“Here are my tips for beginners” bro YOU are the beginner. Love the video

Well, nothing DH specific as I have neither the system nor experience with it, however I do have 3 decades of experience running probably a hundred different systems by this point so here goes...

1) PAY ATTENTION! (no seriously!) You hit the nail on the head with this one, right out the gate. This is especially important if the players are proactive and driving the narrative. Feed off of their ideas, it makes improvising narrative so much easier. I am a zero prep improvisational GM and I promise you that having no idea where the narrative is going to go is IMHO the best way to GM. Then you get to be suprised by the story just like the players! However, as you state, the key is to pay close attention to what they players are saying. Don't be worrying about rules or future planning of events, live in the moment. If you can make up stuff in advance, you can make it up on the fly.

2) In the future, if you are running a game for people more familiar with the rules than you, let them know. Especially if they are GMs themselves. Then they can co-GM rules stuff for you, allowing you to focus on the narrative. This is actually how I encourage folks that are interested in GMing but are reluctant to because of rules stuff. Run a game using a system I am familiar with, then if there are rules or ruling issues, just ask me and I can do the adjudicating. This relives a major burden for the new GM allowing them to focus on narrative stuff.

3) RELAX!!! It is just a game! You are not expected to be Shakespeare or Tolstoy, you are (no offense at all) normal guy. Don't feel pressured to be anything more than normal guy. Run a normal guy game. Frankly, I find normal guy games a heck of a lot more fun than games I've been a part of where the GM is trying to be Tolkien. Normal guy games are funny and at times chaotic, the other kinds are usually kind of tedious.

4) Don't sell yourself short. Just because you think you are not doing a good job doesn't mean the players agree. Maybe they had a great time, did you ask? Heck, if they didn't peace out early, then you were at least entertaining enough that they continued participating until the end of the session.

Cheers!

I haven't done anything TTRPG since highschool.  Decided to pick it up to play with my kids and a few friends. Been a Critter for a few years and wanted something that wasn't too complicated and also fun. Enter Daggerheart.  I've run the Quickstart adventure and it was a blast. Looking forward to creatiing a campaign based on one of the campaign frames from the book.

I just want to say that this was incredibly helpful to me, I've only run one oneshot in 5e and am now planning a Daggerheart campaign which is so scary but I'm so excited.

One thing especially that I was struggling with was that I know I shouldn't prep every encounter and just fully flesh out combat opportunities somewhere they might not even find or also that I don't know what loot to give them in the fly when they happen to find something because I didn't just want to give them Generic Thing from the weapons page. The cards are such a great idea to me, where I can prep things that feel important and useful yet I can just pop them out at any point without thinking about it too hard.

It was so refreshing to see someone in the same position share their experience and not highly analytical video essays from highly experienced GMs.

As a long time GM for D&D (And starting Thursday Daggerheart) if your friends truly wont support you and be patient as you learn to gm and not play with you because you are new, they arent very courteous when it comes to playing table top. There is always people out there willing to be patient and learn along side you or help you learn. Please dont give up!

Welcome to the dm fraternity/sorority.  Awesome video

This is such a a gem of a video. I'm DMing (5e) for the first time but I'm super curious about Daggerheart, and even more so intimidated by it because it's new! Hard agree with you on the false dichotomy putting DH vs D&D as well. There's enough room for both, fun isn't a limited resource.

Hold on, the 3x5 cards idea is golden...  Definitely gonna use that in the future, thanks for the tip! Also, congrats on running your first DH session. Spontaneously changing the bandit lair's location to confirm your players' hunch about where the kidnapped people were kept was a brilliant choice. Not only did that make your life easier, but I'm sure the player enjoyed being right!

I'm a fairly new GM myself (ran maybe 6 or 7 sessions of DnD 5e total, that's it) so I was also incredibly nervous when I ran my first DH session about two weeks ago. It went okay, I think. Biggest things I learned: relax and when in doubt, let your players do the talking for a while; don't be afraid to make shit up on the spot if you're unsure about sth; don't pull your punches when it comes to negative consequences (my players LOVE overcoming obstacles and it leads to cool, tense moments). I definitely could have done a better job of that last one, especially during combat. 8 times out of 10, I was too overwhelmed and confused running two different types of adversaries and keeping track of a countdown clock to give succeeding/failing with fear more impact than simply going 'okay I guess now the bad guys get to go'. Hopefully, I'll learn to be more creative about that in the future. But it was a ton of fun, and I hope you had fun running DH as well!

Good luck with your channel and with your future games :)

Hello! Congrats on new game (and channel?). My group moved to Daggerheart and we are loving it so far. Ditto on the wotc anger though. I'm kinda over it. I'd rather gush about what I love than rant about what I dislike.

I have an issue with the price of TTRPG starter sets. Yes, it includes an adventure, the relevant rules, professionally printed maps, and so on, it's a lot of money for a single-play adventure. If you decide that system isn't for you, it's wasted money. If you want to play more you have to pay more for the core books.

I appreciate Darrington Press's decision to make the quick start adventure a free download. True the quality won't be on par with a purchased set, but it eliminates the financial barrier for those who have to choose between the starter set versus the full core book.

Congratulations on running the game, congrats on the new channel.

The first 13 minutes come across (to my mind) as a bit unfairly critical and tbh... demanding? I get that it probably comes from enthusiasm but it's a brand new game that the publishers didn't know was going to be so popular. They are frantically trying to cover the demand - currently we're at 76 days or so days since the launch and the third printing sold straight out again 3 days ago. It's so hot off the presses they can't keep up and you're all 'they should have done this, they need to do that' otherwise it's not going to catch on. Um...

I mean I think the suggestions here have merit but maybe you're a bit early? Maybe that needs to be phase 2? Maybe those things are on the way? Just let them catch up with themselves first, eh? :)

I think there are some solid tips here for new gms, broadly relevant stuff, regardless of game system. I've tried to get a feel for Daggerheart from CR liveplays, and I am struggling. I know there are some instructive videos that I should turn to, but since I don't own Daggerheart and do own Draw Steel and Shadowdark, I think one of those will likely be the next non-D&D game I play. I appreciated your opening comments about not being a D&D hater.  One of the things that struck me as cool about 5e was that the community was very inclusive and there seemed to be a lot of good will and trust  between the community and WotC when I started playing this edition.  But so many corporate misteps burned it down. Hoping that it can be rebuilt for the good of the game.

If they roll with hope alot you as a gm can take spotlight without having fear

Excited for this video! I’m a gm with about 15 seasons of experience between 5e and Shadowdark and I still consider myself very new

One of the big issues currently with Daggerheart is no adventures. Incredible support for Homebrew but some people need to run an organized adventure or Campaign at first.

I think Daggerheart is going to run best when you improv. Low to no prep is going to be the future!

Just to be clear. You can dislike a system without being a bully. It’s totally OK to have some criticisms of a system. It’s also not anti-inclusive. Disliking a system is not the same as disliking people that play it.

Likewise, many of the complaints have to do with Hasbro.  A number of folks only know about dungeons and dragons, and so encouraging them to play something else by contrasting against the system, they know is going to read as criticism. But it’s honest.

Bullying? Yeah, I can see that. I admit to some because I want better out of my WotC Company... as a company. I still like the game. And I'm holding Daggerheart to the same standards. License updates? Please? Can we get a dang card pack? Or maybe a good GM Screen that you can buy direct? Maybe with a Fear tracker? @13:00 you mention accessories. YES!

Lastly, I know people are asking for more world support and they have Crawford building a world... I say no. I say, have Crawford make a book of 100 Campaign Frames and 100 Environments. Stuff that is separate from the normal stuff. I want Crawford to write a Daggerheart book, not another D&D Book. You know - stuff that is specific to the new game, not replacement parts for bringing people over from the old game. Not, a giant world with a bunch of details that you need ot learn (like the Forgotten Realms).

Daggerheart, know the book-familiarize yourself....watch some live play to see how it's run..even play a game of it first, beginning as a character...

rant was good, but actual content starts at 17:55