How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM

Justin:

Ulf woke up. He was in a cave, but he saw a face above his. It was Herlia. Ulf, we thought you were dead. Ulf sat up and saw Hepom sitting not too far off now, sporting a few more days' growth of beard. Ulf looked around. He could see the exit from the cave a few yards away. It was snowing outside. About a week. We still don't know what happened, Ulf, but we are sure glad to see you up and walking. We... we didn't know what to do." Hylia said as her voice trailed off. of breathed deeply. I'm sorry." Ulf looked into Herlia's eyes. I've failed you these past few weeks. I should have been more, but I thought just about myself. Herlia was taken aback. Ulf, we didn't blame you for what happened to Hüde and Kujari. Ulf began to stand up and walked towards the snowy cave entrance. He turned and looked back at Herlia. I was not asleep or in a coma. Instead, I was taken back to the home of my ancestors. There, I lived for weeks in a tribe, and I had to perform some sort of test. Actually, I still have to perform the test, the trial. Early, I stood up and rubbed her temples. Ulf, you're not making any sense. Ulf turned and looked at her once again. We have to go north. and conquer the tribes of the North. Silence. Then Hipon piped up and said, well, when do we leave? What would you like to do? Welcome back to today's show. I'm your host today, Justin Lewis, and in the world of being a dungeon master there are now essentially two types of dungeon masters. There are those that prefer playing in person and those that prefer playing online. And actually I guess there's probably a third group that likes either one. But today I want to give a small guide to preparing to preparing for an online session for those people who feel like the online format may be limited or they've just never done it before. Sorry about my voice cracking there. But hopefully this guide helps you feel ready and prepared for a nice game with your friends online. And this is generally what I do when I prepare for my one shots, which you can sign up for by going to betterdungeonmaster.com slash one dash shot. It is free and you can see this firsthand. So first step. find your players. As always, the first step to any session of D&D is to find players. And with an online game, your pool of players has both narrowed and expanded. Because now you can play with anyone all over the world, but you do need to find people who are willing to play online. Me, I can't even get my wife to play online, so I resort to asking people I've never met in person over my podcast. Namely, people like you. So second thing you need to do is send out a player brief. Second thing you need to do is prepare the story. You need to write a full story and the nice thing about playing D&D online is you don't necessarily need to change the story to fit the online format. For the most part, you can do everything online that you can do in person. Naturally, whispering in people's ears is a bit hard. However, it's still possible. You can, there are tools that allow you to send discrete messages, and if need be, you can just email each individual person because theoretically you will have each of their emails. So prepare the story, write it down, and we have tons of podcast episodes that should help you with that and get you where you need to be. So the second thing is you need to choose theater of the mind or virtual tabletop or a VTT. So the difference is with a theater of the mind, and this is more of a tech choice than anything, with theater of the mind, you don't need more than one software. Well, I guess, let me explain. So a virtual tabletop is essentially a platform that allows you to connect audio visual for seeing your face and hearing your voice, but it also allows you to play music over the connection. It also allows you to display a map whenever you are in combat or a similar situation. That's a VTT. A theater of the mind is where you simply use an audio visual connection like Zoom or Google Meet, whatever have you. I use Riverside just because I actually record my one shots online. But you have this visual and audio connection and that's it. And if you need to, I suppose you could share your screen and show anything you needed to. You rely mostly on your descriptive words to tell people where they are, even in combat. And even in Theater of the Mind, or just using, sorry. And even just using Zoom or Google Meet, you can still share your screen to show visual aspects of your campaign. And with that, you can include audio aspects as well. VTTs are just a little bit more native, so they're a little bit more set up for things like that. For example, when you share a map in combat, you can create tokens and assign each of those tokens to each of your players. and that allows them to move the player in the combat rather than you having to ask them where to go and things like that. And you need to choose this, and I guess number three is a little bit more than this, you need to choose your whole tech stack. So are you planning on streaming the encounter or the session? Are you planning on recording it like I am? In both cases, you need to make sure you understand exactly what your tech stack will be. So in my case, dabbled around using a few things. I'm actually recording this on the 29th of April, which is the day of our last one-shot. And I'm planning on using Riverside, which is a podcasting platform, so it allows you to podcast with guests online. I'm planning on using that as the audio visual portion of the session, which will record the show. And then I will use Roll20, which is a virtual tabletop. to actually play the game. And if that doesn't work, then I will actually probably switch to just using Roll20 and then using a, I believe it's called Streamlabs, which is a desktop streaming where you can capture what's going on on your screen and then stream it out to either YouTube or whatever. And that's kind of my backup. And then if that doesn't work, I'll probably resort to Discord and things like that. But as you see, you need to choose your tech stack and also, Be very aware of the fact that things might not work out. People might not have microphones, headphones, their internet might not work. Playing online, there's a lot more technical snafus that can go wrong, so you need to be aware of that and plan ahead. Number four, probably one of the most important ones you can do is send out the player brief, okay? And you would do this just like you would do it in any in-person session or things like that, especially if you're in one shot, but a player brief has it's like a packet of information or or Segments of information. It's not necessarily packet. I guess you can send an email or send multiple emails, but It has very important information for the player to get ready for the session and that starts with character creation. So Information about hey, you can have these types of characters. You can't have these types of characters so forth and so on. So in the one shot that I'm running today, and obviously, you know, no spoilers because this will be out after the one shot, but I told the characters or the players, they can make any character they'd like. The world is in, the session will be set in my homebrew world of integrity, which has its own pantheon of nine gods, and that's it. So if they are connected to a deity, they should let me know and I'd give them further information. But. As far as characters and classes, feel free to go forth and do what they want. Generally with Oneshots, I'm pretty flexible. Now in hindsight, I would tell my characters, or tell my players not to do any character that can breathe underwater. And the reason why that's important is because the Oneshot takes place on a cruise ship, and spoiler alert, but the cruise ship goes down, right? Naturally, that's what happens in Oneshots. And actually that brings me to the next point that you should include in your player brief, which is information about the situation. So in this case, the players will find themselves on this cruise ship, and mind you, integrity is set in a high fantasy world. So this cruise ship is really kind of top of the line. There are a few countries that have banded together to create this marvel, essentially, and it's fueled by the resources of one... country called the Bastion of the Crown. It's fueled by the ingenuity and the technical know-how of the Kula Uwea Confederacy and then it's fueled by the technology of the Sivarish, sorry, it's fueled by the technology of the Sivarish Protectorate. So it's kind of this joint creation of a few countries. So with that, the players, I told them you have to make sure that your character is from one of these countries because the ship is actually going from the Kula Uwea Confederacy to the Sivirish Protectorate and then finally to the Bastion of the Crown. So all of your characters need to have a reason to be on the ship and to go there, right? And with that I also explained a little bit of the situation around the world. Okay, so this ship is first of its kind, like nothing else like it. And it's also coming around in a time of disunity. So the world as a whole has become very unorganized and disintegrated, okay? So allies have severed and are now kind of looking at each other as enemies. And the whole world is in a commotion. So that's why the ship is so very important. It's kind of a symbol of the world kind of knitting itself back together. So that's the situation, that's the information I gave my characters about the situation. Now, the next thing you need to include is any information about the world. So for example, like what I said about the... the gods, the deities. So in integrity there are nine gods and each god has kind of their own domain. And one important thing about the gods is that their alignment constantly shifts, okay? So every year, and this is kind of how they gauge their zodiac, every year there is a lawful good god and then there is a chaotic evil god, all right? And during those years, those two forces are directly opposed. Okay, and every year it changes up randomly. And a lot of effort and time in other areas of the world is spent in figuring out which god is good because that determines some of the major events that will happen and things like that as far as political events or natural disasters things like that. So that might be something I would include in my brief, but in this case I didn't because none of my characters decided to be a cleric or a paladin. But I did extend the invitation to them saying, hey, if you would like more information, reach out to me. Another bit you need to know about this is that a lot of this information can be exposed or you can display through exposition in the game. So for example, the cruise ship is technologically powered by a substance called Spark, which is a, it's actually a magical drug that was first designed. kind of in other parts of the world, and then it came to the Sivirish Protectorate, and the government actually didn't regulate it or whatever, and many engineers and scientists found that you could use this drug to create a powerful energetic substance, right? So the entire ship is powered by this drug, this very volatile drug called Spark. That's something that the players will figure out in game because exposition and things like that, right? So again, you definitely need to include information about the world, but don't give too much, right? Make sure that it's salient to what the player needs and relevant. Lastly, you need to include links. So you need to include links to the online campaign. So if you're using D&D Beyond, which I neglected to mention, that's another tool that I'm using in my tech stack. That's essentially where all the players are making their characters in a place where I can see it. and I can actually use it to make encounters and things like that, which will come in very handy. You need links to the audio and visual, so I sent out links to Riverside for my players, and then links to the virtual tabletop if you use it. So I sent out links to Roll20. And that's essentially what you need to send in the player brief. Again, it doesn't need to be one single email or whatever. You can just make sure the information gets to your players and they feel ready. Number five. You need to... plan any encounters that you need. And what I mean by this is, you need to prepare the stats and the situations so that way when the time comes, you don't have to spend precious time doing that, but instead you can give your full attention to your players. Breaking the flow is not a very good thing in D&D unless it's intentional, in which case have at it, right? So what I did was I looked at the chain of events and on a cruise ship it's very nice. I suppose maybe it's railroading, but it is what it is. That's kind of the situation. They have limited choices as far as what the major events affecting the cruise ship are going to be. And then next you need to prepare any maps you need if you're using a virtual tabletop. So in my case, I use Dungeon Alchemist, which is an awesome tool. It's actually a 3D tool on Steam that you can purchase. And what it does is it allows you to create very in-depth maps for different situations. And I can actually, well, if you sign up for our Dungeon Master Guild Level 1, you can get access to a lot of the maps that we create and download them for free. So you can upload them to your VTT or whatnot. But essentially, Dungeon Alchemist allows you to drag and drop different elements into a map. So you can... click a specific room you want to create, you draw the shape and then you click the check mark and it auto-populates using AI that room and then you can go ahead and customize it using different objects, different floor tiles and things like that. And let me tell you, when I first backed it as a Kickstarter, it was very, it was pretty sparse, but now it has so many options, including Gingerbread House as one, Ice House. You can actually make caves now, which is a pretty cool feature. It's just becoming way more. Developed and in depth so now it's the time to get on it because it's just gonna get more in depth Last thing you need to do is follow up with your players The common bane of the dungeon master is not getting players to come to the sessions or having players bail things like that Even on one shots that happen because someone listened to a podcast and signed up with me people bail You know all the time And when I say bail, I don't necessarily mean that they just decide not to come. Oftentimes, it's like family issues or emergencies or things like that, but it does happen a lot. And so you do need to be flexible and follow up with your players the day of or the day before just to make sure that they have the right time, the right links, and there's no issues, right? Especially if you're new to

Justin:

Hi there listener, this is Justin Lewis and I have here Tanner Wayland with me today. Say hi, Tanner.

Tanner Weyland:

Hi.

Justin:

And today on how to be a better DM we are going to talk about Sort of a niche topic One that I think a lot of people struggle with without knowing they struggle with so let me paint a picture for you It's session zero right and you've finally gotten all your PCs in the same room We'll say it's a tavern right there sitting at the same table a few of them know each other So you have two over here that know each other two over there and two over there with most groups, your players start saying, oh well my character's mysterious and untrusting of other people and you have to prove yourself to me. Except every player in your party is acting like that. So the question that we're gonna answer today is how do you get your players, or at least your PCs, to start treating each other like friends and to start wanting to travel together and to view themselves as a party? difficult things to do in session zero or in a one-shot, especially if you as the DM don't outright say, you guys have been traveling for a while, you are already friends. So naturally, let's get that one out of the way. The simplest way to do that specifically in one-shots is just to say, you guys are already friends. You have a long history, you don't need to worry about that. That method doesn't really work when it comes to long-term campaigns because the whole point of the campaign your party integrates and becomes solidified and galvanized, right? So

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

we'll get that one out of the way, but Tanner, any initial thoughts?

Tanner Weyland:

Uh, my initial thought is that like you were saying, it's not as clean of a process as, as you'd like, it's not as clear cut because not everyone has a fellowship of the ring type situation where they're all sitting, they all gathered for one reason and then they all, everyone who joined it volunteers and it's like, Oh, you have my acts, you know, that kind of thing. Most of the time it's like, Oh, they just happen to be in the same town together. And then this event happens, you know, but a party of orcs attacks the town. believe, you know, we like to skirt over the fact that like, oh, obviously these people band together to go fight the orcs. It's like, not everyone does that. Some people, when they see trouble, they just, you know, they, they get out of town, you know, but, but so that's why the inciting incident is so important. And also you have to have kind of external factors that tie them together. For example, you know, if they are in a town, like let's say that they're there festival, right? And you know, I'll keep with my example and an orc attack happens. You know, instead of just assuming the players are going to fight together, what you could do is have an initial fight in the plaza, you know, or in the town square. And of course, everyone's fighting there because all the players just happen to be there and stuff. But then after that, you could have it be like, Oh, everyone else that wasn't a town like specifically puts you guys together, right? Like inciting incidents like that, you kind of need that initial moment of obligation or obligated partying in order to then later build on that and hopefully make some more connection, if that makes sense. So, I'm gonna go ahead and start with the first one. So, I'm gonna start with the first one.

Justin:

Yeah, that makes total sense. And actually let's, let's kind of put this into an example. So let's use the example of our homebrew one-shot that we're working on with Rob from

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

New York, Rob Van Auken or, or no, wait, is that his DM name or his real? I think that's his real

Tanner Weyland:

That's

Justin:

name,

Tanner Weyland:

his

Justin:

right?

Tanner Weyland:

real name. Yeah.

Justin:

Yes. Roderick Van Helm, Rob

Tanner Weyland:

Yes.

Justin:

Rick Van Helm is his DM. Anyways. it's called For Whom the Bell Tolls, the Chime Fell Ceremony, right? And

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

thinking about this inciting event, the way the, gosh, I don't want to give too many spoilers away, but essentially your party comes to a town, participates in festivals and trials to win awards to kind of become a new ceremonial figure that protects the town in a sense, but also protects reality in a sense from And at one point a leader of the monastery hosting the event turns and basically summons the big bad that everyone was trying to keep out, right? So I think in this case, to kind of give an example to what Tanner just said, an inciting incident could be this session. Like this could be your session zero. All the players come from different places to participate in the Chime Fell ceremony and possibly gain the award, right? figure

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

and I feel like naturally as your players win because they naturally will they'll win those trials they'll come together to meet the chief monastery officer or whatever the name is that the abbot and that you know they'll meet each other and then the inciting event will be that large monster gets summoned and suddenly they have to work together to fix the problem right

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

I think that that we should hang out more, kind of an idea, right?

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah, I think that when you have a galvanizing like event, then that can cause a lot of connection. Otherwise, like I think it's a little bit harder with like longer journeys, you know? Because if you do have an inciting event that all happens in one town, like what happens in our, you know, the Chime fell ceremony, then that's like very easy because all the players are in one town, there's a festival, they're all there for the same purpose, in the same trials and you know that you that's certainly a way to make it happen and then just you as the DM as they're playing you're having little moments that you create of them like being like oh this person's not half bad you know this other character and things like that can kind of help them become more of a party how about if you were on like a longer journey style like campaign things along the way create connection there.

Justin:

When you say longer journey style campaign, can you give a little bit,

Tanner Weyland:

Yes.

Justin:

yeah.

Tanner Weyland:

Like where they're going to multiple locations, you know, they go from a town to a dungeon, to a seaside port, to, you know, and they're like camping along the way, they run into bandits here and there. It's just like, it's a lot of traveling and

Justin:

Okay.

Tanner Weyland:

there's more, a bunch of small events versus one big event.

Justin:

Yeah, see even that I think is pretty easy. So I think deep down, and this is honestly, this is kind of a topic of social encounters anyways, there's a book called The Like Switch. And it's funny, these last few duo episodes where you and me have both been on, have been both about D&D, but also about life in general. So

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

this is more about life in general, but this book is called The Like Switch. an FBI agent writing a book about how to influence people and kind of gain relationships and things like that and he lays out what's called or what he calls the relationship formula right and he says your relationship is a formula derived from in proximity frequency intensity and duration so essentially

Tanner Weyland:

Hmm.

Justin:

you can boil down relationships to how close are you physically and like how intense are the emotions you feel and how long are you close together. See that's why in my opinion, when you go and work at a new place, at first you don't really make friends with the people sitting at your desk. You may or may not introduce yourself, but if you don't, after a month, you're gonna know each other's names and you're gonna start talking to each other just because you sit next to each other every single day. So in this case, with forcing your players to be together, have to get that formula in action, right? In the case of the galvanizing event, they are having such intense emotion that it's kind of like the foxhole friends, right? Shared trauma leads to strong emotional or at least somewhat strong relationships. But in the case of a long-term campaign, you're having them together for often, those natural occurrences are going to happen naturally. they would naturally relax and feel more comfortable around each other because kind of from a primal sense that person that unknown is becoming more known right. So I think just force the key to getting your PCs to want to travel together is to have them kind of fulfill that formula you know and there are obviously

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah.

Justin:

other things to do but I think that's a good place to start.

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah, I like that too because it made me realize kind of an issue with a lot of DMs and characters, you know, because it's we're talking about parties here. But if you don't give like one, if you don't give your players the incentive to create good backstories. And then second, and this is where I realized with your comments, if you don't allow the where they can share parts about their character that they've created and parts of their character's personality then even if they have shared trauma like you were saying and even if they spend time together what are they going to know? It's like you're with someone at work who only ever talks about work, right? Are you going to actually ever know that person? Probably not. You know, you're only going to know them in work capacity because they never talk about their personal life and so if you ever saw them outside of work they'd be practically you. You know, it's like a teacher in school, right? Since kids never find out about what their teacher did, when they see them at the supermarket, they're like, what the heck, aren't you supposed to be at school? It's kind of like that where if your players are only having their characters talk about the event in front of them, the next goal, the next thing, and they never talk about their character backstory or, you know, or get opportunities, character do, then they won't have any latching on points for each other, right? I think that's an important thing.

Justin:

Yeah, I agree. And actually to that note, I think getting your party to gel together starts long before session zero and it begins with character creation. And naturally you're probably thinking like, oh, well, duh, you'd want, you know, a melee combat person in the same party as someone who casts spells or is ranged. Sure. But what I mean more is I think that relationship formula that I talked about, it might be a little bit... but incomplete, you probably need to add in the individual efforts of each person as well as the individual moral codes of each person. So, for example, in my current campaign, I have a character named Saban. He is a lizard folk artificer, and he's from the swamp, you know, he has a southern accent, and he's generally a very polite, caring individual, you know, I'd say he's neutral good tending towards lawful good. He's the kind of guy that like, if he sees someone struggling, he'll go help for no reason. He's just a good guy, right? And I

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah.

Justin:

put him in there just for me to have a character that I can play around with. But sometimes, other of the players in the group, they are neutral or evil, depending on their situation. And so they'll do things that are questionable for Saban. And to be honest, it has made Saban think, do I really want to continue with this group when they're doing certain acts, right? you need to make sure that your character creation will not spawn characters that act in ways that are diametrically opposite of one another. If you have two characters that spend lots of time together in incredibly intense emotions, but they disagree with each other about the basic standards of life, they will probably come to hate each other, and that's how you get villains, to be honest.

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah, exactly. You have to have during character creation, you have to create characters who would in any world be willing to like spend some time around each other, right? If it's like, oh, this is just such a big event that they have to spend time together that I mean, that's okay, but you're not going to have as much of a gelled party as you need. One thing I realized is that you have to have opportunity like Incidents are a great way even better than I think bigger incidents for your characters to gel, right? let's say that you're in a town and your characters are at a tavern and You know, everyone's giving them the stink eye and the innkeeper is actually overcharging them and they see it because everyone else is like when the innkeeper is like gives them the like the tab essentially Like the players tab is like three times higher, right? such a small thing and you don't think that would like help the party gel but guess what that's a perfect incident to really reveal people's like characters because unlike a big bad where it's like oh everyone just hates these you know like what do you do about the local innkeeper who you can't just well you could just massacre but like most people are gonna try and find other solutions and that's where you're gonna see each individual characters

Justin:

you

Tanner Weyland:

personality but then they'll have to work together and be like hey what do we do because you I want to just steal from him and then the priest over there just wants to you know, turn the other cheek and leave, you know If you don't have small events like that Where people feel cheated people feel like their trust was betrayed People feel disappointed then they can't flesh out their character and they also can't make moral Decisions between characters, which is where a lot of that kind of connection comes from, you know

Justin:

Agreed. I think when it

Hello, and Welcome to How To Be A Better DM. My name is Tanner Weyland, and together we will learn about how to prepare the best adventures and environments for our players to enjoy. Today, we are going to jump right into the announcements!

Other than that, Justin and I are going to be at an event this Saturday, the 22nd of April! In Provo Utah, in the Provo Towne Center Mall, there is a D&D world record happening. The store “We Geek Together” is hosting an event called “Dead Wars” where they will have over 1,000 players playing the same game together—thus beating the world record. Justin and I will be there with the people from Monsters.Rent to talk about the minis and everything—we are also providing over 200 minis for the event to use, so we are so excited! If you are curious about the event info, look up wegeektogether.org to find more info. We hope to see some of you there!

Today's Topic: animal companions, and NPC party companions

Mentioned in this episode:

Save time with Roll and Play Press

Save yourself some precious time with Roll and Play Press.

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.

Do You Want to Earn some Money?

🎲 Want to Earn Some Extra Gold?

Tanner Weyland:

Hello, my name is Tanner Wayland and I, along with my co-host Justin Lewis, are here on How to be a Better DM. How you doing, Justin?

Justin:

I am good. I'm good. How are you, Tenor?

Tanner Weyland:

Oh, doing well, doing well. It's a lovely day outside, you

Justin:

It

Tanner Weyland:

know?

Justin:

is.

Tanner Weyland:

It's great. Here in Utah, it's been winter for 20 years, it feels like. And

Justin:

It really does.

Tanner Weyland:

it's finally clearing up, and we're just gonna get so much flooding, but everyone's happy it's sunny. Ha ha.

Justin:

That's the truth.

Tanner Weyland:

Well, anyway, to get going with this, uh, with this topic today, we'll just hop right in. Um, the topic is how to be a DM when you're just busy, busy as all get out. Like how do you make time for it? Um, first off, Justin, has this ever happened to you where you just feel too busy to even meet or prepare or anything like that?

Justin:

Yeah, yes. I would say most recently it's been that I felt too busy that I wanted a break and I didn't want to actually have my players come over and have the game. I just kind of wanted a break. But I like what you said there, having to make time for it. Because I feel like DMing when busy, the art to DMing when you're busy, that you can do it and one of those is just making more time for it. You know, simple enough, you make it a bigger priority in your life, you get rid of other things. The unfortunate aspect with that is that it's a game. Like it's a hobby,

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah.

Justin:

you know. So if you are attempting to push out family matters or work or you know, religious obligations or social obligations, I don't know, I would maybe reconsider and try some of our other methods we'll talk about rather than stop working.

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah. No. Yeah. I totally hear you because if there was something on the chopping block, I think for a lot of people, it would be, you know, running dungeons and dragons, frankly. And, and,

Justin:

Yeah.

Tanner Weyland:

you know, I think just as an initial disclaimer on this episode, if you feel overburdened by your DMing, like you are absolutely entitled to stop, you know, to take a break, a longer term break. the kind of person who's like, Hey, I think I can if I could keep it going. And I really like it. If I change some things, that's kind of what this is for. Um, now like, I'll be honest, like there have been times like, uh, in the same campaign, I had to both, uh, at one point stop it, but then before then, uh, when I was in school, I had to learn how to deal with it during the school year versus summer, right? this was when I was in college and And you know, I think that it was actually an enlightening experience And I think this is what you'll learn too Is that you know, we all wish we had plenty of time to prepare for our sessions We all wish we could do like three four-hour sessions every week, you know but the fact is you know, sometimes you don't and it makes you actually kind of fall back on what's the core of Right? Like for me, and this was kind of my first tip, I guess, we were doing pretty long sessions. We were doing like three, sometimes four hour sessions. And my wife was just like, hey, Dan, you got a lot of other stuff you're trying to do. And then you always, she pointed out that I often complained about being short on time. And

Justin:

Hehe.

Tanner Weyland:

she's like, maybe don't do it as long. And initially I was like, oh, but what will they think? these stupid reasonings in my mind. But then I just did it. I was like, you know what, fine. We'll just plan for like an hour and a half. And then, you know, it usually ended up being like two hours sessions. But even that little change meant that I didn't have to prepare as much. It meant that I had more time. It also meant that the sessions felt punchier. And I really appreciated that change.

Justin:

Yeah, I would say with doing something like that, it definitely is like a good challenge for yourself because everyone wants to make every session impactful and fun and memorable.

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

And when you only have an hour and a half, you start to think of, okay, well, what is like most important? You know, like we can't

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

deal with the fluff, you know, and you probably could, So I really like that And you know what like Tanner said if you ever have problems with being super busy Talk to your players see if they can help out or give advice or just make changes like they did in Tanner's case You know communicate communication is very important right Tanner

Tanner Weyland:

Oh, you know what? I couldn't have said it better myself, Justin. Um, yeah, honestly, communication is huge because if you're feeling overwhelmed, then the worst thing you can do is keep that bottled up. Uh, so talk to, you know, in the case you will do have a significant other, like I can say that probably one of the reasons you feel so busy is because you have obligations there and that's not bad, you know, that's part of being in a relationship. Uh, but if you just hold it in, then there's going to be that tension. So talk about it, be like, hey, Deming's really important to me, but you're even more important to me. How can we make this both work? You know, and then once you discuss that, then talk with your players and be like, hey, here's some thoughts I had. Uh, have you guys had any thoughts? You know, maybe they'll be down to be like, Hey, yeah, we can, we can do once a month or,

Justin:

Mm-hmm.

Tanner Weyland:

you know, every two weeks instead of every week or something. Right. Um, I think people are

Justin:

I feel

Tanner Weyland:

more understanding.

Justin:

like, yeah, I

Tanner Weyland:

Go

Justin:

was just

Tanner Weyland:

ahead.

Justin:

gonna add, I feel like that is just good life advice in general. Over the last few weeks, I myself have been incredibly busy with Monsters.Rent, which if you guys haven't heard, that's our new company and Tanner's actually a part of it now.

Tanner Weyland:

I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.

Justin:

But I've been super busy with that myself. So my wife has had conversations with me of like, well, something's gotta give and doing exactly what Tanner said saying here are some of my priorities, what are your priorities, and then how can we make both of these work together and you have to have an open mind. You know, like Tanner said, your DMing might have to go from once a week to once a month. And again, it's a simple fact of the matter that most of us, it's not our money making stream. Like, it doesn't make us money. So we can't always justify sacrificing other things for it. should but

Tanner Weyland:

Mm.

Justin:

I think you do definitely need to keep an open mind with what you might need to give up.

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah, absolutely. And so I think with communication, with the willingness to be flexible, uh, there's also, uh, this is maybe a simple tip. Some of you are very creative and you write all of your campaigns and all of your sessions and that's wonderful. Uh, I would argue that, that you could benefit though, during a very busy part of your life, um, you could benefit to switch to a pre-written material. that the others have done, whether that's free or you purchase it or whatever else. Um, that can help save you a lot of time in prep work because I mean, I think you'd agree, Justin, like the actual session, like the time you spend in the session, that's not all the time you're spending. You're spending like you're spending hours beforehand, like preparing for every little possibility, right? Uh, it's like, oh, if they're in a town, suddenly you have to do a bunch of prep they could have. And if you have to come up with all of that, that's all time you're spending. Unless you're getting a pre-written adventure. It doesn't save as much time as you'd like, because the fact is I've done a lot of pre-written adventures where you just you're very interested in the world and you're like oh I got to remember what happens here. But it does streamline the process and it takes a couple steps out. So I would suggest that honestly.

Justin:

Yeah. And to that point, there's nothing wrong with inserting this or that encounter from your favorite, uh, D and D DM, YouTuber or podcaster or whatever. Um, I know that, you know, I'm, I'm a fan of the high rollers in the UK with their Eros campaign. I really liked that campaign. And, you know, I used to watch that while working because my job, it just me to basically listen to podcasts or watch YouTube videos basically all day while working. So I'd watch that. And thinking back, if I really needed to, I could insert a few of the minor story arcs into my campaign. You know, adding in twists and flavors here and there. And that might save some time in the prep. And this one might be a little bit controversial, but pull back on the stats and the rolling. You know

Tanner Weyland:

Mm.

Justin:

D&D, I've said before at its core, it is just a story with agreed rules and a system for how you interact, right?

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah.

Justin:

And if you need to, without your player's permission even, you can kind of dial back how many times you use the dice to interactions. You know, I'm not saying get rid of it all the way unless you want to, but really, you know, if you're having trouble coming up with this next session, don't prepare any combat encounters and make it a much quicker roll of the dice, you know, when it does happen. Obviously, if it's a big bad, you have to play it out, but if it's like, you know, a street urchin comes and fights you or something, I don't know, just one or two rolls and that should be fine. That way, fudge those numbers on the spot. And this method I think really works well, like Tanner said, in city environments where if they don't spend a ton of time in this one encounter with these street thugs, it's fine because there's thousands of other things to do in the city. And they probably have other things that they want to do as well. Uh, the only thing I'd, the only cautionary thing I'd add is make sure that you focus on the story when you do this. very plain and very boring like if you're not giving everything you can to the to the segments of role-playing and Actually kind of getting into character your players will start to realize like hey, we didn't really do much this session, you know

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah, and I think that that idea has at the core of its flexibility, right? It's, uh, it's being flexible with like, Hey, what, what is core to the thing? And having big old battles with a bunch of stat blocks. Uh, that's, I mean, sometimes that's fun, but like other times it's like the players just want to feel, you know, the concept of their players moving around the map, hitting, they don't, they don't need anything too complicated, right? And I was thinking about being flexible with your DMing style. I think that roles and map prep, all of that can be not fudged, but kind of loosened up a little, you know? Like with your roles, maybe you aren't being so harsh on like, oh, let me look up online. What's the challenge level to cross a wall in the winter? know, you don't have to be as like strict on that. Um, you can be like, Oh, it's a, it's a 15, you know, roll that and, and just be more flexible that way. Uh, further, I was thinking about it a lot of times in my DM prep and this, this took time, especially if you're using like an online, like a roll 20 and you have to find maps, you have to have, find a character's tokens. Uh, sometimes that takes time because you're like, Oh man, this idea for this enemy but I can't find the exact token and then you spend an hour you know stressing over this one thing because you want it to feel realistic you don't have to do that like if you're stressing about it guess what you could find a little token of Barney or the Teletubbies

Justin:

Hehehehehehehehe

Tanner Weyland:

and plop that in and your players would get a kick out of it and

Justin:

Yeah.

Tanner Weyland:

it would save you an hour of stress obviously spend the time because I'm sure enemies, you're going to be able to find an easy token, you know, without too much effort. But if it's taking you too much time, just find the parts, the sticking areas in your prep and just be like, Hey, do I need to go as hard as I am here? Or can I, can I loosen up, you know?

Justin:

Yeah, and actually to that point I'd like to cite two examples of guests we've had on our show who have hosted one shots for us and they did it completely theater of the mind because that's what they do. That's what they love

Tanner Weyland:

Yep.

Justin:

and gauging the players experiences they enjoyed it, you know, if you remember Bone Daddy Rob and Thorn from This Dungeon is Occupied of the mind. And

Tanner Weyland:

Mm-hmm.

Justin:

that's a quick way if you're stressed out and busy as a DM. That's a quick way to shave off a bunch of prep time because you don't have to worry about getting minis, you don't have to worry about getting maps. I mean you can for reference but it might even be

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah.

Justin:

easier to just kind of create it as you go along. And I think that naturally lends and things like that just because it has to fit what everyone can imagine.

Tanner Weyland:

Yeah, and that's honestly a theater of the mind. That's a great way to, I think your players, it might take a little bit of getting used to, but if you just still provide some key descriptions, then people can get into that, right? And you're still gonna have roles, you're still gonna have a lot going on, and your players are still spending time together. That's key, right? Oth

“Mother?” Ulv whispered as he moved towards the visage of his long-dead mother.

“It is I little snowhare,” Ulv’s mother said, using Ulv’s childhood pet name. When he was younger, his hair was so blonde it was almost white. His mother had taken to calling him snowhare when he was a baby. Even though he’d hated the nickname as a teenager, she’d still used it. Now, hearing that nickname pricked his heart and tears slowly formed at the corner of his eyes.

“Yes, young one. We have come to oversee your trial.” Said a much more masculine voice. Ulv watched as the visage of his father appeared next to his mother, his arm resting lightly on her shoulder. “Honestly son, we are disappointed.”

Ulv stared dumbfounded. He’d expected them to say something comforting, but instead, they were here to judge him?

“We expected more from the youth who downed a frost cat in his 11th winter. Truly, what have you been doing?” Ulv’s father continued.

Ulv’s mouth went dry. “I..I..”

“Son, you cannot sit in dreams forever. Herlia and Hipam both need your help.” Ulv’s mother admonished.

“Cojari needs your help son. The Kingdom of the Golden Deer needs your help.” Ulv’s father added.

“But aren’t you here for the trials?” Ulv asked, confused.

“We are,” Ulv’s father said as he looked at Ulv’s mother. “But this vision, it is only a part of your trial. It is the initiation. You aren’t supposed to complete the trial here. Your trial is set to take place with the help of your friends.” Ulv’s father paused. “Son, you can’t just keep wasting away your time. I know it’s hard. You failed. Judir is dead. Nothing you can do can change that.”

Tears began falling slowly down Ulv’s face.

“I’m so untouchable,” Ulv said, bitterness punctuating his comment. “Everyone around me dies or is lost to me. Why is it me that has to survive? Why can’t I pass on to the realm of the gods? Why did you have to leave me?” Ulv said as his knees buckled and he slumped down to all fours.

“Son, Judir made his own choice. As did we all. You’ve been saved for something else. It doesn’t matter who lives and who dies. What matters now is the present. What matters is that you have 3 friends who desperately need you. Save those that can still be saved.” Ulv’s mother whispered into his ear.

What would you like to do?

Welcome back, dungeon masters. Today, you’re with me, Justin Lewis as we discuss mob combat. We all love to watch movies with amazing battle scenes at the end. I’m talking about Lord of the Rings when Aragon charges Mordor with the armies of all men behind him. I’m talking about basically every Star Wars movie ever that ends with one side fighting another. I’m talking about Avengers End Game where all of the snapped people come back to fight the final battle scene.

In each of these scenes, we have the main characters who fight their adversaries. We also see nameless foes occasionally jump into the mix to fight the main characters. On an individual basis, these nameless enemies are no match for our heroes, but in the sheer volume in which they are usually present, they present a formidable obstacle. 

So, today, let’s talk about using Mob combat effectively.

In simple terms, mob combat is using many low-level adversaries in an encounter to pose a much larger threat when all combined. This is the idea of throwing numerous baddies at your adventurers that, when encountered alone, would be just one swipe of an axe, but together, are endless axe swings. This is the concept of numbers over skill. 

You can use mob combat in many different situations. It doesn’t need to be an enormous battle scene like any I’ve mentioned before. One example is a swarm of ravenous ants. Sure the players can swipe at each of them individually, but an area of effect would work a lot better, as would just running away.

Because you’re not fighting just one foe but instead are trying to keep your head above a “rising tide” so to speak, mob combat functions like a mix between a skill challenge and a combat encounter. In fact, in my opinion, there are 3 ways to actually do mob combat.

1: Combined Method: In the combined method of mob combat, you essentially think of the actual numbers of adversaries. For example, in my campaign, I used mob combat when my players were fighting these small automaton drones. Each drone was a very paltry fight, but together they were formidable. I calculated that my group would face 4 “masses” of drones. Rather than having them fight individual drones, I decided that they would fight 4 mobs. Each mob contained 20 drones. The way I did it was the AC of each mob was equal to the number of drones left alive. Each drone technically had 3 hitpoints so each 3 hit points killed a drone. The mob’s attack was equal to 10 plus the number of drones left alive. So starting out the mob would hit for 30 and do 30 damage, but fairly quickly in the engagement, the damage would decrease because the number of drones would die very quickly. 

The reason why this method is called the combined method is that you actually do the math to put together all the baddies. This means you can scale the fight to whatever your group can handle. If they are level 20 and fighting orcs just isn’t what it used to be, have them fight mobs of 20 orcs and see how that works.

2. Simple method: In this method, you forget the math. You essentially just create a monster that is a mob of other creatures. Think of a swarm of rats as an example. They function as one creature, but in reality, they are multiple. There are already some creatures like this out there, but you could easily create your own if you wanted. To start with, I would pick the creature you want to work with. Then the easiest place to start would be to increase its heath substantially. You’re going for more of a gut feel for what would be good rather than using math to calculate it all. Next if that isn’t doing it for you, you can raise their AC. I would only raise it a few points because you still want your heroes to kill lots of the members of the mob. Lastly, maybe think about raising the attack bonus and maybe the damage. There are a lot of monsters within the mob, so theoretically they should be able to swarm the heroes and do damage.

3. Skill challenge: In this method, you do away with a lot of the math and you only roll initiative to see who goes first. Instead of rolling damage and attack bonuses, you essentially just roll a check to see if the hero makes it through the combat without damage. For each round I would assign a DC and a relevant skill to use, or you could just use your players attack bonus. Then assign the mob a specific DC. if the player fails the DC then they do not kill any adversaries within the mob. I would probably split it into a tier. So if the player rolls at least 10 below the DC then the mob scores a critical hit and the damage is doubled. If the player rolls 5 below the DC then the mob scores a hit and deals damage. If the player rolls just under the DC then nothing happens. If the player rolls above the DC then some damage is dealt to the mob (as an entity) if the player rolls 5 above the DC then it’s considered a critical hit and double damage is dealt. With this last method, you can simplify combat a lot. You could even turn the adventurers into a mob and take turns having different players roll for the DC to see what happens.

One of the most common reasons to use mob combat is to give variety to combat encounters. You don’t always want to have your heroes fighting someone of equal or greater skill proficiency. Sometimes, you just want to give your players a chance to lay waste to an entire army, much like the Avengers do. These mob rules could also theoretically be used for war combat in which so much is going on that you can’t really focus on one individual foe because you’re being harried this way and that.

The real reason to use mob combat is to shake things up for yourself. We’ve recently talked about losing your excitement as a DM and honestly, the best way to avoid that is to do cool new things that make your players stop and pay attention. You need to break their state of constancy, and honestly, you need to break yours sometimes too.

Mob combat can be placed in lots of scenarios. A rule of thumb is whenever a one-to-one fight isn’t satisfying enough. For example, you might consider adding some mob fighting to the big boss battle. Having your heroes harried by smaller adversaries while they are trying to focus on a bigger adversary. Or you might add mob fights when your characters are part of a larger engagement, like an alien invasion for example. Lastly, you could add mob combat when you want the stakes to be a little higher, or at least feel that way, without actually having to make the situation that much worse. It’s one thing to say you are now fighting a monster, and it’s another thing to say that you are now fighting a horde of monsters. Really, there are not too many bad places to put mob combat. If it can work in your story, then put it in.

Naturally, with mob encounters, it helps to play test certain things out. Or, you just let things fall where they may in game (for better or worse) and then adapt next time. If it helps, you can pick a monster or group of monsters whose challenge ratings would create a good enough challenge for the heroes you are playing with. Then from there, just change their “skins” and maybe a few of their abilities and you should have a pretty well-balanced encounter. Of course, if you go the skill-challenge route, you need to think less about balancing the encounter and more about creating an encounter that is fun and interesting.

For me, the most engaging mob encounters are one that are 2 things: 1) they intensely story driven and 2) they feel real and scary. Let me give you a great example. The Famous Youtubers High Rollers from the UK did this in their Aerois campaign. Spoiler alert. They had the heroes go to a lost city of insane Warforged and had them fight a fallen angel type warforged all while being attacked by masses of these crazed robots. The masses were in mob form but the Fallen Angel warforged was a standalone monster. Because the entire campaign had show the dangers of a warforged going crazy you knew full well how many there were as well as how tragic it is that they had gone crazy. You also could understand that in an enormous city, there would be 10’s of thousands of them. They also did it very well in their encounter because they brought them in in intervals which likely allowed the DM to balance the combat by bringing in a new mob whenever things got too easy.

I like the method of bringing in mobs, and slowly adding more or taking away extra when you need to. Plus, as a DM, you can always fudge the numbers. If the encounter is going way too fast, either let it finish and move on, or you can make it harder. On the flip side, if your players are getting frustrated with the mobs more than they ought to, then have the mobs die a lot faster than you’d originally anticipated. Having that DM screen is nice because you can change things up at the moment without having to let your players know. It’s not their job to worry about the stats of all of the monsters. It’s their job to be the best player-character possible.

That said, playtesting things is always a good idea. Generally, it does take much more time though so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just putting it in the campaign and making switches on the fly.

I think one big mistake that people might make is accidentally making the mob way too powerful. The mob should be a group of individuals that are easily taken down by themselves. So that means you should be able to narrate that with each swing, your PCs kill one or two at least. The whole point of a mob is to allow your PCs to feel like they are mowing down the enemies but there are so many enemies that it almost doesn’t matter. 

Another mistake I think you could make is not making the stakes high enough. Yes the party is supposed to be able to mow down the mob members, but they should still feel like their character is in danger.

You can scale mob combate easily using 1 of 2 methods. The first method is to add more mobs as the encounter goes on. This means that you need to start slow and only throw in mobs when you are sure it’s time. You’ll also need to prepare this narratively. It won’t seem naturally for another mob of gnolls to show up out of nowhere in the middle of the desert when you described that they were only 4. 

The second method is to tweak the stats of the mob mid-combat. Just like the other method, you want to do this one slowly but at least you don’t have to set this one up narratively. Both of these methods can be done in combat or while you are playtesting. Otherwise, I’d just say to use the encounter builder at DnDBeyond.

You can use terrain and the environment in many ways. This honestly could be its own entire podcast episode, but specifically with mob combat you want the terrain and the environment to highlight the feeling that fighting a mob brings. If you were to fight a mob in real life, you’d likely feel overwhelm, perhaps inevitability, maybe a hopeless at the sheer volume of creatures coming towards you. 

I would recommend using terrain to amplify or highlight these same feelings. So perhaps the adventurers are running out of safe places to stand and fight because the space they are in is filling up with baddies. Or maybe, you create some sort of shut-off valve mechanic, like the orcs can keep coming to the top of the city wall until the siege towers are destroyed. Something like that.

I already mentioned one that comes from the High Rollers’ Aerois campaign with the crazed warforge. Of course, there’s the classic encounter that everyone has when they are in the sewers fighting swarms of rats. Also, a quick sidebar, even when a creature is made of a swa

This episode of How to Be a Better DM is a special one! Justin and Tanner talk with Rob Wells (New York Times best selling author and avid wargame enthusiast) about how to write compelling characters as a DM, and how to help players develop their characters to the fullest.

To read more about Rob's books, visit here: https://robisonwells.com/

Or, if you want to see his amazing wargame blog, visit here: https://wargameexplorer.com/

Mentioned in this episode:

Signup for Our Email Newsletter

Do you love the show but can't always listen to it?

Level Up Guide

Why Listen to Ads?

Ugh, another ad break.

Patreon

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.

Questions

• Doing the Same thing Over and Over Again
• Not Trying Anything New
• Players stop trying
• DM’s “know everything”
• D&D just isn't a priority in their life right now.

• Afraid of Failure
• Not Sure of the Rules
• Feel stuck in a campaign
• They Get Comfortable

Mentioned in this episode:

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.

Signup for Our Email Newsletter

Do you love the show but can't always listen to it?

Level Up Guide

Save time with Roll and Play Press

Save yourself some precious time with Roll and Play Press.

Hello, and Welcome to How To Be A Better DM. My name is Tanner Weyland, and together we will learn about how to prepare the best adventures and environments for our players to enjoy.

Today's topic: Borrowing story ideas for your D&D campaigns.

Mentioned in this episode:

I Made a CR 100 Monster

I made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100

Signup for Our Email Newsletter

Do you love the show but can't always listen to it?

Level Up Guide

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.

Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM, I’m Justin Lewis, here with my compatriot Tanner Weyland, and together we’re here to help you learn how to craft better stories while you DM sessions of Dungeons and Dragons.

• Brief description of cause: the causes of DM burnout (doing too much, to frequently, with not change)
• Get help:
• Ask others to DM
• Stop writing your own content, or doing huge campaigns. Just look for content online. DMs guild and other sources exist to make your time easier!
• Have online communities to ask advice from. An outside viewpoint can do a lot (Reddit examples of people in sticky situations)
• Simplify:
• Look at what you enjoy in DMing, and JUST do that for a bit (i.e. role playing with light combat, or just combat with light role playing)
• Shorten sessions.
• Consider switching up how you meet (if online, do in person; if in person, consider doing online)
• Ask the players what they like and want, and just do that. Their enjoyment will fuel you.
• Take a break:
• As a subset of the other two tips, it is always okay to quit. Genuinely. Take a break. And then come back. If the other tips don’t work for you, playing longer will only create negative feelings between you and your players. The sooner you listen to yourself, the sooner you can begin a well deserved break without creating unnecessary ill will.

Mentioned in this episode:

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.

Add the Magic of Sound to Your Gameplay

When you set the scene you need to tap into the five senses. When it comes to sound one of the best ways to do that is with music, sound effects, and ambience. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Monument Studios.

Monument Studios

Get The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree For Free

Take a trip down to the bayou in The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree.

“Who goes there?” Ulv yells into the darkness. He’d found his way into this larger cave and had ultimately gotten lost. This cave was enormous. It honestly reminded of him when he and his old friends had delved into the Underdark looking for a lost library. To think that he had risked his life so Rowan could find a silly children’s book. He chuckled to himself. He’d do it again though. He loved his friends and would die for them.

“Even me?” asked a familiar voice.

Ulv Spun around, thrusting his torch into the enveloping darkness. “Racooni? Is that you?” The cave responded with silence and stillness. Truly this cave was enormous. How had he not found a wall yet?

“What are memories, but illusions.” The drifting voice of Judir echoed around from no direction in particular.

“Judir, my friend, I’m so sorry.” Ulv bellowed as he turned around. He’d briefly seen the visage of Judir right before it faded into the darkness of the cave.

“And apologies are just smoke from a dying fire.” This time the voice was that of Ulv’s adopted father. Ulv turned and saw the broken body of a dying man just before it faded into the black of shadow.

“You left us.” This time it was Rue’s voice and Ulv saw her, taller and thinner than usual with deep shadows ringing her eyes and a darkness behind. Then that too faded into darkness.

Ulv, kept spinning and spinning from voice to shadow to voice to shadow, until he stopped.

There standing in front of Ulv was a woman.

“Ulv, who are you?” It was Ulv’s birth mother.

What would you like to do?

Introduction

Hello there. It’s me, Justin and today we'll be discussing one of the most important elements of any D&D campaign - the villain.

Why is it so important to have a good villain?

A great villain can be the driving force behind your campaign. It can provide motivation for your players to continue the quest, and give them a tangible enemy to fight. A poorly-written villain, on the other hand, can make the campaign feel lackluster. You know that feeling you get when Thanos kills Loki, or when Saruman sends the horde of Urukhai to destroy Rohan, or when the Joker blows up a hospital? That is all only possible because of a well-written villain. So, let's dive in and discuss how to create a villain that your players will love to hate!

Part 1: What Makes a Good Villain?

Let's first explore what makes a good villain. A great villain is one that is complex, has clear motivations, and is relatable in some way. Players should be able to understand the villain's perspective, even if they don't completely agree with it.

Another key aspect of a good villain is that they pose a real threat to the players, either directly or indirectly. They should be challenging to defeat, and their actions should have consequences that impact the world around them. A villain that is too easy to defeat or doesn't pose a significant threat can leave players feeling unsatisfied.

So, when creating your villain, keep these factors in mind. Ask yourself questions like:

What motivates this character to act this way?

How can I make this villain a real threat to my players?

Would a normal person at least consider their arguments in a reasonable conversation?

Part 2: Different Types of Villains

As you create your villain, consider the different types of villains that you can use to add variety and depth to your campaign.

One type of villain is the classic "big bad" - this is the ultimate enemy that the players will face at the end of the campaign. They're often powerful, dangerous, and have a grand plan that the players must stop.

Another type of villain is the mastermind. This villain operates by pulling strings and manipulating events to achieve their goals. They may not be directly involved in combat, but players feel their influence throughout the campaign.

A third type of villain is the antihero - this is a character who is not necessarily evil, but whose goals conflict with those of the players. They may be motivated by a desire to protect their own interests or seek revenge against someone who wronged them.

Finally, consider the tragic villain. This is a character who is sympathetic in some way, perhaps because of a past trauma or a belief that their actions are justified. These villains can add a lot of depth to your campaign and make players question their own beliefs and motivations.

To be sure, your Villain might end up being each of these types at one point in their life. Anakin Skywalker moved from being an Antihero to a tragic villain and finally becoming Darth Vader and taking his role as Big Bad. Maybe your villain has a similar trajectory.

Part 3: How to Create a Good Villain

Now that we've discussed what makes a good villain, let's dive into how to create one.

The first step is to determine your villain's backstory. What events led them to become the person they are today? What traumas or life experiences shaped their worldview? A fleshed-out backstory can add depth and complexity to your villain.

Next, consider your villain's motivations. What do they hope to achieve? Are they seeking power, revenge, or something else ? Your villain's motivations should be clear and understandable to the players.

When designing your villain's personality, think about how they interact with the world around them. Are they charismatic and manipulative, or ruthless and brutal? How do they view their enemies and allies?

Finally, give your villain some unique traits or abilities that set them apart from other villains in your campaign. Maybe they have a special magical ability or are particularly skilled at combat. Whatever it is, make sure it adds to their characterization and makes them a more compelling foe.

Often villains have good motives but take the wrong approach. Other times, the villains are self-interested and purely want to watch the world burn. Make sure to flesh out these intersections of motivations and backstory to really make your villain stand out.

Part 4: Examples of Compelling D&D Villains

I also wanted to give some examples of great D&D villains that you can draw inspiration from.

One example of a compelling D&D villain is Strahd von Zarovich, the main antagonist of the "Curse of Strahd" campaign setting. Strahd is a vampire lord with a tragic backstory. He was once a nobleman who fell in love with a woman he couldn't have, and in his despair, he made a pact with dark powers that turned him into a vampire. He now rules over the land of Barovia with an iron fist, seeking to reclaim his lost love and exact revenge on those who wronged him.

Another example is Xanathar, the beholder crime lord who appears in the "Waterdeep" campaign setting. Xanathar is a ruthless and cunning villain. He commands a vast criminal empire, using his intelligence and magical powers to stay one step ahead of players. Despite his monstrous appearance, Xanathar is a complex character with a rich backstory.

A third example is the archdevil Asmodeus, who appears in various D&D settings as the ruler of the Nine Hells. Asmodeus is a powerful and cunning villain who seeks to expand his influence over the multiverse. He uses his mastery of magic and deception to achieve his goals. His status as a godlike figure and the ruler of a demonic realm makes him a formidable enemy for any party of adventurers.

Part 5: Live Example of Writing a Villain

To illustrate this point, let’s briefly discuss a villain I have in the campaign I am currently running. Before I go on, let just say if anyone is listening that plays at my table, turn this episode off. There are serious spoilers here. For everyone else, let’s talk about Dreamtaker.

Dreamtaker is an ancient Fey Being who looked upon the material plane with pity. He saw the immense suffering there and wanted to do something about it. He set out to turn the material plane into the Realm of Dreams. He was, of course, thwarted in his attempt and banished to the realm of nightmares he had accidentally created. While there, he found a convergence with the Shadowfell and was able to escape. He has now returned to the material plane to seek revenge and fulfill his plans of stopping reality and turning it into a dream.

Even as I wrote this episode and thought about Dreamtaker, I thought of ways to improve him as a villain. For one, I know he is a threat to my players and they know it too. He has a lot of power so that one was easy.

His motivations are clear, he wants to gain followers and, through their belief in him, transfer the material plane to the dream world.

As far as I can tell he is not as dynamic as he could be be. That’s where I need to work on him next.

So there you have it, a live example of a Villain in progress and a framework you can follow. I would say when you work on your own villains, write out everything you know first. Then summarize into those points mentioned above and then from there just edit. I’d love to see what kinds of villains you come up with. Make sure to post them on Instagram and tag @howtobeabetterdm to let us know what you made!

Thanks for listening to another episode. We’ll be back next week for another amazing episode. Until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.

Mentioned in this episode:

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.

Why Listen to Ads?

Ugh, another ad break.

Patreon

Get The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree For Free

Take a trip down to the bayou in The Swampberry Moonshine Jamboree.