OpenTube

Ask Dungeon Masters 6: Sandy Petersen, Lindybeige & John Wick

Questing Beast

36,812 views

Get 10% off of Into the AM apparel: http://bit.ly/IntoTheAM10
Lindybeige's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/Lindybeige
Sandy's YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/SandyPetersen
Petersen Games: http://bit.ly/PetersenRPGs
John Wick's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/TheRealJohnWick
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My RPGs (PDF): https://bit.ly/QuestingBeastPDFs
My RPGs (Print): https://bit.ly/QuestingBeastBooks
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheGlatisant
Patreon: https://bit.ly/QBPatreon
Amazon recommendations: https://amzn.to/3RwpZzU
Questing Beast merch: https://bit.ly/QBMerch
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My blog: https://bit.ly/QuestingBlog
Must-read blog posts: https://bit.ly/OSRposts
The best RPG blogs: https://bit.ly/OSRblogs
What is the OSR?: http://bit.ly/PrincipApoc
Send a review copy or advertise: https://bit.ly/ContactQB
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

00:00 Intro
00:37 Introductions
04:12 Sponsor
NAMES
05:00 Coming up with names
SANDBOX GAMES
09:54 Keeping track of consequences
12:38 The Because Rule
15:16 What is sandbox
17:16 Providing solutions
COLLABORATIVE WORLDBUILDING
20:43 Allow players to establish facts about the world
26:14 Two kinds of players
MECHANICS
29:05 Mechanics to incorporate more
31:47 Meaning of a success
32:25 Control mechanics & Horror games
33:26 Relying too much on dices and sheets
35:15 Becoming a better roleplayer
CHARACTERS & CUSTOMIZATION
36:56 Classless character creation
39:49 Archetypes
40:41 Game balance
42:40 What is a good game balance?
GAME DESIGN
45:53 Typical game loop
47:28 Fighting VS Negotiating
48:41 What is the fun part of the game?
CAMPAIGNS
51:32 Type of endings
1:00:25 Player character races

QUESTING KNIGHT PATRONS!
James Endres
Eric from Bloat Games
John Eternal
The Threshold Team
Dwayne Boothe
fikle
SonOfSofaman
Shannnon Lewis
Carl Flippin
That One Guy
Ricardo Sedan
Alex Dzuricky
Dan Webb
Minty
John Case Tompkins
Fil Kearney
RollStats
Aaron Seymour
Christian Lindke
Gianfranco Bux
Ken Parker
Paul Crosslin
Tim Pudoff
Ohr Gaming Network
Joe Rapoza
Ivar Framnes
Stewart Mohammadi
Jonathan Jung Johansen
Robert Fransgaard
Matthew Morris
Sigve Solvaag
Jonathan Hastings

20 Comments

@DUNGEONCRAFT1 5 years ago

Wow. This episode is a master class in game design. These chats just keep getting better and better.

@Miscast 5 years ago

Wow! What a crew!

@fmatson 5 years ago

Sandy Peterson wanting to watch Shadiversity DMing for Lindybeige is mindblowing.

@mikecurley3849 5 years ago

I was struggling for a town name once, so I stuck a 'd' in a toothpaste brand and got Coldgate

@c_bass-lucky 5 years ago

Lloyd just opened my eyes that sandboxing is a story that FOLLOWS from player action consequences. There is still a story. Maybe the rest of the planet understood this, but for me this will actually open up a play style that I havent been good at.

@LakeVermilionDreams 5 years ago

"The kidnap has been princessed by orcs!" is my new plothook!

@gmrandolfo 5 years ago

Sandy's sage advice..... YES.
"I once had a player who said I penalized players who were stupid or unimaginative. All I can say is .... Alas."

@jimparkin2345 5 years ago

"Roleplaying games aren't balanced. Shut up." Thank you.

@LimDul 5 years ago

I think it's the first podcast where I observe how everyone is very much on the same page, even if coming from different systems.

@Dinofaustivoro 5 years ago

This video: shows in my feed
My brain: plays pompous british fanfaire

@Yora21 5 years ago

Sandy Peterson always has such a young voice. I generally don't look at the screen for videos like these, and Sandy still sounds like he's 25.

@Sibilisibili 5 years ago

These are quickly becoming my favorite thing on Youtube!

A note: a common comment seems to be that people want you to reveal your guests ahead of time, so they can ask more directed questions. I would hope that you don't, and instead keep them a secret until you release the episode (the way you've been doing it): had you revealed the guests here ahead of time, you'd probably have had ten thousand questions about CoC, and maybe as many on L5R, or whatever.

Keeping the guests secret means you get fairly broad questions relevant to most GMs out there, and the answers have a high level of potency (as opposed to "How good is CoC?", or "What's your favorite japanese thingamajig?"). Also, you get really great conversations.

So that would be my tip or hope, or whatever: keep doing what you're doing the way you're doing it, and keep doing it for at least ten years!

@Uncannierlink 5 years ago

I love how everyone you bring on this show is fans of eachothers work.

@SkullDixon 5 years ago

The story element that Lindybeige is talking about is that a protagonist should have something they want and something they need. The character doesn't always need to get what they want but they should always get what they need. Its through the process of getting what they Need that the character changes.

@Belgand 5 years ago

I tend to treat die rolls as a sort of fallback. Players who aren't as good at something as their characters still have the option of just rolling for it, but then they're at the mercy of the dice. They still need to give me some idea of how they're trying to do it, though.

@rollingthunderinadownpour649 5 years ago

Would love to see Shadiversity or The Metatron on a discussion here. AJ Pickett would be great too.

@arturbb 5 years ago

Wow, I had to double check the title on this one! What an absolute treat.

@arturbb 5 years ago

I love the discussion on narrative freedom, and the point Ben made about discovery and exploration. I think in OSR games, much like how John argued is the case for horror games, narrative control for players will take away the feeling of discovery and exploration that is so essential to the core OSR experience. A huge part of the game is finding things out about the dungeon, discovering its secrets and surviving its challenges-why DID the wizard go mad? Why were these dead monks barricaded in this specific room? Where is the metallic smell that permeates this lower level coming from? As a player I don't want to feel like I'm the one making these things up, I want to find them out organically through play; the unknown loses its appeal if you're the one making it up. Of course this is not to say that I ALWAYS want to give up narrative control, in some games it truly enhances the experience, but for some games, and I think specifically in this case in OSR adventures, it is best for players to be asking questions, and not answering them.