Leading Compelling Gameplay: Utilizing Your Style in Dungeons and Dragons

1. Introduction : Hello, My name is Thomas R. Wilson. I'm my professional storyteller, writer, journalist advocate, and business owner. And I welcome you to this class center around finding your creative style. And D, and D, a bit about my work and why I'm qualified to teach this is I run a business, R and H, creative advocacy and storytelling. A business designed around helping people build their voice, create their style, and build their connection to their pairs. Center around Dungeons and Dragons, other tabletop RPGs, but also advocating and facilitating events. I've been an event facilitator for 13 plus years, and I've also been a professional dungeon Master for the past six. My experience spans over a decade and I am working hard to grow a business that has grown almost 800% in the last six months. Now in this class, we are going to demonstrate how to craft a campaign in a paragraph form that suits your style, that matches who you are and what you are connected to. We will also examine the ways in which we want the stored to flow, how to develop NBC's, and ultimately how to put them in settings in the story. That again, matters to you. Our homework is going to be simple. This class is really designed for those who want to build their style in D, and D. Who are new to home brewing, new to creating characters, and want to grow their style. I'll see you in the next video, and I wish you the very best. 2. Beginning To Discuss NPC's: Welcome to this section as re-explore understanding Narrative in DMD, we will look at how this can be utilized at tables, how it can be functional, but also fund, as well as focusing on a variety of mechanisms from NPC's to setting and scenery, to even considering how we can best utilize the time. Pat our table. Now, I have explained some of this in the past, but I highly recommend you stick this one out because this is gonna be a very important section. But as always, give yourself a break. I'm glad you're gradually yourself on finishing another video. And always remember you do not have to be perfect via Storytelling 3. Fascinating Characters: When we look at NBC's or side characters, or the concept in which we will examine and think about characters and dunes and dragons. There's one character I really want to focus on as I think it's one of the staples of a very beloved franchise, movies, books, and a lot of things. But that's actually the character of U. You may not expect me to reference a character from Windy Poo, but one of the beautiful, creative, and loving things about Windy the Poo is how characters interact. And let me be clear, and Dungon Dragons storytelling and creating NBC's settings, they're all going to be very fluid as it's a shared storytelling element. But the great thing about Ru is he has a character that interacts with everyone around him in unique and delightful ways. But is very much what I would call a side character or non player character that has strong motivations, that is able to interact with characters like Rabbit and Tiger and Winnie the Pooh and a distinct and humanizing concept. One of the great things about Ru is he's one of the very few children that's ever been introduced. I believe in the majority of the Winnie the Pooh movies and the books and things there is Christopher Robin, but Ru is very different. Ru is this intrinsically fun character that looks at the world through the lens of a child and is one of the very few who actually has a strong connection to a parental figure, not just in his mother but also in rabbit and Tiger. One could argue from time to time when they do interact, especially Tiger Ru is seen as both a authority on certain situations but also very much a follower. Yet other relationships that he has across movies and other media. U is very much one of the people that grounds us in our experience and elements of the stories of Winnie the Pooh. He has this creative fun aspect that's very human in his childlike motivations. He talks and behaves distinctly from other characters. It's actually one of the things I really love about Winnioh is the characters are very simple, but they're very fleshed out too. And what I mean by that is they all have distinct cohesive elements, but they also are so unique a variety of media like U is still a stuffed kangaroo, Winnie the Pooh is still a boo bear who wants to get honey. But each character, in their simple and complex motivations and how they talk in their catch phrases, compliment each other so well. I think this is what makes the story of so endearing, so powerful, collectively fun. It's just fun. I was going to use a different word, but in this class we're emphasizing comfortability. When you're doing your homework, I reference thinking of characters that you are very strong connected to that when you think of them, they bring back both nostalgia, a comforting, easy to understand method like Ru is very strongly connected to his mother, which is a very strong pole and a lot of his character. But he's always looking for mentors, looking people to help him encourage himself and others. And I think that's a very human experience. But additionally, he doesn't behave and walk the way the majority of the characters do. The way that he is inspired is different. The way that flows in the settings that he is is very different. What I mean by flow is really how he moves, how he behaves, how he talks, what he thinks. These are all things that we're going to want to think about with NBC's things we're going to want to comprehend and want to master and try to develop and who we are as storytellers. And one of the great things about U and about D and D is some of the elements of Ru, like the way he talks. And things can be emphasized by the people around him, but also as people getting in front of a tabletop role playing game, or Dungeons and Dragons, or any other game. It's a collaborative, sometimes competitive element. The players are interacting with one another. We're thinking and moving and comprehending in ways that are impacted by the people around us. Great NPC's are ultimately going to focus on that. We're going to see them become things that are fleshed out by the people at our tables. They're going to have unique interaction as we explore the idea of D and D, more as we explore this very fun whimsical game that has some very real life elements. I want you to think of Ru, and I want you to think of the other characters like Ru, that are comfortable, that are cohesive, that make you smile. And think about all of these ways that they do this from the way they talk, they think their motivations, who they are connected to. And I'll see you in another video. 4. NPC's and Settings: As we get into the section on utilizing NPC's and setting, there are a few things that I want you to focus on. I want you to focus on how your characters move through the setting, how they behave, what their languages are, how they behave with people around them, and ultimately how they function in the city. I'm a big believer that I personally love building my settings around my MPC's. Now you can do the opposite and build your MPC's around your setting. But the core of this, the major thing that I really want you to focus on is making sure that your characters have a flow. And that even if they contrast the setting, they do it well. One of the things that I love to think about is that villains don't need to be cut and dry. Villains and a lot of things when we watch cartoons or anime or TV shows, villains are dressed like villains are. They have to have scars that are very telling. They seem angry and gruff. But it's in that there's a lot of very strong in creative elements that give away things. But if you want your villain to be secretive, you want him to help trap your players. Or you want him to be simply seem as a good person or her, or they as a good person. I recommend being a bit more subtle. Think about the subtleties. Think about the motions. Think about how and why they may behave in a way that's unique to what villains think of typical side characters. If you have a shop that's really unique, really creative, and you're wondering, how do I implement this? What I would recommend is thinking about what is it that your shopkeeper is selling objects. So they're selling magical objects. Are they unique and rare? Then off of that, you could look at it through a lens. If they're selling unique items, maybe they're a bit more eccentric. Maybe they have collected items that they're not supposed to have and that can play into the setting. Or even more, that they are simply a wise and powerful individual who has the ability to collect and utilize unique and compelling items. In that I would even think about referencing D and D books or referencing lower books, and thinking about how you can utilize these elements in order to best the setting. The other thing I want to honor as well is when you're developing settings with your NPC's, the way they talk, the way they walk, the way they're dress, everything, even as much as how their hair is or the jewelry they wear can influence your settings. Now there's a variety of ideas around just those elements where you could tell how fluent a setting is or how rustic it is. While all things in this are creative and are ultimately up to you, what I recommend doing is thinking about, again referencing media, referencing what you're most comfortable with. Because D and D is a collaborative storytelling element that is in real time as well as other TTR D's are the same way. When doing this, I highly recommend thinking about how your players will react, how you would want them to respond, and how you might respond to them and having backup plans. There's been so many times where I've sat down at a session and we've gotten through a setting in 10 minutes because the players were not interested. But they were very interested in the prairies outside village or the city. On the next part that is connected to the town, or even just the woods are around. Because I hit something that was unique and transformative in that story. Having those preparations is good and we're going to have a brief explanation of why preparation is so important. But the other thing to do is think about when you leave a city or leave the original setting, think about why your players might move, why they might want to travel with MPC's, why they might want to interact with them. Because as I mentioned a few times, there is a strong familiarity. I think a lot of gay masters who run table top RPGs, Dances and Dragons, where they create an NPC that they feel is dull, but is beloved by the players and becomes a reoccurring character. When we have reoccurring characters, we can ultimately develop them on a further level and really help them to be fleshed out. Add more lore and inspiration and motivation or tragedy when you're doing this. I would also recommend just keep in mind tragedy is great in fantasy. We also want to make sure that our players do not practice hateful mindsets or really toxic beliefs in things. Sometimes super tragic backstories lead to actually dull NBC's that blend into things, but they also enable some very harsh mindsets and players as we continue on. I hope you'll stick it out with me. Always congratulate yourself as you finish one of these videos, and I'll see you in the next one. 5. Wrapping NPC's : So as we wrap this section on NPCs and making sure that they utilized and into the world. The main thing that I really want you to focus on is making sure that you are matching your NPCs and your styles to you. It is so important that we make sure it's storytellers, we are honoring our boundaries. And as Game Master, a table with any tabletop, RPG, RPG or dungeon and dragons that we're keeping our stories within what we are comfortable with, as well as honoring our players. I truly believe that we start on a basis of what we're willing to do and maintain or boundaries. And makes sure that we are collaborating with our players with respect and utmost care. We will be honoring our game and we can and will be able to utilize our stories. I know there's so much more in this class that we can discuss, but I hope you'll stick it out with me. It's always congratulate yourself on finishing another 6. Beginning to Connect : So welcome to the start of where we are going to look at the stories you want it to tell. The stories that matter to you, and how to apply them through your voice. As a Game Master, Dungeon Master, what have you want to call yourself? As well as the ways and the facets and what you want to utilize some in your carrot. Now, I'm a big believer that it's okay to borrow inspiration from enemy for movies, for TV shows, whatever it is. Especially in the world of tabletop RPGs, has so much of it influenced by the community and the creators in the world. And really what we're gonna focus in on here. It's helping you to identify the world, the ideas that resonate with you, and bringing them into yourself, bringing them into your, your concepts of what you want your story to be. And ultimately exploring through those lenses how you want to apply similar stories, door kind of storytelling. So as we jump into the next part of this, I hope you stick around with me, ask questions if you need. We will explore more further 7. Truly Connecting To Stories: Welcome to the section on figuring out how we can connect with our story. Now this often seems like a big deal. Sometimes it can feel impossible. But the core thing I want to talk about is earlier I mentioned connecting to things that inspire you in movies, in the world around you and in lore and books and other things. That's really where we're going to start. We're going to focus on what we resonate with in the world around us. Be in books, movies, animate anything that we respond with. But we're also going to look at when we sit down with our players, what is that going to be? For me personally, the way I do this is I look and I'm constantly thinking about everything. I watch how to examine it and explore it. But some of the key ways to do this are really focusing down on when you've had those moments. When you're reading or you're watching something and you just want to consume. You want that passion that drive, that emotional response you received from the story. The other thing is an intellectual thought provoking process. I think many of us have responded with things when we can turn off our brain. But as many of us know, sometimes the art or the media that really causes us to think about it continuously as we move forward in our day and think about the way we examine and process the plot twists and things is also really going to be a core aspect in that I know that what I'm explaining is rather simple and that's because this topic is rather simple. I know that it can be an indomitable task or at least feel like it from time to time to sit down and go, what do I connect with? But what I'm going to recommend is where you start is thinking about something that you want to do in the world. Thinking about your dreams, your passions, your hopes. Then as you do, maybe creating a list of ideas from why that inspires you. Why it's something you want to do. Why is it a dream? Who are you helping? Who are you hoping to interact with? What are the experiences like when you interact with people who share your passion? Ultimately, if it's not coming to you and those ideas aren't flowing, or even the idea of why it matters to you isn't flowing first, I recommend giving yourself a break. Sometimes the pressure to have answers can be overwhelming. This is just the beginning. This is something to get us moving, but ultimately it will come. If something doesn't do that, give it another try. I even recommend writing down what your favorite stories are, doing a bit of a word map to examine how and why that is, as well as looking at maybe commentary that you've seen that you've really resonated with the story. All of these things can help us get these answers when we start gathering ideas. When we start looking at them in a more concrete, possibly even more developed manner. We can really break down every single aspect at a certain point even if we need time. One of the beautiful things about D and D is ultimately that we don't have to always have the whole campaign planned out. But like I mentioned in another section, we can build the foundations that skeletical musculature, that nervous system and start going. Even myself as a professional DM, our game master or storyteller, I often go off of those basis and have that. Now I recommend sitting down and spending some time. As you think about your homework, I would also consider that as well. And I'll see you in the next session. 8. Where it Started VS Where it is Going: So I'm going to break down for a moment where I started as a gay master. And where I am now, my very first session was off of an old superhero Almon style tabletop RPG where people were playing as heroes. And I remember the first time I helped people with character creation, I gave them so many options, pushed them to have such fleshed out characters, pushed them to do like 3 hours of prep character time, and people were burnt out. My first few sessions, there was a lot of confusion, a lot of fear, people didn't understand how to grow. And I realized I wasn't looking at the things that inspire me. I wasn't looking at how to create a unique story for myself as well as my players. And when I really dived into that and started thinking about myself less and how I could incorporate all these elements for the people around me as an immersive storytelling for them and myself. And giving some of the power back to my players, which is such an important thing that I was like, this is something I had to do. I sat down, revamped things. Went over the things I've talked about in this class and things I will talk about. And since then, that was a few years ago. Now I have been able to launch in my day job, a series of events around this. But I've also opened my own business that in the last eight months has grown about 800.900% centered around D and D events. And if that's not something that you want, I just want to give you a quick detail here. I'm constantly teaching new players. I'm working with people who want to develop their own systems, their own ideas. I'm developing with businesses and players across the country, sometimes internationally. In so much of this all based around the idea that I was willing to grow, that I was willing to adapt and really sit down and explore. I wanted now so much I've said honor your boundaries. Honor your needs as a game master. But I also want to emphasize this is a storytelling element. And be willing to grow with your players. Even if you don't want to open your own work or your own business, your skills and your work can grow exponentially by working with your players. I think too many game masters or storytellers think that we have to be the sole storyteller at games. That is not the case. Honor your players, honor the stories you want to tell. And who knows what can happen in your life. I still can't believe how far I have come and I still have a lot of work to go. But I hope you'll stick with me as the last little bit of this class as we explore more and more. I'll see in another video. 9. The Importance of Preperation: Right now we're going to be discussing the importance of preparation and ultimately the importance of preparation and using your creative style. The key things here to focus on are really that you want to focus on, making sure you are prepared. Now, every DM knows the experience of preparing for a game and 3 minutes in plans are scrapped. And there is a variety of ways to help with this. But if we do not understand our story, if we do not know where we are coming from, how we want to tell our story, and ultimately at least know the key concepts, we are not going to be prepared. What I recommend here is a metaphor of swords or an example of what I recommend. Now in preparation, I recommend at least having what I call your skeleton of your story. This is going to be the basics of where you want the foundation of your story to be, where it's going to take place, what's going to happen, and ultimately making sure that you can utilize your story in an effective manner. And the reason I recommend having these core, at least if not much more, is due to the fact that, especially if you're telling a story that's important to you, it can be very easy to basically just lose track of your story. Now, all DMs are game masters or storytellers have moments. We, they have no idea where to go and need to end the session at some point, especially if their brain is very worn down and iron. I'm going to tell you there's some shame that can exist with feeling like you have to end the session early, but you should not experience that. Even the best DM's and their sessions a little bit early, sometimes in actual plays, which is something a lot of people see before they going into D and D. And there are some brilliant storytellers, I'm going to recommend that you realize that these actual plays often have entire teams that are helping them put things together and allow them to function like critical role and dimension 20 have entire teams, they have art departments, they have people who write scripts are all massive things that the average storyteller, average DM is not going to have. We've gone over some downloads. I do want to say a couple other things here and I promise you I'll lift you up. At the end of this is really that if you are not prepared, your story might not have the structure, may not have the integrity to run a game. Well, part of this as all DMs gammas or storytellers know, experience as a game master will get you better. I actually recommend in this section running through some of your ideas, practicing how you want the story to tell. Because in your imagery in NBC's, in your setting, if you don't have at least a foundation, you don't have an idea of how you want things to sound and move into, it will impact the entirety of the stories. Nbc's might seem flat scenery, again, like it's two dimensional. It's not a three dimensional, it's not showcasing what you're doing. And ultimately, it's very easy to slip into moments where you have no idea where you want to go. Now, a couple key elements that I want to utilize here are a lot of people have talked about the beauty of a snack break or a movement break. As someone who works in the community, I actually work both of these in. I find that they are a wonderful, beautiful way for me to get a break myself, but to also do some planning that I wasn't expecting. It's a great way for your players not to burn out. In preparation, I recommend having that. Additionally, if your fuel is running low, make sure you are prepared with a snack, with a drink to keep yourself going. Ultimately, when you have that skeletal system of your story, I recommend adding in the nervous system and a bit of the muscle. And what I mean by that is making sure you have a firm understanding of where you want your story to go. And ultimately, at the very least, flesh out your details, make them immersive. Because ultimately, if we prepare and we move in a completely lacklustre way, people will stop showing up at tables, people will start losing interest. And ultimately, people will very much not want to participate in the story. And that is the last thing that we want, right? We want to create immersive stories. The last thing I want to say is that preparation can actually make your ideas into a great and wonderful immersive experience. Because preparation can give you the foundations to tell a story that is going to pull in your players, create those wonderful creative ideas that I know you are capable of and ultimately will help you to shine as a storyteller. We all know the best. Ms. Best Gammasters, best storytellers all have a strong foundation of what they want to have. Having multiple avenues of where you want to go is a great way to do this. Now, this is a short class. I can't go into every detail in complete detail, every topic, everything. It's just not going to happen. I recommend I'll leave some resources for you to check out in the homework section, and if you have questions for me, please ask in the Q and A. As you plan for your homework, I highly recommend looking at ideas and thinking about the stories in which they have a strong preparation. It's very clear that people wrote these things with a strong roadmap of where they wanted to go. I'll see you in another class. 10. Congratulations!!: Congrats. You have made it. You have done it. You completed the class, you have listened to this whole lecture. Congrats on that. You are well on your way to creating a story that is immersive and matters to you. And I personally want to say thank you for what you have done, for what you have achieved. I look forward so much to chatting with you more in future classes, gaining your opinions, to trying to understand exactly where we can grow as a community. I want to say that I appreciate you and I hope you appreciate me for this class. All in all you are well on your way. And that in itself should be celebrated. Congrats.