Prep Can Be Literally Easy and Actually Fun

Prep Now! Play Tonight! Easy & Fun!

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[mcolville]

Here's some other Cartographers on Patreon I use!

[MsMoniqueWilson]

I'm a 61 yr old woman who will be DMing her first session in a week. Started playing at the beginning of Covid with our bubble. Your videos are always so helpful and this one was what I needed right now. I was way over thinking things :)

[koticneutralftw]

Also, love the no-chill in this video. "We do not hate our customers. No one's gonna show up at your door to break your legs." I can't stop laughing.

[Calebgoblin]

Dreading prep is ACTUALLY the number one nemesis of me running more DnD so whatever secrets this video will reveal to me, You are a River to Your People

[thebanditoking]

"You can't fight in here, this is the war room". Gets me everytime.

[DefinitivNichtSascha]

"The DM always overprepares" and "The players never make it as far as you think" rings double true for me, not just as a DM but as a teacher as well. Never do my lessons encompass all that I've prepped.

[valritz]

As someone who also always forgets the stairs, my safety blanket is "a lot of old-ass taverns started as only one floor, and nobody's got the money to rip out the kitchen or whatever to put in stairs. Slap those puppies on the exterior and stack the second story on top."

[BluDragon-ltog]

matt shotgunned me with that coherent hole bit

[joshuatrueblood]

That pause after "..coherent whole." and "--your mom has a coherent whole." had me weak 🤣

[thoughtbom]

The real reason why Bombadil exists is such a good story that relates to D&D so well: Tolkien put Bombadil in LOTR because he wrote him for another set of stories and he just... liked him so much that he decided to stick him in LOTR. There is no explanation for him other than that.

Put stuff in your game you like. You don't need a reason other than that.

[Slipfish]

"Throwing a bunch of 'this sounds cool' at a wall and then taking my players coolest sounding explanation" is my entire DMing style.

It sounds dumb described this way but my players love it more than anything I ever meticulously wrote. It ends up sounding cool, and they get a bonus of feeling smart for 'figuring it out'. Collaborative storytelling at its finest.

[seandremel]

Did anyone else notice the MCDM screen has inspirational quotes at the top of each panel? “Your ideas are neat” and “They’re already having a good time” is awesome stuff to remember in the middle of a session, and I need to get this now.

[Swordsman]

watching this and re-watching this lead me to message some of my people the age-old message: "Hey, wanna play D&D tonight?"
Made a oneshot in one night, turned into a twoshot and now I'm DM'ing a full campaign. Thanks, Matthew, for the encouragement <3

[melnat]

There are no forgotten drawn stairs mistakes only happy secret passage stairs accidents 😊
Thank you for the video!

[Schpooon]

"you'd be surprised at how little progress the players make." This right here is the truth, and a good takeaway. Prep literally anything and they'll make it into a fun time!

[cookechris]

Never before have I looked at a Running the Game title and felt IMMENSE relief. I've struggled with prep for so long! Thanks for the vid.
Edit: Oh my god, he even predicted I'd say this exact thing. Matt's a warlock. LMAO

[dittrich]

"...because we do not hate our customers. We will not show up at your doorstep and threaten to break your legs."

Long live MCDM!

[emhooaryou]

19:30 "Maybe they *can* convince the cottage to get up and walk around! That is some proper D&D *bullshit.* "

As a DM with about 5 real sessions under his belt now, this has proven much more relatable than I originally suspected it might

[darthdadt]

8:07 - Sick burn
11:08 - what are we doing for dinner?
25:56 - How do I know I'm a real DM?
27:49 - What's for dinner?

[waynedollery]

oh my. This is a call back to Matt's first video. Much more complex idea and yet all about "you are going to be a DM Tonight".