I don't like to call "love intrest phase' a "love intrest phase". I usually call it "attatchment phase" and it doesn't have to be an attatchment to a person. It can be an attatchment to the whole village, city or group of people. A wide net makes it easier to catch players into relations.

8:14 Midpoint of the video, and he's talking about the midpoint of campaigns

"Remain flexible."

"Knowing how to tell a good story allows you to sit back and not plan the whole thing."

Absolutely shockingly good advice.

"Tentacles are involved somewhere "
Yep, that's a bumper sticker waiting to happen  ! :)
Another great video sir.

Our DM gave us the gift of a puppy eating an apple. Half the party instantly fell completely in love with him. His name is Benson. <3  He's like a little puppy bard. He can bark and scare the enemy or give the party puppy inspiration.

"Tentacles are involved somewhere." I'm going to use that one in my next gay mirage debate.

You should make audio books.

Those lights are really hot. You can get a small, quiet fan. That might help.

Thank you very much for these videos. I've been trying to restart a campaign after a two year break. My issue was writer's block. However, I've realized from all of your wonderful videos - that the real issue is that I have no idea how to tell a good story. After this realization, ideas and structure have been flowing as if broken from a dam. You have no idea how much joy this is bringing me.

Sir, your content has been extremely helpful. I stumbled across this channel at just the right time. I've GM'ing for a little while now, though I still view myself as a novice. My group is happy....so we must be doing something right.
You're vids have recently helped me through a brief creative slump. Thanks so much for making these. I've recently subbed and will continue to charge through your content. Please keep it coming.

As someone trying to GM for the first time I found this video incredibly helpful for crafting my first story. I feel a lot more confident about fleshing it out now.

3:34

That's me when asked to my presentation on plant anatomy

This is a great break down of the three act structure and 121 & 122! Thank you!

Thanks for the video!  For D&D, story is a byproduct of gameplay.  It's a roleplaying game where players, through their PCs, take actions and the DM informs them of the consequences, sometimes with the assistance of rolled dice for randomness.  There is no plot.  Whatever happens during the game becomes the story retroactively.  I've been running D&D games since 1974 through all editions and countless other RPGs.  I've run them all this way and it works if the DM trusts the players and gives them the agency to take actions through their PCs and allow the dice to fall where they may.  Trust yourself.  The most amazing things can happen if you get your ideas of story out of the way.

An excellent follow up to your pacing video. I really appreciate how you hammered on story, with gentle reminders that we don’t need to plan it all out but to let it naturally flow from the gameplay and the excitement level of the players.

Something that I find a lot of people call the "love-interest phase" in other narratives like TV, particularly child-appropriate cartoons, is the "power of friendship" part (*so* many friendship monologues). Going off of what other people commented, it seems like the best way to describe this phase is where the characters find emotional investment in others, and that is used later in the narrative to show how the empathetic side of things affects what characters do. I like it, but man does the repetitiveness show in some executions.

Two things that have improved my storytelling process and significantly eased my preparations is knowing story structures like these to help organize my ideas into a coherent and controlled narrative. Secondly, foreshadowing; I can not emphasize how much little hints and clues and call backs to previous actions my players have done help to keep the world alive as well as connect them into a bigger story. Having story structures and foreshadowing/clues can turn any random encounter roll table into a compelling narrative.

Act 1, character and setting intro, turning point. Session 1 of my campaign: Character and setting intro, they got hired for a job, found a sword, decided to go to the capital for information on it. Act 2, Subplot, Love interest. Session 2/3: Bumped into, and defeated, a group of bandits along the road, who the discovered to be part of fairly infamous pirate gang, and then met a woman being attacked by a Witch Hunter, and after an awkward encounter, discovered she was a Succubus, and ended up letting her go, and making the Witch Hunter leave as well... Succubus then proceeded to be taken on a date by every member of the party besides the bard, which ended how any date with a Succubus is probably going to end (The Paladin was the first to have sex, the Bard is the last, strange party), and one of the characters seems to have a bit of a crush on her.... Damn. The campaigns following it exactly so far.

I don't tend to write characters into my settings as dedicated love interests... because a) That feels super forced and b) The players may not like that sort of thing. If my players decide to try romancing an NPC (has been known to happen), I will roll with it, but I try to avoid sticking NPCs there just to be romanced. I am thankful have the kind of players between whom and the NPCs, relationships (both romantic and otherwise) will blossom naturally and far more gracefully in their emergence than anything I could have planned.

Hey keep it up, this channel makes me feel like I can give my players the fun they deserve.