Your D&D Campaign SUCKS. This is why.
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Campaigns can be tricky. Here's a few specific tools to make them betterer that you can combine to discover how your game world unfolds with your players. Even the parts they skip entirely...
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Runehammer! • Key Mechanics: Timers!
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Probably one of the coolest settings I have ever seen!
So sorry to find out you're left handed, I hope you recover from this debilitating condition soon.
Appreciate your thoughts & prayers.
@@DeficientMaster we're all praying for your recovery...
I hear Ned Flanders has a support group meeting at his house.
Today I learned that being left-handed gets you a -2 on Reaction Rolls.
Never apologize for being sinister. One day our time will come
Bro cooked again gotta start calling him Sufficient Master
Not quite Proficient Master. But definitely Sufficient
The value your sponsors are getting is ridiculous. I usually scrub passed the ad portion of a video (sry other dndtubers), but I've sat through and enjoyed all of yours. Thanks for making even the ads entertaining!
If this KZhead thing flops I'm going into commercials.
I second this comment ^
I third this comment^
Yes it would be great if it wasn't for the 7 other youtube ADs.
KZhead premium.
I really love how DM just uses every chance he has to say "5e bad". Never change
It is incredible how you combine absolute Looney Tunes energy while also being one of the most informative and helpful dndtube channels around!
If you wrote a soap opera, I'd watch it. I'm already invested in this Pendora episode. 😂
Deficient drops a video and I click on it. This is my life now. There is no playing the game. Just Deficient
Reaction tables are one of the best things D&D Basic/BECMI has. Its my favorite edition for a reason.
Instead of using live dies I use pie charts from blades in the dark. You make a circle, and cut it up in however many turns you want, and that can mean from the amount of alcohol in a bottle to the time left until the guards break the door down
Also a big fan of BitD's clocks but I actually think that using a die is better because it's easier to go both ways (If a clock maybe needs to be unticked). Maybe make an indexcard, write down what it means and place a die on it?
Or use a clock for overall progress and the use the timer die to see how long before you need to update the clock
FYI clocks are from Apocalypse World, everyone just latched onto BitD's. There are also strings, basically a row of check boxes, that feel better for tasks but are essentially horizontal clocks.
Deficient Master posts a video (my sleepy brain): Waik the fuck up samurai!
NOICE. D4 timer is very simple way to track in-world changes. I am also partial to the Mausritter system where each faction has goals that need a certain number of progress checks. After each session, the DM rolls a d6. 4 and up means they advance toward their goal. factions can beat each other up while your players aren't evening looking. That's a more granular way of keeping the world alive and moving. The D4 seems better for more big picture/key location tracking.
I am a simple man. I see a new Deficient Master video, I watch it. I step away, I ponder. I watch it again, I take notes. I look for tools and resources mentioned in the video. I watch it again. Seriously, though. Each video has tips for improvement and *examples* we can work from. Well done!
"Your D&D Bakery Sucks" when?
I think there's at least one PC bakery that was successful, sorta. But we don't talk about those players anymore...
wow this is amazing advice! ive been running a sandbox campaign for my little sisters as a practice for future games and felt like it was missing some roleplay. i implemented the reaction table for my monsters tonight and it literally made encounters 1000% more interesting instantly thanks so much
Almost spit my tea; when you were talking about using a d4 as a timer to count rounds, I was just thinking about the timer from XCOM 2, not suspecting you would directly reference it. Bravo!
The production level on these videos is insanely good. Thanks for another great upload!
Just gotta say, I appreciate the little progress bar during the sponsor segment.
It's important to emphasize that nothing in your world moves unless it's observed by the players. The players need to know things are happening and consciously decide not to do anything about it. The only exception is when the NPCs don't even know about it.
I agree, i do that in the way of the NPCs talking about that in the background or even a direct aproach of a NPC bringing the party atention to this particular event
1000% I think this is why people think sandboxes are "Hard" to prep. you only need to prep things AS they relate to the party.... the world only matters to them and only comes alive wherever they are. there's old Billy Connolly joke "The Queen must think the world smells of paint, because ten feet in front of her there's a guy going [mimes frantic painting]."
I like to do faction turns between every couple sessions where I update the state of the game world whether the characters are aware of it or not. It gives me adventure ideas and plot twists. Having a NPC questgiver wait in stasis until the players decide to get around to him is a big no no in my book.
he's not waiting, he doesn't exist until he shows up on the rumor table. then he starts ticking@@tuomasronnberg5244
Hard disagree. My players don't need to know anything specific for things to happen. They just needed to be given the option to go that direction. Like, let's say they're deciding wether to go to A or B city along their route. They picked A, they have no information on either city, but now stuff can happen in B city that they can't do anything about. It's called consequences. If I give players a specific "Will you do anything about it?" decision every time, the world will feel artificial. Like a video game where you can accomplish EVERYTHING in a single playthrough. That's not how tabletop rpgs should be played. The world moves without the players. I always emphasize that for my players as it gives them a reason not to waste time because their characters know that wasting away time will give any potential villain time to act unhindered or something like that. It gives realism and a sense that time is precious. And also, many many things can happen that you don't even give your players a chance to stop. It can be good for plot. Like, one of the children of one of my players got kidnapped before. They got him back safely in the end but the point is, the party wasn't there, she hadn't seen her children in years, there would be NO POINT in giving them the agency to stop the kidnapping. If I did that I would tell my players that their choices don't matter much and that I will always give them the possibility to bail out of any route they chose themselves. This makes a fame boring as there are essentially no consequences or stakes if they are given the chance to try and choose an outcome for everything. So, the world should move, even if your players had no chance to involve themselves. That doesn't mean you should have anything important to the players plot happen without allowing them any chances to stop it. Like in my previous example, kidnapping the kid was fine. But killing him without the players having time to save him? That would've been bullshit. Imagine tests in school only happen when you decide to take them. You'd get that feeling of main character syndrome and zero responsibility. Your game will die. The world needs to ALWAYS keep moving. This is why I track the amount of days that have passed in a campaign. So that I can think about if anything major happened at that time in any place the players visit so I can present the changes/events/consequences. Even just something like a festival going on in a city right now because it's the time of year for that festival now. It makes a world feel much more realistic.
Reaction table and double take on it is a god damn gem for a sandbox games and oneshots. Sometimes there's even no need to prep anything to the next session, because current drifted away so far because of several interactions with NPCs, that it become plot material and campaign twist on its own right.
Another amazing video. Loved your interview with dex save Dan too!. Spoilt for Def Master content this week! You are my hero.
Seconded.
Thirded. I’d like to see you do more interviews.
Fourthed. Deficient Master and Dex Save Dan are winning KZhead right now.
For those who don't know who made that quote about keeping time records, it was Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of D&D, and the sole creator of AD&D 1e.
The dragon with a gun killed me. 😂
Along with several townsfolk, apparently
Legends and Lattes mentioned!
I drop whatever I'm doing when a Deficient video drops
Love your content! Didn't even skipped the ad portion because it was so entertaining. Great tips and solid advice, 10/10. As a video suggestion for the future: I'm curious on your video-creation process, how you learned to edit and all those behind-the-scenes stuff from your videos. As someone who want to start a ttrpg channel/content production, this would be very interesting to study! =)
Thank you! Check out my AMA vid if you haven't already. I talk about my origin story there a bit.
The editing and drama in your videos are both really good.
Really great advice. And your presentation style is a LOT of fun. Keep it up!
The best TTRPG channel so far ever
These videos just keep getting better and better! I'm glad you survived your falling damage roll as well. I really like the story hook you have there. I now need to know how the poor kid turns out, and how his conflicted life of having to choose between his Guard Captain dad and Queen of Thieves mother turns out. A flash mob musical explaining the resolution will break out in d4 turns... Anyway, growing up with BECMI and 2E, I do like the idea of reaction tables, but occasionally they can generate odd results. Sure, people are odd, so anything can happen. I don't think I'd ever thought to modify the tables themselves to push the results either positively or negatively. Modifiers, sure, but not tables leaning one way or the other. Awesome idea!
Just came across your channel and I'm blown away by the production quality. Even stuff like rotoscoping your hands over the table, I can't even imagine the editing side of your videos haha. VERY cool 😄
Hey Deficient! Very much enjoyed your interview over at Dex Save Dan's! Have a nice one :)
All of this was really helpful! I loved the tips for well.. everything. The factions, the timer! I specially have a use for that in my current game. Loved this! Super good
This is pure gold! Extra credits for the BECMI reaction chart 😁 And you made the timer really make sense!
The joy of a new Deficient Master upload is also the pain of waiting for the next one
I just spit my coffee out laughing at the dragon going into Brandonsford cut. You’re a genius, man. Hands down the best D&D tuber here (and that’s saying something because there be great ones).
Bro, I love your style and the advice is so good! Also, the dragon leaving town scene was perfect xD
I came up with a nice way of using time to make the players more urgently aware of the world around them. I started running a monster hunting style game at the local game store. The players get to choose one of five 'one shot' (it's never a one shot) jobs to take on with the knowledge that ignoring some jobs will result in their situations getting worse (or maybe better) as time goes on. Each time a job is taken, the other jobs increase in a stage of urgency while they're out doing that job. I only have three stages per job though, as I only want them to feel compelled to do three jobs as mandatory to rise in guild rank with a 'boss mission' to cap it off as a test to get another level out of it. The other two jobs are bonuses if they want to do them. So far it's been a hit, but we've already established that it's meant to be a drop-in, drop-out kind of game based around combating monsters so that anyone can join or leave based on who shows up. Not everyone's thing, there's very little story involved in it, but I can easily see the template working with other scenarios.
You are legitimately the best DnD content creator on the platform. Every video has answers to the most important questions I have or didn’t even know I had!
Man I actually love your insight to being a dm. I've never been so motivated to run my games and have thecfeeling like I can do it better than I ever have. Much much love from australia
Hope to see a video about how you make your NPC in more details ! Loved your way of doing exploration, I'm intrigued on how you make the most out of non-combat encounters.
By now the "YOU BLAY HOWBEBER YOU BWANT" is in almost every deficient video, and it still cracks me every damn time
0:15 Factions - what do they want? Be specific. 1:56 Secrets and Incongruency 5:02 Time. Use a d4 to countdown the time until SOMETHING HAPPENS 6:54 Reaction Tables
always blowing me away, bro. even your ads are off the charts.
Great video! Love the shoutout to ole Hank/Runehammer. ICRPG principles like the timer are the foundation for almost every game I run, regardless of the system!
Another banger when I was deficient on the deficient master. I would really like to see a video on your dnd or rpg book recommendations or favourites. You seem to know so many and would love to know
Wow. This is great content. I particularly love the reference to Gary and the original DMG! Earned yourself a new Subscriber! Thank you!!
Lets GO! Another Deficient video. Been waiting for a new one. Thanks for another great video. Cheers!!!
Your videos are the best! I learn, I laugh, I look forward to the next one you release!
Yea this is just quality. Good stuff, I learn something every time. The reaction rolls for major events like the dragon attack reminds me a lot of fronts from Dungeon World. This thought process felt a little less daunting to me though. Thanks friend. :)
You are going very far with your content, I love your videos, they are very refreshing, a subscriber from the city of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Best one thus far! I want more of your rules!
i love your videos! you randomly came onto my youtube algorithm one day and I would miss you if you left it! keep it up!
I like these a lot! Going to integrate them into the introduction to OSR that I’m running for my group
See Deficient Master video, click on video, get educated. First time this early. So happy I found this channel!
Deficient Master sandbox tools reinforce the tools I am currently using. Can't wait to see Deficient Master dungeon generation procedures ✨️
Hmmmm! That timer thing is pretty interesting! Love it!
this is great advice. factions are great for emergent stories, time tracking adds some necessary tension to exploration and reaction tables can help keep the game moving.
This is amazing! And your videos are fantastic ❤
Outstanding job, as always. Your content is pure gold. Keep this up, and one day people may even call you a "Proficient Master".
I want to say thank you very much for some solid sources for these methods. I've been using similar things for a long time but those are usually from having seen other DM's or players that I've helped encouraged DM that picked things up from other places on their own. Reaction tables are something I wish had stayed around as I've always found them more useful than the persuasion/diplomacy rules in 3.x/PF. As a small add on, I'd highly suggest for other DM's that you might also auto advance time tables during down times but limit the severity of the issues and treat countries as their own factions if you're playing on a large scale. One of the best adventures my players ever enjoyed was bartering trade contracts along the swordcoast due to lumber shortages thanks to orc raiding parties. They got to earn gold, prestige and enjoy taking on various ogroid encampment all at the price of a single downtime world progression.
I used a timer during the last playtests at Who's yer con. I just counted down on my fingers when everyone seemed absolutely lost. WORKED SUPER WELL!
Example at the end got me excited to prep again.
This is an AWESOME video! I want more!!
I’ve gotta start using the secrets and incongruence stuff for my factions. If nothing else, it’ll definitely help with writing characters for the factions.
Love it. One of the best out there.
The only channel I have notifications turned ON
Would love to see a video about map making for a sandbox campaign. I like your map, I also use hexkit but I haven't been able to make my map ias good looking as yours!
This guy is the HowToBasic of TTRPG with actually useful information and advice.
Always awesome videos! What ruleset are you playing in your campaign with Black Wyrm of Brandonford?
I like crisis timers of varying severity depending on the party's level, sometimes the crisis is a border town under threat of some monster or group, sometimes it's a dragon of some age asserting it's territory, sometimes it's a peasant revolution. And those crises tick down in a similar manner as in this video but when the timer reaches 0 I decide what an unopposed victory looks like and make it more dramatic and impactful on the world around it. I like to give my organic 'villains' winner's disease where they'll keep escalating until some faction, group or individual is motivated to slap them down. Maybe the party weren't motivated to go to the border and just help out, but they might be motivated if the king is mustering an army and hiring mercenaries to act as scouts and monster hunters in the vanguard on the way to dealing with the new goblin king who just razed a town to the ground. I find drama most effective for encouraging player involvement, although I might have to try incorporating the chance for a situation resolving itself.
Love the videos! Keep them up
Great video. Def need this before i try to run my fabula ultima game
1. I love how this simplifies Dungeon World's "Fronts" system, which is amazing but can still feel overwhelming sometimes. It's got the simplicity of something more like Mausritter, and I love that. 2. I think the real secret sauce to be squeezed out of incongruity is something you do here without spending lots of time on it, I just think it deserves to be a bigger deal: the *best* incongruities *involve an outside relationship*. It would be one thing if Pendora's value of Order didn't quite jive with the stereotype of a Thieves' Guild. That's already an interesting incongruity. But by making her *biggest values* cross faction borders, now you've got a really interesting and emotionally weighty conflict. I'd encourage anyone and everyone thinking about Incongruity to also think of it as a red string that takes the character outside of themselves.
Thanks again for a very entertaining video with excellent content!
I would love to find a long list of examples of timers. It's perhaps the biggest thing I've struggled with -- coming up with believable (and not contrived) deadlines for the party to reach a place or do a thing.
I get the FOMO titles to drive clics but those "Your [X] sucks here's why" are piling up in my recommanded, let me be good at something :(
ok two videos in since I found your channel and you have earned a new subscriber I will be watching your channel with interest
Definitely gonna incorporate some of that into my games. thanks.
The d4 system for deciding how long until something happens to a location that the players were given info about is super helpful. Ive always liked the idea of having the world move forward with or without the players but never knew how to actually incorporate time in a way that made sense to me. Does the dragon attack after 5 in game days? Does it attack in 2 weeks? How long is the right amount of time to give the players? Using the d4 and sessions instead of in game time makes it a lot easier. I'm gonna start using this.
I like when the dragon came into the town firing a handgun at everyone 😂😂😂 9:23
this guy's VFX are getting great!
I love your editing and energy so much it scratches my ADHD brain just right
From sitting around thinking how can i make my campaign, i started doing it with every video a bit. Cant wait for more
My DnD campaign sucks because we haven't had a chance to do session 0 yet. (when will this semester end? 😞)
Feel ya buddy. Good luck
The timer reminds me of how older editions encouraged you to roll a d6 every two exploration turns. Roll a 1? Make something happen that the party has to deal with (usually, monsters!).
I need to know how you made that Hex crawl map please. I love it so much
love the video. great tips as always
I’m planning on the start of all Hallows Eve, running a Yakuza-like adventure, an entire short (like 8-10 game campaign) exploring every but of the crown city, with about 4-6 BBEGs simultaneously, with them being. I was thinking that when they do one task, the others enemies are closer to their goals. They COULD fight the king trying to summon a greed devil, or the Theives guild being ran by the Mind Flayer in disguise.
Tfw Def Master got his bankroll list on the wrong side:
The yellow clashed with the sticky notepad.
@@DeficientMasterOMG HE REPLIED (real)
Man even during an add read, I voiced aloud, "Damn, I like this guy"
The D4 Countdown is a gamechanger. Where can we find that cool reaction chart?
Now that you’re into the whole faction thing you should read The segment in Nights Black Agents on Conspyramids. What is better than factions.. Factions which are related in alliance or conflict, that is usually a pretty interesting starting moment for my campaigns!
Great video Deficient!!!
9:23 That derg has no chill. XD
Nice vid. What's the name of the outro song ? (the one that starts at 10:00) Thanks and keep it up!
I'm early today! I've been longing for another of your excellent videos :)
Love the old school reference to GG.
Here we go!
He knows too much about my campaigns am i being stalked?