how many years later? oh know Long time. Yeah. um Yeah, that was the the the overarching story, essentially. 3.5, baby. Still got the books up there that I stole from school.
00:07:04
Speaker
Nice. Yeah, we are. Most of the people we go and are actually started in COVID. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Most of the people, um like myself included, um It's not a good excuse. to like we We had time on our hands, so filling three hours of messing about with dice rolls makes sense. Yeah. Nice. So it seems you were talking about your first class was a ranger and druid subclass, multi-class. What's your favorite class and subclass? They don't have to be together. They can be like, separate. I think in my heart, I still love ranger as a concept.
00:07:41
Speaker
um I don't like the 5th edition version. um If I had to pick my favourite 5th edition class, probably Rogue? is where I go. I'm a bit of a skill monkey, to be honest. um I like being able to roll well on skills. It helps because I have terrible dice rolls as a player, so being proficient in everything kind of mitigates that. um But to be honest, my favorite character I've ever made is still in the campaign. I'm running as a wizard, um just about the ability. I do love magic as a concept. I absolutely adore the system and all of that. In terms of subclass,
00:08:24
Speaker
Am I allowed to pick my version of the Beastmaster?
Narrative in D&D
00:08:27
Speaker
Sure! um But no, from the official game... That's tough.
00:08:40
Speaker
You know what? I am a big fan of the... um
00:08:48
Speaker
It's just gone from my head. ah Celestial Warlock. It's just a very different kind of tone that you can do with the Warlock. yeah um And I've seen ah one of my friends do an absolute insane Eldritch Blast build with that. ah Combining it with Asamir and the amount of damage they put out is frankly terrifying.
00:09:09
Speaker
Damn, yeah. Might have been our first, I think you're the first person to say Warlock subclass at all. yeah as well like off the top of my head everyone always goes like a druid one it's always like uh circle of the moon or something we get yeah i get circle of moon that that's quite classic i don't know i to realize i think i genuinely love warlock as a class whereas i think it's very unique and yeah it's It's almost a build your own class, um which I'm sure my various friends who enjoy Pathfinder will tell me just play Pathfinder. But within D and&D, it's quite enjoyable to play that. And then it's it's automatic like narrative built into the class and everything. yeah
00:09:50
Speaker
yeah The RP from Warlock classes are really nice. I do really like it. yeah it's It gives the DM something else to do as well. like They can just sit there and like message you randomly. And I do it yeah to to my face. Just send them messages. Anytime ah ah one of my players gives me it, I've got an Eldritch being in my head or something. I'm just like, excellent. Cool. I'm going to torment you with this.
00:10:12
Speaker
100%, yeah. I do it. We have like ah the Discord. so and we have the own player notes and i I've got like a whole thread just for conversations with like whoever they're talking to in their head and I sometimes I just put a random of like spooky sounds you hear something they tola it I'm steal that that's great so fine
00:10:33
Speaker
yeah quite especially because i'll have it cause we have cameras on i'll have it on false kind of be out there and i' get a ding and i' like i'll just check what that is and it's alice going o spaky no
00:10:44
Speaker
love it yeah i One of my favorite questions to ask is, and I got validation, this is a great question. So I think we, I'm convinced I saw you at the Dimension 20 live show. In Manchester? yeah in Manchester. I was there, yeah. I think I was on the stairs queuing to get the merch and I think you walked past me and I was like, I know you from somewhere. I thought nothing of it until I got home and was like, oh, that's where I know you from. Yeah, the hair's recognisable. Yeah, i think I think that was it, actually. And then i one of my questions was selected by Brennan to be asked. Oh, nice. And it was, what's your favourite class to DM for? Ooh.
00:11:33
Speaker
So to give you some more context, Brian Murphy said it was druid, Emily Axford agreed. The others didn't really DM, so Siobhan, Zach, and Ali didn't have an answer, but Brennan said wizard, because he liked the, he said wizard to have detect thoughts, which is a really great way to dump a load of lore into those immediately without having them to do anything. We've been like, yeah, that's a really Brennan answer, and very true. From my experience, I think the two most, there's two characters that I've very much enjoyed have both been Bards, and for very different reasons. One of them is one of my friends I've known from school who is just the most chaotic and creative player imaginable, and his use of illusion spells just gets me every time. um And I adore him for it. It was the first time he played D and&D straight into Bard, fell in love with the class, never wants to play anything else. And then my brother actually in ah the current campaign that we're playing,
00:12:29
Speaker
um on YouTube is playing a bard that's very different focus that's more in that kind of wizard I want to learn everything kind of bard and the college side of it and yeah I just love support classes like the characters
DMing Preferences and Homebrew
00:12:42
Speaker
that sit there and go I'm gonna make everyone else better and just pull the threads and pull everything together I think bard really plays into that really quite well. That bard is a really great class for just Oh, what's the word? I can't think of the word. You could have a party of bard and everyone would have their independence. They could be very diverse in their skill sets. Yeah. word yeah No, bards are pretty cool. I am yet to play one in a campaign and I will, I know I will. I've got one sat because I like to ah sometimes I sit down and just like, yeah, let's make 10 characters yeah because why not? Yeah. And I've got some... I made um made a bard baron once that was just Jason Momoa.
00:13:24
Speaker
but um He was great fun. We were doing like we were in the snowy mountains and you still still just wearing like a single vest like this is fun Yeah, that is that sounds amazing I do love a good old pop culture reference in D&D like I'll do it a lot. um Yeah So In terms of like classes as well Do you prefer the the combat and the role play with martial classes, or do you prefer it with spell casting classes?
00:13:59
Speaker
I feel like, um often, if I am playing, I'm forced to be more creative in combat in terms of narrating as a martial character. like yeah To almost like make the turn feel worthwhile with just rolling an attack roll. you you You kind of think about the attacks that you're making in your movement through. But I mean, with spell casting, the ability, especially if you're using stuff like a component pouch, like the way Liam O'Brien did it in campaign two, like that full explanation of just like, I do this, I pull out this, and it does this, um is is very satisfying. But yeah, I think in my heart of hearts and playing a wizard in the one campaign I'm a player in at the minute, I kind of want to get back to Marshalls and just get back to swinging a weapon and detailing how that looks.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I love a martial class. I love hitting people and Bruce explaining how I hit them. It makes me feel a bit joy. Yeah. I do love a martial class. You won't always use your weapon though. No. No. You do. Yeah. My mates playing a... part of the beast barbarian and in in uh our youtube campaign and he is he terrifies me every time we have combat because the last fight we did we i've put them against an otaku they were in the sewers classic kill the rats in the sewer and he tore the tentacle off an otaku and beat it to death with it smart yeah and a hundred percent genius idea oh my god
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, we um we play on Tailspire. And has said that if it's on the map, we can use it. And i like I've got a whole combat without ever swinging my axe once. Whole combat. And we we are raiding a goblin fortress. And there was was chains hanging from the fence. I was like, ah can I take the chains? He was like, yeah, take the chains. And I just used it to strangle every god. Every single one just, yeah, I want to single chain round his neck and just strangle him. Yeah. Yeah, when you're a more physical class, you just you feel like you interact with the environment a bit more, I find. Yeah, yeah. I feel like I'd be too bored if I just kept like, oh, I'm going to hit it with my axe and then just roll the dice. It feels really underwhelming. Yeah, I get that.
00:16:14
Speaker
You do occasionally see someone though post, but I feel like I don't get to do much in combat. Like as a, you'll see for somebody like as a Mastercard, I feel like all I can do is hit things. I'm like, well, if you're feeling that that's maybe something you want
D&D's Evolution and Culture
00:16:26
Speaker
to talk to you about, I'm like, can I do more things? And it if you're feeling the strength, there I guess it's on you. Well, this this this is always the thing that is one of my big rules when it comes to D and&D and and introducing new players especially is that don't let the rules get in the way of fun. And that works both ways. that's Don't let the rules stop you from trying to do what you want to do, but also don't let the rules dictate as the thing only thing you can do. like
00:16:52
Speaker
I think I remember one of the first things when I started DMing for my old school friends was just like, ignore your character sheet. I'll tell you what you need to do. Just tell me what you actually want to do and we'll figure it out. And that's just, and that kind of opens people's minds a bit. Yeah, yeah. 100%. I think for new players as well, getting into like the creative part of it is difficult if they just focus on the whole game setting, game planning, just combat and stuff. Yeah, exactly. It's one of, I think it's one of the very first adventuring parties they did with Brennan, where he said he thinks of DMing like Akido, and it's like, never say no, but it's sort of like, you can't do that, but maybe you could do this instead, which is exactly what I've taken from yes his advice, and we're like, that's exactly how I wanna sort of run things. Yeah, that's great advice, yeah.
00:17:44
Speaker
Yeah, so you said you got into DMing quite early on in like your D&D career, I guess. Would you say you prefer modules or homebrews? Homebrew every time. There is no doubt. um I will read modules on occasion when they're of ah a topic or something that I'm fascinated by, i like Descent Into Avernus. I'm currently reading through the Vecna Eva Ruin adventure. I have thoughts. But it is it is always for me to then take inspiration and run something else. I feel restricted by modules, like that if I say something, it might get contradicted later on, or I've got to make sure that people are following a path rather than just going with the flow.
00:18:27
Speaker
So yeah, I pretty much am always Homebrew. Yeah, yeah, we've heard. Surprised that we've heard of quite a few people say modules. We, us to ourselves, prefer Homebrew. We've Homebrew our own worlds and everything. It is just easier. um but I've also never been a part of or ran a module. so like i'm not like I would do it, but i I feel like I know I wouldn't enjoy it. if i If I found a module that excited me enough, I probably would. like I was properly excited for for Eva Vroon. Reading it, I'm like, this is a Planescape adventure. This is not a Vecna adventure. I want Vecna. So yeah, I'm still waiting to find that adventure that makes me go, I need to run this.
00:19:05
Speaker
Yeah. So I think this would be interesting. You've played or through a lot of different editions. How did you find, um, cause I have thoughts on the, when I picked up D&D, it was the big one they were pushing was Lost Minds. That's your starter adventure. This is what you want to run for new players. And I first ran it and thought, it's it's like it's a good adventure. As I've got further in my D and&D career, my opinion of that has changed. I don't think it's, I think it heavily pushes combat and doesn't run enough. You can resolve things with social checks or things like that, rather than visiting. You need to kill everything you committed contact with and that's the only way you can succeed.
00:19:46
Speaker
I very much agree with you. I think something that especially those earlier ventures in the history of 5e, the designers still seem to be tethered to D and&D as essentially a dungeon caller. D and&D mechanically is a monster fighting game with other things but with on the side. But in the last 10 years, as D&D has become more popular, the livestreams and stuff like that, it's evolved into a proper role-playing game where people play narrative threads more and combat by kind of comes in. Um, and yeah, I think the intro adventure lacks that to an extent, um, to, to introduce players to like, how can you do this differently and exploring those opportunities? Um, combat's are always going to be the central pillar, but yeah, I think we should be encouraging new players on. Look, combat's not the only way to solve this thing. So.
00:20:40
Speaker
Yeah, nice. So another question we've talked about with like, ah people, content creators from England for D and&D, ah the very few we've had, it's like, what what were your thoughts on the England? Yeah, okay, Wales. All right. From the UK, we've had, it's like, what thoughts on the the culture in the UK and like, how easy or slash hard it is to to get into D and&D here like how do you feel about it how do you feel it's progressed since you started playing D&D? It's progressed a lot since when I was started but when when I started it was the
00:21:18
Speaker
nerdy it was the it was the brother of war hammer of nerdy people in a room and go away you're weird ah to the point of being at least kind of popular in some not necessarily mainstream but at least out there um i do find it weird in the uk though like a lot of official stuff and even like the unofficial stuff is very us coded and and us focused um i mean for example like wizards at most come over here once a year for conventions and we've got what four or five conventions they could probably come to um and you don't see a lot of like open games or open tables like you're starting to see more of it like there's I think there's now a new adventurers league up in Scotland but there's nothing elsewhere
00:22:05
Speaker
and So it can be quite difficult for people who want to get into the game, unless they happen to know somebody, to know where to start in the UK. While in the US, s there seems to be a lot of ongoing opportunities and conventions. ah Yeah, that I think that's the best answer we've had. Yeah. Because most of the people we've had, we've had... You might be our second, third creator from the UK? Yeah, we had Eldritch Pobblast. um And then when you did your stream, we had Dickie. Oh, yes, when we did the stream. So first, second guess on the podcast offer, but the only one who's played lengthy, like Eldritch Pod, they came in COVID. So it's really interesting to get that sort of a longevity perspective because I came, I started playing 2017 and you, you're a COVID baby.
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I am. Yeah, so it's nice to get the perspective on things because
Player Dynamics and Campaigns
00:23:00
Speaker
I think as well and I've said before like the media did help like Stranger Things even Baldur's Gate Community TV shows did help push it but that it's not as like prevalent like those TV shows aren't insanely huge still in the UK like Stranger Things a lot of people watch but it is an American TV show Yeah, and it is mainly advertised in America. So Yeah, they did help, but yeah I definitely think the UK is behind America, I guess, for the prevalence of done D and&D, I guess. Yeah, I do agree. Yeah, 100%. I would say the biggest, I think, influence in the UK will be Baldur's Gate by far. Like, without now, Baldur's Gate is going to be huge. Yeah. I don't think we've seen that come through fully yet. No, that's true. It's going to hit hard. Yeah, yeah, definitely not. As in, we've definitely not seen it happen yet. um
00:23:54
Speaker
Yeah, so do you play often still or are you basically mostly a DM and play sometimes? I am mostly mostly a DM. I have one campaign I'm a player in that is meant to be weekly. We haven't played in three weeks now, just due to people getting ill at the wrong time and kind of thing. But um yeah, but I mostly DM. I DM for what, two or three groups at a time, like my standard one. Irregular friends, which is just chaos um Occasionally like other systems and stuff like that. But yeah pretty much DMing 90% of the time nice nice so On that question as well if you had a moment from when you you started D and&D to to now as like your favorite or most memorable moment as a DM or a player or both What would it be?
00:24:48
Speaker
I've just been reminded by my brain of a moment when I was a player from very early on. um This was 3.5, we were teenagers messing about, where my friend Aaron was playing a dwarf, I think, cleric, and proceeded to try to ride ah steal a horse, ride it into a tavern, up some stairs, and through a portal. should never have happened. He rolled three consecutive NA 20s. He wasn't even capable of riding a horse. He did not have the skills. Wrote into a tunnel, drew out both axes, was steering a horse with his knees, and then decapitated two skinless men.
00:25:32
Speaker
Wow. And it is like the defining moment in my brain where I went, D and&D is awesome. It's never left my brain. ah Yeah, that was a truly iconic moment from an era long ago. ah As a DM, couple, but one of them was my friend Chris in our previous campaign was playing a wizard and he went back to the library where he'd been a wizard. He had his memories wiped, whatever. um And there was a tavern there that was kind of like TARDIS-ified, the inside was bigger.
00:26:07
Speaker
And that was done by this weird like mechanical thing on the ceiling. And there was something in it that was connected to part of his backstory that he desperately wanted to then search and all that. And his response was, I'm going to start climbing on the bar and trying to break the machine to pull it out. And I was like, OK, if you do that, this bar is going to break. He was like, still doing it. And proceeded to, within 24 hours of returning to his home, where he was a famous, highly respected member of the mages, nearly get kicked out because he tried to destruct the bar. It was just one of those moments of just like, I didn't see it going this way, but here we go.
5.5 Edition Analysis
00:26:45
Speaker
yeah
00:26:47
Speaker
yeah take it but you like being a d you're like just a nice school play but like bill and then like ah destroy
00:26:55
Speaker
don't don't don't hold on to anything precious because your players will find a way to ruin it yeah yeah yeah so recently um and we're going to like a a big topic here there's obviously been talks about 5.5 Yes! Sorry for scoring it at 5.5. Thank you! It is 5.5. I think it's still calling it 1 D&D. 1 D&D. 1 D&D. D&D 2024. Get out of here. It's 5.5. Thank you. 1 D&D died the death it deserves. Quickly and swiftly.
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah, one D and&D was, and is, just an atrocious idea. Anyways, 5.5, yeah. I'd just love to get your general thoughts on some of the stuff that's been, like, published about. How long you got? Ages. Let's start on the positive note. The art that they're releasing is gorgeous. I absolutely adore it. um The rules, the phrase shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic springs to mind of there's a lot of, okay, but why are we making this change um to a lot of the stuff? And then there's the messaging of, oh, it's brand new. And then everyone going, it's in Tasha's. So it's not.
00:28:31
Speaker
But my biggest my biggest problem from a kind of design perspective has been one of the messages they've said a lot is it's about wish fulfillment for for players, like um health potions to bonus actions. Now I do do that, but that kind of premise of like, here's the stuff that players have said they've wanted, so we're going to give it to them. which is fine in theory, but then that messes with the kind of cogs of the game where suddenly players' actions are opened up quite a lot because stuff that used to take an action is now shifted to bonus action, so they're doing a lot more damage or a lot more significant stuff on their turn.
00:29:04
Speaker
Does the game mechanically react to that in a positive way such that there is still the feeling of challenge and therefore heroic success at the end of it? Or does everything feel a little bit like a cakewalk because suddenly every player is a demigod walking through doing whatever they want? Is my biggest concern with what's coming out at the minute for the players handbook stuff. Yeah, yeah, it's they listen to all different player groups. But the thing with D and&D is that because everyone has different rules at their table, if you're listening to everyone rules and applying it to one table, it's just not gonna it's too much. Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah, it feels like they've tweaked stuff that didn't need tweaking, right? like yeah There was a lot of stuff that I think everyone agreed like this needed to change. I think healing potions, bonus action, everyone's like, that needed to change. Inspiration could do with tweaking because everyone forgets it. That could do with a change. like Small bits like that. And instead, and partially believe this is largely down to outside the control of the designer team, Hasbro going, and it's 50th anniversary, we need to make a profit on this. um They've been forced to essentially make it make a ah good enough reason for people to have to read by the books rather than small changes that people just go, eh, it's fine. um So I think their hand's been a little forced in making it a significant enough change that people feel compelled to buy the books on things that didn't need changing, really. Yeah, yeah.
00:30:34
Speaker
and What I would ask as well is, based on the changes that's come out as now as of now, like some of the stuff that's been leaked and whatever, is there anything you personally would do to 5E that you would have put in like 5.5, basically?
00:30:53
Speaker
there was So there's one thing that I recently um spoke about elsewhere, and it's technically in the 2014 DMG. It's an alternative rest mechanic. And in that DMG it talks about it for running a grittier, um harder kind of campaign where quick rests come in for hit die, short rests become a day, long day a long rest become, I think it's three days in the DMG. um And I was thinking about it from a different context, which is a lot of D and&D these days has become quite narrative, which means you have less encounters per day where you're using resources. And I think this has led to a lot of the belief of the martial spellcaster divide, because you end up getting a lot of long rests relative to the number of encounters you're doing.
00:31:38
Speaker
If you switch to this grittier rest mechanic, which actually feels more reasonable in terms of getting all your hit points back over three days rather than eight hours late, um spellcasters will use their spell, will have to be more sparing with their spells. um even in kind of social situations and you might bring that balance a little bit back um because you've spread out the resources over a broader range of days but you're still probably doing the same amount of encounters whether that's role play, social or combat over those three days as the game was originally designed for like dungeon corner. So that's what I would have looked into doing is is altering how resting works. I think I'd want
00:32:24
Speaker
This might be controversial, but give me some kind of feeding mechanic, some kind of mechanic that you would, you have daily rations, it's right there.
Role-playing and Mechanics
00:32:32
Speaker
Give them some kind of resource development, you have to go and find food and water, or as an op, like have it as an optional mechanic that can be built, at least a narrative. Exploration, like it's it's the one pillar that's functionally missing. And don't get me wrong, I i think exploration is very hard to do because unlike combat, people want to do it in different ways and want to engage with it on on different degrees. But it always felt like, whenever I was reading 5e early on, that they built 5e to be right, here's the dungeon quarter part. We'll get to the rest later. And I think there was an original concept during the play test that that's how 5e was going to work. It was going to be quite like a modular game. like You'd have the basic rules, and then you could plug on kind of stuff that you wanted. And it feels like they never did the plug-ins for exploration and social.
00:33:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's the thing. It's just like can you just add these then we'll go away and have some fun Yeah, yeah I will say the first thing when you talk about that the the rest thing for the grittier from the the dmg 2014 The first thing I thought of when you said that as well was that'd be so good for role play because The thing I focus on a lot in D&D is not like the the actual mechanics of hitting and stuff. What I've always focused like meant like subconsciously on is it has to make sense in the roleplay as well.
00:34:00
Speaker
my I get that you could have great mechanics and like, yeah, the spells are cool, but it has to make sense in my head. Uh, like role-playing wise and a three, if you've just come out from a battle and you're like five HP, you've been gassed an eight hour rest. You're not going to wake up fine. It doesn't make sense. So as like a 29 year old, I can guarantee that eight hours does not fix anything. That's the running joke. The most powerful healing spelling D and D isn't is ah is an app. yeah
00:34:32
Speaker
So I would definitely say that is like a very interesting and should be definitely explored and talked about like the actual role-playing aspect of mechanics because It's why people play the game is well playing as well touching on that just because it was the video that came out when the day we're recording this ah the barbarian video over on YouTube ah With that in 5.5 it being like when you rage you can do skills and strength checks. It's like cool Can you explain that to me in a way that actually makes sense? How am I using strength to be sneaky? Like, I i need to conceptualize that. And the argument is, oh, it's a primal power. I'm like, that doesn't answer the question.
00:35:16
Speaker
i ah so i've i've i gave a I had a magic item. You guys have it as well. The amulet that Finnan has, the healing amulet, does Cure Wounds at level two. And I gave it to another party, but their barbarian wanted it. And they were like, what's my spell casting modifier? And I was like, fuck it, Strump. I don't know how it works, but it's magic. So I just punch them and heal them. Yeah, that's what you now do. So hard, you recuperate them. I mean, that's just way of, mu that's just way of Mercy Monk. Yeah, pretty much, yeah. If you're gonna put it in a, like, with magic, you can kind of be like, ah, it's magic, it's just how it works. But like you said, sneaking, you're just so, he doesn't make any sense, that's painful. So angry that everyone's like, not gonna deal with that guy, just pretend he's the other way. Or do they like tense their muscles so hard, no sound is emitted from them? Just move, like, you know, it's just weird, yeah.
00:36:14
Speaker
Now we're on the sort of subclasses. Have you seen the the one the classes they've released that are going to be in the new handbook? Yeah, I have. And I've seen some people being very upset that the Artifice is not involved. I'm in that camp. They've at released one new official. You can class the Bloodhunter in that if you want. It just feels like they've... right I don't know. It feels dumb to leave it out. So on one level, I understand why they haven't put it in. I think the design team themselves aren't a fan of it, um with it coming from Eberron and its original design being very baked into that setting. What I do agree with is the point that it's the only class that they've released in 10 years. um I think something that Wizards are missing out on is that ability to explore other classes. I mean, what Paizo released to a year for Pathfinder kind of thing.
00:37:10
Speaker
And there's always, a there's ah there's a flip side to that discussion of if you introduce new classes, the game becomes harder to balance, right? Because yeah there's always the risk of power creep and and classes falling behind and whatever. But at the end of the day, while yes, this is the most successful D and&D ever, after 10 years, it is stale. And I don't think revamping existing concepts is the way to make it stop being stale. It's introduce something new that gets people excited to explore a new narrative, a new type of character, a new way to interact with the world. And I think that's the thing that wizards, as you say, are kind of missing out on at the minute. That's very true.
00:37:51
Speaker
There's also one of your videos that I saw and I fully agreed with you in this and I spent quite a long time thinking about what my thoughts on it were. And I couldn't come to an idea with what do they expect to happen? You said, do they expect everyone one day to wake up and pick up 5.5? Or like, at what point do they expect people to slot this in? And I was like, I don't know myself when I do that. It's very confusing because they keep saying that, oh, you can play 5e and 5.5 classes in the same campaign. But why would you, like, what's the point of that? That that is essentially an admission that the 5.5e classes aren't good enough. yeah keep They are not needed.
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah. Um, so just like, cause I'm not going to suddenly turn to my players now and go, right, we're switching to 5.5 eight. We've played this campaign for a year and a half, but there's a new addition out. So we're going to switch to that because that's insane. And people who play longer form campaigns aren't going to switch over to it anytime soon. Yeah. So it's only going to be the shorter campaign. It's just, yeah, I just, I would love to know what they envision. it looking like um down the line but yeah i think the thing is as well with that is because it will be people like short campaigns and people just starting out and they're like oh yeah 5.5 and then if it's really bad if it's actually just a bad like they've done a poor job
00:39:17
Speaker
no one's gonna play it the short people would just be like yeah this is awful don't play it and then no one's gonna switch over no one's gonna play it after their one campaign of 5.5 is done that's gonna be it like it's a very poor way to to release things if you're gonna make a whole new dnd thing you shouldn't just ah be really too relaxed with the previous edition like existing with it yeah it just feels like the design has got stuck between a rock and a hard place they were told make something for the 50th anniversary but also this editions are made like almost successful so let's not rock the boat and you're like well then we can't do much
00:39:53
Speaker
I always think like, especially since they built it up and going back to even of ruin not delivering, they built up all of these like obelisks in all of their settings and this like build up to something big coming. And it felt like there was a ah multiversal reset coming in like a three point, like second to third and third to fourth, where something massive changed within the lore of the game. um and here you go, here's something new. And they haven't done that. And it feels as like they're kind of pushing like, the the new shiny thing is the rules when you could be pushing the new shiny thing is this really explosive narrative event that's gonna drag everyone into want to play a game and want to play in a new world and want to like be dragged into what's happening in the forgotten realms and the multiverse and everything like that. And it just hasn't happened. Yeah, yeah, 100%. So,
00:40:43
Speaker
You won. I think it's time. I was about to.
Character Dynamics and Conflict Resolution
00:40:48
Speaker
Yeah. So when I was looking for sort of a a catchy title to grab my attention, um, I immediately found the one that said, I'm, I know I'm the asshole and I don't know how to fix it. Um, so I would be like, yeah, this is, this will be a good one to to sort of dive into. Um, So I played in a campaign of the internet with a bunch of friends over Roll20. As a barbarian with a bounty hunter background, I tried to be this gruff, cold person who is only there for the job, which ultimately led to arguing with the party artificer. Very curious about his nature several times getting very curious by his nature several times getting into fights. We didn't want or touch potentially dangerous stuff.
00:41:37
Speaker
um Arguing became more hostile with each session and I ultimately started feeling like I'm hurting the feeling of the player playing the artificer. I apologized to them and also talked to the DM who confirmed my worries and demanded I take a softer approach with my party members as I received complaints from others already to the point where they started to straight up didn't want to play anymore. So I promised I would be softer and more easy going with my character and so today it was all going smoothly except for the search going around going rather uneventful, and it went well. We chatted, RP joked, up until combat started. um The slow pacing of the sessions and the fact that we were fighting simple rats in a cramped space, and I was locked down by my teammates without the chance to properly hit anyone, ah only holding a handout, so I attacked the first, I attacked the supervisor's metal defender, um so so that the AOE strike, from the AOE strike of playing a homebrew subclass would hit enemies. And so I did, it did,
00:42:37
Speaker
I could only have asked my teammates to move, could have pushed the rats past from my way, which I did, but ultimately found out that I was muted on Discord, and I also did so, instead of but instead I decided to do what I did. I have no idea what I just said there, or what I did there. So, hold on. This guy. As far as I've understood this. This guy was playing a bit too like tough guy character and annoying people. Fine. That got talked above table. Good. Communicate people. Don't let things pester. Lovely. Wonderful. Good. Step one, achieved. But then next session, you decided the person who's expressly said they've got an issue with me, I'm going to attack attack their character's central thing.
00:43:27
Speaker
because it does AOE damage and I can't reach the rats. Find a way to reach the rats. You can move through friendly creatures. The artificer probably doesn't want to be up front anyway. The steel defender's meant to be doing that. Or I don't know, jump. Like, jump over the rats. like this what This comes back to the point you made originally. Interact with the environment. Is there a chandelier in the ceiling that you can swing over? Or a it's a beamed roof and you can climb up and over the top? like There's ways to move in the India. Yeah. yeah but As they go on to say, the session ended soon with everyone being upset. The DM is saying to me in a private chat that they won't have it anymore and kick me from the group. I feel so betrayed and mad at myself at the same time. I know what I did was wrong, but there was one thing I can't get out of my seat. So why is it okay with a player that's playing the art if I sleep on other PCs in the middle of the battle and ah and ah in our different campaign?
00:44:26
Speaker
um just to get maybe one small enemy down, but me hitting a metal defender to hit several of them is not. Maybe I'm just trying to find a excuses for myself, the DM and other players will listen to me apologizing and I don't really think I just deserve their forgiveness. What do I do? There's one major difference between you hitting the the defender and then casting sleep. You didn't do any they didn do any damage.
00:44:51
Speaker
And like, as as you say, if sleep by the sounds of it was being used to essentially incapacitate one small creature that was kind of left around, the sleep spell is guaranteeing that sleep that creature goes down, maybe one of your allies goes down due to hit point totals. And all you've got to do is go, wakey wakey, in the back. In combat, dealing damage to an ally is problematic, especially in the middle of it. It's not like it was the end of combat and it ended the combat kind of thing. Like that could have ramifications where that still defender takes a crit next round and goes down. um Yeah. I think it just comes back to interact with the environment and find a way to not have to hit your friends.
00:45:36
Speaker
I would say for the first part as well and it's the first thing I thought of is they're talking about how they argued in character a lot. It sounds like they at least the the poster and maybe the the rest of the party had a lot of leak into their game like they got way too into the arguing and stuff and then it became a problem and I feel like they might have needed to at least express how or talks about how the arguments weren't real, and they weren't about serious things, and maybe just you know relaxed a bit. Because people do forget it is a game. like yeah That's true. Yeah. i think I think a crucial thing that a lot of people forget with with D and&D games, or TD RPG games in general, um Session Zero has become quite big. I think it's a widely accepted thing that we all do Session Zeros. I think what a lot of people forget is having um a cooldown session.
00:46:31
Speaker
Like, after the session's ended, everyone's still around the table for 20, 30 minutes, chatting about the game, chatting about what happened, chilling out, not playing the game, but possibly talking about it, which gives you a chance to air out situations like that of just like, hey, I know we had a really intense argument there. I want to let you know. I was purely in character. You and me are fine. I'm happy. You good. And you just check in with that. I genuinely try to do that every single time. um i think someone i saw somewhere explain it is really good we're playing dungeons and dragons so if we're doing dungeons we should have aftercare people it's a very important thing um it's a good thing to just stay in my head yeah that is good yeah um but yeah i'd definitely say it to that person like i wouldn't you were an asshole i guess um
00:47:25
Speaker
Like you're saying you've been asked or you don't know how to change it. I think you do know how to change it. I think you just ah to got the the emotions got better of you and you decided to to be stupid. Like even as well, even if you think you couldn't possibly have moved somehow for some reason, like I don't know why there'd be a reason you could have moved, but let's say there was somehow you couldn't have gone anywhere and your only hope was hitting the thing. Say that to the Artificer. Like, actually just say it. Just be like, ah, look, I can't go anywhere and I want to do damage, otherwise I'll be wasting a tan and I might involve hitting your Steel Defender. Are you okay with that?
00:48:01
Speaker
If not, can we figure something out like a hell action or move around? Or at the end of the day, I think that post said a hand axe. Hand axe are thrown weapons, throw the fucking thing. Yeah. I mean, yeah. It sounds like you had options is all I'm saying. A hundred percent. Yeah. It was a interesting. As a DM as well. And as I said, I always had a relatively experienced. The bit where they say, let me see if I I tried to be this cold gruff person. If they as a player said that to me, I'd be like, okay, as a person now, not as a player, you need to be aware that you want to play this game. Maybe consider don't playing a cold gruff character is going to be isolated by the party because you want to play the game. Don't stop yourself playing the game in person like in the character.
00:48:57
Speaker
You need to find a way to to want to interact with the world. That's exactly it. If you're going to play the dark, lonesome stranger, it is on you to find a reason that they actually chill out with the party. Simple as that. like If you want to play this game, you've got to understand it's a party, you've got to be part of that. I've played those kind of characters before that are kind of secretive, held back, and that kind of thing. But at that point, you just go, cool, these people are useful because they let me stay alive, so I will hang out with them. and It's a very simple thing to pull off.
00:49:30
Speaker
there is Like, yeah, even if you want, even if your character wants to be alone, they have to one understand you're in a dangerous world and survival in numbers is a thing. Use it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. People do invest too much into what we talked about before, like the edgelord stereotype. It's like first time players or people who just feel like doing it. And I feel like they forget that there has to be reason to do things. Yeah. There was a great post, I can't remember who said it now on TikTok, I did i did reply to it at the time, um that one of the biggest problems with new players, especially white cis people like myself, um is the power fantasy we've been fed um through our entire like adolescence of like, we are the hero in all of the books and the TV shows and everything like that, and they come into D and&D
00:50:23
Speaker
with that in mind. And so they build a character like that, while other people who don't necessarily have those biases built in from their upbringing, come in with a more collaborative concept. So it's just something for DMS to keep an eye out for and with new players, especially. Yeah, do you think I see a lot of people post about it being like, we're going to see this issue coming up a lot now with people playing Baldur's Gate. And I think Yes, we might see an increase in it, but it is a very quick conversation. People are talking about like it's going to be this massive issue. It's one conversation to get rid of that. It's not that difficult. You say you are now playing with actual people, not a PC. You need to think about like you're interacting with real life people, not not a computer. So yeah take that into consideration. You're not the only person here to have fun. Exactly. Yeah. yeah
00:51:16
Speaker
You mentioned back there playing a character with secrets. Now, people who have watched the podcast for a while will know in our campaign a lot of secrets. I mean, it's we're 50 if sessions in now and some people don't even know what other people's races are. So like a lot of secrets. What's the biggest secret that you've held on to as as a character in a game or you you've had a character hold on to as a DM? And for how long?
00:51:42
Speaker
So it came out in the last session, the wizard character I'm playing, um she she but she she told members of the party, but not everyone, but basically came out in full detail that her entire plan, her entire reason to exist at this point is to kill three gods. Nothing else matters. um She would, walk into hell and leave them behind if it meant it would be a step towards their goal um and actively acknowledge the fact that ah that all stemmed from the fact that she was brought up in the cult of one of those evil gods um and that everything about her is connected to that in some capacity, which is funny.
00:52:34
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, that is damn. Yeah. I need to get into a new campaign just so I can write characters with secrets. I have a thing. I've never written and like a character with insane secrets. And like, I just want it once, just once to have this really cool secret that gets unveiled. And then it's like, wow, that's really cool. Because you know dan yeah Dan can die. Dan can die, but please don't kill him. yeah my In Yuan's campaign, I run a Goliath fighter who has no secrets. He tells everyone everything and he talks about everything.
00:53:16
Speaker
yeah as ah As a person, I love lore and stuff, so when every other player in our party has a secret, it drives me insane. I was ah i was talking about the same wizard character. I basically built that wizard character to tell turn to my mate, who's like the other DM that I talk to a lot. It's like, tell me everything about your world and stuff you haven't even invented yet. This this is the reason for this character. I want to know everything. And I realized halfway through that I'm fairly certain I projected my own need to know the answer to everything. And if someone like tells me half a fact, I'm like, just can you please? I need it all.
00:53:56
Speaker
This is why, because i've I've been a forever of DM. This campaign is the only one I've played in pretty much ever. So I think I've realised I don't like playing. And like I think it's maybe articulated down to what you've just said. I don't know anything and I don't like it. um and Nothing to do with Alex's world, but I think it's just, I'd rather be in control if that makes... That's my forever DM thing. I like i'd just rather DM. that um yeah you should go check out something. It was posted by Monty Martin of the Dungeon Dudes, which is along those lines. I think it was one of their live streams for the latest Kickstarter where he was talking about the same thing. And he was just like, I don't like the phrase forever DM, because that sounds like I'm trapped in it. I actively choose to do it because I prefer it. And that's exactly the same thing. Like, it's this one character who's existed in my head for 10 years is the reason I'm loving that campaign. But every time I'm like,
00:54:55
Speaker
i want I want to be GMing, I want to be mapping out, and I want to i basically just want to set up half-finished storylines and then seeing my friends write them, essentially. and just that's That's the satisfaction. I do like the creativity I get as a DM, and I do like writing the lore, but The thing I've this is sound gonna sound so weird because I've talked about how how much like I hate secrets. It's the fact that I can sit there for hours and try and figure it out that I enjoy being
DM Self-care and Expectations
00:55:29
Speaker
a player. Yeah, because if it's like like law and i've everyone knows this in the party, I will sit there.
00:55:37
Speaker
like of all the way until the next session, deep diving the whole lot. I've got it on memory, trying to figure out how this is going to go and what he's trying to plan and all the secrets because I just enjoy it. Yeah. I think that's. I was gonna say I think that's just the DM in you because I'm the same like in that campaign I'm sitting there with the red string and everything and I come back to the session three weeks ago guys I figured something out I don't have confirmation because the GM won't tell me but this is it Well, you did something, you were the only one out of all three groups that I ran that was reading my Pantheon of Gods and was like, you know, it's really weird that the God of Autumn and there's not one of Winter, there's not one of Summer, there's not one of Spring. And I went, well, it's been there for a year and a half and no one's picked up on it, so I'll tell you, there's a region, well done, congratulations.
00:56:28
Speaker
yeah I always, yeah, I've come up with absolutely obscene theories before. I just spout them off my head. um I do enjoy it, yeah. Look, if you say 20 theories, one of them is bound to be right. Exactly. Exactly, yeah. None of you are the right, though. Not fully. No, no. I've had bits. I've had bits. Yes. A very famous bit in our group. We had Alex on. ah We had a couple of people on... had No, we had Mike on before our final season to one of the players.
00:56:59
Speaker
yeah And Alex had a very strong theory about this chest that Mike had and was taking everywhere with him. And Mike has been building this thing for a while. He was like, it's definitely tied to his backstory. It's this, it's that. And just to note that the camera wants with a flesh golem and they've just been collecting bits for a while. It's like a side project, like a side hustle. It's a big thing and it was i was so funny when it was revealed. It was the most sad I've ever been for a reveal. I was just like, oh, oh man, I thought I was going to get information. It's just a fucking golem. Damn. Can't win them all. No. Cool. So I think it's time for Yuan's favorite segment, um the horror story. now
00:57:44
Speaker
As since you went earlier, today's not so much a horror story, but I think it's a good story to talk about. I feel like it's a really good point and people don't talk about it a lot, so that's how it was the DM who was willing to damage his health for the campaign. Yeah, I'll just dive straight into it. This is from the player's perspective, by the way. um I want to share a D and&D experience that still bothers me. It's not your typical horror story with a malicious DM. Rather, it's a cautionary story about the importance of self-care and why overworking yourself is still bad as a DM. About a year ago, I joined a campaign on Foundry VTT that seemed promising. Our DM was incredibly talented, crafting a captivating story around a mad alchemist bent on eradicating magic. What amazed me even more was discovering that the DM, whose job was programming engineering, had custom-made many of the visual effects in the game.
00:58:33
Speaker
However, as the sessions progressed, cracks began to show, the DM's dedication to the campaign bordered on obsession. Outside of work, they tirelessly worked on every mechanical and narrative detail, often to the point of sleep deprivation. This took a toll on the game as the DM would occasionally doze off mid-session or become irritable over minor setbacks, such as blaming themselves over having to cancel a session due to too many players unable to make the session, or worried that fights were too boring and easy. Concerned for our DM's wellbeing, we confronted them about their apparent stress and exhaustion. It was then that we learned that DM had been overworking themselves to the point of sleep deprivation in an attempt to deliver an unforgettable story. From that moment on, we made sure to prioritize our DM's health over the game. If they seemed too fatigued, we would cancel sessions without hesitation ourselves, which still feels weird. Despite our efforts, the campaign eventually fizzled out due to scheduling conflicts. The lesson here is no matter how dedicated you are to your craft, neglecting your own wellbeing ultimately undermines the enjoyment of the game for everyone involved.
00:59:31
Speaker
It serves as a reminder that in the realm of D and&D, the most important adventure is the one we embark on together, taking care of each other along the way, whether you're a player or a DM. Now, the reason I decided to do this story, I guess, is because we've never really talked about the effort that goes into DMing. And basically, as DMs, I feel like, and especially because you've been a long-term DMing player, I feel like it's a very good topic to talk about is When people get into DMing, they need to realise, like, yeah, you're delivering a story in the campaign for your players, but it's not the end of the world if you mess up or you have a bad encounter or something. And I feel like people don't often talk about it to new DMs, especially. They're just like, oh,
01:00:18
Speaker
DM it's fine you'll get you'll get used to it but yeah I think it's a very and important topic to to talk about and I thought it was an interesting post in the in the reddit yeah yeah it's it's a tough one because creative people get down those rabbit holes or they've got something and they want to see it delivered to to such an extent um And it's a tricky one because I think D and&D is meant to be a release from all of that stress. At the end of the day, that's what your hobbies are. They're meant to be a thing you just enjoy rather than um ah becoming worried about. um And I think you you hit on hit the nail on the head there. It's just like, it's fine if it's not perfect. like We're not doing this professionally. we're not
01:01:11
Speaker
Actors at Hollywood getting paid that have to nail this like we're not directors We are people sitting down at a table to have some fun with friends and tell ultimately a stupid story Yeah, yeah And that's that's the level that it needs to be you can go you can go more but I think at the end of the day you should always have that game in sight that game of Little little effort fun times Goblin called Boblin. And if you lose sight of that version of D and&D, I think you've gone too far. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. I think ah and as well to like breaching the point of that is just like, it doesn't have to be perfect.
01:01:53
Speaker
to To the really like the small percentage of players out there Yeah, who get into D and&D and like think everything's gonna be like critical role Realize that not everyone no DM. There's like a small percentage that are professional voice actors or actors You're not gonna get insane like Matthew Mercer esque voices and sound effects, but you could get close and it's fine It's not a deal There's an analogy, because I got into critical role quite late, but there was an analogy I picked up quite early after, um which was critical role is to D and&D what porn is to sex.
01:02:31
Speaker
yeah yeah Do not base your life experience on it at all. It is an unattainable standard that is nothing like reality. Throw it away. But that's that that's the so-called Mercer effect, right? yeah People see it and they watch it. But I like to, I reframe the Mercer effect in my head um of it's not a pressure I feel or ah my players don't even have that expectation of me. It is a a point to strive for like pit bits in there where you go, that's a cool thing that I can learn and adopt. But I mean, I'm never gonna be a good voice actor, I can maintain an accent for two sentences and then it runs away. So yeah, yeah yeah um I am seeing and I think it's a lot of people are it's I've seen an uptick in people being like, Oh, I spent 20 hours preparing for my session or I spent this honestly,
01:03:25
Speaker
I spend a week thinking about what I'm going to do. I don't write anything down. And then I just turn up and do it. And it generally goes all right. I think if you early on you do your DMing career, build up that ability to just improv and just run things, that's going to carry you through all of it. And if you do get to a big session, absolutely sit down and plan it. I think don't start off planning everything because then you might rely on it too much. 100%. It can get to stages like. I think. so I think one of the things um that comes to mind is... Nope, thought to go on. I had a good thought there and it went... but Like my voice accents. Anyway, can't be that good. I would say, I think I found that helped me when I started DMing recently. What's actually, it's going to sound weird, playing when I played as Dan's character, because
01:04:26
Speaker
He just lets intrusive thoughts happen. yep And it just means that if I think I see something like oh yeah I'll just ask about it and then I can do it and it's kind of the same like when you're a DM if you think something could happen and then someone asks about it then you'll just be like yeah I mean I've fought on the spot it could happen so yeah I mean I guess so like it helps because if you just play someone who's like incredibly stupid then when you go to DM you're just like yeah well I've done all these weird things you guys might do them so go ahead go mental I guess yeah
01:05:03
Speaker
I think the point original point's come back to me now. The simplest piece of advice that I think I can give to any any GM, ah new new time one or out or anything out there, you shouldn't spend more time prepping than you are playing. Absolutely. If you do that, you're immediately in trouble because you've over prepped, you've you've planned what's going to happen, and you are not going to be in the moment in the game because you're going to be thinking about what should be happening rather than what can be happening. Yeah, yeah. It shouldn't be, you want them to be notes, not script, I think. i prep the The way I prep is I do scenes, like things that I think are probably going to happen and it's inevitably like they get less and less thought out as they are in the future. So like first scene of the session, I've got a pretty good idea of like where the characters are, what's actually happening.
01:05:58
Speaker
There's maybe two scenes that one of them might happen after that. And then other than that, it's just like, yeah, they could go here. Just mentally think about that and we'll get back to it. yeah Yeah, yeah, all I do is after a session I write down all the things like I may need for the next session when I say all the things not like the for our stories like I need this map I need a name for this person and I need an encounter and then I just do it and then I'm I don't think about it until next session like an hour before I'm like, yeah, I've definitely got everything this is how it's gonna play out and that's it like yeah, that's
01:06:37
Speaker
That's as much prep as I do. Unless ah I know a big session's coming up, then I'll prep the story. That's a fun way to prep. I'm not like that. I had about an hour's walk into work every day. So I would just spend like the two hours there and back thinking about like, oh, that's perfect. how can like How can I torment them this week? Yeah, that's me at the gym. Every day. He's there with fantasy music blaring. That's a good idea. Yeah.
01:07:08
Speaker
cool so question I think it's gone never mind next time yeah is there um as like I kind of like a second to last question I guess is there anything that you feel like you'd want to probably talk about as like a question you've got to probably ask ask about D and&D and stuff
01:07:35
Speaker
that's a good question we can get rid of some of the stress now put the owners on the other yeah we'll do from now on we I
Exploring Other RPG Systems
01:07:50
Speaker
suppose for you, you guys obviously seem to be very D and&D focused, which isn't a bad thing, like great game. You can do a lot with it. Are there any other systems that you have explored, want to run or want to play in? Because I mean, I've got half a dozen systems that I love that I don't get to play.
01:08:09
Speaker
I've done Vampire with the Masquerade. I've done Call of Cthulhu. I really want to do, i sorry I'm a zoologist. I've heard about a system that's like little tiny animals that go about an adventure. I never remember the name of it. What is it? Redwall? See, yes! that's what i When I heard it, I was like, oh my god, I could play out Redwall. There's Humblewood, which is D and&D expansion, that will allow you to do it. And then there's, is it Brave? Is it Brave for system?
01:08:48
Speaker
Alec, you can answer while I try and Google. Yeah, I've done Blades. Is it Blades in the Dark? Oh, Blades in the Dark. Blades in the Dark is the one that I desperately want to play and haven't yet. i I did like a ah mini campaign as a player now and then so I don't know if it is a system. It's a TTRPG. The first TTRPG I played was Gloomhaven. Oh, yeah. And I loved it. i ah I was addicted to that because you have it on Steam as well. You can just play by yourself. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, I was addicted to that game. It was so good.
01:09:22
Speaker
i've I've cracked it out a couple of times. it It is good fun. And it's a great way to get people who are, let's say, D and&D curious. Yeah. Like, here you go. This is this is the taster. but like It's still a board game, so you're still in familiar territory. If you like this, we'll go have the real fun. Exactly. Because you know there is like ah and nice there are like nice little plots, and there are different outcomes to the story and stuff. But it's not full of like insane mechanics. You just play two cards a turn. That's it. yeah sir yeah Very enjoyable, very enjoyable. but that's as much as it And I guess I did play Star Wars D&D for a bit.
01:09:56
Speaker
Oh, with the was is that the one with the light side, dark side yeah-esque dice? Yeah. Weird system. Very, very strange. But I only played it for a few sessions. And that's really it. So I do want to play Pathfinder. I have a need to try Pathfinder. I've tried Pathfinder a couple of times and I've bounced off it both times. And I think, for for me personally, I think it's a mechanically robust system that is 3.5, so I should love it. I think my issue is is that it's a lot to learn for something that is just going to tell the same stories as D and&D. And I'm just like, I can't be bothered. Starfinder, though.
01:10:35
Speaker
That'll get me because then I'm telling sci-fi stories and learning Pathfinder at the same time. I mean.
01:10:42
Speaker
yeah So what systems have you played that you, like top five most enjoyable systems that you've played? Dindi would be in there. Daggerheart, I've played three sessions of now and genuinely as a GM, I'm having so much fun with it. the That was going to be a question I had had. I know you started Daggerheart because I've seen videos your videos on it. How are you finding Daggerheart? It's good fun. um it's It's liberating, is the term I've gone for. like There's still just enough mechanical structure that I don't feel like it like powered by the apocalypse where it's completely, let's just wing this.
01:11:20
Speaker
um But I feel like I can be a lot looser with my world building I'm a massive world builder GM I love like constructing everything around it, and that then the stories come up from. And it's been really enjoyable to just basically just sit there and just go, we're going to make this up as a group to figure this out like we did. Uh, what was it? Noticebirds because the players were going to a notice board and I was like, they're albatrosses with perfect mimicry. There you go. That's what they are now. and Just talk to birds to get messages. Great fun. Um, yeah, it's it's just a bit more, I dunno.
01:11:55
Speaker
Light-hearted, I think. Unless mechanically crunchy. um Other systems that I've played that enjoyed. I have played some Call of Cthulhu. I do love that. That's good fun. Knowing that you're just gonna die. Just accept it. yeah yeah flipver um And one that I haven't got to play that I um i i learned about while I was in uni ah is Sion. don't know whether you've heard us, I am. It is, you are, it's basically take um Percy Jackson.
01:12:28
Speaker
but make it gritty. So you are the ah abandoned children of gods and the basically there's this huge like underworld behind orbit and they have like every pantheon you can think of. like Even the first book was like the Mediterranean's Egyptian, Aztec, Japanese and then I think it had like Celtic in there as well was that the first book and then they just expanded and expanded into numerous other ones. like i want to try this i don't know the system at any capacity but the theme and stories i'm just like give it i need it oh yeah yeah that is oh i might have to get that that sounds good i definitely want to try that now that you've mentioned it there's also another one i heard about i'm a huge fan of the crusader king game so he's an aesthetic player there's one that i heard of where you play a sort of succession of characters going down
01:13:18
Speaker
Um, and you have to try and build like a you can get married have children and you play as a child or you can adopt children if you don't want to have children and I kind of love the idea of you can play like these really long form campaigns then of like Changing kingdoms and all. Yeah, that's really fun to toy around with Yeah, that sounds really cool. Actually, I forgot the name of it, but it was done in the drink video. Nice Nice. Yeah Oh, this sign wants out. It's just been sitting my head ever since you said it, like, even as two minutes ago, it's gonna be sat in my head for like a week. One of the people I played forie with mentioned it to me, and then I was just like, that sounds amazing. and Can I play? And then that forie campaign dies. And I was like, no, come back.
01:14:04
Speaker
Yeah, definitely gonna have to look at that. um So yeah, final question. Any other TikTok creators, small or big, that you want to shout out? Including your live stream. My D and&D campaign. Yeah, the D and&D campaign, um if anyone is interested, is Unrolled Stories. We recently did a soft rebrand because Untold Stories um is hard to find on Spotify. um So we're Unrolled Stories now. We've been going just over a year um with that.
01:14:36
Speaker
um Starting to get pretty juicy and some interesting reveals coming a couple of episodes other creators um ah Out of print GM on tiktok is kind of ah an older guy from Yorkshire I think he's from he's great fun. um He does puns every day. So if you need a bit of cheering up go follow his account and um And then the other guys I would love to shout out are the team at Runic Press, um which is the kind of indie D and&D publisher group that part of we kind of came together a couple of years ago now. and We've released a bunch of stuff. um The big release that I was part of was Vectorn's Book of Vile Darkness, which is available on the DMs Guild.
Closing Remarks
01:15:20
Speaker
which is all kind of horror and dark and evil stuff to throw in your games, including a secret Vecna stack block at the back that's better than the Wizards one. um It's also got a really cool mummy ah lord in there who casts curses at you. Yeah, full on curse mechanics in that book. Proper ones. Do check that out. um And we've currently got our active Kickstarter, Realms of Wonder, which is more about the flip side of horror in D&D and more enjoyable times and how to have fun and take the pressure off when players need a little bit of a ah more relaxing session after some intense stuff. So that's our current Kickstarter. Cool. Wonderful. Excellent. and Well, thank you very much for joining us. We've had a great time chatting with you. It's been good fun. Yeah. Yeah.
01:16:08
Speaker
We will be back next week with, I believe, two guests are going to be joining us. We'll have some more fun chats there with some more D&D creators. um So yeah, we'll see you next week. Thank you for watching.