I just wanted to let you know that I'm an aspiring first time DM, and your videos have come to answer my questions exactly as they came up. Not only is your timing impeccable, but your advice is so genuinely helpful. I love your content and can't wait for each video, short or long form.

This is great, I particularly like the combat start as it works well with other points of interest in an area (like a fountain, or a ferry crossing)

As a KZfaqr, you have so much potential! Keep up the great work. It really is awesome! And I like how you talk like a “normal person”. What I mean is most KZfaqrs think it’s necessary to have a “speaker voice” but I like your style which sounds like a normal guy having a normal conversation.

Really great how you started by giving the players some limited lore, building their goals and back stories into the basic plot before you even started playing. Smart having players back stories with blank spaces you can just fill in. Excellent advice all around, thank you! 👍 Hoping to see the kitty cat sometime 😃, even if it doesn't jump in your lap but is napping at your feet.

This is extremely helpful. It is my first time DM'ing just for my wife and son at first. I've just been doing a lot of reading the books, but I want to start planning, and this had great directional info. Thank you!

Necromancer + artificer = artimancer OR necroficer

This is all really good advice for first sessions. Not just for new DMs. My current campaign almost started with a TPK, the party choose to attack a spider nest, turns out there were 5 giant spiders, too much for 6 level 1s! Luckily, they were able to escape and come back for round 2!

HiHi! a am a module Dm, So i dont needed any of this! but man! you are smart! you aced everything. loved the vid! New campaigns new pl, around the table. is always! fun.

I'm loving this relaxed content and the ideas it is sparking.

Amazing work fella. Just signed up to your patreon (first time for that) and it's definitely the best money I've spent on ttrpg content for a while. Love all this stuff and you clearly have a genuine passion for it which shines through. Thank you. Love the idea of the clockwork zombie. Just written a tavern opening for my campaign (it's for the kids starting at lvl 1.) And I've had them outside in the rain and written them being cold and hungry looking for warmth. Think I've done pretty well at conveying the pass from the cold outside to a warm and friendly place inside. No one even has any quests although their are basic shops, they get a map and an introduction to some basic characters. Then an old guy bursts in on the edge of death screaming about goblins and asking any heroes to save the village. I wanted to introduce the kids to some classic tropes without making it too obvious, but it seems to work nicely.

Lets go! Love these videos that are valuable for starting DMs but also a new perspective for experienced ones!

This came at the perfect time! I am running my first campaign ever next week and have been feeling a little overwhelmed. This video helped a ton!

Wonderful variety on this channel, humble and helpful presenter. Instant sub

I literally opened youtube to find music as I wrote up my first session, and this video popped up! So happy

This video is so helpful! Thank you! I finally see a path forward in how to get a new campaign up and running in a way that goes smoothly for both me and the players.

That sound like a very interesting quest tbh. Great video. I like the off the cuff videos like this alot. Feel alot more personal which I like

OG D&D player and DM, since 1rst edition. I really enjoy your videos. Well done and thank you.

I really hope you become a bigger TTRPG KZfaqr! You're so sympathic and your voice is calming and awesome! The Vids are informative and fun to watch :) Keep it up

Thank you for this info. I've been DMing for 4 years and i got to say that I'm not that great at first session planning. this gave me a lot of insight for when our group starts our next campaign.

Love how simple and chill this format is. Not even editing out the drinks. 😂 It feels way more conversational and relaxed, and your other videos already feel that way. Another idea I had during your explanation of the tavern scene, which I'm not a huge fan of for the reasons you mentioned, but will still put here. How common are people like your players in the world? The tavernkeeper could look up after everyone has arrived and say "not too often a group of dangerous looking strangers like all of you show up at my bar." Could even add him saying "even less often that they all come in separate and pretend not to know each other." That might help break the tension a little bit, as well as adding a little bit of information about the world, in that people as dangerous as player characters aren't commonly found in civilized places. Even though this might not get the party to speak with each other, it could be an icebreaker before a bigger event happens to bring the party together.

Great video🔥! I am currently writing my first first session of the campaign so these tips wil be very useful

I'm still relatively new to DMing, but I have loved this content for inspiration for the world I am continuing to build.

That is an amazing sweater.

I've been taking a different approach to session 1s. My games have revolved around an institute of some sort with my players working for that organization. Each player will discuss how they know each other as they've been working in this place for a period of time. Gives them a clue on what the character is about, gives them a reason to know each other and it gives then a direction as they have a boss that tells them what to do as well as a home base with resources at their disposal. I also run my games a little differently as the whole grand adventure lost its appeal, and I moved onto more bite-sized adventures where my players vote on the type of setting like the horror themed setting in the underdark or a sky ship battle with sahuagin pirates on flying manta rays. It all centers on the core of the institute they work for, whether it be a bounty hunter lodge or an academy that researchers lost magical artifacts that the players acquire. Anyway, back on topic. I always like to have my players just doing normal things, their daily routine or just relaxing in the commons with breakfast cooking while a few npcs mill about with them. A leader will them call them in and give them the rundown of what their mission is, rewards for completion, and any relevant info. I find this a little easier to run for me as there is a clear plot point with an end goal attached. The fun comes from how many twists and turns can I put in to make it exciting and having an established set of npcs that can help them initially, the ones that were passing through or relaxing in the commons with them, I find gives them that added bit of security. The long short of it is that having players all working for someone has relieved a lot of stress on making a group work together for a common goal and that's what works for me

This is a charming wee video and packed with useful information. The only thing I’d say is that you don’t really need to explain your intention with the video format or why you’re drinking water. You’ve got a sub out of me.

I'm going to use those clockwork undead. I figure they make normal zombies more impressive. I imagine they gather metal and corpses building stronger and smarter undead over time until eventually a greater undead is created.

Just started a new campaign. We’re doing a VERY player driven campaign, so we started with the party who knew each other, arriving in a new town for their own reasons, and hearing a number of rumors of what’s going on in the area. They decided what sounded most interesting and are now off to try to resolve a hostage situation involving a revolutionary they have some sympathies with. It’s not how I would start a more linear campaign, but for a player driven sandbox style, it seemed to work well. I have forsaken the “strangers banded together” start. As much fun as that CAN be, it has caused me no end of trouble with players who aren’t good at naturally building character rapport and party cohesion. It’s easier with a linear campaign, but still…unless the players really want that to be part of the fiction, they start with connections.

I love watching these sort of videos and im so glad ur putting out more advice and content. However, depending on how invested you are in making this thing your daytime job, you might wanna consider having a second channel for the videos ur expecting to preform poorly. (algorithm and stuff)

TA.. have you ever come across a podcast called anatomy of a campaign? Along with your channel this was one of my most formative resources as a new DM. I would LOVE you to do something similar. Like this video but a breakdown of previous session, learnings and planning for next. Please!!

I like the rambly videos too 😇👍

Bro your accent is incredible, you were born to tell tales of old lololol

Heyy, got the 600th like. Just wanted to say that your channel is fantastic and as someone who is playing a campaign but wants to run one himself, this channel is immensely helpful. Also you from round Stirling? Just sounds like my accent a wee bit

Ty sir❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

I'm starting a campaign for a bunch of dnd newbies, to make it extra fun for their first time and give them a reason to work together is they're trying to get hired by a vampire crime boss

So, this is my first time DMing, and I figured I'd share my (So far) plans for the first session. (I'm DMing for my family, none of whom have played before, and I myself have very little experience). Let me know if this first session seems fair please ;-; For context, a war is beginnning between two other nations, and both sides of said war are setting up blockades to take tolls on eachothers economies. However this is also having a bad effect on other nations, as now these nations are blocked from trading for vital supplies. Looking like it's gonna be a world war. (I want the overarching story of the campaign to be to end this possible world war) So the party was on a ship, each for thier own reasons (We still havn't even had session zero), when the ship is wrecked. I'm going to have them wake up some time later in a infirmary in the capital of an undersea nation, where they'll be faced with a few quests, each which sorta bring them onto the mainland. All the possible roads here will eventually lead to the mainland. The queen and one of the quests on the quest board both mention a band of terrorists who've been disrupting trade and smashing holes in the glass bubbles of the nation's cities. (The queen also gave them a singular escort, so they all have to stay together if they don't want to get lost. This NPC may or may not stick around, we'll see what happens. It's a dragonborn cleric, btw, and her english isn't very good.) They'll get wind of similar attacks from an NPC when they reach the mainland, and in exchange for more information, said NPC asks them to handle a swarm or two of rats in the cellar that have been destroying whatever supplies the town is able to get. So fight one is a swarm or two of rats. Then they'll recieve needed information to start looking for bandits. I'll give them a series of hints, they'll have to figure it out themselves. While they look for the bandits, I may introduce another NPC, (Depending on if the dragonborn cleric sticks around) who I think will start by trying to pickpocket them. That may end up a fight as well, hopefully they don't kill him. Once they find the bandits, another combat may be initiated. There'll be three 'sentry' bandits in this encounter, as the rest of them are probably out on the town or pillaging whatever trade gets through blockades. I don't want the bandits to attack immediatly, I kinda want the chance for an interrogation to open up a little window to the political unrest of the rest of the world. Ultimatly, combat is up to the players and is pretty much inevitable (As two of my players have already hinted at being barbarians.) That's all I really have planned so far, does it seem fair? I don't have any of the books, I've been using DnD Beyond to put together encounters and NPCs and such. If anyone has any advice that could make this better or more fair, please share! I still have a bit before we even do a session zero as I still gotta buy dice. We're starting from scratch and wild ideas lol. Also a custom/homebrew campaign because I couldn't bothered to buy and read a pre-made one.

Great content, but... I am now obsessed with the zombie powered by clockwork... Have you done content expanding on this?

Hey man, good GM story! I notice that there are some flickers in the video that are a bit distracting - shadows perhaps? Have you tried sitting a bit further away from your green screen? May help resolve it!

I dub thee the DnD-guru, mate :D

> I wake up. > Another tales vid. > "I think I can stay in bed for a bit longer right?"

Can't tell if he said sheep theft or cheap theft.

Was the thing in the cave a lamplighter?

0:43

I’m sorry but 3:20 10-20 sessions In the starting area alone???????? Is that normal???? Do they level up every session???? This seems insane to me as a new DM

"promo sm"

Great and interesting advice, but maybe edit out that drinking?

I know you want to reduce the editing required for these relaxed videos, but I don't think it would have been hard for you to cut out the times you drank from your water bottle. That kind of thing is fine for a livestream but gives pre-recorded videos an air of unprofessionalism. Just my humble opinion.