Matt Colville Videos

Tips on running a campaign where the probability of character death is much higher than normal.

If you could teach us accents for monsters and players. Perhaps some technique and also some examples to spark the imagination. Accents can really improve a campaign particularly if you are a DM but they aren't easy so help would be greatly...

Each game/system have their own aspects that they do well, but no game is perfect. There is always another game/system that have mechanics that better fit certain scenarios or aspects of play. It would be interesting to have a video that goes...

I'm running a game with a an archfey antagonist and a powerful undead warrior who was wronged by said archfey hundreds of years ago. The two of them are currently tearing up the local area trying to kill each other and dismantle each other's...

How do you make a map for your world

What are your thoughts on how to handle PC's being socially manipulative of each other? Should they be treated like NPC's in that dice rolls are the deciding factor of if someone is persuaded or not? Or should there be no dice, as the players know...

I really try to take notes as a player, but it often takes me out of the action while I'm writing my notes. And then, I find that they're so disorganized that they're useless for reference. Are there good ways to quickly write notes as a player...

I'm not sure this is too far down the rabbit hole for the "generally applicable to the new/aspiring dungeon master" aspect of Running the Game, but I was wondering if we could ever get a Matt Colville breakdown of the ins and outs of Action...

Do you have any books, manuals or supplements to help you decide how much experience do players get when they finish encounters, pass skill checks or finish "quests", or do you do it freestyle? How do the players get experience in your sessions?

My friend ran a campaign for us where we started at lvl zero. Spellcasters only knew cantrips, warriors started with wooden swords ect. Stats werent rolled but rather were all at 10 and you had a max of 2 to relocate where you wanted. When you hit...

What are some idea's that can get the players into learning about the A plot of the campaign, besides throwing the bad guy in their faces at a low level?

Show us how the character sheet works and go into detail about what each box means and how to properly create a character.

We saw the amazing entry level adventure the Delian Tomb. I want to know how Matt would design an interesting dungeon for more advanced players. I am imagining branching paths and meaningful choices and politics on the surface world.

How to allow a player to create and evil PC and have it work in a party of heroes. Backstory, motives, hooks, etc. Which evil alignment would be easiest to work with? LE? Which one would be worst? CE? Help DM's understand evil PC's and not be...

Everyone has that game that they really want to play, be it a certain RPG system that nobody wants to learn or maybe it hasn't been released yet? A game taking place in a specific setting or with specific players? Whatever it is I want to know...

Way back at the beginning, you built the Delian League dungeon. I loved seeing a dungeon (even a very small one) pop up from an empty grid to a complete session. The larger worldbuilding videos are good, but generating ready-made modules (along...

So you have an idea for an adventure, with different bosses and maybe a cool mystery. How can you pace the adventure so your players feel like they're advancing, but don't go so fast as to have no payoff when they reach an important milestone....

This idea is more a gamedesign related question : when you're playing at D&D you know you're playing at D&D maybe because of the lore and the plot, but mostly because of the monsters, the spells, the classes, which are related to the system and...

I really want to run Red Hand of Doom, and you description of Kalarel the Vile was so amazing. I really want to hear what you did and would do with Red Hand of Doom.

Sometime in the future, I would like to see you run a session or, better still, a full campaign that takes place in the Dune universe. Not only would it be entertaining, but I think it'd be great to see you run an overtly sci-fi game.

How do you go about ending or having a finale in sandbox style game?

Sometimes a group will only play when everyone's there. Sometimes that's not feasible, though, so absent players are unavoidable. There's multiple issues that arise when a player is absent: - the game becomes more lethal for the rest, as they...

Discussion around the concept of OSR and how it diverges from the WOTC style of play

Why do characters choose Death over Defeat? Beliefs! Weather it's on the character sheet or in the player's head, or just an ideal the character suddenly discovers when you put the poor, mistreated child in front of them. How to notice,...

Something that is often overlooked when DMing is the transition from scene to scene and ensuring that the players feel like they are part of a cohesive world rather than a series of isolated scenes. It would be great to discuss how to make...

How to handle conflicts between players out of character from both the players’ and the dm/gm’s point of view.

Often I see Matt Colville able to create consequences, both good and bad, for the players based on what they have been doing. What all goes into choosing these repercussions? Is it as simple as knowing the goals and alliances of the NPCs and...

tips on the following topics you encounter when designing magical items: - choosing relevant magical abilities - how to make it just as strong as needed

I've been curious on what people think of puzzles/riddles and the like. When or where it's appropriate to use one, how to build/design one, and most importantly: how to run them. Do you provide hints based on character rolls, do you solve them...