The Best Way to Creating the Illusion of a Living World - Top GM Tips
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- čas přidán 18. 05. 2024
- A world that is alive feels real, and consequences feel more impactful. Where whilst your adventurers on on their journey, events continue to unfold at other parts of the world, whether kingdoms go to war, natural disasters destroyed a town that was recently visited, or famous NPCs find their fortunes change for good or for worse! This video shows you how you can achieve a living world!
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Memo:
Special events:
2 Revolutions
2 birth of nations
3 Natural disaster
2 Death of important figure
Mundane events:
Tax increases
Legislation changes
New Item on market
New Food
New Guild
Infos through NPCs
@how to be a great gm, you rock! I do all of this and in a pandemic..... It's all one shots .... PC vs Dm with other PCs in the background changing the world for the other PCs................................... #Muahahahahahahaha!
To make my world feel more alive I have copied the Rebel Inc game that plays out scenarios in which the player needs to use good domestic. policy and military tactics to stabilize a region. Except the player in Rebel Inc is representative of the ruler of a locality, and the D&D players are bystanders who are mixed into the conflict.
It's great because Rebel Inc has dozens of "specialists" that directly translate to meaningful NPCs, and initiatives that translate to meaningful quests.
My GM asks the players to share a rumor their character has heard at the end of each adventure, and he incorporates some of those rumors into the story if they fit.
Love it. *writes down notes*
@@nooneer not necessarily. Rumors aren't necessarily accurate. Having your players come up with world rumors seems like a cool way to get story ideas from the players that could be confirmed or jossed in gameplay. The players don't necessarily know when that element will come into play, and they won't know if what they "heard" is true. There is so much to play around with by doing something like this rumor thing. This is a really cool story building idea.
If I remember correctly, there's a system that has a mechanic like this. Can't remember which one though.
Mages branded with an L, for learned. That one made me laugh
Oh now we have to brand you with an L for 'Laughed'
I can't tell if it's a Capital I for Insane or lower cased l for learner xD
“They say that syndicates of wizards have led a boycott of Imperial goods in the land of the Altmer."
“Goodbye.”
"I don't like you."
"How are you?"
"Like I'd tell you."
"Good day."
"Goodbye."
@@kaidenfelder I saw a displacer beast today.
I got my first set of dice for Christmas
Very wise accepting it will just be your first set 😁
Congratulations!
Sweet! 🥰
Plastic, Wood, Stone & Metal. The Four elements of Dice 🤓
@@anttitikkanen5985 I've never heard of stone dice, but now I've got to get me some of those
Welcome to the game world.
I like having a spreadsheet that shows a list of powerful people or factions, which functions as a sort of vague calendar, which shows what those entities will do IF the pc's DON'T interfere/help those situations.
Then a separate sheet that shows different entities which are in tension but at a steady state. The PC's actions can tip that steady state into two or more world changes.
Yup. Especially if you present them with multiple plothooks, have the one(s) they dont choose resolve on their own while they are doing the other(s). This reinforces the idea of a living world and the feeling that, unlike in a videogame, you cannot do everything.
"Silly drow." Stab stab stab
Wow cereal commercials are getting weird.
did you pay the sword tax on those stabs?
Lol i just heard him saying that while reading your comment
😂😂😂😂
Love the Sword Tax. Consider that idea stolen.
It really cuts into profits.
@@tomisabum What rapier wit.
There will be a tax on that
Taxes on swords, except for guards and such, as an insentive to join the guard and such, money and potential increase in recruits for war.
Also, im getting from this that a living world changes and doesn't stagnate. Political events, innovation, disasters, ect.
It'll also make the ears perk up of your mercantile murder hobos who have a LOT of salvaged weapons that they might be able to sell on the cheap tax free on the downlow somewhere!
Most likely, a sword tax meant to fund a war would be a tax for *not* owning a sword. When it comes time to actually raise that army, you need a whole lot less funds when your soldiers already own a weapon.
@@nucleargandhi2709 You could always flip it on it's head and have it as a tax on the residents of the losing side in order to weaken any kind of resistance to the new rule?
I am actually running a world without a Player Group right now. They are still filling out the character sheets while I am simulating a whole world just to get the feeling right, you know... just a madman making the world less stelar...
Also being a god and leader, as well as pesant can be stressful sometimes
Sounds awesome
I'm doing the same thing. No player group. No reason. No email (don't ask). In fact you know that distant land over your horizon? That's mine. & We're going to war! I'm a madman.
I don't mean to be that guy, but... I really needed this.
Exactly. I have a setting , a world , everything but i could for the love of me not come up how i would put certen events into it. This was what i needed too.
I am starting to feel bad when you keep "apologizing" for all the law-related issues. To me they sound like fun, honestly. Very realistic!
I've been Dming for decades. Many of these are standard fare for us ole grognards. To add a few things:
1. Holidays and festivals...(the addition or ending of it will feel epic)
2. Bazaars and new far away things...also excellent way to bring in not just rumors, but tales of events, inventions, new foods, new nations, etc...
3. Infestations and babies...a simple boom in anything. Bugs, babies, too much beer for sale, deer eating crops, too much grain, price flux, halfling gang moves in, new wild boar trample through town, etc...
4. Town cryers and postings...get creative here...this is the official word vs rumor. Your newsletters to players are done here. One campaign, newsletter arrived by a teleporting adept mage guild in service to the Twin Queens.
5. Final: Use downtime between adventures to advance the living world. Have actual wintering where there is no significant travel and PCs choose where they winter...or its forced on them. Advance with an extra mundane or whatever.
I had a campaign where there were festivals. The PCs had rivals at the festival and the players enjoyed when they were able to get to become the champions of festival in their chosen area of excellence. The elf won the archery contest, the hard the dancing contest, the dwarf the drinking contest, etc.
It was a nice light diversion from more serious adventuring.
I used to be big on showing changing trends & fashions.
"You're still playing the lute? Ha ha haa! It's all panpipes now grandad."
"Future is now, old man!"
I like that he remains down to earth as he makes these videos. We need someone relatable to listen to, not some internet persona who feels he has to alter his behavior to the whims of "fans." I watch these videos and don't feel like he's talking to you, or her, or them. I feel like he's talking to me.
Are you a bot?
Revolution is one of the most misunderstood terms of political and historical science. Revolution is not just a rebellion or uprising against an unpopular or tyrannical ruler. A revolution happens when fundamentally new technological or socioeconomic (or I guess magical) developments begin to take root in society, and as a result, old systems of social and political organizations grow too restrictive or unflexible to accomodate for these changes. As such, genuine revolutions should be extremely rare events, and they should be preceded by periods of slower and more gradual, but nonetheless deep and far-reaching social change. Essentially, a revolution needs to be a sudden, explosive boiling-over of a pot that's been cooking for a while, and it will radically transform the entire society in which it happens, whether it is successful or not. It's not just getting rid of a few corrupt rulers, it's a process in which nearly all of society's old values and truisms are radically and often violently challenged, and unheard-of radical new ideas pop up at any corner. Revolts or uprisings can be extremely common, particularly in a believable grimdark world, but genuine revolutions should be extremely rare, and they require a lot more planning and thought on part of the world-builder than a mere revolt or uprising.
A revolution is just a revolt that was overwhelmingly successful. History is written by the Victor.
@@matthewward1346 No it isn't, and history is written by the survivors.
REVOLT : a revolt is an illegal and often violent attempt by a group of people to change their country's political system.
MOVEMENT: they are large sometimes informal, grouping of individuals or organization which focus on specific political or social issues.
REVOLUTION: it is a successful attempt by a large group of people to change the political system of their country by force.
@@tarvoc746 note the difference between these definitions is literally "successful" vs "illegal".
@@matthewward1346 What are you quoting there?
I love watching these videos, anytime I get overwhelmed or even burned out from GMing I watch one of Guy’s or Matt’s videos on running the game and then the wings of inspiration lift me off onto my next adventure! Thanks Guy.
I have a very general guideline of world events, again I have it in the form of a flowchart and I advance the placement on the chart each month checking to see if it or the parties action trigger any effects on the other.
How many of these events can be triggered by the party? Most of them are more or less random or not?
@@captainfuture2882 The base flowchart is made by the beginning of the campaign, some of the effects are timed while others are set into motion by what happens during play. Items may be added or deleted according to play.
I love the idea of a colony of kobolds that maintain the sewer system of a large city, the idea that there's a society of dragonoids under the feet of the upper-crust, who can wreck their day if they want to. At some point the sewer system stops working, and the players are tasked with going down there to find out what's gone wrong. It turns out that the kobolds haven't been paid, but you get to introduce this under-city full of traps and pitfalls (not malicious, just because the kobolds aren't used to dealing with people over a certain weight). Depending on the mood of the ruling class, the party's connections, or a persuasion roll, this could result in the ruler paying the kobolds . . . or in a quest to go into the sewers and clear out the kobolds.
TMNK?
I get the feeling that the village or town with a sword tax has had some problem with violence and the tax is a form of "blade control". Visitors are encouraged to leave their weapons at the gate (for a small fee of course).
There is another way. One that doesn't involve the GM. Just gather a bunch of powerful spellcasters, then have them cast Simulacrum and Mirage Arcane repeatedly. That way, you can maintain the illusion of a living world indefinitely.
For my current main town I have general lists of what the town is dealing with.
Portions of the town be upgraded, problems among different races and factions, etc...
This way, when the players are in town I know the general issues that are going on so I can create good replies.
Knowing generally what's happening in a town helps to develop plots and adventures intertwined with that atmosphere.
This is similar to Guy's list, but more focused on the immediate area.
Luckily my players meet infrequently so I have plenty of time to work on potential upcoming things that are occurring throughout my world.
Some people find admin boring. Some weirdos like me enjoy it.
+5 Stability
That’s why you’re the GM.
11:37: "Peace is made between two warring factions. That's another one, don't forget. Peace is just as important an event, if not more important, than war is."
And it can be just as cataclysmic. If two of your enemies who have been at each other's throats since time immemorial, but then they make peace and have more resources to focus on dealing with your kingdom instead... this is not a good thing for your kingdom!
Every once in awhile, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.
Nothing forges alliances faster than a common enemy
I once ran a game for a group of players maybe two years ago (roughly), and one thing I did was - on the spot - had a merchant that would've had goods end up with an empty inventory for the most part. See, I was planning on having the PCs go and have a random encounter with some bandits and see that there was a small fight between them and the caravan's guards. There was also a religious person there, working for the same god as one of the PCs, there was going to be a bit of a ranged battle across a river, etc.
When they saw an arrow sink into one of their cart's wheels, the players just booked it to the nearest town to avoid the fight. So, I said that a merchant arrived in town several hours later. They had a lot of stuff they wanted to sell, but the merchant - and his hired cleric from the temple - inform them that they got robbed by bandits along the road, so they'd have no coin to give them if they sold things to the merchant. Took the players off-guard for a moment or two before the whole thing clicked. Still one of the very few things I think about from time to time.
Sire, Sire! The peasants are revolting!
Me : And? Please let them vote me out of office! I don't want to do this anymore...
Why do I want the Bard's Guild to continue to spread lies about what I've done?
Why do I want to right the wrongs that the Assassin's Guild has done against the vampire Ep Stein? Why should I care anymore?
Bards Guild : The Lord of the Kingdom has stated he wants the peasants dead!
Me : See? The Bards keep spreading the false narrative!
“You got that right they stink on ice”
Yes they are
Oh, aren't they...
This is fantastic and just what I needed! Thanks, Guy!!
Thank you for this reminder. The „indirect“ Npc interaction is one of the important tools to create a real life feeling. And the PLayers feel empowered cause they unveil the Environment and its changes. Thank‘s - have a good Christmas Time...
This one was certainly great and incredibly useful, Guy. Thank you!
This needs more views. Brilliant stuff, my friend.
These videos always inspire me to add more to my campaign. Keep up the great work.
Great ideas, so much inspiration. Thanks a lot!
Thank you for your content. I find your videos fascinating.
That was quite useful. Thank you for sharing this way of thought. I will try using that structure.
This reminds me of my introduction for one of the games I wanna DM sometime. I would have all the PCs have a reason to go to the main City, they all meet on a caravan, but get stopped 1 city before due to a curfew caused by plot reasons
It's truly incredible how much this method can really help bring ideas to life. With just a little variation here and there and you can have totally different worlds that each feel equally alive in their own way
I'm adding this to my Over land travel and other treats playlist because THIS is an absolute GEM.
My word, the way you can think up stuff is incredible. Bravo!
This is fantastic thank you! Really helping me breath some life into my world!
Awesome video. Greetings from Brazil. I'll be GMing tomorrow.
Your Videos have helped me, a seasoned GM, become even more flavorful.
Great stuff, Guy!
Linoleum was also a class indicator when it was developed. Rich families ripped out their wood floor to put in & show off linoleum. Same thing with Aluminium, once exclusively for king due to rarity...now we don't even think about throwing it away.
Oh good. I'm already doing a lot of this. Nice to know we're on similar pages. Thanks for the stuff I hadn't already thought of though!
This is one of your best videos. Thanks!
Your material is very useful and I'm always learning something that shall help me live up to your channels name. Thank you and warm regards from Seattle.
Great Vid and just what I needed!!
The volume of good advice that Guy generates is pretty amazing. This one in particular ignited so many ideas for my campaign. Thanks!
Griffins are a new technology. good to know. i'm subscribed
Great ideas to be sure. Cheers! Merry Christmas, and happy New Year!
🕊🎄🎅🎉🥂🍾
Excellent video. This is my main issue I'm trying to work on.
This is brilliant! I don't know how you do it! Video after video of pure solid gold! However you're doing it please don't stop. These videos are awesome. I'm going to make a list now of things that are happening in my world. Can't wait to see how the PC is interact. Thank you so much for these kind of videos. You rock.
This is fantastic. I've played mental gymnastics for campaign ideas in my downtime, so I'm confident I have the mental agility to link events together on-the-fly, let alone if I planned ahead of time for the possibility of such events. What I'm really taking away from this video is to get organized with notes and consider letting things happen to parts of the world the players aren't currently inhabiting, and referencing them in roleplay later the next time they become relevant
MERRY CHRISTMAS GUY!
Oh I needed this! My players have run off into complete homebrew territory and I need to progress other events in the world.
Great video, very thought provoking. Making "living worlds" is so much fun, I usually rely on economy and unique resources to set the stage of how my factions interact with eachother. I also like taking two very different factions and imagine how their cultures have changed due to being exposed to one another through trade or war.
I particularly enjoyed your "mundane events" section. Very realistic and I think would bring in a lot of immersion with relatable inconviences like taxes.
This video was so wonderful. What an inspiration it was.
A runaway griffin sounds like such a funny way to start a smaller adventure. "At least we know where they're going in the mountains, so you'll be rescued eventually." Great video!
If it is a medieval European based setting than regular revolutions are pretty rare, except in the Late Medieval Period. They were also triggered primarily by large scale natural events (The Great Famine, The Black Death, The Little Ice Age); extreme long term ongoing warfare (where the majority of the nobles and their military are outside the country campaigning) or where the rule is not absolute and a political in imbalance occurs that is revolted against by a class of people (like in The Revolt of the Ciompi in 1378 in Florence).
You do have succession battles on the death of a ruler, but thats not the same as a revolution, and is primarily lead by one group of nobles and their retinue against another. (War of the Roses for example).
Making the tools / charts / tables can be some work initially BUT they save you SOOOOO much time and effort having them around. Great video
This is brilliant, certainly makes the world feel much realer, much more alive, much more believable
On point, as always!
This was a very good one, thanks Guy.
I love using a public media to relay to players what changes are on the horizon in the town.
A town crier, a series of megaphones hoist by early balloons from the minaret, a newspaper.
I prefer to give this source, as with all npcs, a sense that the info can't always be taken at face value.
oh my god the gryphon one got me--these are quite good, thank you!
This one video has helped me tremendously. Many thanks Guy, very cool
This is a great idea for furthering a campaign with endless possibilities
One of the most important things Guy said in this video is that the items on his lists are NOT the only possibilities. They're just basic examples. Use your imagination, enjoy other narratives and take note of what they use, etc. etc.
There's a lot of really good stuff here. I'm definitely going to start using these in my next campaign. (The last game I ran was kind of a monster-of-the-week thing, just a bunch of one-shots over and over with no overarching story)
For the most minor signs of an alive world I place some constructionsites into my towns and cities.
When my party returns to that place a few months later, there is a finished / repaired building with a new NPC
Best video you’ve ever put out!
Love this, thank you guy! I will make my list tomorrow afternoon!
Or technically this afternoon since its 12:03 in the morning.
Where was this diamond Tip?!!? Loved ittttttt,Thank you Guy for all your help ,Keep On making us bringing the fantasy life of our minds in RPGs
Oh this is very nice I realize I have been doing some similar things just without thinking about it but it's nice to have it codified
Awesome video ! It would be nice if you could share your full event list with us or some ressources to find inspiration for our own
I really liked this video, very useful.
I really like this. My cities have been a little stagnant when my players return. I'll be making a table this week
Nice musical ambience with this video.
Honestly. What a great video!
Great video indeed!
I've really fallen in love with Godbound, a D20 based system where you play as demigods/protogods. Think lvl 30 dnd+ and you aren't far off.
The game features a faction system, where one creates factions and then assign stats and features and problems. Then the GM is to do faction turns now and then (it's very fuzzy and implied the GM should do one when it fits) where the factions do actions towards each other.
It can be attacks, help, building relations, dismantling relations, dealing with problems.
The rules are kinda simple and kinda neat.
Then i usually write down what was attempted and if the factions succeded. Then one can build rumours and news based on the events.
Oh the kingdom of Serrûk attacked the navy of its northern neighbour? That's gonna have implications since the PC's are building a port city in this kingdom.
Another great thing is that the game is free. So just google it and find the free PDF.
There's also another game by the same publisher, Stars Without Number. Which has a much deeper faction system with units that move on a map, it is also sci-fi.
It's a fun system, but i haven't tried that one. Mostly since the main game itself feels kinda 'Eh' to me.
I just love it's star sector creator and faction system.
That one is also free.
So check them out. LOTS of good ideas for GM's.
Thank you for tge recommendation.
Godbound sounds pretty cool.
Love this!
You have such an amazing channel! I really wish I was still playing - maybe one day I’ll get a chance again. 🙂
These can be useful to come up with a nice short side quest, too, say for when one of the players is absent and you don’t want anything major to happen.
coolest thing is when an event drastically changes an npc, for example:
the king was victim of a conspiracy and now the prince, who has become the new king, is outraged and is ruling in an evil way and with violence trying to find the killers of his father. eventually, the party, who had met him before this all happened, will have to fight him to stop him and make him reason. epic battle, epic plot twist, epic.
My players got TPK'd by a terrorist organization. I felt so bad for them, that I reflavored it as they were taken for interrogation instead because they were the last people to see a prince that went missing, and the terrorist need that info. I had to write an ENTIRE FOREIGN NATION from the ground up to explain the terrorist's origins and motivations.
Thank you. You are wonderful and marvelously helpful and I am sure you hear this quite a bit but I still want to say it.
I love ALL How to be a great gm videos!
Running a campaign for the first time. Have never played before and neither have my players. So I am kinda learning as we are going. Up to now I have put seasons and connected events (harvest, ending of autumn fest, etc.) into my world. I like the idea of tiering events into major and minor things though.
I definitely like the way this works, because it makes plot hooks a lot harder to ignore.
So Guy I would like to say Thank you... Thank you for being one of the actual rays of sunshine in the TTRPG Community on CZcams. Your not one of those CZcamsrs that claim to Be an "Expert" Yet You are one for sure. to all of the Folks that call Older Players Grognards Here You are showing People that they are the exception to the Masses that are not. Really enjoy Your videos and even though I have been playing TTRPGs for 40 years this year I still get a LOT out of all of Your videos. Every Single One. Again Thank You.
Good advice; I'll take them to heart.
This is fantastic advice! I tend to over think and over prepare which gives a level of detail that allows all sorts of exploration but.. 95% of it naturally goes un-used. It's not that I mind that overmuch but it is an asston of homework to do going into a campaign.
Great ideas
great tips
Someone was a fan of EverQuest II. Griffin huts! 🤣
Good stuff in this video! Thanks!
@ 1:46 is that Stellaren music I hear? I've been playing Stellaren 2 a lot recently so it's so cool to recognize the music suddenly!
I feel like you need one major event each real-life year you're playing: a war, a natural disaster, a plague, the discovery of a new continent, etc. And like every three adventures something significant happens: a peaceful succession of kings, an assassination of a nobleman, a raid destroys a nearby town, a major fire in the town, etc.
notification bell: Guy uploaded a new video
me: clickclickclickclickclickclickclick
For a living world feel, it is important to also think of NPC plans (yes, even for the non-villainous ones). The easiest way to keep a world alive is to give NPCs their own goals and motivations. Sometimes these will align with party goals, and other times they will create conflict. One of the easiest ways to do this is to have various factions that the party can help who all have different goals that conflict with one another. This allows the players to choose which story path to take without it making a difference on how much work the GM needs to do.
Secondly, HOLIDAYS. Holidays, and other local events such as festivals, feasts, sporting events, etc will make the world come alive and give players the option to engage with it directly or not. Maybe one player wants to attend the Duke's feast while another wishes to enter into the jousting tournament, for example.
Give players both mentor and rival NPCs that you can return to when you need a point to increase the tension. Opposing adventurers who don't wish to attack the party, but rather try to compete with the party in terms of discovering treasure or accomplishing goals for a different faction/organization.
Time: probably the hardest to track but one of the most crucial in my opinion. Giving players an accurate time log both makes the world feel more real and players will begin to really think and plan how and when they go about completing certain plot events.
One approach that is also worth considering - probably alongside this one - is that, if you're doing complex worldbuilding, give yourself room for a plot hook on everything. For example, yesterday I wrote a thing on a group of performers who do really high end acrobatics in my world...but odds are players aren't going to pay just to see a high end acrobatics display (especially as I lack the narrative eloquence of some more experienced DMs to make them feel like they're actually there.) So the group has a habit of helping smuggle victims of persecution out of the country they have difficulties in.