Running the Game

Let's make a dungeon! Just a quick, five-encounter Tomb, nothing fancy.

Playing for the first time can be awkward. So let's meet in an inn! Classic opening.

In which we fight goblins! Lots of advice on running your first several rounds of combat.

Making characters in D&D can be a strange experience if you've never done it before. What are all these numbers? Why am I rolling this? And what kinds of characters should we all make?

I think D&D is the most fun you can have with your brain. This video talks about one reason why. There are literally millions more happening every month.

Your D&D game takes place in a world, so you might as well make it a cool one! Build your own setting! Put the stuff in it you like!

It's ok if your players run into a dead end, just try and make sure there are other ways out.

You only have fun if your players have fun. So make a campaign world where they can see themselves or the people they want to be.

The DM Screen lets you cheat! Which you should totes do! Unless that's not your style, that's cool. :D

The Deck of Many Things is an item meant to sow discord and chaos in your game, but come on. You're the DM! With some slight of hand or a slightly different set of cards, you can deploy the Deck without ruining your game.

This is largely the same list you find in the front of the DMG, but properly sourced and with my own commentary and additions.

A story of two campaigns. What kind of DM are you going to be?

Everything falls apart...

What does your character believe?

There are lots of ways to make cool bad guys, these are just a couple. Stuff I've learned over the years.

How did we end up with Random Encounters in D&D? Are they useful today? Depends on the kind of game you run!

I think the best games are about the stuff the players invent at the table, not the story the DM cooked up beforehand. But I suspect lots of people will disagree!

Let's talk about minis! You have lots of options, these are only a few. If you have your own resources for minis or painting, please link them in the comments below!

WE WANT INFORMATION! What do you tell your players, and when do you tell it to them?

There are tons of terrain solutions, from pretty cheap to quite expensive!

Your game needs NPCs! What makes them memorable. Wait, is "memorable NPCs" even a good idea?

Let's talk politics! How to make your game more politically sophisticated. Step one: you need a Central Tension, and there are lots of great examples!

I think Skill Challenges are a lot of fun and if used well give you the ability to introduce exciting action sequences into your game that normal D&D combat isn't well-suited for.

WAAGGH! *cough*cough* Ahem. War! Let's have some!

More NPCs!

The 4E Video! Lots of stuff to steal for your 5E Game!

What is the relationship between the Main Character and the Fictional World?

It's ok not to know things. Ignorance isn't *bad*. Confusion is!

I'd love to run a West Marches game, what do you think?

The most powerful tool in your toolbox....

Eventually, you'll have a bad session. That doesn't mean you're a bad DM, or that they're bad players.

Losing sucks. It always sucks. But there's losing that's dramatic, and losing that makes you feel stupid.

Let's talk about tracking time!

Verbs! That's what's happening!

Let's prep Against The Cult of the Reptile God!

Let's have an unskippable cutscene! Everyone loves those!

Everything, EVERYTHING, is power politics.

Don't let folks online bring you down. People nitpicking over your rules adjudications, "correcting" you, aren't being helpful, they're just trying to get you to run your game the way they wish they could run theirs. My Amazon page! https://www.amazon.com/Matthew-Colvil... The source videos in case you're interested in seeing more; https://youtu.be/8XZIOHr1AHA?t=7409 https://youtu.be/MRPCgyPg6Qc?t=1178 https://youtu.be/AszaMTZOhUI?t=211 https://youtu.be/zXv8AEZoUYM?t=2724 https://youtu.be/B5sUXSaTHKc?t=12817 https://clips.twitch.tv/RockyMoldyCou... https://youtu.be/9EToAf4nhDw?t=12802 https://youtu.be/8Wv6gqrzCSA?t=1314

Using a Medusa against a 3rd level party?? They called me MAD! Muahaha *cough* *cough. Ahem

Roller coasters are on rails, and people seem to like those!

Is it EVER a good idea to expect the PCs to surrender? Spoilers: no.

What even is CR?

RISE!

It's a perfectly cromulent place to start.

Dungeons can be fun! Well "wacky" would be a better word for these....

One of the best D&D adventures of all time, just really well put together. Worth checking out.

You are not the only person at the table, don't feel you have to solve all the problems yourself.

Let the players track the total damage to monsters! Maybe you already do this, but for us it was a little breakthrough.

"Wouldn't you? Wait 'til it happens and see."

"If we want to talk about Evil characters...."

Playing at the World, super good.

Play long enough, eventually a PC is going to die...

It's in the name of the game.

Fighting monsters can be fun! It better be fun, 'cause you're gonna do a LOT of it!

Bang for buck, the best advice I got....

Knowing how everything works is far less important than making a fair ruling and keeping things moving.

Aka "I'm just playing my character!" Maybe play a character that doesn't make everyone miserable.

Two plots is better than one!

Chaos doesn't mean random, and it doesn't mean having no rules, or no code.

Let the wookie win.

The 4th episode in the Politics Series.

Maybe there are other things we could be doing with Inspiration?

Some tools to help you avoid a situation where one player tries something, and fails, and now everyone wants to pile on. It can produce some ridiculous outcomes, but we can fix it!

Failing doesn't mean the end of the adventure. It can be the beginning of cinematic drama!

Can you play D&D with a GM and just one player? Yes you can!

The 5th and final episode in the Politics Series.

Traps! AAAHHH! They're going to kill every one of us!

You're at the table, that means you're playing.

End the slow burn; Time for a Hot Start!

Sometimes No is the best answer.

Make your world more engaging and chase your players up a tree!

Railroading is always bad. But not all linear adventures are railroading!

No one comes and gives you an award for running the game 100% by the rules. Make a fair ruling on the fly, and move on. You can look up the rule later!

A friendly message to players from their DM

A quick dive into why we need monsters in our games.

Visions can be fun! I think. I'm pretty sure?

A little Fair Warning and can lead to even better roleplay from your players.

Want to encourage your players to have more fun in your world? Tell them what amazing stuff exists in a clear and simple manner.

I don't think that happened the way we said it did... ???? Sign up to get notified when the Monster Book Kickstarter goes live | https://mcdm.gg/MonsterBook-Alert ???? Check out the latest update about Kingdoms & Warfare's production | https://mcdm.gg/K&W-DevUpdates ???? Support us on Patreon to get ARCADIA and other rewards! | https://mcdm.gg/patreon ???? Enhance your game with 5e products from our Shop | https://mcdm.gg/shop ???? Follow us on Twitter! MCDM - https://twitter.com/helloMCDM Matt - https://twitter.com/MattColville ???? Join the MCDM community on our official Discord | https://mcdm.gg/discord #RunningTheGame #MattColville #MCDM

Hang out in a Danger Room and get to know your character better. Check out Crucible Magazine! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/... ???? Sign up to get notified when the Monster Book Kickstarter goes live | https://mcdm.gg/MonsterBook-Alert ???? Check out the latest update about Kingdoms & Warfare's production | https://mcdm.gg/K&W-DevUpdates ???? Support us on Patreon to get ARCADIA and other rewards! | https://mcdm.gg/patreon ???? Enhance your game with 5e products from our Shop | https://mcdm.gg/shop ???? Follow us on Twitter! MCDM - https://twitter.com/helloMCDM Matt - https://twitter.com/MattColville ???? Join the MCDM community on our official Discord | https://mcdm.gg/discord #RunningTheGame #MattColville #MCDM

Every time I run D&D, I learn something. This is a couple of things I learned running DUSK. ????️Dusk used maps from these creators: https://www.patreon.com/czepeku https://www.patreon.com/bbsproductions https://www.patreon.com/tehox https://www.patreon.com/EightfoldPaper https://www.patreon.com/themadcartogr... ????Flee, Mortals! Can be pre-ordered now! Check it out here! | https://mcdm.gg/FleeMortalsPreorder Download the Preview Packet | https://mcdm.gg/FleeMortalsPreview ???? Check out the latest update about Kingdoms & Warfare's production | https://mcdm.gg/K&W-DevUpdates ???? Support us on Patreon to get ARCADIA and other rewards! | https://mcdm.gg/patreon ???? Enhance your game with 5e products from our Shop | https://mcdm.gg/shop ???? Follow us on Twitter! MCDM - https://twitter.com/helloMCDM Matt - https://twitter.com/MattColville ???? Join the MCDM community on our official Discord | https://mcdm.gg/discord #RunningTheGame #MattColville #MCDM

Your players will engage with your Lore IF you make it easy and fun.

What would make a great bad guy of your story or adventure?

Does D&D facilitate the game you want to play?

Do we have to roll for EVERYTHING?

Prep Now! Play Tonight! Easy & Fun!

There's some cool stuff in Baldur's Gate 3. Let's steal it!

Help your DM and you will have more fun!

A chat between a game developer and a game critic.

You're gonna play a some RPG tonight and you're gonna play a new character. Do you write up a backstory for your character? If you do, why? If you don't, should you?