What? Another D&D Video? -sigh- (But wait! Look! Aw, come on! You know you want to!).

[Tawmis]

So… I’ve been playing D&D since 1978 (no joke!) – and have been very passionate about the game since!

So this weekend, I was driving around with the wife (who I have dragged into many of my D&D sessions), about what she likes in a D&D game, what I did wrong in the past, what I’ve done right…

And it got me to thinking – that despite my years of D&D – both as player and DM – there’s always room for improvement.

Especially since I recently (it’s been about 6 months now) decided to DM for a group of people I’d never met before – all of whom had never played D&D!

And how they have unintentionally made me a better DM.

I decided to start a web series, where I talk about DMing… and things I’ve learned, tips to improve a game, etc… and I will always use examples from my own game as a reference.

I’ve already done the first one…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTrb2OQ00hY

I have plans for 4 other videos (already that I thought of) – and finished my second one. I plan to try and release these maybe on a weekly basis.

If you’re so inclined – whether you’re a DM or a player – check out the video.

If you enjoy it, I’d love if you subscribed and shared it around (Facebook, Twitter, whatever other social media platform you may use!)

[Kyutaru]

You talk about writing stories but you couldn't even write a script. One of things I dislike about most youtubers these days is that they don't appreciate the value of my time. They think I have nearly an hour to hear them talk about themselves with no coherent focused points that I actually care about being railed off one after another. I get more consistency watching Extra Credits videos or those top 10 lists that hit the major points. I loved TotalBiscuit because he saved the rambling for after the facts and concluded with his opinion, so if you didn't want to listen to the ramble you could skip ahead. But the ramble was usually worth hearing because it was very on topic and felt like a good use of my time.

This video was more like having a one-sided conversation with someone and most of it was backstory. I'm urging you to consider being more efficient with how you spend the recording time because viewers will certainly be efficient in how they spend their watching time. If you don't want to put much effort into it then I think you'll receive similarly poor results. It's like playing D&D and the party suddenly breaks into talking about real life and the combat ends up taking two hours because of all the distractions. That's great when you're a group of close friends who like to talk to each other but it's terrible when you're at a public event and the bard insists on grandstanding. I don't know you and don't want to hear about your friends because I'll never know or meet them either.

Just a suggestion. Couldn't finish the video because it drags on and gets monotonous.

[Tawmis]

You talk about writing stories but you couldn't even write a script. One of things I dislike about most youtubers these days is that they don't appreciate the value of my time. They think I have nearly an hour to hear them talk about themselves with no coherent focused points that I actually care about being railed off one after another. I get more consistency watching Extra Credits videos or those top 10 lists that hit the major points. I loved TotalBiscuit because he saved the rambling for after the facts and concluded with his opinion, so if you didn't want to listen to the ramble you could skip ahead. But the ramble was usually worth hearing because it was very on topic and felt like a good use of my time.

This video was more like having a one-sided conversation with someone and most of it was backstory. I'm urging you to consider being more efficient with how you spend the recording time because viewers will certainly be efficient in how they spend their watching time. If you don't want to put much effort into it then I think you'll receive similarly poor results. It's like playing D&D and the party suddenly breaks into talking about real life and the combat ends up taking two hours because of all the distractions. That's great when you're a group of close friends who like to talk to each other but it's terrible when you're at a public event and the bard insists on grandstanding. I don't know you and don't want to hear about your friends because I'll never know or meet them either.

Just a suggestion. Couldn't finish the video because it drags on and gets monotonous.

First, I completely understand where you're coming from (in regards to no script and the value of time!) and I am not even the slightest bit upset or slighted! I more than understand.

For me, the reason I didn't want to write a script is because I honestly wanted this to be from the heart, kind of thing (which does, I admit, lead me to rambling at times). As a result, I will admittedly talk about something - which reminds me of something that I add. (I did edit SOME of my rambling).

But it is a good point, that if I am trying to give some useful tips - that the viewer just wants me to get to them!

I could do a mixture where I talk about the ideas/tips I have for my own games - then have the rest of the video go on after the tips have been given, so if someone does want to get the backstory of why I did something, they can.

Thank you for giving me something to think about! :tongue:

[Kyutaru]

I could do a mixture where I talk about the ideas/tips I have for my own games - then have the rest of the video go on after the tips have been given, so if someone does want to get the backstory of why I did something, they can.
Excellent idea. Might even want to use some basic video editing to list them off visually. It enhances the retention since important points are highlighted with the text across the screen. That alone could even make the explanation that follows okay because people can skip ahead to the next point if they don't want it described. It's like saying "Tip 4: Don't give your players potatoes" and then going on to describe why I shouldn't give them potatoes when I would rather move on to tip 5 (which would be where the next tip is written across the screen).

[Man_Over_Game]

First, I completely understand where you're coming from (in regards to no script and the value of time!) and I am not even the slightest bit upset or slighted! I more than understand.

For me, the reason I didn't want to write a script is because I honestly wanted this to be from the heart, kind of thing (which does, I admit, lead me to rambling at times). As a result, I will admittedly talk about something - which reminds me of something that I add. (I did edit SOME of my rambling).

But it is a good point, that if I am trying to give some useful tips - that the viewer just wants me to get to them!

I could do a mixture where I talk about the ideas/tips I have for my own games - then have the rest of the video go on after the tips have been given, so if someone does want to get the backstory of why I did something, they can.

Thank you for giving me something to think about! :tongue:

You can always do a combination of both. Rather than focusing on writing a script, you can simply preemptively write down a basic outline of what you want to talk about.

A good strategy is to divide the piece into 4 chunks, each with their own time limits. While you're talking, you're going to lose track of time, so having a limit on how much you're rambling will keep things pretty coherent.

For example, you might divide the chunks into Hook (3 minutes), What was the end result of the cool thing you did (4 minutes), buildup to the cool thing (5 minutes), and various notes on your thought process (5 minutes), and maybe a couple minutes to wrap up. Keeps things open but also focused. 5 minutes doesn't seem like a lot of time to talk, but it's still one piece of a 20 minute video. You can always shorten things (so shrink everything by 50% if you want a 10 minute video), to keep things succinct. And try to watch the videos themselves to see anything that you notice that can be improved upon. Attention spans are shrinking and shrinking, so it's more effective to keep things succinct and straightforward whenever possible. It's that very reason that clickbait titles work, because they draw attention in the short span it takes to read the title.

[Kyutaru]

Attention spans are shrinking and shrinking, so it's more effective to keep things succinct and straightforward whenever possible.

It's more like competition is increasing and increasing. There's only so many hours in the day and millions of videos on the internet.

[Tawmis]

You can always do a combination of both. Rather than focusing on writing a script, you can simply preemptively write down a basic outline of what you want to talk about.


For each one I write down a "theme" about what I want to talk about, so far.
So for example, the first one was about new players/old players - and not skimming descriptions.

Second one (I filmed it already, but may do some edits based on this thread) is about not "railroading" the adventurer (by preventing characters from doing what they want to do) and improving/alibiing.
Third one (doing it by memory, because I am at work) is about when players are absent.
Fourth one was about allowing "evil" characters in a predominately "good" campaign.



A good strategy is to divide the piece into 4 chunks, each with their own time limits. While you're talking, you're going to lose track of time, so having a limit on how much you're rambling will keep things pretty coherent.

For example, you might divide the chunks into Hook (3 minutes), What was the end result of the cool thing you did (4 minutes), buildup to the cool thing (5 minutes), and various notes on your thought process (5 minutes), and maybe a couple minutes to wrap up. Keeps things open but also focused. 5 minutes doesn't seem like a lot of time to talk, but it's still one piece of a 20 minute video. You can always shorten things (so shrink everything by 50% if you want a 10 minute video), to keep things succinct. And try to watch the videos themselves to see anything that you notice that can be improved upon. Attention spans are shrinking and shrinking, so it's more effective to keep things succinct and straightforward whenever possible. It's that very reason that clickbait titles work, because they draw attention in the short span it takes to read the title.

I like this! Thank you! More food for suggestion!


It's more like competition is increasing and increasing. There's only so many hours in the day and millions of videos on the internet.

Heh - I don't expect to compete with the tons of other videos out there. My subject header was a reference to that: What? Another D&D Video? -sigh- (But wait! Look! Aw, come on! You know you want to).

There are some people on Youtube, who make a living off their videos (and get sponsors). I know - I _know_ myself - I have way too many hobbies as it is (I run a podcast about comic books, I have a Machinima using the NWN game engine; among other things). So I am making these videos just for whoever stumbles into my "Tavern" (Channel). Because I know there's some tremendous videos out there, with some amazing content. But I just felt like I wanted to do this... for whoever comes across it. (I can improve it with everyone's suggestions, for sure!)

[Tawmis]

This is the second one - which I had already filmed before getting some solid suggestions...

This one covers character choices, and DM's improvising because of it... to prevent "railroading" an adventure to go a specific way.

https://youtu.be/KYOp13wncqc