August 03, 2020

B027 - Campaign Builder - Betrayal (Level Five)

56 minutes

Aha! Bet you didn't see it coming! Out of nowhere, here comes an episode on the worst kind of surprises in D&D: Betrayals! This episode sees Dan and Adam break down the why, when, and how of using effective, meaningful betrayals in your Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

Takeaways:

- Some players will blame the Dungeon Master for a betrayal, and focus on the DM as the adversary. The best way to avoid this is by having the betrayal be plausible.

- Squash the impulse to talk about the betrayal after the session. The players still working through it and analyzing all the small details. Hearing about how you designed the betrayal will put the attention on you and not the character.

- You can use your own attitudes and language to subtly imply that there is a distance between yourself and the villain you are revealing. Swapping from first-person perspective to third-person perspective is a good tool for this.

- Knowing the layout of the story in advance allows you to introduce some ideas quietly in the background of the plot while major issues, raising stakes, and resolutions are in full swing. This gives you the opportunity to drop hints about a betrayal early, so the players can look back on the plot later and see that the traitor was always there.

- Having a strong motivation is key to planning a betrayal. Without a proper motivation, this will seem like it's just a Dungeon Master adding a twist for their own selfish reasons.

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Intro/Outro Music by: Cory Wiebe

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

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