Prep YOUR Next Adventure in just 14.27 minutes!

How much can you prep in less than a quarter hour? Not much, but it's a good thing you don't need much for an effective dungeons and dragons adventure! Focus on using two or more random encounters to determine what your adventure's central tension will be, and then generate a plethora of quest hooks from that! Throw all the stuff you need into a simple dungeon, and boom, you've got a dungeon, quest hooks, and a D&D adventure written in a quarter hour!

[davidm]

For the blessings of the Algorithm, I comment! There are two reasons I think this is great. 1- you immediately start with content, there's no vague ideas like "rescue a princess" 2- you can't write yourself into a corner with this where you need convoluted nonsense to tie your ideas together. By starting with content and only going in directions that make sense, how could this ever fail?

[connorkennedy]

This is actually brilliant. Putting plot hooks first has always felt like it was missing something. But generating two plot hooks/dangers to discover a emergent narrative then building the central conflict of your session or dungeon out from there? THAT'S next level DM advice.

Thank you, I plan to try this and share the idea.

[TonyCrenshawsLatte]

Working backwards is an excellent advice. I too find it easier to figure out "how did we get here" than "where do we go from here."

[HallofCraftVids]

The first time I did this it was unintentional, but it worked out really well and created some of the most memorable sessions for my group. I had a city in the north with an un cooperative and distant Jarl, and the players needed to get into his keep to find the McGuffin. I combined this with a Beholder and a neighboring orc tribe.
The result was a secret beholder under the city, pulling the strings and manipulating the power hungry Jarl, meanwhile the orc tribe who worshiped the beholder had a secret entrance in to the tunnels beneath the city, and were getting progressively more brazen in their attacks on the locals.

It created a totally epic and unexpected moment when the players explored the tunnels and finally realized everything was connected. I felt very clever. :)

Your summary of this was very clean and simple, maybe ill be able to use it to re-create some of that magic.

[kaiinconnu]

Random Encounters never really inspired me for adeventure design. Using two random encounters and thinking of it as conflict? Brilliant.

[AtelmGoldsmith]

I was skeptical of the video title, but glad I clicked. Never would've thought to do a session plan this way, but now I'll have to try it out. Thank you for the good advice! :)

[jeffreykershner]

I found your channel, thanks to the algorithm, a week or two ago. I've been gobbling up your videos. Really good advice, I appreciate that. But equally I appreciate that you appear to be family friendly. I have a bunch of kids and a few are aspiring or new DMs. I like that I can share videos with them. You speak clearly at a reasonable pace with few profanities. The video length is short enough to not lose their attention, but long enough to get your ideas out there. Well done and thank you.

[MarkKind]

This has finally put words to the difference between hours of frustrating prep and those nights where it won't stop flowing.

[lordandrak]

Quickly becoming one of my favourite D&D channels.
Certainly in my top 3 for solid advice and ideas.
Dungeon Masterpiece = Sophisitcated yet Simplified ways to GM
Play Your Role = Thespian and Character advice
Mathew Colville = Large scale advice for Campaign design

[macoppy]

0:13 Don't start with quest hooks
Donjon ChaoticShiny
Roll 2 prompts and find how they conflict
1:51 Quest Hooks
Who's involved, What things, Consequence impacts PCs
3:33 Rapid Dungeons
History, Current Usage, Needed features, bullet list

Throw two random encounters into a blender
Derive quest hooks from how this conflict spills into PCs lap
Throw narrative requirements into simple dungeon

Bake at 420 for less than 15 minutes

[sunhound]

This is my absolute favorite of your videos. Really good advice and a great example.

[hermimonk]

Exceptionally brilliant advice as usual! Thank you for sharing this process!

[MrNotteNera]

This is the best channel that the YT algorithm has ever recommended. I'll apply your this lesson next session for sure!

[rogerb]

Two years after this video was released, I returned to it when needing some inspiration. Thanks!

[andrewcobler]

I had a dream that there was a D&D DM video that skipped the long preamble and just gave practical tips and methods for DMing, with specific examples for inspiration. Then I never woke up, and I eventually realized this wasn’t a dream

[dantherpghero]

I Love ALL Dungeon Masterpiece videos! Especially his back catalog.

[eskimojones]

Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. I'm baffled at how simple this is, and how incredibly powerful of a prep tool it is. You've changed my life haha!

[Frederic_S]

This is an idea I have Never heard of. Thank you!

[CooperAATE]

I was avoiding this video due to the clickbait-y title, but finally gave in and watched. This is great advice for setting up stories for players!

[jarksonzorbansky]

Spent a while watching through different channels for DMs, and this channel is by far my favorite that I’ve found. Well organized, well thought out, pertinent topics with actual helpful answers, no unnecessary fluff. Thanks for the great channel!