Raising the Stakes (with Brian Murphy) *FANTASY HIGH SPOILERS*

Just started to DM for a group of friends, and happily enough I am already following many of your tips! Ive DM'd before, but watching Dimension 20 definitely helped with my confidence.
The campaign is a mix of "the Magicians" book series mixed with the unsleeping city and some of my own magic. Lots of magic spells and interdimensional shenanigans, all set at a small school of magic in Brooklyn.

I resonated with your comments about "if you have nerdy friends and are willing to DM for them, they will probably want to play". My group had all wanted to give it a try for years, but never had a DM to do it with.

Thanks for making d&d feel accesible and fun for all!
Also Brennan, if you are ever in Brooklyn, ill DM for you. It would be an honor 😂
(Joking/not joking)

I'd dm for you. I'm in irvine hmu

I want to see game for all the Dms who never get to play. Matt Brennan and Murph would make amazing players.

If you're struggling to contextualize random encounters, pre-rolling initiative can set some of the stage for an encounter, at least on the enemy sides. If your pc's could run into a group of bandits in a forest, and you preroll their initiative really high, this was an ambush. They knew the pc's were coming and they laid this trap. If you preroll and they roll really low, the pc's stumbled into them unprepared while setting up their camp. Stuff like that can do wonders to set the stage for what would otherwise be "random encounters"

I know I'm 4 years late but this series seems like a vanity project for Brennan to answer his own questions.
Let the guest speak more than the interviewer.

I wanna DM for you.

Speaking on settlement sizes, there is a small place near where I live that is Thorpe sized. It's called Upton, and there are only 18 properties, and some families own multiple of them. All in all I think around 35 people live there, so it's not so unrealistic even today.

(Note that I am also in the UK, so this isn't even some remote Alaskan community. It's 35 minutes out from a decently large city, and only an hour or so from Cambridge.

aint nothing wrong with 1 on 1 roleplaying games. especially as someone who is a high functioning autistic. a small party or just me being the only player personally helps me a lot. when im dming its only 1 person i need to anticipate. when im the only one playing i would try dming for ya man but ikinda suck. but i do try. and the person i dm for says im not terrible but i feel terrible at it lol. especially since after every session i run i am just exhausted. but when im the only player or one of 2 or 3 i feel like im able to let go a bit more and actually relax and have fun. when i know for a fact when im in a party of 4-6 im stressed out. especially when it feels like im playing a different game from the other players. small groups are good. one on one play is good. and with one on one you can really craft an in depth narrative.

I'll DM for you Brennan! I've never DM'd before, but I've played a lot!

Sir Balin of Northumbria gang, where you at?

"You are legolass, you are not bugs bunny" must be one of the best advice for dming I have heard. Also Aikido your players into more sensible solutions. Awesome conversation guys. (this was 4 years agio, holymolly, I´m seriously behind on my media consuming habits)

It's ok Brennen I've still only ever been the DM, still fun tho.

If you ever visit Seattle, I will HAPPILY DM for you.

binge watching a lot of this while planning out a one shot for me to DM for the first time, after only playing in one campaign (Technically two, but its the same dm and in the same world, so basically one campaign) its incredibly relieving to hear them name specific things that inspired them. both the campaign im a PC in and the one im about to DM are pretty much just a smashed together mess of settings and characters and ideas from shows/movies/books/etc. that we all enjoy, and that incredibly blatant idea theft from dozens of sources is what makes the game so fun to play. its incredibly fun as a PC to just full on be interacting with these movie characters you love, and as a DM its incredibly refreshing to have something that you know your players will react well to and will enjoy without the fear that you mightve wasted a lot of time creating this whole world that your players might have no interest in, especially in an online game where we often can go weeks or months without a proper session because our irl lives get in the way.

me, literally lost my first pc to a giant scorpion random encounter

IF I'm honest, that's one of the things I enjoy about Dungeon world: death throws need not be immediate. if somebody fails their death save, they just are fated to die at some point in the campaign, it's not a "you die right now in this encounter that i accidentally overtuned/ that you happened to roll four nat ones in a row on"

I will dm for you Brennan

Me willing to add brenan to my hobbits campaign (first time dm lol)

Murph and Brennan talk about consequences for PC dumb decisions made me look at the date of this interview…. Yup, this was made a month or two before Shadowfell.

I love that, as a second time DM, who hadnt been able to play OR DM for ages, I'm watching this video and I do almost all of the tips. I fucking love this. (Im a teacher and also a writer and obsessed with story telling and writing. I am perfectly equipped to DM, so this is not a flex but an appreciation for all the loves of my life that prepared me for this)

Now I want to add a nation of dragons to my world...

I am a first time DM. I have only been a player for 3 years. I decided to do a fully home brew space campaign. I'm 3 sessions in and my players are begging to play more and it makes me so happy. All I want is to make them have as much fun as I always have as a player.

I started watching this 2 years ago and when Murph started describing Situations in Naddpod, I had to stop because I didn't want to spoil anything. well now that I'm caught up on ALL of Naddpod. Time to resume.

Proud member of the 2Crew

About to DM for my first time ever playing & we’re doing a One Piece-themed homebrew 😂 I’ve made a mountain for myself but have been enjoying the journey

I know I am late to this, but I really get Murph's POV of video games as his inspiration.

hearing "skype games" in 2024 is kinda surreal

"be prepared to DM all the time" promise?

“We all have a favorite Knight of the Round Table, right?”

"unless ally beardsley rolls a nat 20, which happens a LOT." oh k2 how i adore thee

Brennan, I will DM for you! Reach out. My other players would lose their minds 😂

I DM’d the very first ttrpg I ever played. It was, unsurprisingly, not my best work… but I was hooked immediately. If you know the actual structure of what you’re doing (like by watching one season of a live play show like I did), then you can run a good game.

This is all really good advice, one of the best of the series. Thanks Brennan and Murph!

BASED CHADS LEGENDS ALL

As an aspiring dm whose only ran one session I rewatch these all the time. I was in highschool when I ran a module for my friends who couldn’t care less about ttrpgs and my biggest regret is not talking more with them about the world and what they wanted to see and do in it. I was so stressed about the mechanics I wanted a easy introduction to the game for them rather than making sure they we all had fun. Modules are really appealing but don’t leave much room for what you’re passionate about so I think I wouldn’t use them again.

murph unknowingly bashing unsleeping city.. the look on Brennans face like maybe hes already planning it

I know this video is from years ago. But I just want to say, my 2 favorite dm’s right here. I love dimension 20 and naddpod. I have watched every single session and up to date on everything you guys post. Dropout content is usually fire too! Most of my inspiration is derived from @Brennan and @Murph. Thank you both for running public content and sharing your passion for the greatest game ever.

But, more along why I’m actually commenting here. I was very much into dnd growing up, never had anyone who had an opening at their table and I wasn’t confident in the arduous task of dm’ing my self. So I let 15 years of wanting to play a game, never come to fruition. Then last year, shortly after the newest dnd movie came out, I was talking with some life long friends. We all were on the same page. We all wanted to play, but nobody knew a dm. I being the one who initiated the dnd talk, told my friends. “If you guys are willing to play and show up week after week. I will put in the effort to dm.” Everyone immediately jumped on it. I told them to give me a few weeks to get some materials and begin prepping. I over prepped and was super nervous that I may run a bad game. I let that block me from starting for 3 more months. I finally said ** it, we start next week. Weather I’m ready or not. This was July of 2023.

Here we are, July of 2024 been a whole year of dm’ing. Still running the same campaign. I got the starter kit and the players ran the 1st quest before I threw in a home brewed winter solstice festival. Needless to say, the party had fun and it wound up leading us down a path completely void of the prepared adventure. I have been home brewing every session since then. We are having an amazing time and it’s all because I decided to put my humility aside and take on the task of dm’ing. I love it, we are having the most fun. I had no idea, I would enjoy it to the extent I do. Hopefully this reaches anyone who is on the fence. Just do it. Start the campaign and be willing to dm if you have friends willing to come. I had never played Dnd before. I consume mass amounts of content from several public run dnd games. Dimension 20 and nadpodd being some of my favorite. Also throw in greetings adventurers and the occasional critical roll. That’s where most of my experience has come from, other people running games and having fun. Just do it, you won’t regret it. It is hard to balance time for session building between work and family, but if you love it, you’ll make the time. We run every Sunday for 3 hours.

@Brennan. It’s highly doubtful that you ever see this and it would be difficult as I’m a n Illinois, not California. But I would be more than honored to have you join a session or the campaign on a regular basis. My player characters are between lvl 9 and 12 currently. Player agency and fun are my top priorities during campaign.

I relate to Murph as a D&D fan way too much…

Imma be honest as a new wave player. I've been playing for a while now and am used to the rules and such but often new players. Come up with out of the box ideas and are often some of the best players.

I for real thought Murph was a chick. He seems cool tho

Love the pod here “FF 20 that’s me buddy” 👍🏽

3.5 has my heart.

hey brennan are you for real about wanting to play in your commenters' games? it seems like you wouldn't truly have the time for all that