Your are flourishing beyond Yellow Mold.  Your channel is now developing sentience as a fledging Myconid Colony.  Well played.  Btw: I'm really really really looking forward to the Obsidian video.

Totally agree with you about 'safe campaigns.' When nothing ever goes wrong, you feel basically immortal and it’s hard to stay invested, you just end up running quests one after another like it’s World of Warcraft on autopilot.
I’ll share this with my DM, hopefully they’ll enjoy it and not punish me in the next session lol
Thanks for your channel i really enjoy your tips ! Keep it up 💪

Just wanted to pop in an say this is my new favorite DND channel. Just a gold mine.

Instant thumbs up! I couldn't agree more about safe campaigns. As the person who taught me to DM used to say "explain by leaving room for explanation."

If you want your world to feel alive, like it has real stakes that matter, then you almost have to imply missing foreknowledge.

Tell a story that feels like it started elsewhere and make your players have to discover the rest.

Things like:

The orb swirls in his hands as he produces it from his robes. He then sets it on the table and looking in your direction says "I refuse to carry this any longer. Do what you may."

This hits different than just expressing he is a wizard or what the orb does. It forced a decision and questions.

Is the orb safe? Is it even okay to leave it on the table? Why doesn't he want it?

Build your plot hooks on forks.. do or do not, but something is happening.. and then ask your players "how are you going to affect this?"

Personally, this kind of thing at the table where people seem bored has always seemed like an "other player" problem.

As in, I'm the only player at the table who actually seems to try to enjoy the game. The DM doesn't have to play mind games with me to get me to pay attention - I love exploring and learning about the world they put together. I also never get tired of winning combats - a goblin split in half is still a heckin' goblin split in half.

I wish so many players weren't so fussy and lame. Engage with the material and learn to roll with the punches. But few do and it drags me down. I don't know what to do about this...

"Whichever one you trust, the other walks,." Nice.

6:30 yeah! Don't give your players a flat sandbox and say "go nuts", put down plot hooks, have people from their backstories interact with them, and show the consequences of the plots they didn't engage in. Party didn't go save the princess? Well, now the kingdom is grieving a dead princess and all shops are closed next time they come to town. Party didn't go kill a monster? Two villages have been destroyed before the guards and other adventurers killed it. You have to give them something to do and let them choose to engage or not, then show them the consequences, good and bad.

An example from yesterday. My player was speaking to an NPC about something unrelated. As he was leaving, the NPC was like "ah, before you go, there was someone asking about you. They were looking for someone with the description of your true form", all the NPC had was a first name and race. But that immediately hooked the player, and then he was asking questions, casting spells to figure out who this person asking about him is. I call this the "the bad guys have plans and will act on them, whether the players do something about it or not" method.

It's not a railroad, neither an empty sandbox, it's the spongebob field filled with fishhooks lol.

The key to player agency is brainstorming up solutions to challenges.  Providing content for players is never railroading, unless you make them solve the challenge one way (only your solution works).  And that's only a problem when it's done too often.

I've frequently had my players debate how to overcome the next challenge, or decide what do first and take a long time deciding.  I don't think this is a bad thing, as it allows for roleplaying opportunities.  I think the issue, with my table at least, is lack of leadership amongst the players.   I just help them along.  Spotlight control is a powerful DM tool.

Paradox of Choice - Too many choices leads to inability to make one

Just subscribed and downloaded your guide for when things blow up lol. I know DM content isn’t the most popular stuff on YouTube, but I think you really knock this stuff out of the park, both content and production wise! You should def have at least 100k followers with this quality of work in my opinion brother 😁

Your analysis of campaigns and groups, and the underlying reasons why the scenarios and adventures we come up with don't hit as hard as they could, is really insightful and helpful. I hope you keep making videos.

I Never played D&D. I once played a bit of Dragonbane and a one shot of the black eye.I know most of the rules and now want to DM a precast adventure with people who have also never played the game.I Just want to thank you for all the effort you Put in theVideos.You got so much good Tips.Keep it up👍.Such an underrated YouTuber

After running 40 sessions as first DM, this is so accurately good.

Just in time for when the campaign im about to dm starts and inevitably fails LOL

Love your vids dude, much love!!

Very good advices all the way.
I've gained a lot by simply reducing the session time. 3-hours sessions are much more efficient than game nights.
It can be frustrating, to not being able to unveil the whole story you planned, especially when the group is difficult to get together regularly, but I guarantee it is worth it. Players still hungry want to come back to the table, and will.
Great video

Excellent video, a lot of very good tips and solutions.
Good work.

These are essential and important things that really work. I had to learn them the hard way through my own mistakes, but I'm happy for all the DMs who will come across this video. Excellent delivery and material. Subscribed!

I’m always down for another video, no matter the topic - you could say I’m invested

Great Video again. I sometimes back when I used to GM I just asked at the End of a session how they felt about certain aspects of the session and what they would like to be improved upon... of course of what they liked as well.

Perfect timing mate😅