"I don't remember what Timmy sounds like. But they'll remember. They always remember." Truer words were never spoken about players.

uses the wrong voice for Timmy. PCs kill the imposter & start a side quest to recover Timmy.

Players: "Wait it could be a trap..." Me (In my head): Well it wasn't going to be...but good idea. XD

I always struggle with names. That's how I ended up with a pirate captain named Bellend (I'd heard a Brit call someone a bell-end earlier that day) and a merchant named Siran Dormadim (Sir and/or madam). Admittedly, I'm very happy with that second one. It's surprising how useful puns can be for names. I often think of a clever pun I can twist into a name and then smack myself that I don't have anything to write it down on.

"He has... um... laser sword."

TV Tropes is also a decent source for getting character inspiration from. After all, tropes don't exist just because they're easy, but because they represent useful character archetypes.

My players just recently killed a Dwarven King on accident. He was going to be a reoccurring character but know they have to deal with his former Captain of the Guard brother who isn't ready to be king.

I recently started DMing, and I had my bard player going through a dungeon solo since my other players were unavailable. He managed to get past all of my traps in ingenious ways. He then had to figure out a small puzzle I had set up if he made a check that the runes on one of the things he needed from the dungeon, and he just grabbed the item, triggering the poison trap that would deal 2d10 damage, and he rolled a 20 on the saving throw. He took 0 damage all the way through my dungeon, evading and putting monsters into their own traps.

Villain idea: A well-meaning adventurer who went murder hobo after a series of unfortunate events starting with killing some random merchant

"Helps keep the psychosis at bay" Matt were kindred spirits in so many ways

"Timmy... I don't remember what Timmy sounds like" Solution: Timmy is DEAD!

Fwends..! *Not fwends..!*

Dude, DM training by McCree himself!

Creating characters for a D&D campaign was my favorite thing when I hosted my own one (I only was the DM once). I had tons of them... only ended up using a few.

Admit it critters. All those times when we're not in a D&D game, or when we put our campaign in the freezer because some people are at work or they have to move away for some time, or whatever reason... We're all just rolling random characters. C'mon, you know you do it too... ;)

These videos are fantastic! You hit the nail on the head that it's definitely not an anti-climax when the PCs win by doing something clever. Remember the DM/GM is there to tell a story and entertain, not necessarily crush the PCs. Challenge them, make them think, make them feel--but never work to beat them. Too many GMs fall into the trap of a "them vs. me" mentality.

"Fwends." "Not fwends."

i made a traveling merchant for my group to save shopping trips, he was undead losing his mind after sharing his body and mind with Krond for 100 years. He ended up being a massive re-write and plot point for Out of the Abyss. He was also an adventure guide, if the players didn't know where to look or go, I could speak through him, he was an undead skeleton that could only talk through telepathy that he mastered through spending too much time with the kenku and imitation. though it was telepathic he would move his skeletal jaw so it looks less weird. he was my old rogue who died in a one shot, so he already had some back story

If anything happens to Gilmore we are going to be "not fwends" Matt.

I love the last bit. I always give exactly two pieces of advice to new DMs. 1) Always have a plan, it is important to know the little details of your world, and to always have a idea of what you want to happen, why, and how. 2) Understand that no plan survives contact with players. That super important NPC that you put three months of work into and has all these grandiose plans? Completely ignored by the players. The random street kid that you put in just to feed the next breadcrumb of story? Oh that is their new best friend, In fact they adopted the kid and he is now a part of the party. And the most important bit about these? It is fine. It is the DMs job to be flexible, and to make the game fun. NPCs are mercurial, the players ignore your villain? Well maybe villain number 2 with suspiciously similar stats and motivations will appear later down the line. Players gravitate toward a character you put no thought into what so ever? Well it looks like it is time for Random NPC from three towns away to get a name change.

I can't wait for more of these they are excellent.

i'm a newer dm, but i like to have a recurring character, stephen the janitor, across multiple campaigns! but what the players don't know, is that he's an expert in combat, which will only be revealed when needed :)

I've been GMing for 5 years now... and these are still so helpful. So much of our gaming has been self-taught and I love getting awesome advice from the Master Himself.

I'm going to remember that and quote it t'ill the end of time! "Not fwends..."

Thank you for putting these videos out geek and sundry. As a DM myself, I oftentimes have wondered how I could improve my games and how I run them, and each of these videos so far has been a great help. I look forward to seeing more in the future.

I've been playing/running Dungeons and Dragons since the "red Box" days of basic pre-ad&d. I love the changes over the years to how games have been able to develop with more and more detail and I LOVE this series. Thank you for making it!!

Mr. Mercer, you have a wonderful DM style, and this is all incredible advice. I love how you integrate your experience in the arts into the GM role. Please keep making these videos- they're wonderful!

Keep these coming and I'll keep sharing them to my friend who is learning how to DM

I like the graphics on this video and I think it can be fleshed out to be used even more. Maybe make a list of keywords that Matt mentions on the right. Could make it easier to write it down. :)

New villain name idea; Maxwell Nowfwend! :P

Matt, thank you. Thank you so much for inspiring me to first get into playing D&D and then influencing me to become a DM. My friends from high school are all coming back together because of D&D under my DM'ing which you help me with these videos. I know there may come a time that there's nothing left to make a video about but I rewatch these to double back on a lesson that I use for the next step in my campaign that I've created. It's amazing and I may never be on Geek and Sundry but I enjoy the fact that my friends are pulled into my creation all thanks to your help. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you for this series, it's really good. One resource I use for NPCs in my games is books on creative writing, the character sections often provide good inspiration .

I love the work you do Matt Mercer! A true inspiration. I myself have been encouraged to start my own adventure soon. I will stick close to what I have learned from you, and thanks for sharing wisdom. I highly value your opinions as I am a huge fan of your podcast campaigns. Keep up the good work and remember to have fun!

I gotta say,as a first-time DM (and D&D player,in general),these are fantastic to watch,almost a lifesaver XD keep up the amazing work,Matt,love you and your crew's work,both in-game,and out.

Excellent video with lots of information for all GMs, rather than concentrating on only one system.

Really enjoyed the video. Wish you guys also did a podcast of all the D&D stuffs. I'm a returning DM, both to the game, and the role. 5e is new to me, and resources like this are reminders of all the little things to look out for in putting together each game night. Sometimes we forget the details, and reminders are good for keeping the game full of depth and dynamic inspirations.

I'm loving these videos! They're really helping out in my campaigns. Keep 'em comin! :)

Good video. If all GM knew how to accept badassness from the characters... Some just got pissed off, cheat and find a way to kill them, or to save the villain....Loving your tips.

Absolutely loving these videos! Please keep them coming, I'm running a game of Cyberpunk 2020, and all of these tips are proving useful.

Book of Vile Darkness, thanks for the tip ... I liked the feat "Mark of the Master" ... excellent resource. Can you make a short on how to build atmosphere for a game of Ravenloft, Dark Souls, Castlevania, or other Dark Fantasy that employ taint, curses, and haunted pasts to start characters off

This is great! Thanks Matt! Do you think maybe you could do a video about how to run a first campaign for new time players and DMs? Like the does and do nots?

Thank you for giving GM tips. I am currently trying to run a couple of campaigns but I am still learning.

I need a walk-through of Matt’s game notebooks 📝 ❤️ this is empath, level epic, put to awesomeness uses

Secretly making the players work for the villain is also fun. My group was once tasked with retrieving strange silver lockboxes with various gems on the top for a gnome conducting research... until a druid informed they were being played and bad things were going to happen if they didn't race back to the gnome's ship.

Other than the standard "what is this character good at?" and a couple interactive quirks like appearance/voice, there are two big questions with two parts that can be very different or go hand in hand. And these questions apply to even the most seemingly insignificant NPC because the answers to these questions determine how they'll interact with the players and, if necessary, what the NPC will do "off-screen." 1. What does this character want most and what are they willing to give up to get it? 2. What does this character need and how do they plan on getting it (or how do they usually get it)?

Wasn't paying attention in the first video, but damn, those wall sconces are friggin awesome.

Fwends... like Clarota

Thanks so much for this. The final encounter in my first game went wildly off track because I had my BBEG run away (a surprise to myself and my players) as a result of character traits I'd previously given him. Was worried I'd erred, but glad to hear as a new DM, and from the man himself no less, that it's the proper way to run an NPC!

Champions of Ruin is also a good source book for building Villains. It has a section on "Philosophies of Evil," along with a number of other ideas to pull from (or, if you're running an evil campaign, it'll help too).

Even as an experienced DM, I gotta say that these tips help me keep my focus. Sometimes, it gets a little... difficult to remain in the moment. Thank you for these!

Love the moral dillema of a grey character. Running Storm Kings Thunder right now and I made Xolkin Alassander a reaccuring character. Ambitieus and a bit of a smooth talker, not giving the players the feeling that they can trust him or the Zhentarim. But made him a interresting ally for a source of info about the giants, through the use of spies of the Zhentarim. For my good alligned players it is a constant dillema to trust him or ignore him. Love it.

Great video. I'm currently working on two palidian NPCs for my weekly d&d campaign.

"If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can flesh out every NPC... but that can be a little... ominous." Are you speaking from experience, Mr. Mercer?

I love you total outlook on the game in general. I'm creating major npc, but I'm not looking at the little things. Thanks. 😁

Very good point on having a sheet ready. Running a Supernatural Campaign now and Bobby just came in as an NPC. Good thing I had his sheet ready the demon pulled Bobby's gun from his hand and turned it on the crew. Trying to fly off on a Dodge plus trying to figure out Bobby's ability for setting traps would have been painful otherwise.

I found lots of very good advices about DMing or storytelling in Ars Magica.

Love it, this is a new high of a new week.

Character voice notations: you can also base your voices on existing characters from movies/shows to help remember. This makes keeping track very easy for you: Tavern Owner: Bartoll; voice: Captain Picard. Mysterious Rogue: Venns; Voice: Enigo Monyoya. As long as you don't tell the players who you are mimicking, they will likely never guess, but you will be able to remember their voice instantly!

Building a homebrew campaign, and hoo boy is this helpful. Mainly used this guide for making the first NPC, Fetch, who will act as a recruiter-type guy, and I'm planning on making the villain soon. Very soon. Artificer Lich anyone? Anyways, thank you for the wonderful guide and video, Mr. Mercer!

Great tips for DM beginners as I am! Keep them coming!

Really helpful. Keep 'em coming!

This was quite helpful. Thank you.

“Keeps the psychosis at bay” 🤣

I love making NPC's and I wanna gush about mine, but I already told my players about this series and I don't want to spoil anything :[ Good tips, I will definitely be using some in the future.

I have a group of friends and we are fresh out of water noobs in DnD. We want to create an online campaign and I have volunteered to DM, so these videos have become a must in the background for me while I'm working to pick up on some things and ideas. I just want to say a huge TAHKN YOU to Geek & Sundry and Critical Role for making the series that have introduced me to the world of DnD.

I've JUST really started playing d&d- its only been about 4 1/2 months, and I'm not ready to dm yet, but my usual dm is going to college soon and we only have one backup, and he dms like 4 campaigns already. I feel like I need to learn and it sounds like a lot of fun- and I love critical role. My main problem would be doing voices.

I'm really enjoying this tips series

I love the humor in these videos!

Wow. I'm new to dnd gonna give a go at dm, we're using the starter set with the mines of phandelver, makes things quite simple for most areas but the town of phandalin still felt very daunting to me, I wanna make not only our first town, but a recurring one at that feel real, especially as the book doesn't give much for npc's. Clearly Matt not only knows what he's doing but how to teach it, in less then two minutes he gave a beautiful description on how to make your npcs and even a bit on preparing them. Btw while everybody excluding myself seems to have seen critical role, I'd recommend viva la dirt leagues newest campaign, it's definitely a no holds barred campaign with a very skilled dm as well as a hilarious group that are very impressive In their own right

This video series is great, I love the part where he talks about how players play in the "grey" area and hiding bodies. I am running a game as a DM for the first time and my roommate immediately used charm person on a famous war general to find out his information, stuck him in a barrel, and rolled him onto a ship. He made the campaign more difficult to run because that NPC was supposed to help them but I rolled with it. I think this might be what changes his alignment from Lawful good to more of a Chaotic Neutral character and he might come back later as a bad guy with a personal vendetta against them.

Matt, excellent points and tips man. Keep these coming ^_^

solid advice, although more geared towards newer people, which is fine! As you gain experience you make your own choices anyway! What I would like is a little background input, of how you came up with different characters, like K'varn or Allura (nice namesake here lol)

Hehh. We had in one of our first adventure a group of sailors, and when we was attacked by pirates, one of them had some incredible rolls - in fact, when it comes to time for he to make an ability check or attack roll, the DM rolled more Natural 20, than the entire party all through the campaign. We landed on an uninhabited island, because our ship become too damaged, to sail with it to a safety harbor, with the goal of take the pirate ship, which was also stranded there for different reasons - they hadn't have enough food, to survive a trip until they reach the continent. There our friend made some other incredible feat, when we scouted the island. He, whom was a nameless sailor in the first, this way later nominated as the first mate of the ship, gained a name and a player class for himself (human fighter, with the sailor background, and the feat "lucky"). Also, become a recurring ally for the party, usually when we needed a ship.

This was good. You have some great points. I've been a DM since 1980 (where you born by then?) and you have the best explanation I have heard. DMs should be inspired. You got me going again. :D I've found that the players really like to 'attach' themselves to NPGs so keeping a history book on relationships, plot points are also important along with a rich personality and motivations. And they should all be named Willem. :)

As a new GM I love these videos!

Love these. Keep em coming!

Excellent tips. Keep them coming.

NEED MORE OF THESE! MATT'S THE BEST!!!!

I'm not a DnD gm, but this advice is great for my writing. Thank you so much :D

As usual, well done. I can't wait for this weeks episode of CR! Finding out what kind of villains the Chroma Conclave are will be quite the spectacle, to be sure. On a side note, I sure as hell hope they have the sense to warn their staff at Greyskull to GTFO as fast as they can.... If there's anything left there....Also, will be interesting if they stumble upon Kainen on their way out at some point.

Yes~~~ More Please :D As a new DM I kinda sorta REALLY need this

A great tip I picked up from Adam Koebel and Steven Lumpkin in their Being Everyone Else series is to create three rules for their NPCS. For example, you have a Sherlock Holmes-ish type NPC: Rule 1, "I am smarter than everyone else." Rule 2, "Overanalyse EVERYTHING." Rule 3, "Drugs? Drugs!" I try to do things like this for all my NPCs and even some of my PCs.

theses are so helpful!! THANKS MATT!!!

this man is the greatest dungeon master ive ever seen :)

This was actually a god send, given that I'm now having to write a campaign for a Pathfinder campaign that I just got involved in once we finish the one we are going through now. This is gonna be fun!

Hans Gruber reference sold the whole damn thing. Love this guy.

My notes on NPCs include first and foremost a person, real or fictional -- Princess Leia, Napoleon Bonaparte, Fry from Futurama -- whose personality serves as a reference point for the character. For me, "what would Toph say here?" is an easier question to answer on the fly than "given this character's dreams, ideals, and fears, how will they react?", and it keeps my role-playing more consistent.

he is right the book of vile Darkness does have a lot of good breakdown for villains and villainous personalities but you must be careful when using it because there are some things in that book that are very overpowered so use the book carefully

I love your NPCs. You give them so much personality they feel real and unique. I enjoy that a lot on CriticalRole. Wonderful examples: Best possible shopkeeper(s) Pumat Sol or great villain The Gentleman.

OMG these are so good! Kepp Them coming Matt!!!!

Mat: Sometimes the final encounter may not be as epic as you think... ..earlier.. Travis (as Grog): FOR, STRONGJAW!!

Helpful tips by the greatest DM's

Super helpful, thanks! :D

Love the shout-out to the BoVD!

These videos are great! More please!

Descriptions of his NPC making strategies make me wish we could see his notes on fan favorites like Gilmore, Allura, and Kima, and villains like Ripley and the Briarwoods. Maybe after the campaign.

So I’ve stumbled across an accidental end game villain: my version of Durnan of the Yawning Portal. Very first three sessions had him host a Lich, a Vampire Lord, and a Demon. Didn’t think past the novelty of having the party take mini-quests from really evil characters for coin. But Durnan also helped the PCs hide a freshly stabbed body for a handful of coin. Like, that’s not even Neutral, which is what he in vanilla. I think I’ll keep this hand close to my chest... :)

This is a great series for RPGs but also just storytelling in general. I can actually use these videos for character development for my own stories and ideas.

yay more Mercer, your awesome man

So, this is some idea I came up with for a campaign. Id kinda like to know people's thoughts and ideas on it. It's my first and I'm worried I won't make a good Dm, so far I just have the lore for the BBEG I've been working on lore for the BBEG and what I've ended up with is a skull lord who made a pact with an injured kraken (by the time players meet it and/or need to fight it, it will be heavily injured) to get revenge on a seaside kingdom, which they did as the kraken is a seige beast Basically the skull lord was a warlock before he was falsely executed by the King, to cover up the Kings, not so legal activitys, his family was also killed in the execution, which made a few spit insults at him for doing the (falsely) accused activitys. Yet, rather being buried his body alone was tossed into the sea where his rage was allowed to flow freely and turn him into a skull lord, its basically a warlock lich, I chose this as warlocks can use the blood pact spell. After a few century's he meets the almost dead kraken, he saves it from death in return for help , hence the bloodpact, after helping it recover for another century he went back to the kingdom and ripped it down By now the first king was dead and his child had taken over, someone who had known their father was a horrible person. The skull lord regardless what's to wipe out that bloodline. Now (after the attack) the main kingdom is in the center of the continent as they can no longer trade by sea to other continents. And the first kingdom is now stock full of zombies and ruins as the skull lord builds his forces for the attack inland. I was just wondering if people think this is a good idea and/or lore or if I should maybe change it up a little for more impact?